The Adventures of Peaches and Mandy

by marmalado

S1E30: A Class Act

Inside Olive and Otto's office was something that could best be described as a disaster zone to all but the most crazy of bookworms.

Papers were strewn about so that the room practically looked like it was made of them. Books laid both open and closed on all sorts of surfaces, with titles ranging from Amazing and Odd Artifacts of Squad History to I Know What I Did Tuesday Morning: How to Beat Oddness and Still Be Sane to Farmers Guide to Mathematica.

And within it all were two Directors, scribbling note after note at the coffee table as they poured through book after book, the world around them melting away as they began to head completely into the zone.

Oh, and one hybrid, of course, who was there because she had been lured with the promise of a meal at Shmumber King that had certainly been delivered with a twenty-percent tip.

Otto tapped the pencil he was holding against his chin, squinting as he read one bullet point. "Mandy?" he called. "Hey, Mandy?"

No response. That was enough for him to look up.

"Uh...Olive, is she-"

"No, she's not dead." Olive said, without missing a beat and without even looking up. "Pry the book off of her face."

Otto, still clueless as to what was going on, got up and went over to the hybrid, who was looking quite relaxed even though she couldn't see. As he grabbed ahold of the book and pulled, his eyes widened as he realized that it felt like the pages had been glued on. "It's...stuck!" He began pulling harder and harder until the book flew off and he landed on his back with a hard thump.

Sure enough, to no one's surprise, Mandy was fast asleep, snoring away with a trail of drool leading from her mouth and dripping onto her shoulder. Every once in a great while she muttered something in a language that was foreign to anyone who wasn't her, then let out louder snores that rattled the plastic covering of the coffee table.

"Wow, she makes an art form out of falling asleep behind a book!" Otto remarked, with just a twinge of jealousy. "Should we, uh...wake her?"

"Be my guest. The snoring's getting on my nerves anyway." If Olive performed an eye roll, Otto couldn't see it with her bowed head. "Just don't be surprised if she falls back asleep. She's been like that for hours."

Otto rubbed his head, wondering if he was into his work so deeply that he didn't even register the sound of snoring. It certainly wasn't like him, but he supposed that was just Olive's influence as someone who was dedicated to her work. Cracking his knuckles, he got to work shaking Mandy awake.

Of course, nothing happened. Only her snores began fluctuating in volume and pitch as a result of the movement, becoming broken and disjointed.

"Mandy, wake up! I have a question!" Otto called, continuing to shake the hybrid like he was shaking a bottle of ketchup horizontally instead of vertically.

Finally, after about five minutes of shaking, Mandy came to with a jolt. "Nyaaaah! T-they're here! They're here!!"

"Who?!" Otto whipped his head back and forth. "Who's here?!"

"Them!" Mandy grabbed Otto by the lapels. "They're here!"

"Who?!"

"Otto!" Now Mandy tried to climb up the kid who was just a filly taller than her. "They eat humans! They're gonna eat us alive!"

"Who?! I don't see anyone!"

"THE-E-EEEEEEM!!"

Olive rubbed her temples, a surefire sign she was being launched into the first stages of what she had resentfully called a Mandyache. She had half a mind to chuck something at Mandy's head if that drive of making sure she was the absolute perfect parent didn't get in the way, because absolute perfect parents do not throw things at their children to get them to shut up. And it was that drive that caused her to take a deep breath and stand up. "Mandy..." She tried to put on a genuine smile. "You're in our office. You had a bad dream, that's all."

Mandy snapped out of her fatigue-addled panic and went half-lidded. Her world began to grow warped. She slid off of Otto and landed on the floor like a glob of melting ice cream, laying her head on a piece of paper. "Everythin's all zzpinny-woozy..." she remarked. "What happen...? I w'zz readin' thizz book n' takin' notezz n' then I wazz in some devil'zz..." A yawn interrupted her explanation. "...cazzle."

"You fell asleep."

Every "ha" Mandy huffed out made her body deflate every time she inflated it by taking a breath. "Funny joke, Momma..." Another loud yawn, this one punctuated with an adorable squeak, cut through the air.

"Anyway...hopefully you understand this..." Otto knelt down to better get to Mandy's level. "So this morning these two agents just came into Headquarters and they were talking about you and the Odd Squad Academy! So it got me thinking about what you do there. A lot of recruits talk about you."

Mandy tilted her head to one side, than the other. She weakly pawed at the drool that was still on her face. "Do they?" she sleepily murmured.

"Can I come with you the next time you go?"

"...To where?"

"The Academy! I wanna see what you do there!"

Knowing that she wasn't going to get any work done as long as there was chatter in the room, Olive put her pencil down and opted to take a break, shooting Mandy a smile. "You do seem to make time to go there at least once a week."

Now Mandy understood. "Yeah, I hang out with the recruits there. W-well, only in the Investigation portion, anyway. But they kinda see me as like a big sis slash mentor figure."

"Now that you mention it." Olive picked a pretzel from the bowl of them that sat on the table. "I remember when you were sleepwalking around town and Oprah got a call from one of the Professor O's..."

Otto nodded. "I remember that too! Heh, wow...those were some angry kids."

"It was hard to explain to them that I had pulled an all-nighter." Mandy gave a small shudder, remembering how the Professor O that had called had chewed her out immensely.

"But anyway..." Otto gripped Mandy's shoulders. "Can we come with you the next time you go to the Academy?"

Olive tilted her head. "'We'? I never said I wanted to go!"

"C'mon, partner!" Otto turned. "Aren't you at least a little bit curious?"

"Well, yeah, but we've got a precinct to run and-"

"I'm goin' first thing tomorrow."

"And we've got the day off! Our assistants can handle things." Otto sidled up next to Olive and raised an eyebrow. "Sooooo are you gonna come or what?"

Olive heaved a mighty sigh. "Fine. Only for Mandy."

"Yeah!"

Mandy could only manage an arm raise and a small flat "huzzah". While out of character for her, neither Olive nor Otto questioned it.

"1:00 tomorrow?" Otto posed.

"Yep." Mandy crawled back up to the couch and yawned. "Now can ya let me finish my nap, please?"

Olive blinked. "You just had one!"

"I know. This one's my afternoon one." Another yawn, which blocked her view of Olive's disbelieving stare. "I'll see ya in a few hours."

"Wait!" Otto outstretched a hand. "Can you tell me who 'them' is first?"

Mandy gave a nonchalant shrug. "Sure. They say I should sleep properly or my face will droop like a raisin."

Otto's head met the floor as he started to cry. Olive simply got back to work with a smile, happy that the noise (or, well, most of it, anyway) had finally died down and offering Otto mental empathy pats.

---

Sure enough, at 1:00 in the afternoon, Mandy's flight took her to the grounds of the Odd Squad Academy. She landed on the forecourt of the Investigation building, watching agents-in-training go to and fro.

"Aah!" She folded her wings in. "I'm glad the new Big O allows flying at the Academy. Walking all the way here from the tube entrance is such a pain..."

Her ears moved to and fro, as did her eyes as she tried to spot Olive or Otto.

"Weird. It's 1:00. Where could they be?" she muttered.

"Hiya, Mandy!"

A familiar voice made the hybrid turn around. Trotting up to her happily was a hazel-colored unicorn mare with bright hazel eyes and a cutie mark of a hazel-colored flower. Truly, she would be a master of camouflage better than almost any other unicorn, if one deducted her gray, Odd Squad-seal-adorned sweatshirt from the equation.

Mandy gasped as the realization set in. "Hazelblossom!" She rushed over to scoop up the mare in a hug, which she happily returned. "Wowee kazoo, I haven't seen you for a long time!"

"Yeah, I’ve been studying hard at the Academy. Can’t believe the Big O is allowing pony recruits! And it’s not just fillies and colts, she’s accepting full-grown mares and stallions too!"

"I never understood why, to be honest." Mandy set Hazelblossom down. "I mean Odd Squad is a kids-only place, and mares and stallions would be considered adults...which are frowned upon. Usually. I don’t understand how that works, either."

"Well, I'm certainly okay with it!"

"How's your magic ability comin' along?"

"All right. I still have a lot to improve on, though...but that's what I'm going to Equestria for!"

"Keep it up! You'll get there someday."

The sound of a school bell permeated through the building, and echoed outside via the speakers mounted on the pole in the middle of the forecourt.

"Oh shoot, I'm late!" Hazelblossom adjusted her saddlebags. "Sorry Mandy, but I have to go! It was great catching up!"

"Likewise! See ya!" Mandy called, watching the mare dash towards the front entrance.

"Mandy!"

A more familiar voice caught the hybrid's attention, and she turned. "Momma! Otto!" She ran up to them. "Where've you two been?"

"Sorry, we-"

"Otto here wanted to stop at the Snooze Button Cafe for breakfast, so we got delayed..." Olive interrupted, shooting him a piercing glare.

"I was hungry!"

"You're always hungry!" Olive sighed and shook her head. "Anyway...it's a long way to walk from the tube entrance to here."

"Yeah, the nearest tube entrance is right at the edge of the Academy." Mandy explained. "They're workin' on getting more, don't worry."

Otto looked around the area, which was nearly empty. "Why does it seem like there's almost no one here?"

"They're in classes right now." Mandy began hopping towards the front entrance. "C'mon, let's go inside!"

Olive and Otto happily followed the hybrid, chatting about all the sights they would see at the place neither one of them had been to in several years.

However, going completely unnoticed by them were three catgirls, each with a head of blond hair that was marked with three differently-colored bows wrapped around it. The bows reflected the color of each catgirl's eyes as well, making it easy to tell who was who.

"That's her?" remarked the green-eyed one.

"She doesn't look that bad." said the blue-eyed one.

"She is bad." The red-eyed one fixed her two comrades with a glare. "That’s Agent Mandy, one of the fugitives of Vallea. She’s done a lot of heinous things in her days." A wicked grin settled on her face. "So. Chikako. Malma. You know what to do?"

The green-eyed one, Chikako, raised a rather sizeable gun that looked more akin to a machine gun. "We've got the tranquilizer guns raring to go."

"With extra-strength darts!" chirped the blue-eyed one, Malma, holding up a dart that looked like a badminton birdie in appearance but had a needle sticking out of its front.

"We've also got those shapeshifter seeds you asked us to find before we left Vallea, of course." added the green-eyed one.

The red-eyed one gave a soft chuckle. "Good. Now go catch me that stinky-breathed traitorous mutt of a hybrid. In the name of King Ashero."

Chikako and Malma gave a unisonant confident nod. "We won't let you down."

---

As Mandy opened the door, she spread her wings and did a twirl into the air. "Et voila! Welcome to the Investigation building of the Odd Squad Academy!" She faltered. "Again!"

"Wow..." Olive's eyes widened. "It's been so long since I've been here."

"It looks a lot...uh, what's the word..." Otto pinched his mouth inwards as he tried to think. "Cleaner, I guess?"

Indeed, it did look cleaner, with its freshly-repaired windows, sparkling white floors and walls, and freshly-painted ceilings. It looked every bit like it had just gone through a major renovation, even with all the Professor O's and agents-in-training that walked, teleported and flew around on a daily basis. One could even put it on par with the Big Office as far as cleanliness went.

"Does it?" Mandy glanced around. "I dunno, I can't tell."

"Mandy!"

A high-pitched squeal nearly made everyone jump. Mandy's gaze moved to the hallway, where she found a pink-furred, dull-white-maned Pegasus filly soaring towards her, wings abuzz like a hummingbird's. Like Hazelblossom, she too wore a gray sweatshirt with the Odd Squad seal emblazoned on it, though in a smaller version that fit her body.

"Ribbon Twirl!" Mandy met her halfway, something that proved to not be the brightest idea when the filly smacked right into her chest with enough force to send her toppling backwards. "H-how's your...ouch...how's your Unicorn-tosis?"

"Sorry about that!" the filly apologized, extending a hoof to help Mandy up. "And my Unicorn-tosis is gone! I'm really sad 'cause it was fun to be an alicorn, but I think I'm happy just being a normal Pegasus." As she hovered in midair, her eyes moved past Mandy, and she gave an elated gasp. "Omigosh, are you Olive and Otto?!"

"That's us!" Olive gave a friendly wave.

"Wow, I've heard so much about you!" Ribbon made her way over to the two Directors, her golden eyes shimmering with excitement. "And you're here, in-pony! Er, uh, I mean, in-person! Your feats are so legendary!"

Otto blinked. "We're legendary?" His question was more directed towards Olive, who gave a shrug. As amazing as her and Otto's feats had been over the years, never once had they been considered legends among agents-in-training, let alone among agents-in-training who were Equestrian natives.

"Well duh, of course you are! You two are like the most popular agents in all of Odd Squad history! All the Instructor and Professor O’s use you two as examples for lessons!"

A blush began creeping along Olive's face, like she had eaten a hot pepper that took a little while to kick in. "Well, I wouldn't really call myself a stand-out agent, but...I'm honored!"

"Yeah! It's really cool that we've become so famous here."

Ribbon's eyes widened, and she turned towards Mandy. "Oh, but that’s not to say you’re not cool, Mandy!" she amended. "I hear agents-in-training that are going into the Creature Care department use a clone of you as a replica for training. But that’s just a silly rumor!"

Mandy wasn't sure whether to feel offended, thrilled, or confused. Still, given that she knew the whole deal with clones both in Odd Squad and Equestria, she decided to settle on neither. "Believe me, if there were a clone of mine runnin' around, it’d be chaos. I already heard what happened when Agent Pinkie Pie cloned herself, and it wasn’t pretty."

"Oooh yeah, I hear all of Ponyville was nearly destroyed!" Ribbon shook her head. "Oh, darn, I’m getting off track again...um, so, what are you three doing here?"

"I'm takin' these two on a..." Mandy's pony ear flicked. "Well, not a tour, but...they wanted to see what I do here every week. So I brought them here."

Ribbon nodded. "I think you two are really gonna be surprised. Mandy's a hit with everyone here!"

Otto gave a playful roll of his eyes. "I'm sure."

"Anyway, I gotta go. I told Instructor O I would only be gone for a couple minutes for a bathroom break and she’s gonna start wondering where I am. See ya!"

Everyone gave their goodbyes to the filly as she began zipping past them towards her classroom.

"Ahh...Rainbow would be so proud at how fast she's gotten." Mandy waved Olive and Otto in the direction Ribbon had come from. "C'mon, there's probably a couple recruits hangin' around somewhere."

As the Director pair followed the hybrid, Chikako and Malma peered out from behind a wall, squinting as their cat ears swiveled about for any other signs of life.

"How are we going to capture her?" Malma asked.

"Easy." Chikako smirked. "We need to get her away from those two kids that are with her. Olive and Otto."

"Should we capture them too?!"

"Don't get too excited!" Chikako hissed, leaning close into Malma's face so that their noses nearly touched. "And no. If we capture them, Odd Squad’s going to wage war against us, and we can’t afford that right now. King Ashero only wants Peaches and Mandy, and since we can’t get Peaches with Mandy always around her, we’ll have to capture Mandy first."

"Okay!" Malma chirped, oblivious to Chikako's brief moment of rage. "So how are we gonna get her alone?"

"From what I've heard, she's easily distracted and constantly hungry." Chikako gave a low chuckle. "Of course. Degenerate mutts are always dumb fat gluttons."

"So we have to lure her out with food?"

"That's one way. But let's keep following them for now. Perhaps we'll come up with more ideas."

"Yeah!"

After Chikako shushed Malma for her ill-timed scream, the pair moved out from behind the wall and carefully ducked behind surface after surface in order to follow Mandy, Olive and Otto, while also keeping their eyes and ears out for anyone who might spot them and blow their covers.

---

"Hey Mandy." Otto asked. "Did you ever consider becoming a teacher at the Academy?"

Mandy stopped bouncing for a moment, resorting to her usual walking gait. "Y'know, I didn't!" She shook her head. "But honestly, I don’t think I could handle it. That many students...me teaching what I know about solving oddness...it sounds really unnerving!"

"That's surprising, coming from you."

"But I bet you'd be really good at it!" Olive chimed in. "You've been a substitute teacher for a couple classes at the Science building in the past."

A loud groan accompanied a back-and-forth roll of the hybrid's head. "Don't remind me." she lamented. "And anyway, those were for gadgets. I'm gifted at making and repairing gadgets!" She straightened her posture. "But my way of solving oddness on the field...it kinda differs from most agents. Mainly ‘cause I have a horn. And magic. And a horn. And wings. Aaaaaand a horn." As she passed by a classroom, she peered at the small window on the door, where she could see some kind of mysterious smoke eking out of something that was out of her view. "Plus, there are more students in the Investigation building than in the Science building. Classrooms are bigger too. Overall...it’s just not for me."

Otto gave a shrug. "Eh, understandable. I wouldn't wanna be a teacher either. Unless it was for a Soundcheck class!"

"Yeah, nothing but napping, eating and playing Soundcheck all day long." Olive said, nudging him and giving a hearty chuckle.

"Aaaaanyhoozle, why don't I sho- oof!" Cut off by her slamming into something tall and thin but heavy, she backed up a few steps. "Aah! S-sorry, I wasn't looking where I was..."

The thin and heavy figure turned around, his blinding-white teeth bared in a growl.

Mandy's pony ears drooped. "...going."

The boy went from angry to smug within a second. "Well well well, if it isn't Mandy."

"Well well well, if it isn't Orlando."

Orlando gave a snort, and then launched into full-on belly laughter upon fully taking in Mandy's appearance. "You look like some dopey fairy tale princess! What’s with the getup? Going to some lame-o costume party?"

"No, I'm-" Mandy was cut off once again, this time by the sharp sensation of someone tugging on her wings. She made an "eep!" sound at just how painful it was.

"These don't even look real!"

Orlando let go of the wings, causing them to give a mighty snap sound akin to someone launching a rubber band. Mandy waved them around frantically in a desperate effort to relieve the pain. "Ow! Cut it out!"

Next, Orlando put his finger on the very tip of Mandy's horn. "And what's with the freakishly long horn?" he asked, giving a cackle. "Whaddya think ya are, a unicorn? 'Cause news flash, we eat those here!"

As Mandy recoiled in horror at the thought of Orlando wanting to eat her, it began to click in Olive's brain just who, exactly, the boy was. "Hold on. You're Orlando."

"That's my name, don't wear it out. Whaddya wanna make of it, little girlie?"

The words alone would have made Olive grow apprehensive...a good long time ago, back when she was shy and inexperienced. But she had taken enough guff from Odd Todd to get well used to insults.

"Mandy's told us about you before." Otto stepped forward, narrowing his eyes. "Would it be safe for us to assume that you're one of the resident bullies of this place?"

"Ha! You're even dumber than you look." Orlando snorted. "I have friends, you know. They're just in classes 'cause the teachers made them go there."

Otto smirked. "That would explain why you're still here at the Academy. No Director's picked you yet?"

That made Orlando's smooth and smug facade fade away in an instant, being replaced by anger again. "No, and it's not fair! I’ve been stuck at this stupid place for years and the teachers say I’m never gonna get out!"

"Wooooweeee kazoo, can't imagine why." Mandy tutted. "Could it be because you and Arctic Breeze always tormented me even after teachers told you to stop more times than Centigurps can multiply?"

Orlando stopped for a moment, considered the question, then shook his head. "Naw, that can't be it. You deserved all that came to you!" He chuckled and snorted derisively. "Freaks of nature like you don't belong here."

Mandy just stared, taking a moment to figure out her next course of action. Putting on a grin, she spread her wings and moved them through her hair, styling it like Rarity's signature curls. She used her magic to do the same thing to her tail, and pulled out a fainting couch out of nowhere. "Oh! Oh I'm wounded! Wounded!!" she cried out, flopping onto the couch and placing the back of her hand on her forehead. "Oh, I'm hurt! Medic! My soul! MEDIC!! Oh, surely...surely someone as weak as me couldn't have..." A sniffle. "Couldn't have taken down the previous Big O, right? Aaaaa-ha-haaaaaa!"

Olive and Otto simply watched this display of dramatics with rolls of their eyes, the former turning away so she didn't have to bear witness to another display of what she thought was poor acting.

"So what if ya took down the previous Big O?" Orlando remarked. "I coulda done that with my own two hands!"

Mandy, dropping her act, put on her cat smile. "Uh-huh. Me of little faith, huh? And how would you have done it, O Great and Powerful?"

"Orlando! Why aren't you in class?!"

The sound made Mandy leap into the air, hit the couch, and topple to the floor. Orlando, Olive and Otto all swiveled their heads towards the sound, but couldn't find anyone.

Orlando, in particular, had dread written all over his face. "Aw nuts."

"Get to class this instant!"

"All right, all right, yeesh!" Orlando began to make a break for it, only turning around and shouting a quick warning to Mandy. "This isn't over, freak!"

"Change your attitude and you'll graaaaduaaaate~!" Mandy paused. "And get better iiiinsuuuults~!"

"He's a handful, isn't he?" Olive said.

"Oh he's got issues, for sure." Mandy got to her feet, turned her hair and tail back to their normal curly states, and disposed of the fainting couch by kicking it away to nowhere in particular, letting it crash into something that she didn't bother to identify. "I can’t believe he’s still here. I’d have thought at least one Director would be willing to take him, but…"

"No Director wants a nasty-tempered agent."

"What about Op-"

"Oprah is an exception."

Mandy stared at Otto with a bemused look on her face, until she realized that recruitment prerequisites were probably very different in the late 20th century and her expression returned to its usual happy one.

"So what were you planning on showing us, Mandy?" Olive asked.

"Oh!" Mandy's tail wagged furiously, and she pointed down the hallway. "The Big O recently decided to put up a Wall of Fame featuring some of the Academy's finest agents-in-training. I hear I’m on it, so I wanna go check it out!"

"Ooooh, maybe we're on it, partner!" Otto said excitedly.

Olive gave a shrug. "Couldn't hurt to check. Let's go!"

---

The Wall of Fame wasn't all too massive, or at least not as massive as Mandy, Otto nor Olive had expected it to be. It looked to be about the length of an average classroom whiteboard, complete with plaques that showed each agent-in-training's picture, their name, and what they were being commended for.

"Here it is! The Wall of Fame!" Mandy, being faster than both Directors, got to the Wall of Fame first and immediately began zipping around it excitedly so that she was almost a blur. "Am I on it?! Oooooooooh, please tell me I'm on it!"

"There you are!"

Mandy looked at where Olive pointed, and gave an elated gasp followed by a squeal that could make a pig weep. "Lookit lookit! It's me! Me and my handsome face!"

Otto read the engraving on the plaque aloud.

Agent 57, Mandy. An Odd Squad Academy student who introduced ponies into our beloved world and into our beloved workplace. She has fought against all odds even in spite of her transformation into a 'pony-human hybrid' and is recognized for her efforts in taking down the previous Big O.

He smiled. "That's pretty accurate."

Mandy would have responded in kind, if she hadn't been distracted by a wafting sweet smell that seemed to come from a nearby hallway.

"I can't believe they fit all that onto a small plaque." Olive commented.

Mandy's tongue lolled out, and her eyes began to shimmer.

Otto looked through the Wall of Fame. "Are we on here?"

Right then, Mandy ambled away from the duo, entranced by the mysterious sweet scent that could only come from food.

"I don't see us. Hey Mandy, do you know if we're gonna be added on here?"

No response. Olive's head turned to and fro, only to find Mandy not there. "Mandy?"

The hybrid was well out of earshot of both Directors at this point, as she turned the corner and went down a hallway filled with classrooms. "I can smell it!" Her tail began to wag furiously. "I'm so hungry I can eat a..." She blinked. "No, wait, that's rude..."

Lost in her thoughts, she crashed into something hard, giving an "oof" as she stumbled backwards. As she shook her head and looked up, her eyes laid upon a blockade that was tall, brown, perforated...and very, very familiar.

Mandy gasped. "It's...a big, big wall...of chocolate!!" It was incredible how the high-pitched cry of "chocolate" didn't make anyone shush her. Not that she cared, though, as she gave the chocolate wall a lick. "It's really chocolate!" she cried out, devolving into giddy laughter as her mind ran a million miles a minute, struggling to figure out where to start first. She didn't care much about the how or the why of it all -- her never-ending appetite meant she could devour the wall within seconds, though she wasn't sure if her mouth was volumetric enough to fit a bar that big in one go.

She also didn't need to ponder how she was going to eat the thing, as she simply fired up her horn and shot a laser blast cleanly down the middle. It made the two halves land on conjured plates that also served as blockades, making Mandy look like nothing more than a small speck of dirt in a giant's world. Slicing one half down the middle of both halves using the same feat of magic so that it was now in fourths, she grabbed a large piece with her serpentine tongue and pulled it into her mouth, relishing the taste. "So good!" she chirped, her tail wagging back and forth as she got to work on the next piece.

Chikako, situated behind another wall at the far end of the hallway, smirked. "Yes, we got her!"

"What do we do now?"

Chikako rolled her eyes at Malma's stupidity. "We trap her. What else?"

About three-fourths into her third piece, Mandy straightened. "Ooh, I should take shome of thish back to Momma and Otto!" she realized, shoving the rest of her already-eaten piece into her mouth, grabbing the other piece in her prismatic corona, and happily bouncing away, leaving the plates behind.

"She's getting away!" Malma screamed, pointing a finger in Mandy's direction.

Hackles raised, Chikako hissed. "She was supposed to stay and eat all of the chocolate, not take it with her!" She furiously shook her head. "We'll think of another plan, Malma, let's go!"

As the catgirls made a break for it, Olive and Otto began calling out for Mandy.

"Maaaaandyyyyy?"

"Hey, where'd you go?!"

A well-aimed and well-timed bounce brought Mandy directly in front of them, with half of a piece of chocolate stuck in her mouth. Most of her face was smeared with chocolate, and she had a distended belly that made it look like she had packed on a good 90 pounds at the least.

Olive and Otto, completely unfazed and beginning to piece together what had happened, took in the hybrid's appearance with neutral expressions.

"Hi!"

"Mandy, first of all, don't chew with food in your mouth." Olive scolded. "The amount of times I've had to tell you that is absurd."

Mandy put on an apologetic look and happily swallowed her piece of chocolate.

"Second of all, where were you, exactly?"

"Oh! Well, I was really hungry, and I smelled something sweet so I followed it and I ran into this huuuuge wall of chocolate! I was gonna share it with you two, but...uh…hehe..." Mandy gave a muffled belch, a blush creeping across her cheeks. "I ate it all. Sorry."

Olive gave an exasperated sigh. "Mandy, you're always hungry." She crossed her arms. "Try not to leave us alone like that, okay? You may come here every week but we haven't been here in decades."

"Gotcha!"

Otto reached behind his back and pulled out a rag. "Here. For your face. You've got a lot of chocolate on it."

"Do I?" Mandy pulled out a mirror. "Oh wow, I do! Well, it's just an arrestiment to how good it was!"

"'Testament', Mandy. The word is 'testament'. It is a testament to how good it was."

"Nobody likes an English-ruiner, Momma." Mandy wiped her face clean of the chocolate and handed Otto back the rag. "English-ruinee? English-ruiness?"

A pause. One could quite literally hear the gears turning in Mandy's head as she thought.

"...English-ruinette! Yes! No one likes an English-ruinette!"

"This." Olive glanced at Otto and pointed at Mandy. "This is why I'm a proud advocate for Odd Squad Academy English classes. Not everyone speaks Mandy language."

"Right."

"Anyway..." Olive gestured towards the path that she and Otto had come from. "We were trying to see if our pictures were on the Wall of Fame."

"Oh?" Mandy shook her head. "Not yet. They're still tryna find the correct wording for the plaques, I hear."

"They don't have to be perfect."

"Nonsense!" Mandy patted Otto's shoulder. "You two are legends and you should be treated as such. Ooh, ooh, are you two opposed to crowns and scepters? Twilight might have some spare ones in her Castle of Friendship somewhere she could give you!"

Just as Olive opened her mouth to oppose the idea, the sound of a school bell rung throughout the building.

"Ooh, classes have let out!" Mandy began bouncing up and down. "Now we can see some recruits!"

Otto's brows furrowed. "That was fast."

Two separate shouts of her name caused Mandy, as well as Olive and Otto, to turn around. Two Earth pony fillies, both wearing the same gray sweatshirts that Hazelblossom and Ribbon Twirl had worn earlier, rushed up to them at blinding speeds, excitement radiating all throughout their bodies so that they nearly vibrated.

Mandy waved. "Hiya!"

"Hey, hey, do you think you could help me with my homework assignment?" the blue-coated one asked.

"And I need help studying for my next quiz!" the pink-coated one said.

"Hold on, hold on! I can't do both at once." Mandy gave a small smile. "How about we make separate times for each of you?"

The blue-coated one nodded. "Sure!"

The pink-coated filly, however, wasn't so convinced. "But my next quiz is tomorrow!"

"What's it on?" Olive asked, kneeling down to reach the filly's level.

"How to interrogate a unicorn."

Olive blinked. Mandy patted her shoulder. "Looks like that's your territory, Momma!"

"Oh definitely."

Mandy glanced at the two fillies. "Girls, this is Olive and Otto. They're the co-Directors of the Mississauga precinct." And then, she glanced at the two Directors. "You two, meet Blue Lily..."

The one with her blue mane and tail and her orchid-gray coat waved. "Hi!"

"...and Strawberry Parchment!"

The one with her fuchsia mane and tail and cerise-colored coat, gave a pleasant smile. "Most call me Strawberry, though."

"Nice to meet you!" Olive and Otto greeted in unison.

"Have you ever interrogated a unicorn, Olive?" Strawberry stiffened. "Um, I mean, Ms. O?"

"Yeah. It was back when I was an agent and we were trying to solve the mystery of characters coming alive from their books. You remember, Otto?"

"Oh yeah!" Otto scratched the back of his neck. "That time when I decapitated a mummy. On accident."

Olive's eyes widened. "You decapitated him?! You told me he fell asleep!"

"Look, if Oprah found out I decapitated him, she would have decapitated me!"

Olive pinched the bridge of her nose and gave a groan.

"Aaaaaaanyhoozle, Blue Lily, I've got some free time tomorrow if you wanna stop by Precinct 13579." Mandy glanced at Strawberry. "And Strawberry Parchment, you can go to Momma and Otto's precinct."

Strawberry's eyes shimmered as she glanced up at the two Directors. "Can I really do that?"

"Of course!" Olive nodded. "I'll try and teach you all that I can."

"Yay! Thank you!"

"And I'll be sure to stop by Precinct 13579 tomorrow, Mandy!" Blue Lily wrapped her front legs around the hybrid's own. "I'm so so lucky to have you as a friend!"

"D'aww..." Mandy rubbed her arm. "You're gonna make me blush!"

Blue Lily released herself from the hug. "I have to head home now. I'll see you tomorrow, Mandy!"

"I should get going too." Strawberry turned. "See you tomorrow, Mr. and Ms. O!"

Everyone gave their goodbyes to the two retreating fillies, who zipped off just as fast as they had come.

"So what now?" Otto asked.

Mandy gave a soft hum as her tail twitched. "Well, there are a couple new rooms that we could-"

"Mandy!"

This new voice didn't belong to any Academy student -- rather, it belonged to a Professor O, who rushed up to Mandy as fast as his feet would take him and keeled over when he got there.

"Professor O?"

"Oh...thank goodness you came." Professor O lifted himself up. "Listen, I need your help."

"Okay!" A pause. Mandy's grin remained on her face. "What for?"

"We’re studying ways that unicorns -- erm, Equestrian natives, I should say -- can use their magic to combat oddness. And I figured, who better to use as an example than one of the most powerful magic users ever?"

Mandy's smile dropped from her face. She blinked. "Uhh...w-well, I, uh, wouldn't call myself powerful..."

"You took down a Hydraclops and defeated it after taking a severe hit to the spine from a tree." Olive pointed out. "I think we’re well beyond calling you 'weak', Mandy."

"Yeah, but in terms of magic..." Mandy edged her voice so as to remind Olive that she didn't take down the Hydraclops with unicorn magic -- or really any kind of Equestrian magic, if she thought about it. "I-I mean, I can teleport and make stuff float and fire cool laser beams, but…"

"Oh come on, it'll be great! The students will love you." Professor O urged.

Mandy heaved a sigh. "Well, if it's for the students...I hafta do it. It's in the contract."

"Great!" Professor O turned. "Follow me to the classroom. The class starts in a couple minutes."

Mandy began to follow him, her head angling towards the two Directors she was leaving behind. "You two can go explore if you want. You know where to find me."

Olive wanted to say that they didn't know where to find Mandy because they hardly remembered their way around the Investigation building of the Academy as it was, but decided that they could probably ask some recruits for directional information if they were as legendary as the hybrid claimed they were. "Got it! Have fun!" she called, waving Mandy off.

As both Directors went the opposite direction, Otto's eyes widened. "Wait, what contract is she talking about?"

Olive simply sighed, reached behind her back, and pulled out a rather sizeable stack of papers, reading off of the top one. "Rule Number One in the 'Handling Agent Mandy' Packet..."

---

Chikako and Malma were lucky to be catgirls who had the ability to turn into cats that could sneak around unsuspected. No one had managed to catch them, even though their ears and tails were out in the open and even though their other forms were of cute cats in a building full of kids of both the human and equine kinds.

"Okay, so you're clear on the plan, Malma?" Chikako murmured, from where she was watching Mandy come down the hall with a kid dressed in a spiffy uniform. She didn't bother to identify who it was.

"Yeah!" Malma nodded enthusiastically. "We eat the shapeshifter seeds and they transform us into Academy students. Then we can get close to Mandy and capture her without being suspected!"

Chikako smirked. "Heh. Idiotic you may be sometimes, but you're not without your moments of cleverness. Let's hurry."

Both girls took the oval-shaped seeds that were in their hands and popped them into their mouths, chewing them and wincing when some sort of juice began oozing out of them. With two small whooshes, they were transformed into purely human twins, down to the same uniform as what agents-in-training wore.

"Yes, it worked!"

"Wait!" Malma held out a hand to stop Chikako. "Before we go in, we gotta give ourselves O names!"

Chikako snapped her fingers. "Shoot, you're right." She stood up, watching as Mandy and the kid went down a side hall. "We'll think of some on the way in. Let's go."

As Mandy and Professor O made their way inside, they were met with row after row of eager Academy students, most of whom were talking amongst one another. A few students gave their attention to Professor O, though not many.

"Hello, everyone!" he called, enough to quiet the room down and gather more eyes towards him. "I've brought a very special guest today."

That did it. The room erupted into cheers, which startled Mandy enough that she took a step back and nervously laughed. "Hi!" she eked out, though it was barely heard above the cacophonous din.

"She’ll be helping us with our lesson on magic and combating oddness. Now, settle down, and let’s begin, okay?"

The cheers died down just as the door opened, revealing two girls who looked the same in everything but eye color and hair bow color.

"Sorry, Professor O..." The blue-eyed student took heavy breaths.

"We're late, aren't we?" The green-eyed student shook her head. "What a shame."

Professor O tilted his head. "I'm sorry, do I...know you two?"

The green-eyed student straightened. "Oh! U-uh, I'm Ohikako."

"And I'm Olma!"

"Nice to meet you." Professor O reached behind his back and pulled out a paper, scanning it intensely. "Um...you're not on my attendance sheet."

"We're new students here." Ohikako explained.

"Ah, I see." Professor O nodded. "In that case, you're free to take a seat wherever you like."

"With pleasure." The tone in Ohikako's voice was sinister, but no one picked up on it as they made their way towards two vacant seats in the middle of the third row.

"Okay." Professor O cleared his throat. "Now, unicorns have an innate talent for magic, and many possess basic powers such as telekinesis, or the power to lift objects. But unicorns can also practice and master spells in order to protect themselves in battle." He gestured to Mandy. "Mandy, for example, is an alicorn, also known as a winged unicorn. She knows a lot of spells..."

"Uh, not really-"

"She's quite the powerful agent..."

"Well, that's kinda sorta true..."

"And she's skilled in battle!"

Mandy blinked. "Actually that's very true."

"So today, we're going to learn about how to apply that magic to fighting oddness. Specifically, odd creatures." Professor O clasped his hands together. "Everyone, we're heading out onto the field! Let's go!"

As students began to murmur and rise from their seats, Chikako and Malma momentarily stayed behind.

"Yes!" Chikako grinned. "In an open space, there's less chance for us to be caught. Malma, get that tranquilizer gun ready! The sooner we shoot, the better!"

"Yup yup!"

---

As the last of the students gathered in the open area that was right next to the Investigation building, Professor O erected the last of the barricades for just what foe his students had to face.

"Now, in the outdoors, we have more room." He pointed. "See those laser chickens?"

The crowd erupted into nervous murmurs as two laser chickens, easily towering over them all by a landslide, wandered about, clucking and firing deadly lasers from their combs.

"Those are not natural laser chickens -- rather, they have been afflicted by oddness and have become laser chickens by unnatural means." Professor O placed a hand on Mandy's shoulder. "Mandy will demonstrate how to use magic in order to turn those chickens into regular chickens. Watch closely!"

"All right!" Mandy puffed out her chest. "Watch the master at work!"

From behind a nearby tree, Chikako, tranquilizer gun in hand, cocked the weapon and aimed. She carefully followed Mandy's movement as she began to move closer to the odd creatures.

"We're in position. Ready..."

Mandy's horn lit up. "Just gotta warm up the ol' horn here..."

"Aim..."

"Got it...and-"

"Fire!"

The cry was unisonant, stretching across Chikako, Malma, and Mandy. As the former fired the weapon, the latter fired her magic, although Chikako managed to be quicker on the draw and successfully embedded a tranquilizer dart clear through Mandy's pant leg and into her skin. The hybrid gave an "Eep!" as she let her magic loose, and coincidentally enough, it hit a laser chicken dead-on, turning it back into a normal chicken within a puff of multicolored smoke.

"Nice job, you got one!" Professor O praised. Like the rest of the students, he was oblivious to the whole ordeal, and simply thought it was Mandy's talented magical prowess at work.

When she felt a pinch in her leg, Mandy's vision grew hazy. Her world began spinning in a way that nearly made her sick. What's happening...? If she had the energy to, her eyes would have widened at just how slurred even her own thoughts sounded. She had to look at herself in a mirror, see what was in her leg, get it out, and examine herself to see if she was in tip-top shape.

She shook her head and turned to face Professor O. "U-um, Professor O...can we...put a pause on the lesson? I have to use the bathroom."

"Of course!" Professor O turned to his students. "This is a perfect opportunity for you unicorns to try using your magic on the other laser chicken, and for those who aren't unicorns to help your classmates out. Meet back here when you’re done, Mandy."

"Uh-huh..."

Mandy didn't know how she had the strength to even make it inside of the Investigation building, but somehow, through willpower not even she knew she had, she did. With a lame leg, she dragged it through the hallways, trying to find any sort of sign that pointed to the restrooms but not finding anything. It didn't help that her vision was getting worse by the minute.

"Everything is..."

"Gotcha."

"Huh?" Mandy slowly turned. The two beings that stood just a short distance away from her were close enough that she could easily identify them as two girls, yet at the same time, they looked like vertical blobs of mass. "Y-you two..." She shook her head. "No!"

It was fight or flight. Mandy, being in no condition to fight, chose the power of flight.

She didn't get very far on her own wingpower, as her flying was slow and erratic. Which, of course, made it all the better for Chikako and Malma.

"Oh no you don't!" Chikako aimed the tranquilizer gun again and fired.

Another dart went into Mandy's other leg, causing her to give a "Wah!" of surprise before she plummeted to the ground, her body hitting the floor twice before skidding to a slow stop.

"Wow, you're pathetic." Chikako remarked, taking the seed she had been given to undo the effects of the transformation and chewing it to turn herself back to normal.

"You never stood a chance against us!" Malma chirped, doing the same thing.

Chikako shook her head. "If I had known it would be this easy, we would have tranquilized you long ago."

"Yeah, and-"

"Let me handle this, Malma." Chikako forcefully shoved her comrade aside and began to approach Mandy.

The hybrid struggled to get to her feet, only being able to push her upper body up and turn her head around. The only word she could give was nothing but a mere croak: "Vall...ea..."

"Yes. We are from Vallea." Chikako towered over her. "King Ashero has asked once again for you and your inbred cousin to be captured and taken back. Since we can’t get her when you’re around, we had to find some way to separate you two."

"Chikako? Malma?" Katine made her way over. Neither catgirl had seen her since she had given them the seeds originally and neither catgirl had any idea how she had managed to find them. "You two managed to capture Mandy?"

"We did!" Chikako grinned.

"It was easier than we thought!"

Upon surveying her enemy, Katine's smile turned into a frown. "She's not fully unconscious. Why is she not fully unconscious?"

To Mandy, the catgirls were nothing more than smears in her vision, their words muffled gibberish that rang in all four eardrums. Still, her brain was sending every signal it possibly could to her body for her to stay awake, even with two darts stuck in her legs. A groan eked out of her, and while she tried to utter out another word or two, that feat proved to be impossible.

"She's fighting it!" Malma's words were practically a scared scream, as she thrust her index finger at Mandy. "Should we hit her with another?"

Chikako whirled on Malma, staring at her as though she had uttered out the ramblings of a madwoman. "No! That was an extra-strength tranquilizer dart! She shouldn’t even have her eyes open! She got two!"

Katine groaned. "Whatever. It doesn’t matter if she’s conscious or unconscious. What matters is if she’s able to fight back or not. And right now…" She chuckled, watching as another moan came from Mandy. "I don't think she's even able to stand up."

It was true. Mandy's entire lower body felt numb. She could feel her heart beating -- perhaps that was what kept her upper body going -- but it was clear that being sedated by a tranquilizer dart, let alone two, let alone extra-strength ones, and fighting their effects was a battle that she was destined to lose.

In a second, her upper body failed her. Her heart slowed, her arms came out from under her, and her chest and head slammed onto the tile floor, her eyes closing ever slower until she was sucked into a world of pure darkness.

"So what do we do with her now?" Malma asked her leader.

"Easy. We take her back to Vallea. King Ashero will be happy with one."

"And what about Peaches?" Chikako asked.

"Our King will send someone to catch her as well. Preferably before she has the chance to realize that Mandy is missing." Katine exhaled and pointed at Mandy. "Pick her up and let’s go."

A shrill, malicious laugh pierced the air, making all three catgirls go on high alert.

"What's that?" Katine asked, unsheathing her claws.

Chikako stood next to her, unsheathing her own claws as well. "That laugh..."

"They call it the 'noblewoman's laugh!' Or the 'ohoho'!" Malma explained, approaching the situation with blissful innocence.

"You honestly thought you could get away with dragging my daughter back to your little village? How cute."

"Too bad we won't let you. Your stunt ends here!"

From somewhere that no one could identify, triumphant music flourished.

Standing right behind Mandy was none other than Olive and Otto, posing rather dramatically as though they were going to quite literally be poster children for a movie.

The catgirl trio all wore various expressions of shock. Absolutely none of them banked on Olive or Otto showing up, and it showed in every inch of their reactions.

"Them...THEM!!" Katine screeched, whirling on Malma and Chikako. "How could you two forget to knock out them?!"

"You gave us the instructions!"

"Right!" Chikako nodded, only barely fazed by Katine's rage. "You told us not to capture them because Odd Squad would wage war against us!"

Katine's face turned a bright red as her teeth became bared in an ugly snarl. "Whatever!" She jabbed a finger at the two Directors, who hadn't budged so much as an inch, in both position and expression. "If we can’t knock them out with tranquilizer darts, then we’ll knock them out with brute force! Go get them!"

Neither catgirl needed a second prompt, launching themselves at Olive and Otto at high speed.

Otto heaved a sigh and shook his head. "They never learn, do they?"

"Sadly, no."

Both Directors reached behind their backs, pulling out golden shields marked with the Management symbol that looked quite rusted from years of heavy-duty use.

Olive smirked. "Let's get ready to fight, partner."

Otto nodded, and the pair rushed into battle, meeting the catgirls halfway. Although they were outnumbered three to two, they were still able to deliver mighty blows to all three Vallea residents, using their free fists as well as their legs, feet, and any available damaging gadgets they had in their hammerspace spines.

The fighting was so intense that no one heard Professor O and the rest of the students arrive on the scene. "What in the name of odd is going on in here?!" he yelled, trying to make himself heard over the din.

All five combatants disappeared in a ball of dust and violence. Within the ball came a loud, high-pitched yowl, followed by the deafening sound of a gadget's thick laser making impact, then the sound of a body hitting a wall hard enough to leave a dent. The students all huddled together behind Professor O, giving scared screams and cries as they tried to comprehend what was going on.

Otto broke free, as did Katine, and held her back with both his shield and his free arm. "Professor O! Take Mandy to the Medical building! Tell them she got tranquilized!"

"Take Mandy to..." Professor O peered behind Otto and the mysterious catperson, managing to spot a lifeless body behind them and Olive and Chikako, who were no longer kicking up dust and were fighting on the floor. "Oh my gosh, o-okay, will do!" He turned to his students. "Everyone, go back outside! Now!"

The students did as they were told, leaving Professor O free to dart past the two separate fights as well as the wall-embedded catperson and make a mad grab for Mandy. "C'mon, Mandy, up and at 'em! Let's go!" When it became clear to him that the hybrid was knocked out cold, he picked her up with much effort and began booking it past the two fights once more, back to the outside where he could hopefully spot the Medical building, or at the very least flag down a passing Doctor.

A well-aimed sock to the jaw left Chikako in more pain there than in any other part of her body. "I'm bleeding!"

"Not..." A punch to the face. "My..." Another one. "Problem!" And another one, that one more hard-hitting than the last that managed to send her stumbling backwards.

Nearby, Katine was making a mad grab for Otto, trying to snap at him while yowling and hissing with as much ferocity as she had. Due to Otto's incredible strength, her teeth only bit the air that was several inches from his nose, and he had all the means to throw her off.

"Be quiet!" he yelled.

"Get your filthy hands off of me, you dirty mongrel!"

"Never!"

With a swift yank, he pulled Katine's body close to him, as though he were leading her in a dance. However, what he was doing was far more sinister, as he grabbed the catgirl's left arm and pulled it so that it was bending at an angle that one didn't think such an arm could bend at. What ensued was a loud pained yowl that echoed throughout the hallways of the building, spittle flying from Katine's mouth as she tried to wrench free.

Just as Otto was mentally praising himself for his quick thinking, his eyes caught the third catgirl of the group rushing towards him, snarling and with claws fully extended. "You little-"

A golden shield went flying towards Malma, hitting her square in the chest and sending her flying towards the wall as she made a choking sound. However, she didn't hit it, and instead fell to the floor on her back, the shield clattering beside her as she laid unconscious.

"Yes!" The voice was unmistakable. Otto didn't need to piece together what had happened. "Wow, Otto, you weren't kidding when you said our shields work well as saucers!"

"Uh-huh!" Otto said through gritted teeth, as he struggled to keep the now-thrashing Katine out of control. Fed up with being at a standstill, he flipped the catgirl back over, balled his free hand into a fist, pulled it back, and let it fly towards the catgirl's face, causing her to release her grip on Otto and fall straight onto her back like a piece of wood that had been tipped over. "You all right, partner?"

"Ah, just a little dirty. Not without any claw marks, of course..." Olive tenderly touched her bleeding cheek. "...but nothing too bad. What about you?"

"A couple scratches and bruises. Nothing I can't handle."

A low growl made both Directors' attentions snap to an enraged Katine, whose nose was bent at an awkward angle and whose cheek was a little swollen. "How...dare you...try and attack us." She slowly shook her head. "We should take you back to King Ashero...nngh...along with those two deformed mutts you’re housing."

No one could see it, but it was calling Peaches and Mandy "deformed mutts" that made Olive's hackles rise. "Yeah, speaking of..." She walked over to the felled Malma and effortlessly picked up her shield. "Exactly how many times does Odd Squad have to hammer it into your feeble minds that King Ashero sending out catpeople to do his bidding isn’t getting the job done? Is he so lazy that he can’t take the time to come over here himself?"

"N-nonsense!" Chikako winced as she, too, struggled to get to her feet after having lost her balance. "King Ashero is a very busy cat. He doesn’t have the time to deal with your lack of intelligence."

Olive idly examined her fingernails. "It's a shame, really. We'd love to roundhouse-kick his butt too, just like we did with yours."

Malma gave a spittle-laced hiss in response.

"This isn't over..." Katine propped herself up on her lower arms. "No way is this over..."

Olive and Otto exchanged a glance. Otto, tucking his shield away behind his back, gave a single nod to Olive, and she gave him a thumbs-up in return.

"You're right. It's not over." Olive reached behind her back to put away her shield, but kept it there in order to fish for another item. "The first time I battled one of your ilk, I let him go with mild injuries. This time, I'm raising the stakes."

Otto wisely backed up, watching as his partner pulled out a small gadget that looked to be in the shape of a ray gun and examined it to make sure she had enough ammo.

Katine's eyes widened when she saw what Olive was doing. "N-no...you can't..."

"If we're gonna...be executed..." A pained yowl cut off Chikako's sentence for only a moment. "...it'll be at...the hands of...our King!"

A mirthless laugh slipped from Olive's lips. "No it won't." She cocked the gadget. "I am more than willing to be your executioner. I promise to make your deaths as dignified as you want."

"Wait!" Malma grit her teeth. "You...you don't wanna do this in front of the kids!"

Otto's brows furrowed. "What kids? They all went outside." He looked behind him, just to make sure no one was coming. "And everyone's in classes right now."

Realizing her excuses would all be fruitless, Malma feebly held out a hand. "Then...t-take me! Take me first!"

That made Olive falter. She blinked. "You...want to die first?"

"Yes!" Malma squeezed her eyes shut. "Just get it over with!"

Olive wasn't sure whether she was being genuine or if she was bluffing. "All right. I have a feeling your two comrades won't miss you all that much anyway." As she approached Malma, she glanced at Chikako and Katine, who were staring at Malma worryingly. A feeling began churning away in the Director's gut, a feeling of unfamiliarity that could only come from someone who had never killed before.

She was no killer. Deep inside of her heart, she knew she wasn't. If she was, she would have killed Odd Todd long before Otto worked his skills at being a mole. However, as someone who was committed to being the absolute perfect parent to Mandy, she was more than willing to thin out Vallea's population, all the way up until she was able to rid it of its abhorrent king.

"And when you're in the afterlife..." Olive gave a sharp chuckle, a way of her affirming that she didn't believe in such a thing. "...don't even think of trying to harm my daughter again."

She jerked her head away and pressed the button.

A loud bang echoed throughout the hallways, making Otto stumble backwards.

"Otto...tell me I got her."

Otto angled his head to peek around Olive. A pool of blood, rich and red, began forming under the lifeless body of Malma. "Yeah...you got her, all right."

Chikako and Katine were considerably more scared now. They exchanged glances with each other before swallowing the lumps that had formed in their throats and glancing at Olive, their pain being squashed by the fear and defeat that began forming within their hearts.

They would have mourned Malma's murder, if they weren't at the mercy of their enemies. Now, they could only mourn in the afterlife.

Olive turned her head back, cocked the weapon again, and aimed at Chikako's chest.

"M-m-me? W-why me?"

"Does it look like I care about the why?" Olive sneered. "I just want you dead. And convenience didn't strike hard enough so that I could kill all three of you at once."

"All we were doing..." Chikako squeezed one eye shut as a reaction to the pain that flared up within her body. "...was honoring our King's wishes."

"And you could have easily turned away and rebelled. Yet you didn't." Olive gave a derisive snort. "You know what? Just shut up. My daughter's probably in a coma right now for all I know. Your precious King won't miss three cold bodies."

Briefly, Chikako's gaze moved to Otto. He was still in a little shock from just how loud the fired weapon had been, but he was otherwise stony-faced and tight-lipped. Any mercy given by him would be nonexistent, and it squashed any hope she still had left in her.

Olive aimed for the catgirl's chest, jerked her head away again, then fired.

Another loud bang, accompanied by a strangled, scared, grief-filled scream from Katine.

More blood began to coat the floors.

"H-how..." Katine, fueled by anger, grit her teeth. "You're a coward."

"A coward? Moi?" Olive's head turned to face the catgirl as an innocent smile began creeping along her face. "Do elaborate."

"Every time you've shot one of my fellow civilians, you've...nngh...you've looked away. You still have a heart!" Katine tried to point, but could barely lift her arm a few inches. "S-so why...why?!"

Olive fixed the catgirl with a disinterested expression. Quickly, she cocked the weapon one more time, aimed it at Katine's chest, ignored her rapid "no's" as she jerked her head away, and fired.

By the third bang, students and teachers alike had begun peering out of classrooms, wondering what was going on. The sound of scared and concerned murmurs caught both Directors' ears, and made Olive hastily tuck her weapon away behind her back.

"Uh, e-everyone stay calm!" Otto tried. "There was, uh, I mean, there were some odd villains here that my partner happily, uh...dealt with. They're no longer threats!"

"Yes! Please, go back to class. We're sorry for disturbing you. Rest assured, my partner and I have everything handled here."

"Why's there blood on the floor?"

The innocent-sounding question from an equally-innocent student made Olive and Otto stiffen. Whatever attempt they had made at hiding what they had done would have failed, if they had actually made the attempt to begin with. They stared at each other, desperately trying to think of an excuse.

"It's...paint!" Olive's grin was uneven, and quite frankly, it was terrifying, as evidenced by some students' worried reactions. "They were villains who attacked with paint. Yeah. W-we knocked them out good. And their paint spilled!"

The students began murmuring. Neither Director was sure whether any of them had bought the poorly-concocted excuse or not.

"All right, everyone, let's head back to class. That goes for all of you too!" The Professor O in charge of the class that was nearest the Directors called the final words of her order to her fellow teachers, who nodded and began corralling their respective students back inside, offering comforting words of encouragement.

While Olive and Otto were grateful, the knowing look that Professor O gave as she slunk back into the classroom with her students was one they would most certainly be taking to bed that night.

"So how do we, uh..." Otto's stomach did a flip. "...get rid of these guys?"

Olive gave a low hum of thought. "Why don't I fling 'em? Wherever they land, they'll either get fed to the maggots or fed to some other wild animal or odd creature lurking about." She smirked. "Besides, if I do that, I can see if my skills have gotten better since Orino came to town."

"That's your go-to move now, huh?" Otto shook his head in an amused manner. "I'm going to the Medical building to check on Mandy. Meet me there?"

"Absolutely. But, uh..." Olive began picking up the three dead bodies, gesturing to the puddle of blood with her foot. "Can you clean this up first?"

Otto reached behind his back and pulled out a gadget that looked like a long stick. "Mop-inator!" he called, aiming it at the puddle and yanking on the pull cord. This caused a mop head to suddenly grow from the far end of the stick, and when it was placed on the puddle, it mopped it up within seconds with not a drop to spare.

"Good job." Olive began heading off. "Wring that outside and make sure Mandy's okay. Quickly!"

"R-right!"

Otto made sure to grab the gun that the catgirls had dropped, tucking it away inside his hammerspace spine before sprinting past Olive and making a beeline for the exit doors.

---

Inside the Emergency Treatment Room at the Medical building of the Academy, Professor O, along with Blue Lily, Strawberry Parchment, Ribbon Twirl and Hazelblossom (he had run into them all on his way to the building), watched as an Odd Squad Doctor eyed a patient monitor, then let her gaze wander to a still-unconscious Mandy, lying on a platform that looked akin to the bottom half of a tanning bed. She took one of the darts that she had pried out of the hybrid and examined it for a few minutes. "Mmmhm. That's an extra-strength tranquilizer dart, all right. And since Mandy received two of them..."

Professor O's face fell. "Don't tell me."

"She's gonna be in a coma!" Blue Lily's words were practically a scream, and managed to catch the attention of a few nearby Doctors.

"No!" Ribbon Twirl placed her hooves against the Doctor's legs. "Ozzie, there's gotta be some way..."

"Wait!" Strawberry Parchment piped up. "Mandy told me something, a while ago...she told me about her sleep, how no one can wake her up and-"

"Strawberry, that's different. Mandy's not asleep, she's unconscious." Professor O glanced at the Doctor. "Right, Ozzie?"

Ozzie nodded, her poofy black pigtails bouncing as she did so. "Yes. Mandy’s not in a sleeping state. She’s unconscious, but she’s not asleep. It’s sort of like when you have surgery and you receive anesthesia."

"But...but..." Strawberry began anxiously trotting in place. "How long is she gonna be out for?!"

"No one knows."

Running footsteps marked the arrival of Otto, who slid down the hall and landed perfectly in the doorway. "I'm here!" He tried to catch his breath. "Dr. O, what's going on?"

"Otto, you're a Director. Surely you know that title is used for Head Doctors only?" Ozzie tilted her head. "Call me Ozzie."

Otto made his way up to the growing crowd of concerned agents. "Right, okay, but how's Mandy doing?!"

"Mandy’s all right. She took two extra-strength tranquilizer darts to both legs. Vitals are steady, but I don’t know how long she’ll be out for. It could be weeks, it could be months...it could even be the next day."

"Extra-strength?!" The shout came from a newly-arrived Olive, who rushed in as fast as her feet could take her and nearly collided with the ponies, Professor O, and her own partner.

Blue Lily looked up at her. "We're all really worried." she remarked, as the others murmured.

"Is there anything I can do?" Olive said, keeping her gaze fixed on Ozzie.

"Keep an eye on Mandy. For now, she should rest in bed."

Olive gave a shaky sigh. "Those stupid catgirls..."

"Hey, Ms. O...who were those girls, anyway?"

"Local villain trio. They call themselves the Hissy Fits." Otto almost wanted to smile at how quickly he came up with that pun, but his worry trumped his amusement right quick.

Hazelblossom's muzzle wrinkled. "Sounds like a weird name for a villain group. But then again..." She chuckled. "Villains aren't very smart."

"Bottom line is, you all don't need to worry about them." Olive assured. "Otto and I took care of them."

"Thank you!" Ribbon chirped, as the others followed suit in giving their own thanks.

"Well, it was nothing, really...they were hurting Mandy. I couldn't let them get away with it."

"All right, finished."

The group's attention turned to Ozzie, who was hunched over Mandy with a clipboard in her hand that they had to assume was given to her by another Doctor when they weren't looking. "What with?" Hazelblossom asked.

"I ran some scans on Mandy. She should be all right, but as I said, you'll need to keep an eye on her."

"Right, of course." Olive nodded, watching as Ozzie began peeling off electrodes from Mandy's exposed chest. When the Doctor gave her an OK signal, the Director moved to grab Mandy in her arms, her eyes widening as she noted just how limp she was, like an overcooked spaghetti noodle. She turned to the rest of the group. "I’m really sorry that Mandy’s visit was cut off like this. Otto and I came with her because we wanted to see what she did here. I didn’t think we’d get caught up in this crazy mess."

"That's quite all right." Hazelblossom gave her a grateful smile. "I'll see Mandy again."

"Yeah!" Ribbon Twirl leaped into the air. "I know she'll get better! Mandy's a fighter!"

"I'll still stop by Precinct 13579 tomorrow!" Blue Lily offered. "Even if she can’t help me with my homework, I can still check up on how she’s doing."

Professor O glanced at the unconscious body of the one who had only helped him with his lesson just a short while ago. "I'll find a way to work through the magic lesson without her."

"And..." Strawberry rubbed her leg. "Maybe I can still come to your precinct so you can help me with my quiz?"

Olive nodded. "Of course. Come with us."

"Keep us updated!" Professor O called, watching Olive and Otto walk out with Strawberry and Mandy in tow.

"We will!" Olive called back. "And thank you, Ozzie!"

Ozzie waved. "No problem. Best of luck to you two!"

Ribbon, Blue Lily, Hazelblossom and Professor O split after that, with the latter helping the ponies get to their respective classrooms before heading back to his own class outside.

---

Mandy woke up to a world of black. Aside from herself, every direction was nothing but the same color. She felt lightweight, and wondered how she could be standing on the ground with gravity holding her down. The area almost looked like the limbo she went through whenever she left the Magical Grasslands, only while that pulled her by force and was full of twinkling stars and a retreating utopia, this was just a void with nothing of the sort except the privilege of moving on free will.

Her pony ears picked up on a faint call of her name. "W-who's there?!" she called, her voice strained as though she were on the verge of losing it. "I-if you're that 'Princess Luna' character, I mean no harm, I swear!"

"Mandy."

The mysterious voice was clearer now.

"H-Haru..."

"Shh. Try not to talk." Haruko urged. "You are unconscious. You are in endless sleep, a time not experienced since you were still in the womb, and a time you will experience even long after you are gone."

Mandy tried to say something about how Heaven didn't exist and how darkness would be the only thing waiting after death, but a different set of words came out. "I can't see you..."

"Your voice sounds strained."

"I don't know where I am..."

"It is all right. You have my voice to guide you. Even if you cannot see me, you will always be able to hear me. Our hearts are connected as one." Haruko assured. "Tell me, how did you end up like this?"

Mandy squeezed her eyes shut. "The last thing I remember...the last thing I remember..." The memory flickered in her mind, as though it was corrupted. She spoke slowly, enunciating each word. "I was helping out with a lesson for some agents-in-training at the Academy and I was suddenly shot in the leg. My vision...it went all blurry, a-and I saw these two catgirls...and then I tried to fly away, but they shot me again...I tried to fight it, but I couldn’t…"

"Perhaps it is a tranquilizer dart. I have seen it used a few times in the real world."

"A tran-huh-lizer dart?"

"Those catgirls must have hurt you with the darts." Mandy could almost feel the head shake Haruko gave, even if she was just a disembodied voice. "Oh, Mandy..."

"Haruko...I don't wanna die." Mandy's voice was small. Tears began streaming down her face from the corners of her eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself. "Not before...not before I have a chance to say goodbye to my friends and family."

"Do not worry. From what I understand, being hit with a tranquilizer dart is not lethal. You will wake up, in time."

"B-but I'm not having any dreams...I just feel cold darkness." A shiver ran up Mandy's spine, causing the rest of her body to shiver in the process.

"Being unconscious is a different...experience, so to say, than being asleep. When you are unconscious, your mind turns off. When you are asleep, you still have a sense of consciousness. Your brain is still active."

"But my brain functions differently."

"You are not dead, Mandy." Haruko assured again. "I can feel your heart. It is still beating. With love, kindness, and warmth. With the feeling of being alive." The sound of a heartbeat thrummed in Mandy's ears, although she wasn't sure if it came from her own body or if it came from somewhere in the void. "Your time in this world is not over yet."

"H-how can I know that for sure?!"

"All you need to do...is to place your full trust in me."

The faint sound of shimmering and whooshing from off into the distance brought Mandy's attention to what was in front of her. While only a speck, a ball of pure white was driving the darkness away.

"W-what's...is that light?" Her tone was hopeful. She would have run towards it, if her feet weren't rooted to the ground.

"You are returning to consciousness."

The sounds grew closer, and as they did, the ball of white grew bigger and bigger. Suddenly, Mandy felt terrified, and turned her body around to run away as anxiety began consuming her as well as the hope she had.

"C'mon!" She tried to pull her feet off of the ground, but they stayed put. "Let me go!" Her head swiveled around. "S-stay away from me! Stay back!"

Whatever words Haruko had to share, if any, were lost in the noise that had now become deafening. The ball would not stop, would not acknowledge her existence. It kept destroying everything in its path, just as it would soon destroy her.

Mandy, paralyzed with fear, did the only thing she could do in that moment.

She closed her eyes and screamed with every inch of force and emotion she had within her.

---

As Mandy opened her eyes, her world became nothing but a smear. Much like the catgirls from earlier, the beings that stood over here were nothing but blobs, with something near their tops moving up and down.

"...waking up!"

Those words came clear as day, though she had no idea who they belonged to. She tried blinking in order to restore her vision, but it hardly helped, only serving to color the blobs.

A moan eked out of her as she raised a hand to her forehead and began rubbing it. The words "my head" were formed by her mouth, but she wasn't sure if her vocal cords had worked together to create the sounds that formed them.

"Oh, thank odd you're okay!"

The blood rushing through her bony skull, her squishy brain, all of her nerves and vessels and matter, was cacophonous. It was like the heartbeat of a cat as heard through a stethoscope. As such, she couldn't tell who had expressed such joy that she was awake.

Wait...I'm awake?

I'm still alive?

...No. This can't be. I'm in the place above or something. I'm in another dream. This isn't reality.

Her mouth suddenly felt dry. She became aware of her heart thrumming in her chest.

But if I'm dead, why am I feeling so dizzy? Why do I have all these sensations...?

"Where am I?" The words came out without warning. She didn't know if they had sound to them or not.

"You're in your room." one of the blobs responded, with a sort of low voice. "You were out for an entire week! Two extra-strength tranquilizer darts...I'm surprised you weren't out for longer!"

If Mandy was in her room, she didn't really see it. She tried blinking again, but only another small part of her vision became restored. Now, she could see that the blobs had features -- clothing, limbs, faces, hair. But it was still hard for her to make out who was who.

"All right, everyone lay off of her." another voice chimed, as its owner pushed her way through. "Mandy? Are you up for eating or drinking?"

A drink. That sounded like a good idea. Mandy gave a slow singular nod.

"All right. I'll bring you some water first. Be right back!"

The blob moved away. Mandy could now identify it as being an Odd Squad employee, though who it was, she didn't know.

"Mandy?" Another blob, decked in yellow and white, moved forward, with something white seemingly floating next to it. "Is it okay if I wipe your face? You're sweating a lot."

Another nod. Mandy felt something cold on her face that sent a shiver through her body, but she didn't wince, instead wheezing out a small murmur of thanks.

"You've been through a lot, Mandy." yet another blob spoke. It reached out something to Mandy that she could see was a hand attached to an arm that had to be attached to a shoulder and thus a body, but quickly retracted it. "You're crying!"

Gently, Mandy touched her cheek. The wetness wasn't from whatever had been soaked in water and rubbed on her face. No, it came from...tears. Thick, ugly, desperate tears.

And the more she thought about them, the more tears came. She ducked her head down to where no one could see, and cried. Cried about the white ball that had consumed her in the infinite darkness. Cried about what had happened with the catgirls that had mercilessly wounded her and sent her out of commission for a grand total of 168 hours. Cried about the anxiety and the grief of it all, and how she would probably never be normal again.

The blobs all gathered around her, almost instinctively. She wanted to scream at them, tell them to stay away from her. But the scream she gave wasn't so much a scream as it was a pitiful, strangled wail. Memories of her horrible dream flashed in her mind, becoming warped and twisted. The scream she gave as the white ball swallowed her up was ingrained in her mind and played on an endless loop.

"Mandy, what's wrong?"

She couldn't answer the voice right away. Her eyes were becoming reddened and dry. Her lap was becoming damp. She was still stuck in a state of seemingly-endless anxiety and all she could do was quiver and cry as these blobs offered their condolences. It almost sickened her how vulnerable she was.

Suddenly, her upper body was jerked to the right and held by a pair of arms. She squirmed and yelped, but whoever was holding her was not only so keen on letting her go, they were also super-strong.

And there were only two people she knew who were super-strong.

With tears still clouding her vision, she stopped resisting, glanced up, and found a face staring back at her. It was only a blurry smear, but it held a level of warmth within it that calmed her down a little.

"Bad dream?" it murmured. "It's all okay now. Remember, what you experienced wasn't real. You have all of us here to protect you."

Mandy hiccuped and sniffled. She was still crying, but little by little, the ghosts of anxiety that lived within her disappeared. As she angled her head towards the being's chest, she felt a nice, steady heartbeat, coupled with the sensation of being rocked.

"I'm so glad you're safe, Mandy. Otto and I fought hard for your sake." It held up a glass of water to her face. "Here. Drink this."

Eagerly, Mandy took the glass, her eyes widening as she realized just how shaky her hands were. Still, she chugged the glass and got done with it in just a few sips. Her mouth and throat became filled with hydration, and she found herself able to speak again after pronouncing the sounds of a few letters.

"W-who...who are you?"

"Aww, c'mon. Don't you recognize me?" the being said. "I'm your mother."

The pieces began falling into place now. Mandy tried rubbing her eyes with the palm of her hand in order to restore her vision, and suddenly she found herself with clearer sight than before. She could now make out the blobs as being everyone in her family -- the six ponies, Peaches, Otto, and Oprah had all gathered in what she now knew to be her room. Seeing them there made her anxiety go away tenfold. Whatever that white ball had done to her, it had given her life back.

I...really am alive. Momma and Otto told me about the place up above...and it's nothing like this. It's filled with clouds and a big gate and stuff.

I'm alive!

Her tail wagged, and she smiled for the first time in what felt like decades. She twisted her body around within Olive's grasp, giving a relieved cry of "Momma!" before wrapping her arms around her in a hug.

"That water did the trick, huh?" Olive returned the hug and then some. "It's good to see you up and at it."

Now that Mandy was free from the binds of the horrid dream she had experienced and the fear it had brought her, she could move on to the questions she wanted answered. "W-what happened?! Where are those catgirls? A-are they gonna come back? Are the students okay? Can you give me all the details?"

"Only if you stop asking questions."

Sure enough, Mandy fell silent, staring up at her adoptive mother with big round blue eyes.

"Those catgirls you came across were, quite obviously, from Vallea." Olive rolled her eyes. "Otto and I...we, uh...we took care of them. We beat them good and sent them flying to the next dimension. Like what we did with Orino!"

If Mandy was aware of Olive's intentional hiding as to what had actually gone down, she didn't show it, instead giving a grateful smile. "Oh good!"

"As for the students, all of them are fine. After Professor O corralled them back outside, he took you to the Medical building to get treated."

"Really?" Mandy's eyes began to shimmer. "Oh, I gotta give him my thanks! I-is he around?"

"He came to visit you earlier on his break." Olive rubbed the hybrid's head again. "But I'm sure he'll come to visit you again." She glanced at the doorway. "Do you want some food? I'm happy to make you anything you want."

A yawn slipped from Mandy's lips as she imagined the food coma she would soon find herself in. "Surprise me! As long as it's filling!"

"So a lot of food, then." Olive gently pushed Mandy off of her and chuckled. "I'll go get started. Otto, Rainbow Dash, you two wouldn't mind a trip to the Chair Room to get a chair, would you?"

Rainbow tilted her head. "Nah, we wouldn't mind...but why? Mandy's gonna eat in bed, isn't she?"

"It's for me."

Otto gave a shrug. "All right."

As the pair headed out, Olive's attention turned to the others. "You all are free to go back to whatever you're doing. I'll take over from here."

"A-are you sure?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'm positive. Things will be fine." Olive had to bite her tongue to refrain from adding "with me in charge".

Oprah nodded. "All right, agents, back to work." She clapped twice, and the five ponies still in the room quickly booked it out the door to get back to work.

"If you'd like..." Peaches raised a finger. "I can keep an eye on Mandy for you while you cook."

"Sure. Thank you, Peaches." Olive made her way towards the doorway. "Put her to bed, why don't you? She's swaying on her feet."

Sure enough, Mandy was, indeed, swaying back and forth, her head bowed as she tried to fight hard to stay awake.

Peaches watched Olive leave, then sighed and shook her head. "Mandy, you just woke up from a week-long coma and one of the first things you do is decide to go to sleep?" She poked her in the shoulder. "Don't you need to go to the Bathroom, at least?"

Slowly, Mandy raised her head. Stared at Peaches. Began to meander her way towards the doorway.

"Ah, m-maybe it's best if I, uh...go with you, huh?" Peaches nervously laughed as she followed her cousin. "Don't want you falling asleep at the sink again like what happened last month, right?"

It took about five minutes for Mandy to finish. By the time she got back with Peaches in tow, a rocking chair was placed beside the bed, which Olive was sitting in. Next to her was a small black table with a tray of food on it, in all sorts of kinds and varieties. Next to it was a tall glass of water.

"I resorted to quick meals." the Director admitted. "But they're very filling! Eat all you want."

Mandy eyed the meals with intrigue. A fair bit of energy was granted to her on a temporary basis, enough for her to begin hungrily chowing down on plate after plate.

"Get this." Peaches said. "Mandy wants to go back to sleep! After she just woke up from a coma!"

Olive eyed the catgirl oddly. "Like you think I didn't know that?" She shrugged. "If Mandy wants to go back to sleep, then let her. At least she'll have better dreams."

As Mandy ate the last bite of frozen waffles, she gave a rather loud belch and a satisfied sigh, her tail wagging steadily. "Pardon me..."

"Now there's the sign of a happy hybrid!" Olive smiled. "Let's get you into bed. I'd imagine you want actual sleep instead of...uh..." She faltered. "Whatever you were in when you were in your coma."

A noisy yawn forced its way out of Mandy, and she slowly ambled towards her bed. Peaches and Olive watched as she slowly climbed into it, snuggled under the sheets, and yawned again. "Momma...can you read me...a..."

It was like someone had flicked a light switch. She was asleep within seconds, snoring away and muttering incomprehensible things that showed she had been rocket-launched into her own personal dreamland.

"Well, at least she made it to bed." Peaches shrugged. "Beats falling asleep with a syrupy plate stuck to her cheek. And then having her lick the plate. And then having her eat the plate."

"That has to be the fast food-coma-to-sleep rate I've seen from her yet. I should note that for the record." Olive took a seat in the chair. "You wouldn't mind cleaning up, would you?"

"No, but...what are you doing, exactly?"

"I'm going to keep an eye on Mandy to make sure she's safe." Olive explained. "I also just...need some time to think. About what happened last week."

Peaches bit her lip. She, along with everyone else in Mandy's immediate family, had gotten the full story of what Olive had done. Neither Olive nor Otto had told the Big O yet, out of fear of the consequences that would be brought upon them. Whether what Olive did was the morally right thing to do or not varied depending on whom one asked -- Oprah, for example, was against it, while Rainbow Dash was all for it aside from complaining that Olive didn't use her fists instead. Peaches was in a sort of undecided gray area, as she wasn't sure whether Olive killing three catgirls from her hometown had been a good thing or a bad thing. She didn't know them personally, but it did get her thinking for the entire week.

"All right. Don't forget, if you need to talk, my door's open." Peaches took the tray and began heading for the kitchen, turning the lights off and closing the door behind her.

Olive sat in the chair, a yawn of her own escaping her. She felt like she looked as old as she was, just rocking back and forth in the chair ever so gently, hearing Mandy's raucous snores as she muttered something about raccoons, and growing tired herself. She hadn't gotten much sleep over the past few days, and even talking with Otto, who was also suffering from a lack of proper sleep, hadn't helped.

Her eyes began to droop involuntarily. Before she knew it, a movie began to play in her mind, one of all sorts of different oddities waiting to greet her.

---

Mandy wasn't sure what time it was when she awoke, and if she was being honest, she didn't care at the moment. She was still too wrapped up in relief that she didn't get sent to that awful void of black again.

As she yawned, her body rattled, and she glanced around the room. The sound of snoring that wasn't her own tickled her eardrums, and she turned her head to the right as she lit up her horn to see who had fallen asleep in her room.

Momma? Mandy took in the Director's slumped and leaned position, her arm draped over her stomach, and the drool that was dripping out of her mouth. Wow, she never sleeps like that! She must be really tired. But why is she here and not back at her Headquarters?

An idea occurred to the hybrid right then. Her eyes widening as the drowsiness began to wear off, she swung her legs over the bed, got up, and stealthily crept towards the door, slipping out of the room and making a beeline for the Breakroom. From there, she grabbed as many bowls as she could and cooked using whatever ingredients she had in the immediate vicinity. Agents stopped what they were doing to ogle her talented and pristine skills as she chopped, cooked, and crafted her culinary delights.

After about a half-hour, she was done. She made her way back to her room, where Olive was still fast asleep, and turned on the light. While she had expected it to make her stir a little, it did absolutely nothing instead. As she placed the tray on the black table, she stared at her adoptive mother, wondering if she should wake her. She knew she shouldn't, but at the same time, the food she had made would go cold if someone didn't eat it.

So, against her better judgment, she prodded Olive.

"Momma? Momma, wake up!"

The Director awoke with a jolt. "Huhwha?! N-no, I didn't do it, it was Otto, all Otto!" Her eyes went half-lidded, and she gave a moan. "What...?"

"Hiya!" Mandy put on an apologetic look. "I didn't wanna wake ya, but I figured since you cooked a whole bunch of food for me, I'd cook a whole bunch of food for you as a thank-you!" She pushed the table and the tray towards her. "Eat up!"

Olive sleepily stared at the food and rubbed her eyes. "Mandy...you didn't have to."

"I didn't have to, no. But I wanted to!" Mandy stared at the food. "And, um...you can consider this an apology as well."

"An apology? For what?"

"I meant to show you and Otto a fun time at the Academy, but then the whole shmishkaboodle happened and I never got to finish the tour..."

Olive smiled. "Don't apologize, Mandy. It wasn't your fault. Besides, being at the Academy again was actually kind of fun." She took a bite of the BLT that sat in front of her, relishing the taste. "You have some great friends, too. Maybe we can take another trip sometime. Preferably when our lives aren't in danger."

"I'd like that." Mandy's tail wagged. "How's the food? I-if it's undercooked or somethin' I can always redo-"

"No, no! It's great. Thank you." Olive took another bite of the sandwich. "When I'm done, though...I think I need to resume my nap."

"Yeah, about that...you haven't been sleeping well, have you?"

"I...how'd you know?"

"You're starting to get bags under your eyes."

Olive pulled out a mirror from behind her back, and yelped. Sure enough, two dark bags hung heavily under her eyes, making her look like she had a severe case of sleep deprivation. She had never really looked hard enough in the mirror -- particularly, the mirror in her bathroom -- to notice them. And her agents hadn't said a word, as far as she knew. She heaved a sigh. "I look awful!"

"Yeah, ya do." Mandy said, not pulling any punches when it came to delivering honesty. "If you got as much sleep as I did, you wouldn't have those bags!"

"If I got as much sleep as you do, nothing would get done at my precinct." Olive pointed out, taking an even bigger bite of her sandwich. "Is there anywhere I can sleep?"

"You can use my bed!" Mandy shrugged. "You've done it before. And you're right here, anyway."

Olive simply nodded. And then, right then and there, she made a decision, knowing that for how much she desired sleep, it would escape her as long as the pressing issue weighed on her mind. "Mandy, I..." She grit her teeth. "We need to talk."

"We're doin' that right now!"

"No, no! Be serious for a moment, would you?" Olive set the sandwich down. "I'm going to...try and spit it out. You deserve to know the truth."

"The truth about what?"

"What I did to those catgirls." Olive spoke hurriedly, almost reaching "Mandy motor mouth" status. "The thing is, I didn't throw them. I did beat them up, but I-I killed them too!"

Mandy's eyes widened. She stared at Olive for what felt like days, her mouth hanging open until she was finally able to string words together. "You wha?!"

Olive shut her eyes, fearing the worst.

"I...Momma...wow. That's...ha...wow."

Before Olive knew it, she heard a snort. A chuckle.

And then a full-on belly laugh.

She opened her eyes, fixing Mandy with a look of confusion. "W-what's so funny?"

Mandy didn't answer her. She just kept on laughing, clutching her stomach and rolling around on the floor as her legs flailed to and fro.

"I-it really happened, you know! I killed them! All three of them!"

Strangled inhales of air followed a Mandy desperate to regain her breath. "Oh..." She coughed. "I'm...ugh...man, of all the news...of all the news..."

Olive simply stared.

Mandy slowly rose to her feet. "Why am I not surprised, huh?"

"...What?"

"It may not be in my moral code to kill anyone...but for these catgirls, the ones who have harmed Peaches for so many years, the ones that keep coming after me and you and everyone else in Odd Squad..." Mandy crossed her arms. "Killing them seems like the only solution. After all, I dunno if throwing Orino was enough to kill him. Not the fall that kills ya, as they say..."

Listening to her talk, Olive honestly wasn't sure whether Mandy was nonsensically rambling or if she was being genuine, but perhaps it was a mix of both going by how she was still talking.

"They say that blood tastes like metal but when it comes from an animal that isn't a human does it taste like meat? I should note that for the next time I attend a bihillology class..."

"Mandy?"

"Hm?" The hybrid's tail twitched. "What's up?"

"You're...uh...you're going a bit off-topic again."

A pause. "I am?" Mandy scratched at a pony ear. "Ah. Well. So I am, so I am." She sat on her bed. "So what did you kill them with, exactly?"

Olive sighed, reached behind her back, and pulled out her weapon.

"Wow. Wowee!" Mandy eyed it with intrigue. "It's a ray gun! You killed them with a ray gun?"

"Yeah. I was just so scared and enraged that I pulled out the first thing I had that I knew would cause major damage." Olive wisely tucked it away behind her back again before Mandy could grab it and run off. "You've been harmed so many times by these catpeople, Mandy. I don't know if they genuinely want to hurt you, if they've been brainwashed or hypnotized or...whatever by King Ashero..." She paused. "But whatever the case is, rest assured I'm more than willing to deliver harsh consequences to them."

"Good!" Mandy pointed at the BLT. "Now are you gonna eat your sammich?"

Olive smiled. "All right, all right. But only because I know what'll happen if I leave it unattended."

Mandy watched her eat more of her sandwich for a few moments, the saliva coating her tongue as she felt the mini-her begin pounding on the walls of her stomach. Nearly every inch of her was telling her to not eat the food out of courtesy, but at the same time, she knew she made way too much food for Olive's not-so-voracious appetite to handle.

Giving an amused smile, Olive set down a plate of steak, cooked well-done. "Here. If you want it, then by all-" Her eyes widened. "...means."

Mandy already had half of the steak in her mouth, chewing it happily.

And then she stopped, her eyes widening.

"What's wrong?" Olive reached out a hand. "A-are you choking? Do I need to do the Heimlich?"

Mandy swallowed the other half without chewing it. "No! I-I hafta go apologize to the students at the Academy! And Otto! I hafta apologize to him too!"

Her heart rate slowing down significantly, Olive's eyes moved towards her wrist, where she pulled her suit and undershirt back to check her watch. "It's 7:29. In the..." She squinted in an attempt to read the slat on the watch's face that would read either AM or PM. "Evening." As she covered up the watch again, she fixed Mandy with a smile. "You can apologize to them tomorrow. As a matter of fact, I can give Otto an apology on your behalf when I get back to Headquarters. How about that?"

"But I wanna apologize to him in-person..."

The Director couldn't fault her for that. "Well, if you really want to, he should be back at Head-"

By the time she looked up, she was staring at a dust trail that quickly dissipated.

"...quarters." Giving a shrug, she went back to eating her sandwich, and resolved to hurry up with it before the rest of the food went bad.

---

The next day, Mandy shot out of bed, rushed through her morning routine, wolfed down breakfast, and zoomed to the Odd Squad Academy as fast as her wings would take her, which was nearly Rainbow Dash levels of fast. Within her haste, she forgot to calculate the hundreds of thousands of Academy students, meaning that she would have to go to the principal's office to page them.

Luckily, she knew well where the office was and was there within a minute, throwing the door wide open.

A red-haired girl sat on the other side of a C-shaped desk. "Hi! I'm sorry, but if you're looking-"

"For a speaker? Yes I am." Mandy hopped up onto the desk and leaned close into the girl's face. "I need one. I need to speak to the entirety of the school."

"T-the..." The girl blinked. "I, u-uh, c-can't permit you to do that, Agent...um..."

"Are you the principal?"

"No..."

"That's what I thought." Mandy put on a lopsided grin that managed to make the girl's eyes grow wide. "Point me to her office."

"S-she's not taking any visi-"

Mandy cut the girl off with a loud exaggerated groan. "Isn't there an assembly or something? Where I can speak to the entirety of the school?"

The girl glanced to her right, where a paper with a list of important school dates sat. "Well, t-there's one-"

"Lemme see!" Mandy forcefully grabbed the papers that could potentially be in the girl's line of vision with her magic and leaned back. One by one she picked through them, muttering to herself before settling on one in particular.

Her pupils widened. She began bobbing up and down with excitement. "Yes!" she exclaimed. "Yesyesyes, there's one today! It's perfect! Who's speaking? Clear your spots! Tell 'em I'm speakin'! And I'll be the sole speaker! You know who I am, I'm sure you'll relay the news to 'em, right? Once I speak then I can apologize to all the students and assure them that everything's fine and no one got hurt and I'm fine and Momma's fine and Otto's fine and those catgirls are fine and the school's fine and everything's fine! Oh, but you should prolly tell the principal 'cause I don't think she'd be very happy that I'm skearheadin' the entire assembly that's probably about 'don't do drugs' and 'don't talk to strangers unless they're clients' and all that jazz. She loves me, sure, but I don't think she'd be-"

"Security's here!"

The unisonant shout made Mandy give a yelp of surprise and fall forward, flailing her arms before collapsing on the desk and tumbling to the floor just as the girl moved her swivel chair out of the way. A crash sounded from right next to the hybrid, a crash that she knew all too well as the sound of a desktop computer meeting the floor.

"All right, what's going o-" One of the Security agents, clad in riot gear, eyed the groaning Mandy. "Huh? Mandy? What're you doing?"

"Hurting...oh so much..."

"Can you stand up?"

With both hands placed firmly on the floor, Mandy rose to her feet. The red-headed girl eyed the hybrid with fear and suspicion, even in spite of the four Security officers that had come to presumably take her away.

"Care to explain what's going on, ma'am?" another Security agent asked of the girl.

"I...w-well, this agent j-just came in here and...she demanded a speaker! And I t-told her I can't let her..."

The agent sighed. "Are you a new hire, ma'am?"

"Y-yes? I only started around a month ago."

"That explains it." The second agent pointed to a Mandy that was now being hauled away by the agent that was helping her. "That's Agent Mandy. She's known for being a little...how do I put this without hurting her feelings..." The second agent scratched his cheek. "She's a little eccentric. Like a little ball of electricity. This kind of stuff is normal for her."

The girl looked visibly scared. "I..." She glanced at Mandy, who was chatting away with the first agent while winging her arms up and down. "I see. I had heard of Mandy, but not much..."

"You get used to it." The second agent gave a smile. "I'm sorry she scared you."

"I-it's...it's fine!" The girl let a nervous giggle slip from her lips. "I've seen worse, really..."

"-and you don't understand, this apology is very important to me!"

"But you didn't have to go around scaring innocent people!"

"I didn't!" Mandy protested. "She wasn't listening to me!"

"Maybe because none of what you said made sense?"

"I made perfect sense! I wanted a speaker so I could speak to the entire school and apologize for what happened a week ago!"

That made the first agent stop. "About the rabid girls?"

"Yeah! About the ra-" Mandy blinked. "The rabbit I'm sorry now?"

"The rabid girls. The ones who were cosplaying as catpeople." the agent explained. "They pulled some kind of a prank and two Odd Squad Directors dealt with them. With fireworks, I was told."

Mandy had a whirlwind of questions running through her brain all of a sudden. "If they're rabbit girls, why do they need to cosplay as catpeople? Momma and Otto wouldn't defeat anyone with fireworks, what, were they celebrating Odd Squad's one-millionth cosplayer? Where'd that rumor come from? Do you have more rumors? Preferably about the stude-"

"All right, all right, let's not get carried away." The agent rubbed his forehead with one hand and made a dismissive handwave with the other. "You didn't have any coffee today, did you?"

"No." Mandy's eyes shimmered. "Do you have some? Can I have some? The Big O doesn't know yet and I'm waiting for the day she finds out!"

The agent narrowed his eyes. "No." he responded pointedly. "Now, I'd like you to go apologize to that girl over there."

"That who over where?"

"The girl over there."

"But there are tons of 'em!" Mandy blinked. "No, wait, there are only ten. I think. As an estimate."

"The redhead!" The agent thrust an index finger at the girl who was placing her broken computer back onto her desk and heaving a mighty sigh.

Mandy went tight-lipped for a moment. "If I do, can I have some coffee?"

A pause. The agent didn't answer.

"Please?"

Still no answer.

"Fine. A chocolate chip cookie that's more chip than cookie?"

The agent's expression relaxed just a little. "All right. Now go apologize."

Mandy stuck out her tongue at him, then slunk over to the girl and laid her cheek on the desk, her eyes drifting towards a doorway that led into a hall. "Look. You don't know me. I don't know you. I want one simple thing. You want..." She blinked. "Well, actually, I dunno what you want."

"I want you to pay for damages to my computer, for starters." the girl responded. "And for my part, I don't know what you want, either."

"I want a speaker. I want to speak to the entire school about an important matter." Mandy said, spitting out the words with venom. "You're lucky I didn't use my fame to get what I wanted like some big hotshot kid villain."

"Mhm." The girl moved her chair back to its original position, sat down in it, and began sorting through papers. "You realize why I had to call Security?"

"They know me. It's prolly the only reason why my butt isn't slidin' across the walkway."

The girl sighed, knowing that reasoning with this biological anomaly was out of the question. "Look. Why don't we...start over? With proper introductions?" She stuck her hand out. "I'm Obregonia."

Mandy's eyes moved from the hallway to the girl. "Mandy. Not shaken, not stirred, but I like my food and drinks both ways." She lifted up her right arm and placed her hand in Obregonia's, shaking it up and down. "Charmed."

"Are you always this depressing?"

Jerking her hand away and letting it droop like a limp noodle at her side, Mandy glared at the girl. "No. But if you let me speak at that assembly today, I might feel a little better. Just a smidge-smoodge."

Obregonia sighed for what felt like the millionth time in the span of just...she checked the clock...fifteen minutes. "I'll see what I can coordinate with the principal when she comes back."

Mandy swiveled her head so that it was her chin resting on the desk now. "Really?"

"Really."

From one to ninety-nine went Mandy's mood. Her eyes began to shimmer again. "Really really?"

"Really really."

In truth, Mandy could have kept going until her lungs collapsed, but a double-confirmation was fine by her. She gasped and lunged for Obregonia, scooping her up in a big hug. "Oh thank you thank you thank you! Please, do your very best! I hafta speak to all the students, today! It's a crisis!"

"It's not a definite." Obregonia reminded. "But rest assured, I'll do my best." She coughed as Mandy began to squeeze her tighter. "Also, please put me down and get your dirty shoes off my desk."

Mandy did as she was told. Obregonia peered past her and glanced at the four Security agents. "Thank you. You're free to go now."

"Are you sure?" the first agent asked. "'Cause Mandy didn't apo-"

In one swift movement with one curly tail, the four agents were shoved out the door and had it closed in their faces.

And then Mandy opened it again, sticking only her hand out and making a "gimme" gesture with her fingers. "The cookie."

The first agent begrudgingly complied, and took out a chocolate chip cookie that looked like it had been baked with exactly one bagful of chocolate chips. Mandy took it, slammed the door, and ate it in one bite, relishing the taste.

"Aren't you going with them?" Obregonia asked, in a tone that clearly conveyed a desire for Mandy to leave.

"Nope! I'm gonna stay here 'til the principal comes back and leaves room for me to speak at the assembly." Mandy hopped in a chair, pulled an issue of Shmumber Nature out from behind her back, and got to reading.

Obregonia simply rolled her eyes, sat back down in her chair, and got back to work cleaning up the dirt that was left behind on her desk. At least if Mandy was quiet, she would be no bother, and that was all she cared about.

---

Sure enough, once the principal gave the okay for Mandy to speak at the school assembly -- after lots and lots of begging, and some bribery -- she was the first speaker there. In fact, she was the only speaker there, going on for a full half-hour about the events of last week, why it's a bad idea to treat straight sugar as a drug, and how to succeed in running a cell phone company without even trying. A lot of students listened to the ramblings of their senior, but many more were just plain uninterested. A few had been marked as absent when the incident took place.

Following the assembly, Mandy drank an entire bottle of water, marking its emptiness with a satisfied "aah". Her eye only barely caught Hazelblossom, Blue Lily, Ribbon Twirl and Strawberry Parchment rushing up to her.

"Mandy!" Hazelblossom called out. "You're okay!"

"Course I am, silly! Why wouldn't I be?"

"I heard that you got tranquilized. One of the Doctors at the Medical facility said that they weren’t sure how long you’d be out for!"

Ribbon Twirl did a flip in the air. "I knew you would come out strong!" She turned to the others. "Told you all!"

Strawberry gave a playful roll of her eyes and rested her hooves on Mandy's leg. "How're you feeling?"

"Great!" Mandy replied. "It's nice to see you three again. Hopefully you're doin' well!"

"I got straight O’s on my homework assignment!" Blue Lily trotted in place excitedly. "Agent Twilight Sparkle was willing to help me!"

"And I passed my quiz!" Strawberry chimed in.

"Oh, that's amazing! Good job, both of you!"

Blue Lily tilted her head. "Are you here for your weekly visit? Or just for the assembly?"

"Ah, just the assembly. I had to find some way to calm down all the students! I waited forever and a day!" Mandy snickered. "Could've been worse. I could've been at a sah-ree!"

Hazelblossom raised a hoof. "I, um...think the correct term is 'soiree'."

"Sah-ree, schma-dee." Mandy waved her hand about in a dismissive manner. "Anyway, while I'm here, why don't I teach you guys some magic and flight tricks? It's the least I could do after my last visit was cut short!"

The four ponies all cheered excitedly, as Mandy led them away to a free and open space where she could teach them all that she had to offer. After all, she loved the students of the Academy, and they loved her in equal measure.

And that love was something she aimed to keep and maintain for as long as she was able to.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Main entry into the TAoPaM 'Verse.

This link leads to a 404 - Page Not Found Error. Do you know why?

[marmalado]

11714620

Ah, oops. It was a bookshelf that I later ended up tossing but might end up restoring if I craft enough stories from it.

Thank you for pointing that out! Will fix now.