Extremely Loud, Intensely Bright, Drastically Tense, Exceedingly Tight

by h4ns

When a Fire Starts to Burn

Chapter 30: When a Fire Starts to Burn

Bryce continued to walk through the apple orchard, his only real reaction being to turn whenever a tree crossed his path. He had no idea where exactly he was, or how long it had been since his departure. All he cared for was to get as far away from the horse things that inhabited this world of happiness and sunshine as humanly possible.

After a while he came upon a tree that was much larger than all the others. Bryce stopped and stood under this tree, looking up at the apples that hung from its branches. Taking interest in one of the low hanging red fruit he pulled it down. Now that it was in his grasp he stared deeply into the orb, looking at himself in its reflective skin.

With all of his might, Bryce bore down on the apple. He needed something to take the rage that had been building up inside of him since he had arrived. Down in his heart, he wished it had been someone that had wronged him.

The apple finally snapped inwards. The juices that lay inside spewed out on everything in its range. But with the apple now gone he felt none the better than he had before.

After a long while he released his grip on the pulverized crop and let it drop to the ground with a soggy squish.

Bryce was not the least bit satisfied. Turning back to the same apple tree, he did the only thing he felt like doing.

He grabbed apple after apple; crushing some; throwing others at anything he could see. His rage drove him on. He was blind to the world around him. Bryce didn't even notice that the tree was devoid of anything until he could find nothing else to hold on to.

With the tree now bare, Bryce started to slam his fists into the aged bark of the tree. It cut deep into his knuckles, the adrenaline that was pumping through his veins the only thing that kept him going.

Pulling back one final time, Bryce thrust his bloodied fist into the tree trunk one final time and stood still once more. It was at that moment that he remembered what had drawn him to this point in his life. He could remember every minute detail of what had happened before his departure.

Pulling his hand from the reddened bark, Bryce slid down to the ground and rested his back on the damaged apple tree. All around he could see the results of whatever demon had possesed him. He looked up a third time at the tree he had just taken his anger out upon. Bryce could only look, mouth agape, at how the once beautiful, bountiful topiary was reduced to a gnarled, vapid husk. Staring back down at his hands he found them a bloodied mess. He was beyond belief that he had been the one that had done all of this, but the evidence lay all around him.

Bryce buried his head into his palms and started to cry, his wails sounding out through the orchard.

Out of nowhere, a barking began to echo through the orchard as well. Bryce was brought back to reality to find Winona running up towards him. He did nothing as she reached him. The Border Collie sniffed at his hands and let out a concerned whimper. He didn't stop her as she began to lap at his wounds. Just the presence of this canine was enough to ease his mind.

"Winona, where'd you go?"

Bryce shrank back in horror at that recognizable voice.

"Wino-" Amethyst froze up when she found where the dog had ended up. "There you are!" The magenta unicorn took a confident step forward. "Did you... really...?" She again stopped once she took in the scene arround her, all of it around the one she had ventured out to find. "... Bryce... did you...?"

He quickly stood up and began to run off.

"Bryce, wait!" Amethyst yelled as she began to run after him. "Don't do this. I'm not out here to chastise you or anything."

Bryce was finding that hard to believe. After all, he had been he one that had harmed her little sister, not even old enough to be called a mare. He continued to rush onwards.

"Hey, I'm not as fast as you are! Just stop and we can talk about this!" Amethyst said in a much more irate tone of voice. The mare tried to keep up with the human as best she could, but it was no use. Bryce had outran her and was out of sight. Amethyst skid to a halt since she knew it would be futile to continue onwards."Bryce, BRYCE!!!"

She stopped to catch her breath. When she could speak again, Amethyst said, "I'm not out here to get on to you about what happened, I swear. I know I was accident now, and I know I shouldn't have yelled at you for it." There came no answer, the only other sound coming from a gentle breeze that ran through the leaves. "Bryce, I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can know that... I'm sorry. I realize you don't mean to do some of the things you do, but right now you're upseting Dinky. She's the reason I even volunteered to come out this far away from the farm. If it had been for anypony else I would have said 'no'."

There still was no answer of any kind.

"If you don't come back... she'll... she'll never forgive you."

From behind Amethyst, the shifting of leaves made her jump up in fright. Leaning on the tree that was directly behind her was Bryce. "Did you mean it?"

"What... I-"

"Did you mean what you just said?"

"I-" The words got caught in her throat. Frightened now more knowing that the human had been right behind her without her knowing it.

Bryce took a big step forward, sending the unicorn mare backwards into a different tree.

Now that he was standing directly over her she was more afraid than ever before.

"Did you... mean it?"

Amethyst said nothing.

"I can easily make your head pop like a grape... Did you mean what you just said!?"

Amethyst took a more serious tone with him. "Y- you would never do anything like that Not to me or anypony!"

Bryce leaned forward and placed both hands on the tree Amethyst had backed herself into. "How do you know I wouldn't!?"

"B- b- because it's not in your nature!"

That was enough to catch him off guard. He scowled down at her before walking off from Amethyst. When she could comprehend what was happening she took chase after him. "Hey, where do you think you're going?"

"Somewhere far away from here!" He said without looking back.

"No way. I'm going to take you back with me."

"*Pfft* Give me one reason why I shouldn't?"

"Because Dinky wouldn't like it."

"So, she's just a kid. She'll forget about me. Everyone does eventually."

Amethyst came to a halt and told him, "You know what, go on and leave. You're no better than our dad!"

This caused Bryce to come to a halt as well. "She... told you about that... Didn't she?"

"What are you going on about now!?" He didn't respond. Amethyst took her chance to get ahead of the human. When she got ahead of him, she was surprised at what she saw. The scowl that he had always bore was replaced with one of sorrow. "Uhm... are you... okay?"

"i'm fine... Just let me be on my way." He tried to walk past the unicorn, but every way he went she was in his path. "What the H do you want now!?"

"I want to know what you were talking about. What did Dinky tell me?"

"I- I was mistaken."

"About what?"

"It's not important!"

"If it's something Dinky said then it is important. Tell me what it is, then I might let you leave."

Bryce looked away from her piercing purple gaze. "I don't want to."

"Well then your not leaving."

They both stood there for a few seconds, neither one of them daring speak next. Bryce was the one to cave, however. "She... told me she sees me as... as her daddy."

Amethyst softened here expression. "What?"

"I asked her if she thought of me as a brother. Instead, she said she thought of me as her father."

"She... said that?"

Bryce snapped back to his former self. "I've told you what you wanted to know. Now, please, let me go in peace." He was finally able to walk past the magenta mare.

"You're just going to leave her...?"

"Yep..."

"After everything the two of you have done together; after you got on to me for putting the blame on Ditzy for making our 'real' dad leave!?"

"Yep..."

Without warning, Amethyst turned on her hooves and tackled the much taller human to the ground. "THERE'S NO WAY I'M GOING TO LET YOU LEAVE, YOU BLOCKHEAD!!!"

Bryce quickly forced the angered mare off of him. "Get the fuck off me you psycho bitch!" He was surrounded in a purple aura and lifted up into the air.

"I might not understand what goes on in your head, but when somepony tells you something like that you don't just up and leave them."

"Well, what kind of father am I? I'm the one who hit her on the nose with a hammer."

"That was an accident." When Amethyst suddenly felt something wiggling up one of her hind legs, she lost her concentration; her magic hold on the human going with it.

Bryce sat up slowly and dusted himself off. "Well, was that an accident too!?"

Amethyst began to drastically find what had been entwined around her back leg. There was nothing else living in sight. "No, there was... something..."

"Well, regardless, it was all my-" Bryce grabbed at his forehead.

"Ugh, what is it now!?"

"Do you smell that?"

"Smell wha... Wait, that smells like..."

Off in the distance, a large plume of smoke rose up in the air.

"Tha- that's coming from- Oh no, Dinky! We need-"

Bryce picked Amethyst up around her gut and started running towards the farm. He had the magenta mare wrapped under his arm the entire way.

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When Bryce and Amethyst returned to Sweet Apple Acres, they found the barn up in flames. Amethyst wiggled her way out from under Bryce's arm. "Dinky, are you-"

Bryce caught up with her before she could get too close to the flames. "Don't be dim, you're too hysterical to be going in there."

"But what if-"

From the house, Dinky shouted, "Amy, Bryce, we're over here!"

Granny Smith followed the filly out soon after. "There yuh both are, have either of yuh seen Applejack!? The last Ah saw of her she said she was goin inta the barn."

"No, we-"

They all heard somepony shout out from inside the barn. "AHH, WHAT IN TARNATION IS THIS!? WHAT'S GOIN ON HERE!?!?!?"

They all knew that phrase well enough to know who it was. "Well there's the answer to that."

Granny Smith had trotted over to the pair by then. "She's in there. We need to-"

Before the aged mare could finish, Bryce had already ran to the barn. When he had cleared the distance he dropped the bucket and threw the barn doors wide open. A column of flames leaped out to greet him. Stepping back a little ways, Bryce yelled, "Capo, are you in there!?"

"Huh... Oh no, not you!"

He spotted the apple mare lying in the center of the barn. She was stuck under a large wooden beam. One end was caught in flames that were slowly making their way towards Applejack. The only thing keeping him from going in was a path of fire that reached up to his knees. "Ahh, damn it! Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of there." Bryce ran off.

"Hey, where the hay do yuh think-" Applejack had to position herself out of the way of flaming debris which fell from the roof.

Bryce ran as fast as he possibly could. Reaching the water pump, he placed a nearby bucket down below the spout and began to furiously pump it until it was full. With the filled bucket in hand, Bryce ran back to the barn. "Okay, I'm coming!" Hefting the bucket back, he dowsed enough of the fire to allow him to make it through to Applejack.

"Where'd yuh go!?"

"Fire's hot! Now let me get this thing off of you." Bryce bent forward and grabbed hold of the beam. He had to admit, it was heavier than it looked.

Once it was up high enough Applejack pulled here legs out from under it. When she did so she let out a cry of pain. "Ahh, that thing mustuh broke my leg. It hurts like a-." Bryce bent down to try and pick her up, but she would have none of it. "There's no way Ah'm about ta let yuh-"

Bryce cut the inimical mare off. "Well, you can either let me get you out of this, or you stay here and burn to death. What's it going to-" In an instant, the roof above them began to creak. Acting quickly, Bryce lifted up the mare and tossed her outside before the roof came crashing down, effectively blocking the path to the door.

With his exit cut off, Bryce franctically looked around for a new one. At either side was a row of windows. The only thing holding him back was were the knee high flames. At his back was nothing but a bare wall. With no other options, he decided his best choice was to try and smash his way through this wall.

Giving himself a running start, he rammed his shoulder into the wall. It gave no sign that he'd done anthing to it. Stepping back once again he did it again, and again, and again. No matter how much speed he got, or how many times he did it, the wall just wouldn't give.

After a few more attempts, Bryce felt light headed. Falling down onto one knee, he started to pant heavily, his lungs begging for one more breath of sweet oxygen.

Everything around him was beginning to swing in and out of his vision.

As the seconds drew on he felt his strength leave him faster and faster. He was unable to even hold himself up. He fell down on to his hands. Beads of sweat drip down onto the hay that line the floor. The fire made its way to his right hand, momentarily bring him back to consciousness.

The fire had crept up on him without his knowing. Bryce forced himself against the wall and sank down to the ground.

With a raspy voice, he said to himself, "Well... looks like... this is... it."

The world shuttered around him.

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When he opened his eyes, all he could see was a bright white light.

As far as he could see there was no definite shapes.

Nothing to tell him where he was.

He felt as if he were lying on a cloud.

There was no noise to speak of.

He had to admit, he actually felt at peace; as if he were back in the womb.

For how long he stayed like that he was unsure.

"Is his pulse finally stabile?"

"Yes, Doctor."

"Are his appendages, midsection, and chest wrapped up properly?

"They are, Doctor."

"What are his sats?"

"Holding at 76."

"Get an oxygen mask on him."

"Yes, Doctor."

He felt someone loop something around his face. Whatever it was made a pain shoot through his lungs, but not a bad kind of pain. It was a pain that one felt after taking a drink of cold water in a hot desert. He gave a relieved sigh.

"Doctor Stables, he's conscious."

"Nurse Redheart, give him a sedative before he starts to move around."

"Right away."

As time went on he began to hear more than just voices. He could hear the rhythmic beep of an unseen apparatus and from the inhaltion of the oxygen mask that had been placed on him.

From the void, someone began to run a hoof up and down his arm." Just stay calm and count backwards from ten. Everything's going to be alright."

He asked, "I- is this... Heaven or Hell?"

"No, this is Ponyville Hospital."

His vision became blurry as drowsiness sank in. "... Close enough... to Hell." The bright light lazily faded to black.

Comments

[akarock]

Great new chapter.

[akarock]

4284183 guess I kinda walked into that one.

[damnaion]

30# Ooooo

[AficionadoAvacado]

"I can easily make your head pop like a grape... Did you mean what you just said!?"

This feels very out of character