The landscape was speeding outside the train’s window. He was once again happy to be where he truly wanted to be. Remembering the first moments of his, Daimon had to chuckle. Yes, this felt very welcome and the hole in his heart disappeared, and, of course, she was the first to welcome him, not counting the Princesses themselves…

***

Daimon found himself opening his eyes slowly on a large bed, one very fancy that he had never thought in using in his whole life. He quickly rose to a sitting position and looked around the room. He had no doubt: he was at one of Canterlot’s rooms.

“Feeling comfortable, Daimon?” he heard someone from the door. Looking, he smiled at the voice’s owner.

“A lot more just to know I’m back, Luna,” Daimon answered.

“That’s a very good thing actually,” Luna said with a smile and sat at his side.

“Where’s everyone?”

“You mean your Ponyville’s friends? They’re just waiting you to wake up and meet them. If you feel ready, I could take you there personally.”

“Don’t you have real duties to take care of, Luna? I mean… not that I don’t like your company or the like, but… you know…”

Luna just chuckled, “The night time is a lot more peaceful than you think, Daimon. I can have these little times for myself every now and then. It’s not always that ponies have nightmares…”

Daimon chuckled back, “Of course… It’s not always there’s a human to menace them…”

“About that, Daimon, we couldn’t find Romantic Lily. She left Ponyville and never settled into Pond Trot. Nopony knows where she is.”

“Well, seems like her parents used the time I left to pick on her…” he judged.

“I wouldn’t be surprised…”

“Maybe I should make them a visit?” he called with an evil smile.

Luna chuckled, “We’ll see about that. If you’re feeling that well…”

“Yes. And I need to show somepony that I had come back. So she can trust me I fulfill my promises.”

The duo then left the room towards the corridors of Canterlot Castle. Daimon was pretty sure that he would get lost left by his own there. His friends were all here, on the throne room, chatting with Celestia when he entered the room. Pinkie Pie was the first to react and a blur of pink was soon tackling the human to the floor, looking him in the eye and a smile so wide in her face that Daimon swears it could go from an ear to the other.

“YOU’VE CAME BACK!” she yelled.

“Of course, Pinkie!” Daimon said, giving her a hug. “I made a Pinkie Pie promise, hadn’t I?”

“Yes! As I promised to wait for you!” she said with a large smile.

“Can I meet the others now, Pinkie?”

“Oh… right of course!” she then left him to get up.

The other ponies were a bit more gently towards him, each one gaining a hug of him and exchanging how much they missed each other. Applejack even hinted that she wanted another race, against him.

Looking up to the thrones, Daimon noticed that Celestia was still smiling at him, but waiting patiently, and that there was a fourth Princess there that she didn’t know, along with what was probably her personal guard. Getting up and walking from his Ponyville friends, Daimon walked towards Celestia and made a quick bow, before getting up on his own and giving the Princess a hug.

“And here I thought you would have changed that much back at your world,” Celestia said with a chuckle.

“Do unto others, Celestia. The bow just means I will always respect you and your decisions, while the hug is that I really care for you.”

Celestia nodded, “You’re a real good friend, Daimon.”

“And not wanting to be rude but, who are you?” Daimon asked, looking at a light pink coated princess with a three-colored mane and tail: yellow, pink and violet. Her cutie mark was a crystal heart and Daimon really wondered what would be her special talent.

“She’s Cadance,” Twilight answered walking to Daimon’s side. “She was once my foalsitter and is now my sister.”

Daimon nodded and, as with Celestia, made a bow to her before offering a hug which she quickly accepted and returned in earnest. The human grinned and looked at her, “I just hope you don’t mind me not being so formal, Cadance. As I said to Celestia once, I was raised in a costume that you should only treat others as you wish to be. Since I don’t pretend to be formal around my friends, I will only be formal as the situation calls it.”

“That’s perfectly fine for me. Daimon, right?” she asked with a smile. “Twilight sent me some letters talking about you.”

“I have to say that my little sister is quite happy in having you as a friend,” the guard said. Daimon noticed he had a white coat under his armor and could see half of his cutie mark that looked like a shield and had a star like Twilight’s. “By the way, I am Shining Armor, Twilight’s brother and Cadance’s husband.”

Daimon nodded and quickly offered him a hand. After a shake, both then hugged as well, “Why haven’t I saw you on the last time I was there?” Daimon asked.

“Not your fault. We were busy with some royal matters at Crystal Empire. While Celestia and Luna rules there in Canterlot, and Twilight is still learning what is to be a Princess,” Daimon noticed the teasing voice of Cadance, “Shining Armor and I rule over the lands close to the cold regions.”

Daimon nodded with a smile. Then, turning to his friends, he grinned. “So, what have happened in this almost full month that I had left you?”

That opened a floodgate with all the mares trying to talk to him at once. Celestia turned to Cadance and Shining Armor then. “You two, I would like if you could try and find a particular pony for me,” Celestia said with a gently smile. “Her name is Romantic Lily and is the… best friend of Daimon, if you understand. I really want to reunite them.”

“We’ll do our best, Princess,” Shining Armor said with a quick bow.

And then, Cadance and Shining Armor left. Not too long later, Daimon and his friends moved to a room where they could sleep. After all, it was still night.

***

This travel was a gift from Princess Cadance to him. He said that he should take it, and that somepony would be expecting him when he left the train. He never said why though. However, his friends needed to get back at Ponyville and couldn’t follow him, since his train was going in the opposite direction.

It seems like things haven’t changed much around there… Daimon thought. Twilight said she would be looking in every book she could place her hooves on about a transformation magic…

He saw the scenery slowly cross by his window as he wondered what this place he was sent was. Maybe they’ve found Romantic Lily? If so, why not to ask her to join him in Canterlot? Maybe the Princesses wanted him to do some kind of job for them?

At the distance he could already see the beautiful waterfalls that he only could compare to Niagara Falls, now that he thought, it was really clear to be their counterpart there. He just enjoyed the sight as the train slowly approached their destination.

He had everything at hand to drop off the train by the time it stopped. His saddlepack was his luggage, so it wasn’t all that much to carry. Dropping out of the train, he was quickly met by an amused brown earth pony stallion with distinct green mane and tail. His cutie mark was a shovel and a hoe crossed and there was no doubt he was a farmer.

“I suppose you’re Daimon, right?” the stallion asked. “There are not that many humans around Equestria, so it wasn’t that hard a guess.”

“Yes, I am Daimon. And you?” he asked.

“Sorry… got a bit carried away…” he answered. “I’m Rare Harvest. I run a rather big farm on the outskirts of the town. And the Princesses asked me to take you somewhere. If you will follow me…”

Daimon looked around. As his first day in Ponyville, or in Canterlot as well, he was calling a lot of attention by being the only human around. Not that he minded, but it felt weird to be the focus of attention just for being what he was.

They walked for half an hour after leaving the town to a small shack built closer to the falls. Daimon could hear the faint sound of the waterfalls in the distance and gave a gently smile. He loved this sound.

“Here we are, mister.” Rare Harvest announced. “I have to go now, my farm needs me.”

Daimon god really puzzled. Maybe this is a shack where the Princesses wanted him to live? They had it right though, a place nice and cozy to call home and without many ponies peeking around to see what was happening. But he wasn’t said anything by them. Deciding to play it safe, he knocked the door instead of enter the door straight way. After three knocks and about ten minutes of wait, he opened the door and entered. It wasn’t locked actually and the first thing he noticed was that it was completely furnished and clean. But for that, it lacked any personal records of anypony living there. He did found, though, a small envelope on the table.  Opening it there was of course a letter and, to his surprise, the keys for the house.

While we prepare your transformation spell, we really expect you to find this small shack comfortable. We’ve build and furnished it with humans in mind, you more specifically. We just hope you like it.

The best of luck for you, Daimon. From Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Twilight.

He gave a large smile. At least he wouldn’t be looking for a home in the near future. He was just curious to know how a whole shackle could be built in so little time and even more how this furniture was produced and moved in so quickly.

To distract himself a little from that, he decided to take a look around. The shack wasn’t a big one, had only a living room, a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen and, outside via kitchen’s door, a fenced backyard. He would, though, need to get to the town to buy food and later find a job.

He then began to undo his saddlepacks. While he placed his three books about magic on a shelf on his room, he quickly made sure that the two books of Romantic Lily stood proudly displayed in the living room. His clothes were quickly placed into his wardrobe and the photo of his family rested over his nightstand. In the kitchen, the first thing he filled was the fridge with the Coke bottles he’d brought and a nice amount of meat as well. As his saddlepacks finally were empty, he looked around looking for anything else to do.

However, that choice was taken from him. Somepony knocked the door then. He went to answer it, “Hello may I be useful?” he said even before seeing who was there.

“I heard you were…” the pony started but quickly stopped and looked better at the one staying in front of her. Then, her eyes widened, as did Daimon’s, and she all but jumped over him, hugging him as strong as she could. “YOU’VE CAME BACK!” she shouted at him.

Daimon quickly hugged her back as strong as he could without hurting her. “I promised didn’t I?” was his answer. His hands were actually caressing her mane gently.

“Yes you did but… I never thought you would come!” Lily answered with tears in her eyes.

“Silly pony… I was raised better than that…” he gently kissed her face. Her reaction was to return a kiss on his cheek.

“When did you get there?”

“There in Pond Trot, just now. I was just setting in. In Equestria, it must be two days ago… I stood about a day in the Castle with the Princesses and my Ponyville friends…”

“I… never received the news about you coming back… my new house is a bit isolated from the town, you see…”

“So seems to be mine. Found a letter telling me this was a house build for me exclusively…”

She then looked around, getting up so he could also rise from the floor. “The ponies of Pond Trot work quickly. This town was settled mostly by earth ponies and unicorns and when they combine their talents, they can do amazing things in very little time.”

“I see…” he chuckled. “How has been your life?”

She just chuckled, “Same old. Only good thing is that I had finished both lasting books of my collection…”

“What? You wrote two books in a month?”

“Not actually two books. More like one and a fifth,” she chuckled. Then her face downed. “I thought that moving there was going to be my inspiration… But it wasn’t, Daimon. The true inspiration for my books was you…”

He chuckled, “But you said it was out of your story for a dimensional traveler and such…”

“It wasn’t what I was talking about Daimon… I--”

Using three fingers to close her mouth, Daimon grinned, “Not yet. I guess I feel the same way for you, Lily, but we shouldn’t say it right now. It’s a bit… too soon. We’re just good friends for now, and we should make sure of things before rushing into them…”

She was a bit sad by those words, but just knowing that Daimon actually understood her without her saying was enough. She smiled at him and felt her mouth free. “Maybe you’re right…” Lily agreed. Then her eyes widened and she looked behind. On her surprise at seeing Daimon, the apple pie he had brought to the new neighbor was now totally splashed on the ground just outside the door. She got a bit embarrassed. “Sorry for that…”

“Don’t worry… Listen, Lily… I haven’t had lunch as yet,” Daimon said taking from his pocket a few bits and offering them to Lily. “So why don’t you go and buy something for us to fix a proper lunch? While you’re at it, I clean this mess.”

She quickly nodded, got his bits with her magic and quickly left, jumping over the splashed pie. Daimon chuckled and began using his magic to clean the most of the pie as he could. He then decided to see if he had at least the pots to prepare lunch and was relieved to see he had. The basic was all covered, now that he looked for it, including cleaning tools. He then finished cleaning the front door and after that was done; he began to prepare the table for the lunch.

Lily returned not too long later with her saddlepacks filled with many ingredients for a lunch. She knocked on the door and was quickly answered by Daimon opening it for her. They then moved to the kitchen, where they began preparing the lunch.

“You know, Daimon… Your idea was worth…” Lily said out of nowhere after a few minutes of silence.

“What? Of getting lunch? I was just hungry, not really thinking in anything…”

“No, silly! Your idea of writing other stories to clear my mind… That worked nicely in the end…” she grinned. “And also guided me to write a new series, but one I would need your approval and help…”

“Oh? And what would that be?”

“Your story, actually…”

Daimon chuckled. “So everypony can know the luck human that by pure dumb accident finished having the best friend ever?” he asked. “Go ahead. I don’t mind it at all.”

“Really? I thought you would be a bit more reluctant…”

“Are you sure your name isn’t Romantic Silly? It’s my history about, right? If I had any problems in telling ponies about it, why would I share it with anypony? Let alone a writer pony…”

Lily got a bit embarrassed at that, “Well… sorry…”

“No harm done,” Daimon said with a smile. Ready to eat?”

They had already finished the lunch and sat at the table to eat. Daimon, then remembered to get something for them to drink. Not wanting to get up, Daimon focused his magic, opened the fridge’s door and lifted two Coke bottles, closing the fridge again and placing the bottles on the table.

“Humans can use magic?”

“No, not normally,” he said with a smile. “However Twilight borrowed me a few books on the subject. I’ve been learning since then. Also, the magic flux in the human world is very low, it’s extremely rare to cast any spell there… In Equestria, it’s far easier.”

“Didn’t you tell other humans?”

“Oh no, they are doing great and are already causing plenty of damage to the world without magic aiding to that. If they learn, they learn, but it won’t be because of me.”

They then enjoyed the meal with a light chat all the while. None of them noticed, but their smiles never left their faces. The subject they were chatting then quickly remembered Daimon of something.

“You said you will be writing a book about me, right?” Daimon asked.

“Actually, I’ve already started…”

“And what is the book’s title?”

“Oh… look at the hour, it’s getting late… We can chat better tomorrow, Daimon…”

He quickly glanced at the window and noticed that the sun was already setting. He got up and guided Lily to the door.

“The story’s name?”

She downed her head still smiling, “I don’t know about the book’s title as yet… But I do know the first chapter’s title. What do you think of The Exile of Daimon?”