Fluttershy worried momentarily that she was finding this whole situation amusing for dark, mean reasons, and she was secretly still upset about the way everything had gone. But no, she reminded herself: Rainbow Dash was up in the early morning trying to mentally prepare for a private, all-day seminar about the importance of macaroni art. That was just objectively funny.
Rainbow grimaced and sipped her espresso. "I mean, I do feel bad," she said. "I totally left her out to dry when she was just trying to help. But I didn't know she was going to insist on... this."
Rarity looked at Rainbow in concern. "I just have a hard time understanding how even she could talk about macaroni art for eight hours," she said.
"She gave me the schedule," Rainbow replied wearily. "An hour on glue, an hour on refrigerator hanging. Two hours on just 'respecting the construction paper.'"
"Oh yes," Fluttershy said, nodding sagely. "You have to respect the construction paper."
Rainbow glared. "Hardee har har." She gulped down the rest of her espresso. "Okay, I have to go. Wish me luck." She turned, then looked over her shoulder. "Oh, Rares. I don't really remember everything I did, so let me know if I gotta make anything up to you, all right? I'm probably going to be on this apology tour for a while."
"I'm fine, Rainbow, but thank you," Rarity said. "Say hello to Pinkie for us."
"Will do." Rainbow hesitated. "...see you around, Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Yes. Maybe... come by my cottage afterwards, if you're not too sleepy? Moon Dancer and I were going to go to the bookshop. You can come with us, if you want."
"Yeah." Rainbow smiled confidently, but Fluttershy could tell she was relieved, too. "I'll do that. Okay, bye." She darted off into the sky.
Fluttershy and Rarity gathered the coffee cups and began on their way to the place the path split between Carousel Boutique and the castle. They walked in silence for a few moments.
"Thank you for getting coffee with me," Fluttershy said finally.
"Oh, of course, I love a break in the mornings," Rarity replied. She grinned. "I'm so glad to see you and Rainbow getting along again."
Fluttershy nodded appreciatingly.
Rarity's grin became an outright smirk. "You thought she had a crush on you."
"Eep!" Fluttershy nearly dropped the coffees she was balancing on her back. "No! I... thought she MIGHT. ...Is that okay?"
"Yes, darling." Rarity smiled wistfully at her friend. "I thought she did, too. She probably does, even if it's not romantic."
Fluttershy blushed, but she nodded. "Maybe. I might have that kind of crush on her, too." She paused, looking down at the ground for a moment. "Rarity, do you ever worry about the things she was saying? About us not being friends when we get special someponies?"
Rarity faltered a half-step but quickly recovered. "Well... I'm lucky, I suppose," she said. "It isn't really a problem for me. I get so enthusiastic for romance and intrigue, I can integrate that into my friendships, but some ponies can't really do that so easily."
"Is that why you get so excited about talking about Moon Dancer? So we could still be friends even after I started dating?"
"Fluttershy, I get excited about Moon Dancer because she is charming, because she is good to you, and because she is letting your brother and myself give her a makeover. But even if she wasn't so wonderful, I'd probably try my best."
"I think you'd probably like anypony I dated."
Rarity smiled. "Maybe so. But I'm still quite grateful to you for making it so easy."
Fluttershy gave a blushing smile back. She had meant it to just be a blush, but the smile came so easily, it just appeared on its own.
"Twilight?" Moon Dancer was always hesitant to interrupt her employer's conversations with Starlight, but she seemed quickly encouraged by their welcoming expressions. "Um, I forgot to tell you, I had a chance to interview your friend in the Everfree last week. The zebra."
"Oh yes!" Twilight said happily, before noticing her friend's wavering tone. "What's wrong, was she unhelpful?"
"No! ...no. She's probably the best source I've ever encountered for Everfree plant life. And she was very kind and welcoming." Moon Dancer scratched the back of her head. "It's just... uh... what's with the rhyming?"
"Oh. Yeahhhhh, I don't know." Twilight blinked, suddenly alarmed. "Wait, you didn't say anything about it, did you?"
"Of course not!" Moon Dancer exclaimed. "I just... I couldn't tell if it was a deeply important zebra cultural norm, or some kind of unfortunate psychological compulsion." She frowned crossly. "And she rhymed 'lichen' with 'liken,' which... I don't know, it seems like a cheat to me."
"Huh, that's actually hard," Starlight said. "Piken. Riken. Biken. Oh, biking?"
"Spiking!" Spike declared, strolling into the room. He pointed back over his shoulder. "Hey, MD, Fluttershy's here with some coffee for you."
Fluttershy poked her head through the doorway. "Actually, it's for everypony?" she said. "I mean... if you want it." She crept in, a tray of coffees on her back. "We all just had to stay up so late over the weekend, I thought you might want some."
"Wow, thanks so much!" Twilight enthused, levitating a cup towards herself. "I'll never say no to coffee."
"Yeah," Starlight agreed, taking one of the coffees. "Though, when you think about it, we basically did all have a three-day weekend."
Moon Dancer gave Fluttershy a quick smooch and took the last cup. "Is this going to be a regular thing? Stopping by to keep me from getting too buried in my work? I won't complain."
Fluttershy smiled. "Maybe."
They all took a savoring sip, appreciating the taste and the company in silence.
"Oh," Starlight said with genuine innocence. "How did your date go? You guys got to have it, right?"
Before she even finished speaking, Moon Dancer and Fluttershy were both fire-engine red. They continued reddening. "It went well," Moon Dancer said. Fluttershy just nodded vigorously, her mouth and eyes shut tight.
Twilight checked that Spike was indeed perplexed by the couple's behavior, and she noted with some dismay that Starlight seemed equally baffled. "I'm glad," Twilight said simply.
Starlight looked back and forth among the ponies in the room. "Um, am I missing something? Why..."
"Hey!" Moon Dancer interrupted. "On a very deliberately different note, I just realized something. This Rainbow Dash thing was an actual, real-life Elements Of Harmony Friendship Crisis, wasn't it?"
"Um, I don't reaaaally know if that's a thing," Twilight said. "It was just... some ponies working out issues. It's not special or magical, any moreso than any other friendship event, anyway."
"No no, she's right," Starlight argued, always jumping at any opportunity to demonstrate her friendship expertise. "This sort of thing happens around here a lot."
"Right," Moon Dancer agreed, nodding. "And so, there has to have been a moral, right?
"A moral?"
"Yeah, like in the book! A lesson!" Moon Dancer seemed absolutely delighted. "Come on, friendship specialist, what did we learn?"
Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Are you making fun of me?"
But Starlight stepped up. "Oh, I can do this. Um... 'As you get older, friendships require more effort... they aren't just default anymore. So you have to prioritize them.'"
"I think it's more about trust," Twilight said, shaking her head. "Something about, 'You should talk to your friends instead of stewing about it if you have a problem.'"
They all thought in silence for a moment.
Spike raised his claw. "'It's perfectly okay to eat food you find on the ground.'"
Twilight narrowed her eyes further. "That is not the moral, Spike."
Fluttershy closed her eyes and announced, "'Aye-ayes might seem creepy and strange, but they're actually very sweet creatures.'"
Twilight sighed. "I'm not so sure you guys are taking friendship studies very seriously."
"'Dear Princess Celestia,'" Moon Dancer said, "'Fluttershy is cute.'"
"Guys!" Twilight stomped her hoof in frustration. "Don't make fun of friendship lessons!"
They all looked around at each other, only Fluttershy with the decency to look ashamed.
"Okay," Moon Dancer said, "That works. 'Don't make fun of friendship lessons.'"
Starlight and Spike snorted with laughter, and Fluttershy giggled softly.
Twilight flew dramatically into the center of the group and landed amongst them with a thud. "No," she growled. "I'm the princess of friendship, and here's our lesson: 'Your old pal from school might move to town, and as a result all your other friends might start to get reaaaaaally sarcastic.'" She held her glare for one more second before breaking into a warm grin. "'But she's pretty great anyway.'"
Fluttershy beamed. "I like that." She leaned in and kissed Moon Dancer on her blushing cheek, but then she stopped and looked at Twilight with diffidence. "I mean... the Moon Dancer part. Not the sarcasm part."
Twilight blinked. "Yeah. I... got that. I didn't think you.... yeah. I was trying to say something nice, but it might have been..."
"Oh, no no," Fluttershy sputtered. "I knew that! I just didn't want to..."
Moon Dancer took a step back. "Is this my fault?"
Starlight started walking nervously in place. "I think it might be my fault."
Twilight cringed. "No, I was the one who..."
"Hey!!" They all turned in surprise to see Spike standing with his claws on his hips. "Sheesh, you guys can't have one good moment without awkwarding it all up, can you?"
They all looked at him in silence. Suddenly, slowly, Moon Dancer started to chuckle. Twilight joined in, and soon all the ponies in the room were laughing, probably much harder than was warranted.
Spike looked around at the ponies around him in confusion. "I don't really get what's funny," he said. "This is nicer, but it's still pretty weird."
Moon Dancer wiped tears from her eyes and leaned against Fluttershy with obvious glee. "That sums us up pretty well, I think," she said.