"Woof! Woof! Woof!" The barking slowly came into focus, constant and annoying.
Stirring his body, Amissus looked up through the dug up hole to see a brown faced dog barking and panting in excitement. He blinked a few times to rid his eyes of the dirt and still clinging sleep. Putting his head through the hole, he wiggled his forelegs free, then pushed the rest of his body from the hole. The dog pranced around him, like it had found a playmate. When it stopped, he looked the dog over properly. It had a red collar and a shiny pendent. Taking it in his hoof, he read off of it "Wynonna – Return to Sweet Apple Acres if lost."
"Well Wynonna, looks like I'm taking you back home." He said to her.
"Woof!" She replied.
A little late in the morning for Amissus, the sun had gained a position high in the clouds, but it wasn't directly overhead. The heat of the day was coming on in full, sending the chill of night back underground. Looking out from the trees, he saw the road that he had escaped from Rainbow Dash on. He looked to see if the dog was paying attention to him, and when he saw that she was, he started walking towards it. Wynonna came along with him.
Finally on the road, he looked down one way and there he sees a floating house of cloud. He assumes it to be Rainbow Dash's and headed the opposite way.
…
Entering town, Amissus avoided the more crowded parts of Ponyville, like the town square and the market, knowing well that his notoriety hadn't ceased just yet. This was proven when a young mare approached him. It was obvious that she was a journalist of some kind, with satchels of paper at her hips and a fresh pencil behind her ear, but Amissus didn't know if she was like the others from yesterday.
"Good morning, sir!" Her voice was eager and shrill, like a young worker on her first day.
Amissus ignored her, as he did for those reporters yesterday. But she persisted on with her greeting, horn's magic holding a pen ready to write.
"I'm Penn Swift, freelance journalist. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
Again, he ignored her greeting.
"Mister Amissus, I just want to get your side of what's happening."
Hearing his name from a pony he'd never met warranted a look in her direction. This slight gesture gave her motivation to continue.
"Mister Amissus, if I may, do you believe that your presence here could disrupt the peace?"
"You're disrupting my peace." He scoffed. Wynonna was sniffing Penn as she stopped. Amissus whistled for her to continue following him.
"Uhh…Okay then! I'll see you around! At least I got you to talk!" she said it in triumph.
He rolled his eyes and looked to his side where Wynonna paraded at his pace.
"Let's just get you home so I can get out of here." He told the dog, who was still happily panting away.
...
He had to ask two ponies for directions to Sweet Apple Acres, careful to pick the ones who didn't look to dabble in public affairs. The first pointed him to a direction through town then, consulting the second, told him the roads he had to go through. Thanking them, he skirted along the edge of town to the fence and gate with the sign over it painted with the words "Sweet Apple Acres."
Not wanting to go inside, he looked down at Wynonna, who sniffed around the posts of the gate, but she didn't continue inside. He whistled at her and said "Go on in. Go home." He waved his foreleg, motioning for the dog to continue through the gate. Wynonna just closed her panting mouth and tilted her head, looking confused, but her eyes showed complete understanding of what he meant.
Amissus tilted his head back and closed his eyes in frustration. He swiveled his head so that it faced towards the barn on the property. He saw a bright coated filly, a bow atop a red mane, feeding hogs. She looked to him and seemed to talk to somepony out of view. Then he saw that auburn face with the leather hat: "Applejack…" He mouthed. He looked to Wynonna and said "You led me here, rat!"
Wynonna seemed excited for her completed task and looked to Applejack, who was approaching them, and ran towards her master. Amissus knew he was trapped: He couldn't run with all of his casts and bandages, meaning that he would have to have another encounter with one of the specific ponies he attempted constantly to avoid and escape.
"Well if it ain't the filly-fooler himself: I don't know why y' did it, but Rainbow'd come t' me an' the rest of us earlier sayin' that she'd lost ya. You don't know how strongly Rainbow feels about seeing somethin' through, especially when one of her own friends asks it of her."
Applejack's resentment of him was equally matched by a spontaneous resentment he grew for her. He didn't like the feeling he had, but it felt…right.
"Look Applejack, I just came to return your dog. I don't care what happened last night with me running off. If you haven't noticed: I'm trying to avoid Rainbow, you, and your friends."
"I can't believe I'd let Twilight talk me into puttin' up with you; you were a burden when we took care of ya and you're a burden now, lucky for both of us that I've carried more than this on m' mind." Her tone annoyed Amissus. He hadn't seen what he had done wrong, but apparently he had done something to earn this scolding. She continued "Twilight's cookin' up a way to catch ya right now at the library."
"Then I guess I should tell her to call off the search."
"I guess y' should, too." She said, half mocking his wording.
"You're welcome for your dog." He said, parting.
"Yeah, yeah, thanks; I got things t' do." She said after him, also leaving the gate.
Amissus's first taste of Sweet Apple Acres was bitter.
…
"…And you go search the Old Square. Finally, you look for him near the inn." Twilights voice spread about the area in front of the library, coordinating search efforts to find Amissus. He was watching her with amusement. He wondered what possessed her to strain herself again to find and catch him. Starting to stamp up to her, he let out a small chuckle.
Her face presented an obvious annoyance, slowly building to rage, when the realization that her work had been ruined seconds after completion dawned. "Amissus!" She shouted, "For the love of Celestia! I just organized a search for you!" She stomped her way to him and flung her hoof from the ground, striking him. His jaw ached as he readjusted it with his hoof, rubbing the pain away.
"I suppose I deserved that…" He said with a slight grin disguised as a pained expression.
Twilight, shocked that she had followed through with her anger, just said "More than deserved it."
"Well...do you want to talk about why you're so angry?" He said. He felt cynical and a little lightheaded.
She breathed in a few gasps of air, releasing each one back out. In a much more composed manner, she flourished to the library, directing him inside.
In the lobby, there were the others minus the pink one.
"Where's Pink…Pinkie…" He attempted to ask, but he forgot her name.
"Pinkie Pie." Rarity said, huffy and annoyed. "She's working."
Looking along from Rarity, Rainbow Dash was cross armed, sitting silently and avoiding looking at him. Again looking along, there was Fluttershy; she was one that Amissus didn't completely mind being around. Twilight joined them, forming a wall against one; much like they had did when they chased him. He felt that they were to chase after him again, this time with words. Twilight began the race.
"Amissus, we've been talking and…" She paused, thinking of how to say what they had decided. "We've all, at least us present, have decided that your behavior isn't boding well for your health."
He stifled a laugh. "Not good for my health? I think that plenty of fresh air is doing the trick."
"Oh, I believe it's working marvelously!" A male voice, condescending and jolly came from nowhere. The wooden bust on the table behind them bore another, more particular, face. Twilight snapped her head to Fluttershy, who responded with a "What?" Twilight closed her eyes and tensed, annoyed again.
A bit surprised, but not wanting this advantage to go to waste, Amissus told them "See? The statue agrees with me." This made the face on the bust laugh. The face then grew a mismatch of a body in a serpentine motion. Arms, claws, paws, legs, hooves all grew from the body as well. The figures was finalized with a horn and antler on his head, and two wings, feathered and bat like respectively, popped into existence.
"How fun it is to have another pony in town." The creature slithered next to Amissus, saying "They never let me have any fun."
"Discord, why are you here?" Twilight asked with eyes still closed.
"I was here to check out a book-" His eagle claw had a book appear in it "-when I hear about our friend here." He patted Amissus's head with his lion paw.
"Discord, you don't read. You've never read. This is the first time I've heard that excuse." Twilight told him.
"Well maybe it's because it's the truth."
"Discord, Twilight's right. Why are you here?" Fluttershy's gentle voice sank into Discord.
"Oh, fine: I got lonely and bored, so I wandered around town following him." He motioned to Amissus. Amissus let his mouth gape as if he was going to say something, but nothing came out.
"Oh really…" Twilight saw the opportunity that Amissus had hoped she would overlook. "Then perhaps you can tell us what happened last night with Amissus and Rainbow Dash."
"Oh, the colorful pegasus? And him?" Twilight nodded then smugly glanced at Amissus. "What's there to say? She was going all over town looking for an inn that would take this poor senseless pony. She eventually decided to take him home with her when nopony would rent him a room. Then this pony-" He patted Amissus's head again. "-decided that he didn't like that and ran off. He hid and slept in a hole." Twilight's smugness melted when she didn't hear what she wanted.
"And that's it?" Twilight asked.
"That's it." Amissus and Discord said in unison.