Over in Trillium Park, Applejack conversed with her latest client.
"So I was walking in the park, and I decided to get some push-ups in by using a tree. But when I touched it...I got tree hands."
Applejack took a moment to eye the woman's hands. The hands and fingers, once smooth skin, were now prickly branches, and the tips of her fingers were leaves. Briefly, a thought flickered through the farmpony's mind of how the woman could put on a puppet show about a tree, but it died as quickly as it was born in favor of a question that was pressing on her mind.
"Uh, pardon me for askin', but why were ya usin' a tree?"
"Standup push-ups. Keeps the arms strong."
"Uh-huh." Applejack's muzzle wrinkled in confusion. For all the years she had been here, she still had no idea why humans did some of the things they did, and for the sake of her sanity, she chose not to think about it for too long. "Well, I got just th' gadget for ya." She reached a hoof behind her and fished out a rather small spherical gadget. "Un-Tree-Hand-inator."
Steadying her aim, she fired two blasts at each of the woman's hands, which returned them to their normal states. The woman gasped, clasping and unclasping her hands as she eyed them with happiness and relief.
"Thank you, Odd Squad!"
"Glad I could help." Applejack tucked the gadget away behind her back. "You have yourself a good day, now."
"I will!"
And with that, the pair parted ways. Applejack smiled as she began to trot towards the same tube entrance she had emerged from. Well, that's another case done. Reckon I can head on back t' Headquarters and tackle some of that darn paperwork that's been pilin' up for a couple days now...
"Odd Squad! Help! Over here!"
Applejack perked up at the mention of "help". She looked around for a few moments, managing to spot a young boy over by the sandbox at the playground that was one of the centerpieces of the park.
"I'm comin'!" she called, her hooves taking her over to the playground as fast as they could. Lucky for her that she was fast, rivaling only Rainbow Dash in sheer speed.
The boy peered into the sandbox for a few moments before turning around when the sound of hooves on the grass reached his ears.
"Now, what seems t' be th' problem here?"
The boy pointed to the sand in the sandbox. "There's something hidden in the sand here, and I'm afraid to dig it out!"
Applejack blinked. "Really now?" she asked, her tone skeptical as she peered in the sandbox. To her, it looked just like an average run-of-the-mill sandbox, filled with sand and toys and the usual things one would expect to find in one. Still, she gave her client leniency on the sole basis that he was a child.
"W-what if it's an odd creature, or, or something super-dangerous?" the boy asked nervously, crawling back to Applejack and grabbing ahold of her back leg.
"Okay." Applejack said, wrenching her back leg free and moving it backwards. "Stand back, ya hear? I'm gonna dig your thing out."
"Be careful!"
With one mighty bound, she landed in the sandbox and backed up to the edge. She got to work digging at the sand with her hooves, sending the substance flying every which way. It was only a minute later that the sound of whooshing reached her ears, and the more she dug, the louder it got.
Finally, she managed to expose a rather large portal, with hues of purple and black swirling within it. Her mane and tail billowed in the wind it created, even moreso when she leaned in to get a closer look. The destination on the other side depicted all kinds of oddities, complete with the sky hued in pink.
"What is tha- whooooooa!"
Applejack's client stared in horror as the farmpony was quickly sucked into the portal. Her voice died with an echo, although strangely, the portal didn't close after her.
"Oh no!" The boy got to his feet and began running towards one destination only, his mind abuzz with worrying thoughts. "I gotta tell Odd Squad!"
Mandy's eyes might as well have popped out of her head at the sight that laid before her.
Three fillies, an Earth pony, a unicorn and a Pegasus, all dressed in spiffy new suits and badges akin to her own. They looked rather proud of their new looks, and professional to boot.
"I can't believe it." she murmured. "You three were made agents at the same time?!"
"Yeah!" Apple Bloom nodded enthusiastically.
"It was so cool!" Sweetie Belle excitedly trotted in place.
"Academy work was soooooo tough..." Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "But we got through it as a team!"
Sweetie Belle rushed forward, as though a gust of air blew into her from behind. "And, Ms. O made us all partners!"
Apple Bloom fiddled with her badge, which looked similar to Mandy's own but had a 107 printed on the bottom instead of a 57 -- her own badge number cobbled from adding up the letters in her name. "I feel so grown-up!"
"Agent Apple Bloom, Agent Sweetie Belle, and Agent Scootaloo...they've got nice rings to them!" Mandy bounced up and down excitedly. "I'm so so happy for you three! Congratulations! You three trained super-duper hard for this and honestly, you should be proud of yourselves!"
"Thanks! We are!" came the unisonant response.
"So when can we start on our first case?" Sweetie asked excitedly.
"Can it be something big, like battling a Hydraclops?" Scootaloo asked, her wings providing temporary lift for only a few seconds before she fell back down to the ground. "Or a year-long adventure halfway around the world?!"
Mandy laughed at the fillies' enthusiasm. "Hold on! You guys are only just beginner agents. Oprah's not gonna give ya that stuff just yet. Besides, we don't want any of you getting injured!"
A look of disappointment crossed Scootaloo's features, and she feebly kicked the ground. "I guess you have a point..."
"Can we solve oddness with you?" Sweetie asked, as a sort of compromise.
"Well, that depends. You can ask Oprah to give you a case where all three of you are involved, but..." Mandy twiddled her fingers about. "Since I'm more skilled than you are, the dishrarity may be...offputting."
Sweetie's brows furrowed slightly. "There's a dish named after my sister?"
Before her question could be answered, however, the automatic doors opened and a young boy ran up to the group.
"Odd Squad! Odd Squad, help, please!"
Mandy blinked. "What-"
"What seems to be the problem, kid?"
Mandy stared at Scootaloo for a few moments, her eyes slightly narrowed as she expressed her dislike for the filly interrupting her.
"It's, um, an agent, they...they were helping me dig up something odd at the playground in the park and they fell into a portal!"
"A portal?!" Sweetie cried out, her high-pitch voice making her exclamation come off more like a screech.
"Do ya know what th' agent happened t' look like?" Bloom asked.
"Um..." The boy took a moment to think. "She was a pony...um...an 'Earth pony' I think. An orange pony, with a hat, and a yellow mane and tail!"
Bloom's eyes went wide. "That's my sister!"
Sweetie's head swiveled to look at her partner. "Agent Applejack fell into a portal?!"
"We have to save her!" Scootaloo said, beginning to head for the steel double-doors.
"Hey, hey, hold on a sec!" Mandy swooped up Scootaloo in her rainbow-colored corona, setting her down next to the other fillies. "Did you three forget what I just told you?"
Bloom rushed up to Mandy, placing her hooves on her lower legs as she stared up at the hybrid pleadingly. "Applejack's trapped in another world!"
"We'll get her back, don't worry."
"But that's my sister in danger! I have t' go save her!"
"Agent Apple Bloom, wait!"
But the filly was already out the door before Mandy could even try and snatch her with magic.
"Pickleferries..." she muttered, before glancing at the boy again. "Thank you for informing us. Agent Scootaloo, Agent Sweetie Belle, you two are off this case. That's an order!"
Scootaloo did a salute, with Sweetie nodding in response to her senior's command. "Yes, ma'am!"
"Kid, do you know what the portal looked like? What was on the other side? The color of it?"
"It was a black and purple kind of color, and when I looked inside...all I could see was all sorts of weird stuff with a pink sky!"
Mandy's nose wrinkled. She tapped her chin in thought. "Weird stuff...with a pink sky..." After a minute of thinking, she groaned. "I'm sorry, can't say I know it. But I know who does. Berightback!"
The mere sound of her glass doors being thrown open with loud squeaking made Oprah's office chair tip over, taking her with it.
"Oprahwereallyneedyouitsanemergencyandapplejackisgoneand-"
"Mandy, calm down!" came the angry shout, as a dark-skinned hand shot up and then slammed down onto the table. It began moving about for a few moments, up until it grasped what it was looking for: a fruit-punch-flavored juice box. The sound of sipping followed, and then Oprah's head poked up from behind the desk. "What's going on?"
"Applejack just fell into a portal. Not only that, but Apple Bloom's going to save her."
Most any inexperienced Director would have freaked out about this. An agent-in-training they just promoted, going off on a dangerous mission? That meant a naughty leader not keeping an eye on their employees. But Oprah was no spring chicken. She was an "I was personally born when apes evolved into humans and don't you forget it" chicken. "What did the portal look like?"
"Black and purple, had weird stuff inside and some kind of a pink sky."
That did it. Oprah could feel the juice skyrocketing back through her esophagus, threatening to leave the building and not pay for the visit. She stared at Mandy in horror as a murmur danced on her lips.
"Oh no. Nonono."
Mandy tilted her head. "What's wrong?"
"Applejack is in..." Her pupils and irises shrank further. "The Odd Side."
A sickening dread filled Mandy's stomach right then. She didn't really need to ask what the Odd Side was -- the name was enough to tell her that it was more of an enemy to her than a lion was to a gazelle. But she posed the question anyway.
"It's a realm filled with oddities that Odd Squad has taken care of. Odd creatures, odd viruses, you name it." Oprah turned to pick up her chair. "According to legends, it has been ruled by many individuals over the years. Those who enter it may be corrupted by the oddness and turn odd themselves. In more worse cases, they may descend into mathness- er, madness."
"Nice save. You remembered this fanfic doesn't have math because the author doesn't live by S&P."
"It's been called 'descending into madness' for years, Mandy. Odd Squad is ever-changing, you know. Try to keep up." Oprah flopped into her chair with a huff and continued. "Moving on. Others who enter the Odd Side may be compelled to challenge whoever is in charge."
"And what happens if they win?"
"They take over the Odd Side for themselves and bend it to their wishes."
Mandy's ears folded downwards. "That...sounds horrible. But at the same time, the name sounds familiar..."
"Go and save Agent Applejack and Agent Apple Bloom before they become corrupted. Bring Olive and Otto with you -- they're very knowledgeable about the Odd Side and will assist you well in the mission." Oprah ordered. "Agent Pinkie Pie should come with you as well, for backup."
For a minute, Mandy questioned whether any of the employees Oprah had mentioned were of sound mind. Pinkie Pie, in particular, was more of a sound mind than Mandy herself was. A horrifying thought flashed through Mandy's not-so-sound mind right then, of her partner sitting on a throne, commanding oddities to descend upon Toronto and its citizens...achieving the respect that half the villains in Precinct 13579's roster had dreamed of...
Nope. Too much. Way too much. Mandy violently shook her head before giving a promise to Oprah that she would return Applejack and Apple Bloom to Toronto without so much as a scratch on either of them. But even as she descended the stairs, one thought stayed in her head.
The Odd Side...it sounds so familiar...but where have I heard the name before?
Applejack gave a mighty yell as she saw the ground rapidly approach her. She landed with a loud thump and an "oof", staying there for a few moments before she lifted her head off of the ground and gave a groan. Surprisingly, she didn't feel as injured as she probably should have been, but her spotting her surroundings put that issue aside.
"Where am I?" she murmured. "This doesn't look like any place I've ever seen..."
Swimming in the sky were hybrids of creatures that realistically couldn't be bred, both regular and odd. Random food bits floated about in the sky as well, and the sky itself began to twist and warp slightly. Wherever Applejack looked, there was an oddity of some kind, and she suddenly felt like she was in an unnatural, hostile environment -- Flim and Flam's home turf would be a worthy comparison, perhaps, assuming they actually had some kind of home turf.
"Who dares?!"
The angry shout reverberated, bringing Applejack to her hooves right quick. Her green eyes darted back and forth, trying to find the shout's source. It was only when she heard the sound of footsteps that she whirled around and had to maneuver her head slightly upwards to properly take in and address who was speaking to her.
Applejack quickly noted that the being looked much like a humanoid dog. Floppy dark ears, long dark brown muzzle that was spotted with white, sharp hazel eyes, and a black-and-brown tail. What she was wearing was nothing more than a long dress that nearly touched the floor and was imbued with cosmic patterns -- which Applejack figured made sense, because the bottom of the dress had an ethereal flow to it similar to Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's manes. She looked like an embodiment of regality, although the farmpony couldn't be sure whether she was actually the ruler of this place or not. Did this place even have a ruler?
Hastily, she grabbed her hat and placed it on her head again. "I-I'm sorry, ma'am, I fell in here on accident! I don't mean any harm t' ya!"
"Hm." The dog-person looked at the pony, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Judging from your uniform, that's a very unlikely story." She straightened. "My name is Clementine. I am the ruler of the Odd Side."
"The Odd Side?"
"Yes. A safe haven for all oddness to roam free. Oddness that had been vanquished by your betraying, dishonest kind!"
Applejack took a step back at Clementine's sudden flare-up. "D-dishonest? What do ya mean by that?"
Clementine's gaze grew steely. "Many years ago, when I was a child, an Odd Squad agent left me to die at the hands of a human mob -- a mob that was coming for her head. She used me as a scapegoat while she made her escape." Her fist slowly curled until it was clenched as hard as she could clench it. "I'll never forgive her for what she did. It made me realize that Odd Squad is an organization filled with nothing but cowardice and selfishness, especially within its ranks."
Cowardice? Selfishness? Applejack wanted to fire back. Odd Squad don't have any 'f those things! What the hay are you talkin' about?
"Odd Squad agents send oddness to the Odd Side and have played a major part in its growth." Clementine continued. "But in doing so, they seek to get rid of it, with no remorse. In a sense, we have a symbiotic relationship, but we are also mortal enemies."
"I see..." Applejack said, blinking as she tried to understand Clementine's words. In truth, she had very little clue as to what she was actually talking about, but for the sake of staying alive, she decided to roll with it. "Well, I can assure ya, Clementine, I'm no enemy 'f yours. I just fell in here by accident, and if I'm bein' honest, I have no idea how t' get out."
A distant scream made both of them perk up. Clementine's head jerked upwards to find another pony quickly descending, watching as she fell to the ground about as unceremoniously as a half-cooked pancake being thrown from a building.
Applejack scrambled backwards. "Apple Bloom?! What're ya doin' here?!"
Bloom took a minute or two to get to her hooves and snap back to reality. Her gaze landed on her sister, and a sense of relief bubbled up from within her. "I came t' rescue ya! Some kid came t' Headquarters and told us that ya got sucked into a portal!"
"Why didn't ya let the more experienced agents handle this?" Applejack snapped, her tone nothing short of worried. "You're gonna get yourself killed here!"
"I wanted t' save ya and bring ya back home!"
The sound of a roar bellowed through the area. As if on instinct, Applejack and Apple Bloom held each other tight, giving startled yells, while Clementine turned towards where the sound was coming from. Quickly, she began to run.
"You two, follow me! We must flee, back to my throne room! Quickly!"
Neither pony needed to be told twice. With Applejack hoisting Apple Bloom onto her back, they galloped away, glancing around for any threats that might attack them in the meantime.
"Okay, so let me get this straight. Applejack was digging something out of a sandbox for a client, and it turned out to be a portal...that she fell into?"
"Got sucked into, Momma. There's a difference. But otherwise, yes."
"And Apple Bloom went after her?"
"Yep."
The voices of Mandy and Olive echoed in the hangar as they, along with Otto and Pinkie, walked. Mandy took the lead, with the others following her and being very unsure of where they were going.
"What are you planning to do, partner?"
"The Odd Side sounds a little dangerous for us to simply take a jump -- or I guess a tumble -- into the portal that leads to it. So I've decided to use an alternate method of transportation!"
Mandy rushed off, and then reappeared next to a rather large and rather wide structure that was covered by a white sheet. She gestured to it, but all she got in response were looks of confusion.
"Oh. Gotta take the sheet off of it first, huh?" Mandy laughed as she grasped the sheet with both hands and gave it a mighty tug, her body leaning towards the right and nearly making her lose her footing.
Three jaws dropped in rapid succession.
"Et voila! Magnifique holifique!" Mandy bowed. "May I present: Serendipity 2.0!"
Made from the finest silver, with feathers that hit just the right balance of soft and hard and formed four large wings, seats that hardly any spa in the world could match in terms of comfort, and a supercomputer built inside that could detect villains and oddities from a sizeable distance.
One wouldn't look at Mandy and deduce that she was a capable pilot. One wouldn't look at Mandy and deduce that she was a pilot at all. The question was obvious: since she had wings, why would she need a plane?
The answers were just as obvious: because she was full of surprises. And also because she just...could have a plane. No law in the world would stop her from having one.
After a few minutes of silence, Olive worked up the nerve to speak. "You built another plane?"
"No. This is the same plane I piloted when we went to stop that Daves invasion. Buuuuuut..." Mandy grinned. "I added a few more extra features! More seats, two more pairs of giant wings, a small propeller in the back for lentildation..."
Otto's eyes slowly, ever so slowly, gained shimmers in them as he stared at the plane. "So cool!"
Olive blinked. "The word is 'venti-'"
"Also it's not a space plane. But it should work fine in the Odd Side!" Mandy hopped up onto a wing. "Now who's ready to go, in Serendipity 2.0?!"
Silence.
"Uh...we all are, partner."
"Roooooad triiiiip!" Mandy called in singsong, before she faltered. "Okay, not technically a road trip because we're taking this. Mhm." As the door to the cockpit flung upwards to let her inside, the other two doors followed suit. "All righty, everyone hop in!"
Exchanging "just Mandy being Mandy" glances and eyerolls, the rest of the rescue team climbed aboard the massive aircraft.
"Ooh, these seats are cozier than I expected!" Otto said, looking around for a seatbelt.
"What if I told you..." Mandy popped up beside him on the outside of the plane, resting her cheek in her palm. "...they're heated?"
"No way, really?!"
"Once we reach high maltitide, I'll put 'em on for ya!"
"Altitude!" came a cry from behind him that Mandy could easily identify as Olive. Even though she was within earshot of her mother, Mandy opted to ignore her.
As the hybrid was hovering around the plane for one final check prior to liftoff, she punched the numbers 1-2-2 into her badge phone and lifted it up to her human ear. It only took two ringback tones for someone to answer.
"Um...hello there, Sweetie Belle here!" And then a low mutter of, "Ugh, that was bad..."
"Hi, Sweetie Belle! Is Scootaloo with you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I want you to go to the Lab and get two Stretch-inators, then take the tubes to the playground in Trillium Park and zap the portal, got it?"
A short pause before Sweetie Belle, then Scootaloo, gave their agreements.
"Thanks, guys! Talk to ya soon!"
Landing in the cockpit, Mandy closed her phone and clipped it back onto her jacket as both her door and the door behind her closed.
"Everyone buckled and ready?"
Three murmurs of agreement came in response.
"Then let's go!"
Mandy leaned down and flicked upwards three switches, all dabbled in the primary colors. A steady whooshing sound filled her ears, and she smiled as she realized that the large wings that kept the plane aloft were beginning to stir. Up ahead, the doors began to open in three different directions -- left and right, to allow room for the width of the aircraft, as well as upwards, for when the plane was going to be shot into the air.
"Now hold on, 'cuz we're gonna rocket forward at light spe-"
Mandy didn't get to finish her sentence. At a breakneck speed, the plane took off, soaring into the sky with wings flapping ever harder. The small propeller at the back of the plane began to spin steadily, providing proper air ventilation through the craft.
"Ye-e-eah, whoo!" the hybrid squealed, throwing her hands into the air.
A rectangular computer that sat in front of her came to life with a series of beeps and whirs. "Welcome, Agent Mandy. Activating scanners."
Behind the pilot, one passenger was gripping onto her seat handles so tightly that her knuckles began to turn white. "And I thought the takeoff from the ice cream truck spaceship was bad! This is worse! AND I'M NOT EVEN THE DRIVER!!"
"This is awesome!" Otto's eyes shimmered as he looked down at the view below.
"Ooh, it feels so weird being inside of the plane instead of the outside!" Pinkie chirped, as she, too, looked below her at the view of Toronto. "I remember when the plane nearly crashed before we went up into space...that was horrible!"
Mandy was about to respond to her partner when a beep from the computer caught her attention.
"Oddness spotted. Identification process commencing."
Preeeeetty sure I know what it is, but go on...
"Identification process complete. Portal, large size. Location: Trillium Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada."
"Uh, Mandy..." Olive asked, having somewhat snapped out of her fear. "How are we going to enter the portal in a plane?"
Mandy smiled. "Let's just say...you should hold on real tight!"
That made Olive slump back into her seat with an "Oh odd help me."
"I see it!"
The exclamation from Otto made Mandy begin looking around. Sure enough, there was the portal, which, in its enlarged state, had sucked up the sandbox and everything in it, and looked to be dangerously close to sucking up the rest of the playground equipment as well. She winced as she thought of her wallet and how Mayor Mackelmore would likely charge her out the tail for a replacement of the sandbox...let alone an entire playground.
"All right, here we goooooo!" she cried out, pushing the steering wheel inwards to guide the plane into a gradual nosedive. As it stood, they were directly aiming for the target, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo scrambling to flee within their dropped jaws and widened eyes. Similarly, Otto, Olive and Pinkie Pie all started screaming in terror.
"We're gonna crash!!"
"No we're not, Mommaaaaaaaa-"
Screams resounded throughout the cabin as Serendipity 2.0 made its way through the portal about as cleanly as a knife went through a warm stick of butter. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo watched the feat in awe, staying silent for a few moments after the behind of the plane went through.
"T-t-they went through a portal!"
"In an airplane!" Scootaloo grinned. "Awesome!"
"MANDY, PULL UP!!"
"P-pulling!"
Right before the plane could make impact with the ground, Mandy yanked back on the steering wheel, causing the plane to jerk upwards and slightly ascend until it was a reasonable distance from the hard surface below that threatened to cut the craft's life prematurely short.
A shaky breath left Mandy as she felt a piece of her soul leave her. "Made it..." she said, barely registering the groans of her passengers. "Computer, where are we?"
"You are in the east section of the Odd Side, Agent Mandy."
Mandy's ears folded downwards as she took in the oddities that lay before her. An unnatural feeling began to worm about in her gut, like she didn't belong here. As much of an oddball as she was -- pun not intended -- even she drew the line at mutated frogs, flying pieces of bread, and dancing typewriters. "Whoa...this is freakier than I thought."
"Well duh, it's a haven full of oddness!" Otto quipped from the back.
"Everyone, stay on your toes." Mandy ordered with caution in her tone. "I hear that you can be corrupted in this place. Keep your sanities in check!" She turned her head around. "Pinkie...I'm talking especially to you."
"Aww, don't worry about me! This place looks super-cool!"
"You've gotta be kidding me...that's what I'm worried about."
The four wings of the plane continued to flap about steadily, not faltering in the slightest when chipmunk-beetle hybrid creatures began curiously nibbling at them.
"Computer, can you bring up a map of the Odd Side and locate any beings?"
"Pulling up map." The computer beeped once, generating a map that nearly extended to both ends of the cockpit and obscured Mandy's view. "Checking for any living organisms. What is the species you are requesting to find?"
Olive and Otto both exchanged surprised glances with each other. "Species?"
"I didn't know Mandy had the capability of building such a high-tech computer..." Pinkie blinked. "Cool!"
"Equine. Two of them."
For the next minute, the only word that echoed through the plane was "searching". A red dot scanned through the map, attempting to locate Applejack and Apple Bloom. Finally, it landed on a rectangular area, and began beeping rapidly.
"Two equines found. Ponies. Agent 75, Applejack, and Agent 107, Apple Bloom. Subjects are located in: a throne room on the west side. Status for Applejack is: unknown. Status for Apple Bloom is: unknown."
Mandy grit her teeth, a "tch" sound escaping her. Technology's great, but it's not flawless, huh?
Olive's brow furrowed. "A throne room?"
"Does a princess live here?!" Pinkie asked excitedly, repeatedly flicking the switch on the side of her seat that made it move from side to side.
"Yes." Olive said. "The previous one was Rosemary, but I'm not sure who it is now."
A loud roar resounded through the area, its reverb shaking the aircraft and nearly sending everyone tumbling about as they gave startled screams.
"W-what was that?!" Mandy said, clearing the map in order to see out of the front.
"If I had to guess..."
"They're wild budgerigars!"
Olive would have given an eyeroll in response to Otto interrupting her if fear hadn't overtaken her entire body.
"Wild what?!"
Olive leaned forward. "Mandy, fly! Fly away! NOW!!"
"O-okay, j-just hold on!"
As Mandy leaned forward to flick a button on the control panel, a loud boom came forth, shaking the plane more. Mandy's face went careening and made impact with the panel, causing her to give a cry of pain as she clutched her nose. Startled yells came as a reaction to the noise, though she tuned them out and attempted to lean forward again to grab ahold of a cylindrical button, moving it up, then down, then up again.
"Activating High-Speed Mode."
"Well, are you gonna kick in shooner or-"
The speed at which Serendipity 2.0 took off right then was a speed that no military fighter plane could match even on their best days with a skilled pilot at the helm. The screams seemed to echo from the plane as it disappeared within the blink of an eye, throwing the chipmunk-beetle hybrids off of it and sending them tumbling away.
"Too fast, TOO FAAAAAAST!" came Mandy's screech, attempting to keep her hands steady on the steering wheel as she guided the craft through aerial oddity after aerial oddity.
Within five seconds, the plane came to a stop at the entrance to a pair of tall doors. Filled with yellow swirls amidst a dark pink background, its hinges came to rest against a rectangular structure that looked akin to that of a portable storage unit.
Mandy's eye twitched. Another piece of her soul left her as she began to hyperventilate. And only one thought floated up to the surface of her mind.
And this is why I don't do planes. Especially not this plane.
"Are we at the west side yet?" Pinkie asked.
"You have arrived at your destination, Agent Mandy. Location: Odd Side, west end."
"Oh, we're here! Thanks, Miss Computer!"
The doors swung open, allowing everyone to exit -- including Mandy, who was attempting to crawl out of the aircraft on her hands and knees. "That was terrifying! Never again!" Her eyes widened ever so slightly. "Never! Ever! Again!"
"Mandy, unbuckle your seatbe-"
Olive's words were cut off as Mandy landed on the ground face-first. Her body slumped backwards onto the plane, rattling with a plaintive "Why-y-yyyyy?"
Pinkie trotted around the plane to face the tall double-doors that greeted her and the rest of the rescue team. "Sooooo what do we do now?"
"We go in there..." Mandy coughed as she pulled herself to her feet. "...get Applejack and Apple Bloom, and bring 'em home, of course!"
"Hold on!" Otto came to stand besides Pinkie. "We don't know what we're up against!"
Mandy blinked. She leaned back onto her tail, which propelled her into the air and allowed her to join the rest of the group. "I thought you and Momma knew about the Odd Side!"
"We have a general basis of what it is as a location." Olive explained, coming to join the others. "But we don't know who its ruler is. And we've never actually been here before."
"The ruler could be some odd creature, or another human being...that's just it, we don't know!" Otto gave a shrug.
For a minute, Mandy glowered at them. Oprah made me take them when they know nothing about the Odd Side other than where it is? Really? They've been co-Directors for ages and eons, how do they not know about the Odd Side?
But then she came to a realization.
If whatever's behind those doors is aggressive and tries to attack us...it wouldn't do me any good to just have Pinkie on my side. Strength in numbers, after all. Pinkie's an awesomazing partner, but Momma and Otto are super-duper strong! They can take down whatever, however, in seconds flat!
...Okay, fine, maybe Oprah might've had a point in takin' them along.
"We'll be fine!" she chirped, beginning to head towards the doors. "Just stay alert."
Cautiously, the rest of the group followed her, making sure to stick close together as they kept an eye on their surroundings. Mandy's magic latched onto the half-circle handle, giving it a single yank. She flipped backwards as the doors slowly began to open.
"Who dares?!"
The bellow was a no-sell on Mandy, who strode in with confidence and contrasted with Olive, Otto and Pinkie, who all moved at a regular pace behind her.
"Hiya!" the hybrid chirped. "My name's Agent Mandy, and these are my friends! Olive, Otto, and Pinkie Pie." As she pointed to each one of them in turn, Olive and Otto gave sheepish waves. Pinkie's wave, on the other hand, was far more enthusiastic, as she wore a giant grin on her maw.
Clementine's eyes widened, and she gave a small huff of surprise as she leaned forward. "More Odd Squad agents?" she growled. "Has the Odd Side been discovered? Must we relocate?"
"Nooooo, silly!" Mandy waved a dismissive hand. "We're here to get Applejack and Apple Bloom and bring them home."
A quick look around the throne room showed no sign of either pony. Just as Mandy was about to ask about their whereabouts, however, an even louder bellow shook the room.
"You."
Mandy swiveled her head back around to meet the snarling form of Clementine, standing only a mere few feet away from her.
"You're the girl that abandoned me, all those years ago!"
Olive and Otto moved their gazes towards the floor, while Pinkie Pie's smile faltered.
Mandy, on the other hand, simply looked confused. "A-abandoned you?"
"We were but children. I had come to Toronto in order to find something that would appease my ever-strict parents. And you..." Clementine's fists clenched. "You were an outcast. Mistreated by the world, just for looking different from everyone else."
Gradually, Mandy could feel her heart began to sink. No. Odd no, don't make me relive that again, I don't wanna!
"I was the same way. Mistreated by some of those of my town because I was different from them. We had commonalities. That is what spurred me to befriend you."
Olive buried her face in her hands, Otto rubbing her back for comfort.
"But when a mob came storming after you, attempting to run you out of town, they spotted me as well." Clementine's eyes narrowed slightly. "And they took me instead!"
A shaky gasp rattled Mandy's lungs. The one memory she had hidden deep inside of her was now being dug up in painstaking detail, and she began to recognize exactly who Clementine was. Out of everything that could have happened on this rescue mission, having to be reminded of what she had to do all that time ago certainly wasn't one of them. Even worse was that Clementine refused to shut up, especially as her cries became desperate.
"You let them take me! You didn't even bother to fight back! All you did was run, like the coward you are!" The dog-person huffed. "It was lucky I could get away and return to my town mostly unscathed. But it came at a price." Her eyes closed. "I could never forgive you. How could you abandon a friend in a time of need?!"
Mandy grit her teeth. Flames began to encase her body, causing all three of her rescue teammates to back up.
"How could you do nothing but stomp all over the concept of friendship?! How could you-"
"I DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE!! That mob was going to kill me!" came the resounding screech of the hybrid as she began to choke up. "Do you think that if I had a choice, I'd have just up and left you?! I was suffering! No one was by my side! It was an agent-eat-agent world and I had to fend for myself and myself alone!"
Clementine's low growl was her only response. Mandy didn't care. She didn't care whether it was in response to her justification or whether it was due to her word swap of "agent-eat-agent". All she knew was that the tears were rolling down her face.
"Besides..." A choking sob interrupted her. "I DON'T EVER WANT TO THINK ABOUT THAT AGAIN!! SO DON'T BRING IT UP!!"
Shaky hands reached behind a back, and pulled out a hammer. Shaky hands held the hammer in a death grip. Shaky hands were unsure if they were shaking because of their owner's anger or sadness.
"D-don't make me use this. 'Cuz I will use this!"
"You dare come here to challenge me for my throne?" Clementine jabbed a finger at the rest of the rescue team. "And with further challengers?!"
"All I came here for was to bring Applejack and Apple Bloom home."
Sure enough, the sister pair trotted out seemingly from just behind a pillar, eyeing the situation that laid before them.
"Hey look, it's Mandy! And Pinkie Pie!" Apple Bloom pointed.
"Olive and Otto too. Wonder what's goin' on."
"Mandy looks like she's gettin' into an argument with Clementine!"
Applejack thrust a hoof against Apple Bloom's chest, backing up and taking her along. "I don't see this endin' well. Stay back, Apple Bloom."
Mandy twirled her hammer around in her hands, which were still shaking. "G-give them up. Or you won't be seeing the sunshine anymore!"
Lucky for her, either Clementine wasn't willing to entertain her fear, or she genuinely didn't want to have her altercation with her escalate into something more physical. "And whoever said I was keeping them hostage? I only took them in because we were fleeing from the budgerigars." She huffed. "If you want them, you can have them. They have already been determined to not be challengers for the throne, anyhow."
"So where are they?"
Clementine opened her maw to answer, but as she looked around for any sign of either mare or filly, she quickly closed it. Her anger was briefly replaced with confusion. "I...I am not sure."
Unfortunately, Mandy was running on nothing but pure rage now, her eyes narrowing as she screamed, "WHERE ARE THEY?!"
"They were here! I swear! But it seems they have disappeared..."
"GIVE THEM UP!!"
"She's gonna destroy Clementine!" Apple Bloom glanced up at her sister. "Applejack, we gotta do somethin'!"
The sound of a thump, followed by a howl of pain and a loud crash, made the pair's eyes widen.
"I-I think it's a bit late for that now!" Applejack scooped up Apple Bloom, throwing her onto her back before galloping towards the commotion and revealing herself and her sister. "Mandy, we're here!"
Mandy didn't see her, but a loud roar from Clementine, who was slowly getting to her feet, broke any kind of hope that she would notice them and calm down.
"Everyone, run, now!" she called to the rescue group. "Head back to the plane!"
"What about you?!"
"I'll ward Clementine off, just go!"
Otto and Pinkie, along with Applejack and Apple Bloom, ran. Olive, however, stayed rooted to the ground, clearly concerned for the safety and well-being of her adopted child as she went head-to-head with what she supposed was a dog-girl, as opposed to the catgirl species that Peaches was a part of.
"Olive, come on!" Pinkie cried, her hooves extending and grabbing around Olive before yanking her away.
"How dare you!" Clementine's attention was solely on Mandy, not noticing nor caring that the others had left. "If you wish to fight, then I will happily oblige!"
Her foot was raised, and then lowered to the ground with a mighty stomp. For a few moments, nothing happened.
And then the rumbling came forth.
"What-" Mandy didn't get a chance to go any farther than that as an oval-shaped stone made of chocolate and dirt abruptly emerged from under her, sending her flying backwards and landing on the ground.
"It's best you leave now." Clementine said. "This is my domain! It certainly isn't yours!"
Mandy was able to get back on her feet in record time, as though the move never fazed her -- although she couldn't deny that she was in considerable pain. "You don't make any sense! You're not listening!"
"I have heard enough! More than enough, even!" Clementine snarled. "You are nothing but a coward, a pathetic low-class Odd Squad agent who can’t even protect her own friends! I’m willing to bet that the townsfolk still hate you just for looking different! They’ll never accept you as you are now!"
"Shut up!"
Mandy grit her teeth...
"And don't you dare bring up my past!"
...and charged at Clementine with a screeching battlecry, her hammer, and many mighty beats of her wings.
Outside of the throne room, the rescue team, plus Applejack and Apple Bloom, stared at the doors as the sounds of fighting commenced behind them. Although Mandy had commanded them to get back into the plane, none of them were too keen on just leaving her to fight the ruler of the Odd Side on her own, no matter how much of a competent fighter she was.
"They're gonna kill each other in there!" Pinkie glanced at the two Directors. "Olive, Otto, can't you go get Mandy? You've..." She glanced down at her hoof. "...got opposable thumbs to grab her with."
"Even if we do have opposable thumbs, who's to say she won't knock either one of us out too?" Olive's eyes grew misty. "She nearly slaughtered me when she found out what Orino was doing to Peaches. At its peak, her rage is something that none of us can qualm, and it's safe to say that this is arguably the angriest I've ever seen her."
"What did Clementine mean when she said that Mandy abandoned her?"
The question from Apple Bloom brought a brief silence. Olive glanced at her, but then just as quickly jerked her head away, staring past her partner at a glue bottle that was running off in the distance.
"You want to tell her, or should I?"
Olive ignored her partner's question, instead letting her shoulders roll as she sighed. "Now's not the time, Apple Bloom." she said, her tone despaired and melancholy. "If Mandy is in too battered of a state to fly us home in Serendipity 2.0, either we won't get out of here, or-"
"We'll die in a fiery plane crash?"
Surprised glances, mixed in with a few glares, were sent Otto's way.
"Great job, partner. Way to scare everyone." Olive facepalmed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Yes. What he said."
Pinkie clasped her hooves to her face. "I don't wanna die in a fiery plane crash!"
"We need t' get Mandy and go back to Odd Squad, now!" Applejack said, lifting up a hoof as though debating rushing in there and grabbing Mandy with her own force, buck to consequences.
Otto glanced at her. "But how are we gonna do that when Mandy's in there with Clementine and-"
A loud boom erupted from the throne room, followed by a howl from a figure that whizzed past the group at the speed of lightning, and then a crash that created a billow of smoke. Although everyone was confident in what had happened, it didn't stop them from turning around to look.
"Everyone, get in, now! We're leaving!"
No one dared to ask Mandy a single question, instead scrambling to get into the plane as the doors opened. Mandy, slipping the hammer away in her hammerspace spine, bounded into the cockpit and put her own seatbelt on before flicking the three primary-colored buttons upwards once more.
"We're taking off." she announced, the cockpit doors closing as the wings began to slowly flap up and down in preparation for takeoff.
By the time both pairs of wings had begun to flap both up and down and side to side, Clementine had risen to her feet. The only thing she gave was a piercing howl of pain, anger, and sadness that Mandy could hear even through the glass windows. It chilled her to the bone, but she forced herself to keep pressing forward. However, as she pressed forward, so did the tears that began rolling down her face, and so did the aching pain she felt in every inch of her body.
Outside of the portal, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle waited. As bored as they felt, they didn't want to risk getting scolded by Mandy or by Oprah, and so, they opted to hang around the playground. The pair sat on the swings, looking around at all the people and ponies that passed by as they moved up and down rhythmically.
"It sure is taking them a long time to come back." Scootaloo said, her tone having a slight irritation to it.
"Yeah." Sweetie stared at the sky. "I thought they were supposed to be the 'more experienced age-'"
A sudden loud whooshing sound sent them toppling backwards. They only barely managed to dip their heads low enough so the swings didn't clock them right in their faces. As Scootaloo quickly rose to her hooves and began rushing closer to the portal, she saw the plane shoot towards the sky before angling downwards and continuing its journey to what she could only assume was back to Headquarters.
"C'mon, Scootaloo, we should meet them back at Headquarters!" Sweetie called, rushing up to the other filly and watching the plane.
"Hold on." Scootaloo's gaze moved towards the spot where the portal was still churning away. "Shouldn't we close the portal first?"
Sweetie blinked. "Oh yeah, I have a gadget for that! Um..." She turned her head to her left and let her hoof slide towards her back. "I think you reach behind your back like this and...concentrate really hard..."
Scootaloo watched in awe as the unicorn filly squeezed her eyes shut as her hoof moved along the back of her suit. Only a few seconds later, a ding noise sounded as she pulled out a gadget with a small satellite dish at its end.
"Look, it worked!" Sweetie grinned. "The Portal-Close-inator!"
"Is...there an off switch?" Scootaloo asked cautiously as Sweetie took the gadget in her corona and aimed at the active portal.
"Yup!"
With a click of the singular switch to the ON side, a bright blue beam shot at the portal, gradually shrinking it until there was nothing left but dirt and grass. The act was completed with another ding, and Sweetie pointed with her hoof at the ground.
"Aaaand it's gone!"
Scootaloo looked, and a grin formed on her face. "No portal!"
"Yes, I did it!" Sweetie hopped into the air excitedly.
"Let's head back to Headquarters! C'mon!"
Tucking the gadget away in her hammerspace spine, Sweetie quickly dashed after Scootaloo, happiness radiating in her chest as she felt pride in correctly using one of her first gadgets for what she considered a monumental mission.
Serendipity 2.0 made a successful landing in the hangar, the wings slowly coming to a halt and folding up so they encased the craft's sides.
"You have arrived at your destination, Agent Mandy."
"Yeah, thanks."
As she exited the plane, Mandy nearly landed on her face. Luckily, her wings, which had somehow remained intact in the fight, broke her fall, and she landed on her one good foot instead. Her lame one dragged weakly behind her as she began to head for the door.
"Now where in Equestria do you think you're goin'?"
Mandy didn't bother to stop and listen to Applejack. "To my room. To be alone."
"But you're injured!"
"I don't care."
Otto lowered Apple Bloom to the ground. "Applejack, Apple Bloom, why don't you go see Oprah and let her know you're safe? I'm sure she'll want to reprimand you for what you did, as well, Apple Bloom."
"I know." Apple Bloom deflated slightly. "I'm really sorry."
"C'mon, sis. Let's go."
Together, the pair followed Mandy on their way out, Otto, Olive and Pinkie all watching them go. Still, they couldn't help but keep their gazes on Mandy, who looked to be struggling with her bad foot.
"Why don't we all head to Oprah's office?" Otto suggested, causing both girls' attention to be moved from Mandy to him. "I know how stressed you can be when Mandy's in a rut, partner."
"Really? How could you tell?"
"Well, your voice is strained, for one." Otto pointed out. "I haven't heard it be that strained since that bad case of laryngitis went around the town!"
Olive gave a sigh. "Fair point."
"C'mon, Olive, cheer up!" Pinkie placed a hoof on her arm. "Mandy will be fine. She just needs some time to rest, that's all."
Olive looked deep into the party pony's eyes. She knew Pinkie was the bringer of hope and good cheer, but something told her that not even one of Pinkie's best parties, or any of her best pastries, could cheer her up this time. Still, when Otto and Pinkie began following the others, she followed suit, even with the sickening feeling churning away in her gut that Mandy wasn't okay.
And she probably won't be. Not for a long, long time.
I just wish I knew how to help her...
By the time Mandy got back to her room, her body felt tired, right down to the straight hair and tail. She wasn't sure whether to pin it on jet lag or to pin it on the nasty wounds Clementine managed to give her. But she didn't feel like sleeping.
No...she felt like punching something.
She felt like socking that dog-girl right in the face. Maybe then, she would listen to what Mandy had to say.
Flopping face-first onto her bed, Mandy stayed there for a good long time. Her heart began to hurt as she began to relive the past, of when she managed to become the freaky-looking hybrid she was today. The optimism she held had allowed her to shove all memories of that incident, and all the memories of what followed, to the wayside, until it was teetering off the cliff and within inches of falling to its death. She never wanted to think about it, she never wanted to discuss it, and she certainly never wanted anyone to bring it up. She didn't even want anyone else to know about it.
Well, outside of her friends and family. They were the only ones who knew. But at least they were smart enough to respect her wishes.
Of all the people who had to rule the Odd Side, why did it have to be her? She grit her teeth. I abandoned her, and I really thought she would be more forgiving as to why I had to do it...but alas.
And I don't think my beating her up did the trick, either.
Her ears barely registered the sound of footsteps, and they barely registered the sound of the door opening and closing behind her.
"Hey, cuz!" A pause. "Whoa, that's some messed-up look. You go on a year-long mission that took you a couple hours or something? Or is this knotted hair and tail some kind of trend I have to get in on?"
"Neither." came the snap, showing that Mandy was in absolutely no mood for Peaches' jokes.
"Well, something's wrong, and I'm not leaving your side until you tell me what it is."
Mandy's head lifted off of the bed to glare at Peaches. "Can't you see I want to be alone? Do I hafta spell it out for you?" she said, turning around and curling up her body in a way only she could. "Or do the flattened hair and tail not give it away?"
"C'mon. You won't feel better until you have someone to vent to. I'm all ears."
Yeah? If I put an ear where your mouth is, will it make you shut up?
...is what Mandy wanted to say. But in actuality, her cousin's idea wasn't necessarily a bad one. Perhaps venting would allow her to try and sleep everything off, just as she always did for pretty much everything that ailed her. And besides that, Peaches was the only one who didn't know of Mandy's actual backstory. Mandy knew where she came from, but she had no idea where Mandy came from.
Truth be told, Mandy didn't know that either. But she certainly could recount everything past the age of 5. It was something, at least.
"Fine." She sighed. "I formed a rescue team to go to this place called the Odd Side in order to rescue Applejack after she fell through a portal connected to it. And also to save Apple Bloom after she went through the portal to save her sister." Her eyes closed. "It went well at first, but..."
A pause.
Peaches leaned towards her slightly. "But?"
"I-I came across..."
The name spurred nothing but rage from within Mandy. She grit her teeth together, while at the same time clutching her blanket.
"Who?" Peaches tilted her head. "It's okay, Mandy, I'm not going to ju-"
Mandy held a hand up to stop her cousin, giving a soft exhale. "I think it would be best if I told you the entire story, starting from the beginning." She spread her wings and uncurled her tail, extending it towards Peaches. "If you can believe it...I didn't have all these things, once upon a time."
"You didn't?" Peaches perked up and blinked in realization. "Oh, wait, that would make sense. You're a pony-human hybrid, aren't you? So I would imagine you were once human in some form or another."
"I'm biologically human. Born a human, might die a human." Mandy lifted herself up and slowly turned around to face her cousin. "When I became a part of Odd Squad, I was a human just like everybody else. I was a hard worker, always dedicated to fighting oddness. I solved cases with Momma and Otto as soon as I was able to. It was a lot of fun, and we had some good and bad times...I was even known as a bit of a prodigy." A sad smile danced on her lips for only a couple seconds. "Then the Hydraclops incident happened."
"What's a...'Hydraclops'?" Peaches asked, outwardly cringing as a mental image began to form in her mind. Sure enough, as Mandy pulled a picture of one from her hair, she felt her stomach begin to churn. "It's so huge...and so ugly." She pushed Mandy's hand down to get the image out of her face. "So, uh, what happened?"
Mandy tucked the picture back into her hair. "Well, Oscar -- he was the Lab Director before Oona -- he knew all about the Hydraclops, and buried a super-secret weapon that could defeat it. So Momma, Otto and I went with him while Oprah and another agent named Olaf went to warn the beachgoers that the Hydraclops was gonna rise out of the water." She gave a sigh that was mostly tired, but also carried an air of wistful amusement. "Oscar's precautions were a little excessive, but eventually, we found the weapon and went to the beach to confront the creature."
"What was the weapon?"
Mandy's nose wrinkled. "It was a sock. A gross, stinky sock."
Peaches wasn't sure whether to laugh or be grossed out, although going by her expression, Mandy could see she was trying hard not to do the former.
"Oscar buried it six years ago to stop the Hydraclops. But it didn't work as well as he thought it would...mostly because it was hardened."
A snort made its way out of Peaches. "S-sorry, sorry. I meant to say 'eww, that's gross'...but the story just sounds so ridiculous. What power does a sock have to stop a creature that looks like that?"
"I'll tell you." Mandy scratched an itch on her pony ear. "The ponies came to the beach too, hearing about the attack, and advised that we solve the issue with punches and kicks and cool fighting moves instead of something silly like a sock. So we went on the offense."
The more Mandy told the story, the more she could feel memories resurfacing. But this time, with the comfort of her cousin sitting right next to her, she allowed them to come forth, and she allowed herself to reminisce. Painful as they were, she was committed to making sure Peaches understood every inch of the strife she had to suffer from, the strife she had to live through...
The strife that resulted from a freak accident which no one understood.
"Let's go, girls!"
Twilight and the others made their way to the ocean, to the danger that lied ahead. They were the first ones in the water, heading to their enemy with no fear.
A determined look settled on my face, and I started running after them.
"Mandy, wait!"
The plaintive cry of my mother went unheard. If there was a way I could keep the ponies who grew up with me safe, then I was going to do it. I would fight for Odd Squad. It was my life, the cornerstone of my identity that made me who I was. These were the people who cared for me, who raised me, who nurtured me and gave me shelter and food and water and air and love.
And this monster was going to kill them all in one fell swoop. It could wreck the world underground just as easily as it could wreck the world aboveground.
I could not let that happen. I would never let that happen.
"Rainbow, lift me up!" I called, taking my first steps into the water and reaching a hand towards the sky.
The blue Pegasus glanced down, breaking away from the group. "Got it!" she called, grasping my hand and lifting me high into the sky with all her strength.
I barely heard Olaf's worried howl, followed by Oprah saying that I wasn't any match for the Hydraclops. Ha, so said the girl who thought a sock was enough to defeat this abomination that could barely be classified as a creature.
Reaching behind my back, I pulled out a gadget and took aim. What the gadget was didn't matter to me, so long as it did damage.
"The eye scream truck is here!" I called in singsong.
My thumb hit the red activation button of the gadget, and a beam hit its intended target dead-on. The Hydraclops let out an uluation that would have melted the minds of any weak-willed person that happened to hear it. Its four tentacles thrashed about wildly in a desperate attempt to find its footing in the water.
Within the thrashing, Pinkie got thrown off. I wasn't quite sure where she was -- all I heard was frantic screaming and then a splash. Immediately, I began to regret my course of action, and knowing that Rainbow Dash could be the next pony to possibly have a tentacle sent her way, I decided to let her ball and chain go so she could fly freely. After all, she was used to carrying ponies, not people, and I was just a little heavier than the average pony.
"Drop me in the water, Rainbow Dash! I'll attack from behind!" I called. I wasn't quite sure if she had heard me, but her swooping around the Hydraclops while dodging its frantic tentacles confirmed my suspicions.
As I landed in the water and gave my thanks to Rainbow Dash, a call from Twilight reached my ears. She was attempting to keep her own footing on the creature's head, her horn alight as she gazed down upon me.
"Mandy, be careful!"
"I know!" I called back, half in annoyance and half in dismissal as I reached behind my back and exchanged the gadget I was holding for another one. My gaze briefly passed over Pinkie's body floating in the water, but as much as I wanted to save her, I was committed to taking this creature down. I had hoped that any of the other ponies would spot her and take her to safety, and so, riding on that confidence, I took aim at the back of the Hydraclops and fired.
A loud roar shook the area, making the water tremble. The monster thrashed about harder, taking its rabid tentacles with it. Within the tantrum it was throwing, it took Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight with it. The three mares were smacked off hard by the waving tentacles, making hard landings into the water.
All I could do in that moment was call their names in anguish, seeing their lifeless bodies rise to the top. As if on cue, another scream and a loud splash marked the demise of Rainbow Dash.
The only ones left were me and Applejack, now.
The farmpony was desperately hanging on to a tentacle by way of her teeth clenching a rope that had been tightly tied around one. My eyes began to quiver, moving back and forth between her and the wounded ponies.
It shouldn't have been a choice. But that behemoth had enough firepower within it to kill a pony, and I wasn't about to let any of my friends die. Not now. Not today. And not because of my inability to take action.
Furiously kicking my legs, I dived under the surface and opened my eyes, looking for any identifiable tails that had dipped under the water. It didn't take me long before I had gathered all five of them, the Lift-inator I had grabbed from my hammerspace spine assisting me in carrying them all back to shore.
"Mandy, what're you-"
A smack, and then a splash.
Applejack had gone down.
"I have to keep going!" I shouted, mostly to convince myself more than anything else. I wanted to save Applejack, but I knew that going to rescue her left me free and open to getting a bashing from the Hydraclops, and as much as I wanted to save each and every one of my friends, I knew it would do me no good if I, as the rescuer, got injured by the monster too.
Within seconds, I stumbled onto the shore, lowering the ponies to the ground and tucking the gadget away while leaning over to catch my breath. "T-take...take them..." I sputtered out, coughs wracking my body and sending me to my knees.
"We need to get the ponies somewhere safe." Oprah said. "Those hits they took from the Hydraclops were brutal."
"But what about the Hydraclops itself?" Otto asked.
"Forget about it for now!"
A howl from Olaf reached my ears, but I was too tired to lift my head and look.
"Mandy, watch out!"
I was a sitting duck, and for that, I paid the price.
Something long and hard slammed into my front. Air rushed through my ears before a searing sensation tore through my spine, marked with a resounding crack. My body slumped to the ground as I grit my teeth together from the pain that began ricocheting through it.
Within the groan I gave, I barely heard my name being called in a unisonant chant.
"Are you okay?!" Out came Momma's worry as she rushed over to me, lifting my chin up so my blue eyes met her chocolate-brown ones.
Something snapped within me. I wasn't sure what it was. "I'm fine!" I insisted, before another severe jolt of pain decided to answer me with the simple words of "On the contrary."
I squeezed my eyes shut. "Agent Applejack..." My hands struggled to find something to get a good grip on so I could stand. "I have to save her...!"
"No. I'll save her."
Oprah grabbed ahold of the Scientist who had so bravely volunteered to put his life on the line to risk one of his coworkers. Alas... "No, you can't swim!"
"Then I will!"
With a mighty push, I pushed myself to my feet. The pain in my back was burning, but as far as I could tell, nothing was broken. I could reflect on the miracle of that later -- I had a friend to save.
"Applejack, I'm coming!" I called, as my legs and feet propelled me through the water as fast as I could make them go.
The Hydraclops gave a mighty roar in response. It had regained its senses, and was dangling its tentacles over the water menacingly, as though trying to aim for me.
"Y-y-you don't scare me!" The tremble in my voice was apparent. "Applejack's my dear friend, and she's going to drown if I don't save her! Friends help friends, no matter what!"
I dove under the water, looking at my surroundings for any sign of a yellow tail. It was rather easy to spot in a sea of blue, and as I reached my hands out, I emerged with the body of Applejack in my grasp.
Taking a deep breath, I leaned down to whisper into Applejack's ear. To tell her that she was safe, she would be with the rest of the agents soon, she would come out of this okay.
The water shimmered under me, as though touched by unicorn magic.
And a pillar of water erupted.
I was suddenly skyrocketed into the air, my grip on Applejack's body loosening. A scream rattled in my throat as I shut my eyes, fully preparing to let gravity take over and pull me back into the water -- possibly suffering the same fate as the ponies had, with hitting the water so hard that it could cause serious injury.
"W-what's happening?!" I looked around nervously, finding that I was remaining in midair. Ahead of me, the Hydraclops let out another mighty roar, its one eye narrowing, its nostrils flaring. It, too, was trying to comprehend what was happening, which eliminated any questions I had about it causing the eruption of water.
"Wait..." A twitch ran through my back, then another, and another. "My back...it feels ticklish! And really weird."
A loud fwoomp noise came forth, followed by the sounds of rippling water. My back began to tickle even more, and I turned my head to take a look at what had happened.
Somehow, another miracle had occurred. And this one was, perhaps, at the bottom of my list of "miracles that could happen".
I had somehow gained a pair of wings made of water. Angelic in appearance, but yet, they somehow kept me aloft.
Part of me figured that I shouldn't question it. This was Odd Squad, after all, an organization located on a planet that was not bound by the uniform rules of science. I certainly hadn't seen it all -- not in the same way those like Oprah had -- but having been raised here, I had learned to, more or less, take anomalies as they come and simply do my job.
The thing was, this was one anomaly I didn't want to get rid of. Not when I still had a mission to complete.
With a mighty flap, I took advantage of my new aquatic forelimbs, soaring back to shore and gently dropping Applejack to the ground in front of the others.
"Take care of Applejack and the others!" I said, not bothering to acknowledge the shocked expressions that laid before me.
"What about you?" Olive asked.
I smirked, and turned to face my enemy. "I'm gonna go kick some Hydraclops butt!" I declared, before taking off with another flap.
Of course, it didn't take me long to actually reach the thing, given my speed. As I hovered in midair, I made sure to fixate a glare directly into its blue-green eye, filled with nothing but unforgiving hatred and menace.
"Listen up, you!" I jabbed an index finger at it. "I don't tolerate anyone who hurts my teammates! But even more than that...I don't tolerate anyone who hurts my friends!"
A confused grunt was my only response. In front of me, water shot up and assumed my form, certainly not to scale as it towered well above me even from my position in the air. A brief thought formed in my mind of this figure looking like something I had once seen in a video game Otto had given me, but I didn't let it linger.
I closed my eyes.
"So I'm...gonna..."
Still unsure of what was going on but once again choosing to take the advantage as it was laid on the table for me, I attempted to control the water version of myself with my mind. Surprisingly, it worked, and the form took ahold of all four tentacles. I decided to make it spin around and around, hoping I wouldn't cause a water tornado of some kind.
"...send you back...to the depths...which you came from!"
My marine form threw the monster into the air. It gave a loud roar as the form leaped up and raised her hand, as though preparing to spike a volleyball.
"Take two!"
What erupted from me after that was a cry of many emotions. Pain, sadness, anger and confusion all mixed together as my manifestation landed the final blow and sent the creature deep under the sea.
My eyes followed the ensuing wave as it headed towards the beach and made impact with the other agents. In spite of my seriousness, I couldn't help but crack a smile as it doused every one of them to their chagrins, as they began lodging complaints and whining about how they were soaked to the bone.
I gave my wings one more flap, allowing them to guide me to the beach.
"Oh. Uh...hi, wings!" I glanced down. "Maybe if I flap them really hard, I can get somewhe-"
My question was cut short by the wings disappearing in a sudden burst, the droplets that composed them landing in the water below. From there, I received a lesson on how gravity could be a harsh mistress sometimes, as my body hit the water and I went rolling. The momentum at which my face kept dipping under the surface left me little room to breathe, and it only got worse when I came to a skidding stop face-first on the sand.
"Are you okay?" Oscar asked, rushing towards me and giving me his hand so I could get on my own two feet again.
"Seems a little rhetorical to ask at this point." Momma deadpanned.
In place of "I could be better", I spit out a chunk of sand, and my back rippled with the sensation of not having any wings. Sad to say, my reign of marine combat was over. The Hydraclops was now deep under the sea once more, and I had saved all of my friends from further harm. A feeling of relief encased my heart, for even though my friends were gravely injured, I had taken action to save their lives before their injuries turned into deaths.
At least I hoped they weren't deaths.
But the shimmering light that surrounded my body seemed to leave little room for me to breathe, to celebrate, or to even remotely process what had happened.
Olaf gave a worried whimper, backing up a few paces and fixating me with a look of fear.
"What's happening now?" Otto asked cautiously.
"Don't look at me, I'm not doing this, I swear!" I tried to justify, holding my hands out as the mysterious light began to lift my body upward. A pleasant warmth began to radiate through my body, slowly killing my racing adrenaline while also alleviating me of my pain.
Swaths of magic began to swirl around me now.
Oprah broke her gaze away from the sight to glare at the Lab Director beside her. "Oscar, this wouldn't have anything to do with the Hydraclops...would it?"
"No!" Oscar blinked. "I-I don't know what's going on! But the Hydraclops seems to be gone, at least..."
I could see Oprah mouthing something else to Oscar, but the loud whirring sounds that blew through my ears prevented me from actually hearing her words. The mysterious magic closed around me, making a sphere with my body as the center.
My eyes followed a swirl of magic that made its way to my forehead, and although I couldn't see what was going on, I could hear a sort of tinging noise and felt a new extremity protruding from it.
Then came another swirl that circled my head and gradually went down to my hips, creating two separate tinging noises. I couldn't resist giggling at how the magic tickled me, and the giggles only grew when I could feel my hair begin to grow curly, and another, rather... weird extremity suddenly appearing somewhere close to my rump. That was probably the weirdest sensation of all, and as soon as it hit me, the giggling stopped.
All of a sudden, I could hear my heart beat. It was steady, smooth, something a doctor would use as an example of picture-perfect cardi...car...heart health. Yeah, heart health.
A swirl of magic entered my chest, and I could feel my heart grow warm. Another ting resounded.
Seemingly completing the ensemble, a fourth magic swirl traveled to the top of my head. I felt two new extremities forming, one on each side.
Right then and there, my eyes widened. It was hard to describe what was happening in the present moment...but perhaps how I could best describe it was that I could feel parts of my brain being rearranged, like they were puzzle pieces that just needed to go in the right spots. My vision began growing dark and then it became exposed to searing light at will, like someone was putting a dark sheet of paper over my eyes, then removing it, then putting it back, over and over again. A dull pain began to make itself known, but I was too busy slipping in and out of comas to register it fully.
After what seemed like an eternity, the comas stopped coming. I could see the sphere pulsating once, twice, thrice...
And then a loud boom.
A piercing scream left my lungs as I attempted to shield my eyes from the brightness that filled my line of sight.
When next I awoke, it was back on the beach. Oscar's words were muffled, but I could still hear them.
"She looks so different!"
Different? Different how?
Giving a moan of fatigue, pain, and uncertainty, I shook my head. "I feel so weird..." I murmured, struggling to get to my feet.
"Oh, you don't just feel weird." Momma reached behind her back, and came up with a mirror that was as tall as her. "Have a look in a mirror."
My eyes opened and fell on the mirror.
Time came to a complete standstill.
The first thing I noticed were the pony ears. They looked just like the real things, if "the real things" meant my friends' ears. Angular but oval-shaped, they felt rather soft, and I could feel them as they swiveled around like active satellite dishes.
And then, my hair. Right away I was able to identify it as looking just like that of Pinkie Pie's. But it wasn't just enough that my hair had to have the same curly and poofy bounce to it that hers did -- my new tail spoke the same volume, and also just so happened to look like hers. I had to wonder if that weird magic had somehow intertwined our souls together, so that she and I were driving only a singular vessel. But then I came to the conclusion that the idea was silly. I didn't feel any more energetic. I didn't feel like planning parties or baking or making others happy like she did. I mean, I liked to make others happy, but she had it as a stock-in-trade. I made people happy by doing the bare minimum and being nice. But I digress.
The wings. Now those were new. They weren't made of water like they were before. No, these were made of pure, bonafide, could-only-be-found-in-the-best-pillows feathers. They made me look almost...angelic. But I was no angel. This wasn't heaven. I was still alive, lying here on the sand, four faces all staring at me, twisted into looks of worry and fear and hesitance. It made me sick just thinking about it, so I decided to move on to what else was included in Mandy 2.0.
Somehow, within my shock, I had managed to miss the long horn that erupted from my forehead. It looked sharp, but the rounded tip threw any fears I had about me accidentally stabbing someone right into the trash. It was longer than Twilight's and Rarity's horns, and that was all I knew for certain. It looked more akin to the horn of that unicorn Momma interrogated, the star of The Second to Last Unicorn.
But whatever it was, it felt weird.
All of these... things felt weird.
"I...what am I?" I murmured aloud. "I have wings...a horn...pony ears...hair and tail that looks like Agent Pinkie Pie's for some reason..." I shrank away from the mirror. "Is this some weird side effect from touching the Hydraclops? O-or my water form touching it?"
The world unfroze. I felt it. But that didn't mean I enjoyed it.
"She looks kind of similar to Agent Twilight." Oprah observed. "Wasn't she a unicorn before getting her wings?"
"Yeah. Maybe Mandy went through the same thing." Otto said. I wished he would take his eyes off of me. But being the inquisitive one sometimes had its downfalls for the one whom the curious eyes had fallen upon.
"But Mandy's not a unicorn." Momma said. "So how could she go from being a human to being an alicorn?"
"I think...I know how."
Four heads turned.
My jaw dropped.
Twilight was limping across the sand towards us. Her head was bowed down, but I could see her wincing with pain every couple steps. It was clear that it had taken a lot of effort to get on her hooves, and even more effort just to come to us. My eyes began to water as a small smile danced on my face, knowing that at least one of my friends wasn't dead from this disaster.
"Twilight! You're okay!" came the unisonant relieved cry of four agents.
"Despite taking a beating from the Hydraclops, Mandy pushed past it to save us all. Because...we’re her friends. That’s why she became an alicorn." Twilight explained. "Though I’m not quite sure if she can be considered a princess. She didn’t ascend to the astral plane like I did, nor did she meet Princess Celestia."
"Well, Princess or not..." Oprah leaned down next to me to pat my shoulder. "You did a brave thing, Agent Mandy. You took action to save not only us, but the town from destruction, when Oscar’s weapon failed to work. And even though you took a nasty hit to your back, you still got back up to save Agent Applejack." She smiled. "We’re so proud of you."
Even in spite of the mixed emotions I was feeling, my smile grew bigger at Oprah's praise. It was better than her yelling at me or kicking sand in my face or calling me a freak, at least. I took it entirely at face value. "It was nothing, really! They would have drowned if I hadn't saved them." I sighed in annoyance. "But really, not one of you thought of jumping into the water to help? Way to be bystanders!"
Oscar, being someone who would have actually been a fatality if he had tried to rescue the ponies, gave a sheepish shrug. Momma, Otto and Oprah, on the other hand, adopted guilty looks.
"Yeah, in hindsight, maybe we should've helped..." Momma said.
"I can't swim!"
"We know, Oscar."
"And the Hydraclops is gonna return with its brothers and sisters in the next one hundred years!"
"We know, Osca-" Momma stiffened. "Wait, what?!"
Shock coursed through my body. The only thing I could give was a "You've gotta be kidding me!" as a flurry of questions entered my mind -- why didn't Oscar tell us this sooner, can't we just kill the thing and get it over with, all of my efforts in defeating it were for nothing?
"Everyone, socks off!"
"Look, we don't have time for that!" I snapped, putting all of my willpower into getting to my feet and going over to where the other five ponies laid motionless on the sand. "We have to get the ponies some medical treatment, fast!"
"Mandy's right. Let's go!" Oprah ordered.
With that, she, along with Oscar, Otto, Olaf and Momma, all came to help me carry the ponies through the nearest tube entrance towards Headquarters, and eventually, the Medical Bay. I still felt a sense of abnormality in my body as it tried to adapt and get used to my new features, but I didn't worry much about my new appearance after that. My main priority was getting the ponies to safety and getting them healed up.
Unfortunately, within the hubbillibub of the after-action patching-up, I failed to consider how my new appearance would look to the citizens of Toronto.
But even with careful consideration, nothing could have prepared me for just how much my life was about to be changed -- for better, and for worse.
Peaches stared at Mandy, jaw dropped as she hung on to every word. It was only a few moments after Mandy had concluded the first part of her story that her jaw closed, and she shook her head as she snapped out of her shock. "Holy cattails." she murmured. "So the power of friendship allowed you to become an alicorn?"
"Pretty much." Mandy rolled her shoulders in a shrugging motion. "No one really knows exactly what happened that day. I wasn't all too concerned about my initial appearance, outside of when I first saw myself in that mirror. I just wanted the ponies to be safe. That was all I cared about."
"So what happened?" Peaches asked. "I-I mean, the ponies didn't die...they're still alive...but you said your life was going to be changed for better and for worse. How'd it change?"
A sad chuckle danced on Mandy's lips. "Well, they say you hafta get through the bad before ya get to the good..."
Back then, we had a different Dr. O. She was much like Momma -- serious to the point of being funny, dedicated to her job, and laughing only when infected with an odd disease. Still, she had a caring heart for all of her patients. That was what we loved about her.
After we took the ponies to the Medical Bay, she healed them right up. Out of an abundance of caution, she checked me out, too. For all of her "countless years of hard work and studying", as she so put it once, not even she could explain what had happened to me. She had called it "one of the most abnormal oddities I've ever seen". She couldn't pin it to any odd disease I had, and she disproved my theory about the Hydraclops' skin clashing with my body and creating some kind of an adverse reaction to it.
Aside from the ponies, who were resting in their beds in the Bedroom, Momma, Otto and I were waiting. Neither one of us felt like making casual conversation, our stomachs in tight knots of anxiety and fear as we waited for our boss to come out.
"Well?"
Hearing Momma's voice address Oprah, I looked up and stopped fiddling with an idle gadget in my hand.
"They'll be fine. But they need to take it easy." the Director explained, her expression darkening. "Meaning that I'll have to put them off of cases for the time being."
Otto bit his lip. "So we're losing six agents..."
"Not forever, partner. Just until they get better." Momma placed a hand on his shoulder. "Remember, if Mandy hadn't saved them, they would have drowned. Then we really would have lost them."
Oprah's gaze moved to me. "In the meantime, Mandy, you should learn how to control your magic and learn how to fly. We still need to repair that dent in the wall from when you sneezed."
It's hard to believe now that my first act of magic was having my horn spontaneously fire a laser beam at a wall just because I bent my head down to sneeze into the crook of my elbow. I was lucky Oprah hadn't charged me for repairs.
"I'll, uh...do that." I sheepishly chuckled. "But I don't know where I would even begin. None of the agents here can fly or do magic."
Oprah adopted a smug expression. "None of the human agents here can. But we don't just have human agents."
"Huh?"
"We also have two unicorns and two Pegasi in our ranks. Which is why I'm assigning the ponies to you as personal tutors."
I tilted my head in confusion. "Personal tutors?"
"Yes. Almost all of them have wings and horns, and are skilled in the ways of flight and magic, so they should be able to help you out."
I took a moment to ponder what Oprah was saying. On the one hand, I had uncontrollable magic and couldn't even fly, whereas Rarity and Twilight knew magic like the backs of their hooves, and both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had flight capabilities to some degree.
On the other hand...she implied that everypony was going to be my tutor. Which led me to ask a burning question.
"But what about Pinkie Pie or Applejack? They don't have wings or horns."
"Pinkie is your partner. That's a given." Oprah said. "Applejack, on the other hoof- uh, hand..."
A pause. Still confused, I leaned in closer, as though encouraging her to continue.
"Twilight informed me that your physical strength might have received a boost when you turned into an alicorn. So Applejack, along with Pinkie, are going to help you control that."
"Why? How much stronger could I have gotten?"
"You're crushing a gadget in your hand."
I blinked. My gaze drifted down to the gadget that was still in my hand, now cracked in a few places. I hadn't even grasped it all that tightly, and yet, it had been destroyed without me being aware of it. I was no weakling before, but I was far from "able to crush a gadget in a single hand clench" level of strength. It worried me how, if I happened to give someone a hug, I could potentially crush their spine, cause a murder, and have to live forever with the regret that I killed someone by innocent means.
But that was what Applejack and Pinkie Pie were here for. They were here so I wouldn't do that. And they would fix me. I knew they would.
"In the meantime, how are you adjusting?" Oprah asked.
"It still feels weird." My back rippled, attempting to pull my splayed wings into my body to no avail. Then my tail wagged back and forth subconsciously, like it had a mind of its own. "It's like I'm some Odd Squad anomaly, an odd creature that has to be cared for..."
"Don't be like that." Momma's tone of voice didn't get by me. It was half pleading, and half worry. "You're still human."
"Yeah! And you'll always be an Odd Squad agent." Otto smiled.
"Keep fighting against oddness, Mandy." Oprah turned on her heel. "The world is counting on you."
I watched her go, and then stared at the ground. It was true that even though I was in a new form...or had new bodily extensions...or whatever, I was still an Odd Squad agent. The words of the agents that raised me affirmed that they didn't see me as some kind of freak. To them, I was just the same old Mandy.
But as much as adults envy children for being honest and open, us children were, and still are, humans. Humans who put on facades thicker than maple syrup. That was how every kid villain who was at least somewhat successful in their attempts to take down Odd Squad operated before they were outed as villains, after all.
And I couldn't deny that a seed of doubt was worming its way through me. Like no one knew what to do with me aside from just pretend that nothing had happened.
As time went by, the ponies helped me to control my new abilities and accessories. It was made clear that none of them knew what to do with me, either. But at least they weren't trying to teach me like I was a human trying to leap off of a fire hydrant in a pathetic attempt to fly. I took that for what it was worth, which, frankly, was a lot. They even helped me to stop using magic in my sleep and sleep-flying halfway around the world, thanks to Twilight's crazy-good research skills. Unfortunately, not even they could explain why I began snoring and sleep-talking, or why I slept in until noon every day. It took many trials and tribulations, but even Twilight determined that those were two problems no one can fix, stating that they seemed like two new relatively harmless additions to my routine and everyone should just leave them alone and not try to fix them.
Which was a good thing, because I developed a love of sleeping I certainly didn't have before. Not that it trumped work, of course, but next to my severely-increased appetite and strangely omnivorous eating habits, sleeping was one of my favorite things to do.
With me getting a (mostly) solid grip on my wings and my magic, as well as getting used to my new appearance, Oprah permitted me to start solving cases again. Getting to do the thing I loved the most, the thing that defined my entire existence within Odd Squad, after what felt like decades was truly a dream come true. I remember ripping the case file out of Oprah's hands and soaring out of her office so fast that I ended up doing 360-degree tumbles down the stairs, hitting step after step until I landed face-first on the bottom. It should have hurt like crazy, but I just got on my feet like nothing had happened and quickly rushed off.
Peaches snickered. "Sounds like you."
"Nah." Mandy waved a dismissive hand. "That's more the result of the world having no rules of biology or physics to speak of."
"Mm." Peaches ran a finger across the bedsheet, though Mandy could see her brow furrowing in confusion. "Soooooo when does the bad part come in?"
Silence. Mandy's ears folded downwards. She looked to the side, closed her eyes, and opened her mouth to speak again.
It was clear to see that, to some extent or another, Odd Squad had accepted me with open arms even with my new "form", so to speak.
But now, it was time for it to be put to the test with the townsfolk of Toronto.
I wasn't as famous as Momma or Otto. I was just an average run-of-the-mill agent whose name happened to start with an M and not an O. There was nothing spectacular about me that made me stick out from anyone else. Not even the fact that I was raised by an Odd Squad agent got much of a reaction from people.
Still, Torontonians were friendly. I had helped a lot of them, and they, in turn, repaid me with kindness.
That ended today. I- I mean...the day that...yeah, whatever, you get it.
I ascended the stairs and knocked three times on the door of a brick house. Almost immediately, the door opened, and out came a woman with long brown hair, decked in cleaning clothes that were stained with bleach.
"Hi!" I said. "I was told you have an odd problem?"
Normally, people would reiterate their odd problem to me, show me the issue, then complain about how it was a detriment to themselves or to their way of living. And then I would fix it somehow, as I do. And then I would receive a whole bunch of relief and a whole bunch of thanks before I left and went back to Headquarters or to my next case.
But this client simply stared at me. She scanned me up and down for a few seconds, before her expression twisted into anger and disgust.
"Yes, I do." She began to back away. "But I don't want it solved by a monster!"
The door slammed closed.
I stayed silent for a few moments, until a desperate and panicked "oh no" forced its way out of me.
At first, I thought maybe it was a one-time thing. Maybe this was some kind of a joke this client was playing on me. Maybe this was a client who just wasn't as open to change as others were. Maybe I could come back later, and she would open the door and invite me in for some food and some drinks.
But as one could probably have expected, my fate became grabbed and firmly held in the palms of cruelty.
With almost every case, people were quick to shut me out. Some opened the door, saw me, and quickly slammed it while calling Precinct 13579 and demanding they get a different agent. Some let me in initially, but kicked me out as soon as they saw what I looked like. Some didn't even get past the peephole, instead telling me to go away and nothing more.
To try and circumvent the issue, Oprah decided to send me on a case with my partner. She figured, if clients saw me being friendly with another Odd Squad agent, they would realize that I was friendly and accept me just as they did before the Hydraclops incident. Pinkie, of course, had been nothing but supportive of me -- I had vented to her, cried in her chest, asked her the ever-standing question of why. She, in turn, stayed by my side whenever I went to the world aboveground, glaring at people who rudely stared and calling out people who made snide comments about how freaky I looked.
She was really the only one I remained close with. I liked to think we had a bond that was as strong as Momma and Otto's.
Pinkie and I arrived on the doorstep. She rang the doorbell, and we waited.
The door opened to reveal an older, rather chubby man with gray hair. His gaze remained fixated on Pinkie as he asked, "May I help you?"
"Hiya!" Pinkie waved. "We got a call about an odd problem at this place! Can we check it out?"
The man's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, yes! My crying sink. Follow me inside, if you will."
Pinkie took her first steps inside. Although I was hesitant to follow her, my legs began moving on their own anyway. I had one foot, and then two feet in the house, and a tiny flicker of hope sprung to life inside of me.
"Uh, n- not you."
I blinked. "Huh?"
The man put on a look of pity. "I'm sorry. I just don't feel comfortable letting someone like...you into the house."
He might as well have taken a bow and arrow and delivered a shot right to my heart. It would hurt just as bad, but at least it sounded more reasonable than "you're an abomination that shouldn't exist and I wouldn't let you into my house if the world was ending."
A pitiful whine shook my vocal cords. My pony ears folded downwards.
"It's okay, partner!" Pinkie turned to face me. Her voice was filled with hope, but it also held worry and, worst of all, pity. "I'll have this done in a lickety-splickity second. Why don't you go wait outside?"
My bottom lip began to quiver. My vision grew blurry with fat, wet, ugly tears. Before I knew it, I was running, falling, and resting my head on the pavement as I cried and cried until my lungs began to give out. I only faintly heard the door closing behind me, but didn't bother looking back to see who it was.
I really was a freak. I was a mutated being that surpassed anything odd that had been created by the hands of the powers-that-be up above. A Squanzo Bonzo, a Tiggle or a Taggle, even a Gornum meant more to these people than I ever would. I had gone from someone whom clients loved and respected to someone whom clients wouldn't dare interact with if they were given trillions of dollars to do so.
My self-esteem, already low as it was, took a nosedive.
And just when I thought it couldn't go any lower, it got lower.
Nearly everyone in the town shunned me. I was barred from homes, shops, and stores. I was nothing but a bygone relic of Odd Squad. I was nothing but an alien living on Earth that no one knew how to handle or how to interact with because there was little research done on me that provided solid answers. My hair and tail went from being curly to being flat, and became tinged with gray to signify my depression.
One day, Oprah assigned me a case.
I outright refused, and declared my intentions to stay holed up in Headquarters forever.
There were many people and creatures alike who lived in the underground world. Some lived in burrows. Others were on a quest to answer the question of "if I dig through the entirety of Earth, where will I emerge?"
And others passed by me every single day, giving their greetings as nothing but the bare minimum of politeness so they wouldn't seem rude.
On days where I was feeling really crummy, I stayed in the Bedroom all day, doing nothing but sleeping or reading or watching TV. If someone told me to get out of the Bedroom, I refused. If someone yanked me by the hand or by the foot and tried to remove me from the Bedroom by force, I kicked and screamed and locked the door and told them I never wanted them to come back.
I faintly remember telling Momma that I wish she would run and then fall off a cliff to her death when she tried to pull me to the Breakroom. I told her the truth about how she hated me and didn't know how to handle me with my new powers and accessories. I wasn't sure if I had confirmed my suspicions about her and about everyone else or not, but from that point on, we became distant.
Everyone always commented about my tendency to hold long grudges. This one was the longest grudge I had held yet, or so they said.
Oprah, not wanting to be down an agent, took action. With a microphone in hand and a podium as a platform, she tried to speak to the townsfolk about my new appearance. She tried to tell them that I was no threat, that I was still the same Mandy they knew, that she would keep me around because I was good at solving problems for clients. Her words held a sense of pleading conviction, an emotion that only few Odd Squad agents had seen in her before. Just for that speech, she dropped her shield of iron and spoke genuinely from the heart.
No one bought a single word.
Even worse, a boycott was waged against Odd Squad as an entire organization for allowing a monster within their ranks.
Oddness rates in Toronto flickitiated rapidly. They went down, they went up, and then went back down. It was so alarming that the Big O -- the old Big O, mind you, the one that trapped Twilight -- called me, Oprah and Pinkie to his office for a meeting. Out of every agent in Precinct 13579, Oprah was the only one who could get me out of the Bedroom, and so, I begrudgingly left my cave to go to the big boss's office.
"Now." He sat down in his seat. "I understand you went through a change, Agent Mandy. Correct?"
I nodded.
"And Oprah, is it true that the citizens of Toronto have been boycotting not just your precinct, but the entirety of Odd Squad?"
"Yes."
The Big O gave a soft hum as he thumbed through a stack of papers on his desk. "According to reports, oddness is currently rising in Toronto. But it is also shifting."
"I can assure you, sir, we have agents working diligently to fix the rising rates of oddness."
The Big O gazed at Oprah inquisitively. "And what of Agent Mandy?"
"She..."
I could feel her gaze boring into me. I tried to make myself as small as I could while still remaining upstanding and professional. I knew it was clear to her what my stance was on the entire issue, and I could feel the hurt in her next words.
"She’s not willing to go on any cases. From what I’m told, whenever she approaches someone who is afflicted with oddness, she is often told to go away while also being told to get different agents to solve it because people don’t want to deal with someone who looks so...odd."
The Big O's expression didn't waver. "So she is actively refusing?" he asked, an edge of irritation to his voice.
"Yes. She spends most of the day in the Bedroom now, not doing much of anything. When we try and get her to come out, she..." Oprah bit her lip. "...throws fits. Screams at us to go away. Yells at us that she wishes we would die. Tells us that we don't want to deal with her because we don't know how to deal with her now that she's...like this."
I had expected the Big O to at least widen his eyes a couple inches or so upon mention that I had been giving death threats to my coworkers. But looking back on it now, his indifference matches up to what I had to face when he tried to tame Twilight and turn her into a regular Earth horse.
"Well, as you know, this can't stand." he pointed out. "Odd Squad agents' jobs are not to laze around all day."
"I tried to convince the Torontonians not to see Mandy as the enemy, but as an ally. They didn't listen to me, and as a result, the boycotting began."
"So it sounds like the problem lies with Agent Mandy and her new...accessories." The Big O gave a scowl of disapproval. "Have you tried prying them off?"
Oprah nodded. "They're permanently affixed to her. We've tried gadgets, we've tried Dr. O's odd cures...nothing's worked."
"Hmm. This presents a problem."
I rolled my eyes. Oh no freakin' duh, genius.
"Um..." Pinkie took a step forward. "Maybe we could try and have Mandy convince the townsfolk herself?"
The Big O leaned forward in his chair, fixing my partner with an ugly grimace. "And do you really think the results would be any different?"
Pinkie's ears folded downwards. Her eyes darted from the Big O to the floor and back again, as she stammered out a "W-well..."
"The only logical solution..." The Big O leaned back in his chair. "...would be to fire Mandy."
That spurred something in Pinkie, erasing her hesitance. "Big O, no!"
"Sir, you can't." Oprah said, her tone one of pleading conviction again. "Mandy is one of my most hardworking agents, I can't just let her go!"
"It's the only solution we have. If Mandy is taken out of the equation, then people will stop boycotting Odd Squad and life can go on."
My knees hit the floor. Tears began spilling from my quivering eyes unexpectedly. My mouth hung open like it was one of those basketball hoops at an arcade cabinet. I stared at the Big O for what felt like hours.
Then my body wracked with sobs. My lungs began scrabbling for air. Both Oprah and Pinkie stared at me with those worried and pitiful looks I had come to despise, but yet, none of them tried to comfort me.
My eyes drifted to Pinkie at one point. They did all the talking for me. They uttered a cry for help. They asked her if she could fight back against the Big O, tell him off like she had told off so many other people and ponies who had stared at me or made rude comments about how I looked.
She didn't respond. She jerked her head away, glancing at the Big O, then to me, and back and forth again.
"Your badge, Agent 57. Hand it over."
My breathing quickened. I stared at the Big O's outstretched hand. It was waiting. Everyone was waiting.
Slowly, my hair and tail began to turn an even darker shade of gray. Oprah's eyes widened in surprise, as did Pinkie's. The Big O, of course, didn't even flinch. It was almost like he was enjoying this, in a sickening and sadistic way. All he needed was a big old smile to complete the ensemble.
Right then and there, I decided that I had had enough.
Most ex-agents were fed up with Odd Squad as an organization. I was one of them. Instead of hating it because of the work they did, however, I hated it for its people.
I didn't mind Odd Squad fighting oddness. I was strictly anti-odd, and that was how I liked it.
What I did mind were all the humans and all the ponies who dropped me like a hot hot tater as soon as I went through a massive change to my looks, my personality, and my overall being.
Odd Squad was supposed to be a place where all kids were equal, and all kids belonged. Its DE&I policy went unmatched by any other cheap copycat of its kind. And it wasn't just kids -- Oprah had accepted the ponies who were with me with open arms.
I was once accepted with open arms, too. I was once accepted with open arms by people who had no idea how to raise a child.
Those days were gone now.
Anger bubbling inside of me, I spat out one final sentence of opposition.
"Neither one of you deserve to be Odd Squad agents."
And then I bawled, my legs taking me through the hallways and past the Big O's mindless and brutal assistants. I let them guide me to wherever they wanted, my heart and chest aching with pain and regret. I didn't stop to think about if I should pack my things and leave -- although if I did, I wouldn't have. I couldn't face anyone. I didn't want to face anyone.
Before I knew it, I was lying flat on my back, staring into the face of a girl that looked to be half-human and half-dog. Her hands and feet were that of a human's, but her face and two ears on the top of her head were that of a dog's. Her tail wagged inquisitively, and her short dark brown hair bobbed as she leaned closer to me.
"Oh! I'm sorry. Are you okay?"
My nose made a sound that was somewhere between a sniffle and a snort. "N-no! I'm not! If you're just gonna bully me then you can just go away!"
I had expected the girl to shoo me away and brand me a transmuted anomaly that shouldn't even be walking the Earth, let alone laying down in it. But instead, she put on a confused expression and tilted her head.
"Bully you? Why would I do that?"
Part of me was screaming at me not to trust her. The other part of me was desperate for someone who was actually nice and understanding.
The latter won. I took the bait. Hook, line, and hopefully not stinker.
"Huh?"
The girl giggled. "You look funny. Who are you? What are you?"
I rolled onto my stomach and stroked one of my pony ears. "I'm...M-Mandy. I...w-well, I'm a human, but...I have these pony things on me..."
"Cool! I'm Clementine and I'm a dog-person. Well, not really, 'cause I can't change into a dog yet like some people can. Where are you from?"
A hiccup caused my body to jump slightly, and I landed on my stomach, the air out of my already-desperate lungs being blown out of me. It was a bit before I was able to spit out an answer. "Odd Squad..."
"Odd Squad? That's a weird town!" Clementine giggled. "I'm from Galagu. It's a town filled with dog-people! Everyone's super-duper nice, and we even have an awesome queen!"
I barely heard the second half of what Clementine said. My body began to quiver, and I began to cry again. Deep inside of me, homesickness, regret and anger waged an all-out war against each other. I thought the homesickness was winning, but I couldn't really tell.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
Those three words...if only someone, anyone, had given me those three words earlier.
"I...I was fired from Odd Squad..." I managed to choke out, burying my face in the grass and letting my tears flow once more.
"Fired? You mean kicked out?" More confusion, and then... "That's horrible! What for?"
"I-it's not a town! It's an organi-" I hiccuped again, before trying to calm down. "Organization d-dedicated to fighting odd stuff. I used to w-work there."
"Ohhh, that's so cool! But they sound like real bad people for kicking someone like you out!"
Giving a shaky inhale, I attempted to wipe my tears away. After all, it would do me no good if I spent all my time crying when someone as nice as this girl took time out of her day to talk to someone like me. And if I was being honest, people would have sided with the Big O in a heartbeat even before he started ripping ponies away from their friends and enslaving them. "R-really?" I stammered out, turning around and laying on my back.
"Yeah! You're funny and cool!" Clementine smiled. "I wanna be friends!"
My eyes widened. I sat straight up and looked deep into her eyes. I scanned them extensively, looking for any kind of malice or meanness or anything that could tell me this was nothing but a facade.
But there was nothing.
Just pure innocence and happiness.
A soft gasp fell from my lips. I had six friends -- although if you count Momma, Otto and Oprah, that makes nine -- and not one of them had even remotely tried to extend a hand to me in friendship after I transformed. Instead they had beaten me down, shunned me, and abandoned me because they didn't want to try and understand me.
But here was a girl who looked different, just like I was. In a town like Toronto that was populated with people and ponies, she and I were outliers. And outliers stuck together.
"Y-y-you want to be...friends? With me?"
"Uh, yeah!" Clementine giggled again. "C'mon c'mon c'mon, let's be friends! The bestest of friends in the whole wide world!"
The way she declared her friendship in that moment reminded me a lot of Pinkie Pie, and how she would do the same thing to people she had met. But whereas Pinkie didn't even try to stand up to the Big O, Clementine would face him with innocence and purity and tell him off. Maybe. Probably. I wasn't gonna go back to him anyway, so it made no difference.
It took me a few moments to realize that I was crying again. Only they weren't tears of sadness, or of rage, or of remorse.
They were tears of pure happiness.
For the first time since the ponies got better, I felt genuinely happy. My heart began to lift. My head began to feel light, like the dark clouds had been cleared away and the sun had begun to shine. My face...was an ugly mess of snot and tears. But Clementine didn't care.
"Y-you don't know...how much...I wanted to hear that!" I gave a small hiccup, not enough to lift my body off of the ground but enough to make it perk up. "Of course I wanna be friends with you!"
A small blush crept onto Clementine's cheeks. "Yay!" she cried out, throwing her hands into the air. "You wanna come back to Galagu with me?"
"Yeah!" I didn't even need to think about it. Anywhere that was far away from this wretched place with its even more wretched inhabitants, I wanted to go to. Still, a small frown formed on my lips as I asked, "B-but...will they accept someone like me?"
Clementine nodded. "Galagu is super-duper accepting! Of course they will!" She extended a hand. "C'mon, follow me!"
"Okay!"
I eagerly took her hand, and she pulled me to my feet before taking off with me in tow. As I reached into my hammerspace spine and pulled out a tissue to clean my face with, I got a better look at my new friend. She was rather small, being about eight or nine years old and reaching up to my elbows. And whoo boy, was she fast. Not as fast as Rainbow Dash, but she had about the same speed as a child who had consumed at least half a bag of sugar.
Still, I followed her wherever she went. I never wanted to be apart from her. We were aiming to go all the way to Galagu, and we would never stop until we got there.
At some point, I had chucked my badge into some body of water. I wasn't able to take off the suit -- I wasn't wearing anything under it -- but I was able to destroy the most prominent connection I still had to Odd Squad. That made me feel free. I resolved to change my clothes the second I got to Galagu.
I had hope. I was happy. And for the first time, I felt like the person I was before the transformation occurred. It was truly magical.
"Hold on!"
Mandy blinked.
"I remember...King Ashero was talking about Galagu, many many years ago. Vallea's gone to war with them before. They're one of our biggest enemies."
"Really?" Mandy tapped her chin. "Well, I guess that makes sense...cats and dogs are usually enemies with each other. At least that's how the old story goes."
Peaches stared up at the ceiling. "And Clementine is from there..."
"Do you know her?"
"I don't recognize the name..." Peaches' brow furrowed. "And I don't know what she looks like."
A low hum was Mandy's only response. She didn't feel keen on sharing the details regarding Clementine's appearance to Peaches, especially since she was on a roll with her story and talking about it was actually starting to make her feel better.
Peaches shook her head. "Anyway, what happened? Did you two reach Galagu?"
"We tried, but...we didn't get as far as I'd hoped we would."
Up ahead, we could see the Now Leaving Toronto sign. I never thought that one day, that sign would bring me relief, but it did. The hope in my heart began to swell and swell. Like the chasees of a foot chase in a horror movie, we were going to lose everyone.
I was going to lose everyone. Everyone that had once been my coworkers, my friends, and my family. I couldn't have asked for anything better.
But within my newfound merriment, I had forgotten one important life lesson.
Life, even when you were happy, was absolutely chock-full of pain. And that pain could strike at any moment.
"Hey!"
Clementine stopped. I did too, nearly ramming into her and knocking her over. We turned around to find a construction worker pointing an accusatory finger at us. Even worse, a sizeable crowd of other people were coming up behind him.
"That's the Odd Squad monster threatening our town!"
"And she's with another monster!"
"Get her!"
The crowd began running. And given that they were adults with longer legs, it wouldn't be long before they caught up to us. I knew that all too well.
"Who are they?" Clementine asked.
"Bad people! Very bad people! Run!" was all I said in response. It was my turn to grab her hand, and I took off as fast as my legs would take me. I aimed for the Now Leaving Toronto sign that was nothing but a small microscopic speck in my vision, and was rapidly moving closer.
"You have wings!" Clementine pointed out, her tone panicked. "Can't you fly?"
Surprised that she hadn't asked that question before this point, but still keeping my mind clear to focus on my goal, I shook my head. "Not very well yet! Maybe...if I can just..."
I closed my eyes, let magic sweep over my horn, and let it rip.
I heard a zap, and when I opened my eyes again, I found myself standing in the road, right next to the sign I had been looking for.
"Clementine! I-I did it! I...uh..."
Blinking, I looked behind me. I clenched and unclenched my hand a few times. Clementine was nowhere to be seen.
A piercing scream cut through the air, and as my eyes followed it to its source, my heart plummeted.
"Got you!" the construction worker declared, grinning with sickening glee as he squished his forearm tighter against Clementine's neck. The girl was kicking with all her might, her hands squeezing the forearm in an attempt to try and loosen its grip. But of course, the arm of someone who operated forklifts and placed cement on buildings was much stronger than a little girl whose strength was merely average.
"Mandy, help me!" she cried, as she tried in vain to free herself. Her green eyes carried the same plea. It was clear she wanted her newfound friend to help her out of this rather sticky situation.
But I became frozen with fear. All I could give was a simple "Hold on!" for reassurance.
Under normal circumstances, a gadget could stop this act of aggression against a literal child, free said child, and send us to Galagu within seconds. I was no Scientist, but I could wield gadgets well, especially when it came to battling villains. I was often praised for my quick draws and even quicker fires. But I had no gadgets on me, and it wasn't like I could use them now that I was no longer working for Odd Squad. Magic and flight were off the table, too. My magic wasn't mastered yet -- for Pete's sake, I couldn't even teleport properly -- and I couldn't fly well, either. All I had were simple punches and kicks, and even then, there was no way I would be able to take out an entire mob of adults.
I had nothing. Oprah could take out these guys easy, but I was about as far from her as the Earth was from Neptune.
"We're gonna rip you apart limb to limb!"
If someone had given me that threat today, I would've laughed at them. I would've then fired off some kind of witty retort before I either attacked them or messed with them until they got so angry they couldn't think straight, because that was my brand.
But here and now, I did the one thing I could possibly do. The one thing that, even today, I fully regret doing above almost anything else.
I ran.
"I'm sorry, Clementine! I'm useless! I can't help you!"
The last thing I heard before I crossed the border into the next town was Clementine calling out my name. She was full of hurt and desperation and confusion, just one little girl against a whole slew of adults. I didn't bother to see or hear their reactions. All I did was keep on running, as fast and as far as my feet and legs would take me before they gave out.
After that, I never saw Clementine again.
I fell into the worst depression I ever had. I just wanted the world to make me no more, to make me completely nonexistent. Discard and draw, even, so I could get a second chance at a life that wasn't so filled with misery and hatred.
With Galagu no longer an option now, I wasn't sure where I was going to go. But as long as it was far away from people, I would be happy.
After all, what was a person's existence if they weren't even able to make one single friend to prolong their lifespan with?
A few months passed. I had deemed myself a runaway, and decided to live in the woods without a home. My attempts at trying to secure housing in neighboring towns went without success. Mostly because I only tried a couple houses before I gave up, coming to the final realization that no human being in existence would accept me. I even tried to pull off my new extensions myself, thinking that it was like a "sword in the stone" thing where only I could pull them off of me.
No matter what I tried, nothing worked. Don't like it or don't like it, I was stuck with these things. They really were permanently affixed to me.
With a majority of caves being either too dark for me to explore or already inhabited by a creature or two, I had resigned to making a triangular home out of sticks and vines. It wasn't perfect, but it provided shelter. That was what mattered.
During my time being isolated from other people, I tried practicing magic using the skills that Twilight and Rarity had taught me. I tried flying with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s instructions. And I tried to balance out my physical strength the way Applejack and Pinkie Pie told me to. I figured they would become survival skills, and nothing more.
Twilight had once told me that every pony has a special talent and a destiny they must follow. Though I was deemed a "pony-human hybrid" and had no cutie mark to speak of, I believed my special talent was survival. My destiny was merely to live in an agent-eat-agent...no, a people-eat-people world forever, with no one to rely on but myself. No friends, no family, no Odd Squad, just me and the creatures that dwelled here.
I survived on nothing but berries, nuts, and anything else I could scavenge that wasn't dead animals -- I didn't have the heart to kill any. I drank water from nearby lakes, regardless of whether it looked clean or not. For someone like me, whose appetite had expanded drastically, it was torture. I was constantly hungry. The food I ate felt like nothing but crumbs. But I learned to adapt, just as I did when I got my new extensions. I must have lost at least ten pounds. Maybe twenty, I wasn't sure. I didn't have the luxury of owning a scale, and I wasn't about to shoplift for one, or for anything else I needed. Even in my sour state, I still had standards.
One day, I had just finished eating some berries I had found when I heard a loud boom that shot through the woods, startling creatures as they chittered and chirped and ran for their lives. I wouldn't have cared about the noise and just brushed it off, but I figured, if there was one boom, there could be more. And that wouldn't bode well for the nap I planned on taking.
So, using my newly-perfected teleportation skills, I closed my eyes and decided to teleport to where I thought the sound was coming from.
And by some kind of miracle I never would have thought would happen to someone like me, I managed to get close to the source.
The bad part was, I had wound back up in Toronto. But that was of little importance compared to what I would find standing right in front of me.
In the center of Trillium Park was a jackalope that was easily ten times my size. Of course, it wasn't the creature's natural size -- large jackalopes aren't a natural odd creature. Jackalopes have always been as small as rabbits since man discovered them, the same way they were small in Equestria.
A loud crack caught my attention. My head swiveled to the left just in time to see an agent slump to the ground. I bit my lip as a memory resurfaced, of that Hydraclops flinging me towards the beach as my spine made harsh impact with the tree. I could almost feel the pain that agent was facing...almost. If my heart wasn't nearly frozen and dead, I might have.
My eardrums resounded with the sounds of the townsfolk screaming, yelling, running. It was a true cacophony of noise that threatened to make me deaf. I wasn't used to hearing so much noise after months spent in the quiet of the woods. Couple that with me having two pairs of ears now instead of just one pair, and you might as well have sat me in front of a bass speaker for an hour or two.
I could see Oprah. She was yelling and pointing at the jackalope as agents rushed past her with weapons. It was then I realized that she must have sent at least half the precinct to fight it off -- and if that was the case, then it had to have been powerful. Sending that many agents to fight one enlarged creature was usually only seen with Ginormice, and that was because capturing them and then shrinking them was a hard feat to pull off.
This creature had antlers. Antlers that could easily fling the body of an agent up into the air and send them plummeting to their deaths.
Out of the army of agents, I tried to spot familiar faces. Otto and Oscar were down for the count. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Olive and Oprah looked to be the only agents left who were able to fight it, and even they were in such disheveled states that one paw swipe or antler fling could end them before they even had a chance to hit the ground. Broken gadgets were strewn across the battlefield, shooting out sparks and missing pieces. Some looked to be far beyond repair.
It sounds insane, but in spite of all that they did, I felt compelled to help them. After all, I was a hybrid with standards, and my standards were "if someone's about to die and they're your mortal or immortal enemy, then for odd's sake, help them and keep them alive". If I didn't help resolve things for them, then I would at least help resolve things to stop an entire town, and eventually the world, from being destroyed. That jackalope grew any bigger, and it would be eating the entire planet like a puppy with a slipper.
The only problem was...I didn't want to get shamed and attacked again. What if they thought I was working with the jackalope? That this was one big old Mandy scheme as her first kid villain stint? That I was only helping them because I was too dumb to know any better?
Before I could think over the matter any further, the body of Momma whizzed past my vision.
Her body hit the ground hard. I counted three times before she went rolling and came to a stop.
"Momma!" I cried out, dashing over to her and nearly tripping over my feet as I landed at her side. I grabbed her shoulder and shook her furiously. "Momma, please, get up!"
Nothing. Momma didn't do so much as move. Her expression was contorted into one of pain, but her mind was fully in the dark void that unconscious-but-alive shared with death.
Tears sprang to my eyes. "Get up! GET UP!!"
The jackalope's head turned towards us. Slowly, with big, booming pawsteps, it began its approach, like a hunter about to kill its prey.
I shook Momma as hard as I could. "Momma, please! You gotta get up!"
The jackalope came faster than I thought. One minute, it had been some distance away from me. The next minute, it was roaring in my face, sending spittle all over me.
"Don't you dare!" I yelled, rearing back and letting my horn do the legwork.
The jackalope stumbled backwards, letting out a roar of pain.
"Yeah, how do ya like that?!"
Adrenaline and confidence joined together in an electric clash, and before I knew it, I had taken flight. I fired laser after laser at the creature, not really having a set course of action other than to just knock it down until it couldn't fight anymore. My movements in the air were graceful and elegant, just like Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had taught me. Even though Rainbow didn't really do "graceful" or "elegant"...but I digress.
It was mostly a one-sided battle. But when my back was to the jackalope, it fired its own beam of magic from a sphere formed between its antlers. I barely caught it just in time, firing back with a beam of my own.
The two beams met in the middle and began pushing against each other. Tears fell from my eyes, though I was too focused on winning to care about them at the moment.
"Don't...hurt...them!"
An angry roar was my response. A feeling of deja-vu swam in my gut.
Unfortunately, this jackalope wasn't gonna go down the same way the Hydraclops did. Especially since I was pouring every ounce of magic I had into pushing the creature's magic back at it, and by odd, I was going to win.
"No one...hurts them...and gets AWAY WITH IT!!"
My voice became a reverberating echo on the last three words, punctuated by my magic eclipsing the jackalope's own and making impact with it. With another pained roar, it was sent flying until it crashed right in the road, squishing cars and...well, hopefully not drivers alike under its massive weight.
I quivered with rage. But I wasn't so far gone that I let it overtake me. "Oprah!" I called, swooping down to the remaining combatants. "Get the others to safety! Quickly!" A startled yelp left me as I faltered in my flight, but I was able to compose myself enough to head towards the fallen jackalope.
In that moment, I wondered why I was helping them. It was bad enough they had to kick me when I was down. Now, they seemed to have forgotten all about me. But seeing Momma -- the person who raised me, the person who cared for me the most -- sparked something in me that I couldn't describe. It made me help, even though I didn't really want to.
Maybe it was familial instinct. Maybe it was an inner sense of justice taking my standards into consideration. Really, who was to say. Not even I can explain it.
With my wings flapping as fast as a hummingbird's -- it was the only way I figured I could keep myself aloft -- I hovered above the jackalope, narrowing my eyes and lighting up my horn once more as I let slip from my lips one final warning.
"Don't ever hurt them. Not on my watch."
I reared up once more, and then fired.
The jackalope got smaller and smaller, until it was back to its regular size.
The silence that swept over the area was deafening. My feet touched the ground. My wings stopped flapping. I folded them in with ease, just as I was taught to do. The adrenaline and confidence within me died down, and I slumped to my knees, breathing heavily.
And then, yells erupted. My name was called repeatedly. It startled me so badly that I scrambled backwards and made myself as small as I could, just on pure instinct.
Only a minute passed before I realized something.
These people weren't laughing at me. They weren't mocking me, telling me to get out, or calling me a monster or a freak or an anomaly.
They were...cheering for me.
"You saved us all!"
"You're a hero, Mandy!"
My ears folded downwards and pressed against my head. My eyes grew wide with shock. My skepticism was at an all-time high. Surely these people were just mocking me, right? Yeah, I stopped the jackalope, but I was still an ugly abomination. These people ran me out of town, and now they were praising me? In my not-exactly-the-most-sane-from-three-months-of-pure-isolation mind, it just didn't make any sense.
Oprah and the other remaining agents limped over to me. They all wore smiles on their faces. Secretly, I wished I had Pinkie's power of reading smiles so I could tell whether these were genuine or not.
"Mandy. I can't believe it. You...you came back." Oprah's one open eye watered. "Thank you."
"T-t-thank you...?"
"Ever since you were fired, Precinct 13579 has been suffering. Every one of us has been suffering. We even sent out search parties to find you!" Oprah winced. Most likely from pain, but I had a sneaking suspicion it was a wince of regret from making the decision to send out search parties to find a being of monstrosity.
But then her eye began to leak.
"Please. Come back to us. We promise that we'll give you love and care, and in return, you can help fight oddness alongside us again." She looked deep into my eyes. "It is true that we didn't know what to do with you when you first transformed. We didn't know how to help you. We treated you like a normal human being, like nothing had happened to you. But then you started shutting us out and giving us death wishes, and I knew that we were doing something wrong."
All I did was blink in response, shock running through my body that left me too stunned to speak.
"Mandy, on behalf of Precinct 13579...I'm sorry." A choked sob left her. "We should have taken the time to communicate with you, to understand your wants and needs, to help you adapt better to your new extremities and new powers. But we didn't." She placed a hand on my shoulder. "From now on, we're going to help you learn all about who you are and who you've become. We're going to help you unlock potential that perhaps not even you think you have. What you did here?" She smiled. "This is only the beginning of just how good of an agent you can be. So with that said..."
Wiping away her tears, she stuck a hand out.
"What do you say? Wanna come back to Odd Squad?"
My mouth ran dry. All I did was stare at Oprah's hand, as though she was offering me a piece of food and was encouraging me to take it. Her words held the same conviction she had when she was trying to convince the townsfolk I wasn't a bad person, and she was genuine then.
"We're really sorry for being so hurtful to you."
As I glanced behind Oprah, I could see a crowd of adults begin to form behind her and the other agents. All of them were fixing me with looks of guilt.
"Yeah. I think we Torontonians have learned a valuable lesson." a man piped up. "Differences are what make us unique. It doesn’t matter what you look like, Mandy. The truth is...you and the rest of Precinct 13579 have been crucial in saving this town. Heh, I still remember when you helped me rescue my cat stuck in a tree, even though it wasn’t an odd problem!"
"It's true!"
Pushing his way past the crowd was none other than Mayor Mackelmore. Out of all the people I had expected to show up...well, I wasn't really expecting anyone, but if I were, he wouldn't have been one of them. Dressed in his gray suit and gray top hat, he gave a warm smile.
"Mandy, you’ve helped this town thrive. Precinct 13579 really wouldn’t be Precinct 13579 without you. I am so, so sorry for not doing anything to help you out before. We would very much appreciate if you came back to work for Oprah."
My gut instinct was telling me to run away and hide. But something kept me firmly rooted to the ground. I stared at the crowd that was looming over me, staring at me expectantly. Not wanting to make this more of a "crowd bullies a defenseless victim" situation that it already was, I attempted to get on my knees again, and then to my feet.
"Mandy!"
Pinkie marched forward.
"Please please please come back! I, I'm so sorry I didn't stand up to the Big O for you! That's what this is about, isn't it? If- if I had just stood up to the Big O, if I had just told him how you were hurting and how you needed help, then I could've stopped this whole thingamajiggy with you running away, never to be seen again! Instead, look at you, you're just a scared defenseless kid!" She sat on her rump and brought a hoof to her face. "I was a terrible partner, Mandy, and for that...I'm sorry. I wore my hoofsies out looking for you, and I lived every day with pain and regret, but it wasn't enough." Her eyes began to shimmer. "Just tell me what I can do to help, and I'll do it! I'll do anything if it means getting to be partners with you again! And also...if it means getting to be best friends again."
I blinked a few times. Out of everyone here, Pinkie was the only one who had asked me what she could do to try and rectify her actions, which, I had to admit, certainly wasn't out of the norm for her. She had been the one agent who was by my side after the transformation. And when it concerned the Big O -- a figure who no one could fight against without dire consequences -- it was hard for any agent to stand up against him. I had to grant her some leniency in that regard.
My heart began to ache. I didn't need to think about why.
My eyes welled up with tears.
I lunged for Pinkie, scooped her into my arms, and bawled.
As I tried to form at least one coherent word within my complete butchering of the English language, Oprah and Fluttershy crowded around me. The adults all took a couple steps closer, looking on with concern and sharing glances.
I don't know how much time had passed by the time I had gotten everything out of my system. The adults were still here, so I had to imagine it wasn't long. I wiped my tears away and tried to stand up straight again.
"Please, everyone. Just know..." I swallowed a lump that was stuck in my throat. "...that even though I've changed, I'm still the Mandy you guys know and love. Even though I look different now, I'll keep fighting oddness for as long as I'm able to!" I gave a hiccup. "With that being said..."
My hair and tail began to grow curly again, the chocolate-brown color being restored to them and wiping the gray away.
"Oprah...I'll come back to Odd Squad."
Loud cheering from agents and adults alike filled the area, sending me toppling onto my back again. The cheers died down, and the looks of concern came back.
"S-sorry. I've been isolated from people for so long that loud noises tend to startle me now..." I said. "Quieter cheering, please?"
The townsfolk gave their whoops and hollers more quietly. Some even started chanting my name quietly, too.
Oprah, Fluttershy and Pinkie, on the other hand, exchanged concerned glances, realizing that they hadn't heard the half of what I had gone through when I ran away.
Almost everyone turned out fine. There were some unfortunate casualties, but not very many, and people were quick to blame the rampaging jackalope and not Precinct 13579. The Big O got wind of my wanting to come back onto the force, and once he was sure no one was boycotting Odd Squad anymore, he agreed with Oprah's decision. From the look on his face when she and I went to the Big Office, he really didn't want to, but knew that leaving me an ex-agent would do more harm for the organization than good.
Once things became steady again, Oprah called a meeting.
"It is with great honor that I welcome Agent Mandy back to Precinct 13579!"
Cheers erupted -- loud ones, this time. My hearing had gotten fully adjusted to being around a lot of noise, and so, I allowed people and ponies to cheer as loud as they want.
"But that's not all." Oprah said, pinching her fingers and swiveling her hand downwards to mimic the gesture of someone turning back a dial. "Mandy showed bravery in the face of danger, risking her own life to save those of her teammates. She came back from isolation to save us all, and I believe that deserves a reward. So..."
The tension was so thick, one would need a bread knife to cut through it.
"I am hereby promoting you to be my official right-hand agent, my second-in-command!"
My eyes widened. My pony ears swiveled back as they caught the sound of murmurs. I had fully expected Oprah to give me a medal of some kind, maybe even some cash if she was feeling generous. Anything other than a promotion after I had just gotten rehired.
"Like Olive and Otto, you show promise. I think that us working together as a team will help you unlock some more of that hidden potential I mentioned. What do you say?"
I frowned. "If you're tryna play some cruel cosmic joke on me, it's not a good one."
"No jokes. My offer is genuine."
In all the years I had known her, Oprah had never once needed a second-in-command. She was an independent and strong leader, one who could get things done well and fine on her own. She had assistants for seconds, seemingly-endless numbers of them who were at her beck and call. The idea of her having a second-in-command who wasn't an assistant was laughable.
But she was being completely genuine. She was so eager to have me back that she wanted me as her top-dog assistant.
Not only that, but she had the gall to compare me to Momma and Otto. Momma had already professed her goals in becoming an Odd Squad Director, perhaps succeeding Oprah if she ever decided to retire. Otto didn't want to become a Director, but he was loyal, hardworking, and skilled. The pair were nigh unstoppable together. They were cementing themselves as living legends, and I...was hardly a legend.
Did I really stand on the same ground as them? Could I stand on the same ground as them?
Even though Olive was my adoptive mother, I wasn't sure.
"On one condition." I raised my index finger as I settled on an answer. "Can I still-"
"Work as an Investigation agent? Yes."
"In that case, I accept."
Momma scooped me up into a tight hug amidst the cheers of the other agents. "Oh, Mandy, I'm so happy for you. Welcome home."
"As are we!" Twilight trotted up with the other ponies in tow. "Congratulations, Agent Mandy!"
Being surrounded by my friends and family with comfort melted the ice that was still remaining in my heart. I had forgotten how much I missed the warmth of others. How much I craved it. How much I wanted someone to be nice to me for a change. And what was more, I was home. The stick tent I made could barely be called a home. Headquarters was where I belonged. I was truly in my element here. And now that I stood on the seal that adorned the floor once more, I realized that I never wanted to leave again.
Things had really turned around for me. Torontonians had done a 180 on their view of me, as did Odd Squad. I was no longer a monster who needed to be abandoned and left to die, but a hybrid who would fight on the side of good until my final breath was given.
As time went by, I was let back into the shops and stores. I received case after case where I was welcomed into homes and even invited to share food and drinks. And everyone in the precinct helped me to get stronger with my new powers and abilities. Any doubts I still had about people being fearful of me or downright hating me were thrown out the window.
And perhaps best of all, my self-esteem improved.
You know how I said it felt like my brain was being rearranged when I was first transforming?
My new bubbly and exciting personality was just one of the results of that. Or at least I liked to think so, anyway.
I became one of the most cheerful agents in the precinct. I woke up and went to bed every day with a smile on my face. The excitement of doing what I love again brought nothing but joy to me. It was like someone had put a key into a lock, and opened up an entire side of me that no one knew I had. All this time I had felt it, deep in my heart, but the events that had unfolded had kept it hidden away.
And I came to realize: this was me. This was who I was meant to be.
And if I was being honest? I wouldn't have had it any other way.
"Whoa." Peaches blinked. "So that's what happened...that's how you became Oprah's second-in-command?"
"Yep. Having that enlarged jackalope rampage through town gave me a chance to prove myself." Mandy scratched her hand. "But as for Clementine...I haven't heard from her since that day. Until I met her when rescuing Applejack and Apple Bloom." Tears began to prick at her eyes. "I let my anger get the better of me, and...I attacked her 'cuz I thought she wouldn't give them up."
Peaches rubbed a comforting hand over Mandy's back as the hybrid began crying. She let her get her tears out for a minute or two before she asked the million-dollar question of...
"What do you want to happen?"
Mandy looked up. "Huh?"
"Do you want to become friends with Clementine again, just as you were in the past? Or do you want to spend the rest of your lives as enemies?"
"Clementine resides in the Odd Side now." Mandy sniffled. "There's no way I could befriend her. She rules a land full of oddness. I fight to get rid of that oddness and send it to that land."
"So you work together?"
"What? No I don't-"
"Picture this." Peaches held up a finger. "You get rid of the oddness, whatever it is, wherever it is. Where does it go?"
Mandy's brow furrowed. "To the Odd Side, but-"
"And Clementine rules over the Odd Side. What does she do with the oddness when it gets sent there?"
"Nothing. It roams free in a place where nothing can touch it."
"I rest my case." Peaches smiled, her eyes half-lidded. "You and Clementine are working on the same side. You just aren’t seeing it. If the oddness is in the Odd Side, then it can’t affect the real world. In a way, you’re defeating the oddness, but you’re also allowing someone who enjoys it to preserve it. And she’s not villainous either, right?"
"...Well, no..."
"Is Odd Squad active enemies with the Odd Side?"
Mandy shook her head. "Oprah just thinks that it's a dangerous place."
"So she should have no issue with Clementine. And neither should you." Peaches gave a soft exhale, her gaze fixated on the wall ahead of her. "Look, it’s true that Galagu and Vallea are enemies. I was raised to hate the members of that village when I was a kitten. But I soon found that Galagu was a lovely place -- I went there once to deliver a message to its queen, and found that they were all pacifists who were nothing but nice and would only resort to violence if needed." She extended a hand towards Mandy to rub her back again. "If a catgirl like me can make friends with dog-people, then I’m sure a pony-human hybrid like you can make friends with a dog-person too."
With a soft grunt, Peaches got off of the bed. "Why don't you sleep on it? Maybe you'll feel better after a nap. I'm gonna go have something to eat. I'm starved." She turned towards Mandy. "Do you feel any better?"
"A little." The beaming cat smile returned to Mandy's face. "I guess you were right. Spilling my entire backstory to someone really did help. Thanks, cuz."
"Think nothing of it. Us cats are good listeners." Peaches headed out the door. "See you later, okay?"
"'Kay."
As soon as the door closed, Mandy's head slumped downwards onto her bed, and she fell asleep within seconds.
Peaches, meanwhile, ran right into an eavesdropping Otto and Olive, giving a yowl of fright. "Jeez, can you warn me before you eavesdrop next time?!"
"Sorry. We were passing by and happened to hear Mandy telling you about what happened with the Hydraclops and her..."
"Running away?"
Olive looked away. Peaches could swear she saw tears pricking at her eyes.
"Painful topic to talk about?"
"Still stings a little." Otto responded, rubbing Olive's back. "Is she doing okay?"
"She's taking a nap. Some sleep will cure everything that ails her. It's her tried-and-true remedy, after all." Peaches chuckled, but a frown began to form nonetheless. "I can't believe how hurt she is over Clementine...it's like she regrets what she did, but doesn't feel like she can make amends. For a multitude of reasons, I'd bet..."
Olive sighed. "I doubt Clementine will even want to see her after the fight she and Mandy had. It lasted longer than we expected."
"And it ended with her as the loser."
Peaches rubbed her arm. "I just wish I could help Mandy more."
"You did your best, Peaches." Olive said, a sad smile dancing on her lips. "Sometimes, people just need someone to listen to them. And that can be the biggest help of all."
"Hey, you said you were going to get something to eat, right?" Otto piped up, in an attempt to divert the subject and lighten the mood. "Why don't we join you? I'm starving!"
"Otto, you're always starving."
"I know!"
Peaches smiled. "Sure. It's a lot more fun eating with friends. Let's go."
Together, the trio made their way to the Breakroom, Otto comforting Olive all the while. Still, even in spite of her partner's comfort, Olive couldn't help but let a few tears fall as Mandy's story replayed over and over in her head.
"Now there, Apple Bloom, I hope you've learned not t' run off like that. You could've gotten yourself seriously hurt!"
"I'm sorry! I just wanted t' save ya!"
Applejack heaved a sigh. "At least Ms. O didn't fire ya. Leave more dangerous missions to the more experienced agents, 'kay?"
"'Kay."
"Good."
Applejack and Apple Bloom approached Olive, Otto and Peaches in the Breakroom, smiles on their faces. "Howdy there, y'all." Applejack greeted. "Have any 'f ya seen Mandy? I wanted t' thank her for comin' t' rescue us and all."
"She went to the Bedroom." Peaches pointed in the direction of the hallway to her left. "I lent an ear to listen to her spill her backstory about the Hydraclops and her, uh..."
"Runnin' away from home?"
Peaches affixed Applejack with a look of worry.
"I'm fine with discussin' it." the farmpony assured, waving the catgirl off with a dismissive hoof. "Mandy did a really brave thing savin' us from that nasty jackalope. Even if I was unconscious when it all happened..."
Apple Bloom's eyes widened. "Hold on. Y'all really fought off a jackalope?!"
"Sure did, sugarcube." Applejack ruffled her little sister's mane. "I'll tell ya the whole story another time. It's a pretty sensitive topic for Olive and Otto and I don't wanna upset 'em."
"Aww...okay."
Applejack turned. "C'mon. Why don't we head t' the Orchard Room? I can show ya what I do on my off time here!"
"Yeah!"
As the two sisters left, the trio gave their goodbyes and watched as they disappeared from view. Olive slumped onto the table, her cheek being squished by the glass surface.
"Partner, you gotta cheer up." Otto said. "I know it's probably mother's instinct to worry about their kid, but Mandy's fine! I'm sure what Peaches said to her resonated with her." He smiled. "Plus, Applejack and Apple Bloom are home safe and unharmed."
A sigh was his only response.
"Hey. Why don't we go and take a walk around Headquarters. All three of us!"
Peaches finished the fish that was on her plate. "Yeah, I'm done eating." she said, pushing the plate to the side. "I could use a walk to help boost my mood a little."
Otto rose from his seat and grabbed Olive by the wrist. "Come on, let's go. We're gonna cheer you right up faster than Pinkie Pie can bake a cake!"
"Otto, I don't really- whoa!"
Before Olive knew it, she was being dragged by Otto, stumbling after him and trying not to let her body slump to the ground as they headed for the left hallway that flanked the steel double-doors. Peaches couldn't help but snicker as she followed them, her gaze peering down the hallway that Applejack and Apple Bloom had left through before picking up her pace to keep up with the two Directors.
She was only a few seconds too late to catch a lumbering and slumbering figure emerging into the bullpen. Still dressed in her suit, her mane and tail looking like it hadn't been brushed in a week...
And holding a secret she was dedicated to not letting anyone know about.