//------------------------------//
// Basket Full of Sunshine 
// Story: Melody for my Dear 
// by FerociousCreation 
//------------------------------//


Melody for my Dear

Ch. 8


"Is… something wrong Big Macintosh," Fluttershy spoke in a worried tone.

"Oh, umm… nope," the stallion hesitated as he answered. "Ah umm, didn't expect you to bring ma… f… fre…"

"Friend?"

"Eeyup," Big Macintosh replied with a nod. Atop of the pegasus' head, Angel shuttered and stuck his tongue out in disgust. Don' worry, ah know how ya feel bein' called ma 'friend' the red pony thought to himself.

"Well, shall we be going?"

"Eeyup."

"Wait, one more thing," Fluttershy spoke as she remembered something. I almost forgot the basket, the pegasus thought in a bit of a panic.

As she picked up the basket, Big Macintosh smiled asked, "Mind if ah carry that for ya?"

"No, iffs okay," the pegasus responded with a muffled voice.

"Ya sure? Ah wouldn't mind."

The smile he was giving her was almost hard to resist his offer. "If you want to then of course you can." Without warning, Big Macintosh leaned in and took the basket from Fluttershy. As he did, his cheek brushed against her face just before taking the basket in his mouth.

Pulling his head back, he noticed that Fluttershy had her face turned away and ears folded back. "Yall right?"

"Y… yeah, I'm fine." Instead of a nervous frown, the pegasus had a shy, flustered smile.

During the time Fluttershy had her expression hidden, Big Macintosh and Angel had their bodies still as the two of them were locked in an angry petrified gaze. Making the first move, the rabbit brought both of his hands under his eyes and then darted his arms at the stallion's direction as to say, "I got my eyes on you." Oh, bring it on small one.

"I can see you are having a friendly staring contest," Fluttershy spoke as she caught the two of them glaring at each other.

Quickly responding and keeping the two of them out of trouble, Big Macintosh said, "Eeyuff!"

The pegasus walked a little ahead and said with a little smile, "Let's go Big Macintosh."

"Eeyuff." After adjusting the basket he was holding in his mouth, Big Macintosh, Fluttershy, and Angel were off.

There were some grim clouds that dotted the sky, but the sun continued its magnificent shine. "I wonder if it might rain today," Fluttershy spoke as they approached the bridge that passed over the river. "What do you think Big Macintosh?"

Gazing at the sky for a moment, he answered, "Nope."

"I don't think so either. The clouds are not clustered together so that is a good sign."

"Eeyuff."

Under the bridge, two fillies heard hoofsteps crossing the bridge. One of them whispered, "Let's wait till they are a good distance away. Then we come out of hiding."

"Good idea Sweetie Belle. An' once they are gone, we can talk about our notes with Scootaloo."

Even though they were expecting the hoofsteps to fade away in the distance, the refugees under the bridge heard nothing at all. Instead, they saw a blurry yellow face that rested on the watery surface and startled the two fillies. They thought they were found out, but Fluttershy reassured that they were still in hiding when she said, "Oh, Big Mac, please come see this!" Another face appeared atop of the river stream and looked into it. "Do you see it," the pegasus spoke again. "It's a magical carp! They are a rare species of fish from a foreign land and was fortunate enough to be able to buy one at a Manehattan pet shop."

Out of perspective from the fillies, Big Macintosh was standing a bit behind Fluttershy as she was leaning in towards the fish that dwelled in the water. It was hard to see, but the carp did have a beautiful assortment of colors on the scales of the fish. All the while this was going on, Angel was sitting on the mares back, desperately trying to get her attention as he rapidly thumped his foot at the base of her neck. "Not now Angel. I just want to make sure that our new fishy friend is enjoying itself."

Instead of throwing more of a fit, the rabbit plopped his rump down in a huff, crossing his arms.

What's got your ears in a knot, Big Macintosh thought with a glare on his face. Suddenly, the wasp from earlier began buzzing near him, as if he wasn't bothered enough by Angel; now he has to deal with this yellow nuisance. But it didn't take long for the wasp to find a place to rest. To the stallion's fortune, it landed right on the white rabbit's tail. Angel did not seem to notice as he was still angry at Fluttershy for not answering him the way he wanted. A grin went across Big Macintosh's face as the sun went behind a cloud. Cocking his head to the right with the basket in the stallion's mouth, he spoke in his mind, two for one.

Swiftly, Big Macintosh swatted Angel and the wasp off Fluttershy's back. Both rabbit and insect crashed into the river and onto the carp. "EKK," the pegasus shrieked.

Even the two fillies were startled by the sudden splash.

With a quick turn, the pegasus looked at Big Macintosh and spoke, "What was that?!"

Setting down the basket, he explained, "Oh… it was a wasp. Darn thing darted at me so ah swung the basket here and accidentally hit ma… friend." The word "friend" slowly scrapped the stallion's throat as he said the word. Ah hate mentioning that… THING as ma friend.

Looking down in worry, Fluttershy tried to see through the disturbed water. Light began to brighten up as the sun came from behind the cloud as Angel resurfaced on top of the magical carp's back. When it revealed itself, the beautiful complement of purple and gold cloaked the magnificent fish.

As the rabbit had a bit of an irritated look on his face, he looked to his left to see two small ponies under the bridge and his ears darted up.

"WE'VE BEEN FOUND OUT," Applebloom whispered in a panic as she shook her friend.

Before Angel could react, the carp bent its back downwards and then bucked its tail upwards, shooting the white animal up onto the ledge of the bridge. "Are you okay Angel?!" Fluttershy hugged the drenched rabbit and set him on her back as she reached into her satchel to grab a small rag. Very roughly, the pegasus rubbed the small towel on the wet rabbit to dry him. When she finished, Fluttershy looked into the river and said smiling, "Thank you magical carp."

In her peripheral, the pegasus suddenly saw Angel standing on the edge of the bridge. "What is it?"

With no hesitation, he hopped down to where the Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were hiding and looked up to Fluttershy and pointed to where they were.

"Is something down there?"

Angel responded with a rapid nod. But as soon as he looked to find the two fillies, he noticed that they were gone. No mane, nor tail were found of the spies that lurked beneath the stone bridge. Pondering where they would have gone, two heads stretched under the bridge to see the rabbit in thought. "I don't see anything," the pegasus said softly. "Do you?"

"Nope," Big Macintosh spoke in reassurance.

Looking to the sky, Fluttershy spoke in a bit of a hurry, "Goodness, we better hurry. It's almost lunch time and we still need to get our shopping done.

"Eeyup."

"Come on Angel, we are ready to leave." Taking no time at all, the rabbit ran around from underneath the bridge to meet up with the two ponies. He jumped onto the pegasus' back and again went atop of Fluttershy's head. "You really like it up their don't you?"

Angel could not disagree. He did like it up at a higher elevation. There was more to look at, feel the nice breeze, and most of all, irritate Big Macintosh with his menacing glare.

"Shall we," Fluttershy turned to Big Macintosh with a smile.

"Eeyup."

After all the interuptions, the three of them began to head for the Ponyville market. While they were walking, Fluttershy asked, "Did you see how beautiful the magical carp was?"

"Eeyuff," the stallion replied with the basket in his mouth again.

Soon the hoofsteps faded and silence came over the cottage. All that could be heard was the water rushing against the rocks that were above the surface of the water.

"Are they gone," Applebloom whispered.

"I think so."

"Good, 'cause ah am gettin' tired."

Directly under the bridge, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle used the gap underneath the stony extension to hold themselves up and avoid getting caught.

"Uh-oh, ah am givin' way…" Applebloom whined as she began to slip.

"Same… he- WAAAGGGHHH!" Sweetie Belle shrieked as she fell into the river. Following her was Applebloom and her gravitational pull towards the water. In a panic, the white unicorn asked with her voice cracking, "The notes! Where are the notes?!"

As Sweetie Belle lifted her friend up by the cheeks as Applebloom answered, "Ah left them on the ground where we last were."

"Thank goodness," the panicked filly spoke with her voice cracking again. She let of Applebloom and the yellow filly's face was found underwater again.

Lifting her head out of the water and shaking the liquid off of her, the earth pony walked over to Sweetie Belle as she looked over the notes they took. "Ah think we should head off now. They must be a good ways away by now."

"Then let's go!"

With a swing of their arms, their hooves collided and the girls cried out, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS LOVE INVESTIGATORS IS STILL UNDERWHAY!" And with a giggle from their childish antics, they were off as well.