The next morning before Griff ‘n Groom had opened, Donnie and Primrose were met with some shocking news.

“You’re leaving?!”

T.C. solemnly nodded. “I am indeed. It’s why I wanted to open the shop late today, I had to take some time to tell you.” He sounded almost like a stern parent scolding their child. Even Rarity and Gustave, who had come to see him, were worried as well.

“But, Thomas! The business!” Donnie remarked.

“What about all your customers?” Primrose responded.

“I’ve taken some time to think about it last night, and I realized that I don’t think I’m truly happy here anymore,” T.C. said, squinting a bit at the two griffons before him.

“Not happy? But we’ve kept you in our care for years! We’ve even let you work here without paying towards our rent!” Donnie began to plead, “You’re almost like a son or a little brother to us!”

T.C. became quite irate at Donnie’s begging. “And would you turn on your son and betray his trust, all because you didn’t agree with something he was doing? Answer that, Donnie.”

“Thomas,” Primrose began to whimper.

“Primrose, please. Don’t even start. I was very hurt by what both of you did. It pains me very much to say this, but I don’t think I can forgive either of you for such a thing.”

Primrose hung her head in shame, but she realized that T.C. had a point. She and Donnie had wronged him, betrayed his trust, and pushed his buttons the wrong way. In some way, she thought that he was right to feel this way, and she held her head up again.

“Then if you want to leave, that’s okay,” she said, accepting of his decisions.

“Prim, what’s gotten into you,” Donnie shot back at her.

“Donnie, he’s right to feel this way. We betrayed his trust, and that’s kind of hard to forgive sometimes.”

Donnie learned to accept the result of his actions. “Well…alright. But write often, will ya?”

T.C. scoffed with a smile. “I’ll try. I may not want to forgive you just yet, but the least I can say is good luck with the business. I’m confident that you two will still keep it popular.”

Donnie and Primrose nodded and smiled, and T.C. smiled a bit back at them. He still wasn’t ready to forgive them, but he was able to smile and wave back to them. “Goodbye!” he belted, with his natural cheer.

As they arrived near the train station to send Rarity off, Gustave ran up to T.C..

“You’re not leaving Canterlot as well, are you, Thomas?”

“I’m afraid I am, Gus. But don’t worry, I’ll be sure to visit you whenever I desire. I’m a traveler, and this is what a traveler’s gotta do. If you’d like though, I have something I want to tell you in private.”

Gustave leant his attention to T.C., and T.C. whispered something to him. Gustave gave him a giddy smile, and flew off.

“That reminds me,” Rarity began. “Just where are you going next?”

“Well, like I said. A traveler’s gotta travel, but let’s just say I’ve found a place to call home. Trust me, you’ll see it very soon,” T.C. said.

“Twelve o’clock train to Ponyville!” called the stallion at the gates. “All aboard the noon train to Ponyville from Canterlot!

“That’s your train,” T.C. said, “goodbye, Rarity!”

“Don’t forget to write!” Rarity called back as T.C. flew in the direction of the hotel.

As Rarity boarded the train, she sat down and pulled something out of her bag. It was the crayon drawing her sister had made of the dress idea she had. She asked another pony on the train for a quill, and began to make some notes on it that would improve her sister’s idea. She looked outside the window, and to her shock, there was a familiar face flying beside her window.

It was T.C. himself! What was he doing following the train? She also saw he had a bag strapped to his back! Could he be hinting at something? He gave her a wink and a thumbs up and flew out of sight, following the train tracks. She looked back at Sweetie Belle’s drawing, and realized something about it, specifically the color choice she had. It just so happened to be burgundy and white, with a gold trim!

“A traveler…” Rarity wondered aloud. “Did he once run into Sweetie Belle and her friends?”

“We have now arrived in Ponyville!” the train conductor spoke aloud. “All passengers for Ponyville, your stop is here!”

Author's Note

Call me weird, but I kind of like the idea that not every episode should end all happy, joyful, and everyone is happy in the end. Well, that’s how HoH ended, or so we think. It’s kind of a similar ending to Griffon the Brush Off, now that I think about it. Will we ever see Donnie and Primrose again? Will they get their redemption? All I can say is who knows?

Head Over Hooves was also planned to end here, but then I decided to throw in a little final bit about T.C. being welcomed into Ponyville. And that brings us to…