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.
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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."
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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…"