//------------------------------// // The Reveal // Story: In Odd We Trust // by marmalado //------------------------------// It had only taken Fluttershy a good half-hour to find a tube entrance that worked. She felt cramped inside the transparent red ball as it zoomed through the underground tubes, feeling an urge to scream but opting to just close her eyes instead, listening to the whooshing going on around her. The sound of banging met her ears next, followed by a machine powering down, and a soft thump. She opened her eyes to find herself belly-down on the ground, before making eye contact with a tube operator with bright red curly hair, smiling at her warmly. "Afternoon, Fluttershy! Rough landing?" the tube operator asked, and it wasn't until she spoke that the name became clear to the Pegasus pony: O'Donnell. Yes, this was O'Donnell. Ms. O had described her as the "cheerful but demanding" one of the bunch. "Um, yes. I guess I haven't gotten used to the tubes yet!" The new agent got to her hooves, giving a nervous laugh before trotting towards the double-doors to her left, which opened willfully. As she made her way through the Trophy Room, she got to thinking about this "Odd Todd" person. He seemed nice enough. But...is what he said true? Is Odd Squad really just trying to make this world -- his world -- normal? Will oddness really prevail? It went against everything Ms. O taught her, but Fluttershy wondered if she should have said "yes" in that moment. What would have happened if she did? What would Ms. O think? What would the princesses think? As she made her way into the bullpen, her thoughts were abruptly cut into as she bumped into a leg. "Oh! I-I'm so sorry!" She quickly backed up, shaking her head, and glanced upwards, the face greeting her turning from curious to suspicious in seconds flat. "Maybe watch where you're going next time, little pony? Or are you Pegasi just blind as bats?" "Olive." came a harsh scolding from a boy, sitting at his desk, looking up from his Shmumber Beat magazine to glare at his partner. Fluttershy recognized this agent as Otto; it was the height, mainly. The only one she knew who could match Otto in height was Princess Celestia. And wouldn't that be a sight to see. "You heard what Ms. O said." "So what? That doesn't mean I have to follow it." "Olive, I'm not in the mood for another one of your lengthy "ponies are bad" rants. Nobody is. Just drop it already. Everyone's gotten used to their presence by now but you!" "And I never will get used to it, Otto! You've heard my complaints a thousand times and haven't bothered to listen once!" As Olive continued to argue with Otto, Fluttershy could only watch, hesitant as to whether she should break up the fight or be a bystander. Before, she despised conflict, and would only get involved in dangerous situations if it meant saving her friends. But from what she heard, Olive and Otto were friends -- and yet here they were, arguing over something petty. And nowadays, she couldn't stand arguing friends. "STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!" Before she knew it, she was hovering in the air between Olive and Otto, separating them with her hooves. All conversation between the partner pair ceased to exist as they just stared at Fluttershy. "Arguing won't get you anywhere! Aren't you two supposed to be best friends?! Then act like it! We ponies are here to stay, and if you don't like it, you can just LEAVE!" Her last comment was directed towards Olive, as she fixed the corkscrew-ponytailed girl with a dead-on cyan stare. It took her aback, and her chocolate-brown gaze darted from Fluttershy, to Otto, and back again. She took a step back, her face flooding with a shade of red that would put a tomato to shame. The next half-minute was filled with an awkward silence as Otto and Fluttershy continued to gaze at Olive, while the girl tried to avoid any and all eye contact with them. Finally, she uttered the two words both pony and human boy had been looking for. "I'm sorry." Otto opened his mouth, as though about to make Olive elaborate on her apology, but before he could speak, Fluttershy piped up. "It's okay, Olive. Nobody's perfect. We're very good ponies, we promise, and we-" "It's just...ever since my old partner turned sour, there's been a superstition going around that any Odd Squad employee who didn't have a name beginning with O was bad news. So the Big O barred everyone who didn't have an O name from entering the Academy. And...I thought since you six didn't have O names, you were going to cause trouble for us." "What happened with your old partner?" Fluttershy inquired, unaware of Otto's concerned look as he came to stand next to her. "He..." Olive clenched her fists. She told the story once to Otto -- every painstaking detail of it. So why couldn't she do it now? The answer was quite simple, really -- it was her trauma. Seeing, smelling, even tasting pie brought nothing but horrible, traumatic memories to her. Many nights following the pienado debacle, she would get very little sleep, being tortured by constant nightmares that ended with the same malicious, echoing cackle of her former partner and her waking up screaming in terror. Nowadays, she didn't have many nightmares, but that didn't mean she wasn't afraid of pie. Giving a shaky exhale, Olive continued, her knuckles slowly beginning to turn white. "He was the best agent in this precinct. He won numerous awards, displayed mathematical prowess, and he was arrogant to boot. He didn't treat me well. Constantly berating me and calling me Scribbles." Grabbing her chair from her desk, she sat down and wheeled herself back to the duo -- Fluttershy, in particular, looked hurt. "Eventually, he got so bored with solving cases that...he turned to creating oddness. And that's when he released a tornado made up solely of contaminated pies. These pies..." Her voice turned into a mere murmur. "They nearly killed everyone I loved and respected." "Oh...Olive..." Tears began to well up in Fluttershy's eyes as she watched Olive turn her head away, her body shaking slightly. Otto took a tentative step forward, his arms stretching out to hug his partner, but he didn't get a chance to. Fluttershy did so first, wrapping her front legs around Olive's neck and sobbing into her suit. It surprised the young girl at first, but soon the pair was a sobbing mess as Olive clutched the Pegasus pony, holding her close. Otto stood nearby, merely giving a sad sigh in response. A few minutes later, the two girls broke free of each other's grasp. Olive sniffled and chuckled softly. "Your fur is soft." Fluttershy gave a soft laugh in response. "Thank you." she murmured, before perking up with a thought. That boy I met in the park. He had talked about how Odd Squad was bad and how he wanted to create oddness. Could...could that be...? Oh sweet Celestia, no! "Olive! W-what was your old partner's name?" The 12-year-old agent sniffled as she went to grab a tissue from her desk. "Well, it was Todd, but...he changed it to Odd Todd." Fluttershy's body ran rigid. Her wings abruptly stopped flapping, causing her to crash to the ground, but she felt no harm from the fall -- panic was the only thing ricocheting through her body. That boy I talked to...the one who wanted me in his 'Todd Squad'...that...that was...Olive's old partner! She tuned the whole world out, ignoring Otto's cries of "Fluttershy! Are you all right? Fluttershy!!" What if he wanted me to turn bad? What if...what if he's planning an attack on Odd Squad?! Or...or maybe even...on Equestria?! Does he know about Equestria? Does he know where we came from? Thoughts continued to swirl in her head as she raced towards the stairwell leading up to the second floor, giving nothing but a frenzied "I have to see Ms. O!" that left Otto and Olive confused. She quickly raced up the stairs and barged into Ms. O's office without a word, causing the Director to glance up from her abstract painting. "Agent Fluttershy. What's the matter?" "It...I saw..." Fluttershy took a moment to gather some air into her lungs before she spoke again. "I saw Odd Todd in the park! And- and he talked to me and he tried to get me to join his Todd Squad and he...he...!" Ms. O's reaction was one of absolute shock, her eyes widening as she stared at Fluttershy as though someone had given her brain a hard reset. It was a miracle she didn't drop the paintbrush she was holding. After a few more short moments went by, Ms. O rapidly shook her head. "Odd Todd is back at it again?!" "Yes! And Olive told me how bad he is!" The Director set her paintbrush down, her brown gaze turning icy in a hurry. "Odd Todd has tried to cause the fall of Odd Squad ever since the pienado incident. He's focused solely on Olive, but that doesn't mean he won't target Odd Squad as a whole. And it's very likely he might have seen the portal when it was still in the park, maybe somehow even seen you and the others emerge from the other side of it." She stood up, revealing her red-paint-splattered apron. "Which means he may be targeting ponies next." Fluttershy audibly gulped, folding her ears down. "S-so what are we gonna do?" "We'll find a way to protect Odd Squad. We've dealt with him before. This time will be no different." The new agent noticed that Ms. O had a tinge of worry in her voice, which in turn made her worried. But she chose not to speak up on it. "We can always get the princesses to help!" "No need right now, but we'll consider them as a last resort." "All right, then. I'll keep an eye out for him!" "Inform the others as well. Word spreads quickly around here." Nodding, Fluttershy took her leave before Ms. O had a chance to shout her trademark catchphrase again. I have to warn Twilight and the others! A-and Olive, and Otto! And Oscar! Ohh, I just hope I'm not too late! Luckily for Agent 154, she wasn't too late. Olive and Otto were sitting in the Breakroom, having a conversation and eating lunch. Fluttershy told them the whole ordeal with her and Odd Todd, and while Olive seemed a little shaken by the news, Otto could only shake his head in disgust as he thanked Fluttershy for informing them and vowed to keep an eye out. Oscar, naturally, was in the lab, fixing up a rather large gadget. When she informed him of the news, he nearly dropped the gadget -- if it hadn't been for her rushing to catch it, disaster would have struck before Odd Todd even got the chance. He recited a short synopsis of the time when he faced off against Odd Todd wielding a gadget known as the "Flip-Flopper-inator" that he stole, and how scared he was. It was in that brief moment that Fluttershy found quite a few similarities between her and Oscar, and she made a silent promise to hang out with him more. It took the Pegasus pony a while to find her other five friends, as they were in different areas in HQ. She found Rarity first of all, wandering the hallways (when asked the reason, she claimed she was trying to find a place to build a possible boutique to expand her chain). Explaining the situation to her, she asked Rarity to keep an eye out for Odd Todd, to which she "vowed on her life" to do. She did similar to Pinkie Pie (inside the Donut Room), Rainbow Dash (toying with some robot princesses in their room), Applejack (bucking apple trees inside an Orchard Room she had discovered), and Twilight (naturally, inside the Odd Squad Library, reading books on how to be a better agent). Twilight, in particular, was the most concerned of the bunch, and even echoed Fluttershy's earlier suggestion: "Maybe we should get Celestia and Luna!" "No! Ms. O said they'll be used as a last resort. Besides, who knows if they'll change, and that's if they can get through the portal!" "But-" "Ms. O's got it covered, Twilight! I believe in her." Twilight sighed. "All right. I'll keep a lookout for 'Odd Todd.'" "Thank you!" Having warned everyone she knew, Fluttershy made her way back to Olive's desk, where she had set up various small, necessary items as she waited for her own desk to be built. On the desk was a red manila folder stuffed with papers. Paperwork? I suppose I can do that. She was still a little confused on how paperwork was handled, but Ms. O taught her the basics, so she felt she could handle it. Picking up a nearby pencil with her mouth, she opened the folder and got to work. Odd Todd arrived at his usual spot at the park, sitting on a bench that had been painted with polka dots and stripes. One that was moving and grooving. Not that he minded. Moving and grooving helped him think, as did making a sound that was similar to growling, but was more incoherent muttering. Which is what he did as he got to thinking. If I'm going to attack Odd Squad, I'll need to do so soon. But those ponies might make a huge dent in any plan I concoct. He tapped his foot on the ground, his noises growing louder. Some people began to stare, but he paid them no mind. A few more minutes went by as Odd Todd continued to think, thoughts swirling around in his mind like a whirlpool in the open sea of life. Until suddenly, the noises stopped. He sat up, his eyes widening as he realized what had to be done for his plans to work even nearly as effectively as they had in the past. I must get rid of the ponies first. And I may just have an idea on how...