Brushed Away 2: By Hoof and Claw

by TheVClaw

Rating: teen
Tags: Griffons, Sex, Main 6, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Lyra, Romance, Original Character, Comedy, Bon-Bon
Length: 254541

A sequel to Brushed Away, Troy is a Gryphon who has to deal with a new obstacle in his life: telling his family he's with a stallion.

Despite being one of the few Gryphons living in the land of Equestria, Troius Clawston couldn't be happier with how his life has been. Along with having good friends and a stable job in Weather Patrol, Troy is happiest about his life for one reason: Canvas, the Earth Pony artist that he saved and befriended, who grew to become so much more.
However, before the two can begin their lives together, Troy has to overcome a new challenge in his life. Something he never thought he would have to face until now...

Telling his family.

Because of strong Gryphon values which look down on alternative relationships, how will Troy's family react when they discover he's not only with someone of a different species, but of the same gender? As traditions clash with taboos, how will the Gryphon handle telling his brothers and parents, while still staying with the stallion he cares about? Can he keep everyone together, or will family bonds break under pressure?

The cover art was made by High-Roller2108, and I want to thank Bad_Seed_72,Shadow Hawk, and Zyrian for proofreading this.

Published 2013-11-28 00:20:04 UTC
Last updated 2015-09-28 09:22:06 UTC

Chapter Two: Things to Do

As their surprise party began, Canvas and Troy were barely able to move from their frozen stances before they were bombarded with congratulations. And among the large crowd of ponies who came up to the newly engaged couple, the first two to rush up to them were two ecstatic mares. With welling eyes and huge smiles on their faces, Lyra and her wife Bon-Bon immediately lunged ahead and pulled Canvas and Troy in for strong hugs.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" Lyra hugged Canvas as tightly as she could, making sure her head was angled so her horn wouldn't accidentally poke him. "Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you two are actually getting married!"

Hugging the Gryphon beside Canvas, Bon-Bon couldn't hold back her enthusiasm as well as she added, "This is so amazing!" Pulling back, she looked up to Troy with a grin on her muzzle. "And I should've known something was going on, too!"

Troy's blush started to come back again, making him look away as he tried to keep his feathers from ruffling in embarrassment. Noticing his bashful nature, Lyra kept a cheeky smirk as well as she let go of Canvas. "Oh yeah, that's right! You have been acting overly giddy the past few weeks, haven’t you?"

Now with a bunch of ponies staring at him curiously, Troy's blush was very apparent as he slowly opened his beak. "Uhhh… yeah, I… may have…"

Keeping her grin, Lyra went over and hugged Troy as well. "Well, it certainly paid off! I am so happy for you two!" Letting go of the Gryphon, Lyra stepped back as she stood next to her wife. "And we couldn’t be happier about hearing about this."

Realizing that they weren't the first to tell Lyra and Bon-Bon the big news, Troy's smile faltered a little as he looked down at his fiancé. "Yeah, but we really wanted to tell you guys about it first." Sighing under his breath, Troy looked slightly disappointed as he looked back at the two mares. "I mean, we went straight to your shop after getting off the train, but you weren't there."

Noticing how let down the Gryphon looked at saying that, Lyra and Bon-Bon looked at each other for a moment before turning back at him with reassuring smiles. "Oh, don't worry about that," said Bon-Bon as she tried to cheer Troy up. "Besides, we only found out about it on accident."

Troy and Canvas's eyebrows rose with surprise. "Really?" the Gryphon asked.

Before Lyra or Bon-Bon could answer, Pinkie Pie hopped back into view and said to the engaged couple,"Yeah. I'm really, really, really sorry about spoiling it early, but I was really, really excited when Rainbow Dash and Rarity told me about your engagement on the train back to Ponyville. I was so happy, that I went right back to Sugar Cube Corner so I can grab the banner I made for you two…"

Pinkie pointed up to the large banner hanging on the ceiling before she took another deep breath and continued, "But when I was walking through town with it, I accidentally tripped, and the banner rolled out in the middle of town for everypony to see! And when Lyra and Bon-Bon saw it and read what it said, they got super-duper happy and started hugging each other and going 'AAAAAHHHH!!!!'"

To accentuate her point, Pinkie Pie grabbed a random pony in the crowd (who turned out to be Caramel), and hugged him while jumping up and down and imitating the shriek of joy she heard from the mares. After a few seconds, she let go of Caramel, leaving him slightly confused and disoriented before she spoke again.

"So then they asked me if it was real, and I said 'Yeah,’ and they were like 'Really?!' and I was like 'Yeah!' and then they went 'Really?!' again and I said 'Yes!' again! And then they ran off to get some stuff while screaming, and then they helped me organize this party!"

Although he was slightly jarred by the onslaught of over-energized words thrown at him by the pink mare, Troy able to grasp enough of it to get what happened. Knowing that it didn’t really affect anything, the Gryphon gave off a light sigh before looking at Pinkie Pie. "Well, I… I guess that's understandable. Don’t worry about it."

While Pinkie kept a big smile on her muzzle at hearing Troy's words, Canvas had a more perplexed look on his face as he looked up at the banner. "Wait a minute…"

Hearing Canvas, Troy looked down at his fiancé while he spoke.

"Pinkie, you… you said that you grabbed the banner you made?" Canvas then looked back at Pinkie as he kept his confused stare. "As in… you already had that banner made for us? Before today?"

Pinkie kept her chipper smile and nodded happily. "Yep! I had it made three months ago!"

Canvas and Troy's eyes widened in shock at hearing that. "What?!" said Troy in a bewildered tone. “Three months?! We… we weren't even a couple three months ago!"

"I know," said Pinkie cheerfully, not noticing how stunned the two were as she went on, "but I made one just in case it did happen! I like to have banners made for any event that might or might not happen, so I can be prepared to throw a party at a moment's notice!"

Seeing how surprised the couple were looking, Lyra decided to chime in, "Actually, that's true. Pinkie has a huge box full of banners for hypothetical events. I think she even had one made for when Bon-Bon proposed to me."

"Uh, huh!" Pinkie said as she nodded to Lyra. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie pulled out a large box out of nowhere full of various rolls of banners. "I have a banner for any event I think might happen! I have one for if any pony in town becomes pregnant, I have one for every filly that gets their cutie mark, and I have dozens more for other potential parties!"

Pinkie then dove her head into the box, riffling through it as she kept listing things. "I have banners for things like Rarity finding a stallion, Cranky Doodle marrying Matilda, Rainbow Dash coming out of the stable, Luna adopting a filly—"

"Wait, WHAT?!" shouted Rainbow Dash with a shocked look on her face.

"Luna adopting a filly," repeated Pinkie as she kept going through the banners. "And I even had one for when Twilight became a Princess!"

Looking at the large box, neither Canvas or Troy could say they were completely surprised. Despite how unusual it may have looked for a normal pony, it seemed fairly typical for somepony like Pinkie Pie.

Shrugging any odd feelings aside, Canvas looked back to Lyra and Bon-Bon as he thought of something. Remembering what he wanted to do when he was on the train, Canvas walked up to the two with a hopeful smile on his face. "Hey, girls… Would… would you mind if I talked with you about something?"

Seeing how worried the stallion looked, Lyra and Bon-Bon seemed a bit wary as they slowly nodded. "Umm… sure," said Lyra as she tried not to sound too worried, "what is it?"

Noticing how he may have worried the two, Canvas put up a hoof and tried to clarify. "It's nothing bad," he said, "it's just… important."

Looking at each other for a second, the two nodded in agreement before following him away from the crowd. Meanwhile, Troy was about to get himself some refreshments before Pinkie blocked his path. "So, Troy," asked Pinkie in a giddy tone, "wanna tell us about how it happened?"

As the ponies around the room all looked over to the Gryphon with excited looks on their faces, Troy stammered a little before he sighed in defeat. "Oh… okay."

Making sure they were at a more private space (despite ponies still being everywhere), Canvas looked back to the couple and took a deep breath. While he was sure they would be happy about his question, the stallion still fidgeted a little as he slowly exhaled. Even though he wanted to do this, he was still nervous about how to start.

"I…" Noticing how Lyra and Bon-Bon were looking at him, Canvas swallowed some excess saliva before he continued. "I really… really can’t describe how happy I am right now."

With a smile growing on his face, Canvas kept his attention on both mares as he continued, "I mean… I… I never would've thought that things would go so well for me in just a few months. Like… it feels like only yesterday that I first met you two in Ponyville…"

Remembering that day, Lyra and Bon-Bon both grew warm smiles as well and nodded. Even though Troy was the first friend he made after coming to Ponyville, Canvas knew that the two mares in front of him were just as important for a lot of great things in his life.

"I mean…" Canvas tried not to cry as he kept a smile through his words. "I… I went through so much before then, and… I honestly wasn't sure if I could ever trust anypony again…."

Bon-Bon put a supportive hoof to his shoulder, keeping it there to let him know everything was alright. Feeling the hoof, Canvas's smile grew wider as he tried to think of the right words. After everything he’d experienced back at his old home in Gallop Creek, the stallion couldn't have felt happier about having friends like Lyra and Bon-Bon right now. Remembering how his first interaction with them went, Canvas took another deep breath before he continued.

"I… I always thought I was alone for the longest time… but… Meeting you two… and finding out you two were married… I… I actually felt hopeful for the first time… That I could be able to find someone like you two did."

Lyra didn’t bother waiting anymore and quickly pulled Canvas in for a tight hug. Knowing that Canvas dealt with a lot back in his hometown for being gay, the unicorn knew how much she and her wife had helped him out since they met. Clenching his eyes shut in an attempt to hold back any tears, Canvas hugged Lyra back, almost not noticing when Bon-Bon hugged him as well.

By the time they both let go of him, Canvas used a hoof to wipe his eyes dry. Keeping a grateful smile on his muzzle, Canvas took a moment before he looked back to them. With the fur under his eyes slightly matted, Canvas tried to keep his composure as he finished his statement.

"I… I could've never asked for friends as amazing as the two of you… You helped me out so much, and… I really do care so much for both of you… And because of that, I want to ask…

"Will you two be my best mares?"

Lyra and Bon-Bon gasped as their hooves covered their muzzles. However, before Canvas could get worried about an unexpected reaction, the two mares lunged forward and grabbed him again. Hugging the stallion tightly, Lyra and Bon-Bon were almost suffocating him as they both replied:

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!!!"

Feeling like he was going to start tearing up again, Canvas hugged back both of them as tightly as he could.

A large crowd was standing around Troy as he spoke, listening with great interest as he recalled how his engagement to Canvas went.

"I mean, the view was absolutely perfect up on that platform! You could see all the cityscape of Canterlot, the lights from the castle stood out against the night skies, and… and that Aurora Borealis made everything look absolutely amazing…"

Remembering how the Aurora Borealis shone so vibrantly over them, and how the lights reflected off his fiancé's blue eyes so beautifully at that moment, Troy paused a moment and took a deep breath. With a smile on his beak, Troy thought about how everything went before he continued.

"It… it was perfect… It was absolutely, utterly perfect. I couldn't have planned a better place to do it! And… it just went so well… I told him how I felt… I recited the lines… I asked for his hoof, and… he said yes."

A large, unified “Aaaaawwwwwww!” came from the crowd, mostly composed of lovestruck mares, which just made Troy's blush grow even deeper. Before he could reply or add anything to his story, the Gryphon noticed Canvas walking back toward him with Lyra and Bon-Bon close behind.

Although his eyes looked slightly reddened, the stallion's beaming smile was enough to let Troy nothing bad happened. Having heard the last part of Troy's retelling of last night, Canvas didn’t even try to be subtle as he grabbed the Gryphon. Placing his hooves around the back of Troy's neck, Canvas stood on his hindlegs and gave him a tender kiss on the beak.

Ignoring the various “Awww”’s and giggles from the ponies around him, Canvas kept his gaze on Troy's golden eyes.

"I love you, Troy."

"I love you too, Canvas," said Troy with a loving smile on his beak before he bent in and kissed his fiancé.

At that moment, the front door opened again. Twilight Sparkle entered with a large saddlebag full of books. With her dragon assistant, Spike, in tow, the lavender alicorn kept a smile on her face as she saw Canvas and Troy.

"I'm sorry for being late," said the Princess bashfully as she looked around, "but I had to get some last-minute things before coming here."

Twilight then walked up to Canvas and Troy, keeping a smile on her face as she hugged both of them. "And congratulations, guys! I'm really happy for the both of you!"

Despite still feeling rather flustered about a Princess hugging them, even though they'd been friends with her for a while, the two still hugged back before letting go. Lighting her horn, Twilight pulled out a small package from her saddlebag, which she levitated over to Spike.

"Spike, could you put that in the kitchen for them, please?"

"Sure thing!" Spike said before heading off to the kitchen. As Canvas and Troy stood there, slightly confused, Twilight looked back to them with a small smile on her face.

"When I heard about your engagement, I picked up a little something in Canterlot for you guys."

"Oh Twilight," said Canvas with a smile of his own, "you didn’t have to get anything for us."

"Well," began the Princess in a more insistent tone, "I didn't want to be empty-hoofed before coming here. Besides, when I was told by Princess Celestia that two friends of mine were planning to get married soon, she asked for me to officiate the wedding myself."

"Wow, really?" said Troy in a happy tone of voice. "She mentioned something about wanting you to help out, but—"

"Well," began Twilight with a smile, "officiating weddings is one of the duties of a Princess. And since I haven't done one yet, I'm really excited that your wedding will be my first!"

Canvas and Troy's eyes both widened in surprise. Even though they knew Twilight hadn’t been a Princess for very long, the fact that the very first wedding she would be officiating was going to be theirs was rather shocking, to say the least.

"Re… really?!" Canvas said, flustered. "I… I have no idea what to say!"

"Neither do I," said Twilight cheerfully, "but I'm wanting to be prepared!"

Twilight then lit her horn again, opening her saddlebag to levitate out several large books.

"Since I've never been witness to an interspecies wedding before, I had to do some light research in order to know what I was getting myself into…" Levitating the books around herself, Twilight didn’t notice the perplexed looks from Canvas and Troy, both staring at the large pile of books while they tried to comprehend the alicorn's idea of “light” research.

"I actually haven’t found much in my books about Gryphon cultures in regards to same-sex marriages. However, I have noticed a lot of interesting ceremonial processes in my readings, which I would really want to discuss with you sometime, Troy."

Hearing that, the Gryphon's formerly excited smile began to falter, and he started to look slightly worried.

"For example," continued the Princess as she floated one book in front of her, "I was reading in here about marriage piercings, which I was curious to learn more about."

"Really?" Canvas walked over and looked at the book. As the stallion started looking at the pages held in Twilight's aura, Troy smile was now completely gone as he looked around worriedly.

Noticing Troy's fretful behavior, Bon-Bon poked Lyra to grab her attention just as the Gryphon walked away from the rest of the ponies over to the refreshment table. Realizing something was up, Lyra and Bon-Bon wanted to make sure nothing was too wrong. As Bon-Bon walked over to Troy, Lyra went over to Canvas, who kept looking through the piercing procedure pages.

"Man…" muttered Canvas in a slightly grossed-out tone as he looked at some of the illustrations with Twilight, "I didn’t even know that body part could be pierced."

"Umm… Canvas?" said Lyra in a worried tone as she grabbed the stallion's attention. "I think something's wrong with Troy."

"Huh?" Both he and Twilight looked over to the refreshment table. Troy, who was now chugging a bottle of watermelon soda rather quickly, was avoiding Bon-Bon's gaze as she tried to talk to him.

"Troy, c'mon, what's wrong?" asked Bon-Bon, trying to get a response from Troy.

Putting down his bottle, Troy exhaled slowly and closed his eyes, not sure of what to say as Canvas and Twilight walked up to him. Before the Gryphon could open his beak and attempt to muster out a statement, he felt Canvas's hoof rest on his shoulder. Looking down at him, Troy tried to force out a smile; it was clear to Canvas and Twilight (as well as Lyra as she came back with Rainbow Dash) that it was very fake.

"Troy," said Canvas in a concerned tone as he kept his eyes on him, "is something wrong?"

"Is it regarding the piercings?" added Twilight as she held up her book. “Because I never said it had to be a mandatory measure for your wedding." Twilight looked through the pages as she continued, "I was just curious about the Gryphon aspects of marriage, but I can understand if the piercing process would be too uncomfortable. Especially page fifty-nine here." Twilight shuddered at the illustration before closing the book.

Wanting to reassure the Princess that wasn't the case, Troy held up a claw and tried to speak. "It… it's not that, Twilight, I swear."

Putting his claw down, Troy noticed Canvas's worried stare on him, making the Gryphon close his eyes as he looked away in guilt.

"I just…" Troy began as he tried to avoid the stares on him, "I… I just know that if… if I try adding Gryphon stuff to this, then…"

Troy took a deep breath before he finished his statement. "Then that would mean that… I'd have to tell my parents about it."

Rainbow Dash, who was just brought into this discussion, tried to add her insight as she said brashly, "Well, duh! I mean, isn't that kinda obvious?"

Troy kept his gaze away from Rainbow Dash and groaned. Realizing why the Gryphon was acting this way, Canvas kept his hoof on Troy's shoulder as he spoke. "Troy, it's alright. I'm sure they'll understand."

"Wait," said Lyra with a surprised tone in her voice, "you mean you haven’t told your parents you're engaged yet?"

Bon-Bon tried to catch her wife's attention as she added, "Well, he just proposed last night, so it would make sense they wouldn't know yet."

"Ummm…" Despite his mental restraints, Troy still tried to utter out a reply as he turned back to the ponies around him. Looking at his fiancé and the four mares next to him, the Gryphon took another deep breath before he continued, "I… haven't talked to them in a while… so… they don't…"

Before Troy could finish, Rainbow Dash broke the silence. "Wait a minute… Are you saying that they don't know about Canvas?"

"Well…" Troy tried to add a rebuttal, saying, "They know that he exists… but…"

"Oh," said Twilight as her eyes widened in surprise, realizing why Troy was looking this nervous about wedding preparations. "You mean… they don't know that he's… your mate?"

"They…" Clenching his eyes shut, Troy breathed in and tried to muster up a response. Slowly opening his eyes, the Gryphon looked down to see Canvas next to him, who was keeping a supportive smile on his muzzle. Knowing what he had to admit, Troy slowly exhaled before he turned back to the others and opened his beak once more.

"They… they don’t know about… me…"

Even though Canvas was already aware of this, the other four ponies around Troy all looked rather surprised. Noticing the wide-eyed stares of the four mares around him, Troy sighed before he clarified his statement.

"They… they don’t know I'm gay."

Chapter Three: Family Woes

Due to the antics of Pinkie Pie, who was currently prepping Spike for a round of Pin the Tail on the Pony, not many ponies noticed what was going on at the refreshment table. Standing in front of the four mares, as well as his fiancé, Troy felt a large weight in his gut pulling him down, hard. Feeling the surprised stares from the ponies around him, the Gryphon knew that his admission was very unexpected, to say the least; he also knew there wasn't much else to say, making him feel trapped in silence with Canvas by his side.

Rainbow Dash, who kept a perplexed look on her face, was the first to speak up over the looming awkward silence. "So let me get this straight, Troy… You've been in a relationship with Canvas for a while now, and you just got engaged to him… But you haven’t come out of the stable to your folks yet?!"

Troy cringed a little and looked away from her. "Well… Canvas and I have only been together for a couple months."

"Two and a half," clarified the stallion next to him.

"Uh… yeah." Troy continued, "And there wasn't really a convenient time to tell my family about it. I mean, the last letter I sent to them was when Canvas got that commission from Celestia, and I didn’t really mention that much regarding us."

"Well, why not?" asked Lyra with curiosity. "Wasn't that the night you two got together in the first place?"

"Well, yeah," said the Gryphon as he looked over to her, "but we just became a couple then. I mean, I wanted our relationship to grow a little before I told them about it… Or about me…"

Troy then looked back at Canvas, seeing that the stallion didn’t look upset. Knowing that Canvas was aware of all of this, Troy sighed and held him closer, glad that he was being understanding about everything.

"And…" Troy said as he wrapped a wing around his fiancé, "Well… before I could think of telling them, I… I proposed."

As Troy kept his wing around the stallion, Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat and tried to add her input. "Well, Troy… Even though I'm rather surprised that you haven’t told your family yet, I guess it's understandable."

"But still," Rainbow Dash countered as she kept her focus on Troy, "you really should tell them, dude."

"I know," Troy said sternly as he turned to Rainbow Dash. Even though he wanted to keep his insistent stance, the Gryphon faltered a little as he continued in a more worrisome tone, "It's just that… I really don't know what to say to them."

Bon-Bon decided to chime in and put up her hoof to catch his attention. "Why not just tell them the truth? I mean, I get that telling them about a new relationship is a big step, bu—"

"It's not that!" said Troy, distressed as he looked at Bon-Bon. Holding his claw up to stop anypony else from speaking up, Troy took a deep breath before he said, "It's because… well… I'm worried how they would react when they see I'm with…"

Troy looked back at the stallion next to him, letting the rest of his statement speak for itself. Realizing what he was getting at, Rainbow Dash's eyes widened in realization. "Ohhhh… you mean… you think they'd freak out about you being with Canvas?"

"Maybe." Troy closed his eyes for a moment and tried to collect his thoughts. Sighing in an effort to dispel any tensions, the Gryphon reopened his eyes before he went on. "I mean, the Gryphon Kingdom isn't exactly… well… that open about those things."

"About what?" asked Bon-Bon. "You mean being gay?"

"Well, yeah. Sort of."

Seeing how surprised Lyra and Bon-Bon looked at that response, Troy knew that he had to clarify. "I mean… most Gryphons are sort of private about their lives in that way, so… There aren't that many who find it that important to… you know… come out of the coop."

Rainbow Dash tried not to snicker at Troy's version of that statement, which didn’t falter him much as he went on.

"Besides, a lot of Gryphons back home have this thing about how relationships should work. From a young age, most Gryphons are taught that relationships should mostly be about having kids."

"Oh, I know about this!" said Twilight Sparkle, not realizing that she interrupted Troy as she levitated out a book from her saddlebag. "When I was reading about social standards in the Gryphon Kingdom, I noticed a fairly high emphasis in most of my texts regarding procreation…" As the Princess floated several books around to find the appropriate pages, Troy was about to open his beak before Twilight continued in an academic tone.

"Apparently, Gryphons used to be an endangered species before they were discovered by ponies around 1200 years ago. But despite how effective Equestrian magic was in assisting the reproductive techniques of Gryphons, it seems that procreation is still highly regarded as an important trait within their culture. So even with the threat of extinction long behind them, most Gryphons place childbearing over romance, even today."

As Twilight looked back to the others with a proud smile on her face, everyone else was silent by either surprise or boredom. Even though Troy was surprised (and slightly impressed) that the alicorn knew so much about his culture, he also learned enough from Rainbow Dash about how dedicated the Princess could be to her studies. Before the silence could overcome the group—despite the party music and sounds of happy ponies in the background—Troy decided to clarify Twilight's findings.

"Umm… yeah, that's actually pretty spot-on. I mean, it's not like having kids is mandatory or anything, but it's still kind of a big deal. A lot of Gryphons see it as being more necessary than falling in love, so any kind of…" Troy tried to think of the right term "… Alternative relationship, is sort of looked down on."

Troy hung his head a little and looked at the floor, taking a moment before he added, "And… and my Dad is really traditional when it comes to those kinds of things."

"Oooohhhh…" Lyra tried to hide her cringe. "I see… So, you're kind of in a tight spot, aren’t you?"

"Yeah…" While Troy paused to let everything sink in, Canvas was quick to nuzzle the Gryphon's chest, making him feel slightly better. "I mean, it would've been awkward enough to tell them if it was just an interspecies relationship, but since it's interspecies and a same-sex one…"

Getting what Troy was trying to say, Rainbow Dash could only nod in understanding. "Gee, that… that actually sort of makes sense. I remember Gilda was put-off a little by that kind of stuff when she came to the Flight Academy. I guess that's sort of a cultural thing, huh?"

While Troy nodded to the Pegasus, Twilight put a hoof under her chin and pondered what to say. While her findings helped her understand why Troy was feeling so worried about this, she still wanted to help ease the Gryphon's tensions. After a few seconds of reflection, Twilight looked over to Troy with an optimistic look on her face.

"Troy, I just want you to know that as the Officiator for you and Canvas's wedding, I want to make sure that everything runs smoothly. So, if you need any help in informing your family about your engagement, don't hesitate to ask for my assistance."

Troy's eyebrows rose at hearing the Princess's offer, surprised that she was willing to help him out like this. Canvas placed a hoof on the Gryphon's shoulder as he added, "That's right. No matter what happens, I'm with you very step of the way."

With a bashful smile growing back on his beak, Troy nodded to both of them in gratitude. "Th… thanks, guys."

At seeing Troy's grateful smile to them, Rainbow Dash, along with Lyra and Bon-Bon, knew that he needed some good support right now. While the idea that Troy's family might not approve of his marriage was still a surprising thing to discover, none of them wanted him to think it was likely. Wanting to help out, Lyra caught Troy's attention.

"And you got our support too, Troy. If you want, we could even help you write a good letter to them or something."

Even though Lyra and her wife seemed happy with that option, Troy's smile skewed a little as he looked away. "Mmmmm… maybe…"

"Well, why not?" asked Bon-Bon. "Wouldn’t that be the best option? You can tell them at your own pace. Plus, you wouldn’t have to worry about being in front of them if a blow-out happens."

"Well," began the Gryphon as he rubbed the back of his neck, "it's just…"

Scrunching his face in a little, Troy tried to think of the right explanation to give the mares. Taking a moment, the Gryphon sighed before he opened his beak and said, "I just feel like this is something I should tell them personally."

Rainbow Dash decided to intervene as she asked, "But if you're worried about your parents freaking out about it, wouldn’t a letter be a better option for you?"

"Honestly, I don't," said Troy as he looked over at her. While Rainbow Dash was surprised he would say that, she wasn't able to reply before Troy kept going.

"I mean, for one thing, I just know that it would be really, really awkward if I just told them through a letter! What am I supposed to say? 'Oh, hey, Mom and Dad! I hope you guys are alright back in the Gryphon Kingdom. I'm still working in weather patrol with Rainbow Dash. How are my brothers doing? Oh, and by the way, I'm gay now, and I'm going to marry a stallion! Please don't hate me!'"

While Bon-Bon and Twilight were rather surprised by Troy's sudden outburst of anxiety, Lyra just looked skeptical as she replied, "Well, I think you can write a letter better than that, Troy."

"That's not the point!" shouted the Gryphon, who started to become more flustered. "I just… I just really don't feel like writing a letter is the best idea! I mean, yeah, I'm worried about telling my family about it personally, but I'd rather do that than just sending over a letter like some coward!"

"Troy," began Bon-Bon in an insistent tone, "it's not cowardly to write a letter."

Troy groaned and rubbed his temples with his talons. "I know, but… it just feels that way to me…"

Troy took a deep breath before he put down his claw and continued, "I'm not saying that it's a bad idea. And if the circumstances were different, then maybe I would do that. But… I just feel like I need to tell them face to face. Especially my Dad."

Canvas kept a hoof on Troy's shoulder, an understanding look on his face as he listened.

"I mean… One thing that my Dad always says is, 'Don’t back down from something you believe in,’ and… I think that applies here. If I just tell him through a letter, I know he won’t respect me enough to accept it, so…"

Troy closed his eyes and sighed, taking another second before he finished his statement.

"I need to tell him face-to-face. Man-to-man. No backing down… And no letters."

Another bout of silence swept in around the ponies and Troy. Even though Canvas didn’t show any objection to Troy's plan, it was clear that the other mares were more hesitant about it. However, before Rainbow Dash, Lyra, or Bon-Bon could say anything, Twilight was the first to respond.

"I agree."

"Huh?" said Lyra and Bon-Bon in unison.

"I agree with Troy," repeated the Princess before she turned to the Gryphon. "If you feel you need to tell your family about your engagement personally, you have my full support."

Even though she didn't want to oppose her friend's enthusiasm, Rainbow Dash still seemed wary about Troy's plan as she turned to the alicorn. "Twi, are you sure about this? I mean, Gryphons can get pretty temperamental. And if Troy's parents had an issue with him being with a dude…"

"Rainbow," Twilight said as she turned to her with a more determined look on her face, "do you remember when I found out about my brother's engagement through a letter, and how upset I was that he didn’t tell me about it personally?"

Rainbow Dash immediately winced and looked away from Twilight. "Errrrmmm… yeah… you were pretty ticked off about that…"

"Exactly," said the Princess before she looked back at Troy and Canvas. "I understand that this sort of thing is important news to reveal to family, so it should be done comfortably and respectfully. And if you need to tell them face to face, I'll be more than glad to help."

"Re… really?" Troy muttered with surprise.

"That's right," said Twilight with a smile. "Just inform me when you'd be ready, and I'll be sure to secure you a ticket so you can see your family in the Gryphon Kingdom. I can even get one for Canvas if you need it."

"Ummm… wow! Th-thank you!" Even though Troy wanted to make a light bow to show his appreciation, he knew that Twilight Sparkle wasn't comfortable with that sort of treatment as a Princess. Instead the Gryphon merely put out his claw, letting her shake it in agreement.

"But until then," Twilight added before putting down her hoof, "I really don't think you should worry about it right now. Just appreciate the party, and unwind a bit with your fiancé."

With a warm smile on his beak, Troy nodded to the Princess before looking down at Canvas. After the engaged couple shared a quick kiss to alleviate any leftover tension, Rainbow Dash looked around before asking, "Hey Troy, you have a stereo around here or something?"

"Ummm…" Troy tried to look through the crowd as he responded to the Pegasus, "I have a record player just outside the door to Canvas's studio, but I mostly have my opera records and oooooohhhhh nnnoooooo…"

Seeing his record player from his spot by the refreshment table, Troy's eyes widened as he saw who was by it. A yellow Pegasus, with a flowing pink mane and three butterflies on her flank, was carefully looking at the rack of records next to the Gryphon's record player.

Knowing what was in his collection, the Gryphon quickly tried to run over to her. After meeting Fluttershy and knowing how sensitive she could be, Troy really didn’t want her to see some of the records he had. While he was mostly into opera and classical music, the dozen or so death metal records given to him from his brother might give the mare a light heart attack.

"Oh… oh my…"

Hearing Fluttershy's voice, Troy cringed as he walked up to her, already knowing without even looking that she saw at least one of records from his brother's band, Talon Ripper. Noticing that he was coming up to her, Fluttershy quickly stepped back from the record player and looked away timidly.

"Oh! Um… sorry, I… I didn’t mean to… you know…"

Seeing how much she was blushing, Troy put up a claw and tried to make her feel better. "It's alright, Fluttershy. I don’t mind."

The mare looked back at Troy's records for a second, making him quickly add, "Just so you know, those… those metal records in there aren’t mine. They're… they're my brother's."

"Oh," muttered Fluttershy as her eyebrows raised up a little, before she turned over to Troy with a slightly surprised look on her face. "So… you don't listen to those?"

"No!" Troy quickly put his claws up. "No, no, no, no, no! I don't, it's… not really my thing."

"Oh, um… okay." Fluttershy looked away again for a second before she pulled an envelope from under her wing. "I, uh… wanted to give you and Canvas something as a present, so… here you go."

Fluttershy smiled faintly as she gave Troy her gift. While he wanted to say something about how she didn’t need to give him anything, Troy decided to just accept it with a smile of his own. Canvas, who finally managed to get through the crowds over to his fiancé, looked over Troy's shoulder and tried to see what he had.

"Oh, wow!" Troy didn't know what else to say as opened the envelope, revealing two passes to the Ponyville Spa. "Fluttershy, you didn't have to get us something like this."

"Oh, I… I didn’t mean to get anything too excessive," began the yellow Pegasus as she looked away bashfully, "I just… thought it would be a nice gift for you two."

"Well, it's really nice," said Canvas as he got a closer look at the tickets. "Thank you so much, Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy's blush grew a little deeper as she nodded to the stallion. "You… you're welcome." She then turned back to Troy before she said, "And I also wanted to show my appreciation for when you helped my animals during that heat wave."

While Canvas almost forgot that his fiancé did something like that, Troy tried to look away from Fluttershy before she added, "Just so you know, Harry is really sorry about being too rough with you."

"Harry?" asked Canvas curiously.

"Oh, yes," said Fluttershy as she turned back to Canvas. "Harry is a bear I take care of. When Troy was helping cool down my pets, he and Harry had a… little play-fight."

From the awkward look on the Gryphon's face, Canvas could tell that Troy probably had a different way of describing it. Before the stallion could ask what happened, Troy's voice came out feebly as he kept his eyes away from Fluttershy. "Umm… yeah… That guy was really protective of his fish…"

Canvas giggled a little at his fiancé's comment, making him not notice when a white unicorn rushed up to them with a large camera. With a huge smile on her face, Rarity grabbed their attention and spoke up in a posh voice.

"Alright, gentlecolts!" shouted the unicorn gleefully. "I want lots of pictures of you two for my wedding preparations, so give me a big smile!"

Seeing the camera, Troy immediately grew a smile again as he grabbed Canvas. Lifting him up with his claws, Troy held Canvas in his grasp while standing on his hindlegs. Even though being lifted so suddenly was surprising to the stallion, Canvas didn’t mind one bit. Waiting until the two looked at the camera with big smiles, Rarity held the camera with her magic and took a photo of Troy carrying Canvas lovingly.

After a few more hours of celebrations and antics, Pinkie Pie's surprise party for Canvas and Troy finally came to a close. After everything was cleaned up and everypony gave their thanks before leaving, the engaged couple finally headed back upstairs, where their loft was.

Standing on the second floor of the large barn, Canvas and Troy's bedroom actually didn’t have much in it. Aside from the large wardrobe placed by the stairs, one of the only pieces of furniture in the space was their nest. Even though it was merely a king-sized mattress with dozens of blankets and comforters arranged around it, it still resembled a nest well enough for Troy's tastes. However, despite their intentions earlier, all that either one wanted to do right now was sleep. They both plopped into the nest carelessly.

"Uuuuhhhhh…" The stallion moaned as he fell face-first onto the bedding. "You gotta admit… Pinkie Pie knows how to throw a celebration."

"Yeah…" Due to how spent he felt after hours of partying, Troy was barely able to give much of a response while he laid down next to Canvas.

However, before either one could start to sleep, Canvas took a moment before he spoke up in a tired tone. "Hey, Troy?"

Troy slowly reopened his eyes before he replied, "Yeah, hon?"

"I was just wondering…" Before he could complete his question, the stallion yawned lightly. "… Do you… do you think I should come with you when you tell your family?"

Troy's eyes widened a little in surprise, not expecting his fiancé to ask something like that. However, instead of being too surprised to stay silent, the Gryphon only thought about it for a second before he sighed. "I… I'm not sure…"

Troy repositioned himself so he was now lying on his back, his head resting on the side of the nest as he pondered what to do. "I mean… I'd love to show you the Gryphon Kingdom sometime, especially Highmount. They have a pretty awesome art museum there."

"Really?" said Canvas, beginning to show new interest. While Troy laid on his back, the stallion crawled over to him, a smile on his face as he laid on top of the Gryphon's stomach. With Canvas looking down on top of him, Troy gave a light smile back.

"Yeah, it's really nice. And you wouldn't believe how good the food back home is."

Canvas smirked as he looked down at his fiancé. "Are you saying it's better than my cooking?"

Troy scoffed a little and looked away from Canvas's stare on him. "Well, I like to eat meat, so there's definitely a few meals I miss from back home…"

Canvas giggled a little at the Gryphon's comment, which helped to ease any looming tension. However, Troy's faint smile slowly faded as he thought about Canvas's original question. "But still… I know there's a huge heat wave going on right now. And it's not like the ones around here. Gryphon heat waves are like, severely bad." Troy looked up to Canvas as he brought a claw to his face. "And I really don’t want you to get heat stroke or anything."

Canvas kept his smile as he felt Troy's talons brush the fur on his face. Gently petting the stallion on top of him, Troy took a moment before he breathed in deeply. Knowing what else was keeping him from wanting Canvas to come along, Troy slowly exhaled before he opened his beak. "And plus… I really… really… don’t want you to get hurt if my family overreacts."

"Troy," said Canvas in a stern tone as his smile dropped. Even though he understood Troy's worries, he certainly didn’t want him to be this worked-up about it right now. "You shouldn’t be worrying about me. This is about you, okay?"

Troy sighed and slowly nodded. Even though he was still fairly worried about Canvas in relation to his own family, Troy knew that he was right. However, despite wanting to stay hopeful that things would go smoothly enough, the Gryphon knew what he had to say to his fiancé right now. "Canvas, I… I really think I need to go by myself. You know… to make things a bit easier."

Canvas gave an understanding nod to the Gryphon before giving him a tight hug. Feeling the stallion's grip on him, Troy hugged him back as he added, "You know I'd love to bring you, but…"

"It's okay, Troy," said Canvas in a caring tone as he slowly let go, lifting himself so he was now sitting on top of Troy. Canvas carried a warm smile on his muzzle as he added, "You don't have to feel bad about it. I completely understand."

With a grateful smile growing on his beak, Troy lifted a claw and stroked the stallion's chestnut mane. Closing his eyes, Canvas savored the feeling of Troy's talons gently caressing him like this, glad that the Gryphon could feel a little better about this decision. As he slowly reopened his eyes, Canvas kept his sights on his fiancé and tried to give more support. "Besides… if anypony knows how hard it can be to come out to family, it would be me, so…"

Hearing that, Troy's smile dropped, replaced instead with a look of apprehension. Knowing exactly what it was the stallion was referring to, Troy tried to hide his unease. Still, Canvas noticed how much the Gryphon's mood changed, Realizing that he may have upset the Gryphon by bringing that up, Canvas sighed and looked away.

"I… I didn’t mean to… you know…"

Troy didn’t say a word to reply to him. Instead, the Gryphon lifted himself up before pulling Canvas in for a tight hug. Knowing how much Canvas went through before they first met, Troy hated to be reminded of the stallion's past. However, even though he knew that Canvas was just trying to make a point, it still made Troy feel upset enough to want to hug him tightly.

Despite wanting to say something, Canvas stayed silent for a moment as he felt the Gryphon's hug. Knowing how much Troy really cared about him, Canvas realized how bringing up his own family issues may have upset him. He closed his eyes as he hugged him back.

After a moment of silence, Canvas finally tried to speak again as he let go of his fiancé. "Troy… I didn't mean to bring it up like that."

"I know," Troy said as he kept his grip on him, "I get what you're saying, but…" Troy sighed before he finished his statement. "I just hate thinking about what happened to you."

"It's alright," said Canvas as he nuzzled Troy's neck. While the memories from when he first came out still hurt him badly, Canvas breathed in as he felt Troy's warmth, knowing that he'd moved on enough to not let it affect him now.

Since he knew that his fiancé was probably worried about it because of his own family, Canvas held him for another second before pulling back. Keeping a stern look on his face, Canvas looked Troy dead in the eyes as he spoke in an insistent tone. "But Troy… I don’t want you to think for even a second… that anything like that will happen to you, okay?"

Seeing how firm the stallion looked as he said that, Troy could only blink before nodding. However, Canvas could still tell there was a lot of doubt in the Gryphon's golden eyes, making him move in closer as he continued to speak.

"I'm serious. I know you're worried about your family, but I don’t want to see you act like this because of me. What happened with my Dad is not going to happen to you."

Even though he was still obviously worried, Troy knew he couldn’t make his fiancé become concerned like this. Exhaling deeply, the Gryphon gave a stronger nod to Canvas, taking a moment before he spoke. "Ye… yeah… You… You're right…"

Canvas pulled Troy in for another tight hug, hoping that he could get rid of any anxieties that he unintentionally stirred. Closing his eyes, Troy nuzzled the side of Canvas's head. Feeling the stallion's soft fur brush against his feathers, Troy breathed in for a moment before he spoke in a soft tone.

"You know… sometimes I wonder what I did… to deserve someone as great as you…"

Hearing that, Canvas carried a skeptical look on his face as he pulled back. "Seriously?" He asked with a smirk, "Where should I start? When you saved my life? When you became my best friend? When you helped me get my life back together?"

The Gryphon grew a bashful smile on his beak as he looked away from him. Wanting to cheer Troy up, Canvas kept his smile as he spoke. "Troy, do you know why I love you? Why I love being with you? Why I said yes the instant you proposed to me?"

With his smile growing a little bigger, Troy slowly looked back at the stallion with a light blush as he said jokingly, "I dunno… the awesome sex?"

Canvas tried not to laugh too loud as he looked away for a moment. "No, not that!" Canvas waited until his laughter subsided before he turned back to Troy with a devilish grin. "Although, I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a big incentive…"

Canvas then poked a hoof at Troy's chest and added with a sultry tone, "And I mean, big…"

Troy's blush was now at a rather deep red as he kept his cheeky smile, not realizing that the feathers on his head were beginning to ruffle out a little.

"But…" Canvas continued as he tried to return the conversation to the starting point, "The reason that I fell in love with you… The reason I care about you so much… The reason I want to spend the rest of my life with you…"

Canvas then placed his hooves on Troy's shoulders as he went on. "… Is because you were always… always there for me."

With a compassionate smile on his face, Canvas held Troy in closer as he continued in a loving tone, "You were there for me ever since we first met… You became my first real friend… You became my best friend… And you were there for me when I needed someone… even at my lowest point."

With his eyes beginning to well up, Canvas hugged Troy tighter than before, clenching his eyes shut as he spoke from the heart. "I love you, Troy. There's nothing in the world that I love more than you. And I want you to be happy… I want you to be as happy as I am everyday with you by my side."

Troy immediately hugged the pony back, beginning to feel a lot better about himself. Hoping to really help his fiancé when he needed him like this, Canvas continued to hug him through his words. "You were always there for me, Troy… So, I'm always going to be there for you. No matter what you have to do, I just want you to know that I'm never going to leave your side. Because I love you…"

Canvas then finally pulled his head back, looking straight at Troy's golden (and slightly wet) eyes as he finished his statement.

"… And because that's what a good husband does."

With that, Canvas and Troy moved in again. The two shared a deep kiss within the darkness of their bedroom.

However, as the stallion and Gryphon kept each other in loving embrace in their nest, neither of them seemed to notice the wardrobe as its doors slowly opened. Without making a sound, Pinkie Pie walked out of the wardrobe with tears welling in her eyes, keeping a warm smile on her face before she broke the silence.

"I just want to say…"

Canvas and Troy both screamed out in shock, not expecting to hear another voice in their room. Looking over at Pinkie Pie with wide-eyed stares of stunned surprise, Canvas and Troy stayed dead silent before she continued.

"... That was really beautiful, guys."

Looking especially moved by their tender moment, Pinkie Pie kept her caring smile as she stood in front of Troy and Canvas, not noticing how much she freaked both of them out by hiding in their closet like that. After a moment of silence, Pinkie Pie looked around a bit before she spoke cheerfully.

"Well, good night!"

With that, Pinkie Pie casually walked out of their bedroom, taking the stairs as she trotted out of their home. Still in stunned silence, neither one was sure what the buck to say at that moment. After looking back at each other to clarify that what happened was real, Troy was the first to speak up as he opened his beak.

"Well…

"At least she didn’t walk in on us doing it."

Chapter Four: Change of Plans

Troy was unable to see a single thing. Even if he didn't have his eyes covered up, he wouldn’t be able to see much in the darkened room he was in right now.

Because of that, the Gryphon could only try to struggle in his restraints as he tried to move as much as he could; however, the chains around his legs and claws were keeping him from moving even the slightest inch. Being held down by all fours, Troy couldn't even raise his back because of the weights placed on his wings.

Hearing the metal wrapped around him clanking with each forced movement, Troy was growing more fearful with every passing second, unable to see a thing with the blindfold over his eyes. And despite wanting to say something, anything to break the dead silence, the gag in his beak only allowed him to breathe in heavy pants.

After what felt like an eternity of forced solitude and restraint, the blindfold was quickly removed from Troy's eyes. A bright light flooded in, almost blinding the Gryphon as he tried to look away and clench his eyes shut.

After attempting to adjust to the light, Troy slowly turned back to the source of the brightness. Seeing what was in front of him, Troy's eyes widened in terror, despite how nearly blinded he already was.

Several large pedestals towered over the chained Gryphon, each made of cold grey stone as they loomed against the darkness. Perched on top of each pedestal were Gryphons in black cloaks, each one looking as old as time itself as they looked down at Troy with cold stares, almost as if they were looking into his very soul.

Even if he wasn't chained to the floor right now, Troy was still frozen in pure fear as he felt the ancient eyes upon him. Before he could try to speak through the gag in his beak, Troy's eardrums almost broke from the thundering voice above him.

"Troius Clawston…"

Shaking heavily in his restraints, Troy could only look up at the pedestal directly above him, where a grey-and-white Gryphon was staring down at him. With eyes as red and macabre as fresh blood, the ancient Gryphon stared at Troy with the coldest form of anger.

This kind of anger wasn't vibrant or energetic, or even fairly noticeable at first. But from the way his red eyes pierced into Troy's fearful golden ones, the burning intensity coming from them were of the purest form of antagonism. One that could only be held from the most stoic of stances in order to act in a calculated manner with the coldest of blood.

"…You are brought here today for your acts against common decency. For you have broken the most sacred ethics of all Gryphon kind…"

Troy began to struggle in an attempt to back away from the Gryphons above him. The chains wouldn't allow him to move a single inch. Trembling within his restraints, Troy was unable to get a single word in as the booming voice from above continued.

"Do have anything to say in your defense, Mister Clawston?"

The gag was removed from his beak. Troy immediately tried to thrash against his restraints violently.

"L-let me go! I… I didn’t do anything wrong! I SHOULDN’T BE HERE!!!"

The stoic stares from the Gryphons didn’t change one bit, despite Troy's attempts to break himself free. Perched above like a vulture awaiting a new corpse, the white Gryphon's eyes narrowed on Troy with cold malice, before he spoke in a brooding tone.

"For bedding outside of your own species, as well as outside mandatory orientation…

"You are ordered to be excommunicated."

Troy clenched his eyes shut as he thrashed harder against the chains binding him. Only with the thoughts of Canvas in his mind, all that Troy wanted to do was fly back home. However, the sound of metal unsheathing made Troy suddenly halt. His eyes shot open in pure, unbridled fear.

"Remove his wings."

Troy felt someone yank his wings down all the way, eliciting a horrified scream from him when he saw the fate before him.

A large Gryphon was now standing in front him in a black cloak and hood that covered his face. Troy wasn't able to move an inch from what he saw.

With a large broadsword in his claws, the hooded Gryphon paid no attention to Troy's cries of terror as he lifted the blade.

As the large sword rose above the Gryphon's head, a flash of light reflected off the polished steel, blinding Troy as he tried to scream.

Troy gasped as he shot up from his nest, sweat beading from his feathers as he sat up, his heart thundering in his chest. Breathing heavily, Troy shot his claws up and felt around his body frantically. Slowly, the Gryphon's terrified panic began to subside as he closed his eyes, sighing in relief as he felt his wings still on his back, and no chains on any of his limbs.

Looking around his surroundings, Troy was happy to see he was still in his home in Equestria, where the morning light was beginning to shine in through the bedroom window.

As he breathed out deeply in relief, Troy felt the nest begin to move a little as Canvas started to stir himself awake.

"T-Troy?" asked the stallion in a worried (albeit still groggy) tone as he tried to lift himself from his pillows. "Wha… What's wrong, honey?"

Keeping his eyes closed, Troy breathed out heavily again before he tried to speak in a less flustered tone of voice. "N-nothing, Canvas. I… I'm fine."

Even though he just woke up, Canvas was able to see from the worried look on Troy's face that he wasn't being entirely truthful. Knowing what had happened again, Canvas lifted himself up before wrapping his hooves around the Gryphon. Nuzzling his fiancé's silver feathers, Canvas held him tightly as he spoke in a faint and warm tone.

"Did you have another bad dream?"

Opening his eyes to look down at the stallion, Troy could only sigh before nodding. "Ye… yeah. The same one as last night."

Canvas sat up and pulled Troy in for a tight hug. The week since the two of them returned home, Troy had experienced bad dreams about returning to his family almost every night. While the dreams may have varied in description or detail, all of them dealt with the same sort of scenario for Troy: he would lose everything as soon as he admitted to being with Canvas.

Clenching his eyes shut, Troy hugged the stallion back as tightly as he could. "I… I'm sorry for being this freaked-out about it."

"Troy, it's alright. Don't feel bad about it." Canvas pulled his head back before he spoke in a more insistent tone to the Gryphon. "I told you, I understand completely. You have no reason to feel guilty about being worried."

"I know," began Troy as he looked away from his fiancé for a moment, "it's just…" Looking more worried about his recent nightmares, Troy sighed again before he reopened his beak. "I… I think the dreams are getting worse."

Canvas pulled him in for another hug before kissing him gently on the cheek. "It's okay. It was just a dream, just like all the others."

Even though it took a moment for him to let that statement sink in, Troy slowly began to nod before looking back at Canvas. Keeping a warm smile on his tired face, the stallion kept his blue eyes on the Gryphon's before kissing him on the beak. Slowly, Troy began to feel slightly better with Canvas in his grasp, despite how increasingly bad his dreams were becoming recently.

After letting his lips linger for another moment as they pressed against Troy's beak, Canvas slowly pulled back. Knowing how badly his fiancé's recent nightmares had been getting to him, Canvas put a hoof up to his cheek before speaking in a caring tone.

"Troy, remember… You don't have to go back for another couple of weeks. There's no reason for you to worry about it right now."

"Yeah, I know…" Even though he tried to keep a smile on his beak, a worried look still crept up on Troy's face as he looked away. "It's just… I haven't been back there in almost a year…"

Canvas merely sighed with a smile on his muzzle before he replied, "Well, at least it would be nice to see your old home again. And I'm sure your family will be glad to see you."

Canvas then lowered himself back onto the pillows, resting within the nest as he continued, "But there's no reason to get worked up about it now. This is the first time since we got home that we actually have a day off, and I want you to relax for once."

Looking down at the stallion resting beside him, Troy finally managed to smile again as he realized that he had a point. As soon as the two got back from Canterlot, both of them had been rather busy with other plans.

Aside from Rarity taking control as their wedding planner and asking them every mundane question imaginable, Troy and Canvas were occupied with other tasks. While Troy was busy assisting the Weather Team on upcoming winter duties, Canvas was insistent on finishing the murals along their barn before the cold weather settled in. Now, with most of their other tasks either finished or close to completion, the couple knew that they finally had a peaceful day to themselves.

Lowering himself on top of Canvas, Troy nestled in the nest, purposely burrowing the stallion underneath his massive body. Feeling the Gryphon's warm fur and feathers completely envelop him, Canvas sighed in pleasure as he began to settle between the nest and his fiancé. Closing their eyes, the two sighed in bliss as they began to rest again in the early morning light.

"Mmmmmm…" Canvas could barely give off more than a mere moan at first, but eventually managed to say in a drifting voice, "…This… is much better…"

"I agree," murmured Troy as he began to grow tired again. "Maybe we should just stay like this all day… We don't even need to leave the nest…"

Canvas smiled through his tired state as he nuzzled the Gryphon on top of him. "That… sounds perfect…"

For a while, silence began to fill the bedroom again as the stallion and Gryphon rested in each other's comfort. Feeling the emanating warmth from Canvas underneath him like this, all of Troy's worries began to go away again. Sighing in bliss, Troy nuzzled the pony with loving care, knowing that he was right about needing to relax.

Even though he was still worried about going back to the Gryphon Kingdom and facing his family, it was no reason to let his nightmares get to him. Settling in the nest, Troy slowly began to rest with his love.

After a quick fidget, Canvas's eyes reopened. He started to look more annoyed than before. After trying to get comfortable for another moment, Canvas groaned under his breath before he spoke up to his fiancé.

"Hey, Troy?"

Troy moaned a little before he slowly reopened his eyes. "Yeah… What is it?"

"I…

"I have to pee."

Troy looked down at the stallion, seeing how Canvas was looking back up at him with a slightly embarrassed look on his face. Even though he didn’t want either of them to get up from this comfortable position right now, Troy knew he didn’t have much of a choice. Groaning in slight disappointment, Troy lifted himself up, letting Canvas scramble out of the nest.

"Sorry, I'll be right back!"

Canvas rushed down the stairs from their loft area, leaving Troy to slump back in the nest. Laying on his back, Troy sighed again as he looked up to the ceiling, still feeling glad about how peaceful this morning felt. However, before Troy could attempt to rest in the bedding without his stallion, Troy became more irritated as he realized what else he was feeling.

"Dammit," muttered the Gryphon under his breath, "now I have to pee."

Even though the Autumn skies above Equestria had been growing greyer with each passing day, it only helped to make Canvas and Troy's home stand out even more than before. Formally boasting a bright coat of white, Canvas's talents with a paintbrush certainly didn’t go to waste. Every color imaginable graced along the outside of their home, now covering almost every square foot of the barn's massive walls.

With different tones and shades of paint blending together in unique swirls and splashes, the barn certainly looked a lot more like a home fit for an artist. While the top half was painted with more simplistic patterns—mostly since Troy's painting skills weren't as well-honed as his fiancé's—it still blended surprisingly well with Canvas's contributions along the bottom half of the barn, which were more complex and detailed.

The only space that wasn't fully painted was the back end of the barn, and the only reason for that was because Troy's shower was there. Shortly after moving in with the stallion, Troy had to get a shower he could actually use, since Canvas's bathroom was too small for him to properly bathe himself. Because of that, the Apple Family was gracious enough to help install an outside shower at the rear of their home, which was good enough to satisfy the Gryphon.

While Troy took a warm shower under the cool morning air, Canvas was busy in the kitchen making breakfast for the both of them.

By the time Troy finished his shower and dried himself off, the smell of frying batter was enough to make Troy smile widely as he walked into the kitchen. Canvas, a determined grin on his muzzle and a blue apron over his chest, was focused on getting his newest culinary attempt ready for them.

Troy looked over Canvas's shoulder, his eyes widening as he realized what was being fried in oil on the pan. With small bits of dough sticking on Canvas's aqua fur, Troy was able to see from the rings of frying dough what Canvas was trying to make today.

"Whoa!" Troy exclaimed with surprise. "You're making doughnuts?!"

"Yep!" said Canvas in a chipper tone before grabbing the tongs in his teeth and flipping the frying dough over in the pan. "I wanted to try this for a while, but I never had the chance. I gotta say, though, this took a lot more preparation than I thought."

Noticing all the dirtied bowls and cooking tools in the sink nearby, Troy could only nod. Even though he wanted to say something about Canvas doing something so tricky on their day off, Troy decided not to mess up how cheerful the stallion looked right now.

"Well…" Troy looked over at the plate of already-cooked doughnuts cooling on a plate near the stove. Smelling the freshly fried batter, Troy grew a smirk on his beak before saying, "I have to admit… that smells delicious already."

"Really?" said Canvas with a skeptical brow as he looked back at Troy. "I didn’t even put on the sugar yet."

Troy's grin became more sensual as he moved in closer to the stallion. "Oh, don't worry about that…" Troy then grabbed Canvas's flank with a claw, making the stallion gasp in surprise before he added, "I know you have plenty of sugar for me…"

Blushing heavily against his aqua fur, Canvas gave a cheeky grin back to his fiancé while the last of the doughnuts continued to fry. Holding the stallion in his claws, Troy pushed him against the fridge before he bent into his muzzle. Closing his eyes, Canvas no longer thought about anything except the Gryphon in front of him as they began to make out in their kitchen.

As their tongues worked into each other's mouths with passionate intensity, neither of them noticed how much Troy's long tail was wagging in excitement behind him. Flicking back and forth like a snake under a charmer's spell, the Gryphon's grey tail flailed around the kitchen, the patch of tan fur at the end brushing against every surface it was able to reach.

Suddenly, a loud "clang" could be heard after one particularly hard flick of the Gryphon's tail, which happened to hit the plate of finished doughnuts.

"Oh crap!" shouted Canvas as he quickly released his mouth from Troy's beak.

Despite his heavy blush, Canvas still looked upset as he saw his cooked pastries get flung off the counter and fall onto the floor. "Oh man!" He moaned in a disheartened tone. "I worked really hard on those!"

"I'm sorry!" Troy let go of Canvas and picked up the plate from the floor. Glad that the impact didn't break the plate, Troy began to pick up the doughnuts, which were scattered on the linoleum floor. "Don't worry, the floor is clean. I'll still eat them."

Canvas sighed a little as he looked away. "Yeah, but still…"

Clearly looking disappointed about their breakfast being messed up like that, Canvas huffed a little as he walked back to the finished doughnuts in the pan. By the time he got out the last of the fried rings and placed them on the plate with the others, Canvas looked back to see Troy with a guilty look on his face.

"I'm really sorry, Canvas," said Troy, ashamed. "I… probably shouldn’t have done that while you were cooking."

"Well…" Canvas looked back to the stove, making sure the burner was off before he turned back to the Gryphon. "It probably wasn't a great idea to do that while I was working with boiling oil."

Troy cringed a little as he looked away. A more forgiving smile came up on Canvas’s muzzle as he continued, "But it's fine, Troy. I'm not mad, I swear."

Surprised to hear that, Troy looked back at Canvas with raised eyebrows. "Really?"

Canvas kept his smile as he walked back over to him. "Really. I know you were just wanting to have a little fun…"

To show that he really wasn't upset, Canvas gave Troy a quick peck on the beak, making the Gryphon blush a little as he smiled. Keeping close to him, Canvas's grin became more sultry as he narrowed his eyes on his Gryphon. "Besides… It's not like we have to stop…"

Troy's eyes narrowed back at Canvas as he grew a smirk of his own. However, before the two could commence anything this early in the morning, Derpy's voice called out from outside.

"Mail call!"

Taking a second to process the fact that they weren't alone anymore, Canvas and Troy both laughed a little before the stallion let go.

"Come on in!" shouted Canvas as he looked around the kitchen, making sure nothing was out of place or evident that they were about to have a morning quickie.

With a smile on her face, Derpy walked in from the side door into Canvas and Troy's living space. Despite the fact that she wasn't wearing an official mailmare cap like the other postal workers, the large saddlebag propped on her back was enough to indicate she was part of the Ponyville's mail delivery service.

"Hey guys!" said Derpy in a chipper tone as she trotted over to them outside the kitchen. "How's engaged life treating you?"

Troy chuckled a little as he pulled Canvas in closer with his wing. "No complaints so far."

Leaning against the Gryphon, Canvas kept a bright smile on his face as he looked over at Derpy. "Also, thanks for that waffle maker! That was a great gift."

Derpy blushed a little as she looked away from the two. "Oh, that was just a little something I thought would be nice for you guys."

"Hey, that gift was awesome!" added Troy with a smile on his beak. "Don't feel bashful about it."

"Well, thanks," said the Pegasus as she looked back them with a grateful smile. Derpy then opened her saddlebag with a wing before she peered into it to get their mail. Carrying a smile on her face, Derpy quickly pulled out the mail for both of them, which included several envelopes, and a thin, brown box for Troy.

"This was sent to your old address, Troy," said Derpy as she handed the package to the Gryphon. "You might need to let whoever sent that know you live here now."

While Derpy was busy closing her saddlebag back up, Canvas shuffled through the envelopes with his hooves, not noticing how Troy was looking slightly more worried about the package in his claws. "Oh nice!" said the stallion in a happy tone as he opened one of the envelopes. "I'm approved for the Running of the Leaves this year!"

"Cool!" said Derpy before she looked over at Troy. "Are you running in that, too?"

Troy almost didn’t hear Derpy's question, focused mostly on the box in his claws. However, before Derpy could say anything, the Gryphon quickly shook himself back into reality before he looked back at her. "Oh! Um… no. I have to assist in weather conditions during that." Troy then looked over at his fiancé before adding, "But I'm kinda surprised that Canvas wants to do that, considering it's so close to his birthday."

"Troy, I already told you," began the stallion as he looked up from his officiating letter, "I wanted to do something like this for a while. Just because it's on the day after my birthday doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do it."

"Well…" Derpy decided to add her own input as she said with a smile, "It might not be a bad idea. I mean, it would be a good way to burn off all that birthday cake."

"Exactly," said Canvas with a confident smirk as he looked back at his fiancé.

The stallion noticed that Troy was looking at his package again with worry in his eyes. Before he could ask what was up, Canvas didn't notice Derpy looking into their kitchen with curious, derped eyes.

"Hey, guys… Why are there doughnuts on the floor?"

Canvas and Troy both looked back at their kitchen, noticing that a couple doughnuts that hadn’t been picked up yet were still on the floor.

"You know that's how you get ants, right?"

"Oh, ummm…" Canvas looked back to Derpy with a slightly embarrassed look on his face, trying to think of a way to explain how their makeout session caused the mess. "Well, Troy was getting a little frisky… and…"

Derpy's eyes narrowed on the two for a second, before her eyebrows raised in understanding. "Ohhhhh…" A sly smirk came up on the Pegasus's muzzle as she eyed the couple. "I get it…."

Derpy raised a hoof and pointed at the two, keeping a cheeky grin as she asked, "You two guys were playing a dirty version of ring-toss with doughnuts?"

"What?!" said Canvas and Troy in unison as they looked at Derpy with confused looks on their faces.

"Don't worry," began the Pegasus as she started to head off, "I won't say anything. Have fun, you two!"

Before either of them could say anything in protest, Derpy already left their home, giggling to herself. Blinking a few times, Canvas looked down to the ground as he tried to contemplate Derpy's assumption.

"Ring toss? What did she mean by that? Like, what did she think we were tossing the doughnuts on? There aren't any poles to throw…. OH!"

Canvas looked back to the doughnuts on the floor with wide-open eyes, realizing what Derpy had assumed they were doing.

"Ugh, Derpy's a weirdo! That…" Canvas's disgusted tone slowly began to change. He raised eyebrows raised a little in contemplation. "…That's actually an interesting idea."

Not really listening to his fiancé, Troy used a talon to open the box in his claws. Cutting the packaging tape open, the Gryphon opened the box before he pulled out a letter from inside.

Looking up at him, Canvas noticed Troy's eyes darting over the letter, reading it rapidly. With a wary tone in his voice, Canvas tried to get his fiancé's attention. "Troy? Is… is it a letter from your folks?"

"Yeah…" Reading the letter, Troy's response came out in almost a murmur as he scanned the page. As he neared the end of the letter, Troy's talons gripped the paper tightly and his eyes widened in shock.

"Oh, crap…"

"What?"

"They… They're…"

Troy's claws shook a little as he clutched into the letter. Looking back at Canvas, the Gryphon's face looked much more grave as he tried to finish.

"They're… they're coming here."

Chapter Five: Oh Brother

Canvas rose both eyebrows. "Really? Your family is coming to Equestria?"

"Umm-hmm." Keeping his beak shut, Troy could barely make much of a reply. Instead, the Gryphon just nodded before handing the letter to Canvas. Holding the wrinkled paper in his hooves, Canvas cleared his throat before he read the letter out loud.

"Dear Troius… I know it's been a while since the last time we wrote to you, but you haven’t sent a letter yourself in over a month. I know you might be busy in Equestria, but that doesn’t mean you can’t write to us more often."

Canvas looked up at the Gryphon, who was staring down at the floor with a worried look on his face. Canvas turned his attention back at the letter as he continued to read.

"It's hard to believe that, just ten months ago, you left for Equestria. While I wasn't a big fan of your decision, I know that it was something you really wanted to do, and I won't fault you for doing what makes you happy. And considering how happy you sounded in your previous letters to us, your Father and I decided to take some time off and visit you."

Troy's talons began tapping at the floor quickly while he tried to hide his growing tensions. Even though he was worried about his fiancé acting like this, Canvas didn’t stop reading the letter out loud.

"I'm not sure when this letter will arrive, but we're planning to come to Equestria in the middle of November. Also, your brothers are planning to come over as well. They've all really missed you, so be nice when they come by. And we're all looking forward to seeing you, and meeting your friends… Sincerely, Mom."

Canvas narrowed his eyes at the bottom of the letter as he read the P.S.

"Also, Blade sent you his newest Talon Ripper album, Changeling Slaughterhouse."

Canvas took note of the album, which was still in the box on the dining room table. Realizing why Troy was looking so worried, Canvas put down the letter and shifted his attention to the Gryphon.

Breathing heavily, Troy looked close to hyperventilating as he muttered under his rapid breath, "Two weeks… Two weeks… They're coming here in two bucking weeks!"

"Troy!" Canvas put his hooves up and grabbed the Gryphon by the shoulders. "It's okay! This isn't anything to wor—"

"Two weeks!" Troy shouted in a panic as he pulled himself away from Canvas. Troy then began to pace around the living space in a frantic manner, worrying Canvas even more as he heard the Gryphon continue to ramble to himself. "They'll be here in two weeks! Here! They'll see where I live! They'll see that I'm living on the ground! With a stallion! That I'm engaged to a stallion!!!"

Canvas ran back into the kitchen. Troy didn’t notice at all as he continued to pace in frantic circles.

"Oh, nonononono! This is not good, this is not good! They're gonna freak out! They're gonna see me with a guy, and they'll never speak to me again! I don’t know what to do, Canvas! I have absolutely no idea wha—"

SPLASH!

A splash of cold water hit Troy directly in the face, startling him enough to pause his panicked movements. Canvas, who was breathing heavily, kept his eyes on the Gryphon while holding a now-empty glass in his hoof. Looking up at his fiancé, Canvas hoped that he managed to calm down Troy enough to speak.

After a few seconds of silence, Troy blinked rapidly before looking down at Canvas. "Did… did you just throw water in my face?"

"Well," began the stallion as he looked away nervously, "I really didn’t want to slap you…"

Canvas took a deep breath before he looked back up at Troy with a more stern look on his face. "But you need to calm the buck down! Seriously! It's two weeks, Troy! Half a month! You have more than enough time to prepare until then, so stop acting like a paranoid nutjob!"

Looking down at his claws, Troy took a deep breath and tried to settle himself down. While his feathers dripped dry, Troy slowly exhaled and closed his eyes. After taking a moment, Troy nodded, making Canvas feel slightly better as he put a hoof to his shoulder again.

"Troy, please don't get too flustered about this. I told you that you shouldn't be acting like they're automatically going to react badly."

Troy slowly reopened his eyes, looking at Canvas as he tried to mutter a response. "But… but what if—"

"Troy," said Canvas in a more firm tone of voice, "do you remember what I told you when we came back from Canterlot? What I told you after the party ended?"

Troy closed his eyes and sighed. Again, he nodded slowly before saying faintly, "Y-yeah… You… you said that no matter what happens, that you…"

Troy reopened his eyes and looked at his fiancé, who was carrying a warm smile as he stared back at him. "You would be there for me… no matter what."

"That's right," said Canvas in a tender tone. "I said that I would be here for you, and I meant every single word when I told you that."

Troy started to give a faint smile back to Canvas, which prompted the stallion to move in closer. Wrapping his hooves around the Gryphon's back, Canvas kept his smile as he continued, "No matter what you need to do, just know that you have my full support. Because nothing is more important to me than making you happy."

Looking into the stallion's eyes, Troy didn’t see any sign of insincerity or doubt. Instead, Troy only saw the purest of honesty and love within those flawless pools of blue. Those same eyes that made the Gryphon fall for him in the first place.

Moving his head in, Troy's voice came out in a faint whisper as he opened his beak. "I love you…"

"…I love you, too." Canvas closed his eyes as he kissed Troy deeply, keeping him in tight embrace as they stood within their home. After holding him for another moment, Canvas pulled his lips back again before smiling warmly.

"Now, how about we have some breakfast?"

Sighing in agreement, Troy merely gave a smile back and nodded. With that, the two walked back into their kitchen. While Troy headed straight to the plate of doughnuts, Canvas walked over to the freezer.

"Hey Troy, I know you said you didn't like this kind, but are you sure you don’t want any of this bacon Twilight got us?"

Troy immediately shuddered and glanced over at Canvas with a disgusted look on his face. "Ugh, no! And for the last time, that crap isn’t bacon!"

Canvas rolled his eyes as he pulled the box of veggie bacon out of the freezer. "Dude, c'mon! Twilight went out of her way to get this for you. And considering it's a gift from a Princess, I think it's kinda rude to not at least try it!"

Troy grimaced and quickly shook his head. "No way! And I've tried that veggie bacon before! It smells like wet Band-Aids!"

Canvas blinked a few times as he stared at Troy, a perplexed expression hanging on his face for a moment before he sighed in defeat. "Fine," said the stallion as he placed the package back in the freezer. "And I'm not going to ask how you know that."

As he watched Canvas take out the powdered sugar from the cabinet, Troy sighed and picked up a doughnut from the plate. "Seriously, though. Veggie bacon sucks."

"Well…" Canvas took out a powdered sugar spoon. "As long as you don’t tell that to Twilight and hurt her feelings, I think we'll be alright."

"Agreed," said Troy as he took a bite from the doughnut in his claw.

While the two began to have their breakfast in the kitchen, neither of them paid much attention to Troy's package on the dining table, nor the letter beside it. Because of that, neither of them realized that there was more written on the back of the page…

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was appreciating a well-deserved morning off. She decided to take a day in on one of her clouds. Even though her main cloud home was absolutely awesome—especially with that new rainbow fountain she added last week—she knew that she had to have a little variety. And as soon as she found out about the great spot Troy used to hang his cloud at, the Pegasus took the area as soon as she was given the okay from him.

While her second cloud wasn't nearly as large or extravagant as her main place, Rainbow Dash didn’t plan for it to be much more than a place for her naps and flying practice. Due to the nice lake and waterfall on the ground below, the Pegasus liked to come here to unwind every now and then, letting the running water help to ease her mind when she needed it.

Lying on her back in a less-than-graceful position, the mare was snoring loudly as her head hung off her cloud bedding. She wouldn’t even be able to notice if an earthquake went off right now.

Tank, Rainbow Dash's pet tortoise, was also resting soundly on a folded blanket near the Pegasus's bed. However, the reptile's beady eyes opened as he felt a shadow move past him. Looking around, the tortoise's eyes widened as he saw what it was.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash kept snoring loudly on the cloud, lifting up a hoof as she scratched her belly. After grunting a little from her scratching, the Pegasus rolled over onto her stomach, raising her flank up as she continued to sleep.

A shadow appeared over the pony's body, which was completely unnoticed by her. Slowly, a claw came up to the pony, poking her flank a few times with a talon before she grunted in her sleep.

"Unnnn… nooooo… Soarin, ponies are watching…"

The claw retracted for a moment, unsure of what to do. After a few more loud snores from Rainbow Dash, the talon poked her again, albeit slightly harder. Rainbow Dash grunted a little and repositioned herself on the cloud. She was still out like a light and spoke in her sleep again.

"Mmmmm… Discord, that tickles…"

"Huh?" said a young voice as the claw pulled back once more.

Despite another voice being in her cloud, Rainbow Dash didn't take notice in her unconscious state. Starting to get fed up, the claw pushed against the mare's back, shaking her a little before she murmured with a smile on her sleeping face, "Mmmmm, that's right, Pinkie… Tonight, we're putting glitter on everything…"

"Dude, what?"

"Huh?"

Finally, Rainbow Dash began to slowly reopen her eyes as the new voice woke her up. Blinking a few times, the Pegasus began to stir herself awake and look around. However, the mare's eyes widened as she turned her head and looked directly into the golden eyes of a Gryphon.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"

"GAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" screamed the Gryphon as he shot back from Rainbow Dash.

Sitting on her bedding in wide-eyed shock, Rainbow Dash was breathing heavily as she saw who was looking back at her.

With golden eyes as wide as the pony's, the Gryphon standing in her room had black fur along his body, and a mix of black and white feathers around his chest and head. While he was certainly much smaller than Troy, he was still big enough to be about the same size as Rainbow Dash. Beside the Gryphon, two large duffle bags sat on the base of the cloud, looking like they were about to fall through from their massive weight.

Wondering why the buck some Gryphon was in her house like this, Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed on him as she blurted, "Dude, you have two seconds to explain why you're in my house!"

The Gryphon pulled back a bit in surprise before he looked around in confusion. "Wait, this is your house?"

"Yes!" shouted the mare in an irritated state, which was caused by a mix of confusion and sleep deprivation. "This is my house, kid!"

The Gryphon glanced at Rainbow Dash for a second before he bent down to one of his duffle bags. Opening a pocket on the side, the Gryphon pulled out a piece of paper, studying it closely before looking back at the mare.

"But…" The Gryphon looked around in an even more confused state. "…This is Troy's address, right?"

Blinking a couple times, Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed on the Gryphon in her room. Looking at his small and smooth beak, the Pegasus began to see a fairly strong resemblance to Troy, making her raise her eyebrows.

"Wait a minute… Are you, like… related to him or something?"

The Gryphon narrowed his eyes back at the Pegasus, looking slightly puzzled before he spoke in a more obvious tone. "Ummm… yeah, I am. Troy's my brother."

Remembering her conversation with Troy back at his engagement party, Rainbow Dash realized that this had to be one of the family members the Gryphon was talking about. Getting off her bed, Rainbow Dash stood on the base of the cloud as she walked up to him.

The Gryphon, keeping a perplexed look on his face, looked around the room for another second before putting his claw out to the mare.

"Ummm… hi. My name is Lyle."

Chapter Six: Reunions

Even with Canvas's homemade doughnuts (which were surprisingly good for a first try), Troy had to eat something else in order to really fill himself up. So, after helping his fiancé wash the dishes, Troy helped himself to a bowl of Redberry Crunch in the pantry. Canvas, who was also a little hungry as well, helped himself to a bowl of oats, and made a quick mental note to make something else if he were to make doughnuts again.

Sitting in the dining room table, the two didn't bother having the record player on as they ate. Canvas, noticing the package for Troy still on the table, chewed on his oats as he pulled out the new Talon Ripper album given to the Gryphon. Seeing the album cover art for Changeling Slaughterhouse for the first time, Canvas had a slight difficulty keeping his breakfast in his muzzle while he tried not to cringe.

"Urrrmmm…" Canvas took a moment to swallow his oats before he spoke to Troy. "Well… your brother certainly knows how to advertise death metal."

Seeing the album in Canvas's hooves, Troy picked it up with his talons and inspected it himself. The artwork was a disturbingly detailed depiction of a bunch of Changelings being thrown into a meat grinder. Troy cringed a little and put down his spoon of cereal. Even though all of his brother's album covers have been rather graphic (especially the Alicorn Harem album, which Troy almost threw away since it was basically a pornographic portrayal of Luna), Blade's newest release seemed a bit over-the-top, even for him.

"Ugh…" Troy groaned under his breath as he put the album back down on the table. "Just what I wanted to see this morning."

Brushing his fiancé's sarcastic manner aside, Canvas took another bite of his oats before he replied, "Well, at least your brother is kind enough to keep sending you his albums. I mean, that's kinda nice, isn't it?"

Troy looked away from the stallion for a second but still nodded reluctantly. "I… I guess so… But I'm pretty sure he's just doing it out of spite or something."

Canvas's eyebrow skewed a little as he crooked his head in confusion. "Hmm?"

Troy sighed to himself, knowing that he should clarify what he meant. "I mean…" Troy turned back to Canvas as he continued, "After that will reading, everyone in the family was shocked I got so much of the inheritance. And knowing how much my brothers were trying to get a cut, they were pretty mad when I got so much of it."

Canvas shrugged a little before taking another bite. "Well… I guess that makes sense. But you shouldn't think that your brothers are still upset about it. I mean, if it happened a year ago, I doubt they'd still hold a grudge against you."

"I dunno," muttered the Gryphon as he rested his head on his claws. "The triplets might be older than me, but I'd be surprised if they had the maturity level past a middle schooler."

Canvas scoffed a little before swallowing his oats. "Oh, come on! I know you said a lot about them, but do you really think they'd actually act like that?"

Troy gave a condescending stare to his fiancé before replying monotonously, "Dude, I've lived with them. Blaze, Blade, and Blane aren’t the shiniest eggs in the nest. They once burned down the house when they tried to make a firecracker suit."

Canvas tried not to laugh and held a hoof over his muzzle. Seeing how the stallion reacted, Troy struggled not to chuckle as well. "I mean…" He continued as he thought it over, "I'm just saying that… they're pretty damn stupid. And they didn’t speak to me at all after that will, so I'm not sure how seeing them again will go."

Seeing how sullen his fiancé was getting, Canvas was hopeful to cheer the Gryphon up, in hopes that he wouldn’t freak out like earlier. "Troy," began the pony as he put a hoof to his claw, "if they haven't been around for almost a year, there's probably a good chance they've changed. I mean, who knows? They probably really missed you, so you shouldn't automatically assume they'll still be mad at you."

Troy exhaled slowly and looked down to Canvas's hoof. Looking at the white gold band resting against his fur, Troy smiled and held him tighter in his claw. Thinking it over, Troy knew that the stallion had a fair point, making him sigh before replying, "Ye… yeah, I guess. I mean, they probably wouldn’t be coming over if they were still pissed at me, would they?"

Canvas kept a warm smile on his muzzle as he shook his head. Lifting Troy's claw around his hoof, Canvas pulled it towards himself before kissing it tenderly. Smiling back at him, Troy slowly let go of Canvas's hoof and moved it around the back of the stallion's neck. While they lovingly looking at each other with eyes of pure admiration and love, neither one heard the flapping of wings outside as they bent their heads in.

However, the two did notice several knocks at the door, making them stop just inches from each other's faces.

Not wanting his kiss to be interrupted, Troy groaned a little before lifting himself from his seat. The Gryphon kept a disappointed look on his face as he walked over to the door, which quickly changed to surprise as he saw who was there.

Rainbow Dash, who was standing at the doorway, had a rather upset look of her own on her face. "Troy," began the mare in a deadpan tone, "you mind telling me why your brother is at my cloud right now?"

Troy's eyes shot wide open in shock. "WHAT?!?"

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said, starting to become more aggravated, "I was taking a nap, and when I woke up, your brother Lyle was staring at me like some pervert!"

"You… you…" Blinking a few times in a stunned state, Troy was still trying to comprehend what he just heard. "You… you're saying that my brothers are here NOW?!"

Even though she could tell this was brand-new news to the Gryphon, Rainbow Dash's irritation didn’t falter much. "Well…" she replied hesitantly, trying to sound calmer, "I think it's just your little brother."

Rainbow Dash's anger suddenly came back as she pointed a hoof at Troy. "But that still doesn’t explain why he was at MY place! Seriously, that's not cool, dude!"

In an attempt to clarify his innocence, Troy put up his claws and tried to explain. "Listen, Dash, I… I think they still might have my old address. Derpy came by with a letter from them, and she told me it was supposed to be for that cloud."

Rainbow Dash huffed a little and looked away. Even though Troy felt a tad guilty for not updating his family with his info, he knew that telling them he was living on the ground would just create more questions he wasn't ready to answer yet.

However, the Gryphon kept his confused stare on Rainbow Dash as he tried to figure out why Lyle was here so early. “I just got the letter today saying they were coming to Equestria, but they said it wouldn’t be for another couple weeks! Why the buck is Lyle here?!"

"I don’t know!" Dash exclaimed angrily. "He just said he got out of school early, so he wanted to visit."

Troy groaned and brought his claw to his face. Given the fact that he was just told of his family's plans less than an hour ago, he definitely wasn't prepared to see one of his brothers here so soon. However, the Gryphon's worries made him quickly drop his claw and look at the Pegasus with fear. "Wait, what did you tell him?!"

"Nothing," assured Rainbow Dash as she put her hooves up in sincerity. Even though she was irritated about a Gryphon kid being in her bedroom like a creeper, she wasn't angry enough to forget what Troy told her at the engagement party. "Seriously, I didn’t out you or anything, I swear. I just told him to wait at the cloud while I went to find you."

Troy closed his eyes and sighed deeply in relief. "Oh, good… Thank you."

Rainbow Dash sighed a little as she looked away from him. "No problem. Although... it wasn't easy trying to explain why I was there and not you. It took me a while just to convince him you didn't flake off somewhere."'

Troy cringed a little at hearing that. Knowing how long it took for a Gryphon to travel to Equestria from the Gryphon Kingdom, it would definitely make sense for his brother to be worried if he wasn't here. After the excruciatingly long train ride, the last thing Lyle would want is to find out his brother was somewhere completely different.

"So…" Even though he was at a complete loss about how to handle this sudden change, Troy knew he had to talk with Rainbow Dash about what had to be done. Hoping to maybe borrow her cloud for a day or two before he got everything settled out, Troy kept a hopeful glance on the Pegasus as he opened his beak. "Dash... do you think that… maybe you cou—"

"Troy?"

The sound of a new voice above them made Troy shoot his head up in surprise. The Gryphon's eyes widened as he saw his brother hovering nearby with a confused look on his face.

With his two duffel bags hoisted on his shoulders, the black-and-white Gryphon looked down with a bemused stare on his brother; however, the younger Gryphon suddenly beamed. He flew down to the ground before tossing his bags aside.

"Troy, dude!" Lyle landed on the ground in front of Troy's door, throwing up his claws in expectation of a hug.

Troy just stood at the doorway in a stunned state, frozen at the realization that his brother was at his house.

His real house.

Lyle's claws dropped down a little as his stare became more annoyed. "Ummm… Troy?" said Lyle with a skewed eyebrow. "Hello? Your little brother here? Aren’t you gonna hug me or something?"

Troy suddenly realized how he was looking right now, making him quickly stop his stoic stance and smile back at his brother. "Oh… oh yeah. Sorry."

Troy was quick to rush up to his younger brother, giving him a strong hug for the first time in almost a year. Even with all his worries still building up in his conscience, the fact that one of his brothers was here made him stop caring and just appreciate the moment.

Lyle hugged him back in a surprisingly strong grip, which made Troy even happier to actually see someone in his family again. "It's great to see you again," said Troy as he closed his eyes.

"You too," replied Lyle, keeping the hug for another second.

After Troy let go, Lyle regained his footing before looking up at the barn behind his brother. Seeing the wildly painted structure that Troy just walked out from, Lyle gave a puzzled look to his brother while tried to think of a question.

"Umm… dude?" Lyle's eyes narrowed a little on Troy, making the older Gryphon grow a nervous smile and take a step back..

"Are… are you living here?"

"Aaahhhhhh…" Troy's beak was open, but nothing coming out could be considered legitimate words. "Uuuuhhhhh… mmmmmm…"

Rainbow Dash could see that Troy was close to making himself look like a complete nincompoop, causing her to take action. The Pegasus put up a hoof to catch Lyle's attention and decided to intervene.

"Well, uhh… There was actually a big tornado that went through Cloudsdale a month and a half ago, and a lot of homes got trashed because of it."

Lyle rose both his eyebrows. "Really?" Lyle looked back to his brother, who had his eyes wide open in surprise.

Although Troy would've never thought of an excuse like that, it was surprisingly perfect. There really was a wild tornado that tore through a lot of Cloudsdale at that time. And given the time it occurred, it actually matched fairly well with when he moved in with Canvas. Even though cloud homes could easily be repaired, and most of the damage done was fixed in under an hour, it was still a good enough story to justify a fair excuse.

"Y-yes!" Hoping to verify Rainbow Dash's statement, Troy began to speak to his brother about the details, though he made sure he wasn't completely lying. "There… there was a lot of damage because of that tornado, and… I moved in with my friend, Canvas…"

At that moment, Canvas finally poked his head out from inside of the barn. Looking from the doorway, the stallion was finally able to see Lyle for the first time. Seeing how the younger Gryphon looked (who really resembled Troy), Canvas gave a kind smile and waved a hoof at him. Lyle, seeing the pony in the barn, gave a meager wave back to him before looking back at Troy.

"… And…" Though he hated the idea of being dishonest to someone in his family, especially after not seeing any of them for so long, Troy knew he had to say something to make his current statement sound legible. And since Rainbow Dash just said it happened a month ago, the Gryphon knew that an explanation was needed as to why he was still living with Canvas.

"I… I actually preferred living on the ground as opposed to a cloud, so…" Troy took a glance back to Canvas at the barn.

Noting the understanding smile on the pony's face, Troy was grateful that his fiancé wasn’t upset. The Gryphon gave a faint smile over to him before looking back to his brother and finishing his excuse. "I... kinda moved in."

Lyle blinked a couple times, fairly confused about why his brother was living on the ground instead of in a cloud (or at least a nest or something). The little Gryphon took another glance over at Canvas and the barn, noting how large the place was before giving a response.

"So… he's like a roommate or something?"

Troy gritted his teeth a little at hearing that. Although it would probably be the best term to give right now, he really didn't want to refer to someone so important to him as being just a "roommate".

However, when he took another glance over to his fiancé, Troy saw Canvas give a faint nod to him. Even though the stallion bit his lip a little to hide his own discomfort, he understood that it was something Troy had to do for the moment.

"Ummm… well…"

Before Troy could finish his statement and basically lie, a new voice called out from the distance. "Hey, Troy!"

Troy and Rainbow Dash were able to recognize the voice instantly, since it was one of the stallions from their weather crew. Looking up to the skies, they saw Thunderlane fly down to the ground in front of them.

"Troy, I just got back fro—oh, Rainbow Dash, great! I was needing to talk with you too!" Looking happy to see both of them, Thunderlane caught his breath for a second before continuing, "Listen, the weather-pressure machine is acting up again, and we need all the wing-power we can to take care of it."

Troy and Rainbow Dash both groaned in frustration, while Lyle just stood in a confused state. "Again?!" shouted Troy with frustration. "I thought that they fixed that stupid thing last week!"

Thunderlane sighed before replying, "It's some new problem this time. And if we don’t fix it, we might get another bad tornado again!"

Troy groaned once more and rubbed his temples with his talons. Even though this happened at one of the worst possible moments, both he and Rainbow Dash knew this had to be taken care of before anything else could be done. After seeing Rainbow Dash nod to Thunderlane, Troy looked back at him before reluctantly agreeing.

"Ugh, fine! Just… just let me get my vest and I'll meet you there."

"Great!" said Thunderlane in a relieved tone. He then looked over to Rainbow Dash. "Come on, we can probably get the opposing winds started if we make it back early enough."

Rainbow Dash gave a quick nod to Thunderlane before looking back to Troy. "Alright Troy, be sure to get there ASAP, got it?"

"Yeah," replied the Gryphon in a disappointed tone before the two flew off. Looking over to his brother, Troy could see that Lyle was genuinely puzzled as to what had to be done. Troy sighed under his breath before he tried to explain.

"Lyle, I… I gotta get this taken care of. If the pressure machine messes up, it could cause a lot of damage to Cloudsdale again. It'll only be like ten, fifteen minutes tops. Alright?"

Even though Lyle was still unsure of what a "weather-pressure machine" was (especially given that weather occurred naturally back in the Gryphon Kingdom), he was aware of Equestrian customs enough to know that his brother shouldn't ignore this. The younger Gryphon merely nodded and tried not to groan too loudly under his breath. "Umm… sure. No prob."

Troy was a little unsure about what else he could say, but he was glad that his brother didn’t look too upset about it. Looking back at the barn, Troy sighed before grabbing one of Lyle's duffle bags. "Come on," said Troy as he walked into his home with Lyle in tow, "we'll try to get you set up somewhere."

Walking into the home, Lyle's eyes widened in surprise as he saw how nice the interior looked. While the outside looked kinda cool on its own, Lyle sort of figured that the inside of the barn would be like… a barn. Instead, the inside was set up much like a regular home, with a lot of tasteful stuff on the walls and rugs on the hardwood floors.

Looking around, Lyle noticed Troy's record player, along with all of his records, placed along the wall that ran between the front and back halves of the barn. On the wall opposite to that, where the doorways to the kitchen and bathroom were, the Gryphon noticed several art posters and other décor hung along the space, including two large, framed newspaper articles.

"Seriously, though," said Troy as he walked over to the dining table with Lyle's bag, "why are you here so early? I just got Mom's letter today, and she said you would be here in a couple weeks!"

Lyle looked over at his brother with a bemused stare. "What? She wrote in the letter that I was showing up before everyone else."

"Where?!" Troy snatched the letter up from the table and looked back at his brother. "It just said that you and the other guys might show up a little earlier. Not two freaking weeks earlier!"

Lyle sighed with a deadpan stare before walking up to Troy. Grabbing the letter from Troy's claws, Lyle turned the paper around before giving it back to him. Now looking at the back of the letter, Troy's eyes narrowed on it as he read the extra information on the back.

"P.S. … Lyle had an incident at school, so he's showing up to your place early." Troy groaned a little, muttering "Thanks for the heads-up," to himself before continuing to read. "Also, we'll be sending some money with him so you can get some food."

Troy looked at the rest of the letter, noticing that nothing else was there before looking back at his brother. Lyle's eyes darted in every direction except Troy's, which just made his brother stare at him with a more annoyed look on his face.

"So… where's the money?"

Lyle didn’t look back at his brother, instead stepping back a couple steps. "I… may have bought some comics before I left… and some video games …"

Troy groaned even louder as he face-clawed. Canvas, who was still standing by the doorway, just laughed a little before walking up to the table. As the stallion collected both bowls from the table to take back to the kitchen, Troy shook his head before looking back at Lyle.

"What?" said Lyle in a more irritated tone. "Seriously, they gave me money! What was I supposed to do?"

"Umm, I don’t know, NOT spend it on video games?!" Troy closed his eyes as he exhaled heavily. Though he was glad to see his brother, he was already getting more aggravated than he wanted today. "Whatever, I… I need to get ready for work."

"Fine," said Lyle as he looked back around the place. "So…" Lyle readjusted the duffle bag on his shoulder before he asked, "how long did you say you were living here?"

Troy became a little more nervous as he looked away from his brother. Not wanting to sound too uneasy, Troy managed to keep his composure as he put down Lyle's bag and walked up the stairs to grab his vest. "Um, like… a month… month and a half, maybe?"

"Huh…" Lyle's eyes narrowed as he noticed one of the framed newspaper headlines hung on the wall, which was the one of his brother from the premiere of his play. Seeing Troy dressed in the full Phantom costume, Lyle tried not to snicker too loudly as he clenched his beak shut.

Not hearing the muffled chuckles from his brother downstairs, Troy was busy trying to find his work vest in his wardrobe. Canvas made his way up the stairs as well.

"Troy?" asked the stallion quietly as he made sure Lyle wasn't paying attention. "Are you alright?"

"Y- yeah," said the Gryphon in a meek tone as he found his vest and hastily put it on. "I'm alright, just… I just need to, like… think about what to do."

"It's alright." Canvas looked behind him again, making sure that Lyle was still focused on the framed headline downstairs. Seeing that the Gryphon wasn't paying attention to them, Canvas walked over to Troy with an optimistic smile. "Just take care of the weather job right now, and you can talk to him when you get back."

Troy closed his eyes after placing his vest on. Taking a deep breath, he slowly exhaled in an attempt to calm himself down a little. "S-sure. I… I'll do that."

Troy reopened his eyes as he looked back at his fiancé. When he tried to give a meager smile to the stallion, the Gryphon's eyes suddenly peered down at Canvas's hoof.

Noticing his fiancé's stare, Canvas looked down at what Troy was looking at. Realizing what was worrying him, Canvas looked back up at Troy with an obviously resistant expression.

"Oh, Troy, come on!" Canvas tried to keep his voice faint enough to not catch any attention from Lyle, but he still looked fairly upset about what he knew Troy was going to ask. "Please, I doubt he'll notice."

Troy sighed a little as he looked away, but his expression showed a clear hesitance to Canvas's claim. Looking down at his engagement ring, Canvas knew that it looked rather obvious, but he wasn't sure if Lyle would connect anything from it.

However, the stallion also knew better than to try anything that would hint at him and Troy before he could get a chance to talk with Lyle. Canvas sighed painfully as he looked back up at his fiancé, who carried an equally upset look as he tried to speak.

"Please, I… I'll tell him when I get back. I promise."

Looking into Troy's golden eyes, Canvas knew that he was being completely honest. Canvas closed his eyes and slowly nodded while he tried not to look too disappointed. After looking down at his hoof for another moment, Canvas looked behind him again before taking off the ring.

After Canvas carefully placed it on the nightstand, Troy gave a quick nuzzle to the pony in an attempt to alleviate his saddened state. Even though he didn’t want to be so forgiving right now, the warmth of the Gryphon's feathers was enough to make Canvas feel slightly better. Knowing that it would hopefully be less than a few hours, Canvas tried to keep himself optimistic enough to give a faint smile to him.

Troy looked around one last time to make sure Lyle wasn't looking at him, then gave a very brief kiss to the pony's cheek. Canvas blushed a little and smiled, feeling a lot better before Troy made his way back down the stairs. Taking a moment, Canvas breathed in as he made sure his blush went away.

When Troy reached the bottom of the stairs from his bedroom, Lyle was looking over at him with a cheeky grin on his beak as he tried not to laugh. "Dude…" Lyle then pointed at the framed newspaper article, which read Ponyville Production of "Phantom of the Opera" A Huge Success!

"You were in a friggin' musical?"

The feathers on Troy's face ruffled out a little as he tried not to look too embarrassed. "Uhhh… maybe."

Lyle looked away from his brother again, put a claw over his eyes, and laughed out loud. Before Troy could get irritated at how his little brother was acting, Lyle managed speak between laughs. "Dude!... Were… were you high?!"

"Shut up!" Before Troy could get too angry and smack his little brother across the head, Canvas intervened as he made his way down the stairs.

"Actually, Troy was really good in that!" Canvas kept a cheerful tone in his voice as he stood beside Troy and continued, "Your brother has a really good singing voice."

"Wha… whatever." Lyle was able to stop laughing long enough to put his claw back down. He peered over at the dining table. "Oh cool!" said the Gryphon as he walked over and picked up the Talon Ripper album. "Blade said he was mailing Changeling Slaughterhouse to you. Nice to see it got to this place and not the cloud."

"Yeah…" Troy started to feel a bit more uneasy again. Knowing how much had changed for him in just a few months, the Gryphon knew he had a lot to talk with his brother about today.

Troy also knew he had to take care of work, making him ensure that his vest was secure before he spoke up. "Listen. I'll be back in like, fifteen minutes, so just hang tight."

"Alright," Lyle replied, barely looking up at his brother as he went through his duffle bags. Troy gave Lyle a quick hug again before heading off, leaving Canvas to stand virtually unnoticed by Lyle by the stairs.

By the time the door closed, Lyle took another moment to riffle through his things before zipping the bag back up and hoisting it on his back.

Canvas barely moved as he looked over at Lyle. After hearing about Troy's family for so long, it was an odd experience to actually see one of them for the first time. While Troy had more than a few stories regarding his three older brothers, he didn’t say much about his younger one, other than that he was still just a "kid".

From what Canvas could see, Lyle was at least a preteen, if not already a teenager. And since the Gryphon didn't look too disheveled at the idea of his brother living with a stallion, Canvas was hopeful to make a good impression.

As Lyle looked around the living space with a disinterested look on his face, Canvas fidgeted his hooves a little while he tried to think of something to say. Even though he didn’t want to be seen as being annoying or overbearing, he wanted to at least say something to the kid. Especially since, if everything went right, this Gryphon could very well be his brother-in-law.

Noticing Lyle’s second duffle bag, which was still lying on the floor where Troy placed it, Canvas decided to take action. Grabbing the strap in his mouth, Canvas dragged the duffle into his studio, which Lyle only noticed with a slight glance.

Canvas kept the door to his studio open as he dragged the bag over beside the couch, knowing that it would probably be where Lyle would be sleeping if he stayed here. Barely paying attention to the pony, Lyle continued to look around the living space before Canvas walked up to the Gryphon.

"Ummm…" Canvas tried to catch Lyle's attention as he put up his hoof and gave a faint smile. "If… If you want, I can put that bag in my studio. I have a couch, so that can probably work if we can’t find you a bed."

"Oh, umm… okay." Lyle handed his bag over to Canvas, who almost fell to the ground when he tried to pick it up from the Gryphon's shoulder. Straining a little, Canvas lugged the much-heavier duffle into his studio, gasping a little when he finally let go.

"Umm…" Lyle poked his head inside of the studio as he looked at the pony. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," replied the stallion as he looked back at him.

Lyle looked around the inside of Canvas's studio, his eyes widening when he saw how large the space was. With large stacks of canvas boards and paint cans lined up along the walls, several finished and unfinished pieces arranged by the main door, and an old, red couch sitting in the middle of it all, Canvas's workspace took up almost half of the entire barn.

Before Lyle could say anything about the studio, Canvas walked up to him with a nervous smile. Hopeful that things will go well, the stallion kept a friendly tone as he put out his hoof. "It's… nice to meet you. I'm Canvas, Troy's friend."

Chapter Eight: Coming Clean

Cloudsdale, much like many of the other towns and cities in Equestria, was built to fit with the unique environments of the area. However, unlike the burning deserts of Appleloosa, the harsh winters of Vanhoover, or the pony-built oasis in the middle of nowhere that became Las Pegasus, Cloudsdale was founded from different ideals. Since the community was founded upon clouds for Pegasus ponies to thrive, Cloudsdale wasn't built to adjust to the environment, but to create it.

The large cluster of clouds held many of the most unique structures and buildings in all of Equestria, which were built of nothing more than clouds, dried ice, and the occasional rainbow waterfall or two. For many of the Pegasus ponies who lived around this region all their lives, the structures were things they were used to, things they didn’t give much notice.

However, for Gryphons like Lyle and Troy, whom had never seen these kinds of arrangements in their own Kingdom (except maybe some of the ancient structures that were still around), every single house and building stuck out like a sore talon, making their journey to the Weather Factory take a little longer than expected.

Due to the Weather Pressure Machine being under repair, the Weather Factory where Troy used to work was closed before he or his brother could reach it. Consequently, there wasn't much they could do but perch on a nearby cloud and stare at the large arrangement of clouds and ice columns in front of them. Nevertheless, Troy knew Cloudsdale well enough to know there had to be something fun to do, so, with a hopeful smile on his beak, he looked over to his brother while he stared at the large building.

"So, you used to work there?" asked Lyle, looking at the impressively huge and intricately built structure, which bore the sign Rainbow Factory out front. "Dang… Ponies have a lot of time on their hooves, don’t they?"

Troy chuckled and looked back at the Weather Factory, not faulting Lyle on that observation. From the way it was built—looking like some weird cloud-version of some of the ancient Gryphonian structures from long ago—it was obvious that a lot of effort had been made to make it look presentable.

"Yeah," Troy began, smiling to himself, "but to be honest, though, my job kinda sucked. I was pretty much stuck in a giant freezer, scraping down huge blocks of ice all day. It was easy, but… it got old pretty quick."

Lyle shrugged a little at Troy's statement, focusing more of his attention on some of the other cloud structures around them. "So… Is that why you're doing weather patrol now?"

Troy merely nodded as he looked back at Lyle. "Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I was barely talking to anyone while I was an ice scraper. I wanted to at least try to do something I could enjoy."

Thinking about it, a small smile came up on Troy's beak when he realized how truthful that statement was. While he may have had other reasons to start doing Weather Patrol in the first place—mostly because he wanted to make sure Canvas was alright when he first moved to Ponyville—Troy couldn't say that he was lying to Lyle at all. He really did enjoy talking with ponies during and after his first volunteer work, and it was only a convenient coincidence that he was able to get a different job so quickly after that. While he wasn't sure about mentioning it to his brother yet, Troy really felt that finding Canvas helped to make his life way better than he could've imagined.

"Honestly," Troy said, trying to catch his brother's attention, "I think switching jobs was a great choice for me. I mean, I never would've met any of the friends I've made if I stayed at my old job."

Looking over at Lyle, who was leaning back on the cloud with his claws, Troy smiled as he saw how intrigued his brother was with everything around them. Remembering the first time he arrived in Cloudsdale himself, Troy couldn't blame him one bit for staring at all the different structures like this. Looking outward himself, Troy decided to just appreciate the silence for now, and sat alongside Lyle as they stared at the floating city.

Hmmm… Maybe…

Troy's heart began to race a little as he realized how nice this felt right now. Remembering Rainbow Dash's advice, Troy knew that this could be a good moment to tell him. If he did it now, he could get it out of the way, and hopefully not get that big of a negative response from Lyle.

However, as he looked over to his brother, Troy saw that he was still looking around curiously at all the different clouds. Thinking about it a little more, Troy decided to wait a little longer. Since they just got to Cloudsdale, maybe he could show Lyle a few more things around town before telling him. He knew of some pretty cool vantage points that would allow them to see a lot of Equestria. Plus, he wouldn't mind dropping by the record store first.

With a quick stretch of his wings, Troy lifted himself up off the cloud and looked over to Lyle.

"Hey, Lyle. Come on." Motioning to him with a claw, Troy waited until Lyle started to get up before continuing. "We should probably hold off on eating that much until we get back home, but you wanna get a snow cone or something? There's a pretty good stand over by the record store."

Lyle shrugged a bit before lifting himself off the cloud. "Alright, sure. I'm kinda hungry anyway."

"Cool." With a smile, Troy began to fly off, Lyle close behind. As they made their way to the record store, Troy's previous mention of dinner reminded him of his fiancé, which made him decide to start some small talk with his brother.

"Hey, Lyle..." Troy looked back to him during flight. "What did you think of Canvas? Like, how was he while I was gone?"

Lyle thought about it for a second before looking back at his brother, giving him a light smile. "He's alright, I guess. I mean, he was a little fidgety at first, but he was cool once we started talking."

"Nice." Troy smiled back. "So… What did you two talk about?"

With the record store still a distance away, Lyle didn’t seem to mind much as they continued to fly further from the Weather Factory. Happy to actually be chatting with Troy after a year apart, Lyle kept himself close in flight as he spoke.

"Eh, we didn't talk about anything specific. Like, he mentioned a little bit about how you found him…"

Hearing that, Troy looked a little more worried when he looked back at his brother. Looking over, Troy saw that Lyle had an upset look on his face. "How come you never told me you got a busted wing from saving him like that?"

Even though he was expecting a different question, it still surprised Troy enough to cause him to look away in guilt. "Oh, yeah… Well… I kinda didn’t… want to freak Mom out…"

While he was glad Lyle's question wasn't something regarding his relationship with Canvas, it still made him feel bad that he never told them about his wing getting struck by lightning. Hoping that Lyle was understanding enough, Troy looked back to him. "Sorry for not telling you about that. I just… I didn't want you guys to worry."

Lyle just sighed and looked away. "Sure, whatever. I was just surprised to find that out, that's all."

"Yeah…"

While the two continued their flight, Troy felt a little more nervous. With the worry of a negative reaction to Canvas still on his mind, Troy tried to hide his nervousness as they soared, knowing that he was really going to surprise Lyle later today.

With a distinct 'ding,’ Canvas happily trotted into Sugar Cube Corner with a smile on his muzzle. On his brisk jog into Ponyville, the stallion was able to think of a good dish to make for Troy and Lyle and purchased all the necessary ingredients as he strolled through the market.

Since he got his shopping done in less time than he thought, Canvas decided to get a little something for himself. And after managing to get a practice jog done in record time, he was really craving something chocolatey.

"Hello," said the stallion to Misses Cake with a cheerful smile as he reached the counter.

"Oh, hello, Canvas," Misses Cake said with a happy grin as well. "It's nice to actually see you around again! With the way you and Troy have been all week, I was starting to wonder how busy you've been!"

Canvas chuckled a little and looked away with a smile. "Yeah, we have been pretty swamped. I was wanting to get the house painted before winter came, which Troy had to help prepare for with Rainbow Dash."

"Well, that makes sense. Plus…" With a grin still on her muzzle, Misses Cake's eyes narrowed on Canvas as she added, "I'm guessing that, after that party, you two have been awfully busy with wedding plans, too."

Canvas started to blush a little as he looked back to Misses Cake, brushing some of his mane back with a hoof and a smile. "Yeah, a little bit. I'm just glad that Rarity gave us today off from talking about it. I've been meaning to appreciate an actual day off."

"Well, that does sound…" Noticing Canvas's hoof, Misses Cake's eyes narrowed a little in confusion as she trailed off. "Umm… Canvas? Where's your ring?"

Canvas's eyebrows rose a little before he looked down at his hoof, realizing that he still had it off. Even though he hated not having his engagement band on, he almost completely forgot about it after his run into Ponyville. Now, with the bitter reminder about what all occurred in the past couple hours, Canvas sighed a little before looking back to the mare.

"Well… One of Troy's brothers showed up to the place by surprise today. Troy hasn't exactly told anyone in his family about us, so…"

Misses Cake winced a little. "Ooh… I'm sorry to hear that." Hoping that this wasn't anything more serious than she imagined, she kept her attention on Canvas before asking, "So… are you alright? I mean… I really doubt hiding something like that would be easy for you."

"It's alright," Canvas said, holding up his hoof and giving her a reassuring smile. "Troy and his brother are catching up in Cloudsdale right now, and he's planning on telling him before coming back. I'm just hoping that Lyle's okay with this."

Seeing the confident smile on his muzzle, Misses Cake's tried not to show her worry as she smiled back. "Well, I certainly hope so. I'd hate to think about how bad things would get if there were problems…"

Taking another glance down at Canvas's ringless hoof, she pointed at him before adding, "But! Troy better be upfront about you two to his brother. Family tensions or not, I don't want to see you hiding your ring."

Canvas sighed and nodded. While he knew his fiancé would do the right thing, the stallion certainly didn’t want to keep his ring off more than he already had. "I know, and, believe me, I hate not wearing it. But Troy's been under a lot of stress about telling his family, and I told him that I'm behind him for any decision he makes regarding this."

"But Canva—"

"It's okay, Misses Cake," assured Canvas, just as Mister Cake trotted out from the kitchen with a fresh tray of desserts for the display counter. "Troy said he was going to tell him today, and I know that he will. Just because I'm worried, doesn't mean that I don’t trust him."

"Hm?" After placing the desserts in the display case, Mister Cake lifted his head back up before asking, "Trusting what?"

"Well…" Before Misses Cake could try to update her husband on what was going on, she paused and thought it over. Looking back at Canvas, the mare could tell that he had a fair point; despite the whole ring-hiding thing, she knew that Troy was a trustworthy Gryphon. In fact, he was the probably the most trustworthy Gryphon she ever knew, mostly since she only knew of two other ones.

After a quick contemplation, Misses Cake sighed before looking back to the stallion beside her. "Oh, it's nothing, Dearie. Canvas and I were just chatting about one of Troy's brothers coming to town."

"Oh really?" asked Mister Cake as he looked over to Canvas with an inquisitive brow. "Which one?"

"His younger one, Lyle," said Canvas. "He's hanging out with him right now in Cloudsdale."

"Well, that's nice!" Carrying a cheerful smile on his face, Mister Cake pointed a hoof at Canvas and added, "Be sure to bring him by here sometime. I'd like to meet more of Troy's family, just so I can get a better idea of what cake to make."

Canvas smiled and nodded, knowing how excited the couple were to be making their wedding cake. "Of course. Speaking of cake…"

Canvas glanced up at the large menu board hanging above the counter, scanning for a couple of seconds to find what he was looking for. With a smile on his face, Canvas looked back at the two bakers before opening his muzzle.

"I'd lik—"

"Here you go!"

Before Canvas could say what he wanted, Pinkie Pie jumped out from the serving window between the counter and the kitchen. In less than a second, Pinkie tossed a triple chocolate cupcake on the counter in front of Canvas, then shot back into the kitchen like some sort of hot-pink ninja.

"Pinkie!" shouted Misses Cake as she looked back to the kitchen. "He hasn’t even made his order yet!"

"Actually," said Canvas in a bewildered tone as he looked at the cupcake in front of him with wide eyes, "this… is exactly what I was going to order."

Looking back at Canvas and the cupcake, Misses Cake sighed a little, face-hoofing herself for trying to figure out how Pinkie did that. Mister Cake, who already shrugged off Pinkie's latest antic as her "just being Pinkie,” accepted the bits from Canvas with a light smile.

"Don’t worry about it. That happens sometimes. Actually, she usually does that with the chocolate-related orders. I think that's part of her Pinkie Sense or something."

Canvas merely shrugged in understanding and tried to glance back at the kitchen. "I guess that makes sense… I mean, it's not as weird as when she was in our closet last week."

"What?" asked the Cakes in unison, both of whom appearing more serious when they heard that last part.

"Yeah," Canvas continued, looking back at them in puzzlement, "it was the weirdest thing! After that big party she threw, Troy and I thought we were alone when we went back to bed. But then, out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie just came out of or wardrobe while we were talking! I just… didn’t know what to think of that."

The two bakers, who now had stern expressions on their muzzles, immediately turned back to the kitchen before shouting in unison:

"PINKIE!!!"

"Yeah?" Pinkie asked with a carefree smile as she popped her head out from the serving window.

"Pinkie!" Misses Cake said with a surprisingly angry tone, "How many times have we told you not to hang out in ponies' closets like that?!"

Canvas blinked a few times and tried to comprehend what he just heard. "Wait, you mean this happened before?"

"Yes," said Mister Cake bitterly, "a lot."

Pinkie, on the other hoof, just pouted as she sat in the serving window with her hooves crossed. "Well, how else was I supposed to learn their cutsie-wootsie nicknames to write on their wedding cake?"

While Canvas just stood by the counter, slightly dumbfounded, Misses Cake face-hoofed again before looking back at Pinkie. "Pinkie, do you remember what happened when you did that at Cranky Doodle's house?"

Pinkie's smile dropped. She looked a little more ashamed as she nodded slowly. "Yeah…"

"And what was that?"

"I… almost got arrested?"

"That's right," said Misses Cake in a more matter-of-fact' tone, "and you almost gave him and Matilda heart attacks!"

"But…" Pinkie's pout became bigger as she looked down to the floor in guilt. "I just wanted to celebrate their first kiss…"

Misses Cake just groaned and tried to rub her temples with a hoof; however, before she or her husband could try to say anything else, Pinkie raised her head back up and looked over at Canvas. "I'm sorry for hiding in your bedroom in secret, Canvas."

"Umm…" Even though he wasn't sure how to process everything he just heard, Canvas was still able to nod a bit before giving a reassuring smile. "It… it's alright, Pinkie. I'm not mad at you. I swear."

Pinkie immediately regained her trademark smile, which made Canvas grin a little bit more before taking his cupcake. "Well," began the stallion as he made his exit, "I guess I'll be heading back home."

"Okie Dokie Lokie! See you later Canvas!"

With a smile, Canvas nodded at her before turning back to the door. Before Canvas could make his way out of Sugar Cube Corner with his cupcake, Pinkie Pie gave him a wave before shouting, " And tell your fiancé not to worry about his parents so much!"

"PINKIE!" shouted Mister and Misses Cake, not looking over at Canvas, who just exited with a more uncomfortable blush on his face.

"What?" Pinkie asked innocently. "I was helping."

Sighing under her breath, the pink Pegasus behind the counter of the record store rested her head on her hooves in boredom. Other than a couple ponies that came by an hour ago, business had been a lot slower than usual.

However, now that two Gryphons were browsing inside the shop, the mare knew that she couldn't just read her magazine like before. With a slightly inattentive brow, the Pegasus just blew some of her blond mane from her muzzle and stood guard.

With a skewed beak, Lyle looked over the selection of records in one section with obvious disinterest. Noticing his brother, Troy walked over to him from the classical section, realizing that Lyle was browsing the record store's arrangement of rap albums.

"Whatcha looking at?" asked Troy as he looked over Lyle's shoulder.

"Eh… nothing much. Honestly, I was expecting to see a bigger selection of rap around here."

The Pegasus barely paid much attention to Lyle's comment, looking up to the ceiling in indifference.

"Wait, you listen to rap?" Troy asked in a surprised tone. "Since when?"

"About a couple months ago." Huffing a little in disappointment, Lyle placed the latest single from Mic the Microphone back on the shelf. "Honestly, I just wanted to listen to something other than metal and rock, and it sorta grew on me."

Troy shrugged and looked around. "I guess that makes sense." Thinking about it, Troy looked back to his brother with curiosity before asking, "Hey, how's Blade, by the way? I haven't really heard much from him or the others."

Lyle looked a little further down the shelf before answering, "Blade's alright, I guess. He just finished some big tour thing over the summer. But, when he came back, he was talking with some really stupid accent he picked up in Trottingham."

Troy tried not to snicker too loud in the empty store. "Dude, really?"

"Yeah. It's really freakin' annoying!" Struggling not to laugh as well, Lyle looked back at his brother as he continued, "Blaze is still on a break from Stormball. I think he was supposed to be back on the team last month for some tournament, but he was caught with something and got suspended."

"What did he have on him?" asked Troy in surprise, not remembering any of his Mom's letters mentioning that. "Was it steroids or something?"

"Nah," answered Lyle as he looked away from him, "I think it was nip."

"Catnip?!" Troy's eyes widened in shock. "What was he doing with THAT on him?!"

"I dunno, but when they tested him, they didn't find anything in his system. I think he was just holding it for someone or something."

"I hope so," muttered Troy as he looked away, shaking his head in disbelief at hearing his brother doing something that stupid. "I mean, I know catnip isn’t that bad, but being caught with it by the coach was really dumb."

"You're telling me." Not finding any rap albums that appealed to him, Lyle made his way to the metal section with Troy. "Blane's alright, though. You hear that he actually opened up his own business?"

"Really?" asked Troy with a skewed eyebrow. "That guy's dumber than both of them! What kind of business is he running?"

Lyle shook his head in bewilderment and looked back to Troy. "Weapons trading. And he's doing it with a flower shop as his cover."

Troy face-clawed in embarrassment. "Seriously?! The guy's, like, seven feet tall! Why would he pretend to be working at a flower shop?!"

"I have no idea!" Lyle sincerely put his claws up and tried not to laugh out loud. "It's the weirdest thing ever! Like, he wears an apron and everything!"

Troy covered his eyes with a claw and tried to stifle his laughter. "Oh, man! I would pay good money to see him actually try to act like a florist!"

"Yeah, it does look pretty funny!" Lyle's own laughter subsided a bit before he looked back at some of the metal albums. "Seriously, though, they're all doing pretty alright. They're still stupid, but hey, what did you expect?"

"Yeah…" Exhaling slowly, Troy's smile began to lessen as he thought it over. Although he was glad that Lyle was acting more mature than when he left, the fact that his older brothers were the same was troubling him a little. How would they react when they find out about him with Canvas? How would his parents react?

Actually, Troy was still worried about how Lyle would react, considering that he hadn’t told him yet.

"Whoa!"

Hearing Lyle's voice, Troy shook himself out of his thoughts and looked over. On the shelf of metal records, Troy's eyes widened as he saw what was included in the section. Taking up at least a third of the section, every single Talon Ripper record was arranged on the middle shelf, including a sign announcing that Changeling Slaughterhouse was coming out next week.

"Holy crap!" shouted Troy as he saw the arrangement, not expecting to see this in an Equestrian record store. He glanced at the mare at the counter as he asked, "How long have you guys been holding Talon Ripper albums?!"

"Hmm?" The mare, who was lost in thought, looked up at Troy and Lyle before replying, "Oh, yeah… we've been holding those albums for about a year now. I'm kinda surprised you never noticed it before, Troy."

Troy looked away a little in embarrassment. "Well, to be honest, this is probably the first time I browsed the metal section around here. But still…" Troy glanced back at all the Talon Ripper albums on the shelf, still perplexed. "Blade would probably flip if he saw this!"

"Blade?" asked the clerk curiously. "You mean like, Blade, the lead singer? You know him?"

"Yeah," Lyle said, looking up at her. "He's our brother."

"SERIOUSLY?!"

The mare shot up from her spot and stared at the two Gryphons, wide-eyed. "No way! Like, do you guys have any idea how many ponies would freak out if they knew that?!"

"Really?" Even though he knew Talon Ripper had some dedicated fans back in the Gryphon Kingdom, Troy always thought it was solely a Gryphon fanbase. "There are actually ponies who listen to that stuff?!"

"Yeah!" said the Pegasus in an obvious tone. "I mean, it's not a lot of ponies, but they have a couple of really big fans! In fact, I know that there's one pony who comes by every time they release a new album."

"Who?" asked Troy and Lyle in unison.

The clerk gave a light shrug and put her hooves up. "I actually don't know who, since it's usually not on my shift. But, yeah, there are a few ponies who really like that band."

Troy blinked a few times and glanced back at the albums. "Wow… Wasn't expecting to hear that…"

For the rest of the time the two browsed the record store, Troy was now plagued with two different questions itching his mind.

One—how was he going to come out to his brother?

And two—who the buck actually enjoyed listening to any of Talon Ripper's music?

Even though Canvas had a good idea about what he wanted to make for dinner tonight, a spark of inspiration struck as soon as he left Sugar Cube Corner. Though he had only done it once before, the stallion figured that Troy's brother showing up was a good enough occasion to try it again.

And as soon as he saw Fluttershy strolling through town, Canvas remembered what Troy mentioned during their engagement party, making him quickly rush over to the mare while calling out to her.

"Hey, Fluttershy!"

Hearing Canvas's voice, Fluttershy paused and turned around, smiling when she saw the stallion coming toward her happily.

"Oh, hi, Canvas," said Fluttershy in a faint, yet happy tone. "How are you?"

"I'm pretty good…"

Even though he was determined, the very fact that he was even thinking about what he was going to ask her was making Canvas worry a little. Nevertheless, despite the building tension inside of him, the stallion kept a smile on his muzzle while he began his question. "Say, Fluttershy, umm… I wanting to ask you about something…"

Fluttershy, who wasn't noticing Canvas's nervousness, kept a curious smile as she listened. "Yes?"

"Well… umm…" Canvas bit his lip for a second and glanced down at the ground, taking a deep breath before he looked back up with a smile again. "Something kinda unexpected happened today, and… one of Troy's brothers actually showed up by surprise."

"Really?" Fluttershy’s ears perked up a little. "Which one?"

"His younger brother, Lyle…" Thinking it over, Canvas remembered what happened during the party, making him quickly put up a hoof as he clarified, "Not the one who gave Troy those metal albums! That was one of his older brothers."

"Oh, umm… okay." Flutterhsy's ears flopped back down again, leaving Canvas to breathe a little easier as he continued speaking.

"And… I was wanting to make a good impression, since… Well… Troy is telling him about us right now…"

"Oh…" Understanding what Canvas was saying, Fluttershy's eyebrows rose in slight worry. "So… do you think he'll be alright about it?"

"Well…" Canvas thought it over while he rubbed the back of his head with a hoof. "Lyle said I was pretty cool before he went off with Troy, so I'm wanting to stay hopeful. But… I was wanting to do something nice for both of them, so…"

Sighing under his breath, both worried and slightly ashamed for even asking, Canvas kept an optimistic smile on Fluttershy in the hope that she wouldn't immediately freak out or run away.

"Do you… happen to have any extra fish?"

After leaving the record store and getting their snow cones, Troy decided to show Lyle one of the highest vantage points outside of Cloudsdale. Located at a hillside near the Wonderbolt's Training grounds, the point was high enough to see for miles around, as well as providing a great view of Canterlot. Although it would be several hours until the sun would set, Celestia’s waning sun was still evidently dropping as it headed to the west and began to go behind the training fields.

A deep shadow was loomed over Troy and Lyle as they sat by the ledge of the hillside. Even though he originally felt the shadow as some sort of a bad omen, Troy began to think less about it while he talked with Lyle some more.

As the two chatted about various things, Lyle eventually mentioned to Troy why he left for Equestria so early. Listening to his brother, Troy almost choked on his snow cone when Lyle finished his explanation.

"DUDE!" Troy had to cough a few times to get any lodged ice out of his throat, gasping a little before he looked at Lyle, wide-eyed. "You drew porn of Miss Beakman?!"

Lyle groaned a little and looked away from his brother's shocked stare. "Hey, it wasn't like I wanted to do it! It was a commission, okay?!"

"But… MISS BEAKMAN?! She's like, what… eighty?!?"

"I told you the kid was weird!" Lyle looked back to his brother with an obvious scowl. "Seriously, the only reason I did was because it was for fifty Avians!"

Troy's eyebrows rose at hearing that, appearing clearly impressed as he looked away. "Wow…" Thinking it over, Troy's brow furrowed a bit before he looked back to Lyle in confusion. "You mean a kid paid you fifty Aves for a drawing of that?!"

"Yeah… He… he was a creep."

Troy scoffed a little and looked away with a smirk. "Says the guy who draws porn."

"Shut up!" Lyle gave an especially strong glare to Troy, tightening his grip on his snow cone. "I told you, it was a commission! I don't draw that kind of stuff for fun!"

"Dude, I really hope so!" Troy snickered.

Eventually, their chuckles subsided enough to allow Troy to breathe normally again, letting him settle down enough to look back at his brother and attempt to change the subject. "So… school's alright for you, though?"

Lyle shrugged, a look of indifference on his face. "Sure, I guess. You know, aside from being suspended and all that stuff. School actually isn’t that bad for me."

"That's good to know," Troy said before taking another bite from his snow cone. "I never had that good of a time back in middle school, so it's nice to hear you actually have friends."

"That's true," said Lyle in agreement, "I mean, it still sucks, but whatever. I don't care."

"That's the spirit."

Keeping a smile on his beak, Troy looked back out at the horizon in front of them, seeing how vast the view of Equestria was from this point. Breathing in, Troy's heart started to feel heavier as he looked around, realizing now nice this moment felt right now. Thinking it over, he began to realize that this could be the right time.

Breathing out, Troy swallowed some excess saliva before looking back at his brother. Not wanting to just say it abruptly and make things awkward, Troy instead tried a different route in an attempt to make the change in subject more natural.

Clearing his throat, Troy decided to ask Lyle something, remembering what Rainbow Dash had told him earlier today.

"Hey, Lyle… umm… I was talking with Rainbow Dash today, and… she mentioned that you… you thought she was my marefriend?"

Lyle tried not to chuckle as he looked away in slight embarrassment. "Crap, she told you that? Umm… well…"

Knowing he couldn't just deny what she told Troy, Lyle looked back at his brother before clarifying, "I… I may have thought that at first. I mean, I thought it was your house, so when I saw a mare in the bed, it… kinda looked like that."

Troy shrugged in understanding, keeping a smile as he looked at his brother. Noticing how Lyle had explained it, Troy was happy to see that Rainbow Dash was right; Lyle really wasn't saying it like he was grossed out by the idea, which was a really good sign. Hopeful that he wasn't just hiding it, Troy skewed his beak a little before deciding to ask.

"So, ummm… Would that… would that be weird?"

Lyle looked up at his brother with a confused brow, making Troy breathe in with slight worry as he clarified his question. "You know, like… would it be weird if… I was with a pony?"

Realizing what it was Troy was asking, Lyle's eyebrows rose a little before he looked away. After a few seconds of silence, Lyle kept his eyes out to the horizon and shrugged lightly. "I… I guess not… I mean, you are in Equestria, so it kinda makes sense…"

Troy smiled a little bigger, feeling his hopes rise a little more. Taking a deep breath, Troy looked outward with Lyle, feeling his heart beginning to beat a lot faster in his chest.

Although he was beyond worried, Troy knew that this was the right moment. He kept his eyes away from Lyle as he began to speak.

"I'm… I'm glad to hear that… And… there's something I've been needing to tell you…"

Troy clenched his beak shut for a moment as he looked away from Lyle, not noticing how his brother was now looking back at him.

"I… I don't have a marefriend. I mean… I just wanted to point that out first…"

With his breathing becoming heavier than before, Troy hoped that it wasn't becoming loud enough to be too evident to his brother. Leaning on his forelegs, Troy felt his claws sink deeper into the ground as he continued, his voice shaking.

"But… Umm… I… I, sort of… I am in… a relationship…"

Not looking over, Troy could only hear his brother's voice as he gave a small reply. "Ummm… okay?"

"And…" Troy continued in a more nervous tone as he took another breath, feeling like a cannonball was in his stomach, pulling him down with each word. "I… I'm happy about… and… I really like… who it is I'm with…"

Even though he wanted to take a quick glance back at Lyle, needing to see how he was looking right now, Troy kept his eyes away, not wanting to risk seeing his younger brother looking at him with disdain. Because of that, Troy slowly exhaled, knowing that there was no turning back now.

"And… I don't want you to freak out about it… because… you… you kinda already… met the pony."

Lyle's eyebrows rose in slight surprise.

"And… well…"

Closing his eyes, Troy took a final deep breath. With his heart now thundering in his chest like a jackhammer, Troy could honestly say he never felt this unsure about anything in his life.

However, knowing what he promised Canvas, Troy knew that he had to do this.

With his eyes closed, Troy breathed out as smoothly as he could, then opened his beak.

"It's… it's Canvas."

Even with the high winds around them, the silence was still undeniably overbearing. Since Troy was keeping his eyes shut, the lack of any sound from Lyle just made the silence feel even worse.

However, the moment those two words escaped his beak, that growing weight in his gut suddenly vanished, like something vaporized it from his body. Because of that, the next deep breath that Troy took felt a lot less pressured, allowing him to speak a little easier.

"I'm… I'm with Canvas. He… he's not my roommate."

Even though his heart was still pounding hard, Troy no longer felt the need to hold back anymore. He said what needed to be said, which made him stop feeling so held down. So, with a final exhalation, Troy opened his beak and finally said it.

"I… I'm gay."

With that, every ounce of tension that was building inside of him suddenly went away. After all the growing worries he felt from everything leading up to this, Troy didn’t expect that actually saying that would make it all go away so easily.

As soon as Troy came down from the realization of how gratifying it felt to finally admit that, it was soon replaced by the still silence between him and his brother.

Several seconds passed between the two Gryphons after Troy said those two words, which just made the older brother begin to grow worried again. Keeping his eyes closed, Troy wasn't able to see what Lyle looked like while he was staring at him. Instead, Troy could only hear silence, which was broken only a moment afterwards.

"Yeah, I kinda already knew that, dude."

Troy's eyes shot open in an instant. Turning his head over to his brother quick enough to risk whiplash, Troy saw that Lyle was keeping his eyebrows skewed, a light smirk on his beak while he kept munching on his snow cone.

"What?" Lyle asked in a more condescending tone, "You think I didn’t know?"

With his right eye twitching a couple times, Troy continually blinked, making sure that what he was seeing and hearing was, in fact, real.

"W-w-what?"

Lyle scoffed a little and looked at Troy. "Dude, come on! I know I'm young, but do you really think I'm that dumb?"

"I…I…" With his beak hanging open, Troy was dumbfounded as he tried to think of what to say in response. "You… you… You knew? But… how?"

Lyle kept a more “Are you kidding me?” sort of look on his face as he spoke sarcastically. "Umm, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that you're living on the ground with a stallion?"

Troy cringed a little and looked away in embarrassment.

"Dude, come on!" Lyle continued more matter-of-factly, "You really think I'm that stupid? I know that clouds don't take that long to make into houses! If you were staying with him for over a month, then something had to be up!"

"Well…" Troy attempted to speak up in his defense, which soon became fruitless as Lyle continued speaking.

"Oh, and I saw that huge freakin' nest you have upstairs."

"What?!" Troy looked at Lyle, wide-eyed, only seeing a smirk still on the little Gryphon's beak. "When?!"

"When I was looking around your place," said Lyle as he took another bite from his snow cone. "I mean, that's a huge bed, dude! And since you're having me sleep on the couch, you kinda forgot to mention where your 'roommate' slept…"

Lyle used his talons to make air quotes on the word "roommate" before continuing, "So, it was pretty obvious to figure out where Canvas was sleeping."

Troy groaned under his breath as he looked away, feeling like an idiot for not thinking about that detail. Though Lyle’s arrival was a sudden occurrence and he had to scramble to get him situated, Troy still hated that he didn’t think about that sort of thing before going to help Rainbow Dash.

Before he could let any of that overtake him, Troy blinked a few times and thought everything over, realizing that Lyle wasn't acting mad or upset at all. Looking back over at his brother, Troy kept a puzzled look on his face as he finally spoke clearly.

"So wait, you… you knew? For how long?"

Lyle shrugged as he looked back to the horizon. "Well, it wasn't like I knew, knew… Like, I just had my suspicions, but it was pretty clear when I looked at everything. Plus…"

Lyle leaned back on his claws, thinking it over before adding, "When Canvas was talking about how you saved his life and all, well… It didn’t seem like something that a 'friend' would say. Like… it sounded like a lot more than that."

"Huh…" Even though Troy wanted to remind himself to ask Canvas what he specifically said to his brother, he was mostly just glad that Lyle was reacting like this. After all the bad scenarios he had running through his head, ranging from screaming matches, to full-blown fights, Troy was just happy that Lyle was acting positively about this. "So… you're… you're not mad? Like… you're not freaked-out?"

Lyle just looked back at his brother with a skewed brow as he replied, "Freaked-out? About what?"

"Well… you know…" Troy looked away from his brother for a second, fidgeting with his talons as he tried to think of the right words. "Like… Me with… him."

Lyle rolled his eyes, looking like Troy just said something incredibly stupid. "Are you serious? Dude, you've seen what comic books I've read! You've seen the video games I've played!"

Troy looked back at Lyle in confusion, not sure where his explanation was heading.

"I mean, come on! I drew a freakin' porn picture that made two teachers vomit! Do you really think that something like this would freak me out?"

Troy put up his talon to make a retort. His beak only stayed open for a second as he realized that he wasn't able to make a suitable response. Thinking it over, Troy realized that Lyle had a fair point; with all the content in the video games and comics Lyle had, the idea that he wouldn't be bothered by this wasn't a hard fact to swallow. Heck, a single page of a comic like Scarred was probably more damaging to a kid's psyche than the idea of having a gay brother.

With nothing to argue, Troy put his talon back down, and instead began to smile a little at the realization that Lyle was alright with his relationship. "So,” Troy began in an optimistic tone, "You… you're okay with this? Like… you're alright with me being with a stallion?"

Lyle shrugged and gave a light smile back to his brother. "Sure, I guess. I mean, it's kinda weird, but I don’t care."

Keeping his smile, Lyle looked back out to the view in front of them as he continued, "Canvas is pretty cool. Like, I know I only talked to him for like, less than an hour, but I already like him way more than any of the girls the triplets brought home."

Troy chuckled a little at hearing that, knowing that Lyle was definitely right on that part. Given all the bimbos that their older brothers have had "relationships" with, Troy knew that Canvas was way better than any of them. In fact, considering how bad some of those females were, Troy was fairly glad that he got himself attached to another male instead of one of them.

"Like," Lyle began, trying not to laugh, "remember when Blaze brought home that stripper to dinner? The one who pretended to have some nervous freakout, just so she could sneak into the bathroom to try to steal Grandma's meds?"

Immediately remembering that night, Troy groaned and looked away with a sneer on his beak. "Oh yeah… Tabetha…" Shuddering a little at that unpleasant memory, Troy looked back at Lyle as he asked, "Whatever happened to that bitch?"

Lyle thought about it a little before answering. "Umm… I think she has, like, three kids now. And they have five different dads."

Troy's eyebrows rose a bit, not expecting that answer. "Wow. That's… way less than I would've guessed."

Lyle clenched his eyes shut as he laughed out loud, needing a moment before he could reply soundly. "Yeah! Honestly…" Lyle managed to settle his laughter a bit before reopening his eyes. "She's doing way better than most of those guys' other exes! Like, I don't even want to tell you what happened to some of the others, like Crystal, or Chaka."

Troy made a much stronger shudder as soon as Lyle said that last name. "Ugh! I almost forgot about Chaka! Seriously, I think remembering her face made me a little gayer!"

At that moment, both of them cracked up loudly while they sat by the hillside. Even though their laughter caught the attention of a few Pegasus ponies passing by, neither of them cared.

Eventually, both of them managed to stop laughing after a while, not realizing that they had dropped their snow cones, which melted on the ground. Regaining his composure first, Troy kept a smile on his beak as he looked over to his brother. Happy that they were acting like this, Troy waited until Lyle was calmed down before speaking.

"You know… I was really worried about how you would react to this, but… I'm really glad you're not, like, mad at me or anything."

Regaining his voice, Lyle just sighed before turning his attention to Troy. "Dude, come on… I can't believe you actually thought I'd act like that."

"Well…" Thinking about the rest of his family, Troy looked down to the ground and tried not to look too disheartened. "I mean… I just know that Dad would say something against it."

Hearing that, Lyle's smile dropped a little, realizing his brother had a point. "Ooh, yeah..." Lyle looked down to the ground as well as he thought it over. "Yeah, he… he probably would, wouldn't he?"

Troy sighed under his breath and nodded. However, Lyle perked his head back up as he looked over at him. "But, seriously, though, you shouldn't think about him right now."

Slowly, Troy looked back up to his brother, noticing that Lyle had a more optimistic look on his face.

"I mean, this is kinda weird for me to find out, but… It doesn’t mean anything bad. Like… it doesn’t really matter to me who you're with, dude. Honestly, I'm just glad you're doing alright for yourself."

Troy's eyes widened a little at hearing that, seeing that Lyle really meant that statement. "Re… really?"

"Well… yeah." Lyle kept a smile on his beak as he looked back at Troy. "I don't really care. You're still my brother, Troy."

Even with everything else that Lyle said, those last five words he said were exactly what Troy needed to hear.

With a huge smile on his beak, Troy lunged forward, grabbing Lyle as he held him in an extremely tight hug. Clenching his eyes shut, Troy didn’t give any heed to Lyle's struggles as he tried to escape his brother’s suffocating squeeze.

"Urgh… Aaaah!!!" Feeling like his eyes were going to bulge out of his head, Lyle tried to speak before his lungs could be squeezed shut. "Tr-Troy, you… you're choking me!!"

Realizing that he was actually strangling his brother, Troy quickly let go of him. "Oh! Sorry…"

Even with the light shade of embarrassment on his face, Troy still kept a grateful smile and he tried not to tear up. "Sorry about that, but… I really needed to hear that."

"Ugh… Geez, dude!" After a couple gasps for air, Lyle made sure none of his ribs were cracked before he looked back to his brother. "I know you're worried, but that was a bit much!"

"Sorry," said Troy again, not wanting to mess up anything so soon after Lyle accepted him. "I'm… I'm just glad you're okay with this."

Rolling his eyes, Lyle sighed under his breath. "Whatever. Honestly, I'm just glad I'm the first one you told."

Troy looked at his brother with a confused brow. "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, 'What do I mean?'" Lyle gave Troy an annoyed glare before continuing, "Whenever something big happens in this family, I'm always the last one to know!"

"Oh, come on! No, you're not!"

"Yes I am!" Lyle had a more aggravated look on his face. "Like, when Blaze was going to college for that Stormball scholarship, I was the last to know! When Blade said he was doing that world tour, I was the last to know! When you said you were moving to Equestria, I was the last to know then, too!"

Thinking about it, Troy clenched his beak shut, realizing that Lyle may have been right about this. Slowly, Lyle's angry expression turned more saddened, and he looked down at the ground.

"And… When Grandpa died…"

Troy sighed bitterly and placed a claw on Lyle's back. "Lyle, come on… You… you were really young back then."

"But still!" Lyle shot back up as he looked at Troy. "I'm sick of being the last one to know about stuff in this family!"

Closing his eyes, Lyle took a deep breath, wanting to calm himself down and stop shouting. After exhaling slowly, Lyle reopened his eyes before speaking in a calmer tone. "Just… I'm glad you told me. Like… I like being the first one to know about something, for once."

Keeping his claw on Lyle's back, Troy just smiled as he nodded in understanding. "Alright, yeah… I get it."

Looking at his brother, Lyle gave a faint smile back before looking back out at the horizon. Blinking a couple times in contemplation, Troy realized that he could easily bring up something else before heading back home. After hearing what Lyle had to say, Troy grew a small grin on his beak, knowing what he could say to make Lyle feel better.

"Hey, Lyle. Just so you know, there's something else you should know before everyone else."

"What?" asked his brother, looking back at him.

"Well…" Blushing a little, Troy's smile grew as he looked away bashfully. "Technically speaking, Canvas…Well… I guess I can't say that he's… my boyfriend…"

Lyle's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Troy slowly looked back at his brother, keeping his cheeky grin before speaking in a giddy tone. "Well… he… he's my fiancé."

Lyle's eyes shot wide-open in surprise. "Seriously?!"

Troy nodded quickly, happy to see his brother's reaction. "Yeah. I… I proposed to him at the Grand Galloping Gala last week… and he said yes!"

After blinking twice to process what Troy said, Lyle gave a smile of his own before slapping Troy on the back. "Dude! That… that's awesome! Congratulations, Troy!"

Unable to hold back anymore, Troy pulled Lyle in for another hug. Fortunately, Troy made sure that this hug was a lot less suffocating, allowing Lyle to smile and reluctantly hug him back.

"Th… thanks, Lyle," whispered Troy as he tried not to cry. "I'm really glad you said that."

Lyle just kept his smile while hugging him back, glad to see his brother this happy after missing him for so long. "It's alright, Troy. I get it."

Even though he didn’t want to choke Lyle like last time, Troy hugged him a little tighter, closing his eyes as he savored this moment.

"I love you, Lyle."

Lyle sighed and closed his eyes as well. "I love you, too."

In that moment, Troy felt like he was closer with his brother than he ever was before.

As he kept hugging Lyle, all of Troy’s past worries and issues were completely muted, not entering his mind for a second while he held his brother tightly. Even though he knew he still had a ways to go, having one of his brothers support him like this was the greatest thing Troy could've ever asked for.

He wasn't sure how long he hugged his brother, but he honestly didn’t care. After all the unexpected surprises that occurred today, all Troy knew was that he was happy, and all because he really had something he hadn’t had for over a year.

A brother.

Author's Note

Here it is! Sorry for the wait, but I'm glad to get this chapter done, since it really means a lot to me.

Also, my sister Tabetha is going to be soooooo pissed if she ever finds this!

Actually, in all honesty, she's kind of the inspiration for how I wrote Lyle in this chapter. My sister was the first person I ever came out to, and she was extremely supportive and kind about it. She's still a great friend (something I never thought would've happened after all the crap she put me through as a kid), and I couldn't be happier to have her as a sister. Of course, she did a lot of mean things to me back when we were kids, and she also spoiled The Walking Dead for me, so I decided to add her like this. Payback, bitch!

Chapter Nine: How Touching

Chapter Nine: How Touching

With everything properly cooked and prepared, there was nothing left for Canvas to do but let the pot simmer on the stove. Sighing in relief, the stallion wiped the sweat from his brow as he looked around the kitchen, glad that he got so much done while Troy was gone.

As he went over to the fridge to get himself a drink, he began to think about other things, no longer needing to focus on cooking. All of Canvas's thoughts went back to Troy, and how things might be going between him and his brother. While he didn't want to think anything bad was going to happen, the worry still loomed in the back of his mind while he got himself a bottle of cola.

After having a good time with Lyle, Canvas was hopeful that the little Gryphon wouldn't react that harshly about what Troy was going to admit; however, he also knew how quickly opinions could drastically change. Recalling how cold the ponies back in his old town turned on him after coming out, Canvas knew that there was always a chance of Troy's family acting the same way. Lyle may have said that he was alright, but that was just when he was seen as Troy's "roommate”—not a lover, and certainly not a fiancé.

Sighing under his breath in worry, Canvas popped off the cap of his bottle before taking a drink. After getting meals for both the Gryphons and himself ready, he was feeling rather parched by the time he got the garlic bread out of the oven to cool down.

Before he could take a second swig, Canvas heard the sound of flapping wings outside. Looking out the window, the pony smiled as he saw Troy and Lyle landing outside their home. His smile only grew bigger when he saw that neither of them looked mad or upset.

Meanwhile, Lyle glanced up at the barn after landing before giving a skewed glance to his brother. "So, Troy, you mind telling me how long you've really been living here?"

"Huh?" Slightly confused, Troy looked over at Lyle with a perplexed look on his face. "What do you mean? I've only been living here for like, almost two months now. I wasn't lying about that."

"Oh." Though he thought that his brother's home looked a bit too settled in for him to have only lived there for less than two months, Lyle didn’t hear any insincerity in Troy's reply. He still carried an insistent look on his face when he asked a follow-up question. "So, how about the tornado thing? Was your old place really trashed by that?"

"No," Troy said nonchalantly. He looked at his younger brother with a smirk. "And, technically, I never said that it was."

"Yeah you did!" Lyle insisted, "You sai—"

"What I said," Troy clarified, "was that a tornado went through Cloudsdale, and a lot of homes were destroyed. I never said that MINE was one of them."

Lyle raised a talon to make a retort; however, after thinking it over, he realized that his brother was technically right, making him shut his beak and give a light scowl. "That's still kinda dishonest, dude."

"I know," answered Troy in a more guilty tone, "and I'm sorry. But, hey, at least you won’t have to worry about your stuff falling through the floor of a cloud."

With that, Lyle shrugged in agreement, knowing that he had a lot of stuff in his luggage he'd rather not see destroyed. "Yeah, I guess. Plus, I couldn't really plug my system up in a cloud, could I?"

Troy just kept his smile and shrugged back, not wanting to show that he was still feeling a bit overwhelmed that everything went so well. Instead of any big conflict or argument between them, Troy was beyond elated that Lyle was alright with his new relationship.

Now, there was nothing else to do but tell Canvas the good news, which just made him feel even better as he opened the door.

Troy kept a huge smile on his beak and walked inside with Lyle in tow. Smelling something especially good coming from the kitchen (which smelled amazingly familiar to the Gryphon), Troy called out to his fiancé, "Honey, I'm home!"

"Oh, perfect timing!" Canvas called back from the kitchen. "I just got dinner done, and I know you're gonna lo—"

Canvas's words cut off as soon as he realized what Troy called him. He poked his head out from the kitchen, wide-eyed. "Wait, did you jus—"

Before Canvas could finish his question, Troy swooped in towards him and held him in a loving embrace. With his face just inches from Canvas's, the Gryphon held him sweetly while keeping his loving smile.

"I told him about us," said Troy as he pulled him in closer. "He's cool with it."

Canvas blinked a couple times, processing what his fiancé said before asking, "You did?" He then turned to Lyle. "You are?"

Even though he was slightly uncomfortable at seeing his brother hold Canvas like that, it didn't stop Lyle from smiling a little and replying, "Yeah, he did. Congratulations."

The smile on Canvas's face grew wide enough to nearly match Pinkie Pie's as he looked back to Troy. "Oh, thank Celestia!"

Canvas pulled Troy's head in, showing his enthusiasm as he kissed his beak deeply. Not caring about his brother being beside him, Troy closed his eyes and kissed back.

"Uhhhhh, come on!" Lyle looked away from the two and tried not to act too disgusted. "I just said I was alright with you being gay! I didn't say I wanted to see you sucking a dude's face!"

Though he didn’t want to stop, Troy knew better than to gross-out his brother and quickly pulled back. With reluctant, guilty looks on both their faces, Troy and Canvas blushed heavily and looked back at Lyle with nervous smiles.

"Oh yeah, ummm… Sorry, Lyle."

Lyle just groaned at his brother's response and kept his gaze away from them. "Ugh, whatever."

Suddenly realizing what this meant, Canvas turned back to the Gryphon, still holding him as he asked, "So, Troy… did you tell him… everything?"

Canvas began to rub the Gryphon's shoulder with his left hoof, making Troy realize what he meant. "Oh yeah," Troy said as he smiled at him, "I told him about the engagement."

"YES!" Canvas immediately ran up the stairs. Troy chuckled a little as he heard the stallion call out from the loft, "I'm so glad you told him! I was starting to feel naked without this on!"

Lyle kept a skewed brow and looked up at the loft. "Ummm… Aren't you already naked?"

"… Oh, yeah."

While Troy tried not to crack up, the younger Gryphon's focus was diverted as he smelled what was coming from the kitchen, raising his eyebrows in interest. "Wow, what's cooking?"

Before Troy could look in the kitchen and catch a sneak peek, Canvas was already making his way down the stairs with a huge smile, now feeling much more comfortable with the engagement ring secure on his hoof. "Oh, just a little something special for you two."

Realizing what it was he was smelling, Lyle looked back at Canvas with an unsure look on his face. "What exactly did you make? Because it smells a lot lik—HOLY CRAP!"

Lyle pointed a talon at Canvas's white-gold ring with his eyes bulging in shock. "That's the ring Troy got you?!"

While Canvas simply blushed, Lyle glanced over at his older brother. "Damn, dude! That's a bit over-the-top, don't you think?!"

"Hey," Troy began, trying to defend himself, "I didn't want to get him something lousy!" Looking back over at his fiancé, Troy smiled warmly. "Besides, it was worth every bit."

Canvas gave a caring smile back before walking up to him, lifting himself up so he could hug the Gryphon and kiss him on the cheek. "And so are you."

Lyle groaned a little again and looked away from the two. Even though it was a slightly better sight than seeing them make out, this was still something he wasn't used to seeing.

"So…" Wanting to move the discussion along to avoid seeing his brother doing more cutesy crap, Lyle slowly turned back to Canvas curiously. "What did you make for dinner?"

Happy about what he planned, especially after getting Fluttershy to reluctantly agree, Canvas kept a proud smile on his muzzle and looked over at Lyle. "I'm glad you asked."

A satisfied smile shining on his muzzle while he ate his salad, Canvas was glad to see how much both Gryphons liked what he made for them. Even though he never prepared fish in his life, he was lucky enough to remember a dish his fiancé told him about once, which made him even luckier when he found out Fluttershy had some tuna to spare. And the moment the stallion mentioned the words "tuna,” "noodle,” and "casserole,” Troy was squeezed him tight enough to seriously risk injuring him.

Luckily enough, despite the addition of fish—which carried a smell that almost made Canvas gag while he had been preparing it—the dinner itself wasn't much different from the cheesy noodle dish he was originally planning to cook. Although he thought he made too much, he was happy to see how much both Gryphons were digging into it, both of them getting helpings of thirds before Canvas even finished his one plate of salad.

Troy, who was especially happy since he hadn't touched fish in almost a year, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, savoring how full he felt while rubbing his stomach with a claw. "Oh, man," muttered the Gryphon with a smile on his beak, "I can’t even remember the last time I actually got to eat tuna!"

Canvas giggled a little as he saw how close his fiancé was to going into a food coma. "Well, it wasn't easy, but I'm glad it's not going to waste." The stallion then turned over to Lyle, who was currently eating a large helping sandwiched between two pieces of garlic bread. "What do you think, Lyle?"

After swallowing a large bite, Lyle tried to say something to Canvas. Unfortunately, not many words were able to come out of his beak.

"Dude, this is rea—BRRRRRRAAAAAAAPPPPP!!!"

Lyle clenched his beak shut and looked away, trying to keep himself from laughing at burping that loudly. However, Canvas put his face in his hooves and started cracking up, which caused Troy to start snickering as well. "I guess I'll take that as a yes!" Canvas said, shaking his head.

Glad that Canvas wasn't offended by his belch—which was something his own Mother would've smacked him over the head for doing—Lyle kept his smile as he looked back at him. "Yeah… Seriously though, this is really good."

"Thanks," said Canvas with a grateful smile before looking down at the table and shaking his head in slight disbelief. "But, let me tell you, actually getting Fluttershy to give me a couple of fish wasn't a conversation I want to have again!"

"Yeah, how did you do that?" asked Troy with a puzzled look on his face. "The one time I tried to get a fish from her place, her pet bear almost mauled me!"

Looking over at his brother with wide eyes, Lyle blinked a few times and tried to process what Troy said. "A… a pet bear?"

Noticing how his brother was staring at him, Troy settled in his chair before trying to explain. "Well… I guess he's more like one of the creatures Fluttershy volunteers to take care of, but yeah."

Before Lyle could ask a follow up question, Troy stretched his back out and continued, "Anyways, she has a huge pond full of different kinds of fish, and the ones that die of natural causes are used to feed some of the animals who need it for their diets and stuff. I tried to snag one while helping at her cottage one day, and… well… I got caught by him."

Troy shuddered a little at that unfortunate memory. "Yeah… I didn’t try that again."

"Huh…" Thinking it over, Lyle shrugged before refocusing on his dinner. "I was just a little confused. Like… I heard that Equestria is really strict about the whole, you know, eating meat thing."

"They are," replied Troy as he looked at Lyle insistently. "I mean, it's almost impossible to actually get meat anywhere. At least legally."

Troy then looked over at Canvas with a smile before adding, "Actually, I think the last time I had meat was on my birthday, right?"

"Yep," said Canvas with a grin of his own. "To be honest, I'm glad I got both the bacon and that steak. I mean, that was like, a pound of bacon, and you practically inhaled the plate!"

Lyle tried not to snicker with his beak full, swallowing before adding his input. "What do you expect? Bacon's awesome!"

Troy gave a quick "Yeah!" to Lyle's statement, which just made Canvas start laughing again. "I guess so… I still can't believe I managed to get that."

"Well," said Troy as his smile to Canvas turned warmer, "it's just another reason why I'm glad to have you."

With a large blush growing on his face, Canvas looked over at his fiancé with a gracious smile. Lyle, now feeling properly full, leaned back in his chair after finishing his plate. "So…"

Seeing how happy his brother and his fiancé looked, Lyle let his curiosity get the best of him. "When exactly did… you know… you two end up like this?"

Canvas and Troy both looked over at Lyle, surprised as they realized that neither of them had gone into detail about that yet. With Lyle looking back them with interest, the two stared back at each other, unsure about who should start. Troy gave a light shrug before deciding to speak first.

"Well…" Troy looked back over at his brother. "I… I guess it all started a few months ago…"

Troy leaned in, resting his forelegs on the table before laying his head on top. "Like, Canvas and I were really good friends for a while. To be honest, I didn't feel anything weird. Everything just felt… normal... like, the two of us were really just friends, you know?"

Canvas nodded in agreement before adding, "Yeah. I… kinda felt that way too. I didn't… really think we were anything close, but…" Thinking it over, the stallion chuckled a little under his breath before shaking his head in disbelief. "Looking back, I'm actually pretty surprised I didn't realize how I felt sooner!"

Troy chuckled as well. "Yeah… Well, after a few months, I guess… I guess I finally realized how I felt around…" Troy's eyebrows rose as he looked up, thinking for a second before looking over at Canvas. "The… the art gallery, I think?"

Canvas nodded to him and looked over at the newspaper featuring him and Celestia hung on the wall. "Sounds about right."

Lyle looked up at the headline. "So… that was when you two got together?"

"Yeah," said Troy as he lifted his head back up from the table. "Actually, I… I think I was starting to feel a lot for him a couple weeks before that, but… I was in denial, I guess."

While Canvas looked over at Troy with a curious smirk, Lyle kept a look of interest and asked, "Like… what? Did… did something happen before then?"

Though Troy was beginning to smile up to that point, it quickly dropped from his beak after Lyle asked that. Thinking back to when he really started to develop feelings for him, Troy could remember when he specifically started to fall for Canvas. It was actually after the pony had had his nervous breakdown, when Troy ended up holding him after learning his full past.

While he couldn’t deny how close that moment made the two of them now, Troy really didn’t feel like it was something he should bring up to his brother right now.

Looking over at Canvas, Troy could see that he was thinking the same thing from the unsure look on his face. Sighing under his breath, the Gryphon looked back over at his brother before trying to move the story forward.

"Well… I guess I was really… feeling closer to him after a while. And… I really didn’t realize I liked him like that until after that gallery."

"After the gallery?" Canvas kept a bemused smirk on his fiancé and tried not to giggle. "Do I need to bring up when you saw me with my manecut before the gallery and you got that huge wing-boner?"

"HEY!" Troy looked over at Canvas with an irritated glare. Lyle covered his beak and tried not to crack up too loudly, leaving Troy to groan and look away from both of them.

"Whatever," muttered Troy, starting to blush under his silver feathers. "It was just… surprising, alright? You had a really long mane up before that night, remember?"

Knowing better than to continue messing with Troy, Canvas shrugged while keeping his smile. "Yeah, I guess I did…" Thinking back to that gallery, Canvas's smile widened before looking over at Lyle. "That gallery really was a great night! Like, no one had any idea that Celestia was going to show up! And… when she asked me to make a painting for her…"

Canvas looked down at the table, staring at his hooves as he smiled with a huge blush on his muzzle. "That… that was one of the greatest moments of my life."

Troy lifted a claw and placed it on the stallion's shoulder. Canvas lifted a hoof on top of Troy's claw before sighing in glee. "I really didn't think anything could top that, but… well…"

Canvas turned over to Troy, keeping his smile. "Then… when we got back to our hotel room—"

"Ugh!" Lyle put up his claws, hoping to stop whatever he thought Canvas was going to say. "Dude, please… please don't tell me this story is going to end with you two doing it!"

"No!" Troy dropped his claw from Canvas's shoulder and looked back at Lyle with a scowl. "Dude, come on!"

"Just making sure," said Lyle before putting his claws back down. "I'd rather not hear about that kind of thing."

Troy rolled his eyes, groaning. "Whatever. That didn't happen, though."

"Anyway," continued Canvas in an attempt to keep the story going smoothly, "when we got back to our room, we…"

Pursing his lips shut, Canvas struggled not to snicker when he remembered what happened. He then glanced back at Troy with a smirk. "You wanna tell him what you started?"

"What I started?!" Troy pointed a talon at Canvas. "You were the one who started throwing strawberries at me!"

"I only threw one, and that was only because you were laughing at me! You were the one who grabbed the bowl and started the strawberry fight!"

By now, Lyle was staring at the couple with a very confused look on his face, not expecting the story to go in that direction. "Umm… a strawberry fight?"

"Ye… yeah…" Looking more embarrassed as he thought about what happened, Troy avoided eye contact with his brother and tried to keep his feathers from ruffling out.

Seeing this, Canvas's grin grew a little cheekier as he added, "And then we had a pillow fight."

"DUDE!" Troy yelled, glaring at his fiancé again. Lyle almost fell off his seat as his head hit the table, clenching his eyes shut while laughing out loud.

"What?!"

After almost a minute of laughter from both Lyle and Canvas, while Troy sat with a scowl and his forelegs crossed in aggravation, the younger Gryphon managed to collect himself before looking at his brother skeptically. "You… you had a pillow fight? And that wasn't enough to make you realize you're gay?"

"Shut up! I told you! I… I didn't think much about it." Troy mumbled those last words out of the corner of his beak before looking away sheepishly.

"Yeah," Canvas added, trying to act more civil. "And… well… after messing around like that, we… we ended up on the bed… and…"

Both of them began to blush deeper before looking back at each other, neither of them able to really speak. Groaning in frustration, Lyle rubbed his eyes shut with his talons. "Okay, I… I think I get it. That was when you two made out, right?"

"Actually…" Looking down at his lap, Troy began to look more ashamed as he avoided eye contact with both of them. "I… I kinda freaked out…"

Hearing that, Lyle lowered his claw before giving a puzzled look to his brother. "Huh?"

"I…" Now feeling guilty about how he acted that night, Troy closed his eyes and rested his face in his claw perched on the table. "I almost kissed him, but… I realized what was happening at the last second, and… I… I kinda flew off."

Lyle's eyebrows rose in surprise. Looking over at Canvas, Lyle saw that the upset look on the pony's face was proof enough that Troy wasn't lying. "Seriously?"

"Ugh… yeah…" Before he could go on, Troy sighed painfully and glanced back at his fiancé. "I still feel like a moron for doing that."

"It's okay," said Canvas with a reassuring smile on his muzzle. "I'm not mad about that, I promise."

Seeing the sincere smile on the stallion, Troy smiled back at him. "Th… thanks."

"So…" Legitimately curious about the conclusion, Lyle leaned his forelegs in on the table before asking, "What happened after that?"

Troy looked back at his brother, taking a second before remembering where he left off. "Oh, um… well… when I flew off, I… I wasn't sure what to think, you know? Like… I really didn’t expect myself to do anything with my best friend like that. Especially not a guy! But… well…"

Troy looked down at his claws, taking a deep breath.

"Rainbow Dash found me while I was in that state, and… she managed to calm me down and get me to talk about it." Troy tapped his talons against the table while he thought it over. "After I admitted that I almost kissed him, she… asked me how I felt about him… I told her that he made me happy…"

A smile began to grow on Troy's beak as he continued to recall his thoughts from that night. "I… thought that he was an amazing friend, and… I really liked him… I loved being with him… and… that was when I realized how right that one word sounded.

"I… I just let that one word hang in my head for a bit… Love… and… It just felt… good. It felt… really good to actually say that, and… I knew that was what I felt about him."

Troy then looked back up at Canvas, putting out his claw to hold the stallion's hoof while keeping a caring smile. "I was in love."

Canvas rested his other hoof on top of Troy's claw, holding it lovingly as he smiled back at him. After a moment of silence, Troy looked back to his brother to finish their story.

"Well… I ended up flying right back to the room, and I told him everything that I felt. I apologized for leaving, and I told him how much I cared about him. And then I… I said that I loved him. And Canvas…" Troy looked back at Canvas with a blush. "He kissed me. And… I kissed him back."

Noting how the two were staring at each other so fondly, Lyle wasn't sure how to feel; while he was certainly happy for the two, seeing two guys act like that in front of him was still more than a little uncomfortable. After a couple seconds of silence, Lyle coughed into his claw to break their lovey-dovey crap.

"Oh!" Canvas quickly broke off his affectionate stare and turned his attention back to Lyle. "Well, umm…"

Canvas tried to regain his composure, which just made his blush turn to a darker shade of crimson while he brought Lyle up to speed. "After that night, Troy and I were officially together. He ended up moving in with me a month later, right after he did his big play."

With a smile, Canvas pointed at the other framed headline on the wall, which showed Troy in his Phantom costume. As he looked at the wall, Lyle's beak skewed a little while he thought it over. Realizing how soon that was, Lyle turned to Troy in confusion.

"So… that means you two have been a couple for like… two months or something?"

"Well…" Troy looked up to the ceiling and tried to do the math in his head. "I think it's more like… two and a half, I think?"

"Almost three," Canvas corrected. "I think it'll be three next week, actually."

"But…" Lyle blinked a couple times as he remembered what Troy mentioned after he came out to him. "That… that means you guys were only together for like, what, two and a half months when you proposed?"

"Umm… yeah," said Troy, realizing his brother was right. "Around two and a half months."

Lyle, an unsure look on his face, stared at his brother. "So… don’t you think that's a bit quick?"

Though Canvas's eyes widened in surprise, Troy didn’t appear to react as strongly and simply shrugged. "Eh, not really," he said with nonchalance. "I mean, Canvas and I were friends for a while before becoming a couple, so it wasn't like I only knew him for those two months. Besides, how long did Mom and Dad know each other before they got married? Like, a week?"

"Really?" Canvas asked, not recalling Troy ever mentioning that.

"Well, yeah," said Lyle, trying to add his insight, "but I'm pretty sure that's different."

"Different how?" Troy asked.

"Well… For one thing, I'm pretty sure they only got married so soon because Dad knocked Mom up."

Troy's head shot back a little, not expecting his little brother to make a statement like that. "What?!"

"What?" Lyle retorted, "It's true! Think about it: when did Mom and Dad get married?"

"Ummm…" Troy blinked and tried to remember. "Like… June, I think?"

"Yeah," said Lyle, trying to make his point, "and how many months was it until the triplets were born?"

"Ummm… let's see…" Troy put out his claws and counted it out on his talons. "They were born in March, so that's… six, seven, eigh—"

Realizing the math, Troy's eyes widened. "… Oh."

"Exactly," said Lyle with a smirk as he leaned back in his chair. "Why did you think Grandpa hated Dad so much?"

Troy wanted to respond, but stopped himself as he realized how much sense Lyle's point had. Thinking it over, his Grandfather really did seem to have a bit of animosity towards his Dad, which he always just passed off as a common thing for parents-in-law to do. After mulling it over, Troy raised his eyebrows in realization and looked down at the table.

"Huh… that does explain why he always called Dad 'pecker-head'…"

Canvas, who was taking a sip of his cola, almost spat out his drink as he tried not to laugh.

"But still!" Troy quickly looked back up at his brother before pointing a talon at him. "Those two got married after a week, and they're still together! Canvas and I have been friends for months before getting together, and our relationship was like, ten times longer than theirs was before I proposed. Besides…"

Troy looked back at his fiancé with a grin on his beak. "Life is too short."

Lyle opened his beak to respond. However, after hearing Troy's statement, he realized that he had a fair enough point. Shrugging, he shut his beak. "Eh… that's true, I guess."

While Canvas was happy about Troy's answer, he was still slightly worried about how to respond to everything else. Hoping that Lyle wasn't against their marriage happening so soon, Canvas turned to him with a bitten lip before asking, "So… this isn't too weird, is it?"

"Hmmm…" Thinking it over, Lyle took a second before looking at Canvas and shaking his head. "Nah. Like… I guess it's a little weird, but, hey, who cares? You two look happy together, so I'm not gonna freak out about it."

Looking at his now-empty plate, Lyle smirked before picking it up. "Besides, if all your food is this good, I don't care if you two get married tomorrow!"

Canvas laughed a little before looking at Lyle with a gracious smile. "Thanks! Although, I don't have any more fish, so I hope you don’t mind eating vegetarian stuff for a while."

"Eh, I'll give it a shot." Lyle grinned, then glanced at his brother with a cheeky smirk before adding, "I mean, I'm just putting vegetables in my beak. I don't wanna even think what's been in yours!"

"Shut up!" Troy said, trying to sound offended. He was only able to get halfway through his retort before starting to snicker along with Canvas.

Soon enough, all three began cracking up around the table, which helped make their first dinner together a surprising success.

After dinner was finished and their dishes were done, Lyle had a nice evening hanging with Canvas and Troy. Even though the night mostly consisted of the three playing video games, it lasted long enough that Troy was feeling exhausted when he finally went back up to his nest.

Reaching the loft, Troy saw that Canvas was already lying in the nest, reading Lyle's copy of Feather Noir with great interest until he heard his fiancé enter.

"Hey Troy," said Canvas with a smile before closing the comic, "you manage to beat that tie-breaker you and Lyle were having?"

Troy grimaced before turning around and falling back in the nest. "I swear, that kid was cheating," he muttered.

"I heard that!" yelled Lyle from downstairs as he laid on the couch. "And I wasn't cheating! It's called strategy!"

"Putting a banana on the ramp is NOT strategy!" Troy poked his head up from the nest. "And neither is using the blue shell right before I get to the finish line!"

"That's what it's MADE for!"

"Guys," said Canvas in a raised voice as he tried to make himself comfortable, "I really don’t want to hear another screaming match about this."

"But, Canvas!" Troy groaned in almost a whine. "I was totally winning before he—"

"Dude!" Canvas snapped and pointed a hoof at him sternly, "I don't want to hear it. You can settle it tomorrow. Right now, I just want to get some rest. Alright?"

Troy tried to look back at Canvas insistently; it only lasted for a second before he slumped his shoulders in defeat. "Uuuuugh…" Troy groaned before falling back in the nest. "Fine."

"Good." With a bright smile, Canvas bent in and kissed Troy on the beak. He then lifted his head up before calling out, "Good night, Lyle!"

"Night!" Lyle called back. Then, lights downstairs clicked off.

Reaching out a hoof, Canvas turned off the lamp by the nightstand, making the rest of the barn sit in near darkness. Before resting back in the nest beside his fiancé, Canvas lifted his hoof, smiling as he saw how the moonlight shone against his hoofband. Happier than ever about how well everything went, Canvas cuddled up against Troy and rested his head against his feathered chest.

"Mmmmmm…" Burrowing himself against the Gryphon's soft feathers, Canvas sighed and nestled himself in closer. "So… How do you feel, honey?"

Wrapping a foreleg around Canvas's snug body, Troy sighed in pleasure as he looked at him. "Well, after everything that happened today, I feel pretty good right now."

"Good." Canvas smiled and kissed Troy's chest. After giving another caring nuzzle to the Gryphon, he pulled his head back and glanced up at him. "Are you still worried?"

Troy sighed as he looked down at his fiancé. Despite how beautifully the pony's eyes shone against the moonlight within the darkened room, Troy couldn’t help feeling a little more disheartened after hearing that question. Before Canvas could catch the change in Troy's tone, the Gryphon looked away for a second before replying, "Well… a little bit."

Canvas moved himself upward, resting his head against Troy's shoulder as he gave him a tight hug. Troy moved his claws along Canvas's back, stroking his smooth fur while he closed his eyes. Before he could try to tell Canvas he was alright, the stallion held him tight and spoke up.

"Troy, you know there's nothing to worry about. And you also know there's nothing I wouldn't do for you."

Troy smiled and hugged him back. "I know," said the Gryphon tenderly as he kept his eyes closed, "but I… I just can’t stop thinking about it. Like…"

Troy tried to readjust himself in the nest, making Canvas lift his head up and reposition himself as well. With the pony lying on top of his chest, Troy sighed, smiled, and looked up at him. Thinking about what he was going to say, Troy's smile dropped slightly as he opened his beak.

"I just… I just don't know how Mom and Dad are going to react to seeing me with you. Or how my brothers are going to act when they show up."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Canvas assured. "You thought Lyle would react badly, and he's been really supportive of us."

Troy clenched his beak shut and looked away. Although he knew Canvas was right—that Lyle really had been great about all this—it didn’t help to ease Troy's tensions that much.

"Well, yeah, but…" Troy looked back up at Canvas. "The triplets aren't like Lyle. I mean, Lyle was already smarter than them before I left, and he told me himself that they haven’t changed much."

"So?" Canvas asked, "Is that so bad?"

"Probably," Troy said, brow raised. "Those three do some pretty dumb stuff, and I'm not sure how they'd act around ponies." Knowing what damage those guys could cause, Troy looked up at the ceiling.

"I can already imagine all the dumb crap those three would pull when they show up: Setting things on fire, chugging energy drinks, getting wasted and doing fart-rings around ponies…"

"Well, I don’t think tha—"

Canvas pulled back a little, looking down at the Gryphon with a perplexed stare before trying to speak again. "Umm… I probably shouldn't ask this, but… what exactly is a 'fart-ring'?"

"I can answer that!" Lyle called from downstairs. Not realizing the Gryphon was listening in on them, Canvas and Troy turned towards the direction of the studio.

Lyle answered, "It's this thing when you do a silent fart around someone. When you do a full circle, you know, enclosing the fart around them, you yell out 'Fart Ring!’ and run away."

Blinking a few times, Canvas turned back to Troy, who was giving him a more deadpan stare.

"They claimed they invented that, and they got in a huge fight because they couldn’t agree who should get the patent for it." Hoping that Canvas would get the picture, Troy sighed while keeping his honest tone. "That's what you're getting married into, Canvas. I hope you're ready for that."

Luckily, instead of looking disgusted or worried, Canvas just smiled before snickering a little. Appearing unfazed by his fiancé's words, Canvas giggled and lifted himself up, now sitting on Troy’s chest.

"Oh, come on! I'm not scared of that!" Canvas tapped Troy's chest gently before adding, "Besides, we had something like that back in middle school. Although, back then, we called it 'crop-dusting.’"

Troy squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to laugh, which only caused Canvas to giggle back and rest down against him again. "I'm serious, Troy. We still have two weeks before they show up, so just appreciate this right now. Alright?"

Looking into Canvas's eyes, Troy exhaled slowly, letting his mind being to settle as he gave a weak smile. Troy then lifted a claw up to Canvas's face, resting it against his cheek before nodding. "Yeah," he agreed quietly, "alright."

While he laid on top of Troy, Canvas didn’t need to bend in far to kiss him on the beak. Closing his eyes, the Gryphon slowly opened his beak, allowing his fiancé to reposition his muzzle and kiss him deeper. Wrapping his hooves around Troy's neck, Canvas closed his eyes and pulled him in, kissing him sensually as he began to—

"You better not be doing it!" Lyle yelled up to them from the couch. "Seriously, that's not cool! I can hear you guys from down here!"

Canvas and Troy both froze, lips and beak still intertwined as they reopened their eyes and looked at each other. After a second of silence, the two reluctantly pulled back, blushing before they started giggling.

Knowing they shouldn't risk trying that again, Canvas rolled off of his fiancé, resting back beside him as they laid in the nest. After a while, the barn became still once more, with Lyle resting on the couch downstairs, and Canvas and Troy holding each other in their nest.

Lyle groaned under his breath and tried to get comfortable on the couch. After several hours of tossing and turning, he was still unable to get any real rest. Even though he could easily just play some video games until he got tired, he didn’t want to wake up Canvas or Troy. And, despite having far better eyesight than ponies, he really didn’t feel like trying to read any of his comics under moonlight. In a mix of frustration and tiredness, the Gryphon slumped back on the couch, looking up to the ceiling while he tried to get comfortable.

Slowly, his eyes began to close when he tried to turn off his brain, hoping that he could get at least a couple hours of sleep before needing to wa—

"Pssst! Hey, Canvas…"

Hearing Troy's voice upstairs, Lyle slowly reopened his eyes, confused as to why his brother was still up.

"Wh… what?" muttered the stallion, who was obviously sleeping before Troy woke him.

"I think Lyle's asleep."

Lyle's eyes opened a little bit more. Even though he didn’t want to think about what his brother was planning, he really didn’t like hearing that.

"Troy, I was asleep! Go back to bed."

"Come oooooonnn…"

Lyle stayed wary as he laid in silence, hoping not to hear anything he really, REALLY didn’t want to hear. However, only silence could be heard for about a minute, which lead Lyle to assume that Troy just went back to sleep.

Unfortunately, before the Gryphon could try to settle back in bed, Canvas's voice could be heard again.

"Troy, stop it."

Lyle didn't open his eyes, instead trying to ignore hearing that.

"I'm serious, Troy. Stop poking my butt."

Lyle's eyes opened that time, as a scowl started to grow on his face. I swear, thought the Gryphon as he rested his head against the pillow, he better not be trying that crap while I'm around.

Unfortunately, Lyle heard the stallion's voice one more time.

"Dude, come on! Stop poking me with your talon. I wanna sleep…"

"…That's not my talon, baby…"

Lyle's eyes shot wide open. Before he could get up and try to stop anything from happening, he could hear Canvas moving around in the nest upstairs.

"Wha… what are you talking… Oh! No, Troy! Put that away!"

"Come ooooooonnnn…"

"No! Not tonight!"

"But I can't sleep… Can you at least touch it?"

"I said no!"

"Just touch it."

"Dude, I'm serious! Not. Tonight."

"Just touch it a little."

By now, Lyle's beak was hung open in disgust and shock. Though he didn’t want to think about what was running through Troy's mind to allow him to think this was a good idea, he was too mortified to move an inch on the couch. Fortunately, before he could break from his frozen state, Canvas could still be heard upstairs, arguing.

"Troy, your brother is downstairs right now!"

"So? He's asleep."

"How do you know that? What if he wakes up?"

"He won’t wake up, trust me. The guy once slept through an earthquake."

"I don’t care! What if he does wake up? What're you going to say then?"

"I'll just say he had a bad dream."

"TROY!" Lyle shouted, too fed up to hear any more of this, "I SWEAR, IF YOU TRY TO DO THAT, I'LL GO UP THERE AND KICK YOUR ASS!"

The silence that came after that was so heavy that a pin could've been heard dropping. After about a minute, the silence was finally broken by Canvas howling with laughter.

"BWAAAA… ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaa!!!"

Troy groaned. "Okay, okay… I'll go to bed."

"’Don’t worry, Canvas,’" Canvas said, purposely doing a bad impersonation of Troy's voice, "’Lyle won't wake up.’"

"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny."

"’I'll just say he had a bad dream.’"

"Okay, I get it! You can stop now."

"’Just touch it.’"

"Alright, you made your point!"

"’Just touch it a little.’"

"Dude, c'mon! I'm sorry! Besides, I don’t sound like that!"

"’I don’t sound like that.’"

"Oh, very mature, Canvas."

"’Oh, very mature, Canvas.’"

Lyle started to laugh, which made the stallion break his impersonation and start laughing as well. By the time both were finished laughing at Troy's expense (who was now silent again as he laid, annoyed, in the nest), Lyle rested back on the couch, now feeling surprisingly more spent.

"Sorry about that, Lyle," said Canvas from upstairs.

"No problem," Lyle replied. "Good night."

"Good night."

Lyle rested his head against the pillow, closing his eyes before he heard the stallion's voice again.

"Good night, Troy."

"Eh… good night."

A faint smooch could be heard from upstairs, followed by a couple seconds of silence.

"I love you, Troy.

"… I love you, too."

After another faint smooch, the home became silent once more.

This time, instead of Lyle tossing and turning, he was starting to feel legitimately comfortable. And, after a few minutes, all three of them were sound asleep.

Chapter Ten: Morning Plans

Canvas's muzzle began to twitch as he awakened in their nest. Keeping his eyes closed, the stallion smiled as he nestled in closer to Troy, realizing that the Gryphon's large body was shielding him from the bright sunlight peering in through the window. Canvas began to rest against the chest of his fiancé, happy that neither of them had any major plans until noon today.

Troy, still in a deep sleep, moved his claws out, moaning a little under his breath as he pulled Canvas into his chest. Now held within the Gryphon's grip like a stuffed animal, Canvas couldn't have felt more content. The stallion savored the massive warmth and softness enveloping him. Happy to be in such a comfortable position, he cuddled in closer to the Gryphon, relishing what he was hearing:

Purring.

Even after being a couple for almost three months, Troy was still in massive denial about his purring, swearing up and down that he didn’t do it. While Canvas was surprised that Troy would be so adamant in denying something like that, he couldn't have cared less about it right now.

Canvas just held himself closer to his love, hearing the Gryphon's loud and smooth purring as it escaped through his chest and slightly open beak. While he was being held like this against his fiancé's feline body, Canvas almost felt like he was being protected by a massive cat that was keeping him secure while purring in bliss. Blushing at that thought, Canvas began to relax himself, letting his tired state take over and allow the Gryphon to hold him like this as long as he—

"Hey, Troy."

Canvas's ears perked up a little at hearing a new voice in the room, almost forgetting about their visitor. Before he could open his heavy eyelids, the stallion could already tell who was standing by the nest. He yawned before looking up.

"Hey, Lyle…" Canvas said groggily, not expecting to be speaking so soon after such a nice rest. "What's up?"

As he adjusted to the brightness of the room, Canvas saw that Lyle was looking at him and Troy with a skewed brow. While it was nice that the younger Gryphon was alright with them being a couple, it was clear that some things were going to take some time to get used to. Like seeing his older brother cuddling with a stallion like he was a teddy bear.

"Uhhh…" Lyle tried to suppress a smile in an attempt not to laugh. "Dude, is he purring?"

Canvas giggled a little. "Yeah," he whispered with a cheeky grin, "he keeps telling me that he doesn't."

Another low growl came from Troy before he held Canvas tighter, which just made Lyle snicker and look away from them. "Oh, man!" he muttered under his breath. "I can't believe he does that!"

After settling down, Lyle looked back to Troy, who was still out like a light. Seeing how Canvas was trying to wiggle out of Troy's grasp (which was a fruitless endeavor), Lyle bent in and tried to catch his attention. "Hey, Troy."

Troy stirred but didn’t wake, moving his head away from Lyle as he sank deeper into his pillow. Lyle groaned in frustration. "Troy, come on. Wake up."

Canvas tried to move around some more, hoping it would awaken Troy; however, he knew that there were only two things that could wake up the Gryphon this early: one was an alarm clock, and the other was something he really couldn't do in front of Lyle. "T-Troy?" Canvas muttered. "Troy, you gotta get up."

Troy didn't falter from his slumber, and just nuzzled in closer to Canvas. Lyle, fed up by now, moved closer to the nest. "Troy!" the Gryphon barked, making Canvas flinch a little. "I'm getting sick of this!"

After several seconds of silence, Lyle made a final huff in irritation before putting out his claw. Before Canvas could ask what he was doing, Lyle clenched his claw into a fist, then flicked Troy on the forehead with a talon.

THWACK!

"OW!" Troy finally woke up, rubbing his forehead with a claw. "What the buck was that?!"

"Troy, wake up," Lyle deadpanned. "I'm hungry."

Still rubbing his head, Troy glared up at his brother. "You're hungry, so you decide to flick my friggin' head?!"

"Yeah."

Troy just groaned as he sunk his face into the pillow, ignoring his brother's stare. "Just… make something!"

"I can't cook!" Lyle objected.

Troy, still rightfully mad that he was woken up like that, replied, his voice muffled by the pillow, "Then make some cereal or something. I don't care."

"You don’t have any cereal," Lyle said blankly. "All you have is oats and stuff."

"No, I…" Thinking it over, Troy sat up, a slightly confused expression on his face. "Wait… I thought there was a box of Redberry Crunch in the pantry."

"Ummm…" Canvas tried to reposition himself while he was underneath Troy. "You finished that box off yesterday. Remember?"

Troy blinked a couple times. "…Oh yeah…"

Knowing what had to be done, Canvas sighed before looking up at Lyle with a tired smile. "Don’t worry, I'll make you something." The stallion then tried to pull himself from the Gryphon's grasp. "I just gotta get up an—"

"Nnnnnnoooooo," Troy whined, pulling Canvas in closer to him, "don’t get up… I hate being alone in the nest."

Troy bent down and began to nuzzle the stallion's neck, making Canvas giggle while Lyle stood beside them, growing increasingly more annoyed.

"Dude," Lyle grumbled with light disdain, "that's so gay."

Troy stopped and looked up at Lyle, shooting him an especially nasty glare.

Lyle responded with a skew of his brow. "What? You're literally snuggling with another guy! I think that counts as being gay."

Troy wanted to retort but paused, thinking. Taking a second for recollection, the Gryphon looked back down at his fiancé, who shrugged lightly.

"He kinda has a point," Canvas said.

Thinking it over, Troy then merely sighed in acceptance, realizing that his brother was technically right. Despite not liking the tone Lyle had used, it wasn't like he was wrong; by definition, cuddling with someone of the same gender would be seen as gay in almost any dictionary.

However, that only paused Troy for a moment, before he rolled in and pulled Canvas closer to him within the nest.

"Dude, come on!" Lyle shouted, not wanting his breakfast to be thwarted because of his older brother's stupid cuddle time.

"Yeah, Troy," Canvas said, wanting to get out of the nest despite his suppressed giggles from Troy’s nuzzling, "come on, I… hehehe… I gotta… make breakfast!"

Troy didn’t let go of him, bending in to look down at the stallion. "Well, that's gonna be a problem," he said with a grin, "because I'm not letting you go."

Before Lyle could kick their nest in irritation, Canvas decided to try something different. Turning to face Troy, the stallion bent in before opening his muzzle and exhaling into his beak.

Hhhhaaaaa…

"Urgh!" Troy immediately let go of Canvas, covering his beak with his claws and clenching his eyes shut. "Dude! What did you eat?!"

Ignoring his fiancé's reaction to his morning breath, Canvas just chuckled a little before rolling out of the nest. Troy, realizing he couldn’t get him back now, groaned before lying in the nest in defeat.

"So, Lyle," Canvas asked, as he rose to his hooves, "what do you want? I got all the stuff to make waffles."

Lyle's eyes lit up at the mention of waffles, and grew a bright smile on his beak. "Sure!"

"Great." With that, Canvas lead the way down the stairs with Lyle in tow, leaving Troy behind to try to get the stench of his fiancé's morning breath out of his sinuses.

"Ughhhhh…"

Troy, now alone, merely sighed as he laid in his nest. Although he spent so much of his life by himself, both at home in the Gryphon Kingdom and in seclusion in Equestria, he couldn't imagine being without Canvas by his side for that long.

To most Gryphons back home, Troy's dependence on Canvas would've been seen as something negative, like he was being too "needy" or "soft". However, Troy just smiled and looked up at the ceiling, knowing that he wouldn’t want to give this up for the world.

After everything that had happened in the past few months, Troy could only think of one thing, which stayed in his mind as the purest truth: Canvas was better for him than any Gryphon or mare he could ever imagine.

With a tired sigh escaping his beak, Troy slowly closed his eyes, hoping to get a couple more minutes of rest before breakfast would be ready.

Several minutes after Canvas and Lyle went downstairs, several different aromas began to escape from the kitchen: freshly made batter, maple syrup, and even a hint of chocolate. As soon as the scent of brewing coffee reached the loft upstairs, Troy popped out of nest like a jack-in-the-box.

The Gryphon lumbered down the stairs in an almost zombie-like trance, fueled only by his desire for the enchanted caffeine awaiting him downstairs. When he reached the bottom of the steps, his eyes brightened in anticipation as he saw the dining table.

Lyle, who was already eating his breakfast, barely paid any attention to Troy as he scarfed down his food. In front of the younger Gryphon’s plate sat a large pot of coffee, which steamed out the top like a welcoming beacon to Troy.

"Coffee,” Troy mumbled in his trance as reached for the pot.

"Mine," Lyle snapped almost instantly as he snatched the pot and held it closer to him. "Yours is in the kitchen."

Still half-asleep, Troy blinked a couple times in confusion, barely giving much resistance before nodding to his brother and muttering, "Oh… okay…"

Before he could enter the kitchen, Troy woke up enough to realize what Lyle had said. He turned around and stared at his brother with a bewildered look on his face. "Wait a minute! When did you start drinking coffee?!"

Lyle shrugged before taking a sip from his pot. "I dunno… A couple months ago?"

"Huh…" Even though he was surprised to find his little brother drinking coffee, Troy only stayed frozen for another moment before nodding slowly in acceptance. After everything else that happened in the past twenty-four hours, Troy figured that he should stop trying to guess what Lyle was going to do or say.

With the promise of more coffee nearby, Troy turned back around and went into the kitchen.

Canvas, who was busy getting the last of the waffles out of the wafflemaker, kept a smile on his muzzle as he got everything ready. When he noticed his fiancé enter the kitchen, the stallion quickly pulled the second pot of coffee off the stovetop. Troy grabbed the pot from Canvas's hoof, taking in the rich aroma before tipping his head back and opening his beak.

While there were many things that Canvas was used to seeing from the Gryphon in his life, there was still one thing that managed to weird him out a bit. Though he knew that Gryphons were a lot stronger and resistant to pain than ponies, that still didn't explain how Troy was able to pour near-boiling coffee down his throat straight from the pot. Despite an unintentional shudder that crept down his spine, he still managed to keep a smile on his muzzle whenever he saw how happy Troy was with his morning coffee.

"I swear," Canvas said under his breath as he turned around and checked on his finished waffles, "I'll never figure out how you can do that."

After downing more than half of his pot of coffee—something he could do rather easily since it was a pony-sized pot and not a Gryphon-sized one—Troy sighed in relief before looking back at his fiancé. "Oh, come on. It's not that weird, is it?"

"What? Being able to down that much boiling coffee in an instant? No, that's not weird at all…"

Ignoring Canvas’s sarcastic tone, Troy bent in towards him from behind, nuzzling his neck sweetly and making him giggle. "Whatever," he said as he wrapped his forelegs around Canvas, "I think it's clear that we're both pretty weird. That doesn’t mean anything bad, does it?"

Blushing deeply, Canvas turned to face his fiancé with a cheerful grin. "I guess you have a point there," he said, wrapping a hoof around Troy and peering into his eyes. "But, if it's weird to rather have you than a pony, then I never want to be normal."

Troy's smile grew as he bent in closer to his love. "Me neither…"

Closing their eyes, the two shared their first kiss of the morning, the familiar tastes of coffee and maple syrup enveloping each other's tastebuds as they held each other tightly.

Meanwhile, Lyle's expression turned to one of deadpanned irritation as he sat alone at the dining table and heard the sounds of slurping coming from the kitchen. While he had been enjoying his breakfast, hearing the noise of a gay makeout session from the other room was enough to make him reconsider his appetite.

Before Troy could move his claw lower as he held onto Canvas, their kiss was interrupted.

"Troy, I swear, if I hear you say 'Touch it,’ I'm gonna punch you in the balls!"

Troy immediately pulled back from the kiss, wide-eyed as he stared back at the doorway of the kitchen. Canvas was only frozen for a second before he began cracking up, clenching his eyes shut while Troy just stood there, slightly embarrassed.

"Crap," Troy muttered as he tried not to look at Canvas. "I was hoping he forgot about that."

Canvas grew a skeptical brow as he looked at his fiancé. "Dude, are you serious? He's a Gryphon, not a goldfish! I think his memory lasts longer than a couple hours."

Troy just sighed as he lowered his head in guilt. "Yeah, I… I know…"

When he looked back up at Canvas, Troy saw that the stallion had both eyebrows raised and was waiting for him to respond correctly. Knowing what he wanted him to do, Troy sighed again before nodding and letting go of him.

"I… I better apologize to him."

"That's right." Canvas bent in and gave a light peck to the Gryphon's cheek. Taking a deep breath, Troy turned around to leave the kitchen, not wanting to see how this was going to go.

As soon as Troy entered the dining room, the glare that Lyle was giving him from the table was intense enough to make him openly cringe. Looking away from his brother, Troy struggled to open his beak, despite knowing what he had to say.

"Uhhh…" Troy slowly looked back at Lyle. "I… I'm… really sorry about last night, Lyle…"

After a second of silence, Lyle groaned under his breath before rolling his eyes and getting back to his breakfast. Even though he was still rightfully pissed at his brother, he didn't want to get into it this early in the morning. "Ugh… Whatever, dude…"

"I'm serious," Troy continued as he tried to be more direct, "I… really shouldn't have acted like that, and… What the buck are you eating?"

Though he wanted to finish his apology, Troy wasn't able to focus much as he saw his brother's plate, which looked like something that would be in the garbage at Sugar Cube Corner.

"What?" Lyle stuffed another helping into his beak. "I'm eating waffles."

"Where? Are they under that massive pile of chocolate syrup?"

Seeing how weirded-out his brother appeared, Lyle looked down to his plate of waffles, unsure what the problem was. While there were several waffles in there, it may have been hard to tell since the plate was completely enveloped in a mound of chocolate, as well as a bunch of other toppings.

"So?" Lyle looked back up at Troy with a skewed brow. "Canvas put chocolate chips in the waffles, so I decided to add some other stuff."

Troy's eyes narrowed in confusion and slight disgust as he looked closer. "What… what's all in there?!"

"Ummm…" Using a fork, Lyle took another piece out of his waffles as he tried to remember. "Chocolate syrup, peanut butter… Uhhh… A couple of those caramel pieces you had in the pantry… Some of that marshmallow fluff…"

Lyle was sure there were a couple other things he forgot, but he merely shrugged before taking another bite. Troy could only blink a couple times, unsure of how to react. After a moment, the older Gryphon just shook his head in bewilderment before walking back to the kitchen. "Remind me to introduce you to Pinkie Pie sometime."

"Okay," Lyle mumbled after swallowing another bite, not paying much attention to his brother, who went back to talk with Canvas.

"So?" Canvas turned to his fiancé in the kitchen. "How'd it go?"

Although he knew what Canvas was asking about, Troy just gave a puzzled look at his fiancé as he asked in return, "Why did you let Lyle eat that?"

Canvas gave him a confused look, staying silent for a moment before realizing what he meant. "Oh, you mean the waffles? Yeah, he… he kinda got in the pantry when I wasn't looking."

"And you didn't stop him?" Troy glanced back at the doorway for a second before looking back at Canvas. "Dude, he's eating marshmallow fluff for breakfast, for crying out loud!"

"What are you, his mother?" Canvas smirked as he added, "That was what he wanted. Besides, I think it's a good way to make up for what you did last night, Mister Pokey."

Troy immediately began to blush and avoided Canvas’s stare. After everything that happened, Troy knew he couldn't really defend himself for what he tried to do. Lyle's arrival may have been unexpected, but that didn't mean he couldn't have waited until he was gone to try something like that.

"Urgh… Y-yeah… I… I guess I wasn't thinking, was I?"

"At least not with your brain," Canvas said before turning back to add the finishing touches to breakfast. "So, you hungry, honey?"

"Well, yeah," said Troy in an obvious tone of voice. However, he still couldn’t stop thinking about what Lyle was eating. He looked back to the doorway again.

Noticing his fiancé, Canvas grinned and glanced over at him."You want what your brother's having, don’t you?"

"Actually…. yeah," Troy admitted in a guilty tone."I don't want to admit it, but I kinda do."

"I thought you would say that." Smiling, Canvas handed Troy his plate of waffles, which was made up the same way his brother's was. "So I made you the same thing."

Seeing the unhealthy concoction of sweetness on the plate, Troy gave a huge smile back to him. "You know me way too well."

"Yeah, I probably do," Canvas said, a warm smile on his muzzle. Before either of them could join Lyle at the dining table for breakfast, Canvas moved in towards Troy, wrapping his hooves around him before giving a kiss to the Gryphon's beak.

"And I wouldn’t have it any other way."

After breakfast, Lyle found out that Troy and Canvas had to go into Ponyville for an appointment with Rarity, their wedding advisor. With nothing else to do today, the young Gryphon decided to head into town with them and check things out.

Surprisingly enough, Canvas insisted on jogging into Ponyville instead of riding on Troy's back like usual. Though he tried saying otherwise, Troy knew that his fiancé was wanting to get his cardio up before the Running of the Leaves at the end of the week. Instead of just flying ahead of him into town, the Gryphon decided to stay on the ground and walk alongside him.

Lyle seriously considered just flying ahead of the two and taking in the sights around Equestria, but decided to walk along with them as well. While Canvas kept up a brisk jog, he still moved at a pace slow enough that the two Gryphons could walk with him at roughly the same speed.

Time went by surprisingly fast for the three through their walk, mostly due to how much they chatted with each other instead of focusing on how long their route was. By the time they reached town, Lyle managed to converse with his brother and Canvas about a lot of different things: how things were back in the Gryphon Kingdom; what was going on with Troy's parents and the triplets; Canvas and Troy's relationship; and what Ponyville had to offer.

Canvas, now starting to break a small sweat, slowed down his trot as soon as he passed the Ponyville town limits, panting a little more heavily before pulling a towel out of the art bag on his shoulder.

"You know," Canvas said between breaths as he wiped himself off, "I remember that Lyra used that surveillance spell during one of Troy's performances. If we head over to the sweet shop, we can probably see if she still has it on her."

"Wait, what?" Slightly baffled by what Canvas just suggested to his brother, Troy looked over at him and tried to intervene. "Oh, come on! Lyle doesn't need to see that!"

"Like hey I don't!" Lyle exclaimed, looking back at his brother with a smirk. "If there's actually footage of you singing and dancing around in that friggin' outfit, I want to see it!"

Troy groaned and looked away. Canvas carried a more satisfied grin on his muzzle at Lyle's response. "I guess it's two against one then. Come on, let's head to the shop."

Reluctantly, Troy followed his fiancé and brother over to Bon-Bon and Lyra's sweet shop, feeling less than enthusiastic about how Lyle's reaction would be to his performance in Phantom of the Opera.

Along the way, the couple made their usual waves to ponies who passed them by. Many of them stopped as they took notice of the new Gryphon who was accompanied the couple. While it usually took them less than five minutes to get to the sweet shop from the outskirts of Ponyville, the constant stops they had to make to introduce Lyle to various ponies made their trip last over fifteen.

Despite Lyle feeling slightly embarrassed at how much attention he was getting, he really didn’t seem to mind much by the time they finally reached their destination.

At hearing the distinct "ding" from the door being opened, Bon-Bon looked over from the counter, immediately smiling when she saw the engaged couple. "Oh, hey guys!" she exclaimed as she got out from behind the counter. "I didn't expect you two to come by this early."

"Well," began Troy as he put out a wing to pull his brother in closer, "Canvas and I are supposed to meet with Rarity at noon, so I decided to show my brother Lyle some of the sights this morning."

Bon-Bon's eyes widened in surprise as she saw the black and white Gryphon next to Troy, smiling before putting out her hoof. "Is that so? Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Lyle. My name is Bon-Bon."

Giving a sheepish smile, Lyle put out his claw to shake the mare's hoof. "Umm… hello."

As Lyle glanced around the sweet shop, looking at all the various jars and bins of candy that adorned every inch of the store's walls, Troy pulled his wing off him and turned his attention to Bon-Bon. "Yeah, Lyle just sort of showed up yesterday at the house by surprise, which was kinda awkward, to be honest."

"Oh?" Remembering the discussion Troy had with them back at the engagement party, Bon-Bon didn’t need to be reminded of what would've made that encounter awkward for them. "Really? So… You talked with him, right?"

Noting the shade of concern on her face, Troy quickly nodded and smiled at her. "Yeah, I did. I told him about me and Canvas," he said before glancing at Lyle. "Actually, he was surprisingly cool with it. Weren't you?"

Lyle gave a light shrug and looked back at his brother. "Yeah, I guess." He rubbed the back of his head with a claw as he continued, "I mean, it’s weird, but whatever. I'm not judging."

Bon-Bon's smile turned warmer as she looked at the two of them, legitimately happy that things worked out so well for one of Troy's family members. "Well, I'm really glad to hear that."

"Thanks, Bon-Bon," Canvas said. "You wouldn’t believe how flustered this guy was getting when Lyle showed up."

"Oh, come on!" Troy turned to the stallion with a scowl and tried to defend himself. "I wasn't that flustered!"

"Troy, I had to throw water in your face when you got that letter about your parents coming in."

Troy growled a little in frustration, which didn’t heed the condescending stare that Canvas had on him.

"Wait, a letter?" Bon-Bon looked slightly confused. "You mean… your whole family is coming here to Equestria?"

Closing his eyes, Troy sighed before turning back to the mare. "Yeah, I… I got the letter right before Lyle showed up."

Troy tried not to look disheartened by the letter, though he was sure his anxiety was still seeping through enough for Bon-Bon to see. While he didn’t want to admit it, he kinda wished that he just went to the Gryphon Kingdom to see his parents and brothers instead of them coming here. At least then he wouldn't have to hastily put up a fake barrier about his life like he did with Lyle.

However, before Troy could try to say anything to hide his looming fears, he saw that Bon-Bon didn't show any evidence of discomfort. Instead, the mare kept up a caring smile for Troy to see. "You know, Troy, I would absolutely love to meet them when they come by. If they're half as nice and caring as you are, then I'm sure they'll be great."

After blinking a couple times, Troy began to smile again when he heard the sincerity in Bon-Bon's voice. She looked over at Lyle before asking, "You think that's a good idea, Lyle?"

Seeing how the mare was trying to cheer his brother up, Lyle grew a smile on his beak as well and nodded. "Yeah, it really does." Thinking it over, Lyle's smile turned to more of a smirk as he added, "Especially if you have taffy. The triplets go nuts over it."

Bon-Bon giggled and nodded. "I'll be sure to remember that."

As Troy looked at the two of them, now feeling a lot more optimistic about himself, he almost didn’t notice when Canvas poked his side with a hoof. Looking over at him, the Gryphon saw that Canvas was smiling up at him, glad to see him get cheered up. Without saying a word, Troy gave a quick nuzzle to the stallion, knowing that was all he needed to do to show Canvas's assumption was correct.

"Ooh!" Bon-Bon picked up and turned back to Canvas and Troy with an excited grin. "Guys! You wanna see something really cool?"

"Ummm… sure, I guess." Though he was still blushing slightly, Canvas wasn't swooning enough to be unable to respond.

Looking a lot more cheerful, Bon-Bon quickly trotted back to behind the counter to find what she wanted to show them. "I know you already arranged to have the Cakes do your catering for your wedding," she said while she rummaged under the counter, "but I really wanted to show you two something I made that could be used for your cake!"

With a huge grin on her muzzle, Bon-Bon brought up two small figurines and placed them on the table. Walking up to the figures, Canvas and Troy's eyes widened in surprise when they saw what they were.

Only standing about five inches tall, the figures were almost exact replicates of the stallion and Gryphon, both of them smiling and wearing matching black tuxedos. Looking closer, Canvas was surprised by how well-detailed the cake-toppers were, as the figure of Troy had his head slightly bending down to look at the stallion. The stallion figurine also had his head bent up, making the two look like they were staring into each other's eyes lovingly.

"Aaaawwww…" Canvas's smile widened as he stared at the toppers. He looked up at Bon-Bon. "These look great, Bon-Bon! I had no idea you made things like this!"

Blushing a little, Bon-Bon looked away and tried to say through her bashful tone, "Oh, it's nothing special. I make these all the time! When you spend years making intricate candies, it sort of becomes second-nature."

"Well, they look amazing," Canvas said with utmost sincerity. "Seriously, these really do look like us."

Troy, also very impressed, was now curious as he narrowed his eyes on her. "So, wait… You said that you make these a lot, so… What others have you done?"

Hearing that, Bon-Bon's blush began to deepen. "Oh, umm… Well, I… usually don’t show them to others…"

"Why not?" Troy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well…" The mare began to fidget her hooves together as she avoided eye contact. "You see… I kinda… have figures made of everypony in town, and… I'm sure that some ponies would find that creepy."

"Oh, come on," assured Canvas with a skeptical smirk, "that doesn’t sound that creepy!"

"It kinda does to me," said Lyle as he looked at the figurines of his brother and Canvas. Not noticing the scowls the other two were giving him, he poked the figure of Troy with a talon before adding, "But hey, whatever. I've heard of creepier things."

Even with that last part, Bon-Bon still looked a little irked as she turned away. Before Troy could bend in and smack his brother over the head, Canvas tried to steer the conversation down a brighter path. "So, do you think we could see what else you made? I wouldn't mind seeing more of your work. You know, one artist to another?"

Though she was reluctant, one glance back at Canvas's smile was enough to make Bon-Bon sigh and slowly nod in agreement. "Oh… Oh, alright."

Happy to hear that answer, Canvas eagerly followed Bon-Bon as she made her way to one of the back rooms, Troy and Lyle in tow. Reaching the rear of the building, which was separate from the shop and served as a living space for her and Lyra, Bon-Bon paused when she reached the doorway to her figurine room.

"Just so you guys know," Bon-Bon began, looking back at them worriedly, "I just make these for fun, alright? It's not like I do anything weird with them."

"Uhhh…" Lyle's eyes narrowed on Bon-Bon, unsure of how to respond to that comment. "You know, saying something like that just makes this whole thing sound a lot creepier."

"Lyle!" Troy flicked his brother on the head with a talon.

"Ow!" Lyle rubbed his head and glared at Troy.

Nevertheless, in an attempt to avoid any more awkwardness, Bon-Bon just ignored the two Gryphons and opened the door. However, the moment she cracked the door open, all of them heard another mare's voice coming from inside.

"Alright, I want you to listen, and you better listen good!"

Bon-Bon opened the door fully, revealing her wife sitting in the middle of the floor with her back to them. Though the room was adorned with dozens (or possibly hundreds) of figures on various shelves, most of their attention was drawn to the mint unicorn, who had a cheeky grin on her muzzle as she held two different figures in her magical grasp.

One was a figure of Rainbow Dash, and the other one was Fluttershy.

"Okay, Fluttershy," Lyra said, imitating Rainbow Dash's voice and bobbing the cyan figure in her aura, "here's what's going to happen! I'm going to count to three, and when I get to three…"

Lyra levitated the two figures closer as her grin grew more devilish. "You are going to kiss me. Full! And on the lips!"

Bon-Bon covered her face with a hoof in shame, mortified that her wife decided to do this again. The three beside her all covered their mouths and tried not to laugh out loud.

Lyra, oblivious to them, started to bob the Fluttershy figure around while imitating her voice in response. "But, but Rainbow Dash—"

"No buts, missy!" Lyra quickly turned back to the Rainbow Dash figure. She then rose the Dash figure right up to the Fluttershy one and added in a sultry tone, "That comes later."

Canvas turned his head away from the spectacle, struggling to keep himself quiet as he giggled through his hooves over his muzzle. Troy and Lyle didn’t fair much better, looking away as well. All the while, Bon-Bon just stood with her head hung low in embarrassment.

Lyra didn’t hear any of this and went back to imitating Fluttershy’s voice. "But Rai… I mean… I just…" She moved the figure closer to the Rainbow Dash one before adding in a feeble tone, "What… what if I like it?"

Lyra shifted her attention back to the Dash figure. "That's the idea…"

By now, neither Canvas nor the Gryphons could keep themselves upright, struggling to stay standing while they heard all of this. Though their laughter wasn't audible yet, none of them had their mouths covered any longer, and were only staying silent because they were unable to breathe.

Fed up with this, Bon-Bon lowered her hoof and glared at her wife, who was just about to make the two figurines kiss.

"One… Two…"

"Lyra!"

"AAAHHH!!!"

The unicorn jolted at hearing the mare behind her, breaking her spell and making the two figures drop to the carpeted floor. Frozen like a deer in the headlights, Lyra could only sit in a mix of shock and embarrassment as she saw Canvas, Troy, and Lyle start laughing loudly.

Ignoring the near-deafening sounds of laughter coming from beside her—and the three now rolling on the floor while cackling like hyenas—Bon-Bon gave an intense glare to her wife.

"Lyra…"

Lyra hung her head in guilt. "I'm sorry, honey…"

"This is the FIFTH. TIME."

Lighting up her horn, Lyra glanced back up to her wife before picking up the two figures and giving a meager smile.

"It's the first time with these two…"

Chapter Eleven: Measuring Things Out

BRAAAAAK!!!

"Oh, come now!" Rarity barely paid any notice to Lyle's screech as she continued to tighten her measuring tape around his midsection. "You mustn't be overly dramatic, Lyle. I'm not squeezing you that badly."

"S-says you!" Lyle shouted back, glaring at the white unicorn. "What part of taking my measurements requires you to try breaking my ribcage?!”

Rarity huffed and ignored him. "Just stay still for a little longer. I'm almost finished, anyway."

Despite not wanting to be squeezed any more, Lyle just groaned under his breath and stood still.

Troy, who was sitting on a couch nearby with Canvas lying on his chest, smirked in amusement as he stared at his brother. Remembering how similar his first measuring session went, he tried not to chuckle at his brother's discomfort. "I tried warning you, dude. You were the one who wanted to come along with us."

Rarity turned back to Troy with an irritated look on her face. "And what exactly do you mean by 'warning him,’ Troy?"

Not wanting to offend the mare who was helping them organize their wedding, Troy put up a claw and assured, "It's not like that, Rarity. I just meant that this sort of thing takes a lot of time, and Lyle is kinda impatient."

"Hey!" Lyle glared at his brother.

Rarity used her magic to move him back into position. "Honestly, I have to agree with your brother on this one," she muttered under her breath.

As Rarity took the last of her measurements, she began to look more pleased. "Regardless, I must say, it's quite interesting to make clothing for the Gryphon form! It's such a rare occasion that I get to actually measure someone of a different species, let alone someone as unique as you and your brother!"

"Ummm… thank you?" Lyle was a bit unsure of what to think. Though he knew he looked far different than the equines around here, he wasn't as used to being seen so differently.

Still, considering the fact that this mare was being complimentary, and not sarcastic or condescending, Lyle kept his beak shut while the final measurements were taken.

"However, I do wish I was given a little forewarning that I would be taking someone else's measurements on such short notice…" Rarity narrowed her eyes at Troy, looking like a librarian who saw someone coming in with an obviously late book.

"Hey, it wasn't like I planned it!" Troy said sincerely. "He showed up to my place yesterday. I couldn’t have told you sooner if I tried!"

Rarity huffed a little before getting back to work. "Well, I suppose that makes sense. However… that doesn’t explain why Lyra is here as well."

Lyra, who was lying on the floor next to Troy and Canvas, merely groaned in response without opening her eyes. "Bon-Bon said that I needed a time-out."

Rarity looked over at the unicorn on her floor, noticing her downtrodden demeanor. "Oh, goodness, Lyra… Did your wife catch you playing with her dolls again?"

The three guys tried not to giggle. Lyra pouted and looked away from them. "S-shut up! I… I was bored…"

A suppressed smile on her muzzle, Rarity sighed and looked away. "Oh, Lyra, I swear… Who was it this time?"

"Nopony!" Lyra hissed through her teeth. She shot a glare at the three guys, ensuring that her stare was enough to silence them.

"Wait," Troy asked, turning to Rarity, "how long did you know about that?"

Rarity giggled a little while she made sure her measurements were correct. "Well… Let's just say that Lyra forgot to put up the 'Closed' sign on the shop’s window one morning, and I walked in to see her playing out a rather… unusual scenario involving Twilight Sparkle and Princes—"

"Rare, come on!" Lyra sat up and turned to Rarity with a glare. "Don't tell them about that!"

"Oh, Lyra, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Everypony has their little fantasies every now and then, and Princess Luna is obviously very attra—"

"Okay, that's it! I'm leaving!"

Lyra stormed out of the boutique, leaving Troy and Canvas, who were cracking up on the couch. Lyle, who was also laughing quite a bit, was barely able to stand upright when Rarity finally finished.

"Aha! Perfect!" With a pleased smile on her muzzle, Rarity put the measuring tape away before looking back up at Lyle. "Alright, you can get off the stage now."

Lyle sighed in relief and hopped off the overbearingly pink platform. Even though most of the Carousel Boutique was fairly feminine, from the pink and purple walls to the floral décor, the stage Lyle had to stand on was beyond girly. It was made to look like a small carousel itself, including a giant flower on the floor and a coned top. To Lyle, it seemed more like some giant transformation-ray that could turn him into a doll if he was on for too long.

While Rarity finalized her measurements on her notepad, Lyle stretched out before sprawling out on a pink (and surprisingly comfortable) chair.

After confirming her numbers, Rarity turned the notebook to another page before looking back at the older Gryphon. "Alright, Troius! Your turn."

Taking a second, Troy groaned before Canvas pulled himself off him. Troy reluctantly lifted himself off the couch. "Do we seriously have to do this? I thought you had all our measurements when you made your suits for the Gala!"

"Yes I did," Rarity said, motioning for Troy to step on the platform, "but it doesn't hurt to double-check the little details first. When it comes to something as important as a wedding, even the smallest error can lead to utter disaster!"

"Well," Troy said as he stood on the platform and spread out his massive wings, "if you don't mind, I'd rather talk about some of the bigger things for the wedding sometime."

"I actually kinda agree," Canvas added. "I mean, the other day, you had us looking at different calligraphies for over two hours, just to know what kind of font our wedding invitations should be in! Couldn’t we go over something else? Like, the food?"

"Wait, you guys haven't talked about the food yet?" Lyle asked in surprise.

Rarity huffed a little and continued to measure Troy's wings. "Guys, I already told you! If we're going to go over food, we need to talk about the cutlery first! I can't create a menu in good conscience if we don't have a good idea of how the plates would look! And then we'd have to look at the centerpieces, whether or not it would clash with the floral arrangements…"

While Rarity continued to drone on, Troy lifted one of his forelegs to faceclaw himself. "Rare," he mumbled in irritation, "we're just talking about food here! Who cares what kind of plate it's on?!"

Rarity groaned before allowing Troy to put his wings back down. "It’s all about appearances, Troy! I would think you should understand the importance of visual design, especially since you're marrying an artist."

Rarity pointed at Canvas, who gave a less than sympathetic look back to her as she continued, "I mean, if we're going to focus more on taste than making it visually pleasing, then why even bother?! That's why I need to help organize this for the two of you! What would you do if I wasn't here, huh? Just throw a pizza party on paper plates?!"

Canvas, Troy, and Lyle's eyes all widened, staring at her like she said something absolutely brilliant. Realizing how they were looking at her after that suggestion, the mare quickly threw up her hooves in protest. "Ohhhhh no! NO! NO, no, no, no, no! We are absolutely NOT—“

"That's a GREAT idea!" Canvas exclaimed, almost falling out of the couch in excitement. "Why didn’t I think of that before?! I'd totally go for a pizza party for the reception!"

"Me too!" Troy looked down at Rarity with a huge grin, barely noticing how appalled she was. "Hey, maybe we can ask that pizza place by Bon-Bon's Sweet Shop if they can help wit—“

"Are you guys actually SERIOUS?!" Nearly fuming in confused frustration, Rarity's face was starting to turn pink as she stared them down. "This is a wedding we're talking about, remember?! Why are we even suggesting this?!"

"Technically, you were the one who suggested it," Lyle said nonchalantly. Rarity gave him a death glare before Canvas chimed in.

"Seriously, I don’t see what the problem is, Rare! I honestly don't really want to anything super fancy or over-the top for the wedding. I don't really see the purpose of making it too extravagant."

"Me neither," Troy said, looking over at his fiancé with a smile. "I mean, I want it to be special, but I'd like to keep it simple, too. Besides, there's only one thing that really matters to me for the big day. And he's sitting right over there on the couch."

Canvas, now blushing deeply, smiled back at Troy and sighed in agreement. "Yeah… And you're all that I really want, too…"

Canvas and Troy continued to stare at each other lovingly, making Lyle roll his eyes and look away. However, Canvas quickly turned back to Rarity with a grin. "But I also want pizza!"

"Me too!" Troy shouted, looking over to her as well.

Though she wanted to try bringing up an alternative for the dining—ANY alternative—Rarity knew that she couldn’t argue when both of them wanted it. She might have been the organizer, but the grooms had the final say.

"Ugh! Oh… oh alright! FINE!" Rarity slumped her head down in defeat and looked away from them. "If that's what you both want, then… I suppose that… We could arrange to get pizza for the reception…"

"YES!" they shouted in unified victory.

Lyle, seeming happy to hear this as well, put out his clenched claw for Canvas. The stallion got out of his seat and bumped it enthusiastically.

Rarity brought her forehooves to her face and shook her head. "I can't believe this is happening… Why did I agree to do this?"

"Ummm… you didn’t," Troy said flatly. "I was the one who agreed to let you help because you were about to scream like a banshee when you found out I was wanting to propose to him!"

"I wasn't going to 'scream like banshee,' as you would so uncouthly call it," Rarity retorted, glancing back over at him. "I was simply… overwhelmed a smidge at the idea of you professing your love to him in that way."

Troy looked down at her with a deadpan stare. "I had to smother your face with a pillow so Canvas wouldn’t hear you from the bathroom."

Lyle tried not to snicker and put up a claw to grab his brother's attention. "So… You mind telling me about what happened, Troy?"

Looking over at Lyle, Troy sighed before shrugging. "Fine, I guess."

Rarity, happy to go over this as well, went back to taking Troy's measurements as he began.

"Well… before the Gala, Canvas and I needed some suits to wear, so Rarity offered to make a couple for us at a discount."

"Which looked marvelous on you two, by the way," Rarity added as she used her magic to measure his hindlegs.

"Ummm… yeah. Anyways, I already knew that I wanted to pop the question to him, so I figured that would be a good time to figure out his hoof size. So… I waited until he went to the bathroom before trying to peek at his measurements."

"Oh wait, yeah!" Canvas pointed at his fiancé and Rarity, then narrowed his eyes. "I remember that! I thought I heard some shriek from downstairs while I was in there!" Canvas looked down at the floor and shook his head in contemplation. "Honestly, I thought that was just the cat or something."

Troy glanced back to Rarity and replied, "Yeah. That would be when Rarity caught me and figured it out almost instantly."

Rarity giggled before wrapping the measuring tape around his midsection. "Well, you weren't exactly being subtle, Troy. I was about to scold you for peeking at your partner's private information, but it was evident from the clear scrape of your talon what you were looking for."

Troy blushed and looked away from her. Remembering back to that day, it had been almost scary how quickly the mare's attitude had changed. One moment, she looked legitimately angry at him for looking though her notes behind her back. But in less than a second, her expression shifted into a wide-eyed stare on him, along with a huge grin that looked like something even Pinkie Pie would find a bit too much.

"I didn't even get out that I was planning to get a ring before she started screaming and hopping around!"

"Well, I couldn’t help it!" Thinking it over, Rarity sighed in pleasure, smiled, and continued to double-check Troy’s sizes. "Just the fact that you were wanting to propose to him so soon was beyond beautiful! After everything that happened between you two, it all felt like the perfect romance story for the ages!"

No longer able to hold back her overwhelming glee, Rarity stepped back from Troy, holding a hoof up to her forehead as she started speaking more dramatically, adding complementary movements to her posh demeanor.

"It's just so romantic how the two of you got together! The lonely stallion, thrust out into the world alone, becomes saved by a mysterious Gryphon by a mere chance of fate! And after meeting one another, the two stayed side-by-side as friends, while slowly becoming closer with each passing day! It all became too much to bear until they both gave in to their feelings, professing their love for one another and letting their hearts melt with pure desire and devotion! OH! It… it's just… just so enchanting!"

Although Rarity looked rather elated after describing it that way, Canvas and Troy just stared at her with narrowed eyes and skewed brows, unsure of how to respond. Lyle, however, was the first to make a reply.

"Wow. You actually managed to make their relationship sound gayer than it already is."

Rarity gasped in disgust as she looked over at the younger Gryphon. "Why, I never!"

"I dunno, Rare…"

At hearing the new voice, everyone turned to see Rainbow Dash, who entered the room with a skeptical smirk and intervened, "I gotta admit, you made that sound pretty fruity."

Rarity scoffed, almost dropping the measuring tape in her magic as she looked away. "Well, excuse me for appreciating romance, unlike some mares I might be inclined to mention…"

Dash blew a loud raspberry and rolled her eyes. "Ugh! Whatever, Rare! I just came by to talk with Troy about work this week. Also, Glimmer Heart was looking for Canvas."

Canvas's ears perked up as the mention of Glimmer Heart, the art dealer who got him a place at the Canterlot Art Gallery before Celestia noticed him. "Really? Glimmer Heart's here?"

"Yep." Dash pointed over to the doorway. Glimmer Heart, a light-pink unicorn mare with a luscious green mane (which was now cut surprisingly short), was happily chatting with Lyra as they walked in together.

"Oh, Canvas!" Noticing the stallion, Glimmer smiled cheerfully as she waved and walked up to him. "I was hoping to find you on my way through town today!"

"Glimmer!" Canvas trotted up to her before putting out his hoof for her to shake. Instead, she pulled him in for a hug, surprising Canvas for a only second before he returned it. "What a nice surprise! It's great to see you again!"

When he pulled back, Canvas took notice of Glimmer's mane before smiling wider. "And you look amazing, by the way!"

"Oh, thank you, Canvas," Glimmer said with a light blush, looking away from him. "I figured I should try something new. I am a single mare now, you know. It wouldn't hurt me to look more vibrant nowadays."

"Ooh… yeah…" Remembering the circumstances that caused Glimmer Heart to break off her marriage—which might have been partially Canvas's fault—the stallion still felt slightly guilty. "I… I didn’t mean to bring up anything ba—“

"Oh, don’t feel guilty!" Glimmer insisted, looking back at Canvas with a reassuring smile. "Dumping that cheating scumbag was the best thing to ever happen to me! If you never gave him that beat-down, I never would've realized how much he really changed!"

Lyle looked over at them with raised eyebrows. "Wait, you did what?"

Canvas laughed nervously and looked away from Lyle, not wanting to go into detail with him about that right now. Hoping to change the discussion, Canvas looked back at Glimmer Heart. "Ummm, so… What are you doing in Ponyville?"

"Well…" Glimmer Heart gave him an inquisitive smile. "I was actually hoping to talk with you about something."

Noticing Rarity taking Troy’s measurements, Glimmer bit her lip in slight worry before asking, "Umm… I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"You mustn't worry, Miss Glimmer Heart," Rarity said as she continued her work, "I already have Canvas's sizes, so you two can talk if you want."

"Oh, great!" With a satisfied smile, Glimmer looked back at Canvas before motioning to the doorway. "Would you mind if we talked in private, Canvas?"

Canvas glanced at his fiancé before nodding. "Umm… sure. Of course!"

With that, the two made their way out of the Boutique, leaving Rainbow Dash to lean against Lyle's chair and look up at Troy on the stage.

"So, Lyle… I take it you're alright with the whole… your brother marrying a dude thing?” Dash asked.

Lyle gave a light shrug before nodding to her. "Yeah, I am. He told me about it yesterday, and Canvas is pretty cool, so, I figure, why not?"

"Nice!" Rainbow Dash gave Lyle a hoofbump before looking back up at Troy and trying not to giggle. "How long do you think it'll take before Rarity tries to put your brother in a frilly dress?"

Lyle immediately clenched his beak shut to muffle a snicker. Troy shot a menacing stare at Dash, while Rarity got the last of the sizes down. Before Dash could say anything else, Troy narrowed his eyes at her and started to grow a mischievous smirk.

"Oh really? Because I saw some of the pictures of the getups she put YOU in!"

"WHAT?!"

Rainbow Dash turned to Rarity, who hid her face away from her as she levitated the tape away. "Alright, Troy, the measurements are done. You can get off the stage now."

"You took PICTURES of me?!" Dash shouted, her face reddening in anger.

"I only made references, darling," Rarity retorted as Troy hopped off the stage. "I like to have references of all my clients and looks as inspiration for future projects."

"Oh, that is SO not cool!"

"Don't be so dramatic, Rainbow Dash!" Rarity turned back to her as she said professionally from the stage, "I only have them for my clients to look through, in case they like a look somepony else was going for."

Troy struggled not to laugh, looking at Dash with a crooked smile on his beak. "I can’t believe you let her put you in that powdered wig!"

While Rainbow Dash looked between Troy and Rarity, unsure of who to strangle first, Lyra just stood in the corner with a cheeky grin. "Man, this is WAY more entertaining than I thought it was going to be!"

While tensions inside Carousel Boutique continued to escalate, Canvas stood outside with Glimmer Heart, oblivious. On their way out, she levitated over a scroll for him to look through, detailing a new art show coming up. As he read, Canvas realized that wasn't an invitation for him to enter as an artist.

"Really?" Canvas asked with an unsure brow as he looked up to Glimmer. "You want me to be a judge?"

"Well, why not?" Despite noticing the stallion's slight confusion, Glimmer kept a smile as she continued, "Canvas, you're an absolutely exceptional artist! After making that painting for Celestia, I can’t think of anyone else who would be more qualified for something like this."

While he could tell Glimmer was being sincere, Canvas's brow was still skewed as he looked it over. "Yeah, but… I'm just not sure, Glimmer. I mean, I'd love to visit Manehattan, but… I'm just not sure if I want to try judging other ponies on their work."

Canvas might have proven himself to be skilled in such a short amount of time, but that didn’t mean he wasn't unsure about himself among other artists. Still remembering how the gallery went, all he could think about was how much many of the unicorns there barely took notice to his work. Aside from the novelty a few of them saw at an Earth pony managing to create good paintings, Canvas knew that not many of the buyers or other artists took him that seriously until Celestia asked for a commission.

Plus, after all that he went through in his life, Canvas honestly didn’t want to think of himself as a judge. Even if it was for something as simple as critiquing somepony's artwork, the last thing that he wanted to do was pass judgment onto others.

Seeing the look of unease on Canvas's face, Glimmer sighed before adding, "Just so you know, this is only for one time. One of the judges got the flu, so I figured you would be a good replacement for him. It's not like I'm asking you to take a permanent position or anything."

Canvas looked back up at her, biting his lip before looking back at the scroll. Realizing that he was still looking a little unsure, Glimmer Heart pointed to a portion of the parchment with a smirk. "The trip is all-expenses-paid, you know. And you can bring your fiancé and his brother, if you like."

Canvas’s brow rose in pleasant surprise "Oh, wow! Really? That would be gre—wait…" The stallion's eyes narrowed on Glimmer. "How… how did you know Troy and I were engaged?"

Glimmer giggled before pointing at the ring on Canvas's left hoof. "Well, that's sort of a big clue right there…"

Looking down at the white gold around his hoof, which really did stick out against his aqua fur, Canvas began to blush.

"Also," Glimmer Heart continued with a small smirk, "Lyra mentioned it to me a couple minutes ago. I kinda had a feeling you two were an item back at the gallery, but I didn’t expect an engagement from somepony as young as you."

Canvas stifled a giggle before looking back up at her. "Yeah, I admit that it was unexpected, but I wouldn't change it for the world." Catching what Glimmer Heart had said, the stallion tried not to laugh as he added, "And, just so you know, Troy and I didn’t get together until after that gallery."

"Really?!" Glimmer stared at Canvas for a second in silence. "I… I could've sworn that you two were…"

Canvas chuckled a little before putting up a hoof. "Don’t worry about it, Glimmer. You're not the only one. Actually, after we got together, we found out that half the town had a betting po—“

BOOM!

A large explosion interrupted the two of them. A massive array of confetti and streamers shot out from every open space in Carousel Boutique. The front doors were thrown open by the blast, and a very loud musical tune could be heard from inside.

"What on Earth is that?!" Glimmer asked while she tried to cover her ears.

Canvas, who was also covering his ears, grinned as he looked around, knowing full well who could've caused this. "I think I have an idea…"

Canvas and Glimmer Heart trotted back into the Carousel Boutique, wincing as the music became louder with each step.

When they reached the showroom, several different party cannons were going off in unison to the music, which was coming from a large party wagon in the middle of the room. Pinkie Pie, who was hopping off the walls and various furniture like… well, Pinkie Pie… carried a huge grin on her face as she sang the last part of her welcome song.

"… It's super duper duper, and I hope I made you smile!
So happy, happy, happy, welcome to Ponyville, Lyle!"

BOOM!

Pinkie picked up one of her trademark party cannons and used it to shoot her confetti straight up to the ceiling. Looking up, Canvas and Glimmer saw why she aimed it up there, as that was where Lyle was right now.

Lyle, with all his fur and feathers sticking out like a terrified housecat (and a couple pieces of confetti stuck to them), had his talons gripped to the ceiling as he clung for dear life away from the mare below him.

Oblivious to how Lyle was shaking in petrified fear, Pinkie just hopped up and down underneath him. "So what’dya think, Lyle? You like it? You like it? You like it? You like it? You like it? You like it? You like it? You like it? You like it? You lik—“

"WHAT THE BUCK WAS THAT?!?"

Troy, who was sitting on the couch the entire time Pinkie Pie had been freaking-out his brother, just kept a cheeky grin on his face as he looked up. "Lyle, meet Pinkie Pie! She likes to throw parties!"

"Yep!" Pinkie said gleefully, "I heard you were coming into town today, so I wanted throw you a Super-Duper-Welcome-To-Equestria-For-The-Very-First-Time-PARTYYYY!!!"

Looking down at Pinkie, Lyle shuddered, choosing instead to cling tighter to the ceiling like the floor was made of lava.

"I was actually going to throw it for you later today, but while I was walking through town I felt a tail twitch, ear shudder, shaky leg, and cold hoof, which only meant that two friends were about to get in a big fight!"

Rarity and Rainbow Dash, who were huddled together behind the stage during Pinkie's Welcome Party Assault, looked over at each other for a moment.

"And I didn’t want to see anypony get unhappy, so I got my emergency party wagon and party cannons to cheer everypony up! And when I saw that you were here too, I knew exactly how to save the day, so WELCOOOMMMEEE!!!"

FWEEEEE!!!

The moment Pinkie Pie jumped up to blow her party blower, Lyle scurried away from her across the ceiling like he was part spider. Crawling across the ceiling and down the wall with surprisingly quick ease, the Gryphon scurried down to the ground before backing away from Pinkie as much as he could.

"T-T-Troy!" Lyle shouted as he crawled backwards towards the doorway, "I'm really freaked-out right now!"

"Why?" Pinkie Pie asked with a smile as she reappeared right behind him, "Would you feel better if I gave you a hug?"

"AAHHHH!!!"

Lyle immediately shot to the other side of the room. Before Pinkie Pie could appear behind him again, Lyra, who was standing by the doorway the whole time, decided to intervene.

"Pinkie," Lyra said, raising a hoof, "maybe you should let Lyle calm down for a moment? It looks like you're making him uncomfortable."

Pinkie glanced over at Lyra with a confused look on her face. "What do you mean?"

"Pinkie, do you remember when you tried to throw that surprise party for Cranky Doodle on his birthday?"

Pinkie sucked some air through her teeth and winced at that unfortunate memory. Even though surprise birthday parties are supposed to be super great, almost giving that donkey a heart attack was a pretty big downer.

"I'm just saying," Lyra added, "that maybe you should let him settle down for a second. Okay?"

Pinkie glanced over at Lyle, who was standing against the wall with his eyes wide and feathers still ruffled out. Seeing that he was looking more scared than happy, she finally took the hint.

Pinkie turned back over to Lyra before nodding slowly. "Oh… okay…"

Relieved to see that the crazy mare wasn't going to rush after him again, Lyle sighed lightly in relief while his feathers began to settle back down.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash, who now seemed slightly guilty as they looked at each other, slowly stepped out from behind the stage.

"Ummm… Rainbow Dash?" Rarity bit her lip as she looked over at her friend. "For the sake of the integrity of my Boutique, it… might not be best for us to argue like that again, so… If you want, I… could remove those references of you from my book. They're not really that popular, anyways…"

At hearing that, Rainbow Dash mustered a smile and nodded back. "S-sure. Thanks, Rare."

"YAAAYYY!!!" Pinkie threw up her hooves in victory and looked over at her friends. "I helped stop a fight! HOORAYYY!!!"

FWEEEEEEE!!!

Lyle covered his ears at the sound of Pinkie's party blower, but looked a lot less flustered as he drew closer to his brother.

"So, Lyle," Troy asked, smirking, "you wanna have a party with Pinkie Pie? You can hang out with her all day…”

Troy made sure to place a lot of emphasis on those last two words as he widened his eyes. At the idea of spending more time with the crazy mare, along with his brother's obvious means of freaking him out even more, Lyle just shuddered and turned away.

"Ooh!" Pinkie Pie hopped and put her hoof up to catch their attention. "I have an even BETTER idea! Are you and Canvas doing anything big tomorrow?"

Before Troy could say anything, he turned to Rainbow Dash, remembering that he was supposed to have work the next day.

"Actually," Dash began, leaning against the stage with a small smirk on her muzzle, "Flitter and Cloudchaser came back early from their trip to Las Pegasus and said they can start work earlier than planned. If you want, Troy, you can take a couple days off to spend with Lyle before the Running of the Leaves."

"Really?" Troy looked rather surprised as he glanced over at Rainbow Dash. Nevertheless, her grin didn’t falter, proving that she was being honest. "That… that's awesome, Dash! Thanks!"

Dash nodded. Happy to get that info, Troy looked back at Pinkie with a smile. "Well, it looks like my schedule opened up!"

"GREAT!" Pinkie exclaimed with gusto. "Because I just realized that you two haven't picked out a wedding cake yet, and since your brother is here, now you can pick one out with your family!"

Troy's eyes widened in a mix of surprise and anticipation, happy to hear anything with the word "cake" in it. He looked over to his fiancé, who was standing by the doorway with Glimmer Heart, looking around like a pair of perplexed spectators.

Canvas blinked a couple times before shaking his head clear and putting up a smile similar to Troy's. "That sounds great! We actually haven't picked out a cake yet, so that would be pretty fun!"

"Yeah!" Troy agreed, looking back over at Pinkie. "And we just agreed what the food will be for the reception, so this would be perfect timing!"

Rarity groaned and facehoofed, still hating what the grooms wanted for their wedding. Lyra noticed Rarity's reaction before turning her attention to Troy. "Umm, what exactly did you agree to have?"

Troy, Lyle, and Canvas shouted at the same time: "PIZZA!"

Rarity sunk her head in embarrassment, groaning louder under her breath. However, all the other mares in the room didn’t look nearly as surprised. In fact, the only one who seemed negative about it was Lyra, who just looked down to the ground as she muttered under her breath, "Why didn't I think of that?!"

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie shared a smile before looking back at Rarity. "Why are you looking like that?" Dash asked. "That sounds awesome!"

"This is a wedding!" Rarity shouted in frustration. "What kind of a wedding has PIZZA as the main course?! It's like they don’t want any feminine touch to this occasion!"

Everyone looked over at Rarity with confused expressions and skewed eyebrows. Noticing how everyone was looking at her, Rarity gritted her teeth and groaned in anger. "What?!”

Glimmer Heart, who tried to stay out of this discussion until now, decided to intervene. "No offense, Rarity, but… Do you really expect something feminine from two guys?"

Rarity quickly turned over to Glimmer to make a retort. However, as soon as she raised her hoof and opened her muzzle, she only blinked a couple times and stayed silent.

Realizing Glimmer’s point, Rarity slowly closed her muzzle and lowered her hoof. She took a moment before sighing and shrugging. "Hmmm… touché."

Canvas and Troy looked over at each other and chuckled, happy to see somepony silence their wedding planner at last.

Remembering what he wanted to double-check, Canvas's ears perked up as he picked up the scroll in his hoof. "Wait a minute! Pinkie, what time do you think we could do that cake thing tomorrow?"

"Why?" Pinkie hopped over to Canvas to look at his scroll. "Is something happening tomorrow?"

"Maybe…" Canvas's eyes narrowed on the scroll as he looked at the fine print. "I was just hoping we could do it before the train leaves at five.”

Glimmer Heart's smile widened in excitement. "Ooh! Does that mean you'll do it?"

"Hmmm…" Scanning Canvas's scroll like a bloodhound, Pinkie looked serious for a couple seconds before returning to her usual, bubbly state. "Oh yeah! We can TOTALLY make this work tomorrow!" She looked between Troy and Canvas as she added, "You two have any suggestions on what kind of cakes to try? We got chocolate, vanilla, fruit cake, upside-down cake, ice-cream cake, pudding cake, cupcake cake, cupcake-cupcake cake, triple cupcake—“

"Uhhhh…" Canvas raised a hoof and glanced at Troy. "What do you think, Troy? You were saying chocolate cake would be good, right?"

"Yeah.” Troy nodded. However, that scroll held back his enthusiasm a bit. He kept his eyes on the stallion. "What exactly is that scroll about?"

Canvas gave a quick glance back at Glimmer Heart. The mare nodded with a smile, already knowing what he was wanting to ask Troy and his brother.

"Well… I was just asked by Glimmer Heart to help judge some pieces for an art show coming up. And you just said you got a couple extra days off, so…"

With a happy smirk on his muzzle Canvas looked back at Troy and Lyle and held up the scroll.

"What do you two think about a trip to Manehattan?"

Chapter Twelve: Before Manehattan

After what felt like an eternity, Rarity was finally finished with enough of the wedding plans to allow the three to leave. Although she wanted to discuss more with Canvas and Troy than she had originally planned (particularly with what kind of folding chairs would be best for the ceremony and reception), it was clear that she wouldn’t get much from them after Canvas mentioned an impromptu trip to Manehattan.

However, that didn't stop her from making one more little suggestion. Unfortunately, as soon as she held up the item she had in mind with her magic, Troy bolted out of the shop.

"Oh, Troy, come on!" Rarity carried an irritated look on her face as she tried to catch up with Troy. "I already made the sweater in your size! Can you at least try it on?!"

"No, Rarity!" Troy shouted, trying to get away from her. "For the last time, I do not want to be in your Barbershop Quartet!"

"Oh, come now!" Rarity stood outside her shop with the green sweater and bowtie in her aura, insisting, "I already told you! The Pony Tones is an a cappella ensemble! NOT a 'barbershop' group! Also, if you joined, it would technically be a quintet."

She then suddenly remembered another little detail, which made her pause and put a hoof to her chin. "Although… I do suppose it technically could be a sextet if Fluttershy is in it as well…"

Troy just groaned and face-clawed, not noticing as Canvas and Lyle came out of the shop beside Rarity. "How many times do I have to say this to you?! I don’t sing that kind of stuff! It's totally different from what I prefer singing!"

"Oh, Troy…" Noticing the green sweater in Rarity's magic, along with the complementary, adorable, striped bowtie, Canvas practically melted when he imagined his fiancé wearing it. "You would look so cute in this!"

As soon as he saw the sweater, Lyle covered his beak with a claw and tried not to crack up in front of Rarity. He clenched his eyes shut as he turned away. "Oh, man!" Lyle leaned against the wall and tried his hardest to contain his laughter. "I would pay good money to see you wearing that!"

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Rarity said with a smile. She looked back at the older Gryphon and said, "Troius, after seeing you in that performance as The Phantom, there's no doubt in my mind that you would be absolutely perfect for my vocal group! Even Fluttershy said she would love to hear your voice in it!"

Since this was probably the fifth time this month that Rarity had tried talking with him about this, Troy just gritted his teeth and rubbed his temples. "Rarity… Can you please… PLEASE… just let this go?!"

Rarity huffed and narrowed her eyes. After taking a quick glance back at Canvas, she walked over to Troy and said in a lowered, hushed tone of voice, "Troius, considering what I'm agreeing to have done for you by the end of this week…"

Rarity gave an insistent stare to him at that last part, exemplifying her tone enough for Troy to immediately understand what she was referring to. "I don't think it would be very wise to get cross with me right now…"

Troy closed his beak and tried to avoid eye contact with Rarity. He knew he was pushing it a little already. Not wanting to anger somepony who agreed to arrange something like that for him, Troy sighed under his breath and kept silent.

"RIGHT, Troy?"

Unable to ignore her stare, Troy slowly turned back before nodding reluctantly. "Y-yeah… Okay."

Rarity immediately beamed, wearing a chipper grin. "Fabulous!" She levitated the sweater over for Canvas to put it in his art bag, then looked at Troy. "All that I ask is that you hold onto this for a few days and think it over. If you're still unwilling to join after your trip to Manehattan, then I won’t bother you about it anymore. I promise.”

Hearing the honesty in her tone, Troy nodded with a more secure smile on his beak. "S-sure… I'll… think it over."

With a satisfied smile on her muzzle, Rarity turned back to Canvas just as he finished carefully placing the sweater inside of his bag. "Now, if you excuse me, I need to tend to my other orders for today, so I'll let you gentlemen be."

Rarity headed back into her Boutique, still smiling. "And I hope you three have a wonderful time in Manehattan!"

"Thank you!” Canvas said cheerfully before Rarity went back inside. Just as the mare shut her door, Canvas turned back to Troy with a curious smirk on his muzzle. "So… What was that all about, Troy?"

"N-nothing." Troy immediately looked away, hoping to hide the trembling in his voice. Before Canvas could press further, he perked and pointed a talon towards the street. "Hey, there's Lyra!"

Lyra walked up to the three, a smile on her muzzle. "Hey guys," she began, trotting at a relaxed pace, "I was just chatting with Glimmer Heart before she left on the train." With a small smirk on her muzzle, she playfully punched Canvas’s shoulder. "And congrats, by the way! It's awesome to hear you're going to Manehattan, Canvas!"

"Oh, thanks," Canvas replied with a bashful smile and light b lush. "Honestly, I'm kinda nervous about it. I mean, I never thought of myself as somepony who would judge other ponies' works."

"Oh, come on!" Troy pulled him in with a wing. "You know more about good art than anyone else I know! You'll be just fine at this gallery. I'm sure of it."

Canvas looked up to his fiancé with a gracious smile. "Th-thanks, Troy…"

"No problem." Without warning, Troy bent down and gave him a loving nuzzle. While Canvas giggled, Lyra turned her attention to Lyle, who was trying to ignore the two.

"So, Lyle," she asked with a smile, "Canvas told me that you were wanting to see that Phantom performance Troy did?"

"Ugh!" Troy immediately pulled back from Canvas to glare at her. "Lyra, come on! He's just gonna laugh at it!"

"Exactly." Lyle turned to Troy with a grin on his beak. "That's why I wanna see it!"

Troy gave his brother a menacing glare, which went unnoticed by Lyra.

"Come on," Lyra said, motioning for them to follow her, "Bon-Bon's probably cooled off by now, so we can probably check it out back at the shop. I think I have most of it saved from that spell anyway."

"Nice!" Canvas said, happy to see Lyra upbeat since she had had to leave the sweet shop. When he remembered how downtrodden she had looked when she first left, the stallion wanted to make sure everything was okay. "So… Are you sure Bon-Bon is alright now? I don’t want to hear any bad arguments when we head back."

"Oh, don't worry," Lyra reassured him. "It's not the first time she got upset about it. She usually doesn’t get that mad about it unless I get caught by somepony else."

"Huh…" Walking alongside Lyle as they followed her, Troy carried a skewed brow. "Ummm… How often do you do that?"

Lyra tried her hardest to conceal her bit lip, giving a playful shrug. "Eh… Not that much, actually. I was just really bored this morning…"

"Uh-huh." Catching the heavy blush growing on her cheeks, Canvas looked fairly skeptical to her claim. Before she could say anything in rebuttal, the stallion shrugged as well and added, "Well, I guess it's better than you trying to ship together ponies in real life."

"What?!" Lyra looked back at Canvas, who carried a sly smirk on his muzzle.

"Yeah, Bon-Bon mentioned what happened when you tried to pair Rarity with Fluttershy."

"Ugh!" Lyra gritted her teeth, looking particularly upset to hear that. "I can’t believe she told you about that!"

"Okay..." Lyle looked at Lyra curiously. "I need to hear about this!"

Another deep groan escaped Lyra. Nevertheless, with three pairs of eyes on her, she knew that she couldn’t just say nothing. Ater sighing in defeat, the mare began to speak as they walked toward her and Bon-Bon’s shop.

"Oh, fine! It was a long time ago, but I really thought those two would make a cute couple. So, I decided to try a little plan to bring them closer. Of course, I got into a little trouble within the spa when it happened…"

Mister Cake placed the last of the chocolate cakes on the table, taking a moment to breathe as he wiped his brow clean of beading sweat. He and Misses Cake were only informed of Lyle's arrival a couple days ago. Additionally, Pinkie Pie told them just yesterday that the couple was ready to start planning their wedding cake. Consequently, all of the bakers were busy this morning getting everything ready in one of the back rooms of Sugar Cube Corner.

Standing at one end of the table, Pinkie Pie was practically drooling a gallon's worth of saliva while she stood in front of the baked goods. As she stared at the cakes like a starving dog, Mister and Misses Cake were convinced that she was going to devour the table at any moment. Of course, that was mostly because Pinkie usually ate this much cake on weekday mornings.

"Pinkie," Misses Cake said with slight worry as she saw the mare’s face draw closer to the pile of cakes, "I'd really be more comfortable if you stepped back a couple steps, okay?"

Pinkie quickly moved her body back a couple steps; however, her head stayed in the exact same spot as her neck stretched out like a giraffe's. Misses Cake’s brow rose in surprise before she facehoofed, groaning.

Noticing what was causing his wife’s distress, Mister Cake cleared his throat, then said, "Pinkie, I think she means that you shou—"

A distinct "ding" from the front door caught their attention. Mister Cake stopped and looked over to the entrance.

"Oh, there they are!" he said cheerfully when he saw who was at the front door. Happy that they came in on time, Misses Cake decided to leave her husband to tend to them while she went to check on the kids.

Rarity held a clipboard held in her aura as she stepped inside. Carrying a confident and refreshed smile on her muzzle, the unicorn lead the way as the other three came in behind her. It was clear from the bags under their eyes that Canvas, Troy, and Lyle barely got much sleep the previous night.

"Good morning, Mister Cake,” Rarity said in an upbeat tone, practically dragging the sleep-deprived gentlemen behind her. "I hope this whole thing wasn't too short-notice."

"Oh, not at all!" Mister Cake assured with a brush of his forehoof. "Believe me, with Pinkie Pie around, having this much cake out in the open is pretty much a slow Wednesday!"

Rarity giggled a little, knowing all too well how her friend could go overboard when it came to sweets. With the bittersweet memory of Maud's rock candies still fresh in her mind, she had to shake her head clear before looking back at the three behind her.

"I feel I should apologize on behalf of the couple and their brother behind me." Seeing how tired they looked, Rarity scowled in annoyance as she turned back to Mister Cake. "Apparently, the three of them decided that, instead of having a proper night's rest, they would hold a… video game tournament!"

"It was his fault," Troy muttered, pointing at Lyle.

"Whatever." Lyle groaned. "You were the one who couldn't take a joke."

Troy held back an irritated growl and turned away from his brother. Remembering how much Lyle had cracked up when Lyra tried to show him the Phantom performance she had recorded with her magic, he had to use every ounce of self-restraint to keep himself from choking his brother silent. And, of course, the instant Lyle said he looked like "the world's gayest super-villain," Troy literally had to be held back by Canvas to keep him from harming his brother.

Thinking back, Troy knew that he could've handled it a little more maturely. Given the options, challenging his brother to Khaos Kombat until four in the morning was probably a better option than just trying to wrestle him in the backyard. When Canvas decided to join in after dinner was finished, it turned out to be a pretty enjoyable evening after all.

"Of course, if I didn't come by to collect them, they would probably still be unconscious!" Rarity looked back at the three with slight disdain before sighing under her breath. "But… I'm sure they'll be good enough to choose a cake today, right?"

Despite only looking half-conscious, the three quickly nodded.

"Well, don't worry," Mister Cake said with a smile as he looked back to the kitchen. "I think we have some tea that can perk you boys right up!"

Without skipping a beat, the stallion managed to get a surprisingly great kettle of tea made for the three. While it was a bit unusual that the Cakes didn't make coffee instead, one quick glance at Pinkie Pie was a good enough reason to refrain from asking. Knowing how energetic the mare usually was without coffee, the idea of seeing her under that much caffeination was just as scary as some of Lyle's comic books.

After a few minutes of pleasant conversation, Mister Cake's tea was able to awaken and rejuvenate the three. Seeing that they were fully energized, Mister Cake directed them to the back room to begin testing.

As soon as they walked in, their eyes widened in surprise.

Covering nearly every inch of the table inside were dozens of small, chocolate cakes of different kinds. While each was merely enough cake for one individual, there were enough of them to make the engaged couple and Lyle absolutely speechless.

Mister Cake tried not to snicker as he gave a list to Rarity. "Here's the list of all the baked goods Pinkie wrote up, Rare. I just hope we didn’t go a little overboard."

Canvas's head turned back to Mister Cake fast enough to risk whiplash. "A little overboard?!" With his eyes still wide-open, he looked back at the assorted table in disbelief. "This is a disturbing amount of cake! I mean… I can’t believe you guys went all out like this!"

"Well," Mister Cake said with a shrug, "you guys already paid for the catering in advance, so why not? Besides, something like this is just a light snack for Pinkie over there."

Mister Cake pointed towards the pink mare, who was still standing by the table with a open, drooling maw as she stared at the cakes. "So… much… frosting!"

Troy shuddered a little before looking back at Mister Cake. "I… really don't know what to say right now. All we said was that we wanted chocolate cake!"

"Exactly," Rarity said in an authoritative tone as she held the list in the clipboard in her aura, "but you didn't specify what kind of chocolate cake would be preferable. There's a lot of different kinds, you know."

Troy and Canvas both blinked a couple times before looking back at each other, realizing that she was technically right. After clearing her throat, Rarity turned her attention to the table and read off the list of the baked goods in front of them.

"We have a lot of different cakes to try today, so we should go about this quickly! There's chocolate fudge cake, brownie layer cake, black forest cake, Manehattan chocolate cream cheese, Prench mocha crème soufflé, mocha Genoise with Vanhoover buttercream, carrot cake, white chocolate mousse cake, molten pudding ca—"

Rarity paused and narrowed her eyes. Pulling her head back in surprise, she looked at the table to see that the list was correct. A small carrot cake sat in the middle of the arrangement of cakes, sticking out like a sore talon among a sea of chocolate. "Pinkie, why is there a carrot cake on the list?"

Pinkie perked up at the question. She looked straight at Rarity and tried to explain, "Well, the carrot cake looked so lonely when I was making everything, and I wanted to make it feel welcome with the other cakes!"

Rarity sighed and rubbed her eyes with a hoof. Troy and Lyle stared at the carrot cake on the table wide-eyed like it was an alien artifact.

"Wait…" Lyle blinked a couple times and stared at the white-frosted cake with a completely baffled look on his face. "You guys actually put carrots in your cake?! I thought that was just an urban legend!"

"Why would anyone put carrots in a cake?" Troy asked with a equally perplexed look as his brother's.

"Wait, do Gryphons not have carrot cake?!" Mister Cake was more than a little surprised at their reaction. "How could that be? Troy, how could you not know about it? You come here all the time! Didn’t you see it on the menu?"

"Well…" Troy's head cocked to the side as he stared at the cake from a sideways angle that only an eagle's neck could muster. "I remember seeing it, but I didn’t think it actually had carrots in the thing! I just thought it was, like, shaped like a carrot or something."

While Mister Cake stared at Troy in confusion, Rarity looked over at the two Gryphons with a skewed brow. "Wait, are you guys saying you've never had carrot cake before? Why ever not?"

Troy and Lyle both stared at her as if she had asked the stupidest question ever.

"It's CARROTS!" the Gryphons exclaimed in unison. "In a CAKE!"

"I mean…" Troy turned back to the table and pointed a talon at the carrot cake. "What kind of weirdo looks at a cake and thinks, 'You know what be a good thing to put in it? A carrot!'"

Lyle stifled a snicker. Mister Cake looked slightly offended at Troy's remark. "Hey! Where do you think I got my special talent from? Or my name?"

Both Gryphons looked over at the baker, who pointed at the carrot cake cutie mark on his flank. Troy muttered, "Oh. Ummmm…"

"You know what?" Canvas grabbed a cake cutter and a plate. "Troy, you're eating some carrot cake!"

"Ew! No!" Troy tried to step back from Canvas, who placed a small slice of the cake on the plate. The moment the stallion put the plate out to him, both Troy and Lyle moved back like it was radioactive. "C'mon, stop it! I don’t even like carrots!"

Canvas scoffed a little and continued to coax his fiancé to try it. "Oh, come on! It doesn't actually taste like carrots! At least take a bite!"

"Nope!" Troy turned away and crossed his forelegs in defiance. "I'm not doing it!"

"Are you being serious right now?!" Canvas stared at Troy in befuddlement. "You're planning to get married to a stallion, but this is too weird for you?!"

"I don’t want it!" Troy groaned, starting to sound more like a defiant filly than a Gryphon when he turned back to his fiancé. "Canvas, come on! I thought we agreed to have chocolate cake anyway, so I don’t see why you're so insistent that I ea—"

While Troy's beak was still open, Canvas shoved a piece of the carrot cake inside to shut him up. Troy stood in a shocked state, the pastry stuffed in his beak. Everyone else cracked up immediately at the sight.

Even though he didn't want the carrot cake in his mouth, Troy didn't spit it out. He just grimaced while pointing a talon at his fiancé. "DUDE! What the—"

Before he could finish, Troy actually tasted the cake in his beak. Catching the frosting on his tongue, Troy stood frozen for several seconds, his pupils beginning to dilate.

Before Canvas could ask what was wrong, Troy swallowed, then spoke in a faint and low tone of voice.

"That... is the greatest frosting I ever had…"

"YES!" Mister Cake pumped his hoof in victory. "I KNEW I got the cream cheese frosting right!"

Seeing how his brother was still standing there, motionless, Lyle looked over at the cake with a skeptical brow. "Oh, come on!" Lyle used a talon to swipe off some of the cream cheese frosting. "It can’t be THAT good!"

Lyle licked up the frosting on his talon, tasting it for a second before becoming motionless himself. Much like Troy, Lyle's pupils dilated disturbingly wide. "Holy… crap…"

Due to both Gryphons looking like they had just taken a hit of catnip, it was hard for any of the ponies to not laugh out loud. Mister Cake, looking especially happy to see his signature dish be taken so well, chuckled a little as he glanced at the rest of the table. "Well… At least we know what kind of frosting we'll want to use for the cake!"

"I'll say!" Canvas looked back at the table as well. "You know, if we have some more of that cream cheese frosting, maybe we cou—"

A loud "ZOOM" interrupted the stallion's suggestion. A blur of pink enveloped the entire table. In a matter of seconds, Pinkie Pie went over the entire assortment of cakes with a can of cream cheese frosting, giving every chocolate cake the same covering as the carrot cake.

"DONE!" Pinkie shouted with glee as she tossed the empty can over her shoulder, which went across the room and into the trash bin flawlessly.

"Oh. Um…" Canvas turned his attention back to Troy and Lyle. "So, where do you guys want to sta…"

The stallion's words faltered when he saw how the two were eying the table like a couple of buzzards. After tasting cream cheese frosting for the very first time, Troy and Lyle looked at all the cakes covered in it like two sharks who just had a taste of blood.

Canvas, Mister Cake, and Rarity all stepped back, unsure of how this was going to end. Pinkie Pie pulled out a recliner and watched attentively with a large bowl of popcorn on her lap.

"Ooooooohhh! This is gonna be good!"

While the sun sunk into late afternoon, the train to Manehattan chugged along the tracks with humming precision. Inside a sleeper car, Troy and Lyle were sprawled out on one of the benches, looking absolutely beat as they laid back, their bellies swollen.

"Man…" Troy groaned in delight as he patted his stomach with a claw. "What did I tell you, Lyle? Equestria has some pretty good food, right?"

"Yeah…" Leaning against the bench with a satisfied grin on his beak, Lyle stifled a belch and laid in a nearly comatose state. "Dude, that molten cake's gonna be awesome for the wedding!"

"Yep." Troy sighed in agreement. "I'm really glad we got the cake figured out."

Even though he felt tired enough to pass out right then, Troy managed to reopen his eyes. "Right, Canvas?"

Canvas, who was lying in the fetal position, looked absolutely terrified as he sat on the bench opposite the two Gryphons. With the terrible recollection of Troy and Lyle ravishing the poor bakers' table like a couple of rabid coyotes running through his mind, the stallion knew he was going to need some time to collect himself. "Y-yeah… S-s-sure am…"

Note to self, Canvas thought, never, EVER get that frosting for the bedroom!

Even though he really was happy to have chosen a cake—especially since that molten cake really WAS delicious—the fact that his future husband went into such a spree over cream cheese frosting was certainly an eye-opener. Never having expecting something like that to occur, Canvas was glad that nopony got hurt, and that nothing in Sugar Cube Corner had been broken from their sprawl. Hoping it wasn’t anything serious, Canvas also wanted to remind himself to talk with Twilight when they got back to Ponyville about what could've caused that behavior.

When Canvas looked over at the Gryphons on the bench and saw how tired the two looked, he was still able to grow a gracious smile on his face. Troy, who looked especially wiped-out after choosing the right cake, rolled his off the seat so he could lay on his back on the floor.

Canvas, knowing that Troy wasn't going to do anything scary now, decided to join him. With Lyle lying across the bench, Canvas crawled down so he could lie on top of Troy's feathered chest. Feeling the stallion move on top of him, Troy used the last of his conscious strength to lift up his claws and wrap them around Canvas.

With the sun beginning to set through the window, Canvas nestled closer against the Gryphon, feeling himself start to rest as well. Hearing Troy begin to purr lightly though his chest, Canvas giggled a little and closed his eyes, happy to get one big thing checked off their list of wedding plans.

And with the sprawling metropolis of Manehattan awaiting them tomorrow morning, Canvas knew that this was going to be a good trip. He might not like the idea of being a judge, but with his Gryphon holding him tightly, he knew that it wouldn't be an experience he would want to miss.

Chapter Thirteen: The Big City

Sighing deeply from a mix of fatigue and impatience, Glimmer Heart stood at the platform of the Manehattan Train Station while she waited for the train to arrive. The mare barely paid any heed to the crowd of ponies around her, sipping the cup of MareBucks coffee held in her pink aura.

Before she could groan in frustration, wondering where the buck the train could be, she heard the faint sound of the chugging engines in the distance. Looking out from the platform, Glimmer Heart smiled when she saw the train coming in over the Hooflyn Bridge.

Glimmer, along with the rest of the restless Manehattanites around her, stepped back as the train began to slow its descent into the station. When the train started to make its stop at the platform, a thick cloud of steam enveloped the station.

After the steam dissipated, the doors to the train opened. A large line of ponies began to pour out through the doors into the station. Standing near the doors, Glimmer Heart waited anxiously as she sipped her coffee, smiling as soon as she saw the aqua stallion exit from the train.

Canvas, a tired smile on his face, stepped off the train with Troy close behind him. Not paying much attention to the bystanders who eyed him curiously, Troy wrapped his wing around Canvas the instant the two stepped onto the platform. Behind them, Lyle cautiously hopped off the train, taken aback when he noticed how many ponies were staring at them.

Lyle glanced around the crowd of ponies walking past them. Many of the ponies stared at Lyle and Troy with curiosity as they moved past. Lyle stepped a little closer to Troy before hearing Glimmer Heart speak up.

"It's nice to see you up and about, Canvas!" Glimmer said cheerfully. "I was afraid you were going to back out of this."

"Nuh-uh," Canvas assured, raising a hoof, "I said I was going to do this, and I'm a stallion of my word." With a smile on his muzzle, he looked up to his fiancé before adding, "Besides, I always wanted to visit Manehattan."

"I'm really happy to hear that." Glimmer levitated a map out of her purse. "The gallery doesn’t start until seven tonight, so you three have a lot of time to explore Manehattan for the day."

"Awesome!" Troy grabbed the map. "Any suggestions on where we should go?"

"I already circled a few spots on the map. And just so you know, I'd try to avoid going to any of the more 'tourist-y' places, since those will probably be filled with ponies before you even get there."

"Good idea," Canvas said with a smile, looking at the map. Before he could say anything else to her, the stallion noticed Lyle looking around the station uneasily. Noticing that many ponies were staring at them, Canvas realized what had caught Lyle's attention. "Lyle, are you alright?"

Glimmer noticed this as well, prompting her to clear her throat and add, "Just so you know, not a lot of Gryphons come to Manehattan, so that's probably the reason why some ponies are looking over at us."

"Huh?" Troy took a quick glance around the station before shrugging his shoulders. "Oh. Whatever." He looked back at the map nonchalantly, not minding the ponies staring at him nearby. "I've kinda gotten used to that by now. It really doesn’t get to me anymore."

Lyle looked back at his brother, not expecting him to be so chill about it. Of course, the fact that Troy was planning to marry a stallion was good enough proof that he didn’t really care how others thought about him, prompting Lyle to shrug as well.

Happy to see Troy be so nonchalant about this, Glimmer motioned the three to follow her as they made their way out of the train station. As they moved through the crowds towards the main streets, Glimmer decided to start a little conversation with Troy and Lyle in order to distract them from the continuing stares.

"… Of course, I know there are a few more on campus, but Vincent is the only Gryphon I know of by name around there. Oh, there's also a Gryphon who works as a tour guide at the history museum, ummm… Cold Snap, I believe? I'm not sure if he's still working there, but he was really sweet when I talked to him a couple months back."

"Uh-huh…" Although he tried to listen to her, Troy immediately diverted his attention when he walked around the station. Even with how amazingly large the station was, with its domed roof and a beautifully designed clock structure standing at the middle of the open space, it was hard to focus due to the hundreds of ponies shuffling past them. Since he stood higher than most of the ponies in the crowd, Troy saw what looked to be a technicolor sea of manes and coats constantly changing and merging with one another without a second of pause or hesitation.

Seeing how colorful and vibrant the crowds looked under the bright lights of the station, Troy really started to feel out of place as he walked alongside his brother and fiancé. Though he was used to being around ponies back in Ponyville and Cloudsdale, standing above a giant mass of ponies as one of the only Gryphons was still a bit unnerving. He could only imagine how unnerved Lyle might be feeling right now.

Fortunately, before he could say anything, Troy noticed Glimmer levitate something out of her purse as they reached the main doors. With a smile, Glimmer floated the object over to Canvas, which turned out to be a rather nice-looking camera.

"Since you guys are going sightseeing today, I figure you could take a few photos while you're at it."

"W-wow!" Canvas seemed a bit worried about holding the camera, hoping it wasn't too expensive. "Are you sure, Glimmer?"

"Absolutely," Glimmer said with a reassuring smile. "I have a lot to do before the gallery, so I probably won't be needing it much today. It has a full roll of film, so just bring it back to me tonight and I'll have them developed before you leave, okay?"

"S-sure thing!" Examining the camera, Canvas had a huge smile on his face, happy that Glimmer Heart had the foresight to think about something like this. "Thank you so much!"

"It's no problem," Glimmer assured, looking rather glad to see his reaction as they made their way out to the main streets.

As soon as the four stepped outside, Canvas and the two Gryphons' eyes grew wide as they looked upward, seeing the landscape of downtown Manehattan for the very first time.

Alongside the loud commotion of ponies bustling on the sidewalks and carriages galloping to and fro down the busy cobblestone streets, there was nothing but a huge wall of buildings on all sides of the city. With most of the buildings and structures boasting fairly neutral shades of grey, silver, and brown, the large mass of ponies walking beside them just came off as looking even more colorful and vibrant than before.

Above the crowded streets, dozens of different Pegasus ponies darted around the open spaces within the Manehattan skyline, either flying along the streets below them or cutting between the tight spaces of buildings with surprising precision. Among the stoic buildings, which stood above everything else like looming cliffs of metal and glass, not a single living thing below or around was able to stand still for a second, save for the three bewildered newcomers who looked on, wide-eyed.

Standing beside them with a smirk on her muzzle, Glimmer stayed silent for a moment. After spending so much time in this massive city, it was refreshing for her to see someone witnessing this sight for the very first time. Remembering how overwhelming it was for her, the mare sighed nostalgically before clearing her throat.

"Alright, boys," Glimmer Heart said, raising her hoof to hail a carriage, "I'll leave you three to explore the city while I'm gone. I already marked in the map where you are right now, so just have fun, alright?"

The three nodded as they turned back to her. "Thanks a lot, Glimmer," Canvas replied with a grateful smile. "This really means a lot to us."

"It's really fine." Luckily enough, a carriage rolled up to Glimmer. "Just show up at least an hour before the gallery so I can get you situated. Have fun!"

The three waved at her as she stepped inside the cab, keeping her smile as it began to gallop back out into the streets. Soon enough, the carriage became lost in the sea of yellow cabs just like it within the Manehattan traffic.

Lyle looked over at the camera in Canvas's hoof. "Wow," he said in a bewildered tone, "that mare must really trust you if she lent you that thing!"

"I know," Canvas said in an equally bemused tone, trying to hold the camera carefully. "I mean, it's still kinda hard to believe, considering the fact that I indirectly caused her divorce."

"Well," Troy added, "he was cheating on her. If you never beat him up, she would've never known about it. She's probably glad that you helped her out of that marriage."

Knowing his fiancé was technically right, Canvas gave a light shrug.

Lyle's browed skewed as he stared at the stallion. "So, you really beat up a guy?" He looked Canvas up and down and smirked out of disbelief. "No offense, dude, but you don't exactly look like a fighter."

"Hey!" Troy exclaimed.

Canvas put up a hoof before turning his attention to Lyle. "Honestly, I'm really not."

Thinking back to when he had that fight with Hot Shot, Canvas chuckled when he recalled how crazy he went. "I still can't believe I went that far! I mean, I was under a lot of stress in that time, but I still can't believe I went that nuts on him! Especially since all he did was call me a colt-cuddler."

"Seriously?" Lyle asked.

Even though Canvas assumed Lyle’s question was due to the fact that he overreacted, he was surprisingly mistaken when the Gryphon added, "Dude, if someone called me a feather-fluffer or something, I'd probably do the same thing."

"That's right." Troy nudged Canvas lightly. "That guy was asking for it! Plus, he was also harassing Lyra and Bon-Bon, so he should've been expecting a punch or two."

"Yeah, a punch. Like, singular." Canvas looked up at Troy, bemused. "Not a bucking barrage of punches! I completely lost it then!"

"Eh, who wouldn't?" Lyle smirked. "It sounds like the dude had it coming to him."

Troy nodded in agreement.

Canvas sighed and shook his head in defeat. It was clear that neither of them were going to let him feel guilty about his actions. So, after a few seconds, Canvas just smiled at both of them. "Oh, alright. Maybe he kinda did."

"There you go!" Troy gave his fiance another nudge, making Canvas giggle. He pointed a talon at the camera. "Hey, let's test that camera before we head off."

"Good idea!" With a smile on his muzzle, Canvas examined the camera in his hoof, noting how it worked before looking back at Troy and Lyle. "So… How's this going to work? Should I take one of you two, or maybe…"

Canvas looked back at the camera, realizing he didn't have any good way to set a timer so all three of them could be in the photo. Before any of them could come up with a valid suggestion, Canvas felt a hoof poke at his shoulder. He looked over to see a tan stallion wearing a grey beanie and a smile.

"Hey, you want me to take a photo of you guys?"

Canvas stood surprised for a second, not expecting a stranger to make an offer like that. After a quick glance back at Troy and Lyle, he looked quite happy when he turned back to the stallion. "That would be great! Thank you!"

"No problem." The stallion took the camera from Canvas's hooves, motioning him to step back to stand next to the Gryphons.

After the three got into position, the stallion held up the camera and prepared to take the photo. "Okay… One, two—"

The stallion immediately ran off with the camera.

Canvas and Lyle stood frozen for a second, then realized that the stallion just took Glimmer Heart's camera. Before either could react, Troy shot his wings open and flew off in an instant. The stallion ran into an alleyway a short distance from them, making a girlish shriek when Troy flew in after him.

Canvas only heard a few muffled yelps, as well as a lot of banging from inside the alley.

After a brief silence, Troy walked out of the alleyway with a proud stride in his step and the camera in his claw. He was also dragging the stallion by his tail, which was tightly clamped in his grinning beak.

Canvas's mouth hung slightly agape when he saw how battered the would-be thief looked, a nasty looking welt appearing over his left eye. Before he could say anything, he felt Lyle nudge him.

"See?" Lyle said with a grin on his beak, "Sometimes a pony deserves that sort of thing."

Canvas looked back at the stallion before shrugging. Although he wanted to feel bad for him (especially since he was shaking out of pure fear while being dragged by Troy), he couldn't feel much sympathy for the pony after the camera was almost stolen.

Troy used his free claw to hoist the pony up by his tail. He hung the terrified stallion upside down and glared at him, staring eye-to-eye.

"Take the photo."

The stallion immediately nodded. Happy to see he looked too petrified to try anything stupid again, Troy released his grip, letting the stallion drop to the sidewalk before he passed him the camera.

Despite being dropped on his head, the stallion quickly shot back up as Troy got back into position with his fiancé and brother.

As the thieving stallion trembled in terror, the three smiled cheerfully as they got their first picture taken together in Manehattan.

Despite their first unfortunate encounter with Manehattan culture, the three didn't have that much trouble after getting their first photo. For most of the day, Canvas and the two Gryphons spent their time exploring the city, marveling at the seemingly endless array of modern structures as they laid path to Manehattan's massive size and beauty.

For Canvas, the metropolis's landscape was absolutely captivating for him, seeing the canyons of metal and glass work as a giant backdrop for all the vibrant culture that moved below and alongside them. Beside the grey and silver walls and underneath the cobblestoned grounds, the amount of diversity and flawless unity between ponies was something he never saw before. Even with all the different ponies moving along, everything moved at a constant pace and rhythm, never breaking or slowing down for an instant as it constantly changed and evolved around the three.

For Troy, most of his attention was fixed on how condensed the city felt, as he needed to use his wings to get anywhere at a relatively quick pace. Honestly, Troy was rather surprised that, in a place as massive as this, everything still felt cramped for a Gryphon of his size. And the more he looked around the city at all the different ponies trotting and flying around them, the more alien Troy felt, realizing that Glimmer Heart was right about there not being many Gryphons living here.

For Lyle, only one thing surprised him when he looked around Manehattan: After spending some time in Ponyville, the Gryphon was surprised to see that ponies wore more clothes around here than out in the country.

While clothing wasn’t necessarily a huge deal in Equestria or the Gryphon Kingdom, it seemed that almost all the ponies had some form of clothing around here, even if it was something simple like a hat or a scarf. Looking over at Canvas, Lyle was certain that the stallion didn't look that out of place because of the art bag lugged around his shoulder.

With he and his brother being the only Gryphons in the area, Lyle was starting to feel the same form of alienation Troy felt right now.

As the day went on, most of their attention was focused on each other, appreciating their time in Manehattan as they took in the sights, as well as taking countless pictures with Glimmer Heart's camera.

By the time it started to get well into the afternoon, the three had managed to explore most of the locations that the map had to offer. After walking around the Market District by the ports, flying through a large part of Middle Park, and moving through a lot of the higher-class neighborhoods like Starswirl Square and Faust Avenue, the three decided to have a quick lunch in Greenhoof Village. They followed Glimmer Heart's map, which directed them to small place called Roy's Pizzeria.

Although the restaurant was fairly small on the inside, it was empty enough for the three to enter without much overcrowding or awkward shuffling. Troy, who was starting to sweat a little from his constant flying, slumped down at a nearby table and sighed in relief.

Since none of the booth tables were wide enough to hold Troy's body, Lyle joined his brother at one of the free tables in the middle of the space. While Troy slumped his head down on the table, Lyle looked over the countless framed pictures on the brick walls while Canvas made an order at the counter.

"Uuuuugggghhhhh…" Troy groaned in defeat, barely noticing when Canvas came back with several large sodas in Styrofoam cups a short time later. "My wings are killing me…"

"Well, what did you expect?" Canvas smirked as he sat down beside him. "You were the one who insisted on flying everywhere with me on your back."

"Yeah," Troy muttered, "because that was the only way to get anywhere in this city quickly! Seriously, I felt like I was in a sardine can when we were on the ground around here."

Canvas looked at Troy in confusion. "A… A what?"

It took Troy a moment to realize that Canvas didn’t know what he meant, since sardine cans weren’t necessarily a common thing in a vegetarian society like Equestria.

Before Troy could explain, Lyle raised a claw. "It's, like, a bunch of fish that are preserved and put in cans to eat for later and stuff."

"Eww!" Canvas looked fairly grossed out, but Troy just shrugged and stayed slumped on the table.

Troy said, "That's actually pretty accurate. Grandpa ate them all the friggin’ time."

"Oh yeah!" Lyle tried not to giggle too loudly in the restaurant. "Remember when you tried to eat one of those cans?"

"Ugh! Don't remind me of that!" Since he was already feeling a bit off, Troy closed his eyes in an attempt to keep himself from keeling over before the pizza was ready. "I shouldn't have done that on picture day."

Canvas put a hoof over his muzzle to muffle a snicker. "Picture day?!"

"Yeah," Troy grumbled, "and I threw up right before it, so I looked really pale when I got my photo. There was also a pretty noticeable stain on my chest."

Canvas finally couldn't hold it in. His head hit the table as he tried not to laugh too loudly alongside Lyle. "Oh man! Please tell me you still have that photo!"

Another heavy groan escaped Troy, who wasn't looking too happy with Canvas and Lyle laughing at his expense.

"Actually," Lyle began, coming down from his laughter first, "I think Mom still has it framed back at home."

"What?!" Troy glared at his brother. "I thought she had it taken down!"

"Yeah, and she put it right back up after you left."

Troy leaned back down on the table and face-clawed. The other two began to laugh again before their pizza arrived, which was a surprisingly large spinach-alfredo that took up the entire table.

"Woah!" Lyle looked impressed by the pizza's size, which made the waitress smirk as she walked away. "It's nice to actually see a place serve food at a proper size around here!"

Canvas chuckled a little as he picked up a slice, which was almost the size of his head. "Yeah, I guess this would be good for Gryphons, huh?"

Troy, who had already taken a large bite of his, nodded happily before swallowing. "Yeah, this is pretty good! I never thought I'd say this, but I don't even think it needs any pepperoni."

"Mmph." Lyle chewed his bite a little slower before swallowing to make a reply. "Although, it definitely would be a good thing to add to this."

Unlike Troy and Lyle, Canvas had to fold his slice in half in order to hold it securely in his hooves while eating. "So… Is pepperoni that common? Because Troy brings it up every time we get pizza from somewhere."

"Oh, come on. I don't do that every time!" Troy shook his head before refocusing his attention back on his slice. "Although, it really is awesome on pizza. So is sausage, or ham, and bacon…Mmmm… Chicken… Salami… A full meat-lover's deep dish… With some wings on the side…"

Troy's eyes glazed over for a moment before he shook his head clear. "Wait, what were we talking about?"

Canvas and Lyle both giggled. When Lyle turned his head away, he noticed a back room with some arcade games inside. "Dude! Is that Heat Seeker 4?! I didn't even know that was out yet!"

Canvas looked over at the same direction as Lyle, seeing the arcade setup for a fighting game in a room beside the register. With a smirk on his muzzle, the stallion bent down into his art bag and opened the flap.

"So Lyle," Canvas began, fishing for his bag of bits inside the canvas bag, "you think you can redeem yourself after Khaos Kombat?"

Lyle gave Canvas a cheeky smirk as the stallion’s eyes narrowed on him. "You just got lucky, dude! The Heat Seeker series is my game!"

"Uh-huh." Canvas held up the bag of bits. "How about you put your money where your beak is?"

"You're on!"

Canvas and Lyle went over to the arcade, leaving Troy to lie back in his seat and continue eating. Sighing heavily, Troy carried a smile on his beak as he relaxed and took a drink from his soda. His wings draped over his seat, hanging limp a few inches from the ground as he savored the sensation of being able to just lie there for a while.

After helping himself to another slice, Troy closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. He smiled as he overheard his brother and fiancé over by the arcade, who were exchanging playful banter over the sound effects and music of the fighting game.

"Oh, come on! That was a cheap shot!"

"Hey, at least I'm pressing more than one button!"

"Dude, it's called technique! I have this nailed down!"

"Really? You have getting your butt kicked nailed down? I'd believe it."

"Shut up!"

Troy chuckled a little as he relaxed in his seat, not noticing much going on around him. He heard the door of the pizzeria open, but didn't open his eyes when he heard two mares talking.

"Now Babs, I already have the order reserved. We're only gonna be here for a couple of minutes."

"Aw, c’mon! Can't I at least get some bits ta play the pinball o’ somethin'?"

"Oh, fine." Troy heard the light jingle of a few bits beside the register. "Go ahead."

"Thanks, sis!"

A white mare with a flowing orange mane and a cutie mark of an orange slice next to a orange blossom sat at a table beside Troy's as she waited. She placed her brown purse down next to her seat, but tried not to pay much notice to the Gryphon nearby her. Seeing how he looked nearly unconscious right now, the last thing the mare wanted to do was disturb him. Instead, she just leaned her head against her hoof as she sighed, making sure her sister wasn't causing much trouble by the pinball machine.

Over in the arcade, a light brown filly with a short pink mane and tail was trying to focus as she shot the metal ball around with the buttons in her hooves. However, it was a little difficult to pay much attention when a Gryphon was standing beside her. She wanted to say something, mostly since she never saw a Gryphon before, but one look showed that he was getting more aggravated the more he combatted against the aqua stallion beside him.

"Dude, come on!” Lyle desperately tried to get a move in against Canvas's character. "How is this possible?! You have, like, the worst character right now! How are you winning?!"

Canvas giggled and kept a smug grin on his face. "I dunno, but I don't care! This game is pretty fun!" He delivered another flawless combo on the screen, defeating Lyle's character and making the Gryphon groan in frustration once more.

While she glanced over at them curiously, Babs didn't notice when her third ball rolled down between her paddles. It wasn't until she heard the “game over” noises from her pinball machine that she noticed she lost, making her groan and walk away from the arcade.

"Order up!"

The mare next to Troy rose from her seat, grabbing the bag as she made her way to the counter. "Okay, Babs," said the mare as she picked up her order, "are you done with your game?"

"Yeah, I guess so," muttered Babs as she looked back at the two playing another round.

"Alright then. Let's go."

With a smile on the mare’s face, the two ponies left the pizzeria with their food, while Troy laid in his seat with his eyes closed. Before he could drift further into relaxation (or end up falling asleep), he heard Canvas call out to him from the arcade.

"Oh crap, it's six already?! We gotta get to the gallery!"

Troy immediately got up from his seat, grabbing the bag on the floor while Canvas got a box for their food. "Alright, let's go!"

Glimmer Heart tapped her hoof on the sidewalk impatiently as she stood outside the art gallery. Even though the show wasn't supposed to start for another forty-five minutes, she was already dressed in her purple gown for the gallery

Huffing a little, she grew worried as she looked around. Glimmer didn't see the aqua stallion anywhere, nor the two Gryphons he was with. Before she could fret, she noticed two large figures fly in around one of the buildings.

Troy and Lyle, Canvas clinging onto Troy's back, soared in like two falcons through the Manehattan skyline. While the sun began to set behind them, the Gryphons barely paid any heed to any Pegasus ponies they flew past as they glided down to the streets below.

Catching sight of Glimmer, the two made a quick landing on the sidewalk in front of the gallery, almost shaking the ground.

Glimmer Heart flinched a little from their landing but quickly regained her scowl as she glared at them. "Guys, we have less than an hour before this show begins! You better have a good explanation for this!"

Canvas blushed and averted his eyes from her. Hoping to alleviate the situation, Lyle held up the box of leftover pizza to her, opening it with a nervous smile on his beak.

"Are you serious right now?! You really think that pizza will change—ooh! Is that spinach alfredo?" Glimmer looked at the pizza for a second before sighing. Still visibly upset, she looked back up at them and lit her horn.

"You guys are really lucky you got my favorite," muttered Glimmer as she took a slice with her magic. Before she could take a bite, the mare noticed that the three weren't wearing anything, making her groan.

"Canvas, please tell me you have outfits ready for the three of you! I told you that this was a clothing-mandatory event, right?"

"Yeah, you did," Canvas answered with a quick nod. "I still have my shirt and tie from the gallery back in Canterlot, and I also have ties for these two." He turned to Troy and Lyle and smiled.

Glimmer still looked worried. "Wait, you just have ties for them? They're going to need to have a jacket or something for this event!"

"What?" Canvas looked back at the mare, his eyes widening. Biting his lip in worry, the stallion looked down to the ground for a second, trying to think of a solution. "I… I'm not sure if I have anything for Lyle, but…"

Canvas perked back up, looking like a new idea had sprouted in his mind. "Actually, I think I might have something in my bag for Troy!"

Troy pulled off the bag he had over his shoulder, which wrapped around him much tighter than Canvas. He passed the bag over to Canvas with a smile. The stallion's eyes began to widen as he looked at what his fiance was holding.

"Troy…" Canvas’s tone came out much, MUCH more worried, his muzzle beginning to twitch. "What… What is…"

Troy skewed his brow, though his expression quickly changed when he looked down to the bag. The Gryphon's eyes widened in horror as well.

The bag that Canvas was holding was a tannish brown, much like his art bag. That was the only similarity it held.

Instead of the large art bag Canvas usually carried around, which was adorned with dozens of different inscriptions and sketches in black ink, what he was holding was a blank purse with absolutely no writing on the it. Canvas was beginning to shake in pure terror at the realization of what happened.

Before any of them could react, Glimmer Heart looked at Canvas with worry when she saw how mortified he looked. "Ca-Canvas? Are… are you alrig—"

"BUCK!!!"

Canvas immediately shot off down the street, running back the direction he came from as he thundered through the crowd of Manehattanites.

Glimmer Heart opened her muzzle, but was cut off when Troy blasted off after him in panicked fear. Lyle also flew off after them, leaving Glimmer Heart to stand alone in front of the building, holding their box of pizza.

"What… What the…"

Glimmer Heart blinked a couple times and stood in silence. The gears in her head had to turn a bit before she could process everything, taking a moment before she looked in the direction the three ran off to.

"WHAT THE BUCK JUST HAPPENED?!"

Chapter Fourteen: Baggage

"Canvas, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, SO SORRY!!!"

Though he heard Troy’s desperate pleas as he called out to him, Canvas paid no heed as he ran as fast as he could back toward Greenhoof Village. While his hooves thundered under the pavement, Canvas's eyes were wide open in petrified fear as he galloped through the increasingly darkening streets of Manehattan. Moving and pushing his way past the crowds of Manehattanites like a madpony, all Canvas could think about was his art bag, praying to all that was holy that it wasn't lost forever.

"Canvas, please slow down!" Troy exclaimed frantically, trying to catch up with him through the crowds. "We're going to find it, I promise! We just gotta calm down an—”

"NO!!!" Reaching the end of the block, Canvas stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He stomped on the ground, clenched his eyes shut, and gritted his teeth. "I… I CAN'T CALM DOWN!!!"

Falling back on his flank, Canvas brought his hooves to his face as he bent his head down. Struggling not to openly sob in the middle of the street like some depressed lunatic, Canvas felt his breathing come out in sporadic gasps while he desperately tried to keep himself together.

"My… my bag…" Canvas said in almost a weeping whisper as Troy ran up to him. "My bag… my art bag… the bag that my… my Mom gave me… No… No, no, no, no…"

Before he could let any tears escape his welling eyes, Canvas felt Troy's forelegs wrap around him. Panting heavily from his impromptu running, Troy hugged his fiancé as tightly as he could.

"Canvas, listen to me." Troy tried to keep his voice from sounding strained from the huge wave of guilt he was feeling right now. "We are going to find your bag, okay? I know I messed up, and I am so, SO sorry!"

Canvas laid his head against Troy's feathered chest, barely able to control his weeping as the Gryphon continued on.

"But it was just misplaced! It wasn't stolen, alright? We have somepony else's bag, which means they have yours, and I know we're going to get it back!"

Troy knew exactly what had happened, so he knew he wasn't just blowing hot air. Remembering that a mare came in with some filly while he was still half-conscious, he was absolutely certain what must have occurred. The mare had put her purse (which he was currently holding onto) down on the ground next to Canvas's art bag, and accidentally took his by mistake. Even though he absolutely hated now much this devastated his fiancé, he also knew that it was just a simple mistake.

Before he could let Canvas go and try to head back to the pizzeria, Troy heard the flapping of Lyle's wings as he flew in towards them.

"Guys, wait up!" Also breathing hard, Lyle landed down beside his brother before noticing how mortified Canvas looked. "What the buck happened?! Did Canvas forget something?"

"Yeah. Well… sort of…" Grimacing, Troy held up the brown purse in one claw as he kept the other around Canvas. "We accidentally grabbed the wrong bag back at that pizza place, and we need to get it ba—”

"WE?!!"

Canvas quickly let go of his fiancé, giving him a deathly glare. "You're seriously trying to say WE?! YOU were the one who lost it!"

Troy winced and tried to put his claws up in defense. "Canvas, please! It wasn't my fau—”

"SHUT UP!!!" Canvas shut his eyes and hung his head again. His breathing came out more rapidly as he tried to speak through his clenched teeth. "I can't lose it… I can NOT lose that… It was everything… It was all I had…"

Shaking in growing anger, the stallion screamed down at the ground before looking back up at Troy in a fit of rage. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME?! You know how important that bag is to me, AND NOW—"

"HEY!!!"

Lyle immediately stepped in between Troy and Canvas, freezing the stallion as he came face-to-face with him. "If you don’t stop screaming, I'm really gonna give you something to scream about! Stop yelling at Troy, and calm the buck down, RIGHT NOW!"

Canvas froze in place for a long moment, looking absolutely stunned. Slowly, the stallion's erratic breathing calmed, and he looked away from Lyle.

Even with how unstable the stallion appeared, Lyle didn’t want to see him blow up at his brother. While Troy stood motionless, shocked to see his brother stand up to Canvas like that, Lyle calmed himself down for a moment with a sigh before putting a claw to the pony's shoulder.

"Canvas…"

After taking a few deep breaths, Canvas slowly regained his composure enough to look at him. His eyes were starting to look reddened when he finally reopened them to look at Lyle's concerned face.

"Listen, dude. I…" Lyle paused for a moment and looked back to his brother, noting how horrible he seemed to feel about what he indirectly caused to happen. Lyle sighed before looking back at Canvas.

Lyle said sternly, "I know you're freaked out right now, and I totally get it. If I lost my stuff, I'd probably be ticked off too…" He used one of his wings to readjust the satchel over his shoulder, making sure it was secure.

"But!" Lyle pointed a talon at Canvas and said in a more commanding tone, "I'm not gonna have you yell at Troy for something that wasn't his fault! Anyone could've made that mistake, so don't you try to put the all blame on him! He's trying to help, so cut him some bucking slack!"

Canvas remained silent, unable to even blink while Lyle glared at him. Taking a few seconds to let Lyle's words sink in, Canvas sighed and closed his eyes. Exhaling a little slower than before, the stallion slowly nodded in agreement. "Ye… yeah…"

Lyle slowly began to look a little more relaxed. "Canvas, listen…" He kept his claw on Canvas's shoulder and spoke in a calmer tone of voice. "I'll see if it's at the restaurant, okay? Just calm down a bit, and everything will be fine. I'm sure of it."

After hearing Lyle's words, Canvas couldn't help but feel a little better. Noting how Lye tried to reassure him, he could definitely see a lot of the same personality Troy presented to him when they had first met. Knowing that Lyle was right, Canvas nodded again before the claw was removed from his shoulder. "O-okay… yeah… I… I'll do that…"

"Okay…" Lyle looked back at his brother. "You alright, bro?"

Even though he was surprised at how maturely his little brother had reacted, Troy still managed to give a small smile before nodding. "Uh-huh… Thanks, Lyle."

"No prob." Hoping that he was really alright, Lyle gave his brother a quick hug before shooting back up to the skies.

As soon as Lyle began to disappear against the Manehattan skyline and head toward Greenhoof Village, Troy glanced back down to see Canvas looking at him with an extremely ashamed expression. Looking like he was going to start crying at any moment, Canvas quickly lunged forward and hugged Troy. He clenched his eyes shut and tried to speak, his voice strained and heavy with guilt.

"I'm sorry…" Canvas could feel a few stray tears escape his eyes while he hugged Troy as tightly as he could. "Troy, I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to yell at you… I'm sorr—

"It's okay," Troy cooed, hugging him back. Closing his eyes as well, he kept his fiancé held tightly against his chest as assured, “Canvas, it's okay… I know that you're upset, and I'm so sorry…"

After taking a deep breath, Troy held the stallion for another moment before pulling his head back. He looked straight into the pony's welling blue eyes with a warm smile on his beak. "Everything's going to be fine, alright? It wasn't stolen, and it wasn't lost. We're going to get it back, okay?"

Looking into Troy's golden eyes, Canvas saw that same shade of beauty and sincerity that he fell in love with a few months ago. With a shaky smile on his muzzle, the stallion nodded slowly. "O-okay…"

Troy bent his head in, closing his eyes as he gently pressed his beak against the stallion’s lips. With a small blush, Canvas closed his eyes as well, savoring the Gryphon's warmth as he kissed him back. In that moment, neither noticed the ponies who walked past them, nor the bewildered stares they received from a few at seeing their display. The only thing they noticed was each other, holding each other tightly as the sun began to sink past the Manehattan skyline.

After a gentle moment of silence from their shared kiss, the two pulled back before Troy finally managed to speak. "Come on," he said confidently as he looked up to the direction of Greenhoof Village, "we can probably make it faster if I fly you there."

Canvas quickly nodded and smiled, no longer hesitating as he hopped up on Troy’s back. "Alright. Let's go!"

With that, the two shot up into the skies just as the streetlights began to glow against the growing autumn night.

While the streets became darker, the growing evening approaching, Lyle stepped out of Roy's Pizzeria, hanging his head. After asking the owner inside, he was upset to discover that no bag was found or returned since they left earlier. Hoping that the bag really wasn't missing for good, Lyle sighed as he felt the cool evening air brush against his feathers.

The streetlamps hanging above the cobblestone streets began to shine brighter as the skies darkened. Between the pools of lights that dotted the streets, which seemed like eerie spotlights for whomever walked past, the faint gaps of darkness managed to make anypony disappear in the brief instances when they weren’t under the light.

Lyle was just about to open his wings once more, hoping to get back to his brother, before something caught his eyes. At the end of the block, two figures appeared under one of the streetlamps and galloped in Lyle's direction. The two ponies, one a white mare with an orange mane, and the other a tan filly with a short pink mane, could be heard bickering amongst each other as they hurried down the sidewalk.

"Whaddya so worried about? It's just a bag, Citrus!"

"You saw those Gryphons who were there when I took it! Do you know that they do to thieves back in the Gryphon Kingdom?!"

"Do you?"

"Well… No… But I'm sure it's not good!"

Overhearing their heated (and slightly ignorant) discussion, Lyle's eyes widened when he noticed what was hanging on the mare's shoulder. Catching sight of the very noticeable art bag, the Gryphon began to rush over to them.

"Hey!" Lyle pointed a talon at the mare. "That's Canvas's bag!"

"EEP!" The mare immediately pulled the canvas bag off from her shoulder, throwing it over at Lyle and raising her hooves in surrender.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I thought it was my purse! I'm so sorry! Please don't hurt me!"

Lyle blinked a couple times in confusion as he held Canvas's bag, surprised to see how distraught the mare was. It almost looked like she expected him to maul her for her mistake. Meanwhile, the filly standing next to the mare just gave her skewed brow as she looked up at her sister.

"Are ya bein' serious right now?"

Looking between the filly and Lyle, the mare started to lessen her trembling stance when she saw that he wasn't going to attack her. She began to run a hoof through her orange mane and looked away sheepishly. "Uhhhh… heh heh heh… Ummm…"

"MY BAG!"

All three of them looked up to the source of the voice to see Troy swoop down to the ground with Canvas on his back. Before Troy could land, Canvas jumped off him. Despite flopping to the ground surprisingly hard, the stallion didn't falter a bit and rushed up to Lyle with an extremely relieved smile on his muzzle.

"Oh! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyoooouuuu!!!"

Canvas closed his eyes and held his art bag in his hooves. Clutching the bag against his chest, the stallion was practically swooning with delight at holding his prized possession. With a huge smile on his face, Canvas reopened his eyes and looked down at his bag, making sure nothing was damaged or missing when he quickly inspected it.

When Troy finally regained his footing, he noticed the two perplexed mares standing nearby, neither of them sure what they could say. It wasn't until they noticed the silver Gryphon that the filly pointed a hoof at the purse.

"Hey, Citrus, isn't that your purse?"

The mare's eyes widened in surprise at seeing the purse, which Troy immediately removed from his shoulder to give to her.

"Uhhh… I guess this is yours?"

"Y-yes! It… it is…" Even though the older mare looked rather nervous about being close to him, she was quick to retrieve her purse. "Ummm… thank you, I… I really didn't realize I had the wrong one until… um…"

"It's okay," Troy assured with a smile. He then looked back to see Canvas give a sigh of relief after closing his bag back up, happy to see everything was still inside. "To be fair, your purse does have a similar color to his bag. I didn't notice it at first either."

The mare had bit her lip when she tried to smile, but she came off still looking a tad nervous when Troy glanced back at her. The filly facehoofed and groaned in frustration. "Ugh, come on! Sis, quit lookin' so freaked-out! He's not gonna kill ya!"

"Babs!" The mare glared down at her little sister, which was only met by a deadpan stare back at her. After a few seconds of silence and the filly's face unchanging, the mare groaned under her breath, rolled her eyes, and looked back at Troy. "I'm sorry about my sister, sir. I was a little worried about having the wrong bag, and she thought I was overreacting."

"You thought that they were gonna cut yer hooves off with a sword!"

"SHUSH!" the mare hissed before turning back to a slightly confused Troy. She took a breath before putting out her hoof (somewhat) confidently to introduce herself. "D-don't listen to her. My name is Citrus Blossom and this is my sister Babs Seed. It's nice to meet you!"

Despite her nervous stance, Troy put out his claw to shake Citrus's hoof. "The feeling's mutual. My name's Troy, and my brother over there is Lyle."

Lyle gave a meager wave to the two with a talon as he stood beside Canvas.

"…And the bag you accidentally took belongs to Canvas there, my fiancé."

Troy gave the stallion a caring smile, who looked up with a blush and a grin back at him. Meanwhile, Citrus and Babs both stared at Troy and Canvas, wide-eyed.

"R-really? A… fiancé?"

"Yep!" Troy said cheerfully when he turned back to Citrus. "We've been engaged for… almost two weeks now?"

Canvas gave an affirmative nod. The two then looked over at Lyle, who shrugged lightly.

"…Huh…" Citrus bit her lip as she looked back at Troy. Not wanting to look too weirded-out, she shook her head clear and tried to look better about it. "Sorry, I… I just didn't expect to hear that."

"Join the club," Lyle said bluntly.

"Wait a minute…"

Hearing the filly speak, all heads turned over to Babs Seed, who was looking at Troy with narrowed eyes. "Do youze two know my cousin Apple Bloom?"

Troy and Canvas's eyes widened in surprise. However, Troy quickly nodded and smiled. "Y-yeah! She… she lives at Sweet Apple Acres near our house!"

"Dat's what I thought…" Babs's smile widened as she continued, pointing a hoof at the two, "She's our cousin, and she mentioned in a couple letters dat a Gryphon was living near her place."

Troy chuckled a little and looked back at his fiancé. "Gee, I wonder if she was talking about us?" Canvas giggled a little.

"She also said somethin' about how you two broke a bed once…"

Troy and Canvas's smiles quickly skewed, their eyes widening in worry. Citrus looked down at her sister with a confused expression while the filly glanced curiously at them.

"She said that youze were puttin' a broken bed frame out by the street for the trash guys ta pick up, and ya told her that you two were jumpin' on the bed or somethin'. Was that right?"

Troy, whose eyes were now shot wide open with shrunken pupils, repeatedly blinked and tried to keep a smile over his mortified face. Recalling the circumstances which had led to him and Canvas now sleeping in a nest, Troy remembered that Apple Bloom came by just as he was throwing out the broken bed frame. While it would be fairly obvious to any other pony what really happened, he was quick to say that to the filly to get her out of his feathers.

"Y-yeah…" Troy's voice came out in a strained whimper. Meanwhile, Canvas was blushing as deeply as Big Macintosh's coat as he looked away from them with an extremely embarrassed look on his face. "We… were jumping on the bed…"

While Troy tried to look innocent, Citrus struggled not to laugh, keeping a hoof over her mouth. Meanwhile, Lyle leaned against a streetlamp, keeping his eyes shut as he tried to keep his snickering as quiet as he could.

Fortunately, before Babs could ask any more about it, a carriage pulled up beside the group. Glimmer Heart shot out of the cab with an aggravated look as soon as she saw Canvas on the sidewalk. "Canvas! Just what the hay are you trying to do?! The gallery starts in half an hour, and you still need to be prepped!"

Looking over at Glimmer, Canvas quickly turned his attention to his art bag and held it up. "There was a bit of a mix up when we left here earlier. I thought I had my art bag on me, but it turned out that Tr—"

Canvas paused, thinking it over before he sighed and corrected himself. "… We accidentally got the wrong bag. I didn't notice it when we were flying over, and it had a lot my things inside. Including your camera."

Canvas pulled the camera out of his bag. He then looked back at Troy and Lyle with a smile. "Luckily, these two helped me out big time with getting it back. And I couldn't be happier for them…"

Seeing Canvas’s grateful smile, both Gryphons gave appreciative grins back towards him.

Even though she wanted to scold him, Glimmer Heart just sighed and glanced at the camera in his hoof. Happy that he didn't lose anything important before the show, she calmed herself down enough to give a more understanding glance at him. "Alright, Canvas. I get it." She pointed at the parked carriage and added, "Now, can you three PLEASE come back to the gallery before it begins?!"

"Oh! Of course.” Canvas was just about to hop into the carriage, but stopped as he looked back to Troy and Lyle. "Wait, we still need to find a jacket for Lyle!"

Glimmer groaned loudly and leaned against the open door of the cab. Noticing her distress, Citrus Blossom put out a hoof to catch their attention. "Don’t worry, I know a thrift shop nearby. Just take him back, and we can find something for these two."

Troy and Lyle looked rather surprised by Citrus's offer, but Glimmer just gave her a relieved smile. "Thank you very much, that would help out a lot." She then grabbed Canvas and tried to push him in the cab. "Now come on, let's go! The meter's running!"

Before Canvas was shoved inside the carriage, Troy ran over to give him a quick kiss on the lips. An instant later, the door was closed, and the carriage galloped off in the direction of the gallery. Standing on the side of the street as he watched the cab disappear into the Manehattan traffic, Troy took a moment before sighing and turning back to his brother and the two ponies.

"So… Where's that thrift shop you were talking about?"

True to her word, Citrus Blossom was quick to get Troy and Lyle over to the clothing shop a couple blocks away. Along the way, the two Gryphons chatted with Citrus and Babs, and were able to quickly debunk any assumptions the mare may have had about Gryphon culture. Of course, when a pony's only experience with Gryphons comes from Daring Do comics, there was quite a bit to clarify.

It only took five minutes for Lyle to find a Pegasus jacket that fitted him surprisingly well, which was a black suit jacket that looked rather nice on him. However, Troy took one glance around the jackets in the store and already knew that none of them would be large enough for his build. So, he reluctantly decided to head back without a jacket of his own, remembering that Canvas said something about having something for him already.

After giving their thanks to the two ponies, Troy and Lyle gave their goodbyes and made their way back to the gallery.

Since they knew they had enough time before the gallery actually began, the two took a leisurely soar above the streets as they admired the Manehattan skyline at dark. Surprisingly enough, the city seemed to be shining brighter at night than it did in the day, as the countless neon signs and lit windows illuminated the city in a strangely enchanting glow. Along the way, Lyle looked over at his brother and decided to ask about something.

"So, Troy…"

Troy looked over at his brother during their flight, noticing his puzzled state.

"Why was Canvas so worried about that bag? I mean, he looked really freaked-out back there!"

Troy sighed and looked back ahead of him. Even though he really didn’t feel like bringing up Canvas's past without him around, he knew that his brother deserved to at least know about that bag. "Well… that's kind of a long story, but…"

Even with the constant barrage of noise surrounding them as they flew through the city, as well as the high winds blowing between them, Lyle was still able to catch what his brother was saying as he spoke in a subdued tone. Luckily enough, not many Pegasus ponies flew past as Troy explained how Canvas got his bag and who gave it to him.

Fortunately, while Troy explained as much as he could in regards to Canvas's mother, Lyle didn’t seem to ask about the stallion's father.

By the time they arrived back at the gallery, two large spotlights had been propped out front to advertise the exhibit being held inside. However, Troy didn't look that brightened, finishing his story while landing. Lyle, not expecting to hear that much, also looked rather disheveled as he landed beside him.

"Damn… seriously?"

"Yeah…" Troy sighed and stretched his back, resting his wings. "I actually visited her grave with him before we went to that Gala… He really loved her…"

A brief exhale through his teeth was all Lyle could muster as he looked away from his brother. While he still thought Canvas acted a bit over-the-top in regards to his bag, finding that out made his reaction seem more understandable. As he straightened out his suit jacket, Lyle readjusted the satchel on his shoulder. "So… Does he have any other family?"

Troy paused, blinking a couple times before he sighed. He slowly shook his head as he thought it over, realizing that his fiancé really didn't have anyone beside his parents before he came out. "N-no… I guess not…"

Before Lyle could say anything else, Troy turned back to him and added sternly, "And I don’t want you to say anything about that to him. Understood?"

Lyle quickly nodded in agreement, already knowing better than to try anything that dumb. "Yeah. Of course."

Before anything else could be said, both Gryphons noticed Canvas as he galloped out of the front doors with a smile on his face. Wearing his blue dress shirt and green necktie, the stallion looked fairly well-presented. And, of course, his art bag was proudly slung around his shoulder as it hung at his side.

"There you guys are!" Canvas trotted with a spring in his step as he ran up to Troy. He was quick to give the Gryphon a kiss on the cheek before noticing Lyle at the corner of his eye. "Wow!" he exclaimed, noticing the jacket Lyle was wearing. "That's a good look on you, dude!"

Lyle just rolled his eyes and looked away, a smirk on his beak. "Yeah, sure."

"I'm serious! You look great, Lyle," Canvas said before he looked back up to Troy with a grin. "Of course, not nearly as handsome as your brother here…"

Troy chuckled a little, his feathers beginning to ruffle out. "You little flirt, you…"

Lyle cringed a little, looking away as soon as he saw the two move their heads in. "Guys, come on!" muttered the Gryphon, hoping their lovey-dovey crap wasn't catching too much attention from ponies on the street. "I'd rather not get vomit on this jacket!"

"Oh, shut up," Troy said as he pulled his head back from Canvas's lips.

"Ooh! That reminds me!" Canvas opened up his art bag and began to rummage through the items inside. "So, Troy… I'm guessing you couldn't find a jacket at that store?"

Troy groaned. "No… Nothing was big enough for me…"

"I kinda figured." Canvas smiled when he found what he was looking for. "I wish I remembered that jacket policy when we came here, which I have to admit was my fault…"

Canvas gave a guilty glance back up to his fiancé, which was only met with an understanding smile. "Hey, don’t worry about it. I didn’t need one for the last gallery we went to, so I wouldn't have thought I needed one for this either,” Troy said.

"But still…" Canvas looked back inside his bag. "I talked with Glimmer Heart about it a while ago, and she agreed that you can wear something else that I happened to have…"

"Wait, what?" Not remembering Canvas packing any of his clothing before they took the train to Manehattan, Troy was fairly confused. "What do you mean? I don't remember you having anyth—"

As soon as Canvas pulled the item from his bag, Troy's eyes widened in shock for a moment before his expression quickly shifted to a bitter scowl. "NO!" Troy looked away from him. "I am NOT wearing that!"

Lyle took a glance at what Canvas was holding before pointing at it with a talon. "BWAAAA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!"

"Troy, come on!" Canvas pleaded, staring at his unwilling fiancé. "It's only for one night!"

"But… but…" Troy, who was starting to look like a stubborn child, tried to pout through his beak as he looked back over at Canvas. "But I don’t wanna wear the Pony Tones sweater!"

Lyle was barely able to keep himself standing upright, clenching his eyes shut as he tried to breathe through strained laughs. "Oh man… I… I gotta get that camera!"

"You better not!" Troy snapped, turning back to his brother with a nasty glare.

"Troy," began Canvas in a stern tone of voice, "I know you don’t want to wear it, and I'm sorry, but I don’t see any other alternative. I tried talking with Glimmer Heart, and she said there was nothing she could do aside from this."

Troy sighed and looked back to him. Knowing how much that mare had helped them out already, he knew that she couldn't have said something like that without good reason.

"Besides…” Taking a second to look over at Lyle, who was currently trying to breathe normally at the thought of his brother in that sweater, Canvas quickly put his muzzle up to Troy's ear and whispered discreetly, "Given some of the outfits I've worn for you, I think it's only fair that you do this."

"UGH!" Lyle may have been a bit distracted, but he still heard Canvas's comment clearly enough to stop laughing. "Too much information!"

Canvas's blush deepened as he realized what Lyle had heard him say. Troy just grumbled under his breath before snatching the sweater from his hoof. "Oh, fine!" Troy muttered, "I'll… I'll wear the stupid thing…"

Despite still looking embarrassed about his flub, Canvas gave a small smile up to Troy before nuzzling his feathered neck. "Thanks."

Troy may have been upset about this, but he was still forgiving enough to quickly nuzzle him back. "No problem."

Troy then headed to the main doors of the Gallery with the sweater hung over his back, hoping to find a restroom inside where he could put it on. Meanwhile, Canvas meagerly turned back to Lyle, who was giving him a deadpan stare.

"Ehhh… heh heh heh…" Canvas’s blush stayed deep as he tried to avoid Lyle's gaze. "I... I'm sorry…"

Lyle just rolled his eyes before walking past him. "Whatever, dude."

Before he could disappear past the doors of the gallery, Canvas saw Lyle shudder as he walked through the doorway. Biting his lip in guilt, the stallion exhaled deeply and looked around in contemplation.

"Man… How do I keep forgetting how good a Gryphon's senses are?"

Chapter Fifteen: Exhibit Escapades

Chapter Fifteen: Exhibit Escapades

Despite the rushed introduction with the fellow judges, Canvas felt more than prepared to give his artistic critiques as the art gallery began. While it certainly felt weird to be reviewing artwork instead of displaying his own, he had to admit that it was a pleasant change. After all the strenuous nights he had spent in front of blank pieces, the stallion figured that this would be an enjoyable change for him.

Of course, when Canvas got acquainted with the other judges, as well as all the artists, it was clear that some things hadn't changed much. Much like the last art show he attended back in Canterlot, Canvas was slightly disappointed to see that he was one of the only Earth ponies present. While he figured that would be the case, he really would've liked to see at least one other Earth pony there. Instead, the only Earth ponies here besides him were just spectators, glancing at the works of unicorns like they were accomplishments that they couldn’t hope to achieve.

Canvas sighed as he looked around, knowing that he shouldn't be cynical. If anything, the fact that he was here should have been enough of an indicator that Earth ponies could gain a bigger presence in art in the future. With his biggest accomplishment sitting proudly in Canterlot Castle, the stallion knew that, in due time, other Earth ponies could very well be inspired to try painting. So, instead of thinking negatively, Canvas decided to focus on something more positive, starting with his fiancé.

As soon as he broke away from the sea of high-class ponies in the main room, it wasn't long before Canvas heard the two Gryphons bickering from the restrooms.

"Lyle! Quit taking pictures of me, you turd!"

"Hey, I gotta have proof that you're wearing something that stupid!"

"Lyle, I friggin' swear, if you don't put down that camera RIGHT NOW—"

Before Troy and Lyle's argument could escalate to something inappropriate for an art exhibit, Canvas turned the corner to find the two standing outside the men’s room. While Lyle held Glimmer Heart's camera in his claws, a huge grin on his beak, Troy looked like he was about to mutilate him.

Since Troy was wearing the green Pony Tones sweater vest, along with a matching blue and yellow bow tie, the sight of the Gryphon fuming was enough to make Canvas laugh.

"Oh, wow!" Canvas leaned against the wall and clenched his eyes shut, barely able to keep himself upright. "Troy! You… you look…"

"I know!" Troy grumbled, avoiding eye contact with Canvas and Lyle and crossing his forelegs bitterly. "I look like a total dweeb."

"Oh, no you don't…" After settling down enough to speak, Canvas was quick to trot over and give his fiancé a reassuring hug. "Troy, you look really cute. I'm being serious."

A muffled snicker could be heard from Lyle, which Canvas ignored as he nuzzled Troy lovingly.

"I'm sorry that you have to wear that, and I wish you didn't have to, but…" Canvas looked up into the disgruntled Gryphon's golden eyes and added with a smile, "It really does look good on you. You just gotta stop looking so grumpy in it, that's all."

Another low groan escaped Troy, who felt like that sort of request would be impossible in his dorky attire. However, despite feeling like a complete doofus, Troy decided not to say much against wearing the sweater for one night. Plus, after almost losing Canvas's prized art bag, he figured that this would make up for it.

After a deep sigh, Troy softened his expression as he looked over at him. "Oh… fine…"

With a satisfied smile, Canvas gave his fiancé a tender kiss on the beak. Just when Troy closed his eyes to kiss him back, a flash of light interrupted them as Lyle took another picture.

"DAMMIT, LYLE!" Troy yelled.

Lyle scurried away, cackling as he ran out of sight. Growling through his clenched teeth, Troy felt Canvas pull him back.

"Come on, Troy," said the stallion in a more stern tone, staring him down. "Stop getting so worked up about it. It's just a few pictures."

"But Canvas! I don—"

Canvas put a hoof up to Troy's beak, waiting until he stopped speaking to reply, "If Lyle was the one wearing that sweater, you would probably be taking pictures of him, wouldn’t you?"

Troy wanted to reply, but wasn't able to open his beak to do so. Despite wanting to say otherwise, he knew that he couldn't lie to his stallion. Heck, if Lyle was the one wearing this stupid thing, it would take a while before he'd let him live it down.Though he hated Lyle taking those photos, he supposed that Canvas had a fair point.

Seeing Troy slump back down, Canvas gave him a quick nuzzle before motioning him to come along. "Come on," he said, leading the way back to the main room of the gallery, "I still gotta judge those pieces, you know."

A low groan escaped Troy's beak. "Oh, come on! I can’t be seen out there in this!"

"You'll be fine, Troy!" Canvas looked at the Gryphon insistently as he tried to calm his nerves. "There are a lot of ponies out there in sweater vests and bow ties. You'd fit right in."

"Uh-huh." Troy's words came out in a low, bitter tone as he looked away and said sarcastically, "Sure, I'd totally blend in. Maybe you'd lose sight of me because I'd look so much like the ponies around here."

Canvas furrowed his brow as he sighed "Alright, Mister Cynical. You made your point." Canvas made sure the coast was clear before looking back up to him sensually. "How about this…"

Canvas lifted himself up onto his hind legs, leaning against Troy so his muzzle met up with his ear. "If you can stop acting so uptight about the outfit tonight, then when we get back to our hotel room, I'll…"

Canvas bent in close to Troy's ear, speaking as faintly and lustfully as he could. While the stallion stated what intended to do with him when the night was over, Troy's wings extended as he stood there, wide-eyed. By the time Canvas pulled his muzzle back, a sensual grin on his face, Troy had an extremely heavy blush and a huge smile on his beak.

"So?" Canvas asked as he stepped away, "Will you be good for me tonight?"

"Yep!" Troy smiled eagerly. After the very, very detailed description Canvas went into regarding their plans for later tonight, Troy leaned close to him, narrowed his eyes, and said in a devilish tone, "And you better be good for me when we get back to our room."

"Deal," Canvas said with a smirk before kissing him on the beak. With that, the two walked side-by-side back to the main room of the art exhibition, smiles on their faces.

"So…" Furrowing his brow, the dark-grey unicorn stared at the abstract piece on the wall. "What's your opinion on this, Mister Canvas? What sort of message does this painting say to you?"

Canvas, also narrowing his eyes on the painting, pouted his lips out a bit and tried to think of what to say. All that Canvas was able to see was a large, blue background for a massive array of orange and yellow splatters. While he honestly thought the piece was rather nice, almost looking like an impressive fireworks display, he knew that the fellow judge was wanting to hear something more professional. After a moment of contemplation, Canvas cleared his throat.

"Well, it's difficult to give a straight answer in regards to pieces like this one, Mister Hoofington. When it comes to abstract art, one of the largest appeals is that everypony sees it differently. There isn't a single pony who will give the same answer as somepony else."

Hoofington raised his eyebrows, seeming impressed by his answer. "I suppose so," he replied, using a hoof to brush back some of his jet-black mane. "It's always just so tedious to make a proper judgment for paintings of this caliber. You can never tell whether a pony really had a proper idea when making them, or if they just threw some paint around and called it complete."

Hearing that rather blunt reply, Canvas winced a little as he looked over at the painting’s artist. The pony, a light-red unicorn mare with a silver mane, bit her bottom lip in contempt and looked away from them. Knowing how hurtful it could be to hear criticism like that, Canvas looked back at Hoofington.

"Honestly, I find abstract pieces to be the most difficult paintings to make. Since they're supposed to be the primal expression of the artist, it's almost impossible to tell when a painting is truly done. You could work on one for months at a time, and still feel like it isn't fully detailed enough if it doesn't fit your artistic vision."

With a smile growing on his face, Canvas looked back over at the artist as he continued, "It's easy to tell that a lot of effort went into this. I find it to be quite impressive."

The mare began to blush a little as she smiled at Canvas, looking quite honored to receive that sort of praise. Hoofington merely gave a light shrug after a brief moment of silence. "Well… I guess you have a point there."

Before much else could be said, Hoofington walked away to inspect some of the other paintings. Canvas, happy to feel like he was making an impact on these judges, looked back at the artist.

She gave him an endearing smile. "Thanks, Mister Canvas."

Canvas chuckled lightly. "It's alright. I know what it's like to be in your position." He put out a hoof out to her. "And please, I'd rather just be called Canvas. And you are?"

The unicorn shook his hoof enthusiastically. "It's Silver Linings. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"It's okay," Canvas said sincerely, "the pleasure is all mine."

By the time the first hour of the gallery passed, Canvas managed to have pleasant conversations with all six artists who were part of the show. While all the other judges merely talked amongst themselves, barely paying much attention to the artists, Canvas made sure to chat with all of them and make them feel appreciated for their work. Since he knew how nerve-racking galleries like this could be from experience, he wanted to make sure that none of the artists felt overwhelmed or nervous about tonight.

Meanwhile, Troy began to grow more bored with each passing second as he lumbered around the gallery on his own. Since he had no idea where Lyle was (although he could've sworn he heard that friggin' camera go off a few more times), there was nothing much for him to do but look around the exhibit. However, after looking at every painting on the walls, getting a few drinks from the open bar, and trying to avoid the various inane questions asked by some of the more curious ponies around him (including a particularly creepy brown unicorn with thick glasses and sweater vest), Troy was already feeling pretty worn out by the time the first hour passed. Luckily, before he could become bored out of his skull, he was happy to see Canvas standing alone by one of the windows.

Canvas didn't notice his fiancé coming towards him as he looked through the notebook in his hooves. Flipping through the various notes he took on each artist's works, the stallion was starting to look uneasy before he felt Troy poke him with a talon. Canvas jolted in surprise for a second, but quickly smiled when he saw Troy grin back at him.

"So…" Troy leaned against the wall beside Canvas and tried to peer down at his notes. "What's going on?"

Canvas closed his eyes and sighed uncomfortably. "I dunno… It just feels so weird doing this sort of thing."

"Doing what?" Troy looked closer at the notebook. "You mean judging?"

"Yeah…" After another moment, Canvas closed his notebook before leaning back alongside his fiancé. "I mean… Who am I to judge somepony else's work? Why should I be the one to determine which pony is better than the others?"

"Well, just keep it simple, then." Troy kept an optimistic smirk on his beak as he looked around the gallery. "Which one do you think is best?"

"I don’t know!" Canvas groaned in frustration, rubbing his temple with a hoof. "I mean, they're all really good in their own way. And I just know that it's going to suck to say that one of these ponies was the worst, since I really like all of them."

"Well…" Troy shrugged. "It's not like they say which one is last place, do they? Don’t they just say who the winner and runner-up are?"

"Yeah, but…" Canvas looked back down at his notebook, taking a second as he thought it over. "I just really don't want to make anypony feel bad, that's all."

While Canvas slumped down in discomfort, Troy just gave a light smile before bending in to nuzzle him. "You shouldn't feel bad," he assured, brushing his feathers against Canvas's blushing face. "It's only for one night, Canvas. And I saw how much you've been talking with all of them. They probably really appreciate having an artist like you speak with them, regardless of whether or not they win."

Troy’s words, combined with his caring nuzzle, were more than enough to make Canvas slowly start smiling again. Before Troy could pull his head back, the stallion gave a small nuzzle back to him.

"Tell you what." Troy looked down at Canvas with a smile. "How about I get you a soda or something? You think that will help?"

Canvas gave him a happy nod in agreement. "That would be nice. Thanks."

"No prob." Troy headed off, leaving Canvas to stand by his own once more.

After a moment, Canvas decided to place his notebook back inside of his art bag, hoping to get it out of his mind for a while as he thought things over. When he brought his head back up, a particular sight caught the stallion's eyes. He looked around for a moment before walking away from the wall.

Meanwhile, Troy reached the refreshment table, desperately trying to avoid the countless stares he knew he was getting right now. Although he promised he wouldn't act too sullen tonight for his stallion, the fact that he had to dress up like this was more than a bit cringe-worthy. Before he could think any more about the ridiculous sweater he was wearing, a mare’s posh voice caught his attention.

"Troy? Is that you?"

With two bottles of soda in one of his claws, Troy turned around. He smiled as he saw Octavia, who had a pleasantly surprised grin of her own as she walked up to him.

Much like the last time they met back in Canterlot, the mare had a pink bowtie around her neck. She also wore a matching cocktail dress, which looked rather stunning on her. And her jet-black mane, which he had last seen pulled down elegantly, was now bound in a stylish bun at the back of her head.

"I thought you looked familiar." Octavia smirked as she looked the Gryphon up and down. Seeing his outfit, the mare tried to suppress any giggles from escaping. "Although… This is a bit of a surprise."

Troy groaned and tried to look away from her. "Hey, Octavia. I… I didn't really have anything else to wear for this."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Octavia said with a wave of her hoof. "Honestly, it doesn't look that bad on you. The yellow inseams really seem to go well with your beak and claws."

Troy looked down at his sweater, noticing how the yellow seams along the v-neck and sleeves did seem to match his talons.

"And after meeting your partner last time,” Octavia said, smiling, "it seems that teal really goes well with you."

Even though his sweater was a tad darker than Canvas's coat, Troy had to admit that they did look a bit similar. When he looked back up to her with an appreciative smile, he saw her smile skew a little as she tried not to snicker again. "The bowtie might be a bit much, though."

Troy pulled back a little in surprise. He grinned cheekily and pointed a talon at her neck. "Says you!"

Octavia giggled lightly, adjusting the tie around her neck. "Hey, at least mine matches my outfit! Besides…" The mare looked down at the pink bowtie, marveling at it for a second before adding, "It's… it's rather sentimental to me…"

Troy sighed and looked back around the gallery. "I can understand that," he said, trying to spot Canvas within the crowd. "My fiancé's art bag is really important to him, so I can get how somepony can…"

When Troy looked back at Octavia, his voice began to falter when he saw how surprised the mare's reaction was. Wide-eyed, the mare blinked a couple times before slowly reopening her muzzle. "Your… fiancé?"

"Y-yeah…" Realizing that he met her before he proposed to Canvas that night, Troy rubbed the feathers on the back of his neck as he tried to explain. "I… I actually proposed to him during the Gala."

"Really?" Octavia smiled at hearing Troy's good news. "That's great to hear! Congratulations, Troy!"

"Well, thank you," Troy said bashfully, beginning to blush. "Actually, I was planning to do it at the Concert Hall, but… you know…"

Octavia put a hoof over her mouth, remembering how she had accidentally interrupted them. "Oh, I…I'm so sorry about that! I… I didn't—"

"It's alright," Troy assured, raising a claw. "Seriously, it turned out WAY better than if I did it there."

"Oh?" Octavia put her hoof back down and looked at him inquisitively. "How did you do it?"

With a growing, prideful grin on his beak, Troy cleared his throat before he began. "Actually, it was a pretty cool story. I knew that Celestia was planning something big for the end of the Gala, so I wanted to get a place with a good view. That was when I saw the podium that she uses to raise the sun…"

While Troy went into detail with Octavia about his proposal to Canvas, the stallion kept a smile on his face as he reached one of the benches in an off-part of the main room. Sitting by himself against the wall, Lyle didn’t notice Canvas coming towards him. Instead, he focused on his sketchbook in his claws.

While Lyle drew his latest sketch, Canvas noticed a large serving tray of shrimp next to him on the bench, which was now half-empty. Using the pencil in his claw, Lyle stabbed himself another helping of shrimp on it like a fork before popping it into his beak.

"Huh…" Lyle casually looked up at Canvas as the stallion said with a smirk, "I gotta say, I never thought to use a pencil like that."

Lyle just shrugged before refocusing his attention back on his sketchbook. "Well, why not? I'm hungry, and I don't want to get my talons greasy."

"I suppose…" Canvas glanced at the platter of shrimp next to Lyle, slightly surprised that they had it at this venue. While he knew that some select seafood items were seen as acceptable Equestrian cuisine, shrimp usually wasn't eaten by anypony except the highest-class due to how expensive it was.

"How the heck did you get a whole platter of that, by the way?" Canvas looked at Lyle with a skewed brow. "Did you steal it or something?"

"Nope," said Lyle nonchalantly, keeping his eyes on his sketch. He took another shrimp off the platter with his pencil before continuing, "Apparently, the waiter was getting pissed that I was taking so many, so he just said 'Take it' and left the platter."

Canvas snickered a little at Lyle's response. Lyle grinned as he looked up and put the shrimp out to him. "Want one? They're actually pretty good."

"Eh, I'll pass," Canvas said. "I don't really feel comfortable trying seafood."

After holding out for another couple seconds, Lyle shrugged before popping more shrimp into his beak. "Suit yourself." He chewed as he went back to his sketch.

Canvas, now growing curious at what he was drawing, tried to get a peek. "So, what are you drawing?" he asked, skewing his neck in to catch a glimpse of Lyle's sketch.

Lyle looked around them first, making sure nopony was nearby before turning the sketch over to Canvas. Canvas's eyes widened in surprise at what was on the page.

The sketch showed an image of Troy with an enraged look on his face grabbing that camera-thieving pony from earlier by the hooves as he slammed him to the ground. While Canvas remembered that the would-be robber wasn't that hurt, aside from a black eye (and an extremely shaken demeanor), Lyle made a slightly more graphic interpretation of the encounter. Now, it showed a generous splatter of what looked to be blood shooting out of the pony's mouth as he was slammed to the concrete ground (which seemed to have cracked from the extreme impact), a few teeth flying out from his muzzle as well.

"Eugh…" Canvas grimaced a little, but quickly changed his expression to a more bemused stare as he looked closer. "Wow, that… That's disturbingly well-detailed."

"Thanks." Lyle smiled before bringing the sketchbook back in his own line of sight. "I was getting bored, so I thought it would be a fun thing to draw while waiting around here."

"Huh…" Slightly baffled, Canvas could hardly believe that Lyle was able to draw something that impressive in less than a day, let alone in the time since this gallery began. "Wait a minute, did you seriously do that in less than an hour?!"

"Wait, what?" Lyle looked up to a clock on the wall, seeing that an hour had indeed passed. "Wow… I didn't think I was drawing for that long."

Canvas's eyes widened even more as he now looked legitimately shocked. "Dude! Are you saying that you make stuff like that in LESS time?!"

Lyle just shrugged before getting another shrimp with his pencil. "I guess so… I can usually get a good sketch down in like, thirty minutes… forty if it's something really detailed."

Canvas blinked a couple times, trying to process what Lyle was saying. Although he knew Lyle had a surprisingly large amount of talent when it came to drawing, he didn’t expect him to make something that detailed in such a short amount of time. He was even more surprised by how indifferent he was acting about it.

"Lyle, that's incredible! I mean… I don’t think I can draw something that nice in under an hour!"

"Seriously?" Lyle asked with surprise, looking back up at him.

"Yes! Dude, how could you act like that's not a big deal?! You can probably get a good job with your skills like that."

Lyle rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Yeah right. They're just doodles."

"JUST dood—" Before he could raise his voice loud enough to cause a scene, Canvas stopped himself. Finding it hard to believe that Lyle would put down his own art like that, the stallion took a breath before speaking in a more secure tone of voice.

"Lyle, you are aware I'm here to judge art, right? I've made paintings for Royalty for crying out loud, so I think I know what I'm talking about! Dude…"

Canvas bent his head in closer to Lyle's, making the Gryphon look straight at him as he said sincerely, "You are a really good artist. And I'm not just saying that because you're Troy's brother or anything. You have a legitimately good talent! You… you shouldn't act like it's nothing, Lyle."

Seeing the stallion's insistent look, Lyle was finding it hard to believe that he was being dishonest or exaggerating his claims. However, despite Canvas's encouraging words, he took another glance down at his sketch, skewing his beak as he saw what he had made.

They're just doodles… Stupid, worthless doodles…

Lyle sighed a little before closing his sketchbook, not wanting to look at his drawing right now. Canvas almost wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake some sense into him. Biting his lip in self-contained anger, the stallion looked around for Troy.

"Okay, you know what?" Canvas said in a stern tone, "I'm getting Troy. You really shouldn't act like this about something you're good at!" His eyes narrowed as he tried to look around, but wasn't able to catch sight of his fiancé. "Urgh! Where is he?!"

"By the refreshment table.” Lyle leaned back in his seat and helped himself to more shrimp. "I think he's talking about how he proposed or something."

Canvas's brow rose in surprise as he looked over to the table. Sure enough, Troy was standing there as he spoke with Octavia. Canvas could only see his beak moving, unable to catch a single word amongst the sea of other ponies chatting amongst themselves.

"How can you…" Canvas wanted to ask how the buck Lyle knew that, but stopped himself as he remembered what had happened earlier tonight. Recalling how good Gryphon hearing can be, he sighed before looking back at Lyle. "Never mind. Thanks, Lyle."

"No prob," said Lyle with a wave of his claw while chewing a beakful of shrimp.

Before Canvas could head off towards his fiancé, he stopped for a second. Remembering what happened just before the gallery, Canvas winced a little before looking back at Lyle. "Umm... Lyle? I'm… I'm sorry you overheard that thing I said earlier—"

"Egh…" Lyle looked away from him and tried not to grimace. "Whatever, dude."

Unsure of what else he could say, Canvas just sighed before heading off towards Troy.

Blushing deeply against his silver feathers, Troy kept a smile on his beak as he finished his story. As he was telling about his engagement, a few other mares overheard what he was saying and stood beside Octavia as they listened as well.

"… And the Aurora Borealis just made everything look so perfect. I just… I couldn't have picked a better place to ask him. And when he said yes… it just made everything feel worth it."

Just as Octavia and the other mares "Awwwed" at Troy's retelling of his proposal, Canvas managed to make his way through the crowd. At the sight of the very stallion he was talking about, Troy's smile grew even wider.

"Hey, Canvas!" said Troy cheerfully, not noticing how the pony still looked a bit irked after his interaction with Lyle. He pointed a talon at the mare beside him. "I was just talking with Octavia here about the proposal."

Canvas wanted to speak with his fiancé right now, but paused as he looked over at Octavia and the other delighted mares staring back at him. Seeing how happy they looked after hearing Troy's story, Canvas sighed before putting up a reluctant smile to them in response. "Um… hello."

Octavia nodded and smiled. "Hello, Canvas. Congratulations, by the way."

"Oh, thank you, Octavia," Canvas said with a more natural smile of his own. Even with Lyle's attitude hanging at the back of his mind, the stallion was still happy enough to appreciate her honest sentiment. After nodding back to her, Canvas turned his attention to Troy.

"Hey Troy, would you mind talking with Lyle? He's over at the back of the room over there."

Even though Canvas couldn't see Lyle through the crowd of ponies between them, Troy was able to catch a glimpse above the shuffling ponies due to his height. He noticed Lyle sitting alone at the bench, finishing off the platter of shrimp while flipping through his sketchbook with a slight grimace on his beak.

"He's really acting weird about his drawings, and it might be good if you try to cheer him up or something." Canvas bit his lip as he looked up to Troy, hoping that his fiancé would see how much this was starting to worry him.

Luckily, Troy carried an understanding expression of his own as he looked back down to the stallion and nodded. "Alright, sure thing. I'll talk with him."

"Thanks." Canvas smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. While Octavia and the other mares blushed and giggled lightly at the stallion's affection, none of them seemed to notice Glimmer Heart as she shuffled past them towards Canvas.

"Canvas, there you are! The judges are about to converse for collaboration! Come on!"

"Oh!" Canvas quickly pulled out the notebook from his bag. "Alright, I got my notes!"

Before he could follow Glimmer Heart, Canvas gave his fiancé another kiss on the beak. "Okay, I gotta go," said the stallion before he quickly trotted away.

"Wait!" Troy held up the sodas in his claw. "Canvas, I got your so…"

Unfortunately, Canvas was already out of sight, leaving the Gryphon to sigh and slump his shoulders in frustration. "…da."

Even though he hated that he wasn't able to give Canvas his drink, Troy just shrugged before looking back to where Lyle was. He glanced over at Octavia as he prepared to leave. "Listen, I gotta go talk to my brother right now." He smiled lightly as he shook her hoof and added, "But it was nice to see you again."

"Likewise," said Octavia with a grin of her own before putting her hoof back down, "and I hope to see you at that audition I told you about back at the Gala."

"Don’t worry, I'll be there." Troy began to turn away, keeping his smile as he carefully made his way through the crowds of high-class ponies. "See ya!"

Lyle sighed under his breath as he unenthuastically chewed on the last shrimp from the platter and scanned through his sketches again. Looking through his works, Lyle was surprised at how much praise Canvas gave him for some of these.

While he knew he was a decent artist in some regards, especially compared to some of the idiots back at his school, he really didn't see his stuff as being anything special. With every page he looked through, seeing what he managed to create between classes or whenever he had free time, all that Lyle could think about were those stupid words that kept going through his head.

Stupid doodles… Stupid, worthless doodles…

Lyle groaned before closing his sketchbook again. Before he could think any more about it, he noticed Troy making his way through the crowds. Even though he still felt a little unnerved right now, Lyle still cracked a smirk as soon as he saw that stupid sweater his brother was wearing.

"Hey, Lyle!" Troy tossed a bottle of orange soda towards his brother, which Lyle caught effortlessly. While Lyle got off the bench and stretched out his back, Troy popped the cap off his own bottle with a talon. "You feelin alright, bro? Canvas said you were acting a bit off or something."

"It's nothing, really." Lyle rolled his eyes as he put a talon to the cap of his bottle. "He was saying that one of my drawings was really good, even though I bare—"

PSHHHHHH!!!

The moment Lyle popped off the cap, a violent spray of orange soda and fizz shot out from the top. Caught off-guard by the unexpected spew of carbonation, it took a second before Lyle could try to cover the top with a claw. Surprisingly enough, the spray didn’t seem to hit his jacket or Troy's sweater at all. Though he had it pointed away from them when it went off, that didn't mean that no one got sprayed.

"How DARE you!!!"

Troy and Lyle turned over to the source of the enraged voice, which belonged to a pale pink mare with a now-matted purple mane. While ponies around them turned and stared with a mix of surprise and shock, the mare looked absolutely furious with mascara running down her soaked face. Even though her expensive-looking purple dress didn’t seem to be damaged at all from Lyle's mishap, her plaid, blue scarf was noticeably dampened.

"I… I cannot BELIEVE this!" The mare gasped in horror as he looked down at herself, almost acting like she was covered in sulfuric acid instead of some sugary beverage. "I have NEVER been so insulted in all of my life!!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Lyle put his claws up in defense and tried to calm the soaked mare down. "Lady, I'm sorry! It was an accident, alright? I'll get you a—"

"Do you have ANY idea how much this costs?!" The mare glared at Lyle as she held up the soaked scarf in her hoof and shoved it in his face. "This is Saddle Arabian SILK!! This costs more than what you could make in a decade!"

Lyle tried to keep a sorry look on his face, but it quickly turned to an offended scowl the instant the mare said that to him with such conceit. Troy tried to step in between them. "Listen, it was just an accident! Just calm down an—"

"SHUT IT!" The mare pointed a hoof Troy with a nasty glare. More ponies began to turn and stare as her tone became louder and more disdainful. "Do you even know who you're speaking to, Gryphon?!" She made sure to say that last word in an especially nasty tone, almost as if she considered it a swear. "I'm one of the most prominent designers in Manehattan, so don't you think you can—"

"Alright, alright!" Glimmer Heart stormed her way through the crowd towards them. Canvas was following close behind, looking worried as he saw Troy and Lyle at the source of the debacle.

"Oh, thank goodness you arrived! My name is Suri Polomare." Despite her enraged tone just moments before, the mare now spoke in a distressed tone towards a confused Glimmer Heart. She glared at the two Gryphons and pointed at them. "Madam, I was just minding my own business when these two ingrates attacked me!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Lyle tried to lunge towards the lying mare, but Troy pulled him back with a claw. Troy still had an enraged look on his own face at what Suri just said.

"It was a bucking accident!" Lyle pointed a talon at her. "I never even touched you!"

"Then how do you explain THIS?!" Suri held up the soaked scarf, acting like it was the ultimate proof as she pointed it at them. "Do you really think you can get away with acting that way towards me without any SEVERE repro—"

"Okay, calm down!" Glimmer Heart stepped in between them and tried to extinguish the heating debate. She looked over to the mare and said in a calm tone of voice, "Suri, I'm sure that this was just an accident, and I don’t think either of them would plan something like that against you."

"I want them removed!" Suri pointed at them with a glare. "Unless those two Gryphons apologize, then they shouldn't even set their dirty paws in here!"

"WHAT?!" Lyle tried even harder to lunge at Suri, despite Troy's tightened grip. "You better shut your bucking mouth!"

"And we have NAMES!" Troy added in an equally angry tone. "Stop talking about us like we're friggin' animals!"

Suri just scoffed, looking the larger Gryphon up and down before saying in an arrogant tone, "Oh really, Mister Bowtie? It isn’t hard to see that you're dressed up like some little showdog."

Troy's eyes widened in pure fury, looking like he was going to slaughter the pompous mare in front of everyone. While Glimmer prelit her horn in worried precaution, she didn’t notice Canvas's growing look of anger. A snide sneer on her muzzle, Suri looked at both Gryphons with narrowing eyes.

"Honestly, it's hard to see how you could be here without wearing leashes."

"YOU LITTLE—”

Before either of them could attack the mare, the Gryphons froze in surprise as they saw Canvas lunge towards her.

With several shocked gasps from the crowd of ponies around them, nopony expected Canvas to grip Suri's dress by the neck and pull her towards his face. While she stood there, petrified with pure fear, Canvas had a livid glare, his eyes mere inches from hers.

"Get out before I throw you out."

Glimmer stared at Canvas with a dropped jaw, never expecting for him to act this way towards a mare. "Canvas?! What are you—"

"HOW DARE YOU!" Suri pulled herself from Canvas's grip, taking a few steps back while glaring at him. "Do you have any idea who I am?!"

"Yes, I do," Canvas said coldly, staring her down without blinking. "You're Suri Polomare, the Manehattan fashion designer and entrepreneur formally from Ponyville, correct?"

Suri blinked a couple times. She took a second before nodding and trying to regain her angry tone. "Um… Yes. That's correct!"

Canvas narrowed his eyes. "You've also been known to steal designs from other ponies to pass off as your own, including at the recent Manehattan Fashion Week that you lost. Right?"

Suri's jaw fell agape. "W-what?!"

"Don’t try to lie to me," Canvas continued in a stern tone of voice, not noticing how stunned Troy and Lyle looked. "I happen to be close friends with one of the very ponies you tried to rip off, so I know all about your 'reputation,’ and how dishonest you can really be."

He then looked back at Troy and Lyle for a second, giving them a quick nod and smile before turning back to her.

"And I also happen to know my fiancé and future brother-in-law well enough to know that they didn't 'assault' you, like you so claimed they did." Canvas pointed a hoof at her chest before adding, "And if you don't apologize to them right now, I won't have any problem with escorting you out of here myself!"

The room fell silent. While everyone just stared in shock and awe at Canvas's defiance, Suri stared at him, wide-eyed. However, after looking the stallion up and down and looking back at Troy and Lyle, the mare scoffed before giving a conceited smirk.

"A fiancé? Really? Is that supposed to be some sort of pathetic joke?"

Canvas just smirked back. "Nope. That would be your career."

Suri gasped, looking absolutely shocked, while Lyle covered his beak to keep himself from laughing. Before anypony could react, Suri's expression quickly turned angry before she threw her hoof out, popping the stallion right in the face.

Canvas only stumbled back a couple steps from her punch, covering his eye with a hoof while Glimmer lit her horn.

"THAT'S IT!" Glimmer Heart grabbed Suri with her magic and lifted her up to carry her out of the gallery. While the mare struggled midair within the pink aura enveloping her, Glimmer looked back to Canvas and the two Gryphons with an angry look on her face.

"You three come with me too!"

Troy, who was checking on his fiancé, carried the same worried expression Lyle did after hearing that.

Canvas kept a slow and steady pace as he made his way back to the hotel, keeping his eyes glued to the ground underneath his hooves. Honestly, he wasn't that sure which part of him hurt more right now: his right eye, or his pride after Glimmer Heart's stern lecture. Either way, as soon as he entered the hotel lobby, all of his worries seemed to vanish the instant he saw Troy waiting by the front desk.

As soon as he saw Canvas enter, Troy rushed up to him, still wearing the Pony Tones sweater as he hugged him tightly.

"Canvas, are you alright?" While Canvas hugged him back, Troy could only sigh. "Man, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," said Canvas in a reassuring tone, hugging him for another moment before finally letting go. "I'm fine, really. It doesn’t even hurt that much."

Troy winced a little when he saw the nasty bruise right under Canvas's right eye. While he knew it wasn't nearly the worst injury he ever saw the stallion endure, it was still horrible to see him hurt like that. However, Canvas still kept a light smile on his muzzle as he looked up to him.

"I was honestly more worried if you two were alright! Where's Lyle?"

Troy sighed before rubbing the feathers on the back of his head. "He's upstairs in the room. After you were sent to see the paramedics, Glimmer just told us to go back to the hotel before leaving."

Hearing that, Canvas could only nod, grateful that neither of them got an earful because of what Suri did. After rubbing his eye a little to ease the light stinging, Canvas looked back up to his fiancé with an optimistic look on his face.

"Well, Suri's screwed, and not in the super fun kind of way."

Troy managed to crack a small smile. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah..." Canvas shook his head in slight disbelief. "Since she committed assault, and apparently had priors before the gallery, it might be a while before she could go to any big events again. And since a lot of ponies who were there know who she is, I wouldn't be surprised if she gets blacklisted from a lot of places."

Troy could only chuckle as he kept a bemused smirk of his own. "Well, I guess that's good. But…" Troy slowly regrew a worried look on his face as he looked at Canvas. "But what about you? I doubt Glimmer just let you go after all you said back there."

Canvas sighed, looking down to the floor. "No… She gave me a bit of an earful for how I acted towards Suri in front of everypony."

Troy shrugged, knowing that it was probably expected.

"But…" Canvas looked back up to the Gryphon. "Since Suri has had problems with ponies before, Glimmer wasn't that upset with how I acted, especially since she heard what she said about you and Lyle."

Troy groaned and grimaced slightly. Honestly, he was still surprised he didn’t break his personal code and punch that mare in the face after her little “leash” comment.

"And since it was her who acted physically and caused the end of the gallery to be postponed, I'm still allowed to finish the judging process for the show tomorrow."

"Really?" Troy grew a smile on his beak. "That's great!"

"Yeah," Canvas explained, "I mean, I'm barred from judging at any more events like that in the future, but whatever. I was only meant to judge for tonight anyway. And I'm still able to go to events as a participant."

Troy nodded and kept his smile, happy to see his fiancé wasn't too upset. "Well, that's good. At least you can still paint and stuff, right?"

"Of course!" Canvas kept a chipper tone as his smile grew. "Besides, I still have a bunch of clients for future commissions, so I'm not worried."

"Good…" Before Canvas could react, Troy gave the stallion a soothing kiss on the lips. Though he was slightly surprised and worried since they were still in the middle of the lobby, Canvas only giggled before kissing him back.

"Come on," Canvas said, eying Troy as he headed towards the elevator. "Let's go to our room."

Troy immediately complied, following his fiancé inside the empty elevator. As soon as the doors closed behind them, the stallion quickly wrapped his hooves around Troy's shoulders before speaking in a more sultry tone.

"Just so you know, I heard that this place has an indoor pool, which happens to be open twenty-four hours."

"Oh really?" Troy's eyes narrowed as his grin became more lustful. "What idea are you getting?"

"Well…" Canvas leaned in close to him, narrowing his eyes before saying in a deeper tone, "I'm thinking that maybe Lyle can go down for a little swim, meanwhile…"

Canvas bent his muzzle in against Troy's ear and discretely began to remind him of all the things he said intended to do with him earlier tonight. Once again, Troy's wings shot back out, smacking against the walls of the elevator rather loudly. Troy didn’t seem to care as he grew a grin on his beak that reached Cheshire levels.

By the time the elevator door opened, Troy hoisted the stallion up with his claws and began to carry him as he made a beeline for their hotel room. Fueled by an increasingly growing libido, he could barely hold himself back as he quickly used his key card to open their door.

"Oh…" Troy eyed his fiancé with mad lust as the door opened. "The things I'm gonna do to you—"

"Uuuuhhhhh…"

The sound of Lyle's pained voice immediately stopped the two, making them turn their heads toward the source of the noise.

The hotel room was empty. However, the bathroom door was closed, a faint light coming from the inside while Lyle continued to groan in pain.

"Ugh… Too much shrimp…"

As Troy held the stallion in his forelegs, there was nothing the two could do besides groan in disappointment.

"Crap."

Chapter Sixteen: Brotherly Bonds

The sun began to rise in Manehattan, illuminating the cityscape in Celestia's morning light. However, few ponies paid much heed to the sunrise as they went about their days. Since the city never slept, the commotion of bustling carriages and overcrowded streets didn't change significantly from the previous night. Away from the busy streets below, the Manehattan Suite laid still against city's skyline, allowing the ponies inside to get a good night's rest.

In one of the luxurious rooms, Canvas had his eyes closed as the morning light began to shine in the room. As he began to stir awake, the stallion's ears twitched and he clenched his eyes shut. With a deep sigh, Canvas nestled closer to the other bundle of soft warmth laying beside him. Feeling the soft feathers brush against his face, Canvas smiled and snuggled closer to Troy's massive body.

Troy, now awake as well, smiled as he opened his eyes and looked down to see the stallion holding him in the morning's enchanting glow. Seeing how peaceful Canvas looked, Troy closed his eyes and bent his head down. With his beak gently brushing against the stallion's soft fur, Troy smiled and nuzzled his fiancé.

"Mmmmmm…"

Canvas sighed in bliss as he savored the Gryphon's touch, loving how tantalizing his caress really felt. As he moved closer against Troy, blushing when he caught the Gryphon's unique musk beneath his feathers, Canvas felt his fiancé's beak gently reach the side of his ear. With a tired smile, Troy slowly reopened his eyes, then opened his beak, his voice coming out in a sing-song whisper.

"Happy Birthday… To you…"

Canvas giggled a little at hearing Troy's beautiful voice so close to his ear. He didn't let go of the Gryphon, who continued to sing to him softly.

"Happy Birthday… To you…"

Although he still wasn't certain of the appeal of birthdays as a whole, Troy didn’t care one bit as he held Canvas tightly. He loved the stallion more than anything, so he was going to savor every moment he had with him. And if ponies celebrated the day they were born, he wasn't going to neglect doing the same for his amazing fiancé.

"Happy Birthday… Dear Canvas…"

Canvas giggled once more at Troy’s sweet voice. Though Troy had an incredible singing voice, Canvas was surprised at how bashful the Gryphon still was about singing to anyone but himself. As his blush grew deeper from his fiancé's loving affection, Canvas finally reopened his eyes and looked up at him.

Troy, looking down at him with a smile of his own, stared lovingly into Canvas’s eyes as the room grew brighter from the rising sun. After sharing a tender moment, letting their smiles grow even wider from their shared love, Troy slowly moved his head in closer as he finished his song.

"Happy Birthday… To… You…"

Canvas didn't hesitate for a second, giving his fiancé a deep kiss on the beak. Closing his eyes, Troy wrapped his claws around him tightly and eagerly returned his affection.

Holding each other in caring embrace, the stallion and Gryphon laid in perfect silence, feeling like they were the only souls in the world right now. And with how amazing their kiss was, neither one would've cared if they really were the only ones—

"Hrrrrmmmmm…"

Canvas and Troy paused, lips and beak still intertwined as they reopened their eyes. On the other bed in the room, Lyle was hunched over in a fetal position while wrapped in the thick blankets. The younger Gryphon still felt rather ill as he began to wake up.

"Stupid shrimp guy," Lyle muttered, his eyes still closed. "I'm gonna kick him in the balls…"

Canvas and Troy finally broke their kiss, taking a second before giggling at how they were interrupted. Still smiling, Canvas hugged his fiancé tightly.

"Thank you, Troy," Canvas whispered, savoring the Gryphon's immense warmth. "That was a great birthday gift."

Troy chuckled a little before hugging him back. "That's not the only one, Canvas…"

Troy looked down at the stallion, marveling at his beautiful blue eyes. A smile on his beak, Troy bent his head in closer and spoke in a low and caring tone.

"I love you…"

Canvas smiled wider before moving his head up to Troy’s. "I love you too…"

While the two shared another tender kiss, Lyle just sighed and laid in his own bed alone. "I swear," Lyle mumbled as he tried to ignore the couple beside him, "all this cutesy crap is gonna make me barf again."

Troy broke the kiss for a second. "Shut up, Lyle."

Even though his right eye still stung quite a bit from Suri's punch, Canvas’s smile didn’t falter. There was a prideful spring in his step as he trotted down the streets of Manehattan with Troy and Lyle in tow.

While Celestia's sun continued to rise, letting its sunlight peek through the faint spaces between the packed buildings of the cityscape, the two Gryphons had difficulty keeping their eyes open against the radiance of the late morning. However, Canvas wore a pair of purple aviator shades, which helped both to completely cover the bruise over his eye and make the morning trek to the gallery much more bearable.

"Ughhh…" Lyle groaned as he tried to keep up with his brother and Canvas. After being locked in the bathroom most of the night due to his poor decision to down a whole platter of shrimp, he still felt a bit off this morning, despite taking some antacids to calm his gut.

Canvas looked back at him worriedly. "You alright, Lyle?"

Lyle quickly nodded, choosing to ignore what felt like a vice clenching around his stomach. "I'm good," he said with some strain, keeping away from Canvas's troubled gaze. "Don't worry about me, man."

Canvas's eyes narrowed on him. "Listen, if you need to lie down, we can stop to take a breather. The gallery won't start for a while, anyway."

"I'm okay," Lyle insisted as he tried to breathe in a little deeper. Despite his stomach being empty of anything other than water and the carbonation currently messing with his gut, Lyle knew his body well enough to know he would be fine. "I've dealt with a lot worse before. I'll be up before the gallery begins, I swear."

Troy looked over at his brother with a skeptical smirk. "Are you sure? Because all I can think about is when you got food poisoning back at that spelling bee."

"Oh, shut up!" Lyle glared at Troy, then grimaced. "That was a one-time thing!"

"I heard one of the janitors quit his job after what you did to that toilet!"

"I said, shut up!"

Canvas giggled as he continued to walk beside them. Despite how often the two of them bickered, he could tell how much Troy and Lyle cared for each other as brothers. It was actually pretty cute in a way, knowing that two siblings could jab at each other so much without being overly mean or bitter about it afterwards. Though he was worried a few times about their fights escalating, Canvas felt a slight twinge of jealousy at what the two had. Of course, after spending most of his life as an only child, he kinda figured something like that was bound to happen.

Before Troy could pester Lyle further, the three noticed Glimmer Heart as she came galloping up to them. A smile on her face, the unicorn had her horn lit to hold her large cup of Marebucks coffee.

"Good morning, Canvas!" Glimmer said in a surprisingly chipper tone. "How's your eye?"

Canvas raised his shades and rubbed the bruise under his eye. While it was still a bit noticeable, the glasses he bought on the way here were a good purchase to cover his past interaction with Suri Polomare.

"Oh, I'm fine." Canvas placed the shades back over his eyes. "Seriously, I'm just glad nothing was broken again."

Troy cringed and sucked some air through his teeth, catching Lyle's attention. Canvas, also hearing his response, quickly bit his lip when he looked back to Troy. The stallion looked slightly remorseful as he saw how his fiancé reacted.

Glimmer Heart started to look worried at the sudden change of tone. "Is… is something wrong?"

"Nothing," Canvas said quickly, looking back to her. "It's just… I've dealt with worse, that's all."

Troy clenched his beak shut as he turned his head away, knowing far too well what Canvas was referring to. Lyle narrowed his eyes on his brother as he saw how saddened he was starting to look. He still recognized that look on Troy's face pretty quickly, recalling how he looked like that for a while after their grandparents' passing.

Canvas nudged Troy a little before adding in a more optimistic tone, "But it's nothing I couldn't handle. Especially with a little help."

Troy looked back at his fiancé, seeing the warm smile on his face. Seeing the sincere look of love and affection in Canvas’s eyes, it didn't take long for Troy to regain a smile on his beak. As soon as he saw Troy smile again, Canvas gave him a quick nuzzle before turning back to Glimmer Heart.

"So, Glimmer," Canvas asked, readjusting the art bag around his shoulder, "what's the plan? I have my dress shirt and these guys' outfits if we need them."

"That won’t be necessary," Glimmer said with a reassuring smile, waving her hoof. She took a sip from her coffee before continuing, "We're just going to have the announcements made, and maybe an hour of reception. Believe me, it's going to be a lot more casual than last night."

"That's good to hear." Canvas smirked as he looked back to Troy. "I can think of a certain Gryphon who will be glad to hear that."

Troy chuckled a little and looked away from his fiancé. Though he was happy to hear he wouldn't have to wear that dumb sweater again, his smile skewed a bit as he thought some things over. Remembering what he had planned for today, Troy glanced over at Glimmer Heart.

"Hey Glimmer," Troy asked, "what time do you think everything will be done?"

"Ummm…" The mare furrowed her brow. "Well… I can’t see it going on any later than four, I guess…"

Hearing that, Troy clenched his beak shut, nodded, and looked down. Canvas and Lyle both looked at him inquisitively. The stallion lifted a hoof and poked Troy's chest. "Troy?"

"Huh?" Troy blinked a couple times as he came back to reality. "Oh, I'm… I'm fine."

Canvas narrowed his eyes, but Glimmer Heart cleared her throat. She waited until he turned back around before beginning to speak.

"Just so you know," Glimmer said sternly, "it might be a good idea to show up a little earlier this time. After everything that happened last night, it wouldn't hurt to give a good impression."

Canvas quickly nodded, already knowing how much trouble he and Glimmer went through after last night. He was well aware that he was on some thin ice for this rescheduled event.

"Of course." Canvas looked back at Troy and Lyle before adding, "I should probably go a little early to avoid rustling any more feathers than I already have. Is that alright?"

Troy gave a understanding smile and brushed Canvas's worries aside with a claw. "Don’t worry about it. Just go off with Glimmer Heart. Lyle and I will catch up later."

"Great!" Canvas kissed his fiancé on the cheek, making Glimmer blush a little and look away from them. He gave one last nuzzle to Troy before pulling back. "Alright, I'll see you guys later!"

With that, Canvas headed off with Glimmer Heart, leaving Troy and Lyle behind as they waved him off. As soon as he was sure Canvas was out of earshot, Troy looked over to Lyle with a smile.

"Hey Lyle," Troy said discreetly, "you mind if you could help me out with something?"

"Huh?" Lyle raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Well…" After making sure Canvas wasn't nearby, Troy looked stern as he turned back to his little brother. "I was hoping you can cover me for something I need to do…"

After arriving at the rescheduled gallery earlier than before, Canvas managed to keep a professional demeanor throughout the rest of the judging process. Since they were planning on announcing the winner at the start of the exhibit, Canvas and the other judges were able to pick the artist before any of the ponies could arrive. Luckily, no mention of Canvas's scuffle with Suri came into discussion, nor did he do anything to hurt his reputation with any of the judges.

By the time the gallery was set to begin, Canvas felt he had managed to contribute more than enough valuable input with the others and proved himself to be a good judge. While he had no real plans to judge after this, Canvas felt rather proud with himself. Other than getting punched in the face, this turned out to be pretty nice. Of course, when it came to art, Canvas felt a lot more comfortable with a paintbrush than being behind a judging table.

Before the gallery could start, Troy and Lyle arrived to talk with Canvas. While the younger Gryphon looked away from them, Troy spoke to his fiancé.

"What?" Canvas asked, confused. "What do you mean you have to go back to Ponyville early?"

"I'm sorry," Troy said sincerely, holding up his claws, "but I just got a message from Rainbow Dash. They have to get the cirrus clouds cleared for the Running of the Leaves tomorrow, so they need all the help they can get! I really need to get back before sundown."

Canvas stared at his fiancé, noting how worried he appeared. Troy tried to look away for a second to avoid Canvas’s eyes locking with his, which just made the stallion furrow his brow even more. He glanced over at Lyle. "So… Troy got a message from Rainbow Dash?"

"Ummm… Yeah!" Lyle tried to keep a poker face as he nodded enthusiastically. While his face appeared too similar to Applejack's when she tried to lie, he managed to retain his composure enough before motioning to his brother. "He… he has to go back early, dude."

Canvas stared at both Gryphons for another moment, staying silent, before he sighed.

"Oh, okay," Canvas said with a smirk. "I wouldn't want to miss with weather detail."

"Thanks, Canvas," said Troy with a relieved smile. "I'll catch up with you when you come back tonight, alright?"

"Of course." Canvas smiled and nodded. He lifted himself onto his hindlegs and wrapped his hooves around Troy, standing eye-to-eye with him before giving him a kiss on the beak.

Troy tenderly kissed him back, giving him a quick nuzzle before saying softly into his ear, "Happy Birthday."

Lyle turned away and groaned under his breath, deciding to look around the gallery. He overheard Canvas giggle a little. After a while, the sounds of his brother and his fiancé acting super gay left his senses, and were replaced instead with the commotion around him.

Fortunately, as he looked around the gallery, Lyle was glad he didn’t hear many ponies talking much in regards to him or his brother. After last night, he was sure that he and Troy would be seen as "rabid beasts" or something if they ever set their paws back in here. However, of all the conversations he overheard, most of them went along the lines of "Did you hear what Suri tried to do?" or "I can't believe she actually stooped that low!"

While he had heard a little bit about Suri from Rarity when she had measured him and his brother, Lyle was surprised at how low her reputation was even before last night. Of course, when somepony becomes well-known for trying to rip off one of the Elements of Harmony, it would probably be hard to keep a positive appearance afterward. Especially when the pony ends up acting like a certain word he would rather not say out loud at this event.

After spending around ten minutes walking around the exhibit, noticing some of the impressive paintings on the walls, Lyle almost didn’t notice when Canvas walked over to him. With a sly smirk on his muzzle, the stallion stared him down.

"Troy's planning a surprise party, isn’t he?"

Lyle's eyes widened. He stepped back and turned away. "What? I… I mean, no! He… he-he had to…"

Canvas just chuckled. "Come on, Lyle! I'm not stupid. Since I have to be here until this afternoon, I know that any party back home would have to be rescheduled to later tonight. That was why he left, wasn't it?"

"Ummm…" Lyle slowly looked back at him, surprised that he managed to catch something like that so quickly. In an attempt to throw him off his brother's tracks, Lyle said more confidently, "Just what makes you think a surprise party is happening back home anyway?"

Lowering his sunglasses, Canvas narrowed his eyes and kept his smile. "Really? With somepony like Pinkie Pie around, you really think there WON'T be a party?"

Lyle clenched his beak shut and tried to avoid eye contact. "Well…"

"Plus," Canvas continued, putting his glasses back up, "I also know that Lyra and Bon-Bon have been dropping little questions the past few weeks about what candy I liked. Mister and Misses Cake both asked what kind of cake I preferred when I went to their bakery, and I noticed Twilight trying to see what books caught my interest when I visited the library earlier this week."

Lyle looked at Canvas with a surprised brow, unsure whether to be impressed or concerned at his attention to detail. "Dude, you're starting to sound like a bad detective novel."

Canvas chuckled before his smile turned more relaxed. "Oh, come on! I'm an artist! I tend to notice little details like that all the time. I knew a party was coming from a mile away."

Knowing the gig was up, Lyle merely sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "Crap… Troy was hoping you wouldn't catch on."

"And that's another thing!" Canvas had his brow skewed as he pointed a hoof at Lyle. "He had to go back to take care of cirrus clouds?! Seriously?"

Canvas began to pace, a bemused smile on his face as he continued to rant. "I mean, he could've at least made his lie more convincing! Like, if it was a nimbostratus cloud or something, I would've been more prone to believing him! But cirrus clouds are the easiest ones to take care of! A filly can get those knocked out! There's absolutely NO way that Rainbow Dash would need him back just to take care of cirrus clouds!"

Lyle's eyes widened. "Wow. I… I didn’t think you knew that much about clouds."

Canvas sighed before he looked over at Lyle with a smirk. "Well… my Mom did Storm Patrol back home, so I kinda learned a lot from her."

"Oh…" Lyle looked down to the floor, his eyes narrowing in thought. He muttered to himself, "Huh… He never mentioned she was a Pegasus…"

"Huh?"

"Hm?" Lyle quickly looked back up to Canvas, seeing that he was staring at him with narrowed eyes of his own.

"What was that?"

"Ummm…" Lyle tried to turn his head away. "N-nothing…Ummm…"

After one quick glance back at Canvas, noting how he was looking at him suspiciously, Lyle sighed and hung his head away from the stallion. "I… may have asked Troy about your bag last night. And… he… may have brought up why it was so important to you."

Canvas's eyes widened a little before looking down at the bag hanging at his side.

"He told me who gave it to you, and why you were so worried about losing it." Lyle kept his head away as he spoke meagerly. "I didn't mean to bring up anything. I just wanted to know since you were so freaked out last night. But… I'm sorry."

Canvas looked back to Lyle, realizing how upset he looked at having to admit that. Canvas just gave a light smile before putting a hoof on his shoulder. "Hey, it's alright," he assured in a warmer tone. "You shouldn’t feel bad about telling me that."

Lyle looked back up to Canvas, who kept his smile as he continued, "I mean, I did act pretty nuts last night, so I don’t blame you for asking about it. I mean…"

Canvas took another glance back to his art bag, staring at it for a moment before sighing. His smile faltered a little. "It… it was one of the nicest things she ever did for me."

Canvas hung his head down and let go of Lyle's shoulder. He brought his hoof up to lift his glasses and rub his eyes, not wanting to get too emotional. "Sorry. I… I usually don't talk about this to many ponies."

"I get it." Lyle stepped back from Canvas to give him some space. "I don't want to bring up anything I shouldn't."

"No, it's fine." Canvas made sure his eyes were dry before readjusting his shades and looking back up to him. "Seriously, it's okay. But… thanks for telling me the truth."

Lye merely nodded, a small smile on his beak. "No problem."

After a brief silence, Lyle looked down at Canvas's art bag. "So… Canvas?"

Canvas glanced at Lyle curiously.

"This is probably a dumb question, but… What if Troy did lose your bag? Like, for real?"

Canvas’s eyebrows rose.

"Because… You looked pretty mad when you thought it was gone. Would… would that have been a deal-breaker between you two?"

"Oh, no!" Canvas quickly threw his hooves up in assurance. "No, of course not, Lyle! I… I'd never do that!"

When Canvas put his hooves back down, he looked down at the ground. "I mean… I'd be mad at him. Furious, even! No doubt about that that, but…"

After contemplating how he really would reacted in that kind of situation, Canvas sighed and glanced back up at Lyle. "But… I'd still forgive him. I mean… Troy means the world to me… Way more than some bag…"

The stallion held his art bag closer to his side. Before Lyle could say anything else, Canvas held his bag up and added, "Seriously. Between this bag and your brother, Troy wins, hooves-down."

Lyle chuckled a little before nodding in agreement, understanding how important both that bag and his brother were to Canvas. "Alright, I get it." He looked away as he scanned the room, happy to have that question cleared up.

Canvas exhaled deeply and looked around as well, noticing many guests and artists coming in. "Well," he said, "I'm sure the announcements are gonna start soon, which means there won't be much for me to do but talk with ponies for the next hour or two…"

Smirking, Canvas asked, "You wanna keep me company? It'd probably be better than just sitting at one of the benches the whole time."

Lyle looked around the gallery for a moment before nodding reluctantly. "Sure, I guess."

"Cool." With that, the two began to walk side-by side towards the center of the gallery. Canvas asked, "Hey, you still have your sketchbook on you?"

Lyle nodded, motioning to the small satchel hanging underneath his wing. "Yeah. Why?"

"Just checking," Canvas said with a smile. Before Lyle could ask why he had asked him that, the sound of Glimmer Heart's voice came over a loudspeaker.

"Fillies and gentlecolts," Glimmer began, keeping a microphone held in her magical grip, "I would like to welcome all of you to the conclusion of the 33rd Annual Manehattan Art Exhibit…"

Though he was sure that the winner's announcement would last a while, Lyle was pleasantly surprised when the entire process lasted only fifteen minutes. And of that time, about ten minutes were spent by the judges praising each pony's works individually (as per Canvas's request behind the scenes). At the end, none of the runner-up artists seemed saddened or even upset about not winning, and acted quite respectful towards the winner, Silver Linings.

While Canvas chatted with the other artists, Lyle got himself a soda. As soon as he headed back towards Canvas and the others, he heard the stallion's voice call out to him, "Hey, Lyle! Come over here."

Lyle made his way back through the crowds, noticing how Canvas was smirking as he motioned him over.

"Lyle, I want you to meet some of the artists here." Canvas pointed to the small group beside him. One of them was the winner, a red unicorn mare with a silver mane, whom Lyle recognized from the previous night. "You know Silver Linings, right?"

"Y-yeah." Though he didn’t expect to speak with any of the artists, Lyle still put out his claw to shake Silver's hoof. "It's nice to meet you. Congrats, by the way."

"Why, thank you," the mare said with a gracious smile as she shook his claw. "I've been chatting with Canvas, and he's said a lot of nice things about you!"

"Wait, really?" Lyle asked as he let go of Silver's claw.

"Yeah," Silver said cheerfully, "he said that you're really good at drawing." She noticed the bag hanging at Lyle's side. "Would you mind if I saw a couple sketches?"

Lyle blinked a couple times, frozen in surprise. His expression quickly turned angry as he looked at Canvas with a strong glare. "Dude, what's wrong with you?!"

To the surprise of Silver and the other artists, Lyle stormed off. Canvas quickly ran after him before Lyle could get lost within the crowds.

"Lyle, wait!” Canvas shouted. "Just stop for a second! What's the—"

"Why did you have to tell them that?!" Lyle turned around and angrily pointed a talon at Canvas. "I freakin' told you, dude! They're just doodles! Why are yo—"

"STOP SAYING THAT!"

Despite how furious Canvas was becoming at Lyle's attitude, he still covered his mouth after that outburst. While several ponies nearby turned around worriedly to the source of the noise, the blushing stallion shuffled himself further from the crowds. After pulling Lyle aside, Canvas took off his glasses before eyeing him down.

"Lyle, I'm only going to say this ONCE. Stop. Saying. That. About. Yourself!"

Lyle's scowl only grew as he looked away from Canvas's stare. While the Gryphon stayed silent, Canvas closed his eyes and sighed, taking a few seconds before speaking in a calmer tone.

"Lyle…" Canvas put his hoof on Lyle's shoulder, looking at him with genuine concern. "Why do you keep saying that? That really doesn't sound like you, dude."

Lyle clenched his beak shut, exhaling deeply as he averted his eyes from Canvas.

"I'm being serious. What is it? Why… Why do you keep saying that about your stuff?"

Lyle lowly hung his head away from Canvas. Sighing under his breath, he slowly reopened his beak and spoke in a low and defeated tone. "Be… Because that's what they all say…"

"Wait, who?" Canvas asked, unsure whether to feel worried or angry. "Who said that?!”

Lyle groaned, brushing Canvas's hoof off his shoulders. "Everyone! Everyone told me that!" He turned away from Canvas as he ranted, "My teachers said that! The Principal said that! Heck, my bucking parents said that to me!"

While Canvas just stared at him, wide-eyed in a mix of shock and fury, Lyle just hung his head and said in a disheartened tone, "That… that's what they all say. They're doodles… Stupid, worthless doodles.”

For a brief moment, Canvas had no idea what he could say. Actually, he felt like getting a ticket, going to the Gryphon Kingdom, and smacking every one of those guys over the head with an oar for what they said to Lyle.

At seeing how upset Lyle looked, Canvas knew what he had to do. Lyle was a really smart kid, and the last thing that he needed was to be thinking something that low about himself.

While Lyle remained turned away from him, Canvas stepped forward. Before he could react, the Gryphon was taken by surprise as he felt the stallion wrap his hooves around him, holding him in a tight hug. Keeping his eyes closed, Canvas hugged Lyle as tightly as he could and spoke with the utmost sincerity in his voice.

"They're not worthless, Lyle. They're really good drawings, and you shouldn’t think that way about them. They're not just doodles… They're really awesome…"

Canvas lessened his grip on Lyle and pulled his head back to look at him. When Lyle finally reopened his eyes, he looked up to see Canvas staring at him with a warm smile on his muzzle.

"And so are you, Lyle."

Lyle was frozen for a moment, not even blinking as he looked at Canvas. Seeing how honest he looked as he said that, Lyle tried to look down as a small smile began to appear on his beak. While he felt like a huge weight was pulling on his insides, he also felt a huge wave of gratitude at actually hearing something like that. After a brief moment of silence, Lyle felt his head moving apart from his body, making a very faint, but notable, nod.

With that, Canvas hugged him once more, taking a couple seconds before he felt Lyle begin to hug him back. As soon as he felt the Gryphon's claws wrap around his back, Canvas squeezed him as tightly as he could.

"There you go," Canvas said in a happier tone as he held Lyle. "You feel better?"

"Ye… yeah…" Although he felt a bit overwhelmed in that moment, Lyle was still able to reply in a faint tone of voice, "Th- thanks, dude."

"No problem," Canvas assured as he started to lessen his grip. "I'm not gonna have my future brother-in-law put himself down like that."

Luckily, the two were apart from the crowds enough that their hug didn’t make much of a scene. However, even if they had been, it was doubtful that Canvas or Lyle would even cared.

After a long moment, the stallion finally let go of Lyle before saying with confidence, "Actually, I'm gonna make a bet."

Canvas opened his art bag and looked inside. While his muzzle was busy rummaging inside his art bag, Lyle quickly looked away and wiped his eyes dry with a claw.

"How about this?" Canvas pulled his head out with a large bag of bits hanging from his mouth. He put the bag on his hoof just as Lyle looked back at him. "I have one hundred bits here. If you can show those artists five of your sketches, and even one of them says you don't have a talent in drawing, then this bag in yours."

Lyle's eyes shot open. "What?!"

"You heard me," Canvas said with a confident smirk. "If any of them say you don't have a talent in drawing, I'll give you a hundred bits, and never bother you about it again."

Lyle's beak hung open slightly, barely able to process what Canvas just said. However, when he looked at the stallion, who had a self-assured look on his slightly bruised face, it was clear that he didn't think he was going to lose.

And Lyle, sighing under his breath at what Canvas was doing for him, merely smiled a little before nodding in agreement. "Alright, fine. You got a deal."

With a satisfied smirk, the stallion put out a hoof so Lyle could lead the way back to the other artists.

Looking out the window of the train, Canvas was surprised at how close it was already getting to dusk. It wasn't even five in the afternoon yet, but the skies were already beginning to grow to a vibrant hue of yellow. Soon enough, he knew that it would quickly turn to a hot orange, and then to a shade of dark pink before settling to a calming blue. Unsurprisingly enough, Canvas always loved this time of day; much like his artwork, the sunset hours always seemed to carry an amazing range of colors that graced the endless skies above.

Before he could think any more about it and risk sounding like some wannabe poet, Canvas's ears perked up when he heard the door to the train cabin open. Looking over at the doorway, Canvas smiled when he saw Lyle enter with his satchel. The stallion's smile turned to a cocky smirk as his eyes narrowed on him.

"I told you, Lyle."

Lyle groaned and rolled his eyes. Nonetheless, that didn’t seem to deter the small smile he had on his beak. "Yeah, yeah," Lyle mumbled, "whatever, dude."

"Don't 'whatever, dude,’ me!" Canvas grinned as he laid back in his seat, the steam from the train's starting engines beginning to appear from outside the window. "What did I tell you? You really have a great talent in drawing, and I'm not the only one to agree! Did ANY of those artists say you shouldn't keep drawing?"

Lyle, not wanting to show how happy he looked, just slumped down in the seat across from Canvas's and sighed in fatigue. "No… None of them did."

"That's right," Canvas said in a self-satisfied tone, putting his hooves around the back of his head. "And who do you think is a better judge of that sort of thing, huh? Several experienced artists, or a some cranky old teachers?"

Not wanting to add to the stallions’ growing ego, Lyle just chuckled a little and settled in his seat. Although, despite how Canvas was acting, Lyle knew that he was right. When he chose five of his sketches to show to the other artists, every single one of them looked beyond impressed at what he managed to create. He wanted to think that they were just wanting to look good in front of Canvas, but Lyle knew that they really weren’t. Every encouraging word that they said to him was spoken with the utmost sincerity, which just made him feel even better about himself. One of them even referred Lyle to a comic company to send some commissions to, which the Gryphon had written down and secured in his bag.

Thinking it over, Lyle exhaled and smiled as he relaxed in his seat. "You know, I… I honestly didn’t think you'd go out of your way to help me out like that."

Canvas's smile faltered a little, unsure what to think about that statement. Before he could ask what he meant, Lyle looked over at him with an honest smile on his beak.

"But I'm really glad you did that, so… thanks."

Canvas's smile reappeared. "Hey, it's no problem." The stallion bent forward in his seat, slapping Lyle's thigh with a hoof before adding, "Seriously, you need to have more confidence in yourself, man."

After seeing Lyle nod slightly, Canvas rested back in his own seat. Sighing, he looked out the window. "Honestly, I'm just glad I was able to do something like that. I would've killed to have a confidence boost like that back when I was your age…"

Thinking it over, Canvas was finding it hard to keep up his smile at the reminder of his life before Ponyville. Back when he lived in Gallop Creek, hearing anypony say something even remotely positive about his work was unbelievably rare. Even though his lack of response or outside motivation wasn't enough to keep him from painting, Canvas still wished he had more support for his talents back when he was younger. After all the countless days and nights he had spent alone, making pieces barely anypony else saw, he really wished he had had someone tell him the things he said to Lyle earlier today.

Before he could let his thoughts cloud his conscience any longer, Canvas felt the train move forward, leaving the Manehattan station on its way back to Ponyville. Looking out the window to see the station leave their line of vision, Canvas turned to Lyle and asked, "Where did you go, by the way? I was worried you wouldn't make it back before the train left!"

Giggling under his breath, Lyle grinned cheekily as he began to dig into his satchel. "Well, after Glimmer Heart gave us our pictures back, I decided to get a frame to bring back home."

"Really?" Canvas looked over to see what Lyle had. The Gryphon quickly pulled the bag away from his line of sight for a moment, then pulled something out of the bag. Holding a fancy-looking mahogany frame in his claw, Lyle struggled not to laugh when he showed what picture was inside.

"Oh, man!" Seeing the picture of Troy in the Pony Tones sweater, Canvas snickered in delight as he picked up the frame. "Troy's gonna kill you when he sees this!"

"Oh, come on!" Lyle shrugged and laid back with his bag. "I had to do it! Besides, I bet Rarity would get a kick out of seeing that picture!"

Giggling at the thought of Rarity's reaction to this picture, Canvas just shook his head. "Well, if Troy chases you around the backyard with a stick, you're on your own!"

Lyle laughed and nodded. "Fine."

Fortunately, their train route was fast enough to get them home within a few hours. And in that time, the two were mostly too engrossed with Lyle's comic books to realize how much time had passed. In fact, if Lyle hadn't have poked him with a talon when they reached Ponyville Station, Canvas may have not realized they were back since he was so preoccupied with finishing Feather Noir.

After getting their bags and leaving the train, Canvas and Lyle were surprised at how still Ponyville looked under the dark evening skies. Though Canvas already knew how sparse the town could be after dark, it almost seemed like Ponyville was completely empty when he and Lyle walked through the tranquil streets.

As soon as he saw that Sugar Cube Corner had its lights off, obviously empty, Canvas grew a small smirk on his muzzle. If Pinkie Pie wasn't there, then he knew the mare (along with any and everypony she brought with her) would have to be somewhere else tonight. And since it was his birthday, he had a pretty good idea where a possible "surprise party" might be held.

Lyle, noticing his smirk, sighed as he figured out what the stallion was thinking. "Yeah, the surprise party is back at home." While he didn’t like how quickly Canvas was able to catch onto something like that, he figured that an artist like him would be likely to catch little details other ponies wouldn't.

"I kinda figured," Canvas said when he looked over at Lyle. "Pinkie threw an engagement party for Troy and I at our place when we got back from Canterlot. It makes sense she'd do it again." He looked back ahead as he added, "Don’t worry, though. I'll act surprised. I know Troy went out of his way to try to keep this a secret."

"Alright, cool," Lyle said with a relieved smile. "I don’t want him to think I screwed this up."

"You really didn't." Canvas smiled at him. "He's the one who needs to make his lies more convincing!"

Lyle chuckled in agreement. "Yeah, I guess."

Eventually, the two made it to the town limits. Before they could start their way down the road, Lyle stopped just as they reached the last streetlamp. Canvas paused, glancing at Lyle in confusion as they stood underneath the final patch of artificial light.

"Lyle?" Canvas asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No…" Seeing Canvas’s peculiar stare, Lyle turned to his satchel. "Well, since you already figured it out, I might as well give this to you before we get back. So…"

Lyle then gave a small smile to Canvas and pulled a small, rectangular object out of his bag. Wrapped hastily in blue wrapping paper, Lyle handed the gift to the surprised stallion. "Happy Birthday."

"R-really?" Canvas was slightly baffled to receive a gift from him. "I mean… You didn’t have to get me anything, Lyle."

"I know," Lyle said, shrugging, "but I figure that, after everything that happened, it might not be a bad thing to do."

"But still…" Canvas looked down at the gift in his hoof, his smile growing. "I know that Gryphons don’t even celebrate birthdays, so I wasn't expecting this from you."

"Believe me, I usually don't…" Keeping a smile on his beak, Lyle looked away. "But… You really helped me out back at that gallery."

Canvas sighed. "Oh, come on, Lyle. I was just—"

"Seriously," Lyle said, looking back at him, "you really stood up for me, which was an awesome thing to do." Thinking it over, Lyle tried not to laugh. "You also stood up for me and Troy against that Suri bitch, and even took a punch for it!"

Canvas chuckled. He lifted a hoof as he was reminded of that encounter and rubbed the bruise under his eye.

"It's just…" Lyle sighed, rubbing the feathers on the back of his head. "You've been really awesome to me ever since I came here, and it's easy to see how much you care about Troy. I just wanted to… I dunno… Show my appreciation, I guess."

Lyle kept his smile as he motioned to the gift still in Canvas's hoof. "Go ahead, dude! Open it!"

Canvas smiled as he held up Lyle's gift and began to unwrap it. When the blue wrapping was removed, Canvas's eyes widened when he saw what it was.

Seated in a really nice wooden frame with brass corners, the first picture that the three took in Manehattan sat behind the glass surface perfectly.

"When I got the frame for Troy's picture, I saw that one too, and I figured, 'Why not?'"

Canvas, barely registering what Lyle just said, had his widening eyes fixed on the frame in his hoof. While the picture of him and the two Gryphons in Manehattan looked surprisingly nice (especially considering that was the one that thief pony was forced to take of them), he was staring at what was on the bottom of the frame.

Underneath the photo, a small, brass emblem stood out against the wooden frame, the engraved words inside it shining underneath the streetlights as clear as day:

Best Bros

Canvas blinked a couple times, unsure whether or not that was really there. As he kept looking at the words over and over again, they never changed.

The stallion, a shaking smile growing on his muzzle, slowly looked back to Lyle and tried not to tear up. "I… Really?"

A smirk on his beak, Lyle simply nodded. "Yeah. I… I know you and Troy aren’t married yet, but… I really am glad you’re with him."

Canvas tried to make a light chuckle, but it just came out as a couple whispered gasps before he looked back at the frame.

"I mean," Lyle continued, speaking honestly, "I've never seen Troy that happy before he left home, and… It's really nice to see him act that happy about something, you know? And… I just wanted to say thanks."

"I… I'm…" Still seeing the words underneath the photo, Canvas looked back at Lyle as he spoke with a shaky voice. "I'm…

"I'm a… brother?"

Seeing how overwhelmed the stallion looked, Lyle's smile grew a little bigger as he nodded. "Yeah. I mean… you're going to be family anyway, so why not? You're a really cool dude, and…"

Lyle paused, looking down at the ground for a moment. After a couple seconds of silence, Lyle looked back up at Canvas with a smile and spoke with certainty.

"I know it's not really official yet, but… I do consider you a brother, Canvas."

Canvas, feeling his heart thundering like a jackhammer, could feel his legs start to get weak as tears appeared in his eyes. Before Lyle could react, Canvas grew a huge smile and lunged toward him. Wrapping his hooves around the Gryphon, Canvas clenched his eyes shut and hugged him as tightly as he could.

"BRAAAAKK!!" Lyle, feeling very similar to when Troy came out to him, began to feel his eyes bulge out once more. "Ca… Canvas!!!" The Gryphon's voice came out in a strained creak as he tried to keep Canvas from suffocating him. "You're choking me!!!"

"Oh!" Canvas quickly let go of Lyle, using a free hoof to try wiping the tears that were now flowing freely down his cheeks. "I'm sorry, just…" With his voice coming out in an overwrought tone as he tried not to sob, Canvas's smile was unbreakable as he tried to wipe his eyes dry. "It's just, I… I… I never had a brother before."

Hearing that, Lyle's formally worried look regarding Canvas almost strangling him quickly disappeared. A smile formed on his beak as he put a claw on Canvas's shoulder. "Hey, it's okay… It's really alright…"

Canvas put his hoof down before looking back up at Lyle. With his cheeks slightly matted and his eyes still welling up, the stallion was unable to reply before Lyle continued with a smirk and a more cheerful tone of voice.

"Actually, if you play your cards right, you'll probably get three more if the triplets are alright with you."

Canvas kept his lips shut and tried not to giggle. The Gryphon kept his smile as he added, "And to be honest, I really can't see a reason for them not to like you, dude."

After hearing that last statement, Canvas looked up at Lyle. "R-really? You… really think so?"

Lyle only gave a nod to the stallion, which prompted Canvas to pull him in for another hug. Since he made his second hug much less intense than the first, it wasn't long before he felt the Gryphon hug him back.

"Th-thanks, Lyle," Canvas said faintly as he held him and closed his eyes. "I can honestly say… That's one of the best birthday gifts I've ever gotten."

Lyle, who had closed his eyes as well, just kept his claws around Canvas. "Nice… I was hoping that'd get a reaction."

After a moment of silence, Lyle finally pulled back before saying, "Just so you know, we should probably head back. We still have a party to go to."

Canvas quickly nodded, keeping his smile as he held the frame in his hoof. After looking at the picture for a brief moment, the stallion turned to his side and carefully placed it inside his art bag. "Yeah, that's a good idea. I'd hate to show up late and worry Troy."

After making sure his art bag was secure around his shoulder, Canvas wiped his face with a hoof again, which prompted Lyle to look over at him. "You okay?"

Canvas quickly nodded as he looked back at the Gryphon, the fur on his cheeks now much less matted than before. "Yeah," Canvas said as he walked alongside Lyle, "I'm good."

With that, the two began to make their trek from Ponyville to Canvas and Troy's home. Along the way, Canvas and Lyle were able to lighten the mood by chatting about whatever came to mind.

Nevertheless, even with all the discussion the two had about comics or other random things, all that Canvas could think about was what Lyle managed to do for him. After all the years he spent without many friends, or even much of a family in his life, Canvas didn’t expect much from Lyle after only a few days. However, on that night, Lyle managed to give Canvas one of the best gifts he had ever received in his life.

A brother.

Chapter Seventeen: Birthday Night

"SHHHH!!! SHHHH!!!"

Pinkie threw a hoof over her lips and quickly tried to quiet everypony down. Troy, who was standing at the light switch by the door, waited until everypony was hidden before turning the lights off. After lining up against the wall, Troy waited along with everypony else as they stood in the darkness in silence. Outside, Troy could faintly hear the voices of Canvas and Lyle as they got closer to the barn.

"Oh, come on! How would that EVER be a good superpower?!"

"Well, why not? I think it would be useful."

"Refilling things would be a good superpower? Seriously, Canvas, how would that EVER be useful?"

"Well… If you're out of money, you could refill your bank account. If you’re stuck in the desert, you can refill your stomach with water. Your arsenal runs out of ammo, you can refill it to save the day!"

"Oh yeah? And what if a mugger stops you in the alley with a knife?"

"Well… Then you can refill his bladder!"

"… I… Ugh, nevermind."

The sound of Canvas giggling was all that Troy could overhear before he heard the doorknob begin to turn. Waiting in position, Troy and everypony else stayed silent as the door opened. And as soon as Canvas walked in, they waited until the light was turned on before jumping towards him.

"SURPRISE!!!"

Canvas jolted back right as the streamers shot out from various parts of the room. Since he was already in a pretty heavy conversation with Lyle, the stallion was legitimately surprised when he walked into his house. Before he could react, Troy came from behind him and hugged him tightly, standing on his hindpaws as he lifted his fiancé.

"Happy Birthday, big boy!"

Canvas giggled loudly at Troy's strong embrace, blushing deeply before giving a faux-angry smile to Lyle.

"I KNEW you were hiding something!" Canvas exclaimed as he tried to give a convincing glare to Lyle. "I just knew it!"

"Oh, whatever." Smiling, Lyle rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Happy Birthday, dude."

"Thanks, Lyle." Canvas tilted his head back to meet Troy's loving gaze from above. "And thank you, Troy."

"No problem…" Crooking his neck downward, Troy kissed his muzzle, despite his position making it so their kiss was technically upside down.

Nevertheless, Troy's affection was still sweet enough to receive a large wave of giggles and "Awww's" from the ponies watching.

"AaallllllllllRIGHTY then!" Pinkie Pie hopped up seemingly out of nowhere and propped herself on top of Troy's head. Before Troy could realize what she was doing, the mare pumped out her hooves and shouted out in glee, "Let's get this party STARTED!!!"

While Troy squeezed Canvas even tighter, everypony else cheered, anxious for Canvas’s birthday party to begin.

Chewing on a piece of chocolate brownie cake, Lyle stood in one of the corners of the room and tried to watch the birthday party from an outside view. Since Gryphons didn’t find it necessary to celebrate the day someone was born, the idea of ponies doing it each time somepony grows a year older seemed a bit alien. Did EVERY pony get a party like this every year? Where did they find the time to do this? How much money do ponies go through to get other ponies gifts for this sort of thing? Heck, how have they not become giant orbs of fat from all the cake they eat?!

"HEY, LYLE!!"

"GAH!!!" Lyle jumped back in shock at Pinkie Pie popping out in front of him, causing him to drop his plate of cake in the process. Luckily, Pinkie caught it effortlessly and held it up for him.

"Oops! Hehehe… sorry." She gave an apologetic smile to Lyle, remembering how frazzled she had made him the first time they met. "What'cha doing here by yourself, Lyle? You should be out there partying with the other ponies!"

Despite Pinkie's enthusiastic smile and her pointing to the ponies dancing to a Sapphire Shores song playing on the record player, Lyle put out a claw to politely decline. "Nah, that's okay. I'm still getting used to the whole 'Birthday Party' thing you guys have."

Pinkie's eyes widened in surprise before she gave a disbelieving giggle. "Oh, you kidder, you! Troy tried telling me that same joke at HIS birthday party!"

She then began to walk away while laughing, confusing Lyle as he heard her talk to herself. "Oh, please! 'We don't celebrate birthdays!' What a riot! Ha ha haaaaa!!!"

Though he wanted to say something in response to that, Lyle ended up just chuckling under his breath. As he looked out at all the ponies dancing around and enjoying refreshments, Lyle's eyes narrowed in bewilderment as he realized something was missing.

"Wait a minute… Where's Canvas?"

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Canvas winced a little as the stinging over his right eye became slightly more intense. Despite the stallion's squirming, Twilight Sparkle kept her focus as she used her magic to heal the bruise under his eye.

"Sorry about this," Twilight said, hearing him wince in discomfort. "I know it stings, but I'm almost finished."

"Th-thanks, Twi.” Canvas mustered a weak smile. "Honestly, I didn’t even know you can do that sort of thing."

"Well…" Twilight shrugged and tried to stay humble. "I'm only able to treat minor injuries like bruises and small lacerations. I'm not able to mend together broken bones or anything! Although…"

Keeping her magic on Canvas's eye, Twilight smirked as she glanced at the dragon currently rummaging through Canvas and Troy's fridge. "I can certainly say that Spike helped me hone my abilities quite a bit over the years."

Spike just sighed before closing the fridge. "Whatever, Twi. It's not like I hurt myself THAT often!"

"Oh really?" Twilight asked, a sly smirk on her muzzle. "How about the time you tried to learn how to juggle?"

"Hey!" Spike groaned and rolled his eyes. "It was an honest mistake! I only saw one pony juggling before, so I thought I was supposed to do it with barbells!"

Canvas giggled a little, which prompted Spike to turn away with a small scowl. Rarity then walked into the kitchen with a package on her back and a makeup kit in her magical aura.

"Canvas, are you sure you don't need any makeup for your eye? It looked absolutely horr—"

Noticing how much smaller the bruise looked after only a couple minutes of Twilight's magic, Rarity cut herself off and gave an impressed smile.

"Why, Twilight! Your healing skills are really improving! I remember when it took you over half an hour when Applejack had that black eye."

Twilight merely smiled as she recalled that day. While she knew apples could be painful, she didn’t expect Rainbow Dash to cause that much damage during one of their playful fights. Nevertheless, she kept her smile before replying, "Oh, come on, Rarity. That was a really bad injury! This one is just a small bruise."

"But still…" Rarity took a closer glance at Canvas's eye, sucking some air through her teeth when she saw the still-darkened spot right under his eye. "Oh, Canvas! I still cannot believe that Suri Polomare would actually resort to something that low!" She quickly stopped herself, taking a second to think it over before shaking her head in retraction. "Actually, scratch that. I would believe she would do that, but still!"

"It's fine, Rare," Canvas assured, feeling the stinging lessen much more. "Honestly, I did insult her pretty bad, so I guess I had it coming."

"Oh, nonsense!" Rarity put her makeup kit down on the counter and picked up the package sitting on her back with her magic. "Suri insulted your fiancé AND his brother! She should be lucky I wasn't around to set her straight!"

"I kinda agree," Spike added in a similar tone to Rarity's as he stood against the fridge with his arms crossed. "It kinda sounds like the was asking for you to throw the first punch!"

"Spike!" Twilight turned to him, dropping her magic to give the dragon a glare. "You really shouldn't say something like that!"

"Eh, it's alright." Canvas rubbed his freshly healed eye. "Honestly, I'm surprised I kept my cool when she said all that stuff! Of course…"

Feeling satisfied at the lack of pain where his bruise used to be, Canvas dropped his hoof before continuing in a more perceptive tone, "Of course, considering the last time I fought with a pony, it's probably good that I didn’t repeat any past mistakes. Especially in regards to a mare!"

Thinking it over, Spike shrugged a bit before leaving the kitchen. "Yeah, that's probably true. I'm gonna get some more cake."

"Alright, Spike." After looking over Canvas's eye, Twilight grinned when she saw no more signs of a bruise. "Well, I think my spell is done! How do you feel?"

"Pretty good," Canvas said with a smile as he rubbed his eye again, no longer feeling anything even close to a bruise. "Thanks a lot, Twilight!"

"No problem."

Rarity, who waited until after Twilight's impromptu procedure was complete, floated over a pink package with a yellow bow to Canvas. "Fluttershy said that she had to leave early for something, so she wanted me to give this to you. Happy Birthday."

"Oooohhh…" With a large smile on his muzzle, Canvas enthusiastically unwrapped the packaging, squealing in glee when he saw what was inside.

"Awesome!" Canvas pulled out the gift inside, which surprised Twilight and Rarity when they saw what he was so excited about.

"Wait, is… is that a Discord lamp?"

"Yep!" Holding it in his hooves, Canvas grinned wildly as he marveled at the small, mosaic-like statue of Discord holding a light bulb in his extended claw. "I can’t believe she got me one of these! I never even mentioned to her that I wanted one!"

Spike, who was looking in from the kitchen doorway, had a slightly disgusted look on his face. "Why would you want one?! Those are ugly!"

"Oh, whatever," Canvas said gleefully, trotting out of the kitchen with his gift. "I'm putting this right in the bedroom!"

Spike, along with Rarity and Twilight, just looked on in silent awe at Canvas's reaction to the Discord lamp. Before either of the mares could say anything, Spike was the first one to break the silence.

"Man, artists are weird."

After eating several pieces of cake, being forced to play several rounds of Pin the Tail on the Pony with Pinkie Pie, and being thrown onto a giant sheet trampoline (and almost hitting the ceiling), Lyle was pretty wiped out after only a couple of hours.

Once Canvas had opened all his presents, Lyle took a moment to sneak out onto the roof. After being cooped up in a crowded barn with Pinkie Pie and almost half the town, the cool autumn air felt absolutely incredible against his feathers.

Savoring the brief silence of the night, Lyle sighed as he laid back on the roof, his eyes closed. Before he could truly unwind, Lyle heard the nearby roof hatch open. Luckily though, instead of seeing Pinkie Pie hop out to get him, he was happy to see that it was only Troy.

"Hey Lyle," Troy said, coming out from the opening with a tired smile on his beak. He groaned as he sat beside his brother. "You feeling okay, bro?"

"Yeah." Lyle nodded. "I'm fine. I just needed a break, that's all."

"That's fine." Troy leaned back on his claws and sat next to Lyle, breathing in as he savored the chilly air. "Believe me, I get it. Pinkie Pie's parties take a while to get used to."

Lyle chuckled, unsure of how to respond to that. While he could certainly agree, it was difficult to consider Pinkie Pie's celebrations as just being "parties". If anything, what Pinkie managed to do was an entity all of its own.

"Yeah, I guess. But still…" Readjusting himself so he was sitting on the roof, Lyle's smile grew as he sighed and looked outward. "I gotta admit, I can see why you like living in Equestria."

"I know, right?" Sitting next to his brother, Troy kept a light smirk on his beak as he looked up to the stars. "I mean, there's a lot of things I miss from back home, but I really do like living here."

"Yeah… I can see that."

For a while, neither of them said anything else. They simply appreciated the small bit of serenity outside of the party happening underneath them.

After letting the silence take over for a long moment, Troy looked over to his brother. "Hey, Lyle. Just so you know, I saw what you got for Canvas." Keeping an appreciative smile, he patted him on the back before adding, "That was a really great thing you did for him. I can tell how much he appreciates that, so, thanks."

Lyle returned the smile and shrugged. "Hey, it was no problem. I saw the frame at the shop, so I thought it would be a nice gift."

Troy, knowing that his brother was trying to act falsely nonchalant, smirked and narrowed his eyes on him. "Don’t give me that. You know you really did a nice thing, right?"

After exhaling deeply, Lyle reluctantly nodded before turning away from him. "Yeah, I guess. I mean… It just felt like the right thing to do, you know?"

Troy pulled his brother in with a claw, hugging him from the side. "It really was, dude."

Troy kept him close to his side for another moment, squeezing him tight before asking, "So… You really think of Canvas as a brother?"

"Well… yeah." Lyle kept a confident smile on his beak as he said sincerely, "I mean, he's going to be a brother-in-law anyway. I just wanted it to be more official, I guess."

With a growing smile on his beak, Troy pulled his other claw in to give Lyle a proper hug, which was quickly returned. However, the sounds of ponies inside the house could be heard getting louder from the open hatch, making Troy pull back and stretch.

"Welp," Troy began, standing up, "I guess we should head back down."

Lyle groaned before nodding in agreement. "Oh, alright."

After stretching as well, Lyle began to follow his brother to the open hatch. Troy stopped for a second and looked back at his brother.

"Oh, one more thing. You’re sleeping at Lyra and Bon-Bon's tonight."

"WHAT?!"

After the party came to a close, Canvas felt a bit overwhelmed. Having received more gifts than he could have ever imagined and chatting with enough ponies to make his throat feel slightly raw, all the stallion wanted to do now was get some well-deserved rest. Nevertheless, as soon as Troy talked with him in private, it only took one mention of the Gryphon wanting to spend some "alone-time" with him to make Canvas perk up pretty quick.

Of course, in order for anything to happen, Lyle had to spend the night at Lyra and Bon-Bon's.

"Are you sure this is alright?" Canvas asked worriedly. Despite Troy's insistence, Canvas wasn't sure whether or not his friends would be fine with looking after Lyle for the night. "I mean, I don't want to impose or anything."

"Don’t worry," Lyra assured, smiling as she and her wife stood at the doorway of the barn. "We have a guest bedroom, and it won't be a problem at all." She turned over to Bon-Bon. Lyle stood by her side with an obvious scowl on his beak. "Right?"

Although he didn’t like the idea of staying with two mares he barely knew, Lyle already knew that he couldn't get out of this one. Lyra and Bon-Bon both looked alright with letting him stay for the night, and Troy certainly wasn't going to let him stay here tonight. Considering it was Canvas’s birthday, Lyle had a fairly good idea what his brother was wanting to do, which made him reluctantly nod. He wanted to avoid Troy’s plan at all costs.

"Ummm… yeah," Lyle muttered, looking away from him."No prob."

After some quick hugs and goodbyes, Lyle took his overnight bag and headed back to Ponyville with Lyra and Bon-Bon. Along the way, Lyra was quick try to pick up Lyle's spirits.

"Don’t be so upset," Lyra said with a smirk. "Bon-Bon and I are happy to have you stay for the night. You're not imposing at all."

Lyle, who was feeling a mix of fatigue and frustration, could only sigh and groan. "I'm not upset about that. It's just…"

"Just what?" Bon-Bon asked.

Looking back to Canvas and Troy’s house, Lyle shuddered a little and desperately tried to keep his mind clear.

"It's just… I REALLY don’t wanna think what those two are doing!"

Meanwhile, back at the house, Canvas was in their bedroom, sitting in the nest anxiously. As soon as Lyle left with the mares, all Troy told him was to wait upstairs. While he still felt tired, the stallion was curious and excited about what his fiancé had planned.

Still downstairs, Troy called up to Canvas in an especially sensual tone of voice. "You comfortable, birthday boy?"

Blushing heavily, Canvas giggled a little before replying nervously, "Y-yeah… I am…"

A low chuckle could be heard, which slowly changed to the sound of Troy’s steps as he made his way up the stairs. Since the only light was coming from the Discord lamp beside the nest, Canvas was only able to see the outlines of shadows at the stairwell.

As soon as Troy stepped out of the darkness, Canvas's jaw fell agape as he stared at his fiancé, wide-eyed.

Troy, a lustful grin on his beak, narrowed his eyes on his lover and stood at the base of the nest proudly. Covering nearly every inch of his body—except for his claws and beak—a tight layer of bright blue latex hugged against every curve and crevice of the Gryphon's muscular body. Along his chest, where the outlines of every feather was visible, the lightning-pattern of yellow moved downward toward his waist. On top of his head, also covered with the glossy material, a pair of golden flying goggles sat above his eyes.

Canvas, unable to even blink, could only stare in astonishment. As he marveled at every inch of his glorious body, Canvas tried to move his muzzle, but no words were able to come out. Right now, all that Canvas could think was one thing.

Troy was dressed as a Wonderbolt.

"Happy Birthday."

Canvas tried to breathe, but his breath came in an extremely shaky gasp. Happy to see how speechless he made the blushing stallion, Troy licked his beak and slowly began to walk closer to him.

"Remember when you mentioned you had a crush on Soarin back in high school?"

Canvas slowly nodded and tried to clear his throat. "Y-you… you look… you look way, WAY hotter…"

Troy chuckled again as he continued in a seductive tone, "Good… I asked Rarity for a little favor, and she agreed to make this for me… I paid good money for this, and you can do whatever you want with it…"

With a loud "whoosh,” Troy's wings shot out, further emphasizing the Gryphon's massive size and strength as he grinned down at Canvas.

"I decided to give you something you'd really… really like…" While his claws pressed down against the various blankets that made up the nest, Troy kept his golden eyes on Canvas as he kept speaking in an increasingly sultry tone. "So… You get to be with a Wonderbolt for the night… And no one is going to bother us all night…"

Crawling towards Canvas in a lustful prowl, Troy licked his beak as he brought his head in towards the shaking stallion. With every word he spoke, he brought his head in even closer as he eyed him down like a fierce beast stalking its prey.

"It's all for you, Canvas… And you can do…

"Whatever…

"You…

"Want."

Canvas gulped and tried to breathe normally. His thundering heartbeat and blushing cheeks were more than enough to show that he was beyond turned on right now. Sweating heavily, Canvas shakily opened his muzzle and tried to speak in a faint and meager tone.

"This… is the hottest thing you've ever done…"

Grinning widely, Troy leaned down so his beak was against Canvas's ear.

"So… What do you want to do first, birthday boy?"

With a huge grin on his muzzle as well, Canvas looked up at Troy, almost feeling like a helpless piece of prey under the Gryphon's powerful grasp.

Of course, that was how he liked it.

"Put those goggles on," Canvas said with a growing smile on his flushed face.

Troy happily obliged, covering his eyes with the thick, round lenses as they shone within the bedroom. Canvas giggled in delight as he looked up at him, no longer feeling tired at all.

Troy bent down as he began to give his stallion the best gift he can possibly give. However, before his beak could press against Canvas's lips, he paused.

"Ummm… Canvas?"

"Yeah?" Canvas asked in nearly a moan, not wanting to stop when he was this close.

"Could you… maybe cover that lamp or something?"

Canvas looked over, seeing that the Discord lamp caught Troy’s eye. "W-why?"

"Just… please? It looks like he's staring at us."

Noticing how uneasy Troy was looking, Canvas sighed before putting a hoof out and turning off the lamp. After covering the lamp with a pillow case, Canvas regrew his sensual grin as he looked up to the Gryphon illuminated in the moonlight. Seeing how his goggles shone against the darkness, Canvas was quick to pull him in, anxious for their night to begin.

Lyle looked over at the clock laying on the nightstand by his bed, showing that it was almost 2:30 in the morning. Groaning under his breath, he slumped back against the bedding, hating that he couldn’t get to sleep right now. Despite feeling extremely tired, Lyra and Bon-Bon's guest bed didn’t feel comfortable at all. Heck, even the couch back at Troy and Canvas's place was more comfortable than this.

Lyle tried to move his pillows around some more, though he knew that would probably be pointless. As he laid back down, he heard a faint voice coming through the wall behind him.

"…Psst! Hey… Hey, Bon-Bon…"

"… Hrmm? Wha… What? What is it?"

"…I think Lyle's asleep…"

Lyle immediately shot up as he sat upright in the bed, wide-eyed. While this felt disturbingly similar to his first night at his brother's place, the idea of mare-on-mare made him keep his mind and beak shut.

"Ugh! Lyra, come on! Just go back to bed…"

"Come on… I know you want to…"

Lyle's wings shot outward quick enough to make a loud “pomf.” He turned to the wall behind his headboard.

"Lyra, no!" Bon-Bon moaned as she sunk her head in against her pillow. "Not tonight! What if Lyle wakes up?"

"Oh, don’t worry about it…" Scooting in closer to her wife, Lyra kept a hopeful grin and nuzzled her neck softly. "I'll be sure to really, really quiet…"

"Nnnnnn… Come on…" Despite how pleasing Lyra's lips felt as she softly began to kiss her neck, Bon-Bon tried to move away from her wife's advances and get some much-needed sleep. "I got that Running of the Leaves tomorrow!"

"Hmmm…" Licking her lips, Lyra bent in towards Bon-Bon's ear and whispered faintly, "I guess I'll have to make it a quickie, won't I?"

"Ergh… No…" Although she was starting to feel less opposed to the idea, Bon-Bon was still worried enough to look back at Lyra insistently. "Honey," she whispered, "you can at least check before trying anything tonight. Okay?"

Bon-Bon slumped back into her pillow, prompting Lyra to groan and roll her eyes. "Oh, fine! I'll check…"

With a disgruntled look on her face, Lyra lit her horn so the room grew a green glow. Turning to the wall behind their headboard, Lyra used her magic to make the wall turn transparent, hoping to just see Lyle asleep in the guest room before they could have some fun.

As soon as she looked into the other room, Lyra saw Lyle looking back at her with his ear on a glass against the wall.

"AHH!"

Lyle dropped the glass and threw himself back into bed. Lyra, mostly surprised herself that Lyle was still awake to hear them, dropped her spell just as quickly and settled back into bed.

As he laid against the pillow, hoping that Lyra wasn't going to barge in angrily, Lyle was still able to overhear Bon-Bon's voice through the wall.

"What happened?"

"Uh, n-nothing! Never mind, let’s go back to sleep."

"Wha… Why? What happened?"

"Nothing, I just changed my mind. Goodnight!"

…

"He was still awake, wasn't he?"

"Er—no! I… I'm just tired now. Night, honey!"

"… Ugh… I can’t believe you…"

Hoping to just ignore what had just happened, Lyle tried to lie still and get a proper night's rest, despite how much his wings were shaking from stiffness. While he shut his eyes in an attempt to get some sleep, a million different thoughts flowed through his mind. All he could think about was how awkward tomorrow morning was going to be.

"Alright, guys!" Bon-Bon happily called out as she stood by the stove, "Breakfast is ready!"

Lyle, who was already in the bathroom cleaning himself up, made his way to the hallway with an eager smile on his beak. As soon as he saw Lyra a few feet away, the Gryphon's smile quickly dropped when he saw her worried look.

Before Lyle could say anything, Lyra put a hoof up and said in calm and direct tone of voice, "Let's just get one thing clear, alright? You never heard me last night, and I never saw you through the wall. Deal?"

Lyle blinked a couple times in bewilderment before quickly nodding. "Uhhh… yeah. That's right. I was asleep."

"Good." A chipper smile quickly spread across Lyra’s face. "Come on! Bon-Bon makes the best pancakes!"

As Lyra made her way to the kitchen, Lyle followed with a smirk of his own. "I dunno. Canvas makes some pretty good waffles."

"Well, we'll see about that!"

Happily enough, Bon-Bon's pancakes really were fantastic. Since the mare's special talent lay with making delicious sweets, it wasn't much of a stretch that she was also able to make absolutely delectable strawberry pancakes. And since she never cooked for a Gryphon before (besides having Troy test out some of her more experimental candies), she was quite pleased when Lyle helped himself to a third serving of her pastries.

"Geez, Lyle!" After getting her own fill of her wife's food, Lyra was fairly surprised to see Lyle still going without much resistance. "Do Gryphons have, like, a second stomach or something?!"

"Oh, leave him alone," Bon-Bon said. "He's a growing boy! Besides, I still remember when YOU first tried my fried zucchini."

Immediately frowning at that memory, Lyra grumbled under her breath and looked away from her wife. While her fried zucchini really was amazing, the constipation she got the next day after eating so much of it wasn't fun at all.

"Man," Lyle muttered before swallowing his last bite, "these are great pancakes, Mrs. Bon!"

Bon-Bon covered her mouth and tried to keep herself from giggling. "It—it's fine, Lyle… Hehehe… But you can just call me Bon-Bon."

Lyle, seeing how much both Bon-Bon and Lyra were snickering, blushed a little and looked away sheepishly. "Um… sorry."

"Oh, don’t be!" Bon-Bon eyed the Gryphon curiously. "Actually… Would you mind helping me out with something?"

Lyle shrugged before replying, "Uh, sure. What is it?"

"Well…" Smiling, Bon-Bon put the dirty pans in the sink before looking back at him. "I was planning on giving out some free samples of my newest candies before the Running of the Leaves today, and I wouldn't mind having some extra help while Lyra stays here to tend the shop."

After glancing at Lyra, who nodded, Lyle shrugged again as he looked back at Bon-Bon. "Alright. I was planning on going there anyway to check up on Troy, so why not?"

"Great!"

Once breakfast was finished, Bon-Bon grabbed two large saddlebags of candy for herself and Lyle to carry on their way to Whitetail Woods. Fortunately enough, the saddle didn’t seem to cause any discomfort to Lyle, despite it being meant for a mare instead of a Gryphon. After giving Lyra a quick peck, Bon-Bon began her trek towards the Running of the Leaves, Lyle in tow.

Lyra, who was keeping her eyes narrowed on them as they left, waited until they were out of sight. After flipping the sign at the window over to indicate the shop was closed, Lyra kept a devilish grin on her muzzle and happily trotted over to Bon-Bon's figurine room.

Though she promised her wife that she would stop, Lyra only said that she wouldn't do it while the store was open. Right now, the shop was closed. She had no regrets as she floated a bobby pin out of her mane and began to jimmy the lock open while whistling a little tune.

After getting the door open with ease, Lyra's smile grew to a creepy grin as she looked at she various shelves inside. Looking at the figures displayed proudly of each shelf, each made with precision by her wife of almost everyone in town, Lyra stepped inside and spoke in a mischievous tone.

"Hello, my pretties…"

Giggling to herself, Lyra walked around the room and scanned each shelf. She freely spoke to herself as she looked around.

"Oh, Lyra… Who, oh who, should I ship today?"

Still giggling like a schoolfilly, Lyra lit her horn as she began to make her choice. She first floated down the figures of Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, taking a second before shaking her head and putting them back.

"Nah… That's too overdone."

She then grabbed the figure of Rarity with her magic, and thought about it for a moment before also grabbing the figure of Zecora. After looking at them together, Lyra shook her head again before putting them both in their proper places.

"Nuh-uh… What weirdo would think THAT up?"

Lyra continued to look around the room, wanting to try something new while her wife was out. "Come on… Who would be a good pairing to try out…"

Lyra's eyes widened as she noticed two particular figures, making her grow a wicked grin as she got a particularly fun idea.

"Ooh… Lyra, you naughty mare."

Though he wasn't as used to walking as he was flying, Lyle was barely breaking a sweat as he chatted with Bon-Bon on their way to Whitetail Woods. If he hadn’t noticed the foliage starting to change around them, he wouldn't have realized how far they had already walked. Along the way, the mare was happy to talk about Ponyville's various traditions, including the Running of the Leaves.

"… Since we mostly had Earth ponies when Ponyville was first formed, running was one of the most effective methods to get all the leaves off the trees." Bon-Bon pointed up to the trees above them, which looked absolutely beautiful at this time of day. With the skies shining a flawless, clear blue (courtesy of the Weather Team), all the various autumn colors of red, yellow, and other hot shades just stood out even brighter for today. Honestly, Lyle was kinda disappointed that they had to be removed today.

Bon-Bon finished cheerfully, "It's one of the longest-running traditions in Ponyville, so it's always a big deal around here. We like to think of as sort of a big farewell party for Autumn, like we're celebrating its beauty before bringing in Winter!"

"Huh…" Looking up at the trees and their vibrant foliage, Lyle thought about if for a second before nodding in agreement. "You know, that's not a bad way to think of it."

"Yeah." Bon-Bon smiled. "Honestly, I think it was Pinkie Pie who came up with tha—"

WHOOSH!!!

A heavy gust of wind blew above them, nearly knocking the two over at the sudden force. While a large array of leaves blew around them, leaving a large amount of trees almost bare in its path, Lyle managed to look up and see the source. Even though Bon-Bon was only able to catch a glimpse of brown and tan before disappearing off in the skies, she didn’t seem to notice Lyle's worried look when she got up with an angry look on her face.

"Just who the heck was that?!" Looking back and seeing how many trees got blown bare from that disrespectful flyer's actions, Bon-Bon huffed, scowling. "I can’t believe that somepony would just fly past like that and nearly mess up everything!"

"Uh-oh…"

"Hmm?" Bon-Bon saw that Lyle was looking up at the skies with wide-eyed concern. After blinking a couple times, Lyle slowly turned over to Bon-Bon before speaking in a worried tone of voice.

"I… I think…

"I think I just saw the triplets."

Author's Note

That's right! We'll be seeing the Triplets in the next chapter, so get excited!

Also, what crazy ship do you think Lyra's gonna do? Put your guesses in the comments below!

Chapter Eighteen: Blaze, Blade, and Blane

Due to the Running of the Leaves, Ponyville’s streets were fairly empty. Aside from a few, it seemed that most ponies still around were just manning the shops and stores. Despite the lack of potential customers, many of the stores were still open.

In fact, Bon-Bon left Lyra to tend to their candy shop while she went to the Running of the Leaves, just in case. Of course, as soon as her wife left, Lyra was quick to put up the "Closed" sign to have a little personal fun.

While the shop lay empty of any customers, Lyra sat in the stool behind the counter, giggling as she played with two of Bon-Bon's hoof-made figurines. Despite how much her wife had scolded her, she couldn't just let the dolls stay on the shelves every day.

Especially when she could play out rather questionable shipping scenarios with them.

And right now, Lyra had a particularly large grin as she lit her horn. In her magical aura were two of her wife's figurines. As she bobbed one of the dolls in her magic, which was of a particular orange mare and her trademark Stetson, Lyra kept a dorky smile as she tried to speak with the unmistakable twang of Applejack's accent.

"But, big brother! We shouldn't! Our love is forbidden! No pony'll ever understayand!"

Giggling under her breath, Lyra then began to move around the other figure in her grasp, which was made to look like Big Macintosh.

"Ah don't care, Applejack," Lyra continued, trying to speak in a deep tone of voice. "It doesn't matter that yer ma sister. All Ah know is that Ah love ya! And Ah wanna be wit' ya! Forever an’ ever!"

Lyra cleared her throat before bringing her attention back to the Applejack figurine. "You… Ya really mean that, Big Mac?"

"Eeyup."

Blushing in guilty pleasure, Lyra spun around on her stool and continued to speak with the figures in her aura. "Oh, kiss me, big brother! Kiss me right on the lips—AAHHHH!!"

Lyra froze in her seat. She immediately extinguished her aura, dropping both of the figures onto the counter. Unable to move an inch from her spot, there was nothing she could do but look across the counter in pure horror.

Lyra may have put up the “Closed” sign, but that didn’t mean the door was locked.

Apple Bloom now stood across the counter from Lyra, staring at her, wide-eyed and jaw agape.

Sweat began to bead on Lyra's forehead, who was completely petrified. Her breath coming in faint, rapid gasps, she slowly opened her muzzle and desperately tried to think of something to say.

"Ahhhh… Uuuhhhh…"

Apple Bloom, still silent, looked between Lyra and the figurines of her two older siblings laying on the counter with a shocked expression.

Not wanting the filly to run out screaming—or run to tell her family of the incestuous debauchery she had just seen playing out—Lyra slowly brushed the two figures aside. She laid her forelegs on the counter and bent in, a worried grin on her face.

"Uhhh… H-hi, Apple Bloom…"

Apple Bloom looked over at the figurines Lyra tried to move out of sight, slowly turning her head back to the mare, blinking repeatedly.

Lyra began tapping her hooves together, hoping to think of something to say. A small, metal trash bin caught her sight, which made her begin to grin.

Lyra looked back at Apple Bloom with a smile as she narrowed her eyes on her, then lit her horn to float the trash bin towards them.

"Say… You know how to keep a secret, Apple Bloom?"

In Ponyville town square, not a single pony could be found. The city remained still as three large figures landed from above.

Of those three, two of them landed rather abruptly on the ground, making it ripple as their paws and claws thunderously struck the Earth. The two held up a large map and began scanning it. After a brief moment, one spoke in a brash tone.

"Dude, this map is retarded!"

The map was quickly crumpled, then tossed aside. Brushing dirt off his brown feathers, a very large and muscular Gryphon looked around with a disgruntled look on his face. Atop his head, most of his feathers had been trimmed down short, making him resemble something close to a Bald Eagle. While his beak was much larger and more jagged, the Gryphon still looked fairly similar to Troy, despite his grander size.

He lifted a claw and used a talon to pick the inside of his ear. "Are you sure this is where Troy is supposed to be?" the Gryphon asked, looking to the near identical one beside him.

While the two looked fairly similar to each other, the second brown-and-tan Gryphon had a slightly slimmer build than the first. Unlike the first, the feathers on his head were grown rather long. Several hung over his face and had been put together into a makeshift braid. A heavy coat of eye shadow was painted underneath his golden eyes and against the brown feathers on his face,

"Oi dunno, man," the second Gryphon said, looking around while speaking in a very poorly imitated Trottingham accent. "That bloke back in Cloudsdale said that he hung out around here."

The first Gryphon groaned under his breath. He glared at his brother. “Blade, are you sure this is the right place?!"

"Oi!" Blade put his claws up in protest before pointing at a billboard nearby. "Don’t lay this on me, man! The sign over there says Ponyville! We're at the right spot!"

Blade looked over and narrowed his eyes on the sign for a moment before adding, "Ya know, you'd think these ponies would come up with a more creative name than that."

"Hey, Blaze! Blade! Check this out!"

The two looked over to the source of the voice to see the third Gryphon perched atop the roof of Sugar Cube Corner. Much like the first two, the third Gryphon had the same brown-and-tan colors adorning his feathers and fur. The feathers on his head were worn similar to Troy's. However, this Gryphon was also much larger than the other two, almost looking like a hulk with his massive size and muscles.

Leaning off the roof, which was made to look like a dollop of whipped cream with a cherry on top, the Gryphon had a huge grin on his face as he pointed to the structure. "Look how big their candy is here!"

The first Gryphon, Blaze, face-clawed before pointing up at him. "Blane, get off of there! That's not candy!"

"Yeah it is!" Blane said matter-of-factly, glaring down at his brother. He grabbed the giant cherry next to him and broke off a huge chunk, leaving a hollow hole. Unaware that it was just a large piece of fiberglass painted candy-red, Blane tried to take a bite of the shard he held in his claw.

"P'TOO!" Blane immediately spat out the piece, realizing that Blaze was right as he looked at it with disappointment. "Dammit," he muttered, tossing the piece aside, "that would've been cool."

Blane flew back down towards the other two, leaving a very noticeable hole in Sugar Cube Corner's roof.

Blade looked at his brother with a deadpan stare. "Are ya seriously that bloody stupid?! You think ponies actually live in REAL bloomin' cupcakes?!"

Blane glanced at the bakery for a second, staring at it up and down before turning back at him. "Why not?"

Blade groaned and rubbed his temples with two talons. Blaze, now looking at the bakery as well, sighed before growing a furrowed brow.

"Good going, numbnuts. Now I'm hungry, and we can’t go in there because you broke the friggin' place!"

"Hey, don't blame me!" Blane pointed a talon at his slightly smaller brother. "These ponies shouldn't make delicious-looking houses that AREN'T edible!"

Blade, not wanting to hear his two brothers bickering, rolled his eyes and looked around. He flipped the braid off from over his eyes before reluctantly admitting, "Ya know, food does sound pretty good right now."

Blaze asked, "Where should we go?"

At that moment, Apple Bloom happily trotted past them with a huge smile on her face. On her back, a large metal bucket was filled to the brim with candy.

The three stared at the filly for a moment, then turned their heads in the direction she had came from. Noticing the mint-and-pink building in the distance with the sign "Bon-Bon and Lyra's Confectionary" at the top, the triplets looked at each other before nodding in unspoken agreement.

"Yeah," Blade said with a smirk, "candy sounds alright."

The three walked towards the shop, unsure why the town looked so barren today. While the town seemed to be a fairly well-sized place, only a couple ponies could be seen in the distance, who just stared at the three Gryphons with uneasy eyes.

As Blane used a massive claw to grab the doorknob of the shop (which had been locked as soon as Apple Bloom had left), Blaze noticed the sign in the window.

"Oh, come on! Why is this place closed?!"

"Huh?" Blane turned around at Blaze's question, accidentally breaking off the doorknob that was still in his grip. At hearing the distinct snap, the three looked down at Blane's claw.

"How many things are you gonna break today?!" Blade shouted. "Did ya even check to see if the door was locked?!"

Looking between the broken doorknob and the door, Blane simply shrugged before tossing the knob over his shoulder. "Eh, it's not locked anymore!"

Before either of them could say anything, Blane pushed the door open. Due to his huge size, the Gryphon was just barely able to fit in through the door as he shouted out, "Hey, is anyone in here?!"

"AAAHHH!!!"

Lyra, still sitting behind the counter, nearly jolted off her stool at hearing a new voice in the empty shop. She quickly tossed the figures of Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadance out of sight with her magic, then used a hoof to swipe the figure of Shining Armor off the counter.

Lyra leaned her hooves onto the counter before putting up a hasty smile and blurting, "Welcome to Bon-Bon and Lyra's Confectionary how can I help you?"

"Oh, cool," Blane said, looking back at his brother, "the shop's open, you guys!"

The three Gryphons immediately made their way into the shop, which made Lyra sigh under her breath. While she was glad these three didn't see what she was doing, she really wanted to have some alone time before putting that sign back to “Open”. Of course, the prospect of making some sales made her smile and speak up in a cheerful tone.

"So, what brings you guys here to Ponyville today?"

While Blaze and Blane looked through the shelves of intricately placed jars of licorice, Blade turned to her. "Oh, we're just looking for our brother Troy—"

Upon seeing the unicorn behind the counter, Blade’s eyes widened a little before he grew a leery smirk. "Why, hello there…"

"Wait, you're Troy's brothers?" Lyra's smile grew as she approached them. "I've heard a lot about you three! It's nice to finally meet you! My name's Lyra."

Lyra put out her hoof to Blade, who shook it graciously and gave her a seductive grin. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lyra. Name's Blade. Blade Clawston."

Noticing Blade's accent, which was suddenly coming out more well-practiced than before, Lyra tried not to giggle at how ridiculous it still sounded. "That's… quite an accent you got there."

Blaze and Blane both groaned. "Don’t encourage him," Blaze grumbled. "He spent two weeks in Trottingham, and he hasn't stopped talking like that since!"

"Oi!" Blade glared back at him. "Can't ya see I'm talkin' wit' the lady here?!"

Blade immediately regrew his flirty smirk before turning back to her. "Now… Where were we, Miss Lyra?"

"Ummm…" After taking a step back, Lyra kept her optimistic (and slightly cautious) smile as she replied, "Well… I believe you guys were looking for your brother Troy, right?"

She then looked over at the other two before adding, "Because I'm pretty sure he's over at Whitetail Woods right now. The Running of the Leaves is today, and I know he's supposed to be working on weather duties there."

"Oh, cool." Blaze looked over at Lyra from one of the shelves. "Hey Lysol, you ponies got toilets around here?"

Lyra, slightly taken aback, blinked a couple times before pointing a hoof to the back room. "Ummm… The restroom is in the back. And it's Lyra, by the wa—"

"Alright, thanks, Lime Drop!"

Blaze then made his way to the back of the show, while Lyra stood in the front with a confused look on her face. As soon as he reached the small hallway in the back, Blaze called out, "No way! There's a friggin taffy room!"

Blane, who was sticking his talons right in the giant vats of jelly beans, quickly made his way to the back after hearing his brother. As he hurriedly shuffled between the shelves, which made the floors shake slightly and almost caused several items to fall over, Lyra looked on in worry before shouting out to them.

"Hey, the taffy room is for employees only!"

The two were already gone, leaving Lyra to groan before heading back to the register. Blade kept a perky grin on his beak as he followed her.

As soon as Lyra got back behind the counter, Blade leaned across and continued to speak in a flirty tone. "So, Lyra… I couldn’t help but notice your flank…"

Lyra immediately looked up at Blade with a surprised and angry glare.

"It's nice to see a fellow musician," Blade added, pointing a talon down at the golden lyre resting on her side. Before Lyra could realize he wasn't just staring at her like a piece of eye-candy, Blade polished his claws on his feathered chest and spoke in a more cocky tone. "You know, I'm a musician too. Troy may have mentioned my band, Talon Ripper? It's one of the biggest hardcore metal acts in the Gryphon Kingdom, you know."

Lyra, unsure of whether or not this Gryphon was dumb enough to actually be hitting on her, stared at him cautiously. "Uhhh… yeah. He may have mentioned it. Of course, I'm not much of a metal fan myself."

"That's alright.” Blade bent his head in closer, eyeing the mare with an enticing smirk. "So… How do you like your eggs?"

Lyra raised an eyebrow. "Beg pardon?"

"You know," Blade continued, "how do you like them cooked? Scrambled, over-easy, sunny-side up?" The smirk on his beak grew as he added in a playful tone, "Perhaps you like huevos rancheros?"

Blade's eyebrows rose a few times, leaving Lyra even more confused. "Umm… Why are you asking me how I like my eggs?"

Blade chuckled a little before bending in and speaking in a more confident tone.

"Because I'd like to know how to cook them for you in the morning."

Lyra's eyes widened as she started at Blade in frozen silence. After taking a second to process what Blade was trying to imply, Lyra tried to purse her lips shut in an attempt to keep herself from laughing. "Mmf… Gggg…"

Nevertheless, it wasn't enough. Lyra clenched her eyes shut, looking away from Blade to crack up rather loudly. "BWAAA… HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA!!!!"

While Blade now looked slightly confused, Lyra was barely able to stand upright as she kept howling in laughter. "HA HA HA HA HA HA… Hehehehe… That… That is the corniest pick-up line I’ve ever heard!!"

"Uhhh…" Blade faltered and looked away for a second. When Lyra began to come down from her laughter, he looked back at her before adding in an optimistic tone, "Well… I made you smile, right?"

Still stifling a few giggles, Lyra put up a hoof as she tried to calm herself down. After a couple deep breaths, she looked back at Blade with a smile. "Alright… Blade, is it? Listen, I appreciate it, but you are barking up the wrooooong tree!"

"Aww, come on!" Blade brought back his sultry grin and tried to continue his pickup routine. "You know what they say… Once you go bird, you can't join the herd."

Lyra clenched her eyes and tried not to laugh again. "Oh, geez," she muttered, "I swear, Bon-Bon would have a field day with you."

"Oh?" Blade asked cheerfully, "Who's Bon-Bon? Friend of yours?"

After reopening her eyes and regaining her composure, Lyra bent in towards him with a smile and said, "Bon-Bon is my wife."

Blade's eyes widened in genuine surprise, which just made Lyra grin wider as she added, "And I really doubt she'd appreciate you hitting on me like that."

Blade blinked a couple times in silence and stared at her in confusion. "You… you’re married to a mare?"

"Yep.” Lyra pointed to the wall behind her. Looking up, Blade noticed a framed photograph of Lyra and Bon-Bon at their wedding, with Bon-Bon in a white wedding dress and Lyra in a black tuxedo.

Blade's head pulled back a little in surprise. After a brief moment of silence to take this new info in, the Gryphon slowly grew a more devious smile as he looked back at her.

"So… Two mares, huh?"

Lyra's smile immediately dropped, quickly turning into a warning scowl.

"Because, if so, I have a question regarding both of you…"

"Okay," Lyra began, her tone dead serious, "I'm only going to say this to you ONCE, Big Bird. If your question is in any way implying the idea of you being with either one of us, let alone both, I'll turn that beak of yours into a suppository."

Seeing the death glare Lyra gave him, Blade's smile faltered a little, his eyes filling with worry. Realizing that she wasn't exaggerating, he took a second before speaking in a more feeble (and much less accented) tone.

"Uhhh… I… have a hypothetical question?"

Before Lyra could smack Blade over the head, the sound of a loud crash jolted both of them out of any altercation. Turning their heads to the source of the loud crash, the two saw Blane slowly walk out from the back of the shop with a worried look on his face.

"Uhhhhhhhhh…" Looking between Lyra and the taffy room, Blane said quietly, "Ummm… I tried to get some taffy, and… I think I broke, like… Everything."

Lyra's eyes widened in horror. "What… What do you mean, 'everyth—’"

"BYE!!!" Blane shot his wings out and rushed out of the shop, throwing a large bag of money on the counter on his way out. Lyra looked down at the large sack of coins, which she recognized as gold Avians.

Before she could process what the buck just happened, the sound of a toilet flushing could be heard from the back of the shop. The sound of flushing immediately turned to a low gurgle, followed by the sounds of water dripping and Blaze's voice.

"Uh-oh…"

Blaze, much like his brother earlier, flew out of the shop in an instant, leaving an even larger bag of Avians on the counter.

Lyra slowly looked up at Blade, who had a nervous smile on his beak.

"Soooo… WhitetailWoods?Alright,thanksbye!"

Blade shot out of the shop, not wanting to be caught in any of the fallout his brothers may have caused. Lyra stood behind the counter with a flustered expression as she looked between the front door and the money in front of her.

"What… What the…"

Lyra glanced down at the two bags of Avians in front of her, looking closer as she poked through it with a hoof.

"Wow… This might be enough to cover what Apple Bloom took…"

Before she could say anything else, the sight of murky water pooling out from the back room caught her eye.

"Or not!" Lyra shouted, running to the back of the shop.

There was only a second of silence after Lyra went to see the bathroom and taffy room before the shop erupted with a blood-curdling scream.

"Alright! The last cloud is set up!" Wiping sweat off his brow in satisfaction, Troy looked at the large cloud in front of him as it floated directly over the last checkpoint of the track.

In recent years, the Running of the Leaves incorporated new features to make the run more enjoyable for everypony participating. Since leaving out tables of water cups proved to be slightly ineffective, Princess Twilight suggested the idea to place rain clouds at various points to refresh the runners and prevent over-exhaustion.

With all the clouds in place for the runners, there was nothing left for Troy to do but wait. A smile on his beak, Troy looked over to the massively muscled Pegasus he was paired to work with today.

"So, Snowfla—er, I mean, Bulk…" Troy tried to hide his cringe at almost calling Bulk Biceps by his old name. Although the last time he worked with Bulk was back when he was still called Snowflake, Troy didn't want to accidentally call him that and risk any offense. "Have you heard from the other crew members yet?"

Bulk rested on top of the cloud as he stretched his biceps, making them bulge even more before he grunted in reply. "Yeah," he said, stretching his tiny wings and making them buzz as they fluttered like a bumblebee’s. "They said that everything's done for the race. All we have to do is set the rain off when they arrive."

Troy rested on the cloud beside Bulk and stretched out as well. "Good. I've been meaning to get off my paws for a moment."

Before either of them could finally rest their wings, Rainbow Dash flew towards them with an agitated look on her face.

"Hey, big guys! You better not be sleeping on the job!"

Troy groaned as he slowly reopened his eyes to glare at the Pegasus. "We're not sleeping, Dash. We were just resting after finishing our job."

"I'm just checking, okay?" Huffing, Dash looked back behind her before adding, "I found Fluttershy sleeping underneath a couple trees, and she almost got a couple stray clouds near the concession stands!"

"Seriously?" Troy looked at her in confusion. "What happened to her, by the way? I remember she left the party last night pretty early."

"Beats me," Dash said, looking back at him. "Probably just had to tend to some nocturnal animals or something."

"Huh…" Hearing Bulk Biceps's voice, the two looked over at him. Bulk Biceps carried a puzzled look on his face. "That doesn't make sense. She takes care of the nocturnal animals on Tuesday nights."

Dash and Troy stared at Bulk in slight surprise. "Ummm… Bulk?" Dash narrowed her eyes on him. "How do you know that?"

Bulk stared back at her in confusion. "What?" he asked innocently. "I helped her out a couple times. Of course, I had to stop when that Discord guy kept showing up and interrupting us."

After shuddering at the mention of Discord's name, Dash rolled her eyes before looking back at Troy. "Alright, the race is gonna start soon. You sure you're good?"

"Yeah, yeah," Troy replied with a wave of his claw. "I just tap the cloud when the runners come. No problem."

"Good." Dash turned to the stallion. "C'mon, Bulk. I think we should double-check everything before the race. Some jerk blew a bunch of trees clear in the D section before any of the runners could do it!"

The stallion groaned before hopping off the cloud, hovering like an imbalanced balloon as he tried to stay afloat. "Alright, let's go."

As he watched the two fly off along the track, Troy readjusted himself on the cloud and sighed in relief. "Well," he muttered as he lay there in silence, "at least I can get some peace."

"This is baaaaad…"

Though he was beyond worried about what might happen with the triplets being in Ponyville, Lyle tried to keep it to himself as he helped Bon-Bon pass out candy to the crowds waiting at the finish line.

As soon as all their sample candies had been handed out, Lyle looked up at the skies, his face scrunched in worry. “This is really, really bad…"

"Lyle, c'mon." Bon-Bon paused as she tried to put up her concession stand for after the race. Though she wanted to make a lot of sales today, she also wanted to calm Lyle down. "This isn't the end of the world. I really doubt your brothers being here will be that bad."

"Ohhhhh, you underestimate them…" Looking back at the mare apprehensively, Lyle explained, "You don't know these guys! As soon as they go anywhere social, they end up either breaking something, pissing off someone, or setting something on fire!"

After taking another glance up at the skies, Lyle looked back at Bon-Bon and added, "Plus, I gotta find Troy before they do! I really don't wanna think what'll happen if they come by and find him making out with Canvas or something."

Bon-Bon wanted to retort, but paused and decided against it. Instead, the mare sighed before nodding. "Yeah, I can see that being a bad way to come out to family."

"Exactly!" Before Lyle could say anything else, he noticed Rainbow Dash’s technicolor trail above them. He put up a claw to wave her down. “Hey, Dash! Where's Troy?"

"Over at the last checkpoint!" Dash yelled down at him. "Why?"

"Alright, thanks!" After taking off his saddlebag and handing it to Bon-Bon, Lyle shot off to the skies to find his brother.

Confused, Rainbow Dash flew down towards Bon-Bon for a possible answer. "Okay, what was that all about?"

"Well…" After putting Lyle's saddlebag next to hers behind the stand, Bon-Bon continued to set everything up as she explained, "Apparently, Troy's bro—"

Before Bon-Bon could finish, the sound of bells ringing nearby signified that the race had begun.

"Ugh!" Dash groaned. “Great! Now I gotta make sure everything is in check before the runners get here! Sorry, I gotta go!"

Dash immediately shot back up into the skies, leaving Bon-Bon slightly perplexed about what to do.

"Oh man…" While she wanted to stay positive, Lyle's worries were starting to make her think twice about this as well. Hoping that Lyle could get to his brother before the triplets did, the mare looked up at the skies over Whitetail Woods. "I hope things don't go bad because of this…"

Canvas took a deep breath of the brisk autumn air as he jogged along at a steady pace with the other racers. Keeping a smile on his face, the stallion could barely focus on the path while he took in the sights. Above the racers, all the leaves from the trees they moved past began to break off and flow against the final winds of fall. Every refreshing breeze that brushed past Canvas and the others was complemented with a large array of leaves of every vibrant color imaginable.

Looking around, Canvas couldn't imagine how today could look any better than this. Due to how beautifully the leaves unveiled themselves around him, the stallion almost didn’t realize he was beginning to sweat again since the previous checkpoint.

As soon as he reached the next large cloud hanging over the woods, he was immediately hit with a cold and overwhelmingly gratifying blast of rain water from above, courtesy of Thunderlane. Canvas, along with the other ponies, shook any excess moisture off their fur while running, ready to hit the next checkpoint newly refreshed.

A little further down the path, Lyle was able to reach Troy before the runners could arrive. Panting heavily, the younger Gryphon tried to take a breather as he stood on the cloud in front of his brother.

"Lyle, what's going on?" Troy asked with concern, knowing that his brother usually didn’t fly around this quickly unless it was for something important.

"I… I saw…" After making a final, deep exhale to clear his lungs, Lyle looked up at his brother and said fretfully, "I'm pretty sure I saw the triplets fly past on the way here."

"WHAT?!" Troy's eyes shot wide open in panic. "What do you mean they're here?! Where are they?!"

"I saw them flying towards Ponyville when Bon-Bon and I were coming here. I wanted you to know before they find you."

Looking down at his claws in dread, all that Troy could do was stand on top of the cloud with a terrified look on his face. "Ohhhhhh, crap…"

Before he could turn into a nervous wreck at the idea of his older brothers doing Celestia-knows-what in Ponyville, the sound of dozens of thundering hooves managed to bring Troy back into reality.

Troy and Lyle both looked down from the cloud to see the first of the runners galloping in from the distance. Troy quickly sprung into action before the ponies could arrive. He hopped off the top of the cloud and flew over to the side, waiting until the ponies were within twenty feet before giving it a swift kick with his paws.

A strong torrent of fresh rainwater began to pour down from the cloud, which hit the first of the ponies below just as they made their way underneath. Happy that he got his timing right, Troy made his way back on top of the cloud as he heard the grateful sighs of the exhausted runners below. Hoping that this would be a good enough distraction, Troy sat at the edge of the cloud and watched the racers trot off with smiles on their faces.

Hanging around the middle of the pack, Canvas made sure to slow his pace as he went underneath the last rain cloud, giving off a particularly happy sigh as he felt the brisk water hit his sweating fur.

Hearing his fiancé below him, Troy looked down with a smile and decided to try something extra. Waiting until he was out from underneath the cloud, Troy swished his wing downward, making a strong gust of wind hit Canvas while his fur was still wet.

Shuddering in delight, the stallion looked up at the culprit before growing a particularly big grin. Canvas noticed Lyle sitting beside him. "Hey, Lyle! I think you might be spending another night at Lyra and Bon-Bon's!"

With that, Canvas regained his pace and headed off with a smile. While Lyle stared down at him with narrowed eyes, Troy now had a grin as he turned to his brother.

"Well," Troy said in a cocky tone, "you heard the stallion."

Lyle slowly turned to Troy with a deadpan stare. "Dude. I just told you that the triplets are around. Do you really think you're getting any tonight?"

Despite his grin, Troy glared at his brother. "You really know how to kill the mood, don't you?"

Canvas barely remembered passing the finish line at ninth place, or taking off his numbered sash before collapsing on the ground. Though the rainclouds along the track certainly helped to make the run more enjoyable, running that many miles made his hooves feel like they were on fire when he finally stopped to rest.

Feeling nearly comatose as he laid underneath a large tree, the stallion breathed heavily and savored the feeling of the shade cooling down his fur. While the other runners either laid under other shades or helped themselves to some much needed water, Canvas felt content as he began to drift off.

"Ummm… Canvas?"

Canvas's ears perked at hearing the feeble voice above him. After making a slight groan, the stallion tilted his neck to see Fluttershy staring at him with slight worry in her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

Canvas gave her a reassuring smile and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, Fluttershy. I was just resting, that's all."

"Oh, alright." Fluttershy nodded happily. Looking up at her, Canvas noticed that she had some slightly darkened bags underneath her eyes. Before he could ask about it, she added in a hopeful tone, "Do you want some water or anything?"

"Ummm… sure,” Canvas replied, despite feeling tired enough to pass out at any second. "That sounds pretty good, actually."

"Okay. I'll get you some." With a chipper, but still tired-looking smile on her muzzle, Fluttershy began to head off.

Before he could forget, Canvas called out, "Thank you for the lamp!"

"No problem," Fluttershy said with a smile. "It was Discord's idea."

With that, Fluttershy headed off, leaving Canvas to slump his head back down against the soft, cool grass underneath him. Savoring the serenity of the moment, he once again began to close his eyes, hoping to—

SMA-SMACK!

The sound of what seemed to be two hooves slapping in unison made Canvas prick his ears. Reopening his eyes, he saw Flitter and Cloudchaser storming off from a nearby tent with angry looks on their faces. The two paused before turning around, then yelled at someone who was still behind the tent.

"PIG!!!"

The two Pegasus mares flew off. Coming out from behind the tent was a large and slim Gryphon with brown feathers and a tan body, who winced as he rubbed his face with a claw.

"Cripes," Blade muttered, his face stinging from the slaps he had received on both cheeks, "what was their problem? You'd think twins would be more open to tryin' that sort of thing."

Canvas saw another claw smack the Gryphon over the back of the head. A similar-looking, but much buffer Gryphon came out from behind him. "Dude, we're trying to find Troy! Quit acting like a horndog for, like, five minutes, at least!"

"Geez, Blaze! You didn't have to hit me over the bloody head!"

"Hey, if you don't stop hitting on every mare we pass, you really are going to have a 'bloody' head!"

Canvas's eyes widened. After catching Blaze's name, the stallion could see that they certainly looked to be two of Troy's brothers. Judging by the makeup the other Gryphon had on, it seemed that the other one was the metal singer Blade.

Before the argument between the two could escalate any further, Canvas saw an even larger Gryphon come out of the tent with one of the water cooler jugs in his claw. "Hey guys! Ponies have the largest water bottles I've ever seen!"

Blade face-clawed while Blane lifted up the jug to take a swig. "That's a water cooler, you dolt!"

Blane stared at Blade with a confused brow. "So… what's the difference?"

"Hey!” shouted out a voice from inside the tent. "Where did the water go?!"

Blane dropped the jug he stole and quickly scurried away from the tent. The other two soon followed, surprising Canvas when he saw they were walking in his direction.

Despite his legs feeling nearly useless, the stallion tried to lift himself up before they could get any closer. While he tried to sit upright underneath the tree, he could overhear the three Gryphons talking amongst themselves.

"Dude! Blade, what happened to your face?"

"He got bitch-slapped by two fillies."

"Shut up, Blaze! I was just tryin' to talk wit’ them! It's called being social!"

"You tried asking two twins if they would make out in front of you!"

"It was just a suggestion! I didn't think they would overreact like that!"

"Just how high ARE you right now?"

"OI! I wasn't the one who got caught with nip!"

Blaze turned toward Blade with a bloodthirsty glare. Blane was quick enough to stand between them before either one could get their neck wrung.

Canvas, who was watching all of this from under the tree, lifted his left hoof to wipe some sweat off his brow. As he put the hoof over his forehead, a ray of sunlight bounced off Canvas's engagement ring, which happened to aim directly at Blaze's eyes.

"GAH!" Blaze put up a claw to cover his eyes as he winced. While Blane and Blade stared at their brother in confusion, Blaze put down his claw and looked around with narrowed eyes. "What the buck was THAT?!"

Canvas blinked a couple times in confusion, trying to figure out what happened before looking down to his hoof. Staring at the ring, the stallion turned his wrist slightly, noticing how it made a quick flash of light against the surface of the band when he moved it.

"HEY!"

Canvas immediately shot his head up, seeing Blaze staring at him with an angry glare. He pointed a talon at him. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Oh! Uhhh…" After looking down at his ring again, Canvas put up both hooves and looked back with a worried expression. "It was an accident!"

"Oh, really?" Blaze stormed towards the stallion. Canvas began to grow increasingly scared as he sat there, petrified in a mix of fear and exhaustion.

"Just what makes you think you can—UMF!"

Blaze was tugged back by his tail "Chill it, dude," Blane said, holding Blaze's tail with a claw. "You don't even know that guy."

Blaze kept staring at Canvas, which just made him more nervous as he tried to scoot back. At seeing the stallion under the tree, Blade narrowed his eyes on him as well. "Wait a minute…"

Blade took a couple steps towards Canvas, his eyes locked on him in a curious stare. "I swear… I think I saw you before…"

Canvas blinked as he tried to think of how any of these Gryphons would recognize him. In an instant, Blade's eyes widened and he snapped his talons as he grew a smile on his beak.

"Oh, yeah! You're that painter bloke from the Celestia photo, right? Troy's friend?"

"Um, y-yes!" Canvas smiled in relief and began to stand up. Remembering that Troy sent a copy of the newspaper headline of them with Celestia to his family, the stallion was happy that one of them was able to recognize him.

After getting back on his hooves (and wincing a little from his aching joints), Canvas put out a hoof towards Blade with a smile. "It's nice to meet you guys. My name is Canvas."

"Charmed." Blade put out a claw and shook the stallion's hoof, smiling. "Name's Blade. Perhaps you've heard of me?"

"A little bit," Canvas said, embarrassed as he let go of Blade’s claw. "I've listened to a couple of your albums before. I'm not much of a metal fan, but I really liked Dead Shopping Day."

"Aha!" Blade's smile grew wider as he looked over to his brothers and pointed at Canvas. "I like him already!"

Canvas smiled at hearing that, and turned over to shake the claws of the other two. Blade pointed at them as he said to the stallion, "The big one is Blane, and the one still looking all pissy is Blaze."

After shaking Blane's claw , Canvas saw that Blaze still did look a bit irked about being blinded by the stallion's ring. However, he still shook Canvas's other hoof while keeping a suspicious look on his face.

"So…" Blaze narrowed his eyes on Canvas. "You know where our brothers are?"

"Um, actually…" After putting down his hoof, Canvas used his other one to rub the back of his head. "I saw both of them by one of the clouds during the race. I'm pretty sure Troy has to clean up before doing anything else."

Canvas then noticed Blane seeming confused as he looked around, noticing all the ponies getting refreshments or just lying about the woods. "What's happening, by the way? Some chick back in Ponyville said something about some leaf festival or whatever."

"Oh, it's the Running of the Leaves." While Canvas began to explain, he barely noticed that Blaze began to slowly walk around him. "It's an event held every year where all the leaves are removed from the trees to make way for winter. Since that was how the founders of Ponyville used to do it, it sort of became a tradi—WHOA!"

Canvas quickly hopped away from Blaze and took several steps back. He pointed at the Gryphon with a sly smirk on his muzzle. "I know what you're doing, and you're not gonna get me that easily!"

"Huh? Wha…" Blaze stopped walking before he was able to do a full circle around him. After realizing that Canvas knew what he was trying to do, he groaned and gritted his teeth. "Dammit!"

"That's right!" With a grin, Canvas kept his left hoof pointed at Blaze. "Lyle told me about you guys' little 'fart ring' thing, so—"

Canvas felt his entire body get lifted up by his hoof, making him cry out in the sudden bout of pain from his still-aching joint. Lifting him a couple feet off the ground, Blane held the stallion by the hoof and peered closer at the band wrapped around it.

"Dude!" Blane exclaimed, glancing at Blade. "Check out the ring on this guy!"

Canvas's eyes widened as he looked up, seeing Blade staring at his engagement ring as well.

"Damn!" Blade narrowed his golden eyes on the hoofband before looking down at Canvas. "Is that white gold, mate?"

"Uhhh…" Since he realized that none of Troy's older brothers knew about his engagement yet, let alone anything about a possible relationship, Canvas glanced down at them with a fretful look as he desperately tried to think of something to say. "Y-yeah… It… it is…Can you put me down, please?"

"Oh, sorry," Blane let go of Canvas's hoof, making the stallion drop to the ground with an ungraceful “umf”. When Canvas got back up and began to rub his backside, wincing, Blane looked down at him. "Where'd you get that thing? Can you seriously afford something like that?"

"Oh, um… Well…" Afraid of what he could say to them without giving anything away or downright lying, the stallion looked away and bit his lip. "Well, I'm… sort of engaged, actually…"

Noticing how the stallion was blushing at saying that, Blaze was the first one to speak up. "Oh, uhh… Congrats, I guess." Before Canvas could look back at him, his eyes narrowed in confusion. "Wait… Isn’t it usually the girl who wears the ring?"

Canvas's eyes widened in an instant. “Oh! Umm… Well…"

"GUYS?!"

The triplets all turned around to see Troy hovering in the air with a shocked look on his face. Seeing his older brothers standing around his fiancé, there wasn't a single thing Troy could think of to say before the three shouted out cheerfully:

"NEST-WETTER!"

The three Gryphons immediately shot upward and tackled Troy before pulling him back to the ground. While Blane gripped his forelegs from behind and held him in a sleeper-hold, Troy struggled to breathe in gasping wheezes.

Blaze wrapped a claw around him and pulled him in by his neck. "How've you been, Runty?" He then noticed Troy's forelegs, lifting one up with a claw and looking at it disapprovingly. "Dude, you're like a friggin twig! Bro, do you even lift?"

"OI!" Blade, grinning with excitement, looked over at Blane while Troy was immobilized. "Blane! Do the screecher!"

Wide-eyed, Troy tried to writhe his body out of his older brother's grasp. Before he could get a chance to break free, Blane quickly wrapped his forelegs so his claws met around Troy’s chest. Troy desperately tried to speak out in a desperate rasp.

"Blane, you better no—BRAAAAWK!!!"

As soon as Blane gave his chest a tight squeeze, Troy's eyes bulged and he squawked loudly. All the triplets immediately burst into laughter.

"He still does it!" Blaze cackled like a hyena. "Do it again!"

"Stop it—BRAAAAAAAAKKKKKKK!!!"

Once again, another squeeze was enough to make Troy caw out like a dying parakeet, which caused the triplets to crack up once more. Even Canvas had to look away and struggle not to laugh at the sounds Troy was making with each squeeze.

"BRAAAKKK!!! BRAWWWWKKK!!! EEEEEEEEKKK!!!"

Blade fell backward on the grass, cackling incessantly. "Oh man! I think I'm gonna pee!"

Before Blane could squeeze any more noises out of his brother, Troy managed to break himself free in a fit of rekindled rage. "STOP IT!!!"

"Stawp it!" Blaze had his claws up as he mocked Troy's tone and said in an overly feminine manner, "Ooh, I'm too sensitive! I might worry my pony friends!"

Troy tried to lunge towards Blaze, but was stopped by Blane grabbing him by the shoulders. However, Blaze was still surprised enough to flinch at his younger brother's sudden burst of anger. "Yeesh! Kill the motor, dude! Who lit the fuse on your tampon?"

Troy growled under his breath and tried to breathe after closing his eyes. Taking a second to calm himself down and avoid mutilating anyone in front of his future husband, Troy sighed heavily before reopening his eyes to glare to Blaze. "Why… are you guys here?"

"Whaddya mean?" Blade lifted himself off the ground. "We went to your place, but it was empty, so we went to look for ya in Ponyville. Lyra told us you were here, and we was chattin' with your buddy Canvas before ya showed up."

"Wait, what do yo…"

When Troy turned to look at Blade, he had a lot of different questions to ask, starting with which house the three showed up to. Despite wanting to know whether or not they broke into Rainbow Dash's second home—as well as what exactly the three talked with Canvas about—Troy paused before looking at Blade in confusion. "Why the buck are you talking like that?"

"Ugh…" Blane let go of Troy and groaned under his breath. "Some stupid thing he picked up in Trottingham."

"Yeah," Blaze added in an equally annoyed tone, “he went there for a couple weeks, and he still hasn’t stopped talking in that stupid accent!"

"Oi! This is me natural voice!" Blade protested, his accent suddenly growing thicker. He added with a haughty grin, "Besides, it makes me sound sophisticated."

"More like retardicated," Blaze replied.

"Aw, shuddup, ya tosser! At least I'm able to get myself some decent tail wit—"

"Hey!"

Hearing the voice of a mare calling out towards them, the triplets, as well as Troy and Canvas, turned to see Rainbow Dash flying in with an aggravated expression. Lyle was flying in from behind her with a worried look on his face.

"I don't know what the hay is going on, but I just heard a lot of screeching and…"

As soon as she saw the three new Gryphons standing alongside Troy, Rainbow Dash’s expression began to soften while she landed. Her eyes widened as she looked at the triplets in realization. "Wait a minute… Are you guys Troy's family?"

"Yep!" Blane pulled Troy in by the neck and squeezed him against his chest. "Just having a little fun, that's all."

As soon as Lyle landed alongside Rainbow Dash, Blaze grinned and pointed a talon at him. "Awesome! You found the Porn-Hoarder!"

Lyle's expression immediately turned to an enraged scowl. "DUDE! I told you not to call me that!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't be drawing porn like a creeper!"

Rainbow Dash looked over at Lyle in confusion as she tried not to laugh. "Wait, what?"

"I already told you!" Lyle shouted at Blaze. "I was drawing it for someone else! It was a commission!"

"Dude, I don't care WHAT condition you have! You shouldn't be drawing old-lady porn!"

"DUDE!"

Rainbow Dash turned away from Lyle and covered her muzzle with a hoof. While she struggled not to crack up, she didn’t seem to notice that Blade was right beside her now.

"Why, hello there…" Blade raised his eyebrows up a couple times and gave her a cocky smirk. "Who might you be, m'lady?"

As soon as she noticed the flirty Gryphon standing beside her, Rainbow Dash's smile turned to worry as she took a couple steps back. "Uhhh… I'm Rainbow Dash… I work with your brother Troy."

"Hey, Troy," Blane said, keeping Troy’s neck wrapped around his foreleg, "you hittin' that?"

"WHAT?" Dash glared over at them.

"Dude, what's wrong with you?!" Troy wriggled himself out of Blane's grip and tried to regain his footing. "She's my boss, you idiot!"

"…So… You're not hitting that?"

Troy and Dash both gave strong glares towards Blane. Blaze grew a sly grin.

"Oh, c'mon, Blane! You know Troy! The only girl he's ever been with was the vacuum cleaner!"

"BLAZE!" Troy glared at his brother like he was about to maul him.

Rainbow Dash and Canvas were both looking at Troy with disbelieving smirks on their faces. Catching this, Troy looked between both of them while putting up his claws in defense. "He's lying! That's what he does! He lies!"

"No he's not!" Blade tried not to laugh. "Mum had to start hiding the vacuum cleaner after the third time she caught you!"

"PBBBBTTT!!!" Rainbow Dash immediately looked away from Troy, closing her eyes as she began to crack up loudly.

Canvas looked down to the ground and muttered to himself in contemplation, "Huh… that explains a lot…"

Troy put both claws over his head and groaned once more. It hadn't even been five minutes, and his brothers were already causing him enough trouble to warrant not seeing them for almost a year.

Among the cackling of his brothers, as well as the stifled laughter of his boss and fiancé, Troy managed to hear the feeble voice of another mare gasping nearby.

Troy turned to see Fluttershy standing nearby the tree, wide-eyed. Seeing the three large Gryphons, Fluttershy looked like she was about to pass out. "Oh… my gosh…"

Troy quickly made his way towards her, putting a smile on his beak to ensure that she wouldn’t freak out. "Heeeeyyyyy, Fluttershy…"

"It… it… it's…"

The other three looked towards her as well. Afraid of what so many new eyes would do to a mare as timid as Fluttershy, Troy put up a claw.

"Fluttershy, I… I told you about my brothers, right? Well, here they are…" Troy pointed a claw at the three as he continued. "The big one is Blane, the one with the shaved head is Blaze, and the skinny one is—"

"IT'S BLADE FROM TALON RIPPER!!!"

Troy jolted back in surprise, not expecting to hear Fluttershy say anything more than a meager squeak. When he looked back to her, he saw that Fluttershy's wide-eyed stare was now accompanied by a huge, awestruck smile at the sight of his brother Blade.

“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! OH MY GOSH!!!"

To the shock of everyone else, Fluttershy ran up to Blade with a giddy spring in her step, practically bouncing off the ground as she tried to stand still. "Oh my gosh, it's you! It's you, it's you, it's really, REALLY you!!!"

Troy, now staring at the Pegasus like she had just turned into a vampire bat, felt his beak hang open as he blinked repeatedly. "Uhhh… what?"

Fluttershy gasped as soon as she heard Troy, making her remember something when she looked back to him. "Oh my gosh! When I was at your party and saw all the albums, I thought that you were a fan too! But then you said they were your brother's, and I thought you just meant that they belonged to your brother! I didn't… I didn't think your brother was the actual lead singer!!!"

Fluttershy squealed in delight before looking back at Blade, who now had a surprised grin as he stared back at her.

Rainbow Dash, who was looking just as shocked as the others, had her mouth hung open slightly as she tried to contemplate what the buck was going on. "Wait a minute… Did you just say a fan, too?!"

Canvas could only blink as he tried to think this over. "I am so confused right now."

Blade put out a claw towards Fluttershy, keeping a sensual smirk before speaking in a more eloquent tone. "Why, I don’t believe we've met… Just who might you be?"

After another giddy squeal, Fluttershy had the biggest smile on her face as she looked up to him.

"My name is Fluttershy, and I'm one of your biggest fans!!!"

Author's Note

Now if you all excuse me, I'm going to hide in my bunker while you all rage over my headcanon.

Chapter Nineteen: Fluttercore

Rarity, with a chipper smile on her muzzle, trotted happily as she went to find Fluttershy. After Fluttershy agreed to help Rainbow Dash with some of the extra weather touches before the Running of the Leaves, the poor dear looked absolutely exhausted by the time it was all done. Though she knew that Dash wouldn't dare push Fluttershy too far, Rarity couldn't think of any other reason why she looked so tired, especially since she left Canvas's birthday party so early the previous night.

If Rarity had never found Fluttershy's saddlebag lying beside a tree, who knows what might've happened? While theft is a rare occurrence anywhere in Equestria, let alone Ponyville, it still seemed necessary for Rarity to find her friend and make sure her bag was safe.

As she rounded a hillside, the unicorn's ears perked up as she heard several voices, including Fluttershy's. Before she could reach the source of the voices, she overheard the unmistakable voice of Rainbow Dash, who made the oddest statement she had ever heard in her life.

"Fluttershy, you're a metal-head??!”

Rarity paused and scrunched her face in confusion. Did… did Rainbow Dash seriously just ask that?

Thinking she just misheard, Rarity scoffed and continued towards them. As soon as she came within sight of the source of the voices, the mare's eyes widened in confusion.

Along with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, Rarity also saw three new Gryphons standing beside Troy, Canvas, and Lyle. Before she could notice anything in regards to the brown-and-tan Gryphons, whom she assumed to be Troy's family, Rarity's attention was brought to the wide-eyed stares everyone held on Fluttershy.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was eagerly shaking the claw of the slimmer brown Gryphon, who wore black eye makeup and a growing smirk on his beak.

"Oh! Ummm…" Upon hearing Rainbow Dash's surprised statement, Fluttershy turned back to her and said bashfully, "Well… I …"

"Fluttershy," Troy said slowly, raising a claw, "do you seriously like my brother's music?!"

"Oi!" Blade glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Well, of course I do!" Fluttershy declared as she looked at Troy. "I've been listening to Talon Ripper for years!"

Rarity's head pulled back in surprise, her eyes widening.

Fluttershy turned back to Blade with an ecstatic smile. "I just can’t believe you're actually Troy's brother! Oh my gosh, I have every single one of your albums! I even have the LPs of your solo work!"

Despite being happy to meet a fan in Equestria, Blade still winced a little at the mention of that last part. He looked away and muttered under his breath, "At least someone bought those."

"In fact, I—oh, hi, Rarity!"

Upon noticing her friend standing nearby with a confused expression, Flluttershy gave a happy smile to her. Her smile then grew when she noticed her own saddlebag on the mare's back. "Oh, perfect! Thank you so much for getting my bag!"

While Rarity stood still, unsure of how to react, Fluttershy took her bag from Rarity's back and began to look around inside while she said to Blade, "It's just so great that you're here! Your newest album just came out today, and I waited out all night last night just to get the first copy of Changeling Slaughterhouse!"

"THAT was why you left so early?!" Rainbow Dash tried to not let her jaw drop again. Of all the excuses Fluttershy may have had, she never would've guessed it would be to get a death metal album.

Fluttershy pulled out the album from her saddlebag. Much to everyone's shock, she wasn't lying. Looking back at Blade with a huge grin, the usually feeble mare held a brand-new copy of Changeling Slaughterhouse in her hooves. She also held a pen in her muzzle as she began to blush slightly.

"Ummm… Blade? Would it be alright if… Well… If I could—”

Blade was already on it, pulling the pen out of Fluttershy's mouth before grabbing the album. As he started to sign Fluttershy's copy of Changeling Slaughterhouse, the mare squealed in glee and tried not to hop around like a jackrabbit.

Rarity just stared at her, jaw agape, unsure whether this was really Fluttershy, or just Pinkie Pie in the Fluttershy outfit again.

Blaze and Blane, who stood in silence with bemused looks on their faces, stared at their brother in awe. "I'm gonna be honest," Blaze finally managed, "I totally thought you were full of it when you said you had ponies as fans."

Blade looked back at him with a skewed brow. "Hey, I showed you all those letters, didn't I? I'm I have tons of fans in Equestria!"

Troy and Lyle glanced at each other, both remembering what that mare at the record store said a few days ago. Despite being told their brother's band had a fanbase here, neither of them would have ever guessed who the first fan they'd meet would actually be.

After finishing his autograph, Blade gave the album back to her, making the mare grin even wider at seeing his signature. "Oh my gosh! Thank you so much!"

Rarity glanced at the album, gasping at the sight of the cover art before holding a hoof over her mouth. "Fluttershy! Why in Equestria do you have that?!"

"Uhhh…" Fluttershy's smile faltered. "Well… I mostly enjoy it for the music…"

Canvas, who had remained silent the entire time, scratched his head and tried to comprehend how somepony like Fluttershy could be a fan of Talon Ripper. Unsure how a mare as timid as she could enjoy a band so loud and hardcore, the stallion couldn't think of anything to say before Rainbow Dash spoke up again.

"You seriously listen to death metal?! I once saw you run away from a falling twig! How the buck can you be a metal-head?!"

"I… Well…" When Fluttershy looked back to Dash, she weakly clarified, "I… don't think I can necessarily call myself a metal-head, but…" Looking down to her hooves, her pink mane fell over her face as she finished, "I… I really do enjoy Gryphon death metal…"

As a pregnant silence fell between the group, Rainbow Dash just stared at Fluttershy like she had just said the most insane thing imaginable. "WHY?! I mean, HOW?! When??!"

Fluttershy noted how everyone was staring at her with the same surprised and curious expressions as Dash. Although she shook a little at being the center of attention, the fact that one of her favorite musicians was also here was enough to help her keep her composure. After swallowing and taking a deep breath, the mare and looked back to Rainbow Dash.

"Ummmm… Do you remember back in Flight Camp, when you were roommates with Gilda?"

Rainbow took a second before nodding, remembering that Gilda had a few metal albums back when they shared a dorm together. "Ummm… yeah?"

"Well," Fluttershy continued, her blush growing, "do you remember that time I asked to borrow your Hinny of the Hills soundtrack?"

"Ahhhh…" Rainbow bit her lip as she looked away. "I… I think I… may have had that… as a gift, of course."

"Well," Fluttershy said, ignoring Rainbow's obvious hesitation, "when I went to get the album, I accidentally took one of Gilda's albums instead." She smiled at Blade and added, "Talon Ripper's first LP."

Turning back to the others, Fluttershy continued, "I didn’t realize I had the wrong one until I started listening to it back in my room. As soon as it started, I was so scared that it took me a moment before I could try to turn it off! But… then I heard Blade's voice…"

Blade stood up straight and puffed his chest out. Blaze and Blane both looked away and tried not to chuckle.

"It sounded just like the territorial call of the Great Marelay Argus, one of the loudest birds in the world! And it was so enchanting that I couldn't stop listening to it!"

While Blade's smile didn't falter, his eyes narrowed slightly at that last comment. Not noticing this, Fluttershy looked back to the others as she went on cheerfully.

"And after listening to the vocals, I started appreciating the other aspects of the music, like the rhythm and acoustics. And, before I knew it, I ended up getting a copy of the album for myself!"

"So…" At hearing the mare's explanation, Lyle raised a talon and smirked. "Are you saying that the only reason you like Blade's music is because he sounds like a bird you like?"

"Dude, shut it!" Blade glared at his little brother. "I won't hesitate doin' the plucker on ya again!"

Lyle took a couple steps back at whatever it was his older brother was referring to.

Fluttershy looked over to Lyle. "Well, maybe at first, but I really do like his music as a whole! His screeching really goes well with the guitar riffs and drum bass, and I think it's really relaxing."

Rarity's eyes widened even more in sudden realization. She covered her mouth with a hoof. "Oh! I can't even…"

Fluttershy looked back at Rarity, who had a mortified look on her face. "Fluttershy, when… when we go to our weekly spa visits, is THAT what you listen to on your headphones?!"

Fluttershy blushed as she looked away from her. "Ummm… yes. I find Peck My Pain Area to be really soothing during aroma therapy."

Rarity blinked, unable to pick up her gaping jaw. "Bu-but… I… I thought you liked the Pony Tones!"

"I do!" Fluttershy insisted. "But… I also like Gryphon death metal."

Rarity turned away from the mare. Although she knew that Fluttershy had a pair of rather expensive noise-cancelling headphones, she would've never thought it was to listen music like that. "I… I… I don't know what to say!"

"I do!" Dash blurted, rounding on Fluttershy. "How come you never brought this up before?!"

"Well… You never asked."

"Ugh!" Rainbow Dash face-hoofed and groaned in frustration. "Are you kidding me?! We've been friends for years, and I find out you like metal music NOW?!"

"Well…" Biting her lip, Fluttershy looked down to her hooves and answered meekly, "I don't really listen to much metal music. And the reason I like Talon Ripper was because… well... it helped give me the confidence to be more assertive around animals."

"Wait a minute!"

Fluttershy and the others looked back at Blade, who was staring at her in wide-eyed revelation. Pointing a talon at her, he blinked a couple times before saying faintly, "Fluttershy, did you write me a letter several years ago from Flight Camp?"

Fluttershy gasped and put a hoof over her mouth. "Ye… Yes I did!"

Blade stepped forward with a growing smile on his beak. "I remembered getting a letter from a Pegasus who told me that she fought off a bear because of my music!"

Now both hooves were over Fluttershy's mouth, as she stood in front of Blade in utter awe. "Oh my gosh! I… I can’t believe you remember that!"

"Wait a minute," Rainbow Dash said with surprise, "wasn't that when you found your pet bunny Angel?"

"Yes it was!" Fluttershy nodded enthusiastically and smiled. She then turned back to Blade and added, "When I was tending to some animals, I found a baby bunny about to get mauled by a starving bear! Even though I was scared about what might happen to me, I still managed to subdue the bear before the bunny could get hurt!"

The mare then looked down to the ground with a content smile. "Finding that little guy was one of the greatest things to ever happen to me, and I know I wouldn't have been able to do it if I didn’t get the confidence from your band's latest album at the time…"

Fluttershy glanced up at him with a blushing smile. "Angel of Mutilation."

Rainbow Dash's mouth fell agape quick enough to risk breaking her jaw. "THAT'S WHAT YOU NAMED ANGEL AFTER?!?"

"Fluttershy, dearie," Rarity said in a frantic tone, "please don't tell me that you named your pet Angel after a… rock-and-roll album!"

Fluttershy looked back at Rarity in confusion. "But… I didn't name him after a rock-and-roll album."

Rarity sighed in relief. "Oh, thank goodne—"

"I named him after a metal album."

Rarity paused, looking like she had been frozen in place. After staring at her friend in stunned silence, she began to walk away while muttering to herself, "Sweet Mother of Celestia…"

"Fluttershy…" Blade, who was looking at the Pegasus with pure admiration, walked up to her as he looked into her eyes. "That was one of the most hardcore letters I ever received…"

Blade lifted one of Fluttershy's hooves up with a claw, surprising everypony as he declared in an awestruck tone, "You… were the inspiration for Pink-Haired Banshee!"

Rarity stopped in her tracks and looked back at the two with a mix of disgust and puzzlement.

Fluttershy gasped, covering her smiling muzzle with her other hoof. "That's… That's one of my favorite songs!”

Noting how the two were beginning to blush deeply as they looked at one another, Rainbow Dash quickly stepped between them.

"Okay, okay!" Rainbow Dash put her hooves between Fluttershy and Blade. "Hey, Fluttershy, can I speak with you for a moment? Away from these guys?

"Why?" Fluttershy asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Ummm… yeah." Rainbow looked over at her and tried to come up with an excuse to keep the Gryphon with the bad accent away from them. "I, uh… needed to talk to you, ummm… about my cloud."

"OH!"

The two turned to the source of the random shout, seeing Troy with wide-eyed, horrified realization. Troy glanced at his brothers before walking over to the two mares. "Uhhh… Dash? Can I speak with you? Like, right now?"

Dash looked between him and Fluttershy before nodding. "Ummm… okay, I gue—"

Troy quickly grabbed her with a wing before pulling her out of earshot from the others. After a moment of silence, Fluttershy turned back towards Blade.

"S-so, Fluttershy," Blade began, his Trottingham accent coming out much weaker than before, "I was wondering, umm… Would… would you—"

"WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash shouted in the distance, making Blade stop and peer his head up in confusion.

Fluttershy looked back before excusing herself. "Umm… I… I should see what's going on…"

Fluttershy then galloped off before Blade could make a reply, making him slump in disappointment. "Aw, c'mon," he grumbled, "that's not fair."

Blaze and Blade both rolled their eyes. "Dude, are you serious?" Blaze said, a skeptical expression on his frowning beak. "We didn't come out here so you can get laid!"

"Yeah!" Blane added, "We're ALL supposed to get laid!"

Blaze smacked his brother over the head, making the larger Gryphon wince before snapping at him. "Dude! What the buck was THAT for?!"

Rarity, not wanting to get involved with the three, carefully made her way over to Canvas and Lyle. Meanwhile, Lyle looked over at Canvas, seeing that the stallion was still in a slightly dazed state. "Uhhh… Canvas?"

"Hm?" Canvas quickly brought himself back to reality. "What?"

"Are you okay, dude?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Canvas assured as he waved a hoof. "It's just…"

Canvas looked back at the triplets as they began to bicker amongst one another. Staring at the three, Canvas bit his lip and sighed. "I really didn’t expect this much to happen today."

Fluttershy managed to reach the secluded spot in the field where Troy and Rainbow Dash were. Of course, she was able to hear Dash’s angered voice before they even came into view.

"NO!" Rainbow Dash pointed a hoof at Troy. "NO! No, no, no, no! No bucking way, Troy!"

"Oh, come on!" Troy looked at her with a desperate expression. "It'll only be for, like, a day! Two, tops!"

"I said no, dude! You are NOT putting your brothers in my cloud!"

Troy cringed a little at Dash's insistence, but tried to stand his ground as he made his plea. "C'mon, Dash! Please?! I haven't told them about me and Canvas yet! I need a little bit of time before coming out to them!"

Dash just looked at him with a bemused stare. "Why don't you just tell them now?! They're already here!"

"Yeah! They JUST got here! I'd rather not drop a bomb like that on them when they just got off the damn train! And I know they'll be weirded-out if they see I'm living on the ground with a stallion!"

Rainbow Dash groaned and rubbed her temples with a hoof. "Didn't I talk with you about this after Lyle showed up at my place!?"

"Dash, come ooooooonnnnn!!!" Troy moaned. "I haven't told them about my new place, and I need some time before I tell them about Canvas! Pleeeeaseee?"

Dash dropped her hoof, staring at Troy with a befuddled expression. "Geez, Troy. You want some cheese to go with that whine?"

"Ummm…" Fluttershy's voice came out feebly as she tried to speak between the two. "Rainbow Dash?"

Dash and Troy both looked over at her, surprised that she was eavesdropping on them.

"Ummm… If you don't mind me saying, well… I think Troy should have the chance to tell them when he's comfortable."

Rolling her eyes with a heavy sigh, Rainbow looked over at her friend and continued to gripe. "But Fluttershy, it's my house!"

"It's only your vacation home!" Troy added in an annoyed tone. "And you barely use it anyway! I just need it for, like, one night, and I'll tell them about me and Canvas tomorrow. I promise."

Dash looked back at him for a second, seeing the insistence in his eyes before softening her expression a little. When she looked back at Fluttershy, the yellow mare smiled faintly and said, "I don't think doing that will be that bad. Don’t you agree?"

Dash looked between the two of them, pursing her lips shut as she tried not to show any sign of defeat. After a moment of silence, she closed her eyes and huffed loudly. "Oh… fine!"

Before Troy could sigh in relief, Dash pushed her face up against his and quickly added, "BUT! Those guys better not trash my place! You got that?"

"Uhhh…" Though he wanted to just nod, Troy knew his brothers well enough to know that kind of promise is easier said than done. "I'll pay for any damages those guys might cause."

Dash wanted to retort, but stopped herself before just sighing in defeat. "Just… Don’t make me regret this, alright?"

"Of course," Troy said, both claws raised in sincerity. "I'll take care of it."

"Good."

With that, Dash followed Troy as they made their way back to his brothers and Canvas. Along the way, she couldn't help looking over at Fluttershy with a wary stare. Even though she already knew her delicate friend could be a bit of a wildcard (especially after befriending Discord), she was still pretty surprised to learn that new fact about her today.

Before she could ask her any questions about her music tastes, Dash's attention was diverted along with the other two as they heard Lyle yell, "Dude, I'm being serious! GIVE IT BACK!"

When Troy flew back to the tree, he saw the triplets up in the air, tossing Lyle's sketchbook around (luckily free of any risqué drawings) while Lyle kept zipping between them. "Guys, this isn’t funny! Give my sketches back!"

Rarity tried to grab the sketchbook from the ground, but her magic couldn't focus on it from this distance as it was tossed between the three cackling Gryphons.

"Oh, quit whining!" Blaze grabbed the notebook, skimming the pages for a couple seconds before tossing it over to Blade. "We're just making sure you're not drawing porn again!"

"Yeah!" Blade added as he skimmed through it well. Lyle tried shooting toward him in a fit of rage, but he threw it to Blane before he could reach it. "You can at least draw normal porn! Not that weird-ass thing you made with Ms. Beakman!"

Lyle growled as he clenched his teeth in anger. Rarity, who was overhearing all this from the ground beside Canvas, paused and looked over at Canvas. "Ms. Who?"

Before Lyle's sketchbook could be caught by Blane, Troy shot up from underneath the three and grabbed the book. When he landed back on the ground, he could hear the triplets all groan in disappointment when he gave it to Canvas.

"Troy, why are you already being a killjoy?!" Blane shouted down at him.

Troy replied, "Why are you guys already annoying the crap out of us?!"

Blane looked at his brothers for a second, then stared back at Troy like the answer was obvious. "Uhhh… Because it's fun?"

Troy covered his face with a claw and tried to breathe as calmly as he could. While he already wanted to take the three down, he desperately tried to calm himself in an effort to be the mature one.

Luckily, Blaze spoke up before any Gryphons could get strangled or punched in the groin. "Alright, alright! We'll stop. That's not why we're here anyway…"

Blade, along with the others, landed beside Troy. He wrapped his foreleg around Troy's neck, making him struggle. "We're here to spend some quality time with our little runt boy! Ain't that right, Fluffball?"

"Errrrgh!" Troy tried to pull himself free and growled at his brother's nickname for him. "I told you to stop calling me that!"

Blaze rolled his eyes and secured his grip. "Oh, whatever, Fluffy! Stop being a little bitch and have some fun!"

"WWWOOOOOOO!!!" shouted Blane and Blade in unison, anxious to get back to the skies with their younger brothers again.

"Hey Lyle, c'mon," Blane said, pulling him in with a wing, "let's see if any of the pony bars here'll believe you're drinking age!"

"What?!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Just what do you guys think you're going to do?!"

Blade looked over at the his brothers for a second, then turned to Dash with a deadpanned reply. "We're gonna hang out, catch up, eat some burritos, and get so blitzed that one of us looks pretty."

"LET'S GO!" Blaze shouted before anyone else could speak up.

Without even getting a chance to say anything to Canvas, Troy was pulled away with Lyle by the triplets as they shot up into the skies.

Blade paused in midair and looked back at Fluttershy. He grinned and stared at her with a blush, mouthing the words "call me" before flying off.

While Fluttershy giggled a little with her own blush (much to the dismay of Rainbow Dash and Rarity), Canvas's eyes widened at seeing Troy get dragged out of sight. Looking fairly worried, Canvas tried to shout up to him before he could get out of earshot. "Stay safe, Troy!"

Nevertheless, Troy and the others were out of sight in a matter of seconds, making the stallion sigh and slump down a little. Rarity walked up to him, laying a hoof on his shoulder. "Don’t worry, Canvas. I'm sure he'll be alright."

"I know," Canvas said in a defeated tone, sighing. "It's just…"

"Just what?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well…" Canvas looked down to his tired hooves for a second and winced. "It's just that my hooves are really tired after doing that Running of the Leaves…"

Canvas looked up to the skies and sighed. "And Troy was my ride home."

Chapter Twenty: Secrets and Reveals

Even though the skies above Equestria have changed into the enchanting darkness of Luna's night, the countless clouds that made up Cloudsdale still shone just as brightly as they did in the day. While several of the more nocturnal Pegasus ponies flew about the night's skies, Cloudsdale stood fairly still and silent as it got close to midnight.

At least, it was silent, until the doors to a nearby bar busted open. While Troy and Lyle quickly ran out from the double doors in a panic, their three older brothers were all thrown out rather harshly, spilling out onto the cloud while a brash voice yelled out from the inside.

"And don't come back, you stinkin' deviants!"

Troy and Lyle groaned as they brushed themselves off, both of whom growing increasingly frustrated at how many bars they've been evicted from so far. After the triplets got themselves back up, Blade gave a bitter scowl as he looked back to the bar.

"WANKER!" shouted the Gryphon as he pointed a middle talon towards the establishment.

Troy sighed in a an annoyed tone as he tried to rub his temples clear. "Guys… Do we HAVE to get thrown out of every friggin' bar we go to?!"

"Hey!" shouted Blaze as he looked over at his younger brother. "That ass-hat in there was the one who started it!"

"You guys peed on the bar table!" shouted Troy back at them.

"He called us a bunch of animals!" replied Blane before he crossed his claws with a cocky smirk. "I figured if he's gonna call us animals, that we should mark our territory like them!"

"Ugh…" After managing to keep himself from saying anything he might regret, Troy lowered his claw and stared at his older brothers. "Can we please just get something to eat? I haven't had that much today."

Lyle sighed in agreement. "I'm with Troy here. I'd rather go to someplace where I don’t have to pretend to be a midget!"

Looking over at each other, the three brown Gryphons sighed and shrugged in agreement. "Oh, alright," groaned Blaze as he looked back at Troy and Lyle. "I don't think there are any more bars to crash around here anyways."

Troy rolled his eyes, mostly feeling grateful that his brothers are able to stop raiding Equestrian bars for at least an hour. Luckily enough, the silver Gryphon happened to know of a small place nearby that served food at later hours, which was still open when they arrived.

The restaurant, which was more of a small food stand among one of the clouds at the edge of Cloudsdale, was a personal favorite of Troy's due to their surprisingly high abundance of deep-fried food items. While the triplets crammed their way at the front counter to make their orders, Troy sat on the edge of the cloud and sighed in a mix of fatigue and slight relief. Lyle sat down next him as they both rested their wings.

"So…" Lyle sighed as he looked over to his brother tiredly. "Wha'cha thinking about?"

Troy breathed out heavily as he leaned back, grimacing a bit as he caught how much he smelled like alcohol. "Dammit," muttered the Gryphon as he smelled one of his forelegs, reeking of booze, "I can't believe they actually sprayed everyone with beer at that bar!"

Troy groaned before trying to wipe his forelegs with his claws. "Well, I'm already remembering why I left for Equestria in the first place. I swear those guys have gotten worse!"

Lyle sighed in agreement. "Yeah, they are a bit overzealous. Of course, they're probably just happy to see you again."

Troy looked over to Lyle with a skeptical expression. The younger Gryphon noticed this, and just gave a bemused stare back at him. "What? You don't believe me?"

Troy scoffed a little as he looked away from him. "Well, considering those three refused to speak to me for a month before I left, I wouldn't have thought they'd be so chipper now."

Lyle clenched his beak as he looked down to his paws. "Ah. You mean… that whole inheritance thing?"

Troy nodded lightly as he kept his head away. Remembering how upset those three were back then, Troy groaned under his breath in a bitter tone. "Yeah. I honestly thought they'd never speak to me again."

Seeing how downtrodden his brother was sounding, Lyle just chuckled with a smirk. "Just so you know, those three got to missing you before you were gone for a week!"

Troy looked over at Lyle with surprise. "Seriously?"

"Yeah! I mean, they wouldn't admit it, but it was obvious they were missing you. They wouldn't stop talking about you, and they were constantly making jokes and stuff."

"Like what?" Troy asked as he grew a skeptical grin.

Looking over at his brother, Lyle tried not to giggle as he scrunched his face in. "Well, they brought up the vacuum cleaner incident like, fifty times!"

"Ugh!" Troy face-clawed as he avoided his brother's stare. "For crying out loud, I was getting lint off my legs!"

"Mom said you were moaning!"

"SHUT UP!"

Lyle looked away from him as he cackled under his breath. While Troy kept his head away and groaned in frustration, Lyle took a second before looking back to him. "I'm just saying, those guys really missed you the instant you left."

Despite his upset state, the Gryphon's eyes looked back at him in obvious reluctance.

Lyle looked back at the food stand for a moment, seeing the three waiting for their orders before turning back to Troy. "I mean, yeah, they may have acted like dicks, but I think they got over everything when they realized you were really gone. Like, they'd rather keep you around than stay upset about something like that."

Hearing the sincerity in his brother's voice, Troy couldn't help but crack a light, optimistic smile on his beak. "So… How do you think they'll react?"

Lyle raised a brow at him in confusion. "To what?"

Troy gave the younger Gryphon a deadpan stare. "You know what."

Unable to keep up the façade, Lyle cracked a smirk and rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on! I really doubt they're gonna be that weirded out."

Before Troy could make a response, the voice of Blane interrupted them. "Weirded out by what?"

Troy and Lyle both turned their heads back at the largest triplet, who gave them a confused look while holding a huge try of deep fried food.

"Uhhhh…" Troy became wide-eyed in worry as he tried to stammer out an answer. "I-I-I… Ummmm…"

After looking over at Lyle for a split second -- not seeing him giving any ideas -- the Gryphon looked back at Blane and blurted out the first thing he could think of. "I was talking about… the food?"

Troy then looked down at Blane's tray (which looked to be half the menu crammed onto it) before clarifying, "You know, the whole vegetarian thing."

"Oh." Shrugging his shoulders, the massive Gryphon squeezed himself in between Troy and Lyle to sit down. "Yeah, that bites! Why can’t they at least have chicken strips or something!?"

Seeing Blaze and Blade coming towards them with their food as well, Troy made some space away from his older brother before trying to explain. "Well, what do you expect? Equestria has that enchantment thing over the nation, so most of the animals are either sentient or equally intelligent to ponies. Trying to butcher them is seen as murder around these parts."

"So?" asked Blaze as he sat in beside Troy at the other side. "Then why can’t they just get meat from the Gryphon Kingdom or something?"

Troy shrugged as he tried to think it over. "Well, even then, eating meat is kinda taboo to a lot of ponies, so it doesn't sell well. Plus, it takes a while for stuff to be shipped here, so it would cost a fortune to get meat quick enough without it spoiling."

Blaze just rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I really can't see myself living in a place where I can’t have a steak."

He and Blade handed Troy and Lyle their trays. "Thanks," said Troy before taking a clawful of curly fries. "Honestly though, it's kinda hard to want a steak when you can have a nice conversation with the cattle."

"How about protein?" added Blade who was sitting at the opposite end next to Lyle. "You gotta have meat, mate!"

"They got supplements and pills," replied Troy after eating some of his fries. "They're completely free, and available to any Gryphon who needs them."

"Pbbbt!" Blaze looked away in slight disdain. "I want bacon! Not a friggin' pill!"

Troy just sighed as he rolled his eyes. "Hey, it's not for every Gryphon. It took a while for me to get used to, but I still like it around here."

Blane looked over at him in puzzlement. "What's so friggin' great about living in some vegetarian magic-land?!"

"A lot of things! I have a good job that pays well, comfortable expenses, a lot of great friends…"

Troy paused for a second as he thought that last thing over, smiling to himself as he realized how significant that last point was for him. He really did get some great friends over the past few months, including one he's planning to marry.

Of course, before he could pause for too long, Troy chuckled a little under his breath before taking a mozzarella stick from his plate. "Plus, no ponies think I'm a runt around here."

"Yeah," said Blade as he looked over to him mockingly, "because you're the only bloody one around here! I'm surprised you're not seen as a giant to these blokes!"

After taking a bite, Troy groaned before looking over at Blade. "It's called being social! I mean, yeah, I stuck out for a while, but I managed to be friends with a lot of ponies around here."

"So…" Blaze peered in closer from the other side of Troy as a small grin grew on his beak. "Any… friends with benefits?"

Troy nearly choked on his log of fried cheese, and coughed a couple times as he sat wide-eyed. "D-dude! What the buck?!"

"C'mon! I saw the way you were talking with that Rain-Blow chick!"

"It's RainBOW Dash! And she's my BOSS, you idiot!"

Blaze just rolled his eyes, and ate another helping of onion rings before speaking again. "So what? You've just been hanging out in Equestria for a YEAR without getting any action?"

Troy clenched his beak shut as he tried to look away from his brother. After a brief moment of silence, Blaze noticed the faint hint of blush on his silver feathers, making him grow a wide-eyed stare in surprise.

"No friggin' way! You totally did, didn’t you?!"

"I-I didn’t say that!" blurted out the Gryphon as he tried to keep his head away. Of course, Blane's cheeky grin was all he saw at his other side.

"Holy crap! The runt popped a cherry!"

"Urrrrgh!" Troy tried to sink his face into his claws, but was pulled in by one of Blane's massive wings. "Dude, stop it! I didn’t say anyth--"

"Who'd you bang?!" asked Blane as he held him to his side.

"Yeah!" added Blaze as he peered in closer to him from the other side. "Give us a name, Fluffy!"

While Lyle sat and looked over with a growing hint of worry, Blade narrowed his eyes on Troy before speaking cautiously. "It isn't that Fluttershy gal, is it?"

"NO!" shouted Troy as he tried to pull himself out of his brothers' grip. "It's not with an--"

Troy immediately clenched his beak shut, not wanting to finish his statement and say "any mare." Despite the fact that saying that wouldn't be a lie, it could also bring up way more questions than he'd feel comfortable answering right now. Instead, the Gryphon pulled Blane's wing off of him before making a suitable statement to finish with.

"…Annnnnyone you know."

Lyle, seeing how uncomfortable his brother was getting, tried to speak up before anything could be discovered too early. "Umm… guys? Maybe we shoul--"

"So you DID bang someone!" exclaimed Blaze while pointing a talon at Troy. He pulled his brother in by the neck with a foreleg, nearly choking him as he kept going in an excited tone. "Holy crap, you actually lost your V-Card?!"

Troy once again struggled to pry himself free. "D-dude!" croaked the Gryphon as he felt himself being choked, "I can’t breathe!"

"Who was it?!" asked Blaze excitedly. "Did you actually bang a pony, bro?!"

Even with his struggling, Troy's blush still grew noticeably redder after that last question. All three triplets stared at him, wide-eyed in surprise.

"Hole. Lee. Crap!" shouted Blane as he grew a smile. "Not even a year in Equestria, and you did it E.S. Style!"

"Can you guys just drop it?!" Troy finally pulled himself out of Blaze's grasp, almost dropping his tray of fried food as he glared at all of them. "It's none of your business who I was with, and--"

Troy paused as he looked over at Blane confusedly. "Wait, what's 'E.S. Style'?"

Blane rolled his eyes and sighed, looking at Troy like the answer was obvious. "Uh, Enter Species? Duh?"

Troy narrowed his eyes on him. "It's Interspecies!"

"Yeah. That's what I said."

Troy face-clawed and sunk his head down. "Are you kidding me?! Why wo--"

Before he could say anything else, Troy raised his head back up in realization after hearing how his brothers were acting. After looking around at all three triplets, none of whom looking upset at all about him being with a pony, the Gryphon's brows raised in revelation.

"Wait, you… you guys are alright with that?"

"With what?" asked Blaze in a puzzled tone. "Getting laid? Dude, that's awesome!"

"Yeah!" added Blade with a smirk on his beak. "I've been with a few mares on tour, and they were awesome in the nest! A little clingy, but their muzzles are unbelievable!"

Troy couldn't help but give off a guilty giggle as he turned away with a blushing smile. "Yeah, muzzles are nice..."

"Ha HAAA!!!" Blaze pulled Troy in again, cackling as he held him proudly. "See, guys?" said the Gryphon as he looked over to the others. "What'd I say? I told ya Runty wasn't feather-fluffin'!"

Troy's nervous smile immediately vanished, and was quickly changed into a frozen look of terror. Lyle also looked fairly worried when he tried to speak up. "Uhhh… Blaze?"

"C'mon, man! Who's the mare?" said Blaze happily as he looked down at Troy, not seeming to notice how petrified he was looking.

"Uhhhh… Aaaaahhhh…"

"OMIGOSH!"

All the Gryphons turned over the source of the girlish squeal, seeing two Pegasus mares with a surprising amount of piercings on their faces. Both of them looked absolutely floored in excitement when they noticed the slimmer Gryphon at the far end. "I can’t believe it! It's Blade from Talon Ripper!"

Blade quickly hopped up onto his paws, letting his tray of food fall off him and drop down from the cloud. The Gryphon didn't seem to mind though, and stood with his chest puffed out like a prideful rooster. "Why hello, ladies…"

"Ugh…" Blaze let go of Troy as he groaned bitterly. "For crying out loud… Keep it between your damn legs, Blade!"

Blade lifted a talon to flip off his brother, but never kept his eyes or sultry grin off the fanstruck mares as he flew up to them. He brought out a claw to them as he introduced himself. "Pleasure to meet both of you…"

"Omigosh!" squealed one of the pierced mares as she quickly shook his claw. "I thought Fluttershy was just kidding when she said you were in Equestria!"

"You know Fluttershy?!" asked Blade as his eared perked up in eager interest.

"Like, yeah!" chimed in the other mare as she shook Blade's claw as well. "She's one of the most dedicated members of Talon Ripper's Fan Club!"

The first mare gasped before turning to the other. "A few of them are at the record store right now!"

Blade grew a huge smile and looked back to his brothers. "Come on! Maybe Fluttershy's there!"

Blane and Blaze both gave him a deadpan stare of annoyance. "Are you friggin serious right now?" said Blane as he kept himself seated. "This is the first time we've seen Troy in like, a REALLY long time, and you wann--"

"Actually yeah, let's go!" shouted Troy in a hurried tone as he got himself up while holding onto his tray. "C'mon! Let's go to the record store!"

"Oh, come on!" griped Blaze as he looked at Troy insistently. "At least tell us who you're bangi--"

"Y-you know, I'm with Troy on this one!" added Lyle in an equally rushed tone as he got up as well. He gave a quick glance back to Troy, giving an assuring nod before looking back to the others.

"Ugh… Oh, fine!" Blaze reluctantly began to get up from his spot at the edge of the cloud, but stopped when he noticed Blane finishing off his tray of fried food. "Dude, come on!"

"Ah'm thill eadin'," mumbled Blane as his beak was stuffed with an indistinguishable amount of food. He then saw Blaze's tray unattended, prompting the larger Gryphon to grab himself a large helping from it.

"HEY! What the buck?!"

"What? You're not eating it!"

"I was gonna eat it later!"

"And I wanted to eat it now, so I win!"

"WHAT?! You still have food, you dick! Don't take mine!"

While the two Gryphons started to argue, and Blade was busy talking with the two mares (mostly about where Fluttershy might be), Lyle looked over towards Troy, seeing that he still looked rather perplexed about Blaze's earlier comment.

"Troy?" asked Lyle worriedly while tapping his shoulder.

"Wha-- Huh?" Troy shook his head out of his worried daze as he peered down. "Oh, um… hey."

"You gonna be alright?"

Seeing the tone of concern his younger brother had, Troy looked back to his older brothers before sighing deeply. "I dunno," answered Troy honestly, "I just…"

Lyle kept his claw on Troy's shoulder, making sure none of the triplets were listening before moving his head up to Troy's. "It's gonna be okay," said the Gryphon as he tried to sound optimistic.

Even though he wanted to believe his brother, mostly for his own sake than anything else, Troy could only grimace a little as he looked back at him. "Yeah… Sure."

Canvas was nearly comatose as he laid by himself in his massive nest. After Rarity and Fluttershy helped Canvas get back to his home -- with the assistance of an unattended cart -- the stallion pretty much passed out the instant he drudged his way up the stairs and into his bedding. And by the time day turned into night, Canvas's legs felt completely numb as he slept in his nest without an inkling of movement or disturbance.

Of course, if Troy hadn't have stumbled back to their home so loudly, Canvas may have not been woken up enough to raise his ears in grogginess. "What the… Troy? Is that you?"

"Yeah," moaned the Gryphon as he made his way up the stairs tiredly. Noticing Canvas slumped out in the nest, Troy's tired face turned more guilty before plopping in the bedding beside him.

"Sorry for waking you up," muttered Troy as he laid beside his fiancé.

"Oh, that's okay…" Despite feeling way too tired to even move, Canvas nestled in closer beside the Gryphon as he savored the feeling of his warm feathers. "I'm just glad you're alr--"

Canvas's head quickly pulled back as his muzzle scrunched in a little. "Ugh! What happened!? You smell you fell in a vat of beer!"

The Gryphon groaned even more in guilt. "Blane thought it would be funny to grab the nozzle behind the bar and spray everything." Troy then pressed his head in harder against one of the pillows as he tried to get comfortable. "Plus, the guys tried to get me to hit a beer bong."

"Hmmm…" Even though he figured his fiancé's brothers would try something like that, Canvas was still a bit overwhelmed at how strong the Gryphon reeked of alcohol. Seeing this, Troy quickly put up a claw to clarify.

"I'm not drunk," said the Gryphon honestly, "I swear, I'm just tired. Besides, I'd probably have to drink two or three gallons of Equestrian booze to get wasted."

Canvas just gave a reassuring smile before nuzzling him again. "It's okay. I believe you…" As he closed his eyes and laid in closer to Troy, the stallion waited a moment before looking back up at him. "So… where are your brothers?"

"Drunk," said Troy bluntly before looking down at Canvas. "That's how I know how much booze would be needed."

Canvas's brows raised in surprise. "Really? Even Lyle?"

"No!" said the Gryphon insistently. "He's fine. I think he's sleeping back at the cloud. But after getting kicked out of six different bars, we met up with a bunch of Talon Ripper fans who managed to successfully get the triplets hammered. After partying with them for a few hours, they went back to Rainbow Dash's vacation cloud, which they think is MY place."

"Oh…" Canvas sighed as he rested beside his love, feeling rather grateful that the Gryphons didn’t try to get a preteen drunk. "Well… I guess things are working out well enough…"

Troy could only groan out in dread as he laid beside the stallion. "Rainbow Dash is gonna kill me when she gets her place back!"

"Oh, don't be like that," said Canvas assuredly. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Oh yeah?" asked Troy in a slightly cynical tone. "Those three are black-out drunk right now, and tore down one of the walls to make the living room bigger! The only reason I managed to get out is because they were too busy having a farting contest."

Still lying in the nest semi-consciously, Canvas blinked a couple times when he looked up at the Gryphon. "Ummm… huh."

"Yeah." Troy closed his eyes as he breathed out heavily, letting the comfort of the nest envelop him as he felt Canvas nestle in closer to him. "To be fair, though," muttered the Gryphon faintly, "at least they're actually talking with me and stuff."

"See?" Keeping an optimistic, albeit still tired smile, Canvas laid his head atop Troy's chest as he spoke in a more cheerful tone. "I told you they'd be happy to see you. They're your brothers after all."

"Yeah…"

Still thinking about Blaze's words from earlier, Troy's tone became more worried as he held the stallion closer to his chest. "I just hope they'll still see me as a brother when I tell them about us."

"Troy, come on." Despite his exhausted state, Canvas still managed to pick himself up so he can look down at the Gryphon insistently. "You were worried about Lyle, and look how well that went."

"Blaze and the others think I'm with a mare, and he acted all happy because I wasn't 'feather-fluffing'."

Canvas's eyes widened in an instant. "What?"

Troy kept his eyes closed, not wanting to see Canvas's face as he continued. "Yeah… They sort of figured out that I'm with a pony. I just haven't told them I'm with a stallion."

Seeing how distraught his fiancé was looking, Canvas didn't hesitate to pull himself in to hug the Gryphon tightly. "Oh, Troy…"

Troy managed to crack a light smile as he hugged him back, happy to feel his touch right how. "Th… thanks."

Canvas closed his eyes as he kept his hug on him, taking a moment before trying to alleviate the situation. "You know… If they're alright with you being with a pony, maybe they won't react that badly to you coming out."

Troy winced a little at that idea, avoiding Canvas's gaze as he looked up to the ceiling. "I dunno… How am I supposed to tell them?"

"I'm sure you'll find a way," answered the stallion with a warm smile on his muzzle. He then tried not to giggle as he added, "Heck, considering Blade leads for a metal band, I wouldn't be surprised if he experimented with a guy or two."

"Dude, come on!" Troy turned his head away, not wanting to picture any of his brothers in any scenarios that would require brain-bleach to remove. "I don't want that in my head!"

"I'm just saying," said Canvas in a giggle before he bent in closer to him, "that they don't seem that close-minded. If they're okay with you being with a mare, maybe they'll be okay about you being with me, too."

Troy kept his beak clenched shut before looking up at his fiancé. After staring up at him for a moment, marveling at his beautiful blue eyes as they shimmered in the moonlight, the Gryphon sighed as he looked back down.

"What's wrong?" asked Canvas worriedly.

"Nothing. I'm just… thinking…" Keeping his beak closed in contemplation, Troy stayed silent for a few seconds before looking back up at Canvas. "I… I guess Blade might be the easiest to talk to. I mean, the guy was practically gushing about Fluttershy!"

"Yeah…" Remembering their encounter, Canvas shuddered a little in discomfort. "That wasn't something I expected to happen."

"Hey, neither did I! But still…" Thinking about it, Troy tried to nod to himself and make his idea seem more feasible while lying with his stallion. "The guy told me he's been with ponies before… Maybe he'd be the most likely to understand."

Canvas smiled down at the Gryphon, and bent in to give him a tender kiss on the forehead. "That's a good idea. Plus, if he's alright with it, he and Lyle could help out when you tell the other two."

Troy slowly began to smile a little bigger, feeling more confident about his plan. He held Canvas in tighter around his forelegs as he gave him a grateful hug. "Yeah… That might work, actually."

Canvas gave a caring smile to his fiancé before kissing him on the beak. "There you go. I told you that it wouldn't be too hard."

Despite his smile, Troy still breathed out in a fretful sigh. "Yeah… but I still have to actually do it before I find out how easy it is."

"That's okay," assured the stallion before bending his head in slowly. Even though his body was still aching from the Running of the Leaves, Canvas still felt well enough to hold his Gryphon tenderly. He pressed his lips against Troy's open beak, closing his eyes as he savored the unique sensation he felt with the one he loved most.

Troy was eager enough to kiss him back, closing his eyes as well as he gripped him in his claws. However, before he could savor the comfort of his nest, content to fall asleep while holding his love like this, Troy's eyes reopened when he felt Canvas release his lips from his beak. His expression turned slightly confused when he felt the stallion start to kiss his neck.

"C-Canvas?" asked Troy in a surprised tone as he saw him begin to move his head lower with each kiss. "Are… are you--"

"Sssshhhhh…" Canvas kept his eyes closed as he stopped his fiancé's words, choosing instead to keep his focus as he laid on top of him. "I wanted to do this since the race," said the pony in a faint whisper. "I want to give you a reward for that checkpoint, and I want to do it while Lyle isn't here…"

Canvas then began to move his head even lower, kissing the Gryphon's feathered body inch by inch as he worked his way down. By the time he felt Canvas's lips reach the fur on his stomach, Troy sighed out in bliss as he laid back, a pleasured smile growing on his beak. "Oh… Oh, Canvas…"

However, before Canvas could get any lower, the sound of the door opening downstairs made both of them freeze in place. The door could be heard closing before Lyle's voice called out, "Whatever it is you guys are doing, stop it! I'm sleeping here tonight!"

"OH COME ON!!!" shouted Troy in a burst of anger as he got up from the nest. "That is SO not cool!"

"Hey! Neither was leaving me with the 'Pull My Talon' Trio! I can’t get any sleep over there!"

Troy fell back in his nest, groaning loudly as he heard his brother make his way into the studio to rest on Canvas's couch.

Canvas slowly lifted his head up from Troy's waist, looking over from the loft as he spoke down to Lyle. "Yeesh! Was the farting contest really that bad?"

"No," groaned the younger Gryphon as he tried to get himself comfortable on the couch, "they stopped playing that a while ago. Now they're playing 'Hide the Firecracker'."

"Do they know I'm gone?" asked Troy with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Nah. They're too out of it to realize you flew off. They'll probably be passed out until tomorrow afternoon."

"Good," said the Gryphon in relief as he laid back in his nest. "I can get up early, and they'd never know I was gone."

He then looked over at Canvas, who settled in beside him in their nest. "I'll try to get Blade alone tomorrow and tell him about us. I promise."

Canvas only gave a trusting smile as he nodded. "Sounds good."

After sharing another small kiss, Canvas rested in beside his Gryphon, sinking his head in against Troy's feathers as he tried to ignore the smell of alcohol coming off of him. However, before he could sink in to rest beside his mate, Canvas heard Lyle call out from downstairs.

"Hey Canvas, can I open one of the front doors a little for air?"

Canvas sighed tiredly before speaking up for him to hear. "Sure… just make sure my stuff is weighed down."

"Already on it," responded Lyle in a quick tone. After about a minute of the sounds of paper rustling downstairs, Canvas heard one of the front doors to their barn be pulled open slightly, letting a cool breeze emanate through the home.

Lyle slumped back in the couch before calling up to them. "Night guys."

"Night, Lyle," said Canvas and Troy at the same time.

And in less than a minute, all three of them were sound asleep inside the barn, with the only sounds being the gentle evening winds as they blew in from outside.

As the sun began to rise in Equestria, Canvas was nuzzled in tightly against his mate when the sunlight began to shine in. Feeling the morning light as it made its way into the bedroom, Canvas sighed as he felt himself begin to stir awake. Hearing Troy's soft purrs as he had his claws wrapped around him, the stallion smiled in delight, happy to feel him holding him so tightly like this.

While the Gryphon held onto Canvas in his sleep, the stallion slowly reopened his eyes as he yawned in tiredness. However, the moment his eyes readjusted to the brightness in their bedroom, Canvas's eyes shot wide open in shock.

Looking up in terror, Canvas quickly began to poke Troy's body awake with one of his hooves. "T-Troy… Troy, wake up…"

"Mmmmmm…" Troy was still smiling, and hugged Canvas even tighter before giving off one last purr. While the stallion looked even more worried, the Gryphon began to nuzzle him while speaking in a tired moan. "Morning, baby… Antsy already?"

"Troy!" hissed Canvas though gritted teeth as he tried to pull the Gryphon off of him. "Troy, you really need to get up!"

"Oh, is that how it is?" Not catching how worried his fiancé was sounding right now, Troy began to use his beak to gently nip at the stallion's neck. "I can feel something getting up right now…"

Canvas's eyes widened as he tried not to cringe. "Troy! Open your eyes!"

"Hmmmm… Oh, alright…" Still holding onto his pony, Troy slowly opened his eyes as he kept speaking in a lustful tone. "It's a little early, but I wouldn't mind having a little pony-ride right noOOOOOAAAAAAHHHH!!!!"

The moment Troy opened his eyes, his sultry banter quickly turned to a shrill scream of pure terror. Keeping a wide-eyed look of horror identical to his fiancé's, Troy's beak was hung open when he saw who else was in their bedroom.

Blaze, Blade, and Blane, were all standing at the base of Canvas and Troy's nest. Much like their brother, the three had their eyes and beaks wide open when they looked down at the two.

With his left eye twitching, and his stallion still spooned in against him, Troy couldn't get a single sound to come out of his gaping beak. After a very, very long bout of silence, Troy could only say one thing as he looked up at his older brothers.

"Oh….

"SHIT."

Author's Note

Also, major props to Shadow Hawk for proofreading this chapter for me.

Chapter Twenty-One: Explanations (Part 1)

Author's Note

Note, this is set BEFORE the Season 4 Finale, which is why the Golden Oaks Library is still present in this chapter. I'll try to keep this with the show canon, so expect to see it gone later on in the story.

Chapter Twenty-One: Explanations (Part 1)

Shit.

Shit!

Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, SHIT!!!

That was the only word that could go through Troy's head as he laid in his nest in paralyzed fear. While the Gryphon and his fiancé laid together, neither of them able to speak in a shared sense of dread, Troy's three older brothers just stared back at them in stunned silence.

None of them were sure how long that moment lasted where none of them spoke, although it probably would've felt like an eternity no matter how short it really was. Nevertheless, the deafening silence was finally broken by Blaze, who had his wide eyes glued on his younger brother as he spoke in an unsure tone.

"Uhhh…Troy… What are you doing?"

A small sound could be heard coming out of Troy's beak, which was sort of a mix of "Aaaaaahhhhh" and "Eeeeeee" in the tone of a near inaudible squeak. After blinking a few times with his beak open, having no idea what to say to his brothers, Troy slowly took a deep breath. Knowing what he had to do, for the sake of himself and his stallion, Troy exhaled slowly, prepared to give his reply.

"LOOK!" Troy pointed a talon to the wall behind the triplets. "A CHANGELING!!!"

"Where?!" said all three in unison as they turned their heads to the wall. This gave the Gryphon just enough time to grab Canvas and burst out of the open window.

Even though they only looked away for less than a second, Troy and Canvas were already gone by the time they realized he tricked them..

"What the!" Blaze ran over to the window and stuck his head out, seeing that his brother and the stallion were already a small speck in the skies. "DAMMIT!"

"Urrrrrghhh…"

The sound of Lyle's groggy voice caught the attention of the triplets, who turned around to look down from the loft. Slowly, the black and white Gryphon lumbered out of the studio, rubbing his eyes with a claw while speaking in a tired tone. "What's all the shouting about?! I swear, you guys better not be humping while I--"

As soon as he saw the triplets up in the loft, Lyle's eyes shot open in revelation. "Oh… Shit."

"What the buck is going on?!" shouted Blaze as he glared down at him.

"Uhhhhhh…" Lyle's eyes darted around for a second, weighing his options before looking back up at them. He pointed a talon up to the ceiling before shouting "Is that a Changeling?!"

"What?!" The three immediately looked up, and Lyle shot out from the front door in an instant.

"Oh, come on!" shouted Blaze when he looked back down. "That's not cool!"

"We gotta stop falling for that," said Blade in a more serious tone.

"Oh yeah?" asked Blane condescendingly. "And what if there WAS a changeling? You gotta keep your guard up, stupid!"

"Guys, come on!" shouted Blaze, motioning them to follow them as he made his way to the front door. "We gotta get them!"

"Oh yeah!" said the other two at the same time, making them quickly follow their brother as they flew out of Canvas and Troy's home.

"Ohhhhhh… This is baaaaaaddd…"

While Canvas sat worriedly on one of the couches of the library, Troy paced around the main floor as he kept muttering to himself. "This is bad, this is bad, this is baaaaadddd…"

"Troy, please," said Canvas in a pleading tone as he tried to catch his attention. "You have to calm down!"

"What am I supposed to do!?" With his voice coming out more frantic with each passing word, Troy barely noticed when Twilight Sparkle walked in from the kitchen. "They saw me! They saw US! Together! What was I supposed to do?!"

"Now Troy," began the Princess while she kept her horn lit, levitating a teapot and several cups on the table in front of Canvas. "While I can understand feeling overwhelmed right now, keeping yourself stressed like this isn't going to help anypony."

Clenching his eyes shut, Troy gave a light nod before trying to exhale deeply. Even though he was still beyond worried about how he was going to deal with his brothers, he knew that the alicorn was right; a calm mind is always better than a stressed one.

While Troy tried to settle himself with the breathing techniques Rainbow Dash taught him the other day, Twilight looked back to Canvas as she poured him a cup. "So, what happened, exactly? Troy didn't exactly go into much detail besides saying you two needed help."

Canvas sighed as he took his cup, happy that the Princess was gracious enough to let them into the library so early in the day. Even though it was still a couple hours before the Golden Oaks Library opened, she was able to let them in for assistance when she saw how worried Troy looked while banging at her door.

"Well, Troy's older brothers showed up yesterday, and he wanted to tell them about the two of us today. But…"

Canvas paused a little as he bit his lip worriedly. Troy sighed out deeply when he turned back to them to finish. "They… kinda found us in our nest together."

"Oooohhh…" Twilight tried not to cringe as and poured a cup of tea for herself. "I see. So… they weren't aware of your situation before that?"

"No," said the Gryphon in slight shame as he shook his head. "They didn't even know where I really lived! I had to get Rainbow Dash to agree to let them crash at her vacation cloud."

Twilight looked over at him with a confused expression. Troy went over to the loveseat beside the couch, sitting down while he tried to think things over. "How did they even know where I was?! I know they didn't follow me, so how did they end up in my bucking bedroom?!"

"Troy! Language," said Twilight sternly after putting down her teapot. "There's a baby dragon in the kitchen right now."

Troy was quick to give off a quick "Sorry" as he sat in his chair with a perplexed mind. Canvas, who was also trying to figure out why they were there, took a sip of his tea before speaking up. "Well, Lyle did keep the door open… Maybe they heard you purring or something."

"I don't purr!" said Troy defensively as he glared at Canvas. "Only females purr! How many times do I have to tell you that?!"

"Honey," said the stallion with a smirk on his muzzle, "we both know that's a lie. You purr like a little house-cat."

While Twilight tried to stifle a giggle at the pony's reply, Troy crossed his claws and looked away with a scowl on his beak. After taking another sip, Canvas grew an impressed smile. "Wow! This is really good tea, Twilight!"

"Thanks," said the alicorn with a smile. "Rarity kinda got me hooked on the higher quality stuff." She then looked over at Troy and added, "And Spike's almost done with your coffee."

Almost on cue, the baby dragon came out of the kitchen, holding two large kettles of steaming coffee in both claws. "Here you go, guys!"

Troy quickly pulled himself off the couch, and swiped one of the pots from Spike before he could make five steps from the kitchen. While the drake and Princess stared in wide-eyed shock, Troy pulled his head back as he poured the near-boiling coffee down his open beak.

While Canvas grimaced a little on his couch, still sipping his tea carefully, Twilight Sparkle had her jaw dropped as she saw the Gryphon down the steaming pot of coffee like it was nothing. Spike, however, only had his stare on him for a moment before turning back to Twilight.

"See?!" said the baby dragon with narrowed eyes as he held the other pot. "I TOLD you I'm not the only one who did that!"

Spike then made his way back into the kitchen, gulping from his own pot of coffee nonchalantly before disappearing past the doorway.

While Canvas stared over at him in slight awe, Twilight groaned a little as she rubbed her temple with a hoof. "I swear, I gotta wane him off the coffee sometime."

Before anything else could be said, several loud knocks could be heard from the front door, followed by Lyle's alarmed tone of voice. "Guys?! Guys, are you in there?!"

Twilight quickly made her way to the door, lighting her horn to unlock and open it for Lyle. As soon as he saw the two inside, the Gryphon grew a relieved smile on his beak. "There you guys are!" said Lyle in a sigh before rushing in. "I've been looking everywh--"

"WHY WERE THEY IN MY BEDROOM, LYLE?!"

Lyle immediately stopped in his tracks, and took a couple steps back when he saw how enraged his brother looked. "Troy, hold up!" said Lyle worriedly as he put up his claws in defense. "I didn't have anything to do with that!"

"You were the one who left the bucking door open!"

"TROY!" shouted Twilight in an angry tone. "What did I just tell you about language?!"

"And don’t you dare yell at Lyle!" added Canvas, hopping off the couch before storming towards his fiancé with an irate look on his face. Seeing how the stallion was glaring at him, Troy was temporarily frozen in place when Canvas got up to him and spoke in a stern tone of voice. "I know you're upset, but I'm not going to have you take it out on him! I told Lyle he could leave the door open, remember?!"

Troy blinked a couple times in silence, letting his mind settle as he thought things over. Remembering last night vaguely (although the triplets' antics made things a bit fuzzy), he did recall Canvas letting Lyle keep the door open for the night. After taking a moment to collect himself, the Gryphon closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "Y… yeah… You did."

He then reopened his eyes to look at Canvas with a guilty expression. "I'm sorry."

Canvas quickly pointed a hoof at Lyle, who was still standing beside Twilight staring at them. "I don't think it's me you should be apologizing to."

Troy quickly nodded, and turned over to Lyle. "I… I'm sorry, Lyle."

Lyle sighed, taking a second before nodding in acceptance. "It's okay. I get it."

Troy slowly grew a relieved smile, and quickly looked over at Twilight to add, "And sorry about my outburst, Princess."

Despite still being slightly upset with him, Twilight gave a light smile to the Gryphon. "It's alright. Just be cautious next time, okay?"

While Troy made a quick nod, Lyle was staring at the alicorn wide-eyed, just now realizing that he was standing beside a Princess. "Holy! You… you're…"

Seeing how surprised the younger Gryphon looked, Twilight giggled a little before offering her hoof to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you. You're Lyle, right?"

"Uhhh… Y-yeah!" Lyle was quick to put his claw out to shake her hoof, still slightly flabbergasted. "I… I honestly didn't think I'd see you here…"

After he put his claw back down, Twilight kept a warm smile on her muzzle. "Can In interest you in something to drink?"

"Ummm…" Even though he didn’t want to impose, his lack of any caffeine this morning was enough to shrug before asking, "You got any coffee?"

"I'm on it!" shouted Spike from the kitchen.

Happy to see the mood was lightening up, Canvas spoke up and looked over at Troy. "You know what? Since we haven't had breakfast yet, how about I swing over to Sugar Cube Corner for some coffee cake?"

"Wait, what?" said Troy as he regrew a worried look on his face.

"Yeah!" shouted Lyle with a smile almost the opposite of his brother's. "Coffee cake sounds good! OOH! And doughnuts!"

"I like your thinking," said the stallion as he pointed at Lyle with a grin. "Coffee cake and doughnuts it is!"

"B-but wait!" Before Canvas could trot out of the library, Troy held him back with a claw as he spoke in an apprehensive tone. "Wha… what about the triplets? They're still looking for us!"

"Relax," said Lyle as he put up a claw in assurance. "I flew over to Cloudsdale while they were chasing after me. I lost them up there before making my way here."

Seeing the confident look his brother had, Troy's nervousness lessened a little before letting the stallion go. "Well… okay."

Canvas kept an optimistic smile as he lifted himself up against the Gryphon, giving him a calming kiss on the cheek. "Don’t worry. I'll just get some food and come right back, okay?"

Troy looked at the stallion for a moment, staying silent before making a small sigh with a nod. After giving him a quick kiss on the lips, Troy watched as the stallion got back on all fours and made his way to the door. "I'll be back a few minutes, so just try to relax."

"O… okay…" Even though he trusted Canvas completely, the Gryphon was still hesitant about letting him out of sight with his older brothers on the loose. Before he could get past the doorway, Troy decided to say one more thing for his fiancé to hear.

"I love you."

Canvas paused and gave a warm smile back to him while standing at the doorway "I love you too."

With that, Canvas closed the door behind him as he left, leaving Lyle to stare at Troy condescendingly. "Really, dude?" asked the younger Gryphon. "You're acting like he's gonna die or something!"

"Hey, don't judge me! What if they get to him?"

"How? They're up in Cloudsdale right now! And besides…" Lyle put his claws out, motioning to the space they were in. "We're in a library! What's more inconspicuous than that?!"

Troy wanted to make a reply, but stayed silent before shrugging in agreement. Knowing their brothers, a place full of books was pretty much Kryptonite to them. Lyle looked around the interior of the library, growing a confused expression before turning back to Twilight. "So… are you usually in libraries this early?"

The alicorn gave a light shrug. "Well, kinda. I actually live here."

Lyle looked back at her, his face looking even more confused than before as he narrowed his eyes. "Seriously?"

"Yep!" said Twilight in almost a prideful tone. "I lived here before I gained my wings, and I love learning new things. It only makes sense."

Lyle took another glance around the space, noting the surprisingly roomy interior of the tree they were inside. "Well… I just kinda expected a castle or something…"

The Gryphon quickly looked back at Twilight and added, "But still, it's pretty nice. Plus, I doubt the triplets would look for us here."

"And why is that?" asked the Princess curiously. "Are they not into reading?"

"Pretty much," said Troy as he rested back on the couch. "Those guys won't read anything that doesn't have a centerfold."

"Uhhh…"

The three noticed Spike's voice, and looked over at him as he stood outside the kitchen holding Lyle's pot of coffee. "What's a centerfold?"

Twilight quickly shot a strong glare back at Troy, making him flinch in worry. "Ummm… I didn't-"

"Troooooyyyyyyy!!!"

At hearing Blaze's voice calling out from outside, Troy and Lyle quickly looked up to the ceiling in a panic. "WHAT THE!" Troy looked back down at Lyle. "You said you lost them in Cloudsdale!!!"

"I-I thought I did!" said Lyle back in a sincere tone. "I didn’t see them when I flew here!"

"Trrrrooooooooyyyyyy!!!"

Another voice, most likely Blade's, could be heard slightly further away than the first one.

"Oh no…" Troy sunk his face into his claws while sitting in the couch. "They're looking around town for me!"

"Troy," began Twilight as she tried to keep him from panicking again, "there's no reason to act upset right now. The library is closed so I don't thi--"

A loud bang came from the ceiling, silencing the Princess. The three looked up, realizing the window shutters to the highest point of the tree was thrust open.

"Troy!" shouted Blane's voice from the opening, which was luckily out of view from the occupants at the ground floor. "You in here?"

Twilight, Spike, and the two Gryphons stayed silent, not wanting him to be aware of their presence. However, Twilight's eyes widened when she realized who else was inside the library.

Blane's voice could be heard again. "Hey, owl guy! You seen my brother around?"

"Who?"

"Troy."

"Who?"

"Troy!"

"Who?"

"Urgh! He's a Gryphon! Kinda looks like me, but grey and kinda scrawny."

Troy looked up, slightly offended. "No I'm not," whispered the Gryphon to himself.

"Who?"

"Troy!"

"Who?"

"TROY!"

"Who?"

"Oh, FINE! Be a dick!"

The window could be heard slamming back closed, followed by the sounds of heavy wings flapping away from the library. While silence once again took over the library, Owlicious flew back down to the main floor, keeping a very confused look on his face as he perched on a nearby bookshelf. He looked over at Twilight with a skewed brow.

"Who!?"

"TROOOOYYYY!!!"

Blaze was perched on top of town hall, looking like a bald eagle as he tried calling for his brother down below. Down on Ponyville's streets, not many of the ponies were sure what to think as they walked around, seeing the three large Gryphons flying around looking for him. Even though most of them already figured Troy was related to them, none of them knew where the Gryphon was either.

Meanwhile, Blade tried taking a different approach, looking inside every building he could like Blane was doing. The skinny Gryphon peered in through the open window of a random house. "Oi! You seen my brother?"

"AHHH!!! What are you doing?!" shouted a mare from inside. "I'm in the shower!!!"

"So? You ponies are always naked! You're just wet now."

Luckily, a well-thrown bottle of shampoo towards Blade's face was enough to make him dart out of the window, wincing as he rubbed his forehead. "Gahhh… Bloody prude!"

Blade and Blaze both flew back down to the streets, landing on the ground to catch their breath. "Any luck?" asked Blaze as he looked over to him.

Blade, keeping a deadpan stare back at him, motioned his claws to the empty space around him. "You see him next to me?!"

"Hey! Don't be a smartass!"

"Then don't be a dumbass, ya tosser!"

Blaze was just about to lunge forward to smack him, but stopped when he saw something more irritating behind Blade. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me!"

Blade turned around to see what Blaze was looking at, noticing their larger brother standing beside a flower stand chatting with Roseluck. Blane was pointing at her display as he kept a small smile on his beak. "Seriously, checking the PH level of the soil can really help make them bloom. Also, the tulips would look a LOT better next to the dahlias. It really helps the colors stand out while the roses are in the middle--"

"BLANE! What are you doing?!"

"Oh! Um…" Blane, noticing the annoyed looks his two brothers were giving him, quickly shook his head clear before looking back at Roseluck. "You seen Troy around?"

The violet-maned mare shook her head. "No I haven’t. Sorry." She kept her appreciative smile before adding, "But thanks for the advice, Mister Blane! It's always nice to talk with a fellow florist!"

"No problem," replied the Gryphon with a smile before heading back towards his brothers. As soon as he saw the stares both of them were giving him, his smile quickly faltered as he gave a light shrug. "What? I was being helpful."

"Helpful?!" shouted Blaze with a strong glare. "We're supposed to be looking for Troy and Lyle! Not arranging flowers!"

"I couldn't help it! The color patterns were all off, and it was obvious they weren't fully bloomed!"

While the three Gryphons started to argue loudly in the middle of the street, none of them paid much notice to Sugar Cube Corner, which was just across the street from them. They also didn't notice the aqua stallion inside, who was hunkered by the counter with a worried look on his face.

As he watched the three Gryphons through the window, terrified about how he was going to get out of this, the sound of the a bell dinging made the stallion jolt up from his hiding spot.

"Here's your order, Canvas!" said Misses Cake cheerfully, pausing as she saw how he was looking right now. "Dearie, is something wrong?"

"Uhhhh…" Biting his lip in nervousness, Canvas could only look back at her for a second before pointing a hoof out at the window. The blue mare looked over at his direction, seeing the three Gryphons outside still bickering.

"Ooh…" Misses Cake's brows raised in curiosity. "More of Troy's family?"

"Mmmm-Hmmm." Canvas nodded as he pursed his lips shut, keeping his head low to avoid being seen from outside. "They're his older brothers..."

Misses Cake turned her head back to the kitchen. "Carrot! Hide the cream cheese frosting!"

"Alrighty, Sugar Pumpkin!" shouted the stallion cheerfully back to her.

Meanwhile, Canvas was slowly scooting further back from the window, his eyes glued on the triplets as he tried to speak nervously. "Say, Misses Cake, can I… maybe hide in here a little bit?"

"What for?" asked the mare confusedly as she looked back at him. "Did something happen?"

Gritting his teeth, the stallion shrugged while trying not to cringe. "You… could say that…"

Mister Cake, overhearing the conversation from the kitchen, stuck his head out from the serving window. "What happened?"

When he looked over at his wife, Carrot saw her shrug her shoulders. Upon noticing the three Gryphons outside, the yellow stallion looked over at Canvas as he grew a light smirk. "What, did they catch you two in bed or something?"

Even though Mister Cake meant for that question to be asked jokingly, the heavy blush that exploded across Canvas's face was enough to change his expression to a surprised, wide-eyed stare. "Wait, really?!"

Slowly, Canvas's bashful face sunk down to the floor, still blushing heavily before making a very faint nod. While Misses Cake put a hoof over her mouth, unsure of what she could say, her husband had to sink back into the kitchen as he tried not to crack up.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie popped out from the kitchen with narrowed eyes. "I smell drama! What's going on?"

"Uhhhh…" Looking between Canvas and Pinkie, Misses Cake's face blushed a little as she tried to think of how to respond. "Well…"

"Troy's older brothers found us in our nest together," finished Canvas as he kept his head hung in embarrassed shame, not looking up to see Pinkie's curious face.

The chipper mare's eyes widened in an instant, and hopped up on the counter as she looked around. "OOH!!! His older brothers are here, too?!"

"Y… yeah… Bu--"

"Are they realllllllly big, with brown feathers and tan fur?"

Canvas's gaze went back up to Pinkie as he grew slightly confused. "Uhhhh… yeah. How did you know that?"

Pinkie kept a smile as she pointed to the front of the shop. "Because they're looking in through the window right now!"

Canvas's head quickly turned to the window, making his heart stop when he saw the triplets looking inside.

And all three of them were staring straight at him.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"

Chapter Twenty-Two: Explanations (Part 2)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Questions

When Troy's brothers were introduced with his new mate, Canvas and the Gryphons didn't stay in the library for long. After waving Twilight and Spike goodbye, the six decided to take advantage of the day while they were in Ponyville. Luckily enough, after a little deliberation, there was one activity that the group agreed on almost instantly:

Bowling.

Even though the sport wasn't really designed for ponies, the Ponyville Bowling Alley was still one of the most popular hangout spots in town when Pinkie Pie wasn't throwing another party. Due to the sport's addictiveness, despite its difficulty, it was hard to find a time or day when the place wasn't at least half-crowded with ponies trying to sharpen their skills. Even most Gryphons found it slightly challenging, given the fact that the sport was originally invented by Minotaurs; nevertheless, it was still fun enough for the group to celebrate Troy's big announcement to the triplets.

After getting their lane and a round of drinks, the triplets used the overhead display to get their names added, all while giggling like hyenas as they typed in the dirtiest words they could with the three spaces they had. Meanwhile, Canvas made his way to the snack bar to get some food for them.

"Ummm…" Seeing what the stallion wanted to order, the mare behind the counter seemed apprehensive as she tried to talk him out of it. "Are you sure you want to get something that large? That nacho platter was actually sort of made as a joke."

Canvas looked slightly confused, and stared back up at the menu display above the counter. Beside the other food items, the one he was wanting to get was a ridiculously large and extravagant-looking nacho platter, properly nicknamed El Gigante. Even though he usually wouldn't even consider getting something that big, he and the five Gryphons went through their pastries surprisingly fast on the way here, and was still pretty hungry.

"Seriously," continued the mare in a more sympathetic tone. "That's supposed to feed about a dozen ponies! You really think that's a good idea?"

"Hmmmm…" Canvas looked back at the five Gryphons at their lane, who were still laughing loudly over their name choices. Seeing how large they looked in their wrap-around seats, Canvas thought it over before looking back at the server. "You know what? Maybe you're right."

The mare sighed a little in relief. "Oh thank goodne--"

"I better get two," finished the stallion cheerfully.

The server's smile quickly dropped.

Troy sighed a little at the triplets' antics, who were just now beginning to start the game after getting their dirty words added to the overhead display. Blane was the first to go up to start the game; meanwhile, the other two and Lyle were seated beside Troy. Looking over at the silver Gryphon, Blaze was the first to try to break the ice. "So…"

Troy noticed as his brother stared at him with a skewed brow. "You like dicks now, huh?"

Troy groaned and face-clawed. "Are you serious right now?" asked the Gryphon as he looked over at Blaze with a scowl. "THAT'S the first question you ask me?!"

"What?" Blaze put his claws up in innocence as he tried to defend himself. "I'm just trying to make conversation!"

Lyle, who was seated at the end, looked up at him before adding bluntly, "Dude, that's a pretty crappy ice-breaker."

Blade, who was sitting at the other side of Troy's, tried to intervene. "Oi! So was finding him in bed with a friggin stallion!"

Troy cringed as he looked over at Blade, but couldn't think of anything to say in response. In all honesty, the three of them finding out in that way wasn't exactly the greatest scenario. After a couple seconds, Troy sighed before looking away.

"Yeah, I guess that was pretty awkward." Thinking it over, Troy's brow furrowed a bit before he turned to Blade again. "Wait a minute. Why WERE you guys in my bedroom?! How did you even know I was there?!"

Blade shrugged a little, looking between Troy and Blaze before speaking, "Well, when we woke up, we couldn't find you or Lyle anywhere. When we flew around, we heard ya purring from outside."

Troy's eyes widened, and he quickly turned his head away to hide an obvious blush. Meanwhile, Lyle tried not to snicker while his older brother tried to stammer out a response. "I… I don't--

"Hold up," interrupted Blaze as he tried to catch his attention. "Your bedroom? So you're living in that barn?"

"Well… yeah." Troy looked over at Blaze with a slightly confused expression. "You think I wouldn't be living with someone I'm engaged to?"

"I didn't mean that!" answered the muscular Gryphon defensively towards his brother. "I'm just saying, if you're living on the ground, where the buck were WE sleeping?!"

"Oooooohhhh…" Immediately realizing that he never brought up that detail, it was hard for Troy not to wince a little bit. Despite how much he and Canvas tried to bring the triplets up to speed on their way to the bowling alley, he knew that there would be some things they might have missed. And after telling them about how they met, how long they've known each other, and even how he proposed, he completely forgot to mention whose cloud they were sleeping in the previous night.

"Well… Actually, that's my boss's cloud," answered the silver Gryphon shamefully as he turned his head away. "I kinda asked her to borrow it as a favor. I didn't know how you guys would react to me living on the ground with a stallion, so… I kinda had that as a temporary cover. I was actually planning to tell you all today, but… well...." Troy made a light shrug as he stopped his explanation, knowing that the triplets were already aware that things didn't go as originally planned.

"Huh." Blaze rested in his seat, taking another swig from his beer while letting Troy's answer sink in. "So… that's Rainbow Dash's house?"

"Yeah," said Troy with a small nod. "Actually, it's her vacation home, but still. It wasn't easy to convince her to let me borrow it."

Blaze blinked a couple times, thinking that new fact over as his face turned more uneasy. "… Uh oh."

Hearing that tone in his brother's voice, Troy's eyes widened in worry as well. "What?"

"Uhhhh…" Blaze sucked some air through his beak as he looked away from his younger brother. "Well… I was gonna bring this up later, but… I don't think she's gonna be happy about her toilet."

"What?" By now, Troy was looking legitimately alarmed about whatever it was his brother did.

"I didn’t mean to!" Blaze looked back at him with a more sincere expression as he tried to explain. "I mean, I wasn't sure how the plumbing went, but it wouldn't go down, and I couldn't find a plunger anywhere! And then it started to overflow, and I was--"

"Blaze." Troy, whose eyes were now as wide as dinner plates, just stared at him with unbridled concern as he tried to bring up a little detail. "That cloud didn't have a toilet."

Blane, who just finished his set with a unfortunate 3-10 split, looked back at Troy with the same look of surprise the other two had. "What?"

"Did you guys seriously not know that?" asked Lyle, looking between the three of them in puzzlement. "Even I knew that!"

"What kind of house doesn't have a bloody toilet?" asked Blade in a more befuddled tone of voice.

"One that's made of clouds, where indoor plumbing is extremely difficult to install." Looking between the three Gryphons, Troy gave a small shrug before adding. "Besides, when I lived there, the lake was right there, so why bother?"

While Blane and Blade kept their baffled expressions, Blaze looked down to the floor while muttering to himself. "But… It was… Wait, what did I clog?"

"I don't know…" Troy sunk his head into his claws, trying not to think about the damage the three may have done to his boss's house in less than twenty-four hours. "Oh, man… Dash is gonna kill me…"

"Ugh, whatever." Seeing that Blane was coming back, Blaze got himself up to start his round. "We'll think of something, bro."

As soon as Blaze made his way to the lane and grabbed his ball, Blane took his spot beside Troy. "So, if you don't mind me asking…" Clenching his beak shut in awkwardness, Blane took a breath before trying to ask his question. "How… How long did you know you were… you know…"

Troy rolled his eyes, trying not to groan at how hesitant his brothers were still acting in regards to his orientation. Before Blane could finish his statement (most likely saying the word "gay" in a more hushed tone like it was a forbidden word or something), Troy sighed before answering in an honest tone. "Well… it wasn't like I knew that about myself before I met Canvas. It just sort of happened."

"Seriously?" asked Blade in a slightly surprised tone of voice. "So, you weren't into dudes at all before him?"

Troy shrugged his shoulders in reluctant agreement before leaning back in his seat. "Pretty much. Like, I wasn't even attracted to him at first. It was just sort of a… 'Bromance', as Rainbow Dash put it."

The Gryphon chucked a little under his breath after saying that, but only paused for a second before continuing. "Seriously though, we were really just friends at first. I looked out for him, and he ended up being an awesome friend. And, well… I guess after a while, we… we kinda ended up a lot closer than either of us expected."

Troy sighed again with a smile, still in slight disbelief at how much things have changed in a matter of months. Knowing how quickly the two of them came together, he couldn't blame his older brothers for staring him with slightly perplexed expressions on their faces. Even Blaze looked a little out of it as he tried to bowl, choosing to overhear his brother from the lane.

"The more I hung out with him, the more I… just kinda fell for him, you know? Like, he really started to grow on me after a while, and I didn't really think about it because I considered him a really close friend. And by the time I finally realized how I felt, it wasn't like 'Oh, I'm gay, so I must love him.' It was actually kinda the opposite, like 'Wait, I'm in love with him. I must be gay.'"

Blade and Blane could both only give a light "Huh" at his statement, neither of them able to add much else. After taking a swig from his own bottle of beer, Blade looked back at him before asking, "So, it was more, like… emotional instead of physical?"

Troy took a moment to think it over, looking up before nodding slightly. "I guess so. Of course, it's not like there's nothing physical. I mean…" The Gryphon then turned his head back, looking over at the snack bar to see Canvas still waiting by the counter. Seeing the aqua stallion, his beak slowly grew a more content-looking smile. "He really is a great guy."

"So what is it?" asked Blane curiously as he stared at him. "Like, what makes him so special?"

Troy pulled his head back in, furrowing his brow in contemplation. "Well, it's nothing specific. It's just… it's a lot of things, really…" He then put his claws behind his head, leaning back even further in his chair as he stared up to the ceiling.

"He's funny, he's smart, he knows just what to do or say to make me smile… We just, like, click, you know? When I'm with him, I feel great, and when he's gone, I feel like crap. And… and when I hold him…"

Troy moved back in an upright position in his seat, moving one of his claws back against his chest. Feeling that familiar warmth as his foreleg went across his feathers, a light blush began to grow on the Gryphon's face as he smiled lightly. "I just… I never want to let him go…"

"Holy crap, dude!" blurted Blaze after rolling his second ball, just barely missing a pin at the corner before turning back to him. "And you said you guys were only together for three months?!"

"Yeah," said Troy in a slightly defensive tone. "So what? Mom and Dad got married after a week. Technically speaking, I waited about ten times longer to propose than they did!"

"But still!" Blade, wanting to get a word in, looked over at Troy and added, "Three months is kinda quick to go from realizing you like blokes to wantin' to marry one!"

At first, Troy had to admit that Blade's statement wasn't completely off; three months was a short amount of time for a decision this big. However, he knew deep down that nobody else could compare to Canvas. After everything he's done for the stallion, and all the affection and growth he'd received in return, the Gryphon knew that no one could ever match Canvas.

Of course, before Troy could say any of this, Blade had to keep talking.

"I mean, how do you even know you don't like girls if you've never been with one?!"

Troy felt a small twitch at hearing that, having expected to get that question at least ONCE from a family member. Of course, he was prepared for a response. Looking over at the skinny Gryphon, Troy kept a small smirk on his beak before making his comeback.

"And how do you know you're straight if you've never been with a guy?"

He expected Blade to get upset, or stutter something and look like an idiot. However, surprisingly enough, Blade just looked away sheepishly. "Sh… shut up…"

"Holy crap!" Keeping a wide-eyed stare on Troy, Blane grew an anxious smile as he pointed at him. "Dude, did Mom not tell you?!"

"Tell me what?" asked Troy confusedly.

"Oh, MAN!" Blaze his way back to the seats, picking a spot right next to Blade so he didn’t try to run away. He wrapped a foreleg around the increasingly sulking Gryphon before looking over at Troy. "I'm surprised Lyle didn’t tell you about Chaka!"

"Guys, come on!" growled Blade through gritted teeth as he sunk his head low. "He doesn't need to know about that!"

"Oh man!" Lyle put a claw over his face as he tried not to laugh. "I did forget to tell him!"

"Tell me about what?!"

"Well…" Blane wrapped a foreleg around Troy, and kept an especially big grin towards Blade while starting. "You remember Chaka, right?"

"Ummm… yeah," answered Troy with a skewed brow. "Really fat, had half her head shaved and the other half dyed purple?"

"That's the one," said Blaze with a smirk while holding Blade in place. "Of course, we found out a fun little fact about 'Chaka' after you left…"

"Oh, come on!" grumbled Blade as his face grew redder in aggravation and shame. "It was a mistake! Anyone could've made it!"

"What the buck happened?!"

Blane chuckled a little under his breath, and kept his smile while seated close to Troy. "Well, it turned out that Chaka was a Changeling!"

Troy's eyes shot wide open, and he turned to Blade in disbelief. "No way!"

"Oh, YES way!" declared Blaze in a chipper tone, all while Blade sunk his head down even lower to hide his face. "Why'd you think he was so into her?!"

Thinking it over, Troy took a couple seconds before shrugging his shoulders. "Well, to be fair, she wasn't that different from a lot of the other chicks Blade dated."

As soon as Troy said the word "She", the other three stifled any snickers while Blade groaned under his breath. Before any of them could say anything, Troy's expression turned more confused as he looked to them

"Wait a minute! You guys are telling me that Changeling could've taken any form, and she chose THAT one?!?"

Blaze cackled out a little, prompting Troy to look over at him while Blade clenched his beak shut. "Ohhhhhh no…

"HE chose that form!"

Troy blinked for a couple seconds in silence, trying to figure out what he meant before his eyes shot wide open. "WHAT?!"

"That's right! Blade was with a male Changeling!" Blane chuckled loudly while looking over at Blade's sulking form. "I guess you're not the only one to be with a dude!"

Blade threw his claws down in a fit of rage before shouting out, "HE HAD A VAGINA!!!"

The whole bowling alley turned silent, with everyone turning over to the Gryphons' lane. Seeing all the ponies looking over in confusion, Blade's face turned slightly pale before sinking his head down again. "Uhhhh…"

Blade then tried to fake-cough loudly a couple of times, hoping that his very obvious exclamation could be passed off as a cough to the ponies. Of course, after a moment of dead silence, most of the ponies slowly just went back to their games, leaving Blade to sulk again while all his brothers cackled quietly.

"I'm bloody serious!" whispered Blade with an angry look on his face as he glared at them. "He was a girl the whole time! He had a vagina, so it wasn't gay!"

"He he he…" Troy tried not to laugh too loudly before looking back at him. "That sounds kinda gay to me."

"SHUT UP!" hissed Blade through gritted teeth, not wanting to cause another scene. He then looked away from all of them, pulling Blaze's claw off his shoulder before getting off his seat. "Can we just get back to the game already?!"

"Oh yeah, it is your turn." When Blade made his way to the ball return, Blaze kept a cheeky grin on his beak before speaking out to him, "Have fun with the smooth, black balls…"

Blade immediately shot a deathly glare back at him, which just made the others crack up again. Growling though a clenched beak, Blade just turned back around to get a ball for his lane, making sure to avoid the black ones. Even though he didn't want his brother to keep making gay jokes, Troy couldn't help giving Blaze a claw-bump for that statement. "Nice one!"

"Thanks." After settling down his chuckles a bit, Blaze leaned back in his seat before sighing with a smile. "Hey Troy, just so you know…" He looked over to his brother before saying in an honest tone. "I really am sorry about that 'Feather-Fluffer' stuff last night, okay? I wouldn't have said that if I knew you were actually, like, into guys."

Troy, looking slightly confused at that statement, skewed a brow towards Blaze. “So… not knowing that makes it okay?”

“No, NO!” Blaze tried to shake his claws and make his apology clearer for him. “I just mean, like, I didn’t mean to say ‘Feather-Fluffer’ in THAT way, you know?”

Troy narrowed his eyes on him. “What other way is there?”

“Like! I just… I just meant, like, because you were scrawny and not… umm…” Realizing that he didn’t have a suitable response to give Troy, Blaze sighed in defeat and looked away. “Dammit, this isn’t working! I’m just saying, I’m sorry about what I said, okay? I didn’t mean to offend you like that, and it won’t happen again. I swear.”

Troy's brows raised in surprise, not expecting his brother to make that statement in such a sincere tone. "Uh… W-wow. Ummm… Thanks."

"No prob," replied the older Gryphon, and grabbed his beer to take another swig.

"That goes for me, too," added Blane in an equally genuine tone. "Like, I might not get it, but who cares? As long as you're not banging a Changeling or anything illegal, I won't mess with you about it."

"Well, thank you," said Troy with a smile before resting back in his seat. "So… what happened to that Changeling Blade was with?"

Lyle bent his head into view, and made a cutting motion with one of his talons across his neck with a "Kkkkktttt" sound for emphasis.

Troy could only reply with an "Ah" before nodding in understanding. Ever since the notorious Changeling Invasion attempt on Canterlot, the Gryphon Kingdom didn't pull back any punches when it came to preventing any similar disasters. While he thought their new policies were a bit much, the idea of one of them brainwashing his brother was enough to make him care a little less about it.

"Well, anyway…" Wanting to think a little less about any discrepancies like that, Troy shook his head clear before trying to bring the conversation back on track. "Well, I guess it is kinda weird isn't it? But still, I'm glad you guys are okay with it. And if you guys got any questions, I'll try to answer them as best as I can."

"Cool," said Blaze before putting his beer back down. "Thanks, bro."

For a little while, none of them said much else, and just waited while Blade finished his round. After he got an impressive spare on his second ball, the Gryphons gave a light cheer to him, making him feel slightly better as he made his way back. Of course, as soon as he reached his seat, Blane was the first to ask a question to Troy, right when he was taking a drink from his bottle of soda.

"So… you two guys do it?"

Troy spat out his beakful of soda, coughing a couple times before turning to Blane. "Dude! What the buck!?"

"What?! You said we could ask questions!"

"And THAT'S what you're going with?!"

Blane looked away grumpily. "I was just asking! Damn!"

Lyle got up from his seat to play the next set, muttering under his breath, "I really don't need to hear this crap…"

"Uuuuuughhhh…" Troy groaned and sunk his head down, not wanting to enter this discussion with his family. Nevertheless, he did say he'd answer any questions they had. And knowing his brothers, he should've known that they'd bring this up sooner or later. So, with great reluctance, Troy sighed before raising his head back up, making sure Lyle was out of earshot.

"Dammit… Yes, alright? We do. Canvas and I have sex." Despite being annoyed to bring that up right now, Troy paused to calm himself down a little. After a couple seconds, a light smirk grew on his beak before he added, "And I have absolutely no complaints about that."

"Sssssooooo…" Blaze, keeping a curious stare at Troy, clenched his beak for a moment, looking hesitant to ask a follow-up. "Just to clarify…"

Troy sighed painfully before turning to him. "What?"

"So… between you and the stallion…" Blaze took a glance back at Canvas at the concession stand before looking at Troy again. "Which one of you is the… girl?"

Troy looked over at Blaze, slightly baffled. "What?"

"You know, like… is he the girl? Or…" Blaze's glance looked slightly cautious as he stared at Troy. "Are… you the girl?"

The other two looked at Troy with similar expressions, seeming rather interested in the answer as well. Meanwhile, Troy just stared back at them in puzzlement.

"Uhhh… Neither of us are girls, Blaze. That's… kind of the idea."

"No, NO!" Blaze shook his head as he tried to clarify, "I don't mean THAT! I'm just wondering, like…"

Blade, after taking his seat, tried to finish what Blaze was saying. "I think what he means is, which of you blokes is the, ummm… feminine one?"

"The… the what?" Troy narrowed his eyes, unsure of what his brothers were meaning to that. "What do you mean?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Blade looked back at Blaze with an annoyed expression. "Bloody Tartarus, and he calls us slow!"

"Like," began Blane as he tried to make their question clearer. "When you can Canvas are in bed together--"

"UGH!" Lyle, unable to throw his ball while overhearing this, turned to the Gryphons before staring at Troy. "They're asking who's the plug and who's the socket! Jeez!"

Lyle turned back to his game, leaving Troy to blink a couple times and mutter to himself. "Plug and socket? What does… OH!"

Troy then turned to his older brothers with an aggravated glare. "Are you guys serious?!"

"Yeah," said all three at the same time.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Troy crossed his claws and looked away from them in infuriation. "I'm not talking about that with my bucking family!"

"Oi! We're not asking for bloody photos or anything!" said Blade as he tried to coax his brother. "We won't judge ya if ya like taking it up the bum!"

"Ugh!" Troy covered his face with both claws, not wanting to even look at the triplets right now. "I am NOT talking about that!"

Blane groaned in irritation. "Oh, come on! It's just a question, dude! Are you giving or taking?"

Troy put his claws back down, choosing to glare at his brothers while speaking through clenched teeth. "I. Am. Not. Telling. You."

Blaze grew a cocky smirk, seeing how frustrated his little brother was getting. "You know we're not gonna stop until you tell us, right?"

"I don't care," said the Gryphon in a huff as he turned his back to them, crossing his forelegs defiantly. "I'm not going to go into detail about that!"

With that, the three looked at each other, slowly growing lewd grins on their beaks. After nodding in agreement at what they had to do, the triplets turned back to Troy, ready to use every dirty euphemism they knew.

"Come on, Troy! You can tell us! Are you the pitcher or the catcher?"

"Is that stallion the train or the tunnel?"

"Are you stirring his brownie batter, or are you the mixing bowl?"

"Whose doughnut is getting the cream filling?"

"Which of you is the turkey getting stuffed?"

"Who's doing renovations to the other's back door?"

"Are you riding the pony, or is the pony riding you?"

"SHUT UP!!!" Not caring about his outburst possibly making another scene, Troy turned back to his brothers with a completely enraged look on his face. "Just SHUT! UP!"

"Then answer the bucking question!" said Blaze in reply. "Are you the top or the bottom?"

Troy sunk his head down before grabbing the feathers atop his head, growling like he was about to seriously hurt them. Nevertheless, after a moment, Troy breathed out deeply before bringing his head back up.

"Listen to me," began Troy in a very stern tone of voice as he kept a stone-cold glare on them. "What Canvas and I do in private is NONE of your business, you get me? I don't ask you guys about YOUR sex life, and I would appreciate it if you did the same!"

While Troy kept his stare on them, the three blinked a few times before looking back at each other. After a couple seconds of silence, the three grew smirks on their faces again, pointing their talons at Troy and saying in unison.

"Bottom!"

"N-NO!" shouted Troy in anger. "It… it's not like we… UGH!"

Troy turned away from them again, just to make the three crack up at how pissy he was getting. Meanwhile, Lyle finished his set, choosing to wait until their discussion was finished before heading back to the seats. However, a familiar sight made him smile as he pointed behind them. "Nice! Canvas got nachos!"

"Mmmph! Y-yep!" Carrying a giant metal plate on his back, Canvas strained a little as he got the giant nacho platter onto the table in front of them. After the Gyphons put the drinks aside, Canvas let the platter down on the table in a loud "bang", the plate actually being larger than the table itself. While Canvas panted a little from exhaustion, the triplets quickly dived into the gargantuan mound of melted cheese and chips.

"Nice!" said Blane before shoving a clawful into his beak. "Thanks, dude!"

"No problem," said the stallion before plopping down in the seat at the end. "And there's another plate being made right now."

"Awesome!" After helping himself to a bite, Blaze pointed at the plate before saying, "I was just gonna say, this was kinda small."

Canvas rolled his eyes, and looked up to notice the scoreboard. Seeing the names the Gryphons picked out, the stallion's eyes widened a bit in surprise. "Ummm… wow. You guys picked a lot of dirty words."

"Eh, it's kind of a tradition." proclaimed Blade with a small shrug. "They only give us three letters, so it's kinda fun to find words to use after 'Poo' and 'Ass' are taken."

"I can see that…" Noticing the last name on the board, Canvas's eyes narrowed on it before asking, "Wait, what's with that last one? That's not a dirty word."

Blaze pointed up to the board before replying. "It is when you combine it with Troy's above it."

Canvas saw what the second-last word was, making him make a light "Aaaahhhh" in understanding with a nod. "I see…"

The stallion then looked over at Troy with a grin. "Were you the one who suggested that?"

"N-no…" Troy tried to avoid Canvas's gaze on him, blushing deeply before getting up from his seat. "Um, I… I got the next turn."

While Troy sheepishly made his way to the ball return to start his game, Canvas managed to get a hoof full of nachos before Lyle or the triplets could empty the plate.While he relaxed back in his seat, munching happily, the stallion barely noticed when Blaze turned over to him.

"Hey Canvas, Troy isn't telling us. Are you the top or the bottom?"

Canvas's eyes shot open as he nearly choked on his nachos.

"BLAZE!!!!"

Because of the successful Running of the Leaves, Ponyville was now completely devoid of leaves when the group finished their bowling. And fortunately enough, despite the lack of foliage, the weather was still surprisingly nice enough to forgo wearing any extra clothing. So, with the air not to cold and the skies not to dreary, not much could dampen the spirits of the Gryphons and Canvas as they left Ponyville.

All except for Blaze, who was rubbing a rather large bump on his head.

"Urrrrrrgh…" With his head still throbbing, Blaze kept a disgruntled scowl on his beak as he walked with the others down the road out of Ponyville. "You didn't have to hit me with the friggin' bowling ball, Troy!"

"Oh yeah?" Troy turned back to his brother while Canvas was resting on top of his back, still unable to walk much after the marathon from the previous day. "And YOU didn't have to ask my fiancé that bucking question, you dip-stick!"

"Well YOU weren't telling us!"

"Because it's none of your damn business!"

"Guys!" Lyle, not wanting to deal with another argument like the one that almost got them kicked out of the bowling alley, glared at both of them as he tried to talk them down. "Can we just drop it already?!"

"I'm with Lyle here," groaned Blade in agreement. "You guys kinda made a scene back at that place."

Blane, who was walking beside him, looked over with a skewed brow and a smirk. "Says the guy who screamed out 'He had a vagina' at the top of his lungs in the bowling alley!"

All the others laughed aloud at that comeback, making Blade grow a deep frown while clenching his beak shut. "Sh… shut up," muttered the Gryphon in embarrassment.

Fortunately, when he looked upward to avoid his brothers, Blade's eyes widened in pleasant surprise when he noticed a yellow Pegasus make her way towards them. Happy to find the Gryphons, Fluttershy carried a warm smile as she landed with a basket held in her tail. "Hi guys! I was hoping to find you today."

Of course, even though she said "guys", it was apparent that her eyes were set on Blade as she blushed deeply. Keeping a nervous smile on her face, the mare took the basket in her hooves before handing it to Blade. "Twilight told me about what happened at the library, and I'm really glad that the three of you support your brother for who he is!"

Blade, also blushing slightly underneath his brown feathers, gave off a light chuckle as he brushed his braid away from his eyes. "I-it's alright, Fluttershy," answered the Gryphon in a more feeble tone as he took the basket. "I mean, what kind of guy would I be if I didn't support my family?"

Even though it was obvious that he was trying to impress Fluttershy, it was also clear that Blade wasn't being insincere at all about what he just said. Because of that, Troy couldn't hide the gracious smile growing on his beak.

When Blade opened the basket, a huge smile shot across his beak. "Nice! Granola clusters!"

Lyle and the other two groaned out disappointedly, having been interested in the basket before Blade said what was in there.

Not noticing the upset looks of the others, Fluttershy kept her smile while speaking to Blade. "I read in an interview in 'Eardrum Blaster' magazine that you really liked them, so I made some for you."

"Wow, that's really nice of you!" Looking between the basket of treats and the timid mare in front of him, Blade's blush grew a little deeper as he tried to speak. "Ummm… Say Fluttershy, I… was kinda wondering…"

"Oh!" Fluttershy's ears perked up, looking like she just remembered something. "I almost forgot! Some of the ponies on the weather crew have a surprise for you guys!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Follow me!" Fluttershy then got herself airborne again, motioning the Gryphons to follow her. After making sure Canvas was secure on his back, Troy smiled before heading off to the skies with them.

Surprisingly enough, Fluttershy didn't take the triplets to the cloud they were staying in the previous night. Instead, the group was lead to Troy and Canvas's barn, which now had an impressively-large cloud home floating above it. While Troy landed with Canvas to the ground, both staring up at the new cloud in disbelief, most of the weather team crew were scattered around adding the finishing touches.

"There they are!" said Cloud Chaser happily when the noticed the triplets and Lyle hovering in front of the house, wide-eyed. She pointed at the house with both hooves before asking happily, "Since you guys know about Troy now, we wanted you guys to be in your own place! You like it?"

"Yeah, we do!" said Blane , being the first to fly up to the front entrance to look inside. "Holy crap! This place looks awesome!"

While the others went in after Blane, Troy kept a confused look on his face as he looked up at his crew. "Wait, you guys seriously did all this?" asked the Gryphon as he carefully pulled Canvas off his back. "Where'd you all get the time?"

Thunderlane's head poked out from the back of the home to answer Troy's question. "Well, we all heard Dash going off about what they did to her place, and we figured that it might be best to get them out of her mane as quick as possible."

Troy's expression quickly turned uneasy, suddenly remembering all the damage those three made to her place before he left. "Oh… crap…."

Before Troy could say anything more than that, the Technicolor trail of Rainbow Dash's zoomed past them. After a heavy gust of wind, nearly throwing Canvas onto his back, the cyan mare was seen hovering above Troy with an enraged look on her face.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!"

Hearing her furious tone of voice, the triplets' heads popped out of one of the windows from inside the cloud. Upon seeing the triplets, Dash flew up to them, looking like she was seriously going to inflict some serious damage. "Which one of you did it?!"

The triplets looked between each other for a moment, unsure how to respond. However, at remembering what was brought up in the bowling alley, only a couple seconds of silence passed before the three went back inside. After hearing some strained grunting from in the cloud, Blaze was thrown out through the cloud walls. Before he could get back in, the wall was quickly closed up by the others inside. "Hey!" shouted Blaze as he tried to claw his way back in. "Let me in, you dicks!"

A heavy shadow loomed over Blaze, which made him look back nervously. Seeing Rainbow Dash's livid face in front of him, Blaze actually felt a little worried as he pressed himself back against the could wall. "Uhhhh… hello?"

"That was YOU?!" growled the mare through gritted teeth.

"Ummm… well…" Blaze tried to stifle a fake laugh and lighten the mood. "Heh heh.. Funny story, uhhh… I learned a fun little fact about Equestrian plumbing from Troy today…"

The Pegasus's blue fur was starting to turn red around the face, with the mare looking like she was about to do something illegal to the Gryphon in front of her.

"In Tank's FOOD BOWL?!"

Blade started to shake a little, unsure of how to respond before shakily reopening his beak. "T… Tank?"

"Her pet tortoise!" cried out Troy as he face-clawed from the ground. "Blaze, what were you thinking?!"

Blaze looked between his brother and Rainbow Dash, blinking before widening his eyes in revelation. "Ohhhhhh… That makes sense." The Gryphon then chuckled a little before looking back at the infuriated pony. "I thought that meant, like, a Septic Tank!"

"RRRAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

In less than a nanosecond into her scream, Blaze shot off, only to be quickly tailed by Dash from behind. From the ground, Troy could only see his boss's rainbow trail as they flew off in the distance, followed by a loud thud from quite a distance away. Perking up his ears, the Gryphon could hear a low wail from his brother, and could very faintly hear him say something while they were out of sight.

"Owwww… My eye…"

Author's Note

Just think: If the Triplets were ponies, that "Top or Bottom" sequence probably would've been a musical number.

Also, I want to thank Zyrian for proofreading this chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Van 'No'gh

Nuzzling softly beside his mate, Canvas gave off a small yawn before fully waking up. Opening his tired eyes, the stallion was pleased to see that the weather was slightly overcast today. Because of that, the light coming in through the window wasn't nearly as bright as it usually was. Canvas then sighed in contentment before nestling in closer to Troy, who was just starting to wake up as well.

"Nnnnnnnn…" Still half-asleep, the silver Gryphon instinctively pulled Canvas in with his claws, keeping the pony in a tight cuddle as he came closer to consciousness. After making a much louder yawn than his fiancé, Troy opened his eyes, smiling faintly when he saw who was wrapped in his forelegs. "Oh… Good mor--"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The sound of the smoke alarm blaring downstairs made both of them shoot up from their nest. Before either of them could rush downstairs to make sure nothing was on fire, the sounds of three Gryphons yelling became louder than the alarm. After the obvious sounds of something being smashed lasted for a brief moment, the beeping stopped in an instant.

A moment of silence swept throughout the barn for another moment, which was broken by the faint sound of talons and paws coming up the stairs. Troy and Canvas saw Lyle come into view outside their bedroom, a slightly guilty look on his face.

"Uhhh…" Lyle pointed a talon down the stairs. "Blaze broke your fire thingy."

"NO I DIDN'T!" bellowed out Blaze's voice from downstairs. "Blane did it!"

"Don't blame that on me, jerk-wad!"

Troy groaned in frustration before calling out to them. "GUYS! You better not be making another firecracker suit!"

"No we ain't!" replied back Blade in his Trottingham accent. "We're making quesadillas!"

Troy sighed before falling back into his bedding. Even though he was glad the triplets weren't repeating any disasters from back home, the Gryphon still felt uneasy as he closed his eyes again.

"You want one?" asked Lyle from the stairway.

After Troy made a light shrug with his shoulders, Canvas lifted himself up from the nest to make a wide stretch. After giving off a surprisingly loud yawn, the stallion began to pull his tired form out of the nest. "I… I should go help them. I'd rather not have my kitchen risk getting burnt again."

"I never burnt down your kitchen, Canvas," muttered Troy from the nest.

Canvas turned back to his fiancé with a skeptical smirk. "Well, you almost did the first time. And from making a grilled cheese, no less."

Lyle clenched his beak shut, making his giggle slightly muffled as he went back downstairs. While Troy laid in the nest, barely able to wake up, Canvas sighed with a smile before bending down to kiss him on the cheek. Troy smiled tiredly, which was good enough for Canvas before he followed Lyle down the stairs.

"Oh, by the way," added Lyle as he looked back at Canvas, "some guy is here to talk with you."

"Really?" asked Canvas in surprise, which prompted him to trot down the stairs at a faster pace. However, the stallion's blue eyes widened in shock when he saw who was downstairs. "F-Fancy Pants?!"

While the Gryphons could be heard bickering in the kitchen, with a small stream of smoke coming out from the top of the doorway, the white-coated unicorn was sitting nonchalantly at the dining table. Even with his tuxedo jacket and monocle on, Fancy Pants looked quite casual as he sipped his cup of tea patiently.

Of course, as soon as he saw Canvas at the stairs, the mustached stallion finished his sip before getting up from his seat. "Oh, there you are, Canvas." While Canvas stood slightly befuddled, the unicorn walked up to him with a smile as he put out his hoof to shake. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

Even though he didn't expect Fancy Pants to arrive for his wife's painting for a couple more days, Canvas was able to break himself from his stirred state to politely shake his hoof. Despite the fact that the stallion was quite a big name in Equestrian high-society, the unicorn has been fairly nice towards Canvas whenever they met.

"Why hello, Fancy Pants," said Canvas with a smile after he shook the unicorn's hoof. "I didn't expect you to be here so soon."

After pulling his hoof back, the stallion cringed a little when he felt how unkempt his mane was. "I kinda wish I didn't sleep in if I knew you were coming."

"Oh, don’t worry about that," assured Fancy Pants with a smile and a wave of his hoof, "I was on my way to visit Rarity for an appointment. This was just a quick visit on the way." His head turned away slightly, looking back at the kitchen before refocusing his attention to Canvas. "If anything, I should be the one apologizing. I didn’t realize you had company over."

Canvas gave off a nervous chuckle, hoping to diverge the conversation from the Gryphons currently doing Celestia-knows-what in his kitchen. "Y-yeah. The three kinda… showed up by surprise a couple days ago. It was actually kinda awkward because they didn't kno--"

Before Canvas could finish his statement, Blade's head popped out from the kitchen with a extremely forced smile on his beak. Above him, a thicker volley of dark smoke could be seen coming from the top of the doorway. "Uhhhh… Canvas? I sort of have a… totally hypothetical question to ask--"

"The fire extinguisher is under the sink," replied Canvas instinctively.

"THANKS!" said the Gryphon before quickly shooting back into the kitchen. "Under the sink! Under the sink! Under the sink!"

With the sounds of scrambling paws and a fire extinguisher obviously being used in the kitchen, Canvas kept a nervous smile before pointing a hoof towards his studio. "Heh heh… It might be better if we talked in my workspace."

"Certainly," said the unicorn with a nod in agreement.

When the two went into Canvas's studio, the artist was surprised to see that his space was neatly cleaned while he was asleep. Since Lyle has been using Canvas's couch as a bed, the stallion expected the blanket and pillows to be laid out over it; however, to his surprise, everything was neatly folded and put away. The blanket and pillows, along with Lyle's luggage, were placed by the side of the couch and out of sight. Even his video game system was taken off the table and placed by one of the walls, replaced with a pot of coffee which Canvas assumed was his.

"I was on my way to visit Rarity in Ponyville," began Fancy Pants as he looked around the massive space, "and I decided to make a quick stop here to see how my commission was coming along. When I noticed the large cloud above your barn, Lyle came out and introduced himself."

He then motioned to the Gryphon by the doorway of the studio, who kept a bashful smile while waving to Canvas.

"He was gracious enough to make me some tea," continued the unicorn as he turned back to Canvas, "and I guess the others woke up while he was in the kitchen. He was planning to wake you sooner, but I think things got a little… energetic because of the other three. Not that I minded, of course."

With his cup of tea floating in his aura, Fancy Pants took a sip to emphasize his point. Looking rather impressed, Canvas turned to Lyle with an appreciative smile. "W-wow… Thanks, Lyle."

"No prob," replied Lyle with a shrug of his shoulders. "I was already up getting my coffee ready. Figured it'd be a nice thing to do."

Happy with that kind of answer, Canvas kept his smile before grabbing Lyle's pot of coffee. "Well, I really appreciate it. Here's your pot."

"Thanks," said the Gryphon as he took his still-steaming pot. Before he could enjoy his coffee, a sight made him quickly dart back off to the kitchen. "No, guys! NO!" shouted Lyle as he got out of sight from the two stallions. "You better not be using that ghost pepper sauce again!"

"But it's the secret ingredient!" whined Blane.

Hoping to bring the conversation back to business, Canvas rolled his eyes and went over to where his client's commission was. Even though he didn't want to admit, he kinda wanted to see how the high-class unicorn would've reacted to seeing a Gryphon chugging down near-boiling coffee.

"Here it is, Mister Fancy Pants," said Canvas cheerfully as he went to the large piece, which was now covered with a white sheet to keep any unwanted dust or particles off of it. "I actually just finished it the other day, so this was good timing for me! Hopefully, this fits all your criteria…"

With a tug of his muzzle, the sheet was pulled from the stand, revealing the newly created painting underneath. As soon as the oil panting was revealed in the morning light, Fancy Pants's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh my!"

The painting of Fancy's wife, Fleur De Lis, displayed the unicorn mare standing elegantly against a well-lit veranda. Even with the short amount of time he had to complete the commission, the artist managed to put in an immense amount of detail, including having the sunlight from above the background shine against the mare's flawlessly white fur. And even though the piece was on a purely two-dimensional medium, the way that Canvas painted Fleur's mane really gave a great impression of wind blowing through the world he created.

Needless to say, Fancy Pants was impressed with that he saw. Stepping in closer to inspect Canvas's detail on the painting, the unicorn couldn't keep the smile from growing on his mustached muzzle. "Wow! Canvas, I didn't think it was possible, this is actually better than what I originally expected!"

Blushing in a mix of appreciation and slight pride, the aqua stallion looked away from the older stallion bashfully. "Oh, come on. I was just following the details you gave me."

"But still!" Looking rather mesmerized by what Canvas managed to create, Fancy Pants just stared at the painting with a growing smile. "I have absolutely no doubt that Fleur will love it!"

Canvas giggled a little before turning back to him. "Well, thank yo--"

"WHOA!"

Canvas and Fancy Pants turned to the source of the outburst, and saw Blaze peeking from over the wall separating the studio from the rest of the barn. With his eyes glued to the painting, his left one noticeably black and swollen from his encounter with Rainbow Dash, the brown and tan Gryphon stared while holding a quesadilla in his claw. He took a bite before speaking with his beak half-full. "Whoth tha girl?"

"Ummm…" Seeing that the Gryphon was referring to the painting, Fancy Pants took a second before looking back at him. "Well, that's Fleur De Lise, my wife."

Fancy Pants grew a more content smile at that last part, looking quite happy about that fact. Blinking a couple times, Blaze stared between the stallion and the painting before swallowing his bite.

"So… you must be like, super rich, huh?"

"Blaze!" shouted Canvas, wide-eyed, as he tried to diffuse anything unfortunate from happening. "I'm kind of busy right now!"

"Okay, okay," muttered Blaze with a wave of his claw, knowing to make his leave. Before he could disappear back behind the wall, he pointed the remnants of his quesadilla at the stallion before asking, "You want one?"

Canvas sighed before shaking his head. "No, thank you."

Not needing to say much, the Gryphon shrugged before leaving his perch. Canvas rubbed his temple with a hoof before turning back to the unicorn. "I'm sorry about that, Fancy Pants."

"Oh, it's quite alright," replied Fancy Pants with a shrug and an understanding smile. "He isn't the first one to ask a question like that, and he certainly won't be the last."

Thinking it over, the stallion chuckled a little as he turned back to the painting and added, "Besides, it's nice to see you didn't overreact about it this time."

A couple seconds of silence passed between them, mostly because Canvas was too confused to make an immediate reply. His brow skewed a little as he blinked in puzzlement. "What… what do you mean?"

"Hm?" Fancy Pants looked back at him, just now noticing Canvas's expression.

"No, seriously. What did you mean by that?"

"Oh! Ummm…" Biting his lip in worry, the unicorn took a couple steps back, now seeming slightly cautious as he made distance between them and averted eye contact. "Oh, it’s nothing. It's just that…"

Seeing how Canvas kept his befuddled stare on him, the older stallion seemed apprehensive to finish his statement. However, he reluctantly exhaled slowly before looking back at him. "Well, Canvas… You’ve developed a… reputation of sorts…"

Canvas's eyes widened in troubled surprise. "A reputation?"

Fancy Pants looked away again while shrugging. "Well, yes… You see, after that Manehatten incident..."

Canvas immediately sucked some air from his clenched teeth as he looked down to the floor, not needing to be told what Fancy Pants was referring to. Despite how nasty that mare was acting, the stallion still winced at how that may have looked to the other ponies at that event.

"Now, I wasn't there personally," added the unicorn hastily as he looked back at Canvas, "but I have heard a few accounts from ponies who said you made a bit of a scene there."

Canvas sighed painfully, knowing that Fancy Pants wasn't exactly wrong about that. "Yeah, I… I may have…"

"I'm sorry if I brought up anything I shouldn't have," said the unicorn in a more apologetic tone, obviously seeing that Canvas didn’t look exactly proud of his actions from that night. "It's just something that I've been hearing. Now I'm not going to judge you for defending yourself…"

Canvas looked back up at Fancy Pants after hearing that, seeing that the stallion wasn't looking insincere in any way after adding that last clarification.

"But it seems to me that…" Hoping to find the right words, Fancy Pants took a moment before finishing his observation. "Well… you seem to have a habit of… fighting back when it comes to confrontation... at least more strongly than other ponies I know."

Thinking his words over, a strong exhale came from Canvas's nostrils as he looked down to the floor. Honestly, he knew that Fancy Pants was correct; even though Canvas wouldn't want to think of himself as being a violent stallion by any means, he already beat up one pony for calling him a colt-cuddler, and nearly assaulted a mare a few days ago. After everything he managed to accomplish, the last thing that he wanted in his life was to be branded a hothead or a loose-cannon because of a couple isolated incidents.

As he let Fancy Pants's last statement play back in his mind, Canvas bit his lip while looking away, giving a reply in a low and faint tone of voice. "The… the last time I didn't fight back… I almost got killed because of it…"

Fancy Pants's eyes widened in slight shock, not expecting Canvas to say something that ominous. After sighing and collecting his thoughts, Canvas looked back up at the unicorn and added, "I know I might act a bit strongly at times, but… I'd rather stand up for myself than risk that happening again."

Seeing the honesty in Canvas's eyes as he told him that, Fancy Pants only took a second in silence before nodding in agreement. "I understand completely."

Before Fancy Pants could say anything else, Canvas quickly added in a more insistent tone. "And just so you know, the only reason that incident in Manehatten happened was because of how SHE acted! Suri Polomare was the one who caused the scene by insulting my fiancé, and I'm not going to apologize for defending him and his brother."

Fancy Pants's brows raised in surprise, clearly not hearing that detail until just now. "Really? A… fiancé?"

Canvas nodded, growing a light blush as he looked away and rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. "Y-yeah, I… kinda got engaged a couple weeks ago back at the Gala."

Seeming a bit astounded at that detail, the unicorn looked back towards the wall separating the studio from the rest of the barn. "Oh, you mean… that Troius fellow?"

Canvas nodded more happily, his smile growing larger in agreement. "Yeah. The two of us became a couple after that art gallery in Cantelrot, actually."

Keeping his surprised expression, Fancy Pants turned back to Canvas with a small smirk, trying his hardest not to chuckle under his breath. "Wow! I mean, congratulations, obviously, but… I honestly didn't expect that."

Recalling how most ponies have reacted to him and Troy, Canvas tried not to laugh at Fancy Pants's comment. "Well, I think you're one of the first ponies to say that!"

At that remark, both stallions chuckled a little, helping to lighten the mood. After collecting himself first, Fancy Pants was quick to add, "Well, in that case, I suppose I can understand reacting so strongly against somepony in defense of your mate."

"Yeah," replied Canvas after catching his breath, "although I do admit I acted a bit too strong. To be fair though, she was the one who hit me."

Fancy Pants nodded with a shrug. "Yes, I heard about that. Of course, from what I've heard from Rarity, it doesn't sound that surprising. She told me a lot of things about her."

Fancy Pants chuckled again as he went back to the painting, shaking his head slightly before muttering, "A lot of things… And quite a colorful vocabulary, too."

Before Canvas could giggle at his remark, he was surprised to hear some before opening his muzzle. Looking behind him, Canvas could see the figures of the triplets make their way up the stairs. Before he could ask what they were doing, he heard Lyle's voice from the bottom of the stairs in a strained whisper. "Guys, come on! You really think this is a good idea?!"

The three turned around to give a unified "Ssssshhhhh!!!" to the younger Gryphon, and then continued their trek up to Troy's nest. "Shut up," whispered Blaze, who was at the front of the pack while slowly crawling into the bedroom. "It's Troy's fault for going back to sleep."

Canavas's eyes narrowed as he tried to see what was going on. Of course, as soon as he noticed the large bag of flour in Blaze's claw, his eyes widened when he realized what was going to happen. However, before he could try to stop them, it was already too late.

"Hey! You better not--"

POOMF!

After Blaze threw a claw full of flour straight into the sleeping Gryphon's face, the three ran off cackling while Troy rose up from the nest, chocking on the cloud of flour around him.

Of course, after hacking a couple times, Troy was aware enough to realize what just happened, and immediately chased the three as they flew out of the house laughing.

"YOU SONS OF BITCHES!!!"

Canvas could vaguely hear one of them shout something back from outside, but they were too far gone for him to hear what. Luckily, even though the stallion was embarrassed at what had just happened, he was surprised when he turned around to see Fancy Pants laughing beside the painting. With his horn lit, he was holding a handkerchief in his aura to wipe his eyes clean after he came down from his laughter.

"Oh, boy!" Still chuckling a bit, the unicorn took a breath while speaking with a large smile on his face. "It's been a while since I've seen a good antiquing! Takes me back to my Fraternity days!"

Seeing that his client didn't look disappointed or appalled by the Gryphons' display, Canvas breathed out in relief and smiled. "Ummm… sorry about that," he blushed.

"Oh, don’t be!" answered Fancy Pants assuredly with a smile and a shake of his head. "Believe me, I've seen enough squabbles between siblings to last a lifetime! That was nothing!"

With a relieved smile of his own, Canvas nodded thankfully. "Well, that's good to know." After taking a glance back at the painting, happy that it turned out way better than expected, Canvas walked over to it with a satisfied smirk. "If there isn't anything that you think needs to be changed or improved, I think I can say this is ready for your wife's birthday!"

"I quite agree," answered the unicorn with a proud grin of his own. With the way he was looking at the piece Canvas created, it was quite clear that he had nothing negative to say about it. "I'll be sure to have my movers collect it tomorrow morning. And when I get back to Canterlot, I'll get your check ASAP!"

Happy to hear that, Canvas smiled as he put his hoof out for him to shake. "Sounds good to me, Mister Fancy Pants."

While the sounds of screeching Gryphons fighting could be faintly heard outside, Fancy Pants kept his grin as he shook Canvas's hoof in agreement.

Troy, still rightfully upset about how he was woken up this morning, tried to keep himself in a calmer state as he stood underneath his shower head. Even though the outdoor shower behind his place wasn't nearly as good as the waterfall he used to have access to, it was still powerful enough to get all the flour out of his feathers and fur before his shift for Weather Patrol. Even though his brothers seemed disappointed that he had to work today, Troy knew that he couldn't exactly take any more days off.

Sighing deeply while the hot steam floated to the skies above him, the Gryphon closed his eyes while the water poured down his now clean body. Savoring the feeling of this warmth during this surprisingly chilly morning, Troy contemplated staying in this space for another moment, just because of the calming silence he got alongside the warm mist around him.

Nevertheless, after he was fully clean again, Troy turned off the faucet before lowering himself into a crouching stance. Much like a large dog, the Gryphon made a quick shake throughout his whole body, getting the majority of the moisture out of his feathers as they ruffled out. Even though he didn't do this much in the summer, preferring to keep the water on him to stay cool, he didn't feel the need to do that this morning. After a quick dry with his towel, Troy sighed in pleasure as he went back inside his home.

"There you are!" said Canvas in a cheerful tone as he trotted up to Troy at the doorway. After giving him a quick kiss on the beak, Canvas handed Troy his weather vest before grabbing his own bag.

"Just so you know," began Canvas as he pulled the strap of his art bag over his shoulder. "I'm going to head with Fancy Pants over to Ponyville to chat with Rarity. Since your other brothers are here, it might be good to see her schedule and see when she can get them measured."

"Wait, what?" asked Troy with a hint of worry in his voice.

Seeing this, Canvas's brow skewed a little. "What? Is there a problem?"

"Well…" Troy's eyes glanced up towards the kitchen, hearing his brothers fighting inside as they "washed" their dishes. "Do you… really think that's a good idea?"

"Well, why not?" asked Canvas with a confused expression. "They seem alright with the wedding, so it might be good for Rarity to get their measurements for their suits."

"No, not that," replied Troy in correction as he looked back to him. "What I mean is…"

The Gryphon's face skewed a bit in fear as his eyes dared between the kitchen and his fiancé. "Do you really think it's smart to leave the triplets alone?"

Canvas's brows raised for a second, before giving a more relaxed sigh towards the Gryphon. "Troy, come on. I think you're being a little paranoid."

"Paranoid?" Surprised that his fiancé was acting so calm about this, Troy was wide-eyed as he pointed a talon to the kitchen. "Did I NOT tell you about all the crap they pulled back home?! Didn't I mention when they burned the house down?!"

Canvas rolled his eyes with a smirk. "I asked them about that, actually. They told me that it was just the kitchen that got destroyed."

"And that's comforting to you?!"

"Troy, please," assured the stallion as he tried to keep him from getting too upset. He put a hoof over the Gryphon's beak before he kept speaking. "I know you're worried, and I understand completely. But they promised that they're not going to cause too much trouble."

Despite the hoof over his beak, Troy still have a strong deadpanned stare down to his lover at that remark.

"And besides," continued Canvas, choosing to ignore Troy's reaction towards him, "chances are pretty good that they're going to stay outside for most of the day. Equestria is a big place. Do you really think they're gonna stay cooped up here the whole day?"

Even though he wanted to make a retort, Troy just blinked as he thought it over. Knowing his brothers, he knew that they were going to do something bad; It was practically in their blood. However, he also knew that they really didn’t stay anywhere for too long, and since they've been inside their house for a while, chances really were good that they'll be doing Celestia-knows-what somewhere else.

So, after a moment of contemplation, Troy decided to let Canvas have this one. Pulling Canvas's hoof from his beak, the Gryphon gave a light nod with a smile. "Okay, Canvas," said Troy faintly. "I’ll try not to get worried. I swear."

Giving a caring smile back at him, Canvas looked happy at Troy's answer before giving him another peck on the beak. "Thank you."

After making sure his art bag was secure, Canvas headed back to his studio as he looked back at Troy. "I'll only be gone for an hour at most, okay?"

Even though he still had a small twinge of foreboding dread at the base of his spine, the Gryphon still nodded with a smile to his fiancé, not wanting to show any unease from his part. "O-okay… Have a nice time."

"I will!" chirped the stallion cheerfully before disappearing into his studio. "Love you!"

Troy gave a quick "Love you, too" before heading to the kitchen, hoping to all that was holy that the triplets weren't being too destructive this early in the morning. While Canvas left from the front of the barn with Fancy Pants, Troy looked inside the kitchen to see what his brothers were up to.

And as soon as he saw what they were doing, his eyes went wide-open while they chanted in unison:

"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!"

While Blaze, Blade and Lyle were chanting and pumping their claws, Blane had his head tilted back while chugging down a bottle of ghost pepper chili sauce. And from the look of it, the massive Gryphon had already downed at least three-quarters of the bottle before his eyes began to water. With only a few gulps remaining, the three chanted faster while Troy stood speechless:

"GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!"

As soon as he got the last drop down his throat, Blane roared in triumph while the others cheered loudly.

"YEAH!" yelled the Gryphon as he held the now empty bottle, holding it up high before smashing it onto the kitchen floor like he just scored a touchdown.

"HEY!!!" bellowed out Troy as the bottle smashed into dozens of shards on the kitchen floor. "What the buck do you think you're doing?!"

After making a light belch, grimacing at the taste in his beak, Blane turned to him with a proud smirk. "I just won five Aves, THAT'S what I'm doing!"

"Yeah, yeah," groaned Blaze as he pulled out his pouch, reluctantly putting five golden coins into Blane's claw. "Don't get too cocky, dude."

Grimacing at the mess the guys made, Troy brushed a few shards on the floor with a paw before giving them a disapproving scowl. "I hope you guys are gonna clean this up!"

"Oh stop your bitchin!" griped Blade as he walked away from him and towards the fridge, "You're starting to sound like Mum!"

"Yeah!" said Blaze in agreement as he followed his brother. He decided to start a purposely bad impersonation of a feminine voice as he added, "Pretty soon you're gonna start saying stuff like 'Stop setting things on fire!' or 'Watch your beak before I get the soap!'"

Blade giggled a bit before taking out a bottle of root beer. "Yeah! Or 'Stop walking around with an erection! We have company!'"

Troy groaned in frustration, not wanting to get this overstressed before his shift began. "Can you please… PLEASE just get this broken glass cleaned up!?"

"I'm on it," chimed Lyle as he went to the side of the fridge where the broom was.

Troy sighed as he closed his eyes, rubbing his temple to keep himself from getting too uptight. "Thank you." After taking a deep breath, the Gryphon reopened his eyes before pointing a talon at the triplets. "Okay, I'm gonna be back this afternoon, and Canvas will be back in an hou--"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," mumbled Blaze as he got a bottle of root beer for himself. He flicked off the top before turning to him. "Quit being so damn uptight and just relax, alright?! You're acting like we're automatically gonna trash something!"

"That's because you guys always do!"

Blade walked past him out of the kitchen while mumbling under his breath. "Oi, I swear! I've met virgins who weren't as uptight as you…"

"I'm NOT uptight!" retorted Troy as he felt himself get more aggravated. "I just don’t want you guys to screw up anything I have around here!"

"Oh for crying out loud!" moaned Blaze as he glared at his younger. "Can you PLEASE just go to work, you uptight little butthole?!"

Even though he wanted to respond to that, Troy decided to just let it slide. Clenching his beak shut, Troy just turned away while Lyle swept up the shards from the floor. Making his way to the door, Troy made one final exhale before looking back at them. "See you guys around four, alright?"

"Alright," replied Blaze and Blade in unison. Of course, as soon as the door closed behind Troy, the two groaned out before plopping down in the dining room chairs. "I swear," said Blaze in a irritated tone, "something is up that Gryphon's ass!"

Snickering under his breath, Blade looked over at him and replied with a smirk, "Whadd'ya think he has up his bum?!"

The two immediately burst out laughing. Even Lyle, who just finished getting the last of the shards, had some difficulty staying silent from hearing that joke. However, unlike the others, Blane was the only one not laughing.

"Urrrrrgh…"

Hearing his pained moan, Lyle looked over at him cautiously while pouring the dustpan of shards into the trash. Seeing how his brown feathers started to look a bit paler, Lyle's eyes widened in caution. "Blane… Are you okay?"

Blane slowly shook his head, catching the attention of Blaze and Blade as they turned to see him looking queasy. The large Gryphon covered his beak with a claw as he struggled to speak. "Oh crap! I… I think I'm gonna--"

Blane quickly rushed out of the kitchen, looking like he was gonna hurl at any moment. While Lyle ran after him with the trash can, Blaze and Blade kept their seats as they watched with amusement.

"If he vomits, I'm getting my money back," said Blaze with a grin.

Unsure where to go, the massive Gryphon flew up to the wall of Canvas's studio, leaning in as he felt himself about to heave. Keeping a wide-eyed look of horror, Lyle shot into the studio with the can just as Blane began to vomit.

"Bllluuuuuuuugh!!!"

Blaze and Blane got out of their seats to look over the wall, surprised to see that nothing inside was stained or splattered in vomit. Because of Lyle's quick thinking, Blane's head was directly inside the trash can which was hoisted up by Lyle's shaking claws.

"Dude!" said Blaze in an impressed tone of voice. "That's awesome!"

"Yeah!" added Blade. "I have roadies who aren't that quick with a Churn Pail! Nice job!"

Even though he was glad he didn't get any vomit in the studio (or himself, for that matter), that didn't make him feel any better as he held the now much heavier can over his head. After making sure that was the last of it, Lyle pulled the trash can away before glaring up at Blane. "Dude! Just what the buck is wrong with you?"

"What?" asked Bane in a hoarse tone after getting his stomach pumped of hot sauce and who-knows how much beer. "I needed to throw up!"

"And you chose Canvas's studio?!" Lyle motioned to the space around him, showing how clean and untouched the space was without its artist in it. "This is where the guy works, for crying out loud!"

Even though he wanted to say something, Blane looked slightly guilty as his beak skewed a bit. Blade looked over at him before adding, "You know, he kinda has a point. Remember when you did that in my recording studio?"

"I cleaned that!" shouted Blane as he glared at him.

"It's been three bloody years, and it still smells like clam chowder, ya clod!"

Closing his eyes, Lyle wanted to take a breath to calm down, but the can of vomit in front of him kept him from doing so. Instead, the Gryphon sighed as he put the trash can down on the ground. "Listen, Troy's already kinda worried that something might get messed up. And if something happened in here, then he woul--"

SPLAT!

As soon as the heavy trash can touched the hardwood floor of the studio, the sound of a loud squish broke Lyle's comment, followed by an even louder splat. Looking down, Lyle saw that he didn't exactly place the can on a clean floor. Instead, the bottom of the can pressed and broke open a small tube of black paint, making the Gryphon's eyes widen in an instant.

When he looked back up to his brothers, all three of them were staring straight ahead to the other end of the studio, their eyes as wide as frisbees. Quickly turning to where they were looking, it didn't take long for Lyle to see what happened, making him gasp in horror.

At the other end of Canvas's studio, where the painting the stallion just showed to Fancy Pants was standing, a large glob of black paint was splattered directly on Fleur's face.

Lyle, standing with his beak agape in terror, barely heard Blaze's voice from behind him.

"Oh, dude! You're in so much trouble!"

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter took so long to get up. I'm gonna try hard to get the next chapter up a bit quicker.

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Ultimate Buckup

After having a lovely conversation with Fancy Pants on their walk towards Ponyville, as well as a cup of tea with him and Rarity at Carousel Boutique, Canvas felt rather happy about how much he managed to accomplish this morning. Now that his client's painting was finished and to his approval, there was nothing much for the stallion to worry about while Troy's family was here. And as luck would have it, Rarity just happened to have an opening in her schedule tomorrow, which would be the perfect time to get the triplets measured.

"Mmmm!" Finishing the last of his scone, Canvas kept a smile while wiping any excess crumbs off his muzzle with a napkin. "Wow, Rarity! I think that's one of the best scones I ever had!"

Rarity giggled a little with a prideful smile on her face. "Why thank you, Canvas. I can't say I'm as good of a baker as Pinkie Pie or Applejack, but I know my way around a few choice pastries when the time is right."

Fancy Pants, who had already finished his scone, took another sip of tea before adding his own statement. "I have to agree with Mister Canvas here. You certainly know how to entertain your guests."

"Oh, stop it, you," chimed Rarity with a light blush as she lifted all the dirty plates and cups with her blue aura. She got out of her seat and walked towards the kitchen while levitating her items. "I'm simply being a courteous hostess for my clients, of course."

After floating everything into the kitchen sink, Rarity turned back towards Fancy Pants, "Oh, that reminds me! I wanted to ask you about some suggestions in regards to your wife's dress."

"Really?" asked the unicorn in slight surprise. However, after a second of contemplation, Fancy Pants gave a light shrug with his shoulders. "Well, I suppose that can be alright."

Seeing that he wasn't needed, Canvas pulled himself up from his seat to make his leave. "Well, I think I'll head back home. Troy's been a little worried about his brothers being left alone for too long, and…"

Noticing something a little out-of-place, Canvas blinked a couple times when he stared over at Rarity's record player. "Rarity, is that… is that Changeling Slaughterhouse?"

"EEP!" The mare quickly rushed over to the record player, using her magic to float the Talon Ripper album cover out of sight. After making sure Fancy Pants didn't see the offensive-looking artwork, Rarity gave off a meager laugh as she looked back at Canvas. "Uh, that… that was lent to me by Fluttershy…"

"Uh-huh," replied Canvas with an obviously skeptical smirk on his muzzle.

"I'm serious!" barked the unicorn more insistently than before. "Fluttershy wouldn't stop raving about it after meeting that Blade fellow, and suggested that I listen to it."

Remembering what little she managed to listen to, Rarity shuddered in disgust and looked away. "I swear, I can't understand how she could enjoy that debauchery!"

Canvas reluctantly nodded in agreement. "That makes two of us. I mean, I listened to a few of their albums, but the only songs I liked were Dead Shopping Day and Rip Them Apart."

Rarity looked back at him, wide-eyed. "Fluttershy suggested that song as something the Pony Tones should cover!"

Fancy Pants almost spat out some of his tea as he giggled from hearing that. "I must say, that would be an interesting thing to hear from your group, Miss Rarity!"

Rarity rolled her eyes and groaned in slight irritation. "Oh, please! I'd rather not let her get any ideas."

"Hmmmm…" Canvas tapped the bottom of his chin with a hoof as an idea came to his head. "You know, I bet Blade would be interested in hearing something from your group. Maybe a collaboration wouldn't hur--"

"Canvas!" snapped the mare with a hoof pointed at him. "I swear to Celestia, if you even think about doing that--"

Seeing how uptight she was getting Canvas just giggled a little before making his leave. "Okay, okay. I'll get out of your mane…"

However, before he could walk out the front door of the boutique, the aqua stallion looked back at her with a smirk and said, "Although, I bet Fluttershy might tell Blade next time she meets him."

Rarity's eyes shot wide-open, which just made Canvas chuckle loudly and leave her shop. While she stood frozen, worried about what might happen if those two met once more, she didn't notice the orange aura of Fancy Pants's magic as he picked up the album cover from behind the record player, floating it towards him.

"Oh my!"

Rarity gasped as she turned around, quickly rushing over to Fancy Pants to retrieve the borrowed cover. "EEK! Please don't look at that!"

Canvas breathed in deeply as he trotted back outside, appreciating the cool autumn air of Ponyville and savoring its briskness. After taking a few seconds to think things over, the stallion perked up with a smile as he remembered something important; probably one of the best things the fall season has to offer around this time.

"Ooooh! I can get a pumpkin spice latte!"

"Oh no…."

Staring at the painting Canvas just finished making, Lyle looked absolutely mortified when he saw what he had inadvertently done. Since the painting of Fleur de Lise looked so nice before, the huge blotch of black paint on her face just stuck out even more in the Gryphon's terrified eyes.

"No… no, no, no, no, NO!!!"

Meanwhile, the triplets were still perched at the wall of the studio, staring at the painting with bewildered expressions. While this wasn't the first time the three witnessed something this nice getting wrecked, this was one of the rare instances where they weren't the cause of it.

"Oh man!" Blaze tried not to cackle too loudly as he stared down at Lyle and the painting. "Dude, why did you do that?"

"I didn't do it on PURPOSE!!!" shouted Lyle as he turned back to him. "It just… happened!"

"Heh heh heh…" Blade looked over at Blaze as he chuckled under his breath. "You know what this reminds me of? When we knocked over Mister Pelly's tool shed!"

"I was thinking more when we wrecked his mailbox," chimed in Blane from the end.

Blade looked back at him. "Well, that one was on purpose."

"But still, we told him that 'It just sorta happened'."

"Oh yeah! We did!"

"GUYS!" yelled Lyle in a panic, pointing a talon at the painting. "What are we gonna do?!"

The three stared at him and said in unison. "We?!"

Lyle's beak went slightly agape. "Are you guys being serious right now?!"

"Hey," responded Blaze, "we didn't do it!" He then paused for a second as his eyebrows raised in surprise. He turned his head over to the other two. "Wow, it feels weird saying that and not being a lie!"

"I know," said Blade in an equally stunned tone. "It feels totally different."

"Guys, come on!" Unsure how he could rectify this situation, Lyle's expression turned more angry as he pointed up at Blane. "The only reason this happened was because of YOUR vomit, dude!"

"Hey, don't be turning this back on me!" Blane looked over at the others for support. "Help me out here!"

Blaze and Blade stared back at him for a second in silence. The two thought it over before giving cocky grins.

"WE didn't do it!"

Blane groaned in frustration, while Blade turned back at Blaze. "Wow, you're right! It's really bloody freaky!"

"Yeah! It totally is!"

Seeing that the two weren't going to back him up, the massive Gryphon gave a stubborn huff before sighing in defeat. "Oh, fine!"

Blane then lumbered over the wall, falling into Canvas's studio with a loud 'Thud' that made everything shake. Lyle winced when he looked around, but saw that nothing was damaged from that small tremor. At least, nothing that could get damaged any further.

"Hmmmm…" Blane walked up to the painting, peering at it like he was examining a foreign object. His head cocked to the side a couple times, like he was trying to see the blotch of black paint from different angles. After about a minute of silence, Blane pulled back before giving his analysis.

"Yep. That's paint alright."

Lyle face-clawed. Hard.

"Maybe you could, like… wipe it off?"

The two turned around at Blade's reply. While they looked up at him, the slim Gryphon just shrugged before repeating his suggestion.

"You know, like… if the painting is already finished, it's probably dry, right? So… maybe it can be wiped off."

Lyle's eyes widened in realization. "That… that might actually work."

Blade's stature perked up a little, a prideful smile growing on his beak. Blaze just rolled his eyes and looked away from him.

Lyle looked back at Blane. "Dude! We need to get some wet paper towels or something!"

"I'm on it!" Blane, despite not wanting to get involved in this, was still convinced enough by Blade's suggestion to think this could really work.

"Okay, okay…" Thinking it over, Lyle began to pace across the floor, looking down as he muttered to himself. "This could work, this could work… We just gotta… dab it a little… Yeah. We just dab the paint off… a little at a time… and maybe touch it up a tad--"

SPLAT!

Lyle turned around to the source of the loud, wet smack. His eyes shot wide-open in horror when he saw Blane was back at the painting.

With a large beach towel.

Completely wet.

Pressed hard against the painting.

"BLANE!!!"

Hearing the voices of all three of them say that at the same time, Blane turned his head around with a confused look on his face. "What?"

"I SAID A WET PAPER TOWEL!!!"

"I got a towel!" Blane pulled the towel away from the painting to show them, not noticing that the white fabric now had a huge blotch of different colors soaked into it. "See?"

Lyle, Blaze, and Blade, stood absolutely speechless, their beaks and eyes wide open at what he just did. Before he could ask what their problem was, Lyle was the first to speak in a very faint and shaken tone.

"… Blane… did you use water to wet that towel?"

Blane scoffed a little, responding like Lyle just asked a stupid question. "Uhhh… Noooo." He pointed over to an open can at the corner of the studio. "I used that paint remover over there. You know, to remove the paint!"

He then pointed a talon to his head, like he was motioning for his younger brother to use his own. However, as soon as he turned around to see the painting, he suddenly realized why all three of them were looking at him so horrified.

The painting, which used to be a stunning portrait of one of Equestria's most beautiful mares, was now barely recognizable as anything at all. Because of Blane's overzealous application of the paint remover, a large blotch of smeared and blotchy colors have blurred the middle of the piece, turning it into an incoherent blob of near-nothingness. And since the corners and edges of the painting were unaffected, the well-detailed landscapes on the sides, combined with the lower half of Fleur's body, just accentuated how much was removed and destroyed in the middle.

Seeing what he did, Blane stepped away from the painting cautiously, not noticing his brothers' aghast stares as he spoke meagerly.

"Uhhhh… I think I took off a little too much."

Keeping a chipper smile on his muzzle, Canvas reopened the door to his home. Even though he usually came in though his studio, the stallion decided to go in from the side door to get to the kitchen. However, before he could go through the doorway and get a water bottle, Canvas's ears perked up when he heard the hushed whispers of Lyle and the others from the studio.

"Crap! Crap, he's here!"

"What're we gonna do?!"

"Shut up! Maybe he won't notice."

"Are you crazy?! Of course he's gonna notice!"

Canvas quickly ignored the kitchen and ran straight into the studio to discover the cause of their panicked words. Of course, as soon as he walked in, Lyle and the triplets immediately lined up at the corner of the studio, conveniently covering the view of Canvas's painting.

And if that wasn't a big enough red flag, Canvas became even more uneasy when he saw that all four of them had very nervous smiles on their beaks.

All of them spoke at the same time. "Hhhhhheeeeyyyyyyyy…"

Even though he was afraid to ask, Canvas knew that something had to have happened since he left to make them act this way . "Guys… what happened?"

"NOTHING!"

Before Canvas could try to say anything, Blaze rushed over to him, keeping one wing out to keep the stallion from seeing the painting as he tried to pull him away. "Heyyyyy, how about we go to Cloudsdale or something? Maybe see the sights around here."

Canvas looked up at him with a befuddled expression. "Dude, I can't fly."

"Uhhh… then I'll throw you up! C'mon, let's go!"

"Guys, what are you--" Canvas struggled against Blaze's pushing, and managed to break himself away to look back at the other three. "Okay, what the hay happe--"

As soon as he caught a small glimpse of the painting that wasn't covered by one of the Gryphons' wings, Canvas gasped in shock. His hoof shot up over his muzzle, and Blane quickly tried to reposition himself.

"Shit, shit! It… it's not what it…"

Unfortunately, despite their meager attempts, one glance back at Canvas's horrified face was enough to show he saw at least a little. So, with an extremely guilty look on his face, Blane's shoulders slumped down as he looked away from him with a heavy sigh. "It's exactly what it looks like…"

After looking back at the other two, both giving equally worried looks on their faces, Blane slowly stepped away from the painting. Blaze, who was still beside Canvas, also stepped away from him, mostly due to being cautious about what might happen when he sees the damage.

"WHAT THE--"

Right as he saw the destroyed piece he spent so much time working on, Canvas struggled to keep his hoof against his mouth after that quick outburst. Of course, given what happened to it, none of the Gryphons could blame him.

While it was bad enough that Blane's actions pretty much wiped off most of the work Canvas had done, how the other two tried to fix it was even worse. Despite Lyle trying desperately to just leave it alone until Canvas came back, his older brothers were insistent on trying to "repair" the damage. Because of that, a new addition was made on top of the smeared and removed paint in the middle, which just made Canvas's left eye twitch involuntarily.

"Guys…" Canvas's voice came out in a faint, yet very strained whisper as he slowly put his hoof back down. "Why… why is there…"

The stallion's breathing began to come out faster, which made the Gryphons all step back further from him. Even though he was a little guy compared to the triplets, it was still unclear what a pony could do if he got too enraged. And as soon as his next words came out, they all knew he was already close to that point.

"WHY IS THERE CRAYON DRAWN ON IT?!?"

Lyle winced as he slumped his head away, sucking air in through his beak. Even though none of the triplets had any drawing experience, nor had much of a good recollection of what Fleur de Lis looked like, Lyle wasn't able to stop them from trying to recreate the picture. Especially since Blane had a box of crayons in his luggage, strangely enough.

"DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY--" Canvas clenched his muzzle shut again, holding his hoof against it as he turned away from them with his eyes clenched shut.

Blaze quickly stepped backwards towards his brothers, not wanting to get singled out by the artist. As soon as he turned over to them, seeing that they all had the same look of dread that he did, the muscular Gryphon tried to say something as he turned back over to Canvas.

"Lyle did it!"

"WHAT?!?"

In less than three seconds, the studio erupted in loud yelling as the four Gryphons angrily bickered, pointing talons at one another while trying to blame one-another for the painting's current condition.

"You were the one who drew crayon on it!"

"Yeah! Because YOU were the one who wrecked it in the first place!"

"Because of HIS vomit bucket! And I wasn't the one who used paint thinner!"

"You told me to!"

"I said a PAPER towel! Not a--"

SLAM!!!

At the sound of a door being loudly slammed shut, the four stopped fighting to realize that Canvas was no longer there. Instead of yelling, or doing anything physical to the Gryphons, the artist instead left, obviously in need to cool down.

Knowing that all of them royally screwed up, Lyle was the first to break the deathly silence.

"This is bad…"

With a quick slash of his talons, Troy was finally able to get the last of the overcast skies thinned down enough for the sunlight to shine through. Even though the task itself wasn't usually that demanding, the amount he was given for the morning shift was starting to take its toll on the Gryphon's stamina. Of course, given what happened to Rainbow Dash's vacation home because of his brothers, Troy couldn't blame her for being a little less sympathetic to any complaints he would try to make this morning. Because of that, he kept his beak shut for the majority of the morning, just to keep himself from getting on her bad side.

"Hey, Troy!" shouted the Pegasus as she flew over to him. "You got the skies done yet?"

"Just finished," replied Troy after a sigh of relief, giving a quick crack of his talons as he looked over at her. "This good?"

Dash looked over Troy's work, seeing that all the clouds they were above were evenly laid out across Ponyville in preparation for the colder weather scheduled to arrive later. Despite the mare's brow furrowing a little, giving the implication that she wanted to get at him for something, it was obvious that there was nothing negative to say. So, with a low sigh from her muzzle, she looked back at Troy with an approving nod.

"Y… yeah. You did alright, Troy."

Troy smiled back at her, taking a second before grabbing his water canteen from his satchel. Rainbow did the same, grabbing a sports drink bottle from her vest before hearing him speak.

"I just gotta say," began Troy in a more guilty tone after taking a few gulps, "I'm really sorry about what happened with your place."

Dash exhaled deeply after hearing that, reclosing her bottle before turning to him. "Can we just not talk about that right now?" Still rightfully angry about what happened to her place (and her pet tortoise's food bowl), she shook her head in frustration as she looked away from him and muttered under her breath. "I swear, how can someone do something that stupid?"

"Believe me," replied the Gryphon bluntly, "that doesn't even fit into the top ten dumbest things they did!"

Rainbow raised her brows as she turned back towards him, seeing from his expression that he wasn't lying. "Seriously?"

"Oh yeah!" Hoping to alleviate the situation a little while they were both on break, Troy sat atop the overcast clouds as he remembered a good story to tell her. "Like, there was this one time where they went to a water park. And while they were there, I think Blade had the bright idea to--"

"TROY!!!"

The sound of Lyle's voice broke the two's focus, as they turned to see the younger Gryphon fly up through the clouds Troy just finished laying out. Seeing how much his brother was panting with a worried look on his face, Troy didn’t even care about the hole as he went up to him. "Hey, hey, hey… Lyle, what is it?"

After catching his breath, Lyle let his wings rest while standing atop the clouds, and looked up to Troy with a shameful expression. "Troy, I… I really messed up."

"What happened?"

Lyle had to take a moment before actually giving a response, not as much from exhaustion than from his own overwhelming guilt. But still, despite his worries, the Gryphon managed to explain as much as he could to his brother, starting with what occurred as soon as he left for work.

Rainbow Dash, who was listening in from the side, couldn't help but cringe harder with each detail Lyle gave his brother. As soon as the paint-remover was mentioned, the mare had to look away as an involuntary "Oh man!" came from her muzzle.

Nevertheless, Troy just kept his eyes on Lyle as he heard him explain, unable to know how to feel. Even though he felt he should be outraged that his brothers wrecked something his fiancé worked so hard on, it wasn't easy to think that way when he saw how ashamed his brother looked about it. In fact, by the time he finished explaining everything, Lyle actually looked like he was close to tearing up due to his guilt.

"…He… he just left without saying anything! I have no idea where he went, and I…"

Lyle's head bent down, and he put one of his claws over his eyes as he tried to keep his voice from sounding too strained near the end.

"I… I really think he hates us."

Seeing how morose his brother looked, Troy knew that it wouldn't be right to make him feel any worse about it. So, the Gryphon instead placed a claw on Lyle's back before making a response.

"Hey, hey… It's okay, Lyle. I really don't think he hates you, alrght?"

"How do YOU know that?!" shouted Lyle as he looked back up at him, a scowl on his beak.

Troy just sighed, giving a deadpan stare back at his brother. "Well, I'm engaged to the guy, for one. I think I have a pretty good idea what would set him off. Remember what happened with his bag in Manehatten?"

Lyle blinked a couple times, his eyes slowly looking back down as he recalled that event. Even though he certainly remembered Canvas being more than livid towards his fiancé for losing his bag (which, after being explained about it, was pretty understandable), it wasn't nearly enough to make him hold a grudge against Troy about it.

Nevertheless, despite feeling like his own mistake was a few notches worse than Troy's, Lyle still reluctantly nodded.

"That's right," continued the older brother in a more assuring tone of voice. "Listen, I know you feel bad, but it's easy to see that it was just a mistake. How about this: you head back to the house and try to figure out something with the others, and I'll find Canvas to make sure he's okay. Deal?"

Lyle's beak was closed shut, him not wanting to leave it open and give evidence that he had a valid reply. However, as he looked back up at Troy, seeing the reassurance in his brother’s expression, he could tell that Troy really wasn't mad at him. And if the Gryphon was as honest as he came out to be right now, chances might be good that Canvas won't be too mad either.

So, after giving it some good thought, Lyle nodded more confidently to Troy's suggestion. "I… Okay, I'll do that."

"Thanks," said Troy with a smile and a pat on Lyle's shoulder. As soon as Lyle flew off, now heading back to the barn to talk with the triplets, Troy turned over to Rainbow Dash, who was listening in the entire time.

"Hey Dash, you mind if I--"

"Yeah, yeah," said the Pegasus with a wave of her hoof. "It's okay, dude. Go find your fiancé. Just try to get back ASAP, got it?"

Troy nodded in agreement, and flew through the same space Lyle flew through to search for the stallion underneath the clouds. Of course, after a brief moment, his claw could be seen going back through the hole, quickly closing the space behind him to leave the skies a uniform grey.

Dash took another glance around the space, sighing under her breath. "I swear," muttered the mare tiredly, "is it too much to ask for this stuff to happen outside of work?"

The front door of the Ponyville Spa opened, making the bell make a distinct "ding" as Troy walked inside with his weather vest still on. After their engagement party, Troy and Canvas decided to use the spa tickets Fluttershy gave them the first chance they got; and since Rarity was a regular customer there as well, she was more than happy to make sure they had a good experience. Even though Troy was slightly impartial to the spa treatment (especially since Canvas was able to rub his paws in ways those spa mares really couldn't), it was clear that Canvas loved it. So, if there was any place for the stallion to be to cool down, Troy was sure that this would be it.

A blue mare with a pink mane trotted out from the back room, her face beaming the instant she saw Troy at the door. "Why hello, Mister Clawston!" said the pony in a cheerful (and heavily accented) tone. "Are you here to join your stallion today?"

As soon as she said that, Troy's brows raised in surprise. Even though he had a good hunch his fiancé would be here, it was still lucky to get that guess right on the first try. "Ummm, yeah! Actually, I was hoping to find him. Would you mind if I talk to him for a moment, please?"

"Uhhh…" The mare looked towards the back room, her face giving a hint of uncertainty to Troy's request. "Well… We usually don't allow our clients to be disturbed."

"Awww, c'mon, Lotus! Please?"

Lotus bit her lip timidly, staying silent for a few seconds before looking back at Troy. Seeing how the Gryphon was looking, she could tell that he was anxious to talk with him.

"Well… alright," said Lotus as she led him to the back room, "but I'm only doing this because you remembered my name correctly on the first try. I have regulars who still confuse me with Aloe sometimes."

Troy gave a light shrug. "What can I say? I'm good with names, I guess."

Lotus chuckled a little at his reply, and walked the Gryphon over to the mud bath Canvas was resting in. With a cucumber slice over each eye, the stallion didn't seem to notice either of them before Lotus bent her head in.

"Mister Canvas?" whispered the mare softly to catch his attention. "Your fiancé is here to speak with you."

"Hm?" Canvas's face twitched a little, and he lifted his hoof from under the mud to pull one of the slices from his eyes. As soon as his eye adjusted to the light, seeing Troy looking down at him, Canvas sighed before growing a soft smile. "Hey Troy."

Happy that Canvas wasn't disappointed, Lotus made her leave. "I'll let you two speak for a moment, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, Lotus."

As soon as Lotus left the room, Canvas breathed out deeply as he settled into his mud bath, his eye barely open when he looked up at Troy.

"Canvas, I… I heard about what happened to your painting."

A low groan escaped the stallion's muzzle as he closed his eyes, almost like he was trying to avoid Troy's words. "Urghhhh… I still can't believe they did that."

"C'mon," said Troy softly as he bent in close to him from the edge of the tub. "You know they didn't mean to, right?"

"Yes, I do," replied Canvas almost instantly. "Seriously, I know it wasn't on purpose, and I'm not mad at them. I swear. I just…" After pursing his lips shut for a brief moment, a small whinny came from his mouth before adding in a more saddened tone, "I really worked hard on that."

"I know, baby," cooed Troy sympathetically. "And I'm so sorry that happened."

"Thanks… But now I have to start over from scratch, AND find a way to tell Fancy Pants that his wife's gift is going to be late. And I know he's going to be upset about it since he's planning to pay in advance."

Troy couldn't help wincing after hearing that part. "Oooohhhh… That's not good."

"I know," whined the stallion, his head sinking in a little deeper into the mud. "I don't know what to do, and this bath is one of the few things keeping my mind clear for a while."

"Okay, I get it." Troy bent in towards Canvas, giving his forehead a gentle kiss before assuring him softly, "We're gonna find a way to solve this, I swear. But right now, just relax, and don't get too upset, alright?"

Canvas gave a meager nod. "Yeah, okay…"

"Good." With that, Troy decided to leave his fiancé be and get back to work. However, before Troy could reach the doorway and make his way out of the spa, he heard Canvas's voice from the mud bath.

"Hey, Troy?"

Troy turned his head around. "Yeah?"

"… Tell the guys I'm not mad at them, okay?"

Troy grew a more content smile and nodded. "Sure thing."

After a moment of silence, Canvas heard the door close, making him sigh as he settled back into his bath again. Letting his head sink deeper into the mud, the stallion placed the cucumber slice back over his eye before his body settled inside the bath. Hoping his fiancé was right, there was nothing more for Canvas to do but breathe deeply, hoping that this relaxation treatment would be worth every bit he paid for.

Even though he was a little late getting back to work, Troy was able to talk to his brothers and get back to Ponyville sooner than expected, with the triplets assuring him that they had a "foolproof" plan; despite not liking the sound of that, it was enough for him to refocus on his work. Since he was able to get his afternoon shift completed earlier than expected, Troy was able to pick up Canvas by the time his spa treatment was complete.

Strangely enough, when they got back to their home, both of them were surprised to see no sign of the triplets or Lyle inside. Instead, there was only a note written for Troy and Canvas on the dining table. Canvas, with his legs still a little weak from the spa treatment (as well as riding on Troy's back to get home), picked up the note and read what it said.

Deer guys,

Were sorry about the painting. It was a accident, and we feel bad about putting crayon on it. We cant fix it, but don't worry! We have a plan, and its gonna kick ass!

Well get dinner for ourselves, so just relax for the night and do whatever it is you guys do. Just don't tell us if you too do butt stuff. Nothing wrong with it, but its hella gross.

-Blaze

P.S - You need more paint remover.

And butter

And root beer.

Sighing loudly, Canvas handed the letter to Troy before heading back to his studio. When he looked inside, the stallion was surprised to see that the painting was wrapped up in the brown paper he uses to ship his pieces from home. Even though he knew he couldn't ship that out to Fancy Pants now, that was still a nice little detai--

"WHAT?!" shouted Troy from the other side of the wall. "THEY DRANK ALL MY ROOT BEER?!?"

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Ultimate Save

Troy tried to keep his mind clear while stirring the sauce for dinner, but he honestly wasn't able to think straight. After getting that letter from his brothers after the painting incident, only two questions were running through Troy's head as he stirred the contents of his saucepan:

One - What in the name of Equestria were those idiots planning to do to make up for drawing on Canvas's painting with crayon?

And two - Which one was he going to strangle first for drinking all of his root beer?

Canvas, who had a more relaxed smile on his face, trotted up to Troy as he tried to inspect what the Gryphon was cooking. "Oooh!" said the stallion happily as he smelled what was on the stove. "Mushroom fettuccine?"

"Yep," replied Troy in a slightly prideful tone. Even though he wasn't even half as good of a cook as Canvas was, the Gryphon was still improving quite a bit since the two started living together. "I got a couple of really good recipes from Bon-Bon, and I wanted to try this one out tonight."

"Well, it looks like you're doing a great job." Seeing how the mushrooms were sizzling against the pan with a good helping of onions and garlic, Canvas was already feeling anxious to try out Troy's latest dish. He leaned his snout in to take a whiff, pursing his lips shut to keep from salivating. "Mmmmm… Man I love mushr--"

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The sound of a hoof thunderously banging on their door made the two of them jolt away from the stove. Afraid of what the commotion was about, Canvas was the first to make a statement, "I… I'll get it. You need to turn the mushrooms over anyway."

"Hm?" Troy looked back at the pan, and quickly grabbed the spatula. "Oh crap, You're right!"

While Troy tended to dinner, Canvas opened the door from their living space, only to be greeted by a less than happy Applejack.

From the look on the orange mare's livid face, it looked like she was one wrong statement away from punching the nearest face her hooves could reach--and considering that Canvas was the closest one to her right now, he took a cautious step back from the doorway. "Ummm… Hi, Applejack."

"Where's Troy?!"

Canvas's muzzle was hung slightly open, unsure of what to say to the farmpony. Even though he clearly knew where Troy was at the moment, he was also afraid whether or not Applejack was going to hurt him. "Ummm… he…"

"What's going on?" asked Troy as he poked his head out from the kitchen. As soon as Applejack saw the Gryphon, her eyes widened and her scowl became more apparent. With the way her green eyes were leering at him, Canvas was terrified that she might run in and try to beat him like a Changeling.

But instead, surprisingly enough, the mare took several steps back from the door. Standing sway from the doorway, she pointed a hoof out toward their yard before bellowing out in an enraged tone, "Are these yer brothers?!"

Troy stepped out to the doorway to see what Applejack was referring to, and gasped when he saw what she was pointing at:

One of the Apple family's wooden carts was parked outside their barn, with an equally angry-looking Big Macintosh saddled to the front. On the back of the cart, with Granny Smith standing at the base with a pitchfork, all three of Troy's older brothers were struggling to move while tied up inside. Along with thick rope lassoed around each of the three to keep them from flying away, they also had their beaks gagged with cloth as they tried to speak in muffled cries.

"What the buck happened?!" shouted Troy, wide-eyed.

"These Gryphons here were tryin' ta swipe our property!"

"Mmmm-HMMM Mmmm Mmmm Hmmm!"

Choosing to ignore Blaze's attempts to speak while gagged, Troy groaned before turning back to Applejack. "Ugh… What did they try to take?"

Granny Smith piped up to answer Troy's question. "Apple Bloom caught these three tryin' ta break inside one of our chicken coops!"

"WHAT?!" Troy's eyes show wide-open, and he looked over at his brothers inside the cart. "What the buck were you guys thinking?!"

Blade's head perked up a little, staring at Troy as he tried to make a response. "Mmmmm, Mmmm Hmm Mmm Hmmm--"

"Uh, excuse me," interrupted Troy as he looked up at Granny Smith, "can you get the gags off them, please? I can't really understand them."

The old mare's eyes narrowed on Troy, giving off an obvious vibe that said "No bucking way!" But, after giving off a brief exhale, Granny Smith complied, taking the gag out of Blade's beak while still keeping her pitchfork pointed at him.

"Gah!" as soon as the gag was off, Blade panted loudly a couple times before shouting out to Troy, "C'mon man, help us! These ponies are bloody loony!"

"WHAT'YA SAY, YA VARMIT?!" yelled Granny Smith as she pressed the pitchfork closer to his throat. Unsurprisingly, that was enough to shut Blade right up, although a light whimper could be heard though his clenched beak.

Troy sighed as he face-clawed, unsure whether or not to be surprised that they would actually do something like this. Even though he loved meat as much as anyone else in his family, even he knew better than to try something like that in Equestria. "Guys…"

The three looked up at Troy, none of them trying to speak while the pitchfork was pointed at them.

"Did you seriously try to take chickens?!"

The three of them blinked twice in unison (one of those triplet traits which really drove Troy nuts sometimes), all giving the same befuddled look at him. Since Blade was the only one that was no longer gagged, he was the first to give a response to him.

"Didn't you get the letter? We were getting dinner!"

Granny immediately replied furiously, "THAT AIN'T DINNER, YA VULTURE!"

"HEY!"

"Okay! Okay! Okay!" Seeing how angry Troy got as soon as her Grandmother said the "V" word, Applejack was quick to put her hooves out between them before anything escalated too far. "Troy," said the mare insistently as she turned her head to him, "she didn’t mean it like that, okay?"

"Like heck Ah didn't!"

"GRANNY!" AJ looked back at her with a strong glare. After Granny Smith made a huff and looked away, Applejack sighed and turned her gaze back towards Troy.

"Ah'm sorry 'bout that. She's just a bit upset about what yer brothers tried ta do."

"Yeah, yeah…" Rubbing his temple, Troy tried to avoid getting too outraged at Smith’s comment. After giving off a deep sigh, he put his claw back down before speaking in a more calm tone of voice. "I get it, and… I'm really sorry about my brothers, okay?"

Applejack could hear the sincerity in the Gryphon's voice, and nodded in acceptance. "Okay, then."

Applejack then looked back at the cart, giving a nod to her brother. After Granny Smith hopped off, Big Mac gave the cart one good buck, knocking the three Gryphons off and making them fall ungracefully onto the grass.

While Granny and Mac began to make their leave, Applejack looked over at Troy's brothers with a bitter scowl. Troy, not wanting to cause any more animosity between himself and the Apples (especially since discovering their amazing pies), Troy tried to speak more sympathetically. "Listen Applejack, I really am so--"

"It's okay," assured the mare as she looked back at him. "Ah know it ain't yer fault. From what Ah heard from Rainbow Dash, it seems like the three are a bit of a hoof-full."

Troy gave a meager nod, looking away slightly in guilt. "Yeah, they kinda are… I really am sorry, though."

"Thanks." Applejack nodded with a more relaxed smile on her mzuzle. "We're just glad they didn't take nothin'." Before she could leave, her smile immediately vanished as she pointed a hoof at Troy, sternly. "But Ah better not EVER see those three on ma property again!"

She turned her head to the triplets before shouting at them "YA GOT THAT‽"

Despite the mare being almost half their size, all three of them nodded quickly, not even trying to make an audible reply.

"Good," said Applejack bitterly. She then walked up to the three, taking the cloth out of Blaze and Blane's beaks before placing them in her Stetson. After putting her hat back on, she glanced back at Troy. "Y'all can keep the rope. Ah'd rather not try untyin' them."

"Okay," said Troy in an understanding tone. He waved a claw at her as she made her leave. "Have a nice night, Applejack."

"Yeah, yeah," said the farmpony in a more tired-sounding voice, not even looking back as she began her trek back to Sweet Apple Acres.

After making sure she was gone, Troy's expression turned more callous as he stared at the three Gryphons tied up on his front lawn. "Just what the BUCK were you guys thinking?!"

The triplets stared up at him, silent for a couple seconds in bewilderment before making a unified response. "We were getting DINNER!"

"YOU DON’T EAT MEAT HERE!"

"It wasn't meat! It was chicken!"

Troy's head shook slightly, trying to process the utter stupidity that came out of Blaze's beak. "Did one of those ponies hit you in the head with a shovel or something?!"

Blaze's eyes widened in shock. "Dude, how did you know?"

"What he was meaning," chimed in Blade insistently, "was that the chickens here are the same as back in the Gryphon Kingdom! They're not sentient!"

"Yeah!" added Blane. "We weren't going to get one of the animals that could talk! We're not monsters!"

Troy groaned loudly, putting his face in both claws so he wouldn't become too enraged by his brothers' "logic". Fortunately, before he could point out that the three were still trying to steal property, the sound of Canvas's voice was enough to keep Troy from going too ballistic.

"Troy! Dinner's ready!"

Hearing his fiance’s chipper announcement, the Gryphon managed to calm down enough to sigh and reply with a smile, "Alright!" Anxious to see if he got that recipe down correctly, Troy began to make his way back inside the barn for a relaxing dinner. However, the sound of Blaze's voice was a good reminder that it probably wouldn't be.

"Hey! Where are you going?!"

Troy looked back at the three, who were all still hogtied on the lawn like a rodeo attraction. Growing a dubious smirk on his beak, Troy kept his glare on them as he tried not to snicker.

"I'm going inside to have dinner. See ya!"

"Dude, COME ON!" shouted Blane as he tried to break himself from his restraints. Of course, given how well-tied the Apple family's knots were around the Gryphons' limbs, any struggle would just make things a lot worse. "At least untie us first!"

"Hmmm…" Troy tapped his chin with a talon, making a faux-contemplative expression to sarcastically think it over. "You know what? After that flour thing this morning, and drinking all of my root beer… Nah."

Troy closed the door, leaving the three Gryphons pissed and unable to speak. Blade turned his head over to Blaze before screeching. "I told you we should've left a bloody bottle for him!"

"Hey! YOU were the one who took the last bottle! Remember?"

"… Oh yeah."

The door reopened, and Canvas looked out to the three with a slightly concerned look on his face. "Umm, guys? Do you know where Lyle is?"

The triplets looked over at each other, taking a second to remember before Blaze turned his head back at the stallion. "Oh yeah. I think Lyle went over to Cloudsdale for coffee or something. He didn't really say much, though. He was just drawing in his little sketchbook or whatever."

"Oh… okay." Even though Canvas was happy to hear that Lyle didn't get into any similar trouble, he was still worried about what the little Gryphon might be doing. If anything, the stallion wanted to at least talk with Lyle, just to let him know he wasn't mad at him for the painting.

Of course, as soon as he took a good look at triplets tied up, Canvas's muzzle twitched as he tried not to giggle at them.

"Oi!" Seeing how Canvas was smirking at them, Blade spoke up with a bitter scowl on his beak. "What's the matter?! Never seen a Gryphon tied up before?"

Canvas didn't immediately make a response to that question. Instead, his smile only grew a little bit bigger, and his cheeks showed the slightest hint of pink. He slowly walked back into the house, narrowing his eyes at them as he made a brief statement:

"…Mmmmmmmaybe I have…"

Before the door closed all the way, Canvas saw the eyes of all three of them grow wide from hearing that. And as soon as the door was closed shut, the stallion was able to hear all the Gryphons make a unified "Eeeeewwwwww" from the outside. Of course, Canvas paid no attention to that, and just trotted to the table with a chuckle while Troy came out of the kitchen.

"Everything okay?"

"Yep!" chirped Canvas cheerfully as he got into his seat. "Just wanted to make sure Lyle wasn't in trouble."

“Is he?” asked Troy cautiously.

“I don’t think so. They said that he went off to Cloudsdale for something…” Canvas’s gaze went down to the floor for a second, showing a hint of unease on his face. “I really hope he’s not feeling too bad about the painting.”

"I’m sure he’s fine, Canvas. You said it yourself; it was just an accide--"

"Guys, come on!" wailed Blane from outside. "Some pony walked by and was laughing at us!"

Taking a moment to let that statement sink in, there was a brief bout of silence before Troy and Canvas started cracking up. Giggling like a school-filly, Canvas walked over to the record player, choosing one of his Sapphire Shores albums for a change. "You think some music would be good to drown them out?"

Troy shrugged with a smile. "Sure thing."

So, with the triplets still tied up outside, Troy and Canvas managed to let any lingering worries pass as they had a very pleasant dinner while the pop music played. While Sapphire Shores wasn't necessarily a favorite of either of them, the accompanying acoustics of Troy's brothers whining outside made it much more entertaining.

And the fettuccine that Troy made was delicious.

Knock knock knock knock

Huffing out a tired sigh in frustration, the brown Pegasus began to grow impatient as he waited outside the ludicrously painted barn. Even with the huge cloud structure hanging above it, the barn still managed to stand out way more because of how wildly its walls were painted. While the fact that an artist lived here would make this choice of decoration seem a bit more understandable, it was still a bit of an eyesore for the mover this early in the morning.

Looking over at the other mover, an equally large Pegasus with a dark grey coat, the pony looked like he didn't seem to mind as much. His focus was on the walls of the barn, looking them up and down with obvious interest while they waited for the stallion inside. However, before either of them could hear any indication of someone coming to the door, the sound of a light "pomf" caught their attention, making them look up to a brown Gryphon who poked his head out from the cloud structure.

"Oi! You two the movers?"

Even though both the ponies were wearing denim coveralls, clearly indicating that they were in fact the movers, neither of the ponies were able to make a reply right away. Since most of their business was back in Canterlot, both of them were slightly surprised to see a Gryphon around this part of Equestria. However, before either of them could say anything, the studio door of the barn opened, revealing a tired-looking Canvas.

"H… hello?"

The brown mover noticed Canvas first, turned back towards him before speaking, "Um… Hello. We're here to pick up the piece for Fancy Pants."

Canvas's eyes grew slightly wider, almost looking worried for a second. "Oh! Well… You see--"

"I got it!" shouted Blade from above in a more upbeat-sounding tone. Before Canvas could protest, the skinny Gryphon landed on the ground in front of the barn, making the two movers jolt in surprise as he made his way into the studio. "It's right over here!"

"BLADE!" Canvas quickly rushed over to Blade, who was already grabbing the destroyed painting which was still wrapped up. Since he never had a chance to try to fix the piece (or get the motivation to even look at it, for that matter), the stallion was more than a little worried as he whispered in a frantic hiss, "Blade, what the buck are you doing?!"

"Don't worry. We got this," whispered Blade back with a suspicious-looking grin on his beak. With the two movers waiting outside, Blade left Canvas in a befuddled state as he went back out of the studio. "Here it is, guys," said the Gryphon in a cheerful tone. "This bloke's been working hard on it, so be sure to be extra carefu--"

"YAAA!!!"

As soon as Blaze crashed down from the cloud, both movers jumped back and yelped in surprise. Much to Canvas's shock, the muscular Gryphon had what looked to be a Guard's helmet on his head, and a large spear on his claws.

Unfortunately, before he could ask what the buck Blaze was doing, Blane soon crashed down to the ground as well. However, even though Blane had a spear as well, his menacing scowl was an effective replacement for any helmet. "I told you that last pizza roll was MINE, you turd!" bellowed Blane with an angered sneer toward Blaze.

"You ate all the other ones!"

"Yeah, and I was gonna eat that one too!"

"I was hungry!"

"THEN MAKE YOUR OWN!"

Blane swung his spear, which was quickly blocked by Blaze's as they began to joust in the front yard. While the movers stood at a distance in frozen shock, watching the two Gryphons duke it out with spears like some kind of battle scene, Blade tried to step in between them while holding the painting. "Guys come on, stop it!"

"He ate the last pizza roll!" shouted Blane between thrusts. "He has to pay!"

"Well, YOU--" Blaze deflected one of Blane's slashes with his spear before continuing, "--said that I could have some! And you ate the rest before I could even have one!"

"I ALWAYS GET THE LAST ONE!!!"

Blane made one final jab with his spear toward Blaze, who was lucky enough to duck his head at the last second. However, with the way the two were moving around and squaring off with one-another, Blade ended up being behind Blaze when that happened.

The spear was thrust through with all of Blane's might, which gave it more than enough momentum to easily punch through the mass which was in its path. Blade tried to speak, but his words were cut off as soon as the spear made its impact, making everyone gasp in pure horror.

Blane's eyes shot wide open. Seeing what he did, his claws began to shake violently, unable to speak with his beak hung open.

No one was sure how long that brief moment of silence lasted, but it was finally broken by a sudden cry:

"What the bloody Tartarus did ya have to do that for, ya tosser?!"

Even though the spearhead was only a few inches from his head, Blade seemed to be more upset about the rest of the spear going straight through the painting he was still holding.

Canvas, who was still standing at the doorway of his barn, kept a perplexed look on his face as he stood silent. Looking between the Gryphons and the two movers, who were looking fairly shocked at the painting being wrecked, Canvas blinked repeatedly as he tried to process everything in his head.

"Oh, man…" Blaze put down his spear first, keeping a shocked look of awe on his face as he walked up to the impaled piece still on Blane's spear. "I can’t believe you did that, dude! Isn't that Canvas's painting?!"

Blane lifted his spear up a little, seeing how the wrapped painting hung on it like a poorly-made piece of kabob meat. "Oh no…And he worked so hard on it, too…"

Canvas's eyes narrowed on the triplets in slight suspicion, slowly beginning to realize what was going on. When the Gryphons all turned to Canvas, keeping expressions of faux-guilt on their faces, the stallion took a second to regain a more fitting response. "You… you guys…"

His eyes darted towards the two movers for a split second, noting that they still had surprised looks from what they just saw. Glad that neither of them showed any hint of suspicion, Canvas looked back at the Gryphons as he adopted an “angry” look on his face. "I can’t believe you guys did that! You know how long I worked on that painting?!"

"It was an accident!" cried out Blane in an insistent tone of voice. However, the Gryphon's eyes gave off a different vibe to the artist, widening a bit as if to give an unseen nod and smile to him. In fact, Canvas could see that while Blane's face was saying "It was an accident" for the movers to see, his stare on the stallion said "That's right, dude, play along."

So, in an attempt to keep everything going smoothly, Canvas continued to yell as he walked up to the three. "Didn't I tell you guys to NOT be doing this kind of stuff around my studio?! I worked my flank off to get this ready! And now…"

Canvas bit his lip as he reached his hooves out to the painting, pulling it off from the spear still in Blane's claws. After a surprisingly hard pull, the ruined piece tore off from the shaft and spearhead, making a nasty scraping noise that made both movers openly cringe.

Canvas held the frame in his hooves, looking through the massive hole the spear made through both the painting and the wrapping that was covering it. After pursing his lips for a second, keeping an obvious look of disappointment on his face, Canvas sighed before finishing his statement in a more defeated tone. "Now… now it's ruined."

The triplets all lowered their heads a little in shame, averting their eyes from the saddened artist. Both the movers ears drooped, seeing how distraught the stallion looked about this incident.

Several seconds of silence passed while Canvas stared at his painting, taking a moment to breath before slowly turning to the two Pegasus stallions. His face gave off a saddened expression as he spoke meagerly. "Uhhh… Do you guys still need this?"

The grey Pegasus looked over towards the brown one, seeing him bite his lip in contemplation. Looking at the wrecked painting that Canvas was holding, the mover sighed in frustration, knowing that this was going to be quite the story to explain to Fancy Pants back in Canterlot.

"Well…" Thinking it over, the brown pony took a second before looking back at Canvas. "We'll go back and explain to Fancy Pants what happened. Since this was obviously an accident, I'm sure we can work something out, okay?"

Canvas's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting the mover to be that understanding about all this. "R-really? That… that would really help me out a lot. Thank you so much."

"It's okay," said the stallion with a wave of his hoof. He then reached a hoof inside of his coveralls, pulling out a small camera that looked fairly similar to the one Fancy Pants owned. "I just need to take a few pictures for proof, just so we can get the damage assessed."

Canvas made a quick nod to the Pegasus, which was good enough for him to start taking a few photos. While the grey pony held up the frame, the brown pony took several shots of the damaged painting, luckily not unwrapping it to reveal the destroyed canvas inside. They also took a few shots of the spear that was used, as well as the three Gryphons responsible--despite some obvious hesitation from them about being put on film for damages. After everything was recorded to the movers' satisfaction, the two were about to leave before they heard a new voice from above.

"Wait!"

The two Pegasus stallion had their wings unfolded, but didn't leave the ground before they saw a fourth Gryphon fly down from the cloud as well. Unseen by any of them since the previous morning, Lyle landed less than gracefully, looking like he hadn’t had an ounce of sleep since the incident occurred. His black and white feathers were slightly disheveled, and two heavy bags hung underneath his golden eyes that were barely staying open. However, of all the things Lyle had on him that would cause concern, the biggest one was the rolled up piece of paper in his claw.

"H-here," panted the Gryphon as he handed the roll to the grey-coated Pegasus. Barely able to stand, Lyle had to shake his head to jolt his mind enough to speak. "This… this is a re… replacement… for Canvas's client…"

Canvas quickly trotted up to the stallions when they unrolled the paper, and all three of them were surprised at what was inside.

The picture inside looked to have been drawn with colored pencil, but that didn't diminish the incredible quality of it in any way. While the picture may have not been the painting Canvas created, the drawing was a near replica of the piece he made for Fleur De Lis. Despite the original picture being destroyed, every detail that Canvas remembered painting was resurrected in Lyle's sketch; even though the Gryphon only really noticed the painting a few times before it was ruined, he still remembered it enough to create it almost flawlessly on his own medium.

Needless to say, Canvas was absolutely stunned. Much like the two movers, the artist's jaw dropped, rendering him unable to make a statement.

The triplets noticed Canvas's reaction, prompting them to shuffle in and take a look for themselves. Peering in from behind the movers, towering over the two quite easily, it wasn't long before one of the Gryphons spoke up.

"Holy shit!" Blaze looked back at Lyle in amazement. "Was that what you were working on, dude?"

Lyle nodded weakly while his head was hung low, still struggling to stand upright. Canvas, also looking over at the Gryphon, quickly pulled away from the group to make sure he was okay. "Umm, yeah," began the stallion as he turned his head back to the two stallions. "You two can send that back to Fancy Pants, if you want. I think that'd be a good replacement for now."

The brown Pegasus nodded in agreement, taking another second to look at the drawing before rolling it back up carefully. They didn't notice that an envelope was taped to the back of it, but it wasn't disturbed as it was rolled within the tube of Lyle's drawing. After the other Gryphons walked away from them, the stallions gave a wave to Canvas before flying off, both secretly glad they don't have to lug a large framed piece back to Canterlot.

"One more thing!"

The brown mover looked back at Canvas, who was staring at them while they were already in the sky.

"Can you send me back a photo of that sketch, please?"

The Pegasus nodded with a smile. "Sure thing! Have a nice day, Mister Canvas!"

The two then left, leaving Canvas to check on the sleep-deprived Gryphon who helped save his flank. "Come on, Lyle," said Canvas as he put a hoof around the Gryphon and led him inside the barn. "Let's get you some sleep, alright?"

Lyle barely made any legible response, and just lumbered into the studio like a zombie. Troy, who was asleep though a large majority of the commotion that happened outside, managed to walk into the studio just as Lyle passed out on the couch.

"Hmm?" Still groggy from having been woken up this early, it took a couple seconds for the gears in Troy's head to start turning as he noticed Canvas and the Gryphons in the studio. "Wha… What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing," said Canvas with a smile towards his fiancé. "Just got some good help from your brothers here."

Blade, keeping a proud smirk of his own on his beak, lugged the torn painting back inside before tossing it to the corner of the studio ungraciously. Upon seeing the huge hole on the framed piece, Troy's eyes widened in worry. "Oh no, what the buck did they do?!"

"Relax, dude!" answered Blane as he leaned up against the wall of the studio. "It was that one we already wrecked. We just made sure that the movers saw it getting destroyed themselves."

Troy grow a confused brow. "Wait… what?"

Blaze raised a talon to intervene. "It was kinda my idea."

"Really?" asked Canvas in an impressed tone as he looked over at Blaze.

"Yeah! I mean, if those movers were to see what really happened to it, without any pretext about how it occurred, than there's a good chance that they would assume that Canvas was partially to blame, even though he wasn't. And if they went back to the client and just said that something happened to it without any valid explanation, or any credible testimony other than us, than it might make Canvas look bad for any other potential buyers due to bad press…"

Canvas's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting Blaze to be speaking in such a professional or articulate tone. However, not seeming to realize how astounded the stallion was looking, Blaze kept a slight smirk as he continued:

"So, we figured that if the painting was covered up, not showing what really happened to it, then we could host an 'accident' to occur to it while they were present, 'ruining' the painting in front of them, and thus giving them a legitimate testimony to prove that Canvas was at no fault at all. They say that the painting got wrecked by some Gryphons, which technically is true, and Canvas most likely won't get in any trouble with his client for it. It'll just be seen as an 'unforeseen circumstance' instead of negligence!"

Blaze clapped his claws together after finishing his explanation, keeping a triumphant smile on his beak. "Eh? Come on, you gotta admit that was a kick-ass plan!"

While Troy stood in a speechless state, his beak agape at what he just heard his older brother say, Canvas blinked as he stared at Blaze with an extremely impressed look on his face. "Wow, that's… That's surprisingly brilliant."

"See?" Blaze pointed at the stallion as he looked at his bewildered younger brother. "This guy gets it! I told you I'm the brains of the group! But you never believed me, did you?"

"Wait a minute…" Troy's eyes narrowed on Blaze in suspicion. "Didn't you guys do something like that when you wrecked my science project back in grade school?!"

"Yep," piped up Blade nonchalantly with a smile as he leaned against the back of the couch. "And you got an extra week to redo it, didn't 'cha? That's how we knew it would work this time, too!"

Troy's eyebrows rose in astonishment, never having thought about that moment until then. Back when the three accidentally destroyed his science project, Troy remembered that he was absolutely crushed, mostly since it happened the night before it was due. However, on the next day, the three not only placed it in a cardboard box and brought it to school without his knowledge, but also "accidentally" set it on fire in front of the teachers. He always thought that it was just an example of the three being stupid, but it really did work.

"I… I…" Looking between the three prideful Gryphons, and the obviously happy stallion beside them, Troy slowly grew a smile of his own while trying to speak. "I honestly don't know what to say right now."

"It's okay," said Blade as he raised a claw to keep Troy from saying anything more. "I mean, we did wreck his painting pretty bad." He then took a glance down at Lyle on the couch, snoring loudly as he laid in a near comatose state. "Honestly, I think Blane ruined it way worse than this guy did."

"Eh…" Crooking his head a little in thought, the massive Gryphon obviously looked hesitant to say anything in agreement to his brother's reply. However, after taking a glance back at the painting in the corner, Blane sighed before shrugging his shoulders. "Yeah, okay. I may have used a little too much paint remover."

Blaze added bluntly, "You shouldn't have used any of it, numb-nuts!"

"Shut up, Mister 'Crayon-will-work-just-fine'!"

Blaze paused for a second, clenching his beak shut before looking away with a scowl.

"Anyway…" Blane stood back upright, and turned to Canvas with a more sympathetic look on his face. "Listen, if anyone's to blame for all this, it should probably be me. I mean…" Blane looked over at Lyle, and painted a talon at him as he added, "I'm pretty sure Lyle had the best idea to fix it, but… well… I didn't listen that well, so you really shouldn't blame him for any of this."

"Don’t worry," assured Canvas in an insistent tone. "I know it was an accident, and Lyle is just fine. I don't blame any of you for what happened."

"Yeah, but still…" Blane used his talons to rub the feathers on the back of his head, sighing softly before putting his claw back down. "I messed up, and I want to make it up to you. So…"

Blane then put his claw against his chest, standing up more upright before speaking in a proficient tone of voice. "I'd like to offer my services for you and Troy's wedding, free of charge."

"Seriously?" asked Canvas with a pleasantly surprised tone. "You'd help with floral arrangements?"

"Well, yeah," answered Blane with a shrug of his shoulders. "If you two are serious about this whole thing, I might as well help out. I mean, that’s what family does, right?"

Troy raised his brow in confusion. Even though Blane's gesture was undoubtedly generous of him, he remembered what Lyle told him when they first started talking about what the triplets were up to "Wait a minute, I thought you were using that as a cover for weapons dealing!"

"Yeah!" added Blade from the couch. "You showed Dad and us that big room underneath the shop and everything!"

Seeing how they were all staring at him, Blane winced a little as he averted his eyes from them. "Well, you see… I was kinda… pretending to be a weapons dealer…"

"Huh?" said Blade and Blaze in unison, obviously shocked by this revelation.

"Y-yeah…" Blane's face started to blush a little as he looked down to the floor, his paws shuffling a little as his voice came out more bashful. "I borrowed most of that stuff from a friend of mine before I showed you the room, and I gave it right back when you left. It's really a big hydroponic setup for my more exotic breeds…"

Troy's beak dropped, not detecting any hint of dishonesty in Blane's statement. "Wait, so… You're really a florist?"

Blane scratched the back of his head as he turned away, obviously looking embarrassed by saying it out loud. "Yyyyyyeah…"

Blade and Blaze, still shocked that their brother was keeping this a secret for so long, were both frozen for a moment in silence. However a brief sound managed to break the silence.

"… Pbtbtbt…

"GAAAAAA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA!!!"

The inside of the studio erupted in extremely loud laughter, leaving Blane to stand with an extremely pissed-off look on his face while he listened to his brothers cackle at his reveal. Even Canvas, who didn't want to laugh, had to turn away so Blane wouldn't see him try not to giggle.

"Oh, shut up, guys!" shouted Blane as he glared at the Gryphons laughing around him. "I just like things that smell nice, alright?!" He then pointed a talon in Troy's direction. "I'm not the one sleeping with a stallion!"

"Hey!" Troy wanted to sound angry in his retort, but was still trying not to laugh alongside his brothers. "Come on, that's… that's… pbtbtbt… you're working in a flower shop!"

That only made Blaze and Blade's laughter get even louder, making Blane scowl hard before turning away. "That's it! I'm done!"

"No, no Blane!" Canvas quickly ran towards the Gryphon, getting himself to stop giggling before stopping Blane with a hoof. "Blane, it's okay! They're not making fun of you!" His head turned to the other three as he eyed them intensely. "Right?"

Troy was the first to manage his laughter, and nodded at Canvas's question as he took a couple of breaths. "Yeah, yeah… I'm just… I'm sorry about laughing…"

By the time the other two got themselves to stop laughing loud enough to rattle the studio windows (although, not seeming to wake up Lyle in the slightest), Troy got himself under control enough to add in a sincere tone, "Thank you for offering to help with our wedding. We really would appreciate your help, Blane."

Even though it looked like Blaze and Blade were still trying their hardest to not crack up again, Blane groaned before lessening his scowl for his younger brother. "Yeah, okay… You're welcome, dude."

Remembering an important detail about today, Canvas was quick to speak up to catch Blane's attention. "Actually, Troy and I were wanting you guys to visit Rarity today to get some measurements made. She's our wedding planner, so I bet she'd love to see some of your work."

"Really?" asked Blane as he looked toward Canvas with a twinge of enthusiasm.

"Sure! I think she was saying something about wanting Roseluck to do our floral arrangements, but I doubt she'd protest to your help if you have the skills."

Blane scoffed a little with a smirk. "You kidding me? I've seen her stuff, and I can do circles around her! I mean, her roses are alright, but I can outdo her petunias like a friggin' beast!"

Canvas, ignoring the small snickers Blaze and Blade were giving off, headed to the kitchen with a confident smile on his face. "Awesome! I'll just get some breakfast ready, and we'll head off to see her!"

While Canvas trotted out of sight, Blaze was the first to finally say something to Blane after his admission. "Dude, why… Why didn't you say anything before?"

Blane gave a deadpan stare towards Blaze, knowing that their hyena-like laughter was a good enough indicator as to why he wanted to keep his passion a secret. Fortunately, both Blaze and Blade were able to get the hint, and simultaneously shrugged in reluctance.

"Okay, okay," continued Blaze in a more understanding tone of voice. "I guess that was a dumb question, wasn't it?"

Blane rolled his eyes before walking towards the kitchen where Canvas was. "Honestly, I was more worried about Dad than anything else…"

Troy's ears twiched a little at hearing that, and he turned to hear Blane's final statement before walking out of the studio.

"Seriously, I can already hear what he'd say about it: 'Be a man, Blane.' 'Don't be a sissy bird'…"

Blaze sighed before following him. "Yeah, I guess you’re right. He probably will flip his lid about it…"

Troy cringed hard at hearing that, not needing to be reminded of that sort of thing right now. Even though Blane's admission was definitely a shocker, Troy knew that he definitely had him beat when it came to unfavorable secrets. Troy’s head lowered a bit as he grimaced, catching the attention of Blade who was able to notice his brother’s distress.

"Hey, Troy, come on…" Blade put a wing around his brother, giving him a tight squeeze as he tried to cheer him up. "Don't let them get you worried, mate. Remember when I brought home that Diamond Dog girl that one time? I mean, Dad didn't freak out that badly then."

Troy turned to him with a confounded look on his face. "He kicked you out of the house for two weeks!"

Blade shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Well, yeah. But he took me back, right?"

Troy just groaned as he rubbed his temple with two talons. Even though he was happy to have his brother try to cheer him up about what might happen with their parents about his engagement, Troy was still monumentally concerned about how badly things could go for him. "Listen Blade, I… I'd rather not think about right now, okay?"

"Alright, alright," answered Blade as he pulled his wing away from Troy. "If you want, we can talk about something else."

"That would be great. Thank you."

As the two began to walk out of the studio, leaving Lyle asleep on the couch, Blade turned to him with a more curious smirk on his beak. "Hey Troy, I was wanting to ask you something…"

"Ummm, okay. What?"

"Well, I was wanting to ask you… What do you have planned for your wedding in terms of… Entertainment?"

Blade turned to Troy with an expectant grin, perking his eyebrows up and down several times as he tried to give his less-than-subtle hint. "HHHHMMMMMM?"

Troy, knowing very well what his brother was trying to get him to approve, quickly turned his head away from Blade, obviously not wanting to approve of his idea. He might have loved his family, and might be glad that his brothers accepted him for who he was, but there's one thing that he really… REALLY did not want to happen:

"Blade, I am not going to have death metal at my wedding!"

"Oh, COME ON!!!"

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Blade's Less-Than-Lovely Lunch

Blade was completely frozen at the spot, unable to make a single movement though his petrified shock. The only part of him that was still able to move was his heart, which was thundering fast enough to be practically vibrating in his chest. And while his brown feathers were enough to cover the paling skin underneath, his face still gave an obvious expression of pure, unbridled fear.

Fluttershy, not noticing any of this, kept her chipper smile as she placed a fresh glass of chocolate milk in front of Discord, who was still leering at Blade with a menacing grin. Seeing how terrified the Gryphon was looking, it was hard for Discord not to chuckle in delight. Instead, he just made his smirk a little wider, making sure to show off his razor-sharp canine as it glistened underneath the dining room lights.

"Here you go! Three spoons of cocoa, just like you asked." When Fluttershy turned back towards Blade, her eyes widened she finally noticed how distraught the Gryphon was looking. After making a glance back at Discord, making sure he wasn't doing anything inappropriate, she trotted up towards Blade in an attempt to calm him down.

"Blade, I--" Blade flinched away from Fluttershy's voice in a paranoid jolt, having been too focused on Discord to realize she was trying to speak to him. After the Gryphon took a couple quick, panicked breaths, Fluttershy waited until she had his attention before speaking in a calm and reassuring tone, "Now Blade, I know that he might seem scary, but I assure you that he's going to be on his best behavior."

The Pegasus then turned back to Discord with a warm smile. "Right?"

Even though his toothy grin remained, Discord still made a clear nod to Fluttershy's claim. "Why yes, Fluttershy," stated Discord in a sincere-sounding tone of voice; however, his eyes were still glued directly at Blade as he spoke. "I'll be perfectly fine."

With the way Discord's ghastly yellow eyes were staring him down, it was hard for Blade not to shudder in horror at the way the Draconequus said that remark. He could've sworn he saw Discord's red pupils get a little brighter when he said the words "perfectly fine," almost as if he was trying to burn the inflection of those words into the Gryphon's petrified soul.

"Alright, then," piped Fluttershy in a pleased tone, just before the sound of a faint whistle could be heard from the kitchen. "Ooh, perfect timing! The tea's ready!"

Blade's eyes widened in a panic when he saw Fluttershy make her way towards the kitchen, meaning that he would be left alone in the dining room with the Embodiment of Chaos himself. Before she could go past the doorway, Fluttershy looked back him with a smile, seemingly unaware of how mortified Blade was looking. "Just take a seat at the table and I'll get your tea, okay?"

Blade tried to open his beak to make a rebuttal, but the only sound that came out was a very faint creak, almost sounding like if an asthmatic colt was trying to blow a whistle. "….aaaaaaaa…"

"Oh, don't be shy, Blade!" Discord's voice made the Gryphon's feathers ruffle out in a fright, but he barely had any time to react before he felt his entire body get lifted off the ground. In less than a second, Discord's dragon-like tail managed to pick up Blade, force him into the chair opposite to his at the table, and push him into his spot. "Sit, sit now…"

Discord pulled Blade's body tightly between the table and the back of his chair before adding with a more menacing smirk. "It'll give us plenty of time to…

“Talk."

With the extent to which Blade's pupils had shrunk, they were almost unseen against the whites of his wide-open eyes. Trapped in his seat in front of the Master of Chaos, the Gryphon was barely able to register anything being said over the thundering noise of his own heartbeat.

"That sounds like a great idea!" chimed Fluttershy in a happy tone. Before the kitchen door could close behind her, the Pegasus added in a playful voice while inside the kitchen, "No fighting, you two!"

Discord gave off a playful laugh loud enough for Fluttershy to overhear, which was immediately cut off as soon as the door closed. When the two were finally alone, Discord's body relaxed a bit, like he was being held up with an unseen pressure when Fluttershy was present. But as soon as it was just him and Blade, Discord made a low sigh as he leaned in against the table, resting the paw and claw on his respective arms underneath his chin for support.

Of course, the Draconequus still kept a wide grin pointed straight at Blade.

If it wasn't for the risk of his heart going under cardiac arrest, as well as the table pressed against his chest, Blade would've tried to breathe out a little heavier in an attempt to alleviate himself. Unfortunately, his breathing was still in light, panicked gasps in his seat, which was only broken when Discord finally made a statement towards him.

"Aren't you going to say something?"

"EEEENGH!" Blade almost fell back from his chair as he jolted from Discord's voice. Even though the Gryphon always considered himself somewhat brave, he learned enough about Discord in his history classes to know that being here was pretty much suicide.

Discord tilted his head slightly, staring at Blade inquisitively like a mortician examining a uniquely dismembered corpse: not much of a smile to show obvious enjoyment, but enough to indicate a small, somewhat subtle hint of interest at what else might be in store. After a few seconds of deathly silence, Discord's tail pulled away from Blade's chair, and the Draconequus's smile turned slightly less maniacal before sitting back upright. "Oh, you really shouldn't be so nervous, Mister Clawston! If you think I'm just going to hurt you right off the bat, then you must have a very misinformed impression of me! Surely you must have heard about my recent reformation, have you?"

"… uhhhhhh…" With the way Blade's face was twitching, Discord could swear that he could actually see the gears inside the Gryphon's head turning. Meanwhile, Blade's brain was desperately trying to make a coherent thought in response to what Discord just said. "Re… reformation?"

"Why, yes!" stated Discord with a more natural smile on his one-fanged muzzle. "You see, Fluttershy was asked by Princess Celestia to help reform me, supposedly so I can be less of a… threat to Equestria."

Discord rolled his eyes with a smirk after that last part, giving off a light chuckle under his breath like he said that statement as an innocent joke. "Alas, Fluttershy has offered her unwavering support and understanding by being my friend, which is why I've decided to hold myself back for the time being."

Even though Blade wasn't shaking in fear anymore, he was still giving off an obviously uneasy vibe as he tried to read between Discord's words.

"Oh, but enough about me!" Discord waved aside any more comments he could've made about himself with his right paw, and brought his attention back to the understandably uncomfortable Gryphon in front of him. He leaned into the table while re-growing his leery grin. "I'd rather hear more about YOU! You are one of Fluttershy's favorite musicians, after all!"

With the way Discord was putting him on the spot, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Blade to not squirm in his seat like a worm struggling in a stagnant puddle. However, despite his growing anxiousness for the return of the host, Blade, stayed somewhat-still before speaking nervously. "W-w-well, I… I was just… coming to Equestria to visit my brother, and… I happened to meet Fluttershy a few days ago."

"Oh, is that so?" Discord's head tilted to the side again while he kept his smirk in interest. He picked up his glass of chocolate milk in his left claw, taking a small sip of the glass before bringing his attention back to Blade. "I suppose that would explain why she's been acting so cheerful recently, as well as why she's been listening to your albums more frequently."

Blade's brows rose a little, feeling slightly better at hearing that. Of course, the fact that it came from the muzzle of Chaos Incarnate kinda took away any sentiment that the statement could have had. "O-oh, really? That… that's nice."

"Indeed it is," replied Discord with a smile. Before he could say anything else, the Draconequus's eyes widened a little, like he forgot to do something. "Oh, that reminds me!" Discord turned his side before pulling out a large pink suitcase from behind his back, which Blade was sure wasn't there before. "On my way here, I happened to pick up one of your albums!"

"Wha- what?" asked Blade in surprise, which quickly turned to an expression of wide-eyed concern when he saw Discord open the case. As soon as the album was revealed, Blade winced as he looked away, not wanting to see the Draconequus’s expression as he spoke.

"And I must say," began Discord with a more twisted grin as he held up the album cover's artwork, "I'm quite honored to see that your band has such a high appreciation for me!"

The album of Talon Ripper that he was holding, which was lovingly titled Discord's Insanity, showed a highly-detailed depiction of a group of Gryphons with weapons fighting against a much larger-looking version of Discord. While all of the Gryphons had various spears or other weaponry in their claws (including what looked to be an exaggerated depiction of Blade holding a mace), the detailed caricature of Discord was inaccurately standing over them on all fours, looking more like a crazed Dragon than anything else as he had two large pools of spirals for eyes.

Discord's smile grew even wider as he eyed Blade down. "Would you care to explain how you got this idea?"

Blade cringed openly this time, wondering whether or not this was going to be the last meal he was ever going to have alive. "Uhhhhh… I-I-I… I released that album be-be… before your whole… return thing."

"Ahhhh…" Discord's brow rose in understanding as he turned the album back around, allowing him to look at the cover himself. "That makes sense, especially seeing how I'm portrayed so… differently…"

Discord's eyes glanced back up at Blade for a second to see how uncomfortable he was looking, which made the Draconequus grin before shrugging his shoulders. "Alas, I was told by Fluttershy that this was actually a good album. So, I decided to put trust in my friend and give this a sample. Would you mind?"

"Wh-what?" Blade's eyes widened as he looked back at Discord, seeing that the being was showing no look of insincerity.

"Well, I just bought the album today, so I haven't had the chance to sample it yet. Since we're all here now, would it be alright if I checked it out before Fluttershy comes back?"

"O-oh! Ummm…" Blade may have still been terrified about being in the same room as Discord, but hearing that kind of request totally threw him off guard. Realizing that the Master of Chaos himself was wanting to listen to one of his albums, the Gryphon blinked a couple times before nodding excitedly. "I, uh-- Y-yes, of course! G… go ahead! I would love to see what you think of it!"

"Why thank you," said Discord with a nod. While the Draconequus used his left claw to pull the fresh vinyl out of its cover, Blade turned around so see if there was a record player nearby.

"So, do you know where Fluttershy keeps her record player? I didn't see one in the living room when I came in, but--"

CRUNCH!!!

Blade's head spun back around at the loud sound of crunching, and his beak dropped when he saw what Discord was doing.

"Mmmmm…" Keeping a smile on his muzzle, Discord's jaw moved up and down as he chewed on the jagged piece of vinyl he just bit off of the record. While Blade stood motionless, absolutely mortified at what he was seeing, Discord brought the record back to his mouth to take another bite.

CRACK!!!

With that bite, Discord didn't as much sink his teeth into the album, but instead just broke a piece off like it was a large piece of hard candy. Chewing loudly and with an open maw, pieces of shattered vinyl could be seen between Discord's teeth as he savored the taste. The Draconequus then raised his claw, pausing before he began to critique the album like he was sampling a fine wine.

"Mmmmph! Let me see… I definitely detect a strong thrash-metal flavor… Also a bit of hair-metal, too… Mmmm! Now I'm getting an anarcho-punk texture in there, that's very interesting to find in a genre like this!"

Discord took another sip from his glass, making a quick swallow before taking another bite. Meanwhile, Blade's eyes and beak were agape as he watched the being in horror.

"Hmmm…" Discord's eyes looked away for a moment as he made his chewing a little slower, like he was really examining the Gryphon's album through taste alone. "You know," continued Discord with a half-full mouth as he took a second to collect his thoughts. "I can also taste the slightest hint of grunge in there. It's very subtle, but it gives it a nice tang."

"You… you're…" Blade's beak was quivering, barely able to make a statement louder than a devastated creak. "You're eating my album."

"Mmm?" Discord looked back at Blade while chewing, now noticing how distressed the musician was looking. However, after blinking a couple times, Discord only paused for a moment before swallowing and taking another bite. "What?" asked the Draconequus in confusion while his mouth was full. "You said that I could sample it, did you not?"

Blade's wide-open eyes began to bead a little, looking like he was about to cry. "That… that's an original pressing…"

"Oh?" Discord looked back down at the large fragment of the album he had left, staring at it like somepony who was inspecting the sprinkles on a half-eaten doughnut. His eyes widened in pleasant surprise as he smiled. "Oh, so it is! I thought this had a fresher taste."

Keeping his smirk, Discord ripped off another shard with his teeth, making Blade squirm in obvious distaste. "You know, I usually don't listen to metal music, Blade. I prefer something with a smoother taste like jazz or classical myself. But this!" Discord held up the last shard of the album he had left while carrying an impressed smile. "This is quite a treat, if I do say so myself."

Before Blade's wincing expression could become even more heart-breaking, Fluttershy came back in from the kitchen with a tray on her back. "Okay, boys!" chimed the mare happily as she came to the table, easily using her wings to grab the teapots on her back like it was nothing. She poured Blade's cup first, not noticing that his frozen expression looked similarly depressing to that of a half-melted mannequin. "Here's a cup of lemon-ginger tea, just the way you like it!" She then turned over to Discord with his pot. "And here's your Earl Grey t--"

Fluttershy paused as her eyes widened, seeing the last fragment of the Talon Ripper album still in Discord's paw. "Um, Discord? Is… is that an album you're eating?"

"Oh…" Making sure to swallow first, Discord put up his claw to reassure the mare before speaking politely. "Needn't you worry, Fluttershy, this album is like eating a potato chip! It won't fill me up in the slightest. I'll still have more than plenty of room for your fabulous cooking."

"Oh. Well, ummm…" Fluttershy looked back at Blade, seeing how distressed he was, before turning back to Discord. "Why are you eating an album?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. I wanted to sample it, and Blade said it was okay."

Blade tried to make a retort to Discord's comment, but the only thing that came out was a faint croak that even Fluttershy couldn't hear. Meanwhile, Fluttershy was able to notice what album it was before growing a more upset expression. "Discord, is that one of my albums?!"

Discord made an overly-exaggerated gasp as he put his claw to his chest. "Why, of COURE not, Fluttershy! I bought this one myself, from that record store that you frequent!"

"You did?" Fluttershy's eyes widened a little, seeming a tad nervous at hearing that. "You bought that from the Cloudsdale record store?"

"Well," Discord made a small shrug as he rubbed the back of his head with a claw. He finished the last of his album while adding, "Admittedly, I tried to buy it there, but when I went up to the counter to make my purchase, the clerk threw the album back at me and said 'Take it!'"

Fluttershy gave a relieved smile. "Awww, how nice of her!"

DING!

"Ooh!" Fluttershy looked back at the kitchen as her smile grew bigger. "The banana bread is ready!"

While the Pegasus ran back to the kitchen, Discord swallowed before clapping in glee. "Oh, goody! Banana bread!" His neck crooked around as his head turned, looking back at Fluttershy as she left to the kitchen again. "Take your time…"

By the time Fluttershy was out of the room again, Discord's head was nearly at a full 180 degrees, which made Blade's eyes widen in worry. However, when the door fully closed, Discord's head quickly finished turning a full 360 to look back at the Gryphon.

"AAAHHHH!!!" Blade nearly fell out of his chair as he yelped in terror.

"What are your intentions with Fluttershy?"

Leaning against the back of his seat like he was clinging to it for dear life, it took several seconds of silence before the Gryphon registered what Discord just asked him. "I… I… what?"

"You heard me." Even though Discord's maniacal smile was still present, his voice came out much sterner than before. "What. Are. Your. Intentions. With. Fluttershy?"

As he repeated his question, Discord was sure to place as much emphasis as he could with every syllable, like he was condescendingly going into precise detail with a waiter about what was wrong with a meal he was given. Seeing how the Draconequus's tone was becoming more intense, Blade clenched his beak shut as he began to speak in fear again.

"… I-I-I… I…. I was just… wanting to enjoy some tea…"

"Oh really?" asked Discord with a raised brow, his smile slowly fading to reveal a more serious expression. "Are you now? Because when Fluttershy first told me about you, I was a little hesitant to believe that you would be the type who would come to a mare's house for 'tea'…"

Discord raised his arms to make the quotation motions with his claw and paw, making it quite clear how skeptical he was of the Gryphon across from him. Before Blade could jolt himself out of his stupor and defend himself, Discord's claw went back down to the suitcase by his side.

"And before you say anything, Mister Clawston, I know that I'm no better. I mean, most ponies would probably say that my presence around Fluttershy is more alarming than yours. And by some rationale, I would understand that sentiment completely. However…"

Discord then pulled out a large, thick book from his suitcase. Immediately recognizing the words and font-style on the spine of it, Blade gasped before trying to speak in a petrified yelp. "L-L-Listen, Mister Discord, I… I know that might be a little concerning, b-but I swear, I SWEAR! That book doesn't represent me at all!"

"Oh really?" asked Discord bluntly as he held the book for blade to see clear as day. "This is a rather detailed anthology of your song lyrics, Mister Clawston. And considering that Fluttershy is such a big fan of your music, I think this is quite an accurate portrayal of you in her eyes, don't you think?"

"It-it-it-it's not!" stammered out Blade hurriedly, not wanting to lose his composure from his own panicked stuttering. "She… Fluttershy said herself that she mostly likes the instrumentals! It-it's not like she only sees me from what I wro--"

Discord loudly cleared his throat in an exaggerated manner, silencing the Gryphon before opening the book. "Even though I haven't had the 'pleasure' of listening to your music, I did have the opportunity to read through some of your songs. And I must say, some of these lyrics are quite interesting!"

The being's eyes peered back towards Blade with a new flame of intensity. "Especially from your little album called… Alicorn Harem?"

Blade clenched his beak shut as he winced, knowing that Alicorn Harem was still one of his most controversial albums to date.

Discord flipped through the pages, peering his eyes back down as he continued. "Especially this one particular song called… 'Master Seducer'…"

"Alright, alright!" Blade raised himself up from his seat, leaning into the table with wide-eyes as he finally regained his ability to speak coherently. "When I made that album, I was pressured by three different producers to go into a new direction with it! They just kept saying 'Sex sells!', 'Sex sells!', and when I was working on that son--"

Discord made another purposely loud clearing of his throat, shutting up the Gryphon just long enough to start reading. After opening his mouth wide, Discord pulled out a pair of reading glasses from his throat before putting them on, and read through a particular verse of 'Master Seducer' in a manner like a monotone storyteller.

"So many fillies come into my nest,
They need to stand in line and take a card.
And then, when they show up ripe and ready…"

Discord's eyes glared back at Blade as he said those two words, making Blade's face grow more terrified with each passing second. The Draconequus didn't even look back down at the book as he finished the lyric.

"I'll show those mares what really gets me har--"

"I DIDN’T WRITE THAT!!!" Blade shot out of his seat, his breathing coming out in panicked pants as he shouted out in a petrified jumble of words. "I didn't write all the lyrics to that, and that's one of them I swear! I-I-… STUMPY! Yeah, Stumpy! HE was the one who wrote that in! I swear on me Mum!"

Discord raised a brow in obvious doubt. "Stumpy?"

"YES!" Blade pointed a talon at Discord as he kept going. "Stu-Stumpy wrote that part! He was our second drummer then, and… well… technically his name is Ivan, but, you know, after the wood-chipper incident, the name sort of stuck…"

Discord's eyes narrowed on Blade. "Stumpy?"

Blade's beak went back to being shut, but still grew a nervous smile as he nodded strongly.

Discord then turned the book around, showing the lyrics straight to the musician. "Because it doesn't have any mention of that name in this book, or Ivan. In fact, it says that YOU were the sole writer for this song."

Blade's pupils shrunk as he saw the proof literally in writing, which just made the skinny Gryphon curl back into his seat like a naughty schoolcolt faced in front of a principal's paddle. Now with his smile completely vacant, Discord's voice came out more brooding and fear-inducing than ever before.

"Blade, do you think I'm stupid?"

"NO!!!" Blade's body shot upward as he clung to his seat, his fur and feathers sticking up like a terrified housecat. "No, no, no, no, NO!!! I would ne-NEVER say that!"

"Then why are you implying that I can’t read?"

"I never said that!" cried out Blade as he threw his claws out frantically. "Seriously, I wouldn't! You made it very, VERY clear that you can read!"

"Good then," said the Draconequus as he tossed the book aside. He leaned into the table as his glare grew stronger, looking straight into Blade's mortified eyes. "But, go on, Blade. I'd like to hear your rebuttal. Tell me how you're just here for tea."

Even though the silence was probably just a few seconds, the deathly stare that Discord had was enough to make it feel like an eternity for the quivering Gryphon. Before Blade's body could sink into his chair and turn into a nervous puddle of feathers, the sound of the kitchen door reopening grabbed the attention of both of them.

"Okay, boys! Here's the banana bread!" Fluttershy trotted out of the kitchen with a smile on her face, with the large loaf of banana bread sitting on a tray on her back. After carefully placing the steaming loaf on the table, giving the room a heavenly aroma of banana and cinnamon (which was much better than the stench of tension that was previously flooding at the table), the Pegasus was about to grab her butter knife as she turned to Blade. "Blade, would you want to--"

Fluttershy's eyes widened when she saw the way Blade looked. With his body stiff as a board, the Gryphon's face looked even paler than it did when he wore his full makeup during his shows. Seeing that his sunken eyes were looking straight at Discord, it only took a second of silence before Fluttershy looked disappointingly towards the Draconequus. "Discord, you better not be scaring him!"

Discord, who still had an innocent smile on his face, put his claw and paw up in innocence. "Why, what do you mean?" With a snap of his paw, Discord was suddenly wearing a white robe, as well as a halo over his head. "Do I look like I've been doing anything wrong?"

Despite Discord's appearance, Fluttershy didn't look amused. Her eyes narrowed on him as she bent her head in closer. "Do I need to remind you about what happened when Bulk Biceps was here?"

Discord dropped his smile and gave off a painful sigh, making another snap to make his outfit go away. "Oh, come on, Fluttershy. Are you going to keep bringing that up? I already apologized to Bulk for that! Besides, it was just a joke."

"Turning one of my friends into a mare is NOT a joke, mister!"

Blade's expression turned more uneasy as he sat in terrified silence and listened to them.

"For the last time," retorted Discord as he pointed towards the mare with a claw, "I didn't turn Bulk Biceps into a mare, I simply gave him the reproductive organs of one! And I reversed it as soon as you told me to, so no harm was done."

The Gryphon, now with his eyes as wide as Frisbees, didn't even realize that his legs were closing together on their own as he tried to speak. "You… you what?"

Fluttershy quickly turned back to him. "It's fine, Blade. He promised not to do that again." After giving off a tired sigh, the Pegasus began to cut a piece of the freshly baked banana bread. However, she paused before looking back at Blade with an insistent expression. "And if Discord IS doing anything wrong, you can tell me, alright?"

Blade quickly nodded with a clenched beak, trying to ignore the strong glare he could feel Discord giving him. Fluttershy grew a gracious smile before getting back to cutting, not seeing how the Gryphon was looking more anxious. Slowly, Blade began to raise a talon, hoping to get her attention and make a statement. "U-uhhhh… a-actually…"

"Hmm?" Fluttershy was about halfway through her cutting before noticing the Gryphon again, and stopped to listen.

"Well… I…" Before another word could come out of Blade's shaking beak, his body suddenly sat upright like he was being pulled by strings. His eyes widened and his face contorted to an unnatural smile, which seemed to go with the way he suddenly began to talk in a forced tone of voice. "Discord has been a perfectly fine guest, and we had a lovely chat while you preparing this food in the kitchen. You should trust him. I swear."

Fluttershy's brows raised in surprise, but didn’t see any evidence of insincerity in Blade's expression; of course, Blade couldn't feel any control of his body at all, and could feel his heart thundering as he tried to figure out what the buck just happened. When she looked back at Discord, Fluttershy saw him give an equally pleased smile on his muzzle. "Well, that sounds like quite the statement! Don’t you think?"

Fluttershy smiled back at him. "You know, it really does!" After a couple seconds, Fluttershy looked away from the Draconequus slightly with a guilty pout. "Ummm… sorry for making assumptions."

"It's quite alright, my dear. We all make mistakes."

The Pegasus blushed a little as she nodded towards him, re-growing her smile before looking back at Blade. "And Blade, thank you for telling me that."

Blade honestly felt like he was trapped inside his own brain, unable to make a single movement on his own. Before he could try to break himself free, he felt his beak open again. "It is not a problem at all, Fluttershy."

The mare gave Blade a caring smile back, and then went back to cutting the rest of the banana bread. It was at that time that Blade felt himself regain control of his bodily movements, which made him gasp softly as he looked down at his shaking claws. Unsure what the bloody Tartarus just occurred, the Gryphon glanced back up towards Discord before his eyes widened in shock.

While Fluttershy was busy cutting the loaf, Discord was grinning wide at Blade. In his claw, the Draconequus held a small sock-puppet that looked just like Blade. With a wave of his pinky, Discord made the little puppet wave one of its arms; and as soon as he did that, Discord watched in glee as Blade did the exact same movement out of the mare's sight.

Blade quickly pulled his claw back down with his free one, which just made Discord smirk in evil satisfaction. Panting rapidly, the Gryphon knew that he was basically trapped by this loony; even if Fluttershy was here to watch over them, Discord was still going to mess with him however he wanted to! With the way his mind was paralyzed in horror, Blade almost didn’t notice when Fluttershy placed a plate of freshly sliced banana bread in front of him.

"There you go!" said the mare cheerfully. She kept her happy tone as she gave Discord his helping. "And here's yours!"

"Why thank you," said Discord graciously before taking a sip of his tea. Before he could take a bite of his bread, Discord's eyes narrowed on it before looking back at the Pegasus. "Fluttershy, did you make this without almonds this time?"

"Oh, yes," stated Fluttershy as she made her own plate. "Blade is allergic to almonds."

Discord's brow raised in pleasant surprise. "He is?" His gaze turned over to Blade as his smile became much more apparent. "What a fun fact!"

Blade winced and reverted back into his seat a little, afraid of what Discord might be thinking with that new info. Of course, with the cheerful mare standing between them, his first thought was to make a good impression towards her, hopefully in an attempt to get this blasted Chaos-Maker off of his back. Unfortunately, the Draconequus spoke up before Blade could pick up his fork.

"Oh, Fluttershy!" A light bulb appeared over Discord's head, and lit up as he beamed towards the Pegasus. "I almost forgot! Don’t you have a jar of your wonderful cranberry jam in your cellar in the backyard?"

While Blade's face suddenly grew much paler, Fluttershy gasped before growing a surprised smile of her own. "Oh, yeah! I do!" She quickly got out of her seat to make her way outside. "Let me go get that! It goes great with my banana bread!"

Since Fluttershy was so excited to get her specially made jam for her guests, she didn’t even see Blade raise his claw to catch her attention as she headed towards the back door. "W-w-wait! Fluttershy, you don--"

Unfortunately, Fluttershy left before noticing Blade's panicked interruption. As soon as the mare's back was turned and the door was closed behind her, Blade felt a death-grip around his claw which was as cold as ice. His body trembled when he saw Discord inches from his face, gripping his claw tightly like a vice as he spoke maliciously.

"Wait. For. The. Jam."

Blade's whole body felt like it was shrinking out of pure fear within his presence, and his beak started to tremble. His body pressed back into his seat as he whimpered faintly.

"So, Blade," continued Discord as he pulled his head back and stood upright on his hind legs. He started to walk around the table, making his goat's hoof on his left leg and the reptilian talons on his right make unpleasant-sounding taps on the hardwood floor. "Given what I've learned about you, I find it very troubling that you decided to visit one of the few friends I've ever had. Because, as you might not know, Fluttershy is a very sensitive pony."

Blade quickly nodded as he stayed frozen in his seat. "Y-y-yes, I… I agree."

"Good," continued the Draconequus as he walked away from the table, using his dragon-tail to pull Blade's chair so the Gryphon could still be facing him. " And because of that, I hope you can understand why I may have been acting a bit… protective… I merely just wanted to make sure that things don't escalate to anything that would hurt her…"

His head turned back at Blade before adding with malice. "… Or you."

Blade cringed strongly as he saw how Discord's glare was burning against him. Despite his body unwilling to make any movements, his beak still shakily creaked open as he tried to retort, "L-listen, Discord! I never planned to do--"

"Oh please, Blade. I don’t think it would be in your best interest to lie to my face…" Discord's head bent in towards Blade's, with any hint of a smile completely vacant from his stern expression. "Especially when an acquaintance of mine informed me of a little chat you were having with your brothers the other day."

Blade's eyes shot wide-open, immediately realizing what may have happened to have the Master of Chaos be looming over him like this. Even though his face was stuck in a mortified expression, his mind was fuming in pure rage. That… that little Rainbow tosser! Did she seriously set this up?! I knew she was protective, but this is WAY too bloody far!

Before Blade could clench his beak shut, hoping more than anything that Discord couldn't read his mind right now, he could only watch as the Draconequus pulled back and began to pace in front of him. "Which, in all honesty, is why I decided to invite myself to this little party Fluttershy had planned. Since she's the first friend I've ever made since my reformation, I've come to learn a lot about her, including how easily she could be hurt through those who might try to… take advantage of her."

Before Discord could look back at Blade after that last part, the Gryphon quickly blurted out, "I wasn't planning anything like that, I swear! I-I just said that stuff to shut them up! So, whatever you have planned--"

"Planned?" Discord finally looked back him with an amused smirk. Before Blade could react, he felt the creature wrap around him in his seat, now wearing an unusual purple velvet jacket while garish makeup was splashed across his grinning face. "Do I look like someone who has a plan?"

"Uh, I--" Blade was barely able to get a syllable out before Discord pulled himself off of him, his outfit gone as he went back to walking in front of the Gryphon.

"Oh, Fluttershy is such a good friend to me," continued Discord as he kept pacing, seemingly ignoring Blade's desperate pleas. "And since she's one of the sole reasons for why I'm keeping myself restrained, it would be tragic if something were to hurt her and make me… upset…"

Suddenly, a large fireplace appeared by the wall, with two flying machine figurines on the mantle, and a large portrait of Discord and Fluttershy in matching sweaters hanging above it. When Discord started to walk in front of the mantle, now wearing a dark sweater vest over a tasteful white shirt, Blade’s heart stopped when he saw that the Draconequus was also holding a shotgun.

"Oh, I would just hate to think what I might do if something bad were to happen to my dear… sweet… Fluttershy."

Discord's gaze went back to Blade as he cocked the gun loudly.

A girlish gasp escaped Blade's beak as he clenched his talons around his seat, not wanting to become a moving target while Fluttershy was away. He clenched his eyes shut as he desperately tried to sputter out any words to keep himself alive. "D-D-D-Discord, please! I only came here for tea, I swear! I wasn't even thinking of anything more than that! I don't see her like that. I… I just…"

When Blade foolishly reopened one of his eyes, he shrieked as he pulled back to risk falling over. "AAAHHHH!!!"

Discord was now sitting in a large chair dressed as a Safari hunter, holding a much larger musket in his paw. In his claw, the Draconequus held a large trophy mount that was usually used for holding hunting prizes and taxidermy; and at the bottom, there was a small brass emblem that had the name 'Blade' clearly printed on it.

"You just what?" asked Discord curiously as he sat in his seat and listened.

"I… I…" Even though that mount was more than alarming for the Gryphon, he was able to make a nervous gulp before continuing meekly. "I just… I never met anyone who showed as much appreciation for my music as her…"

One of Discord's brows rose slightly, but he stayed silent while Blade tapped his talons together and kept going.

"I mean… most of my fans don't even know about my solo career, but… but Fluttershy knew every song! Like, by heart! And… and she totally got all the meaning I tried to put in my more obscure stuff. It's like… she's the best fan I ever met."

The Gryphon's head slowly leaned down to look at the floor between them. The more he spoke, the less nervous his voice came out, almost as if his honesty was helping him avoid Discord's gaze. "When I was talking with her yesterday, she was telling me all these stories about how my songs helped her out. And it just… it felt genuine, you know? Not like all those girls who come to my concerts who're like 'Oh, I love all your albums,' but then think that I only made four! I mean, even my Mum doesn't know how many albums I made!"

After catching his breath, feeling slightly surprised that he managed to get that all out so naturally, Blade looked back up at Discord (now sitting on a stool and not wearing any outfits) before adding insistently. "And I don't see Fluttershy like… like a groupie or anything! Seriously! I have way too much respect for the mare to even think of her in that way! She… she's one of the coolest fans I know, and she even inspired a few of my songs! Like… I know that I wrote some stupid stuff in my past, but it doesn’t represent how I feel at all! The reason I came by today was because I wanted to know Fluttershy as a friend. And nothing more."

Even though his words came out as truthfully as they possibly could, Blade's confident stature began to lessen when he saw Discord's stoic stare back at him. After a brief moment of silence, with Discord not moving a muscle to indicate a change in expression, the Gryphon slumped in his seat in worry. "You don’t believe me, do you?"

"Not really."

Blade winced and looked away, unsure what else he could do to get this guy off his back. However, Discord lifted himself from his seat before catching the musician's attention. "But…"

When Blade looked back up at him, he was surprised to see that all the things Discord conjured up were gone. The Draconequus was back in his natural state, and began to walk back to his own seat after using his tail to prop Blade back in place at the table. "Just because I don't believe you, doesn't mean I shouldn't completely disregard you. I mean, it's doubtful that the Princesses believed me when I told them I'm a changed being, but I haven't let that stop me. And since Fluttershy placed her faith and understanding in me, I think it would make me quite the hypocrite to not give you the same chance as well."

"R… re…" Blade's eyes widened in surprise as Discord got back in his own seat, leaving the two in the same positions they were before. "R… really?"

"Why of course," said Discord with a genuine smile, putting his claw and paw up in honesty. "Fluttershy managed to prove with me that anyone is able to be a good friend with a bit of trust and acceptance, and I would like to give you that chance as well. So, for our shared interest in a caring friend…"

Discord then put his paw out to the middle of the table. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Blade."

"Uh… ummm…" Before his stammering could grow to awkward levels, Blade quickly put his claw out to shake Discord's paw. "A-and it's a pleasure to meet you… Discord."

Just as the two made their shake, Fluttershy came back in with her jam. The mare quickly beamed as soon as she saw the two. "Awwww! I'm so glad you two are working things out!"

"Uh, y-yeah…" After letting go of Discord's paw, Blade grew a small smile as he looked over at Fluttershy, happy to see how pleased she looked. "It's… not a problem at all…"

Of course, as soon as he looked back at Discord, Blade felt his heart get pulled up to his throat when he saw the wicked smirk that the Draconequus had on his face…

Along with the Blade sock puppet that was back on his claw.

"I agree," added Discord with a toothy grin.

"So, Rarity…"

Sitting on the unicorn's seat beside her sewing machine, Lyle kept his attention on Rarity with a smirk while Canvas was busy tending to the painting on the wall. "Did you really not know what the symbol meant before you had it painted in your bedroom?!"

"How was I supposed to know?!" shouted Rarity in an exasperated tone. "I didn't know it was a symbol for anything! I just thought it would look nice on my wall."

"To be fair," chimed Canvas as he took one last glance at the original symbol on the mare's wall, a paint roller held in one hoof, "it really does look nice…"

Looking down at his roller, the stallion sighed a little in disappointment. "Honestly, it kinda feels bad to do this. I mean…" Canvas glanced back up at the painting with a hint of disheartenment in his voice. "This was the first painting I ever made in Ponyville."

Catching the tone of disappointment in his voice, Rarity sighed painfully as well. "Oh, Canvas… I'm sorry…" Before the stallion could say anything else, she walked up to him as she added more optimistically. "But you've also managed to do so much since then. This may have been the first, but it shouldn't be the only thing to think about right now, should it?"

Taking a moment to think the unicorn's words over, Canvas bit his lip before making a small nod. "I… I guess so."

Unfortunately, the sound of Lyle's muffled giggling caught the attention of both Rarity and Canvas, who looked back to see him covering his beak with a claw. "S-sorry," blurted out Lyle as he struggled not to laugh out loud, "I just think it's kinda funny that your first painting was that!"

Despite his obvious pout, Canvas looked back to the symbol on the wall before making a small chuckle. "Yeah, I guess it is pretty embarrassing now."

Lyle shrugged his shoulders before pointing at Rarity, "Yeah, but mostly for her."

"Just WHAT do you mean by that?!" scolded the unicorn angrily.

"Well, it's YOUR bedroom, for one!"

While Rarity's face turned slightly red from anger, Canvas looked back at her with an amused smirk while pointing at the painting. "Say Rare, what did Zecora say when you showed her this? Did she freak out or anything?"

Rarity groaned and sunk her head low in shame. "No, she… she just fell to the floor laughing."

That was the comment that finally made Canvas and Lyle lose it. While Rarity looked away from both of them with a scowl, Canvas was the first to stop laughing loudly. "Oh man! I was thinking that she'd be worried at seeing that after you dragged her up to your bedroom!"

Rarity made an offended gasp before giving a disbelieving huff. "Oh, please! I'm sure that Zecora would've understood that I didn’t have THAT sort of intention!"

"Really?" asked Lyle with a skeptical brow. "If someone brought you to their bedroom, and you saw a giant sex symbol painted on their wall, what would you be thinking?"

"What?! I… You… SHUT UP!"

Canvas kept his face away from Rarity's sight as he covered his muzzle with a hoof, muffling his uncontrollable laughter. Getting fed up with both of their behavior, Rarity lit her horn to float the new design towards the stallion. "If you're finished laughing at my expense, this is what Zecora had recommended for me as a replacement."

After managing to settle his laughter, Canvas grabbed the piece of paper to take a glance at what Rarity wanted to cover the current symbol. As he narrowed his eyes on the piece, wondering what this symbol actually meant, Lyle walked up to take a glance as well.

"Uhhh… Rarity?" asked Lyle in a slightly uneasy tone. "You know this symbol means 'Interspecies Love', right?"

"WHAT?!"

Seeing her shocked reaction, Lyle quickly started cracking up before walking back to his seat. "I'm kidding, Geez! That symbol says 'Generosity', alright? Relax!"

A low growl escaped the unicorn's angered pout. "That’s NOT funny!"

"Wait a minute…" Canvas looked back at Lyle quizzically. "How do you know Zebrican, Lyle?"

"Oh, Zebrica is neighbors with the Gryphon Kingdom. I don't know a lot of it, but I know a few small words and phrases." The Gryphon looked back at them as he sat back in his seat. "Have either of you been to a Zebrican restaurant before? They have the BEST curry!"

"Huh…" Letting that new info sink in, Canvas went back to the wall with his roller. "I'll be sure to remember that."

"So Canvas," asked Rarity cautiously, "Will there be any problems with repainting this?"

"Not at all," assured the stallion with a wave of his free hoof. "This will be easy! In fact, this would probably be quicker than the first time I did it. At least I don’t have any bandages on me this time."

Keeping a carefree smile on his muzzle, Canvas didn’t see how Rarity's expression quickly turned morose as soon as he said that last sentence. While the artist began to use his roller, letting his first painting disappear behind the first roll of paint which matched the wall, Rarity looked away with an obvious look of grief on her face.

Lyle originally planned to come by to see how Canvas usually did his paintings, but his focus was set on Rarity as soon as he saw how she was looking. "Ummm… Rare? You okay?"

"Oh!" Even though her unpleasant recollection of Canvas's past muddled her thoughts for a moment, the unicorn quickly regained her composure before turning to Lyle. "Oh, it's nothing, Lyle. I just got lost in my thoughts, that's all."

Lyle's eyes narrowed on her slightly, knowing very well that it certainly wasn't nothing. However, before he could try to ask more, a knocking at the window made all three of them jolt a little.

"Oh! Goodness…" seeing who it was at her window, Rarity huffed a bit before opening it. "Derpy! Why couldn’t you just knock on the door?"

"Well, sorry…" Looking slightly guilty, the grey Pegasus mare rubbed the back of her neck while hovering outside Rarity's window. "I was just doing my rounds when I saw you in here. I didn't mean to interrupt or anything."

After making a brief sigh, Rarity rolled her eyes with a smile. "Oh, it's quite alright, dear. I know you're just doing your job." The unicorn then took a glance at Derpy's mailbag. "So, I take it that my commission orders arrived?"

"I believe so!" Derpy pulled out a large folder from her bag and handed it to her. "It feels pretty heavy, so I'm guessing that's it. Oh!"

Finally noticing Canvas, Derpy smiled in surprise. "I didn’t expect to see you here, too!" She took a glance up at the half-repainted piece on the wall before raising her brows. "Oooohhh… Rarity's finally changing the mating symbol, huh?"

"WHAT?!" shouted Rarity in shock. "You mean you KNEW?!"

Derpy turned back towards Rarity with a perplexed expression. "Well… duh! Of course I knew!"

"How come you didn’t say anything about it?!"

"Ummm… I thought you had that painted on your wall on purpose."

"UGH!"

While Lyle leaned against the side of his chair, laughing with his eyes clenched shut, Derpy turned back to Canvas while reaching into her mailbag. "Hey Canvas, since you're here too, I might as well give you a letter that came in."

"A letter?" Canvas put his roller back in the paint tray before trotting up to Derpy to retrieve his mail. "I wasn't expecting any mail today. How come you didn’t just drop it off at my place?"

"Well…" Derpy looked away nervously before explaining. "It looked like a couple of the triplets were flying around to avoid Rainbow Dash. I'm not sure what is was about, but she looked furious while chasing them, yelling out something about a… 'Fart Ring' or something?"

While Rarity widened her eyes in disgust, Canvas and Lyle looked back at each other in disbelief. Lyle was the first to make a response. "I hope they actually didn’t try that on her."

"Please…" Clenching her eyes shut, Rarity avoided both of them as she put a hoof up in protest. "Please, do NOT explain to me what the context of that statement is! I'd rather not know."

Derpy, sharing Rarity's sentiment, merely shrugged before getting Canvas's letter. Seeing what the Pegasus had pulled out, the stallion's eyes widened in worry when he saw who it was from. "… Oh no…"

"What is it, darling?" asked Rarity as she put down her folder on the bed.

"Ummm…" Canvas quickly opened the envelope to see what was inside, his tone of voice coming out much more apprehensively than before. "It's… it's a letter from Fancy Pants…"

"Uh-oh," murmured Lyle from his seat as soon as he heard that.

Canvas was quick to read through the letter, and bit his lip when he let what was written sink in. "He… he wants to speak to me about what happened to the painting…"

The stallion's head raised back up towards the others in dread. "I think I'm in trouble."

"I'm so glad that you could come over for lunch, Blade!"

Keeping a pleased smile on his beak, Blade looked back at Fluttershy from the doorway of her cottage. "Oh, the pleasure is all mine! You make an amazing banana bread!"

"Oh…" The Pegasus's head looked away from Blade with an obvious blush on her yellow cheeks. "I was just being a good host, that's all."

"Please, Fluttershy. You shouldn't be so modest…" Blade picked up one of the mare's hooves with his claw, bringing it up to his beak. "I had a wonderful time."

Blade then made a small kiss on Fluttershy's hoof, making her giggle frenziedly before pulling back from him. "Oh, my goodness! Th… thank you so much!"

Blade gave a tender smile for exactly one second, which was thwarted as soon as his head was pulled to the side by Discord's arm. "Now, now, Blade… We shouldn't postpone our plans and overstep on our friend's generosity."

Fluttershy's expression quickly turned to a confused look. "Ummm… what plans?"

"Yes, what plans?" added Blade nervously as he quickly looked over at him.

"Oh, did you forget already? While Fluttershy went out to get that jam, we agreed to spend the afternoon together!" While Blade's face paled once more, Discord turned to Fluttershy with a smile. "Doesn’t that sound fun?"

"Why, yes it does!" exclaimed Fluttershy gleefully. She looked over at Blade with a cordial smile. "Oh, Blade… I'm so happy that you're willing to help make friends with Discord!"

"I… I…" With his eyes widening in pure fear, Blade struggled to speak up to make protest. "I wasn't-- The pleasure is all mine, Fluttershy. I want to be friends with Discord, so we have to leave for the afternoon."

"Oh. Well… okay, then!" Fluttershy shrugged with a smile. "I hope you two have a great time."

"Oh, believe me…" Discord's grin grew wider as he spread his wings open, making a loud 'whoosh' to make Blade wince in dread. "We definitely will."

Blade's look of worry became more apparent, but Discord's puppetry made sure that his beak still kept a forced smile for Fluttershy to see. "Discord and I have to go now. Thank you for the lunch, and have a wonderful day."

With that, Discord flew off into the sky with Blade in his grasp. Even though the sound of Blade's terrified shriek could be heard as it slowly dissipated into the skies, Fluttershy still kept a loving smile as she watched them disappear into the distance.

"Awww… Discord is finally making friends…" Realizing what this meant, the mare's eyes widened in joy. "Oh, gosh! This would be a great thing to add to the journal!"

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Tensions and Tests

"So… have the two of you learned your lesson?"

Blaze and Blane, both wearing large ice-packs over their heads and faces, slowly nodded as they sat at the dining room table like guilty children. Troy, keeping a deadpanned stare of annoyance on the two, was starting to resemble a disgruntled parent more than anything else as he added, "And was it that you learned?"

"Urrrrrrghhh…" Groaning under his breath, Blaze was the first to reply after pulling the ice-pack away from his badly bruised face. "Don't… don't do the fart-ring to your boss?"

"Don't do it to anyone, you dip-stick!"

"Hey!" Not liking how his younger brother was acting towards them, Blane was quick to add a response alongside Blaze. "Why are you getting mad as US, huh?! That Rainbow chick was the one who used her… pony magic stuff to trick us!"

Troy rolled his eyes and sighed tiredly. "Dude, just admit it. That mare kicked both your butts."

"DID NOT!!!" shouted both of them furiously, using their claws to bang the table and emphasize their point. Canvas, who just came out of the kitchen with a pot of tea for the two, made a small huff when he saw them do that.

"Can you guys please not try to wreck any more of my furniture?" The stallion placed the pot and two teacups on the table in front of Blaze and Blane, which honestly made the two injured Gryphons look like they were seated at a filly's pretend tea-party. "I've already had a few things of mine destroyed when it was just Troy here."

"Oh, come on!" Troy gave Canvas a disgruntled look. "I didn't break that much stuff."

"Well, you still broke a few of my pricier things, remember?" Canvas went back to the kitchen as he started to list off the top of his head, "Two of the dining room chairs, a couple of those nice glasses I got for the kitchen, the bed frame--"

Hearing that last one, Troy quickly pointed a talon at his fiancé. "Okay, you can't blame ME for the bed frame entirely, dude! You were the one who kept telling me to go harder!"

"AHHH!" Blaze and Blane both clenched their eyes shut and put their claws up in distaste. Blaze nearly dropped the teapot he was using. "Too much info!"

Troy groaned before beginning to make his way back to the kitchen. "Oh, shut up! You've all been asking me worse than that at the bowling alley, rememb--"

The sound of the door opening caught the attention of the Gryphons, whose eyes all widened in shock when they saw Blade at the doorway. Ignoring the shocked looks his brothers had, the skinny Gryphon tried to shuffle in silence to one of the dining table seats, despite walking with an obvious hobble from his hind legs.

On his head, which was now dyed blue, Blade had a pair of scuba goggles over his eyes, along with a snorkel sticking out of the side of his beak. A bright pink leotard was stretched along his midsection, which seemed to go fairly well with the tutu he had around his waist. And with each step he made, the heavy, neon-green rain boots he was wearing over his paws made a wet plop on the hardwood floors, despite them being bone-dry.

With his eyes wide-open in a stunned state, looking like a soldier who just came back from a bloody battle, Blade collapsed into his seat in dead silence. Before any of his brothers could say anything, the Gryphon made a small cough, which made several bubbles come out of his beak like a dispenser.

"Damn, dude!" shouted Blaze in shock. "Fluttershy must've been a FREAK!"

Blane was quick to add, "Yeah, man! How do you keep getting the kinky ones?! It's like you have a magnet or something!"

Blade's head slowly turned towards the two, his face giving off the tone that pretty much told them to stop talking immediately. While Blaze and Blane froze momentarily at the sight of Blade's stone-cold stare, Troy's eyes widened as he figured out what may have occurred. "Ummm… Blade? Did you… happen to meet Discord at her place?"

Blaze was just about to take a sip of his tea, but immediately spat it out as soon as he heard Discord's name. "WHAT?!" shouted Blaze and Blane in unison.

Blade's head instantly turned to Troy with a look of white-hot fury. "Did you know he was gonna be there?!"

Troy took a step back from Blade, trying to avoid his brother's blood-curdling gaze as he looked elsewhere. "W-well, I… I knew that Fluttershy was friends with him, but…"

Blade rose from his seat slowly, his golden eyes peered straight at Troy like a hawk eyeing its kill. "Did you not think that maybe… maybe… that would've been essential… need to know… INFO?!"

"Dude, what's all the yelling about?!" Lyle, who was back in Canvas's studio reading a comic, emerged at the doorway with an annoyed look on his face. "I'm trying to rea--What the…" Seeing how Blade looked, the younger Gryphon clenched his beak shut as he tried not to laugh.

"Mmmph… Dude, what happened? Did you meet up with Discord or something?"

Even though Blade's appearance was beyond over-the-top, the menacing glare he gave to Lyle immediately diminished any humor his outfit may have had. Seeing that Blade was less than a second from trying to neuter him with his own talons, Lyle flinched at his gaze before running back into the studio. "Never mind, BYE!"

When Lyle disappeared back into the studio, Blade quickly turned back to Troy with a murderous look in his eyes. Fortunately, before the musician could lunge after his brother, Canvas reappeared at the kitchen doorway. "Hey, Blade, you want some tea--?"

As soon as he noticed how Blade looked, the stallion didn’t even need to be told what occurred. After his eyes widened in surprise for a moment, Canvas sighed before turning around. "I’ll get you some tea, okay?"

Blade's eyes turned to Canvas for a split second, and his mood softened just enough to not attack Troy at that moment. Instead, the Gryphon sighed before returning to his seat, sitting opposite of his two still-silent and wide-eyed brothers. Even though both of them had quite a lot to ask (starting with why the buck Discord was running around these parts), a pregnant bout of silence passed before Blane opened his beak first.

"…Ssssoooo… Did you get any or what?"

The next morning, Blade was determined to try to get that blasted Draconequus off of his back, which prompted him to wake up early for once. Luckily, the musician was willing to take Troy's advice and avoid confronting Rainbow Dash about her actions; even though he'd love to give that mare a piece of his mind, one look at what happened to Blaze and Blane was enough for him to know that he probably wouldn't fare any better against her. Plus, even if he did try to go after Rainbow, Blade was afraid what might happen if Princess Twilight caught wind and tried to vaporize him because of it.

So, after getting the dye out of his feathers, the Gryphon decided to just try talking with Fluttershy that morning. He knew that she mentioned tending to her animals between breakfast and lunch, so it was doubtful that Discord would bother her during that time. And since he was afraid of going there at any other time and risk meeting up with him again, Blade was determined to do this now and avoid any more of the Draconequus's chaotic antics.

While he flew up to the skies, soaring off towards Fluttershy's cottage cautiously, he didn't really seem to notice the white unicorn who was walking along the road towards Canvas and Troy's home. Meanwhile, Fancy Pants kept a slow but steady pace as he trotted silently, his mustached face not giving much evidence of a pleasant mood this morning. Of course, that was merely because he took an impromptu trip back to Ponyville to discuss what occurred earlier this week, and he wasn't able to get himself a proper cup of coffee yet.

After reaching the barn about an hour after the sun had risen, Fancy Pants sighed tiredly as he walked up to the door. Catching how chilly the morning air was feeling already, the unicorn was grateful that he had the foresight to wear a scarf instead of an ascot to go along with his jacket. The weather patrol around Ponyville was planning to start their first major cold fronts tonight, so the stallion was hoping to make this quick before heading back to Canterlot.

Surprisingly, before he could even raise a hoof to knock, Fancy Pants saw the door of Canvas's studio open prematurely. Expecting his client to arrive, Canvas was already awake and ready for whatever he might have to say. The artist tried to keep himself calm and professional, but a faint tone of unease could be seen on his face when he appeared at the open doorway.

"Umm… Good morning, Fancy Pants…" Forcing a small smile onto his muzzle, Canvas stepped back and used a hoof to motion the stallion inside. "Please, come on in."

Fancy Pants nodded before entering, his expression still looking rather neutral. Noticing this, Canvas became even more worried, mostly since he knew that this client was usually quite pleasant with him. Hoping that the unicorn wasn't going to act too harshly, Canvas cleared his throat before opening his muzzle. "I know that you prob--"

"Canvas," interrupted Fancy Pants abruptly, looking back at him with a more focused expression on his face. Hearing how his tone became much sterner, Canvas stopped talking while the other stallion continued, "I really feel like it would be favorable if you were to explain what happened in regards to my commission the other day."

Pursing his lips shut for a second in nervousness, Canvas sighed before reopening his mouth reluctantly. "O-okay… Ummm…" Even though he didn't want to pause himself too often and make Fancy Pants even more upset, the artist knew what he had to ask in order to hive a suitable answer. "Just for clarification… What was it that you've heard already?"

Fancy Pants' brow rose slightly. "Well, that's just it…" His horn illuminated, giving off his amber-colored magic before part of his aura went inside of his jacket. "I was told by the movers that an accident occurred just as they were about to pick it up. However…"

The unicorn then pulled out an envelope for Canvas to see. "When I received the replacement piece, this letter that came with it informed me of a much different story."

Canvas's eyes widened in shock, having never seen that until just now. "Wait, what is that?"

"Well," began the unicorn as he opened the letter, looking through it for a moment before levitating it towards Canvas. "From what I've read, this letter mentions how the painting became damaged shortly after I came by. Even though it contained quite a bit of detail, especially about who was really at fault, I wanted to know which side of the story was correct."

Canvas quickly scanned the letter, his eyes widening with each sentence that was written in intricate detail.

Dear Mr. Fancy Pants,

You probably don't remember me that well, but I was the one who made you coffee when you came by to see Canvas the other day. Well, the reason I'm writing this is because I wanted to explain why this drawing is here, and not the painting you ordered.

You see, right after you and Canvas left the place, I accidentally damaged the painting when I didn't notice a tube of paint on the ground, which I pressed a trash can down on. Some of the paint got onto it, which I was planning to get removed and hopefully fix. But before I could do anything, Blane thought it would be a good idea to use paint-remover on it (I mean, really?! Who does that? It's made entirely of paint!).

Anyway, the picture was completely wrecked by then, and then they tried to draw on it before Canvas came back (I tried to stop them, I swear). Canvas was upset about what happened, and I felt really bad since I knew he worked hard on it, so I tried to make a replacement. I know it's not what you wanted, but it was best I could do.

Please, please do not get mad at Canvas for what happened. He had absolutely nothing to do with it. If anyone is to blame, it should be me. I was the one who messed it up in the first place, which was by complete accident. If you want a proper replacement or something, then I'm sure something can be arranged. Just don't blame Canvas. He's cool.

Sincerely, Lyle

Blinking repeatedly in stunned silence, Canvas barely registered anything else around him. Instead, the stallion just stared at the letter, unsure of how he should react to this sort of thing. However, after making one glance back at the door way between the studio and living space, seeing Lyle standing slightly out of sight to listen in, the stallion's muzzle cracked into a smile, showing a look of gratefulness that no words could add.

It wasn't until Fancy Pants made a light cough that the artist finally looked back at him. The unicorn kept a look of interest before asking softly, "Well?"

"Ummm… well…" Looking between the letter and Fancy Pants, Canvas took a second before clearing his throat and sighing. "Technically speaking, I… wasn't here during that. But… yeah. This letter is correct."

"I see," responded Fancy Pants with a small nod, his face still staying somewhat neutral. Canvas bit his lip nervously, not wanting his client to see him in a negative light for lying about the circumstances to the movers a couple days ago. But before the artist could try to say anything in defense, Fancy Pants' eyes scanned the studio while asking, "I'm curious, though. Do you still have the painting for me to see?"

Canvas's eyes widened before making a quick nod. "Oh! Uh, yes!" The stallion hurriedly trotted over to a corner of the studio, pulling out the damaged painting from behind a couple of blank canvas boards. "The trash collector was going to come by in a couple days to pick this up, but... here it is."

The artist reluctantly passed the piece over to Fancy Pants, which was still wrapped and boasting a large hole in the middle of it. The unicorn gave a peculiar stare to the painting before taking it with his magic, undoubtedly recalling the damage from the photos that the movers took. However, as soon as he pulled the wrapping paper away to see the painting inside, his eyes shot wide open in shock.

Canvas cringed and turned his head away from Fancy Pants. "Y-yeahhhh… I mean, I know they had good intentions and all, but--"

"Pbbbbt, AHH HA HA HA HAAAA!!!"

Fancy Pants almost dropped the painting in his aura due to his laughter, and had to use a hoof to cover his muzzle. With his eyes were strained, barely able to stay open, the unicorn's white face was blushed due to his incessant giggling. "Wooo…. hee hee hee…Oh my!"

Even though Canvas was slightly confused, the fact that Fancy Pants wasn't irate or fuming about what happened to his commission was at least a little comforting. "Ummm… are you alright?"

"Okay, who drew this?!" asked Fancy Pants between pants as he turned to Canvas with an amused smile. "Seriously, I would like to know! Who thought to draw on this with crayon?!"

Honestly, Canvas forgot which Gryphon it was who did that. He looked back to the doorway where Lyle was, which Fancy Pants noticed as well. The unicorn's face lit up before pointing a hoof at him. "Aha! There you are, Lyle! Come on in here!"

Lyle immediately pulled himself away from the door and out of sight. Fancy Pants sighed before adding in a calmer tone, "Oh, come now! I'm not going to yell at you, okay? I just want to know who drew on that."

A brief "Uhhhh" could be heard from the other side of the wall, followed by the sound of Lyle's cautious tone of voice. "Well… I think Blade did most of that, but he flew off a while ago for something."

"Yeah!" called out another voice from behind the wall, which Canvas was quickly able to recognize as Blane's. "HE did it! Go after him!"

Fancy Pants' brows rose, his smile growing a little wider as he spoke up towards the voice. "Oh, are you Blane? The one who used the paint remover?"

"…Uhhhh… BYE!"

The sound of the door opening and slamming could be heard, giving fairly good evidence that the massive Gryphon fled the scene. After a few seconds of silence, Canvas finally joined in on Fancy Pants's laughter which broke it.

"Lyle, come on!" said Canvas as he turned over to the doorway. "It's okay, I swear. Don’t be shy."

That was when Lyle appeared at the doorway; however, it wasn't that he willfully chose to go in, as much as it was that Blaze pushed him into the room like he was trying to save his own skin. The young Gryphon shook a little when he was thrust into the room, but stayed frozen at his spot when Fancy Pants walked up to him.

"So… You were the one who wrote that letter?"

With the kind smile the unicorn was giving him, Lyle could see that he didn't look upset while asking that question. Nevertheless, the Gryphon still looked sheepish as he tried to reply without sounding totally freaked out. "Ummm… yeah. I… figured you should know the truth."

Before Fancy Pants could open his muzzle again, Lyle added with a raise of his talon, "And just so you know, I had NO idea that the triplets were planning that whole 'Wreck it when the movers come by' thing, alright? I think they had that planned as a sort of surprise thing."

Canvas quickly nodded and added, "That's right. They didn't mention a single word of that to me before it happened. And, well…" The stallion's expression began to turn more guilty while he continued. "When it did happen, I just… went along with it… I really didn’t mean to lie to you, and I apologize for that. I… I kinda figured it would give me some time to make a replacement or something."

He then turned back to Lyle, growing a indebted smile on his muzzle. "But then Lyle came out with that drawing, which was also something I didn’t know about! I mean, he managed to make that in less than a day, which I know I couldn't do! And… I couldn't have asked for anything better than that…"

Seeing the honesty in Canvas's expression, Lyle couldn't help growing a gratified smile before turning his head away from him. While the young Gryphon kept his face away from both stallions awkwardly, Canvas looked back at Fancy Pants to add, "But Lyle was right about the letter. I really had nothing to do with what happened, and even the spear thing was something I was uninformed about. They were just trying to help me out, but I know I should've been honest with you. And for that, I'm sorry."

Fancy Pants took a moment before making a small sigh, his face now having that understanding smile that the artist remembered from before. "Oh, it's quite alright, Canvas. Judging from the damage of that painting…" The unicorn glanced back at the painting which he let lean against the couch, making a light chortle before continuing, "I think it's clear that everything was far beyond your control, and I couldn't judge you poorly for that."

Fancy Pants' smile grew as he looked back at both Canvas and Lyle. "And as far as that drawing goes, I couldn't have asked for anything better either! Fleur absolutely loved it! She doesn't even know that I originally had a painting planned for her, but she had the largest smile on her face when she saw that sketch of her! And considering that I originally had that commission made to make her happy, I think it's easy to say that the ends justify the means, don’t you think?"

Thinking it over, Canvas had to agree with a reluctant shrug. "Well, I guess so. But…" Biting the inside of his cheek in contemplation, the aqua stallion sighed before adding, "Technically speaking, you did pay for my services, so it wouldn't feel right to not have a painting for you. If you want, I can easily make a new commission for you."

Fancy Pants brow raised in surprise, but seemed happy at that kind of recommendation. "Well, then. I suppose I'll take you up on that offer sometime."

After giving a firm shake to Canvas's hoof, which the artist was pleased to return, Fancy Pants then went back to Lyle. Lighting up his horn, the unicorn had an appreciative smile on his muzzle as he spoke graciously. "And Lyle, I want to thank you personally for making that gift for my wife. You made her very happy, and for that, you have my utmost gratitude. Thank you."

Fancy Pants put out his hoof towards Lyle, who had a surprised look on his face while trying to process what was going on. Honestly, the Gryphon thought that this guy would be upset with him about getting paint on the original piece that Canvas made; but instead, all that Lyle saw on that stallion's expression was sincere appreciation, which made him freeze for a moment before putting out his claw. "I… uh… Y-you’re welcome."

Lyle shook Fancy Pants' hoof, and grew a slight smile on his beak. Pleased to see that, Fancy Pants them pulled out the second item that he had inside of his jacket. "And I must say, I agree with Canvas one hundred percent about your artistry. You really do have a great drawing skill, and I hope that you won't let it go to waste. So…"

The unicorn levitated an envelope towards the Gryphon in his amber aura. "What I have here for you is a letter of recommendation. I happen to have a lot of connections both in Equestria and the Gryphon Kingdom, so I have no doubt that this will help you if you ever pursue an art school or internship in your future."

Canvas and Lyle's eyes both shot wide-open in surprise. Grabbing the envelope in his claw, Lyle was at a temporary loss for words as he stared at it. "A-a-a… are you serious?!"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" asked Fancy Pants with a smirk. "You have great artistic potential, Lyle. You just need to have more confidence with yourself, alright?"

Letting the stallion's words sink in, Lyle nodded faintly, his eyes still glued to the envelope. "I… I… okay…"

When Lyle finally looked back up at Fancy Pants, the smile on his beak grew noticeably larger before shaking his hoof a second time. "Th-thank you! This… this is seriously awesome of you!"

"Oh, it's quite alright," replied Fancy with a shrug after shaking Lyle's claw, keeping a more relaxed smile than the other two did. "I always have an appreciation for young talent, since they usually have their whole lives to hone their craft. Plus, you made my wife happy, which makes that letter worth every word."

Looking absolutely blown away by his client's generous act, Canvas beamed proudly before making his way to the doorway of the studio. "You know what, Fancy Pants? Let me make you some coffee!"

Fancy Pants' ears perked up at the mention of that last word. "That would be delightful."

"Okay, how do I say this? Um… 'Fluttershy, I really feel uncomfortable around Discord.' Or… Hmmm, nah…"

Groaning under his breath, Blade was barely able to keep his mind focused as he flew closer towards Fluttershy's cottage. Despite trying to think it over, the Gryphon couldn't get his words right enough in his head to contemplate saying them to Fluttershy. Instead, he just sighed painfully as he saw her home in the distance, knowing that this wasn't going to be as simple as he originally thought.

However, as soon as he landed in front of the cottage, Blade was surprised at how still everything looked. Last time he was here, he saw a lot of animals happily roaming around these parts; but now, the area seemed eerily silent, like something had scared all of Fluttershy's pets away. But before he could think too much about, he saw the front door of the cottage open, and Fluttershy's happy face peek out at him.

"Oh, Blade!" proclaimed the mare cheerfully when she saw him. "It's so nice of you to come by!"

"U-uh, yeah…" Rubbing the back of his head worriedly, Blade was unsure what it was he could say at the moment. His gaze looked elsewhere as he began to speak. "Uh, listen Fluttershy. I was kinda… wanting to talk with you…"

While his head was turned away, Blade didn’t seem to notice how Fluttershy's eyes narrowed on him with a smirk. "Oh, really?"

"Y-yeah…" After making a quick nod, Blade looked back at the Pegasus while speaking more insistently. "L-listen, I know that you have a lot of work to do around this time, but I was wondering if you might… want to talk privately for a moment?"

Staring at the Gryphon, Fluttershy's grin became more apparent, and she eyed him down with a clearer stare of interest. "Mmmmm… 'Private', you say?"

"Yes, an--" Now noticing her unusual tone, Blade paused for a moment as he saw how the mare was looking at him. "Ummm… Fluttershy? Are… are you okay?"

After giving off a sensual giggle, Fluttershy licked her lips before opening her door. "Oh, I'm more than okay…"

As soon as she opened the door fully, Blade's beak dropped in an instant. Standing at her doorway with a randy grin, Fluttershy was on her hindlegs as she leaned against the doorframe, showing every inch of the deep red lingerie she was wearing over herself. Blade, who was completely frozen in stunned silence, could barely move an inch as he saw how the mare was staring lustfully back at him.

"I'm so glad you could make it, Bladey-Boy," moaned the Pegasus in a surly tone as she eyed him down. "I was hoping that you and I could… talk."

A loud 'Pomf' emanated the otherwise silent space, as Blade's brown wings shot out in an instant. Even though his heart was pounding faster than ever before, the Gryphon was unable to breathe in shock. Aside from his waist, the only part of him that was moving was his left eye which was twitching involuntarily.

"Flu… Flu… Flutter…"

A low chuckle escaped Fluttershy as she leered at him, her voice coming out in an enticed moan. "Come on, you dirty bird," said the mare enticingly as she pulled away from the doors, getting back on all four hooves before turning around. When she began to walk back inside, showing off her tail which was tied upward, she looked back at the Gryphon whose jaw was now nearly touching the ground. "Are you gonna stand out there all day, or are you gonna have fun with your biggest fan?"

Blade's mind was completely blank, not knowing how to react at all to this mare's advances. But despite his brain not responding, his body already began to step forward quickly, completely ignoring Angel who was trying to pull him back by his tail. Alas, the bunny's attempt was futile, as Blade's tail quickly swished him away while walking inside the cottage.

Angel was thrown a couple feet away from Blade's tail, which game him no time to stop the Gryphon from going inside. Because of that, the bunny could only watch in terror as Blade mindlessly went into the cottage. As soon as the door closed behind the Gryphon, Angel rushed over to one of the windows; even though all of them had their blinds down to keep anyone from looking inside, the bunny could still overhear what was being said inside.

"Mmmmm… so Blade, you like what you see?"

"Ahhhhh… A-ah, Fluttershy, listen I… I was--"

"Oh, come on, big boy. Do you really want to talk right now?"

Blade's voice could be heard becoming shakier, his accent slipping with each passing word he tried to say. "I-I-I… I was wanting to-- Oh! Oh… Wow, that's nice… URGH! I mean… I was wanting to talk with you about--"

"Ssshhhhhh… Unless you plan to give me a kiss, you should just close that pretty little beak of yours."

"But… but I--"

"Ah, ah, ahhhh… I think you should just do what you want to do… And I think we both know what that is…"

"I… I…"

A long bout of silence passed after that last whimpered attempt at resistance from the Gryphon. Realizing what might be occurring, Angel winced as he tried to listen. After a seemingly endless moment, he finally heard Fluttershy's voice again.

"Therrrrre you go…"

Heavy breathing could be heard from the Gryphon. "A-A-A… Are you sure this is alright?"

"Mmmm-hmmm… now just lie back, and I'll do all the work."

"I… well… okay…"

Angel face-pawed as soon as he heard that.

"Ooh… someone's anxious."

"W-well… you're sort of to blame for that…" A nervous laugh could be heard from Blade after that comment, which subsided after Fluttershy spoke once more.

"Mmmmm… Ooh, we better make this quick, okay? I don't know how long we have before she gets back."

"O-okay. I doubt that would be too hard, heh heh… I jus-- Wait." Blade's voice sounded much more serious at that last word. "Before who gets back?"

…

"Before Fluttershy, of course!"

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

The door to Fluttershy's cottage broke open as Blade shot out like a rocket, screaming in pure unbridled terror with his eyes wide open. "AAAAAIIEEEEEEEE!!!"

While the Gryphon blasted through the skies, feathers flying off of him from the sudden speed, he didn’t seem to notice the yellow Pegasus who was trotting back to her cottage with a saddlebag full of birdseed. "B-Blade?!"

Noticing Blade speeding though the skies, screaming like a banshee that was set on fire, Fluttershy's eyes widened in shock. "What in Equestria happened?!"

Seeing where the Gryphon came from, Fluttershy galloped back to her cottage to notice her door was broken off the hinges. She gasped before seeing Angel standing nearby. "Angel!" shouted the mare in worry. "What happened?! Why did Blade fly away like that?"

Before Angel could make a reply, Discord's voice could be heard from inside the cottage. "Fluttershy, I think it would be in your best interest not to see that Blade fellow anymore."

"Discord? What are you talki--" As soon as she saw Discord appear at her front door, Fluttershy froze as her muzzle went agape. Now back in his regular form, Discord kept a stern expression on his face as he stood upright by the doorway with his paw on his hip. Of course, the Draconequus was still wearing the dark-red lingerie as he spoke.

"That Gryphon is a complete deviant! He couldn't keep his claws off of me when I was in your form!"

Staring at Discord wide-eyed, Fluttershy was at a loss for words when she saw what he had on. Her head turned around to scan where Blade flew off to, realizing what happened while she was gone. And when her head went back to Discord, the Draconequus flinched when he saw the furious glare she was giving him.

"A-ah… Fluttershy?" asked Discord as he put up his paw to speak. However, Fluttershy's stare on him, despite being a meager pout, was much stronger than any other look she's ever given him before. Catching that she was noticeably upset, Discord slowly put his claw back down.

Fluttershy's voice came out in a low and angry tone through her clenched teeth. "Discord… Is that my underwear?"

Discord's eyes widened before looking down at himself, realizing he was still wearing the lingerie. Nevertheless, the Draconequus only paused for a moment before looking back at Fluttershy. His muzzle grew a smirk before striking a more voluptuous pose. "Well, you have to admit that I really fill this out, don't you think?"

Keeping a content smile on his face, Troy soared through the late-morning skies with ease. Even though he was worried about leaving Canvas alone with Fancy Pants, he was also confident that his stallion could make things work out. After all, if there was one thing he knew for sure about his fiancé, it was that he never went down without a fight; he was honestly one of the strongest and most dedicated guys he knew, which was probably one of the reasons why Troy fell for him so quickly.

And as he reached closer towards his home, Troy smiled when he saw Fancy Pants trotting down the road in a much more chipper mood, a cup of coffee in his aura. Pleased to see that the unicorn wasn't angry (or ruffled up from any attempt at a fight), Troy glided downward towards the barn with no worry, anxious to see his love during his lunch break.

When the silver Gryphon opened the door and entered the living space, an involuntary shiver overtook him when he felt the welcoming heat inside. Even though the weather hadn't gotten that cold yet, it was quite clear that winter was upon them. "Brrrr! Man, I'm glad we got that space heater!"

Hearing his fiancé, Canvas trotted out of the studio with a slight smirk. "Well, it would probably be nicer if you actually wore that scarf like I suggested."

Troy sighed and rolled his golden eyes. "I already told you, it's not that bad. Besides, feathers insulate really well, so it's not--"

Troy had to do a double-take when he noticed a corner of the living space, seeing something huddled underneath a blanket. Upon closer inspection, Troy saw that it was his brother Blade, who looked even worse today than he did yesterday. "What the! What happened to him?"

Canvas's expression turned more uneasy as he looked over at Blade as well. "I have no idea. He just flew inside in a panic and hid himself over there. His brothers tried to talk with him, but apparently, all Blade could say were the words 'Discord' and 'Panties'."

"Ergh!" Troy cringed a little as he backed away. "Something tells me I shouldn't ask, should I?"

The stallion gave an approving shake of his head. "Nnn-Nnn."

"Ow! Ow! Ow! OOWWWW!!!"

Discord winced in pain, feeling unable to do anything while his ear was being tugged so painfully by Fluttershy's hoof. Even though he knew that he could easily do something to stop her from pulling him by his ear like a naughty colt in a grocery store, he knew that he couldn't try anything without hurting her. He might not be happy with how she was treating him, but she was still his friend.

While hulling the hunched-down Draconequus by his ear, Fluttershy was glad that they didn't pass anypony on their way to Troy's home to talk with Blade. Despite what he did, the Pegasus really didn’t want to embarrass him like this. But still, she kept her tone of voice particularly stern while leading him. "You are going to apologize to Blade whether you like it or not, Mister!"

Discord groaned exaggeratingly loud, showing that he certainly didn't want to follow Fluttershy's commands. "I still don't see what I did--OW! Urgh… what I did wrong! I was making sure that he wouldn't take advantage of you, which he DID! If anything, you should be thanking me for taking proper actio--GAAAHH!!!"

Another hard tug was enough to shut Discord right up. "That was NOT being helpful, and you know it! Even without taking my form, what you did was entrapment, which is illegal in Equestria!"

A low groan escaped Discord's muzzle as he grimaced. He muttered under his breath, "Well, so is kidnapping Celestia's pet Phoenix--YAAAA!!!"

Fluttershy practically had Discord's head pulled to the ground at that last statement. "I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that."

Reluctantly, Discord stayed silent for the rest of the trip, and kept a bitter scowl on his face when they finally reached the house. When Fluttershy knocked on the door to the living space of the barn, a couple "Pomfs" could be heard as Blaze and Blane's heads popped out from the cloud structure above the house.

"Who is it--AAAAHHH!"

The two quickly shot back inside the cloud as soon as they saw Discord, not wanting to deal with him after seeing how Blade ended up. Sighing at their behavior, Fluttershy waited for the door to open. Canvas was the one who answered it, who immediately grew cautious when he saw the Draconequus beside her.

"Canvas?" asked Fluttershy in a mature tone while Discord's ear was firmly in her hoof. "Do you happen to know where Blade is?"

Blade's head popped out of his blanket cocoon long enough to see who was at the door, and made a girlish squeal before rushing up the stairs.

"Blade, STOP!" Fluttershy put her free hoof out to try to stop him. "It's me, Blade! The real me! Look!"

Since he was already up in the loft, the trembling Gryphon had to poke his head out for a second to see that Fluttershy was next to Discord, proving that it was really her. Unfortunately, the presence of Discord was enough to make him quickly pull his head out of sight again.

"Blade, please!" pleaded Fluttershy worriedly. "You don't have to be scared, I'm right here!"

Blade's voice could be heard from upstairs. "Yeah, and so is HE!"

Not wanting this to drag out any longer than it should, Canvas walked over to the stairs to try to talk him down. "Blade, come on! You can't stay upstairs forever!"

"I don't care! As long as he's there, I'm NOT coming down! I don't care how long it takes! I'd rather starve to death than to be in front of that loony--"

SNAP!

With a snap of Discord's paw, a poof or purple smoke appeared in the middle of the living space, revealing Blade sitting on a chair while he kept ranting.

"--and there's nothing you can say to--GAAAHHH!!!"

Fluttershy wanted to give another strong glare to Discord for doing that, but she knew it wouldn't be right. At least he was using his magic to be helpful this time. Instead, the mare sighed before speaking in a calm voice to the Gryphon. "Now, Blade. I found out what Discord did, and I don't approve of his actions at all. And because of that, I brought him here to say something."

Fluttershy pulled Discord into the living space, having him standing in front of the petrified Gryphon still in his chair. "Discord," began the Pegasus in a firm tone of voice, "is there something that you want to say to him?"

Discord scowled, keeping his eyes pointed away from Fluttershy and Blade before muttering, "I don't want to say it--OOOWWWWW!!!"

Discord tried to bend his head in the same direction Fluttershy was twisting his ear, despite it being fruitless. While the Draconequus struggled against his friend's ear-tugging, he didn't seem to notice Troy and Lyle peeking at the display from the kitchen, or Blaze and Blane looking in from the window.

"You know," growled Discord with great malice towards Fluttershy, "I have done horrible things to ponies who have done much less than this to me!"

"Yes, but that was back when you were just a big meanie! And if you want to be a good citizen, you have to face the consequences of your actions!" She then pulled Discord's head in closer towards Blade (despite the Gryphon shuffling back timidly), making everyone else just stare in awe at the power struggle happening between the two.

"Now, you are going to apologize to Blade, and prove that you can act like a good boy! Understood?"

After another angered growl, Discord made a low grumble of a sigh before nodding, "Y… yesssss…"

"Good."

She kept a stern tone while holding Discord's ear, waiting for him to say what needed to be said. Discord cringed from the pain that she was giving to his ear, hating that she was choosing now of all times to be more assertive. Alas, after a small growl before looking straight at Blade with spite. "Blade… I am sorry."

Fluttershy's firm expression didn't change, and her hoof still had a death-grip on the Draconequus's ear. "You're sorry for what?"

Blade's eyes widened in a panic as he tried to intervene. "A-ah, Flutter, you don't have to--"

"Say it, Discord!"

Both Blade and Discord winced at her tone of voice, silencing both of their attempts to protest. Closing his eyes, Discord made another sigh before looking at Blade again.

"Blade, I'm… I'm sorry for wearing Fluttershy's lingerie and trying to seduce you in her form."

A very, VERY long moment of silence passed in the house, with everyone staring at Blade and Discord wide-eyed. When Fluttershy realized how the tone was starting to change in the room, she turned towards the others just in time to hear the first sound after that statement.

"Mmmph… pbbt!!!"

That was the only thing that could be heard before the entire barn erupted in laughter. Blade, who was sitting in his chair with an enraged scowl, looked absolutely furious as he heard all of his brothers cackling thunderously. Fluttershy's face blushed in embarrassment as she realized what she inadvertently caused, and she winced in guilt. "Oh goodness. Um… I'm sorry, Blade."

Even though she was sincere, the Pegasus's words could barely be heard over everyone else who were still laughing loudly. Leaning against the kitchen doorway with tears in his eyes, Troy had to collect his breath before speaking in a wheeze, "Blade, you… you… you've been with more guys than ME!"

That was what set them all off again. Blade's blushing face sunk down even lower into his seat, hoping to avoid the onslaught of laughter caused by Discord's "apology". Not wanting to wait for his brothers or future brother-in-law to calm down, Blade shot a glare at Discord and made a reply. "If I accept your apology, will you leave me the BUCK alone?!"

Despite the Gryphon's attitude, Discord shrugged before making a small nod. "That was what I promised Fluttershy, so yes. I won't try to interfere on your friendship with her."

Even though he knew he couldn't trust this bugger, that statement didn't sound like a bald-faced lie. So, after a deep breath, Blade put his claw out so he could end this. "Okay then. Apology accepted."

Discord was quick to shake his claw in acceptance, which was good enough for Fluttershy to let go of his ear. "That's what I wanted to hear," stated the mare in a calmer tone as she looked between the two. "Now, I really do hope that you two can be friends despite this. And in order for that to happen, both of you have to have trust in the other. So Discord, will you promise to put more trust in me and Blade?"

Discord grimaced a little at her question, but only paused briefly before nodding. "Oh, alright! I will."

"Good." She then turned to Blade and asked the same question. "Blade, will you promise to be more trusting to Discord?"

Blade was obviously more hesitant to answer that question honestly, but was still able to nod after making a deep exhale. "F… fine."

"Great!" said Fluttershy in a cheerful as her face lit up again. Ignoring the others who were still struggling to stop laughing, Fluttershy made her way back to the door. "Come on, Discord. I still have a lot of work to finish before lunch, and I need to put some ice on your ear."

"Oh, alright," mumbled Discord as he followed her, still looking rather upset about how things went. "I better get some lemonade after."

After the door closed shut behind the two, Blade was left alone in his chair, practically feeling the stares that everyone had on him. After making a heavy groan, Blade overheard Blane speak in through the open window.

"So, Blade… You gonna try saying he had a vagina again?"

"BLANE, SHUT YOUR DAMN BEAK!!!"

Fancy Pants sat by one of the benches at the Ponyville train station patiently, taking his time while reading a newspaper that was held in his aura. Even though he would've never thought himself as the kind of pony to read a publication that's from an elementary school, he had to admit that The Foal-Free Press is a fairly well-written paper overall. While some of the stories seemed a bit immature, at least it wasn't filled with sensationalist buzzwords or fabrications to stir more profit.

At hearing the engines of the train coming in from nearby, Fancy Pants finished his coffee before getting out of his seat. He threw his paper cup into the recycling bin nearby, and then walked back to the platform just as the train began to pull into the station. The all-too familiar cloud of steam flourished around the platform and the ponies standing around, but Fancy Pants paid no heed to the warm mist; in fact, on a brisk day like this, the steam felt rather comforting for a change.

When the doors opened, Fancy and the other ponies waited while all the ponies inside got off; and since he was closest to the platform, the mustached unicorn was the first to see that the doorway was clear for him to enter. However, as soon as he put a hoof up, a wall of dark brown came into view, which prompted Fancy Pants to quickly step back.

"Oh! Sorry, sir," said the unicorn politely as he allowed the figure to pass. Unfortunately, with the way that those burning yellow eyes peered down at him, it was clear that any form of courtesy wouldn't be appreciated.

So, Fancy decided to keep his muzzle shut as he saw both figures exit the train. Even though their size and stature was seen as intimidating to the other ponies going in and out of the train, Fancy Pants merely grew an amused grin at the sight. After all, this wasn't the first time he's seen that sort of thing today.

"My, my…" said the unicorn to himself as he finally stepped onto the train. "There sure are a lot of Gryphons in Ponyville today."

Chapter Thirty: Meet the Clawstons

Bon-Bon groaned tiredly, barely able to keep her eyes open while she finally exited her taffy room. Her wife, who was sitting at the counter of the currently-empty candy shop, noticed Bon-Bon's expression, which worried her. "Is everything alright?" asked Lyra.

The cream-colored mare sighed and nodded her head. "Yeah, it's fine. I finally got the taffy-puller up and running again, and I just finished the first new batches. The problem itself wasn't that big of an issue, but getting that fixed along with everything else was still a pain in the flank."

Lyra made a faint nod in understanding before turning her head away in guilt. Considering how her wife's taffy machine got screwed up in the first place, Lyra knew that she was partially to blame; even though Blane (she still wasn't sure who was who, so it was a guess) was the one who "broke everything" in the room, the mint unicorn was still the one who didn’t stop him from going inside.

Seeing how her wife looked away so sheepishly, Bon-Bon sighed before adopting a more calming smile. "Oh, honey. It's not your fault what happened, I swear."

Making a small huff while hunched in her seat, it was clear the unicorn wasn't buying t. Bon-Bon kept her smile as she walked behind the counter over to Lyra, closing her eyes to give the unicorn a reassuring nuzzle. "Everything is fixed now, and those two left enough money to cover all the damages. We even had a little left over, so there's nothing for you to feel guilty about, okay?"

Despite still feeling shameful about it, a tiny smile managed to creep up the corners of Lyra's lips. After a brief moment to think things over, the mare looked back towards her wife, marveling at the Earth pony's blue eyes which she adored so much. Seeing nothing but love and kindness in Bon-Bon's smile, it was enough to make Lyra give in with a grin. "O---okay, honey… Thanks."

And with that, the two mares shared a tender kiss from behind the counter, savoring the rare moment of serenity they had while their shop was free of any peeping ponies. However, as soon as they heard the bell at the front door chime, the two quickly pulled away to see who entered. Both of the mares' eyes widened when they saw the two Gryphons enter.

The first Gryphon to walk into the store was a female, looking slightly similar to that Gilda figure they met a long time ago during one of Pinkie's parties. Fortunately though, this Gryphon already seemed a lot less grouchy by her calm stride and demeanor. Along with her slender physique, which went along nicely with her slightly off-white feathers and light grey fur, the short-trimmed feathers on her head gave the Gryphoness a more professional-looking appearance. Despite looking a bit older from the barely-noticeable wrinkles around her eyes, she still had a beaming look of youth stemming from her golden eyes when she walked in.

Behind her, the second Gryphon to enter had an almost opposite look to the first. Much like the triplets that Lyra and Bon-Bon already met, this Gryphon's slightly haggard feathers boasted the same dark-brown color; however, the fur along his feline features was a dark grey that almost looked black, similar to an aging panther that Lyra once saw at a zoo. The Gryphon was also massive, his head nearly touching the ceiling as he walked in with a heightened stature. And on the side of his face, which was frozen in a look between neutral and annoyed, a large scar could be seen running down across his right eye and cheek that ended at the base of his massive beak.

"Why hello, there!" exclaimed Bon-Bon cheerfully with a smile, already having a good idea who these two probably were. "Welcome to Bon-Bon and Lyra's Confectionary. How can I help you?"

Seeing the two mares, the female Gryphon kept a small smile before walking up to them. "Oh, hello there…" Her voice came out in a kind, but still professional-sounding tone, almost like Rarity if she didn't have her Canterlot accent. One of her claws went inside the dark purple purse hanging at her side as she continued. "I was hoping that one of you could help me with something. You see, both if us are a little lost, and we were wanting to find the… Golden Oak Library?"

When she pulled a large package out of her purse and placed it on the counter, Lyra and Bon-Bon peered in to see that it was addressed for the library in town. Of course, both of them first noticed the large logo at the top of the box, boasting the name of Highmount United Quills. Remembering what Troy told them when they asked about his family, that name came up when he mentioned what his parents did for a living.

However, before either of them could ask the obvious question and get it out of the way, the large Gryphon spoke up towards the other. "For crying out loud, I told you already! We're not lost!"

The female Gryphon's smile dropped as she made a scoff and turned back to him. "Yes we are!" she said in an annoyed tone. "And if we bought a map like I suggested, then maybe we wouldn't be."

The other Gryphon groaned in frustration. "I'm not paying five bits for a map! It was a total rip-off, and you know it!"

Bon-Bon quickly put up a hoof to grab their attention, not wanting a fight to escalate in the store before the lunch rush. "Umm, guys? We know where the library is. It’s actually that really big tree in the middle of town."

The white Gryphon's brows rose in surprise. "Oh, THAT place?! We flew past that like, five times!"

"Yeah, we know," added Lyra with a shrug in understanding. "A lot of ponies don't realize it's a library unless they ask or look inside. It's kind of a local landmark."

Pleased that she got her info so quickly, the Gryphon smiled before picking her package back up. "Well, thank you both very much! You've been very helpful."

"No problem at all," said Lyra with a smile. Knowing that it was either now or never, the mint unicorn's smile grew a little before narrowing her eyes on the two. "Although, I have to ask… Are you two the Clawstons, by chance?"

Both of them raised their brows in surprise at the mare's remark. "Why… yes we are..." responded the female Gryphon with an impressed smirk on her beak.

"We thought so," added Bon-Bon with a smile of her own. "We're both good friends of Troy."

"Oh, wonderful!" With an even bigger smile on her face, the Gryphon extended her claw out to both the mares before introducing herself. "I'm Angela Clawston, and the one behind me is my husband, Jonas."

Groaning under his breath, the large Gryphon begrudgingly went over to the counter beside his wife to greet them as well.

"Well, it's great to meet both of you!" Lyra kept a chipper smile as she shook both of their claws. Even though Jonas's grip was a bit too strong for her tastes, the unicorn didn’t keep her smile from skewing in discomfort. "And I must say, I can already see the resemblance quite a bit!"

"Yeah, we get that a lot," answered Angela with an understanding nod. After taking a glance over at her husband, her expression changed slightly when she realized who the unicorn might be referring to. She looked back to the mares with a more cautious look on her face. "Umm… The triplets haven’t caused too much trouble, have they?"

Lyra winced a bit at that question, but Bon-Bon was quick to shake her head. "No, they're fine. Just a bit overenthusiastic, that's all."

Hearing that, Jonas gave a small shrug and a huff. "That's one way of putting it."

The bell for the front door dinged again, this time opening to reveal Derpy Hooves. Behind the grey Pegasus, a grey and purple unicorn filly rushed in with a smile on her face. "Now Dinky," spoke up Derpy while the filly ran into one of the aisles, "you know what you want to buy with your allowance?"

"Yep!" shouted Dinky before lighting her horn, getting a bag of gummy bears from the top shelf with the help of her magic. While holding the bag in her yellow aura, the filly stopped when she saw the two Gryphons at the counter. "Oh, hello!"

Seeing the filly, Angela looked like her heart melted at the spot. "Awwww!" An enamored smile on her beak, the Gryphoness bent herself down until she was at eye level with Dinky. "Hello there, little one!"

Jonas groaned and rolled his eyes, as if this wasn't the first time this had happened. Ignoring her husband, Angela kept her smile as she spoke to the filly. "What’s your name, little girl?"

The filly answered with a slightly nervous blush on her cheeks, "D… Dinky." Even though she wasn't scared of the Gryphon, the filly was still fidgety enough to warrant Derpy coming up beside her.

"It's alright," said the Pegasus in a reassuring tone towards Angela. "She gets kinda nervous around anyone when it's direct conversation, you know?" She then put out her hoof before adding, "My name's Derpy, by the way."

"Oh, the pleasure to meet you." Angela pulled herself back upright and shook the mare's hoof. "I'm Angela Clawston. Jonas and I decided to come by and see how our son was doing."

Hearing their last name, Dinky's eyes widened in realization. "Are… are you Troy's Mommy and Daddy?"

"Why, yes we are!" said Angela happily when she looked back down at the filly. Giving off an amused chuckle, she shrugged before looking around. "Well, I'm surprised Troy managed to be so popular around here."

"Well," began Lyra in an upbeat tone, "Troy is a member of the weather team around here. From what Rainbow Dash told me, he's one of the best guys on her crew!"

"Uh-huh!" piped up Dinky enthusiastically, "He's a super good singer, too!" She then pointed a hoof up to Derpy and added, "and Mommy told me that he's a really good kisser!"

The two Gryphons quickly turned their heads towards Derpy, completely wide-eyed. Feeling the awkwardness hit her like a bag of bricks, the Pegasus froze momentarily before gaining a nervous smile. "Ummm… heh heh heh…" She used a wing to push her daughter towards the counter while muttering, "Dinky, go pay for your candy."

While Jonas kept a bewildered stare on the cross-eyed mare, obviously looking disturbed at what he just heard, Angela just blinked a few times before trying to stammer out a statement. "Uhhh… Should… should I ask--"

"It was a play!" quickly blurted out Derpy as she held up a hoof to explain. "Troy and I were in a play! It wasn't anything more than that!"

"She's right," added Bon-Bon in a rushed tone while Lyra tended to Dinky at the register. "They were both in the production of Phantom of the Opera a couple months ago, and there was a single kiss scene in the show." The mare had a more relaxed smile on her muzzle as she continued "Honestly, they were both really good in the play! They're both amazing singers!"

Derpy grew an embarrassed smile as she looked away with a light blush on her cheeks. "Oh, please…"

Even though hearing that new info was slightly comforting for the Gryphons, Angela still kept a cautious expression on her face as she asked, "So… you and Troy aren't…"

"Hm?" Dinky overheard Angela's question, and turned her head around to add her input. "What do you mean? Isn't Troy wi--MMMPH!!!" A large lollypop held in a mint-green aura was quickly shoved into Dinky's open muzzle before another word could come out.

"We're just friends," said Derpy insistently, choosing to momentarily ignore the sound of her daughter gagging. "Troy and I aren’t dating or anything."

Both Gryphons gave off sighs of relief. "Oh, okay then," said Angela, a slight tone of calm in her voice.

"Good," blurted out Jonas bluntly as he looked away while by the counter.

Hearing how directly the brown Gryphon's voice sounded when saying that one word, Derpy looked a little offended when she turned her head to him. Before she could say anything in response, Angela was quick to intervene. "I'm so sorry, please don’t mind him. He's…"

Looking back at her husband, Angela thought her words over before turning back with a skew of her head. "Jonas is a tad… traditional about some things."

Derpy's eyes, as well as those of Lyra and Bon-Bon's, all widened a bit in uncertainty. "Oh."

Immediately realizing what could occur, it was hard for the two mares behind the counter to not cringe while Angela and Jonas weren't looking at them. Meanwhile, Dinky was happily sucking on her lollypop, not seeming to care about what was being said anymore.

"It's nothing against you, I swear," said Angela sincerely, putting a claw on Derpy's shoulder for emphasis. She looked back at Jonas for a second before leaning in to whisper in Derpy's ear, "He's kind of a sourpuss sometimes."

"I heard that," growled Jonas disapprovingly, looking at his wife with a small glare.

Angela kept a small smirk on her beak as she replied towards him, "Well, that's what you get for being rude, Mister Loud-Beak."

Derpy couldn't help giggling at that statement which just made Jonas groan and walk towards the door. "Whatever. I'm going out for a smoke."

"You said you were going to cut down while on vacation!"

"It's only ONE cigar! Jeez!"

When the door closed behind Jonas after he left, Angela gave off a disappointed sigh before looking back at Derpy. Not wanting to leave a bad impression, she smiled and put her claw out to Derpy. "It really is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Derpy. And just so you know, any friends of my son are friends of mine as well."

Hearing the honesty in her tone, Derpy was happy enough to let Jonas's statement brush off of her while shaking the Gryphon's claw. "Well, that's nice to know. And it's great to meet you too, Missus Clawston."

After putting her claw back down, Angela readjusted the purse at her side. "Well, I think my husband and I should go visit the library and get our delivery made." She then turned back to the counter with a grateful smile. "And thank you both again for your help."

"No problem," stated Lyra with a smile. She put her hoof out again and added, "And your sons are wonderful, Angela."

"Awww, thank you!" When she leaned in to give the unicorn's hoof a shake, her eyes caught sight of a picture hanging behind the two mares. Seeing the framed photo of Bon-Bon and Lyra at their wedding, the Gryphon's eyes widened as her smile skewed a tiny bit. Her grip on Lyra's hoof lessened significantly before letting go.

Catching this change, one of Lyra's brows raised in confusion. But before the mare could ask anything, the Gryphon stepped back cautiously. "Well, I don’t want to waste any time, so I gotta go!" Angela kept a nervous smile as she walked back to the door, but her eyes kept darting between Lyra, Bon-Bon, and the picture behind them. She then quickly turned around and left before shouting a rushed "Bye!"

When it was only the three mares and the filly left in the store, all of them were eerily silent as they tried to process what happened. Not catching what may have caused that look of unease on Angela's expression, Lyra and Bon-Bon looked at each other in baffled states. "Ummm…" Bon-Bon was the first to ask, "What was that about?"

The silence was finally broken with a wet "Pop!" when Dinky finally pulled the lollypop out of her muzzle. "Mmm! Is this pineapple flavor? It's really good!"

Determined to get that sight out of her head, Angela made a beeline to the library with her husband in tow. Even though she didn't want to judge any of the ponies in this town, that photograph certainly was an eye-opener. Those two mares were so nice, too! Thought the Gryphon to herself. What's wrong with them? Couldn't they just find some nice stallions to settle down with?

Noticing how confused his wife was looking, Jonas skewed his brow before asking, "What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh… oh, nothing…" Not wanting to bother her husband with her thoughts, she just waved her worries aside with a flick of her claw. "I was just thinking to myself, you know…"

Even though he wanted to ask more, Jonas just decided to let it pass with a groan. Knowing his wife, if something was getting on her mind, he wouldn't hear the end of it. So, he chose to just keep his beak shut while they walked to the Golden Oak Library. When they finally reached the tree, both of them were unsure how this place could actually be a library. Not knowing whether or not she needed to knock, Angela opened the door cautiously as she peered inside. "Hello? Is anybody he-- AAAHHHH!"

Angela pulled back out and slammed the door shut, leaning her back against it while showing a look of wide-eyed terror. "There's a dragon in there!"

"Huh?" After a bout of silence, a young voice could be heard from inside. "Awesome! I knew I was looking scarier today!"

Another voice from inside added, "What's going on?" After the sound of hoofsteps could be heard, Angela pulled away just in time for the door to open. Both Gryphons gasped when they saw Princess Twilight Sparkle at the doorway, who had a perplexed look on both of them. "Umm… Hello."

"Omigosh!" Angela shot back from the door and the Princess, and stood back beside her equally shocked husband. With the way both of them were staring at the Princess with eyes as wide as dinner plates, it was clear that they were in a shock for words.

Knowing what usually happened when new ponies tried to greet her, Twilight had a good idea what these two Gryphons might try as well. Before either of then could bow their heads down, the Alicorn quickly put up a hoof to keep any preemptive actions from occurring. "Please... PLEASE don’t bow to me! I'm not used to that sort of treatment, okay?"

Even though they were both slightly confused by that kind of request, neither one of the Gryphons wanted to act against her. So, instead of giving a courteous bow, the two just stood awkwardly before Jonas spoke up. "Ummm… Princess Twilight?"

Happy to not have two new arrivals in Ponyville try to grovel to her, Twilight grew a more courteous smile before putting out her hoof. "That's me! It's a pleasure to meet you two. And you are?"

"Oh! Umm.." Not wanting to present himself haphazardly to Royalty, the brown Gryphon heightened his posture to a proper stance before shaking her hoof. "I am Brigadier General Jonas Clawston, formerly of the 133rd Regiment of the Gryphon Kingdom," announced the Gryphon in a professional tone. He then turned to his wife to introduce her as well. "And this is my wife, Angela Clawston."

Twilight's eyes widened for a second as soon as she caught their last names. Fortunately, her muzzle grew a more relaxed smile before responding with a proper salute towards him, "At ease, General."

After Jonas saluted her back, the Princess kept her smile before asking, "So, if you don't mind me asking, are you two by chance related to a Troius Clawston?"

"Y-y-yes!" Even though Angela knew that Troy met the Princess after reading one of his letters, the fact that Twilight Sparkle knew her son by name was enough to make her sputter with an overwhelmed smile. "He is! I mean, I know that he's talked with you before, but I… I just didn't…"

"It's alright," responded Twilight as she tried to keep her smile calming enough to settle Angela down. "Troy does a lot of weather duties around Ponyville, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he knows most of the ponies around here."

"Well, that's nice to know!" chucking under her breath, Angela tilted her head a bit as she continued. "Honestly, we haven't heard from him in a while, so I'm glad he's okay! I think the last letter he sent was when he met Celestia at that art show!"

Twilight's eyes widened a little. "R-really? So…" After a second or two, Twilight narrowed her eyes before asking, "You haven’t heard from him since then?"

"No," answered Angela with a shake of her head. She started to look worried when she asked, "Why? Is something wrong?"

The Princess put her hooves out before stammering out frantically "Oh! No, no, of course not!" After putting her hooves down, she shrugged a little before adding in a more calmed tone, "I was just… surprised, that's all."

"So…" Jonas tried to speak up to add his input, hoping that the Princess might be able to answer a question he had. "We tried to find Troy's home on the way here, but we weren't able to find the address. Do you know where he might be?"

Twilight grew a slightly surprised look on her face, which she hoped wasn't obvious to the two Gryphons. Even though she knew that Troy wasn't keen on admitting too much about his relationship, the fact that he hasn’t told them his new address was still a tad shocking. Unsure how to answer the General, Twilight thought it over for a second before responding with a shrug, "Well… I know that he's working right now, but he usually comes by Ponyville at the end of his shift."

Realizing how she could help these two, she stepped to the side and motioned to the doorway of the library with a smile. "If you want, you two can come inside and wait until he comes by. I don’t want to leave two guests out in the cold, after all."

"Oh, why… thank you, your Highness!" While the Princess brought out a hoof towards the open doorway of the library, Angela smiled and made a first step before pausing midway. Remembering what she saw inside, she looked back at Twilight worriedly and asked, "Wait, is… is it safe?"

"Hm?" Looking back inside, Twilight noticed the drake dusting the bookshelves before sighing with a chuckle. "Oh, don't worry about Spike, Missus Clawston. He's only a baby dragon. It's perfectly fine."

Even though she still looked a little unsure, the Gryphoness nodded faintly before walking inside the library first. As Angela stepped in, her eyes widened at how much larger the inside looked than the outside. She stayed silent before overhearing her husband who came in behind her:

"Are you serious, Angela?!" As soon as he saw Spike, Jonas had a cynical stare on his wife when he pointed at the dragon. "You were scared of that?!"

"HEY!" Spike dropped his duster as he looked over at the Gryphon with an offended look on his face. "I can breathe fire, you know!"

"Now, now, Spike," interrupted Twilight in a more authoritative tone, "you don't need to get defensive." She then looked back at the other two and asked, "I take it this is the first time you two have visited Equestria?"

Angela was the first to answer. "Well, sort of… I visited Canterlot a long time ago when I was a child, but I barely remember much." She then looked to her husband and added, "But I know it is the first time Jonas has visited these parts, right?"

The brown Gryphon nodded in response. "Pretty much…" Jonas scanned the inside of the tree before looking at Twilight with a perplexed brow. "If you don't mind me asking, your Highness, why exactly are you here?"

"Honey!" Angela gave her husband a firm smack on the chest with her claw. "You don't need to intrude on a Princess's business!"

"It's alright," assured Twilight with a smile. "You aren't the first to ask me that sort of question. And to answer it, I think the easiest way to explain is… well… I live here."

Jonas's head shot back a tad in disbelief. Seeing that the Alicorn wasn't joking, he blinked a couple times before tilting his head slightly. "You're a Princess, and you live in a library?"

"Wait a minute!" Angela, contrary to her husband, had her eyes wide open in shock as she stared at the Princess. She pointed a talon at her before asking in a serious tone. "So, you're the only one who lives here?"

"Well, me and Spike," answered Twilight with a nod, "but yes, I'm the only pony living here at the moment."

Angela took a step back from Twilight, her beak slightly open in a befuddled state. "Ohmigosh… You… you…"

The Gryphon grabbed the purse at her side in an instant, and snatched out the package that was inside. "Are you customer 5041893-417?!"

"Um, wha--" As soon as she noticed the logo on the package, Twilight's words quickly stopped as well. Her eyes shot wide before looking up at Angela with an astounded look on her face. "Do you work for Highmount United Quills?!"

Seeing how the Princess was acting, Spike stepped back cautiously to avoid one of her nerdy obsessed ravings. "Oh, boy…"

"We run the shipping there!!" Looking like she was going to start jumping up and down in utter glee, Angela turned to her equally shocked husband. "Oh my GOSH!!! One of our customers is a Princess of Equestria!?!"

"You're…" Jonas, who was having a harder time finding the right words, just pointed at the Alicorn while blinking repeatedly. "You're… you're one of our best customers!"

"Do you guys have ANY idea how amazing your quills are?!" With a huge grin plastered on her face, Twilight looked like she just found a first-edition novel at a thrift store on sale. The Alicorn was barely able to stand still as she spoke in an overexcited tone, "I mean, I used to live in Canterlot Castle, and even THEY didn’t have quills that worked as well as yours! I even did a series of tests that proved it!"

Angela gasped in disbelief. "No way!"

"Yes way!" Not able to contain herself, Twilight rushed to the stairway while shouting out, "I know I have the charts somewhere around here! SPIKE! Go get my research notes!"

"Here we go…" Spike begrudgingly sighed before running after her.

"Oh, I have to see this!" Angela rushed up the stairs as well. If a Princess of Equestria actually researched her products, she was sure as heck not going to let this opportunity pass by.

However, this left Jonas by himself in the middle of the library. The Gryphon blinked a couple times in confusion at what just transpired, slowly realizing that they all just left him here. He let off a huff before speaking loudly, "I'll just stay down here, then! Don’t mind me!"

Of course, his sarcastic comment didn’t get him any reply from upstairs. After groaning out slowly, Jonas looked around the spacious ground floor of the library, hoping to see if there was at least a chair that he could sit in before they came back down. Even though he noticed a couch nearby which looked to be big enough to support his size, the Gryphon wasn't able to lift a paw before hearing the front door open again.

"Hello?" asked Canvas as he walked into the library with his art bag draped at his side. After walking to Ponyville to get his check from Fancy Pants deposited, the stallion decided to drop off a few books that he checked out earlier that week. But when he walked inside, he didn’t see Twilight or Spike, or even Owlilicious.

Instead, Canvas saw the large Gryphon looking back at him, which made his eyes widen in immediate comprehension. "Oh! Ummm… hello."

Honestly, the stallion didn't expect to see this Gryphon so soon after Troy got his letter. However, with how similar he looked to the triplets, Canvas was about ninety-five percent sure that the guy was their Father. Of course, instead of just asking upfront, the artist bit his lip before walking over to the book return slot. He quickly dropped in the two books that were in his bag, Engagement and You: A How-To Guide and Gryphonian for Beginners (which he tried to keep out of sight), and then looked to see the Gryphon walking over to the couch.

For a moment, Canvas considered just leaving the library right then, just so he could try to find Troy and tell him who was here. However, before he could even lift a hoof, Canvas paused himself to think things over. Since this was the first time he's meeting someone who could very well be his future In-Law, the last thing he wanted to do was make a bad impression. If he left now, who knows that this Gryphon will think of him when Troy introduces him properly? If anything, he might just think of Canvas as "that stallion who ran away from him at the library."

So, after giving it some brief thought, Canvas made his decision after a deep breath with closed eyes; since he was already here, he might as well introduce himself to this Gryphon. Besides, he had to know for sure that this was Troy's Father before going to find his fiancé, which prompted him to bite the bullet and walk over to the couch.

"Ummm…" Canvas's voice came out a little more meekly than he would've wanted, but it was still enough to catch the attention of Jonas who was already seated. When the Gryphon turned his head over to him, Canvas felt his heart jolt up into his throat from nervousness. But even with that, Canvas swallowed his anxiety before asking with a cautious smile. "Are… are you Jonas Clawston?"

Jonas's eyes stared back at the stallion, looking him up and down like he was making a calculated scan for any weak spots. After a long moment of deathly silence, the Gryphon's golden eyes narrowed in on Canvas, making the pony struggle not to flinch from worry.

"Why do you ask?"

The Gryphon's deep tone was enough to make Canvas's mind go blank momentarily. Since he wasn't expecting a question like that, it took a couple seconds of silence before the pony could make a statement come out of his slightly open muzzle. "U-uh, I… Well… Be-because I… I happen to be friends with… Troius?"

Internally, the stallion was cringing hard at how he was sounding out loud. Knowing that he wanted to make a good impression, the last thing that Canvas wanted was to be seen as some blabbering nitwit, especially in front of a decorated General. But fortunately, before Canvas could fidget in his hooves from discomfort, Jonas raised both brows slightly. "Oh…"

Even though the Gryphon kept his eyes glued onto the artist like he was hiding something, he still lessened his intense stare enough to respond appropriately. "Well, yes. I am Jonas Clawston."

"Oh. Ummm… great!" Canvas lifted a hoof, but froze halfway when he realized he had no idea how to greet him. Was he supposed to shake his claw, or give a salute? Is that sort of thing even common? What if he bowed instead?

Of course, since didn’t want to over-think anything and make himself look even more awkward, the stallion went with his first instinct. "It's a pleasure to meet you," stated Canvas as he put his hoof out to Jonas. "My name is Canvas."

Unfortunately, Jonas didn't raise a claw to return the shake. Instead, he just stayed in his seat with a blank expression towards the stallion, one of his brows raised slightly more than the other. Canvas could feel his heart getting weighed down in his chest while he stoof still for a moment, unsure whether or not to just pull his hoof back and forget he tried that. "Uhh… Ummm--"

"Oh my goodness!" shouted a female voice from upstairs, which made both Jonas and Canvas look up to see Angela coming back down. Canvas quickly put his hoof back down when he saw who was at the top of the steps.

"I just can't believe this!" Holding a large chart board in her claw, the Gryphon was staring at the statistics with wide-open eyes as she walked down the stairs cheerfully. "You had this all verified and everything! Even our marketing Gryphons haven't gone this far!"

Twilight, who was following behind with the other charts and notes in her magic, giggled with an embarrassed smile on her face. "Well, I had to run some tests to know which quills worked the best. It was honestly a very eye-opening experience for me."

"Yeah," muttered Spike while walking behind Twilight. The drake had an apathetic look on his face as he spoke up in a sarcastic tone. "Most ponies like to go out and have fun on Friday nights. Meanwhile, the ever-wild Twilight Sparkle prefers to spend her free time testing quills."

"Well, excuse me for wanting to do something productive on the weekend," stated the Princess back to her assistant. When she turned to go down the stairs behind Angela, the Alicorn shrugged with a small smile. "Besides, I personally thought that it was a bit fun to--Oh, hello Canvas!"

Seeing the aqua stallion, Twilight smiled gratefully. "It's nice to see you here! I was just talking with Angela here!" Pointing to the white Gryphon behind her, the Princess turned back to Angela and motioned to the pony. "Angela, this is Canvas, Troy's fi--friend." Twilight flinched a bit when she made that small correction, but kept her smile nonetheless.

"Oh, hello…" Walking past the Alicorn, Angela went down the steps to greet herself, her eyes slowly widening when she saw Canvas for the first time. "It… it's so nice to see you." With the look on her face turning slightly bewildered, the Gryphon shook the stallion's hoof before speaking in a more impressed tone. "I… I think I remember seeing you! You were in that paper with Troy, right?"

Raising his brows in surprise, Canvas nodded with a anxious smile on his face. "Ummm, yes… Tha-that's me! I'm Canvas. It’s really nice to meet you, Missus Clawston."

"Oh, the pleasure is all mine!" insisted the Gryphon with a gracious smile on her beak. "Jonas and I just came here from Canterlot, and we actually got a chance to see that painting you made in the ballroom. Congratulations!"

"Oh! I… th-thank you so much!" Feeling extremely happy that he was able to make a good impression with one of the parents, Canvas's smile grew wider before finishing his enthusiastic shake. When he put his hoof back down, the stallion gave off a nervous chuckle with a small blush on his cheeks. "Honestly, I… I can see where Troy gets his looks from."

Angela paused for a second, but smiled with a cheerful giggle. "Oh, you!" Ignoring the confused stare that Jonas was giving to Canvas, Angela shrugged before replying, "Well, that wouldn’t be the first time I heard that. Of course, most of the comments we get are how the triplets look like their father."

"Yeah, I noticed that," answered Canvas with a chuckle. He looked back at Jonas, but flinched away the instant he saw the Gryphon’s cold stare. Even though he didn’t want to be seen as scared of Jonas, it was hard to not to when the Gryphon had such an imposing figure as that. "Actually, that was why I asked him if he was related to them. The similarity is pretty uncanny."

"Oh, I know!" Angela rolled her eyes with a scoffing smile. "We hear that all the time. It's nice to hear someone notice something else for a change, you know what I mean?"

Even though he could feel his blush growing a shade deeper, Canvas nodded to the mare with a smile. "Y-yeah… I do…" His left hoof instinctively went to brush his mane back a little, even though he hasn’t needed to do that in months.

"Oh, my goodness!" Angela bent her head in, her eyes fixed on the ring on Canvas's hoof. "That's quite a ring you got there!"

Twilight and Spike both looked a bit uneasy when Angela said that. Before either of them could do or say anything to skew the subject somewhere else, Canvas fidgeted a bit as his expression turned more cautious. "Oh, ummm… Yeah, I'm.. recently engaged."

Angela's face beamed in pleasure. "Well, congratulations! I don't think I heard anything about that in Troy's letters."

Canvas's eyes widened a little, but not enough to cause any suspicion from either of the Gryphons. "Well, it… happened a few weeks ago… during the Gala, actually."

"Oh yes! The Gala!" Keeping an impressed smile on her beak, the Gryphon inspected the ring on his hoof for a moment with a keen eye. While Jonas looked over at him with narrowed eyes, Angela just looked happy for Canvas, not seeming to be curious or taken aback by the fact that the stallion was the one wearing an engagement ring. After seeing that it was white gold, Angela looked back up at Canvas with a caring expression. "Well, I'm sure that she's a wonderful lady."

Spike sucked some air through his teeth before going off into the kitchen. Twilight, who was standing at the base of the steps and observing them, cleared her throat to catch their attention. "So, Canvas," asked the Princess curiously, "Do you happen to know when Troy gets off work?"

"Oh! Umm, yeah!" The pony nodded strongly to the Alicorn. His head leaned down for a moment as he rubbed his chin with a hoof in contemplation. "Well, I know that he's usually on the F section today, so… he'd most likely finish around 2:30, so… he would be coming by Ponyville in about a half hour or so."

"Perfect!" Twilight trotted to the kitchen with a smile as she continued to speak. "Spike was about to make some hot chocolate. If you guys want, I can gladly help make some for you all as well."

"Oh, you don’t have to do that!" assured Angela when she looked over at Twilight.

"I insist," said the Princess when she turned back to her. "Besides, Spike makes great hot chocolate, right?"

The drake could be heard sighing from the inside. "Yeah, I guess I do… It wouldn’t be a problem."

"Well, ummm…" even though the Gryphon seemed a bit uneasy about having a Princess do anything for her, as opposed to it being the other way around, Angela made a shrug of her own. "Oh, what the heck? Chocolate sounds good anyway."

Canvas nodded in agreement, but paused when he noticed Jonas staring at him. Ever since hearing the stallion's last statement, the brown Gryphon had a peculiar stare on him before asking, "Why do you know so much about my son's work schedule?"

"Oh, don’t be so paranoid!" said Angela with a brush of her claw towards her husband. "He's Troy's friend! You don’t have to act like that!"

While Jonas groaned and turned his head away, Angela looked back at Canvas with a warmer smile on her beak. "So, Canvas… would you like to talk over hot chocolate? I'm always happy to chat with friends."

On one hoof, Canvas knew that staying would be dangerous, mostly since he certainly knew more than either of Troy's parents would want to know about their son. However, with the prospect of being closer to his future In-Laws lingering in his mind, the stallion kept his grateful smile before nodding to Angela.

"I would love to, Missus Clawston."

"Urgh…"

With the last of the storm clouds put into place around the outside of Ponyville's limits, Troy was panting heavily when he rested himself on a nearby cloud for a breather. Luckily, since he was working alongside Thunderlane and not Rainbow Dash, he didn’t hear any obnoxious comments about getting back to work. Instead, the dark grey Pegasus sat beside him in an equally tired manner.

"Oh, man," grumbled Thunderlane as he leaned back on the cloud while breathing deeply. "I'm gonna be so glad to get all this winter prep finished!"

"I know," sighed Troy in agreement. He loosened the red scarf that he had wrapped around his neck, letting him breathe a little easier. Even though it certainly made him warmer, as of Canvas's request, it still restricted his already strained windpipe a bit. "Hopefully getting this all done will get Rainbow Dash off my back. She's been pissed at me since my brothers messed with her like that."

Thunderlane had to cover his muzzle with a hoof to keep any laughter from coming out too loudly. "Oh yeah! I heard about that…" Even though he didn’t want to say anything upfront about it, the stallion still looked towards Troy with a grin on his face. "What the heck were they thinking?"

Troy shrugged before answering honestly. "Knowing them, they probably weren't thinking at all."

Thunderlane laughed openly at that response, not even trying to hide it this time. "Eh, I guess I can't blame you, man. I mean, I have a brother too."

"Yeah," said the Gryphon with a shrug, having met Thunderlane’s younger brother before. "But you were never the little brother."

"Eh… true." When Thunderlane sighed out heavily, his eyes noticed the sight of a light grey Pegasus flying towards them. Recognizing who it was, Thunderlane smiled before waving out to her. "Hey, Derpy!"

Troy's head perked up at the mention of her name, and he noticed her as well as she flew up to the cloud the two were on. "Hey, guys," said Derpy while panting. However, her head quickly turned to Troy with a peculiar look. "Hey, Troy, what are your parents names?"

Troy shot his head back a little in confusion. "Ummm… huh?"

"Are their names Angela and Jonas?" asked the mare more insistently.

Troy's eyes shot wide-open at that question, and he quickly nodded in surprise. "Y-yeah! How… how did you know that?"

"Because I just met them," responded Derpy, pointing a hoof back to where she came from. "I just saw then at the sweet shop, and they asked where you might be."

"WHAT?!" Troy shot off the cloud in a panic, and hovered in front of the mare with a worried look on his face. "Please, PLEASE tell me you didn't say where I lived!"

"No! No, I didn’t!" added Derpy insistently. "Actually, I think they were heading to the library or something--"

"--Thanks, BYE!" Troy instantly shot off like a rocket, heading straight into Ponyville in a panicked flight.

Thunderlane, who was watching all this from the side like a bystander, finally spoke up when he looked over at Derpy. "So… you met Troy's parents? What are they like?"

Thinking it over, Derpy gave off a small shrug and replied, "Honestly, I'm not sure. His Mom seemed alright."

Thunderlane raised a brow in suspicion. "Okay… how about his Dad?"

Derpy's face scrunched in a little. "I'd rather not say."

In less than a minute, Troy shot into Ponyville's limits, and landed at the roof of the Golden Oak Library. If his parents really were in Ponyville, the last thing he wanted was for any of the ponies to blurt out things he really didn’t want them to know yet. Luckily, getting in from the roof was fairly easy due to the unlocked hatch door; however, as soon as he made his way inside the tree, Troy's heart sank in dread when he heard his Mother's voice:

"Of course, neither of us even expected him to start using the potty yet…"

"NO!" Troy ran down from the upstairs of the library in a panic, not wanting his Mom to talk about that stupid story again. But when he reached the stairway, his body froze in petrified fear when he looked down. His parents, along with Twilight Sparkle and Spike, were seated around the middle of the library with hot chocolate, all of whom laughing…

And Canvas was sitting alongside them.

"We didn’t even realize that little Troy scampered off while we were in the hardware store, so neither of us were able to tell him that the toilets were for display purposes only! In fact, we were at the other side of the place when we heard him yell out, 'Mommy, I'm finished! Where's the toilet paper?'"

This caused a huge eruption of laughter from everyone downstairs, which just made Troy wince before crying out. "MOM! Why are you telling them that?!"

"Hm?" The instant Angela turned to see Troy at the top of the stairs, she gasped with a smile before flying up to him. "Oh, Troy!" Not catching how upset he looked, the Gryphoness hugged him tightly. "We were hoping to find you around here! I'm sooooo glad to see you again!"

Even though he was rightfully mad, Troy couldn't keep his angered demeanor from dissipating when he felt his Mom hug him after so long. So, after a brief sigh, he hugged his Mother back tightly, even smiling a little at doing this again. However, as soon as she let go of him, Troy's angry look reappeared when he asked, "Why did you have to tell them that story, Mom?!"

"Wha… Is that how you talk to me?!" Angela gave off a mad expression of her own as she stood in front of her son. "I was just passing the time before we could find you!"

Troy's eyes widened as he replied through gritted teeth. "Do you think that a story like that is appropriate to tell to a Princess?!"

Even though she was still giggling, Twilight spoke up towards him, "If it makes you feel better, I have a similar story involving Spike and the piano bench."

"You better not tell that!!" snapped Spike with an angry look.

Canvas, who was giggling as well, looked up at Troy with a smirk. "Oh, come on, Troy! We were just having a little chat, that's all!"

Seeing his fiancé's cheeky grin, Troy groaned with a dissatisfied look on his face. Even though he would've been happy to see Canvas and his parents talking cheerfully, the only thing that was going through Troy's mind was just how much was spoken before he arrived. "Yeah," grumbled the gryphon angrily, "A little chat…"

"Well, come on," stated Troy's mom insistently as she lead him down the stairs with a wing. "Sit down, sit down! It isn't every day that we get to talk with a Princess!"

Begrudgingly, Troy sighed before heading downstairs behind his Mother. Seeing how his fiancé was smiling at him, no longer in the pert tone he had earlier, Troy gave a slight smile back before sitting beside him. While Angela sat on the couch beside her husband happily, Jonas had a confounded stare on his son. "Troy, what are you wearing?"

"Huh?" Troy stared back at his Dad before looking down at himself. "I'm… I'm wearing my work uniform." He looked back up at Jonas before adding bluntly, "Oh, and nice to see you too, Dad."

"Troy!" snapped his Mother with narrowed eyes on him. "You don't need to be rude."

Taking a second, Troy begrudgingly sighed before nodding. “Okay, yeah…” He looked back at his Dad before putting out his claw, knowing how much his Dad wasn’t of a hugger. “Hey, Dad.”

Jonas sighed as well before returning the shake, a small smile growing on his beak. “It’s good to see you too, son.” But still, his confounded look reappeared when he pointed a talon at him and asked, "What's with the scarf?!"

"Oh…" Looking down at the red scarf wrapped around him, Troy blushed a tiny bit before looking away from his parents. "Well, I… thought it was getting cold, that's all…"

Troy's Mother noticed the scarf before growing a smile on her beak. "Well, I think it looks really nice."

"I agree," added Canvas with a smile of his own while sitting beside him. "It--" The stallion quickly shut his lips closed when he realized who he was sitting with. Not wanting to give any hint of how close he was with the Clawstons' son, he paused for a second to think of a statement that wouldn't be a full-blown compliment to the Gryphon's looks. "It… it's cold out today, after all."

Jonas scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "Oh, please! You ponies wouldn't last a minute in a blizzard back in the Gryphon Kingdom! I don’t think Troy needs to wear a scarf for this kind of weather!"

Angela turned to her husband. "Jonas, please!" After closing her eyes to take breath, the Gryphon looked back at her son with a more sympathetic expression. "He's just a little grumpy because of the train ride, that's all."

"Oh, you don't need to explain that!" Remembering that train that brought him here, Troy shuddered in distaste while in his seat. "Believe me, I hated that train, too."

"So Troy," asked Jonas in a more serious tone of voice. "We tried to look for your place before coming here, but we weren't able to find anything! Would you mind explaining that?"

Troy's eyes slowly widened in worry, realizing that he never did give his parents the address to his actual house. While Twilight and Spike sat out of the way, keeping silent for the sake of the Gryphon, Troy kept his eyes away from his Mom and Dad while struggling to explain. "Well, uhhhh… You see… there was kind of a… issue…"

Looking at her son with narrowed eyes, Angela was the first to speak. "Wait a minute…"

Troy grew instantly concerned when he heard her tone of voice, which usually meant something bad was going to be asked. While the Gryphon held his claws together, hoping that she wasn't able to read anything he was trying to hide from them, Troy winced when he heard his Mother's voice again.

"Troy, did… did the triplets do something to it?"

If a light-bulb was sitting above Troy's head, it would've came on in an instant. Realizing what he could say, Troy had his brows raised when he looked back at his parents. "Ummmm… yes… I… I kinda had an issue with the cloud because of them."

Despite hating that he was sort-of lying to his parents (even though he technically wasn't saying anything false), the Gryphon shrugged before adding, "You see, Blaze sorta… didn't realize the place didn't have a toilet, and…"

"Ugh!" Jonas and Angela both face-clawed with a heavy groan between them. Jonas looked back up first to ask, "He pulled that stunt again?!"

Spike skewed a brow confusedly. "Again?"

"You don’t want to know," assured Angela when she looked towards the Princess and the drake. "Trust us."

"Yeah, "continued Troy towards his Dad, "And… I sorta have to stay at Canvas's for a while, so…"

"Oh, you don't have to do that!" Angela turned to her son with a more insistent look on her face. "I'm sure we can get you into a hotel and get this settled out!"

"You don’t have to do that!" blurted Troy quickly. "Seriously, I'm fine!"

"It’s not a problem for me," added Canvas as he tried to settle this alongside his mate. "It’s only Troy and Lyle staying in my place. The triplets are in a cloud above my house, and the other two aren't taking up any room. I swear."

While Jonas stared at Canvas in a perplexed manner again, Angela sighed before making a response. "Well, that certainly doesn't mean that everyone has to be situated like that! Besides, the two of us still need to find a place to stay, and we'd rather not intrude on anything."

Canvas wanted to open his muzzle to retort, but honestly couldn't think of anything to say in response. Honestly, despite not wanting Troy to be in a hotel, he knew he couldn't say anything towards his parents without sounding like a weirdo. The stallion already had five Gryphons staying either in or above his house, which already caused a bit of trouble for him so far; if he tried to insist for them to stay, he could easily give himself away as being more than just a friend.

Fortunately, Troy noticed his fiancé's inability to come up with an excuse, and piped up towards his parents, "Honestly, it'd cost a bit much to put all of us in hotel rooms. I'm already comfortable at Canvas's, and the triplets seem fine in their cloud setup. If anything, the only ones who could actually use a hotel room are you two, and maybe Lyle."

Both of Troy's parents widened their eyes in surprise, not thinking that their son would have a solution like that. Even though they still looked skeptical, Angela nodded wile looking at Troy and a slightly astonished Canvas. "You know what? You might have a fair point there."

Jonas, on the other hoof, narrowed his eyes on Troy skeptically. "You're comfortable living on the ground with a pony?"

Canvas turned with Jonas with narrowed eyes, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

If Troy chose to open his beak at that moment, it might expose the heart he felt shoot up into his throat. Luckily, Angela hit Jonas’s chest half-heartedly with a claw to shut him up. "Will you stop being so defensive?! You heard what happened to his old place! Besides, do you remember how Troy was as a teenager? He could sleep on a rock and feel comfortable!"

Troy chuckled and made a shrug with his shoulders. "She's not wrong there, Dad."

Twilight, happy to not see any animosity between any of them yet, lit her horn to collect all their empty mugs. "Well, I should take these to the kitchen to get cleaned. I have a few tasks which I need to finish today anyway."

"Oh, of course!" Angela quickly rushed out of her chair, not wanting to intrude on the time of Royalty. "We were just wanting to find where out kids were, so you've been very helpful. Plus, we need to figure out where to eat tonight."

"Ooh!" Spike, who was halfway towards the kitchen behind Twilight, piped up enthusiastically as he looked back at them. "Isn't there that new place that has shrimp?"

"Shrimp?" Jonas perked up in an instant, looking like a cat who just caught the scent of tuna.

"Don’t get worked up," said Troy in a flat tone. "I've been there before, and their shrimp is pitiful. It was also extremely overpriced when I went there, even with the discount we--I had." Troy quickly shook his head at making that correction, not wanting to hint that he went there with someone else (more specifically, his fiancé on their double date with Lyra and Bon-Bon).

"Oh. Well…" Jonas slumped back down in disappointment. He looked down to the floor before tilting his head slightly. "There goes my hopes of having some actual protein…"

Troy sighed with a disappointed look of his own, knowing just how hard it can be to adjust to a vegetarian diet. Fortunately, Twilight spoke up from the kitchen doorway. "If you guys want, I can reserve a table at Sugar Cube Corner for you guys."

"Oh, Twilight, you don't have to do that," began Troy in a pleading tone. "Seriously, it's not--"

"It's perfectly fine, Troy," stated the Alicorn in a warm tone of her own. "I know that you want to make a good impression to your family. And as a Princess, it's my duty to ensure that nobody feels left out or unwelcome in Equestria."

"Oh, it's not that. It's just…" Looking back to his parents for a moment, Troy thought it over before turning back to Twilight. "I'm not sure how they would react to… Pinkie?"

"To what now?" asked Jonas confusedly.

"Oh, don't worry," assured the Princess. "Pinkie is already planning to attend a birthday party at the other side of town. It'll just be the Cakes for most of the night."

"Oh. Ummm…" Happy with that piece of info, Troy shrugged before turning back to his parents. "So… what do you guys think? It is a really good bakery."

After making a glance back to her husband, having an unspoken agreement with him, Angela looked over at Twilight with a thankful smile. "That sounds really good, your Highness."

"Great!" exclaimed the mare as she went back into the kitchen. "I'll be sure to talk with the Cakes to reserve a private room, and I'll have Spike let you know the time. Is that alright?"

"No complaints from us," stated Jonas with an impressed smile on his beak.

Giving off a happy sigh, Angela turned back to Troy. "Well, how about we meet up with the others? We still need to get situated and find a place to stay, after all."

"U-uhhh…" Troy stammered a little, unsure of what to say, but cracked a smile on his beak before speaking in a forced happy tone, "Th-that sounds good!" Before he could follow his parents out of the library, the Gryphon looked back at Canvas with a loving stare in his eyes. "I'll… I'll see you later, okay?"

Canvas smiled and gave a caring nod, knowing Troy didn't need to say anything else. "Of course. Have a great time."

Troy nodded back at him, smiling more naturally before turning back around. While the Gryphon followed his parents out from the tree. Angela paused before running back to the chairs. "Ooh! I almost forgot the paperwork!" The Gryphon picked up a booklet of experiment notes the Princess had copied for her, staring at them like they were made of solid gold. She looked back to the kitchen before speaking loudly, "Thank you so much, Princess Twilight!"

Twilight's head popped out from the doorway with a sincere smile of her own on her muzzle. "It’s no problem at all. Thank you for that package! Those quills look fantastic!"

"They're our best brands. And trust me, after all the purchases you've made, it's the least we could do! You've personally paid for Lyle's beak braces!"

"Angela, come on!" shouted Jonas from the doorway of the library. "We didn’t want to interfere with Royalty, remember?"

"Oh! Right…" Angela gave off a quick bow to Twilight, forgetting that the Alicorn was uncomfortable with those before heading off. "Have a great day, Princess!"

"You too!" When Angela headed out of the library, Twilight sighed before shooting back into the kitchen to finish helping Spike clean up.

Canvas, who was now alone in the middle of the library, slumped down with a glum expression. Even though he knew he had no reason to be upset, the stallion couldn't help feeling bad for Troy. Right now, that Gryphon had to hide himself from his family all over again; and remembering how he was the last two times he had to deal with that, Canvas knew that his fiancé was going to have a rough time trying to reconnect with them.

Spike, who finished cleaning first, walked out of the kitchen to see Canvas looking distraught. "Uhhh… Are you okay?"

"Hm? Oh!" Noticing the baby dragon staring at him, Canvas picked himself back up from his dreary state to nod confidently. "Y-yeah, I am. I'm just…" Canvas looked back at the main door of the library, which was now closed shut. "I'm just hoping Troy will be okay."

"Ugh!" Spike rolled his reptilian eyes before speaking with a stern expression towards the stallion. "Dude, come on! If you're going to be in a committed relationship with someone, you have to trust them! It's the number one key to a successful marriage! If you really love him, then you should trust him to be alright when he's around others."

Canvas looked at Spike wide-eyed, blinking repeatedly in bewilderment at what the drake just said. "I… How… How do you know that?!"

"What?" asked Spike with a shrug. "I read a lot of Rarity's magazines. They're full of advice like that."

Even though he was still rightfully perplexed that he was just given valid relationship advice from a baby dragon, Canvas still nodded before looking away. "I… I might actually take that advice… Thanks."

"No prob," answered the dragon happily before going to pick up his duster.

However, before Canvas could exit the library , the door opened again to reveal Angela. "Oh, Canvas?" asked the Gryphon as she stuck her head in.

"Y-yes?" asked the stallion in a surprised tone.

"I was wondering, do you have any plans tonight? Because I'd love to have you join us for dinner."

Canvas's eyes shot wide open, unsure what he could say. However, his mouth spoke out the words before his mind could process what was going on. "S… sure thing, Missus Clawston. I'd love to."

Spike looked over at him with a surprised expression of his own. Angela smiled and gave a nod to the pony. "Great! I'll see you there!"

Before she could leave again, she paused and looked back for a quick addition. "Oh, and bring your fiancee, too! I'd love to meet her!"

Canvas kept his smile, but his pupils shrunk in dread. Unfortunately, his muzzle still opened with his mind was at a complete blank. "Y… yeah… Will do."

While Spike's mouth went agape, Angela nodded with a quick "Thanks" before finally leaving for good this time. By the time the door closed, Canvas's eyes were wide open, a mortified look in them which was barely offset by the smile frozen on his muzzle. "Oh… no…"

"Why did you say that?!" asked the dragon in bewilderment.

"I… have no idea…"

"Hm?" Twilight walked back into the kitchen at that point, not having heard most of the discussion that happened while she was cleaning all the mugs. "Umm, guys? What happened?"

While Canvas stood in a petrified state, only able to blink as he processed what he just did, Spike turned to answer Twilight's question:

"Well, I think Canvas just dug himself into a big hole."

Chapter Thirty-One: Troy the T.G.

"Man… you are screwed!"

Canvas groaned and turned his face away at Blaze's comment. Even though he couldn't necessarily say that the Gryphon was wrong, hearing that kind of reply wasn't what he wanted right now.

Blade, who was also sitting at the dining room table of the barn, had a similar perplexed stare on the stallion that his brother had. "So, what are ya planning to do, mate? I mean, you can’t necessarily go without a mare now, can you?"

Canvas sighed and shook his head timidly, knowing that he wasn't going to get out of this debacle too easily. "No, probably not," admitted the stallion with grief in his tone, "and Angela seemed so happy about meeting my fiancé, too! It's not like I can correct her about it now!"

Before either of the Gryphons could speak up, Blane's head popped up from over the studio wall. "Well, technically speaking, she already met your fiancé. She just doesn't know it yet."

Blaze groaned and looked up at Blane. "That's kinda the problem, Numb-Nuts!"

"Well, maybe it could be a good ice breaker! Like, Canvas could play it up like a guessing game or something. 'Hey Missus Clawston, guess who it is! I'm sure you'll be surprised!'"

Even though Blane tried to keep a playful tone while leaning on top of the wall, he was only met with bewildered stares. Even Troy, who was getting ready in the bathroom, poked his head out to look at Blane like he grew a third eyeball on his forehead. "Blane, are you high!?"

Blane's head jolted back in surprise, and he looked at all of them with an offended look. "What?! It was just a joke, damn!" He then disappeared back into the studio before muttering to himself. "Man, I try to make one joke and everyone gets all pissy…"

"OI!" As if a light bulb turned on above his head, Blade's expression became more positive as he turned back to Canvas. "How about Fluttershy? Maybe she could help and pretend to be your fiancé!"

"Ugh, no!" Canvas quickly dismissed that idea with a strong shake of his head. "I already caused enough trouble with all this! The last thing I want to do is make an even bigger lie and dig myself into a deeper hole!"

"Well… it's already pretty deep, dude."

Canvas groaned and rubbed his temple with a hoof. "I know, I know…" While Troy went back into the bathroom to finish getting ready, Canvas took a breath and tried to continue his statement towards Blade, "but I'm not going to bring a fake fiancé to dinner! That sounds like something out of a bad comedy movie!"

Blaze piped up towards his brother with a raised talon, "I think I saw that movie! It didn't turn out well."

While Blade shrugged his shoulders, deciding to let his idea pass, Canvas sighed when he looked back at the bathroom. "I just hope Troy isn’t mad at me or anything. He seemed kinda upset when he came back from Cloudsdale."

"Oh, come on," replied Blaze with a roll of his eyes, "I doubt he's upset about you! Have you ever seen how Dad acts when he has to pay for something? He'll try to pull any deal or discount out of his ass to save an Ave! I bet getting those hotel rooms was a friggin' nightmare!"

"It was," muttered Troy from the bathroom. "He threatened to fight the manager."

Canvas winced in worry, and pursed his lips shut for a moment before exhaling briefly. "I'm gonna go talk to him."

While the stallion walked over to the bathroom, cautiously opening the door to go inside, Blade piped up from the table, "That room ain't soundproof! We'll hear you if you start making out or something!"

Canvas groaned before looking back at Blade from the doorway. He gave the Gryphon a sarcastic smile and laugh before closing the door behind him. When he looked back up at Troy, who had a worried look on his face while looking in the mirror, Canvas grew more guilty as he spoke, "Troy, I… I'm really sorry for telling her that. I--"

"No, it's not your fault, " assured Troy quickly before Canvas could finish his apology. He looked back at the stallion before clarifying in an honest tone, "I'm not mad, I'm just…" Troy closed his eyes and sighed, taking a second before turning his head back to the mirror. "I'm just… worried about tonight, that's all."

Canvas nodded with an equally nervous look of his own. He put a hoof on the Gryphon's shoulder before assuring him, "You don't have to say anything about it tonight, okay?"

"I want to tell them."

Canvas's eyes widened in an instant, not expecting Troy to say that so surely. "R-really?"

"Well… yeah…" Blinking a couple times as he stared at himself, Troy gave a firm nod to confirm his statement. "I… I really do want to tell them about me. I mean… they're already here, right? It… it might be better to get this over with now."

Canvas sighed once more with a saddened expression. "Honey, you really shouldn't think like that. It's not like ripping off a band-aid."

"You don’t know my parents!" Troy grimaced as he put a claw to his face in guilt, hating that he raised his voice so quickly. "Sorry, I just… I know that they're going to freak out about this. Like, you saw how irked my Dad was about me staying here with you! And… and when we were going through Cloudsdale…"

Canvas kept his hoof on Troy, and his expression grew more concerned. "What?"

"Well…" Looking more upset, the Gryphon looked down at the sink he was leaning against as he continued with a small cringe in his expression. "Apparently, my Mom met up with Lyra and Bon-Bon before going to the library, and… she was really weirded out about the two of them being married…"

Canvas's eyes widened in an instant. "Seriously?"

"Yeah… I mean, I told you that Gryphons usually aren’t open about that stuff, right? So, she was surprised when I told her that it was a normal thing around here. I managed to settle her down about it and say that they're really great friends, but…" Troy sighed before making a small shrug. "Yeah, I think it's gonna take a while for her to really get used to that kind of concept."

Seeing how morose Troy was looking, Canvas didn’t hesitate to lean in towards him. While he nuzzled the Gryphon tenderly, hoping to alleviate his tensions, Canvas took a breath before speaking in a more calming tone. "It's going to be okay, Troy… Just try to think positive, alright?"

Troy meagerly nodded to Canvas's words, and leaned down to nuzzle the pony back. After holding him closely for another moment, Troy pulled himself back before trying to maintain a more natural smile. "You know… Mom mentioned that she really likes you."

Canvas raised his brows in pleasant surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah," answered the Gryphon with a surprised smile of his own. "Like, she said she was proud of me for saving your life like that, although she was also kinda upset that I never mentioned getting hit by lightning."

Canvas's attempt at a smile disappeared as soon at Troy mentioned that last part. His head slumped down in slight guilt. "Ooh… Sorry about that."

"No, it’s alright," continued Troy in a more positive tone than before. "Mom told me that you were a great friend to talk to. You said a lot of nice things about me, and she really appreciated how cheerful you were towards her and Dad."

With his smile coming back, Canvas began to blush faintly while keeping his head away. "Well… I kinda wanted to make a good first impression, you know?''

"And you did." Happy to see his fiancé cheering up, Troy bent down to kiss the stallion on the lips. "And just so you know," added the Gryphon when he pulled his beak back with a smile, "after telling me all that, Mom also mentioned that Lyra and Bon-Bon were really nice as well. So if anything, you really helped her make a good impression on ponies."

Looking back up at the Gryphon, Canvas's grin was much prouder after that statement. "Awwww, really?"

Troy only made a sure nod in response, prompting Canvas to wrap his hooves around him for a tight hug. After the two stayed in embrace for a brief moment, letting the peaceful silence envelop them, Canvas pulled himself back to look at Troy with a more cautious look on his face. "So… are you sure you want to tell them tonight? Because I'll completely understand if you want to wait."

Troy breathed out slowly as his eyes looked elsewhere, obviously looking like he was trying to think it over. Nevertheless, after a small bout of silence, Troy smiled again before nodding to his mate more confidently. "Definitely."

With that, Canvas pushed his muzzle against the Gryphon's beak for a deep kiss, holding him tightly within the somewhat-cramped bathroom. After pulling his lips free, the stallion moved his muzzle up to Troy's ear, and gave the outer tuft a light nibble before his fiancé could protest.

"Hey! I--" Troy let off a small giggle, and flinched as soon as he felt his lover's teeth press firmly against that familiar part of his ear. Almost instinctively, the Gryphon's feathers ruffled out from the sensation of Canvas's breath and he pulled back with a frustrated blush. "Canvas, come on! Do you always have to do that?!"

"Mmmhmmm…" Looking satisfied with his mate's ruffled out look, Canvas had a cheeky grin on his face while he stared up at him. "I think it makes you look cute."

"Ugh…" Troy took one glance back at the mirror before groaning under his breath. "Jeeze, I always look like a barn-owl or something…" He grabbed the brush from the counter and shook his head. "And I just got my feathers brushed, too."

"Oh, come on…" Canvas took the moment to nuzzle against Troy's ruffled-out feathers, pressing his face against them with a blushed smile. "You look so adorable with your feathers out like this! It makes you look so cute, and big, and fluffy…"

Troy's blush shone out even deeper against his silver feathers. "Dude, come on…"

"Mmmmm…" Canvas closed his eyes as he hugged the Gryphon from the side, nestling in against his feathers more tightly. "You're so soft… It's like hugging a big stuffed animal…"

While Troy groaned with an embarrassed smile, unsure whether to be upset or turned on by his fiancé's words, he could only wince as Canvas kissed him on the cheek and added in a happy tone, "You're my big Teddy-Gryphon!"

In an instant, a monstrous amount of howling laughter erupted outside the bathroom, which made both Troy and Canvas's eyes widen in sudden realization. Even though he recalled what Blade said, Canvas seriously didn’t think that Troy's brothers would actually overhear what he just said. However, with the near deafening amount of cackling being heard from the outside, Canvas cringed when he looked back up at Troy, who was giving him a strong, angry glare.

"Ummm… sorry?"

When Troy poked his head out of the bathroom, he saw Blaze and Blade, as well as Blane at the doorway of the studio, all looking at him while struggling to not pass out on the floor laughing. Blaze, who was leaning into his chair to keep from falling off, had his talon pointed at Troy before shouting, "How's it hanging, Teddy-Gryphon?!"

That made all the triplets laugh even harder, which caused Troy to turn around to give an even angrier glare back at Canvas. Feeling even worse about what he accidentally did, the stallion winced before stepping back towards the laundry hamper. "Troy, I'm really… really--"

Before anything else could be said, Pinkie Pie popped out of the hamper excitedly. "GOT IT!"

Startling both Troy and Canvas, Pinkie hopped past both of them to leave the bathroom with a spring in her step. As soon as the pink mare appeared in the main living space to leave the barn, the triplets all quickly stopped laughing. While the room started to turn to a very confused bout of pregnant silence, Pinkie pulled a notebook and pencil out of her hair before writing down into it. "Teddy… Gryphon…"

After getting what she wanted, Pinkie looked back at Troy and Canvas with a smile and a wave of her hoof. "Thanks, guys!" She then bounced her way to the front door, leaving as she shouted out, "And don’t worry about coming out to your parents, Troy! I'm sure things will be just fine! La, la-la, la-la, la-la…"

While the pink mare hopped out of the house cheerfully, leaving everyone inside of it rightfully confused, a pregnant silence passed. Blaze was the first to speak up:

"Ummm… am I the only one who thinks that Pinkie chick is kinda hot?"

Lyle sighed as he zipped up his last luggage bag, feeling glad that he packed so lightly to begin with. Since he got himself his own room at the Cloudsdale Inn, the Gryphon was fairly glad to get himself out of this barn and have the chance to sleep in an actual bed. But still, it didn’t keep him from feeling slightly disappointed, mostly since he knew he was going to miss a few things about staying here. Despite a few uncomfortable moments, Lyle had to admit that Canvas was a really cool guy, and a damn good cook for a vegetarian.

Almost on cue, the aqua stallion trotted into the studio as he got his dress shirt buttoned on. "You ready to go, Lyle?"

Lyle shrugged his shoulders as he got his bags ready, testing their weight as they plopped on the now empty couch. "Yeah, I think so." Looking around the studio space, Lyle huffed a bit in surprise with a smirk. "Man, it's gonna be weird sleeping in an actual bed for a change."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," replied Canvas with a chuckle. Looking over at the couch, Canvas added with a smirk, "Although, that couch was pretty comfy for me when I was working on that painting for Celestia."

Lyle scoffed as he stretched his back out. "Well, you don't have wings to keep you from sleeping on your back."

Thinking it over, Canvas shrugged with an contemplative pout. "You have a point there." Of course, as the stallion thought it over before adding with a sly grin, "You know, I think Troy made that same statement when he laid in it."

Lyle's head instantly turned to Canvas with a worried glare. "Dude… You better not tell me you guys did it on that!"

Taking a few seconds to appreciate Lyle's reaction, Canvas finally broke his stare to make a satisfied giggle and shake his head. "No, no… We never did. It was too small for both of us."

"Okay, goo--" Lyle's relieved sigh froze halfway through when he looked at Canvas again. Letting that statement sink in, the Gryphon shuddered before grabbing his bags. "UGH! I don't want to know how you know that!"

"Man, you're easy to mess with!" responded Canvas with a more hearty chuckle. While the Gryphon groaned and put his bags over by the door, Canvas sighed before clarifying. "But seriously though, we never did it on the couch, so don't freak out."

Although, thought the artist to himself naughtily, there was that one time, but… Nah, that shouldn't count. Troy was the only one on the couch when that happened.

"Well, good," muttered the Gryphon with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "I'm still trying to get that 'Touch it' comment out of my head."

Canvas let off a guilty giggle at hearing that. "Okay, yeah, I'm really sorry about that." With his smirk growing a little bigger, he looked over at Lyle's luggage bags as he spoke up. "Speaking of which… I think you should check the pockets before you go. There might be something you may have missed."

Lyle skewed a brow in slight suspicion. "Huh?"

"Just go check," replied the stallion as he motioned to Lyle's bags. "There might be something a little... extra."

Seeing the cheeky grin that Canvas had, Lyle began to look perplexed at what the stallion was trying to say. The Gryphon went back to his bags, and rifled through them while Canvas stood with a bigger smirk. Of course, his smile became full as soon as he heard Lyle gasp in shock.

"WHAT THE!"

With his eyes as wide open as dinner plates, Lyle pulled out the large bag that was inside one of the side pockets of his duffle bag. Even though the bag was tied shut, the loud jingle that was heard the instant Lyle pulled it out was a good indicator of what was inside. As soon as the Gryphon opened the sack, his beak dropped when he saw the large amount of bits inside.

"I… I can't… holy…"

Breathing out heavily, Lyle looked back at Canvas with an unsure expression on his face, looking like he was debating whether to be stunned from joy or from shame. "Dude, I… I can’t take this."

Canvas rolled his eyes while replying with a smile, "It's seriously alright, Lyle. Fancy Pants included a little bonus in my check as an 'Engagement Gift' of sorts, and since you personally saved my flank with that drawing you made, I figured you'd be more deserving of it."

Lyle only blinked in response, and looked down at the bag that was clutched in his claw. Knowing that the amount of bits had to be in the range of three digits, Lyle looked more uneasy as he shook his head. "This… this is way too much."

"No it isn't," said the stallion in a firmer tone. "You seriously have an awesome talent, Lyle. The last thing I want is to see you let that slip away. So, I figured that having the money for some decent supplies would be a good incentive to continue."

Lyle's eyes were frozen open as he looked between Canvas and the bag. His beak opened and closed, and he was unable to speak for a moment. After a faint exhale, the Gryphon looked back at Canvas with a bewildered look of awe. "You're… you're serious…"

Seeing the look of uncertainty in Lyle's eyes, Canvas couldn't keep himself from biting his lip while nodding. The stallion walked up to him while speaking in a sincere tone. "Of course I am. Lyle, I can't think of anyone who has as much artistic potential as you do. I know that it's your life, and whatever you do is your choice, I swear. I just… I just want to make sure you don't let this chance slip away. Especially after proving how much you deserve it."

Lyle just stayed silent as he looked down at the bag, only able to blink in response. When he finally looked back at Canvas, a small smile appearing at the corners of his beak, the corners of the Gryphon's eyes were undoubtedly wet, but nothing was mentioned about that. Instead, the stallion just kept a warm smile on his muzzle before giving Lyle a tight hug.

And after a brief moment of stillness, Lyle's claws shot around his future Brother-In-Law to hug him back.

Troy let off a short, panicked sigh as he reached closer towards Sugar Cube Corner. Since the skies were starting to get dark, not many ponies were out on the street while Troy and the triplets walked side-by side; although, given how the four Gryphons (as well as Canvas walking beside Troy) were taking up most of the street's width, it was probably good that they weren't blocking anypony's way.

"Troy?" asked the stallion worriedly as he looked up at him. "Are you gonna be alright?"

Even though Troy breathed out rather shakily, the silver Gryphon still nodded when he looked down at his fiancé. "Y-yeah… Sure I am…"

Canvas could tell that his mate's answer was less than accurate, but he still nodded in response to it, albeit with a slightly skewed muzzle. "Just remember," began the stallion in an assuring tone, "stay positive, and everything will be just fine."

Blaze's head leaned in before adding, "Yeah, dude! You gotta relax! You're kinda looking like that Fluttershy chick when she first saw Blade!"

Blade put up a talon to make a retort, but paused for a couple seconds before deciding against it. Instead, he put his claw back down with a shrug before saying, "You know what? You kinda do, T.G."

"Urgh, I know!" griped Troy as his head slumped down lower while walking, "I'm just wondering ho--Wait!" His head snapped back at Blade with a suspicious glare. "What's T.G?"

Blade, as well as Blaze and Blane, grew cheeky smiles before they narrowed their eyes on him in unison. Taking a moment, Troy tried to figure out what those initials stood for before he heard the three start to snicker. In an instant, his eyes widened before he grew a murderous glare on them.

"I bucking swear… if you make ONE mention of that name during dinner…"

"What name?" asked Blane with a perk of his eyebrows, obviously wanting to get Troy to say it.

"You know what I'm talking about," responded Troy in a brutal tone of voice.

"Troy, come on," hushed Canvas as he tried to pull his head away from the direction of the triplets. "Don’t let them get to you. They'll stop if you don't react to it."

"No they won't."
"No we won't."

Hearing how quickly Troy's statement and the unified one from the triplets came out at the same time, Canvas shuddered a little bit from how instantaneous and creepy it was. Although, it really did solidify how similar the brothers really were. "Ummm… let's change the subject. Do any of you know where Lyle went? He said that he was going to fly here for something, but--"

A ding from a nearby door caught Canvas's attention, and his eyes widened when he saw Lyle emerge from a nearby building, the sign overhead reading,Davenport's Sofas & Quills. Seeing the addition of a large, black satchel hanging at the Gryphon's side, Canvas smiled as he walked up to Lyle. "There you are!"

"Oh, hey guys!" Lyle had a smile of his own as he walked up to the group, using a claw to readjust the strap wrapped around his shoulder. "I was just getting some stuff before dinner. That's all."

With a smirk growing on his face, Canvas chuckled when he stared at the bag, recognizing the type fairly easily. He pointed at Lyle's purchase with a hoof. "Well, I think that's a good choice. Davenport usually has some pretty good art supplies."

"Oi!" Noticing the bag, Blade grew an amused smile while pointing at it as well. "The bloke who makes all my album covers has a bag like that! He’s had that thing for years, so Canvas is probably right."

"Huh…" Looking down at it, Lyle made a shrug of his shoulders. "Honestly, it was just the biggest one for the pencil packs and notepads I got."

Blaze piped up with widened eyes, "Dude! You gonna draw porn with that?!"

All of them turned to Blaze with varied looks of disbelief and deadpanned annoyance. Not catching the tone of "What the buck?!" emanating around them for the first couple seconds, it took a little bit before Blaze's mind was able to process how that comment may have sounded. "No, NO!" quickly added the Gryphon with a shake of his head before adding in defense, "I just mean, like… You all saw that drawing he made of that old guy's squeeze, right? Imagine how much money he can make if he draws porn that good!"

Blane's brows rose in contemplation. "Wow, yeah. Lyle could make a killing!"

"Ugh! I'm not doing THAT anymore! And that was only one time!" Getting a bit peeved about his brothers' behavior, despite the fact that none of them seem to actually be making fun of him anymore, Lyle just walked ahead of the group towards Sugar Cube Corner in the distance. "And I'd rather not think about that kind of crap right before having dinner with Mom and Dad!"

"Lyle's right," groaned Troy in agreement as he followed his younger brother. "Let's just try to practice keeping our beaks shut before dinner, okay?"

"Why?" asked Blade with a cheeky grin. "Is Teddy-Gryphon afraid his Mum's gonna find out about what's in your nightstand?"

Troy and Canvas both turned back to Blade with shocked expressions. Seeing the skinny Gryphon's smirk behind that stupid feather-braid hanging in front, the couple narrowed their eyes on him before speaking at the same time, "Why were you in there?"

Blade's eyes narrowed on them while he grinned. "I didn't. I just wanted to see if you two would admit to something. And you did!"

Canvas and Troy groaned in unison before picking up the pace, choosing to avoid the triplets' cackling as they followed Lyle. Reaching the steps of the bakery, Troy paused as he looked down at his fiancé. "Wait a minute. What are you planning to tell Mom when she doesn't see your 'fiancé'?"

Canvas sighed and rubbed the back of his mane with a hoof. "I already know what I'm going to do, so just focus on yourself, alright? I don’t want you to be too upset before dinner."

Before Troy could nod in understanding, he overheard Blane speak up from behind. "Yeah, just soften up a bit. Maybe like a… stuffed animal?"

While the triplets started laughing, Troy growled in irritation before going towards the door of Sugar Cube Corner, muttering under his breath towards Canvas, "Yeah, it's a little late to not be too upset..."

Of course, despite the involuntary influx of annoyance that was caused by his brothers, Troy took a calming breath before turning the knob. Putting his trust into his Fiancé, Troy hoped that Canvas knew what he was doing, and swallowed his doubts before pushing open the door.

Author's Note

Please note, this chapter is more of an interlude than anything else. I tried to explain this as best as I could in my blog entry here.

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Dinner (Part 1)

"There you guys are!" Mister Cake had a pleased smile on his muzzle as he saw Troy and Canvas walk into the shop. "We were starting to wonder when you guys would arrive!"

"Hey, Mister Cake," responded Troy with a smile, although his voice came out slightly less enthusiastic than expected. The Gryphon looked around the bakery with a hint of worry in his eyes while the others made their way inside. "So, um… are my parents here?"

"Don’t worry," assured the yellow stallion with a warm smile, "your Mother is upstairs with Cupcake and the kids, and your father is waiting in the back room."

Troy made an anxious nod, but his nervous expression began to look more apparent as he walked up closer to the counter. He turned to Mister Cake before asking in an apprehensive tone, "Listen, I really need to--"

"Before you say a thing," interrupted Carrot Cake. His tone was more insistent than before, but he still kept a smile on his face. "Twilight explained everything to us. We didn't tell them anything, and we aren't planning to. They don't know, so there's no need to worry."

In an instant, Troy felt like a boulder was lifted off of his back. "Alright, good," said Troy with a thankful smile on his beak, "I was worried that somepony would say something about it."

"It's perfectly fine." Mister Cake leaned over the counter to put a hoof on Troy's shoulder, and spoke in a comforting tone, "We have a good meal planned for all of you, and you have your brothers for support. Just have a good time with your family and everything will be alright, okay?"

Seeing the baker’s reassuring expression, Troy's smile became more relaxed as he nodded back to the taller stallion. "I… okay… Thanks, Mister Cake."

"No prob," stated Carrot happily as he let go of the Gryphon. "If you want, you could go upstairs to get the ladies for me. Dinner is almost ready."

"Will do!" With his mind now in focus about what might be for dinner (and judging from what he was smelling from the kitchen, he could tell they had something good planned), Troy began to trek up the stairs with Canvas in tow.

Mister Cake looked back at the others and added with a grin, "The soup will be ready in a couple minutes. I already have your table and drinks set up in the back room over there."

Seeing where the pony was pointing, the four Gryphons replied with a unified "Thanks!" before heading to the back of the bakery. Before they could get out of sight, Mister Cake spoke up to the group. "Umm… Which one of you is Blane?"

The largest one stopped for a moment, and looked back at the yellow pony with a skewed brow. "Uhhh… yeah?" asked Blane in a slightly confused tone.

"Good. I got the right one." Carrot's head went underneath the counter for a couple seconds, and came back up with a yellow sheet in his mouth. "Here's the bill for the roof you damaged earlier this week."

"What?!" While Blane went back to the counter to snatch the bill and look at it studiously, his brothers just cackled as they went to the back room. Of course, as his memory began to come back, Blane groaned as his stature slumped a bit, realizing what the baker was referring to. "Oh yeah…"

After a brief sigh, the Gryphon shrugged before reaching into his pouch. "Alright, fine. But you guys really need to make your decorations look less realistic!"

"Oh, you babies are just so cute!"

While Missus Cake watched with a caring smile on her muzzle, Angela was seated on the floor of the nursery while holding the yellow foal in her claws. Despite the fact that this was one of the first Gryphons that either of the babies ever saw (aside from Troy in a few brief occasions), neither Pound Cake or Pumpkin Cake seemed to be scared of the joyful Gryphoness. In fact, Pumpkin was giggling with a toothless smile while she was being held by Angela.

Meanwhile, the door opened to reveal Troy poking his head in. "Ummm… Mom?"

Angela's head perked up to him with a smile. "There you are, Troius!" Still holding the unicorn foal, the Gryphon picked herself up while keeping Pumpkin in one claw. "I was just wanting to see these little foals before dinner started."

"Ooh! That's right!" Remembering that her husband was probably needing her downstairs, Cup Cake got herself up as well, holding the gold-grey Pegasus foal in one hoof while going to grab her saddlebag with another. "I didn't realize I was up here for so long! I better go down to help Carrot."

"Of course, of course! Let me help." Before Cupcake could protest, Angela used her free claw to get the blue mare's saddlebag on with ease, and placed Pumpkin inside one of the side harnesses securely. "There you go, little baby…"

The moment that the Gryphoness put a talon out to give the foal a little "Coochie-Coo", the baby unicorn immediately grabbed it to stick inside her mouth. Luckily, the baby was only able to suck on it for a second before Angela pulled it back out. "Ah, ah, ah. That's too sharp for you!"

"Sorry about that," said Cupcake in an apologetic tone as she put Pound Cake inside the harness on the other side. "Pumpkin's a bit of a gummer. I think she gets that from Pinkie's pet alligator."

"Oh, it's alright. I'm just glad that I got my talons trimmed recently! It would've been bad if--" Before she could finish, Angela froze before looking at Missus Cake with a wide-eyed expression. "A… a pet what?"

"Don't ask," replied the mare with a more deadpanned look. "We have no idea where she got it from. We're just glad that it's toothless and doesn't cause any real trouble."

Angela just shook her head and giggled. "Well, don't tell the triplets about that! Seriously, those three begged me for years for a pet alligator! If they knew getting one was legal around here, they'd never let me live it down!"

"I dunno…" Missus Cake made a small shrug as she began to walk out of the nursery with her foals at her sides. "That guy seems to have a thing for biting Gryphon tails, if Troy is a good enough indicator."

"Yeah," added Troy with a reluctant nod. "She’s not wrong there."

"Well, dinner will probably be ready soon!" As Missus cake began to trot down the hallway to join her husband in the kitchen, she looked back at Angela with a thankful smile. "And thanks for all the preening tips, Missus Clawston! I'm gonna make sure to remember those for little Pound here."

"Hey, it's no problem," responded Angela with a smile of her own. "Just one Mother helping another."

Cupcake nodded before heading off, letting her kids bob in their harnesses with each step down the stairs. Angela, after noticing Canvas in the hallway behind her son, turned back at the nursery to look at the space-themed mural that was still on the walls. "Canvas, I have to ask, did you really do this? It looks incredible!"

"Uhh, yeah," replied the stallion with a slight blush on his aqua cheeks. "That was actually the second big piece I made when I first moved to Ponyville."

"Well it's absolutely amazing!" After staring for another couple seconds, the Gryphoness looked back at Troy and added, "And I have to say, Troy, you certainly made a lot of friends around this town! Missus Cake told me nothing but nice things about you."

Troy chuckled nervously as he rubbed the feathers on the back of his neck. Even though he was grateful for the Cakes helping him out like this, he almost felt like the two were buttering him up in front of his folks so his bombshell would be less catastrophic. "Uhhh, yeah. I… I guess I just relate with ponies easily."

"Well you better watch yourself, big guy!" Angela gave off a small snicker before narrowing her eyes on him with a smirk. "I have a feeling that a couple ponies around here have a thing for you."

While Canvas took a cautious step back, his lips pursing shut, Troy gave off a nervous laugh while looking away from his Mother. "W-what? I… I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, come on. I talked with that Derpy girl who said you were a 'Great Kisser'! You can't just do things like that and NOT expect a pony or two to fall for you."

While the silver Gryphon internally cringed a bit, avoiding his Mom's cheeky smirk, Canvas's cheeks began to blush even more as he bit his lip. Despite not wanting to fight Troy's battles for him, Canvas almost wanted to speak up in the Gryphon’s defense. However, Troy was the first to make a reply as he looked back at Angela. "Honestly, I'm… not really seeing any mares, Mom. And Derpy was just for a play."

"Well I know that!" Angela gave her son a playful slap on the shoulder. Keeping a smile on her face, the Gryphoness rolled her eyes before looking at him with a calming tone. "I'm just saying that you should be careful, okay? It'd be hard to find someone special if you keep having to fend off ponies with a stick!"

Angela laughed to herself after that comment, but didn't seem to notice how uncomfortable Troy was looking at that moment. "Ummm… Yeah," replied Troy faintly, "That would be hard."

"Oh!" Looking like she just remembered something, Troy's mother turned back to Canvas before asking, "Speaking of mares, where's your little someone?"

Canvas felt his heart go back up to his throat, but he was fortunate not to let it show on his smile. Instead, he took a second before turning his gaze away from her while explaining. "Well… Since this dinner was so short notice, there… may have been some complications."

Angela's eyes widened a bit. "Oh?"

"Yeah, so… I was able to make it, but…there's no mare tonight," responded the stallion with an uneasy shrug. Even though he didn't want to sound too vague or suspicious, he also wanted to make an excuse that wasn't a straight up lie. Technically speaking, what he told her was true; there really were complications, and there wasn't going to be a mare tonight.

"Oh, well…" Thinking it over, Angela sighed with a shrug of her shoulders. "I guess that's alright. At least I get to have one of Troy's friends for dinner tonight, right?"

Canvas quickly nodded as he regrew his smile, hoping it didn't look too uncomfortable. "R-right."

Troy, mostly glad that nothing was said to raise suspicion or awkwardness, motioned over to the hallway as he grabbed his Mother's attention. "Uh, come on, Mom. We better get downstairs."

"Oh! Right." Letting Troy lead the way, Angela kept a smile as she walked beside Canvas out of the nursery. Along the way, she looked down at him as she grew a curious smirk. "So Canvas, I was wondering… Have you made any big wedding plans yet?"

Troy's ears perked up as he walked, obviously eavesdropping to hear what might be said. Canvas blushed as he answered her in an honest tone. "Ummm, yeah. We actually got a bit planned out. We decided on a what kind of food to have at the reception, as well as floral arrangements. We even have Twilight Sparkle officiating the ceremony!"

"Wow!" Hearing that last detail, Angela seemed quite impressed as she smiled down at him. "I didn't know about that! You must be a lucky stallion!"

Smiling with his lips bit shut, Canvas nodded up at her, and took a breath before looking back forward and speaking in agreement. "Yeah, I… I really am…"

Even though he tried not to do anything to give him or his fiancé away, Canvas's eyes made a quick glance back towards Troy, who took a brief second to look back at him with a smile of his own. Even though the exchange was less than a second, Angela managed to catch enough of it to make her narrow her eyes on them for a short moment. Of course, any meaning behind that exchange was lost on her as she shrugged indifferently. After all, those two are friends; why wouldn't her son be happy for his friend getting married?

If only I knew who he was with, thought the Gryphoness to herself as they reached the stairs.

Surprisingly enough, despite the fact that the back room looked fairly small, it was able to hold the family of seven Gryphons, as well as one extra stallion, quite easily. Since it was usually reserved for private parties and special occasions, the room was well lit and tastefully decorated, with several lovely framed pictures on the walls that went nicely with the large mahogany table the Clawstons were seated around. Even Blane and Jonas, the two largest Gryphons in the room, were still able to sit underneath the lamp that was hanging from the high ceiling.

The door to the room slid open, as a large pot that almost looked like a cauldron was being carried towards the table by both the Cakes. "Alright, everyone!" said Mister Cake in a cheerful tone as the pot was carefully propped in the middle of the table. Despite how heavy the pot looked, the two Earth ponies seemed to have no problem getting it into position, mostly since the party moved themselves and their drinks out of the way to let them get in with ease. "I hope you all are hungry for the appetizer!"

While Missus Cake left the room to get the bowls and side-dishes, Mister Cake was quick to get the lid lifted off with his muzzle to reveal what was inside. "Ter-drrr!"

Even though the family was composed of meat-eaters, no one seemed the least bit disappointed when they saw the hearty batch of potato soup which was inside. Even Jonas, who didn't say much when he came to the bakery with his wife earlier, gave off an involuntary "Oooooh" along with the others when they saw the creamy concoction that was prepared.

"Here you go!" Missus Cake came back into the room with a tray balanced on her back, which contained a massive amount of crackers, along with several bowls of shredded cheese and other toppings. "The main course will be ready in a few minutes. Just let us know if there's anything else you need, okay?"

"Oh wow!" piped up Angela as she and the other got back into their seats. Seeing the massive array that the Cakes had prepared, the Gryphoness's awed look was quite apparent. "This looks amazing! Thank you so much!"

"Oh, it's no problem at all," replied Mister Cake as he and his wife began to leave the private room. He pointed a hoof over to a string hanging on the wall. "Just ring that bell if there's anything you need."

"Will do," said Angela with a talon's up. Happy to see that the Clawston family looked happy with their first course, the Cakes had proud smiles on their muzzles as they left to go back to the kitchen. Of course, neither of the ponies seemed to notice the look of anticipation the group had when they closed the door behind them.

"Alright!" The very instant that the Cakes left, Jonas reached into Angela's purse to pull out a large jar that was filled to the brim with dark red flakes. Even though Canvas had to tilt his head with narrowed eyes to see what it was, his brows raised as soon as he realized what the Gryphon was holding. Jonas quickly opened the jar lid, making the smell of bacon immediately fill the air.

"Dad, what are you doing?!" shouted Troy in a panic as he looked between the doorway and the jar of bacon bits. If either of the Cakes came in at that moment, he was sure that they would get in serious trouble. "H-how did you even get that in here?!"

"What?" asked Jonas with a skewed brow, with the rest of Troy's brothers carrying similar looks of confusion. "It's potato soup! You expect us to eat it without bacon?!"

Troy brothers all replied with a unified "Yeah!" in agreement. Troy just groaned as he put his face in his claws, not wanting to cause any issues this early into dinner. Fortunately, Angela spoke up before her husband could empty the contents of the jar into the pot. "Now wait just a minute!"

Troy looked up at his Mom, slightly grateful that at least one family member could see this was a bad idea. But then, Angela pointed a talon at Canvas before saying, "At least let him have a bowl first! It's rude to just add bacon without thinking of the pony!"

Jonas opened his beak to make a retort, but nothing came out of it. Instead, he paused for a moment before shrugging in agreement. "Oh, alright." He put the jar of bacon bits down, and quickly made a bowl of soup before passing it to Canvas. "Here you go."

"Thank you," said the stallion with a smile as he grabbed his bowl, not seeming to mind one bit while Jonas quickly poured half the jar into the pot of soup. Instead, Canvas looked over at Troy who was seated beside him, and made a small nudge with his hoof into his side. "C'mon, stop acting so stingy. You know this isn't the first time I've been around bacon before."

Troy sighed as he looked over at his fiancé, his expression softening a bit when he saw the stallion's cute little smirk. "Yeah, I know. I'm just worried about what might happen if the Cakes find out."

"All the more reason to clean this pot out ourselves!" said Blaze happily as he got himself a large helping in his bowl. Seeing how all the other Gryphons were already getting their servings, along with the various toppings and crackers left by the Cakes, Troy just sighed in acceptance before grabbing his own bowl. Besides, catching that familiar scent of bacon was enough to make Troy's mouth start to salivate.

"Wait, Canvas," asked Angela as she caught what the stallion said, "what was that you said about bacon?"

Canvas turned back to Angela, needing a second to realize what she asked him. Before he could make a reply, Lyle spoke up for him while piling some grated cheddar into his bowl. "He made bacon and steak for Troy's birthday."

"Really?" asked Angela and Jonas at the same time. Canvas, not expecting Troy's parents to be staring at him so intently from that new info, couldn't keep himself from blushing a little.

"Ummmm… yeah," answered Canvas in a slightly embarrassed tone as he turned his head away from the two. "Well, I kinda knew a guy in Baltimare, so… I figured it would be a nice way to show my appreciation for everything he did for me."

A smile crept up on the corners of the pony's muzzle, which prompted Troy to smile as well. "Well," began Troy with a slight nod while looking down at the stallion, "That really was a great birthday."

"But… isn't getting meat like that illegal?" asked Angela with a hint of worry in her voice.

Troy just looked at his Mother with a blank stare before responding flatly, "Says the Gryphon who snuck in a giant jar of bacon bits across borders."

"Oh…" Not wanting to let her son's stark (and technically correct) statement to get to her, Angela just rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying, that I wasn't expecting to hear something like that."

All three of the triplets let off a unified snicker, which they tried to keep as muffled as possible. Nevertheless, Troy still shot the three a deathly glare in a split second that was missed by both parents.

"So Troy," began Jonas while eating his soup, "aside from working Weather Patrol and… being in musicals…" The Gryphon said that last word with a hint of distaste in his voice, but only paused for a second before continuing, "what else have you been doing in Equestria?"

Troy took a breath while tapping the table with his talons, making an involuntary clacking against the wood as he tried to speak in a normal tone. "Well, I… have a singing audition in Canterlot in a month or so."

"Singing?" asked Angela with raised brows. "You mean like professionally?"

"Well, it's more for a big production coming up." Even though he wasn't embarrassed by getting an offer as prestigious as a Canterlot audition, Troy was still blushing slightly as he spoke in a fainter tone. "But still… I'm really exited for it. And Octavia seemed sincere about seeing me there when we talked at Canvas’s art show in Manehatten."

"Octavia?" When Jonas asked that question, his eyes narrowed on Troy suspiciously. "Is that another mare you know?"

"Well… not personally," replied Troy as he tried to keep his Father from getting any ideas. "She just overheard me singing, and thought I would be a good choice."

"Hmmm…" Jonas took a slurp of his soup as he let his son's answer sink in, and spoke up after swallowing. "I hope you're being cautious about that sort of thing. For all you know, that mare could just be trying to take advantage of you."

Canvas, whose mouth was currently stuffed with crackers while chewing, could only give a puzzled stare to Jonas at what he just said. Troy just closed his eyes and groaned. He rubbed his temples with his talons while speaking. "It's not like that, Dad. Octavia is a musician, and she noticed me for my music."

"But still, you can't be acting so gullible! You have no idea what a pony like that might be planning! And in a place like Manehatten, you have to watch out for mares and… You-Know-Whats."

After swallowing, Canvas's befuddled stare on Jonas became more apparent before he spoke up. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly do you mean by th--"

Dingdingdingdingding!

Lyle was leaned back in his seat, frantically pulling on the string in an attempt to break the conversation before things got even more awkward. Fortunately, Mister Cake's head poked in through the doorway before anyone else could say a word. "Is everything alright?"

"Uhhh… I…" Since Lyle was focused on getting his Dad to shut up, he realized that he forgot to come up with a valid reason to have Carrot Cake come into the room. Fortunately, the sight of the serving bowls beside the pot of soup made the Gryphon come up with something. "Can we get some more cheese?" asked Lyle as he brought the near-empty bowl over to the stallion.

"Oh! Sure thing." Mister Cake took the bowl happily before heading out of the room. "Dinner will be out in a few minutes."

"Great!" With that, Canvas and the Clawston family went back to enjoying their soup in silence. And with the inclusion of the bacon bits, the potato soup was downed at a disturbingly fast rate before they could get any extra cheese or crackers. But still, despite how good the appetizer was, Canvas couldn't stop thinking about what Jonas was going to say.

You-Know-Whats?

I swear, if that's supposed to mean what I think it's supposed to mean--

"So guys," began Blaze as he looked over at Troy and Canvas, "I was wondering, was Celestia at that art-thingie too?"

"Oh, ummm…" Even though that question threw him slightly off-guard, Troy was happy that Blaze was changing the discussion. "No, Celestia wasn't there. Actually, I don't think that anyone knew that she would be at that one show!"

"I certainly didn't," added Canvas with a chuckled smile of his own. When he looked back down to the table and his empty bowl, the stallion sighed as he shook his head in disbelief. "I mean , just the fact that she saw all those paintings… and she chose me? I just… I can't believe I didn't hug her at the spot!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Troy with a skewed brow down at Canvas. You did hug her! You nearly tackled her!"

"What?! I--" Canvas raised a hoof to defend himself, but paused as soon as he realized what Troy was referring to. His eyes widened for a second before sighing with a smile. "No, no, not that! I was talking about that art gallery, not the Gala!"

Troy looked away for a moment to think Canvas's previous statement over before letting that realization dawn on him. "Oh yeah."

"Wait, you hugged Celestia?!" asked Jonas with an astounded look on his face.

Canvas's expression became more bashful as he slumped down in his seat. "Well… kinda. I mean, she showed me where she put the painting I made for her, and… well… I guess I got a bit overemotional.”

Troy couldn't hold back his cackle while sitting beside the blushing pony. "I honestly thought he was going to get tackled by the Guards or something! He should be lucky that the Princess hugged him back."

While Canvas's head slumped down even lower in embarrassment, Angela carried a more peculiar stare on the two before looking at Troy. "Wait a minute. Troy, you went to the Gala too? You never mentioned that."

"I didn't?" Blinking a couple times, Troy seemed slightly confused that his Mother said that. He managed to bring up a lot to both his parents while showing them around Cloudsdale, so it was surprising to think that he missed a detail that big. Of course, with a shrug of his shoulders, the silver Gryphon nodded before answering his Mom. "Well… yeah. I went with Canvas to the Gala. Honestly, it was pretty boring, you know. But I did get a chance to talk with Celestia before the event, and she said a lot of nice things about Grandma and Grandpa! I even got to shake her hoof!"

Jonas's brows both raised, giving a legitimately impressed look towards his son. "Wow, that… that's pretty good of you, Troy."

Hearing that, Troy couldn’t hold back a blush as he smiled and nodded back at his Father. "Th-thanks, Dad. I--" Before he could say anything else, Troy's gaze went back to his Mother, noticing how confused she was looking. "Uh, Mom?"

Angela quickly shook her head clear, looking like she was miles away while Troy was talking. "Oh, sorry. I… I was just thinking to myself." She gave off a small chuckle before reaching for the bottle of wine at the center of the table to refill her glass.

"Is anything wrong?" asked Canvas with a hint of worry.

"It's nothing. I was just confused, that's all." Shrugging the rest of her thoughts aside, Angela picked up her glass of wine and took a sip. When she pulled her glass back from her beak, the Gryphoness shook her head with a involuntary chuckle before continuing. "I mean, I know that the Grand Galloping Gala is a fairly exclusive event to get invited to. I just didn't expect for you to be able to have tickets for both Troy AND your fiancee."

Canvas and Troy's eyes both widened after Angela said that part, but neither were able to speak up before Angela took another sip from her glass. Unfortunately though, after a couple seconds, she slowly pulled the glass away before looking back at the two, her eyes growing a more peculiar stare.

Angela's golden eyes peered at both Troy and Canvas, her smile slowly dissipating as she looked between them. Both of them looked more noticeably nervous, but the Gryphoness wasn't able to see that immediately. Instead, her sights went down to Canvas's engagement ring.

She stared at the engraving on the ring, which had the stallion's cutie mark intertwined with a feather.

A silver feather.

She then looked back at Troy.

Silver feathers.

While seated right next to Canvas.

And both of them were looking nervous.

Angela's eyes instantly shot wide open. While Jonas and Troy's brothers were all too busy with their food to notice, the now terrified Canvas and Troy could both see clear as day how quickly Angela's expression changed to immediate realization and horror. With the way her wide-eyed stare was shot onto the two, the Gryphoness's frozen expression made it look like she was just visited by a Cockatrice.

SMASH!

Angela's claw clenched in tightly in a panic, shattering the wine glass loudly enough to make everyone stop and look over at her.

"What the?" Jonas looked down at his wife's claw in confusion. "Wha… what happened?"

Angela didn't say a word to her husband, and immediately raised herself up from her seat. "I need to go to the bathroom." Before anyone could protest, Angela quickly scooted her way past the other Gryphons' chairs to reach the doorway. But before she could leave, her head turned back to Troy as her voice became more distressed. "Troy, I need to talk with you."

Troy, who was now just as wide-eyed as his Mother, could barely register what Angela said over the thundering sounds of his own heartbeat. "Uhh… w-w-what? I… I didn--"

"Now!"

Angela didn't wait for Troy to respond, and quickly rushed out of the back room. Troy, who was panting slightly from his growing dread, looked between Canvas and the doorway before getting out of his seat to go after her. "M-Mom! Wait!"

Canvas couldn't even open his muzzle before Troy ran out of the room, which just left him in his seat while seated opposite of Jonas. When he turned over to Lyle and the triplets, Canvas could see that all of them looked nervous as well. After seeing how Angela looked, even Blane was looking worried at what might've happened. If Angela really did catch wind of what was going on, then…

"Lyle, what is that?!"

Jonas's sudden outburst caused everyone else to look back at him. Lyle was barely able to register what his Father said before his new satchel was snatched by him. "HEY!"

Jonas ignored his son's statement before peering into the bag, seeing the array of art supplies and paper inside of it. In an instant, the Gryphon grew an irritated scowl before looking back at Lyle. "What did I tell you about this sort of thing?!"

Canvas's focus immediately changed as soon as he heard that. Even though he was still worried about his fiancé outside the room, the stallion's attention went towards Jonas as soon as he heard that tone he gave towards Lyle.

"D-Dad, come on! Give that back!"

Lyle tried to lunge across the table to get his bag back, but Jonas pulled it back and out of his son's grip. "I told you not to be doing this kind of shit anymore!" he shouted angrily. "I specifically told you that, and you go out to make more of those… doodles?!"

Canvas's expression turned nasty the instant he heard that word. After taking with Lyle for the past week, hearing that last word made the stallion's blood boil. He knew that Lyle was hurt by that kind of talk before. He knew that that specific word was enough to break the Gryphon's confidence. And right now, hearing the word "Doodle" was making Canvas even angrier than if Jonas said something like "Colt-Cuddler".

"I'm not going to have a son of mine end up being some blasted pornographer!" shouted Jonas down at Lyle, who was squirming in his seat fearfully. "I told you to stop doing shit like this, and you go and buy MORE?! Just because you're in Equestria, doesn’t mean that you can just go ahead and make more of these damn DOODLES!"

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!"

Everyone turned to the source of that angered yell, and saw the aqua stallion leaning onto the table with his forelegs. His eyes were burning with a pure intensity that none of Troy's brothers had ever seen before; in fact, the only one who could've recognized that kind of fury was Troy, from back when Canvas confronted his own Father about a month ago.

But now, that anger was pointed directly at Jonas. With the way his blue eyes were glaring at the General, it was clear that the stallion was mad. Of course, that anger was quickly returned when Jonas glared back at him.

"What did you say?" the Gryphon asked with a strong tone of malice in his voice.

Canvas, not caring at all about Jonas's military background, just narrowed his eyes on him before speaking in a low, defensive tone.

"You. Heard. Me."

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Dinner (Part 2)

Troy rushed out of the back room as quickly as he could to reach his Mother. Angela, who was already looking quite distraught, was leaning against the counter of the bakery, wide-eyed in silence.

Missus Cake, who just came out from the kitchen after checking on the foals, noticed the Gryphoness before walking up to her with a smile. "Oh, hello Angela! How are yo--"

"Do you have any alcohol?" asked Angela as she looked at the mare intensely.

The mare flinched a bit, and her expression turned more worried when she saw Troy coming up towards his Mother. "Oh. Ummm… let me check…"

Even though Cupcake already knew that she didn't have any liquor for Angela (except that one bottle of wine that the Cakes got exclusively for this party), she disappeared from behind the counter to give the two some space. When the mare went back to the kitchen hurriedly, her husband poked his head out to see what was going on.

Troy had a panicked look on his face as he tried to speak towards his Mother. "M-Mom? Wha… what's wro--"

Angela quickly crooked her neck so that she was looking directly at Troy. "Who is Canvas's fiancée?"

Mister Cake sucked some air through his teeth before shooting back into the kitchen with his wife.

"W-w-what?" asked Troy as he felt his heartbeat racing even faster. Seeing how his Mother was staring at him, the Gryphon was feeling more scared for his well-being than when she found him with the vacuum cleaner that one time.

"You heard me." answered Angela more intensely than before. "Who is Canvas engaged to?"

Troy’s beak hung open in utter dread, and could only open and close in silence to answer his Mom. As soon as the Gryphon’s eyes looked away from her, obviously looking terrified to give the only answer he could say, Angela bent her head in closer while giving an uneasy look. Her voice came out more feeble as she asked, “Troy… please say something.”

Hearing the strained tone of his Mom’s voice, Troy felt like he was going to break down at the spot. Knowing that he had to say something, Troy’s eyes clenched in shut as his beak shut tightly. While his head skewed away from her slightly, he tried to speak without having any tears escape his shut eyes.

“I… I… I didn’t… want you to find out like this…”

A sharp inhale escaped Angela as she took an involuntary step back.

Lyle, as well as all three of the triplets, looked absolutely shocked at how Canvas was staring at Jonas. After all the years they all spent under Jonas’s roof, they knew that the bloodthirsty glare that he was giving the pony was anything but good. But still, the stallion just stood his ground as he stared back at him, his tone looking almost equally as cold and callous as the Gryphon’s.

Jonas’s head skewed slightly, almost like he was unsure whether to be confused or amused by the stallion’s courage. After making a light huff, Jonas tossed Lyle’s bag aside before narrowing his eyes on Canvas. “Hmmm… You mind explaining yourself, pony?”

With the way that Jonas emphasized that last word, Canvas pursed his lips shut so the Gryphon wouldn’t see him gritting his teeth. After a small exhale through his nostrils, the pony calmed himself down enough to speak firmly up to Jonas. “What I was meaning to say was that you shouldn’t berate Lyle like that. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Oh yeah?” Keeping his angered glare on Canvas, which was enough to make the other Gryphons stay silent and frozen, Jonas pointed at Lyle’s art bag that was lying on the ground. “You think there’s nothing wrong with a kid drawing porn?!”

“He doesn’t only do porn!” shouted Canvas in an equally angry tone as he leaned in closer to Jonas. “And if you took a moment to actually pay attention to his stuff, you’d see that Lyle is an exceptional artist!”

Despite the stallion’s insistent glare, Jonas openly scoffed with a slightly amused sneer. “Oh, really? And what gives you the authority to make a claim like that?”

Canvas’s head skewed as well, giving the former General a bemused stare like he just asked a rather stupid question. “Well… I AM an artist, Mister Clawston. I think that gives me a little experience on what makes for good art!”

Canvas then pointed a hoof towards Lyle, who was sitting petrified in his seat. Even though he’d want to stand up for himself, he certainly wasn’t going to stand in when he saw how his Dad looked. “And Lyle is one of the best young artists that I’ve seen in a LONG time! If you just took one second--”

“I looked at enough of his damn doodles!” interrupted Jonas in a louder shout to shut Canvas up. “He almost got expelled because of them! You think I’m just going to sit idly by and let him ruin his future?! I’ve already had enough shit to deal with from THOSE three!”

Jonas pointed a talon at the triplets, who all widened their eyes with offended looks on their faces. “Wait a minute!” shouted Blane as he tried to stand up against him, “What the buck is that suppo--”

“And I’m NOT going to have Lyle go down that path too!” continued Jonas as he pointed his talon back at the increasingly irate Canvas. “First it’ll be drawings, and then deviancy! And before you know it, he’s gonna be dealing weapons or doing drugs!”

“HEY!” shouted Blaze angrily. “I told you I wasn’t using that stuff!”

“And you said you LIKED that business!” added Blane.

“YOU three sit back down this instant!” yelled Jonas back at the triplets. “If you interrupt me again, you WILL regret it!”

Despite still looking angry, the three slumped back in their seats rather quickly. Seeing this, Canvas’s anger towards Jonas became stronger than before. If that was the way this Gryphon acted towards his kids, then it was no wonder that Lyle’s confidence was so low. Of course, unlike them, Canvas wasn’t afraid to speak up against Jonas; after all, this wasn’t the first time that the stallion stood up against a Father.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Jonas, what makes you think you can talk down to your sons like that?”

Canvas had to keep himself from smirking when he called the Gryphon by his first name, knowing very well that doing so was a sign of disrespect. But still, the stallion didn’t flinch when Jonas turned back to him with an even stronger glare. “What was that?!”

Canvas only narrowed his eyes on his in response. “What I was saying, was that you really shouldn’t disrespect them the way you are. I’ve learned a lot about Lyle and the triplets since meeting them, and they don’t deserve to be treated that poorly.”

Jonas merely huffed with a disbelieving smirk on his beak. “Oh, really?”

“Yes. Really,” hissed Canvas with malice. While his eyes peered at Jonas, Canvas pointed a hoof at Lyle as he continued. “When I took Troy and Lyle with me to the art show in Manehattan, I showed several artists Lyle’s work, and every single one said that he has serious potential as an artist! He even got a letter of recommendation by Fancy Pants, one of the biggest influential figures on Canterlot, after making a colored pencil sketch for him in less than a day!”

Before Jonas could make any indication that the stallion’s words were just going into one ear and out the other, Canvas continued as he pointed at each of the triplets.

“Along with that, Blaze is probably one of the smartest Gryphons I’ve ever met! I’ve never seen anyone react and respond to a problem as quickly as he had, and be able to solve it with the amount of logic that he possesses!

“As for Blade, he’s probably one of the most noble musicians when it comes to interacting with his fans! He shows genuine respect to ponies who appreciate his work, and I haven’t seen him act like a ‘deviant’ towards any of them even once!

“And I can say, with utmost honesty, that Blane is one of the most skilled Gryphons in regards to… his interests.” Despite not wanting to pause in the middle of his rant, Canvas didn’t want to outright say something about Blane’s floral expertise if the Gryphon was keeping it a secret. “And if he wasn’t afraid of what others like YOU thought of it, he could be at the top of his game in his craft!

“Every single one of them is extremely talented and pleasant, so hearing their own Father yell at them like that is completely out of line! Maybe if you weren’t so intent on blistering their self esteem every second you’re around them, then maybe they can achieve more than they already have!”

Lyle, along with the triplets, all just stared at Canvas with looks of utter shock. Even though all of them should have felt gratitude for the stallion sticking up for them, most of their focus was set on whether or not their Father was going to turn the pony into a stain on the wall.

Jonas just narrowed his eyes on Canvas, looking like he was making a calculated account on how he should respond to the pony -- Or more accurately, what would be the quickest method to take him down and make sure he wouldn’t get up.

“So… you think that you’re acting like a big colt talking up at me like that?”

Canvas just replied flatly, “More than a Gryphon who thinks that demeaning his own children makes him look tougher.”

Jonas’s eyes widened on Canvas, which just made the other Gryphons take a precautionary movement back. Nevertheless, despite their thoughts, Jonas didn’t strike the pony down. Instead, he just scoffed once more. “Well, aren’t you trying to act all high and mighty on your own.”

Catching Jonas’s malicious tone of voice, Canvas kept a peculiar stare on him. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know what.” Jonas raised a claw to point down at the stallion’s left hoof. “If you really were supposed to be a tough stallion, then how come you’re wearing the ring, huh? You really expect me to take you seriously when you had to have the mare pop the question? Hmph! Even for a pony, that’s pretty pathetic!”

While Canvas’s expression grew more intense, looking like he was going to repeat how he acted towards that Hot Shot stallion several months ago, Lyle and the triplets just watched in growing worry at what might occur next. While they already knew that their Dad could easily gut the pony in an instant, they also knew that Canvas could hold his own.

However, instead of trying to start anything physical, Canvas’s expression changed slightly as his brows raised. “Oh really? Well… what if I wasn’t engaged to a mare? What then?”

Jonas’s eyes widened in an instant, immediately catching what the pony was implying. Meanwhile, the looks from the other Gryphons made it clear that they were all worried. Even though Canvas was smart, they wouldn’t think that he’d be stupid enough to admit anything before Troy could.

“Oh… really?” Jonas’s eyes narrowed in on Canvas once more, as a disgusted sneer grew across his beak. “Huh… I guess I should’ve known why you’d be so inclined to be around my children.”

Canvas’s lips pursed together in fury as his eyes widened. “Whatever it is you’re implying, I can assure you that your assumptions are way off.”

“Oh really? You expect me to believe that a pervert like you isn’t just trying to get close to a kid for your own pleasure? You make me sick.”

Canvas raised himself up even more as he got up to an eye level more equal to Jonas’s. Even though he would have loved to start punching this Gryphon square in the face and never stop, the stallion subdued himself enough as he spoke in a colder tone. “Well, seeing that your parenting is as shitty as your state of beliefs, I can certainly see why Troy left the Gryphon Kingdom in the first place.”

Jonas’s eyes shot wide open. His claws gripped the edge of the table hard, making his talons sink deeply into the wood. “What. Did. You. Say?”

“You heard me,” answered Canvas in a venomous tone that he hasn’t used since his own Father came in to Ponyville. “Troy is one of the greatest friends I’ve ever had the pleasure to know, and his brothers are just as caring and understanding. And given how you’ve acted towards me AND them, it’s clear that they didn’t get any of that kind of compassion from you. And if you actually did give any support for what your kids are doing with their lives, instead of just judging them while your head is firmly up your COLON, then maybe they wouldn’t be flocking to another nation to find some decent attention and praise!”

The triplets and Lyle were all leaned back against the wall, beaks agape. Meanwhile, Jonas just gritted his teeth before leaning his head in, getting right up into Canvas’s face. “Get. Out.”

Canvas didn’t budge. Instead, he just leaned in against the General to press his forehead against Jonas’s. “Make. Me.”

“Mom, I… Can you please say something?!”

Troy was looking increasingly nervous while his Mother stood in front of him in a state of shock. Instead of yelling obscenities, or running away from him, Angela just stood frozen in a stunned state, staring off into nothing while wide-eyed. And considering that this lasted for at least two minutes, Troy was panicking at how this might end up. “Mom, please!”

Angela only blinked in response. Even though her slightly open beak didn’t move, a faint sound escaped it after a brief moment. “I… I…”

“Mom, please,” pleaded Troy as he tried to catch her attention. “It’s still me! I never changed, Mom! I’m still Troy! I… I just…”

Troy looked away for a second, knowing that anything he said probably wouldn’t be enough to get his Mother out of her stupor. “I… I don’t want to lose yo--”

CRASH!!!

A heavy crashing noise caused Troy and Angela to immediately look back at the back room. Before either of the Cakes could come from the kitchen to see what was going on, Troy’s eyes widened in terror before shooting off. “Oh no!”

Troy flew back into the private room in less than a second, just in time to catch Canvas being pinned against the wall. While the large table was completely overturned, Jonas had the stallion in a death grip with his claws wrapped around his neck. “You… pathetic piece of--”

POW!!!

Even though Troy’s strength wasn’t really impressive enough around other Gryphons to say the least, his involuntary punch against his Dad’s face was enough to get him to let go of Canvas and make him drop to the floor. While Jonas winced while clutching his face, taking a moment to breathe and process what the buck just happened after nearly committing murder, Canvas looked up from the floor to see the furious stare that Troy had on Jonas.

“T-Troy?!” shouted Jonas as he quickly raised himself back up. “Troy, did you just HIT me?!”

Despite his Father’s outraged expression, Troy just had a cold and malicious look as he stared him down. “Don’t you dare touch him.”

Blaze, who was thrown to the ground along with the others after Jonas threw the table over, quickly tried to get up and stop things from getting worse. “Guys wait a min--”

“AND WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO ACT LIKE THAT?!” screamed Jonas in an infuriated tone before pointing a talon at Canvas. “You’re seriously going to defend this COLT-CUDDLER after he--”

“DON’T YOU DARE TALK THAT WAY ABOUT MY FIANCE!!!”

“Here you go, Silver Spoon! Happy Birthday!”

FWEE!!!

Even though Pinkie Pie’s party blower made the grey filly flinch a bit, she still had a happy smile on her face as she sat in front of her huge birthday cake. With her best friend Diamond Tiara sitting next to her, Silver Spoon seemed fairly pleased with how her celebration was going; aside from three fillies near the corner who were mostly talking to each other, all the other fillies and colts who were invited had their attention on the birthday girl as they partied in her parents’ mansion.

“Well, go ahead!” shouted Pinkie happily as she lit the candles with a snap of her hoof. “Blow out your candles and make a--”

Instantly, the pink mare froze at the spot, looking like she suddenly saw a cockatrice. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara both looked confused as they stared at the mare, but it wasn’t until she moved again that they got concerned.

With her face scrunched in like she ate too much candy, Pinkie started to convulse a bit while all the other ponies began to take notice. Before any of them could try to help her out, they watched as Pinkie’s tail began to twitch. Immediately after, her left ear made a strange fluttering motion, which caused the mare to twitch her neck from the sensation. And then, one of her hind legs raised up high as it started to vibrate for a quick moment; even though it was highly debated, many ponies claimed that they actually saw her hoof develop an icicle or two before disappearing.

After all of her hooves were back on the ground, Pinkie stood still for a moment, which alarmed the party-goers even more than all the convulsions she managed to make in less than a second. Hoping that something bad wasn’t going to occur, Silver Spoon spoke up to try and catch her attention. “Ummm…Pinkie Pie?”

Like an explosion had occurred underneath her hooves, Pinkie jumped up so high that she nearly hit the ceiling. “I GOTTA GO!!!”

With that, Pinkie zoomed out towards the window like a rocket. Of course, the mare paused her high-speed escape while in mid-air, opening the window daintly before shooting out. “SEE YOU LATER! ENJOY THE PARTY!”

And like that, the entire party was eerily silent. Since nopony was sure what the heck that was about, not a single one was able to utter out a single word. Nevertheless, the silence was finally broken by the faint sound of smacking lips, which was followed by a disgusted “Blech!”

Pipsqueak had a dab of frosting on his hoof as he carried a displeased look on his face. “Oh, gross! It’s coconut!”

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Reaction

No one was sure how long the pregnant bout of silence lasted inside the private room at Sugar Cube Corner. Even though it was most likely a minute or two at most, the amount of time it took before anyone in the room was able to speak or move again felt like an eternity.

Troy, whose heart was still racing from adrenaline at reacting to his Dad's assault on Canvas like that, now felt like ice-water was flowing through his veins. Despite him outwardly still looking enraged as he stared face-to-face with Jonas, Troy felt absolutely mortified at what he just screamed out loud. He was unable to move his head to look at Canvas or any of his brothers, but he could already tell that all of them were equally as stunned at what he just did.

The silver Gryphon's heart was thundering faster with each passing second, letting his previous feelings of rage vanish before being replaced with petrified panic. While Troy's eyes began to widen, letting his feelings of realization sink in slowly, Jonas just stared at his son with a growing look of utter shock.

"You… your WHAT?!"

Even though that last outburst should've made him flinch, Troy stayed surprisingly still, albeit from being petrified instead of bravery. But still, after letting that admission come out in a less-than-appealing way, the Gryphon knew he couldn't back down now. So, after a brief exhale, Troy tried to push his fears aside as he made a small nod at his Father.

"You… you heard me."

Canvas, Lyle, and the triplets were all staring at the two in growing worry, unsure of whether or not either of these two were going to make it out of this room alive. Nevertheless, none of them could react when Jonas began to walk towards Troy, his figure towering over his son in a brooding manner.

"You're telling me… that after spending a year in this nation… that you went and ended up being a damn FEATHER-FLU--"

"I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU!" shouted Troy as he got right up into his Dad's face, surprising Jonas enough to be interrupted for the moment. "You hear me?! I don't care what you try to say or do, I am NOT going to be intimidated by you!!!"

Troy was still scared, there was no doubt about that. The last time that he tried to stand up against his Father back home, he ended up with welts on his behind bad enough to keep him out of school for the next day. But still, despite those unpleasant recollections, those which kept him restrained when around Jonas all these years, Troy now carried a firm stance as he stood in front of his Father, letting all his previous worries get brushed away as he stared him down.

After all, if his love was able to stand up against his own Father, then he saw no reason why he shouldn't do the same.

"I've kept my beak shut for too damn long because of you!" shouted Troy as he stood his ground, not letting his Dad's stoic glare falter his words as he spoke sternly. "You know WHY I left for Equestria, Dad?! You really wanna know WHY?! It was because I was sick and tired of constantly having to put up with all your judgements about me!! It was hard enough not having that many friends back home, and having YOU constantly get on my back about what I should be doing with my life wasn’t helping at all!!”

Angela rushed over to the doorway of the room, looking fairly stunned as she saw the debacle occurring between her son and her husband. Of course, since the doorway was wide open, she was already in a state of complete shock after hearing what Troy screamed after hitting his Father.

“Coming to Equestria was the best decision I ever made in my entire life!” shouted Troy as he pointed at his Dad with malice. “For once, I’m actually treated with respect and dignity, instead of some runt or a disappointment in YOUR eyes! For the first time in a LONG time, I’m actually happy! I’m doing more in my life than I thought I could ever do, and HE’S the reason for that!”

Even though Troy still had an angry stare aimed toward his Dad, the Gryphon’s talon pointed right at Canvas when making that last statement. After noticing his Mom at the doorway, Troy looked between both his parents before turning back to his Dad. Despite his heart racing, the Gryphon felt absolutely no hesitation to say what he knew was undoubtedly true:

“Canvas has been by my side ever since we met, and I can’t imagine my life without him. I… I love him.”

Neither of Troy’s parents said a word after hearing what their son said. While Angela just leaned against the side of the doorway in a stunned state, Jonas grew a look: a mixture of shock and disgust. Despite this, Troy took one glance back at his stallion, and smiled when he saw Canvas give a tearful smile back at him.

“He’s… he's not just a friend to me…” After breathing out, feeling a wave of relief at actually saying his feelings out loud, Troy turned back to his Dad, his voice hardening once again. “Canvas and I together. We’ve been a couple for over three months now, and I proposed to him two weeks ago back at the Grand Galloping Gala. And despite whatever you might try to say, that’s not going to change! I love him, Dad! I love Canvas, he loves me, and we’re going to be married!”

Troy breathed out slowly, hoping that it would help settle his thundering heartbeat. Unfortunately, despite the fact that saying all that felt incredibly uplifting for the Gryphon, the look that Jonas was giving him was enough to let those earlier feelings of uncertainty begin to creep back in. While Troy stood with a confident-looking scowl toward his Father, that scowl was starting to feel more and more like a mask as his internal worries began to flow back inside of him. Jonas only took a few seconds of silence to let his son’s words sink in before making an angered huff.

“Get out of my way,” muttered the Gryphon coldly as he walked past his son to the doorway.

Even though Troy wasn’t expecting his Dad to react pleasantly, that remark was still enough to make the Gryphon feel like his heart snapped in half. Angela, who was still reeling at what she heard Troy say, had to take a couple seconds to register what her husband just did. “W-w-wait, Jonas!”

“I’m not having any of this!” shouted Jonas towards his wife. He pointed a talon back at Troy, whose eyes were now wide open with his beak slightly open. “You heard what he said! If he’s gonna be with a STALLION, then I’m done! I’m not staying here!”

Angela tried to stand in his way, but the brown Gryphon was able to get past her with surprising ease due to his strength. “Jonas stop!” cried Angela as she struggled to keep things civil. “We need to talk about this!”

“NO WE DON’T!” yelled Jonas as he continued to walk away. Keeping a bitter scowl on his face, the Gryphon looked back ahead of him so he could leave the bakery.

“Jonas,” pleaded Angela from the doorway, “you need to talk to your son!”

Troy, who was still in the back room alongside his brothers and Canvas, was able to hear his Dad’s response as clear as day:

“He’s no son of mine.”

That was the straw that broke his back. For a moment, Troy’s legs wobbled a little, making him look like he was close to falling over. While Canvas ran up to Troy’s side, and the brothers all quickly tried to get on their feet to do the same, Troy started breathing out heavily as tears began to stream down his face. His talons dug into the floor, and his beak clenched shut as a bitter conflict of emotions flowed through him. But of all the feelings he was experiencing after hearing what Jonas said -- heartbreak, sadness, aggravation, bitterness -- one emotion overflowed out of him as soon as he heard the door to Sugar Cube Corner start to open:

Anger.

“YOU BUCKING WORTHLESS COWARD!!!”

Angela, who was standing frozen in conflict, quickly turned her head back to the outside of the room as her eyes widened in a panic. After Troy’s furious outburst, a loud rumble followed as loud stomping could quickly be heard coming back into the room. Angela ran out of the way as Jonas stormed back into the room, absolutely fuming with rage. “WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!?!”

“YOU’RE A COWARD!” screamed Troy right back at him. The silver Gryphon’s cheeks still had tears streaming down them, but pure, unbridled rage replaced any evidence of sadness that may have been on Troy’s face before. Glaring at Jonas with a look of unparalleled amounts of fury, Troy pointed a talon at him before screaming maliciously, “I stood up for myself, AND THAT’S HOW YOU RESPOND!?! After all I did as a son and all that I accomplished, you’re just gonna up and leave because of THAT?! WHAT KIND OF A FATHER ARE YOU!?!”

“AND WHAT KIND OF SON ARE YOU?!?” Jonas got right up into Troy’s face as he retorted, looking like he was just about to hit his son. Canvas couldn’t help stumbling out of the way as Jonas shouted, “You run off after getting that inheritance, leave for over a year, and THEN end up Feather-Fluffing with a damn PONY?!”

“Oi!” shouted out Blade as he tried to speak in defense of his younger brother. “Don’t be calling him that!”

“Yeah!” added Blane as he pointed at Canvas. “He doesn’t have any feathers at all! Technically speaking, Troy isn’t fluffing any feat--”

A quick smack to the back of the head from Blaze’s claw shut Blane right up. Of course, none of this was noticed much by Troy as continued to yell at Jonas.

“YOU REALLY THINK I GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU THINK ANYMORE?! For years, I was terrified of you, because I never felt like I was good enough for your bucking standards!! But you know what?! I DON’T CARE ANYMORE!! I’m happier with Canvas than I’ve ever been in my entire life, and I’ll be DAMNED if I’m gonna let you try to make me feel like shit for it!”

“Well you SHOULD be!!” yelled his Father back to Troy maliciously. “You think that being a damn QUEER is a good thing?!”

Seeing how Jonas was glaring at him, Troy could tell that his Dad wasn’t going to give in. If this was the way that Jonas was going to act towards him, than Troy knew exactly what to say in response:

“At least it makes me a bigger man than you.”

Jonas’s eyes shot wide open, putting him at a temporary loss of words before a flash of red exploded across his face. “WHAT?!?”

“You heard me,” answered Troy in a low, but still bold tone of voice. “You always tell me to be a man. You tell me to never back down from something that I believe in. And I didn’t. I stood up for myself, and I stood up to you. I didn’t back down, but you walked away. Like a COWARD!

“So tell me, Dad, who acted like the bigger man?”

A heavy bout of silence swept across the room, with nobody able to make a suitable reply. While everyone else stood vacant of anything to say, Jonas kept his beak shut as he stood face-to-face with Troy. The silver Gryphon held a determined stare back at his Father, not showing any hint of fear or hesitation in his stoic expression. After a long moment of silence, Jonas narrowed his eyes on Troy, and slowly leaned his head closer towards his.

“I dare you to call me a coward again.”

Angela could see Jonas’s claw clench in tight, making her widen her eyes in a panic. “Jonas, don’t do this! Troy, please do--”

“You are.”

The next second felt like it went by in slow motion for Troy. As soon as he said those two words as viciously as he could, he could only stand frozen before seeing Jonas make his strike. In an instant, Jonas pulled his claw back, and shot it toward his son’s face before anyone else could make a single move. Despite not wanting to show weakness, Troy couldn’t help closing his eyes in the split millisecond before he could feel the impact. Knowing what was going to happen, Troy could only stand in front of his terrified family and Canvas before a thundering noise broke the silence.

PBBBBBBBBTTTTT!!!!

For a brief moment, Troy anticipated feeling a sharp pain in his face, or maybe being thrown back to the wall. But instead, that oddly out-of-place noise was the only thing that resulted. When he reopened his eyes, Troy only saw a pair of pink hooves in front of his face, which were holding a large Whoopee Cushion that blocked Jonas’s claw.

Jonas, standing wide-eyed, was completely baffled as he looked down at Pinkie Pie standing between them. Still holding the cushion that stopped his punch, the mare couldn’t hold back a giggle while looking up at Troy’s Dad.

“Hehehehe! It sounded like you tooted!”

“GET OUT OF THE WAY!” Jonas was just about to use his other claw to swipe Pinkie out of his path to deal with his son. However, before he could make another move, a bright flash of purple illuminated the entirety of the General’s body, holding him still before being levitated off of the ground.

“General Jonas Clawston!” shouted Twilight Sparkle as she stood just outside of the room, startling everyone inside while she held Jonas in her aura. “I don’t know what you think you’re planning, but I am NOT going to tolerate this kind of behavior while I’m around!”

Before Jonas could try to make a single movement, the Princess pulled him out of the room with her magic, placing him right in front of her in the main area of the empty bakery. The Cakes, who were standing behind Twilight worriedly, could only watch as she took her aura away from him so he could stand on his own.

Jonas had to catch his breath for a moment before turning towards the Alicorn, unable to hide his irritated stare at her. “Princess…” he spoke through gritted teeth as he tried to retain his growing anger, “I really don’t think you should be interfering in this private matter.”

“Well, the moment that YOU started a scene bad enough to prompt Carrot Cake to find me, and then tried to instigate a violent attack in a private business, I felt that interference is necessary!”

Jonas pointed a talon back to the doorway where Troy was now standing alongside his Mother. “HE was the one who hit ME!”

“After YOU tried to strangle my fiancé!” shouted Troy back at him.

“YOU WANNA GO?!” shouted Jonas as he tried to lunge back towards him.

“STOP IT THIS INSTANT!” Re applying her magic around Troy’s Father, Twilight kept him tightly in place while he tried to squirm within her grasp. After turning him back to face her, Twilight kept her eyes peered at Jonas. Despite him being twice her size, the Princess still managed to keep a firm enough stare to keep him in line.

“General, I am going to give you ONE chance to end this peacefully. I don’t care who started this, but I’m going to finish it! As long as you are within Equestrian limits, you are NOT permitted to act this sort of way!”

“So you expect me to just let this go?!” even though his claws and limbs were held in the Alicorn’s aura to prevent him from moving, his neck still crooked over towards Troy and the rest of the family at the entrance of the back room. “After what he said to me!?!”

“Jonas, please!” Angela ran up to the two, keeping her worried focus on her husband. “You need to calm down! This is NOT the time to act up!”

“This is something I am NOT going to tolerate,” said Twilight in a surprisingly brooding tone of voice. Despite her inexperience as a Princess, the domineering tone and stature she carried against Jonas made her look as threatening as Celestia when she stood against Chrysalis. “General Clawston, I am speaking to you, not only as a Princess of Equestria, but also as a superior officer! And I am ordering you to cease and desist this very instant! Do. You. Understand me?”

Jonas stayed completely silent, not giving any evidence that he was going to resist the Alicorn’s words. Even though he was a ranked officer in a completely different nation, he knew that Twilight was completely within her right as a near-demigoddess to make an order like that, especially on Equestrian soil. So, after a low, brooding exhale, Jonas relaxed himself enough to make a very faint nod.

“Good.” once again, Twilight let Jonas go, but still kept her authoritative tone before adding, “Now, if you want to act civil, I suggest that you actually talk with your son instead of trying to throw punches. He gave you and Angela enough respect to address his future, so it would be fair to show him the same. Otherwise, if you don’t feel that way, then you can just leave.”

Jonas took a moment while he stared at Twilight, and then looked back to where Troy was. While Troy and Canvas walked out of the room and towards the parents, all while being side-by-side, Lyle and the triplets walked behind them, obviously in support of the two.

A strong grimace on his face, the Gryphon just shook his head before walking away.

“Dad!” began Blaze in a hurried tone as he tried to catch his attention. “Just… just stay calm, alright!? This really isn’t that ba--”

“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!” shouted Jonas as he stormed over to the door. “If he wants to try running his future in the dirt, than so be it! But I’m not gonna stand idly by and pretend to care!”

“So THAT’S how it is?!” Troy cried out in a mix of fury and anguish. “After all you’ve said about family and unity, you’re just gonna walk away from me?!”

“FAMILY?!” Jonas crooked his neck back at him with a nasty glare in his eyes. “You think that being like that makes you family?!”

Troy’s angered glare broke a little when he heard his Dad say that. Despite not wanting to look weak, that implication hit him like a bag of bricks as he breathed out heavily. “Dad, you… you…”

“Honey!!” Angela tried to pull Jonas back, not wanting him to say anything that he might regret. “You need to stop! This isn’t how--”

“If you think that you’re family,” continued Jonas as he pushed his wife aside, pointing a talon straight at Troy’s increasingly hurt face, “then you’re severely misinformed! That is NOT how a Clawston acts, and as far as I’m concerned, you are nothing but an utter disgrace!”

Troy, feeling another strong blow to his heart after hearing that last statement said so viciously, could only stand in utter shock alongside his brothers as he watched Jonas storm out of the bakery.

Canvas was the first to respond, taking no time to hold his fiancé tightly. Before any of Troy’s brothers could respond or try to do the same, Angela went into a panic as she looked between her sons and the door her husband flew out of.

“I… I don’t…”

She made one last glance back at Troy, feeling her heart cringe at how the Gryphon was struggling to keep himself upright while staring down at the ground. But before anyone could say a single word towards her, Angela made her choice on impulse. Determined to try to get some sense into her husband, the Gryphoness shot out of the door as well. “Jonas!!! Jonas, wait!!!”

That was what made Troy fall back onto his rear. Hearing both of his parents leave the bakery, Troy clenched his eyes shut as he struggled not to let anything stream out of them. Canvas hugged him even tighter, his lips trembling as he tried not to cry himself. “Troy, I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry…”

The triplets all looked at each other, none of them sure about what to do next. But before any of them could make a suggestion, Blade noticed how Lyle was looking while standing away from them. “L-Lyle? What… what are you…”

The other two looked over to see what Blade was staring at, their eyes widening when they saw the black and white Gryphon. Lyle, who now had his art satchel back around his side, was looking down at the floor away from everyone else. Standing silent, the younger Gryphon had nothing but pure, unbridled rage in his expression. Snarling with a furious glare, his pupils beading in, Lyle actually looked fairly threatening when Blane stepped in. “Lyle, dude! You need to calm dow--”

“I gotta do something.”

Without a single other word, Lyle flew out of Sugar Cube Corner like a rocket. Twilight, who was in a temporarily stunned state from all that she had to hear, didn’t have time to use her magic to restrain him before he was off. When she rushed to the front door, she saw that he was already a speck in the night’s sky, making her eyes grow in unease. “...Oh no…”

“Troy, WAIT!!!”

Canvas’s voice brought everyone’s attention back to the couple, as Troy quickly lifted himself up. With the Gryphon carrying a face similar to his younger brother, but with his cheeks wet with tears, Canvas was just barely able to latch onto his back before Troy ran out as well. Before Twilight could try to stop him, Troy rushed past her hard enough to leave the Princess falling on her flank outside of the shop. And by the time the triplets looked outside, all they could see was the figure of their brother flying off into the distance, with the sounds of his fiancé screaming for his life slowly dissipating.

Growing a concerned look on her face, Twilight rushed back inside and looked over at the triplets. “Okay, we need to find your brothers NOW! You three can try to find Lyle and make sure he doesn’t do anything brash. I’ll look for Troy and--"

DING!

As soon as that sound of the bell was heard from the kitchen, Twilight was interrupted long enough for Pinkie Pie to pop her head out of the kitchen serving window. “Dinner’s ready!”

Mister and Missus Cake both face-hoofed, not even knowing where to begin with her. Fortunately, the pink mare was able to see from the worried and/or saddened faces left in the bakery that dinner might not be a good idea right now.

“Ummm… I’m just gonna get some to-go boxes…”

Chapter Thirty-Five: Birds of a Feather...

The Clawston triplets are known for a lot of things -- mostly for whatever it was that they either broke, set on fire, accidentally ate, or had sex with. But of all the qualities that could be said about the three, one of the lest likely attributes anyone would say is that they were bright. However, as soon as Twilight Sparkle gave them the order to find Lyle, they all instantly knew where their younger brother was going to go:

Cloudsdale.

Since the preteen dropped all his stuff off in his hotel room, which was adjacent to their parents' room, the triplets knew that something was gonna go down if they didn't hurry. Lyle may have not been the most physical Gryphon, or even the one most likely to start a fight, but that glare he had right before bursting out the bakery was enough to know he was wanting to hurt someone.

Unfortunately, as soon as the three reached the Cloudsdale hotel, which was an impressively large structure at the edge of the city, they could already hear shouting from inside. Mostly, of their Mother's now shrill voice.

"What the buck were you thinking!?!" shouted Angela angrily as she stood in the middle of the hotel room. Meanwhile, Jonas was walking around the room, ignoring her as he packed their bags. "You can't just leave like this! I know you're upset, but this is our SON we're talking abou--"

"He is NOT my son!!!" yelled Jonas in a fury as he threw his duffel bag onto the bed, stuffing it with the clothing items he had in the dresser. "If he thinks he can talk to me like that, then he doesn't deserve me to be around!"

"Get a BUCKING hold of yourself!" Angela stormed up towards Jonas, keeping him from walking past her to continue packing. “YOU acted just as brashly as he did, if not worse! We need to at least TRY to settle this!”

“Oh REALLY?!” As soon as he heard his wife make that suggestion, he looked back at her with a cold stare. “Are you seriously saying that you’re alright with Troy being with another male?!”

Angela opened her beak, but several seconds passed where nothing came out but silence. Despite how badly she wanted to make a confident response to shut Jonas up, the Gryphoness took a moment before making a brief sigh.

“I… I don’t know,” answered Angela meekly as he looked down to the floor. “I don’t… know what to think about it, but…” After a pregnant bout of silence, she shook her head before looking back up with a more distressed expression on her face. “But I don’t want to leave him! Jonas, can’t you see that you’re going too far with this?!”

“Oh, and HE’S not!? Honey, he’s planning to marry a damn STALLION! How can you act like I’m the one who’s going too far when he’s about to ruin the Clawston name?!”

“If you keep acting like this, WE’RE NOT GOING TO HAVE A CLAWSTON NAME!”

That panicked outburst from his wife was enough to make Jonas pause his angered ranting. Meanwhile, Angela was panting heavily, looking like she was just about to cry while she continued. “Jonas, all of them were beside Troy!! ALL of our children! I… I don’t want to lose them! I don’t want to lose my family!”

“That’s not going to happen!” assured Jonas more sympathetically as he put his claws around her shoulders to calm her down. “Angela, please, just... “ After closing his eyes, Jonas made a long sigh before bringing his attention back to her. “Just trust me on this, alright? I know what I’m doing. This isn’t the first time we’ve had to deal with one of our sons doing something foolish. It always settles down, and they admit to their mistakes. I know this is a bit much, but I’m just trying to make sure we have a stable family.”

The sound of the balcony window sliding open caught the attention of both Gryphons, who turned around to see Blaze walk into the room angrily. “A stable family?! What the buck are you smoking to say something like that?!”

“Yeah!” added Blade as he came in behind his brother. “You didn’t even act like that to ME when I was with that Diamond Dog!”

“YOU two stay out of this!” barked Jonas as he pointed two of his talons straight towards them. “I’m the only one around here who’s actually trying to bring decency to this family!”

“DECENCY?!?”

With that unified response, the two stared at their Dad like he had just admitted to an affair with Starswirl the Bearded. Blane, who struggled to fit in through the window, plopped into the room ungraciously before giving an identical stare that his brothers had. “How the BUCK is that decent?! YOU JUST CALLED ONE OF YOUR OWN KIDS A DISGRACE, YOU DICKHEAD!!!”

“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!” Jonas rushed right up to Blane, getting his face right up to his so the two were staring at eye-level. However, unlike before, Blane wasn’t afraid to stand up against him, making the two massive figures stare menacingly at each other like a matching pair of statues.

“Please, STOP IT!” cried Angela as she stepped in to separate the two. She placed her claws between them to push them apart. “I already had to deal with ONE fight tonight, and I don’t want to try to stop another one from happening!!”

Even though Blane paused for a second, taking in his Mom’s panicked words, he looked back to his Dad after regrowing his furious stare. “I don’t care how angry you try to act, or what you might try to say, but what you did to Troy was NOT ‘decent’, And you know it!”

“So what do you want me to do about it?!” asked Jonas as he returned the glare back at Blane. “Just sit idly by and let one of my sons get married to a stallion?!”

“YEAH!” shouted all three of the triplets at the same time.

“Dad, Troy is planning to get married!” shouted Blaze as he tried to shove his sense into his Dad’s conscious. “He’s going to be in a Committed! Relationship! And you’re seriously going to treat him worse than any of the chicks that WE dated?!”

“WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY?!? HUH!?!” Even with his wife desperately trying to keep him from causing another scene, Jonas refused to hold back when he glared at the triplets. “What do you think Gryphons back home are gonna say when they find out that one of my children decides to be with a MALE instead of bearing children?! When they discover that Troy is trying to make himself to be a bigger runt than he already is?! I’LL BE A DAMN LAUGHING STOCK!”

“Dad, you’re a bloody GENERAL!” shouted Blade back at him. “I think that’s enough to shut any Gryphon up about it!”

“Yeah, to my face! But as soon as they’re out of earshot, this entire family is gonna look like a complete embarrassment! I’m not going to have Troy doing something that’s going to guarantee that he gets mistreated by everyone in the Gryphon Kingdom!”

“You sure this is just about Troy?” asked Blane as he walked up closer towards his dad, keeping himself at equal eye-level to him. “Because it sounds to me like you’re more concerned about you.”

While Angela desperately tried to keep either of the two from getting closer to one another, Jonas merely narrowed his eyes on Blane. “Do you really think that YOU’RE any different?”

“What the BUCK is that supposed to mean?!” said the massive Gryphon angrily enough to get Angela to push Jonas back further.

“Jonas! This has gone too fa--”

“I’ll tell you what that means!” interrupted Jonas as he extended a claw past his wife to point straight at the triplets. “All of you are trying to act all high and mighty now, but I didn’t hear a damn PEEP from any of you back at that bakery!”

That comment was enough to make all three of the triplets freeze for a moment. Thinking back at all that happened back at Sugar Cube Corner, none of them could hide the twinges of guilt they were feeling in recollection. Any of them could have gotten between Jonas and Troy before the fight got physical, or spoken up more in support of their younger brother sooner. Unfortunately, with the bitter memories of what happened coming back to them, none of the triplets had anything to say in response. Instead, the three Gryphons’ heads lowered a bit involuntarily

Jonas, seeing that none of them were going to speak up about his point, only gave a satisfied huff in response. “That’s what I thought,” added the Gryphon with a sneer on his beak, “so don’t try to act all ruffled up now, and expect me to think that any of it is genuine.”

That comment got the three mad again. Blane quickly rushed back up closer towards his Dad, startling Angela as he regrew his uncompromising glare. “What, you think I’m scared of you NOW? Because if a little stallion can stand up to you, I don’t see why I can’t too.”

“Blane, NO!” Angela desperately pushed against Blane to keep him back from her husband. “This needs to stop NOW! I already had to deal with a Princess having to stop a fight, and I don’t want any more to start because of statements we don’t mean!”

“You don’t think I meant it?!” shouted Blane and Jonas at the same time.

“Let me tell you one thing,” snarled Jonas as he looked back at his wife, making her grow more worried when she saw his angered stare directed at her instead of the triplets. “I never, EVER back down from a claim I state or a promise I keep! And I can tell you one thing for sure: after what he said to me and what he’s planning to do, I am not going to have a deviant like Troy as a son.”

If Jonas had just shoved his claw through his wife’s chest to punch her in the heart, the face she’d make would be nearly identical to the look she gave him at that moment. Before she or any of the triplets could say a word, the door that connected the adjacent rooms flew open. Lyle, who had a look angrier than any of his older brothers, began to walk over to the main door with his luggage wrapped around his back.

“And just where do you think YOU’RE going?!” shouted Jonas with malice. Even though he had no idea that Lyle was even in his hotel room, he wasn’t going to let him leave now.

“What does it LOOK like!? I’m leaving!”

“Oh, no you’re not!” yelled Jonas as he quickly rushed up towards him. “As long as you’re under MY roo--”

“I’m not STAYING under your bucking roof!” shouted Lyle right back at him after turning around. “If you really think that throwing out one of your kids is fine, then I’m leaving too!”

“WHAT?!” screamed Angela with a look of pure shock on her face.

“You bucking heard me!” Keeping his eyes pinned on his Dad, Lyle made sure that his luggage was secure onto his back before preparing his last words towards Jonas. “I’ve had to deal with your bullshit for way too long, and I’m not gonna stay around either of you if you think what you’re doing is fine!” He pointed a free talon up at his Father before adding, “You’re saying that Troy isn’t your son? Well guess what, NEITHER AM I!!!”

Lyle then walked back to the door, ignoring Jonas’s furious tone of voice, “DON’T YOU DARE LEAVE THIS ROOM!!!”

“Or what?” asked the younger Gryphon as he glared back at him. “You’re gonna keep treating me like crap and make me feel worthless?! At least Troy and Canvas treat me with actual respect! You know, like how a parent is SUPPOSED to act!”

Jonas, who was already at his wit’s end, could feel his face growing red from anger against his brown feathers. “Lyle,” growled the Gryphon through clenched teeth, “you are NOT leaving this room to go back to that Colt-Cuddler!”

Lyle, who was now by the door, made one last glance back at him before grabbing the doorknob. “Oh yeah?! MAKE ME!! Because right now, I’d rather keep a Colt-Cuddler for a brother than have a Piece-Of-Shit for a Dad!!!”

“YOU LITTLE--”

“JONAS!!!” Angela was able to grab hold of her husband before he could lunge after his son. “Quit acting like thi--”

“Let go of me!” Jonas managed to shake himself out of Angela’s embrace. Very, very fortunately though, Jonas didn’t take that chance to grab Lyle, which would’ve caused the triplets to pull him back as well. Instead, the Gryphon breathed out slowly as he walked up closer to Lyle, and spoke in a dark, ice-cold tone before his son could turn the knob.

“Lyle… You better think long and hard about what you plan to do. Because if you take one step out of that door… Just ONE step… Don’t you ever think of coming back.”

“JONAS!!!” Angela almost wanted to slap him for saying that. It was bad enough that he reacted the way he did to Troy, but she wasn’t going to lose Lyle as well. “I am NOT going to stand by and let you lose TWO of our--”

“I TOLD YOU TO STAY THE BUCK OUT OF THIS ANGELA!!!”

Despite the fact that she was right next to him, and even clinging onto him, Jonas didn’t even consider screaming in a lesser tone right into her face. For a long moment, no one said a single thing. The triplets, who formally mad a mix of anger and surprise from seeing how both Lyle and Jonas were acting, were now only carrying a shared look of complete and utter shock.

Jonas was known to get loud, no doubt. And in more than a few instances, he’s been known take physical measures when it came to disciplining his children. But of all the things he’s done, his wife was always completely off limits. He never… EVER… even thought of raising his voice against her in such a way that he just did. Nevertheless, despite the stunned look that she had, with her wide-open eyes risking tearing up, Jonas only paused in place for a moment. His expression softened a bit before he made a small sigh in slight guilt. But even with that, his expression only lasted a few seconds before turned back to Lyle, who was still frozen at the door.

“I’ve raised you, Lyle… I took care of you, all of you… I’ve loved you… I’ve fed you and gave you shelter… So you better think… You better REALLY think about what you plan to do next…”

For a long moment, no one made a single movement. The only thing that could be heard, aside from Angela’s panicked breathing as she stared between Jonas and Lyle, was the sound of Lyle’s talons against the brass doorknob as they moved slightly. However, after a few seconds, which felt like an hour of silence, his claw let go of the doorknob. And much to his older brothers’ dismay, Lyle’s claw touched the carpet in front of the still closed door.

Jonas grew a confident smirk on his beak, which only grew when he saw his son turn around and walk up to him. “That’s better. I don’t know wha--”

PTOO!!!

Blaze, Blade, and Blane’s beaks all dropped in an instant. Angela’s claws shot up to cover her own agape mouth. Jonas, whose smirk changed to a shocked expression in a millisecond, could feel his left eye twitch violently.

Of course, not as much as the giant load of spit that hit him right underneath it.

“EAT SHIT!!!”

Not even bothering to see how Jonas would react, Lyle walked right back to the door, and opened it without any hesitation before storming out of the room. Before he disappeared, one of Lyle’s claws shot back into the room for a brief moment to give his Dad the middle talon before the door slammed shut.

By now, multiple parts of Jonas’s face were twitching, like he was trying to manually process what he should do next. While Angela stood frozen, unable to move in shock as she tried to process another son leaving them, Blaze tried to speak up towards his Dad. “Dad… do you NOT see how you’re acting right now?! You need to sto--”

“Shut up,” muttered Jonas coldly as he lifted a claw to wipe Lyle’s spit off of his face. “It doesn’t matter…”

After flinging his claw out to let that loogie hit the floor, Jonas breathed out calmly as he let what happened sink in. Knowing what this meant, the Gryphon cracked his neck before speaking in a more subdued tone. “If that’s what he wants, then so be it. He was too pathetic anyway.”

That… that was the straw that finally broke the camel’s back. Even though the triplets originally planned to just find Lyle, that statement from Jonas was enough for the three to know that there was no hope for their Dad. An enraged look on his face, Blaze was the first to shout out; “THAT’S IT! I’M LEAVING TOO!”

Jonas quickly turned back at Blaze in shock. “WHAT?!”

“You heard me, asshole!” shouted Blaze as he stormed past his Dad towards the same door Lyle left from. “If you’re gonna keep being a dick, then I’m done with you! Enjoy losing THREE sons!”

Before Jonas could say anything in protest, the muscular Gryphon opened the door and left just as his younger brother had. Angela could only stand devastated, unable to even open her beak before seeing Blade do the same.

“I’m done too!” The skinny Gryphon opened the door to leave, but looked back at Jonas before saying in a cold tone through his Trottingham accent, “Granddad always said to follow the one you respect most. And right now I have none for you, you twat!”

The door slammed shut once more after Blade left, which made Angela throw her claws over her beak to muffle a sob. But as soon as she saw Blane storm towards the door as well, she finally spoke out in a desperate shriek. “BLANE, PLEASE DON’T!!!”

“Take it up with HIM!” shouted Blane as he pointed a claw straight at Jonas. After opening the door to leave, the massive Gryphon looked back at his Dad before yelling furiously, “WHAT THEY SAID!”

The door then slammed once more, leaving Jonas and Angela completely alone in the hotel room. Before Angela could have a breakdown, unable to take in what just occurred, the door opened again, revealing Blane’s head poking in to say one last thing. “Oh, and by the way! I really AM a florist! AND I LIKE IT!!!”

That was when the door made one final slam. Jonas, who was too stunned to make a reply through any of his sons’ statements, only stood frozen for another moment before growing a bloodthirsty expression on his face. While his wife struggled not to fall onto the floor and sob uncontrollably, the General rushed over to the door, and poked his head out to shout into the now empty hallway.

“YOU WANT TO BE WITH A DEVIANT?!? FINE!!! GOOD RIDDANCE, YOU INGRATES!!!”

The only thing Jonas saw when he turned back into the room was the clenched fist of his wife’s claw that came barrelling towards his face. After punching the Gryphon hard enough to knock him out cold within the doorway of the hotel room, Angela rushed out in a panic, screaming her sons’ names frantically.

Chapter Thirty-Six: ...Flock Together

Canvas had his eyes held shut as he desperately tried to maintain his death grip on his fiancé's back. He wanted to say something -- anything to try and calm down the Gryphon's frayed nerves. Unfortunately, the sheer force of bitter cold wind hitting his face, combined with the overwhelming fear he felt being flown at least a thousand feet in the air, made the stallion unable to get a single audible word out of his muzzle.

Meanwhile, Troy shot through the pre-winter skies like a missile, seemingly either unaware or uncaring that Canvas was clinging onto him dearly. Even though the stallion's hooves were holding onto him securely enough to not risk flying off, the speed that Troy had while flying could have easily changed that very quickly. Of course, despite how fast he was flying, making the cold winds sting his face strongly through his feathers, Troy wasn't able to let that overpower the amount of pain he was feeling in his chest.

You think that being like that makes you family?!

Troy shut his eyes tightly before shooting downward, making his stallion scream in terror as the two fly back down to the ground. Fortunately though, the Gryphon was able to pull up soon enough to not end up killing the both of them. Instead, Troy opened his eyes in time to see where he was headed, and spread his wings open to slow his descent to make a quick landing. With a sudden “whoosh”, the Gryphon used his hind paws to hit the ground hard, making a huge skid-mark several feet across the dew-covered grass.

As soon as Troy made a complete stop, Canvas jumped off his back in a desperate attempt to keep himself from being shot into the skies once more. Nevertheless, the stallion wasn’t as worried about himself as he was his fiancé, and he rushed over to try to hold Troy tightly. “Troy... Troy, you really nee--”

The Gryphon stepped away before the stallion could put a single hoof on him. Keeping his beak clenched shut, Troy was barely able to make a single visible emotion aside from the look his face had when clenched in pain.

He’s no son of mine.

While Canvas stood in growing worry, his fiancé stumbled across the vacant grass field, which was the same one which used to be below his first cloud home in Equestria. The pond nearby shimmered beautifully underneath the night’s sky, but the Gryphon paid no attention to any of it; instead, he made his way towards the treeline of the forest. Right near the edge of the woods, a large tree stood out against the others, completely dead with greyed bark as its branches hung within inches of snapping off.

If you think that you’re family, then you’re severely misinformed!

Canvas tried to run up to him, but from the look of unfading despair that was on Troy’s face, it was doubtful that the stallion could say anything to get him out of his stupor. Nevertheless, Canvas spoke out in a faint and panicked tone when Troy reached the tree.

“Troy… Troy, please… You’re really scaring me…”

Troy’s golden eyes peered straight at the dead tree, and narrowed in growing intensity as his Father’s words continued to play back in his head.

As far as I’m concerned, you are nothing but an utter disgrace!

“RRRAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

CRASH!!!

With a furious roar reminiscent of his lion ancestry, the Gryphon punched his claw straight through the base of the tree. The claw ripped through the rotted bark, bursting out the other end with no resistance as shards of splinters shot out everywhere. Gritting his beak in unmatchable fury, Troy kept his foreleg embedded in the tree for a moment after that punch, like he was trying to envision Jonas’s chest in place of it.

Canvas stepped back cautiously, looking more afraid as he heard another deep growl come from the Gryphon. After another angered yell, Troy’s other claw punched through the tree as well. Feeling a building seething inside of him with the anger of a thousand suns, Troy let out a bloodthirsty cry as he pulled back, ripping the massive dead tree straight out of its roots.

CRACK!!!

Troy lifted the giant tree straight up after pulling it out of the ground, and swung it as hard as he could against the ground in blinding fury. With his pupils shrunk down to their absolute smallest, making his eyes look like two golden orbs of pure malice, Troy continued to roar like a primal beast as he ripped the tree apart with his talons.

“YAAAAAHHHH!!! GAH!!! RrrrrrrrrRRRRRAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

For several minutes, Canvas could only watch in silent horror as he watched his fiancé destroy the rotted husk in any way he could: tearing, clawing, punching, and smashing smaller pieces against the ground. In his aggravated state, Troy didn’t see the dead tree in his sights as he slashed it to pieces; instead, he merely saw every single instance in his life which he wanted to completely obliterate out of existence. After swinging the tree to smash against the ground a few more times, it ended up looking more like an over-sized twig by the time Troy was finished. As the Gryphon stood in the middle of the destruction, surrounded by broken branches, bark and splinters, he only paused for another moment before screaming out into the skies, roaring thunderously like a lion that just claimed its kill.

Canvas had to cover his ears with his hooves to prevent getting any hearing damage. When he pulled his hooves free, the stallion looked back at Troy, and his eyes widened when he saw the Gryphon’s state.

Gripping the last fragment of the tree in his claws as it laid in the grass, Troy’s eyes were clenched tightly shut as he breathed out in heavy pants. Each deep exhale came out more strained as the last, and his eyes began to well up, despite how hard Troy tried to keep them closed. After seeing another pained scream come from his fiancé, Canvas ran in to hold him into a tight hug.

“Troy… Troy…” Gripping him as tightly as he possibly could, the stallion knew exactly what Troy needed to do. Ever since the two became friends, Canvas knew exactly when he began to fall in love with him, which was when Troy held him tightly after finding out about the stallion’s Father; and right now, what Troy was going through was exactly the same as how the stallion was on that night. So, with a strong hug holding the Gryphon in place, Canvas had Troy’s head firmly against his chest as he spoke in a whisper. “Troy, please… please don’t keep this in… Don’t bottle it up like I did…”

Troy’s breathing began to come out faster, his claws slowly wrapping around the stallion to hug him back. While he struggled to keep his eyes shut, he could only give a faint whimper as he heard his love continue.

“It’s okay, Troy,” whispered the stallion in as calming of a voice as he could, despite it coming out strained from his struggles not to cry as well. “I’m right here… I’m right here, Troy... and I’m not letting you go…”

Troy winced a little as he hugged his fiancé tighter. With his head pressing harder into the stallion’s aqua chest, a couple small tears finally escaped his clenched eyes. While his beak trembled, he knew he couldn’t hold back when he heard Canvas say that one last thing:

“It’s alright. Just… just let it out…”

That was enough to make the floodgates finally break. Keeping Canvas in a deathly grip, Troy couldn’t keep it in anymore as he finally cried. Despite his stern background, and the fact that Gryphons aren’t supposed to be seen in such a weak state, none of that mattered to him at that moment. Instead, he just clung to his fiancé dearly as he bawled, unable to stop the flow of tears escaping his eyes.

Much like when Troy did this for him, Canvas couldn’t keep himself from sobbing either. Remembering when Troy held him at one of his lowest points, right after he finally confessed who it was that hurt him, the stallion knew that Troy needed to let this out. But still, hearing the overwhelming amount of emotional anguish coming from his mate with each near-deafening cry was making it hard for Canvas to not break down into a crying fit as well.

Before long, Troy was hugging Canvas even tighter than the stallion was holding him. His head rested against the stallion’s shoulder as he wailed loudly; barely able to speak coherently between his strong sobs. “Th-th-that… That SON OF A BITCH!!! I… I hate him!!! I HATE HIM SO MUCH!!!”

As soon as he said that, Troy’s cries came out even stronger. Canvas could only return the strong hug as tears came down his face as well. Letting his fiancé get this out of his system, the pony kept him in tight embrace as he felt the fur on his shoulder get matted with the Gryphon’s tears. “I know, honey, I know… It’s okay… I hate him, too.”

Even though Canvas felt a slight twinge in his heart from actually saying that out loud, it was mostly from how easily he was able to say that. Of course, after seeing how that Gryphon acted, it was no doubt to the pony how he could say that; he really did hate him, especially after seeing how badly his fiancé was hurt because of him. But after a small sigh, Canvas clenched his eyes shut as he held his love tightly in his hooves. “But you can’t let that get to you! Troy, you’re stronger than him. You’re a bigger Gryphon than he could ever be. You proved that tonight, and I couldn’t be prouder of you for that.”

Troy only slumped his head down in dread. Even though he knew that Canvas was trying to get him out of his saddened state, the fact that both his parents left him was making the idea of feeling positive seem close to impossible. But despite that, Canvas pressed his lips against the Gryphon’s cheek tenderly, giving him a soft kiss before continuing in a calming tone.

“Troy, I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry you had to deal with that… I know how it feels, and I know how much it hurts…” As a few more stray tears escaped him, the pony only paused for a second before adding in a sincere tone of voice, “But… I’m right here for you… I’m not leaving you alone, Troy… I’m not letting you be alone like I was.”

Troy made a quick nod before hugging the stallion even tighter. Despite the lingering pain still burning in his heart, the Gryphon was grateful for Canvas being by his side. As he kept his eyes closed, savoring the warmth of his mate as they hugged in the cold darkness around them, he could barely speak in a tone stronger than a muffled croak. “Th… thanks, Canvas… You… You have no idea how glad I am to have you…”

For several minutes, the two just hugged underneath the enchanting glow of the night’s sky, neither of them saying a word to break the moment they shared in each other’s warmth. Although a few sobs escaped Troy as they held each other, the Gryphon stayed relatively silent before giving off a deep sigh. Canvas slowly opened his eyes, which were slightly reddened. “T-Troy? Are… are you okay?”

Troy pulled his head back, having his beak point to the ground while his eyes stayed closed. While the moonlight made the lines of tears shine out against his silver feathers, his beak opened to make a faint, defeated statement. “I… I don’t know… I… I don’t… know what to do.”

Seeing the look of pain in his fiancé’s tired expression, Canvas didn’t hesitate to bring his hooves out to hold the Gryphon. Lifting Troy’s head back up, Canvas made sure that he was looking right at him before speaking in a more determined tone of voice. “I’m going to tell you what we’re going to do, Troy. First, we’re not going to let this get to us. All that matters is that we’re still alright, and nothing is going to change that. You helped me, and I’m gonna be damned if I can’t do the same for you! If you can be my support, then I’m going to be there for you, no matter what.”

Troy, whose eyes were much redder than his stallion’s, could see from the look on his fiancé’s face how serious he was about this, prompting him to nod slightly.

“And as for what we’re going to do next,” continued the pony as he held Troy even closer, “we’re going to keep doing what we planned before. We’re going to get married, and we’re not going to let anything stand in our way. After all you’ve done for me, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather spend my life with.”

Troy made another small nod, a tiny smile beginning to grow on his beak as he felt the last few tears escape his eyes. “Me… me neither…”

The stallion then bent in and held Troy in a tender hug. Resting his head on the Gryphon’s shoulder, Canvas felt his fiancé’s claws wrap around him, making him sigh as he spoke surely. “Troy… We’re going to have a great life together… It doesn’t matter who we have in our lives, just as long as we have each other…”

Troy hugged Canvas even tighter in response, but not too tight as to keep the stallion from being able to continue.

“Troy, I always want to be with you, and I can already see what it’ll be like… We’re going to live a long life together… We’ll always have each other’s backs… And when we both get all old and wrinkly…”

A small giggle came from Troy as he pulled his head back, giving the first legitimate smile to Canvas in the form of a skeptical smirk. “Maybe you, but I’m not gonna end up all withered.”

“We’ll see,” stated the stallion with a grin of his own. After planing a small peck on his beak, Canvas looked up at him before continuing, “But when we do end up like that, and we’re both old… I’m still going to love you with all my heart… Just like I do right now.”

Troy looked like he was about to tear up again, but the smile on his face was enough to show that he didn’t mind one bit. He pulled Canvas in for another powerful hug, feeling more sure than ever before about what he wanted to say. The Gryphon took a breath before speaking in a stronger-sounding voice, “Canvas, I swear… I swear more than anything, I’m going to be the best husband I can possibly be.”

A trembling smile grew on the pony’s muzzle, and he could only reply with a stronger hug before saying, “Me too, Troy… Me too.”

The two only pulled back for a brief moment, looking at each other underneath the enchanting moonlight before moving in for a deep kiss. Staying in tight embrace, with muzzle and beak intertwined as passionately as when they first made love, neither of them let a single bad memory from earlier that night pass into their thoughts. Instead, the two just kept themselves connected for as long as they could, neither of them wanting to break free from the one they loved.

“Ummm… guys?”

Troy and Canvas pulled back in surprise, and turned their heads to the source of the new voice. Twilight Sparkle, whose cheeks were wet from her own tears, had a cautious smile on her muzzle. “So… is everything alright?”

Troy was the first to nod to the Alicorn’s question, and used one of his wings to pull his fiancé in even closer. Even though his voice still sounded a little rough, the Gryphon had a smile as he answered, “Y-yeah… I think we’re okay…”

Canvas nodded as well when he looked back towards the Princess, a smile of his own as he leaned in beside the Gryphon. Despite still feeling cautious (especially from all the screaming and crying she heard on the flight over here), Twilight could tell that the couple were ultimately fine for the time being. “Well, I just wanted to make sure…”

Twilight then walked up towards Troy, and kept a more assuring look on her face as she spoke in a sincere tone. “Troy, I just want you to know that if you ever need to talk with somepony about this, I’ll be more than willing to help. Okay?”

Troy nodded once more, with a grateful smile appearing on his beak. “Y-yeah… thanks, Twi.”

Happy to see that reaction, Twilight then turned to Canvas and asked, “So Canvas, do you think you can get Troy home without any problems?”

“Yeah, of course,” said Canvas confidently as he looked over at Troy. “That is, if Troy can promise not to fly like a bat out of Tartarus.”

Troy only scoffed with a smile. “Oh, come on! I wasn’t that bad!”

“Yes you were,” said Canvas and Twilight at the same time, both in a tone serious enough to make Troy shut his beak. The Gryphon looked away sheepishly, feeling guilty as he remembered how brashly he shot away from the bakery with Canvas clinging to his back. Fortunately, the feel of Canvas’s soft fur on his side was able to help Troy settle down enough to listen to Twilight’s voice.

“Well, if you two are alright, then I’ll leave you alone for the night. If you want, I can have Pinkie come by tomorrow.”

Canvas and Troy looked at each other for a moment, and then nodded back at Twilight. “Yeah, that sounds pretty good,” said Troy with a more content smile on his beak.

With that, Twilight gave her last goodbyes and hugs to the two before heading back towards Ponyville. Despite feeling like there was still more that needed to be done in regard to Troy and his family troubles, the Princess knew that it could wait for tonight. When she looked back at the two as she flew, seeing the stallion and Gryphon in loving embrace, Twilight smiled more assuredly before refocusing on her flight. This night may have ended in one of the worst ways possible for Troy, but at seeing who was beside him, the Princess was sure that he was going to be fine. After all, if there’s anything that Twilight learned from the past, it’s that love, much like friendship, is able to overcome the strongest pain.

Troy and Canvas stayed in that field for only another brief moment, both of them feeling grateful that Rainbow Dash’s recently renovated vacation cloud was empty that night. When Canvas finally got back onto Troy’s back, he was happy to see that his fiancé learned from his past mistake, and took this flight at a much more relaxed pace than before. As the two soared at a lower altitude, going just over the forest line to head back to their home, Canvas had his eyes closed as he held his love tenderly, letting Troy’s warmth settle against him as they flew against the chilly night winds.

However, as soon as the barn came into view, Troy’s eyes widened when he caught sight of something by their front door. When he landed in the lawn, letting his fiancé hop off of his back, the Gryphon walked over to see who it was. “Lyle?! What are you--”

Lyle, who was huddled by the front door of the couple’s living space, shot up the instant he heard his brother’s voice. And before Troy could finish his question, the younger Gryphon shot toward him, grabbing him for an extremely tight hug. “TROY!!!”

Despite feeling slightly confused, Troy was quick to return the hug equally as tight as Lyle’s. “Lyle, what… what are you doing here?”

When he pulled himself back from Troy, the black and white Gryphon had his head lowered in an attempt to hide how he looked. Of course, both Troy and Canvas could see the matted feathers underneath Lyle’s eyes. After taking a couple brief breaths, Lyle managed to collect himself enough to speak faintly. “I… I left! After what he did to you, I… I couldn’t stay there anymore! I grabbed my things and came back here!”

While the couple both looked fairly shocked at what Lyle said, Canvas looked over at the front door to see Lyle’s bags lying beside the wall. Before the stallion could react, Troy hugged his brother again as he tried to think of something to say. “Lyle, you… you didn’t have to--”

“YES I DID!!” shouted Lyle as he hugged his brother even tighter, not wanting to let him go. “He wanted to make me choose! He was trying to make me stay with him, and I… I couldn’t do that…”

A few light sniffles came from Lyle’s beak as he kept his claws wrapped around his brother. While his eyes stayed shut, mostly to keep himself from tearing up too badly, he only paused for a couple seconds before continuing in a more subdued tone. “I couldn’t leave you like that, and… and I made my choice. If that… asshole thinks he can make me choose, than I’m gonna choose… I’d… I’d rather be with my brother than with him.”

Troy, who was becoming overwhelmed by a new array of emotion, kept his brother in a tight embrace as he felt new tears begin to flow from his eyes. Canvas felt himself start to tear up as well, and could only stand at the side for a moment before leaning in to hug Lyle from behind.

A small bout of silence lasted for a few seconds as the three hugged, but was interrupted as the sound of fluttering wings caught their attention. When Troy pulled back, he looked up to see the triplets silhouetted against the night sky. As soon as they landed in the grass, Lyle stepped back from them and shouted in a furious tone. “I’M NOT GOING BACK!!! I don’t care what you guys say, because I’m DONE with him!!”

“Whoa, whoa whoa!” Blaze was the first to speak up as he threw up his claws to stop his brother. “We’re not doing that, Lyle, okay? Trust us, we’re NOT letting you go back to him!”

Seeing the look of sincerity in his older brother’s expression, Lyle took a second before wiping his face dry with a claw. “R… really?”

“Yeah,” added Blade as he stepped in with an equally honest tone to his brother’s. “We… we all left too. After seeing how he acted, we… we couldn’t stay with him.”

“That’s right,” said Blane with a nod in agreement. “Dude, we’re supposed to be family. And… what he did wasn’t family at all.”

Blinking repeatedly in shock, Troy could only look between the three of them with a growing feeling of heaviness in his heart. Realizing what the triplets did for him, Troy knew that he was going to start crying again. “You… you all left… because of me?”

The triplets looked at each other before all nodding in unison. “Well… yeah, dude,” said Blaze as he looked back at his brother. “We’re not giving up on you that easily. We love you, man! BOTH of you! And if Dad is gonna be an asshole about who you’re with, then screw him!”

Blade nodded to his brother’s statement before looking back at Troy as well. “Exactly. We’re Clawstons, mate! We don’t give up on our brothers, no matter what! And I’m certainly not going to leave half of them for one tired-out old bloke with a stick up his bum!”

Blane, who carried a warm smile similar to the two beside him, walked up to Troy as he added his final statement. “We’re all here for you, dude. It’s just like the Clawston motto: Birds of a Feather…”

Tears finally began to stream down Troy’s cheeks as he smiled back at them. But instead of trying to wipe them off like his brother had, the silver Gryphon just nodded before finishing the motto. “... F-Flock Together…”

With that, the three Gryphons all pulled Troy in for a massive hug, not wanting him to be without one after all that happened. While Lyle joined in, having all five Gryphons in a giant group hug, Canvas stepped back as he watched with an overjoyed smile on his trembling muzzle. Of course, as soon as the stallion sniffed and tried to wipe a tear away, Blaze’s head poked up to look over at him. “Hey! What’re you doing over there?!”

Canvas jolted a bit as he stepped further away from the Gryphon hug. “Oh! Ummm, nothing. I… I was just…” The stallion looked away bashfully, a small blush growing as he tried to think of a way to leave Troy with his brothers. “I was just watching, but… I guess that’s more of a family thing.”

“Yeah, exactly. So what are you doing over there?”

Canvas looked back over at Blaze with his eyes open wider than before. As he let the Gryphon’s works sink in, his heart began to beat faster when he saw the other two triplets look over at him as well. “Come on, man,” said Blane as he extended a wing out for the stallion. “This is a family hug, so get in here.”

Feeling his heart get warmer with each passing second, it took a bit before Canvas realized they weren’t joking. They really wanted him to join in. As brothers.

As family.

With tears coming down his face, it only took a moment of hesitation before Canvas shot in with the group. As he held himself close to his fiancé, he felt Blane’s wing and Lyle’s claw wrap around his back. Realizing what this meant, Canvas shut his eyes in bliss as he hugged as tightly as he could, feeling unbelievably lucky at what was happening.

Troy may have lost quite a lot during dinner earlier that night, but none of that mattered as he felt his brothers and fiancé holding him lovingly now. It didn’t matter who left, and it certainly didn’t matter what may have been lost. All that mattered, to both Troy and Canvas, was that they still had those who really did matter. They still had their brothers, and above all…

They still had a family.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Best Man and Worst Timing

The morning skies were dampened quite a bit by the overcast color which signaled the beginning of the winter season. Of course, none of that seemed to phase Troy, who was standing underneath the steaming-hot water coming from his outdoor shower. Despite the fact that breakfast was being made inside of the barn, there was still more than enough hot water for the Gryphon to get washed up as he stood amongst the brisk morning air.

The silver Gryphon's eyes were clenched shut as he let the water cascade down his feathers, letting the pleasing sensations help to ease his settling nerves. Before he could try to turn off the faucet and get himself dried off, Troy felt the familiar touch of his fiancé's hooves wrap around his midsection.

"C-Canvas…" Although he flinched a little in surprise, Troy still sighed with a smile as he felt the stallion hold him tightly from behind. "Come on, man, you're gonna freeze the instant I turn the water off."

Canvas, not seeming to care one bit, simply replied with a nuzzle against the Gryphon's back. "Well, I haven't had the chance to shower yet. And since I wanted to see how you were doing, I thought it'd be nice to get two birds with one stone."

A small chuckle escaped Troy's beak, and a claw went down to hold onto Canvas's hooves while they were against his feathered chest. "Mmmmm…" Taking a moment to savor the stallion's warmth against his back, Troy exhaled deeply before turning his head to look back at him. "I'm seriously fine, Canvas. I just…"

Not wanting to blatantly lie, Troy couldn't help sinking his head a little before adding with a brief sigh. "I… I'm just trying to let this all sink in, that's all."

Canvas held his fiancé in even tighter in response. "It's okay, honey," said the stallion sweetly. "I know exactly what you mean. It's just like what you said to me: If you need to talk about it, I'll be there to listen. I promise."

That was when Troy turned himself around fully, letting him face his love with a smile on his beak. "Th-thanks, Canvas…" Seeing the warm smile on the pony's muzzle, Troy couldn't hold himself back as he gave him a strong hug. While the shower head above them continued to rain steaming hot water, the stallion returned the hug lovingly. Of course, while his eyes were closed, Canvas felt a distinct rumble, which made his ears twitch a bit as he recognized that familiar sound.

"Hehehe…" Canvas looked up at Troy with a coy smirk on his muzzle. "You're purring."

Honestly, he expected the Gryphon to get all huffy or look at him with a disapproving pout (which was supposed to be intimidating, but mostly just looked cute to the stallion). Surprisingly though, Troy didn't give much a response to his fiancé's statement. Instead, he just paused for a second before making a tired shrug of his shoulders. "Uhhh… yeah. I guess."

Canvas’s head pulled back a little in surprise. “Wait, what?”

Troy exhaled once more before making a defeated nod with his head turned away from the pony. “Yeah, I… I was.”

The stallion’s brows climbed higher, realizing that something was off. Even though he wanted to be happy that Troy finally admitted it, the way that the Gryphon actually said it wasn’t comforting at all. “Troy, why… why are you saying that? I mean, why are you… saying it like that?”

Troy kept his beak pointed to the ground, staying silent for a moment before stating his feeble answer. “I just… I didn’t want to admit it before be… because purring is a sign of weakness…” While his eyes stayed closed, the Gryphon shook some moisture off from the back of his head before continuing. “And now, well… you saw me crying like a hatchling last night, so it’s not like I have to hide being weak now, can I?”

A strong pout came on Canvas’s face. “Troy, stop that!” said the stallion disappointingly as he poked at Troy’s chest. “How could you even think something like that?! You are NOT weak!”

Troy only made a disbelieving huff. “Oh, come on. You… you saw how I…”

Canvas sighed before pulling Troy’s head back up with a hoof. “Yes I did…”

When he made sure that the Gryphon was looking back at him, Canvas grew a more sympathetic smile as he kept talking. “Troy, I saw you do a lot last night. Both good and bad. And I… I don’t think I ever saw that much emotion come from you at once.”

Troy tried to sink his head back down, not wanting to think about that. Nevertheless, the stallion still kept a sweet tone in his voice. “And you know what? That only made it more clear how glad I am that we’re together.”

The Gryphon blinked a couple times, and peered back at Canvas with a slightly surprised look in his eyes.

“Honey, what I saw in you last night was not weak,” said Canvas in the surest tone of voice he could muster as his smile grew. “You were dedicated. You were sincere. You were able to say what you meant without backing down. And most of all… you showed nothing but courage when you said how much you meant to me.”

Slowly, a weak smile began to appear at the corners of Troy’s beak. Not waiting for a reply from his fiancé, Canvas bent in to give the wet Gryphon a caring nuzzle, which was immediately returned by him. Of course, after a moment of silence, with only the sounds of the running water running through the peaceful morning, another sound reemerged which made Canvas sigh with a grin.

“Mmmmm… see? There’s nothing wrong with purring.”

Troy’s involuntary purr quickly stopped. The flustered Gryphon turned his head away as his cheeks started to redden. “I… I wasn’t…”

“Oh, come on!” The pony peered up at his fiancé with a look of disbelief. “You’re seriously going to deny it now?!”

Troy clenched his beak shut in obvious embarrassment, the feathers on his face beginning to ruffle out. “Well, it’s not like I…”

“Troy, you just purred! I heard it clear as day!”

Troy just looked sheepish as he tried to look away. Unfortunately, as soon as his head turned to the barn, his eyes widened when he saw Pinkie Pie poke her head out from the side.

“I heard it too! You sounded like a biiiig kitty cat!”

“PINKIE!!!”

Luckily enough, Pinkie didn’t stay for that long after dropping off what was made for the family the previous night, as well as a box of doughnuts. When she saw how content Troy looked while around his brothers, it was clear to the pink mare that nothing much else needed to be done to ensure that he was going to be alright. So, instead of using her party cannons to help with an impromptu “Hope You’re Feeling Better After Your Parents Acted Like Meanie-Heads” song, Pinkie just gave her best wishes to the group after giving them their food. Of course, none of the Clawston brothers looked disappointed at all when they saw what it was:

“Oi! Pass me another slice of the mushroom one!”

Lyle tossed one of the remaining slices of the mushroom pizza over to Blade, who had to lean his head back to let the melted cheese drip into his open beak. Sugar Cube Corner may have been known for their amazing sweets, but the bakers definitely knew how to make more than that, as evidenced by the flatbread pizzas that they had prepared for the Clawstons the previous night. Despite the fact that they needed to be reheated, the meal turned out to be the best mood-enhancer for their morning feast. Heck, even the fact that none of the toppings had meat (or tofu, which the Cakes knew wasn’t exactly a popular culinary treat for Gryphons) didn’t stop any of them from tearing into it the instant Canvas got them out of the oven.

“Mmmmph!” The aqua stallion licked some excess grease off of his hoof as he had his fill, obviously happy with the red and green pepper pizza he helped finish off. “Man, this is almost as good as that pizza we had in Manehattan!”

Lyle nodded in agreement, swallowing his bite before adding, “Yeah, definitely. Is this the one you guys have planned for your reception?”

Troy shook his head while wiping his talons clean with a napkin. “Actually, no. We were planning to try this one place in town that has a really good pretzel crust.” The Gryphon looked down at the few remaining slices, shrugging before grabbing a doughnut. “But I gotta admit, the Cakes could be good competition if they made pizzas as well.”

Despite eating nearly half of the entire meal, Blane made a skeptical shrug while chewing. “I dunno, dude. It’s kinda hard to compare this with a meat-lovers back hom-- Really, a pretzel crust?!”

Blaze was already digging into the doughnuts, and was dunking a sprinkled one into milk from a giant mug that he found in the kitchen. “You’re seriously surprised about that? Dude, you remember when we tried to deep-fry that whole pizza?”

Blane instantly grew a smile on his beak. “Oh yeah! Wasn’t that when we met that chick with the giant ass when the fire department showed up?”

“Nah, I think that was during the firecracker suit, mate,” added Blade as he raised a talon to intervene. “I remember she was around when Dad was yellin’ at us about that.”

Blaze and Blade took a moment, but raised their brows with a unified “Aaahhhh” as soon as they remembered that detail. “Oh yeah,” said Blane with a nod of his head, “now I remember! Man, he was pissed! I thought he was seriously gonna kill us!”

“Yeah,” added Blaze as he leaned back into his seat. He shook his head in slight disbelief before taking a bite from his doughnut. “Bruh,” he said in a muffled tone as he chewed,” I can’t belief we were thcared of dat affhole!”

“I know, right?!” Blane had a surprised smile of his own as he pointed a talon over at Lyle. “I mean, I’m still surprised that Lyle was able to fly out of Cloudsdale with the cojones he had on him! He should’ve just dropped like a stone with those bowling balls between his legs!”

Everyone had a good laugh from that, which made Lyle smile a little wider while in his seat. Troy, not wanting to let this moment pass by, cleared his throat before turning his attention to his younger brother. “Lyle, I just gotta say that you doing that has my infinite respect.”

“Oh, come on,” said Lyle with a shrug as he looked away, not wanting to show too much of a blush on his cheeks. “I was just doing what family is supposed to do. I’m not letting any of my brothers get treated like that.”

“I know,” responded Troy as he kept his sincere smile. “And because of that, I can definitely add something to the wedding plans.”

“Huh?” asked Lyle, along with the triplets in confusion. Troy waited until Lyle looked back at him, and placed a claw on his younger brother’s shoulder.

“Lyle, I seriously can’t think of anything that would be better proof of you being a man. And because of that, I would be honored if you were to be my Best Man.”

Lyle’s eyes shot wide open in shock. So did the triplets, but their surprise was for a much different reason as they shouted out in unison, “WHAT?!?”

“What?” asked Troy as he looked back at them. “He deserves it!”

“Dude…” Lyle had to blink a couple times before realizing that Troy was being completely honest. “Are… are you serious?”

“Absolutely.” Keeping his genuine expression, Troy leaned in as he asked, “So, what do you say? Will you be my right-claw man?”

While the triplets all groaned and slumped back in their seats, looking like they just lost the lottery, Lyle quickly grew an honored smile on his beak. “I… I… of course, dude!”

Lyle leaned in to give his brother a strong hug, which prompted their older brothers to whine in unison, “Oh, COME ON!”

“What!?” asked Troy as soon as he let go of Lyle. “Lyle deserves the title! He stood up for me!”

“But… but we left too!” whined Blade as he looked between Troy and Lyle. He pointed a claw at Lyle and added, “And what’s he gonna do for the bachelor party, huh?! Putt-putt golfing?”

Lyle flustered a bit as he pulled back, his eyes darting around before saying in a weak tone, “Uhhh… no?”

“Come on, Troy!” said Blaze in a pleading tone. “At least let us organize the bachelor party!”

Canvas, who was trying to stay happy about Troy getting his Best Man, was now looking slightly worried as he stared between the Gryphons. “Ummm… Lyle?” asked the stallion as he turned over to him. “What do you think?”

Lyle took a second to think it over, and made a meager shrug before looking back at his older brothers. “Oh, alright! You can do it if you want, BUT! I want to join in on the party too!”

“YEAH!!!” The three stood triumphant as they slapped claws with each other.

“No strippers!” said Troy in an insistent tone.

“Aaaawwww!!!” Their happy tone was immediately dampened with that detail, and their shoulders slumped down in disappointment.

“Ya, serious, mate?” asked Blade towards Troy as he sat back down in his seat. “What’s a bachelor party without strippers?!”

Blane and Blaze got back into their seats as well. Blane reached into the box of doughnuts as he said, “That’s like a bachelor party without booze! Or Hearth’s Warming Eve without booze!”

Canvas chuckled under his breath, and looked back at his fiancé before adding his input. “You know… since it’s a gay wedding, it would be a gay bachelor party, too.” The pony kept a coy smirk as he turned to the triplets and continued, “So unless you want to get your brother some Chippendale dancers or something--”

“GAH!!” Blane drew his claw out of the box in revulsion of that thought, reacting as if he just touched a penis among the doughnuts. Unfortunately, his action caused the box to fly up in the air, making all the doughnuts fall onto the table and floor. While everyone else either shouted out or looked at him with upset expressions, Blane threw his claws up in innocence. “That was an accident, I swear!”

Knock Knock Knock Knock

“Oh, come on” griped Blane as he looked over at the door. “That wasn’t THAT big of a deal!”

Troy just sighed as he got out of his seat. “I’ll get it. It’s probably Derpy with the mail.”

When he opened the door, Troy turned out to be right. Even though she looked slightly cautious, the grey mare still had a smile on her muzzle when she saw the Gryphon answer the door. “Hey there, Troy!”

Derpy used one of her wings to pull out the only mail for Troy and Canvas from her bag. “Here’s your mail!” said the Pegasus cheerfully as she held the cardboard tube. “The address says it’s from Canterlot.”

“Ooh!” Canvas quickly got out of his seat to get the package. “I think I know what that is.”

Derpy handed the tube to the stallion, who popped off the lid to inspect the rolled paper inside. “Oh, cool!” Canvas grew a smile and turned his head to Lyle. “Hey, Lyle! It’s a copy of that drawing you made!”

“Really?” asked Lyle in slight surprise. Even though he knew that Canvas asked the movers for a copy, the Gryphon didn’t expect them to actually do it.

While Lyle went over to see for himself, Derpy leaned her head in to see the copy while Canvas unrolled it. Her slightly off-center eyes widened in shock. “Holy cow!” Her head quickly crooked towards Lyle. “Did you really draw that?!”

“Uhh…” Seeing how impressed the Pegasus looked after seeing the replica in Canvas’s hooves, Lyle couldn’t help blushing a bit in embarrassment. “Y-yeah… Kind of a long story.”

“It’s fantastic!” With an impressed gleam in her eyes, she looked back to the picture for a moment before giving a coy smirk to Canvas. “You better be careful. I think he might give you a run for your money.”

While Canvas and the older Gryphons laughed at Derpy’s statement, Lyle’s blush grew a tad deeper as he turned his head away from her. “Oh, come on…”

“Hey, don’t act so humble about it,” said Troy with a smirk on his beak. “Seriously, why are you looking like that?”

Canvas gave a light chuckle before looking back at his fiancé. “You should’ve seen him back in Manehattan. He gets shy about his art.”

“N-no I don’t!” sputtered the Gryphon defensively after turning back to the couple.

While the triplets just laughed some more at the sight of Lyle’s attitude, Derpy kept her smile as she looked up at Troy. To be honest, the Pegasus didn’t expect this place to be so upbeat when she flew here; after hearing about what happened the previous night at Sugar Cube Corner, the mare was prepared to at least give Troy a hug or something. But with one glance up at the Gryphon’s carefree smile, Derpy just shrugged before beginning to make her leave. “Well, I gotta finish my runs, so I’ll see you guys later, oka-- What the?”

The grey mare paused for a second when her hoof stepped on something. Looking down, Derpy saw a powdered doughnut, making her tilt her head in confusion. “What the…”

She looked back inside the barn, just now noticing all the doughnuts that were scattered across the floor. After looking back up at Canvas, Troy, and all his brothers, her eyes grew wide before getting a panicked look on her face. “Oh… oh, EW!!!”

Derpy flew off in an instant, leaving everyone in the barn looking confused. Of course, at the memory of what happened that one day, Canvas gasped when he looked down and realized what she must have been thinking. “Oh no!”

“WAIT!!!” Troy shot out of the barn to try to fly after her. “WE WEREN’T PLAYING THAT! WE WERE NOT PLAYING THAT!!!

Canvas poked his head out of the doorway to yell out in addition, “WE NEVER PLAYED THAT!!!”

When Canvas looked back inside, he saw the four brothers looking at him with very confused looks on their faces. The stallion make a meager smile and a chuckle before trying to look away from their stares. “Uhhh…” Blaze blinked a couple times as he tried to speak up, “Should we ask what that’s about?”

“I… would rather not say,” said Canvas honestly. Shaking his head in disbelief, he quickly grabbed the box from the table to begin cleaning up the mess. “Let’s just say that Derpy has a bit of an imagination on her.”

Lyle just shrugged before grabbing his sheet. “Whatever. Hey Canvas, you got a frame I can use?”

“Oh, check in the studio,” said the stallion as he looked up at him with a smile on his muzzle. “I keep some on my brush shelf near the bottom. I think there’s a few that can fit that.”

“Awesome! Thanks, dude.”

While Lyle walked off into the stallion's studio, Blade shook his head as he leaned back in his seat. “Oi, I swear. I haven’t seen the bloke that nervous about a picture of his that isn’t one of his dirty ones!”

“I know!” added Blane in an equally surprised tone. “And he picks NOW of all times to act nervous?”

“Hey, he’s still getting used to positive feedback for his art. Cut him some slack.” After picking up all of the doughnuts, Canvas placed the box back on the table before grabbing himself one of the custard-filled ones to partake. “Although I will admit,” added the pony before taking a bite, making his next few words sound muffled with the pastry inside his mouth, “I’m thtill thocked tha he achually did that.”

“You mean back at the hotel?” asked Blaze with a grin on his beak. The Gryphon made a disbelieving shake of his head in recollection. “I know what you mean, man. I wouldn’t have even thought of doing something like that!”

“Neither would I,” said Canvas honestly after swallowing. “I seriously thought that Jonas was gonna kill me back at Sugar Cube Corner, and I didn’t even touch him!”

“Yeah,” replied Blane as he relaxed back in his seat, “I think that was when we all knew that he was all bark and no bite.” He gave off a chuckle as he added, “I mean, he didn’t even try to go after Lyle after he left! All he did was say that he was ‘too pathetic anyway’, and that was when we were all like--”

SMACK!

That especially hard snack off his head by Blade’s claw was enough to immediately shut Blane up. The Gryphon cried out in a shocked yelp as he rubbed his head. He looked over at Blade with an irritated expression, “What the buck was THA--”

Surprisingly, Blade’s furious glare was able to silence his brother without even saying a word. Staying silent, the skinny Gryphon just pointed a talon past Blane, and had it aimed straight at the wall of the studio that was behind him. Turning around, Blane’s eyes widened as he realized what his brother meant. The studio’s wall only went up halfway to the ceiling.

Which meant it wasn’t soundproof at all.

“...Oh…” Growing a worried look, Blane turned back to Blade before asking in a more whispered tone. “You don't think that he--”

SLAM!!!

The sound of the outside doors of the studio bursting open was enough to make all of them rush over in an instant. Unfortunately, by the time that Canvas and the triplets reached the studio, it was already too late. Lyle was already gone.

Canvas ran over to the open barn doors, and stopped to see the frame that Lyle picked was laid abandoned on the floor, along with the picture next to it. “... Oh no…”

Blaze smacked Blane over the head as well. “Way to go, dumbass! There was a reason we didn’t tell Lyle about that!”

”I’m sorry, I forgot!” shouted Blane sincerely as he rubbed his head. Looking legitimately guilty, the Gryphon spread his brown-feathered wings out as he eyed the open doorway. “Don’t worry! I’ll get him!”

“Blane, WAIT!!” Canvas threw his hooves up before Blane could fly out out through the studio, which would've most likely made everything inside crash around like it was caught in a tornado. But honestly, the stallion wanted him to stop for a completely different reason. “Guys, just… just stay here.”

Canvas turned around to run out of the doorway to try to find Lyle. While the three stood confused, Blade was the first to shout out, “OI! Whatr’ya doin?”

“Just trust me! I…” Pausing for a moment as he put a hoof to the doorway, Canvas bit his lip before looking back at them. “I kinda… know what he’s going through…”

Before any of them could ask what he meant by that, the pony ran out of the studio. “Besides, I think I know where he’s headed! Just wait here!”

And like that, Canvas was gone. Standing in the stallion’s studio in awkward silence, the three looked at each other in a mix of bafflement and slight worry. Of course, the silence was broken by Blane, who looked back at the dining room before asking, “So… does that mean Canvas isn’t gonna finish his doughnut?”

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Heart to Heart

It didn't take long for Canvas to find Lyle after he flew out of the pony's art studio. Despite how fast the Gryphon may have flown, Canvas had a pretty strong hunch where his future brother-in-law lay have went. Running as fast as he could, Canvas was able to use the markings still in the forest to navigate through without getting lost. As soon as Canvas reached the clearing, getting to where he and Troy were at the previous night, the stallion saw where Lyle was.

Hunched nearby the destroyed tree that Troy tore into last night, the black and white Gryphon was sitting on its husk in silence. A few feet away, a similarly-battered dead tree was laying in the grass beside it, adding more broken remnants and splinters to the open field of grass. Seeing the added destruction, Canvas almost wanted to make a statement as to how Lyle and Troy were more similar than he originally thought, but he decided to stay silent when he walked in nearer.

When he reached closer to Lyle, Canvas's ears perked upward a bit, catching very faint noises from the preteen Gryphon. Realizing what it was, the pony's heart sunk in dread, hating that Blane's involuntary statement lead to it:

Sobbing.

Lyle's head was rested into his claws, his back hunching upward with each breath as he tried not to bawl his eyes out like his brother had. Instead, Lyle was more reserved as he sat in the husk. His breathing came out in hard, rapid pants, obviously from trying to keep himself stable. Unfortunately, the sound of a branch snapping underneath Canvas's hoof made the Gryphon perk up a little before shouting out angrily, "JUST GO AWAY!"

Canvas didn't see the Gryphon's face, mostly since Lyle kept it away from his sight, but the stallion could tell that he was really hurt by what he overheard his brother say. "Lyle, please, I… I don’t want to see you--"

"I SAID GO AWAY!!!" screamed Lyle even louder than before. While his face stayed buried in his claws, a loud sniff was heard before several more rapid pants. Canvas stayed silent, but still walked towards him with cautious steps of his hooves. It wasn't until he was a few feet away that the pony opened his muzzle.

"Lyle… it's just me…Nobody else is here…"

Keeping his voice in a timid whisper, the stallion walked up to the battered trunk Lyle was sitting on. Lyle stayed silent as Canvas sat in beside him. For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Not needing to push anything, Canvas waited a bit while sitting next to him, not wanting to disturb anything the Gryphon must be thinking about.

Lyle kept an irritated scowl on his face, but had it pointed away from Canvas. Although, that was mostly because he didn’t want the stallion to see the tears that ran down his feathered face. His beak finally opened as he spoke in a weak-sounding voice, “Wh-what do you want, Canvas?”

Hearing how strained Lyle’s voice sounded, Canvas winced in discomfort. Nevertheless, the stallion made a small exhale, feeling a little bit better that Lyle was least trying to open up enough to talk. “Listen, I… I get that you’re mad right now.”

The Gryphon made a strong huff, not needing to say that Canvas may have understated his insight. Fortunately, the stallion didn’t let that get to him as he continued. “I’m really sorry you had to go through that, Lyle. Seriously, it…” Thinking it over, Canvas could only sigh as he thought it over. “...it really does suck… Believe me, I know.”

“HOW THE BUCK COULD YOU KNOW THAT?!?”

Jumping off of the log, Lyle was absolutely furious as he turned to stare Canvas down venomously. While the stallion stayed on his flank, unable to get a word in, Lyle continued to fume out while pointing a talon at him. “I just found out that my Dad never gave a SHIT about me!! I’m supposed to be his SON!! HOW CAN YOU ACT LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT THAT’S LIKE?!?”

Lyle was just a few inches from his face by the time that last statement was screamed out, but Canvas didn’t budge an inch. Along with the fact that this wasn’t the first time he’s dealt with a screaming Gryphon in the past twelve hours, the pony knew better than to let Lyle’s anger get the best of him. Instead, Canvas kept a neutral expression on his face while waiting for him to finish. “Lyle…” the stallion spoke in a calm and unwavering tone, “... can you let me finish?”

Honestly, Lyle looked like he wanted to keep yelling at him, But after a brief bout of silence, the Gryphon’s pout lessened before he stepped back. Lyle breathed out deeply before sitting back on the stump beside. “Yeah, yeah…” He rubbed his temples with a claw as he tried to keep himself more stable.

While the Gryphon kept his beak shut, Canvas waited before reopening his muzzle. “Thank you…” Looking over at him, Canvas saw that Lyle had his face pointed to the ground, with his beak still showing an apparent scowl. Canvas bit his lip before moving his head downward as well. “So Lyle… Can I ask you something?”

His golden eyes turned back at Canvas in annoyance. “What?” he asked bitterly.

Canvas took a breath through his nostrils, and exhaled before making sure his lips weren’t pressed shut from that tone. “Well… Troy already told you about my Mom, right?”

Lyle wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but he still made a small nod. “Yeah. Back in Manehattan.”

Lyle still sounded annoyed, but at least he wasn’t acting so uptight. Canvas bit the inside of his cheek as he looked back toward him. “Okay. So… did he tell you anything else?”

Lyle blinked a couple times. “What do you mean?”

“Well…” Even though he felt uneasy asking him, Canvas knew what he was planning when he came out to find Lyle in the first place. He kept a worried glance back at the Gryphon before saying, “Did Troy mention anything about… my Dad?”

From the way that Lyle’s brows rose slightly, the pony could tell that Troy really hasn’t said anything about that. While he was beyond grateful that his fiancé never mentioned anything about his Father, Canvas knew that talking about it wasn’t going to be easy. Nevertheless, the aqua stallion waited until Lyle shook his head, prompting Canvas to sigh before looking back down. “Well… there’s a reason for that…”

Seeing how much Canvas’s tone changed to a more morose state, Lyle sat beside him with a growing feeling of worry while he listened. The pony closed his eyes for a moment, looking like he was trying to prepare himself before speaking in a fainter tone. “You see, Lyle, I… I only had my Dad for the longest time after my Mom died. And… I really thought he was always going to be there for me…” Canvas had his head hung low, and only kept his sights on the grass underneath his hooves while speaking towards Lyle. “But… but that didn’t last…”

While the two sat alone in that field, without a single soul to listen in on them, Canvas told Lyle everything about what happened back in Gallop Creek. Despite the fact that retelling those events still hurt as badly as reopening a fresh wound, Canvas was able to keep himself from crying as he went into as much detail as he could. While he spoke about it, Canvas never once looked up to see how Lyle looked, and just kept his eyes down at the ground.

Meanwhile, Lyle's once-fuming state was quickly changed as he learned more about Canvas, and what happened after he came out back in his old hometown. Throughout the pony’s story, Lyle’s expression turned from an upset scowl, to a shocked wide-eyed stare; of course, by the time that Canvas’s story was complete, the only response that the Gryphon had was a completely stunned look on his face.

Canvas breathed out heavily, albeit shakily as well, when he reached the end of his recollection. “Troy… Troy really did save my life that night. If… if he never found me…” The stallion’s eyes shut for a long moment as he let what he was about to say sink in. He gave off a deep sigh before reopening his blue eyes, which were looking slightly moist. “I… I know that I’d be dead.”

An extremely long bout of silence lasted after that last statement from the pony. Still processing what he just heard, Lyle turned away from Canvas to look back down at the ground. After shaking his head in disbelief, the Gryphon was only able to faintly say one thing in response:

“... holy shit…”

Canvas only replied with an understanding nod of his head. “Yeah, I… I know…” When Canvas turned back over to Lyle, he could see that he was still deep in thought as he sat in stunned silence. He looked back down at the grass as he added in a grave tone, “I’m just saying, I… I do know what it’s like. I know you’re mad, but… you’re not the only one with a shitty Dad.”

“... Well… you win.”

“I… I didn’t mean it like that, Lyle!” Canvas gave off a huff before turning back to Lyle. Seeing how the Gryphon still had his beak pointed to the ground, the artist pulled out a hoof to wrap around Lyle’s shoulder. “Listen, I… I know that you’re probably not in the best mood to talk right now, but I just want you to know something. No matter how bad it might feel, it doesn’t mean that it’s never going to go away.”

Canvas saw Lyle’s golden eyes look back at him, which prompted the stallion to hold onto him tighter. “I’m serious, Lyle. I’ve been there before. It might not be easy, but… it’s not impossible. Things are going to get better, I promise.”

Lyle only blinked a couple times, and chose to stay silent as he made a very faint nod. Not needing to say much else, Canvas leaned in against his future brother-in-law, placing his head on the Gryphon’s feathered shoulder. As the pony closed his eyes while holding him, neither of the two spoke for a long moment. Nevertheless, while Lyle sat with the stallion beside him, his thoughts became harder to ignore. Recalling everything that Canvas told him, there was still something he wanted to know.

“So, ummm…”

Canvas’s ears perked up as he heard Lyle’s voice speak up. When he reopened his eyes, the stallion saw Lyle looking up at him curiously.

“Did… did you ever talk to him after that?”

Canvas’s brows raised in slight surprise. “What?”

“You know. Did…” Lyle looked away in guilt as he realized how his question may have sounded. “Did you ever… see your Dad?”

Biting his lip shut, Canvas took a breath before nodding and looking down at his hooves. “Yeah, I… I did.” Recalling the event, Canvas tried not to openly cringe as those memories came back to him. “About a month ago, he came to Ponyville looking for me…”

While the stallion sat in the same slumped-over position he was in earlier, Lyle listened intently as Canvas continued.

“I tried to get away from him, but he eventually caught up with me. And after all he put me through, I… I just couldn’t stand the idea of even talking to him…”

The pony’s expression started to turn more sour. “He tried to tell me how he gave up everything to try and find me, like… like that was going to change everything he did. And… I didn’t even care when he started crying about it…”

Lyle’s eyes widened as he listened with interest, not daring to interrupt Canvas.

“He begged. Like… he literally begged for forgiveness. And… and I just told him off as badly as I possibly could…”

The silence that passed was long enough enough to warrant Lyle to ask, “So… what did you say?”

Canvas kept his face turned away as he replied coldly, “Enough to leave a full-grown stallion sobbing in the middle of the street.”

Even though Lyle was more than a little taken aback, he wasn’t sure what he was more surprised by: the answer that Canvas gave, or how bitter he sounded when he said it. From the look he saw on the stallion, Lyle didn’t see any evidence that Canvas was happy about what he just admitted. Even though he wasn’t sure whether or not to ask, Lyle still took a breath before asking timidly, “So… Did you, like… regret it?”

Canvas’s expression softened a little, leaving him to sit in contemplation before sighing. “I don’t know. I mean, I… I can’t say that I completely regretted it. Even though I knew it was bad, I meant every word that I said to him. But…”

After blinking a couple times to let his thoughts arrange in his mind correctly, Canvas exhaled once before looking back at Lyle. “But it didn’t make me feel any better at the end. I may have felt a little vindicated at first. Like… some sort of adrenaline or something. But… it didn’t take long before I just felt hollow inside. It just… didn’t feel right.”

While Lyle looked downward, obviously in thought about that detail, Canvas took the moment to add something he knew he had to say. “Seriously, I know that you’re mad at your Dad right now, and I don’t blame you for a second. What he said was really low, and I’m sure you’re probably thinking about every bad thing you could do to him because of that. But I’ve been there before, and I did all that. And… and it doesn’t change a single thing.”

Canvas paused as he tried to process his words right. “When you let your anger build up, it doesn’t do anyone any good. It’s… it’s like a rash. You can scratch at it all you want, but that relief is not going to last.”

It took a while for Lyle make a response while he sat, basically staring off into nothing. But after the silence passed, he finally regained his focus back to Canvas after everything was said. While the stallion expected at least a nod in understanding or something, Lyle instead replied with a weakly-voiced question. “So… what is it that I should do?”

Canvas honestly wasn’t sure what to say, mostly since he knew that he couldn’t necessarily compare his own actions to what Lyle should or shouldn’t do. But still, the pony shrugged as he replied, “Well, I really think that’s up to you, Lyle. I was never really given any advice on what to do, and I doubt it would be fair to say how you should react. But…”

The artist bit the inside of his cheek in thought for a brief moment. “Honestly, it… really depends on whether or not Jonas is willing to come back. I mean… if he isn’t willing to change, then there’s no use in trying to make that happen.”

Blinking a couple times, Lyle took in that fact before making a reluctant shrug. “True.”

“Yeah, definitely.” Canvas shook his head as he added, “I mean, I would’ve never expected my Dad to try and come back, but he did. So, who knows? Maybe your Dad can get some sense knocked into him, if he’s smart enough.”

Lyle made a huff. “Yeah, I doubt it.” As he slumped his head back down, Lyle sat in thought for a little longer before looking over at Canvas. “But… if he does…”

Canvas looked back at him, waiting for the Gryphon to finish his statement.

“What… what should I do?”

Canvas sighed and answered honestly, “Honestly, I don’t think I should get into that. What you do is your decision. If he does decide to come back, it’s your choice whether or not to let him back in your life. Nobody else can make that decision for you, and nobody else should. You get what I’m saying?”

Lyle nodded lightly, but he still looked fairly confused. Of course, before Canvas could say anything else, Lyle looked at him with his head slightly crooked to the side as he asked one last thing. “So… did you… forgive your Dad?”

Canvas’s heart sank at that question. Fortunately, it wasn’t bad enough to keep him from speaking. Instead, the stallion looked back down to the ground as he replied flatly, “No. I didn’t. Even after I calmed down and tried to speak with him, I think it was clear from both of us that what happened couldn’t be undone…”

Lyle blinked a couple times, unable to say anything in surprise at how blunt the pony’s answer was. After a quick huff, Canvas looked back at him before adding, “But… that was because of what happened to me, and I don’t want you to feel like you should act the exact same way. If you decide to keep him out of your life, or if you decide to forgive him, I’m not going to say anything otherwise. All you have to do is think whether or not your choice will be worth it, and I’ll respect whatever you choose to do. But all I ask is one thing…”

Making sure that Lyle was looking right at him, Canvas kept his hoof on the Gryphon’s shoulder as he stated firmly. “Do. Not. Let your anger get the best of you, Lyle. I mean it. No matter what happens, you need to keep a level head, and not let your emotions take over. You understand?”

Even though he was still a little confused, Lyle got the gist of Canvas’s advice to nod strongly to him. “Y-yeah. I… I think I do.”

Even though he wanted to feel like more needed to be said, Canvas still nodded in closure that Lyle was at least trying to think about what he said rationally. After taking a while to appreciate the nice, albeit chilly weather, Canvas sighed before finally breaking the silence. “So, how about we get back home? I don’t want the triplets to get worried.”

Lyle nodded, and waited for Canvas to get off the log before following him. As the two stretched out, Lyle saw that Canvas was planning to go back through the woods where he came from. While walking alongside him, Lyle cleared his throat to catch his attention. “Ummm… Canvas?”

The stallion looked back at Lyle, who was looking down at the ground between them as he spoke in a more subdued tone.

“I’m… sorry about what happened with your Dad.”

Hearing that, Canvas felt his heart buckle a little on the inside. Fortunately, he barely showed much sign of that as he nodded back at him. “Th-thanks… I’m sorry about yours.”

As the two looked looked at each other, it was clear that both of them knew what was coming. Taking the initiative, Lyle was the first to wrap his claws around Canvas in a tight hug. Canvas immediately returned the gesture, not even caring that he was finally starting to tear up as he held his future brother-in-law tightly in his hooves. Of course, even if he did open his eyes, he would’ve seen that Lyle’s eyes weren’t dry either.

“GUYS!”

The two stopped their hug after hearing Troy’s voice. After quickly wiping their eyes, the two looked up to see the silver Gryphon swoop down to them with a worried look on his face. “I just heard about what happened. Lyle, I--”

“It’s okay,” stated Canvas as he put a hoof up to stop whatever Troy was going to say next. “Seriously, it’s fine.”

Troy looked like he wanted to say more, and quickly turned his head to Lyle. Fortunately, Lyle just nodded in agreement to his brother. “Yeah, it’s alright, Troy. I’m good.”

Even though Troy wasn’t doubting his words, he still went in to give Lyle a hug of his own. “Lyle, I’m really sorry.”

Lyle hugged him back, but was struggling not to cry again as his voice came out strained. “Yeah, I know…”

Canvas just stood in wait as he saw the the two hug it out, knowing that he didn’t need to do much else. When Troy finally let go. Lyle quickly rubbed his eyes dry again as he stated, “I really don’t want to think about it right now, okay? I just… I need to clear my head a bit.”

“Yeah, alright,” said Troy in understanding. He put a claw on Lyle’s back while he and Canvas stood beside him, and gave him a helpful pat before speaking up. “Just so you know, Derpy told me that Bon-Bon was trying out a new taffy today. You wanna come into town and try it out?”

After making a small sniff, Lyle thought it over before nodding. “Y-yeah… I think that’d be alright.”

“Sounds good to me,” added Canvas more cheerfully. “I was wanting to talk with the Cakes anyway.”

“Alright then.” After pulling Canvas up with a wing in surprise, he looked back at Lyle while the stallion was being thrown onto his back. “C’mon. Let’s get back before the triplets eat everything in the kitchen.”

While Lyle made a small chuckle, Canvas huffed as he looked back at his fiancé. “You know, I can walk on my own.”

Troy turned his head back to him with a smirk. “Oh, you like being on my back, don’t deny it.”

“Urgh!” Lyle clenched his eyes shut as he turned away from the two. “Phrasing!”

The couple looked back at Lyle for a second, letting what Troy said sink in before they both started laughing. Before shooting up into the skies, Troy looked at his brother while shooting out his wings. “Pervert!”

Lyle looked back at him with a scowl as the two flew off. He shot up after them while shouting back, “You’re calling ME the pervert?!”

Canvas kept an unsure look on his face as he asked, “Are you sure there isn’t anything else?”

“Canvas, it’s perfectly fine,” assured Cup Cake as she returned the bag of bits back to him. “It was only an overturned table and couple of broken glasses. It really wasn’t that bad.”

“Yeah,” added Mister Cake from the serving window behind his wife. “Believe us, Pinkie Pie usually does way more damage on a good day!”

Even though Canvas had to shrug in agreement, he still felt unwilling to not give the bakers any more compensation than the small amount they already accepted. “I know, but I doubt none of that would’ve happened if I didn’t push Jonas like I did.”

“Now don’t you go blaming yourself,” stated Missus Cake sternly as she pointed a hoof at him. “What happened last night wasn’t your fault. I think it was pretty clear that Gryphon had some issues long before meeting you. If anything, you should be grateful that nobody got hurt.” The mare quickly thought her statement over before adding, “Well, not physically hurt, I mean.”

Cup Cake winced a bit from needing to add that detail, but Canvas just sighed before saying, “It’s okay, Missus Cake. Troy has his brothers, and he’s doing pretty well for the moment.”

Mister Cake’s head poked out from the serving window. “Where is he, by the way?”

“Oh, he and the guys are at Lyra and Bon-Bon’s. She was really wanting their opinion on a new taffy flavor.”

“Ah,” said Carrot Cake with raised brows, “I think she mentioned something about that. I think Rarity was wanting to talk with Troy too.”

“About what?” asked Canvas curiously.

Mister Cake shrugged his shoulders. “Not sure, but it sounded urgent when she came in earlier.”

“Huh…” Canvas had no idea what the fashionista wanted with his fiancé, but he merely shrugged as well before looking back at the door. “Well, I guess I am glad that things are alright for the time being. I just wished that it didn’t blow up before the main course was served.”

“Oh, don’t let that get to you,” said Missus Cake in a more upbeat tone. “That Gryphon probably had a stick up his… ‘You-Know-What’ for a while,” she said in a cheeky whisper. “All that matters is that Troy still has a family to support you two. Plus, we’re glad that our dinner didn’t go to waste.”

“Oh, that was delicious!” said Canvas with a newly-formed smile on his face back to her. “Seriously, that pizza was amazing!”

Cup Cake just blushed a little as she rolled her eyes with a smile of her own. “Well, we are bakers, after all. I’m just glad we were able to satisfy a family of Gryphons!”

“By the way,” added Mister Cake as he looked over at Canvas curiously. “Do you know if they added something to that potato soup? Because I found a bunch of weird red flakes inside of it. I thought it was paprika or something, but it tasted way too salty for that.”

Canvas’s smile quickly dropped as his eyes widened in an instant. “Uhhhh… I--”

Ding!

When the door to Sugar Cube Corner opened, all three ponies turned in shock to see a familiar Gryphon burst inside. Panting heavily, it was clear from her matted feathers and fur that she was flying without sleep since leaving the bakery. But despite her exhausted state, Angela gasped with a mix of shock and slight joy when she saw a familiar face.

“CANVAS!! I… I really need to talk to you…”

Chapter Thirty-Nine: A Mother's Understanding

Canvas stood in surprise as he looked back at Angela, who was at the doorway of the bakery. While the stallion stayed silent, Angela could barely keep herself upright while breathing heavily from exhaustion. If it wasn’t for her head being hunched low from fatigue, Canvas and the Cakes would’ve been able to see how reddened her eyes were behind her sweat and tear-matted feathers.

Despite what happened the previous night, Missus Cake looked concerned as she asked, “Ummm… Angela? Are you--”

WHUMP!

When she closed the door behind her, Angela’s footing slipped enough to make her fall back against it hard. But due to her tired state, the Gryphoness just laid hunched in a semi-conscious stupor as she struggled to make any statement other than a fatigued wheeze. “I… I’m sorr…”

“Carrot!” shouted Cup Cake as she turned to the kitchen serving window, “Get some water, quick!”

Carrot Cake was right on it, and rushed back into the kitchen to get a pitcher. As soon as he came back with one, Missus Cake grabbed it before going around the counter to hand it to Angela. The mare also pulled a chair towards the Gryphoness so she could sit upright. “Here you go, Angela. Just sit yourself down, alright?”

The Gryphoness was barely able to say anything, but she still made a faint nod to Cup Cake’s caring tone of voice. After slumping in the chair, Angela only had the pitcher for a second before she downed half of the water. She noticed several green leaves floating around inside of it, and her half-lidded eyes blinked a few times as she pulled her beak back.

“Don’t worry, it’s just mint,” added Missus Cake as she made sure Angela wouldn’t fall out of the chair. “Just try to catch your breath, alright? I don’t want you to pass out from exhaustion in our shop.”

“Th… thankyou…” Angela closed her eyes as she made another half-hearted nod. Cup Cake slowly stepped back to give her some air, and stood beside a worried-looking Canvas as they waited for a response. After downing the rest of the pitcher at an alarmingly quick rate, Angela made several more deep breaths before her voice became less strained. “I… I’m sorry about… last night.”

“It’s okay,” said Cup Cake calmly while keeping a hoof up to calm Angela down. However, the mare’s eyes looked outward to the shop windows to make sure a certain other Gryphon wasn’t back as well. “Are… are you alone?”

Angela’s head was slumped low before that question was asked, but it was clear that her facial expression had changed without Canvas or Missus Cake even seeing it. The Gryphoness’s ears pulled down slightly, and the brief bout of silence was broken when she finally responded with a shaky creak, “... yes…”

A couple loud sniffs from Angela was enough to make Cup Cake walk back towards her. “Honey, honey it’s okay…” She put a hoof on Angela’s shoulder, waiting until the sniffs subsided before asking sheepishly, “So… what happened?”

A heavy sigh was all that Angela could do at first, but she was eventually able to speak, albeit in a more distressed tone. “I… I couldn’t do anything… Th-they all left us, and… and Jonas just yelled at them…”

Even though the mare was still wary about Angela after what happened the night before, it was hard for her to feel much resentment when she saw how distressed the Gryphoness was now. After all, it was easy for a Mother to tell when another Mother was worried for her children. But instead of saying anything, Cup Cake just rubbed Angela’s shoulder tenderly, hoping to give the Gryphoness the support she needed to keep going.

“And,” continued Angela timidly, “... And I don’t want to lose them! When… when he let them go, I… I just hit him and tried to look for them… I… I can’t lose my children…”

Hearing Angela’s faint sobs after that last statement, it was difficult for Canvas to not feel a pained twinge in his heart while standing by the counter. While Missus Cake waited for Angela to settle down, she blinked a couple times before asking curiously, “Wait… you hit him?”

Despite looking upset, Angela still nodded with her head lowered. “Y-yeah… He… He just said ‘Good riddance’ when they left, and I… I punched him in the face.”

Canvas and Cup Cake’s eyes were both widened in surprise of that new info, but Missus Cake was the first to say anything about it. Her head turned back to shout to her husband who was back in the kitchen. “Hey Carrot! Get her a cookie!”

“What?!” shouted Mister Cake from the kitchen.

“I just don’t know what to do!” Angela’s head sunk into her claws as she struggled not to sob painfully. Canvas, despite not wanting to see anyone look this bad, stood awkwardly as he tried to think of what to do. While Angela continued to breathe rapidly, looking like she was going to break down at any second, Missus Cake looked back at Canvas as she asked, “Canvas, should… should we get Troy over here?”

Canvas’s eyes widened, not knowing whether or not that was a good idea. But before he could even think of an answer, Angela threw her claws down. “NO! I…” The Gryphoness’s voice started to sound even more frail. “... I… don’t want him to see me like this…”

Missus Cake sighed. “It’s okay, Angela. I’m sure that he doesn’t hate you, alright?”

“And how do YOU know that?!” shouted Angela in a sudden outburst that made Cup Cake jolt back . After making a small cringe, Angela groaned in frustration as she ran her talons through her frazzled feathers. “Sorry! Sorry, I… I just… I’m just scared…”

Looking at the distressed Gryphoness, Canvas bit his lip in worry when he turned over to Cup Cake’s equally uneasy expression. Despite not knowing if he could actually help, the stallion looked back at Angela as he opened his muzzle. But before he could say a word, the Gryphoness looked up at him to say, “But… I also want to talk to you first.”

While Missus Cake stood between the two with a surprised expression. Canvas blinked a couple of times before reluctantly asking, “Wait, why… why me?”

“Because I love my son,” said Angela sincerely as he stared back at him firmly. “And… and I don’t want to lose him because of this. I…” Her head slumped down one more time as she made a low sigh. “I just… want to at least try to fix this.”

Hearing how heartfelt the Gryphoness’s words were, both Canvas and Cup Cake could tell that she was being genuine about her request. Missus Cake turned over to Canvas and asked, “Do you… want to talk in the back room? Because we just got it cleaned, and I doubt it would be an issue.”

Canvas looked back at Angela, who was looking up at him from her seat with a near pleading look in her reddened eyes. As he thought it over, Canvas thought back to how horrible Troy felt as soon as they left this bakery. Even though part of him didn’t think that talking to one of Troy’s parents so soon would be a bright idea, he also didn’t want his fiancè to be any more hurt than he already was; and if that meant giving him the chance to reconnect with at least one of his parents, then maybe this was a risk worth taking.

“Well…” Looking between Missus Cake and Angela, Canvas paused for a second to find the right words. “If… if Angela is alright with that, then…” He made one final glance back at Troy’s Mother, seeing her make a small nod before doing the same. “Alright. I think that might be good.”

“Okay then,” said Cup Cake with a warm smile. After helping Angela up from her seat, she lead the two across the bakery towards the back room that they were in the previous night.

On their way, Carrot Cake’s head popped out of the serving window to ask, “So… should I get that cookie or not?”

“Here we go!” exclaimed Bon-Bon cheerfully as she walked out from the back room of the sweet shop, balancing two large baking sheets on her back. While the Clawston brothers all waited by the display shelf with curious eyes, Lyra sighed behind the register. “Finally,” muttered the unicorn mare when she saw her wife come towards them. “She’s been obsessed with this idea for days now.”

“Well, I couldn’t help it,” stated Bon-Bon in a chipper tone as she laid the trays on top of the glass counter. Due to the wax paper covering them, none of the Gryphons were able to see what it was that she made. Bon-Bon looked over at Troy and Lyle with a smirk on her muzzle. “When Cup Cake told me about what happened when you two went with Canvas to that cake testing, I had the--”

“Cake testing?!” shouted the triplets at the same time. The three turned to Troy and Lyle with angered looks before Blaze spoke up first, “You didn’t think WE wanted cake?!”

“This was before you guys showed up,” chimed in Bon-Bon to ensure nothing bad was about to occur. She waited for the triplets to settle down before continuing, “Anyway, when she told me how you guys reacted to a certain frosting…”

Both Troy and Lyle’s eyes began to widen. Seeing this, Bon-Bon’s smirk grew as she grabbed the wax paper with a hoof. “So… I decided to try a new taffy flavor.”

She then lifted the paper from the sheets, which made both Troy and Lyle beam like they woke up on Hearth’s Warming Morning. The triplets just looked slightly confused as they looked at Bon-Bon’s creation, which merely looked like white taffy. “So…” Blade had his head tilted to the side as he tried to look at it from a different angle, “It’s frosting-flavored taffy?”

“Sorta,” answered Bon-Bon with a grin as she took a knife to cut the batch on the first tray. With each segment that was being cut, Troy and Lyle inched closer to the counter, inadvertently pushing their older brothers out of the way. Even though she usually didn’t tolerate that kind of behavior in her shop, Bon-Bon only chuckled before getting a piece ready for each of them. “Okay, boys! Here you go.”

As soon as Bon-Bon handed them the sweets, the two snatched their pieces as quickly as possible. With Lyra and the triplets looking at them oddly, Troy and Lyle both gave off brief moans as soon as they caught that creamy sweet taste from the first bite. “Ooohhhhh…” Troy grew a giant smile as he chewed on his piece. “Oh, man… That’s incredible…”

“Wow,” whispered Lyra to herself, “Cup Cake wasn’t lying.”

While Bon-Bon continued to cut more pieces, Blane was the first to shrug. “Oh, what the heck. It can’t be as weird as that cupcake vodka we tried that one time.”

“Oi! I liked that stuff!” said Blade defensively.

Nevertheless, Bon-Bon happily handed a piece to the massive Gryphon. “Here you go, Blane.”

Trying to ignore how much Lyle and Troy were enjoying their pieces, Blane popped his piece into his beak without a second thought. Of course, after a couple seconds, the Gryphon’s pupils quickly dilated, just like Troy and Lyle’s had when they first tried the frosting at Sugar Cube Corner. “... dude…”

While the other two triplets stared at Blane with slightly worried glances, Bon-Bon kept a fascinated smile like a scientist studying a new chemical reaction. But before she could do much else, Blane quickly snatched up two more pieces that were already cut. Fortunately though, he shoved them to his brothers faces before Bon-Bon could protest. “Eat it.”

Lyra slowly got out of her seat, and stood beside her wife who had a stare as uneasy as her own. While the final two Gryphons got the same reaction as the others, looking like they just took some hallucinogenic substance, no one seemed to hear the bell chime as the door opened.

Ding!

“Hello?” asked the pudgy tan mare who walked inside, using a hoof to brush aside a strand of her red and purple mane. “Is anypo--”

“GAAAAHHH!!!”

Since the first sheet of taffy was already cut, it was enough for the triplets to immediately tear into it like a pack of lions into a downed gazelle. Lyra used her magic to quickly pull her wife out of the line of fire, leaving them to only watch in horror as the triplets tried to grab more of the addictively sweet substance they were unfortunate enough to be introduced to.

“Troy!” shouted the mare at the door as soon as she noticed him. While Lyle tried to jump into the pile as well, Troy's head turned around at the mention of his name. “Huh? I… Oh hey, Torch Song.”

Torch Song, who Troy knew was a friend of his and Canvas’s wedding planner, quickly beamed before turning around to yell outside. “Rarity! He’s here, he’s here!”

Troy honestly felt his paws moving back to the commotion happening behind him (which Bon-Bon wasn’t able to stop if she tried), but paused when he saw Torch Song come back with a relieved-looking Rarity in tow. “Oh, thank goodness!” shouted Rarity with a heavy sigh as ran up to him. “I was needing to talk to you, Troius!”

“W-wait, about what?” asked Troy worriedly, honestly not ever having seen the mare look this panicked before.

“Troy, we have a small issue,” said Torch song as she stood beside Rarity.

“Small?!” cried out Rarity before turning back to her, “This is MUCH bigger than a small issue!” Hoping to calm herself down, the fashionista took a deep breath as she looked back at the silver Gryphon. “Sorry about that, but… We hit a rather large snag for a show I’m organizing for this weekend.”

“What show?” asked Troy with his head slightly crooked.

“Well, you see,” began Torch Song, “Toe Tapper just came down with a bad case of Laryngitis, and he won’t be able to perform in time for our Pony Tones concert this Saturday.”

Troy’s eyes slowly began to widen. “Wait… a what concert?”

Seeing his expression, Rarity grew a wide, albeit nervous smile as she spoke. “...Yyyyyyyeaaaahhhh… And… we were wanting to ask you specifically…”

If the word “Awkward” were to be looked up in the dictionary, Canvas had a good feeling that the situation he was in could’ve been the example picture. Sitting in his chair, the aqua stallion was seated opposite of the table from Troy’s Mother, who had an equally uncomfortable look on her face while keeping silent. Despite what happened in this very room less than a day ago, the back room of Sugar Cube Corner was just as clean and pristine as before when Carrot Cake brought in a pot of tea and two cups.

“Here you go,” said Carrot as he poured cups for both of them, giving the first to Angela to help with her disheveled state. “Is… there anything else you two might need?”

Both of them shook their heads, and Canvas accepted his cup while Angela drank from hers. “N-no. I… I think we’re good…” Of course, when he looked back at the Gryphoness, Canvas couldn’t help wondering if his statement really was valid.

“Well, just let us know if that changes,” Carrot said with a worried smile before leaving the room. For a long, pregnant bout of silence, nether Canvas or Angela said a word, and just sat in their chairs while wondering who should speak first. While Canvas fidgeted in his seat a little, trying to get slightly more comfortable while holding his cup, he kept his eyes averted from Angela before hearing her speak.

“... So…”

When Canvas looked back up at her, Angela carried an uneasy expression as she tried to clear the air. “You… you’re engaged to… my son.”

Canvas bit his lip, but still nodded to her. “Y… yes…”

“And…” Unsure what she could say in addition to that, Angela’s talons fiddled a little after she put her now empty cup on the table. “He… gave you that ring?”

Canvas blinked as he looked down at his left hoof, blushing a little before making another small nod. “Y-yeah. He… he proposed to me at the Grand Galloping Gala.”

“I see…”

Angela breathed out shakily as she looked away from Canvas, looking like she was trying to process her thoughts diligently before making any response. As her breathing became more rapid, Canvas began to feel worried; of course, that changed when a nervous smile grow on her beak, making him realize that she was trying to giggle uncomfortably.

“I… I remember when he left,” began Angela in a faint tone of voice, “I… was talking with Jonas when he… said he was worried Troy would run off with a mare. And… I said to him, ‘Oh please, that’s ridiculous’…”

Her shaky laughter became more apparent for a second, before stopping to add, “I… suppose I wasn’t wrong, was I?”

Angela tried to laugh again, but her face cringed too hard to make any sounds coming out appear anything other than a pained attempt not to cry. Canvas, who was cringing as well, tried to avoid looking at her as he spoke up. “Listen, I… I never would’ve thought that this sort of thing would happen either.”

Realizing how she may have looked, Angela gave off a quick and heavy sigh as she redirected her attention to the teapot that was between them. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said in a quick breath while refilling her cup. “I… don’t know how to feel about this, but… I can’t let them think that I feel the same way as Jonas does.”

Canvas finished his cup before breathing out, and made a small shrug of his shoulders. “Well… just the fact that you’re talking to me like this is enough proof that you’re not like him.”

Angela made another quick sigh, “I know but…” Still looking uncomfortable, Angela took another sip from her tea while trying to keep her head straight. “I just don’t know how to feel about this sort of thing! I mean… I never would’ve thought that one of my sons would grow up and… and be a…”

Canvas’s ears drooped down in worry, hoping that Angela wasn’t going to use the term he thought she would say. Luckily, the Gryphoness froze a little, only able to make a stammer as she tried to say that last word. “A… a hommmm… A homouuhhhh…”

Realizing what she was trying to say, Canvas spoke up in an attempt to ease Angela a bit. “Angela, you… you don’t have to say it if it makes you uncomfortable.” Thinking it over Canvas looked down at the table before making a nervous chuckle himself. “Actually, Troy, he… he kinda had an issue himself with asking me when we first met…”

Angela paused as she looked back up at the stallion, noticing the small smile that crept up on his lips while speaking. “He… figured it out kinda quick, I guess, but… it took him a bit before actually asking if I was gay. But, he… got used to saying it kinda quick after that, I think…”

Angela looked back down at her teacup, letting that answer settle in her mind before closing her eyes. When Canvas noticed that a few seconds of silence passed between them, he picked his head up just in time to see the Gryphoness blurt out, “G-gay…”

Canvas’s eyes widened a bit, but only grew when Angela threw her claws down on the table like a tired slap. Opening her eyes, she put her claws back up in a “Might-As-Well” sort of motion as she looked out at nothing in particular and got it out of her system. “My… my son is… gay…”

As soon as she realized what she said, Angela groaned before sinking her head in her claws. “Ugh… this… this can’t be happening.”

Canvas wasn’t sure how to react. While he was glad that Angela was at least trying, that last remark made him less sure of how the Gryphoness was feeling about her son. Angela quickly pulled her head back up to make a disregarding wave of her claws. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” she quickly blurted with her eyes clenched shut. “I didn’t mean it like that, I just... “ While the stallion stayed silent, Angela bent her head down and rubbed her temples with two talons. “I don’t… know how to process that…”

“I-it’s okay,” said Canvas assuredly as he tried to catch her attention. “I don’t want you to be more stressed than you already are. It might be best if we... just talk.”

The Gryphoness nodded lightly, and closed her beak to let her thought become less jumbled. After another moment, she looked at Canvas before asking a more serious tone. “How… how did this happen? Like, when did you and Troy… you know…”

Canvas had a good idea what Angela was trying to ask him, and he merely nodded before replying, “Well, we… became a couple about three months ago. It was actually right after that art show we were at when Celestia asked me to paint for her.”

Angela blinked a couple times, and looked down at the table as she remembered that newspaper article about it that Troy sent her. Realizing how long her son’s relationship really was, she grew a more concerned expression when she peered up at Canvas. “So, you’re telling me that… my son proposed to you after… what, two months?!”

Canvas cringed a little, knowing himself how short that amount of time really was. “Well,” began the stallion with a shrug, “more like two and a half months, but yeah…” Before Angela could say anything about it, Canvas put a hoof up as he added, “And just so you know, we were friends for months before that! It wasn’t like, ‘Love at First Sight’ or anything.”

“Yeah, but still!” Angela kept a befuddled look on Canvas while shaking her head. “You… you’re planning to get married after like, ten weeks?!”

Instead of making a passionate, fully worded rebuttal to Angela’s complaint, Canvas only raised a brow to her. He waited a moment before asking flatly, “Well… Troy mentioned that you and your husband got married one week after you first met, so…”

Angela’s eyes widened in surprise, obviously not expecting this pony to know that detail. Of course, her expression melted to a heavy groan as she sunk into one of her claws. “Urrrrghhhh… yeah...”

After a very deep exhale, one of Angela’s eyes could be seen peeking between her talons to look towards Canvas. “Circumstances were a little different then, but… I suppose you have a point.”

“And despite what you may think,” continued Canvas in an insistent tone while Angela had her eyes on him, “I can’t think of anyone who I’d rather be with besides Troy. He means more to me than anything else in my life, and the last thing I ever want is to see him unhappy! But let me tell you, it was hard to do that when he was constantly worried about how his parents were going to react, and I honestly don’t think judging his decisions now is going to help with that.”

Angela’s claw slowly came down from her face, showing a wide-eyed stare back at the firm stallion. While she still had a lot of questions to ask, hearing Canvas’s statement made her stop to contemplate what to actually say next. She was still uncomfortable with everything about this, no doubt about it, but she could still tell that Canvas wasn’t being dishonest by any means. He really did care about her son, and technically speaking, the pony had a fair point.

Of course, Canvas took a breath to calm himself down. “Sorry,” he said apologetically, “I just… I just don’t want to see him get hurt any more than he did last night. And… I want to at least try to have him get on good terms with his parents again.”

Angela only nodded, her expression softening in understanding. “I really want that too. I…” Her golden eyes blinked a couple times as she tried to keep them from welling. “I don’t want to lose my kids… I don’t… But it’s hard to just…”

Angela winced as she looked away from Canvas. realizing how she was sounding after trying to say that last part out loud. “Ugh! What am I doing?! It shouldn’t be this hard!”

While Canvas waited patiently, not wanting to stir up anything before Angela can get the chance to settle down, the Gryphoness sighed as she slumped back in her seat. Her eyes looked up at Canvas from her form like a guilty child placed in front of the Principal. “Of course, I’d hate to think what you think of me,” muttered Angela guiltily. “It’s bad enough that my children left. I doubt that you have a better impression of me.”

Canvas shook his head while taking a breath. “That’s not true. I’m trying to help out, aren’t I?”

“Oh really?” snapped back Angela in a surprisingly quick manner. Even though she tried to look angry, the Gryphoness’s eyes just ended up looking more saddened as she added, “I left my son to try to talk to the Gryphon-equivalent of a brick wall, and I lost all my sons because of it! You can’t act like you don’t have a little animosity against me!” Unable to keep up an angry-looking facade any longer, Angela just turned her head away from Canvas’s sight while making a light sniff. “I mean… You ponies usually talk about friendship and togetherness, right? And… I seriously doubt your parents mind all of this…”

That statement was enough to make Canvas’s ears drop in an instant. It took a while for Angela to notice since she looked down at the table, but her expression turned more quizzical when she finally saw how the stallion looked. “Ummm… Canvas?”

Canvas’s morose look was only made more apparent when he looked downward and to the side, letting what Angela said sink in. “Acutally, I… I didn’t…”

Angela’s brows raised in slight surprise, but she wasn’t able to ask Canvas what he meant before he continued. “My… Mom died when I was a colt… I never had a chance to tell her…”

The Gryphoness shrank in her seat a little, feeling worse for having said what she did. “I’m sorry,” she said in a faint, but still sincere tone, “I didn’t know.”

Instead of nodding, or saying anything to reassure Angela, Canvas took a deep breath through his nostrils as he added, “And… my Dad didn’t take it well…”

Angela blinked in confusion, not knowing how badly that statement could mean in relation to ponies. The stallion’s head slowly looked back up at her, carrying a saddened state than before. Despite the fact that he didn’t want to talk about it so soon after Lyle, Canvas took a moment before meekly asking, “Do… do you remember back at the library… when I talked about how Troy found me?”

Angela softly nodded, still looking confused as she tried to remember. “Y-yeah. You… you said that you were hurt, and…”

After a couple of blinks, Angela’s eyes began to widen as she recalled how that discussion went. The Gryphoness was bright enough to connect the dots as soon as she remembered how Canvas looked when Jonas asked what happened, which was followed by Princess Twilight changing the subject surprisingly quick. Putting it all together, Angela was able to gather the gist of what occurred in an instant. One of her claws went up over her beak as she looked over at him. “Oh my gosh… Canvas, I…”

The stallion only nodded, knowing that Angela was smart enough to know the truth without saying anything. “Y-yeah,” said Canvas weakly. “I… know what Troy is going through right now… and… I want to help him like he helped me…”

The claw slowly went away from Angela’s beak, revealing her stunned look on the pony. Looking away from him, she shook her head slightly as she tried to discertain how to feel. “But… but I…”

The Gryophoness winced as her claws gripped the table hard. Her beak clenched shut for a long moment, looking like she was trying to control whichever emotions would try to burst out first. Unfortunately, that didn’t control what came out of her beak. “But I… I don’t want him to be like that!!”

Canvas eyed shot wide open, looking like Angela just slapped him across the face. She quickly cringed as she dug her talons into the feathers on her head. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that, I just…” With her elbows pressing against the table, Angela’s head pressed hard against her forelegs while continuing to ramble helplessly. “I… I don’t want Troy to be hurt! I don’t want him to be judged! Or treated differently because of this! I… I just want him to have a happy life!”

Canvas’s hooves hit the table hard “AND YOU THINK I CAN’T DO THAT FOR HIM?!”

Angela jolted out of her seat for a split second, not expecting the pony to lash out the way he did. Of course, neither did Canvas, who immediately pulled back and carried a guilty look similar to Angela. “I’m sorry, I… I…” He took a deep breath while his eyes were closed, hoping to alleviate his nerves a bit before looking back at Angela. “I… get what you’re trying to say, but you’re wrong. Troy IS happy! He… he said himself that he’s never had a friend like me… even back in the Gryphon Kingdom…”

Angela winced as she looked down at herself, realizing how she must have sounded to the pony. She could tell that he cared for him, so that last comment must have been especially insulting coming from her. “I… I didn’t mean to--”

“No, no… Let me finish…” Canvas rested his head into his hooves for a moment, gathering his thoughts enough to figure out what to say next. Recalling what else Angela said in her rant, the stallion exhaled slowly before pulling his head back up to continue. “I… I know it can be hard… I learned that myself in the worst possible way…”

His eyes closed as he kept speaking, mostly to keep himself from tearing up in front of the Gryphoness who very well could be his future Mother-In-Law. “But… even with all the names I was called… All the heartache I had to go through… All the hits I took and times I was pushed down… There… there was only one thing I could think of that actually made my life seem impossible…”

His lips trembled a little, but ke took a shaky breath before reopening his eyes. Canvas looked up at Angela, her expression carrying a concerned look of interest as she listened to him. Feeling glad that she was keeping her attention on him, Canvas looked down at his hooves as he finished. “Honestly, the… the worst thing I had to deal with was… the fact that I didn’t have family to support me…”

His voice choked up at those last few words, but he was able to keep himself from crying with a little self restraint. Instead, he kept himself still while the silence grew between him and Angela, not looking up at her. Of course, if he did look up, he would’ve seen the Gryphoness’s eyes start to well up. Her beak trembled a bit, unable to make a creak before the first stray tear went down her cheek.

A loud “Whump” made Canvas jump in his seat. When he looked up, his eyes widened when he saw Angela leaning into the table with her face in her claws, weeping loudly. While the Gryphoness cried strongly, looking worse than when she first arrived to Sugar Cube Corner, Canvas sat with a surprised look. “A… Angela?”

“It’s my fault!” cried Angela in a pained weep as she cried louder. “It’s all my fault! I hurt Troy! I hurt him, and now my sons hate me!I… I don’t want to lose him! I don’t want them to leave me like this!!”

“Angela, please!” said Canvas frantically as he tried to console the Gryphoness while looking over at the room’s doorway. They may have been in a private place, but he knew that it wasn’t soundproof. “They don’t hate you, alright?”

Angela sniffed loudly before pulling her head up from her claws. “Really?”

“Really!” said the stallion assuredly when he looked back at her. “Seriously, they haven’t even mentioned you since last night!”

Canvas realized that his comment may have not came out the way he intended, but not before Angela started to cry again. “That doesn’t help!”

“I’m sorry! I just…” Canvas flustered a bit while looking between the sobbing Gryphoness and the doorway, hoping that neither of the Cakes would try to barge in yet. “I meant that they haven’t said anything bad about you. Seriously, all their anger is towards Jonas. And I really doubt they see you in the same light as him.”

Despite still looking horrible, that last remark from the pony was enough to make Angela stop crying for a brief moment. She sniffed while wiping the tears from her feathers, trying her best to keep her face away from Canvas. While she wanted to believe him, memories of last night didn’t make her feel particularly better about what he said. “But… but I didn’t exactly help, did I? I… I just stood there like an idiot!”

A couple small sobs escaped her after that. Keeping silent himself, Canvas let that remark settle in as he looked away as well. While he could see why Angela would feel guilty about that (and to be fair, it wouldn’t be necessarily unjustified), his lips pursed shut as he recalled something Twilight Sparkle told him about. Even though he wasn’t sure if it counted, his muzzle opened slightly as he muttered out, “B… bystander effect…”

Angela looked over at him in confusion. “H-huh?”

“The… the bystander effect,” repeated Canvas in a clearer tone. “It… it’s when a large group witness a bad event happen, and… nobody does anything. B-because… everyone thinks that someone else will do it instead…”

Even though he hated that term more than anything, Canvas knew that it was one of those sad truths that he couldn’t necessarily avoid. In fact, when the triplets came back to Troy the previous night, all of them (as well as Lyle) mentioned that they felt horrible for not doing much when Jonas and Canvas were in that scuffle; of course, Canvas forgave them immediately, since even he was worried about what that General was going to do. And right now, those same thoughts were flooding through his mind after hearing what Angela said. “I… I’ve seen it happen before,” admitted Canvas in a softer tone as he kept his eyes away from Angela’s, “and… I don’t blame you for that. I doubt any of your sons blame you either.”

Angela made a small hic in her throat as she tried to settle down her crying fit. Hearing how sincere the pony sounded, it was clear that he wasn’t just saying that to make her feel better. He really meant it.

“I’m… I’m really sorry,” said Angela softly as her posture slumped a little in her seat. “For everything. I… I really didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“It’s okay,” answered Canvas when he looked back up at her. He made a shrug of his shoulders before saying, “to be honest, neither did I. I… kinda pushed your husband a bit last night.”

“Don’t apologize for that.” Remembering all the brutal details from the previous evening, Angela’s tone sored quickly as she leaned back in her seat with a scowl. “Of all the things I’ve head to deal with because of him, that… that wasn’t like him at all. He just… he didn’t feel like the Gryphon I married…”

Angela quickly clenched her beak shut before bending her head down to look at her chest. Not wanting to say too much, the Gyrphoness made a shuddered sigh and shook her head. “I don’t know how to feel about you and my son,” said Angela bluntly. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t feel… comfortable with that idea right now.”

Despite not liking that answer, Canvas shrugged lightly in understanding. “That’s okay. I understand.”

“But still,” continued Angela while she kept her head pointed away from the stallion, “I don’t want this to be the reason I lose most of my family! If… if they’re all able to accept it, then I shouldn’t be forced to stay alone just because I’m too thick to accept it myself. I… I just…”

Angela wasn’t sure what else she could say, which lead to another awkward bout of silence to linger between them. Fortunately, Canvas was able to take the reins and speak more surely. “Well, I… do want to help smooth things out between you and them. And… us…” Canvas bit his lip a little at that last part, which didn’t help too much when Angela stared back at him. Fortunately, he was able to gulp before adding, “B-because… I can tell that you really do care about Troy. And… I think that’s the one thing that we have in common, right?”

The stallion made a small smile in an attempt to look less nervous about his claim. Luckily, Angela didn’t seem too upset, and even grew a smile of her own before breaking the silence. “You… you really do love him, don’t you?”

Canvas blinked a couple times, realizing what she said, and nodded firmly to the Gryphoness. “Yes. More than anything, Missus Clawston.”

His head slowly looked down to his hooves as he rubbed them together, slowly gathering up the strength to keep going while Troy’s Mother listened to him. “He… he saved my life, and he never acted like it was a big deal. He… he was the first real friend that I ever made… and the best friend I could’ve ever asked for…”

Even though he was smiling, Canvas’s eyes glistened a bit while speaking about Troy in the way that he was. “He… he’s the single-greatest thing to happen in my life, and… I want him to be happy… and I want him to have the chance to have a family who loves him, because… I never did…”

That last part made the pony put a hoof over his muzzle to muffle any creaks his throat may have made after his voice broke. While Angela sat with a patient look of understanding, not needing to say a word, Canvas collected his breath as he made one last glance up at her. “I’m not going to ask for your blessing or your permission, because nothing is more important to me than being by his side. But I don’t want this to cause a barrier between us. We both love Troy, so I want to try to make sure we’ll be fine.”

Angela nodded in agreement, but it looked like she was still more than a little apprehensive about this kind of agreement with the stallion. Even without the fact that she still had Jonas to deal with, the Gryphoness’s beak clenched shut as she tried not to think of anything too negative in regards of her son being with someone like Canvas. “I… I do want to help him too,” said Angela weakly, “but this is all still a lot to process. I mean… it was hard enough to accept him moving to Equestria in the first place,” admitted Troy’s Mother in a feeble chuckle.

“Well, it’s not like he dislikes it here. He has friends other than me, and Rainbow Dash told me that he’s one of the best guys on her weather crew.” Remembering something else, he could mention, Canvas couldn’t help giggling when he added, “Plus, I… didn’t mind cooking him a steak on his birthday. And that back when we were just friends! Like, way before he admitted he loved me.”

When Canvas looked back at her, his smile lessened when he saw how wide Angela’s eyes were. “Wait, he…” Her head cocked to the side as she asked in a bewildered tone, “He… said it to you first?”

Canvas was surprised that of all the things he said, that was what Angela caught the most. But still, he nodded with a surprised shrug of his own. “Well, yeah… After that gallery, actually. It’s kind of a long story, but I’m just saying that I cared for him even before feelings came between us. I mean, not many ponies would admit to cooking meat!”

Angela’s surprised look lessened a little as she made a light laugh of her own. “Yeah, I suppose…” Thinking it over, her confused expression returned as she raised a brow at him. “Wait, where exactly did you get meat from?”

“Ummm… it was from a dealer in Baltimare.” he answered as he nervously looked over at the doorway, hoping that nopony was eavesdropping on them. “He did some catering for a party I attended, and… it seemed like a good idea at the time. In fact…” Canvas turned around to grab his art bag he had on the floor next to his seat, and rummaged through it to get something he almost forgot about. “He included a cookbook for free, which really helped me with preparing Troy’s meal. And in it, he had a price listing for the meats if I ever came back. I considered it, but Troy agreed that the travel and prices overall would’ve been a bit much…”

He came back up with a yellowed scrap of paper, which he handed over to Angela to look over. As soon as she picked up the piece of parchment and unfolded it, looking at the prices listed inside, her eyes shot wide open like she just picked up one of Lyle’s more graphic comic books. “WHAT THE!?”

Angela quickly silenced herself as she looked over at the doorway as well, hoping her outburst wasn’t too apparent. After a few seconds, she looked back at the paper with an appalled expression. “You can NOT tell me that you actually spent… this much on a pound of bacon!”

Canvas winced a bit, not needing to say anything to agree with her. But still, he sucked some air through his teeth before replying, “Well, he says it’s imported from the Gryphon Kingdom, and I know that shipping is kinda tricky in regards to perishables.”

“Oh, please!” Angela rolled her eyes as she gave that list back to him. “I happen to work in shipping, remember?! There’s no way that it would be…”

Angela slowly paused, her beak still slightly open as she blinked a few times in thought. Her head looked away for a long moment, staying silent while Canvas grew more uneasy. “Uhhh…” After putting the paper back in his bag, Canvas carried a nervous look over at Troy’s Mom. “Missus Clawston?”

Angela quickly got out of her seat and left the room, startling the stallion over the fact that she just exited without a word. Before he could even try to say anything, she came back into the room with several items: a pencil, some paper, and a large jar of marbles that were used as a decoration for the shop. Not saying anything, the Gryphoness grew a new kind of focus as she grabbed a clawful of marbles and placed them on the table, arranging them in several rows of lines before writing some numbers on her paper. She began to mumble a little while moving individual marbles back and forth, making Canvas realize that she was using it like an abacus. “...Ten pounds… carry the seven…”

While Canvas sat in fascination, only the sounds of Angela’s mumbles, the scrawlings of her pen, and the clacking of marbles emanated between them for several minutes. After nearly filling the sheet with various equations and figures, Angela picked it up and scanned the numbers carefully, nodding with a grin of apparent satisfaction. “Okay… this can work…”

After putting the paper back down, she looked back at Canvas with a more determined stare as she asked firmly, “Canvas, do I have your word that you’ll be a good provider for my son?”

Canvas was surprised by her sudden change in tone, but quickly nodded to Angela’s question. “Y-yes, Angela. I swear.”

Angela then sat with her elbows firmly on the table and brought her claws together as she stared at Canvas like a job interview. “What’s his favorite food?”

“W-what?” asked Canvas in confusion.

“You love him, right? Then prove it, I want to know if you know him as well as I do.”

“... Oh…” Quickly getting what she was wanting from him, Canvas sat upright in his chair before carrying a professional tone similar to Troy’s Mother. “Well, I know one of his favorites is something called a chicken-fried steak, which I do want to make for him sometime soon. He also likes ribs, bacon, and basically anything that’s deep fried.”

Angela shrugged a bit. “There’s also Gryphon Scones, but I’ll let that pass. How about his favorite ice cream?”

“Mint chocolate chip,” answered Canvas confidently.

“Favorite movie?”

“Space Massacre 2. I have no idea why he prefers it over the first, though.”

“It’s okay, neither do I. Favorite book?”

“Do Graphic Novels count?”

“Ahhh…” Angela pointed a talon at him with a smirk. “Good catch there.”

Canvas chuckled a little. “Thanks. Well, in that case, his favorite comic is The Pulverizer series. His favorite book is Tales of Thunder.”

“Right and right. Now…” Angela bent in closer to Canvas, growing a more serious expression as she asked her final question. “What is his favorite song?”

Canvas’s eyes widened a bit, but not enough to make him pause for more than a second. “Well… he says that his favorite is Vesti La Giubba from Pagliacci, but…” His eyes averted from Angela for a moment, feeling uneasy about the answer he wanted to give to her. “I’m… pretty sure that his favorite song is really Ave Maria…”

When Canvas finally looked back at her, Angela kept her determined stare on him. “Why?”

Canvas bit his lip in nervousness, but took a breath before admitting meekly, “Be… because it was… his Grandmother’s favorite song… I mean, your Mom’s favorite...” He wasn’t sure whether or not that was the answer he should’ve said, but he knew that it was only answer he could’ve given to that question.

After a long moment of silence, Angela’s stoic expression changed. A smile appeared at the corners of her beak as she gave a small nod to the stallion. “That’s right.”

She then pulled back, and grabbed her paper to recheck her figures. “Now Canvas, I have one more question to ask you, and this is more of an option than anything else.” She looked up at Canvas with a more curious expression. “Where do you get your art supplies from?”

“Oh, um... well…” Canvas looked up at the ceiling as he tried to recall. “I… get some of my stuff from Davenport’s stop down the street, but… I also buy my canvas boards in bulk from a specialty store in Whinnyapolis.”

“Okay…” After putting down her paper and crossing her claws, Angela kept a professional tone of voice while addressing the stallion. “Well Canvas, while my specialty is quills, my company does ship a lot more than that, including several other art and office supplies. So…” The Gryphoness grew a more sly smirk on her beak. “If you’re willing, Mister Canvas, I’d like to make a proposition with you…”

“Rarity, come on!” whined Troy as he looked between the two mares and back at his brothers, who were still raving at the last of the taffy.

“Oh, please!” pleaded Rarity in a pore sympathetic tone of voice, looking like she was about to make her trademark pout to sweeten the deal. “It would only be for one night, Troy! One night! And you would only have to help with like, five songs total.”

Troy made another whiny groan as his paws grinded at the floor, making him look like a pouty grade-schooler who had to be given a chore. He looked back at Rarity and Torch Song with a wince as he said in a pleading tone, “But I don’t wanna be a Pony Tone!”

“Nopony is asking you to be a Pony Tone,” assured Torch Song as she tried to ease his complaints. “This is only a one-time thing, and it’s for a charity event. We’re already booked, but we can’t do it if we don’t have a proper singer to take Toe Tapper’s place.”

“And besides,” intervened Rarity with a furrowed brow, “You already have a sweater made, so it would save me a lot of time and focus on practicing for the show.”

Lyra, who was listening in on them while hiding behind the counter from the other Gryphons, looked over at Troy quizzically. “Wait a minute. Troy, do you really have a Pony Tones sweater?”

Lyle, who was gnawing at an especially large piece of taffy he swiped from Blaze at the last minute, used a free claw to go into his new bag to pull out a frame and toss it to her. “Yep,” he said before taking another bite. “Ah took thom phototh of it back in Manehattan.”

“HEY!” shouted Troy in a fury when he looked back at Lyle, “Did you get MORE of those photos framed?!”

Unfortunately, Troy’s statement was quickly overturned by the sounds of both Lyra and Bon-Bon laughing loudly as soon as they saw the picture of Troy in his Pony Tones sweater. While Rarity gave a disappointed huff at their reaction, Bon-Bon handed the frame over to the Triplets. “Guy, have you seen this?”

“BON-BON, NOOOOO!!!”

Despite Troy’s panicked cry, it wasn’t quick enough before Blane took the frame and examined what he held. As soon as he saw the picture of Troy’s outfit from Manehattan, his eyes widened with a chortle before showing it to the other two. “Holy crap! Check it out!”

Troy nearly fell to the floor as he covered his face with his claws, only being able to hear his three brothers start to crack up maniacally at the Gryphon’s sweater-vest and bow-tie. Fed up with their reaction to the vest (something that he desperately tried to hide from them since they arrived for this very reason), Troy completely forgot about the taffy and stormed out of the shop. “Troy, wait!” shouted Rarity and she and Torch Song ran out after him.

“Please!” said the unicorn mare in a near begging tone as she tried to stop Troy. "This is a charity for the retirement home! Do you really want to let down the elderly, Troy?”

When Troy looked back at the two, Rarity immediately grew the largest, wide-eyed puppy dog put that could possibly muster. Torch Song saw what her singing partner was doing, and shrugged before copying her expression and looking up at Troy as well.

Troy huffed with a smirk. “Nice try, but that only works with-- CANVAS?!” His eyes immediately caught sight of his fiancè past the two mares, and widened as soon as he saw who was coming out of Sugar Cube Corner alongside him.

Troy’s Mother, who now had a content smile on her face, waved to the Cakes inside the shop happily before closing the door behind them. And as soon as she turned back to Canvas, she shook his hoof in a professional manner like a deal was just finalized. “Well,” said the Gryphoness cheerfully, “I’m glad that we were able to settle something out.”

“Likewise,” said the stallion in an equally pleased tone. Of course, as soon as he noticed his shocked finacè, Canvas let go of Angela’s claw. “Oh! Uhh… there you are, Troy!”

Before he could just stand awkwardly and grow a dorky smile, Canvas broke from his nervousness enough to run over to Troy. “Troy, I need you to listen to me.”

“W-w-what’s going on?” asked Troy worriedly as he took a couple steps back, his eyes glued on his equally panicked Mother.

“Troy, please,” said Canvas more firmly as he went past Rarity and Torch Song towards the Gryphon. He lifted himself up on his hind legs before putting his hooves on Troy’s shoulders, making sure they were face-to-face so Troy could only pay attention to him. “Listen, I… I was able to talk with your Mom in private, okay?”

“What?” asked Troy in a more nervous tone as he looked around in a tense manner. “Wh… why did you--”

“Please!” said Canvas in a sterner tone, not softening his stare on the Gryphon before his golden eyes were back on him. “I need you to listen, alright? Angela came back on her own to look for you and the others. Your Dad isn’t with her right now, and she’s just as angry with him as you are. Just…” Canvas’s tone softened a bit as he looked back at Angela, who was still standing by the bakery worriedly. He took a quick breath before turning back to Troy. “Just listen to her, okay? She wasn’t the one who hurt you, and she isn’t going to now. So… please…”

Canvas pulled himself off of Troy, making sure that the Gryphon would stay still before turning to motion for Angela to come up to them. Slowly, the Gryphoness walked across the street to where Troy was, looking like was anticipating a nasty fight to occur as soon as she got up close to him. Luckily, Troy only stood frozen at the spot, unable to make a single movement or sound while looking at her wide-eyed. After a long moment, Troy’s beak finally opened a little. “M-Mom… W… what ar--”

Angela couldn’t wait, and immediately wrapped her claws around her son to pull him in for a strong hug. “Troy, I’m sorry!” cried out Angela painfully as she nearly broke his back. “I’m sorry that I left the way I did! I wasn’t thinking right, and I don’t want you to hate me!”

“Aaaack!!” Troy could barely even wheeze due to his Mother’s grip, and his words came out in a strained creak when he tried to reply, “M-Mom! I… I’m not--”

“Oh, sorry!” said Angela as she quickly pulled back after hearing Troy’s strangled voice. “I just… I couldn’t help myself…”

Both she and Troy were breathing heavily, due to a mix of strained lungs and frayed tensions. Fortunately, Angela didn’t seem too against Canvas standing beside her son, despite her skewed beak giving a different impression. “Troy, I…” She looked back up at Troy’s face as she tried to direct her focus on him solely. “I know I didn’t react well last night, and… I still don’t know what to think…”

Angela paused for a moment in guilt, hating that she had to include that bit of honesty to her son. Nevertheless, she regained her composure enough to add in a more awkward tone, “But… I can tell that you really care about your… partner. And… while it might take me a while, I… don’t want you to think that I won’t accept this.”

Troy’s brows raised in surprise, not expecting his Mom to make a comment like that at all. Growing a smile on her beak, Angela put a claw on Troy’s shoulder, just as the triplets and Lyle looked out from the sweet shop with similarly shocked looks. “You’re still my son,” said his Mother in a caring tone of voice, “and nothing you say or do will ever change that.”

Her gaze went down to Canvas, who looked up at her with a grateful smile of his own while Troy stood utterly speechless. After smiling back to the pony, Angela looked back at Troy to add, “I… might need a few days to think this over, to be honest. And I also have to talk with your Father, but… I just want you to know that I love you, Troy. I always will love you, and all that matters to me is that you’re happy.”

Troy blinked a few times, not seeming to realize that his eyes were beginning to well up. “Mom, I…”

He looked down at the dirt road between them, his heart racing as he realized that his Mom really did say that to him. Feeling like a giant boulder was lifted from his back, Troy looked back at Canvas with a growing smile as he tried to speak through his shakiness. “I… I really am happy, Mom… I’ve never been this happy in a long time…”

He then looked back up at her while some stray tears came down his face. “And I love you too.”

With that, Troy hugged his Mom as strongly as possible, which was immediately returned by her with tears of her own. While Canvas stood at the side with a thankful smile on his muzzle, Lyle and the triplets, struggled not to cry themselves at the sight. Rarity and Torch song practically melted as they replied with a unified “Aaaaawwww…”

Of course, that was enough to make Troy pull back with an embarrassed look on his face, but it didn’t look like Angela was too disappointed by that. “Ummm… so…” Troy rubbed the back of his head as he asked his Mom, “How… long do you think it’ll take for you to… be alright with this?”

Troy stepped closer beside his fiancè to emphasize what he meant. Fortunately, Angela’s skewed look was a little less apparent as she sighed. “Well… I need a few days to get some things figured out, but… I want to come back by this weekend.”

“OOH!!” Rarity immediately piped up excitedly. “Missus Clawston! How would you feel about coming back by Saturday? Preferably before six?

“Why?” asked Angela when she turned back to the unicorn.

“Yeah, why?” added Troy bitterly as he eyed her with a scowl.

“Well…” Rarity smirked as she ignored Troy’s glare and focused on his Mother. “Torch Song and I are part of an Acapella Ensemble called the Pony Tones, and we were hoping to have your son perform with us for a benefit show to raise money for the Ponyville Retirement Home.” Her glance went back to Troy as she continued devilishly. “Of course, we were having a slight difficulty in getting him to help out…”

Troy’s angered glare became stronger on the mare, but was extinguished as soon as Angela turned back to him, “Are you seriously going to turn down helping out, young man?”

“W-what?!” sputtered Troy as he saw the stern glare his Mother had, which was one of those things which was near-impossible to avoid. “Mom, I… I don’t want to sing Acapella!”

“Oh really?” Angela put a claw to her side as she looked at him judgmentally. “Because I seem to remember you helping out a lot back at the home your Grandparents were staying at!”

“That was because the place was completely dilapidated! I was… urghhh…” A frustrated groan was all he could do when he tried to turn to his fiancè. “Canvas, you gotta--”

Troy froze the instant he saw Canvas’s face, which was giving him the largest, widest-eyed, baby foal pout that could even put Rarity’s to shame. Troy felt his heart sink to his chest the moment he laid eyes on the stallion’s look, and he shut his eyes with a pained sigh before turning back to Angela. “Oh, alright! I’ll do it! I’ll do it!”

From the distance, Troy could hear his older brothers cackling at him, and one of them shouting out, “Ha, ha! You’re whipped!”

Veins could practically be seen coming from Troy’s neck as he turned his head to the sweet shop. “SHUT UP!”

“Hm?” Angela looked over at the other Gryphons, and tried to smile when she saw them. Of course, the Gryphoness knew that things still might be tense between her and them, which prompted her to stay cautious as she walked over to the four. She went inside of her purse to pull out something before looking over at Lyle first. “Ummm… Lyle, I… talked with Canvas back at the bakery, and… he showed me this before we left…”

She then handed Lyle the framed picture that he made of Fleur De Lis, leaving Lyle temporarily stunned that Canvas had it on him while talking with her. When he looked back up at his Mom, Angela kept a sincere smile as she raised one of her brows. “I gotta admit,” she said in a surprised tone of her own, “that is really impressive work, especially for something you made in a single day.”

Despite his embarrassed blush, Lyle still gave a meek smile up to his Mom while holding the frame in his claws. “Ummm… th-thanks, Mom.”

She bent down to give Lyle a kiss on the cheek. “No problem.” Angela then looked up at the triplets, carrying a firmer tone as she addressed them. “I’m gonna be gone for a few days. Can I be sure you three stay on your best behavior?”

“Ehhh…” all three of them seemed skeptical about that claim, but Blade was the first to actually be vocal about it. “Well, we… can try, Mum. I mean, if you’re gonna try too.”

“Of course I will,” said the Gryphoness happily before hugging the three tightly. After pulling back, she looked at the four of them before clarifying, “I’m also going to try to get Jonas back on track as well.”

“What?!” said the four Gryphons in befuddled shock.

“Yeah, what?!” said Troy angrily towards his Mom. “After what he said to me?!”

“Troy…” Angela walked back towards him with a firm expression, not wanting him to direct his anger towards her. “I know very well what he said, and I don’t agree with it one bit. But he’s still my husband, and I want to at least try to keep this family together! I don’t want to lose you or any of my other sons, but I don’t want to lose him as well!”

Troy wanted to make a retort, but really couldn’t think of anything to say. After a brief moment, he sighed before making a shrug to let her continue.

“Thank you,” stated Angela sternly. “Now, I know you’re mad at him, and you have every right to feel that way. But… if I’m able to talk some sense into him--”

“Sense?! He told me tha--”

“IF! I can talk some sense into him!!” interrupted Angela to shut Troy up in an instant. “... And he agrees to talk with you, adult to adult… would you agree to talk with him as well?”

Troy was a little worried after that outburst from his Mom, but Troy made a gulp as he looked back at her. Seeing the insistent stare that Angela was giving him, Troy knew that she meant business in regards to this deal. And even though it was hard for Troy to think about his Dad without wanting to beat him with a stick (especially after hearing what he said about Lyle), he also knew that if anyone could talk to him, it would be his Mom.

Troy felt a nudge from his side, which made him look down to see Canvas staring up at him. Even though he no longer had his puppy-dog pout, he still looked up at his fiancè with an expression that showed he wasn’t against Angela’s plan. “Troy, please,” said the stallion softly. “I know you don’t want to, but… you said it yourself, right? Life is too short.”

Troy blinked a couple times, his angered scowl dissipating as he let that sink in. Troy may have hated his Dad, more than anything, but he also knew that Canvas felt that same way as well. But when Canvas actually talked with his own Father, it helped the stallion out way better than that screaming bit ever could have.

After a long moment of contemplation, Troy closed his eyes and sighed deeply. He turned his head back to his Mom before opening his eyes, carrying a stare as firm as hers. “IF he agrees.”

“Don’t worry,” said Angela bluntly, “He will.”

After giving Troy another hug, Angela looked down at Canvas while he stood beside her son. Recalling what she asked the pony back at the bakery, her gaze went back up to Troy as she asked, “So, Troy… do you know what his favorite food is?”

Troy immediately grew confused, which was followed by Canvas nudging him again. “Just answer her.”

“Ummm…” While he wasn’t sure why his Mom was wanting to know (or why Canvas insisted he should oblige) Troy shrugged before answering, “It’s… cheesy hay fries.”

Canvas looked over at Angela with a smiling nod. “He’s right.”

“Alright,” she said before giving Troy another question. “His favorite ice cream?”

“What? Uhhh… strawberry. With brownie bits added.”

Canvas nodded to Angela again.

“His favorite movie?”

“Zombie Bloodlust.”

Angela was a little thrown back by that answer, and looked over at the stallion as he shrugged. “What? It’s a classic!”

Despite her surprise, Angela just shook away her feelings before going back to Troy. “Favorite book of his?”

“Pbbt! That’s easy. It’s Daring Do and the Gryphon’s Goblet.”

“Should’ve known,” said Angela with a smirk toward the stallion who was blushing and looking away. “And finally... His favorite song?”

Troy grew a more content smile, and looked down at the pony before giving his answer. “If I have to guess, I think it would be… Not While I’m Around.”

Despite his blush, Canvas still looked back up to confirm his fiancè’s answer with a small nod. “Well… he’s not wrong.”

“Good,” stated Angela with a smile before turning back at her son. “Well Troy, I don’t think there’s anything for me to worry about.”

“Wait, what?”

“Just spend some time with your brothers, alright?” continued Angela before Troy could say anything more. She leaned in to give her son a caring nuzzle. “They obviously care about both of you, and so do I. And I’m going to make sure that Jonas has that chance as well.”

While Troy stood with an uneasy expression, not feeling confident about her last statement, he still nodded to her and nuzzled back. “A-alright…” After pulling back, he gave her one last smile while her wings opened up. “Love you, Mom.”

Angela smiled back at him before she could soar off into the skies. “I love you too, Troy.”

And with that, the Gryphoness shot off, leaving the ground to do what was necessary. But before she could disappear, she turned around to shout down at the triplets, “Don’t set any fires while I’m gone!”

“Awww, come on!” said Blaze sarcastically. “It’s fun!”

“I mean it!” she said jokingly, carrying a smile before disappearing off into the Equestrian skies. As soon as she was gone in the distance, Lyle and the triplets went up to Troy to make sure he was alright.

“Well,” began Lyle as he made a surprised huff in recollection, “I couldn’t have predicted any of that to happen!”

“Yeah, no kidding," said Troy in a surprised tone of his own. But still, his gaze went down to Canvas as he grew a particularly large smile. “Thanks, Canvas.”

“No problem, honey.”

Troy quickly swooped the stallion off his hooves, and stood on his own hindpaws to give him a massively large hug. Of course, despite the Gryphon's strength, Canvas was happy to return it with a smile of his own.

After a few seconds, Rarity made a cough to catch Troy’s attention. “Ahem… Troy?”

“Hm?" Still hugging Canvas, he looked down to the grinning unicorn just as she was about to leave with Torch Song.

“Practice starts tomorrow at three in the afternoon, and I expect you to not be tardy. And I’ll be sure to tell Rainbow Dash so she can let you leave work early.”

Troy’s smile immediately dropped, but there was nothing he could say in protest while the two mares left with satisfied smirks. His expression slowly turned to a bitter glare, which he directed right at Canvas while he was still being held by the Gryphon.

“Uhhh…” Canvas’s smile turned shaky as he tried to say something to make his fiancè less angry towards him. “Well, you gotta admit, you… do look really cute in that sweater.”

Chapter Forty: A Father's Contemplation

Chapter Forty: A Father's Contemplation

Even though winter was either coming or already arrived for most of Equestria, a few isolated regions of the nation barely ever got a visit from Cloudsdale’s weather teams due to their climate. Aside from areas like the Everfree Forest, as well as desert regions like Apploosa and Dodge Junction, mountainous parts of Equestria didn’t need the help of Pegasus ponies to keep their hilltops capped with snow most of the year. Instead, the ponies in places North by the Crystal Empire just let the mountain climate run their courses naturally, only intervening if conditions got too intense. Nevertheless, for a small log-built structure out in the pine-wooded forest, the heavy blanket of snow that covered its roof didn’t keep the chimney from pluming out a steady stream of white smoke as it turned into night.

Instead, the isolated cabin stayed open, its lights shining from inside showed the high number of hoofprints in the snow; indicating the high traffic. Of course, if it wasn’t for the modest sign on the door, revealing the name of the place as “The Pine Needle,” most ponies that came by would’ve assumed that it was just a regular log cabin instead of a bar. Of course, as the hoofprints finally began to disappear from the snowfall slowly reclaiming the ground, a fresh track of paws made their impact on the ground as the Gryphon made his landing.

White powder was caked on his feathers and fur by the time he stopped, noticing the sign on the door. After his claws sank into the snow as well, the Gryphon bent downward before shaking himself off like a wet dog, slinging most of the snow off of him to reveal his dark brown feathers and greying black coat. He also used a claw to wipe off his small bag on his side, even through the sight of it made the Gryphon scowl a bit before he made his way into the bar.

Inside, the Pine Needle carried the same log-cabin appearance it had on the outside - save the large bar positioned to the left - and the numerous empty tables along the rest of the space. When the Gryphon walked in, he only saw two ponies who were near the bar: one who was standing behind it wiping a glass, and the other seated opposite of her. Near the corner of the large room, a jukebox was on to give the nearby space an ominous orange glow; unfortunately, the “Out of Order” sign taped to the front of it allowed only the sounds of the clock ticking to fill the overly void space.

Nevertheless, the massive Gryphon paid no heed to the empty tone this place had, and walked over to the bar to take a seat. “Hello there,” said the bartender happily as she used her magic to float the glass over to the others. Even though it was almost midnight, the yellow unicorn kept a chipper tone as she asked, “Rough travels?”

The Gryphon only responded with a long, heavy sigh, which only emphasized his sullen mood while he sat, hunched in his barstool. He pulled up his olive-green messenger bag as he tried to find the bits inside. “What’s the strongest thing you have?” he asked in almost a grumble without looking up.

“Oh, well…” The mare’s muzzle skewed a bit, and she tightened the bun holding her blue mane back. Nevertheless, she made a small shrug before answering honestly, “I don’t think we have any Gryphon-based liquor, if that’s what you want.”

Another disappointed exhale escaped the Gryphon’s jagged beak. “Alright then…” He placed a large bag of bits on the bar table in front of her. “Whatever you have’ll be fine.”

“Ummm… okay…” the bartender used her magic to open the bag, and pull out several bits to cover his purchase. As the Gryphon took the bag of remaining bits back, grateful that this pony wasn’t trying to rip him off, the mare’s eyes narrowed a little when she noticed his parcel. “Say, what regiment were you in?”

“Hm?” he looked up at her with a confused expression.

“I noticed your bag,” said the bartender in a more relaxed tone as she pointed a hoof at it. “My Dad is a Guard, so I’ve seen a lot of Military items. That’s a Gryphon Kingdom bag, right?”

He looked down at his bag, slightly surprised that a pony was able to recognize it so easily. “Ummm… yeah, it is.” Shrugging his shoulders a little, the Gryphon looked back up at her to answer her first question and bring out his claw. “I was Brigadier General of the 133rd Regiment. Jonas Clawston is my name.”

“Charmed,” said the bartender happily as she shook his claw. “I’m Galliano.”

While the bartender tended to his drink, Jonas settled in his seat with a slowly regrowing look of depression. Since the mare brought up his bag, it only reminded him of the contents inside of it, which just made him more impatient to try to blur his thoughts in any way he could.

“Here you go, General,” said Galliano as she neatly floated a large glass of Equestrian-grade whiskey towards Jonas. Despite not wanting to make much small talk, he still gave a small “Thanks” before downing the whiskey like it was water. Before he could put the glass down and signal for another, Galliano levitated up a large glass bottle with her aura. She walked over to the only other pony in the bar, who was still tending to his glass before the jug half-full of milk was placed beside it. “And here you go, Sir. On the house.”

“Huh?” The green stallion, who looked like he was in a temporary daze before Jonas came in, blinked a couple times as he stared at the milk in front of him. He made a small sigh before looking up at her with a weak smile of courtesy. “Oh, you don’t have to do that.”

“It’s seriously fine,” said Galliano as she pointed a hoof to the expiration date on the bottle. “It’s supposed to be sold by today anyway, so unless somepony comes by in the next five minutes for a White Stalliongrad, I legally can’t sell it due to health codes. So, I’d rather have somepony use it than be forced to throw it away.”

The pony turned his head to look over at the clock, which showed that it was indeed less than five minutes until midnight. And since he and the Gryphon were the only patrons in the bar at the moment, he gave a small shrug and turned back to the bar. “Well, I… suppose I shouldn’t turn away the offer.” He looked up at her with a smile on his scraggly muzzle before refilling his glass. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” said Galliano with a smile. As the mare went back to the Gryphon and floated away his empty glass, already making him another, Jonas’s eyes looked over at the pale green pony who was enjoying his drink. Even though his skewed brow wasn’t exactly subtle, it took a moment before the stallion finally noticed.

“Hm?” Seeing how Jonas was staring at him perplexedly, the pony narrowed his eyes a little before asking flatly, “What? Never seen a pony drink milk before?”

Jonas shrugged before answering in an equally blunt tone, “Well, not in a bar.”

The pony paused before looking back at his glass and the jug beside it, and rubbed the back of his shaggy brown mane in response. “Yeah, I suppose…” While the pony picked up his glass for another drink, intent on finishing off the bottle, Jonas barely noticed the new glass of whisky being floated in front of him. As soon as he finished, the stallion made a brief sigh before putting the glass back down. “But still, I’d rather stay sober, thank you very much.”

Jonas responded with a huff as he picked up his own drink. “Then why are you in a bar?”

“For one, it’s the only place that’s open around here,” said the stallion in a meter-of fact tone. Thinking it over, Jonas seemed to accept the answer solely because he couldn’t argue against it. Even though he was flying pretty much aimlessly for hours, this was one of the few places he saw among these woodlands. The pony refilled his glass once more before adding, “Plus, a bar is one of the few places I feel comfortable.”

A light chuckle escaped Jonas’s beak before raising his glass up to it. “Yeah, I hear that.” After downing the glass like a shot, the Gryphon put it back on the bar and looked back at the stallion. “Let me guess… Your wife got on your ass for drinking too much?”

The stallion made a brief exhale and slowly shook his head. “Well… she probably would have if she was still here....”

Jonas’s smirk dropped so fast, his beak could’ve easily fallen off of his face. Galliano, who was busy getting another drink ready with her back turned to them, could easily be heard sucking air through her teeth before moving a few steps away from them. Blinking a couple of times, Jonas turned his head away from the pony before reopening his beak weakly. “Oh. Ummm… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” said the pony with a reluctant sigh, “it’s been a long time anyway…” Holding his glass of milk in his hoof, the stallion gave off a sound that sounded like a mix between a weak laugh and a breath before adding, “It’s funny sometimes… I spent so many years trying to forget it by drinking, and the only time I legitimately felt better is when my head was fully clear.”

Jonas shrugged, not wanting to say anything else after that last statement he made. After his glass was refilled and placed in front of him, the Gryphon turned back at the pony and put out his claw. “Well, you have my condolences. Names’s Jonas. Jonas Clawston.”

The stallion looked over to the Gryphon’s gesture, and gave a light smile before bringing out his hoof to shake it. “Well, thank you. The name is Copper Fields.”

After shaking his claw, Copper got out of his seat, scooching closer towards the Gryphon so there was only one empty stool between them. Even though Jonas wasn’t much for casual conversation, he figured that it was the least he could do to make up for earlier. “So…” the stallion dragged his glass and milk bottle from his previous seat before asking, “How about you, Jonas? You married?”

Hearing that question, the Gryphon made a heavy sigh as he slumped in his seat. “At the moment…”

Copper looked up at him with a slightly confused expression, not saying anything upfront. However, Jonas took a slower sip of his whiskey, not even seeming to notice the burn that would’ve hit a pony’s tongue, and finished half the glass before continuing. “I… I got in a fight with her a few days ago… I thought that she’d understand, but…”

After that last audible statement, Jonas's beak closed shut before he could finish. While Galliano kept her distance with some small tasks behind the bar, Copper waited a few seconds in silence until he asked, “So, what happened?”

Jonas sighed again, but begrudgingly reopened his beak to try and explain. “Well… my wife and I came to Equestria to visit our son. But… things didn’t turn out so well…”

“Why?” asked Copper before beginning to down his fresh glass.

Jonas grimaced with obvious distaste, still looking bitter about how things turned out. “He…” The Gryphon gritted his teeth while holding his glass, which looked like it could’ve shattered if he tightened his grip in any way. “He’s only been in this country for a year, and… now he tells us that he’s getting… married…”

With that last word, Jonas shuddered like he just said a particularly nasty term. One of Copper’s brows raised after finishing his glass, obviously not seeing why the Gryphon was so upset. “Well, umm… congratulations.”

Jonas made a low growl before glaring at him. “Don’t give me that…”

Despite the angered look the Gryphon was giving him, which was even making the bartender nervous when she looked back at them, Copper merely shrugged as he poured his final glass. “Well, is your son happy? I mean, if anything, that should be all that matters, right?”

“Ugh!” Jonas rolled his eyes as he made a dissatisfied groan and finished his own drink. “Yeah, maybe to you ponies, but Gryphons have to think about more than that! Like…” The Gryphon looked down at his empty glass as he continued to rant with increasing anger, “Does he even know what he’s doing?! After how far Gryphons have come, he has to go and throw all tradition and decency down the shitter like that?!”

Jonas brought one of his claws up to rest his head on, while his elbow pressed against the bar table. “And worst of all,” muttered the Gryphon angrily while ignoring the pony staring over at him, “he… he managed to brainwash everyone against me! My sons, my wife… shit, even Royalty looked down at me when I tried to stand my ground!”

Another heavy groan escaped Jonas’s beak, and a pregnant bout of silence lasted for a moment before Copper spoke up. “So… what’s the issue, exactly?” Even though the stallion seemed a bit tired from the bags under his eyes, he still kept a look of interest on the Gryphon while he listened. “I mean… do you not like who he’s with?”

With the way that Jonas growled, it was clear that Copper got his answer without a word needing to be said. The Gryphon loudly slammed the glass on the bar counter, before bringing his other claw up to his face to rest on. “I swear,” he slowly muttered while his glass was floated away, “of all the things he could’ve done… After all the times I try to teach him right from wrong… he goes completely against what I tried to tell him! He should’ve known better! Men are supposed to be with women, and Gryphons are supposed to be with Gryphons! Is it really that damn complicated?!”

While Galliano gave the Gryphon a peculiar stare while making another drink, both of Copper’s brows raised in growing realization. “So… who is it?” When Jonas looked back at him, Copper cleared his throat before making his question clearer. “I mean… who’s your son with?”

With the way Jonas’s face scrunched in, both Copper and Galliano would’ve assumed that the Gryphon just sucked in a rotten lemon. Gritting his teeth in reigniting angst, Jonas slouched in his stool as he looked down at the empty counter bitterly. “A… a stallion…”

Jonas didn’t see how Copper’s eyes widened slightly. Instead, an angered groan was the Gryphon’s only other response before growling under his breath, “He’s marrying a bucking stallion! Like… like a common pervert!”

Since his head was lowered, Jonas didn’t hear Galliano subtly pouring his drink from his cleaned glass back into the bottle. Meanwhile, Copper slowly turned his head away to look back at his own drink, and blinked a couple times in silence. “So… he’s marrying a stallion…” Looking unsure about how to feel, the stallion’s eyes peered back at Jonas before deciding to ask the obvious, “And… your son is a Gryphon?”

Jonas lifted his head up to turn and give the pony a flat glare. “No, he’s a dragon.” He then huffed before looking away again. “Yes, he’s a Gryphon! What of it?”

While Galliano made herself scarce, Copper bit on the inside of his cheek for a brief moment. “Ummm…” His eyes tried to focus on his now empty bottle of milk, but his lingering thoughts got the best of him as he spoke over to Jonas. “So… you happen to catch the name of the stallion he’s with?”

“What? Why…” Despite looking befuddled by Copper’s question, Jonas just made a small huff before keeping his head away from him. “Buck if I care… I think it was some painter or whatever… Ca-Cantor? Cabinet?”

“Canvas?”

Jonas looked over at Copper for a split-second, surprised that he knew it so easily. “Ummm… yeah.” Of course, upon thinking about it, the Gryphon realized that the pony was fairly famous for that Celestia painting, so maybe this stallion heard of him from somewhere. “That was it,” he said as he looked away again.

Copper blinked a couple more times in silence, his eyes widening with each passing second. As his breathing began to turn more rapid, a smile crept up at the corners of the stallion’s pale green muzzle. Unable to keep himself stable while beside the Gryphon, Copper clenched his eyes shut before resting against his hoof, struggling to keep his involuntary giggling to turn into full blown laughter.

Meanwhile, Jonas’s unwavering scowl turned stronger as his eyes slowly went back towards him. From the way his glare intensified, it was clear that he wanted to seriously hurt the stallion from the way he was struggling not to laugh. Of course, after everything else that occurred, the last thing that the Gryphon needed was another assault to further ruin his week. So, he instead just looked away while grumbling under his breath, “Yeah, laugh it up!”

The stallion quickly threw his green hooves up to shake them, motioning that he was trying to stop giggling as best as he could. “Sorry, I’m sorry,” muttered Copper between a couple small chortles before covering his muzzle. “I didn’t mean to laugh, I just…”

After a brief sigh which sounded like a small “Woooo,” the pony was able to subside his laughter enough to finish his explanation. “It’s… it’s just kinda funny how the universe works sometimes…”

The brown Gryphon just gave the stallion a befuddled look from his seat. Nevertheless, Copper took a few deep breaths before he could speak coherently, “But still… I suppose I can see why you’re upset.”

Jonas gritted his teeth and looked back down at the bar. He muttered in a more grave tone, “That’s not even half of it...”

While the green pony still looked slightly amused, his smile was able to disappear enough when he listened to the Gryphon continue.

“Those… those KIDS!” Jonas was gripping at the feathers on his head with a claw, looking like he was about to pull a clump out from his building rage. “They ALL took his side! My eldest sons acted like I was being the unreasonable one, and… and…” His head sunk down even lower, and a deep red hue could be seen emanating from his brown feathers; even the bartender could feel the heat rising from the Gryphon’s building rage, despite being at the other end of the bar. “And my youngest son… SPAT in my damn face!!”

By now, Galliano was in the back room, hoping that the near-murderous Gryphon wasn’t going to ask for another drink. Meanwhile, Copper was surprisingly more nonchalant, sitting in his seat as he brought up his glass of milk. “I see…”

Jonas made a heavy sigh as he rubbed his temple in a meager attempt to calm himself down. “And then… there’s my wife…”

After taking a sip, the stallion put his glass back down, still keeping his eyes away from Jonas. “What happened?”

The Gryphon stayed silent for a long moment, looking like was contemplating whether or not to say anything about it to this pony he just met. Nevertheless, Jonas made another exhale as he opened his beak. “Well… I ended up yelling at her. And… that may have been part of why my other sons left…” He blinked a couple of times as he stared down at the hardwood surface of the bar, a new look of regret appearing on his face. “I will admit that doing that was a mistake… I never did that to her before, and she didn’t deserve it…”

“So… what did she do?”

When Jonas looked back at Copper, he saw that the stallion was looking back at him with a curious and slightly worried glance. Of course, with the way the Gryphon’s beak skewed downward, it was clear that the answer he planned to give wasn’t good.

“She…” Jonas’s head turned away from Copper as he spoke, feeling glad that the bartender was nowhere to be seen. “She hit me. And I don’t blame her for that, but…” The Gryphon’s expression turned more saddened with each passing word, clearly making his tone of voice softer as well. “Apparently, she… went and talked with that pony my son is marrying… And he got to her as well…”

Before coming to this bar, the last thing that Jonas wanted to do was even think of what was inside his parcel. But now, the Gryphon’s claw was slowly going inside of it as he continued in an increasingly depressed tone. “When I finally got to speak to her again, the first thing I did was apologize to her for yelling, but that wasn’t what she wanted! She kept telling me to talk to my son, and I refused! Why should I apologize when he’s the one who wants to wreck basic tradition?! I tried to make her see, but she wouldn’t budge! And… that was when she gave me this…”

He pulled out the item from his bag and slammed it on the bar. Leaning his head in, Copper didn’t need to see the inside of the Manilla folder to know what kind of paperwork was inside of it. Meanwhile, Jonas’s beak was pointed downward in shame, a bitter scowl plastered on it as he spoke in a defeated sigh.

“She… told me that I can either talk to my son, or sign those papers...” After pulling the folder back to himself, the Gryphon sighed painfully as he looked at it, not wanting to look inside to see its contents. “I just… I wouldn’t have thought that this would be the reason I would lose my marriage…”

Making a sympathetic nod of his head, Copper let the Gryphon sink in his shame while holding the divorce papers in his claw. “I’m really sorry,” said the stallion in a light, but still sincere tone.

“Th-thanks,” said the Gryphon softly without turning his head. After talking another glance down at the folder, he made an angered huff and shoved the paperwork back into his parcel. “Ugh! I can’t even look at it!”

After putting his paperwork and bag aside, there was nothing else for the Gryphon to do but sulk in his stool, not even realizing that his drink was long gone. While Jonas sat in silence, Copper waited a long moment as he finished half of his glass of milk. When he looked back at the Gryphon, he put caution to the wind as he asked in curiosity, “So… what are you gonna do?”

Jonas’s disheartened expression quickly shifted to an aggravated glare as he looked back at the stallion. “What?”

“What are going to do?” repeated Copper as he kept his eyes on him. “I mean, she gave you a choice, right?”

“What, and go back like a coward?!” Jonas made another huff as he turned away from Copper, seeming to look at every spot in the bar except the pony as he began to ramble to himself. “I need to keep my dignity intact, dammit! Just because I yelled at my wife doesn’t mean that I have to go back with my tail between my legs and give up everything I believe in! I’M not the one who messed things up! It was that damn pony! The bucking colt-cuddler!”

Copper’s muzzle wrinkled from that last statement, but Jonas didn’t see it at all as he continued.

“Just because someone says they’re ‘happy’ doesn’t mean that they can act however the buck they want, and just expect everyone else to blindly accept it! Am I supposed to support my son if he says he like being a murderer?! Or if wanted to be a cannibal?!”

Jonas looked back at Copper with an expectant stare, looking like he was wanting the pony to agree with him. However, the stallion just gave a befuddled glance back at him before replying, “So, you think your son marrying a stallion is the same as being a serial killer?”

Jonas’s eyes shot open for a brief moment, but quickly turned to a more bloodthirsty glare as he pointed a talon to Copper’s face. “Don’t you twist my damn words!” He then pulled away as he kept shouting in the empty space with his claws out for emphasis of his words. “I’m just trying to make a point! Gryphons should practice some level of morality! Of decency! If I go back now, all I’ll do is prove to them that I’m a coward they can walk over! And I am NOT a damn coward!!!”

The heavy silence that followed should have been enough to make the toughest stallion stay wordless in front of the Gryphon. Of course, Copper just waited until Jonas’s deep breathing subsided before asking bluntly, “So, how long have you been flying from your family while justifying that claim?”

The slow turn of Jonas’s head almost made him look like an owl, but the murderous glare he gave to Copper could’ve made his glass of milk curdle in an instant. “What?”

“I’m just saying,” continued the stallion with a lazy shrug while holding his glass, ignoring Jonas’s stare on him, “for someone who talks about standing his ground, you’ve sure been up in the air for a while to avoid speaking to your wife or kids.”

Jonas’s entire form raised higher while on the stool, looming down at the stallion like a falcon eyeing an upcoming kill. Of course, with the way Copper continued to drink his milk, it seemed like he was treating the Gryphon’s stare down at him like he was being eyed by a curious kitten. When he finally looked up to see the burning fury in the Gryphon’s eyes, the only response that came from Copper was a very casual “What?”

Jonas made a bloodthirsty snarl, his head leaning down closer to Copper’s. “I am already in a bad mood… Do you really want to get on thinner ice?”

The stallion only blinked once in response, his neutral expression unwavering. After a second of silence, Copper’s eyes narrowed up at the Gryphon as his tone grew more stern. “Listen, General, this isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with a Gryphon who wanted to hurt me, and he did a lot more to me than you have right now. So unless you plan to actually put a talon on me, which wouldn’t be a good idea since there’s a unicorn nearby, I suggest that you stop acting like you’re going to intimidate me.”

Jonas’s claws clenched tightly, undoubtedly imagining this stallion’s throat in his clutches. With the way Copper was looking up at him with no sign of fear or hesitation, the Gryphon felt like he was talking to that damn pony Troy was marrying again. In fact, the intense stare from this stallion’s eyes was unusually similar to that guy.

Of course, with every second that passed in eerie silence, Jonas’s rage began to subside as he reluctantly thought it over. Even if he did punch this pony hard enough to fly him over to the wall, all it would give himself was a knock-out spell of some kind (or whatever combat skills the bartender most likely knew from her background), and at least a night or two in some cell not fit for Gryphons. And since it was clear that Copper wasn’t going to even flinch at him, Jonas let off a low, growling sigh before pulling back to settle in his own stool.

“I’m not running away,” growled Jonas in a nasty tone as he looked over at him. “I’m just giving my wife some space.”

“Is that what you think she wants from you?” asked Copper bluntly. “Space?”

A loud slam broke the bar’s silent void as the Gryphon’s claw pounded at the bar. “Listen, you little--”

“No, you listen!” interrupted the pony as he kept a cold stare on him. The Gryphon paused for a brief second in surprise, which was enough time to make Copper continue. “You have the chance to keep your wife and kids from leaving you, and all you’re going to do is sit in a bar and sulk about it?!” Looking fed up with him, Copper turned back to his glass as he shook his head in distaste. “Even I didn’t give up that quickly.”

“HEY!” shouted Jonas in instant anger. “I did NOT give up!” He then pointed a talon at Copper and added, “And what the BUCK gives you the right to talk like that to me?!”

“Because I made the same mistake that you’re making.”

Blinking a couple times in confusion, Jonas’s talon slowly came back down while looking at him perplexedly. Copper didn’t look back, and instead looked at his glass of milk, which was right at the middle of empty and full.

“I used to be like you,” began the pony in a more saddened tone. “I thought I knew exactly what was the best for my son. And… and after his Mother passed…” His voice temporarily froze for a moment, only to come out softer when he finally regained the ability to speak. “... I really thought that I knew what was best for him… even though I was too busy drinking to think clearly about myself…

“I had it all planned out: he would find a nice mare to settle down with, get married… Heck, maybe he could have a foal or two, just so he could be a parent like I was…”

Jonas nodded in silence, understanding the stallion’s thought process fairly well.

“And at the end,” continued Copper while holding his drink,”it didn’t even occur to me that anything else could work out for him. I always imagined the life I wanted for him, and I… couldn’t even imagine it going that differently without it seeming… wrong… And that was where I screwed up...”

A strong grimace could be seen growing on the pony’s face, which prompted the Gryphon to stay silent for a brief moment before asking, “So… what happened?”

Copper only made a weak sigh that came out as a barely audible whinny though his lips. His head sunk lower in his seat. “Well, I… found out that he didn’t like mares.”

Jonas’s brows raised for a second, and he looked away from him with a small nod. “Ah.”

“But… that wasn’t the bad part…” The stallion rested his head against one of his green hooves propped against the bar, only staring at his drink with a more regretful scowl. “Do you know what it feels like to know your child won’t grow up the way you expected them to? To have all your plans and ideas get turned over on its head like… that?”

“More than a few times,” answered the Gryphon in a more honest tone.

“Well… when that happened to me, I… didn’t act that differently from you. I thought that he was making a mistake, and… that he was just trying to make his life harder for himself. I didn’t know what to do, so I drank… and drank…”

He couldn’t take much more, and his head sunk into his hoof to cover his eyes. “When… when I finally came to…” The pony’s voice came out shakily as he struggled not to choke up. “I was… covered in blood…”

Jonas pulled back, his eyes widening while he looked back at the stallion. Before the Gryphon could say anything, Copper put up a hoof to clarify. “I didn’t kill him,” he said as quickly as he could through his disheveled state. “... Thank Celestia for that, but… I still hurt him badly enough that he never wants to talk to me again…”

Jonas blinked a couple times, keeping his beak clenched shut as he slowly turned his head away. “Well, uhhh… I wish I knew what to say…”

“Of course you do,” said the pony bitterly when his eyes turned towards him. “If you knew what to say, you wouldn’t be here, would you?”

Jonas made a quick glare back at Copper. “Don’t you try to compare me with YOU! I didn’t hit my kid!”

Copper’s eyes only narrowed on him as he replied bluntly, “Did you want to?”

Even though his beak didn’t open, his lack of an immediate response was enough of a reason for Copper to huff and turn away. The Gryphon merely growled to himself as he looked back down at his claws, which were clenched tightly in anger. Of course, at the sight of his talons fisted inward, he immediately relaxed them, not wanting to remind himself of what almost occurred at that bakery.

“That was what I thought,” said the stallion firmly, although he still shook his head with a heavy sigh of his own. “Of course, you don’t even realize how lucky you really are. I didn’t get the chance that you have right now. You’re able to go back, and keep the family you have if you really wanted to. All I had was my son, and... one of the last things he said was that I was dead to him…”

Despite still being pissed off, Jonas’s expression softened a bit when he looked back at the pony. Meanwhile, Copper picked up his glass of milk, moving it around a little to see the liquid inside swirl. “I never thought that I would experience anything worse than losing my wife, but… how I acted towards my son was the lowest thing I’ve ever done…”

The Gryphon had nothing to say, and only nodded weakly in silence. After taking a small sip of his milk, the stallion paused for a moment as he put his glass back down. “Let me ask you something… What do you think a parent is supposed to do?”

Jonas blinked with a look of bafflement on his face, but shrugged before answering, “Well… if I learned anything from my own Father… it would be to guide your children to a life that’s best for them.”

Copper turned his head towards Jonas with a curious glance. “How so?”

“I dunno. Like…” Even though he wasn’t sure what kind of answer would be best to shut this stallion up about it, Jonas took a breath before continuing. “When I was younger, my Father was one of the toughest, unmoving bastards I ever knew. I used to hate him when I was young, but I’ve come to realize that he always knew what was best for me. If it wasn’t for him, I never would’ve joined the Forces like he did, and push myself to get a high ranking and make something of myself.”

His talons tapped at the bar table a couple times, emphasizing how much Jonas was thinking about what to say. “Honestly, I… still think of him as one of the smartest Gryphons I ever knew… He understood that you have to be firm if you want someone to grow up right, and… you shouldn’t try to have them go for something less. If you love someone, you… you can’t have them settle for less than they deserve.”

While the Gryphon kept his head away, Copper nodded silently to his answer. “So… you think that your son marrying a stallion is going for something less?”

“Of course I do!” He looked back at him with a scowl on his beak. “What would YOU call it?!”

Copper shrugged, and looked back down at the bar with his hooves crossed as he sighed. “Well… I’d say that what your son was doing was brave.”

“Brave?! How would you call wanting to be with another male brave!?!”

“Well, he stood up to you, didn’t he?”

Jonas opened his beak as he raised a talon to retort. However, despite his maw being open for several seconds, no words were able to come out of the Gryphon. Grateful that Copper wasn’t looking at him during that, he slowly closed his beak and put his claw back down while looking away from him.

“And also,” continued the pony, seemingly unfazed by Jonas’s failed attempt to defend himself, “It shows that he didn’t have to adhere to what others wanted him to be.”

The Gryphon gave a deadpan stare, looking at him like he just suggested something as ludicrous as two plus two equaling seven. “What?”

“Let me explain…” Copper took another sip of his milk, making the Gryphon wait for him to put the glass back down to give his explanation. “I used to have that same state of mind about being a parent. That… that having a child meant raising him to go down the path you want him to go, but…

“I learned that having that mindset doesn’t help anyone. It doesn’t matter if you made the child, they’re still their own beings. They have different ideas, different dreams, different goals and outlooks on life… Even if they end up like you, they’re never going to be like an exact clone of yourself. In the end, what you have to ask isn’t if your child will be like you, but… if your child will be happy with what they choose for themselves…”

If it wasn’t for the fact that he was sitting on a barstool, Jonas would’ve been able to lean back to think about the pony’s answer. But still, it was clear that Copper’s explanation was reeling through his head as he sat with his forelegs crossed on the bar as well. For almost a minute straight, neither of the two were able to say a word; of course, the only reason that Copper stayed silent was because he could see that the Gryphon was in deep thought when he made a small glance at him for a second.

The stallion grew a small smile on his muzzle as he looked back down at his hooves. “I never would’ve thought in a million years that my son would’ve ended up as successful as he is now. He’s independent, running his own successful business, and fully living up to his special talent. Heck, he… he even got the attention of Royalty from doing what he does... “ A light chuckle escaped his lips before he added, “He… he’s also in a relationship I never would’ve expected, but he seems happier than ever would’ve been with a mare… It… It never even crossed my mind that he could do so much, but… I couldn’t be prouder of him as a Father…”

When he looked over at Jonas’s stoic state, Copper almost wasn’t sure how much his words may have sunken in. But still, he gave an irritated huff when he added, “And after everything I tried to do to get him back, he rejected me because of what I did to him. I don’t blame him, but... “ He sighed painfully as he looked away for a moment, his face slowly growing angrier with each passing word. “I would’ve given anything to keep my son in my life… And to be fair, I almost did… I loved him with all my heart, and I still do. But unlike you, I was willing to try and prove that.”

Even with everything else that Copper said, that last statement was enough to set the Gryphon off. With his golden eyes burning, he faced the stallion with his beak snarling. “Don’t you dare think I’m going to tolerate that!”

“Then let me ask you something else...” The pony put his glass back down before looking at Jonas sternly. “Do you love your family?”

The Gryphon was almost flabbergasted at the fact that Copper actually asked him that question. “What?!”

“Answer the question,” said Copper more firmly. “Do. You. Love. Your--”

“YES!” Jonas threw his claws up as he interrupted him, not extinguishing his own anger by any means with that answer. “Yes, I love my family! They’re the most important thing in my life!”

“Then why the buck are you still here?!”

Despite Jonas being more than a couple feet taller than him, the stallion kept a furious glare up at him as his tone became more dedicated. “Seriously, why are you willing to let your family leave you if you care about them?! You want your children to live a life that’s best for them, but you’re willing to leave them without a parent the instant they do something you didn’t expect?! GROW THE BUCK UP!!”

Ignoring whatever reaction Jonas would’ve given him after that rant, the stallion finished the rest of his milk in one go, downing it like one of his drinks he vowed to never have again. After slamming his empty glass back on the bar, the stallion panted heavily for a moment before making his tone more somber. “I… I would’ve sold my soul to Discord for the chance that you have right now. My son was the only family I had, and I lost him because I acted like the ignorant bastard you’re being right now. And unless you want to end up in the same spot I’m in, you’ll grow enough brain cells to realize how much you need your family in your life.”

Jonas, who was just staring at him wide-eyed, could only blink a couple times in shock. While he didn’t see the stallion as being threatening in any way, it was still a drastic enough change for the Gryphon to be momentarily unable to make a response. After pushing his empty glass of milk to the edge of the bar, Copper slowly turned his head to give Jonas a bitter glare.

“You talk about being a man, but you should know by now that part of being a man means admitting to being wrong when it happens. And if you’re not able to do that, then you don’t deserve the chance you’re given.”

With that, Copper leaned into his own seat in the bar, resting his head on the wooden surface as he kept his muzzle firmly shut. Not needing to say anything else, the pony only kept his sights forward in the empty bar while letting the silence linger between them.

For almost five minutes, not a word was spoken between either of them. And since he had his head turned away, Copper had no idea what the Gryphon was doing. Of course, with only the sounds of Jonas’s heavy breathing coming from the side, the stallion was hopeful that he was at least trying to think things over.

By the time the clock came to 12:15, Copper’s ears twitched upward when he heard the sound of the stool next to him being pulled back. Not turning his head, the pony only heard the sound of several more bits being placed on the bar before the Gryphon walked out in silence. As soon as the door closed behind Jonas, leaving Copper alone in the bar once more, the bartender finally came out of the back room with a worried glance. “Ummm… is everything alright?”

The green stallion lifted his head and nodded while she collected her tip. “Yeah, I hope so…” He looked over at the door of the bar for a moment, biting his lip in contemplation. “If he’s smart enough.”

“Well…” Looking at the number of bits left by the Gryphon, Galliano smiled as she turned to the stallion. “It’s supposed to be last call around this time, so you want anything? I think this tip’ll cover it.”

Thinking it over, Copper grew a smile of his own and looked up to her. “Well, I… wouldn’t mind a cranberry juice if you have one.”

“You got it,” said the bartender cheerfully as she pulled his empty glass of milk away from the bar, and had a wine-glass full of cranberry juice floated over to him. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” When he picked up the glass, the pony chuckled a bit as his smile grew. “Well, this is convenient. I was wanting to make a celebration anyway.”

“For what?” asked Galliano with a curious brow. “For not getting mopped on the floor by that guy?”

“N-no,” said Copper with a shake of his head. “I… I wanted to celebrate my son.”

“Oh, really?” She leaned in against the bar with a smirk on her muzzle. “Who’s your son?”

With a proud smile on his face, he looked up at her while holding his glass. “My son, Canvas. I just found out he’s getting married.”

Galliano’s eyes widened in an instant, her head immediately crooking back towards the door that Jonas just left. Meanwhile, Copper took a congratulatory sip of his juice before adding, “Good for him…

“Good for him.”

Chapter Forty-One: The Big Show...

Troy groaned tiredly, barely able to even think about lifting his wings to fly after practice. Even though it didn’t have much of a physical strain on the Gryphon, Rarity’s Pony Tones rehearsals still left him too wiped out to try flying back home. Instead, the Gryphon settled to just walking alongside Big Macintosh after practice ended each night, mostly since both of them use the same road out of Ponyville. Fortunately, the red workhorse wasn’t much of a talker, which suited Troy just fine during their walks; if anything, it helped his mind stay clear enough to only think of the concert and not his parents.

While the two walked down the dirt road, which was fortunately not coated in frost like the grass along both sides of it, Troy kept a disgruntled look on his face as they neared his home. Despite Big Mac usually being silent, he noticed the Gryphon’s look enough to make a small cough before opening his muzzle, “Uhhh… You alright there?”

“Hm?” Not even realizing how his resting face may have looked, Troy froze for a moment to take in Mac’s concerned expression. The Gryphon realized the question quickly enough to make a quick nod while walking to respond, “Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just a little tired, that’s all…”

Mac gave an understanding nod before looking back to the road ahead of them. “Yeah, Ah get it,” said the workhorse in his monotone voice, not sounding tired at all. “Rare can get kinda out there when she’s dedicated to somethin’.”

“I can definitely see that,” responded Troy with a sigh and a more relaxed smile on his beak. “Although, I guess it’s kinda good to get my mind on something new for a change.”

“Eeyup.” When Mac looked back at Troy, he had a more courteous smile at the corners of his muzzle. “Ya worried about the show tonight?”

“Ehh… kinda…” He didn’t want to seem apprehensive about the show, especially after spending so much time getting used to the acapella aspects and getting fairly good at it, but the Gryphon couldn’t keep his smile from disappaiting a bit as he continued. “Like, I’m not nervous or anything, but I’m not looking forward to wearing that sweater in front of my family.”

The workhorse chuckled loudly enough to warrant a small scowl from Troy. “Don’t worry ‘bout that,” said Mac with a smirk back towards him. “You’ll get used to it.”

Troy groaned and turned his head away from him. “This is only one time, Mac! I’m not going to make this a regular thing.”

Mac’s stare on him lingered a little longer, but subsided as he slowly turned away when Troy’s house came within their sights. “Well… okay…” Before the two could depart, the stallion mumbled under his breath just loudly enough for the Gryphon to hear, “Ah said that exact same thing my first time too…”

Troy almost wanted to shoot a nasty glare back at the pony, but merely exhaled before walking away towards his home. “Whatever,” muttered the Gryphon as he raised a claw to wave back at him. “I’ll see you at six, okay?”

“Eeyup!” answered Mac without turning his head as he gave a wave. As the workhorse continued down the road toward Sweet Apple Acres, Troy made his way around the studio, and entered through the side door into his living space.

“Hey Canvas,” said Troy in an exhausted tone as he walked into the home tiredly and threw his work bag to the side. “You manage to get my sweater from the dry-cle--M-MOM?!?”

Angela, who was sitting alongside Canvas, Lyra, and Bon-Bon at the dining table, almost didn’t catch his outburst before her head raised up. “Hm? Oh, hi, Troy!”

Before he could register why the buck his Mom was in his home, the Gryphon’s eyes shot wide-open when he saw what was scattered on the table, and being held in the hooves of his friends and his fiancè:

Photographs.

“Hi, Troy!” said Canvas enthusiastically as he looked up from his stack with a smile. “How was practice?”

Troy’s left eye twitched violently as he realized what they were holding. Bon-Bon’s back was turned to him, which meant that he could see what picture the mare was looking at. Even from the distance he was from the table, Troy could see clear as day that she was holding a photograph of a very young silver Gryphon in a big, poofy diaper. Combined with the small snickers both she and her wife Lyra were having, Troy’s pupils shrunk in dread. “... What are you looking at?”

“Oh, nothing big,” answered Troy’s Mother as she looked through a stack of her own in her claws. Of course, she couldn’t help smirking as she added in a nonchalant tone, “Just your baby photos…”

“WHAT?!” Troy’s claws grabbed at the feathers on his head, seeing just how many of his baby pictures were out on display in front of his friends. “Why are you showing them those?!”

Angela, almost confused by that question, paused as she looked down at the table before turning back to her panicking son. “Well, because it’s fun.”

Lyra grew an excited grin as she pulled up a specific photo from the pile with her magic. “Oooohhhh… Little Troy got out of his diaper in this one!”

“STOP THAT!” Troy swooped in to snatch the photo out of Lyra’s aura, and also grabbed Bon-Bon’s stack hastily. His sights went back to his Mother as he tried to pull the photos up to his chest so neither of the mares would get them again. “Mom, I don’t want them to see those!”

Angela just shrugged, never losing her coy smirk. “Well, we’ve been going through them for the past hour or so, so it’s a little late for that.”

“Ughhhh…” Troy took one of his claws away from the stack to face-claw. While his eyes were covered, Lyra’s mint aura quickly retrieved the stack Troy was holding to give back to her wife.

“Thanks, Lyra,” said the cream-colored mare happily before going back to scanning them. “I could’ve sworn I saw one of him in a tutu somewhere in here.”

“OOOHHH,” said Lyra and Canvas at the same time with great interest as they eyed her. “Let us know when you find it!” exclaimed Lyra excitedly.

“Oh, I remember that,” said Angela with a giggly tone. “One of my friends got some girly clothes because they thought he was a girl when he was first born. You know, due to his size and all. So before I returned them, I decided to--Troy stop giving me that look!”

The three turned back to Troy, seeing that the Gryphon had a furious-looking glare straight at her. With his feathers starting to turn a reddish hue, his beak grew a snarl as he replied in almost a hiss, “... Wwwwhhhhyyyyyyy?”

“Oh, stop being so dramatic!” Angela brushed her son’s look aside with a wave of her claw as she went back to finding more photos. “I’m having a nice time with your friends and your fiancè, aren’t I?”

Canvas, despite not wanting to see his partner look so upset, couldn’t help shrugging in Angela’s defense. “She… kinda has a point, Troy. She even called me your fiancè just now! I figured you would want that.”

“Not like THIS!”

“Well, you better get used to it,” said Angela bluntly, not even looking up from her photos as she spoke. “Part of being a Mother is embarrassing your children’s friends, and Canvas himself mentioned he never saw any pictures of you as a hatchling. I think it only seemed fair to--Ooooohhh, here’s a good one!”

She handed Canvas a photograph, which made the stallion’s eyes widen with a larger smile than before. “Awwwww!” Grinning like a school-colt, he made a small giggle before holding up the photo for Troy to see. “Look at that cute little butt!”

While Canvas and the ladies roared with laughter from that comment, Troy rolled his eyes and sighed before stomping off like a kid sent to time out. As he stormed up the stairs angrily, the Gryphon shouted down towards his stallion, “Oh, is that how it’s gonna go?! Well, two can play THAT game!”

While Angela and the ponies looked through the photos happily with giggles, the sound of rustling could be heard from up in Troy and Canvas’s bedroom. After almost a minute, Canvas spoke up while looking through the stacks and said, “I already showed her my baby photos.”

“DAMMIT!!!”

With warm smiles on their faces, Lyra and Bon-Bon each gave Angela a hug while at the open doorway. “Oh, it was so nice to get together like this!” said Bon-Bon graciously before letting go of the Gryphoness.

Despite the nervous-looking blush on her face, Angela couldn’t have looked happier as she nodded in agreement. “You know what? It really was!”

“You know,” added Lyra while standing beside her wife and looking up to Angela, “Bon-Bon’s been working on a new peach-swirl kind of candy. I’m not sure if it’s going to be as popular as her taffy, but we’d love to have you try some for brunch sometime.”

“Hmmm…” Angela grinned as she tapped her beak in contemplation. “I feel like my parents would tell me something about accepting candy from strangers…”

“Oh,” said Lyra in a huff as she rolled her eyes with a smirk, “Don’t be like that!”

“I’m not, I’m just joking!” After waving her claw aside to emphasize her statement, Angela added cheerfully, “And I would love to join you two for brunch! There’s still a lot of catching up to do.”

“Glad to hear it.” With that, the two mares finished their goodbyes with Angela and left, looking much happier that the Gryphoness was less apprehensive about the two than the last time they met. When Angela closed the door, she gave off a brief sigh of relief as she turned back to her son.

“Well,” began the Gryphoness as she looked over to Troy, who was slightly sulking in his seat at the table, “I think I’m warming up to your friends pretty well.”

The Gryphon only grumbled in response, still looking upset about what his Mother did to make that happen. Not liking his tone, Angela made a disappointed huff. “Now Troy, I really don’t like this attitude you’re giving me.”

Even though his head didn’t turn, his eyes looked over at her as he said bitterly, “You showed Canvas that tutu photo.”

“What?” she asked with her claws raised, “It’s cute!” While Troy turned his head away with a groan, Angela’s upset expression became stronger as she added, “Oh, don’t give me that! As much as I REALLY don’t want to think about it, I’m doubtful that Canvas hasn’t seen more than that, has he?”

Troy turned to make a retort, but froze before he could say a word. The truthfulness of her statement, combined with the fact that she actually said that, made the Gryphon stay silent for a moment before clenching his beak shut. He settled in his seat a little before giving a slight shrug of his shoulders. “Ehhh… maybe…”

While the Gryphon looked away embarrassedly, he barely noticed his fiancè coming down the stairs with his Pony Tones sweater draped across his back. “Here you go, honey! I know you were worried, but it doesn’t look like the sweater shrunk.”

Despite hating how stupid that sweater looked, Troy sighed before looking back at him with a smile. “Well, that’s good to know. Thanks, Canvas.”

“Wait a minute,” interrupted Angela as she stared at the stallion with a perplexed brow. “Did… did you just call him ‘Honey’?”

Canvas froze as a blush exploded across his face. “Uhhh… m-maybe?”

“C’mon, Mom,” said Troy as he tried to dispel his stallion’s nervousness in front of his Mother. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Hmmm…” Even though the Gryphoness’s skewed beak was enough proof that she wasn’t completely adjusted to her son’s relationship, it wasn’t enough to make her say anything she knew she would regret. “Well… I was actually wanting to bring up something about you two.”

“Hm?” Troy turned around in his seat to face his Mother, his look evident that he was expecting something unpleasant.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad,” assured Angela before her son could say anything else. Instead, she kept an anxious smile as she motioned to Canvas. “Back when I talked with your… partner at the bakery, I was able to see how important you were to him. And even though it is a big thing to adjust to, I knew that I had to do something to show my support.”

“Oh, Mom…” Troy shook his head as he tried to reassure her sincerely, “I know that you’re trying, and that’s all I wanted. You don’t have to--”

“Please. Just…” When Angela interrupted her son to continue, her tone became a bit more insistent than before. “Just… let me do this…”

After turning over to nod to the stallion, Angela motioned for Troy to get out of his seat to follow her to the kitchen. “I know this is a bit sudden, but I actually made a little business arrangement with Canvas during our talk with the bakery. Since he’s obviously devoted to you, I convinced him to use my shipping business to get his art supplies from now on.”

“Wait, what?!” Looking quite surprised by that news, Troy looked back at Canvas to see him nod in confirmation. The Gryphon turned to his Mother as they entered the kitchen. “B-but why?! I mean, no offense, but getting things shipped from the Gryphon Kingdom to here is kinda pricy.”

“I know that,” answered Angela with a smirk as she walked over to the corner of the kitchen where the trash can was. “But even with the extra price, it gives me the opportunity to deliver more than just what he needs…”

Troy blinked a couple times as his eyes narrowed on her in suspicion. “Ummm… what do you mean?”

While Canvas stood at the doorway of the kitchen with a giddy smile growing on his muzzle, Troy’s Mother only chuckled as she looked back to her son. “I think it might better to just show you…”

Angela pushed the trash can out of the way, and bent down in front of the seemingly bare wall. However, after pulling what looked to be a doorstop at the bottom of the wall, Troy’s eyes widened in shock when he saw his Mother pull up a large section of the kitchen wall like a garage door. “WHAT THE--”

Any other words that may have came out of Troy’s beak were immediately silenced when he saw what was behind the newly-constructed hidden wall. Shaking his head clear in disbelief, the Gryphon was momentarily unable to make any audible words when he saw the large metallic appliance hidden inside. “Is… is that a…”

Canvas giggled as he tried to catch his fiancè’s attention. “Yes, Troy. It’s a deep freezer. I managed to get the old one from the Cakes while they were getting a new one. They didn’t even question me asking for it.”

“Bu… but…” Troy’s head snapped back to the stallion as he tried to speak through his stunned state. “When… when did you…”

“Get the wall installed?” finished Canvas with a smirk. “You are aware you’ve been at work and Pony Tones rehearsals back-to-back for a while now, right? It was easy to get this planned out and executed with the triplets while you were out. Heck, you didn’t even notice when the tarp was up that one day!”

The Gryphon looked between his pony and the wall back-and-forth, trying to fathom how this could have happened. Even though he’d admit that he was usually too exhausted to notice much after Pony Tones practice, he was completely shocked that he didn’t notice something like this occurring in his own kitchen.

“And Troy…” Looking excited as well, Angela was positioned beside the deep freezer as she prepared to open it. “I was able to pull a couple strings with my shipping partners back home, so… I’d like to present, my wedding present to you…”

When Troy stepped forward to the deep freezer, his beak nearly dropped to the floor the instant his Mother opened the door. Inside of the massive compartment, every type of meat he could think of was packed inside like a glowing beacon of pure happiness. Among the many pounds of Gryphon Kingdom-raised steaks, chicken breasts, pork loins, and links of sausages that lined the bottom of the freezer, a huge package of applewood-smoked bacon was resting on top, just begging to be fried up and devoured.

Troy took a couple steps back from the freezer. One of his claws covered his beak as he looked like he was about to cry. “I… I can’t… believe...”

“It’s okay, Troy,” said Angela as she walked up to him with a warm smile on her beak. “I know this is a lot, but… I just want you to know that I love you, and that nothing will ever change that. And…” After giving a glance back at Canvas, who was also keeping a smile while on the verge of tears, Angela’s happy expression only strengthened as she turned back to her son. “And I know that your fiancè makes you happy, so… I wanted to make you happy as well.”

When Troy looked back at his Mom, he couldn’t help letting a couple stray tears come down his cheeks as he gave a trembling smile. Without warning, he hugged his Mom strongly before trying to speak in a tone stronger than a timid whimper. “Th… thank you, Mom…”

Angela only hugged back in response, clutching him tightly in her claws as she gave an equally warm reply. “It’s okay, Troy… I love you too…”

After almost a minute passed, the two finally let go while Canvas walked towards the fridge and wiped his face with a hoof. “And Troy,” began the stallion as he looked over at him with raised brows, “Since you’re doing something really big tonight, I thought that it would be nice to give you a little incentive…”

“Hm?” Troy’s head snapped back to his fiancè wide eyed when he saw him open the door. When he saw the inside of the fridge, his jaw dropped even lower than it did when he saw the freezer.

Canvas giggled when he saw the Gryphon’s reaction. “Yeah, I… figured it would be good to dethaw some of these steaks for you and your family.” His eyes narrowed to almost sultry as he added,” Plus, I have the stuff for a good batter, so maybe I can make these chicken-fried--”

“Is that more root beer?!”

Canvas froze for a moment with a more confused expression, and looked back at the fridge to see what Troy was staring at. Despite the fact that several thick steaks were sitting on plates on the top shelf of the fridge in full display, it seemed that the Gryphon was more focused on the new bottles of Gryphon root beer that were on the bottom. “Ummm…” After blinking a few times, he looked back at Troy and answered in a surprised tone, “Well… yeah, but--”

“YES!!!” Troy pumped his claw in victory, acting like he just scored an impressive amount on a lottery ticket. Upon realizing how he may have looked, he grew an embarrassed smile as he giggled nervously back at Canvas and Angela. “Ummm… I mean… th-thanks…”

Canvas shot a chuckling smirk back at Troy’s Mom. “I told you he’d notice that.”

Trying not to snicker as well, Angela sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you did…” She then reached into her purse to grab a couple of bits, and handed them to the stallion. “Here you go.”

“Wait a minute!” Troy’s face turned puzzled as he looked between his Mom and fiancè. “Did you two have a bet?!”

“What?” asked Canvas with a shrug after taking his bits, “She didn’t believe me!” He then pulled a bottle out of the fridge, and used the wall of his hoof to open the top with well-practiced ease. “Besides, you were upset about the triplets taking the last of our stash, so it seemed like a good idea.”

After Canvas gave him the bottle, Troy sighed with a smile as he took it in his claw. “Well… I guess that is a big plus. Thank you...” He bent his head down to give Canvas a small nuzzle, only lasting long enough to show his gratitude without making his Mother get visibly uncomfortable by the sight. Troy also looked back at Angela and added with a smile, “And thanks, Mom! I was actually planning to get some more bottles of the stuff after the triplets left.”

“Well,” began Angela in a more pondering tone, “Just let me know what the shipping costs are from your original provider. I’d like to know about my competition after all.”

“You got it!” Looking more chipper by the second, the Gryphon took a big swig from his bottle before swallowing and giving a satisfied sigh. “Aaaahhh… I swear, it’s hard to get me in a bad mood while holding one of these…”

Of course, as soon as he looked back at Canvas, Troy’s smile fell away when he saw the Pony Tones sweater being held in the smirking stallion’s hoof. “I stand corrected”

Since winter was still in the beginning stages around Ponyville, the town square wasn’t coated in thick volleys of snow just yet. But, due to the cold weather, large heat lamps were situated around both the gazebo stage as well as the large auditorium of outdoor seats in front of it. While the concert wasn’t slated to start for a while, a few ponies were already getting seated for the Ponytones show. Most of them were wearing at least a hat or a scarf to combat the still-new bout of cold.

One of those ponies was Fluttershy, who was wearing a thick woolen pink cap with earmuffs with a matching scarf. She considered wearing a jacket as well, but the only one that could work for this weather was light blue, which might have made some ponies think she was performing alongside them. After what happened last time she was caught singing, the Pegasus knew it would be a while before she could muster up the courage to try something like that again.

However, Fluttershy’s attention changed when she noticed a particular Gryphon walking over to the town square alongside his two identical brothers. She waved a hoof up to catch his attention, hoping that she wouldn’t have to shout for him to notice. Luckily, Blade’s head perked up a bit when he saw the yellow mare, and his beak grew a small smile before quickly looking around in a panic.

“Dude, what got into you?” asked Blaze, who was walking alongside Blade when he saw his brother’s head fidget like a chicken’s.

Blane who was at Blade’s other side, noticed Fluttershy as well, and looked down at his skinny brother with a knowing grin. “Ahhh… someone saw his crush, didn’t he?”

“W-what?!” Despite still looking nervous, Blade’s beak scowled a little when he looked up at Blane. “Shut up, ya bloke! It’s not that!”

“Oh really?” added Blaze with a couple perks of his brows. “I’m surprised your wings aren’t poppin’ out right now!”

“Sh-shut up!” snarled Blade when his head flicked back to his brother at his opposite side. “I’m not actin’ daft because of her!”

“Oh yeah?” asked Blaze with a skewed brow. “Then what?”

With his worried expression re-appearing, Blade’s head darted around as he tried to see anything out of the ordinary. “I… I just…” He gave off a deep, unwanted shudder which seemed to emanate from his very soul before completing his statement. “I really…don’t want her friend to be here too...”

The other two paused for a brief moment, both immediately knowing who Blade was referring to. Of course, despite their brother’s nervous look as he continued to scan the town to see if the Draconequus was anywhere to be seen, Blaze and Blane had larger grins on their beaks.

“Oh, I see…” Blane bent his head down to whisper into Blade’s ear, “You think you got a thing for him now?”

“DUDE I WILL SERIOUSLY--”

Before Blade could lash at Blane for his comment, he felt a hoof pull at his shoulder a little. When he saw who it was when he turned his head to her, the Gryphon quickly stopped his words and regained his usually calm composure. “Uhh… ‘ello, Fluttershy.”

“Is everything okay?” asked the mare in a concerned tone. As soon as she saw Blade’s two brothers giggling at him, the Pegasus wanted to take action and make sure nothing too mean was being said. “You know you can tell me, right?”

“No, it’s fine. I just…” Blade’s beak shut again as he quickly turned to see if anything was behind him.

Fluttershy instantly realized what may have gotten the Gryphon so jittery, and let out a soft exhale with a smile. “It’s alright, Blade. Discord isn’t around right now.”

A very relieved sigh escaped Blade, and he smiled back at the Pegasus gratefully. “Th-thanks for telling me that, Fluttershy…”

“C’mon, bra!” Blaze pushed Blade closer towards Fluttershy, making the mare emit a surprised “Eep!” when the Gryphon was pushed up against her. “Let her take your seat!”

“Yeah,” added Blane before the two could walk away from them, giving Blade a nudge at the shoulder, “I’m sure your biggest fan would appreciate that.”

Blade couldn’t say anything in protest before he was pushed against the mare even more. While the Gryphon and Pegasus both blushed a little more deeply, Blade’s brothers both walked away with heavy grins as they headed towards Sugar Cube Corner. Blaze’s eyes darted around before turning back to to Blane to ask, “Where do you think Lyle is? I put a couple bottles of that root beer stuff in his bag when he wasn’t looking.”

“Ooh, nice idea!” Blane started to look around as well while walking alongside his slightly less bulked brother. “I honestly kinda lost track of him, too.”

Fortunately, when they reached the outside of the grandiose bakery, Lyle was making his way out with a rather large cinnamon roll in his claw. Before either Blaze or Blane could go up to him, they froze when they saw their Mother come out behind Lyle. “MOM?!” the two shouted at the same time, neither having seen the Gryphoness since she apologized to Troy earlier that week.

“There you are, boys!” looking elated to see them, Angela went past Lyle to pull both Gryphons in for a strong hug. Despite their surprise, the fact that Lyle didn’t look too upset prompted Blaze and Blane to hug her back quickly. When she pulled back, the Gryphoness looked between them before asking puzzledly, “So, where’s Blade?”

“Oh,” Blaze pointed back to where the concert was being set up, “he’s over at the seats with Fluttershy.”

Angela looked past them to see where the seats were, her face growing worried. “Hmmm… I hope he’s not doing anything he’s gonna regret.”

“Eh, I doubt it.” Blane leaned in to open the bag hanging at Lyle’s side, barely catching him shouting out “Hey!” as he continued. “He, like, really respects her or something. I’ve never seen him like that before.”

“Really?” asked his Mom with a look of pleased surprise on her face. Of course, her question was cut off after Blane pulled one of the bottles of root beer out of Lyle’s bag.

“WHAT THE!” Lyle looked into his bag, growing irritated when he saw what his brother put inside of it. “Is that why my bag felt so heavy?!”

“Hey, blame Blaze! He was the one who did it! Besides, you should take note of your surroundings!” Ignoring Lyle’s angered scowl on him, Blane popped the cap off with a talon and took a swig. When he brought his bottle back down, he didn’t seem to notice Pinkie Pie looking down at him from a nearby window.

“Seriously though,” said Blaze towards his Mom while Blane took that swig, “How long have you been in town? I was starting to think you wouldn’t show up!”

“Oh please,” said Angela with a brush of her claw. “Like I’m going to miss Troy’s big show! Besides, I said that I had some things to do after talking to his… partner the other day.”

“Wait a minute…” Blane’s eyes narrowed on her suspiciously, not seeming to notice the window behind him opening, and a really long straw starting to come out towards his bottle. “Is this in any way related to us having to build that weird hidden wall in Troy’s kitchen?”

“Well, maybe…” Angela chuckled lightly with a smirk. “But believe me, as soon as his concert’s over, I think you guys are gonna appreciate it.”

Blane just rolled his eyes tiredly. “I hope so. Canvas had us leave the house all friggin’ morning! Unless that hole is gonna hold a stripper or two, I’m not sure how--”

Before he could finish, the sound of loud slurping interrupted his thoughts. As soon as he realized it was coming from right next to him, the straw was quickly pulled back into the shop as he held his now empty bottle. “What the… HEY!!!”

The window of the bakery slammed open as Pinkie Pie’s head popped out. While all four Gryphons jolted back and screamed, Pinkie looked down at Blane with an excited smile. “WOW! Where’d ya get that root beer?!”

“Hm?”

Troy’s talon poked through the closed curtain for a quick second, giving him just enough time to peek out curiously.

“What is it?” asked Rarity as she got her bowtie straightened around her neck.

After seeing nothing of concern, Troy shrugged and pulled back from the curtain. “Nothing. I thought I heard screaming or somethi--Wait a minute...”

Troy leaned back into peek through the opening, seeing something in the audience. Near the front of the rows of seats (with residents of the Ponyville Retirement home at the very front where the most heat lamps were), Troy’s eyes widened when he saw his brother Blade seated next to Fluttershy. While the skinny Gryphon seemed rather comfortable, Fluttershy was clearly shivering a little in her seat.

Blade, upon noticing this, shrugged before casually bringing out his wing to wrap around her for warmth. Although the action itself was clearly nothing more than a second thought (despite how often Troy has done it for Canvas romantically), the wing was around the Pegasus for only a second before quickly shooting back. Blade’s whole body spasmed like he was suddenly taken in control by something else, and one of his claws pulled back and punched himself in the face.

Due to Troy’s distance from them, he wasn’t able to hear Fluttershy’s gasp, or whatever Blade tried to say as he quickly looked around in a panic. Of course, after a brief moment, Blade’s eyes shot open in fear when he looked away from the crowds and towards a streetlamp a block away. Troy poked his head out for a split second, and quickly shot back in when he caught a glimpse of Discord hanging from the top with a menacing glare towards his brother.

Strangely enough, the Draconequus’s presence didn’t falter Fluttershy from her seat when she saw him as well. Instead, she just grew a strong, unwavering stare back at him with her lips pursed shut. Without breaking eye contact with Discord, the mare grabbed Blade’s wing by her hoof and put it back around her, establishing a look of dominance that even Celestia would’ve been impressed by.

Troy didn’t dare look to see what Discord’s reaction was to that, but judging by the smile that reappeared on Fluttershy’s face before looking back to the stage with Blade, it seemed like the Draconequus just let them be. However, before he could pull back from the curtain, Troy couldn’t help thinking Blade was going to remain nervous for a large majority of the show.

“Troy!” Rarity’s blue aura of magic pulled Troy back from the curtain while she spoke in an annoyed tone. “You can’t just poke your head out like that!”

“Sorry!” whispered Troy when he turned back to her. “I just saw my brother out there.”

“So?” asked the unicorn with a roll of her eyes. “Your whole family is supposed to be out there, remember? You shouldn’t be getting cold hooves--er, I mean paws, right before the show because of this!”

“I know, I know…” Troy covered his eyes with a claw as he tried to calm himself down. After a low sigh, he shook his head and muttered, “I’ve just been hung up on some things, alright?”

Rarity’s expression softened a little, and she placed a hoof on Troy’s shoulder. “Troy,” said the mare in a more sympathetic tone, “I know this past week hasn’t been easy for you. And believe me, the last thing I want is to see you feel this disheveled about it. But I also know that whenever you showed up to practice, your mood improved as soon as you started singing.”

Troy’s eyes looked down to the floor, not wanting to look at the unicorn as she said those things. However, the Gryphon also knew that Rarity was actually kinda right. Even with all the drama he went though in regards to his family, he had to admit that it was hard to focus on that when he had to collaborate his singing with the other Pony Tones. And to be perfectly honest, Troy could admit that it was hard not to feel better when a session went really well.

“So,” continued the mare as her tone became more confident. “if you want my advice, I suggest that you just treat this like one of our practice sessions. Don’t focus on the crowds, and just think of the music.”

Troy looked back at Rarity as he gave a more deadpanned stare at her. “You are aware that this isn’t the first time I sang on a stage, right?”

Rarity mimicked his expression back at him. “And did that advice help you then?”

Troy stayed silent for a moment, but stopped after he gave a shrug after his pause. “Good point.”

“Thank you.” Growing a satisfied smirk, she motioned Troy to follow her towards the back of the stage where Big Macontish and Torch Song were conversing. “Now, come on. We still need to get situated before our big event.”

By the time the show was just about to start, nearly every seat was filled with ponies who were either waiting in anticipation, or trying to seat themselves closer to one of the heat lamps for extra warmth. Even with the complimentary hot chocolate that was being handed out to patrons, there were plenty of ponies shivering while a light array of snow began to trickle down from the skies.

Keeping himself below the cloudlines, Jonas kept a steady pace as he flew into Ponyville’s town square, and landed nearby the show away from the crowd. Fortunately, due to the fact that the Clawston triplets - as well as Angela - were a couple feet taller than most of the other ponies while seated, their seats were placed to the sides so nopony would be blocked. After shaking some snow off of his wings, the Gryphon let off a tired sigh as he walked over towards his three eldest sons first.

When the triplets saw Jonas walk towards them, all three turned their heads away to look over at the stage with cold expressions. Even Blade, whose wing was still wrapped around Fluttershy, didn’t bother looking over at their Dad when he tried to speak.

“Guys,” said Jonas as he tried to get their attention, “Would you mind if--”

He was quickly interrupted when all three of them lifted their claws to give Jonas three middle talons at the same time, all without turning their heads. Jonas groaned with a clenched beak, looking like he was just about to smack them for that level of disrespect. However, the Gryphon instead closed his eyes and made a very strained exhale, avoiding any thoughts that he’d usually listen to at that moment.

Blade’s head bent in towards Fluttershy, and whispered something into her ear. Blushing a little in nervousness, the timid mare leaned forward in her seat so that Jonas could notice her. “Ummm… Mister Clawston?”

Jonas reopened his eyes and looked towards her before she could speak.

“He…” Fluttershy motioned towards Blade before continuing. “... He wanted me to tell you that… you need to talk to Troy first.”

“Ugh!” Jonas rolled his eyes and groaned louder than before. However, he also paused briefly before nodding in aggravation. “Fine, fine! I… I guess I’ll wait then.”

“Good,” said Blane with a glare, which quickly changed when he realized what he did. “Shit I mean…”

He moved over in his seat to whisper something to Fluttershy as well. After he settled back in his chair with the stoic expression he had before, Fluttershy looked up at Jonas to say, “He said ‘Good’...”

Jonas face-clawed, and then dragged it down his face slowly. “Ughhhh…”

Blaze looked over at Fluttershy and said, “Also…”

He leaned in past Blade to whisper something to the mare. Unfortunately, what he said made her face turn a deep red as she replied weakly. “Ummm… I really don’t want to say that word…”

Jonas just shook his head before walking away from the three. “Fine, whatever! I’ll sit somewhere else!”

The Gryphon grumbled to himself while walking away, but his words became lost when he saw his wife seated at the other end of the crowd. While Jonas was looking over at her, and at Lyle who was seated beside her, both of them noticed him before turning their heads away as well. Even though Lyle’s face quickly turned sour the instant he saw his Dad, Angela’s expression was more saddened than anything else. Jonas, who never enjoyed seeing that look from his wife, looked down to the snow-powdered ground as he breathed out heavily, unsure what he could actually do.

After most of the crowd was seated and waiting patiently, Jonas perched himself atop one of the streetlamps, which was fortunately sturdy enough to hold his weight. Not minding the cold metal against his talons and paws, the Gryphon kept himself further than most of the other ponies when the curtain finally opened. Rarity, who trotted out in her Pony Tones sweater, had her horn lit while holding a microphone in her aura.

“Good evening, Fillies and Gentlecolts!” The posh mare smiled in glee when the audience roared in applause. She waited a brief moment for the crowd to settle down before continuing. “I’d like to thank everypony for coming out tonight, and for showing their support for this noble cause!”

While the audience applauded once more, a spotlight from the stage pulled out to illuminate the elderly ponies sitting in the front row. “Tonight, we’re hoping to raise enough bits to help supply the Ponyville Retirement Home with new furniture, a stronger balcony frame, and of course… a brand new furnace to keep them warm for the upcoming winter months!”

While the residents all nodded and waved to the applause from the crowds, the spotlight came back to Rarity as she continued her announcements. “However,” said the unicorn as her tone became slightly more serious, “due to unforeseen circumstances, I’m afraid to say that one of our members, Toe Tapper, is unable to perform tonight…”

The sounds of groans could be heard from several parts of the crowd. In one of the front rows, two mares with matching Toe Tapper sweaters (as well as a large banner with his face on it) slumped in their seats disappointedly.

“But,” added Rarity with a growing smile, “we are more than fortunate to find a replacement for this show! While he might not be a ‘pony’ per se, I’m sure that many of you already know him from his weather duties around Ponyville, as well as from his recent lead performance from Ponyville Theater’s most recent show…”

A few ponies could already be heard making excited “Ooohs” and “Ahhhs”, already figuring out who the Pony Tones got as a replacement. And with the spotlight moving to reveal the three figures emerging from the curtain, Troy gave a tremendously nervous smile when the light was brought onto him.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts, I would like to present, for this night only… Troius Clawston!”

The audience applauded wildly once more, which was just the push the Gryphon needed to swallow his pride while Big Macintosh and Torch Song stood beside him. Due to the spotlights on him and the other three, as well as the increasingly darkening skies as the sun set, Troy was happy to see that most of the crowd looked like indistinguishable shadows than anything else. After giving a nod and wave to the crowds, Troy waited alongside the other Pony Tones as the crowd quickly silenced for the show to begin.

For most of the show, Troy didn’t even think about his family being in the audience as he sang alongside the three ponies in matching sweaters. Also, since Big Macintosh was one of the closest ponies to be at equal height to him (although he might have been an inch or two shorter than the Gryphon), Troy didn’t feel like a giant in doll’s clothes while singing acapella. In fact, Troy was even given a lead singing part in one of the songs--a Sapphire Shores cover--which was very highly received by the crowds by the time it ended.

Even Troy’s older brothers, who could be heard giggling at his outfit at the beginning of the show, were only hooting and whistling in approval after the last song was over. Troy and the Pony Tones took a courteous bow at the front of the stage, looking quite happy after having a flawless performance under the fresh night’s sky. While ponies began to line up at a donation box to begin adding their contributions for the Ponyville Retirement Home, Troy finished giving his thanks to the Retirement Home residents before heading to find his family.

“Troy-Boy!” Blaze swooped in as soon as Troy was free, and wrapped a foreleg around him tightly for a side-hug. “I didn’t know you had that in ya, dude!”

“Yeah, totally!” added Blade while and and Blane came up behind their brother. “If I knew that, I would’ve offered ya a spot in one of my albums!”

Troy looked more than a little skeptical when he turned his head to the skinny Gryphon “Oh really? I didn’t think your metal shrieking would’ve needed any backup vocals.”

“What are ya talkin’ about?” said Blade with a hint of offense in his tone. “I had backup stuff in a lot of my songs, mate! I even had a choir bit when I recorded ‘Murder Fetish Parade’!”

“Oh yeah,” replied Troy sarcastically with a roll of his eyes, “how could I have forgotten that classic?”

“Hey, come on!” Blane chimed in and gave Troy a playful punch on the shoulder. “We’re just celebrating you, man! That was surprisingly awesome!”

Despite the use of that adverb before the word ‘Awesome,’ Troy still grew a content smile back at his older brothers. “Well, thanks guys. That really does mean a lot.” When he saw his Mom and Lyle manage their way through the crowds, Troy’s attention turned to them as he asked. “Hey, guys! What did you think?”

Angela carried an overjoyed smile back to Troy before hugging him tightly. “Oh, Troy! That was wonderful!”

While Troy smiled and hugged her back with his eyes closed, he overheard Lyle add, “Yeah, definitely! It even made up for that sweater a little.”

Troy immediately pulled back from his Mom to shoot Lyle a nasty glare. “Now now, Lyle,” warned Angela sternly. “What did I tell you about making those jokes?”

Blaze decided to bring himself into the discussion. “Well, you gotta admit, Mom! That outfit does look pretty dorky!”

“OOH!” Looking like he just had a revelation, Blane pointed a talon at Troy excitedly. “I just realized what he looks like!”

“Dude, shut up!” Despite his good performance, Troy was starting to get upset before Canvas could be anywhere in sight.

“Guys, guys…” Ignoring his younger brother’s annoyance, Blane turned to the others as he asked, “Do you remember that weird friend of Mom’s? You know, the one with that creepy hairless dog thingie?”

“Hey!” shouted Angela firmly. “Don’t you talk about Ginnette like that! And her pet chihuahua wasn’t hairless!”

“Alright, alright,” added Blane quickly as he settled down his Mom, “but still!” He pointed to Troy again. “Doesn’t that look like an outfit she’d put her dog in?!”

With that image put in their heads, it wasn’t long before Troy’s brothers started cackling wildly. Even Angela, despite putting her claw over her face, looked like she was struggling not to laugh.While Troy stood with his feathers getting redder by the second, he was luckily kept in place when he felt a familiar hoof touch his shoulder.

“Guys, come on,” said Canvas sternly towards the other Gryphons while standing beside his fiancè. “You should be focusing on his singing, not his appearance!” He then looked up at Troy with an enamored smile on his muzzle. “Besides, I think he looks quite handsome in it.”

“Oh, please!” Lyle rolled his eyes away from the couple. “Troy could probably wear a tutu and a cape and still be considered hot by you!”

“Lyle!” shouted Angela towards him angrily.

“I dunno…” Canvas’s smile turned to a more randy smirk as he eyed Troy while beside him. “A skirt would be interesting…”

The Gryphoness turned her head to the stallion eyeing her son with a concerned look on her face. “What?”

Canvas, immediately regretting that statement, carried a worried look similar to Troy’s as he slowly turned his head to face her. “Uhhhh… a shirt. I said a shirt. Like… a dress shirt. For… parties and stuff. Dinner parties.”

The triplets could be heard snickering behind their Mother, whose left eye was twitching badly from Canvas’s flustered remark. Lyle, who was giggling as well, tried to chime in to the stallion’s defense. “Mom, c’mon! You can’t be that surprised by now, are yo--”

Before he could finish, Lyle’s eyes shot open when he saw something past his Mother. By the time Angela noticed and turned around, Lyle was already storming away with an angered look on his face. Meanwhile, the rest of the family could only stand in silence when they saw Jonas walk in towards them.

“Ummm... “ Despite the uncomfortable wall of silence that appeared due to his presence, Jonas stood his ground as he attempted to break the awkwardness. His expression had an uncomfortable hint of weakness as he tried to speak towards Troy in a firm tone. “T… Troy?”

Seeing his Dad for the first time since that bakery incident, Troy’s angered look was fairly similar to Lyle’s while staring Jonas down broodingly. However, instead of leaving like his younger brother has, Troy just took a reluctant breath before opening his beak. “What?”

Jonas’s face faltered a little more from the tone of his son’s voice, but luckily his paws didn’t do the same. Instead, the older Gryphon took a quick moment before sighing faintly. “Troy, can… can I talk with you for a second?”

Troy’s beak clenched in tightly at that response, giving off an apparent look of “Screw you” back to Jonas. Nevertheless, the silver Gryphon slowly turned to look back at his Mom, who carried a more sympathetic (albeit worried) look towards her son. Even though he knew that he told his Mother he would at least try to talk to Jonas if he came back, the recollections of what happened the last time they talked was enough to make him seriously consider going back on that promise. But eventually, after Angela nodded towards him apprehensively, Troy exhaled deeply before turning his head back towards Jonas. “I… I suppos--”

“Troy!” The sound of Rarity’s voice interrupted Troy’s answer as she made her way through the crowds with her sweater still on. “Where in Equestria’s name have you been?! I was barely even able to speak with you befo…”

As soon as the unicorn broke free from the wall of ponies long enough to see where Troy was, her rant quickly stopped when she saw the rest of the Gryphon’s family. And even though she hasn’t had the chance to see Jonas when he and his wife arrived to Ponyville earlier this week, Rarity heard enough about the Gryphon’s description (as well as what occurred at Sugar Cube Corner) to realize who Troy was trying to speak with. “Oh… Ummm, never mind…”

Before the mare could leave to give the Clawstons some space, Troy shouted out quickly, “Rarity! Wait a minute…”

The unicorn looked back at him in confusion. “Hm?”

“Listen, uhhh…” Despite not wanting to ask Rarity for a favor this large, he knew that he couldn’t talk with Jonas out in the middle of town with ponies having the chance to eavesdrop on them. “Could… we maybe use your boutique? I’d… rather try to talk with him in private.”

Jonas, despite looking less than enthusiastic, nodded towards them in agreement. Rarity, understanding the insistence in Troy’s look and tone, took a second before nodding back to him. “Well, alright. I suppose it’s the least I could do after you helped us.”

She motioned the two to follow her before turning around to head towards her home. “Plus, I figure you might want to change out of that sweater if you’re planning to have a discussion.”

While walking behind her, Troy let off an involuntary chuckle while rubbing the back of his head with a claw. “Yeah, definitely.”

Jonas, who was following Troy, had a more disturbed look on his face when he finally took a moment to ponder what the buck his son was wearing. His eyes turned away for a moment as he muttered under his breath, “Yeah. That makes two of us.”

Chapter Forty-Two: ... And the Big Finale

Rarity, now without her Pony Tones sweater, had only a scarf around her neck and a nervous expression on her face as she closed the door of her boutique after leaving. When she walked back out into the chilly Equestrian night, she saw Canvas, Angela, and Lyle standing amongst themselves underneath a nearby street lamp. “Well, Troius and Jonas are inside alone,” said the mare as she walked up to the trio. “I don’t know how it’s going to go, but I’m hopeful that things won’t get too intense.”

“Well,” replied Angela as she looked past Rarity to see the illuminated windows of the shop, ”I think that’s for the two to decide for themselves.”

Canvas nodded silently with a bitten lip, not sure if either of them would keep the discussion peaceful after what happened last time. Meanwhile, Lyle looked around confusedly and asked, “Wait a minute… where are the others?”

“Hm?” Angela looked back down to her youngest son, taking a moment before realizing what he meant. “Oh, the triplets?” Upon realizing she hasn’t seen them as well, her gaze turned to see where the three may have headed off to. “Huh… where did they go?”

“Wait, I think I see them!” Noticing the paw prints left behind in the snow, Canvas was able to spot the Gryphons before either Lyle or Angela could. He pointed a hoof over to the side of the boutique, where a large moving shadow could be seen nearby through the reflection of one of the windows.

“Ohhhh, no they’re not!” Rarity stormed back over towards her home immediately, and lit her horn to pull the three figures back with her magic. With the glow of her blue magic, the triplets were seen being jolted in surprise as they were lifted with surprising ease away from the window and back towards the rest of the family. The unicorn had a judgemental stare on them as she asked angrily, “Just what do you three think you’re doing?!”

“What?!” asked all the triplets at the same time. After being floated back onto the snowy ground, Blaze was the first to speak while shaking himself off. “We were just wanting to keep an eye on them, that’s all!”

“Yeah!” added Blade as he wiped some powdered snow off his fur. “We saw what happened the last time those two talked! And your house has a LOT of fra-gee-lay stuff in it!”

“Fra… fra-gee-lay?” It took Rarity a few seconds before realizing that the fake Trottingham Gryphon was trying to say ‘fragile’, which just made her groan and desperately try to avoid the subject by saying, “Nevertheless, you shouldn’t be eavesdropping on them! Regardless of what might occur, you need to be confident that the two will act like responsible adults.”

Canvas, despite being as worried as the triplets were, nodded in agreement to Rarity. “S-she’s right, guys,” said the stallion reluctantly. “I mean, I’m worried too, but I’m not going to linger at the side of the house like a leech because of it.”

Blane looked back at him with a more befuddled expression. “And why not?”

Canvas’s eyes looked down at the snow for a brief moment to gather his thoughts, which resulted in him making a meager shrug before looking back up to answer honestly. “Because I trust my fiancè. And in any relationship, trust is the most important thing you could have.”

While it looked like all of the triplets wanted to make a rebuttal, none of them were able to actually open their beaks to say anything. Instead, the only response that Canvas received was a rather surprised and impressed smile from Angela. “Well,” said the Gryphoness with a slight tilt of her head. “I have to admit, that’s surprisingly mature of you.”

Growing a small blush, Canvas could only chuckle timidly while rubbing the back of his head. “Heh heh… Well, to be honest, I kinda got that advice from a baby dragon, so…”

Angela’s head skewed the other way, now with a more confused look. While Lyle rolled his eyes and tried not to laugh at Canvas’s statement, Rarity’s eyes merely narrowed on him suspiciously. Hmmm… Even though the mare didn’t speak out loud, she couldn’t help thinking about the stallion’s answer. I swear, Spike better not be reading through my magazines again...

“Well, whatever the case,” said Angela with a respectful smile towards the stallion, “I’m glad that you’re looking at things in a more mature light than--”

“WHAT THE!!” Rarity was looking around frantically, now alone as soon as she took her magic off the triplets. “Where in Celestia’s name did they go?!!”

The others quickly realized that Rarity’s outburst was well warranted, as the three Gryphons were missing again. Lyle looked up to the near pitch-black skies, just as dumbfounded as the rest of them. “I swear, those guys don’t move that fast unless a taco cart is involved!”

After Rarity made her leave, the interior of the Carousel Boutique was surprisingly eerie without any ponies inside of it. Despite the bright lighting and lack of any dark or brooding colors, Troy still felt more than a little apprehensive about being in this massive space with the Gryphon he used to call his Father. Plus, the bright pink walls and mannequins at the corner of the showroom didn’t exactly help with the lingering tension that was building up with each second of awkward silence.

Jonas, who was standing by the door after Rarity left, was staring around the overly feminine space with an obvious look of disgust. Even though he figured that the prim and proper unicorn would have a feminine touch with her business, he wasn’t expecting it to be this overly blatant. Nevertheless, the old Gryphon didn’t open his beak to make any remarks about the place, especially since he was planning to try and talk with Troy while they were alone.

Even though he considered sitting in one of the pastel-colored chairs, Troy didn’t move from his spot while standing beside the large podium stage that Rarity used for her clients. Instead, he took a moment to look around before breathing out slowly, and turned his gaze back towards Jonas. “So…”

Jonas kept his focus on his son, and stood his ground as he waited to make a reply. After making sure that Jonas wasn’t going to interrupt him, Troy’s brows furrowed before continuing. “Would you mind telling me why you’re here?”

Jonas responded with only a shrug of his shoulders. “What does it look like? I came back to talk to you.”

“Yeah? And why is that?”

Jonas looked confused from that question, but he didn’t have enough time to try to answer Troy before hearing him continue in an increasingly pissed-off tone. “Because if I remember correctly, the last thing you said to me was that I was an ‘Utter Disgrace’.”

Hearing how much Troy emphasized those last two words as maliciously as possible, Jonas felt his beak skew a little while shut, just barely concealing his cringe. Meanwhile, the younger Gryphon’s glare only became stronger. “WELL?!”

For almost any pony in town, that outburst from Troy would’ve made them flinch bad enough to look like a serious spasm. But for Jonas, the only movement that he gave was an involuntary double-blink while his expression turned more uneasy. Nevertheless, Jonas still took a breath before finally opening his beak. “Yes, Troy. I… I know what I said.”

“Yeah. Exactly.” Even though his voice was more subdued than before, Troy’s tone was still fairly bitter while responding. “So it makes it pretty damn hard for me think of a good reason why you’re back right now.”

Jonas’s beak clenched tighter for a brief second, making him look like he wanted to make a quick retort. But instead, he made another deep exhale before getting a statement out. “Dammit, Troy, I’m trying to be reasonable here! Is it so hard for you to think that maybe I’m being honest about that?!”

“Actually, yeah! It really is!!” Troy’s anger started to grow as his voice got louder. “Because the last time you acted ‘honest’, you treated me and everyone else like complete SHIT!! So why the buck should I believe you’re going to act any different now?!”

It was clear from Jonas’s expression that his patience was beginning to wear thin. Despite not wanting to cause another scene, the way that Troy was acting wasn’t exactly suiting well with the General’s resolve. Meanwhile, Troy’s angered stare at him was starting to break, exposing a more hurt frown underneath his mask of a scowl on his beak.

“I swear,” said the younger Gryphon as his voice cracked a little, “I… I really do not want to be here right now. And… it’s taking everything in me to not walk out right now because of what you said to me…”

It was Jonas’s turn to start to appear more saddened as well. Of course, unlike his son, the General was able to conceal it better beneath his hardened expression while listening to him. “So unless you want that to happen,” continued Troy as his tone turned more sour, “I actually want you to be honest with me.”

The older Gryphon was able to nod to Troy’s stipulation without much of a pause between them. “Of course,” said Jonas, grateful that he was getting the chance to speak without interruption.

After making sure he didn’t have anything else to add to that, Troy waited a moment before reopening his beak. “So tell me. Why did you come back?”

“Because your Mother threatened to divorce me if I didn’t.”

Of all the things Troy expected him to say, that definitely wasn’t it. His expression softened in an instant as his eyes widened, showing his clear surprise at Jonas’s answer. “W… what?”

“You heard me,” said Jonas with a nastier inflection in his voice. “She told me to either talk to you or sign the papers, and I’m going to be DAMNED if I’m going to let this get in the way of my marriage!”

Troy blinked a couple times absently, his mind drawing a surprisingly large blank. Even though he remembered that Angela said she had a plan for getting her husband to come back, he would’ve never imagined that she did something that drastic for it to happen. His eyes slowly looked down to the ground between him and Jonas, looking unsure about how to feel. “Holy… I…”

“Yeah,” said the General bluntly, his own irritation about the situation coming out clearly as he spoke. “So believe me, Troy. I’m not that happy about any of this either! But if talking to you means keeping Angela in my life, then so be it! Because nothing, and I mean nothing means more to me than your Mother, and I love her too damn much to have her leave me because of you!”

Troy’s head came back up to give Jonas a stronger glare than before. While part of him wanted to give the General some credit for actually admitting what he did, another part of the Gryphon wanted to give a suitable reply back to him. “Yeah, I can understand that feeling pretty well.”

A quick breath came out of Jonas’s beak, giving a clear indication that he was waiting for his son to give a proper explanation. “You say that nothing means more to you than Mom?” asked Troy with a more stable resolve in his voice. “I know what that’s like, because that’s how I feel about Canvas.”

After taking a deep breath and making sure that Jonas wasn’t going to interrupt, the silver Gryphon stood his ground while looking the General dead in the eyes. “Ever since I saved his life, I have never felt anything as deep or as important as how I feel about Canvas. He’s the best friend I ever had, and he’s helped me just as much as I helped him. And you know what? I… I didn’t even care about him being a pony, let alone a stallion when I fell in love with him! The only thing I was worried about was losing my best friend, and that was it! After that, I couldn’t care less what you or anyone else would have to say, because I found someone that I would give my life for if it came to that!”

While Jonas stared back at him, his stoic expression not giving much evidence of what he was thinking, Troy’s stare turned more venomous as he continued. “And… and when I saw you trying to kill him…”

“HEY!!” Despite not wanting to cause another fight, Jonas wasn’t going to dare let that accusation slide. “I was NOT trying to kill him, Troy! You really think that I would actually resort to murder over a petty argument?!”

“YOU HAD YOUR CLAWS AROUND HIS NECK!!”

“HE CALLED ME A SHITTY PARENT!!”

“DO YOU BLAME HIM?!?”

That statement made Jonas’s blood turn cold as ice. With a nasty scowl, it took everything in him not to attack while getting closer up to Troy. However, instead of continuing the screaming match, the General’s beak was practically welded shut while waiting for his heartrate to settle down. Meanwhile, Troy got in close as well while continuing to yell.

“All that Canvas was trying to do was keep you from treating Lyle like CRAP! Do you know how much you were blistering his self-esteem since he got suspended from school!? DO YOU?! If it wasn’t for Canvas, Lyle would still be treating himself like shit because of you!”

Jonas rolled his eyes with obvious skepticism. “Oh, so that’s how it is? I keep one of my children from drawing pornography, and I’m seen as the bad guy?!”

“It was only that one time, and that was only because he got paid for it! Have you even tried looking at any of his other drawings?! Because if you had, then you would probably see why Canvas wants him to continue doing it as a career! He has potential!”

The General just turned his head away from Troy with a scowl, shaking his head in annoyance and disbelief. His son, whose expression turned angrier at seeing that, narrowed his eyes on Jonas and continued. “Oh, but wait… That wouldn’t be good for you, now would it? Because that would mean that one of your kids is doing something that you didn’t expect, which you consider to be bad because you’re too damn arrogant to think you’re wrong about ANYTHING!!”

“Oh, so I’m arrogant?!” asked Jonas in an enraged shout. “Why?! Because I’m trying to raise my children properly? Because I want what’s best for them?!”

“HOW WAS CALLING ME A DISGRACE DOING THAT!?!”

Despite what he was trying to say, that statement from Troy was enough to make Jonas stay frozen for a moment. While Troy waited with a furious snarl pointed straight at him, the older Gryphon had to pause momentarily, unable to think of a response.

“WELL?!” screamed his son on a more enraged tone. “HOW WAS DOING THAT GOING TO HELP ME, HUH?!? DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT’S PROPER PARENTING?! ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GOING TO DEFEND THAT!?”

Even though Troy looked angry enough to try throwing a swing at the Gryphon in front of him, his eyes were still beading up like he was about to start crying. Meanwhile, Jonas’s eyes slightly averted from his son, his beak staying shut as he tried to stand against Troy’s words. After a long bout of silence following Troy’s question, the only sound that he could make was heavy panting while waiting for a response. He swallowed some excess saliva before repeating in a weakened voice. “... Well? Are you?”

Jonas closed his eyes as he let off a deep, uncomfortable sigh that almost sounded like a pathetic growl. When he finally looked back up to face his son, the General’s eyes were narrowed on him, like he was trying to cover the thin veil of contemplation resting on his face. “Troy… do you have any idea how that night felt for me?”

Troy’s head tilted to the side as he gave a look that bordered on anger and disbelief. “For… for you?!”

“Yeah, for me!” shouted Jonas back at him, his voice coming out more insistent. “I had to spend almost an entire day cramped in that shitty excuse of a train to even arrive to this nation, because I wanted to see my son who I haven’t seen in a year! And when I finally did get here, I didn’t even get to spend a full day before having ALL my children disrespect and leave me, after finding out that you’re getting married to someone I never even met! And that was AFTER he called me a shitty parent! Can you really blame me for being so bucking angry?!”

“AND YOU THINK THAT JUSTIFIES HOW YOU ACTED?!”

“NO IT DOESN’T!!”

It took a second for Troy to realize what Jonas actually said, which made him reel back in surprise. Jonas, now fuming just as much as his son was, repeatedly blinked while looking between Troy and the floor between them. After a short bout of silence, which honestly felt like an eternity for either of them, Jonas exhaled briefly with his beak slightly open. “I…. n-no… No, it…. it doesn’t…”

Actually saying that out loud (albeit very weakly) was enough to make the General move his gaze gown to the ground completely, not wanting to see how his son was staring at him. Jonas gave another sigh as he tried to speak as honestly as he could for Troy to hear. “I… I know that things went bad, alright? And… and I… I’ll admit that… I may have done more wrong than anyone else…”

When his head finally came back up, the look on Jonas’s face was clearly more saddened than when he made that admission. However, his face was still pointed away from Troy, who was looking at the Gryphon like he just grew a third eye on his forehead. “W… what?”

“You heard me,” growed Jonas bitterly while avoiding looking at him. “I… I know I didn’t act the way I should’ve. And… and I can understand why Angela was so insistent on wanting me to talk to you…”

Troy could only blink in stunned silence, not expecting him to say anything even remotely close to that. Even with knowing that Jonas was going to get divorced if he didn’t do this, nothing could have made him believe that it would be enough to get the old Gryphon to actually speak this rationally.

When Jonas finally regained the ability to look his son in the eyes, his aged golden orbs carried nothing but the purest sincerity as he spoke firmly. “There is nothing… NOTHING that means more to me than my family, Troy. Without my wife or my kids, I don’t have anything. Everything that I’ve done, and all the choices that I’ve made, were because I wanted nothing but the best for my family…”

A new shade of guilt crept along Jonas’s face, and his eyes peered away again before his voice turned weaker. “But… I can admit that sometimes it’s not the best choice…” A small scowl came up on his beak before looking back at Troy to add, “So no, Troy. I don’t think that I’m ‘Too damn arrogant to think I’m wrong about anything’...”

The old Gryphon slowly turned his head down in deep thought. “I was wrong to yell at my wife back at that hotel, and I’ll never let myself down for doing that to her. And… I was also wrong for letting all my sons to leave me out of anger…”

After a long pause, Jonas took a deep breath, his face showing a pained expression which looked to be growing stronger with each word he said next. “And… I… I was wrong to… leave you the way that I did…”

The Gryphon kept his face hidden after saying that, not needing to look up to know that his son heard what he said with no misinterpretation. Troy’s eyes were open wide while staring back at him, his mind drawing a complete blank. When he opened his beak, the younger Gryphon was unable to make an audible statement for several lingering seconds. Fortunately, that was enough time for Jonas to say one more thing before his son could state his response.

“I… I’ll admit that what I said was uncalled for, Troy. And I… hope you understand that it wasn’t sincere.”

Troy could only stare at the General with a befuddled look, not knowing if Jonas was lying or just turning senile. When the old Gryphon finally turned his head back up, he saw Troy’s eyes slowly narrow on him in returning anger.

“... So, “ With his scowled beak trembling shut, the Gryphon’s glare on Jonas intensified as his voice tried to stay bitter through his timid tone. “... Why should I believe you?”

Jonas’s saddened face turned to slight worry as his eyes widened in confusion. “W… what?”

“Y-you heard me,” said Troy in a stronger voice than before. “Why..,.. why should I believe that you really mean that?! Do you really think that what you said was wrong, or are you only saying that because of Mom?!”

The General’s stern glare started to return on his face. “Troy… I am trying to set things right.”

“Oh really?!” shouted his son back at him with a more intense stare. “How do I know that?! After what you said to me, AND everyone else, how can I know you didn’t mean any of it?! Do you really expect me to believe that after a couple of days, that now you’re suddenly okay with me getting married?!”

“I didn’t say that!”

Troy stopped again in surprise, while Jonas paused briefly with a small cringe on his face. After taking another breath, the older Gryphon tried to keep his expression firm while clarifying, “I never said that I was okay with any of this! You told me to be honest, right?! Well, I don’t like that you’re doing this! I’m not okay with you marrying a stallion! And… and there’s probably a good chance that I never will be completely used to it…”

His voice lessened a little at that last sentence, with Jonas looking like he didn’t want to actually say that in front of his son. However, before Troy could say anything about it in a fit of rage, Jonas put up a claw to stop him while his beak was open. “But…”

After putting his claw back down, the older Gryphon sighed as he looked down to the ground to add, “But I… I also don’t like how Blade is in a metal band instead of something more suitable for his skills… I don’t like how Blaze is willing to throw his athletic skills away because of drugs, even if he was just ‘holding them for a friend’... I don’t like the idea of Lyle drawing more obscene artwork that could get him expelled, and I… REALLY don’t know how to feel about Blane being an actual florist! I mean, at least it’s legal, but…”

Jonas made a small huff as he looked back up at Troy. “I’m just saying, Troy… I don’t like a lot of things that my children are doing, but… that doesn’t mean that I love them any less. I know I’ve acted brashly before, but… that was only because I wanted them to have good lives for themselves. But now… now I can see that… no matter what any of them do with their lives… it shouldn’t matter as long as they’re happy…”

With his head hanging low while speaking, Jonas closed his eyes as he tried to make his tone as honest as it possibly could for his son to hear. “I… I know I shouldn’t have acted the way I did with you, especially considering that you’ve probably caused me a lot less trouble back home than any of your brothers…” After another bout of silence following that statement, Jonas waited before adding apprehensively, “Plus, you… you weren’t wrong…”

Despite still looking skeptical, Troy waited to see if Jonas was going to clarify what he meant with that last point. When he realized nothing was going to follow that, he sighed before asking, “What… what was I not wrong about?”

The old Gryphon breathed out one final time, hating that he was going to say the next thing that came out of his beak. “Back at that bakery, you… you said that you… acted like a bigger man…”

Troy’s eyes shot open in shock, but was unseen by Jonas while his face was still pointed away from him. “And… and you were right. You could’ve just lied and kept it hidden from me, but… you didn’t…” His face came up slowly to eye Troy as he finished. “You stood your ground against me, and you didn’t back down after telling me the truth. And… I’ll admit that you showed more dedication that night than I did.”

Jonas looked away from him briefly, wanting to collect his thoughts while Troy stood completely speechless. Knowing what needed to be said, the old Gryphon sighed before returning his attention to his son. “I really don’t like anything about this, Troy. But there’s a lot of things that I don’t like from any of your brothers either, but I still love them as my own. And… and you’re no different from them.

“You… you’re not a disgrace, Troy. You never were, and I wish I could take back saying that. And… I’m sure that you won’t believe me when I say this, and I don’t blame you. If my Father said something like that to me when I was younger, I doubt that I would’ve accepted anything he said afterward that easily either. But… even if I don’t like who you’re with, that shouldn’t be a reason for me to try to give up on my family…”

While Troy stood motionless, only able to blink in response, Jonas reaffirmed his stance so that he was standing fully upright while stating his final words. “I still do see you as my son, and… even if you don’t accept it, I just wanted to say that…

“I’m sorry.”

For what felt like hours, neither of them said a single word while staring at one another. When Troy finally managed to get his body moving again, his head lowered slowly as his eyes looked down to his claws on the floor. His eyes couldn’t stop blinking, which seemed to be the only thing keeping any stray tears from coming out while he stood without a single clear thought in his mind. “I… I…”

Jonas made a careful step forward towards Troy, only waiting until making sure the Gryphon wouldn’t pull back before making another. “Troy…”

Even though his talons clenched into the carpet a little tighter, Troy’s body stayed where it was. Nevertheless, his face scrunched in while avoiding looking up at Jonas, not wanting him to see how badly he was struggling not to cry. By the time stray tears began to come down both of his cheeks, Troy barely noticed that the General was right in front of him. “Troy, please…”

The younger Gryphon felt a claw touch his shoulder, which made him breathe out a little faster in worry. After another long moment of silence, Troy finally pulled his head up to look at Jonas. As the old Gryphon’s golden eyes peered back at him, they showed nothing but the purest sincerity as he spoke to his son.

“I know that there’s still a lot I need to do before you can forgive me, but… I want to have that chance. Because… I’d rather have all of my family than none of them…”

Troy’s head pointed downward again, his breath coming out shakier and more rapid. He felt Jonas’s claw slowly move around to his back, leading to both of his forelegs wrapping his son in. Realizing what he was doing, Troy’s eyes widened even more in disbelief. Even when he was younger, he remembered that Jonas barely did anything more than a shake of the claw when it came to his children. But at that moment, Troy’s heart was racing as he felt the older Gryphon hug him tightly.

“Troy, I… I’m sorry for what happened. I know things went wrong, but… I still do love you…”

While Jonas’s claws were wrapped around his son’s back, Troy’s face was pressed against the Gryphon’s brown-feathered chest with his eyes still wide open. As the seconds passed, each one feeling more nerve-racking than the next, it wasn’t until the hug became tighter that Troy finally pushed in against him. The younger Gryphon’s eyes slowly closed while tears still flowed from them, but it didn’t seem to faze Troy enough to do anything about them. By the time his eyes were clenched fully shut, the emotional overload was too much to bear as he finally gave in.

Troy’s forelegs wrapped around the Gryphon in front of him, and hugged his Father back.

For over a minute, neither of the two said a word during that shared hug. The only sounds that could be heard were Jonas’s heavy breathing, combined with the muffled sobs from his son while his beak was pressed into his Dad’s chest feathers. When the two finally pulled apart, Troy quickly wiped his cheeks dry with a claw as he tried to maintain his breathing enough to speak.

“So, ummm…” Jonas scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he looked around, not sure what else he could say to his son. “Do you think that… we’ll be alright?”

Troy looked away silently for a moment, obviously thinking it over deeply. When he finally had a response, he looked up at Jonas with a firm glare and pointed a talon at him. “First, you apologize to Canvas.”

Jonas nodded with a faint shrug in understanding. “Yeah, I sorta figured I’d have to.”

Instead of putting his talon down, Troy’s eyes slowly narrowed on Jonas before he added in a stronger tone. “And you also apologize to Lyle.”

Even though he expected apologizing to Canvas, that inclusion was enough to make Jonas look confused. “Wait, Lyle? Why?”

Troy’s expression only grew angrier with his eyes widening on him. “You are aware that he knows what you said after he left, right?!”

“What? I…” Jonas was planning to ask what his son was talking about, but his question stopped as the realization came back to him. Remembering what he actually said in that hotel room after Lyle left, the General’s eyes slowly widened, revealing a new look of regret on his face. “Oh… Oh, shit.”

“Yeah,” said Troy in a bitter tone with a frown pointed at Jonas. “I might still be pissed at you, but I can guarantee that he’s just as mad at you right now.”

Jonas’s head sunk low as he looked down at the floor, blinking repeatedly as he thought back to that night. Troy sighed as he looked around the room, seeming unsure about what could actually be done. “I mean… I could go out and see if he would talk to you, if you want.”

“Th… that would be good, thanks…” When his head came back up, Jonas had a more shameful expression as he looked past his son to the kitchen door. “Do you know if your unicorn friend has any alcohol?”

“Hm?” Troy turned around to see the kitchen door as well, and shrugged his shoulders. “Honestly, I don’t think drinking is a great decision. However… I’m not sure, but I guess she would.”

Troy walked over to the door while his Dad stood in wait. Considering the fact that Rarity was friends with Applejack, the Gryphon was hopeful that she at least had a bottle of hard cider or som--

WHUMP!!!

As soon as Troy opened the kitchen door, all three of the triplets fell out from the other side into the living room. Since they were listening to the discussion the entire time, the three Gryphons were frozen for a moment on the floor while Jonas and Troy stared at them in shock. Before either of them could say anything, the triplets ran out of the room, breaking out through the front door in a panic.

Even though both of them were unable to speak for a brief moment, Troy was the first one to break the silence with a bit of stifled laughter. While Jonas looked back at him with a deadpan stare, Troy looked back over to the kitchen with a small chuckle. “Well… I guess it won’t be hard to convince them what you actually said.”

Jonas just groaned in irritation, and walked past his son to see what Rarity had in her kitchen. “Whatever. Can you just get Lyle for me, please?!”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

While Troy began to walk over to the front door, Jonas looked back at him with a more worried glance before calling out, “Hey, Troy.”

Troy stopped for a second to look back at him. “Yeah?”

“So…” Jonas made a small sigh before asking in an apprehensive tone of voice, “If… if this goes alright… Do you think we’ll be good?”

Troy paused briefly, unsure of what to say. But after some thought, he merely sighed before opening his beak. “Well… we’ll see.”

Jonas only nodded, not needing any other confirmation. “Alright then.”

Not surprisingly, Jonas wasn’t able to find any decent liquor in the fashionista’s kitchen that could help with his talk with Lyle. However, he did manage to find a small bag of sunflower seeds in the cupboard, which would have to do after leaving a couple of bits in its place. The last thing that the Gryphon wanted to do was get back into munching on seeds absent-mindedly (especially since it almost caused him to gain twenty pounds shortly after Troy was born), but right now, it was the only thing able he could focus on while alone in the boutique.

By the time he was halfway through the bag, Jonas was left by himself in the house for almost ten minutes after Troy went back outside. Even with the triplets out there as well, the General knew that if Lyle really did know about what he said about him back at that hotel, that there was a good chance that the younger Gryphon wouldn’t even want to look at him, let alone talk. Of course, at remembering how Lyle reacted to seeing him after that concert, Jonas figured that things were going to get ugly regardless.

While sitting in one of the loveseats in the main showroom -- which was actually quite comfortable despite its appearance -- Jonas’s head turned the instant he heard the knob to the front door start to turn. When he looked over at the door, Jonas didn’t move an inch when he saw Lyle slowly walk into the room. However, that didn’t keep the General’s face from looking cautious when he saw how intensely his son was looking back at him.

Even though Troy wasn’t exactly chipper at seeing him either, that reaction had nothing compared to the absolutely nasty glare that Lyle had when he stared back at Jonas. If looks were able to kill, then Jonas probably would’ve been mutilated worse than some of the victims in one of Lyle’s comics from the look in his young, bloodthirsty eyes. His beak was clenched shut for a long moment, undoubtedly hiding any involuntary outbursts or swears that Lyle had prepared in the back of his mind. However, after taking a very long and deep breath, Lyle’s eyes narrowed on Jonas when he finally opened his beak to say something.

“... ‘Too pathetic anyway’…”

Jonas only blinked in response, not wanting to say anything while his son looked so adamantly furious towards him. Unfortunately, his silence only made Lyle’s stare grow more livid. “...That was what you said… RIGHT!?!”

Once again, Jonas didn’t flinch from the sudden shout his son made, but a notable cringe could be seen on his face after that statement was made. Even though Lyle saw it, it didn’t make his expression any less enraged as he waited for Jonas to say something. Fortunately, the General was able to make a quick exhale before making a reply. “Lyle… I wasn’t thinking clearly when I--”

“BULLSHIT!!!”

That was enough to throw Jonas off guard. Looking like an internal switch was set off the instant Jonas tried to defend himself, the younger Gryphon turned downright furious when he pointed a talon at him. “Don’t you DARE try to pull that shit on me!! You knew EXACTLY what you were saying, so don’t even TRY to act like you didn’t mean it!!”

Jonas’s brows furrowed as he gave off a quick, irritated sigh. Meanwhile, Lyle’s scowl only grew stronger, even though it was clear that he was only doing it as a means to keep his eyes from welling up. With his talon still pointed at Jonas, Lyle’s voice came out weaker and cracked after his outburst. “You… you didn’t even care that I left.”

Jonas bursted out of his chair. “What? After you SPAT IN MY FACE?! How was I supposed to react after you were the one to say you had nothing to do with me?! YOU were the one who left! YOU were the one who made that choice!!”

Lyle’s beak was firmly shut when he put his claw back down, but his eyes narrowed even tighter in a meager attempt to keep himself from crying. “Yeah… and you were so upset by me leaving, weren’t you?”

Jonas may have been angry, but that statement made his grizzled expression soften in an instant. Seeing how upset his son looked, it was clear that any follow-up points that Jonas wanted to make would only make things worse than they already were. So instead, the old Gryphon exhaled again as a more shameful look appeared on his face. His eyes looked down to the floor, not wanting to see another son of his start crying because of him. “Lyle… We all do things that we regret when we’re upset. And… I was really upset that night.”

Despite his more saddened look, Lyle made an angry huff through his closed beak before it opened. “Yeah, I was upset too. But I don’t regret what I did.”

Jonas may have not showed much a change in his expression, but that blunt statement from Lyle still hurt. Knowing that the younger Gryphon wasn’t being dishonest by saying that, Jonas took a couple seconds before looking at him with a reluctant nod. “Well… if that’s how you feel, then I doubt I can change that. But… that doesn’t change that I do have regrets.”

Lyle’s stare on him didn’t change, but his silence was enough to indicate that he was at least willing to keep listening. Despite his uncertainties, Jonas kept his stance heightened while speaking honestly. “I… I may have been thinking clearly back at that hotel, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have regretted what I said! I was mad, okay?! But that doesn’t mean I would’ve stayed mad forever!”

Jonas then rubbed his temples with a claw while his eyes were closed, hoping to calm himself down enough to not be shouting at his son. Taking a couple breaths, the General waited a moment before putting his claw back down. “Listen, I… I came back to apologize to your brother, and I’m sure that he told you what I said while you were outside.”

After a couple seconds, Lyle faintly nodded in silence. Even though he was doubtful of what Troy actually said, the fact that the triplets backed him up was enough to give Lyle enough reason to agree trying to speak to Jonas again.

“And despite what you might be thinking,” continued Jonas as he eyed Lyle for any negative reactions, “I really did mean that. I might not be okay with Troy getting married to a… stallion, but that doesn’t mean I want him out of my life. Especially if it means losing everyone else.”

Lyle blinked as his eyes widened a bit, his expression softening a little when he heard the sincerity in Jonas’s tone. Meanwhile, the General continued to talk while his voice stayed firm.

“Listen, I… I know that I act stern with you, and I know that I’ve probably been more of a ‘hardass’ than you or your brothers would’ve liked. But the only reason that I did any of that was because I didn’t want you to screw up too badly and destroy your future while it’s still ahead of you…”

His head slowly looked down to the floor again, and his tone turned more somber. “But… I also realized that no matter what I do, that… I won’t have much say on what you do when you become an adult. And no matter how much I try to teach you right from wrong, that doesn’t mean I can say what you have to do with your life when you get older. And… I could either realize that now, or continue to push you until you decide to cut me off when you finally leave the nest…”

Hearing how saddened his voice turned at that last part, Lyle no longer looked angry with him. While there was still a hint of irritation in his expression, the Gryphon looked fairly blank as he listened to Jonas. The General brought his head back up before continuing.

“Lyle, I… I know that you’re mad at me, and I don’t blame you. We both acted out, and we both hurt each other in the process. And even though I said some things I can’t really take back, that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t if I had the chance. I would. I’d take back how I acted to both you AND your brothers. Because despite how you acted towards me, it… it doesn’t change the fact that I still love you as my son.”

Lyle’s eyes widened even more, showing surprise that was overshadowing any looks of anger that might have still been underneath. Jonas merely kept his spot a few feet away from his son, hoping that his words were getting through to him.

“I… know that I acted wrong. And I know that you’re just as mad at me as everyone else, and I understand why. I didn’t act the way a proper parent should, and… and I know that any apology I give right now won’t completely undo everything…”

Jonas then began to walk towards Lyle slowly, being careful as to make sure his son wouldn’t back away. “But even despite that… I love my family more than anything else in my life. And even though I’m not proud to say it, I’ll admit that… I didn’t have them in my best interest when I acted the way I had towards you and Troy. I’ll freely admit that I was wrong, and… I really am sorry.”

Looking up at Jonas’s honest expression, Lyle’s beak stayed tightly clenched when he turned his head away, looking like he didn’t know what to say. While his son’s head was turned, Jonas noticed the art bag that was draped across the Gryphon’s shoulder. Tilting his head a little, the old Gryphon looked slightly confused when he saw what looked to be a frame inside of it. Of course, he barely gave it much thought when he looked back to his son’s face, hoping that Lyle was able to tell he wasn’t just blowing hot air with that apology.

“Lyle?”

When he finally looked back up at Jonas, Lyle carried a small hint of anger that reemerged. Before his son could say anything, Jonas looked back to Lyle’s bag in an attempt to ease the thick tension between them. “So, ummm… what’s that?”

Lyle looked back to his bag, almost forgetting that he had it on. “Oh, ummm… it was something I made before you and Mom showed up.”

Even though Jonas looked uneasy -- partially since that bag was the reason his argument with Canvas at the bakery started in the first place (which also lead to his conflict with Troy) -- he was able to shrug off any tensions as he continued to ask. “Well… can I see it?”

Lyle looked back up at him, his face giving off a clear vibe of distrust. Of course, given what Jonas just said to him earlier, the young Gryphon was able to contemplate it enough to decide to comply. “I… I guess so…”

Lyle then pulled the frame out of his bag, which now carried the copy of his drawing of Fleur De Lis which he now personally considered his biggest achievement. With a look of slight caution on his face, Lyle handed it to Jonas, but was prepared to react if he tried to break it or anything. However, as soon as he saw what it was that his son drew, the General’s eyes widened in astonishment at the amount of detail and talent that was shown on the page. “I… wow…”

Jonas stared between Lyle and the drawing a couple of times, looking quite perplexed that his son actually drew this. Even with that Troy said lingering in the back of his mind, the old Gryphon wasn’t expecting something like what was held in his claw. “You… you really made this?”

“Yeah,” said Lyle in a more bitter tone before snatching the frame back from Jonas’s claw to put in his bag. “And I probably would’ve never even thought of doing that if it wasn’t for Canvas.”

Jonas wanted to say something about Lyle’s attitude from how he took that picture back, but he decided to let it slide by looking over at the front window of the shop. “Well… if you really managed to make that, then… I suppose I can see why they’re wanting you to keep drawing.”

Even though that statement felt foreign even to himself, Jonas barely thought about much when he looked back at Lyle. “Lyle, I… I really don’t want an even bigger wedge between myself and my family than I already have. So… I want to make a deal with you…”

Lyle raised one his brows up at Jonas, not sure where he was heading with this. The General merely huffed before continuing to speak. “I know you’re mad at me, and I deserve it. But I want to have the chance to make things right. So… if you’re willing to look past what I’ve done, I’ll do the same for you. I don’t want what happened to come between us, and if you want, I’ll never mention it again.”

From the way Lyle’s eyes narrowed on him, it was clear he wasn’t too accepting of that deal. Nevertheless, Jonas pointed a talon at his bag before adding, “And… if you really want, I’ll… I’ll support you on whatever it is you want to do with your life…” Despite how Jonas looked away for a moment with clear distaste in his tone, he regained his composure enough to look back at Lyle with honesty. “Seriously, I… I don’t want to actually say it, but… if you decide to go to an art school or something, then... I wouldn’t go against it. Because… all I want is what’s best for you. And that includes what makes you happy, because I love you.”

While Lyle stood with a blank expression, at a complete loss for anything to say or even think, Jonas waited a moment to see if his son would say anything. Slowly, Lyle’s eyes looked down to his claws on the floor, seeming to be thinking about everything that was just told to him. For at least a minute, nothing but lingering silence passed between them, with only the ticking of the clock nearby on the wall being able to give any sound to the space. After a long moment without anything to say, Jonas made a slight cough to try and catch Lyle’s attention. “So… what do you say?”

Considering the fact that he pretty much put everything he had on the line to try to get his son to talk to him, Jonas was worried when Lyle didn't say anything back. After several seconds of a growing, pregnant absence of words, the young Gryphon slowly looked up at him with a more disdained look on his face. “Ummm… could I… think about it alone?”

Even with everything else that occurred, that answer hurt Jonas more than anything else. After all that he said and admitted, even going out of his comfort zone to make promises he never would’ve made before, the fact that Lyle still had to put it to consideration was enough to make the General look visibly saddened by Lyle’s answer. Nevertheless, the old Gryphon merely nodded softly, not wanting to push his son any more than he already has. “... Okay, I… I’ll wait outside…”

With that, Jonas made his way over to the door in silence. Even when Lyle gave a soft “Thanks” in response, Jonas still felt like he could actually lose his youngest son because of what he did. But still, he opened the door and left without a word, hoping that there was still hope as he closed the door behind him and went out towards his wife.

As his claws and paws crunched the light dusting of snow underneath him, Jonas noticed Canvas standing beside Troy and Angela, which prompted the General to get one more apology out of the way before the night was over. He passed the triplets, who were all standing by the window of the boutique in wait, and focused his attention on the aqua stallion.

“Ummm… Canvas?” As he walked up to the stallion, Jonas was grateful to see his wife and Troy step aside so he could talk with Canvas man-to-man. After clearing his throat, the Gryphon looked down at the pony and spoke in a professional tone, “Just so you know, despite how I might feel about your relationship with… my son… I also know that the two of you are adults, so whatever you decide to do is none of my business.” He then took a breath before putting out his claw to Canvas. “And since it’s clear that you’re going to be marrying Troy no matter what, the least I can do is offer an apology for what happened between us earlier, and hope for a clean slate. So… I’m sorry.”

Fortunately, despite how difficult it was for Jonas to get either of his other two apologies to stick, Canvas only nodded with an understanding smile before putting his hoof out to shake the General’s claw. “Well,” began the stallion in an equally professional tone to the Gryphon’s, “To be honest, I know that I could’ve handled things at Sugar Cube Corner less abruptly myself, which I’ll apologize for out of mutual respect.”

While Troy looked over at his fiancè like he just sprouted a third ear, Canvas kept his firm shake on Jonas’s claw while adding, “And as for your offer, General Clawston, I’ll gladly accept your apology…” Before putting down his hoof, Canvas’s eyes narrowed up at Jonas with a small smirk. “... as your future Son-In-Law.”

Jonas put down his claw with an irritated groan, looking like that stallion’s comment was enough to leave a bad taste in his beak. Of course, that reaction was also enough to make both Troy and Angela giggle while looking away from him. After groaning with a roll of his eyes, ignoring the chuckles he heard from the triplets from behind him, Jonas turned over at his wife with a softer expression.

While Canvas walked away from Jonas to stick close to his fiancè, the Gryphoness looked over at her husband and asked, “So… how’s Lyle?”

That question quickly made Jonas look more saddened when he looked back at the Carousel Boutique. “He… he said that he needed to think about it.”

Despite nodding with a clenched beak, it was clear that Angela wasn’t wanting to hear that kind of answer. Without saying a word, Canvas trotted over to the boutique before anyone could say anything to him. While the pony opened the door and went inside, Jonas turned back to his wife with a weakened look in his golden eyes. “I… I did everything I could…”

Angela nodded again, albeit with a soft smile on her beak this time, and walked up closer to him while speaking warmly. “Honey… all I wanted was for you to actually talk with your children…”

“I know, but…” With the way Jonas looked back at the shop again, it was clear that every minute that passed with Lyle inside only made him feel more worried about what the outcome could be. “I just… I don’t want him to hate me forever because of this.”

Jonas felt his wife’s claw rest on his shoulder, making him look back to see her nervous expression. “Neither do I…”

For several minutes, nothing could be heard from inside the boutique, despite how obviously the triplets tried to listen in through the closed window. While Jonas and Angela continued to talk with one another, Troy walked up to his older brothers with an apprehensive look. “So… nothing?”

Blaze shook his head when he looked back at him. “Nothing, bra. This place is surprisingly soundproof.”

“Yeah,” added Blade when he looked over with his head still pinned near the windowsill. He had an almost impressed tone when he looked back at the window to say, “Honestly, I should ask her how she did that when she gets back.”

“Gets back?” Troy then looked around, realizing the unicorn was nowhere to be seen. “Where did she go?”

“Uhhh... “ Blane pulled back as he tried to recall what the mare said to them while Troy was still in the house earlier. “I think she went to get some hot chocolate or something.”

“What?” asked Troy as he blinked repeatedly. “Why would she leave you three alone by her house to get hot choc--”

The front door to the boutique opened once more, but only Canvas exited after closing the door behind him. Troy was quick to walk up to him before any of the triplets could as he asked, “So… how is he?”

Canvas sighed and looked back at the door worriedly. “He told me what Jonas said, but… he wasn’t sure what to do.”

“What did you tell him?” asked Blaze while standing behind his younger brother. “I mean, did you say anything?”

The stallion sighed as he turned back towards Troy and the triplets. “Well, I didn’t want to give my opinion on what he should do. It really seemed like something he needed to figure out himself.”

“So, what?” Blade peered his head in with a perplexed look down at the pony as he asked, “You just went in there and didn’t say a bloody thing to ‘im?”

“No,” answered Canvas insistently back to him. “I did talk with him about it. I just didn’t directly say what he should do.”

While Troy nodded in understanding, all of the triplets looked fairly confused by what Canvas said. “So…” Blane scratched the top of his head before it tilted to the side like a confused owl. “What did you say to him?”

Canvas turned his head to look over at the parents, who were still standing by the streetlight, but looking over at the pony nervously. “Well…” When Canvas turned back to the Gryphons in front of him, he shrugged his shoulders before answering honestly, “He asked me what I would’ve done, but I said that my situation was completely different from his. But… I was able to tell him that when I was in his position, the only thought that really stuck was one thing. And that was… whether or not keeping someone in my life would be better than keeping them away...”

The triplets, as well as Troy, all looked over at the shop again. “Oohhhh…” Troy, now looking just as worried as his parents might have been, seemed unsure what to think. Even though he knew that his fiancè was able to give Lyle some sound advice, he wasn’t sure which decision the young Gryphon was going to make. “Well… I guess we’ll just have to wait, then…”

Fortunately, before any awkward silence could develop, the glow of blue magic was enough to divert everyone’s attention to the white unicorn that returned with several large, steaming paper cups. “Here you go, everyone,” said Rarity cheerfully as she floated cups of hot chocolate to Troy and Canvas, as well as the triplets before going over to the parents. “I don’t know about any of you, but I’d rather not be standing out in the cold without something to warm my palate. I was just glad that Sugar Cube Corner still had some cocoa to give away right before they closed.”

“Oh, thank you, Rarity,” said Angela with a grateful smile as she took a cup. “That was really thoughtful of you!”

“Well,” continued the mare as she still held two cups in her aura, looking back to her boutique to see where Lyle was. “Let’s just say this isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with family conflicts, personal or from others. And after past experiences, I’d… rather not see anyone be left alone.”

Jonas nodded respectively before taking a sip of his chocolate. “Well,” began the General when he pulled the cup away from his beak. “Right now we’re just waiting for--”

As soon as the front door of the boutique opened, everyone watched in silence when Lyle finally stepped out into the chilly winter night. Rarity looked like she was going to step forward first to give Lyle his drink, but Jonas’s claw came out in front of her. While the mare paused in place, Jonas walked past her to slowly head towards his youngest son. All of the Gryphons, as well as Canvas, stepped back from the shop to give Lyle some space as they saw Jonas come in closer. Due to the illumination coming from the shop’s window, it was clear to see that the General’s face showed nothing but a haphazard mix of worry and hopefulness without saying a word. Slowly, Lyle’s head looked up at him, his face looking fairly emotionless.

Due to their distance from the two, no one was able to hear what Jonas asked when he opened his beak. Although, due to the softened look on his face, it seemed like whatever the Gryphon said was spoken in a weaker tone than anyone would've heard before. Despite some pauses, they could all see Lyle respond back a few times, although it was unclear what was actually being said. After a while, Jonas put his claw on Lyle’s shoulder, and said one last thing with a hint of a smile on his large, grizzled beak. And after another long moment, Lyle could be seen giving a small nod of his head, a smile on his beak as well.

And in one last silent moment, they all saw Jonas and Lyle finally hug, each with trembled smiles on their beaks.

The triplets were quick to give somewhat reserved cheers to themselves after seeing that, and Canvas walked over to the Father and Son after they pulled back. While Angela walked towards Jonas, Canvas poked Lyle on the shoulder with a hoof as he asked, “So… are you okay?”

Lyle made a small nod as he quickly wiped his eyes with a foreleg before anyone could see. “Y-yeah,” said the Gryphon weakly before looking up at Canvas with a smile. “I… I think I’ll be good. It might take a little while, but...”

The young Gryphon turned his head to look back up at his Father, who giving him a more reserved smile with his wife by my side. Lyle sighed before finishing his statement, “I… think things can work out.”

Jonas’s smile grew briefly, and his gaze turned to the rest of his sons who were standing behind Lyle. Blaze was the first to speak up towards their Father while motioning to the other two triplets. “Ummm… just so you know, I… I think I can speak for these two when I say we’re on the same page as Lyle here.”

“Yeah,” added Blane, who brought out a wing to pull his identical brothers in from the side. “It’ll be like when we tried making sushi that one time. I mean, that smell might've lasted a while, but it eventually got back to normal.”

Jonas rolled his eyes with a sigh, not wanting to be reminded of that incident. But still, despite that odd comparison, the General was still happy to hear that he was able to get his second chance.

“Speaking of which…” Angela peered her claw inside of Jonas’s messenger bag, and pulled out the manilla folder that was inside. She then looked over at Rarity with a smirk. “Say, Rarity. Do you… happen to know how to make a fire spell or something?”

Rarity’s brows raised at that question, but she was still able to answer the Gryphoness after a brief pause. “Well, I… do happen to know a heating spell that could burn certain items.”

“Wait, really?!” asked all three of the triplets at the same time, staring at the mare with grins like she just put on a cellophane bikini.

Nevertheless, Angela handed the unicorn the folder in her claw with a smile. “Would you mind taking care of this?”

While Jonas stared at his wife with a shocked look, albeit with a smile on his beak, Rarity was able to understand the context enough to grab the folder with her magic and nod with a smirk. “Certainly, Missus Clawston.”

The blue magic around her horn began to glow brighter, and the manilla folder in her grasp slowly glowed a vibrant shade of red. After a few orange cracks appeared on the outside of the folder, the divorce papers quickly evaporated to a black husk before Rarity let go, letting it drift into the snow as a dark grey ash. Seeing that happen, none of the triplets could resist giving an impressed clap of their claws, which just made Rarity roll her eyes at them.

Jonas carried a relieved smile on his beak as he spoke to his wife. “Angela, I… I don’t know what to--”

Angela turned around to face Jonas, and grabbed his beak with a claw to clench it tightly shut. Her face quickly turned dead-serious as she eyed him vehemently, which was enough to make all her sons reel back in worry.

“If you ever… and I mean EVER pull something like that again…”

Jonas quickly nodded before his wife could finish, not needing to be told that there wasn’t going to be another warning. When she saw the look of sincerity in her husband’s eyes, Angela pulled her claw away so that he could speak. “I… I swear to you, Angela. I… I’ll never do that to you.”

After staring at him for a long moment, Angela’s face finally relaxed enough to give him a loving smile. “Thank you…”

She then pulled in closer to the large Gryphon, eyeing him with warmth as she spoke in a loving tone. “I love you, Jonas…”

Jonas smiled back at her, his eyes giving off that same look of devotion as he responded without hesitation. “I love you too, Angela…”

With that, the couple leaned in with their heads angled, letting their beaks align with one-another to share a deep kiss underneath the light snow. While Rarity and Canvas both looked on with smiled and involuntary “Awww”s, the couple’s sons all looked away uncomfortably. Luckily, Lyle was the first to look past his parents’ display when Rarity floated his cup of hot chocolate to him. “Ooh, thanks!”

While Lyle took a drink of his cocoa, Canvas looked over at him with a relaxed smile on his muzzle. “So Lyle, you hungry?”

“Yeah!” answered Lyle almost instantly, but was nearly unheard when the triplets shouted the same answer over at him.

Fortunately, Canvas only giggled in response as he looked over at the others, “Well, since I…” He paused for a second as he realized Rarity was still present, making him rearrange his words so that the unicorn wouldn’t catch on. “... just got some shopping done today, I don’t see anything wrong with making a late dinner back at the house.”

Troy’s eyes shot wide-open as he looked down at his fiancè, immediately remembering about the deep freezer and its contents inside. “You… you mean…”

“Mmmhmm…” Giving Troy a more sensual smirk, Canvas pulled his head up the Gryphon’s ear to whisper to him, “And I was thinking of making some…”

Even though Rarity looked at the engaged couple curiously with narrowed eyes, she wasn’t able to hear what the stallion whispered into his fiancè’s ear. However, whatever Canvas said was enough to make Troy’s face light up like a tree on Hearth’s Warming Eve. “Seriously?!”

Canvas nodded cheerfully, happy that the words “Chicken-Fried Steak” were enough to make Troy so happy after everything else tonight. “Why not? I bet it’ll be fun to-- UMMMFF!!”

Troy pulled Canvas in with his claws, and stood on his hind legs while lifting the stunned pony off the ground. After Canvas settled down enough to stop squirming, Troy looked at him with the sweetest smile on his beak. “I love you so much.”

Canvas instantly beamed with a large blush that exploded across his aqua cheeks. He smiled back to him before responding, “And I love you too.”

As the snow continued to fall, Troy pulled his fiancè in for a deep, loving kiss, not even caring for a second that his family was all present for it. Of course, while both of them could hear groans from Troy’s family (the loudest being Jonas’s as he looked away from them), Troy and Canvas could only giggle when they finally pulled back, never once looking away from each-other’s eyes.

Chapter One: Back in Ponyville

In the town of Ponyville, not many ponies were outside today. Even with the stunningly beautiful array of autumn leaves in the trees, which would eventually break free to dance along the windy skies with precision and finesse, the weather was already beginning to show the first signs of an especially cold winter. With the chilly air rushing along the houses and buildings in town, as well as the looming nighttime coming earlier with each passing day, it wasn't hard to see why the streets were so vacant this particular afternoon. With the near silence from the township intertwining with the falling leaves, Ponyville seemed absolutely still, as the day already began to turn into twilight.

However, the serene feeling of tranquility wouldn’t last too long. The sounds of steam engines began to be heard from the distance. At the Ponyville train station, the few ponies who were waiting watched as the train slowly began to come into view.

With each chug from its steam engine, the train from Canterlot began to slow down tremendously as it docked into the station. By the time the train neared a full stop inside the station, a large cloud of steam enveloped everypony who was waiting, leaving a fine mist of gentle warmth, which was welcomed in contrast to the bitter cold.

As the train doors opened and allowed ponies to make their exits and entrances, there wasn't much pushing or shoving from anypony, mostly because there weren't many ponies for this stop. However, of the few ponies that did exit onto the platform, there were two who seemed especially happy about their trip to Canterlot.

The first one to exit after everypony else wasn't exactly like the other ponies. In fact, he wasn't a pony at all. Instead, the aged wooden floors of the train platform creaked as a large Gryphon finally got off the train. The grey and silver Gryphon, known by most ponies around town as Troy, yawned loudly as he stretched in the station. Stretching out his back, which was part of a dark-grey feline body, Troy definitely gave off the impression of a common housecat through his long stretch. The large, yellow claws on his forelegs, along with the silver feathers that adorned around his chest and head, still showed the eagle features of his Gryphon body.

After his extensive stretch, Troy's talons dug into the platform floors below him as he lifted his body, stretching his back upward before he opened his wings. Due to the lack of ponies in the station, Troy knew he wouldn’t have to worry much about hitting anypony as he stretched out his massive silver wings.

Despite the fact that the Gryphon was a few feet taller and longer than the biggest ponies in town, Troy's wings were still longer than the entire length of his body. They shot outward for a moment before being pulled back in. As he brought his wings back to his body, Troy yawned once more before he slowly turned around. Seeing who was leaving the train behind him, the Gryphon grew an instant smile on his smooth yellow beak.

The pony getting off the train, who was also the last pony to exit, was an aqua stallion with a chestnut mane, who went by the name Canvas. While he wasn't exactly a large stallion (especially for an Earth Pony), the pony wasn’t feeble either. On the backside of his slender body, the image of a paint palette was engrained on his flank, which carried four different colors of paint above a red-tipped paintbrush at the bottom.

Also looking rather tired from the train ride, the stallion yawned as he lifted a hoof, using it to brush away a strand of his shaggy mane away from his blue eyes. And on his hoof, which stood out against his aqua fur beautifully, a band made of white gold wrapped around it and shone in the autumn sunlight.

As he tried to keep himself awake, the stallion didn’t seem to notice how much Troy was smiling, who was simply watching him with a light blush on his face.

"Uuuugh, man!" Canvas groaned in a feeble voice as he attempted to stand upright on the platform. "I thought that train ride was going to take forever!"

As the stallion put his hoof back down, the Gryphon merely kept his warm smile before he replied, "I know what you mean." Troy took another glance at the train, groaning a little before he added, "But hey, at least we're back home."

Behind the two, the steam engines from the train roared back to life before it began to make its ascent from the station. After making a quick stretch similar to the Gryphon's, Canvas smiled and looked back at Troy. "Yeah, that's true."

As he began to walk towards Troy with a smile on his face, Canvas winced as one of his hindlegs cramped up. Flinching a little from the discomfort, Canvas groaned to himself as he stopped and looked back. "Urrrrgh… I really should've picked a better position to sleep on that train."

Noticing how uncomfortable Canvas looked, Troy quickly walked up to him with a reassuring smile. "Hold on, let me try something."

Before Canvas could reply or ask what he meant, the Gryphon grabbed his rear hoof with one of his claws. Keeping a sturdy grip on him, Troy used his other claw to hold onto Canvas's back for leverage. "Alright," Troy said as he tried to keep focus, "just stay still for a moment."

Canvas, now slightly concerned about what the Gryphon was doing, tried to protest while under his weight. "Wait, what are you talki—"

POP!

In less than a second, Troy made a quick tug on Canvas's hindleg, making the pony gasp as he felt the pop in his joint. After the Gryphon let go of him, Canvas winced a little and rubbed his leg.
"Dude, what the heck?! Why did you do tha…"

Canvas's irritated words slowly drifted away as he felt his leg, which was now feeling way better. Realizing how quickly Troy fixed the strain from his joint, Canvas took a second before he sighed in relief.

"Ummm… thanks, Troy," said Canvas with slight embarrassment as he looked back at the Gryphon, "but you could've given me a little warning first."

"Well," began Troy in a more “I-told-you-so” tone of voice, "if I did that, then your body would've tensed up too much for me to do anything. It had to be a surprise."

Hearing his excuse, Canvas sighed a little and put more pressure on his hindleg, smiling as he felt how much better the joint felt. Keeping a light grin on the Gryphon, Canvas breathed in before he replied, "Well, I should've figured you would try something like that."

Canvas than lifted his left foreleg, boasting the golden ring on his hoof as he continued with a smirk on his muzzle. "I mean, you seem to have a thing for surprising me recently."

Seeing how happy the stallion was looking, Troy gave a warm grin back as he moved in closer. "Well of course," he said as he placed a claw on Canvas's shoulder, "isn't that what married couples should do?"

Canvas gave a cheeky grin as he chuckled under his breath. "Yeah, maybe, but it's not like we're married yet."

Keeping a warm smile on his beak, Troy's claw moved up to the side of Canvas's face, holding it there as he looked into his shimmering blue eyes. "I know," said the Gryphon in a caring tone, "but it just can’t come soon enough, can it?"

Giving a warm smile back to Troy, Canvas tried not to well up at the Gryphon's sentiment. "Oh, Troy…"

Closing his eyes, Canvas moved in toward Troy's face, angling his head in like he'd done many times before, as he positioned his lips to the Gryphon's open beak. Feeling the stallion's lips on him, Troy closed his eyes as well as he held onto him, savoring the pony's warmth while they kissed and stood against the chilly autumn weather.

For almost all the citizens of Ponyville, the sight of Canvas and Troy had been one that everypony had gotten used to a long time ago; despite the fact that interspecies relationships were quite rare in Equestria (especially same-gendered ones), the love between the stallion and Gryphon was something that most ponies saw coming. In fact, in the few months that the two became happier and closer as friends, it seemed that almost all the ponies in town knew they would become an item before they did themselves. However, despite how long it took for Canvas and Troy to realize how they felt about each other, barely anypony expected the two to fall for each other so quickly.

And as the two began to walk through the streets, both of them knew that nopony would expect that they would already be engaged.

However, as Canvas and Troy slowly walked through the town of Ponyville side-by-side, neither of them noticed anypony out and about. Although, from the way that the two new fiancés were walking alongside each other, with the Gryphon's wing draped around the pony's back, it didn't seem like either one really minded the surprisingly vacant state of the town.

Keeping his head rested against the Gryphon’s side, Canvas kept his eyes closed as he felt his warmth. "So, Troy…" the pony said as he slowly reopened his eyes, "what do you think we should do right now? Because I was thinking of getting some things so I can make dinner tonight."

Surprised at hearing that, Troy kept a skeptical eyebrow as he looked down at his fiancé. "Seriously? We just got back from Canterlot on our first day as an engaged couple, and you want to cook?"

"Well, why not?" said Canvas as he looked up to the Gryphon. "I like cooking."

Troy shrugged a little, knowing that Canvas really did enjoy cooking for the both of them. Nevertheless, the Gryphon kept his surprised tone as he replied, "Well, I just meant that after making history, you should probably relax a little. Maybe we could just get some take-out and rest at home or something."

Hearing that, Canvas smiled and thought it over. Even though he had a good recipe idea to try for the both of them, the pony knew that his fiancé had a good point. Just last night, Canvas's most recent painting was inducted into Canterlot Castle during the Grand Galloping Gala, making him the very first Earth Pony to ever do so. And after all the emotions he’d experienced from doing that, and also having Troy propose to him at the end of the night, having a calm evening back at home sounded rather nice.

"You know what?" said Canvas in a loving tone as he nuzzled the Gryphon's chest. "That actually sounds great, Troy."

"I'm glad to hear it," said Troy as he nuzzled the pony back. "Although…" He slowly pulled his head back. "I wouldn’t mind stopping at Lyra and Bon-Bon's shop first."

"Really?" Canvas said in a curious tone. Knowing that the two mares have been great friends to both of them, Canvas didn't need to know why Troy wanted to see them after their weekend. "I'm guessing you want to tell them the good news about us?"

"Well, yeah," said Troy in a more obvious tone of voice, "I did say I'd tell them everything as soon as we got back."

Remembering how excited Troy had been acting the past few days before the Gala, Canvas knew that his fiancé was probably anxious to share the news of their engagement with their friends. So, with a smile on his face, Canvas gave a light kiss to Troy's cheek, making him blush through his silver feathers before nodding in agreement. "Sounds like a great idea."

Canvas and Troy stood outside of Lyra and Bon-Bon's sweet shop, the both of them looking surprised as they saw the sign on the front of the building. At the door of the sweet shop—a quaint little building that stood in the middle of town with a mix of pink and mint colors—a sign in front of the window indicated that the establishment was closed for the day. Surprised to see the mares' shop closed this early in the day, Canvas and Troy both sighed in defeat.

"Crap," muttered Troy under his breath. "I was really hoping they would be around."

"Oh, don't be like that," said Canvas in a more optimistic tone as he nuzzled his fiancé again. "They're probably out for a catering job or something."

"Maybe…" Looking at the shop, Troy groaned to himself as he closed his eyes. "But I was really wanting them to know about us first. And I just know that as soon as Pinkie Pie finds out, that she'll tell them at the first chance."

"Hmmm…" Even though Canvas was surprised at how insistent the Gryphon was at telling Lyra and Bon-Bon, he couldn't blame him for feeling this way. Thinking back to when he first came to Ponyville, Canvas remembered how the two mares were the first friends he made besides Troy. And after all that'd happened in the past few months, the stallion wanted to tell them the big news as well. "Well, don’t worry, Troy… I'm sure we'll catch them soon enough."

Canvas then looked back to Troy, keeping a light smile as tried to lift his spirits. "Let's just head back home." Lifting his hooves around the Gryphon's neck, Canvas stood on his hindlegs as he eyed his fiancé, with the smile on his muzzle slowly turning to a more sensual grin. "Besides, I really want to spend my first night alone with my new fiancé…"

Hearing that, Troy grabbed the stallion and flew off so quickly that several feathers shot from him and glided down in front of the sweet shop.

Just a few miles from Ponyville, a large, white barn stood alone along the surrounding fields. While its white coat helped it stand out among the green fields and autumn forest behind it, what really made it unique was its other coats of paint.

Along several parts of the barn, large blotches of paint covered various areas. A mural was partially in progress, with dozens of different colors already adorning along the outside walls. Even though it was clearly unfinished, it still made the home look just as unique as the two who lived there.

Flying towards their home, Troy as moving at high speed through the fall skies as he neared his destination. While clinging to his back tightly, Canvas wanted to say something against how quickly his fiancé was moving; he should've known that the Gryphon would want to get back home as soon as possible, especially after enticing him like that back at the sweet shop.

Keeping his muzzle shut, Canvas just held on to Troy as they landed on the ground by their barn. Even though his landing was a little harder than he preferred, the Gryphon didn't care at all as he secured his footing before pulling his fiancé from his back and holding him tightly.

With a loud ‘whump!’ Troy held Canvas against the outside wall of their home with his claws, eyeing him lustfully before he moved his head in. Even though they were outside, Canvas knew that their home was secluded enough to not warrant much worry, making him carefree as he quickly took his fiancé in embrace.

As the sun began to set near them, Canvas kept his grip around Troy as they made out passionately by their front door. As their tongues began wrestling with one another avidly between beak and muzzle, Canvas was almost lifted off the ground as the Gryphon kept his grip on him against the wall.

Panting heavily, Troy broke off his kiss momentarily and spoke lustfully between pants, not noticing how his wings were fully open and shaking from stiffness. "So… you wanna… go up to the nest?"

Also breathing heavily, Canvas kept a devilish smile as he eyed the Gryphon. "You really think I'm going to say no?"

With his grin growing bigger, Troy's beak immediately went back into position against Canvas’s muzzle for another moment. With the two of them blushing heavily and becoming hotter with each passing second, Troy picked up the stallion before standing on his hindlegs.

Carrying Canvas in his forelegs, Troy made sure he was well-balanced on his rear paws before kicking their front door open, almost breaking it off the hinges from his sheer strength. With the inside of their home darkened, Troy carried Canvas in his claws as they kept kissing each other madly, making his outstretched wings bulge a little before being pulled through the doorway. Only thinking about heading up to the bedroom, Troy kept his attention on the stallion as he turned on the light.

"SURPRISE!!!"

Shocked by the sudden mass of new voices, Troy accidentally dropped his fiancé, making the stallion fall on his back in a loud 'whump!’ Even with the sharp pain in his back from that fall, Canvas quickly pulled himself up so his back was against Troy.

Looking ahead of them, the stallion and Gryphon both stared in shock as they saw the dozens of ponies in their home, and the large banner hanging from the ceiling that read “Congratulations on Getting Engaged, Canvas and Troy”.

In front of the large crowd of smiling ponies from town, a familiar pink mare was bouncing in glee in front of Canvas and Troy. Hopping as cheerfully as a bunny hopped up on a pound of coffee beans, Pinkie Pie kept her huge trademark smile as she looked at the couple.

"CONGRATULATIONS!!!" shouted Pinkie Pie, clearly wound-up as she continued to jump up and down. "I heard that one of you popped the question during the Grand Galloping Gala and the other said yes, so I got home and got my banner and told everypony about it because I knew it was a really big deal and I wanted to throw you guys a super duper 'Congrats That You're Getting Married'…"

Pinkie stopped momentarily as she took another deep breath.

"PAAARRRRTYYYYYYYYYYY!!!"

As the crowd behind Pinkie Pie cheered in agreement, Canvas and Troy were still frozen in surprise about everypony being in their home. Slowly, Troy's wings began to close back in as he tried to muster out a comment through his beak. Even with the million different questions he wanted to ask right now (starting with who the buck had a key to their house), the Gryphon was mostly grateful that his fiancé was propped in front of him, helping to cover his midsection from the happy crowd.

"I…" Even though his voice came out in almost a whisper, it was enough to help break Troy from his stunned state. He took another second before he spoke more clearly. "I… don't know what to say…" Troy looked down to Canvas, who looked back at him with an equally worried and surprised look before he added, "You certainly surprised us."

"YAAAAYYYYYY!!!" shouted Pinkie gleefully as she kept jumping around. "I knew it! IknewitIknewitIknewitIknewitIknewitIknewitIknewitIknewitIknewit!"

"Ummm…" Keeping a hoof raised up, Canvas finally managed to speak up in an attempt to slow down Pinkie's hopping. Noticing the stallion, Pinkie paused with a smile on her muzzle, waiting as Canvas finally asked, "How… how did you get in our house?"

Looking down at his fiancé, Troy was glad he wasn't the only one to wonder that. In an instant, Rainbow Dash flew up above the crowd, keeping a cheerful grin as she hovered by the banner. "Yeah, I might have to explain," said the mare, brushing a strand of her technicolor mane from her eyes before she continued, "Pinkie was wanting to throw a surprise party for you two, and she was pretty insistent on having it here. So, I… may have used the roof hatch to get in and unlock the door."

Taken aback a little, Troy started to look a little angrier as he replied, "Wait, you broke into our house?!"

"I'm sorry," said Rainbow Dash in a sincere tone, "I really am! But I'd rather do that than try to argue with Pinkie over there."

Looking back at Pinkie, who was drinking a large tub of frosting with a crazy straw, the couple realized that Rainbow may have had a fair point.

"Well…" Before Troy could think of anything to add to his statement, Rainbow Dash flew back down to the ground.

"I really didn't mean to break in," she said honestly, "but at least it's for a good reason." Growing a big smile on her muzzle, Rainbow Dash gave a light punch to Troy's shoulder as she added, "Congrats on popping the question, dude! I mean, seriously, that's really awesome!"

Remembering how everything went, Troy knew he couldn't stay mad at her right now. Especially considering that fact that Rainbow Dash was a big reason that the Gryphon was even able to propose at the spot he wanted to, he knew that nothing was going to mess with how happy he felt right now. And looking down at the stallion with him, who was carrying a grateful smile as well, Troy sighed before he looked back to Rainbow Dash.

"Th… thanks, Dash," said Troy with a smile, "I really appreciate that."

Looking around the rest of the house, Troy noticed all the ponies still standing around, making him realize that a party was going to happen no matter what he said. "Well… oh, what the hay?" said the Gryphon as he looked back at Canvas. "We might as well appreciate this, right?"

"Great!" Pinkie tossed her empty tub of frosting and jumped up on the dining room table. "Let's PARTYYYYYY!!!!"

Chapter Seven: Lyle, Meet Canvas. Canvas, Meet Lyle.

Lyle had no idea what to think right now.

After being stuck on that stupid train for WAY too long, he wasn't exactly in the best mood when he finally found Troy's address. And when he got to the cloud, only to find some mare and a freaky turtle-thing living there, he almost thought that Troy disappeared or something.

Now, after not seeing his brother for about a year, Lyle was only able to talk with him for like, two minutes before he went off to do something. There was nothing left for him to do now but wait in this barn.

With this pony.

To be fair, it wasn't like he had no idea who Canvas was. In a few of the letters Troy sent back to them, he mentioned that he had befriended a stallion who was good with art. And after receiving a copy of the newspaper headline of Canvas getting accepted to make that painting for Celestia (with Troy smiling in the background of the photo like a goober), Lyle was at least able to recognize the stallion now. And considering how nice his art studio looked, Lyle was starting to think that Canvas might actually be a chill guy.

However, as soon as Troy left to take care of that weather-pressure thing, he noticed that the pony was acting a bit fidgety around him. After introducing himself and showing Lyle around the studio a bit, Canvas seemed a little nervous, like he was unsure of how to interact with him. And for some reason, the pony kept rubbing his left hoof.

"… And I just started working on this piece a couple days ago," said Canvas as he pointed up at a huge painting leaned against one of the walls. "Fancy Pants, one of my best clients, wanted me to make this for his wife's birthday. I'm not finished with it yet, but I managed to get a lot done already."

Even though he was still extremely nervous about being with Lyle alone like this—mostly since he had no idea what to say to him—he was still able to move the discussion along to something he was comfortable with. This helped Canvas at least act less flustered around him.

When he showed the Gryphon his latest project, Lyle's eyes widened when he saw the five-foot-high canvas piece, which was a very well-detailed painting of a white unicorn mare with a pink mane.

"Dude…" Lyle blinked a few times as he looked at the painting, obviously impressed by how the piece looked already. "You seriously made that in a few days?!"

"Yeah.” Canvas looked up at the painting of Fleur. "I'm kinda surprised I got so much of it done already. And I was just doing this on the side, and spending most of my time painting the outside of this barn."

"Seriously?!" The way Lyle was looking at him, Canvas almost thought he’d grown a third ear on his forehead or something. "Dude, do you like, sleep at all?"

Canvas chuckled a little and looked away from Troy's brother, feeling a little better about chatting with him. "Nah, it's not like that. Sometimes, I just get really focused on something I'm painting, and it comes out way easier than expected." Thinking it over, Canvas looked back at Lyle with a light smirk on his muzzle. "Although, I will admit that I may have gone a bit overboard this week."

"Yeah, that's putting it lightly," said the Gryphon in a sarcastic tone as he looked around the studio. Thinking it over, the Gryphon looked a little more confused when he turned back to Canvas. "Wait a minute. How did you paint all that stuff on top of the walls? Were you like, on the roof or something?"

Canvas's eyebrows rose a bit, realizing that he forgot to mention how Troy had helped "Oh, no," said Canvas as he put up a hoof, "I actually didn’t do the stuff along the top half of the barn. Your brother did a lot of that, since I don't really have a ladder high enough to reach a lot of it."

Lyle looked at Canvas with a skewed eyebrow before walking over to a nearby window. Opening it, Lyle stuck his head outside and took a glance at the outside wall once more. Noticing how the painting style really did look a little different at one point between the top and bottom halves, the Gryphon muttered, "Huh," to himself before pulling his head back in. Looking back at the pony, Lyle's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"So… he's only been living here for like a month, and you let him paint your house?"

Canvas immediately began to grow nervous again, realizing how weird that may have seemed to someone like Lyle. Not wanting the Gryphon to catch wind of anything before Troy could talk to him, Canvas stammered a little and looked away. "Uhh… well… yeah, I guess. I mean… We're good friends, and he was happy to help out. Plus, it was a lot easier than trying to get the top half done myself."

Lyle blinked a few times, worrying Canvas a little before the Gryphon looked back at the window. "I… guess that makes sense…"

Canvas silently sighed in relief while Lyle was looking away. Hopeful to keep a good conversation with him and avoid any awkward discussions, the pony decided to move the dialogue outside of the art studio. "Hey Lyle," said Canvas, using a cheerful tone to catch his attention, "you want something to eat? I can make a sandwich or something if you want."

"Mmmmm… nah. I ate when I was on the train." Glancing up at the wall separating Canvas's studio from the rest of the barn, which only went halfway up to the roof, Lyle pondered to himself a little before looking back over at the stallion. "You got anything to drink?"

"Y-yeah!" said Canvas in an enthusiastic tone, looking hopeful to chat with Lyle some more. "I'll go check what we have."

While Canvas trotted over into the kitchen from the studio, Lyle flew up to the top of the wall, perching himself on top of the space separating the front and back halves of the barn. As the black and white Gryphon adjusted his footing, Canvas spoke up from the kitchen while looking through the fridge.

"We have cola… milk… a lot of that Gryphon root beer Troy ordered in… um… Troy also has a lot of pineapple juice. He's been on a big pineapple kick lately… umm, let's see…"

As Canvas kept listing off what he had to drink, Lyle's attention wandered off as he glanced up at the loft. From his spot on top of the wall, Lyle was able to get a good view of the bedroom, which stood above everything else inside the barn. And as he saw what was there from his spot, Lyle's eyebrows began to raise.

The first thing Lyle noticed, aside from the lack of furniture in the room, was the huge bedding in the middle of the loft. Taking up almost half of the room, the large mattress surrounded by blankets was obviously a makeshift nest, leaving Lyle to assume that was where Troy probably slept. However, looking at the sheer size of the nest, the Gryphon's eyes narrowed, wondering why his brother would have something so large for himself.

It was at that point that Lyle started to notice a few of the other things around the bedroom. While he didn’t notice the ring by the nightstand, the Gryphon still saw a few articles of clothing lying next to the open wardrobe closet, which quite obviously looked like clothes for ponies. Lyle turned his head back to look at the studio, realizing that it didn't look like anyone actually slept over there, despite the worn couch in the middle of the room.

He turned back to look at the bedroom again, his eyes widening as he thought it over. Lyle's eyes then moved upward as he noticed the back wall of the room. Peering in closer, he saw a framed photo hanging by the large window, which was the one Rarity took of Canvas and Troy last week at their party. Seeing the picture of his brother holding the stallion happily, Lyle's eyes began to widen even more. While he may have been young, the Gryphon was still smart enough to piece everything toget—

"So, what'll it be?"

"I, uh—bu—huh?" Lyle shook his clear before looking down from his spot on the wall. Seeing Canvas as he stuck his head out from the kitchen, Lyle was frozen for a moment as he tried to think of what the buck to say. "Uuuuuhhhhh…"

Unsure of what got to Lyle, Canvas's smile began to lessen as he grew more worried. "Umm… Lyle? What do you want to drink?"

Lyle's beak hung open for a couple seconds, unable to make any discernable sound. Lyle's eyes darted up at the bedroom again, noting what was up there before glancing back at Canvas. "I… I…"

Canvas blinked once as the silence began to grow. However, before the pony could ask if anything was wrong, Lyle closed his eyes and shook his head a little, helping to ease up his tensions enough to respond. "Ummm… the root beer, I guess?"

"Alright," said Canvas with a smile before he went back into the kitchen.

With the stallion out of sight, Lyle looked at the bedroom one last time, thinking it over before hopping off the wall. Landing in the living space of the barn, Lyle looked down to the ground as he processed everything. Judging from the size of the nest, along with the fact that it didn’t look like Canvas was sleeping in the studio, could that mean that…

Lyle looked back up and stared around the living space, noting the framed headlines on the walls, along with Troy's record player nearby. By the time Canvas grabbed the bottles and closed the fridge, Lyle's face looked fairly blank of any clear expression, unable to think anything to do or say. Glancing back at the framed headline of Canvas and Celestia, with Troy standing nearby with a grin on his beak, Lyle was only able to mutter two words before Canvas could re-enter from the kitchen.

"… No… Way…"

"Here you go," said Canvas as he handed a bottle to Lyle. While the Gryphon looked a bit disheveled at first, he was at least able to respond quick enough to not look spaced out again. After Lyle took one of the bottles (while looking a bit odd), Canvas used a bottle opener built into the wall to open the other one in his hoof.

"I gotta say," began the stallion as he tossed the bottle cap into a nearby trashcan, "I was a little skeptical about this stuff when Troy was raving about it, but it really is better than anything around Equestria."

"Y- yeah… sure…" Lyle kept his eyes away from the pony, avoiding eye contact as he easily flicked off his cap with a talon. Before Canvas could finish his first sip, Lyle chugged half the bottle down in an attempt to focus on something other than what he was thinking. When he finally pulled the bottle from his beak, Lyle tapped the bottle a couple times with his talons as he thought it over.

Even though he had no idea how to react to Canvas right now, he knew he had to say something. Knowing he had to bite the bullet, Lyle finally looked back at Canvas, taking a moment before he decided to ask something.

"So… How… how long have the two of you been… friends?"

Not noticing how differently Lyle said that last word, Canvas swallowed his drink before replying, "Oh! Um… I guess we first met around… late April I believe."

"Huh… really…" Lyle glanced upwards towards the loft again, which went unnoticed by Canvas as he took a seat at the dining table.

"Yeah. I mean… I don't know if I can say that's the first time we technically met for the first time, but it was the first time I actually got to see him."

Confused by what he meant, Lyle looked back at Canvas with a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

"Well…" While Canvas didn’t want to go into full detail about what had happened before he met Troy, Canvas knew he had say something. As the young Gryphon stared at him, Canvas looked down at the table as he continued, "I… I was… really hurt badly a long time ago… and… I was kinda unconscious before your brother found me."

Lyle's eyebrows rose, which went unnoticed by Canvas as he continued speaking.

"I mean… I was running a really… really long time, and… I passed out by a bush outside Ponyville… Troy was doing storm preparations at the time and… He managed to find me before the storm began."

"Wait a minute!"

Canvas looked back up to Lyle, who was staring at him, wide-eyed. Realizing what he was talking about, Lyle pointed at him and asked, "Was that… was that when Troy found somepony and met Princess Twilight? Because he actually wrote about that in one of his letters!"

"Yeah!" Surprised that Troy mentioned something like that in one of his letters back home, Canvas readjusted himself on the chair. "Troy was the one who found me, and Twilight apparently teleported both of us to the hospital while the storm was going on!"

Remembering how everything went (at least, how it was told to him through several sources), Canvas smiled to himself as he looked down. "Honestly, I'm still shocked that Troy went out of his way like that. I mean, running over seven miles in a storm like that is insane for anyone to do; but the fact that he did that, with me on his back, AND with a bad wing—"

"Wait, what?!"

Canvas looked up to see Lyle staring at him with a surprised look on his face. "What bad wing?"

"Oh… well… When Troy found me, he tried to fly up to get help, but he was struck by a lightning bolt. It didn't cause any real damage, but…"

From the way Lyle was staring at him, Canvas realized that he may have been telling him something that wasn't meant to be said. "Wait, did… did he ever mention that?"

Lyle slowly shook his head. "N-no… He didn't."

Canvas tried not to cringe as he looked away from the Gryphon. "Ooh, I… I didn’t know that…"

Hoping to alleviate the situation, Canvas turned back to Lyle and clarified, "Just so you know, it really didn’t do anything to him. He was perfectly fine, but…"

Canvas looked down to the table again, sighing as he let that moment sink in for him. "But… it really did show how dedicated he was… I mean, there I was, completely alone, and… He had no idea who I was. But… he still saved me… Even when he couldn't fly, he… he went out of his way to make sure I was okay."

Still happy to say something like that, Canvas breathed in before looking up to Lyle with a gracious smile on his muzzle. "Troy… Your brother… He saved my life."

Standing in a slightly bewildered state, Lyle wasn't sure how to respond. When his family received the letter from Troy recounting how he met Twilight Sparkle, all that he really mentioned was that he helped get a pony to the hospital. He never mentioned that he went to lengths that far to help him, or that the pony turned out to be his artist friend.

And, to be honest, if it wasn't for the look of sincerity on Canvas’s smiling face, Lyle was pretty sure he wouldn't have believed it if Troy had told him. But now, with the pony looking over at him happily, Lyle was only able to blink a couple times before making a response.

"W-wow…"

Canvas chuckled lightly to himself as he sat at the table. "Yeah, I know. I can barely believe it myself." Canvas took another swig of his root beer. "When I finally got out of the hospital, I managed to meet up with him. After thanking him, we got to talking, and…"

With a slight blush coming up on his face, Canvas sighed and smiled before finishing.

"… He became the best friend I ever had."

Even though Lyle was still a bit unsure about what to think about everything, that look on Canvas’s face certainly couldn't be ignored. Seeing how graciously happy the stallion looked, Lyle could really tell how much his brother helped him out, which made him smile a little as well. While he wanted to remind himself to ask Troy about how that day went, Lyle was at least more focused on this conversation than he was on what he saw upstairs. Sitting down in the chair opposite of Canvas at the table, Lyle decided to talk with him some more.

"So… you said you were, like, passed-out before Troy found you?"

"Yeah," said Canvas before taking another drink. "I was."

"So… what happened?"

Looking at the pony, Lyle could see Canvas pale a little at hearing that question. Putting down his bottle, Canvas bit his lip and looked away from the Gryphon, unsure of what to say. After a couple seconds, Canvas sighed before speaking in a low and faint tone.

"That… that's kind of a long story. I probably don’t want to bother you with it right now."

Before Lyle could say anything or try to convince him, Canvas took another deep breath before looking back to him. "So, Lyle," said Canvas in a more optimistic tone, hoping to quickly move the conversation to something else, "what brings you to Equestria so soon?"

Lyle's beak skewed a little as he averted his eyes from the pony. Looking slightly uncomfortable with the question, the Gryphon tried to avoid answering and held his bottle of root beer. "Ehhh… honestly, I… don't know if you want to hear it."

"Oh, come on," said Canvas as he leaned back in his chair, "I'm curious."

Again, Lyle avoided eye contact with Canvas. Thinking it over, Canvas remembered that the letter mentioned something about an "incident" happening at Lyle's school. Pursing his lips for a second in contemplation, Canvas decided to keep going, hoping it wasn't anything too bad.

"So, were you like… kicked out or something?"

"No…" Lyle took another drink from his bottle, still looking away from Canvas. "I mean… kinda, but… I wasn't expelled or anything."

Canvas skewed an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well… I mean… I was supposed to be suspended for like, two weeks, but since there was only a week and a half of school left, they just made it so I was gone for the rest of the school year."

"Really?" Even though he wasn't fully aware of how Gryphon education worked, he still knew that being suspended for two weeks had to be for something bad. "What did you do?”

Lyle grimaced a little and looked down at the table. "It… it was stupid…"

"Oh, come on!" said Canvas, now even more curious about what happened. "I won't judge or anything, I swear."

Lyle looked over to Canvas with a skeptical brow, obviously hesitant of the pony's claim. However, Canvas started to smirk as he eyed the Gryphon.

"C'mon, what did you do? Cheat on a test? Get in a fight? Drop a cherry bomb in the toilet?"

"No, I…" Clenching his beak shut, Lyle looked away from Canvas again. Sighing to himself, the Gryphon kept his head hung away from the pony as he muttered something under his breath.

"I… derprnodatchr …"

Canvas blinked and tried to understand what Lyle had said. "Umm… I didn't catch that."

Lyle closed his eyes and sighed a little louder. "Ugh, fine! I…"

Lyle's feathers were now a little ruffled in frustration. He sat hunched in the chair with his forelegs crossed. However, the Gryphon still managed to speak a little louder this time.

"I… I drew porn of one of the teachers…"

Canvas's smirk faltered a bit as his eyes shot wide open. "… Huh?"

"I mean…" Lyle looked back up to Canvas and tried to defend himself. "It wasn't for me! Some weird kid in my class saw some of the sketches I was doing, and he knew that I sometimes made stuff for my friends. He asked if I could draw something of his math teacher, and I was like, 'No way!' but then he offered me like, fifty Avians to do it, and I wasn't going to say no to that…"

Canvas was still a bit too taken back by Lyle's first statement to really respond; however, he was still listening enough to catch what he was talking about. And at hearing how much he was getting paid, Canvas was slightly impressed, knowing how much higher Avians were worth in comparison to Equestrian Bits.

"… Well, he ended up getting caught with it by the librarian, who freaked out. And then she showed the math teacher, and she freaked out! And then when he was sent to the principal, he ratted me out, and then everyone freaked out! And…"

Lyle groaned under his breath and leaned back in his chair, looking a bit disgruntled. "It was just a huge clusterbuck. And my parents were already on my ass about school, so I decided to just come by earlier than the others."

It took a couple seconds of silence for Canvas to let everything sink in. While he figured something big had to have happened for Lyle to show up this early, he never would've guessed it was something like that. Nevertheless, Canvas knew better than to say anything negative about it, leaving him to just exhale and try not to laugh before making a reply.

"Man, I… I don't know what to say."

"Eh… I'd rather you didn’t say much about it," muttered Lyle as he looked back at the pony. "Honestly, though, I'm kinda glad I got out of school early. I mean, my grades were already pretty good, so this suspension won’t really affect them. Plus, I was getting sick of how much Mom and Dad were griping at me over college."

"Wait, college?" asked Canvas in confusion. "Aren't you, like, still in middle school or something?"

"Yeah!" said Lyle in an annoyed tone. "But that doesn’t stop them from getting on my case about it! It's always, 'Think about school,' or 'You should prepare now,’ which really gets under my skin! I mean, I'm not even in high school yet! Why should I think about that kind of crap now?!"

Canvas shrugged a little in understanding. "Well… they're probably just looking out for you. College is an important thing to think about."

"But still!" The Gryphon complained as he continued, "I don't even know what I want to do with my life! I mean, I have no idea what I want to do ten years from now, or even one year from now, so why should I think about college? Like, what if I go to college, and then realize I want to do something that doesn't even need it? I don’t want to waste my time and money on that kind of thing if it doesn’t even matter!"

As Lyle looked over at the stallion, who had his eyebrows raised in surprise at the Gryphon's observations, it took a few seconds before Canvas finally made a response.

"I… kinda agree with you."

"I mean, why should I care what schoo—what, what?" Not expecting to hear that kind of answer, Lyle paused his ranting and looked back over at the pony.

Canvas finished his bottle of root beer before continuing. "No, seriously. I totally get it. You're still in middle school, so college really shouldn’t be on your mind right now."

"Thank you!" said Lyle in a relieved tone, glad to finally hear someone say that.

"I mean, not everyone knows what they want to do at your age. And it's not like you get to know what you're good at as easily as ponies do." Canvas motioned to the paint palette cutie mark on his flank before continuing, "And while college can help you out a lot in the future, it's not exactly for everyone. I mean, I didn’t go to college, and I ended up doing pretty well for myself."

Canvas then pointed a hoof over at the framed headline of himself with Celestia to prove his point.

"Although," Canvas began, trying to clarify, "I still had to work my flank off for that. And when you think about it, that's probably the most important thing: working hard for what you really want to do."

Taking Canvas's words in, Lyle nodded in understanding. Even though what he saw upstairs was still looming the back of his mind, he wasn't feeling as flustered about it while talking with Canvas like this. In all honestly, Lyle was really beginning to stop caring about it altogether.

"Yeah, I mean… exactly." Lyle smiled a little and rested in his chair, chuckling under his breath as he realized how well this conversation was going. "In all seriousness, I think you're the first guy I talked to about this who wasn't insistent about me going to college."

"Well, it's just like what you said," said Canvas with a light shrug. "I think you should know what you want to do with your life before you think about that sort of thing." Lyle nodded while Canvas tossed his empty bottle into the trashcan.

"So," asked the stallion as he looked back to Lyle, "what do you like to do? Like, what do you do in your spare time?"

"Ummm…" Thinking it over, the Gryphon gave a shrug as he answered honestly. "I dunno. Like… I like reading comics and stuff. I guess I also doodle a lot of things too."

"Like what?" asked Canvas, curiosity on his face.

"Eh, nothing big or anything. Just random stuff."

"But…" Remembering what Lyle said a while ago, Canvas decided to bring it up as he asked, "Didn’t you say you made commissions for your friends?"

Lyle looked at Canvas with a confused look. "A what?"

"You know," said Canvas as he leaned back in his chair, "a commission. Like, when you sell artwork requested by others, that's called a commission."

"Oh. Well…" Lyle looked down to the table as he thought it over. "I… guess I do, but… I usually just make them for fun. The only one I actually got money from was that porn thing."

Canvas shrugged, understanding what Lyle meant. "So… can I see some of your sketches?"

Lyle scoffed a little, thinking that Canvas was just pulling his leg. "Dude, trust me. My stuff isn’t that great."

"But still," insisted Canvas, "I can probably give you some good advice or something. You know, one artist to another?"

Lyle's beak skewed a bit as he thought it over. While he didn’t necessarily think of himself as an "artist" by any means—especially in comparison to Canvas's stuff—he knew he didn’t have much else going on right now. And since Canvas didn't seem to be that bad of a guy, maybe showing a few of his doodles would be alright.

"Hmmmm… Oh, what the heck." Lyle gave a light smirk to Canvas before getting off his chair. "I think I have my sketchbook in one of my bags."

It took less than ten minutes for Troy to reach the Weather Pressure Machine, which was already undergoing a lot of counteraction from the Pegasus ponies that arrived before him. After enough wingpower was gathered for an opposing tornado to be made and neutralize the machine, everything was back under control in a matter of minutes.

However, while most of the ponies were with cheering with success or collapsing on nearby clouds from exhaustion, Troy was just concerned with getting back home as soon as possible. Just as the Gryphon was about to zoom off, Rainbow Dash hovered in front of him and held out her hooves.

"Whoa, Troy!" Dash shouted, trying to keep Troy still. Seeing how worried he was getting due to his brother being in Ponyville early, Rainbow wanted to make sure he wouldn't become too panicked. "Before you go anywhere, you need to calm yourself down!"

"Dash, come on!" Troy tried to maneuver past her, but the Pegasus was able to quickly counter any move that the Gryphon attempted.

"I'm serious, dude! You can’t go back there when you're looking this freaked-out! There's nothing to worry about!"

"Oh, nooooo, of course not, Dash!" said Troy in an overly sarcastic and irritated tone. "It's just my little brother, who has no idea I'm gay, alone at my house on the ground, with my stallion fiancé! What's there to worry about, right?!"

If it was anyone else acting like this towards her, Rainbow Dash would've smacked them hard enough for Celestia to feel it. However, she knew better than to mess with Troy right now. Knowing how worried he was about his family's reaction to him being with Canvas, Rainbow Dash wanted to help out Troy a little before he talked with his brother. Keeping a level head, the pony put out her hooves and attempted something she learned from Fluttershy.

"Troy, I want you to try something for me, okay?"

Troy groaned and closed his eyes in frustration. "Urrrrrgh… what?"

"Troy," began Dash, gritting her teeth as she tried to keep herself from hitting him, "just do as I do, alright?"

With his eyes clenched shut, the Gryphon grimaced a little before sighing in defeat. "F-fine. Let… let's just get this over with."

"Okay." With that, Rainbow Dash hovered in front of Troy and pointed her hooves to her chest. Closing her eyes, the pony's face began to look much calmer than before as she settled. Slowly, Rainbow Dash breathed in through her nostrils, making Troy roll his eyes in annoyance.

However, since he knew that he wouldn't be able to leave before doing this, Troy sighed to himself before closing his eyes. Much like Rainbow Dash, the Gryphon took a deep breath, making sure to inhale as slowly as he could to imitate her.

"Now," Dash said quietly, waiting until she made sure Troy had breathed in fully before giving her next instruction, "breathe out."

Slowly, both Troy and Rainbow Dash exhaled in unison, which actually helped to slow down the Gryphon's heart rate. Keeping his eyes closed, Troy hated to admit how much that really helped him out. Even though all he did was take a deep breath, Rainbow Dash's advice really made him feel less flustered.

However, before the Gryphon could nod to the pony and zoom off, Rainbow Dash stood in front of Troy as he opened his eyes. "Okay," said Dash in a firm tone as she made sure he was calmed down, "are you feeling better?"

Troy groaned under his breath, knowing that he couldn’t say it wasn't completely pointless. With great reluctance, the Gryphon slowly nodded. "Ye… yeah… Th-thanks."

"You're welcome." Before Troy could try to fly past her, Rainbow Dash put out a hoof to keep him in place. "But Troy, I really don't think you should be this worried."

"That's easy for you to say," said Troy in a bit of a bitter tone as he looked at her. "I told you, most Gryphons aren't that comfortable with alternative relationships."

"I know," Dash said insistently, "but I don't think Lyle is like that."

"Oh really?" Troy stared at the pony with skepticism. "How would you know that?"

"Because he didn't freak out when he saw me."

Unsure of what Rainbow Dash meant, Troy stayed silent, a confused look on his face. Rainbow made sure she wouldn’t be interrupted before she explained, "When he came into my room, you know, what he thought was your room, he didn't seem that weirded-out by seeing me in the bed. Heck, he even asked me if I was your marefriend!"

"Seriously?" asked the Gryphon, surprised.

"Yeah! Luckily, I managed to tell him I wasn't pretty quickly, but he didn’t look grossed-out when he asked me. He wasn't like, 'Ew, are you his marefriend?!' He was just kinda casual about it, like, ‘Hey, are you his marefriend or something?'"

Taking this new information in, Troy blinked a few times and tried to think of an appropriate response. "Umm… huh."

"Exactly," said Dash, "so if he didn’t freak out about me, I doubt he'll freak out much when you tell him about you and Canvas."

Troy looked away from the mare as he thought it over. Even though he was certainly glad to hear something that reassuring, it still didn't help his worries that much. Troy closed his eyes as he sighed, taking a moment before he looked back to Rainbow Dash.

"It's just… this is kinda different, Dash. I mean, you're a mare! I think me being with a stallion is gonna be a bit more surprising to him than if I was with someone like you."

Despite wanting to tell Troy otherwise, Rainbow knew that the Gryphon had a somewhat valid point. Rubbing her temple with a hoof, she groaned a little before attempting to ease Troy's tensions. "Dude, I don't think your brother's gonna react that badly."

"And what if he does?" Now looking more worried, the Gryphon looked away from Rainbow Dash again as he kept speaking in a frantic tone. "Like, what if he goes off on me? What if he says I'm not his brother anymore? Or, what if he just calls me a feather-fluffer and flies off to tell my folks?! I don’t think I can take that kind of thing, Dash!"

"Troy, please don't freak out about this! I really don't think Lyle would…" Rainbow Dash looked a little confused as she paused. "Wait, what's a feather-fluffer?"

"Oh, that's the Gryphon equivalent of colt-cuddler."

"Oh…" Rainbow Dash shrugged a little before shifting her attention to Troy. "Anyway, I doubt anything like that is going to happen."

Troy sighed and looked away from her again, obviously hesitant on believing her.

"Dude, seriously!" Rainbow Dash insisted, "Lyle's still a kid! Kids usually don't care that much about that kind of thing. Heck, if anything, there's probably a good chance he'll be the least freaked-out about it."

Troy clenched his beak shut and thought Rainbow's words over. Despite still being worried, he knew that she had a good point; kids were born with a lot of things, but homophobia wasn’t one of them. Even with the fact that Gryphon society wasn’t as accepting of alternative relationships as Equestria’s, there was still a good chance that it wasn't as ingrained in Lyle's conscience. And if he really wasn't that put off about him being with someone like Rainbow Dash, who’s to say that Canvas would be much different?

"You…" Troy looked back at the Pegasus with hopeful eyes. "… You really think so?"

"Yes," said Rainbow Dash in a relieved tone. She placed a hoof on his shoulder as she added, "So please, just… just stay calm. When you get home, I think you should probably take him out somewhere. Hang out with him a little, catch up on some stuff, and just spend some time with him. And when the moment's right, then you tell him the truth."

Troy closed his eyes and took a breath, pausing for a moment before slowly nodding. Noticing that he was looking a lot less stressed, Rainbow Dash kept her hoof on his shoulder in reassurance. "Seriously, Troy, I… I really don’t think he'll react that badly."

"But…" Troy reopened his eyes before speaking with a tone of unease. "But what if he does?"

Rainbow Dash just sighed, unsure of what to say. Even though she didn’t want the Gryphon to think like that, it didn’t mean there wasn't a chance it could happen. The Pegasus thought about it for another moment before letting go of Troy and speaking sincerely.

”Listen, if Lyle freaks out about it, just… just try to find me, alright? I'm pretty good with talking to kids, so I'll try to talk with him and make sure he doesn't hate you."

Troy's eyebrows raised in surprise, not expecting a mare like her to offer something that helpful. "You… really?"

"Yes," said Rainbow Dash with an insistent tone. "I'm not saying anything bad will happen, but if something does, which I really doubt, I'll have your back."

Hearing the sincerity in her words, Troy finally managed to regain a smile on his beak. "Wow, th… thanks, Dash."

"No problem." With that, Rainbow Dash moved herself aside so Troy could leave. "Now go hang out with your brother, dude."

"Sure thing."

With a new confidence in his heart, Troy flew off, hoping to make it home as soon as he could.

"… Hmmmmm…"

Canvas sat on his worn couch in the studio, looking through Lyle's sketchbook while the Gryphon sat next to him. Lyle, who honestly didn’t care that much about his drawings, was more focused on reading his copy of The Trotting Dead he had in his duffle bag. However, the Gryphon regained his attention on the pony when he began to speak up.

"You know, Lyle, this… this is actually really good."

Lyle rolled his eyes and tried not to scoff too obviously. "Yeah right," muttered the Gryphon under his breath, "they're just doodles."

"No, seriously!" Leaning forward on the couch, Canvas held the sketchbook out. "You really have some good drawing skills! Like…"

Canvas flipped the sketchbook back a few pages, showing a really detailed sketch of a Gryphon warrior decapitating a Changeling with an axe.

"On this one, you really did a great job getting the body proportions right. I mean, nothing on his pose looks off, which is really impressive considering the angle you went for. You even got the claws drawn at the right proportion, which is really tough to do."

Lyle shrugged a little, knowing that the stallion made a good point. "Yeah, drawing claws can suck sometimes. I think I got kinda lucky with that one."

"Luck didn’t have anything to do with it. I mean…" Canvas flipped over to another page, which showed a drawing of a female Gryphon grinning at the viewer with a mouse hanging from her beak. "You really took your time on this, and it shows! Like, you didn’t even try drawing by contours, and you focused on getting the framework done before drawing everything in. That's something not many guys do at your age."

Lyle glanced over at the sketch Canvas was referring to, smiling a little when he saw what it was. "Oh yeah, I remember that one. I tried to just trace over it from her pic in a comic I had, but I kept messing up. I heard about doing that framework thing, so I tried it out. It honestly works really well."

"Exactly," said Canvas as he looked over at him optimistically. "And you're really good at getting different poses drawn right. Like…"

Canvas looked back to Lyle's sketchbook and started flipping the pages one-by-one. "You draw all these different poses really well. Like this guy throwing a spear… This girl flying through a monster… This mare spreading her—WHOA!!!"

Lyle quickly snatched the sketchbook from Canvas's hooves. With his feathers fully ruffled out, the Gryphon clutched the book to his chest, looked away, and tried to hide his deep blush. "Crap, I… I was… I was drawing that for a friend!"

Canvas blinked a couple times and stared at Lyle wide-eyed, not expecting to see a sketch like that. "Umm, well… Your… your friend really seems to like Daring Do."

Canvas tried not to snicker, which just made Lyle look back to him with a strong glare. "Shut up! I… I forgot I had that in there!"

"Dude…" Canvas looked away from Lyle, chuckling under his breath a little before regaining his maturity. "You know what? I'm not going to say anything about that."

Lyle grumbled a little and hunched himself on the couch. Shaking his head in disbelief, Canvas looked back at the sketchbook in Lyle's claws and tried to change the subject.

"Although… I'm a little curious. What was with that one drawing with the weird shading?"

Lyle looked back at Canvas with a confused look on his face. "What weird shading?"

"That one with the guy, uh… wait a minute." Canvas put out his hoof for the sketchbook, which Lyle gave back to him reluctantly. Reopening the sketchbook, Canvas quickly skimmed the pages until he found the one he was talking about. Holding it out for Lyle to see, Canvas pointed at the drawing of a large Gryphon with a deep scar on his face, who was wearing a black trenchcoat and fedora.

"Why is it that the shading is so contrasted on this one? I mean, your shading looks natural on the others, but this one is just pure black and white."

Seeing the sketch, Lyle's eyebrows rose as he remembered. "Oh, yeah! That's supposed to be like that. He's a character from Feather Noir."

Canvas looked back at him curiously. "Feather what?"

"Dude, you…" Surprised to hear that kind of answer, Lyle's eyes widened as he tried to comprehend Canvas's question. "You never heard of Feather Noir?!"

Lyle went back over to one of his duffle bags, opening it as he shuffled through the contents inside. "That's like, one of the best graphic novels EVER! Do you seriously not have that over here?!"

"Well…" Canvas looked away sheepishly and put Lyle's sketchbook down. "I didn’t really read that many comics as a kid. Plus, I was more of a fan of stuff like Power Ponies, honestly."

Lyle pulled out a thick paperback from his bag, handing it over to Canvas to see. Holding the Anthology book of Feather Noir in his hooves, Canvas's eyes narrowed as he skimmed through the pages.

"It's sort of like a detective story," Lyle said as he tried to show Canvas the comic. "It has a bunch of intertwining storylines and stuff, and it really goes into detail with a bunch of different characters."

"Huh…" Looking through the artwork, Canvas was definitely able to see where Lyle got the shading style from. Much like that sketch, this comic had the same kind of heavily contrasted shading, where almost all the panels were a mix of black and white (and plenty of red in the bloody scenes). While it certainly wasn't like anything he'd read before, Canvas was still rather interested in looking through it.

Seeing that Canvas was gaining interest, Lyle went back into his bag to get more of his comics. Before Canvas could start reading page one of Feather Noir, Lyle pulled out a huge pile of different comics and graphic novels, none of which looked familiar to the pony at all.

"This one is called The Guardsmen," began the Gryphon as he handed a different graphic novel to Canvas. "It's sort of a more realistic take on superheroes, I guess. There's a lot of stuff in it about vigilantism and ethics, but it's really well done. It's also set in an alternate universe where Luna was ruling the past thousand years, and not Celestia."

"Wow…" Canvas never really considered himself to be the kind of pony to read many comics, but Lyle's stuff was really looking like good reading material. Noticing the large pile of comics Lyle placed between them, Canvas's eyebrows raised in curiosity as he noticed the different stories.

"I mean," began Lyle as he went back to his issue of The Trotting Dead, "you can read some of those if you want."

"Thanks," said Canvas as his hoof brushed through each title. "You really have a lot of stuff here… Power Ponies Unlimited… Trotting Dead… wait, what's Scarred?"

"DON'T READ THAT ONE!" Lyle snatched the comic Canvas was talking about before he could open it. When the pony stared at him with a puzzled look, Lyle said with a guilty tone in his voice as he held the comic, "Crap, I forgot I brought this. I'm pretty sure this might be illegal in this country."

"Really?" said Canvas, intrigued. "Well, now I gotta read it."

"No dude! Seriously…" Lyle grimaced a little and pulled the comic further away from Canvas. "This is like… really, REALLY graphic stuff. It's actually considered a bit hardcore for a lot of Gryphons."

Canvas scoffed a bit before reaching for the comic. "Dude, come on…" Despite Lyle's protests, Canvas grabbed the comic back. Keeping his eyes on the worried Gryphon, Canvas spoke more confidently as he began to skim the pages.

"I'm an adult, Lyle. I think I can handle a little bit of blood an—WHAT THE!!!"

Canvas immediately dropped the comic to the floor. His face turned to a deathly pale. Holding his hooves to his muzzle in shock, Canvas didn’t notice how Lyle was looking at him with a cheeky smirk on his beak.

"Dude… I told you so."

"Wha… what was…" Looking away from the comic while Lyle picked it back up, Canvas was almost at a complete loss for words. "What… what was that guy doing to that dolphin?!"

Lyle winced a bit as he put the issue of Scarred back into his bag. "Yeesh! You opened it to THAT page? Dude…"

When Lyle looked back to Canvas, who still looked beyond shocked from what he just saw, he put up a claw and tried to explain himself. "Just so you know, the only reason I have that is because the artist does a lot of the album covers for Blade's band Talon Ripper. He usually gives them to him for free, so I looked through them sometimes."

Blinking a few times in contemplation, Canvas looked away from the Gryphon as he tried to regain himself. "I… I think I need some brain bleach or something."

Lyle snickered before walking to his other duffle bag. "Dude, I warned you…"

"Yeah, I know," muttered the pony, shaking his head. "Remind me to take your advice next time."

"Deal." With that, Lyle opened his second duffle, which Canvas remembered to be the extremely heavy one. Noticing a large, box-like object inside of it, Canvas hopped off the couch and walked over to see what it was. When Lyle opened the bag enough for Canvas to see what was inside, his eyes widened in surprise, not expecting the Gryphon to have something like that.

Upon seeing the pony's reaction, Lyle grinned and looked up at him. "So… you have an outlet to plug this in?"

With the brisk autumn air blowing through his feathers, Troy was feeling a lot better, albeit a little chilly, as he finally began to see his home in the horizon. Remembering Rainbow Dash's words, Troy was hopeful enough to keep them close when he thought about his brother. While he was still worried about how Lyle would react to him being with a stallion, Troy knew there was a good chance that things wouldn’t go that awry.

Landing on the soft grass near his home, Troy stretched out his back and finally rested his wings. After doing his full feline stretch and yawning loudly, he was glad to be back on his legs again. Even though he had plans to do some more flying today, mostly in regards to what he was planning with his brother, Troy was just glad to give his wings a well-deserved break.

However, before Troy could walk over to the side door of the barn and enter his home, the sound of yelling from the front caught his attention. Hearing the commotion coming from Canvas's studio, Troy's heart shot up in his throat as he heard his brother's yelling.

"Oh, you think you're better than ME, you little turd?!"

"I call as I see it!" shouted Canvas from inside the barn. "You're going down, twerp!"

Hearing their yelling, Troy ran straight to the front of the barn in a rush of pure fear. Afraid of what had happened to make his fiancé and brother yell at each other like that, the last thing he wanted was to walk in on a nasty fight. With his heart racing in worry, Troy stood on his hindlegs as he threw the barn doors open.

"WHAT'S GOIN—"

As soon as he saw what was going on, Troy stood motionless in confusion. Instead of seeing his brother and fiancé beating each other up or the studio in pure disarray, what Troy saw was something completely different.

Canvas and Lyle were sitting on the couch, each of them holding a joystick. A large gaming console was turned on in front of them. Even with Troy's loud entrance, neither of them noticed the large Gryphon at all, keeping their attention on the fighting game they were playing. On the large gaming system, which was propped on a coffee table, the screen in the middle of it displayed two pixelated characters fighting each other.

Lyle, who was controlling the character on the left, was obviously having some difficulty as he struggled to get an edge on the pony. "Dude!" shouted the younger Gryphon in aggravation. "How the buck are you good at this?! You have hooves, for crying out loud!"

Canvas, who was in control of the female character currently winning the match, was cackling in joy as he replied, "Hey, I made a painting for Celestia with these hooves! Don't think I—Ooh! Good combo!—don’t think I'm only good with painting with these!"

Realizing what was going on, Troy stayed silent while he stood on his hindlegs at the open doorway of the barn. Looking at the two on the couch, Troy's heartbeat began to settle as he saw that they weren't fighting for real. In fact, at seeing how happy the two were while they tried to outdo each other in the fighting game, Troy began to smile a little and sighed in relief.

Dropping down so he was on all fours again, Troy decided not to mess with their game and silently walked over to the back of the couch. Leaning in to watch the action, Troy noticed that Canvas was, in fact, winning the match. While Lyle gritted his teeth in frustration and struggled to get a move in with his joystick, Canvas unloaded a devastating combo attack with his character.

"Whoa!" shouted Troy as he saw his fiancé's impressive skills. "Nice one, dude!"

"Thanks!" said Canvas, barely noticing that Troy was back before finishing the match. After performing a multiple kick-and-punch combo to drain his opponent's life meter, Canvas threw up his hooves in victory, while Lyle groaned and threw his joystick on the couch.

"Noooo!!!" yelled Lyle in defeat. "That… that was… YOU CHEATED!"

Canvas just laughed while Lyle pointed a frustrated talon at him. "Dude, c'mon! I won, fair and square!"

On the gaming screen, a text came up in front of the characters, saying, FINISH HIM!

"All right!" said Canvas excitedly as he paused the game and grabbed the game manual. "I finally get to do one of these 'Fatality' thingies!"

"Ugh, come on!" Lyle groaned as he leaned back on the couch. "This is so la—oh, hey Troy!"

Finally noticing his older brother, Lyle smiled a little as he looked up at him. Troy gave a quick "Hey," back to him before pointing at a page in the manual.

"Hey Canvas," said Troy as he pointed a talon at a specific code, "you should try that one."

"Alright," replied the pony as he scanned the maneuver. Reading how to do it, Canvas placed the manual down before unpausing the game. With his opponent wobbling on his legs on the screen, Canvas moved his own character back a few steps before performing the actions with his joystick.

"Left, left, right, down, punch, punch, kick… down!"

With that last action done, the game screen turned to something new. An impressive animated sequence came up on the console, showing Lyle's character as he was surrounded by a large swarm of Changelings. After Lyle’s character briefly screamed, the swarm began attacking him, encapsulating him like a swarm of locusts. After several seconds of screaming and munching noises, the swarm flew off, leaving only a skeleton where Lyle's character had been.

"PLAYER TWO WON!" shouted a voice from the console. "CHANGELING FATALITY!"

Canvas, who was a little grossed-out by the animation, carried a goofy smile on his muzzle. "That… was awesome!"

Canvas put up his hoof in front of Lyle, expecting him to slap it. Lyle, who was still a little upset about losing so easily to a pony, groaned a little when he saw how excited Canvas looked. Nevertheless, after a low sigh, Lyle gave a half-hearted tap to Canvas's hoof with a claw.

"Nice!" said Canvas enthusiastically before turning his attention to Troy. "So, Troy, you get that weather thing fixed?"

"Uhh… yeah!" said the Gryphon, almost forgetting that he did that not too long ago. "It honestly wasn't that big of a deal."

Troy then turned his attention to Lyle, grinning lightly at him when he saw how bummed-out he was about losing the game. "So, Lyle, you doin' alright?"

"Mmmm… I guess…" Lyle shrugged a bit before getting off the couch. "I mean, I didn't expect Canvas to be that good at Khaos Kombat."

"Hey," said Canvas, "to be fair, neither did I!" The stallion then smiled a little, glanced at the game console, and pointed at it. "Troy, remind me to get myself one of those things!"

"Oh, fine," said Troy, trying not to chuckle too loudly. Considering how happy the stallion looked, Troy wondered whether or not a video game console could be put in their wedding registry.

Lyle stretched after being on the couch so long, grunting under his breath before making a quick reply. "To be fair, though, it was nice actually playing against someone that was a challenge." Lyle then looked back at his brother and Canvas before adding, "Seriously, I don’t know where you found him, but he's pretty cool."

Troy instantly grew a large smile on his beak, overjoyed to hear Lyle say something like that. And when he glanced over at his fiancé, who was blushing a little, the smile he carried was enough to know how glad Canvas was to hear that.

"Th… thanks, dude."

"No prob," said Lyle as he stretched out his forelegs some more. Before he could add anything more, Lyle's stomach let loose a loud gurgle.

"Oh! That reminds me…" Canvas hopped off the couch and went to get his art bag. "I was meaning to run into town and grab some things for dinner."

Canvas then picked up his faded, tan bag, which was still adorned with all the various drawings and sketches done in black ink from over the years. Hoisting the canvas bag over his shoulder, Canvas made sure it was secure before looking back to Troy with a smile. "I won't be gone long, so I'll just leave you two to catch up."

Smiling back at the stallion, Troy didn’t need to be told what Canvas meant by "catching up." However, considering what he was planning to do anyways, the Gryphon already knew what he had planned. Looking over at his little brother, Troy kept his smile as he leaned against the couch.

"So, Lyle, you wanna check out Cloudsdale? Since you're here, I can show you where I used to work before doing Weather Patrol."

Thinking it over, Lyle just shrugged in agreement. "Sure, I guess."

Happy to hear that answer, Troy's smile grew wider as he finally took off his work vest. Tossing it aside in the studio, Troy took one more glance back at his fiancé, who was looking back at him with a warm smile. Knowing what Troy was planning to talk with his brother about, Canvas didn’t need to say a word to show his approval, glad that it was going to happen this soon.

Making sure he had everything, Canvas walked out of his home with the two Gryphons before locking the door behind him. "Well," began the pony as he made sure the door was shut, "hopefully I'll have something ready by the time you two get back."

"Sounds good," said Troy, giving him a caring smile. Although he wanted to give a quick kiss to Canvas before heading off, he knew that he had to talk with Lyle first before anything else. So, with a slight shade of suppressed disappointment, Troy merely nodded to the stallion before flying off with Lyle.

As the two Gryphons soared off towards Cloudsdale, Canvas waved goodbye to them. After the two were out of sight, Canvas sighed lightly before trotting off. Though he was a little uneasy about how things might go—especially since he hated not having his ring on right now—Canvas was still hopeful that everything would turn out alright.

Keeping his utmost trust in Troy doing the right thing, Canvas decided to place his focus on something else, and thought what he should make for dinner while on his trek to Ponyville.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Learning New Things

Keeping a smile on her face, Rarity savored her rare moment of serenity and silence as she floated one of her rolls of fabric with her magic. Even though her schedule was fairly full today, the unicorn had enough free time between two of her appointments to get some other tasks done without any interruption. So, the mare decided to reorganize her fabrics a little before Troy's family came along. Despite not wanting to make any harsh criticisms or assumptions about the triplets, her last encounter with the three didn't exactly give Rarity the best impression of them

Especially that one Gryphon with the ghastly amount of mascara, who was less-than-subtly leering after her friend Fluttershy

Shuddering at the memory of that particular Gryphon, as well as that grotesque album Fluttershy was raving about, Rarity tried to ignore any thoughts in relation to that Blade fellow. However, as badly as she wanted to drive it out of her conscience, the unicorn could swear that she could still hear his monstrously fake Trottingham accent in her mind.

Of course, her eyes shot wide open when she realized that his voice wasn't just in her head. She was hearing it for real.

Rarity quickly made her way downstairs, hearing the voices of Troy and Blade bickering from not too far away from her boutique.

"Please, Troy?"

"No!"

"Please?"

"NO!"

"Aw, c'mon man! I won't ask for a full commission!"

"DAMMIT BLADE I SAID NO!!!"

"… You don't have to be so loud, mate. I'm right here."

"ARRRRRGH!!!"

Several knocks could be heard from the front door after that groan, which Rarity answered quickly despite having some new-found reluctance. "Why, hello Troius," said Rarity with a weak smile as she opened the door, letting him and the triplets inside with Canvas behind them. "How are things this morning?"

Troy breathed out heavily as he lumbered inside with a shrug of his shoulders. "Okay, I guess…" The Gryphon then turned over to Blade with an obvious glare in his eyes. "Of course, I'd feel better if someone wouldn't stop pestering me about playing at the wedding!"

Blade threw his claws up in surprise, looking offended at his brother's remark. "Dude, what's your bloody problem?! You know how many couples I know who would kill to have Talon Ripper play at their wedding?!"

"Wait, what?!" cried out Rarity in disgust as she turned her head towards Blade. "Are you seriously suggesting you play your… metal music at Troy and Canvas's wedding?!?"

Blade took a couple seconds to process the unicorn's revulsion, and put up a talon to clarify. "It's not just metal. It's death metal. It's totally different."

"It’s still not happening!" shouted Troy angrily. "How many times do I have to hammer that into your thick friggin' skull?!"

Blaze and Blane, both looking quite annoyed with how long this argument has been going on, decided to walk past them and head to the kitchen with a heavy groan. Meanwhile, Blade pointed a talon over at Troy's fiancé. "Well, how about Canvas, huh? Have you even considered the idea that maybe he wants Talon Ripper to play at the wedding?"

Blade raised his eyebrows at his brother, hoping that his attempt at shoe-horning some guilt will change Troy's tone. Fortunately, Canvas was able to speak up before Troy could say anything in retaliation.

"Well…" Canvas waited for Blade to turn back to him before he continued. "Honestly, I was kinda hoping that we could find something more… romantic for our wedding?" The stallion put up a hoof and quickly added, "No offense, of course. I'd just rather have our first dance be to a ballad or something."

Blade made a light scoff, acting like he was insulted by the artist's remark. "Uh, hello? Talon Ripper has LOTS of ballads!"

"Ooohhhhh no!" shouted Troy in protest. "You are NOT going to play 'Soon-to-Be My Sex Slave' at my wedding!"

Rarity, who was standing at the sidelines during this argument, dropped her jaw as soon as the smaller Gryphon said that. "Is that seriously a song of his?!"

"Troy, don't be daft! I'm not gonna do any of my songs from Alicorn Harem! Besides, I got way more romantic songs than that! I was thinking maybe something like 'Ode to My Love Pump'."

"Ugh!" Rarity stormed away from Blade, not wanting to hear any more songs of his that she was fortunate to have never heard about until now. Luckily, Canvas decided to take the reins of discussion as he went into his art bag, pulling out a large manila folder that Blane gave him during breakfast.

"Hey, Rarity," said Canvas as he tried to grab her attention and give her the folder, "Blane was wanting to talk about helping with floral arrangements for the wedding. What do you think of his references?"

Despite looking less than enthusiastic about the idea of such a massive Gryphon assisting in such a delicate detail, Rarity reluctantly picked up the folder in her blue aura. After opening it and looking at the detailed photos included, the unicorn's eyes widened in shock when she saw the near-perfect floral arrangements organized inside. "Oh, my… I… I can’t believe…"

Rarity gave a surprised stare back at Canvas as her expression grew more dumbfounded by the second. "You're telling me that these were made by…" Her hoof pointed toward the kitchen where she saw the gargantuan Gryphon disappear to. "He made those?!"

"Yeah," nodded the stallion with a slightly disbelieving tone of his own. "He's apparently a REALLY good florist!"

Rarity turned her head to Blade and Troy, who both nodded to Canvas's answer with similar expressions on their faces. "He's not wrong," said Troy, unable to speak in a tone where he didn't sound astounded by that fact as well. "We just found out about that this morning."

After blinking a couple times in astonishment, Rarity made one more glance down at Blane's folder, growing an impressed smile on her muzzle. "Well then!" began the unicorn in a more chipper tone, "I shall definitely have to talk with him about this! I think he'll be an excellent choice if these photos are accurate to his technique!"

Canvas shot a smile over towards Troy, happy to know that one less thing would have to be planned out before their wedding. Despite how his brother was still leaning in, expecting for him to change his mind about the entertainment, Troy still smiled back at Canvas lightly.

The mare then trotted off towards the kitchen, keeping her horn lit as she continued to look through the photos of Blane's various bouquets he made himself. "My gosh!" muttered Rarity to herself, "He even has Saddle Arabian lotuses! I had no idea tha-- AAAHHH!"

Rarity's shrill shriek could be heard as soon as she was out of sight and inside the kitchen, which was immediately followed by her bellowing out in an enraged state, "You put down my champagne this instant!!!"

"Awww! We wanted to make Mimosas!"

"IT'S NINE IN THE MORNING!"

"Yeah, that's why we're making Mimosas! It has orange juice, which makes it a breakfast drink!"

Troy's smile quickly dropped as he put a claw to his face in embarrassment. As more bickering could be heard from the kitchen, Blade's ears perked up as he walked over to the kitchen as well. "Alright! Booze time!"

A low, disappointed groan escaped Troy's beak. After Blade disappeared to the kitchen, Canvas looked up at Troy with a more sympathetic gaze as he tried to alleviate his fiancé's nerves.

"Well… at least Blade shut up about wanting to play at the wedding."

Keeping a relaxed smile on his muzzle, Canvas sat comfortably beside Troy in their loveseat as they waited for Rarity to finish her measurements for the triplets. While Blane, the last one to be measured, was lumbering up to the stage clumsily, the other two were trying to sit on the pink sofa at the side; however, with how much the middle of it was bending downward, it seemed like the couch was looking close to snapping in half from the Gryphons' combined size and weight.

"Alright, Blane," began Rarity as she kept her horn lit, holding both her measuring tape and her glass in her aura. Even though she usually never even considered drinking so early in the day, the annoying nature of the three Gryphons was enough to give her an exception. Because of that, only Troy and Canvas's glasses of orange juice didn't have champagne in them.

After taking a sip from her glass, the unicorn refocused her attention on Blane as she began to measure around his midsection. "Just hold your breath for a moment, and I'll have your size in no time."

Blane was quick to oblige, holding his breath and keeping himself still while the tape went around his chest and back. When Rarity leaned her head in to check what measurement the end of the tape was, she didn't seem to notice how Blaze and Blade were leaning in from the couch as well. Troy, immediately noticing what his brothers were doing, was quick to chuck a crumpled piece of paper at them before Rarity could catch either of them staring at her flank.

"Hey!" hissed Blaze when the paper hit his head, making Rarity turn her head back to them. When she saw the two quickly sit back in their original positions on the couch, giving off a very obvious-looking "We weren't doing anything bad" look on their faces, the unicorn gave a venomous glare before turning around and downing her Mimosa.

"So…" Wanting to ignore the two Gryphons who are most likely staring at her, Rarity tried to keep a lively discussion with Blane as she moved to measuring his backside. "Troy never mentioned that you were such a skilled florist! When would you say that you-- Could you stretch out your wing a little, please-- Ahem, when would you say that you started to grow such an interest in flora?"

After extending out his wing for the mare to measure (happy that he remembered to wash up before coming here), Blane pondered Rarity's question for a moment before answering reluctantly. "I'm not sure, honestly. I mean, I always liked smelling stuff, and I was actually pretty good at arranging flowers without breaking them, so I figured why not?"

"Seriously?" asked Blade in a shocked tone of voice. "I once saw you leak a below-ground pool! How the bloody Tartarus are you able to make bouquets without setting 'em on fire?!"

Blane shrugged lightly, looking like he was unsure of that answer as well. "I dunno. I guess I just sorta, you know, get in the zone when I do it! Like, I just get super-focused and stuff."

"Mmm-Hmmm," replied Rarity as she grew a more understanding smile on her muzzle. "I understand that feeling completely! There are many times that I've made garments, and even an earthquake wouldn't stop me from finishing them!"

Blaze, who was looking through a large binder, quickly poked his head up to stare at Rarity with an insistent grin. "Rare, I will give you a hundred Aves to put Blane in a dress right now!"

Blade's eyes lit up at that request, making him chime in, "Me too!"

"Dude!" snapped Blane as he glared at his brothers.

"Now now, boys…" Rarity paused taking her measurements as she looked back at them with an adamant look on her face. "Even though doing that would be tempting, I-- Blaze, put down my wedding planner!"

"What?" asked Blaze as he put his claws up in innocence. Rarity pulled the book out of his talons with her magic as he tried to defend himself. "I can't look at the details of my brother's wedding?! I was just wanting to see what he had planned."

"Well, there's no reason for you to invade a lady's pri--" As soon as she opened the binder, Rarity gasped before shooting a angered look at Blaze. "DID YOU WRITE IN THIS?!"

"Actually," added Blade as he tried to intervene, "I may have helped out a little as well."

Seeing how Rarity, as well as Troy and Canvas, were staring at him and Blaze with surprised looks, Blade scoffed before continuing. "What?! We just wanted to add our bloody input!"

"Why the…" Rarity's eyes narrowed on the contents of the binder as she tried to fathom what they wrote in with red ink. "Why in Equestria's name did you put animals on the guest list?!"

"Guest list?" Confused by Rarity's statement, Blaze got up from his couch and walked up to the unicorn's side. Peering in at what page she was referring to, Blaze stared at it for a moment in puzzlement. "That's the guest list? I thought that was the menu!"

Blade got up to investigate as well, staring at the page from Rarity's other side. "What the… Who names their kid Carrot Cake?!"

"Hey," piped up Canvas from his seat, "Carrot Cake is a really nice guy!"

Troy pressed his face into his claw and groaned out tiredly, now starting to get really sick of explaining this to them. "Guys, how many times have I told you?! This an Equestrian wedding! We're not having meat!”

"WHY NOT?!" shouted all three triplets at the same time, staring at Troy like he just suggested that the moon was made out of cheese.

Troy leaned his head back against the back of the chair with clenched eyes, having his head pointed to the ceiling as he tried not to raise his voice at his brothers. "Do I seriously have to grab a megaphone, shove it into your ears and YELL it into your brains?! We. Are. Not. Having. Meat!"

"COME ONNNNN!"

Troy threw a pillow over his face, not wanting to deal with his older brothers whining at him like they were still in middle school. "Urrrrrrghhhhh…"

Rarity, still looking at their additions to the list with perplexed eyes, tried to speak up to avoid any unneeded confrontations in her shop. "Well, if you guys want, we could arrange to have shrimp for the wedding. It might be a bit costly, but I could certainly…" Noticing one entry in the list, the unicorn's eyes narrowed on it before looking at the three in utter confusion. "What in the world are… beanie weenies?!"

With the way she said that, sounding like she was reciting a poorly-translated joke, Blane looked especially shocked by her reaction. "You seriously don't know about those?! Beanie weenies are like, SUPER fancy back in the Gryphon Kingdom!"

"That's right!" added Blade with a strong nod. He pointed a talon at Troy for assistance. "Tell her, Troy! Beanie weenies have class out the bum, right?"

Troy, despite still being annoyed at the insistence of his brothers, rubbed his temple to keep his face from getting too red from anger. However, he still nodded as he answered honestly. "Well… yeah, it actually kinda is." Troy then looked back up at the triplets before any of them could get a word in. "But! We already have our food planned for the wedding! And beanie weenies are NOT one of them!"

"Awww, come on!" whined Blaze before slumping back on the couch. Before Troy could make his answer any clearer, Blaze pointed at Canvas before adding, "Besides, it won't be like it'd be the first time he had a wiener in his mouth!"

"WHAT?!" screamed out Troy in a fury as he rose from his seat. Unfortunately, despite how loud his outburst was in the shop, it was nothing compared to the monstrous amount of laughter that erupted from the triplets after Blaze's joke. While Blane fell to his back on the stage cracking up, leaving Rarity to stare at Blaze with a dropped jaw, Blade wasn't able to stay on his paws as he rolled on the floor laughing.

"BLAZE, THAT WAS WAY TOO FAR!!!"

Troy turned his head around to see how Canvas looked, hoping that his brother's remark wasn't too insulting. However, to his surprise, he saw the stallion leaning against the side of the loveseat, laughing loudly as well. With tears beading in his eyes, Canvas struggled to breathe before making a response.

"He he he… I'm not gonna lie, that was funny!"

Even though he was still mad about Blaze's joke, the fact that his fiancé wasn't upset about it was enough to make Troy sigh a little in relief. "See?" said Blaze with a smile towards his younger brother. "Even he thought that was a good one!"

Rarity made a light huff as she turned her nose away from Blaze. "Well, I never!"

"Awww, don’t be so uptight!" said Blade as he got himself off the floor and stared at the unicorn. "Like you never heard a dirty joke before!"

"Hmph!" Keeping her posh attitude, Rarity used her magic to pull Blane up with her magic, startling him as she got him back upright to finish her measurements. "I'll have you know that I prefer more sophisticated humor, thank you very much! I am a lady, after all."

"Uh-huh." Blade grew a sly smirk as he eyed the mare. "I heard that line before!"

"What was that?!" snapped Rarity as she turned around to stare daggers at him. Blade flinched a little, seeing a fury in her eyes he'd only seen from that Diamond Dog he dated. Blane's legs fidgeted a bit as he tried to catch her attention.

"Uhhh, Rare?" asked Blane with a small hint of unease in his voice. "I kinda gotta pee."

"What?!" Rarity's head snapped back at Blane with a scowl. "You said you didn’t need to go!"

"Well, now I do! I think you squeezed my bladder or something!"

"Ugh!" Rarity threw her tape down as she hopped off the stage, keeping her empty champagne glass in her grasp. "Fine!" answered the mare in a less-than-patient tone as she went to the kitchen for a refill. "Upstairs, first door on the right!"

"Thank you!" Blane quickly hopped off the stage, making the ground shake a little as he landed hard and lumbered up the stairs like a giant in a dollhouse.

After being able to breath normally again, Canvas's eyes widened when he looked up at the wall. "Troy!" Canvas quickly poked at his mate's side with a hoof, using his other hoof to point to the clock. "Troy, look at the time."

Troy's eyes peered up at the clock on the wall, making him sigh when he saw the time. "Seriously, already?" Troy groaned before making a quick stretch, "Okay , I gotta get to work, guys."

Troy bent his head in to give a quick kiss to Canvas (which caused the triplets to give off a sarcastic “Awww!” for Troy to hear), which was followed by the stallion pulling Troy's work vest out of his art bag. "Don't work too hard, okay?"

"No problem," replied Troy with a smile, nuzzling Canvas lightly before making his way to the door

"Hey!" shouted Blaze, who was still on the couch. "How about the wedding food?!"

"Blaze!" yelled Troy more angrily as he reached the door. Not wanting to deal with this, Troy didn’t even look back at him as he shouted while opening the door. "I don't care how much you want it, we're not giving you beanie weenies!"

Unfortunately as soon as opened the door halfway though his statement, he was greeted by a very confused Fluttershy who was standing at the doorway. "I, uhhh…" The yellow Pegasus's eyes looked away from Troy as she tried to speak. "I wasn't… going to ask for that…"

Troy's eyes widened in shock, his feathers ruffling out a little from embarrassment. "Oh! Uhh, Fluttershy!" Troy tried to crack a nervous smile and make a light chuckle, hoping to explain what he just said. "Uhhhh… I wasn't, ummm…"

"Fluttershy?!" Blade sprung to the front door with a smile upon hearing her name. And as soon as he saw her, the Gryphon's face beamed up while standing beside his brother. "Hey!"

Upon seeing Blade, Fluttershy's face lit up like a tree on Hearth's Warming Eve. "H-hi, Blade!"

"Oh, goodness!" cried out Rarity from the kitchen, who hurriedly rushed back to the living room to make sure Blade kept his claws to himself. "Fluttershy, dearie, I didn't expect you to come by so early today."

"Oh!" Fluttershy's demeanor suddenly grew more timid as she looked away bashfully. "I'm sorry. I just… I didn't know you had company…"

The yellow mare's eyes slowly peered back at Blade, her cheeks growing an obvious shade of pink. Seeing how Fluttershy and Blade were staring at each other, Troy cringed a bit as he stepped past them. "Oh man," muttered the silver Gryphon as he put his work vest on, "I hope Dash doesn’t see them like this…"

By the time Troy flew off, leaving Fluttershy and Blade standing alone by the door, Rarity was quick to intervene as she levitated the copy of Changeling Slaughterhouse in her aura. "Here's your album back darling," said Rarity as she desperately tried to stand between the two. "Although, if I'm to be completely honest, I don't think it's necessarily my sort of thing."

The unicorn shuddered a little at saying that, knowing that she was greatly understating how much she detested that noise her friend insisted on calling "music". Fortunately, Fluttershy didn't look offended as she took her album from Rarity's blue magic. "Well, that's okay," replied the Pegasus in an understanding tone. "I know it isn’t for everypony."

"That's right," added Blade as he tried to stand in a more refined posture while speaking towards the unicorn. "I think it's easy to say that my work is more of a… sophisticated taste to get used to."

"Uh-huh," blurted Rarity in a less-than enthusiastic tone of voice. Her gaze then turned to Fluttershy as she asked, "Fluttershy, which song from that album did you say was your favorite again?"

Fluttershy grew a more natural smile before answering, "Oh, that would be 'Face-Eater Orchestra'!"

Rarity rolled her eyes toward Blade, hoping that her friend's answer was enough to extinguish his claim about his music being "sophisticated". Of course, with the way the Gryphon still kept his cocky grin, it was evident that Blade thought otherwise. "What?" asked Blade as he noticed Rarity's expression. "It has an orchestra in it! It's all kinds of classy!"

"Uhhh… Rarity?"

Blane's voice caught Rarity's attention, and she looked behind her to see the huge Gryphon at the top of the steps. He had a confused look on his face as he pointed back down the hallway he came from. "You mind if I ask you something?"

Canvas, overhearing Blane's tone of voice, looked over from his loveseat with a worried expression. "Oh no! Don't tell me you clogged her toilet too!"

Rarity's eyes went wide in a panic. "WHAT?!"

"NO! No, no!" Blane quickly put up his claws to keep the unicorn from storming up the stairs. "I didn’t do THAT! I was just wanting to ask something, okay?"

Rarity paused for a couple seconds, managing to make a quick sigh at his insistence that her bathroom wasn't ruined. "Alright. Wha…What is it?"

"Ummm…" Blane looked back down the hallway, keeping his perplexed look before asking, "Why do you have a mating symbol in your room?"

Rarity's head shot back a little in shock, not expecting the Gryphon to ask a question like that. "What?!"

"Yeah, that painting you have in your room?" Blane pointed toward the direction of Rarity's bedroom before looking back at her. "You know, the one by your bed?"

"I…" Before she could process what the buck Blane was talking about, Rarity's brow furrowed as she glared up at him. "And just what were you doing in my bedroom?!"

"I saw your cat, and I wanted to pet it."

Rarity's jaw went a little agape, not being able to imagine how terrified her cat Opal must've been to see someone like Blane trying to touch her. Meanwhile, Blane continued as he went back to topic, "But yeah, that painting on the wall is a Zebrican mating symbol."

Rarity's face froze in stunned terror, hoping more than anything that the Gryphon was misinformed. While Blaze and Blade ran up the stairs, wanting to see for themselves, Canvas looked over at Rarity before asking, "Wait a minute, you mean that one that I painted when I first came to Ponyville?"

"Th-Tha-THAT'S NOT WHAT IT IS!" Stammered out the unicorn loudly. Her head turned between Canvas and Fluttershy before adding, "That's just a floral pattern! It doesn't mean tha--"

"WHOA!" shouted Blaze from upstairs. "He's not kidding!"

Blade, keeping a wide-eyed look on his face, came back to the top of the stairs as he spoke down to Rarity. "Rare, how could you not know that? That symbol's used in, like, every brothel in Zebrica! It's supposed to mean that you're super horny!"

Rarity gasped in horror, but quickly changed her look to an angered scowl up to him. "THAT IS NOT TRUE!"

"Yeah it is!" shouted all three Gryphons from upstairs at the same time.

When Rarity turned around, she saw Fluttershy looking back at her with a wide-eyed stare. Her cheeks were now more flushed than before. "Oh… oh my."

"They're lying!" snarled the unicorn as she kept one hoof pointed up the stairs. "That is not what I have painted in my bedroom!"

"Um, are you sure?" asked Canvas as he got off his seat and walked towards her. "Didn't you say that you found that pattern off a book when I first painted it?"

"Yes, I--" As soon as she said that, Rarity gasped as she froze in place. Thinking it over, Rarity did find that floral-looking piece in a book. More specifically, it was in one of Zecora's books, which she noticed while visiting her hut one day. Slowly, the white mare's eyes widened in growing dread, desperately hoping that she didn't accidentally use a symbol like THAT as a decoration piece. "I… I…"

Seeing how worried Rarity was looking, Canvas's head turned over to the stairway while the three giggling Gryphons came back down. "Guys," asked the stallion in an uneasy tone, "is that seriously what I painted up there?"

"YEAH!" said all three in unison. Struggling not to laugh, Blaze kept a smirk on his beak and added, "if you want, I think I have some pics for proof--"

"THAT IS NOT WHAT I HAVE IN MY BEDROOM!"

In a blight of fury, Rarity lit her horn to grab everyone inside of her home. She then levitated Canvas and the triplets out of the boutique, plopping them into her yard before storming out of her front door. "I'll prove it!" shouted the unicorn as she locked her door shut, walking past a surprised Fluttershy who was still on the front porch. "I am going to find Zecora, show her that painting on my wall, and prove that it doesn't mean… THAT!"

With that, the white mare kept fuming as she stomped away with an obvious pout, leaving everyone else in a silent state of confusion. "Ummm… huh," blurted out Canvas first, "I guess our appointment is over."

Blaze was the next one to break the silence. "Well, that seemed like a bit of an overreaction!"

"I know!" added Blane in agreement. "All I did was point out a little detail! She should be glad that I helped her!"

Looking around, Canvas sighed before turning his attention to Blaze and Blane. "You know what, I'm thinking of heading back to my studio."

"Why?" asked Blaze with a skewed brow.

"Well, to be honest, I was wanting to check on Lyle. I never really got a chance to talk with him about the painting, and I just want to make sure that he's okay. Plus…" Looking past blaze and Blane, Canvas blinked a couple times as he realized something felt off. "Ummm, guys? Where's Blade?"

The other two Gryphons turned around, now noticing that Blade was indeed gone. Even though it was surprising that a Gryphon as noticeable as Blade could disappear that easily, it didn’t take long for them to realize what may have occurred. Especially since Fluttershy was missing too.

"Oh boy…" Blane grew a sly smirk on his beak and turned to his brother, who had an equally large grin of his own. "I think ol' Bladey-Boy is at it again!"

"Buck yeah, he is!" Blaze put up his claw, prompting his brother to give it an enthusiastic slap. Meanwhile, Canvas rolled his eyes as he let them be, honestly not wanting to get involved in anything bad that might happen because of this.

Over the town of Ponyville, none of the ponies bustling along the streets seemed to notice Rainbow Dash shooting across the skies faster than usual. Even though her midday hours were usually spent getting lunch or taking a power-nap, the cyan Pegasus had her focus on something else. After getting word from a couple of her coworkers, as well as Troy after grilling him a little, Dash found out that Fluttershy was spotted walking along town with that Blade guy.

So, instead of getting her daily nap, the mare decided to search for Fluttershy before anything bad could happen. Rainbow Dash may have trusted her friend, and knew better than to intrude on Fluttershy's personal life like this, but she certainly wasn't going to stand by if that creepo Gryphon tried to do anything to her. Because of that, her eyes were peering down along the streets like a hawk, soaring silently as she put her focus on anything that might give hint to where they were. Unfortunately, aside from seeing Rarity trying to drag Zecora somewhere, Dash wasn't able to notice anything out of the ordinary in her first sweep.

Just as she was about to turn around and make another scan of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash saw the other two, Blaze and Blane, perched at a table outside a coffee shop. When the mare landed to confront them, neither of the two seemed to notice her, mostly because the two were busy arguing about something.

"Oh, come on!" griped Blane as he held a large pot of coffee in his claw. "How can that NOT be a kickass idea?!"

"Are you serious?!" Blaze kept a skeptical stare on his brother as he held a pot of his own. "In what universe would a waterbed that doubles as a urinal be a good idea?!"

"Why not?! Think about it: you wouldn't have to get out of bed to take a leak, it lowers plumbing costs, it helps warm the bed up at night--"

"I'm not going to sleep in my own pee, dude!"

"It's not sleeping in pee! It's sleeping on a bag of pee! It's totally different!"

Not wanting to hear any more of this, Rainbow Dash waved her hoof in front of them to catch their attention. When they paused their discussion and turned to her, Dash kept a stern expression before asking, "Where is he?"

Blaze and Blane looked back at each other for a second. "Uhhh…" The two turned back to Rainbow before Blaze asked "Where's who?"

"Who do you think?!" asked Dash in an annoyed tone. "Where did your brother Blade go with my friend?!"

"Aaahhhh…" After raising their brows in understanding, the two quickly put their claws up in denial. "We have no idea," answered Blane honestly.

"Ugh!" Rainbow put a hoof to her face, not wanting to think of where those two may have been at the moment. Even though she doubted that Fluttershy would do anything too risqué, it was Blade that the cyan mare was worried about; if half the stories that Troy told her about that guy were true, then that metal singer was nothing but a load of trouble for her friend.

"There you blokes are!"

Rainbow and the two Gryphons looked up to see Blade soaring down from the skies, who looked especially happy when he landed near their table. "You guys won't believe what happened with that Fluttershy gal!"

"What happened?" asked Blaze and Blane at the same time.

"Yeah, Blade," added Rainbow Dash in a much harsher tone of voice. "What DID happen?"

"I, uhhh…" Even though he meant to only be talking with his brothers about it, the inclusion of Dash was enough to make the Gryphon pause momentarily. Looking at her for a moment, Blade made a light shrug of his shoulders before completing his statement nonchalantly. "I just, ummm… got invited for tea at her place tomorrow."

Blaze and Blane both made an involuntary "Ooooohhhh" noise as small grins crept up on their beaks. Despite trying not to show it, Rainbow Dash saw what they did immediately, making her narrow her eyes on them in suspicion. "What?"

The two looked away from her with faux-innocent looks on their faces. "Nothing."

Even though she could tell that it definitely wasn't nothing, her gaze returned to Blade, who still had a goofy grin on his beak.

"Just so you know," began Dash in a brooding tone as she walked up to Blade, poking his feathered chest with a hoof. "When Fluttershy says she wants to have tea with someone, she actually means having tea. It's doesn't mean anything else. Got it?"

Rainbow stood on her hind legs so she was eye-to-eye with Blade, peering at him like he was one wrong statement away from having his beak broken. Despite seeing how serious the mare was acting, Blade kept his smirk as he put up his claw in assurance. "Don't worry, alright? I know what tea means, and I'm not going to overstep any boundaries. I swear."

Rainbow Dash bent in a little closer, eyeing the Gryphon like she was trying to look inside his brain to see what he was really thinking. However, after another moment of intense staring, she finally backed off, keeping her eyes on him as she began to fly away.

Rainbow pointed her hoof at Blade as she began to flap her wings and lift herself off the ground. "I'm warning you."

With that, the mare turned away, leaving the three Gryphons at their table. As soon as she was out of sight, Blaze and Blane regrew their smirks towards Blade. "Awwww yeah!"

The two put their claws up, expecting Blade to smack them in victory; however, the skinny Gryphon just grew a perplexed brow at them. “What?”

“Don’t give me that!” said Blane with a cheeky grin, “The two of us KNEW that you’d be going to her place for ‘tea’!” He was sure to make quotation marks with his talons when he said the word “tea”, making sure that his brother got the hint.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Blade put his claws up to stop his brothers from making any assumptions. “It’s not like that at ALL, guys! I’m just going to her place for tea! That’s it!”

“Uh-huh,” replied Blaze with a skeptical smirk. “First it’s the ‘T’, and then it’s the ‘D’, right?”

Blane grinned at his brother’s remark before putting his claw out to him. “Yeah, dude!”

While the two high-taloned each-other, Blade rolled his eyes as he took his seat beside him. “Aww, come on! I’m really not going to do anything like that! Flutters is special!”

“Oh, yeah right!” Blaze turned his gaze toward Blade, not believing a single word if what he just said. “I seriously doubt that YOU of all Gryphons would try to take things slow!”

“Yeah!” added Blane in agreement. “I heard they named a few brothels in Zebrica after you after all the stuff you did there!”

Blade scoffed as he tried to defend himself. “I’m seriously not-- Well, I am pretty proud of that, I won’t lie… But still, I’m not gonna be like that with Fluttershy! She’s the first girl I met in a long time who really appreciates my music! I mean, she has every single one of my albums! Even Mum can’t tell what half of them are called!”

“Ugh!” Blane rubbed his temple with his talons in irritation. “Just say ‘Mom’, you weirdo! You’re not from Trottingham!”

In the skies above the coffee shop, none of the Gryphons seemed to notice a small section of the overcast skies opening just a tiny bit.

“Come on…” Blaze bent in towards Blade as he grew a sly smirk on his beak. “You’re telling me that if you go there tomorrow, and she tried to put the moves on you, that you WOULDN’T try to have a little fun-time?”

Blade sighed, averting his eyes from his brothers, muttering under his breath, “I can’t bloody believe you guys right now.”

“Dude, seriously!” Blane leaned back in his seat, making it dangerously close to breaking under his massive weight. “Are you telling us that you DON’T wanna tap that?!”

Blade groaned in irritation, knowing that his brothers weren’t going to quit unless he just said what they wanted to hear. So, after a low sigh, Blade shrugged his shoulders before spekaing in a semi-truthful tone, “Well… I can’t say that I would be completely against that…”

"YEAH!!!"

While the two Gryphons cheered and cackled like idiots at their table below, Blade just rolled his eyes while staying in his seat, glad to at least get them off his case. Meanwhile, none of them seemed to notice the skies above them, or the very enraged Rainbow Dash sitting above the cloud line. Even though she didn’t hear the beginning of what Blade said, she certainly heard that last statement.

Her teeth grinded together as she saw red in her eyes, and it took every fiber of being to not shoot down and give those Gryphons a major beat-down. "Those… dirty… sons of…"

Luckily, the mare stopped herself, clenching her eyes shut as she took several deep breaths. Desperate to keep herself from doing anything illegal, Dash tried to think to herself to weigh her options.

Okay, this is simple: I just gotta tell Fluttershy what I heard. Easy as that. Wait… No, that might not work. She's obsessed with that guy! She'd probably try to act like I was exaggerating or something. Heck, she might try to say something like "Oh, he's a gentle soul once you get to know him." Urgh! Why can't she see that guy is a total creep?! I swear, that Blade is almost as bad as…

Rainbow Dash's eyes shot wide open. As soon as a certain thought sprung into her mind, a small smile began to creep on her lips. Remembering a fun little fact in regard to her friend Fluttershy, Rainbow no longer seemed to mind what Blade was planning to do the next day. In fact, as soon as she got off her cloud, the gears in her head started to turn as she flew away, knowing exactly what she planned to do.

All that she needed was to do, was find a friend of a friend.

Canvas slowly reopened the door to his studio, letting a faint line of light emerge inside amongst the surprisingly dark space. Even though his studio wasn't usually this dark around this time, the overcast skies definitely amplified how little light was inside.

Looking around, Canvas was surprised to see that the couch was now empty; after seeing how tired Lyle looked this morning, the stallion was sure that he would be passed out until nightfall. Of course, Canvas's feeling of surprise didn’t last long, and was only replaced by a painful sigh. He knew that Lyle felt guilty about what happened to the painting, but he really didn’t want the Gryphon to keep avoiding him because of it.

Before he could go back outside, and try to check the cloud structure above the barn, the sound of a light snore brought his head back inside the studio. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Canvas realized why he didn't see Lyle earlier; instead of lying on the couch, the black and white Gryphon somehow rolled off of it, and was now passed out on the floor.

Glad that the little guy was at least getting some rest, Canvas felt a small smile reappear on his muzzle. "Poor guy."

The stallion picked up the blanket and pillow that were still on the couch, not wanting Lyle to be without them as he slept. While he knew he probably couldn't be able to pick the Gryphon up (or least, he didn’t want to throw out his back to find out), Canvas knew he could at least make sure Lyle was comfortable if he was going to be on the floor. After throwing the blanket over Lyle, and lifting the Gryphon's head to put the pillow underneath, Canvas smiled in satisfaction before heading back towards the living space.

"Nnnnnn… Hmm?"

Hearing Lyle's groggy voice, Canvas turned around to see the Gryphon shuffle a little bit on the ground. Even though he was sure Lyle was going to be knocked out for most of the day, Canvas still felt bad that he may have inadvertently woken him up.

"Wha… what the…"

Realizing he wasn't on the couch, Lyle picked himself up to look around for a second, scanning his surroundings as he tried to get his brain to function.

Canvas quickly walked back up to him. "It's okay, Lyle," said Canvas softly as he tried to lead him to the couch to get some sleep. "You just fell on the floor. The couch is right there, okay?"

"Uhhhh…" The Gryphon's eyes darted around lazily, his brain barely able to process where he even was. Fortunately, Lyle was just conscious enough to lumber toward the couch, with Canvas trying to get him rested comfortably.

"Just get some rest, alright?" Canvas made sure the pillow and blanket were in place after Lyle was back on the couch, and tucked him in so he wouldn't fall out again. "You really need to get some sleep."

"Uh… uh-huh…" As soon as Lyle closed his eyes, Canvas was sure that the guy was out like a light. After sighing with a smile, Canvas was just about to turn around when he heard Lyle say something.

"He… hey, Canvas?"

Canvas turned back to Lyle, surprised that he was able to say anything coherent at the moment. "Y-yeah?"

"I'm… I'm just…" Lyle's face strained a little, like he was struggling to keep himself awake long enough to even speak. He writhed on the couch a little before he finished his statement. "I'm… I'm really sorry… about the painting…"

"Oh, Lyle…" Canvas hated to see Lyle still act so hung up about what happened, especially after everything the Gryphon did to try and fix it. So, the stallion sat on the ground beside the couch, keeping himself close to Lyle as he spoke truthfully. "I'm seriously not mad about the painting being wrecked, I swear."

"But!" Still trying to keep himself awake, Lyle lifted his head up from the couch, and tried to pry his eyes open as he continued. "You saw what happened to it, and you just… walked away from us…"

Canvas couldn't help cringing a bit after hearing that. While he felt that walking away was a better option than just yelling or hitting something, he could see why it would upset Lyle. The stallion looked down to the floor and sighed before trying to make a response. "Well, I… Yeah, okay. I was mad, I'm not gonna lie."

After a brief exhale, Canvas looked back up at Lyle and added, "But it wasn't like it happened on purpose! They explained how it happened, and I don't blame you for what happened at all." Thinking it over, Canvas shrugged his shoulders a little. "Actually, the fact that I didn’t recover the painting could also be a factor, if you think about it."

Lyle's head turned away from Canvas, obviously not buying that last statement. Catching that, Canvas made a light huff and tried to go a different route. "Dude, I know you feel bad, and I totally get it. If I was the one who did that, I'd feel guilty, too. But you could've at least tried to talk with me or something."

Lyle looked back at Canvas "You stormed off before I could!"

Canvas froze for a second, trying not to wince again. "Y… yeah," admitted the stallion guiltfully as he looked away for a moment, "I did… I needed to cool off, but… I guess I didn't react so great either."

Lyle, whose eyes were now more open than before, thought about Canvas's answer before making a small shrug. "Well… I guess it's better than just screaming at us."

"Exactly," said Canvas as he looked back at him. "Like, I knew it wasn't on purpose, so yelling wouldn't have done any good. I just… I didn't want to do anything I'd regret…"

Canvas blinked a couple times, knowing exactly why that statement rang so true for him. As events from several weeks ago began to resurface, the artist's eyes averted from Lyle, and his demeanor became more morose. "Getting mad and screaming your head off barely helps much in the long run. I… I learned that a while ago."

One of Lyle's brows skewed a little, unsure what Canvas was referring to. But before he could ask, Canvas quickly shook his head clear before returning his attention to Lyle. "But… Talking really can help, and I wanted to try to talk with you last night. But, since you were out in Cloudsdale, I couldn’t really get the chance. You see what I mean?"

Slowly, Lyle looked down as he made a small nod. To be honest, he remembered that Troy told him that Canvas was fine when he came by to see the damage; however, he only took that with a grain of salt since Canvas wasn't there. But still, despite his worries that the stallion would've still been pissed at him, Lyle knew that just hunkering away may have not been the best way to handle it, even if he did put that time to great use.

"Y-yeah," muttered Lyle honestly. "I… guess I was just expecting you to still be mad, so I… wanted to make it up to you."

Canvas smiled softly, knowing he couldn't be upset with him like this. "Well, you didn't have to go that far just to make things right, okay? I already forgave you before all that. And you know why?" When Lyle looked back at up at him, Canvas put his hoof on the Gryphon's shoulder before finishing his statement:

"Because that's what family does."

Lyle's brows rose in surprise, not expecting Canvas to make a response like that. However, when he saw the look of sincerity on the stallion's face, he could tell that he wasn't just saying that to make him feel better. Canvas really meant that. Just like Lyle meant it back before Canvas's birthday party.

Seeing how the tired smile on Lyle's face grew at hearing that, Canvas bent in to hug the Gryphon, who strongly returned the gesture. Before he could let go, Canvas was quick to add in an equally truthful manner, "But I really do appreciate what you did, Lyle. That drawing was awesome, and you saved me big time. Thank you."

Happy to hear that, Lyle gave him one last squeeze before letting go. "Thanks, dude," said the Gryphon in a more contented tone than before.

When Lyle got back to trying to resettle on the couch, Canvas grew a small smirk on his muzzle as he stood back up. "You still think you just make 'doodles', Lyle?"

Lyle scoffed a bit, but kept his smile as he laid back in his pillow. "Nah. Screw those teachers."

"He he he, that's the spirit!"

Knock Knock Knock

Canvas and Lyle both turned to the door in surprise, not expecting anyone to come by knocking. Even though he couldn't recall having any appointments today, Canvas got back on his hooves to see who it was. When he opened the door, Rarity was standing with a slumped stature, looking down at the ground like something has completely thrown off her confidence. Of course, given what he heard from Troy's older brothers, Canvas was pretty sure what it might have been.

"Canvas?" asked the unicorn in a very weak and meager tone of voice. "Can you please repaint that wall in my bedroom?"

Blade hummed a little tune to himself as he soared low along the grassy fields outside of Ponyville. Keeping a smile on his beak, the Gryphon had to admit that Equestria definitely had its perks; even though the lack of meat was definitely a buzzkill like no other, he certainly couldn't argue how gorgeous this land looked as he flew through the brisk overcast skies. The weather might've already been getting a bit cold, but Blade didn't mind the chilly wind hitting his brown feathers one bit.

Especially when an awesome Pegasus was waiting for him to have some tea.

Seeing Fluttershy's cottage in the distance, Blade picked up the pace as his beak grew an anxious smile. Troy tried to talk with him the night before, practically pleading him not to do anything to piss off his boss; of course, Blade was quick to assure him that nothing bad was going to occur. Despite what he said to his older brothers, he knew that he could at least be truthful to Troy without any ridicule.

So, after a careful landing onto the surprisingly soft grass outside Fluttershy's home, Blade made a quick stretch to ruffle himself out a little. And with a quick swipe of his claws, rubbing his feathers down to a slick-looking shine that really suited him, the Gryphon casually walked up to the door and knocked.

Knock Knock Kno--

Blade wasn't even able to finish his third knock before the door quickly opened, revealing an extremely happy-looking Fluttershy at the doorway. Seeing the mare's wide smile, going swimmingly well with her blushed cheeks, Blade almost broke his composure as he tried to stand in an aloof manner, leaning against the doorframe with a confident smirk. "Why hello there."

"H-h-hi, Blade," replied Fluttershy in a giddy tone of voice. Nearly giggling in glee, the mare stepped back and extended out a hoof to let him in. "Come on in, please."

"Why, thank you." Blade then strolled inside of the cottage, letting a welcome feeling of heat from the roaring fireplace hit his feathers and fur. As soon as he stepped inside, the Gryphon looked around with an impressed smile, surprised at how much larger the place really looked from the inside. Of course, before he could stroll over to the comfortable-looking couch, he noticed Fluttershy making her way to the kitchen with an excited look on her face.

"I already have some snacks and drinks set up in the dining room. Just let me check on a few things first."

"Oh, it's fine, m'lady," responded Blade as his eyes leered over at Fluttershy leaving the room. Before she could get out of sight, the Gryphon leaned his head to the side a little, getting a glimpse of her backside just a little longer before she disappeared in the kitchen. "Take all the time you need."

Before the grin on his beak could grow too wide, Blade felt something small hit him at the side of his head. "What the!" Rubbing his head, Blade looked down to see a small bean on the floor, which looked to be what was thrown at him.

And as soon as he saw the angry-looking rabbit sitting on top of a nearby table, Blade narrowed his eyes on him, realizing who it was that threw it.

"Hmmm…" Blade stood back upright as he stared at the bunny. "You must be Angel."

The white rabbit nodded, not changing the stern glare he was giving to Blade. Without saying a word, Angel lifted one of his paws, pointing it at his own eyes before directing it towards him.

Blade scoffed a little with a smirk, finding it slightly cute that this little bugger was trying to be "threatening". Keeping his grin, Blade decided to make a silent response; while Fluttershy was still in the kitchen, Blade pointed a talon at Angel, making sure the bunny saw as he then pointed to his own stomach, and rubbed at it while making a low "Mmmm-Mmmm" noise.

Angel's face grew slightly more uneasy, making him hop off the table and head towards the kitchen. However, before Blade could feel like he won, he saw the bunny stop dead in its tracks a couple feet from the kitchen. Seeing something inside of the room, the rabbit's eyes grew wide before he hightailed in the other direction, shooting up the stairs as fast as he could.

What the? Blade cocked his head in confusion as he saw how quickly Angel got away from the kitchen. What was his problem?

"Now remember…"

Blade overheard Fluttershy's voice coming out faintly from the other room. Not sure what it was about, one of the Gryphon's ears perked up a little as he tried to listen in.

"You have to be promise to be good today, alright?"

Wait a minute, thought Blade to himself, is she talking to herself? That seems a bit off.

"Okay, then."

After hearing a brief sigh after that faint statement, Blade saw Fluttershy reappear at the doorway, her anxious smile reappearing on her face as she faced him. "Okay, I have everything set!"

"Great!" said Blade happily as he began to walk towards the dining room. However, Fluttershy put a hoof up to stop him momentarily.

"Just one thing," added the mare, now talking in a slightly more cautious-sounding tone of voice. After taking a quick glance back into the other room, Fluttershy turned her head back to face Blade. "I know this is kind of short notice, but one of my friends wanted to join us for tea today. Would that be alright?"

Blade's brow rose a little, already getting a good idea of who it might be that would try to interrupt them like this. Of course, Blade didn’t really mind; if Rainbow Dash was that paranoid, then putting up with her during lunch wouldn’t be too bad. Besides, he’d like to know how someone so different than Fluttershy became friends with her.

"Oh, that's just fine," answered Blade in a confident tone. "I don't have any problem with that."

Fluttershy's smile reemerged to the same overjoyed state as before. "Great!" exclaimed the mare happily. She then went back to the other room as she continued speaking. "I'm really glad to hear that! I didn't plan to have that many guests, but he was just so insistent to actually meet you today!"

"Well, that's understa--" Blade's words froze as he caught what Fluttershy actually said. Narrowing his eyes in confusion, the Gryphon processed what he heard before repeating it to himself. "Wait a minute… he was just so insistent?"

"Well, come on in!" chirped Fluttershy gleefully from the dining room. “The cookies are ready!"

Hearing the word "cookies", Blade immediately disregarded his earlier worries as he strolled in, keeping his anxious smile for exactly three seconds after entering the dining room.

"Alright! I hope there's some oatmeal raisin cookieeeeeEEEEEEAAAAHHHH!!!"

Blade's entire body froze, including his heart, as he stood in a motionless state of horror. His eyes were shot wide open, staring straight at the ghastly yellow orbs peering straight back at him. Seeing who else Fluttershy invited for this get-together, Blade immediately understood why Angel rushed out so quickly; if the Gryphon knew who he was going to be dealing with, he would've done the exact same thing.

Looking at the terrified Gryphon, his grin only grew wider in anticipation, revealing more of his one jagged fang that hung from the right end of his gaping maw. Knowing that he was going to have a lot of fun with this fellow, he almost felt tempted to knead at his goatee a bit with the paw on his right arm; however, with Fluttershy standing next to him, he knew that he couldn't be too obvious. After all, he promised to be “good” today.

Seeming oblivious to how horrified Blade was looking, Fluttershy kept her smile as she stood beside the being, and pointed a hoof out to introduce him to their guest. "Blade, I'd like for you to meet my friend, Discord."

Fluttershy then turned to the Draconequus sitting beside her. "Discord, this is Blade."

Discord's leering stare on Blade only grew stronger with intensity, almost as if he was staring straight into the terrified Gryphon's soul. And with a lick of his reptilian tongue, wetting his lips as his smile grew wider, his red pupils pointed straight at Blade when he finally spoke.

"Why hello, Blade."

Chapter Forty-Three (Ending): The Train Back Home

Due to how much snow was coming down from the greyed skies, it was almost impossible to believe that winter just started a few days prior. Of course, given the fact that winter clouds are fairly low-maintenance after they had started, Troy had absolutely no complaints as he walked through the snow-capped streets of Ponyville with a carefree smile. After all, since the winter season officially began, it gave the silver Gryphon a lot of free time to spend with his family before they had to leave.

Even though tensions with both his parents were still apparent, Troy was just happy that things were actually improving since they first arrived to Equestria. After modifying the cloud structure above their barn to accommodate Jonas and Angela as well -- since Jonas’s actions got them evicted from the hotel after that night -- both Troy and Canvas were pleasantly surprised at how little conflict there actually was at the house. Even though there were a few stray arguments here and there (especially when Jonas saw how Canvas painted the house Troy was living in), a lot more time was spent with Troy just enjoying the company of his family. In fact, by the time they were all ready to leave, Troy felt more saddened than he expected while walking with them to the train station.

Fortunately, even though the cold weather covered everything in a few inches of snow, magic-infused heaters were stationed around the train station, which gave the Gryphons’ paws some much needed warmth when they stepped into the crowded station. A lot of ponies were either waiting for their rides or savoring the warmth inside of the station, but there was still enough space for the entire Clawston family to wait comfortably while chatting with Troy and Canvas.

“Urgh... “ Blade struggled a bit with his large duffel bag, which looked like it was about to burst open. “I can’t believe Fluttershy made me so much food for the trip!”

“Hey, can you blame her?” asked Blane with a smirk on his beak. “She obviously has the hots for you!”

The skinny Gryphon rolled his eyes and tossed his head to get the braid out of his eyes. “No she’s not! We’re just friends!”

Blaze had an equally skeptical stare to Blane’s when he looked over at the musician. “Uh-huh. Sure…”

“Aw, shuddup!” said Blade with a glare towards the two. “You’re just jealous because I’m the only one that got a gift before leaving!”

“No you’re not,” said Canvas with a raised brow. He pointed a hoof over to Angela. “I saw Twilight give Angela a book this morning.”

“Oh yeah…” Angela looked over to her purse as she recalled what the Princess gave her, and pulled out the light blue-covered book which was titled Understanding The Full Spectrum: Gender, Orientation, and Identity. She made a small huffed breath before stating, “Honestly, I never would’ve thought of reading something like this, but I guess this’ll be good to go over before the wedding.”

“Oh, of course,” said Troy with a smile when he recognized what book that was. “I think Twi recommended that to me when Canvas and I got together.”

Angela seemed a little surprised by that fact, but merely shrugged it off before turning her attention to the stallion beside him. “So, Canvas,” asked Angela while standing next to her obviously tired husband, “have the two of you decided on a wedding date?”

“Well, not yet,” answered the cheerful stallion with a shake of his head as he looked up to his fiancè, “but we have talked about having it in the Spring.”

“Yeah,” added Troy before looking back to his parents. “But don’t worry, we’ll be sure to let you guys know as soon as we have a date set.”

“You better,” piped Blade from Troy’s side as he gave him a warning nudge. “I don’t want to get my tour schedule screwed up because you two waited ‘till the last minute.”

Blaze chimed in while putting a foreleg over Blade’s shoulders. “Damn straight. And I don’t wanna mess up my probation because I couldn’t give my team two weeks notice or anything.”

Jonas rolled his eyes as he tried to speak and get himself out of his groggy tone. “Oh, come on! You don’t have probation, Blaze! That letter said that you were put off the hook, remember? If anything, they should be kissing your ass after that other guy ratted himself off on those drug charges!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Even though he didn’t want to piss off his Dad right before being crammed on a train with him, Blaze couldn’t help narrowing his eyes on him with a smirk. “It’s almost like being honest wasn’t enough to convince them I didn’t do it, right?”

Jonas groaned and shook his head in annoyance. “Yes, you’ve rubbed that in my face quite enough!” Before his son could say anything else, he pointed a talon at him disapprovingly, “But carrying nip on yourself for a friend was still stupid!”

“I’m aware of that, but I never lied about what happened.” Making a small huff, Blaze turned his head back to Troy. “You gotta get me that Derpy friend’s address some time. I might mail her a gift something for sending me that letter personally.”

“Will do,” said Troy enthusiastically. After looking around the station briefly, the silver Gryphon sighed when he heard the train engines from far off in the distance. “Oh man… I can’t believe I’m being this sad about you guys leaving now. I barely even thought about it back when I left the Gryphon Kingdom.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it,” said Blane with a smile as he gave Troy’s shoulder a light punch. “Things were kinda awkward back then. But at least we’re all on good terms now, right?”

When Troy looked back at his massive brother, he couldn’t help smiling bigger as he answered, “Yeah. Definitely.”

While Troy went over to give Blane a hug, which was quickly followed by the other two triplets joining in as well, Canvas looked over at Lyle with a smile. “So, Lyle. You have any plans when you go back home?”

Lyle shrugged as he looked outward from the platform, seeing the train just begin to appear over the horizon. “Ehh… I was thinking maybe doing one of those portfolio things. You know, like the one that you have.”

“Really?” asked Canvas in pleasant surprise.

“Yeah.” Lyle pulled his head back before turning to the stallion. “There’s actually a comic publisher not too far from my school. I figure that I make a good enough portfolio, I could probably use that and my recommendation letter to get an internship there or something.”

“Oh, wow! That’s a great idea!” Canvas kept his smile as he looked up at Lyle’s parents. “You think maybe that could get him a scholarship?”

Angela opened her beak to say something, but paused when she actually thought Lyle’s plan over for a second. After a few seconds of silence, her brows raised as she looked down to Lyle. “I… I might have to look into that and see if he could.”

Canvas kept his smirk up towards Jonas, who sighed reluctantly in agreement to his wife. “Well… it would be good he could get a scholarship that way. Then I wouldn’t have to pay for an art school out-of-pocket.”

“Dad!” Lyle rolled his eyes at Jonas’s remark. “I never said I wanted to go to an art school!”

Canvas was quick to add towards the young Gryphon, “And there’s nothing wrong with that. You still have plenty of time to think things over.”

When Lyle looked back at the stallion, his beak held that same kind of gracious smile that Canvas recognized from Troy. Even though he was sad that Lyle had to leave, Canvas couldn’t have been happier for how much he managed to help the Gryphon in the short time he was in Equestria. But before Canvas could say much else, the sound of the train whistle blowing made everyone look in wait as the train began its descent.

“Come’on!” Blade went over to Canvas, throwing the pony off guard by picking him up for a hug. “We’re not leavin’ without a hug from ya!”

A brief shriek escaped Canvas as he was squeezed, but quickly turned to an involuntary giggle before hugging him back. Blaze and Blane joined in as well, each getting a hug in as the train made its way into the station. By the time the stallion was back on the ground, steam was already coming from the engine to add even more welcomed heat to the platform as ponies began to line for the doors. Despite how much his mane and fur were ruffled from the triplets’ hugs on him, Canvas still decided to give one more to the last brother. “Lyle, come here…”

Lyle was quick to accept the gesture, and hugged the stallion tightly with his eyes shut. Even with the smile on his beak, it was hard for Lyle’s voice to not start cracking as he said, “I’m… I’m really gonna miss you, dude.”

“It’s okay,” said Canvas in an equally emotional tone of voice. “We’ll see each other in the spring, no doubt.”

“Y-yeah…” After pulling back, Lyle gave the same strong hug to Troy. “S-see ya, bro…”

“See ya, Lyle…” After returning the hug as strongly as he could, Troy pulled back to look Lyle in the eyes with a warm smile. “You better get that best man speech planned out when you get the time.”

Lyle only nodded before responding. “Yeah. Sure thing.”

“Wait,” asked Angela with a surprised look on her face. “HE’S the best man?!”

“Uh-huh,” said Troy in a more chipper tone while Canvas helped Lyle with his luggage. “When I heard how he stood up for me, he seemed like the best choice.”

Angela looked over at her husband, who seemed less than enthusiastic about hearing that detail. But still, Jonas just sighed with a shrug. “Well, I suppose I can understand that.”

“Yeah…” Troy then went over and gave his Mom a tight hug while the triplets made their way onto the train. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too,” said Angela sincerely as she hugged him back. When she let go, she kept her warm smile as she added, “And I couldn’t be happier that you found someone else to love you as well.”

Troy chuckled a little as he looked back at Canvas. “Believe me, I couldn’t be happier either…”

While Canvas smiled back at him, Troy was sure to hug Lyle before he could hop into train as well. When he was finally let go from his brother, Lyle waved with a trembling smile as he stood at the doorway of the train. After the couple returned the gesture, Troy looked back to his Dad. “Well… I guess this is it…”

“Yep…” Despite how much he was able to regain his relationship with his family, Jonas still seemed a bit uncomfortable when it came to saying goodbye to Troy once more. The last time when Troy left the Gryphon Kingdom, all that Jonas gave him was a firm clawshake while telling him to stay out of trouble. But right now, before he could leave back for his home, all that Jonas could think to do was one thing…

Troy was surprised when Jonas bent in and gave his son a strong hug, but didn’t falter when he heard him say, “Goodbye, Troy… I’ll see you in the spring…”

Feeling like he was going to tear up, Troy quickly hugged him back as he clenched his eyes shut. “Y-yeah… see you soon, Dad…”

Even though the hug only lasted a few seconds, the moment felt much longer for both of them by the time they finally came apart. After grabbing his luggage, Jonas headed to the train while muttering under his breath, “I swear. Next time we’re getting an airship flight to Equestria…”

Angela looked over at Canvas before following Jonas onto the train. “You better be good to my son, you hear me?”

Despite the faux-threatening tone that the Gryphoness had, Canvas kept his smile while nodding firmly. “Of course, Missus Clawston. I promise.”

Angela gave Canvas a more chipper smile in response, and then waved to her son while going to the train. “Have a good winter!”

While the last of the passengers got onto the train, Troy stood beside his stallion as they both waved and waited for the train to depart. In less than a minute, the steam from the engines came forth once more, giving another blast of heat to the now emptier space while the Clawstons waved from inside the train.

A few other ponies were standing at the platform and waving by the train by the time it began to leave, but Troy and Canvas were the only ones to not move along the platform while it chugged out of the station. Instead, the two stayed in place while waving, slowly watching the train make their leave off into snow-capped hills leaving Ponyville.

Canvas only put his hoof down when he was no longer able to see the train. However, as soon as he looked up at his fiancè, the pony was surprised when he saw how Troy looked. Putting his claw down as well, Troy’s smile was accompanied by some stray tears coming down his feathered cheeks. “Troy?” asked Canvas worriedly. “Troy, what’s wrong?”

“N-nothing…” Troy quickly turned away from the stallion to wipe his cheeks dry with a claw, and sniffed as he tried to speak. “I’m just… I’m already sad that they left…”

Canvas grew a sympathetic pout to the Gryphon’s statement, and got on his hind legs to give him a hug while other ponies began to leave the station. “Oh, Troy… It’s okay…”

“I know, I know…” Another sniff came after that statement, and Troy looked down to his pony with a smile to show his honesty. “I… I honestly never felt this happy about my family before…”

When Canvas strengthened his hug around the Gryphon, Troy quickly hugged back just as tightly. Savoring his warmth, even in this heated station, Canvas looked up at him while in his embrace to say, “Well, at least you know that you have your family to look forward to when we actually prepare our wedding.”

“Yeah, definitely…” With his forelegs still wrapped around the stallion lovingly, Troy looked down at him with a smile. “You know… I shouldn’t be the only one looking forward to when they come back…”

Canvas’s head tilted a little with a confused look on his face. Seeing that, Troy chuckled before adding in a sweeter tone, “Because after all… by the time the wedding happens, they won’t just be my family, now will they?”

The stallion’s eyes shot open for a split-second, and immediately smiled wide before hugging him again. Troy hugged him back, and nuzzled Canvas’s mane with his beak as he asked, “So… how do you feel about that?”

Canvas giggled a little as he pulled his head up to look the Gryphon in the eyes with the purest love in his gaze. “Well… to be honest, it…

“It makes me feel like a Clawston.”

Troy instantly bent his head in, and kissed the stallion deeply while holding him tightly in his chest. While the Gryphon lifted himself up, pulling the stallion’s hind legs off of the ground, Canvas didn’t care one bit as he kissed him back. And as the two stood within the now empty train station in passionate embrace, the snow outside continued to fall down across most of Equestria, blanketing the land in a blank white slate like the finest canvas.

Of course, as soon as spring was set to arrive, that canvas would be brushed away, just in time for the wedding to begin.

Author's Note

FINALLY! It's complete! I just want to give my deepest thanks to my followers, my proofreaders, and all the patient readers that followed me for the past two years. You guys all made this possible, and you can guarantee that there's more to come soon.