Feeling the morning light begin to come in through the window, Canvas turned his head away and stuffed his face against one of the pillows. Even though he knew he wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep, Canvas stayed in that spot on the mattress, savoring the comfort between the blanket and the sheets. As he reached a hoof out to the other side, Canvas realized that Troy wasn't there, feeling only more of the softness of the blankets before he dropped his hoof in acceptance. His sigh was slightly muffled by the pillow. Canvas slowly opened his eyes as he adjusted to the brightness of the room.

Since Troy had moved into Canvas's home, one of the biggest changes that was made was to the pony's bed. Even though the king-sized mattress still laid in its original spot in the loft, the frame for it was long gone. It was replaced by a large assortment of blankets and comforters that surrounded the mattress lying on the floor.

While Troy was originally worried about what Canvas would think about his bed becoming a large, makeshift nest, he was pleasantly surprised when he saw how much the stallion enjoyed it. Since the nest made it so there was no hard landing from the bedding to the floor, Canvas ungracefully rolled his body over the wall of blankets that went around the mattress and plopped down on the hardwood floor underneath him.

Even though Canvas had plans for the day, his legs felt especially resistant on moving that morning. He laid still on the hardwood floor for a moment. Before he could close his eyes and attempt to take a light nap on the ground, the sound of orchestral music playing downstairs caught Canvas's attention. His ears picked up the voice of his lover singing downstairs.

La miiiiiiiiiiiii… a latizia infoooooondere…

Vorreeeeeeei nel suo bel coooooore!

While he never thought he would be the kind of pony to like opera, the Gryphon's voice had really helped Canvas to appreciate the music over these past few months. Even though he still didn’t understand a word of any of the songs, the stallion couldn’t care less as he kept his attention on Troy's voice, closing his eyes as he savored the Gryphon's enthusiastic singing from the kitchen.

Vorreeeeeeeeei destar co' palpiti…

Del miiiiiiiiiiiio beato amoooooorrrrre…

Slowly, Canvas began to force his legs to move again and reluctantly lifted his body up from the floor. Even though his body still felt way too tired to do much, Canvas's mind was wide awake at the moment, and his desire to be close to Troy was more than enough to overcome his body's apathy. As soon as his hooves adjusted to holding his weight, Canvas slowly trotted down the stairs, listening as Troy's voice became louder from downstairs.

Taaaante armonie nell'eeeeeteeereeeee…

Quaaaaaanti pianeti egli ha…

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Canvas saw that the record player was playing on full blast, which still wasn't enough to overpower the Gryphon's passionate voice. Smelling something good coming from the kitchen (a rare occurrence when Troy was cooking), Canvas pushed open the kitchen door, revealing Troy's feathered back. The Gryphon stood in front of the stove, singing to himself.

Aaaaah! Ir seeeeeco al cielo, ed ergermi…

Doooooove mortal, mortal non va!

Seeing two large stacks of pancakes already done as they sat on two plates next to the stove, Canvas's stomach growled a little, catching Troy's attention halfway through one of the verses.

Ir seeeeeco al cielo, ed eeeerg-…

Turning his head around, Troy noticed Canvas standing by the kitchen doorway, keeping a cheeky grin on his muzzle as he looked at the Gryphon. Even though he'd gotten used to singing in front of others--especially after that play performance--Troy still felt his feathers ruffle a little in embarrassment as he stood by the stove, making Canvas giggle a little.

"Hehe… you're weird, Troy."

Troy raised an eyebrow and looked over to Canvas with a smirk. "Seriously? I thought you liked me weird."

"I do,” said Canvas as he trotted into the kitchen, keeping a grin on his muzzle as he continued, "but if somepony told me several months ago that one day, an opera-singing Gryphon would be making me pancakes in my kitchen, I would assume that Discord was on the loose again."

Troy chuckled a little as he looked back to the skillet, realizing that the pony had a fair point. "I guess,” he said as he quickly flipped two of the pancakes. "But you gotta admit, I'm way better than an alarm clock."

Canvas's grin grew bigger as he threw his hooves around Troy's neck, speaking in a more seductive tone of voice.

"Troy, you're way better than a lot of things."

Troy scoffed a little as a smile grew on his beak, before he grabbed the stallion by the back to give him a proper morning wakeup. Without hesitation, the Gryphon pulled Canvas in as they shared their first kiss of the morning, neither of them noticing the pancakes in the skillet beginning to burn as their mouths meshed together.

Feeling Canvas's tongue begin to slip in through his open beak, Troy gladly accepted it as he pulled the stallion's head in tighter. Ever since Canvas finished the painting and had it sent to Canterlot two weeks ago, the two had been a lot closer within their home, taking advantage of the new physical additions of their relationship whenever they saw fit. However, before anything could happen this early in the morning, Troy pulled his head back, coughing a little as he grimaced a bit.

"Dude,” Troy said, trying to overcome the taste of morning breath in his mouth, "you should really brush your teeth first."

Canvas blushed a little and closed his mouth, realizing the Gryphon was right as he tasted his own breath. However, Troy was quick to make Canvas feel better as he pulled back in and nuzzled Canvas's cheek. Canvas smiled again at the feeling of his lover's feathers against his fur.

Suddenly, Canvas noticed a small patch of white smoke rising from behind Troy before speaking up. "Umm… Troy, the pancakes."

"OH BUCK!"

Troy quickly let go of Canvas and turned back to the stove, moving the skillet over to the other burner before he tried pulling out the now-ruined pancakes. Seeing that they were burned beyond recognition, Troy groaned under his breath before lifting the skillet from the stove, looking rather disappointed as he walked over to the nearby trashcan and tossed the burnt items inside.

Meanwhile, Canvas took the smaller stack of pancakes with the plate in his mouth and trotted out to their dining table. Happy that Canvas gave him the larger stack, Troy grabbed the bottle of syrup before putting down the skillet and following him.

Canvas and Troy sat in silence for a little while, letting the opera music continue to play on the record player nearby as they ate their breakfast. Seeing a rather large grin on Troy's face as he ate, Canvas eyed him curiously before saying something about it.

"Well, Troy, you're looking rather happy today."

Troy's grin grew even bigger before he replied, "Well, Derpy came over today to deliver our mail, and…" The Gryphon then pulled out a large yellow sheet, holding up as he carried a huge smile on his beak.

"… Our order finally came in!"

Canvas blinked a few times in confusion, trying to remember what they had ordered. Suddenly, the stallion's eyes shot wide open. The same smile Troy had spread across his muzzle.

"Dude! You mean the root beer finally came in?!"

"Yep!" said the Gryphon in a cheerful tone of voice. "I have to go into Ponyville and pick it up from the post office since it's so heavy, but it's finally here!"

While it had been too late for either of them to get that Gryphonian root beer from a store in Canterlot while they were there, Lyra was still gracious enough to give them the information so they could have it shipped to their home. However, due to the massive shipping costs and delays--especially for the huge order that Troy made--Canvas almost completely forgot about the order that they made over a month ago.

As he saw Troy holding up the receipt in his talons, Canvas was feeling especially excited since he was already planning to go into town today. Before Canvas could get himself ready to go into town with his boyfriend, Troy put up a claw before he continued, "I'll go get the order myself. I was planning to just fly the stuff over here anyways, and it's probably gonna be heavy enough by myself."

Despite wanting to get some groceries for dinner tonight, Canvas nodded as he realized Troy had a point. Even though he wanted to help him out, the stallion knew an Earth Pony could only do so much without the aid of flight. And considering how tired his legs still felt, Canvas figured he should at least wait until this afternoon to do anything, so he could build up his strength in the meantime.

Looking back to his studio, Canvas sighed before he turned and replied, "Alright, I guess I can do something until you get back. I've been wanting to get the chance to paint for fun again, anyways."

Hoping he didn't disappoint his coltfriend too much, Troy got out of his chair and bent forward, nuzzling Canvas lovingly before he spoke. "I'll be back soon, alright?"

Canvas only nodded as he gave him a smile, kissing him on the cheek before Troy left the barn.

In the months since Troy and Canvas became a couple, the summer months became a part of the past, as the autumn leaves began to appear across Equestria.

As Troy soared above the skies toward Ponyville, he saw how much the leaves had changed color in the recent weeks; the forests were no longer the huge sea of green they were before. Flying through the chilly winds, the Gryphon looked below and saw the massive splashes of different colors underneath his wings, ranging from the brightest yellows to the dullest browns. Seeing how stunning everything looked on the ground, Troy could understand why Canvas would want to paint something today, since inspiration seemed to be in the air already.

Speaking of inspiration, Troy's mind began to ponder during his flight, as he thought back to what Rainbow Dash told him about doing something special during the Grand Galloping Gala. While he knew he had to do something special for his stallion, Troy honestly couldn't think of anything big to do. Most of the romantic gestures he could think of were more appropriate for mares, and he knew he had to do something better for Canvas than flowers or jewelry.

As the autumn leaves began to reveal the town of Ponyville in the distance, Troy decided to put his worries on the back burner for a bit and headed to the post office.

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Holding the paintbrush in his mouth, Canvas certainly felt a lot more at ease with his painting than he did before. Since the past few months had all been focused with getting paintings done for others, Canvas hadn't really found the time to do something for himself, or something just for fun. As he felt the handle of the brush between his lips, the end sliding against the canvas board and sending a slight vibration back to his mouth, Canvas felt a lot more relaxed and focused on the colors combining in front of him. Since this new painting helped to make him so calm, the stallion didn't seem to notice or care whenever he moved his head in too closely to the board, making a small smudge of paint stain his snout.

As his painting started to fill more of the white canvas with color to make a purposely abstract piece, Canvas almost didn’t notice when he heard a large “thump” from outside the barn. Hearing the door open from the living space, he heard a large amount of grunting from Troy as something heavy was dragged into the room.

With a big smile on his face, Canvas trotted over to the door from his studio, opening it to see a huge wooden crate in the middle of the main room. Holding a crowbar in his claws, Troy hurriedly pried the crate open, revealing the dozens upon dozens of large brown and blue bottles inside. Even though Troy looked like he was going to start chugging several of the bottles of root beer right at that moment, the Gryphon grabbed a few bottles in each claw before flying into the kitchen and opening the fridge.

"Ooh!" Canvas tried to catch Troy's attention while he tried to cool down the first batch of root beer, holding a hoof up as he said, "Put them in some ice with water and salt! That's supposed to make them cool down faster!"

Troy's head popped out from the kitchen with a surprised look on his face."Really?"

"Yeah,” said the pony with a more confident tone of voice, "I think I heard Twilight say something about that once. I think there's a cooler in one of the bottom shelves."

Nodding to his coltfriend, Troy went back into the kitchen, finding the large, red cooler before he started pouring in ice from the freezer.

"Oh man!" said Troy in an anxious tone of voice as he started putting the bottles of root beer in the ice. "It sucks that it took so long for this order to come in, but I don’t even care anymore!"

Troy turned on the faucet and grabbed the large container of table salt from the top shelf. As he poured the water and salt into the cooler, Troy almost didn’t notice Canvas standing in the doorway with a grin on his muzzle, hearing the ice already begin to crack apart and melt from the other things being added to it. As soon as the cooler was crammed with as many bottles as possible between the freezing slush inside the cooler, Troy turned back to Canvas with a grin on his beak, which scrunched in a little as he tried not to giggle.

"What?" Canvas asked with a confused look on his face, not realizing he still had a large glob of pink paint on his snout.

Trying not to crack up, Troy looked away slightly and tried to stifle his laughter. "You… you've been painting, haven’t you?"

Despite becoming even more confused from how his boyfriend was looking at him, Canvas only nodded as he kept his eyebrow skewed at him. "Yes… yes, I have…"

Knowing the root beer would still take at least five minutes before they're cool enough to drink, Canvas looked back to his studio before turning back to Troy. "Those will probably be good in less than ten minutes, so I'm gonna paint some more, okay?"

Troy only nodded with a smirk before he watched Canvas trot out of the kitchen, making his way back to the studio before Troy could giggle some more. Seeing the small cloud of freezing fog start to cloud around the lip of the cooler, Troy's grin grew even bigger, feeling especially happy that Canvas knew a neat little trick like that. Realizing that it probably would take a few minutes for them to cool, Troy decided to check up on Canvas and see what he was painting.

Walking into the studio, Troy was surprised when he saw Canvas painting with his hoof, using the paintbrush tied to it as he continued with his abstract painting. Not noticing the Gryphon for a moment, Canvas began to swish the brush across the board, giving the piece several aimless swirls of black lines across the pre-existing colors before he heard Troy's talons on the hardwood floor. Turning back to him, Canvas smiled and looked at Troy. His smile slowly diminished as soon as he saw the Gryphon start to giggle again.

"What is it?" said the stallion insistently, putting a hoof to his side as he looked at Troy with a slightly irritated look on his face. Before Troy could say anything, Canvas's eyes began to cross together and he finally noticed the pink paint on his snout.

While Canvas began to blush at the realization of why the Gryphon was acting this way, Troy almost fell to the floor as he busted up laughing. Holding himself up with a foreleg while he brought a claw to his face, Troy kept cracking up as Canvas's face grew redder.

The pony finally spoke up and rolled his eyes. "Okay, ha ha ha, very funny. So that's why you've been eyeing me like a vulture?"

Even though he had difficulty stopping his laughter, Troy still tried to look more serious as he eyed Canvas. "Dude… just so you know, calling me a vulture is kind of a big insult back where I'm from."

"Oh…" Not wanting to upset his boyfriend too much from his own ignorance, Canvas dipped his brush in the can of black paint before walking up to Troy and putting a quick slab across his beak.

"There,” said Canvas with a smirk as Troy stood there, dumbfounded. "Now you look like a toucan!"

While Canvas started to giggle at his own little joke, Troy's eyes narrowed on him before he reached a claw to an open can of paint. Still giggling, Canvas didn’t notice Troy dip his talons in the yellow paint before he slathered them on the pony's face. Canvas's laughing suddenly turned to a gasp as he looked at his boyfriend wide-eyed, not expecting him to do that at all.

"There,” said Troy with his own smirk on his beak, "now you look like… um… a pony covered in paint!"

Standing in silence for a few seconds, Canvas's shocked face slowly turned to a sly grin. His eyes narrowed and focused on the Gryphon. Without looking away, Canvas reached for an open can of paint, making Troy's eyes narrow on him as he did the same. Before Canvas's grin could grow to Cheshire levels, the stallion put up a hoof to Troy, making him pause.

"Wait."

Canvas quickly took the brush off his hoof before picking up a tarp sheet from the ground, holding it in his mouth as he draped it over his current painting. After looking around to make sure nothing important would get ruined, Canvas turned back to Troy with a devilish grin and held onto his can.

"Alright, now we can start!"

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Groaning under her breath, Rainbow Dash looked rather upset as she flew closer to Troy's place. Even though she knew she needed him for this task, she didn’t want to waste time flying here when she could get more done in Ponyville right now.

Seeing Troy and Canvas's barn ahead of her, the cyan mare landed on the ground, noticing that there were already some small paintings that had been added to the coat of white paint outside the home. While it was only on a quarter of one side of the home, the Pegasus could tell that there was already a bit of good stuff painted on it. Even though it mostly amounted to some small doodles and symbols in various colors, it certainly looked like something Canvas would do, matching the style of drawings he had on his art bag.

Before she could knock on the door to their living space on the side, Rainbow Dash heard some banging from the front in the studio. Knowing how busy Canvas was with his painting, the mare figured that he was just busy with a new piece, and that he probably wouldn’t hear her from the side door. Trotting over to the front of the barn, Rainbow didn’t bother knocking as she pulled one of the doors open, hoping the stallion could tell her where Troy was as she stuck her head in.

"Hey Canvas, do yo--WHOOOOA!!!"

Rainbow Dash shot her head out from the studio, flying back several dozen feet in shock as she looked away from the barn and started laughing uncontrollably.

"Sorry guys!" shouted the mare as she began to blush deeply. "I didn’t mean to see that, I swear!"

"Seriously, Dash?!" yelled Troy from inside the studio. "Haven’t you heard of knocking?!"

Before Rainbow Dash could reply, Troy walked out of the studio with an angry look on his face--which was slightly less intimidating, considering he was now completely covered in about ten different colors of paint. Holding a blank canvas board over the lower section of his body with his talons, Troy looked up to the giggling mare hovering in the air with an extremely aggravated look on his face before yelling at her.

"Seriously, Dash, what do you want?! This is my day off!"

"Yeah, I can tell,” said Dash as she looked away from Troy, holding a hoof out to him while she tried to keep herself from cracking up. "I knew he liked painting, but I didn’t expect that!"

As he heard the mare's snickering, Troy began to blush heavily over the annoyed look on his face, which was luckily covered by huge splotches of blue and green paint on him. Hoping to save his situation, Troy looked away from her as he said, embarrassed, "We were… we were having a paint fight…"

"Dude!" Rainbow Dash kept a hoof pointed at Troy as she kept laughing, struggling to keep herself in flight from her difficulty breathing. "That did NOT look like you two were fighting, Troy!"

"Well… it started as a paint fight…”Troy's dark blush was now distinguishable from the paint on his face. He looked down to the ground and fidgeted his talons together.

"But then we started making out in the paint, and one thing led to another--”

"Dude, I don’t want to know!" Feeling her laughter start to subside, Rainbow Dash tried to recompose herself before she looked back to Troy with a more serious look on her face. "I'm sorry for walking in on that, but we need your help with storm prep today."

"Seriously?" Troy asked, obviously annoyed. "I thought Thunderlane was taking care of the storm tonight!"

"He was,” said Rainbow as she put a hoof to the back of her neck, "but he threw out his wing getting the nimbostratus clouds ready. He needs to go to the doctor, and we still need to get this storm going so the leaves can be loosened enough for the Running of the Leaves next month."

Looking back to the open door of the studio--Canvas luckily out of sight from the two of them--Troy groaned as he realized this wasn't something he could just put off. Even though he wanted to spend a nice night alone with Canvas, Troy knew that he was needed for this task if Thunderlane was out of commission. Closing his eyes in frustration, Troy sighed before he looked back up to Rainbow Dash.

"Alright, fine!" Troy looked back to the studio, hoping he wouldn’t upset Canvas too much. "Just give me… twenty minutes to get cleaned up."

Canvas called out from inside the studio, "Make it forty!"

Rainbow Dash looked away as she tried not to giggle, while Troy replied back into the studio, "Thirty minutes?"

“... Okay, honey."

Troy looked back to Rainbow with a satisfied smile on his beak. "I'll be there in thirty minutes."

"Ugh,” said Rainbow as she kept her gaze away from Troy. "Fine, fine. Just clean yourself up and get your vest, alright?"

Troy nodded before Rainbow Dash flew off, heading back to Ponyville. The Gryphon still held the board over his body as he walked back into the studio. Canvas looked at him from behind the red couch, looking rather upset behind the large slabs of yellow and pink paint on his face as he stared at Troy.

"Seriously?" Canvas asked, irritated, "You had to take one of my good canvas boards?"

Looking down at the board, Troy looked back at Canvas with a skewed eyebrow before he replied, "You're seriously mad that I took this? Dude, I took your virginity, for crying out loud!"

Canvas looked even more upset as he glared at the Gryphon. "Wow. I can’t believe you actually went there."

Troy grew a sly smirk on his beak as his golden eyes narrowed on the stallion behind the couch. "I can say that exact same thing about what you did in the shower yesterday."

The aqua stallion began to blush heavily through the paint on his face and looked away sheepishly. "You… you said you liked that."

"Oh, believe me, I do,” said Troy as a grin came up on his beak.

With a loud “whoosh,” Troy's wings shot out fully in the studio as he looked down at Canvas. "And I know you're gonna like what I'm gonna do to you in the next thirty minutes."

Looking back to Troy with a cheeky grin on his muzzle, Canvas's eyes narrowed on the Gryphon before Troy flew towards him, tackling him behind the couch. Canvas started to giggle before a moan escaped him.

"Ooooohhhh… Troy…”

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While his "cleanup" took a little longer than he thought, Troy didn’t seem to mind as he landed in the center of Ponyville with Canvas on his back. Making sure his saddle bag was secure, Canvas gave a quick smooch on the Gryphon's cheek before he pulled himself off. After Troy gave the stallion one last nuzzle, he flew off to meet up with Rainbow Dash, leaving Canvas to do his errands for the day.

Looking around Ponyville, Canvas realized that, due to the storm prep and the dark-grey clouds being applied over the skies, many of the ponies around town were already in their homes. Although he didn’t mind getting a little wet from some rain, Canvas didn’t want to procrastinate and quickly trotted over to the market district.

After giving Troy the task of laying the nimbostratus clouds over the south side of town, Rainbow Dash completed her job as she laid the last of the clouds over the north section. As she landed on the ground and made sure there were no open spots, the mare stretched her wings out, satisfied that she was able to pull this off herself. Because of how much she'd been working, Rainbow managed to use up her entire canteen of water before ending her shift, making her rather parched as she looked around. Seeing the train station nearby, the Pegasus decided to fly over there, knowing she had enough bits to use the vending machines inside.

Figuring that nopony was around the station at that time, Rainbow decided to fly over to the open space of the platform, not realizing that a train just came by moments ago. Just as she was about to turn the corner where the machines are, the Pegasus flew right into a pony, making them both fall to the ground.

Lifting herself up, Rainbow Dash saw that she ran into a rather large green stallion with a messy brown mane, whose equally large saddlebag was now on the ground, all of the items strewn inside lying around the platform floor.

"Oh geez, I'm really sorry!" Rainbow was quick to help pick up some of the items of clothing, putting them into his saddlebag before the stallion snatched it up.

"I-I'm fine, okay?!"

Breathing heavily, the stallion pulled the saddlebag back onto his back before he started picking up the rest of the things himself, trying to avoid the mare as she stood there, embarrassed. While she should've felt a little angry at his rudeness, Rainbow knew better than to start anything with a pony she just ran into.

Looking at the stallion, Rainbow noticed how run-down he looked. Dark, heavy bags hung underneath his eyes. While the heavy wrinkles on his pale-green face could've indicated he was old, Rainbow could tell that the stallion was probably middle-aged at the most. His appearance looked more due from stress than time. Before he put his bag back on himself, the mare noticed what looked to be a golden leaf on his flank, which looked equally as worn as the rest of his pale green coat.

While Rainbow Dash didn’t want to intrude on anypony, the five-o'-clock shadow on his muzzle concerned the mare. She realized that he didn’t look like he'd slept or eaten in days. Noticing an old, rolled-up newspaper on the ground, Rainbow picked it up to give to him, before looking at which one it was.

Opening the paper, the Pegasus saw that it was from the Manehatten Post and displayed the picture of Canvas with Celestia that'd been sent to almost every paper in Equestria. Underneath the photo of Canvas's smiling face beside the Goddess laid the headline in a bold font:

Canterlot Castle to Receive its Very First Painting from an Earth Pony

Before she could start reading the article--or wonder why the hay sompeony was still holding onto a paper this old--Rainbow Dash felt the paper quickly get pulled from her hooves as the stallion snatched it away. Before she could say anything about his attitude, the stallion's face slowly went from annoyance to remorse. He slowly looked away from the mare and looked to the ground. Keeping his eyes on the hardwood ground underneath his worn hooves, the green stallion slowly opened his mouth as he spoke, his voice coming out in a cracked, deep whisper.

"I… I'm sorry. I… I just need that."

Rainbow Dash blinked a few times and tried to figure out what was up with this guy. Looking at his large saddlebag, his ragged appearance, and the newspaper, the mare cleared her throat before she said to him, "Um, sir… excuse me if I'm being rude or anything, but… Are you like a bum or something?"

The stallion glanced at the mare with a skewed eyebrow, looking like she just asked if he was a Changeling. "Excuse me?"

"Because I think there's a shelter nearby if you need to--"

"That's not why I'm here!" insisted the stallion as he secured the straps of his saddlebag. "I… I was here for something else."

With Rainbow Dash standing before him with a confused look on her face, the green stallion looked back to the newspaper in his hooves, looking at the worn headline picture gravely. Closing his eyes, the stallion sighed before he rolled the paper and put it back in his saddlebag, making sure he tucked it in carefully.

Narrowing her eyes as she tried understand what's going on, Rainbow cautiously put a hoof to the stallion's shoulder, catching his attention before she asked, "Hey, are you okay? I mean, what are you in Ponyville for?"

The stallion stayed silent for a few seconds and looked away from the Pegasus, glancing back to his bag for a second before she spoke again.

"Are…” Rainbow looked to the stallion's bag, remembering the paper he had before she continued, "Are you looking for Canvas or something?"

The stallion quickly shot his head back to her as he stared, wide-eyed. "You know him?!”

Breathing heavily, the stallion was starting to worry Rainbow Dash as he kept his gaze on her, waiting for an answer.

"Umm… yeah, I do,” said Rainbow cautiously as she looked away from the pony before her. "He… he's a nice guy. Why, are you looking for a painting from him or something?"

"No, no, no, no,” muttered the stallion as he shook his head, looking down to the ground. Still breathing heavily, the stallion closed his eyes while Rainbow Dash stood in front of him, waiting for his answer before he spoke in a more somber tone of voice.

"I'm not a client or anything. Canvas, he...

“... He's my son."

Next Chapter: Chapter Forty-Three: Confrontation (Part 1) Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 41 Minutes