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?