The sun shone brightly over Ponyville, marking another beautiful day in the town that seemed to be rife with its own special brand of oddness. Ponies of all kinds chatted, ate, and played, with some passing through the portal that sat at the town line, secured by protection of the princesses' own creation. For many who were seeking out the small-town kind of life, it was paradise.
Inside the library of the Castle of Friendship, a light purple unicorn hoofed her way through photos of Twilight and her friends at Odd Squad. Her dark purple mane, with an aquamarine streak running through it, bounced slightly as she shifted each photo to the side, a smile gracing her features as she thought of the many stories she had been told about Odd Squad. She couldn't deny that each story had made her more and more curious as to what the organization was like, but of course, she wasn't about to go venturing into a whole world mostly occupied by another species without doing a little bit of research first.
She stopped upon spotting a photo of Twilight and Pinkie with their faces splattered with ice cream. Occupying the photo was not only them, but someone who looked like a human with pony ears and a mane that was, oddly enough, shaped like Pinkie's. Starlight's nose wrinkled as she moved the photo aside and shuffled through the rest of the photos, trying to find any other sightings of this mysterious figure.
By the time she finished, she deduced one thing -- there were a lot of pictures. More than she thought there were, at the very least.
Many of them depicted the figure doing silly things like balancing balls on her nose, or things that showed her hardworking nature like fixing machines. Some of them even showed her in funny sleeping positions, and Starlight had herself a chuckle at the photo that showed her hugging a lit-up lamp. As she flipped one over that showed Twilight, the girls, four humans, and the mysterious figure all having fun at a beach, she found text scrawled onto the back of it.
Mandy & Friends at the Beach
Mandy...is that her name? Starlight tilted her head. Is she a clone of Pinkie Pie? She has the mane and the tail to match...
She squinted at the beach picture, and then promptly gasped.
Wait, no! She has...wings? And a horn?
The look on her face was one of pure confusion. Whatever this creature was, it certainly wasn't human. Or at least, it wasn't fully human. Perhaps it was time for Starlight to get some answers.
She rose from her chair and began trotting towards the doors, only stopping when she realized that Twilight wasn't home at the moment. Mentally shooting out a string of curses, she turned back to the table, and it was only then that she heard the castle's doors open and close.
"Starlight! I'm back!" Twilight's voice was close, and the unicorn soon found her mentor poking her head in the library. "What's going on?"
"Twilight." Starlight turned around again, and slowly approached her. "Would you like to tell me what this is?"
Twilight blinked as a picture of her and Mandy was floated right in front of her face. "Who, the girl?" She smiled. "That's Agent Mandy, my coworker. She's part of a species known as a pony-human hybrid. Half human, half pony."
Starlight simply stared.
"I never told you about her, did I?"
"Not even in the slightest."
Starlight's deadpan expression didn't faze Twilight. "Well, instead of me giving a long lecture about what she's like...how about you go see her for yourself?"
"And go into that world full of humans?" Starlight bit her lip. "Yeah, I dunno. I mean, I know ponies have been integrated into their society, but it just...weirds me out to go there."
"How?"
"Well...I can't really describe it."
Twilight gave a sympathetic smile. "I understand. But I'm talking about bringing you to my workplace."
"Odd Squad? That organization that deals with odd stuff?"
"Exactly. A unicorn like you would fit in perfectly there!" Twilight said. "And I would know, as someone who's seen both the unicorns of Equestria and the unicorns of Earth."
Starlight tapped her chin. She was a little hesitant, but now, she couldn't hide the feeling of curiosity that was gnawing at her. If Twilight thought the world was safe, then surely Starlight would have no problem going there. It was simple thought logic.
"All right, I'm game. Lead the way."
Back at Headquarters, Mandy was in the thralls of sleep. She was lying flat on her stomach, a pillow below her as she snored away and muttered something about cheese balls.
In the midst of another Earth-shattering snore, Pinkie Pie threw the door open like it was Christmas morning. "Partner!" she called, her tone completely panicked as she trotted over to the bed. "Partner, wake up!" She paused for a moment, before giving a growl. "Oh, who am I kidding? You never wake up when I tell you to wake up!"
Mandy gave a soft moan. "Not th' lazzt 'f th' peanut butter..."
"We have plenty of peanut butter!" Pinkie screamed to the powers-that-be above, before putting her hooves on Mandy and shaking her as hard as she could. "Come on, it's an emergency!"
A few broken snores left the hybrid as her hand waved behind her, trying to feel for the source of the intrusion to her slumber.
"Pleasepleasepleeeeeeease!"
Slowly, Mandy's eye-booger-encrusted eyes flickered open. A mighty yawn left her, and she feebly kicked her feet in an effort to try and get up. "Mmmmmm, Imma beached turtlllle..."
Pinkie sat back and groaned. "Finally!" With an extended hoof that looked like it was made of putty, she grabbed her partner's Chocolate Moo-Moo Surprise drink, hopped onto the bed, opened her partner's mouth, and poured the drink in before closing it. "Drink up and let's go! You're gonna miss her!"
Mandy's cheeks were bulging, and it took her a few moments before she was able to get all of the drink down. "Mmmmmizz who...?" she muttered, but Pinkie was already shuffling through the wardrobe closet and throwing her suit onto the ground.
"Hurry up and get dressed!" the mare ordered, pointing to the suit. "Or I'll make you get dressed!"
"Please, don't..." Mandy rubbed her head as she slowly rolled off of her bed and landed on the ground, then got up in a kneeling position before slowly rising to her feet. "I can dress myself, thank you."
"Could've fooled me."
That earned Pinkie the boot, in the form of Mandy sweeping her up in her magic and throwing her to the ground outside of the room rump-first.
"Hey! I wasn't actually gonna dress you..."
"Really?" Mandy picked up her suit and fluffed it out. "Coulda fooled me."
And with that, she slammed the door on her pink friend before she could even fire a rebuttal.
Five minutes later, Mandy was dressed in a suit, but definitely didn't feel like her old self just yet. With curiosity as to whom Pinkie had been talking about, she went to the bathroom to finish her routine, wondering if a new agent was joining Precinct 13579 or if it was some kind of ambassador from another land. The possibilities were endless, really.
"An emergency means you gotta move faster than that!"
"You and I have differing opinions on what an emergency is, Ponka."
By the time Pinkie and Mandy arrived at the bullpen, Twilight, standing on the seal with a purple unicorn at her side, was finishing what Mandy had to assume was some kind of introduction.
"Please make her feel welcome!"
As agents rushed to the duo to give their introductions, Mandy tilted her head. "Who's that with Twilight?"
Pinkie responded by pushing her partner towards the front of the crowd. "Mandy, this is Starlight Glimmer! She's one of our best friends!"
Twilight turned her head to make eye contact with Mandy. "Oh, Mandy, you're finally awake!" She smiled. "I brought Starlight here to meet the agents of Precinct 13579. She's never been to Toronto before, let alone this world."
When Starlight waved off the last agent in the crowd, she turned to gaze at the pony-human hybrid, examining every last one of her features. She towered over the unicorn, although not by very much, and donned a professional-looking business suit that was the same as Twilight's as well as a curly hairstyle and tail with the former in a sparkly bow. True to the pictures, she had pony ears as well as a long horn and a pair of angelic wings, but the one thing that really caught Starlight's eye was the smile. It looked cat-like, far unlike the mouths she had seen on humans from pictures. Quite unnatural for a being that was part pony, the unicorn noted.
"Hi!" she greeted. "You, uh...don't look anything like the humans I've seen. You're a pony-human hybrid, right? Are you an alicorn?"
"Yes I am and yes I am!" The girl bowed. "Agent 57, at your service! I'm the second-in-command here at Odd Squad Precinct 13579!"
"Agent...57?"
"Mandy. Just call me Mandy."
"Ah." Starlight extended her hoof. "Well, my name's Starlight Glimmer. It's a pleasure to meet you! Twilight's told me a lot about you."
"Oh, she has, has she?" Mandy smirked. "If I'm as famous in Equestria as I am here, I should really go visit sooner rather than later!"
Starlight's eyes widened. "Uh, m-maybe that's not such a good idea..." Not wanting to linger on the point any longer, she shook her head. "Anyway, if you're the second-in-command, then who's the leader?"
"Ms. O!" Mandy chirped. "I call her by her first name, but she gets a liiiiiittle touchy about sharing it with people and ponies who aren't me, or Momma, or Otto, or Oscar, or-"
"Why don't you take Starlight to her?" Twilight interjected. "After that, you can join us for a tour."
Mandy gasped and began bouncing up and down. "Are you kidding?! I'd love to give her a tour! C'mon, Starlight, let's go!"
As the hybrid bounced away, Starlight glanced at her mentor. "Is she always like this?"
"Oh yes. Yes she is." Twilight gave an exasperated sigh. "You get used to it. Now go, before you get lost!"
Rolling her eyes, an amused Starlight trotted towards the stairs that Mandy had ascended, hoping to get up to the second floor where she was standing before she pulled her there by force. Oh yeah, there's no doubt about it. If this isn't some weird clone of Pinkie Pie, then she has to be related to her at the very least, she thought, a smile on her face as she gave a friendly wave to the hybrid upon setting hoof on the top step.
Unbeknownst to her, however, a particular agent was watching her with excitement, although she remained hidden, wanting to finish her welcome basket before introducing herself properly. With that, she ducked behind the hallway again and raced off to some unknown destination.
"So this is an organization where you fight oddness?" Starlight asked.
"Co-rrect!" Mandy nodded. "Hydraclops, Jamie Jam, that dog on Cherry Street that keeps sounding like the most annoying cicada in the world...we deal with 'em all!"
"Huh. And it accepts both humans and ponies?"
Mandy had to take a moment to sit on that question, because she genuinely wasn't sure what Oprah's stance was on ponies joining her precinct. She knew other precincts had long since accepted ponies into their ranks, but for all of her high power, she wasn't sure of Precinct 13579's policies. So, she decided to go with the policy she thought of. "W-well, the organization does, but as for this precinct...only humans for now. Twilight and the others are exceptions. Although other precincts have started to hire ponies in all sorts of departments." Her face lit up, and she gasped as she thrust her face into Starlight's. "Are you thinking of joining?!"
"Well, uh..." Starlight blinked. "I'm not sure, to be honest. This world is still very new to me, a-and I don't know a thing about Odd Squad except from what Twilight and the others have told me. Maybe if I see this place first...?"
"Ah. Good point."
Mandy turned away from Starlight to peer inside of Oprah's office, where the head honcho, along with Olive and Otto, seemed to be having a meeting. Or, well, what Mandy had to assume was a meeting, going by the serious expressions on everyone's faces.
She scoffed. "Of course she's having a meeting! She never stops having meetings!"
As the hybrid groaned, Starlight looked inside. "Which one's Ms. O?"
"The one on the right couch."
"So who are the two kids on the left?"
"Momma and Otto! Momma-" Mandy stopped and then shook her head, realizing that Starlight had no idea who "Momma" was. "Olive is my adoptive mom and co-runs the Mississauga precinct along with Otto. They've been partners for..." Her brow furrowed. "Weeeeeell, I wanna say forever!"
Starlight broke her gaze away to stare at Mandy. If she was adopted and had what looked to be a normal human girl as a mother, the unicorn supposed that killed quite a few notions about her being related to Pinkie, since Pinkie wasn't adopted. However, it didn't put the theory completely to rest. With that thought put aside for now, Starlight went back to staring at the trio of normal humans. None of them boasted the same features Mandy did -- no wings, no horn, and no tail, although Ms. O did have a pair of wing flaps she was showing off that Starlight deduced were a part of the suit she wore.
Curiosity dug its talons deep into her. "You're adopted?"
"Yep." Mandy's eyes grew slightly misty. "I don't have any memory of my actual parents. I was rescued by Momma when a pienado -- that's a tornado made of pies -- was released by her old partner, Odd Todd. Since then, she's raised me into...uh...well, me!"
Starlight spit out the first thought that came into her head. "She looks so young."
"Aaaaaaaand that's another coin into the Young Adoptive Mother jar!" From out of nowhere, Mandy grabbed a large jar that was nearly a quarter of the way filled with coins. She reached into her hair, pulled out a Jackalope Nickel, and dropped it into the slat on the cap, grinning as it made a clink sound.
Having gotten used to these kinds of antics from Pinkie Pie, Starlight gave an amused smile.
"Well, if they're having a meeting, I won't interrupt 'em. We'll meet 'em later." Mandy tucked the jar away behind her back and hopped onto the stair railing. "C'mon, let's go meet Twilight and get on with that tour!"
As Starlight watched her slide down, she heard a high-pitched squeal, and then the sound of laughter, come bursting forth. She didn't need to try and figure out who it came from. She had to admit, she was becoming rather enamored with Mandy and her antics -- not that she had any doubts, since it was almost like she was a human Pinkie Pie. Maybe she would join Odd Squad after all, just to see if she was able to work with Mandy. Quickly, she trotted downstairs, in an effort to keep up with the pony-human hybrid and also out of eagerness to begin the tour of the precinct.
Inside Oprah's office, the sight of something purple moving in the Director's peripheral vision snapped her attention away from a lengthy discussion about gigantic creatures and the most effective strategies in defeating them.
"What's up?" Otto asked, looking in the same direction but finding nothing there.
"Mandy just went downstairs with a pony I've never seen." Oprah explained, her tone cautious as she rose from her seat.
"Really?" Olive's turn to look, now. "Did she say she was inviting a guest over?"
"Not that I'm aware of. You two stay here, I'll be right back."
As Mandy was laughing at a joke Twilight had given, the sound of her name, as well as the sight of someone descending the stairs, brought her attention to what turned out to be Oprah.
"You brought a guest here?" the Director asked as she approached the group.
"I did, Ms. O." Twilight stepped up and gestured to her protege. "This is Starlight Glimmer. She's a student of mine who resides in Ponyville."
"Hi! Nice to meet you." Starlight waved. "I take it you're the leader of this place?"
"That I am. It's nice to meet you too, Starlight. You're free to call me by Oprah, if you wish."
Starlight took a few moments to take in the appearance of Ms. O- er, Oprah -- the former of which, apparently, was merely a title and not an actual name. By all accounts, she looked completely human, and on top of that, she was far more sane than Mandy. She also looked powerful in a way that Starlight couldn't really describe. "I'll admit, I thought you'd be a little older." she said, hoping she didn't somehow offend her.
"Oh, she's old. She's-"
Mandy was cut off by an arm wrapping around her neck, followed by her upper body keeling forward and then suddenly straightening up again until her feet were lifted off of the ground. She coughed and hacked as she struggled to get out of the headlock that she knew her boss had put her in.
"Not. Another. Word." was the only warning the pint-sized girl gave, ignoring Mandy's cries for help. She locked eyes with Starlight, who watched the act with worry but made no effort to intervene out of fear of retaliation. Mandy was taller than Oprah, although not by much, and if she could put Mandy in a chokehold as fierce as that, who knew what she would do to Starlight, even if the unicorn had a wide repertoire of magic on her side.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Oprah set Mandy down, causing the hybrid to lean over and begin giving coughs that Starlight couldn't believe came from a pair of lungs that were neither equine nor human. "Are you okay?"
"I'm..." A cough. "Fine. Oprah...she does stuff like this...all the time. Don't worry."
Twilight, meanwhile, moved on. "I've mentioned Odd Squad to Starlight many times, and she wanted to have a look for herself. We were just about to take a tour."
Oprah raised an eyebrow at Starlight. "You're not thinking of joining, are you?"
"I'm not quite sure. I want to have a look around the place and learn more about it, as well as the denizens of this world, before I decide for myself."
A relieved expression crossed Oprah's face for just a moment. "All right. In that case, go ahead. Mandy, you can help."
The hybrid straightened up and did a salute. "Yessirree!"
"Are Olive and Otto coming down as well?"
Starlight's question made Oprah pause for a moment, as she wondered how the unicorn knew of their existences. But she supposed Twilight told her, or Mandy.
"I heard my name!" a voice called from inside of her office. "Otto, get out of the juice bar!"
"But my lucky marble rolled down there!"
"You got yourself stuck last time, so get out of there because I'm not pulling you out again if you get stuck!"
Oprah sighed. "I'll take that as a no. I'm sure Mandy and Twilight will introduce you to them later, though."
"Sounds good."
"All right." Twilight turned towards the right-side hallway. "Mandy, lead the way!"
"Whoo! Tour guide Mandy, baby, at your service! Let's go!"
Oprah watched the trio head off, breathing a sigh of relief in regards to Starlight not joining. She had her own reasons as to why she was relieved rather than disappointed, and she certainly wasn't too keen on sharing them with much of anyone, instead bottling them up inside of her.
"Oprah! Otto got stuck under the juice bar again!"
The Director bit back a groan. "I'm coming, Olive!" she called, as she ascended the steps to her office once more and prepared to get to work on pulling out one of the more taller agents she knew from what she had to assume were a couple of bar stools...again. That would make it the fifth time, she supposed.
"Sooooo...first off, we have the Lab! That's where gadgets are made."
Starlight eyed the place curiously. Humans clad in lab coats and navy suspenders roamed about, some working on white-and-blue machinery that she had to assume were gadgets and others just standing around and talking. "What are gadgets, exactly?"
"They're kinda like tools we use to solve cases. Also, they make amazing-tastic weapons!"
A soft hum emanated from Starlight. "They don't really look durable."
"Eh, most aren't. Oona, the Lab Director here? She breaks about ten a day. Maybe even more than that, but she hasn't broken the record yet!"
Upon hearing yet another title, Starlight came to a logical conclusion. "Does she run the Lab?"
"Yep!" Mandy gazed around the area before frowning. "She's not here right now, though...ah well, c'mon!"
The hybrid led Starlight and Twilight to one of the hallways, with its massive amount of doors that contained everything from the surface of a pool table complete with set-up billiard balls to a giant tissue box.
"So as you can see, we have many different rooms!" Mandy zoomed over to a blue-and-yellow door that contained a circular food item that looked to be glazed. "Here we have the Donut Room slash Bagel Room slash Potato Room. It changes every so often." She zipped towards a red, almost vault-like door. "We have a Storage Room, here..." And then, she went over to a room marked with a white comforter and a few pillows. "And here's the Bedroom!'
Starlight blinked. "Whose is it?"
"Twilight and the others'. Used to be mine, but I got my own room down there."
Starlight followed the pointed index finger down the hall, and was surprised to find a door that seemed slathered in colors. She had a sneaking suspicion that door led to Mandy's room, going by the wild patterns on it and the fact that Mandy seemed to be the type of person who would throw paint on a surface and call it art.
Mandy grabbed ahold of the Bedroom's door handle and flung it open. "Et voila!"
Starlight looked inside, but didn't really find much of anything of interest -- it looked like the bedroom she had at the Castle of Friendship, which in itself was by no means impressive. "You sleep here?"
"And live here."
"And work here." Twilight added.
"Wow." Starlight chuckled. "No offense, Twilight, but this place is a lot more impressive than the Castle of Friendship. And a lot bigger."
"It is. A lot of Odd Squad precincts are like this, as a matter of fact. Some even have rooms that change every hour or so!"
"Does this precinct do that?"
"Not necessarily. They change, but not every hour. I haven't exactly figured out how they change or when, exactly." Twilight explained. "But the rooms here are different from other precincts! Or, uh, so I've read."
Mandy suddenly perked up and snapped her fingers. "Oh! Starlight, I never told you about the departments we have here!" She giggled and snorted. "Ah, silly me. It's one of the most essential things for agents to learn!"
Starlight didn't bother to tell her that she wasn't an agent, which was largely due to Mandy rushing them off towards...well, she wasn't sure, really. She just let the hybrid take her wherever.
"So I'm an Investigation agent, and so is Twilight. We are the..." Mandy faltered, her eyes darting back and forth as she tried to find the right wording for her explanation. She blew a raspberry at one point, perhaps her own way of helping her think, even if it was odd.
"We make up the bulk of the organization?"
"Yes, exactly!" Mandy pointed at Twilight. "We solve cases and get things done around here, mostly. We also have partners! Almost every one of us has at least one."
"Oh, right!" Starlight nodded. "You said your partner was Rainbow Dash, right, Twilight?"
"Yes. And Mandy has Pinkie Pie."
It was the perfect segue for the unicorn into the question she wanted answered the most. "You two wouldn't happen to be related, would you?"
Mandy took a moment. "I...ah..." She began patting the air behind her, clearly attempting to score a seat but not grabbing onto anything. "W-well, Starlight, that's...prolly the first time someone's asked me if we're related..."
Starlight tilted her head slightly, still expecting an answer.
"Yes, we're related."
Twilight's eyes began bugging out so much that Starlight and Mandy could have sworn they saw them bulging from the sockets. Starlight, however, only gave one simple word as a response: "Really?"
"No we're not related! What're you, crazy?!" Mandy yelled. "I'm biologically a human, Glimmer. In what crazy universe would a human and a pony do the thing in the place involving the stuff and then have a baby?!"
Now Twilight blanched. It was clear that no adult had had The Talk with Mandy, and the alicorn really hoped it stayed that way for as long as possible -- and even then, if Mandy was still the same, chances were she would probably take "the birds and the bees" literally.
"You, uh...make a good point. Sorry I asked." Starlight gave an apologetic smile. "So why does your mane- er, your hair and your tail look like hers, then, just colored brown instead of pink?"
Mandy let out a long, slow whistle. "That's a looooooong story. But to be honest, no one knows. I don't even know!" She gave a shrug. "I kinda like it, though. Used to be a nuisance but I've gotten used to it." As she made her way down the hall, she smiled. "Okay-dokay, anyway, let's go to the Creature Room and I'll show you the next department!"
The trio emerged in the bullpen and promptly went up the stairs, Starlight gazing at all the agents and clients with oddities that passed through. It fascinated her, in a way -- Equestria had its own share of oddities, but nothing like this as far as she knew.
Mandy threw open the Creature Room door and pointed at a curly-haired dark-skinned boy sitting at a large computer. "That is Ocean!"
Upon hearing his name, the boy turned around, and Starlight got a good look at him. Perhaps the most striking thing about him was his lack of socks or shoes, exposing something that definitely wasn't a hoof. A "foot", she had heard Twilight call it once. His exposed undershirt and necklace lined with small shells were easy tellers that he was just a bit eccentric. Not as much as Mandy, but eccentric enough.
Surprisingly, though, "eccentric" wasn't the right word to describe him. "Hey there, hybrid dude and bookworm dude!" he greeted, in a low and just slightly slurred voice that reminded Starlight of one of Rainbow Dash's crewmates. Soarin', she thought his name was. "Who's your guest?"
"Starlight Glimmer. I'm from Equestria!" Starlight responded. "Nice to meet you, Ocean."
"Cool, another pony! Is she joinin' us?"
"No, she's just having a look around." Mandy looked around the room. "Is Fluttershy here?"
"She's juuuuust finishin' up with some creature-feeding."
"All righty! So." Mandy interjected. "Ocean and Fluttershy are both part of the Creature Care department! They run the Creature Room here and care for all the odd creatures that call this Headquarters their home."
"What kind of odd creatures?" Starlight asked warily, looking around to make sure nothing was going to jump at her and devour her down to the last hair on her tail.
"Oh, if I gave you a list, we'd be here for..." Mandy did some quick math in her head. "About five years, give or take. We have a lot." She rolled her hand around as she listed off some of the more common creatures. "Centigurps, Hopinbobs, blobs of both the baby and adult kind, we've got a whole variety!"
The first two sounded like creatures that Starlight would probably see in Equestria. The last one sounded like what Twilight would call a failed experiment. No, wait, scratch that, she had called one of her failed experiments a blob before, because that's exactly what it was. Starlight still had nightmares about it sometimes, and upon recalling one of them, her body began to shudder, only stopping when it felt something rough and furry rub up against it. Looking down, she saw a creature that was mostly fur and a face.
"Who's this little guy?"
"That's Paul. He's a Lestybara. Super cuddly and small, but they bite. And their teeth are filled with poison."
Starlight immediately scooched back, giving a startled "Whoa!" as she did so.
Mandy lifted the creature up in her magical corona. "Maybe you should put it in a cage? Y'know, if it bites and stuff."
Fluttershy then emerged from the far left corner of the room, which was obscured by bushes. "Hello, everyone." She waved, then her eyes widened upon seeing Starlight. "Oh, Starlight! I wasn't expecting you here!"
"Hi, Fluttershy! Twilight brought me here for a tour of Odd Squad. I'm learning so much about this place and this world!"
"I'm glad you like it." Fluttershy gestured with her hoof to her co-worker. "You've met Ocean already, right?"
Starlight nodded. "How do you manage working here and helping all the animals at your cottage?"
"It's tough, but I make it work."
Starlight waited for her friend to elaborate. However, the Pegasus remained tight-lipped, leading the unicorn to give a soft sigh and a smile. "It really does seem like there's something for everypony here."
"There is! We're all one big happy family! This is the place where long-lasting friendships are made..." Mandy got into a showy pose again, just before she broke out into song. "...and dreams, coooome, truuuuuuuuue! Ha-cha-chaaaaa!"
At this display of true eccentricity, Starlight had herself a hearty laugh.
"If you ever do decide to join, Starlight, then I'm sure this precinct would love to have you."
"Well, I haven't seen the rest of this place!" Starlight turned and made a sweeping gesture with her hoof. "Surely there can't just be Investigation and Creature Care for departments, right?"
"Oh! Yeah!" Mandy bounced towards the door. "C'mon, I'll show you some more!"
Twilight waved. "Bye, Ocean! Bye, Fluttershy."
"Catch you all later!"
"Goodbye!"
Mandy, along with Twilight, eagerly took the time to show Starlight the other departments Odd Squad had to offer. She showed her the Scientists (again), the North and South Control Rooms and the Security agents that worked there (complete with Owen shouting that he was going on break and Mandy telling Starlight that "you get used to it"), and the tube operators and Maintenance agents that made up the combined Maintenance/Transportation department as well as the tube lobby where the agents of the former group worked -- and that was before getting into the thirteen other departments that were fresh in the minds of both alicorns. By the time the tour was over, Starlight's hooves were sore, as she couldn't afford to take a break with Mandy zipping around to and fro. Even Twilight encouraged her to keep going, much to her chagrin.
"So...that's it?"
"That's it! The end of the tour! They teach all this stuff in-depth at the Odd Squad Academy."
The trio stood in the bullpen, now. Starlight's gaze moved to Twilight for confirmation.
"Uh, but there are still more positions. Over sixty in total, from my research, although I've been told there might be a lot more." Twilight sheepishly grinned. "Just...wanted to clarify."
Starlight's eyes widened. "Sounds like agents here have a lot of options." she remarked. "I'm curious about The Big Office, though. Do you think I could meet the Big O in-pony? Er, I mean, in...person?" The saying sounded foreign on her tongue.
"I could try! She's busy with a lot of stuff, but even if she is, I could always show you around the Big Office!" Mandy said. "Are you coming back tomorrow?"
"Sure! I'd love to come tomorrow."
"Great!" Mandy grinned. "Maybe we can meet outside of the portal at..." She swiveled her ears in thought. "Mmm, 2PM?"
"Sounds good!"
"Hey, Starlight..." Twilight sidled up to her apprentice. "I know you must be tired, but once we get a good rest, how about I take you on a tour of Toronto? You've seen Odd Squad, so it's only fair you see the world aboveground."
The alicorn was right in that Starlight was tired. But regardless of her fatigue, sparkles formed in her eyes as she realized what her mentor was offering. "Yes! I've always wanted to see Toronto!" she said, recalling the many stories Twilight and the others had told her about life in the big city. "Can we go see the sights too?"
"Sure!" Twilight began trotting towards the steel double-doors. "Let's go. We'll grab a bite to eat first, then be on our way."
Like an excited schoolfilly, Starlight began to follow her, only stopping to ask Mandy if she wanted to come with.
"No thanks! I have work to do here. And a nap to catch up on."
"All right. See you tomorrow, then!"
As Mandy waved goodbye to the disappearing unicorn, a smile danced on her face. "Mm...I like her."
"Boo."
A frightened "NYAAAAAAH!!" came out of Mandy as the hybrid leaped a foot or two into the air and scrambled backwards on her rump, her hair and tail sticking straight up. "M-Momma!" She growled. "Don't scare me like that!"
Olive laughed. "Sorry! I've been watching you in the bullpen for a while. That unicorn was Starlight Glimmer, right?"
"Yes!" Mandy blinked. "Uh, how'd ya know?"
In response, Olive simply gave a knowing smile and raised an eyebrow.
"Ohhhhh...right. Oprah must've told you. Haha..." A soft blush crept onto Mandy's cheeks for a moment. "She's a super-nice pony. I think you'd like her!"
"I'm sure. It would be nice to have another pony join Precinct 13579, but..." Olive trailed off. Her head ducked down low, and she rubbed her arm awkwardly as though hiding something. A pause hung in the air.
"But what?" Mandy pressed, to no avail as the silence still lingered.
Finally, Olive murmured, "It's nothing."
Her mother's concern didn't sneak by Mandy any. "You have ponies working at your precinct, don't you?"
"We have a few, but we're planning on getting more soon. The Big O insisted we up our DEI rates."
"DEI?"
"Diversity, Equity and Inclusion." Olive explained. "You've seen ponies at my precinct, haven't you?"
Mandy's nose wrinkled as she tried to recall. As far as she knew, there were no equine agents working at the precinct, but perhaps they were tucked away in areas she didn't go to. "Not...really. Maybe I passed one and didn't know it?" She gave a shrug. "Anyway, it's back to work for me! Gotta do some stuff before I take a nap."
"Oh, hey, before you do that, you mind helping us with something?"
Mandy's eyes went half-lidded. "You couldn't get Otto out from under Oprah's juice bar?"
Olive's eyes, on the contrary, blinked in surprise. "Yes. That's exactly it."
"One second."
With confidence, Mandy strolled past her mother and went up the stairs into Oprah's office, where she was immediately met by a happy gasp from Otto, who had both of his legs weaved through two bar stools and was stuck to the floor by some spilled juice that hadn't been cleaned up.
"Mandy! Oh thank odd, please, help me!"
Oprah, who had a few stray hairs sticking out of the tight bun she usually wore, gazed at Mandy with exasperation. "He's so stuck, I can't-"
"Shhh. Shh shh shh. Watch and learn." was all Mandy said, ignoring the footsteps that signaled Olive's arrival to the office and getting right to work.
The hybrid's horn glowed in an array of colors, its corona latching on to Otto's entire body. The boy didn't dare move, instead staring at Mandy with worry as her magic began grasping the two bar stools he had gotten stuck in. His lower limbs were moved and stretched every which way, but in ways that wouldn't cause him immense pain. When moving his body didn't work, Mandy moved on to the bar stools, eyeing the rims below for a specific pattern she could use to her advantage.
And when that didn't work, she let out a groan, let go of the bar stools so that she was just taking hold of Otto's body, and made him disappear and appear in two bright prismatic flashes of light.
The Director landed, groaning in pain but able to freely move his legs now.
"Sorry! You okay?"
"Fine...save for my butt." Otto responded, shooting daggers at Mandy.
"Ah, you're good then."
Oprah and Olive, who had watched the efforts in awe, stared at Mandy for a few moments before the former gave a growl. "Why didn't anyone suggest we ask Mandy from the get-go?!" she screamed at the powers-that-be above.
"Maybe because she was busy giving a tour to Starlight?" Olive offered with a raised eyebrow.
Oprah snapped out of her angry stupor. "Oh yeah."
As Otto got to his feet and brushed his pants free of dirt, he gave Mandy a smile. "Thanks, Mandy. I owe you one!"
"No problem! But in the future, let someone just a liiiiiittle less tall go under the juice bar." She tilted her head. "Why were you under there, anyway?"
"I was trying to find my lucky marble. I've had it ever since I was a little kid and I lost it somewhere under there."
Mandy didn't waste any time in rushing over, getting a running start and sliding on her stomach like a penguin on ice while knocking over a few stools in the process. Her head bonked the bottom of the bar, but she quickly swiveled it to the right as she thrust her hand under the bottom and began feeling around.
After a minute, she came to the conclusion that feeling with her hand wasn't going to work. She had to go deeper.
By sheer way of "Mandy just being Mandy", the hybrid, treating the bottom piece of wood as nothing more but a giant flap, stuck her head under it. The rest of her body followed suit, snaking under the juice bar until it completely disappeared from view.
The three Directors were silent for a few moments.
"Did...did she..." Oprah slowly raised an index finger and pointed at the juice bar. "How...she's..."
"Oprah. General rule of thumb in Odd Squad is that we never, under any circumstances, question any agent's logic or actions. Especially not Mandy's." Olive raised her own index finger. "That's how brain hemorrhages start."
Oprah simply stammered as she watched the juice boxes and fruity ice cubes on the top of the bar shimmy and shake.
A muffled sneeze came forth from under the bar.
A small, carelessly-placed glass toppled onto the floor and developed a crack.
"Eww...Oprah, ya ever hear of a broom?! There's waaaaaaaay too much dust in here!"
Oprah, in response, grit her teeth and took a big inhale through her nose. Her supposedly calm composure didn't even last five seconds before a wail that sounded like one from a dying odd creature came forth and she buried her face in her hands.
After a few minutes, Mandy's rump poked out from the bottom, then the upper half of her body. As she got up and brushed the dust and dirt off of her, Otto approached her eagerly.
"Did you find it?"
What he got as an answer was Mandy lurching forwards, her cheeks bulging as she held a hand to her mouth.
Oprah's eyes widened. "Is she..."
"She's gonna vomit!"
Olive began lunging for Mandy. "Mandy, no! Not on the floor!"
A saliva-covered marble was spat out, clattering to the floor and rolling until it came to a dead stop against a foot of the wooden coffee table. Olive, Otto and Oprah all stared at the marble with looks of surprise, disgust, and concern, and then looked at Mandy the exact same way.
"Oh, so much better." Mandy gave a ragged exhale. "Sorry about that. It was the first thing I thought of when it came to how I was gonna get the thing out of there."
A pause.
"Also, you're welcome."
"Yeah, thanks." Otto said, taking out a clean latex glove from hammerspace, putting it on his hand, and picking up the marble with it. "But next time, can you get it without putting your gross spit on it?"
"I said I was sorry!" Mandy scoffed. "Bunch of ungrateful kiddos...just gimme the marble."
Before Otto could protest, the marble was wrenched free from his hand, and then disappeared in a bright prismatic flash that also took Mandy with it.
"You, uh..." Olive blinked, snapping out of her traumatic trance and shaking her head. "You should really get a pouch for that marble, partner. Or at least keep it at home."
Otto sighed. "Yeah, you're right. Odd Squad isn't a place that really relies on luck, anyway." He tilted his head. "Are you okay, though? You were staring off into space for a little bit."
"I...yeah. I was just recalling the last time Mandy had...thrown up." Olive shuddered. "My bathroom took weeks to actually get fully cleaned. I'm seriously considering getting it renovated now."
"Yikes." Otto bit his lip, wanting to throw in an addendum but being stopped by a bright flash of rainbow-colored light.
"All right. I've cleaned your marble with disinfectant, put it through the wringer with Shmumber Keeper's Friend, and I washed it with just a pinch of bleach!" Mandy frowned. "Odenbacker wouldn't let me use the whole bottle...not after he told me about the fumes."
Otto took his sparkling-clean marble back. "Thank you, Mandy. You're the best."
"All right, all right, let's not go that far." Mandy put her hand on his shoulder. "But you're welcome." She turned and began making her way towards the doors. "Now, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got a ton of work to do if I wanna meet up with Starlight tomorrow. Toodles!"
Otto watched Mandy take off. Olive's attention, on the other hand, was elsewhere.
"Something wrong, Oprah?"
"Starlight's not really thinking of joining Odd Squad...is she?" The words were nearly a murmur, punctuated by Oprah staring dead ahead with a worried expression on her face.
"Well, she did say she wasn't sure, right?" Olive assured. "Besides, if she did join, the chances are really slim that she would go to this precinct upon graduating."
Oprah crossed her arms, and her expression changed from worry to annoyance. "It's not like I would take her in anyway."
"Why not? You have Twilight and the others."
She wasn't sure what about Otto made her want to metaphorically spill the beans -- his persuasiveness, his innocence, him calling her out on hypocrisy -- but she did so anyway.
"Because..." She clenched her fists. "Because I'm not ready for such a big change."
With the secret out, the Director sighed and made her way over to one of the couches, taking a seat and bowing her head down with her lower arms resting on her knees and her hands clasped together.
"The Big O said that this is one of the few precincts that hasn't allowed ponies in." Olive frowned. "Sooner or later, you may be leader of the only one."
That stung. No...it cut. It cut deep. Thoughts flooded Oprah's mind, of her precinct being shamed for not letting ponies in, of ponies staging protests and waging war against the precinct for not being allowed in, of the Big O removing her as lea-
It was too much to bear. "Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay?" The voice was almost a snap, but the glare in her eyes told Olive and Otto all that they needed to know. She stared at them with harsh, angry fire in her eyes, almost daring them to press her further. "Starlight's not joining this precinct and that's final."
Olive took the hint at face value. "If that's what you want."
Otto, as well. "It's your precinct."
The partners moved towards Oprah's personal tube entrance, watching as the wooden double-doors opened and exposed the tube. Olive got in first, turning around and hunching down.
"We'll see you later, okay?"
She went up the tube, followed by Otto quickly after.
That just left Oprah alone with her thoughts. She rubbed her head, a sigh escaping her as she meandered over to her desk and knocked on one of the wooden walls that sat beside her screen. It flipped vertically to reveal a four-by-four row of juice boxes, and she snagged one at random, jabbing the attached straw into the top and taking a mighty swig out of it.
But not even her "alcohol" -- air quotes intended -- could ease her worries about those colorful Equestrian equines joining her cherished, sturdy, and strong-willed precinct, and so, she sat in her chair at her desk for a long, long time, deep in thought and barring any agent from coming to see her until she had snapped back to reality.
After the tour of Toronto had concluded, Twilight had let Starlight go free to poke around Precinct 13579's Headquarters by herself. Although Starlight had concerns she would get lost, Twilight had assured her that if she did, an agent would show her the way back to the bullpen. Headquarters was huge, but it was lucky that there were denizens willing to help a lost soul (or more) out.
So it was now that Starlight was wandering the halls, eyeing the rooms and trying to decide which one looked safe to explore. She figured, if she was going to join Odd Squad, then she should at least get to know all the rooms that resided within it. Any danger she faced...well, she had magic to fight it easily, no matter how odd it was.
As she trotted through the halls, a figure made itself known, stepping through a corner.
"Hi!"
Starlight stopped and gazed at the newcomer. With her red hair, red glasses, beaming smile, and Investigation suit, she certainly looked friendly. Although the large basket she held in her hands, which was brimming with everything from crackers to little trinkets, seemed just a tad suspect.
"You're a new face around here, aren't you?" the girl chirped. "My name's Olympia. What's yours?"
Starlight had to briefly wonder if she really was an actual clone of Pinkie Pie this time around. At the very least, she had the enthusiasm and similarly-colored hair...and the tendency to give gift baskets to newcomers like Pinkie often did. But she pushed that thought to the side for now. "Starlight Glimmer." she answered. "It's nice to meet you, Olympia! You, uh...work here?"
"Sure do! I love it here!" Olympia said. "Where'd you come from?"
"Ponyville. It's in Equestria."
"Cool! But I mean more like your hometown. Where do you live?"
Starlight blinked. "Um...Ponyville?" She gave a sheepish grin. "But I used to live in a place called Sire's Hollow with a good friend of mine named Sunburst. When he got his cutie mark, though, he left for Canterlot and I was left without any friends. So when I grew up, I left Sire’s Hollow and founded a new town called Our Town, where I...uh…"
"Where you what?"
Starlight bit her lip and rubbed her leg awkwardly. "Kind of sort of stole the cutie marks of everypony in the village and made everypony think they were all equal to one another, with no special talents to speak of."
The look on Olympia's face was hard to pin down to a single emotion. But perhaps the best way Starlight could describe it was simply "disappointment". Her turned-over mouth showed two rows of straight teeth, and her eyes showed just a tiny hint of malice.
"So you were...a villain?"
Starlight, who wasn't sure why Olympia's mood had changed so suddenly, gave a regretful nod. "More or less, yeah. But Twilight helped me realize the error of my ways. I owe a lot to her, and to her friends."
This didn't sway Olympia any. "Oh. I see." she said, her tone utterly disheartened. "I'll let you go now. See you later, I guess."
"Wait! What about the-"
Olympia had disappeared before Starlight could inquire about what she was holding in her hands.
"...basket?"
The unicorn blinked, taking a moment to figure out what, exactly, had just transpired. Not coming to any kind of conclusions, she gave a shrug, brushed it off as "just Odd Squad things", and continued her journey through the halls and into the rooms.
Mandy stuck her tongue out halfway as she slowly and carefully applied the final stroke of paint to a gadget that had been badly singed. The singes had been scrubbed out, but the hybrid felt the gadget could use a new coat of paint too.
"Mandy."
"Hmm?" The hybrid turned to meet the upset face of Olympia, who was very clearly invading her personal space. "Oh, Olympia! Hi! Whatcha dooooooin'?"
Olympia wasted no time. "Are you aware that there's a villain in Headquarters?"
"What?!" Mandy shot up from her chair and let her head swivel all around. "Where?! I'll beat 'em up! Where are they?" She grabbed Olympia by the shoulders. "Tell me where they are! Who they are! Are they are they are!"
"Some pony named Starlight Glimmer. She said that she stole the cutie marks of every pony in some village called 'Our Town' and pushed a philosophy of equality on them." Olympia scoffed in disgust. "Can you imagine anything more vile?"
Mandy's eyes widened briefly, although the reaction didn't last very long as she began to weigh the possibility of Olympia outright lying to her face. Starlight seemed like a nice pony who didn't have a mean bone in her body.
...No, wait, scratch that. She suddenly recalled a story of Twilight and the others going to some remote village and stopping its unicorn leader without any warning to her or to Oprah. She just didn't think this was the unicorn they had been sent to stop.
Still, a unicorn who stole cutie marks didn't seem all that powerful. "Yes. King Ashero and everything he's done, for starters." the hybrid deadpanned, as she offered up an example of a villain who could easily outclass Starlight. It took a special kind of malice to send innocent people to do your bidding and capture two other innocent people because you were too lazy to do it yourself, and even moreso when you sent out one of your people to find said two innocent people under the guise of going out on a mission.
"Who?" Olympia paused for a moment, then shook her head and set aside the point. "Anyway, we need to get rid of her! She's a threat to Odd Squad!"
"Yeah!" Mandy looked to be geared up for battle, right before she backtracked. "Wait, no." She blinked. "When I met her, she seemed like a kind pony! She wasn't sure whether she wanted to join, but she-"
Olympia recoiled. "You are not going to allow her to join! You wouldn't!"
"W-well, she hasn't decided yet...and I haven't talked about it with Oprah."
"Then let's go up to her office and see what she has to say. Right now!"
Mandy's gaze shifted to her desk, and then shifted back to Olympia. "R-right now?" She scratched her neck. "Olympia, I'm really busy and-"
"No buts, no cuts, and no coconuts!"
"Um, isn't that Oprah's li-"
Mandy was stopped by Olympia's hand being slapped onto her wrist. The hybrid stared at the hand for a few moments before she felt her body go flying clear out of the chair and head towards the stairs with its dragger in tow.
"WhoaOlympiaslowdown! Slow doooooown!" came the frantic scream. However, Olympia did not slow down, and burst her way into Oprah's office where the Director was sipping a juice box.
"Ms. O, do you have a moment to talk?"
Oprah stopped, set the juice box down, and eyed the pair of agents that had come into her office. Her gaze settled on Mandy, who was wheezing and panting in futile efforts to try and regain her breath. Clearly, this was a matter of great importance, and the Director was committed to giving it her full attention. "What is it, Olympia?"
"You should know that Starlight Glimmer, a villain, is loose in Headquarters."
That made Oprah's eyes widen slightly. She hadn't really gotten to know the mare outside of basic introductions, but for all intents and purposes, she seemed decent enough. "Starlight Glimmer is a villain?"
"Yes. By her own admission, she stole the cutie marks of a bunch of ponies in a village named 'Our Town' in order to push a mindset of equality." Olympia threw her hands into the air. "We need to get rid of her. Take her into Odd Squad custody, something!"
"Hold on." Oprah held a hand up. "When I met Starlight, she seemed nice enough that I was willing to let her take a tour of Headquarters." She turned on the other being in the room. "Mandy, you were with her, weren't you? Does she seem villainous to you?"
Mandy shook her head and groaned, still trying to get her bearings together. Luckily, she had enough of them together that she could reasonably answer her boss's question. "No...she doesn't. She's not sure if she wants to join Odd Squad, either."
"Out of the question. I'm not allowing any more ponies into this precinct."
The answer was quick, almost reflexive in nature. Olympia gave a satisfied smirk.
"What? Why not?" Mandy gestured to outside of the office. "You have Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack here! A-and you accepted the Cutie Mark Crusaders in without hesitation!" She neglected to mention that Oprah had let them in due to her nostalgic blindness, but she figured she would bring up the point regardless, if only for the hypocrisy.
"It's a personal matter I don't wish to discuss."
"Ha!" Olympia pointed. "See, Mandy? Even Ms. O agrees that we shouldn't let her into Odd Squad! She's dangerous!"
Oprah's brow furrowed. "I never cited her being dangerous as the reason why, Olympia."
Olympia simply gave a scoff. "Anyway, I refuse to be friends with someone who's a potential villain. Once a villain, always a villain."
And there it was. That long-standing mentality of Olympia's that she refused to let go. Unbeknownst to her, as well as Mandy, her partner was primed to challenge that mentality and prove evidence of the contrary, but certainly not ready, as he didn't like talking about his harsh and twisted past. Still, one thing both Mandy and Oprah could agree on was that the mentality was completely flawed -- for both Odd Squad villains and Equestrian villains. And it had been proven time and time again.
"I'll admit, our first interaction was brief." Oprah said, not wanting to butt heads with her agent over it. "But if she really was villainous, she likely would have tried to take Mandy or Twilight out first. And as far as I can see, Mandy is still standing. Twilight, as well."
"And I'm very very busy with work!" Mandy complained. "I can assure you, Oprah, Starlight is very kind. She was very attentive on our tour! And she didn't try to harm anyone!"
Olympia took a step forward. "If you won't run her out of Headquarters then I'll do it myself!"
"Olympia!" Oprah narrowed her eyes slightly. "Starlight is a guest here. We should treat her like one, whether she has bad intentions or not."
"No! Once a villain, always a villain!" A growl eked its way out of the Investigation agent. "I thought you were on my side!"
"In this matter, I am on no one's side but my own." Oprah replied calmly. "Starlight can stay. Besides, if she does turn out to be a villain, then we can take her down."
Another growl. Olympia's head whipped towards her co-worker. "Mandy, you better not agree with her!"
Suddenly, Mandy was getting flashbacks to when Fluttershy confronted Oprah over the hybrid taking a vacation. It was sickening deja vu. "M-me? I...aww, I don't wanna get involved in this! I like Starlight!" she whined, before heaving a sigh. "Look, look, tell ya what. I'm hanging out with her tomorrow. I promised to let her tour the Big Office. So I can keep an eye on her then and find out her true intentions."
Olympia took a moment to consider the plan, then jabbed an index finger at Mandy. "You'd better. I want to see what she's really up to. I may know a lot about Odd Squad, but I'm still learning about Equestria and its history." She gave a single nod. "I'm counting on you, Mandy."
"Right! You have my word!" Mandy did a salute. "Just...don't keep harassing her, okay? 'Cause then she might not wanna reveal the truth!"
Olympia had to admit, her higher-up spoke wisely. "Hmm. You make a good point. I guess I can watch from a distance."
"Good!"
"And as for you, Ms. O..."
"Huh?"
Olympia's expression soured. "You disappoint me. I really hope you reconsider your stance. I looked up to you."
As the agent left, Oprah slumped down into her chair with a sigh, rubbing her forehead.
"Oprah...I'm sorry. I didn't wanna get roped into this any more than you did." Mandy said. "But you and I both know how Olympia feels about villains."
"Yes. It's unfortunate, but there's nothing we can do about it." Oprah put on a sad smile, full of pity. "We've already tried everything."
"Not everything."
"Huh?"
"Olympia looooooves Momma and Otto, right? So maybe a couple words from them is just what she needs!"
Oprah bit her lip. The idea was good in theory, but whether it was good in execution was something else entirely. "I don't know..."
"Hey, it's worth a shot!" Mandy shrugged. "And it'll keep her at bay while I hang out with Starlight."
Eccentric and crazy as she was, Oprah knew that Mandy came up with some good plans. She had her moments of idiocy, but outside of that, she was very crafty and quite the manipulator. If she wanted, she could become a villainess worthy of outranking even Odd Todd -- at least as far as Oprah considered. But luckily, she was on the heroes' side. "Well, in that case, all right. I'll give them a call."
"Winner winner chicken dinner!" Mandy exclaimed, suddenly getting a thought as to what to make for dinner. "Tell 'em I'm meeting Starlight outside of the portal to Equestria at 2, so anytime before then, they can come!"
"Will do." Oprah nodded. She made a mental note to tell Olive and Otto to come between 12 and 2, since she knew Mandy wasn't going to get up before noon for something like this, even if it was important.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a loooooot of work to do before my nap! Hopefully Olympia doesn't give me any more trouble...or anyone else for that matter." She began bouncing away. "Toodles!"
With both agents gone now, Oprah could finally relax. She felt the tension seep off of her and was honestly surprised it didn't manifest as wisps of magic like the last time she had let herself relax somewhat. "Assistant! Get me a juice." she called, nabbing the box she hadn't finished and continuing to chug it even after an assistant placed a fresh fruit-punch-flavored one on her desk.
All the while, the note of "Call Olive and Otto" kept ramming itself against the front of her brain, with her deciding that when she had calmed down enough, she would call them and explain to them the entire situation.
The next day found Olive and Otto trudging through the hallways of Precinct 13579.
"Why does Mandy always have to drag us into her business?" Olive complained. "She can't get Pinkie involved? Twilight? Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity? For odd's sake, not even Peaches?"
"Hey, it's for a good reason!" Otto countered, trying to pick himself back up and fix his posture. "Olympia needs to drop her stupid philosophy. Villains can reform, they just...don't always reform."
"True." Olive scratched an itch on her arm. "Odd Todd reformed, and now he works as a gardener who runs rehab places for villains on the path to reformation. There's no reason why Starlight can't do the same, if she's even evil at all. Olympia's just making a mountain out of a molehill."
As the pair rounded the corner, they found Fluttershy exiting Mandy's room, a look of mild disappointment on her features. Quickly, they rushed up to the Pegasus before she could take off, hoping to gather some info on Starlight -- after all, Fluttershy was Starlight's friend, or so they presumed.
"Hm?" Fluttershy turned and smiled. "Oh, hello Olive, hello Otto. What's going on?"
Olive and Otto took a few moments to catch their breaths. The former, being the more athletic of the pair, spoke first. "Hey, Fluttershy. We're just here to see Mandy."
"For what?"
"Olympia thinks that Starlight Glimmer -- that pony who came with Twilight the other day? She thinks she's a villain."
Fluttershy gasped. "Oh no, I can assure you, Starlight's no villain!" She shook her head. "At least, not now. She used to be, but we helped her learn how much better friendship is."
"For our part, we don't think Starlight's a villain either. From what Oprah's told us, she seems nice."
"But we haven't met her in-person." Otto blinked a couple times. "...In-pony?"
Olive amusedly rolled her eyes. "Just go with 'in-person', partner."
Fluttershy tilted her head. "So what do you need Mandy for?"
"She thinks that we, as...Olympia's idols..." Olive ran a head through her hair, briefly wondering if Olympia's infatuation with her and Otto was just like Scootaloo's infatuation with Rainbow Dash. They both idolized prominent figures, so there was one comparison on the books. "...will be able to knock some sense into her by having a little chat."
"I have noticed she talks a lot about you two." Fluttershy noted. "It just might work. But, um...Mandy's asleep still. I wanted to ask her a question about laser chickens, but I didn't want to wake her up."
Otto gave a few nods. "Good call."
Olive pulled back her jacket sleeve and undershirt sleeve to reveal her smartwatch. "It's already 1:00. Mandy's meeting Starlight in an hour, and she wanted us to come before then."
Otto made his way towards the door and turned the knob.
Sure enough, Mandy was absolutely nowhere near ready to meet a unicorn who was new to Earth. Clutching a pillow close to her body, raucous snores and silly sleep-talk left her as she tossed and turned in bed.
Olive was quick to take charge, pushing past Otto and Fluttershy and heading straight for Mandy's bed. "Mandy? C'mon, wake up. Otto and I are here."
A feeble whine left Mandy as she extended a hand hard enough to bop Olive in the face. "Mmmm...not that dog, I want th' other onnnnne..."
"Oh come on, snap out of it!" Olive screamed, before she began pinching the bridge of her nose. "Honestly, I love you, Mandy, but your inability to wake up is infuriating sometimes..."
"Can't we just wake her up with a stack of pancakes or something?" Otto asked, watching as Mandy's foot twitched violently for a few seconds as she let out another snore.
"The last time we tried to wake her up with food, she ate the food in her sleep. And then the plate. And then the silverware. And the plate and silverware went out the same exact way it went in." Olive thrust her face into Otto's. "Do you really think that'll work?"
Otto gently pushed his partner away. "Touche."
A snort brought the trio's attention to Mandy, who pushed the pillow away and turned to face them. "Wh-huh...?" She squinted. "You th' zzhelter workerzz...?"
"Yes. We're here to help you pick out your new dog." Olive deadpanned, before she gestured to herself and her partner. "It's us, Mandy. Olive and Otto? You wanted us to come here to help you with the whole Olympia issue?"
Silence. Mandy stared at them with her eyes half-lidded. "One language...don't zzpeak it." Her right hand thrust towards her nightstand, where she grabbed her Chocolate Moo-Moo Surprise drink and chugged it. Once that was done, she set the glass down and faced the trio again. "Englizzh, pleazze...?"
Olive sighed. "Yesterday, Oprah called us and said you had an idea to change Olympia’s philosophy and get her to like Starlight. You also told her that you wanted us to be here an hour before you were going to go hang out with Starlight and-"
Mandy gasped. "That was today?! Aww pickleferries!" She furiously shook her head. "I completely forgot!" Suddenly, she paused, her eyes widening. "Wait...wait...ohhhhhh it's coming back to me! We were gonna visit the Big Office! I was gonna show her around!"
All Olive could do was stare at her adopted daughter, unable to form coherent words as she simply stammered. Finally, a growl forced its way out of her as she screamed, "Are you kidding me?!"
"Now I remember it all!" Mandy nodded. "Yeah, I thought that since she’s a biiiiig fan of yours, you could help her be a little more open and a lot more friendlier towards our guest!"
"Sure! We're here to help however we can." Otto nudged Olive with his elbow. "Right, partner?"
Olive rolled her eyes. "Right." she spat out noncommittally.
"Yay!" Mandy clapped her hands together. "Okay, gimme five minutes and then we'll go get Olympia!" She hopped off of the bed, rudely shoved Olive, Otto and Fluttershy out of the way, and made a beeline for the Bathroom.
With the hybrid gone, Olive could voice her concerns. "Otto, you really don't think this is going to work, do you?"
"Ah, don't be such a killjoy, Olive. It's worth a shot." Otto smiled. "If Olympia won't listen to Oprah, she'll listen to us."
Secretly, Olive had a feeling this plan wasn't going to work. She wasn't sure whether it was due to its logistics, Mandy being...well, Mandy, or the ages-old adage of "you can't help someone who doesn't want to help themselves". Still, she supposed giving it a shot was better than doing nothing and sit back and watch a human torment an innocent pony on the misguided basis that she was a villain.
"I suppose."
"And you're sure this won't blow up in my face?"
"Honest-to-goodness! It's not an explosive surprise." A pause. "This time."
The blindfolded Olympia bit back a groan as she was led through the halls by Mandy. She had no idea where she was going -- all she knew was that Mandy had sprung up behind her, quickly tied a blindfold around her eyes after the third attempt, and the rest was history.
Mandy went ahead of her to open the door for her and led her inside, taking the blindfold off of her. "Okay, open them!"
Olympia did. She was met with a room that was white, though it had indents jutting out from the wall so it wasn't some kind of creepy white void room. Sitting in two grey chairs were none other than the two Directors she idolized the most.
"Olive and Otto?!"
"Hi."
"Long time no see!"
Olympia's face suddenly lit up with excitement. "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" She glanced at Mandy. "Mandy, you didn't tell me you were bringing them here!"
"'Cuz it was a surprise, silly!"
"Are you guys free to hang out? We could get some lunch, take a nice stroll, catch up, oh, we could even go shopping if you guys are up to that, there are a ton of things on my list and I need-"
"No." Olive interjected. "Actually, we came to talk to you."
"About you and Starlight Glimmer."
The smile on Olympia's face faltered. "Me and her?" She nervously gave a chuckle. "What about us?"
"Oprah told us that you came to her yesterday and informed her that Starlight is a villain. You two butted heads, exchanged some words…and then you stormed out of her office."
"And you got Mandy involved, too." Otto added.
Olympia suddenly felt pressure begin to weigh on her. She bit her lip. "W-well...I..."
"Look, we'll cut to the chase, Olympia. Starlight is not a villain." Olive's gaze shifted to her adopted daughter. "Mandy, you went on a tour with her yesterday. Did she do anything malicious? Anything that posed a giant red flag to you?"
"Ha, Oprah asked me that same question yesterday!" Mandy had herself a giggle-snort at the coincidence, then shook her head. "Starlight was actually very nice. And super-curious!"
"Sure, she may have stolen cutie marks in the past and wanted to spread a message of equality." Otto blinked. "But did you get the whole story?"
Olympia hesitated for a moment. "The whole story?"
"Whatever Starlight might have told you about what she did as a villain...maybe she was holding back some details." Otto gestured to his hip. "Besides, we humans don’t have cutie marks. She can’t do anything to us."
"B-but just think, Otto! If she was powerful enough to steal the cutie marks of ponies, who knows what she could do to us Odd Squad agents! O-or even to the townspeople!"
Olive, feeling another headache coming on, did her trademark "Olivepalm" -- pinching the bridge of her nose with two fingers. "Stop this. You're being ridiculous."
"I’m looking out for Odd Squad’s best interests! I’m protecting us from a major threat!" Olympia furiously shook her head, while Mandy, sensing things were about to get worse, backed away. "You guys aren’t understanding! I know Odd Squad history from the time it was formed up until this very second. I’ve read about the worst villains this organization has ever faced. And I gotta say...Starlight Glimmer is one of the worst ones by far."
Olive stared at her in disbelief, from one Odd Squad historian to another. She didn't have the vast library of knowledge Olympia had, granted, but she knew a fair bit about the organization's history that she felt she could probably go toe-to-toe with Twilight. And although she hadn't met Starlight, "stripping cutie marks" was nothing compared to, say, killing a bunch of innocent agents like Odd Todd did -- just as an example. Had Starlight ever killed a pony? She didn't think so.
"Olympia, you’re comparing apples to oranges. Ponies are a different species than humans. They’re different than Odd Squad agents. Are they more powerful? Yes. Are they a threat? Some could be, yes. But to think that…" She chuckled. "...a pony with the power to remove cutie marks is on the same level as, oh, I don’t know, Felicity Flora. That’s stupid."
"It's not stupid! You just don't know what she's capable of because you've never met her!"
"Well, you're right about one thing." Otto responded. "We haven't met her."
"But..." Olive raised a finger. "...we're willing to take Mandy’s word for it when it comes to her personality. Plus, Oprah mentioned that Starlight is a student of Twilight’s. I don’t think the Princess of Friendship would take someone under her wing who was villainous."
Olympia could only stammer, unable to provide a proper rebuttal. When words failed her, she swiveled her head towards the other being in the room, who had been staying surprisingly quiet only because she was busy staring at one of the indents in the wall. "Mandy!"
No response.
"Mandy!!"
"Whuh-huh?!" That snapped the hybrid out of her daydream. She blinked and turned around. "Sorry, I was kinda starin' off into space...what're we talkin' about?"
"You dragged me here to see my idols just so they could lecture me?!"
In complete and chipper dead earnest: "Yes!"
Olympia growled. "How dare you!" And then, her attention became fixed on the two Directors again. "I looked up to you guys! We worked together, even! And now you're just gonna...you're-"
"Yes." Olive chose to ignore the audible cracking in Olympia's voice. "Starlight is a nice pony, Olympia. I don't know how many times we have to hammer it into your brain."
Thick, ugly tears began pooling in Olympia's eyes, and they just as quickly began streaming down her face. "Fine. FINE!! Thanks for nothing!" she screamed, her voice bouncing off of the walls of the room slightly before she stormed out, slamming the door closed behind her.
Mandy's ears flattened. "What have I done?" she asked aloud, before her ears caught the sound of Olive and Otto rising from their chairs. "I'm so so sorry I ever dragged you two into this!"
"Don't be." Otto placed a hand on Mandy's shoulder before the hybrid could really freak out and start firing off words like cannonballs. "We tried. That's what matters!"
"Yeah, but what if she actually goes after Starlight? Twilight brought her here for a reason! I don’t want her Odd Squad experience ruined just because of one agent!"
Olive simply smiled. "Instead of working yourself into a frenzy, why don't you try telling Starlight about Olympia? Maybe she'll understand."
"I dunno...I could try, but..."
"In the meantime, I can let Oprah know what went on here." Otto leaned in close to Mandy's human ear. "Olive...woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. She's a little crabby."
"It was construction! Why is there construction happening on a residential street without prior forewarning?! Not even a letter!" Olive threw her hands into the air. "Adults, I swear, they make life so much harder for us kids..."
An amused Mandy rolled her eyes. "Sure! It's almost time for me to meet her, anyway. Or...at least I think." She pulled back her jacket and undershirt sleeves expecting a watch to be there, much to her disappointment as she realized that she didn't carry a watch on her. "Ah, nothin' wrong with me meeting her early! See you two later, and thank you!"
The hybrid left, and she became resigned to one thing. If Olympia couldn't be swayed into dropping her philosophy, then she would have to target the other end of the hostility -- explain things to Starlight, hope the unicorn understood, and then show her the awesome sights of Toronto and teach her lots about Earth.
As it turned out, Mandy was definitely not early.
She was late. By a whole 15 minutes.
Her body soared out of the tubes, and from there, she took flight, flapping her wings and attempting to get to the portal as fast as she could. She knew where it was -- it was hidden in a large cluster of bushes lining the entrance of a forest that sat at the end of a small meadow -- but that didn't stop her from nearly tumbling in.
"Bad, bad, bad!" she exclaimed as she placed her feet on the ground, nearly falling into the portal before whirling her arms backwards in an effort to stop herself. Starlight's turquoise corona caught her and began moving her upright.
Mandy breathed a sigh of relief as her feet touched the ground. "Oh wow, thanks!" she chirped. "Going into that portal would have been awful."
"Why's that?"
"I've never gone through the portal before. Since I'm a pony-human hybrid and not entirely a pony, the results could be disastrous. I could end up completely mutated, I could end up as a human entirely...Equestria could even fall to shambles!" Mandy rubbed her arm. "Anyway, I'm so sorry I was late, I had to deal with something and-"
"Don't worry about it!" Starlight smiled. "Being an Odd Squad agent takes away a lot of free time. Twilight told me that. Although I am curious as to the whole 'pony-human hybrid' thing and how it impacts Equestria."
"Oh thank goodness." Mandy placed a hand on her chest. "Me being a pony-human hybrid is a little, uh...complicated. Twilight might have some notes on it...though if she does, I haven't seen them." She turned her back to Starlight and bent over slightly. "Now c'mon, let's go to the Big Office!"
Starlight blinked, taking in the sight of Mandy's slightly-wagging tail and her current posture. "What are you doing?"
"You can hop on my back! My spine can support ya, don't worry."
The sound of magic being activated that definitely wasn't Mandy's made her straighten up and turn around. Her jaw dropped as she laid eyes on a now-floating Starlight, who was encased in her own magic.
"I can self-levitate. But thanks!"
Mandy's jaw dropped. Self-levitation was something that she had tried to do before, mostly when she first got her extensions, only for Twilight and Rarity to gently remind her that self-levitation was something for more advanced unicorns and alicorns. Since then, she had never thought about trying again. The only time it even flashed in her mind was in that one nightmare she had after she failed to fly using her tail. But she could do that, and she had wings.
Being able to fly with just her magic would be helpful, though...especially if her wings and tail became disabled for whatever reason. Self-levitation was merely another avenue for flight, and here was a unicorn who seemed to be flawlessly skilled at it.
"You can't self-levitate, can you?"
The amused question brought Mandy out of her excitement. "I...n-no. I want to do it, though. I can already fly with my wings..." She demonstrated by extending her wings and doing a few loop-de-loops. "...and my tail..." She folded in her wings, bunched up her legs, and leaped backwards, letting her spinning tail support her body. "...but having self-levitation would be amazing-tastic!"
Starlight stared at the spinning tail, trying to recall if Pinkie Pie could perform such a feat. She hadn't seen it, but she had to assume the answer was a fat resounding "yes" across the board. "Well, I could always teach you, if you're up for it."
Mandy gasped. "Really?! Would you really?!" Her eyes got stars in them. "Oh, I’ve been trying to master levitating others for ages, and I’ve gotten a little better at it. But Twilight tells me you’re so good at magic that I’ve kinda always wanted a lesson from you!"
This got a smile out of Starlight -- Twilight had been mentioning her to Mandy, if not to other Odd Squad agents. Which, in all honesty, was a good sign that perhaps her visit to this world had been long overdue. "Sure thing." she said. "Maybe we can get started after you show me the Big Office?"
"Yes! C'mon, let's go!"
The speed at which Mandy moved was so fast that it nearly knocked Starlight out of her levitation field. The unicorn stared at the disappearing figure for a few seconds before recollecting her bearings and soaring after her, a smirk forming on her face as she got the idea to have a little race with this anomaly of a creature she had gotten to know and, perhaps, befriend.
"Ha ha! I win!"
As Mandy landed and folded her wings in, Starlight came to a rest as well, her magic fading away. "I gotta say, you're really fast for someone who wasn't born a Pegasus."
"Took me a while to get used to these babies!" Mandy's wings rustled. "But believe me, I can fly like a total pro now."
Starlight's gaze fell on what she could only assume was the Big Office. All around her, agents came and went, some human and some ponies. She was surprised to find ponies among the ranks -- she would have to ask the Big O how they pulled that one off. Maybe the Big O actually was a pony, a denizen of Equestria. Maybe they were even an alicorn. For all she knew, Celestia herself could be manning it and she wouldn't know. The possibilities excited her.
"So this is the Big Office?"
"Yup! A lot of assistants work here, under the Big O!"
"Assistants? Like royal guards?"
Mandy's nose wrinkled. "I guess?"
An Earth pony with a cutie mark of what looked to be a solar eclipse and wearing a white suit passed the duo and waved her hoof. "Hi there, Mandy!"
"Hiya, Golden Moon!" Mandy waved back. "Love the white on ya! Looks nice!"
Starlight gave a friendly wave to the other mare as well. "I didn't know there were other ponies working here."
"As Earth and Equestria..." Mandy faltered as she tried to think of exactly what planet in what solar system in what galaxy in what subsection of space in what section of space Equestria was on, exactly. But nothing presented itself. "As my planet and your planet are closer now, the Big O decided to employ ponies into Odd Squad, as agents in every department! Even the Big Office department!"
"Huh. I knew there were ponies here, but I didn't know they were a part of Odd Squad."
"Nope!" Mandy began bouncing towards the doors. "Let's go inside!"
The first thing Starlight noticed upon stepping hoof into the Big Office was just how white it was. It was like someone used Celestia's own coat color for inspiration. She supposed that checked out, given how many assistants wore mostly white. It was a good thing everyone wore uniforms here, because otherwise, Starlight would have kept on asking what agents were in what department and then question the logistics of pony races and how they worked in each department magic-wise.
"Welcome to the Big Office!" Mandy gestured to the entirety of the building.
"It's so white." was the first thing out of Starlight's mouth, quickly followed by, "I gotta say, it's not the best color choice."
"The Big Office, as a department, has white as a theme color. That's why everything's white." Mandy shrugged. "It's not like this at the other six Big Offices! One's as big as an airport but it's got a lot more than just white."
"As big as a what?"
Starlight didn't get her question answered, as a blue-coated Pegasus stallion marched up to them. "Hey there! May I help you two ladies?"
"Hi! I'm Agent Mandy, of Precinct 13579. This is Starlight Glimmer, a guest of mine. We're just touring the place."
"Ah, I see." The stallion nodded. "My name is Cobalt. I'm one of the Big O's assistants." Cobalt blinked in realization and thrust a hoof at Mandy. "Hold on, you don't have an O name!"
Mandy stiffened as though she had been caught in the act, even though she had no act to be caught in. "W-well, no, I don't! I-I can assure you, though, I'm friendly! Honest!" She gave an awkward smile. "Surely ya know me?"
"Can't say that I do."
"What's going on here?"
Mare, stallion and child all jumped at the sudden new voice. A girl with long blonde hair and dressed in the typical assistants' uniform made herself known, striding up to the group and observing the situation. "Cobalt! Don't tell me you were harassing them!"
"N-no, Omaira, I wouldn't dream of it!" The stallion turned to face whom Starlight had to assume was his superior. "I was just shocked at the fact that Mandy...doesn't have an O name."
Omaira rolled her eyes and sighed, as if this was a common issue that she didn't like dealing with. "I'm really sorry, you two. We don't mean to cause you trouble."
"It's no problem!" Mandy waved a hand. "I'll assume he's new here?"
"Yes, he is." Omaira's gaze moved to the stallion. "Cobalt, Mandy is a sort of...ah, how do I put this...she's famous. After all, she's the one who took down the former Big O."
Starlight's eyes widened. Now she was really curious to see what the Big O was like. If they were equine in nature and Mandy took them down, that would surprise her. If they were equine in nature and were an alicorn that Mandy managed to take down, she would probably have to borrow Rarity's fainting couch for a little bit. "That was you?"
"Yup!"
"I've overheard Twilight say that the Big O was a really powerful being. And you took them down on your own?"
"Yes and yes!" Mandy beamed. "Long story short, he wanted to turn the ponies in both Equestria and Toronto into his personal workhorses. Well, only the ones that weren’t unicorns, anyway."
Cobalt tilted his head. "Why not the unicorns?"
Mandy's eyes widened. "He...uh..." She pinched her mouth inwards, her eyes darting back and forth and, for some reason, squeaking in their sockets. "It would, uh...unnerve Starlight, so I'd rather not say it." She gave a nervous grin that stayed plastered to her face for a few moments before it went away. "A-anyway, I, uh, found out when he promoted Twilight to be one of his assistants. Had a hard battle with him, but I came out alive!"
"Ever since then, nearly everyone here has heard of the story in some way or another." Omaira explained. "And those who haven't tend to learn eventually."
"So who's the new Big O?" Starlight asked, her tone having just a small edge of impatience.
"Oriella! She rebelled against the previous Big O and clued me in to what he was doing. If it wasn’t for her, I would have never found out his plan! So I chose her to be the new Big O instead of me."
Starlight's eyes widened. "You really are more famous than I thought. Which is saying a lot, because if I'm being honest, I didn't really think you were famous at all." Mandy blinked in surprise, but the unicorn ignored it. "If you came to Equestria, you could have double the fame!"
"I could!" Mandy said. "But like I said, people going into Equestria...no one's sure what would happen. So I've never tried it, and I don't plan to 'til it's safe." She shook her head and made eye contact with Omaira. "Anyway! Can we see the Big O?"
"Unfortunately not today. She's backed up with meetings."
"Aww, pickleferries..." Mandy pouted, her sadness only lasting for a few seconds. "That's okay! Next time then." She smiled at Starlight. "In the meantime, Starlight, why don't I give you a tour of the rest of the place?"
"Sure!"
"Thanks, Cobalt! And thanks, Omaira!"
"It's no problem." Omaira nodded. "Have a good time, you two."
"Enjoy yourselves!" Cobalt added, watching the pair walk past them before exchanging goodbyes with Omaira and parting with her.
Meanwhile, Mandy couldn't help but shake the feeling that there was something she forgot to do...something very important. Whatever it was, though, she was sure it was pretty inconsequential, and she quickly shoved it to the back of her mind.
By the end of the day, both Starlight and Mandy were exhausted, especially when it came to the self-levitation lesson -- Starlight had quickly learned that Mandy probably wasn't the best of students, as she kept getting distracted and tried in vain to self-levitate numerous times. She did eventually get the hang of it, though it was clear that there was a little ways to go before she could fly long distances like Starlight could.
"Mmm, that was fun!" Mandy chirped, stretching her body out as she walked into the bullpen. "That magic lesson really helped."
"Keep on practicing, and you'll be self-levitating in no time." Starlight assured. "Maybe you can even lift other people and other ponies, too!"
"Yeah! I've gotten much better at it, but human adults are a little harder for me than full-grown ponies." Mandy chuckled. "Saving Momma and Otto from falling to their deaths that one time...that was a pain."
The good vibes stopped when the pair laid their eyes on an Olympia that looked about ready to speak to the manager over something petty. Only in this case, she was planning on speaking to the second-in-command.
Mandy, not sure why Olympia hadn't spoken after several seconds of waiting, carefully opened her mouth. "...Olympia?"
And with that, hell was let loose. "This is where you've been? With her?"
"What- no!" Mandy stammered. "Olympia, I-I can explain-"
Olympia scoffed. "I can't believe the situation's gotten so bad that the entire precinct is in the hands of a villain-loving agent!"
Mandy gave a few blinks. "What?"
"What are you talking about?" Starlight asked. "I'm not a villain!"
"Really? You stole cutie marks from a bunch of ponies because you wanted 'equality for all'. Who's to say you won't strip us of our individuality as well?"
Not wanting to remind Olympia once again that humans didn't have cutie marks tied to their individuality, Mandy groaned. "Olympia, you're being ridiculous!" She glanced at Starlight with an exasperated expression, and the unicorn stared back at her in confusion. "Starlight, I'm sorry. I didn't tell you about Olympia, and I said I would, but I got sidetracked!"
"What's going on?"
"I'll tell you in private." Mandy whirled on the still-seething Olympia again. "Olympia, get back to work. That's an order!"
The Investigation agent stayed deathly still, her glare cutting into Mandy like a thousand knives.
This didn't sway the hybrid any, however. "Don't make me take you up to Oprah's office."
Olympia bit her lip, clearly trying to form a rebuttal, but ultimately relaxed as she became forced to concede. "Yes, ma'am." she muttered, before her voice rose to normal volume as she pointed at Starlight. "But I'll be keeping an eye on you, Starlight Glimmer. No villain gets by me!"
As the girl walked away, Mandy lit up her horn. "C'mon." she said, before teleporting herself and Starlight away.
The spell took them right to a room that Starlight, for her part, had never seen before. With the sewing machine, she had to wonder if it was Rarity's room, but the bed made of clouds made her think it was Rainbow Dash's room instead. But she doubted that Mandy would teleport to either pony's rooms and invade their privacy, and she had mentioned that the Bedroom was shared by all six, which led Starlight to one of the more logical conclusions.
"Is this your room?" she asked, looking around at the posters that hung on the walls.
"Yes. It's the first place I thought of." Mandy sat on her bed, and briefly contemplated laying down before realizing that she would probably conk right out, and that was a bad idea when she needed to relay something important to someone who was being unfairly targeted. "Starlight, I need to tell you the truth."
"About what?"
"Olympia...she’s an Investigation agent of Odd Squad who works here. She’s usually nice, super energetic, and loyal to the organization. But she has this weird philosophy when it comes to villains. 'Once a villain, always a villain.' She doesn’t believe that villains can be reformed."
"Well that's not true!" Starlight countered. "Twilight helped me see how great friendship can be, even after my falling-out with Sunburst. I turned my life around because of her. A-and aren’t there villains here who have turned their lives around too?"
Mandy nodded. "Yeah. Odd Todd is one of them. He was the former partner of Mo- er, Olive before he...turned to making oddness instead of solving it." Her ears folded downwards. "He did a lot of bad things. But Otto managed to defeat him, and he became a gardener. Long story short, anyway." She heaved a sigh. "I don’t know why Olympia has this philosophy, but Oprah, Mo- Olive, Otto, and I have all tried talking to her with no luck. I don’t want your experience here to be ruined because of one stupid agent, but...if you want to leave and never come back, then...that’s fine."
Starlight watched as Mandy got up from her bed. She opened her mouth, almost as a gut reaction to tell Mandy that she wanted to stay, but closed it. As much of a pain in the flank as Olympia was, the unicorn couldn't deny that she was even more interested in Odd Squad than before. Mandy was a kind and silly hybrid to be around, and all the other agents she had met were just as nice. Truly, if she were to join Odd Squad, she would fit right in here. And besides, Twilight had encouraged her to go make more friends. It would be nice to expand her horizons past Trixie -- which reminded her, she had to bring the magician here to see the sights one of these days. But that was a matter for another time.
"Mandy, I wanted to come here." She smiled. "Twilight and the others always share stories of their days at Odd Squad. It's just that I've never been to this world before, and I had no clue what to expect. But looking at pictures of all you guys and hearing about all sorts of adventures...it got me curious." A smug but amused chuckle made its way out of her. "So what if Olympia thinks I’m a villain? None of the other agents here seem to think so. And I like everyone here. You, Olive, Otto, Oprah. This place is great." The smile on her face faltered. "A-and maybe I’m not sure if I want to join. But...I can come visit, right?"
Mandy blinked and nodded.
"I'm confident you can change Olympia's mind. I'll even help you out."
"Really?"
"Why not? I can take her on."
For a while, Mandy stared. With her mouth slightly open, it was a miracle how drool hadn't decided to make an impromptu escape from it. "I...you...you're sure you're not mad?"
"Of course not! It's just one agent." She gave a huffy laugh that spilled into her next words. "Surely this entire precinct can take down one agent, right?"
Confidence started flowing within Mandy. "Yeah. We can!" She bounced up and down. "All right, let's go give Olympia what-for about her philosophy! We can tell her to shove it right up her a-"
"Ah ah ah." Starlight waved a hoof. "How about we plan it for tomorrow? It's been a long day for both of us and I still have things to do back in Equestria."
"Aww, why is it every time I go to say a no-no word someone has to stop me?! First it's Momma, now it's you..." Mandy sighed. "Fine. 1:00?"
"Sounds good."
With a game plan in mind, Mandy did a fist pump. "Tomorrow, we'll change your mind, Olympia! Just wait and see!"
The sounds of lasers firing and muffled clamoring from all sorts of agents did nothing to disturb Mandy as she tossed and turned in bed. It was often joked that the hybrid could sleep through a tornado, which no longer retained its joke status when she was, indeed, tossed around in a tornado, flung tons of miles away, landed in the upper branches of a tree, and continued to snore like nothing had even happened.
As she laid askew in bed, scratching her tummy as she became lost in dreams of sugar-coated billboard signs, the cyan-blue form of Rainbow Dash barged in without warning.
"Mandy, you gotta come quick!" the Pegasus cried, shaking Mandy rapidly while also taking a quick peek at the clock. It was 11AM, which was only an hour before Mandy was due to get up. "Starlight and Olympia are fighting!" Realizing not even that was going to work, she resorted to shaking her co-worker harder. "Wake uuuuup!"
A few snorts left Mandy as her eyes fluttered open. "Whoo-zza-wha...?"
"Mandy!" Olive peered into the room. "Wake up and help us out here! We've been trying to calm the situation down but nothing's been working!"
Both Rainbow and Olive might as well have been on both sides of Mandy and screaming into her ears like misbehaving toddlers. The hybrid slowly got up and reached for her drink, downing it and staring at them sleepily. "You were sayin'...?"
Rainbow simply gave a groan.
"Starlight and Olympia are fighting in the bullpen." Olive repeated, accentuating each word. "At the rate they're going, it'll be completely destroyed!"
Finally, the words clicked. "What?!" Mandy flew out of bed, landing stomach-first but getting up on her feet in record time. "B-but I told Starlight to meet me at 1:00! We were gonna confront Olympia together! Why is she..."
Before Rainbow or Olive could answer, they were hastily shuffled out of the room, and the door shut on them with the room's occupant shouting "Spare me 5!" before they could protest. Their mission completed, they raced back to the bullpen to witness the showdown.
As soon as Mandy finished putting her belt on -- which completed her routine in 5 minutes exactly -- she rushed to the bullpen, nearly colliding with a sizeable crowd that had come to watch the battle. Easily, she flew over agent after agent, landing in front and letting her eyes bear witness to what was going down.
"No way!"
Armed with brutal weapons of their own were none other than Starlight and Olympia, standing in the center of the bullpen and staring each other down. Olympia held a gadget in her hand that looked like a ray gun, while Starlight was resorting to good old-fashioned unicorn magic.
Mandy didn't need a second to think about who would be the victor, assuming they were going all out.
"I'll destroy you if it's the last thing I'll ever do!" came the high-pitched screech of Olympia that made her already-high-pitched voice sound closer to Pinkie Pie's.
"I'd like to see you try!" Starlight taunted, a sly smirk on her maw as she lit up her horn again.
With tears streaming down her face, Olympia aimed her weapon and fired. Starlight reared back and did the same. The result was a small ball of magic forming in the center of the battlefield, and then growing slowly but steadily by the second.
Gasps and scared cries rung out through the crowd.
"That blast is going to destroy Headquarters!" Oprah exclaimed.
Lucky for her that, for someone who woke up an hour earlier than normal, Mandy was quicker on the draw.
In what was a desperate move that was certainly not thought through, she fired up her horn and let her rainbow-colored corona encase both combatants, lifting them up into the air as they gave cries of surprise. At the same time, she fired a beam of magic at the sphere and let it swirl around and around.
Her horn sparked. Sweat came pooling down her forehead and her face. Her legs started to wobble.
C'mon Mandy, put some work into it! Save Headquarters! If you fail now, you'll not only lose your home, you'll lose your friends! Your family!
Tears began streaming down her own face. Her lungs compressed, eking out a piercing scream that could only come from massive effort. She couldn't see it because she had her eyes squeezed shut, but the sphere was shrinking, and the more effort she put into it, the faster it shrunk.
She heard voices from behind her that she didn't care to identify. Surely, at least one of them was telling her to not die while plenty more were already sealing her fate. Heck, for all she knew, a few of them were discussing funeral plans if she ended up dying from thi-
No. I'm not going to die. I've faced off against Orino, against SOHALC, against villains both egregious and harmless...if I can take them down and survive, I can do this and still stand.
The ball shrunk, but just before it disappeared, Mandy's horn sparked again, this time more fierce than before, cutting off the flow like a scissor taken to a piece of string. With a yelp, she stumbled backwards and fell, clutching her head and giving a groan.
As they fell to the ground, Starlight's horn stopped glowing, and likewise, Olympia put down her weapon.
"Mandy!" Olive, of course, was the first to soar to Mandy's side, nearly doing a knee slide. "Are you okay?!"
"Nngh...headache..."
Olive was quick to reach behind her back and pull out a bottle of Shmumbers brand fast-acting ultimate-strength aspirin -- one of the most essential things she had learned to keep in hammerspace because of Mandy's antics. She opened up the cap and dropped two pills into her hand. "Here, take these."
Mandy did as she was told, slowly putting the two pills on her tongue and retracting it into her mouth. Olive provided her with the bottled water needed for easier consumption, lifting the hybrid upwards slightly to allow her to drink. Unsurprisingly, Mandy drank the entire thing in one go.
"Why did you do that, Mandy?" Olympia asked. "I was inches away from destroying Starlight Glimmer for good!"
Mandy grit her teeth, having an answer at the ready but still reeling a bit from the pain. "Not just Starlight...your entire...workplace...!" she managed to get out, closing her eyes tightly.
Everyone waited until Mandy was able to speak again. After a feat like that, it would have been a fool's errand for any run-of-the-mill agent, human or equine, to mess with her. Luckily, "ultimate-strength" really meant "works in seconds, and no, that's not just a cheap advertising gimmick". She had her world breaking the rules of anatomy to thank for that, and also had it to thank for allowing her to stand on her own two feet and fly over to the battlefield.
"Honestly, Olympia, I'm disappointed in you." the hybrid spat, turning towards the Investigation agent. "Do you ever stop to think about your actions? You nearly took out Starlight, this workplace, and your co-workers! Absolutely no one likes an agent with a death count!"
Olympia blinked. "But-"
"I’ve tried everything. I’ve gotten Oprah to talk to you. I’ve gotten Momma and Otto to talk to you. Nothing. Ever. Works." Mandy thrust her face into the other girl's. "Can’t you get it through your thick skull that Starlight is no villain? She would have destroyed Headquarters by now." She narrowed her eyes. "The only villain here is you."
"Wait-"
"I'm done being the 'nice gal'. Surely you’ve been here long enough to know that it’s never a good idea to make me angry unless you want your life threatened with early termination. Clearly, being nice hasn’t worked. It’s time I take more aggressive measures." Mandy sneered. "Really, it’s pitiful and ironic how you’re an Odd Squad historian and yet you don’t realize that villains can reform for the better. Odd Todd was proof of that, and so is Starlight."
"She-"
"Really wish your partner was here so he could see exactly what kind of agent you are. Someone who’s willing to go so far as to take the life of innocent people and their workplace if they oppose your opinions? Please. It’s sad is what it is. Just a shame he's sick and has had to stay home for the past week!"
On and on and on Mandy rambled, much to the bewilderment of the crowd as they watched her go at it with Olympia. Starlight, on the other side, merely watched the confrontation with confusion in her expression.
"She's really going off on her." Olive noted.
"I can't tell if she's all bark and no bite, or if she's going to bark and bite." Oprah said. "For her sake and ours, I hope it's the former."
Even when Olympia fell onto her rump, the still-hovering Mandy still ripped into her like a fresh bag of potato chips. "So why don’t you do us all a favor, drop your mentality that’s better suited for a Squanzo Bonzo than for you, and start over with Starlight Glimmer? As friends, and not enemies?"
"But..." Olympia paused after that word, just to see if Mandy would come after her again. When the hybrid didn't speak, she felt it was safe to proceed. "Ugh. You were always kind of-"
"Kinda what? Airheaded? Ditzy? More stupid than a lobotoritimized patient?" Mandy reached behind her back, whipped out her hammer, spun it thrice, and shoved it into Olympia's face to the point where she could feel the hammer touching both of her maxillas. "Is that an insult?"
"T-two villains isn't gonna be enough to..."
Mandy narrowed her eyes again.
"...convince...me..."
And then she was lit ablaze, a guttural growl rumbling in her throat as she glared at her fellow co-worker.
Olympia drew the line there, backing up a little, her body trembling with fear.
Starlight, likewise, was also backing away, her eyes widening at this sudden display of aggression. She had no idea that this was what Mandy was capable of. If Twilight had mentioned it in passing, it certainly wasn't when Starlight was within earshot. Instinctively, she created a shield around herself, lest Mandy's flames burn her fur off.
Off to the side, the crowd of agents, having seen this side of Mandy before, was rather indifferent to it all.
"I should go stop her." Olive said, beginning to head for the trio before a hand reached out and stopped her.
"Olive, hold on." Oprah glanced at her. "Have faith in Mandy. I'm sure she knows what she's doing."
"I surrender!" Olympia screeched, holding up her hands. "J-just please, don't hurt me!"
"Are you just saying that so I won't hurt you?"
"No! I-I mean it! Hear me out, please!"
Mandy took a minute to consider the proposal, then decided to give Olympia at least some semblance of a chance to explain herself, if only out of fairness. She jerked the hammer away and let it rest against the floor, the flames surrounding her body dying down as she gave an exhale. "All right then. Go ahead."
Starlight lowered her shield, while Olympia gave her own sigh of relief. "I...you're right." she began. "I was too set in my ways to realize that you’re right. Starlight...she’s not a villain. If she were, she would have taken us out when she first came here."
"I could've told ya that." Mandy said, with a roll of her eyes.
"But it’s just...she stole the cutie marks of ponies. There may not be pony villains in Toronto, but one could always appear! Equestria has them, of course, and I thought that...Odd Squad was the same way."
Mandy couldn't deny that Olympia raised a good point. Truth be told, there were pony villains in Toronto -- in very small numbers, granted, but they existed. Perhaps they figured that instead of wreaking havoc in Equestria where six Element bearers resided, they could wreak havoc in a world that had no Element bearers to speak of, unaware that there was an organization that could match the bearers on equal footing without the use of gemstones. Mandy had faced down a few of them and had beaten them every time, but that didn't mean it was right to assume any pony was a villain, because that was simply just not true (and was also very speciesist, if one asked her). And besides, there was one point that had hit her like a truck at a hundred miles per hour.
"The irony..."
"What?"
"You're an Odd Squad historian, aren't you? You know everything about the organization from the day of its founding up until this very second. And yet you don’t have enough faith in Odd Squad to think that, oh, I don’t know, we can deal with any villain, human or equine, that commits an act of oddness?"
Olympia bit her lip. "Well, when you put it that way..."
"Let's not forget I was the victim of Laura Lovebloom. One of the most dangerous villains I've ever come across." Mandy said. "I could've been killed by what she did to me and Bradley Beli. Starlight never killed anyone."
The fact that Mandy had said that last part with confidence made Starlight blink a few times, even though she was very confident she had never killed anyone, both as a hero and as a (former) villain.
"And then you have Odd Todd, who’s also a dangerous villain. But he managed to reform." Mandy sighed. "Of course, I tried bringing this point up to you already, but you refused to listen…"
Olympia craned her head to look at the unicorn who had once been her opponent. "Starlight...I'm sorry. Mandy was right. Everyone was right. You're..." She slowly closed her eyes. "...not a dangerous villain."
The unicorn watched as the girl slowly rose to her feet and began to approach her with another proposal.
"Can we...maybe start over? As friends?"
Starlight considered it for a moment, then smiled. "Sure. I don't see why not."
Both of them shook hands and hooves, exchanging friendly smiles.
"Come on, we can have lunch together. You and me." Starlight offered. "Twilight showed me a great place I really want to try!"
"Sounds good."
Mandy and the crowd watched in awe as the pair left through the steel double-doors, with the former giving a warm and relieved smile. Before she knew it, however, Olympia came racing back.
"Thank you, Mandy. If you hadn't tried to help me..."
"Aww, don't mention it! Go have fun!" Mandy encouraged, waving the girl off once more.
In tune with the rest of the crowd, Olive breathed a sigh of relief. "I don't think I'll ever get used to her...uh..." She blinked. "What were they called?"
"Mood swings."
"Ah. Yeah. That." Olive nodded in response to Oprah. "I'll never get used to those."
Mandy drifted over to both Directors, giving them a friendly smile. "Thank you guys so much for helping!" She gave a sigh. "I mean, you didn't really help at all, but ya took a shot at it! That's what counts!"
Olive's eyes widened. She opened her mouth to ask Mandy if she just stealthily insulted her, and to protest that she did help by waking up the hybrid and alerting her of the situation, but Oprah quickly placed a hand to her mouth before she could even utter out a word.
"And thank you for preventing the destruction of Headquarters. If you hadn't come when you did, we all would have been killed."
Olive gave an impatient growl.
It was then that Twilight chose to trot up, having been late to the whole debacle. "Hey, everyone. What's going on?"
Mandy turned to face the alicorn, her eyes widening. Her head swiveled from the battlefield, to the crowd, and back and forth again. "T-Twilight? But...weren't you..."
"I was reading in the Odd Squad Library." Twilight tilted her head. "Did something happen?"
"Well, your student and one of Precinct 13579's agents nearly destroyed Headquarters, sooooo...there's that!"
Twilight blinked. "Starlight?"
"We don’t know what happened, but Oprah and I were up in her office and we heard a lot of noise going on downstairs. When we looked, Olympia and Starlight were battling." Olive explained, after freeing Oprah's hand from her mouth long enough to speak. "My guess is that Olympia was the instigator, but…"
"Where are they now?"
"Mandy stopped the blast and helped the two of them make up. They're heading out to lunch now."
Twilight gave a groan. "I'm so sorry, Ms. O. If I had known Starlight was going to get into a big battle like this, I never would have-"
"Save it." Oprah held a hand up. "The important thing is that Headquarters is safe. But..." She took a moment to pause before she continued. "You should know that if she decides to join Odd Squad in spite of what went down, she's not allowed to be hired at this precinct."
"What?" Twilight's ears folded down. "Why not?"
"It's a personal matter. I don't want to discuss it."
Twilight bit her lip. She almost wanted to pressure her boss into spitting out the details, but knew better than to pressure Oprah into doing anything she didn't want to do. So instead, her gaze flicked to the second-in-command. "Mandy?"
"Yeah?"
A pause. Twilight simply stared at the hybrid, pleading being the only emotion written in her eyes. Olive and Oprah also stared at her, but more out of an "are you stupid" reaction than anything else.
"...What?"
"Aren't you going to overrule this?" Twilight asked.
Mandy giggle-snorted. "No, silly! Oprah's made up her mind. I'm not gonna challenge her! I know better!"
Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but quickly closed it and bowed her head. "I'll...go talk to Starlight later, then." she muttered, beginning to plod back the way she came with slow hoofsteps.
"Where are you going?"
"Back to the library." the alicorn answered in response to Olive. "See you later."
The trio all watched their friend head down the hallway and turn the corner. Oprah in particular let out a huff, clearly tired of agents asking her why, exactly, she refused to let any more ponies into her precinct.
The mood was broken up by the sound of a stomach growling, and it didn't take long to identify its source. "Oh wow, I'm hungry! Better go make some brunch!" Mandy chirped, leaving the scene and bouncing over to the Breakroom.
"I'm surprised she even did what she did on an empty stomach." Olive said aloud, rolling her eyes amusedly before turning to face her fellow Director. "Oprah, are you sure you don't want Starlight to work here? She'd make a great Investigation agent."
"Not at my precinct. I said I don't want to talk about it." Oprah waved a hand. "Go back to your Headquarters. I'm sure Otto's waiting."
Realizing that convincing Oprah was completely off the table, Olive left through the steel double-doors. She knew only a little bit of the reasoning behind her old boss not wanting to let ponies into her precinct -- something about not being ready for a big change. But not even she had any idea what that really meant. Maybe it was simply routine for her to only let humans in, and she didn't want to change. Maybe it was due to her not wanting to fail at her second leadership stint. Or maybe, just maybe, it was some kind of hidden speciesism facet of her personality that Olive wasn't aware of. The theories could go on for miles and miles.
Still, there was a plan Olive had in mind that no one had apparently come up with, at least as far as she knew.
Why doesn't Starlight just hang back and wait for Oprah to change her mind? I'm sure Twilight could do it. Or Mandy. Mandy's very persuasive.
...But that could take weeks. Months. Years, even. Starlight has potential that I can't let go untapped.
Maybe I should hire her into my precinct. Otto would be fine with it, right? Me and him visit Mandy all the time, and we could bring Starlight with us! It's perfect!
...But Twilight deserves to be with her student...even in Odd Squad.
Gritting her teeth, Olive made her way up the tubes, her mind waging a war with itself over what to do about Starlight Glimmer. Somewhere within her thoughts was a mental note to talk with the unicorn and get to know her more, but it was a whimper compared to the clamor of the crowd inside her brain.
Also somewhere within her thoughts was a mental note to squeeze answers out of Oprah regarding her rather hypocritical stance if it was the last thing she would ever do.
As Starlight slipped through the portal to Equestria and emerged just on the outskirts of Ponyville, she began to trot back to the castle. It had been a long day of getting to know Olympia and learning about Odd Squad, and she was confident in saying that she had finally made a decision.
"Oh, Starlight! You're back." Spike greeted. "Twilight's in the kitchen making dinner. She said that she'd like for you to help, if you're willing."
"Thanks, Spike. I'm just going to rest my hooves for a little bit." Starlight gave a tired smile. "What're we having?"
"Vegetable stew."
"Again? The mare really loves her stew, huh?"
"Tell me about it." Spike gave a sigh. "This is the third time this week she's made it."
"That would explain all the vegetables she bought over the weekend." Starlight began trotting away. "Anyway, thanks, Spike!"
"No prob."
Although Starlight wanted nothing more than to rest, she felt she could afford Twilight a quick visit. Excitement bubbling within her and granting her some more energy, she quickly headed to the kitchen where, sure enough, Twilight was in the middle of cooking veggie stew.
"Hey, Twilight? I have an announcement."
The alicorn lifted her gaze from the stew. "Starlight? Welcome back. What is it?"
The unicorn stood tall and poised. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and laid her wishes out for her mentor to see, imagining all of the fun times she was going to have with all the friends she had made. A smile formed on her face, and she opened her maw.
"I want to join Odd Squad."