Fluttershy was standing knee-deep in dirt as Rainbow Dash packed more soil around her legs.
"Don't sweat it Fluttershy! There's no way I'd let a friend whither and die after my failure left them transformed into a plant. You can bet your bottom branch that I'll be by your side protecting you from this day forward."
"Umm...Rainbow Dash, I'm not exactly a-" Fluttershy started.
"TREES DON'T TALK!"
"Oh. Sorry," Fluttershy hung her head in defeat as Rainbow Dash got out a watering can and poured it out on the newly placed dirt.
"Miss Rainbow Dash!" called a far off high pitched voice.
Rainbow Dash dropped the watering can and stood protectively in front of Fluttershy. "Who is there? What do you want?"
"We are the Cutie Mark-"
"Oh no you don't! What are you trying to do now? Get a lumberjack Cutie Mark by chopping down an innocent tree? Not happening! Least not this one."
"But we're not the Cutie Mark Crusaders anymore," explained Apple Bloom.
"We are the Cutie Mark Corporate Lawyers!" chimed in Sweetie Belle. "And actually, we're not here for your tree. We're just here to notify you that the Apple Family is taking legal action against you."
"Oh okay then-wait WHAT?! What the hay is going on here?"
"As you can see," the three cutie mark corporate lawyers turned around so that the cash symbols on their flanks were clearly visible
"This morning we have received our cutie marks-"
"Oh girls!" Fluttershy piped up with a smile. "Now that is truly something to be proud of-"
"-in corporate law!"
"...oh dear."
"Yeah, okay. So what does that have to do with the Apple Family deciding to go and sue me? I can't believe that Applejack and Big Macintosh would agree to something like this."
"They didn't," clarified Apple Bloom "It was Granny Apple Smith."
"WHAT? Why?"
"Because the blast caused by your recent Sonic Rainboom has effectively turned the entire apple crop into mush."
"I was saving the entire town from a dangerous missile!"
"That is irrelevant to the case in question. Your actions, intentionally or not, have pushed the Apple Family to the brink of bankruptcy."
Rainbow Dash pulled at her own mane in frustration "I can't believe Granny Apple Smith would resort to these kind of low tactics, even with the threat of extreme poverty!"
"They were gonna put me in a home!" Granny Smith wailed as she rolled past in her electric wheelchair.
"Yeah Dashie, seriously, have some heart!" Pinkie Pie advised as she hopped out of a passing ambulance "I visited Granny Pie at a home once and the food was yucky-gucky. I mean, I still managed to eat it all because I covered it in hot sauce, but that's besides the point," Pinkie Pie hopped off without further explanation.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she pranced back to Fluttershy's side. "I don't care if you sue me, I won't have anything left soon anyways. Since Fluttershy was turned into a tree by the bioterrorism attack, I've decided to quit my job as a weather pegasus, so I've got no income for you to take. Whacha gonna do now?"
"Hmm..." Sweetie Belle scratched her head "I know!" Her eyes narrowed mischievously "Since you don't have any income for us to take, we'll just start repossessing your possessions," she pointed a hoof at Fluttershy "Starting with your precious tree-friend."
Rainbow Dash gasped "You-you wouldn't dare!"
"We'll see," Scootaloo smirked as the three turned around and started trotting away.
Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth in frustration before yelling out after them "Just wait 'til I get accepted into the Wonderbolts! They'll have a legal team far more competent than you clowns!"
Apple Bloom turned around and laughed "Wonderbolts? If you couldn't make it in before, how do you think you'll make it in now that you're gonna be stuck next to a tree all day?"
She turned and trotted off again. Rainbow Dash's head fell. Fluttershy's heart melted with sympathy and she pulled a hoof out of the dirt to give Dashie a reassuring pat on the back
"Oh Dashie, I'm so sorry. You really don't have to do all this for me. You need to chase your life dreams, be a weather pegasus, join the Wonderbolts, please, I want my Dashie to be happy."
Rainbow Dash wiped the tears from her eyes and shook her head. "No!" she wrapped her arms around Fluttershy with affectionate fierceness "No! I'll never leave you! I don't care what the price of protecting you is! It's worth it to me! It's worth all of it and so much more. Besides, chasing dreams without my Fluttershy there would be...chasing emptiness."
Fluttershy's heart was struck with a bolt of sentiment that was more wondrous than any Wonderbolt could ever be. Her cheeks turned the color of her pastel-pink mane. Friendship was magic, but the other-worldly loyalty of Rainbow Dash, even a highly delusional Rainbow Dash, was something more.
More than magic…what could it be?