//------------------------------//
// Face To Face 
// Story: Extremely Loud, Intensely Bright, Drastically Tense, Exceedingly Tight 
// by h4ns 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 46: Face To Face

Scootaloo walked at a slow pace through the alleyways within Ponyville. She paid no heed to where she was going, not that she had anyplace she needed to be. 

When she had confronted Rocksalt about his Wonderbolt's poster the last thing she had expected was to end up like this. She hadn't doubted before he had been making it up at the time, but she was willing to accept that, to a certain extent. But when the dull brown colt actually made her out herself to him and his friends... 

Scootaloo could only be thankful that those two colts had pulled her off Rocksalt when they did. Any longer and he would have gotten a fair amount of bits from the Tooth Pony.

When Rocksalt had readily allowed Scootaloo to join his group of friends she was more than willing to do so. After spending only a few minutes with the loopy colt, however, made Scootaloo not even want to be in the same room with Rocksalt, regardless of how well she got along with the three colts who hung around him. It was just, for those few short minutes, Scootaloo hadn't felt so alone. Not since...

Scootaloo stopped all movement and stared down at the ground. She didn't even want to think about that day, not after what had happened. The day the closest thing Scootaloo had looked up to as a parent left her alone.

She tried to not think about what had happened then, she tried remain strong, and for most part she was able to do so, but after what Rocksalt had said to her did little to keep hidden the feelings she had kept deep down inside for so long. 

What she wouldn't give to take it back; take it all back and leave things the way they were before.

"Hey, you!"

A chill ran down Scootaloo's back when she heard that voice. Thinking it was for her, Scootaloo swiveled her head around, looking for the source, and hoping she was wrong.

"Hey, I'm talking ta you!" The same Manehatten accented voice called out. 

At last Scootaloo found him, but Rocksalt wasn't looking in her direction. The dull brown colt was instead facing a hard to miss figure.

Bryce turned around to face whoever was yelling at him. "Look, I got things- You again?"

Seeing this made Scootaloo facehoof. She didn't need a crystal ball to know what Rocksalt was about to do. It just gave her more reason now to avoid the colt. 

Scootaloo had seen Bryce when he came into town last week. The orange pegasus had wanted to approach the human, mostly to thank him for the chocolate, but for whatever reason something held her back. She wasn't sure why, but whenever she caught the smallest glance of Bryce she could almost swear she knew him. But that was impossible. Scootaloo knew she had only talked to the stranger one time. Not even that, more along the lines of him talking to her. 

But the more Scootaloo looked at Bryce the more she racked her brain to remember how, just how she knew Bryce.

Bryce covered his face with his hands. "Kid... Nobody is under my control. You're just... I don't know what, but you're acting crazy. Now I have things I need to get done. Goodbye." Bryce then turned around and walked off while a yellow filly attempted to keep up.

"I'm not done with you! Get back here!" Rocksalt shouted back. When Bryce gave no sign of doing that, Rocksalt added, "Don't you ignore me!"

Scootaloo wasn't going to wait around to see Rocksalt make a further fool of himself. The orange filly ran ahead to catch up with Bryce. It didn't matter what, she was going to figure this out. There was just something, something about Bryce. 

It didn't take long for Scootaloo to find him. Bryce was standing a short stride away from where she stood. Now would be the perfect time to try and clear things.

Before she could take the first step, however, Scootaloo saw somepony that put her previous train of thought at the sidelines. It was Rainbow Dash; her idol, and the coolest, most awesomest pegasus in all of Equestria, and better than any signed Wonderbolts poster any day.

"Hey, Bryce," the rainbow mare said.

Bryce turned his attention away from his list. "Oh, hey Rainbow. Did Ditzy tell you to find me?"

"Yeah. Is that colt giving you trouble?"

Bryce scratched the back of his head. "Well... he's... He's just a kid."

"He told me you have Ponyville under your control, or something."

Bryce shrugged. "I don't know what to say. Maybe he's just lost, or maybe he just ain't proper."

"You aren't really doing that, are you?"

Bryce looked Rainbow straight in the eye and said, "Sure."

Rainbow Dash stopped for a second before letting out a snort. "Yeah, and I'm an egghead that reads books all day. Anyway I told him I'd beg you to let a few ponies free."

"... Beg?" Bryce and Apple Bloom asked in unison.

"Don't get any bright ideas; I don't beg to anypony."

"Right. I have an idea." Bryce bent down and whispered in the rainbow mare's ear.

Rainbow eyed Bryce. "What are you getting at?"

Bryce whispered again. Apple Bloom tried to lean in to hear, but couldn't.

Rainbow rolled the idea around for a second. "It's far fetched, but it'll prove a thing or two to him. I like it."

"I knew you would. "

"Hey, there he is now," Rainbow said as she pointed behind Bryce, prompting Bryce to look where she indicated. Coming up was the dull brown colt.

A sly grin came to Bryce's face. "Rainbow Dash?" Bryce said in a low, gruff voice. "The same little horse thing who vanquished me, and made me suffer such an indignity?"

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

Within the timespan of a minute more than half of Ponyville had crowded in to hear Bryce's and Rainbow's shouting. Looking around at everypony's faces Bryce could see they were buying it. 

After sparring off for about a minute Bryce decided it was time to make it appear he had the upper hand. 

As Rainbow Dash tried to zoom at him a second time he stepped to the side, grabbing her by the nap of her neck and base of her tail as she passed. With Rainbow in his grip, Bryce held her up high. Taking a knee, Bryce brought Rainbow's back down hard on his thigh.

Rainbow let out a cry of pain when it made contact. 

Everypony could only stare open mouthed. 

Bryce dropped the rainbow mare prone onto the ground and held his hands up in triumph.

Not a single pony could could believe what had happened. Rainbow Dash lay on the ground, unmoving.

Bryce continued to hold his hands up in triumph as he walked over Rainbow. "Well then, my little ponies, I've defeated your champion. Let this be a lesson to you all. I own you all now, for you are all under my mind control." A few murmurs began to arise from the crowd as Bryce continued. A few of them began to wonder if the human had hit the ale early. "I shall spare all of you this once, but one of you must pay." Bryce shifted his gaze to the colt who had started this whole ordeal at the interior of the crowd. Sticking out a hand, Bryce said, "You, Rocksalt, shall be that one."

Immediately Rocksalt froze in place. He'd just witnessed Rainbow Dash, the only known pony who had faced the evil Bryce and live get crushed. There was no- 

But from behind Bryce the colt saw something that went unnoticed by the human. It was Rainbow. She was alive and slowly getting up. If Rocksalt could keep Bryce distracted long enough then maybe she would have a chance.

"You should have stayed out of it, kid, but now you have to pay."

Taking a defensive stance, Rocksalt narrowed his eyes. "Yuh know what, just get it over with. I'm done tryin."

"Really? Don't you want to put up a fight?"

"Nah. There's no way I could beat yuh if Rainbow could."

The ponies in the crowd began to speak in low whispers. Many agreed it seemed mediocre, but the colt had looked truely afraid when Bryce called him out.

"My, my. I didn't give you much credit. You're brave to accept your fate, I must say," Bryce said as he slowly stepped towards Rocksalt. "But you shall still suffer, just not as much."

"Yeah, well there's one thing yuh don't know. Somepony is gonna kick your-"

From behind, Rainbow shouted, "Hey, why are yuh looking at that small fry!? I'm the one you want!"

Bryce turned back around as Rocksalt facehoofed, his distraction all but worthless.

"You still wish to fight?"

"You're not taking Equestria unless it's over my dead body."

Bryce smirked. "Well, I can arrange that."

Brycee gritted his teeth at the rainbow mare before charging at her at full speed.

Rainbow was prepared for this and she again flew up a short distance off the ground. When Bryce was close enough she headbutted him in the stomach. Grabbing onto his head, she brought him down on his gut and began to act like she was slamming his face into the ground. After a few 'slams' she pulled his head up and slammed it as hard as she possibly could into the grass.

Thinking him defeated, Rainbow began to showboat as she flew a short distance off the ground.

With Rainbow distracted, Bryce got up once again and looked for something to use as a weapon. He found a large stick nearby that would suffice.

"Rainbow, look out!" Somepony shouted from the crowd.

Rainbow was only able to turn around in time to see Bryce use the stick to smack the air around her back. Playing along, Rainbow fell supine on the ground in front of the crowd. "Do- don't worry, I'm just slowly tiring him out."

Bryce clawed his fingers and let out a roar. This was enough to bring Rainbow's attention back to him as he charged at her a second time. 

Jumping up and hovering off the ground, Rainbow extended her forehooves and pointed them directly at Bryce. When he was only a few feet away he extended out his arms as he began to walk around blindly as he let out a moan.

"Whoa, she zombified him," a foal said.

"Snap out of it, Bryce!" A second foal shouted.

Bryce shook his head and gritted his teeth. He again charged at Rainbow, but this time jumped up, landing on her and bringing them both to the ground.

Wiggling out, Rainbow grabbed Bryce around the neck and placed him in a headlock as he was getting to his knees. 

Leaning in close, Rainbow asked, "Think they've had enough?"

"Not yet," Bryce replied. "Give me one more hook then I'll play dead."

Bryce slipped out of her headlock. Rainbow flew at Bryce knocking him to the ground. Bryce was able to flip over on his back in time for Rainbow to land another hook to his jaw. He fell over on his side facing away from the crowd.

Rainbow sat down on the ground and breathed heavily. Turning to the crowd, Rainbow wiped the sweat off her brow. "Welp, he was a lot tougher than he was last time. You don't have to worry, everypony, Bryce has been defeated."

A dead silence fell over the crowd. "Is that it?" One asked.

"Of course. What'd you expect, laser swords?"

Bryce got up on his hands and added, "Or were you wanting me to call on an army of the dead?"

The crowd groaned at the pair before walking off. It was slow at first, but it soon grew in intensity. The talk amongst them all was that the play could have been better. A lot better. One stallion was later quoted with saying the whole act was like a poor ripoff.

After that everything went back to normal. All of the vendors returned to their stands before anypony could 'accidently' walk off with any merchandise, while the rest went about their usual Farmer's Market Day routines.

This left Bryce with Rainbow Dash, Apple Bloom, and a very confused Rocksalt. The dull brown could do nothing except stare as the crowd left without a care, acting as if the whole thing hadn't occured. 

When Rocksalt saw who was left he was completely unsure of what he should do. He had expected Rainbow to beat the tar out of Bryce, but instead she did nothing but played a game. And now they were chatting like old friends. Rocksalt shuttered when he saw Rainbow waving him over. Not knowing what to do, Rocksalt complied.

"What do you have to say, squirt?" Rainbow asked.

Rocksalt was still too dazed to understand the rainbow mare.

"Hello!" Apple Bloom said as she waved a hoof in front of the colt's face.

"I... I..." 

"Leave him be, Sprout."

"But he's just standing there."

"He's just conflicted."

He's not wrong about that. "Are you... controllin our minds...?" Rocksalt finally managed to ask.

Rainbow snorted again. "Kid, you must be cra-" Rainbow began to say.

Bryce shoved a hand over her mouth. When Rainbow looked up she saw him shake his head at her. Turning back to Rocksalt, Bryce said, "Kid, I'm not controlling anybody's mind. And if I could, which I'm not saying I can, I wouldn't even think of doing it."

Rocksalt continued to stare up at Bryce. He was unsure of what, if anything, he should do next.

Bryce bent down and spoke in a calm voice. "Look, just go on and take the rest of the day for yourself. Tomorrow just act as if this whole thing between you and me never happened. Put it at the bottom of your mind and forget it's there. I'll do the same."

Rocksalt stared into the light gray eyes of the human above him. He was more unsure now than he had been before. Was Bryce really going to pretend as if this had never happened. It could be a trick of some sort, but what if it was genuine.

Bryce reached forward and tapped the dull brown colt on the nose. "You'll do fine, kid. You just have to learn not to jump to conclusions without thinking it through."

Rocksalt couldn't deny what Bryce said. The human had had ample oppurtunity to smite him where he stood, but the worse he did was tap him on his nose. 

It hadn't even hurt.

A small smile began to form on the colt's face until he noticed something coming out of one of Bryce's nostrils. He lifted a hoof and pointed. "You... Your nose..."

Bryce wiped under his nose and found a small splatter of blood. "Damn, of all the times." Rummaging inside his satchel Bryce pulled out a folded paper towel and pressed it over his nose. "Sprout, let's go find somewhere to sit down for a few minutes. Blitzkreig, could you lead me there?" Bryce asked as he turned his head upwards. 

"Sure thing," Rainbow said as Bryce placed a hand on her head.

While still looking up, Bryce said, "Look, kid, think about what I said. You'll feel better if you just drop this." The group then departed to kind a good place for Bryce to sit until his nose stopped bleeding. 

Rocksalt continued to watch Bryce as he walked away, with Rainbow leading him. Bryce was in the exact same position he'd been in when the colt had first seen him. 

Rocksalt had blown a simple nosebleed way out of proportions, and may well have lost the only friends he would ever have in the process.

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

It wasn't long after that Rainbow Dash led Bryce to a bench away from most of the stalls. 

As soon as Bryce took a seat he took his hand away from Rainbow's head. "Thanks, Blitzkreig."

"Eh, don't mention it. I didn't get the chance to ask before, but why'd you tell Ditzy to tell me to see you? She said it was personal."

"Oh, I almost forgot. I had to go to the doctor again last night. I had to stay the night and this morning they took my measurements. Well, I'm fat. I'm not going to deny it; I've know it for years, but I'll say it again. I'm fat."

"Okay. I don't see why that would matter to me."

"Well the nurse said I should work on losing weight. That's where you come in."

"What? Why me?"

"Well, of everyone I know you're the most physically fit. Plus, you have the most free time of anybody I know."

"*Pfft* I don't have that much free time. I take naps, that eats up a lot of my time."

"AJ says anypony who spends their time napping insteada workin makes them a no good, lazy bum," Apple Bloom responded. "She usually uses you as an example too."

"And I would ask her, but she has to work all day," Bryce added.

"That's not all I do," Rainbow said, breezing over Bryce's and Apple Bloom's quips. "I have a job. I work."

Bryce smirked. "Yeah, for about an hour a day."

"No, for an hour-and-a-half a day," Rainbow said matter of factly.

"So in the remaining 14 and a half hours you can help me, right?" Bryce asked, still looking up.

Rainbow eyed Bryce for a second, but soon realized it did little if he couldn't see her do it. Letting out a sigh, she said, "Fine, I'll help you." Rainbow took on a determined tone. "But if were gonna do this then I'll need your full commitment. I don't want to be hearing you're sore or tired. I'll be there three days a week, early in the morning. When I get there you better get ready to do what I say, when I say it. Is that clear?"

"Fine, but I won't do two things: I won't take any kind of weight lose or muscle building pills, powders, or the like; and I won't eat any raw eggs."

"Fair enough. You better get a good night's sleep because tomorrow is going to long and hard."

"I'll try to. The sleep part I can do. The good night's part probably not."

"Great," Rainbow said with glee. "See you in the morning." Rainbow Dash flew off, leaving Bryce alone with Apple Bloom to wait until his nose stopped bleeding. 

Within a minute, Apple Bloom asked, "Bryce, do you know an orange pegasus?"

"I can't say I do, but why?"

"She's been followin us since that fella yelled at yuh."

"Who, that colt?"

"Yeah. And this pegasus has been followin us since then. And I think she was followin us last week too."

Turning his head down, Bryce saw the orange pegasus Apple Bloom was talking about standing nearby. Instantly he knew where he'd seen the pegasus last. It was the same pegasus he'd given two chocolate bars almost a month ago, and the only pony who had been brave enough to walk up to him when he'd been revealed to Ponyville. Bryce could be wrong, but the pegasus looked to be almost afraid to see him.

"I know her. Not by name, but I met her when we went to Dinky's party."

"Well why's she followin us?"

"I don't know." Bryce flagged the orange filly to come over.

When this happened, the pegasus didn't move. It only made her tense up further.

"Hey, kid, are you alright?" Bryce called out to her. 

Scootaloo again refused to give an inch.

"Come on. Don't leave me hanging."

When Bryce said that Scootaloo finally moved. It was like a jolt of electricity had passed through her whole body. She steadily went forward, not stopping until she was at least a yard away from Bryce.

"Is there something you need or can help you with? If it's chocolate then I don't have any today."

Scootaloo opened her mouth to speak, but she failed to find the right words to say.

"Are yuh dumb or something?" Apple Bloom hastily asked.

"Apple Bloom, don't ask things like that." 

"She might not be able to talk."

"You should say mute. Someone could take the other word the wrong way." Bryce turned back to the pegasus. "You aren't mute, are you?"

Scootaloo shook her head.

"Can you at least tell me your name?"

Scootaloo kept her mouth shut.

Bryce took a look at his watch. He was shocked to see the time. "Cripes! Sprout, we need to get going. Amethyst and Dinky are going to be waiting for us, and we've only gotten one thing." Bryce stood up and said to Scootaloo, "I wish I could stay, but I have things I need to do." Bryce hung around to see if the pegasus would speak, but she wouldn't. "Well... See you whenever..."

As Bryce walked off Scootaloo's jaw dropped. To her there was no denying who Bryce was; no denying who he sounded, acted, and looked like. 

It could have been pure coincidence that he had the same hair and eye color, let alone the same voice, but the way Bryce froze at drastic moments, the same phrases, the way he acted around and treated foals. Scootaloo couldn't lie anymore.

There was only one thing she could do to confirm it. 

In as high a tone as Scootaloo could manage, she said a single word. "Bright..."

Surprisingy, it had been enough for Bryce to hear. He stopped in his tracks and spun around to face Scootaloo. His usual blank face was now marked with concern. "Wha- What did you call me?"

Scootaloo was barely able to choke out the same word a second time. "B- Bright..."

"Wait, did you say Bright or Bryce?"

"B- B- Bri- Bright..."

Bryce froze when he heard Scootaloo say that. When he was able to speak, he asked, "Who are you?"

Instead of answering, Scootaloo stepped away. It was slow at first, but she steadily picked up the pace.

Bryce stepped towards Scootaloo, but when he did she turned around and galloped off. Bryce wanted to take chase, but he knew Apple Bloom wouldn't be able to keep up with him. He instead stood there, not sure how to feel.

Apple Bloom broke the silence. "Bryce, what's the matter?"

"Apple Bloom, do you know who that was?"

"Who, that pegasus? Ah've never seen'r until last week. Is somethin the matter?"

"No... Yes... I mean... I'm not sure..."

"Bryce, do you know who she was?"

"I feel I do, but... That's impossible. I haven't seen her in almost a month. But... that voice..." Bryce shook the cobwebs out of his head. Amethyst and Dinky were expecting him and Apple Bloom in less than an hour, and there was a decent amount of items he needed to acquire.

There would be time to figure this out, but now wasn't it.