//------------------------------// // The fifth day // Story: My little Pony: Uncommon Connection // by Spitfire16 //------------------------------// 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.