"I TOLD you, dude! You were awesome!"

Troy couldn't stop raving as he hugged Canvas, almost choking the stallion when he finally got to him after the award ceremony. Canvas felt slightly uncomfortable by the gryphon's enthusiasm, but he didn't want to tell him to stop when he was acting so excited. Once Troy let him go, Canvas had to take a few heavy gasps for air. But alas, as soon as he saw Lyra and Bon-Bon running toward him, Canvas had a good idea what was going to happen again. Fortunately, Canvas was able to take a deep breath before both mares grabbed him in another hug.

Lyra seemed especially happy as she shouted with gusto. "Congratulations, Canvas! I knew you could win!"

Luckily, their hug wasn't nearly as long or intense, meaning Canvas could actually feel his hooves after being let go this time. Canvas moved a hoof to feel the bottom of his art bag, making sure his large bag of prize money was still inside. He felt relieved when he heard the jingling of bits, which caught Bon-Bon’s attention.

"Wow, I can’t believe you got five hundred bits in there! You can do a lot with that kind of money!"

Canvas nodded as he readjusted his art bag. He already had a good idea of what he wanted to do with his winnings, but he wasn't sure where he could go to make it happen. Canvas glanced over at the couple with a look of curiosity and asked, "Say girls, do either of you know whe--"

"Why, hello there!"

Canvas and the others turned their attention toward the new voice to see a confident brown stallion standing before them. The pony's slicked-back mane was a very dark tone of grey, almost like charcoal, which matched his thick eyebrows. He donned a blue collar around his neck, as well as a large, red necktie with a dollar sign on the front. On his flank, the stallion had the image of three money bags.

"I hope I'm not intrudin' or nuthin', but I was hopin' to talk to Mister Canvas here about his work."

Canvas didn't like being interrupted, but he figured he could ask his question later. The new stallion stuck out his hoof politely as he spoke with a confident drawl. "Name's Filthy Rich, although I prefer Mister Rich, for obvious reasons."

Despite his wariness, Canvas shook the stallion’s hoof, refraining the urge to judge. Mister Rich had a surprisingly sturdy grip, and maintained eye contact with Canvas while keeping a grin.

"Mister Canvas, I gotta say that you have a great painting skill there. Tell me, how long did it take you to paint that?"

Looking back at the wall, Canvas saw his painting prominently displayed next to the two runner-ups. He was told by the judges that the piece was planned to be displayed in a few other towns as an incentive for local painters. Even though he was unsure about letting something go so soon after working so hard on it, he felt a little better when they told him it would be back in a couple of weeks.

"Honestly, I did that in under a week," he admitted with a sheepish shrug of his shoulders.

Filthy Rich's eyes widened, and he looked at the painting in shock. "Seriously? I'd find that hard to believe if you were a unicorn, but saying you did somethin' like that in a week by hoof is almost unreal!" Mister Rich looked back at Canvas with an even bigger smile. "If that's true, then there's no doubt I'd like to work with you!"

Canvas blinked a few times, needing a moment to process what he just heard from this pony. "Umm… excuse me?"

"Oh, of course! I should explain my type of business!" Mister Rich brushed something off his shoulder before speaking further. "You see, I make a living sellin' things for profit, and I've been meanin' to get into sellin' artwork. As you may have noticed, you got a lot of attention from those judges the moment they saw you weren't a unicorn."

Canvas shrugged again while trying not to look too apprehensive, even though he knew that the stallion had a point. Filthy Rich laid a hoof on his aqua shoulder as another pointed at his chest. "And I figure if I can help you get your name out there, you could really get a lot more money from your work!"

Canvas didn't like the idea of having his work looked at just because he was an earth pony. However, the artist couldn’t deny that this Filthy Rich seemed to know what he was talking about. "So,” replied Canvas hesitantly, "what is it you want me to do, exactly?"

"Well, that's easy!" Filthy Rich exclaimed while throwing his hooves in the air. The pony still had a big smile plastered on his face, even when his hooves hit the ground again. "If you’re willin’ to let me buy a few paintings from you, I’ll sell them at a slightly higher rate to the fancy art crowd, and I help you get your name out there so you can sell more!"

Canvas put a hoof to his chin as he hummed to himself in contemplation, and began to understand Mister Rich's business plans. While he didn’t quite agree with his method, Canvas knew this pony could likely help sell more of his paintings than he ever could on his own. He also knew that he needed to gain some exposure through his craft, so maybe having somepony else to assist him would be a smart move. When he looked back at his friends, Canvas could tell from their nods that all of them seemed optimistic with this idea.

Canvas turned back to Filthy Rich, who seemed rather keen on hearing the artist’s answer. He bit his lip in further contemplation as he paused briefly; after all, this could easily be one of the biggest decisions of his future.

Canvas took a deep breath, and then gave his answer with a nod of his head. "...Alright. I'll do it."

"Fantastic!" Mister Rich was quick to shake Canvas' hoof again in agreement. "So, do you happen to have some more of your work with ya? I’m willin’ to buy whatever you have available."

Canvas realized that his art bag was empty, which prompted him to motion a hoof back towards his hotel. "Actually, they're back in my room. Would you be alright with looking at them there?"

"Of course, that would be fine!” assured Filthy with a wave of his hoof. “I have plenty of time."

Though he knew this was something Canvas should do privately, Troy still felt compelled to make sure of his well-being. Lyra and Bon-Bon were waiting on a bench outside the hotel building, while Troy sat perched on a street lamp across the street from Canvas' window. The artist’s curtains were closed, so Troy was hopeful that he wouldn't be seen as intrusive to Canvas’ business deal. As for Lyra and Bon-Bon, neither of them really felt inclined to stalk their friend; however, since they already cleaned up and loaded up their candy stand, there wasn’t much else for the two of them to do for the day.

Meanwhile in room B2, Filthy Rich was looking through a large assortment of Canvas' paintings, which were all carefully laid out on the hotel bed for critique. The business-pony's attitude changed dramatically since their first meeting, as his smile was replaced with a more stoic look of focus. He scanned through each page with surprising intensity, and kept himself completely silent with a sullen expression on his face. The sudden change from happy to serious seemed like an odd quality to Canvas, but he figured that the stallion had to be more serious when money was involved. So instead of feeling intimidated, Canvas just stood to the side and waited patiently for Filthy’s assessment.

After looking through every piece on the bed, Filthy Rich carefully placed five paintings in a line near the edge before looking back at Canvas. "I would like to buy these five, if that's possible."

Since he was curious about what caught the stallion's interest, Canvas looked to see which five he picked. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the choices, as all of them were paintings he’d repainted a week ago. What was more shocking was the fact that out of all the pieces Canvas repainted, the chosen five Filthy picked were all ones that were originally ripped to shreds. While the recognition felt great, Canvas was more than hesitant to just sell them like that.

Upon noticing Canvas’ uncertainty, Mister Rich cleared his throat. "Is something wrong, Mister Canvas? I assure you I'll offer a fair price for them."

"It's not that, it's just…” He didn’t want to go into detail on what happened to these paintings prior, but Canvas knew he had to say something. So after a quick exhale, the artist confessed, " Well... I just want to make sure these will be in good hooves. I actually finished these pieces a week ago, and they… they really mean a lot to me."

Mister Rich held his hoof up and gave a warm smile to quell Canvas’ concerns. "You have my word, Mister Canvas. Your artwork will be kept in pristine condition. Believe me, for the price I'm offering, the last thing I want to do is mess them up!"

Canvas' eyebrows perked up curiously at those last words. "So… what price are you offering?"

Filthy Rich gave a slyer grin before he picked up a blank sheet of paper from Canvas' dresser. He wrote down a number with a pencil in his mouth, and then folded the paper in half. Once he was done, he handed the note back to Canvas for him to read his offer.

After about five minutes on the streetlight, Troy decided it was too uncomfortable and glided back to the ground instead. He leaned his back against the post of the streetlight, and looked up at the window with a skewed beak. Lyra and Bon-Bon were now leaning next to each other, and were already half-asleep on the bench. Troy couldn’t even see a shadow through the curtains, and he sighed deeply as the wait for even the slightest sign of anything happening dragged on.

Just as he was about to close his eyes, Troy heard a very loud "WHOA!" come from Canvas' room. After shooting his wings open, Troy flew himself directly upwards so he was right across from Canvas' window. Fortunately, before Troy could think anything bad was happening, he felt a twinge of relief as soon as he heard Canvas exclaim:

"You got a deal!"

A few minutes later, Filthy Rich appeared from the hotel building with a satisfied smile on his face. The five paintings he purchased from Canvas were all rolled up, with each of them placed in a large tube and strapped to his back side-by-side. He noticed Troy hovering above him, who was trying his best not to look like he was stalking. Luckily, Mister Rich gave a quick nod before walking off into the streets of Ponyville. As soon as Filthy Rich was out of eyesight, Canvas appeared at the hotel’s front doors with the biggest grin. Bon-Bon noticed the stallion first, and nudged her wife so they could go check up on him.

Canvas was giggling to himself as Troy, Lyra and Bon-Bon all walked up to him. When they saw how happy he looked, all three were getting anxious to hear what happened. Meanwhile, Canvas had his eyes wide open with excitement, and his voice came out rather shakily with adrenaline.

"One… hundred… fifty… BITS!”

After shouting out that amount, Canvas started giggling like a madpony while bouncing on his hooves. Troy blinked a couple times in puzzlement, but the stallion’s excitement kept his smile from dissipating in the slightest. Even though he was surprised that Canvas would act this way about that kind of money--especially after he made five times that earlier in the day--the gryphon was still proud of his friend’s sale. "Hey, that's pretty good,” he said with an optimistic smile. “I mean, now you have like six--"

"Each."

Troy needed a second to process what Canvas meant with that interruption, but his head quickly reeled back in shock. Lyra and Bon-Bon grew equally as stunned, and were staring at Canvas with their jaws agape. Meanwhile, the artist started giggling uncontrollably, and his grin grew to Cheshire levels. "I just made. Over seven. HUNDRED MORE!"

Canvas couldn’t keep his hooves on the ground as he started hopping up and down, his giggles turning into full-blown laughter. While Lyra and Bon-Bon stood in frozen awe, Troy’s dropped beak soon turned to an extremely prideful smile. He quickly grabbed Canvas, and lifted him off the ground to spin him around the street in a huge hug. Canvas kept laughing gleefully, which ended up being addictive enough to make the gryphon join in. When the two mares could finally speak, Lyra was the first to respond with a shocked look on her face.

"Are you telling me that six of your paintings made you over one THOUSAND bits in less than a day?!"

"YES!!" The stallion shouted in elation as he let go of Troy, and excitedly trotted across the streets like an excited filly.

Lyra looked back at her wife, who was still stunned silent, and spoke to her with a faint voice.

"Hey, Bon-Bon?"

“... Ye-yeah?”

"I think I should start painting."

“... Me too.”

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 my followers helping me out with this process, as well as Double R. Forrest for their proofreading credits. 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.