“...Ey, pops. You seein’ this shit? Your bastard son gave himself up.”
“...”
“Pops? Izanami on a bicycle man you’re getting more senile by the second. We can’t let him just blab all of our secrets to the feds. We should at least kill him ourselves for betraying the business.”
“...Don’t be reckless, child.”
“Of course not,” Tatsu chuckled as he tapped on his phone, “I just sent a text out to Ren. He can handle it way better than I could.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city…
Just as Twilight described, Fluttershy was busy near the mountainous range just outside of the city drawing up plans for what would be a future nature reserve with the help of some of her friends from school who volunteered.
“This is gonna be perfect,” she muttered in a quiet, yet excited tone, “A place where horses, deer, and moose can roam freely without fear of being shot at by hunters.”
Next to her, a horse gave a whinny of approval.
“Oh, of course, Sigfried. You’ll be super safe here,” Fluttershy replied to her equestrian friend while petting his mane. “And I’ll be sure to come by and take you out for rides as much as I can.”
“...How do you manage to remember all of your animal friends’ names, Fluttershy?” Wallflower Blush asked from nearby as she hammered some wooden stakes into the ground to form a fence. “I don’t think I could ever manage something like that.”
“I suppose it comes naturally,” she replied innocently with a giggle, “Eventually, you come to know them like they’re your human friends. Isn’t that right, Sigfried?”
The horse simply flicked its tail in response.
“That means yes.”
“...Impressive.”
Nearby, some of her friends were busy helping out in various ways. Including an unexpectedly motivated Diamond Tiara…
“Where…ngh…do you want this…bag of mulch…?” she asked in between strained grunts as she hoisted the large bag of wood chips on her back.
“...Goodness. Don’t hurt yourself, Diamond Tiara,” Fluttershy replied as she walked over to help her, “You’re not as strong as Applejack, you know.”
From nearby, one of the boys they knew from school, Sandalwood, grabbed the bag to literally take the weight off of her shoulders. “Here, lemme get that for ya.”
Once he took it, Diamond Tiara huffed and folded her arms with a pouty expression on her lip. “Hmph. I almost had it.”
“...Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked, “You’ve been trying to move a lot of heavy things around here lately. It’s concerning me.”
“I’m just trying to build up muscle, alright?” Tiara replied, “I…just wanna get stronger for the sake of the people I care about.”
“That’s very sweet of you,” she replied with a smile while patting Tiara on the head. “But you can’t get stronger if you hurt yourself. You have to ease into it before you put too much strain on yourself. Or at least, that’s what Rainbow Dash tells me.”
Tiara sighed and shook her head. “...Yeah. I guess I get what you mean. Still doesn’t make it any easier to cope with though. Knowing that the guy I like is out there fighting his ass off just for my sake…”
“Don’t think about it like that,” Fluttershy tried her best to console the girl. “Just focus on doing what you can do for him when he needs you. Keiji will like you back no matter what happens.”
Tiara paused for a moment, and blushed once she realized Fluttershy knew. “Y-yeah…well…whatever.”
Fluttershy then realized her phone was buzzing, and she had numerous missed texts from her friends informing her to check out the news.
“Hm?” she opened her phone and started to scroll through various news feeds… “Oh dear. I wonder what caused that to happen.”
“What’s going on?” Tiara asked, leaning over to check out what was on Fluttershy’s phone.
“One of the people who attacked our friends has turned himself in to the police,” she explained with a sympathetic tone, “I suppose he couldn’t bear the weight of his actions anymore and wanted to come clean. Poor kid…”
“Serves him right,” Tiara turned her nose up at the news, “Never should’ve tried to hurt us in the first place. Idiot.”
“Even so, we can’t judge until the court makes a decision,” Fluttershy explained, “Never make an assumption until you have all of the details. Come on, why don’t we take a break and rest our feet for a while, hm?”
Tiara sat down on the grass below. “I guess…it’ll help me relax and clear my head.”
Fluttershy then offered her a little rabbit to interact with. “Here. Petting bunnies have been clinically proven to reduce stress.”
“By whose study?” Tiara asked with a grin as she took the rabbit…and started to pet its ears, much to its delight as its tail swished about. “...wow. This does feel nice.”
“My own,” Fluttershy replied with a smile, “I’ve been working on my degree in animal science for a while now. I’m gonna make the world a better place for us all when I get older. And work on more humane methods for acquiring meat and fur.”
“That sounds pretty nice. I’ll be sure to grant you as much funding as you need,” Tiara added, “I’m gonna run this city when I get older--or at least take over from my mom and do better than her.”
“Well it’s good to know that you’ve got a supportive family and apply yourself,” Fluttershy nodded, then rolled her eyes. “...my brother on the other hand…”
Meanwhile, in front of Rainbow Dash's house...
“Nope. Get him outta here. I’ve given him too many chances. Take his ass to jail!”
“I didn’t know she was in the shower, honest! Officer, please have mercy on me--!”
Zephyr Breeze was shoved into the back of a cop car by a tall, dark-skinned man. “Oi. He's a pissy little tot, innit?”
“Tell me about it!” Rainbow Dash complained, standing there in her bath towel with her skin steaming from moisture, “I’ve tried time and time again but I don’t care anymore. He deserves what’s coming to him. Maybe this’ll get him to think twice before opening my window!”
“Calm yourself, little bird,” the officer replied as he wrote down the info for the report. “I’ll make sure he learns his lesson.”
Dash sighed with relief as the officer got in the car and drove off. “Whew…thanks, Officer Flash Drive.”
The entire time, Skeedaddle had rounded the corner and stared at the scene that had played out in front of him. To which Rainbow Dash stared back.
“...”
“...”
“...The next time you go to the mall and see me at the sporting goods store, I’ll spot you a free new pair of shoes if you don’t mention this to anyone. Deal?”
“Deal.”