Passive Antagonism

by DrOcsid

When it All Went Wrong

"Haven't seen anypony like that, to my memory. Sorry."

"That's alright, thanks for your help anyway."

Twilight had just finished asking her twenty-third pony of the day about the potential whereabouts of this "Pony Guy", and it might as well have been her first. She'd gotten nowhere closer to finding anypony who'd seen him anywhere, although there's only so much success you can reasonably expect when you're just going around asking random ponies. Discord had elected to go off by himself, using his "own methods" to find the pony, so they didn't have his magic at their disposal either.

"Perhaps we should change our strategy," said Rarity. "For instance, we should consider what sort of places somepony new to town would head for first."

"She's got a point," said Applejack. "Maybe he's shopped at a store or somethin' while he's been here. Why don't we try askin' around in the market?"

"That's a good idea," said Twilight. "We should-"

Just as she began her sentence, however, she stopped. "Wait, do you hear that?" She looked around a bit, trying to discern the source of the sound - it sounded like somepony calling "Fluttershy".

Pinkie ended up finding the source of the sound first. "Ooh, girls! It's Lyra!" She pointed her hoof to the unicorn she spoke of, who was sitting on a park bench a good ways away.

"Oh! Well, I suppose we can ask her as well," said Twilight. The six ponies headed over to the bench Lyra was seated on, a bit curious as to why she was calling for Fluttershy specifically.

"Hello, Lyra," said Fluttershy, as the six of them walked up. "It's nice to see you today."

"You too," said Lyra. "I just wanted to let you know, there was somepony looking for you earlier."

"Wait, really?!" said Twilight, butting into the conversation. "What did they look like?"

"Look like?" said Lyra, putting her hoof to her chin. "Well, I remember he was wearing a red cape. Said his cat was barking, or something. Asked for directions to Fluttershy's house."

"AHA!" said Rainbow, flying in between them. "So we have a lead! And we know his next target: Fluttershy!"

"Oh no!" said Fluttershy, who had adopted a very worried look on her face. "But Angel's all there by himself! Who knows what might happen to him?"

"Yeah, we need to get to Fluttershy's, pronto!" said Rainbow.

"Right! Thanks for the help, Lyra!" said Twilight. And with that, the six of them dashed towards the direction of Fluttershy's house, leaving a rather confused Lyra behind.

"If this good for nothin' varmint burned down Fluttershy's house I might just straight up deck him in the face when we find him," said Applejack.

"That makes two of us," added Rainbow.

Soon enough, the six of them reached Fluttershy's place, which they were relieved to find was seemingly completely intact. At least, aside from the front window being wide open. "It looks like he's already been here," said Twilight, peering into the house. "Oh my gosh. Fluttershy, you might want to take a look at this."

"What is it?" asked Fluttershy, walking up to the window herself. She peered inside, and let out a gasp. "Oh no!" Without warning, she flew inside through the window in a haste.

"What?" said Rainbow. "What is it?!"

"You should probably see for yourselves," said Twilight. She slowly opened the door, revealing a rather surprising sight. That is, the house was completely wrecked from top to bottom. Sofas were torn, knives were stuck in the walls, picture frames were shattered, and in the center of it all laid an unmoving Angel Bunny on the floor, with Fluttershy at his side, trying to nudge him awake.

"Angel!" Fluttershy frantically said. "Angel, wake up!"

Angel, after a moment, let out a long yawn, opened his eyes, and pushed himself onto his feet. It seemed apparent to everyone that he'd gained a significant amount of weight, somehow.

Fluttershy sighed. "Oh, I'm so relieved. Was that bad pony here? Did he do all this?"

Angel looked off to the side for just a second, then back to Fluttershy. He gave a quick, affirmative nod.

"And how did you get so... you know," Fluttershy said, not able to think of a nice way to put Angel's rotund figure. "He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

This time, Angel took a good few seconds to respond to her question, seeming like he was trying to think of a response. Finally, he let out a series of rabbit noises that, while they didn't mean anything to anypony else, were enough to make Fluttershy gasp. "He did what?!"

"What is it?!" Asked Rainbow. "What did he do?"

Fluttershy looked back at the rest of the ponies. "He says the pony forced him to eat all the carrots in the house!"

That statement was met with a series of gasps to match Fluttershy's. "What?!" said Pinkie, the first to say something. "That's awful!"

"Breaking into my house and destroying my belongings is one thing," said Fluttershy, "but torturing a sweet, innocent animal is NOT something I'm just going to put up with!"

"Fluttershy's right," said Rarity, now more determined than ever to find this pony. "Let's search the house, girls! We must find anything that can possibly lead us to this ruffian."

~Just a little while ago...~

Guy ran for the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, not bothering to look behind him as he dove into the nearest bush he could find. He peeked out at the house, hoping desperately that Angel hadn't followed him outside. He must've watched the house for a good five minutes before feeling safe enough to make any movement. Not wanting to get back on the main path for the time being, he instead decided to travel along the edge of the forest, for the sake of ducking behind a tree or bush if need be.

After a fair amount of walking, Guy stopped himself. What's that I hear? Are those... hoofsteps? Using his quick thinking properly for once, Guy hid himself behind a conveniently-placed tree and peeked out from behind it. Come on, the last thing I need right now is to be seen. He hoped that whoever was on their way would just pass by quickly, allowing him to continue on back to Ponyville. However, seeing exactly who it was that was coming up the path didn't exactly ease his nerves.

Turns out, there were a lot more hoofsteps than Guy thought - more specifically, the hoofsteps of Twilight and her friends. Oh great, just what I need. What are they all in such a hurry for, anyway? Guy contemplated this for a moment as they ran by. Wait... Are they looking for me?

Guy quickly dismissed that thought, though. Nah, no. They can't be. There's no way they've already found me out. Guy waited for the six of them to get far enough away, and then continued his trek back to Ponyville. Once he arrived, he inevitably ended up passing by that helpful unicorn from earlier, whose name he couldn't remember. Probably because she never told it to him. He tried to rush by, but couldn't help but stop once she called for him.

"Hey! Guy with the cape!"

Guy turned around and walked over to the bench. "Oh, uh, hey. You need something?"

"I just wanted to let you know that Fluttershy and the rest of them just headed for her house. Apparently, the six of them are looking for you."

Guy's body ceased all movement as he went completely wide-eyed. Wait. What? "I- I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"...The six of them are looking for you?"

In that instant, Guy's entire world went a bit darker as a huge sense of pure dread overcame him. They're... looking for me? How? How did they figure me out so fast?!

Lyra, on the other hand, had taken notice of Guy's look of complete terror. "Uh... Are you okay? You might still be able to catch up to them if you head back to Fluttershy's."

Guy still found himself unable to respond, too absorbed in his own sudden sense of fear. He anxiously looked around himself, realizing that everyone in town was now a potential eyewitness who could let the Element Bearers know about his location at any moment. "Oh no," he barely managed to say as he slowly stepped away from Lyra. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, this is bad."

"What's bad? I don't understand. What's going on between you and them?"

Instead of answering, Guy instead picked up his pace and ran off, determined to get back to his motel room as soon as possible. I knew I should've been more careful! Everypony knows evil plans only go well when you actually plan them out! What am I gonna do now?! Everything's gone wrong! Guy certainly knew he couldn't fight them, and he sure as heck couldn't be walking around town with the six of them on a town-scale pony hunt. The only thing he could think to do was retreat to his motel room. He knew he'd be safe there, at least. It was a good thing it was right on this street he ran down.

Much to Guy's relief, he managed to make it to the motel, and then his room, without being stopped by anypony else. He yanked the door open, ran inside, shut it, locked it, and closed the blinds. Alright, okay, Guy thought to himself, letting his breathing relax a bit now that he wasn't out in the open. Gotta compose myself. I'm alone now. I've got all the time I need to figure out where to go from here.

Now, Guy's initial plan when he came to Ponyville was to prank all six of the Element Bearers, and then finally reveal himself as their new nemesis. So far, however, he'd only gotten four out of six, and the remaining two seemed completely unfeasible. On top of that, he was seriously getting cold hooves about the whole concept of actually meeting Twilight and the rest - especially after burning down Applejack's barn, and being part of the destruction of most of Fluttershy's home. Who knew what they were willing to do to him at this point?

Guy knew that, as an earth pony, he stood no chance against a team of two of his own kind, plus two pegasi and two unicorns. He'd be completely at their mercy. Therefore, letting them catch him would, quite frankly, be a terrible idea. So, what was left?

"...I think I'm gonna have to put this whole villain thing on hold," said Guy, sitting on his bed. "I have got to get out of Ponyville, stat." And with that, he grabbed his suitcase and started stuffing his belongings inside, too frantic to worry about organization. He slowed a bit, though, when another thought came to mind. I should probably wait until nighttime to head back to Canterlot, though. Just for the sake of not being seen. As long as I can get myself on that train, I'm home free.

~Meanwhile...~

Twilight and the rest eventually made it back to Ponyville, the six of them a bit disappointed that they hadn't found any more leads as to where they might find the dastardly "Pony Guy".

"Ugh! He was practically right under our noses, too!" said Rainbow.

"He's a slippery one, alright," said Applejack. "Looks like we're gonna have to keep askin' around if anypony's seen him."

The six of them ended up passing by Lyra for the second time as Applejack said this. "Well, just to be sure, let's ask Lyra again. Maybe she saw him again while we were gone," said Twilight.

Just as the six of them walked up to Lyra, she voiced some kind of mock annoyance. "Let me guess, you're gonna ask me about that pony again?"

"Er... Yeah, that's right," said Twilight, a bit sheepishly. "How'd you know?"

Lyra finally got off the bench and onto her hooves. "Alright, what is it with you six and this guy? Have you been chasing each other around all day?"

"More like we're chasing him!" said Rainbow, flying in front of everyone else. "This guy's been messing with us ever since he got to Ponyville!"

"That's right," said Twilight. "He broke into my home just to rearrange my library."

"He burned down my barn!"

"He stole my frosting!"

"He tried to frame both me and my sister for said frosting theft!"

"He did terrible things to Angel Bunny..."

Lyra stood there for a second, wide-eyed. "...Wow. That's a lot. You know, I thought there was something off about him." She looked at Rainbow Dash. "I'm guessing he hasn't done anything to you, then?"

"Nope," said Rainbow. "And I totally get why. But, still, we've gotta find him! Have you seen him while we were gone?"

"Actually, yeah," said Lyra. "I told him you guys were looking for him, and he suddenly got all scared-looking. Guess I understand why, now. He went over in that direction." She pointed down the street she'd watch the pony wordlessly dash down.

"Thanks, Lyra!" said Pinkie. "Let's go get him!" The six of them ran off, closer than ever to finding the pony who'd been an awful thorn in their collective sides.

"...Yep, just a typical day in Ponyville," said Lyra, sitting back on her favorite bench.

"There's a lot of buildings down this road," said Twilight as she ran, looking around for one that would make sense for the pony to be inside. "The dentist, a bar, an optometrist... Where do you girls think he might be?"

"Well, let's see," said Applejack. "Where would a pony who's just visiting town stay?"

As if on cue, they found their answer - they'd just ran right in front of the Ponyville Motel. The six of them skidded to a halt. "Oh, this place!" said Rarity. "Why, I was just here yesterday."

"Do you think he might be staying here?" asked Twilight.

"It's certainly possible," said Rarity. "It wouldn't hurt to ask."

The six ponies entered the main lobby of the hotel, the same pony working the front desk as always. He greeted them with a smile as they entered. "Oh, hello everyone. What can I do for you?"

"Hello," said Twilight, walking up to the desk. "We're looking for somepony, and we have reason to believe they might be staying here. I was just wondering if you could tell us whether they are or not."

"Certainly," said the pony, opening the book on his desk. "What's their name?"

"Well," Twilight said, rubbing the back of her neck. "I... don't really know. Do you have anything under 'Pony Guy'?"

The pony read over the book for a moment, and shook his head. "Nope. Nothing like that, sorry."

"Alright, thanks anyw-" Twilight's sentence was interrupted as Pinkie popped up next to her. "Well, do you know if you've seen anything weird go on here lately? Any real suspicious types come in?"

"Actually, yes, now that I think about it," said the pony, putting his hoof up to his chin. "Just yesterday, I had to serve a rather interesting customer. He acted pretty strangely when he noticed that you were present, Rarity."

"Of course he did," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm surprised I didn't see him."

"Well, he was hiding behind his suitcase, for whatever reason. Once you left, he paid for a room with a rather unusually large amount of cash. I believe it was under..." The pony looked over the book again. "...Yes, it was specifically under the name 'Fake Name'."

That got a snicker from Applejack. "Really now? Well, that's gotta be him. Is he even tryin' anymore?"

"I thought it strange too, but we have no policy against it, so I allowed it. If you want to visit him, I can provide you with his room number. I'm not sure if he's in right now, though."

"That would be great!" said Twilight. "Looks like we're closer than ever to finding this 'Pony Guy'."

~Meanwhile, again...~

Guy finished stuffing every one of his belongings in his suitcase, and he shut it closed. Alright. Okay. Now I just need to wait until nighttime. Just then, though, something came to mind that he'd completely forgot about.

Wait a minute... my MONEY!

Guy just remembered how he'd given the front desk pony a rather inordinate amount of money, thus getting him quite a few days to stay. Guy couldn't bring himself to leave without it, that was at least a month's food worth of bits. He had to go get that refund.

Guy got off his bed and went to his door, sure that he could at least make it to the front desk and back without being seen. Just as he was about to open it, however, he was startled by the sound of somepony knocking.

...I swear, if that's who I think it is... Guy peered through the peephole, only to have his suspicions confirmed: Twilight and company were right outside his motel room.

"MMF!" Guy almost made some sort of surprised noise, but managed to stop himself, for the most part. Are you serious?! They found my motel room? How fast do these ponies work?! Guy stepped back from the door, knowing he obviously couldn't answer it.

"Hello? Anypony in there?" he heard somepony call from outside.

Great. Now what?! I'm cornered! There's nowhere for me to go! Guy looked around frantically for any options, but none presented themselves to him. Going through any window would just put him in view of the six, and he couldn't find any part of his room that led to anywhere else in the motel.

That is, until he looked up. Wait! The vent! Guy got on his bed, stood on his suitcase, and reached for the vent on the ceiling. After a moment of struggling, he managed to yank the thing open. He jumped up and pulled himself inside, disappointed he had to leave his briefcase behind. At least there wasn't anything too valuable inside.

The vents themselves were rather cramped, which didn't help with Guy's claustrophobia. Regardless, he pressed on, trying to find another vent he could pop out of. I sure hope I don't fall into somepony else's ro-AAAGH! Guy was cut off as he fell through a vent he hadn't seen, right onto the floor of the motel's lobby.

"Holy sh- cow!" said the front desk pony, shocked at Guy's sudden appearance. "Where in the heavens did you come from?!"

Guy got over his momentary dazedness and ran up to the counter. "Hey, you said I can get a refund for any days I haven't stayed, right?"

"Y-Yes, that's correct."

"Alright, I'd like that refund now, then! Pronto! Stat! I've gotta get out of here!"

"Very well, then," the pony said, reaching under his desk. "I must warn you, however, there is a small fee for refunding this early."

"That's fine!" said Guy, anxiously looking to the door. "Just gimme the maximum amount of money you can! Like I'm robbing you! Except, I'm not actually doing that. Just wanna make that clear. I don't need that on my hooves right now."

The pony gave him a strange look and pulled a sizable bag of bits from underneath the counter. "Would this be satisfactory?"

"Perfectly fine! Thanks!" Guy grabbed the bag and started dragging it along as he headed out the back door. Next stop, the train station.

~Meanwhile, yet again...~

"Hellooooo?" said Twilight, knocking a third time. "Pony Guy? We know you're in there!"

"...No, we don't," said Applejack.

"I'm trying to sound intimidating, okay?" said Twilight. "It doesn't look like he's answering, anyway."

"Well, I say we go in ourselves!" said Rainbow. "He broke into your guys's stuff, no reason we can't break into his!"

"It's not like the motel belongs to him," said Twilight, "but, still, we do really need to find him by any means necessary. If we have to get into a motel room for that, then so be it. Ready, everyone?"

The rest of the ponies nodded. Twilight charged up a spell and let it loose, the six of them disappearing from outside the room and reappearing inside. To their disappointment, there was pretty much nothing wrong with the place, aside from the suitcase sitting on the bed.

"Well," said Rainbow. "Not much to see here, huh?"

"Just a suitcase!" said Pinkie, bouncing over to it.

"Looks like he wasn't planning on staying long," said Applejack. "He's all packed up and everything."

"Or... maybe he's hiding inside it!" said Rainbow, as she flew to the suitcase and unzipped it. To her dismay, there was nopony inside. "Oh, well. It was worth a shot." She rummaged through the suitcase for a bit and then pulled out a particularly old-looking newspaper. "Hey, look!" She held it out for everyone to see. "This newspaper's got Discord on the front!"

"That's weird," said Twilight as she took it from Rainbow. "This newspaper's from years ago. Why does he have it?"

"Well," said Rarity, "his suitcase is here, which means he'll likely come back for it eventually. Perhaps we should stay here and wait for him to return?"

"Good idea, Rarity," said Twilight. "Though, I don't know if all six of us have to stay. I think I should stay here while the rest of you keep looking around town. You still haven't tried the marketplace yet, right?"

"True that," said Applejack. "Alright, if need be, we can all meet back here. For now, though, let's get back to figuring out where this guy is." The rest of the ponies nodded in unison, and the five left, leaving Twilight in the room alone.

Twilight remained vigilant and determined in the idea of catching this pony off guard when he finally returned to his room. Or, rather, at least, she tried to. While she remained on alert, it was hard to not get a bit bored in a motel room such as this, with nothing to do.

Twilight eventually decided to reflect on this strange situation, thinking about all the events that led up to this culminating chase. "What a weird couple days," Twilight said to herself, letting herself fall back on the bed. She was tired after all that running around, after all. "I don't know what this guy is trying to do, but we've gotta stop it." As her eyes wandered around the ceiling, they eventually came to rest on something rather unusual - a vent, just large enough to fit a pony, left wide open.

"What in the world...?"

~~~

The front desk pony had his fair share of weird experiences as well, though pretty much all of them had to do with this "Fake Name". Or, "Pony Guy", as Twilight called him. Still, his most unusual experience yet came when not just one pony dropped into the middle of the lobby, but a second one as well some time later.

"OOF!" Twilight painfully said as she hit the ground.

"Wh- Oh, my! Princess, are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Twilight got to her hooves. "Sorry about that. I thought I'd found a new potential lead on where this guy went."

"Actually, you did. He dropped in through the same way you did, just a matter of minutes ago. Got a refund of all his money, then left."

"What?!" said Twilight, getting up real close to the pony. "Where'd he go?!" The pony simply pointed towards the back door.

"Thanks!" She said, and she ran through it, outside. She looked around, trying to see anypony with a red cape, but nothing immediately jumped out to her. He must be trying to make a run for it, she thought. But where would somepony trying to leave town go?

~~~

Guy finally arrived at the train station, fully ready to get a ticket back to Canterlot. Almost there. Just need to buy the ticket. Then I'm out of here. He was a bit irritated about how much his bag of money had slowed him down, but he didn't care too much anymore. He was too concerned with leaving.

He walked up to the front desk. "Hey, when's the next train to Canterlot?"

"In about one hour," answered the pony.

Dang it! Alright, okay, if I can lay low for just an hour, I should be fine. "Yeah, alright. Can I get a ticket for that, then?

"It's fully booked, sorry."

"What?! Okay, what about the next one?"

"That one's three hours off."

Three hours?! I mean, I guess I can manage that... "Okay, give me a ticket for that one, then!"

"That one's also fully booked."

Are you serious? "Look, just give me a ticket to the next train to Canterlot that isn't fully booked!"

"That's five hours off. Is that fine with you?"

"Yes! That's fine! Just take my money!" He said, indiscriminately grabbing some bits from his bag and dumping them onto the counter. The pony counted them, took the amount that equated to the ticket's cost, and handed it to him. "There you go, sir."

"Thanks!" Guy grabbed the ticket, shoved it in his money bag, and headed for the door. As he passed through, he nearly bumped into somepony, but was too absorbed in his own thought to fully process who it was.

"Oh, 'scuse me, Twilight."

"No problem, Pony Guy."

Just as the door shut with Guy outside, it finally caught up to him what had just happened. Wait... What in Celestia's name did I just say?! He looked back to the door, which then opened. Twilight poked her head through, apparently having had a similar brainfart moment to him. The two of them made eye-contact, staring at each other for about five solid seconds.

Guy was the first to say anything. "...Oh, shoot."

Truth be told, the word Guy uttered in that instance was not "shoot", but rather something far more fitting for the situation he now found himself knee-deep in. With no other options left, Guy dropped his money bag and ran for it, hoping he could lose her in the nearest alleyway.

"Hey! Stop!" Twilight said, running out the door after him.

Comments

[Silent Echo]

Twilight dont hurt him he is to handsom!

[duckmagee]

honestly im surprised no one made a comment about angel getting him

[Philosophysics]

The shenanigans must continue!

[Neon Icy Wings]

Now begins Guy's five hour Ponyville survival experience! Will he be able to out maneuver Twilight and friends before his train arrives or will he be caught and the insanity finally end? Next time on Passive Antagonism!

[Kornwallis]

I half expect discord to show up and end up helping him prank another day, simply because he’s egotistical enough to keep his biggest fan out of trouble.

[Kirtai]

9241312
He dropped the ticket though.

[Neon Icy Wings]

9241766
Did he? Darn my reading comprehension. Then the possibility is severely reduced to a small chance the ticket takes a note out of Indiana Jones' hat's book and comes back. Honestly twould be interesting to see it flutter back into play somehow or where.

[Kirtai]

9241777
He put it in his money bag and later dropped the bag. So he's in double trouble

[Yutah123]

Welp, he’s a goner.

Assuming he doesn’t manage to escape, which he just might, it’s a matter of how much he can explain before Rainbow Dash arrives.

[Mr Stargazer]

Eh, this is not as funny as I had hoped but im still getting a small giggle. Keep it up!

Advice, bumbling incompetence in a single protagonist is only funny if it accidentally works in his favor.

[Nightyear]

I have say this story has me intrigued especially the first few chapters. Its always nice to have a change on life, no matter how.....peculiar it is.

P.S: keep up the great work X3
P.S.S: i have high hopes for the chase scene, even if it is overused :P

[Antiquarian]

This story continues to be delightful