Even though Glimmer Heart was fairly hung over by the time the gallery began, she was still quick to apologize to Canvas (as well as Troy and the mares) beforehand for her behavior at the train station. While she definitely had a strong headache, Glimmer was still able to make herself look more than presentable by the time the other artists and guests appeared, keeping her green mane in a (sort of) stylish bun to hide the fact it wasn't washed recently. After Canvas conversed with Twilight and her friends some more, he noticed that other artists showed up for the gallery. As he figured, while he looked at the other five artists who were part of this gallery, Canvas saw he was the only one who wasn't a unicorn.

Even though he already felt out of place as soon as he saw the others--especially while keeping his art bag by his side--Canvas tried keeping his composure as he walked up to the other artists. While the five of them were rather surprised to see an Earth Pony as one of the artists for the exhibit, a glance over to his paintings along the wall were a good enough indicator of his talents. Of the large number of various paintings among his part of the walls--some of which were pieces he’d remade from the hotel a few months ago--a large curtain covered the large project he was working on for the last two weeks. Looking over to the other artists' parts on the walls, he saw that each one had a curtain over their largest piece--they were supposed to be revealed later that night.

Talking with the other artists--four unicorn mares and one unicorn stallion, who were all around Canvas's age--Canvas ended up being bombarded with a surprisingly large amount of questions from them, mostly regarding how he was able to work with a hoof instead of a horn. While he figured that unicorns would probably ask questions like that, Canvas started to feel uncomfortable with how curious they were. Instead of looking and appreciating his art for what it was, the artists just seemed to look at him and his work like it was a pet trick or something. By the time most of the guests arrived and began to converse with each other by the walls of artwork, Canvas just wanted to get away from the unicorns and tried looking for his friend.

Meanwhile, while Troy was impressed by how large and luxurious the ballroom looked with its domed roof and ornate architecture, he was even more surprised about the open bar. Sitting on a stool near the end of the bar, the Gryphon was quick to take advantage of the gallery as he ordered a White Stalliongrad, knowing that being in an art gallery all evening might get really boring.

As more guests came in, Troy kept his spot at the bar as the various ponies came and went with their drinks. However, as more ponies started to become tipsy, Troy was becoming more and more aggravated by his high alcohol tolerance as he was asked various questions by drunk ponies. Among the various insane Gryphon questions that constantly hit him, like "Are Gryphon eggs an aphrodisiac?"--seriously, where the buck do ponies get that kind of information? (and no)--Troy also found out from the several ponies who tried petting him that touching a Gryphon was supposed to be good luck. After the seventh intoxicated unicorn tried touching his tail, a strong glare from Troy made sure nopony else bothered him for the rest of the night.

After shuffling around the large amount of Canterlot ponies around the ballroom, Canvas finally found Troy as he walked up to the bar. Getting on the empty seat next to Troy, Canvas ordered a ginger ale and noticed the large number of empty glasses around the Gryphon. Before he could say anything about it, Troy put up a claw with a smile as he reassured the pony.

"Don’t worry. Gryphon blood takes like, twenty times more alcohol to get drunk than ponies. That's why most Gryphonian liquor is banned in Equestria."

Remembering hearing about how Gryphon liquor could get to 300% proof, Canvas could only shrug as his ginger ale slid over to him. As he sipped his drink through a straw, he noticed Troy look at him with a smirk on his face.

"Before you say anything,” said the stallion as he looked over to Troy, "I don’t drink alcohol. I never have, and I never will."

Glancing at the wall of bottles ahead of him, Canvas only sighed as a bitter tone came on his face for a second.

"Never."

While Troy found it odd to see Canvas only have a ginger ale, he knew better than to say anything about it. Considering what happened to Canvas back in Gallop Creek, it wouldn't surprise Troy one bit if he never touched an alcoholic drink. Looking down to his empty glasses, some of which were being picked up by the orange aura of the unicorn bartender, Troy hoped he wasn't doing anything wrong by drinking by him. However, one glance back to Canvas eased Troy as he saw how the pony was smirking at him.

"What?" Canvas asked after taking another sip. "Dude, I've seen you eat meat. You really think a few glasses is weird for me to see?"

Turning away from Canvas for a second, Troy chuckled a little before looking back, his eyes locked onto Canvas's new mane. Ever since he’d seen the new manecut, Troy really paid attention to how Canvas looked. Because of the shorter mane, everything Canvas did seemed brand new, from the smallest movement, to the faintest smile. With all of that going on, Troy couldn't keep his eyes off his friend as he noticed Canvas give him a weird look.

"Let me guess,” said Canvas with a skewed eyebrow. "It's the mane, right?"

"Actually, yeah!" Troy grinned at Canvas a bit as a new White Stalliongrad was levitated over to him. "It's going to take a while to get used to."

"For you?" Canvas's condescending look became more apparent as Troy began drinking. "Dude, do you know how long it's going to take me to get used to this? I mean, it feels so weird to not have my mane move around my head like it used to!"

Troy shrugged as he finished his drink, placing the glass among the rest of them before replying, "I guess. But hey, think of how many bits you'll save on shampoo alone."

With that optimistic line, Canvas burst out laughing, making Troy feel even better as he saw Canvas's whole face while smiling. "Yeah, that's definitely a plus,” said Canvas as he finished his ginger ale. "Although, I was honestly spending more on conditioner. Seriously, my mane was impossible to brush without that stuff."

While sitting next to each other, both of them felt much better as they chatted, forgetting about all the weird stares and questions towards them at this place. While they both knew they were oddities at an event like this, they kept their frustrations to themselves as they sat a little longer. After having another ginger ale, Canvas decided to head back among the critics when he noticed a large crowd by his work.

Canvas spent a little bit of time next to his wall of artwork, hoping that somepony would talk with him about it and show their admiration; however, since he was an Earth Pony, most of the assumptions from the unicorns around him made it so very few would think that he was the one who did these paintings. As the night went on, Canvas was feeling less and less enthusiastic as he stood by his work, hearing all the praises by the ponies who assumed that it was done by a unicorn. Just as Canvas was about to head back to the bar to talk with Troy some more, the posh voice of a stallion caught his attention.

"Well, I say, is that one of my bags?!"

Turning around, Canvas saw a charcoal-grey Earth pony stallion standing before him, who boasted a rather large, ruffled collar and an overstyled white and silver mane. Lowering his purple sunglasses from his face, the pony looked at Canvas's bag with a mix of curiosity and disgust.

Looking over at the pony's cutie mark of a paper fan, Canvas's eyes widened as he realized he was standing before Hoity Toity, the one who’d made his art bag. Looking closer at the bag, Hoity Toity stared at the intricately placed drawings that covered every part of the fabric, looking rather surprised as he spoke again in his aristocratic manner.

"Young man, I don't know what I was hoping to see here tonight, but to see one of my rarest designs be turned into… this… was not one of them!"

Looking up to Canvas, who was now looking worriedly at the fashion pony, Hoity Toity carried a stern look on his face as he spoke towards the artist. "Who exactly are you?"

Feeling his heart racing, Canvas gulped down some excess saliva before he gave his answer. "My… my name is Canvas, sir. I… I'm one of the artists for this gallery." Holding a hoof out to his paintings on the wall, Canvas watched as Hoity Toity's gaze went over the various paintings. Even though he was worried about insulting the designer with his bag, Canvas's mood began to lighten as he saw the charcoal pony's mouth hang open with surprise while he stared at the artwork.

"Well, well, welllll,” uttered Hoity Toity as he looked back at Canvas. "You did these yourself?"

Seeing how impressed the stallion was, Canvas nodded as he gave a light smile. "Yes I did. In fact…” Canvas pulled his art bag around to his chest while leaving it on his shoulder, allowing Hoity Toity to have a better look. "I've had this as an art bag for years. I gotta say, it's kind of an honor to meet the pony who made this."

Looking at the bag from the front like this, the designer's glance went up to Canvas with a curious look on his face. "May I?"

Canvas nodded before Hoity Toity carefully opened the front flap of the bag, lifting it with a hoof as he looked at the tag inside. "I see…” After looking for a few more seconds, the pony closed Canvas's bag before looking back up at him with a perplexed look on his face.

"Mister Canvas, I have only sold ten of these bags, and looking at the tag, I see that this was the very first one."

Canvas's eyes widened as he looked down at his bag, staring in shock as he let Hoity's words set in. He knew from Rarity that this was a rare bag, but he honestly didn't think it would be that rare. Looking back at the designer, Canvas noticed the stallion looking at him with widened eyes, blinking a few times before speaking again.

"I… I believe I remember who I made this for."

Canvas stepped back as he heard Hoity Toity's revelation, breathing heavily as the pony continued.

"I remember a mare came to my shop--a dark-blue Pegasus, who had a pure-black mane and the image of a tornado as a cutie mark."

Canvas's hoof came up to his mouth in shock as he tried to keep himself from crying. Staring wide-eyed at Hoity Toity, Canvas realized that this stallion, who probably did orders for thousands of ponies over the years, still remembered the mare known as Blowing Winds. As he felt his eyes moisten, Canvas just stood there, stunned as he looked down to the floor, reflecting on the fact that Hoity Toity had met his mother.

"When she came in,” continued the stallion, "she told me that she was looking for a bag for her son, who just discovered his talent in art. Even though she didn't have much money, she was insistent in finding something good for him to use. Although I usually didn’t take requests from strangers, I… I felt like she deserved something worth my attention. So after a few days of work, I made an art bag. The very bag you have on your shoulder right now."

Canvas looked back down to his bag, tears now coming down his face as his hoof tried to hide his smile. Of all the things he expected would happen tonight, finding out about how important his art bag was to the pony that made it was not one of them. Slowly lowering his hoof, Canvas looked back up to Hoity Toity, tears running down his face, surprising the designer pony as Canvas managed to respond in a faint whisper, "That… that was my Mom."

Even with the large number of ponies around them either conversing or looking at artwork, Hoity Toity was still willing to move forward and give Canvas a quick hug, closing his eyes as he felt Canvas hug back. Before letting go of the designer, Canvas was able to utter one last thing.

"... Thank you for what you’ve done.”

Letting go of the stallion, Canvas was about to rub his eyes dry with a hoof before Hoity Toity handed him a handkerchief, looking like he was about to tear up himself as he gave a kind smile.

"It's quite alright."

After giving him a light pat on the shoulder, Hoity Toity began to walk off as Canvas dried his eyes, only saying one last thing to the pony before heading back through the ballroom. "And don't worry, you can keep that handkerchief."

Canvas only nodded before he looked up, seeing that the pony was already gone. Looking down to his bag, Canvas felt a great warmth flow through his body as he realized how much dedication and generosity went into making this very item a reality. Breathing in deeply, Canvas finished wiping his face dry as Lyra walked up to him.

"Are you alright?" Lyra asked with worry in her voice. "Bon-Bon is alright with her catering right now, so I thought I could check on you. I saw you talking with Hoity Toity, and I've heard a lot of things about him being overcritical."

"Actually,” said Canvas as he placed the handkerchief in his bag, "he was really nice."

"Oh, alright." Waiting until Canvas looked okay, Lyra began to grin a little as she peered her head in. "Hey Canvas, wanna see something cool about this place?"

"Um…” Thinking about what to do, Canvas looked back at his paintings before turning back to the unicorn with a smile. "Sure. What is it?"

"Follow me."

After moving their way through dozens of Canterlot-type ponies, Canvas and Lyra were standing underneath the large dome roofing of the ballroom. Underneath the center of the dome, a large ornate statue of Starswirl the Bearded stood in the middle of the ballroom, with many ponies around it as they chatted with one another. Looking around, Lyra glanced up to the ceiling before taking two steps back, making sure her distance was correct before she motioned Canvas to stand beside her.

"I've been to this ballroom before,” said Lyra in an excited tone, "and I found out from an architect pony about a cool feature this place has. Apparently, If you stand at a certain spot from the statue and speak, the acoustics from the dome will carry the noise to the exact opposite spot."

Despite Lyra's enthusiastic grin, Canvas looked at her with a confused look on his face. "Okay, so… so what?"

"So,” said Lyra as she noticed a pony across from them, "if you talk here, the pony over there will hear it like somepony was right next to him. Watch…”

Looking rather eager to show Canvas, Lyra peered her head in forward slightly before making a loud whisper. "Boogers!"

As Lyra pointed across the statue, Canvas watched as the stallion across from them stood alone, then suddenly jerked his head around as he heard Lyra's voice. Seeing how the pony reacted to the word "boogers" out of nowhere, Canvas held a hoof to his mouth as he struggled not to laugh. Seeing Canvas getting the idea, Lyra moved to another spot by the statue, standing across from a rather large unicorn mare in a gaudy, green dress as she made another whisper.

"There's a stain on your dress!"

Suddenly, the mare jerked her head before she started to look upon her dress frantically. Once again, Canvas tried muffling his muzzle as he started cracking up. Looking over to Lyra, Canvas saw her motioning to him, letting him take a shot at this. Looking around, Canvas noticed the perfect target: Rarity, holding a drink in her hoof while chatting with Fluttershy with a stallion standing nearby. Seeing that the stallion was next to Rarity, Canvas positioned himself, noting his spot from the statue and below the dome before he made a whisper in a lowered tone of voice.

"Nice flank!"

With both Canvas and Lyra looking, Rarity heard the voice and turned around in anger before throwing the drink in the random stallion's face and storming off. While both the stallion and Fluttershy stood stunned, Lyra and Canvas began cracking up at what just happened.

"That was awesome!" Lyra said as she hoof-bumped Canvas. "A little bit meaner than I thought, but still pretty funny."

"Yeah,” said Canvas as he checked to make sure no tears came from his laughter. "Actually, a weird thing happened with me and Rarity today."

"Really, what?"

"Well…” Canvas looked back to Lyra with a smirk on his face before he continued. "When Rarity was cutting my mane, she…”Thinking about what happened, Canvas started to snicker a little.

"... She actually thought that Troy was my boyfriend."

As Canvas began chuckling a little to himself, Lyra just looked at him in confusion before she spoke. "Wait… you mean he isn't?"

Canvas suddenly stopped giggling as he looked back to Lyra, his eyes wide open as he looked in surprise.

"N-no… No, he's not."

Seeing Lyra's eyebrows raise up in surprise at him saying that, Canvas looked away as he tried to comprehend why she would think that. He knew that he and Troy were close, but he didn’t think that it would cause more than one pony to make that assumption about them. As Canvas stood looking at the floor, Lyra began to get worried as she walked up to him.

"Canvas? Canvas, I just thou--"

"Troy is just a friend!"

As Canvas's head shot back up while saying that, Lyra only looked with more concern as she saw how worked up he was getting.

"I mean, yeah, he's a close friend, but he's just a friend! I mean, I don’t get why so many ponies think that about us! It's just weird, you know?! Troy is… he’s…”

Seeing how upset Canvas was looking, Lyra stepped a little closer as she began to figure out why Canvas was like this.

"He… he’s a friend. Just… just a friend."

As Canvas looked down to the ground again and sighed, Lyra slowly put a hoof on his back, hoping she wasn't going to upset him with the question she was about to ask.

"Canvas… do you...

“... Do you like him?"

Canvas's head shot back up as he backed up from Lyra with wide-open eyes. Despite how freaked-out Canvas looked, Lyra's face stayed stern as she kept her composure, hoping Canvas wouldn’t run away from the question. Breathing heavily, Canvas saw Lyra look at him with a serious expression, waiting for an answer. Even though he didn’t want to talk to her about this, he still tried to give an answer as he looked away from the mare.

"Troy… Troy is my friend. He's just… just a friend."

"That wasn't what I asked."

Looking back to Lyra, Canvas saw that she was still keeping her stern look. Breathing harder, Canvas started looking around with worry before Lyra walked up to him, keeping him in her sight as she spoke again in a calmer tone. "Canvas, it's just a question. You don't have to worry."

After exhaling deeply one last time, Canvas looked back to Lyra with worry as she asked again, this time giving a warmer look to him.

"Canvas, do you like Troy? Like… as more than a friend?"

Canvas began to shake as he bit his lip, not wanting to answer the question. Sighing deeply, Canvas opened his mouth as Lyra stood before him, feeling his heartbeat come out faster as he tried to answer.

"Well… well, I…”

All this time, Canvas kept saying to himself that Troy was just a friend. Knowing all that the Gryphon had done for him, the last thing he wanted to do was admit to himself that there was anything more than that. Even though he knew a lot about Troy, and knew that he was Troy's closest friend, Canvas had no idea whether or not the Gryphon could feel any closer to him than that. Clenching his eyes shut, Canvas felt his heart about to burst as he tried to admit the one thing he didn’t even want to admit to himself.

"I… I...

“... I do.”

Realizing what he just said out loud, Canvas felt Lyra put a hoof around his shoulder, keeping him by her side as she held him. His eyes blinking a few times while against Lyra, Canvas felt his heart get heavier as he realized how right that sounded. After all this time, after all the constant reassurances that Troy was just a friend to him, Canvas could only hug Lyra back as he realized how he truly felt.

I have feelings for Troy.

After a little while, Lyra let go to make sure Canvas was alright. Looking at the pony, Lyra noticed that Canvas was staring at the floor wide-eyed, staring off into nothing as he let that realization sink in. Lyra looked back to the bar in the distance, noticing something before she turned back to Canvas with a reassuring smile.

"Canvas, it's alright."

"But…” Even though he just admitted to himself that he liked his best friend as more than a friend, Canvas gulped before he spoke again, afraid to ask the question that kept him from admitting he liked Troy in the first place.

"What… what if he doesn't like me back? I mean… what if he can't have feelings for me? Like… like I do for him?"

"Why? Because he's a Gryphon?"

Canvas looked back to Lyra as he tried to clarify that wasn't the reason, but was unable to speak up before Lyra continued with an optimistic tone of voice, "Because I've met a ton of ponies who are in great interspecies relationships! I've known ponies who are with Zebras, Buffalo, Mules, all kinds of other species. I think I heard of one pony who was with a Diamond Dog…”

"Lyra, I didn’t mean tha--"

"In fact,” Lyra interrupted, "I was talking with Twilight once, who told me that her brother knows of a Reserve Guard Pony who's currently in a relationship with a Changeling!"

"Well, that's just fine bu--really, a Changeling?"

Canvas stared at Lyra for a second in slight disbelief before continuing.

"Huh… Well, I didn’t mean it like that, Lyra. I… just don’t know if… he… he would want to be with a guy."

Seeing how flustered Canvas looked at his concern, Lyra put a hoof to his shoulder before trying to reassure him. "Canvas, I've seen how he acts around you. I might not know much about these kinds of things, but… but I do think he likes you."

Even though he was still worried, Canvas stared at Lyra with a skeptical look before replying, "Really? How can you tell?"

"Well,” the unicorn began as she looked back to the bar, "remember how his wings shot open as soon as he saw you with your short mane?"

"Yeah… so?”

Seeing how Canvas was looking at her, Lyra's eyes opened a little as she realized he didn’t know what she was talking about. "Wait… do you not know about that?"

"About what?"

Blinking a few times wide-eyed in surprise, Lyra took a breath before she explained, "Canvas, when… when wings shoot open like that… it means that…”

Cautious to anypony eavesdropping, Lyra looked around before she whispered the rest into Canvas's ear. Pulling back, Lyra saw Canvas blush a little as he stared at her, wide-eyed. Standing a few seconds in a frozen state, Canvas blinked a few times before he finally spoke in a doubtful tone.

"Nuh uh!"

"Yeah huh!" replied the mare as she put a hoof to her hip with a smirk. "Rainbow Dash told me so!"

"Oh please,” said Canvas, cynical about her claim, "his wings also did that when I cooked him bacon! That doesn’t mean anything."

Canvas looked away from Lyra for a few seconds, feeling like he made a valid point before his eyes shot wide open, realizing what he just told a pony he did. Looking back to Lyra--who now had her eyes as wide open as his--Canvas quickly tried to "correct" his statement.

"A salad. I cooked him a salad. He… he really likes salads."

Sweating a little bit from worry, Canvas tried to smile to verify his statement, making Lyra blink a couple times before replying. "I… I'm just going to pretend I didn’t hear any of that.”

Lyra looked away from Canvas, breathing out heavily before she closed her eyes and turned back to him. Opening her eyes, Lyra breathed in before she tried to make her point.

"Okay, I didn’t want to do this, but I think you should see something."

Motioning Canvas to follow her, the mint unicorn made her way through the crowds again, leading him to a large mirror hung on the wall. Looking back to the bar to make sure this would work, Lyra turned her attention to Canvas as he looked around. confused.

"Okay, what is it, Lyra? What did you want to show me?"

"This."

Using her magic, Lyra's mint aura slowly pulled the mirror out to one side as she made sure it was angled right for Canvas to see.

"Canvas,” said the mare as she looked around to make sure nopony was watching, "I want you to look at the bar from the mirror."

Nodding at her, Canvas looked into the mirror while it was angled out for him. With his eyes focused on the reflection of the bar, Canvas wasn't sure what it was Lyra was talking about until he saw Troy. Even from the skewed angle, Canvas could tell as clear as day that Troy was sitting at the bar, looking right at him as Canvas looked back.

When Lyra saw that he noticed, she placed the mirror back as Canvas looked back to the bar behind him. As soon as he looked to Troy, the Gryphon quickly turned his head away, as if he didn’t want to get caught staring. Blinking a few times with an open mouth in shock, Canvas turned back to Lyra as she looked with a warm smile.

"Canvas, I've been walking around this gallery all night, and every time I noticed Troy, he was looking right at you. And when I saw his face, it was the exact same one Bon-Bon had when she looked at me before we got together."

Seeing how genuine her statement was, Canvas looked down as he tried to collect himself. Even though he wanted nothing more than for her to be right, Canvas still didn’t want to keep his hopes up too high. Even if what Lyra was saying was true, Canvas still didn’t know for sure if Troy really felt that way for him. Letting her words sink in, Canvas could only looked back to the mare before speaking in a faint tone.

"I… I gotta think about some things."

Seeing that she got to him, Lyra smirked a little as she nodded back. "Go right ahead. Just remember what I said."

Nodding in agreement, Canvas gave a faint smile as he slowly walked back to his part of the exhibit, his mind now spinning as he was left wondering what to do now.

Yeah, I know, I made a pretty blatant reference to How I Met Your Mother with the whole statue thing; however, it's going to be relevant, I swear.

I also made a small reference to An Affliction of the Heart, a great fic that I highly recommend checking out.