Chapter Eleven: Stitches
Troy sat silently on the hotel bed while the shower ran from behind the closed bathroom door. He wasn't sure how long he held Canvas like that, but by the time the pony stopped sobbing, he told Troy that he needed to wash up and change his bandages. As he heard the faucet stop, followed by the sound of hoofsteps moving around inside the bathroom, Troy looked around the rest of the small room. Along the dark brown walls were several cheap-looking paintings of things in nature, none of which seemed to match the pale-green carpet or the faded blue blankets of the bed.
On top of the chipped, mahogany dresser across from the bed, Canvas' art bag was carefully laid out and emptied, with several safety pins applied to the bottom to keep it held together. Next to it lay two separate piles of Canvas' artwork, one being much taller than the other. It didn't take a doctorate for Troy to figure out that the larger pile consisted of all the pieces that were ripped or damaged. The gryphon wanted to look at the undamaged ones to see what Canvas had done before, but he decided to keep himself on the bed. After everything that happened, the last thing Troy wanted to do was intrude on Canvas’ privacy any more than he already had.
The bathroom door opened behind him, and Troy turned to see Canvas emerge from the cloud of steam within. His long mane was brushed back and held in a ponytail, and his head was hung low. He no longer had a bandage over his right eye. When Canvas raised his head, Troy couldn't help but wince.
Canvas had two long lines of stitches along his face; one went vertically along the right side of his eye, and another went horizontally underneath it. Both incisions were closed with what looked to be a dozen or so stitches, done in a thick, black thread that stood out on Canvas' light, aqua fur. His right eye was closed shut, and his eyelids looked slightly discolored. Troy wasn't sure if it was still healing from before the storm, but after remembering how horrible the eye looked back then, it was nothing short of a miracle to see it as well as it was now.
Troy stared at the pony's face with worry as Canvas exhaled deeply, walking over to the bed to sit beside the gryphon. Canvas kept his face forward, his stitches facing away from Troy's side.
When Canvas turned his head toward the gryphon and looked into his golden eyes, he saw nothing but care and concern within them. For some reason, Canvas started to feel a lot better as he looked at Troy, feeling somewhat safer with him. But, he knew that Troy wanted to know what happened, so Canvas eventually turned back to stare straight ahead, and took a deep breath before explaining.
“I lived in that town all my life. Gallop Creek was... it was a farming town, I guess. Most of the ponies were just focused on their crops―alfalfa and wheat and stuff like that. I… I wasn't like them. I liked painting. I liked drawing. And I didn't care that much for that other stuff."
As Troy listened, he noticed the bitterness stemming in Canvas’ voice.
"And they hated that. They never liked what I was doing, always calling me names and treating me badly. It didn't matter what I did, even if I did try to help with the crops, they still made fun of me. Calling me things like sissy and pansy and… colt cuddler."
Canvas' face scrunched in at that last name, clearly hating the very taste of it. Troy knew that the term was a slur, but he hadn't heard it much since coming to Equestria.
"All the time,” continued the stallion, bristling. "...All the bucking time! They just kept calling me that, even when I was just a colt..."
Canvas' eyes welled up, but he kept talking through his cracking voice.
"But then... then I realized I was. After all the names and the punches and the pushing around, I tried so hard not to admit it to myself, but…”
Canvas looked down at the floor, biting his lip, trying as hard as he could not to start crying again.
“I… I liked stallions. And… I was so scared… scared of what would happen if they knew."
Troy clenched his fists around the sheets of the bed, trembling. “But… Tartarus, this is Equestria. Ponies… Ponies don’t…” His wings twitched restlessly. He knew not why, but the gryphon wanted to go out and hurt something. Somepony. To hell with what any of the ponies would think about a ‘savage’ gryphon going medieval on one of those country bumpkins. If it kept another innocent pony from being left half-dead on the side of the road, he’d do it in a heartbeat.
Canvas continued. "I mean… Gallop Creek was, like, way out of the way, compared to the rest of the towns around there. Most of the ponies were… not as loving as the ones in places like Canterlot or Cloudsdale, or even Appleloosa. Out there, a lot of them still didn't trust Celestia taking in Luna, and thought she was a tyrant!"
Troy could only nod as he realized what Canvas meant. He'd heard that there were ponies like that scattered around Equestria, and he'd certainly heard more than a few crack-pot conspiracy theories surrounding Celestia and Luna, but he didn't think there was a whole town full of them.
"But then…” Troy's attention went back to Canvas. "Then I just tried to focus on my studies. I did a bunch of advanced classes and stuff like that and… and eventually I found out I was at the top of my whole school."
A nostalgic smile wormed its way onto Canvas' muzzle at the memory.
"The town finally began, like… respecting me… Like for the first time, I was normal."
Canvas' smile suddenly dropped, and his eyes welled up once more.
"But... then I had to go and buck it all up."
Troy bristled at that. “From the sound of it, those egg-stompers had it out for you just for existing, Canvas. I doubt you bucked anything up.” He placed a claw on Canvas’ shoulder. “Why did I find you on that road?”
Canvas fidgeted a bit on the bed, then took a deep breath.
"When graduation came up, I found out I was the Valedictorian. And I felt great, like I finally did something that those ponies couldn't criticize me for, you know? And I thought, maybe… maybe I could finally say what I wanted to… without them caring anymore…”
Troy could only utter a quiet "Oh..."
Rubbing one hoof over the other, Canvas said, “I… I came out. I came out during my graduation speech."
Before Troy could say something to overcome the deathly silence, he heard Canvas sniffling. He looked over to see the stallion hunched over the bed and crying. Though he knew doing that had to have been incredibly brave, especially in a town like that, Troy could clearly see how badly it went for Canvas. It was written in every bruise.
A rueful, joyless grin pulled at Canvas’ muzzle, as though he had remembered a dark joke. "No one… No one said a thing. They didn't applaud, they didn't yell, they were just… silent. And then…”
Canvas started to shake.
"After graduation, I was c-cornered, and… and I got… I got…”
The pony's voice clenched up as he tried to say it.
"I got beaten up."
Not able to continue, Canvas' face fell into his forehooves, and he cried, careful not to touch his stitches. "I was beaten, and nopony did anything! They just… They just watched!"
Canvas' sobs became louder as he felt a bitter mix of relief and remorse at finally admitting what happened. As the pony sat on the edge of the bed, trying to keep himself together, Troy finally lifted his foreleg across Canvas' back and held him to his side. The gryphon gently held Canvas' head to his feathered shoulder, feeling the pony's warmth while stroking his mane with his claws.
"It's alright, Canvas." Canvas cried harder, clearly overwhelmed by Troy's kindness. "You're alright now. You know that, right?"
Keeping his head on Troy's shoulder, Canvas nodded while trying to stifle his sobs. He wiped his eyes dry with a hoof, and slowly looked up at Troy, who looked back with a smile of assurance. While it did hurt to talk about what happened, Canvas felt a lot better after getting it off his chest. The pony breathed in, happy that he could now breathe out without his chest convulsing from emotion, and his voice came out in a light whisper as he felt Troy's touch.
"Thank you, Troy. I… I really needed that."
"No problem."
The two sat there in silence. Canvas looked toward the window, which showed the sleeping town of Ponyville. The stallion thought about everything that had happened, unsure of what he was going to do. He was in a hotel room now, but Canvas couldn't escape the bitter truth that he had nowhere to go after this. The future he thought he’d have was now just a distant fantasy. He was a stranger in a strange place, with only his work on the dresser and the stitches in his face to his name.
As Canvas sat with his mind spinning about how he was going to live his life, Troy took notice of his uncertainty.
"Hey Canvas.” The pony stirred back into reality and looked back at the gryphon. "Are you okay?"
Canvas slowly nodded, although Troy could tell he didn't feel that confident. "I just don't know what to do now. I mean, all I have is my bag and a few bits left. I mean… what am I gonna do?"
Troy could only shrug as he thought about Canvas' worries. "I'm sure you'll think of something, dude. You made a lot of money today just by drawing, right? Didn't you say something about doing that tomorrow?"
Canvas nodded, a brief smile spreading across his face. "Yeah, I did. And there were a lot of ponies still in line when I ran out of paper. So… I guess I can keep drawing ponies for a while."
"You see, things are looking up already!" Troy gave the pony a light slap on the back to try to cheer him up. "And from what I've seen, those ponies really liked talking with you. I mean, this town is pretty nice, don’t you think?"
Canvas nodded again, but his smile slowly went away. "It's just… What if…”
While Troy knew something like that wouldn't happen around here―especially with a Princess AND the Elements of Harmony around―he couldn't blame Canvas for still being apprehensive. He held the pony closer beside him, hopeful that he could calm his nerves.
"Listen, Canvas. You know just as well as I do that Ponyville is nothing like… like that place, and you know that nopony is going to bother you about who you are, right?"
Canvas didn't nod that time. The pony brought a hoof up to his stitches, feeling them stick out from his fur like a bitter scab.
"Dude…” Canvas dropped down his hoof before looking back at Troy, who was staring back at him with pure optimism in his eyes. "I promise you, nothing like what happened in Gallop Creek is going to happen here. And if anypony does mess with you, just let me know, okay?” He flashed his talons, which glinted threateningly in the low light of the room. “I’ll sort ‘em out."
Canvas' eyes widened, surprised at what Troy was saying he'd do for him.
"I mean it. If anypony starts giving you trouble, I'll take care of it."
"Really?” Canvas could see in his golden eyes that he meant every word. "You would really help me like that?"
"Of course,” replied Troy with a smirk. "I mean, that's what friends do, right?"
Canvas blinked repeatedly. "I'm… You’re saying we’re friends?"
"Well… yeah." Troy looked at Canvas as if the response was obvious. He shrunk in on himself the slightest bit. "Aren't we?"
After taking a moment to process the gryphon’s sincerity, Canvas nodded back with a smile of his own. "Yeah, I… I guess we are."
Troy stayed for a little longer before deciding to leave, knowing that Canvas would need to reapply his bandages and get some sleep. The gryphon waved at the old hotel clerk as he stepped back outside, breathing in the fresh night air around him. Troy shot open his wings and soared off into the stunning night skies, his thoughts going back to Canvas and how everything went. When he reached his cloud, Troy reminded himself that he should talk with somepony about trying to get a job in Ponyville sometime soon.
Back at the hotel, Canvas tried to remain optimistic following the conversation he had with Troy. After reapplying his bandages, Canvas looked into the mirror, feeling slightly better that he didn't have to look at his stitches right before going to sleep. The stallion then laid down on the bed’s firm mattress, thinking back to what Troy said about having his back. He was extremely grateful for what Troy offered him, but he still felt a pit in his stomach as he thought about whether or not Troy was right about Ponyville.
As Canvas' eyelids grew heavier, he tried not to think too much about the future ahead of him. Was it really worth it to stay in Ponyville? Could he actually make it on his own?
I didn’t run all that way just to end up back in Gallop Creek, did I?
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I really enjoyed this chapter. It really made me feel for Canvas.
I feel terrible about what happened to Canvas. This is something I am willing to fight and die for.
"Then I just tried working harder in school. I did a bunch of advanced classes and stuff like that and… and then I found out I was at the top of my whole school."
Works every time
Sounds to me like there's a whole town that badly needs to be incinerated by a certain Princess. Bastards should pay for what they did. I have some very close and long time friends who are gay and if anybody hurt them for their lifestyles... there would be HELL to pay.
5309665
I'll help ya pay double.
5675673 triple
5814105 Quadriple
6020877
Pentagon!
5309665
Vengeance solves nothing in thIs case. Better that education and compassion be administered, that the very thought of this happening again is anathema.
The best revenge is Living Well.
6334355 You sir, are very wise. Many people respond to violence WITH violence, and I freely admit that sometimes that is needed, with cultural things like that, the best weapon is education.
*Loads gun* alright, I'm going to Gallop Creek, who's coming with me
7165940 Let me at'em!
7227388 I got the Cart! Hop on!
7165940 TACTICAL NUKE INCOMING
6408329 I dont know, Gallop Creek might benefit from having a chapter of the Lavender Panthers housed there. For educational purposes of course.
Ive been thinking about ponies and sexuality recently because I've started actually writing something based on it. (Don't hold your breath, I'm an ungodly slow writer.) This really got me thinking.
If the male to female ratio is what most of us think that it is, 1 Male to every 4 or 5 females, then Homophobia would be a much more massive taboo than it is here in the real world. While F/F pairings would be considered normal and necessary, and herding or multiple partners to share a male would also be expected, M/M pairing would be a massive taboo.
Sticking the guy in the sticks or backwoods isn't necessary. If you think about it culturally, men would be a scarce resource, Hoarding one all to yourself would be massively frowned upon, and anyone who did so would be ostracized by the community. (In my opinion.) a Male Male relationship would not only take two entire males out of the dating pool, it that couples lack of interest in sharing with females would be treated just the same as hoarding. I think the fall out of being a gay male in Equestria would be horrendous. I wouldn't be surprised if openly gay male couple under that M F ratio would suffer massive harassment and broken windows in the middle of the night.
Just something I thought about. While considering the other social nightmare that would also come about in that society for what im tinkering with.
Oh and just incase you missed my first review when I originally came across this story, I love it.
The Monk
“Puberty was a curse for those inflicted with it, and boundless amusement for others who survived the process.” -Scarheart