Chapter 13: Bad Blood
Bryce pushed himself up trying to see who, or what, had taken upon themselves to knock him into the dirt, "Who are you calling bald?"
The boyish voice yelled back, "Hey didn't you hear what I said...stay down!"
Bryce rubbed at his eyes to clear his vision, OK I've had enough of this for four days. "I don't know who the H you are, but you're...a pegasus?" There right in front of him, flapping its wings to keep it afloat, was a cyan pegasus with a short cut mane and tail painted every color of the rainbow, the later just barely grazing the ground. Its eyes were a pink rose color. From the glare it was giving him Bryce could almost feel it bearing into him. With a smirk Bryce remarked, "What are you the mascot for the Gay Pride Parade?"
The pegasus flew down to his eye level and planted a hook into his jaw, throwing Bryce onto his back. It then landed on the ground and stood over his head, "You better take that back or I'll..."
Bryce's response was to splutter saliva into its face, "That'll help rub out your dye job, stud." The pegasus gritted its teeth before jumping off the ground and flying away, "*Pfft*, dumbass." Bryce began to push himself up again. As he was taking a knee he was tackled to the ground on his back.
Looking up he found the same pegasus staring daggers at him less than half an inch from his own face, its teeth bared as if prepared to gouge his throat out, "You do that again and I'm gonna..."
Bryce made an attempt to get the pegasus off of him, "Get the fuck off me you son of a..." He was cut off when the pegasus socked him in the belly, momentarily ending Bryce's struggle. The pegasus brought its hoof back to cuff Bryce a second time when a childish voice yelled out, catching both his and his attacker's attention.
"Rainbow Dash stop, don't hurt mah friend." They both stopped their clash to find Applebloom standing there, shivering out of fear.
"Your wha...?"
Bryce took advantage of this distraction to knee the pegasus, grab it by its neck, and tossed the pegasus away with ease. Getting onto his feet quickly Bryce stood between Applebloom and the pegasus, "Just stay down guy, you can do whatever you want to me. Leave her out of this."
"Bryce, wait..."
"Just stay back Applebloom, I'll take care of him."
"Bryce that's not uh..."
"Applebloom I said..." Bryce was met with a rock to the face. He fell down to one knee, blood beginning to ooze down his face, leaving a copper taste in his mouth. While he was still blinded he heard two sets of hooves move around him.
"Applebloom, move outta the way so I can pommel this...thing."
"Rainbow don..." The filly was cut off when the she was pushed out of the pegasus's path.
"Alright buddy what was that you said..." Bryce slung a palm full of dirt into its eyes. He then grabbed the pegasus by the base of its tail and lifted it up off the ground, causing it to swing its hooves at him, "Hey, put me down."
Between punches Bryce said, "Not a, ow, what the, ow, what the H is your probl, ow!"
"Bryce..."
"Not, ouch, not now Applebloom, go get your grandma while I take care of this guy."
"Rainbow's not a 'guy'."
"What, what do you mean...Oh shi..." The second Bryce figured out the pegasus's true gender was the same second 'she' figured out 'his' sweet spot. Loosening his grip on Rainbow, Bryce grabbed hold of his boys as he fell to the ground, doubled over in pain and humiliation.
Now that Rainbow Dash was free she slowly got onto her hooves and again stood over the much larger human. Through gritted teeth she snarled, "You thought I was a...colt?!"
Taking breaths between the waves of pain he said, "No I thought...I thought you were a...a bo..."
Immediately Rainbow Dash started wailing into Bryce, not wanting to relent even for a split second. She kept swinging and thrusting her hooves at Bryce, making sure every single attack met flesh, bone, anything to make him know the meaning of pain.
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Bryce was in complete and total misery, not knowing not when...if it would end. His nostrils were filled with the odor of blood, each punch making it harder and harder to see out of his right eye. Each time he tried to lift an arm to guard himself was met with an even greater force. This was going on for so long that Bryce didn't even notice when the beating had stopped until he heard Applebloom yelling into his ear.
"Granny, Granny Bryce's wakin up!"
The world slowly came back into focus, "Uhh, ugh what Sprout?"
A familiar voice piped in, "Applebloom get off him, you might be hurtin'em more than yuh know."
"Uhh, Well Aged?"
"That's right sugarcube now lie down while Ah check yuh over."
"Why is the ground so soft?"
"You're not outside anymore dear, you're back in your room."
"What do mean my..." As Bryce's sense of feeling began to come back he felt pain shoot from all over his body making him hiss in pain.
Applebloom spoke up, "Don't yuh remember anything?"
"Well yeah...we were trying to play...something when something came down and knocked me over."
"Yeah, that was Rainbow Dash, don't yuh remember."
"Yes, yes I do. After that I saw a...sky blue...pegasus and I said 'What are you the mascot for the Gay Pride Pa..."
Granny Smith interrupted Bryce's reminiscing, "You can skip that, what's the last thing you remember?"
"Well...I remember holding that pegasus by its tail. After that Applebloom said that it wasn't a guy and I got hit in my..." Bryce flinched as he remembered that part. Very clearly.
"Got hit in your what?"
Granny Smith rebutted, "Applebloom don't go askin questions like that."
"But I wanna know."
"You're not old enough ta know yet."
Applebloom huffed at this remark, Ah'm never old enough for anything.
Granny Smith turned back to Bryce, "What happened after that?"
"Well I grabbed onto to my...you know whats and then that...boyish one stood over me and was angry because I thought she was a colt. I said 'No I thought you were a boy. Then she...she started pounding into to me and Sprout was yelling for you to tell you I was...awake...How did I get in here?"
"You don't remember, do yuh?"
Bryce shook his head sending a mild pain through his entire body.
"Well Applebloom here came and got me up. Ah ran out to try and get Rainbow off yuh and had ta hit her over the head with a pot ta make her stop. After that yuh got up and walked in here by yourself and went ta sleep for close to an hour."
Bryce shook his head slowly, "I'm gonna have to take your word for it, I don't...remember any of that. But I can tell that you're telling me the truth."
Without warning Granny Smith's face became stern, "Applebloom...go wait outside."
"What, why?"
"Just do it."
Applebloom knew better than to ask a second time as she trotted out of the room, Granny Smith closing the door behind her. "Now do yuh want ta tell me why Rainbow attacked yuh?"
Bryce grunted in pain, "How much do you know?"
Enough ta make Applejack and Big Mac want ta do worse to yuh.
"That much?" Bryce sighed, "Look...I already apologized for what I did. I regret what I did, I do. I was just acting out of impulse and..."
Granny Smith scowled, "What do yuh mean 'outta impulse'?"
"I do that all the time to my nephews back home, but only when they do or say something very, very...moronic."
"There wasn't anything she coulda done that called for that."
"Well...she jumped in front of me while I was trying to cut a log."
That stopped Granny Smith in her tracks, the aged mare left speechless, "Wh, wha...what would cause her to do a thing like that?"
"Well she...she came out to tell me it had been two hours, but couldn't get my attention. When I get working like earlier I...I lose track of the world and can only focus on what I'm doing...right then. If anything it was my fault, not hers."
Granny Smith took that in for a second, "What about after that, when Applebloom bucked yuh?"
"She...she was tr...trying to stop me from being m...myself. I just felt so.;..bad about what I did. It only made it worse when...when...when she actually told me I was her only...her only friend." Bryce closed his eyes, "I felt horrible. After all I'd done she said I was a friend to her. It was...horrible."
"Why do you say it like that?"
"Because...the whole time I was growing up...every time I was around others I...I was the odd man out. I mean at first they were fine with me, but after they spent a good amount of time around me they...they just saw me as the one that wasn't 'normal'. Everyone saw me as that 'one weird kid' or 'that fat kid' or 'that dumbass who won't stop moving around'. They were always so...so nasty and, and mean even though I'd done nothing to them. This happened at every school I went to, even in Sunday school and into college. I put myself out there and was rejected for being myself, for not being 'normal' to them." Bryce let out another heavy sigh, "In truth...Applebloom's the first one I've had as a friend."
"Oh come now...that can't be true. You had to have had at least one friend where you came from."
"Yeah...the animals that lived at my house. Now all I'll left of that is my dog Corn and he's God knows where."
"Didn't yuh have any friends of your own kind?"
Bryce shook his head, "All I had were people I saw as friends, but after school, clubs, or whatever they didn't have anything to do with. Didn't invite me to anything. Didn't even ask my opinion on anything or how I was doing." He let out another sigh.
"Well what about your family?"
"Well, they were the worst of all. My father, he was never there for me, by choice. My mother was always working and was never there for me. By the time I was born my sister was already out of the house and had a house right next to mine but hardly ever let her boys come see me for the same reasons that I wasn't 'normal'."
Granny Smith was taken back by all this information, "Why are you telling me all this?"
"Because I trust you like you trust me."
That was all Granny Smith had to hear as she smiled. "Well that's all Ah wanted ta know. Now let's get you taken care of. After that Ah'll go fix yuh somethin ta eat and let yuh wash up."
"OK."
"But Bryce, if you're going ta keep staying here you'll have to meet my grandson Big Macintosh. Tonight."
"Well in my current state I can't say no, now can I?"
"That's good. Now you just stay here and Ah'll be back in a jiffy." Granny Smith opened the door. Instantly Applebloom backed away from the door and stood stiff, pretending she hadn't been listening. "Applebloom..."
"Ye...yes Granny?"
"Stay here and spend some time with your friend while Ah take care of him, can yuh do that for me?"
Applebloom's mood immediately brightened, "Ah sure can."
"Good now be gentle with him, he's probably sore all over from everything that's happened today."
"Yes ma'am," the young filly replied as she hopped up onto the bed. Granny Smith then left them alone while she went to get everything together. Upon seeing Bryce in his current state Applebloom's mood again shifted to one of concern. "Hey Bryce..."
"Hey Sprout...looks like I got more than I bargained for huh?"
"Ye...yeah...You're gonna be OK, r...right?"
Bryce smirked. He extended a hand to her and petted her gently to reassure the filly, "Don't worry kid, I'm gonna be just fine in a day, or two, or three if I'm lucky."
"Bryce, can Ah ask you somethin?"
"Sure."
"Are some of the words you use bad words?"
"Which words do you mean?" Applebloom carefully made her way to his ear a whispered, making Bryce's eyes shrink to the size of pinpricks, "Applebloom...those kinds of words...you should never use."
"How come you use'em then?"
"Well...they're more or less like an addiction, once you use them once it's real hard to break yourself of them. Really it ain't proper to use them."
"Applejack said the same thing."
"Well...she's right about that. And Sprout, thank you."
"For what?"
At that moment Granny Smith came back through the door with a first aid kit, a few ice packs, and a bowl of soup, "Applebloom now hop on down so Ah can look'em over." Applebloom did as she was told. "Bryce Ah want yuh ta slowly turn and sit yourself on the edge of the bed.
Bryce did so, trying to position himself while inflicting as little pain as possible. "Well first things first, could you look inside my mouth and see if I'm missing any teeth?"
"Sure dear, just open wide. Applebloom could yuh look for me, my vision's not what it used ta be."
Bryce opened his mouth wide. Applebloom took a look inside, her nose twitching from his breath, "Nope, doesn't look like there're any missing."
Closing his mouth Bryce replied, "Well that's good, that was my biggest concern. My jaw hurts like a...it hurts a lot. And sorry about my breath, I haven't gotten the chance to brush them since I got here."
"We'll worry about that later. Right now let's take a look at your face."
"Why, how bad is it?"
"It's..." Granny Smith said nothing after that.
"Mirror."
"Oh no, you don't need..."
"Mirror..."
Know there was to way to discourage the human Granny Smith run and fetch a hoof mirror. When she returned a few seconds later Bryce grabbed the mirror from her mouth and gazed back at his reflection. For what it was worth Bryce had seen worse. All he had was a black eye, a broken nose, and a swollen jaw. "*Pfft* From the way you were acting I thought there was a large gash running through to the inside of my mouth." He laughed a little but stopped when he felt pain in his abdomen. "And from the feel of it a few cracked ribs and fresh bruises," he said as he winced in pain, grabbing at his gut, "I've been through worse."
"Now the swollen jaw, cracked ribs, and black eye will have ta go away on their own. As for your nose..."
"I'm going to have to reset it."
Applebloom inquired, "What do yuh mean by that?"
"Well...it's best you not know Sprout. It's something I need to do on my own."
"You're not serious, are yuh?"
"If I don't do it soon it'll be stuck like that, I can barely breathe with it the way it is."
"If you insist, just do it when we're not around."
"Can do. Do you have anything for pain relief, preferably something that won't knock me out like last night." Granny Smith rummaged around the first aid kit and pulled out two pills, which Bryce swallowed, "Thanks, now I'm going to take a bath and...fix my nose."
"OK then, Applebloom come on downstairs with me while Bryce takes care of that. And help yourself to a toothbrush if you feel you need to."
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When Bryce was finished in the bathroom he wrapped a towel a best he could around his waist and stepped out into the hall. After resetting his nose, taking a thorough bath, and brushing his teeth for the first time in days, Bryce felt better than he had since he had exited the forest. Or maybe that was the painkillers.
As he stepped out and closed the door he heard the clop of heavy hooves at the opposite end of the hall. Looking up he saw the large, red stallion he had seen from the window two days ago. Well that must be Big Macintosh. Best go on and get this over with, but with my luck he past few days I might become paralyzed from the waist up.
Bryce stood his ground as the large stallion approached him. When he finally reached Bryce he was the first to speak, "You Bryce?"
"Yeah...You Big Macintosh?"
"Eeyep."
Bryce snickered at this. After a minute Bryce asked, "You don't talk much do you?"
"Eenope."
Bryce snickered again, "We're gonna get along just fine." He held out his hand, "Bryce Smales."
Big Mac planted his massive hoof into his palm, "Big Macintosh."
They both shook as hard as they could. When they were done Bryce said, "Well I've had a rough day."
Big Mac looked him up and down, "Eeyep."
"Well...see you whenever," he said as he made his way for his room.
"Eeyep," the red stallion replied as he made his way for the bathroom.
When Bryce was alone in his room he said to himself, "Eeyep, we're going to get along just fine."