As soon as he returned to Twilight’s library, Daimon as looking for Twilight herself but couldn’t find her anywhere. So he looked for Spike, which was in the kitchen. Approaching making some bit of noise to announce his present, chuckled to see that it was the tiny dragon which worked the meals around here.

“So not only the librarian assistant, you’re also the cook?” Daimon asked.

“Trust me when I saw that Twilight’s magic can only take her so far,” Spike said with a chuckle turning quickly to see Daimon. “Wanna something?”

“Firstly, I would like to know if you have knowledge about preparing meat. I’m already getting sick of only eating vegetables. Also, I want to know where Twilight is. I was informed that she has ways to send a letter to Princess Celestia and make it faster to her.”

“About the meat, no, I don’t know. But I think there is a book about cooking meat for griffin there, somewhere, I’ll dig it up and see if I can make something,” the tiny lizard said with a smile. “And about your letter, that would be me. I can send this letter straight to Princess Celestia herself. Just bring it to me.”

“Oh good… I’ll be right back with the letter.”

Daimon then left to where he kept his bed. The letter was under his pillow and upon getting it, returned to where Spike was. The purple dragon was now preparing the table for the dinner, which Daimon knew pretty much would be vegetarian as well.

Upon seeing the scroll on his hand, Spike smiled. “You’re using one of Twilight’s scrolls, I see?”

“I thought she wouldn’t mind, and with this seal it would reach Princess Celestia faster.”

“Oh no, that’s no problem. Twilight will only like to be informed; she likes to keep track of what’s happening. Just hand me your letter and I’ll send it right away.”

Daimon gave him the scroll curious to see what this dragon would do, before he was took by a sudden rush of angry as Spike took breath and burned out his letter.

“HEY! What’s the big idea?” Daimon asked.

“What?”

“You burned my letter! For what reason you did that?”

“I sent it to Princess Celestia!” Spike said back.

“What you’ll send her? The ashes?”

“Daimon… you should take it easy…” it was Twilight’s voice from behind him. Looking at her surprised Daimon was about to start telling her what happened when she raised her hoof. “Spike is a dragon and as such has a bit of some proper dragon magic. Some things he burn are sent straight to Princess Celestia, that’s how I keep close contact with her. Right now, though, she may be busy setting the sun as will be Princess Luna raising the moon.”

Those bit of information took some time to sink. “Wait… You mean that it is the Princesses that make the sun and the moon raise and set?”

“Yes. Why the surprise?”

“Where I came from, it was a natural process. There was no need to someone raises the moon or the sun, they came out alone!” he answered and added mentally to himself: Also it’s kinda impossible to raise the sun since it’s the planet that revolves around it.

“That must be terrifying to know there’s nopony to take control over the sun and the moon…” Twilight commented.

Daimon noticed it would be a bit too much to want them to understand it was natural. They were raised where their rulers raise the sun at morning and the moon at nigh…

“Fine… Well, is dinner ready?” he asked trying to change the subject.

“Almost, just finishing a few things and it will be served,” Spike answered returning to the kitchen.

And as no surprise, veggies…

***

No longer after dinner, Spike went to look for the book he said and, to Daimon’s surprise, the dragon burped rather loud and a patch of smoke formed in thin air, slowly taking form of a scroll with which he learned was the royal seal and a red bow around it. Spike gave it a glance and handed it to Daimon.

“For you, straight from Princess Celestia…”

“I thought I would need to wait a few more days for the answer…” he asked opening the letter.

“Letters sent by Spike tends to drag the Princess’s attention a bit more,” Twilight answered. “Here Spike, the book you were looking for.”

The tiny dragon grabbed the book and opened the cover to learn a few recipes of how to make use for meat in food.

“Are you looking to start eating food now, Spike?” Twilight asked.

“I guess that’s for me, actually…” Daimon answered. “Humans are omnivore.”

“Oh… right… I remember you told me something about it before,” Twilight said.

Returning his attention to the letter on his hand, Daimon took of the lace and opened it.

Dear Daimon Gryffin

I assure you that your worries aren’t alien to us and we would never bring you without knowing about your family first. There is somepony… sorry… someone in your world which is looking after your family as we talk.

However, this is not a subject for us to talk about in letters. For this, and some other motives as well, I’ll be at Ponyville in six days. If you would be kind, could you warn my dear student for me?

HRH Princess Celestia.

Daimon let out a relieved sigh. Then he turned to Twilight and, with a smile, said, “Princess Celestia asked me to tell you she’s coming to Ponyville in six days.”

“WHAT?” Twilight bolted up instantly.

Daimon quickly thought on what he had said, thinking something had sounded wrong, and replied, “Princess Celestia… she’s your mentor, right? Or something like that? She asked me to tell you she will be coming to Ponyville in six days.”

“Ohmigoshohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh!” Twilight said rushing to her room. Surprised, Daimon looked at Spike.

“It’s always like this whenever Twilight is warned the Princess is coming,” Spike said with a smile. “She will start making plans and preparations for the whole town to get ready for this as if it was the most important event ever.”

“Should I tell her that one of the reasons she’s coming is for me?” Daimon asked.

“That will be irrelevant. The damage has already been done,” Spike answered him with a smile.

“Well… Guess I’ll have a little night walk through Ponyville… And let her work some of that before I try to sleep…”

“That’s wise…”

“SPIKE! WHERE’S MY CLIPBOARD?” Twilight yelled from the bedroom.

Daimon chuckled before walking to the door. “Go, Spike. Duty calls,” he said.

As he stepped outside, Daimon noticed the night wasn’t unpleasant. There were many stars in the sky, the moon was large and there was quite a light from it, but different from a big city, Ponyville didn’t have all that useless amount of artificial light.

Walking aimlessly thought the streets; Daimon never noticed when she had joined him, only when Rarity’s voice called his attention.

“Such a beautiful night isn’t it?” she asked.

“Where I came from, there are so many lights that we can’t see even a fourth of this amount of stars,” Daimon answered. “My sister would love to be there in my place. She’s young and likes this kind of things. I’m the wrong gender and the wrong personality, though.”

“You’re just being silly, Daimon,” Rarity replied. “First thing is there’s no such thing as ‘wrong gender or personality’ to anything. Mares and stallions can pretty much do the same things without much of a difference, and I really doubt it’s that different from humans.”

“That’s not exactly what I was talking about, Rarity. I never thought that women or mares were any less capable than men or stallions. The great problem is image,” he had noticed that the last word had really called the white mare’s attention. “For sake of image, there are things that you can and can’t do…”

“I can understand your concerns, Daimon. I made this mistake myself in the past,” Rarity smiled and raised her head. “I was at Canterlot at that time, the reason why not quite important right now. It was Twilight’s birthday on the following day and I was preparing her a special dress as a gift. But then I received an invitation to join Canterlot’s High Society events. Selfish, I decided to not attend to Twilight’s birthday to join the event.”

“And you live with this till nowadays?”

“No… it was a bit worse. If Rarity doesn’t go to the party, the party comes to Rarity. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Fluttershy, all of them moved Twilight’s party to Canterlot so I could join them. And simultaneously, a party of the high society was happening. Foolish, I tried to join both simultaneously. It was a disaster. I wasn’t enjoying any and suddenly started making mistakes, confusing which party I was in. At the end, the others saw the party outside and decided to join, what haven’t exactly pleased some of the other ponies there. But I learned a valuable lesson.”

Daimon looked at her expectantly. Rarity chuckled at his interest. “I learned that day that a lot more important of the image you bring to yourself is the image your friends have of you,” Rarity finally said. “As you said, you paint yourself as a monster to everyone. But you must remember that your true friends can see through it and see that you’re an angel in fact. They will just ask why you’re playing the monster and, probably, help you to be even more convincing.”

“This is another friendship lesson?” Daimon asked.

“No. This is just a personal story of mine with a hint of how to recognize true friends,” Rarity had an unusually big smile in her face. “You know, your best friends can come from much unexpected places.”

“Your friends included?”

“My friends mainly,” Rarity corrected him. “Twilight came from Canterlot by Princess Celestia order to learn about friendship, Rainbow Dash is a lazy but efficient member of weather control, Fluttershy is a rather reclusive timid animal friend, Applejack is devoted as nopony ever will to her farm, Pinkie Pie is a very active party pony and I am just a humble interior dressmaker that wanted to join the high society.

“However, during the first Summer Sun Celebration of Twilight in Ponyville, Princess Celestia was kidnapped by Nightmare Moon, the evil side of Princess Luna. Twilight was decided to venture out alone inside the Everfree Forest to look for the Elements of Harmony to stop the evil mare.

“We all had seen the villain and we all decided to help. Along the way, we were challenged and our virtues were shown: Applejack’s honesty, Fluttershy’s kindness, Pinkie Pie’s laughter, my generosity, Rainbow Dash’s loyalty and, when Twilight heard our voices and learned we never left her behind, she had learned that true magic comes from friendship and awakened the Element of Magic.”

Daimon stood there, looking at that. Not quite sure if everything she said was true or not, he decided to play careful and stay silent to see if Rarity had anything else to add.

“Since then, we’ve been learning about friendship while living with each other in Ponyville,” Rarity said with a smile. “We faced many problems… Discord awakening, Chrysalis’s attack at Canterlot, King Sombra’s attack at Crystal Empire, the whole Everfree Forest going mad… But we solved all them together,” Daimon nodded at what he understood would be the end of the tale. “Think about it. Maybe it’s time for you to break this ‘evil guy’ persona and try making new friends? You could be surprised. Now, if you allow me, I have to go. Sweetie Belle is waiting me for dinner.”

The human giggled at that and nodded. Yes, maybe it was time for him to change…

***

Different from his first agitated days, Daimon noticed that life in Ponyville was not that hard to live. He would be often be called to a work or another, earning him a few bits which he quickly placed in front of Rarity’s counter, asking a few more clothing pieces for him, and for some deserved meat for his lunch and dinner at the library.

He could really learn to like this life and, while working, he learned a bit more about the ponies he helped. As he was informed, not a single soul in this town was inspiring him the greedy or the wish to be the better and things like that. These ponies lived in harmony and their town grew better for that.

But then, came the day. He hadn’t made any plans for today, ready to help somepony he had already promised. Romantic Lily was glad that Daimon stood to help her put things in order and prepare the house to receive her parents.

House prepared, the duo moved to the train station to wait for Romantic Lily’s parents to arrive. The train arrived on time and lots of ponies disembarked. Getting a glimpse of their parents, Lily nudged Daimon and he followed her.

Romantic Lily’s father was a rather bulk unicorn, almost mistakable with an earth pony due to his strong body, with deep red coat and a large white cross with a syringe in the middle as a cute mark, his short mane and tail growing gray already in his advanced age.

At his side, a refined lean unicorn made company with a light gray coat and a vividly blond mane and a matching tail. With a knitting needle and a large ribbon as a cute mark, Daimon wondered if she was a rival to Rarity.

“Mom, dad…” Lily said, not quite sure if she should hug them or not. “I’m happy you could make it to Ponyville before I move. This one here is Daimon; he’s a human and is helping me with my things. Daimon, my parents Holy Cross and Velvet Ribbon,” she introduced first her father and then her mother.

Making a quick bow to the two ponies, Daimon quickly added, “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Hope you like your staying in Ponyville as much as I’m enjoying mine.”

Seemingly like she was above them, Velvet Ribbon cast a glare over Daimon, “At least you found some interesting help out there. It doesn’t change the fact you’re still avoiding your destiny.”

“Could we at least go to my home first?” Romantic Lily asked. “There’s no need to anypony else to learn about my problems.”

Daimon noticed the emphases on the pronoun. Maybe she was going to face them over it today? He only noticed that Holy Cross nodded before answering, “You seem to be learning some manners after all. We’ll accept your invitation.”

Romantic Lily guided her parents to her small house and Daimon noticed how they were already walking ready to pass her house when Lily surprised them by stopping and opening the door.

When everyone was inside the house and around the table, Holy Cross looked at Daimon, “We’re going to have a private chat with our daughter if you don’t mind.”

“She asked me to be there and support her when she talked to you,” Daimon answered. “And since she’s my friend, I’m inclined to help her.”

The two ponies looked at each other, but before they could open their mouth, Romantic Lily said, “He stays. This is not your house; you have no legal rights there. I used my very own bits to buy this house and I’m able to have whomever I want to visit me. Daimon helped me in a moment no other pony gave a damn about me and I learned to trust him.”

“It’s irrelevant in the end, Lily,” said Velvet Ribbon. “We’re taking you back at Canterlot.”

“I’m moving to Pound Trot, a small village close to Neighagra Falls. Maybe I find some inspiration to finish my books there.”

“Still thinking on this useless writing stuff?” Holy Cross asked.

“It’s not useless, Mr. Cross,” Daimon said. “Your daughter really loves writing, it’s her passion, and she seems to be talented in it.”

“It’s a gambling area to be a writer. You never know what people like and there’s no way you can create books to every tastes in the whole Equestria,” Velvet Ribbon said.

“As is the garment industry, Mrs. Ribbon,” Daimon replied, guessing by her cutie mark the area she worked. “Dressmakers doesn’t know the tastes of their costumers until they come looking for some particular piece.”

“You’re completely wrong, human,” Holy Cross said. “Velvet made fortune with her dresses because she knew what people liked and she gave them exactly that. She can satisfy anyone, pony, zebra, griffin and even dragons if they ever came.”

Daimon had a short smile in his face. “I doubt that she has something in her store to suit me,” Velvet Ribbon was about to say something but closed her mouth without reply. “If she can please anyone, I should be pleased by what she has to offer, right? So there you proved that, while your loved Velvet Ribbon had luck with her market till nowadays, soon the time could come that she would lost all that money because her costumers would not like her style anymore. So it is a gamble, one which she had luck so far.”

Romantic Lily smiled and stepped into kitchen to bring some snacks she had made herself. “How dare you say my work is a gamble, Mr. Daimon…”

“It’s Mr. Gryffin, if we’re being formal. My full name is Daimon Gryffin, Mrs. Ribbon,” Daimon answered. “And about saying your work is a gamble, I dare to add that life itself is. You place your bets and hope for the best outcome, but have to deal with just what you get. Some get more than others, but the real talent is to make the most with what you got, not getting more to waste in anything.”

Holy Cross and Velvet Ribbon looked at each other, before both turning to Daimon. “Mr. Gryffin, we would really ask you to leave so we could talk with our daughter alone,” Velvet asked one more time.

“And she already said that I’m going to stay, Mrs. Ribbon. And besides, what kind of friend would I be if I let my friend in the grasp of her possessive parents to double team her?”

“I beg your pardon, Mr.” Holy Cross said.

“I would give if it was not truth,” Daimon shot back at him. “She told me her story, how you always demanded from her to make sacrifices so you could manipulate her into something you wanted of her. And don’t come with that bullshit of knowing what’s best for her!” Daimon cut them before they could say. “This mare had lived from her own efforts for longer than you think and turned a bad situation into the best life she could! She’s strong and has an iron will, but even iron can only bend so much before breaking, and you’re bending her a bit too much don’t you think?”

Lily was only listening from the kitchen by now, hearing what Daimon was saying about her.

“Have you seen where she lives? She calls this home!” Holy Cross said.

“And what’s the problem?” Daimon asked. “For the time being, I’m living in a tree and I am willing to call it home if the situation calls it for. Our homes is where we can be ourselves and not give a damn about what others think of us. She calls this building home, because this is the fruit of her efforts. Lots of sweat and time spent writing and working at same time so she could have a place to call her own.”

“She doesn’t have any comfort there!” Velvet Ribbon shot.

“Because it is pointless to invest in comfort when you will live moving so yours possessive parents won’t find you,” he snapped at them. “Yeah, surprise, your daughter was actively avoiding you, because you were, and still are, too busy to notice what a great daughter you have! She’s beautiful, she’s talented and she enjoys life being who she is! I would give anything to find a human like her back at home. I would marry her on the spot!”

Taken aback by Daimon’s speak, not even Lily herself could move. Her heart was beating faster into her chest for reasons she didn’t know why. But when she regained her composure, she moved forward and placed a plate with some sandwiches between them, “Hope you like it.”

Thanks to Lily’s interference, her parents also found their tongues. Looking at Daimon, Lily’s father said, “Lily, my darling, we just want you to return home with us.”

“So you can insist on me getting a ‘real job’? No, thank you. I’m happy living there the way I am,” was Lily’s answer.

“What happened to you, dear? You weren’t like this!” Velvet Ribbon tried.

“Playing the hypocrite isn’t your style mom,” Lily answered. “You fought with me more than once and often you tried to convince me in changing who I am to fit into the world!”

“Life demands changes, Lily! You should have learned that already,” Holy Cross answered.

“Yes, dad, I have learned and I have changed. But what you’re asking me to do isn’t to change a thing or two. It’s to change who I really am! Do you even know what my cutie mark is? A quill writing in a heart! That’s my love for writing! And why can’t you accept it?”

“A cutie mark doesn’t rule who you are, darling,” Velvet Ribbon said to her daughter.

“Then why don’t you go and try physically bucking some apples, Mrs. Ribbon?” Daimon asked with a smile. “After all, a cutie mark doesn’t rule who you are, right?”

“My cutie mark is a coincidence with what I enjoy doing, Mr. Gryffin!”

“And just because what I enjoy doing isn’t enough for you, I can’t live it?” Lily asked back.

Looking at Daimon and kinda tired of how he seems to always place their daughter against them, Holy Cross got up and looked at the human, “You better leave now, Mr. Gryffin…”

“Oh… so cute to see you playing the bully…” Daimon chuckled and got up from his box as well. Exclusively for this day, he had asked Rarity a special shirt, one that was a bit tighter on his figure so when he got up, his muscles showed up. “However, I don’t think you got the memo… A few days ago, armed with nothing more than a tree branch, I managed to save your daughter from three timber wolves…” placing his right hand on the table and downing his face to see the unicorn in the eye, he let out an evil smile. “Compared to them, you’re not even a warm up, Mr. Cross.” After giving them the impression he wanted, Daimon returned to his seat and gave a gently smile, “However, I’m not here to menace you or anything. This is just a family talk, right?”

“We’re going to have a talk with Princess about this!” Velvet Ribbon said a bit angry.

“Good! So you can stay in town until tomorrow!” Daimon chuckled. “Princess Celestia is coming in person to Ponyville, so you will be able to talk to her.”

“If She’s coming to Ponyville, the Princess will be too busy to hear us!” Holy Cross tried to counter attack.

“Oh, but I am one of the reasons she’s coming,” Daimon said with a smile. “And since this is a subject that concerns me, I’m sure she’ll want to hear. Or…” Daimon looked at them, “you two could just leave and don’t bother Lily again, unless it’s for asking forgiveness and to accept her as she is. This is not a menace or anything, it’s just an agreement, since nobody makes a menace to bring things to the eyes of the Princess, right?”

Holy Cross was about to reply when Velvet Ribbon placed a hoof on his shoulder, “Cross, dear, let’s just go home for now. There’s no way of dealing with a barbarian like him…”

A bit against his will, the large unicorn got up and just followed his daughter to the door. After seeing them out, Romantic Lily turned to Daimon and nodded to him.

“Thank you, Daimon. I think I really needed your support more than I realized…”

“That’s what friends are there for, Lily,” he answered with a smile. “However, I gotta go now. There are a few things I must do before lunch. And before you invite me to lunch, Spike is preparing something special for me today. I can’t really miss this.” Next Chapter: Episode 07: The Dream Estimated time remaining: 52 Minutes