So uhm, what happened to Rarity and SweetieBell's parents?

[vanillapudding 44]

I noticed this while re-watching Sister Hooves social - they haven't actually appeared again since dropping Sweetie Bell off so they could go on vacation. Yet forever more after that Sweetie is living with Rarity every time we see her in a home setting, and the parents never show up again.

 

Have they been on vacation all this time? Did they run away and abandon their children? (I know Sweetie Bell is a handful and Rarity is high maintenance but that's so rude O: ) Or...are they in such a state that they would be unable to come back (ala the main theory of where AJ's parents have been this whole series). 

[Jeric 46,850]

They have been seen since. Inspiration Manifestation. So they are around. Their absence in CotLM was noticed by a few though.

 

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,288]

I seriously want to see more of them too. I believe the father's name is Magnum? He has that killer mustache. :3 Any additional family interactions are welcome. For some reason I love seeing that kind of stuff in this show.

[Ganondorf8 11,259]

Rarity and Sweetie Belle's father, Hondo Flanks, and their mother, Cookie Crumbles, have been seen in the background on rare occasions, but they don't appear all that often which has led some to think that they either don't exist, or they are simply too busy to spend time with their daughters. I'd like to see them make more appearance especially with Rarity given their laidback lifestyle would clash with her fashionista/regal-like lifestyle.

 

Oh, and just so you all know, the names Hondo Flanks, and Cookie Crumbles, were what they were named in the MLP CCG.

[vanillapudding 44]

Haha I totally missed that cameo in Inspiration Manifestation. I was thinking they could have just become travelers and just aren't in Ponyville very often anymore, which would explain extended absences and why Sweetie Belle seems to basically live with Rarity on a full time basis. But it could also make an interesting story for fanfic writers if Rarity's parents ended up...well, not coming home from that vacation they took back in season two. (Somehow despite being a hardcore non-shipper I have come to really adore Rarity and Applejack in any capacity I can get it in...I have no idea how that happened.)

 

Though you guys did make me think about more family interaction. We now have families for most of the main cast (with Rainbow MAYBE having a parental appearance depending on who you ask) so they could totally do a mother/father's (parent's?) day kind of episode with the main six doing something for the ponies that raised them. I know it'd be really heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time to have AJ honoring Granny Smith, and I doubt they'd let her have more than a line towards her own missing parents...but that could be a really nice episode. Especially to have a chance to see Rarity interact with her own parents for a reason other than Sweetie Bell. But that might be too big an episode for 22 minutes. 

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,091]

The face Rarity makes when she finds out "vacation" meant permanent babysitter:

 

Edited December 12, 2016 by Rainblow H. Ash

[sweetolebob18 728]

They meet Twilight's parents every Friday night & go out for a movie.  IMO, it's possible Rarity's parents are retired & just go on a lot of vacations.  Sweetie isn't in all the episodes & she might be with her parents in the times we don't see her.  Or, maybe it was decided she should stay in school in Ponyville.

Edited December 12, 2016 by sweetolebob18

[snowflame 189]

They did not appear just in in Inspiration Mafifestation, you can see see Sweetie Belle's father outside their house fishing in One Bad Apple (and we Sweetie's room there). And they are in Hearth's Warming Tail both in the beginning and ending song briefly.

[cmarston1 5,959]

They probably just don't appear in the show for whatever reason Scootaloo's don't appear. Either that or they lost custody of Sweetie Belle, which made Rarity her legal guardian instead.