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

Chapter 54: Amsterdam

Bryce awoke to the sound of somepony knocking on his bedroom door. "Bryce, it's Applejack. It's about time yuh got up, sugarcube. Your breakfast's already waitin for yuh on the table."

It didn't take long for Bryce to comprehend what the apple mare had said. As the haze of sleep slowly left him, he remembered why Applejack had interrupted his snoozing: Today would be the first day at his new job, if he even made it through the first day. 

Applejack knocked on the door again. "Are yuh in there, Bryce?"

"I'll be down in a minute, AJ. I just need to change and drain."

The apple mare walked downstairs to allow Bryce some privacy.

Bryce rose from bed not long afterwards. When he went to make his bed he noticed something lodged between the matress and the wall. Fishing the object out, he found it to be one of his widdlings; the unicorn he had made out of pure instinct, and had later found asleep on a bench. He hadn't seen the unicorn since then and had forgotten about her, but seeing this wooden figure made the fleeting memories come back. It was as if the unicorn were there with him, except she fit in the palm of his hand, and was the color of the rose myrtle he had used to carve her.

He turned the figure around in his fingers and saw it matched the long maned unicorn in every detail, but there was only one thought that could come to him. "Who are you?" He whispered to himself.

Not wanting to waste too much time on it, Bryce placed the figure onto his nightstand. After getting into his day clothes, letting Corn outside, and performing his morning constitutional, Bryce went downstairs. When he reached the kitchen, he found Bait standing off to the side, as if waiting for him. "No," he said out of instinct.

"Bryce-"

"No," Bryce again said as he passed by the tan colt. He found Granny Smith to be the only remaining Apple family member. She was busy washing her two eldest grandfoals' dishes.

"Bryce, I'm not going to ask for it back."

"That's the point."

"I'm not trying to be unreasonable. I just want to help you out, as a friend."

"No!"

Granny Smith decided to intervene. "Just leave the boy alone, sonny," she said to Bait. "He's told yuh no Ah don't know how many times since last night. Now if you're a friend then leave'm alone about it." Before Bait could reply, Granny Smith said, "Ah'm sure you're heart's in the right place, dear, but nothin good would come from lendin a friend money." The aged mare turned to Bryce. "Now hurry up and eat. It'd be best to get where you're goin as quick as yuh can. Yuh need ta make a good first impression. Show them you're reliable. And try and watch what the other feller's doin more than yuh do yourself. They know what they're doin but not what you're doin."

By then, Bryce had already finished his first sandwich and had started chowing on the second.  "I'll try," he said in a somber tone.

"Ahh, horseapples. You'll do fine, Bryce. You're a good worker.  They'll like yuh, Ah'm sure of it."

Bryce picked up his glass of milk and took slow sips. 

Granny Smith held out a paper bag to the human. "Ah went ahead and packed yuh up a lunch. Ah know how much yuh get inta your work, but pull yourself away long enough to grab a bite."

Bryce took the bag that was offered to him and looked inside. The bag held a fresh gala apple, a peanut butter sandwich, and a small bottle of water. "Well, I won't make any promises on it."

The aged mare turned her attenton back to Bait. "And what about you? What are you going to do today?"

Bait shrugged. "I'm not sure what I can do. This will be my first day without Bryce. I suppose I could go and take the snapping turtle the girls and I found yesterday to Fluttershy. I'm confident she'll know what would be best to do with it."

"Well when you get back Ah've got some chores you could do for me. Now you hurry up, Bryce. With this being summer I'm sure all the others fellers will want to get an early start."

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

By the time Bryce arrived at the construction site northwest of town he found the ponies he would hopefully be working with already hard at work. From the looks of things, they were constructing a high rise apartment building. The sand colored mare who had posted the notice on the community board the previous afternoon was there, along with three other stallions.

The first stallion was pale blue color with a waved mane a darker shade of blue. He had an average build for a pony and a wrench and two bolts for a cutie mark.

The second was brawny with a boyish face. He was light brown in color with a ragged black mane and tail and a jack hammer on his rump.

The last was similar in appearance to the second; close enough to make Bryce suspect they were brothers. The diference lay in that this stallion was a different color scheme, had a thick stubble on his chin, and was not as physically built as the other stallion. He was a burnt orange color with a brown mane and tail and a hammer and nails for a cutie mark. He had a pencil held in his ear, as if prepared to scribble a few measurements at a moment's notice.

At Bryce's approach, the four ponies cut short their individual work, with Ambrosia facehoofing. 

When Bryce was a few feet away from the group, he came to a stop and shared glances with the small equines. 

The stallion with the pencil was the first to speak. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I'm here for the opening. The opening for the construction job. That's here?"

The burnt orange stallion sized the human up before nodding and giving a smile. "If that's so you came to the right place." He turned back to the three ponies. "What, have none of you stiffs ever seen the likes of him before? Get your flanks back to work." 

The construction workers went back to their tasks, save for Ambrosia.

"You seem to be a strong one, but-" The burnt orange stallion began to ask.

"Uhh, Riv," Ambrosia butted in, "Can I say something to you first?"

The stallion and mare went a short distance away and began to speak in hushed whispers. Bryce tried to look on, but Ambrosia saw this and held up her pink hard hat to block his view. When they were finished with whatever conversation they were having, the burnt orange stallion said in his normal tone of voice, "Your concern is duely noted, Ambrosia." He walked back to Bryce. "Now, what experience do you have in construction?" 

Ambrosia shot the stallion a stink eye.

"Well, a friend and I both built a barn at Sweet Apple Acres. And before that I did some work at... It's hard to explain, but it was like a Habitat for Humanity thing."

"What did you do in this position?"

"I built houses. Houses for, uhm... Refugees."

The stallion caught on to Bryce's hesitation. "Refugees?"

"It's complicated."

"Did you do good work?"

"I did the best I could; I didn't have the best of materials. But the houses stood and served their purpose, if that's what you're asking."

"Okay, you seem to know how to do the job. You're not afraid of heights, are you?"

Bryce scratched the back of his head. "I'm not afraid of heights. It's more the possibility of falling that scares me. That, and crowds, open areas, balloons, confinement, life-like mannequins and statues, bridges-"

"Look, I don't need... Bridges?"

"I'm afraid it'll fall out from under me when I'm in the middle."

The stallion shook his head. "We've never been contracted to build any bridges, so I don't think it'll be a problem. I got something you can do." Riv pointed behind him to an old, rusted cement mixer. "I need you to drag Rust Bucket to the top."

"The top of what?" Bryce asked.

Riv pointed towards the building still under construction. "The top of that."

Bryce's eyes slowly scaled up the wooden frame of the building. Along the way he counted the floors. Currently, there were six floors, including the ground floor. That meant he had to carry the cement mixer up five floors from the bottom to top. Bryce doubted the stallion was serious, but when he looked back to Riv to try and find any hint of a bad joke there was none. HE'S SERIOUS!!! "Up... there...?"

"What are you, slow in the head?"

"A little bit."

"Oh... Yes. Bring it up to the top floor."

Bryce stared at the burnt orange stallion. "Why do you need it up there?"

"Do you want the job or not?" Riv shot back.

Unfortunately for Bryce, he did. Without another word to the stallion, Bryce walked over to the rusted cement mixer, and saw it had cement in it. He's going to tell me it was all a test by the time I get up the first flight. I just know it. Bending down, Bryce took a firm grip of the barrel in one hand and the frame in the other, scattering a few particles of rust in the process.

When Riv witnessed this, he cried out to the others, "Clear the way! Rust Busket's coming up!"

The others, upon hearing the mention of their name for the cement mixer that was well past its prime, immediately stopped what they were doing and grouped together a safe distance away from the site.

Having carried Rust Bucket to the base of the first flight of stairs, Bryce looked back to Riv. He pointed a finger up the stairway as if to ask if this was what he'd been asked. To his dismay, the burnt orange stallion nodded with a smirk.

Taking in a deep breath and holding it, Bryce crept his way up the narrow staircase. Because Rust Bucket blocked his line of sight of the stairs, Bryce had to walk up each stair one at a time. By the time he had the cement mixer halfway up the first flight he was already beginning to break a sweat. When he reached the first floor off the ground, the human's legs felt like jelly. He had to place the mixer down on the floor.

This made Riv shout, "Come on, you only have four more to go. I told yuh to get it to the top."

"It's heavy," was Bryce's response.

"Yeah, so's my brother, Jack, but he manages to carry himself up and down all six floors everyday."

This caused the brawny, light brown construction worker to yell, "Hey, shut it, Rivet!"

Rivet ignored this. "Keep moving. The longer you take the later it will be before we can all go home."

Getting another firm hold on the cement mixer, Bryce continued his climb.

By the second flight, he could feel cramps settling in all over his body.

By the third, the sweat on his palms made it fell like the mixer was covered in butter.

By the fourth, his back was like a toothpick on the verge of snapping.

As Bryce walked the across landing of the fourth floor he came to a stop. The cement mixer had become too much to bear. He placed the rusted contraption down on the floor, letting out a loud groan of pain as he did so. He could barely hold himself up as he leaned on the thing he had been tasked to carry upstairs. 

He heard Rivet call down up from the ground, "Are you still there? You didn't keel over, did yuh?"

"No, I'm alive," Bryce shouted back.

"Are you at the top?"

"I'm on the floor before it."

"Well, get it up there."

Bryce tried to say something back, but Rivet said, "Move it; daylight's burning."

Bryce shook his head and sighed. He bent down to take Rust Bucket in his arms, but the infernal machine refused to be give up its spot. For a minute Bryce tried, but it proved fruitless. Taking a final heave, Bryce's sweaty palms loosened his hold and he fell on his back, defeated.

Supine, Bryce called down, "It's too much... I can't... I can't move it..."

"What kind of talk is that?" Rivet asked. "You got it up four floors and you're just going lie there and give on the last stretch?"

"How... How did you-"

"I'll tell you what: You get that thing up to the top. You do that and I'll let everypony down here go home an hour early."

There was a short moment of silence before the blue construction said. "Come on, Bryce, It's just one more staircase."

Bryce tried to say back, "I can't-"

Jack said, "Get on up, Rice-"

"No, it's Bryce."

"Sorry. Bryce, you can do this. There a lot a pony could do with an extra hour. I got a mare that's been wanting to spend time with her stallion."

"I... I don't know..." Bryce said.

"YOU GET RUST BUCKET UP THERE BEFORE I COME UP THERE, DRAG YOU BOTH TO THE TOP, AND THROW YOU BOTH OFF!!!" Ambrosia shouted. "AND I'LL THROW YOU OFF FIRST!!!"

Anything Bryce said after that was lost in the sound of the three workers chanting his name. The chanting was only subsided when Rivet said, "Can it, you stiffs. Bryce, I'm go to give you one minute. If you can get that mixer up there by then I'll give these fellas 'two' hours. But if you don't then they have to stay the entire work day.

That forced the three construction workers to chant Bryce's name that much louder. 

Bryce, still lying on his back, balled his fist and slammed it on the floor.

"You're time starts... Now!"

At that, Bryce sprang to his feet, despite the grave pain that shot through his form. He bent over and grabbed the mixer.

"Fifty seconds."

Though the damned thing was heavy Bryce had somehow managed to tap into some unseen vigor that hadn't been there until now. 

By the time Bryce reached the stairs, Rivet said, "Fourty..."

Biting on his lip, Bryce took the first few steps up the stairs that were built to containd a creature half his size. 

"Thirty..."

About halfway up, one of Bryce's feet caught the underside of the stair in front of him and he fell forward. He wasn't quick to get back up.

"Twenty..."

It was slow, but Bryce had managed to stand back up, but he had made the mistake of looking down.

"Ten...

"Bryce, pay attention," the blue construction stallion cried.

Bryce shook his head to clear his mind. When he looked back up his face contorted into one of determination.

"Nine..."

Bryce took a step up, but the fall had put enough of a hurting on him to slow him.

"Eight..."

"Just a few more! Don't you quit on us or we'll get you later." Jack said.

"Seven..."

Bryce took another step up.

"Six..."

Each breath had to be forced into his lungs

"Five..."

The steps seemed to have no end as far as he could tell, but Bryce pressed onwards and upwards.

"Four..."

The air felt thin.

"Three..."

Bryce picked his foot up again to find the next step, but there was none.

"Two..."

It took a second for him to figure out why.

"One..."

Dropping the cement mixer on the ground, Bryce shout, "TIME!!!"

Immediately a cheer came up from below.

"That's it, yuh done it. I knew yuh could." Rivet allowed the workers to have their cheer for a few minutes before saying, "Alright, enough of that, back to work. Last one's a fink."

They didn't need anymore coaxing. The  promise of getting to cut off work two hours early had sent a raw drive through the two stallions and mare. Rivet, on the other hand, made his way up the tall building. When he got to the top he found Bryce to be seated with his back against Rust Bucket.

The human was admiring the view of Ponyville; the buildings, the landscape, and the ant sized, pastel colored ponies all in one.

Rivet laughed in his throat. "I thought you said you were afraid of heights."

"No," Bryce refuted, "I said I was afraid of the possibility of falling."

"Eh, so you did. How's the view?"

"Too bright; but it all goes together so well."

"Nice to hear." There was a silence between them that was broken by the burnt orange stallion. "Yuh did good today, Big Ole. You got the job."

"So, this wasn't a part of it?"

"No. I mean, why would anypony need a cement mixer on the roof? Hay, I was going to call yuh off on the first flight, but I wanted to see how far yuh'd go. And you almost impressed me. I'll give yuh the day off, since you gave a good effort. Let's go on down and I'll get yuh set up with your duds and your tool belt."

"What about Rust Bucket?"

"I'll just get it later with the crane."

Bryce gave a smirk. "There's a crane?"

Along the way down, Bryce was given pats on the back by his coworkers, and got a proper introduction to each pony as well. He'd been right about the light brown stallion, Jack Hammer, he was Rivet's younger brother, despite being the bigger of the two brothers. The blue one was named Offset, and the mare was Ambrosia. When they both reached the ground floor, Rivet showed Bryce over to a footlocker. Opening up, it held an assortment of construction worker's equipment, complete with hard hats, tool belts, and orange vests.

Rivet reached in a pulled out a yellow hard hat. "Here, try this on. It's the largest we've got."

Bryce took the hat and tried it on. When it fell off he balled his fist and placed the hard hat on top. "Well, it'd make a good soup bowl for me."

"Looks like I'll have to order yuh one. I'll get it all to you later. You just go on and recuperate. If you work as good as you carried Rust Bucket I'm sure yous and I will do fine."

When Bryce was out of sight of the construction site, Rivet went over to the Ambrosia. "You were going to throw him off?" He said, jokingly.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."

"So, still have your doubts about'm?"

"Yes, yes I do. I don't care how he handled Rust Bucket. The guy's still not a pony."

Rivet was skeptical. "Is it going to carry over to your work, Amb?"

"I'll try to not let it. As long as he keeps his distance and doesn't try to show any of us up I'll do the same job I've been doing for the past three years."

"I'm going to keep you to that. Hay, noponies been able to handle Rust Bucket like that since Jack, and he's the strong brother. I'm the smart and good-looking one."

"Haha. Too bad you're not the one who doesn't bother me," Ambrosia replied.

Rivet smiled. "Love yuh too, Amb. Love yuh too."

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

As Bait came upon Fluttershy's cottage, with the baby snapping turtle held in a box on his back, he was little surprised to find Rarity there. And if Rarity was at Fluttershy's it could only mean one thing: Rarity was having another battle with the Persian kitten that had been found within the walls of her boutique.

At his approach, Bait saw that the fashionista had lain a bowl of food in front of the kitten. She pressed the bowl closer to the feline. "Won't you at least try it?" Rarity asked.

The kitten simply looked down at the food, then back up at Rarity.

Rarity had to force herself to stay calm. "It cost more than even the food I eat, and I got just for you." She went to press the bowl closer to the kitten, but the feline immediately lashed out at the white unicorn, hissing as it did so. Rarity let out a yelp of surprise before she glared at the white Persian. "Ohhhh, who needs you," she yelled as she took the food bowl in her magic and threw it in the kitten's direction.

Though it missed the cat by mere inches, the Persian ran off; taking refuge at the top of a nearby tree.

After Rarity had calmed down, Bait said, "Miss Rarity...?"

Rarity looked back, having thought she'd been alone. "Oh! Good day to you, Bait. Uhm... where's Bryce?"

"He went to work."

"You mean at the orchard?"

"No, he got a job in town yesterday, so he should be there more often."

"Oh!" Rarity said, barely able to contain her cheer. "I mean... What is he doing?"

"He's a construction worker. He got it so he could try and pay for his watch."

"Why would he need to do that?"

Bait recanted to rarity what had happened, including his confrontation with Thunderlane. He ended it with, "Miss Doo had found it yesterday. It turns out Thunderlane had pawned it, and because of how much the owner had paid for it he's not going to just give it to Bryce."

Rarity was beyond belief at that. "That's... That's just wrong! How can he make Bryce pay for HIS own watch!?"

"I'm as perplexed about it as you, Miss Rarity, but from what I gathered the one who bought the watch doesn't want to get any negative attention. And Bryce... He just doesn't want any attention at all. I told him I'd lend him the money-"

"No!" Rarity cut off. "You should never that!"

Bait was thrown back by the white mare's outburst. "He told me no, as well."

"And he was right to do so. Nothing good can ever come of such an action."

"I don't understand. All I want to do is help Bryce, who is my friend, get back an item of great sentimental value."

"I understand," Rarity explained, "but loan oft loses both itself and friend. You can't simply give out money to a friend and expect things to turn out fine."

"I not going to even ask for it back."

"And if you are Bryce's friend, do you truely expect Bryce to accept that?"

Bait opened his mouth, but he had to think out his response. "He... He won't just let me give it to him. He'd pay be back."

"Emhem. That's exactly right."

"I guess... I just want to help him somehow. He's already done so much for me." And anything else I can do would get me locked up.

"Well, I'm sure you'll think of something, Bait. By the way, is there something you came here for?"

Bait's mind went back to the box on his back. "Yes, I did. I found this baby turtle at the watering hole yesterday. I just wanted to ask Miss Fluttershy what I should do with it."

"If that's so she's around back, helping a bear work out the knots in his back."

Bait raised an eyebrow. "A bear? She's brave enough to do that?"

"Why wouldn't she be? The bear asked for her help."

"Oh... I suppose I shouldn't distract her then. By the way, can I ask you something?"

"Why of course, darling."

"How long have you known Miss Fluttershy?"

Rarity scratched at her chin. "It's been at least five years."

"Well, do you know what sort of things she's in to?"

"Whatever could you mean?"

"I mean things such as her interests. Her hobbies. What she wants in a stallion." He said the last part under his breath.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry. What I meant to ask is: If she were to pick a stallion, who do you think would be best suited for her?"

Rarity was skeptical about the tan colt's question. "I get the feeling you don't mean for you."

"Well, it's not for me. It's for... somepony who won't admit he likes her."

Rarity let out a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes. "Every stallion in town?"

"What? No. It's for... a friend. A friend who is... a lot like Fluttershy."

Rarity wasn't catching on to Bait's hesitation. "Does your friend have a name?"

"Yes. You know him."

"I know him?"

"You know him. We were just talking about him."

"Wait, do you mean...?"

Bait nodded his head. "Who else?"

"I just... had my mind on other things." He can't possibly mean Bryce can he? I mean, sure, they're similar. And have shared interests. And... they act so unlike themselves whenever they're apart... This can't be. This CANNOT be.  Rarity hoped against hope she was wrong when she asked, "Do you mean Bryce?"

"Miss Rarity, are you feeling okay today?" Bait asked. 

"JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION!!!" Rarity shouted. When she saw how frightened she had made Bait-and-Switch, she added on. "If- If you don't mind." She forced a toothy smile.

Before Bait could answer, he was interrupted by Fluttershy. "Uhm, Rarity, is everything okay? I heard shouting."

"Yes. Yes, of course I am. Never better. I was just about to... check on the kitten. Here, kitty kitty. Oh, where did that little rascal get off to?"

"It ran into that tree," Bait pointed out. "You threw a food bowl at it and it-"

"Yes, that's right. Thank you, darling." Rarity ran to the tree, calling out, "Kitten, are you still up there?" When she came to the opposite side, out of sight of the two ponies, she fell back in a slump. She sighed, berating herself for wasting time.

The white unicorn wouldn't deny if asked that she had feelings for the human, but what had stopped her from following through was that she thought nopony else would get in the way. Most especially not her best friend.

She had held back saying anything to Bryce because she'd thought she'd had more time, but now it seemed she'd been wrong. 

What should I do? Fluttershy's my friend, but Bryce... He's just... Something else. He just seems so exotic and out of this world. I'm sure he likes me, but he just doesn't know it. That's it! He does but he doesn't know it! All I need to do is... Show him how I feel, maybe pull out a few things from my wardrobe. When he sees how beautiful I look in the right outfit he'll won't be able to contain himself. Rarity stood back up and took a face of determination. "By Celestia, I'll either make him love me or dye myself trying." 

A loud MROW came from above, drawing the white unicorn's attention.

Rarity looked up to the source of the call to find the Persian kitten hanging off a limb by its claws. "But first things first. Let me get you down, kitten. Hmm, I must think of a good name for you." Rarity fired up her horn, encircling the kitten in a blue aura. When she released it onto the ground, Rarity almost expected the feline to lash out at her, but instead it began to rub itself against her leg, purring as it did so. "I was beginning to think you would never take up to me. Any who, let's get home and you and I can think of the best outfit for me. Something to make the mares jealous and the boys unable to control themselves."

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

For the better part of the afternoon after Bryce had left the construction site, he had strolled around town, taking stops whenever the soreness in his muscles made it too hard to continue. Now, about an hour before the sun was to settle under the horizon, Bryce took another one of these stops close to the path that would take him back to the apple farm. While he waited to recover, he had the sack lunch that Granny Smith had made up for him that morning. After the morning he'd had lugging a cement mixer up five stories, it was a godsend.

Bryce had downed the water quickly, and eaten the apple to the core. All that remained was the peanut butter sandwich. It was around the middle of the sandwich that Bryce felt he was being watched. Looking to his side, he found this suspicion proved true when he was met with a pair of perfectly incised peridot eyes.

"Hey there, cutie," the unknown unicorn mare said.

Bryce was beyond words. Somewhat from the surprise of her being there; more from the fact she was there. "Uh... Uh... Hi..."

"So, working hard or hardly working," the mare said with a giggle.

"I'm... eating..."

"Oh, so just taking a break? Cooling off before you have to go back to the daily grind."

"Well, no. I'm- I'm off for the day. I really just, uh, got a job today."

"Oh, that sounds neat. What in?" The mare asked.

"Construction."

The mare gasped in delight. "I just love construction workers. They're always so strong and percise and have such... endurance."

Bryce crossed his leg. "Really. Well, there's three stallions who work there too."

"Oh, is that so?" The mare asked, her head falling into Bryce's lap. "I bet none of them are as big as you are." She ran a hoof down Bryce's bicep. "Wow, feel this lump. I bet you could lift a hundred pounds."

Bryce began to tense.

The mare was quick to catch on. "Is something the matter?"

"You're... touching me..."

The mare shot back up right. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's alright. You, uhm... Uhm..."

"What's got you so nervous? See something you like?" She said with a giggle.

"I see something I find to be... very beautiful."

The mare's face curled into an pleasent grin. "Thank you. You're not too bad yourself, stud."

"Well, you're welcome... Haha."

"So, what-" The mare's question was cut short once a huge fit of coughs erupted from her lungs. It took a solid minute for her to come back down. "I'm sorry, I sometimes-" She again sank back into coughs. "You wouldn't- *cough* happen to have *cough* *cough* have something to drink?"

"I already drank mine. But I could go and get you something," Bryce offered.

Between coughs, the mare said, "That'd be great."

Bryce packed up what was left of his sandwich and placed it back in the paper bag. "Watch this for me, please." Bryce ran off, slipping into the first convenience store he could find. Buying a bottle of soda, he ran back to where he'd left the mare. When he returned, however, he saw no silver colored mare, but a dull brown colt rummaging through the paper sack he'd left. He walked up to the colt and asked, "Where'd she go?"

The colt jumped back in fright; his rump coming in contact with Bryce's legs.

When he saw the colt's face, he immediately recognized him. "Hey."

Rocksalt did nothing as he stood on Bryce's feet, staring back up into the human's gray eyes.

Bryce snapped his fingers in front of the colt's face. "Kid, you alright?"

Rocksalt began to hyperventilate. After all that happened he knew this was going to be it. After all of the thing's he'd done in his short life this was finally going to be it for him. 

Bryce clapped his hands in the colt's ear. "Rocksalt!" This brought him out of his stupor. "What's going on with you?"

Rocksalt started to ramble. "I- I wasn't going to... I was just..." His eyes began to well up. "Please don't hurt me. I'm sorry." He grabbed onto Bryce's leg, groveling for his life.

"Kid, calm down."

"I shouldn't have said all that stuff to yuh. I was just so sure about it. I was... I was... I just..." Rocksalt buried his face into Bryce shoes.

What the dull brown colt had said shocked Bryce, to say the least, but that the colt seemed so afraid was gravely concerning to him. He bent down and began to pet him across the back. "Kid, it's going to be fine," he said in a calm tone. "Whatever you think I am is all in your head. Just take a few deep breaths."

Rocksalt did as Bryce had instructed, feeling slightly better with each one. After the dull brown colt had calmed down, Bryce said, "Are you alright, kid?"

Sucking in his mucus, Rocksalt shook his head into Bryces leg.

"Are you hungry?"

At the time, Rocksalt thought it to be a strange question, but he couldn't deny he was. He nodded.

Bryce reached for his paper sack and opened it up. After unwrapping the sandwich inside he offered it to the sobbing colt at his feet. "Well, I have half of a peanut butter sandwich. It's your's if you want it."

Greedily, Rocksalt took it, almost eating it all in one bite. When he was finished, his mouth felt dry. Thankfully for him, Bryce held out a bottle of soda, which he drank more than half of. When he stopped to take a breath, a boisterous belch escaped from his throat.

When he was done, Bryce let out a laugh. "Nice one, but I can do better." He grabbed the bottle from Rocksalt and chugged what remained in it. Holding it in for a few seconds, Bryce opened his mouth to allow a burp to come out. It was little more than a squeak. "Wait, give it-" What remained of the burp slowly released itself from Bryce's gut, becoming louder until terminating in a loud belch. Bryce had to take a breath. "How was that?"

Though Rocksalt didn't say it, he found it to be funny. A little foalish for somepony Bryce's age, but funny. The dull brown colt gave Bryce a smile.

"That good? I've done better."

Rocksalt then said his first words since he bawled, "How much better?"

"One's that scared me they were so long. Thought I would puke. Then it stopped."

Rocksalt gave a giggle. "How'd yuh manage that?"

"It all has to do with getting enough air into your stomach. That's all a burp is really: Swallowed air. With soda, the carbon bubbles up in your gut. To get loud one, what you have to do is try and hold it in for as long as you can, then let it all out at once."

There was a momentary silence between them both. "You feeling better, kid?"

Rocksalt nodded.

Bryce looked towards the sun. "Well, it's getting late. You better get on home, as should I." Rocksalt nodded in agreement. He began to walk off, until Bryce called out to him, "Hey, you're a good kid."

Rocksalt stopped and pointed towards himself. "You mean me?"

"Don't let what everyone else says get to you. Just treat anyone as you would yourself. You're a good kid, Rocksalt, you just needed to learn to treat everyone like you want to be treated. And don't do things to try and impress others, do it for yourself and those who love you. You'll be a lot happier that way. See yuh later, kid." With a wave, Bryce walked off.

Then Rocksalt called back, "Hey, who were you talking to? Back there, before you ran off?"

Bryce turned back to Rocksalt and shrugged. "I don't know." He then turned back, headed for Sweet Apple Acres.

Rocksalt, though, didn't move for a few seconds. In truth he was happy to be alive. Even happier that somepony had actually said something nice about him. But he was also confused. 

The dull brown colt knew about imaginary friends; he had had one when he was a foal. He just didn't know that some ponies would have them into adulthood.

He didn't allow the thought to carry around in his mind for too long. He had to get home before his mother started to worry. He couldn't wait to tell here what had happened.