Everypony has taken note of the "rainbow eyes" in the epidodes Rarity Takes Manehattan and Rainbow Falls, but I feel like nopony has taken note of the similarities in the frame work of these episodes. So here I am to share my observations in the hopes of sparking conversation.

In list form, here's the framework the episodes are built around, which I'm posting seperate from the episodes themselves to make it easier to come back to later.

1. Failed Virtue:

The main character finds her virtue (that is, her Element of Harmony) put under duress, and she fails to uphold it.

2. Commitment to the Course:

The protagonist shows that she is commited to the choice she made in some fashion, showing this was more then a fleeting moment of weakness.

3. Realization (a.k.a. Rainbow Eyes):

The protagonist has some new piece of information presented to her, shedding her actions in a new light, accompanied with a rainbow sheen. She immediately decides to try and own up to her poor choice and try to fix it.

4. Momento:

Our lead pony is given a token of the experience, given to her by someone who learned something from her actions. This object is given a close up and a is shown with a rainbow sheen to end the episode.

Now, I'm sure you realize which moments I'm speaking of in each episode, except possibly for 3, but I'm noting them here anyway for completeness.

Rarity Takes Manehattan:

1. When Rarity gives a bolt of her specially made cloth to Surry, a comopetitor in a fashion competition, she finds herself looking like a copycat when her whole line is stolen. Desperate, she turns selfish and manipulative, coercing her friends into helping her make an entirely new line, knowing it's likely to cause them to miss the musical she'd originally given them tickets to as a gift.

2. She takes her new line to the fashion show, leaving her friends behind and asleep in the hotel room.

3. As her line is on display, clearly impressing the judges, Rarity notices her friends are missing. Though she seems to be likely to win the competition, all she cares about is what this victory may have cost her. She leaves in order to salvage the situation if she can.

4. Rarity makes it up to her friends by getting them an exclusive showing of the musical, which Surry's assistant shows up at to inform Rarity she won the competition and to thank her for showing her that it doesn't take ruthlessness to succeed. She mails Rarity a special spool of rainbow thread to end the episode.

Rainbow Falls:

1. As Rainbow Dash leads a team of pegasi from Ponyville to qualify for an event in the Equestrian Games, Soarin of the Wonderbolts gets injured in an accident. The Wonderbolts (eventually) invite Rainbow to fly for them. Though it seems a simple conflict between Dash's loyalty to Ponyville and her drive to win, it's further wieghted by her loyalty to Cloudsdale (where she was born and raised of course) and her dream of being a Wonderbolt. She fakes an injury to avoid choosing at all, making it an interesting double failure since she chooses to be loyal to neither side.

2. Taken to a hospital, Rainbow Dash is presented with irrefutable evidence that the Ponyville team is doomed to failure without her, in the form of Derpy Hooves, but stays commited to her lie anyway.

3. Soarin turns out to be her roomate, and she discovers the other Wonderbolts lied to the both of them, hoping to get Dash, the stronger flier, to fly for them. Dash owns up to her lie, calling out the Wonderbolts on theirs, and steps back into the Ponyville line up.

4. Impressed with Dash once again, Spitfire gives Dash a Wonderbolt pin, mentioning they have a lot to learn frim her.

There's more to both episodes of course, but I'm focused on the similar framework here.What I like about both of these episodes, and what made me see the pattern in the first place was their failure. They are not paragons of their virtues, they can indeed fall. But they come out the stronger for it, having learned something about their virtue they wouldn't have otherwise. Also, they both shift priorities even after showing commitment. An important lession that it's never too late to do the right thing.

Just as a sidenote, both episodes contained an alicorn in the background. Coincidence? I really, really hope so...