In Odd We Trust

by marmalado

The Mission

"Princess Celestia, what's the matter?"

Six ponies stood in front of the tall, ethereal-maned princess, who gazed down on them with cool magenta eyes. One pony, an alicorn with a striking purple-and-pink-streaked mane and tail and purple eyes, took initiative, stepping forward.

"Twilight. A portal has opened in Ponyville. We are not sure how it got there, but what we do know is that we cannot beat it with our magic alone."

"Oh yeah! I think I might've seen that portal!" Next to speak up was a pink pony, with a poofy pink mane and tail to match, giggling at the thought of the happenings she witnessed in the portal.

"So what do you s'pose we do?" another pony of the six asked, with a blond-yellow ponytail and tail to match, and a cowboy hat sitting atop her head.

"I want you to enter the portal, and find out what is happening on the other side. I know this may be risky, but I believe in you."

The six ponies nodded in response.

"In addition, I have seen...humans. Twilight might have told you about them when she went through the magic mirror."

"Humans?" A Pegasus pony with a rainbow mane and blue fur spoke up next, tilting her head in confusion before her expression lit up. "Oh yeah! Those two-legged creatures!"

"Be wary of them. If ever you need assistance, you should be able to travel back through the portal the same way you went in."

"But what if we can't go back?"

Twilight's question was one posed that made Celestia think, I hadn't thought that far ahead. Silence filled the room briefly before the princess spoke once again. "I will have two royal guards at the portal at all times. If you cannot enter Equestria from the other side, find a way to signal them. They will get help."

The Mane Six each exchanged worried looks, before each of them gave Twilight an affirmative nod. "We won't let you down, Princess."

"Good. Please, take your leave now. I will send two royal guards to the portal as well."

Nodding, the six ponies left the throne room, and began to make their way back to Ponyville, worry fluttering inside their bellies.

---

"So this is the portal...hmm?"

Twilight and her friends stood in front of the portal, gazing into the world on the other side. Humans mulled about, and words were being said, but no one could understand anything.

"It sure seems like it, Rarity. Everypony ready?"

Various murmurs of agreement came from Twilight's friends, as they faced the portal with confidence.

"Then let's go."

And with that, the ponies took their first steps into another world, a world that would be far different than any place they had encountered before.

---

Olive and Otto gazed at the portal questioningly, their heads tilting as they tried to make sense of what was on the other side.

"Oh! There's a pegasus. She just landed. With her daughter!"

Otto's observation didn't go unnoticed -- other agents walking by also noticed the portal, sitting smack-dab in the middle of the bullpen, while various Security agents examined the portal.

"We shouldn't be watching ponies, Otto. We should be working."

"Right! Right."

As soon as Olive picked up her pen, however, a low humming sound reached her ears. With a soft questioning "hmm?" she swiveled around in her desk chair, her eyes widening as she saw the portal glow brightly, much to the confusion and displeasure of the Security agents. One by one, six ponies flew out, each coming with a yell and a hard thump on the ground. A Security agent tore his eyes away from the odd sight to look at the portal, but nothing happened -- the portal remained as active as it was before. With a disappointed look, the Security agent turned back to the six ponies.

"Ugh...what happened?"

"We're heeeeeere!"

"Oh! R-Rainbow, you're on my tail."

"Hold on, Fluttershy, I'm getting up!"

"Ohh, my mane's all ruined!"

"My hat! Where's my hat?! Oh...phew! There it is."

The Mane Six each got to their hooves and took in the sights: everyone's stares, the silence permeating the bullpen, phones ringing distantly somewhere. Before anyone could say anything, however, Ms. O emerged from her office, descending the staircase. "Stand down!" she called, the sound of her shoes the only source of noise. She made her way towards the ponies, who wore expressions of confusion, except for Fluttershy, who let out a soft whimper as her front legs wobbled like gelatin.

"Who are you?" Ms. O remarked, her ice-cold brown gaze burning its way into the ponies, which caused Twilight to take a step back.

"U-uh, well...I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, of...of Equestria."

After a few moments of silence, Twilight nudged the pony next to her, an elegant white-furred pony with a curly purple mane and tail. "Oh! Um, I'm...Rarity. I come from Ponyville."

Keeping in turn, she nudged Applejack next. "Howdy! Uh, ah'm Applejack. From Sweet Apple Acres!"

Next to be nudged was the now-hovering Rainbow Dash, who cleared her throat before speeding her way to the front of the group. "I'm Rainbow Dash, a member of the Wonderbolts, the fastest flying team in Equestria!"

It was Pinkie Pie's turn next. The mare didn't need a nudge to start introducing herself: "My name's Pinkie Pie, and I come from Ponyville! Nice to meetcha!"

Finally, Fluttershy spoke up, having shrunken into her shell due to the massive amount of stares being directed her way. "U-um...I'm...Fluttershy...from Equestria..."

More silence filled the room. Twilight, realizing she needed to take initiative, cleared her throat and summoned up what confidence she had. "We all come from a country called Equestria, on the other side of the portal. We were sent here by Princess Celestia, one of our leaders, to find out what is happening on the other side. Maybe...you could assist us?"

Olive and Otto, who had been sweeping their gazes through the group of ponies, looked at each other, then at Ms. O.

"Oh, we can assist you quite well, heh!"

A new voice spoke up, and emerging from the laboratory where the Scientists were located was a boy dressed in a long, pristine-white lab coat with green flask-shaped lapels on the collar. He wore a big goofy smile on his face, as though these ponies were his welcome guests.

"Oscar." Ms. O spoke, her tone firm as she swiveled her head to look at the Lab Director, whose smile quickly turned into a frown as he adjusted his glasses. Her gaze moved back to the ponies. "As Oscar said, we can assist you well. Come on up to my office, and we can talk more about this. Olive! Otto! Oscar!"

As she shouted the names of her three most trusted confidantes, they jumped a little in surprise.

"You're all coming with me. Posthaste! Let's move, people! And the rest of you, back to work!" The commands given, the ponies and the summoned humans followed Ms. O as they ascended the stairs into her office. As soon as everyone entered, she closed the doors behind them, making sure no one was eavesdropping.

"Now...tell me more about where you came from." The millennia-old girl beckoned Olive, Otto and Oscar forth with a wave of her hand, and as if on cue, they took their places next to her, facing the ponies with a much less harsh look than what she was giving.

Twilight, still feeling nervous, took a few moments to compose herself, her friends glancing at her expectantly. This girl was much more authoritative than Princess Celestia, and much less benevolent to boot. As for her...friends, if you could call them that...they seemed a little more caring, and Twilight found it much easier to share eye contact with them rather than the girl.

"We come from a country called Equestria, as I stated. It's a land full of all sorts of creatures, including ponies like us. There are three kinds of ponies in existence. Pegasi." Twilight gestured to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, the latter of whom spread open her wings as though she was about to put on a show.

"Unicorns." As if on cue, Rarity's horn glowed a bright blue as she levitated a small wallet-like object a few inches above Ms. O's desk. The human girl met the feat with a scowl, as though she wanted to pull the object back down, but was resisting. Eventually, Rarity set the object down, and her magic aura faded away.

"And Earth ponies." Both Applejack and Pinkie Pie waved, the latter having a similar goofy grin on her face to the one Oscar had sported earlier.

"We all live in harmony in Equestria. Any time trouble arises, we are on it. We're...best friends, actually." Twilight exchanged a warm smile with her friends, who smiled back at her. "Together, we spread friendship across Equestria, guided by two princesses. Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna. I myself am a princess as well -- the Princess of Friendship."

Olive and Otto's eyes widened as they exchanged a glance. Oscar tilted his head slightly before glancing at Ms. O, who gazed at Twilight in thought.

"Hmm." she mused, the gears in her brain turning ever-so-slowly as she figured out her next course of action. "So you're a princess of Equestria." Anyone who had worked at Odd Squad long enough knew that ambassadors of high ranking were not an uncommon sight, often attending royal lunches and similar affairs. But Ms. O knew that this was no Equestrian ambassador. Still, she sought it in her best interest to treat Twilight and her friends in high standard.

"Since you told us about yourselves, let me tell you a bit about what we do here. We work at Odd Squad, which is a high-tech government organization that seeks to investigate and get rid of all things odd. Precincts are scattered all throughout the world -- and I, Ms. O, just so happen to run this one." Her gaze moved to Olive, Otto and Oscar. "These are two of my best agents. Olive, and Otto." Both agents waved to the ponies wordlessly before Ms. O gestured to Oscar. "And this is our Lab Director, Oscar. He makes the gadgets that we use to solve cases."

"Hi!" Oscar piped up with a wave of his hand, a small smile on his face.

"We have various different departments here, each sorted by their symbol. The more sides a symbol has, the higher the rank. For example, a Director's signal is an octagon, eight sides, which signifies my authority. Investigation agents -- like Olive and Otto -- have a hexagon for a symbol, which is six sides. And so on."

"Oooh, that sounds fun! Can we join?" Pinkie, ever the energetic one, posed the question with a smile on her face. It was unexpected enough to make Ms. O freeze as she became alone in her thoughts.

Having these ponies join Odd Squad...it would help boost numbers, but...they're not fillies. And they would need to attend the Odd Squad Academy. Unless... Ms. O's eyes widened as she remembered who she was training at the moment: a former humanoid duck villain, who had sought to get his duck family captured after they had attempted to go through with a plan to bring eternal warmth to the planet by means of moving the Sun closer, and nearly put it into action. She had named him "Otis", a stipulation of Odd Squad, since sending him to the Odd Squad Academy was a fool's errand. By this means of training him to be an Odd Squad agent, there was no need for Academy attendance. It was a sneaky loophole, one only Ms. O knew about -- and one that she had to get permission from the head honcho himself, the Big O, to enact. Ms. O knew that if these ponies went to the Academy, it would be a long time before they were full-fledged agents.

Her thoughts were cut into by the sound of the ponies, who were chastising Pinkie and telling her how bad of an idea becoming agents was while she defended her position by insisting it would be a good chance to explore the world they were in and try new sweets. Tuning them out, Ms. O spun her chair around and beckoned the other kids closer.

"Ms. O, do you really want to go through with this? These ponies don't have O names. They're not fillies. And in case you haven't heard, unicorns in particular are delicacies here!" Otto spoke in a hushed tone.

"I hate to say it, but my partner is right. You haven't forgotten...Odd Todd?" The very utterance of the name sent shivers down Olive's spine. Odd Todd had been her former partner, formerly named Todd, who had turned evil when he grew bored of the organization, culminating in him releasing a tornado made of contaminated pies that took many lives, and injured many more. That, and the constant bullying, left traumatic scars on Olive, who developed a form of post-traumatic stress disorder following the incident.

Oscar stayed silent, but nodded along with the two agents' remarks.

Ms. O took a few moments to consider before she spoke up. "It would only be for a little while. What harm can six full-grown ponies bring to the force? It doesn't seem like they have any intention of turning evil, unless they want to upset their princesses. Besides...we can always keep an eye on them if we need to."

Her decision was met with stone-cold silence, save for the ponies' conversation on the other side of the desk. Olive, in particular, held an expression that was a mix of worry and hurt, as though fearing one of these ponies would turn on her in the same way Odd Todd did.

"I've made my decision, agents. And I'm sticking to it. In the meantime, we can see what lies in "Equestria". Do some research."

Ms. O swiftly turned around, interrupting Pinkie's defense as the ponies looked at the Director expectantly.

"I'll allow you six to join. But, you will all train under me personally until I deem you fit to become agents."

"And how long will that take?" Rainbow Dash inquired.

"However long it takes."

The ponies exchanged worried glances with each other, knowing they were unaware of what they were getting into. But Celestia did want them to find out what was happening on this side of the portal -- and if this was what was happening, then so be it. Twilight nodded. "All right then. When do we begin?"

"First thing tomorrow."

"But we aren't sure if the portal will allow us to go back to Equestria! Where will we sleep?"

"I'll make arrangements. But give it a try first."

Twilight began to make her way to the glass double-doors. "Come on girls, let's try it! I have a little plan."

This seemed to make the worry dissipate away from the ponies, who gave various murmurs of agreement and followed their leader as she opened the double-doors and made her way downstairs.

A silence filled the small office for what seemed like forever, before Olive let loose a loud groan and held the bridge of her nose with two of her fingers -- her variant of the facepalm. "Ms. O, what in the name of odd were you thinking? You know Odd Todd was a threat, and he still is! Anyone without O names are forbidden from Odd Squad, it's a golden rule! And we've had it out for adults since the organization was first formed!" She sighed. "What's the Big O going to do if he finds out about this? He might fire you, or even worse!"

"Calm down, partner." Otto placed a hand on Olive's shoulder, gazing at her with sympathy. "Believe me, I know what you're feeling. But these ponies surely know better than to give their country a bad name in the eyes of their leaders! Besides, as Ms. O said, we can always keep an eye on them to make sure they don't turn bad like Odd Todd did."

"Yeah! This'll all work out, heh. Just believe in Ms. O." Oscar piped up with a small smile. "She knows what she's doing."

Despite her friends' words, Olive wasn't convinced. With one last look at Ms. O, she stormed out of the office in a huff, descending the stairs. Otto chased after her, uttering a quick apology to his boss before descending the stairs, calling his partner's name.

With Oscar the only one left, Ms. O ordered him to fetch her a juice box and to get back to work. He obeyed, and soon, Ms. O was the only one left in her own office to wallow in her decision.

---

It had taken the ponies a long while to find the portal. It wasn't located in the bullpen anymore -- rather, it had been moved to the end of the short hallway to the left, with its cubed-glass windows. After what seemed like hours upon hours of dashing around and getting lost, Twilight and her friends soon realized that this was a rather large place, with multiple rooms. It was almost like a maze, and there were plenty of times when the Mane Six were separated.

Nonetheless, they were facing the portal now, which was still active. Inside, they could see the ponies of Ponyville milling about on their daily business, which spurred a thought in Twilight's brain as to how time worked between this world and Equestria. But the thought would be put away for now.

It was time for Twilight's test.

"Okay, here's the plan. I'm going to go first through the portal. If you see me come through and wave at you, that means it's safe, and you can come on through. Got it?"

She was met with murmurs of agreement, and a "stay safe and good luck, darling" from Rarity.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight stepped into the portal and focused her mind.

---

A low humming sound resonated from the portal, and Twilight flew out, landing on her side with a thump. The two royal guards posted at the portal gazed at her with worry. "Princess! Are you all right?"

"I'm...fine." Twilight got to her hooves, glancing at the portal, where her friends were mouthing something with worried expressions on their faces. Probably asking if I'm okay. Their frowns turned to smiles, however, as Twilight gave them a friendly wave, and in a matter of seconds, everyone was on the other side of the portal, with rough landings but otherwise safe and sound.

"Goodness! We're back home again!"

"Yeehaw! All right!"

"Whee-hee!"

"Aw yeah, the portal's still working!"

"Oww...I think I sprained my wing..."

Everypony got to their hooves soon enough and glanced at Twilight, who had a giddy smile on her muzzle. "It worked!" She let out a relieved exhale. "Now, we can travel through Equestria and Odd Squad with ease."

Cheers rang into the air before everypony went their separate ways and headed home, ready to continue their mission the next day.

---

In the same park where the portal once stood was a young boy, decked in a multicolor suit and white patterned shoes, with upright black hair that had a white "skunk stripe" running through it. He sat on a bench, sipping from the bottom end of a juice box, relishing the taste of it. So...ponies have arrived, hmm? Lovely! They reek of normalcy. A small exhale came from his nose. Perhaps it's time I...change the game once more. To a game where only I can win. But, I'll need a plan first. A plan...of oddness!

A loud cackle echoed in the afternoon air.