Bringing Harmony To The Chaos

**Chapter 8

Goodbyes?**

"NO! PLEASE NO, NOT YET!" You scream out of fear, causing everyone to jump. After you see the looks you're getting from everyone, especially your friend Mark. "When the mane 6 showed up Celestia called Pinkie and Rarity back, saying that they weren't needed here, and once the others had their elements found, they would get called back too." you explain, despair seeping into your voice with ever word, "Which means we'll never see them again, unless Celestia managed to find a way around it, but it's been only two days, there's no way even she could make up a new spell that fast!" As you said this you felt something heavy drape across your shoulders. It was Applejack's hoof, obviously she was trying to comfort you, but there was nothing to be said, no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't argue with what you said. When you look up you see that Mark and Fluttershy were hugging, one or both of them were crying, you couldn't tell which though as the sight made you lower your head, fighting to hold back tears yourself.

"My dear friends, we apologize for this, but we must go now, but before we leave..." Celestia then trotted up to you and Mark, and touched both your heads with her horn, then there was a flash of light, and all of them, Clelestia, Applejack, and Fluttershy, were gone. You and Mark looked at each other, and then Mark got up and left. You guessed that the reason she touched your heads was for the same reason she did in My Little Dashie, so you could remember the time you had spent with the girls. That gave you a bit of comfort, but it still couldn't hold the tears back. By the time you looked up Mark was long gone, and then you felt truly alone, as if there was no one you could talk too...

That night you cried yourself to sleep...

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It's been 3 months, and school was starting up again, you were about to go into your senior year, the year that really mattered. You had long gotten over the sadness you felt after the girls left to go back to Equestria, but it was still there, and every time you saw a picture of them you would feel a pang of sadness, but you got really good at covering it up over the summer. You never quite understood why they showed up, but you know their mission was a success, for you at least. Over the summer you had become the model friend, as everyone would say. You were generous, kind, loyal, honest, and would hold parties when something good happened, or someone needed cheering up. You also decided to get into shape, most likely because of Applejack, subconsciously deciding to get in shape so if she ever came back, you could do everything she could. The side effect of that was becoming fairly good looking, but you turned down every girl, knowing that they only wanted you for arm candy and to gloat over their friends.

Within the first week you got 13 love letters from the more pompous girls in the school, earned a fan club among the freshmen because you went out of your way to keep their first few days prank free, and had been scouted by all the sports teams to become their star player. You always went the humble route, not wanting to get in the spotlight, and always turned away the gifts the freshmen would give you. You managed to get in a few fights, and thanks to your training your legs had become the strongest part of your body for some odd reason. You used that to your advantage in every fight, and after the first 5 fights you got a nickname, "Bucker", thanks to you bucking the opponent with your legs in a fashion similar to how the ponies would buck apple trees. You accepted that name, thinking of it as some kind of homage to Applejack.

One day you were eating lunch with your friends, when suddenly there was a flash of light, one you hadn't seen for a long time,  but you recognized it immediately. You looked over to the source, hoping to see the girls, mainly Applejack, standing there. Sadly it was just an odd glare off of a passing car, the angle it hit at just made it look like the flash you hoped for. That turned your mood from happy and fun, into a seriously depressing and gloomy one. It didn't take much for everyone to see it, and as the rest of the day dragged on you noticed everyone avoiding you, as if they would catch the depression from you. As the final period ended you headed for you locker, but something was different, and you felt like something was going to happen, so you approached cautiously. As you entered the combination to your lock you felt someone put their hands over your eyes.

"Guess who?!" you hear someone say, it was a girl.

"Hmm, let me guess, smooth hands, slightly small, and smells like bananas and oranges. Is it Kimberly?"

You feel the hands come off your eyes, "How do you always guess it? I even changed the brand of hand lotion!"

"You're the only one who does it, or rather, the only one gutsy enough to try when I get depressed, so it wasn't hard to guess today." you respond in a monotone voice

"What's wrong, did it happen again, the false flash?"

"Yup, but it's fine, I'll get over it, I always do."

You see her face turn into a very serious one, she was obviously going to say something, but you quickly turned to your locker, which has sat open for the entire conversation, but something was in there you know wasn't in there before...

An Apple. A big red apple, freshly picked, or at least it looked like it. You were going to toss it, as you really didn't want anymore of a reminder of what could have been, but then you smelled it. It had the scent you clearly recognized as Applejack, as it was a very distinct fresh apple smell. Suddenly your mood changed from depressing to happy, and you quickly whipped around, luckily in time to see Kimberly turn the corner. You tossed your bag into your locker and bolted down the hall to catch her before she made it to her next class, as you managed to get out early thanks to a free block at the end of every day. You caught her just outside her classroom.

"Kim, wait!" you say, somewhat winded with how fast you ran. "I wanna ask you something"

She turned around, looking almost as sad as you had a few minutes ago. "What?"

"Do you wanna hang out tonight, maybe a movie or something?"

Her answer was obvious as she hugged you deeply, and you hugged back, just as strong, wanting to impress the feeling into your head. "Thank you" she whispered into your chest, "I thought you'd never ask, what changed your mood?" You respond by holding up the apple, "I guess I had a change of heart, for now, you should get to class, I'll meet you out front after school, don't be late!"

You walk away eating the apple, which tasted sweeter than any other apple you've ever had,  every bite was a silent thank you to Applejack and the rest for changing your life...

After that you felt something change inside you, and for the first time, you felt like something was missing from you, but you couldn't figure out what, and you couldn't care anyways...

You had a date to plan!

Think the story's over?

WRONG!