The Adventures of Peaches and Mandy

by marmalado

S1E8: On a Tail and a Wish

At Cedarvale Park, people and ponies alike were carrying on with life, talking and laughing, some having picnics while others had playtime.

Peaches was also carrying on with life.

Only she was on a mission.

Her tail spun like the rotor of a helicopter as she flew through the park at a steady pace, looking to and fro and down at her map of the town for any sign of the monster, the ugly being that burned her town down to a near-crisp. Where could they be? There has to be someone here...but what if they aren't in this town at all?

A rustling sound came from afar, but she was too lost in her thoughts to notice it -- and perhaps that was a good thing to the cat that came sliding from the bush, who eyed her intently while trying to stay hidden.

"What if..." Peaches said aloud, continuing her flight across the park and retreating into her thoughts.

So that's her. That's the catgirl King Ashero is looking for. The cat smirked. Oh, she looks so ripe for picking right now...but the King told me to just observe. A real pity, too. But I can't disobey him. Otherwise it'll be my life on the line. Sighing, the cat -- or more specifically, the catperson in cat form -- made her way across the park, hiding in various bushes while also keeping an eye on the one who was now branded a Vallean criminal.

Nearby, Mandy met with a client, who told her about her odd problem of parts of her body looking like that of a lobster's.

"Hmm...seems like the problem is that you're turning into a lobster. But don't worry!" the hybrid said, noting the panicked look on the woman's face and immediately taking out a gadget from behind her back. "I have a Un-Lobster-inator for ya!"

Firing off the gadget made it emit a multicolored beam that surrounded the woman and turned her mutated body parts back to normal.

"Oh...oh! I'm back to normal!" The woman sighed in relief. "Thank you, Odd Squad!"

"No prob!" Mandy chirped. "And, uh, might I suggest you eat less lobster? 'You are what you eat' has a more..." She cleared her throat. "...literal meaning in this world."

"I will keep that in mind! Thank you again!"

"Have a great day!" Mandy saw her latest client off with a wave, before she turned and began heading back the way she came.

As she looked off to the side, however, she managed to bump into someone head-on, giving an "oof" in response.

"Hey, watch whe-" Mandy gasped, her upset dissipating as she saw just who she had bumped into. Or rather, as she saw just what the person she had bumped into was doing.

Peaches landed on her own two feet with all the poise and grace of someone of her kind, her tail ceasing its rotation. "S-sorry, Mandy!" she said, holding up the map in her hand. "I've been trying to find who destroyed Vallea and I was reading this map I marked, but...I guess I wasn't watching where I was going. My bad."

She had expected Mandy to give some kind of response. Instead, the hybrid stared at her intently, big stupid grin on her face and tail wagging like an excited puppy who'd just been gifted a tennis ball for its birthday.

"Wow. That tail's, uh...really going, huh?" Peaches tilted her head. "What's got you so excited?"

"You can fly?!" Mandy practically screamed, as more than a few people and ponies looked towards the duo. "Omigoshomigoshomigosh you can fly!" She capped off this realization with a bout of giddy giggling.

"Oh. You noticed, huh?"

"And you can do it using your tail?! I've never been able to do it using my tail, I mean believe you me I have tried, but sometimes I just can't get my big ol' body off the ground, y'know what I'm sayin'?" Mandy chirped. "This is so great, I can't believe you can actually fly using your tail, I mean-"

It was at this point that Peaches had tuned Mandy out as best she could. All she could do was watch as her cousin's gums did enough flapping to break away from her mouth and extend past the ionosphere and go all the way up into space where the Moon was. Exactly how long can she go without taking a breath? She internally groaned. If I let her have her way she's gonna be jabbering on about my tail and my flying for-

"Can you teach me?!"

The question jerked the catgirl completely out of her thoughts. She blinked once, twice, and then a third time as she tried to comprehend what she was just asked. She looked Mandy up and down repeatedly.

"Teach."

"Yes!"

"You."

"Yes!"

"How to fly with your tail?"

"Ye-e-eeees!" Mandy's tone at this point was practically begging, which didn't help the weird looks Peaches could feel herself receiving.

"You're going to keep asking until I say yes, aren't you?"

A nod, and more giddy giggling.

She knew she was going to regret it, and yet, she gave a heavy sigh of resignation anyway. "All right, fine. But you'd best know what you're going to get into. Flying with your tail is no easy feat. And I will not go easy on you just because we're cousins, got it?!"

"Yes, ma'am! Ready when you are!"

"All right then, follow me." Peaches turned on her heel. "We're going to need to find some empty space, away from people."

As she walked away, Mandy eagerly followed, bouncing along behind her.

---

It took quite a long while to find an empty space, much to Peaches's chagrin (or perhaps, relief). The park was packed, and whatever space there was certainly wouldn't work for someone like Mandy, who was bound to accrue lawsuits galore just from severely injuring someone with the stunts she was about to pull. Luckily, the duo managed to find a nice clear space, more on sheer luck than anything else.

"Now." Peaches snapped her fingers twice. "Produce a hula hoop."

Mandy's expression twisted into confusion... "Produce a-" ...and then into realization. "Ohhh!" She giggled before reaching behind her back and taking out a hula hoop, complete with a "ding" sound. "Like this one?"

"Perfect. Now use it like you would use a normal hula hoop."

Cue the hybrid shaking it like it was a maraca. "Cha-cha-chaaaaaaa!" she cried out, having fun with the swishing sound the beads inside the hoop made.

Peaches stared. She stared with perhaps one of the most confused expressions ever recorded on a catperson, let alone any person. Somehow, she wasn't surprised, but "shake it like a maraca" wasn't the first thing she thought of when it came to "okay, I see your order and raise you disobedience". A sigh forced its way out of her. "Around your waist, cuz."

Now the hybrid got the idea. She lowered the hoop until it was waist level, then got to spinning. "Wheee!" She let out a giggle. "This is fun!"

"See how the hoop is spinning around your waist? It acts sort of like a propeller." Peaches explained. "Now take the hoop off."

"But why?" Mandy tilted her head. "This is so much fun! I could do this forever! Help trim the ol' waist, y'know?" Her expression lit up. "Hey, you think this could help me shed a few pounds? I know I've been exercising as much as I can, but you know what they say, all the cake you eat goes to your hips and-"

"MANDY!!"

"Yes?"

Peaches did Olive's version of the facepalm, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "Look. I know you're excited. But could you at least try and listen to me?"

"Oh! Right!" Mandy giggled, stopped spinning, and picked up the hoop. "Talk away, sensei!"

"All right. As I was saying." A smile returned to Peaches's face. "Balance the hoop around your tail, and spin."

Mandy became confused again, tilting her head as the gears inside of it tried to visualize what Peaches wanted her to do.

Good thing (for the both of them) she managed to get it only a few minutes later.

The whirring sound of a helicopter accompanied her spinning tail as it allowed her to gain lift, albeit in a pretty awkward position. Still, it didn't stop her from giving an elated "wheeeeee" and a giggle the same way a kid thrown into the air by Mom or Dad would.

"Mandy, don't go up too high!" Peaches warned, although by the time she finished her warning it was beginning to be too late.

"Look, I'm going up into space!" Mandy cried. "Lucky I got my space helmet on me!"

A simple reach behind her back, and a space helmet decked in gold with an interior lit blue materialized. Mandy happily placed it on her head as it made a "pop" noise from the action.

"To space I go!"

"Mandy, no, don't..." Peaches stifled a growl as her hand, reaching behind her back, came up empty. "Why can I not get gadgets from behind my back like she can?!" she shouted to the heavens, mentally kicking herself for not asking Oprah about that ability the first time she saw an agent do it. "Mandyyyyyyy!"

Her cry went unanswered as all she could do was watch her cousin become a speck in the sky.

---

Thanks to gravity -- the one rule Odd Squad couldn't get rid of or modify -- Peaches didn't need to do much when over 150 pounds of weight came crashing down on several minutes later.

"Okay. Seems you've mastered tail-flying with assistance..." Peaches gave a shaky sigh, rubbing her still-sore arm. "Now, how about doing it without the hoop?"

"Okay..."

"Just spin your tail like you did with the hoop."

"Mmm..." The slightly-scruffed Mandy eyed her tail, nice and brown and curly and messy and probably completely incapable of providing her any sort of lift.

Still, it didn't stop her from trying.

And miraculously, it worked.

"Oh, I'm doing it! I-"

A loud crack sound put an end to that, as she came plummeting down to the ground once again, her tail in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Perhaps Peaches's first thought should have been "she has bones in that thing?" But far be it from her to question how pony-human hybrids' tails worked -- or question Mandy in general. "I guess I forgot to add 'iron out the kinks in your tail' to the list..."

A groan of many mixed emotions was the catgirl's only response, along with an outstretched hand.

---

Mandy's third attempt came shortly after, and this time, she showed that her skill had improved slightly as she got into an easier position and was steadily gaining lift.

"I did it!"

"Great! Now try to go to the same height as..." Peaches looked above her, and pointed. "...that branch, there."

Mandy glanced at her target -- which wasn't too high up -- and got to work. She kept her tail moving at the same speed, although she could feel it beginning to ache. She couldn't bear to look down, not wanting to falter and descend towards what was surely a situation that would make her look even messier, even though she had her wings still.

"Keep going!" Peaches called. "The propeller will lift you up as you go."

"But how do I go faster?"

"You don't!"

Mandy's eyes widened. "What?!"

"It's gradual!"

Unbeknownst to her, Mandy's tail had started spinning faster, which didn't end well when it finally collided with the branch that had been her target.

Peaches could only wince as Mandy's body, like a yo-yo, spun at rapid speed around the branch itself as she gave a panicked cry. The disastrous feat only lasted a few seconds, but what Peaches saw was equally as unpleasant and lasted much longer.

Mandy's tail was now fully wrapped around the branch to the point where her rump was nearly touching it. Her eyes spun around in their sockets, and a couple birds perched on her head as though mocking her and her even dirtier appearance. Somehow, she had performed the human equivalent of shoes tied to electric lines.

"Nngh...Imma be sick..."

Perhaps what was more painful than Peaches having to witness the sight was the thought of how she was going to get Mandy down -- especially since she wasn't exactly the most skilled catperson at climbing trees.

---

Still, she tried.

And luckily, they say fourth time's the charm.

...Wait, or was it the third time's the charm?

"Let's try moving forward and backward. Try to move forward." Peaches instructed. "Just place pressure on the front of your tail as you spin."

Both girls found this to be far more pleasant than simply moving upwards. Mandy made her way across the sidewalk, her tail spinning at a steady pace as her face lit up. "Hey, I'm doin' it!" she called, waving to her cousin.

"Nonono, keep the tail straight!" Peaches responded, noting that Mandy's tail was bending all sorts of different ways, like light breezes from many different directions touching a single flower. "It's all about the force!"

"How do I move faster?"

"You don't!"

Mandy's eyes widened. A weird and uncomfortable feeling of deja vu settled inside of her. "Huh?!"

"It's graduaaaaaaal!" Peaches called in singsong, but by then it was too late.

Mandy's backside collided with a brick building, an old and long-abandoned fort that parkgoers loved to explore. A pair of unicorn ponies eyed her curiously, watching as she slid down to the ground.

By this point, Peaches had exhausted all of her options. She was about ready to throw in the towel, and if she had a towel to throw, she probably would. But she didn't, so instead, she resorted to sighing and burying her face in her hands, feeling like having a long cry with tears full of exhaustion and frustration.

---

Back at Headquarters, things were relatively quiet, meaning Olive, Otto and Oprah could take ample opportunity to have dinner together.

In the midst of their gathering, however, a knock on the door came forth and Twilight poked her head in, her magic securing a broken and worn-down gadget in midair. "Oh! My apologies. Am I interrupting?"

"No, no!" Olive waved her hand dismissively.

"Come on in, agent."

The alicorn took the opportunity to make her way in, making sure the door closed behind her so no one else would come interrupting.

"What's going on?" Otto asked.

"I wanted to give this gadget to Mandy for her to repair, but I haven't seen her since this afternoon. Have any of you seen her?"

"I sent her on a case a while ago." Oprah explained.

"If that's the case then shouldn't she-"

A round of coughing interrupted Olive's question. The group turned their gazes toward the glass doors, knowing that none of them was the source of the sound.

Slowly, ever so slowly, a battered, bruised, and completely-worn-down Mandy limped up the stairs. Her one good leg wobbled when it stood still like someone had poked a thing of Jello. Her hair and tail were matted and had hairs sticking out of them in a way that reminded Olive in particular all too well of her own messy appearance after beating a vortex she and Otto had accidentally caused. Her suit was torn in a few places, exposing her white button-down undershirt -- and some tears exposed straight skin. She looked like she had just survived an animal attack after being on the losing end.

"Mandy! Are you okay?" Olive's tone was panicked. Instinct made her jump up and rush to her side, aiding her the rest of the way up the stairs. "C'mon, you can do it."

"Oww!" This long painful drawl was interrupted by a round of coughing.

"Are you sick?" Oprah asked.

"I don't think she's sick." Otto responded.

Twilight helped Olive guide Mandy to the couch, letting her lay down before she let out another round of coughing.

"Oh my odd, your tail is bent!" Olive carefully examined her adopted daughter's tail, which was bent like a lightning bolt in a more severe way than before.

"Here, have some juice." Oprah hastily grabbed a full juice box from the table, stuck the attached straw into it, and gave it to Mandy to drink. Eagerly, the hybrid took a few sips, feeling the tickle in her lungs start to go away.

A cough kicked off her explanation. "I...I wanted to try and fly the way Peaches does..."

"Peaches doesn't fly." Twilight tilted her head.

"Yeah she does...with her tail."

Everyone's eyes widened. They weren't sure what to ask about first -- why Mandy's voice was so gravelly, or how Peaches could fly with her tail.

Ultimately, though, Oprah decided to go with "Peaches can fly with her tail?"

"Yeah...and I wanted to learn too, but..." Mandy sniffled. Tears began to well up in her eyes. "I CA-A-AAAAAAN'T!"

Using her own wing to shield herself, Twilight quickly shoved Olive out of the way so she could avoid being splashed by the waterfalls of tears that gushed from Mandy's eyes. They arched higher up than usual, to the point where the waterfalls looked like really tall candy canes.

The alicorn mare then conjured up a rather large umbrella from her hammerspace spine, wide enough to handle four.

"Good idea getting an umbrella, Twi!"

"I take no chances." Twi responded to Otto's praise. "The last time Mandy cried like this, it flooded an entire Interrogation room!"

Oprah's eyes widened, knowing that Mandy wasn't so keen on letting up anytime soon. "Okay, everyone out! Out! Let's move!" she ordered, shooing everyone out of her office with swift motions of her hands. As soon as everyone was out, she closed the door and watched her agent continued to go at it.

"This is crazy. We're never gonna find out what happened to her if she doesn't stop crying!" Otto's voice was nearly a whine as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Whatever happened must have been horrible if she's like this." Olive peered inside, then her head swiveled to the Medical Bay as she contemplated getting Dr. O.

"Mandy's quite unpredictable, though. This sob-fest could last for the rest of the day, or it could end in a minute!"

Just as Oprah was about to throw in an addendum to her words, Peaches came bounding up the stairs. "Guys!"

"Peaches!" Otto greeted.

The catgirl's gaze caught her distraught cousin. "Oof...Mandy's taking it rougher than I thought. Did she tell any of you what happened?"

"Part of it. She said that she wanted to try and fly the way you do, but she can't for some reason." Olive shrugged, setting her question of how she could fly with her tail aside once more.

Peaches gave a heavy and tired sigh. "Mandy saw me flying with my tail earlier today and became enamored. Like, I haven't seen her be that obsessed over anything since she made the world's biggest cherry pie."

"To try and get into the Odd Squad Book of World Records?"

"That's the one." Peaches nodded at Twilight. "Anyway, she wanted me to teach her how to fly with her own tail, and I did, but...she just can't get the hang of it. She just kept falling and hurting herself over and over...until..."

Her eyes widened as she remembered what had gone down.

---

By the time the sun began to dip down into the horizon, the catgirl couldn't count on a single hand the number of attempts Mandy had made to fly in spite of Peaches's lessons. Nor could she count them on a single hand and the claws on said hand.

Whatever made her keep going, she wondered. Was it the trait of perseverance that every Odd Squad agent seemed to have? Was it for the goal at the end of finally being able to fly in a unique way? Or did she have a death wish? Who knew.

"Cuz, you're a wreck. There's no way you're gonna fly in this state. Not with your tail the way it is!" Peaches pointed at it. "Look at it! It's completely crooked!"

Mandy's spinning tail slowed to a soft whir, and then it completely blew out on her, allowing her to land straight into a bush. A groan of fatigue and defeat followed suit.

"Give it up!"

"N-never!" Mandy emerged from the bush, clawing her way out of it and getting farther and farther with every word spoken. "I...wanna...fly...with my...tail!"

"We are of two different species." Peaches explained, her tone growing irritated and grating. "I can fly with ease because my tail is lighter, and fits my body. Your tail is big and poofy. It's like Pinkie Pie's tail."

Mandy slowly got to her feet. "Pinkie...she can...fly..."

"She's...ehh, how do I put it..." Peaches made a circling motion with her hand as she thought of a good word to call her friend. "...a unique anomaly. And that's being generous."

"I'm...not...giving...up..."

"Mandy, stop. You're being foolish."

"Tomorrow...tomorrow...I'll try again." As Mandy walked, she didn't get very far, walking about as slow as a heavy drunkard before collapsing onto the ground.

Peaches opened her mouth to try and protest again, but she didn't get a chance to.

"I'm not giving up!"

And just like that, Mandy was gone in a flash thanks to teleportation, leaving Peaches to only give a sigh as the soft breeze ruffled her hair.

---

"She really wants to fly with her tail, huh?"

"Weird. She never expressed interest in flying with her tail before." Olive glanced at Oprah. "Although we did teach her how to fly with her wings when she first transformed."

"Has the reality hit her?"

Olive and Otto exchanged glances with each other as the latter asked, "What reality?"

"She's never going to be able to fly with her tail. Never, ever, not in a million years. Not in the way I do. Look at it." Peaches gestured towards Oprah's office as the partner duo took a look at Mandy's tail. "Her tail is far too big. She wasn't born with one like Pinkie and I were."

"It was one day. Rome wasn't built in a day." Oprah resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Yeah. Just try again with Mandy tomorrow." Twilight added, tilting her head in confusion.

"No, no, neither of you are getting it." Peaches buried her face in her hands and sighed. "Look. You don't have tails. W-well, I mean, Twilight has a tail, but she doesn't use it to fly."

"That's true..."

"Mandy wasn't born with a tail either, and now she wants to fly like I do." Peaches scoffed. "I can't even go into the air that much! At most, I hover a short distance off the ground! That one wants to go up into...into space with it!"

"Then why don't you try adapting?"

Peaches wasn't sure what she was more flustered by -- Oprah's suggestion, or her calm tone of voice. "Huh?"

"If Mandy can't fly your way, maybe you need to find a style of flight that'll work for her."

"What? No!" Peaches blinked. "It's already been established. Pony-human hybrids can't fly! It's the basic law of nature!"

Olive and Otto tore their gazes away from Mandy to glance at Peaches, hoping that Mandy wasn't picking up on any of the conversation. Both of them knew the doors were almost soundproof, but both of them also knew that Mandy had a rather heightened sense of hearing for someone with two pairs of ears from two different species.

"Besides, she's a terrible student. She keeps going off-track and fooling around when she's supposed to be learning!"

This bit was met with collective sighs. Olive, Oprah, Otto and Twilight all knew that described Mandy as a student down to a T -- multiple testaments from multiple teachers and students at the Academy could prove that easily.

"I'm..." Peaches huffed. "I'm going to go and clean myself." She turned and began heading back the way she came.

Digesting the information they'd been given, Oprah, Twilight and Otto's first collective action was to fix their gazes on Olive, who adopted a concerned expression. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"You're Mandy's mother."

"Adoptive mother."

"Surely you can help calm her down!"

"Plus, you're her friend. As the Princess of Friendship, it's only right that you calm her down and help her out."

Olive gave a long defeated groan. "Fine...if I must."

Gripping the door handle tight, she walked in, straight from the middle of nowhere into a raging fire, and closed the door behind her.

Mandy was still going at it, although the teary waterfalls had dissipated and she was now sobbing much quieter than before. Making sure not to step in any puddles, Olive made her way over.

"Mandy? Peaches told us all about what's going on. Do you really want to fly with your tail that much?"

The hybrid sniffled. "It j-just looked like a cool trick, and..." She sniffled again. "I wanted t' impress you guys!"

Olive blinked. That's it? She doesn't want to use it to stop villains? Or to solve a really hard case?

Huh. Didn't see that coming.

Still, she pressed forward. "You don't have to impress us. You carrying us on your back while you use your wings to fly is a cool feat in and of itself!" She chuckled. "Rainbow Dash can't do that. Neither can Fluttershy, or Peaches."

Mandy opened her mouth to respond, but a hiccup came out of her instead, and she shifted position on the couch.

"You're not gonna give up, are you?"

"No! I-I wanna fly! I wanna fly using my tail!"

Damn it. Should have known she wouldn't go down so easily. Olive grit her teeth, realizing that no amount of pep talk would be able to sway Mandy.

But then, she got an idea.

"I remember seeing Pinkie Pie fly with her tail at one point. Why don't you ask her?"

Mandy lifted her head up. "P-Pinkie?"

"Sure! If Pinkie can fly, maybe you can too! She can help you find a different way to fly. After all, you two have similar tails!"

Another hiccup, and a sniffle. "I guess...whatever I'm gonna do to fly with my tail!"

Satisfied that she had come to a happy solution for her daughter, Olive's smile grew a bit bigger. "For now, why don't you stay off of it? It looks like it got fused with a bolt of lightning."

"Mmm..."

"It's almost 7." the Director remarked, glancing at her watch. "Want me to make you something? I can't imagine you'd be up for making something in your condition."

Mandy, growing tired from both her crying session and her lack of energy, yawned. "Some...mmm...stir-fry?"

"Daring today, aren't we?" Olive chuckled and began to head for the door. "All right, stir-fry it is. I'll surprise you."

"Sounds good...thanks..."

Olive's gaze moved away from Mandy and met three surprised faces, up against the glass and expressions filled with surprise. Giving a sigh and a shrug, she exited through the other door.

"Whoa, you're good, partner!" Otto was the first to pry his face away from the door first, his eyes shimmering with just a twinge of jealousy.

"Mother's intuition, what can I say?" Olive shrugged. "Now, do you know how to make stir-fry?"

"Like heck I do!"

"Good, you can teach me."

"Great! Let's go get started!"

Arms wrapped around each other in a show of friendship, the partner duo descended the stairs.

"Mandy's really dedicated to this whole flying thing, huh?" Twilight said, glancing at Oprah.

"You and I both know she gets fixated on certain things. Sometimes to an...obsessive point." Oprah responded. "She won't stop until she learns how to fly with her tail."

"But what if she can't?"

"I would have to drag the Big O in to set her right."

Twilight's eyes widened at this response. Bringing in the Big O seemed like a rather big jump just for a person who refused to accept "no" for an answer to the question of "can I do such a seemingly impossible thing?" She had to wonder why Oprah couldn't stop her -- she was the next governing authority of Precinct 13579 after Mandy, after all. But the alicorn was interrupted before she could get another word in.

"Come on. Why don't we go for a walk? You seem tense."

The alicorn snapped out of her shocked stupor and nodded. "But don't you have to stay here and run this place?"

"As I always say, it's important we do good things for ourselves. HQ will be fine for a bit."

"All right. Let's go."

The duo left the same way Olive and Otto did, going down the stairs and chatting away about where they would like to go on their walk.

---

There was no more energy that Mandy could gain. There was no more energy left over that could be salvaged by her, either.

So, as a result, she crashed only a few minutes after everyone had left.

Olive and Otto made their way up the stairs, each of them struggling to balance a somewhat large pot full of the meal they hoped would at least fill their friend's stomach up. Not halfway up the stairs and they started to think about taking the elevator instead, but going back down was just as dangerous as going up, and so they resolved to keep going.

Olive freed her hand and opened the door, the raucous sound of Mandy's snores filling the room. Her arm and leg were draped over the front, her head cradled in the nook of her other arm, her body rising and falling with each noisy breath.

"She's asleep!" Otto's eyes widened.

"I figured she would fall asleep. She couldn't even stand properly."

The duo set the pot down and watched Mandy sleep for a little bit before Otto broke the silence.

"She doesn't sleep-eat, does she?"

Olive's eyes reduced to pinpricks. Like a movie on fast-forward, she went through several instances where Mandy did, indeed, eat in her sleep. At one point she even tried to eat the entire Earth before Odd Squad managed to stop her...although the details were a little fuzzy on that one. "If you jinx it, Otto, then odd help me..." she uttered through gritted teeth, keeping an eye on Mandy to make sure she wouldn't suddenly lunge for the pot or anything.

Luckily, the hybrid seemed to be in too deep to do anything like that. "Tail-fly...spin, spin, spin..." she mumbled, before she went right back to snoring.

"Is she dreaming about flying with her tail?"

"Nah, she's probably dreaming about sending a villain far far away by spinning their tail and flinging 'em." Olive snarked, coupling it with an eyeroll for good measure.

"Okay, well, I'll pretend I didn't hear that snark, thank you."

Olive grabbed ahold of Mandy's shoulder and shook her gently. "Mandy? Wake up, we have dinner for you!"

A couple snorts followed. "Mmm...five more minutezz..."

"Come on, now. It's your veggie stir-fry!"

Defeated, Mandy extended her arms in a stretch and gave a loud yawn, wincing when a loud pop sound emanated from her back and a shot of pain went ricocheting through her body. "Nngh...really, zzpine? I'm eleven, not 89..."

"We made it just for you!" Otto encouraged.

In response, Mandy's stomach rumbled. "Heh..." The hybrid shook her head rapidly to clear the fogginess from her brain, then rubbed her eyes. "That's nice..."

"Were you dreaming of flying with your tail?" Olive asked, as Mandy conjured up a bowl and telekinetically scooped some stir-fry into it.

"Oh, I was!" The hybrid took a big bite and relished the taste as she chewed, giving a big smile before swallowing. "Hopefully Pinkie has some tricks up her sleeve. She can fly with her tail, so I believe I can too!"

"Well, I believe in you, if that helps."

"Thanks, Otto!"

Olive glanced at her partner, her expression filled with worry for only a second.

As Mandy continued to eat, both Directors were equally surprised and nonplussed at how fast she was chewing and swallowing the food. One could argue it was like she wasn't even tasting it -- but in reality, she was savoring every single bite.

"Jeez, you're pretty hungry." Olive reached behind her back. "I guess it's lucky we made you a cake for dessert."

A "ding" sound accompanied a nice, fluffy, delicious three-layer chocolate cake that she set down onto the table.

Mandy's eyes widened. She had to resist the urge to let her jaw drop and let the large mushy chewed-up piece of veggie stir-fry she was eating fall out of her mouth. She swallowed, let out a gasp, and then stretched an arm out towards the cake before shaking her head. "Nono! Nono. Lemme finish my stir-fry first. Chocolate and stir-fry...they, uh...don't go well together." She clutched her stomach, as though remembering a rather painful time she did, indeed, eat chocolate and stir-fry together.

It didn't last long though, and Olive and Otto watched as Mandy forwent the bowl and went straight for eating out of the pot, her tail wagging happily as she ate the last few bites.

"Aah, that's better!" she chirped, after swallowing her final bite. She opened her mouth to speak again, but instead of words, a belch forced its way out instead. "Pardon!"

Olive playfully rolled her eyes.

"Now lemme at that cake!"

Otto's eyes, meanwhile, held a twinge of jealousy as Mandy lunged for the cake, pulling a big bite into her mouth.

"D-don't choke!"

"Choke?" Mandy glanced at Olive with her mouth full and her face smeared with chocolate. "I don't choke, what're you talkin' about?" A few chews, and then a swallow. "Mmm...chocolate, my favorite!"

Both Olive and Otto shot each other a knowing smile -- of course they'd made it a chocolate cake. Chocolate was Mandy's favorite kind of cake. No surprise there.

What also wasn't a surprise was the way she used her tongue to scoop up the rest of the cake and eat it in one big bite, chewing for a little bit before swallowing.

"Aah...thanks, guys! I mean, I dunno how you had time to bake a three-layer cake, but I'm gonna need all the energy I can get for tomorrow!"

"Ah, it's nothing, really." Otto waved his hand dismissively. "We figured you'd be hungry enough to eat both dinner and dessert in one go. Though I wish you ate the cake first..."

Olive gave him a playful nudge. "Anyway, we should be heading back now. Gotta handle our nightly duties. Stay safe and get better, okay?"

"'Kay! Have fun!"

"We'll try."

As the trio exchanged goodbyes, they both went out the same direction -- only Mandy was making a beeline for the kitchen, dishes held in her telekinetic grasp. Olive and Otto, meanwhile, watched her from the balcony outside Oprah's office before making their way downstairs.

"All right, dish."

Olive glanced at him. "Huh?"

"Something about Mandy is bothering you, isn't it?"

"N-no!" Olive gave a disbelieving scoff. "What makes you think that?"

"I know my partner well enough." he responded. "It's about her flying, isn't it?"

Knowing better than to argue with Otto, Olive gave a defeated and weary sigh. "Yeah. It's just...I don't understand her fixation on flying with her tail. She can fly with her wings perfectly fine. Why does she need to do it with her tail?" Her gaze became distant as she stared at the back wall of the bullpen. "I know she told me she wanted to impress us, but why? She already impresses us. Every day, she impresses us. Just yesterday, she managed to get the highest score in Fantastic Light Revolution on 'Prominence' just by using her hands. Her hands! Not even her feet, her own two hands!"

"Well, it's like you always say. Mandy continues to surprise us. I'm sure she has her reasons for wanting to impress us by flying with her tail."

"But what if she can't, Otto?" Olive asked as they walked through the Trophy Room connecting the bullpen to the Tube Lobby, a desperate tone to her voice. "If she can't fly with her tail no matter how much training she gets, then it's going to break her heart!"

Otto sighed. "You have a point there, I guess."

The duo spotted O'Donnell, the cheerful red-headed tube operator on duty, waving at them. It took quite a bit of willpower to try and give a genuine wave back.

"Hey Olive, hey Otto! Heading back to your office?"

"Hi, O'Donnell." Olive greeted. "And yes, back to our office."

O'Donnell nodded in understanding. "Preparing to squishinate!" she called, as Olive and Otto each entered a tube. She began pressing a few buttons on her computer, followed by the two buttons denoting the first and second tubes that they were in. "Squishinating!"

And just like that, with a bang and a boing, they were off, making their way through the tubes without a single word spoken. While Otto felt calm wash over him despite being squished and tossed around, Olive couldn't help but feel worried about Mandy. She felt unable to relax in the ball like she normally was, and shut her eyes tight as she let the ball guide her through the tubes and around all sorts of obstacles.

Finally, the duo landed inside their own Headquarters -- a perfect landing on both feet, without any stumbles.

"Hello, Mr. and Ms. O." the tube operator on duty, O'Chance, greeted. "Welcome back."

Giving him their thanks, they made their way towards the bullpen, the tube lobby doors opening to reveal a similar Trophy Room to Precinct 13579's own.

"I just hope Pinkie really does have something up her sleeve..." Olive muttered to herself.

"I'm sure she does. Just give it time." Otto responded, overhearing the assurance. He pat his partner on the back twice. "C'mon. Why don't we grab a bite to eat ourselves? I'm starving!"

As he made a beeline for the bullpen and then the Breakroom, Olive could only stand at the entrance to the bullpen and watch him go, the emotion of worry still having a vicegrip on her brain. A heavy sigh left her before her stomach let out a grumble, as though ordering her to get some food. She complied, making her way over to the Breakroom herself.

---

When next Mandy opened her eyes, air swept over her.

Although it was far more than a breeze.

"Oh, I'm falling, heh."

She closed her eyes and let the freeing sensation of falling take her over...but then the reality set in.

"I'm falling!" She waved her arms up and down frantically, her heart beginning to race before she realized that she could fly. "Wait, my wings!"

As she tried to open them, one thing became hauntingly apparent. Fear formed as a ball in her stomach.

"I-I have no wings! W-where'd my wings go?!" The ball grew bigger. "I can't fly-y-yyyyy!" she screamed, making her voice as loud as she could on the off chance someone -- human, pony, even a passing villain -- heard her and would try to save her.

As she began to allow her brain to play a movie of her life, her eyes widened in realization. "Wait...I have my tail! Maybe it can save me!" And then her expression fell. "B-but...I couldn't fly with it..."

A quick glance downwards at the fast-approaching ground affirmed that "Nngh...I don't have a choice!" As she stretched out her tail as best she could to make sure it didn't crack again, she gave a sigh. "Here goes nothing!"

Quickly, she angled her tail the same way Peaches taught her, and spun it as fast as she possibly could. All the while, a scream left her lungs as panic began to settle in, her body fully ready to accept its fate at the hands of a very premature death.

Even when the air stopped beating against her, she continued to scream.

It wasn't until a few seconds later that her scream died down, and she opened her eyes, letting out a small gasp at what she saw.

"M-m-my tail! It saved me!"

Sure enough, she was hovering only a few inches from the ground -- only one more second and she would have likely had performed the anatomically-astounding feat of her head recoiling into her body in what was sure to have been a bloody and gory mess. Her tail, instead of being angled upwards, was now below her, providing her much needed lift as it whirred away.

She flipped her body right side up and landed on the ground, expecting someone to rush up to her and ask if she was okay, maybe get some details about what had happened. But no one came. It was her, all alone. She took a few heavy breaths to try and recollect herself. "That was...

It was what? Intense? Death-defying? A horrifying reality check?

"...real. Really real."

No it wasn't. You're too important to die by just falling and going splat. If you're going to die, then you're going to die creatively, with honor, and with no regrets.

The inner voice came on suddenly. And it got deep, in a way that made her uncomfortable. She furiously rubbed her hair in a futile effort to put it to rest. For odd's sake, this nightmare turned into a good dream. How often did that happen in her lifetime?

"Okay, I'm 99% sure this is a dream." she said, her tone becoming melancholy. "I can't do this in real life. Not in the way Peach can..."

She stood there, in the cold, empty park, feeling like crying. But she wasn't about to go down yet.

"No! You just have to work with Pinkie! She can help you!"

"Are you kidding? That was some of the worst tail-flying I've ever seen!"

She looked up.

She knew that squeaky, high-pitched voice.

After all, it was the only voice that sounded identical to hers.

"Pinkie!" she cried out, feeling like crying just at the fact there was another living soul here, even though her expression was less than welcoming. "Oh, thank odd! Wish you could've come earlier, but I'm sure you had something to do back in Equestria or here in Toronto or whatever, and maybe your 'Princess Luna' helped you dreamwalk or something so it's perfectly understandable that-"

A loud, guttural growl shut the hybrid up quickly. "No! You're not understanding me! Your posture was off, your spin was off, everything was off!" A scoff before her partner continued. "And how in the wide wide world of Equestria do you expect to listen to me when you couldn't even listen to Peaches?!"

Mandy could swear she heard her heart shatter -- and in this dream, it certainly was anatomically possible. "Pinkie! I need you!" she called, her tone desperate and pleading. "There's no way I can fly with my tail without your help!"

"Forget it! I don't wanna teach someone who's a lost cause!" Pinkie snapped. "You're better off using your wings, can't you be happy you have those to use?!"

"Pinkie-"

Before Mandy could respond, the sound of crumbling earth filled her ears, and she glanced down to find the ground cracking and falling underneath her. The ball of panic returned and grew in size substantially and quickly as she began falling once again, Pinkie's expression of anger being the last face of a living being she saw.

Unlike the first time, she was now falling in darkness. She couldn't see anything or feel anything aside from the air pushing up against her. She felt just as lonely as she did before, only the loneliness was amplified by what she was sure was a dark recess of her mind, which contained nothing but sheer silence.

"Maybe...could I..." She glanced back, her eyes shimmering with hope. Maybe, if she could save herself with her tail, she could save herself.

Except her tail wasn't there.

And neither were her wings.

"Wh...where's my tail?! And my wings! I can't flyyyyyyy!" The final word in her haunting realization merged into a high-pitched scream full of despair, anxiety...

And defeat.

Of course. She didn't know self-levitation yet, and at this point, she wasn't sure she wanted to try.

She let her body go limp, knowing that there was nothing she could do to save herself, nor was there anyone around who was willing to save her.

She was a lifeless being, plummeting through the air at breakneck speeds, awaiting the release of death to set her free.

But that didn't stop the tears from spilling and curving upwards all the same.

---

"Nyaah!"

As she immediately woke up and shot straight up, Mandy's lungs rapidly took in and pushed out air as she glanced at her surroundings. The feeling of falling caught up with her, and her brain began to realize that she was in a sitting position in bed. She sighed. "Oh good, my suspicions were right. It was a dream."

Silence was the only thing that met her ears. Lots of light flooded the room, indicating that it definitely wasn't sunrise. "Weird. What time is it?" she muttered, glancing at the clock beside her. "1:00?" She groaned. "I overslept by a whole hour..."

Throwing off her sheets and swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she grabbed ahold of her Chocolate Moo-Moo Surprise drink and began taking eager sips, her mouth feeling rather dry. "I just hope Pinkie's up for teaching me how to fly with my tail..." she spoke aloud, before hopping off and setting down her drink before heading for the bathroom to get ready.

By the time she got her suit on, Headquarters was bustling with activity. Not that it wasn't bustling before -- it was after noontime already -- but to her, it seemed more active than usual.

It didn't take long for her eyes to spot Pinkie, sitting happily at her desk. Her expression didn't have a trace of anger within it, and in fact, she looked rather happy as she did paperwork. Still, that didn't make Mandy any less wary as she approached the pink mare nervously.

"Hey, partner!" Pinkie called, spitting out the pencil she was clutching in her mouth. "You're a bit off the ball today! I tried to wake you at noon so we could go and kick odd butt, but you just refused to wake up!"

She didn't see me tossing and turning? Mandy tilted her head. Was I even tossing and turning? Saying "help me" or something in my sleep, even?

Or did I, and she just ignored me?

"Hey, Pinkie." came the melancholic reply, as Mandy walked past her with her posture completely slumped.

Just try! The least she could do is say no!

"Pinkie!"

"That's my name, don't wear it out!"

It's now or never!

"I have a favor to ask you, and I'm really really reeeeeeeally hoping you'll say yes!"

"Sure, what is it?" Pinkie tilted her head.

"You can fly with your tail, right?"

"Sure can!"

"Can you maybe teach me?" Mandy fiddled with her thumbs. "I...tried with Peach, but...it didn't go over so well."

She inhaled, and waited, shutting her eyes tight so she wouldn't be met with the same angry reactio- wait, was that a gasp she heard?

"Are you kidding?! I'd love to! Anything to help out a partner, amirite?"

Her eyes slowly opened. There, right in front of her, was a pink Earth pony mare, blue eyes sparkling, pearly white teeth showing in a big grin. She almost couldn't believe what she saw.

Well, whaddya know.

Before she knew it, she was tackling Pinkie, sending both of them careening to the floor.

"Thank you thank you thank you! You're the best!"

"Don't mention it!" Pinkie squirmed free of the hybrid and stood up. "C'mon, we can start right now!"

"Yes, please!"

Only a few minutes later, the duo were at the park. Mandy didn't recognize the part of the park they were in as any part she had visited with Peaches before, which was, perhaps, a good thing. She spilled everything to Pinkie about her first lesson with the catgirl, and about her failures.

"All right, so from what you told me, Peaches has taught you the basics." Pinkie sat down. "Spinning with a hoop, learning how to fly without the hoop, all that jazz."

Mandy nodded.

"So why don't we start with direction stuff? Spin your tail."

She did as she was told, letting her tail whirl about like a propeller as she angled it upwards and began drifting along the sidewalk. "Okay...so how do I steer? And if you say 'it's gradual'..."

Pinkie giggled. "No, silly! You have to give your tail repeated pushes in the direction you want to go! And stick your hands out!"

Mandy had to admit, she wasn't sure about that last part. But she stuck her hands out anyway, making sure to apply pressure to the front of her tail so she could move. "Ha, I'm moving!" she exclaimed, before she blinked twice in confusion. "But how do I stop?"

"Put your hands down!" came the simple response.

Something inside Mandy thought it took a lot more than that, and so in addition to putting her hands down and letting them droop towards the ground, she moved pressure off the front of her tail and tried to stabilize it so she was still.

"Huh. This is...easier. Far easier than I thought."

"Okay, now land!"

Mandy flipped her body right side up again, like an hourglass being turned over, and placed her feet on the ground.

"Ha, it worked!" She began bouncing up and down. "It worked, it worked, it worked!"

"Hold on a second! We're not done yet!" Pinkie announced, trotting over to Mandy's side.

Mandy blinked twice. "Say what now?"

"It seems you aren't really skilled at flying upwards with your tail...so we'll try flying downwards instead!"

Flying downwards? How would one fly do- ohh. Mandy rolled her eyes, if not for her own lapse in thinking, than for Pinkie's weird wording of what she wanted her partner to do. "Y'know, I actually had a dream about that, so this might work out in my favor!" she said.

"Angle your tail down."

Mandy glanced behind her. "My tail is down."

"Mm...a little more than that!"

The tail went down.

"More..."

Further down.

"More..."

Even further down, to the point where it looked like Mandy had it between her legs.

"Perfect! Now spin it, and jump!"

As her tail spun like a propeller, Mandy jumped into the air and fell back on it, watching as dirt and bugs and flowers blew every which way. Man, it feels so weird in real life versus in a dream, she thought. But it's also kinda cool! If I could do this in real life...then maybe I have a chance!

"Spin it faster! It needs to be able to support your weight!" Pinkie explained.

Mandy did as she was told to, and upped the speed.

Unfortunately, doing that didn't quite go as planned.

"That's it!"

"This feels a little too faaaaaaaaast!" Soon, Mandy's body was spinning just as fast as the propeller, until she collapsed on the ground with an "Oof!"

As Pinkie approached her, she noticed that some of the hairs on her partner's tail were horribly bent out of place, and her eyes spun around in their sockets as she could swear she saw dancing jackalopes around her head. Eventually, she had to bring up a white flag -- "TOO DIZZIFIED, PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER" -- and that was enough convincing for Pinkie to not ask the rhetorical question of "are you okay?"

Once Mandy snapped to her senses, she and Pinkie tried again.

And again.

And again.

But no matter how hard the hybrid tried to follow Pinkie's directions and advice, she just couldn't.

It wasn't that she wasn't interested in what Pinkie had to teach her -- that would be silly, of course she was. It wasn't that she was terrible at following directions -- sure, she got distracted a lot, but she understood even the vaguest of orders and followed them as best she could. She made every effort in trying, and still failed.

Which happens sometimes. That's just how life goes.

Still, that didn't mean she was just going to accept that reality at face value. Not for this.

"It's weird! You can't fly with your tail up or down!" Pinkie observed, a couple hours later as the duo sat on a park bench.

Mandy sighed. "There's just too much of a weight tisrarity between us!"

Pinkie didn't even try to make a joke about how Mandy uttered a nonexistent word that just so happened to coincide with her friend's name. To her, this was serious business. "I'm really sorry, partner." she murmured. "I wanted to help, but..."

"No, no. It's fine." Mandy's voice slightly cracked, and she sniffled as she felt tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"It's just...I wanted to fly with my tail 'cause...I wanted to impress everyone!" Mandy was on the verge of tears now. "But if I can't fly with my tail..." She began to sob. "...then what can I do-o-oooooo?!"

"Aww, there are tons of things you can do!" Pinkie said, trying her best to reassure her partner. "You can fly with your wings, and I can't, 'cause I don't have wings! And, you're supermazing at fighting oddness!"

"Anyone can fly with their wings and fight oddness!" Mandy snapped, tears beginning to pool down her face and spill onto the ground at her feet. Her throat began to close, and she desperately tried to reach for air as she spoke. "I wanted something unique to me! A way to fly that only I had!"

Pinkie witnessed her partner break down, burying her face in her hands and crying her eyes out. She wasn't quite sure what to do. On the one hoof, she wasn't sure if anyone else could use their tail to fly like she could -- Fluttershy seemed capable with that long tail of hers, but who was to say. And that wasn't getting to the commonality of flying with your tail to begin with that Mandy didn't seem to realize. On the other hoof, her comfort tactics weren't working, and she needed to try a different approach. "Mandy-"

"And I thought if Peaches could teach me..." Mandy sniffled again, noisier and definitely sounding more snot-filled than the last time. "...then maybe I could have a skill all my own! Instead I'm as commonplace as anyone else! My tail's nothin' but a big mass of fur hanging down!"

A big mass of fur, just hanging down... Pinkie knew for sure that wasn't true. Not only had she dug into Mandy's tail for objects she needed on more than one occasion, but her own tail was the same way as Mandy's -- an alternate dimension full of odd things that, if they were converted to money, would make Odd Squad the wealthiest organization in the galaxy. It was more than just fur that hung down from the rump. She knew that. It was just a shame her partner didn't.

"Tails can do great things! And yours is amazing, partner!" she said. "I-I mean, you got yours battling a Hydraclops, and-"

"J-just forget it! Go home, Pinkie!"

The mare took a few stumbles backwards, falling off of the bench in the process.

"I'm never gonna be able to fly with my tail, and that's it!"

Mandy's words, a desperate plea buried underneath sadness and pain, was practically a scream. She stood up, extended her wings, and was gone with a mighty flap.

"Mandy, wait!" Pinkie called, but even she knew that the hybrid couldn't hear her -- nor did she want to hear her. She gave a soft whine of sadness, watching until Mandy was a mere speck in the sky before lowering her head and trudging back to the nearest tube entrance, knowing that there was nothing more she could do that would really help in the long run.

As she flew, Mandy buried her head in her hands. "I can't believe it. I really can't fly with my tail! Peaches was right...she was right! I, I can only fly with my wings!"

In that moment, she felt like screaming. She felt like wanting to punch or strangle something with her tail as a weapon. As almighty as her tail was, to such a point where it could do both of those things, it just wasn't strong enough to do the one thing she wanted it to do.

She could scoop up objects and ponies with it, but she couldn't fly with it.

She could get anything she wanted from inside of it, but she couldn't fly with it.

She could use it effectively in combat, swinging it to deflect attacks or using it to dodge...but she couldn't fly with it.

And she hated it.

"I thought flying with your tail was supposed to run in the family..."

Her hands were balled up into fists.

"INSTEAD I'M JUST A BIG FAT FAILURE!!"

A loud crack put a hold on her upset venting.

A "Wah!" came out of her as her left wing began working overtime to keep her afloat, flapping even harder but still keeping the speed of a hummingbird's wings.

"W-what happened? Did I break a bone in my wing?" Mandy said, glancing back behind her and finding her wing limp. That answers that, I gueeeeeeeee- ohhhhhhhh.

As anyone airborne would tell you, glancing downwards is a rookie mistake.

One that Mandy, an experienced flier, just made.

"T-that looks...really high up!" she squeaked, shutting her eyes so she didn't have to keep looking at the ground below.

Her wing began losing speed, moving slower and slower, as her heart began to race. She waved her arms frantically, hoping cartoon physics (or really, even no physics) would work its magic and she could speed-run in the air towards solid ground. "No! M-must...must keep...my wing!" She tried to flap her one good wing, to no avail -- it was tired and needed a rest, even if it put her at a disadvantage.

She began falling, the harsh mistress of gravity delivering some retribution to the one who had opposed it many times over.

On odd, it's just like my dream...only worse! she thought, seeing no people nor ponies nearby who could catch her fall. She couldn't even see any Pegasi, which was rather weird for a cloudless day like this.

As she kept plummeting towards the ground, she made a horrid realization.

"This is it. This is where I die!" she screamed, before her eyes widened. "In that case, better start writing my last will and testament!"

Her horn lit up, and in popped a piece of paper and a fancy quill pen. She immediately grabbed it and got to writing as fast as her hands would go.

Meanwhile, down on the ground, Olive and Otto were taking a leisurely stroll, with Olive doing some bird-watching in the process.

"Do you see it?"

"The bird-rat, or the rat-bird?" Olive said. "Because I don't see either."

"It has to be around here somewhere!" Otto sighed. "Agent Oarno said she saw it but couldn't catch it. And she said it was in this area!"

"Relax, partner. We'll find it."

As she swung the binoculars up towards the sky, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "No way."

"No way what?"

All she could do was hand the binoculars to him.

His jaw dropped, too.

"OH ODD!"

The two kids took off running like they had just finished a sugar binge. They sprinted across the park with all the grace and speed of Usain Bolt, artfully dodging people and ponies alike who were all confused as to why two Odd Squad Directors were running and looking up at the sky.

Otto reached behind his back and yanked out a gadget. "Tarp-inator!" he called, right before aiming it into the air ahead of him and flipping the switch on the small device. Sure enough, a folded tarp appeared, and he quickly jumped to grab it before using every ounce of his dexterity to unfold it.

"Nice going, partner!" Olive called without turning around, beginning to put on some more speed. Otto followed suit, and since he had longer legs, he was able to match Olive stride for stride.

Whether they would get there in time, though...he didn't know the answer to that.

"Y'know, there was a reason I was afraid of super-tall heights when I was a littler kid...and this might be the thing that spooks the fear back into me!" Mandy uttered, to no one in particular but herself. "If I live!"

As she teleported her last will and testament out of existence, she gasped. "Wait...my tail! My dream! I...I saved myself using my tail, but...could it actually work in real life?" A few blinks, and then a furious shake of her head. "No, don't be stupid, Mandy! Of course it wouldn't!"

She looked down again and immediately did a 180.

"But I don't have a choice! It's use my tail, or die trying!" The second option scared her more than she would have liked to admit, but she set her fear aside for now.

She angled her tail downwards and spun it, just like Pinkie and Peaches had taught her. She spun it with all her might and all her speed, all while squeezing her eyes tight. She could feel something wet on her face, but she was too scared to identify whether it was tears or a few stray drops of rain.

"Momma...and everyone else..."

"Mandy! We're coming!"

"I'm so sorry...but this is goodbye."

Her mind began retreating into itself, as though sensing death. All she saw was black. She didn't know much about death, except that she should be seeing nice heavenly skies right about now. Maybe a golden gate, with an angel there to test her and see if she was worthy of getting in or worthy of descending to "the dark fiery place".

But no matter what, it was just darkness. For some reason, the sound of her whirring tail still filled her eardrums.

And then, the sound of a gasp.

Was that my gasp? she thought. I can't really recognize screams and gasps and hiccups and all that like Owen can...

...Wait, how am I thinking right now?

Why aren't there any golden gates or clouds or angels?

Did they lie to me about the afterlife?

"Open your eyes!"

...Momma...you're here too...here in the darkness with me. But how? Did you die as well as me? Has age finally caught up with you?

Or was it some nasty villain? Ohh, I hope not. My life isn't a life worth living if a villain hurts you and I can't get revenge on them!

"What are you doing, playing peekaboo?"

Ha, ha, Otto. Dead people don't play peekaboo. You should know, because you're dead too.

Aren't you?

"Look at her tail! It saved her!"

...Saved me...?

So...I'm not...

Slowly, her eyes opened.

Her head swiveled around, taking in the faces of Olive and Otto, who were looking at something below her in awe.

"You're flying with your tail!" Otto's eyes shimmered. "That's so cool!"

"I am?" Mandy tried to glance below her, but only succeeded in doing a flip before falling face-first onto the grass. Her tail sputtered out before laying flat on the ground.

"Can you do it again?" Otto asked, his grin about as world-splitting as Pinkie's grins usually were.

"I..." Mandy spat out a chunk of dirt and wiped her mouth. "I dunno. Can you drop me from the sky again?" Before anyone could move, she added, "Don't! Don't. I thought for sure I was gonna die! I thought I was already dead! Don't make me relive it!"

"What happened?" Olive asked. "Why's your wing bent?"

Those words were like a trigger. A trigger for pain to course through Mandy's wing again. She winced slightly. "I'm not sure. I heard a crack, and then it became completely non-functional."

Olive knelt down on the ground and tenderly touched the feathery wing. "Doesn't seem like any bones are broken." she observed. "I'd say it could be a pulled muscle, but I doubt it. Then again..." She chuckled. "I'm no Doctor."

"We should still get her to one, though." Otto helped Mandy to her feet. "Let's head back to her HQ and have Dr. O fix her up."

As the pair walked to the nearest tube entrance, Olive followed suit, tilting her head as she tried to make sense of exactly what had happened.

---

"Ah. Just as I suspected."

"Am I dying?!"

Dr. O shot Mandy a rather disturbed look, one that was more unsettling than her own. "No, you're not dying." he said. "Simple case of bone-popping. In this particular case, it was your wing. But the pop was strong enough to disable your wing temporarily."

"Sooooo like when I crack my spine, then? Just without the whole 'temporary disabling' thing?"

Another disturbed look. "You...could say that, yes." he muttered, as though he was dealing with a patient who had broken her spine before and just didn't seem to care. "Anyway, just give them a rest for a day or two and you should be good to go."

Mandy sighed. "Oh thank odd. I thought it was broken!"

"And we thought you were dead, but that didn't happen, did it?" Olive said, her tone teetering on the verge of panic. She gripped Mandy's arm tight enough so that the hybrid had to try and wrench her arm free the second she felt pain.

"The only thing is...I had a last will and testament written out and everything!" Back came a written piece of paper, detailing Mandy's possessions and who would get them and whatever stuff was on there that adults typed or wrote on.

Olive could only blink as she read the paper. "This just says 'I want to avoid death, because death isn't cheap, and I also want to fly with my tail'." she observed. "This isn't a last will and testament. You're eleven. Why would you even need one?"

"Have you seen where we work?" Mandy deadpanned.

"She's got a point." Otto shrugged.

Mandy took the paper from Olive's hands and teleported it out of existence again.

"Anyway, if I'm good to go, then I'm gonna eat. And I'm gonna eat a whoooole bunch! Gotta get set for training tomorrow!"

"You can already fly with your tail." Otto pointed out. "Don't pass it off as some 'survival instinct' thing. You can do it. The only reason you failed was 'cause we pointed it out to you and you looked."

Mandy looked unsure.

"C'mon, just try!"

She gave a few wags of her tail. I guess...if it were really survival instinct, I would have done it faster when I was falling. Not carefully angled my tail and carefully spun it at just the right speed.

Slowly, her tail began to whir. Her mind ran through a checklist of both the helpful Pinkie's lessons and the not-so-helpful Peaches' lessons.

She bent her knees, and then jumped.

Perfect landing.

The whir of her tail still going was proof-positive that it worked.

"You did it!" Otto cheered. "Looks just as cool as the first time!"

Mandy sat up, her body feeling scrunched, like she was doing an intense sit-up.

But that didn't matter. She was used to the feeling. And right now, she felt like crying.

"I can really fly with my tail!" Her blue eyes got stars in them. "Aren't you guys impressed?!"

"Very!" Olive nodded. "I knew your tail was a hammerspace magnet, but I didn't think it was capable of flight like that!" She smiled. "Those lessons from Pinkie paid off, huh?"

Pinkie?

Oh odd, Pinkie!

Mandy leapt to her feet, her tail winding down. "I have to find Pinkie!" she shouted, before bolting out of the Medical Bay without any sort of goodbye given to Olive, Otto, or Dr. O.

She tore down the hallway like she was escaping the grasp of a villain, her eyes darting every which way, just looking for pink -- the one color any agent used to identify her partner. Unfortunately for her, there was no pink to be found.

Aw, pickleferries. Don't tell me Oprah sent her on a case...

Talks with passing agents proved to be fruitless as well -- almost none of them knew where Pinkie went. The ones who did only told her that they had seen her hours, days, even weeks ago.

"Partner!" she called. "Please! Don't avoid me! I wanna talk!"

It was only seconds after her public plea was given that she realized one of the best people to ask.

"PEACH!"

"Nyah!" The cat form of Peaches skittered off the bed, a thump marking her impact with the floor.

"I need your help finding someone!"

"Take a number." Peaches muttered, a shimmering light emanating as she turned back into her more humanoid form.

"It's important! Where's Pinkie?!"

"Pinkie? Like I know?"

"You hafta know! You lurk everywhere!"

"No I don't." Peaches pulled herself up and sat on the bed, glaring at her cousin. "Why do you want to see her?"

"'Cuz I hurt her feelings and I hafta apologize!"

"Oh, so typical friend fare?"

"Yes, typical friend fare! She's prolly all hurt and never wants to see me again!" Mandy got on her knees to beg. "Please please pleeeeeease tell me where she is!"

"I just told you, I don't know." Peaches rolled her eyes. "And stop begging. You're hierarchically superior to me. It makes you look pathetic."

"Hierarchy, schmierarchy! What matters is that I find my partner and make up!" Mandy countered. "Do you at least have an idea of where she is?"

Peaches' eyes slowly drifted to Mandy's chest. She gave a nonchalant shrug. "I dunno. Isn't there some way to reach her?"

"How? I can't even find the mare, what makes you thi-"

"Your badge phone, genius."

Mandy felt the right side of her chest, and sure enough, there was her badge phone, sitting pretty. "Oh. I, uh..." Her brain scrambled for an excuse, but couldn't come up with one. "Never mind!" was all she could spit out before she unclipped the phone and punched in 9-4.

A ringback tone.

And then another.

And then another.

And then ano-

"Hiya! Pinkie Pie speaking!"

"PINKIE!" The scream was loud enough to make Peaches fold her ears down in response.

"Partner?"

"Please, please come back! I need you! I, I need to talk with you! I'm so sorry! I just learned I can fly with my tail! It's, I'm-"

"Slow down! I'll be there in a minute!"

And then she hung up.

The phone slid from Mandy's hands and collided with the floor. All she could do was bury her face in her hands.

Peaches, meanwhile, had her eyes widened. She can fly with her tail? Really?

...No, there's no way. I trained her with everything I had and her attempts failed. Surely she's just delusional. Surely she's just imagining a scenario where she did fly with her tail to compensate for her lack of such an ability.

Still, she couldn't help but get the feeling that Mandy was being legitimate. After all, not even she was so willing to keep up an illusion over something as trivial as this.

Right?

Mandy picked up her phone, clipped it back onto her suit, and wordlessly turned to leave.

"Cuz, wait!"

She turned around.

"Is...is it true? Is it really true? You can fly with your tail now?"

A look settled on Mandy's face -- one that was dark, one that was slightly hurt, and certainly not one displaying a positive emotion. All she did was turn back around and leave the room.

Peaches bit her lip, and then heaved a sigh, flopping backwards onto her bed.

Maybe the others might have had a point...

---

Only a few minutes later, Pinkie met with Mandy, who told her of the entire situation and then promptly began crying.

"Really? That's awesome!" Pinkie said. "Oh, I'm so happy for you! Now we can be flying buddies!" She began using her own tail to stay afloat alongside her partner, although unlike Mandy, hers allowed her to sit vertically instead of laying down horizontally.

Mandy sniffled. "Yeah...b-but I'm really really sorry! I didn't mean to run away like that, but I just grew so mad and frustrated and I...I just..."

"D'aww, don't worry about it!" Pinkie waved a hoof. "I understand. I probably would've been the same way if I were in your shoes. It's great that you're so passionate about this!"

"Passionate?"

"Yeah! You stopped at nothing to fly with your tail, and when the chips were down, you went for it!" Pinkie's smile grew bigger. "Kinda like when I wanna bake something really really hard, but I just can't do it, but I keep at it and then I do it!"

Mandy couldn't help but start to smile herself. "Like the mega-cookie you baked last week?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Or the seventy-layer cake that spilled all over Toronto that took forever to clean up?"

"Yup!"

Mandy sighed. "Y'know, sometimes I wonder if we were just twins separated at birth."

"Maybe!" Pinkie shrugged. "Or maybe it's just the Odd Squad way of perseverance that spreads across every agent." A pause as Pinkie rubbed her forehoof. "But, um, since I helped you...you think you could help me?"

"Sure! What's the dealio?"

"Just a couple cases Ms. O assigned me to. They're really difficult, though."

"Say no more! I'm in!" Mandy cracked her knuckles. "With me by your side, there's nothing we can't handle."

"...cliche."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

Mandy playfully rolled her eyes before she hopped back to her feet and made her way over to Pinkie's desk, the Earth pony following suit.

---

"And that's the last of the dust!" Mandy declared.

Her declaration was met with an eager round of applause from Olive, Otto and Oprah. "For all the things your tail does, never once have I thought to use it as a duster." Oprah remarked. "But it works surprisingly well."

"How'd you even get the idea to use your tail as a duster anyway?" Otto asked.

"When Pinkie gave me her lessons, I saw dust and dirt fly up and all sorts of stuff go everywhere! Plus she's used it as a duster herself before."

A mischievous grin spread over Olive's face. "Think you can do my house this weekend? It badly needs a dusting...unfortunately, I haven't found a duster that actually picks up dust."

"Sure! But I'll warn ya: exploitation of my ability is not in the parental contract."

"What parental contract?"

"The parental contract that says I'll move out of Canada and to the United States if you exploit my ability, silly!"

Olive blinked, but then sighed, knowing better than to question Mandy's crazy statements.

From the corner of her eye, Mandy spotted a familiar pair of blue eyes staring at her. Part of her happiness died down as a frown formed on her face.

"What? What is it?" Otto swiveled his head around. "Oh, Peaches! Hi!"

"Hey." came the soft greeting as the catgirl carefully made her way over. "What's going on?"

"Mandy was showing off her tail. Again." Oprah rolled her eyes and smiled. "She can dust stuff with it now."

"Can she?" Peaches blinked. "That's...nice."

The air in the Trophy Room fell silent, in an awkward way that neither Olive nor Otto nor Oprah liked. All the two cousins could do was stare at each other, one with an icy glint in her eyes and another with a regretful one.

Finally, Peaches broke the tension with a sigh. "Look, I know you're upset at me. And you have every right to be. I shouldn't have been so hard on you." she said, avoiding eye contact. "Oprah was right. I needed to adapt to your tail and find a different method of flight for you to perform. Instead, I pushed you too hard and then gave up on you without even granting you any kind of a second chance. A second chance of which went to Agent Pinkie Pie, who taught you well."

Mandy raised an eyebrow.

"Peaches?" Oprah piped up. "You are aware that Mandy nearly died today?"

"Huh?"

"Her wingbone popped, and she nearly fell to her death. What saved her was her own tail."

Peaches could only stare at Olive. Her jaw dropped slightly as she tried to process this new piece of information that almost didn't feel real to her. Questions swirled around in her head -- how exactly Mandy saved herself with her tail, was she okay, how did Olive and Oprah know of the situation -- but nothing came forth.

"And you said I couldn't. Imagine if that were true. I would've died!"

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?!"

Mandy's eyes widened, not expecting this sudden outburst from her cousin.

"You don't need to...you know...keep rubbing it in." Peaches nonchalantly kicked the air. "I'm sorry. I was a terrible teacher. This lesson would have been a great chance for us to bond even more, and I blew it. Guess I'm just not as tolerant of you as I should be, huh?"

Mandy shook her head. "I'll shoulder part of the blame. I should have listened to you better. But you know me and my scattery skittery scuttery brain."

"No, no, this was my entire fault. You don't need to shoulder any blame."

"But why can't I shoulder some blame?"

"Because you didn't do anything wrong!"

"Yes I did!"

And back and forth, the girls bickered, butting heads and shoving each other back and forth while Olive and Otto merely rolled their eyes and looked on. Oprah, on the other hand, got tired of the "outhumbling each other" competition rather quickly, and reached behind her back to pull an airhorn from her hammerspace spine.

Immediately, the room went silent at the loud, annoying and grating sound of the tool.

"Would you two knock it off?!" Oprah snapped. "Just make up and move on already! We came here to see Mandy's tail clean a room, not to see her and her cousin arguing about something you're going to laugh about in a decade's time!"

Mandy exchanged a look with Peaches, then snorted. "Okay, okay, fine. I forgive ya, cuz."

"Good. Now, let's go get some dinner."

"I'm in!" Mandy waved to the trio. "I'll see you guys later!"

Olive and Otto grew tense as they watched them leave, then when the doors were closed, they let out a unisonant sigh.

"Truly a dynamic duo." Olive remarked.

"Yeah, tell me about it. But at least there's no more hard feelings!"

"And we can all move on with our lives. As the forces up above intended." Oprah moved towards the doors. "Now, if you two will be so inclined...we have a juice-drinking party on our hands."

Otto tilted his head. "Since when?"

"Since right now." Oprah smirked. "Let's go."

Not usually ones to pass down such a rare opportunity when neither of their signature drinks were juice, Olive and Otto smiled and followed her lead.

---

Peaches couldn't sleep.

Maybe it was because she was a crepuscular creature by instinct, and it was the dead of night. 10 PM, to be specific, but that didn't really matter to her.

Although, now that she thought about it, there was one thing lingering on her mind that she had to get off her chest. Maybe that was it.

Letting out a sigh that slowly morphed into an irritated groan, she got out of bed and walked over to the door, swinging it open. Sure enough, there was no activity in the halls, and the only sounds she could hear were the ones of various idle tech in the bullpen, faint but most definitely there.

She made a right and stopped in front of a room whose door resembled a bed, with a patterned white sheet covering most of it and a couple pillows at the top. Swiveling her ears, she tried to listen for the sound of snoring, and heard some that wasn't coming from her intended target. She couldn't identify whose it was, but she assumed it was one of the ponies.

Three knocks on the door. "Mandy? It's Peaches. You awake?"

"Aw, c'mon! I was just-" A muffled growl came forth, and Peaches suddenly felt like turning around and heading back. But the resignation that she wouldn't be able to sleep until this got resolved won over, and her feet stayed rooted in place.

The door opened with Mandy on the other side of it, clad in her rainbow-colored PJs with cats on them and her blue nightcap with a white fuzzy ball on the end of it that looked tattered. She had bags under her eyes, and a yawn escaped her as she sleepily stared at Peaches. "Whaddo you want?"

Peaches peered into the room and found the source of the snoring -- one Twilight Sparkle. Why she was staying in Odd Squad and not Equestria, who knew. She didn't care too much to ask why, instead fixing her gaze on Mandy. "I forgot to tell you earlier, um..." She scratched the back of her neck.

"No 'um's'." Mandy murmured. "Make it quick. I need sleep."

Oh, did Peaches have to bite back a witty comment for that one. Something along the lines of "when do you not?" or "do you really need to, though?" But she refrained, and instead, she gave a small smile. "I'm really happy you came out of the whole 'wingbone-popping' incident alive. Really, I-I don't know what I would've done if I lost one of my first real friends. You and your tail are both really something special."

Mandy blinked once, and then twice, like a sleep-deprived college student struggling to understand their professor's complicated lecture. She yawned again, this time pulling tears from her eyes that she wiped away. "S' that all?" she said, trying to smile but lacking the physical capability to. "Y' got any more obvious pieces 'f wisdom or can I finally sleep?"

Peaches chuckled. "Just something I needed to get off my chest. I couldn't sleep, so I figured I should get this load off of my shoulders."

"Mm. Have y' tried milk?"

"I'm lactose-intolerant, remember?"

Mandy's eyes suddenly opened all the way and then her irises and pupils both shrunk to pinpricks, as though having flashbacks to the time where she found out that exact fact in the messiest way possible. Peaches had bad memories of it too -- her digestive system waged war against her that day, and she didn't want to relive it.

"A-anyway, I'll get to sleep, don't worry about me." Peaches gave a nervous laugh and waved her hand. "You should sleep too. H-have a good night, okay?"

Feeling her appetite for breakfast the next day suddenly killed, Mandy slowly closed the door as Peaches hastily made her way back to her room. She shook her head violently, trying to get rid of the memory her cousin had implanted into her head and replace it with good memories instead. The feat worked as she flashed back to Rarity's birthday party, where she and Pinkie Pie were chosen to be co-party planners.

Having a potential dream lined up now, she returned to bed and immediately conked out, snoring and incomprehensibly sleep-talking away.

Peaches, meanwhile, got back into bed herself. Much better. Now, I'll be able to sleep with no worries.

And sleep she did -- like Mandy, she too fell asleep in an instant, the quiet air in the room lulling her into deeper and deeper slumber, all while she wore a smile on her face.