Desperation can make a pony do a lot of crazy things. Lie. Cheat. Steal. Pay a call on two ponies who were trying to kill her the last time she saw them.

Of course, she was trying to kill them, too, back then.

But that's all in the past! And now that their daughter Rarity is on Princess Twilight's new ruling council, set to become a leader in the Equestrian government once Princess Celestia and Princess Luna actually step down, well, everything'll be totally different and so much better, right?

As long as the truth doesn't come out, of course...

An entry in the Ancestral Tribute contest, this story was awarded 3rd place, and its title comes from David Mallett's song "Ambition."

This is a commission for Tailsic.

Rarity is an up and coming fashion designer with an overprotective mother. Other than that her life seems normal. But that's only because her mother never told her that once upon a time they were both living as Kirin and she was tasked with a mission to kill Rarity, the infant princess of a rival clan, a mission she couldn't bring herself to complete.

Now, living under assumed identities, Cookie Crumbles parents with one eye over her shoulder while her unwittingly adopted daughter lives in comfortable ignorance. Many years after her flight it seems they'd successfully outrun the politics and vengeance of the Kirin until one day when their sordid past comes roaring back.

After both of her parents are hospitalized from a shadowy attack, Rarity must finally confront who she really is and go on a mission to her isolated homeland to try and bring peace to the warring Kirin factions.

Rarity, a young filly, is trying to find her ailing mother the perfect Hearth's Warming gift.

Part of Serina's Hearth's Warming Eve Collection for 2023.

Inspiration

One day, in the middle of the night, somepony replaces Sweetie Belle with a robotic version of her. Rarity doesn't realize, and things get a little weird between "Sweetie Belle" and the Mane 6. Sweetie Belle needs to find out how to return home, and once she does, things get a little competitive and confusion ensues through the ponies who know her. (This story is post CMC getting their cutiemarks)

Thanks to PonyZilla5410 for the help in ideas, proofreading, and checking out the chapters before being released. I also thank CozyGlow5 for the cover art!

On hiatus to work on Rarity Investigates II: The Dreadful Disappearance of the Dazzling Dress

(Artwork by Mizuno Arts) It was just a regular day for Sweetie Belle, her first day as an official teenager, and she couldn't be more excited...until a gift she was given is an item another wants, leading Sweetie Belle to be recruited into a top secret mission by the Order of Equestrian Spies. Rejecting the idea of being involved in this organization, she leaves to resume her ordinary life, until the call to the wild and the unknown becomes too strong for her to handle, eventually choosing to join the organization to save the world...but as she soon finds out, not everything is what it seems . . .