"...and then Rarity goes and starts talking about how much she cares about that stupid restaurant."
Fluttershy nodded. The array of animals around her nodded, too.
"I mean, the place was always deserted, so it's not just me that thought it sucked. And what kind of place needs mares to wear dresses? I've been to fancy restaurants in Canterlot that didn't tell me to wear a dress."
More nodding. Rainbow glanced around while she collected her thoughts. Birds of all colors perched on the clotheslines strung across the room. Several foxes had made the hearth in front of the fireplace their seat. A bear cub peered around Fluttershy's back.
"And it was just so... over-fancy. I couldn't pronounce half the menu. And the whole menu tasted terrible! The food was all mushy, too." Rainbow looked at her friend.
Fluttershy took a sip of tea and nodded.
"I don't know who owned that dumb restaurant, but they must have had the business sense of a brick. Actually, a brick knows how to be part of a decent building."
"I never went there. It always sounded too high-society to me," Fluttershy added.
"Exactly!" Rainbow stomped a hoof. "What was a place like that doing in Ponyville? It was begging to go bankrupt. But apparently this was the most important place in the world to Rarity."
Fluttershy took another sip. "It does sound like she was more attached to it than she should have been."
Rainbow let out a breath and smiled. "I knew you'd understand, Fluttershy."
She moved in for a hug, which Fluttershy returned. "I hope you two work things out, though." Her animals murmured their agreement.
Rainbow released her friend. "Oh, we'll be fine once she figures this out herself. I just have to wait this little drama episode of hers out."
Fluttershy looked away and her smile wavered for just an instant before it returned. "Yes, I guess you do."
"Thanks for listening, Fluttershy." Rainbow made for the door. "I feel better already." She took to the sky.
"Come back if you need me!" Fluttershy called after her.
---
Rainbow Dash had herself well-buried in Daring Do and the Hippogriff's Eye when she heard a voice calling her name below her house. She set down the book and flew to the edge of her patio to see a familiar pink shape below.
"Rainbow Dash! Hey, Rainbow!"
Rainbow landed on the edge, lay on her stomach, and peered over. "Pinkie Pie? What's up?"
"Rarity came to talk to me. Actually I went to talk to her. Actually I ran her over while she was being mad in town, but we talked about what happened." Pinkie's neck craned up to look at Rainbow.
"Awesome! And?" A wave of relief washed of Rainbow. Finally, Rarity had come to her senses.
Pinkie's look turned sour. "And she told me you were a big meanie-pants who doesn't like nice food!"
Rainbow reeled back. "What?"
"She also said you don't like nice dates. Or nice ponies. Or nice anything."
"I... Well, tell her that..." Rainbow thought for a moment. She shouted down, "Actually I don't care what you tell her!" She stood up, opened her wings, and leaned forward. "If you're not going to tell me she's sorry, I don't want to hear it!"
Rainbow turned and flew back inside.
---
A day passed. Rainbow lay on her bed, scouring her book, trying to push thoughts of Rarity from her mind. She visualized Daring Do trudging through the wastes of the Frozen North, and not Rarity yelling in her face. Then for the third time that day, Daring Do put a bag over her head to avoid looking directly at the Hippogriff's Eye. And Rainbow certainly didn't want a bag over her head that would make her not see Rarity snarling at her. A knock on the door interrupted her thorough reading.
She opened it to find Pinkie Pie hanging from a set of balloons.
"Rainbow, Rarity wants to know if you like nice things yet. Do you like nice things?"
Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. "Go away!"
Pinkie raised a hoof. "But..."
Rainbow reared up, opened her wings, and flapped them hard enough to send Pinkie spiraling into the distance with a call of, "Rainbooooow!"
Confident that Pinkie would be okay, Rainbow returned to the bed.
Three pages in her book passed before there was another knock on the door.
She looked up. "Pinkie Pie, I swear to Celestia, if that's you again I'm dropping you in the lake!" Rainbow stomped her way to the door and flung it open. But instead of a pink pony outside, she found a purple one.
"Rainbow?" Twilight Sparkle asked, worry tinging her voice. "What's going on between you and Rarity?"
"Don't you already know?" With a snort, Rainbow turned around and walked back towards her room.
Twilight followed her. "I want to hear it from you. Rarity's already told me her side of the story."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Great, her little tale is already in your head, so you get to come here and tell me how wrong I am."
"Tell me what happened, Rainbow," Twilight said in that Princess of Friendship voice of hers.
Rainbow entered her bedroom and turned to face her. "We got in a fight because she thinks a terrible restaurant shutting down is some world-ending tragedy."
"She told me you had your first date there, and that meant something to her." Twilight looked into Rainbow's eyes. "She thinks you don't care."
Rainbow turned away. "Don't care? She thinks I don't care?" She raised her voice at the room. "Do you really think I would be this mad if I didn't care?"
Behind her, she heard Twilight reply, "I know your first date meant a lot to you two."
Rainbow spun around. "How can you know that? How can you possibly know how much that date meant to us? You weren't there!"
Twilight closed her eyes and put on that little smile she always wore when she was winning a debate. "You're right, Rainbow. I wasn't there. But I know somepony who was." She opened her eyes again. "And you need to talk to her."
Rainbow hated it when she did that. She turned her head to the side. "I don't want to."
Twilight's tone turned to annoyance. "Do you plan on avoiding Rarity forever?"
"I just might."
Twilight's brow dropped. "The only way you two are going to resolve this is by talking to each other. And you are going to talk to each other."
Rainbow waved a wing. "Sheesh, fine, I'll talk to her if it'll make you shut up. But I'm only doing it once. And she'd better say she's sorry."
"Then follow me." Twilight led Rainbow out of her house and over Ponyville.
---
Rainbow and Twilight landed near the edge of town. From where she stood, she could see a familiar building, now stripped of its signage. Visible through its blank windows were only unadorned walls, bits of scrap metal, sawhorses, and the odd bucket.
Between them and the building Rarity sat with her back to the pair. She was slumped over on the curb with her ears drooped back. Rarity's coat didn't display the sheen it always did when she brushed it straight. Her mane, while not a complete mess, was certainly not how she normally wore it in public.
Rainbow looked around, but Twilight had already flown away. She grumbled, took a breath, and stepped forwards. As she approached, Rarity sighed. For some reason, Rainbow found herself having trouble keeping her anger up.
She sat next to Rarity and glanced over.
"What do you want?" Rarity asked without looking.
"Twilight showed up at my house, started lecturing, and the next thing I know I'm sitting here."
Rarity replied, "That must be why she insisted that I come back here."
Rainbow smiled for a second. "You know how Twilight gets."
There was half a minute of silence. The reply Rainbow expected didn't come. She shifted her weight a little. Rainbow decided she had to say it herself. "I just... I don't get it." She turned to Rarity. "Why was this place so important to you?"
Rarity looked up at the empty structure. "This is where we had our first date. This is where I really gazed into those... beautiful eyes of yours and thought about you that way. This is where I first seriously considered that I might want to be your marefriend. Our whole relationship began right here."
"But," Rainbow started, "that could have happened anywhere. We didn't need a fancy restaurant to do all that."
"It didn't happen anywhere," Rarity said, still looking at the building. "It happened here." She sighed. "I know you didn't like the Silver Horseshoe."
That surprised Rainbow. "Then what's the big problem?"
"I thought that you'd feel something about the place where we formed all those memories. And how it's gone now. Just like how you're going to be destroying your house once you move in."
Rainbow took a breath. "Rarity, the place never mattered to me. The food never mattered to me. The only thing that mattered to me was you. I only enjoyed our date because it was with you. The only reason I could stand to set hoof in there is because I knew you were inside."
She went on, "I... guess I can see why this place mattered to you so much. But to me? I don't care. I don't care where we date. I don't care where we hang out. I don't care where we live. As long as it's all with you. It's just..." She searched for words. "Nothing else really matters to me. Being with you means so much that everything else feels... pointless."
Rainbow steeled herself. She reached out, placed her hoof under Rarity's chin, and turned her head to face her own. Rainbow looked into Rarity's eyes. "Rarity... I love you."
A sharp intake of air accompanied Rarity's widening eyes.
Rainbow kept up eye contact. "Rarity, I said I love you."
Only the passing breeze made a sound.
"Come on, Rarity, don't leave me hanging." Rainbow forced a small smile.
"I-I love you too, Rainbow."
Rainbow lowered her hoof and let out a deep breath. "Whew. You had me worried there, babe. For a moment I thought you were going to—"
Her mouth found itself blocked by Rarity's. After an all too short time, it was freed again.
Rainbow smirked. "Hey, look on the bright side. You got to make one more memory here, right?"
"That I did." She smiled.
Rarity paused.
"And I must admit... the food here was not terribly high quality."
---
Rainbow Dash pushed the cardboard box closed. She unrolled the packing tape across the top, trying not to get a feather stuck in it this time. With a grunt, she picked up the box, carried it through her now-mostly-empty living room, and glided down to the ground below her old house.
Haphazardly, Rainbow set the box down on top of the pile of others she'd placed that day and turned to fly back up. A "Hey!" behind her interrupted Rainbow's ascent.
She turned to see Spike holding a book. Rainbow turned to land in front of him.
Silence filled the air for a moment too long. "Hey. What's up?" she asked.
He held the book out with one arm. "Twilight told me to give you this," he started with a tone that implied he did not entirely enjoy the interaction. "'For future reference,' she said."
Rainbow glanced from his face to the book's cover. On it was a picture of two ponies with their backs to each other over a dark blue background and a title in white: Different Similarities: Coming to Understand Your Partner Using Good Horse Sense.
A scowl crossed Rainbow face. "Gee," she told the book, "thanks, Twilight. Really appreciate it."
"Where do you want it?" Spike asked.
Rainbow's gaze briefly landed on a nearby lake before returning to Spike. "Just put it on a box." She waved a wing behind her. With firm steps, Spike walked past her, deposited the book, and walked away without another word.
Rainbow watched him shrink into the distance. She looked from him to the ground in front of her hooves and back.
"Spike, wait!" Her wings made catching up quick work. She landed next to him and walked alongside.
"What now?" He still faced ahead.
"Uh, thanks for the book." It wasn't Spike's fault he had to give her that dumb thing, she supposed.
"Yeah, sure."
Rainbow could see the fists at Spike's side. She thought for a moment, not breaking her stride. "Hey, how about I get you a cupcake over at Sugarcube Corner?"
Spike stopped in his tracks. With a much nicer expression than he'd worn so far, he looked into Rainbow's eyes. "Really?"
A smile pushed its way onto Rainbow's lips. "My treat."
Spike's brow dropped a bit. "Okay, but I'm still mad at you." Before Rainbow could respond, he turned and scampered towards the store.
Her smile faltered and she sighed through her nose. It wouldn't be as simple as buying him off, she supposed.
---
"Heya, Spike! Heya, Rainbow!" Pinkie Pie called over the counter. "What can I get you two?"
Little claws pressed themselves against the glass. "I'll have a Volcanic Inferno cupcake with the crushed fire rubies sprinkled on top, extra hot!"
The thought of tasting that thing again made Rainbow's tongue burn. "I'm cool, thanks," she added. "Put it on my tab."
With an "Okie dokie!" Pinkie disappeared behind the counter. Seconds later, she reappeared with Spike's order. "There you go." She pushed the cupcake into Spike's waiting claws before looking between him and Rainbow with a smile.
Rainbow found her way to a table in a corner and Spike sat down across from her. With a chomp of his teeth, he took a chunk out of the cupcake, followed up with a lick of his lips.
"How is it?" Rainbow asked.
Spike had lifted the cupcake halfway to his mouth again. He set it down and dropped his hands to the table. "Just say it."
"Say what?"
He looked her in the eye. "That this is about Rarity."
Rainbow grimaced. "Uh..."
"Why her? Why you? Why any of this?" He banged his hands on the table, nearly knocking the cupcake over.
The gazes of more than a few ponies landed on Rainbow. She glanced between them. "How about we go for a walk?" Not waiting for an answer, Rainbow stood and made for the door.
Outside, she glanced behind her to see that Spike had thankfully followed, cupcake in his hands. Rainbow mentally searched for something to say.
Instead, Spike started the conversation for her. "I don't know what she sees in you. You're not anything alike."
Eyes widening, Rainbow stopped in her tracks long enough for Spike to pass her. "Hey wait a second, we got lots in common," she said, hurrying to catch up.
Spike kept talking, "But that doesn't stop her. Whenever we're talking about something and she's about to mention you, she stops and changes the subject. I know what she's doing; she's trying to spare my feelings. But it only makes things worse."
A pause passed long enough for Spike to take a bite of a cupcake. "Have you seen the way she lights up when you enter the room? She never looked like that for me. And you! What would somepony like you see in her?"
Rainbow's pace faltered. "Well, first of all, she's really—"
The remains of the cupcake aided in Spike's gesturing. "And what can Rarity possibly see in somepony like you?"
That elicited a grunt. "Okay, can I talk yet?"
A glare was her only answer.
Rainbow took a breath to steady herself. "Look. I can't tell you exactly why I love her, much less the other way around. All I know is that seeing her happy makes my day. And when she's upset..." Rainbow sighed. "There's not a stunt or trophy in Equestria that'll make me feel better."
Spike kicked the dirt. "Yeah, right. You're all so snuggly with that wing thing you do and your agreeing on everything all the time."
Memories of the Silver Horseshoe flashed through Rainbow's mind. "Now that isn't true. How do I put this... There's a lot we don't see eye to eye on. Some little stuff and some pretty big." She looked down. "But I try my best to listen. Or I should." Her voice dropped nearly to a whisper. "Geez, Rarity, it meant a lot, didn't it?"
"Huh?" Spike's gaze caught her attention.
"Nothing." She spotted a familiar shape coming her way. "Oh, hey!"
"Rainbow, dearie, there you are." Rarity glanced at Spike for just an instant before clearing her throat. "I've been having a talk with Twilight about some... recent events."
"Ugh." Shoving the rest of the cupcake into his mouth, Spike turned and walked away.
Moving to Rarity's side, all Rainbow could think to say was, "I tried."
Rarity watched him go. "The poor thing. I've tried to explain, but he just won't listen. He'll understand some day."
A wing laid itself across Rarity's back. "I hope so." Rainbow bumped into her. "Can't say I blame him," she added with a smile. "So what'd you talk to Twilight about?"
"Do you see that park over there?" A nod of Rarity's head directed Rainbow's attention.
In the center of town stood several lush oak trees, surrounded by grass. A small group of foals ran around their trunks, playing a game of tag. Benches around the perimeter provided seating for the parents looking on. There was something familiar about it, but Rainbow couldn't quite place what.
Rarity answered the silent question: "That is where Twilight's treehouse used to be."
The wing across Rarity's back went limp. "Oh. Oh geez. I almost forgot about that."
"It rather puts the Silver Horseshoe and your home into perspective." Rarity's head tilted towards Rainbow.
One young colt tagged another. "No kidding," Rainbow added.
"They are just places, after all." A sigh. "Nothing there that can't be replaced. Or brought closer." The warmth of Rarity's body pressed against Rainbow. "Except for the fond memories. But nothing can take those away."
"I am going to miss my house. A little." Ahead of the pair, an argument erupted among the foals. From what Rainbow could pick out, the dispute centered around the legality of the tag-back rule.
Rarity chuckled. "I still have the chance to visit it one more time. I'll help you pack."
Rainbow Dash and her marefriend left the foals to their devices. "Sure thing, babe."