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// Part 13 - A Poignant Farewell 
// Story: Love at First Charm 
// by Creative Charmer 
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	Creo breathed a sigh of relief as his friends hugged one another. "This is all certainly a load off my conscience."
"Boy, you said it," Spike concurred, also sounding relieved.
Creo overlooked the girls, thinking to himself about how happy he was feeling. He thought about his experiences in this town, the good and the bad, and overall this made for a great town to visit. He experienced things he had never tried before, and met new friends like no others he had met. He almost felt like he could live in this town forever—and that was when he realized what needed to be said to his friends, and even though he was not pleased to say it, he knew it had to be done. "Girls, may I say something?"
The girls stopped their hugging and put their eyes on Creo. "Sure, Creo," said Twilight. "What is it?"
"Well, these past two days have sure been eventful; much more than I ever could have expected when I first came here, but now I am thinking that is time for me to leave Ponyville."
"What?!?" all the ponies shouted in unison.
"Now, now: don't take this the wrong way! The reason I think I should leave is because I've never stayed in one town for too long, I travel all around Equestria to try and find inspiration for my writings, so I may learn to write better and obtain more ideas on what I should write about; and Ponyville has certainly supplied me with much to think about. For that, I thank you, my friends, for you all helped me learn so much in Ponyville, and I had fun spending time with each of you the day before. I believe I can say, with all honesty, that you girls are the best ponies I've ever met throughout my travels, and I'll be forever grateful to have met you all."
The girls all looked to be tearing up from Creo's heartfelt speech; even Rainbow Dash.
"That was so dearly touching," Rarity said, wiping a tear from her eye.
"It was downright sweet of you tah say that, sugarcube," Applejack said, looking so touched.
"And we're all grateful to have met you, too, Creo," Twilight said warmheartedly, to which Creo smiled happily.
Pinkie's eyes were tearing up quite a lot, but then her tears stopped at the flash of an idea in her noggin. "Hey, everypony! Let's group hug Creo!"
The other girls looked to be in agreement and all ran over to Creo, hugging him lovingly, with Creo looking happy to be hugged.
"So I take it you're not so gloomy about me leaving now?"
"Don't worry, Creo; we understand," said Twilight.
"But we'll sure miss you a lot," added Fluttershy.
"And I'll miss you girls very much, too," he replied, hugging his friends, with warmness of true friendship emanating through them all.

Creo was now all ready and packed, and had just arrived at the Ponyville train station with his friends. "Well, my friends, it's sure been fun hanging out with you all, although I still feel bad that I won't be able to spend time with you now."
"Well, actually," said Twilight," We all wanted you to have something to remember us by, so we each got you farewell gifts."
"Really??" he said with a bit of excitement. "That’s really sweet of you all, but none of you needed to get me anything.”
“We didn’t??” Pinkie exclaimed in astonishment. “Aww, pickles!” she said discontentedly, kicking the ground with her hoof.
"Pinkie, that's just a phrase," Rainbow Dash said to her.
"It is? …does that mean Creo won’t be upset that we got him gifts?” Rainbow shook her head no. “…well, then I’m happy to give him my present now, again!” she said with glee.
Rarity was the first to walk up to Creo, with him looking quite eager to receive gifts from his friends.
"For you, Creo, I have made a brand new saddlebag!" she used her magic to float the saddlebag in front of Creo, with him in awe at its magnificence.
"Wow, Rarity, this looks amazing! Plus, my old one was looking a bit worn-out," right then, the bottom of his left saddlebag ripped open, with all of his scrolls falling to the ground. "...well, anyways," he said to redirect the conversation. "Thanks very much for the wonderful gift, Rarity."
"You're quite welcome, Creo," she replied happily. "Also, I stored the suit I had sutured for you in the right-side bag, so you'll always have a way to look fabulous wherever you go."
"Thanks again for that, Rarity. It'll be great to have a piece of your fashionable clothing with me, since I've never had something to wear on special occasions before, and the suit you made will be just perfect for those occasions," Creo said with much contentedness.
Rarity blushed, remembering how much she adored Creo's kindness, but she didn't want a repeat of what happened, so she just thanked Creo for his kind words, and went back next to her friends.
Pinkie was the next up, and she hopped up to Creo, holding a basket in her mouth. "Mmmff mf hmff mff!" she burbled, unable to speak clearly with the basket handle in her mouth.
"Excuse me?"
Pinkie then spit the basket onto the ground. "I said that I brought you those cupcake muffins I wanted you to try but you didn't try them because me and my friends were all fighting so much!" she explained without taking even one breath. "Remember?"
"Yes, I do believe I remember, Pinkie."
"Oh, goodie!" she said gleefully. "Well, I hope you enjoy them!"
"I know I will, Pinkie, and thank you."
Pinkie then gave Creo a tight hug around his neck, which partly choked him, and then hopped back to the others as Twilight walked up to Creo next, with him having regained his normal breathing.
"Creo, even though I'm sure you're already great at writing, I have decided to give you this book on creative writing to help further your skills," she took a book out of her saddlebag and floated it over to Creo.
"Well thank you, Twilight. I'm sure it will help me greatly," he placed the book beside his new saddlebag and Pinkie's basket.
Applejack was up next, and she came up to Creo with a jug in her mouth, which she placed on the ground in front of him. "Ah was thinking about how you never tried some of my cider before, so ah thought ah'd give ya some fer the road."
"That sounds pretty good! I can't wait to try some! Thanks, Applejack!"
"Yer welcome, Sugarcube," she replied as she patted him on the shoulder.
Fluttershy came next, and she shyly flew up to Creo, holding a flower crown in her hooves.
"Hey, isn't that the flower crown you showed me earlier?"
"Well, umm..yes, it is. I didn't have time to think of something new to give you, so I thought you might like this. I hope that's all right.."
"It's perfectly fine, Fluttershy," he said as he took the crown from Fluttershy and placed it upon his head. "After all, it's the thought that counts."
Fluttershy blushed as she smiled, happy with the knowledge that Creo was happy with her gift.
Rainbow Dash was last to give a gift to Creo, and she looked quite proud of whatever it was she had brought to bestow to her friend. She used her wing to open her saddlebag , take out her gift, and presented it to Creo.
Creo looked astounded to see that the gift was, in fact: an autographed picture of Rainbow Dash. He looked surprised at the gift he had just received, and bore the same expression as he looked towards Rainbow Dash.
"I thought you might like a way to always have something awesome to look at," she said haughtily.
"Gee, umm..thanks, Rainbow Dash. I'll make sure to look at it whenever I want to remember how awesome you are."
"That's what I thought," she said again with smugness before she was pulled back to the others by her tail by Applejack for making herself look better than her friends, as shown by Applejack's stern look towards Rainbow Dash.
"Well, thank you all so much for your wonderful gifts. I know that no matter where I go or how far I travel in this world, I will never meet friends as great as you ponies."
Everyone felt touched once more by Creo's heartwarming speech, and they all got together for one last group hug, with Creo and the girls both forever glad to have met each other.
Smoke began to stem from the train's smokestack as the conductor shouted out that the train was departing.
"Well, I'd better get going. Goodbye, everypony," Creo then turned around and went to board the train. The ponies all waved goodbye as he walked away.
"Goodbye, Creo!"
"Farewell!"
"See ya!"
"Have a good one!"
"Good luck with your stories!"
"Make sure to have as much fun as possible!"
After boarding the train, Creo faced his friends whilst standing in the doorway. "Goodbye, my friends! I'll be sure to come back to Ponyville soon!"
Pinkie suddenly stopped waving, having gained a partly perplexed look on her face. "Soon?" she asked as she walked up to Creo. "How soon?"
"I don't know...umm..as soon as I can."
"Oh, okay—how soon is that?"
"As soon as I have the time," the train slowly began to move, and Pinkie began following alongside it.
"How soon will you have that?"
"When I think I'll have time," Creo sounded like he was having trouble coming up with responses. Additionally, the train was picking up more speed, and Pinkie was now sprinting a bit.
"And when will that be??"
"Well..uhh...I really don't know, Pinkie," he replied as he shook his head, unable to come up with any more answers.
"Well, when will you know??" Pinkie asked, as she was now sprinting quickly to keep up with Creo. But, before she could get a reply, Pinkie fell over the side of the train station platform, falling to the ground, right on her face.
Creo couldn't help but sniggering at Pinkie's misfortune, as was the same with the other ponies. After feeling dazed for a little bit, Pinkie shook it off and looked up at Creo, who waved back at her as the train sped away. Pinkie then bounced back up on her hooves just as her friends joined up with her, and together they all waved goodbye to their friend Creo, all eager for the next time he would come to Ponyville—especially Pinkie Pie, as even though she didn't get the answer she wanted, she knew a friend as good as Creo was worth waiting for.



THE END