After unlocking the door with his key card, Troy entered the hotel room with Canvas close behind, hearing the pony whistle in amazement as he saw how nice the room was. While the hotel Canvas had back in Ponyville was just a single room and bathroom, this space was much larger and more luxurious. Looking over to the lounge area, Canvas saw a rather nice white couch that matched the carpet and a large glass door leading to the balcony outside. Before Troy could say anything, Canvas rushed out to the balcony, seeing that the room boasted a great view of Canterlot.

Looking back to where Troy was, Canvas noticed the bedroom on the opposite end of the space. Walking back over to him, Canvas noticed that there was only one bed. Even though it was king-sized--and had a nice, white comforter, which matched everything else--Canvas worried whether Troy would be alright with something like this. Looking over to him, Canvas saw Troy taking off his tie before placing it in his satchel.

"Just so you know,” said Troy before turning back to Canvas with a smile, "I don't mind sharing the bed."

Even though Canvas was surprised Troy would go for something like that, he secretly couldn’t be any happier and nodded in agreement. As he began taking off his tie and dress shirt, Canvas blushed as he realized he was finally alone with Troy. After what happened in the train last night, Canvas didn't want an opportunity like that to pass him again. As Canvas looked over to Troy, he noticed him sitting on the bed as he was about to put a tape in his walkman.

Peering over, Canvas saw that he was listening to the soundtrack to Phantom of the Opera, something he didn’t expect him to have. Noticing Canvas, Troy gave a him light smirk and put the walkman aside. Not wanting to bring up his new acting gig so soon after Canvas's accomplishments, Troy cleared his throat and tried to bring up a new subject. "So Canvas, you have any idea of what you're going to paint for Celestia?"

Canvas gave a skewed eyebrow as he realized Troy was being serious. "Are you kidding me? I just got the job a few hours ago!"

"But still,” said the Gryphon as he readjusted his spot on the bed, "you gotta have some ideas floating around your head right now, right?"

Biting the inside of his cheek, Canvas thought about it before he responded. "Well, maybe an idea or two, but nothing worth writing down right now. I'm seriously still reeling in the fact that she actually picked me for this kind of thing! I mean, I still can’t believe she looked through all my stuff and decided to trust me with this!"

Seeing how cheerful Canvas was getting again, Troy grinned before speaking up.

"Yeah, and considering you had all your stuff in that bag, it's probably a good thing you don’t draw porn or anything!"

Thinking his little joke could help lighten the mood, Troy noticed Canvas get eerily silent. The pony turned back to him with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Actually…”

Troy's eyes widened before he bursted off the bed, surprised at what Canvas was implying. "No way!"

"Well…” Canvas began in a sheepish tone as he looked away from Troy, "I only did a few small sketches. I was hoping she didn’t notice them, but…”

Troy's beak dropped as he saw how guilty the pony was looking. "Seriously?! You drew that kind of stuff?!”

Canvas looked away a little more as his blush grew even deeper.

"Honestly, I was surprised she didn’t banish me to the moon for the one I made of her and Luna…”

"WHAT?!" shouted the Gryphon he jumped up to him. "You seriously did that!?!"

Before Troy could snatch Canvas's bag and look for himself, Canvas began to snicker a little and kept his head away from him. Not able to hold it in, Canvas fell to the floor, laughing and looking back to Troy as he pointed at him.

"Oh man!" Canvas said through his laughter, "I can't believe you fell for that!"

Seeing how much he was cracking up, Troy felt a wave of relief--and also slight disappointment--when he realized Canvas was just messing with him.

"Okay, that's pretty good,” said Troy as he shrugged and looked back to the bag. “So you seriously don’t draw that kind of stuff?"

"NO!” Canvas shouted as he got himself off the floor. "Of course not! You really think I would do that kind of thing?!"

"Well, you certainly have the talent for it, I'm sure." As Troy kept his smirk on the pony, he decided to keep going. "Honestly, you could probably get a good acting job after doing that!"

Canvas's eyes shot open as he looked at Troy. "Oh yeah, your acting thing! How did that go?"

Surprised Canvas remembered that, Troy looked around worriedly as Canvas stared at him, curious.

"Oh come on, Troy,” said Canvas. "I didn't get to ask you before, so did you--”

Canvas stopped his question as he slowly looked back to the bed, looking at Troy's walkman with the Phantom tape inside. Putting two and two together, Canvas slowly turned back to Troy, wide-eyed as a smile came to his muzzle.

“... No… way…”

Seeing how big Canvas's smile was getting, Troy looked away, embarrassed as he realized he couldn’t avoid it now.

"Umm… yeah… I… I got the lead for that."

As a small smile spread across on his beak, Troy felt Canvas almost lift him up as he suddenly hugged him tightly.

"That's so awesome, Troy! I knew you could do it!"

Letting the Gryphon go, Canvas kept a smile on his face as he trotted to the bed and looked at the tape. "So you're playing the Phantom? That is awesome! I mean it, I listened to that musical all the time when I was younger!" Canvas looked back to Troy with a cheerful look on his face before he continued his praise. "Man, I bet your audition was amazing!"

"Well…”

Troy thought back to that audition day, surprised that things went so well for him then.

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Even though Troy knew he was going to be an odd sight for everypony there, he didn’t take notice of any of the stares or whispers while he signed up outside the audition room. When he looked back to the rest of the ponies, he noticed that all of them were holding sheets of paper, which worried Troy; he had no idea what that was for. Before he could ask somepony, he heard a mare's voice behind him.

"Hey, you're Troy, right?"

Turning around, Troy saw a cross-eyed Pegasus mare staring at him--or at least one eye was--with a surprised smile on her face. "You're part of Rainbow Dash's weather crew, right?"

Even though he didn’t know the grey mare in front of him fairly well, he remembered Rainbow telling him about how she almost destroyed town hall once. "Umm… yeah. I think she mentioned you once,” Troy said.

Smiling at the Gryphon, the mare held out a hoof as she introduced herself. "It's nice to meet you, Troy! You can call me Derpy if you want."

While he was surprised she doesn’t mind being called that, Troy just shrugged as he shook her hoof with his claw. "Well, it's nice to meet you too."

"I gotta say,” said Derpy as she looked around, "I'm surprised a Gryphon like you is doing something like this."

"Well,” said Troy as he rubbed the back of his neck, "honestly, I was doing this because a friend suggested it."

"I can understand that. My daughter Dinky wanted me to do this too." Derpy smiled at Troy. Her head cocked to the side as she noticed he wasn't holding a song sheet. "So Troy, what song are you doing for your audition?"

"Oh, um…” Even though Troy knew this was a musical, he honestly didn't think much about his preparations. "I'm not sure. Maybe Nessun Dorma or something?"

Derpy looked at the Gryphon with a confused look on her face as she tried to understand what he said. "Nessa what? I don't remember that being in the list."

"What list?"

"Over there." Derpy pointed to a long table, which was filled with stacks of different song sheets. "You're supposed to do one of the songs over there, so the director can know who does the songs best."

Seeing the stacks, Troy felt a knot in his gut as he realized this was going to be tougher than he thought. As he walked over to the table, Troy saw that were ten different songs to choose from; however, there wasn't a single one that he knew at all. Seeing how worried Troy was looking, Derpy stood next to him while he looked between the different sheets.

"Is something wrong?" Derpy asked with a worried tone, "Are you good at any of these?"

"I have no idea!" said Troy as he looked over at Derpy. "I usually just listen to opera! I… I don't know any of these songs!"

"Seriously?" said Derpy in disbelief. "All of these are pretty well-known. You live under a rock or something?"

"No, the Gryphon Kingdom,” said Troy in a bitter tone. He knew that doing this would be a big change for him, but he didn’t expect it to be this drastic so soon. As he continued to shuffle between the sheets, Derpy tried to calm him down.

"Don't worry. I think we can find something for you."

As the two of them looked through the lists, Troy's claw stopped on one sheet when he read the title. Picking it up, Troy started reading the lyrics as the mare noticed, looking over his back as she saw what he had.

"Ooh!" said Derpy in an optimistic tone. "That's a really good one!"

"I guess,” said Troy as he looked through the words. Even though he had no idea how the song went, Troy certainly liked the lyrics it had. Remembering what just happened with him and Canvas, this song felt surprisingly fitting for this audition. Turning back to Derpy, Troy held the sheet in his claws and asked, "So Derpy, you know how this song goes?"

"Sure do!" said Derpy in a chipper tone. "In fact, I think a couple of ponies before you are doing that song too! You can probably listen in on them so you can see how you wanna do it."

"Really?" A smile came back on Troy's beak as he realized this could still work out for him. "Thanks!"

After sitting in the back of theater while auditions were held, Troy was able to hear several different ponies sing the same song he was doing. While most of them weren't exactly the best singers, Troy was still able to at least hear how the song went, and know how he was supposed to sing it. After several more ponies sang other songs to the director in front of them, Troy almost didn't hear when she called out for him.

"Clawston? Troius Clawston?"

Troy quickly got up from his seat as he replied, "That's me, ma'am. I'm Troy."

As he walked over to the front of the stage, the orange mare stared in surprise, not expecting a Gryphon to be auditioning. Troy walked up to the stage with the song sheet in his claw, still feeling nervous about doing a song he’d just learned. However, knowing how Canvas felt about him doing this, the Gryphon was insistent on trying his best.

"Well, hello,” said the director in a surprised tone. "Are you auditioning for the play?"

"Yes I am,” said the Gryphon in a worried tone. "To be honest, I… I've never done this before."

"Just do the song,” the director said sternly as she pointed a hoof over to the unicorn stallion at the piano. Troy handed the sheet over to him, hoping to Celestia he had all the words memorized. Before the stallion began the song, the director looked back over to Troy.

"So, Mister Clawston, what song are you going to be doing?"

"Umm… it’s called…”

Troy quickly looked back to the sheet on the piano to read the title, making the director facehoof before he looked back to her.

"It's called… 'Not While I'm Around.’”

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"So, can I hear it?"

Shaking his head back into reality, Troy looked over to Canvas as he realized the pony asked a question. "Wait, what?"

"Can I hear the song you did?"

While Troy wasn't expecting Canvas to ask that question, he seemed hesitant to do something like that, even with how eager the pony looked. "I…”

Remembering why he did that song in the first place, he honestly didn’t feel that comfortable singing it in front of Canvas. "I… I don't know, Canvas."

"Oh come oooooonnnn!" Canvas said, looking at Troy with a pout. "I won't make fun of you or anything, I swear!"

"I just…” Not sure how he could avoid Canvas's request, Troy just stood with his beak clenched shut as he tried to think of a good excuse. "I just… I don’t know if--”

"Please?"

Looking back to Canvas, who was now sitting on the bed, Troy felt his heart cringe as he saw how happy the stallion looked. As he anxiously waited for Troy's answer, Canvas stayed hopeful that he would do this for him before he asked again.

"Please, Troy? It… it would mean a lot to me."

Seeing how Canvas looked, Troy couldn’t help but feel guilty. Knowing there was no way out of this, the Gryphon sighed as he looked around, finding a good spot before he looked back to Canvas.

"Alright. I… I'll do it."

Canvas smiled and sat eagerly on the bed. Troy walked over to the middle of the lounge area, noting his place as he breathed in. Seeing how excited Canvas looked, Troy felt his heart beat a little faster as he thought about how he felt on that stage. After looking back at Canvas one last time, Troy closed his eyes as he tried to imagine himself in that theater again.

Even though he was now standing on a spotless, white carpet, Troy tried to imagine his talons against the hardwood floors of the stage as he slowly lifted his foreleg to his chest. Remembering how he felt at that moment, Troy recalled why he held his chest like that in the first place. As he heard the piano begin to play in his head, Troy imagined he was in front of that director again, feeling her judgmental stare as he held his foreleg to his chest to try to match that warmth he felt before.

To match that warmth he felt when he was holding Canvas that night.

Keeping his eyes shut, Troy swallowed some excess saliva in his throat as he imagined the music playing, clearing his throat before he opened his beak, letting the words come out.

Nothing's gonna harm yooouuu… Not while I'm aroooooound…

Nothing's gonna harm you, no sir… Not while I'm arooooound…

As he got more used to being alone in the room with Canvas while he sang, his voice started to come out louder as he sang some more.

Demons are prowling everywhere, nowadaaaaaayyyyyyyyssss…

I'll send them howling, I don't care… I got waaaaaaayyyyyyyyysssss…

Keeping his foreleg against his chest, Troy kept his head hung low as he pictured the warmth he imagined then. As the words kept coming out, Troy kept singing as he imagined he was back at Canvas's home, holding him against his chest as their heartbeats synced in the moonlight.

No one's gonna hurt yooooouuuu… No one's gonna daaaaarrrrrreee…

Others may desert you; not to worry, whistle, I'll be theeerrrrrrrreeeee…

Even though Troy only knew song for less than an hour before he performed it, he remembered how genuine his voice came out as be belted out the last lines, keeping the thoughts he had fresh in his mind while he kept his chest warm.

Demons may charm you with a smilllle… for a whilllle...

But… Iiiiiiin… Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmeee!

Troy raised his head to the ceiling at that last note, keeping his eyes clenched shut as he slowly lowered his head back down and finished the song.

Nothing can harm yoooouuuuuuu… Not while iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'mmm…

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaroooooooooooouuuuuuuunnnnndddd…

Breathing heavily, Troy stayed in that position for a while before he slowly opened his eyes, looking down at the white carpet below him. Looking back up, Troy saw Canvas sitting on the bed frozen, keeping a hoof up to his mouth as he stared intensely at Troy. Even from this distance, Troy was able to see a couple faint trails of tears stream down Canvas's face, as the stallion looked at the Gryphon with pure admiration.

“... W… wow…”

Seeing how blown away Canvas was, Troy felt his heart get lighter as he realized what he managed to do for him. Before either one could say anything, the sound of cheering and hooves clapping could be heard outside. Troy instantly felt his heart shoot down to his stomach as he turned his head to the balcony, his eyes growing wide as he realized Canvas never closed that door.

Running to the balcony, Troy could only look horrified as he realized that all the ponies around their hotel room had just heard him and were cheering from their balconies (as well as a few on the street) and applauding him. Troy's feathers instantly ruffled out as he slowly stepped back from the unexpected cheers.

"Wooo!”

"Encore!"

"Do another song!"

Closing the door shut to muffle the clapping and laughter, Troy turned back to Canvas, carrying a huge blush under his ruffled feathers as he saw the stallion struggle not to laugh on the bed. Keeping his tear-covered face away from Troy, Canvas struggled to breathe as he tried to speak. "I… swear to Celestia, I had no idea that door was open!"

Even though Troy felt like he was going to die of embarrassment, he started to feel a little better as he saw Canvas slowly stop laughing. As Canvas looked back at Troy, the pony's face went back to the grateful look he had before as he looked at his friend.

"Troy… I'm sorry about that, but… wow…”

Canvas breathed in, letting the silence speak for himself as Troy's feathers gradually went back down. Wiping the tears from his eyes, Canvas kept his eyes on his friend before he finished his statement.

"That… that was perfect."

Troy gave a small smile back before he looked away sheepishly, feeling happy that he made Canvas feel this good from his singing. Holding his foreleg back to his chest again, he started feeling that warmth inside as he thought back to what Canvas said at the gallery. Thinking about the pony's words by that statue, Troy tried to think about what to say. Troy wanted him to know that he really did care about him, remembering what Canvas said about wanting to make up for everything the Gryhpon did. As he turned back, Troy saw that Canvas was still smiling at him with a look of admiration, causing him to try to clear his throat before the stallion spoke first.

"Troy, I… I've heard that song before, but… that was way better than any other version I've heard. I mean… that was beautiful."

"Yeah, well…” Troy rubbed the feathers on the back of his neck as he looked at his friend, breathing in as he tried thinking of what to say to him. "It's just that…”

I do care about you, Canvas.

You really do mean a lot to me.

I'm not sure why, but...

I really do like being with you.

"You don't owe me anything."

Hearing Troy's words, Canvas looked at him, confused as he tried to figure out what he meant. "Ummm… wait, what do you me--"

"Back at the gallery, I… I heard what you said. And… and you don't have to make up for anything."

Canvas's eyes widened in shock as he realized that Troy heard him when he was by that statue. Breathing harder, Canvas looked down at the bed while Troy kept going.

"Canvas, I've never known anyone I cared about more than you. You're a great friend, and--and that's why I like spending time with you. I mean… you're the biggest reason I've gotten friends here in Equestria."

Canvas looked back up to Troy, slightly confused. Even though he remembered what Rainbow Dash told him at the train station that day, Canvas wasn't sure how much he actually helped him out until Troy kept speaking.

"I mean… before I met you, I… I didn’t really have any real friends. I… I left the Gryphon Kingdom so I can have a good life and be happy like my grandparents did. But… but I wasn't able to really be social, you know? I… I had a hard time adjusting to Equestrian life. But then… when I found you before that storm… that was when I started to become closer to ponies around me. And when I finally started talking with you… you became my first real friend since I moved here."

Hearing Troy's words, Canvas felt his heart get heavier as he thought about what he was saying. He knew that Troy spent a lot of time with him, but he didn’t realize it was because of something like that. Feeling a smile grow on his muzzle, Canvas realized that he really did help Troy as much as the Gryphon helped him. Seeing the faint smile grow on Troy's beak, Canvas felt his heart begin to flutter again as Troy finished his statement.

"Canvas, I'm just saying that… you shouldn't think I don't care that much about you, because I do. I may have helped you a lot, but… you helped me too. I… .I really do care about you, and you really are important to me."

Canvas sat on the bed in silence as he smiled at Troy, feeling his heart beat faster as he let the Gryphon's words sink in. Breathing deeply, Canvas couldn’t stop thinking about what to say to him right now, what he'd been wanting to say to him for so long.

I love you.

I love you, Troy.

I love you so much.

Before any of the words could escape from Canvas's mouth, a knock came from the door, slightly startling the two of them before Troy broke the silence. "I'll get it."

Walking to the door, Troy opened it to see a unicorn maid with a large cart next to her, who looked a little frightened when she saw the Gryphon at the door.

"Oh, umm…” Despite her surprise at seeing Troy, the grey mare was quick to compose herself before she spoke. "I'm here with the room service?"

Troy turned back to Canvas, confused at seeing that the stallion looked the same way before he turned back to the maid. "Umm, I don’t think we ordered any room service."

"Oh, it's supposed to be a gift, from…” Using her magic, the maid's silver aura pulled out a card from the cart, levitating it in front of her as she read it aloud. "It's from a pony named Glimmer Heart. It says, 'Congratulations on a successful evening. Have a great night.’”

Troy looked back at Canvas with a surprised look on his face before he turned back to the maid, looking rather happy as he saw the large cart next to her.

"Really? That… that's really nice of her."

The maid smiled as she lit up her horn, using the aura wrapped around the cart to push it into the room as she replied, "I'll just leave it here for you two."

As Canvas hopped off the bed to look at the cart, the maid nodded to the both of them with a smile before she left. "Have a nice evening."

Troy waved goodbye to her before closing the door, walking over to the cart while Canvas started opening the silver platter lids. Looking at the arrangement, Canvas looked rather surprised as he saw how much stuff was delivered to them: two large bowls of strawberries (along with a bowl of whipped cream); a small bowl of cashews; a plate of assorted fruits; and a bucket of ice with several bottles of water.

However, a gasp from Troy caught Canvas's attention. He noticed the Gryphon staring at another large bucket of ice, which had two huge glass bottles sticking out. Pulling out one of the brown bottles with his claw, Troy looked absolutely ecstatic when he recognized the blue labeling and Gryphonian text. He looked over to Canvas with the biggest smile on his face.

"No freaking way!" Troy shouted as he held onto the bottle. "I couldn’t find this stuff anywhere in Equestria!"

Looking at the bottle, Canvas wasn't able to read the odd writing to know what the Gryphon was holding. "So… what is it?"

"Dude…” Troy said with his grin growing even bigger, "This is by far, without a doubt, the best root beer ever made! I mean it, I've tried some of the stuff you ponies have, but none of it even comes close to this!"

Troy quickly grabbed the second bottle and handed it to Canvas, surprising the pony when he realized how large it really was. As the near-freezing bottle started to already make his hoof cold, Canvas looked back to Troy, smirking a little as he saw how excited Troy was getting by holding something like this. Using a talon, Troy quickly popped off the tops of both their bottles, holding his out to Canvas as the steamy mist began escaping from the top.

"A toast,” said Troy with a grin on his beak, "to an awesome night."

Canvas grinned back as he held his bottle out to Troy's.

"And to an awesome friend."

With a loud 'clink' from the tops of the glass bottles touching, Canvas and Troy shared a drink. While Canvas was surprised by how extremely strong the taste was as it swished around his tongue, he quickly began to drink more as he enjoyed the fizzy sweetness hitting his taste-buds. Letting the bottle go from his lips, Canvas marveled at how little he actually drank before looking back to Troy, who let loose a long sigh as he savored the taste.

"Aaaaahhhhhhh, man! You don't know how long it's been since I had one of these bad boys!"

"Well, I gotta admit,” said the stallion as he held the bottle in his hoof with a smile, "this is actually really good stuff."

As the two kept drinking, neither of them noticed a small orb of mint-colored magic, hanging from above the doorway from the balcony.

Next Chapter: Chapter Thirty-Five: Getting Closer Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 14 Minutes