//------------------------------//
// It Comes Back to You 
// Story: Extremely Loud, Intensely Bright, Drastically Tense, Exceedingly Tight 
// by h4ns 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 58: It Comes Back to You

From the top of the stairs, Rivet called, "Bryce."

Not hearing Rivet call his name, Bryce continued hammering in floorboards.

Rivet made his way over to Bryce. He was a stallion who could admire somepony who devoted themselves to their work, but Bryce had been going at it for hours; well through lunch break. And he'd been like this the whole week. Sometimes even the biggest pony needed to take his break. "Bryce, you big ole, why don't you stop and-" The burnt orange stallion's words were cut off by the sound of Bryce's hammer. Wanting to get the human's attention, Rivet went and pecked at Bryce's hardhat.

It had the undesired effect of causing Bryce to jump up and wave the hammer around; the claw missing Rivet by little more than a stubble on the stallion's chin. When Bryce could see straight, he was breathing heavily as he lowered his weapon. "I... I'm sorry, boss. I just have a thing with others touching my head.

Rivet waved it off, more concerned by the human's unending zeal for his work. "Eh, it's no problem, but don't yuh think yuh should take a break? Yuh already worked through the lunch break."

Almost doubting his boss' words, Bryce opened the front casing on his watch. It revealed it was more than half past one. "Damn, it is. I... I didn't know."

"Like I said, I enjoy your work, but you need to relax. Is everything going fine with yuh?"

Bryce crossed his arms behind his back. "No, there's nothing I'd want to concern you with. I'm just...someone who gets well into his work."

Though Rivet could tell Bryce was lying, though not a complete one, he let it slide. "Why don't yuh go on down and eat your lunch? And try and relax. It's been a long time since we had an accident at work and I'd like to keep it that way. Remember, a sound mind in a sound body. So take your time with your lunch, but not too long cause there's still work to be done."

Bryce gave a meek nod. "Yeah, I understand, boss." Tossing his hammer in a pail of nails at the edge of the floor, Bryce made his way down. 

It was about half way down he came across Ambrosia, who had a scowl on her face. She stood at the top of the next flight of stairs blocking his path. Bryce made an attempt to get past her, but she said, "What are you doing?"

"I'm just trying to go down and-"

"No, not that. Why are you doing so much work?"

"I'm just doing what I was told to do."

Ambrosia's scowl intensified. "Don't you play that game. You better cut out all this extra work you're doing and stop upstaging us. I've come too far just to be ousted by an ape."

"I'm just doing my job."

"Yes, and cozying up with the boss while you're at it. I've been here for more than five years and I'm not going to be outdone by some hairless ape. So you go and eat your lunch. Go and take all the time you want while the real construction workers do their job."

From the side, Rivet cleared his throat. "Ambrosia," he said to the pale buttercup mare. "A word."

Still flashing a scowl, she said, "Yes, boss."

She walked over to Rivet, giving Bryce access to the lower floors, which he was quick to take.

By the time he reached the ground floor Ambrosia's scolding had began to sink in. Of all the things on his mind it was just one more thing to think about. Finding a spot a good distance away from the site, yet still close enough to see everything and everypony in it, he sat down to try and enjoy Granny Smith's sack lunch.

Inside there was the usual: A peanut butter sandwich, a bottle of water, and, much to Bryce's joy, a fresh gala apple. Pulling the fruit out of the sack, Bryce looked over the morsel's variating red, orange, and yellow skin. From the outside it looked like it would be a good one, he could only hope. After all that had happened Bryce felt as if this one single apple had to be perfect. It had to be something so good it would make him forget the last few days, if only for a few minutes.

Bringing the gala apple to his mouth, he took a bite, and it filled him with joy. It was perfect. It was tart and sweet, but not too much of either one. It was right on the money.

As Bryce swallowed the first bite he took another, and another, and another. He couldn't devour the fruit fast enough. With each bite of the apple into his already full mouth the sweet juices leaked down his mouth. It was a wonder he didn't choke. 

When he felt he could take no more in at the moment he felt at peace. It didn't happen often, but Bryce felt himself happy. 

He didn't know what all had happened to produce this one apple, or the various steps it took to where it ended up in his sack lunch, but it had served its purpose more than ever thought possible. 

By then Bryce had swallowed the apple in his mouth, and was going in for the kill on what remained, when he felt a sharp pain shoot up from the back of his head to the crown. In the process of him grabbing at his head, Bryce dropped the apple. It went rolling into a patch of dirt not too far away.

To say this was pure chance would be one thing, but this exact same feeling had happened to Bryce too often. So often in fact that he knew what it meant. Something was about to happen; right here and right now.

When he had regained control, Bryce started to look around, not bothering to stand. It took a few seconds, but he found it. 

At the top floor of the construction site, where Bryce had been hard at work nailing in floorboards, the pail of nails hung off the very edge of the building. 

Thinking fast, Bryce turned his gaze down to the ground floor. He saw Jack, who was busy chatting away with Offset. 

It was at that same time a strong wind began to blow. It blew in the exact same direction that the heavy laden pail was now falling through the air.

Any second now the pail would reach the ground right where the foreman's brother was standing, who knew not what was to happen.

Any second now Jack Hammer would feel the pail as it came crashing down onto his back. 

Any second now the brawny young stallion would be left sitting in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Then, just as Offset had his back turned away from Jack, the much larger stallion was thrown forward, well out of the way of the falling pail of nails.

As the pail collided with the ground, the entirety of its contents exploded in all directions. At the sound, Offset went scurrying away to safety. From above, both Rivet and Ambrosia looked down to see what had occurred. Jack had yet to move. 

After they both saw the scene from above, Rivet and Ambrosia came running down. When they arrived, Jack was still sprawled out on the ground and Offset had came back to see to him. 

Ambrosia was the first to speak. "What the hay's going on?"

"I- I don't know," said Offset. "Jack and I were just talking when... This..." He waved a hoof to the empty dented pail.

Rivet bent down to check on his brother. "Jack, get up. Celestia, please be okay."

When the older stallion was grabbed the younger's reaction was to flail about and push himself over to a support beam. The fear in his eyes was quite evident. "Which one of yuh did it!?" He demanded.

"What do you mean?"

"You know who! Who's the one that picked me up and threw me!?"

They all looked at him in confusion. Rivet was at loss for words. "Slow down, what are yuh talkin about?"

"Some- Somepony grabbed me up and threw me! Who done it!?" He pointed to Offset. "Was it you!?"

"Me? Really!?" Offset said in shock.

"Jack, just calm down. Yuh almost came close to getting squashed."

Not it was Jack Hammer's turn to look confused. "Squashed?"

"Yeah, by that." The three ponies moved to allow the light brown stallion to see the pail.

From his expression he was taking a hard time believing what he saw. Not that there was a pail, and it had almost crushed him, but that it now rested on the exact spot he had been no more than a few seconds before. A few seconds before when he felt somepony grab him from behind and thrown him. And now he knew from what. "What... Who did that...?"

In response to Jack's question, Ambrosia again scowled, then turned and walked off. "That stupid..." She said under her breath.

"Amb, don't go doing anything too hasty!" Rivet exclaimed as she saw the mare make her way to Bryce.

Bryce, who had been eating his peanut butter sandwich since the pail struck the ground looked up in time to see Ambrosia punch him on the cheek. "What the buck were you thinking!?" She shouted.

Before she could put in a second punch, Rivet grabbed her hoof. "Ambrosia, stop it. He couldn't have known."

Ambrosia managed to unhook her hoof from the foreman's grip. "You see, Rivet, this is exactly what I was telling you about. This ape's nothing but a liability and an accident waiting to happen. And this just proves my point!"

"I can understand, Ambrosia, but you can't blame Bryce for this. Anypony could have done it."

"Yes, anypony, but he's not a pony. He's nothing but a big, dumb ape. You keep on going on how your the smart one, so if I were you I'd-"

"Yes, but you're not me!" Rivet yelled over the mare. "Now if you value your job you'll start by apologizing to Bryce."

"You can't be-"

"Oh ho, yes I am serious. And until you do I'm afraid you're out of a job."

"What!? Because of him!?"

"This isn't about him! Until you apologize you can just go on home." Seeing there was no reason to argue with the stallion, and not daring to lower herself, Ambrosia threw off her work gear and left for home. Once she was well out of sight, Rivet went over to check on Bryce. "You alright, Big Ole?"

Picking himself out of the dirt, Bryce looked to the foreman. "I don't know, am I missing any teeth?" He opened his mouth for Rivet to see inside.

After a quick inspection, he said, "They all look to be in their proper places."

Bryce closed his mouth. "Good, I'm alright then."

"Are you sure? I've seen Ambrosia hit a stallion before and he looked a lot uglier than you after she was done with'm."

Bryce ran a hand under his jaw, hitting a sore spot where Ambrosia's hoof had connected. "Well, Applejack threw a nastier hook than she ever could. That felt like nothing."

"That's good. I didn't want to have to lose two of my workers. Don't you worry about her. She's been this way before, but she'll come around."

"If you say so," said Bryce, "but I wish you hadn't fired her."

"Don't you worry about that; this was on her."

"Still... How's your brother?"

"Jack? He's shaken up." He looked over to Jack, who was being looked over by Offset. "It's nothing too bad. But what he's going on about is strange."

"Uh, really?" Bryce asked. "What's he saying."

"Something about somepony grabbin'm up and tossin'm. Could you imagine somepony strong enough ta do that?"

"Well, no. I mean, I could carry Rust Bucket, but I was, you know, all the way over here... Eating lunch... Alone..."

Rivet looked back to Bryce, who didn't look back. After a few seconds, the foreman asked, "You didn't happen to see what grabbed him, did yuh?"

"What, me? No... No I was, you know, like I said, eating lunch. I didn't see anything." Bryce still refused to meet the burnt orange stallion's gaze. "Uh... What are you going to do about him?"

"I think I should get him over to the doc and see if anything's broken or loose. Like I said: A sound mind in a sound body. If something's broken than he can't work. Plus, he's my brother."

"Yeah, well," Bryce said, "you can do that."

"I can. And since he and I aren't going to be here I think it would be best for you and Off to take the rest of the day off."

"What, but there's still a lot of work that needs to be done."

"Yeah, there is. But I can't have only two guys working a job this big. Don't worry, I'll pay yuh both before I leave. After that I want you to go and start the weekend early. You're looking a little tense."

Bryce gave a nod as he looked to his lunch in the dirt. 

He went to leave, but Rivet said, "And Bryce, thanks."

Bryce finally met Rivet's gaze. "For what?"

The foreman gave a knowing smile.

After a few seconds, Bryce turned away and began his trek back to the farm. After getting a coworker fired, sending everypony home, and now this. He had a lot on his mind, and it felt to be on the limits.	

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


The following Sunday, Bryce again decided to take some time for himself, with only Corn to keep him company. He was walking along a dirt path, not fully concerned with who he saw or where he was going. What had happened the week before last had been nerve wrecking. The following week since the incident with Rarity had brought back old memories. Memories of things that had long past in his life were now all coming back to him for some reason or another. Whatever god or demon had decided to do such a thing to him at this time must be having the time of their life.

Without much prompting, Bryce said, "Why now, Corn? I'd hoped I could get past it all. I've told you everything that's happened, haven't I?"

Corn continued walking at his boy's side.

"Yeah, I know. We both know what I can do, but you're a dog, you get the worst end of the deal on everything compared to humans."

They both continued walking along the dirt path.

"What are you trying to say, I should just go on out and tell them? I can't do that, I only just getting used to these...horse things. You don't know what it's like. At the end of the day the biggest problem you have is whether or not you get to sleep in the big bed, or that someone forgot to refill your food bowl. What if I did tell them? I can't take another rejection from anyone. They all seem nice, and kind, and... Friendly... If they know what I can do... I just can't do it."

From behind, someone asked, "Can't do what?"

Bryce stopped at the intrusion of this voice. Looking back, he found Pinkie Pie standing right behind him. "Oh, Pinkamena...? Wha- what's go on?"

"I don't know. Something told me to come and find you. I went to Sweet Apple Acres, but you weren't there. Applejack said you were out this way. So I was walking and walking and walking some more until I found you."

For a few seconds, Bryce stared at the pink mare, expecting her to say something. When she didn't, he said, "Well, you found me. So what do you want?"

"Oh, I don't know. Something just told me to come out here and find you. I get feelings like that sometimes. Though sometimes they're a lot more obvious. Like whenever I feel a twitch in my tail it means somethings about to fall. Or when my knee gets pinchy, that means something scary's about to happen. And sometimes I get a strange feeling all over."

"Well, what does that mean?"

"I don't know, but whenever I get that feeling it means there's something somewhere watching us. Sometimes even controlling our very thoughts and actions."

After a short pause, Bryce asked, "Well, do you feel anything like that now?"

Pinkie brought a hoof to her chin. "Hmm... Nope, mostly my tummy's just rumbling."

"So, what does that mean?"

"That one's tricky. Sometimes it means I'm about to see something that's way neato. Though it usually it means I'm hungry." At that, the pink mare's stomach let out a loud grumble. "Hmm, nope, I think it means I'm hungry. Or it could be both. Oh, I know. Why don't we go and see if Fluttershy's home. Maybe we can all sit down together for lunch."

Bryce was prepared to decline. "I don't know. I really just want to be-"

But Pinkie didn't give him time to finish. "Come on, I'm sure it'll be fun. Maybe my tummy is telling us something neato is about to happen. If not, then at least we'll get something to put in it."

Bryce was reluctant to go along with the mare, with all that had happened in the last week, but now something seemed to be pushing him to go along. Maybe Pinkie Pie was right. Maybe it would be fun.

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

It had turned out horrible. Way beyond horrible.

For more than ten minutes now he had sat in silence. While he sat, he watched as Fluttershy cuddled Angel, Rarity stared at Bryce with a look of unease, and Pinkie downed the lunch Fluttershy had prepared for them to quell her rumbling stomach.

Lifting his mug, Bryce took another swig of coffee. Though it had four cubes of sugar, the drink tasted quite bitter, but he drank it. After what he'd done it was the best thing to help him recover and replenish.

The minute Bryce arrived at Fluttershy's cottage he felt he had done wrong by trusting the party mare's gut. He felt this way as he came up and saw not only was Fluttershy home, but that Rarity happened to be there as well.

At the pair's approach, both Bryce and Rarity tensed up at first sight of the other. Rarity, for the most part, seemed normal. The only disparity in her appearance was the addition of a knit hat, the same color blue as her eyes, which adorned he head, hiding her mane from view. If one knew the entire story, they need not guess why she now wore something so out of season.

After noticing her friend's pause, Fluttershy turned to see Bryce and Pinkie approach. "Oh, hello, Bryce, Pinkie. What brings you here?"

"I don't know," said Pinkie, "something told me I needed to be out here. Oh, and it also told me to bring Bryce."

Knowing not to question Pinkie on such urges, Fluttershy said, "Well, it's nice to see you both. And you too, Corn." The canine answered with a wet lick across the buttercup mare's face. "Is there something you needed though?"

"Yeah. My tummy's rumbling, and I can't tell if it's from hunger or something neato."

"Oh, well I have a few more animals I need to tend to first. I can fix us something to eat afterwards. I- If you don't mind waiting."

Pinkie shook her head. "No, I don't mind. I'm going to look around; maybe I'll find whatever's making my tummy all rumbly." Having said that, Pinkie went about Fluttershy's property in search of whatever had first brought her out this way.

After Fluttershy went back to tending to the animals under her care, that left Bryce to be alone with Rarity. Neither had yet recovered from the sight of the other. Corn would have been a good distraction, but the dog had decided to make his own fun by chasing squirrels and the like up into trees, barking up into the canopy at them.

Looking around for something else to look at, Bryce saw two turtles. Though it seemed only one of them was a turtle; a small snapping turtle no larger than a saucer. The second was a large tortoise, who was being picked at by his much smaller evolutionary cousin. At a single bite across its nose, the tortoise retreated into its shell. The snapping turtle, however, refused to give up so easily and continued to nip at the tortoise's shell.

Right now, Bryce wished he had a shell to duck into. After the way he and Rarity had parted ways last week he couldn't imagine the bites Rarity wanted to dish out. He also thought a good name for the snapping turtle would be 'Black Knight'.

At the exact same time, both said the others name. After a surprised pause, they said in unison, "I just wanted to say-"

"No, you go first, darling."

"No, you go ahead."

"It just seems-"

"No, ladies first."

"Oh... Okay then. I wanted to apologize for my behavior last week."

Bryce tried to butt in, "Rarity, you don't have to-"

"No, I must get this off my chest." She paused to clear her throat. "Bryce... The other day... When I was...acting unlike myself. Oh drat, I had this all thought in my head..." She thought for a second before saying, "Let me start over. Bryce, I-"

Bryce held a hand up to stop her. "Rarity, I know what you're going to say."

"Oh... You do?"

"Yes, I do. I know now how you really feel about me. I mean, I know I'm dense. Very very dense. You'd laugh at me if I told you how long it took me to understand the riddle about what gets wetter as it dries."

"Why, a towel, of course."

"Yes, I know that, but I meant it took me a few years to finally understand it. I'm just that way. But this is beside the point right now." 

Bryce took a moment to breathe deep. "Rarity, I know how you feel about me, but I don't feel the same way about you."

At that Rarity's jaw almost dropped. 'What... What do you mean? How can you... I mean, the way you looked at me. When we had found just the right outfit."

"Yes, and you were beautiful. Very beautiful. But beyond that I felt nothing more."

Rarity wasn't sure how to feel after what he said. It felt like she had shown Bryce her own beating heart, and all he wanted to do was take it and stomp it into the dirt. Rarity would open her mouth as if to speak, but no words would come up. After much effort, she gave up and turned her head down; a single tear escaping her sapphire eyes.

Through it all Bryce saw this. He could feel for the mare, in more ways than one. But when he witnessed that one tear, he felt on the point of breaking. "Rarity," he said, trying to calm the sullen mare, "I didn't tell you this to be mean. But I don't feel for you as you do for me. I mean, what were you expecting, for this to be like a romance novel?"

In a way, Rarity had thought just that. She was no stranger herself to that certain literature. But it didn't help her feel much better.

"I wanted to try and spare your feelings before you became too involved. Though, I guess...you might've already..." Bryce began to wiggle his toes in his usual way.

Right now, Rarity wanted to be angry at the human. Hell, she wanted to send him to wherever ponies like him deserved to go. But now, after hearing him further, she was conflicted. She was still quite mad, mind you, but for some reason she felt more at peace. Looking back, she could understand what Bryce said before: How she looked beautiful, but that was all he felt for her. To Bryce she was beautiful, and that was all. And in the same way, she saw Bryce as something that was only beautiful but had no intention of calling her own.

She also felt as if she should be the one the blame. And that still after all she had said and how she came close to ending his life via sewing machine, Bryce had been kind to her. 

And then from below her, Rarity felt something soft and fluffy run itself around her hooves. Taking a look, she found it to be her kitten, Opalescence, the very reason Rarity had came to see Fluttershy. All morning, the kitten had been acting sickly. It had turned out to be that the expensive cat food Rarity had bought for her had been like poison to her stomach. Rarity didn't know why it would affect her in that way after two weeks, but it had brought her and Bryce together again.

Rarity nestled Opal in close. If it hadn't been for the kitten that night Rarity didn't know if she would have had the strength to go on. And if it hadn't been for Bryce she may have never had Opal in the first place. She could have turned into a rotten carcass that would leave her boutique with a lingering rancid odor.

Under her breath, Rarity said, "Opal..."

"What was that?" Bryce asked.

With a smile, Rarity looked to Bryce. "Opal. I named her Opal."

It was then Bryce noticed the opal studded collar around the Persian's neck. "Well, that is a good name for her. It really sticks out as her name."

"Yes, well, it was like you said: I sniffed it out. You see, when she came to see about me I smelt my Opal brand perfume on her fur. And it looks to have been a good match."

"Well, I was going to tell you she'd done that. But then..." Bryce let it trail off from there.

"I see." A sad mood again settled over Rarity. "Bryce, I'm sorry about how I reacted. It was very uncouth, and I intend to make up for it."

"Rarity, don't-"

He's still the same no matter what. She thought. "I won't hear of it this time. After what I said and did to you it is my turn to return the favor."

"Well, if you must, but I still want to make up for myself. If it weren't for me your room won't have gotten burnt. At least let me pay you back by recarpeting the floor and doing any other repairs."

"Bryce, I won't ask that of you."

"Then let me, please. I won't accept no as an answer."

"Well... If you feel you must. But I stll intend to make up for the wrong I did to you. If you accept that than I'll accept your proposal."

Bryce gave a meek nod. "Okay."

"Right, now that that's settled why don't we see how Fluttershy is doing, shall we?"

Before Rarity could walk away, Bryce said to her, "Rarity, I don't know if this would mean anything to you, but I'm sure in some other reality we made a great couple. But in this reality I hope you accept me as a friend, and only a friend."

Rarity gave a smile. "After all we've been through I would like that. I would like that a lot."

They sealed this agreement with a smile.

"There is one thing though, Rarity. What did you see in me?"

For a moment, Rarity was cut off guard, but she regained her composure rather quick. "This may sound silly, but a few years back there was somepony who acted a lot like you. After as long as I've known you the resemblance is uncanny. I did have a slight crush on him, even though he was a few years younger than me."

"By how many years?"

"Bryce, it's impolite to discuss such things. But still, I had feelings for him. But it seems we weren't meant to be together either."

"Why, what happened?"

"He's...in a better place now. I greaved for a while, but I got over him. I think of him every so often, but he's little more than a memory to me now."

"Well, what was his name?"

"It's rather funny, it's-"

Whatever Rarity was to say was cut off by the intrusion of not one, but two barks coming from two different animals.

"Pinkie, stop barking at those squirrels!" Rarity shouted.

Looking over, Bryce could see both Corn and Pinkie Pie barking into the top of a tree. He could hardly hold himself back from laughing at the sight. "Let her have her fun, she's only wanting to be carefree and fun loving, like a dog."

"Maybe so, but that's no way for a mare to act."

Suddenly, Corn stopped barking when the top part of a carrot was thrown at him. 

Fluttershy had seen it happen. "Angel, don't do that. He's only-" What came next was nothing anybody could have stopped. 

Corn went running after her rabbit.

After seeing Corn come towards him Angel let out a loud squeak before running off in fright.

"Oh no, Corn, don't hurt him!" The buttercup pegasus took flight after them both.

Fluttershy tried her hardest to catch up to them both, putting as much force into her wings as she possibly could muster. But she just couldn't move fast enough. 

The large dog was able to catch up to Angel. He bit down on the white bunny rabbit without pause.

Fluttershy collided with Corn making him release her pet. When she saw Angel she was at a loss for words. 

Bryce came running over. "Fluttershy, is he-" He was shocked when he saw Angel. One would think after a bite like that he'd be dead, but the rabbit was still clinging to life. His once white coat was stained pink with his own blood. Bryce could only stand and watch as the rabbit struggled to get his next breath. 

Bryce's expression melted down into one of bitter rage. He wanted more than anything now to take it out on Corn, he'd taught him better than that. "What the hell is wrong with you!?" He questioned Corn.

Corn stood there wth his tail tucked down, letting out whines.

Bryce kicked him in the flank sending him to the ground with a loud yelp. "What the hell went through your head, boy!?" 

Corn barked back.

Fluttershy took notice of Corn's barking. "What do you mean-"

Bryce gave the dog a second swift kick to the side. "Shut your mouth!"

Corn gave a whimper.

"Bryce, wait, he just said-"

Bryce again kicked his dog. He looked to Fluttershy. "Don't believe a word of what he says. I can't save Angel." Bryce slammed his hand over his mouth.

Fluttershy was about to say more, but she caught on to what Bryce had said. "Bryce... How do you know what he said?" The human refused to meet the pegasus' eyes. 

Corn gave another whimper.

"Bryce?" Asked Fluttershy. "Is what he's saying true? Can you save Angel?"

Bryce turned away so he couldn't see the scene. "No... I can't... Corn... He's lying to you..."

Corn gave a throaty bark. You're the liar, Bryce.

"Corn, shut up!"

"Bryce..." Fluttershy pleaded.

"Fluttershy, I can't... You're rabbit..." He couldn't bring himself to say 'You're rabbit will die.'

Tears began to pour down the pegasus' cheeks. She turned back to Angel, who still struggled to take his next breath. When she saw him, her tears dripped down stronger than before. She was too attached to him to try anything, and if she didn't do something than Angel would die for sure. She couldn't move.

Meanwhile, Bryce continued to look away, but he could feel what was going on behind him.

Corn gave a loud bark. You're not going to do anything?

Shut up!

Corn barked louder. You can't do this and you know it. You'll never forgive yourself.

Shut! Up!

Corn growled a low growl. You let my mate die, and you couldn't do a thing before. Now that you can do something to help here you'll stand there and do nothing?

This is not the same!

The dog huffed. Bullshit! If this were Zira now you'd save her. Why can't you do this? I know you feel the pain she's feeling; you can't hide that from me. If you won't do anything than you are the monster that other bird-horse said you were. Go ahead and let the rabbit die, at least than your secret's safe. It's just the pet of the one who rescused me, and who you do hold feelings for, what difference does it make?

Balling his fists, Bryce stomped the ground. With it came a breeze that sent up a few blades of grass. All the animals around Fluttershy's cottage who saw this retreated back from the human's location. "Fine..." Bryce said bluntly.

Hearing Bryce speak, Fluttershy turned to him. "Bryce..."

Bryce turned to look at her. "Fluttershy, I can save him, but I must act fast."

She was thrown back by his words. "But...you said..."

Bryce walked over and bent down towards Angel, who looked soon to fade into the deepest sleep. Slapping his hands together, Bryce started to rub them together lengthwise. From within Fluttershy saw a pale glow eminate from his palms. After the glow became brighter, Bryce took the rabbit as careful as he could into his hands. Then, taking in a breath, he squeezed his hands gently around Angel's form.

The entire time Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie watched this transpire they said nothing and dared not to move an inch. They couldn't see Angel through the glow, but they knew he was there.

Then, as quick as the glow had began it subsided.

Held within Bryce's hands was the rabbit, but it gave no sign of life.

Fluttershy felt a fresh stream of tears begin to come forth.

Bryce rolled his hands until his left hand was flat. When he uncovered his right hand the three mares could see Angel balled up.

For a second he gave no movements, but then came the twitch of an ear. Then another. Then a wiggle of toes and a flap of of a puffy tail. 

When Angel's eyes opened there was no way to tell who was more surprised for the white bunny to still hold life. 

With caution, Angel pushed himself up with his fore paws. Looking at his fur he saw it was still stained pink, but as for the gashes the stain had sprang from there were nought.

Holding onto Bryce's fingers as the human moved, he was deposited at the hooves of his owner. Taking a step onto the grass, he did nothing but stand his ground.

"Angel..." Said Fluttershy as she looked over her revitalized pet.

Angel looked up to his owner, having before been afraid this may be the last he ever saw her.

With a fresh round of tears, Fluttershy took Angel in her hooves and cradled him tight into her chest. "Angel..." She choked out. She looked up to his rescurer. "Bryce..." But anything she'd have said was cut short by Bryce's appearance. 

The human was pale. Not his usual pale, but something lighter than before. 

Fluttershy had seen Bryce this same shade before, but that was when he'd brought in Rainbow. After he had found Rainbow injured at the orchard. She was quick to draw the connection. "Bryce..."

Bryce gave a wheeze in response.

This is what brought them into Fluttershy's cottage now, and why they all sat in silence.

As Bryce finished his second cup of coffee and poured himself a third, he heard the inevitable question he knew would be asked.

It was Rarity who had decided to break the seal. "Bryce, what was that?"

After mixing in four cubes of sugar, stirring them in, and taking a drink, Bryce took in a deep breath. 

"That was my life force."