“She mentioned it over lunch at Sugarcube Corner,” Fluttershy said from where she squatted in front of her cottage, gardening. Every so often, she would dig a hole in the ground with a garden shovel, spit the instrument out, and continue. “As soon as the words left Rarity's mouth, I-I knew that it had to be a total fabrication.” Her eyes darted up to Rainbow. “Your fabrication.”
“Uh huh,” Rainbow murmured from where she hovered above the bees and rose bushes.
“But I didn't think it was harsh or out of character for Rarity,” Fluttershy said. “I've always known that she was a gossip. I've come to accept it about her.” She dug a bit more at the garden and smiled to herself. “As a matter of fact... heehee... I think it's a really cute quality of hers, especially since I'm not so great at gossiping myself. Uhm... n-not that I would ever want to...”
“You didn't, like, get mad at her or something?”
“Huh?!” Fluttershy looked up. Her joints trembled. “Of course not! I-I could never be mad at any of my friends!”
“Not even me?”
“Well...”
“Heh...” Rainbow rolled her eyes and faced the cottage with a smirk. “Let's not go there.”
“If anything, Rainbow, I was too busy thinking about the implications of what Rarity said to be shocked,” Fluttershy said. She reached into a tiny wagon and grabbed a flower, dropping it into the freshly dug hole before patting the earth in around it. “I mean, what could ever have gotten into her head that you had a coltfriend?”
“I... uh...” Rainbow Dash gulped. “I-I may have kinda sorta lied to her...”
Fluttershy gave the mare a double-take. “You... you m-mean you made it up?!”
Rainbow was already wincing. “.....yyyyyyeah?”
“Rainbow, what were you thinking?!”
“I wasn't thinking a whole lot, obviously.”
“That is a poor, poor excuse!” Fluttershy frowned briefly. She winced, then sighed. “Ohhhhh Rainbow, I really don't get you at times.”
“Really? Join the club.”
“No, I'm really... really serious.” Fluttershy swiped the dirt and sweat off her brow and stood up, staring up at her. “Up until now, you've gone through such incredible lengths to keep your feelings secret from your friends. I've always been fine with it, most especially because—in spite of it all—I and I alone have had the privilege of holding your word in strictest confidence. A lie of omission is still a lie—but I've always sympathized with your reasons for secrecy. But—now—to think of you actually fibbing to... to...”
“To establish bull hockey?”
“—to throw ponies off?!” Fluttershy gulped. “Rainbow Dash, we're your friends! If you can't trust us, then who can you?”
“Fluttershy, what we have is special!” Rainbow said. “What we all have is special! I know I may not show it all the time, but I really... really dig having friends!” Rainbow was pacing in mid-air by now. She hugged herself and shuddered. “I just... j-just don't want to do anything that might soil or ruin that!” She glanced over. “I don't wanna rain on our parade!”
“And just how would you possibly do that?!”
Rainbow Dash simply stared at Fluttershy, biting her lip.
Fluttershy blinked. Her ears folded as she leaned back with a sigh. “Rainbow, what you have is—without a doubt—the truest and most sincere love I've ever seen.”
“But it's still love,” Rainbow Dash murmured, shivering slightly. “And... and...” She squirmed in mid-air. “...sometimes you really c-can't afford to love when you really want to... especially with the kind of love that you have. It's too awkward of a thing... it's a burden.”
Fluttershy gasped. “Rainbow...!” She slowly shook her head in disbelief. “How could you possibly—?”
“Being friends means knowing how to sacrifice, right?” Rainbow gulped. “Well, I know what I gotta sacrifice.”
Fluttershy stared at her. She produced a melancholic sigh, hanging her head. “Whenever this happens... whenever this rears its sad little head...” She sniffled. “I always realized that I'm the one to blame.”
Rainbow did a double-take. “Huh?! What?! You?!”
Fluttershy couldn't bear to look at Rainbow. “All those years ago... I rejected you.” Another sniffling. “And that has to be it.”
“Awwwww dang it, Fluttershy—”
“That has to be the reason for why you're always punishing your precious little self, even to this day—”
Rainbow had already flown down to place her hooves on Fluttershy's shoulders. “Fluttershy, I hold absolutely no grudge against you!” She smiled warmly. “Yeah, things got rocky back in the day—but I know now that it was totally my fault!”
“Rainbow—”
“No! For real! Hear me out!” Rainbow Dash stroked her bangs back and smiled. “What you gave me was a wake-up call. I wanted something more out of our friendship, but all you wanted was friendship. Of all the moments you could have chosen to be assertive about what you wanted or didn't want—you chose the right dang moment. Y'know?” Rainbow grinned. “I may have been sore then, but I was just being an idiot. Today, I couldn't be prouder of anypony than I am of you.”
She looked up with glossy eyes. “...really?”
Rainbow smiled. She leaned in and nuzzled Fluttershy. “In my head... and in my heart, Fluttershy...” She gulped and whispered, “You'll always be my first love. I'd rather dive straight into cement than lie to you.”
Fluttershy's eyes shifted. “Uhm...”
“Hmm? What is it?”
She stared up at Rainbow Dash. “Couldn't you, then, be the same to the rest of us?”
“Be the same what?”
“Honest, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy murmured. “To your friends.” She gulped. “And most especially to Applejack.”
Rainbow Dash clammed up.
“It's her element after all,” Fluttershy said. “I know you must be so afraid, Rainbow Dash—afraid of what will happen when you finally let us all know your feelings, especially her. But don't you think that would be for the best?” Fluttershy cocked her head to the side. “Don't you think that—someday—you and Applejack, at the very least—would have something just as special as you and I do?”
Rainbow Dash stepped back, biting her lip.
Fluttershy flinched. “Oh, Rainbow. Forgive me. I-I didn't mean to insinuate that nothing will ever happen between—”
“No, Fluttershy, it's... it's c-cool...” Rainbow gave her a weary smile. Her ears folded back as she sighed. “Some things are just... r-really friggin' hard to sacrifice.” She gulped and began hovering away from the cottage. “Especially when I know... I know... that what I 'have' now is far more special than what I could ever share with Applejack for real...”