The building itself seemed to be a fairly standard government building. No signs of demons or corruption were visible to the naked eye. The few people around were bustling about with their work and didn't seem to pay the three any mind. "Excuse me." A smiling human swaying in time to unheard music was looking at them. "Are you three waiting for the front desk?"

Watcher stepped up first. "We are, yes. Do you happen to know how long it will be before they're free?"

The man smiled. "An old trick! Well, he did just invent it, but it feels like forever, I imagine. You could take a seat on one of the chairs around the waiting area and just relax while you do."

Twibright shook her head firmly. "It shouldn't take us too long. Is it normal to be turned away from the front desk?"

He lifted his hands in a helpless shrug. "When he decides he doesn't want to talk to someone, he just kinda vanishes sometimes. He'll be back, if that helps."

Lulu folded her arms. "That seems like a really odd habit. Are all government officials that flaky around here?"

The man waved a finger around in a wobbly circle. "He's one of the more reliable ones, really."

Watcher narrowed her eyes. "I see." She waved for the others. "We're going."

On their way out the door, Twibright spoke up, "Maybe they're busy with something? We could go and come back."

Watcher shook her head slowly. "No. If they're not willing to talk to us now, they can't help. We need to follow the rules of this world. Waiting was the wrong move." She thrust a finger towards the top of the building. "We need to break in."

Lulu raised a paw to her face. "What?"

Watcher gave her a serious look. "We need to break in."

Twibright nodded. "We'll need to be sneaky, or we'll end up flattened." She shivered with the thought of the bus that had shown her what that felt like. "Do you have a plan?"

Lulu frowned as she looked over her form. "I'm not exactly the best skulker. You want me to sneak in?"

Watcher shook their head. "No. No, you aren't." But she smiled a moment later. "Which is something we can take advantage of. I just require that you make a scene while Twibright and I make our move."

***

Lulu grumbled as they sent her ahead to distract everyone outside the City Hall. The poor skunk had no idea how she'd manage that.

Twibright snuck after Watcher, her form having shifted into that of a small and sneaky rat, leaving her tail unchanged. Her rabbit tail flicking as she snuck along. "Sneaky sneaky."

"Is saying 'sneaky' required?" Twibright didn't say any such thing as she crept along.

"It works better if you do." Watcher peeked over her shoulder. "Different world, different rules. If you want to be a good sneak, you have to act the part."

A few of the people around seemed to be listening in, but they didn't seem to have taken much note. Watcher kept their voice low, but the calls of sneaking somehow made them less interested in their sneaking, despite making it more obvious. They could be heard, just not noticed.

Lulu had already started on her scene by the time the others were entering the building. The people outside paid no attention to the small rat and pony sneaking by, too focused on Lulu's complaints about being turned away at the desk with her hands on her hips. "If they don't let me in there, I'm going to stink up the whole place! Don't think I can't, or won't!"

Twibright snuck through the building, Watcher's hand on her back for comfort. The place was mostly empty inside, but that only made the few workers still moving from place to place all the more attentive.

"Sneak sneaky sneak." Watcher crept around a corner, her stance straightening as she resumed being a rabbit. "I think our target is a little ahead."

Twibright shifted back to a pony as she looked around. "What makes you say that?"

They were in a hallway that seemed to have no end, and that end was getting further away as they spoke. "Call it a hunch." Watcher smirked as she continued down the endless hallway. "Open your eyes, can you see the solution to this?"

Twibright's gaze darted back and forth, trying to find a pattern or clue to the problem at hand. "We keep walking towards the other end, and it just stretches out ahead of us, with no indication that we're getting closer." She tapped at her chin with a hoof, thinking on it. Her tail swayed in time with her steps. "Hum, well, I bet if we, just did this." She turned away and started back. "Guess I'll give up."

Watcher slapped into the door, there all of a sudden. "You make it look so simple." She pushed the door open and slipped through.

Twibright trotted along after her. "Not that hard to do, really. It's not logical, just intuitive." She tapped at her head. "Not my specialty, but there is a logic there."

Watcher nodded to the figure shrouded in perfectly aligned shadow. "I assume you are the evil mayor?"

"I am not evil." The voice came from nowhere in particular, much like the sun's voice had come from everywhere. "I just have other priorities than this city." The figure stepped into the light, revealing itself to be a raccoon with wide eyes. "Really, evil. That's just mean." He flicked his tail with annoyance. "What did you two need? Come to praise me?"

Twibright straightened. "Why are you doing this? You're running the city into ruin. What do you gain from it all?"

"Gain?" He gestured around himself, at the lavish room he was in. "They love me." The mayor walked towards them. "They love me because of the things I can do for them." He gestured out the window, where they could see Lulu still arguing and distracting everyone else. "Nice ploy. Few people want an angry skunk waving her tail at them."

Watcher nodded slowly. "I can see the use of that. Why are you so greedy? You don't seem the type."

The mayor gave her a confused look. "You don't even know who I am." He reached into a pocket and drew out a name tag that he donned proudly. "Mayor Brushton." He polished the tag. "Pleased to meet you."

Twibright cleared her throat loudly. "Mayor, yes, why are you so greedy?"

Brushton gave her a confused look. "I'm not. I'm a perfectly fine person."

Watcher frowned at him a moment, then held up a finger. "One moment." She pulled Twibright aside. "He doesn't stink."

Twibright blinked, ears going up in surprise. "He doesn't? What does that mean?"

Watcher waved at the mayor. "Something is wrong. He's not the problem."

Brushton gave them a curious look. "I did wash this morning." He sniffed himself, just to coil his noise. "Oh, maybe I forgot today."

Twibright looked around, then waved Watcher close. "This might be like in the other world you brought me to. The real problem was something else."

Watcher nodded quickly. "Then it stands to reason that someone else is the source of the corruption here. But something's bothering me."

"What's that?" Brushton had casually joined their huddle. "Can I help?"

Watcher gave him a long, hard stare. "Are you real? I have trouble with this world."

"Oh, I'm very real. You're real too!" He patted her on the head. "A real looker, actually." He clicked his tongue and shot a wink at the both of them. "Really, how can I help? Ole' Brushton's on the case!"

Twibright cleared her throat, trying not to laugh. "Actually, we need to know what is behind all the changes you're making to this city."

Brushton looked around. "What changes? Oh! You mean the plans! Look, this city is good for a few things. Change is one of them. I'm sure someone will come along after me with a new great idea. That's how things are supposed to go!" He shrugged, then gave them a concerned look. "Are you feeling well?"

Watcher shook their head. "No, no I suspect I'm really not." She pulled Twibright closer. "I feel I may have misjudged this world. The corruption here might not be anything but a normal part of its cycle."

Brushton cleared his throat to get their attention. "Is that bad? I don't want things to go poorly for this place."

Twibright stared up at him, then sighed softly. "A world so natively chaotic, a new spin means nothing to it? Fascinating! Perhaps we could learn something from it?"

Watcher took a slow breath, letting her eyes close a moment before looking back. "This place is not ours to judge." They glanced at Brushton, who gave them an eager smile. "Do you feel like you have the people's interests at heart?"

Brushton took off his hat to hold in both hands. "Look here, doll. The town wants to get things done. To do that, it needs money. You could say I'm financing the next mayor to sit in that chair and figure out how to make their dreams come true."

Twibright considered that. "You think that makes sense? What about what you want?"

"I already have everything I could want right now." He patted himself down. "Honestly, I'm real curious what they'll get up to with a nice fat ledger to work with. I live in this city, you two. I want to see it grow."

Twibright opened her mouth, then closed it. "You're a little too honest for your own good."

Brushton smiled at her. "Is there such a thing? I believe in this place, and everyone else is welcome to try after me." He suddenly smirked. "But, first, they have to win the election. I won't go down without a fight!"

Watcher gave him a long nod. "A proper stance, really." She turned to Twi, nodding. "There's no problem here to solve. This city will move on as it always has." She looked past Brushton to the window. "We should rescue Lulu. She is working hard for us."

Brushton nodded. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have a campaign to run! The mayor waved as he headed for his own door. "Thanks for visiting!"

***

Back outside, the crowd was starting to grow annoyed. Some were moving to start pushing Lulu away from the Town Hall even as she shouted about how they couldn't get rid of her that easily.

Twibright trotted out with Watcher close behind, stepping in front of the skunk. "Good people of this city." Her voice carried loudly over all of them. "The emergency has passed."

No emergency had ever been announced, but that it was passed got many to let out sighs of relief.

Lulu gave Twi a look of confusion. "Why did you do that? Now we're not going to get thrown in jail and get a chance to talk to the mayor?"

Watcher shook their head, then motioned for her to join them. "Lulu, you and Twibright are being influenced by this place. I should have predicted that." She blew up her lop ear in a brief resistance. "You two were animated to start. This place wants you to be as bright and colorful as it is, but that doesn't leave much room for thinking critically, or rationally. I believe you are correct about this place being safe, but I will not allow either of you to continue acting like this."

Lulu scowled at them. "Are you sure this isn't just you not wanting me to make friends with other people?" She crossed her arms, tapping her toes. "It's because you can't, isn't it?"

Watcher hesitated a moment, words left unsaid on her lips as she swayed left and right slowly. "Lulu, you are my companion. You are Twibright's as well. As our companion, please calm yourself. We have to leave this place, quickly." They reached for her arm.

"I am perfectly calm!" Lulu snatched her arm away. "Don't touch me! What are you even trying to do here? Why can't I make a friend in this town?"

Twibright rubbed against one of Lulu's legs. "We can make friends anytime, but we have each other, don't we? We're friends. We'll be friends no matter where we go." Her voice was calm and easy going.

Watcher shook their head quickly. "We must leave, now. Please come along, Lulu."

Lulu scowled at Watcher. "Only because Twi is asking." She rubbed along Twibright's mane with a little smile. "You're so good at relaxing me, little pony."

Author's Note

Can you properly corrupt a world that's already this prone to wild shifts on its own?

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