//------------------------------//
// Into the Storm 
// Story: Extremely Loud, Intensely Bright, Drastically Tense, Exceedingly Tight 
// by h4ns 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 51: Into the Storm

The cards flew through the air, performing aerobatics feats before slipping lazily to the floor. When each of the 54 cards in the deck were spent, their holder would then sit up from his bed and gathered them all together, taking care all 54 were present. Once this he was sure, he would lie back down on the bed and send the cards flying across the room once again, one by one. 

Bryce was unsure of how many times it had been since he'd came into his room, but he didn't care to stop what he was doing anytime soon, if anything so he could avoid going back downstairs to face... her.

To say Bryce had been surprised would have been a half truth. He had thought the apple mare's sudden amiability had to with him saving her in some way or the other, but that was he had thought. On the flipside, Bryce had had a feeling Applejack's new found affability had to do with something else; as if she were hiding something. Unfortunately, this latter assumption had been the correct one.

And still, almost an hour after the fact, Applejack's last few words still replayed themselves over and over in his head: 'Why couldn't it have been you?'

With each reply of those words the knife already planted in his heart was thrust in that much deeper. Bryce could understand if Applejack had thought he had tried to kill her, but even after he risked his life to save her own she wished he had been the one, and still so to this day.

How should one respond to that?

Bryce didn't know how to answer. Instead, he kept flicking his cards through the room under the light of his candle. It didn't take long for him to again come up empty. 

Shifting his legs over the side of the bed, Bryce walked around the room and gathered the playing cards. He counted them as he went about his work, but when he found all the ones that were visible the tally came up 53. To make sure he hadn't miscounted, Bryce sat on the bed and counted the cards in his hand. Again, 53.

Placing the incomplete deck down on the bed, Bryce grabbed the candle stick and brought the flame around the small room. It took a minute for him to spot it, but he finally found it wedged between the teeth of Omega, the decapitated timber wolf head.

Once Bryce pulled out the card he felt a strange sensation take over. As the seconds ticked by, this sensation grew in intensity until it began to bear down on his mind. 

With the card still held in his hand, Bryce made his way for the bed but tripped along the way and fell, kicking his chest and causing everything on it to drop to the floor. He only just managed to hit a corner of the bed when his vision began to blur, and he saw something that filled him with dread.

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

The rain had began to ease off as Applejack neared her destination. Though it was still falling down at a considerable rate, it went all but unnoticed by the apple mare as she trudged up the steep hill. Once she reached the peak, she found what she'd been looking for: an orange tree, set into the earth close to a large apple tree. But it wasn't the trees themselves Applejack had came to see, it was the two ponies who now resided under them.

Applejack would almost always end up at this certain part of the farm whenever she needed to vent or felt she needed to be alone, though sometimes she came to maintain the area around the two entwined trees. 

This visit, however, would serve not as a social visit, but to hopefully clear her mind. Clear it of the events that had led her to this moment. 

With a heavy heart, she approached the apple tree: Her father's tree.

Taking her hat off in respect, Applejack waited a few minutes before saying, "Hey, daddy. It's... been a while. Ah've been meanin ta come see you and momma, but... Well, Ah've gotten a new guest. Actually, two, but it's the first one Ah want ta talk ta you about." Applejack cleared her throat before she continued, "For starters, he's not really a pony, or anything that's ever been seen in Equestria. He's, well, big. Bigger than Bic Mac even, and he walks on his hindlegs."

"He's a nice colt and all, but... He's... He's a lot of trouble. A lot more trouble than he's actually worth. Since he got here he's brought out the worst in me. Ah came close ta killin'm too. Ah... Ah don't know what it was about him, but Ah haven't been the same since. Almost every second Ah can't see'm Ah expect him ta stir up something, and we get the worst end of the deal whenever something does happen. Because of him the barn burned, with me in it, and all because of something he'd done. Ah mean, Ah know it wasn't all him, but if he hadn't gone and beat up that one colt it woulda never happened." 

Applejack had to take a breath before saying her next statement. "And even after all Ah'd done and said ta him, he saved me from getting roasted ta death, and still Ah expected the worst outta him. Ah thought he'd done it, and Ah was gonna go and have the Guard haul him off so he'd be outta our lives. Ah woulda done it too, but then that colt's uncle showed up and proved me wrong, and since then Granny's been trying ta make me say something about it to'm."

"Since that colt did it his uncle paid us everything we'd need ta fix the barn. Because of that he made his nephew come and help out around the farm to repay the debt, but told us if anything bad happened to the varmint then we'd have to pay him back, in full. Ah don't know how, but the varmint found out what happened, and he just made me blurt it out in front of Bryce. That's the first fella staying with us."

"But after Ah said it Bryce got angry, and Ah can't blame'm because after that Ah truthfully asked why it couldn't have been him that done it."

After Applejack had spilled out everything to her late father, she paused, hoping for somepony or something to speak next. Unfortunately, nopony spoke back. The only sound came from the wind and the rain.

"Daddy?" Applejack finally asked. "Ah know it was wrong of me ta ask that, most especially to him, but am Ah wrong for wishing it had been him. If it weren't for him we'd probably still have the barn, we wouldn't be responsible for that varmint's well being, Ah... wouldn't be so scared ta leave my family alone..." The apple mare looked down to the ground. "Ah'm trying ta be honest, daddy, but... Is me wishing something bad ta happen to somepony like Bryce wrong?"

As if answering her, the storm let out a large gust of wind that forced Applejack to buckle down. However, she neglected to bring in her hat and it was blown away.

Her own safety forgotten, Applejack immediately took chase. 

Sliding down the hill, with one eye trained on her daddy's hat, she hit the ground running.

It was as if the storm was taunting her. Whenever Applejack would run one way the storm would change the direction of the wind in the almost complete opposite direction.

In the course of her chase she was cut and bruised, but she disregarded these 'scrapes' and charged on.

Regardless of how many branches crossed her path or how fast the wind blew in her face, Applejack refused to back down from her goal.

She wasn't going to give up her Stetson for anything.

As suddenly as the wind had began, it gave way to a frightening calm. Applejack failed to notice this, instead seeing this as the best moment to catch her hat, which had fallen into a large clearing. 

With each step the mud resounded with a loud splosh,which went unnoticed by Applejack. Once she reached the brown Stetson she did a mental leap of joy as she planted her hooves firmly down. She was breathing heavily while she smiled. "Ha! Ah got yuh now, yuh sneaky rascal." It was soon after Applejack placed the Stetson on her head she took note of how the ground below her was rising up towards her. 

If the orange mare had been paying attentiin then she have known it best to turn back as her hat had landed in the middle of a deep patch of mud. The primal need to retrieve her late father's hat, however, made her press forward, blinding her to all reason. It didn't take long for the realization to dawn on her: The mud wasn't moving towards her, she was sinking down into it.

Applejack began to struggle in place, but it only caused her to sink much faster.

She gritted her teeth, pulling with all her might. It proved useless as the mud held a strong grip on its prey.

Soon, Applejack stopped sinking as her hooves came in contact with the firm ground below. She was buried deep enough for only her orange and blonde head to be visible amongst the sloppy brown.

The apple mare continued to struggle in place, hoping against hope that this wasn't real. She was asleep; held securely in her bed with Winona closeby. Any minute now she would wake up to the smell of Winona's rancid squirrel breath, telling the apple mare it was time to greet the day. With her awake, Applejack could rise, put on her Stetson, and 

Applejack slammed her eyes shut, picturing the Border Collie before her. In her mind, she thought she could feel the canine's hot breath blowing against her face.

Opening her eyes she was met with the face of a canine, but not of the one she'd expected.

Standing before her, with a pair of eerie green glowing eyes was a timber wolf. It was standing on the edges of the mud patch sizing up the apple mare.

When Applejack saw this she froze, not daring to give an inch. 

The timber wolf, however, wasn't as still. Taking a final whiff, the wooden creature formed an 'O' with its wooden maw before it let out a howl that echoed through the surrounding trees. Within a short amount of time, additional pairs of green glowing eyes came from different parts of the orchard and gathered around the first. There had to have been at least ten, fifteen at the most. The timber wolves stared at the apple mare with hunger in their eyes. It had been weeks since the pack had last seen fresh meat, even a small rat. And now there was a full sized mare before them; stuck and with nowhere to go. They couldn't have asked for more.

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

For almost an hour Granny Smith had watched as the minutes ticked by on the family's grandfather clock. The aged mare had been hesitant to allow her eldest granddaughter to stay out for this amount of time, but there was little that could be done. Because of Big Macintosh's injury he was unable to go out on his own. Apple Bloom was too young, so she couldn't go. Bait and Switch could go, but even if Granny Smith could get him to go out she doubted he'd do anything to help Applejack.

That left Bryce, but he had yet to give a response from upstairs, making her wonder if he was still there. If anypony could go out and find Applejack she knew he could, but after what had been said she had her doubts.

Granny Smith was still in shock at what had occurred. The same went for her two remaining grandfoals were as well. She couldn't believe one her own grandfoals could ever feel such bitter scorn for somepony, but at the same time she couldn't believe she hadn't seen it until now. The aged mare saw the guilt in Applejack's eyes, but thought it was from the guilt of having falsely accused the human, not from secretly wishing he'd been behind it the whole time.

As the pale green mare watched the grandfather clock show that it been a whole hour since Applejack went out into the storm she decided enough was enough. "Big Mac, go take your little sister upstairs. Ah'm gonna have a word with Bait."

Taking one look at his grandmother, the brawny red stallion could tell what was about to occur. Grabbing a sleepy Apple Bloom by the nape of the neck, he carried her upstairs into his own room.	

With those two out of sight, Granny Smith took heavy steps towards the tan colt, who was lying on his back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling with a rear hoof bouncing over an arm.

Before Granny Smith could say the first word, Bait said, "I know what you're going to say, madam, but the answer is no. I'm not going to risk my life to save a hayseed's. She made her choice, she can live with it. If she's still alive, that is." Having said that Bait turned over on his side, facing away from the aged mare.

Narrowing her brow, Granny Smith grabbed the tan colt and rolled him over onto the floor. Before he could protest the aged mare stood over him. "Now listen here, sonny, Ah don't give a darn what your uncle said. Ah've been livin on this land a lot longer than anypony else, and Ah know a few good places ta hide something your size."

"I suggest you rethink that, madam," Bait spat back. "If any misfortune were to befall me then your family would be, for lack of a better phrase, down shi-"

"Ah already told yuh Ah don't give a darn, yuh foul mouthed varmint. This all goes way beyond a couple of worthless bits, this is about something that costs a whole lot more: A pony's life."

Bait answered with a laugh. "You think I care for the life of another? Specifically somepony who would hold such bitter resentment for her savior? Somepony the likes of her deserves what she gets."

"Ah know what she did, but you have ta ask if you value your life," Granny Smith stated.

Bait gave a soft laugh. "I doubt you have it-"

His response was cut off when Granny Smith pressed her hoof down onto his adam's apple. " Oh Ah have it in me. Ah took on colts that were twice your size when Ah was your age. Ah may look all sweet and frail, but this old mare has a part very few others have seen."

Bait attempted to push the old mare's hoof off his neck, but she had somehow obtained superpony strength.

"Now Ah'm giving yuh till the count of three ta make the up your mind," Granny Smith said, pressing down harder on the tan colt's neck. "One..."

The room began to darken around Bait and Switch, even darker than before.

"Two..."

Bait felt himself start to faint. He saw it was no joke. He felt the life draw back into him when the aged mare's hoof was pulled away from his throat.

Bryce held Granny Smith off the ground. "Granny Smith, you're not going to get anywhere doing something you'll regret. Besides, he's not going out, no matter what you do to him." Bryce placed the aged mare gently down on the floor. "I'm going out."

"What!?" Both ponies said in unison.

"I said I'm going out."

Both ponies looked at Bryce in total shock. "Bryce, are you sure about this?" Bait asked.

"Yes, I am."

"But Bryce," Granny Smith said, "what about the rain. Aren't yuh worried about getting wet?"

"No. I'm more worried of what 'will' happen to your granddaughter if I don't."

"Bryce, you shouldn't worry yourself about this. Ah'm sure AJ's-"

Without flinching, Bryce stated. "If I don't go now Appejack 'will' die!"

Granny Smith's jaw dropped from Bryce's statement. She wasn't sure what scared her more, the possibility of Applejack dying, or how sure Bryce was about the mare's demise if he did nothing. "H- How do yuh know?"

Without flinching a second time, Bryce said, "I just know."

"That doesn't mean-"

Bryce reached into his pocket and pulled out a playing card. Holding it out to the two ponies, it was revealed to be the ace of spades. "I drew the death card from Omega's mouth. That, and my Magic 8-Ball told me 'Outlook not so good'." Bryce could see the doubt in their eyes. "What do you want me to say, I saw it with my own eyes?"

"Bryce, I can't see how a bunck of nik naks can tell yuh that."

"It may be wrong, but could you live with it if I'm right?"

"How would you even know where to look?" Bait asked, doubting Bryce. "The orchard's too large for you to cover it on your own, and the rain would have washed away her tracks by now."

Bryce turned to Granny Smith. "Does an orange tree next to an apple tree mean anything to you?"

"Yes, the graves of my son and step daughter."

"Where is it?" Bryce hastily asked.

"It's to the east, but a tad north. On top of a hill."

"That's where I'll look. Corn, with me." Bryce ran out the front door, quickly shutting it behind the German Shepherd as he exited. Grabbing a spade as he went, he ran into the orchard, determined to find the apple mare before the timber wolves could get to her first.

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

Finding the hill Granny Smith had mentioned had been easy enough, the only down side was that Bryce didn't know where to go next. At the base there was a set of hoofprints that ran up one side of the hill, as well as a skid that came down the same hill. 

What was troubling was that after these tracks there were sets of hoofprints that followed the skid, but they soon ran in every direction, without any form of reason. It didn't matter which tracks Bryce followed there was always two or three more that forked in different directions. 

Bryce was beginning to freak out; not because of the rain, but because time was running out. If these tracks and the skid on the hill were there, then that meant it was only a matter of time before the timber wolves arrived to devour the apple mare. Any second, there would be a-

From off in the distance, Bryce heard a wolf's howl.

"Shit, that's it! They're already there!" 

Grasping the spade tightly in his hands. Bryce ran in the direction of the howl with Corn at his heels. Within seconds, he found the clearing, as well as a pack of timber wolves encircling a large mud puddle. At the center of this patch of mud was Applejack, stuck neck deep in the muck.

Bryce forced himself behind a tree with Corn, out of sight of the timber wolves. Sneaking a peek, Bryce was thankful they hadn't noticed them. Under his breath, Bryce said to Corn, "What are we gonna do, boy? 'Gonna'? Damn, I'm going native."

Corn gave a low growl. 

"You're right, we have to save Applejack, but we can't get her out without any of those walking fire hazards noticing."

Corn whined a low cry.

"No, I can't do that; not with her there to see it." Bryce snuck another peek and saw a few of the timber wolves beginning to close in on the apple mare. One of them fell into the same bind as Applejack, but the remaining few were able to cross the mud with ease. "Shit. Okay, I have an idea, Corn, but it involves you distracting them."

Corn growled.

"Well what do you want me to do? Lift her out of there for them all to see? They'd come after us, eat us, then go back for Applejack pie for dessert."

The German Shepherd gave a whine, but relented to his boy's suggestion.

"Great. You just run them off, but go a little over to the side before you do so. When you've gotten them a good distance out then come back. I'm going to have to bust that one stuck in the mud with my slingshot before I can get in there." Bryce gave a final peek before saying, "Okay, sneak around and go at my signal."

Crouching low, Corn carefully crawled over to a point at the timber wolves' flank. 

Seeing Corn at a good place, Bryce cupped his hand and whispered, "Dunbar."

When Corn heard that he barked out loud, drawing the wooden canines' attention. 

It had the desired effect as the wolves ran to Corn, who had retreated to draw them away from the area.

The only timber wolf that remained was the one who had gotten stuck in the mud. It barked in Corn's direction for a minute before losing interest and aiming back at Applejack.

Applejack was looking around, trying to find the only person who would be out here with that one dog.

With one final thrust, the remaining timber wolf thrust itself towards the apple mare, breaking off its paw in the process. 

Acting fast, Bryce jumped out from behind the tree, with slingshot in hand. In a practiced motion, he took a knee, trained the timber wolf between the prongs, and let loose the stone in the pouch.  

The stone zipped through the air, piercing the timber wolf through the mouth and coming out through the back of its head. With a yelp, the wolf fell to the ground and broke into twigs and splinters.

Applejack's pupils shrank in surprise. She had expected Bryce to do something, but not like this. Craning her head back, Applejack found the human coming towards her, a spade held over his shoulder. Instead of being grateful to see Bryce, the apple mare became afraid. If Bryce had came out for her it couldn't have been for good intentions.

When Bryce came to the edge of the mud, he brought the spade down and started to shovel a path to Applejack. He didn't make eye contact with the orange mare, not until he was directly over her. Once they were within arm's length of each other Bryce ceased shoveling the mud. In a tone devoid of all emotion, he asked, "Did they get you?"

Left speechless from his arrival, Applejack shook her head.

"Good, let's hurry. I don't know how long Corn can keep them distracted." 

As Bryce carefully dug away at the mud around Applejack, she felt a slight pain as the blood was allowed to flow back down into her legs. Once she was free to move she took a step, only to have her hoof fall out from under her. Bryce bent down to grab her, but Applejack would have none of it. "Don't you touch me!"

Bryce took a step back to allow her room. "Just take your time."

"Don't you rush me. Ah came close ta being wolf chow." Applejack got to her hooves, which continued to shake under her. "What are yuh doin out here?"

"You were in trouble," Bryce bluntly stated.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Well, you said it yourself: You came close to being wolf chow."

While still attempting to straighten herself, Applejack said, "Whatever. It doesn't... It doesn't... change..." She shook her head. "Why...? Why did yuh really come out all this way?"

"Because you needed help."

"Horseapples! You wanted something!" Applejack shouted as she went to grab a glob of mud. She overstepped, however, and she fell back into the mud, her hat flying off and landing at Bryce's feet. When Applejack looked down at herself, she felt dirtier than she'd ever felt before. Seeing the mud caked to her fur made her wonder what she was even doing out in the pouring rain. She knew she had the proper sense to stay inside, and not to run into a mud puddle, but she didn't. She knew she should be grateful to Bryce for saving here, not once but twice, but she wasn't. 

This wasn't her. The Applejack she knew had the proper intuition to stay inside and to give credit where credit was due. Where was Applejack, and what had this muddy, anile thing done with her?

Sitting herself up on her rump, Applejack looked to Bryce with tears in her eyes. "Why did you do that? Why did you come out here just to save me?"

With his usual blank expression, Bryce asked, "Do I need a reason?"

Taking a second chance, Applejack successfully grab a glob of mud and threw it at the human, hitting him square in the face. "Just give me a reason, darn you!" She yelled in a cracked voice.

Bryce raked the mud off his face, but stood his ground. "Fine, I'll give you my reason: Because I'm Bryce Smales."

Applejack sat in the mud, made confused by Bryce's statement. "That... That doesn't te- tell me anything!" She said through her tears.

"Then let ask you this: Are you Applejack?"

The confused mare nodded.

"If you're Applejack, then you strive to be an honest mare, and a hard worker. In terms of the latter, you can let it get carried away, and not accept help when offered because, to you, it would dishonest to let someone just 'help' unless they expected something in return. Because of this you can be as stubborn as a mule when you want to be, even in the smallest of things. Regardless of this, you would help someone you saw needed it, treating them as a close friend or relative."

The apple mare had to stop and think on what Bryce had said last. What the hay is he trying to say? Ah know who Applejack is... No, Ah know who... Ah am... She looked back on the time since Bryce had shown up her life. He was right in saying she could be stubborn, even so far to have her entire family chastise her because of it. And the last thing he'd said was correct as well, but recently...

Applejack let out a sigh. "Okay, Ah understand how that sums me up, but what about you? Who is 'Bryce Smiles'?"

"Smales."

"Smales?"

"Well, Bryce Smales is the kind of guy you see sitting by himself in the lunch room. If something bad were to occur, he's the one, nine times out of ten, that everyone looks to first. Sometimes he is the culprit, but most of the time there's no one willing to apologize for falsly accusing him when they're proven wrong. Deep down he's a big child. His attention is constantly drawn away to tooth picks that are dropped onto the floor when he should be listening to the waitress, who's trying to take his order. Many of his mannerisms may be outside the norm, such as how he curls his toes during crucial moments, or counting every step he takes, but he doesn't care. Everyone else can scream and yell while he sits calmly and wonders what yelling really accomplishes. Sure, he may play the fool, but when you get to know him he knows a lot of facts the most insignificant of things. If you were to ask him which plants in the wilderness are toxic he can tell you. Regardless of all this, you may beat him up, spit in his face, downright tell him off but he would still save you, your sister, or anyone you cared about from certain doom. It doesn't matter if its a simple slip and fall or a raging chimera, he'd still do it. Why does he do it? It's just his way he was taught."

After that there was a long silence, save for the sound of the rain. Applejack didn't know what to say. She looked down to the mud that caked here form. "Bryce..."

"You don't have to say anything," Bryce said as he bent down and picked up Applejack's Stetson. He cleared the distance between them both and held the hat out to the orange mare. "Here, it looks better on you then it ever would me."

Applejack took the hat from the human, but held it to her chest. "Ah'm still sorry..."

"I'm sorry too."

Bryce held out his hand to Applejack.

Applejack saw it, but was unsure if she should take it. Looking up into his eyes, she saw nothing of the black pits from before, but instead a pale white. She placed her Stetson onto her head before placing her hoof into his offered hand. 

After pulling Applejack to her hooves, Bryce said, "Now let's get back."

"Wait, what about your dog?"

"Don't worry about him. He'll find his way."

From off in the distance, the pair heard the sound of something running through the trees at a fast pace. 

Thinking it was the timber wolves, Bryce brought up his spade.

When Corn came running out of the orchard into the clearing Bryce lowered his guard. "Corn, there you are."

Corn started to bark in desperation.

"They're right behind you? Damn it all!" He said to Applejack, "I'll hold'em off. You get back to the house."

Applejack, however, would have none of it as she stood beside the human. "Oh no, don't think Ah'm gonna leave yuh ta fend for yourself against these rascals. Ah got some steam Ah wanna blow off."

Bryce laughed in his throat. "This is the Applejack I met." As the sound of the ensuing pack of timber wolves came ever closer, Bryce swung the spade around to loosen himself up. "From what I saw there's at most 15 of them. If you count Corn, we're outnumbered, 5 to 1."

"Well, yuh took on that one timber wolf all by yourself, without gettin a single scratch. This should be a piece of cake for you."

"Actually, the one I killed had its head stuck in the chicken coop. All I did was come up from behind and cut its head off."

Applejack let out a groan. "Now yuh tell me."