The swollen silver moon loomed over the land of Equestria, a silent sentry of the great beyond. The streets of Ponyville were now completely still, except for the gray gryphon who sat perched in a tree near Town Hall, mulling over the events from earlier. After seeing how terrified Canvas was when he saw the inside of the stallion’s bag, Troy couldn't stop thinking about what it meant. It had only been five minutes since Canvas bolted off, but Troy’s mind was stirring with various theories regarding what may have happened to him; of course, all of his thoughts went back to that bag, and that one particular symbol.
Troy may not have known that much about Equestrian society before moving to Cloudsdale, but he wasn't an idiot. Seeing that mark didn't change his opinion of the stallion at all, but it was still a surprising thing to find out, nonetheless. Then his thoughts came back to how Canvas reacted to him discovering the symbol: pure fear.
Was that because of somepony else?
Was that why he ended up like that?
Troy quickly shook his head clear, knowing how insane an idea like that was. He may have understood how controversial such a lifestyle would've been back home, but he honestly didn't think any ponies would have a problem with something like that. One of the biggest things that Equestria tried to uphold was the practice of love and tolerance. So if anyone was going to be alright with that kind of thing, it would be ponies.
At least, that was what Troy thought.
The gryphon eventually noticed the time was only a quarter until ten, although judging from the streets, most ponies would've thought it was way later than that. Troy was still unsure of what to do. He really wanted to talk to Canvas and let him know he didn't care about his… preferences, but he knew the stallion probably didn't want to talk with him tonight. Considering how frightened the pony looked, it may have been a bit too soon to check up on him.
Even so, Troy still hoped that he could catch up with him tomorrow. As he lifted himself off the branch to head back home, he paused when he noticed something drift past him.
A calm evening breeze carried what looked like a piece of paper past the gryphon’s face. Thinking back to all the sheets that came out of Canvas' bag, he figured that might’ve been one they missed.
He quickly jumped off the tree and glided over to the sheet, glad to see that it was something of the pony's. However, the paper in his claws wasn't a drawing or a painting. His eyes narrowed on the text across the thick sheet of paper, and he realized that he was holding a graduation diploma. The name and text declared it was for Canvas as a recent graduate of Gallop Creek High School. This clearly belonged to the stallion, but what surprised Troy even more was that, according to this document, Canvas was a Valedictorian.
Troy flew off toward the town square, hoping to find the hotel Canvas said he’d be staying at. He landed on an empty street, and was lucky to find the hotel in front of him: a modest brick building, which looked rather old in comparison to the rest of the town. Luckily, he could see that the building was still open, so he stepped inside and walked up to the front desk.
He gently tapped the bell on the desk, and a short, elderly stallion with thick-rimmed glasses stepped out from the back room. After he adjusted his glasses, the pony blinked twice while looking at Troy before he gasped.
Afraid that he was going to give the pony a heart attack, Troy tried to give him a friendly smile, hoping to Celestia that it wouldn’t make him look any scarier. The pony looked the gryphon up and down with his spectacles, his mouth hanging open for several seconds before he muttered, "You're a big pony, ain’tcha?"
Blinking a few times in confoundment, Troy decided not to risk his luck and just go with it. "Um… Okay then… Um, hello. Did a stallion check in here recently? Brown mane, bluish-green coat, painting cutie mark?"
The pony sucked in his lips as he tried to remember, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "Huh… Not sure I've seen a pony like that. I remember checking in a stallion earlier tonight, but he had a chestnut mane and a greenish-blue coat."
Sighing in both irritation and relief, Troy held up the paper in his claw. "Can you tell me which room he's in? He forgot this and I wanted to give it to him."
The pony's head tilted to the side while staring at the gryphon in suspicion. "You staying the night? Because he's only checked in a single."
Troy shook his head. "No, I just wanted to give something back to him, and then I'll leave."
Troy waited as the pony stared at him for what felt like forever. Just as Troy was about to just give up and wait until the morning, the old pony gave a quick smile, like he was reminded of a funny joke. "Oh, okay! He's in room B2, just upstairs."
"Thank you, sir,” said Troy as he headed to the stairway.
"Not a problem, madam!"
After a quick ascent up the stairwell, Troy found himself standing in front of the wooden door with a bronze engraving of ‘B2’ above the peephole. Even after making it this far, Troy was growing nervous as to whether or not he should go through with this. He really wanted to talk to Canvas, but was this too soon? Would Canvas be willing to talk after earlier tonight? Taking a deep breath, Troy puffed out his chest confidently before knocking on the door.
Troy heard the sound of several hoofsteps come closer to the door before he heard Canvas' muffled voice. "Hello?"
"Um… It’s me, Troy." The gryphon heard only silence from the other side of the door, which caused him to sigh softly. Not wanting to give up yet, Troy spoke through the door again. "I… I found something of yours, and I just wanted to give it back to you." The gryphon kneeled down to the bottom of the door, and slid the diploma halfway through the crack.
"Oh!"
Happy to hear Canvas say something, Troy watched the paper disappear from under the door into the room. The door slowly opened up after a moment, until the chain lock kept it from opening any more than a few inches. Canvas poked his head through the opening, and gave the gryphon a weak smile from where he was visible.
"Th-Thank you. I was just looking through my papers and noticed that one was missing. I-I'm glad you found it."
"No problem." Troy rubbed one of his claws against the other, and tried to think of how to go forward with the conversation. He could see that, even through the small space, Canvas looked fairly uncomfortable. "Hey Canvas, I was, um..." Troy felt more tense as he tried to think of the right words to say. "I was wondering if... if we could talk."
Canvas looked away from the opening, and Troy stayed close to the door in case he tried to close it. "I know you said you didn't want to talk about it before, but we're alone now, so―"
"It's kind of late, Troy." Although he was glad to hear Canvas respond at all, he wanted him to say something other than that. "Ummm… Maybe we can talk about this tomorrow or something?"
Troy stayed firmly by the door. "Please, Canvas. I'm not going to do anything. I promise."
Troy's heart sank as he saw the pony move further away. The gryphon took a deeper breath, and closed his eyes in worry.
"Listen, I… I saw what was in the bag."
He heard a gasp from the other side, and Troy quickly held his claws against the door as Canvas tried to slam it shut. It wasn't that hard for the gryphon to keep it open against Canvas' weight, but he didn't want the pony to try to keep him away like this. "Canvas, please! I'm not going to hurt you, I swear! I just want to talk!"
Troy slowly felt the door giving less and less weight from the other side, and hesitantly let go when he knew Canvas wasn't going to close it. As he waited patiently, the gryphon saw Canvas' face reappear in the opening, looking up at Troy fearfully. He slowly planted one claw against the bottom of the door in case Canvas tried to close it again, and he took a deep breath.
"I just wanted to know… Are… Are you…”
The question should've been easy to ask upfront, but Troy was feeling a huge resistance in his mind as he tried to utter out that last word. He knew it wasn't bad or dirty, but for some reason, it still felt uncomfortable to say out loud. But even as his heart pummeled against his chest like the steam engine on a runaway train, Troy swallowed some excess saliva in his throat before finally saying it.
“...Are you, like… gay?”
A deathly silence filled the hallway. Troy stood at the door in wait. Meanwhile, Canvas kept his gaze on the floor between them, his hooves shaking in trepidation.
“...Y…Yes.”
Canvas exhaled, trying to keep himself together while keeping his eye at his hooves. While the stallion felt a huge wave of relief at admitting it, he still felt terrified, and hoped that the gryphon in front of him wouldn't do anything bad.
Troy kept his claw at the door, knowing what he had to ask next. After seeing how scared Canvas was, he was certain about what may have happened. The last thing Troy wanted to do was think about how something like that would happen in Equestria of all places, but looking at the pony in front of him was good enough proof to the contrary.
“Was…” He knew that this question was going to be painful to ask, but Troy tried to keep his composure in hopes of finally knowing the truth. “...Was that why you got hurt?”
Again, a deep silence filled the void. Troy stayed in place until he heard something: a very light tap on the floor.
Troy looked down, and noticed a small drop on the hardwood floor, right underneath Canvas' hung head. As another teardrop fell, Canvas’ voice started to shake before he muttered in an almost inaudible creak.
“...Y-Yes...”
Canvas sniffed as more tears fell, his head still hung away from Troy's sight. The gryphon waited as he watched Canvas, moving his claw back before asking one more question.
“Canvas…” The stallion didn't give any indication that he heard him, but Troy continued cautiously. "...Can you please open the door?”
Canvas twitched, and the gryphon hoped by everything in Equestria that he wasn't going to close the door on him. After what felt like an eternity, Troy's eyes widened as he saw the door begin to close. "Canvas! Please don't―”
Before he could finish, Troy felt his heart drop like a brick as he heard the door close against the frame. Looking down at his claws in dread, the gryphon just stood in front of the door, static permeating his cluttered mind. Troy wanted nothing more than to break down the door in front of him, but he felt hopeless in that moment. He couldn't just leave it like this! He had to do something!
Just as Troy was about to do something he would probably regret, he heard a distinct click from the other side of the door. A second later, the door opened all the way in front of him, the chain lock now undone as the two stood in front of each other without any barriers. Canvas looked up to Troy with tears running down his face, his one blue eye now reddened from crying, the bandaged one now damp.
Not wanting to hold back anymore, Troy lunged into the room. He wrapped his forelegs around the stallion and held him tightly, closing his eyes as he hugged him. Slowly, he felt Canvas' hooves lift up from the ground. Canvas was still sniffling audibly, but his hooves continued to move up until they met Troy’s back. As more tears fell down his face, Canvas clenched his eyes shut before hugging the gryphon back.
Troy could feel the pony's body shaking from his sobs, causing him to hug Canvas even tighter; and with that, the last of Canvas’ shell fell apart, and he finally let go. The pony began to cry into the gryphon's shoulder. Canvas clung onto him for a long while as he savored his warmth, and found exactly what he needed on his first night in Ponyville:
A friend.