Canvas and Troy walked along the cobblestone street, the stars in the great vault above twinkling playfully as they observed the land below. The two passed other ponies going about their evenings, many of whom waved to Canvas, recognizing him from his work earlier that day.

Watching Canvas waving back with an enthusiastic smile on his face, Troy was relieved that the stallion was in such a good mood. He thought about what could have happened if he never talked to him at the hotel, and how distant Canvas would've been if he’d barricaded himself in that room, with only his demons as company as he shied away from the pain of the outside. The rumination prompted Troy to wonder if he was like that as well, whether his cloud was his sanctuary or his prison. But since he didn’t want to think about it too much, Troy kept his beak shut as he listened to Canvas talk about his day and how he came across Lyra and Bon-Bon.

"Talking with them like that just really put me at ease, you know?"

"Ponyville fits you like a glove, eh? I’ll definitely admit, it ain’t too shabby." Troy thought back to the weather job he wanted around Ponyville, and to his delight he still wanted to go through with it. Even though Canvas seemed alright and didn't really need him around, Troy remembered the reason he gave Rainbow Dash about wanting the job: he really did want to be more social, and right now, he was already getting on the right track with Canvas. "So they're married? Bet they’re the type that’s always making lovey-dovey eyes at each other and mwah mwah mwah!" he said, holding his taloned hands together against his cheek and burlesquing a lovestruck, googly-eyed hen.

Chuckling at the gryphon’s exaggerated display, Canvas said, "Yeah, they were a really sweet couple, too. I'm really glad I got to meet them."

Troy smiled pridefully as he bumped into the pony. "See, I told you! Things are a lot better around here. You just gotta relax a bit. You’re way too high-strung at times."

As Canvas nodded, he lifted a hoof to his art bag, making sure the safety pins were still holding the bottom together. Troy couldn’t help huffing with a befuddled look as he shook his head. "You know, you really should try investing in a new bag or something. That hunk of junk’s a sneeze away from falling apart."

"Absolutely not." Troy was surprised by how quickly Canvas shot the idea down, despite how ragged his current one was. "I've had this bag since I was a colt. It's… It’s sentimental to me."

"Well, your sentiment isn't gonna hold your paintings and stuff very well unless you do something about it, fast."

"Yeah, I know." While he didn’t want to admit it, the gryphon did have a point: the bag, even with all its memories, was only being held together with gum, toothpicks, and a prayer. When Canvas noticed one of the pins coming off already, he quickly refastened it. "I still can’t believe it opened on me like that today."

Though it did help Canvas with his interaction with Lyra and her wife, the stallion still seemed flustered about the whole situation. Noticing this, Troy cleared his throat to catch Canvas’ attention.

"So, let me ask you something.” The stallion turned to Troy as they walked. "Did anypony say anything about it before Lyra and Bon-Bon? Like, did any of the ponies make a big deal out of it?"

Canvas blinked a couple times, and slowly shook his head. "No, none of them.” His pace slowed as his eyes widened, realizing that Troy was right. Nopony cared about seeing that symbol. No one who was around Canvas seemed to mind that he was gay. As his smile grew, he turned excitedly to Troy, almost bouncing in place. "None of them cared about it. It… It wasn't a big deal to any of them!"

Canvas stopped walking, letting that revelation sink in. Now grinning like how he remembered Pinkie Pie did yesterday, Canvas started laughing out loud in the middle of the street about how pointless his worries were. “They didn’t care! They… Troy, do you know what this means!?”

Troy gave off a light chuckle to the sight, finding it hard to be weirded out when the stallion looked so overjoyed. Noticing the gryphon staring at him in amusement, Canvas composed himself after a couple of calming breaths.

"Sorry, I just…” Canvas wasn't sure how to complete his meek attempt at an apology. He felt a slight twinge of relief, however, when Troy lifted his claws to keep him from saying any more.

"It's alright, dude. At least you're not crying." Troy gave Canvas a small grin before he added, "You look a lot better when you're smiling anyway."

Immediately realizing how that may have come out, Troy grew flustered as Canvas blushed slightly. "I didn't mean it like, um… I just meant that you, er…”

Canvas tried to shake his blushing away as he replied, "No, it-it's alright! I got what you meant. I know you didn't mean it like…” Canvas bit his lip, honestly not wanting to complete that statement.

Feeling the awkwardness rising between the two of them, Troy looked around the town while rubbing down his feathers. "So… have you had anything to eat today?"

Canvas' stomach gurgled in response. The stallion giggled in embarrassment. "Well, it was a pretty busy day..."

Canvas scanned the town alongside Troy, trying to think of where to eat, noticing how empty the streets were. Odd. The stallion looked along the strangely dark buildings before what looked to be a pink flash caught his eye about a block away from them.

Troy said, "It might not be a good idea to go to that café again, Canvas. But I’m sure we can find someplace around here.”

Another flash of pink, this time much closer, came from the corner of Canvas' good eye. A cold sweat broke down his forehead, the muscles in his legs tensing. Shakily, he said, "Hey Troy, did you notice―”

As the stallion turned his head back ahead of him, he only saw a wall of pink. Pinkie Pie stood less than a foot from his face.

"Hiya, Canvas!"

The stallion shot back from the cheerful mare and crashed into Troy, who hardly even budged. Both of them looked dumbfoundedly at their surprise guest, with Canvas blurting out, "P-Pinkie! You scared me! Troy, tell her she scared me!" Troy opened his beak before shutting it, still processing what just happened.

Pinkie immediately looked worried. "Oh no! You weren't supposed to be surprised yet! I mean―” Pinkie's blue eyes nervously darted back and forth, before the mare once again adopted an ebullient (if sly) grin, her smile taking up an impossible amount of space on her face. "Wanna stop by Sugar Cube Corner? We’ve got yummiiies~"

Blinking a couple times, Canvas could hardly keep up with the mare's on-a-dime mood swings. He looked at Troy, who was still busy rebooting his system software, before returning his gaze to Pinkie. "Um… I guess so? I mean, I was a bit hu―"

Before he could finish, Pinkie started pushing both Troy and Canvas from behind with her hooves. "Then let's go! You can come too, Mister Gryphon!"

Not sure of how to deal with this new pony, Troy simply followed along this ride of madness, unsure of whether or not he was in immediate danger. "I have a name, you know! ‘Troy!’ "

"Pleased to meetcha, Mister Troy! I hope you like chocolate!"

By the time the three reached Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie had taken pity on the limits of their delicate mortal flesh and allowed Troy and Canvas to walk without her prodding them along. The thought of running had crossed their minds more than once when their eyes met during the journey, but one look at the pink fiend’s all-seeing eyes, and her cheery smile that morphed into something far more sinister under the writhing shadows chased the idea away and ruthlessly savaged it before it could take form. While they doubted she would do anything too crazy, they also knew their place.

Canvas and Troy couldn't help but look impressed when they finally reached the bakery. Looking like a giant baked good itself, they could see from the huge building why Pinkie Pie was so energetic. Troy could feel his blood sugar skyrocket just by looking at the place. He may have started sweating vanilla extract if it wasn’t for Pinkie calling out to them.

"Well, come on in, guys! Wonder and sugary-sweet goodness awaits!"

Before either could respond or even move, Pinkie Pie bolted into the bakery, the door closing behind her. Canvas looked back at Troy in confusion before he hesitantly walked to the door. As he lifted a hoof to the door handle―which resembled a piece of red licorice―the stallion could hear a couple of hushed whispers from inside.

The stallion looked back to Troy, with the gryphon seeing a hint of worry on Canvas' face. Troy gave an “Are you kidding?” look to the stallion, causing Canvas to sigh with a slight smile before he turned back and opened the door.

As he walked inside, Sugar Cube Corner looked completely empty to the pony. All the lights were turned off, and the room was entirely silent. Canvas wanted to say something, but all the lights flicked on without warning, scaring the stallion half to death as the room was suddenly full of ponies who shouted, "SURPRISE!!”

Canvas fell backwards in fright, landing on his back as he tried to grasp what the buck was going on. He stared up at the ceiling―which looked like a huge graham cracker―before Pinkie's face appeared over his, nearly throwing him into a second heart attack. "So, were you surprised, Canvas? Were you were you were you were you?"

Before he could put his mind back together enough to make a response, Pinkie pushed Canvas back into a sitting position on the floor as he looked around the room at all the smiling ponies. He tightly clutched the art bag at his side while Pinkie began talking rapidly once more.

"I wanted to throw a party for you yesterday but you said that maybe we could do it another day, and now it's another day so I got this party together just for you! And your drawings were really popular so a lot of ponies decided to help out because they wanted to make you feel extra special about being here and to thank you for doing such a super-duper fantastitoozly with sugar on top job!"

Canvas stared wide-eyed at all the ponies, many of whom he recognized from drawing earlier, as well as the huge table of every sugary treat imaginable. Canvas' muzzle twitched, his eyes unblinking as he wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. The stallion turned back to Troy, who was trying to pull his ruffled feathers back down and recompose himself.

When he looked back to Pinkie, Canvas saw that she was now holding a big chocolate cake, which she placed down in front of him. Glancing down at the cake, Canvas' hoof shot to cover his mouth as he saw what was written, not even noticing what Pinkie was saying.

"I talked to Bell Hopper at the hotel when he mentioned that Troy came by to give back your diploma, and he told me he saw on the paper that you were a Valley-Victor-something, which is apparently really really good, so I made you this!"

Feeling a tear come down his cheek, Canvas read what was on the cake in bright pink frosting:

"I… I…”

Canvas was too floored to really think of anything to say. After everything he'd done and everything he went through, this cake was the first thing he'd received to actually celebrate graduating high school. Even though this mare and everypony else here barely knew him, they still went out of their way to make him feel welcome in this town. They accepted him.

He tried covering his whole face in a poor attempt to hide his crying, but Canvas could only smile through his overjoyed sobs. "I… I don't know what to say…”

Canvas felt Pinkie lift him up without warning and pull him to her side, not seeming to notice or mind his tears as she smiled back at the crowd. "I know what you can say: LET'S PARTYYYY!!"

The room cheered, and Canvas wiped away his tears as the party began.

Just so any newer readers are aware, I've recently been undergoing a big project to turn the Brushed Away series into physical books for individual sale. Because of that, I just wanted to make a quick note for which chapters have been revised so far, including this one.

I want to give my deepest thanks, as well as some well-deserved credit to the editors helping me out with this process: SirReal, and Double R. Forrest. And if anyone is interested in helping out with making this project a reality, I highly recommend checking out my Official Ko-Fi page dedicated to it.