Countdown

"Countdown" 	"Countdown"
 	
Cast 	Cast
Main Cast:*Aleck Harding*Alice Carver*Bradley Wolfe*Constance Miller*Doctor*Eileen Irenic*Flippy Flopper*Hyla Sensitive*Kilo Byte*Piggy Pie*Slate Oldman*Vidalia VaVoomGuest Cast:*Queen Vixen VII*Tex Ewing	Recurring Cast:*The Cogs*Barnacle Barbara*Bob Barker *Clara Clark*Doe Clark*Horace Calves*Ichabod Irving*Linda Lawla*Mata Hairy*Mickey Elias *Mulaney Chortle*Susan Fletcher*Tori Dorrance
Chronology 	Chronology
←Previous"Outlanders" 	Next→"Welcome to Toontown"
"Countdown" is the fourth episode of Contact and the 39th episode overall.
The episode was published on January 5, 2020. 
In the episode, Toontown marks New Year's Day with celebration and remembrance. The Toon Council faces another petition, and Vidalia learns of a growing economic crisis that could threaten everyday life. Flippy leads a charge on Pajama Place to placate the Cashbots, while the Lawbots remain silent. 
==The Episode==
---Alice Carver and Bradley Wolfe’s Estate---
-New Year’s Eve-
The year 321 was hours away. A lavish celebration was to be held in Toontown Central, and crowds were expected to eclipse that of the most recent inauguration. New Year’s Eve was always the day of celebration, and New Year’s Day the one of reflection. After all, it was on New Year’s Day centuries ago that the War began. When Vulpus invaded Mallardia. 
But Alice and Bradley were not ready to head to Toontown Central for the party. Everyone else had gone ahead, but they had one last piece of business to conduct with Vidalia VaVoom before the year 320—the Year of the Cogs—closed out. 
Vidalia was seated at the dining room table, poring over diagrams of various event spaces in town. She frowned at most, but every now and then she’d squeal and set one advert aside. 
“Okay,” she said finally, “I’ve narrowed it down to the top five. These are the ones that are 1) available, 2) perfect, and 3) cost-affordable. What do you think?” 
Alice and Bradley inspected the brochures. There were two in the Gardens, one in Melodyland, one in the Brrrgh, and one on Punchline Place in Toontown Central. 
“Well?” Vidalia prodded. “Can you see yourself getting married at any of those?” 
Bradley and Alice smiled at each other. 
“This one,” they said together, pointing to a snowy alcove in the Brrrgh. 
Vidalia collected the brochure and made a few notes. 
“Do we have a date in mind yet?” 
“Late February,” Bradley said.
“Bradley and I will exchange our vows even if Cogs are raining from the sky,” Alice added. 
Bradley beamed. Alice grinned at Vidalia. 
“Thank you so much for being our wedding planner. Are you sure it’s not too much extra work?” 
“Oh please,” Vidalia cooed, “this is my speciality. And this is far more interesting than some of the stuff we have to talk about on the Toon Council. Don’t get me wrong I love my job but taxes? Blech!” 
Bradley reached for Alice’s paw under the table and squeezed it. Their wedding plans were officially underway. 
---Toon Hall---
As the final hour before the new year began, Dr. Kilo Byte and Dr. Hyla Sensitive left their workshop in Toon Hall. It had previously been owned by Dr. Cumulo Nimbus before his untimely demise in the Exodus. Some of his research was still on an upper shelf. 
“Did you pick up any sparklers from the market?” Kilo asked casually as they crossed the lobby. 
“Uh huh. Hey, Kilo…”
Hyla stopped him. “Are we ever going to get married?” 
Kilo’s face blushed redder than his fur. He took off his glasses. 
“One day…” he muttered. 
“Yeah…well…can that be sooner rather than later? Ever since these Cartonians arrived I’ve been wondering why we haven’t already been married. We spent years together alone during Exodus, and I…I love you.” 
Kilo smiled. “I love you too.” 
Hyla waited for him to say more. 
“Oh,” Kilo said, picking up on the cue, “sure. Will you marry me?” 
Hyla rolled her eyes. Such a romantic. 
“Yes, dumbo. I’ll marry you.” 
Kilo put his glasses back on. 
“Should we wait until after Alice and Bradley’s wedding? I don’t want to upstage them.” 
“Eh,” Hyla waved a paw. “I hate pomp and ceremony. We can file at the courthouse. Judge McIntosh issues marriage certificates.” 
Kilo couldn’t help but laugh. 
“Is there a reason to hurry?” 
Hyla chewed her lip. 
“There are three reasons.” 
She patted her stomach. Kilo stared dumbly back at her, until he understood. 
Hyla was pregnant with triplets. 
---Toon Council Chamber---
-Three Weeks Later-
The Cogs had remained silent. Flippy had managed to continue to placate the Cashbots, and convince them that the fruitless construction of a fortified Bullion Mint was the priority. Cash before clash. 
It was the Lawbots that posed the greater threat. 
In the meantime, the peace activists in the Gardens had been able to carry their sentiment to other neighborhoods, and a second petition befell the Toon Council, imploring them to release the five non-fox Cartonians to a house arrest program. It would seem the Toons found the Cartonians—with the exception of the fox—harmless. They were refugees, and it was amoral for the Toons to refuse asylum. 
“I will never vote to approve this,” Barbara scowled. “Debate is pointless.” 
“A vote on this matter would require unanimity,” Constance reminded her peers. Aleck and Susan looked at each other, noiselessly sending their thoughts to one another. 
“I am with Barbara,” Eileen voiced, “even though I don’t have a vote. We can’t trust them.” 
“But when can we trust them?” Ichabod Irving urged. “We’ll never know until we give them the opportunity to earn our trust. They could be loyal citizens. They could help us fight the Cogs.” 
Doe Clark sighed. 
“I am wary of giving them that opportunity. They could use it for nefarious purposes.” 
Ichabod scoffed. 
“Come on. They have no resources, and they don’t know the land. They’ve been imprisoned for months now. They haven’t seen outside those walls. Hell, they don’t even know where the others are!”
Constance rubbed her forehead. 
“Shall we vote?” 
“Verbal ballot,” Ichabod assented. 
“Dreamland?” Constance recited from memory. 
“Yes,” Ichabod voted. 
“Brrrgh?”
“No,” Slate grunted. 
“Melodyland?”
“Nope,” Doe said, folding her arms over her chest. 
“Gardens?”
“Nay,” Mulaney Chortle said. 
“Docks?” 
“Hell no,” Barbara sniffed. 
“Toontown Central?” 
“I vote yes,” Vidalia said, taking the room by surprise. “I agree with Ichabod. We need to provide them with the opportunity to gain our trust in order for us to move forward. We’ve discussed summary execution and no one except Barbara is keen on the idea. Therefore the Cartonians are here to stay. Long-term imprisonment is not a justifiable solution, as they have committed no crimes against us.” 
“It doesn’t matter what crimes they’ve committed against us!” Doe clamored. “These are the descendants of the people who murdered our ancestors! They’re the reason we had to leave our home!”
“That wasn’t them,” Ichabod said. “And the murdered weren’t us. We are guiltless of what happened at the Vixen Cliffs 300 years ago. They are guiltless of the War.” 
Constance peered at Ichabod. When did he come to be such a competent member of Council? 
“I think a house arrest program would be beneficial,” Vidalia added before anyone could interrupt her. “I’ll personally sponsor one of them.” 
“You know,” Slate said suddenly, “I would very much like to sponsor Evelyn Quin. I change my vote to yes.” 
Doe, Barbara, and Mulaney were openmouthed. 
“Why, Slate?” Constance asked, curious herself. 
“Because,” Slate said matter-of-factly, “Evelyn and her sister, Cale, are BioFreaks.” 
Mulaney leaned back in her chair, drumming her fingers on the Council table. 
“I see,” she whispered. 
“They can control water,” Slate explained. “That’s how they braved the storms to get down here.”
Eileen stood up quickly. 
“Then Tick Hunter and Blair Fawkes lied about how they got here. This is proof they cannot be trusted. They are already trying to deceive us!”
“They lied,” Slate hissed, “because they were scared of the repercussions against Cale and Evelyn. BioFreaks are despised up north, as I know from my own condition and the tales passed down from my ancestors. I assured Evelyn that we do not discriminate against BioFreaks, but…”
“Slate,” Doe interrupted, “isn’t it a bit too coincidental that a fox trying to leave Cartonia happens to stumble upon not one, but two BioFreaks? And not just any couple of BioFreaks, but the exact couple with the exact powers to survive the storms.”
Constance exhaled. Doe had an excellent point. Things weren’t adding up. 
“Regardless,” Constance said, noticing the time, “we were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on this matter. We will table it again for…shall we say three weeks? After that time, the issue will be revisited.” 
“I second,” Doe said.
“Third,” Ichabod chimed in. 
“Perfect,” Constance said, “the Cartonians will remain imprisoned for the time being.” 
---Chipper Acres---
Flippy was waiting for Eileen by their usual spot in the clearing. Since the Final Battle occurred here, the place was held in a period of stasis. Grass could not grow over the spilt blood, and pieces of Cog shrapnel littered the battlefield. Molecule’s cabin had begun to fall apart as well. 
“How are the Cartonians?” Flippy asked, which was almost always his first question. 
“Still locked up,” Eileen reported. We’re receiving petitions to release them still. Half of the Toon Council is in favor.” 
“And what about you?” Flippy’s robotic voice panned. 
Eileen sighed. 
“I’m not sure. I think they’re safest behind bars. We would never have to worry about them, but it’s cruel to keep them there forever. If Toontown was truly overrun by Cogs and we had to evacuate, what if one of the nomadic communities between Cartonia and here refused us? What would we do then?” 
Flippy shook his head—more of a swivel. 
“I have no idea.” 
They were quiet for a moment, the only sound the trickle of the stream. 
“Any luck with the Lawbots?” Eileen asked. 
“Unfortunately not. I can’t infiltrate their HQ because they’ve barred the tunnel and they disabled the airspace. Any Cog entering their domain will lose control of the rotor and fall to the ground. I’ve already lost two Tightwads that way.”
“What if we got you a Lawbot suit?” Eileen asked, picturing Hyla’s arsenal of Backstabber costumes. 
“It’s no use,” the Big Cheese replied. “The District Attorney knows I’m trying to unseat him. He rightfully doesn’t trust me, and they’ll be on the lookout for my chip ID on their scanners.”
And Eileen knew they couldn’t swap out his chip because that was the only thing retaining his toonity. 
“Anyway,” Flippy said, “I have something I have to share with you. The Cashbots are getting restless. They think it’s been too long and we have to continue the Creator and Chairman’s work. They want to invade Pajama Place to resume taking over buildings. I’ve been trying to delay them, but I’m almost certain that if I keep refusing, they’ll launch a coup d’état against me. We’ll be attacking tomorrow.” 
Eileen nodded, unmoved. She had been expecting this eventually. The Cogs believed themselves to be the superior being in the region, just as how the foxes exerted their control over the rest of Cartonia. The Cogs would not remain idle forever. 
“We’ll be ready,” Eileen said. 
---Toontown Central Toon HQ---
Vidalia refused the office in Toon Hall. It was far more lavish than any of the other neighborhood’s and she didn’t think it was fair to them. She instead took a vacant space in Toon HQ. She worked there on Mondays and Fridays, and cycled through the three Toontown Central streets on the other three days. Her door was always open, and she delighted in helping her citizens. 
As Vidalia read over a few policies on Toon incarceration, someone came through her door. 
“Bob!” she exclaimed, rising to give him a hug. “Good to see you! Have a seat. How can I be of assistance?” 
Bob Barker was the Head Banker at the Bank of Toontown. Vidalia often giggled at his business cards for the excessive alliteration. 
“Well,” Bob muttered, shifting nervously in the chair, “it’s about Clarabelle.” 
“Ah,” Vidalia said, giving Bob her full attention. He was willing to accommodate Clarabelle in one of the unused vaults, but he was never happy about it. It made him uncomfortable. 
“Several bank patrons…actually upwards of five dozen just this week…have expressed concern over a convicted traitor being housed permanently inside the Bank. They’re concerned she’ll come after their assets…or the Cogs will try to spring her and they’ll lose their savings. I’m afraid that Toons will start to withdraw their funds en masse and trigger an economic collapse.”
Vidalia’s ears shot up. Economic collapse? 
“I’ve come to humbly ask that she be reinterred at Toon HQ.” 
“I understand,” Vidalia said at once. “Thank you for bringing this to me, and I believe your points are valid. I’ll ask the Toon Council, but I can’t promise they’ll approve it. At the very least we can provide extra security and do a press piece on how serious we are taking our prisoner.” 
Bob nodded. 
“I suppose I’ll soon have to talk about the police budget with the Council?” 
“Oh,” Vidalia said, skimming her calendar, “yes…it’s one of these days. How’s it looking?”
“Bad,” Bob blurted. “Nearly all the government’s funds are being diverted to keeping the Cartonians locked up. It doesn’t help you’re running a seventh prison out of my bank. If the Toons don’t precipitate a crash of the market, then the Council’s spending will.” 
---Pajama Place---
Tex Ewing gnawed on the edge of a piece of straw while Dr. Kilo Byte and Dr. Hyla Sensitive installed their Cog building repellant device on the inside of his shop. THE Eileen Irenic was seated in one of his armchairs, her elbows resting on a pillow. 
“Comfy, huh?” Tex asked, gesturing at the pillow. Eileen smiled politely. 
“Very.” 
“And only 15 jellybeans!” Tex tried to sell. “Here at the Armadillo Pillow Company, all our products are…”
“Done!” Kilo exclaimed, cutting Tex off. The rest his words spilled silently from his mouth. Kilo climbed down from his ladder, the device now implanted on the wall above the door. Tex’s eyes bugged as he gazed up at it. 
“Mighty, that’s a fine-looking doodad. Will it work?” 
“I don’t know,” Hyla said truthfully, adjusting a few settings on her tablet. “We can hope.” 
“Thank you, Tex, for volunteering to help us with this trial,” Eileen said, shaking Tex’s hand. Tex could only grin in astonishment. Eileen Irenic, here! In his shop! 
The smartypants scientists—those two mice—had developed some sort of gizmo that would prevent Cogs from taking over their buildings. Tex’s shop was a door down from Cashbot HQ, and so his shop was prime real estate for the test. They had originally asked Harry Hammock at the Dream On Travel Agency, since his building was even closer, but he refused. Harry didn’t live there anymore, anyway. He still rented out the apartments above his shop, but he had long since fled after the Cashbots set up at the end of Pajama Place. Tex wasn’t afraid of Cogs. Just spiders. 
“It was a pleasure meeting you, Tex,” Eileen said as the group gathered their things to leave. “We’ll keep in touch.”
“Yeah and let us know,” Kilo said, “if the device sparks. It shouldn’t.”
“Roger that, Mr. Kilo!” Tex saluted. 
---
Outside the Armadillo Pillow Company, Eileen frowned at the tunnel to Cashbot HQ. 
“I’ll ask Flippy to stage a takeover of the building, but not just yet. We’ll wait to see if the device doesn’t go haywire. Maybe in a week or so?”
“That works,” Hyla said, “and then you can focus on stopping their attack tomorrow.” 
Eileen took in her surroundings, making note of where Toons could hide tomorrow. 
“The gag shops will be excited to have business again,” Eileen remarked. 
---Pajama Place---
-The Next Day-
The Toon Resistance had been idle for months, with reconnaissance work being conducted primarily by Eileen, Flippy, and Mata Hairy. Piggy Pie remained on their official payroll, but there wasn’t much for her to do. Doctor was fully recovered now, physically at least. The pain of his trauma would probably never subside. 
Piggy and Doctor, in Doctor’s first Cog battle since before his conversion, were crouched around the corner from Cashbot HQ. Eileen was with Aleck, Bradley Wolfe, Clara Clark, and Mata Hairy. Tori and Horace were on other corner, gag pouches in paw. Shopkeepers were in their doorways, some with emergency toonup stations. 
The Toons were ready. 
If not for the Cartonians, this lack of Cogs would be a resounding victory for the Toons. Life would be returning to normal. With the new year, Piggy Pie had spent a good amount of time reminiscing on the past twelve months. They had returned from Exodus last March, after three years of exile. The Cogs had ebbed and flowed since then, with heavy battle casualties and advancements that both inspired and terrified the Toons. 
Piggy Pie remembered the Togs. 
Alice and Bradley when they were going by Geneva George and Clan Destine. 
The battle on Loopy Lane. Flippy’s sacrifice. 
The Chairman’s first interaction with the Toons. Unaware that he was in fact Ash Ingalls. 
Piggy Pie didn’t know how Ash was doing. Last she heard, he was still comatose and with his father in a hospital on Silly Street. She knew from Violet Vance that Soggy Bottom had recovered from her laff surgery. Doctor was determined to get better, and both he and his Tog counterpart Smokey Joe were alive and well. 
All they had to do now was defeat the Cashbots and the Lawbots. Then figure out what to do with the Cartonians. Piggy Pie personally believed they should kill the fox and make an example for the other five. Let them know they were welcome so long as they weren’t as vicious as the foxes were. 
Eileen walked over to Piggy and Doctor. She gave Doctor probably the seventh hug that hour. 
“I’m just so happy you’re with us again,” she repeated. Doctor didn’t tell her she was being repetitive, but returned the hug with force. 
“Remember,” Eileen said to the two of them, “use only low-level gags on Flippy. He’ll be coming out last and will order the retreat.”
Piggy Pie nodded. All the Toons closest to the tunnel knew that Flippy was a Big Cheese now. That fact had not been widely disseminated, as some Toons still harbored resentment toward Flippy for allowing the Cogs into Toontown in the first place. Not even his sacrifice had restored his legacy in their minds. 
Minutes later, though the silence, came the sound of metal boots on the ground. Piggy peered around the corner and saw the phalanxes of Cashbots rush out. 
“ATTACK!” a Robber Baron at the front roared. 
“TOONS OF THE WORLD!” Eileen’s voice rang out. 
Scattered reactions of “UNITE!” reverberated through the street. Piggy and Doctor leapt into battle with a group of Loan Sharks. Deputy Linda Lawla and Tori Dorrance fell into battle beside them. 
There were hundreds of Cashbots. Flippy reported there were around 130 Cogs ready for battle when he assumed leadership over Cashbot HQ, and a further 1,000 that purely conducted clerical work in one of the Cashbot offices. They had been trained by the other survivors, and were now ready for battle. 
The goal was to knock out as many as possible. 
But it was impossible to keep track. So many Cogs were exploding, and the Toons had to spread out to accommodate for all the battles. 
“BOSSBOT!” a shopkeeper named Tex cried as Flippy emerged from the tunnel. He deftly dodged a birthday cake lobbed by an unaware Toon. He surveyed the environment, until his gaze locked on Piggy. She grinned at him, and tossed a slice of cream pie at him. He moved to the side, but the pie hit his arm. The light on his chest flickered once. His face was the same as any Big Cheese, so she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. 
Eileen engaged him in battle, and used mostly drop. He knew what the buttons were, and he stepped out of the way each time. As other Toons tried to join the battle, Eileen forbade them. 
More Cashbots came through the tunnel, and joined Eileen’s battle. Doctor and Piggy hurried to balance the score. Mata sidled next to them. 
“This is Flippy?” she grunted to Eileen quietly. 
“Yes,” Eileen hissed back. 
They lured, and defeated the other three Cogs. Mata left the battle, and Eileen told Doctor and Piggy to finish off who was left. 
Flippy flew off the ground and looked down on the carnage. Shopkeepers were dragging gears and Cog heads out of the way so Toons wouldn’t trip over them as they moved to the next battle. 
When all the Cogs on the street were defeated, Flippy flew back to Cashbot HQ. In what was the easiest Cog battle ever, the Toons had won. Flippy had been slightly injured to maintain his cover, and the Cashbots were closer than ever to total destruction.
---That Night---
“Hold him still.” 
The voice was dark, steeped with evil. Mickey Elias struggled against the silhouettes as they strapped him to a metal operating table. He was naked, and the steel was freezing on his bare fur. A bright light shone overhead, and he squinted to make out the shapes around him. The first voice’s owner came back into view. She lowered her surgical mask to show a set of sharp white teeth. 
“Aren’t you glad we found you?” she whispered. The glint of a knife emerged beyond the table, and the sharp blade was plunged into Mickey’s chest. He gasped in pain, and blood spurted from his chest. The ones holding him down removed their own masks, and Mickey counted five foxes. The one who kept stabbing him was wearing a crown. 
The Harmony Crown, dripping blood. 
“Long live the Vixen Queen!” one of the foxes chanted. Mickey was stabbed in the abdomen. 
“Long live the Vixen Queen!”
A stab in the heart. 
“Long live the Vixen Queen!”
Blackness. 
---
Mickey screamed. This nightmare was worse than the one of the fox invasion. He was drenched in sweat. Groaning in frustration at his imagination, he stripped the sheets off his bed and went to sleep on the couch. 
He shuddered as he pictured the Vixen Queen’s face. No one knew what she really looked like, but he had now seen with his own eyes a fox. Everyone in his dream had that same face. 
The Vixen Queen was dead. She died at the Vulpus Dam. No one knew what happened after that. But the Cartonian arrivals spoke of Vulpus as an Empire, and they said there was still a Vixen Queen. 
Mickey dropped his head. Why were his nights tormented like this? Perhaps the universe was telling him to do the right thing. To act on the information he had. Constance Miller was livid when he told her that he had torn up the letter from the first Mayor about a fox invasion. It was true that there was nothing in the letter that would help with the issue at hand. But…
Mickey went to his fireplace and moved the logs. He swept the ashes away with his hand, and opened a secret compartment under the grate. He spread out the contents on the wooden floor. 
It was the letter that he tore up. He had kept the pieces. As he reassembled the pieces, he pictured Maximilian Walters, toward the end of his life, writing this letter. Hoping against hope that it would never have to be read. Once all the scraps were where they were supposed to be, he read:
TO THE MAYOR OF TOONTOWN:
TO BE OPENED IN THE EVENT OF THE WORST:
A FOX INVASION OF TOONTOWN
Dated: May 29, Year 17
Dear Mayor, 
If you are reading this letter, then our worst fears have been realized and the foxes of the Kingdom of Vulpus have returned to Toontown. I can only hope that these words are never seen again, and that this envelope will gather dust for centuries until the parchment disintegrates and the ink becomes lost to time. At the very least, I hope that several generations of Toons will live without vulpine contact. 
You may wonder why the foxes have returned, and I truly hope you know who the foxes are and what they can do. We have only one written record of the time before Toontown, of our home—Cartonia—and as of this writing have not released it in order to protect our newest generation from the atrocities of our past. We will publish it, one day. It’s a diary, and we leave it to the author’s discretion to publish when they are ready. 
In case that record is lost: 
Before Toontown, there was a species known as the foxes that sought to conquer all the land, all of Cartonia, and all its people. The foxes of the Kingdom of Vulpus were ruthless in their pursuit, and plunged a peaceful nation into war. We escaped, at great cost. We committed unspeakable evils to reach the site that is Toontown. It isn’t much now, but we envision a grand democratic civilization will rise over the ashes of war. 
The foxes, however, have returned, and you are in danger. Your town is in danger. They may be coming for revenge, or for conquest. It will not be for peace. They will kill and they will torture and they will enslave. I wish I was exaggerating, and I wish I had a solution. But our only option was escape. There is no where else you can run. 
Mickey stopped reading. The next line began with “As the first Mayor and one of the leads on the expedition that brought us here, there is something you should know about this town.” And it was the rest of the letter that had upset Mickey the most all those years ago. But Mayor Max had left the current Mayor a mission for if the foxes ever returned. They had not been invaded, but a fox was still here.
Mickey may not agree with all the letter said, but he was the one who first read it. He was the one with the obligation. He would fulfill the founders’ wish.
==Production==
===Continuity and Story Arcs===
Toontown celebrates New Year’s Day in this episode, marking 321 years since the town’s establishment and the escape from Cartonia. In “Silent Night,” the year is said to be 707 when Victoria Vixen is assassinated, and therefore the year 708 begins the War. The duration of the War is unknown as of this episode’s publication, but from these numbers it can be inferred the year in Cartonia is at least 1029. 
Alice and Bradley have begun planning their wedding, with Vidalia VaVoom as their wedding planner. 
Kilo Byte and Hyla Sensitive become engaged, with Hyla revealing her pregnancy with triplets. 
Another petition asking the Toon Council to release the five non-fox Cartonians to a house arrest program is put to a vote. It is voted down 3-3, with Vidalia VaVoom and Slate Oldman joining Ichabod Irving in the affirmative. The motion is tabled for another three weeks. 
The Head Banker of Toontown expressed concern for Clarabelle Cow’s incarceration in the bank, and warned of an economic collapse if a solution to the Cartonians was not found soon. 
The Toon Resistance installed a Cog Building repellant device in a shop at the end of Pajama Place. 
Flippy and his Cashbots staged an attack on Pajama Place, which served as a ploy so the Resistance could quell them. Flippy survived, but all other Cashbots were destroyed. 
As this episode occurs in January, and the return from Exodus was in March of the previous year, not even a year has passed in the series narrative. 
Mickey Elias suffers another horrific nightmare, this time seeing the Vixen Queen and four other foxes stab him repeatedly. 
Despite telling Constance Miller in “Equinox” that he had destroyed the letter he found in the Mayoral Vault, Mickey had actually kept the pieces. The letter, penned by first Mayor Maximilian Walters, warned of a fox invasion of Toontown and the dire consequences it would bring. Only half the letter is shown in this episode, with the latter half bothering Mickey the most. Mickey resolved to honor the wishes of Max Walters, though these wishes are not shared in this episode. 
===References===
The invasion of Mallardia by the foxes of Vulpus, mentioned briefly in “Silent Night,” is referenced. 
Geneva George and Clan Destine, the aliases of Alice Carver and Bradley Wolfe, are mentioned. 
Piggy Pie reminisces on the battle on Loopy Lane in “Hell Bound,” culminating in Flippy’s sacrifice and the introduction of the Chairman. 
==Trivia==
*The title of this episode references the countdown to the New Year.
*The original intent was to release this as a New Year's episode, but the release schedule was delayed. 
*The Vixen Queen’s appearance, wearing a bloody Harmony Crown, is the first time a Cartonian character introduced in “Silent Night” reappears; despite this, the Vixen Queen is only a figment of Mickey Elias’s imagination.
*The date on Maximilian Walters’ letter to the future Mayors of Toontown is an internal reference to the series premiere of Storytime: May 29, 2017. 
Category:Episodes
Category:Contact Episodes