//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Fish in a Barrel // Story: Fluttershy's Animal Adventures // by Darkmyster //------------------------------// As Celestia raised the sun over the sleepy town of Ponyville, Fluttershy yawned and stood up from the guest bed. She looked around recollecting the night before, having to sleep over at Twilight’s due to Ponyville’s strict night watches from the Police Ponies and the Wonderbolts. She sniffed the air and smelled fresh orange juice and muffins coming outside of the room. She walked into the kitchen, watching Twilight, Spike, and even Toothless all making a healthy breakfast to start off their day. “Good morning Fluttershy, sorry for not waking you up, we thought you should sleep a few more minutes before we came to wake you,” Twilight said as she used her magic to place some plates and cups around the kitchen table. Trying her best to remember what she was going to say to Twilight, Fluttershy was quickly distracted as she laughed as Toothless tried to help around the kitchen, but to no avail. She picked up Toothless and placed him at the table, as Twilight and Spike placed the breakfast banquet in the middle of the table. Finally, Fluttershy remembered what she was going to ask Twilight that plagued her mind all night long, “Twilight, I was wondering, even if we could get Toothless’ Mother to come to us, how will she get there without grabbing attention from not only the Police, but also the Wonderbolts?” Twilight sipped a bit of her orange juice before she could answer Fluttershy’s question, “You don’t have worry about that Fluttershy, I already have a plan for distracting the Police and the Wonderbolts, but it’s going to require the help from two of our other friends to make this possible” Fluttershy watched as Toothless ate his fish and walked over to Fluttershy and took a nap near her on the table. Fluttershy could not resist but to pet him as he slept as Twilight continued on with her speech, “So anyways here is the plan: Fluttershy, remember what you said about Toothless and him only eating fish?” “Yes I do remember Twilight, but what does that have to do with luring in his mother?” Fluttershy asked as she wondered why she would bring up that small detail, “It’s simple, whatever species of dragon Toothless and his mother belong to, their diet may choose fish over gems unlike Spike,” As Twilight made her hypothesis, Fluttershy looked over and saw Spike enjoy his bowl of gems he was gorging down his stomach, “So I need you to go back home, grab as much fish you can, and bring it over to the open fields of Sweet Apple Acers, while I go over to Rarity’s Bouquet and ask her to make a quick outfit for us,” Fluttershy looked perplexed at Twilight once more, “Why do we need a dress for this plan Twilight?” “It’s not a dress Fluttershy, it’s an outfit that looks similar to Toothless, but way bigger, I already have one pony in mind who can put on the disguise and lure away the Wonderbolts before they catch a glimpse of Toothless’ Mother” “This plan sounds dangerous Twilight, who would put on the disguise and get fast enough away from the Wonderbolts?” “Why none other than our loyal friend, Rainbow Dash” “Ok then Twilight, I’ll head back home and grab all the fish I can, but what is this plan called then?” “The name of the plan is…Operation Fish in a Barrel!!!” “Oh that sounds…interesting Twilight, what time do we need to be over at the open fields?” “Around 9 when the sun goes down and starts to get dark, by then, it will be time to put this plan into action,” As Twilight finishes up her breakfast, Spike comes over and grabs all the plates and places them in the sink, “Don’t worry about Toothless, Fluttershy, he will be taken care by Spike as we get this plan into motion, right Spike?” “Yeah Twilight, Me and Toothless will be great for the rest of the day, its been a long time since I had any fun with another dragon,” said Spike as he carried Toothless into the other room and both started to play together. “See Fluttershy, things will turn out good, so long as we stick to the plan,” As Twilight headed into the main room of the library, Fluttershy remembered her part of the plan, got whatever she brought with her and began to head towards the door before she looked back and saw how much fun Toothless was having with Spike. She knew that this was all for him and his chance to reunite with his mother. As the sun began to set behind the mountains, Fluttershy flew with a wagon full of fish all stacked full inside 5 barrels, avoiding a few Wonderbolts who were flying in her direction, two of them stopped Fluttershy as both Pegasi floated in mid-air, “You there, don’t you know it’s almost night time?” “I’m so sorry sir; I was just getting these barrels to my friends place over in Ponyville…,” “None the less, Miss Fluttershy, you need to turn around and head back home, the dragon is still at large and we wouldn’t want you to get hurt” “But, but, but, I need to get these delivered right away…if I don’t, their going to be mad at me and I have to go back to Flight School and have to take the Flying Test all over again, and…and, I can’t go back there, Waahh!!!” Fluttershy tried her best to cry in front of the two Pegasus; both of them looked at each other, slowly feeling empathetic towards the weeping Miss Fluttershy, “Well…alright, go on ahead, but make sure after your down with your delivery you head straight back to your home” “Sniff…really? Oh thank you so much, I won’t forget your kindness,” As Fluttershy flew pass by the two Pegasus, she pulled out of her saddle bag a small veil of eye drops, if the two Pegasus were in range, they could of heard the small murmur of a Fluttershy, whispering under her breath, “Works everytime” Fluttershy flew onto the rendezvous point in a small clearing very close by to Sweet Apple Acres. She slowly began to unload the barrels from the back of her wagon, as three figures started to trot in her direction, Fluttershy was frighten and thought the two Wonderbolts caught onto her charade and brought an Officer to take her in...She began to hyperventilate as the three silhouettes began to come into view of Fluttershy. It was only Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and of course, Rainbow Dash, “Oh my, you all startled me really bad; I thought I was going to be caught,” “ Don’t be such a Scaredy Pony, Fluttershy, So long as I’m around, nopony or dragon is going to harm us”, Boasted Rainbow Dash as she struck a fighting pose having her front hooves in front of her ready to strike at the closest object near her, “Rainbow Dash, you remember what your supposed to do?” Twilight looked at Rainbow as she looked stern, “Pfft, Of course I do Twilight, I’m supposed to get into this…disguise, fly around Ponyville, make a lot of roaring noise, get the attention of the Wonderbolts, and get them on a wild dragon chase around Equestria with my awesome skills,” “Right Rainbow Dash, but make sure you don’t go too fast or the disguise Rarity made will come off and they will know this was a trick” “Don’t worry Twilight, I’ll make it convincing enough and a challenge for them to try and catch me” “Alright then everypony, and of course everydragon too, let’s begin Operation: Fish in a Barrel,” As Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Spike all knew what to do; they all got into position and headed out to begin the first phase of Twilight’s Master plan…What could possibly go wrong with a plan named “Fish in a Barrel”…?