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."