During the montage of Rarity watching Spike spending time with Gabby, she spies on them sharing a milkshake, and Gabby holds out the cherry from her milkshake for Spike to eat it from her claw, a very romantic and suggestive gesture.
Fluttershy suggests that Rarity should let Spike know how much she "appreciates" having him in her life. Cut to Spike sleeping, when suddenly he's woken up by Rarity, who has climbed onto his bed and is standing over him with a huge grin.
Alternate Aesop Interpretation: It could be seen as a cautionary tale to not wait too long to pursue a relationship with someone, and that if the two of you like each other you should act on it. If not, you risk the person moving on and/or finding someone else, which could render your chances at a Relationship Upgrade being gone for good. Even though Rarity and Spike manage to patch things up in the end, now there's a Third Wheel in their relationship and it will likely never be the same again.
Alternative Character Interpretation: There's a lot of ways Rarity's behavior can be read. The episode's resolution is framed as her needing to accept that Spike has friends besides her. However, the episode glosses over that she very often takes advantage of Spike's crush on her to get him to do things for her. From the scenes of the rest of the Mane Six filling in for Spike, it's gotten to the point where Rarity can't even do her daily errands without Spike doing the heavy lifting — literally. Does this mean that she's not nearly as generous as she thinks she is? Did she notice what was happening but not care until it inconvenienced her? Did she think it was okay up until Spike complained about it? Or is this merely her not noticing how much she needs to show her appreciation?
Spike and Rarity's trip locations. A crevasse full of gems and the pony equivalent of Comic-Con.
Gabby's reports on Gallus to Grandpa Gruff.
Now that Gabby is staying in Ponyville full-time to report on Gallus, what will her life be like? Is she visiting the CMC as an official member?
Rarity is now an O&O player.
Harsher in Hindsight: With Rarity obsessing over and essentially stalking Spike, a child, for the majority of the episode, it becomes this after a Bronycon staff member was exposed as a pedophile. It doesn't help when Dragon Dropped includes a scene with Rarity bribing Spike with convention tickets
Hilarious in Hindsight: Rarity sadly looking to her reflection on a mulfaceted gem is similar to a scene from Van Ripper's popular Sparity fancomic adaptation of the fanfiction Like Fine Wine, which also examines Spike and Rarity's relationship.
The episode does touch on Rarity realizing she should let Spike know how much she appreciates his time, but in practice, she just starts bribing him to spend time with her. It's less that she learns a lesson and more that she just finds a new way to maintain what she already had. However, the point is made that Rarity doesn't miss Spike just for his help and attention, but she genuinely enjoys his company.
On top of that, realizing just how much she depended on Spike for her daily errands should result in her showing how she handled them before the show's premiere. She instead resorts to pulling a Replacement Goldfish due to being too used to having help.
Instead of spending the entire episode having to constantly choose between one friend or the other, neither Rarity nor Gabby nor even Spike bothered to suggest having the three of them hang out at once.
Unexpected Character: No one suspected that Gabby would show up in this episode.
, which also examines Spike and Rarity's relationship.