Chapter 18: Red in the Face
"Is that them, is that them!?" Apple Bloom asked as she jumped up and down in the air, pointing a hoof at an object in the distance.
"No Sprout, that...*burp*... That's still the same tree as before. Just calm down; they'll get here when they get here." For the past half hour, both Bryce and Apple Bloom had been patiently waiting, to a certain extent, for the arrival of Ditzy and her young daughter, Dinky. When Bryce had announced that he had been successful in organizing a play date for Apple Bloom, she had been beyond glad. She was downright ecstatic, happy that she was going to have somepony her own age to play with.
Bryce, on the other hand, wasn't as enthusiastic. Today was the day he was expected to start doing chores around the farm on an almost daily basis, leaving very little time to interact with the energetic filly. As soon as he and everypony else had their meet and greet, Bryce would have to do his first task of painting the house. The part that worried him the most, however, was that he was obliged to paint the entire house, including the elevated part of the roof.
Every few seconds, his gaze turned to that part of the house; the one part of the house he would most likely fall from, the part that made him sick to his stomach to even imagine himself at such a height off the ground. And he was expected to do said part first. To make things worse, his body had decided to be exceptionally gaseous early that morning.
A few minutes later, Apple Bloom once again jumped in the air. "Bryce, BRYCE! They're here!"
Looking in the direction she was pointing, Bryce saw that she was actually right this time. At the end of the trail leading up to Sweet Apple Acres were two pairs of equine shapes - one grey, the other a pale magenta. What confused Bryce the most that they both looked to be roughly the same size. As they came closer, Bryce could make out that this new pony had a horn jutting from the middle of its forehead instead of pegasus wings as he'd expected.
From where he stood, he could hear them both having a heated discussion. "But why do I have to come too? She's old enough to play with other foals on her own."
"I know, but she's just so shy when it comes to meeting new ponies. Besides, we're already here now."
The unicorn huffed angrily. "Fine... but I'm not doing this for you. Just so you know."
"I... I'm not asking you to do this for me, I'm asking you to do it for her. Could you please try and enjoy yourself f... for your...?" They both cut their conversation short when they found themselves near a towering, bipedal figure. "Oh... hey Bryce," Ditzy said with a forced smile.
"Uhh... hey, Ditzy. Is something...?"
Ditzy replied, "No, no everything's fine." The magenta unicorn rolled her eyes away from the group. "So is... Apple Bloom ready for her play date?"
"Uh huh, Ah sure Miss Derpy!" Apple Bloom said as she jumped up off the ground.
"We... Well I... I suppose she is, b... but you... you said your daughter was around Sssprout's age."
"What? No this is my daughter—"
"'STEPdaughter," the magenta unicorn spat back.
"Ye... Yes my step daughter, Amy."
The unicorn broke in, "My name is Amethyst Star." She turned to face Ditzy. "And no pony calls me that," she said with a scowl on her face.
After that, there was a pause between the group. Bryce was the first to break the silence. "O… O... Okay then, but you said...." Bryce took notice of a second greyish-purple unicorn peeking out from behind the grey pegasus. He pointed a finger at this young unicorn. "I... Is that her?"
Ditzy turned to where Bryce indicated. "Come on, Muffin, it's going to be alright. Bryce wouldn't hurt a fly." Dinky slowly came out from her hiding spot, gradually moving forward for everyone present to see her. When she stopped a few inches away from her mother, Ditzy placed a hoof on her back, "Go on, Dinky. Bryce wouldn't hurt anypony. Everything Rainbow told you was make believe."
Dinky opened her mouth to speak, but she was having a hard time distinguishing between what Rainbow had said before and what her mother was telling her now. When Bryce bent down towards the unicorn filly, she froze up, deep down in her heart expecting the worst to occur. "H… Hey there, m… my name's Bryce. W… W… What's yours?"
Dinky answered in a whispery tone. "I… I'm Di..."
Bryce leaned forward and placed a hand on her back. Dinky's skin immediately began to crawl as she raised a hoof to protect herself from the large human." Hey, hey, don't act like that now. I'm not going to hurt you. You're too cute to hurt," Bryce said, trying to calm the timid unicorn. When he began to lightly stroke her back with his palm, Dinky slowly lowered her hoof. Bryce softly sang to her, "Don't worry... about a thing 'cause every little thing gonna be all right. Singin' don't worry... about a thing 'cause every little thing gonna be all right!" Slowly but surely, Dinky placed her hoof back down on the ground, her face once again in full view.
With that now resolved, Bryce said to her, "Well...do you think you can tell me your name?"
Dinky answered in a more audible tone, "I… I'm Dinky."
"Well Dinky, you’re so cute I could eat you up." Dinky stepped back when she heard him say that. "Hey...it was just a figure of speech; I'm not really going to do something like that. Besides, you'd be too sweet for anyone to eat." At that last statement, he lightly tapped her on the tip of her nose. "Now, are you ready for your play—?"
Without warning, Apple Bloom jumped in and started rapidly questioning the timid unicorn. "Hey there, Dinky, mah name's Apple Bloom. What do yuh wanna do first? We can play tag, or hide and seek, or maybe even—"
"Apple Bloom!" Bryce looked down at Apple Bloom with his usual scowl.
She took the hint. "Ah... Ah'm sorry, Dinky." She stuck her hoof out to Dinky. "Ah'm Apple Bloom." Dinky slowly stuck her own hoof out and tapped it against the yellow filly's. "So what do yuh like ta play?"
Dinky stuttered, "I... I like to play l... Lots of games. Wh... What do you play?"
"Well Ah really like horseshoes, and hide and seek, and lots of others."
"I... I like hide and seek. Ca... Can we play that?" Apple Bloom nodded, causing a tiny smile to form on Dinky's face.
Before Dinky could run off, Ditzy got her daughter's attention. "Well I need to get on the road, Muffin."
"D... Do you really have to go, mama?"
Ditzy looked down at the ground. "Yes, I do." This made Dinky's ears droop. Ditzy brought her daughter for a hug, "Don't worry, Muffin. I'll be back here to pick you up before dark. You just worry about having fun with Bryce and Apple Bloom. She gave Dinky a kiss on the forehead before turning to Amethyst. "And Amy," the pale magenta unicorn could only huff at mention of that name, "try and have some fun while you're both here... I love you both. I do."
Amethyst Star didn't return the sentiment.
Releasing a heavy sigh, Ditzy walked a safe enough distance away from the house before flying off towards Ponyville.
When Ditzy was out of sight of the three ponies and the lone human, Apple Bloom said, "So Dinky, do yuh wanna hide first or be the seeker?"
"Wha... Oh, I... I don't know. Which do you want to do first?"
"Whichever one you don't want, I guess."
Bryce jumped in. "Tell you what, I'll help...*burp*... Sorry. I'll help y'all decide." He pulled out his wallet from his front pocket and pulled out the quarter he kept hidden within it. "Whoever guesses which side this coin lands on will hide first." He positioned the quarter on his thumb and flipped it in the air. As it came back down, Bryce grabbed it and flattened it on the back of his opposite palm. "Okay, call it. Heads or tails?"
"Heads."
"T... Tails."
Bryce removed his hand. "Tails. Dinky hides first."
"Oh... Okay."
Bryce got back down on his knee. "Now listen to me. Be careful about where you hide. If you can't see what's in there, don't go in there. Just the other day Apple Bloom hid in a haystack with a snake in it. Thankfully, it was harmless, but that might not always be the case." He stood back on his feet. "Now both of you stay safe, keep out of trouble, and have fun."
"O...Okay." Dinky turned to her sister. "A...Amy, c...can you play hide and seek...?"
"Not now, Dinky. Maybe later."
This filled Dinky with disappointment. "Okay, sis." She then ran off to find a place to hide.
Apple Bloom placed her face against the side of the house and started counting to ten. When she had done so, she too ran off, leaving Bryce alone with Amethyst Star.
Bryce turned to the pale magenta unicorn. "Now look, I have work I need to do. That means you're going to have to watch over those two."
"You must be joking. There's no way in Tartarus I'm wasting my time—"
Bryce stared at her with his usual scowl. "You listen... to me. In the next few minutes, I'm going to be busy painting the entirety of this house. That means all my attention will be on that. And the first part I'm supposed is the... topmost part of the house." This last part he said in disgust. "Now I don't know what's going on between you and your mother—"
"STEPmother!"
Without blinking, Bryce growled back, "Shut up! Whatever is going on between you two, you leave it at home. Now 'you' watch them, or once I'm done with the house, I'll paint you. Capisci?!"
"I... but... fine. You just... hurry up so I can get back to... ugh." Amethyst then walked off to do as Bryce had tasked her with.
Now that Bryce was alone, he did the one thing he'd been holding back on since Ditzy and her daughters had arrived. He let out the loudest, longest, smelliest fart he had ever had the discomfort of producing. Leaning his back against the side of the house, he cried out, "Mi...piace!!!" When he had recovered, he propped the ladder onto the side of the house, gathered all the needed supplies, and reluctantly climbed up to the roof.
When he finally got himself onto the roof, it took all his willpower to not look down at the ground. Crawling on his hands and knees, Bryce made his way over to the spire and positioned himself in a comfortable position. As he was about to pop the lid on the can of paint, he felt an all too familiar presence from above. He propped his back against the house's spire and looked off into the distance. “Fifteen feet tall with razor sharp fangs and claws that could rip through bone, deep, glowing red eyes that could pierce a pony's very soul, a mane of flaming snakes, and has absolutely no regard for pony life." Rainbow Dash flew down into Bryce's field of vision. "Isn't that how you described me?"
"Yeah well... You described how much I looked like a boy."
"Well you have a croaky voice like a recently pubescent boy."
"Well you're... a pale... fleshy ape."
Bryce smirked. "Ahh sì, così io sono. Ma sei un bello ragazza, no?"
Rainbow glared back at Bryce. "What the buck did you just say to me?"
Bryce laughed. "Do you really want to know?" Rainbow shook her head. "Smart girl." He laughed again. "What the H do you want anyway?"
"What makes you think I want something?"
"Well... You didn't even dare show yourself until you knew we would be alone. So you either wanted to pound me again when you knew there would be no one around to stop you, or you didn't want to be seen treating an adversary in a polite and well thought out manner. Which one is it?"
Rainbow landed on the roof a few feet away from Bryce. "I... didn't come here to fight."
"Well that's good. With me being up on the roof, I don't have the nerve to do much of anything. In fact, I'm close to wetting myself just thinking of being up here." Breathing in deeply, Bryce continued, "Now spill it. The sooner I get down from here, the better."
"I... I came here to apologize."
Bryce cupped his hand to his ear. "What was that?"
"I'm... I'm sorry for how I acted... But where the buck do you get off sending Rarity to—"
Bryce held up his hand to stop her. "I didn't want her to do that. She wouldn't allow me to pay her back for the clothes she's making me unless I let her do that. I had nothing to do with it."
"Then... uh...?" Both pegasus and human just stared at each other for a while. "Why did you tell her I was making fun of you?"
"Well what do you call it when someone calls you 'huge' and an 'idiot'?"
"I wasn't making fun of you. How can you take something like that so seriously?"
Bryce looked down at the shingles on the roof. "I... can't fully help it. It's just the way I am... But if I had known you weren't being serious, I wouldn't have said all those things to you. For that, I'm sorry."
"It... It wasn't you I was upset at." Rainbow Dash stepped closer to the human. "When I was a filly, everypony was always making fun of how much I... You know." Bryce just stared down at the shingles but still listened to her every word. "I know I may act more stallionish than I should, but after my..." Rainbow had to swallow before she continued, "…after my mom died, it was only me and my dad. I was only a filly and he was the only pony I had as a parent. H... He could only raise me the way he knew how and we cared about each other."
Bryce spoke up, "Well... In a way, I know what you're going through. From my earliest memory, the only person I had as a parent was my mother. In truth though, I've never felt like I ever had any parents. By the time I could walk and talk, my father had put a few states between us. I know my mother tried to be there, but her job always had her coming home real late. Sometimes after the sun had gone down."
"Did your dad ever come back?"
"Well yeah... But I rather he had stayed away. By the time he came back, I was too old and... He just never really cared that he had a son. He was there when I needed something involved with my schooling, but for everything else, I was completely off his radar."
"But he must have done some stuff with you."
"Well he would always do stuff for me, never with me."
Rainbow Dash stepped forward again, less than a foot away from Bryce. "Is everything you're telling me true?"
"I'd give almost anything for it not to be. I mean just listening to your childhood I'm jealous."
"I... I wasn't trying to..."
"I know you weren't. There's no way you could have known." They both sat in silence for a few minutes. Without warning, Rainbow's nose cringed at the smell of something rotten. She turned to Bryce. "I... I'm sorry. I've been gassy all morning."
"Eh, no biggy. Better out than in."
"Really, who taught you that?"
"My dad did."
Bryce then began to laugh as he covered his eyes. When he was done laughing he said, "You really are a boy, you know that?"
Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head and smiled. "Y... Yeah."
"Well, like I've always said: better to live as your true self than as something everyone believes you are."
"Who taught you that?"
"It's something I've had to learn on my own."
"Oh... What are you doing up here anyway?"
"Well I had to start working today and... Granny Smith wanted me to paint the entire house."
"Is there anything I can do to help? After what I did, I..."
"No... I prefer to work by myself. If you want, you can go watch after Sprout and Dinky because 'Little Miss Sparkler' is probably half-assing it."
"Who's Sprout?"
"You know, Apple Bloom. Let me explain: I don't like to call others by their given name, so I give them a nickname. I still use their given name but only when I'm trying to be serious."
"Then what nickname would you give me?"
"Well I have been thinking on it to tell you the truth." Bryce smirked. "Blitzkrieg."
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means lightning or flash. I say that because you seem to be pretty fast."
Rainbow smiled at that. "Pretty fast? You haven't even seen how fast I can be. I'm the fastest flyer in all of Equestria."
"Hmm... Maybe Orgoglio would be a more suiting name?"
"What does that mean?"
Bryce just waved it off. "It's nothing. Blitzkrieg sounds better."
"Okay..." Rainbow flew up into the air. Before she descended down to join the two fillies on the ground, she turned to Bryce. "Hey... all this stuff I told you. I've never really told anypony else. Do you think you could...?"
"What? What'd you tell me?"
"You know about how my mom... and my dad...."
"First I'm hearing of it."
"You know good and well... Oh... You're right," she said with a smile. After that, she flew off, leaving Bryce to actually get started on the house's spire.
About a half hour later, Bryce had finished three sides of the spire, leaving only the part facing the front of the house. The part that would mean he would have to hang over the edge of the roof to even remotely paint it. After taking the five minutes to get himself into position, he brought the paint brush back to the paint can. When it met only air, Bryce shimmied back onto the roof. Instead of a paint can, there was only a trail of red paint leading to the side of the house.
At that same second, Rainbow Dash came flying up, the can of paint in her hoof and its contents running down the entirety of her back. As far as Bryce could tell, she was pissed, though the red paint made it hard to tell.
"N... Now look I didn't mean... I didn't...."
Without warning, Rainbow Dash hefted the paint can back and threw it full force at Bryce. It missed Bryce, landed on the opposite of the roof, and rolled down off the roof a second time. Rainbow pointed a hoof at Bryce. "You're a bucking jerk!" Before Bryce could get a word in, she flew off at fast as she possibly could.
After that Bryce just lay there for a minute. From behind him, he could hear laughing, followed by a feminine voice, "Both of you stop laughing right now." The laughing didn't cease. When Bryce stuck his head over the side, he saw Amethyst covered in paint and shouting at the two laughing fillies, "Dinky, I said..." At that second, the magenta mare looked up to find Bryce staring back. "YOU... Why did you do this!?"
"I... It was an accident."
"Oh sure, I bet it was. Dinky, stay out here. I'm going inside to get this paint off me." She did one last death stare up at Bryce before heading inside the house.
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"Okay girls, it’s finished." Nearly four hours later, Bryce had finally finished painting the entirety of the house with some help from Apple Bloom and Dinky. After he came down from the roof, both of the fillies began pestering him to come and play with them both. Bryce, however, told them he couldn't until his work on the house was finished. After almost ten minutes of begging Bryce to allow them to help, he reluctantly obliged. Handing them a can of paint Bryce had found already opened and a couple of brushes they both set to work. When they were all finished they were each covered in an ample layer of paint. "Now then, y'all go inside and clean up. I'm going to take everything back into the barn and then come clean myself up."
"OK Bryce, but be quick about it." Apple Bloom yelled before she and Dinky retreated to inside the house.
Lifting up the ladder, remaining cans of paint, and the brushes, Bryce walked over to the barn and deposited his load. As he exited the barn, Bryce noticed the ground at his feet begin to darken. Looking up, he found a grey rain cloud floating right over his head. He heard the cloud say, "Don't worry, Bryce, I'll help you clean up." Suddenly, the grey cloud began to pour down on him, dampening his entire body.
This got Bryce out of his comfort zone. He was beyond belief, unable to handle how he felt at the current moment.
Rainbow Dash swooped down in front of him. "Welp, there you go all... A... Are you okay?"
Bryce was violently shivering, his entire form convulsing. He was way out of his element. He fell down on his side and got into a fetal position.
"Rainbow... What'd yuh do ta Bryce?" Apple Bloom came running up with Dinky close behind.
Bryce started to cry, unable to get a single word out.
"I... I didn't mean..."
Bryce wanted for this whole thing to not be real.
Apple Bloom stepped up to the rainbow mare. "Y... You leave Bryce alone yo... You big bully," the yellow filly said with tears in her eyes.
"Look kid I..."
Dinky stepped up as well. "Yeah, Rainbow, j… Just leave him alone."
Rainbow flattened her ears down on her head. She opened her mouth to speak but was only met with a duo of death stares. With nothing to explain herself, Rainbow Dash ran off and flew away from the farm.
Now that Rainbow was gone, Apple Bloom and Dinky turned their attention to the trembling human. "B... Bryce, are yuh alright?"
Bryce couldn't reply.
"I... I think you should go get your grandma, Apple Bloom."
"I... O... Okay." Applebloom turned around and ran back into the house. "Granny... GRANNY!!!"
Bryce could only lie in the dirt, wanting nothing more than to be back in his old life.