Maybe the first time a unicorn gets their magic is still spontaneous and random?

Or it differs from unicorn to unicorn. The sample size we have to work with is kinda small.

Bear in mind the only time we actually saw Rarity use magic pre-CM(I think. Again, memories) it seemed to have a will of its own and was pretty much wild.

I want to see Rarity and Twilight collaborate on a fractal-based dress.

Oh you mean the horn dragging thing? I don't think that counts as her doing magic.

Rarity is also an interesting case because she already had a set goal in mind even before she got her Mark. She mentions even at such an early age to wanting to be a designer for the school play.

The conflict with her seemed not to be finding her purpose, rather finding the spark to getting her inspired.

"I had no idea where my horn was taking me. But unicorn magic doesn't happen without a reason."

This would imply that unicorn magic can control the body if a purpose or something strongly related to your talent is required. It's anyone's guess how her magic could do this, but I put it down to her subconscious magic detecting the diamond and her magic obeying her will.

That, or Rarity has a very strong gift indeed. I've heard it mentioned she has very fine control over her levitation which makes sense considering she can make up 6 dresses in a day.

I remember saying after Baby Cakes premiered that a baby unicorn's magic seems more governed by emotions and desires than deliberate action, like how she was reaching for her toys through the bars of her crib and wanted them so much that she levitated them over, then levitated herself while she wanted to fly with Pound, then was able to phase through the thingy that Pinkie trapped them both in because she wanted to be outside and playing.

On the subject of pre-CM foal unicorn magic, if you count comic book covers, Sibsy's cover RI of Micro-Series #1◊ shows Twilight Sparkle levitating Shining Armor, and Sibsy's cover RI of Micro-Series #3◊ shows Rarity levitating a few gems.

edited 30th Apr '13 11:52:27 AM by Whatshisgame

That's pretty much how I see it. There's very little conscious control at that stage. Eventually they lose that ability and have to relearn how to do it consciously.

Well this took far longer then it probably should have. Sorry for the not so great quality of writitng. I had a lot of difficulty writing this out and I think it shows.

Rarity

Rarity has always been one of the more flawed characters in the shows line-up. Despite being the Element of Generosity she is one of the more selfish and greedy characters on the show, and has let her ego and vanity go to her head on more than one occasion. Despite that she has demonstrated that she can be very mature and recognizes her own missteps and tries to correct them. More so then others she comes across as genuinely multi-layered, complex and, for lack of a better term, realistic (well most of the time). It has made her popular (and unpopular) with the fandom, and I generally agree with those sentiments, but at the same time when I look at all of Rarity’s appearances since the beginning of the show to now it seems to me that Rarity, while having some development, has primarily remained static, and in the case of the most recent season has even appeared to have gone backwards to an extent. Like other characters I’ve discussed we can probably chalk this up mostly to varies meta-reasons (humor is most the most obvious, lack of recent starring roles is another), but before we get to that lets look at what

In the beginning Rarity, like much of the Mane Six, was rather easy to pigeon hole into the role of “vain fashionista” and proved to be fairly unpopular initially. It also didn’t help that her “element” was not really an obvious aspect of her personality and was even contradicted by her later greedy behavior. However when we get to “Suited for Success” we finally get a chance to not only get a chance to see her act genuinely generous to her friends, but we actually get to empathize with Rarity’s goals and appreciate just how much effort she has to pours into her chosen profession. As we got further into season one she quickly became one of the more rounded members of the cast; showing empathy in situations no one else likely would have though still getting caught up in her new found attention and fame (Sonic Rainboom), she was able to handle herself in a dire situation (A Dog and Pony Show), and was able to put aside her own jealousy to help her friend (Green Isn’t Your Color). Despite all of that she still remained one of the more flawed members of the group, which would be further explored in season two.

In her first starring appearance in season two we get to see that she is not exactly the best big sister in the world. To be frank I’m not exactly sure why Sweetie Bell looks up to Rarity so much and wants her approval/attention what have you, but what I am sure of is that Rarity would rather not have to deal with her little sister, primarily because of the damage she had wrought. When she did go to make up with her sister we got to see one of the more interesting aspects of her generosity. While Rarity is willing to help others she really doesn’t take into consideration what another pony would really need or want, she just offers whatever she would want or feel that they need. It’s an important lesson in how just because you are willing to contribute your personal hobbies to a situation doesn’t mean you are actually being helpful. Thankfully Rarity picks up on this pretty quickly and took a big step forward into being a better big sister, and being genuinely generous . . . at least for now.

Sweet and Elite is Rarity’s last major episode and one that could have very easily made Rarity as unsympathetic and shallow as some may have stereotyped her as, but ultimately worked out to be one of her more interesting episodes. I think it would not have worked nearly as well if Rarity’s character hadn’t been so thoroughly established at this point. It has been her dream to live the high and sophisticated life, and despite how discriminating the other high class ponies could be she still enjoyed and wanted to participate in that lifestyle. While it is very easy to argue about how it was wrong of her to lie and demonstrate such little faith in her friends with her dreams, it should be noted that the last time she involved all of her friends in her work they very nearly destroyed her career, and in fact almost did it again in this episode if it weren’t for Fancy Pants. It was not an easy position for her to be in, and while it did work out in the end I’m not sure if her friends ever realized what they had almost done . . . again.

After all of this Rarity gets a few minor roles in a couple of episodes, her largest being the next episode where she seems to gets a fire ruby from Spike that her originally planned to eat (whether she tricked him out of it or not is up to interpretation) and showers him with praise and adoration and seems to acknowledge his crush. Most of her other appearances however are pretty focused on the humor of her vanity and in the case of season three she seems to come across as more selfish and vain then she has before. I’m not really sure if I can give any real in universe reasons as to why she has become this way, but it does highlight how despite being a fairly well rounded character she hasn’t exactly changed a whole lot since the beginning of the series. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, a character does not necessarily need to be dynamic to be good and she has already proven to be fairly mature and aware of her failings. At the same time we really haven’t seem much of that aspect of her personality this season. Hopefully this coming season will see that resolved.

I figure the other races are subject to similar bursts of power as infants, just a bit more subtle than unicorn magic.

Like a pegasus infant being able to fly and cling to the cieling.

We have Nesquick as well. Milo is more bitter.

Yes. I'm continuing a conversation that ended several pages ago. That's how I roll.

Anyway, I do see the Cake twins as naturally talented, but that this is helpe by having earth parents. It's a bit of a combination. (I do want Pumpkin to be a future student of Celestia's school for gifted uniorns and possibly a future student of Celestia/Twilight).

And yes. I want Scootaloo to be flightless. I think it would be better that way.

It there's a confirmed episode about disabilities on the way, I imagine you'll be getting your wish.

Unless Snails turns out to have a learning disability. Or Big Mac turns out to be impotent as far as farming magic is concerned.

@Mio: Interesting. I definitely agree that Rarity seems to have lost a bit of depth this season, but I can chalk that up to the fact that she's never been in focus much. I think there are a few minor examples, though. Her willingness to go camping with Sweetie Belle despite obviously not wanting to is a good example. So is her willingness to try Spike's cooking, despite it being horrible. But yeah, they're all minor things. Hopefully next season will treat her better.

Her bit in Games was pretty good though.

Speaking of that, did anyone else think that Spike went through a bit of Character Derailment in Spike At Your Service? Seriously, he goes from an extremely competent library assistant that does most (if not all) of the cooking in a number of functions, to someone who can't do anything right except clean a pig.

I think half the internet might have also taken pause with it...

I honestly don't think it was that out of character. We have seen him be clumsy, and all we know about his cooking ability is that he can bake... baking is very much not the same as cooking. I think he might have been exaggerated, but not outright out of character.

Gods, I am having a HELL of a time focusing these past couple of days... can't seem to settle in and work for more than five minutes.

edited 30th Apr '13 1:41:44 PM by kegisak

Let's just say that's just one of a few reasons why I don't like that episode. That and Feeling Pinkie Keen are the only episodes I don't like.

I think that since Spike is not "really" one of the main cast I find that his overall personality and ability will vary greatly with each episode.

@J Teeth: I often felt that a lot of her good moments were undermined by some more head-tilting ones, like when she talks about wishing she had Spike a servant or when she needed to be coerced into going on the trip. She was better in Games Ponies Play, I always liked that episode for it's spot fairly spot on characterization despite the weak plot.

edited 30th Apr '13 1:44:13 PM by Mio

Spike at your Service was a bit dissapointing in how it treated Spike, but I'm fairly forgiving of it for two reasons, it was pretty funny and the ending was rather sweet and better done with a more complex message than is typically shown.

Who's that Pokemon?

"IT'S PIKACHU!"

@Mio: I'm honestly still on the fence about GPP. On one hand, I think it has one of the worst cases of Idiot Plot in the whole show, and the resolution doesn't make much sense (she chooses them because... they intended to treat her the same as everyone else but just screwed up?). On the other hand, the characterization was otherwise pretty much spot on and most of the episode was hilarious (the bit with RD faceplanting into the spa's ceiling was one of my favorite moments from the season).

It's... Pinkiechu!