It was a simple piece of ribbon really. Half red, half green. One look at it and Rarity would have insisted that it be thrown away and replaced with something with a little more sparkle, and after all, silk and lace were the height of popularity in Manehattan right now and the correct shade of periwinkle would be just darling with-
The point was, Rarity wouldn't appreciate it in the same way Rainbow did. But as she eyed the tattered old piece of ribbon, she admitted to herself that maybe it was because it didn't have any memories for Rarity...
Rainbow still remembered the day she first laid eyes on that piece of ribbon. It had been tied around one of Applejack's birthday presents. The present itself hadn't struck Rainbow as especially amazing. It was one of those old school portable CD players. Second hand, battered and, like the Apple family themselves, hilariously behind the times. Rainbow had been tempted to point out that A.J would do better with a proper mp3 player.
But she couldn't bring herself to say it. Applejack was never one to show off, but on this occasion she couldn't stop raving about her amazing CD player. Rainbow knew the Apples didn't have a lot of money, so this was likely all that Granny, Mac and Applebloom could afford for her. Nonetheless, Applejack was so proud of it, one would think they had given her a top of the range stereo system.
There was one advantage for Rainbow though. She hadn't been able to think of something to get for A.J, but the CD player inspired her. She cut class that afternoon to head into town to buy it. She had forgotten to get anything to wrap it in, but knowing how careful Applejack was about preserving things, she had sneaked into her bedroom and, sure enough, the red and green ribbon had been safely tucked away in her drawer.
She remembered how A.J had walked in to find Rainbow, still frantically tying the gift up. What followed was a lecture about how foolish it was to skip school and something about not breaking into other people's houses (Rainbow hadn't really been paying attention), but that all changed when she finally saw what Rainbow had bought for her.
It was a very simple thing really. It was a small cable that split in two. The idea was to allow two sets of headphones to be plugged into one socket at the same time. Rainbow stilled remembered how Applejack had hugged her. The two then plugged their own headphones (again, Applejack's were hopelessly out of date) into the CD player and spent the evening rocking out together. It probably would have lasted longer had Big Mac not come up to get A.J for her birthday dinner. Not that Rainbow minded. The Apples had naturally offered to let her join them and that was some of the best birthday cake she'd ever had.
After that, something of an unspoken tradition sprang up between them. Whenever one of them had a birthday, the other would give them a new CD, always wrapped up in that same red and green ribbon. A.J would run and get her CD player, Rainbow would get the headphone splitter, and the two would spend hours head-banging and air-guitaring together. Whoever's birthday it was, would then carefully store the red and green ribbon away, waiting for the other's birthday when it would again be brought out. It was probably the one possession that Rainbow had even taken genuine care of.
But the ribbon held other memories. Two of the most important happened one winter morning when the two girls were walking to school together. There was ice on the ground and Applejack wasn't paying attention. She slipped and fell heavily on her side. Rainbow wasn't worried. Applejack was used to rough work on the farm, she had new cuts and bruises practically every day. So a little fall would be something she would laugh off, right?
Not that day. That day was one of the only times in her life that Rainbow had ever seen Applejack cry. She didn't understand at first, not until Applejack pulled out the remains of the broken CD player from her pocket. A.J had spent the rest of the day at school unusually quiet and sullen. Rainbow had broken enough of her own stuff over the years to not care much about it. But seeing how Applejack was affected by this gnawed at her.
So once again, Rainbow ducked out of class. Once again she went into the town and once again she sneaked into Applejack's bedroom for that familiar piece of ribbon (to be fair, if Applejack didn't want Rainbow sneaking into her room, she shouldn't keep leaving the window unlocked, it was her own fault really).
Rainbow waited in that bedroom until Applejack came home, still rather puffy eyed and down in the dumps. After she saw Rainbow, another lecture about playing hookey followed, which once again came to a halt when she saw the item Rainbow had tied up in the red and green ribbon.
Rainbow had been tempted to buy A.J a proper mp3 player this time around, but when she had been at the music store it just felt wrong somehow. Besides, it would be a shame for all of their CDs to go to waste. And so she presented the new CD player. It was a little more expensive, brand new, no scratches and the sound quality was far superior (Rainbow hoped it would make all that country music a little more tolerable).
The first important memory of that day had been seeing Applejack cry. The second memory was the moment Applejack saw the gift wrapped in the red and green ribbon.
Because that was the moment just before Applejack kissed her.
A.J had sprang back, blushing and stammering out an apology, but that was quickly cut off when Rainbow kissed her back.
There were other memories as well. Their relationship had grown from that ribbon over the next few years, but it wasn't all paradise. There was a time when things had been rocky for them. In fact, there was a time when they had decided to break up.
Rainbow had been in Applejack's room again. They hadn't reached the point of moving in together or anything, but both had left things at each other's places. Rainbow was going through the CDs they had bought each other through the years, trying to figure out the best way to split them up. She was glad it was over really. She wouldn't ever have to set foot in this dusty room again. Stupid dust, making her eyes water.
The biggest problem with dividing up the things though was when it came to the music player. The player itself would go to Applejack of course, it had been a gift. And they would each keep their own headphones obviously. But what about the cable splitter? How do you split up something that's already designed to split things up? In that moment, Rainbow imagined what it would be like to never listen to tunes with A.J ever again. The dust made her eyes water again.
When Applejack got home that night, hoping Rainbow would already have come and gone, she found the girl lying on her bed, wearing that old red and green ribbon around her neck like a bowtie and...well, not much else really...
Yes that red and green ribbon had many memories for the two. So as Rainbow looked at it now, tied around that small box on the restaurant table, with Applejack down on one knee...
What else could she say but yes?