Rainbow Dash had heard part of the muffled conversation between Sweetie Belle and Sccotaloo and knew that this might be her only time to escape. Once those two started arguing they wouldn't be able to even notice anything else. The interior of the treehouse was small. Low roof, tiny windows, and a firmly locked door. Experimentally Rainbow stood on her hind legs and tapped her front hooves against the wooden wall. The weathered boards rattled slightly. Rainbow Dash smirked to herself. This would be easy. There wasn't any way to escape without completely destroying the treehouse, but it was the only solution. She flapped her wings a little to gain some lift and hit her head on the ceiling. "Ow..." she said loudly then froze. The two fillies outside had stopped talking. Had they heard her? If so there was no time to lose. Rainbow flapped her wings again to hover and started somersaulting in place while keeping her self in the air. She began to pick up speed, feeling little jolts of electricity spread across her. Faster and faster she flipped without touching the walls, ceiling, or floor. Rainbow was starting to get dizzy and with one final flip she smacked her hind hooves against the floor and flapped her wings rapidly. The treehouse exploded and she shot into the sky. She didn't see the looks on all the ponies below her in Ponyville, the shock and amazement that not only was Rainbow Dash was alright, but also she had pulled off yet another amazing trick.
Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Applejack were standing near the edge of Sweet Apple Acres and (aside from the four ponies below the treehouse) had the clearest view of Rainbow Dash's escape.
"Rainbow! She's ok!" Twilight threw her hooves around Applejack in joy. "She was here the whole time!"
"If that don't beat all..." Applejack said, a huge smile on her face turning into a grimace. "and I have and idea about a little filly that might be responsible fer that."
"Sweetie Belle and that little orange ruffian had their part in this as well I'm sure." Rarity replied. "Just wait until I get ahold of my sister... She is going to..." There was a loud thunk followed by a soft thud as Rarity fell to the ground, a wooden board lying across her face.
Twilight and Applejack were trying to revive Rarity when Big Mac and The Cutie Mark Crusaders stepped out of the orchard into the clearing. Applejack whirled around and glared at her little sister. "APPLE BLOOM! Did you know where Rainbow Dash was this entire time?"
The little filly looked at the ground. "Yessum. And I'm sorry! We didn't mean no harm by takin' her!"
"I'm sorry too Miss Applejack. "Sweetie Belle added as she poked a hoof into Scootaloo's ribs.
"Ow! Um I mean yeah I'm sorry too. Kinda."
Applejack looked like she was still going to lash out at the apologetic fillies so Big Mac intervened. "These girls were just trying their best to do good by a friend of yourn and they know they've done wrong so instead of makin' them feel worse why don't we try to find some way to make it up to Rainbow?"
"But they LIED Big Macintosh! I just can't abide lying, even more so when it was about somethin' so important!"
Twilight had finally managed to wake up Rarity, who was rubbing her very sore head. "Applejack.... be a dear and stop shouting, its making making me see strange streaks of light."
"You mean its making you see streaks of AWESOMENESS!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she skidded down out of the sky and into the clearing. "Don't blame them for keeping me locked up, I could have left at any time. I was just enjoying the attention thats all." Rainbow said nonchalantly as she examined a front hoof.
"If thats true, then why did you have to break our clubhouse?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Oh.. ah.. heh. Sorry about that."
"Well it looks like we've all learned yet another interesting thing about friendship." Twilight said.
Scootaloo rolled her eyes and muttered "of course she would say that." Sweetie Belle poked her again.
The rest of the ponies looked at Twilight in confusion. Finally Applejack spoke up. "Um Sugarcube? I know you have to make all them reports to the princess and such, but I don't really think anypony learned anything here."
"Of course we did!" Twilight countered. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders learned that ponyknapping is not the answer to um... wanting to help somepony. And I'm sure Rainbow Dash learned that destroying the property of somepony that was trying to help you isn't the right thing to do. Even if you are trapped inside that property. At least, I think thats what everypony learned here."
"Perhaps Twilight is correct," Rarity said. "And I think I have an idea on how these ponies can put this new lesson on friendship into practice.
~~~Two days later~~~
Apple Bloom carried a small tray of food and laid it on a table next to a hospital bed. Sweetie Belle put a glass of water next to it and lifted the cover off the food tray. "Mmmm sure looks yummy Mr. Breezy! Enjoy your meal!" The colt laying in the bed smiled at the little fillies and waved a bandaged hoof.
Nurse Redheart walked over with Scootaloo. "Now remember girls, Mr. Breezy hurt his hoof and can't feed himself so as junior nurses one of you have to do it. I believe its your turn Scootaloo."
"Yeah, yeah." The orange pegasus grumbled.
"Don't be so glum Scootaloo, I hear Rainbow Dash has a wonderful surprise for you girls after your shift is over."
"Really?" Scootaloo instantly perked up and started to spoon food into Mr. Breezy's mouth. "I can't wait!"
The three fillies rushed through the rest of their mandatory hospital volunteer work and started on their way to Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack met them at the main gate. "Ok girls, once you are ready to see your surprise just go on to where your old clubhouse was."
"Old clubhouse...?" Apple Bloom started to ask but the rest of her sentence was torn away in the gust of wind that Scootaloo created when she propelled her scooter and the wagon to top speed.
They arrived at the place where their treehouse had stood in a matter of seconds. But instead of the ruin of broken boards they had expected there was a brand new clubhouse made out of puffy white clouds. Rainbow Dash finished putting a few final touches on the cloud roof and flew over to the astonished fillies. "So, how do you guys like it? Its just temporary, the clouds won't last forever but I thought you could use it as a clubhouse until I can help you build a new one."
"Its so pretty!" Apple Bloom said.
"And awesome!" Scootaloo cheered.
"And white!" Sweetie Belle added.
Rainbow Dash laughed as the three small ponies started to explore their new cloud house. Scootaloo had already climbed to the top of the roof and was bouncing on the cloud. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle couldn't stop talking about how many rooms it had, though they were a little disappointed that only Scootaloo was able to use the cloud couch.