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// Chapter 3 - There's A Wildlife Caretaker On The Payroll? 
// Story: Ponyville Holds An Election 
// by Soufriere 
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As the sun hung low in the sky, Mayor Mare sat at her desk. Her papers were even more disorganized than usual, as she had cleared them out of the way to make room for a large cubic glass bottle of some rank brown liquid she had ‘requisitioned’ from Gilda the Gryphon after the latter’s public meltdown the previous year. She was not entirely sure what the liquid was called; she only cared that it made her world spin and dulled her pain.

Raven, ever the dutiful mare who really did deserve a raise (shame Ponyville could not afford it), had shut, locked, and barred the doors to the Municipal Building, the ground floor windows to which were now caked with the smashed remnants of rotten fruit. Her job at this point was to keep any pony from disturbing the Mayor for the rest of the day.

As the mayor pounded another shot of whatever was in that bottle, she thought she heard a banging on her door. Once the room stopped spinning, she discovered that it was simply a fly landing on her desk. Then she heard a distinct *creck!* sound outside her office, followed by Raven speaking in a panicked tone, begging some pony to leave. Mayor Mare poured herself yet another shot in anticipation as the door to her office glowed magenta and swung open, guided by Unicorn magic.

In walked Twilight Sparkle. Mayor Mare took one look at her and downed her drink. She was extremely tempted to finish off the (three quarters full) bottle before Twilight spoke.

“Good afternoon, Mayor,” said Twilight in a friendly conversational tone.

“Miss Twilight Sparkle,” the mayor began, in a not-too-friendly manner, “Didn’t Raven tell you that I’m not seeing anyone this afternoon?”

“Well, yes she did,” Twilight admitted, “But I think this is important enough that it can be overlooked this time.”

“Really,” responded the mayor flatly, “Is Ponyville in imminent danger of being attacked by some mythical creature? Did one of your spells go haywire… again?”

“No,” Twilight said innocently, “I’m actually here on behalf of one of my friends. Fluttershy. You remember her, right?”

Mayor Mare thought for a moment. She barely recalled the socially inept yellow Pegasus whom she had placed in charge of the ‘Animal’ Team during the last Winter Wrap Up, probably the only pony on any team to not totally fail during the ordeal. She also vaguely remembered that Raven had encouraged her to appoint the girl as Ponyville’s official wild animal caretaker as part of some creative accounting last year. Twilight was satisfied at the mayor’s furtive nod.

“Well, due to last week’s flood, Fluttershy had to take in a nest of raccoons and nurse them back to health. Since she mostly cares for birds, and raccoons are extreme omnivores, she’s quickly running out of provisions for all her animals. So she sent me to ask if you could possibly increase her stipend?”

The mayor’s eye twitched. Before she decided whether or not she should unload on Princess Celestia’s Prized Pupil™, she needed one extra bit of information. “Isn’t Fluttershy extremely wealthy thanks to winning that lawsuit several years ago?” she asked

Twilight thought for a moment. It had never occurred to her to ask Fluttershy exactly how she could afford weekly spa treatments or all of the various knickknacks in her home despite not holding down a job – her cottage itself could be explained away by its location next to the Everfree Forest – no one else would want to live there, meaning its value was through the floor. After all, Twilight was from Canterlot and lived with the Princess for years; excess was completely normal to her.

“I don’t know,” admitted Twilight, “Fluttershy told me she depends on the stipend from your office because, and I quote, ‘almost all her money is tied up elsewhere’. She tried to come to you yesterday, and today, but couldn't face the crowds, so she sent me. I think you should give her a little extra funding, just for this month.”

Mayor Mare’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Twilight,” she started, “Did you not listen to my speech a few hours ago?”

Twilight cocked her head. “Speech? No. I was inside my library reading the latest book from Bay Gaskin, ‘A Whinny of Ice and Fire’, when Fluttershy came calling.”

The mayor’s left eye twitched at Twilight’s calling it ‘her’ library. Nevertheless, she decided to be magnanimous, to give Twilight the benefit of the doubt and not start a scene. Not today, at any rate. She had caused enough of a scene earlier.

“Well, if you had,” she began, “you would know that Ponyville has absolutely no budget with which to do much of anything. I announced the cessation and abandonment of every project the town had been considering. Fluttershy is not only not going to get a raise, but I’m probably going to take away her stipend completely. Also, your taxes are going up.”

The look on Twilight’s face was not dissimilar to that of a puppy that had been smacked for peeing on the dining room rug. It was probably for the best, both she and the mayor realized simultaneously albeit for different reasons, that Fluttershy was not there.

“That’s very disappointing,” concluded Twilight. Mayor Mare kept her guard up, expecting her adversary to pull out the Celestia card. Instead, Twilight did something far more infuriating. “But if the town is in such dire financial straits, I guess it can’t be helped. Do you need an accountant? I’m pretty good with numbers.”

“Doesn’t this news make you angry?” the mayor asked incredulously.

“Well, yes,” admitted Twilight.

“Doesn’t it make you want to take up rotten fruit and attack my office? Doesn’t it make you want to petition Canterlot to get rid of me?”

At this point, the math finally clicked in Twilight’s brain. “Is that what this is all about? You want to leave your job, so you’re trying to make ponies mad enough that they demand your replacement?”

“Bingo.”

“Why not just resign or retire?” Twilight asked as if that was a magic bullet answer.

“I tried,” groused the mayor, “But either Celestia herself or the Senate (not sure which) refused to accept my resignation. So I’m stuck here until the citizenry gets it through their thick skulls that they’d be better off without me. It’s a shame there’s no way for them to officially register their disapproval in a way the central government could understand.”

Twilight thought for a moment. “Maybe there is.”

“What?”

Immediately switching to lecturer mode, Twilight proceeded to lay out her knowledge, “In some of the Outer Territories, cities occasionally hold what they call a ‘referendum’, in order to pass or reject laws the local government is unsure about.”

Now the mayor perked up. “Well, I’m familiar with the concept of referendums, of course, but we’ve never held one in Ponyville, and I’ve never thought about using it to accept or reject an appointed official.”

“I’ve heard that the citizens of Stalliongrad use it to choose all their leaders. Apparently, the Celestial Senate kept sending the city unpopular outsiders who couldn't properly oversee the war effort there.”

“Well, that settles it,” the Mayor decreed. “Ponyville will hold a referendum on my leadership! And when they reject me, Celestia will have to accept my resignation! But… how can we organize this?”

Twilight smirked. “Organize? Mayor, just leave everything to me.”