As much as ponies like to downplay municipal work, being a Mayor is quite hard. It is especially hard when you are the mayor of Ponyville. Sitting at her desk inside of Ponyville Townhall, Mayor Mare took a glance at the paperwork in front of her. Nearly everything in the budget was being diverted to Ponyville's reconstruction fund after Tirek's little crusade into Equestria. Thankfully, the elements were able to stop him in time.
However, it was clear that Celestia was quite fed up with the breakouts occurring so surprisingly, she decided to hand Tirek over to the humans, namely the Americans, to take over in terms of watching him on their world, Earth. From the last she heard, Tirek was apparently being temporarily held in some sort of reopened prison called Alcatraz and there was a debate on whether or not he would be transferred over to the Soviets. Whatever Tirek's fate was though, as long as he was kept somewhere with more security, the better.
But back to Ponyville matters. For one, the town now lacked a Library so funds needed to be diverted to either building a new one or repurchasing the old catalog and relocate it to Princess Twilight's new castle. Secondly, a whole lot of infrastructure was damaged in the ensuing battle that occurred. Another couple thousand bits needed to be relocated to that effort. And thirdly, a vacation needed to be planned out.
Like with any Mayor, sometimes the chaos of micromanaging a town can become, to put it lightly, a slight burden on the sanity of said Mayor. This last incident was the final straw however. As soon as she got done with the budget allocation forms, Mayor Mare pulled out the Visa forms for both the countries of the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany. She had visited the US on one occasion a few months back, but the city she visited and the Mayor she spoke with were rather... unsavory. On her way back to the portal in New Jersey, she did get a brochure for a town in Germany called Stuttgart. The town looked quite appealing from the outlook and it did seem to have a rather respected po... person... for a mayor so she decided to make a mental note to visit it sometime. And so she began, filling out the mountain of forms.
*** *** ***
There are perks to working at an embassy. First of all, you get to represent your nation with pride. In Jerry's case, it was the good ol' US of A. Secondly, you get the feast in the perks of diplomatic immunity as well as the respect that comes with your position. A downside of it however, is the paperwork. The paperwork kills the good that comes from an embassy job. Sifting through the mounds of immigration forms and Visa requests tends to degrade the mind and enthusiasm of the poor guy who has to file all of it out. That is why Jerry opted for the live interview job.
There is a system in the US Embassy of Equestria you see, a system that prevents us from loosing our god forsaken minds. We alternate. Every now and then, we switch jobs so that we all aren't feeling like we are full of dog crap everyday that we work here. This week, Jerry got to do live interviews, which were honestly his favorite. You meet many different characters in this job, whether funny, goofy, serious, or just plain stupid. But it didn't matter who it was though, because a good laugh was always guaranteed.
Looking down at his docket after finishing his interview with a rather funny Yak, Jerry smiled at what he saw next. He apparently had a Mayor coming to him. A few weeks back, this... Mayor Mare... submitted her paperwork for a Visa for both the US and the West Germans. Germans already checked her out and let the US know about it in advance. From the looks at it, this Mayor Mare... (Christ that will never get old) was quite clean. Only odd part that really stood out was her Mane color. Apparently the poor Mare dyed it quite a lot for her own personal reasons (understandably) and when it got out, it was quite the embarrassment for her. It was understandable really so Jerry could let it slide.
Turning to the one-way glass beside him, Jerry nodded "Yes" to the glass and immediately after, the Mayor herself walked in. From the looks of it, she seemed a bit old but then again... usually Mayors are not exactly young. She wore a sincere smile on her face so Jerry decided to return the gesture.
"Good afternoon Ma'am, my name is Jerry Michaels, but you can just call me Jerry. It is a please to meet you." He said gingerly. The old Mayor nodded back at Jerry and he then gestured her to sit down in the chair at the other side of the table.
"So, I have here that you wish to apply for a Visa in the United States of America, is this correct?" He asked. The Mayor nodded back a "Yes" at him. It was clear she was either not a talker, or a bit nervous, so Jerry decided to begin with a simple question.
"Pardon me asking, but why do you want to apply for an American Visa?" He asked.
"Well... I uh... it is just really for a flight I have at uh... well... I forget the airport but it is in New York. I am taking a trip to Germany you see and I needed to get the Visa here to even make it to my flight." The Mayor finally answered. If there was one thing Jerry knew, it was that Ponies were terrible liars and he knew that this one was being honest. He would've approved her immediately but like always, protocol needed to be followed.
"Alright, thank you Ma'am. I just need to ask you a few more questions though." He stated. He could tell that the Mayor across from him was less on edge than before so he took the opportunity to sit back in his chair to help her even further by showing that he was not some sort of serious pencil pusher ready to deny her the moment she slipped up.
"Well, where do you intend to visit on your way to Germany?"
"Well... I really just plan to go straight to the airport and take my flight. My last trip in New York was... well... unpleasant to say the least. A lot of... colorful characters in that city." She said.
"Oh, I can understand that very well. You know, they call New York a melting pot."
"Oh, I figured as much, I read a bit of the city's history and that statement fits it quite well." She said with a slight chuckle. It was clear she was lightening up a bit more.
"Well, I hope you don't have the same experience at the airport Ma'am. Oh, and also... stay away from the Airport food. If anything, purchase first class if you haven't already. And whatever you do, don't fly United or American Airlines, go for TWA and Pan Am." Jerry advised. He knew all too well about the terrible service of those two continental carriers... especially American.
"I will take that into consideration, thank you very much."
"Well, one more question and this is just out of curiosity but... why Stuttgart?" The question left the Mayor in silence as she pondered the answer. It was clear she wan't going to try and lie but rather think of a good reason.
"Well... I heard it was a great town to visit. Plus, I am looking for a bit of advice. Ponyville is not exactly the most calm town. I read that Stuttgart was not exactly calm very recently in the 70s. I hope to really meet the people and even the Mayor and get some good advice on my way." Now that was a response from the heart. She was honest, no matter how embarrassing it was. Besides, even if she was truly lying, Jerry could always make a phone call to a certain pony he met in Ponyville when he was shopping for produce. It was like that pony had a built in lie detector, he was scared when he encountered her.
"Ah, you mean to meet the Fox cub?"
"Fox... cub?"
"Well, that's what a few of us here at the embassy call him. The Mayor of Stuttgart's name is Manfred Rommel. His father was a General and had the nickname of the Desert Fox. From what I heard, Mr Rommel is quite a nice guy."
"Well, that is reassuring. Thank you very much Jerry."
"Anytime ma'am. Now, just wait out there and wait for your papers. I will have them done as soon as possible." He instructed, pointing at the door beside them.
"Alright, please Jerry, have a good day."
"You too Miss Mare."
With that, the two parted ways and Jerry had a look at the docket for his next appointment. Right below, he caught glimpse of a Pink fuzzy mane and immediately recognized who he was about to deal with without reading the name.
Silently, he cursed himself and whispered "Oh god no..."
Author's Note
Alrighty, I have a new little story here. This will be my first little try at a "Slice of Life" story so please bare with me. Now, for all of you wondering why I chose Manfred, simple. The guy was a well respected Mayor throughout his tenure and was known to have a good sense of humor. All around, he was a good guy that had gotten Stuttgart out of the gutter of controversy due to the Communist Terrorism going on throughout the city and he brought it into the late 90s as a city with a great auto-industry, a great economy, and a quite diverse but peaceful city.
As always, please leave a comment below. If you like the story, give it a like. If you have some things to add, please... I am all ears. If you want to criticize the story, please do it respectfully. I got annoyed last time I dealt with a certain somebody in the comments... very annoyed. And trust me... I live in Florida and have to deal with old people driving their nice fancy sports cars at 50 mph on the interstate when the speed limit is fricken 70 mph... so when I am annoyed at somebody.... I am annoyed.
(P.S. Just a word of advice... never visit Florida. You've seen the Florida man memes, but this state is all around weird and terrible. If anything, even visit North Carolina. Gosh Asheville is such a nice city.)
