Deep within the Magical Grasslands, far from where Mandy and Haruko usually met, sat an illustrious kitsune. With fur as soft as the clouds, eyes that shone like rubies, and tails that sparked with only the fiercest sparks of electricity, she stared at her one and only daughter sitting in front of her.
"Haruko. Listen to me." She placed a gentle paw on the other kitsune's cheek. "Mandy is a kind, generous, loyal, honest, amusing, and magical soul. And it is you who has made her that way throughout all these years, where Annabelle and Kieran could not." A warm smile crossed her features. "As such, it is your job to continue to aid her in finding out where they are, and aid her in her war against Vallea."
Haruko, for her part, had to resist rolling her eyes. "When you say it like that, Mother, it sounds quite a lot like you are just giving exposition. Exposition on things that I am already aware of."
"Perhaps. But it does not hurt to give a little reminder." Mother smiled. "However, that is not what I have come to tell you."
"Then what?"
"You once told Mandy that she would need to find her true origins soon, correct?" Mother didn't wait for an answer before she continued. "I am afraid that time is on the horizon. It is coming soon, very soon."
"What?" Haruko blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Within a day's time, Mandy is set to undergo a big change in her overall appearance. With this change comes not only a tool that shall aid her in the war, but a clue towards her bloodline that will prove to be very valuable in her journey."
Haruko didn't need more than five seconds to connect the dots, but that didn't mean she didn't react in surprise all the same. "I..." She struggled to get words out for a moment, leaving her mouth hanging open. "I see."
Mother continued. "Furthermore, I see the one you call 'Olive' is acting just a mite more stubborn than usual. I would imagine she has gotten wind of Mandy's eventual departure." A soft sigh left her body. "I would strongly suggest you find her, take her to the Magical Grasslands, and discuss things with her."
"Why not have her come here herself?"
"She does not believe we, nor this place, nor its inhabitants, are real." Mother shook her head in clear disapproval. "She thinks it is nothing more than a fantastical realm that Mandy has conjured up from her own boundless imagination."
Haruko felt a pang of disappointment, particularly about Olive denying her existence and that of her family and friends as nothing more than fictional. She knew the girl had a good heart, though -- after all, she had witnessed her love for Mandy in action, and it was clear that she had nothing but good intentions, albeit deeply misguided ones. And she was sure most anyone in the world of the living would laugh her off if she told them about the Magical Grasslands. Even its very name implied some sense of mythicality.
She nodded. "All right. If not because I fear that Mandy hating Olive will lead to nothing but ruin in her future, then because bringing her adoptive mother into the loop will be for the better." She met her mother's smile. "Thank you, Mother."
"It is no problem, my little Haruko. Do stay safe, and please, keep protecting Mandy until her dying breath. It is, after all, your destiny."
As Mother turned to leave, Haruko's jaws parted to ask her another question. However, the other kitsune disappeared into a mass of sparkles before Haruko could get a word out, and so she was forced to move her gaze to the stars as she retreated into her own mind.
The life of Mandy is in a state of direness right now. Between finding her true origins, dealing with Olive's overprotective nature, and her upcoming war against Vallea, it is almost impossible to believe how she is able to still stand strong despite it all. But I know she will come through in the end. She always does.
Lying down on the grass, Haruko laid her chin down on her front legs and let her eyes slowly close.
As Mandy woke up, she gave a snort as she opened her eyes. Something inside of her brain told her to put something fun on the ceiling in the event that she woke up on her back like today -- having just a white-noise machine up there looked terribly drab and she was amazed how Rarity hadn't said anything about it yet -- but it was quickly shoved into the deep recesses to make room for the top priority of waking up. Headache aside, of course.
She sat up in bed, her jaws parted in a yawn. The second she began to exhale, however, a piece of paper was forcefully shoved into her mouth, causing her to stop for a few moments. "Wh'ffuh...?"
"Mandy! Tell me who left this note, right now!"
It took Mandy a few moments to register who, exactly, was speaking to her. The form was fuzzy in her vision, but the voice, though muffled, was unmistakable. "...Huh?"
"Don't play dumb!" Peaches placed her hands on her hips. "Surely you know who left this!"
The note popped out of Mandy's mouth, and she was free to go back to yawning at the same time that she shook her head, an "mm-mm" noise rattling about in her throat.
Peaches' expression, coupled with the sweat dripping down her face, showed that she was having a hard time keeping herself from strangling her cousin. "Here, maybe if I read it to you it’ll jog your memory." She took the note and opened it, the drool that was on it miraculously not touching any of the words.
To Peaches:
I bet I can catch more prey than you! But if you think you can do better, then give it a shot.
- Anonymous
She huffed. "Can’t Odd Squad identify it by the handwriting or something?"
"Peach, pleazze...not zzo early..."
"It's noon."
It took a third yawn for Mandy to decide to reach for her drink, downing it in one go.
"Look, are you gonna help me find who wrote this or not?"
Mandy rubbed her head. "I dunno who wrote your lil’ note, but I have a splittin’ headache and I’m gonna need y’ t’ not shout in my ears…"
That earned her a growl, although one that wasn't aimed at her so much as it was aimed at the entirety of the world. "Fine then, Anonymous! I don’t know who you are, but I accept your challenge! I’ll catch the most prey of any cat in Toronto! No, any cat in Canada! You’ll see!"
Watching her storm out and slam the door behind her, Mandy gave an irritated groan, wanting to flop back down on the bed but resorting to swinging her legs over the side and getting up instead. Her headache only served to grow with every step she took, and she knew that if she wanted to have a peaceful day, something had to be done about it.
At her desk, a fully-groomed and properly-dressed Mandy had finished the last of her aspirin dose, setting down the glass of water. "Aah...here's hopin' that works." she murmured, reaching for the batch of paperwork that had been left next to her computer.
A loud bang startled the hybrid, making her yelp and jump up a little in her chair. Her knees collided with her desk hard enough to send the glass toppling over onto its side, which was, to her luck, completely empty. Blinking a few times, she slowly turned her head towards her cousin, who was bending over a metal bucket filled to the brim with all sorts of dead animals, some more brutally murdered than others. It made her stomach turn a little, even in spite of the massive amount of food she had eaten for brunch.
"I...did it..." the catgirl wheezed out.
"Peeeeeeach, what did I tell ya when I woke up? C'mon, I'm sufferin' here! I just took painkillers!" Mandy complained.
"I caught all the...prey I could find..."
"And you...put it in a bucket?"
Peaches straightened up. "To put in the freezer!"
Mandy narrowed her eyes. "The only time you are putting dead animals in the freezer is when I am a decaying corpse being eaten by the magpies."
To her surprise, Peaches easily relented, giving an irritated sigh. "Fine. But still." She crossed her arms and gave a smirk. "I'd like to see little ol' Anonymous top that. They think they've got me beat, but oh-ho-ho no, not by a long shot."
"Y’know, I’ve never really seen you as the competitive type." Mandy pointed out. "Although you definitely went a little crazy when you attended the last Burly Bears game with Momma and I. It almost unnerved Momma! And she showed up in a cheerleader uniform once! A cheerleader uniform! For the one who would rather wear skirts over pairs of jeans!"
"I was branded as an outcast back in Vallea. Everyone thought I couldn’t do anything, not even fend for myself. Me living has proved them wrong, but…" Peaches shrugged. "I feel like rubbing a little salt in the wound."
Already growing tired of the boastful talk, Mandy's attention moved back to her desk. "Mm. Well, you have fun with that. I’ll be over here tryna make a livin’. I’ve been fallin’ behind on paperwork lately…beats me as to why."
Peaches picked up the bucket and held it out to her cousin. "You sure you don't want any prey?"
"I-I'm good. Eating stuff like birds and mice isn't really my thing. And I had a big brunch, anyway."
"Eh, suit yourself. Your loss."
Suddenly, Mandy began to develop a horrifying feeling -- a horrifying feeling that Peaches would be coming to her desk every few hours ranting about the "Anonymous" written on the note, give or take some. And of course, that meant she could never truly get into "the zone" when it came to her work. Silently sobbing, she grabbed a piece of paperwork and began scanning it over, dreading the next time that Peaches would suddenly appear in front of her again.
It was only an hour later that Mandy had finished her paperwork, entering the last of the information from the paperwork of Case #3,099,365 into the computer.
"Finally, done." She tapped her head. "And my headache's finally gone away too!" As if on cue, her stomach chimed in to say its piece, giving a hearty growl. "And I'm hungry! Clearly all that food for brunch wasn't enough!"
Just as she stood up, the sound of a jingling bell caught her attention. It could barely be heard by anyone else at her distance, but as she had two pairs of ears, her hearing was very much heightened so that the bell sounded like it was closer to her. Her gaze rested on an agent who was emerging from one of the hallways that flanked the double-doors, laughing about something she didn't really care too much about. Slowly, her pupils begun to widen, and her brain became overwritten with an animalistic instinct, one that would be far better suited for Peaches than her. She immediately sprung for the girl, landing in front of her and purring.
The redhead glanced at the hybrid that was on her hands and knees in front of her. "Uh...can I help you with something?"
A single happy meow was her only response.
"I don't speak cat." the agent hesitantly remarked. "Maybe you should go see Dr. O?"
Mandy's gaze became fixed on the bracelet made entirely out of bells that the girl was wearing. She poked at a single bell with a finger, giving a happy cry of elation that one wouldn't expect to come from a cat -- or a pony-human hybrid acting like a cat.
The agent held out her arm. "Oh, you like my bell bracelet?" Mandy nodded in response, and she smiled. "I can tell. I love bells. The little jingles they make are always nice to hear." A bolt of inspiration struck her as she snapped her fingers. "Hey, you know, Bobby’s Big-Box Bells just opened up in town. He has lots of bells. You should go see him sometime!"
Thrilled with the idea, Mandy gave a happy meow, shifting position so that her legs were sticking out in a V shape in front of her and her palms were resting on the floor.
A second agent with dark skin and black hair came over, eyeing the scene with confusion. "Partner, what are you doing?"
The redhead shot her partner a friendly smile. "This agent was admiring my bell bracelet." As she glanced at Mandy, the smile fell away, being replaced with a look of concern. "She, uh…might have Meow-itis or something. She keeps speaking in meows."
As though not having noticed Mandy until now, the black-haired agent greeted her with a wave. "Hey, Mandy. So you like my partner's bell bracelet, huh?"
Mandy scooched closer to the bracelet, not bothering to acknowledge the other agent outside of a small mew as her attention was otherwise turned to the accessory.
"I understand. It's really pretty."
That was the moment when Mandy chose to strike, lunging for the bracelet and clasping her teeth around the accessory.
"H-hey! Let go!" the redhead cried out, trying desperately to wrench her wrist free from the hybrid's grip. However, with the bracelet as tightly attached as it was, it was clear that she wouldn't be getting off easy.
Mandy's expression turned from excited to angry, her eyes narrowing as a growl came out of her. With the sudden mood switch came even harder tugs, which only served to hurt the other girl's wrist.
"Mandy, stop! Don't hurt my partner!"
"My bracelet!"
From afar, Twilight and Rainbow Dash entered the bullpen, watching the entire fight go down with confused expressions.
"What in the name of Celestia is going on?!"
Rainbow, for her part, gave an apathetic shrug. "Nothing unusual. Just Mandy trying to eat a bracelet."
"Come on, we have to stop her!"
As both mares sprung into action and rushed towards the scene, Twilight took a mighty leap, landing in front of the combatants and turning around. "Everyone, stop!"
With a great sense of timing, Mandy's next tug snapped the bracelet in two, breaking its circular shape and removing its grip on the redhead agent's wrist. The hybrid dropped the broken accessory onto the floor in front of her before being captured in a bubble of purple magic as she gave an angry yowl followed by an equally-angry hiss.
The redhead stared at the bracelet for what felt like an eternity. "M-my bell bracelet! It's ruined!" she cried. "I used up all my earnings over three months just to buy that!"
Rainbow gave a visible wince, while Twilight shot the girl an apologetic look before fixing her attention on Mandy, her gaze turning into one of concern. "Mandy, what's gotten into you? Why are you acting like a cat?"
Instead of responding in English, Mandy responded in a flurry of angry meows, with the only sign of anyone being able to understand what she was saying being her frenzied gesticulations.
"Uh, Twi? Can you translate?"
Twilight gave a shrug. "Don't look at me, Rainbow. I don't speak cat." For a moment, she looked at the Creature Room, wondering if Fluttershy could help out, but was broken out of her thoughts by Mandy shaking her head.
"Whuh-huh? What happened?" The hybrid's head whipped back and forth, and she pawed at the bubble in vain. "Why am I in a bubble?! Lemme out, lemme ooooout!"
"You broke my bell bracelet!" yelled the redhead, thrusting an index finger at her captured coworker. "And now you're gonna pay for it!"
"...I did?"
The redhead blinked in bewilderment for a second or two. "What- yes! Yes you did!" She scooped up the bracelet in her hands, her body beginning to quiver with sadness and rage. "This was my favorite bracelet...and you and your...awful disgusting disease..."
The dark-haired agent placed a supportive hand on his partner's shoulder, giving her an assuring smile. "C’mon, don’t get so distressed. I’ll help you buy a new one, partner. I have more than enough money to pay for it."
Crumpling to her knees, the redhead bowed her head and began to cry, her tears staining the concrete floor. Her partner knelt down beside her, rubbing her back while giving some more encouraging words.
Rainbow whirled on Mandy right then and there. "At least apologize to her, Mandy!"
"B-but I don't know what I did! I..." Realizing there was no way she was going to be able to worm her way out of it, Mandy ceased her excuses and gave a resigned sigh. "All right, all right, I’m sorry! I don’t know what I did, or how I did it, but I’m sorry!"
Twilight, satisfied with the apology, let the bubble burst right then and there, letting Mandy free-fall before the hybrid caught herself, spreading her wings and beginning to hover. Still, that didn't stop the alicorn from confronting her friend. "This isn't like you. Why did you break this agent's bracelet?"
"I don’t know! I was going to get some food and then I heard a bell and next thing you know I was here!"
"Maaaaaybe you just need some sleep." Rainbow suggested. "You have been complaining about getting a lot of headaches lately. And it doesn’t seem like painkillers are doing you any favors."
Mandy bit her lip. She didn't feel tired, and the painkillers she had taken for her last headache had worked fine, but maybe she had been afflicted with oddness and didn't realize it, or she was having an off day. Maybe she was hallucinating this entire thing, and she was really in the Breakroom eating some food. She wasn't sure. A soft hum left her body as she mulled Rainbow's advice over.
"At least pay for a new bracelet for this girl." Twilight said.
"Oh, there's no need."
"No!" The redhead interrupted her partner before he could, at least in her tear-ridden eyes, insist that he could pay for damages. "I want her to pay for it in full! 30 dollars! With interest!"
"Interest?!" Mandy threw her hands into the air. "I'm not rich, ya know!"
"Well then you shouldn’t have broken my bracelet! And I want it on my desk by end of week!"
The deadline threw Mandy for a whirlwind. "End of week?!" All she could get out after that were stammers before her brain reminded her that all she was doing was digging a deeper hole, causing her to fall flat on the floor and have her body deflate like a popped balloon. If she had jinxed herself by wondering if Peaches was going to keep disturbing her...
Well, she still jinxed herself. Just not with Peaches.
Within the peaceful evening atmosphere of Olive's house, where the weather forecast played quietly as background noise, she and Otto enjoyed some fresh homemade brownies in an all-you-can-eat "Brownie Buffet Extravaganza", as Otto had called it. The plate that sat on the coffee table in the living room currently was full of brookies, which had quickly become their favorite pastry. The chocolate brownie mixing in with the chocolate chip cookie was nothing short of a delicious combination.
As Olive stirred the batter for the third batch, this one of regular chocolate brownies, she heard a bang at the door that made her jump slightly, followed by a low muffled groan. "Someone's home, I'm armed, and do not think I won't apprehend you as an Odd Squad employee!"
Silence. And then, a pitiful wail that became easily recognizable.
"Oh, Mandy's at the door." Otto remarked, his tone neutral as he got up and made his way to the door. When he opened it, he found a pony-human hybrid lying face-down on the porch, her upper body that had been leaning on the door colliding with the floor like a snake that had somehow learned to twist a doorknob but had no limbs to actually walk inside.
Another pitiful wail came forth, making Mandy's whole body ripple.
"Mandy, come inside." said a resigned Olive, pouring the batter into the pan. "I experience enough wailing from the neighborhood cats."
When Mandy didn't move after a few moments, Otto decided to drag her into the house by force, effortlessly propping her up on the couch like a life-size doll. However, her upper body quickly drooped forwards until her forehead was resting cleanly in her hands.
"Uh, so, while Olive's busy..." Otto shot a glance towards the kitchen. "You seem troubled. Anything on your mind?"
"Yeah I got somethin' on my mind. A headache. Tons of them. Either get me some painkillers or I'll find a butcher knife somewhere in there."
Otto's eyes widened. Such empty declarations were certainly not like Mandy, but in a world where rules of anatomy and biology were turned on their heads, no one really knew what driving a knife through a brain could do to a human being, let alone a human being that had pony genes mixed in. "I'll...uh..." His gaze moved towards the kitchen again. "Olive, can Mandy have some of your painkillers?"
"Medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Middle shelf."
"All right, stay here, Mandy. I'll go get them."
As Otto left, Olive moved into the living room. "In the meantime, do you want to tell us what else is on your mind? I'm sure you didn't come to my house just to mooch off of my medicine." She sat on the couch next to Mandy. "You don't usually get headaches. When you do, it's usually after you ram your head into something...provided you don't get knocked out first."
Mandy didn't answer at first. She waited until Otto returned with some ibuprofen a minute later before she spilled all.
"I was gonna go eat after a long day of work and I heard a bell jingling. Next thing I remember, I was trapped in a bubble by Agent Twilight and some other agent was crying about her bracelet being broken. Apparently I broke it and she wanted me to buy her a new one."
"On purpose?" Otto asked. "Yeah, that's definitely not like you. How'd you break the bracelet?"
An "oh, for odd's sake" slipped from Olive's lips, under her breath where no one could hear it.
Luckily, Mandy was there to give him a gentle reminder in her stead, as she grabbed ahold of the bottle and conjured up a glass of water. "You're askin' me? I was out of it."
Otto watched as she dumped two pills out, popped them into her mouth, and downed them with the drink. "Is it possible you're sick with something?"
"Maybe. That agent did say I had a disease..." Mandy rolled her shoulders in a shrug. "But I’ve been feeling mostly fine aside from the headaches. And Peaches ramming a note from 'Anonymous' in my mouth this afternoon."
Neither Olive nor Otto questioned the reasoning behind Peaches doing such a thing. That was as much of a fool's errand as questioning why peanuts were on top of the Empire State Building. "Tell you what, Mandy." Olive offered. "Why don't you sleep here tonight?"
The hybrid perked up. "Really?"
"Really! You know my house is always open to you whenever you need it. Watch a movie, have some brownies with Otto and I, and we’ll see how you feel in the morning. Sound good?"
"That..." Slowly but surely, life returned to Mandy's body, from her eyes all the way down to her tail. "...is amazing-tastic! I'll take ya up on that! Thanks so much, Momma!"
"Don't mention it." Olive moved the plate of brookies closer to the hybrid. "You're welcome to have some of these if you'd like. Otto and I are having a Brownie Buffet Extravaganza, so we're stuffing ourselves silly."
The idea of such a...party? Contest? Whatever it was, it excited Mandy even more. "Ooh, I love brookies! Thank you!" Taking one in her hands and putting half of it in her mouth, her pony ears began flapping with how good the taste was. "Oh, it's so good! Did you make these?"
"From scratch!" Olive said. "After many, many hours of scouring the Internet for recipes."
As Mandy began reaching for her second brookie, her eyes widened slightly. "Oh! What about the girl’s bracelet? She wanted me to pay her back but I don’t have enough money to pay her…"
"How much is it?"
"30 dollars."
Otto's jaw hung open for a few moments. "That much?! For a bracelet?!"
Olive, however, was largely indifferent to the ludicrous price. To her, this was simply another chance to win over Mandy and make her see that she was the exemplary parent for her. "Don't worry. I'll give you the money."
Mandy blinked. "You'd do that?"
"Sure." Olive rubbed Mandy's back. "You didn’t mean to break her bracelet, right? If it’s not your fault then you shouldn’t have to pay for a replacement. I’ll cover it."
"But-"
"Ah ah ah. No ifs, ands, buts, or coconuts. I insist." Olive ignored the suspicious look Otto shot her. "And don't worry about paying me back, either."
Fully convinced, Mandy stuffed the second brookie in her mouth so she would have a free arm to hug Olive with. "Aww Momma, you're the besht!"
As she ignored the crumbs that spilled on her lap, Olive returned the hug for a couple moments before gently pushing Mandy away, giving a small laugh. "All right, all right. Why don't we pick a movie when the brownies cool?"
Mandy swallowed her bite and went in for a third brookie. "Yeah! I'd love that!"
Before settling down to watch the movie, Mandy had decided to teleport back to Headquarters to take a shower and go through her nightly routine before teleporting back to Olive's house. She already knew what would happen when she watched the movie -- it was the same thing that happened whenever she watched a movie at night.
And of course, it was the same thing that she had managed to do only halfway into Love Means Many Things.
The snoring and sleep-mumbling proved to be too volumetric and too detrimental to the movie-watching experience for Olive and Otto, so they decided to call things off early and go to bed.
"I'll do the honors." Olive offered, scooping up Mandy in her arms and proceeding to carry her bridal-style up the stairs. "You can have the bathroom first."
"Where are you gonna put her?"
"Guest room." Olive gave a tired exhale. "I've had it blocked off because I've wanted to do some renovations on it, but it's in good condition to sleep in otherwise. And I don't think Mandy will care very much."
As though she had heard her name through her slumber, Mandy woke up with a flurry of snorts and a tired murmur that couldn't be translated into any word in the English language. Her eyes remained half-lidded for a few moments, her body slightly bouncing up and down as she was carried up the last few stairs before it came to rest. She feebly reached a hand towards the bathroom and gave a plaintive moan.
"Sorry, Otto!" Olive called. "Your spot's been claimed."
Setting Mandy down, Olive watched as she slowly meandered to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. As her eyes glanced towards the cabinet that sat between her room and the guest room, she decided to mindlessly sort through it, if only to simultaneously keep an eye on Mandy to make sure she didn't fall asleep in the bathroom while also giving her privacy.
Luckily, Mandy didn't fall asleep in the bathroom, and emerged five minutes later ready for bed. A noisy yawn left her as all she could do was mutter a "g'night" that sounded more like a farewell given by aliens.
After Olive gave the okay to Otto for him to use the bathroom next, she opened the door to the guest room, where Mandy was struggling to climb into bed. "Mandy? You, uh..." She scratched the back of her neck. "You need help? Are you good?"
"Love ya, Momma..." came the sleepy murmur in response, just before the hybrid flopped onto the bed and was knocked out.
Olive heaved a sigh and made her way inside, righting Mandy from her vertical position on the bed and resting her head on the pillows. A quick pulling of the sheets over her and she was in a much happier state, though one couldn't tell from the snores she gave that could serve as good tornado sirens if weaponized.
Then it hit her.
She...did she just say...
Tears involuntarily sprung to her eyes, which, for someone who wasn't too big on mushy things like giving goodnight kisses and buying cute toys, was surprising. She tried to recall how many times Mandy had actually said "I love you" to her, and shocked herself when she realized that it wasn't that many. Mandy was a verbal type, the kind of person whom you could place behind a podium and tell them to speak on whatever they wanted to, for however long they wanted to, and they would do it until their body gave up on them. She would always be willing to do anything for her family and friends, and to Olive, that was the best kind of love one could get.
But having Mandy say "I love you" straight-out to a person or a pony who wasn't Bradley Beli was...well, pretty rare. And Olive wasn't quite sure how to feel about it. She felt a familiar warmth inside her heart, though.
She barely heard the bathroom door open and close. She was too busy sobbing.
"Olive? What's wrong?" Otto asked. "Why are you crying?"
The Director turned towards her partner, her eyes becoming bloodshot. "Otto...she...she said she loved me!"
Otto's brow furrowed in confusion. "Mandy does love you, though."
"But she said it in words, Otto! Words!" Olive gripped her partner by the shoulders. "I-I can't even remember the last time she actually told me she loves me!"
Now Otto was beginning to understand. Truth be told, he couldn't remember the last time Mandy had told him she loved him, either, though he was pretty confident it was because he didn't see himself as a father to Mandy more than a best friend figure. "People and ponies express love differently, you know. Mandy's no exception. Maybe, for all her gum-flapping and...impossible amounts of energy..." His pupils widened in horror for only a few seconds. "...she just doesn't think to say 'I love you' enough."
A choked sob left Olive. "Yeah..." She gripped her shirt. "But it's just nice to hear it sometimes, instead of getting it in the form of a hug or a good meal. You know?"
Not ever having heard Olive's backstory prior to Odd Squad, Otto had no idea what her parents were like, assuming she even had some. The way she talked about hearing the words "I love you", though, seemed to imply that there had been a lack of such a concept in her family structure. But he didn't feel like discussing the trials and tribulations of her family at such a late hour of the night.
He gave an empathetic nod and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Look, it's probably really late. I'm done in the bathroom, so why don't you go wash up? I don't know where you put the extra sleeping bag, and for obvious reasons, I'm not about to go around your room looking for it."
Giving an ugly sniffle, Olive wordlessly nodded and moved towards the bathroom. Otto watched the door close, then glanced towards the guest room. Only now was he aware of the noisy snores Mandy was giving off, followed by her garbled murmuring upon every exhale. Her left arm drooped over the side of the bed, while her right arm was splayed across her chest, her hand gripping the blanket like it would disappear if she let go.
He couldn't help but give a warm smile at just how peaceful she looked -- which, really, was most of the time, but in Olive's guest room, it was more apparent. Maybe it was the change in bedding, or maybe it was the movie working its magic. He couldn't be sure. But what he did know was that watching her sleep was making him sleepy, and so he decided to wander about the hall as he waited.
Eventually, both Olive and Otto settled down for the night, Olive in her own bed and Otto in a dark blue sleeping bag that sat right next to it. They went to sleep just as quickly as Mandy did, as the movie they had watched began to play a role in their own individual mental films.
The sensation of a direly-needed bathroom break aroused Olive from her slumber. Giving a yawn, she swung her legs over the left side of the bed and stood up, taking a step over her snoring partner so as not to trip on him and wake him up.
As she washed her hands, the sound of Mandy's snoring from behind the closed door tickled her eardrums.
And then, suddenly, it stopped.
Immediately growing concerned, Olive dried her hands, then walked there as fast as she could and opened the door. She quickly spotted a small lump moving underneath the sheets that certainly wasn't the shape of an 11-year-old pony-human hybrid's body, and practically lunged for it as she tore off the sheets.
Her eyes widened.
A...a cat?
As she stared at the animal, she noticed it had its eyes closed, presumably in slumber rather than anything pertaining to an injury. Further inspection showed that the cat wasn't Peaches, either.
Olive's feet took her backwards, straight out of the room, where she closed the door and then backed up further into her own room. Slowly, she knelt down and placed a hand on Otto, gently shaking him.
All she got was a moan in response.
"Otto! Wake up! There's a cat in my bed!"
Otto rose to a sitting position. "So go put it outside or something. What's the big deal?"
"No! It's not my bed!" Olive pointed to the railing that lined the stairs, her closest aim to the place she was describing. "The other bed, in the guest room!"
"What?" Otto blinked. "Olive, you had a weird dream. Go back to sleep."
"I wasn't dreaming!" Olive grabbed ahold of Otto's hand and yanked on it, causing him to rocket to his feet...and then stagger like a drunkard because he wasn't ready for his body to undergo such an action. "Come with me!"
The girl dragged her partner the five or so steps it took to reach the guest room, opening it just a tad and holding her foot against the doorframe in a feeble attempt to block the cat should it try to escape. But the animal didn't do anything, and simply remained sprawled out on the bed, its eyes still closed.
"See?"
Otto rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes and peered inside. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw that his partner had been telling the truth. "All right, I believe you." he uttered. "But where'd Mandy go?"
"I don't know, but we need to find her. Maybe she teleported in her sleep again!"
"But she hasn't teleported in her sleep since we taught her to rein in her magic. Not unless she's sick with an illness, and all she did was complain about a headache."
By this point, Olive's anxiety was shooting through the roof. "She could have a cat-related odd disease or something! One that- that made her turn into this!"
Otto heaved a sigh. "Look. Don’t get yourself so worked up. It’s late. Why don’t we get some more sleep and maybe Mandy’ll return back here?" He smiled. "And if she doesn’t, we can always ask Peaches."
"Peaches? Why?"
"She can turn into a cat and back again. Maybe she'll have some answers."
The cat on the bed suddenly yawned and jumped down, the bell around its neck making a pleasant jingling sound. Slowly it began to walk with eyes still closed, slipping past Olive as she moved her foot to make room for it.
"Where's this cat going?"
"Don't. Get worked up over it." Otto's voice edged into a tone of warning, his eyes slightly narrowing. "Get some sleep. I don't wanna have to cover for you double-time tomorrow."
Olive opened her mouth to protest, but ultimately conceded with a sigh, her body beginning to ache with fatigue as it screamed at her to get back to bed. "You have a point. But I don't know how well I'm gonna be able to sleep with Mandy gone."
The two Directors shuffled on back to Olive's room, with Olive staring at the cat for only a second more before she closed the door behind her.
And that was when the unexpected houseguest decided to take action, albeit mechanically.
With eyes closed shut, it slunk downstairs until it got to the small desk that sat on the far side of the room, where a few pieces of paper sat. Hopping onto the desk, it grabbed a nearby pen with its paw, its tip completely exposed, and got to writing. If someone had been around to witness it, they would, perhaps, be surprised at just how legible the writing was, even for an animal with opposable thumbs -- and even the letter in and of itself actually followed a coherent narrative for an animal who was, for all intents and purposes, fast asleep. Once the cat was done, it set the pen down and grabbed the paper in its mouth, then rushed for a conveniently-open window and dashed away.
From there, it barreled into the nearest tube entrance, the tube system accepting it with open pipes despite it not wearing a badge, and it was taken to Precinct 13579's Headquarters. It stealthily moved about Headquarters with a clear set destination in mind, that being the door flap that led to the bedroom of what appeared to be a catperson, who was snoring away in bed. All the cat had to do was leave the note on the floor and dash out, its mind completely and utterly unaware of what it was doing even in spite of its bustling activity. By the time it got back to where it had started, its body began to feel tired, and it flopped over onto its side and fell still.
As the sun began its ascent into the blue sky, Olive awoke once again. Her mouth opened to allow a yawn to pass, and she swung her legs over the side. To her surprise, she noticed that Otto wasn't in his sleeping bag. She began to wonder if he had, perhaps, left for his daily donut run, or maybe he was waiting downstairs for her so they could go on the daily donut run together. Whatever it was, she was sure getting donuts factored into the equation somewhere.
But before that, there was one thing she had to check on, and that was whether Mandy had returned or not. A flare of panic began sparking in her heart as she hurried towards the guest room.
"Zzo in today'zz zzpeech, I'm gonna talk 'bout th' effectzz 'f throwin' food away that'zz...that'zzzzzz..."
The sleep-talk, coupled with thunderous snores that came before the "speech" could really get underway, brought relief to Olive. "Mandy, you're back!" she murmured, a warm smile crossing her face before she closed the door and began to make her way towards the bathroom.
When she finished her morning routine, she came downstairs, her relief being overtaken by smells of something sweet and of something sour that she had somehow just noticed. "Otto! Mandy's back!"
"Huh?" Otto looked up from where he had a nonstick pan in his hand.
"She's back in bed!"
"That's great!"
A lingering silence fell over the area. Olive stared at Otto from across the living room, while he stared at her from his spot in the kitchen.
Olive took initiative. "What...are you doing?"
"Making breakfast! I got up and you were still asleep, so I figured I’d go ahead and surprise you." Otto responded, scratching the back of his neck. "I, uh…hope you don’t mind."
Relieved that breakfast duties had been taken off of her hands, especially as far as Mandy was concerned, Olive shook her head. "No, not at all. Thanks!"
Otto gave her a smile that all but conveyed a silent "you're welcome" before his gaze moved to the stairs. "Is Mandy up yet?"
"Not yet. But that cat is gone..." Olive sighed. "Maybe we were dreaming."
"Both of us having the same dream?" Otto turned the stove off and grabbed the spatula sitting in a wooden cup. "I know we’re practically siblings, but that seems unlikely. Like I said, we can ask Peaches about it."
Olive mulled over the idea for a moment. "That's not a bad idea, actually. You did say she can transform into a cat willingly."
A few minutes later, Otto had breakfast ready for two -- or rather, three, if one counted the extra plate filled with a completely indescribable number of pancakes. He sat down on the couch next to Olive and grabbed his plate.
"Did you sleep well, at least?"
"Kind of. I couldn't get my mind off of Mandy, but I was so tired..." Olive used her fork and knife to cut off a piece of pancake and put it into her mouth, relishing in the gooey taste of the syrup and the fluffiness of the pancake itself. Truly, when it came to making food, there were far few who were as superior as Otto was.
As Otto swallowed his own bite, he perked up with an idea. "Hey, you think Agent Twilight might have something? She is a pretty smart pony. And she’s practically read every book in Precinct 13579’s library!"
Olive reclined back onto the couch. "She might. I say that if Peaches can't figure this out, we should ask her."
"Good idea!" Otto nodded. "Now c'mon, eat up so we can go get donuts and go to Headquarters!"
"Okay, okay, don't rush me!"
Only around noontime, when Olive and Otto had long left the house, did Mandy finally wake up. Her headache was still prominent, but it felt no more painful than a small pinch. Slowly she rolled out of bed, went to the bathroom, and trudged her way downstairs.
"Momma, I'm hungryyyy..." she whined, hoping that if her footsteps didn't bring her mother's attention to her, then her voice would. But she found no response. The house was eerily quiet.
As she made her way to the kitchen, a white piece of paper with writing on it on the coffee table caught her eye.
To Mandy:
Otto and I left for work, but we made you a Chocolate Moo-Moo Surprise and some breakfast before we left. I also left a couple bags of tea in case you still have a headache. Hope you’re feeling better!
Love, Olive
It didn't take a second for her mouth to begin watering when she laid eyes on the tall stack of pancakes. In another second, the stack and drink were both completely gone, with not a crumb or a drop to be found, and before even five minutes could pass, she had taken the tea and had begun booking it to Headquarters.
As she bounced her way inside, vocalizing a tune she had made up completely on her own, she was stopped by her head ramming into a small piece of paper, which was connected to a hand that was, in turn, connected to an arm.
"Mandy!"
The hybrid put a pause on her cheerful ditty. "Oh, hiya, cuz!" She pried her head away from the paper, trying to read what was written on it but finding that it was backwards at her angle. "You, uh...got another note?"
"Yes! Read this!"
Grateful that it hadn't been shoved into her mouth this time, Mandy did as she was told, telekinetically grabbing the note, turning it around, and reading it aloud.
To Peaches: One of these days we’ll spar together, but I want to test your strength first. I’ve already beat up three of the town’s stray cats today. If you think you can do better, hehehe, then give it a shot.
- Anonymous
Tears filled Mandy's eyes. "No..."
"Yes! It's the same Anonymous as last time!" A growl rumbled in the depths of Peaches' throat. "Apparently they don’t realize I’ve already beat up a ton of Vallean catpeople that have come through here…"
Before the catgirl knew it, Mandy was wailing and crying into her chest, uttering near-gibberish about how "Anonymous" beating up cats was sad and how she would find who they were and how they would pay dearly and how she would probably send them to Neptune or something if she could. It was all one long sadness-infused tangent, and Peaches was too invested in finding and beating "Anonymous" at their own game to care all too much.
Still, if she wanted Mandy off of her chest, she had to comfort her somehow.
"There, there. I'm sure the cats are fine. Don't worry. This 'Anonymous' being probably didn't kill them." Peaches had to inwardly cringe at her pathetic attempt at comfort. "If you want, I'll go and find 'Anonymous' for you and kick their butt! How about that?"
The proposal seemed to put a halt on Mandy's crying. She gave an ugly snot-filled sniffle as she pulled her head away from her cousin's chest. "R-really?"
"Really! I'll avenge those cats', uh...injuries for you."
Mandy gave a nod. "Okay! Just make sure you have fun, too."
"Oh I'll have fun. I'll have lots of fun." Peaches' mouth began curling up into an ugly grin as she delved into a bout of evil snickering, and then began to walk away while tapping her fingers against each other in a classic evil villain move.
Mandy, meanwhile, wiped the last of her tears away and focused on her desk, which was stacked high with two mounds of paperwork. Throwing the note into the wastebasket, she dragged her feet over and took a seat, grabbing the first paper from the very top of the stack and steeling herself for what she was sure would be a long day...again.
Twilight trotted into Olive and Otto's office with her head held high. "Hi Olive, hi Otto. You wanted to see me?"
"Yes. Something very odd has happened." The universal catchphrase was unisonant among both Directors, something they acknowledged with shared winks.
"How can I help?"
Olive decided to take the liberty of explaining the situation in Otto's stead. "We want to ask you about yesterday, with Mandy breaking an agent’s bracelet. She says you were there and you trapped her in a bubble."
Twilight figured that was what she was being summoned for, and decided to launch right into her first-pony point of view on the events. "Yes. Rainbow Dash and I were just coming back from a case and we saw Mandy pulling at an agent’s bracelet with bells on it, acting like a cat. When we tried to ask her what happened, all she did was meow at us before she shook her head and spoke in English. She claims that she didn’t mean to break the bracelet, but this is Mandy we’re talking about. You two should know how she does a lot of things…irrationally."
"I can attest to that." Otto agreed, raising his hand.
Olive tilted her head. "She meowed at you?"
Twilight nodded. "The agent thought she had 'Meow-itis', but I’ve never heard of that odd disease before. Is that a real thing?"
"Not that we know of. Dr. O's never mentioned it."
As Twilight's muzzle wrinkled in thought, Otto was also lost in thought, murmuring to himself as he tried to connect the dots between what happened yesterday and what had happened last night. It didn't take him more than a minute before he had his own eureka moment.
"Oh my odd."
Olive turned around to face him. "What is it?"
"Partner, what if that cat we saw last night..." Otto gripped Olive by the shoulders, his eyes widened. "What if that was Mandy?!"
If one listened closely to Olive, they could, perhaps, hear the gears whirring at top speed in her brain. She had been so tired that the cat in her guest room's bed being Mandy never even occurred to her. "What?!" was the first word she managed to get out, and then she stammered for a few moments before she was able to form words again. "N-n-no, there's...there's no way. Mandy doesn't have the ability to turn into a cat."
"Hold on, Olive. Otto might have a point."
The Director whirled on Twilight so fast that the alicorn was genuinely concerned she would get whiplash. All that flew out of her mouth was a "Huh?!" that sounded more annoyed than bewildered.
"I'm no animal expert like Fluttershy, but I've noticed that Mandy has displayed a lot of feline behaviors ever since she underwent the transformation into a pony-human hybrid." Twilight explained. "She has a cat smile, for one."
"I...b-but lots of people have a cat smile!"
"In cartoons, yes." Twilight put on a mildly irritated expression, as though telling Olive to just let her explain. "But that's not the only cat-like thing Mandy has. She purrs whenever she's happy, she yowls whenever she gets startled...and that's not even getting into her relation to Peaches, who herself is a catgirl." The alicorn gave a soft exhale to clear her head. "I don’t know what’s causing Mandy to suddenly turn into a cat, but it seems she has that ability now."
Now it began to fully sink in for Olive. Dread enveloped her heart. "Oh no. Don't tell me...she shapeshifts in her sleep?!" Slowly, her face became buried by her hands. "I can't believe it. Mandy can suddenly turn into a cat...my daughter is a cat..." Her mutterings became incomprehensible from there, and both Otto and Twilight could swear there was a curse word or two shoved in the vocabularic mess. Finally, after what felt like hours, Olive raised a finger and pointed it at Twilight. "Wait. That doesn’t explain why she suddenly went full cat, in her usual form, when she attacked the agent’s bracelet, though."
"Cats do like bells, and the agent was wearing a bracelet with a lot of bells. Perhaps Mandy was attracted to them as part of her cat instincts." Twilight responded, the answer flowing out of her about as smooth as a stick of melted butter.
Otto, giving a comforting smile, placed a supportive hand on his partner's shoulder. "Partner, we should talk to Peaches and Agent Fluttershy. If anyone can help us figure this out, it’s those two."
"Fine. You do that." Olive brought her hands away from her face. "And when you're done, I'm going to be observing Mandy."
Otto's gaze became fixed on the purple alicorn standing in front of him. "Thanks for helping us out, Agent Twilight."
"Oh, it's no problem." Twilight smiled and waved a dismissive hoof. "To be honest, Mandy turning into a cat and back again is quite intriguing. I’ll have to see if there’s a book in the Odd Squad Library that explains more about it."
"Don’t get your hopes up. There’s a lot of odd stuff that exists in this world, but a human shapeshifting into a cat and back again probably wasn’t one of them…" As he knew she was the historian of the duo, Otto's gaze moved to Olive, but all she did was give a noncommittal shrug that showed not even she knew whether humans turning into cats and back again was a recognized oddity or not.
Twilight turned and began making her way out of the office. "Doesn't hurt to check, though."
"All right." Olive heaved a sigh. "Otto, go talk to Peaches and Fluttershy. I'll hold down the fort here." Her eyes darted back and forth. "Er, uh, n-not...not literally."
"Got it."
As Otto saddled up next to Twilight, the mare shot him a friendly smile. "C'mon. Fluttershy should still be in the Creature Room at Precinct 13579."
To both Otto's and Twilight's surprise, when they walked into the bullpen of the latter's precinct, they found Mandy in a completely normal state. Feet kicking rhythmically, pony ears swiveling to and fro, a bug landing on her nose that she scared off with a sneeze (no one could tell whether it was real or fake) before going back to filling out her paperwork.
"She looks fine to me." Otto remarked.
Ignoring his comment, Twilight's eyes caught a flash of yellow. Sure enough, Fluttershy had landed in the bullpen and was tucking her wings in. As she called the Pegasus's name, she trotted over, giving her own greetings to both agents and asking if things were all right with them.
"Well...not really." Twilight pointed to the hybrid she and Otto had been eyeing moments before. "You see Mandy over there?"
Fluttershy turned to look, and couldn't resist smiling at Mandy craning her head in what appeared to be an attempt to comprehend something that was written on the paper in front of her. "Mhm. What about her?"
"She's suddenly shapeshifting into a cat and back again, and we don't know why."
That made Fluttershy's gaze move back to the duo, though she wasn't as surprised as she should be. "I have noticed her acting like a cat…but I didn’t think she could transform into one!" If one looked close, they could see her cyan eyes shimmering with anticipation, the same anticipation she got whenever she found a new odd creature. "She’s not sick, is she?"
"No, no, she's not sick. But we're hoping you and Peaches might have some answers." Otto looked around the bullpen. "Is Peaches around?"
"I'm not sure. I've been in the Creature Room for most of the day, feeding and caring for all the odd creatures." Fluttershy responded. "But if you want, I can take a look at Mandy for you. It won’t be the same as a regular checkup from Dr. O, but it might help you get to the bottom of this."
Otto and Twilight exchanged a look with each other, as though mentally asking if this was a good idea. With a smile and a nod, it became clear on what the answer was.
"That would be wonderful. Go for it!" Twilight encouraged.
Fluttershy gave them a smile of her own, then began to make her way over to Mandy, quietly so that she wouldn't spook the hybrid -- though she wasn't sure why she had to move quietly, exactly. "Um, Mandy?"
With a stellar sense of comedic timing, the lead tip of the pencil in Mandy's hand broke off. "Aww, pickleferries! That's the third pencil I've broken so far!" In her frustration, she hurled the tool towards the hallway, not caring where it landed. "Stupid lousy paperwork..."
"Mandy?"
"Huh?" The hybrid turned. "Oh, Flitter-Flutter! Hiya! What's up?"
Fluttershy smiled at the nickname Mandy had made up for her on a whim. "Would it be okay if I performed a checkup on you?"
"A checkup?" Mandy rolled her eyes and gave an amused smile. "Don't tell me Dr. O's taking another one of his 'extended absences' again! Last time he did that he came back with at least thirty different animal bites and almost got himself sliced in two!"
"I, um..." Fluttershy wasn't really sure what to make of Mandy's mini-ramble. Really, she wasn't sure what to make of half of her ramblings in general. For the sake of her sanity, though, she decided to move on. "N-no, nothing like that. But, um...we've noticed something..." She rolled her hoof about. "...off about you. And I want to help find out what it is."
At first, Mandy looked about close to crying, as though Fluttershy was insinuating that she was flawed beyond belief and she took that personally. But her expression quickly changed into one of inquisitiveness. "Well, I have been getting these headaches recently...they're terrible things." She threw her arms out to her sides. "So by all means! Just don't, uh...make me take creature medicine or anything."
"Don't worry, I won't." Fluttershy turned and began making her way towards the stairs that led up to the second floor. "Follow me."
Mandy rose, and spotted Otto and Twilight also coming to join Fluttershy. "Oh, Twi and Otto are here too! Hi guys!"
"Hi!'
"Hey!"
"They'll be supervising, just in case." Fluttershy explained.
"Okay-dokay!"
A minute later, Mandy was sitting on a table that Fluttershy had pushed out and had placed in front of a small structure of white rocks.
"What's first?"
"This." Fluttershy reached behind her back and pulled out a tongue depressor. "Say 'aah'."
Mandy decided to go for a harmonious C note this time around when she opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out, swinging her feet in an effort to create a kind of beat without any music playing.
A single nod marked the end of that portion of the exam, as Fluttershy placed the depressor on the tall counter next to the table. "Now, I'm going to show you various toys. Just react as you normally would."
"Okay!"
The Pegasus disappeared to the back left corner of the room, and returned with a box full of small toys that were fit for all of the small odd creatures that resided in Headquarters. Wordlessly, she took out a plump-looking toy mouse and dropped it onto the floor in front of Mandy.
"A mouse? I was expectin' something more like a ball or..."
Her pupils contracted, and then widened so that her eye was more pupil and iris than actual sclera. She stared at the mouse with such intensity that any villain in its position would be squeamish after less than five seconds of eye contact. Her mouth hung open just a little, enough for a bug to find free real estate in it if they were so inclined.
"Look, it's happening!" Twilight pointed out, watching as Mandy landed on the floor on her hands and knees and began eyeing the mouse curiously.
Fluttershy nodded once, then pulled out another toy. "Next, a bell."
She rolled the small bell on the floor. Mandy's pony ear flicked once at the noise, moved to follow it, and took the rest of her body with it, the only verbal sound she made being a happy meow.
"And a spring."
As the toy rolled across the floor, Mandy laid on her side, using her hands to pull herself towards it before it could disappear from her view. Another happy meow left her, but this time it was far longer than any cat could hope to meow.
"Have you got all the information you need?" Otto asked.
"Almost. But I want to try one more thing." Fluttershy stood up, spread her wings, and softly glided over to Mandy, lightly tapping her head twice. "Mandy? If you could snap out of it, please?"
The hybrid gave a curious mew.
"I'm your friend, remember?" Fluttershy smiled. "There's one more thing I want to check. But I need you to be yourself first, okay?"
Right then, Mandy snapped out of it as she shook her head and gave a low groan. "Aw jeez, the headache's back..."
"It's lovely to see you back to normal." Fluttershy said. "Are you feeling tired?"
The question caught Mandy off-guard. She slowly rose so that she was sitting on her knees, rubbing her head in a futile effort to numb the pain that shot within it. "Kinda? Not particularly. Maybe just a smidge. Momma's bed was great but I think her mattress is due to be changed in-"
"Well..." Fluttershy raised the volume of her voice just a little, in order to stop Mandy before she could get going. "The thing I want to check involves you going to sleep. Can you do that for me?"
Mandy rolled her eyes. "Can I do that for ya? Of course I can do that for ya, I mean I dunno what I would do, I already have a massive headache and maybe some sleep will be just the fi-"
Like someone had pulled the plug on her brain, her body slumped forward and landed on the floor with a hard thud. What followed was the sound of loud snoring that Fluttershy, for one, had come to expect.
"Out like a light."
Twilight's head tilted in confusion as she watched the slumbering hybrid. "Are we waiting to see if she'll turn into a cat?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Mhm. Mandy has sleepwalked before, and she used to use magic in her sleep. So I think she’ll turn into a cat in her sleep as well."
"Good call, because that's exactly what happened when she turned into a cat last night."
Both Twilight and Fluttershy looked at him. Though the former had barebones details to go off of, the latter did not, and thus was the one to speak. "She did? What happened?"
"She visited Olive’s house and the two of us slept over for the night. Olive saw a cat in her bed suddenly, and then the cat got up and began to sleepwalk. I don’t know where it sleepwalked to, though. I told Olive not to work herself up over it because she was getting anxious over Mandy being missing, but I saw her back in bed the next day."
"I see." Fluttershy tapped her chin. "In that case, we should follow her if she sleepwalks again. For now, we'll have to wait."
As it turned out, no one had to wait very long. Twilight clocked her mental stopwatch at a mere four minutes until Mandy's body began to shimmer with a soft ethereal yellow glow.
"Fluttershy! Look!"
The Pegasus turned around from where she had been skimming through the database to gaze at the bright light. Within seconds, the snoring came to an abrupt halt, and the light faded away to reveal a calico cat who had two orange spiral patterns on its right haunches.
"Oh...my..." Fluttershy landed, but her wings didn't fold in right away, instead remaining splayed out so that they nearly touched the floor. "She turned into a cat!"
Still in a snoozing state, the feline form of Mandy slowly rose to her four paws and began padding towards the counter that Fluttershy was at before.
Otto's eyes widened. "She's sleepwalking!"
"But where is she going?" Twilight asked, beginning to walk behind Mandy at a considerable distance in case she disappeared through a portal or a hole of some kind.
But she didn't. Instead, she held up her head high, gave a few sniffs of the air, and then gracefully leaped up onto the countertop.
Otto watched her move, her eyes never moving from her for even a single second. "Is that...paper? And a pen?"
"She's writing something!" Twilight watched with utter fascination as Mandy gripped the pen in her paw and wrote on the paper. She couldn't see what, exactly, the feline was writing, though, even when she took flight to get a closer look.
Once Mandy was done, she took the paper in her mouth, landed on the floor, and began hurtling towards the door.
"Twilight, let her out!" Fluttershy ordered, her tone panicked in a way that was unusual for a shy pony.
Twilight did as she was told, and the trio ran after Mandy as she went down the stairs and down the right-side hallway, catching the attention of more than a few agents and clients.
"Where is she going?" was the only question that was uttered, and even then, no one could answer Twilight whatsoever. At least, not until Mandy stopped in front of Peaches' door and slid in through its cat flap. "She's going into...Peaches' room?"
Fluttershy was the one who went after Mandy first, sliding in with ease and looking around the room. To her surprise, Peaches herself wasn't in right now -- it was just the Pegasus and Mandy, the latter of whom was leaving the note she had written on Peaches' bed before hopping down and taking her leave. Fluttershy quickly moved to grab the note before soaring after Mandy, motioning for Otto and Twilight to come along.
When all was said and done and everyone was back in the Creature Room, Otto, Twilight and Fluttershy decided to take a look at the note while Mandy flopped down onto her side and fell almost still, save for the rise and fall of her stomach.
"What does the note say?" Otto asked. Twilight decided to read it aloud.
To Peaches:
I see your strength is almost unrivaled. Almost. But there is one more thing I’d like to test you on: your ability to swim. It’s a common myth that all cats hate water, but do you think you can swim all the way around a pond? I can, ‘cause I love water! When you’re done, meet me at Precinct 13579.
- Anonymous
Twilight blinked. "Mandy's been giving these notes to Peaches? But why?"
"Maybe it’s a dominance display of who is the better cat. But Mandy isn’t aware that she’s writing these notes." Fluttershy sat down and tapped her chin a few times. "At least…I don’t think so."
A bright ethereal light marked Mandy's transformation back into a hybrid, and from there the snoring and sleep-talking continued. Twilight couldn't help but become alarmed when Mandy began talking about stabbing cantaloupes and apples, but ultimately brushed it off as one of her usual non-sequiturs that didn't actually mean anything.
Fluttershy grabbed a piece of paper from the countertop as well as another pen, and got to writing down all of the observations she had witnessed so far.
"So what's the verdict, agent?" Otto asked.
A soft hum was his answer at first, as Fluttershy finished writing. When she was done, she landed on the floor and gave him a smile. "If I had to take a guess, I’d say that Mandy doesn’t have a good handle on her new shapeshifting abilities yet. Someone will have to train her, just like we did with her magic and her flight."
Twilight smirked. "And I happen to know of just the person for the job."
The trio soon found themselves back at Peaches' room. Twilight, not expecting anyone to be home but still being courteous, gave three knocks on the door and called out, "Peaches? Are you in there?"
To her and the others' surprise, a slurred "Coming..." came from behind the door -- which was rather odd, since they hadn't even spent a minute in the Creature Room discussing their findings.
A messy-haired, eyebag-ridden Peaches slowly opened the door that stood between her and her guests, and she stared down at them. "Oh, hey, you three." A yawn interrupted her greeting. "What's up?"
"Is now a bad time?"
Peaches would have snarked at Twilight in response to her question if she wasn't so tired. "Eh, not particularly...I guess I could put the rest of my nap off..." Another yawn, coupled with a head shake to try and clear away her brain fog. "Why?"
"May we come in?" Fluttershy asked meekly.
"Sure." Peaches stepped to the side to allow everyone to file in. "There isn't some big emergency, is there?"
"No, not at all." Otto shook his head. "I'm sure you're aware of all the notes you've been getting recently? From Anonymous?"
Peaches scoffed, some of her fatigue ebbing away. "Am I ever! I'm beating Anonymous at their own game!" She gave a snicker that sounded more befitting of an evil villain than of a catgirl like her. "Oh, I'm gonna crush them so hard...I'm gonna crush them into dust! I'll show them who's the better cat around here!"
Otto ignored Peaches' mad boasting and put on a cool, confident facade -- the kind he used whenever he had information in a case to lord over Olive for all it was worth. "Well, what if we told you we know who Anonymous was?"
"...Say what now?"
"'Anonymous' is really Agent Mandy. Your cousin!"
Silence. Peaches took a step back, then another, then another, until she was leaning against the bed. Her expression went blank as she tried to comprehend the truth bomb that Otto had just dropped on her, the rest of her prior exhaustion being wiped away in one fell swipe.
The resulting yowl five minutes later made the door cartoonishly bend outwards towards the hallway just from the sheer volume and force of it.
"A-a-are you...y-you're...Otto, this isn't...this isn't another one of your jokes?!" Peaches thrust a finger at him. "B-b-but how...t-there's no way, she...she was...she's half-pony!"
"Mandy has gained shapeshifting abilities and shapeshifts into a cat just so she can deliver those notes to you in her sleep." Fluttershy pointed out.
"Wh- wh- wh-" Peaches blinked rapidly. "But why?! Mandy’s never gotten competitive with me before! E-except for board games and all that, but not at stuff like this! A-and she can shapeshift into a cat like me?! What's her beef with me?! What does she want?!"
"Mandy’s shapeshifting abilities are weak, and in order to help her get better, we’re asking you to be her trainer." Twilight explained. "It's probably what she would want, if she, uh...knew about all this..."
That calmed Peaches down a little. In place of anger, confusion festered. "Me? Be her trainer? In turning into a cat?"
"Since you’re the only other person here that has the ability, we figured you would be perfect for the role." Otto's gaze moved to Twilight. "Actually it was Twilight's idea, but...yeah, you get the drift, right?"
Overwhelmed by the information, Peaches slumped to the floor, grasping her head in her hands. "I…w-well…a-as much as I’d like to, guys…I didn’t get this ability through training. All Vallean catpeople are born with the ability to turn into a cat and back, but we just don’t use it until we grow up a little."
Disappointed looks settled on Otto's, Twilight's, and Fluttershy's faces as they moved their heads away and gazed at the floor.
"However."
They looked up.
Peaches took a deep breath. "Mandy’s my cousin. She’s pretty much a catgirl by blood now. And as her relative and best friend, it’d be wrong not to train her." She gave a confident nod. "Okay, I’ll do it!"
Cheers rung out within the room, as the trio high-fived (or, perhaps, high-hoofed) each other.
"Where is Mandy right now?"
"She's sleeping in the Creature Room." Fluttershy responded.
"Got it. Just leave it to me!" Peaches' expression then fell. "But, um, one thing...does Oprah know about this?"
"She's WHAT?!"
"Yeah...you, uh...feel like adopting a cat?"
Twilight gently nudged Otto for that little quip. "It's pretty much her transformation and the abilities that came with it all over again."
Fluttershy placed her hooves together, her ears flopping downwards. "P-please don’t kick my partner out, Ms. O. She just needs to get used to her new ability. And I have confidence that she’ll be able to master it in no time."
Oprah shook her head in an attempt to snap herself out of her state of shock. "Don’t worry, Agent Fluttershy. I have no plans to do that anytime soon. Mandy turning into a cat is far less dangerous than her using magic in her sleep, but…"
"Just give me a chance." Now it was Peaches' turn to beg. "My cousin won't be causing any destruction on my watch."
Oprah looked to each group member, then gave a pleasant smile. "Well, I couldn’t ask for better agents for the job. You’re free to go right ahead and train Mandy as you wish." She raised a finger. "And if you run into any snags, come to me. I may not understand all this myself, but I'm more than willing to help out in any way I can."
"The same goes for me, Peaches." Fluttershy laid a hoof on the catgirl's arm. "Animals are my expertise, after all."
"Of course! I'm gonna go get started right now." The loud growl of a stomach permeated the office. "Scratch that, I'll get started after I have some more prey from my prey pile."
As Peaches left and Otto moved off to the side in order to call someone, Oprah made a grab for her fruit punch-flavored juice box and took a swig from it. "To think that Mandy would be turning into a cat..." She shook her head. "Heh, since she’s a pony-human hybrid, I thought she would turn into a pony."
"She's not biologically half-pony, though." Twilight reminded. "Peaches is her cousin, so they're catpeople by blood."
Oprah rolled her eyes. "Well I know that, Agent Twilight. My mind went back to that theory after I thought about it for a little." She raised an eyebrow. "Now, I believe you two ponies have some work to do?"
Both Twilight and Fluttershy nodded and left, leaving only Otto remaining, who hung up his badge phone and clipped it back onto his chest.
"All right. I've given Olive the, uh...good news? Bad news?" He shook his head. "No, no, definitely just news. Anyway, she won't have to spy on Mandy anymore."
"Why did she want to spy on Mandy?"
"Probably to do what Fluttershy did, see what's been going on with her." Otto sighed. "But I think Peaches has got the situation handled from here, so I'm gonna head back to my own HQ before Olive has my head."
"Good call. Have fun!"
"Thanks."
As Otto left, Oprah resumed her drinking, giving a satisfied sigh after her next swig. With the juice box now empty, she tossed it behind her and pulled out a 96-fluid-ounce bottle of apple juice, popping open the cap and beginning her journey to the bottom of that bottle.
Peaches swung open the door to the Creature Room and picked up Mandy, feeling something in her spine shift as she did so. She didn't think it was very good, judging by how heavy the hybrid was.
"Ugh, what, are you eating rocks for every meal?" Peaches grunted. "Wouldn't surprise me...Pinkie would be the one to teach you about that." With an immense amount of effort, she shook Mandy. "Now c'mon, wake up! We’re losing daylight and if we don’t start training now then it’ll be a day wasted!"
A loud snore, and then something Peaches could barely make out aside from the word "chocolate".
"Wake up!!" A cry of protest. "No! Don't protest! We are doing this whether you like it or not! NOW WAKE UP!!"
Slowly, Mandy's eyes creaked open...
"Oh thank cattails."
...and then closed as she slipped back into a state of sleep.
"You know, I'm starting to think Olive may have a point when she threatens to throw you onto the seal of the bullpen face-first-full-force." Peaches muttered. As a last resort, she took out a Chocolate Moo-Moo Surprise drink and thrust it into Mandy's mouth with the same intensity as her first note from Anonymous.
"Mmuh...?"
"Drink up, cuz."
"Mm...?" Mandy took a few plaintive sniffs of the drink, then eagerly accepted it into her body with massive sips.
Peaches removed the glass when the last of the liquid had been consumed, then waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And wa-
"No! I already told ya, th' IRS doezzn't call, it...you're...you're..." Mandy blinked. "Mmm..."
As she set the hybrid down, Peaches dramatically gasped in a way that would put Rarity to shame. "It's alive! And with a bad case of bedhead!"
Mandy slowly looked around. "Where are we? I thought we were in the Creature Room!" She gasped, and flung herself at Peaches. "Did I pass my checkup from Fluttershy?! Did I get an O? Pleeeeease tell me I got an O! It'd be bad if I didn't get an O! O's are the best!"
"If you calm down then maybe I'd be in the mood to actually tell you."
"Oh, okay!" Mandy pulled away from Peaches and let her tail begin wagging. "Spill it, sister! What's the haps, what's the beefs?!"
Telling Mandy that there was something she needed to know was one thing. Telling her what that thing was that she needed to know was another issue entirely, something that caught up with Peaches as she stammered. "Haha...whoo, um, how should I say this..." Peaches bit her lip as she thought for a few moments, then shook her head. "No, no, I'll just say it straight. Cuz, you can change into a cat now."
All Mandy did was stare at Peaches in a way that made her uncomfortable. She couldn't quite place what the stare was, whether it was one of bewilderment or of joy.
Finally, after a few minutes, Mandy delved into her usual giggle-and-snort laugh. "Ah, Peach...I always keep sayin' you'd kill as a comedian, and this just proves it!"
"No, I'm serious! You turn into a cat in your sleep, and then you sleepwalk. You’ve been sleepwalking and writing me all those notes! You’re 'Anonymous'!"
This only served to make Mandy laugh harder.
"Stop laughing! Ugh, why didn't I get video footage..."
"Oh, I think my lung...ahuh...I think it...egh...I think it just collapsed on me!"
Suddenly, Peaches got an idea. Her gaze drifted to the box of toys that Fluttershy had left out, and she immediately dove for a crinkly ball that she held up in front of Mandy's face.
The hybrid was entranced.
The catgirl yanked the toy away and put it behind her back.
"Huh?" Mandy blinked and looked around. "Where'd it go?"
"Aha!" Peaches pointed, a grin crossing her face. "Why do you think you get distracted by toys made for odd creatures?"
"Because those kinds of toys are fun, silly! I ate a dog bone toy once. Tasted like chicken. Not any better than the frozen stuff at the supermarket, though!"
Peaches threw the toy into the box as discreetly as she could. "Whatever. If you don't believe me, then that's fine. Totally fine. I have ways to convince you." She smirked. "I'm going to help you harness and master your new ability. But you need to do exactly as I say."
Mandy frowned. "This isn't gonna be like when you taught me to fly using my tail, is it?"
"No, I've learned from that. Besides, this is different. I believe in you, a hundred percent. Are you with me, cuz?"
"Ha..." Mandy's tail flicked about. "You're really committed to the bit, huh, Peach?" She stretched out her body. "All righty, I'll help you! It'll give ya good leverage when you use this skit at the next Odd Squad Talent Show!"
"We agreed I wouldn't do another one of those again. Not after the mud incident."
"Aaaaaah, don't be a sourpuss." Mandy pat her cousin on the shoulder. "This one'll kill with the folks. Trust me." She excitedly began bouncing for the door. "Now c'mon, let's get started!"
Peaches knew she and Mandy had different goals in mind when it came to the training, and yet she still followed Mandy anyway, if only to rub the reveal in her face when it finally clicked in her brain.
"Now, what did you dream about when you went to sleep during Fluttershy's checkup?"
"Oh oh oh!" Mandy waved her hand in the air. "I was in the back alley of this super-neeshay restaurant!"
"It's niche! It's pronounced 'neesh'!" Peaches sighed. "Just...just continue."
"And I was diggin’ around in the dumpster lookin’ for food for some reason, when all of a sudden this man came out with a fish!"
"A fish?"
"Yeah! And so I asked him and I said 'Um, sir, I’m very hungry, may I please have that fish you’re holding?' And he gave me the fish, and I ate the fish!" Mandy nodded. "It was a very good fish, mm-hmm."
"Were you in your usual form?"
A snrrk sound left Mandy's body. "Look at this chubbawubba over here, askin' if I was in my usual form..." She playfully rolled her eyes. "'Course I was, silly!"
Peaches opted to ignore her cousin's snide remark. "Hmm. Okay. And what have you dreamt about the past few nights? Anything that you think might be related to cats? What they do, what they eat…stuff like that."
"Oh! I dreamed I was a cat a couple nights ago. I was in this really nice lady’s home! She fed me and gave me lots and lots of pets…and I slept in her lap! It was like a dream within a dream!"
Peaches visibly winced. "M-maybe you shouldn’t be sleeping in your dreams...with this zany world, who knows what might happen…but still. Very interesting nonetheless." She glanced at the ceiling in thought. "So perhaps you turning into a cat might be tied to your dreams. Or maybe your thoughts?"
"I have so many thoughts!"
"Okay, so...try turning into a cat now."
"...Whuh-heh?"
"Think about being a cat. Doing whatever you want, so long as it's cat behavior."
"Uh...well, okay, but I'm gonna need a cat costume if you're gonna do this part of the skit. Really helps to sell it."
"Just think about being a cat!"
"Thinkin' about bein' a cat!"
With a big intake of air, Mandy held her breath and thought about all sorts of feline-related things. She thought of cats hunting their prey, of cats grooming each other to look absolutely perfect, of cats giving bi-
Yeah no, she wasn't gonna think of that.
As thoughts began flashing through her brain one after the other in a rhythmic sequence, her lungs began crying out for oxygen. Her face began to turn blue. She began to quiver as her body became affected by the sudden lack of air. Her closed eyes began leaking tears as she begged for someone, anyone, to give her release.
"Mm...I don't think it's working."
Mandy bent down on one knee.
"You can breathe, cuz."
The sound that was expelled from Mandy's body sounded like the dying but dramatic breath of a person who acted the same way they had gone out from the world. The hybrid took in as much air as she could and expelled it, the blue hue of her face fading away and being replaced with her usual tan-colored one.
"Okay, so that didn't work..." Peaches didn't take even a moment to think, an idea already forming in her head. "I'm gonna see if maybe getting the hiccups would cause you to turn into a cat."
For this experiment, both cousins decided to head to the Breakroom, where Peaches slammed down a whole tray full of food in front of an eager and hungry Mandy.
"Big plate of food for you. Chow down! And make sure to eat some air."
Mandy, of course, scooped up every last bit of food into her mouth with her volumetric tongue. "I love eating air." She swallowed. "Eating air's my favorite!"
As she set the utensils down, Peaches stared at her, waiting for one of the many sounds that would mark a filling meal for a full hybrid.
A minute passed.
Mandy hiccuped.
And...nothing happened.
"Yes! Ohh, but it didn't turn you into a cat..."
Mandy hiccuped again.
A pop marked her sudden transformation back into a calico cat.
If there hadn't been agents walking by and chatting with clients and coworkers, the silence would have been deafening.
"...On Leo's whiskers."
"I'm...I'm nak-"
A pop, and Mandy was turned back into a hybrid.
"Oona?"
"I was naked..."
"I'm going to Oona."
"I flashed hundreds of agents..."
"Come on."
"Are we gonna go buy kitty clothes?"
"No."
"Please?"
"Cats are always naked, Mandy."
"...Oh."
A hiccup, and then another pop.
"Peach, can cats blush?"
"An Un-Hiccup-inator?"
Peaches clasped her hands together. "Please tell me Odd Squad has that gadget in their arsenal."
Oona gave a scoff. "Of course I do! What am I, crazy?!" She raised a finger. "It does have a side effect, though."
"Which is?"
Hiccup-pop.
"It, uh...makes you itch. For three hours."
"For wha-" Hiccup-pop.
"Three hours." Oona reiterated. "I don't know why...I'm still working out the kinks, but...it should work fine otherwise!"
Peaches gave a nonchalant shrug as a reaction to that information. "Well, three hours is nothing. Lay it on us."
Hiccup-pop.
Oona took out the gadget, a small spherical little thing, and fired it at Mandy, encasing her in a warm green glow for only a few seconds before it died down.
The trio all waited with bated breath. Peaches and Oona kept their eyes trained on Mandy for a full minute.
The hybrid blinked. "Hey, they're gone!" And then she stiffened, an "urk" sound eking out of her. "Never mind...somethin' worse just came bitin' back!"
As her cousin moved her hands around her body in futile attempts to relieve the itching sensations that had broken out practically everywhere that could be scratched, Peaches heaved a sigh. "Well, we'll have to live with it. Thanks, Oona."
"No problem! Tiddly-ooh!" She gave a dissatisfied grunt. "That was terrible."
Peaches grabbed Mandy by the collar and began hauling her away, her cry of "It's so itchy!!" going ignored by her but certainly noticed by other agents.
Following Mandy going to Dr. O for some anti-itch cream that thankfully worked without any other side effects, she decided to break away from Peaches' experiments and go straight to the one person she knew would help her in figuring out why this was happening. She had already gotten the details of what she had done thus far from Peaches, but for the catgirl's flawless skill at changing forms, she wouldn't be able to help Mandy. Not to the fullest.
"HAAAAARUUUUUKOOOO!!" she bellowed into the open area of the Magical Grasslands. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"
The wind whistled to answer her, but it didn't carry the voice of the spirit guardian on it. Mandy frowned. "Huh. Maybe she's not here?"
"Mandy."
"I can hear her, but I can't see her..."
"Behind you."
It wasn't so much the voice that startled Mandy as much as it was the words themselves. She turned around with a loud yowl, her hair and tail bushing up as she sprung up a couple feet into the air. "H-H-Haruko! Jeez, don't sneak up on me like that!"
"My apologies." Haruko responded, trying hard to fight the amusement that crept into her voice. "How are you doing?"
"G-great..." Mandy stopped to catch her breath before continuing. "But, um, I kinda came to talk to you about something. Do you have a minute?"
"Always. What is going on?"
Slowly, Mandy crouched down to a sitting position. "I’ve…I’ve suddenly started turning into a cat." She picked at a blade of grass mindlessly. "It’s only when I’m sleeping a-and I can’t control it! Peach and I tried to come up with a few ways to help me master the ability, but…none of them worked."
For dramatic effect -- though not that Mandy knew it -- Haruko took a moment to pause and close her eyes, reminiscing on what her mother had told her. Now she understood what she had been saying, about the "big change" Mandy was set to undergo. And now that she understood, she could feel the clock ticking and ticking, time passing with each minute, ever-closer to Mandy finding out her true origins.
She just couldn't understand when. She had no set timeframe. She would have given Mandy one, if that was how fate worked. But rushing fate was something that was just not done. When Mandy was ready to discover where she really came from, that was her decision. Haruko had learned that a long time ago.
But she forced herself to set the bigger issue aside and focus on the smaller one.
"Mandy. Do you remember when I told you that Peaches is connected to you in more ways than one?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"I can say that this new ability of yours..." Haruko slowly opened her eyes. "It is because of that."
That didn't make Mandy do so much as flinch. "But we're cousins! I mean of course I have the ability, we're related!"
"But how the ability manifests in you is because of your strong familial bond with her. She can turn into a cat and back again."
"Yeah, but she's had the power since she was born! I only just got it..." Her ears drooped. "...and I don't even know how to control it."
Haruko gave Mandy a warm smile, placing a gentle paw on her knee. "I am sure that if you keep practicing, then you will hone the ability to shapeshift in no time. But I would suggest you have Peaches keep on mentoring you until you have complete control over it."
A sigh. "I guess you're right...even if her ideas are a lil' silly."
"But the bottom line is this." Haruko's tone dropped, becoming gravely serious. "Very soon, sooner than you could even think, you will find out your true origins. What happened to you. What happened to your real parents." She gazed into Mandy's eyes with ferocity. "You may undergo another big change, and it is up to you to be prepared for it. Your shapeshifting ability…it is only the beginning, Mandy."
Mandy's mind didn't get past "sooner than you could even think" before she began to panic. She scooted a few paces backwards from Haruko. "M-my origins…don’t tell me…" She rapidly shook her head. "N-no! I haven’t spent enough time with my friends! My family! Gimme a timeframe, at least!"
Haruko shook her head in a more milder manner in response. "It will come very soon. That is all I know. But if you are to beat King Ashero and the rest of Vallea…you must master this ability."
What am I gonna tell them...what am I gonna tell them about me leaving them for good? It'll break their hearts...and if my real parents lock me up in...wherever they live... A moment of thought for if they were living out in the open or in a tent of some kind, instead of someplace with a far sturdier roof. But I have to tell them regardless. I can't keep this from them. It's...
She bit her lip.
It's cruel. It'll hurt to say it, but I can't keep it bottled up forever.
She heaved a mighty sigh and stared up at the sky. "All right. Maybe I can’t change this…fate that’s set in stone for me. But the best I can do is master my shapeshifting." A pause. "You're right, y'know. You're right on all the fronts and the backs and the sides." Slowly, she rose to her feet. "Thanks, Haruko."
"It is no problem." Haruko's warm smile remained on her face. "The best of luck to you, Mandy."
In a flash of prismatic color, the hybrid was gone.
When Mandy arrived back at Headquarters, it was dark, save for a few nightlights that had been turned on (Oprah sought to have them installed for the agents who didn't have built-in night vision) as well as places like the Lab and the North Control Room that had automatic dimmers. Upon looking around the place, she realized that no one was around.
"Huh. Everyone must’ve gone home already. It’s gotta be really late…even though I wasn’t in the Grasslands for very long."
As she walked, searching for any kind of life, her leg hit something hard mixed in with something sharp, and she stumbled backwards with a yelp. The sound of an "oof" followed by a corona dying down and an object clattering to the floor followed suit.
"Oh!" Mandy blinked as she saw who she had bumped into. "Rarity, I-I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"
"Just fine, darling." The elegant unicorn slowly rose to her hooves. "And please, don't apologize. It is quite dark in these hallways, even with the nightlights."
As she lifted the object in her corona, Mandy eyed it curiously. "What is that thing?"
"Oh, this? Just a little spool of white thread. I need it to complete an order for a client."
"Who's your client? Oona?"
"No, it's-" Rarity blinked. "Um...actually, y-yes. How did you-"
"Call it a lucky guess." Mandy rolled her shoulders in a shrug. "Is that why you're staying up so late?"
"Mhm. But I could ask the same question of you, darling. Where have you been?"
"I was at the Magical Grasslands, asking Haruko for advice about my new ability."
Rarity tilted her head in intrigue. "Ability?"
"Yeah, I can turn into a cat now!" Mandy's smile upon giving the reveal quickly turned into a frown. "But it’s only when I sleep, and I don’t have a good grip on it yet even after training under Peach a little. So I decided to go to Haruko for advice."
Though she knew next to nothing about Haruko, Rarity gave a nod. "I see."
"But Haruko..." Mandy's voice cracked. "She told me...something else."
"And what's that?"
A sigh left Mandy's lungs. Should I really be telling her this? Haruko never said I couldn’t...but it would be wrong to upset Rarity, especially this late at night…
The answer was instantaneous.
No! Everyone deserves the right to know! If my time is coming “very soon”, as Haruko puts it…then I might as well.
She straightened, a serious look settling on her features. "Gather the other ponies, and Momma, Otto, Peaches and Oprah tomorrow. I’ll tell you all then. Meet me in Oprah's office."
Rarity couldn't help but express surprise as her friend's sudden change in demeanor. Still, she knew when she had something serious on her mind, and thus acted accordingly. "All right. If that is what you want." Worry reflected in her eyes. "But do try and get some sleep in the meantime. You look positively exhausted!"
"Do I?" Mandy began touching her face, but found no sign of exhaustion that could be discovered through that sense. And as for the sense of sight, she didn't have a mirror handy, either. "I'll take your word for it, Rarity. I'll go to bed right after I have something to eat. You get some sleep too, though, 'kay?"
"Of course."
As the duo exchanged good-nights and parted ways, Mandy heaved a sigh that served to make her body begin deflating physically, the fatigue slowly but surely starting to settle in.
"And I thought my shapeshifting ability was the only thing I was gonna hafta deal with...ya had to put another weight on my shoulders, didn'tcha, Haruko?"
2PM.
Nearly everyone was packed like sardines in Oprah's office, with a few stragglers who were falling behind.
"We're here!" Olive raced in with Otto in tow, letting go of him and watching him stumble and collapse on the floor. "Sorry we're late, Otto wanted to grab lunch first-"
"I was hungry! You know I can't function right when I don't eat!"
"No one can understand you when you're screaming into the carpet, partner."
"Shut up."
"Anyway, Rarity..." Olive's gaze fixed on the fashionista. "Why did you call us all here?"
"Me? I did this on behalf of Mandy." Rarity had to bite her tongue to resist adding a "darling", as was her wont, because she knew Olive despised cutesy nicknames like that. "She said she wanted to talk to all of us about something."
"Well, whatever it is, think she can hurry it up?" Rainbow moved her hoof along the couch she was sitting on. "I have Wonderbolts practice in a half-hour!"
The sound of ascending footsteps grew closer and closer, causing everyone to look. Mandy's staggered flight caused her to crash into the glass door face-first, and then stumble into the room while she clutched her nose. "Oprah, you're real lucky your doorsh aren't shoft glash..." Her eyes slowly opened to meet the crowd of ten. "Shorry I'm late, guysh, my flight didn't go ash shmoothly ash I wanted it to go..."
"Why didn't you just teleport here?"
"I-" Mandy blinked once. Twice. Removed her hands from her now-bruised nose. Stared at her partner. "Huh. That prolly would've made it fashter."
"What's going on, cuz? Is there an emergency?"
"Ha...well..." Mandy rubbed her nose and smacked her lips, the latter being so she could speak in non-smushed-nose talk. "You could say that. Though it kinda depends on what you consider an emergency...like maybe..." She landed on her feet, tucked in her wings, and fiddled with her hands. "Like maybe a friend leaving for good?"
Twilight agreed in firm nods. "I say a friendship problem certainly counts as an emergency."
"Now hold on." Applejack, sitting on the right couch sandwiched between Peaches and Fluttershy, raised a hoof, and subsequently an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're thinkin' of quittin' Odd Squad now?"
"No! H-hear me out for a sec, this is important!"
The room fell silent. Mandy could feel ten pairs of eyes all bearing down on her. Twenty eyes didn't seem like much, but when the news was as hard to spit out as a hairball, it was a whole lot. Accustomed as she was to public speaking -- oh was she ever accustomed to the act -- the stares unnerved her, and she gave a shaky sigh before she spoke again.
"So I dunno how many of you know this...but I can turn into a cat now." Mandy shrugged her shoulders, like she was expecting the audience to laugh at her or applaud or provide any reaction. In actuality, the only reaction she was given involved a few surprised glances, none of which were exchanged with her. "I went to Haruko to get some advice on how to control my shapeshifting ability…but what I got was something else."
Mandy gripped the ends of her jacket. Grit her teeth together. Tried to think of happy thoughts. Had those happy thoughts squished. Tried to think of happy thoughts again. Became briefly happy that those stuck to her brain like glue.
Opened up her jaws.
"I know some of you know this already, too, but…sooner or later, I’m gonna hafta leave Odd Squad with my real parents. They’re gonna find me, and when they do, they’ll probably wanna take me back with them."
Oh powers-that-be give me strength. I don't care what strength, just give me any strength.
"...Turns out 'sooner' is...right around the corner. And I mean 'right around the corner'."
That earned ten gasps that all chimed together in unisonant harmony.
Surprisingly, Fluttershy was the one who spoke actual words first. "Y-y-you don't mean..."
"Haruko said that my time will come 'very soon'." Mandy gazed at Fluttershy with sadness in her pure innocent blue eyes. "I’m gonna find out everything. How I got to Odd Squad in the first place. Who my real family is. Everything. This ability I have…it’s only the beginning, she says."
Olive, meanwhile, was having her own crisis, right there on the couch of her former boss's office. Her mind flashed back to Starry Song's illusion, how Haruko had told her she needed to find her real parents and how Olive shouldn't stop her. But the more the Director thought about it, the more pieces came into existence from the fog that left them shrouded.
Adults -- human adults, mind, not mares and stallions -- were wicked, awful creatures. They viewed kids as skeletons trapped in small bodies with brains equal in size to a pony's. There was, of course, plenty of evidence to the contrary, but if there was one thing Olive had learned, adults did not do so well with evidence that was set to prove them wrong no matter how factual it was. She was rather worldly for someone who looked like she was twelve, but any mention of "I'm millennia old" would get her laughed at straight yonder.
She had seen adults all the time on the news, robbing stores and beating up innocent bystanders and transporting drugs she had no idea even existed until she had her mind tainted by the current events localized entirely within her town.
More specifically, she had seen adults in jail for multiple counts of child abuse and kidnapping.
"We have just received this important information regarding an abducted child. Mandy, last name redacted, is an 11-year-old white female with brown hair and blue eyes. Last seen wearing an Odd Squad uni-"
No. She wouldn't think about that.
"...with her biological mother, Igat Noname, 32 years old-"
Nope.
"...biological father, Noname Foundhere, that's noh-nah-may, 35 years old-"
No. That was a hard, firm no.
That last "no" flew out of her mouth as she shot up from her seat. She shook her head. "I'm not going to give you up just like that!"
Otto wisely backed away. "Partner?"
Olive marched up to Mandy, close enough that she could feel the puffs of air she exhaled from her nose. "I raised you for eleven years, Mandy. I found you, and I raised you. If I hadn’t, you would have been another victim of Odd Todd’s pienado massacre. I may not know what happened to your real parents…but for them to not go looking for you after eleven whole years?! It’s despicable!" She sighed and jerked her head away, her eyes closing. "But what else would I expect from a couple of adults?"
"Partner!" That last cry came from an Otto who was fully aware there were six adults in the room with them, and was fully aware of their hurt and offended expressions.
"Who cares what Haruko says? It’s not like her words are set in stone. You can change your fate. And fate says that you should stay here, with us." Olive grabbed Mandy's hands and clasped them tightly within her own. Her eyes shimmered with hope as the last two words danced softly on her lips. "With me."
Mandy said nothing. All she did was stare at Olive with confusion and a very distinct lack of comfort.
"You’re the light that keeps Odd Squad running, Mandy. We don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to lose you. Without you, I wouldn’t be the agent I am today."
"Ugh, talk about cliche."
Olive whirled around and glared at Rainbow so quickly that one would think she had somehow learned the Accelero spell. It was enough to shut the Pegasus up, at least, which was good enough for her.
"Momma..."
Hearing the endearing nickname made Olive turn back around. "It doesn’t matter what you choose. But I’m not giving you up to a couple adults who care so little about their kid they don’t bother to go looking for them until over a decade later. It's foolish."
"But Haruko told me they’ve been searching! She could hear their hearts crying out in pain and everything!"
"And how do you know that isn't just a new emotion she felt, say, oh...a couple weeks ago?"
That brought Mandy to a standstill. She stammered, trying to come up with a coherent response, but nothing came out beyond bits of vowels and consonants that couldn't be formed into any English word.
Olive fought hard to not let her smug side show. "I rest my case."
"Olive, don’t you think you’re being a little possessive?" Oprah stood up and made her way over to the duo, her arms crossed. "I want Mandy to stay in Odd Squad too. But she’s her own agent. She’s free to make her own decisions."
Twilight raised a hoof. "I agree with Ms. O. Besides, there’s no rule that states Mandy can’t help out Odd Squad even if she has to quit. And if she does go back to her real parents, what if they continue to let her be a part of Odd Squad?"
"Like they would let her do that?" Olive snapped. "Mandy's my daughter, not yours, Sparkle. I raised her."
"And Mandy's my agent, not yours, Olive. She's my second-in-command."
"Family trumps work, Oprah. Always has, always will."
Oprah squinted her eyes with a very audible squeaking sound. "You're being ridiculous."
"No I’m not. I’m protecting her. I’ve been a better parent to her than her real parents could ever be."
"Ah...Olive, if I may..." Rarity's head tilted. "Have you ever met her real parents? In-pony? Er, my apologies, in-person?"
Olive's mouth hung open for a moment. However, she snapped right back to it. "Well…no, but…" Her tone turned into one of desperation, something that could be an easy tip-off to how vulnerable she was at the moment. "They didn’t look for her until now. Any loving parent would keep looking for their child for years until they found them. I would do that, and I’d expect any other parent of Mandy’s to do the same!"
Peaches looked away, something that Olive noticed as she rubbed her arm and looked at the floor. "Back when Peaches and I had that fight with Starry Song, her singing got to me. The next thing I knew, I was in some kind of dark purple…realm, of sorts. And Mandy was a baby." And back to the crowd. "I heard this voice…who said that I should treat her as an ally and that Mandy wasn’t my real daughter. She told me that Mandy will try and find her real parents soon, and that I shouldn’t stop her…and that if I did stop her, she would grow to hate me."
The fact that Haruko had never told Mandy this bewildered the hybrid. She didn't know the extent of what Olive had experienced when Starry Song had poisoned her mind, just that a voice had told her that Mandy needed to find her real parents.
But for her to even pose the truth...no, the falsehood of Mandy hating Olive for not letting her find her real parents? It was inconceivable. Mandy couldn't stay mad at her Momma, even though she lived life with lemons and limes sitting in her body from the moment she had (mostly) stopped the pienado all the way past when she became a Director to...
...to...
Wait.
Maybe finding my real parents is better for me in the long run.
The thought came on suddenly, but Mandy couldn't deny that maybe it held some merit.
Her real parents keeping her locked up in the house so she became a depressed nerd with no job who spent about 20 hours a day fiddling about with electronics was a 50/50 shot. Her real parents letting her be free and do her job and be just slightly less of a free-range child was also a 50/50 shot. If one asked her, her chances of the latter happening were pretty good.
Now Olive, on the other hand...
"'Fail to heed these words…and perhaps it will shatter everything you hold dear to your heart.'"
The words snapped Mandy out of it.
"At the time, I thought it was some illusion that Starry Song planted in my brain. But now…" Olive stared at her hands. "I realize it was real. All of it was real. And perhaps it wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to assume that the voice…belonged to Haruko."
"Haruko spoke to you?"
Olive willingly ignored her adopted daughter's request for confirmation. "But I’m not going to listen to her." She shook her head and straightened her posture, giving off a determined aura that was filled with indignation. "Mandy came to us for a reason. I raised her. I’m not just going to lose her after all this time we’ve spent together!" A scoff as she whirled on the rest of the group. "Don’t tell me you all care so little about her that you’re actually willing to hand her off to a couple of heartless adults?!"
Peaches rubbed her forehead, a clear indicator that she was getting tired of Olive's attitude. "It’s not that we don’t care, Olive. It’s that we want what’s best for her. If she needs to find her real parents, or even if she just wants to, then we shouldn’t stop her. Haruko had a point. It would be stupid to disobey her."
"For all we know, 'Haruko' is just some imaginary friend Mandy made up."
"But you just said she was re-"
"I was...appeasing to her whims." Olive shot daggers at Otto, enough to make him sit down and fall silent. It was a hastily-crafted excuse, but one that she felt got the job done. "After all, we’re children. It doesn’t hurt to have an imaginary friend or two. She’s not an exception to the rule, partner."
"Olive." Twilight got off of the couch. "I know how much you love Mandy. But you’re being too overprotective of her. Whether Haruko is real or imaginary, she made a good point with what she told you. After all, she’s helped out Mandy tons of times." Her violet eyes moved to Mandy. "Right?"
Mandy stood silent for a few moments, trying to absorb just what her mother was saying. Her heart hurt with how badly she was trash-talking Haruko, and she wanted to tell her that Haruko was real. But something told her that she wouldn't listen, and so she shoved that idea to the wayside, beginning to talk about the kitsune as though she were a real figure -- which she was, of course, but Olive didn't seem to think so, and she wasn't sure about anyone else. "Um...y-yeah! She has!" She put on an unsettling grin. "Haruko’s nice and sweet, don’t worry about her. Even if she does have elements for tails."
Twilight's gaze rested on Olive again. "And I’m aware that Odd Squad agents don’t particularly like adults…or at least human ones." Her expression became unreadable for only a fleeting second. "But this is Mandy’s family. Surely you can make an exception for that."
"A family that didn't go looking for her for over five years."
"Maybe they were looking for a while, but gave up and accepted that she was gone. Or maybe they’re still looking and they haven’t found her. Haruko did say that she could feel their hearts crying out. They want her back."
"Hold on."
Both Olive and Twilight, as did the rest of the group, looked at Oprah.
"I can empathize with Olive."
Olive narrowed her eyes. "Empathize how?"
"You and Otto are what I like to call 'living emotional crutches' to each other. You can’t function without him. He can’t function without you."
This reveal, while very much true, made Otto recoil in shock. "I can function without Olive fine! But we're partners and-"
"And truth be told, Mandy is also your living emotional crutch." Oprah continued. "You probably won’t admit it, but she is."
Olive crossed her arms and jerked her head away. "I can live just fine without Mandy."
"Then why is it you're so defensive about what is clearly reality? Why is it you're so defensive about her wanting to find her birth parents?"
Olive's head moved back within a millisecond. In a twist of irony, she did the same thing Mandy had done before -- she lost an argument with someone higher than her.
"I rest my case."
Oprah took a big inhale through her nose, and with her brown eyes locked firmly onto Olive's own, she launched into a spiel that, in her eyes, would tear the other Director apart and expose every inch of her insides down to the last piece of artery.
"You need to ease up on her, Olive. I don’t know if I need to bash it into your skull with Mandy’s hammer or my own two fists, but her finding her real parents is the reality that you will have to face. I accepted it back when Mandy took that vacation to the Magical Grasslands and was gone for what seemed like forever. I knew the day would come when she would ask about her real parents, and I have no qualms about her going to find them. That doesn’t mean I won’t try my hardest to keep her in Odd Squad, but I’m going to give her the freedom she wants and deserves. And I would suggest you do the same. Unless you want her to hate you, and we all know how she gets when she becomes hurt."
The silence that fell in the room was as deafening as it was awkward. Nearly everyone was considering the weight and the accuracy of Oprah's words, exchanging glances and retreating into their own minds to form reactive thoughts.
This, of course, included Olive, who just stared at her former boss with a look that no one could place. The tears that were beginning to well up in her eyes, however, was one of a few dead giveaways. Clearly, the verbal equivalent of "drop a grand piano on 'em and watch what happens, Sonny" had worked its magic...maybe a little too well.
After five minutes of everlasting silence, she knew what she had to do. Five minutes was not a whole lot of time to think things over, but she was acting purely on a hunch. And when Olive acted on a hunch, one let her go on the highway and see how she came out in the end. There was no dieway. There wasn't even a alive-but-very-badly-injuredway.
"Mandy."
"Huh?"
"Teleport me to the Magical Grasslands."
The words were like a trigger that snapped everyone's attention back to the real world.
Pinkie was the first to react. "What?!"
"You're going to the Magical Grasslands?" Rarity repeated.
"Partner, this is insane! You're not going to the Magical Grasslands!"
"Yes I am." Olive glared at her partner again. "I'm going there to see if Haruko is real or not, and I'm going to get to the bottom of all this."
"And just how d’ ya know Haruko’s gonna appear for ya?" Applejack asked, with a raised eyebrow. "She’s got a close bond with Mandy, not you. 'Sides, maybe she is just as imaginary as y' claim she is. Might be a waste 'f a trip."
"I don’t care, Agent Applejack. I’m going. And if Mandy won’t teleport me then I’ll walk there myself."
"And you’re just gonna leave your precinct in the hands of Otto? Without even asking him?"
"Rainbow Dash is right." Otto stood up. "You may be the smarter one between the two of us, but even I know this is just a foolish idea."
"Quit trying to make me change my mind. Whether it's a wasted trip or not, I'm going to get to the bottom of this." Olive glanced at her adopted daughter. "So, what do you say, Mandy? Will you teleport me, or should I get started on walking?"
Mandy bit her lip. Haruko had allowed her to teleport to the Magical Grasslands, but she didn't know what the policy was on teleporting other people there. When she weighed the decision in her mind, she realized that Haruko wasn't the ruler of the Grasslands, and it was a real place that...well...she wasn't sure if any average Joe could get to it, but she assumed one could if they journeyed far enough.
She sighed. "I’m not makin' any guarantees on anything. Whether you’ll see Haruko, whether you’ll meet the clan she used to be a part of, or whether you’ll get the answers to the questions you have. But…I’m not gonna stop you."
The hybrid lit up her horn, encased Olive in a brilliant rainbow-colored glow, and made her disappear in a bright flash of light.
Another silence fell over the room.
"Wow. That happened a lot faster than I thought it would."
The soft, wow-Fluttershy-is-really-out-of-character-this-round-isn't-she declaration went over everyone's heads like a lead fart. "Well, I think I sent her to the right place." Mandy scratched an itch on her arm. "Haruko did say I could teleport there, but she didn’t say anything about me teleporting other people there…"
"Mandy, I'm so sorry-"
"Save it, Otto. Don't apologize." Mandy held a hand up. "I’ve been through eleven years with your partner to know what she’s like by now. Even if her words are…very very dumb." She sighed. "I’ll admit, I do wanna see my real parents. I don’t remember anything about them, but…I wanna see them again. And…I wanna bring Peach, too!"
Peaches looked around the room, as though there was another Peach in the room with her. When she realized she was the only Peach around, she pointed to herself. "Me?"
"Yeah!" Mandy's tail began to wag gently. "Maybe my real parents will welcome you into the family. Even if you are a catgirl. And if they don’t…" Her smile grew bigger. "We’ll still have each other. And the ponies. And Otto. And Oprah." She paused. "Yeah, I think I got everyone."
"D'aww, come here, you."
Mandy launched herself at Peaches, tackling her and pulling her right into one of her usual death-by-spine-injury hugs.
"You're not mad at Olive?"
Mandy paused. Took some time to think about it. And then made her decision. "Naaaaah! Overprotectiveness is a natural trait for a parent to have, even if it sometimes causes them to make…weird decisions. Once Momma meets Haruko and gets things straightened out, she’ll be fine! Trust me!" She pulled away from the hug and let Peaches go. "Now Peach, can we continue more of your training? Please? I wanna get this shapeshifting skill straightened strout!"
"'Strout' isn't a word..." Peaches rolled her eyes amusedly. "But sure. C'mon."
"Yay! But no more hiccups."
"Oh cattails no. I've learned my lesson from that."
"Thanks for comin', guys!" was the last call from Mandy before she and Peaches left the group, and subsequently the office of the former's boss.
Otto exhaled. "Well, I should get going. With Olive gone, I'll need to run the precinct on my own for a while...and I'd better get started now."
"You're free to call me if you need anything."
"Thanks." Otto waved Oprah and the rest of the group off before leaving through his old boss's personal tube.
"Well, that was something." Rainbow remarked. "Anyway, I gotta go too. See ya."
And then there were six.
"I didn't think Olive was so overprotective of Mandy like that." Fluttershy said. "But I'm happy that Mandy's okay with things."
"But what if she's not?!" Pinkie threw her hooves into the air. "What if she’s hiding something deeeep inside, and she’s really all sad but won’t admit it ‘cause she wants us all to be happy, and then the truth comes out and we become all sad, and then the sadness expands and expands until it reaches the entire town, and then the world?!"
Rarity shook her head and sighed. "Darling, I will always love you, but I do have to question your train of thought sometimes..."
"Regardless of whether Mandy’s being truthful or not, all we can do now is wait and see if Olive can patch things up with Haruko. Assuming she actually exists." Twilight looked towards the glass doors.
"And what if 'Haruko' is imaginary?" Applejack asked, with a distinct amount of skepticism that showed she didn't believe in the kitsune's existence. "Or she shuts Olive out? What'll we do then?"
"I don't know, AJ." Twilight solemnly shook her head. "I don't know."
The five ponies still remaining all left right then and there, leaving only Oprah in her office all alone. She went over to her desk, grabbed her juice box, and took a sip.
Although she was numb to it, a single tear began its descent down her face.
The teleportation had Olive in the unfortunate position of landing on her rump.
Hard.
On dirt and grass.
"Oww..." She rubbed the sorest part of her body as her gaze began sweeping the area. A few seconds of that made any and all pain disappear in an instant, being in awe of just how expansive it was. She knew it was just a regular old field, of course, but something about it made it far different than just some field one would see when driving about in the boonies. It felt freeing, like stepping into a place that suddenly healed you with magic.
An angelic choir sounded from somewhere. "Holy jackalopes..." the Director murmured, as the wind began to ever-so-slightly pick up. "Am I sure Mandy didn’t kill me with that teleportation blast? Because this place looks like He-"
She stiffened. Growled. Angrily shook her head. "What are you doing, Olive? You came here for one thing…"
As she rose to her feet, she began walking forward, not completely aimless but still seeking navigational help all the same. "Haruko! Are you there? Please, come out! I-I know I’m not Mandy, but I’m close to her, at least! Isn’t that enough?"
Olive waited and waited until she decided that she was right. Of course, said waiting period only took about fifteen seconds.
"Knew it. All along, Mandy was talking to a hack. Haruko’s not real, she’s just a figment of a child’s imagination! Fuh, some all-mystical being…I know it's Odd Squad but just where does Mandy get these ideas?"
"You."
Olive stiffened again. A soft but strangled gasp left her body. "T-t-t-that voice...it...it couldn't be."
"We meet in-person at last...Olive."
The Director turned around, to find the being whom she could finally put a voice to. She had seen nearly every oddity in the book, but perhaps none could have prepared her for the sight of what laid before her.
She took a step back. And another. "No…there’s no way. You’re imaginary. You’re just Mandy’s imaginary friend! And because I’m close to her, the idea seeped into my brain…so now we share an imaginary friend."
It was a stupid theory, the more she thought about it.
"I can assure you, I am very much real."
"D-d-doubt it."
"If you wish to doubt my words, then touch my fur. You will find that I am not born from imagination, nor am I a hologram. I am a real being."
She took a step forward. Then another.
Then another.
And then she stopped.
"Y-you're not gonna tear my hand off or send me to another realm or anything, are you?"
A head shake.
Olive squeezed her eyes shut, decided to bite the bullet, approached Haruko, and stuck her hand out.
Contact was reached.
Her body was overtaken with a feeling of weightlessness, like she was on the moon. Most of her cares and worries began to slowly melt away. It was a feeling she probably hadn't felt since she was a baby.
"Your fur...it's like a cloud." she murmured, her gaze moving to Haruko's extra limbs. "And your tails...they're made up of every existing element." She pulled back. "Mandy didn't just imagine you. You're...you're real!"
"I am." Haruko said, in a way that conveyed she really wanted to give Olive a good dose of "I told you so" but had to have an air of professionalism. "But what, exactly, did you come here for, Olive? I would imagine that you did not make such a harrowing journey here on your own. Mandy teleported you here, did she not?"
Olive nodded. "Yes. Right." She twiddled her thumbs. "You and I need to have a talk. About what you told Mandy earlier. About her real parents."
As though she was expecting everything, from the arrival to the conversation -- which she was, much to Olive's ignorance -- Haruko stood up. "Come with me. We will find a more comfortable place to discuss this matter."
Olive followed the kitsune, taking in the sights, one thought echoing within her determined mind.
Don’t worry, Mandy. Whatever happens…I won’t lose you.
I…can’t…lose you.