The hotel staff and hippies were all in position for the final assault by Mr. Thes. For the past several hours he'd sent his goons after them in order to get their money, but due to an ancient oath by the hotel to protect their inhabitants at all cost they've joined forces. It was now only a matter of time.
"Can't stop thanking you for protecting us," Bates said to the manager.
"Hey. I wouldn't be a good boss if I purposely let everypony who worked or purchased from me get hurt," he replied. "Wait, did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"It sounded like," the manager paused a moment before declaring, "honking."
"They're back everypony!" Bates yelled out. Soon as he warned them their foes suddenly broke through the barricaded doors.
"They're sending in the clowns!" the receptionist finally yelled out.
"I only wish I knew how a minotaur could convince a clown troupe to help him hunt down a target," Bates said, lobbing furniture at them.
"Doesn't matter anymore," Lyra said, helping Bates regain focus. This onslaught of furniture and clowns continued until a large figure covered in billboard appeared through the entrance.
"It's the minotaur! Open fire!" Everypony followed the command, throwing everything they had with them. Eventually the minotaur stopped right in front of his target and cleared his throat.
"Look, I'm just trying to find a Mr. Bates. It's pretty important, and I think we'd all get through this easier if any one of you pointed me to him," he told the staff.
"We'd never betray one of our clients!" one of the managers yelled back.
"All I need is for him to talk with my boss. Hay, I'll wipe that blue/cerulean/whatever colored pony's debt clear with it, alright?"
"Wait, that's all you want?" Bates asked.
"Yeah. You know the guy?"
"I'M Mr. Bates," he declared.
"Huh. Well, that makes this easier." Mr. Thes got out a cellphone and dialed a number. "Yes, I have information about a case involving a break-in with Mr. Bates' house."
"Wait, what?"
"Anyway, I have information on Mr. Bates' whereabouts. Where? Right here actually. He was on vacation. Here he is." The cellphone was handed over to Bates, receiving it with a confused expression.
"Hello?" Bates asked, hoping to understand just what was going on.
"This is the Ponyville Police Department," the voice said. "About a week ago we arrested three ponies inside of your house. While in there we also found blood on the floor."
"Any idea on who those three were?"
"They were Pepperoni, Pawpads, and Apple Cider." Bates' nearly dropped the phone when he heard that. "Hello?"
"They were there to feed my dog!" he yelled at the officer. "The blood was from an accident I had earlier that morning. I also forgot to give them my keys, so they must've broken in to do so."
"Oh." The phone was silent for a minute before the other line said, "Well, if you can just verify yourself with ID we can get this settled. Thank you and have a nice day." There was a click and Bates was left there, anger and confusion overwhelming him.
"Come on! This is just plain awful. First vacation in years and I have to cancel early." Frustrated, he remembered something else. "Oh yeah, and those guys at work. They better be through when I'm back, otherwise I'm just gonna be angrier."
"Anyway, that's what I was sent here to do," Mr. Thes told him. "Miss Lyra, you're debt is paid, or whatever. I'm not sure if I have to collect still or not, but I don't think it matters anymore."
"Awesome!" she yelled out.
"Alright, but one thing first." Bates dialed in another number, waiting a moment before somepony picked up.
"Hello?" a groggy Cloverbud asked.
"Clover, it's your boss. Look, I'm coming home today because of something weird and need for you guys to finish up your issues by the end of the day. I'm a bit angry, so don't mess this up." He immediately hung up right before he heard Cloverbud's horrified reaction.
"Clover! What's going on?" Bloomheart said as she burst into the room.
"I just got a call from Bates. He's coming home today!" she yelled out, jumping out of bed.
"That's great! He can now get Pepperoni and the rest out of jail." Bloomheart's happiness contradicted Cloverbud's extreme distress.
"And also get us in trouble for not completing our stories. I need to call the rest of the crew and get them together. Bloomheart, get us donuts. We'll be crunching today." Bloomheart ran downstairs, hoping to find someplace that sold donuts that early in the morning.
The group of Trot Comics was all together, gathered in front of their building.
"Where's Cloverbud? She's the one with the keys," Finch said.
"I have no idea," replied Golden Bell, looking around. She said that she'd be here ASAP. Weird that it's taking her so long." As soon as she finished saying that, Cloverbud and Golden Bell appeared, both holding plates covered in foil.
"Sorry for the wait," apologized Clover. "SOMEPONY decided that instead of getting donuts or something simple that she should instead cook up a bunch of pizzas."
"I couldn't think of anyplace open and just went with what I knew," Bloomheart told the group sorrowfully. "I've got a lot of stuff that's been going on, alright?"
"Look, let's just open up and get started. We were talking through how to finish up the stories and we're pretty certain that if we get into it we may just finish up before Bates comes back." The group followed Sound's advice and got it open fast. They then rushed to their desks and started working frantically.
"Okay, so how can we end this thing?" Low Web asked Finch, hoping he'd have a plan.
"Well, we could always go the route of 'it was all a dream' if it really-" A hoof suddenly hit Finch in the back of his head. The two turned around to see that it was Cloverbud. "Cloverbud, what the hay?"
"Look, we're on rush more and I can't stop to review every comic, but one thing I can do is stop you all from doing something before you start. That should keep things fast. Bloomheart! I'll need you to help me clear out the bad ideas as well. Use force as desired."
"Oh wow! Do I get paid?" she asked, not knowing how the business worked.
"You'll be my temporary intern," Cloverbud responded.
"So...do I still get paid?" The entire room started shouting with laughter. everypony stopping their work to catch their breath.
"That was just what we needed. Thanks for the humor," Cloverbud replied. "Now, if anypony else has terrible ideas for their story get it out of the way so we can get to the good stuff."
For the next two hours the crew thought of important plot points as quickly as possible. Buronson decided that the entire saga would conclude with their alicorn character losing their wings in a big sacrifice to stop a nuclear bomb and failing, losing the ponies that considered her a princess. Queso and Tres couldn't figure out a particular issue for them to use in the fight or any actual heroes, so they made some up (though they could've picked better names than 'Strong Guy'). The heroes ended up fighting over a political election with parties and Cloverbud, clueless on politics, couldn't complain. Low Web and Finch ended up having a time paradox wipe the time slate clean, leading to everything going back to the way it was. Hopefully anypony that actually didn't like the clone saga would be happy that it didn't interfere with the main story. The last thing being made was by Heyfield and, surprisingly enough, he was almost finished with it. Apparently working with Sound and Malarson had really made it easy for him to write.
"Wow. We might actually be able to do this," Sound said as she finished drawing the last page of panels.
"Yeah, but something feels like it's missing," Malarson added. "It's almost like something isn't there."
"What else is there? We've done the writing and drawing. What else do you need?" Heyfield, Sound, and Malarson sat there for a moment before they realized what they needed.
"COLOR!"
The train ride back to Ponyville was incredibly awkward. Lyra was sitting next to Bates while Mr. Thes was sitting right across the two of them, eating a sandwich he had in his pocket.
"You guys want any?" he asked them.
"No thanks," Bates said as he looked out the window. "Mare, of all the things to happen on vacation. Hope Pepperoni isn't angry."
"Who's that?" Lyra asked.
"He's the friend that got arrested for trying to help feed my dog. Didn't give him a key so he had to break in. Wonder why he needed those two friends of his daughter though."
"So you'll be going over there then?"
"Yeah. Though I really need to ask something. Hey, Mr. Thes."
"Yeah?" Thes asked, putting down his food.
"Why exactly were you sent to get me? Seems like an odd thing for an enforcer to do when I'm not even related to Lyra's debt."
"I'm not at liberty to discuss that now," he explained. "Only know that once Pepperoni is free can I leave."
"Whatever," Bates said, returning to his window. "Wonder what work will feel like now."
"BUCK!" Cloverbud yelled out as she was told what the issue was. "Does anypony know where our colorist lives?"
"No! Not only that, but he has the only copies of the other work we did when he took it to color." Sound and Cloverbud were both freaking out now, the other staff now realizing what was wrong as well.
"So what now?" Bloomheart asked, carrying her quality control bat.
"We need to search town and find where Ink Blot lives. Hopefully somepony else has seen him around. Otherwise we're pretty much left with nothing." Without hesitation the staff followed Cloverbud's orders and started searching the town. All except for Golden Bell who was currently in her office.
"What could she be busy doing?" Deciding to see whether or not she was busy, Cloverbud opened her door and found Golden Bell was on the phone with a carrier.
"Yes. About a week earlier. Be sure to correct that and make sure that customers know as well. Thank you." She hung up the phone and flipped through an address book.
"Bell, I need you to help out and search around for Ink Blot. We need our colorist fast."
"Clover, I'm kinda busy doing my job making sure we have ponies to carry our stories, so I can't help, alright?" She dialed a number and waited for a moment. "Hello. This is Golden Bell from Trot Comics. I'm calling to let you know that our special mandate issues are going to be released a week earlier than expected. Yes, I know this is an odd occurrence, but this is what's going on right now. Thank you for understanding." She was about to dial another number when Cloverbud approached her and put a hoof on the dial.
"Golden, I really need you to stop making calls. Our colorist is more important right now that the carriers."
"Fine." Golden Bell opened the door to her office and found standing right outside was Ink Blot. "Found him."
"Ink Blot! Glad you're here. I need you to work fast. The rest of the the comics are just about finished and we need you to color them now," Cloverbud instructed him. "Have you finished the rest of the other pages?" Without speaking, Ink Blot handed over his colored pages. "Okay, now we need for you to complete-wait, why are you here earlier than usual." He flipped through the pages he handed over and pointed to one panel that started to get colored before suddenly stopping.
"I think he's saying that we need to get him more art supplies," Golden Bell explained.
"Okay. I'll head down to the craft store and get some supplied. Golden, stay here and make sure nothing new happens." Cloverbud ran out the office and ran towards the mall, hoping that they would be thoroughly stocked.
After several hours the train carrying Bates, Lyra and Mr. Thes had arrived at the Ponyville station. The three of them had gone over to the police station to get Pepperoni and the others out of jail.
"Hey. I'm Mr. Bates. I'm the guy who you all thought was dead. Here's my ID, so yeah, it's me."
"Alright. Let me confirm this and then I can have you identify the three who were in your house." The guard went back and promptly returned, confirming the ID. Bates was then led to the holding cells to identify his friends.
"Bates!" Pepperoni yelled out. "Glad to see you! Can't wait to get out of here."
"Pepperoni man, I'm sorry that you got arrested for helping me out. Sorry you two got involved as well."
"That's alright," Apple Cider replied. "Well, actually, no. This really sucked."
"I really want to get out soon," Pawpads replied. "Can't wait to deal with raid animals again."
"Okay. I'll sign the paperwork and let you three out," the guard told them. "Because you were falsely incarcerated you can choose between getting a one thousand bit package or committing a crime with a sentence limit of one year."
"I'll choose to choose the 'one year' option," Pepperoni said to the surprise of everypony.
"Uh, we'll choose the money option," Pawpads replied.
"Okay then! Well, have a nice day!" The guard opened the cells and them led them out into the lobby where Mr. Thes and Lyra were.
"Miss Lyra, your debt is now paid off. Remember to be more responsible with funds next time," Mr Thes said, leaving the group. Lyra, no longer involved, went off as well.
"Who was that?" Pawpads asked.
"That was the help I called in," Pepperoni told them. "Come on. I'll make you guys a pizza."
The four of them went off and talked about their experiences with each other while heading over to Pepperoni's place to get something to eat.
"After the boardwalk I had to hide in an arcade for several hours," Bates said, recounting his vacation. "To keep from becoming seen I hid in one of the arcade cabinets when a large cow-"
"MY HOUSE!" Pepperoni yelled out when he saw it. He ran over to the ruins of the place while the three others approached it slowly.
"Oh wow," Pawpads said, approaching the dismayed pizza maker. "Pepperoni, I'm so sorry."
"Same," A.C. added, not knowing what else to say.
"How did this happen? Why did nopony tell me about this? Is my family okay?" Pepperoni was freaking out right then.
"I don't know, but I think that we can find this out at the hospital. If they were hurt then we can find out." Pawpads words were able to bring sense back to Pepperoni. Bates and A.C. help him back to his hooves.
"Yeah. Let's go there." The four hoped that things would be better than expected.
"Hey guys! You have any luck?" Sound asked as she returned to the office.
"Yeah," Heyfield replied. "Apparently he was right here when we left. Guess we didn't see him in the office."
"Great. Now we can just have the comics get colored and then send it off."
"Except we don't have any coloring supplies," he added. "Cloverbud went out to get some. Hopefully she comes back soon. I'll just grab some more of your mom's pizza while waiting."
"You really enjoy it?" Bloomheart asked.
"Obviously. Somehow I like having that more for morning than even donuts."
"You should see my husband with his morning pizza. He usually-"
"BUCK!" Cloverbud yelled out as she came in the office with her shopping bag. "For some reason all the stores were out of the good stuff and only had crayons!" She laid them out on the table right in front of Ink Blot. "I know it isn't much, but it's all we can do right now." Ink Blot looked at the crayons with wide eyes as if he couldn't believe what he had to work with.
"Wow. Feel sorry for him," Finch said.
"Look. We don't have much in the way of options so we might as well use this." Cloverbud told them. "I'm pretty sure that at this point Bate's train has come in so we have to do this quickly."
"Alright. I'll keep a look out in the lobby to make sure that he's not coming," Sound told them. "Somepony call an express pony ant tell them to meet at our window in case he somehow gets in the building." She went down into the lobby and waited in case somepony showed up. After several minutes she did see somepony she didn't expect.
"DAD!" she yelled out as she saw him right outside his office.
"SOUND! You're alright!" He ran and gave her a big hug. "I saw our place and worried that you guys had gotten caught in it. Didn't find anything at the hospital so I came hear to find you."
"Glad that you're out now." Sound suddenly realized something else. "Wait, does that mean Mr. Bates came by and vouched for you?"
"Yeah. He stopped by to check on his dog. Almost forgot about that." Pepperoni then realized something else. "Say, why didn't you guys come and visit me?"
"I was busy managing the restaurant during visiting hours," she answered. "Um, the fire was also related to me, but that's for another day."
"Well, at least our insurance can cover this. I always knew something like that would happen to it. Can't wait to see your mother right now."
"She's inside right now. Go inside while I keep the lookout for Bates," Sound informed her dad.
"Thanks!" He went into the place, wondering what his daughter meant by 'keeping a lookout'.
"Alright. Better make sure that Bates doesn't come here yet."
"What do you mean, Sound?" a voice said behind her asked. Sound turned around to find her boss standing right there.
"GAH! Uh...you surprised me, sir," she replied. "Say, would you like to go someplace right now?"
"Nah. I'd like to check on you guys and your finished projects. I'm tired from recent events and want to return to regular stuff. I really just hope that you guys learned to not mess with me next time though. Don't wanna assign another one of those projects again." Bates entered the building while Sound tried to find some way to delay him.
"Say! How was your dog?"
"Apparently he was alright. He ended up eating my couch. Dunno how it kept him alive though." Bates continued up to the workplace. Sound noticed right outside was an express carrier who flew around to the back.
"Uh, how was vacation?" Sound hoped that could keep him busy for a moment.
"Well, for the first couple of days it was like an actual vacation, but then things got really weird involving an enforcer, clowns, hippies, and nuclear bomb."
"Wait, what?"
"Doesn't matter now. I really should get back to work. Have seven other days for vacation. Wonder when I'll break and use them again." Bates went forward, Sound baffled at what he told her.
"Wait! I need to call those guys now!" Sound got on the phone and called Cloverbud's number.
"Yes?"
"HE'S COMING!" Sound yelled on the line. She then slammed the phone down and tried to follow Bates up and stop him. At that moment he was right up at the door, about to see the staff not finished with their work. He opened it and Sound used the only trick she had left.
"LOOK AT THAT!" she yelled, momentarily distracting Bates. She saw that the entire staff, even her mom and dad, were busy coloring the rest of the pages frantically as the express pony waited outside their window.
"Hey! Pizzas!" Bates approached the fresh pizzas that Bloomheart had made and took a couple slices. "I can't belief I'm this hungry." He started eating the pizzas right there, completely ignoring the staff. The rest of them scribbled furiously before Cloverbud gathered up the pages and put them in order. She bundled it up, placed it in a box, and tossed it to the delivery pony right outside.
"Morning, sir." Cloverbud greeted, exhausted. "How was your vacation?"
"It's a long story," he replied. "So, have you guys finished your mandates?"
"Eeyup! We really put a lot of effort into it. So, how about we take the day off to celebrate?"
"You know what? Sure. We've all got stuff to sort out it seems." Bates yawned while saying this. "I also need to rest. Go home everypony." The group left without a word, both exhausted and glad with their work.
3 WEEKS LATER
"Wow. Never thought a review could physically hurt somepony." Hayfield said, reeling back from his computer.
"It hurt me way more than you. I had to do the drawing and that was just brutal. At least you got some compliments." Sound put her head on the desk, feeling dead inside.
"I think it can pretty much be said that none if us got out unscathed." Low Web said as he saw a pile of mail on his desk. "Great. More hate mail."
"Can I use it for more origami?" Golden Bell asked.
"Sure. Just make sure to screen them first in case it's something terrible in them."
"I really don't want to work anymore," Joe said as he sorted through his own mail. "Politicians are actually calling me a 'Master of Propaganda' with my politics."
"It's probably worse for the other guys. They read the reviews and called off for today," Cloverbud told them. Right then Bates came out, looking troubled.
"Well, apparently the higher ups called and said that I apparently can't make mandates anymore. They said that it was so awful that the money we made couldn't make up for the terrible quality."
"So did you get fired?" Sound asked, worried.
"Oh no. They made a whole bunch of money off of it. Anyway I'll let you guys decide what you make now. That's what I've learned." Bates returned to his office, the rest of the crew tired.
"Well, back to work," Sound said, hoping the next story would come out better.