The train from Manehattan to Ponyville was chugging smoothly along in the midday sun. The weather outside was surprisingly decent, so many of the ponies inside the cars were quite comfortable in their seats. Even though the cabin the triplets were in was eerily silent, the other Clawstons tried to focus on something more positive during their train ride. Canvas, Troy, and Angela were looking over a couple of organization binders with wedding plans that were prepared by Princess Twilight Sparkle. Tenor was lying on the floor in their cabin, chewing on a large rubber dog toy that his owners had gotten for him back in Manehattan.
While flipping through one of the binders with a skewed beak, Angela sighed before closing the book and placing it on her lap. “Well, you have to give the Princess of Friendship some credit. She certainly left no stone unturned.”
“I know, right?” said Canvas enthusiastically as he scanned the final pages of the binder he and Troy were looking through. “She really went all out on helping us get everything ready. She didn’t even try to change any of the specifics we wanted for our ceremony or reception.”
Troy shot a glance towards his mother and added, “Unlike certain others…”
Catching her son’s obviously directive tone, Angela huffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh, don’t look at me me that! All I said was that a wedding reception shouldn’t have pizza as the main course!”
“Why not?” asked Troy with his claws raised. “There is literally nothing wrong with pizza! Everyone likes it, including both of us!”
Angela groaned in an almost pleading tone, “But this is a wedding!”
Despite how much his future In-Law was dragging her paws about this subject, Canvas just chuckled and closed his own binder. “Well, you can complain about it to Rarity if you want. She was the one who suggested that idea.”
While Angela stared at the couple with a befuddled look, it took everything within Troy and Canvas to not start snickering uncontrollably. Even though Canvas wasn’t technically wrong, they could only imagine what would happen if Angela actually went to confront Rarity over what was obviously a sarcastic suggestion. Nevertheless, Troy was able to speak first and said, “But seriously, Mom. Is that really what you’re going to complain about?”
“Well, it’s just weird!” shouted Angela defensively. “Like, why would you choose pizza as your first meal as a married couple?! Don’t you guys think it’s a little untraditional?”
Troy and Canvas turned to look at each other, and both of them carried deadpanned stares. Canvas was the first to ask, “Should I point it out, or should you?”
“Point what out?”
Following Angela’s question, Troy looked back at her while his straight-faced expression remained. “Mom, I’m going to marry a stallion. Are you really saying that what we’re going to eat is going to make our wedding untraditional?”
Angela didn’t open her beak, but it was clear from her pause that her son’s question made her think for a moment. After her eyes blinked a couple of times, the gryphoness shrugged and placed the binder next to her on the bench. “Well, alright then. Point taken.”
Troy smiled fairly wide after hearing that, secretly happy that he was able to win an argument with his mother so easily. Of course, the gryphon hid his smirk when Angela looked back at him and said, “Well, since we’re on the subject of plans, when do you think you’ll hear from Bridleway about that Hinny of the Hills role?”
Thinking it over for a second, Troy sighed while looking up at the cabin ceiling. “Well, I’m not sure how long the rest of the callback auditions will go. It might take a week before I hear back from them, but it could be less.”
“That’s what I thought.” After making a brief exhale herself, Angela looked between Troy and Canvas before asking, “So, hypothetically speaking, what would happen if he were to get that role?”
Troy glanced back down at his Mom with a quizzical look. Canvas tilted his head and asked, “What do you mean?”
“I mean, how would you two work that out?” Angela had both brows raised, looking genuinely curious as she waited for a response. “It’s not like Troy could take a train from Ponyville to Manehattan for every rehearsal and show. Wouldn’t there be a lot of separation?”
The last thing that Angela wanted to do was cause any uneasiness between her son and his future husband, but she still felt like that question needed to be brought up for the sake of their future. Given the fact that they’re getting married so young, the idea of them being apart for long periods of time during the beginning of their marriage could be a rather large hurdle. Plus, considering how she knew about that sort of thing herself with Jonas’ military leaves, Angela was hoping that she could bring some much needed discussion over this.
However, after her question was asked, Angela didn’t see any hint that the couple looked worried or apprehensive. In fact, Canvas sighed with a wave of his hoof and said, “Oh, we talked about that weeks ago! We agreed that if Troy got a Bridleway role, then we would get ourselves an apartment in Manheattan as a second home.”
Angela was taken aback from that answer, not just because of how casually the stallion said it, but just from how simple he made such a big decision sound. “W-what?” she blurted out in a surprised tone. “W… What do you mean a second home!?”
Troy was able to answer his Mom’s question with, “Well, we're certainly not planning to ever move from Ponyville. We have a lot of close friends there, and Canvas would probably have my hide if I ever suggested we move from it.”
Canvas giggled at the sentiment, but still nodded his head with a smile. “Plus,” added the stallion with a shrug, “it’s not like we can’t afford it. Troy still has most of his inheritance, and I’m making a ton of bits with my art. In fact, I was considering building a second art studio in a more populated city, and Manehattan would be perfect for that! If Troy has the chance for a real music career there, then it wouldn’t be much of an issue to get a second place with our shared incomes.”
Angela just stared at Canvas with a baffled look, unsure how to process the stallion’s clearly thought-out plan. When she glanced over at Troy, the gryphon just smiled back at her while wrapping a wing around his mate. “Yeah, I know,” said Troy with a light chuckle. “Pretty cool, huh?”
Even though she was happy that her son and future son-in-law had a plan in check, Angela still huffed with a shake of her head as she leaned back in her seat. “Wow. Ummm… I honestly wasn’t expecting you two to already know what to do.”
Realizing how that may have sounded, Angela’s eyes widened before she quickly added, “Not that it isn’t a good thing! I just mean that a lot of couples might not see that as such an easy decision to make.”
Canvas and Troy glanced back at each other again, clearly understanding the gryphoness’ point. Troy was the first to redirect his attention back towards Angela with a shrug of his shoulders. “Well, you might be right there,” he admitted honestly, “but it isn’t like we have much in the way to stop us from doing it. We have the funds, neither of us have many restrictions with our work, and it’s not like we have to think about any kids to support besides Tenor.”
Angela’s feathers ruffled out as she pouted from that last sentence. Tenor perked his head up at the mention of his name, his tail wagging while he laid on the floor. Canvas giggled and added towards Angela, “See? Being a Dink has it’s advantages sometimes.”
Angela narrowed her eyes on Canvas, but her upset look slowly changed to confusion before blinking a couple times. “Uhhh… a what now?” She then went into her luggage bag and asked, “Is that a new gay term or something? I could’ve sworn that book Twilight gave me was comprehensive enough on all the lingo.”
While Canvas covered his muzzle with a hoof and laughed out loud, Troy struggled not to snicker as he said, “Uhh, Mom? Dink is an anagram. It stands for Double Income, No Kids.”
After pausing from looking inside her bag and letting that answer register, Angels huffed and pushed her luggage away with a scowl on her beak. She crossed her forelegs as she leaned back in her seat and pointed her pout at the still giggling couple. “Well, thanks a lot for that reminder,” Angela said with a tone of bitter disdain.
Tenor was able to sense that the pregnant gryphoness was upset, and quickly got on his paws so he could lay his head down on top of her lap. With the way the Saint Bernard looked up at her while providing comfort, it didn’t take long for Angela’s bitter expression to melt and make her sigh. “Awwww…” She scratched the top of Tenor’s head as a smile resurfaced on her beak. “How can I be upset when you’re looking at me like that?”
Tenor’s head lifted up a couple inches so his muzzle could open and allow him to pant happily.
Because of what happened at the end of the Manehattan art auction, Canvas had to make sure that his own train ticket to Ponyville included a brief stop at River Trail. While Angela and the triplets stayed on the train and continued without them, Troy and Canvas brought Tenor along when they made their way to the high school. Even though the town itself was barely big enough to even warrant a train station, Canvas rather liked the quaint coziness of it; of course, the fact that River Trail was Gallop Creek’s athletic rival made any differences between the two towns quite welcoming to the stallion.
Canvas was originally worried what this school would think of him making such an impromptu appearance, especially given what he had on him as a surprise gift. However, while Troy waited outside the school with their dog, Canvas had quite an interesting chat with the principal and head coach inside. Most of that time was spent explaining not only everything that occurred at that auction, but also why the artist was compelled to make such drastic means. By the time the stallion was finally able to leave (after receiving a hug from the hoofball coach that nearly shattered his spine), Canvas was sporting a brand new letterman jacket which went swimmingly well with his sunglasses and pleased smirk.
Troy had to do a double-take when he saw the new getup Canvas had on. “Ooooh…” The gryphon’s grin was quite apparent as he scanned the pony up and down and said, “Wow! I’m guessing either that meeting went really well, or you became an expert in stealing things.”
Canvas giggled as he looked down at his green, faux-leather sleeves. Given how the torso of the jacket was a fairly nice white fleece, the stallion was happy that his gift from the school went so well with his coat. “Yeah, I know!” said Canvas in an especially pleased-sounding tone. “The principal actually got their home-ec teacher to make this fit my size as soon as I handed him that check!”
Troy chuckled as well while feeling the soft material on top of Canvas’ back with a claw. “Well, that’s pretty cool. At least they actually believed you and didn’t assume that check was a fake.”
Canvas shrugged a little while rubbing at Tenor’s belly while the dog laid on his back. “Yeah, I know,” admitted the stallion as he looked up at his mate. “I had to tell them a lot about my old school before I even got to what happened at that auction. They didn’t seem to mind the long story, though.”
Troy’s smirk grew devilishly as he replied, “Something tells me they’re gonna have some interesting chants the next time Gallop Creek comes to this school for a hoofball game.”
“Oh, definitely! I think the coach was practically drooling at one point!” After he finished rubbing Tenor’s belly, Canvas tried not to giggle in a shared guilty pleasure while the dog got back on his paws. “But anyway, all that matters is that the check is delivered. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the school names their hoofball field after Fashion Plate.”
That made the gryphon laugh out loud. “Jeez, that would be weird to see!”
Even though Troy had a smile on his beak, it slowly started to dissipate while he rubbed the back of his head with a claw awkwardly. By the time Canvas noticed, Troy’s expression was more uneasy than anything else while his eyes looked away from his fiancè and Tenor. “Ugh… Now I’m just wondering what the buck that guy did to my brothers.”
“Oh, don’t think too negatively about that!” said Canvas as he tried to nudge the gryphon into a lighter mood. “I seriously doubt that Fashion Plate did anything too… forceful to them, if that was what you were thinking.”
“But he did something!” Troy was bug-eyed as he stared back at the stallion worriedly. “Those guys never acted that weird before!”
“So, what? You think Fashion Plate drugged them or something?”
“No! I just…” After putting his claw back down, Troy sighed deeply while keeping a concerned look on his face. “I… I don’t want to think my brothers got hurt, that’s all.”
Troy wasn’t sure how Canvas would respond to an answer like that, mostly due to how sappy it may have sounded. However, instead of hearing the stallion try not to giggle or point that out cynically, the only reaction Troy got was the feeling of Canvas’ hooves wrapping around his back for a tight hug. “Awwww!” said Canvas in a touched tone of voice. “You really care about those guys!”
“Oh, stop it,” blurted Troy with a deep blush that went swimmingly well with the way his feathers ruffled out in response to Canvas’ hug. Of course, that only made the pony nuzzle Troy’s face and involuntarily giggle at the way it tickled his muzzle. Tenor barked enthusiastically and tried to hop up to nuzzle him as well.
“Alright, alright!” After Tenor managed to lick at Troy’s face a couple times, Canvas was able to pull the excited dog down. While petting the top of the Saint Bernard’s head, Canvas looked up at his fiancè and said, “Well, if anything bad did happen from their night with Fashion Plate, I’m sure that the triplets will tell one of us so we’d know. Right?”
While wiping the slobber off his face and rubbing his feathers down, Troy took a second before exhaling with a small smile in agreement. “Alright, yeah,” admitted the gryphon reluctantly. “Those guys would tell us if something happened.”
“We can’t tell ANYONE what happened last night!”
Blade and Blane nodded firmly at Blaze’s statement, even though both of them looked equally as fretful as their brother. Since their final stop in Ponyville was coming up, it was clear that none of them wanted to look so frazzled when they got off the train. So, Blade was the first to look around in their cabin and ask, “So what do we tell Mum when we get off, huh? You know she thinks somethin’s up! And she’d know if we lied to her too!”
Blaze and Blane looked at each other awkwardly, realizing their brother wasn’t wrong. Blane was the first to look between the other two and come up with a suggestion. “Well, uhh… maybe we could just say we got drunk and broke something in his apartment? I mean, we technically did, so it wouldn’t be lying, would it?”
Blaze’s brows rose in slight surprise before glancing over at Blade. “That’s actually not a bad idea.”
Blade shrugged indifferently and tried not to wince. “I suppose so…”
Because of the skinny gryphon’s tone, it didn’t take long for all three of them to appear apprehensive once more. Blane was leaned forward while his head sunk into his claws. He let out a deep groan before muttering loud enough for his brothers to hear. “Guys… we really need to talk about what happened.”
“NO!!!” Bellowed Blaze and Blade at the same time to make their brother jolt up from his position. Blaze pointed a talon at Blane while saying threateningly, “NOTHING HAPPENED LAST NIGHT!! We just got drunk, broke some stuff, and fell asleep! That. Is. IT!!!”
Even with the emphasis Blaze made with those last three words while prodding at Blane’s chest, it didn’t keep either of them from looking any less paranoid. When Blaze finally pulled back to rest against the corner of his cabin, he sighed while looking away from the other two gryphons. “Look, we all had a LOT of absinthe last night. Heck, Fashion Plate downed just as much any of us! It’s not like we all just decided to let him take pictures while sober! It was just a stupid drunk joke that went too far, so technically we shouldn’t say we did anything with him!”
Blane looked down at the floor with a sorrowful scowl on his beak. The train cabin was silent for only a brief moment before Blade said timidly, “He’s the only one I don’t remember doing anything with.”
“SHUT UP!!!”
Despite how loudly the other two screamed that at the same time, Blade still looked at both of them in a panic. “WHAT?! Am I the only one with the bollocks to say it?! Where was he on the bed, huh?! WHERE WAS HE!?”
“He WAS there!” shouted Blane angrily towards Blade. “I specifically remember he was with us at one point!” Upon realizing what he inadvertently implied, the gryphon fumbled briefly as he spouted, “TH-THE WHOLE TIME! Or… most of the time. I think…”
Blaze seemed much more panicked as he tried to emphasize his words with his shaking talon. “H-He was there, okay?! He was in that room, so it wasn’t just us!!”
Blade was promptly freaking out. “HE WAS SITTING IN THE CORNER WITH A CAMERA!!”
About ten seconds of silence passed through the cabin after that, with only the sounds of the train’s chugging engine being heard from outside. Unfortunately, the silence was broken when Blane gasped at the sight of something at the now open cabin door:
A very uneasy-looking brown stallion, who was wearing a staff vest and hat while holding a snack cart. He blinked a couple times, clearly frozen in fear as all three gryphons stared back at him with equally freaked-out looks. Without saying a word, the stallion closed the door of their cabin slowly, not bothering to ask if they wanted anything.
After about another minute of silence, mostly spent with the three looking back at each other awkwardly, Blaze was the first to speak up after clearing his throat. “Ahem, well ummm… We’re all in agreement, right? None of us are ever drinking absinthe again.”
“Deal!”
After the three reached forward to do a fist-bump in the middle of the cabin, the triplets reverted to their corners of the space without touching or looking over at one another. By the time they finally reached the city limits of Ponyville, they could safely say that their trip was the quietest ride they ever took.