//------------------------------//
// S1E7: The Art of Animalistic Deception 
// Story: The Adventures of Peaches and Mandy 
// by marmalado 
//------------------------------//

The sound of a bell rung nearby. Citizens went about their daily lives, the sound signaling that it had hit noontime.

However, the bell had no impact on Mandy, who was in the midst of a fight with Astral Thunder, a Pegasus stallion that, surprisingly, hadn't put up much of a fight. Receiving his due punishment for dropping fillies and colts into a polka-dotted pool of his own creation because "polka dots look cool on ponies", and having physically harmed the sole adult mare exception, he had a hammer resting on the fronts of his teeth.

"You're fun. But let's make this quick, shall we?"

Astral coughed. "Please..."

"Lemme guess, you got a wife and kids?" Mandy opened her mouth wide as she shoved the hammer ever so slowly into his teeth until he was forced to open his mouth. "Yawn. Heard that way too many times before."

He began to hack. Mandy took a unique twist and bent the handle of her hammer downwards, hearing something crack but not having the heart to investigate what it was.

"You're an idiot. Thinking you could harm my partner, have you no shame?"

He was choking now, his eyes reduced to pinpricks but still full of fear.

Mandy wasn't sure exactly what spurred her to give up in that moment. Maybe it was her stomach growling something fierce, or maybe it was her moral judgment winning over. But she dropped the ball anyway.

"Go, you pathetic equine."

She slid the hammer out of the stallion's mouth, and he took a few moments to engage in some heavy breathing.

"Go!"

With a round of coughs, he staggered away, his wings drooping downwards and nearly touching the ground.

"AND GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" came the final warning, although she knew he really couldn't go any faster than the speed of a juice-withdrawal-addled Oprah.

She held up her hammer and examined it. "You poor thing, you're in need of a sharpening! I'll have to see what I can do back at HQ."

With that said, she took to the skies, hoping to spot a nearby open tube entrance so she could return home.





With her belly full, Mandy could return to work.

Or she could, if there weren't banging noises from nearby disallowing her from getting into the groove as she filled out O-136 form after O-136 form.

The sound of a screech didn't help either.

"Oww! Geez, Pinkie, can you stop?!" Mandy snapped, folding down her ears and glancing at the source. "Huh?!"

Said source was certainly not Pinkie -- it was a rather small and spherical creature, with big oval eyes, a small mouth with razor-sharp teeth, and something on the bottom of the sphere that Mandy could only describe as being a pair of shoes. It chirped at her eagerly.

"Wh...what are you? Haven't seen a creature like you around here before..."

It gave a curious chirp.

"Oh, there you are, little guy!" Fluttershy entered the bullpen, hovering over to the creature and picking it up in her hooves. "Thank you for finding him, Mandy."

"Oh, hiya, Fluttershy!" Mandy greeted. "I didn't really find him...I mean I kinda did, but he probably just came here."

"That means he must like you!" Fluttershy giggled.

"What is this thing, anyway?"

"His species doesn't have an official name yet, but agents tend to call them Toddle-bees."

Toddle-bees? Mandy blinked. Weird name, but it certainly isn't the weirdest...

"They're not native to this town. Ocean is doing more research on it." The creature gave a happy chirp. "Would you mind watching over this sweetie for a little while?"

"Why's that?"

"A Toddle-bee doesn't get along well with other creatures. It can be mischievous. You have enough energy to handle babysitting it."

Mandy narrowed her eyes. "What am I, a chopped-liver energy machine to you?" she deadpanned. "I just got back shredding a villainous pony who harmed Pinka-Ponka."

Fluttershy's eyes widened.

"Either way, whatever. I'm happy to watch over it for ya."

"Great! Thank you. I'll come back for it later, okay?"

Mandy nodded, and the creature gave a happy "goodbye" chirp as it watched Fluttershy soar off towards the Creature Room. She glanced it over and smiled. "You really are an adorable little thing!" she cooed. "Can't be any more adorable than me, though!"

The creature tilted its head.

"C'mon, I gotta go over to Momma's and Otto's precinct to make a delivery!"

Chirping happily, the creature found itself placed on Mandy's shoulder as the hybrid got up and bounced through the steel double-doors.





Olive was hard at work, scribbling on papers and muttering incomprehensible words to herself. She even had a pair of glasses on, just for the professionally aesthetic purposes. Otto, meanwhile, was sitting on the couch, letting out a loud yawn as he scrolled through the week's edition of The New Shmumber Times.

Luckily for the latter, there was someone arriving who would cure his boredom.

"Hello-oooooo!" Mandy called in glorious singsong, pushing a cart full of suits from almost every single department into the office. "I brought those suits you wanted, Momma!"

"That's nice." the girl murmured, not even bothering to look up or properly acknowledge Mandy. 

"She's been busy all day." Otto exclaimed, seeing Mandy's confused expression. "I'll take them off your hands. Thanks for bringing them here."

"Ah, no problem!" Mandy waved a hand dismissively, before a sudden chill ran up her spine. She glanced at her right shoulder, and sure enough, the creature that had been perched on it was gone. "Wah! Wh-where's the Toddle-bee?!"

"The what-bee?"

Mandy ignored Otto. Her gaze swept the room, and something green and stumbling caught her eye as it made its way towards Olive's desk. A gasp left her lips. "No!"

She quickly used her magic to levitate the creature and gently move it back towards her.

"No no, don't go near Momma!" she scolded. "She's...she's not a pretty sight to behold when she gets taken away from important business."

Its face contorted into one of anger, before it let out the same screeching noise that had annoyed her earlier. Olive perked up, and Mandy marked her swift exit in one bright rainbow-colored flash.

The Director's gaze moved from the spot where the flash was located, to Otto, and back and forth again. Her brow furrowed, then with a sigh, she wordlessly returned to her work.

Internally, Otto breathed a sigh of relief, going back to reading his newspaper.

By the time Mandy had arrived at the Bedroom, the creature had resigned to simply growling at her. "All right, look, you can't run off like that! I know you're a troublemaker, but when I'm babysittin' ya, there's no trouble that's gonna be caused. Not on my watch!"

Its mood quickly went from anger to sadness on the flip of a coin, and she soon found herself staring at puppy-dog eyes, brimmed with tears and sparkles.

She grit her teeth, and then shook her head vigorously. "No! I'm not gonna be fooled by cute puppy eyes! Only I can make cute puppy eyes!" she declared, before a feeling of whimsy overtook her and her voice softened. "It's the only way I can get Momma to make her delicious strawberry pie..."

The Toddle-bee watched with a knowing smile, mentally taking notes -- the way to distract her was with strawberry pie made by her mother. Whoever that was. Whatever that was. Either way, it would make a good tip to have on reserve for when it did its thing.

A yawn interrupted the hybrid's fantasy before she capped it off with a tired sigh. "All this work's made me kinda sleepy. You wanna join me for my daily nap?"

It chirped happily as if to say "yes".

"Weird. You don't look tired." A look of realization settled on her face. "Ohhh...you love to sleep, don't you?"

A nod. 

"All righty, then! Lemme go and get my hammer first, okay? Stay there, I won't be long!"

With a mighty flap of her wings, she soared out of the room, and the creature cooed in thought. It wasn't quite sure of its surroundings, or really, who this girl was that had adored it so. All it knew was that it was someone else to cause trouble for. And it would relish in the chance for as long as it could.

A few minutes later, the door closed as Mandy returned with hammer in hand. "AndI'mback!" She sighed. "This head still feels rubbery. Gonna hafta ask Odenbacker to check that out later...again."

The creature tilted its head.

"All right, to bed with you!" Mandy ordered, extending her arms upwards in a stretch before telekinetically taking off her shoes, and then her navy jacket. She then made her way into bed, the creature climbing the nightstand next to it in order to get a better view. After examining the bed further, it decided that the best place to sleep would be with the only heat source within it, and so, it snuggled under her arm.

She gave a satisfied sigh. "You know, I kinda like you. Why don't I give you a name?"

It gave a tired chirp, the heat from her body already getting to it and ruffling its fur.

"Hmm...how about Coco? That's simple enough!" A pause. "But I don't know if you're a boy or a girl...mm..." She closed her eyes to think, and then they flew open only a mere few seconds later. "Hey, how about Natsu? Do you like that?"

Another chirp was her response as the creature, now dubbed Natsu, waved the small stubs it had for arms and hands in a happy motion. 

"Good!" Mandy yawned again. "Now why don't we get some sleep, mkay?"

She closed her eyes once more, using her magic to flick the light switch downwards.

"G'night, my little Natsu..."

In the darkness, Natsu smiled a rather mischievous smile as it closed its eyes.





Oprah and Twilight were booking it down the hallway, nearly slamming into each other every time they sharply turned a corner.

"I can't believe someone made the volcano in the Volcano Room erupt!"

"I hope the damage won't be serious!"

"It will be if the lava seeps out of that room, agent!"

Peaches opened the door to her room, only to find human child and full-grown mare barreling towards her at near-top speed.

"What's going on?!"

Oprah slowed to a speed-walk. "The volcano in the Volcano Room erupted. It wasn't supposed to do that for four more months!"

"What?!"

"We have to get Mandy and inform her of the situation. Her and Agent Twilight's magic can stop it!"

Peaches wanted to question how that plan would work, exactly, but her brain made her head nod and her legs go along with the duo to the Bedroom without the question being asked.

Only a minute later and the door flung open like the FBI was fitting to raid.

"Mandy. Mandy, wake up, it's an emergency!" Oprah said, marching over to the hybrid's bed and shaking her vigorously.

"I already told y' I don't wanna go t' th' fezztivul..." came a sleepy murmur in response before the earth-splitting snores continued.

Oprah growled, gripping Mandy's arms tight enough that she couldn't care less about whether she was going to break bones or not. "C'mon, just this o-"

Her gaze drifted to Natsu, who was wide awake and giving curious chirps as it wondered who these three new creatures were.

"What is this thing?"

Twilight stepped towards Mandy's bed and examined the creature. "I have no idea."

"Peaches, did this come from Vallea?" the Director asked, her tone cautiously optimistic as she tried not to give in to the creature's cuteness that it was so very obviously displaying.

"N-no! We don't have any creatures like that!"

"Oh, I remember!" Twilight perked up. "That's a Toddle-bee. Fluttershy told me she and Ocean are doing research on it. She left it in Mandy's care in the meantime."

Oprah's head slowly turned towards Twilight, an incredulous look on her face as she pondered how and when her second-in-command became a certified creature-sitter. "It seems to have an attachment to her..." she said, watching the creature purring as it hopped on Mandy's shoulder and rubbed her neck. 

A few moments passed before she perked up, suddenly remembering why she had come into the Bedroom in the first place. "But never mind that!" she declared, shaking her head. "If Mandy won't wake up, then we'll have to handle this ourselves. Come on!"

As she set Mandy back onto her bed, she and Twilight both made their way out the door. Peaches began to follow them, but stopped and turned to look at the sleeping hybrid, who readjusted herself, yawned, and turned over onto her other side so she faced away from the door.

"You sleep too much, cuz..." Peaches sighed, reaching for the doorknob and closing the door behind her.

Natsu was then left with a lonesome feeling. Its "creature-sitter" or whatever the dark-skinned one had called it was asleep, and all it could do was go through the knowledge it had recently obtained. 

Sleeps too much...

Human-cat and 'Mandy' cousins...

Wise horse...

Sleeps...

Sleeeeeps...

Alien 'creature-sitter' sleeps very much a lot...

Must plan.

A rather sinister-sounding chuckle emanated from the creature as it bore another mischievous smile.





A few hours later, Olive roamed the halls, her arm clutching her stomach as she winced in discomfort.

"I can't believe I missed dinner!" She stifled a growl. "And it isn't like Omi would make anything edible to eat..." A loud grumble of her stomach caused her to clutch it harder, feeling even more nauseous than before.

She opened the door to the Bedroom. "Mandy? You in here?"

Her gaze fell on the hybrid, still snoring away with one arm draped over the side of the bed.

She sighed. "Sleeping again. Of course."

Just as she was about to exit the room, a chirping sound caught her eye, and she glanced at Natsu, waving its stubby little hands at her in glee. 

"Oh? Who are you?"

Natsu didn't give an answer to her question -- just gave a worried chirp as it poked Mandy.

"Oh, you're worried about Mandy, aren't you?" Olive chuckled. "She sleeps all the time. She could sleep for her entire life if she could. And it's not really easy to wake her up, either." She blinked. "What an understatement."

"I'll take the entire zztock 'f banananana-applezz!" 

Olive widened her eyes, clearly not expecting this latest awakening non-sequitur.

"Aww, no banananana-applezz...?" A tired scoff left Mandy's body, before she blinked and allowed her vision to adjust to the dark figure standing in her room. "Momma!"

"Hi, Mandy." Olive waved as the hybrid gave a mighty yawn. "Who's this little guy?"

"Oh, that's Natsu. He's a Toddle-bee!"

"A Toddle-bee?"

"It's a new species that Fluttershy and Ocean are doing research on..." Another yawn interrupted Mandy. "Geez, what time is it..." Her vision settled on the digital clock she had beside her bed. "It's 7:00?!"

"Yeah-" Olive's stomach rumbled, and she clutched it again.

"You, uh...you feelin' okay?"

"Well, in the midst of my..." Olive cleared her throat. "...important paperwork, I missed dinner. Haven't eaten much all day. It wouldn't be too much to ask if you could whip me up something, would it? If you have the time."

"Sure! Whaddya want? Anything you prefer?"

"A simple salad would be nice."

"Great! C'mon!"

Mandy slid out of bed, Natsu taking its usual position on her shoulder as she bounced out of the room, with Olive following suit.

A few minutes later, bowls surrounded the Breakroom table, and leafy greens sat in a big maroon-colored mixing bowl along with a large fork.

"So how long do you have to take care of Natsu for?"

"I'm not sure, actually." Mandy responded. "Reach for the mixing spoon in my tail?"

Olive glanced at her tail and found a large brown mixing spoon with its handle sticking upwards. Not bothering to question why such an item was positioned that way to begin with, she dug into the tail and pulled it out like it was an easy pull of a sword from a stone, handing it to her with a simple "Here."

"Thankies!" Mandy chirped, levitating the spoon and dipping it into the mixing bowl. With both utensils, she got to work mixing the variety of leafy greens and veggies together.

"It's a rather...small creature." Olive mused, eyeing Natsu as it sat on the table, seemingly trying to preen itself with no luck.

"MANDY!"

"Huh?!"

The hybrid jumped a little as she looked up from her work and saw a rather pissed-off Oprah marching towards her, her dark skin aflush with red in more than just the lava smeared on it.

The Director sighed. "Finally, it took you long enough."

"Hiya, Oprah!" Mandy smiled, and then paused as she blinked twice before cheerfully asking, "What took long enough?"

"The volcano in the Volcano Room erupted today. It wasn't supposed to do so for another four months." Oprah spit to the side and coughed. "I wanted you to be informed and, oh I don't know, help us?"

This only earned her a chuckle and a snort from Mandy. "You don't need to rely on me for every little thing, boss." she said, grabbing another head of lettuce and a knife before using her telekinesis to begin chopping it.

"It took forever just to stop the lava from flowing out of the room, Mandy." Oprah said, her tone clearly exasperated and filled with fatigue. She sighed again. "Look, I know how much you like your naps, and believe me, I know how angry you get when you don't have at least one a day..." Her voice dropped to a mutter. "I still have a burn mark or two from the last time." And then it went back up to normal volume. "But this time around was some of the worst timing!"

"S-sorry! I...well, it's just..." Mandy scrambled to come up with a wordy excuse, even though her reasons for not helping her boss were completely justified. "I've been caring for lil' Natsu here, and" -- she chuckled throughout her speech -- "you know how lil' tiny creatures are."

"No, I don't." Oprah rolled her eyes. "Do enlighten me. Who's 'Natsu'? What is 'Natsu'?"

"A Toddle-bee! Fluttershy and Ocean asked me to look after it for a while so it doesn't disturb the other creatures." Mandy sighed. "But it's quite the troublemaker." 

Natsu's expression contorted into offense, and it gave a short growl. "In a good way, silly!" Mandy assured, as the creature's expression returned to normal.

"Hmm. Odd. I haven't seen a Toddle-bee around here."

"This town isn't their home."

"Oh." Oprah blinked. "Well, that aside-"

"I'm sorry!" Mandy blurted out, before clearing her throat. "Er...I'm sorry."

"No, no, you're right." Oprah waved a dismissive hand. "We do tend to rely on you for major disasters, but in truth...Agent Twilight had it mostly covered. I was hoping you two could combine your alicorn magic to resolve the issue, but Twilight's magic is stronger than yours."

For a split-second, Mandy seemed to take offense to that. Her eye twitched, and she looked like she wanted to say something. But she just shook her head and focused on dumping the chopped lettuce into the mixing bowl, then stirring everything together once again.

When everything was mixed, she poured some salad into one of the bowls on the table and offered it to Olive. "Here ya go! One salad!"

"Thank you." Olive said. "You don't know how grateful I am."

"D'aww, no problem! I might just make something myself! I am getting a little hungry." Leaning down, Mandy opened a cabinet situated close to the floor and began to rummage for more cooking supplies.

"Shouldn't you feed the Toddle-bee too?"

A bang as Mandy's head collided with the top of the cabinet. Her tail bushed out like a cat's. "Oww! Pickleferries!" the hybrid cursed.

"You okay?" Olive asked, her tone having just a tinge of worry.

Mandy groaned. "Aside from a headache, yes..." She pulled herself out, levitating a plate and setting it on the table. Her eyes widened in realization, and she gasped. "Oh no. I don't even know what Toddle-bees eat!"

Olive and Oprah both exchanged knowing glances and eye rolls.

"Oh no oh no oh no...where's Fluttershy?! I have to find Fluttershy!"

And in a flash, the hybrid sped off.

Out came the unisonant "Off she goes again."

For the next few minutes, Mandy sped back and forth through the bullpen, calling out Fluttershy's name in the hopes that she would answer. It was entertaining to the two girls for a while, but sooner rather than later, it became only entertaining for one, as Olive went back to heartily eating her salad while Oprah had a juice box and watched the chaos go down.

The double-doors opened, and Fluttershy made her way over to the two girls, missing Mandy by a far margin. "Hi, Olive! Hi, Ms. O!"

"Agent Fluttershy. Welcome back." Oprah greeted.

"Thank you!" Fluttershy exhaled. "Feeding all of those creatures was a lot of work."

A loud whoosh stopped her from saying anything further. Her mane and tail billowed towards the breeze, and she straightened up in shock. "Goodness! What was that?"

Olive sighed. "It's Mandy. She's looking for you."

"For me?"

Natsu gave a curious chirp and made its way to the edge of the table to look at its primary caretaker.

"Oh, hello, little guy!" The Pegasus giggled, grabbing it and allowing it to rub on her cheek as it purred happily.

Finally, Mandy seemed to notice what the yellow-and-pink blur was that she kept passing. Her eyes widened. "Fluttershy!"

"Mandy, I- oh!"

"Fluttershy you have to help me I don't know what to feed Natsu and if I don't feed it it'll die and I can't let a creature die 'cuz I did it to some plants once and it wasn't a good thing but I need you to tell me what to feed him and- urk!"

Although initially surprised by the hybrid throwing herself onto the floor in a begging position, Fluttershy was able to stop her before she went too far by way of a hoof to her lips. "Mandy, you look so stressed! Calm down and I'll tell you how to feed-" A pause. She blinked twice, remembering that Mandy hadn't called the creature by its species name. "Wait, what did you call it?"

"Natsu! I, uh, gave it a name."

The Pegasus smiled. "Ohh, you're so attached to it already!" She giggled. "The Toddle-bee likes to feed on strawberries. That's its favorite. A majority of its diet consists of strawberries."

Mandy tilted her head. "Strawberries?"

"Yes. But they also eat other foods that humans and ponies can eat. They tend to eat very little, though..."

"Ooooh, great!" The hybrid took the creature from her Pegasus friend. "Whaddya say, Natsu? I'll give ya a bite of my dinner!" A happy chirp was her response.

Only a few minutes later, and a pot of mac and cheese with chicken was ready for the hybrid and her new pet to consume. 

"Aah. Mac and cheese with chicken coated in Italian seasoning and paprika. My favorite!" Mandy took a big bite, chewing and relishing the taste. 

Natsu gave a curious chirp that raised in pitch at the end, as though it were asking a question.

"Oh, sure! Here." Mandy placed the rest of her culinary delicacy into another bowl, moving it towards the creature and telekinetically sticking a fork in it. "Half-and-half!"

Natsu eyed the dish with suspicion, then with curiosity, before it took the fork and ate a piece of chicken. Its face began to light up with joy, having never tasted such a delicious food before. It almost ranked it above strawberries...almost.

"You wouldn't mind keeping Natsu for a little while longer, would you, Mandy?" Fluttershy asked. "Ocean's still doing some research on Toddle-bees."

"Shure!" Mandy swallowed her bite. "I'd love to!"

"Wonderful! Thank you!" Fluttershy sighed. "You don't know how grateful I am to have a friend like you."

A blush crept into Mandy's cheeks before she continued eating her dinner.

"I'm going to go take a shower, so if you need me, just knock." Fluttershy hovered towards the right hallway. "See you all later!"

A chorus of goodbyes from the three girls marked her departure.

"Oh! How's your salad, Momma?" Mandy asked, noticing that Olive was nearly done with her own meal.

"It's good." The Director sighed. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't made this for me. I already told you about Omi, but my fridge is bare and I have no energy to go for a supermarket run tonight."

"Aww, it's no prob!" Mandy took another bite. "But really, you should go shopping tomorrow."

"I would, but I've been working on a difficult case all week. It's becoming a bit taxing."

"Why not have Otto help you with the cashe?"

"Not his expertise."

"Hmm" was the only thing Mandy said in response before swallowing her bite and eating another.

Natsu's cheeks bulged, and it let out a small belch.

"Pardon you, you shmall shilly!" Mandy swallowed and giggled, before going full hypocrite and scarfing down the rest of her meal.

"You're really becoming attached to that thing."

"I know! It's kinda like having my own pet!" Mandy said in response to Oprah, before her expression faltered. "Only, uh...it's an odder pet."

"Well, I trust Agent Fluttershy to know what she's doing," Oprah shrugged. "If she trusts you to watch it, then I don't have a problem with it." Plus, maybe it'll teach you a little more about responsibility, she wanted to add, but decided to leave that addendum out.

"Thanks, boss! Natsu's really a sweetie!" In response to this compliment, the creature gave a few happy chirps, and Mandy couldn't help but giggle. "C'mon, whaddya say we wait for Flutterbutter to get outta the shower? In the meantime, I can read you one of my Wolves of the Wilderness books!"

Natsu seemed rather thrilled at this idea. It nodded and flapped its stubby arms in anticipation, sparkles beginning to form in its eyes.

"All righty, let's go!" Mandy scooped up the creature and placed it on her shoulder before standing up and heading for the right hallway. "See you gals later!"

"Bye!"

"Don't be late for work tomorrow!"

"I won't!"

And with a couple bounces, the hybrid was off to her next destination. 

However, it became clear that something was on Olive's mind going by the worried look on her face, and Oprah couldn't help but notice. "Something wrong, Olive?"

"I don't know...I just feel like something bad is going to happen with that creature."

"Like what?"

"Like maybe it'll turn on Mandy or something. It can't be completely cute and innocent."

"Hmm." Oprah had to admit, she knew little about creatures, but she was no stranger to those that put on a show of adorableness and then tried to kill someone in some way or another -- heck, that was the whole schtick of the Centigurp species, only minus the direct harm to others. Still, this creature wouldn't sway her. After all, she had allies on her side. "Well, if it does turn sour, I'm sure Mandy has it covered."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Olive wore a concerned look. "You and I know her best, Oprah, but she still continues to surprise us. Remember that party we threw her last year where she refused to eat the cake and we didn't know why?"

"You turned banana bread into a cake and somehow put ketchup on it thinking it was meatloaf."

"What..." Olive stared at her, completely confused. "That's an entirely different situation. And Otto who did that, not me."

"If that's what you have to keep telling yourself to fall asleep at night."

Olive rolled her eyes. "Anyway. We didn't know it, but she said that she was weaning off of cake because the sugar was bad for her."

Oprah snickered. "That didn't last!"

"Nope. But who knows how Mandy will react if Natsu turns on her?"

"Let's just ride this out, Olive. It'll be nice to teach Mandy some responsibility in creature-sitting." Oprah sighed. "Feels so good to get that out of my brain."

Olive chewed and swallowed another bite of lettuce, this time more absentmindedly. "You mind if I take this to go? I can return the bowl tomorrow."

"Sure thing."

"Thanks." Olive got up and began making her way towards the double-doors. "Good night."

"Good night!"

The smile stayed on Oprah's face for just a little while longer, then it collapsed into a soft sigh as she rubbed her temples. Yeah...perhaps her words have some merit, now that I think about it.





Nighttime fell on Toronto, and by extension, it fell on Precinct 13579 as well. Headquarters was dark, nary a single soul roaming the rusty and archaic place that many creatures and agents called home.

As all of the ponies were in Equestria, Mandy had the Bedroom all to herself. She was loudly snoring and sleep-talking away, Natsu by her side. However, it wasn't asleep at all.

Why would it sleep when it had bigger things on its mind?

A knowing smile settling on its face, the small creature jumped from Mandy's bed and began flapping its tiny, stubby hands, allowing it to gain lift and fly over to the Bedroom door to open it and let itself out. From there, it took on another form vastly different from its own -- a form resembling that of the very "creature-sitter" who had practically adopted it as her own, right down to every single hair on the top of her head. In this new form, it could move far easier and allow it to perform its deed of destruction.

Not once did it stop to question the morality of what it was about to do. Not once did it stop to question why it was doing this when the alien "creature-sitter" had been so nice to it and treated it like...ah, what had she called it? A "pet"? Yes, a "pet".

It merely ran on instinct, and nothing more. This was what its species was meant to do. Morality and justification be damned.

It arrived at the bullpen. Such a nice and empty space, nary any noise. No one around to spot it or call it out. Perfect for what it was about to do.

With a mischievous grin and a sinister chuckle, it raised its foot.

The muffled sounds of banging, crashing, crumbling, and creaking went completely unnoticed by Mandy, who simply yawned and turned over in bed.





Peaches threw the Bedroom door open with her entire might and quickly rushed over to her cousin's bedside. "Mandy! Mandy wake up!"

Surprisingly -- although the catgirl had no room for that emotion at the moment -- Mandy stopped snoring, gave a snort, and let her eyes slowly open as she lifted her head up. "Mmmwha..."

"The entirety of the bullpen is wrecked!"

"Mmm'zzz nizze..." Mandy yawned and let her head rest on the pillow. "But izz way t' early in the mrrn..."

"It's ten in the morning!"

"Noon..."

Peaches squinted and repressed a growl. "Don't make me prod you with a claw. Or several."

"But I'm zzo tired..."

With a loud shing noise, Peaches readied her claws.

However, Mandy didn't notice and gave a loud yawn. "Look, if izz not important, can I go back t' zzleep?"

The catgirl could only give her cousin a look of sheer and utter confusion, tinged with disgust and anger for good measure. "What are you?" she asked, the question dancing on her lips in a near-whisper.

"Mkay, Imma go back to zzleep..."

"No, don't go back to sleep, take a look at the bullpen!"

Her words were lost on Mandy, who was right back to earth-shattering snores and sleep-talk that was in a whole 'nother language that Peaches didn't even understand.

If I strangled her, would anyone notice, I wonder. Leo help me. A twitch developed in Peaches's eye, and as much as she did want to strangle Mandy right then and there, she settled for a frustrated cry and a slammed door to mark her departure from the room.

"Let me guess, it wasn't a success?" Oprah smirked. "No rhyme intended."

"No. But do I have permission to throw her off a cliff? For scientific purposes?"

"No."

"Darn." Peaches scoffed, watching as agents gathered around toppled steel beams, desks chopped in half, and all sorts of technological devices destroyed, giving cries of concern as they cleaned up the mess. "Who could have done this?"

"The only ones who stay at Headquarters overnight are you, Mandy, and the ponies. But it's unlikely any of the latter would cause any damage..."

"If I may make a suggestion?" Peaches said. "Why not...um...what did you call it? 'Interrogate' them?"

"Interrogate them?"

"They may not have done anything, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

Oprah sat on the idea for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. You go and find Agent Twilight. I want to interrogate her first. She's usually found in the Odd Squad Library. If she's not there, she's probably in Equestria."

"Got it." Peaches made her way through the crowd of agents and eventually made it out of the bullpen to seek out the Princess of Friendship.

Just as Oprah gave a heavy sigh and was about to give further directions to her agents, two familiar faces made their way through.

"Oprah, we-" Olive's gaze drifted towards the bullpen as she made her way towards Oprah, and she gasped.

"Holy macaroni..."

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure." Oprah shook her head. "I came into work not too long ago and found the bullpen like this."

"So this is what you were talking about on the phone earlier..." Olive murmured. "It's worse than I thought it was!"

"Do you want us to help you clean up?" Otto asked, completely taken aback by the mess.

"Please. I need to interrogate Mandy and the ponies."

"Why them?"

"They're the only ones that stay overnight in Headquarters. I know they're good agents and they would probably never do anything like this, but they're the only leads we have right now."

Olive tore her vision away from the mess, the gears turning in her head as she mentally ran down a list of possible suspects. She didn't have to get very far before an idea began to form in her head. "What about that creature Mandy's caring for? That Toddle-bee? Could it have done something like this?"

"Doubtful. It's way too small."

"But Fluttershy and Ocean don't know much about it!" Olive fired back. "Maybe it has some sort of power that can destroy everything around it or something?"

Oprah met it with a scoff. "Again, doubtful. I wouldn't let Mandy have a creature like that if it had that power."

Olive gave an exasperated sigh, her options having been completely exhausted. 

"Don't worry about it, partner. Let's just go and help clean up."

"Right." Olive nodded, before her face lit up in realization. She reached into her hammerspace spine and pulled out the bowl she had eaten out of last night, now empty and completely washed. "And, uh, here's your bowl, Oprah."

"Thanks." The Director took the bowl and waved her two former agents off as they began to strike up conversations with various agents and get to work.

Just as they left, however, Peaches arrived with Twilight in tow. The alicorn now had the chance to witness the damage for herself, and just like the others, she was shocked. "Sweet Celestia!" was all she could say, her eyes the size of saucers.

"Agent Twilight Sparkle." Oprah greeted. "I'm going to need you to follow me to the Interrogation Room."

"O-of course! Right away, Ms. O!"

"Peaches, can you help the others with cleanup?"

"Sure thing."

With a nod of thanks, Oprah led her agent up the left stairwell and into the first interrogation room that sat at the right of her office, while Peaches followed the lead of Olive and Otto and asked around.

A couple hours later, as cleanup had progressed steadily, Olive decided to take matters into her own hands.

Oprah may think it's innocent, but she forgets that I speak more than a language of snark.

I speak a language of sniffing out deception.

Depending on the writer of the episode, of course.

She marched straight to the Bedroom and didn't bother knocking, instead opening the door and laying her eyes on Mandy. The hybrid was, of course, still asleep, and cuddled up against her was Natsu, back in its original form and sleeping away with soft snores of its own. Squinting, Olive made her way over as quietly as possible -- not to avoid waking up Mandy, of course, but to avoid waking up Natsu so she could take it by surprise.

"We muzzt populate th' Brer cheeze coloniezz...!"

Thank you, Mandy, for putting a dent in my otherwise near-flawless plan.

The Director grit her teeth together as the hybrid's head flopped back onto the pillow, and she went back to snoring and mumbling. The non-sequitur had disturbed Natsu, who slowly opened its eyes and blinked at the newcomer to the room. It gave curious coos before a small yawn interrupted it.

"Natsu." The name was said with as much intensity as a can of flat soda, but with far more suspicion. Olive watched it for a moment, then decided to make her move, picking up the creature with her bare hands.

Much to her surprise, it squirmed about, giving soft whines as it tried to free itself from her grasp. "Huh? H-hey!" she cried out, instinctively gripping onto the creature like it was a slippery fish that was simply dying to get back into the sea. The fight didn't last for long, though, and she resigned to placing it back on the bed, where it promptly rubbed up against Mandy and purred.

"So you don't like to be held..." She squinted her eyes, examining the creature up and down, scrutinizing its every single action, waiting for it to expose itself as the culprit behind the wreckage.

After a minute or two, though, she sighed. I feel silly, interrogating an odd creature like this. Maybe it's not native to Toronto, and maybe it's not recorded in Odd Squad history as an odd creature, but why would it destroy Odd Squad when it doesn't hold a vendetta against it?

Still, that doesn't mean it's off the hook. I've learned my lesson already.

The creature turned and tilted its head at her.

"Maybe Oprah's right. There's no way you would do such a thing. You're too tiny. Even your feet are too tiny." Olive said. "And even if you did have the power to destroy the bullpen, you would have used it to destroy Mandy first. A long, long time ago."

Natsu gave a happy chirp as it watched Olive turn on her heel and head for the door.

"Look, I'm only leaving you because we're still cleaning up the bullpen. Okay?" Olive let her voice drop to a rather terrifying baritone. "But don't you dare hurt Mandy, or it'll be your life on the line. Got it?" A curious chirp, this time. "Yeah, okay. Have fun."

The second the door closed, and the second Natsu thought it was safe, it gave another sinister chuckle and glanced back at Mandy, whose sleep-talk reflected the situation at hand in a rather eerie but foreshadowing manner.

"Don't let 'em get away...mmm..."





With everyone's efforts, the bullpen was cleaned up in no time, although it was made abundantly clear that Olo, the head of the Glue department, would need to work overtime on repairs.

Oprah had gotten through interrogations of the entire Mane Six, with no results. Not one of them confessed to doing it. In fact, all of them claimed they didn't do it. It was a similar story with Peaches.

"None of the ponies did it. Neither than you. I don't understand." Oprah said, taking a mighty sip from her juice box as she made her way through the hall.

"Could it have been a villain?" Peaches inquired.

"No. This Odd Squad HQ has security measures to prevent villain break-ins, and Security agents improve it regularly."

Peaches wasn't quite sure about that. She remembered Owen and how difficult he had been in the few times she had conversed with him. Still, she set the thought aside. "The only agent we haven't asked is...Mandy." Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. "N-no! There's no way my cousin did it!"

Oprah shot her an incredulous look.

"Unless...she did it in her sleep?"

"Mandy doesn't sleepwalk. N-not usually." Oprah said, hastily throwing in an addendum as she recalled a few times where Mandy did sleepwalk in some manner. "But...she did used to fire magic lasers in her sleep when she first transformed. It was disastrous."

"She doesn't do it anymore?"

Oprah shook her head. "We trained her to limit her magic to the waking hours. Since then, she hasn't caused any magic-related disasters in her sleep, apart from the rare few 'struck by an odd disease' moments."

"But could the problem crop up again?" Peaches asked. "I admit, I don't know much about Mandy's sleep, but maybe all the stuff you described could occur when she's in a deep sleep." Immediately realizing how contradictory that was, she sighed. "It's such a confusing thing..."

"A shocker to hear that from you, since you're part-cat."

"A majority of catpeople have very simple sleeping habits. At most, we'll mimic running in our sleep and then fall on the floor if we're on an elevated surface."

Oprah couldn't really attest to how Peaches slept, so she kept her mouth shut.

It didn't stay shut for long, however.

As the duo arrived at their destination, they opened the door and found the entire room in almost as bad of a state as the bullpen once was. Beds were broken and turned over, the large clothes cabinet laid face-open on the floor, and debris covered every inch of every object. Most striking of all, however, was the floor itself, which had a similar dent and similar cracks to the bullpen's floor.

Both Peaches and Oprah stood, jaws agape.

"Wh...what...what happened?"

"The entire Bedroom is wrecked!" Oprah's voice was practically a scream.

"Hiya, boss!"

They shifted their gazes towards the person approaching them. By all means, it appeared to be Mandy, awake and alert and covered in debris. They noticed that Mandy's bed, much like the others, was bent and broken, although whether that startled her awake or not was unknown.

"Mandy, what happened here?!" were the words that greeted the hybrid in response.

"Oh! Hehe...um...that's my bad. My bad entirely." Mandy scratched the back of her neck. "I was tryna practice a new magic spell Twilight taught me, but I guess here wasn't the best place to do it."

"Gee, ya think?!" Peaches sarcastically snapped, giving an eye roll.

"We're not the richest organization, agent. The cleanup here is going to be costly!"

"I know!" Mandy's voice pitched into a whine, then dropped back down. "I'm really sorry. Whatever punishment you think is right is what I deserve."

Peaches tilted her head slightly, an uneasy feeling beginning to form in her stomach as she tried to recall if the Mandy she knew was so quick to ask for punishments when she did something bad.

Oprah, in the meantime, gave a heavy sigh and made her decision. "I'll resign you to my office for a week so I can keep an eye on you. You'll also have to sleep there while the Bedroom is fixed." She winced as Mandy's bed finally reached its breaking point and collapsed. "I'm not sure if there's even a gadget in the entirety of Odd Squad's existence that can reverse the damage done here..."

"Okie-dokie!"

"In the meantime, you can come with me to be interrogated."

"Why? What's going on?"

"The bullpen was struck by some disaster last night and was nearly demolished. None of the ponies nor Peaches are guilty. The only one we haven't asked is you."

Mandy did her usual giggle-and-snort laugh. "D'aww, I can already tell ya I didn't do it!"

"Regardless, you need to be interrogated anyway. Come on."

"Okay!"

"Peaches, can you assist with cleanup of the Bedroom?"

The catgirl snapped out of her thoughts with a "Huh?", glancing behind her to find Oprah and Mandy about to leave. Only having barely heard the question, she gave a half-hearted nod, which seemed to please the Director as she exited the room with Mandy.

She poked her head out of the Bedroom and watched the duo round the corner. Another crash sounded from behind her, but she didn't bother to check out its source, instead burying her face in her hands as she struggled to make sense of the situation.





Cleanup on both rooms had lasted well into the sunset hours. Everyone was exhausted and sat around the Breakroom table, knowing there was still a lot of work to be done but feeling too tired to continue at the moment.

A yawn sounded from nearby, but most everyone was convinced it was one of their own.

A cheerful and high-pitched "Hiya, everyone!" proved them wrong.

Olive, one of the few who actually had some energy to spare, sat up and turned to greet the voice. "Hi, Mandy." she said, noticing Natsu perched on the hybrid's shoulder and giving a happy "hello" chirp of its own.

"Oooooooh, I sense some negative emotiooooooons!" Mandy called in singsong, making her way to the side of the table. "C'mon, c'mon, don't be shy, confide! What's goin' on?"

She immediately regretted asking that question the moment she felt the hostile air lingering above the table like a dark cloud.

"You should know what's going on. You were there." Peaches remarked. "Don't play innocent, Mandy."

"What?"

"Remember? The Bedroom and the bullpen were wrecked today?"

Mandy gasped. "They were?!"

Her head swiveled towards the bullpen, which looked mostly clean save for a few spots that still needed cleaning. "It looks mostly...fine." A crash of a steel beam, the sound of which resounded through the space. "Key word being 'mostly'."

"What, do you have amnesia or something?"

"No?" Mandy tilted her head in response to her cousin's question. "I remember all of you! How could I have amnesia if I remember all of you?"

No one had the heart to tell her that wasn't how amnesia worked. Pinkie, however, did have the heart to speak next. "Are you sure you don't have some odd disease that warps your brain or something?" she asked, her tone grating.

"Last I checked with Dr. O he said I was healthy!"

"She's tricking us."

"Huh?"

"Mandy, didn't Peaches and Ms. O come and get you earlier for interrogation, only to find the Bedroom destroyed?" Twilight asked, her tone just as irritated as Pinkie's.

The hybrid blinked twice. "I don't think so. I was asleep!"

The haze of hostility grew thicker and thicker. No expression of happiness, pleasure, or any positive emotion of the sort was among the faces she saw. She felt like running a little bit, just a little bit, but her feet remained rooted to the ground. "W-why are you all looking at me like that? T-t-turn those off, guys!" A bout of nervous laughter left her lips. "Y-you're scaring me!"

"Are ya denyin' that ya wrecked the Bedroom?" Applejack said, squinting her eyes. "'Cuz as far as I'm aware, you admitted to doin' it! Least that's what Ms. O said."

"Quit lying to us, Mandy." Oprah's tone of voice was a rather haunting mix of fatigue and chilled anger. Her piercing brown eyes cut through Mandy like the sharpest knife in existence. "You were there when the Bedroom was wrecked. Peaches and I both saw you. Denial isn't the way to go about this."

"B-but I'm not denying anything! I-I didn't know the Bedroom was wrecked 'til you just told me, just now!"

"I also gave you a punishment for you to stay in my office for a week. Do you want me to extend it?"

"W-what?" Mandy's brain became more and more confused with each and every single sentence her friends uttered, so much so that she was reduced to stuttering, not being able to come up with a proper rebuttal.

"Just accept the punishment, Mandy."

Even Fluttershy?! Not even she's... She almost felt like crying in that instant. Why's everyone turning on me? What'd I do? Normally everyone would be happy to see me, but they're so angry! I'm...what do I do?!

Natsu gave a worried chirp and glanced at her, as though sensing her worried thoughts.

Finally, she gave a shaky sigh. Her voice quivered. "F-fine. Whatever. I'll accept responsibility for all of it. I-I don't know why you guys won't believe me..."

Still the same angry faces.

"I didn't do any of this. I have no knowledge of any of this."

She could swear she felt a tear roll down her face right then and there. An idea began to take form -- a desperate one, but one she was willing to try no matter what.

"Twi, do you have the ability to search memories?"

"I do. But I refuse to help someone who can't own up to her actions in proper." Twilight sighed. "I thought you were better than this, Mandy. You always take responsibility for your actions. So why aren't you doing it now?"

Mandy opened her mouth to speak, but Olive butted in before she could say a word. "Both the Bedroom and the bullpen have similar damages. Like they were caused by the same people." A look of sheer disappointment settled on her face. "I didn't raise you to destroy Odd Squad. Why would you do this?"

"B-but I didn't..." The hybrid clenched her fists together in an effort to stop "do it" from following the words she already said. 

Stop trying. No matter what you say, nothing is convincing them.

This has to be a bad dream. A vivid dream...but a bad one. Or maybe this is just some silly prank? Super-Duper Early April Fool's Day is around the corner after all.

But regardless...if Twilight won't stick to my plan, then I'll do it myself.

She left the group, and they all watched as she walked over to the Lab with a purpose, a drive, a need for one gadget in particular.

"Where's she going?" Rainbow asked.

"I'm not sure, darling..."

"To think Mandy destroyed the bullpen..." Otto said, his tone not laced with iron-clad hostility but laced with shock instead.

"She was fine when we saw her yesterday. So what happened?"

Whatever responses were laid on the table in response to Oprah's question went unnoticed by Mandy, who levitated a gadget off of one of the racks that had a circular upside-down bowl for a head and numerous wires sticking out of it. She sighed. 

"I'm sorry, Oona. I know you're still improving on this gadget, but I have no other choice. Please forgive me."

As she made her way back, gadget in hand, Natsu gave a curious chirp. "Oh, Natsu. Don't worry. I'll fix this. You'll see." she assured, giving an uneasy smile.

The chatter at the Breakroom table died down as Mandy approached the group once more.

"This is a gadget Oona is currently working on. The Memory Reflector. It has the power to project a person's or pony's memories to anyone and everyone that just so happens to see them." She put on the helmet. "So I'm gonna show you mine. My legitimate memories."

Taking the remote in her hand, she pressed the green Play button, and with a whirring noise, a screen was projected into the air, in full view of the entire group.

All Mandy could do was close her eyes and hope this would work.





The group was treated to a first-person view from Mandy herself, fast asleep in bed. One detail they were quick to notice was that the room was dark, indicating it was nighttime -- perhaps the night before, they theorized.

As Mandy snored and sleep-talked away, Natsu, barely in view of the camera, gave a worried chirp. In a twist of the plot, it then transformed into a being that everyone in the group was well familiar with. The voice, high-pitched and full of good emotions, was undeniable.

"Don't worry! Just let me take care of everything for you, silly!"

Everyone, including the real deal herself, watched in rather disturbing fascination as Natsu extended its arms and grabbed ahold of Mandy. The camera angle shifted, with the right half of the lens obscured by Natsu's body while the left half showed the view behind it. With its target in tow, the disguised creature moved towards the door, and exited the room with ease.

The real Mandy's eyes quivered with a flurry of mixed emotions as she watched the next events unfold.

With the hybrid still fast asleep, Natsu made its way to a room with a gray and rusty door, and an equally gray and rusty handle to go along with it. With a mighty creak, the door opened, and the creature set its caretaker down in a sitting position on the floor -- why that exact position versus just carelessly throwing her in there as though she were a toy being left to rot for decades, who was to say.

"Now, stay in here, okay?" Natsu giggled. "Ah, who am I kiddin'. You won't wake up for hours! It's perfect!" It perfectly emulated Mandy's giggle-and-snort laugh, right before it closed the door to the room and the camera view met total darkness.

Any hostility that might have hung over the group had been dissipated, instead being replaced with shock and horror. Fluttershy, in particular, looked like she was about to go as pale as Rarity's fur, her expression twisted into one of betrayal and fear.

Silence hung over the group for what seemed like hours, as the only sound was Mandy's snoring and sleep-talking.

But the sounds of muffled destruction, met with surprised gasps, quickly drowned it all out.

The real deal's entire body was quaking now. Part of her had half a mind to rip off the helmet and throw it to the floor, but another part of her told her that the plan was working and she should keep going, no matter how deep the revelations got.

Wordlessly, she fast-forwarded the video until light began to peek from the crack separating the bottom of the door and the cement floor. She pressed Play when her brain had found a good spot.

"But could the problem crop up again? I admit, I don't know much about Mandy's sleep, but maybe all the stuff you described could occur when she's in a deep sleep. It's such a confusing thing..."

"A shocker to hear that from you, since you're part-cat."

"A majority of catpeople have very simple sleeping habits. At most, we'll mimic running in our sleep and then fall on the floor, if we're on an elevated surface."

Silence, and then the sound of a door opening.

"Wh...what...what happened?"

"The entire Bedroom is wrecked!"

"Hiya, boss!" 

Almost everyone in the group went pale. Likewise, the body of the real deal began to quiver.

"Mandy, what happened here?!"

"Oh! Hehe...um...that's my bad. My bad entirely. I was tryna practice a new magic spell Twilight taught me, but I guess here wasn't the best place to do it."

"Gee, ya think?!"

"We're not the richest organization, agent. The cleanup here is going to be costly!"

"I know! I'm really sorry. Whatever punishment you think is right is what I deserve."

"I'll resign you to my office for a week so I can keep an eye on you. You'll also have to sleep there while the Bedroom is fixed." The sound of something collapsing, which no one could make out. "I'm not sure if there's even a gadget in the entirety of Odd Squad's existence that can reverse the damage done here..."

"Okie-dokie!"

"In the meantime, you can come with me to be interrogated."

"Why? What's going on?"

"The bullpen was struck by some disaster last night and was nearly demolished. None of the ponies nor Peaches are guilty. The only one we haven't asked is you."

Another authentic-sounding giggle-and-snort laugh. "D'aww, I can already tell ya I didn't do it!"

"Regardless, you need to be interrogated anyway. Come on."

"Okay!"

"Peaches, can you assist with cleanup of the Bedroom?"

"Huh?"

That was all in the way of dialogue. Mandy's discomforted "mmm" was the last thing anyone in the group heard, along with footsteps that punctuated the exits of Oprah and Mandy.

Or...Natsu, now. An odd creature with unknown roots in Odd Squad's history, known for acting sweet and innocent, but hiding a nasty and manipulative trait under the mask. And indeed, it had watched the video with all the whimsy of a child watching a Saturday morning cartoon -- all smiles, eyes glued to the screen as the events of its own doing unfolded in sickening glee.





Mandy pressed the Play button once more to pause the video. She glanced from the pale-stricken group, to Natsu, and back and forth again. A chill ran throughout her entire body, right down to the tip of her tail.

"N-N-Natsu...you..." Her mouth suddenly felt dry. "So that's why I woke up in the Storage Room..."

Natsu, attempting to prey on the stupidity it sensed from her, gave a sad chirp. Unfortunately, it was a horrible judge of character -- she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Don't play innocent with me!" Mandy's body became wreathed in flames, her voice gaining its usual reverberating echo. "I thought we were friends and this is what you do to me?!"

The creature squinted, and then screeched.

"Don't screech at me! These agents think I'm the one who wrecked the bullpen and the Bedroom, but it was you, wasn't it?! It was all you!"

A downgrade, this time to angry chirping. Mandy's voice, however, upgraded to a piercing yell.

"No! Your reign is over! You'll become nothing but a pancake when I'm done with you!"

"Mandy, don't hurt him!" Fluttershy got up and quickly grabbed Natsu, not wanting to get involved in the spat but still feeling an instinctual need to protect the creature even in spite of what it had done.

"Fluttershy..." Mandy said through gritted teeth and tranquil anger. "I'm gonna give you five seconds to put it down..." She reached behind her back and slowly pulled out her hammer. "...so I can kill it!!"

"W-wait, don't!" Fluttershy said. "I-I'm sure Natsu had a good reason-"

"And what good reason's that, instinct? Yeah, I'm not buyin' it!"

"Mandy, calm down!"

Not even a second after Otto had uttered those three words, he had begun to regret them when the hybrid slowly turned to face him in a way that would make any prospective psychopathic murderer openly weep. "Ohh no" was all the Director could say in response as he internally prayed for his life to be spared.

"And you. All of you."

Whatever color failure the rest of the group had gone through was less prominent now, color slowly returning to their faces. Oprah narrowed her eyes and got ready to shield the others should her agent go on the attack.

Mandy slammed her hand on the table. "You think you can just frame me and get away with what you want, huh?! Is that how you choose to treat me?!"

She tore her badge off of her suit, taking part of the fabric with it and creating a small hole that showed her white button-up undershirt.

"Then in that case, I quit!"

This elicited a gasp from everyone at the table.

"Mandy, don't-"

A hand grasped firmly around Olive's neck before she could get another word in edgewise. She could feel herself losing air, but luckily for her, the hand moved down her chest and grabbed ahold of her jacket instead. She was then pulled towards Mandy so the two were nearly nose-to-nose.

"Don't try anything funny, you pathetic excuse of an agent. You're my own mother, and you dare think I'm the one who destroyed the bullpen and the Bedroom?" The hybrid growled. "You saw it yourself. It's that stupid Toddle-bee. It was the one that did it. Do you see, or will you have to pay the price in your own flesh and blood?"

Olive's face went pale again. Immortal she was, but Odd Squad's weird anatomical rules didn't stop her from dying at her own daughter's hands. And with Mandy's skill and intelligence in combat, how she died could go any number of ways. Would her heart get torn out? Would she be de-boned and flayed, put on display like a nice piece of fish at the grocery store? Or would she die by more conventional means, like a knife through her neck or a slam on her head from a hammer?

In the midst of her contemplation, she decided to try and save face. "M-M-Mandy, w-we're sorry! All of us, we're sorry!" she cried out, her vision becoming blurry with tears as she could feel her heart beating rapidly and her brain began playing a movie of her entire life over twelve-or-something years.

Mandy didn't kill her, of course. She never killed. Not even in her most rage-fueled moments.

But what she did was just as bad.

Her hand clasped the hammer, tighter and tighter until her knuckles began to turn white. She raised it above her head.

Olive felt like she was on the verge of a panic attack, she was breathing so fast.

"Sorry...ISN'T GONNA CUT IT!!"

The hammer made impact with the table, Olive scrambling out of the way and diving to the floor before it made impact with her as well. The table completely buckled, sending the Mane Six, Oprah, Otto and Peaches all tumbling down with it as their chairs wobbled and fell.

Amidst the sounds of fear, Twilight decided to take charge. "Mandy, please calm down!"

"I don't think any of us are gonna get her t' calm down, Twilight!" Applejack said. "She's gone insane!"

The sound of sizzling, like fresh meat on the grill of a barbecue, resounded as the flames died down and Mandy returned to her usual form.

A long pause as the sounds of fear went away, downgrading to simple fearful looks as everyone tried their damnedest to distance themselves from the hybrid.

"Mandy? Are you-"

Oprah narrowly avoided ducking and dodging the attack of her agent's hammer as it swung her way and collided with the wall before clattering onto the floor, smoke rising from its handle. Instinctively, she placed a hand on her head, wondering if any of her strands of hair were out of place.

One thought echoed through the group like a hivemind: Is it over? Are we spared?

No one said anything, or did anything, for a good long while.

And then, Mandy's face went from sheer raw anger to pure sadness. The kind of sadness pulled from a person when a beloved relative or pet of theirs passes away. The kind of sadness pulled from a person when they're told they have an incurable disease and have only a mere few months to live.

The kind of sadness pulled from a person when they realize they have become the victim of betrayal by an entire group of people -- people they once viewed as friends, but were now no more, all because of the blame game.

The hybrid sniffled. She shut her eyes.

A pause.

And then she broke into a loud and anguished wail, tears streaming from her eyes and staining the floor in cascading waterfalls of confusion, fear, and hurt, before running down the hallway from whence she came and turning the corner.

"Is everyone okay?" Oprah asked, the shock wearing itself down with the assistance of instinctual authority that took over the Director.

"We're fine, for the most part." Twilight stood up.

"I-I'm fine...just a little shaken." Olive murmured.

"Natsu is fine, too." Fluttershy said, scooping up the creature in her hooves once more. It looked visibly surprised and even just a tiny bit fearful, no doubt from the entire ordeal. The Pegasus sighed. "I shouldn't have kept it with Mandy at all."

"Get a cage for now and leave it in my office." Oprah ordered. "I'll have Security agents take it back to its rightful home first thing tomorrow morning."

"Oh! Yes, that's right. I didn't share the research that Ocean and I found, either..."

"Do it tomorrow. I'm more concerned about Mandy right now." As Oprah bent down to pick up the hybrid's hammer, she winced and waved her hand, realizing it was still very hot to the touch.

"So she didn't destroy the Bedroom and the bullpen after all." Olive remarked, embracing Otto in a hug as he rubbed her back. "It was Natsu. My suspicions were right."

"Yes." Fluttershy sadly nodded. "Toddle-bees love to cause mischief, but some have a particularly mean streak to them, like Natsu. It shapeshifted into Mandy and posed as her in order to cause trouble."

"And we've paid the price for it." Twilight buried her face in her hooves.

"I feel awful!" Pinkie chimed in. Like Olive, she too was being comforted by a friend -- Rarity, as a matter of fact. The two mares were hugging each other and coming to terms with what they had done with tears in their eyes.

"You and me both, darling." the unicorn mare said, fighting to keep her voice steady. "We should have listened to Mandy from the start instead of jumping to conclusions and blaming her for the messes!"

"Well..." Otto broke free of Olive just for a moment to help lift up a chair. "It cost us a table. Or, uh, it cost you guys a table, anyway."

"We have a lot of apologizing to do."

Murmurs of agreement met Oprah's unfortunate realization.

"We should wait until Mandy calms down a little bit." Peaches advised. "The last thing I want is a broken bone. Or fifteen."

"Very good idea. In the meantime..." Rarity broke free of Pinkie's embrace and rose to all four hooves. "I shall go and get a broom and dustpan to clean up this debris."

"And I can help agents build a new table!" Applejack nodded. "Er, if that's all right with you, Ms. O?"

"Of course, Agent Applejack. Thank you. You too, Agent Rarity."

Olive bent down and touched the handle of Mandy's hammer, picking the item up with her hands and noting just how lightweight it seemed to be. "Mandy's hammer handle seems to have cooled. The least I can do is bring it back to her."

"Uhh, did you not hear what Peaches just said?" Rainbow Dash lifted up another chair and put it back to its usual upright position.

"Yes. But by giving it back to her, it gives me an excuse to talk to her."

"Why? It's not like she wants to see anyone right now. Besides, she tried to attack you!"

"I made a mistake by telling her to stop, and she nearly tried to kill me for it. As scary as it is, that's all there is to it. Mandy has absolutely no kill count to her name, and she never will." Olive scoffed. "I'm not afraid of her, Rainbow Dash. I'm her adoptive mother. I know her best. And a talk from her mother is just what she needs."

"Well, at least you know where she is." Otto piped up, pointing down at the floor.

Sure enough, a trail of liquid led from where Mandy was standing to where she had fled. "Works for me." Olive gave a nonchalant shrug. "If anyone needs me, just, uh...follow the trail of tears."

She walked down the hallway, hammer in hand.

She didn't even get to round the corner before her ears picked up on the sound of muffled sobbing.





Face buried deep into the pillow and body covered under blankets, Mandy cried. Every ounce of her energy was taken and placed towards her grief and sorrow. She didn't care that she was laying on a bed that had been broken in half, nor did she care that she was laying on a bed that had been broken in half and was located in a room full of dust and other debris. All she wanted was to be alone with her thoughts.

"How could they...? Everyone...everyone...betraying me! They all think I'm some great villain...like I wanna ruin Headquarters!" 

For a brief moment, the visual of agents drawing gadgets in battle stuck in her mind. The barrels of the machines all pointed at her, the faces of angry children filled with pent-up rage and ruthlessness, as she, in all of her fashionably odd attire, wore a look of fear. From out of her peripheral vision, a beam shot-

She couldn't think of it anymore. She violently shook her head, and let her sadness be replaced by anger.

"And Natsu...how dare..."

A choked sob forced its way out of her, which delved into a loud wail as the teary waterfalls came forth once again.

Outside of the room, Olive mentally ran through her options of what she could say to Mandy that wouldn't hurt her further.

"Olive, wait!"

She turned, only to find "Peaches?"

"I know you're closer to Mandy than I am, but...I want to help comfort her, too. And, uh...maybe you can cover me if she attacks you?"

The Director couldn't help but chuckle at the last part. "All right. Let's go."

As the duo reached the Bedroom, Olive took initiative and knocked on the door. "Mandy? It's Olive. Can we come in?"

"No! Go away! I don't wanna see you, or anyone else!"

"C'mon, just let us in. Please?"

"Why would I let in someone who thinks I'm a villain? Who frames me..." Mandy's voice broke again. "...for something I didn't dooooo!" And the wailing continued.

Both girls exchanged guilty looks with each other, before Olive opened the door. They had to admit, seeing Mandy laying askew on a broken bed and sobbing into a pillow that looked pretty clean was rather surprising. But they had bigger issues on their mind.

"Mandy...we never meant to frame you." Olive said, as she approached the hybrid. "We jumped to conclusions and we shouldn't have done that. It was Natsu's fault. It shapeshifted into you and tried to get you into trouble. And it fooled us good."

Mandy stopped her wailing to respond. "You guys think that just 'cuz I'm a lil' dimwitted that I'm the one who ruined the rooms. Do you really think I would do anything like that?!"

"Well- hey!" Olive began to utter out a response, but the next thing she knew, she was trapped in a magic aura and hovering just inches from Mandy's face.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me honestly! Tell me the truth!"

"N-no!" Olive sighed, choosing to set aside how Mandy was able to easily lift her when it took almost every ounce of her magic to do so previously -- high emotions, she figured. Or the writer screwing around with continuity again. "No. You would never wreck the bullpen or the Bedroom. Not on purpose, anyway."

Mandy set her down, feeling her throat close up again. "If you're tryna get me to come back, forget it. I don't wanna work for people who think that I'm a culprit of something I obviously didn't do." She sniffled and let her voice rise into high-pitched anger. "You've lived with me for years. You raised me, Momma! And yet you think I destroyed the bullpen and the Bedroom on purpose, without even checking for evidence?! A real Odd Squad agent would think things through and not make assumptions!"

"Look. We made a mistake. A grave mistake. We're all sharing the blame. Me, Otto, Peaches, Oprah, the ponies. We all take responsibility for what we did. And we're all sorry." 

Peaches stepped forward when her name was called, having allowed mother and daughter to work the issue out without a "newbie" family member like her interfering and possibly making things worse.

Olive sighed. "But we know you're not just upset about that."

"Natsu was...it was like a pet to me! A close companion! T-to think it just wanted to cause trouble, it..." Mandy couldn't finish that sentence. The face of that wretched being was etched into her wired mind in a way she didn't like, and she desperately wished that she could perform brain surgery on herself, that she could use some pliers to severe the connections between her and the creature so she wouldn't even know it was an actual being that existed in her world.

"You cared for it well." was all Olive could say in response.

"And now, it's...it's gone!"

"Well, it's not 'gone' gone, but it can't stay here. You told me yourself -- it's not native to Toronto. I'm sorry."

That sent the hybrid into another crying fit. Olive, however, not wanting to see her stain her bed further, pulled her into her chest. "Just let it out." she soothed, as the hybrid's cries turned muffled.

Peaches' eyes widened. "I can't believe how much she has in her."

"Oh, Mandy can cry for a long while. We've set records."

"Really? What's the top record?"

"An hour."

The catgirl's jaw dropped. This girl...she drinks that much water...in that body... how even?! 

...Wait. Maybe I shouldn't question it. It's Mandy. And this is Odd Squad. Jeez, you'd think I'd know by now!

Mandy's sobs had downgraded to mere sniffles, and she pulled her head away from Olive's chest.

"You okay now?" the Director asked, patting her head.

Her only response was an "mmm" and the loud growl of the hybrid's stomach.

"Here, why don't I make you something?" Olive arose from the bed. "It can be thanks for the salad you made me yesterday. And it's close to dinnertime anyway." She smiled. "What do you want?"

"Anything..." Mandy murmured.

"Okay then, I'll surprise you. Oh!" Olive pulled something out of her hammerspace spine. "And I brought back your hammer. You, uh...left it in the Breakroom."

Mandy didn't respond to that comment. All she did was listen to the hammer clattering on the floor as Olive set it down.

"Hang tight, okay?"

Peaches watched Olive go, then turned to face Mandy. "Sorry I didn't say much, cuz. I didn't really want to interfere too much...changed my mind and all that. But just know that I'm sorry, too. I'm rooting for you to pull through!"

No response.

With a sigh, the catgirl made her way out and down the same path that Olive walked.

"You think she's done, or just getting a third wind?" she asked once she caught up with the Director.

"I think she's done for the most part. But she's still very resentful." Olive ran a hand through her hair. "You might not know this, Peaches, but if someone hurts her, it's not something she takes lightly. And this is no exception."

"So she holds really long grudges?"

"Pretty much."

Peaches' brow furrowed, then her expression relaxed. "Oh. Actually, that makes sense." she remarked. "Maybe some food will cheer her up this time? She does like to eat."

"Maybe. You good at cooking?"

"Mmm...I'm mediocre. Not really the best, but I'm not one to make edible things that can kill a row of catpeople."

"Ah, no worries, I'll teach you. Follow me."

Wondering what idea Olive had in mind, Peaches followed her as the duo rounded the corner and headed for the Breakroom.





After informing those that had been cleaning up in the Breakroom of Mandy's current state, Olive and Peaches got to work making a dish that Mandy was sure to eat. As much as others wanted to check on Mandy and comfort her, Olive advised against it, saying that Mandy just wanted to be alone.

Finally, the meal was done. Olive took the honor of delivering it to the downcast agent, and instructed Peaches to help clean up the rest of the Breakroom.

A knock on the Bedroom door three times would have fazed Mandy in any other circumstances, but didn't even make her so much as move a muscle this time.

"Mandy? It's Olive again. I brought your dinner." came the muffled voice that she knew all too well. "Some nice fried chicken. I know how much you love chicken."

Her stomach rumbled again, and all she did was give a sigh as her adoptive mother came inside.

"I figured you weren't in the mood to come out, so I'll just set it on the nightstand. Just make sure to return the plate and the silverware, okay? You know how Olly can get when a plate and silverware have gone missing." Olive couldn't resist giving an exasperated eye roll.

Slowly, Mandy shifted herself and moved closer to the plate. Taking a few tentative sniffs, she took a bite of the chicken, no silverware needed, like she was a wild animal sniffing to see if her prey was poisoned. Her tail began thumping on the bed, although the smile didn't return to her face nor did her usual energy return to her entire body.

"Oh good, you like it." Olive breathed a sigh of relief. "Peaches helped me with it. She's a surprisingly apt cook. I don't know why she told me she was mediocre." A crunch as Mandy took another bite made her wince slightly. "Maybe we made it too crispy, though."

An awkward silence hung in the air. The only sounds were from Mandy chewing away at her chicken.

"W-well, um..." Olive scratched the back of her neck. "Look, I talked to Oprah. She said that you can sleep up in her office while repairs are being made to the Bedroom. Is that okay with you?"

In any normal circumstance, Mandy would probably snark "you said that already" or innocently ask "okay, but am I still punished?"

But this was no normal circumstance, of course. Mandy only gave a simple, monotonic "mmm" in response.

"I'll take that as a 'yes', then." Olive sighed again, this time growing tired and exasperated of being in the same room as whatever depressing air this hybrid was emitting. "Segueing into the main point...try and cheer up, okay, Mandy? No one likes seeing you like this, and we know you're hurt. We just want you to be back to your happy and energetic self. And if I'm being honest, I feel like a dark cloud is looming over my hea-"

A rumble of thunder startled her. Sure enough, there was a nice fluffy dark cloud, hanging over her head. "Oh. Beautiful. Just what I need. Odd Squad's metaphorical take on depression. All I need is an agent to play the role of therapist and I'm all set." she snarked, immediately regretting doing so even though snarking didn't make her depressed. She frantically waved her hands in an attempt to shoo the cloud away, but a laser blast stopped her attempts right quick.

She glanced at Mandy, with the last of the chicken breast in her mouth, the light on the rings on her horn quickly dying away. As soon as she saw Olive looking at her, she avoided eye contact.

"Thank you, Mandy. Much better."

The hybrid, having finished her meal, slowly got off of the bed and began rummaging through the cabinet that had fallen on the floor. From there, she found her pajamas and her rainbow-colored bath towel that had pictures of cats weaved into it.

"Oh, going to take a shower, huh?"

Mandy finally made eye contact with her.

Her expression was one that Olive couldn't identify, but one that chilled her to the bone nonetheless. She left the Director with a soft huff, taking her clothing and towel with her.

"Jeez...she's taking all of this harder than I thought." Olive remarked. "And giving us all the silent treatment."

Slowly, ever so slowly, an idea began to form in her head as she glanced at the empty plate.

"Aha! I have an idea! It'll be perfect." She picked up the plate and the silverware. "And I'm sure it'll get Mandy back to her old self!"

A grin split her face as she strode out of the Bedroom once more, taking a left.





"Now, just add the cherry on top!"

Stretching her arm as far as it would reach, Olive did as she was told, nearly stumbling and falling into the foodstuff itself.

The girl sighed. "Ah, Pinkamena Diane Pie. You've done it again."

"I know." 

"One of the best and largest cakes you've ever made."

"I know."

"There's a reason why you're the best baker in Ponyville."

"Darn straight."

Both mare and child admired the masterpiece. A complete seven-layer cake, with seven different flavors, sitting on Oprah's coffee table while the Director in question could only gaze at it. "Did you forget the note?"

Olive scoffed and laughed. "Noooo, of course I didn't. Oprah, you talk silly things sometimes, why would I forget a crucial part of my own plan? I have the note right here." 

She reached behind her back and produced a small paper, opening it and reading its contents aloud.

"Shmumbeez-its, milk, bleach, and frozen macaroni and cheese."

Oprah had to really fight to not laugh. The same went for Pinkie.

Olive groaned, rolled her eyes, and went fishing in her hammerspace spine again, finally pulling out what she had wanted. "Ah, here we go." she remarked, once she scanned the inside of the folded-up paper. "This is it."

Pinkie scanned through the note and nodded. "Perfect!"

"Now, when Mandy wakes up, she'll see the cake and the note, and she'll come to us and we'll make up and everyone will be happy again!" Olive said matter-of-factly.

"But how is she going to get into the office and not see either thing?"

Olive's eyes widened. "I, um...w-well...s-see, maybe she'll be so tired, she, uh...misses it?" she tried, giving a nervous grin and a half-hearted shrug.

"Don't even bother." Oprah snickered. "I think I know how this plan is gonna work out. Just leave the rest to me."

Olive simply buried her face in her hands, Pinkie leaping up and patting her back in support.





As Mandy was wordlessly guided into the office, Olive watched in disappointment but also intrigue. The hybrid was blindfolded, unable to see even an inch ahead of her. She sat down on the couch at Oprah's insistence.

"Now, here we go..." Oprah undid the knot on the blindfold.

Mandy's eyes opened.

She looked at the cake, in all its delicious chocolate, seven-layered glory. Her mouth began to water, although she tried her damnedest not to make it obvious.

One sniff, two sniffs, and then a cautious bite.

Olive couldn't help but feel offended. Does she think we're trying to poison her?

Mandy's eyes began to shimmer, and then she began to eat the rest of the cake in her usual speedy fashion.

"She likes it!" Pinkie cheered. "Although, how could she not? She eats almost everything."

During her last bite, the hybrid caught wind of Olive, Oprah and Pinkie, gazing at her with happiness but concern flickering in their eyes. She swallowed, and gave them a look that Olive couldn't identify before sharply turning and settling into a laying-down position on the couch.

"Uh..." Olive gulped, trying to pick her words carefully. "We're glad you like the cake. We made it just for you."

"Mmm..."

"W-why don't you, uh, s-sleep on what I've said, hmm? I really do mean every single word. We want you back to normal." Olive walked over, took the note, and slid it in front of Mandy. "Here, read this."

The hybrid, giving a mighty sigh of annoyance, opened the small paper and read the text inside. All three girls could swear they saw Mandy perk up slightly, but she quickly slumped back down and set her head on the couch.

"I was expecting her to say something like, 'Oh, you would do this for me? Thank you soooooo much!'" Pinkie said. "But I guess she's still mad at us..."

Oprah sighed. "Just let her sleep. There's nothing we can do now."

Olive felt like crying right then and there, but she forced herself to stay steady. "Right. We tried."

"And trying and failing is better than not trying at all." Oprah finished. "Go home, you two. Make sure you rest up for tomorrow. I have to stay here and finish up."

Pinkie nodded and made her way out the double doors, her mane deflating slightly as she did so. Olive, likewise, did the same.

"Have a good night, Mandy" were the last words she said to the hybrid for the day before she trudged down the staircase on the right.

The loud snores emanating from Mandy were proof enough that this act of treachery and betrayal didn't cause her any trouble sleeping. Still, Oprah sought it fit to drape her purple blanket over her and leave her be once she cleaned up her office and shut things down in Headquarters, not bothering to hide the sadness buried deep inside her any longer as a few tears streamed down her face.

She couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt as she closed the glass double-doors and walked away from her second-in-command.





Somehow, the dish that held the cake had made its way to its new destination under Mandy's cheek. As the hybrid snored, cake crumbs either littered her face or littered the floor. Although Oprah passed by her more than once, the pan stayed where it was, Oprah not daring to move it lest she trigger Mandy into waking up and risk her getting even angrier at her.

Around noontime -- or at least what her circadian clock thought was noontime -- Mandy woke up. Her eyes slowly opened, and her jaws parted as her body shivered with a loud yawn forcing its way out of her body. "That's niiiiice..." she murmured, as she looked around for her Chocolate Moo-Moo Surprise drink. Seeing a glass-shaped object filled with a brown something in her line of vision, she snatched it and drank it all without a second thought.

An unsettling feeling came over her. Her face suddenly felt itchy. Her nails quickly got to scratching, and she noticed cake pieces falling on the pan below her. "When did that get there..." she murmured, before her face lit up in realization. "Oh. Yeah. They gave me a cake and a note...what did that note even say?"

Dear Mandy,
On behalf of Pinkie, Oprah and everyone else, we're really sorry we accused you of destroying the Bedroom and the bullpen. I hope you know that we love you no matter what, and that we realize now it was Natsu who is the true culprit. (If you're wondering where it is, Security agents took it back to its natural habitat this morning.) Pinkie Pie and I made you this cake as a way of stacking on to our apology, so to speak. Hopefully you enjoyed it. Or will enjoy it. I dunno, it came with the cake.

Anyway, please accept our apologies. I really don't know what more I can say to make it up to you.

...Oh. Wait. I probably can.

I love you, Mandy. And I always will. Forever and ever.

Keep continuing to surprise us. Like you just did.

Love (disclaimer: I would never end a letter like this but I didn't puke so that's something),
Olive

Mandy's eyes began to water. Her throat began to close up. These words barely fazed me yesterday...because I skimmed over the note. I was too upset to keep reading, and all I could register was the cake. But now...

Is this what they really...?

And Natsu really is gone...

"No!" Mandy sat up. "I shouldn't cry over Natsu anymore. Why would I, when it betrayed me? It's nothing more than a pile of filth!!" With a mighty swat, the pan flew off of the couch and collided with the back seats of the other couch in the room.

She gave a shaky sigh. "Killing an odd creature is cruel, Mandy. You're not gonna feel satisfied if you kill it. Just...let go of it!" She tried to smile. "Remind yourself of the happy things. Like Momma, and Otto, and Oprah, and Peaches, and the ponies, and Odd Squad!"

The smile, however, quickly faded. "All Momma wants is to see me be happy...she doesn't want me to hate her forever like this. And neither does anyone else. And...they all apologized for framing me, at least."

Mandy closed her eyes to think.

And then, a few seconds later, she sat up with a determined huff.

"Okay! Gotta cheer up, starting now!" She blinked. "Wait, where's Oprah? Why's she not here? She's always he-"

Three knocks on one of the glass doors made her hair and tail bush up as she gave a yowl. "Don't scare me like that, you-" She stopped and blinked as she saw exactly who it was at the door. "Cuz!"

Peaches opened the door... -- "Wait, wait- ulp!" -- and soon found herself a victim of near-death by asphyxiation.

"Oh, am I happy to see you!"

"C-can you..." Peaches coughed and sputtered. "Put me down...?!"

"Sorry!" Mandy set her cousin down as instructed, allowing her to get a few gulps of air in. "What're you doing here?"

Peaches gave a relieved exhale. "I came by to check on you. Oprah's busy with some affairs involving Olive and Otto right now-"

"Where are they?"

"W-well, they're in the Odd Squad Warehouse-"

"Greatseeyoulater!"

And that was that, as Mandy whizzed right past Peaches without another word spoken. "Mandy, wait!" Peaches called, although she knew that it was hopeless. All she could do was give a mighty sigh of exasperation and leave the scene, her deed already having been done.





Dinosaurs of all kinds, from T-rexes to pterodactyls, used every inch of their strength to ram into the double-doors leading into the Dinosaur Room. As Olive and Otto fought to keep the doors shut, Oprah was busy punching numbers into a keyboard that laid on the right door.

"It's no use! We've tried every possible combination!" Oprah shouted.

Otto opened his mouth to remark about how out-of-character that was for his former boss, for her to give up instead of putting every ounce of her strength into securing some of Odd Squad's most prominent and most dangerous creatures, but Olive spoke up before he could get a word in. "Don't say that! We have to keep trying! If we don't lock these doors, all the dinosaurs are gonna escape!"

In a cartoonish fashion, the steel doors bent outwards as though ready to break.

And then they burst open.

The trio stumbled backwards and collapsed onto the floor. Almost immediately, they bundled together, taking out their shields upon seeing the dinosaurs advance towards them. All of them braced for impact, feeling their lives pass through their brain like a movie stuck on fast-forward as they squeezed their eyes shut.

"Whooooo's hungry?! I know I am!"

Olive's eyes snapped open. The first thing she saw was a blur of something rainbow-colored zip by her and head into the dinosaur room.

"I'll be riiiight back!" came a familiar voice, as the rainbow-colored figure closed the door with some kind of magical force and sealed it with the sound of screeching metal.

"I know that voice..." Oprah breathed, opening her eyes and lowering her shield. "Is that..."

"Mandy?!" Otto finished her sentence, opening his eyes and staring at the closed doors completely bug-eyed. His dazed stupor didn't last for long, however, as he quickly shook his head and got up, tucking his own shield away behind his back. "Where'd she come from?"

"I don't know." Olive did the same. "But we should tru-"

A series of banging sounds and shouting ensued. The shouting was in a language that no one, not even Oprah, could understand -- it was all equal to the same gibberish as the sleep-talk Mandy uttered.

After a few minutes of tension, a bright flash indicated the return of Mandy, completely dazed, confused, and missing a tooth or two. All she could let out was a long, quivering "aaa" sound, like she was trying to say something but was too stunned to do so.

"Mandy, are you okay?!" Olive immediately rushed right over, catching the hybrid in her arms as she toppled forwards. "What happened to you?"

No response, except for the stretched-out sound.

"Her pajamas are ripped." Otto noted, eyeing some slash marks on her clothing. "Whatever those dinosaurs did to her in there, they roughed her up pretty good."

"No injuries, though..." Olive breathed a sigh of relief.

"Pretty miraculous." Oprah chuckled and gave a lighthearted shrug. "But would you expect anything less from Precinct 13579's second-in-command?"

Mandy shook her head and closed her mouth, blinking a few times. She grit her teeth and rubbed her head. Feels like my magic backfired into my brain...

...Wait, is that a thing? I thought Twi mentioned it was a thing, oh on odd it's definitely a thing isn't i-

"Mandy?"

"Hm? I'm okay..." The hybrid attempted to stand up, but began falling backwards before regaining her usual stance. "That was close."

"You saved us."

"I did?"

"And the door's sealed too!"

"Is it?" Mandy turned to look. "Oh."

"How did you even find us all the way down here?" Otto asked. "Talk about a deus ex machina."

Mandy slowly waved her hand. "No it's not. Peach told me where you guys were. I came down here for another reason, but when I saw you guys in trouble, I couldn't not save you."

The trio exchanged glances, and then exchanged happy sighs.

"So why are you here, then?" Olive asked, before her face lit up in realization. "Wait. You're speaking to us! Does that mean you forgive us?"

"Yeah...I skimmed through your note last night, but I read it for realsies this morning and it hit me." Mandy chuckled. "It's nice that you all care so much for me. And I'm glad you apologized. Thank you."

"How are you feeling about Natsu?" Oprah asked, treading lightly in case Mandy felt like taking a spin of the Wheel of Violence Upon Others.

"Oh, that lowlife? It can go rot away for all I care. I'm not gonna be worried about it anymore."

Oprah placed a hand on her rapidly-beating heart and gave a small relieved huff.

"Do I still hafta sleep in your office for a week, though, Oprah?"

"Well, yes, until the Bedroom's repaired. But it's not going to be a punishment." The Director shrugged. "Really, I keep forgetting that all the traditional punishments don't work on you. Keeping you in my office is a reward."

"Yup!" Mandy cracked her knuckles. "Now, I believe Peach said you guys had some affairs you needed to handle. Why don't I help ya?"

"Sure." Olive nodded. "We could use the help."

"First thing you should do is invest in a better lock for those doors." Mandy made her way over to the doors and knocked thrice. "My magic will hold for a while, but not forever!"

"We were trying to use the combination on the keypad to lock it, but we forgot what the combination was." Otto explained.

Curiously, the hybrid took a look at the keypad, which only displayed the row of dots lit up in red. She squinted and pressed the 7 key, then the 4 key, which caused the row of dots to flash green. "Doors locked." came an automated voice.

Oprah felt an emotion bubbling forth that she couldn't even begin to describe. "How did you even-"

"After we ditched the six-keyed keypad for the more universal one with all the numbers and every basic mathematical symbol, I had a feeling you didn't bother changing the code, Oprah." Mandy rolled her eyes. "Really, I don't know how you struggled with this for so long. There are only so many combinations that add up to 11 one can think of!"

As she gave a hearty laugh, Olive and Otto bit back a groan, as did Oprah.

"Aaaaanyway, I'm really really hungry. Whaddya say we all go and get breakfast together?"

On everyone's agreement, the agents began heading upstairs to clean themselves up and grab some food, not noticing a small dark figure emerging from the shadows and perching on the boxes. It tilted its head, then ran away.