Douny approached the two buffalo, unsure as to how he was going to say his goodbyes, though he guessed it didn’t matter; it wasn't like they were friends nor did they know each other for very long. But something inside him was tugging at him to make his goodbyes have meaning to it. He couldn’t for the life of him understand why, but he guessed that it was the least he could do in exchange for their help.
“Hey Thunderhooves, Strongheart, do you have a minute? There is something I want to say.” Douny asked, looking between both of them.
“Of course Douny, what is it that you wanted to tell us?” Thunderhooves answered, giving the human an expectant smile.
“I just wanted to say thank you for taking me in as you have, I am extremely grateful. But I think now is where we part ways. Twilight has offered me a place in Ponyville and I’m going to take her up on that offer.” Douny explained, giving both the buffalo a respectful nod as he waited for their response.
It took a minute for Thunderhooves to find the words but he eventually found what he wanted to say. “I’m saddened to see you go so soon, but I understand that you have your own path to follow, as do we. But I hope this is not goodbye forever, I have a feeling we shall meet again, Douny.” Thunderhooves said, giving Douny a hopeful look.
“Maybe we will, one day.” Douny agreed, giving Thunderhooves a nod. “I think I’ve kept Twilight waiting long so I think we will have to cut this short, I wish you the best of luck Thunderhooves, and safe travels.” Douny then finished, as he walked off to meet up with Twilight, giving the two buffalos a wave as he did so.
“And the same to you, friend.” Thunderhooves added, giving the human a wave in return.
With that Douny made his way over to Twilight and her friends. If he remembered correctly they should only be a few blocks from where he is now.
Douny made it to them faster than he had thought. Though he guessed that was a good thing seeing as they were still packing up to leave. Not to be a bad guest for the pony who took him in, he decided to help her out with the packing. Though from what he could see most of what she packed were a few old books and a few scrolls.
“Oh hello there Douny, I wasn't expecting you to be here so soon. How did things go with Thunderhooves and Strongheart?” Twilight asked, taking a break from packing.
“It went pretty well honestly, though they seemed to be a bit dejected when they heard I was leaving.” Douny responded, kneeling down to help pack some of the books. That was until Twilight put up a hoof to stop him.
“Oh you don’t need to help, I was just checking everything before I packed them. I've got it.” Twilight insisted, lighting up her horn and levitating all the books and scrolls into her saddle bags.
This didn’t go unnoticed by the human, as he looked up with a bit of aww. It isn’t like he's never seen magic before but the only version of magic he was used to was the destructive types of his world. Though he remembered that humans were only rumored to have magic, that was never proven. It was at this moment that Twilight noticed the look he was giving her and decided to speak up about it.
“I’m guessing that where you're from magic isn’t really common is it?” Twilight asked, giving Douny a sheepish smile.
“No it’s pretty common though not among my kind, and the magic is never used like this.” He answered, waving to the book that was caught in her magic.
Twilight gave him a curious look though she let it be until they left. They didn’t have time right now to give each other questions.
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A few moments passed as everyone got on the train. For the most part, not much was being said. Douny heard a few of Twilight's friends talking about him but they didn’t seem to be saying anything negative so he let it pass, until Twilight spoke up.
“So Douny, you said that you have magic on your world, what’s it like?” Twilight asked, giving the human a wondering gaze.
“Well it’s mostly combat spells, humans like myself however are incapable of magic. There have been rumors and superstitions about how we could, but there is very little evidence to back that up.” Douny answered simply, at one point he believed the rumors, but as he got older he saw them for what they were. Just people speaking about something they knew very little about. It annoyed him just how often people spoke about stuff they didn’t know the first thing about.
“Wait, combat magic? Why would any creature specialize in something like that?” Twilight asked, with her eyes wide open, like a deer caught in headlights.
“I’m going to guess that your kind don’t have wars that often if that question is anything to go off of. It’s mostly because war and fighting are very common where I’m from, hence why combat magic has become the most common school of magic.” Douny explained, gesturing to the air to emphasize his last point. Though Twilight still seemed shocked by the revelation.
“You would be right, The last time Equestria fought in a war was centuries ago.” Twilight explained in a slightly shaky voice and a slight chill down her spine. The thought of a war seemed so foreign an idea to her.
“Hey do you think I could get some new clothes when we get into town, I don’t want to constantly be showing off my chest the whole time?” Douny asked, gesturing to his naked chest.
“Oh I could help you with that darling, it would be my pleasure to make you a new pair of clothes, OH perhaps a nice brown suit, it would go great with your mane.” A white unicorn in the back said. If Douny remembered right her name was Rarity.
“Thank you but I don’t think I could pay you back. I don’t have money from my world on me, much less anything from this one.” Douny explained. Though Rarity raised her hoof in protest.
“Nonsense darling, you don’t have to give me a thing, making clothes for a pony in need is something I live for.” Rarity waved his argument away.
“Thank you again, though I will find a way to return the favor somehow.” Douny responded, giving the white unicorn a thankful nod.
They stayed in silence a moment more before Twilight spoke up again.
“If you don’t mind me asking.” Twilight said with a nervous laugh. “What happened to you to get that bandage around your body?” Twilight asked, pointing her hoof at the white bandage that now sported a light shade of red over where the bullet wound was.
“No offense Twilight, but I refuse to answer questions about my past at this moment” Douny deadpanned as he looked away from Twilight and out to the window.
Twilight wilted at that, her posture visibly shrank almost like she was trying to disappear. This action didn’t go unnoticed by the human as he sighed.
“Look I’m sorry if I’m coming off as a bit hostile. Just, some things have happened to me these last few days, and I’m not willing to talk about them yet.” Douny explained, hoping that his explanation would help the situation, even though he didn’t think he’d ever be willing to talk about it.
Though his attempt didn’t work as he intended, bringing the mood in the train cart down once again. With the drop in mood came the silence. No one spoke for minutes until Twilight again spoke up.
“I’m sorry Douny, I didn’t mean to pry into something personal.” Twilight said, looking down in shame.
“Please don’t blame yourself, you couldn’t possibly have known. I should be saying sorry for being standoffish as I was.” Douny explained, looking away from the window and back to the lavender unicorn.
For the rest of the trip they spoke about random topics, none of which pertained to the human or his world. Mostly about what they did in the past. Douny didn’t listen to much of it, choosing to stay silent for the remainder of the train ride to Ponyville. Though he did wonder why the naming scheme for the locations he's been at so far has been pun based. But he guessed that was just the way they liked to name things.
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As the train came to a stop at the train station in Ponyville, the ponies seemed to be happy to be back home, everyone grabbed their saddlebags and started heading out. Douny grabbed his large burlap sack and used the strings as makeshift straps to carry the bag into town.
It was a long ride from what Douny could see, the moon was already up with the stars decorating the sky, Douny had to say the sight was stunning,
Twilight and Douny split off from the group to head to Twilight's place, they said their goodbyes for the night and made their way there. When they got to her house Douny chuckled to himself which got Twilight's attention.
“What’s got you laughing?” Twilight asked, looking back to see Douny’s reading the sign by her house.
“It’s the name,” Douny said through muffled laughs. “The Golden Oaks Library?” He mused.
“Yeah wha… Oh, I think I see.” Twilight chuckled, figuring it out.
They both walked inside and put their things down. What Douny saw was pretty amazing. It was a hollowed-out tree with books lining the carved-out shelves. With a painting of a sun on the ceiling, and a table in the middle of the large space.
“Make yourself at home, you must be tired after today. There's a room in the basement you can use.” Twilight said as she walked up the stairs to what Douny assumed was her bedroom.
“Thanks for taking me in Twilight, it means alot, I’m going to head to bed. As you said today's been a hard one, I could use some rest." Douny thanked, heading to the stairs leading down into the basement below the library floor.
“He headed down the stairs to find the room that Twilight spoke of, it was mostly empty except for a bed, a nightstand, and a lamp on top of the nightstand. The tired man fell into the bed with little hesitation letting his body loosen up on the mattress
Before he let sleep take him he had one last thought. I think that things are going to be better here. With that Douny found himself swiftly drifting off to sleep.