The Mandate

by Mod On Death

Criminals, However, Pay a Lot

Sound and Cloverbud were busy that morning. With Pepperoni currently in jail, the two of them needed to run the restaurant. He'd been the one that always ran it by himself, and it's a miracle how he was able to do so.

"How did dad manage all this?" Sound asked as she got the ovens prepped.

"This is his passion. He was always good with cooking and somehow knew how to get it done quickly," Bloomheart said as she prepared the silverware. "Now, when you have an order you have to-"

"Write it down fast, use one of the balls of dough, and placed the order list on top of the oven that's baking it. I know this stuff, mom. I've lived in this place all my life."

"I know. It's just the first time that you've ever run the place on your own. It's either been your father or me, and I won't be able to get to you today with the surgery." Bloomheart fumbled with a pizza cutter, catching it before it landed on the ground. She took a deep breath and told herself that everything was going to be fine. "Say, what do the ponies at work think about you not coming in right now?"

"They're pretty accepting of the situation. After all, it's not every day that your boss gets your dad put in jail. Not only that, but everypony is doing planning for their stories right now, so they don't need me immediately. I'll be fine running this place until he gets out." Sound started pushing her mother out the door. "Now, go and help with your life-saving job while I keep the family business going. Don't bother checking in if you can, cause I'll probably be busy with all the customers." Sound pushed her out and shut the door before her mother could say anything. "Now, what do I do?"

---

Queso and Tres were just about in the middle of there books on modern politics when they couldn't take it anymore. They'd spent the last two days non-stop reading about economic policies and social issues without getting any work done.

"Joe, we can't do this!" Tres screamed out. "I have no idea how we can combine our superheroes with politics when we don't know much about politics!"

"Yeah. I think you may have a point." Joe through back his book on political economy and said, "It honestly looks like we won't be able to do this accurately."

"I know, I know. I mean, how can you do a comic about politics if you don't give a comprehensive explanation and understanding of policies, reasons, and the characters who hold them?" Joe thought through Tres' dilemma and came up with an answer.

"Maybe we don't."

"Huh?"

"Tres, think about it; how many ponies do you know that fully understand the complete political world with all of its consequences, policies, complex cultural issues, and economics?"

"Absolutely none," Tres replied confidently.

"Exactly! We should use that to our advantage. Make the heroes fight for political ideas and policies that they don't fully understand. Ponify them a bit by showing some understandable weakness."

"Awesome!" Tres was firmly on board with Joe's plan, but then realized something. "Hey, Joe?"

"What?"

"What pony should hold what position, and on what kinds of policies? Also, why do they suddenly get involved with politics?" Joe tried to reply, but didn't know how to answer.

"I'm not completely sure yet. Let's work on what characters we'll use and analyze them to see how they'd react to...something. I'm not sure yet on what's a popular political subject."

As the two worked on deciding what heroes they'd pick, Buronson and Red tried to work together.

"So, Sound said that we'd try to make the story around Jenshiro becoming a Warrior Princess of a tribe. While that does sound like a place we could start, her ideas on how she'd become a princess were a bit," Buronson hesitated, saying, "weird."

"What does that mean?" Red inquired.

"She said that Jenshiro could read a magic book and suddenly become an alicorn," Burry replied, placing his hoof on his face when he said this.

"That sounds...dumb. Also, it sounds like a definitive deus ex machina." Burry was surprised by Red's vocabulary.

"Yeah. Needless to say we're not doing it. I was thinking of something more along the lines of some genetic mutation of sorts, but I'm wondering how that could work."

"Maybe you could do a thing where you destroy Face Fist's nuclear cannon and she becomes irradiated, causing the mutation. When she gains the horn she also finds herself starting to use magic, leading to a later saga where a villain creates alicorns with that method."

"Red! That's awesome! We could totally do that." Red kept on surprising Buronson. He'd always thought that he must be unintelligent because he worked on Heyfield's stories. Apparently he was pretty good at creating his own.

"Yeah. I know how awesome I am." Red was feeling pretty bold at that moment. "Also, here's my practice art on Jenshiro. Hope you like it." Oh boy.

---

"Three thousand! Three-freaking-thousand!" Pawpads yelled as she left the courtroom. "There's no way I can afford that!"

"Yeah. I'm pretty much screwed as well," A.C. added, wondering how many songs he'd need to write before he could afford it.

"Hmm," was all Pepperoni said. "This might be more difficult than I thought."

"What gave you that bucking clue?!" Pawpads yelled at him. "Never should've listened to you. Now I'll have to spend a whole lot just to be free for a crime we didn't commit! We also have to pay for the bail bond, an additional three hundred, meaning that we almost total ten thousand bits! Where the hay can we find that money?"

"Well, I know of one place," Pepperoni said. "This is that I have to personally be at the bank to make a withdrawal from there. That, or be dead."

"Couldn't you just have your wife make the withdrawal?" A.C. asked as the three were ushered back to their cell.

"Nope. I have to be the one to make this withdrawal. It's a very secure account." He looked around and waited until the guard had put them back in their holding cell before continuing. "Look, you know how I sometimes bet on races?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, turns out that I'm good at it. Really good. Actually, I'm also good at running smaller betting pools. It was small at first, but started growing. I now get a cut of all bets and even have several ponies that work with me to run it." The two were surprised at what Pepperoni was telling them. "I also have ponies that help collect for me, and right now there's somepony that owes me a whole lot. Ten thousand to be exact. I'm usually lenient with payments, but it's an emergency, so I'll need to call it in."

"Uh, Mr. Pepperoni, sir, is this legal?" A.C. finally asked.

"I have no idea," he replied honestly. "I mean, is it illegal to set up gambling rings and have minotaur enforcers?" He thought for a moment before saying, "Probably."

"So, you make the call, collect the money, have them pay our bail and that's it?" Pawpads asked.

"Yeah. I mean, if it weren't for me you guys wouldn't be here in the first place. I'll pay for it all." Pawpads called out for one of the guards, asking if he could make a phone call. After being let out, he type in a mysterious number.

"This is Mr. Thes. What seems to be the problem?" a deep voice asked.

"Hello, Thes. This is Mr. Pepperoni."

"Sir! I'm sorry. Didn't know it was you. Sorry if I sounded gruff."

"No problem. Listen. I'm gonna need you to contact the recent pony that seemed to move away and get what I was promised. Like, in whole. I have a problem and I'll need you to come to the police station. Oh! Another thing. If you can't actually find her, get Mr. Bates. I don't know where he is, but I know you already know where the other pony is, so do whatever you want. Honestly, I just need one or the other. See you." Pepperoni placed down the phone and was escorted back to his cell. "Don't worry, guys! My guy's on the case."

---

Pepperoni's Pizza was on fire, the ovens spewing out flames. Everypony was galloping toward the exit while Sound tried to put out the fire.

"Hold on, everypony! I'll be finished with this in a moment." Sound grabbed the fire extinguisher and threw it at the fire. "Well, I guess that didn't work." She then flew out of the restaurant while it turned to ashes. Bloomheart watching in horror as their home was destroyed.

"Sound! What happened?" she asked.

"I decided to stuff the microwave with tin foil. I guess that wasn't a good plan." Sound shrugged and flew away, the flames behind her growing and engulfing the entire town.

"Everything is burning!" somepony yelled out. Soon the fire was spreading to fast and furiously to be stopped. It soon spread to the Everfree Forest, then Manehattan, and then engulfed Equestria, followed by the entire world.

"If only I hadn't left Sound alone at the restaurant!" Bloomheart cried out, floating in space.

---

"Gah!" Bloomheart woke up from her nap, Cathy and Tina looking surprised by her wake up.

"Well, looks like you didn't sleep well," Tina commented.

"I just dreamt that Sound burned down the restaurant, followed by the entire world."

"Well, that's a bit extreme," Cathy said.

"Yeah. I doubt it's that bad." Bloomheart looked at the clock and was surprised by what time it was. "Huh. I guess my shift is over. I better clock and and check on Sound."

"Good luck," the two said as Bloomheart grabbed her stuff and left.

Bloomheart's thoughts were racing as she went home. She thought of all the horrible things that could have happened while she was gone. When she arrived home, she went inside and saw the restaurant busy, Sound in the back.

"I have two large cheese!" she yelled. Two ponies came forward and grabbed the boxes. Sound then went back and placed another pizza into the oven. Bloomheart went over into the kitchen and decided to help out.

"Wow! This place is running well," she commented.

"Duh. I told you this place would run well with me. I've been helping you guys since I was five." Sound set the timer for that pizza and rested for a moment to talk with her mother. "So, busy day?"

"Yeah. The surgery was longer than expected. Almost lost them at some point. Never thought a nose job could kill." Bloomheart took a seat, tired from her nap. "Sound, I gotta apologize. I thought you were gonna burn down the place for a moment."

"Don't worry. You're a mother. That's kind of your job to do. Anyway, I could use some help with the dishes. You mind doing that?"

"Sure!" The two went back into their positions, both feeling proud in their own way.