Ramble #5 (of Many): Small, Sharp Things > Everything

Yes, yes, we all know Twilight has magic in spades, but what about our other resident overpowered horned equine?

No, no, not Starlight! I'm talking about Rarity. Today's topic is:

Rarity is Incredibly Overpowered and No One Has Realised, Do You Know Just How Much Power She Could Have if She Were a Little More Imaginative With the Application of Her Talent, Seriously

And y'know what? No more page breaks!

Right, so let's look at what Rarity has, yes?

Telekinesis for days. (Constantly)
Horn light. (As seen in Castle Mania)
Gem-finding spell. (As seen in A Dog and Pony Show)
Glowy-projection-illusion spell. (As seen in Suited For Success)
Fix-it spell. (As seen in Made in Manehatten)
Insta-clothes spell. (As seen in Boast Busters)
Tree-beautification spell. (As seen in Look Before You Sleep)
Summon: Fainting Couch. (As seen in Lesson Zero)
Summon: Chest. (As seen in Rarity Investigates)
Making fabric? (As seen in Made in Manehatten - I think she said that she made that fabric, and magic was probably involved)

Any I'm missing? I didn't want to include any of the things she did in Inspiration Manifestation because that wasn't exactly her magic so much.

My point is, it's a fairly decent list of tricks, considering what Twilight said that most unicorns only learn a few in relation to their special talent.

It could be argued that the Insta-clothes and Tree-Beautification are off-shoots of the Fix-it spell in that they're sort of... fixing the world according to Rarity? Like, this tree is a bit plain, let's fix that/these bits of fabric are parts of a dress I can seen in my mind I better fix them together - and that Rarity's activities in Inspiration Manifestation were turning this up to 11.
It's a useful spell to know! I wonder what its limitations are - can it only be used on inanimate objects? Could you fix bones? How broken can something be before it can't be fixed? What's the betting she learned it because of Sweetie Belle?

Making the fabric could be another offshoot of the beautification, or something entirely new.

The Gem Finding spell is obviously her special talent shining through and is fairly straightforward. I wonder, though, if it's looking for gems based on general 'ooh shiny' or if it's something more specific like detection of crystalline structures. You can see the gems through the ground when it's used, I wonder if there's a variation on this as a sort of X-ray... Back to the bones again, apparently. I mean, bones are made up of crystals...

I could speculate about all of her spells for hours, but I'm now going to focus on one particular point, her telekinesis. Rarity's telekinesis is impressive. She can hold a vast number of different items in it - perhaps she cannot achieve the pure strength that Twilight has, but when it comes to finesse? I firmly believe that until our purple protagonist moved to Ponyville, Rarity was the most powerful unicorn there.
Herein lies the crux of the matter:

Pins and needles.

Telekinesis.

The ability to hold and manipulate a large number of small objects.

I hope you can see where I'm going with this.

If Rarity had the inclination, she could likely shut down any and all threats that aren't Discord and his issues with reality/nigh physical invulnerablility. A megalomaniac's tirade can be cut quite short with a few well-positioned pins and needles. Do you want to keep your eyes, darling? What damage could a small, sharp piece of metal do to the insides of a pony should one decide to send it through? Or a jagged piece of crystal. Who needs a bullet when you can just pull something through a pony a couple of times?
Armour might be useful against such an assault, but needles are small enough that the only true defence would be an airtight box, and that isn't particularly practical. Maybe a shield spell, but those appear to be high-level things not in the common range of spells.

One might be able to deflect a more standard weapon, but a dozen needles coming at you from all angles?

A summary: Rarity is terrifying and we should all be afraid.