The staff was in chaos. Everypony was running around, trying to figure out what was going on and how they could get out. Golden Bell was with Heyfield, both crying. Red Lead and Buronson were screaming their heads off while manically drawing large weapons. Low Web and Joe Queso started fighting, performing wrestling moves on each other. Tres Williams was just walking into a wall, mumbling about how everything was now finished while Finch was trotting in circles. The only ones who weren't freaking out were Sound and Cloverbud.
"Everypony, calm down!" Cloverbud yelled out, restoring sanity to the room. "Now, it is true that an editorial mandate is usually something to worry about, but we need to be collected while doing this. If we don't get these stories made, we're fired."
"We're as good as fired already with what we have to make!" Heyfield cried out. "I don't know anything about comedy!"
"Look, we just need to find a way that...oh who am I kidding. He pretty much doomed us," Cloverbud admitted.
"Say," Sound said, noticing something was off, "is it just me, or is not everypony here?"
"Oh yeah! Malarson!" Low Web said, remembering the fifth writer. "Guess he's late or something. He must be pretty glad he wasn't here."
"I thought he'd left our studio," Queso added, remembering something about him changing companies.
"Not yet. He's still with us for two more weeks." Golden Bell informed them. "Until then he has to complete any assignments he has within that time."
"Wait, I just had an insane idea." The group was silent as they listened to what Low Web had to say. "What if we convince Malarson to take our projects and put his name on them?"
"But I thought that we were the ones supposed to make whatever we were assigned," Buronson pointed out.
"We would, unless we simply had him working with each of us. Think about it; Malarson actually has a history of working on projects that went wrong, but he still manages to get hired because of his more famous works. Not only that, but he's going over to a new company. If we simply have his name first on each of our projects, ponies will assume that the reason they got horribly created was because somepony who was unfamiliar with the material kept on interjecting their own ideas into it. If it somehow goes well, we can just chalk it up as a victory for us."
"That's just insane enough to work!"Heyfield yelled.
"Yeah, and even though you writers might be the ones who have to suffer, me and the other Pencillers get to shine," Sound said cheerfully. "After all, if your stories stink, they'll love our awesome art even more."
"Buck yeah!" Finch, Tres, and Red said, high-hoofing each other.
"Don't forget our colorist, Ink Blot," Heyfield reminded them.
"Oh yeah. Does that guy ever come in?" Sound asked, realizing that he was in the office less than even herself.
"I don't think so. You guys usually hand me your work and then I leave it on Bate's desk. I once asked him myself about our colorist and he said that he only comes in at night at the every three days to pick it up and drop off the other stuff," Cloverbud explained.
"It doesn't matter right now. We just need to get in contact with Malarson and have him start working with us and we'll be good. Got it?" The group agreed with Heyfield, but then remembered something else.
"Hey, Clover, what about you and Golden?"
"What do you-" Cloverbud then remembered that she was now in charge of making the corrections with the new toys that would be released. Both her and Golden Bell now had a new responsibility and it would be on their heads if they didn't get it right.
"So, Cloverbud, would you like to accompany me to the toy factory?" Golden Bell asked in her sweetest voice.
"Sure," she said with draining energy. Golden Bell must have been absorbing it since she seemed to get more energetic the two hung around. They went off while the rest of the artists waited for Malarson.
Bates was finally able to rest and relax on his train ride to Lowtide Harbor, a vacation destination he'd been wanting to visit for a while now. He hadn't exaggerated either when he said that he was heading straight there, as he immediately went from the office to the train station. He didn't worry about packing anything or worrying about his house. That was something for another day. Right now he'd just go over and relax.
"Ah, this vacation time is finally being used. Don't think I've taken a day off in years. Feels great though." As he laid back against the seat, he couldn't help but forget something. "Huh. Now, was there something I should have done before I left? I know I gave the crew their mandates." He thought it over and remembered, "Oh yeah! Malarson! Hopefully he'll find something to do. Anyway, not my problem. Left it to those guys and they should be able to handle it."
Five minutes later, the thought came to him again, a nagging feeling in his head. He thought that it was just paranoia, but couldn't shake the feeling that it was legitimate.
"Okay. There's definitely SOMETHING that I've forgotten." He struggled to think over anything else that he might not have done at work. "Well, the toys are being handled by Cloverbud and Golden Bell. Writers have their stories. Artists have their art to do. Their really isn't anything else for work. Maybe I'm just feeling that way because I didn't go back to my house to-"
The shock on Bate's face was too much. The pony who was sitting across from his seat was now horrified at this stallion's expression, thinking that he might have had a stroke.
"BARKY!" he yelled out. "I forgot about my dog! I gotta go back and-"
"Sir," one of the attendants called out, "What seems to be the problem?"
"I need to go back to Ponyville! I forgot something about my dog!"
"I'm afraid we can't do that. This is a non-stop ride to Lowtide Harbor. If you need, you can contact somepony by phone once we reach our destination."
"Yeah. That's alright. I-I think I'll do just that." Bates returned to his seat and started worrying once again when he remembered his medicine cabinet had fallen down. He hoped that the dog hadn't been dumb enough to eat any. He also hoped that he'd actually find somepony willing to take care of his dog, but who?