“Thank you again for your help,” Martin said, back in the library with Twilight. “And your contract.” Even though the rest of his trip had been a waste of time, he was still sincerely happy to have met her.
“You’re welcome,” Twilight said. “I hope things go well with your meeting tomorrow.” He’d adamantly explained that he was leaving not because of his failure, but because he had an important meeting, though he wasn’t sure if she believed him.
“Goodbye!” he said. He waved, then went back through the portal.
The next day, he left his house an hour before the meeting and hailed a taxi to take him to GEICO headquarters. He was too short to drive a normal car on his own, and while he'd been able to get a custom-made phone, there were no custom-made cars for his size. After paying the fare, he entered the building, waving to the receptionist and the security guard. Then he went to the elevator and climbed up the wall to hit the “up” button. Staying on the wall, he climbed around it and into the elevator when it arrived, pressing the button for the tenth floor and only then climbing down to the floor of the elevator. He had the bag from Twilight with him, which he thought would be sufficient evidence of his story if necessary.
He reached the boardroom with two minutes to spare, climbing up the table and greeting the Board members, who had summoned him for the meeting in the first place. They were all human.
A minute passed. “Well, if we’re all here, I think we can go ahead and start,” said Bill Roberts, the CEO of GEICO. “We are gathered here today to commend the excellent work of Mr. Martin Gecko in helping the GEICO corporation to reach the heights at which it now stands. Mr. Buffett, would you like to do the honors?”
Warren Buffett, a billionaire and also a member of GEICO’s Board of Directors, took out a small black velvet box, not unlike that which might contain an engagement ring for a marriage proposal.
“Mr. Gecko, I’d like to…” Mr Buffett said.
“Oh, um...I’m flattered, but I’m...I’m sorry, no,” Martin said.
“What?” Mr. Buffett said.
“I...the box…” Martin said, and realized he was embarrassing himself. “Sorry, never mind. A misunderstanding. Please go on."
Mr. Buffett looked at Mr. Roberts, who shrugged. Mr. Buffett started over. “Mr. Gecko, I’d like to present you with this Medal of Commendation for your service to this company.” He opened the box to reveal a small gecko-sized medal.
“Thank you!” Martin said. He took the medal, turning it around in his hand and looking at it with a smile.
“That’s not our only news,” Mr. Roberts said. “Now that we’ve managed to hook every person in the entire world with GEICO car insurance, we thought you might…” Martin’s smile fell. This was it. He was about to be fired. The medal was nothing but a consolation prize.
“Wait!” he said. “I have news to share first!”
“What’s that?” Mr. Roberts asked.
“Well,” Martin said. “While it may be true that we’ve hooked every person in this world with GEICO car insurance, what if I told you that there was a whole ‘nother world out there?” Muted chatter broke out among the others at the table.
“Another world?” Mr. Roberts said. “Really?”
“I know it sounds crazy, but look!” Martin said. He opened the bag and dumped out the stack of papers, which should have been much too big to fit. Mr. Buffett jumped back in surprise.
“Most of these are blank,” Martin admitted. “But…” He picked up the two signed contracts. “First, here’s Celestia’s contract, which you already knew about.” He handed it to Mr. Roberts, who unrolled it and nodded to himself.
“And this one…” Martin paused for suspense. “Is for the pony Twilight Sparkle!” He unrolled it himself and turned in a circle around the table, showing it to everybody who was present.
“A...pony?” Mr. Roberts said, taking the contract from Martin with a frown. “That’s not a hoofprint.”
“It’s not,” Martin said. “Because these ponies aren’t just ordinary ponies. They can write, and they can read, and they can do pretty much everything that we can. And they have magic! That’s how I got this bag.” More chatter broke out among those seated at the table.
A long pause. “But...they don’t have cars,” Martin admitted. That seemed important to mention, but he decided there was no need to bring up his failures.
“Well, maybe we’ll have to change that,” Mr. Roberts said quietly, almost to himself. Then, louder, “Mr. Gecko, I trust you. If you say there’s another world out there, a world of ponies who act like humans and have magic, I believe you. That bag is certainly unexplainable by any means that I know of.” He paused. “And even in a world without cars, you still managed to get someone to sign a commitment to buy car insurance.” Martin hesitated, but nodded. “As of today, I hereby appoint you official sales liason for car insurance in…what was this world called?”
“Equestria,” Martin said.
“Official sales liason for car insurance in Equestria,” Mr. Roberts said. “In the coming days, we’ll decide on plans for expanding into Equestria. If they don’t have cars -”
“They do have carts and carriages,” Martin interjected.
“If they don’t have cars,” Mr. Roberts continued. “Then we’ll figure out something else. Whether by expanding coverage to carts and carriages or by partnering with an auto company to bring cars to this world, we shall make Equestria see the value of GEICO insurance, and we. Will. Double. Our customer base!” He shouted the last parts of his statement in short bits, punctuated by shakes of his fist and tiny pauses for dramatic effect, and the whole table cheered. “Go ahead and go home, Martin. I want you bright and early here tomorrow.”
Martin put the blank contracts back into his bag and the table gasped, still not used to seeing magic in action. “What else did you want to tell me?” He asked. “Before I told you about Equestria?”
“Oh, that’s not important,” Mr. Roberts said. “What’s important now is selling car insurance to Equestria!” Martin smiled, sure that he’d avoided unemployment, and climbed down from the table. He realized then that he'd forgotten to ask if they could give Twilight an extra special discount as thanks for her help, but he figured he could always ask tomorrow.
As he headed toward the door, he heard Mr. Buffett whisper to Mr. Roberts, “I thought you were going to offer him a position on the Board.”
“Not now,” Mr. Roberts whispered back. “He’s our #1 saleslizard. We need him on this.”
Martin facepalmed as he walked out the door.
The End