An Exercise in Inter-Universal Politics

Acone took a deep breath. For the first time in three weeks, he was back in New York. No more congressional hearings. Just him and his city.

Or, at least, the city that used to be his.

He gazed out the window. New York, man. Ever since he was a little kid he'd dreamed of being mayor of the city. And now that he achieved it, he was giving it up, just four years in. A promotion, of course—going to DC and dealing with unprecedented historical events—but...

Well, hey. One last hurrah. Last press conference. And he could always run again after this was all over, right?

Besides. This was a major event. Twilight's first public address. Technically, she was just reading two or so sentences off about being excited to work with the new administration, but Acone was counting it as a public address anyway. It was still a major milestone, at least.

"Sir."

Acone looked up, gazing through the tinted window separating him from the driver of the limo. "Yeah?"

"We're going to make a detour down Broadway."

"Why?"

"Standard procedure. Safety's sake."

Acone groaned. At this rate, they'd be late. Not that he really minded. Better safe than sorry, right?

Eventually, he did make it to the City Hall. He stepped out the door, black leather shoes touching the ground. He stretched out. Two hours. At least it was a limo.

"This way, sir," a man in a black suit said, gesturing to the back entrance of the city hall. Acone nodded. He knew the route.

The inside of the building was basically a sea of secret service agents. He'd never seen security nearly this tight before. Not that it didn't make sense. If anything happened to Twilight, it would be the first inter-universal shitstorm. Acone doubted anybody would be able to clean the resulting mess. Speaking of the princess...

Acone located the purple alicorn. She was in the middle of one of the larger crowds of secret service agents, reading from what looked like a scroll. Probably notes on the speech. Acone started towards her, trying to maneuver his fat through the thick crowd of people.

"Twilight." Acone said, raising a hand in greeting. The alicorn jumped at the noise.

"Oh, Acone," she said, sheepishly. "Hello."

"Hm. Nervous?" Acone asked.

"A-a little, yes." Twilight said, eyes drifting back to her notes. "I've given plenty of speeches before, but nothing like this. It's short, but... really important."

"Don't sweat it," Acone said, smiling. "I'll soften 'em up for you."

"Acone," a nameless agent said, tapping him on the shoulder, "You're on in five."

Acone took a breath, then glanced towards the front doors of the hall. As if they knew he was looking, they opened. He saw the podium he'd given almost every address from. A podium he probably wouldn't ever use again.

Eh. He'd almost definitely have a much nicer podium at the white house, right? Yeah. Had to.

Behind the podium was the crowd. A bit bigger than usual, but he still recognized a few reporters. Bob Smith at the New York Times. Kendrick Lamar from the New Yorker. Bob Nyguen from Time. Jimmy Jones from Important Bytes. Shit, this would be the last time he'd read "Mayor Tony Acone" on any of their websites.

Acone checked his watch. Three o'clock.

It was time.

He stepped up to the platform and looked at the huge gaggle of reporters. Some of them had actually set up secondary cameras to watch the place where Twilight had appeared. Acone rolled his eyes.

"Ok, settle down, settle down," he said, motioning for the chatter to stop. "As you all know, I'm mayor Tony Acone. I've called you all here today to announce my registration. Simply put, I am needed elsewhere. The world today is radically different from what it was just a month ago. We know about other worlds. We know they exist. And it's my job to—"

It was at exactly that point of the speech that the sky erupted with black light and flashes of green lightning. Acone groaned.

Ok, screw the nostalgia. This podium has to be cursed, he thought.

Something quite different than Twilight fell out of the sky. Both were horses with wings and horns, but that's where the similarities ended. This new figure was taller, full of holes (somehow), black, and looked to be covered in the same stuff a spider was. An exoskeleton. Jesus. It even had bug wings.

Of course, Acone didn't get much time to examine the creature before it was tackled by a huge purple ball of light, sailing over the heads of the ground and into a fire hydrant. He glanced behind him.

Twilight, as he expected, wasn't gone. Ok. That meant that she was the one doing the tackling, which implied that she knew the intruder. It stood to reason it was a Changeling. Trying their hands at invading America, apparently. Bronze spears. He was quaking in his boots.

But damn, what a pitiful invasion force. Just one person? And what a horrible time to invade. If he had to guess, there were probably sixty-something snipers covering the area. Then again, there was holes in that thing already. Maybe bullets wouldn't—

Acone shook his head, trying to clear it. Ok, newcomer. One person. So... shit, it couldn't be an invasion force—

"CHRYSALIS!"

Acone cupped his ears, trying to make the pain go away. Twilight's voice echoed around the area, layered with multiple different tones. Jesus Christ, her eyes were actually glowing. Apparently she could do more than just lift spoons with that magic of hers. Shit, maybe she was lying about coming in peace. That magic looked scary as hell.

"YOU DARE SHOW YOUR FACE IN THIS WORLD?"

Ok, the hands over his ears weren't helping. He still heard her loud and painfully clear. But she didn't speak again. She just stood silently over the changeling, as if listening to something.

Suddenly, her face fell. Her eyes lost their light. When she spoke again, her tone was panicked. Outright terrified, even.

"Medic!" she cried. "I need a medic!"

"Fucking perfect," Acone muttered, as the area swarmed with secret service agents.