Short Fuse

Chapters

Chapter 1: Pilot
Chapter 2: Admitting is the first step.
Chapter 3: Stress test
Chapter 4: What has been done, can't be undone
Chapter 5: On a rare occasion.
Chapter 6: A chain of interests
Chapter 7: Anger is ...?

Chapter 1: Pilot

“Hah fools; look at these ponies. Smiling, giggling and not a care in the world. Pathetic creatures if you ask me. Unlikely though anypony will ask me for anything. They will just go on with their lives blindfolded by the cloud they float upon. Their vision too blurred to see what is wrong in this dump of a town, let alone in this world.” ~Short Fuse, Journal, entry number 25.

~Chapter 1: Pilot~

Short Fuse woke up in the morning and as often the sun was already bright and high up in the heaven above. The last time he woke up in the morning he could honestly not remember. His home was a dump. A filthy dump least to say. All over the place there were remainders of food, stacks of magazines, comic books and news papers littered in every corner of his bedroom. As he got up he nearly tripped because he forgot he placed a stack of magazines there right before he went to bed. Muttering under his breath he headed to the living room which had the kitchen adjacent as well. which also concluded the entire tour of his house.

Life certainly had dealt the odd looking pony a strange hand. Life was good in his childhood; two caring parents who wanted only the best for their foal. He attended to a decent school but at that exact point things went south for him. Everything he hated was put together in a room. Other foals and their retched noise they created. A near dictatorial teacher, but worst of all was playtime. Playtime was torment. The other foals seemed so happy but he honestly failed to see how something as tag could be fun to do. Being touched by some other pony to touch them on your behalf again.

The teachers began to notice strange things by the time he was in higher grades of elementary school. He looked differently from other ponies. The bright red skin along with his black and green colored mane were strange as they were. But now his eyes started to deviate from what was deemed normal amongst other ponies. His pupils narrow as those of a dragon and he even grew fangs as if he was a carnivore. Aside from that the most notable of things were perhaps the tantrums he threw. Once more the kind hearted foals with whom he was in a class with tried to involve him in the group and what happened then was beyond what anypony could believe.

As if the biggest bomb ever was detonated Short Fuse's fuse finally burned out. The instance he got tagged his eyes narrowed and he turned on the pony who tagged him. Before the poor foal could get out, the red fanged pony grabbed him and pinned him on the playground. For this he needed only one hoof while the one who tagged him was considered to be the strongest pony in elementary. Somehow anger overcame physical inferiority and Short Fuse pummeled his pinned victim with his free hoof until he was forcefully separated from him by no less than three teachers. Kicking and screaming... more screeching he got dragged off inside to cool down, where he would welcome every teacher that passed with a cannonade of violent curses and more screeching. It sure didn't help for his temper that he was completely ignored by the ones he cursed at until finally, after hours he settled. This not because he was finally cooled down but simply because he was exhausted.

Needless to say his parents were informed of this incident but once Short Fuse arrived home his parents never mentioned the phone call. Until now the young colt had managed to keep his cool in school but as of late his anger only seemed to grow out of proportion. His parents were at a loss, both being kind and loving ponies who embraced everything ponyville stood for they couldn't grasp what was wrong with their beloved child. However atrocious his behavior they have never stopped loving him but they sure got desperate.

Back in the present day Short Fuse ate his breakfast; cereal with a load of questionable milk at best. He sniffed it, made a weird face as the smell was all but good and started eating it anyways cringing with each bite. His attitude made it very hard to keep a steady job so it was pretty much a beggars/choosers situation in which he found himself. He was glad he had enough to eat as it was. Tonight he would start yet a new job. Quite often, and this might seem strange, he was hired as a night's watchpony. Short Fuse was a lot of things, he might throw a fit at any given time for any reason, but a thief he was most certainly not. And with this job he didn't need to interact with anypony. And if he had to it didn't mattered he went berserk on his victim because then he would be trespassing.

The day went by agonizingly slow. The rancid milk acted up which caused him to be stuck to the toilet for the better part of the afternoon and early evening, almost causing him to be late on his first day of guarding. He looked once more at the paper and sighed a little. “I actually have to guard the cake shop? Well this will be a boring night,” he muttered. But bits were bits and he honestly didn't care what exactly he had to do, as long as he got payed.

So the sun was down and the first stars in the sky were already present in the evening's sky. “Full moon huh, thats when all the loonies come out,” he said in a resentful way to himself. What exactly caused it he didn't know, but what he did know was that when the full moon was upon, the strangest things tended to happen. However he didn't know how a night guarding the cake shop would become the least bit interesting or why they would need guarding in the first place he figured something might still happen because of the full moon.

It wasn't before long he arrived at the shop and knocked at the door. The familiar Mr. and Mrs. Cake opened the door. “Ah, you're the pony we hired to secure the shop,” Mr. Cake said not too unkindly. He then looked at his wife with a rather concerned look. Short fuse had a reputation in Ponyville of being able to throw massive temper tantrums whenever things didn't go his way and more oft than not he got thrown out of public areas when he was at it again.

“Yes, I am,” he replied in a flat voice and rolled his eyes a little as he saw the concerned faces. “So, I get payed 50 bits for the night as we agreed on, and I make sure whatever it is you need guarded now remains safe?' he asked to confirm the agreement previously made.

Mr. Cake nodded and confirmed the agreement. Then they took off and Short Fuse found himself alone again. “Man were those ponies acting up. Just because I occasionally... sometimes... well... often lose myself it doesn't mean I can't keep this blasted shop safe,” he thought and stared blankly in front of him, hardly paying any attention to the ponies passing by. For most of the passing ponies the workday was over but for the hotheaded colt it had just begun.

Getting bored really quickly he paced back and forth a little until he found himself looking at a window. Whenever he saw his own reflection he tried to figure out how he got his rather deviant looks. In school he never fit in when he was young. Resented everything that seemed to make others happy. He didn't know why, he didn't know what made him angry. His childhood was as normal as one could wish for, his parents loved him despite the harsh times he gave them. Somehow, somewhere something went horribly wrong... but what? It was so bad he even figured his dragonesque looks were a result from the amazing amount of fury within him. “I should have this checked out by that princess hogging the library... at least... if she is willing to let me in again,” he said out loud to no one in particular.

Thinking back to that time he went nuts at the library. He was just reading a book there on his day off when this mare comes with with no less than three foals. Those foals were amongst the worst behaved brats one could possibly imagine. They whined, screamed and produced other unworldly sounds which made the red colt doubt those were even ponies. Anyways, however they were infuriating he did keep his calm which was an achievement for him. But then when he asked one of the kids to keep it quiet a little as the foal was screaming towards his siblings at a ridiculous volume, the mother decided to give Short Fuse a piece of his mind. Nopony would tell him wrong if he just gave the mare a piece of his mind in return, but I think the fact that he clobbered her with the very book he was previously reading up to the point she actually needed to visit a doctor was slightly over the top as a reaction. So he was thrown out of the library and Twilight advised him it would be for the best if he didn't return anytime soon. By which she of course meant: Never.

He laughed a little and sighed eventually. 'Night, my blissful company. Ever so tranquil and silent. Nothing of the night there is to infuriate me, or disrupt me. Let your dark blanket cloak me, and let me enjoy your solitude as I am a subject to Princess Luna of the night.' he chanted softly. It had become his mantra as he spend the long, dark hours of the night guarding whatever. Ponyville was a rather safe town and more oft than not he simply fell asleep in sheer boredom because nothing would happen anyways. Tonight however something was wrong.

There was no indication something was wrong, it was a gut feeling. He couldn't put a hoof on whatever set him on edge but his senses heightened. His ears stood upright and his eyes were wide open. For one thing his looks were convenient. He often appeared intimidating enough for anything to happen. At least that was the case with ponies. Creatures of the night or what abominations got the horrible idea to crawl out of the everfree forest often differed in opinion and rather saw him as a late night snack than intimidating.

Hours crept by and the dusky evening changed into a pitch black night, which was reason enough for Short Fuse to recite his chant a couple of more times. It was lonely in this line of work and boring. Boredom, anger and rejection was what he had to deal with. But still the red colt had the ominous gut feeling something was about to happen. He trusted his gut for it was more oft than not right. He hoped against better judgment he was wrong though. He honestly didn't feel like being bothered with whatever would disturb the night's peace.

His hope was in vain as he had expected thanks to his gut feeling but little could prepare him for what he was about to witness. He stood face to face with a pony twice his size. And he was muscular beyond what Short Fuse deemed possible. The only strange thing about the huge stallion in front of him was a disfigured muzzle. An epiphany struck the red pony. He was sure he had seen the pale green furred pony before, and he had. “Well, I'm sure got get a good clubbing right now,” he thought as the huge stallion approached him in a threatening fashion.

“Remember me... Short fuse?” The green pony sneered as he got close to the red fanged pony. “You look even more a wreck than the last time I had the displeasure of seeing your misshapen face.” at the last remark Short fuse could do naught but laugh slightly which infuriated the green pony greatly.

Within a second the red fanged pony could taste the blood in his mouth. Intimidation was of little use against this behemoth of a pony. Usually his deviant looks would scare off anypony which made him ideal as a night's watch. The green pony smirked. And finally said. “Every night you're on duty, I will find you and give you another hit like that one, until the day I think revenge has been served proportional,” he said and with those words he took off.

Short Fuse was left completely shocked. He didn't dare drop his attention for even a second until the cakes got back with the rising of the sun to open their shop. At this point his muzzle was blue and swollen. At least the shop was still safe and he got his 50 bits for the night. He could finally get some fresh milk and throw away the rancid junk that had him stuck to the toilet for several hours yesterday in the afternoon. When the cakes asked what happened he got pummeled he blamed some random thug looking for a quick bit, although he knew this encounter was all but random.

Tired he went back to the dump he called home, laid down in his bed under his ragged sheets but sleep wasn't for him. The foresight of the huge green pony 'visiting' him each night he'd spend in the open to guard whatever place he was hired to. To make sure his face wouldn't end up as his face, he needed to think of something to make amends. “Making amends? Since when did I become the kind of pony to make amends for anything. I still think I was right to give that colt the smacking of a lifetime. He shouldn't have touched me.”

The fanged colt contemplated for several moments more before coming to the painful conclusion, however he was still right, he should try to figure something out to get even with the green colt in a way that didn't involve him being beaten for umpteen times. With that thought and the sun slowly creeping above the horizon he fell asleep.

In the evening with the orange hue of dusk cast over Ponyville Short Fuse woke up from a dreamless but but entirely peaceful sleep. His muzzle felt swollen and looked exactly as it felt. With a grunt he got out of bed and decided to skip on his 'breakfast' since he failed to get some new stuff today. Instead he got the coin he collected from the job yesterday and headed towards the town's inn.

The instance he entered the inn the barkeep looked at him worried. Little surprise since Short fuse often had no fuse left whilst attending this inn and more than once had he caused a massive bar fight. Still, he somehow was still welcome there. It was a small mystery why he was still welcome there since many tables were vacant. The innkeeper most likely wanted all the business he could get; even if that meant having a bar fight every once in a while fueled by the never ending pool of rage that filled Short fuse.

On Short Fuse's turn it was to little surprise why this inn had so little business. Even a pony traveling or just passing trough this town would rather make his own food over the stuff he got served here. He was uncertain some of the things served were actually food, but with plenty of ale it was reasonably edible. This evening seemed to go rather well for Short Fuse. His belly was full and the ale tasted rather good. As his plate got empty, the inn did quite the opposite. Soon enough the inn became a busy and cozy place where ponies socialized.

All was well, at least nopony bothered him and he could enjoy the cold ale the inn was serving happily on his own little island. Occasionally he muttered something under his breath as the swollen muzzle from the smack he caught yesterday acted up again. To his dismay he found somepony sat down at his table.

“green fur, huge stallion... I'm in trouble,” he thought as he attempted to clear some distance between him and the green colt which proved impossibly because he was already as close to the wall as he could be. Short fuse looked worriedly at the muscular stallion which on his turn returned a flat stare of his own.

“Don't make a fool of yourself Fuse,” he said and rolled his eyes. “I haven't come here to give you another smacking.” he said which made the red pony feel slightly more comfortable yet he was still visibly frightened since he didn't have the slightest clue of what to expect from the Muscular pony.

“You have actually remembered my name?” he asked in some surprise. Blunt as he was with his statement he didn't sound too unkind, most likely because he was too afraid of the behemoth adjacent to him to actually get mad. “Of course he remembers your name you stupid little foal. Do you think you would forget the name of the pony who clobbered you that badly?” he thought quickly as he did his very bed to remember the name of the green pony as well. However valiant his effort he was at a loss for a name.

“I can see you're now desperately trying to remember my name, small wonder you forgot my name, but don't worry about that. My name is Basher Green. Oddly suiting for a bouncer like me, don't you think.” he says and chuckles a little. His happiness was soon gone as he continues: “You know, everything went downhill from the day you went medieval on me. I was on my way to become an athlete. I was in the top tiers in all junior leagues but something changed that day. It was as if my confidence was gone just like that.” he sighed a little and drank some of his ale.

“So because you got a little smacking your confidence was gone and everything went down the drain? That is kinda pathetic,” Short Fuse stated harshly which in turn infuriated Basher visibly.

“Short Fuse, you dare calling me pathetic whilst you aren't even welcome in half the shops and public places here in town because you cannot control your temper? I guess it takes one to know one huh,” the green earth pony replied and sighed in a bit of a melancholic way.

“Hah... you just admitted you're pathetic...” he chanted and smiled widely but his pleasure was short lasted. “Hey, wait a second... you called me pathetic as well you crooked nuzzled foal.” now there were two ponies stating madly at each other only separated by the dirty oaken table between them.

Moments passed and to the two ill tempered ponies nothing seemed to exist except the other one. Their eyes shot lightning at each other until Basher green decided it was enough and took a sip from his drink. Short fuse reacted with a smirk grin and shook his head: “I knew you'd be too scared to actually fight me,” he muttered softly but just not softly enough.

This immediately re-ignited the lingering flame of anger in Basher which put his glass back on the table with such violence it broke spilling all its contents over the table. The table was already dirty and sodden with fat and now it was sodden to boot. “I am not the scared one you miserable angry weak excuse for a sub-pony,” Basher green sneered towards the red pony at the other end of the round table.

For a moment Short fuse was baffled by the insult given by the muscular green pony. “Oh please don't tell me I am a sub-pony (...)”

“Weak excuse for a sub-pony I said,” interrupted Basher.

“I don't care what you called me you half witted fool, if you didn't ruin your last braincell pumping yourself up like that you might have comprehended that I am right and this place is a complete waste of space. Everypony in this town is batshit crazy including... no... especially you Basher. They resent me for seeing through the facades bestowed upon us, blindsided from everything that is wrong in this rotten place living in blissful ignorance... hah, it's always the stupidest that are happy,” Short fuse ranted and got more infuriated over the course of his rant rather than it would relief some of the pressure as in normal ponies. He ended up standing breathing deeply, his eyes nearly crossed from the infuriating rage wreaking havoc within him.

“Blindsided... stupid... ignorance is bliss... hmmhmm,” Basher recited half absent minded losing track of what Short fuse was spewing somewhere along the half due to the blistering speed with which he had commenced his rant. “So... if I got this right, everyone is stupid and you are perfect?” he asked with a load of sarcasm that might just then and there have set the standard for all sarcastic remarks to follow.

“Don't say it like that, but yes, everyone seems to be too stupid to see what is really wrong with this place, everypony is blind I tell you... BLIND,” short fuse spat, wheezed, screeched and grunted.

“Then why are you the only pony who looks like an atrocity and behaves like one too... Hah... you haven't changed since school, you have become worse than ever. You are the scourge upon this world, how can somepony like you ever be allowed into this world? What miserable mistake of evolution are you (…) no, let me rephrase that, what are you actually? I mean, have you ever seen yourself in the mirror?”

As soon as Basher said the last part he realized things were about to get really ugly... well... uglier actually because what had to pass for a conversation was all but pretty. Short Fuse stood perfectly still. Veins at the temple of his head throbbed on the verge of bursting it would seem, his eyes closed to little slits and what little of his eyes that could be seen spat naught but fire, bile, lightning and hatred. With a screech that wasn't in any way suitable for anything living to create Short Fuse jumped over the table to attack the double in size green pony.

Basher saw Short Fuse leaping for him and in a reflex he reared trying to catch the initial blows from the red fury clobbering mercilessly upon him. They was of little use as the relentless fury of strikes kept coming from what seemed to be a horrible, anger fueled sub-pony who had completely foregone everything civil. However Basher was significantly stronger in any normal case than Short fuse he found himself evenly matched here, for every hit he landed, he felt like he got three in return. Short fuse had actually changed into a monster.

It wasn't before long since the racked had attracted some more attention, their yelling and screaming had already attracted enough attention but when they started fighting and actually causing a fair amount of damage. The innkeeper was used to bar fights because it wasn't really the most exquisite of establishments but this was beyond anything he had ever seen. Two ponies shouldn't be able to wreck four tabled in a mere ten seconds but these two somehow managed it, he decided to try and break up the fight and dive right in.

Little did the innkeeper know this wasn't quite the ordinary fight. One was a rage fueled monster and the other one was a pony dedicated to body building so the innkeeper had to bail from the fight as he took too many blows that weren't even aimed at him while the other two continued not even noticing the efforts of the barkeep.

The two fought relentlessly until they both got exhausted and the barkeep had less trouble to break up the fight. Both battered and bruised were evicted from the bar and thrown on the dark streets of Ponyville. They looked at each other abashed and simultaneously sighed deeply.

“This got us no where,” Basher Green stated annoyed and wiped his mouth to remove the trickle of blood emerging from his lip. The innkeeper had told them never to show their faces at that bar again, which made it for Short fuse the last inn to be permanently banned from.

“Oh come on, Now thanks to you you can't even go to this inn anymore, all because of one little fight. If that fool didn't toss us out I would have kicked your flank right between your ears so you could shit from the back of your head,” Short fuse said but it wasn't even near the raw primal fury he showed before.

“Oh cut it out Fuse, I don't care who won or not... as how I see it we both lost this fight,” he stated and sighed deeply. Basher green tried to shift in a more comfortable position which caused him to utter a disgruntled grunt due to the bruisings all over his body. “I know you are melancholic and you can't see the good in anything to save your life, besides yourself... but... in all these years I wonder, did it ever occur to you that perhaps you are invoking all the misery that befalls upon you on yourself?”

“The problem with me? So I just have to adjust to be happy in this cesspool of a town with these ignorant ponies that fail to see all that is wrong?” the red pony asked exasperated and his breathing god more rugged and deep again showing slightly more anger again.

“Before you blow up again Fuse, tell me what exactly you think is wrong with this place... and these ponies,” Basher Green asked. Short Fuse was visibly taken aback by this question and stared blankly for a couple of moments.

After a couple of seconds Short fuse replied: “Well... you know... everything! Ponies are just too blind to see it, I can't explain it... stop asking questions... shut up.” he sounded extremely defensive and evasive here.

“Yea, I see Fuse... you are just annoyed because everything isn't going as you would like it to go, you can't stand to see ponies happy here while you don't like it. You treat everyone like they are less than you, they really won't treat you any better if you keep doing that,” the muscular pony explained to Short fuse.

“And I don't give the slightest about what your opinion is Basher, I know how it is and if you want to be one of those mindless sheep out there, be my guest. But I won't adjust to all the wrongdoing that is done,” Fuse stubbornly stated.

Basher facehooved and sighed deeply slowly getting a nudge from his own temper and patience coming to an end. “So, you don't know what is wrong only that something is wrong, you don't know why you hate other ponies just that you hate them and you don't know what we are all blind to just that we all seemingly are blind to something,” the muscular pony explained as much to himself as to Short Fuse.

“Oh for the love of Celestia, for the first time you talk sense... I knew you would understand how I feel, so how do we change this horrid town so it is a little less atrocious?” Short Fuse asked eagerly.

The green pony once again shook his head. “Fuse, listen to yourself. You are fighting a battle that doesn't exist. And something that doesn't exist can't be won. When you don't know what is wrong, how do you know there is something wrong? You are deluded!” he said tentatively, not wanting to end up in yet another fight.

“Me? Deluded? I think with that one and single word you have described the entire population of his portal to a ring deeper than the hell itself.” he spat refusing to give in the slightest to Basher and his allegations, although it did make him think a little which showed visibly on his face as some of the anger got replaced by doubt instead.

“Did I say something wrong fuse?” he asked in a bit of a taunting manner which was immediately answered by a growl emerging from Fuse. “Hah, I guess finally something came through in that think skull of yours,” he continued and actually grinned a little there.

“Look who is talking about thick skulls, anypony else's head would have been pudding by the punishment I gave yours, somehow your skull seemed to take it all,” he sneered in a hugely failed effort to insult Basher.

Basher tapped his right hoof at his head where he didn't happen to have a bruise or a lump from the clobbering and chuckled a little. “I have never argued Otherwise,” he said and quickly changed serious again. “So, what do we do now?”

“We? What on god's green earth makes you think I want to see you half a second longer than necessary? I mean, you must be a special kind of stupid to think that, or have a severe concussion” Fuse responded in a hostile way towards the muscular pony and spat on the ground in front of him to show is contempt.

“Yes Fuse... We,” he said reluctantly and sighed deeply. “You won't make it on your own, and to be honest neither will I,” Basher said and now Short fuse instantly seemed calm and completely surprised. “Don't look at me like that Fuse, more soon than late you'll be banned from everything here in town, and I am just a dead beat who lost his destined path somewhere down the road.” he admitted and sounded sincere.

Short Fuse shook his head to check if he had just actually heard what he had heard. Instead of more bile rising he felt remarkably calm given the circumstances. “You need me? If you didn't convince me that you had completely lost it, you have now buddy,” he said and doubt colored his face. “one moment you insult me and now you need me, make up your mind,”

“I insult you because that's the only thing you seem to understand, if I talk normally you do naught but insult me as well,” Basher dryly stated and rolled his eyes. “And let's be fair, you need somepony to get a grip on your anger, and I need a purpose,” he said and tiled his head a little to see what Fuse would say to his offering.

“I don't need somepony to keep my anger in check, I am perfectly fine,” the red pony muttered. His body language however spoke an entire different truth. Fuse knew Basher was right but it would be a cold day in hell if he would admit being wrong. Reluctantly after some more evasions Fuse hung his head. “Ugh, at least you are not completely stupid like all these other ponies I guess,”

Basher knew that was as much as he could possibly get from Fuse at the time being. “So, this leaves us with the following question, what are we going to do now?”

“I haven't got the slightest. Before I can pick up any remotely normal life here I need to fix a lot of things, you know you made a good point of me being banned in way too many places, but how do I fix that... and my looks, you are right, I am an abomination, and that's exactly who I've become,” he stated. His anger was gone by now. For the first time since long, perhaps for the first time ever Short Fuse did some reflecting on himself and he didn't quite like the picture forming. “how in the world did we ever end up like this?”

“Two ponies, their lives intertwined at a young age when their paths cross once again at another date, time and place. Both troubled, both under the wind. Rejected by society as we are. For our own respectable reasons we live in the shadows of the happy Ponyville. Amongst the color there is bile that broils, beneath the surface it is fire that burns. For each smile there is a tear that has been shed, for each giggle there is a scream of pain. What else holds the future in store for me?” ~Short Fuse, Journal, entry number 27.

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.

Chapter 3: Stress test

“Sometimes it lays dormant, sometimes it sears with the intensity of a thousand suns. The slightest spark can ignite the flame raging and consuming everything in it's path. Strength is of no matter when the red before my eyes blurs the vision. All I have ever known in my life is anger and nothing but anger. Why does this stallion, who's confidence I broke put in so much effort to help me?” ~Short Fuse journal entry number 29

~Chapter 3: Stress test~

A couple of hours after meeting Basher and parting ways again Fuse sat in something that once perhaps was a sofa but had long since lost it's glory and found himself looking out of his window contemplating a lot about what had happened the last couple of days. He had reunited with somepony who's confidence he had destroyed by overcoming physical inferiority while they were still foals. They fought and eventually that pony tried to help him get better. But how did he want to make his life any better? Fuse found himself grinding all the gears of his mind making futile attempts to understand what drove Basher to help him. How would it be possible for the green pony to get a purpose by helping him?

Eventually the strain of thought died in the angry pony's head which resulted in Fuse watching the sun slowly set with his mind blank, for some reason feeling tranquil for once. He couldn't determine why or how just that nothing was bothering him or annoying him, that was until he broke out of his trance and decided it would be best to go to bed since he would meet Basher again tomorrow, to make another attempt to resolve the entire situation with Twilight.

Nine in the morning, as agreed, or better said, dictated by him Basher appeared on the town's square and waited for Short Fuse to arrive. Basher grew a little agitated as Short Fuse still didn't appear fifteen minutes after the set time and decided to head over to the red pony's home instead. He bashed on the door quite loudly since the large green pony figured Fuse was still sleeping.

After the first round of knocking Basher didn't get a reply and decided to knock again this time even louder than the first time. After the second round he got rewarded with some curses originating from inside the shed that had to pass for Fuse's house. “Get the hell out of here whoever you are you son of a mongrel,” was clearly distinguishable. “If I have to open that door I swear solemnly I will gut you like a fish,” after those incredibly rude statements it got silent again.

Basher wasn't about to let himself be intimidated by Fuse and was determined to get some stuff done today. He knew arranging to meet at this time of day would pose some problems with the red colt since Basher was aware of the atrocious biorhythm and intended to fix that as well as they were working on stuff anyways. “Fuse, get your flank out of bed and come out, unless you don't need this door anymore because if you're not out here within the next moment I'm coming in,” Basher shouted and bashed a couple more times on the door.

Some screeching emerged from the inside which presumably had to be curses but were distorted beyond anything anypony could possibly understand. Within the given time limit Fuse opened the door looking the mess he was. He looked at basher shooting lightning from his eyes. “Why do you want me to meet you at this horrible time of day, I mean, I hate mornings... actually I pretty much hate every part of the day but I especially hate mornings. Whoever came up with this horrible idea of mornings should be shout out of a cannon right into the sun,” he ranted.

“Good luck with that Fuse,” Basher stated dismissively and rolled his eyes as the red pony vented his rage. “If you're done ranting, shall we head over to miss Sparkle's place to see if we can get anything done there?”

Fuse's rage got replaced by anxiety instantly and he hesitantly nodded since he knew there was little else he could do. “Basher, what if the princess doesn't want to hear anything of it? I mean, you did make a reasonable point yesterday when you said kicking the dragon for doing his job was slightly over the top,” Fuse said with a surprising amount of reason.

“Slightly? Well, anyways you know where you went wrong which is I guess something good, but I think Twilight will be open for reason and an apology. She might not forgive you right then and there and you might actually have to work for it Fuse, if you thought for a second that straightening your life would be easy, you are wrong. But all you have ever done was lash out to the obstacles and challenges in your life, get furiously mad and get yourself banned from everywhere,” Basher stated and looked at fuse. “By the way, you might want to splash some water in your face before we head over to Twilight's, you look horrible.”

“Do you know why I look horrible? As I recall I was given less than a minute to open the door or you would force your way in you fool, anyways, give me five minutes and I'll be ready,” Fuse said in a disgruntled way and headed back inside leaving the door open. Within two minutes the red pony looked somewhat presentable and started walking in the direction of the library where he would meet Twilight.

A short walk later they once again found themselves in front of Twilight's library. They had agreed they would send Basher in again first, and this time the green muscular pony would be equipped with the right knowledge of what had happened between Fuse, Twilight and Spike. “Well Fuse, are you ready? And I must asked since you made a very large fool of me last time, have you told me everything now?” The green pony asked and looked critically at Fuse.

“Yes Basher, everything that has happened, at least what has happened here I've told you. Are you sure this will work?” Fuse asked and looked generally on edge. He had grown anxious during the walk to the library and wasn't at all comfortable. When Basher went inside Fuse started pacing back and forth again. The second Basher had come into his live again he was pulled out of his comfort zone and as it looked like he would be getting back in his comfort zone any time soon which in turn invoked a lot of more questions to the anxious red colt like 'is my comfort zone any good?' and 'did I invoke all of this upon myself?'

Meanwhile while Fuse was grinding his fangs until they were becoming blunt Basher green approached Princess Twilight Sparkle once more. “Good morning miss Sparkle, Like I've announced we would see each other again shortly,” he said looking slightly confident with a small smile on his face.

Twilight's good mood evaporated instantly as she saw the green muscular pony because she knew all too well what Basher wanted to talk about. “Yes, mister... I didn't catch your name the first time, but regardless I know why you are here and my answer remains the same as last time. I do not want to see Short Fuse anywhere near me and especially Spike.” she said and sniffed.

“My name is Basher Green. I would be grateful if you would hear me out. I can see that you are still very angry and after prying the true story from mister Fuse I can perfectly understand why you are very angry,” the green pony stated as calmly as he could while his insides seemed to rearrange themselves as he invoked quite a harsh reaction from the alicorn.

“I will hear what you have to say mister Green,” Twilight said coldly with a slight nervous undertone. The purple alicorn sat down and offered a chair to Basher as well since she figured this might be quite a long story.

Short Fuse was still waiting outside of the library as everything inside was taking rather much longer than last time when Basher had emerged from the library within the minute. His anxiety was slowly converting to agitation which caused him to increase his pacing some more as he couldn't answer the questions that had risen earlier in his mind and whichever way he looked at it he couldn't answer them to save his life. During his pacing he suddenly tripped and fell on the ground face first in the damp morning mud. When he looked around he saw a startled foal and an utterly shocked mother. The foal couldn't be older than a kindergarten foal. The mother instantly jumped in and apologized frantically for her foal. “I am sorry mister Fuse, it will not happen again, please don't hurt my foal.” she said.

“Hurt a foal? What kind of monster does this mare think I am?” he thought and gave the mare a flat stare. He rose an eyebrow and sighed a little. Putting everything in retrospect he figured why the mare thought such a thing. He had kicked a baby dragon, why wouldn't he kick a foal. “I'm okay madam, is your kid alright?” he asked. He did feel some fury inside of him dwindling, ready to burst out for any given reason but since he was trying to fix some things he managed to keep himself together.

The foal's mother blinked her eyes a couple of times and shook her head in complete disbelief. “Oh yea, he is alright,” she replied and scurried along with her foal away from Short Fuse, leaving him all to himself.

Back inside the library Basher green explained everything to Twilight. “Well, mister Fuse is trying to get his life back on track. Or actually, I am forcing him to get his life on track again, it's quite a long story but it boils down to this. I had the displeasure of being in the same class as he, he hit me in the face quite hard and everything went south from there. To be perfectly honest with you, I hate him at least as much as you do. But I digress, I found out what he had done to your baby dragon and I know there is absolutely no way to justify what he has done. I am not here to do that, I am merely here to ask of you to accept his offer to make amends.”

Twilight listened to the story and looked rather intrigued by this all. “If I may ask, mister Basher, why are you helping this pony when you hate him that much?” she asked and tilted her head a little since she could in no way figure out why the green muscular pony would do such a thing.

“That is a very long story miss Sparkle, one I do not want to bother you with.” Basher said in an evasive way. He felt nothing like talking about his own issues and it diverted from his original intention why he had visited the library in the first place. “besides, it has very little relevance to what happened between you and Short Fuse,” Basher stated and sighed deeply.

Twilight Squinted her eyes a little and looked intensely to Basher and finally relieved an exasperated sigh. “Very well, I will hear what mister Fuse has to tell me, on one condition though. You mister Basher, will tell me what compels you to help somepony you hate. The entire story no matter how long it is,” Twilight demanded.

Basher shifted in his chair. He was aware of the curious nature of the alicorn wanting to understand everything around her no matter what. “Okay, I guess...” he replied tentatively and sighed deeply. “if that is what it takes I'll come back later to explain everything.”

Outside Fuse was still pacing and grinding his teeth when Basher finally emerged from the library after the conversation with Twilight. “Well, that took you long enough to get rejected, now shall we head to the inn and drown our sorrows?” Fuse asked under the impression Twilight rejected the offer once more.

“No fuse, you're going in, and I swear by all that is good, if you screw this up I will make you sorry, if miss Twilight doesn't beat me to it that is,” Basher replied and looked rather agitated to the red pony who was unaware of the favor Basher had to do in return.

Fuse rose an eyebrow and looked towards the green stallion. “Yea alright, I'll try to keep it together, gosh, don't worry so much, you know me,” he said.

“Yea, I know you Fuse and that is exactly why I am telling you not to screw up in a language you seem to understand, insults and threats are all that get through that thick skull of yours. So, are we going in or do you want to keep miss Sparkle waiting?” Basher stated and pointed towards the door of the library.

“Wait, you wanted me to go in immediately?” Fuse asked. He did however know the answer already and reluctantly started walking ridiculously slowly towards the entrance of the library. Upon entering he looked at the alicorn standing before him and she stared back. Twilight's eyes shot lightning towards the red colt and Fuse in turn felt dwarfed by the princess who composed herself as large as she possibly could.

“Well mister Fuse, your friend told me you wanted to set things straight. Now in my opinion I have given you plenty of chances but please tell me, and I want to hear it from your muzzle and your muzzle alone,” Twilight said in a near regal voice which perfectly matched her entire presence at that point.

The fanged pony gulped audibly feeling intimidated, scared, nervous and everything in between. He was even too nervous to feel the slightest bit of anger since every form of intimidation would usually lead to Fuse exploding. “Well... ehhhm...” he stammered and looked at Basher. “I haven't got a clue what to say, what do I say?”

“Mister Fuse,” Twilight said and set two steps forward. “Like I said, I want to hear it from you, in your words and not mister Basher's words.” she repeated.

“Very well, I will explain everything the best I can but first of all I should offer you my apologies for what I've done...” he said and stalled at this point. He shifted uneasily barely standing steady on his hooves due to the shaking they did.

Twilight Saw how badly the red pony was out of his comfort zone and decided to drop her intimidating stature a little since it was working slightly too well and caused Fuse to completely slam shut rather than say what he wanted and needed to say. “I cannot tell whether I'll accept or decline your apology, I want to know what you have to say about what you have done to my poor assistant,” Twilight stated.

Short Fuse was relieved when Twilight seemed to ease up a little and he sighed deeply as he mentally prepared himself to explain in essence who and what he was. “Princess Twilight, I am a troubled pony. If it wasn't for Basher over there I wouldn't have seen it. As long as I can remember all I can see is ponies out to get me, I can only see that what is bad and never see the good. All my life I have had this ever present flame of anger burning in me, ready to flare up to unimaginable heights whenever something is put in my way, or when I think I am wronged or for whichever reason you can imagine. I guess you see the point I am trying to make here. But mister Basher has told me I should get myself together and not blame everything and everypony for everything bad happening to me. I shouldn't get angry whenever somepony tells me something I don't like or does something I don't like. To be honest with you miss (…) Princess Sparkle, I don't know how I am going to do this, or how I am going to improve myself. The only thing I do know is that I am very happy to have somepony like Basher Green who is willing to help me. I'll have to make amends for the things I have done, and I am starting with you,” he says and finally sighed deeply and hung his head waiting for the princess' judgment.

“That is quite the story mister Fuse, yet I'm afraid I am not the one you should ask forgiveness to. It is spike you've kicked and hurt. The fact that the result was a broken shelve is one I care very little about, a shelve is easily repaired but pain can last a lifetime in memory. It took weeks for spike to get back to his old self again. The physical harm was naught but some fierce bruising but the poor guy was startled badly,” Twilight explained and looked generally more at ease now. “I am sorry to deceive you like this, but I had to make sure you were sincere before I would let you anywhere near Spike again, I think you cannot blame me for that mister Fuse.”

The red pony shook his head. “I cannot Princess Sparkle, but I really don't know how I can make it up to spike and you as well. However you say you aren't the one I should ask forgiveness to, I think I do need to ask for it since it wasn't really the first fit I threw in your library,” Fuse stated and looked around to see if there was any trace of the small purple dragon he had wronged so badly.

“The authorities have dealt with you when you slammed that mare repeatedly, I think you remember. Anyways, I will forgive you if spike is willing to forgive you, if he is not willing to forgive you I will stand resolute with him,” Twilight said with a certain kind of royal flair to it and headed into another room upstairs and moments later returned with Spike on her back.

The small dragon looked anxious to begin with and literally tried to bury himself into Twilight's mane once he laid eyed on Short Fuse. “Twilight... I don't want to talk to him,” emerged somewhat muffled from Twilight's mane where spike's head was buried.

“Take it easy Spike, he won't hurt you. I'll make sure of that,” Twilight said with a calm and serene voice. Spike emerged from her mane and looked at Fuse rather scared and anxious. “Mister Fuse here has something to tell you, if you will mister Fuse, tell Spike what you've told me.”

Short Fuse felt more at ease this time and he explained everything again, something using a slightly different order and words but it still boiled down to the exact same as what he had told Twilight and surprisingly Spike felt slightly more at ease after the explanation. Short Fuse completed his explanation and for several moments everyone in the room was silent and just looked at each other. Everyone was waiting for what Spike had to say but the little dragon seemed at a loss for words at the moment.

It took some small encouragement from Twilight before the purple dragon finally started talking. “Very well mister Fuse, but you have hurt me quite badly. If you are willing to do me one small favor we are equal,” spike said tentatively and looked at the red, fanged pony.

“Anything you want Spike, I am here to make amends for what I have done to you, I understand I've hurt you pretty badly,” Fuse repeated and hung his head a little to show he was sincere towards the young dragon.

Spike smirked a bit which the red pony didn't seem to like and even Basher picked up the weird smirk emerging on the small dragon's face as if he was breeding on some kind of plan. “mister Fuse, First go to miss Rarity to pick up special sapphires she has gathered for me, then you go to applejack to get two jars of 'Zap apple jam' and finally bring those two things to Pinkie Pie and tell her I have told you to bring you these specific things, she will know what to do with those,” Spike said.

Fuse's jaw dropped open widely and looked at the dragon. “That might sound like just a small favor Spike, but trust me, this will take an eternity to collect. I am not welcome at rarity's shop and she'll most likely just send me away the second she sees me, Applejack hates me for good reasons and Pinkie Pie got a restraining order against me. There is simply no way I can actually get you those things,” Fuse stated and looked slightly irritated.

“Spike, isn't that a bit much to ask from mister Fuse? I mean, he is a very troubled pony who got into a lot of trouble during his life, which resulted in him being banned from most places. He now tries to make amends for what he has done,” Twilight said and turned her head to Spike and for the first time didn't bother to keep an eye on the fanged pony.

Spike whispered something in her ear which Fuse couldn't hear and that infuriated Fuse. “Hey, whispering isn't nice,” the red pony said and grumbled a bit when he looked at Basher to get support for his case which was only replied by an unknowing shrug since he was at a loss here as well.

Twilight actually laughed a little as Spike finished and nodded. “Okay mister Fuse, you might come into the library again, but you'll have to fulfill Spike's task still if you seek forgiveness. Spike explained to me why he has given you this task and I agree with him on this one. So, is there anything I could help you with mister Fuse? Any book you would like to read?” Twilight stated not too unkindly, as she would with any library guest.

“If I could I would like to read something about how my looks came to be. Perhaps I should have asked you sooner miss Twilight, but as you have figured out by now I am not quite the social pony,” He said and still felt small next to the alicorn with spread wings and regal stature. She was a princess after all and figured her being a princes invoked a certain awe within him.

Twilight looked at the red and fanged pony and hummed a bit. She looked at Fuse's eyes and then looked at Spike's eyes which had an uncanny resemblance. “Mister Fuse, have you always looked like this?” she wondered.

“Well, no, as a foal my coat was not as bright as it is now. My mane was brown with light green and my eyes were as normal as anypony's eyes, a deep purple iris. And I sure as the sun sets in the west didn't have any fangs.” Fuse explained and sighed a little. “The older I got the more anger I seemed to hold, and the more my looks started to deviate.”

“Hmmm, I know there is some phenomena that matches yours described in some obscure papers of behavioral and emotional studies made, but since it is very rare in occurrence there isn't much known about it, I'm afraid I can't help you with your looks. Well, that being said, I could perhaps call a favor in from the school for gifted unicorns, I am sure there are grad students who would kill to do their thesis on somepony like you if they major in psychology,” Twilight suggested and looked at Fuse seeing how he would react.

“So if I get this right, you want to let some grad student come over here so it can prod, poke and examine me? Well, it actually doesn't even sound like a bad idea since there is nothing known of it anyways and I can't find out anything myself, besides an affinity with fire I barely had any real skills. Even my cutie mark is a burning fuse so that isn't too helpful either,” he said and chuckled a little.

Twilight smiled and nodded and even Spike seemed to give a small hint of a smile since the small dragon seemed satisfied with the entire situation. “Well mister Fuse, if you come back in three days I will have the grad student who will look into your looks here. Don't plan anything for that day because it will take quite some time.” Twilight said and smiled. “Anything else I can help you with?”

Basher rasped his throat, with all the conversation going on between Twilight, Spike and Short Fuse the green pony had been pushed into the background only to emerge now. “Miss Twilight, when should I come by for... well, you know?” he asked tentatively evading the actual subject.

“Right, mister Green. You can come by later today or tomorrow. But I think your friend needs somepony to talk to first before we conduct our business. If that is all, I still got some work I need to attend to myself. Best of luck mister Green and mister Fuse,” she said and trotted away with a small smile on her face. Spike looked back slightly suspicious to the odd couple.

Fuse and Basher made their way outside but with expressionless faces and both at a loss for words to say. They didn't know what to feel or think of what just had happened just that some progress had been made by the two ponies and mostly by Fuse. However for once Fuse wasn't the one moping around, this time it was Basher who seemed a little ticked off at everything for a reason that still eluded the red pony.

“What was that last bit about Basher? Are you and the princess going on a date?” Fuse asked tauntingly to Basher and chuckled loudly, although his chuckle was closer to some form of raspy laughter. It was clear the red pony wasn't used to laughter since he soon found himself out of breath.

Basher turned a bit angry and growled which quickly killed Fuse's laughter since he didn't want the large pony to lose his temper. Without being fueled by raw primal fury that emerged when the red pony went on a frenzy he had no way to overcome the physical inferiority towards the green pony and he really didn't want another pummeling, the last one still ached.

“It doesn't matter Fuse, I have made an agreement with the princess that was the condition of her hearing you out. I have made this agreement and that was the reason I was so harsh on you screwing this up, which you fortunately didn't, but even though things went a lot better than expected, I'll meet my end of the bargain and go to the princess later today... alone,” Basher stated especially stressing the alone part.

“Clearly you're evading the part what kind if agreement you have made with her, so I am just going to ask. What did you agree with Twilight?” he said and grinned a bit. “anyways, how on Earth am I going to do what Spike asked me to do? I have done something horrible to all three of them.” he said changing the subject since he knew Basher would be reluctant to talk about the kind of agreement he had made with the princess.

“Doesn't matter, just be glad I have actually helped you, even when things seemed though. And about the task that is given to you, that dragon isn't dumb you know, I don't exactly know what you have done to these ponies to deserve all this but I am sure they had good reasons, as did Princess Sparkle,” he said and sighed a little feeling uncomfortable with the course of events. Basher had not expected he had to make sacrifices to help Short Fuse on his way but it did seem logical to him.

“but what if those others require me to do more things I can't do because I am banned from certain places and whatnot, they can't expect me to make up for everything I have done this way,” Fuse complained and relieved an exasperated sigh. He cursed a little into thin air as frustration gnawed the red fanged pony. The only good thing was that he would perhaps be a valuable research asset which might prove to be valuable for whichever reason, if only for knowledge.

“If those others require you to do things then you do certain things. Eventually you'll unravel the entire web of hatred you have spread across this town. You will find yourself belonging here instead of rejected, you will finally be able to call this town your home. Something you haven't been able to do since you were a foal. Don't you like a prospect like that?” Basher asked and sighed a little hoping he could find some way to motivate the red pony to go through all this. Even for a pony with the thickest skin all of this would be a huge ordeal, let alone for somepony as tempered as Short Fuse.

“That sure sounds good, but I have done many things I shouldn't have. And I just know all of this is going to be so incredibly tedious to do. And hard, don't forget it will be hard,” fuse said and rolled his eyes a little in the foresight of making amends not only to the three spike had forced him to, but also to everything connecting everything together. “It seems ever since you caught up with me, everything has. Worse of all, the more you tell me and the more I do, the more I realize I have created the cesspool I've been seeing for the past couple of years myself.”

“That might very well be Fuse, but let's wait until we know what the grad student has to say about it. I think the student will put more effort into finding out what's wrong with you since he still has to prove himself, so don't go in with the same prejudice as you do with normal psychiatrists,” Basher stated hoping to reassure the colt into finding out what actually went through that brain of his. “that aside, how about we call it a day for today since we can't go to the inn, and I need to prepare some things for my appointment with miss Sparkle,” Basher said.

“I don't have anything against shrinks, I just choose not to talk to them since they are all so... shrinky,” the red pony stated and chuckled a little. “Anyways, I concur. We'll call it a day and you can prepare for your date with Princess Sparkle.” Fuse said and now burst into full on laughter which rendered him incapacitated as he was rolling through the still damp mud. When he was done he looked at himself as said: “Now I need a shower.”

“It isn't a date you half witted fool,” Basher said now becoming visibly agitated. “Now stop taunting me or I'll give you a free nose correction.” the green pony stated which immediately shut the red pony up mid laughter. “I'll be going now, I'll see you tomorrow mister Fuse, nine o' clock, same place. And if I need to come and get you again I swear to Celestia I will drag you by your mane out of your bed and throw you in the pond just out of town,” he said and took off with a brisk pace rather mad at Fuse.

“constructions built and webs woven of intricate and near infinite complexity are the downfall of ponies and many of the ancient societies. Disposition towards each and every faction and factor in life are hugely comparable. History has thought us factions fight and strive to have the upper hand of one another but strive can cause the downfall just as easily. Nopony is safe from strive and everypony is impervious to pride. Pride consumes, pride ravages, pride destroys,” ~Equestrian philosophical and historical society.

Chapter 4: What has been done, can't be undone

“Green is the color of tranquility. Operating rooms in hospitals are often green to relief the working personal of the accumulated stress since they more of than not are the ones who have the life of their patient in their hooves. Why green has this effect on ponies is unknown. A large number of psychiatrists and psychologists as well as sociologists appear to be green. Again, relation between the two factors remains unknown.” ~Various sociology studies on the subject.

~Chapter 4: What has been done, can't be undone.~

Basher went to an inn he was sure Fuse wasn't welcome. However he did in some twisted way enjoy spending time with the troubled pony he really didn't want him around at this point. Basher sat down at a table and sighed a little. When the barmaid approached Basher's table he ordered some ale and looked around. The collection of ponies that had gathered at the bar were a pathetic bunch at best. One pony looked as if he had spend three days straight at the inn living off nothing but beer and complimentary peanuts, another pony was clinging on to the bar barely keeping his balance and a mare showing her goods slightly too much also presumably in a drunken stupor. And all this even before the day was past noon.

Basher looked around and sighed while he subtly shook his head wondering how he had ended up at a place like this. Ponies dwelling in the taverns at this time of day were usually not the most sophisticated but this defied all. Basher got his drink and actually thank the maiden who served the drink since she obviously didn't expect a thank you from one of the early guests, or the ones who had pulled through the night and still resided in the tavern. He took a sip of his drink and contemplated over what he was going to tell the princess, such a request one should never deny, especially given his circumstances. If he didn't accept the offering Fuse never could have gotten the opportunity to talk to the alicorn, so in some way Basher felt happy with himself. He did however it was a request made from a princess not like it at all. He had to expose his entire persona to the princess in order to explain his motivations of helping Short Fuse, which in turn meant he pretty much had to explain his entire background and course of events during his lifetime.

Basher took another sip of his drink, looking around and reflecting some more on the past few days. It all started with that one punch on Fuse's face. Initially he intended to destroy Fuse's life and make him paranoia to even suspect his own shadow to pop up and slam him in the nose. Boy did Basher hate Fuse. But something that night in the inn where they coincidentally met changed everything. Rather than a punching bag Fuse all of a sudden seemed more of a personal project than anything else. Despite the green pony's muscular exterior he always had a certain affinity with empathic interactions with other ponies, seeing their trouble and finding solutions to them seemed all too easy to him while others have no idea how to solve the complicated issues of life they have to face.

Basher sighed as he finished the glass of his ale and addressed the serving pony in a friendly manner for another glass. The maiden was once again pleasantly surprised and spared a smile for the green pony which he returned when he saw how surprised the serving maiden was. He wasn't there to fraternize with anypony, the only thing he sought was some courage in for form of alcohol to face the failure that was his life when he ha to go to Twilight to explain everything.

Soon enough Basher finished his second glass of ale and he felt a flight buzz going. However tempting it was to continue drinking he didn't and payed the barkeep for the two drinks he had consumed. Once again he spared a friendly word for the serving pony and a small smile as he exited the inn and headed back to Twilight's library. He did spend a good hour and a half at the inn. Most of his time he had spend thinking about what he would say and by now he figured he knew what to say and how to explain everything and how everything was connected.

Upon entering the library the green pony couldn't find Twilight and was welcomed by the small purple dragon instead who was attending to his chores to keep twilight's workplace nice and tidy along with the rest of the library. “Hey there Spike, do you have any idea where Princess Sparkle is?” Basher asked.

“Twilight said she had to go help Fluttershy with something, she'll be back in an hour or two,” the purple dragon replied and continued working. “Feel free to read a book in the meanwhile or you could just go home and do something else.”

“Do you perhaps have any books about anger management? I mean, you of all should know dealing with Fuse isn't quite easy and I really think I could benefit from having some knowledge how I can help that red pony to keep his anger in check,” Basher said only half believing his own words. If conventional methods would works he wouldn't have been here now. Still, he always had an affinity to help other ponies and he figured some extra knowledge wouldn't hurt.

“Well, if you think anything but a coma can restrain Fuse feel free to try it, I've got some books here about anger studies and general behavioral studies, but are you sure you're not beating a dead horse here?” Spike asked while he was gathering the books on the subject requested by the green muscular pony.

“No, I don't and I think you don't either,” Basher boldly stated when he thought about the task spike has given the angry red pony to do in order to get forgiveness. “I think you can see the same as I do, the little good within a troubled soul. I know Fuse has done something to each of Twilight's friends you had send him to. You also want to see him fixed.”

“Nah, I just don't feel like gathering everything myself, I've got plenty of work here at the library. Working for Twilight can be truly grueling you know?” spike stated and gave the books he gathered to Basher.

Basher took the books and sat down at a table. “Whatever you say spike, normally I would believe you but it will take weeks before he can actually get you everything you've asked,” the green pony said and chuckled a little. “If you asked all that because you thought it would save you time, you are mistaking little dragon friend.”

Spike drew a bit of a pouty face as he looked towards Basher and growled a little. “Now I might be young, but that colt used me as a football, why in heaven's name would I see any good in that fanged thing that has to pass for a pony?” Spike asked exasperated.

“Yea, so that is why the princess laughed like that when you whispered in her ear to tell her what your plan was and why, however she initially opposed your plan, agreed with it nearly meekly,” Basher hinted and chuckled confidently as he made his statement.

Spike sighed deeply and rolled his eyed. “Gosh, are you a psychologist or what? Alright, you got me. Honestly I really don't care he kicked me. It did hurt and I was shaken but compared to some of the other stuff Twilight and her friends got me in so far, it was nothing. Still, that pony needs a lesson and what better than to make amends to those he has wronged, the same as he did with me,” Spike said surprisingly wise for a creature of his age.

Basher smiled a little and shook his head. “I'm not a psychologist, somehow I have missed my calling during my lifetime and ended up as a deadbeat pony who has to help the one who basically destroyed me,” he said and looked somewhat bummed and he sighed deeply. “If you want to you can join along when I explain everything to princess Sparkle, perhaps you'll understand the why and how,” Basher offered to the small dragon.

Basher started reading the book about anger management once the conversation died with the small dragon and occasionally hummed a little when he came across something that might prove useful for the red pony, or for himself when he had to deal with him for that matter. Although there were some similarities described in the book more oft than not he found Short Fuse's manifestations of anger way worse than described in the book. There was a brief part in the book that extreme cases of anger could cause deviations in the looks of somepony but didn't explain why this happened or how it happened, just that it sometimes happened.

Two hours flew by when Basher went through the books and visibly enjoyed reading everything about behavioral studies and anger management from the books spike provided him when Twilight as predicted got back from helping Fluttershy. She kindly greeted Basher and asked if he was ready. Somewhat bummed he couldn't continue reading and had to explain everything to the princess he nodded his head and reluctantly followed to a separate room of the library where they wouldn't be disturbed by ponies wandering in.

Spike was told to stay in the library to help ponies who wandered in and Basher could do naught but apologize to the dragon since the green pony had previously offered Spike to listen to his story as well. Twilight sat down, levitated a quill and a piece of parchment in front of her and smiled. “Whenever you're ready mister Green,” she said and smiled a little.

Basher sighed a little and started talking. “Very well, I'll begin with the beginning. When both Fuse and I were foals we attended the same school. Back in the day I loved helping other foals with their problems and always saw the best in each and every pony. We formed a tight group in school and we got along perfectly all together. Even our teacher found it remarkable how well we got along. This of course was with the exception of Short Fuse.”

“That foal did absolutely nothing but stand around and mope all the time. Each time we tried to include him we were rewarded with nothing but insults and him walking away grinding his teeth to nubs. I wasn't quite planning to give up on him, you know, as I've said I really saw the good in each and every pony and I once again tried to include him while we were in the mids of a game of tag. The instance I tagged the tempered pony everything went wrong. He attacked me and gave me the punishment of a lifetime, I didn't know what happened exactly then and there but I know it took no less than three teachers to get the red fury off of me.” Basher told and paused here for a brief moment to see if miss Twilight was still managing to keep track of everything he was saying.

“So Short Fuse attacked you when you tried to include him in a game of tag?” Twilight asked somewhat wondering and shook her head slightly as she didn't really manage to understand what could be causing such distress. “I myself wasn't the most social pony when I was a foal, hence princess Celestia sending me here to learn all about friendship. I guess that is in some way comparable to what you are doing mister Green,” Twilight said and gestured Basher to continue his story.

“Now it wasn't unknown for Fuse to throw a temper tantrum every now and again which usually meant the teacher getting a full scale cannonade of insults, screeches and other things that should never be said out loud but up until that day the red pony never attacked somepony. Anyways, at that point I also first noticed the changes to Fuse's appearance. When we were in kindergarten his mane was brown with light green, his bright red coat which nearly hurts the eyes at this point wasn't as bright back then, his pupils narrowed nearly matching those of an angry dragon and lastly, which was only after he attacked me he started to grow fangs. But he already explained this to you. For me a lot changed that day as well. I don't really know what changed but something changed. All of a sudden I failed to see the good in everypony. Every sports competition I was in I completely dropped in ranking as if my confidence had evaporated and soon enough I dropped from the top junior tiers.

At school everything changed as well. Fuse stopped talking completely and the only thing he did occasionally say were nothing but insults or things like 'piss off,' or similar things. The tight group we once were seemed to fall apart since that day since I pretty much closed up as well, and as if you pull the lynch pin from a construction everything fell apart around me. At the end of the month where Fuse attacked me our class was nothing but a group of ponies who happened to be required to be at the same location at the same time. Nopony dared to talk to Fuse anymore and I failed to see the good in everypony for a very long time.” he said and sighed deeply.

Twilight scribbled for some more and looked up once Basher stopped talking. “I still really don't get why you are trying to help him. All I know now is that from a very young age mister Fuse managed to wreak havoc to his entire surroundings. Something must have happened mister Green, please continue your story,” Twilight said and held her quill ready again.

“Right, after we finished school and all graduated, somehow even Fuse managed to get his hooves on a diploma we all went our separate ways. Everypony followed their hopes and dreams, their destiny or what their cutie mark told them, all following their one special talent. But ever since Fuse attacked me I seemed good for nothing. My cutie mark isn't even making any sense either. It is this strange letter called 'psi' and I haven't got the slightest what it means. If you know anything about it I would be glad to know miss Sparkle.” he said and looked at her hoping she would have an answer for him.

“Well mister Green, I have come across this symbol in some complex magical equations but seeing you're an earth pony I hardly think that could be it. Although, and now I am guessing, often that symbol is seen on the covers of books about psychology, seeing how you told me you loved helping other ponies and how you always tried to see the good in everypony you might have you special talent somewhere along those lines. But like I've said, your guess here is just as good as mine,” Twilight said as it took her visible effort to think since this was stretching the limits of her general knowledge despite her being extremely well read compared to most ponies.

“Thanks Princess, perhaps you're right. I've always liked helping ponies with their problems and as I recall I've got this cutie mark when I helped this foal who had a really tough time at home. She was really sad at first but when I talked to her for an hour and gave her some advice how she could tackle the problems she was facing she seemed to bloom up as a whithered plant after a rain shower. Anyways, I digress. As I was telling, after we graduated from school I really didn't continue my studies. Instead I felt horrible and depressed to be honest. Since the attack of Fuse I felt physically inferior to everything and everypony so I started working out until I got buffed and occasionally found work as a bouncer every now and again. So basically I was all over Equestria working as a bouncer for clubs, events and basically everything you can imagine where a pony like me is needed. But I hated it. Days changed into weeks, weeks changed into months and now we're years away from what happened. All I have ever done is trying to flee from the demons haunting me, or I tried to drown my demons in large amounts of liquid but it wasn't long since they learned how to swim.

So I returned to ponyville after seven long years of being away. That didn't help an awful lot though. Don't get me wrong, it was good to be back in the town where I grew up but I still had to face a lot of things. At first all I wanted was revenge on the red pony who had clubbed me into the failure I had become, until I noticed how bad of a wreck he was himself. I noticed how he would explode for the dumbest of reasons, throw tantrums all over town and getting banned from many places. I felt pity but that was diminutive compared to my hatred against him. So after finding out Fuse tied his ends together being a night's watchpony I decided to visit him each night he would stand guard and slap him,” basher said and sighed deeply while shaking his head.

“So you wanted to return the favor Fuse did you all this time ago? An eye for an eye isn't always the way to go mister Basher, though I understand completely how this came to be.” Twilight said and she tilted her head. “However I now do understand some of the background and how you became who you are mister Green, I still don't understand why you're helping this pony.”

“Right, so as I was saying I first wanted to spill his blood where he had spilled mine, make him go through the same misery as I did. So a few nights back when I knew he would be guarding the cake's shop I sought him out. I approached him, hit him and took off without saying a lot, only I promised him each night he would be out guarding something, I would be there to serve another punch. Before Fuse even could get mad once he would overcome the shock I was gone. Anyways, the night after that had happened I figured I would have a nice night at the shabby inn just outside of the town's center and I think you don't need to be a good guesser to figure who I found there sitting alone at a table giving everypony the flat stare he masters.

At first I wanted to turn around and bail the place before he would see me, but for some reason of which I am not completely sure yet I sat down at the table where he sat. I never saw true fear in a pony's eyes, but even though Fuse tried not to show it I saw the complete and utter shock in his eyes. So I started talking to him but it soon turned out into nothing but insults between me and the red pony. He was the most spiteful creature I ever had the displeasure of meeting. Insults changed into a standoff and the standoff resulted into a fight and that fight made sure we got thrown out of the inn with the 'friendly' request to never show our muzzle in there again.” he said and paused for a bit to rub over some of the deeper bruises that still ached.

“So, you got in a fight again? I am still puzzled how on earth you have come to help this pony, I mean, you have explained about everything except that, which is what I've asked you to explain mister Green,” Twilight said growing slightly impatient but she was genuinely interested in the course of events despite the fact that the explanation was rather lengthly.

“Yea, I am coming to that right now. We were tossed out of the inn, right? Well, Fuse's fuse and his fury were completely burned up and he was exhausted. Fatigue is up until now the only thing that calms him down when he erupts completely so that gave me the idea to try to reason with the angry red pony. So we talked some more and in that post fight clarity when all my anger towards the red pony was vented I saw it again, the one thing I haven't seen in anypony for so long. I saw Fuse wasn't all bile and rage, I saw a pony hugely misunderstood in the world, I saw his perspectives were wrong and him being blindsided by his own anger. Once again I felt the spark I didn't feel since the first time fuse smacked me, the need to help other ponies. Since I failed to help Fuse back then, I figured I might give it another shot because still, Fuse is the one who got away. Fuse took a part of me and now he can make me whole again while I help him to become a better and more happy pony who for a change won't be thrown out of each and every place he goes to. Make him feel friendship and open him up to the other nice things in this world so he might experience that for once rather then the eternal anger that holds him and everyone around him in its vice.” Basher said and smiled when he inspired himself with that small speech. It was the first time he had ever talked about what exactly went down between him and Fuse and how it had impacted his life, but somehow it felt good to have it off his chest.

“Wow, that is quite the story mister Green, but I guess I do understand why you're trying and actually somewhat succeeding to help mister Fuse to get his temper in check. But there is one things I don't quite understand, how did Fuse cause you to not see the good in other ponies anymore?” Twilight asked. By now she was at her third piece of paper already since she was quite intrigued by Basher's story.

“I think it was a confidence issue. Fuse caused me to lose my confidence, I was convinced everypony had something good in them but once Fuse lashed out to me like he did I started to doubt myself, I started to think I was incompetent and had no affinity to help other ponies. When my athletic skills also seemed to vanish my confidence sank even lower. Everpony in my class seemed shaken by what Fuse had done and I failed to help my classmates so the once tight group fell apart. That I think was the final blow to my confidence that completely diminished me to a shim of what I used to be, all because of that one pony I failed to help,” Basher explained and sighed a little as he hung his head expressing slight disappointment.

“I see, it is like a story I have once read, a captain of a whale hunting ship and a white whale who eluded every attempt of capture leading to a near obsession. Are you sure Fuse isn't your white wale mister Green?” Twilight asked feeling rather empathic with the green stallion which caused some anxiety as well.

Basher shook his head and laughed a little. “Princess, I mean no disrespect but for a deadbeat pony like me who serves no other purpose nothing can be considered my white whale. I am just trying to get my life back on track, and however I'll never be able to become a psychologist since I am too old to study I might end up providing some counsellings for ponies anyways. But if I just manage to help Fuse get his life on track, mine will follow inevitably,” he said and smiled optimistically.

“Please mister Green, stop calling me princess over and over again, I know princess Celestia has risen my status to princess but I am just a regular pony like you, I have my flaws and just because I am an alicorn doesn't mean I am more than you, so just call me Twilight, or miss Twilight if you insist. Anyways, it is never too late to study mister Green, if you study yourself I could arrange for you to take an exam in psychology if you would like that.” Twilight offered and smiled warmly towards the green pony opposed to her.

“That's possible? I didn't even know, I always figured I had to go back to school in order to do something like that. Would you mind if I were to take Fuse as my thesis project, then you don't have to get the grad student over here,” Basher said and grinned a little seeing now for the first time a realistic opportunity how fuse could actually get his life back on track.

“I am calling the grad student in purely for the magical influences for his deviant looks, Fuse can still be your project by lack of a better word mister Green. You are in charge for his psychological treatment while the grad student focuses on his physiological manifestations. However you are ambitious to help mister Fuse, I think some help would come very much in handy for you, you can't do everything on your own,” Twilight stated while she smiled a little.

The green pony smiled brightly and nodded. “I completely agree pri(...) miss Sparkle, all the help I can get is help dearly welcome to help him. Because it is all but easy to let him see clearly,” basher stated and sighed a little. His smile had vanished as he thought about the many challenges that laid ahead of him and Fuse alike before anything would be close to normal. “By the way, don't I need to be a unicorn to study psychology and whatnot, I thought that was a study at the school for gifted unicorns?” Basher wondered.

“True, the school for gifted unicorns was originally designated as a specialized school for magical studies it has evolved over time to serve a large multitude of academic purposes. Psychology has nothing to do with magic and can be studied by Earth ponies and Pegasi as well. Even though the school kept its name now academics of all three factions study there, although unicorns still form a large majority,” Twilight explained and hoped to give the green pony some much needed morale and motivation.

“I didn't know that, thanks Twilight,” he replied and smiled optimistically since indeed as Twilight intended it has boosted his morale somewhat. “It's a good thing the world of academics is open for all the factions, I really appreciate the time you have taken to hear my story and the effort you put in helping me. I really figured you just wanted to hear me out for your own research into the magic of friendship,” he said and hesitated a bit hoping Twilight wouldn't take offense.

“To be perfectly honest with you mister Green, initially that was what I intended, but then I noticed you are actually using the magic of friendship to help Fuse out, to help him fit in here in town and to give yourself a purpose and find your own path again, you want to redefine yourself and not be the pony Fuse slapped you to be. I can't do anything but respect that and help you where I can since not three years ago I was in pretty much the same situation,” Twilight said and for a brief moment she thought back to her time in Canterlot. Never just hanging out with her friends and only a slave to her books and studies. If it wasn't for princess Celestia's timely intervention she might have ended up about the same as Fuse or Basher, completely out of place.

“Thanks again miss Sparkle. If there is anything I can do for you in return, please just tell me. I'll be going if there is nothing left for me to do so I can attend to my business. Just one more request on my behalf though, could I borrow some psychology books from you so I can start studying for the exam?” He asked and smiled broadly feeling truly reinvigorated by talking to somepony else than Fuse, somepony who didn't insult him every third or so sentence.

“Of course you can mister Green, feel free to ask me any questions if you have difficulties, although I might not always be able to help you, I think Fuse will prove a great asset in your studies and if you are truly motivated and as smart as you let me believe you are, all will be just fine,” Twilight said and headed back into the main library room where all the books were stalled. She hovered some books over to Basher and when the big muscular pony took them from the air he sighed a little as even to him those books were pretty heavy.

One final time Basher thanked the alicorn and he said his goodbye to both Spike and Twilight before taking off from the library with a small smile on his face and new morale to tackle the many obstacles on his own way and Fuse's way. However the first steps had been set, there would still be a very long road ahead of them. The first major thing on their agenda being the meeting with the grad student from the school for gifted unicorns a few days from now. Still despite Basher and Fuse had nothing concrete planned for the next they, they had still arranged to meet if only to talk and set out a possibly course of action for the hard task given to them by Spike, the little dragon the red pony kicked. He could figure out how Fuse managed to get a beef with Rarity, that wasn't at all too hard. He knew what happened during what has become known as the 'Zap apple festival debacle' but what eluded him was what in Equestia's name Fuse had done that managed him to get a restraining order from nopony other than Pinkie Pie.

“Magical manifestations around non magical ponies can be very confusing for one who doesn't know what is going on. However alteration of ones looks is extremely rare. it has been reported more than once that Earth ponies and Pegasi have manifested what could be considered to be magic. Mostly the manifestations of magic are small or unnoticeable although sometimes their effects can be stronger.” ~Quotation from a magics student's thesis at the school from gifted unicorns.

Chapter 5: On a rare occasion.

“A quest was given to me, my destiny was set the day I was born. Yet somehow I have failed to live up to expectation. Temper overshadowed what I was good at, I don't even know what I am good at to begin with. Now for the first time in my life there is a pony who actually manages to keep my temper in check, how he manages to do so is beyond me. But the task that lays ahead is truly impossible.” ~Short Fuse, journal, entry number 34.

~Chapter 5: on a rare occasion...~

Both the troubled souls had plenty to chew on for themselves the rest of the day. Basher was thinking about himself and what the future had in store for him while Fuse contemplated on the question how on earth he would manage to do everything Spike had asked him to do. Fuse figured it was just a low blow from the purple dragon towards him to take revenge for the kick he had given him. “Yea, just give me an impossible task to get your forgiveness,” he thought on more than one occasion but somehow he came to the same conclusion over and over again, what laid ahead seemed impossible to do, for a multitude of reasons.

The setting of the sun announced the end of yet another day full of events for the two ponies which meant they could go to bed to get whatever sleep they could while troubled thoughts roamed freely in their heads. For Basher these thoughts were about how he was going to help Fuse to accomplish his task. Basher was aware of the reasons Spike had for giving Fuse such a task. For such a young dragon he showed remarkable social insight and intelligence to come up with such a plan just on the fly. How to help Fuse wasn't the only thing on his mind. He was thinking about the huge amount of information he had to chew through. Helping ponies had always come naturally to the green pony, but now he had to learn how to evaluate every bit of information he got from somepony and evaluate it correctly. Learn about mental illness and how to cure it and learn how to look for tell tale signs. However hard, the green pony was determined he would get there.

Despite troubled sleep for both Fuse and Basher the night went by and dawn was upon Ponyville again. The sun casting an orange hue over the strains of mist left by the night and caused those to quickly burn away leaving naught but dew on the grass. The morning was peaceful for everypony who slowly started to attend to their morning business but they was one small house where peaceful was the last word that would come to anypony's mind.

“Vile retched sleep disturbing apparatus. Most cursed of inventions ever made!” he cursed them the alarm clock went off. It wasn't before long that the angry red pony reduced it to a projectile. It was a good thing the alarm clock was just short from indestructible because the many dents in the wall indicated the alarm clock was often subject to Fuse's extremely bad mood in the morning. Not feeling like being dragged by his mane and tossed into a pool of water just outside of town Fuse reluctantly lifted himself from the bed and groaned. “This is no time to get up, seriously I'm gonna give Basher a smacking,” he muttered as he washed himself a little to at least look somewhat presentable.

When the red pony slouched onto the town's square Basher was already waiting for him. To the large muscular pony's surprise Fuse actually was five minutes early. “Wow Fuse, I had expected you to be more resilient,” Basher said in a slightly surprised voice.

“Yea, if you were threatened by a pony twice your size, god forbid they exist, to be dragged out of home by their mane and thrown in a pond you would make sure to be in time as well buddy... besides, I really can't afford a new door if you decide to unhinge mine,” Fuse stated in a spiteful manner and huffed disgruntled. “Seriously, I still don't get why you insist we meet each day at this ungodly time of day, and what is it you want to do anyways today, don't you think it's a better idea to wait for the grad student Twilight is arranging?”

“That student is a magics student and is coming just to check out the magical manifestations in your looks, since they aren't going anywhere you can still clean your act up a little and start working towards the task Spike has given you,” basher stated coolly completely ignoring the fact Fuse was getting quite worked up, which he figured went hoof in hoof with his foul morning mood.

“Yea, about that, what brain damage does that failure of a drake has to give me a task like that. Even though he is young he should know what impossible task he has given me. I can't stand Rarity, I mean I really can't stand to spend two minutes next to her without me wanting to slam her muzzle shut. Her voice is about as pleasing to my ears as having an ice pick jammed through it. And that eternal whining of her, I mean, have you ever heard her? She does nothing but whine. And of course with the way I look she just can't stop commenting about it,” Fuse ranted and was getting even more worked up just at the thought of having to spend time near Rarity, let alone actually talk to her.

“Don't worry about why Spike has given you this specific task. I have had the opportunity to talk to him when I was waiting for Princess Sparkle to meet my end of the deal. You'll find the answer you are looking for soon enough once you get to it,” Basher stated which only caused the red pony to pout a little clearly not pleased with the answer he got from Basher. “Anyways, Rarity is a character and I must agree with you she can be uncomfortable to get along with. Though I do wonder what you did to her to make her angry, you didn't kick her pet, did you?”

Fuse gave the green pony a flat stare and rolled his eyes. “No, I didn't kick that cat of hers but please don't tempt me to. That thing gave me some nasty scratches last time I was there. Anyways, what had happened wasn't as bad as what had happened with Spike and Twilight. I had gone there to get myself come clothes to get through the winter. The Pegasi had predicted an especially cold winter this year so I wanted to prepare myself. Rarity running the best clothes shop in town and me for once having some bits to spare I go to her shop where I instantly become subject to her ridicule about my looks and why a hot headed pony like me needed clothes to overcome the cold in the first place. All I did in return to that was give her a snide remark and I rolled my eyes. You know, I did realize it was a joke and if that would have been it I wouldn't even have cared. But then she starts to comment on everything she noticed about me. My fire red coat, my purple dragon like eyes and my fangs. She also had some stupid remarks about the colors of my mane. Gosh, like I don't know I look atrocious, no she had to point each and every little thing out,” Fuse ranted and sighed deeply reluctant to talk on.

“that explains why you are angry at her, not as much how she would become angry with you. She even manages to get under my coat sometimes so I really can't blame you for getting angry with Rarity so please explain to me what you did so we can finally try to get those sapphires Spike needs.” Basher stated. It was a bit of an obvious statement but still Basher figured it would be needed with the clouded mind of Fuse.

“Yea, after the umpteenth remark she made about how mad I looked I simply lost it. Nopony would be able to resist such a relentless stream of insults and I am no different. I started cursing, pointed out every little imperfection I could find with her and her clothing. Oh, and I might or might not have spilled some dye on a stack of fabric that was apparently extremely hard to get by. She was acting as petty as could be but two could play that game so I returned that whiny little nuisance the favor. And I regret nothing,” the red pony continued and rolled his eyes some more.

“So basically you were you and Rarity was Rarity, you know, it actually makes sense how this came to be. I cannot imagine you and Rarity ever getting along. Even if you wouldn't have the anger issues you're burdened with,” Basher stated and hummed while he thought deeply. “But still, getting along and being able to endure one another are different things. We... well, you need those gems and Rarity has them and somehow the both of you need to overcome the petty surface and try to stomach each other for the time being,” Basher said and sighed a little.

“If it's possible I would like to spend as little time as possibly in the near vicinity of that mare,” Fuse said harshly and looked at basher with some annoyance

“We could do the same as we did with Twilight, I go in first and then you come in and do whatever you need to do to get those gems. I won't get them for you because this is your task and your task alone. Do don't even think of suggesting that,” Basher offered and visibly tried to think of a way how he could make sure Fuse and Rarity would get along.

“Well, so far for that idea then, I guess there is no other way to do it. Twilight and Spike I could easily handle, but I don't know if I can keep it together with this creature made of pure wining, so whatever favor she wants you to do I can't promise I can keep it together, just so you know,” Fuse warned Basher once the two headed for Rarity's boutique.

“Just try your best Fuse, Rarity can be a pain but if you feel like you can't take it anymore just go outside when you're talking to her. I think it is of very little use when you go berserk again and throw dye over more of her stuff. Anyways, did you tell me everything and the true story? I mean, I really really don't want this to end the same was as with my first try to talk to miss Sparkle,” Basher said and looked at the red pony, trying to get a hint of body language.

“Yes that was all minster Basher, I just got incredibly rude, slammed on a table when I got anger and accidentally spilled the dye over that fabric laying on the floor,” he stated and sighed a little. “I can truly say this is the only place I don't really mind being banned from. I can't stand her and whenever I hear her voice I cringe in disgust,” Fuse spat and looked resentful to the building in front of them. He drew an even weirder face when the foresight of dealing with Rarity came to mind.

“Calm down Fuse, if you're even getting worked up just thinking about it, it will go wrong once you're inside,” Basher said. His word didn't carry much conviction but he figured if he could get Fuse calm he would be more manageable at this moment. “Anyways, unless you want to add something to your story you might have 'conveniently' forgotten to tell me up until now, I'll be heading in.”

the red pony ground his teeth once more and shook his head. “No, I've told you everything for the gazillionth time,” he replied exasperated. “Now go, I want to get this over with and the less time I have to spend around this stupid dump, the better,” Fuse continued and gestured frantically towards the door.

“Yea right, I'll be back in a couple of minutes. Just try to get as calm as possible, I'll try to make sure Rarity keeps herself together as well,” Basher said as he headed indoors.

The green pony was immediately greeted by Rarity who was attending to lay out her new collection for display. Instead of a hallo all Basher received was a critical gaze and he would have sworn he saw the white pony shake her head ever so slightly. “Well, this is a work in progress,” she said and disgust riddled her voice because Basher looked all but handsome in her opinion of which Rarity made little secret.

“I am not here for clothes miss Rarity, I am here for different business,” Basher said which earned him a confused look. “I am here to talk to you about a pony you most likely remember, he is called Short Fuse,” Basher said and right that instance Rarity's face cringed. She darted around her store and closed every possible curtain she could close and instantly barricaded the door with several random heavy objects she could find. Somehow it was admirable how a pony of her stature managed to move around those heavy objects.

Once she was done running around almost like she was on fire and pretty much rearranging everything she could just to barricade the door she ended up out of breath. “Please don't tell me that horrible, vile muzzled pony is anywhere near my boutique, I will not have him ruin another batch of precious fabric,” she stated in a somewhat over dramatic way.

“Actually, he is right outside and most likely saw your reaction to his name alone,” Basher stated and grinned a little. “But why this reaction? All he has done was accidentally ruin a batch of fabric,” Basher asked and sighed a little. As it looked now it seemed like it was truly ending up to be one large collection of petty things.

“Just a batch of fabric? JUST A BATCH OF FABRIC? Ugh, what else did I expect from a barbarian like you. It was extremely high quality Cashmere wool, do you have ANY idea how hard that is to get by? I mean, all I did was comment on the way it looked, all of a sudden I find myself to be bombarded by a vocabulary that is truly unheard of and it knocks on my table, spilling dye all over the stack of cashmere. Needlessly to say I immediately called the authorities, and they let him go... they just let him go afterwards, I kid you not. An do I get reimbursed, or do I get any compensation for the behavior of that miserable failure? No, no I did not. So if mister Fuse ever wants to show his muzzle around here again he will first have to pay me for the fabric it willingly destroyed,” Rarity said and looked angrily towards Basher.

“Twilight can say whatever she wants, I won't believe this uncivilized pony will ever learn how to behave himself. And on that note, is it even a pony, or is it some other spawn of Celestia knows what,” she continued. In her entire rant she especially stressed the word 'it' when referring to Short Fuse barely considering him to be of the same species as she was.

Basher sighed deeply and nodded, more to himself than towards Rarity as it truly was a misunderstanding this time. “Well miss Rarity, not to burst your bubble but Short Fuse is extremely self conscious about the way he looks, and he really doesn't like it when other ponies comment negatively about it. I mean, I don't really like how your tail is styled but I won't say it... normally speaking then,” he said and assessed Rarity's reaction and indeed as expected she didn't react positively to his remark.

“Anyways, along with his rather strange look comes a massive anger issue which eventually led to him erupting. You can consider yourself lucky nothing else than that one batch of fabric was destroyed. Even the best tempered pony could lose him or herself while sighing under a relentless stream of negative remarks. But if you just set aside what has happened and look at the present, think of what Twilight has told you. Fuse really does want to work on his issues but he does need a chance given to him by the ponies he wronged,” Basher explained the best he could trying to compel Rarity into hearing Fuse out.

Rarity didn't look convinced and gave the green pony a vile look. “you talk big for one who looks like you, but I shall not hear him out. I will not become the subject of his spite and rage again. If Fuse wants somepony to curse at, he can go find somepony else,” she said and huffed while lifting her head high.

“So you aren't even willing, while Twilight told you he is working to improve himself give him a chance to prove himself?” Basher asked trying to send her on a guilt trip since the conventional methods clearly seemed to fail. “Miss Rarity, what do you possibly have to lose if you just give the colt a chance to talk and say what he needs to say,” Basher stated and sighed deeply.

“What do I have to lose? WHAT DO I HAVE TO LOSE? He can ruin my entire shop, he can ruin batches and batches of fabric, he can... he can... ridicule me,” she said and sighed a little.

Basher pointed to the mess Rarity had made herself in the small frenzy she went through. “Okay, now look to your shop and please tell me who is responsible for the mess you have on your hooves right now,” he said and smiled confidently.

The white pony looked around and was slightly shaken. “that's Fuse's fault of course, if he didn't ruin my fabric at first I wouldn't have gone through such lengths to keep him out in the first place. And like I've said, I will not hear him out until he has reimbursed me for the fabric he destroyed,” she said stubbornly and huffed once more.

Basher rolled his eyes and sighed deeply as Rarity was managing to get under his coat right now. He could only imagine how badly Fuse would react under this. “Okay, if you absolutely insist, how much is the fabric he destroyed?” Basher asked in a bit of an annoyed way.

“Well, the fabric was one hundred bits, and would have brought in five hundred when I would have processed it into Clothes, plus it would have boosted my reputation. I think if Fuse pays me two thousand bits we're even,” she said and smiled somewhat deviously knowing that in no universe Fuse would ever have such funds.

“two thousand Bits? You are completely out of your mind miss Rarity, he is struggling to eat to begin with, he will never be able to get those funds. Can't you just give the pony one chance to prove his worth? I will vouch for him, or if there is something I could do for you to change your mind, just tell me,” Basher offered and set a couple of nervous steps since he was getting on edge.

Rarity sighed and stomped her hoof on the ground. “Okay, you've made your point, but there is one thing I need your help with! I am working on this new line of clothes for especially large or muscular ponies. Perhaps you can be a model where I can fit prototypes on. Of course you will also have to walk in the fashion show where I present the line,” she said and smiled actually for the first time.

“Element of generosity, wasn't it?” Basher asked completely unrelated but didn't wait or even care for the answer. “Anyways, I'll do it,” He said and sighed deeply. He knew a little about the process of fashion and how fashion shows worked since he had occasionally worked as a bouncer at one. Long and tedious hours of standing still were all it came down to, and then talk three or four times in different clothes over a stage for everypony to be put on display. He didn't quite like it but at least Rarity shut up about the ridiculous sum of bits she required.

Rarity looked a bit sour at Basher's remark but decided to let it slip as he complied with her request. “Very well, get that red abomination in so he can say what he wants to, but seriously, if it even looks the slightest like he's going on a rampage or throwing one of his infamous temper tantrums, I will throw him out and never ever let him in again, so he better keep himself in check,” Rarity stated in a very serious tone. “When you go get him, give me a minute to clean this mess here, I mean, I don't have to show the same barbaric behavior as he does.”

“Very well miss Rarity, I shall try my best to keep mister Fuse in check. But there is one thing I must ask you before Fuse comes in. He is working on his anger trouble but it is recent. He is is still only setting baby steps and I know you have a hard time getting along with him. That feeling is completely mutual though, but if you want him to show what he's worth then please don't provoke him,” Basher said and sighed a little.

“I'll keep myself in check mister Basher, you have said one thing today that made me think how bad mister Fuse must have felt when I kept debunking they way he looked, however truthful it was,” Rarity said while she removed the blockade at the door.

When Rarity moved every object she placed in front of the door, now with significantly more effort Basher headed outside to find an impatient red pony waiting for him grinding his teeth still. Ofttimes Basher wondered how the angry pony had any teeth left with the amount of grinding they had to take whenever something was bothering Fuse. “Well Fuse, I can now perfectly understand why you lost it, heck, I nearly lost it in there,” Basher joked but it was rewarded with naught but a flat stare. “I have arranged you can meet her, although she seems a lot more reluctant to speak to you than Twilight was and a lot less open minded, so please Fuse, now is more important than ever to keep your cool.”

“Yea I get it, I will keep my cool. As long as that whiny little creature shuts up about the way I look. I know I look horrible and I really don't need her to tell me that over and over and over again,” he replied and grunted exasperated. “By the way, took you long enough in there, and her closing up every window, what was the deal with that?”

“Heh, funny you ask. The second I mentioned your name she closed up every curtain and barricaded the door to keep you out. She first wanted two-thousand bits from you because you ruined fabric, please don't ask me how on earth she had gotten the idea you owed her two thousand bits but she did, finally I managed to talk her into talking with you by offering my services to her. I'll have to be her mannequin and model for a new line of clothing she is designing especially for larger ponies like me,” the green pony explained and sighed deeply. “Seriously, the stuff I get to do only so you can get your stuff done is absurd.”

“And the stuff spike has sent me to do isn't absurd you want to argue? That dragon has sent me on a task which requires me to face a lot of things I have done of which none of them are deeds I am proud of,” Fuse stated and looked at Basher trying to get support.

“The task given to you should be a one hour job for any normal pony who didn't pick a fight with about each and every pony here in town. Be glad you are given the opportunity to set things straight to begin with, everypony might as well just have said no. You need to do this task, I don't really need to do those other things that are asked from me just so you can talk to somepony,” he replied exasperated and looked somewhat angrily towards Fuse.

“Those are blatant lies Basher, you said you needed to help me so you could find your purpose, so although your tasks might seem a bit more random they are none the less part of you finding out what you are supposed to be and give you the nudge towards your purpose,” Fuse said surprisingly wise and for a change without an insult.

“Wow Fuse, you are truly improving already,” Basher stated surprised and smiled a little.

“It's just because you told me I needed to be calm for Rarity, but you are spoiling my cool already with your complaining. So when can I talk to miss Whinesalot,” the red pony asked and sighed deeply, still reluctant to meet Rarity.

“She wanted to clean up the mess she had created in order to block the door and prohibit you from coming in,” Basher replied dryly and couldn't resist to chuckle a little.

“Rarity can choke on a leave, I don't care I'm going in now. I want this over with as soon as possible,” he said and blatantly marched towards the entrance of Rarity's boutique. Before Basher even had a chance to stop him the angry red pony went inside finding Rarity still shoving furniture back to their original positions and looking rather shocked upon Fuse's rushed entry.

The white pony immediately interrupted rearranging the furniture and looked blankly towards Fuse and Basher who entered moments later, trying to look a bit apologetic towards Rarity. “Well, mister Fuse, I have heard you wanted to talk,” Rarity stated and huffed a little showing off she clearly felt more than Fuse.

“Yes miss Rarity, I have come to talk and ask something from you,” He said. It visibly took him an effort to keep polite against the superior acting pony which infuriated him. “I was sent here to collect Spike's special sapphires,” he continued and sighed a little.

Rarity just looked blankly towards the red pony who was already getting worked up. “Now why would I trust you with these special gems for dear Spikey-wikey?” she asked and shrugged a little. “I hardly trust you enough even to blink and leave you out of my sight for a hundredth of a second, let alone let you anywhere near those precious sapphires,” Rarity stated. At this point Basher gave Fuse a little nudge hoping Basher would get the red pony to apologize for the fabric he destroyed, but all Basher got was best described by a hiss from Fuse.

“Well, spike has send me here in order to get these sapphires,” Fuse said. Rarity nodded. “In order to get some Zap apple jam from the apple family,” Fuse said. Rarity once again nodded. “Then I have to take those things to Pinkie Pie and tell her Spike sent me,” Fuse continued. Rarity nodded again and Fuse could have sword by now there was a little smile on her face, just the slightest hint of one at least. “So, what else can I say, I need those gems and you've got them,” Fuse finally stated dryly. He had noticed she nodded each time and was wondering why. The fanged pony hated not knowing things.

“Alright mister Fuse, you have told me nothing new there. As I recall it there as been an incident that has never been resolved. Probably because I called the authorities when you destroyed that fabric of mine,” Rarity stated coolly.

“Well, since you seem to know pretty much everything I think it is of little secret I do have a tendency to lose myself in anger every now and then,” Fuse said completely evading the severity of his problem. “Anyways, something similar happened when you felt the need to constantly comment on how bad I looked when I just came here to buy some clothes for the cold winter the Pegasi predicted. Anyways, I did get angry and yes, I did slam the table but I really didn't intended to ruin your fabric by spilling that dye,” Fuse said with all the tranquility he could muster, which wasn't much because he started to tremble and grind his teeth slightly. “Besides, do you have any idea how close I got to getting frostbite that year simply because I couldn't get any decent clothing for the winter?” Fuse stated lastly in a bit of a snide remark towards the white pony.

Basher intervened and nudged Fuse again. “Keep it together bud, she was very strict about letting you in. she had told me the slightest hint of you going on a tantrum will result in you being tossed out,” he whispered and looked at Rarity hoping she couldn't hear what he said.

Whether Rarity heard what Basher said or not would be anypony's guess since she didn't show anything. “Very well mister Fuse. It seems some karmic justice was provided then and since it was truly an accident now I look back at the whole thing I guess you are off the hook. But still I really can't just give you those gems just yet. I want to see your worth, words are good, deeds are better and I want to see if you truly stand by what you say. You'll have to do a favor for me mister Fuse, all you'll have to do is pick up a piece of fabric Fluttershy processed for me,” Rarity said and smiled a little.

“Fluttershy?” Basher and Fuse said out loud simultaneously. Fuse had Never really done anything to Fluttershy to infuriate her, or get on her bad side but still, Fluttershy evaded him like he had some kind of highly contagious disease. Most likely because she was simply scared of the red pony going berserk. “That is going to be quite hard miss Rarity, but I'll see what I can do,” Fuse said and sighed deeply.

“I know this will be a challenge for you Fuse, but I think you talking to Fluttershy will be a great test of the strength your words bear. And as I've said, I want to see your effort in resolving your anger issues mister Fuse,” Rarity said.

Fuse looked up, not angry but with a certain determination in his face and what looked like a smile since Rarity actually made sense. He shook his head since he could barely believe it and sighed a little. “I might have mistaken what kind of pony you are miss Rarity. Thank you for the chance you're giving me and I am glad we could resolve the issue that hindered us until now,” Fuse said and nodded slightly.

“It will be resolved when I see your efforts mister Fuse, not a second sooner. Words are worth naught but the effort one is willing to put in to give those words their strength,” Rarity said. This somewhat dented Fuse's euphoric feeling but only strengthened his determination it seemed.

“Very well miss Rarity, I'll be on my way now to get your fabric from miss Fluttershy,” Fuse said and headed out of the store after saying a quick goodbye to Rarity. Basher followed his example and followed him out.

“So Fuse, how are you going to deal with Fluttershy. You are about the biggest nightmare for that filly and she's scared to death by you,” Basher stated and sighed a little. One challenge seemed to stack up on the next one, and everything seemed to become infinitely harder each step they took.

“I don't know how I'm going to do it but I know I will do it and make sure miss Fluttershy won't be too scared of me anymore,” Fuse said determined. “Now, let's go the Fluttershy's home, it's still early enough to get this done,” Fuse stated and headed off in the direction of Fluttershy's home.

“Change in emotions or forcefully suppressing certain emotions can lead to bigger and more severe outbursts. Many cases of anger management fail due to no alternative way to channel ones anger or deal with the feeling they are experiencing. Medication doesn't work in most cases and the only thing helping is intensive therapy for the afflicted in order to change the channels of his emotional manifestation.” ~Emotional and behavioral studies at the Equestrian socio-Psychological research institute.

Chapter 6: A chain of interests

“One who is shy isn't weak, one who is silent isn't boring. Characteristic differentials manifest in many ways, where one is talkative and gets along with others easily, others are more timid, regressive and silent. Often they go through life unnoticed by most, nopony bothering to talk to them and get to know the pony behind the silence.” ~Quotation research paper on emotional and behavioral studies.

~Chapter 6: A chain of interests.~

Basher and Fuse had walked for several minutes to arrive at Fluttershy's house at the very outskirts of Ponyville. The sounds of the animals the shy pony took care of was already audible. “Basher, five bits say she won't talk to me,” Fuse offered and grinned a little.

“How about you keep what little money you have to feed yourself, just please Fuse, I implore you to remain calm here. If you scare Fluttershy too much you can forget to redeem yourself,” Basher replied and sighed a little.

Fuse shrugged a little and kept on walking. When they got close to Fluttershy's home and the yellow pegasus finally took notice of the two approaching they were initially greeted with a smile. That smile only lasted for the half second it took for Fluttershy to recognize Fuse. In a cloud of dust the shy pony disappeared and the slamming shut of her front door was heard.

“Called it,” the red pony said and rolled his eyed. “Well, she isn't going to get out of there just because I want to talk to her,” he continued while he approached the front door and knocked on it.

Basher followed, his face concerned since he feared Fuse might actually be right about this. “Are you sure you have never done anything to her? She seems scared enough for it,” basher asked and looked at the red pony to check how he would react.

“Nah, I've never done anything to her, usually I tried to avoid her and she returned that favor so simply said, it was impossible for anything bad to happen, but I guess reputation isn't quite in my favor here,” the fanged pony replied remarkably calm for his being. He knocked once again on the door this time slightly louder.

“Your reputation is atrocious, but usually ponies tend not to flee in fear when they only see somepony just because he has a bad reputation,” Basher stated and looked critically towards Fuse seeking for the slightest hint of something that did happen between the two.

“I think even the word atrocious fails to describe how bad my reputation actually is you half witted fool. And stop looking at me like that, honestly, I have never done anything to Fluttershy or her animals for that matter and I most likely won't do such a thing either,” Fuse replied and sounded slightly annoyed by Basher's attempt to analyze him.

“Very well, I guess we should approach it the same as we did with the others, I head in first and explain what the deal is and you follow once I've cleared your path,” Basher stated somewhat annoyed. “I thought Princess sparkle had explained to all of her friends what the deal was with you.” he said right before he went towards the front door and knocked it surprisingly gently to make sure the already shaken Fluttershy wouldn't be aggravated even more.

“She perhaps did, but Fluttershy is somewhat skittish, so I guess Twilight didn't manage to put her at ease. And that while I never even did something to her,” he said in exasperation. With a grunt and before Basher had the chance to reply to Fuse he took off to create some distance. “If I don't take off miss scared won't come out anyways,” he muttered barely audible.

Basher only perceived Fuse's muttering as a buzz and couldn't distinguish the words. As soon as the hot headed pony took some distance from Fluttershy's cottage the door opened a slight crack. A soft, high pitched breathy voice asked: “W-What can I do for you?”

Basher Green lowered himself so he would be less intimidating as the buff and largely built pony he was and replied with a surprisingly gentle voice which was completely unfitting with his appearance: “I come here on behalf on Short Fuse. Both him and me are trying to get our lives together.” He explained without disclosing what exactly they were here for. The more Short Fuse could do himself the better it would be for him.

“Get a move on already” Short fuse muttered from underneath his breath and nearly snarled towards Basher and the barely opened door. “God how annoying some ponies can be, and what in Celestia's name possessed Rarity to send me for this errand. I mean, I can't deal with Fluttershy and she herself would get it in the blink of an eye. It's almost as if she deliberately sent me to do this so I would fail and she could refuse my efforts to apologize.”

Fluttershy opened the door slightly more to look towards Short Fuse who seemed lost in his own strain of thought and looked all but friendly. With a soft whinny she closed the door to a crack again. “But what if he does one of those horrible, horrible things he did to the other ponies in town?” she asked in the smallest voice, as far as one could call it a voice, while she looked frightened towards Basher.

“I promise you he will not miss Fluttershy. I will keep him in check if things seem to get out of hoof. Although I can pretty much guarantee you he will behave decently as he is also very motivated to get his life back on track,” Basher said hoping to persuade Fluttershy to at least talking with Short Fuse.

The wooden door once again opened a bit more and Fluttershy once more looked towards Fuse who was now visibly impatiently pacing back and forth. Slowly the door opened a bit more and after some deep breathes and a nearly audible gulp she stepped outside. Immediately Fuse's eyes fixed on Fluttershy and his pacing stopped. Fluttershy's hooves wobbled for a second and she was on the verge of going back inside but against all odds she trusted the gentle Basher to keep Fuse from doing anything that might turn badly and remained outside.

Basher smiled and simultaneously let go a sigh of relief. He was worried the shy pony would be too frightened to even come out or give Fuse a chance but it seemed both him and Twilight have managed to put Fluttershy enough at ease to give him one chance. But he knew this moment was make or break for Fuse, perhaps his biggest challenge yet. Basher gestured towards Fuse to come and join the conversation.

“About time,” he muttered and slowly approached the two ponies standing. Once he joined them he kicked some dirt with his right hoof and couldn't quite acquire his composure. He too knew if he screwed this up, he was done for. Words seemed to form but dissipated before they would form completely and ready to be spoken, resulting in a highly nervous and stammering Short Fuse, Unlike the epic fits of rage he was so infamous for.

Before Basher could interject help came from an unexpected angle as Fluttershy, even more so than Basher, with the ability to empathize with another pony. And somehow she could see Fuse's stress and breaking nerves for this moment. “Take it easy Fuse,” she said surprisingly steady compared to her earlier anxiety.

Both Basher and Fuse were stunned for half a second when it was Fluttershy who interjected and put Fuse at ease instead of Basher trying to put Fuse on the right track. Fuse seemed to calm down a little right after Fluttershy's statement. “Okay, First of all, I'm sorry I've startled you miss Fluttershy, but I can understand,” he said and sighed deeply before resuming. “I'm trying to get my life back together but the road isn't easy.

Fuse paused for a moment and exchanged glances with Fluttershy and Basher. They both had this look of encouragement in their eyes and wanted to know what Fuse had to say. “So what I need from you miss Fluttershy, is the fabric you have processed for miss Rarity, without that I fear I cannot complete the task given to me to set my life straight,” he explained short and simple.

Fluttershy's facial expression turned towards something that didn't sit well with Fuse even the slightest. She stammered a little before saying: “I am very sorry, but I haven't been able to finish it yet, I am just so busy taking care of all these critters, if only I had the time to go to the spa... if you could arrange the spa ponies to come over here I'll finish the fabric for you the first thing tomorrow mister Fuse,” Fluttershy said and looked hopeful towards Fuse.

Fuse Never did anything to anger Fluttershy yet she also wanted a favor from him like the other ponies and spike did. And of course she wants him to arrange the spa ponies to come to her place since she can't leave her critters alone. Fuse could only imagine the warm welcome he would get the second he set hoof in there. Since he threw one of his tantrums at the spa when he was trying to relax, which obviously wasn't as relaxing as he had hoped.

“I'll see what I can do miss Fluttershy, but it might take until the afternoon to arrange this,” he said cautiously giving a time window with plenty of leniency in case this chain got even longer. Fuse looked towards Basher who only nodded and smiled in return. Nodded and smiled, as if they got good news. This was all but good news.

Both Fuse and Basher greeted Fluttershy and took off from her place. When Fluttershy went inside again and Fuse was fairly sure they were out of earshot he turned towards Basher and gave him a vile stare. “Nodding and smiling, as if it's a good thing what just happened. I guess your skull is as thick as it looks,” he spat and walked as if the ground was the bad guy in all this kicking vigorously into the dirt with each step causing small dust clouds to rise.

“Oh please don't tell me (...)” Fuse instantly reacted to basher with another stare that would shoot lightning if Fuse had his way. “Right, what was it this time?” he asked not even surprised anymore with Fuse having caused trouble at pretty much any establishment in town.

“Well, screw this, I am completely done with all these ponies. I might have wronged them at a certain point and time but I am not someone to run their errands for. They can all go to flaming Tartarus for all I care. I am going home and if you dare as much as knock on my door I will make you eat it up to the very last wooden chip,” he spat and strode onward on a relentless pace.

Basher had trouble keeping up with Fuse despite his longer legs and tried to reason: “But Fuse, each step along the way you learn to see the wrong of your doing until now. You see that ponies aren't all bad or out to get you and that there is no reason for you to be angry all the time at everypony.”

“No reason to be angry?” he shouted out loud and turned towards Basher with his nose mere inches away from his face. Somehow Fuse seemed to grow whenever his anger got the best of him, making him an intimidating presence to behold even for the buff Basher. “I've got all the reason to be angry at those creatures who dare to call themselves ponies. First of all their perpetual happiness is simply spiting, them using me as a flaming errand boy infuriates me,” he said and his nostrils flared. His entire body shivered and his pupils narrowed to thin slits “It isn't my wrongdoing that's the problem here, it's these ponies who can't handle even the slightest bit of deviation from their own things... Oh, he isn't like the rest of us, he is a black sheep, let's shun him and treat him like the monster he is... well, let me tell you this Basher, if you get treated like a monster all the time, a monster you will become.” he said, spat on the ground barely missing Basher, and barely making an effort to miss him.

“Fuse, don't throw away what you've accomplished so far. You have managed in two days to get unbanned from two places and Fluttershy isn't frightened of you anymore. Can't you see your work is giving you one extra chance you so desperately need? Or else what, do you want to spend your days in solitude, confined by the four walls of your home, or worse, imprisoned because your anger finally led you to do enough damage?” Basher said hoping to get through to Fuse who was still on the verge of exploding.

Fuse seemed to cool down slightly, just slightly, due to Basher's reasoning. He harrumphed loudly still disgruntled about the course of events but not entirely infuriated anymore. “You do make a valid point there,” he admitted in between huffs and growls with a raspy voice as if he is short of breath. He was short of breath, the anger drained his energy.

“Good, I see you can finally think like a pony again instead of a monster,” he said referring to the statement Fuse had made.

“You didn't just call me a monster, did you?” Fuse gnarled. He looked like he was trying to grind his teeth into powder right that instance, again his entire body quivering and his breathing intensifying. His coat seemed to shine more brightly than usual and his pupils who had just started to dilate narrowed once again.

“No, I didn't call you a monster, but your anger makes you a monster. Your temper is the monster, and a monster we must tame. It's a metaphor Fuse, not an insult,” Basher quickly said. His voice was level and his calm composure didn't seem to budge half an inch under Fuse's intimidating anger fit and the threatening disposition he held this moment.

“Yea, yea, just like the other ponies treating me like one because its a 'metaphor'” he said, spitting the last word out as if it made him gag. “But I guess getting mad over that now isn't really useful since those ponies did give me a second chance, or a third or a fourth in some cases,” he said. His voice got calmer over the course of the sentence and it looked like Fuse finally got his anger in check again.

Basher counted his blessings that this didn't erupt. If Fuse had snapped Fluttershy would surely have seen them fighting and all had been for naught. Fuse most likely didn't realize how close he was to ruining everything they had worked for until now and perhaps that was for the better. “How about we get ourselves something to drink before we head to the spa, I think you could use a drink,” basher suggested. He figured it would be for everyone's best interest to give Fuse the time he needed to cool down completely before going onward with their task.

Fluttershy had seen the two ponies arguing from her window. She somewhat expected Fuse would have trouble keeping his temper in check. “It must all be very stressful for him, but he'll get there,” she thought once Fuse's anger fit seemed to dissipate before escalating. He was making progress, a few days ago he would have snapped completely. With a content smile Fluttershy tended to her animals again softly humming a song, feeling quite pleased with the course of events.

Fuse and Basher walked back towards Town. Fuse looked desolate, his eyes hollow and empty and making an overall tired impression. Basher on the other hand looked content and calm. “So Fuse, what tavern in town hasn't kicked you out permanently yet.”

Fuse's forehead got wrinkled and his face looked questioning. Ponyville wasn't that big of a town and he could remember that in each of the taverns, he had ended up in a fight at least once. After a few seconds he shrugged and looked towards Basher questioning. “I don't know, I think all of them don't want to see me anymore,” he said with some scorn in his voice figuring it would provide yet another task for him to make that up. “Or we could just go to a tavern, sit and hope for the best,” he suggested.

“Do you think you can handle being tossed out without exploding?” Basher asked and looked towards fuse with a critical gaze. “I mean, you could barely handle Fluttershy sending you to the spa, for which you still owe me a story by the way.”

“Yes, I can handle it,” he grumbled. Fuse was looking slightly irritated but at the same time he seemed calmer than normally. “And as for a story, it's really a short one. I was at the spa trying to relax when some mare didn't know what 'keep your muzzle shut' meant. Eventually I got fed up with her and put a brick of soap into her mouth to shut her up,” he explained casually. “Of course this mare started to whine even more once that was done and the spa patrons asked me to leave,” he continued but the intonation of the sentence left a lot of room for interpretation.

“You didn't just leave like they asked you to, did you?” Basher asked preemptively. “Knowing you, you left the part where you go completely berserk out of the story once again,”

Fuse rolled his eyes. “I might have told them they should take a bath in molten brimstone so they could prepare for when they would go to hell and I might or might not have tossed some things around,” He reluctantly admitted. He knew it wasn't right of him what he had done.

Basher was content with the admittance of wrongdoing, as far as it could be called admittance because except for his intonation Fuse adamantly refused to admit he was in the wrong here. “Okay, that isn't too bad compared to some of the other things, I think this won't be too hard for you,” he said. The last part of his statement sounded tentative at best but it seemed to put Fuse at ease.

“How about we go for a drink later? I think I can handle the spa ponies right now,” Fuse stated and a slight of determination crossed his face. “I did promise Fluttershy I'd get it done by this afternoon and the longer we'll wait the harder it will become,” he said.

Basher looked astonished for a moment. Fuse was actually making sense for once in his reasoning. A few wordless moments followed when a satisfied smile crossed his face. “See, you're starting to learn,” he said.

A wordless growl left Fuse's muzzle as a response to the smug smile Basher was wearing. “Dude, seriously, go play the psychologist with someone else, I really can't be bothered by it since I first have to find out how I'm going to persuade the Spa ponies to go over to Fluttershy's place,” he said harshly. “And I bet you five hundred bits they won't just honor my request.”

“Well, first of all you don't have close to five hundred bits, I think you'll be lucky to find five in that shack you call home, but that's besides the point. You might be right here, they will most likely want something in return,” Basher stated.

Fuse rolled his eyes profoundly and tossed a vile stare towards Basher once again with his pupils somewhat narrowed. “Yea, I might get lucky for once... Celestia forbid that ever happens,” he muttered half under his breath.

They walked in silence towards the spa and their pace would be named slow at best. Fuse Cherished this moment of silence. He was calm, he was at ease. A feeling he was uncomfortable with yet it made him feel a pony reborn. He looked around to see the town's center bustling with activity and ponies all talking to one another, as if they all knew each other.

“That's it,” Fuse finally exclaimed and he looked towards Basher. Fuse had the strangest face and Basher didn't know at all what to make of it. He had seen Fuse in all forms of angry but this was something new. Basher didn't reply, his ears stood upright because he was rather curious as to what Fuse had to tell him now.

“I finally know why they sent me on this ridiculous task,” he said confidently followed immediately with “I think,” said in a less confident manner. “This entire town knows each other and they actually like each other I think,” he said and frowned a little. This short elation of epiphany was quickly replaced by the normal amount of 'grump' Fuse carried around daily. He carried it like a cloak making everything dim, grim and rotten in Fuse's eyes.

Basher nodded and confirmed Fuse's suspicions. Although slightly disappointed to see Fuse's elation diminish so quickly it was progress. Fuse wouldn't normally reason like that, he would curse everything that breathed, everything that moved, everything that existed including himself. Basher was proud to see a short moment of reason and felt more confident about his own course now as well. “This reminds me Fuse, I have to go and talk to Princess Sparkle later today,” he said and smiled a little.

“Why do you need to talk to Twilight?” Fuse asked bluntly completely forgoing Twilight's official title. “You fulfilled your end of the deal already, didn't you? Oh wait, let me guess, second date?” Fuse said snidely and some raspy sound what probably had to pass for laughter emerged from the red pony's throat.

“I didn't go on a date with Princess Sparkle nor will I ever go on a date with her, and I have fulfilled my end of the deal, but now there is something I need from Princess Sparkle and only she can arrange this for me,” he replied calmly completely ignoring the snide in Fuse's voice.

“Ah come on man, don't be so vague and tell me what you're going to do already. You're nearly controlling me like I'm a puppet. The least you can do is involve me in your doings as well,” Fuse said surprisingly calm for his standard though anyone who wouldn't know Fuse would think he was on the verge of going berserk.

“You are as the matter in fact very much involved with this, now shut up and go talk to the spa patrons, we're here already,” Basher said glad he could distract Fuse with the matter at hand rather than tell him what exactly he was planning on doing. Fuse would find out soon enough and Basher just didn't want to deal with Fuse's tantrum right now which would inevitably follow once his plan succeeded.

Fuse muttered a couple of incoherent mumbles when he looked at the spa. His face was the avatar of reluctance and so was the rest of his composure. Once he entered he was immediately approached by one of the spa patrons who didn't seem to be happy. Fuse could barely muster himself to greet them properly but somehow he managed to squeeze out a 'hello.'

“Mister Fuse, I thought we were rather clear when we told you we wouldn't provide any service to you anymore,” the spa pony stated. The room's temperature seemed to drop below freezing the second the first word rolled out of her mouth and her clear blue coat added to the icy cold approach the spa pony was taking with Fuse.

“My god this pony doesn't even look like a pony anymore, I can start a business if I could only harvest the enormous amounts of make up she is wearing, and those eye lashes. Her eyes look like they are three times too large for her head and...” he lost his strain of thought when Basher who followed him inside prodded him in the side.

“Right, I remember that,” he admitted while grimacing profoundly. “Anyways, I am not here for myself,” he added in a level voice trying not to get mad at the treatment she was giving him. It gnawed and it was unpleasant at best, but he would keep his word to Fluttershy and get her the relaxing treatment she deserved. With that thought Fuse was surprised with himself, why did he give the slightest about Fluttershy?

Before Fuse could continue his reasoning the spa patron looked a bit confused. “If you're not here for yourself, then why are you here?” she asked still with the cold laced in her voice but less.

Fuse sighed a little and looked towards Basher to get some support he hoped.“Cursed be he, yet I need his help,” Quickly passed his mind. Basher merely nodded. “Where do I start?” Fuse asked as much to himself as to Basher.

At this point the spa pony's cold composure seemed to crack even further, which escaped Fuse's view but not Basher's view. “Fuse, just explain what you're here for, the spa patron has more to do than stand here,” Basher said and tried to leave as much as possible to Fuse. “He's almost like a child, he doesn't know what to do or what to say!” Basher thought for a second and saw the likeness when he looked back at everything. Fuse was a child, an old child but a child still, unable to maintain himself in the world.

“Very well, I am here on behalf of Fluttershy,” Fuse said and paused there for half a second as he now too noticed the Spa patron's disposition had changed. “She has been very busy and needs some relaxing, but she cannot leave her house because she needs to tend to the animals she shelters. So, she sent me to arrange for her that you, or somepony could do a home visit for her,” he blurted out all at once.

“Well, I guess I could go to Fluttershy's place because business is slow, and I will do it for free if you can arrange one little thing for me mister Fuse,” she said.

Right at that moment Fuse sighed and rolled his eyes, making but little secret of his dismay of yet another task he has to do in order to get done what had to be done. “Very well, what is it you want,” he said cynically.

The spa patron didn't seem to bother the cynicism the slightest and said: “If you could arrange for me, that the Cakes will cater the spa tomorrow, I'll go to Fluttershy's place right away,” she said and smiled. Fuse couldn't quite fit the smile because it was definitely not the smile of somepony experiencing joy, there was something else to it.

“Fine, I'll be back within a few minutes,” he said, both looking relieved and sounding relieved. The Cakes were one of the few ponies he had no beef with, he even helped the cakes out guarding the store when they had something special baked for a contest or an exposition.

Fuse kindly greeted the spa patron and nearly skipped out of the building with Basher on his tail. “Finally it seems like there is coming an end to all this,” he exclaimed enthusiastically.

Basher acting a bit more reserved just nodded. “It has to be nearly the end at least, I can't really imagine how this would go any deeper,” he said while visibly thinking about the possibility.

“Yea, I know right?” Fuse replied still looking rather optimistic. “I just hope Pinkie isn't there, I still have that restraining order from her and honestly I really don't want to deal with that on top of everything right now,” he stated. Fuse's optimism had diminished a little with that realization.

“You'll have to deal with that issue some time in order to get the gem cake Spike seems to want. I'll give him this, for a one year old dragon he is smart,” Basher stated when the full complexity of Spike's plan seemed to unravel. Rather than making Fuse do him a favor to get even, Spike put Fuse on the road to get even with himself as well along with a lot of other inhabitants of Ponyville. Even Basher with the talent to help those in need couldn't have concocted such a beautiful plan. “One could wonder to what extend the entire chain was Spike's plan, but I can't help but think this was all set up by Spike and Princess Twilight,” he thought, which in turn made Basher somewhat insecure and uneasy.

“I don't believe for half a second that dragon made this all up. If any, Twilight constructed all this and made it look like it was a task simply given by Spike to cover her tracks,” Fuse said harshly. “That dragon barely knows which book goes where, let alone he sets up something like this.”

Basher thought for a moment and for once Fuse was right in all his bleakness. “You make a fair point there, but does it matter who set this up? Aren't you just glad you get a chance to redeem yourself and rid yourself of the monster status as you've called it so elegantly?” Basher asked hoping to make Fuse see the perspective.

“I guess in the end it doesn't really matter,” Fuse admitted. He was glad enough he was given a chance but felt a little cheated by Twilight. Of course if he had known this would be such an elaborate task he would have never started it to begin with.

“Good, now that's out I like to tell you we've been standing still in front of the shop for about two minutes already and the Cakes inside have gotten curious as to why we are here,” Basher said and pointed towards the opened door where both cakes stood staring at the two from behind the counter with questioning faces.

“Thanks for the timely heads up buddy,” Fuse replied sarcastically before entering the shop and approaching the cakes who, unlike most ponies in Ponyville, greeted him with a smile rather than dismay and scorn as he was used to.

“Good afternoon Fuse, come to look for another job?” Mister Cake asked.

“Not today I'm not, I am actually here on behalf of the Spa patrons. They've got something planned or whatnot for tomorrow and sent me to ask you if you could cater for them at the Spa,” Fuse said, infinitely happy he could skip the careful dance of apologizing and trying to get ponies to listen to him despite his volatile nature and atrocious behavior of the past.

“Tomorrow? I'm very much afraid, however good it would be for our business, that we can't get a foal sitter on such short notice,” Misses Cake answered politely and with a hint of kindness in her voice.

Fuse's face resembled that of someone who had just eaten the sourest of lemons available. “So close, and it goes bust because she needs a flaming foal sitter? Where in Equestria am I going to find a foal sitter on such short notice?” he thought and quickly glanced to both his sides as if the answer would magically appear somehow.

“I could take care of your foals for a day I guess,” Basher offered out of the blue. He looked towards Fuse and read pure astonishment, which Basher replies with a smile and a wink, closing the chain that had become so long.

The cakes examined Basher for a moment and whispered something back and forth between them. Now Basher looked somewhat worried while fuse looked like one big bundle of untamed nerves ready to break down on the spot.

For Fuse those seconds seemed to crawl while his stomach clenched so tight he could feel his breakfast coming up. Fortunately though it was only seconds before the Cakes turned to Basher and nodded in agreement. “So, we've got a deal here?” asked Fuse in disbelief.

“Yes mister Fuse, if Basher comes over tomorrow morning we can set up shop at the Spa to cater whatever they've got going there,” misses cake said while mister cake confirmed it with a loud “HmmHmm,” sound and nodding.

Fuse could nearly jump from joy when he heard the relieving words. Finally he could bring all the ponies good news, the chain would close itself now.

First the spa ponies who seemed surprised by Fuse returning mere minutes after he had left with the good news and as promised the blue coated spa patron followed Fuse and Basher to Fluttershy's place.

Upon arrival Fluttershy opened the door even before they had knocked. In her hooves she held the fabric she allegedly hasn't been able to finish according to the previous time they talked. Fluttershy smiled towards Fuse and said: “You have learned a very important virtue today, but you will have to find out what it is and means to you,” Fluttershy said finally after giving the Fabric to him, which Fuse in turn immediately passed to basher.

The spa pony didn't quite know what was going on but she didn't really seem to care, they had landed a catering deal with the cakes for tomorrow which would be good for both the spa and the cake's business so her confusion was quickly replaced by the things more important to her, until one final thing came to her mind. She turned to fuse and said: “If you ever need to relax, you are once more welcome at our spa. But please promise me you'll never feed me soap again! it tasted horrible!”

Fuse's coat was normally bright red but it somehow turned even brighter at his cheeks as they colored in shame. Basher looked for a second to both the spa pony and Fuse. For him it was a great effort to contain his laughter.

“I won't do that anymore, or make rude comments for that matter,” Fuse stated apologetically and bowed his head gently to show he was sincere with his statement.

“Fuse, remember one thing when you go on, Kindness often brings you further than hatred does, even if things are hard or annoying, always try to be kind to others,” Fluttershy finally said before greeting both Basher and Fuse and heading inside with the spa pony Fuse had arranged for her.

Abashed both walked away in silent. Both their minds were as blank as an unwritten piece of paper. “Now what,” Fuse asked somewhat desolate.

“I don't know, I've got a lot to do still, do you think you can bring that fabric to Rarity without me? I need to take care of some business with Princess Sparkle, remember?” Basher replied and sighed deeply. The feeling he had was a bit surreal, as if this entire thing just couldn't have gone the way they did.

The surreal feeling wasn't contained to Basher alone. Fuse was just as scrambled as his companion was. Fuse couldn't even bother anymore making some stupid remark about Basher and Twilight having a date. Instead he simply confirmed he could take care of his business with Rarity and without offering more than a nod they both went their part ways.

“How one perceives the world, is as he himself is. Often when one experiences the world as rotten, the pony on the inside is rotten. Change ones view of the world and he will change accordingly. Let those who are depressed see the light at the end of the tunnel, let those who are angry experience kindness.” ~Part of an entry level Psychology textbook.

Chapter 7: Anger is ...?

Friendship is magic, but is friendship an emotion or a force, a feeling towards one another; a disposition if you will. Is there really magic at work when ponies feel the things they feel? It is hypothesized that exterior manifestations due to persistent dominant and extreme emotions might originate from magic, yet due to the rare occurrence there is no data. ~Equestrian Behavioral study documentation

Chapter 7: Anger is ...?

Fuse and Basher went both their part ways, neither of them unhappy with the results that came from the afternoon’s work. Fuse had learned the virtue of patience so he wouldn’t explode when put under pressure or stress. Basher himself wasn’t making as big a steps as Fuse was making, but this very afternoon he would set another step in the right direction.

Basher made his way to Twilight’s library and knocked on the door. A surprised Twilight Sparkle opened the door and gestured Basher in. “You do know we don’t close for another hour, do you?” she asked with a slight of jest in her voice and a smile indicating she was amused by Basher’s somewhat awkward behavior.

“Oh,” was all Basher had to say in response to Twilight’s jest and he quickly made his way in. “So, I am here to ask you once more for a favor Princess Twilight,” Basher formally said.

“Stop calling me princess all the time mister Basher, you can just call me Twilight like everypony else in town,” she said before turning to the matter at hand: “So, what can I do for you mister Basher? I guess it has something to do with Fuse?”

“Well, yes, sort of. You were planning on letting a grad student from the school come in to study Fuse’s appearance and how he came to look like he did due to his anger. Instead I want to request that particular spot,” Basher asked politely.

Twilights face changed a bit and Basher immediately knew he knew it wasn’t just as easy as that. He sighed and waited for twilight’s explanation.

“Mister Basher, however I’d normally say yes we can’t rule out the workings of magical forces here. But what we can do is let a pony come from the school to check if there are any active magical weavings. Unfortunately I cannot check this myself, there is currently only one pony who is able to check for magical weaves without needing complex machinery and I haven’t been able to read into the subject myself yet,” twilight explained.

Basher’s ears flapped a little. He didn’t have the slightest idea what magical weaves or any of the mumbo-jumbo Twilight just laid on his plate explained. “Okay miss Twilight, if you could give me an explanation in earth pony, that would be very pleasant,” he said and gave Twilight a bit of a flat stare.

“Oh yes, I’m sorry, usually my students tend to be unicorns and thus able to comprehend the workings of magic, my apologies. What it boils down to is the following; before I can possibly assign Fuse to you, we need to check if there is magic present. There is a pony who can do this on the spot so he doesn’t have to go to Canterlot to get hooked up to a lot of machines otherwise needed to do this,” Twilight said.

Basher’s face cleared immediately. “See, now that’s language I can understand,” he said and smiled before turning more serious again. “So as I see it now, it’s possible for an earth pony to invoke a magical effect by a very dominant emotion, or does some form of magic invoke this emotion?”

Twilight stared blankly towards Basher except for some blinks. “You know, psychology isn’t really my thing mister Basher, magic is. And even on the subject of magic there is much I don’t know or ever will know,” Twilight said showing herself not to be the near omnipotent all-knowing princess some mistook her for.

“Anyways, when do you expect to have Fuse examined? There is a lot that needs to be done before Fuse will be on the right track, even though he now did learn to be patient,” Basher said somewhat proudly towards the progress Fuse was making for himself.

Twilight hummed softly thereby acknowledging the progress. “The pony who will check for magical weavings will come Tomorrow afternoon, her name is Zaflore,” she said and paused for a little. “Mister Basher, I would be grateful if you could give me some more details on Fuse’s progress.”

While Basher explained everything to Twilight which took a pretty long time Fuse headed home. He felt content until he was inside and sat on what had to pass for a sofa. He looked around and before long the good feeling he had was replaced by something else Fuse couldn’t identify. Usually he’d get angry at his appalling living conditions but Fuse simply couldn’t get angry about that at this time.

Fuse felt sad, desolate if you will. All his life he was devoted to this one emotion, although one could argue if it was devotion rather than Fuse simply being the slave of the raging flame of anger perpetually burning inside him.

“I need to do something about this, this place is atrocious,” he said to no one but himself. Of course he didn’t say it to someone else since he was the only one present in his house. “I need to get out of here,” he followed up and at that point he did get a little angry.

“Of course I can’t go anywhere because I was such an idiot and fought pretty much everywhere in town. No wonder they all kicked me out, who would possibly want to deal with somepony like me? Except for Basher that is.” He continued, it was as if he barely realized he was talking out loud. It was a painful reflection he had made but a necessary one.

“I could try my luck to go to an inn, talk to the bartender myself (…) oh blast, I don’t have any bits and I can’t possibly get a job...” he said and stopped mid-sentence. Fuse used to be reasonably good at guarding stuff and fending off thugs simply because the red before his eyes would give him the edge. “Fear the mad pony more than any other,” he quoted from a book he had long since forgotten the title from.

“What am I supposed to do now, I studied nothing, all I had was anger that seared my mind. All I can do now is try to find what I am supposed to do before I die from hunger,” Fuse said resentfully. “Oh look at me, I am talking to myself, why am I even saying these things out loud, it’s not like I’m getting any kind of answer,”

Fuse sighed and laid down on the sofa. Now it was despair that filled his feelings. “At least I’m calm,” he said which numbed the despair significantly and even made him feel slightly good about himself again. Hopeful if you will. Knowing there might be a light at the end of the tunnel was very consoling for him. “Red is the color of fury, the color of fire, the color of danger (…) is that what I am? A dangerous fury of eternal anger?” no answer again, not that Fuse suddenly expected it but he did find it a bummer nopony talked back.

Then there was naught but silence and Fuse staring blankly towards the ceiling. Unmoving and stained as it was it mesmerized Fuse. The conversation he was having with himself ceased and left nothing but a whirlwind of thoughts searing Fuse’s brain. Minutes passed as fuse let the mind roam freely.

The pictures forming in Fuse's mind never fully materialized and took the weirdest shapes even he couldn't describe himself but faded again before he could make any sense of them. The turmoil inside his head wouldn't end for hours yet until sleep slowly set in, unnoticed Fuse drifted off to sleep until the break of dawn.

Basher went to Fuse's place but when he looked inside he saw the red pony laying on the sofa, just staring blankly towards the ceiling. “Fuse being at ease? I'm not sure if this is going the way it's supposed to, but I guess I should leave him to process everything and see how he is doing in the morning,” Basher thought and right at that moment he yawned soundlessly. He decided it would be a good idea for him to go to bed as well since the day was just as straining on him as it was for Fuse.

Vague dreams that neither of the two tormented souls would have that night would be remembered and in the morning when the sun rose, Fuse did as well. With a grunt and the vertebrates in his back cracking loudly Fuse say up straight. “Ughh, what a night,” he muttered softly as he looked outside. To his surprise it wasn't noon yet, it was just early in the morning. “Basher will most likely be here any minute,” he grunted and tried to Fashion some breakfast.

Basher's night wasn't any more pleasant and then dawn cracked an orange hue over the night's sky announcing another sunny day in Ponyville Basher got out of his bed. His mane was a complete mess and his eyes were bloodshot red. “Today that Zaflore thing comes to ponyville to study on Fuse, I'd better go kick that no good twat out of his bed,” Basher said resentfully to himself as he headed out without breakfast.

Fuse smelled his milk to prepare his breakfast with, the same milk that gave him the runs two days ago. Now the smell that rose from the milk made Fuse gag and he decided this wasn't suitable for consumption anymore. It wasn't fit for consumption two days ago for any sane pony but beggars can't be choosers Fuse thought and with the very limited amount of income he had he had to make ends meet somehow, even if that meant spending a day on the crapper and cursing all that was breathing, or not breathing for that matter.

Fuse sighed deeply and figured he'd go over to Basher and see if he could bum some food from him, he had to eat something since he already skipped dinner last night due to the turmoil in his head. He headed outside and before he could step outside he saw Basher standing there with his hoof ready to knock on the door.

For a moment they were both standing there shell-shocked. Basher didn't expect Fuse to be awake for at least three hours and Fuse didn't expect Basher so early since they didn't make any real appointments. “Good morning,” Basher said with a voice small and unfitting for his large stature. Fuse nodded and wished Basher a good morning as well.

“I didn't expect you were awake yet Fuse,” he finally said after a couple more moments of silence.

“And I didn't expect you at my door at this hour yet,” Fuse replied in kind which made them both chuckle a little. “Anyways, to what do I owe your visit?”

Basher's foul mood due to the short night's sleep vanished instantly when he saw Fuse actually being at ease for once. “Well, today we're going to set a new step and perhaps you get some answers about your appearance,” Basher said optimistically.

Fuse's face turned sour within a few seconds and he growled a little. “Yea right, and the sun sets in the north right?” he replies scornfully.

“It's not just a grad student that comes over, it's some kind of magical expert that doesn't need any machinery to detect magical weaves and identify it,” Basher explained calmly hoping Fuse would understand.

“She does whatnow? And does it mean we have to go to Canterlot otherwise? I guess we don't really have a choice then do we?” Fuse said still with some scorn in his voice.

“Yea, I don't know what it is she does exactly either, but the only thing she'll be doing is check if there is any magic at work. Otherwise I have gotten the opportunity to research into your appearance and emotional state rather than some random grad student,” Basher said and smiled a little, feeling exited for the journey.

“You?” Fuse asked unsettled and grunted a little. “There is no way that can go wrong,” he added sarcastically before Basher even had the opportunity to reply.

“No, nothing will go wrong. For what it's worth I decided to study psychology rather than be a deadbeat bouncer I have been up until now. Your life isn't the only one in need of improvement Fuse,” Basher replied fiercely. For a change it was him who had getting angry rather than Fuse.

“Yea right, Still, I am broke and out of food. I am hungry as can be, any ideas for that mister the psychologist?” Fuse asked and rolled his eyes. “Oi, I'm supposed to be the angry one here, so calm down.”

Basher needed but little effort to calm down and sighed. “Fine Fuse, we'll go to some inn to get some food, but you're paying me back because I'm not rich either.”

“As soon as I can find a job I will,” he replied while at the same time hoping Basher would forget about it later, but for now all Fuse wanted was to get some food in his empty belly. “Wait half a second, don't you remember I am banned from all places?”

“Turns out we do have something to do this morning,” Basher said with a huge smile nearly splitting his face. “You can get unbanned from an inn before noon, because we're expected to be at Twilight's place.”

“She's not princess Sparkle anymore? Your dates must be getting better and better,” Fuse scornfully replied. “Anyways, perhaps we can give it a shot, or, the easy way would be just to go to the market place and buy some food. Of course there is also a third option but then a coupe of ponies might get mad at me.”

Basher rose an eyebrow and looked towards Fuse. “I hope you're not even thinking about using those sapphires as currency Fuse,” Basher said accusing. “And we're going to an inn, sooner or later you'll have to go there anyways so you might as well get it done now,”

“Yea right, make a hungry pony work for his food, nice friend you are,” Fuse said exasperated.

“Oh Celestia forbid a pony has to do something to get his food on the table, I mean, I just say 'I wish I had some food' and it magically appears on my plate,” Basher replied sarcastically and looked somewhat condescending towards Fuse.

“You've made your point Basher,” Fuse said and rolled his eyes at the obvious sarcasm. “So, how about we try the inn we've got thrown out off a couple of days ago?”

Basher thought for a second and shrugged. “I don't think it really matters but I guess you sorta liked that place, if only for the fact they had tolerated your outbursts the longest,” He said.

Compared to what Fuse had to go through with some other ponies regaining admittance to the inn seemed a breeze whereas he would have deemed it an impassable obstacle mere days ago. Relieved by the swift course of events both ponies sat down at a table which was exactly as the night they first met. The hygiene of the tables had not improved since but the tables they had smashed during the fight were replaced. Those tables were the only ones looking remotely clean shy for some spots on the top.

“Well, this went well,” Fuse stated and grinned a little as he looked around. “I can't believe that fight we had that evening would lead up to all this,” he added and sighed a little thereby ending his grin. Mixed feelings were going through Fuse, a sense of accomplishment but also the burden he was still carrying. He still looked like the monster he admittedly was, but he didn't feel like one anymore which vexed him slightly. “Do you think I'll ever look like a normal pony?”

Basher thought for some moments and shrugged a little. “I really don't know Fuse, we'll have to wait and see what the examination turns up, perhaps if it's magical it can be fixed,” Basher replied treading carefully with his words not to aggravate Fuse during his moment of conflict.

“But what if it isn't magical in origin, do I look like this for the rest of my life, regardless of how hard I work to improve myself?” Fuse asked.

Now Basher didn't know what to say to Fuse. He didn't know either what possibly could be the outcome if it wasn't magical. Not that he knew if it could be fixed if the origin was magical. “I don't know Fuse, we could go to Twilight's after breakfast. Perhaps there is something in one of her books about your... condition,” he suggested while sounding somewhat apologetic.

Basher Braced himself psychologically for a fierce tongue lashing from Fuse but instead the red pony just sighed. “I understand. We could indeed go to the library, you could get some stuff done for your studies as well since we're clearly lacking the time to do anything with Applejack today,” Fuse said.

The rest of their time waiting for food and eating they remained mostly silent. Basher was surprised by Fuse's composure, a couple of days ago he was sure to explode from such bad news. Which made Basher remember Fuse laying on his sofa staring towards the ceiling, a sight also highly unfamiliar to Fuse. What was going through Fuse's head when he laid there? What preceded and what followed that? Unfortunately Basher didn't dare to ask during dinner and leave Fuse at ease for now. Basher however intended to remind this and ask him later.

When they finished their meals and Basher paid for their stuff the two of them left. Once outside Basher remembered the question he wanted to ask still, it was burning. “Fuse, Yesterday evening when I was done at Twilight's I came over to your house,” He started innocuously.

“Oh, I fell asleep early yesterday, chances are I simply didn't hear you knock,” Fuse replied and shrugged. “Why do you mention it anyways, it was a long and exhausting day yesterday, a pony needs his rest you know?”

“Yes I know, I was tired yesterday evening as well, but the point is, you were still awake when I got to your place. I only briefly looked through the window and saw you nearly motionless with your eyes open just staring blankly towards the ceiling, I wonder what happened there,” Basher said.

Fuse growled a little. He remembered every second of that evening in great detail, the raging storm in his head and the emotions accompanied with it. “I just needed to process some things,” he said. It wasn't quite a lie but neither was it the complete truth, although in the end everything boiled down to Fuse processing stuff.

“I figured as much, but I think it would help if you could elaborate a little how that went, I mean, there is just regular processing and then there was you, nearly catatonic with an unrelenting gaze never averting or reacting to whatever,” Basher said.

“I wasn't nearly cata(...) cattat(...) whatever it is you said I was, I was just thinking a little about everything that went down, can't you go bother somepony else about processing things?” Fuse asked and huffed a little as he was getting visibly irritated.

“Come on Fuse, I'm helping you a lot, the least you can do is repay me in kind. I mean, you're like the holy grail of psychologists, the one who is able to help you to manage your anger will be legendary in the field!” Basher said revealing quite a lot of what he hoped to accomplish.

“So basically, I'm your school project?” Fuse said cynically and huffed a little more until he relented. “Fine, I first had a conversation with myself and I was everything between angry, calm, desperate and hopeful over the course of five minutes and I actually missed you for having nopony to reply to what I was saying,” Fuse said. “I finally surrendered to the train of thought and laid down on my sofa hoping something would finally materialize in my head but it was just one big incoherent storm of emotions and images that never quite took shape until the point where I fell asleep. Next thing I know was waking up feeling rather calm actually and nearly bumping into you when I wanted to come to your place.”

“That's very good Fuse! Well, at least you're feeling other things now besides anger, hatred or fury which usually rules you. It seems with your hatred to the world dissipating, your anger is making place for the other emotions you possess to manifest. It might be a bit strange at first but you'll get used to it,” Basher said reassuringly to Fuse and smiled gently.

“There is still plenty left to punch you in the nose if you keep analyzing me a bit longer,” Fuse growled and frowned towards Basher. He however didn't seem the slightest concerned with the threat Fuse tossed at him.

“Fuse, you're a horrible pony sometimes,” Basher said jokingly hoping Fuse would pick up on the joke, it was some kind of test Basher though of on the spot, to really test Fuse's patience.

“Don't try your luck buddy,” Fuse replied but the intonation was what surprised Basher the most, along with the slight grin that followed on Fuse's behalf.

Basher smiled contently and sighed in relief. This truly indicated what progress Fuse had made in such short time.

When they arrived at the library Basher kindly kindly greeted Twilight while Fuse barely managed to grunt a 'hello'. “You guys are early,” she said and shrugged. “You guys want to read something while you wait?”

“That was the plan,” Basher replied and smiled not unkindly. Fuse just went for the bookshelves and grabbed two books both related to extreme emotion and sat down at a vacant table, remaining completely silent.

Before long Basher followed his example, yet where Fuse was reading things specific to his issues Basher was reading the assigned books he needed to complete his studies. The more he read, the more he thought to understand Fuse's problems, but also with each question answered three more rose.

Fuse on the other hand seemed only annoyed that he couldn't find decent information about something next to nothing is known about and he seemed surprised about this and complained more than once about this fact which annoyed twilight a little. “Fuse, we have to let somepony from Canterlot come here because we aren't even sure if there is magic at work here, so if you can't find something you need but still want to wait here, read something else, I've got work to do as well,” She finally lectured Fuse.

This captured Basher's interest who immediately readied himself in case he needed to intervene with Fuse but fortunately Fuse just nodded, although it was accompanied with some grunting and teeth grinding.

“Stupid books, they know everything except how a pony gets to look like I do. What kind of gifted unicorns are they breeding up there in Canterlot, it's more like 'selectively gifted' unicorns,” Fuse muttered out of Twilight's earshot but Basher could enjoy the entire show and he grinned a little.

“Do you think this is funny? I'm trying to find out stuff here,” he said rather loud and grumbled.

“Take it easy Fuse, soon enough they'll know more about this and we'll have you to thank for it,” Basher said hoping to cool the angry pony down a bit. “If there was a lot known about it they wouldn't need to have somepony come over,”

“I guess you do make a valid point there, but it's still annoying since I can't find anything,” Fuse said somewhat disappointed.

Annoyed Fuse put back the books he had put his hopes on and dove right into the fiction section, when browsing the section Fuse's eyes fell on another book in an adjacent shelve. “The works of fire” it was called. Somehow this intrigued him and he started reading it.

Basher noticed Fuse's choice of books and shook his head slightly. “Fuse reading about explosives? This can never turn out to be good,” he muttered softly but then he noticed something else. Fuse wasn't smirking or having any vibe over him that would indicate any malignant plans. He looked amused and interested. “Hmm, perhaps I was wrong there,” Basher muttered just as softly correcting himself and carried on reading his own material.

An unknown amount of time passed when another pony entered the library. It was a unicorn mare with a puffy and somewhat messy mane colored purple and anthracite. Her coat was cobalt blue. Immediately Basher noticed she observed the entire room and kept her sight just a moment longer on Fuse.

When the mare walked onwards Basher saw her cutie mark, it was something he couldn't identify, a line making two ninety degree angles with arrows in it and two wavy lines emitting from it so it seemed. Whatever it was Basher figured it must have to do something with what she was here to do.

“Greetings Princess Sparkle,” The blue mare spoke formally towards Twilight who was unaware of the mare's arrival.

“Hi miss Zaflore!” Twilight responded and they both laughed a little. “How was your trip to Ponyville?”

“I never thought flying a carriage for such a small distance could get me this nauseous, I think I'll take the train back to Canterlot, flying certainly isn't my thing,” Zaflore said and chuckled softly. “Anyways, I presume I am to examine the red pony there?” she asked while pointing towards Fuse who was still fully absorbed in his book.

Twilight nodded and gestured Zaflore into another room. “Miss Zaflore, I must warn you. Mister Fuse has very little patience and is easily aggravated. So please be careful around him,” she warned Zaflore.

“Oh stop calling me miss already, we've known one another since we attended the school,” Zaflore stated and smiled a little.

“Then you stop calling me princess, I haven't changed. Well, except for these wings then, but I'm still the same pony as I always were,” Twilight said. “Anyways, Can I watch while you examine him? I'd love to see what you'll do.”

“Sure, I can even explain to you what I'm doing although I won't be able to give you all the details I'm afraid, it's rather complex and quite specialized,” Zaflore explained.

“No problem, I was meaning to read up on it anyways but I find myself to be busy more oft than not. My research is slow as is,” Twilight said somewhat disappointed but not as if she regretted the choices she had made ever since she got to Ponyville.

Zaflore nodded and headed back into the main hall of the librairy where she slowly approached Fuse who was reading. “Are you mister Short Fuse?” she asked somewhat sheepishly

“Who wants to know(...)” he started bluntly until he saw the blue mare was accompanied by Twilight. “Ah, you must be Zaflore,” he continued a lot more politely. “I am Short Fuse yes.”

Zaflore got a little nervous since she was all but used to dealing with emotional ponies. “Very well then mister Fuse, if you would please stand in the middle of the room where there is plenty of space we can start the examination,” Zaflore offered wanting to get this over as soon as possible.

Fuse reluctantly dropped the book, he was bummed he had to quit reading. “This better give me some answers, else you won't need a carriage to get back to Canterlot,” Fuse said briskly feeding off the nerves he sensed in Zaflore.

“Fuse!” Basher interjected. “Behave yourself a bit, you want answers to let miss Zaflore do her work, else you won't be needing a carriage to get to Canterlot either.”

Twilight looked a bit dissapointed towards Fuse and Zaflore, however nervous she was getting remained a calm exterior and said with a level voice: “Mister Fuse, I am aware of your anger problems, but one more outburst like that and I'll be returning to Canterlot whether I have done my work here or not.”

“Fine, I'm sorry. Old habits die hard,” Fuse replied. It somewhat passed for an apology however reluctant, forced and unmeant it sounded.

Both Twilight and Basher looked visibly impressed by Zaflore's composure and how she dealt with Fuse. Zaflore of all ponies knew knowledge is the greatest gift one can get, thus can it be used as leverage.

“Okay mister Fuse, try to stand as still as possible now, I will be casting a spell which visualizes the magical weave around you, it will look a bit strange perhaps but you won't feel a thing,” Zaflore said and shortly after that her horn lit up in a bright green color similar to her eyes.

Lines forming a three dimensional grid surrounding Fuse which startled him for a second but he did remain still as Zaflore had requested.

Twilight and Zaflore seemed to point to several places in the grid and they whispered with each other discussing what they were seeing. Finally Fuse could hear: “I don't see any strong anomalies here but there are a few I need to examine further, see that wriggle there in the grid? I think this might be magical but nothing easily solved,” Zaflore said and sighed a little when she dismissed the spell.

“What do you mean it's not easily solved?” Fuse said in a harsh voice and gritted his teeth a little.

“Well, I have just visualized the magical weave, which is usually just like you saw it, a grid of straight lines which unicorns can manipulate to create the effects they wish, these effects can be temporary or permanent, but once cast they cannot be changed, at least, they couldn't be changed until I found out how,” Zaflore started to explain.

Fuse closed his eyes half shut and looked blankly towards Zaflore. “Miss Zaflore, with all due respect, I haven't got the slightest clue what you're about,” he said calmly.

“Right, I'll try to tell you the easy way. There is nothing working in the weave itself, so no magic in the sense that we call it magic. But there is something working beneath the surface, which reminds me, I just discovered there is something beneath the known weave!” Zaflore stated enthusiastically

“So bear with me, see if I understand what you're trying to say. You say there isn't magic at work, but there is some kind of magic at work?” Fuse asked with eyes as wide as dishes.

“Well, that's pretty much what it boils down to,” Zaflore stated and smiled a little. “But hey, you've helped me discover something entirely new nopony knew about until now,”

“Great, I am ever so glad I could help you discover something. But there is nothing you can do for me?” Fuse asked and sighed deeply.

“Not entirely, I can smooth the manifestation in the surface weave perhaps, it might take some edge off the way you look, or not, I don't know to be honest,” Zaflore said and looked uncertainly towards Twilight.

Twilight shrugged, she clearly was at a loss as well. “I was way better with the practical uses of magic, not so much the theory behind everything,” she said and looked with a neutral face towards Fuse.

“Funny how one answered question can invoke so many more, don't you think it's exiting?” Zaflore said as much to herself as to anypony.

“Exiting? Do you actually think this is exiting?” Fuse uttered in disbelief and profoundly rolled his eyes. “So I am stuck with this for years to come?” Fuse asked and then brought his hoofs to his head in sheer frustration.

“Fuse, take it easy,” Basher said with an empathic voice. He could understand completely why Fuse was frustrated, anypony would be in his position. “Just let miss Zaflore see if she can straighten out whatever she suggested should be straightened.”

“I suggested to straighten the surface weaving, but I do want to do some more examinations before I straighten it and might lose the reading I'm getting. Mister Fuse, would you be willing to come with me to Canterlot so I can hook you up to the most sensitive equipment in order to find out more about this? My spell isn't near as precise as it needs to be for this purpose,” Zaflore asked.

Fuse narrowed his eyes a little and frowned slightly. “Wasn't the purpose of you coming over here so I won't need to go to canterlot for exactly what you've just suggested?” Fuse asked somewhat sarcastically and tossed an unfriendly gaze towards Zaflore, Twilight and Basher.

“Well, Yes, But that was before I knew you were pretty much holding the key to something we didn't know yet, and we didn't know you had this key because we didn't even know of the existance,” Zaflore said cryptically.

“Start making sense for one flaming sentence, seriously, I am no scientist nor will I ever be one. Anyways, I guess you'll refuse to straighten the weaving if I refuse, right?” Fuse said in anticipation since he was pretty much expecting the worse, which he always got in his perspective.

“No, if you really insist I will remove the manifestation I saw, but it would be a shame the secret you hold the key to would be lost once again,” Zaflore said in a neutral voice and looked somewhat anxiously towards Twilight.

Fuse remained silent while he was contemplating his options. Basher, Twilight and Zaflore all three looked at him with different levels of anticipation all with different reasons. “You know what, I've looked like this for so long and since you were willing to change me anyways, even though it might have costed you one of the biggest discoveries ever, I'll come to Canterlot so you can check me out further,” Fuse stated politely and even attempted to smile towards Zaflore, which somewhat resembled a snarl which unsettles Zaflore at first.

Basher immediately addressed Zaflore: “he's still learning to smile, but trust me, that had to pass for a smile.”

Zaflore immediately calmed down and smiled now herself. “Phew, for a second there I thought you were mad at me Mister Fuse,”

“Anyways, when will you be going back to Canterlot? I can't come right away, there is something else I need to do before I can come to Canterlot for Celestia knows how long,” Fuse said sounding adamant.

“I can stay here for a week, I just finished a big project anyways and wanted to take some vacancy, so I might as well spend it here with Twilight, if she is willing to let me stay here, else I'll have to look for another place to sleep,” Zaflore said and smiled a little.

“Of course you may stay Zaflore, Perhaps I can even consult you on some of my personal work, but of course I won't be too much of a bother while you enjoy your free time,” Twilight said and smiled.

“Mister Fuse, we will see each other again, good luck with whatever you need to do,” Zaflore said.

“I guess we should be going now Basher, give those two some time to reminisce since they seem to know each other,” Fuse said with a voice similar to somepony who lost all fight in him.

“I don't know what I've gotten myself into now. What lays ahead of me in Canterlot in only a week and will I be able to finish my task here in Ponyville before the week is over? So many questions. Every time one gets answered more rise and I can't even begin to imagine what more will come once I finish my task here in Ponyville. Also, on a lighter note, Fireworks are very interesting, I should definitely read more about those!” ~Short Fuse Journal en