History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E9SweetAndElite

* BigNo: Rarity when the rest of her friends decide to crash the garden party.

* DeathGlare: From Opalescence to Rarity.
* EmpathyPet[=/=]MoralityPet: Opal acts, to some extent, as Rarity's conscience when she opts for the fancy events over Twilight's dressmaking.
** The clearest example is when she stands on Rarity's drawing table, tapping the dress design to say, "Get to work, already!"

* ForegoneConclusion: It's ''My Little Pony: '''Friendship''' is Magic''. Enough said.

** Although she doesn't outright state it, Rainbow Dash immediately picks up on Rarity's two-timing, confronting her about her fancy attire and having the most blatant "oh really?" expressions when she behaves strangely.
** Rainbow probably suspected her from the moment the letter arrived about Opal.

* InWithTheInCrowd: Rarity's ascendance to Canterlot's elite is the focus of the episode. Unusually, it actually works out better for everypony involved than this plot usually does.

** Similarly, Fancypants, Jet Set, and Upper Crust are quite appropriate names for members of an upper class.

* RichBitch[=/=]UpperClassTwit: The Canterlot elite, especially Jet Set and Upper Crust, generally look down on Ponyville as backwards and unsophisticated. Not the case with Fancypants, who finds the rest of the Mane Cast "charmingly rustic" and is very kind towards them and Rarity.

* MeaningfulName: Hayseed Turniptruck is a stereotypical country bumpkin (a "hayseed") who seems rather slow and oblivious (as if he "just fell off the turnip truck").

* AgelessBirthdayEpisode: It's Twilight's birthday but her age is never revealed.

* PimpedOutDress: Rarity's draft of Twilight's dress is very elaboirate.

* CallBack

** There's another call-back just a moment before.

* CatsHateWater: Opal isn't too happy about receiving an unexpected shower.
* CelebrityLie: A variant: Rarity claims Rainbow Dash is the Wonderbolts' trainer. Why she doesn't use her friends' actual accomplishments is a mystery.
* ColorCodedMagic: Consistent throughout, further extending the change in Season 2; each of the various unicorns has a unique magical aura color when he or she is using telekinesis for items, and the aura switches color when one unicorn "hands" an item over to another.
* ConspicuousCG: When Rarity imagines herself sitting in the VIP box with Fancy Pants.

* NoodleIncident: The ending of Rarity's story
-->Rarity: ...And then I said, "Puh-lease, that isn't a hat, darling, that's a natural disaster that somehow landed atop your head!"

* OpinionFlipflop: When Rarity sees an out and accepts Twilight's plausible-yet-wrong explanation for her switching between the two parties.

* [[YesMan Yes Pony]]

* [[YesMan Yes-Mares]]

'''Rarity:''' ''(while kissing Celestia's hooves)'' Oh, but it isn't nothing, it's everything! I, I just don't know what to say but thank you, thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!\\

!!Tropes ([[YMMV/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E9SweetAndElite YMMV tropes can be found here]])

-->'''Rarity:''' ''(exasperated)'' I have to...to go to the--to the [[BuffySpeak thing with the stuff, you know...]]

* CelebrityLie: A variant: [[spoiler:Rarity claims Rainbow Dash is the Wonderbolts' trainer]]. Why she doesn't use her friends' actual accomplishments is a mystery.

* FriendOrIdolDecision: Rarity has to decide whether to spend time with the upper-class ponies in Canterlot or make a dress for and attend Twilight's birthday party back home. [[spoiler:She ends up choosing her friends, but things work out for her in both ways, keeping her connections in Canterlot thanks to Fancypants.]]

* HumblePie: Jet Set and Uppercrust get this thanks to Fancypants on two occasions. First by him taking Rarity into his reserved balcony seat at the races, right in front of them, and second, [[spoiler:when he endorses Rarity and her friends, who'd they'd ''just spoke down to'', forcing them to suck it up and praise her.]]

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Rarity downs a [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar presumably nonalcoholic]] punch when [[spoiler: her friends embarrass her at the fancy garden party]].

* IronicBirthday: [[spoiler:Twilight and company show up and take the birthday party to Rarity immediately after she has decided to spend more time with the Canterlot ponies.]]

* RichBitch[=/=]UpperClassTwit: The Canterlot elite, especially Jet Set and Upper Crust, generally look down on Ponyville as backwards and unsophisticated. Not the case with [[spoiler:Fancypants, who finds the rest of the Mane Cast "charmingly rustic" and is very kind towards them and Rarity]].

* SpitTake: Rarity does this when [[spoiler:Twilight is about to reveal who made her dress to Fancypants.]]

* TwoTimerDate: [[spoiler:Rarity has to switch between going to Twilight's birthday and attending the Canterlot Garden Party.]]
* UnclePennybags: [[spoiler:It turns out that Fancypants is open-minded and not quite as snooty as other Canterlot ponies, and he would love Rarity to make more dresses for them, despite her coming from Ponyville.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler:At the end of the episode, Fancypants asks Rarity to introduce her friends to him. It then cuts to Rarity presenting the Friendship Report, never showing if anything came of her lie about Rainbow Dash being the Wonderbolts' trainer.]]

** In Canterlot, the higher up you are, the more you have. [[spoiler:This saves Rarity's reputation in the end; while everypony initially laughs at her, Fancypants approves of it all, saying he finds her friends "charmingly rustic". Within seconds, everypony there is swamping Rarity with orders.]]

* FurryReminder: At the end of "Becoming Popular", Rarity falls asleep ''standing up.''

* RichBitch / UpperClassTwit: The Canterlot elite, especially Jet Set and Upper Crust, generally look down on Ponyville as backwards and unsophisticated. Not the case with [[spoiler:Fancypants, who finds the rest of the Mane Cast "charmingly rustic" and is very kind towards them and Rarity]].

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong
** A modified take on Ravel's "Boléro" is used during the scene where Rarity dunks Opal in water.
** In addition, the music played during Twilight's party is a sound-alike of the 1981 Stray Cats song "Rock this Town."
** When HilarityEnsues, the backing music borrows thematically from Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance".

* [[IKissYourFoot I Kiss Your Hoof]]: Rarity is ''very'' grateful over Princess Celestia having a suite to spare.

* LikeAWeasel: When Rarity sees an out and accepts Twilight's plausible-yet-wrong explanation for her switching between the two parties.

* PimpedOutDress: Rarity's draft of Twilight's dress.

* KarmaHoudini: Rarity is never caught for lying about Opal or about Rainbow's status, probably because there wasn't enough time left in the episode to properly deal with the ramifications.

** YourMileageMayVary: This may have been done to avoid ItsTheSameNowItSucks. In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E16SonicRainboom Sonic Rainboom]] she had no choice but to accept her Aesop after her wings were fried. Here, she has a choice of whether or not to come clean about being friends with the 'uncouth ruffians.' Despite being certain that it would spell the doom of her public image in Canterlot, she still willingly gives it up, which seems to be why she gets a SweetAndSourGrapes ending here.