"Todd, you have to run," the pig leaned over his cup of coffee in the cramped, but well-kept apartment in Savannah Central. The corsac fox seated across from him gave a noncommittal chuckle, but didn't say anything. "I'm serious, Todd. There's no one in the race right now half as committed to animal rights as you."

Todd sighed as he turned his mug aimlessly between his paws. "I don't know, Hubert. I'm no politician,"he turned his gaze toward the window and the billboard of the thickset bull with a tailored blue suit and a smug smile on the other side. "Besides, can you imagine me standing on a stage next to Turnbull? The guy's like twice my size."

"Who cares how big the guy is? We don't elect mayors based on how tall they are. Otherwise we'd live in a giraffocracy, Besides, with those ears of yours you might just be taller than he is."

Todd chuckled and ran his fingers through the yellow-gray fur behind his ears. " My great-grandfather must have been a fennec." The smile dropped from his face, and his ears drooped slightly. "But, I've got no political experience. I've never worked on a campaign or run for anything but senior class president in high school."

"And did you win that election?" Hubert asked.

"Well, yes, but-"

"But nothing. Besides, during Bellwether's reign of terror, you stood up for predator rights from day one. You took the cases that no one else would. Do you remember that tiger who was charged with assault when all he did was bump into a rabbit on the subway? The wolf arrested for a robbery because he was sitting at a bus-stop nearby? The teenage panther accused of harassment for having the gall to stand up for himself when his classmates vandalized his locker?" With each example, Hubert tapped his finger on the table with force.

"I'm a lawyer, it's my job to do that. Remember, not all of my clients were innocent," Todd rebutted.

"Whether they were innocent or not isn't important. What is important is that you stood up for them when no one else would."

"You make it sound like I singlehandedly took down the anti-predator hysteria with my brilliant legal defense. Last I checked, it was Officers Hopps and Wilde taking down Mayor Bellwether that ended that whole mess," Todd finished his coffee and rose from his seat. "You want another?"

"Hopps and Wilde weren't there keeping innocent preds out of prison. They weren't writing to the paper denouncing the anti-predator discrimination."

"You're right, they were out actually solving the problem."

"What they did was important-"

"Vital even." Todd interjected.

"I'm not disputing that, but you were right there combatting it on the ground. Why are you fighting this?" With the last sentence, Hubert swung his arm to emphasize his point, managing to knock his coffee mug over and spill its contents across the table. "Ah, shoot. Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it." Todd laughed and grabbed a towel. As he wiped down the table, he paused for a moment. In a quieter, more serious tone he asked "do you really think I have a shot?"

"Absolutely. I mean, I'm no analyst but there's gotta be plenty of animals sick of Turnbull and his thinly-veiled anti-predator fearmongering," Hubert patted Todd on the back. "Besides, you'd have the best record of anybody running."

Todd pondered this for a moment. He had never considered running for any public office, let alone mayor. But with Mayors Lionheart and Bellwether in prison the city bureaucracy was in chaos. Emergency elections had been called, and a paper pusher from city hall - a hippo named John Nileworthy - had been made interim mayor to keep the seat warm, though he had started running to hold on to the seat. In the turmoil, plenty of animals were throwing their hats in the ring, many with barely any qualifications at all. Hubert was right that if he entered the race he'd immediately have an experience advantage over everyone except for the only two real candidates: Turnbull and Nileworthy.

But then again, Turnbull was a celebrity and campaigns cost money. A lot of money. It would be a serious gamble, but if he didn't run he'd be handing the election to a charismatic bigot or a milquetoast bureaucrat. This was his chance to change Zootopia for the better; to fight discrimination with more authority than ever before; to show the world just what a fox could do. "I'm in."

A few days and several forms later, Todd W. Renard was officially a candidate for mayor of Zootopia. As he and Hubert worked on flier designs, and email notification pinged on Todd's phone:

"TO: twrenard

FROM: interview

SUBJECT: Comment on candidacy

Mr. Renard,

Congratulations on entering the race for mayor of Zootopia. ZNN will be running a short segment on your candidacy, would you care to comment?

Yours,

The ZNN news team"

Todd struggled for words for a moment. "Hubert, look at this," Todd shoved his phone in the pig's direction. Hubert scanned the message several times, his eyes darting around the screen and his face shifting between excitement, amazement, and annoyance.

"This is great…" Hubert sounded less than completely thrilled.

"But you wished that the Zootopia Times had picked up the story first?" Todd smirked.

"I mean, I only told my editor that my good friend - the predator-rights activist and lawyer whose op-eds we published during the Bellwether fiasco - was running for mayor immediately after you agreed to it," Hubert folded his arms and slumped down in his chair, looking like a pouting child.

"Yeah, well, you snooze you lose, Times," Todd took his phone back, and read over the email again. "Still, ZNN. Wow."

"I told you, you're a serious candidate for this. You're not like that nutbag squirrel, Vermin Supreme," Hubert sat up.

"Well, what should I say?" Todd rubbed under his muzzle. "Ooh! What about 'I fought for predator rights as a lawyer, now I want to do so as mayor?'"

"No, you sound too pred-biased and power-hungry," Hubert scratched the tuft of straw-blond hair atop his head. "Oh, what about 'We need one Zootopia, undivided'?"

"No…" Todd paced back and forth for a bit, then stopped. He pivoted and pointed at Hubert "'Predator rights are animal rights, and as mayor I will fight for animal rights in all forms'."

"Send it in," Hubert said, offering a quickly fulfilled high-five. Todd typed out the message and clicked send, uncontrollably smiling with the excitement of it all.

"I can't do this. I cannot do this. What was I thinking? I don't know the first thing about campaigning. Why did I let you talk me into this?" Todd quivered outside the door of the next apartment over, a pamphlet fresh off the (home) printer clutched tight to his chest. His ears lay flat against his head, nearly reaching his neck. He clawed at his olive tie. "Is it hot in here/ I'm having trouble breathing. Why am I wearing a tie? It's choking me and-"

Hubert laid his hand on Todd's shoulder. "Stop. You'll do fine. Be confident and honest, you know what you're talking about. Now take a deep breath and go."

"No really, Hubert. I can't do this. I can't-" the door opened. A zebra stood before them in her bathrobe, her arms crossed.

"Can I help you?" She said, tapping her hoof.

"Oh, we didn't mean to disturb you, we just-" Todd started.

"Well, you did. We're not interested in buying anything," the zebra went to close the door.

"Wait, we're not selling anything," Todd forced out before the door shut. The zebra paused. "I'm running for mayor of Zootopia. I've got this flier here-" he offered the slightly crumpled half-sheet of paper to the zebra.

She snatched it out of his hand. "Great, I'll look at it," she didn't sound particularly enthusiastic as she slammed the door.

"Great well thank you ma'am have a nice day," Todd squeezed in as the door shut in his face. He looked down at his paws. "That could have gone better. I think she gave me a paper cut."

"Maybe we should take a break and try again tomorrow?" Hubert said, stunned by the trainwreck he witnessed.

A/N: I've never been much of a fanfiction person (reading or writing). However, there was something about Zootopia that made me want to explore the world further. I haven't written prose like this in quite a while - my main genre right now is playwriting - but it felt good to shake a bit of the rust off.

As for this story in particular, it will be using primarily original characters. I've never been comfortable writing stories with other people's characters. However, Nick and Judy will play a small but significant role in this story as I have it planned now. I don't have a set update schedule because, as a college student, this story cannot be one of my top work priorities. The next couple chapters should be up soon, but I can't tell you when I'll be able to finish this story.