S1E11: Under A Rest
In the world of Odd Squad, the concept of sleep is a very fickle thing. It can vary between people and ponies who have all sorts of different sleeping habits, and especially among those who were afflicted with oddness, both chronic and temporary. Odd creatures -- ponies excluded -- are even more susceptible to this, although the topic of their sleep patterns is left for those in the Creature Care department to follow.
As for the agents whose job it was to eradicate oddness? Adults had their theories. "They dream of oddness!" some said. "Surely they have dreams just like my little Bobby." others said. No one really knew for sure. One of the more modern depictions of an agent's dream was a hastily-edited Shmumotoshop job done by Olive, of a dream she had one night where she was a centaur on an island, surrounded by numerous oddities. Some thought of it as a deep and introspective look into the mind of an Odd Squad veteran who had risked her life to save the world and had thrown herself into the fire for years, especially since an uninhabited island with clownfish playing guitar, lemons with monarch butterfly wings, and sundaes with baby legs was completely unheard of within the organization's history.
Others, namely the more skeptical ones, chalked it up to her being Mandy's adoptive mother. But really, who was to say. Olive's mind could be an anomaly all its own, and no one would ever know but her. Not even Otto.
But for all of the inner workings of Olive's mind, there was one agent who had such a confusing form of operations that not even Olive herself could comprehend it. She had gotten the phrase "you continue to surprise us" thrown at her so much that it was like a mandated catchphrase she got paid by the syllable to receive.
Mandy had relatively normal sleep habits. Like most any other human child, she went to bed at the same time each night and woke up at the same time every day. Her brain wouldn't have even made the least experienced neurologist bat an eye. Of course, that wasn't to say she didn't have sleep issues from time to time -- sometimes the occasional nightmare woke her up and left her unable to get back to sleep, or falling ill put a damper on her dreams. But as far as obstructive sleep apnea or somnambulism went, that, along with other sleep disorders present in children, was nonexistent.
The key word here, of course, is "had relatively normal sleep habits".
The Mandy of the present was an entirely new being when it came to sleep. Although she still went to bed at around the same time every night -- outside circumstances pending, of course -- she began to sleep more often. Loud snoring and sleep-talking became a commonly-heard sound. And she could attest to more than one case of somnambulism, in both flight and on foot.
At the insistence of many, Odd Squad Doctors ran tests on her to try and figure out what was wrong with her. The results were, for a lack of better word, puzzling. By all accounts, Mandy was a happy and healthy 11-year-old girl who, prior to her transformation into a pony-human hybrid, had good sleep habits and no chronic sleep issues. She had all the excitability and energy of a 25-pack of rechargeable batteries, even with her sleep issues. But no one could pin anything down. It got to such a point where there was debate about taking her to Toronto General Hospital and having them run tests on her.
But there was also debate from the other side regarding concerns of the hospital refusing care to her, which won in the end. This was an Odd Squad problem, and it would stay an Odd Squad problem.
As such, Doctors couldn't get a handle on Mandy's sleeping habits. To this day, they still can't. Instead, they resigned to using her as a willing test subject for Doctors-in-training, and left the topic of her sleep alone. It was almost like a taboo subject, with it being allowed to be brought up but with no one able to give any one clear answer.
Mandy herself, on the other hand, knew very well about her current sleep habits. She knew what she needed for a good night's sleep, and she expressed her needs well. There were only two problems -- not everyone was so keen on listening to her, and sometimes, she set her sleep needs aside for higher priorities, like work or helping a friend out with an issue.
Which brings us to this story. The story of a time when Mandy's sleep habits proved to be dangerous and detrimental to not just Odd Squad, but to nearly the entire town -- and how one pony brought relief to both her and everyone else, with one simple solution.
...Okay, two simple solutions.
2:00 in the afternoon.
Agents were milling about, some with clients, others carrying large stacks of paperwork.
But curiously, one agent was absent...one agent that Oprah was easily able to pinpoint.
She marched through the hallways, her stance rigid but firm. She sipped an apple-flavored juice box, something that kept her anger in check and her sanity along with it.
Finally, she arrived at her destination. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.
Right there in her line of vision, sleeping peacefully in her own bed, was none other than Agent Mandy. Snoring and sleep-talking away, with an invisible, but active and soundproof and very much electrified, force field that had a sheen running down it every few seconds.
"Oh, good. Figures I'd find you asleep in here." Oprah resisted the urge to snark, instead using the sheen to identify the one spot in the force field where she could enter without getting severely electrocuted. A sigh left her as she gazed down at her sleeping second-in-command. "Now, how to get you to wake up...after all, work's gotta be done around here."
Her being lost in thought left her blissfully unaware of Mandy's face contorting into one of unease and the soft moan she gave in tandem.
She laughed. "Who am I kidding? You don't wake up for anything." She turned around.
Mandy's horn lit up.
The next thing Oprah knew, she was sent careening out the door and colliding front-first with the adjacent wall.
Her heart was beating fast, and she wasn't sure what to focus on first. The fact that she somehow didn't get electrocuted? The fact that her bones were somehow intact and she wasn't seriously injured? Or the fact that Mandy had used magic in her sleep? Who knew. All she cared about was getting out of her predicament.
With a groan, she pushed against the wall with as much force as she could muster, and it wasn't until that much effort that her body was released from the wall with a popping sound. She stumbled around for a few moments before she found her footing, giving another sigh.
"What...happened?" she mumbled, rubbing the front of her aching head and making a mental note to pop two of that special brand of aspirin she kept in her desk when she got back to her office.
"There're zzo many zzquid juice boxezz n' this computer, I'll take 'em..." was her only response, as Mandy went right back to snoring. Her horn's magic had died down, something that brought relief to Oprah.
Relief that was squashed by her struggle to understand exactly what had just transpired.
Was...was that Mandy's doing? But why? She doesn't attack people in her sleep...much less use magic! Oprah vigorously shook her head, wincing as the ache returned with a vengeance. And something about squid juice boxes...?
She eyed Mandy, still asleep with a smile on her face, even though her shield was no longer active. Exactly how Oprah had survived getting electrocuted was just one question out of many that could fill a list expanding the distance of the entire world, and then some.
Gah, I can't think! Clearly. She sighed. Forget her sleep-talk. I need a new juice box. One without squid.
Eyeing her spilled juice box, she gave a scoff and made her way back to her office. Her entire body ached something fierce along with her head, now, and she just wanted to make the pain go away by any means necessary while also thanking those higher-ups in the sky that she didn't die or get seriously injured from the attack.
As she rounded the corner, she made out the sound of a familiar voice.
"So all of a sudden I hear, 'People love eating peanut butter toothpaste strips!' I go upstairs to find that it's Mandy, in my bed, fast asleep!" A pause. "But that's not the worst of it."
Another familiar voice resounded as Oprah approached its source. "What was the worst of it?"
"She drooled on one of my pillows."
"Oh."
Oprah made her presence known, clutching her arm as it began to throb and gritting her teeth.
"Whoa, Oprah, what happened?" Olive's eyes widened.
"Assistant! Get me a juice box!" Oprah called, as loud as her voice could make it. She didn't care who heard her, really -- the juice would numb the pain she was feeling, easy. Her head swiveled back to the Director duo, as she uttered the name of the culprit. "Mandy."
"Mandy?!" came the unisonant cry.
"I was trying to wake her up because, you know, it's 2:00 in the afternoon and she overslept, but when I turned my back on her, she laser-blasted me out of the room like I was some sort of villain! For odd's sake, I collided with the wall! You should see the dent in it now!" Oprah's voice was nearly a scream, and she thrust her index finger towards the direction of the right hallway. "And then she said something about squid juice boxes..."
"Normally I'd chalk that 'squid juice box' thing up to whatever weird thing Mandy said in her sleep, but that sounds...oddly specific."
Otto snickered at the unintentional pun, which earned him a harsh "Otto..." from his partner.
"Now look at me! I'm a mess, I feel achy...this is horrible!"
Olive chose to ignore the whining for the most part. "Well, we all know it's impossible to wake Mandy up. Believe me, I've tried."
The screams and cries of agents could be heard as everyone in the precinct ran around and about, like a group of bumbling idiots. If one listened closely enough, some could be heard screaming words like "fire" and "we have to get out of here" and "we're gonna be taken to burn".
One agent, however, was not running.
With megaphone in hand, she loomed over another agent who was fast asleep in her bed, drool descending down her chin as she snored away.
Taking a deep breath, the agent with the megaphone raised the item to her mouth and threw every inch of lung power into her voice.
"MANDY, THERE'S A FIRE! EVERYONE NEEDS TO EVACUATE, NOW!! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!! WAKE UP!!"
She might as well have told Mandy the sky was blue, because all she did was stretch and roll over before she resumed her slumber.
The agent's eye twitched. Her brain had a moment of utter failure.
"Oh, for the love of-"
"In hindsight, that was a bad idea." Olive blushed.
"'Bad' is an understatement." Oprah growled, an icy-cold edge to her voice.
"All right, well, if you're done remembering stuff..." Otto cracked his knuckles. "I don't want to call myself a hero, but I got this."
Olive's eyes widened as she remembered the last time Otto said that, and how disastrous it was. However, this time, he seemed to have a sturdier plan in motion as he made his way over to the Lab. "What's he doing?"
"Beats me." Oprah gave a shrug. The assistant arrived with the juice box Oprah had requested, and she happily took it in her hands and gave it a sip, making sure to throw in a "thank you" as the assistant walked away.
The trio met up in the Bedroom only a minute later, feeling grateful that Mandy's snoring wouldn't cut into anything they tried to say now that she had put up a new shield.
Otto held up a helmet that was illuminated green on the top in certain areas, with white wires similar to that of a landline phone attached to it and spreading in all four directions. Surrounding the helmet were blue dots arranged in a pattern. "This is a Dream-inator helmet. It allows anyone to see the dreams of whoever is wearing the helmet."
"Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" Olive nodded. "If we see what Mandy's dreams are, maybe it'll provide us with some answers as to why she attacked Oprah."
"And why she keeps saying nonsensical stuff in her sleep." Oprah blinked as two pairs of eyes turned on her. "What? Just because I don't care about what she says doesn't mean I'm not curious about it."
Sighing, Otto went inside of the shield, immediately noticing that Mandy's snores seemed louder than usual. Not by much, and he couldn't tell for sure, but to him, they were definitely louder. He held his breath and attached the helmet to her head as carefully as he could, keeping a close eye on her horn so he could book it at the first sign of its illumination.
Luckily, Mandy didn't feel like attacking him for this latest nuisance in her slumber.
Unluckily, she did feel like putting a halt on the nuisance in another way.
Her head raised off of the pillow and slightly leaned to the right, and as she did so, the helmet fell to the floor with sparks shooting out of it, Otto quickly moving out of the way.
"I can uzze th' zzcrewdriver t' clean the dizzhezz..." she mumbled, before her head hit the pillow and she resumed snoring.
Otto buried his hands in his face, but not before sneaking a peek at the girls outside of the shield. Olive simply rolled her eyes, while Oprah looked about ready to fire off some ever-so-witty snark.
And snark she did, the very second Otto stepped foot outside with broken Dream-inator in hand. "Got any more smart ideas, Einstein?"
All Otto did was sigh in response. "Guess that idea was a bust."
"Hey, Mandy, I need to-"
Peaches' sudden entry was hampered by her gaze sweeping the room. Almost immediately, it landed on Olive, Oprah and Otto, who blinked.
"Am...I interrupting something important or what?"
"Peaches!" Olive said, amping her voice to show off her oft-used nice facade. "We need a favor."
"Oh? Uh, sure, I'm happy to help with whatever! What do you need?"
"Dig your claws into Mandy, would you please?"
Peaches glanced at Mandy, and then at Olive, and back and forth again. "You want me to what?"
Before Olive could reiterate, Otto waved his hand at her and took the reins. "We tried to look into Mandy's dreams to see why she isn't waking up, but..." He held up the destroyed helmet.
"Ouch." Peaches said, looking the gadget over. "Anyway, to answer your question, I tried that a week ago. See, Mandy decided to eat my bucket of fish before she fell asleep, and I got so upset that my cat instincts took over and I attacked her."
A brief flicker of anger made its way through Olive's eyes, but it didn't last for very long. She figured she could get mad at Peaches for attacking her daughter later. Right now, she was in a state of shock. "And she didn't even stir?"
"No! She just kept on snoring, without a care in the world!"
"At this point, I could sic a villain on her, and she'd still be fast asleep. Heck," Oprah snorted. "She could probably beat them singlehandedly in her sleep."
Peaches opened her mouth to speak again, but something bright from inside the shield caught her eye. She barely had time to shout the word "Duck!" before sending all three agents tumbling to the ground, just as another blast of magic soared over their heads and collided with the still-dented wall.
"What is happening?" Olive asked in disbelief, gazing at Mandy with confusion written on her face.
"I hope it's not sleep-itis..." Oprah muttered.
Otto, getting another idea, rose to his feet and dashed out the door, calling, "I'll be right back!"
"Where's he heading off to in such a hurry?"
Olive could only give a puzzled grunt and a shrug in response to her former boss's inquiry.
The group got their answer a couple minutes later, when Otto returned with Dr. O in tow.
"Okay, I'm back! I got Dr. O to do a medical analysis on Mandy!"
Olive blinked. "We've really got to get our brains in check." she remarked to Oprah, who nodded her head in agreement.
"No, no. Both of your brains are in check. His is not." Dr. O jabbed a thumb at Otto. "Mandy's sleep has been an unresolved mystery for a long time. That isn't to say I won't try my best with her current predicament, but please, don't be surprised if not much comes out of it."
"Just try your best."
"I always do, Ms. O." Dr. O cleared his throat. "So, from what Otto tells me, Mandy has been using magic in her sleep again, correct?"
"Yes. She can't seem to wake up for anything. We're worried she might have sleep-itis, or some other odd illness." Oprah explained.
Dr. O gave a hum of thought. "Well, to rule out odd illnesses in a patient, an analysis must be done. You don't mind, surely?"
The group shook their heads.
Dr. O pulled out electrodes, his tablet, and some wires out from his hammerspace spine. He tucked the wires and electrodes under his arm before beginning to tap on his tablet. "I will say, though...we haven't had a sleep-itis outbreak in years. Do you know of anyone else who is like this?"
Oprah shook her head. "No, it's just Mandy."
Another hum of thought came forth. With the sound of whirring and soft beeping, a holographic image was projected into the air, showing nothing but static. As Dr. O set the tablet down, he got to work on connecting the wires and the electrodes to it. He plugged one end of a wire into an electrode, and then the other end into a headphone jack in the tablet, repeating the process once more for the other set. Once that was complete, he confidently strode into the shield Mandy had produced and attached the electrodes to her head, all while she was blissfully unaware and continuing to snore away with her mouth curved upward in her usual cat smile.
Once preparations were complete, he got to performing the analysis, tapping a button on his tablet conveniently marked as such. Instead of static, now, there was coding -- lines and lines of it, running down the screen as though someone were typing random letters and numbers at a rapid-fire pace. He couldn't help but bite his lip in both anticipation and worry, and he held his breath as he waited for the results to show.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, they showed. "Sleep-itis test results on AGENT MANDY: negative." an automatic voice resounded, as the words appeared on the screen. He exhaled, a soft breathy laugh escaping his lungs in tandem.
He walked back out of the shield, but not before removing the electrodes, unplugging the wires, and shoving both sets of items behind his back again. "Well, it doesn't look like she has sleep-itis. But as I'm sure you know, I can't exactly pinpoint the cause, either."
"How's that?" Olive slightly narrowed her eyes.
"Mandy is a very complicated patient. Her brain is wired differently than ours, thanks to the transformation she went through after battling the Hydraclops. Of course, that affected her sleep." he explained. "Her brain has a central...mm, how do I describe this...a central hub, of sorts, which controls her magic and flight usage while she is asleep as well as her sleep cycle. The transformation altered her brain in several ways regarding the realm of sleep. Unfortunately, us Odd Squad Doctors can't figure out exactly what those alterations are. All we've been able to figure out is that her brain has that central hub that has control over her sleep cycle -- which, mind you, is mostly similar to that of regular human beings -- and prevents her from using both magic and flight in her sleep."
"So is the hub just not doing its job, then?" Oprah asked. "I don't think it would just slack off on accident. Mandy meant to attack me. There's no doubt about it."
"Who's to say." Dr. O shrugged. "Not even I have the answer to that. But I doubt she has an odd illness, let alone one that would either change the hub or corrupt it in some way so it couldn't do its job or functioned incorrectly. So we can rule that out."
"Hold on. Mandy's a human being. She's the same species as-"
"Was. She was the same species. Now she's been given a new classification in addition to that same species." Dr. O held a finger up to interrupt Olive. "She has pony blood in her now, as well, not just human blood. And we don't know too much about ponies' sleep habits to come to any solid consensuses yet."
As Oprah opened her mouth to speak again, her badge phone rang. Growling, she picked it up. "Go for O."
A flurry of screams and one flustered voice met her on the other end of the line. "Oprah, I've got kids here who are waiting to see Mandy- hey!"
"Oh?" Oprah blinked. Mandy didn't tell me she was meeting up with Professor O and a bunch of kids. What's this about, now? "I-I'm sorry, Professor, but Mandy isn't, uh...feeling well."
She held the phone away from her ear as crashing and banging sounds began to come through as clear as day.
"Oh! Oh my, oh, hey, don't do tha- oww!" Ragged breathing. "They're getting a little upset!" And then the sound of the zap from a gadget, followed by a scream.
The looks on the rest of the group's faces spelled absolute confusion, even moreso when "We want Mandy" became a chanting request from the kids.
"I'm sorry! Mandy can't make it!" Oprah shouted.
"Tell her to work through her sickness and I'll see her in a bit!"
A dial tone quickly put an end to that conversation, and Oprah snapped the badge phone shut without another word, putting it back on her chest where it belonged and scratching her neck. "Um...that's my bad. Please don't ask. I don't know a thing about this-"
"And we don't either!" Olive and Otto simultaneously interjected.
"Moving back to the topic at hand..." Peaches turned to Dr. O. "Is there any way you can wake Mandy up?"
"Speaking from experience, I don't think that's a wise idea. Have you ever heard the phrase 'don't wake up a sleeping giant'?" Dr. O explained. "It means that something isn't dangerous unless it's provoked. Waking up Mandy would cause her to get mad, and we all know how angry she can get when something or someone disturbs her sleep."
Murmurs of agreement rippled throughout the room, followed by an "I can attest to that" from Oprah.
"So what can we do, then?" Peaches tilted her head.
"All we can do is let her sleep, and hope she wakes up soon. I'm really sorry."
"It's...fine! Totally fine!" Oprah gave an awkward smile. "I-I'm sure this precinct can manage without her for a little while." The nervous laughter she gave didn't seem to attract any potential customers to her ruse, as Olive, Otto, Peaches and Dr. O all shot her incredulous looks.
"I'll be on my way, then." Dr. O exhaled. "What's next?"
And with that, he left the room to the tune of a chorus of goodbyes.
Inside the shield, Mandy was oblivious to the entire conversation. She continued to sleep without a care in the world, turning over onto her left side and moving her hand up and down as she went through the motions of a dream.
What also went through the motions of a dream was her tail. Relatively short but easily extended for comedic purposes whenever the need arose, it snaked across the floor slowly, like a monster in a horror movie ready to grab its next unwilling victim.
As it turned out, said unwilling victim just so happened to be Olive.
The wind got knocked out of her as her body collided with the floor. Before she could even ask what was going on, her body was dragged back to the shield. A flurry of "no's" shot out from the girl's mouth as she helplessly scrabbled with her fingers.
Otto tried to lunge for her, but by the time his body hit the floor, it was too late.
"Help m-"
In she disappeared. Into the shield, or more specifically, the shield's door.
"Olive!" Oprah cried out, mentally firing a string of curses as she moved to rescue her fellow Director.
She didn't get very far before she figured out what was going on.
The tail wrapped around Olive's body, and gripped it with all the force of a crab's pincer on the bridge of a nose. "Wait, I'm not a stuffed animaaaaaaa..." She coughed, feeling the air being sucked out of her.
The sight of Otto's mouth moving caught her attention, but she couldn't make out a thing he was saying. Her eyes began rolling up into her head, and she screamed in the hopes that someone, anyone, would hear her. She didn't care if it was Otto, or Oprah, or Peaches, or someone else entirely -- as long as she was heard.
Her scream was cut off by the tail wrapping its way up her chest and then up her face, obscuring her mouth in the process. Fear was the only emotion that settled in now. She began thrashing about in an attempt to free herself, not caring about the electrocuted shield. Mandy, of course, was still oblivious, continuing to snore away without so much as an ear twitch.
All the trio could do outside of the shield was watch in horror, reacting appropriately even though they know Olive nor Mandy could hear them.
"Mandy, stop!"
"It's no use, Otto! Whatever Mandy's doing in her dreams, she's doing in real life!" Peaches said.
Olive managed to maneuver her body enough so that Mandy's tail obscured the bridge of her nose and the bottom half of her vision, making sure to take in as much fresh air as her lungs could handle. "Mandy, would you stop?!"
The snoring stopped, and what resounded in its place was a low and angry growl.
"Oh, well, don't get mad at me!"
The trio watched as Olive began screaming something at Mandy while still struggling to free herself. Any worry and anger they had dissipated slightly.
"Is...is she fighting with a sleeping Mandy?" Peaches asked, blinking and rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things.
"Yeah. Yeah she is." Oprah deadpanned in response.
"Get...back here!" came the sleepy cry of Mandy, as she rolled off of the bed and collided with Olive. As one might expect from a somnambulist, her fighting skills certainly weren't as good as when she was awake, and every punch she tried to make missed by several hairs. Still, that didn't mean Olive didn't try to defend herself.
Peaches made her way inside the shield. "Break it up, you two!" she called, going for Mandy's tail and prying it apart so Olive could get free.
"You hound-dog cur! I'll zzhred you to bitzz...!" Mandy said, swinging her fists randomly as though she believed luck would allow her to land a hit. Oh, how the Mandy of the waking world would have laughed at her pathetic attempts...but that would cause something far worse than Mandy's destruction in the midst of slumber.
A timetastrophe. Which no one wanted to bring on. Oscar was still attending therapy from the last one.
"Can't you just switch to a good dream or something?!" Peaches snapped, half out of confusion and half out of frustration. Her request was long forgotten now, and she began to regret even asking Mandy for it in the first place.
Wings opened.
Peaches and Olive scrambled backwards.
Wings gave mighty flaps.
The shield disintegrated and faded away.
Which left Mandy with an easy means of escape as she went right back to her usual snoring-and-gibberish routine.
No one said anything. All they did was silently watch Mandy go out the door, arms and legs drooping towards the ground like wilted flowers. They weren't sure what was going on with her at that point, but there was one priority that stuck in their minds.
"Olive, are you okay?" Oprah asked, rushing over to tend to the girl.
"Yeah, for the most part..." Olive gave a small cough. "Makes me wish we still had the Dream-inator helmet."
"We have to follow Mandy. If she keeps acting out her dreams like this, it can spell destruction. Not just for Odd Squad, but for the entire town!"
"Then let's go!"
With that, the group rushed out the door as fast as their legs would carry them, all in the pursuit of one troublesome somnambulist who, really, only had one reasonable request.
Peaches was hot on the trail of Mandy, faster than any of the agents. The chase took them through Headquarters and into the aboveground world, emerging somewhere in Cedarvale Park.
"Mandy, get back here right now!" Peaches cried out, debating using her tail to provide her with a little more speed but realizing that her tail was built for casual flying and not high-speed chases.
"Mandy, if you come back then I'll ma-"
A bright burst of magic blinded her vision.
And then Mandy disappeared.
Peaches stopped in her tracks, catching her breath before growling. "CUZ!!" she called to the sky, even though she knew Mandy was gone and couldn't hear her. Huffing, she rushed back to the group.
"Guys, we have bad news!" she called. "Mandy teleported!"
The other three agents stopped in their tracks right then, giving a unisonant "What?!"
"I don't know where, but we have to find her, and fast. If she's outside of Headquarters..." Peaches didn't feel like finishing the sentence.
Oprah got into authority mode. "Olive, Otto, spread out across the town. Peaches, you as well. If you can, make sure to get a good aerial view. If Mandy's flying, we might be able to catch her in the sky."
"What about the ponies?" Olive asked.
"I'd contact them if they all weren't away in Equestria right now." Oprah shook her head and muttered, "Terrible timing..."
"C'mon, partner. Let's go find Mandy." Otto said, gesturing to his left. "I go that way, you go that way?"
"Sure. As much ground as we can cover." Olive smiled. "Let's go."
The two Directors ran off in their respective directions, keeping their eyes on the sky but making sure to look on the ground as well.
Peaches ran off as well, going straight ahead without another word spoken. This left Oprah free to go in the direction she came from, so everyone was scattered.
For what seemed like hours, everyone searched. Whether it was with gadgets, calling out Mandy's name, or asking around, very few leads were given -- and those leads went stale quickly, either due to Mandy changing directions or her simply being too fast for anyone to catch up to her. Who knew, really.
Olive took a seat on a nearby bench, regretting not bringing a water bottle. She had never been too keen on using the water fountains littered around the park, but she was starting to feel thirsty enough that she might just consider using them.
"It's no use...I've looked everywhere." she said, giving a sigh. "At this point I wouldn't be sur-"
A nasal snore cut into her thoughts. Her eyes widened as she looked left to right, finding no one sleeping nearby.
Another snore. This time, it sounded from behind her, and she got up to look, her heart beating quickly out of fright and shock.
Slowly, ever so slowly, her eyes drifted up the tree.
There, on a branch that shouldn't even hold her weight under the most realistic of circumstances, was Agent Mandy, looking like she had somehow landed on it with her four limbs drooping downwards and decided to take a nap.
"Oh...my odd!"
Mandy stopped snoring, her expression contorting into one of discomfort before her horn became illuminated once more. Before Olive knew it, a laser blast was fired in her direction, and she barely had time to dodge it as bits and pieces of dirt flew upwards from the ground at the point of impact.
The Director surveyed the damage, then glanced at Mandy. "Mandy, please, don't! You never do this!" She blinked in realization. "W-well, I mean, you do sleep in random places..." She shook her head. "Ugh, whatever, that's besides the point!"
She didn't notice a small crowd of people and ponies gathering below her as she declared "I'm climbing up this tree!" and gripped the trunk, using her hands and feet to guide her way upwards as fast as she possibly could.
"Oh thank Celestia, it's Odd Squad!" one Earth pony mare remarked.
"Maybe they'll stop Agent Mandy's rampage!" another unicorn stallion said.
"I sure hope so!" came a rather distant voice from a man in the back of the crowd.
Olive's hands began to chafe. She could have sworn a splinter or two was stuck somewhere in them. "Jeez, how'd you get so high up?!" she muttered. Although she knew that was a rhetorical question, it didn't stifle her frustration any less, and she continued to climb.
Finally, she arrived at the branch Mandy was sleeping on. The thing was, she had no idea how she was going to get her down from the tree. She grit her teeth, the gears in her mind turning until she settled on an idea. She wrapped her legs around the tree further, making sure that they had a good grip on the trunk so her hands could be free.
"Okay...now, if I scoop you up like this..." She extended her arms out until she grabbed ahold of Mandy's torso. "Nice and gentle..." she urged, beginning to lift the hybrid upwards while listening to the cheers of the crowd below her, like she was rescuing a cat from a tree.
Mandy stopped snoring. A groan rumbled about in her throat.
Her horn lit up again.
Olive immediately set her back down on the branch, an "oh no" leaving her lips as she knew exactly what was about to happen.
Magic was fired into the air every which way from Sunday. The crowd went from cheering to giving startled screams as everyone began running for their lives, not wanting to get hit with any stray lasers. Olive, trying hard to keep her grip on the tree, moved every which way in an attempt to dodge the lasers. "Mandy, stop, it's me! Your adoptive mother!" she called out, trying to figure out her next course of action. "Please, wake up!"
With the rapid flapping of her wings, Mandy began to take off again, going back to snoring as she did so.
Olive let out a scream of frustration as she pounded the trunk with her fist. She felt like crying in that moment, the frustration, fatigue, and upset slowly getting to her with every attack Mandy made and every escape she made after it. Why is this so hard?! It was easier to get Mandy to come back home when she wandered off as a toddler!
That's it. No more messing around. If I can't get her through physical means, then I'll have to resort to gadgetry.
Before she could even whip out a gadget from behind her back, however, Mandy teleported. The bright rainbow-colored flash was equal to the flash of a camera for Olive as her pupils contracted. Giving another scream, she covered her eyes with both hands and rubbed them furiously, not noticing the grip her legs had on the trunk was loosening as they attempted to flail about.
The next thing the Director knew, she was falling. She couldn't see it, but she could certainly feel it, going by the air pushing against her backside. Yet another scream left her, this time one of fear rather than one of frustration or shock.
Within the snap of a finger, her body suddenly felt cradled in the arms of someone.
"Gotcha!"
Olive shook her head furiously, her vision coming back as she saw who had caught her before she could hit the ground and suffer from more injuries than she would have liked to suffer from today. "Otto...?"
"You okay?"
"I'm...fine." She put both feet on the ground. "Can't say the same for my hands, though."
"Let me see." Oprah took one of Olive's hands and examined it. "They look red, but I don't see any splinters..."
A pause as Olive waited for her former boss to complete her sentence. But said boss was looking at something off into the distance. "What? What is it?" Olive asked, before swiveling her head in the same direction and letting herself go slack-jawed.
"Is that..."
"A force field?" Peaches completed Otto's sentence, striding up to the trio in her cat form and shapeshifting back into her regular form as she nodded. "Yes it is. And it's huge."
Sure enough, ponies and people were screaming and running, whether it was due to how huge the force field was or it was due to the crackles of lightning that came off from it. As the group ran towards the force field's source, one thing became apparent.
"Mandy put up a force field...to claim the entire park for herself?" Olive asked.
"Seems like it." Peaches responded. "She's sleeping on a cloud! How is she even resting on it?"
"Mandy is an alicorn, which means she has the powers of all three pony types, including the abilities of the Pegasi to walk on clouds." Oprah explained. "And lay on them, too."
Peaches nodded in understanding, although she couldn't deny she was confused as to why Mandy was doing what she was doing in laying on a cloud and not someplace else, or just continuing to fly.
"Guys, if Mandy keeps this up, she's gonna kill someone eventually. And I'm sure your precinct doesn't want that, Oprah." Otto said, an edge of urgency to his voice.
Oprah shook her head. "I don't get it. Mandy's never done something as extreme as this. Not even when she sleepwalked, or...uh, 'sleep-flew'. Why is she doing it now?" Her head turned towards the direction of the portal, which she knew was nearby, and she growled. "If only those ponies could get here sooner rather than later..."
Olive perked up as she realized something. "The portal. The portal to Equestria! It's in the park!"
"So?"
"So." Olive grabbed Peaches by the shoulders. "That means the ponies might not be able to get through!"
"Oh no." Oprah had to bite her tongue to make sure a swear didn't slip out instead of the word "no". "We have to get to the portal. Follow me!"
On the outskirts of the park, the group ran, each one of them keeping an eye out for the elongated portal that separated Equestria from Toronto. Luckily, due to how big it was, it wasn't too hard to find within the confines of the force field -- the problem was its current position within said confines.
"Wait." Olive came to a stop. "The portal...the force field...the portal wasn't affected!"
"But it goes straight through." Peaches pointed out. "Which means-"
"If the ponies come back, they'll be trapped inside!" Oprah let out an exhale and began massaging her forehead as she tried to think of a solution.
"Can't we break the force field ourselves?" Otto offered, giving a nonchalant shrug as though his solution was a perfectly easy one and he wasn't sure why everyone was making a big stink of the whole problem.
"We can try, but Mandy's force fields are pretty sturdy -- perhaps moreso if she's asleep." A steely look formed in Oprah's eyes. "We'll all need to work together. Whether it's by physical force or magical force."
She, Olive and Otto all tapped the middle button on their jackets, which coated them in a brief white shimmer. Peaches, on the other hand, was at a complete loss, lacking such a feature on her own dress that had no buttons or any magical properties to speak of. Still, this didn't discourage her, and she figured that she could help another way that wasn't using brute force.
"Electricity protectors." Oprah explained when she caught Peaches' confused expression. "This way, we won't get shocked if we touch the force field."
"Uh...huh..."
"All right, ready?"
"Ready!" came the unisonant cry, before the agents rushed into the force field head-on.
Peaches didn't move. All she did was stare at the force field. Now how in the name of Leo am I going to be able to get inside that thing witho-
Her thoughts were cut off by her suddenly disappearing in a flash and re-emerging inside of the force field.
"Sorry about that. Good thing we had this Teleport-inator handy!" Otto smiled, helping Peaches to her feet.
The noise inside the force field was almost pure deafening silence. It was so silent that one could hear the sounds of their breathing if they listened closely enough. It would have greatly unnerved everyone if Mandy's loud snoring wasn't a constant that, for the first time since the chase began, they had come to appreciate.
"N-no, zztop...zz-zo tired...zzo noizzy...mm..." muttered Mandy, as she rolled over on the cloud she was laying on with her pony ears folded downwards. One could note that her distress was quite clear throughout the entire ordeal, with her frequent movement and her displeased face expressions.
Unfortunately for her, the four children who were trying to get her to come back to Headquarters weren't too eager to listen...
The Mane Six met up in another area of the park, none of them noticing the giant force field nor the silence that accompanied it. In a way, the silence seemed to be a sort of unintentional "welcome back" gift that everyone could appreciate.
"Well, I'm glad we've all gotten the things done in Equestria that we need to." Twilight sighed. "Now let's head back to Odd Squad!"
"Hold on." Rainbow stopped the group, pointing a hoof up towards something in the sky. "Is that Mandy sleeping on a cloud?"
The other ponies glanced up, but before either one of them could say anything, a loud bang echoed from somewhere, causing Fluttershy to give a shocked squeak as the fur on her back bristled.
"Hey, it's Olive and Otto!" Pinkie pointed to where the two co-Directors were throwing every inch of their combined body weight at the force field, stumbling backwards when their attempt failed and shaking their heads furiously before gearing up to try again.
"And Ms. O! Peaches too!" Applejack extended her own hoof outwards, gesturing towards her boss and the catgirl herself, who were using gadgets in futile attempts to destroy it. The electricity generated by the field shot back towards the gadget Peaches was holding, and she dropped it with a loud yowl as she scrambled back to avoid getting electrocuted.
Everyone watched them go at it for a few moments, wondering exactly what was going on.
"Erm, darlings..." Rarity swiveled her head from side to side as her eye caught exactly where she and the others were located. "I believe that is a force field they are trying to break."
Twilight gave a soft hum in response, her gaze flicking from Mandy to the other group, watching them go at it.
It wasn't until a few seconds later that her current location clicked in her brain.
"Wait, what?!" she screamed, her head whipping back and forth as she came to the horrid realization that she, too, was trapped in the force field. Electrifying but eerily silent, save for the sound of snoring which just now made itself apparent to her.
"Twilight, can ya deactivate it somehow?" Applejack asked, moving to touch it before Rainbow silently pulled her hoof away as she shook her head furiously.
"I don't know, but we have to try. They can't keep this up for much longer." Twilight watched as Olive and Otto stumbled on their feet and then promptly collapsed to the ground, jackalopes hopping in circles around both of their heads as Oprah shook her head in exasperation.
"Let me give it a try, y'all!" Applejack stepped forward. "I got some mighty kickin' power in these here legs."
"What did I just say?!" Rainbow brought a hoof to her face.
"Me too! We Earth ponies are super-duper strong, after all!"
"Pinkie!"
"Doesn't hurt to try, Dashie!"
"All right, then. Just one moment."
With her horn alight in raspberry, Twilight let her magic wash over her and her friends as they shimmered the color of raspberry briefly.
"Now that we're protected against the electricity...give it a shot! All you got!" Twilight shouted, rhyme completely unintended even though it got a snicker out of Pinkie all the same.
From afar, Peaches' eye caught the ponies bucking the shield with all of their might. In the case of Twilight and Rarity, they had resorted to using magic, although their attempts were completely ineffective. "They're kicking it!"
"'Bucking' is the correct term, but yes." Oprah watched the ponies for a little bit before making eye contact with Peaches. "It looks like they're trying to get free."
"It's a good thing, too." Olive said, her voice wobbling as she slowly sat up and shook her head. "I think even my bones are tired."
"Same here..." Otto raised a hand into the air from where he was laying flat on his back, the jackalopes still hopping about above his head.
The combined efforts of ten were just what was needed to bring the force field down. It cracked and then disintegrated in a huge poof of magic, much to the relief of everyone. Cheering sounded off somewhere in the distance that no one recognized.
With the force field gone, the two groups could meet at last. "Are you all okay?" Twilight asked.
"We're fine." Oprah sounded rather confident in that statement, even though Olive was busy tending to Otto and helping him to snap out of his dizzified state.
"Just what is going on, anyway? Why was there a force field surrounding the park?" Rarity tilted her head.
"It's Mandy." Olive stood up as Otto returned to consciousness. "She's been sleepwalking all day. We've been chasing her around Headquarters and around town trying to stop her!"
Fluttershy looked at the cloud, where Mandy was still snoring away. Perhaps unsurprisingly, her snoring was still the most prominent noise of the scene -- not that it entranced the yellow Pegasus, but it did get her thinking about something.
"You mean she still hasn't woken up?" Rainbow asked.
"Not since this morning." Olive sighed. "Neither one of us knows a thing about what's happening or why she's doing this. She's sleepwalked before, but not to these extremes. We thought it had something to do with her dreams, but...who knows?"
"The Dream-inator helmet broke when we tried using it on her." Otto added.
"She's been attacking us in her sleep, too. Otto even got Dr. O to run an analysis on her and he can't even figure out a cause!" Oprah threw her hands up in exasperation.
Fluttershy's attention was elsewhere, but her eardrums fully absorbed every single word of the combined explanation. She continued to look at Mandy as though she was the oddest thing in the world, a memory surfacing in her brain.
"You don't have to stay up, really!" Fluttershy said, her tone on the edge of pleading as she gazed at her partner.
"I have to." Mandy responded, bags under her blue and rather bloodshot eyes. Her jacket was off, and her hair was completely messed up. She looked like she was on the verge of collapsing, right in the middle of the darkened precinct that only had two agents in it. "I took this off of that precinct's hands, and it's myyyyy..." A yawn interrupted her. "...moral duty t' finish it."
"But you've barely slept at all this week!" Fluttershy's voice was a cry amidst mostly silence, and she went from standing on the ground to hovering in the air. "You have to get some sleep! We've all seen what happens when you're sleep-deprived!"
"Nonsense..." Mandy's eyes drooped. "I'll knock myself out doing this if I have to. But I can't let Mr. O down."
Down came the yellow Pegasus towards the ground, and in came her wings, folded tightly against her body as she fixed her partner with a look of sympathy. "Mandy..." she said, as she tried once more to make her partner see reason.
An attempt that ended in failure. "No ifs, ands, or buts! Not even coconuts! I'll be pullin' an all-nighter, and no one can stop me!"
Having exhausted all the reasonable options she could think of, Fluttershy turned around and trotted down the left hallway, stopping just once to swivel her head towards Mandy. Her mouth opened, but no words came out, and she resigned to leaving her partner in her state of decrepitude as she made her way down the hallway, trying to fight back tears.
Another memory surfaced, this time one of talking to Nurse Rainbowheart, a kindly Earth pony mare who worked as an Odd Squad Doctor at the Academy.
"Many studies still have to be done, Fluttershy, but one thing is clear: if Mandy goes without sleep for too long, bad things can happen."
"Like what?"
"She could start to sleepwalk, and act out her dreams."
"Any sort of dream?" Fluttershy tilted her head.
"Yes. You, and the other agents, need to keep her under control. With how much magical power she has, she could threaten the entire town!"
Before Fluttershy could respond, the memory warped. She found herself sitting upright in her own bed, her head turned to her left as she spied Mandy resting her head on her pillow. However, it wasn't so much what the hybrid was doing that dug under her fur.
No...it was what she said.
"I'm fine." She yawned. "Now...Imma just sleep...no noise, just sleep..."
And she was out like a light, snoring away and completely immune to the movement of the outside world and its inhabitants.
Except she wasn't immune. Not to Fluttershy, she wasn't.
Just like the hybrid herself, the Pegasus, too, knew about her friend's sleep needs, and she was more than accommodating. After all, her Element was Kindness. It would go against her Element to cruelly deny Mandy the sleep she so desperately craved and needed. She would let Mandy bunk at her cottage every night if the risks and the consequences didn't outweigh the benefits -- the least of which was how she would appear to the creatures of Equestria, and more specifically, how she would appear to the ponies of Ponyville.
Fluttershy certainly hadn't thought she would need to remind others of what should have been so painfully obvious, though. But perhaps she sorely overestimated them. Maybe...
Maybe they just needed a good old lesson in kindness.
Before she could ponder on the situation further, the memory faded away, and was replaced by a new one. One from just a few hours ago, as a matter of fact.
"All I want is some peace and quiet! That's it! And no one's willing to give up that quiet so I can sleep!" Mandy cried out, sitting on her bed with Fluttershy hovering in front of her. "I-I mean really, Fluttershy, I can sleep anywhere. And it's nigh impossible to wake me up when I am asleep. But Odd Squad's such a noisy place that it's impossible for me to have any sort of impactful rest!" She sighed and gently touched one of the pony ears that sat on her head. "I swear, these ears have made my hearing a little more sensitive than before...can't test that, though."
"I thought you could sleep through loud things, though." Fluttershy commented. "You can't?"
"I can only do that when I'm super-duper tired. It's weird, but it's like..." Mandy scratched her head. "Even though I'm asleep and dreaming, I can hear distant noises and voices too. It's kinda hard to explain, but I really don't like it."
Fluttershy took a moment to think. "All right. Um...how do you feel about white noise?"
Mandy's eyes widened. If one of those huge light bulbs she had seen on that guy that worked at a place that made the things had appeared over her head, it would complete the entire "eureka moment" ensemble. "Yes...yes!" She nodded. "Yesyesyes, white noise! That's it! Things like ocean waves crashing, or fans running, or rain falling, or jungle sounds! That's what I need! If I had something like that, touched with just a liiiiittle pinchy-winchy of magic, I could drown out all the noise!"
This got Fluttershy thinking, and soon, she too came up with an idea. "Then how about I find a room just for you, where you can have some peace and quiet if things get too noisy for you? I can put white noise in there, to help you sleep better."
"You'd do that?" Mandy's voice was a squeak, and she lunged towards Fluttershy to hug her. "Oh, Fluttershy, thank you! It'd mean so much!" She pulled away. "A room all my own...I never got to experience it like all the other kids my age. But now it can become a reality!"
Fluttershy smiled. "I'll go get started. Do you have anything specific in mind?"
She had both expected and not expected Mandy to whip out an entire paper list of things she wanted in her new room. But she did, and Fluttershy read it all. Most of the things were pretty reasonable -- thank Celestia, because she wasn't sure if "a giant slide made of chocolate" could fit in the room she was about to create.
Just as she left the room, she was brought back to reality. She knew what needed to be done. All she could hope for was that the others would be more understanding than they were now.
Fluttershy's wings spread, and she took to the skies.
"Hey, Fluttershy, where ya goin?" Pinkie asked. The Pegasus didn't respond, instead continuing her ascent without so much as acknowledging Pinkie.
"Is she going to see Mandy?" Olive watched Fluttershy head up, up, up, all the way to the cloud where Mandy was sleeping.
"I don't think Fluttershy's gonna be able to wake her up." Peaches said. The group of nine all watched their friend do her thing, feeling completely confused as to what "thing" she was doing.
"Hi, Mandy." Fluttershy said, making her voice as soft as she could muster -- which, for her, wasn't too hard of a feat. "Um...the room you wanted...it isn't finished yet, I'm afraid. I'm still working on adding a few more things. But in the meantime, I have a fix for you."
She rustled around behind her back and pulled out two pairs of nice fluffy pink earmuffs, with hearts embedded on the outsides of the cushions. "Earmuffs. Rarity made me these, but I don't use them very much since I have a pair of my own." She smiled. "So I had Oona tweak them just a little bit, to make them fully magical and soundproof. They'll stay nice and snug on your ears. Both pairs of them!"
Mandy's snoring ceased for just a moment as she felt a warm sensation on the top of her head. It ran through her entire body, and whatever cold she had been feeling before when she was in the air dissipated. "Thankzz..." she murmured sleepily.
Fluttershy giggled. "It's no problem. Now, don't tell the others, okay? I'd like for them to learn a lesson in respecting your sleeping habits, even though you brought this on yourself..." Her smile faded away, and she sighed. "Please don't overwork yourself, Mandy. I appreciate you doing a favor for the Mr. O in Colorado, but know your limits, hm?"
She swooped back down to the group, who were all eagerly awaiting what she had to say.
"You didn't get Mandy to wake up." Twilight stated matter-of-factly.
"No." Fluttershy shook her head. "But I think she deserves to have a good rest."
"But she's gonna attack people and destroy things just to do it?!"
"Not if I stay with her." Fluttershy raised a hoof to silence her boss. "I'll make sure she doesn't destroy the town. Besides, I'm a little weary from taking care of the animals back at my cottage, and I could use some rest myself. Just leave Mandy to me."
Everyone exchanged concerned glances. Still, their trust in Fluttershy trumped any other emotions they were feeling.
Oprah sighed. "All right, then. You're her friend, Agent Fluttershy. Do what you need to."
"Of course." She turned and began flying back up to Mandy again. "I'll see you all back at Headquarters, okay?"
"Uh, Fluttershy?" Rainbow blocked her path by hovering in front of her. "Are you sure you wanna do this?"
"Yeah, Mandy's mighty strong." Applejack added. "What if she blasts you and hurts you with her magic too?"
"I'm sure she won't. And even if she does, I'll stop her."
Twilight had flown up to her, now. "All right. We believe in you."
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the rest of the group.
"Thank you! I'll do my best."
With Rainbow Dash moving out of the way, Fluttershy once again continued her flight, everyone watching her go.
"Let's head back." Oprah said. "The least we can do is hope for the best."
"I sure hope Fluttershy will be okay." Peaches remarked.
"She and Mandy are friends. I'm sure she knows what she's doing." Otto waved a dismissive hand.
"Come on. Let's go relax and unwind back at HQ."
Olive's suggestion was a good one, and everyone followed her to the nearest tube entrance, tired from the day's events thus far.
"Quasi-des!" cried Mandy, who lifted her head off of the cloud and jabbed a pointer finger into the air before she flopped back downwards and continued her raucous snoring.
"It's lucky Oona was able to make a third pair of these." Fluttershy remarked, reaching behind her back and pulling out another set of magically-modified earmuffs that looked quite similar to her own. She placed them on. "Now, there will be peace and quiet."
She hummed softly to herself as she found a spot on the cloud for her to relax next to Mandy. "Have a good sleep, okay?"
With that, she rested her head on the cloud and closed her eyes, letting herself drift off into her own personal dreamland.
It was sunset by the time Fluttershy woke up. She was grateful that she hadn't somehow slept into nighttime, but rather, just on the cusp of it. Still, she was surprised that she had slept for this long. She parted her jaws to let out a yawn just before the sound of snoring that wasn't her own reached her ears.
"Goodness, you really are wiped out!" she exclaimed, before glancing at the ground below her. "Maybe I can move this cloud back to Headquarters by using the emergency staircase." Her eyes widened as she realized just where said staircase was. "I just hope I can make it across town."
Conjuring up a rope from her hammerspace spine, she tied it around the cloud, and around Mandy's body as well. She gripped the end of the rope in her teeth and began to flap furiously, surprised that the cloud was actually moving at a decent speed that wasn't either slow as a snail or a complete dead stop.
"My...goodnesh...you're heavy!" she said, before a sigh escaped her. "All right, Fluttershy. You just have to put shpirit into it. Here...we...go...!"
And with that, she began flapping her wings furiously once again towards the direction of the other side of town, making sure to put everything she had into it.
By the time she made it back only fifteen minutes later, she was exhausted. She probably would have been able to go for another nap if she weren't thirsty and hungry.
"We're...back!" She panted as she pulled the cloud and Mandy into the bullpen, her gaze sweeping the area. "And it looksh like we're not the last agentsh here." she observed, noting that a couple agents were still at their desks. "Now come on, let'sh get you all washed up."
Before the Pegasus could move, however, Twilight came walking into the bullpen from one of the hallways that flanked the room's steel doors.
"Oh, Fluttershy, you're back!" the alicorn said.
Fluttershy dropped the rope in her mouth briefly. "Oh, Twilight, thank goodness! Can you please help me out? Mandy needs a bath and she's much too heavy for me to lift on my own."
"Sure thing." Twilight responded, letting her horn glow alight and her magic aura wrap around Mandy's body to untie her and lift her off of the cloud.
"If you can get her in the tub, that would be great! I'm going to stop by, um..." Fluttershy tried to think of a good excuse to form that would be able to fool her friend. "...the Bedroom first, and, um, put this cloud in there."
Twilight tilted her head. "Why are you keeping it?"
"In case Mandy wants to sleep on it again." Fluttershy was surprised at how easy that answer came out. And she made a good point with it, too.
Twilight nodded. "Okay, sounds good. Meet you in the Bathroom, okay?"
"Mhm!"
Fluttershy watched as Twilight took Mandy with her until the two were out of sight, then she let out a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding in. That was a close one, she thought. If I can gain enough distance between Twilight and I, then I can put this cloud in Mandy's new room without her knowing.
She picked up the rope in her teeth again and began moving, although she moved far slower than usual. She felt grateful that Rainbow Dash was the speedier one in the group, because if she were flying slowly like this, it would be an immediate cause for alarm for everyone that just so happened to notice her. But no, it was the shy one instead, the one that liked to take things easy. There would be no suspicion here.
Still, she couldn't help but let a little seed of doubt roll about in her brain. Are Twilight and the others really going to learn the lesson I want them to learn? Maybe I should tell her... She blinked and shook her head. No! This is something my friends need to learn on their own. A little dose of kindness, empathy, and common sense, that's all.
With a determined expression on her face, she headed towards the new room with the cloud in tow, a question beginning to form of "just how bad could washing a sleeping Mandy and getting her clean be?"
The answer to that was "harder than one would think".
Both Twilight and Fluttershy found out that Mandy had some kind of weird aversion to being bathed in her sleep, which didn't give either of them much luck in washing her. Eventually, Twilight had to resort to good old-fashioned alicorn magic just to keep her still long enough so she could be cleaned.
After a half-hour of fighting, complaining, and inadvertently making the Bathroom into one big water park, the two mares emerged with Mandy in tow, their fur ruffled from drying themselves off with towels that they had resorted to wrapping around the hybrid. Dressing her in pajamas was a far easier feat, and took only a minute or two.
"All right. It was a struggle..." Twilight shook some water from her hoof. "But Mandy is all clean and dressed now."
As she took out the earmuffs from behind her back and placed them on Mandy's ears, the hybrid sniffed the air around her, and then sniffed the bed. Immediately recognizing it as a familiar place, she laid down on it, continuing to snore away.
"Thank you." Fluttershy smiled. "Um, would you also mind keeping an eye on her? I, um..." She scratched her cheek. "I should probably go and check on the creatures before I wash up myself."
"Of course! Take your time. I've got the whole night."
Those words brought comfort to Fluttershy, and she left the Bedroom with a happier and more upbeat gait than her usual one. She was so relieved that she nearly managed to bump into an agent's leg because she wasn't paying attention to where she was going.
"Twilight?" Olive poked her head in.
"Oh, Olive! Otto!"
"Hi!" Otto waved. "We figured we should check up on Mandy before we returned to our precinct." He looked around the room. "Where's Fluttershy going?"
"To the Creature Room, to check up on the creatures. We got Mandy all washed up and dressed." Twilight sighed. "I really don't know how you do it, Olive."
"Huh?"
"We spent longer than we should have in the Bathroom just getting her clean. Mandy really doesn't like being bathed-"
"She doesn't?" Olive blinked. "That's absurd! I caught her taking a two-hour-long bath in the Pool Room's Jacuzzi once because she felt the bathtub in the Bathroom wasn't big enough!"
"No, she-"
"She wanted to work in a bath products store because she loved the smell of the soaps." Otto pointed out.
"Guys-"
"And lest we forget Duckzilla? That giant rubber ducky she loved taking into the Bathroom with her when she was little?" Olive smiled. "I should see if she still wants it. It's at my house, for...some reason..."
"GUYS!" Twilight exclaimed. "Mandy doesn't hate being bathed in general. She hates being bathed in her sleep."
Olive and Otto exchanged a glance. "Ohhhh. That makes more sense." they said in unison.
They examined Mandy up and down, and it was only then that one thing became apparent.
"How'd she get two pairs of earmuffs?" Otto asked.
Twilight turned around. "I'm not really sure. I thought it was something that Fluttershy did, or it was just something Mandy did herself, so I didn't really question it." She squinted, realizing that the earmuffs looked rather familiar, but she couldn't place how they were familiar.
"If it were Mandy, she probably would have gotten a pair of her own by stealing it. And then Oprah would be called." Otto mused.
"True." Olive nodded. "She does look more peaceful with them on, though."
Lying on her back, Mandy kicked the air with her legs in the midst of a dream, as though she were responding to Olive -- perhaps in the dream itself, or perhaps she had heard her in the real world. Who knew?
"Well, who doesn't like a nice cozy pair of earmuffs?"
"It's springtime, Otto." Olive deadpanned.
"So? If there's one thing I've learned from Agent Rarity, it's that any fashion can be the new hottest style if you deem it so, no matter what the season is!"
"That just goes to show how little you know about Rarity. From me to you..." Olive patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Never become a fashion designer."
"Olive? Otto?"
The two Directors turned their heads towards the newcomer to the Bedroom, giving warm smiles when they saw it was someone familiar.
"Hi, Fluttershy." Olive greeted. "How was your nap with Mandy? She didn't cause any explosions or anything, did she?"
Fluttershy giggled. "No explosions. Mandy was fine. I think by tomorrow, she'll be well-rested."
Otto's expression brightened. "You mean she's gonna wake up tomorrow?"
"Well, I can't say for sure." Fluttershy shook her head. "But just in case she does, I'd like to sleep with Mandy for tonight. I think she likes having a friend to sleep with." Her tone almost rose to one that would give implications the trio was doing something wrong, but even she knew that none of them would be so keen on sleeping as much as Mandy did just because she wanted someone with her when she slept. After all, that was what Fluffy was for -- or at least, that was one of the things it was for.
"Now, I'm going to go wash up." Twilight's eyes widened at this statement, but Fluttershy ignored it. "Don't you two have your nightly duties?"
Otto blinked. So did Olive.
"Crumpets." was the first word out of the girl's mouth, as she grabbed Otto by the wrist and headed for the door. "Thanks for the reminder Fluttershy gotta go see you later and all that jazz."
"Hey, hey, not so tight!" Otto tried to protest, to no avail. He resorted to giving a "Bye, Fluttershy and Twilight!" as he was dragged out the door.
Twilight waved as she watched them go, then fixed her gaze on her equine friend. "I was going to call dibs on the Bathroom, you know."
"Sorry." Fluttershy shrugged. "But there's a lot of hard work and exercise that goes into taking care of both creatures and animals."
"I know. But I thought your Element was Kindness." Twilight ran a hoof along the floor, fixing Fluttershy with a look of mock pity before she laughed and waved her hoof at her friend. "Go on and relax."
Fluttershy couldn't help but give a chuckle herself before she began heading for the Bathroom, eager to take a bath and unwind after her rather eventful day.
As she left, Twilight looked around the room. "Huh. I wonder where that cloud she said she was going to leave in here is...?"
"Now, it's just down this hall..."
With legs wobbling and a pony-human hybrid slung over her back, Fluttershy walked. She didn't even try to fly, knowing that she would just plummet back down to the ground within seconds. Carrying ponies on her back was more Rainbow Dash's thing, anyway.
She rounded a corner and came to another hallway lined with rooms of all kinds. She didn't really pay attention to too many of them, though -- there was one she was eyeing in particular.
As the sound of creaking filled the air, she stopped. Her body stiffened as her cyan eyes shifted to the left, just in time to see a door marked with an array of numbers next to her move along the wall. The other doors quickly followed suit, breezing past her like someone had put a quarter in a slot machine. Her mane and tail billowed in the breeze the movement created, and it was then she realized that she had only ever gotten to witness the changing of rooms in Precinct 13579 only a few times in her life. Each time had been more magical and whimsical than the last, and this was no exception.
Her gaze became fixated on one door in particular that didn't seem to move at all, yet doors moved behind it with ease. This was her destination, and a smile formed on her face.
My plan worked. The gadget I used is making it stay in place.
After about a minute or so, the hallway fell still again. New doors, and new rooms, had completely replaced the old ones. Fluttershy exhaled and gave a breathy chuckle as she continued to walk once more, eyeing the rooms with a glimmer of curiosity.
Once she arrived at the door she wanted to go through, she stopped. It was a plain white door with a raised inner border, completely unpainted. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the handle that she had perfectly installed at the height of an average pony (with another one just above it, for humans), and made her way inside.
The room, big enough to accommodate a party of fifty, was very nearly full with everything Mandy had asked for. The bed that had once sat in the Bedroom was now in the far-right corner of the new room, although it had been repurposed so it was now a bigger, queen-sized bed made out of a cloud, similar to the bed Rainbow Dash had in her Cloudominium back in Equestria. Everything that was in Mandy's nightstand had been moved to clear storage boxes that were tucked in open spaces in a horizontal cabinet and labeled accordingly, although her old nightstand had been moved to the new room and placed beside her bed as a makeshift table. A new wardrobe closet sat next to the cabinets, with every article of her clothing moved from the old closet to the new one. A large oval-shaped rug sat on the floor. Fluttershy had put blood, sweat and tears into crafting the room, and excitement bubbled within her as she began to grow excited for her friend to see it when it was fully complete.
"It's very nice, and it's soundproof!" the mare pointed out, making her way over to the bed. "Plus, I made you a cloud bed. I know how much you like soft things."
She used every ounce of her strength to shift Mandy to the floor and lift her into bed, then promptly landed beside her, tucking her wings in and smiling at the sleeping hybrid.
"Mm..." Fluttershy yawned. "Good night, Mandy. Hopefully, I'll see you in the morning, fully awake and rested."
Planting a kiss on the hybrid's forehead, the Pegasus snuggled up to her friend and drifted off to sleep once more, the sound of said friend's snores lulling her deeper and deeper into her own personal dreamland.
Although the room was dark, Mandy's internal clock knew when it was time for her to get up. Similarly, it also knew when she had gotten enough sleep to where she could reasonably function.
She gave a snort as her eyes slowly opened, her jaws doing the same to let a yawn through. "Wow, how long did I zzleep for? Feelzz like a week..." she muttered, before she felt the air in the room change. "And where 'm I...?"
After she conjured up a Chocolate Moo-Moo Surprise and drank it, her horn slowly lit up, a small sphere of magic resting on its tip to provide much-needed light.
It was then that she answered her own question.
Shock completely overrode her exhaustion. She looked from left to right, at everything in the room. It felt so familiar, and yet, so strange at the same time.
A grin slowly, ever so slowly, made its way across her face.
As Olive, Otto and Oprah were walking through the bullpen, an elated and muffled scream reached their ears, which made Olive choke on the sip of water in her mouth.
"What was that?!" Otto's head immediately swiveled towards the sound.
"I know that scream from anywhere." Oprah's voice was a mix of relief and concern, and she immediately began booking it towards the source of the sound.
Luckily, she didn't need to go far, as Mandy quickly got in her way and made her dig her heels into the floor before she could crash into her.
"Guys! You hafta come see this, quickquickquickquickquickquickquick!" The hybrid grabbed her by the wrist and began dragging her along. Olive and Otto followed, and absolutely none of them protested, if not out of confusion, then out of the usual "just Mandy being Mandy" resignation.
The door opened, and Mandy used her illumination magic to find the light switch, ignoring Fluttershy's protests of "Mandy, don't!"
What Oprah, Olive and Otto were greeted with was, perhaps, one of the most splendorous bedrooms they had ever seen. All of them couldn't help but feel jealous as their gazes swept the area.
"Ohhhh..." Fluttershy buried her face in her hooves. "Mandy, I didn't want-"
"Fluttershy? What're you doing here?" Mandy blinked, only now just realizing her friend was in the room. She gasped. "Did you make this?!"
"Um...w-well, it's...I need to do some explaini-"
"This is my room?!" Mandy's voice was practically a squeal. "Oh my gosh, it looks amazing! You got everything I asked for!" She paused. "Except for the desk and the computer. Oh, and the buffet bar. And one of those exercise balls to roll and roll on!"
"Mandy, if you would just-"
"So, you guys like it? Huh huh huh?!" Mandy bounced up and down, completely oblivious to the trio's shocked expressions and dropped jaws. "It's my new room! Fluttershy made it for me!"
Oprah blinked once, and then twice. Her eye twitched.
And then she walked over to the bed.
"I'm...this is...you...you decided to turn one of my rooms, in my Headquarters..." She put her face close to Fluttershy's. "INTO THIS?! WITHOUT MY PERMISSION?!"
Normally, Fluttershy would have crouched in fear against her boss's wrath. But confidence was flowing within her, and it came forth in a huge burst. "I'm sorry, Ms. O. But you didn't think Mandy not being like every other child in town and not getting a room all her own would go unnoticed forever, did you?" she asked. "She wanted this. I didn't do this on my own."
Oprah swiveled her head towards Mandy. "But why?!" she screamed in disbelief.
"Because she wants many, many nights of sleep. Specifically, a good night's sleep where she isn't bothered by anyone who barges into her room and tries to wake her up. Why do you think she uses force fields now? Because she needs quiet in order to be able to sleep properly. I did all of this so you, along with the girls, could learn a lesson in kindness and empathy."
Olive slumped to her knees as a memory throbbed in her brain. Not one that was painful, mind, but one that was very, very vivid.
"Mama?"
Olive looked up from her magazine. "What is it, Mandy?"
The five-year-old girl, clad in brunette pigtails, hopped up and down slightly while tugging at Olive's jacket. "Why can't I get my own room like all the other kids?"
"We talked about this. Oprah doesn't particularly like when agents claim one of the rooms in her Headquarters and use it as their own. If I asked her about getting you your own room, she would shoot me down. No matter how many times I asked, and no matter what I did to try and make her change her mind."
"But I want my own room!" the girl whined.
"I know. And maybe one day, you'll get it. But you're happy bunking with the ponies, aren't you?"
Mandy dragged the tip of her shoe along the floor. "I guess..."
Olive ruffled her adopted daughter's hair. "Here. If it'll make you feel better, why don't you write down a list of what you would want in your room? And someday, maybe we can make it all a reality."
This pleased Mandy, who immediately rushed off and came back with a piece of paper and a pencil in tow. "Okay!" She began writing down all sorts of things -- anything and everything that came to mind. Olive watched curiously, her eyes widening at some of the more... fantastical stuff Mandy wrote.
Finally, she handed her completed list to her Mama. "Here you go!"
Olive read it over. Every single word became stuck in her brain. As much as the sourpuss in her wanted to break the news to Mandy about some of her stuff not being feasible, she restrained herself. After all, the girl was only five. "This is a wonderful list. I'll hang it on the fridge at home, okay? That way, I'll always remember it."
"Yay!" Mandy reached over and wrapped her arms around Olive. "Thank you so much, Mama! You're the best!"
The hug startled the Director, but it also broke her heart a little -- to deny such a young girl what was an essential part of childhood felt downright criminal, even if the circumstances couldn't be helped. Still, she had a long life ahead of her, and she knew that someday, Mandy's wish would come true.
No matter whose hands -- or hooves -- it was by.
"Olive?"
Otto calling her name barely fazed her. Her eyes slowly, ever so slowly, began to water. She glanced at everything in the room, her heart twisting as though someone was squeezing every last drop of blood out of it.
Finally, she couldn't stop herself anymore.
She cried.
"If you want to deny Mandy what should be her right to have as your second-in-command, then I hate to say it, Ms. O, but you're selfi-" Fluttershy paused her words to glance at Olive, her eyes widening.
Otto instinctively bent down and rubbed her back in a comforting manner. "Olive, what's wrong?"
A mighty sniffle became his answer, followed by actual words. "How could I not have given Mandy her own room? Why couldn't I just go against Oprah's wishes? It's been eleven years...eleven years of a childhood keystone she didn't have!" she said. "Instead, we put her in with the ponies. And she hated it. She hated it!"
As her body racked with each heavy sob, Oprah looked on with an expression of regret and pity. She bit her lower lip and glanced at the floor, immediately recalling a time when she had chewed out Otto for making a Soundcheck Room without her permission but had gone ahead with it because she, too, was a Soundcheck fan.
Minutes went by in agonizing near-silence. Fluttershy and Mandy both watched as one agent cried, another one comforted his partner, and another one looked incredibly guilty. Both mare and child exchanged looks, until the child spoke up.
"Momma...I never hated bunking with the ponies."
Olive's eyes widened. She looked at Mandy, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to wipe away the tears. "What?"
"As much as I reeeeeeally would've loved having my own room, sleeping with them was like having a sleepover with friends every single day! Only if the friends were...you know, people you grew up with...y-you get it." Mandy waved her hand. "Why don't you all sit down and let's discuss this?"
Oprah lifted her head, blinking at Mandy as though she had somehow been forced out of a daydream. She slowly moved towards the bed, where Fluttershy hopped off to allow her to sit. Olive and Otto soon followed, the latter guiding the former to the bed as they took a seat next to Oprah. All of them felt how softer the bed was compared to Mandy's old one, but chose not to comment on it for the time being.
Mandy opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Oprah took the floor. "Can I start? There's something I'd like to address first." she asked, raising her hand. "Mandy, you're on the hook."
"What hook? I don't see a hook! I'd think there was one through me if I could see it!" Mandy exclaimed, whirling around and around in circles and attempting to feel her backside.
"It's an expression. It means you're responsible for something." Otto explained.
Oprah grit her teeth, figuring out the best way to break the news to Mandy before she decided to go with blunt honesty. "You sleepwalked again. Or sleep-flew, I should say."
Mandy's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything in response.
"You blasted me out of the Bedroom and sent me colliding with a wall. We tried putting the Dream-inator helmet on you to see if you were having some weird dream that was causing you to act out, but you destroyed that too. Dr. O ran an analysis on you and pinpointed that you weren't sick, but not even he could help you." Oprah's tone became more and more accusatory with every word. "We followed you to Cedarvale Park, where you nearly killed Olive..."
"I-"
"I'm not done!" Oprah snapped. "Then you erected a force field around the entirety of the park, which took the combined effort of us and the ponies just to break. And after that..." She glanced at Fluttershy. "Fluttershy was able to calm you down, somehow. If it weren't for her, you would have killed someone."
She squinted. "But you got pretty damn close."
Mandy only glanced at Fluttershy, who was all too eager to share the story of her role in the adventure.
"Twilight and I worked together to bathe you and dress you...bathing you was the hardest part." She rubbed her leg. "And then you were peaceful for the rest of the night."
Before Mandy could say anything in response, Fluttershy gripped her by the shoulders. "This is why I told you not to overwork yourself, Mandy. Your sleep suffers because of it, and then things like this happen. You hurt innocent people and innocent ponies without even knowing it."
"But I do! I do know it!"
Fluttershy hovered backwards slightly as Mandy pushed her away.
"Didn't I tell you? All I wanted was peace and quiet so I could sleep well! But no one is willing to give me peace and quiet! It's all 'we gotta wake Mandy up for this' and 'we gotta wake Mandy up for that'..."
"What are you talking about?" Otto tilted his head. "We try to wake you up sometimes, but generally we leave you alone."
"You don't understand. So let me help you understand." Mandy's gaze bore into Otto. "All of you know that I'm impossible to wake up during sleep. My dreams can be odd and complex, or they can be very simple. And this isn't the first time I've sleep-walked or sleep-flown anywhere."
Oprah opened her mouth, and it was Mandy's turn to interrupt. "But!" she exclaimed. "In the distant back of my mind, I hear voices. Noises. Of agents, and of ponies, and of people in general. It's like that really bad itch on your back you can't reach unless you wanna become a bear for five seconds." She touched her ears. "I believe it has something to do with these pony ears. Double the ears, double the hearing."
"I thought you could sleep through loud things." Oprah tilted her head. "Do our voices bother you that much?"
"That's what I said!" Fluttershy nodded.
"I can only sleep through the noises and voices when I'm super-exhausted, which doesn't happen much." Mandy shrugged. "I really don't remember attacking you guys or heading into town. All I wanted was to get away from the noise and find somewhere quiet to sleep. I guess my brain treated you as disturbances."
"But why do you stay asleep, then?" Oprah asked. "If you hear noises, shouldn't that wake you up?"
"Yes. If I was a normal person." Mandy scoffed. "But I'm not a normal person. Not anymore. I'm a pony-human hybrid now!"
"What?"
"My brain knows I still need sleep, so it keeps me asleep while also trying its best to get rid of the disturbances that try to wake me up. Of course, that doesn't really happen every night...sometimes I wake up when you guys shake me or whatever. It just takes me a while!"
Oprah glanced at Otto, who stared at Mandy with a rather confused look on his face.
Fluttershy digested this information, and took a moment to think. "So is that why you gave us a hard time when Twilight and I tried to bathe you?"
"I...can't really say." Mandy scratched her head. "If you guys were making a lot of noise, though, my brain probably reacted to it."
"Hold on." Oprah stood up. "This all came about because you overworked yourself too much? How'd that happen?"
"Funny story..." Mandy twiddled her fingers together. "I was working on this super-difficult case for the Colorado precinct, 'cuz they were stacked to the brim with work and I happened to pass by Mr. O on the streets of Denver, do not even ask why I was in Denver, it's a long story, but I decided to take the case off of his hands. I've been living off limited sleep for a week, and it kiiiiiinda bit me in the tail. I overestimated the difficulty of the case."
Oprah had about a million questions about her agent's story -- really, she had a million questions about how her agent's body and mind worked in general -- but figured that getting them all answered would take months. She sighed. "Ahh, abusing your body by denying its needs. Been there, done that...felt that..." A shudder overtook her body. "But certainly not for someone like you. I admire your work ethic, Mandy, but if you think there's a case you can't handle, don't be afraid to say no, okay?"
"Yeah, I've learned my lesson! I think I'll just stick to Canadian cases from now on." Mandy smiled. "But I'm really sorry. I never meant to hurt anyone, not maliciously! I just wanted peace and quiet when I sleep."
"Is that why this room exists?" Otto asked.
Mandy nodded. "Fluttershy offered to make me a room with white noise in it. That noise is the only noise I can tolerate when I'm asleep. It influences my dreams sometimes, too!"
"That makes sense." Otto mused. "I use white noise to help myself sleep, and I'm human. You were originally human, and now you're half-human. So white noise would help you in the same way it helps me, maybe."
"Well, Mandy...if you want peace and quiet when you sleep," Oprah smiled. "I'll be more than happy to accommodate it. Starting with this room."
Mandy's eyes shimmered. "You mean..."
"You can have it. It's all yours, to do whatever you want with. Right down to the door." Oprah nodded. "One of the cons of being immortal is forgetting bits and pieces of childhood. Having your own room is one of the best parts of it. I don't want you to miss out on that while you're still young." Her expression darkened for only a brief moment before she returned to smiling. "And on behalf of Otto, Fluttershy, Olive, and the others, we're sorry for trying to wake you up. If we knew you just wanted silence, we wouldn't have bothered you at all." She shook her head. "I'm sorry for even trying to wake you up to begin with. I started this whole mess."
She took Mandy's hands and cupped them in her own. "So let me make it up to you. Fluttershy, I'd like to help you with decorating the rest of Mandy's room. Let's make it one she'll never forget."
"Me too!" Otto raised his hand and frantically waved it. "This bedroom's gonna be the coolest one in the world once I work my magic on it!"
Everyone glanced towards Olive, who had turned around and was facing the wall, holding her knees close to her chest.
The smile disappeared from Otto's face. "Olive?"
"I didn't even know all of that about you, Mandy." Olive's voice was a near-whisper. "All this time, when I tried to wake you up...I didn't know how bad that was for you. I treated you like I would treat any other human being...when you're not just a human being. What kind of mother am I if I can't even figure out the wants and needs of my own child?"
Mandy tilted her head, a concerned expression settling on her face before she rolled onto her bed. "Momma, I'm a weirdo!"
"Don't say that!" Olive instinctively cried out, a worried edge to her voice. "You're not a weirdo."
"But I am a weirdo!" Mandy kicked her feet into the air. "My brain works really funny when I sleep, and it works funny in general. I eat more than humans could ever eat. And hammerspace covers more than just my back, it covers my hair and tail too!" she chirped. "But I like being a weirdo. We're all a weirdo in some way or another! And..." She lowered her feet and glanced at Olive. "Parents can't know everything about their kids. It's like you always say: I continue to surprise you. And that's a good thing, right?"
Olive blinked, pondering Mandy's words for a moment before a small smile began to form. "Yeah. Yeah, it is a good thing."
"The transformation changed me in soooooo many ways that not even I know about yet!" Mandy rolled onto her stomach. "But maybe, while we discover those ways...maybe I'm just a cute lil' unpredictable surprise! And that's the super-fun part!" She drew a finger across her bedsheet. "All you need to do is love me, care for me, and support me, just like a mother would. That's all I want."
Olive's eyes widened. She pulled her knees away from her chest and extended them, to the point where Mandy could see every speck of dirt on the shoes she was still wearing (not that she minded them on her bedsheet, of course). Tears began to pool in her eyes, and she reached out to pull Mandy close to her next.
"I do. I do love you. I do care for you. And I'll always support you, no matter what." Olive hugged her tighter, the tears streaming down her face. "You have my complete and utter word."
"Do it!"
Olive chuckled and went through the movements. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
The two girls embraced each other in a long hug as Oprah, Otto and Fluttershy looked on with smiles across their faces.
"Now," Olive got off of the bed. "I'll help Fluttershy decorate your room, too. Just say the word, and I'll spoil you rotten."
Mandy shook her head to get the water out of her hair, then her smile turned into a full-fledged grin. "Flutterbutter, give 'em the list!"
The rest of the day was completely devoted to letting Oprah's other agents handle cases while she began to put the finishing touches on Mandy's room.
The day after, she called a day off, and construction continued. Mandy herself had taken to painting the doors in a variety of colors that, while they didn't clash together well, she personally enjoyed. The others -- including the ponies, once they had gotten wind of the news and gotten a stern lecture from Fluttershy -- had taken to putting in and adjusting items that Mandy had on her list.
"I must say, darling, as much as I would critique on the horrible design of this room..." Rarity remarked, looking around the room. "It's so Mandy."
"I agree." Twilight nodded. "It's going to be weird not having Mandy sleep with us, though."
"Mm. Perhaps not for me." Rarity said. "If I'm being quite honest with you, I never was a fan of Mandy's inharmonious snoring."
"Didn't you say you got used to it?"
"Yes. I had to. I couldn't just tell Mandy to stop snoring."
Twilight playfully rolled her eyes.
"Hey, girls!" came Pinkie's greeting as she rolled in on a blue exercise ball. "Look what I found!"
"An exercise ball?" Twilight tilted her head. "What does Mandy want that for?"
"To roll around on, silly!" Pinkie hopped off of the ball, watching as it rolled and struck Otto in the back of the legs. "They're really fun! You should try one sometime!"
"Yeah, no thanks. I think I've seen enough horrors from when Ms. O replaced all the chairs in the bullpen with them..." Twilight ruffled her wings furiously.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash examined Mandy's new bed. "You said this was inspired by my bed, Fluttershy?"
"Oh yes. Clouds are known to be very soft, so I added another layer above the mattress, so it would feel like Mandy is sleeping on a cloud." Fluttershy explained. "And I also made sure she wouldn't eat this one."
"Still can't believe she's the only one I know who eats clouds." Rainbow said. "Though she does love cotton candy..."
"It's nice and roomy, too. Instead of a twin-sized bed, now she has a queen-sized one." Fluttershy winked. "Gadgetry is wonderful, don't you think?"
Rainbow had to wonder what gadgets her friend used to turn a twin bed into a queen one, but chose not to ask about it. "Yeah. It looks pretty neat."
"Daaaaaaaash! Sister! Help me!"
"Long live the queen."
Mandy gave a cry of distress.
Rainbow sighed. "Gotta go." With slow wing flaps, she made her way over to Mandy, who was grasping the top of the door like it was a cliff face she was about to lose her grip on.
Over in the left corner, Applejack was staring at a list. "Now what's all this, again?"
"Toys." Olive explained. "I never really bought Mandy all that many because I myself was never interested in that kind of stuff. But I tried to make a list of every toy she would like."
"And just how am I s'posed t' pay for it?"
"You earn bits from Sweet Apple Acres. Most places here take bits, don't they?"
Applejack scanned the list again, and sighed. "Look, I'll try, sugarcube, but I ain't the richest pony in the world. I dunno if I'm gonna be able t' get her all these toys..."
"That's fine. Just buy what you can, and we'll save the rest for her birthday."
The farmpony stared at Olive, not sure why she was so nonchalant about her bits -- maybe because the bits weren't Olive's to spend. Regardless, Applejack nodded and left the room with the list in tow.
"So it says here that if you clap a bunch of times, it turns the white noise on?" Otto blinked. "Why 'a bunch of times' instead of...I dunno, twice?"
"'Cuz doing it twice is trademarked! I'd get sued!" Mandy threw her hands into the air. "Now, watch and learn!"
Looking upwards, she began to clap like she had just seen her friend put out a wonderful performance on stage. The sound of ocean waves crashing on the shore began filling the room, and when the sound reached her ears, she stopped.
"Uh..." Otto looked at the ceiling. "How about we compromise and say...clapping three times turns it on and off?"
Mandy made a scrunchy-face. "But then it's not fun!" She scoffed. "Fine. Make it three. Take away its whimsy. Be a stinky old fun-ruiner."
Otto smiled as she stuck her tongue out at him. He fiddled around with the dials on the remote he had in his hand for a few moments, then looked back at Mandy. "Try it now."
Clapping three times turned the ocean sounds off.
"Look..." Otto smirked. "The only reason I suggested you clap three times and not a million is because..." He leaned in close to Mandy's ear and dropped his voice to a whisper. "Doctors say that if you clap too many times, your hands fall off."
Mandy gasped and backed away. "No! Not my hands! I love my hands! I need them! They're organs! They're limbs! They're important! I'm never gonna clap aga-" She caught Otto's sly teasing expression before he took off running. "Awwww, c'mon! Get back here!"
With how big the room was, the duo running didn't deter construction all too much. For the most part, everyone ignored the chase and kept on working as though nothing was happening. It was the endgame, and they were going to put as much effort as they could into making the room look neat.
By nighttime, the work was complete. The room was decorated with stickers and almost every item on Mandy's list, with the approval by Mandy herself for everything. She couldn't wait to sleep in it -- the past couple days had her bunking on Oprah's couch, because "the first time in a new room is special!"
There was just one more thing she had to do.
"Keep your eyes closed, Peach!"
"All right, all right, they're closed. You're lucky I'm a catgirl."
As the two cousins walked through the hallway leading to Mandy's new room, Mandy assisted a blindfolded Peaches in where to go, with the latter feeling the air with her hands to make sure the former didn't try to ram her into a wall or anything.
"Okay, stop!" Mandy ordered, before she opened the rainbow-colored door that led into her new paradise. "Now gimme a sec to undo the knot here..." She magically grabbed ahold of the knot that kept the blindfold in place, squinting as she attempted to undo it.
"You want help?"
"No, I...think...I got it!" Mandy's expression brightened as the blindfold was successfully untangled. "Thank goodness, too, 'cuz I was gonna start yankin' on your head! Now open your eyes!"
Peaches did as she was told.
A gasp forced its way out of her without her even knowing.
In addition to the stickers, a whole host of items had been added. Next to the wardrobe closet, there was now a large desk and a sewing machine, in case Mandy wanted to sew but Rarity's boutique was closed. An exercise ball sat up against that, large and blue, and perfect for rolling on. In the corner that sat to Peaches' left, there was a large bookshelf with a myriad of books, including all ten books in the Wolves of the Wilderness series. As she walked further into the room, she took a look at the wall that was on her left, where a bunch of posters of meadows were hung.
"This...I'm..." Peaches shook her head vigorously. "That's funny, I thought it was going to be more...extravagant. You said you had a whole list full of stuff."
"I did!" Mandy said. "But didja think there would be all kinds of crazy stuff on it?"
"To be honest? Yes." Peaches deadpanned. "What kind of crazy stuff did you have in mind?"
"Oh, you know...an all-you-can-eat buffet. A slide made of chocolate that builds itself back up every day. A trap door for villains. Huuuuuuuge bass speakers. A DJ portal."
"What's a 'DJ portal'?"
"A portal for DJs, silly!" Mandy nudged Peaches. "Aaaaaanyway, how do ya like it?"
"It looks nice. Definitely fits you." Peaches peered past Mandy to gaze at her bed. "Did you get a new bed, too?"
"Not really. It's my old one, but I expanded it to be a queen size so I can roll around on it!"
"Uh-huh." Peaches gave a bemused smile. "Well, if you're happy with it, that's what matters. I...can't really speak much on the matter. I never had my own room."
Mandy took in so much air in one big long gasp that Peaches half-expected her body to inflate like a balloon. "Whaaaaaaat? The bestest cousin ever, not have her own room?! Blastphilly! That can't stand! It can't even sit down! I forbid it!"
"You mean blasphemy?"
"That's what I said!"
"You said 'blastphilly'."
"Yeah! Blastphilly!"
Peaches groaned. "Do they not teach English at the Odd Squad Academy? And if not, can we write to someone about that?"
"Anyway!" Mandy ignored her cousin's question and jabbed a finger into her chest. "We're gonna rectify that, you and I." She conjured up a piece of paper and a pen before leaning back on her spinning tail. "Start writin', sister."
"I'm...sorry, what am I writing?"
"What you want in your new room, of course!" Mandy pulled out a can of Dr. Shmumber's from behind her back, opened it, and took a swig. "Go on. I got alllll night."
Peaches had to bite back another groan as she looked at the paper that was handed to her. All it said at the top was "PEACHES' ROOM TO-DO LIST".
Silence filled the room.
"You're not going to let me leave here until I fill out this list, are you?"
Another swig of soda. "Right on the money, kiddo."
Sighing, Peaches took the pen in her hand and got to writing. She couldn't deny that having her own room that was extravagant as Mandy's seemed interesting...maybe she could make it just as big as hers. Maybe.
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