A Very Angry Problem

by GasmaskBrony

A Mildly Melancholic Meeting

The ponies of ponyville had always been a little wary of the unknown, ever since the town had been built adjacent to one of the most dangerous places in Equestria. This quasi-xenophobia had only increased with the arrival of a certain yellow clad individual who had in the past week caused nearly a year's worth of property damage and injuries upon the populous. As such, the ponies in sugar cube corner all cast a suspicious and distrustful look at the diamond dog clad in yellow armor that had more than a passing resemblance to their latest bout of troubles. This diamond dog, thankfully did not instantly begin yelling, cursing, and hurling various objects/ponies around, instead simply walked quietly over to one of the booths where he began to peel off the plastic armor piece by piece and toss them aside with a snort of disgust until he only wore a pair of black sweat pants and shirt.

As the dusty grey canine sank back into his booth and sighed quietly, most of the patrons began to return to their meals, they did however keep a mistrustful eye the stranger. For his part, the rather plain diamond dog seemed to simply be looking off into space with hollow dead eyes as it slouched deep into its seat. It seemed more than willing to ignore the ponies around it, so most of the ponies were willing to leave the stranger unmolested.

"Hi there? Can I take your order?" a cheery voice asked.

The dog's gaze slowly focused and drifted down to look at the bubbly pink pony bouncing before him, her eyes as full of life and excitement as his appeared to be dead and empty. A sad weary smile drifted across his features as he simply stated, "Sorry Pinkie, but I'm afraid I don't have any money to pay for anything with."

"That's alright, I'm willing to cover the cost just this once, you look like you've been having a hard time. I know that while Jackie might be a nice guy deep down inside, he can be a real hassle for some ponies to deal with for extended periods. And you've been dealing with him non-stop for who knows how long!" Pinkie's smile widened happily, "So what can I get you Dancey?"

The smile fell away from the diamond dog's face as his entire body seemed to sag to such an extent he seemed to almost melt. "That's not my name."

"Oh don't be like that Danse, you were there when I told Jackie this, I think Twilight's whole explanation for you two kind of went over my head so I've just been viewing you two as two friends for the price of one, I've got nicknames for all of my friends. Sure I might just technically be meeting you for the first time, but I'm still more than willing call you my friend. Still, if you don't like Dancey I could give you a different nickname like Mac, Danny,-"

"Danse Macabre isn't my real name." The diamond dog snarled.

"It isn't? Odd I could have sworn that Twilight told me that's what your name was."

"It is what I told her." The diamond dog who was not named Danse Macabre somehow sagged even deeper into his seat, "I thought that if she thought it was a pony trapped inside Fubar's head that she might try harder to get them out, so I made up a pony sounding name." He chuckled ruefully, "But now I can't even remember what my real name was."

"How can you not remember?" Pinkie asked, seeming to deflate a bit as she walked around the table and sat down next to the distraught dog.

"Because of being trapped in his head for so fffreaking long." He growled, his big meaty paws curling into tight fist, his teeth bared, and eyes squeezed shut as if he was in a world of pain. "Everytime I questioned him, anytime we disagreed on something, or he simply got too mad I would get shoved down into the darkest corners of his mind. Every Time, I'd lose bits and pieces of myself, and I didn't even notice until days had passed and I realized I couldn't remember... remember..." he began to laugh so joylessly that Pinkie was certain the diamond dog next to her was about to cry, "I can't even remember what I forgot now, I remember it was important to me and the realization I'd forgotten it shocked me to my core and now I can't even remember that." he threw his head back and loudly laughed a desperate broken laugh that made everypony in the store distinctly uncomfortable.

Pinkie however leaned in and gave him a weak hug as he continued to laugh. And he did continue to laugh. He laughed until tears ran down his face, stained his fur, and he was wheezing for breath. He finally seemed to notice the pony hugging him and slowly quieted down. Pinkie took her opportunity to fill the depressing silence now filling the usually cheery restaurant. "I'm not going to say it will be okay or that you shouldn't feel sad about this. Heck, just the idea of not being able to remember my name or family makes me want to cry. But I will say that things can only get better for you now. I'm sure Twilight has all sort of things that will be able to fix your memory problems, you can now actually talk to us and can finally have your own welcome to Ponyville party, and I'm sure that given time you and Jackie will be the best of friends!"

"I hope to never see that c- jerk again." Danse growled a bit of emotion flashing in his empty eyes, a few embers of the fierce violent rage that constantly filled the eyes of an Angry Marine. "I have spent too much time around him, and will never forgive him for the damage he has done to me."

"But you have to forgive him eventually," Pinkie insisted, "It's not like he meant to make you forget things about yourself."

"Would you forgive someone who nearly unmade you Pinkie?" The diamond dog glared down at the smaller mare, "Even if they didn't mean to?"

"Yes," she replied instantly with a smile.

The fire in his eyes seemed to go out as Danse sank down to mope on the table, "Then you are a better person than I am. I honestly don't think I'm even capable of considering forgiving him."

"Aw, you're just saying that because you've still got a bit of Jackie's case of the grumpies in you." Pinkie giggled patting his shoulder. "I'm sure that once you've had a minute and a couple of nice tasty snacks in you you'll be bright, chipper, and ready to come to your party tonight." Pinkie stuffed a folded invitation into his paws along with a small bag of bits. "Go ahead and order yourself something nice, I'm going to go try and calm down Jackie, would you like to talk more afterwards?"

Danse opened the invitation, blinking as a bit of confetti sprayed in his face. He gave a sad smile, "I'd really like that Pinkie."

Pinkie smiled happily, "Great see you later Dancey!" She bounced her way out of the store smiling happily.

Danse, however, continued to look sadly at his invitation before slowly closing it and sliding it away as he picked up the bag of bits. "I'd like that Pinkie, but it seems I'm not that brave or good of a person." He rose from the booth with the bag, glancing back at the pile of discarded plastic armour. He did a double take and reached into the pile. His dead eyes came to life as they narrowed, becoming the eyes of a predator focusing in on prey. Taking the single piece of metal from the pile of plastic refuse, examining it with intense focus. He tucked it under his arm as he walked out of Sugarcube Corner.

Author's Note:

A bit shorter than the usual chapters I put out, I decided to cut this bit off a larger chapter because I wanted to give Danse the room to start existing separate from Fubar, that and the tone of this chapter is radically different than the next part. Hopefully it doesn't chase off the 150ish people who still read this, love you guys.

Comments

[Punk Rock Prom Queen]

From what I gathered from this chapter Danse was some poor schlub who went to a con, but instead of turning into an actual angry marine he ended up stuck inside an actual marine’s head when he got sent to Equestria. Of course I could be wrong, but that was the impression this story has been giving me.

[Mystic Sunrise]

Here's all I need to know about the Angry Marines. Games-Workshop is smart enough to never make them an official Chapter.

Why? Everything in this story sums it up.

[GasmaskBrony]

9005284
That sounds like a rather heretical statement there brother, especially when you consider the Black Templars, Dorn's Angry Boys, are already a cannon chapter and are not nearly as nice or tolerant as the Angry Marines.

[warpsmith]

9006305
that is debatable as black templars have allied themselves with iron warriors once in beast arises books and with eldar in fall of cadia. And there is a mention in crusaders of Dorn book where black templar held woman and two of her children's heretics at gun point and spared them saying they should repent and pray for the emperor or he would come for them. As what comes so sons of dorn they have are cold and calculative rather than going with emotions like salamanders like their primarch.