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// Chapter Two: Things to Do 
// Story: Brushed Away 2: By Hoof and Claw 
// by TheVClaw 
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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."

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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.

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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."