//------------------------------//
// Don't Tap the Glass 
// Story: Extremely Loud, Intensely Bright, Drastically Tense, Exceedingly Tight 
// by h4ns 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 41: Don't Tap the Glass

After taking an hour off for lunch Applejack let Bryce and Apple Bloom go explore the town. She was glad to have the extra time to sell more apples, but at the same time she was still cautious to allow her little sister to be left alone in town with Bryce. It wasn't that she didn't trust him to look after her, it was more that he may cause something he didn't intend to, and that Apple Bloom may get involved in it. 

Despite her inhibitions the apple mare still allowed them both to go into town for the rest of the day. 

For a couple of hours Bryce and Apple Bloom strolled through Ponyville, doing more window shopping than actually buying anything. After buying everything the family needed to go about the week, Bryce had 75 bits left to spend however he pleased, minus whatever it cost to buy ice cream for him and Apple Bloom. When they had began to browse there were a few things Bryce saw which he wanted, but as he went on there became more and more and more. He couldn't keep up.

About an hour after leaving Applejack for the second time Bryce saw something that peaked his interests. On a sign hanging off the side of a building he saw a paint brush crossing swords with a popsicle stick. The two sparing instruments were in the process of being stitched into an embroidery hoop. Around this duel, there was the name of the shop: NEEDLEPOINT'S CRAFT SUPPLY The lettering of NEEDLEPOINT'S was a fancy cursive font made from the long thread of the embroidery. The needle came up to form the 'I'. The remaining words were in block type of varying colors and shapes. The entire composition sparkled in the lowering sun from added glitter grains

As the pair passed inside they were met by the ringing of a tiny bell over the door. 

From within, somepony said, "Good afternoon, is there anything I can help you find today?"

Looking to the side, Bryce found a unicorn wearing glasses. His attention on an embroidery hoop wrapped in a pale yellow aura. "Well, I'm looking for something to do some whittling or wood carving."

Without looking up, the unicorn said, "Wood carving? Back wall; next to the paints."

"Okay, thank you. Sprout, if there's anything you want to look at then go do it, but be careful with it." Walking to the back of the shop, Bryce found where the sunset orange unicorn had indicated sitting between small tubes of paint and an assortment of wicker baskets, with a rectangular one large enough for him to hide in if need be.

The pickings for wood cutting were small, to say the least. It was mostly a few wood carving chisel sets and a few knives. The knives, however, perked up Bryce. Just seeing what they had to offer put all his tools back home to shame. The dolls he had made with Ponzi's knife had been crude, but good enough to tell what they were supposed to be. With even one of these blades in his adept hands there was no telling what he could do. 

Bryce picked up a high quality blade, one with a metal handle and full tang. Turning it over Bryce was thrown back at the price: 165 bits. It seemed to be a good one, but Bryce didn't have that much nor was he prepared to pay that much for anything, yet. 

Placing the first one back Bryce picked up a lower quality whittling knife with a crude wooden handle and partial tang. It was a much fairer price, 15 bits, and in his hands it would do well, but he still wanted a good knife.

At that moment the front door ringed once again, and again Needlepoint welcomed them inside. 

A voice familiar to Bryce answered back. "Hey, Mr. Needlepoint."

Needlepoint turned his attention away from what he was doing. "Ahh, Sparkler! How have you been? It's been too long since I last saw you. What brings you here on this fine day?"

"Oh, it's nothing too big. I'm just here with my little sis to help her find some paints to-"

"Ha, I knew she had the painter's touch in her the moment I saw her!"

"No, Mr. Needlepoint, it's not for anything like that," Amethyst refuted. "We only need some paint to paint her little ponies."

"Her... little ponies?"

"Yes. Dinky, show him."

Dinky carefully brought out the small wooden ponies Bryce had made for her. 

Needlepoint was amazed at the sight of the dolls. Picking them up in his magic he brought them closer. "My, these figures are incredible. The anatomy is off in places, and the wings on the pegasus are... ungainly, but they are magnificent."

Dinky began to jump up in an attempt to get her toys back. "Give those back, they're mine!"

"Dinky, settle down. Mr. Needlepoint wasn't trying to be rude." As soon as Dinky had her little ponies back safely in her hooves she immediately settled down. "I'm sorry, it's just a friend of hers made them especially for her, and she doesn't want anypony she doesn't know very well to mess with them."

"I can understand. In fact your father was the same way when it came to his paintings. Ponet wouldn't let me, your mother, not a single pony see his works until they were finished."

"Yeah, I can remember that. Every time I tried to sneak a peek he would slash his brush at me. He slung paint into my eye once and I had my head pulled under the faucet for at least twenty minutes."

Needlepoint began to laugh. "He would do the same to me. One time he threw his palette at me. It took a full two months to get the last of the paint out of my fur. It would have gotten out sooner, but your father insisted he had to paint my portrait afterwards." Needlepoint pointed to a painting on the wall of a splattered color wheel on a pony's rump.

Amethyst snorted. "Wait, that's the big project he kept going on about, and why you were wearing a skirt the whole time?"

Needlepoint gritted his teeth. "Yes, but only because your father insisted the colors not get smudged."

Amethyst laughed hard. "Do you even know what he kept saying the whole time he was painting that one?"

"No, what?" Amethyst bent forward and whispered into Needlepoint's ear so Dinky wouldn't hear. When she was done, the sunset unicorn laughed even harder. "It's a real shame then. I can't even tell you how many ponies he tried to sell it to. He eventually had to just give it to me to try and sell. I can't say I blame anypony; nopony would want that hanging over their fireplace. Nevertheless, I feel it will always be his best work."

"I will say it does look better than what we have on the walls at home. It's been nice seeing you, Mr. Needlepoint, but we should get our paints. The sooner we get them the sooner they can dry."

"There was somepony who came in just before you both looking for wood carving tools. He should still be back there if he's still here. He may like to see your sister's... Little ponies was it?"

"Yep, that's what she calls them." As Amethyst turned around she had to jump to avoid tripping over Apple Bloom, who had been playing quietly with Dinky the whole time. "APPLE BLOOM...!? What are you doing here?"

"Ah'm just lookin around. Bryce is back there lookin at the wood cutting stuff."

"Wait, has he been here the whole time?"

"Uh huh."

Dinky didn't wait around to listen. She quickly got to her hooves and ran through the store.

"Dinky, slow down!"

Amethyst's shout went unnoticed. Her concern was on finding Bryce. Going on what she had heard, the grayish-purple filly found the paints and began to look around the area. No matter where she looked, however, she saw neither hide nor hair of him. All there was was the many tubes of paint, an upside-down wicker basket, and wood cutting tools.

As she was looking around Amethyst came over at a carefully quick pace. "Dinky, what's gotten into you?"

"I... I was looking for Bryce... That stallion said he would be here." She said with disappointment.

"Look, I know you like Bryce, but you shouldn't be running around in here. You could break something and we'd have to-"

She was cut off when they both heard the sound of something skidding across the ground. When they began to look around the sound stopped.

"Dinky... was that you?" Amethyst asked, looking straight at her sister.

"N- No..."

The skidding started up again, but stopped when they looked for the source. 

When they looked towards the wicker basket they noticed something. There was a large rectangular wicker backet laying uncomfortably close to them.

"Dinky... was that basket like that when you got here...?"

"No. I- It was against th- the wall."

Amethyst furrowed her brow and cleared the distance between her and the basket. Standing tall, she said, "Bryce... You're setting a bad example for Dinky."

There was no response from within.

"Bryce, get out of there. Now!"

Again there was no response.

Sighing heavily, Amethyst fired up her horn and lifted the rectangular basket. 

When she pulled it up her pupils shrank. 

There was no one lying on the ground. 

She flipped the basket every which way, thinking he had wedged himself inside, but the answer was clear: Bryce wasn't there.

"Amy... where's Bryce?"

"He's... I thought... There's no way he could have-"

From behind them there came a soft voice. "Boo."

The two girls immediatly felt their skin crawl and they stepped back into a hard object. Taking a look up they saw Bryce staring down at him with a smile that showed all of his top teeth. "Well twisting a basket around like that sets a bad example for her too."

"What... Buh... It's not the same," Amethyst said as she regained her composure. "There's nothing fun in scaring girls."

From the side Apple Bloom was laughing. 

"Well she thinks there is."

Amethyst sighed again. "Okay, I will admit that you got us. You just better not make a habit of it. How did you pull the basket anyway?"

"Well I tied a piece of black thread to it." Bryce held the thread up to the light. "Pratically invisible." Bryce looked down at Dinky. "Finally wanting to paint your toys, huh?"

"Yeah, I really like them, Bryce."

"Well I made them for you. It's the least I could do for what you after what you gave me for my birthday. Now, go on and get your paints."

Dinky did as Bryce said and began to look the paints over.

"And Dinky, remember to only get the paints you need to paint your little poines, and nothing else." Amethyst said. HSe turned to Bryce. "So... I see you made it off the farm. How long have you been in Ponyville?"

"Well, about four or five hours. I came with Applejack to get the groceries while she sold apples."

"How long ago was that? We didn't even see you until now."

"Well Apple Bloom and I finished an hour ago. Now we're just looking around until Applejack gets done."

"We were out shopping a little while ago ourselves. A friend of ours said she saw you. She told me you had another one of your... of your moments."

Bryce cradled his arms. "Yeah... I did..."

"Did it have something to do with that thing you have. I forget what you called it, but it sounded like another word for somepony's bottom?"

"It did."

Amethyst brought Bryce out of ear shot of Dinky and Apple Bloom. "What caused it this time?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I want to help you and see if there's a way you could avoid it."

"It... had to do with... Has someone ever asked you a question where there were so many possible answers you just don't know which one is the right one?"

Amethyst thought a second. "I'm not entirely sure I follow."

"Well, pick that thing up over there with your magic." Bryce waved behind her.

"What thing?'

Bryce waved his arm again. "That thing."

"What thi- Oh..."

"See, it's like that."

"Okay, so what was the question?"

"Well, it was about how many carrots I wanted to buy."

"Okay, well that is a simple question. And from what you said I think your problem was you didn't know how many was the correct number? Am I right?"

Bryce nodded. 

"For that... I'm not sure I can give an answer to that. It's just too... too..."

"Unanswerable?"

"Yes... I mean-"

"No, you're right. But that's not what I need help with. I'm always going to have problems with that. I need help with how I freeze up. You see, some people with Asperger's are always in a ready state of either fight or flight. It's like a weak foundation; setting a needle on it can send the whole thing toppling down. With Asperger's, this response gets triggered and the person topples both ways. You stay there to try and face it 'and' you are running away. Except I'm not running away in the literal sense. My body stays, my mind runs away, and I freeze in place. Am I being clear?"

"You're kind of nailing it in, but you're missing the head, if that makes sense?"

"Well, you saw how I was after Rainbow wet me."

"Yeah, I remember that..." Amethyst thought back to the day she had met Bryce. Back then he was nothing but scum to him, but now she couldn't think how her life could have been any better without his intervention. "I would suggest, maybe, that you could think about something good. Maybe thinking about a bright moment in your life can outweigh the bad now. I don't know it it will work, but maybe it could help."

"Maybe it could."

"Bryce, I'm trying to help."

"I know you are, but it's not easy."

"I know it isn't, but I'm not going to stop. You may not think you matter to anypony, but there are some ponies who would go out of their way to get you through the hard times. You remember that."

"Amethyst, why are you doing this? Why are you being so helpful?"

"Because you've been so helpful to my sister, my mother, and to me."

When Amethyst was done, Bryce stood his ground and could only look into her violet eyes. In them she could tell what she had said was the truth. But what got him at how she had said he had helped her mother. Bryce had never met Amethyst's mother, let alone even seen a picture of her. That could only mean Amethyst was talking about Ditzy. The first time Bryce had seen Amethyst she had been so horrible to her stepmother; hated her to the soul. Could he have made Amethyst change her opinion of Ditzy, or her heart? It was puzzling, but completely clear.

"AMY!!! BRYCE!!!" Dinky cried out.

Both Bryce and Amethyst came running back to where they'd last seen Dinky with Apple Bloom. When they got there they saw the gray toned filly safe and unharmed. "Dinky, what's the matter!?"

"Nothing, I was just wanting to know where you both were. I picked out the paints," Dinky said as she showed off the paint tubes in front of her. 

"Dinky... You shouldn't have yelled out like that," Amethyst scolded, "but I guess we shouldn't have left you both like that. But don't forget the brushes; you can't paint without paint brushes."

"Oh, you're right. Thanks, sis." Dinky ran off and came back with a mouthful of watercolor brushes.

As they walked up to the front of the store with their purchases, Needlepoint made his way for the register. "Did you all find everything you-" As Bryce came into sight the unicorn stopped midsentence. 

Amethyst spoke up. "Mr. Needlepoint, this is our friend, Bryce. He's the one who carved Dinky's little ponies."

What Needlepoint did was unexpected. The stallion stepped up to Bryce until he was a short step away. Needlepoint stared up into the human's gray eyes. 

Bryce could only look back.

"You, sir, are brilliant."

Bryce was still dazed from seeing the sunset stalion looking at him. "I'm... what...?"

"The wooden figures you made are magnificent."

"You didn't say that bef-"

"In all my time I have never seen anypony able to carve out anything as realistic as those figures. But I suppose you aren't a pony... Are you?"

Bryce could only shake his head.

"What is your name?"

"Uh... Bryce..."

"Well, Bryce, I just had to say it to your face. Tell me, could you possibly do it again?"

"Well, yeah, if I had the right tools."

"Then allow me to propose a business oppurtunity. If you would bring me more of these figures I would pay you a good portion of whatever bits they-"

"L- Let me stop you there. I don't make them for money. I make them to pass the time, and for gifts. To me, they aren't something one can put a price on, so I make them for others and give them away."

"Are you sure? Do you know how much somepony would-"

"I'm sorry, but no." Bryce firmly stated.

Needlepoint looked disappointed, but he just brushed it off. "I understand." He walked back over to the cash register. "Now, did you find everything you were looking for?"

"Well, not entirely what I wanted, but it'll do for now." Bryce held out the 15 bit knife. 

"At least you are trying to contine your craft. That'll be 10 bits."

"Well the price tag says it's 15."

"Oh, you can ignore that. I give a discount to my favorite artists. Would you like a bag for that?"

"I'm going the full amount, but I would like a bag."

After Bryce and Amethyst payed for their purchases, with Bryce paying the full price for his, they left with a wave to Needlepoint. When they were outside Dinky asked, "Amy, can we go home now so I can paint my little ponies?"

"Don't you want to spend some more time with Bryce and Apple Bloom?"

It was obvious to everyone that Dinky was having trouble deciding. "I... I..."

Bryce offered a suggestion. "Hey, Dink, I promised Apple Bloom I'd take her out for ice cream. You go on home with your sister. I'll go buy us each a pint of ice cream and meet you both there."

"Actually, that sounds like a good idea, Bryce," Amethyst said.

"Bryce, can Ah go on with'em."

"Well, Sprout, I would say yes, but your sister wanted you to stay with me. What flavors would you both want?" Bryce asked Dinky and Amethyst.

"Triple berry for me, please."

"I want mint chocolate chip!" 

"Dinky, what's the magic word?"

"Please, Bryce."

"Okay, triple berry and mint chocolate chip. Anything else?"

"Could you also pick up a pint of strawberry for Ditzy? Here, I'll pay for ours." Amethyst reached into her saddlebag and pulled out 6 bits. 

"Where would I go to get ice cream?"

"You can go to Sugarcube Corner. Don't worry, you'll know it when you see it. Don't take too long, okay?"

"We'll try not to. Come on, Sprout."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

It didn't take long for Bryce to find the cakery. Even though Bryce had been there two weeks ago he never did get a good look at the place. When he first saw the facade of the building he was almost beyond belief. To see frosting on the edges was one thing, but from a distance the roof looked like the topping on a layered birthday cake, complete with a trio of candles. 

When Bryce reached the door he took notice of the buttresses on either side. As much as he wanted to say they weren't, Bryce thought they were real candy canes. He was almost tempted to give one of them a lick. Looking more closely he could see there were a few dents here and there, almost as if somepony had tried tasting it before.

Bryce held the front door open to allow Apple Bloom to go inside. As he entered he was relieved to see there weren't very many ponies inside.

"Hi, Bryce!" Pinkie yelled. "What brings you here today? Oh, wait, let me guess. You're here to check up on your pal, Pinkamena Diane Pie?"

"No, I'm... Who?"

"No, that's not it. You're here because somepony's making you?"

"No, I came on my own free w-"

"Give me one more chance. You're here to buy some frozen cow juice?"

"Y- Yeah."

"I got it right? I got it right! We have lots of different flavors. There's chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, cherry, cherry vanilla, neoponiton, double chocolate, triple chocolate, butter pecan, cookie dough, pistachio, and lots of others. But wait, there's the sherbets. We have-"

From the kitchen a blue mare with a swirled pink and rose mane and tail came rushing in. "Pinkie, dear, do you think you could go and organize the candy jars?"

"Sure, Mrs. Cake. Should I do it by name, or color, or-

"Surprise me." When Pinkie was well out of earshot, Mrs. Cake turned to Bryce. "I'm sorry about that, she can get a tad carried away with... everything."

"Well, with the few times I've met her I know that's true. Some of us just have the gift for gab. I'm don't, but she does."

"I understand what you mean. It's a wonder to everypony how she can go on for hours, without stopping to to even take a drink. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Well I'm looking to buy a few pints of ice cream, to go."

Mrs. Cake had been hoping it would be anything besides pony flesh. "We have plenty of cold, creamy, no pony added ice cream to go around."

"Well... that's the way I usually have it."

In her mind Mrs. Cake was whipping the sweat off her brow. "So what kind would you like?"

"Well, it's actually more than one."

"No problem." She said as she pulled out a note pad and pencil. "What flavors would you like?"

"I would like a pint of triple berry. A pint of mint chocolate chip. A pint of strawberry. Apple Bloom, what kind do you want?"

"Cherry."

"A pint of cherry. And a pint of moose tracks."

Mrs. Cake stopped jotting down notes on the last one. "I'm sorry, what was that last one?"

"A pint of moose tracks."

"I've never heard of that flavor. Could you tell me what's in it?"

"It's vanilla with little morsels of chocolate covered peanut butter."

"I'm afraid we don't have anything like that. Is there another flavor I can get for you?"

"Well... Uhm..." Bryce could feel himself ready to freeze up a second time that day. He didn't want to do it, but what else could he do. Unless he tried what Amethyst had suggested: Think about good times.  The day Scout and I finally met, seeing Apple Bloom fall asleep on my lap, Fluttershy bringing Corn back, getting my fitting, the night at Rarity's, my birthday party, Dinky after she saw her gift. "Do you have anything like vanilla ice cream with veins of chocolate in it?"

"Yes, we do. A pint of fudge ripple?"

"Yes, a pint of that, please."

"Coming right up. Go on and have a seat and I'll bring it out." 

Bryce did as Mrs. Cake had asked. As he sat there, with Apple Bloom taking a seat next to him, he began to take notice of how the few other ponies there would shoot him sideways glances. When Bryce looked up they would immediately look forward as if nothing had happened. It was getting to be a little repetitive, but if one on them were in a world full of humans they would probably receive the same treatment. In the mean time, Bryce bided his time watching Pinkie reorganized all of the candy jars in whatever silly order she had concocted.

A few minutes later Mrs. Cake came out with six containers of ice cream; five pint sized and one quart sized container.

"Wait, I only ordered five pints."

"That one's not for you. Pinkie, could you come over here, please." 

The quart sized container began to move on its own accord.

"What's in there?" Bryce slowly asked.

The container then flipped onto its size and rolled over into the floor. When it hit the floor the top fell off reveling a disoriented Gummy.

Pinkie Pie came running over after hearing about her pet. "Oh, Gummy, there you are!  Gummy and I were playing hide and seek when you both came in. Looks like I found you. You're it!"

"Pinkie," Mrs. Cake said, "I found Gummy locked inside the freezer."

"Darn it, I was totally going to look there next. What do you mean it doesn't count?" Pinkie asked Gummy. "No, I said the register was base. That means I have to hide."

"Pinkie, do you think you could both play later? The dinner rush is going to be coming in soon."

"Okay, Mrs. Cake. Welp, Gummy, you heard her, but next time I'm going to hide someplace you'll never think to look. First things first, I need to finish organizing the candy by number of ingredients."

Mrs. Cake could only shake her head. "That mare..."

"What? It's just Pinkamena being Pinkamena. You can't blame her for that." Bryce said as he began to tempt the toothless alligator with his pointer finger.

"I know, I only wish she could differentiate between playtime and work. That's five pints of ice cream. 10 bits."

"I'll get it in a second. This one's finally taken the bait and won't come off." Bryce brought his hand up to try and let gravity pull Gummy off, but he held fast. "Look, I need to pay for this. I have two girls waiting- Well it's not my fault you're cute."

Gummy started to eye the one he held captive. 

"Well it's true. You're small, helpless, and adorable. You should be thankful. Other alligators can defend themselves and scare everyone. You're cute and defenseless."

Gummy's response was to give Bryce a sizeable tail whip to the face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Bryce and Apple Bloom walked through town to Ditzy's house. The former had his pint of fudge ripple pressed over his face. The later had a grin plastered onto her face.

"Apple Bloom, stop laughing, please."

"Stop laughin at what?"

Bryce exhaled loudly. 

"Hey, Bryce!" Somepony called down from above.

Come on, not now. Bryce looked up to see Rainbow Dash slowly hovering down to the ground. "Hey, Rainbow, what's going on?" Bryce asked nonchalantly.

"You know, nothing much. I just had to see this. I mean, I thought you were too afraid to leave the house without somepony."

"Well I'm with Apple Bloom."

"Nah, she doesn't really count. She's a kid. What are you doing in Ponyville?"

"Oh, you know, buying some groceries. Seeing the town. Eating some ice cream."

"That's cool. Why do you have your ice cream on your face like that?" Rainbow said as she pointed to his face.

"What, this? I... don't like my ice cream to be too hard. I like it to be like a milkshake." Bryce looked towards Apple Bloom to see her eyeing him.

"Ahh come on, Bryce, are yuh sure that's the real reason?"

"Why would... would I lie?"

"Oh, Ah don't know. It's not like you're hiding somethin a cute and defenseless critter done."

Rainbow was quick to catch on. Narrowing her eyes, the rainbow mare asked, "So, whatcha hiding?"

"It's nothing. I got something in my eye."

"Well if that's so then let me help you get it out. I've gotten a lot of things in my eyes when I fly, so I know a thing or two about getting'em out."

"It's... already out."

"Let me check and make sure."

"No."

"Wait, is it something funny?"

Bryce didn't answer nor looked to anypony.

"Come on, we're friends, aren't we?"

"Well... yeah." Bryce ran his shoes through the dirt.

"Look, I promise I won't laugh."

"... How much of a promise?"

"I Pinkie promise."

Bryce raised an eyebrow, staring hard at her hooves. "What do you mean 'pinkie'?"

"You know." Rainbow finally dropped down to the ground. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Rainbow said as she did the motions of the promise.

Bryce looked her over for a second before saying, "Not the promise I was thinking of, but you better hold to whatever 'that' was." 

Bryce lowered the pint of ice cream from his eye revealing the damage Gummy had done. The baby alligator had managed to hit the human with enough force to blacken his eye, leave a long cut on his cheek, and bruise most of the impact site. It wasn't pretty, but Bryce accepted defeat. That gator might be toothless, but if Gummy had the guts to do this then Bryce had to respect the reptile.

"Whoa, what the hay did that?"

"It was... Pinkie's pet alligator. He tail whipped me"

"You mean Gummy?  Pinkie's toothless baby alligator?"

"Do you know any other alligators?"

It didn't take long for Rainbow to begin snickering. After a while her snickering became louder until it was full blown laughter. In an instant the rainbow mare was doubled over, holding at her sides. "You really... got that from... from a ba... ba... baby!?" Rainbow was soon lost in laughter.

Bryce scowled down at the laughing mare. Kicking a cloud of the dust in the air he stormed off. In a nasty tone, he snarled, "You're a boy!"

Rainbow's laughter soon left. "Hey, wait, I was only-"

"Don't care; have somewhere to be."

"Look, I know I promised-"

"Yeah, you did!"

"Ahh, come on. It was funny."

"Then why are you the only one laughing!?"

"I didn't mean it like-"

"Goodbye!!!"

Rainbow got the point and fell back, no longer trying to keep up with Bryce, even though she could have easily done so.

When Bryce came bursting through the front door of Ditzy's house, everypony, including Ditzy who had arrived a short while before Bryce, jumped up.

"Hey, Bryce, did you get-" Amethyst began to ask. "What happened to your face!?"

Bryce brushed past the three ponies and dropped the ice cream on the kitchen table, but kept his with him. "I'll tell you later. Right now I want some time alone." Bryce went into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.