//------------------------------// // Queen Haven Rescues Phyllis’ Dying Faith in her Company // Story: Adjacent Adventure // by Merallakos //------------------------------// A moon had passed since Sweets (and Toots) helped Sprout induce mass hysteria and almost start a race war. It had been four weeks of idiocy as the City Council refused to use Canterlogic to its full capacity (they could at least clean up Sunny’s house!), and perpetuated the idea that interracial trade was silly. Sweets was half-way between amusement and horror at the level of silly-ness maintained in Maretime Bay. Speaking of which: "I WAS THE MARETIME DICTATOR!" Sprout yelled above the tumult of the meeting.  "Who cares about what the council members think?!" shouted a stockholder. "They're our main source of investment!" an engineer rebuked. "We need a new product!" a voice cried. "We don't even know what ponies want!" "Oooh! Ohh! I know! Phones!" “That’s pegasus technology!” “Well, it’s not like it’s outlawed.” "Where are all the sparklllllles???" Sweets frowned at that last remark. She chewed her gum a little harder. "Everypony!" Phyllis shouted, but nopony seemed to notice. "EVERYPONY!" she screamed. Silence. All heads turned towards Phyllis. One of the overhead lights started flickering. Phyllis sighed. "The Towel Dispenser was a flop. Our workers are complaining about the lack of work. We need solutions. Today. Does anyone have any reasonable suggestions that they can present? It's okay, take your time." A rotund pony raised his hoof. "Toots?" Phyllis asked. "I think we need to see what Maretime Bay wants." Toots adjusted his collar. "See what ponies want." This extremely basic idea Sweets and Toots had come with in hopes its simplicity would capture their audience. "Bah humbug!" shouted an elderly pony. "What we need is another twenty ton war machine to show those unicorns who's boss! Like in the old days!" He rubbed his hooves, "This time, with cannons." And just like that, the meeting derailed again. Zipp, accompanied by Queen Haven, had entered Canterlogic thirty minutes ago. They sat now in a hallway so universally bland that it was hard to believe it hadn't been transposed straight from a Zephyr Heights office. Zipp looked over at her mother. Even in the most hopeless situations, Haven had the uncanny ability to make it seem like there was nothing to worry about. Even after her arrest, and the ensuing demand from Zephyr Heights corporations for a political reform, Queen Haven was still managing her regular duties and continually filibustering policy changes. In the midst of this, she’d excused Zipp from her royal duties, and was here, ready to help her convince a foreign company to develop a vehicle for an expedition of which she had no assurance of success. Queen Haven smiled at Zipp.  Zipp smirked back. The door opened. A pony with a gravity defying ponytail trudged out. She turned towards the window at the end of the hall, staring blankly as she chewed bubblegum. Zipp cleared her throat. No response. The pony despondently blew a bubble. "Uh..." Zipp opened a wing, "Hello." The bubble popped as the pink pony startled. She gasped. "You're not a Canterlogic employee!" "Woah." Zipp stood up, holding her hoof out. "Relax. I'm Zipp Storm, or just Zipp for short." “Uh,” The pink pony's face scrunched. “I'm Sweets. I don't think you're supposed to be here." "I was wondering when the meeting will be over," Zipp redirected cooly, flashing her visitor pass. Sweets frowned, "It's already over." A particularly large shout issued from the meeting. "Well, it will be soon." "Hmmm," Queen Haven stood and spread her wings regally. "The truth is, Sweets– that is your name, right?" The pink pony nodded. "The truth is, Sweets," Haven continued, "that after much research, Zipp and I are here to discuss an important business opportunity with Mrs. Cloverleaf. Maybe you can tell us about the problem with the..." Queen Haven flicked a hoof at the meeting room, "current discussion is. We might just be able to help out." Sweets frowned skeptically. "Please, let us help you." Queen Haven said. Sweets looked at Zipp. "Uh," Zipp smiled, "Please?" Sweets noted that while the initial angry passion that derailed the meeting had since faded, the bickering had not. The small brains of Canterlogic were truly in play now. Toots and Phyllis both sat at the head of the table. The latter was nodding idly, pretending to follow along with the unproductive babblings of her company's upper management, the former was not even trying to hide his disappointment. Sweets trotted up to Phyllis. She whispered, "Do you know Zipp Storm and Queen Haven?" Phyllis nodded minutely. "They want to know if they can join the meeting. They seem convinced they can fix this mess."  Phyllis' face betrayed no emotion. She gave a slight nod.  Sweets opened the door, signaling to Queen Haven outside before closing it behind her and taking a seat at the table. Toots shot her an inquisitive glance, but Sweets only shrugged, popping another piece of bubblegum into her mouth. Then the door burst open. In entered a pale pink pony wearing mauve business attire, her sparkling vestments lighting up the room like a disco ball. Queen Haven quickly captured the attention of the bickering business ponies. Gliding in after her was an absolutely magnificent pegasus. She wore an expertly tailored suit, whose charcoal grey tones underscored her candy colored features. She surveyed the room with a calm air, eyes moving cooly from pony to pony. "Phyllis," Queen Haven's voice broke through the room. "Oh! ...Your majesty!" Phyllis bowed. "What brings you here? Don't you know we are discussing important business things?" "Business meeting?" The Queen surveyed the dozen or so ponies whose eyes were now trained on her. "Is that what all that yelling was? Sorry, but in Zephyr Heights things tend to go a little differently. Never a need to raise voices– unless it's to praise Me of course." She chuckled egotistically. "Uh," even Phyllis seemed taken aback, but she shook it off. "With the recent antiquidation of almost all Canterlogic products, and being Maretime Bay's prime source of economic prosperity and capstone of the City Council's investments, we are struggling to redefine our company." "OH." Haven sat down. "Well. Please continue. I wouldn't want to interrupt." "Oh, I'm afraid it's a lost cause at this point," Phyllis waved dismissively. "Perhaps," Zipp moved to the front of the room. "We can help get things back on track. You said this meeting is to discuss the future direction of Canterlogic?"  "Mmhm," confirmed Phyllis. Zipp repositioned a whiteboard in front of the room. She erased it, and wrote out 'Canterlogic - New Directions.' at the top, underlining it for emphasis. "So, just what was the agenda for your meeting?" "Uh, agenda?" Phyllis asked. "It's right there: what is Canterlogic going to do in the future?" Queen Haven walked in front of Phyllis, looking straight at the camera. "Hah, hah hah! Everypony knows that the start of any good business meeting is an agenda! First on the list is naturally a briefing, to make sure everypony is up to speed." Zipp wrote ">briefing" on the whiteboard. "Then we must discuss, in depth, the problems that our current paradigm shift presents." Zipp wrote ">problems" on the board. "Then we should talk about opportunities. Does anyone disagree?" Haven looked around the room. The business ponies shook their heads. ">opportunities" appeared next on the board. "Can we also have one for complaints?" asked Phyllis. "Of course," Haven nodded, "Zipp?" ">complaints, concerns" "And then we can finally discuss–" "The solution." Phyllis smiled. "Exactly. After which we can debrief." Haven looked to her audience. "Anything else before we begin?" Another round of shaking heads. ">solution >debriefing" "Now," Queen Haven said. "Before we continue, perhaps we should have a little recess?" Murmurs of agreement spread through the room. "Everypony dismissed. Be back in ten minutes!" Phyllis waited until most everypony had left the room, then heaved a massive sigh of relief. "Thank you, Queen Haven." "Please," Haven smirked. "Just 'Haven.' And besides, what are friends for? ...About that 'business opportunity' though...”