Short Fuse

by Hyfnae

Chapter 2: Admitting is the first step.

“Ponies subject to extreme emotions can invoke odd manifestations around them ranging from the slightest change in the wind to manifestations with great ramifications, the cause of these manifestations eludes us still due to inconclusive research data and extreme rarity of occurrence.” ~Equestrian Socio-Psychological research publication paper.

~Chapter 2: admitting is the first step!~

It was now two days ago since Short Fuse and Basher Green had their tumultuous reunion which caused almost inevitably in the banishment of Short fuse from the very last inn he was actually still welcome. The two of them had decided to take a few days to lick their wounds, in more than one way since the literal version of the expression was actually needed in this case since they both clubbed each other within an inch of their lives.

When Short Fuse lifted himself out of his bed he was still sore all over his body and blueish purple lumps covered pretty much the entirety of his body. Basher was in pretty much the same shape as he was but that provided no consolation as Basher worked away what had to pass for breakfast and headed to the town's square where he had agreed to meet Basher at nine... “nine in the morning, what sentient creature is awake at this ungodly time of day, I mean, anypony with half a braincell would still be in his bed enjoying the warmth but NOOOOOOOO, mister basher... or Bashed as I like to call him at the moment insisted on friggin' nine in the morning,” he ranted half audible while making his way there, actually surprised about ponies already being awake and vexed by those who looked happy especially.

“Good morning Fuse,” Basher Green said remarkably friendly which earned him a flat stare from the red pony who was in a foul mood.

“Good morning? You drag me out here at this inhumane time of day and you dare to say good morning? What kind of devil spawn are you to actually wish somepony a good morning? There is NOTHING good about morning, it's cold, it's damp, there is dew on the grass which makes it slippery... this is a death trap, a death trap I tell you,” he ranted and eventually muttered “Good morning,” with as much reluctance as he could muster.

“Well, you've got that out of your system already, now we can start to make plans of how to fix both our lives,” Basher green suggested which once again got rewarded with the flattest of flat stares.

“you're the one who needs a purpose, I've got my purpose, all I need to deal with are some small anger issues, it will be done in a jiffy,” the red pony replied dismissively and chuckled a little.

“Small anger issues? Either the definition of small has changed overnight or you are the blindsided pony here Fuse, let me demonstrate,” Basher stated boldly and adressed the first random pony trying to avoid getting anywhere near Fuse. “Madam, I am sure you know mister Fuse here, do you think mister Fuse had a small anger issue, or is there something more to it?”

Fuse's fangs moved as he was grinding his teeth but didn't look like he would go medieval just yet. The random pony Basher had addressed seemed very unsettled and trembled a little.

“No need to worry madam, just tell the truth,” Basher said in effort to get the scared mare into talking. Trying to get her to say that one thing Short Fuse didn't want to hear. Basher was already prepared to deal with him in case his temper got the better of him again.

“I think... *gulp* mister Fuse has a huge anger issue... he breathes anger, he sees anger, he is anger,” the pony said and then immediately ran away as fast as she could. Inevitably followed by some insults erupting from Fuse that were absolutely uncalled for.

“See Fuse, I'm not the only one thinking you've got more than your average anger management issue,” Basher said in a neutral tone to invoke as little of an angry reaction as he could from Fuse. What he needed was a moment of reasoning with him, not another storm of fury and rage, his bruises proved he had quite enough of that already.

“Burn you and burn her, you might actually be on to something here,” he reluctantly gave in which annoyed the red pony even more. “So... you made your point, but it's not like I can do something about it”

“Why can't you do something against it? True, it won't be easy but eventually you might end up actually having a friend for once, or at least you can go to places without being kicked out of the joint,” Basher said and sighed deeply as he realized this would be a very long road ahead of them to get Fuse to act normally. He still looked for a purpose himself, and somehow he thought he would find his purpose along the road.

“You are actually this dense, aren't you? Figures... just muscle and no brains,” Fuse sneered and rolled his eyes expressing exasperation. “What is there possibly to do? Some ponies got offended and possibly hurt when I lost my temper, they threw me out and never to come back and I honored their request in disregard whether it was convenient or not.” he dryly stated appearing as if he didn't really care about the entire thing.

“So, you can't go grocery shopping, you aren't allowed in any inns anymore, you can't go to the library to borrow a book, you have managed to get a restraining order from Pinkie Pie, or need I remind you of the zap-apple festival debacle you have invoked, or the multitude of other incidents that inevitably occur when you are around,” the muscular pony recited in a flat tone and paced back and forth a little getting slightly anxious.

It was a miracle that Short fuse actually had teeth left in his mouth with the amount of teeth grinding he did which was the first sign of him getting angry. “Ah shut up if you're not going to answer my question and just remind me of some times when my anger got slightly out of hoof,” he replied and grumbled clearly audible.

“Slightly out of hoof? Need I ask another random pony how they experience it when your fuse runs out? Or are you going to believe me on my word now?” Basher asked and squinted his eyes a little in his gaze towards the red pony.

“Ah, just... screw it, you're right. Have you been stalking me Basher? I mean, how do you know all this when we haven't seen each other in years?” he asked sincerely wondering how the green pony had acquired all the knowledge.

“Word spreads fast in a small town like this, and the tantrums you have thrown are infamous. Hell, I even heard a booky actually runs a pool when and where you throw your next fit... when it comes to such a point don't you think you should do something about it?” Basher stated.

“You dim witted half arsed excuse for a pony, how often do I have to ask it... WHAT... CAN... I... DO,” Short Fuse yelled extremely annoyed and it attracted some attention from the other ponies doing their groceries at the local shops, all of them preemptively took a few steps back.

“Wow, wow... keep it down Fuse, I don't really know what you can do against it, have you perhaps ever talked to Princess Twilight, maybe she can shed some light on this,” the large green pony suggested.

“I never talked to that unicorn thing running the library, she was too busy reading something of her own so I basically self served myself to a book, there was a time I actually tried to find out why I was looking like the way I look. So I just sit there in a quiet corner of the library and then some worn out mare with her spawn entered the library. I swear, as my name is Short fuse those foals had vocal chords that were supernatural in some way. It is in no way possible for anypony to produce such horrendous, vile noise as those three foals did. For a little while I actually managed to keep it all together believe it or not, trying to get to know what was the deal with me... but as you can probably guess this isn't a story with a happy ending. Eventually one of those foals deemed it necessary to scream at the top of his lungs to one of his siblings. Here I put down my book and tell this brat to keep the volume at levels that wouldn't cause my ears to bleed right then and there on the spot... I didn't even insult the foal which is still one of my most remarkable feats of strength. Anyways, this spawn of the devil goes whine with his mother who in turn feels the need to interrupt my reading to tell me I shouldn't interfere with her foals. Here I completely lost it. I slammed shut the heavy leather bound book I was reading and realigned every bone in her face... until that Twilight witch lifted me up with her magic and tossed me out of the window telling me to never come back.” Short fuse explained.

“You know you probably caused that mare quite a great deal of pain, and her foals are most likely traumatized when they saw their mother being beaten within an inch of her life. I mean, no one would have minded if you cursed at her or gave her a piece of your mind, because honestly... and I never thought I'd ever say this, but in this case I can completely understand why you lost it. Over for the strongest temper that what you just described is a challenge,” Basher Green stated and was taken a bit aback since this cause, however Fuse had over reacted was just in his perception.

“So according to you I have over reacted to that mare who literally brought the spawn of the devil himself to the library. So what do you suggest? Going over there and hope Princess Sparkle isn't mad and kicks me right outside again?” he said. The words formed a suggestion however the tone spelled dismissal rather than the formation of an idea.

“I know perhaps a way you could go there and not be kicked out within a minute,” Basher hesitantly said and pondered a little searching for the right words. “I think an apology would be a good start?” he said in a bit of an asking way not completely certain about himself.

“Apologizing? For giving that mare who is by far the worst parent in this universe exactly what she deserved and causing a bit of collateral damage? It will be a cold day in hell buddy when that happens,” Fuse sneered and it seemed he simply refused to admit he was in the wrong here.

Once more Basher tried to talk some sense into the red pony. He almost felt as if he was talking to a very rude wall, every word he said seemed to be lost and all he got were snappy remarks and sneer. “Fuse, I actually think you are right that you stood up to that mare, I just think things got a little out of hoof. If you just go talk to miss sparkle and most importantly keep your cool... everything will turn out well.” Basher said in effort to lift the angry pony's spirit a little.

“You think I am actually right here? Are you sure it isn't that concussion I gave you two days ago talking?” Fuse stated to make sure he had heard right. “Very well then, but what if miss Sparkle considers me still as a pony non grata?”

“I'll go in first and give Twilight a heads up. I bet if I tell her with what purpose you have come, she will listen to reason, she of all ponies most of all,” Basher re-ensured the red pony and smiled optimistically. “So you just wait outside while I tell her what the deal is, okay Fuse?”

“Wait outside while you tell her celestia knows what? Are you completely out of your mind? I really don't think it's a good idea to let somepony else do the talking, what would miss Sparkle think of me when I send you in to do the talking for me,” he ranted and spared a dirty look for Basher.

Basher rolled his eyes and looked annoyed. “I was just suggesting something you dense foal, but if you want to just barge in and deal with an angry alicorn be my guest. I bet you five bits you're kicked out within two minutes.” Basher said harshly since that was seemingly the only language the angry pony seemed to understand.

“I don't have five bits... and I guess you're right,” Fuse said reluctantly and shifted a little on his hooves feeling not at all at ease with the entire situation. “So, I guess we should be going now?” he asked.

“Yes we should go over there, and please remember to keep yourself together Fuse, if you screw this up I can't help you either. But I think the princess is the key to fixing your problem, mostly because you get access to information again,” Bashed said to give Fuse an actual motivation to keep cool and he led the way on the short walk to the library.

Fuse followed and acid of his stomach refluxed as he became progressively nervous. When they stood in front of the library after a minute or so he had the feeling his stomach was in his chest and was at the verge of bailing out from the entire thing. “Basher, I don't think this is such a good idea, maybe we should try tomorrow when I have some more time to prepare myself,” Fuse suggested.

The green pony shook his head and immediately dismissed Fuse's suggestion. “If you don't do it now, you'll never do it so now just stay put and I'll notify the princess,” Basher said and headed in before Fuse even had the chance to answer.

Fuse remained outside and seconds changed into hours as his heart pounded into his chest. Fuse knew full well what had happened and he knew this wasn't going to be as easy as Basher had anticipated, well, if what he said was actually true it would have been but the entire situation was slightly different as he described it to Basher initially.

Inside Basher addressed Princess Twilight Sparkle with a curtsy and Twilight looked up from her desk in turn. The library was vacant which was a relief to Basher and would make things easier to fix when there weren't any other ponies around.

“Can I help you mister?” the alicorn asked not unkindly and approached Basher with a slight smile on her face.

“I am not here for myself Princess, I am here to ask you for a favor on behalf of a (…) somepony else, if you are willing to hear him out,” Basher said. Twilight's smile melted right there and then since there would be only one pony in Equestria that required such a favor of her. Basher looked at Twilight's reaction and then realized there was perhaps something going on he had no knowledge off.

Twilight's stomach roiled as she thought back at that say and the good mood she had before was pretty much gone. “Short Fuse...” she said with disgust.

“I know he did something wrong miss Sparkle, but I think you should talk to him. He has come to make amends for what he has done here in the past that resulted in him being banned from your library.” Basher said and sighed a little.

Twilight's face clenched tightly “Have you got any idea what that colt did that made me throw him out of here? I mean, I can take quite a lot but there are limits and he crossed them... all of them,” she said coldly and shook her head. “If I see him around here, I will call the guards,”

Basher was taken aback, figuring the story of the mare might not be true after all, but giving Fuse the benefit of the doubt since he had little other options he nodded. “I know what he did, but to me it all sounded like a big misunderstanding and please trust me when I say he has come here with the intention to set things straight,” he said. His words were perhaps poorly chosen even for the explanation Fuse gave him and he realized it which made him seem anxious in body language.

The purple alicorn shook her head and sighed deeply. “I don't know what exactly he has told you, but I can assure you it wasn't a misunderstanding at all. I believe in the magic of friendship and I am always willing to give somepony the benefit of the doubt, or even see through the flaws of one but I have never ever in my entire life encountered a pony as vile as this Short Fuse,” she angrily stated and shook her head.

Basher didn't know what else to say or do but the one thing that was clear to him is that he needed to have a serious conversation with the red and fanged pony before he continued the conversation with the Princess. “Okay miss Sparkle, I am sorry for your time. We'll see each other again shortly,” he said and with those words he took off leaving the princess slightly confused.

Outside in the meanwhile Fuse was being consumed by nerves and paced back and forth at a ridiculous rate. All of this was taking way too long and he knew full well this was bound to be a bust. When Basher got outside of the library looking all but happy it only confirmed what he already knew what true, Princess Sparkle was not up for talking.

Basher threw a nasty look at Fuse and trotted towards the red fanged pony who replied his dirty look with naught but a flat stare. “Fuse, you son of a mongrel you've got some explaining to do,” he hissed as now the muscular pony was the angry ones amongst the two of them. “Have you got any idea how embarrassing that was? Haven't you embarrassed me enough already?” he said rather load nearly screaming.

Short fuse bit his lower lip as he knew he was busted. “No, I don't know how embarrassing that was since I wasn't there, you insisted on going in yourself,” he replied. Basher on his turn looked like he was ready to explode there and then, Fuse knew he would but somehow Basher remained calm, relatively speaking.

“Why do I get the feeling you told me a load of bull before we got here and now I made a complete fool out of myself,” Basher said to try to get out the truth.

Of course his words were lost on Fuse as all he replied with was: “You really didn't need to do that to make a fool out of yourself, hell, you don't need to do anything to make a fool out of yourself!”

Basher now did get angry and growled a little. “I am trying to help you here you dense red piece of dung, but if you tell me a story that isn't true, or never even happened I really can't help you at all. Or do you want to be hated by everypony?” Basher asked in a harsh tone.

“Hated by everypony?” Fuse repeated and sighed deeply. “I guess that isn't really the way to go is it?” he asked and looked at the large green pony. Fuse did feel angry and annoyed for a multitude of reasons but he also did realize he had to come clean here to set a step forward.

“No, this is definitely not the way to go, I mean, I saw the look on miss Sparkle's face and trust me, whatever you did, she didn't forget. Why do I get the feeling there is something more to the story about that mare you clubbed?” Basher said in the same harsh tone.

Fuse sighed deeply and kicked some dirt. Basher's tone was clear and he had to come clean, both to himself and to Basher. For years he had blamed the incident with the mare for him being banished from the library while it was actually an entire different event that caused in him no longer being welcome to the library. “Okay, this is what truly has happened.” he started reluctantly. “The whole thing with the mare was about two weeks before I actually got banished and that issue was completely resolved, hell, even Twilight herself said the foals of that mare were a huge loud nuisance and although she didn't quite agree with my methods it did shut the foals up the next time they came to the library. Anyways, I digress, two weeks later I was again in the library to look into the research papers to find out more about my looks when that purple abomination that has to pass for a dragon kept pestering me and how I had to clean up the area I sat in afterwards. Granted I did make a bit of a mess, I would have done so if it wasn't for that dragon feeling the need to remind me like every five minutes. So that dragon comes once again pestering me while I am reading and I just simply lost it, I kicked that creature as hard as I could only to get it out of my mane. So he eventually crashed in a book shelf which was inevitably rendered unable to carry all the books and collapsed. I think that might have been the point when miss sparkle decided I was no longer welcome at her library.”

Basher stared at Fuse with half closed eyes and shook his head. “So somehow it seemed to you like a good idea to kick her assistant dragon that hard so he would go airborne and crash into a book case breaking it?” Basher asked in sheer amazement since he could barely believe it.

“yes, that is what I've just said, or did I speak in some other language?” Short Fuse asked in a bit of a dismissive way as if he wanted to state Basher was stupid. “I mean, what would you do in my case?” he asked completely convinced he was in the right here as well.

“No Fuse, you just spoke normally but that still doesn't make it right... in any way... now I completely understand why miss Sparkle reacted like this. I should have known it was something more than just a mare you roughed up,” Basher said and shook his head. “And no, to answer your question, I would never aggravate a baby dragon for doing what miss Sparkle had asked it to do. Probably what you thought was pestering was most likely just him telling you once or perhaps twice what to do, since you were a guest there and had to comply to their rules,” Basher said exasperated and rolled his eyes.

Fuse replied with his all famous flat stare which made his words of disagreement obsolete but not unspoken. “And how are you supposed to know this, you weren't there when that blasted dragon interrupted me countless times. That retched thing got what he deserved and I will not apologize for a just cause,”

“So kicking a little dragon changing it into a projectile ruining the library is just in your objective. And I thought you could count up to two, but if you consider his pestering as countless times you're even dumber than I had previously thought. Even though I agreed with you with the mare issue I do not agree at all with you kicking the dragon. I mean, what did you possibly think to achieve with that?” Basher asked in amaze when Fuse was completely convinced of his case.

“What I tried to achieve is rather simple, the same as your brain it appears. I wanted to read my stuff in solitude without being pestered by some nosy dragon,” Fuse stated and shrugged it completely.

Basher just shook his head and sighed deeply. His plans evaporated as everything seemed infinitely more complicated as they had seemed in the beginning and Fuse being stubborn as a mule wasn't helping either, especially since the red pony was completely convinced he was right. He tried one more time to get through to Fuse, even though today was a complete bust. “Try to see it from miss Sparkle's perspective Fuse, she has given her assistant the assignment to keep the library nice and tidy, you know she likes the place to stay nice and clean, right? Well, then this little dragon tries to serve as good as he possibly can to make miss Sparkle happy. And then perhaps he makes the honest mistake of telling you perhaps a bit more often than needed that you need to keep the place clean. If something like that is rewarded by a huge kick that sends him flying, well, then you're everything that's wrong with this world,”

Fuse stared and he visibly tried to process what Basher had said and eventually hung his head as the green pony, however vexing it was, made a good point. “Okay, granted that I might have over reacted slightly... I still don't think it is such a big deal,” he stated exasperated as Basher started to get under his skin and anger was slowly getting the better of the fanged pony as it did so often.

“I honestly can't believe you Fuse, you are actually still trying to justify what you have done to that poor baby dragon by saying it was you over reacting a little. Heed my words Fuse and heed them well, if you don't start to act like a normal pony, I am completely done with you and then you'll lose the one pony who is trying to see what little good is in you. You will be spat out by everyone, you'll be banned from so many places you'll starve to death if the bile of your infinite anger doesn't beat starvation to it. For once in your life think reasonable you dumb stupid foal,” Basher ranted and breathed through his teeth becoming rather infuriated himself.

To Basher's surprise Fuse didn't get more angry, he even seemed to calm down a little as the fanged pony sighed deeply and hung his head. Fuse didn't say anything but he was thinking, thinking back to that day at the library. “I remember that day, I was reading this article from the Equestrian Socio-Psychological research commission to get to know more about my looks. I was making a mess of the place, dozens of scrolls, books and papers laying around the spot where I sat, small wonder that dragon thought it was necessary to tell me a second time to keep the place neat... perhaps Basher is on to something here anyways,” he thought and shook his head slightly. “Okay, okay, I have been unreasonable here, now shut up about it already... I mean, it's not likely miss Sparkle wants to hear anything from it anyways, so why bother to try?” Fuse said exasperated.

“Just because something seems hard, it doesn't mean you should give up or don't even try at all fuse. You have now set the first step you should take to get on a better path, you have admitted what went wrong and you have identified the problem as it is. From this point on there is only one way to go and that way is up.” Basher said as he had the feeling he was finally getting somewhere with the angry red pony, even though it was just a baby step and many things had yet to be resolved.

Fuse rolled his eyes as he has heard that sentence umpteen times before. “Ah don't whine so much, I mean, why are you even trying to help me?” the red pony asked sounding annoyed.

“I am trying to help you to help myself, don't get the illusion I actually like you buddy, but the day you decided to realign my nose you have set in motion the course of events that led to this days and those to come. So this is your chance to improve yourself and perhaps improve your life as well and actually get a purpose in your miserable life rather than being angry at everything and everypony.” Basher said and looked angrily towards Short Fuse.

The red pony in response just gave him the flat stare he mastered oh so well. “For the love of everything, you sound like a broken record buddy. Anyways, is there something else we could do today or are you done preaching?” he said and muttered something inaudible under his breath.

“No, the princess was quite agitated when I left and I think it'd be best to let her calm down before I go in again to announce you. Go home and meet me tomorrow at the same place at the same time,” Basher said.

Fuse complained excessively about the time and how he hated mornings but all his complaining was futile as Basher ignored the angry pony completely and walked off, leaving Fuse to stand there.

“Anger can be divided in several categories, those being 'Annoyance, anger and ultimately rage,' a relief of anger and venting frustration is healthy however in rare cases one never ceases to be angry, cannot manage to remain calm or surpass the intensity scale of anger beyond everything we have ever seen. However cases of this extreme manifestations of rage are rare, they often have a huge impact on the lives of the afflicted as well as on his or her surroundings. The ponies who experience rage hugely beyond what is the standard are generally locked up at institutions because they are a threat to themselves and others while treatment seems nearly impossible.” ~Serenity Stargazer, anger research specialist at the Equestrian Socio-Psychological research commission.