> My little Pony: Uncommon Connection
>  by Spitfire16
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Just a Dream
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the start of a rainy day in a urban area. In one of the smaller houses five teens sat in a room playing video games at the back of the house. There were three T.V's but only two of them were being used.

One T.V was connected to an Xbox 360 and on the other the PlayStation3 was connected. Two boys were on the 360 and two others were on the PS3 and the last boy was sitting on the bed occupying his laptop.

The two guys who were on the 360 were Marcus and Khalil and on the PS3 were Denvor and André. A name from Denvor was called "Babe". He looked up to see who called him.

"What's up?" Babe asked.

The game was put on pause. Denvor's attention was on Babe, whom he thought was bored. "Are you alright?"

Babe rubbed his tired eyes before replying, "Yeah, I'm cool. I was just checking facebook."

"You want to play BlazBlue with us?" Denvor offered.

André stood up and stretched, "I'm not playing anymore. I'm done."

"You're leaving?" Denvor questioned, "What time is it?"

"Yes, it's 1:00AM"

Khalil overheard the time and decided it was best to leave as well. "It's that late already? Guess I should head home too."

"Since those two are leaving, you all might as well go. Besides I'm tired and I've got class in the morning." Babe lazily spoke out as he got off of his bed and slightly yawned.

The boys got up and were getting ready to leave. Denvor ejected the BlazBlue game from the PlayStation3 and placed the disc inside the Continuum Shift case.

He placed the game inside his hoodies pocket. It was just the right size for holding the game's case. After helping clean and straightening up the room André, Denvor, Khalil and Marcus headed for the front door, Babe walking behind them.

André felt his stomach growling, he hadn't eaten all day.

"Hey, Babe, can I have a swiss roll?"

Babe raised an eyebrow and lightly smiled, "Sure. Just get money and go to the store."

"Never mind…" André was a bit annoyed at Babe's rather sarcastic remark. Hearing André's response only made Babe laugh.

After giving their goodbyes for the day Babe closed the doors behind them and locked up. Now that he thought about it the day went by rather quickly.

He went back to his room and turned off the two T.V's. He sat back on his bed and finished up the last few things he had to do on his laptop before closing it and placing it in his book bag. He turned off his room light and jumped back onto his bed.

"Wow. I don't think I've ever been this tired" Babe said to himself lazily as he slowly drifted asleep. He didn't bother to change into his night clothes since he was way too tired.

A voice came into Babe's head, "It seems like people ignore what they don't want to see even if it's another person in need. I can't help but wonder if all creatures are like this."

He began to wake up due to the mysterious voice. He opened his eyes and saw his clothes waving in the air. He slowly managed to turn around and what he saw made his eyes widen in horror. He was falling from the sky, plummeting down toward the Earth below.

"AAAAAAAHHHH-Oh wait…this is just a dream. I've got nothing to worry abo-"

Before he could finish his sentence he face planted into the Earthy soil. By some miracle he managed to rise up from the ground with dirt on his face. The only pain he felt was minor facial pain but he managed to shake it off.

Babe began dusted the dirt off of his clothes, "That was one heck of a drop". He looked up to the sky in a confused manor, "Strange I've never dreamt of falling before. Hm, well, there's no point in asking how I survived since it's all just a dream and what not. I wonder if I could go Super Babe and fly."

He smiled before standing on one leg while the other was held up nearly touching his chest. He was holding his fist up into the air while the other fist was by his side. He had the hero stance right but no flight. He quickly realized he lacked the ability to fly.

Feeling a bit stupid he stopped holding his stance and simply stood straight up "Ok, so I can't fly. I guess I'm walking in this dream...man that sucks. But where am I? It seems cartoony around here."

It didn't take long for his eyes to catch a glimpse of a town in the distance. He had set his sights on the nearby town and began jogging to his destination. After about a mile of jogging he finally reached the town. He didn't even notice he walked past a sign that said, "Welcome to Ponyville".

He continued to wander around until he discovered the town's square where, much to his surprise, there were candy colored…ponies.

There were lots of them, ranging from size and color, some with horns and some with wings. After walking into the town square, Babe looked around trying to understand his "dream" completely.

The ponies in the town square were standing in shock and slight fear. They'd never seen anything like him before. Babe stood in disbelief and shock. He recognized the creatures despite never actually being around them.

"Wait…this can't be. There's only one way to make sure."

Babe looked around the square searching for something. He looked high and low for what he was searching for, and after a few more seconds of looking around, his eyes locked onto the sight of a light sapphire bluish-gray pony with a pale, light-yellowish mane. The pony was female by the looks of it, but her most distinctive trait was her yellow- walled eyes and wings.

Upon seeing this special Pegasus Babe officially knew where he was, "This is-yes, this is it! I'M IN EQUESTRIA!"

The sudden outburst caused all the ponies in the square to panic. They ran for shelter- back to their homes, or into nearby buildings and stores the owners were kind enough to let them into for protection. Babe looked in confusion, as he didn't understand why they were running.

The entire square was cleared out, and no pony was in sight. He stood in the center of the town's square and took one more look around.

"Where's everypony going? Bingo?" Babe asked himself, the only other reply was the sound of the wind blowing.

"Well, it doesn't matter I-oh snap, why do I suddenly feel so fatigue? I…I can't be waking up…" Suddenly feeling weak Babe collapsed to his knees and fell over on his front.

"I can't wake up yet…" he desperately said as his vision began to fade and he was barely keeping his eyes open. He tried to fight off his awakening, wanting to be in his Equestria dream world a little longer but it was no use.

His eyes closed and he lost consciousness on the ground.
> Human
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After blacking out the only thing that Babe could see was darkness followed by the sound of voices, all female.

"What is it?"

As he slowly started to come back around Babe heard the voices, "voices...?"

"It's kinda…funny looking." A southern accented voice spoke in a concerned manor.

He couldn't help but feel as if he heard them before, "Voices I've never heard before…"

"Um, maybe it needs a name?" a timid little voice spoke out.

"My head is still a little sore. Just like how it was in my dream."

"Whatever it is it has a strange taste for fashion." a rather sophisticated voice echoed in the darkness Babe was seeing.

"Let's throw it a party!" A wild and crazy voice happily shouted out.

The last two voices spoke out to Babe the most, "Those two voices sounded like…Pinkie Pie and Rarity."

The southern accented voice spoke out again, "Back up some ya'll, ah think it's waken up."

Slowly Babe opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the ceiling above him. Babe blinked twice before turning to his left and saw six colorful ponies staring at him from a safe distance. Seeing them he jumped up and had his back against the couch he laying on.

"What the heck's going on? Am I still dreaming?"

A lavender Unicorn slowly walked over to him to check and see if he was ok.

Babe recognized the Unicorn and slightly squinted his eyes, "…Twilight?"

What Babe says shocked the lavender mare as well as the others behind her.

The lavender Unicorn, Twilight, was in complete awe, "How do you...know my name?"

Babe softly snorted at Twilight's questions, "What are you talking about? I know all you guys. I can do this blind folded." He began pointing at each individual Pony while stating names, "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack."

All the ponies' jaws dropped. A creature they've never encountered before knows all their names. It was definitely strange for all six of them.

"Yeah. This is most definitely a dream" Babe plainly stated with new found energy, "Since this is my dream and what not let's go out and do some friendship finding stuff! I want to fight a Changling!" 

The Pegasus with the rainbow colored mane flew up to Babe's face, she was suspicious of his knowledge of them, "How do you know all this stuff!?"

Babe calmly pushed her back, "Whoa, easy Dash. How do I not know any of this? You guys have like one of the most popular animated shows."

"Um…show?" The kindest looking of the group softly asked.

The country mare with the brown hat joined in on the confusion, "What in tarnation are you talkin' bout?"

"You guys are acting like you don't know who you are. I'm a brony, a fan of your show."

The mare with the most stylish and well kept looking mane spoke up "You're a 'brony'? Is that what you are?"

Rainbow Dash spoke once more in distrust, "I've never heard of any 'brony' living in Equestria or Cloudsdale."

Babe was being to become a bit confused himself, he tried his best to put an end it by further explaining, "No. Bronies aren't a species or anything it's a term we use for male viewers of My Little Pony. I'm a human being."

"A human what now?" Applejack asked with one eye half open as she scratched her head.

"Being. I should've probably explained this more since you guys have never seen one."

Rainbow Dash flies back over to her confused friends. They gathered around each other to discuss the issue. "I don't trust this guy. He just randomly appears in Equestria and has all this knowledge about us."

"He says he's a…now, whatchu call it? Hu-Man…being, now what the hay is that?" Applejack asked.

Fluttershy, being the most reasonable at the moment kept her cool and came up with a solution, "We could ask for a name."

"Where he's from!" Pinkie Pie joined in.

"What he wants." Rainbow Dash said in a strong protective tone.

Rarity huffed, "Where he gets his clothes…"

"How'd he get here and such." Applejack threw in another one of the many questions to ask.

The final one to speak was Twilight, "Alright. We'll ask him a couple of questions but after that I think it'd be best we take him to see Princess Celestia."

They all nodded in agreement and turned their attention back to Babe who was waiting patiently for them to stop talking in secret. He gave a friendly wave and a soft "Hi."

Twilight stepped forward, "We've got a couple of questions for you." Babe got comfortable on the couch and replied with a smooth and calming "Shoot."

"Okay. Um, your name…?" Fluttershy asked softly.

Babe slightly tilted his head to the side, "Huh? I'm sorry, I couldn't hear that Fluttershy."

"I asked…f-for your name." Fluttershy asked once more.

"I didn't catch that. Do you think you speak a little louder?" Babe cuffed his hand around his ear.

Fluttershy got a little bit nervous, she didn't want to speak any louder so she got lower in tone, "I-"

Babe inched his ear closer, "Wha…?"

"I-I asked-" her tone started to turn into small sounding whispers. She was unaware their human visitor was playing with her.

"What'd you say?"

Fluttershy asked the same question again but it came in the form of squeals. Nobody could really understand a thing she was saying now. Twilight stepped in for Fluttershy, "She asked what your name was."

"Oh. My name's Babe, how's it hangin'?"

Pinkie cheerfully jumps up and down in front of Babe, "Where ya from?"

"Philadelphia but not the Fillydelphia you guys have."

Needless to say the comment made the six ponies confused. "What's the difference? How is there another Fillydelphia?" Twilight asked in her usual debate voice.

"The REAL one I live in is spelled with P.H.I.L and an A. You guys have it spelled as F.I.L.L.Y and it's pronounced Phila- not Filly. I guess it's to make it as a reference since you guys are ponies."

Pinkie Pie was now beyond confused. She didn't bother asking another question and simply stepped back to her friends. Rainbow Dash, once again, flew up to Babe with a suspicious look on her face, "What do you want?" she quickly asked.

Babe gently pushed her back once again, "I don't want anything. I'm not here to hurt anyone. It's a dream and all so I just want to hang out with you guys before I wake up. That's all there is to it really."

Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes and slowly flew back over to her friends, "I'm watchin' you buddy…"

Before asking the next question Rarity observed Babe's human clothing, although they were a bit odd and surreal to them his clothes intrigued Rarity, "Where do you get your clothes?" Rarity asked.

"Wherever I feel like Rarity. But if you'd like to make me a few new sets, I'd like to see your art for human design. I'm not sure you'll like the design but, hey, it'll be a cool experience right? Something new on fashion, if I dream of you guys again I'll visit your boutique."

Rarity's eyes widened, "I-but-how do, you-he-"

Rarity couldn't even chain together words. Applejack pulled her back and stepped forward with her question, " Last question. How'd you get here?"

"I don't know. I was just randomly falling from the sky after I had fallen asleep. I'm a strange dreamer but,hey, we can't control them."

Twilight slightly raised her head up, " The sky?"

Babe rubbed his head in a circular motion, "Yup, landed right on my head."

Twilight placed a hoof and slowly tapped her bottom lip with her hoof, "It must've been from my summoning spell." she said softly.

Applejack heard Twilight's statement, "Summoning spell?"

Twilight placed her hoof back onto the floor and turned to Applejack, "Yes. I was trying out the new spell but nothing happened. I didn't know what would happen if I did it in town so I took it away from Ponyville. After I tried it nothing happened. I left but the same night Babe showed up."

"So the summoning spell must've really worked and it summoned him?" Rarity joined.

Twilight nodded, "It's the only explanation."

Babe was still in disbelief that the six were having an actual discussion about his sudden appearance, "What are you guys trying to solve here? I'm dreaming. None of this is real."

Twilight and the other's turned to Babe. His statement only earned him cold stares from the six young mares, "Stop saying that. Are human beings supposed to talk nonsense? This is certainly NOT a dream and it never WAS a dream." Twilight said in a rather annoyed tone.

Babe sighed, obviously this was getting them nowhere. "Ok, ok, I think it's time I woke up."

The mane6 looked at him as Babe started to pinch himself in an attempt to wake up. The only thing he felt was pain. They all looked at him as if he was crazy but they simply ignored it.

"I think I can send him back. I should be able to come up with a spell that'll solve this mess." Twilight calmly said to her friends.

Applejack could only put on a look of hope, "Ah sure hope it works. He's a little...weird."

While the six were discussing solutions Babe was still on the couch pinching himself.

The human continuously pinched himself harder and harder, his only reply being constant "Ow's..."
> It happened again...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The mane6 and Babe left the library and traveled back to the outskirts where Twilight first performed the spell. This time Twilight prepared a different spell. This spell was going to be used to send Babe back home.

As Twilight inhaled and exhaled Applejack approached her, "You sure you can do this?" Applejack questioned.

Twilight nodded her head in determination, "I'll do what I can, this has to work."

"Okay, just don't overdo it sugarcube." 

Applejack and the others stood back as Twilight prepared the spell. Babe continued to pinch himself in an attempt to "wake" himself up. 

Twilight was straining hard. She was trying her best to get as much magic out of her as possible. Her horn was shrouded in its usual magenta aura. After gathering enough magic Twilight shot a beam of light up toward the sky, the clouds began to repel from the light creating a large circular opening in the clouds. The sky turned purple for a brief second.

"N-Nothing's happening?" Twilight said while trying to catch her breathe. Applejack and the other's approached Twilight in concern.

Rarity took one last look at the sky before looking back to Twilight, "What happened, Twilight?"

Twilight wiped the small traces of sweat from her forehead, "I don't know...that spelled should've worked". Twilight looked up at the sky trying to figure out where she went wrong, " I used up a lot of magic for that spell. Why didn't it work?"

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Rainbow Dash heard something and looked around for the source, " Did you say something Fluttershy?". 

Fluttershy shook her head, "Oh no, I didn't say anything."

Rainbow gently bonked her left ear with her hoof, " I could've sworn I heard something."

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Rainbow heard the same sound again, this time it sounded closer, "Hey, there it goes again!"

Applejack and the other's heard the same sound. They all began looking around it, "Ah hear it too. What is that?"

Babe looked back toward Ponyville thinking it was coming from town, "It sounds like screaming." 

Fluttershy looked up and saw something falling from the sky…it was also where the screams were coming from, "There it is!" Fluttershy shouted to her friends as she pointed at the falling object.

The screams continued until the unidentified object crashed into the ground, landing nearby. Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Babe all ran over to the crash site. What fell wasn't an object it was somepony, well someone, it was another human.

Twilight's eyes widened in shock, "Another one??" 

Applejack looked at Twilight with a reassuring smile, "You must've used the wrong spell sugar cube."

Twilight blushed at her mistake but Applejack reassured her with a smile. The human's head was planted into the ground. He tried to pull his head out from the ground. They all heard grunting coming from under the dirt. 

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy grabbed the human's leg in an attempt to pry him out of the ground. After a brief struggle he popped out of the ground and flew backwards, landing on Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Twilight and the others went over to them.

"Are you guys alright?" the energetic pink coated mare asked in concern.

Once Babe got a good look at the person who just crash landed before them he shouted out, "André!?" obviously referring to the boy.

"Ow...Babe?"

Babe was just as shocked as the other's however his shock was a bit different from the ponies, "Oh man. This isn't a dream! I would never dream of you!" 

Rarity looked up at Babe, "You know him?"

Babe looked back at Rarity and quickly nodded his head, "Of course. This is my friend, André."

The newly arrived human looked to his left and then to his right, standing before him were the ponies he's been watching on TV back at home, "Man…either the lack of sleep is getting to me or Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Twilight and Applejack are actually here in front of me."

Babe chuckled, "As crazy as it may be the second one is about right."

Pinkie turned to her friends, "Are we famous or something?" naturally Twilight and the other's didn't know how to respond to the question.

André noticed a few ponies were missing, "Wait. Where are Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy?" he asked.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat while tapping her hoof on the ground in impatient taps. André noticed the two under him and realized he was lying on top of the two. He quickly jumped up and turned to them.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" He extended his hand to Rainbow Dash, "Please, let me to help you up."

Rainbow Dash blew her mane up with her breathe and picked herself up off of the ground, "Yeah, thanks but no thanks."

André watched Rainbow Dash fly over to the others but turned back to see Fluttershy trying to stand. Fluttershy was a little dizzy from the impact. He didn't hesitate in helping her, "Sorry about that."

Fluttershy was grateful for André's help and gave a warm smile, "Thank you…you're too kind." Fluttershy's smile made André lightly grin.

"I'm getting that from Fluttershy. That's such an honor." he said as he placed his hand over his chest.

As expected from Fluttershy she blushed in shyness and hides behind her mane. Babe went over to his friend and wrapped his arm around André's neck playfully.

Pinkie Pie loved their energy and in turn was getting even more energetic, "Haha! They're funny!" Pinkie happily hoped over to them while the other's watched, slowly easing up to the two humans presence.

Seeing how friendly they were Applejack smiled, seeing that they weren't that different. She looked at Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, "They sure are a strange bunch but they don't seem to be looking for any trouble."

Rarity was still a bit concerned, "So what'll we do? Are they going to stay here?"

"They might have to Rarity but only until I find the correct spell to return them home." Twilight stated to her surrounding friends.

Rainbow Dash still wasn't amused too keen on the idea, "So we have two of these Hu-Mans. Do we keep an eye on them?"

Twilight thought for a second and knew about the problems that'll come with the situation. 

"They may have trouble fitting into Ponyville but other than that I'm sure they'll be fine."

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy looked over and saw Babe, André and Pinkie Pie happily play fought with each other. Pinkie Pie was riding on Babe's back while Babe and André struggled with one another on the ground. Twilight and the others couldn't help but laugh at their current carefree nature.

Applejack walked up to the three, "Say, what'd you say yer name was?"

André looked over to Applejack, "Me?"

Applejack nodded her head with a friendly smile.

Babe helped André up from the grass while still holding Pinkie Pie on his back.

"Oh right, sorry about that. I should've introduced myself properly. I'm André."

Applejack slightly lifted her hat to the boy, "And you already know all of our names but it's nice to meet ya."

"Likewise. So, we're really in Equestria? This is like…really not a dream?" André asked to the group with a hopeful sounding voice.

Babe dismissed André's doubts, "Yeah, the real deal. Hopefully anyway."

André was happy to hear it but it wasn't really enough to go on. He crossed his arms, "How'd we get here and how do we get back?" 

"I can explain all of this back at the library." André and Babe looked at Twilight who was currently speaking, "Whatever questions you have I'll do my best and answer them."













> A place to stay
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight, Babe and André made their way back to the library for a quick Q&A, with André and Babe around they've been stared at all the way back to her home by other ponies. Because it was getting late Applejack and the others went home to rest up for tomorrow.

Upon entering the library André took a quick look around. The first thing he noticed was how neat everything was, "Twilight's house/library. Always neat and tidy whenever there's nothing major going down."

Twilight used her magic to close the door behind the two humans, "It's all thanks to my number one assistant, Spike."

"Speaking of Spike. Where is he? I want to see him send a letter." Babe wondered aloud.

Twilight was still amazed at how much Babe and André knew, "You both know Spike too?"

"Well sure we do. He's-" before Babe could finish his sentence André stopped him.

André began to whisper, "I think its best we pretend we don't know too much about their world. Who knows how drastically it could change the flow of things." Babe nodded in agreement, listening to more of what his friend had to say.

"We should just know their names, everything else we should just leave as blanks."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the two, "Ahem."

The two boy's stopped their secretive talks and turned to Twilight as if they had nothing to hide.

André was the first to speak up since he was the one who stopped Babe earlier, "Oh! Sorry about that! About those questions, Twi?"

"Of course, ask away!" Twilight cheerfully replied.

André decided to ask the first question, "Well I think the only question I have is how did we get here?"

"From what I know it was because of a new summoning spell I learned a while back." Twilight said as she walked back and forth, "Since you two are here it must've worked perfectly. It takes a lot of magic I'll tell ya. I'm almost completely drained."

"Is there any way for us to get back?" Babe asked.

Twilight stopped and shook her head, "I'm sorry but as of right now, no."

Babe went over to Twilight and placed his hand on her back, "It's ok Twilight. We don't mind at all, we'd love to stay here and learn about your culture."

Twilight looked up to Babe and smiled, "That's good to hear because I would like to learn more about Hu-Mans?"

"Humans" Babe corrected.

"Right! I knew that." Twilight quickly said trying to cover up her mistake.

André yawned and turned to the clock, "It's getting late and we don't have any place to stay."

"No problem, we could find a tree to sleep under." Babe bluntly suggested.

André looked at Babe to see if he was serious and judging by his plain expression he was pretty serious, "That sounds really uncomfortable. What if it rains or thunderstorms?"

Babe shrugged, "eh"

"You can stay here for a while." Twilight kindly offered.

Babe was rather surprised at Twilight's sudden offer, "Really? That's really nice of you Twilight."

Twilight warmly smiled, "It's no trouble at all. I'm happy to help."

"I call couch." Babe randomly stated.

"I call cou-aw man...!" André shortly said afterwards.

Babe went over to the couch and sat on it triumphantly, he then looked over to André, "You'll sleep on the floor and like it!"

Twilight giggled at the two. She went to get extra blankets and pillows that were in the nearby closet. She gave the two their blankets and pillows so they could set up for the night. Babe organized the couch to his liking and lied down under the blanket feeling right at home.

"Now this is comfy." Babe stated aloud as he placed his hands behind his head. "How's your next feeling, André?"

"Like the floor." André's annoyed tone came in response.

Babe only laughed at his friend. Twilight noticed André's uncomfortable looking sleeping position as she prepared to head upstairs for the night, "You guys could've shared the extra bed I had."

"Extra bed?" both the boy's asked.

Twilight rubbed the back of her neck as she forgot to mention the extra bed earlier, "Yeah. I let Applejack and Rarity use it last time they stayed over."

André and Babe looked at each other both knowing that they wanted that bed to sleep in. Later that night Babe was resting happily in the spare bed upstairs while André was sulking on the couch until he eventually went to sleep but even so the couch was still comfortable. The next morning the smell of pancakes and eggs caught André's nose and he woke up.

"That smells like breakfast."

Soon as André woke up he noticed Spike with a breakfast tray with a side of OJ. "Oh man. That looks delicious." André said on the verge of drooling.

Spike held the tray up to André, "Eat up dude."

André took the tray and was surprised to see that it was made for him, "This is for me? Thanks Spike. Oh, wait, how come you're not freaked out? Isn't this your first time seeing a human?"

Spike nodded, "Yeah but it's cool. Twilight explained everything."

André slightly raised his head as he quickly understood, "Oh, ok."

"However she didn't explain everything to the ponies in Ponyville." Spike mentioned, "It still may take a while for ponies to start trusting to you and Babe."

André knew that all too well. If Twilight and the other's acted hostile toward them their first arrival then most likely everypony in Ponyville would have the same reaction, if not worse.

"True. Where is Babe?" André asked the small Dragon.

"He went out to Rarity's boutique to pick up some clothes she made for you guys." Spike continued explaining as he continued his morning chores, "Twilight did some measuring when you were still sleep. Babe helped since he was awake before you and all."

"That was nice of Twilight and Rarity." said the human as the thought of Twilight and Rarity's kindness filled his head.

Spike walked back over to André, "So what were your plans for today?"

André took a minute to think, "Since Babe went out to Rarity's boutique I guess I'll go and take a walk around town. I'm sure everyone won't be too thrilled to see me and all but hey I might as well get used to being around here since I'll be here a while. I might go visit Applejack."

"I hear ya. if it's Applejack you're looking for then you would want to check out Sweet Apple Acres. I would take you around for a tour but I've got morning chores to do."

André wiped the side of his mouth with one of the napkin's that was on the tray, "It's ok, Spike. I can manage. Would you like some help with the chores?"

"Nah that's ok. I'm Twilight's number one assistant after all." Spike proudly said to his new human friend. André chuckled at Spike's pride knowing he really was the best assistant, "Heh. Is that so? Well, you certainly are a big help." the boy complimented.

"Aww, cut it out." Spike shyly flagged André as he walked toward the kitchen, "Once you're done eating you can just put the tray in the sink."

Spike went back to work on his chores around the library leaving André to enjoy his breakfast which didn't take him too long to finish. After gulping down the last bit of orange juice he put on his white shoes and took his tray to the kitchen, placing it in the sink as Spike asked.

Before heading out André went into the bathroom to straighten himself out. He ran the water in the sink to wash his face. He saw a bottle of green mouth wash on the side of the sink. He gargle's a good amount of it to clean his mouth. After cleaning himself up a bit he went outside to find his way to Sweet Apple Acres.
> Sweet Apple Acres
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not being out for more than 15 minutes André traveled down a dirt road, lost. "Okay…I think I may be a little lost." he said as he checked his surroundings, "If I were a member of the Apple family where would I have put my farm?"

Suddenly something hit the back of André's leg. He turned around and saw a young filly with a large pink bow on the back of her head. Her coat was pale, light grayish olive, her mane was brilliant amaranth, "Oh hey, it's Apple Bloom." André softly said to himself as he identified the filly.

She was sitting on the ground rubbing her head with her hoof, "Ah'm real sorry. Ah didn't watch where ah was-" she stopped herself as she noticed André's human legs. Her eyes slowly started heading up to his face, "going..." she finally finished. She was amazed at seeing him.

"Are you ok?" he asked as he crouched down to see if Apple Bloom was alright. He smiled to assure her she had nothing to be afraid of.

"Y-yeah, Ah'm alright. Wait a sec. You're one of those Hu-Men's Applejack told me about!"

André couldn't help but laugh at Apple Bloom's pronunciation of the word, "It's just pronounced Human." he corrected, "But yes, I am."

Apple Bloom became excited and stood up before André, "Wow. This is the first time Ah've ever seen one before."

André was relieved to see that Apple Bloom was fine and he stood, tall, before her, "Do you know where Applejack is? I wanted to see her."

"Sure do. Ah was on mah way back home to Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack's mah sister, she's probably buckin' apples as usual. C'mon ah'll take you there mahself." Apple Bloom happily started skipping down the dirt road leading toward Sweet Apple Acres, before she went any further she stopped and looked back at André, "Name's Apple Bloom by the way. What's your name?"

"I'm André."

Apple Bloom tapped her lip intrigued, "So you're André. The Babe fella must be somewhere else than."

André was surprised at how much Apple Bloom knew about himself and Babe, "Yeah. I'm surprised your sister told you so much about us."

"Well sure,why wouldn't she? " Apple Bloom stated while holding one hoof out, All of Ponyville knows who you two are, the 'mysterious invading duo'."

"'Mysterious invading duo'?" André thought of the title and laughed a bit but a sigh followed soon after. He knew adjusting to Ponyville was going to be a tough road.

"No worries, you'll fit into Ponyville in no time." Apple Bloom reassured him, "Ah wanted to introduce you and Babe to my friends later on. We're the cutie mark crusaders!"

André already knew but continued playing along, "Aw, that sounds cute."

"It's comprised of mahself, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. We try our hardest to find out what our cutie marks could be."

He knew how badly the three fillies wanted their cutie marks and tried to be as supportive as possible, "And I'm sure you all will discover it one day."

Apple Bloom noticed André didn't have a cutie mark or if he did she couldn't tell because he was wearing pants, "Do you have a cutie mark?"

"Oh no. Humans don't get cutie marks."

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow, "you don't?" she asked curiously.

"We can get tattoos though," André continued explaining, "but I wouldn't recommend it. Tattoo's and cutie marks are completely different things anyway."

"How so?" Apple Bloom asked again.

"One you get through your talent and uniqueness the other you get through ink and pain."

Apple Bloom realized André just briefly mentioned how one earns a cutie mark, "Wait, you know how to earn a cutie mark?" Apple Bloom's question put André in a corner. He had to make up an excuse, and quick.

"Um…uh, yeah. Your sister told me."

"Oh, neat!" Apple Bloom closed her eyes and smiled as she continued walking down the road. André exhaled in relief and followed behind the young filly. As the two happily went along the path together they eventually made it to Sweet Apple Acres.

"And here we are." Apple Bloom held out her hoof the Apple family's home.

André kneeled down to Apple Bloom and held out his hand to her, "Thanks a bunch Apple Bloom. It was good talking with ya."

"Same here." Apple Bloom placed her hoof in André's hand and the two shake on it, "Ah wish we could chat a while longer but I've got homework to do so ah'll catch ya later?"

André nodded twice at Apple Bloom's question, "Of course."

Apple Bloom happily ran off as André waved goodbye to her. Applejack was pulling a wagon full of Apples and noticed André on the farm.

"André?"

He heard his name and looked over to the Apple orchid, "Hey, Applejack."

Applejack walked over to him with the wagon behind her. " Well isn't this a surprise?" she says with her usual smile, "What're ya doin here, Sugar cube? Ah thought you'd still be at Twilight's."

André chuckled as he rubbed his cheek with one finger, "Nah. I thought I'd come out and pay you a visit on Sweet Apple Acres. I wanted to check on you." he let his hand down and placed them in his pockets, "Besides Babe went to see Rarity at her boutique and I thought it'd be good to just come out and explore a little bit of Ponyville. Turns out it was just what I needed and a chance to stretch my legs."

Applejack slightly raised her hat, "Aw shucks, that's mighty kind of ya."

André looked out to the apple orchid and saw hundreds of apple trees, "Would you like some help around here? I wouldn't mind."

"Thanks for the offer but I'm done with my rounds of bucking for the mornin'."

"Oh..." André slightly slouched over, a bit disappointed he couldn't help out, "Guess I came at the wrong time then."

Applejack placed her hoof on his hand for enlightenment, "No need to worry, you can come by tomorrow and help if you'd like."

André stood up straight once more after realizing that there would always be tomorrow, "Of course! I'd love that."

"An extra pair of hooves are always needed around here, thanks a bunch André." Applejack said as she smiled.

"No problem AJ, I'll see if Babe wants to help as well. Oh yeah and we have hands by the way not hooves."

Applejack scratched her mane, "Right, hands, got it..."

Out of the blue a rainbow streak rushed passed Applejack and tackled André onto the ground, it happened so fast it took Applejack a second to realize André wasn't in front of her anymore. Rainbow Dash was standing over André and had him pinned to the ground, "Ok! What were you doing with Applejack? Were you putting a curse on her or something?!"

Applejack ran over to Rainbow Dash and got her off of André. "Rainbow! What in the hay are you doin'!?"

"Protecting you from the human!" Rainbow exclaimed as she stood in front of Applejack in a protective stance.

"Protect?" Applejack put her hoof on her face before looking back at her overprotective friend, "He only came out here to ask if he could help buck apples!"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "Sure he did." she said sarcastically, "I heard humans earn the trust of ponies and then once they do they put them under some weird hypnosis that turns us into their dinner!"

André stood up and dusted himself off, "…Um, what?"

Applejack sighed and shook her head, "Rainbow that doesn't make any sense. Who told you that?"

"Derpy." was Rainbow's only reply.

André and Applejack looked at each other for a second, André rubbed the back of his head in a bit of bewilderment, "Wow..."
> Competition
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Babe and Rarity were spending time with each other in the carousel boutique to get better acquainted.

"I think you're going to love your new clothes." Rarity spoke in joy as Babe sat in a chair with one leg crossed the other. He was drinking tea out of a fancy cup. He was under the impression that he was royalty. It obvious Babe and Rarity quickly became friends.

"Yes. I do think so as well, my dear." Babe spoke with a sophisticated accent.

Rarity inspected her newly designed art to see if she missed anything, "It took me a while to get the design right for the human body" she bashfully admitted, "but once I got the hang of it I just simply loved it!"

"What impresses me is that you've managed to do it all within a day." Babe took another quick sip of his tea before continuing, "I'm quite surprised and highly impressed. A pony of your skill deserves fame."

Rarity lightly blushed at the compliment, "Ohohoho! Do go on!"

A knock on the door got Rarity's attention. Babe continued to drink tea with his pinky sticking out. Rarity went to the door and is greeted by the faces of Twilight, Applejack and André, "We have guests!"

Babe turned his head and saw his three friends entering the boutique, "Ah, it appears so." Babe said as he slightly raised the cup in a greeting manor.

After shutting the boor behind them André approached the group, "Hey Rarity, Babe."

Babe looked at André in a rather snobbish rich aspect, "Hello, ol' chap."

André turned to Applejack and Twilight in confusion but they were just as confused as he was, André looked back at Babe while scratching his head, "Huh...?"

Babe shook his head as if he was just snapping out of a trance, "Oh, I mean, what's up? Sorry Dré, I've been hanging out with Rarity all morning." he laid the tea cup down on the table, "She's really grown on me."

André chuckled, "Um, yeah. I see."

Twilight tapped Andrés arm, "So, André, Spike told me you went to visit Sweet Apple Acres. Did you manage yourself ok?" she seemed rather motherly when asking the question.

André snapped his fingers as he remembered his venture out in Ponyville, "It was nice Twi. I got to see a little more of Ponyville, met Applejack's little sister, Apple Bloom, and I know how to get to the farm now." André turned to Applejack, "I'll be there tomorrow to help Applejack buck some apples and see how it's done." Applejack nodded her head as André turned to Babe once more, "Babe, wanna come too?"

"Sure. I don't mind."

Hearing Babe's agreement André couldn't help but feel a little excited, "Cool! So, Applejack, it's a date."

Applejack's eyes shot open, "A-A what!?"

Twilight and Rarity were taken aback by André's statement as well, "Oh my…he's so straight forward." Rarity whispered to Twilight, " A bit soon for that, don't you think?" Twilight asked.

André was a bit confused, "What are you guys talking about?" directing his question to Twilight and Rarity, he looked back at Applejack, "All I said was that it was a date."

Applejack was a bit embarrassed, she could feel her hooves starting to sweat, "U-Um, a-ah don't know." Applejack's stutters made Babe raise an eyebrow, "Ah've got lots of work to do and we've only just met."

André put two and two together and finally understood what was being implied, "Wait. You didn't think I meant a DATE did you?" he directly asked while slightly pointing a finger Applejack, "I meant it as in we'll surely be seeing you tomorrow for help on the farm."

Twilight, Rarity and Applejack all exhaled in relief. Babe and André just looked at each other, they didn't pay it too much mind and simply forgot about the ponies misunderstanding.

To change the subject Babe intervened, "Where are Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy?"

"Pinkie Pie helps run Sugarcube Corner." Rarity explained as she went back over to her newly designed outfits, "She's most likely handling business there."

"Fluttershy is caring for the animals back at her cottage." Twilight said after Rarity finished.

André huffed as he started thinking about a certain somepony, "And Rainbow Dash has been acting really strange." he stated in a dull monotone voice.

"Strange?" Babe questioned, "That doesn't sound like Dash, strange how?"

A rainbow streak charged through the door of the boutique store and tackles André, again, slamming him against the wall. It took everyone a second to see what had just happened. Rainbow Dash was again pinning him down, "Thought you could pull a fast one, huh?!"

André expressed his own pain with a simple, "Ow..."

Twilight and the other's were surprised to see Rainbow Dash and being so aggressive, "Rainbow Dash! What are you doing? Get off of him!" Twilight shouted at her rainbow colored friend.

Rainbow turned to her friends and sees Babe behind them. Rainbow gasped and stepped in front of Babe, "Quick! Everypony shield your eyes!" She quickly closed her own eyes and turned her head back to her friends, "I heard they can turn you into stone like a cockatrice!"

Twilight lowered her eyelids in slight annoyance, "That doesn't make any sense. We've been looking at them for a while now. We haven't turned to stone yet."

Rainbow opened her eyes and turned her back to Babe to face her friends, "They're just waiting for you to let your guard down!" Twilight, Applejack and Rarity all shared the same annoyed expression, "In the name of Celestia, don't let your guard down!" Rainbow begged.

"Ok. Ah've had just about enough of your attitude." Applejack stepped forward, "What is your deal? Why are you treating our new friends this way?"

Rainbow Dash was stunned at how trusting her friends were being, "How can you guys simply trust somepony or someTHING you've never met before?"

Rarity then stepped forward, walking by Applejack, "Stop this nonsense Rainbow Dash, you're acting like such a child." Rarity slightly raised her voice as she helped André off of the floor.

André locked his hand with Rarity's hoof, taking her friendly gesture, "Thanks, Rarity." Rarity just gave her new friend a smile, much to Rainbow's disgust.

Babe stood up from his chair and shook his head, "Wow. I never would've thought I'd see Rainbow's character act like this."

Rainbow turned a cold stare at Babe, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means-" Babe quickly stopped himself, "Nothing..."

While the situation didn't seem that big of deal André was a bit hurt that Rainbow really didn't like or trust him or Babe, he considered her best pony after all, "Rainbow, what's wrong with you? You're making it seem like we're trying to steal your friends away from you or something."

Rainbow Dash looked over at André with the same look she gave Babe, "Who knows? Maybe you are! It won't work on me though!" Babe started to laugh. His laughing earned him the attention of everyone in the room.

"I can't believe you two are even arguing about this. How about we settle our differences?" Babe's sudden suggestion had the other's guessing.

Rainbow squinted one eye, "And how's that possible?" she asked.

Babe grinned successfully, he earned Rainbow's interest, "The way you would prefer to do things, a little competition."

"…I'm listening." Rainbow muttered.

Babe walked over to Rainbow Dash to explain himself better, "We'll have one competition. If we win, you have to apologize to André and me and acknowledge us as just normal citizens until we go home." Twilight, Applejack, Rarity and André looked at each other and nodded in agreement, Babe continued, "And since we're currently marked as "evil" by you we'll allow you to pick the event of the competition."

Rainbow heard the part they wanted to hear but didn't hear anything for her, " And what if I win, which I most likely will." she stated in her usual cocky voice.

"If you win?" Babe asked.

"Uh huh." Rainbow replied.

Twilight, Applejack, Rarity and André waited in anticipation as Babe thought of a good victory option for Rainbow Dash.

Babe thought for a second and came up with his answer, "Hm…if you win, we leave Equestria and won't ever return."

Hearing this put Twilight and the other's jaw drop, "WHAT!?" they all yelled out in sync.

Rainbow loved what she just heard and couldn't come up with anything better, "Hehe! Now that sounds like my kind of game. You're on!"

Rainbow held out her hoof. Babe smiled at her as the two permanently sealed the deal on their competition by shaking on it, "Tomorrow morning, Everfree forest. Be there." Rainbow Dash dared as she continued her stare down with her self proclaimed human enemy.
> Judged (pt1) 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night in Ponyville everypony headed home and prepared for bed. After taking a bath Babe walked out of the bathroom and turned out the light behind him. He saw André already fast asleep in his night clothes Rarity had made him. He went upstairs. He lied down on the spare bed, staring up at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep yet.

There was nothing but silence...

"…Do you know what you're doing?" Twilight softly spoke as she remained in bed.

Babe slightly raised his head, surprised to hear Twilight, "Heh, you're still awake?" after asking his question he laid his head back down with his arms behind his head.

The two didn't bother getting up to face each other while they talked.

Not getting the answer she was hoping for Twilight asked again, "Do you know what you're doing?" she made her voice stern and clear to make sure she got her point across.

Babe was quiet for a second, "Truthfully Twi, I don't." he admitted, his response made Twilight cringe.

"I'm fully aware of all things Rainbow Dash is capable of. There's virtually no chance of André and me winning the event tomorrow because whatever it is she picks it'll most likely be something she excels in."

"So why do it?" Twilight's voice changed, she started sounding sad, Babe didn't question her and allowed her to finish,"Why challenge her like that?"

He took another second to think, "I don't know." he turned to the bedroom's window and looked out to the moon, "Something just told me too. Who knows? The two of us going away is probably for the best. I don't think André and I will ever be able to truly fit in here." he took his eyes off of the moon and looked back up to the ceiling "And, Twilight, don't be mad at Rainbow Dash, she's just trying to protect her friends."

Twilight tightened her grip around her covers after hearing the word friend, "But you're our friends too. We don't want you to go away." Babe could tell that Twilight was obviously upset about the ordeal that would transpire in the morning.

"…Aw, you'll make me cry Twilight. Hahaha…" Babe jokingly said as he tried brightening the mood.

There was no reply from Twilight.

"Don't worry." Babe softly said as he turned to his side and prepared to fall asleep, "It'll all work out. You'll see."

Twilight closed her eyes and only hoped for the best, "….If you say so."

After the conversation there was nothing more to say, as silence, once again, broke out the two slowly went to sleep.

The next morning...

The day started like any other: starting with breakfast, brushing teeth and washing faces etc. Babe and André prepared for their competition against Rainbow Dash. André sat on the couch tying his shoes while Babe, Twilight and Spike (who was sitting on Twilight's back) stood at the door waiting for him.

André approached the three, "Ok, let's go."

Twilight, while not happy, nodded her head anyway, "Alright guys. Follow me."

"Right behind you." André replied.

Twilight walked out the door leading the way. André waited for Babe to finish preparing. Twilight hadn't noticed and kept going, thinking the boys were following her.

Babe sighed, "Even if our time here was short…I sorta…"

André looked at Babe, "Huh? Sorry, did you say something?"

"…Never mind." deciding not to finish his previous statement Babe just left the library but not before gently elbowing André in the gut.

Babe chuckled as he ran to catch up with Twilight and Spike. André held his stomach trying to figure out what Babe was going to say before he claimed it was nothing. He closed Twilight's door behind himself and caught up with the three. Meanwhile at the entrance to Everfree forest Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were already there.

"You seriously need to reconsider this." the volume in Applejack's voice was strong as she talked to Rainbow Dash who was stretching, Applejack knew her tomboyish friend wasn't really listening and stood in front of her to get her attention, "André and Babe are good boys and they don't mean any of us harm."

Rainbow wasn't paying much attention to Applejack as she continued to stretch, "After this is all over you'll be thanking me." despite her friends words they just didn't register in Rainbow's head.

"Ugh! There's never any reasoning with you!" Applejack mildly yelled out of annoyance and mild anger.

Fluttershy stepped in, "I agree with Applejack Rainbow Dash. Those two have being doing good since they got here. Babe has even promised to help me overcome m-my shyness."

"Nonsense" was Rainbow Dash's only reply, still refusing to listen.

As much as Applejack and the others tried to convince Rainbow Dash she just didn't listen to reason. A few minutes went by Twilight arrived with André and Babe.

"You guys are here already? Sorry if we're late." Twilight apologized as they arrived.

Applejack's anger cooled down as she saw the rest of her friends, "No need for the apologies. We weren't waiting too long." she turned to the boy's for morning greetings, "Howdy Spike, Babe and André."

"Morning everypony!" Spike happily waved to all his Pony friends.

André looked at all his ponies friends while lost in thought, "It's good to see all your faces. Makes me happy you all came out here just to see us do this thing."

Pinkie Pie happily bounced around her human friend, "We also came here to cheer you all on!"

Babe smiled at Pinkie Pie and her positive and energetic self, he then looked at Rainbow Dash, "Did you decide on what we were going to do Rainbow?"

Rainbow stopped her stretches and flew over to the rest of the group, "Oh yes! We're going to do a race through Everfree forest!"

Twilight and the others gasped, especially Fluttershy who nearly fainted. All the ponies and Spike were shocked however Babe and André weren't the slightest bit surprised.

Babe sighed, "Of course…"

André placed his hands in his pockets while sporting a dull facial expression, "Yeah. Seriously, who didn't see this coming?"

Twilight looked up to André and Babe, "Well the racing isn't the part that we're worried about." the two boy's looked at Twilight after realizing she was addressing them, "It's all of you going through Everfree forest! It's too dangerous."

Applejack turned to Rainbow once again, "Rainbow, have you lost yer mind!?"

Rainbow Dash was being cocky as ever, she didn't seem the slightest bit worried, "Nope. I can take on anything that I come across in this forest."

Applejack's eyebrows lowered and her teeth started to show, "You know your ego can seriously be a pain in the flank."

The overly confident Pegasus rolled her eyes, " You don't even know what humans are capable of so you guys shouldn't be worried."

"We're capable of death. That's for sure." Babe plainly stated.

Rainbow pretended not to hear. Fluttershy pulled on Babe's sleeve to get his attention, "Um, you two aren't seriously going to go through with such a dangerous task are you?"

Babe looked toward the forest and then back at Fluttershy, "Yeah. We are. If we don't win you all have been really good friends."

Pinkie rushed over to Babe with her eyes full of concern, "B-B-But we haven't even thrown you a welcome to Ponyville party…!"

André noticed all the concerned faces on the ponies, except for Rainbow Dash. Today probably was the last day they had in Equestria, "Hey, guys?" he softly spoke out to the group.

Everyone turned their attention to André.

"Give me love?" he asked while holding out his arms.

They all came in for a group hug, everyone excluding Rainbow Dash of course, with "Awe's" coming from Twilight and the other ponies.

Rainbow held out her tongue, "Bleh!"

Once the group broke the hugging, Babe turned to Rainbow Dash to get the event started, "Alright Rainbow, what are the rules?"

Rainbow laughed, " No rules. It's just a simple race through Everfree forest. First one out on the other side wins." she then pointed to her friend's, "Twilight and the others can go around the forest and wait for us there. Whoever's out first is the winner."

André was starting to feel a bit nervous but he knew it had to be done, he scratched the back of his neck while looking at Rainbow Dash, "Practically a breeze for you and an insane death trap for us. And you call us the monsters, huh? Fine…let's do this."

The competition was set and the goal was clear. All that's left now is getting the race started. Rainbow Dash, André and Babe were preparing to take their places as the race through Everfree forest was getting underway.
> Judged (pt2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The three competitors took their marks.

André just finished his stretches and turned his left, "Okay, so just a quick dash to the end of the forest, right?"

"Uh huh" replied Rainbow Dash as she did a few more stretches.

Babe and André scornfully watched Rainbow stretch. The two of them knew she was being cocky and she was just stretching to taunt them via body language, Rainbow Dash their stares and looked at them with a smile, "Yeah. I'm stretching, is that a problem?"

Babe looked down to the ground and shook his head, "There's no need to do that Rainbow, you know you're going to win."

"I don't want any pulled muscles slowing me down. You two wanna back down? Don't worry there's no shame in withdrawing." the uniquely maned colored Pegasus started to laugh.

André and Babe decided not to buy into Rainbow Dash's trash talk. The two tried to stay as focused as possible, "Well, maybe a little shame." Rainbow continued her sentence tauntingly.

"No, we're going to do this." Babe determinedly stated as he finished getting himself ready.

Rainbow finished her goofing off once she saw the determination in Babe's eyes, "You've got guts. I guess that's one thing I'll give you credit for."

Spike, while sitting on Twilight's back, held up a white cloth and was prepared to start the race. Rainbow Dash, André and Babe all got into position.

Twilight looked at her two human friend's with a hopeful look on her face, "Good luck you two." she muttered to herself.

Spike held the cloth up higher, "On your marks. Get set," he waited two extra seconds before throwing the cloth down and shouting, "GO!"

Once the cloth hit the ground the three darted off and made a sprint for Everfree forest. The others watched them off, Applejack looked over to Twilight, "Ah guess the best thing for us to do now is meet em on the other side ya'll."

Twilight took one last look at the entrance to the forest, "Right. I just hope they all make it out safely."

Applejack and the others nodded in agreement. Meanwhile in the forest André and Babe were far behind while Rainbow Dash was soaring ahead of them thanks to her wings. The two had to climb over broken branches, hop over murky water and swing through vines just to move on.

André was desperately trying his hardest to make his way around the forest obstacles but it was a lot harder than expected, "We've seriously gotta step it up Babe, if we don't Rainbow Dash will certainly win." there was no word from Babe, he turned around to check on his friend, "You heard me? What the heck-"

André stopped dead in his tracks after he noticed Babe wasn't behind him. He looked around but still nothing, somewhere in the forest Babe was tangled up in vines and was practically out of the race….Babe simply hung there with 'Whatever…' written all over his face. He was on his cell phone, what he was doing on there was unknown.

Back in the race Rainbow Dash was far ahead of the two, "Heh! Those two slowpokes are finished! I've won this thing, hooves down! Man I'm good! Still I can't believe Twilight and the others actually trusted those two…UGH! That's like trusting an-"

Not paying attention to where she was going Rainbow charged straight into the side of an unknown creature. She bounced off the side and fell on her flank. She rubbed her head after she fell. She opened her eyes and saw that she had hit a sleeping Ursa (minor) who was now awake. The beast roared loudly.

Rainbow Dash eyes widened in fear, "W-Whoa! An Ursa!"

The Ursa saw Rainbow and immediately knew who was responsible for waking it.

Rainbow forcibly put her fear aside and bravely stood up to the Ursa, "You don't scare me!" she shouted out to the Ursa. She flew up to the Ursa and gave it a double hoof kick to the nose. The attack did absolutely nothing to it. The Ursa laughed at Rainbow Dash's attempt, "Huh? What're you laughing at?! I can take you out in 10 seconds fla-"

The Ursa raised its claw and plucked her. Rainbow Dash spun out of control and slammed into a tree. She slowly slid down to the forest floor. The Ursa approached her with a grin on his face, Rainbow Dash looked up to the angered Ursa and prepared to flap her wings and take off. She knew she was clearly no match for the Ursa.

She tried flapping her wings, "Ow! My wing!" she cried out, She felt a horrible pain in her right wing and was unable to fly. Whenever she tried to move it she would flinch in pain. The Ursa approached her and raised its claw preparing to strike. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes preparing for the blow.

"Rainbow!"

A familiar voice caught Rainbow Dash's attentions. She opened her eyes and was pushed out of the way of the Ursa's attack, André managed to save Rainbow Dash just in time. He rolled over safely to the side, "Are you ok...?"

Rainbow raised her wing, showing André her injury, "My wing is injured. I don't think I can use it to fly…"

André inspected Rainbow's wing by gently holding it in his hand, "I guess it's a good thing I got here when I did then."

Rainbow pulled her wing back and held it herself, "Why'd you do that? I didn't need you to help me." she coldly states.

André couldn't believe Rainbow Dash was still being stubborn but he knew it wasn't time to get angry or argue, "You know you can't handle an Ursa Minor…imagine if it was a Major."

"M-Major...?" Rainbow gulped heavily at the thought.

"Yeah...a major" André repeated.

Rainbow Dash stood in silence trying not to think of what an Ursa, major, would've been like. She was even more silenced from the fact that André had saved her despite the fact that she classified him and Babe as bad. The Ursa shoved the forest trees aside in an attempt to find the two which it eventually did.

André stood up in front of Rainbow and faced the Ursa, who was still looking for the two, "I'm going to distract it for you, ok? While I do that I want you to make a run for the exit."

A look of concern fell upon the injured Pegasus face, "But what about you and Babe?" she asked in a caring voice.

"Don't worry about us. I just want to make sure you make it out."

Rainbow was shocked, she stood up and held her hoof out "Why would-"

"Just do it." André ran to the other side of the forest. The Ursa saw him running, and its head followed the boy. It was unaware of what André was planning. André stopped and turned around to face it, "I'M OVER HERE!"

He easily managed to get the Ursa's attention however he only made it angrier. The Ursa revealed its fangs and claws trying to scare André.

"Shame on you messing with a defenseless pony! You aren't tough! I bet you can't even take on my friend Spike when he's a full fledged dragon! You're not even bigger than your mom bro, now how's that possible? She's so fat she got the cows mooing at her!"

The Ursa finally snapped. It didn't hesitate in charging at André who quickly ran deeper into the forest in a panic, "Oh geez! The 'your mom' jokes can make anything angry, even in the world of My Little Pony!"
> Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

André continued to sprint through the forest as he successfully managed to lure the Ursa away from Rainbow Dash, "Ok, I think I got enough distance for Rainbow Dash to escape. I think I’d better turn and face the music."

He turned around and faced the raging Ursa. André stood tall against the mighty giant as it raised its claw. A rock suddenly hit the Ursa in the back of the head. André and the Ursa turned and saw Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow!" André yelled out in shock, "You shouldn’t be here!"

The injured mare stomped her hoof on the ground, "I want to help you!"

André put his hands on his head in a panic, Rainbow was a target once more, "This is no time for being hardheaded!"

The Ursa swung its claw and struck Rainbow Dash. The young Pegasus flew into the top of a tree and fell to the ground. Ignoring the Ursa’s rage André ran under its legs and went over to Rainbow Dash side. 

She was too injured to stand, "Without my wings…I’m an easy target…" she said weak and regretfully.

"Rainbow Dash, don’t give up on me now." André put his hand on Rainbow's forehead while staring desperately into her weak eyes. Rainbow tried her hardest to stand back up.

The Ursa let out another intimidating roar, André once again turned to the beast. The Ursa stood with a puzzled look on its face once it saw André standing straight in front of Rainbow Dash defensively.

André thought to himself, "What am I thinking…?"

"Don't..." Rainbow helplessly held out her hoof to her Human defender.

Unable to hold on anymore Rainbow Dash lost consciousness. The Ursa is now face to face with the last one standing, André. It held its claw back and swung it down toward André however the Ursa was stopped by purple and white magical outlining.

André looked up and was surprised at what he was witnessing, even the Ursa was surprised. 

"Yo, Dré!" a voice called out.

André knew the voice all to well, "Babe?" he called out as he looked around.

"Up here!"

André followed Babe’s voice and managed to find him. Babe was sitting on the back a female unicorn. The Unicorn had a Maya blue coat, a periwinkle mane and tail with a pigment blue streak. She had steel blue eyes, and a cutie mark of an hourglass. Her horn was glowing. It was obvious it’s thanks to that Unicorn that the Ursa was unable to strike.

"Where've you been!?" André shouted.

Babe chuckled at André's question, "Don’t worry about that." André heavily sighed but couldn't help but put on one of the biggest smile's he ever had upon seeing his friend, "Take Rainbow Dash and get outta here. We’ll handle the Ursa!"

André nodded, "Thanks, Babe!" he picked up Rainbow Dash and quickly left the area.

Babe watched André run off before looking down to his Unicorn companion, "Now. How bout we put this thing to sleep?" he asked with a friendly smile.

The Unicorn didn’t speak. She only nodded her head and began putting some kind of sleeping spell on the Ursa. The Ursa found itself extremely drowsy. It turned and saw the two but it couldn’t do anything as it was just WAY too sleepy. The Ursa fell on its belly and fell asleep. The mysterious Unicorn jumped down from the trees, landed on the Ursa’s back and finally onto the ground. She then proceeded to the forest exit.

Babe stood heroically on the Unicorn's back as they rode off into sunlight, the wind blowing throw his hair making him feel accomplished, "At last…war has turned me into a man…" he threw his hands into the air and shouted "Whee!!" as if he went from being an 18 year old to a 10 year old in just seconds.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash slowly regained consciousness. She opened her eyes and saw that she was being carried out of the forest in André’s arms. She was, however, still weak, "What happened…to the Ursa…?" the weak Pegasus asked.

Upon hearing her voice André looked down at her but then back up toward the forest exit, "Babe and somepony said they would handle it…don’t worry…you’re safe." 

"I see..." Rainbow looked forward and saw the end of the forest as well, the light made her happy for reasons she didn't understand. She looked back at André curiously, "Why did you do all of that?" he looked down to her, "You shouldn't have put yourself in that kind of danger."

André exhaled from his nose while thinking of his own recklessness, "Look who’s talking Dash…I’m the one who saved you and Babe was the one who saved me, heh."

Rainbow Dash wanted to laugh as well but she couldn't find it in herself to actually do it. She turned her head trying to hide her look of regret. She realized that André and Babe weren't the bad guys she had originally made them out to be. She found it a little upsetting it took a raging Ursa and the kindness in the two human’s hearts to truly prove that that she was wrong.

After a few minutes of walking André finally managed to find the exit, Twilight and the others saw Rainbow Dash in André’s arms. They also noticed the dirt that was all over André’s clothes and Rainbow Dash’s mane so they all rushed over to them. 

"We’re out. You ok to stand?" André asked as he looked down at Rainbow.

She nodded slowly, "Yeah…I’m fine."

Carefully, André helped Rainbow onto her hooves, "I’m glad you’re ok. Excluding the wing injury of course…" he jokingly mentioned.

She still wouldn't bring herself to smile or laugh yet, she looked at the ground and then back up to André, "…I’m-"

Before she continue her sentence André realized Babe wasn't around, "Wait. Where’s Babe?"

"Ok, thanks. I’ll see you a little later." Rainbow Dash and André saw Babe waving goodbye to the Unicorn aid. Babe and the Unicorn bump fist and hoof before going their separate ways. 

Twilight rushed over to the group in a panic, "Are you all alright!?"

Babe placed his hands on his hips as if nothing extraordinary just went down, "Yeah, we’re fine." 

"Why’re yer clothes so dirty André?" Applejack questioned.

André at Applejack and then to the rest of the group, "Um…well," he didn't know how to tell them about their encounter in the forest without them breaking out into a panic, but he knew he had to tell them something and the truth was the only right option. He sighed, "we kinda, we ran into an Ursa."

Just as he thought, "AN URSA!!?" they all yelled in question.

André put his hands up in an attempt to calm them down, "I know, I know but its ok. Babe managed to stop it."

Babe looked at the group and then at André, " I didn’t do anything. Colgate, used a sleeping spell to put it to sleep."

"Who?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Minuette." Babe clarified with a more proper name.

"Who?" Pinkie Pie asked again.

Babe looked at Pinkie for a few seconds before giving up, " ….Never mind."

"At least none of you are injured." Fluttershy calmly stated.

André shook his head at Fluttershy's claim, "Not quite. Rainbow Dash, we need to get you to a doctor. Your wing is still injured right?"

"Yeah." Rainbow replied.

Rarity walked over to her Pegasus friend to inspect her for serious injuries, "It hurt you!?" she asked out in a rather motherly tone.

Rainbow Dash remained quiet. She didn't want to tell any of her friends what happened but she knew she had to tell them eventually. Before she could get the chance to say anything André fell to the ground and passed out. Everyone gathered around him. All extremely worried about his condition they repeatedly called his name to try and wake him up but nothing worked.


> Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Babe all rushed André to the Ponyville hospital shortly after he passed out. In his room the nurse, Nurse Redheart, was checking to see if anything was wrong with him.

Twilight stood beside Nurse Redheart, "How is he nurse? Will he be ok?"

Nurse Redheart turned to the group of friends and happily smiled, "Yup. Everything’s just fine." the white coated nurse looked back at André,  "He’s just very exhausted and needs some rest."

Twilight and the other's sighed in relief.

Pinkie Pie stepped forward and looked down at the bed, "I’ve just got one question Nurse."

Nurse Redheart turned to Pinkie, "What’s that Pinkie Pie?" she asked.

"Is his face going to stay like that?" Pinkie asked as she pointed forward. Everyone looked at André’s face and saw what Pinkie Pie was talking about. His eyes were strained shut and his mouth was opening in a strange way.

"Ah…Ah…AH! ACHOO!!" André covered his mouth as he sneezed, sniffing afterwards. Pinkie realized why he was making the face and laughed, "He's ok! He just had the sneezes!"

André looked around the hospital room, "Hey guys. Um, where am I?" the last thing he remembered was getting out of Everfree forest.

Nurse Redheart felt his forehead after he woke up, "You're in the Ponyville hospital." she softly told him. 

"Hospital?" he questioned.

Babe rose up from one of the chairs he was sitting in and walked over to André's bed, "Yeah. You passed out after we got out of Everfree forest, remember?"

"Oh yeah. How am I Nurse? Oh! No, scratch that. How's Rainbow Dash? Is she ok?" André rose up while looking around for Rainbow. 

"I'll be alright." Rainbow Dash walked over to his bedside and showed André her bandaged wing, "I just have to stay off of my wing for a few days and I'll be soaring through the sky again in no time!"

André laid back in relief, "That's fantastic." André and Rainbow exchanged friendly smiles. It appears Rainbow has finally opened up to their Human visitors, seeing this made Twilight and the other's happy.

Applejack stood beside Rainbow Dash and placed a hoof on her back, "Well Rainbow, Ah'm sure you learned a pretty valuable lesson."

Rainbow innocently closed her eyes and smiled, "Nope!"

The comment only earned Rainbow Dash hard stares of disappointment. All of her friends were waiting for her to fix her previous statement, "I-I mean, yeah. I've learned that just because someone's different from you doesn't make them bad or have bad intentions. I'm sorry guys, I got so wrapped up in the rumors everypony was spreading I didn't even think about getting to know you and finding out the truth for myself." 

She looked at Babe and then to André, "If it's alright with you I'd like for us to start over and become friends."

André laughed, "Why should we do that?"

Rainbow was taken aback by André's reply, at first she didn't understand what he had meant, Babe saw she was lost and spoke up, "I think this experience just made us even closer. We've been friends from the get go."

Rainbow  Dash was happy to hear that she found new friends in the two Human's, she was overjoyed and excited about exploring more of their friendship. 

"Cool! If you guys like I could take you around a tour of Cloudsdale. You can walk on clouds can't you?" 

Babe scratched the back of his head at the question, "Not sure. It wouldn't hurt to try I guess."

"I hope we can." André added, "I always wanted to go to Cloudsdale."

"Awesome! Just let me know whenever you two have time and we'll head on up there." Rainbow placed a hoof to her chest proudly, "It's not every day you get to hang out with the greatest flyer in Ponyville!"

Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled, "But we do." she stated.

"...Oh yeah" Rainbow said, remembering that they in fact do hang out, almost every day, 

Everyone had a good laugh including Rainbow Dash herself. Amidst the laughter Rarity entered the room with a neatly wrapped box on her back, "I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Rarity asked as she stopped at the door.

Applejack was the first to notice Rarity's entrance, "Of course not Rarity. Where've you been?" 

Rarity walked over to the group with the box on her back, "While you all rushed André to the hospital I just had to go back to my boutique and get him something that would lift his spirits when he woke up."

"I'm fine Rarity. You didn't have to give me anything."

Rarity held up her hoof, "Nonsense! Besides I wanted to. I want you looking smashing for when the occasion calls for it."

André slightly raised himself up on the bed, "Cool. Thanks a lot." 

Rarity looked over to Babe, "Babe, I haven't forgotten about you. I have something for you as well but it's still at the boutique. You'll get the chance to see it once you move all your things to my house."

Babe nodded, "Thanks, Rarity."

Babe took the box off of Rarity's back and handed it over to its new owner. André removed the fancy looking gift paper and opened the box. Inside he found a very stylish suit inside. 

The suit nearly took André's breath away. It resembled a classic 1920's gangsters outfit. It was all black and complete with a red tie, fedora, gloves and a white scarf. How Rarity managed to get the "realism" down was beyond question, "…WOW! Rarity…this is fantastic!"

Rarity's eyes enlarged and twinkled at André's happiness, "Do you really like it?"

"Like it? I love it!" 

Rarity happily squealed.

André held the fedora and gazed upon the red Phoenix feather nesting on the hat's side, "You seriously have talent. You have the greatest fashion design in all of Equestria."

Rarity blushed at the comment. She loved praise on her clothes and designs, "It was my pleasure. I'm so happy that you like it."

André placed the fedora with the rest of the suit, " I can't wait to wear it, seriously."

"I can't wait to see you wear it." Rarity said with a delighted smile.

Suddenly André snapped his fingers, " Oh and Rarity, earlier you said to be Babe 'move all your things to my house' What exactly did you mean by that?"

Rarity turned to Babe, "You didn't tell him?"

"No. I must've forgot." Babe tapped his own forehead before looking at André, "André, Rarity is letting me stay at her place for a while. You know so we don't overcrowd Twilight's house."

André placed his finger and thumb on his chin, "Oh. I see." he looked over at Twilight, placing a hand on the border between his neck and shoulder, "You don't mind I stay for a little while longer do you Twi?"

Twilight shook her head, "Of course not. You can stay as long as you need to. You've been no trouble at all."

André smiled, "Thanks."

"Speaking of which," Babe joined, "do you mind if I go get the rest of my stuff Twilight? So I can move it over to Rarity's?"

"Not at all. I'll go with you." Twilight offered.

Babe nodded and turned back to André, "Alright, Dré, I'll see you tomorrow I guess. Here, I'll take your suit back to the house so you don't have to worry about it later on."

Babe took André's suit and placed them back inside the box. Babe and Twilight left the room to make their way over to Twilight's house.

Applejack looked over to the hospital's clock for the time, "Ah've got to head on back to the farm. Ah gotta help big McIntosh with those apples."

Rarity stepped in for the work call, "And I've got some more designs to work on."

Lastly was Fluttershy, "It's almost time for the animals back at home to eat. I've got to be there and feed them."

André knew how busy the girl's were and didn't want to hold them up, "Ok guys. I guess I'll see you all later."

"Definitely." Applejack was the first to leave the room.

Fluttershy went over to the room door but looked back at André before leaving, "Stop past the cottage sometime. I'd love to show you my butterfly grove."

"Sounds good. I will Fluttershy, thanks." André waved to Fluttershy before she left out.

Like the other's Rarity had a few words for André, "Let me know how you like your clothes after you've tried them on."

André nodded, "Of course."

Rarity left with a smile and closed the door behind them. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie stayed behind. André looked at Rainbow first and then to Pinkie, "What about you guys?"

Pinkie Pie was happily bouncing up and down, " I don't have anything to do! I'll gladly keep you company!"

André chuckled at his pink coated friend, "What about you, Dash?"

Rainbow helped out her injured wing, "Not much I can do with an injured wing. I was just going to stay here with you."

"Aw, that's nice of you two, thanks. Is there anything you want to do?"

Pinkie Pie already had an idea as she jumped up and down raising her hoof, "Oh, oh, oh! Let's play charades!"

"I'm not too good at charades." André admitted.

"Eh. With only three of us charades won't be all that fun." Rainbow Dash added on.

One idea down, possibly a hundred more to go with Pinkie Pie, "Okay! Then how about we go out and play hide and go seek?"

André mildly laughed, "In the hospital? I don't think they'll allow us to do that."

Another plan gone, Pinkie bumped her hooves together "Right! Darn it…"

Rainbow smiled as she rolled her eyes, she walked toward the hospital room's door, "While you guys think of something I'll be using the little mare's room." she closed the door after she left the room.

Once Rainbow Dash left the room an idea suddenly popped into André's head, "Hm…hey, Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie Pie put her thinking on pause and looked at her friend, "Yeah?"

André rapidly tapped his chin with his finger as he thought on, "You mind doing me a favor?"

"Of course! Anything!" Pinkie Pie happily said.

"Come here" 

Pinkie skipped over to André's bedside, "Is it a secret?" she asked softly.

André smiled in return, "No, it's-"

Pinkie listened on as André whispered into her ear, "Uh huh….oh! Hahaha! That sounds fun!"

André leaned back after he finished, "Think you can do that for me?"

"Hehe! Yup!"

Just the thought of what Pinkie was about to do gave André butterflies, he looked on in anticipation.

Pinkie was ready and so was André, she began, "Hehehe! ♪I'm the P to the I.N,K.I.E to the P to I to E♪" Pinkie suddenly grabbed onto André's shoulders and pulled him in closer to her, they were nose to nose, "and while I'm at it won't you please be friend's with me!?"

Pinkie accidentally pushed André back to hard and he fell out of the hospital bed, as André looked up Pinkie stood over him, with the finishing phrase, " I'm Pinkielicious!"

The finishing phrase made André laugh in amusement, "YES! Thanks a lot for that Pinkie Pie!"

"No problem! Hey, why did you want me to do that anyway?"

André knew he couldn't tell Pinkie the truth, he tried coming up with a good story to cover up for his real reason, "I just…research. I think it's pretty cool and funny."

Being as carefree as she was Pinkie brought it and accepted that as a reasonable answer, "Oh! I see hehe! Here, let me help you up."

She helped André off of the floor and back into the bed. As he got back up into the bed Rainbow Dash reentered the room, "Is, uh, everything alright in here?"

André tried to hide his laughter but it came out in suspicious laugh cracks, "Hehe...Yup. Pfft! Everything's just fine."

"Peachy" Pinkie Pie cheerfully states.

Rainbow walked back over to her friends, unaware of the routine they just did, "Did you guys figure out what you were going to do?"

"We did something that was funny!" Pinkie Pie hinted.

Curiosity had Rainbow's interest peeked, "Yeah? What was it? I'm in the mood for a good laugh."

Pinkie readied herself to repeat her 'liciousness', "It's Pinkielic-!"

André wrapped his hand around Pinkie Pie's mouth to keep her quiet.

Rainbow slightly cocked her head back in confusion, "What're you doing?"

André looked at Rainbow and then back to Pinkie. He was seeing just how strange he was making the situation, "Don't tell Rainbow Dash, I'll get her eventually. If you show her now she'll think it's not cool." he whispered.

Pinkie Pie signaled she understood by nodding her head. André released her and the two looked at Rainbow Dash. Obviously there was something they were hiding from her and she looked in suspicion. Rainbow shook her head at the two for their randomness, "You're both random."

"Mhm!" André and Pinkie said in sync, they looked at each other for a brief second, "JINX!" they were both surprised they both jinxed each other but it didn't stop there, "JINX! JINX! JINX! JINX AGAIN! Huh…? Okay….this is getting weird…" they continued saying the exact same thing.

Rainbow Dash was nearly in tears from laughing, "You two are so weird! Jinxing each other nonstop, you both should be married!"

André and Pinkie looked at Rainbow, "Married?" they turned back to each other, "Hey, stop saying what I'm saying!" they synced again...

It was getting a little strange now...but-"JINX!"

Rainbow laughed even harder than she already was a few seconds ago and she fell onto the floor. Pinkie started feeling a laugh coming on and fell beside Rainbow Dash. Laughing was pretty contagious to André and the jinx clash with Pinkie actually made him want to join them in the laugh, he fell back on the bed and laughed as well.

Pinkie quickly raised up after she stopped laughing, "Hey, guys, I know what we could do!"

André and Rainbow looked at Pinkie to hear what she had to say.

"We could have what I like to call a 'you're getting out of the hospital tomorrow party'!"

André wiped his eyes dry, and continued smiling, "It's party central with you huh, Pinkie?"

Pinkie jumped up off of the floor and was back on all four's, "And you know it!" she cheerfully exclaimed.

Rainbow got up off of the floor as well, "That sounds kind of fun." she said, complimenting the idea.

The party idea's Pinkie had in mind just filled her brain, "Yup! We can have music and dancing and cake! It's gonna be so awesome!"

André thought about the party but a party in a hospital was most likely not allowed, "Will the nurse's allow you to do tha-"

Before he could finish his sentence Pinkie Pie put on a party hat. She extended her arm to the side and pulled in front of her a box. She opened the box and confetti erupted from out of the box alongside cake and lots of other party stuff, "Party!" Pinkie shouted.

Pinkie Pie began dancing. André recognized the dance from the time she got Fluttershy to sing the song she made up about Zecora being evil. Rainbow Dash laughed and decided to join her friend in the dance.

André watched as the two started dancing, he shook his head, "Wow, there's no denying it. Equestria's crazy…." the more he watched them dancing in front of him the more he realized he was actually there with them, he didn't want to waste any second of his time in this world, "oh well! If you can't beat em join em!" he stated aloud to himself.

With that in mind André flipped the white blankets over and went over to his two friends to join in with their dance. The three had a party in a hospital room, cool or not Rainbow Dash loved every minute of it. Normal or not André lost himself in the moment.
> Royal invitation 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Canterlot Princess Celestia was silently reading a letter in her room. A knock on the door got the princess's attention. "Come in" she said. Entering the room was her little sister, Princess Luna, the co-ruled Equestria.

"Luna. How are you? Please, come in." Celestia warmly greeted her sister.

Princess Luna proceeded inside her sister's room, closing the door behind her with her magic. She walked over to her older sister.

Celestia noticed the look on Luna's face, "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine but..." Luna stopped as she raised her head to her older sibling.

"Is something wrong?" Celestia asked as she sat the letter down in front of her.

"It's about….Twilight Sparkle's new friends," Luna hesitantly stated, "the two who arrived in Ponyville not too long ago."

"The two Humans?" Celestia questioned.

Luna nodded her head, "Is it safe for them to be in Ponyville?" the princess of the night was obviously speaking in concern for all her subjects, Celestia continued to listening to her sisters words, "I mean, they won't bring harm to anypony will they?" 

Celestia smiled at Luna to put her worrying at ease, "Of course not, the complete opposite actually." Princess Celestia used her magic to levitate the letter up to eye level to finish reading, "Twilight mentioned that they saved Rainbow Dash from an Ursa Minor. They put themselves at great risk to save their friend. They're kind and harmless. I trust my student and I'll take her word for it."

Princess Luna expected as much from her older sister, there was no point in arguing or further the conversation, "Of course. If you have faith in her then I will too."

"Thank you." Celestia says softly as she pulled Luna in for a loving hug, "I must say that I'm quite intrigued by these two as well. I invited them to visit Canterlot and that way we'll have the chance to meet them ourselves." Luna slightly backed away so she could look at her sister's face, " You'll see. Having them here could prove to be one of the most historic events of Equestria."

Later that evening in Ponyville Twilight and Babe had arrived at the library. Babe had finished packing all of his things and was prepared to head over to Rarity's, "Ok. That's all my stuff." 

Twilight followed behind Babe, "Are you sure you have everything?"

Babe turned back to Twilight, "Yeah. I didn't have much when I first came here."

Twilight giggled and tapped her forehead, "Oh, yeah, right. How could I forget?"

"Is André's suit put up?" asked Babe.

Twilight nodded "Uh huh. It's upstairs on the bed."

The sound of small footsteps approached caught Twilight and Babe's attention as well as Spike calling out, "Twilight!"

Twilight looked in Spike's direction as he approached, "Hey, Spike. What's wrong?"

The small dragon came to a screeching halt. He was holding a letter in his claw, "I've got a letter from Princess Celestia!"

"Really?" Twilight took the letter from Spike's claws using her magic, "Let me see that." as she read her eyes became more and more dense and serious.

Babe approached her after giving her a minute to read it, "Is everything alright, Twi?"

"Everything's fine but…" Twilight paused.

"But-?" Babe tried helping her continue her unfinished sentence.

"But…Princess Celestia wants to meet you and André." Twilight finally continued.

Babe was puzzled at Twilight's announcement, "Really? Princess Celestia wants to meet u-" he once again stopped himself before revealing too much, he started over, "I mean….who's Princess Celestia?" he corrected.

"You don't know?" Twilight asked a bit surprised, "Princess Celestia is one of the co-rulers of Equestria. She's the pony who gives us the gift of the sun. I'm also her student."

Babe tried his best to pretend he didn't already know, "Oh, lucky you." he barely managed to sound surprised or shocked that his friend was the student of one of the ruler's of the land, Twilight was more focused on the letter than Babe's actual reaction.

"She wants to meet you both five days from now."

Babe tightened the strap on his book bag, "That's cool. I feel important."

"Have you ever participated in an event like this?" Twilight immanently asked in a rather panic like mood, "We've got to practice your table manners, get you ready," Babe and Spike watched as Twilight began to nervously pace back and forth, "we've gotta practice your speech so you won't stutter in conversation. We have so much to do!"

Babe sighed at Twilight and her usual but random breakdown's, "I'm sure Princess Celestia just wants to get to know us." he put his hand on Twilight's shoulder and stopped her from pacing, "As long as we act like ourselves there won't be any problems."

"You know he's right Twilight." Spike joined to ease Twilight's nerves, "Princess Celestia wouldn't want it any other way, especially on the first meeting."

Twilight managed to put herself at ease and exhaled at her own freak out, "…You're right. I'm sorry about that."

Babe patted Twilight's back in support, "Don't apologize. We just gotta let André know when he gets out the hospital tomorrow." Babe opened the library's front door and stood at the entrance.

Twilight stood with Babe at the front door, "Right. I'll let him know." 

Babe looked up to the sky and then back to Twilight, "You think she may know of a way for us to get back home?"

Twilight opened her mouth but stopped...she wasn't expecting a question quite like, "I….huh, I don't know."

Babe heard Twilight's voice and looked at her, she was blankly staring at the ground, lost in thought. Babe tapped Twilight's shoulder, "Yo, Twilight, you ok?"

"Huh?" Twilight looked up at Babe and shook herself out of her own thoughts, "Oh sorry about that! Yeah, I'm fine. But I'm not sure. She could have a spell that'll send you guys back."

Babe placed both hands on the two arm straps his bag had and slightly raised the bag, "Well. We'll never know until the day comes." Twilight faked a convincing smile, "Well, I'm off." he noted.

Twilight raised her hoof and waved, "Okay. Take care."

Babe waved back as he walked backwards, "I will and thanks for everything Twilight."

Twilight continued waving, "It was my pleasure."

With their last goodbyes Babe turned and started making his way for Rarity's boutique. Twilight shut the door after Babe left.

"Aw man!" Spike complained, "I hope they won't have to leave yet. We've just become such good friends."

Twilight looked down at Spike with an agreeing expression, "I know what you mean Spike," she walked to the center of the library and stopped, "There are still so many things I wanted to know about them."

Spike could hear the growing worry in Twilight's voice, "Who knows? Maybe it's not for a way back, maybe it's just for a meeting." he said reassuringly.

Twilight looked down at Spike once more with a smile, "Yeah. I hope you're right Spike,"

Spike smiled back at Twilight and left the room, Twilight's smile slowly went away once he left, "I really do…" she muttered.
> The first day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a beach setting during the sunset Twilight was sitting on the edge of a pier alongside her two human friends, Twilight looked out to the sea, "You know…the days have changed."

"What do you mean?" André asked as he looked at Twilight.

"Well..." she couldn't find words to describe how she felt.

Babe continued looking out to the sparkling orange ocean, "Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine but…I was thinking." Twilight placed her hoof in the sand and started making circular patterns.

"About what?" Babe asked as he laid back in the sand to rest, "You can tell André and me anything, what's on your mind?"

Twilight sighed, "What if Princess Celestia has found a way to send you two back home?" André and Babe remained quiet, "We might not see each other again." she sadly finished.

André understood Twilight's sadness, but he did what he could to support her. He smiled, "True. But we're still friends regardless right?" unfortunately what he was trying to get at wasn't making Twilight feel better and he knew this, "Who knows? Maybe you can find a way to have Babe and me come back someday."

Twilight shook her head, shooting André's theory down, "I couldn't do that." André tapped the sand in defeat, "Not after all the trouble Princess Celestia could've gone through after finding a way for getting you two back. You two weren't even here for that long."

"So what do you want us to do Twilight?" Babe calmly asked, still laying in the sand.

Twilight already had her answer, "Stay here in Ponyville. Our friendship would never have to end." André remained quiet while Babe chuckled.

Babe looked over at Twilight smiling, " The days haven't changed. You seem to have been the one who's changed Twilight."

Twilight knew the chances of the boy's staying were slim, "Maybe..." she sighed.

Babe started to see how serious Twilight was emotionally, he decided to throw his joking aside after seeing that it wasn't working, "I mean…it's not like you to think like this. Even when we do go back, you'll always remember us, right?"

"Of course…" Twilight replied.

Babe continued on, "As long as you remember our time here you'll be fine. Heh, we weren't even here long enough to make an impact."

André snickered as he looked back out into the ocean, "I'll never forget."

Babe shut his eyes and smiled, remembering his time in Ponyville, "Same here."

Twilight didn't know what to say and kept quiet.

"Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack." André named the first half of the group.

"Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Spike." Babe named the second half.

"And you Twilight. We'll never forget you." the two named the final member of the group that mattered.

The two slowly began to fade away. Twilight opened her eyes, realizing everything that just happened was all a dream, she rose up and looked around, "That was….that was just a dream?" she asked herself as she looked down to her blanket, "Heh, Twilight, get it together girl. You're just overthinking things again." Twilight convinced herself with a smile.

She looked out of her bedroom's window to see the morning sky. The five days was all she had on her mind. How could she make these last few days count with her unique human friends?

The first day

At the Ponyville hospital André was just awakening in bed. He got up and stretched his arms. He looked over to his left and saw Rainbow Dash sitting on a chair with her head buried in her arms asleep on his bedside. He turned to the right and saw Pinkie Pie sleeping on the floor with confetti all over her body. She was asleep with the casual Pinkie Pie smile on her face, "Pinkie Pie is just full of surprises." he quietly said.

"SURPRISE!?" Pinkie shouted as she suddenly woke up. 

"WHOA!" André yelled as he flinched from her random outburst.

Pinkie Pie happily jumped up and down, Surprise? There's a surprise? Is it someponies birthday? What's the occasion? Tell me, tell me, you've gotta tell me!"

André had his hand over his heart feeling how fast his own heart was racing, "Don't scare me like that Pinkie Pie..." he exhaled and was at ease, "Nobody's birthday is today. I was just telling myself about how much of a surprise you are."

Pinkie stopped jumping,"Oh. Well that's what I do best!" she started her jumping all over again, "Speaking of birthday's when is your birthday, André?" she asked in excitement.

"My birthday? What's today?" he asked.

Pinkie looked down at her special watch, which randomly spawned on her wrist at just the right moment, "August 26."

"Oh." André said as he slowly scratched his head, "My birthday was three days ago Pinkie Pie, you missed it."

Missing a party is one of the worst possible thing's for Pinkie, she lowered her head in disappointment, "Aw….I would've thrown you the greatest and bestest birthday party EVER!"

"That's ok Pinkie Pie" André reassuringly said to the party pony, "I don't need a party to enjoy a birthday. As long as I'm around people I care about then it's all good."

Pinkie cheered up a bit, "That's nice of you to say." Pinkie looked up at André with a bright smile, "I understand!" she happily stated.

André was happy to see that he cheered Pinkie up but with dates in mind he thought about Earth, "But if it's August 26 then that means it's my friend's birthday back at home."

Pinkie's ear's twitched after hearing birthday again.

"I'm not even there to tell him happy birthday." André said in a bit of a letdown voice.

Pinkie's ear's lowered shortly after they just rose not a few seconds ago, "Aw…that's so sad…AH! I can't stand it!" she shouted in frustration.

"Can't stand what?" André asked.

Pinkie crossed her forearms similar to that of a human and stood on her hind legs as she did so, "Not being able to throw so many parties in so little time!"

An idea suddenly hit him, André had an idea, "Hey! I know something that'll cheer you right up."

"You do?" Pinkie asked in hope.

André pulled the white covers from over his legs and slowly got out of bed. He was trying not to wake Rainbow Dash. He went over to a basket containing his clean clothes, courtesy of Nurse Redheart who washed all his clothes for him, "Tomorrow is Babe's birthday."

Pinkie's party joy kicked in, "Really!?" 

André nodded "Yup. How about you throw him a surprise birthday party?"

Pinkie Pie felt all the energy in her body wanting to release all at once. She began to shake in excitement. André acted quickly and put his hand over Pinkie Pie's mouth to keep her quiet, "Hehe, I know you're excited Pinkie Pie but shouting it out will ruin the surprise. See what I'm saying?"

Pinkie Pie cheerfully nodded and André released her, "Remember to keep it on the hush, hush." he reminded her.

"Okie dokie!" Pinkie happily commented.

"Great. Now, I'm going to get dressed. How about you start with the planning and stay in touch okay?"

Pinkie nodded in agreement.

André, himself, was starting to get excited about the party,"Perfect. I'll see you later."

Pinkie Pie happily bounced out of the room. She already had party ideas in mind. André switched out of his hospital attire and began to put on his clean clothes. As he put his shirt on he hears a soft "Wonderbolts….so awesome." coming from Rainbow Dash's mouth as she slept. 

As André was putting on his shoes Rainbow started to wake up, "Morning, Rainbow." he greeted his awakening friend.

"Morning already?" Rainbow asked before yawning, "Wow..." Rainbow scratched her messy unkempt mane and shook her head to get the last bit of drowsiness out of her system.

"Did ya sleep well?" André asked.

"Sure did." Rainbow replied.

"Have any sweet dreams?" André asked again.

"Uh huh." Rainbow said with a smile.

André grinned deviously, "Was it about the Wonderbolts?"

Unaware what André just asked Rainbow followed along and played into André's playful trap, "It sure was-HUH!?"

He laughed as Rainbow Dash just realized what he said, "Aw, that's so adorable Rainbow." André taunted.

Rainbow was a bit confused and scratched her mane, "How did you…"

"You were talking in your sleep."

Rainbow Dash found that rather embarrassing. She unknowingly blushed at her sleep talking, "That's a little embarrassing." she admitted, "Talking in your sleep? That's just so uncool."

"Not at all!"

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at André's view on sleep talk, "You don't think so?"

André shook his head, "Nope. My mom did it once. I think I even do sometimes. It's pretty funny actually."

Rainbow giggled at the thought of someone else talking in their sleep, "It does sound pretty funny, huh? But still, it's a bit weird to me."

"Why?" André asked, "It makes you 20% cooler."

Rainbow heard him and eyed him in a surprise. André only grinned at her reaction. He knew he used Rainbow Dash's line, something he wasn't supposed to know at the time, but he used it anyway to see how she would react. Before she could reply someone knocked on the room door, André opened the door and standing before him was Twilight, "Morning André, how's it going?"

"Hey, Twilight. Everything's great." 

" Got any plans for today?" Twilight asked, she stayed at the room's entrance.

André took a minute to think about his plans for the day, " I was going to visit Applejack. So I can help her with apple bucking. We originally had plans yesterday but that got scrapped for the race."

Rainbow heard the comment and couldn't help but feel as if it was her fault, "....Sorry." she apologized.

André turned to Rainbow Dash and saw her saddened look, "Don't worry about it," he encouraged "it all worked out in the end anyway."

Rainbow rubbed her leg bashfully, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

André turned back to Twilight, "I was going to see if I could help her on the farm from now on too." 

"You seem to want to do a lot for Applejack." Twilight noted, "Do you have feelings for a certain somepony? Maybe a little crush on Applejack?" Twilight playfully teased.

"No." André bluntly stated with a plain facial expression.

Twilight slowly walked up to André to further her teasing, "Hmmmm?" André just followed Twilight with his eyes, she stood beside him and tapped his side with her elbow, "You don't sound so sure."

André chuckled and shook his head, "I just really want to give her a hand. She does a lot and I just want to be there to help her."

Twilight just looked at André with a coy smile, "Sure. You've got my support."

"Aha, Ahaaaaaa, funny Twilight."

Twilight placed her hoof over her mouth and giggled at his sarcastic remark, "By the way, I got a letter from Princess Celestia." Twilight said as she stood back in front of André and Rainbow.

André, remembering he still had to play dumb, looked in confusion, "Princess?" he asked.

"The co-ruler of Equestria," Twilight informed her human friend, "she said she would like to meet Babe and you four days from now."

"Four days?" André thought, "Oh man. That's such an honor. The Princess of Equestria wanting to meet us. I can't wait for that." he started to sound a bit anxious.

"I'm glad to hear that. I'm sure she'll like you guys." Twilight positively stated, knowing her teacher would love them, "Also, I saw Pinkie Pie earlier. She said something about throwing a birthday party?"

"Yeah. A surprise birthday party," André went over to his hospital bed and started folding the blankets, "Babe's birthday is tomorrow."

The sudden information caught Twilight off guard, she didn't know and didn't have anything to give the birthday boy, "Really? I have to get him a gift!"

André fluffed the pillow and placed it neatly upright, "Don't stress it too much Twilight, I don't think he's much of a gift person." he pretty much guessed based on personality knowledge.

Rainbow turned to André, "What are you saying? Everypony loves gifts. What kind of things does he even like? We can't just get him any ol' thing." she said with reason.

"True." Twilight put her hoof to her chin for a second, "What does Babe find interesting André?"

André thought, "He likes Pokémon."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, she never heard of it, "What?"

"It's this game they have back where we come from." he rubbed his hands together after finishing straightening up the bed, he then thought about how pointless it was to explain to Rainbow and Twilight about the game he mentioned since they don't even know the human world exist, "Never mind. Other than electronics, I don't really know Babe's interests." 

"Without asking him this may be a little difficult." Twilight admitted to her friend's who agreed.

"Yeah" André crossed his arms, "For now let's just tell the other's about the party."

"That sounds like a great idea." Twilight put on a look of determination, she wanted Babe's party to happen just as much as André or Pinkie, "We'll meet back at the library so we can discuss everything."

Rainbow Dash and André  had the plan in mind and were ready to get the day started. After giving his thanks to Nurse Redheart André, Twilight and Rainbow Dash left the hospital. 

Twilight went over to Fluttershy's cottage while André headed over to Sweet Apple Acres. He journeyed the same dirt road where he met Apple Bloom, "My minds all twisted now." André said to himself as he continued down the road, "If we do decide to buy gifts for him what kind of gift would he like? Would it be too obvious if I asked him? Maybe Applejack would know something."

"ANDRÉ!!"  a voice shouted from behind, André yelled as he turned around. A certain cerulean coated Pegasus could barely keep herself airborne due to her laughing, "Rainbow Dash, you scared me!"

"I sure did! You should've seen your face!" she continued laughing.

"Very funny." he laughed before realizing Rainbow was with him, "What're you doing here?"

Rainbow landed in front of André and flicked her tail, "I'm going with you to Sweet Apple Acres."

Although he didn't mind André wondered why, "I thought you were going to let somepony else know about the surprise party. We could've covered more ground separately."

"And risk you getting lost? No way!" André squinted his left eye and eased a slow smile on his face as Rainbow Dash continued, "Not to worry, you've got Equestria's greatest flyer by your side!" she said proudly.

"Kind of ironic isn't it?" he asked, "You're walking with me."

Rainbow Dash made a straight face before seeing André's point. She put back on her smile, "Good point."

André crossed his arms, "Also, I'm not worried about anything. I know my way to Sweet Apple Acres."

"I'm sure you do. I'm uh…I'm just here to keep you company." she narrowly saved herself, "To keep you from dying of boredom. Besides, wouldn't want you getting lost in Applejack's eyes."

André tapped his forehead with an open palm and a laugh, "Uh huh. Sure, that's the reason why you're here."

Rainbow held her head up, eyes closed, thinking she convinced her human friend that was her reason for coming along. André didn't mind Rainbow Dash tagging along but he wanted a real answer.

The two arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. In the Apple orchid Applejack was busy doing what she did best and that was bucking apples. The duo approached her, "Hey, Applejack." André was first to greet. 

"André? It's good to see ya! Howdy, Rainbow."

André pointed at Applejack, "AJ, you going to the B.S.P.E tomorrow?" he asked while looking a bit lost.

Applejack raised a brow, "The what?"

"Best. Surprise. Party. Ever." 

Applejack giggled at André's acronym meaning, "Is that what it means? You're a hoot." André grinned at Applejack's compliment, despite knowing what he said was a bit lame, " Sure, ah don't mind goin'."

André and Rainbow looked at each other in success, "Perfect!" André happily cheered.

"Whose party is it?" Applejack asked curiously since she knew there wasn't anything special planned for any of the other Ponies.

"Babe's." he clarified, "It's for a surprise birthday party."

"Babe's birthday is tomorrow?" Applejack was a bit shocked at the sudden news, "Well shoot! That doesn't leave me much time to get a gift."

"Right…about that," André rubbed the back of his neck before continuing, "we have NO idea what he would like for a gift. We were kinda hoping you would have an idea."

"Ah've no clue either. Ah haven't spent enough time with Babe to really know what kind of things he'd like for a birthday gift. He's been hanging out with Rarity mostly. Ah'm sure she's bound to know somethin'."

"Good idea!" André took a quick glance over the apple orchid, "While I'm here do you mind if I help you with a few trees? I remember we were supposed to have bucked a few apples a little while ago but it got put on hold."

"Well, Ah've got a few more trees to buck, sure! Ah could use an extra pair of hooves around here."

"Cool." André turned to Rainbow who he nearly forgot was there, "Hey, Rainbow, can you go and ask Rarity about what she thinks Babe might like as a gift."

Rainbow tilted her head slightly, "Aren't you gonna come with me?" she felt like she was being abandoned or neglected.

André pointed back with his thumb, "I just said I was helping Applejack. You can do it."

"…Riiiiight, ok. Sure…"

André and Applejack went farther off into the apple orchid. The two exchange friendly laughs with as they walked off. Rainbow squinted her eyes at the two. The now lonely Rainbow Dash left Sweet Apple Acres and sulkily traveled back down the dirt road back down to Ponyville. She seemed rather disappointed that André didn't really want to spend any time with her.

"I don't get it. Why would André want to hang out with Applejack so badly? And why does Babe only hang out with Rarity? Does he have a fashion craze? Not only that but they were living with Twilight temporarily. André's still going to be living with Twilight until they find a way back home and Babe will be spending MORE time with Rarity!" Rainbow's voice noticeably got more and more irritated, "WHY DON'T THEY WANT TO SPEND TIME WITH ME!?" she yelled out to herself, "Is it because they think I'm boring? No that's ridiculous…anypony whose anypony knows that I'm coolest Pegasus in all of Ponyville!" her gloating itched her mind at another possibility, "But even so….they might not even like a show off…" she shook her head to bring herself back to her sense, "What am I saying? I just have my head in the clouds, that's all."

Rainbow was obviously bothered neither of the boy's seemed interested in hanging out with her as much as the other's but on her exterior she played it off as nothing, she was still a bit confused inside. 

Later that day at the library the whole gang had arrived to discuss the party plans, including Rainbow Dash, André and Applejack. While everyone gathered around the couch Pinkie stood in front of the group, being planner and all, "Great! Everypony's here! Now we can get down to business! Now as we all know our good friend, Babe's, birthday is tomorrow. I'm the host Pinkie Pie."

"Hello, Pinkie Pie." André randomly called out.

Pinkie giggled at André's randomness before continuing, "
And we're going to throw him the best birthday party he's ever had! We'll have the party here at the library. I already have the decorations, food preparation and overall theme of the party so all we need to do now is make sure he comes here tomorrow."

"Sounds easy enough." Rarity stated.

"That means NOPONY tells him anything." Pinkie made herself quite clear by making her neck magically extend over to her friend's to give them an intimidating stare, "Not even a peep about anything related to a party."

André raised his hand.

"Yes…um…Spike!" Pinkie pointed to Spike.

"What!? My hand was raised!" André's voice was heard in the background while Spike stood up.

"You're Pinkie Pie." Spike noted, obviously. Pinkie blinked twice, not knowing what to do at that point, "Every day we expect a party. Don't you think that he'll be pretty much expecting you to throw something for him?" Spike finished explaining.

Pinkie stomped her hoof on the floor, "Well, Babe doesn't have to know that!"

Spike didn't respond and just sat back down.

The party mare rubbed her hooves together, "He'll never see it coming. I can just imagine the look on his face now! Remember Nopony says ANYTHING, got it?"

The group all nodded.

"Excellent!" Pinkie happily cheered, "We'll meet back here at noon. André, you'll be the one who tells him to come but make sure you get here before he does."

"Shouldn't be a problem." André said with hopeful intentions, while Pinkie was the one planning he knew that keeping a party a secret was serious challenge for a Pony as dedicated to them as Pinkie Pie was.

Pinkie looked back at her friend's, "Alright then. We're going to make this happen! Everypony go out and do what you normally do but remember the plan."

Everypony, Spike and André understood. They all shouted "Right!" before going back to their daily routines.




> The second day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The second day

At Twilight's house Pinkie Pie, Twilight and the others were making sure everything was perfectly set up for Babe's surprise party. Rainbow Dash was hanging up banters on the ceiling. Her wing injury was completely healed. There was a rather large empty gift box in the center of the room.

Twilight took a step back to look at the decorated library, "What do you think Pinkie Pie? Is this good enough?"

"Yeah, this is perfect! I can't wait to spring the surprise on Babe!"

"I hope he doesn't get too surprised that he gets scared." Fluttershy worried.

Applejack walked over to Fluttershy and laughed, "Nopony can get scared from something like that."

André charged through the door and quickly closed it behind himself. Fluttershy yelped at the sound of the door slamming and ran behind Applejack, "He'll be here, any minute! We don't have much time!" he warned while trying to catch his breath.

Pinkie waved her arms in a panic, "Twilight, hit the lights!" she ran over to the large empty present, "Quick, everypony into the box!"

Acting quickly everyone jumped into the large box. Twilight cut the lights out using her magic. She also used her magic to put the lid on top of the box. The library was completely dark.

"Uh! Hey, whose hoof is that?" Applejack asked.

The box shook, "O-Oh, I'm sorry Applejack." Fluttershy apologized.

"There isn't much leg room…" André complained, "Whose tail is this?"

"Mine." Rarity stated.

"Be easy on Rarity!" Spike went on the defense and got protective of Rarity, of course.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it, Spike." Fluttershy intervened.

Twilight groaned, "Stop talking."

Rainbow sucked her teeth, "Oh yeah, like you're not talking."

Pinkie started to panic, "Guys! I can't see! I'm blind!" she cried out in fear, Twilight could only sigh at Pinkie Pie's fear.

"The lights are out and we're in a box Pinkie…"

They heard the door open and close. They all quickly closed their bickering mouths, giving the room complete silence. Entering the house was Babe, who quickly found all the lights being off a dead giveaway for something planned, "Hey guys. What's going on? The lights are all out, is there a party or something?" he asked in a straight forward tone.

The lights turn on and the lid to the box popped open. The group all rose out of the box all at once, which was a pretty bad idea. The box started to tilt over and soon they all fell out of the box, lying on top of each other. After a good laugh they all helped each other up.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABE!" Pinkie bounced around the birthday boy with a party hat on and a streamer in her mouth.

"Let me guess. André told Pinkie Pie it was my birthday yesterday and since then you guys have been planning on this surprise party."

Twilight was intrigued with Babe's guess, "You knew?"

"I guess you could say something like that." He said with a smile.

Babe's reaction wasn't what Pinkie had in mind, he didn't seem surprised or anything, "Aren't you surprised?" she asked with puppy dog eyes.

"Very." He replied, Pinkie felt her joy and cheer restoring, "I just don't usually show it especially when Pinkie Pie's my friend. I was more excited than surprised. Thanks so much, I can't remember the last time I had a surprise birthday party."

"You had one before?" André asked unaware Babe had parties back home.

Babe simply shrugged, demonstrated how forgetful he was.

André just looked at Babe with a fascinated look, "It's impossible to surprise you."

"Luckily I have a knack for knowing the obvious. Having the lights out after you ran back to the library was a dead giveaway."

André sighed at his own obviousness, "Should've known…" Babe slapped André's back, cheering him up with a reassuring grin, "Forget about it. The parties here right? Let's party!"

Pinkie Pie slid over to the record player and turned on some music to get the party going. Babe went over to Pinkie Pie and started dancing. He attempted the cabbage patch while Pinkie Pie was doing her well known enchantress dance.

André laughed himself over to a chair on the side of the room where all the food and drinks were. He sat in the chair and watched his friends enjoy themselves, "We've gotta deal with this from now on, who wants to go back home?"

"What's up dude?" Spike approached André and sat in the chair next to him.

André noticed Spike on his side and pat the small Dragon's head, "Hey, Spike." he stopped his playful petting a few seconds later, not wanting to overstep boundaries despite there not being any, " It's good to see ya."

"What're you doing over here by yourself?" Spike questioned.

André sat back in the chair comfortably, "Just sitting and watching everyone have a good time."

"Well that's no fun." Spike pointed to the dance floor, "Why not go out and dance with Babe and Pinkie Pie?"

André saw the two and laughed once more, "No, no that's ok. I don't dance Spike." After answering Spike's question André came up with one of his own, "Why aren't you dancing with Rarity?"

Spike raised his head at the question but was let down at his answer. He started twiddling his thumbs, "Rarity wouldn't dance with a guy like me. I think she's more interested in Babe."

"What? Nonsense! She's gonna be thrilled to dance with you." André tried being as supportive as he could for Spike, he knew Spike's feelings for Rarity is almost as strong as Rarity love for gems and design.

Spike sighed at André's words, "I don't know…"

André placed his hand on Spike's shoulder, "There's nothing worse than regret Spike." The two started having a big brother-little brother type moment.

Spike hung his head thinking what chance he had at dancing with Rarity. Rarity walked over to the punch bowl, directly to the right of the two.

André noticed Rarity getting a drink, "Hey, Rarity." He waved at her while Spike didn't say anything.

Rarity took a step over to the two, "Hey, André. What're you doing over here? You should be having a good time."

"I am having a good time. Babe and Pinkie Pie are making sure of that, heh. I can't stop laughing."

Rarity saw Babe and Pinkie and giggled, she turned back to André, "Why not join them? Would you like to dance?" she offered.

"Me?" André asked, Rarity's offer was kind but André couldn't stop thinking about Spike's feelings, "Uh, nah, I don't really do the dancing thing, BUT, but you can dance with Spike!" he quickly turned the conversation around.

Spike looked up in confusion.

André placed his hand on Spike's back, prompting him to get off the chair, "Spike, would love a dancing partner so why not dance with him?"

"André…!" Spike shyly said André's name trying to get him to stop.

"That's a wonderful idea!" Rarity stated, "Spike, would you like to dance with me?" Rarity asked Spike enthusiastically.

Spike's jaw dropped, "…I-uh, well, I-chores, Twilight, house, clean-Spike, André-say…" Spike's stuttering seemed like it would continue if nothing was done about it, André stepped in for Spike, "I'm that's a definite yes." He claimed for the small Dragon.

Rarity chuckled at Spike's shy stuttering. It was obviously to see he's more than happy to be dancing with Rarity. Rarity led the way to the dance floor while Spike followed her. He turned back to André and gave him happy thumbs up.

"Go get em Spike." André said to himself.

As the wild dancing continued Babe noticed Rarity and Spike, "Oh hey…Spike's dancing with Rarity?" he turned to Pinkie, "Hey, Pinkie Pie."

"What's up?" Pinkie asked as she continued her crazy dance moves.

"Do you think you can put on a slow song?" he asked.

Pinkie stopped dancing once he mentioned it, "Slow song?" she was a bit curious to Babe's sudden change in theme but when he pointed to Rarity and Spike she understood. "OH! I see where you're getting at!"

Pinkie Pie dashed over to the record player to switch songs. Everyone looked around as the atmosphere suddenly changed, slow music began to play. Babe dimmed the lights.

Twilight looked around at the party's sudden change, "What's going on?" she asked.

"I think they're changing for partner dancing." Fluttershy observed the obvious atmosphere.

Applejack saw Rarity with Spike, "Aw, ain't that sweet? Little Spike is gettin' his wish."

Fluttershy smiled at the two, "I think it's romantic." She softly said while watching the two getting engaged in each other.

"Why don't you dance Fluttershy?" Twilight insisted.

Fluttershy slightly turned red at the idea, "Me? Dancing? Oh no, no. I can't do that." She shyly neglected the idea.

"Why not?" Applejack asked "You can dance with Babe or André."

Fluttershy just shook her head, "I can't…" Babe appeared in front of Fluttershy holding her hoof in his hand.

"I won't take no for an answer!" he cheerfully stated out to the shy Pegasus, "Lesson 1 in your shyness classes, forget about shyness!" Babe has officially given Fluttershy's first lesson in her shyness classes, the first step sounded like the overall hardest, "May I have this dance?" he asked her with an honest look on his face.

Fluttershy looked at Twilight then over to Applejack and finally back to Babe. Her face was nearly completely red.

Babe took her silence as rejection but he didn't give up, "C'mon, don't leave me hanging."

Fluttershy didn't mean to be quiet for so long but the suddenness of Babe's question took her by surprise, "I-I-I-I will…" she stuttered nervously. Babe chuckled as he got Fluttershy's permission.

Twilight and Applejack laughed softly as Babe took Fluttershy out to the dance floor with Spike and Rarity.

"Ready?" he asked.

Still red in the cheeks, Fluttershy tried to find her tongue as they prepared, "…I-I-I-I- suppose…"

"Remember what I said. Lesson 1, forget your shyness. We're just friends dancing together. It'll be fun."

His calming voice soothed Fluttershy's mind, "…A-Alright." She started becoming calmer under his guidance and trust.

Before Babe started he saw André on his phone still sitting down. He looked up and saw Rainbow Dash watching over the dance floor. Babe turned his head to Applejack and pointed up to Rainbow Dash before giving her a signaling wink. Applejack understood what he meant and moved away from Twilight.

"Get up." Babe said standing in front of André.

Babe's appearance and short talking made André think something was going down, "Huh?" he was a bit confused, "Why, what's wrong?" he asked.

Babe placed a hand on his hip in impatience, "Just get up and follow me." he said without reason.

André looked back at his phone, "I'm reading something."

Babe took André's phone and placed it on the food table. He got André out of his seat and led him to the dance floor.

"Babe, what are you doing?" André asked while trying to resist his friend's push."

Babe smiled cheekily, "You'll see." still not giving a specific answer.

André wasn't the only one being forced out of what he was doing by his friend. Applejack was pushing Rainbow toward the dance floor as well. She was unaware they were meeting Babe and André halfway.

"What're you doing?" Rainbow was put in the same situation as André but on the other side of the room, "I don't want to dance!" she said out clearly.

Applejack kept pushing, "Sure ya do Rainbow. It's no fun if ya don't and we're at a party."

Rainbow lowered her eyes, unimpressed with Applejack's reason, "But you and Twilight aren't dancing."

Luckily Applejack was well prepared with plenty of excuses, she only needed one. "We've got something to talk about, that's why." Even the element of honesty has her moments.

Before they knew it Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Babe and André all met in the center. Rainbow Dash and André started to catch onto what they were doing. AJ went back over to Twilight, "Babe?" André slowly turned to face Babe, "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting you two to dance." He admitted.

André placed his hands in his pockets, "I told you, I don't dance."

Rainbow crossed one hoof over the over, "Dancing is for eggheads."

Babe rolled his eyes, "Well, now you two are going to be eggheads together." He was determined to have the two at least do something while the party was going.

André was ready to give in but he really didn't understand dancing that well, "I don't even know how-"Babe already knew what André was about to say.

"Oh for the love of…" Babe cried out hopelessly, "look." he got Rainbow Dash standing up straight. She stood up to André's chest in height. Babe then took André's left hand and placed it around Rainbow's back while at the same time putting Rainbow's right hoof over André's left shoulder. He stretched out both their free arms and locked them together, "There ya go. Slow dancing formation."

André shook his head knowing both he and Rainbow wouldn't get into it, "Babe this is stupid."

"It's my birthday right? DANCE! Fluttershy and I will be right behind you, just friends dancing and all that."

Babe went back over to Fluttershy and repeated the same process. Fluttershy's eyes were wide open and her cheeks were as red as roses. Rarity and Spike have been lost in their dancing from the get go.

André turned to Rainbow Dash, he backed his head up upon looking at her, forgetting that they were closer than usual in thanks to their dancing position, "…Um, so, do you know how to dance like this?" he asked.

"No…not really." She replied sounding nervous herself.

"Sorry about this. I seriously didn't know what the heck's Babe was doing. If I knew I would've told him no."

Rainbow looked out the corner of eye, "Me too, but with Applejack." She looked back up to her partner.

Her eyes made him turn away unexpectingly, "Yeah. Well, we're already here." He slowly looked back at her, "So want me to start?" he figured trying was better than nothing at this point.

Rainbow nodded, "Sure." her only response.

The duo started off slow. There was accidental shoe stepping on Rainbow Dash's end but it didn't hurt André in the slightest. The two eventually got the dancing down and became in sync.

Fluttershy was still having trouble adjusting to her situation, "Mmm…uh…oh…uh…" she muttered while looking down at her hooves and Babe's shoes hoping she doesn't mess up.

"There's no need to be all shaky Fluttershy." Babe snickered and smiled, "Here, put your hoof on my shoulder."

Babe took Fluttershy's hoof and put it over his shoulder. Fluttershy wasn't sure she had felt this type of shyness before but as the party went on it soon started to grow on her. Her cheeks began going back to their normal color while still showing a little red.

"There ya go. I won't let anything embarrassing happen to you. Forget about your shyness and lose yourself in the moment." Babe watched Fluttershy's reaction and he began to think to himself, "She's still a little shaky but that's good. I didn't expect her to get over shyness in one day. Maybe I shouldn't help her with it at all. I may ruin her character…"

Fluttershy noticed Babe lost in thought, "Um, is everything alright?" she asked.

"Hm?" Babe snapped out of his thoughts, "Oh! Yeah, everything's perfect. I was just thinking that's all."

"A-Alright…um, I wanted to thank you."

Babe was surprised at what Fluttershy said, "For what?"

"Helping me with my shyness, I hope I won't make things difficult."

Babe laughed, "Not at all Fluttershy, it's my pleasure."

Fluttershy started to smile, "Thank you."

"Anything for a friend." Babe smiled to try and make Fluttershy a little more comfortable.

Rainbow Dash and André continued with their dancing, Rainbow decided to break the ice, "So, um…I was gonna ask if you'd like to go to Cloudsdale tomorrow. Since my wing is better and you're out the hospital and all…"

"Oh yeah, I'd like to go, I'm sure Babe would too." He said.

Rainbow looked at her partner in excitement, "Really!?" Rainbow's excitement put a smile on André's face. He nodded at her question, "Awesome! It's a deal then. Tomorrow, we go to Cloudsdale! I can't wait to introduce you to the Wonderbolts."

"Yo! Rainbow Dash, André!"

The two stopped their dancing and looked over to Babe. Babe, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight, Applejack and Spike were all by the eating tables. André and Rainbow Dash hadn't realized the music had stopped and the others were finished dancing, "We stopped dancing three minutes ago. Get on over here! It's time to eat some cake!"

André and Rainbow Dash quickly went over to the others, "Sorry about that." André apologized for their lateness.

"It's alright. You two were locked in dancing." Twilight said in a rather suggesting voice.

Applejack smiled at the two, "Even without the music." She shared Twilight's tone.

André knew what the two were hinting but he ignored them, "We got wrapped up in talking about the Wonderbolts and such." Suspending any thoughts the two may have had.

"Blah, blah, blah! Let's eat!" Babe grabbed the knife. Pinkie Pie opened her mouth and stuffed her face with half of the uncut cake shooting blue and white icing everywhere and on her friends. She looked up and smiled with her icing beard.

"Aw! Pinkie Pie! You nearly ate all of the cake in one bit! Couldn't you have wait-" Babe stopped and got a good look at Pinkie's face he started laughing hysterically.

His laughs confused Pinkie since nothing funny happened, or at least to her knowledge, "What's so funny?" she asked him.

"Your face!" Babe pointed at her.

Pinkie Pie went over to a mirror and saw her icing beard. Being Pinkie Pie she explodes in laughter. Her friends joined in and they all shared a good laugh together.

Babe managed to stop laughing, "What will I be getting for Christmas this year Saint Pie?"

"Saint Pie! Hahaha! I get it, like Santa Hooves! Bwahahaha!"

Babe wiped his eyes dry, "Man, I love it here. You guys make everything better. It makes me never want to leave."

The six Ponies just remembered, "Oh that's right…" Applejack spoke softly, "you two won't be here for too long. We've still gotta figure out a way to get you both home."

"If anyone can get you two home its Princess Celestia." Rarity stated in sureness.

Spike couldn't help but think of their departure, "…I guess that means we won't have much time together."

Spike and all the ponies slightly hung their heads in disappointment. Silence fell.

Seeing their sad faces made André and Babe start to feel sad, "Aw, hey, no! Don't be that way." Babe tried to convince them, "Let's just make these last few days count. Let's not have our departure stop the friendship right? Friendship IS magic!"

André tapped Babe's shoulder, "Uh, Babe…"

They don't know, shut up." Babe whispered back to André.

"I was just-"

"Shut up." Babe cut André off much to André's frustration, "Anyway, there's still some cake for us all. Let's dig in."

Babe cut the remaining half of the cake and gave everyone a fair slice. The cake was fantastic and the party was excellent, everyone enjoyed themselves. Babe's only wish was for things to stay as they were for a little while longer.

How much longer did André and Babe have?
> The third day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The third day

The next morning Twilight had just finished writing a letter to Princess Celestia. Spike held the letter in his claw and blew it away, causing the letter to burn up in green flames as it ascended into the sky.

Twilight sighed after writing her long letter, "Thank you, Spike. I hope the princess writes back soon."

"Of course she will. You worry too much." Spike playfully said as he headed for the door. Twilight followed behind him.

"Where are you going?" she asked as he placed his claw on the door.

Spike turned to Twilight with hearts popping up around his head, "Gem hunting with Rarity. She asked me to come with her. SO, I'll be seeing you later Twilight."

Twilight giggled as Spike left the house. She closed the door behind him using her magic, she walked toward the kitchen, "With Spike gone I guess breakfast will be up to me. I wonder what I should make."

As she was making her way she noticed André sleeping on the couch, "He slept on the couch again?" she asked herself since this wasn't the first time she saw him like this, "He must've forgotten the spare bed was free now that Babe's gone."

André continued to lightly snore, "Twilight quietly made her way to the kitchen. Twilight wasn't much of a cook so she just made four sandwiches, two for her and two for André. She placed André's food on the table next to the couch. She took her two sandwiches upstairs with her.

Meanwhile at Fluttershy's cottage Fluttershy backed up against the front door, eyes widened and a look of shock.

"What's the matter Fluttershy? Can't you see?" Babe walked closer to her, "Your pretty little face makes my heart beat a million times a minute."

Speaking of heart, Fluttershy could barely keep hers under control, "Uh…uh…uh, I-I-I-I" she helplessly stuttered.

"But what am I thinking? There's no way a pony like could ever fall for a guy like me…" Babe turned his back to Fluttershy and dramatically put his fist over his eyes, "Perhaps I could move on. If only I could look at that beautiful face just one last time-"

Fluttershy's entire face turned red. She jumped up into the air and fell over onto her back with her legs held up straight. Her face was frozen in a comedic way. Babe walked over to her, shaking his head.

"That's the third stallion you've lost due because you froze up Fluttershy. C'mon if these stimulations don't work for ya then I don't know what will…truthfully I'm not good at this kind of thing."

Fluttershy snapped out of her panic, "I-I'm sorry. I just can't help myself."

"It's ok, it seems a lot easier to try and help others with their troubles here than it would be back on Earth."

Babe helped Fluttershy off of the floor and back up onto her hooves.

Fluttershy rubbed her left foreleg with her right hoof, "Oh, um, I was uh…" she shyly spoke along.

"What is it Fluttershy?" Babe asked in a voice that he thought would make Fluttershy more comfortable.

Fluttershy faced him, "I wanted to ask a few questions about humans and the land where you come from. If it's alright with you that is."

Babe chuckled, "Of course it's ok. Fire away." he was prepared for any question she might have had.

The two sat down on the couch, "What's it like on your world?" was her first question.

Babe took a moment to think, "Well, what can I say? All I can say is that its home. It feels just like how Equestria and Ponyville would feel to you. André and I live in the United States and it's a pretty busy place. But the United States, or U.S, for short isn't like Equestria or Ponyville at all."

Fluttershy was curious, "How so?"

Babe took in a breathe ready to explain, "People there aren't like you Ponies here." Babe was ready to go in depth with his thoughts.

"For example, when André and I first arrived here at Ponyville Twilight allowed us to stay at her house until we found a way to get back home. Even though I'm out of her house and everything she's still letting André stay with her."

Fluttershy quietly followed along with what Babe was saying, "Not only that but we became friends with all of you in a matter of minutes. On Earth I'm sure no one would've offered shelter to someone who's in need because they would view them as a total stranger. People ignore what they don't want to see even if it's another person in need. But of course not all Humans are like that."

Fluttershy looked down at the ground, "Oh my…"

"It's not all that bad." Babe said to lighten Fluttershy's mood, "We form friendships and all that stuff just like how you would do here but the process may take a little longer though."

Fluttershy had her next question ready, "Do you have somepony who rules over the land, somepony like Princess Celestia or Princess Luna?"

"We sure do. The president, he's the leader of our country."

"Does he raise the sun or moon?" Fluttershy asked.

"No. Sadly we don't do anything like that. Humans aren't really unique creatures like how you ponies are in Ponyville. I can't really explain how the sun and the moon work without confusing you," Babe rubbed the back of his neck, "my friend Denvor could've done it no problem though."

"Huh…" Fluttershy said in interest.

Babe mistook her interest for worry or doubt, "What's the matter?" he asked her.

"Nothing's wrong," she smiled, "I just want to visit your world and see what its like."

'Ponies on Earth' Babe thought, "I'm not sure how that'd work out Fluttershy. I don't think you would be able to fit in on Earth." He said with regret.

"How come?" she asked, "There aren't any ponies on Earth?"

Fluttershy's questions started becoming really challenging for Babe, but he had himself to blame for coming this far, "There are, but not….your kind of pony." He hesitantly said hoping he picked the right words.

Fluttershy tilted her head, "My kind?"

"Candy colored, talking, etc." he listed her distinguishable features.

She started getting confused, "Ponies can't talk on Earth?"

Babe shook his head, "No, not really."

Fluttershy touched her chin, if Ponies couldn't talk then how did they communicate? "How strange, everypony can talk."

Babe checked the time on the clock, "Hey, a broken record." He stated. Fluttershy looked at him trying to figure out what he meant, "It's been two minutes and you haven't turned red around me. We're making progress!"

Fluttershy smiled and of course blushed in embarrassment.

"Ok. So, ready for your next lesson?" her new mentor asked.

"Yes." Fluttershy was sitting straight and had no doubt on her face. Seeing her being so proper and answering his question right away made Babe reconsider, "Is something wrong?" she asked.

Babe shook his head with a smile, "I think you might've passed it already."

"I have?"

"Yeah, confidence." He revealed the lesson he felt she passed already, "You were just open and ready to start the lesson just now. You had a sturdy voice and you didn't stutter. You were just ready, nice."

"Really?" Fluttershy started to turn red again, "T-Thanks…"

Babe inhaled and exhaled, "I feel like I accomplished something. Actually, how about we take a little break? Let's go out to grab something to eat."

Her eyes widened, "O-O-Out?"

"Yeah. Do you know a good place for food?" he asked her, he noticed she was a bit shaky all of a sudden.

She could feel her hooves starting to sweat, "Well I do but….o-out?" she asked once more.

"You're not worried about being seen with me are you?"

"Of course not!" Fluttershy quickly answered without hesitation, " I-I wasn't implying anything like that I was saying as in like…well, me and you…out…um." Even her sentences were shaky.

"Out?" he questioned, Babe finally understood why Fluttershy was acting so strange, "Wait…oh, no, no! I wasn't saying anything like that Fluttershy, just as friends."

Fluttershy exhaled, "Oh, ok, I was just curious because I've never been 'out' before, let alone with a Human."

"I see…" he looked at Fluttershy in concern, he was now lost in thought, "Wow…Fluttershy never experienced a date before, that's sorta messed up and unfair. She deserves that at least." He thought to himself, he felt a funny scenario idea coming on, "I just caught the ultimate test for Fluttershy. This is going to be hilarious."

Fluttershy waved her hoof in front of Babe's face, "Hello?" she called out trying to get his attention.

He finally snapped out of it and came back to senses, "Hey! Fluttershy, on second thought I just had the perfect idea."

"What's that?"

He held up one finger, "How about one date?"

The sudden question hit her hard, "HUH!?" she exclaimed, " Wait, you mean…oh, no! I-I can't…I've never…I couldn't…I-I-I-I" finishing her sentences was most likely not going to happen.

He only smiled, his plan for the best laugh he's had in Ponyville was put into action, "Come on Fluttershy, it'll be fun."

"I-I-I-I-" Fluttershy still couldn't piece together words.

Babe stood up, "I'll pick you up at 8." He continued to talk since Fluttershy wouldn't…well, couldn't.

Babe headed toward the door with a smile on his face. He was trying his hardest to hold in the laughter he was desperately holding back. He opened the door and looked back at Fluttershy who was shaking, "Don't you stop being pretty!" he laughed before closing the door behind himself leaving Fluttershy in a mild panic.

At the library André was up and ready to start the day, he was sitting on the couch tying his shoes, "Thanks again for the sandwiches Twilight, they were...different." he picked his teeth and removed a petal, "First time I ever had a dandelion type sandwich before."

"Really?" Twilight asked since dandelion sandwich was a Pony favorite.

"Yeah, Humans don't usually eat like that back on Earth."

Twilight felt a little bad thinking André didn't like the newly tasted food she proved, "Sorry I didn't make what you're used to. What would you like next time?"

André held up his hand, "It's ok Twilight you don't have to make me anything." he rubbed the side of his face with his finger, "BUT if I had to choose I would have to say a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!" he sounded rather enthusiastic, PB&J was amongst his favorite back home.

Twilight giggled, "Ok. You've got it."

Frantic knocking came from the libraries door. The knocking startled both André and Twilight. Twilight went to answer the door. Once she got the door slightly opened Fluttershy charged into the library, slamming Twilight in between the door and the wall.

She charged and started pacing around in a circle, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

"Whoa…Fluttershy?" her sudden appearance made André wonder if she was really Pinkie in disguise, "What's wrong with you?"

She continued pacing in a panic, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" she didn't seem to hear André talking to her.

André waved to get her attention, "Fluttershy?" but no avail.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" she continued.

"Fluttershy!" he yelled her name.

André's sudden shout scared Fluttershy. She jumped slightly into the air and cowered on the floor, holding her hooves over her head. Twilight closed the door and approached Fluttershy rubbing her head, "That hurt you know."

"Huh?" Fluttershy saw her two friends and realized where she was after her blind running panic, "Twilight, André…it's you."

Twilight put her hoof back on the ground, "Of course it's us. What's wrong?" she asked as the pain on her head went away.

"W-Well, it's Babe…" André and Twilight thought something was wrong based on how Fluttershy was talking and by her initial entrance.

André stood up in concern, "Did something happen to him?" he asked fearing for the worse.

Fluttershy shook her head, "No…nothing happened." She started to ease down back to her old self.

Twilight exhaled in relief, "Then what's wrong?"

Fluttershy nervously looked to the side, "Well when we were doing my shyness classes…he-" she stopped.

"Yeah?" André asked.

"He-"

"Yeah?" Twilight asked.

"He-"

"YEAH?" André and Twilight asked impatiently.

"He-"

"Fluttershy!" André and Twilight yelled out to the non-continuing Pegasus.

Fluttershy slightly jumped at their tone, "He said he was taking me out on a date!" she finally continued in a hurry trying not to make her friend's angry.

André and Twilight looked at each other, "You and Babe?" Twilight asked as she looked back at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy nodded, André cracked a concealed laugh but he couldn't help but start actually laughing at the situation.

"A-André, I'm serious." André only laughed a bit louder, "Fluttershy rolled her eyes in slight frustration and turned to Twilight.

Twilight ignored André and was focused on Fluttershy, "That's so sweet of him Fluttershy." Twilight smiled at the thought.

André continued to laugh, "T-That's hilarious." he started to ease himself.

"I'm serious." her look matched her words.

"Wait." André stopped his laughing all together. "Like, serious, serious?" he asked to clarify his surprise.

"Yes!" Fluttershy slightly lowered her head, "I don't know what to do…"

Twilight placed a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder, "Go for it." She encouraged.

"I've never been on a date before…" this has been the most lost Fluttershy had, she was never prepared for this kind of thing, "I couldn't possibly."

"And you shouldn't, it's weird." André narrow mindedly responded.

"André!" Twilight yelled feeling he was being a bit too negative.

André held his hands up, "What? A human liking a pony is weird."

"So? Spike's a dragon but he still likes Rarity." Twilight explained bringing up a slightly good point.

André shrugged, "Ok? But they're still animals. It's a difference."

"Animals?" Twilight was in slight shock, "That was rude. Nopony said anything about you or Rainbow Dash." André's jaw dropped, "That's unfair to Babe."

"WHAT!?" André wasn't expecting Twilight to counter with something like that. He didn't want any of them thinking of him and Rainbow as anything other than friends, which he sincerely believed they were.

Twilight ignored André, "Do you like Babe, Fluttershy?" she asked wanting a real answer.

"Of course I do but as a friend. I've never even considered this kind of thing before…"

"Give it a shot." Twilight smiled, "You just might enjoy yourself."

Fluttershy looked up to Twilight for support, "Do you really think I'll be able to do it? I'm really nervous…"

Twilight nodded, "Of course you can. I know you can."

"I-I'm not sure…" she still had some doubt despite Twilight's best efforts for encouragement, "I don't know if you guys have noticed or not but I-I'm kinda shy."

"…Ya think?" André asked very sarcastically.

Twilight softly threw her hoof back into André's gut to get him to be quiet, "You'll be ok. Babe is obviously interested right?"

Babe was at Rarity's boutique looking at different kinds of fancy clothes to put on for his 'date' with Fluttershy. Every time he put a suite in front of himself he exploded in laughter. Just the thought of it made Babe tingle inside. Rarity was rather confused as to why Babe was laughing in the mirror.

"Maybe a double date…?" Fluttershy suggested.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Double date?"

"Yeah." Fluttershy turned to André, "André, would you go with us? It'd make things easier on me."

André was a bit confused as to why Fluttershy asked him, "Me?"

"I thought you and Rainbow Dash were-"

André already knew what Fluttershy was going to say and he didn't want to hear it, "No! No, no, no! There is nothing going on between Rainbow Dash and me." He walked to the center of the library and looked back at Fluttershy and Twilight, "I can't believe you guys would even think of something like that. Rainbow Dash likes Soarin anyway. What would make you think that we-"

A rainbow trail flew pass Twilight and Fluttershy and tackled André. The rainbow streak obviously came from Rainbow Dash. She playfully tackled André to the ground, standing over top of him, "Gotcha," Rainbow said boastfully, "you've gotta be on your toes!" she put her hoof on her chin to think, "Humans are the ones with toes right?"

André was pinned under her with a dull expression, "Rainbow, seriously, you can't keep tackling me out of nowhere like that."

"I'm just trying to make sure you're prepared for anything," she stared down into his eyes like an unimpressed mentor, "which apparently, you're not."

He snickered to himself, "Touché."

Rainbow helped him up with a smile, "You ready to go?" referring to Cloudsdale.

"Yeah. I have one question though."

"What is it?" she asked.

"How am I getting to Cloudsdale?" without wings or the ability to fly it would've been rather impossible for him to get there.

"You're riding on my back of course!" hearing that made André a bit uneasy, it sounded dangerous, especially since it's Rainbow Dash who loved flying recklessly when she was in the mood for it.

"I don't know…" he said in doubt.

Rainbow was determined to get him up into Cloudsdale for a tour, "Just trust me." She didn't have any tone in her voice as if she was annoyed or disappointed in what he was trying to say as if he was avoiding the trip all of a sudden. She was just adamant.

He thought for a moment, "…Ok, whatever you say. I'll take your word for it." He never thought back to his first fall from the sky when he first arrived, if that didn't kill him then why should he be worried?

"Before I forget," André, Rainbow and Fluttershy turned to Twilight who spoke out, "I used a spell that'll allow you to walk on Clouds just like a Pegasus. So you don't have to worry about being able to walk on clouds or not."

The ability to walk on clouds sounded cool, André couldn't help but smile in excitement, "Nice! Thanks Twilight."

"Wait." It just hit Rainbow, somebody was missing, "Where's Babe?"

André placed his hands in his pockets, remembering that Babe and Fluttershy had plans, "Babe won't be making it Rainbow."

"Aw, what!?" obviously upset about the sudden news.

André knew what she was feeling and shrugged, "Yeah. He's helping Fluttershy get pass her shyness."

Rainbow snickered, "Pfft! Good luck with that."

Fluttershy walked over to the two, "I was actually going to ask if you and André wanted to-"

The question was like impending doom for André, he was already one step ahead of Fluttershy, "GO to Cloudsdale right away! Thanks for reminding us Fluttershy. We've gotta go."

André quickly left the library, "Forget Babe, let's get going Rainbow!" he called out from a distance.

His speed shocked the three mares, Rainbow flapped her wings and was airborne, "Hey, wait up!" she yelled as she chased after him.

André and Rainbow Dash left the library and were on their way to Cloudsdale. Fluttershy and Twilight were surprised at how fast they left.

"Oh my…" Fluttershy said as she watched the two run off in a hurry.

Twilight giggled, "And I thought you were shy." She turned to Fluttershy able to finally have a real talk with her since André wasn't around to interrupt, "But anyway, just relax and be easy. I'm sure you'll really enjoy yourself."

Fluttershy sighed, "…I hope you're right."

Later that night Fluttershy was waiting for Babe at her cottage. She was pacing back and forth while her rabbit friend, Angel, stood and watched her, "Oh Angel…I'm so nervous…I-I-I don't know what to do."

Angel rolled his eyes as Fluttershy continued to pace and worry.

"I just don't know what'd to do! Do I look ok? It's my first time going "out" with somepony, um, body. Maybe this is just another test, yeah, that's it." She turned to her pet bunny in hope, "Right, Angel?"

He simply nodded to get her to calm down.

"Of course!" She stood up straight and took in a deep breath, "just remember everything he taught you Fluttershy."

The moment has finally come. Babe walked up to Fluttershy's cottage and gently knocked on her door. He was in an all-black suit, shiny black shoes and his hair was nicely cut. His fancy appearance was all thanks to Rarity. Babe adjusted his collar while waiting at the door.

"Yes?" Fluttershy went to open the door and what she saw surprised her.

Babe waved, "Hey, Fluttershy, I hope you don't mind that I dressed up a little for the occasion."

Fluttershy's jaw dropped at his appearance.

"Well I personally didn't want to dress like this but Rarity just took control and handled me." He chuckled remembering every piece of clothing Rarity made him try on, "I hope she didn't overdo it."

She was still speechless. She didn't think he'd be this well prepared.

"Shall we go?" he asked.

She was a bit shaky but it wasn't noticeable, "O-Oh yes…let's go."

"Alright." He stepped to the side prompting Fluttershy to pass ahead of him, "Lead the way, you have the honor of choice and I wouldn't have it any other way."

"R-R-Right." She nervously stated, "Come on Fluttershy, forget your shyness. Lose yourself in the moment!" she tried convincing herself in her thoughts.

Fluttershy picked up a saddlebag and placed it around her back. She shut the door after putting the bag on. Afterwards the two took their leave and proceeded with their plans for the evening. The two were enjoying their nightly stroll which was complete with a beautiful view of Luna's moon.

Babe noticed they were going in the wrong direction, "Aren't we walking further away from the town?" he asked, "Weren't we supposed to be going out to eat?"

"We are." She corrected him, "Um, I couldn't choose so I packed a bag of food I made and I thought we could go to a nice secluded area." She looked straight ahead with a smile, "I know this really nice spot not too far from my cottage."

"Oh, that's ok. I like a homemade meal. Can't wait to see what you've made."

She looked back him, "I hope you like it."

A little later the two eventually made it to the spot Fluttershy mentioned. There were a lot of trees with pink petals and a small lake nearby. The lake's water was sparkled under the moon's light. Fireflies were out gracing the scenery with their glowing light.

Fluttershy started rubbing her leg with her hoof, "Well, um, this is it. I hope this is ok."

Babe basked in the nature, he didn't expect this at all, "Oh…wow." He plainly said aloud.

"I-I'm sorry if it's not!" she turned around, "We can go back if you'd like."

"No way!" hearing his answer she turned back surprised, "We're staying here. Sure does beat the city. This is really nice Fluttershy. When did you find this place?"

She stood beside him enjoying the conversation, "I've been coming here ever since I was a filly. I don't think anypony has come here. You're the first I've ever brought here actually."

Babe took the bag off of Fluttershy's back and sat it down in the grass. Babe took out the blanket Fluttershy had packed and placed it in the grass next to him. Next was laying out the plates, cups and the food that she had packed. She made delicious looking salad that was made from the freshest of vegetables. There were two soup thermo mugs, one for Fluttershy and one for Babe. She even packed a small basket full of warm sweets and small apple treats. Lastly was a tray full of nicely cut triangular sandwiches, all vegetarian of course.

Babe gazed upon the servings, "This all looks delicious."

"The apple treats were all made from Applejack." Fluttershy pointed out, giving the creator of the treats her rightful credit.

"Cool." Babe grabbed one of the cups, "I'm gonna try the soup that's inside this thermo cup first."

Babe poured himself a cup of the warm and delicious smelling soup. He finished pouring it and began to drink. "Hm…" he was letting the taste sink in.

"I-Is…it ok?" Fluttershy was waiting for results.

Babe put the cup down, opened the thermos mug and began drinking the soup from the mug, not stopping, "AHHH!" he sighed in deliciousness, "That was GREAT! What kind of soup was that?"

"Oh you like it?" he actually loved it and Fluttershy perked up, "It's just a special soup that I make. The flavor is a little different each time but this particular kind is just mushroom soup with a small hint of pepper."

"You have a natural gift for animals and cooking, I love it!"

She blushed at the compliment.

Babe put the mug down and looked up at the sky, "It's a really nice night to be out actually. You'll never find a moon like that back in the city on Earth." He noted.

"You live in the city, right?" Babe nodded, "Buildings are usually in a way." she theorized.

"True." Babe agreed, "But even so I don't think the moon would be shown quite like this, it's crazy. It makes me feel….happy." he was sinking into the moon's beauty, "I could stay here forever."

'Forever' that one word meant a lot of promise, a promise Fluttershy wanted to be given, "You could you know?" she openly said, "You and André fit in so well in Ponyville now."

Babe shook his head, "We couldn't Fluttershy."

"Why not?" she asked.

"We have so much back at home." He turned his head to her, "As great as it would be we can't just leave everything we have back at home. Our friends must be waiting for us, although I doubt they're worried. Knowing them they probably just think we're in the house."

Fluttershy lowered her head, "The day after tomorrow is…"

"Is what?" Babe asked.

"The last day…"

Babe put a hand on Fluttershy's back, "We don't know if it will be the last day. Princess Celestia just wants to meet us."

Unfortunately she didn't feel any better about the situation.

"Even if it is a meeting and a farewell all in the same day, we'll always be friends Fluttershy. You know that right?"

Fluttershy looked at him and nodded, her expression shows she contradicted her understanding.

"When you were all depressed over us leaving I couldn't help but feel sad." He admitted showing that he was truly sad for the first time in Equestria, the world he would've loved to live in without regret, "I'm sure André would love to stay with Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack and everypony but he knows it too. He doesn't want to leave but he has to. Like I said before 'let's just make the most out of it', ok?"

"….Right." Fluttershy agreed, still a little saddened herself but she decided to not let time be her enemy and instead chose to use it as much as possible until the day actually did come. No room for regret.

Meanwhile, around the same time, in Cloudsdale, André had stayed the night over Rainbow Dash's house. Rainbow Dash was sleep, resting her head on André's lap while he slowly stroking her from head to tail on the cloud made couch. He lost in thought as he stared out to Luna's moon through the window.
> The fourth day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fourth day

Sweet Apple Acres

"Try it again." Applejack coached while chewing on hay.

André wiped the sweat off of his forehead while panting, "I-I don't think it'll work."

Applejack spat out the hay, "Just try it." She encouraged.

Babe was sitting underneath one of the apple tree's spectating, "Come on, Dré. Give it one more go."

The CMC's were also there to watch André, "You can do it!" Apple Bloom yelled out while holding up her hoof.

Scootaloo turned to her fellow member's, "Let's cheer him on!" her wings started to flap from the excitement as Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom agreed.

Applejack giggled at the three, "Ya see? You've got little fans just watchin' ya. Ya can't let em down." André smiled as the three started cheering his name.

Even Babe started to cheer, "André, André, he's our man if he can't do it GREAT!" well, sort of…

"Eeyup." Big McIntosh walked by with a lazy facial expression.

André ignored Babe's cheer and focused. He inhaled then exhaled, looking straight ahead before and charging forward. The fillies looked on with smiles hoping their cheer had worked. Babe was shaking his head with his casual 'this is going to be funny' look.

André tackled an apple tree and stood still waiting for results, "Did he do it?" Apple Bloom asked.

"OOOW!" André screeched in pain.

Babe shook his head, "Nope." answering Apple Bloom's question after the obvious the just happened.

Applejack, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle rushed to André's side, "Are you alright, Sugarcube?"

"I'm fine but dang it. My shoulder…" he slowly rubbed his aching shoulder.

Babe walked over to the group, "You can't buck apples for nothing." he teased.

"Apparently." André sighed in disappointment, "Sorry, AJ. I guess I couldn't help you even if I wanted to."

Applejack placed her hoof on his arm, "Aw, don't feel bad. You tried yer best."

He started thinking of his best efforts, "That's what makes it worse." Which failed in the end, it didn't help him feel better.

Apple Bloom walked up to him to help, "Cheer up. You can still help out around here if you'd like, pulling the apple wagon back and forth." She was looking up at his face seeing that his expression still hasn't changed.

André shook his head, "Can't even do that Apple Bloom, the wagon is too heavy."

Babe tapped André's back with a little force, "Don't stress it." This was the most support Babe has given today, unless one included his usual joking attempts to cheer his friend's up.

"I'm not." André sat back against the tree he just tried to buck, "I just wish I could do a little more than just stay at Twilight's house and attempt to do things I'm not good at." He looked down to his shadow, "I don't think I'll ever be good at anything here other than waiting."

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle all looked at each other. What he said really spoke to them because they could relate.

"How 'bout we go out and find something yer good at?" André noticed Apple Bloom's shadow standing in front of him, he looked up at her, "You would make a perfect addition to the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded behind Apple Bloom with smiles, "Thanks for the kind offer guys but Humans-"

A hoof met André's lips, quieting him, "Don't get Cutie Marks but even so!" Apple Bloom stated as she stopped him.

Scootaloo stood beside Apple Bloom, "We'd like to help you find out what you're good at here!" Apple Bloom lowered her hoof back to the ground.

André took a minute to think. He didn't want to reject them and decided to go along just for kicks, "Ok. Sure, sounds like fun." He agreed."

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle all jumped for joy. Scootaloo faced Babe, "Hey, Babe, why don't you come with us?" she asked, not wanting to leave out their other Human partner.

Babe huffed, "Like I'm gonna say no?"

"Then it's settled!" Sweetie Belle looked at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle in a decreeing manner, "We've got two extra members added to the CMC!"

"Members?" André asked with a chuckle, "You guys are just so cute when you get ideas."

Babe placed a hand on André's shoulder, "I think they mean it." André turned to Babe.

"Why?" he asked.

Babe pointed forward, "Because they're already heading for the town. We'd better catch up." Babe walked down the dirt road following behind the three young fillies.

André faced Applejack, "Later AJ, I'll see you soon ok?"

"Thanks a lot for all yer efforts today." Applejack walked up to him, "You may not have managed to buck any apples but you still made yer way out here in order to help me. That shows a lot and Ah just really wanted to thank you."

André picked up his temporary habit of rubbing his slightly sore shoulder, "It's no problem. I just really wish I could've done something. I know it is what it is but still."

"Buck up." AJ looked directly into his eyes, she didn't want him feeling as if he was useless, "You've shown that ya care and Ah'm really grateful for that." She was being truly sincere and meant every word, André understood but still felt as if he was in the way. He didn't show it.

"Come on, Dré!" Babe yelled out from down the road.

Applejack and André looked in the direction Babe yelled, "You'd better get going." she looked back up at him, "Keep an eye out for Apple Bloom and her friends for me, will ya?"

"Gotcha." André waved goodbye to Applejack and went to catch up with Babe and the CMC. While things continued on as they would like any other day for Babe and André they were unaware they were being watched. The two humans and the CMC's were shown walking down the same road but in a reflection pool.

Around the reflection pool were dark pony figures. The shadows all had large blue eyes.

"So those are the 'Humans' that arrived in Ponyville not too long ago, huh?" a voice observed, "They actually managed to fit into Pony society and make friends."

"They were off to a little rocky start but they were immediately able to catch themselves and fix their problem." Another voice spoke.

"It's only natural." A third said, "They made friends with Celestia's student."

"Boy does that name ring a bell." The first voice stated, "Troublesome lot, how dare they treat our queen with such disrespect?"

"But that's not all." One last voice spoke, "We've still gotta figure out what we're going to do about these two 'Humans'."

"Not to worry…" a strange female voice softly said.

The room went quiet as soon as the female voice spoke up. Large dark green eyes and unusual white fangs were identified as she stepped closer to the reflection pool which was the only object giving off a source of light in the dark room.

"These Humans could prove very useful to us. There is a very powerful connection between them and the other six."

All the blue eyes looked back and forth to each other.

"We should give them thanks for what they did for us." The feminine voice continued, "The relationship they hold with their dear friends will be their ultimate downfall. With the newfound trust everypony found in those two things are sure to become very interesting." The green eyes looked down upon the pool, "Can their friendship overcome what's in store for them or will it be the very thing that breaks them apart?"

In the reflection pool André and Babe were doing pushups while Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were on the side laughing and giggling.

"They're proving to be quite useful to us either way."

In an area near Ponyville André and Babe continued their push-ups, both of them staring each other down. André, however, grew weak. Rainbow Dash descended from the sky and landed beside Scootaloo, "Hey, what's going on?" she asked upon arrival.

Scootaloo's eyes sparkled, "Oh, Rainbow Dash!" she squealed at the sight of her hero.

Rainbow pet Scootaloo's head, "Hey, squirt." She looked back at André and Babe, "What are those two doing?"

"We're trying to find out what Babe and André's special talents are." Apple Bloom explained.

"They don't get cutie marks, you know?"

"Yeah but still." Apple Bloom turned to Rainbow Dash, "André was a little upset about not being able to help buck any apples and thought he wouldn't be good at anything in Ponyville."

Sweetie Belle joined in, "But we're going to show him that there is! Maybe he's better at outdoing Babe in competition."

Rainbow huffed, "I'm sure André can handle-" before she finished they all saw André lying on the ground. Babe was looking down at his exhausted friend.

"Hey, guys, who won?" Babe asked in anticipation.

"Ah counted 20."

Rainbow Dash walked over to the two, "You both tied it in for 20 huh? Not bad!"

"Pfft! Tied? Apple Bloom was keeping track of MY score. Scootaloo, what'd André get?"

Scootaloo stood at Rainbow's side, "I counted 10½." revealing his score.

"WHAT!?" Rainbow asked in an uproar, André is picked up by Rainbow Dash and is placed on his feet, "10½? What kind of count is that?" for some odd reason she was disappointed in André losing the friendly competition.

André raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

Rainbow pointed at her other Human friend, "How could you loss to Babe? I thought you were cool!"

Babe's face lowered slightly, "Well…that didn't hurt."

"You let him outdo you in push-ups, we've gotta get you some training!" she was starting to sound like a drill sergeant wanting to put some energy into her troops.

André just looked at her, "Rainbow, push-ups aren't my thing. They aren't yours neither." He claimed.

"That is true." Babe added on, "You were in the same situation as André when you were going against Applejack to prove who was better."

André shook his head in disappoint, "Using your wings was really cheating by the way….I might not have won but I didn't go out as a cheater."

Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped, "What!? How did-that was-I-I did not cheat! How do you guys know about that?"

Babe placed his hands in his pockets, "Word got out." He turned in the other direction trying to cover up for his knowledge of events he wasn't present for.

"Actually, Applejack won that iron pony event fairly didn't she?" André placed his finger and thumb on his chin, thinking, "I'm surprised Twilight and everyone who was spectating just sat back and watched that happen. I was actually really disappointed that you did that Rainbow. It was truly unfair to Applejack."

The Pegasus rolled her eyes. "Ugh!" she groaned annoyingly, "Here we go again with the Applejack. Applejack this and Applejack that. Is that all you know?"

André backed his head and turned to Babe, "Sounds like you hit a nerve." He pointed out

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dash's attention was now on Babe though less annoyed than she was with André.

Babe took his hands out of his pockets, "Rainbow, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Babe pointed at André with his thumb, "Are you jealous that André is more interested in Applejack than you?"

Rainbow Dash's eyes shot open. Yeah, she knew where this was going, "That's ridiculous! What would I need to be jealous for?" she asked trying to recover.

Babe knew she was backing into a corner and fast, "Whenever André talks about spending time with AJ or whenever he IS around AJ you get on the defensive. Do you want to spend some time with him?" he wanted to make things interesting.

She shook her "NO!"

"Really?" She turned to André after realizing what she just said, "I thought we were cool." He stated in a sad yet teasing tone.

"No! I meant yes! I-UGH!" she quickly flew up into the sky and disappeared.

Babe laughed and patted André's back, "Looks like someone has a secret admirer."

The CMC's joyfully skipped around in a circle as they sung, "André and Rainbow Dash sittin on a cloud!"

André didn't show it but he was a bit embarrassed at where his friends were going with the teasing, he concealed his face to keep evidence of his shyness away, the fillies continued," K.I.S.S.I.N.G!"

The three fillies all grabbed each other's hooves and were happily spinning around in a circle. Babe was laughing on the side. André smiled at their friendly playfulness, "You guys are the biggest bunch of trolls I've ever seen."

"Trolls?" Apple Bloom asked curiously.

Babe knew she'd want a definition, "A joker who jokes too much, in a nutshell." He explained quickly.

"Oh." Scootaloo turned to Apple Bloom, "Apple Bloom, you're a troll." She claimed with a smile.

Apple Bloom gasped, "Am not!"

"Kinda are." Babe assisted Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom turned to Babe after hearing him, "Am not!"

"Oh yeah?" Babe questioned with a cocky grin, "How would you call a chicken again?" he directly asked Apple Bloom before coming up with his own answer, "Oh yeah! I remember! Scootaloo! Scoot, Scoot, SCOOTALOO!"

André cracked a laugh but stopped and quietly, chuckled, Apple Bloom was surprised at what Babe said, "How did-"

"Word got out." He quickly answered her using the same cover up he used for Rainbow Dash.

Apple Bloom frowned, "That's so funny Ah forgot to laugh…" major Déjà vu.

Scootaloo tapped Apple Bloom side, "Is that so?" she asked sarcastically.

Scootaloo, Babe, André, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle couldn't help but to laugh. Babe and André weren't even sure if they couldn't be considered members of the CMC's anymore. They loved being around the three lovable fillies and the fillies loved being around the two Humans.

"You guys are great!" Scootaloo complimenting the two boys, "why didn't we hang out sooner?"

"We were a little tied up with…other plans." Babe hesitantly said, referring to both his and André relationship with Rainbow during their arrival, "We had to get settled into life in Ponyville first."

Apple Bloom placed her hoof on chest, "Ah met André earlier than you two did!" proudly referring to herself, "Ah met him the first time he was looking for Sweet Apple Acres and that was almost a week ago."

"And I spent some time with Babe when he had moved in with Rarity and me." Sweetie Belle mentioned after Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo felt left out, she was the only one in the group who didn't get to spend as much time with them during their initial arrival, "So I was the only one who didn't meet them earlier…" the sadness in Scootaloo's voice was apparent.

"Yeah but the important thing is that we've all managed to become friends anyway right?" André asked the small Pegasus but she was still a bit saddened by her lateness, André crouched down and raised Scootaloo's head with his finger supportively. "Even if we don't that just means we've got more time to spend with each other so let's go find us some adventure!"

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were moved and inspired by André's words. They all jumped for joy and in spirit. Babe smiled at their cheerfulness and Scootaloo's mood change, "You know, even though you think you're not good at anything in Ponyville you're certainly spectacular at being a good friend." Scootaloo's words made André smile, "We may have only known you two for a few days but I'm glad that we actually got the chance to meet you both in those few days."

Scootaloo leaped forward and hugged André, the sudden hug surprised him. He put his arms around the small filly and hugged her back.

"That was beautiful…" Babe flinched at the sight of Pinkie Pie. She randomly appeared beside him wiping her eyes with a tissue, "Encore!" she applaud.

André looked back, "Pinkie? When'd you get here?"

Pinkie thought for a second and cheerfully threw away her tissue, "I don't know." She said innocently.

Pinkie Pie's response, while not making sense, made sense anyway to Babe. "Of course," He shrugged "Why do I bother asking?" he asked himself.

Water began hitting the top of Babe's head. He rubbed his head and felt his wet hair, Babe and the other's looked up and saw Rainbow Dash rubbing her eyes dry, "Darn it!" she yelled as she noticed her friend's seeing her cry, "Now you got me all sappy…!" she crossed her arms and held her head up, eyes closed.

Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity all showed themselves and approached them all, "Ah must say…even though it was short lived it was truly a beautiful moment."

"It was heartwarming." Rarity's mouth started to squiggle, "we just had to spend this day with you guys. We all know that tomorrow is the day, right? How could we not come? That moment will certainly be in the memory book"

Babe rubbed the back of his head, "What did I say about that last day thing guys?" The mane6 and the CMC's couldn't help it. Even with smiles on their faces they couldn't help but let a few tears go.

"Let's not just sit around! Let's celebrate with a PARTY!" Pinkie suggested yet demand at the same time.

André turned to Pinkie and held up his hands, "W-Whoa…no need to go that far, there's no special occasion."

"What're you talking about?" Rarity tapped André's back, "That doesn't sound like you!"

Babe laughed and turned to André, "It's our, probably, going away party! Let's make this the best day ever!"

Pinkie Pie grabbed André's hand and happily pulled him down the road, André laughed while trying to resist Pinkie's grab, "H-Hey, hold it…!" the others happily followed. The following events were shown in pictures. They went in order as:

Pinkie Pie and Babe making a cake.

Fluttershy singing with her bird friends.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle exchanging sisterly love.

Rainbow Dash and André play fighting.

The CMC's making funny faces with cake icing.

Babe trying a new kind of food with Twilight.

Scootaloo approaching Rainbow Dash as she is getting a drink.

André whispering something to Applejack.

Rarity nearly fainting as she is covered in cake icing from Pinkie Pie.

The final image shows everyone together for a group shot.

Pinkie Pie was being thrown into the air by Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and André. Babe was sitting at a table watching them. Twilight walked over to him and stood by him.

Twilight looked out to all her friends as they caught Pinkie Pie, happily sending her back into the air with laughs.

Twilight thought to herself, "I don't know if tomorrow will truly be the last day…but what I do know is that while our worlds can take us apart our friendship will keep us connected, never lost or forgotten."

"Twilight, Babe! C'mon!" Spike called out, "We're going to go out and catch a flight show performed by the Wonder Bolts in Cloudsdale!"

"Let's just go without em!" André jokingly said aloud, causing Spike to laugh.

"André, don't forget I know where you're currently staying!" Babe stood up and turned to his friend with a smile, "Come on, Twilight. Let's go."

She nodded, "Of course!" Babe ran ahead. Twilight took one more look at everyone together. She closed her eyes and smiled. She put her thoughts to rest and went over to the others. Together they all left as a group.
> The fifth day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night fell and it was around the time everypony in Ponyville begun to fall asleep. Two shadows approach a local shop. It was unknown who they were due to their hooded appearances. The view pans up to the moon, the sound of glass shattering was all that was heard.

The fifth day

The next morning Twilight had awakened. Spike was still in his bed snoring under his blanket, "Good morning, Spike." Twilight gave herself a good stretch before looking over her bedside and saw that Spike was still sleep. She got out of bed and silently walked down to the lower level of the library. The first thing she noticed was that André wasn't around.

"André's gone?" Twilight asked herself, "That's not like him to be up and about before me. I wonder where he could have gone. Probably went to go see Applejack again. Just to be safe I should go out and look for him, uh," hearing herself talk Twilight tapped her forehead with smile, "Why am I mothering him? I'm worrying too much. I should probably go to see Babe first. I hope they're ready to meet the princess."

Twilight's spirits were high. Her two good friends were going to meet Princess Celestia. Twilight did her daily morning routine and left the library.

As she walked through the town square she notices a group of ponies gathered around, "I wonder what's going on over there." She eyed the crowd curiously.

"It's true!" A voice shouted, "I saw them with my own eyes!"

"I should've seen this coming…" another voice spoke out.

Twilight approached the up-roaring citizen's, "Is everything alright?" Twilight asked, directing the question to nopony specific.

Rarity walked up beside Twilight after noticing her, "Twilight?" she called her friend's name to make sure it was her.

Twilight turned to her right, "Rarity? What're you doing here?"

"I heard the commotion and I had to see what was wrong."

"What happened?" Twilight asked in concern.

Rarity pointed out numerous nearby shops, "Apparently some miscreants have been breaking into stores, stealing and ruining businesses."

Twilight looked at the ruined shops, speechless, "That's just awful. Why would somepony do this?"

"Not sure but the situation will be handled soon." Rarity placed a hoof onto Twilight's shoulder "Princess Celestia has been notified about the situation and she's on her way."

This was shocking for Twilight, she's never heard of such misdoings in town before. André and Babe arrived in the town square and noticed the mess that fell upon the shops, the shop owners were talking to the authorities.

The two boys ran over to the group of ponies in the square, André saw Twilight and Rarity amongst the crowd, "Hey, Twilight! Rarity!" he called out.

Rarity looked in their direction and pointed them out, "There's André and Babe."

"Good." Twilight replied.

"What's going on?" André asked as he looked around with Babe.

"IT'S THEM!" a Pony shouted from the crowd.

All of the ponies turned their attention to the voice of the pony who called out. The pony pointed forward, "It's them! They're the ones who broke into all our shops and stole our goods!"

Babe and André were more than a bit lost at the randomness of the blame, Babe turned to the Pony who was blaming, "What?" he directly questioned.

"Of course, it had to have been the Humans!" another Pony yelled, "They show up out of nowhere and a week later things start going wrong in town!"

The blaming continued, "Yeah! That's definitely the same two who broke into my shop."

All the ponies in the square began to swarm around the two, pushing Rarity and Twilight out of the way. André and Babe were obviously shocked and confused.

Babe and André watched their surroundings, "Is this some kind of joke?" Babe asked out to the swarming crowd.

"Be quiet, human!" A voice harshly demanded, "You're going to get what's coming to you, once Princess Celestia gets here!"

"What are you all talking about?" the more Babe looked around the angrier faces became, "It's us! André and Babe, we wouldn't ever break into any of your shops." Despite his attempts none of the Ponies believed a word he said.

"Liars!"

"Hold it right there!" Twilight angrily yelled at the citizen's.

Twilight and Rarity ran through the crowd and stood in front of André and Babe, defending them.

"Get out of the way! Don't defend these Humans!"

"They're the ones who caused all this trouble!"

Rarity was taken aback by the crow's crude behavior, "What is wrong with you ponies?" she asked them in irritation, "I can assure you these two are not the ones you're looking for!"

"How would you know? You weren't there!"

Rarity held out her hoof to the two boys, "They're our friends! They would never perform criminal acts!"

Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Fluttershy walked through the crowd and stood before Twilight, Rarity, André and Babe.

"Guys! Thank Celestia you're here," Twilight quickly walked over to her friends, "everypony in town is acting crazy!"

The three were silent with hurt and angry facial expressions, André quickly noticed this, "Guys, what's wrong? You all look angry."

"Don't play dumb with us." Applejack immediately stated, "Why'd you do it?"

André and Babe turned to each other and back at Applejack.

"You both were at Sweet Apple Acres last night…" anger started to build up in Applejack's eyes, "When I looked outside my window…most of the apple tree's in Sweet Apple Acres were all turned...to ash's."

Twilight's eyes shrunk at Applejack's statement, "WHAT?!" she was devastated at what she had just heard.

Babe and André were struck with silence. They couldn't believe what they were hearing from their friends.

Applejack furthered her proof, "Ah saw you two standing by and laughing, you dropped everything you had and ran away."

Rarity slowly shook her head in disbelief, "T-That can't be…" Applejack turned to Rarity.

"Would Ah lie to you?"

André laughed, hoping none of it was real, "A-A-Applejack…" he could barely form sentences, let alone say his friend's name straight, "No, no, no! T-That's impossible…How could we do that to you?" he desperately wanted an answer but got no reply, Applejack didn't know how to answer because in her mind she wasn't them. She couldn't come up for a reason for turning the tree's in Sweet Apple Acres to ash.

"You were both at Sugarcube Corner too." André and Babe turned to Pinkie next, "You ruined the shop…in front of my eyes. How could you stand there and possibly say you would never do anything like that?" Pinkie's voice started to crack from sadness and anger.

Babe looked at Fluttershy and called out her name.

"You both…you both…you both destroyed the homes of all my animal friends and chased them off into the wilderness." Fluttershy could barely face the two as she explained what she saw, "At first I was hoping it was just a horrible dream but when I talked to Applejack, Pinkie Pie and the other ponies in Ponyville…I just had to-"

Babe took a step forward to Fluttershy but she backed away and hid behind her mane. André and Babe were seriously hurt by everything they heard.

"T-Twilight, Rarity…you know we didn't do any of that right?" André asked on his final stand.

The two Unicorns didn't respond.

"Right?" he asked again, still no response. He placed his hand on his forehead, not wanting to believe what was happening to him and Babe, "After everything we've went through! You have to believe us!"

"Stand aside" an angelic voice came from the crowd. Twilight immediately recognized the voice and faced the crowd of ponies. The hundreds of ponies that were around were making way as white coated Alicorn with a long following mane made her way to the center, as she walked all the ponies bowed in her presence including Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity.

André held out a hand toward the princess, "Princess Celestia, I-"

"Silence." The princess's word was demanding though calm and under control, André slowly put his hand back to his side, "You are the two who I've heard so much about?"

Babe and André didn't speak as Celestia paused herself.

"I hear of your good deeds in Ponyville. I encouraged you to visit me in Canterlot. I wanted to get the chance to meet these two good humans in person. The day finally arrives and I come and see this." Celestia closed her eyes in shame, "You attacked your friends and performed criminal acts in Ponyville. My sister warned me of letting you two run freely but after all the letters I receive from Twilight I had a change of heart."

Twilight looked at Princess Celestia with shrunken pupils, "I decided to trust in her judgment and trust in you two. As co-ruler of Equestria how does that make me look?"

"Wait a minute!" Twilight called out to her mentor, Princess Celestia turned her attention to Twilight, "That's…that's not true! They would never do that." Twilight turned to Applejack and the others, "How can anypony just stand around and accuse them of-"

"Enough!"

Princess Celestia raised her voice at Twilight. The change in Celestia's voice made Twilight flinch. Celestia performed a magic spell that summoned a large magical screen.

The screen revealed the events that happened late last night. Twilight's eyes shrank as she saw her two friends breaking into the shops and making off with whatever it was they could grab. It appears everything all the ponies said were true. André and Babe mouth's dropped.

The lavender mare turned to the two, "You two were…" she stopped herself as water started to fill her eyes, "I thought we were…"

"Twilight, please." André was desperate to the point of begging, "You, of all ponies, have to believe us."

Twilight took a few steps back and stood beside Princess Celestia and her royal guards, choosing who she was siding with.

"I would expect that you know the seriousness of the situation." Celestia spoke to the two, "We have no choice….as punishment for their crimes. I hereby exile you two from Ponyville and Canterlot. Whatever you two have come here with, take with you."

Princess Celestia turned her back on them and walked away. All the others surrounding them began to exit the area, André and Babe could only watch as the princess turned her back, "You are to be packed and ready to leave Ponyville at noon."

Princess Celestia boarded her chariot, her Pegasi guards flying her away. André fell to his knees and stared directly down at the ground below him. Babe simply looked at his "friends".

Rarity shook her head, "I can't believe this and after we trusted you both." She turned her back on them, "C'mon, girls let's go."

Rarity led the remaining group of ponies away from the square, Twilight still stood in disbelief, "Twilight, let's go." Applejack said as she turned back to Twilight.

"…It happened so fast. We were friends." Twilight muttered to herself.

Applejack went back to Twilight and pushed her forward. Applejack looked back at the two after getting this strange feeling in her heart but she ignored it and kept going.

"Come on, Dré" Babe walked up to André.

"What happened?" André asked in helplessness.

Babe put his hands in pockets, "It doesn't matter. Go get your stuff and let's go."

André looked up at Babe in anger, "How can you just accept everything that's going on!?" it didn't shock Babe André was upset about everything that just happened, he looked at André with a determined stare.

"Who said anything about accepting?" André continued looking, his anger slowly lifted at Babe's comment, "We're going to go out and find those responsible for this."

André punched the ground in frustration, "What are you talking about?" the tone in his voice was still apparent.

"We were obviously framed so we're going to go out and prove to them that we're innocent men." Babe looked ahead at the now empty square, "I will not let this go by as if nothing's wrong. Whoever did this caused us our friends and they're going to pay for that." He promised.

Inspired André took one last look at the ground and thought about everything that just happened, being angry wasn't going to solve anything and he knew Babe was right, "…Are you serious?" he asked.

Babe's hand extended out to him, André looked up and Babe nodded his head, "Let's go." Babe said while forming a small grin. André chuckled and grabbed Babe's hand. Their mission was now clear and they were ready to clear their names.

Later that day all of the ponies of Ponyville were standing at the town's entrance. Princess Celestia and Luna stood at the front of the group, the mane6 standing directly behind the two princesses.

Celestia eyed the two in disappointment, "You are hereby exiled from Ponyville and Canterlot. Your horrible deeds have earned you the distrust of all of the ponies in Ponyville."

"If you ever to return we will banish you from Equestria." Luna warned, "Do you have any last words?"

André smiled, "Not really, more of a request on my end." The two princesses slightly raised their heads, "You guys should really start thinking of apologies." André respectfully bowed to the two, "I mean you no disrespect princess's but we've been wrongly accused. I think it's only fitting we get an apology when this is all over."

"Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and of course you Fluttershy!" Babe called out to the six.

The six all looked at Babe, curious as to what he had to say.

"We'll be back before you guys know it. Everything will make sense pretty soon. I know you guys know we're innocent so we're not mad at any of you, this is our problem so don't worry." The six didn't say anything. They just looked on as if they were just realizing something.

"What is this sudden feeling?" Applejack though.

Luna pointed her hoof out to land," Go!" she demand.

The two boys waved at the mane6 with smiles. They turned the other way and travelled down the only road that was set for them. All the ponies watched until they were out of sight. Twilight and the others couldn't stand to watch them go but they had no choice. As hard as it was to believe the evidence was quite clear.

"If only we could've acted sooner." Luna said softly.

Celestia turned to Luna, "We did what we had too. Everything is alright now." Her voice soothed Luna's mind.

Rarity looked out to the road leading to nowhere, "I don't get it. How could those two have been smiling?" she asked herself unaware she was speaking aloud.

"They said they've been wrongly accused but that doesn't make any sense, right?" Applejack looked at Twilight and the others in concern, "How could they have possibly been wrongly accused after being shown proof by Princess Celestia?"

"Still…" Twilight held her hoof over her heart, "somewhere deep down, I believe them." She paused temporarily, "A part of me somehow knows they were telling the truth."

The six friends all went quiet for a minute before Rarity finally spoke up, "When they said they'd be back I, uh, sort of had the same feeling as well." She admitted nervously.

"Seriously?" Rainbow asked, "Me too, one look at their faces and I began having my doubts."

Could it have been a coincidence the mane six had all thought to themselves, the fact that they've all had the same thought around the exact same time?

Later on down the seemingly road to nowhere André and Babe have walked so far down that Ponyville was no longer in sight. They were unaware they were being followed.

André sighed as they walked, "Now what do we do?" he asked.

"We find whoever had framed us." Babe's reply was beyond simple, too simple that André didn't accept it.

"Duh, but how?" André emphasized on the 'how'.

Babe stopped to think, he didn't actually have a plan outside of finding the one responsible, "I don't…really know."

André smacked an open palm to his own forehead.

Suddenly Apple Bloom jumped up onto André's right shoulder, "Sounds like we've got a real mystery on our hooves!" she cheerfully stated.

André quickly turned to the right, "What the heck, Apple Bloom?"

Scootaloo jumped up onto his left shoulder next, "She's not the only one!"

André then turned to his left, "Scootaloo?" he looked behind himself, "If you two are here then that must mean that-"

Sweetie Belle stood in front of the Human duo, "Sweetie Belle is here too!" she exclaimed.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo jumped off of André's shoulder and stood in front of him with Sweetie Belle.

Babe and André were surprised to see the three fillies but no more than concerned, "What are you three doing here?" André asked, worried, "You should all be home in Ponyville."

Apple Bloom took a step forward, "We wanted to help you."

"Help us?" Babe crossed his arms while smiling.

Scootaloo got serious for a moment, "We know you both are innocent. We want to help you catch the culprit."

André looked at Babe and the two snickered but they remembered their current status as criminals "That's really nice of you guys. But I don't think it'd be safe for you to come with us." André gave them the bad news.

"Aw, why not?" Sweetie Belle pouted.

André scratched the back of his head, "Well we've been exiled and you three can get into some real trouble if you're seen with us." He knew the three fillies weren't going to make it easy.

Scootaloo stomped her hoof on the ground, "We don't care about that. We're your friends, right?" the small Pegasus asked as her wings temporarily flapped, "Friends help each other out and that's what we do!"

André didn't know what else to give, "We understand." Babe intervened, "But this is something André and I have to handle alone. You guys don't need this burden on your hooves. As a friend you should also see where we're getting at."

Apple Bloom knew Babe was beating around the bush, "What's that mean?" she asked Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie Belle turned to Apple Bloom, "They're basically saying they don't want us in their way."

The three fillies giggled, "Very well then." Apple Bloom hesitantly said, "You two win. But you BETTER make sure you come back!"

Babe smiled, "Of course. Thanks for understanding. It makes us happy to see that you care that much for us."

The three fillies turned back in the direction of Ponyville with hopeful smiles, Apple Bloom turned back to the two to give her departing words, "Just remember this," she had both André and Babe's attention, "even if all of Equestria sees you as enemies know that we'll always be on your side."

Being and André were touched with her statement the two lightly gasped, the CMC's started making their way back to Ponyville. André and Babe silently watched them as they all headed back home. The Human duo turned back around and continued making their way down the road. They were even more determined to make everything right thanks to the CMC's.
> Sinister
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Think we might pass Fillydelphia soon?" André asked.

Babe continued on, "We're travelling on foot I highly doubt it. Besides they kicked us out of the Ponyville in the other direction so we're moving further away from civilization."

"Oh" André replied, "That was kinda cold. Is it just me or is the mood around here getting grimmer and darker? It's more depressing than Everfree forest in the middle of the night."

Babe looked around and shrugged it off as nothing. After walking through a small area full of dead tree's the two boys found what could've been the largest tower in all of Equestria. The tower looked as if it was touching the clouds.

"That tower is huge." André noted.

Babe looked at André, "Wanna go in there?" he asked bravely.

André shook his head, "Not really." He took a closer look at the tower, "There's something very off about it."

"That's our home" a female voice spoke out of nowhere. Upon hearing the voice they quickly turned around. Standing before them was a rather tall black unicorn like creature. Her eyes were dark green, her mane was dark cerulean and she had impressive white fangs, Babe knew her but couldn't recall her name, "Wait…I know you."

"Queen Chrysalis!" André said in shock.

Chrysalis smirked, "It appears that I'm very well known, yes, I am Queen Chrysalis and you two must be André and Babe."

"How do you know our names?" André asked defensively.

"Dumb question," Babe said to his friend, "she's the villain here apparently. She was probably shadowing us using her magic."

"Right! I knew that." André lied, "She's also queen of the changeling's." he added on.

Remembering everything they were framed for in Ponyville and knowing that Changelings could shape shift Babe put the two together, "It all makes sense. You got two of your minions to shape shift into us and while we were gone and when we came back to Ponyville you set it up to make it seem like we were the bad guys."

"Correct." Chrysalis plainly replied.

Babe snickered as he removed his bag from his shoulders, "Pfft. Villains, I guess after this it'll only be one less to deal with."

Chrysalis smiled, revealing her fangs, "You think it'll be that easy?" she asked.

"You turned our friends against us. I'll make this easy." Babe took one step toward the dark queen but that one step was his last. Chrysalis used her magic and stopped Babe from moving, "Drgh!" Babe grunted as he tried to force himself to move.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Andre asked in a concerned voice.

Chrysalis laughed at the two humans before her, "I should thank you both. You really have made this too easy for me and my precious subjects."

André took his eyes off of Babe and looked over to Chrysalis, "What do you mean?" he asked in a rather calm tone.

"You two and your bond with Twilight Sparkle and her friends" André's eyes started to widen as he realized where Chrysalis was going, "It was something I've never felt before. The love they gained for you two was one of the most powerful things in Equestria. I think it even surpassed the level of love we encountered at the Canterlot wedding not too long ago. Ever since our defeat we've been planning revenge."

Babe continued to struggle for his freedom, "What…Else…is new!?" he grunted even more.

Chrysalis smiled at how the two didn't realized how powerful she and her army had become thanks to them, "We've been feeding off of the bonds between you have for your precious little pony friends."

"Wait, but, changelings feed off of true love and not the power of friendship." André said aloud, "What do you mean we helped you?"

Chrysalis closed her eyes and raised her hoof in a teaching manner, "About that, true love gives us MORE power. Like Windigos we are emotion 'parasites' although we feed off of positive emotion." André and Babe were now starting to get just how much Chrysalis had in store just from explaining her species power.

Chrysalis noticed their understanding and went to explain further, "For example….ever since our defeat in Canterlot a year ago we've been feeding on Princess Celestia and Luna's love for ALL the ponies of Equestria."

André gasped in shock, Babe couldn't fully control his body so he couldn't show any real emotion, "…Ok, that's a lot of power…uh!" he managed to admit.

Chrysalis sinisterly looked on at the two, "Of course it is. With it we've become stronger. Strong enough to bypass ANY barrier they set up. We're more powerful than we ever were!"

André and Babe felt defeated, they didn't know what to do.

Chrysalis felt their emotions and understood them, "And after all you've done for all your friends…they just cast you aside as traitors," Chrysalis raised her hoof out in a welcoming fashion, "I know that makes you want revenge, join us, we can make them pay for what they did to you." She smiled triumphantly believing she corned the boy's into their only option.

"You've gotta be kidding…!" Babe muttered.

Chrysalis stomped her hoof on the ground, "What?"

Babe continued to strain, "Give us a break! We'd never help you with anything…" he slowly started regaining control of his arm, "If you're going to mess with our friends then you're messing with the wrong group."

Chrysalis sighed, "You've come this far and you still understand nothing it seems…" judging by Chrysalis tone she was actually disappointed in the boy's choice of forgiving the ponies in Ponyville, "no matter, tomorrow Ponyville will suffer a Changeling invasion and then Canterlot, then all of Equestria."

"We're not letting that Happen!" André shouted.

Chrysalis smiled, "Oh really?"

The dark queen unleashed a powerful magic spell that sent a powerful invisible force that blew Babe and André back. The two are sent flying back where they crashed into a tree with great force, the two grunted out in pain upon impact.

Chrysalis approached the two, "You both are still giving me so much power. It's incredible!"

As she approached André's vision started to blur "…Y-You…dirty…uh…" he weakly called out in defeat as he helplessly lay on the ground.

The two lost consciousness. Queen Chryalis stood over the two and smiled in amusement as a few of her subjects trotted over. The view fades to black.

Shortly after Babe slowly regained consciousness, "Augh, my head." he groaned.

After regaining consciousness Babe turned to his left and saw André lying on the ground. He looked forward and saw Chrysalis standing before them, seemingly behind bars, "Finally up?" the queen asked, "It's been hours since you fell out."

Babe looked around, "Where are we?"

"In a prison cell." Chrysalis tapped on the metal bars, "I think I'll keep you both locked up here as a power source. Your love for those ponies is truly amazing."

Babe weakly punched the cold floor, "I should've seen this coming…"

"Make yourselves comfortable. You'll be here for a while, well, eternity. Now if you'll excuse me. I have to rest up. We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow. It's going to be one wild reunion once you two go back home."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

The dark queen turned her back to the boy's cell, "Wait until your precious little friends discover that their human friends have joined forces with the 'dreadful' changelings."

"If we don't stop you then Twilight and the others will." Chrysalis slightly turned her head back to the cell, Babe laughed, "They have something that can take you all out in seconds."

Chrysalis smiled, "This 'something' wouldn't happen to be the elements of harmony would it?" Babe's positive attitude was dismissed once Chrysalis stated her guess, which was correct, "We've managed to steal them right from under them". Babe was speechless, a part of him didn't want to believe her but he knew she wasn't lying. Chrysalis shook her head after shutting down Babe's hopes "You fool. Did you really think I wouldn't have thought this plan out?"

Babe knew both he and André were beat but that didn't stop him from keeping his hope in Twilight and the other's, "Truthfully I couldn't care less. You're going down, somehow. You have a weakness, everything does."

"And so does the heart of those you love so much. I'll expose that weakness." Chrysalis threatened with a dark and promising tone.

The dark queen turned away and walked away from the cell André and Babe shared. She and all of her followers needed to be well rested for the big invasion tomorrow. Babe put his back against the wall and slowly slid down onto the floor, "How are we going to get out of here?" he whispered to himself.

"Not sure but I know we've got to try and think of something."

Babe looked over to André, "You're awake?"

André picked himself up and held his left arm. It was a little sore from the tree, "I've been up since you two started talking."

"I see…" Babe sighed and looked up to the prison ceiling, "What are we going to do now?"

From the shadows of the room hoof tapping echoed, "Well, Ah think you two have made excellent progress today, but now ah think it's time we escaped."

André and Babe looked at each other in disbelief. They recognized the voice and knew the accent all too well, standing in front of their cell were three little fillies. They were none other than the Cutie Mark Crusader's.

"Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle? Why're you here?" André asked, unintentionally raising his voice.

Scootaloo placed her hoof over her mouth, "Keep your voice down. We followed you guys even after you told us to leave."

Scootaloo had the large circular cell keys around her neck. She took the keys from around her neck and playfully swung them around her hoof. The CMC's began to stack themselves up to reach the keyhole. After a few twists and turns they unlocked the prison cell.

Babe and André were shocked and amazed at the three for making it this far, "How did you get pass all the guards?" André asked enthusiastically.

"They're all asleep." Sweetie Belle said.

Babe and André simultaneously face palmed themselves at Sweetie's Belle's response. André shook his head at the Changeling's guard, "How convenient for our escape." André went over to Babe and helped him up.

Babe looked down to the three fillies, "You guys came here anyway…you went against Princess Celestia and Luna's orders."

Sweetie Belle rubbed her mane innocently, "Well, yeah…but we weren't going to leave you two."

"Even if it was just a short time, you've become our best friends." Scootaloo happily stated as she flapped her tiny wings.

André helped Babe out of the cell however Babe revealed that he was alright to walk on his.

Apple Bloom slowly shut the prison behind the two boys, "We're friends, till the end. Now, let's get moving back to Ponyville and tell everypony what that mean queen is plannin'!"

Babe and André smiled at the young fillies who managed to save them. With their freedom they proceeded to quietly escape changeling tower. Lucky for them the prison area wasn't any higher up in the tower. They left out and started heading down the road that lead back to Ponyville.
> Plans
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ponyville
Carousel boutique

"I was working on this design for a few days now." Rarity's horn was shrouded in aura. She used magic to levitate a drawing of a new design over to Twilight, "Do you think it's too much?" she asked, waiting for a critique.

Twilight took a look at Rarity's design, "It's another outfit designed for a human. I don't really know about the design feedback for humans."

Rarity sighed and put the design sketch down on the table, "I know…I was in the process of making André and Babe some new clothes. Before I could even get the chance to actually do that…they…" she couldn't finish her sentence.

Twilight closed her eyes in depression, "I know." she opened them back up, trying not to think of what happened with the boy's, "There's no need to say it…"

Rarity took a good look at her design, "Still…I wish they were still here. I can still hear their voices…"

"Everypony!" a voice dangerously close to André's yelled out.

Twilight and Rarity thought they were hearing things. They ignored what they thought they heard.

"Come quick!" this time a voice very similar to Babe yelled.

Rarity turned to Twilight, hoping she wasn't going crazy, "Did you hear that?" she asked in hope.

Twilight ran over to the boutique window and saw André and Babe with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, "André and Babe are outside! Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are with them too!"

"What!?" Rarity shouted.

The two mares rushed out of the boutique to join all the other ponies who gathered around André and Babe. The citizens of Ponyville were obviously not happy about André and Babe's return, countless insults and harsh words were thrown around:

"Why have you two come back!?"

"Princess Celestia and Luna have exiled you both from Ponyville!"

"Go find your own home!"

André looked out to the crowd trying to reason with them, "If you all could just listen to us for a sec-"

All the ponies around them all began berating and talking over them. It would've been impossible for the two boys to try and reason with them in this current condition. Fluttershy walked into the circle the duo were in and turned to the crowd of ponies. She had an angry look on her face.

"…LISTEN UP!" Fluttershy said with, what seemed to be, the royal Canterlot voice…or at least something similar.

The yell caused instant silence amongst the group of ponies following up with her iconic stare…even André and Babe were a little intimidated just by hearing her yell.

Babe quivered in slight fear, "Yo…I haven't heard Fluttershy yell like that since she told the animals at the gala to love her." He whispered to André, trying not to cause Fluttershy to turn to him with her assertiveness.

"Yeah…" André quietly replied back.

Fluttershy turned back to André and Babe, "Go ahead." She was obviously back to her normal self.

"Um, thanks Fluttershy." André cleared his throat and looked at the crowd, "Ok! Everypony, I know you're not happy to see us but we've got some really important and urgent news!"

Twilight and Rarity got closer to the center. Amongst the crowd Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash appeared as well.

"Those crimes you seen us do, of course, you all remember, right?" Babe asked, the look on the Ponies faces obviously answered for themselves, "As we said, BEFORE, it wasn't us." he finished his sentence with a smart tone.

Twilight stepped forward, "Then who was it?"

Babe and André turned to the lavender Unicorn, "It was two Changelings." Babe sternly stated.

The crowd gasped after hearing the name Changeling, Twilight was just as shocked as the other's, "But how could that be?" Twilight started remembering everything that happened in Canterlot, "Shining Armor and Princess Cadance blew them away." She thought aloud.

Babe shook his head, "They were down but not out." Twilight got a bad feeling up her spine as Babe continued talking to the crowd, "They were planning revenge ever since, they've been feeding off of the love Princess Celestia and Luna had for all the Ponies in Ponyville and the friendship André and I had for our friends here."

Apple Bloom joined in, "Even after all of Ponyville had turned their backs on them they still never lost sight of what mattered most to them, their friends."

André nodded, "That's why we're back." He put most of his attention on Twilight and the others, "We found out what was going on and now we know. They're going to attack Ponyville, no," he corrected himself, "all of Equestria tomorrow. Their numbers have doubled and there are even more of them than before.

"…W-We've got to warn Princess Celestia!" Twilight panicked.

Babe put his hands in his pockets as he looked up at the sky, "No need for that." Babe pointed to the sky. Princess Celestia descended from the sky and landed in front of André and Babe.

André stepped forward in a respectable fashion, "Princess Celestia, we're back and we know-"

Princess Celestia held up her hoof, André stopped talking, "Is everything you said true?" she asked.

"Yes. We would never lie to you." he answered.

Babe put a hand on André's shoulder to further explain the situation to Celestia, "The queen of the Changelings, Queen Chrysalis, is behind all of this. She was feeding off of your love for all the ponies in Equestria. It's not only you but us too."

The princess looked out the corner of her eye, "…How could I have been so blind? She manipulated us."

André huffed, "Manipulated ya'll." He said under his breath. Luckily Princess Celestia didn't hear him.

Babe lightly popped André in the back of the head, "They created a freakishly large tower black tower far away from Ponyville in the direction we were exiled from." Princess Celestia turned to Babe, she looked rather sad when facing the two boys, "That's their home and that's their base."

Princess Celestia turned to her student, "Twilight."

Hearing her name suddenly being called Twilight stood up straight and presentable, "Yes?" she asked nervously.

"We must go to Canterlot. You and your friends must hold the elements of harmony."

André tapped Celestia's side, "Problem…with all the power she has now she managed to sneak into Canterlot without being noticed…and she stole the elements."

Celestia's eyes widened and all the ponies in Ponyville were struck in fear.

Babe smacked a fist into his palm, "Now…what to do?"

A droplet of sweat rolled down the side of Celestia's face, "I must warn all the guards in Canterlot. We mustn't allow Chrysalis to return to Ponyville!"

"A little late aren't we, princess?"

Celestia, Twilight and all the Ponies in the town square looked up and saw Chrysalis and her Changeling army in the sky.

André pointed up at Chrysalis, "Hey! What's the deal!? You said you'd attack tomorrow!" he angrily shouted.

Chrysalis grinned, "Why wait? The day is still young."

"So…André and Babe were telling the truth the whole time." Rarity said aloud to her friends.

The dark queen had her sights on Celestia, "It's a pleasure to see you again under these circumstances Princess Celestia."

Celestia took a step forward, "Why have you come back? Haven't you learned from last time?" reminiscing the events of the Canterlot wedding.

Chrysalis giggled at Celestia's remark, "I could say the same to you. Wasn't it you who fell to my mercy?"

Celestia snarled at Chrysalis much to the former's delight.

"I'm here to take your place, Changelings will rule!"

Princess Celestia smashed her hoof into the ground below her, slightly damaging it, "That's not going to happen. I will protect every pony in Equestria!"

Celestia showing her love and determination of protecting everypony put joy in Chrysalis eyes, "Yes, show them how much you love them. Changelings, attack!" she ordered.

The changelings all plummeted down toward all the ponies.

Princess Celestia quickly formed a large and powerful pink barrier around all of them, protecting them all from the changeling attack. The barrier, however, was slowly breaking as the changelings rapidly tackled into it, "Twilight, I'm counting on you to retrieve the elements of harmony and put a stop to this madness! I'll try and hold them off as long as I can! Ponyville is counting on you!"

"Princess Celestia…" Twilight understood the importance of her mentor's orders but she couldn't stand the thought of leaving her alone.

Princess Celestia turned her head and face the citizen's, "Everypony else, run! Find shelter and stay hidden!" she ordered.

All the ponies did as their ruler said and they all run for cover. Queen Chrysalis chuckled and continued to watch Celestia struggle in trying to keep up her barrier. Twilight, Applejack, André, Babe, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and the CMC's all ran to the library. Twilight cast a protection spell that would protect the library from the invading changelings when inside.

André took a look at the window, "Things aren't looking too good for Princess Celestia. I'm not sure she'll be able to hold up that barrier for long."

"We've got to get around them and make our way back to Changeling tower." Babe said as he calmly paced back and forth, "I'm pretty sure the elements are there."

Applejack sadly faced André and Babe, "Ah can't believe you two were telling the truth…" she turned away and rubbed her leg, "Ah feel just awful for not believing in you earlier…"

Apple Bloom marched over to her sister, "Of course they were telling the truth!" this was pretty much the first time Apple Bloom had to set her sister right for doubt.

Apple Bloom's word's touched not only Applejack but Twilight as well, "It was wrong for not believing in you two earlier…we were wrong, I was wrong…" Applejack and the rest of the mane6 lowered their heads in shame.

"Twilight's right," Rainbow said, "she WAS wrong."

All eyes were on Rainbow Dash, she looked around and saw her friend's weren't amused with her previous statement, "Ehehe…of course I meant I was wrong too."

The two guys couldn't find it in themselves to be mad at their friends and have already forgiven them added to the fact that they were never mad. André laughed, "Don't worry about it. We told you we weren't mad at you. Everypony makes mistakes." He looked at his Pony friends in their despondent state, "Guys, give us love?" André asked.

The group saw that Babe and André had nothing against them and seeing their capacity to forgive made them smile.

They all gathered together for a group embrace. The mane6 regretted ever doubting their two friends when they needed them most but with true forgiveness they were able to reconnect their friendship, making them even closer.

"How will we be able to help Princess Celestia if we don't even know where this tower is?" Rarity asked as the group broke their embrace.

Babe placed his hand on his chest, "We know where it is, don't worry, we'll go and get the elements back." referring to himself and André.

"Wait, by yourselves?" Fluttershy asked nervously, "It's too dangerous!"

André wrapped his arm around Babe's neck playfully, "Don't worry about us, we'll handle it."

Rainbow Dash flew over to André and rubbed his head with her hoof, petting him, "I'm going with you too!" Rainbow Dash was determined to remain by her friend's side, nothing was going to stop her.

Pinkie Pie cheerfully bounced around the two, "Count me in too!"

Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity all looked at each other and nodded in agreement. They went over to André and Babe and were going to help them.

"You're all in too?" André asked the rest of the group.

"Of course we are." Twilight didn't hesitate to assure the two that she'd be there.

Applejack adjusted her hat, "Ya'll aren't going in there alone."

Fluttershy approached, casting her personal fears aside, "We're friends and we look out for each other."

"Till the end." Rarity stated as she too joined the group.

Looking at the six mares André nodded, "…Okay then. We're all settled in then, let's get ready to do this."

Babe placed his hand on Twilight's back, "We'll need your hot air balloon. We'll sneak out the back of the library and we'll all carry the balloon away from Ponyville." He then faced the others, "Once we get to changeling tower we can fly it to the top and hopefully grab the elements and get out."

"How do you know they'll be at the top of the tower?" André couldn't help but ask, even they didn't know where Chrysalis hid the elements.

Babe crossed his arms, "Because villains usually keep the stolen valuables of great power at the top of their operation."

The mane6 all shrugged to each other in confusion, André just shook his head but decided to put his trust in Babe, "Alright. We have our plan so let's put it into action."

"Let's bloo this!" Babe randomly shouted.

André took a look at his friend in minor disgust and simply face palmed, "Oh my God…." He muttered.
> Elements of Harmony pt1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Give it up Celestia! We're too strong for you."

Celestia kept the barrier against the Changeling swarm, "Never. I will protect everypony in Ponyville."

"How cute." Chrysalis laughed.

Princess Celestia looked over to her right and saw the mane six, André and Babe sneaking out of the barrier with the hot air balloon. Twilight and Rarity were carrying the balloon using their magic, began to lower the barrier but it wasn't from weakness. She absorbed it to form a pink sphere that covered her body. She launched herself up into the air and tackled the changelings in the magical barrier.

More Changelings gathered around Chrysalis, "How long can you hold on?" the queen asked.

"As long as I have to!" Celestia was going to make sure things were different this time, her Canterlot loss was her last.

Chrysalis loved Celestia's claim for protection of all those who lived in Ponyville, "Fine. Let's see how long you can protect those you care so much for!"

Chrysalis laughed maniacally as a horde of changelings charged straight for Princess Celestia. Farther away from Ponyville Twilight and the others continued their race against time. They were moving as quickly as possible.

"Twilight, Rarity. The balloon isn't too heavy is it?" André asked as he looked back.

"No. It's not heavy at all." Twilight claimed.

Fluttershy looked ahead but didn't see any tower, "How much farther is it?" she asked in doubt.

"Not too far Fluttershy." Babe assured, "We'll get there and be back in no time."

Applejack looked back in the direction of Ponyville, "Ah hope so." Thoughts of the princess filled her head, "We don't want to keep Princess Celestia on hold."

"Are all the changelings back in Ponyville helping their queen?" Pinkie asked Babe while running alongside him.

"Should be, it was a whole army of those things. I doubt they'll be any at the tower."

"I hope not anyway." André hoped.

After a good session of running the group dashed through the forest of dead trees and the sight of the tower could be seen from the branches, "What's that?" Twilight asked upon seeing it.

"That's the tower!" Babe said aloud to the group, "Wow, we actually made it in good time. Nice!"

In the distance the large black tower stood in the desolate location. Twilight sped up and took the lead, "Alright everypony, let's hurry!" they continued running ahead, not looking back.

Back at Twilight's house the CMC's were safely hiding inside the house along with Spike thanks to Twilight's barrier.

Apple Bloom was starting to worry, "Ah hope Applejack and the others make it back soon…"

Scootaloo nodded, "I wish they had let us come with them. It's not fair, they think just because we're little we'll get in the way." She sulked to her friend.

Spike approached the two, "They're just worried about your safety. I'm sure they didn't do it on purpose."

"Still…" Scootaloo continued to sulk.

While Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Spike were together Sweetie Belle was over by the window looking at the events from out, "Guys, Princess Celestia's in trouble!" what she saw wasn't good…

Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Spike ran to the window. The changelings were outnumbering Princess Celestia. They surrounded her magical sphere and rapidly tackled into it with great force. Cracks began to appear around the sphere.

Chrysalis smiled upon Celestia as she continued to fight back, "Futile, you cannot defeat us." She claimed boastfully.

The massive number's was the thing that was wearing Celestia down, she strained as she tried keeping her barrier together. She looked up at Chrysalis with a weak, yet, determined stare, "Every ounce of my power will be spent trying…"

Everything in Equestria began to go dark. Princess Celestia's sun began setting, "The sun's going down already?" Chrysalis asked before laughing, "What's the matter Princess? Growing weak?" she teased on.

The changelings took one final step back. Princess Celestia braced for impact as the changelings made a head on charge into the sphere. The sphere is destroyed and caused a small explosion. All the ponies who were watching eyes widened. Their jaws dropped in disbelief. After the explosion Princess Celestia slowly floats down to the ground. She weakly stood her ground. More changelings surrounded her. Their queen stood before Celestia.

Celestia was panting, trying to catch her breath.

"How does it feel to be helpless against us?" Chrysalis lowered her head to the weak princess.

Celestia continued to pant with fierceness on her face.

"Changeling got your tongue?" Chrysalis asked, Celestia didn't answer, "I think it's time for me to rightfully rule over this land, don't you?"

A dark purple beam of light struck the ground between Princess Celestia and Queen Chrysalis. Chrysalis jumped back from the beam.

"What? Who dares intervenes!?" she looked around for the one responsible but it didn't take long for that Pony to show herself, the princess of the night, Luna.

"I do." She stood at her sister's side, "I won't let you get away with it."

Celestia looked up, "Luna…" she was quite relieved to see her little sister.

"I'm sorry I'm late." Luna looked down at Celestia, she wasn't used to seeing her quite like this, "Let's handle this, together." Her voice was soft and calming.

Celestia smiled warmly, "…I would love that." the sun and the moon were coming together, Chrysalis was starting to get uneasy.

The two sisters placed their horns together. Their combined power shocked the changelings and their queen. Princess Luna channeled some of her power with Princess Celestia and together the two were ready to fight.

Chrysalis eyes widened, "W-Where did you get such power?" their growing power was starting to surpass her own. The Changeling swarm would be rendered useless.

Luna's gaze intimidated the Changeling queen, "We're going to protect everypony and see this problem through."

"Together we stand, united we fall." Celestia added.

The Changelings started feeling the fear their queen felt, "No…no…" Chrysalis slowly started to back away.

As the two co-rulers of Equestria prepare to battle Queen Chrysalis and her army Twilight and the others were making their way up the incredibly huge changeling tower via the hot air balloon.

Babe looked up at the sky, "The sun was out just a second ago," he turned to his friend's confused on the sudden change of day, "how come its twilight?"

At first Twilight was just as lost as Babe but a feeling in her heart gave her a sudden realization, "Princess Luna and Celestia must be joining forces to put an end to Chrysalis!"

André placed a hand on his head, "Seriously, those two together in action? Awesome!" back at home André, Babe and a lot of other's haven't seen the two sisters in action together, hearing that made André excited but he wasn't in Ponyville to witness such an collaboration between the sun and the moon, "Wish I could've seen that."

Rainbow Dash peaked over the side of the balloon and saw they were making slow progress, "Twilight, can we speed this up a bit? I can't even see the top from here."

"Sure," Twilight prepared to adjust the balloon torch, "just let me ignite-"

Before Twilight could ignite the flame two Changelings appeared and began to attack the balloon. One of the changelings used its magic to blast the side of the basket. The left side of the basket was destroyed. All the Ponies moved to the right half but Applejack lost her footing and began dangerously balancing herself on the ruined side. The Changelings that caused the disaster laughed and disappeared.

Applejack started to lean over, André reached out his hand, "APPLEJACK!" he yelled out in panic, just as the two were inches away from grabbing one another Applejack fell off of the edge, the other's watched in horror as Applejack fell.

As she continued falling Applejack looked down toward her impending doom…"W-Well….looks like this is it!" she said with tears in her eyes, she closed them and the droplets flew in the air with her but she felt someone grabbing onto her.

"Gotcha!" Applejack opened her eyes and saw André holding her, both of them free falling together.

"I've got you Applejack!"

Despite their condition Applejack found herself in a state of calm, "You jumped after me? Why would you-"

André looked at her through the corner of his eye, "If you can't help a friend then you can't save any!" Applejack didn't know what to say. The two looked at each other before looking ahead of them, seeing the ground. They closed their eyes and embraced each other tightly.

Thanks to Twilight's quick thinking she used her magic and stopped both André and Applejack from falling. She also managed to create a purple barrier around the hot air balloon to protect herself and her friends from any further changeling attacks. Twilight safely put them on a nearby balcony on the changeling tower. The balcony led to the large spiral staircase inside the tower.

Feeling ground below him André opened his eyes, "We're alive? Twilight must've used her magic to save us!" he looked up and saw the balloon ascending, "But it looks like they're not stopping either. We're going to have to go the rest on foot and hoof."

André released Applejack from his protective hold.

"You actually jumped after me…"

André thought a lecture of his recklessness was about to come into play, "Of course. If a friend needs me to be there I'll be there." he was ready for whatever Applejack was about to throw at him.

Applejack was filled with extreme joy and threw herself into her friend's arms. He chuckled and hugged her back.

André gave Applejack's mane one good stroke, "Hey, I don't know about you…" the two let each other go, "but I think it's time we got a move on, we've gotta meet Twilight and the others at the top." He reminded.

"Of course!" Applejack replied, the two stood up and made their way inside the tower.

"They're safe!" Twilight exclaimed in joy, "Thank Celestia. That was a close one."

Fluttershy looked over the edge with Twilight, "Will they be ok?" she asked in concern, "What if there are more Changelings in there?"

"No need to worry about them," Rarity said in confidence, "they can handle themselves."

Babe looked out in the direction of Ponyville, "How do you guys think Princess Celestia and Luna are doing?"

"If they're together that must mean Chrysalis is getting what's coming to her!" Pinkie Pie was almost certain of that.

Babe chuckled, "Here's to wishful thinking."

Rainbow took another look over the basket's side to see how they were doing with progress, "Look! We're nearing the top!" she stated aloud to alert the others.

"Cool!" Babe tapped Twilight's back, "Let's get ready to land this thing."

Twilight nodded and was preparing the balloon to land, "Princess Celestia, please just hang in there. We're on our way."
> Elements of Harmony pt2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After half an hour of flying from the bottom of the tower Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Babe finally reached the top. They left the hot air balloon on Queen Chrysalis balcony. They entered her room.

Babe was the first to look inside the queen's room, he looked to the right and then to the left, "Alright, we're in." he held up his hand and signaled for the rest of the group to follow in behind him.

Twilight walked in behind him, "Okay. Let's find the elements."

The group began searching around the queen's chambers.

Rarity stepped over dozens of balled up pieces of paper and ink quills, "For a 'queen' she sure does keep a messy room…" Rarity stopped her hooves in a spoiled pampered fashion, "it'll take us forever to find the elements."

"Found it." Babe was holding the elements box.

Rarity and the others were shocked at what they saw, Babe actually holding the box containing the Elements of Harmony.

"Babe!" he turned to Twilight, "You're a genius!"

"I…am?" he asked in flattery.

Rainbow was still confused as to how he found them, "That was fast…." She rubbed her mane, "how'd you find it so quickly?"

Babe pointed to a large painting, "I removed the largest picture on the wall, found a hidden door and opened it. Boom, there it was." The world's simplest search and retrieve operation.

Fluttershy was flabbergasted, "How did you know?" she asked with twinkling eyes.

"I know my villains." he shrugged with simplicity, "They're way too predictable."

Twilight scratched the side of her head, "You what-" she stopped herself as it was pointless to really have time for questions. They had a mission to do, "oh, forget it! We've got the elements so let's hurry back to Ponyville!"

"Let's make sure they're all in there first." Babe opened the box and began counting the supernatural artifacts, "We've got Kindness, loyalty, generosity, honesty, laughter and…"

Twilight noticed how he looked worried, "What's wrong?" she asked starting to worry herself.

Babe looked at Twilight, "Magic is missing."

"Looking for this?" a scrawny voice asked from the side. Twilight and the other's turned to the voice and much to their surprise one of the changelings had the element of magic in their possession.

"Give us that!" Twilight demanded.

The Changeling grinned, "Do you really believe I'll simply hand it over to you? Queen Chrysalis knew you sneaky little brats would try and take the elements."

"…So why didn't she just take them with her?" Babe asked with his arms crossed, "That would've thrown us completely off track." he admitted.

Deep down the Changeling kind of agreed after thinking about it, "Shut up!" it defended its queen, "Because she knew you wouldn't leave here with them."

"What do you need with the elements?" Twilight asked.

The Changeling laughed, "We have no use for the Elements of Harmony. Our magnificent queen just knew they would be in the way."

"Sure." It was obvious by the sarcasm that he was making fun of the Changelings planning.

The changeling inched closer to the stairway with the element of magic in hoof and over the railing.

"Whoa, whoa!" Babe took a step forward but remained still, trying not to spook the Changeling, "What are you doing?"

"Getting rid of this." The Changling revealed its fangs with a grin, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to join my brethren in Ponyville."

The changeling vanished into black smoke and dropped the element. It was plummeting down the incredibly long spiral stairwell. If the element were to make contact with the ground it would've surely been destroyed.

"It actually dropped it." Babe was a bit surprised. He didn't actually think the Changeling would have dropped the element.

Twilight, Babe and the others ran over to the stairwell. They looked over the railing and saw the element. It was getting farther and farther away each second.

Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash, "Rainbow, do you think you can fly down there and grab the element!?"

"I'm on it!" Rainbow Dash flapped her wings preparing to take flight.

Babe noticed André and Applejack running up the stairway, "Hold on! There's André and Applejack!" he pointed to identify the two.

André and Applejack were halfway to the top.

"DRÉ!" his nickname echoed in the empty long stairwell.

André turned back to Applejack, "Was that Babe?"

"Sure was." Applejack nodded.

André and Applejack stopped. They looked up the stairwell and noticed Babe pointing down at the falling element.

"What is that thing?" André's vision wasn't that good, too much computer watching of Friendship is Magic. He couldn't really make out what was falling.

Unlike André Applejack was actually able to fully see what it was, "Dah!" she yelled out in shock, "That's the element of magic! Somepony must've dropped it!"

"CATCH IT!" Babe yelled out to either of his friend's.

André quickly jumped onto the railing. He was acting on instinct rather than actually thinking things through. As the element got within reach he jumped over to catch the element. Everyone held their breath as he made the leap, praying that he'd catch it. André jumped over the parallel rail and rolled into the wall.

Pinkie was looking to see if she could see if André succeeded, "Did he catch it?"

"André, you alright?!" Applejack worried about his safety.

André got up and went over to the railing, "Hey guys! Look what I caught!" he held out the element tightly in his hand.

Fluttershy jumped for joy, "He caught it!"

"Nice one!" Rainbow Dash held up her hoof in respect.

Applejack took off her hat and held it in the air, "Way to go, André!"

Babe laughed, obviously happy for both his friend and the elements safety, "C'mon! Get up here!"

André and Applejack ran up the last little flight of stairs and finally reunited with their friends.

Twilight jumped up and hugged André tightly, "That was a NICE catch!" he hoped off of him a second later, André gave Babe the element.

"Thanks. I thought I was going to fail for a second."

"Like always?" Babe was teasing, again. André didn't bother replying, he knew Babe was just playing.

Back in Ponyville Princess Celestia and Luna managed to overcome Queen Chrysalis and her changelings. The battle was long but completely one sided, the two sisters were too much for Chrysalis to handle.

Chrysalis jumped back, "I-I should've known not to mess with you two at once." She was out of breath.

Celestia stepped forward, "Your plans are finished. It's over Chrysalis." she was ready to end the battle.

A dark green fiery aura formed around Chrysalis. She managed to receive more and more power from the mane6. In a desperate attempt to beat the two co-rulers of Equestria Chrysalis also began to absorb all of her loyal followers to become one. Feeling how incredible her power was Chrysalis laughed out evilly. Her laugh filled the air with bad vibes.

"You think it's over?" Chrysalis giggled at the two, "I'm just getting started!"

The dark queen unleashed her newfound power by releasing an invisible repulsive force. The force blasted both Princess Celestia and Luna away. The invisible and devastating force was also powerful enough to ruin most of Ponyville. Trees were pushed out of the ground and homes were blown away. Celestia and Luna were lying on the ground, defeated.

Celestia's coughed from the dust and dirt that was flying in the air around them, Luna was barely holding onto consciousness.

"…Sister."

Celestia turned to Luna, "Luna, you can't give up yet…"

The princess of the night tried standing but she collapsed from just trying to pull herself up, "I'm sorry sister but…I can't…" Princess Luna lost consciousness. Queen Chrysalis stood victorious before the two fallen co-rulers of Equestria.

"Looks like I win again." She said over the fallen.

Celestia felt Chrysalis power and looked up to her, "….Your still gaining power by absorbing the feelings of Twilight and her friends."

"They're actually quite helpful. I can't believe those are the ones you put your faith in. You're a sorry excuse for a ruler, Celestia."

Celestia tried to stand, "I'd rather be a sorry excuse for a ruler than an evil one, parasitizing on the feelings of others. You're a mosquito that lives in a world full of love and friendship." She fell to the ground, unable to pick herself up, "It's too bad you don't know what the feeling is like. You have no friends at all."

Chrysalis huffed at Celestia notion, "I have no friends? You imprisoned your own sister. I can tell she holds some resentment for you as she obviously didn't care when we fought in Canterlot. She wasn't even there to help you."

"That may have been true if Luna was like you." Celestia turned to her sister, "But she's not." Chrysalis remained silent, "My sister loves me and she knows that I love her too. She is very kind and knows how to forgive and no matter what happens, this will always be so. I really hope that one day you will learn what it means to love and be loved back." Though the situation was grim Celestia smiled, "Maybe then you'll realize you don't need to steal the emotions of others to be happy. I believe in my student and her friends."

"And I believe I have to claim my thrown in Canterlot." The Changeling queen turned her back on Ponyville, "I bid you farewell."

Queen Chrysalis flew off to Canterlot. Princess Celestia stood up and was ready to fly after her but she was too weak and collapsed instead, lying down next to her sister. Not too long after the fight the mane6, Babe and André arrived in the ruined remains of Ponyville. Fortunately the citizens of Ponyville weren't hurt or injured in any way. Upon seeing the destruction they were all struck in shock and horror.

"O-Oh my goodness…" Fluttershy said devastated.

Pinkie Pie walked over wood and building debris, "Ponyville…it's all torn up." She felt her heart sinking from seeing the place she loved so much in ruin.

"How could they do this…?" Fluttershy held her head down. She was on the verge of tears.

"It's going to be ok." Babe assured, "I'm sure everypony in Ponyville are safe, they're probably just hiding."

Fluttershy turned to Babe, seeing him made her fight back her tears that were trying to break free.

"Don't worry. We've got the elements now. We'll make sure they get what's coming to them."

Looking out to the ruin Rainbow's eye fell upon the two fallen princesses, "Guy's look!" she called out to the others. She pointed her hoof over to Princess Celestia. Twilight was by her teacher's side.

Twilight lowered herself to her injured mentor, "Are you alright Princess Celestia?" she asked softly.

"I'll be fine." The princess managed to keep herself together and under a calm composure.

Seeing the princess in this condition made Twilight feel sad, "Sorry we took so long…" believing it was her fault.

"There's no need to apologize," she smiled at her student, "you're here now."

"Princess!" André and the others all approached as well. Princess Celestia was happy to see that they all have their elements equipped.

"You've managed to find the elements, wonderful…"

"It was all thanks to Babe and André though." Twilight looked back at the two, "Without their help we wouldn't have made It this far."

Pinkie managed to find what little cheerfulness she had left to form one sentence, "Yup! They were great!"

"Courageous." Rarity added.

"André saved mah butt." Applejack mentioned, "Ah owe him mah life."

"André and…Babe." She looked at the two boys, "I should have never doubted you two." Celestia lowered her head in sadness, "I'm so sorry…"

André and Babe looked at each other for a second.

She looked back up at them, "I should've been aware. Forgive me."

André shook his head, "No, no it's okay." The look on Celestia's face has truly shown that she was sincerely sorry for everything she's done to the two.

"Chrysalis did this, not you." Babe looked out to Ponyville, seeing the extent of Chrysalis power, "You've done nothing wrong."

Celestia smiled, "Thank you…"

"What about you?" André asked as he crouched down to one knee, "Should we stay here with you while Twilight and the others go handle Queen Chrysalis?"

"No." André slightly tilted his head at Celestia's answer, "You need to be alongside them."

André looked away, "We don't have any powers like they do." he said regretfully, feeling he was unable to help.

"You have more power than you know" Celestia placed her hoof on the side of André's face and turned him back to face her, "…look inside yourself." she smiled beautifully.

André was still in doubt. Babe placed his hand on his shoulder, André looked back at him, "They'll need us Dré." He pointed back at Rainbow Dash, "Rainbow certainly will need you."

Rainbow flew up to Babe, "What was that!?" she was on the defensive, showing what could be obvious.

"Oh, nothing." Babe calmly claimed.

"I'm leaving the rest up to you. Please, stop her. Chrysalis should be in Canterlot."

André looked at the mane6 and back to Princess Celestia, "…Alright." he accepted Celestia's request, still unsure of what he could possibly do to assist the six.

Princess Celesta gave the two boys a warm smile in appreciation. André and Babe turned to their friends.

"This is it guys." Babe turned to Twilight, "Is the balloon still capable of flying?"

Twilight nodded, "With my magic and Rarity's combined we can get over to Canterlot in no time."

"I'm counting on all of you." Celestia stated, entrusting her mission to the group. This was sure to be the most perilous challenge the mane6 would have to face. Their destinies are to be determined here…
> True strength
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Canterlot Queen Chrysalis sat upon the throne, "Ah, now this is more like it. This is how it should've been a year ago." The thought of her victory put a smile on her face, "Now I rule all of Equestria now!"

"I don't think so!" Twilight's voice yelled out as the mane6 entered the throne room, standing before the dark queen, Twilight stood at the front of the group wearing her tiara, "We're here to stop you."

Queen Chrysalis looked upon the ponies. She took notice to the elements of harmony around their necks and in Twilight's case around her head, "How did…how did you manage to get the elements?" Chrysalis began to fear for the worse.

"They had help." Babe and André entered the room behind the girl's, "You're so predictable I found them in a matter of seconds. I can't take all the credit though I used to watch Scooby Doo."

Chrysalis was now alone with eight and she was outnumbered, "Impossible…I've come too far…this can't be-"

"Do it guys." André signaled for his friend's to put an end to Chrysalis reign, once and for all.

Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy stepped forward and closed their eyes. The elements were set ablaze with their unlimited power.

Chrysalis started to sweat, "No…" she muttered in fear.

Twilight raised her head, "It's time to end this!"

"No….this cannot be HAPPENING!" A powerful gust of ominous wind was unleashed from Chrysalis yell. The wind was powerful enough to send the mane6 flying back.

"No!" André stepped forward.

Babe quickly grabbed André, "Get down!" he managed to pull both André and himself down to the floor for cover. Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash all flew into the throne room's wall.

Chrysalis eyes shrunk at the power she never knew she had, she looked down to her hooves before looking up and grinning evilly, "Even with the elements power, you're all still useless against me." Chrysalis performed another spell. She shot six beams of dark green energy and blasted each of the mane6 elements. She destroyed them in a single shot.

Twilight's eyes widened in horror, "No, the elements!"

Chrysalis now had the upper hand against the heroes, "Was that your master plan?" she asked in a cocky tone, "You're all pathetic! If it wasn't for your little friendship game none of this would've ever happened. My power comes from your love and friendship."

Their final hope…there was nothing left for them to do, the eight looked on helplessly.

"The very thing you believed in was what caused your downfall." Chrysalis laughed and it echoed, sending shivers down Twilight's spine, "I love this ever so much. You must hate in order to defeat me. You must fight with each other and put a stop to me."

"Go ahead. Keep trying to drag them apart with your stupid little mind games." Chrysalis looked down to André who was directing his speech toward her, "It's not going to work!" despite their disadvantage André and Babe chose to keep going.

"You're going to stop me with the power of friendship?" Chrysalis asked before laughing at André.

Babe quickly stood up and ran toward Chrysalis. She didn't bother moving and unleashed her powerful magic to blow him away. He was sent flying out of the throne room. The defenseless boy yelled out as he was sent flying.

André followed his friend's flying body. He called out, "Babe!" while reaching out to him.

"Why not just accept me as your new ruler?" Chrysalis got comfortable on her new throne.

André turned to her, "You're kidding me right? You're no ruler…" his anger was building up, but he remained under control "You're just an emotion leech!"

Chrysalis took offense to André's remark. She released another powerful gust of wind which sent André flying into the air. Twilight and the others helplessly watched as André flew into the air, he kept flying until he slammed into the wall above the throne room's entrance. He slowly peeled off the wall before falling to the floor.

Babe reentered the room, "Ok, cheap shot." Before he could go any farther André fell on top of him and the two fell to the floor.

Rainbow Dash had enough of Chrysalis making a mockery of her friend's and stood up, "Hey! Nopony messes with my friends!" Chrysalis now had her sights on Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash made an attempt at trying to get to Chrysalis, but again, it was futile. The queen used her magic to stop Rainbow Dash in a dark green magical outline. Rainbow is tossed in a summersaulting position and was sent flying back to her friends. She crashed into them, knocking them all over like pins in a bowling alley.

Chrysalis laid her cheek on her hoof, "Strike." She calmly said as she giggled in amusement.

Pinkie Pie rubbed her head after recovering, "She's lost it…!"

"What's the matter? You all look worn out." Chrysalis teased, "Abandon all those useless emotions and you can stop me. Otherwise I'll just keep coming back." Chrysalis became so wrapped up in her own abilities she started taunting the group, exploiting her weakness knowing they would never turn on each other.

Babe picked himself and helped André up, "Don't listen to her. Don't even think about throwing away what you all feel. Show them to her instead."

André nodded and encouraged Babe's to the mane6.

"You still don't get it." Chrysalis stated.

"Us? Look who's talking." André placed his hand in front of Babe to walk on his own which he found difficult as he injured his leg from the fall.

He began limping his way up to the throne, "you just keep talking, talking down to us as if you know everything. Abandon our friendship?" Chrysalis continued grinning as André continued to get closer, "I love them, my friends. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity I love em."

Chrysalis shook her head, "You're just giving me more power."

A strong invisible force blew André back. He slid across the ground until he reached the others who rushed to his aid.

The dark queen was actually quite impressed with the two boy's attempts but she still found it laughable that they wouldn't exploit her weakness.

Chrysalis sighed, "Geez, I get it. I should've known." She closed her eyes and lowered her smile, "I can't change the mind of the hardheaded. I give you my weakness and you just simply can't let go. What kind of world is built upon love and friendship?" she asked the group, but no reply, "A world of weakness," she answered, "I want to show you there's no point in such useless things."

As André laid on the floor listening to Chrysalis speech he weakly balled up his fist, "…But look at what we've accomplished."

"What?" Chrysalis lazily asked as she opened her eyes to see André trying to stand once more.

André tried his hardest to find it in himself to continue but with each magic blow Chrysalis gives it got harder and harder, "Guy's, please stop…" Twilight begged knowing their attempts were useless.

With the elements destroyed the mane6 were completely lost in hope and knowing how powerful Chrysalis was they knew there was nothing they could do.

André managed to smile in the crisis, "They're not as weak as you think." Chrysalis stood up and slightly turned her head in interest. André sat on his knees and began to breathe repetitively as if he was out of breath, "A world built upon friendship and love doesn't show weakness…" he continued, " it shows true inner strength to help those in need the most. It joins them as one to become something greater."

Babe stood up and started walking toward the throne similar to André's prior attempt, "I don't want to sound sappy here but that's exactly what it is. If we didn't love and tolerate then we wouldn't be who we are now." Babe chuckled and looked back at the group, "Twilight can vouch for that."

After completing his sentence Babe stopped and collapsed to the floor. Fluttershy yelled out his name and ran over to his side, "Babe, Babe! Are you ok?" she frantically asked. Babe soon found himself breathing in the same heavy patterns as André.

"My body feels weak…I can't move…"

Chrysalis felt her power growing, "You're giving me more power, it's starting to suck you dry." Her time of victory was nearing ever so closely, "I would give up now otherwise you'll become a part of me, forever."

André saw Babe's current condition and managed to pick himself up, "Leave him alone!" Deciding to give it one last shot André charged straight for Chrysalis, unlike before she actually allowed him to get close however it only resulted in him running into an invisible barrier.

"What…?" André backed up while holding his nose which he hurt upon collision.

Chrysalis looked down upon André with a disappointed stare, "Foolish boy…" she said softly.

Twilight and the other ponies could never find it in themselves to go about fighting and hating each other. It didn't take long before they all began to grow weak just like Babe. They all weakly walked over to Babe and Fluttershy, "What'll we do now guys?" Applejack asked in a desperate voice.

Babe managed to sit upright. He looked at the others. Babe extended his hand out to Fluttershy. She looked at him in confusion, "We go in as friends." He spoke out to his friends sadly, "We can't stop her if she feeds off of us."

After the realization of their own defeat they accepted their fate. Fluttershy grabbed Babe's hand. Babe turned to Applejack and extended his hand out to her. Once she held his hand she turned to Rarity and held her hoof. Rarity lends out her hoof to Pinkie Pie and Pinkie Pie connects with Twilight who connected with Rainbow Dash.

Chrysalis blew André away again, making him slide back to the front of the throne room. He attempted to crawl back up to Chrysalis, refusing to stop but upon seeing his friend's he stopped in wonder. They all looked at him with saddened faces, André turned to Babe who only shook his head and extended his hand to him.

"We did our best." Babe stated.

He didn't believe it at first but André closed his eyes and understood. He sat upright and joined the others. He sat in between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Now that they were all together they all join together for one last group embrace.

Chrysalis watched in joy, "O-Oh my…you're actually willing to give me all of your affection?"

They all held each other close as the evil queen started to absorb the last bit of love and friendship they all had by absorbing them all.

Chrysalis looked ahead and saw that the group of friends vanished. Chrysalis won.

"Yes! SO MUCH POWER, I truly am the ruler of all Equestria now!" she laughed loudly, "Those fools thought that they stood a chance against me? Oh well, still, I'm amazed at how much power they had…no point in worrying about it now, the Changelings can now be the-Uh…" she suddenly stopped in midsentence upon feeling a strange feeling deep down inside but it was short lived, she continued, "-Can now be the-UGH! Ah!" the feeling returned but it was more powerful than before, "W-What's….happening t-to me!? AUGH!" she grunted in pain.

She felt warmness coming from inside of her. Pure white light took form from inside Chrysalis body. She found herself growing weaker and weaker. She collapsed to the floor as the light engulfed the entire room for a few seconds.

"W-WHAT!?" She yelled out while panting.

"How's it feel?" a familiar asked as Chrysalis eyes shrunk in disbelief, standing before her was the six mares and two Humans, "How's it feel to have that kind of power inside of you? Was it too much for the dark queen to handle?" Babe asked.

Chrysalis eyes were barely open. Losing most of her power all at once took a major toll on her body, sweat started to roll down her face, "W-Why…?"

Babe smiled at the queen's question, "It's simple, in a world like this darkness can't overcome love or friendship, get real. You absorbed us but the power of love and friendship was just too great for you," Babe thought back on Celestia's mention of his and André's power and finally understood what she meant, he chuckled at the realization, "Princess Celestia was right."

The elements of harmony were restored and around their rightful owners necks and head, respectively. The mane6 were all hovering in the air, eyes glowing and smiles on their faces.

Chrysalis understood that the six Ponies were preparing to banish her away from Equestria but laughed at André and Babe knowing they would get caught up as well, "You fools….if they're banishing me then you two will be coming with me!" while she may be defeated she knows she didn't walk away empty handed (hooved) since Twilight and the other's would lose the two in the process.

Babe looked at Chrysalis, "As long as we know they'll be safe nothing else matters." Babe's statement made Chrysalis's realization and last effort of achieving some kind of victory meaningless.

"T-THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! I CAN'T…ABSORB YOUR EMOTIONS! HOW COULD YOU HAVE SO MUCH POWER!?"

A blinding light was born from the six elements. The light soon started to shroud the entire room. It overcame Chrysalis and it soon began to turn her into stone. She yelled out in defeat before being completely turned into stone. The light was sending her to an unknown location. Whenever it was she was banished to it was somewhere where she couldn't cause trouble. Unfortunately the light banished André and Babe as well. Everything was engulfed in light.

A few minutes later the light faded. André and Babe opened their eyes. "Where are we?" André asked as he looked around, he pointed up toward the sky, "Look! It's Earth!" and just as he said the beautiful planet was there, filling a role similar to the moon at night.

Babe slightly tilted his head at the planet, "Yeah but it's a little cartoony. It must be their Earth."

André noticed the cartoon affected, "….Right." he took one more look around and noticed the vast white wasteland they were on, "It looks like we were banished to the moon. Wonder how we're breathing." He wondered.

Babe shrugged, "It's probably their universe law. It must have an effect on us even though we're from the real world."

"So…this is it?" André asked.

Babe smiled at André's question, "Yup. This is us. Most likely for eternity or at least a few weeks, not sure we'll survive without food and water for too long." He looked back up at the pony version of Earth, "I bet Twilight and the others didn't know we'd get caught up in the banishment. I'm surprised we weren't turned into stone."

"Yeah" Said André, sounding thankfully.

Babe exhaled triumphantly as he sat down on the rocky surface, "Oh well…as promised, problem solved." André happily nodded in agreement.

The two found themselves stranded on the moon with no care in the world. They were both looking out to the pony's version of Earth. Despite its slight cartoony appearance it was still a sight to behold. Babe pulled a gold star shaped accessory out of his pocket and looked at it.

André noticed the star and was curious about it, "What's that?" he said.

Babe continued admiring the design, "It's something Fluttershy gave me. She gave this to me when we were out."

Curiosity got the best of André and he wondered about the two, "Do you actually like her?" he asked.

"Once I got to spend time with her I actually found myself getting pretty attached to her." Babe admitted. He put the star back in his pocket with a smile, "It's a stupid thing to say after everything I said back home. Maybe I just have problems."

André snickered, "There aren't any humans in this world so I couldn't blame you really." He tried lifting Babe's mind on the matter which seemed to have worked since he made a good point.

"What about you and Rainbow?" Babe asked since they were already on the topic, "What'd you two do in Cloudsdale?"

André thought back on the day, "Nothing. Mainly just were goofing off in her house. I got the chance to meet Spitfire."

"I see." The conversations were dying pretty quickly, the thought of Twilight and the other's filled their minds, "What do you think they're doing now?"

"Probably wondering where we are." André laid back on the moon's surface, "If we're going to spend eternity here…I would've at least wanted to have said goodbye."

Babe looked down at André, "I know how you feel but they did it." André looked back at his friend, "They beat Chrysalis and they're safe now. Princess Celestia and Luna can go back ruling Equestria and fix all the damages the changelings had caused." Babe thought heavily on his and André's presence in Equestria, "Maybe it's for the best." He softly said, "We came there as strangers out of nowhere and it's probably fitting we left the same way."

The two took one last look up to Earth. André closed his eyes for a minute. Babe turned over and saw a piece of paper hanging out of André's pocket, "Yo, Dré, what's that paper in your pocket?"

André opened his eyes, "Huh?"

Babe pointed at André's pocket, "There's some paper hanging out your pocket."

André rose up and reached into his left pocket. He took out the paper and unrolled it. He started reading aloud, "Having a friend like you…"

The rest read:

"Everypony should have
a friend like you
You are so much fun to be with
And you are such a good person
You crack me up with laughter
And touch my heart with your kindness
You have a wonderful ability
To know when to offer advice
And when to sit in quiet support
You've come to my rescue
And brightened so many
Of my routine days
And time after time
I've realized how fortunate
I am that my life includes you
I really do believe that
Everypony should have a friend like you
But so far it looks like your one of a kind!"
-Twilight

André finished, "…It's a poem from Twilight."

A circular white light appeared below the two. The light came as a surprise and they both fell into the light.

A voice came into Babe's head, "The experiences I had with these guys…I can't believe I actually got the chance to be with them. Not all creatures are how I predicted they'd be."

He began to wake up due to the mysterious voice. He opened his eyes and saw his clothes waving in the air. He slowly managed to turn around and what he saw made his eyes widen in horror. He was falling from the sky, plummeting down toward the Earth below.

"AAAAAAAHHHH-Oh wait…this is just a dream. I've got nothing to worry abo-"

Before he could finish his sentence he face planted into the grassy Earth below. By some miracle he managed to rise up from the ground with dirt on his face. The only pain he felt was minor sore facial pain but he managed to shake it off, "Ouch, déjà vu."

He looked over and saw André trying to pull his head out from the ground. He heard grunting coming from under the dirt. Babe grabbed André's leg and tried to pry him from out of the ground. After a brief struggle André popped out of the ground and fell backwards, landing on his backside.

"You ok?" Babe asked as he held his hand out to André.

André nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. Where are we?"

After helping André up the two looked around and noticed they were back in Equestria, it was actually the same spot where they landed when they first arrived.

"André, Babe!"

The two heard their names being called from behind them. They turned around and saw Twilight standing at the entrance to Ponyville.

"Twilight!" Seeing her André started to sprint toward her, "Come on!" he happily said looking back at Babe.

"Hold up!" Babe called out before he started sprinting behind André.

The closer the two got to their friend the more Ponies in Ponyville gathered behind Twilight to greet them. Princess Celestia and Luna were there to greet them as well much to their surprise.

Seeing the newly gathered crowd made André stop in his tracks, "…Wait. They're all here?" he asked himself.

Rainbow Dash quickly ran over to André and jumped up to him. André grabbed her but soon Applejack followed behind her and jumped on top of Rainbow Dash. Lastly Pinkie Pie jumped on top of Applejack and André fell to the ground.

Fluttershy and Rarity happily ran over to Babe. He crouched down and stroked their manes, "It's good to see you guys, I didn't think we would see you again." Babe calmly yet bluntly stated.

Rarity wiped the happiness out of her eyes, "It's all thanks to Princess Celestia. She knew where you two were! She managed to return you both here!" Rarity and the others were obviously overjoyed with the return of their Human friend's. Tears of happiness weren't just coming from Rarity.

Rainbow Dash was snuggled her cheek against André's, it seemed as if she wouldn't stop but after getting herself under control she did, "Thank Celestia you're safe! I was so worried!"

André could only smile at his friend's happiness, "I'm fine Rainbow."

"I know you are! But I-I" she started to stutter while her eyes glistened, crying was inevitable.

André laughed at her stutters, "Aw, don't cry! We're here now so-"

"Who said anything about crying?" Rainbow questioned as she tried covering up her own emotions, "I'm not crying!"

André wiped one of her eyes dry with his sleeve, "Ok, I believe you."

"I had…dirt in my eyes!" Rainbow concealed her face while blushing in embarrassment.

Applejack rubbed her cheek against the other side of André's face, happy to see that both he and Babe are safe, "Ah must say, you had mah heart going for a minute there but it's over…" Applejack was nearly tearing up herself as she spoke, "Thank you so much for being there for us."

Pinkie was the only one with tissue in hoof, drying her eyes, "I'm just happy we're all together again!" she happily shouted before blowing her nose.

André looked back to Babe and the two laughed. They both looked ahead as the two Princesses approached them with warm smiles on their faces.

Princess Celestia walked up to the group, "Twilight and her friends told us all about both of your heroic deeds. You helped vanquish one of the greatest threats in Equestria. You forever have our thanks."

Luna appeared alongside her sister, "Yes. I'm sincerely sorry for doubting you two." She sadly lowered her head after all the trouble the two had just been through.

André chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck, "We didn't do anything. We did what we could."

Luna got down on one leg and bowed to the two. André and Babe didn't know how to react to Princess Luna's sudden action and just looked at her, "You're always welcome here…again, I'm truly sorry." She apologized again.

"We already told you we forgive you." Babe jokingly said. Luna stood up and smiled.

Twilight giggled at Babe's reaction to Luna's apology. André eye fell upon Twilight, "As promised." He said to her.

A small smile formed upon Twilight's face. Despite it being small it held the most amount of joy and happiness Twilight has had. Babe and André continued to celebrate the mane6's victory over Chrysalis. Twilight watched as her friend's continued talking with one another.

"Twilight." Princess Celestia said, looking down at her student.

Twilight turned to her mentor, "Yes, Princess Celestia?"

The princess lowered her head to the lavender mare, "Go and celebrate with them." Twilight's mouth opened slightly, "It's your victory as well." Princess Celestia happily mentioned.

Twilight smiled and nodded, she happily ran over to her friends and all six Ponies came together with their Human friends for a congratulatory Pony pile.

With Chrysalis gone and another disaster avoided there was nothing to worry about anymore. There was just peace and harmony, the power of friendship being stronger than ever for Twilight and her friends.
> Friends, till the end
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Four months later

It was early on a Thursday morning. André and Rainbow Dash were lying on a cloud above Ponyville, enjoying rest and relaxation.

"There's nothing quite like napping on a cloud." André said without a care in the world, "Rainbow, this is truly…graceful."

She turned over to him, "Told ya. Sleeping on clouds is the best, right?"

He nodded with his eyes closed, "Yeah."

"You and Babe have been staying here for about a few months now." She brought up a new subject, "When are you going to find a house?"

André opened his eyes at her question, "I haven't even thought of that Rainbow." he looked over at her, "I certainly don't want to be a burden on Twilight."

"How about you crash with me?" she offered. Her own offer excited her, "Yeah! That could work, it'll be great! We could stay up late, watch movies, play games and do other fun stuff!"

André chuckled, "That sounds great but I will need to eat. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, Twilight and Spike seem to have my back on that."

"Well, I'm not much of a cook but I could learn. We could live together in Cloudsdale and it'll be a lot of fun!"

André looked at his Pegasus companion for a few seconds, "You'd do that, huh?" he was touched at the things she was willing to do for him, "As awesome as that sounds I can't live in Cloudsdale. Twilight would have to put a cloud walking spell on me daily. I don't think she has magic powerful enough to have me permanently walk on clouds."

"Right…" Rainbow said disappointedly.

"Thanks for the offer anyway Rainbow. I didn't know you'd do so much for me. You don't seem the type who'd be cooking."

Rainbow nudged André's arm, "You're my friend. I'd learn how to do a lot of stuff if it meant keeping my friends happy."

"Yo, Dré!"

André turned to his left and then to his right, he thought he heard someone call him, "Hm. I swore I heard someone call me."

Rainbow Dash heard it too. She looked over the cloud and saw Babe. He was with Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. "Somepony did call you. It's Babe and the others."

André looked over the cloud as well and waved to them, "Hey guys! What's up?" he called down to them.

"No time to talk!" Babe yelled to have his voice heard from the ground, "Princess Celestia wants to see us in Canterlot!"

"Really?" André asked.

Twilight nodded, "We're going to take the train and it'll be here in 20 minutes! Come on!"

André looked over to Rainbow Dash but she was already preparing to get back to the ground. Rainbow picked up André and flew him down to the ground. The group wasted no time and made their way toward the train station. The group was on time and managed to catch the first train to Canterlot.

Twilight sat in one of the train coaches, "Record time! I'm so glad we were able to catch this train. We wouldn't have wanted to keep the princess waiting."

"Meh, I'm sure she would've understood." Babe said before turning a lazy eye over to André, "Even if she didn't we would've told her it was André's fault."

"ME!?" André asked surprised.

"Yes. Hanging up in the clouds with Rainbow Dash, how would we have known you'd be up there?" he asked.

André already had his answer, "I asked Twilight. She performed a-"

"What were ya'll doing up there?" Babe cut him off with a new question, squinting his eyes at the two.

André placed his fist on his cheek, "Talking." He honestly answered with the truth.

"We believe you," he turned to Pinkie, "right Pinkie Pie?"

Pinkie just giggled, "Y-Yup." She cracked a laugh but concealed it, soon after both Babe and Pinkie Pie started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Rainbow asked the two.

Babe turned to Rainbow, "It's been months and you two still aren't saying anything?"

"It has been too long." Rarity joined, "Don't you think it's about time you tied the knot?"

André shook his head, "Why are you guys doing this to us?" he asked with a smile, "I already told you what was going."

Twilight pointed at the two, "It's more obvious than Spike's crush on Rarity."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, "You guys don't know what you're talking about." secretly getting into the conversation.

"Sure we do!" Pinkie happily stated, "Everypony should have somepony! Hearts and hooves day isn't that far away. You two should probably think about what you're going to do."

"No!" André and Rainbow Dash yelled out.

Babe sat back in his seat, "Through our experiences I actually supported you two." he openly admitted to the two.

"Babe, stop. Seriously, there's no way I could go for Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow nodded in agreement, "That's right. You tell him And-" she finally caught onto what he said and looked at him with a raised brow, "wait, what?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'd rather go for Applejack." André answered taking the other's by surprise.

Applejack was just as surprised as the other's, "M-ME?" she pointed to herself to make sure he was referring to the correct Pony.

"Yeah." André started to think, "Rainbow isn't exactly my type. Besides AJ is just awesome! Honest, hardworking, loveable!" each word he listed made Rainbow lower her head.

Babe put his fist to his chin, "Wow…y'know," he turned to Pinkie, "we've been so wrapped up in seeing Dré and Rainbow Dash together we didn't even think about AJ and hey, if Rainbow doesn't care then why should we continue to provoke?"

Pinkie agreed.

"Now let's provoke André and Applejack!" he stated with a grin, much to André's dismay.

The entire ride to Canterlot, to André, seemed like a teasing joyride. In truth he wasn't interested in going beyond friendship with his ponies friends, what they all had seemed perfect enough for him. But even so they all had a good laugh on the train. Things just couldn't be any better.

The gang arrived in Canterlot. They didn't haste in making their way straight to the Canterlot palace. They stood at the throne room's door.

"I wonder what it's about." Babe knocked on the large doors.

Twilight stood beside Babe as he knocked, "She did say it was urgent business so I guess it's a good thing we managed to get here in time."

"Yeah but urgent business?" he asked in concern, "I hope everything's alright."

André thought of the many reasons why this was urgent, "I swear…Discord better not have been freed again." He hoped, not wanting to cross paths with the chaotic being anytime soon.

Babe huffed at André, "Even if he was he's not a threat, if he is back we'll kick his-" The throne room doors began to slowly open. Their sudden opening stopped Babe from finishing his sentence, thankfully.

Inside Princess Celestia and Luna were patiently waiting for them. They all entered the room and approached the princesses, the mane6 and André bowed to them.

Babe looked down at his friend's and then to the princesses, "What's up princesses?" he plainly asked without bowing.

"Babe!" Twilight forcibly pulled him to his knees to bow like the others, "I'm sorry about that." She chuckled.

Princess Celestia smiled, "It's alright. You may all rise."

They all do so, including Babe who fixed his shirt upon standing.

"Is everything alright?" Twilight asked, wanting to get to the news right away to ensure everything was fine.

Celestia nodded, "Yes. Everything's fine. We've called you all here for big news, especially for André and Babe."

"Cool." André said while looking at Babe with a smile.

Babe placed his hands in his pockets, "I like good news when it relates to me. What's the business about?"

"Over the course of the months we've looked into our studies and we managed to find something." Celestia started.

"It's a way for you both to return home." Luna pretty much wrapped up.

André's eyes slightly widened, "…What?"

Babe slowly placed his hand on the back of his neck, "Oh…"

Silence fell upon the room. The mane6 were of course happy about this but they were obviously sad and shocked at the same time. They didn't want the two to leave.

"You will both be travelling through space and time. You'll be returned to the day when you first arrived however, there's a catch." Celestia explained in detail.

"A catch?" asked André.

Luna turned to Celestia and Celestia's smile turned to a frown, she didn't want to tell them the catch. Luna looked at the two, "Once you return Twilight wouldn't have performed the spell that enabled her to summon you both here. Time, space and history will be altered…" the hurt continued for the group, "your meeting would've never happened. You wouldn't have met and your ties to each other would not exist." Luna finished in a tone of minor sadness.

The explanation struck the ponies hearts with a devastating blow. How could it have never happened? Everything they've gone through up to this point. It couldn't have just been all for nothing. Twilight and the others wanted to keep their friends, experiences and the memories with them forever.

The two boys didn't know what to say.

Twilight looked down at her shadow in disbelief, "Everything….would've been for nothing. How could that be?" her voice slightly rose.

"We don't want to forget André and Babe!" Pinkie sadly stated aloud, unable to control her tone, "They're our friends!"

Rarity stepped ahead, "We've been through so much, it can't end like this!"

"There's gotta be another way!" Applejack exclaimed.

Princess Celestia shook her regrettably, "I'm sorry but this is the only way. It's the only thing that can restore the balances between our worlds. However, we'll give you a choice." Directly referring to the Humans, "We know how much Twilight and the others mean to you both."

"You can return home or you could stay here in Equestria with them." Luna gave them their choices, "But the choice is up to you."

André remained silent as well as Babe but a choice had to be made.

"…We can't."

The six Ponies were hurt by Babe's rather straight forward and bland statement.

"We have family and friends back at home." André said lowly, "It's been months since we last seen them…they must be worried sick. We can't leave them worried forever." He turned to the group to face them.

Rainbow flew up to the two, "S-So you're just going to leave? Just like that…?"

André placed his hands on her shoulders and backed her up calmly, "We don't want to leave, trust us. But we can't leave things as they are back on the other side. We have to set things right on both worlds and-"

"Who cares how both worlds are!?" Twilight yelled, "Please don't leave…you're the greatest friends we've ever had….we don't want that to go away…" Twilight couldn't help but start to cry.

It wasn't just Twilight though. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity all let out tears of sadness. The sight of all of them crying made the two boys sad as well. Nobody wanted this.

André couldn't watch them cry, if they cried now he eventually would too, "Guys, please, don't make this any harder than it already is." He wanted to look away but it seemed impossible, "You'll forget us but….the memories themselves will always be there. Just keep a strong heart. We'll be in your hearts. Just in the deepest parts that'll be hard to reach."

Babe looked at him for a moment but shook his head afterwards, "Man. That was lame."

André didn't feel like replying.

"I'm not the sappy type but I swear to you all…one day, we'll see each other again." Babe smiled, "André and I will be seeing you again, even if it's not in person." referring to the future seasons of Friendship is Magic.

The others didn't know what to feel. No matter what any of them said it wouldn't make them feel any better however they knew where they were coming from in the situation.

Celestia, herself, wasn't happy either, "We'll perform the spell now…it may take a while for the spell to effect all of Equestria but it will restore everything and everypony back to the way they were before you two arrived."

"We understand." Babe turned to the two co-rulers.

Celestia tried fighting her own emotions back as well, "We're sorry it had to be this way." She sincerely apologized for the unfairness of their only way back.

"Things need to go back to the way they were." Babe said, "We probably had no right interfering with anypony here."

Princess Celestia and Luna knew what Babe meant and they were even saddened by what had to be done. The two princesses combined their magical powers to perform the time-space spell. Their power combined was enough to change space and time.

Light began spreading from the two. The light was expanding in a small dome like matter. Over time it expanded more and more. The light was expanding slowly but it made progress.

"It's been good hanging out with you." Babe turned back to the mane6, "It's kinda sad that it has to end like this."

They didn't know how to respond to Babe's farewell. He turned to the light and walked into it, shielding his eyes with his hand.

"We're all next." Twilight said trying to stop her crying, "Once we enter this light our memories will fade away…"

Fluttershy kept sniffing, "…If André and Babe believe it's the right way to go then let's believe in them." despite her words she was actually against everything that was happening.

"…Right." Applejack wiped her eyes.

André just looked at the approaching light, it seemed like yesterday he was falling out of the sky and into his dream world, "Well. Guess we're up then, huh?" he asked the group.

Pinkie's eyes were closed hoping she could hide her tears but they were too strong to fight back for her, she only agreed to André's question by nodding slowly.

He looked back at them with water in his eyes as well, "It's been sweet." As he looked at them with the light touching his back the first tear rolled down his cheek and then the second, "I'll treasure this always." he forced his smile gratefully.

"No matter where you are, we'll always be with you…" Twilight muttered to him.

The light inched closer and closer to the mane6 and slowly took André in. They all closed their eyes and were ready to be taken away by the light.

"Thanks guys…"

August 22, 2012

In a small house in Philadelphia on a rainy day five teens sat in a room playing video games at the back of the house. There were three T.V's but only two of them were being used.

One T.V was connected to an Xbox 360 and on the other the PlayStation3 was connected. Two boys were on the 360 and two others were on the PS3 and the last boy was sitting on the bed occupying his laptop.

The two guys who were on the 360 were Marcus and Khalil and on the PS3 were Denvor and André. A name from Denvor was called "Babe". The boy on his laptop looked up to see who called him.

"What's up?" Babe asked.

The game was put on pause. Denvor's attention was on Babe, whom he thought was bored. "Are you alright?"

Babe rubbed his tired eyes before replying, "Yeah, I'm cool. I was just checking facebook."

"You want to play BlazBlue with us?" Denvor offered.

André stood up and stretched, "I'm not playing anymore. I'm done."

"You're leaving?" Denvor questioned, "What time is it?"

"Yes, it's 1:00AM"

Khalil overheard the time and decided it was best to leave as well. "It's that late already? Guess I should head home too."

"Since those two are leaving, you all might as well go. Besides I'm tired and I've got class in the morning." Babe lazily spoke out as he got off of his bed and slightly yawned.

The boys got up and were getting ready to leave. Denvor ejected the BlazBlue game from the PlayStation3 and placed the disc inside the Continuum Shift case.

He placed the game inside his hoodies pocket. It was just the right size for holding the game's case. After helping clean and straightening up the room André, Denvor, Khalil and Marcus headed for the front door, Babe walking behind them.

André felt his stomach growling, he hadn't eaten all day.

"Hey, Babe, can I have a swiss roll?"

Babe raised an eyebrow and lightly smiled, "Sure. Just get money and go to the store."

"Never mind…" André was a bit annoyed at Babe's rather sarcastic remark. Hearing André's response only made Babe laugh.

After giving their goodbyes for the day Babe closed the doors behind them and locked up. Now that he thought about it the day went by rather quickly.

He went back to his room and turned off the two T.V's. He sat back on his bed and finished up the last few things he had to do on his laptop before closing it and placing it in his book bag. He turned off his room light and jumped back onto his bed.

"We'll be by you, always. Friends, till the end." Six familiar voices said.

Babe opened his eyes and looked around the room. He could've sworn he heard someone talking to him but it must've just been his imagination as there was no one around. He didn't pay it any mind and just closed his eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

In Ponyville Twilight was up and about the next morning with Spike.

"Ok. I've just learned a brand new spell Spike. I wonder what I'll summon!" she said enthusiastically.

Spike stood nearby, "Twilight, something tells me something bad will happen."

Twilight rolled her eyes and looked back at her assistant, "Oh come on Spike, where's your sense of adventure?"

Spike thought for a second, "…I dunno. I'm not even sure where it came from." he shrugged it off as nothing and gave Twilight a positive thumb up.

Twilight's horn began to glow in its purple aura. In the midst of performing the spell fierce sparks were emitting from her horn. Before she could attempt her spell she suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Spike asked.

Twilight didn't reply.

He tapped her leg, "Twilight?"

She looked up at the sky, "…Something's telling me that I shouldn't use the spell anymore. Who knows what I'll summon?" she looked at Spike, "What if I summon an Ursa? I certainly don't want any harm coming to anypony in Ponyville."

"Yikes!" Spike yelped, "T-T-That's a good point, maybe we shouldn't try it after all." he said reconsidering.

Twilight nodded, "...Yeah. At least until I'm sure that I've mastered it but that probably won't be for a LONG time."

"Knowing your magic I doubt that." Spike complimented, "Let's head back into town. We promised to model for Rarity, remember?"

Twilight chuckled, "Trust me. I remember."

Spike and Twilight started making their way back for Ponyville to meet up with their friends. As they're walking a gently breeze blew by.

Twilight stopped and turned back, "Huh?"

Spike stopped after he saw Twilight looking back, "You ok?" he asked.

"Didn't you hear that?"

Spike looked around, "Hear what? I didn't hear anything."

Twilight turned back to Spike, "Somepony was saying something to me."

"Who?" Spike asked, noticing there wasn't another soul to be found, "It's only us out here. It must've just been the wind."

"...Of course. Hm, but it sounded so familiar."

Twilight smiled with a feeling of strange nostalgia. She shook it off and continued on her way back to Ponyville with Spike.

My little Pony
Uncommon Connection

The End 
> The Other Side: Rebirth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You will both be travelling through space and time. You'll be returned to the day when you first arrived however, there's a catch." 

"Once you return Twilight wouldn't have performed the spell that enabled her to summon you both here. Time, space and history will be altered."

"Your meeting would've never happened. You wouldn't have met and your ties to each other would not exist."

"We don't want to forget."

"They're our friends."

"Thanks guys."

"Friends, till the end."

A quick flash of everything André and Babe did in Equestria flashed by in seconds through their own perspective the only thing missing was their departure. The memories continued and were replaying over and over however it stopped shortly after.

Afterwards a lonely mare sat on the outskirts of Ponyville, she was blankly looking up at the sky and remained still. As she sat in that one spot a cloaked Unicorn figure approached her. Underneath the cloak the Unicorn had dark gray and black spiky mane and tail. His horn was curved. In color it was dark gray at the bottom then becomes red on its way to the top. He had sharp teeth with two visible fangs. A purple mist was emitting from his hood.

"…A lost soul." he said in a deep dark voice.

The mare remained silent as she slowly looked up at the cloaked Unicorn.

"Seeking answers for the meaning of one's life." he continued.

The horn under the cloak began to glow and the memories of Babe and André were slowly rearranged into the ponies mind, displaying them as her own. The word "Uncommon Friendship" appears before her. Most of the letters are erased and soon formed a new word.

She tried speaking, "…M-Mem….ori…" she slowly managed to say upon seeing the word.

"Yes, your name."

The Unicorn smiled, revealing his impressively white and sharp teeth.

When one door is closed another is opened. 

Another door, another adventure...

The world revisited as a new number.
> Seprate Ways#1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quick note: Separate ways chapter(s) are a collection side events that shows the events that occurred during the main story. It's pretty simple to understand and you'll see what I mean once you read it. This first Separate Ways chapter runs parallel to chapter 14.

"Before I forget," André, Rainbow and Fluttershy turned to Twilight who spoke out, "I used a spell that'll allow you to walk on Clouds just like a Pegasus. So you don't have to worry about being able to walk on clouds or not."

The ability to walk on clouds sounded cool, André couldn't help but smile in excitement, "Nice! Thanks Twilight."

"Wait." It just hit Rainbow, somebody was missing, "Where's Babe?"

André placed his hands in his pockets, remembering that Babe and Fluttershy had plans, "Babe won't be making it Rainbow."

"Aw, what!?" obviously upset about the sudden news.

André knew what she was feeling and shrugged, "Yeah. He's helping Fluttershy get pass her shyness."

Rainbow snickered, "Pfft! Good luck with that."

Fluttershy walked over to the two, "I was actually going to ask if you and André wanted to-"

The question was like impending doom for André, he was already one step ahead of Fluttershy, "GO to Cloudsdale right away! Thanks for reminding us Fluttershy. We've gotta go."

André quickly left the library, "Forget Babe, let's get going Rainbow!" he called out from a distance.

His speed shocked the three mares, Rainbow flapped her wings and was airborne, "Hey, wait up!" she yelled as she chased after him.

André and Rainbow Dash left the library and were on their way to Cloudsdale. Fluttershy and Twilight were surprised at how fast they left.

"Oh my…" Fluttershy said as she watched the two run off in a hurry.

Twilight giggled, "And I thought you were shy."

Outside André got Rainbow Dash as far away from the library as he could, "Hey," she called out as she flew over to his side, "don't you think it's time for you to get on my back?"

"Huh?" André turned to her and stopped, "Oh, oh right! Sorry."

Rainbow shook her head and lowered herself. He sat on her back and Rainbow quickly flew into the air. André wrapped his arms around Rainbow's neck in slight fear.

"Whoa!" he cried out in fear.

She looked back at him, "What's the matter?" she asked, "Never been this high before?"

"I-I have but….on a plane not on a Pegasus."

Rainbow looked back in front of her and smiled, "Then this should be pretty interesting for you." she was ready to show him all the cool benefits of flying, "You want to see me do some Ariel acrobatics?"

"N-N-No! That's alright!" André heavily gulped.

Rainbow purposely ignored André's pleads, " Let's go for it!" she insisted while picking up speed.

"No, Rainbow, NO!" André tightened his grip preparing for the ride of his life...

Rainbow flew higher up into the air, she even flew past Cloudsdale. The Pegasi of Cloudsdale saw Rainbow Dash with André on her back. Rainbow continued to do her daring aerial acrobatics as André screamed in fear that he may fall but the screams soon turned to laughter, after a few more tricks Rainbow nosedived down to Cloudsdale and landed on the clouds.

"How'd ya like that?" She asked looking back at André's petrified state.

André was completely still and slowly fell over onto the clouds. Rainbow was surprised when André started laughing while lying on the cloud, "That…was fun!" he joyfully stated while controlling his laughter, "Man that was awesome Rainbow."

"Well I don't like to toot my own horn but I am pretty awesome, aren't I?" 

André stood up with a grin on face, "I meant the acrobatics." below him was actual cloud, he looked down to his feet and acknowledged his temporary ability, "Hey, I'm actually standing on clouds, this is cool! I feel light as air. Cloudsdale is so cool!"

"Enjoying yourself already, huh?" she flew up to André and wrapped her arm around his neck, she placed her other hoof on his chest, "I like that, you've got mighty fine taste in what's cool and what not."

The sound of yelling got Rainbow and André's attention. They turned and saw a stampede of Pegasi.

"What's with them?" he asked.

Rainbow's ego started to build up, "They must be coming to praise me on what an awesome performance I did."

"Is that so?" her Human friend asked a bit sarcastically while crossing his arms.

Rainbow stood on her hind legs and proudly posed, "You might wanna stand back." she warned.

André took a safe step back, "Yeah. Knock em dead…"

Rainbow held her pose as the crowd of Pegasi approached. "Thank you, thank you! You're all are too kind" she said in a proud voice as all of the Pegasi flew pass her and quickly surrounded André.

"Where's everypony going?" she asked as she looked around noticing the attention wasn't on her.

Among the crowd various voices called out in interest and excitement.

"Hey! I know this guy, he's one of the Humans that everypony's talking about!"

"Wow! I've never seen a human before!"

"This is so cool! Hey, can you fly?" 

Hearing the question André answered, "Uh, no, sorry."

"Where ya from?"

André had to think for a second, on the verge of accidentally telling the truth, "I'm from….a place, very far away." the Pegasi continued looking in interest, "I'm new here so I'm not really used to these parts of the cloud…"

More and more questions piled up from all the Pegasus ponies. Rainbow Dash walked over to the group.

"What gives?" She asked a random Pegasi.

"Don't you know? A human is in Cloudsdale! Everypony's really excited."

A female Pegasus in blue outfit approached André. Her eyes were a brilliant orange and her mane was light brilliant orange and light brilliant amber. Due to her blue suit you couldn't really see her coat but judging by the color of her wing she was a light brilliant gold colored coat, "C'mon, that's enough guys." she spoke out in calm voice,  settling the crowd down, "He said he's new here, let's not put any pressure on him."

All the Pegasi managed to calm their excitement down. André was rather amazed at how welcoming, intrigued and accepting the Pegasi were.

"Welcome to Cloudsdale. My name is Spitfire and I'm captain of the Wonderbolts. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Spitfire was the first celebrity André had actually met, "No, no it's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard so much about you and your team."

"Oh yeah?" she spoke in interest, "Ever see us in action?"

André scratched his cheek with a finger, " Sort of." he nervously spouted.

"Sort of?" The celeb flyer chuckled, "That's kind of a weird answer."

Thinking he made himself look stupid he tapped his forehead with an open palm, "Right…Why did I say that?" he said in slight regret, looking away from Spitfire in embarrassment.

"It's alright. Don't beat yourself up about it." she perked him up.

He looked back at her, "Sorry about that. It's my first time meeting you and I'm making a fool out of myself."

Spitfire smiled, "Don't sweat it." although just meeting Spitfire was already attached to their visitor, "You're cool, uh, what's your name?"

"I'm André. My other friend, Babe, was supposed to be here with me but he stayed back in Ponyville."

"Aw, that's a shame." Spitfire and the crowd were a bit disappointed the other couldn't make it, " Humans seem awesome. You wanna hang out?" she held out her hoof in offer.

Rainbow heard Spitfire's offer and she couldn't believe her ears. She didn't believe that her idol would have been so openly cool with André who hasn't even been in Cloudsdale for more than 10 minutes. With all the attention Rainbow Dash thought her human friend had forgotten about her. She turned away from the crowd and began to walk away.

"That's cool." André agreed.

"Nice." Excitement for Spitfire was in the air, "I know a good spot we could go for drinks, you thirsty?"

André felt a bit parched, mainly because all the things he did prior with Rainbow Dash on the way to Cloudsdale, " Yeah. I'm a bit parched."

"Great, I've got some free time so we could check it out. Wanna go now?" she asked.

"Normally I would but I'm here with my friend, Rainbow Dash." he explained, "I promised her we'd spend the day together. Can we reschedule?"

Rainbow turned back, hearing him, "He didn't!"

Spitfire looked at him with a smile, "Lookin' out for your friends, huh?"

Rainbow Dash landed in front of André and put her hooves on both sides of his cheeks causing his lips to poke out in a strange way, "Are you crazy?" she asked frantically, "How could you turn down an invite to hang out from Spitfire!?"

"You're squishing my face..." André had difficulty forming normal words.

Rainbow Dash turned to her idol, "Please, excuse him. He's new and doesn't know who you are exactly."

Spitfire shook her head, "It's alright, he's cool. There's no need to apologize for him."

"Really?" Rainbow asked.

The captain nodded, "Yeah. He didn't want to hang out because he said he has plans to hang out with you for the day."

"...Really?" she asked again.

André tapped Rainbow, "Let go of me…" Rainbow released André from her grip. He began to rub his slightly sore cheeks.

"Yeah." Spitfire said, answering Rainbow Dash's question.

André looked at Rainbow, "We do have plans, right?"

"Uh, yeah. We do…" she was still a little surprised he put Spitfire on hold to spend the day with her.

André smiled at his uniquely colored friend, "I'm not leaving you hanging, Bronies before Phonies," he thought of a way he could make him term better, "even though…you're a girl." nothing came to mind.

"I understand." she smiled back at him, "Thanks for looking out for me."

Spitfire turned her attention back to André, "We'll just hang out some other time. Just look me up whenever you're free."

"Gotcha."

Rainbow Dash looked over to the other Pegasi, "Now if everypony can excuse us, we've got plans to take care of!" she said it in a rather boastful voice, showing them all she was good friends with him, All the Pegasi sulking walked away, they still had lots of questions for their Human visitor. Spitfire waved goodbye and took to the sky leaving André and Rainbow to enjoy their day together.

As night began to fall in Ponyville Rarity was getting Babe ready for his "date" with Fluttershy.

"Oh, Babe, darling you look absolutely stunning!" Rarity complimented.

Babe tried adjusting his collar in an uncomfortable fashion, "Well…sure but, Rarity, isn't this a little overdone?"

"Nonsense!" Rarity defended, "This is your first date in Ponyville and Fluttershy's first date in her life. We must make sure everything's perfect."

Babe placed his hands on his hips, "I don't see why I just don't dress like myself."

Rarity huffed, "I won't stand for it!" she stomped her hoof on the floor, "Represent me good Babe!" she was rather demanding with her words.

Babe just groaned like a child being forced to wear a suit his mother got out for him.

"Watch that tone with me mister!" Rarity tightened Babe's belt a bit too tight and caused him to slightly grunt.

Babe's eyes widened, "UH! O-Okay, I'm sorry…" 

"Good." Rarity said, fixing his belt.

Applejack looked at her neatly dressed friend from top to bottom, "Ah must say Babe, you do look amazin'" she didn't need to know fashion to know that he looked nice.

"Thanks AJ." 

Rarity took one more look at him, "Applejack, dear, do you think Babe needs a little more hair grease to make sure his hair is nice and clean?"

Applejack tried thinking, " Its fine Rarity. You know I'm not one to be the judge of this kind of thing." 

"I suppose this is fine." Rarity convinced herself, knowing it was best she stopped.

"Thank goodness." Babe said as he looked in a mirror.

Rarity was truly happy with her work, "Yes, this is perfect!"

"Finally...:" Babe muttered.

Rarity squinted her eyes at him, "What was that?" her parent mode was preparing to come back.

"Nothing!" Babe quickly turned back to her to conceal his lie, "You must be hearing things." 

Rarity puts her teeth around Babe's belt buckle again and yanked it even tighter making him grunt even louder. 

"ACK!" he yelped.

Rarity looked up at him as he gasped for air, "Your belt was looking a little loose. I just want to make sure it's on right." her vengeful smile showed she did it on purpose.

Babe loosened his belt "O-O-Ok...." he gasped, finally able to breath.

" It's almost time for you to be off." Applejack placed her hoof on Babe's back, "You don't wanna keep your date waitin'"

Babe nodded, "Right…" he slowly turned to Rarity in slight fear of her tightening his belt again if he were to say something wrong, "thanks again, Rarity."

"Anytime darling!" Rarity smiled, "Enjoy yourself!"

Applejack looked at Babe in support, "Good luck Babe. Fluttershy's gonna be one tough cookie to crack."

"I'll do my best" he at least hoped.

Rarity and Applejack watched Babe leave the boutique. The two couldn't help but laugh at how funny a couple like Babe and Fluttershy made. Babe walked down the road heading toward Fluttershy's cottage, " Rarity seriously put this belt on too tight. She almost killed me…not only that I'm way too fancy dressed. I hope Andre has had more luck than I'm having."

Around the same time at Rainbow Dash's house André and Rainbow have appeared to have gotten into a fight…Rainbow's house was messy and the two kept tackling and throwing each other around the room.

"Come on! Come on then!" André shouted.

Rainbow got up from the cloud made floor, "You're going to regret that!"

André got in a sumo stance before being tackled by Rainbow. The two are caught in a rolling struggle on the floor.

"You're not beating me!" Rainbow stated aggressively.

"I can say the same to you!" André replied with the same aggressive tone.

The struggle continued for minutes, André nearly managed to pin Rainbow to the floor but due to him losing his footing he trips back over and Rainbow gains the upper hand on him.

"Gotcha!" André tried to move but Rainbow Dash didn't allow him to get back up, "Don't even think about moving!" she said looking down at him.

André looked back up at her, "Why you little…" there was practically no way for him to get back up.

"Hehehe..." André chuckled.

Rainbow smiled at him, "Aha...ahahaha..."

Rainbow rolled over to her backside beside André. The two lay on the floor enjoying a good laugh with each other, André turned over to her while bringing the laughing down.

"Haha…hey, whatchu staring at?" she asked while a grin and one lowered eye.

"You." André slightly laughed again, "Next time you're going down."

"Ha! That'll be the day." she laughed.

André got up and walked over to the couch. He sat down with his head lazily hanging on the back. He was rather exhausted after play fighting with Rainbow Dash.

"You okay?" she asked concerned.

He raised his head, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired." he rubbed his sleepy eyes, "Today was great. We should do this again sometime."

"Definitely. We can do this whenever you have free time." she said.

André thought about future plans, "I'll have to make sure I don't have anything else planned for the upcoming days, other than meeting with Princess Celestia of course."

Rainbow Dash had forgotten all about Princess Celestia's meeting with Babe and André. She flew over to the couch and laid her head on Andre's lap. She closed her eyes. André raised his head and looked down to see Rainbow resting. He smiled and gently petted her from head to tail. The petting was very soothing for Rainbow and made her even sleepier.

The thought of what Princess Celestia and Luna wanted filled Rainbow's mind, "So..." What do you think its about?" she asked sounding a bit afraid of what the possible answer could be.

"Hm?" André didn't immediately follow her question.

"The meeting with Princess Celestia." she said softly, "You think it's for something bad?" 

"No, I doubt it. Twilight said it wasn't anything like that. She probably just wants to meet us or she probably found a way to get us back home."

The answer she didn't want to hear.

"….I was afraid you'd say that." 

André remained silent. He didn't know he unintentionally made Rainbow a bit upset.

"I don't want you to leave yet." she adjusted her head on his lap, "I want you and Babe to stay here, that'd be so cool…" she yawned softly, "it'd make Ponyville 20% cooler…"

André snickered, "Yeah?" he asked.

Rainbow Dash slowly and silently fell asleep, André knew she was asleep and decided to keep quiet. He looked over to the window and saw that it was dark. It was too late for him to go back Ponyville. He began wondering what the meeting with Princess Celestia could possibly be about.

"Princess Celestia...I hope everything works out." he quietly said to himself but for the hope of himself and all his friends.





> Separate Ways#2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This separate ways chapter happens after chapter 14 and runs parallel with the first Separate ways.

Fluttershy lowered her head, "The day after tomorrow is…"

"Is what?" Babe asked.

"The last day…"

Babe put a hand on Fluttershy's back, "We don't know if it will be the last day. Princess Celestia just wants to meet us."

Unfortunately she didn't feel any better about the situation.

"Even if it is a meeting and a farewell all in the same day, we'll always be friends Fluttershy. You know that right?"

Fluttershy looked at him and nodded, her expression shows she contradicted her understanding.

"When you were all depressed over us leaving I couldn't help but feel sad." He admitted showing that he was truly sad for the first time in Equestria, the world he would've loved to live in without regret, "I'm sure André would love to stay with Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack and everypony but he knows it too. He doesn't want to leave but he has to. Like I said before 'let's just make the most out of it', ok?"

"….Right." Fluttershy agreed, still a little saddened herself but she decided to not let time be her enemy and instead chose to use it as much as possible until the day actually did come. 

"Good. I think I'll give you a passing grade too."

Fluttershy was puzzled, "Grade?" 

"Yup. This was another test, you passed. An actual simulation with real environment and interaction, your lessons still aren't over though. I'll think of something else."

"I'll be waiting then." she said with a low yet confident voice.

Babe smiled, "That's what I like to hear." he grabbed a cup of water and held it into the air, toasting to his and André's friendship with the mane6. 

He took a sip of the water while Fluttershy went into into her bag, "I wanted to give you something." she mentioned to Babe.

After digging into the deepest part of the bag she was carrying she finally manages to pull out a gold star, the star accessory dangled around her hoof as she extended it to her date. The star had a picture of a few butterflies in the center that greatly resembled Fluttershy's cutie mark.

Babe took the star, "This is nice." he complimented before turning to Fluttershy, "What is it?"

"That's a friendship charm I made for you. I wanted to show you how much I appreciated everything you've done for me." she pointed at the Star, "I carefully made it from stained glass. They say if you give them to a very special friend you'll be friends forever." she turned her head to hide her blush, "I figured it'd be perfect for you, so when you go home you could just look at the charm I made you and think of all the good times you've had here in Equestria."

Babe didn't know what to say right off the bat, "This is really nice Fluttershy." was the best he could come up with but despite a simple sentence Fluttershy was happy he said it.

"Do you really like it?" She faced him once more.

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her, "You have no idea. Thank you so much."


The sudden hug caught Fluttershy off guard. She closed her eyes and hugged Babe back. Afterwards he placed the charm in his pocket. The two continued on with the night, enjoying every minute of it.

After an hour of laughter, bonding and talking Babe and Fluttershy packed up. 

The two eventually reached Fluttershy's cottage after a graceful walk back, on the way back Babe thought that Ponies should really appreciate the night more. He knew Princess Luna would certainly love it if her subjects did that a little more, and the fact that what he and Fluttershy just experienced was something only the night could provide.

Fluttershy walked up to the cottage door, "Thank you so much for walking me back home." she said to Babe as she turned to him.

"No need for the thanks." he politely said, he picked up her hoof and held it in his hands, "It was my pleasure. I love spending time with you."

Fluttershy only smiled as her cheeks turned red.

Babe released her hoof and was ready to take his leave, "I'd better head to Rarity's. It's getting pretty late." he noticed while looking up at Luna's moon. He started walking down the cottage walkway.

Fluttershy nodded, "Be careful, ok?" she called out.

He turned around, " I will." he called back, "Don't worry about me. I'll see you tomorrow." he started waving to her.

Seeing him wave she waved back with a smile, "Ok. Bye."

With their final goodbye's Babe watched Fluttershy enter her cottage before making his way back for Rarity's. As he walked down the dirt road he pulled out the charm Fluttershy gave him. He looked at it and grinned. He placed the charm back into his pocket, anticipating the next time he and Fluttershy will get the chance to spend another day together.