It was supposed to be a normal day for going through family photos with friends.

But Twilight had been staring at the cursed photo for several minutes now, trying to find the best way to summarize just what she was looking at.

She knew there were three humans in costume, wearing various accessories for a photo shoot. She knew that much. Her gaze, however, was firmly fixed on the...horse in the back. Its cartoonish-looking amber eyes, its goofy smile...it terrified her in a way she had trouble expressing.

"Rainbow Dash," she cautiously tried as she pointed to the horse and asked, "Who's this?"

Rainbow, sitting across from Twilight, made her way over to examine the photo. "Oh, him? That's Phillip. He's..." She rolled her hoof around. "Sort of a cousin."

"Sort of?!"

"D-Distant! Distant." Rainbow grabbed a photo from her side of the table and placed it in front of Twilight. "Here's him in full."

Twilight's eyes grew wide. The very first thing that stuck out to her was the horse's eyes somehow becoming black and beady. The second thing was, of course, the cluster of stars it had as a cutie mark. She was unable to form words for a few minutes, her eyes darting over the photo and analyzing every detail -- the human boy in a suit playing a blow-up guitar, the horse in the back apparently named Phillip, the fact that said horse had a cutie mark. She could almost feel the brain cells melting away the more she thought about it.

"I'm..." She clutched a hoof to her head. "This...Rainbow..."

"What's the big deal?" Rainbow shrugged. "Phillip goes into that world all the time. Comes back with stories of something called 'Odd Squad' and how that kid playing the guitar there is obsessed with him. He's thinking of filing a restraining order, actually."

"But..." Twilight slammed her hoof on the ground, grabbed the photo in her magic, and thrust it into Rainbow's face. "Explain."

Rainbow shoved the photo to the side. "Explain what? I just told you who Phillip wa-"

"You explained nothing! Why does he go into this strange world? What is this strange world? Who are these kids? Why does he have pink in his mane?! Why does his tail look..." Twilight sputtered. "Plastic?!"

As Rainbow looked over the photo again, she gave a shrug. "He said it was editing software. Same software that changed his eyes around." She pointed to the first photo. "His eyes actually do look that color in Equestria." Her head lifted, and her brow furrowed. "Twilight, what's 'editing software'?"

Not that Twilight was all too familiar with it, but it wasn't like she could form a coherent answer anyway. She moved the photo away and stared at Rainbow with burning intensity. "Do you have any other photos of Phillip?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I got some. Just gimme a sec." Rainbow moved back to her side of the table, rustling through her photos that were still very disorganized. It took her a few minutes to uncover a set of photos featuring Phillip in question, but once she did, she laid them in front of Twilight.

"Well, I see these kids at least have some sense." Twilight said with a smirk, before she squinted. "Is...is he holding a pickle?"

"A balloon pickle, yeah."

Before Twilight could ask her to elaborate, Rainbow pointed to the next one.

"Okay, that megaphone was definitely added with editing software."

"Seriously, what is 'editing software'?"

"It's...uh..." Twilight faltered. "Well, it comes from the Human World. It's hard to explain if you've never actually been there..."

Rainbow blinked. "You mean like the Human World where Sunset Shimmer is? Or the human world where these humans are?"

Twilight moved her head to give Rainbow a look of disdain, without bothering to answer the question.

"...Oh. You've never actually been to where Phillip has, have you?"

"No. If I had been there before, perhaps I wouldn't feel a burning need to question why you have somepony in your family that looks like...that." Twilight's muzzle wrinkled. "To say nothing of who these kids are."

Rainbow snickered. "You really wanna know who they are?"

"Yes!" Twilight stopped and relaxed. "Uh, b-but not right now. Let me see the rest of these pictures..."

With a squint, Twilight looked at Phillip's eyes. Maybe it was light reflecting off of them, but she found them to be too creepy for her liking. She looked at the next one.

This one was one that Rainbow was trying to hold in laughter at. Twilight noticed easily, lifting her head. "What's so funny?"

"Oh...nothing, nothing. It's just, if you heard Phillip sing..." Rainbow let out a long slow whistle.

Twilight let out a surprised nicker at the first thing that hit her in the face: the carrot that the girl with flowers in her hair seemed to be holding that was decidedly not orange, or at least not completely orange. She didn't exactly have a green hoof like Applejack, but she knew enough to know that carrots were usually orange. Maybe this carrot was painted in different colors? But then, why feed it to Phillip? Did he like multicolored carrots?

"Odd, isn't it?" Rainbow asked, erupting into laughter as she slammed one hoof on the table and clutched her stomach with the other.

"I don't see what's so funny."

"You'll...oh, jeez...you'll get it when I tell you."

Sighing in frustration, Twilight looked over the last two photos in the set.

Either Phillip had gotten his fur brushed, or this particular photo hadn't come out great. It was about the only two theories Twilight could make that actually sounded sane. Because of the brightness, she couldn't tell if the saxophone the smaller girl was holding was real or not. Her heart plummeted as she realized that there was a fifty-fifty chance that it was, and this horse could somehow play the saxophone without the use of hooves or his magic.

It took every inch of effort for Twilight to look at the last photo.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Only barely distinct from the previous one.

Staring Rainbow down, she shoved the photos away. "Okay, I saw all the photos. That...is all of them, right?"

"Yup." Rainbow crossed her front legs. "So, you wanna know where Phillip and those kids come from?"

Twilight nodded furiously, placing her hooves on the table and leaning forward in anticipation.

"Okay, well, you know the Human World, yeah?" Twilight nodded again. "Well, this human world isn't exactly the Human World. It's a different human world known as 'Earth'. On 'Earth', there is a worldwide government organization called Odd Squad, which deals with all sorts of bad guys and weird stuff." Rainbow went around to one side of the table, grabbed one of the photos of Phillip at random, and pointed to the three kids in it. "These three work for Odd Squad as agents. So I think this one's...Agent Orli." She pointed to the bun-haired girl, then moved her hoof to the smaller girl -- "Captain O" -- and finally to the boy, "Agent Ozzie."

As hard as she tried to follow, Twilight only barely understood Rainbow's explanation. She knew who the three kids were now, and knew that they probably weren't in costumes -- but why was Phillip there and not in Equestria? If he lived in that world, how was he related to Rainbow? Did these two worlds merge and Twilight just happened to sleep through it? Or was Celestia holding something back from her?

Whatever the questions that arose from this madness were, she knew what she had to do. She stood up and began heading for the door.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Rainbow's eyes widened in realization. "Hoooold on. You're not gonna actually go see Phillip, are you?"

"Yes, I am. Who knows how long it'll be before Phillip returns to Equestria? I need these questions answered now or it's going to drive me insane."

Rainbow stared at the retreating form of her friend. "Wow. Self-awareness of your own Twilighting. You don't see that every day."

"Shut up."

By some contrived coincidence, Starlight happened to have a portal to Earth handy. Several of them, in fact, for different locations.

At this point, Twilight was done asking questions. She wanted to take action. Whatever portal business Starlight was getting into could be discussed later. Right now, all she wanted to do was fling herself into the portal and emerge hopefully somewhere close to where Phillip was.

She landed on her front at the entryway to a building that looked like it was half underground and half aboveground. It had some weird hexagonal seal in the middle upper window, and two seals flanking it in the other windows. It wasn't really hard to tell that this was Odd Squad's base of operations, especially since the portal had been exact in where to dump Twilight.

Jumping to her hooves quickly, she rushed inside, not intending to look around but having her attention pulled by most everything at once. The humans that were there were dressed in similar-looking suits as Ozzie, Orli, and Captain O, which cemented the fact that this wasn't some kind of costume party. No, they were in uniform.

"Hey!" she called. "I need help!"

This caught the attention of a sandy-haired boy -- Ozzie, if Twilight guessed correctly, who began meandering his way over to her. "Yes? How can we help you?"

"I need to see whoever runs this place, now. It's important."

"Captain O?" Ozzie pointed to a nearby hallway. "She should be in her office right now, I believe. If you'd like, I'm happy to take-"

"Yes! Take me to her! Please!"

Ozzie stammered for a few moments, before nodding. "All...right then. Follow me."

As the pair walked, Twilight tried to calm her nerves by fully taking in her surroundings. Ozzie sounded...sort of like Rarity, now that she thought about it. Maybe he came from some affluential place, and that's why he was working for this organization.

"Hold on." Ozzie pausing his gait cut into her thoughts as he turned around. "Are you...a winged unicorn?"

Somehow, Twilight could guess where this was going. "Uh...y-yes? Though we're called alicorns where I'm-"

"Oh my goodness." Ozzie staggered backward. "There's...a winged unicorn...here in Headquarters!" He grabbed Twilight by the cheeks and lifted her up. "You have to tell me everything about where you're from. And I mean everything."

"Look, I jusht want to shee your leader."

"Yeah, sure, sure. I've never seen a winged unicorn before. I didn't even know Britain had those!" In his excitement, Ozzie dropped Twilight. "Ha, and Onom told me they didn't exist. Serves him right."

There was only one thought that flashed in Twilight's mind: I need to leave, now. The only problem is...I don't know which one is Captain O's office. There are so many doors here. Maybe if I look for one that looks like a regular door?

As she darted off, she only barely heard Ozzie's cry of "Where are you going?!" She did, however, see him coming up fast behind him, and decided to fly in order to gain more speed. She passed by all sorts of agents who either didn't give her a second glance or gave her a look of confusion, but let her focus stay solely on getting away from that mad human chasing her down. As soon as she found a normal-looking door, she barged in and landed rather ungracefully on the floor, tumbling until she hit something hard and wooden.

"Slippery sea serpents! Be careful with that cabinet! It contains some of my most precious memories from at sea."

With a groan, Twilight rubbed her head and got to her hooves. Her head moved towards the source of the posh voice, and craned upwards to meet the face of a small human girl wearing golden aguillettes across her right shoulder and down the front of her uniform.

"...Captain O?"

"That's me. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Or I should be fine." Twilight's head moved towards the door. "There was someone chasing me, and...I must have crash-landed in here. You wouldn't happen to be the leader of this place, would you?"

"I wouldn't be called Captain O if I wasn't, hm?" Captain O smiled. "Is there any way I can help you?"

"Yes. I'm looking for a unicorn named Phillip. He should be here, supposedly, but I haven't seen him."

"Ah, one of your brethren?"

"No, he's-" Twilight stopped and took a deep breath. "My friend is apparently related to him. But she's not from this world."

"What's your friend's name?"

"Rainbow Dash."

Captain O crossed her arms. "Can't say I recognize her. Sorry. But if you're looking for Phillip, he's in the Captain's Club."

Twilight blinked. "The...what?"

"The Captain's Club. It's an exclusive club for us Odd Squad leaders." Captain O gave a smirk and a halfhearted shrug. "Well...just for me, anyway. Not many other Directors come by here."

"Captain O?"

Whatever voice Twilight was expecting to come out of Phillip, "airy upper-class accent" wasn't it. She also wasn't expecting him to look so imposing in real life, as he easily towered over her. In a way, he looked deformed, and it unnerved her so much that she had to take a step back.

"My apologies for interrupting, but there's someone rather important waiti-" Phillip stopped and looked at the other being in the room. "Oh. Who's this?"

"Hello, Phillip. This is..."

"Twilight Sparkle."

"Yes. This is Twilight Sparkle. She's looking for you, as a matter of fact."

"Hm? What for?"

The question formed in Twilight's brain, but her hooves refused to move towards what her brain perceived to be a threat. "Uh...well, I wanted to ask you some questions about a friend of mine. You're related to her. Rainbow Dash."

Phillip's expression lit up like fireworks. "Oh, yes, Rainbow Dash! Goodness, it's been quite a while, hasn't it?" He approached Twilight. "How's my favorite cousin?"

"She's-" Twilight's eyes shot wide open. She shook her head furiously. "Wait...you two are actual cousins?"

"Indeed!" Phillip chirped. "Distant in blood, but close in relationship."

Captain O's face scrunched up like she ate bad seaweed. "Please don't word it like that."

"Sorry. Not...er, we're not...dating..." Twilight could swear a bit of red was creeping into Phillip's cheeks, which made a small piece of her mind melt just from how improbable it seemed.. "We're very close. Almost like siblings, you could say."

Slowly, Twilight raised a tentative hoof and posed her next question. "So why are you here, while Rainbow's in Equestria? She said you live in Equestria, but you come here all the time."

This made Phillip laugh as he waved his own hoof about. "Oh, Twilight. I assume you haven't been in this world long." He pointed towards the door. "It's fascinating. Exciting. Thrilling! Filled with adventure and danger!" A wistful sigh. "Sadly, I don't get much of that where I live in Equestria. Birmaneham is a quiet town, you see."

Made sense to Twilight, though she found it hard to relate considering she was a world savior who went on adventures all the time. "So how, exactly, do you get here? Did you create a portal?"

"Bingo!" Phillip tapped his front hooves on the ground in a pale imitation of what Twilight would generously consider clapping. "Ever since I was a colt, I've been absolutely obsessed with portals. A way to a new world, perhaps one filled with everything I've been looking for. I studied all I could, learned all sorts of spells, improved my magic skills, and finally, I created a portal to this world!"

Suddenly, something itched at Twilight's mind. She turned to Captain O. "And you? Why aren't you surprised about any of this?"

"Unicorns are very common creatures here. When Phillip arrived and said he was from some world called 'Equus', it wasn't much of a shock."

Twilight froze. Stared at Captain O for a solid minute. Tried to let her brain process what the girl just said. "What."

Captain O exchanged a confused look with Phillip.

"Did...are you...there...there are more..." A slow aching wheeze made its way out of Twilight, and she could feel her lungs shrivel up like raisins. "There are more unicorns?"

"Yes."

Deja vu from the changeling invasion hit her like a truck. If Phillip was a unicorn from Equestria, who knew how many more were out there that were from Equestria, or even from Equus as a whole? It wasn't like she could confine them to her world, but even so, it felt uncomfortable knowing that she could trot the streets of the town and pass by a unicorn and they would be somepony she happened to know. Like...oh, Celestia...like Starlight. Surely she didn't come to Earth? Surely she didn't look the same as Phillip?

In two flashes of magic, she conjured up a notepad and a pen and furiously began scribbling notes, ignoring whatever reactions Captain O and Phillip were having.

"Oh!" Ozzie chose that moment to enter, placing a hand on the door frame as he tried to catch his breath. "There you are. You're fast for a winged unicorn, huh?"

Captain O eyed him suspiciously. "Ozzie, you didn't chase Twilight around HQ, did you?"

"What? No! No, no, why would I ever..." Ozzie paused, and then hung his head low. "Yeah. Yeah, I did."

"Maybe we should send you to Equus." Captain O suggested. "You'd be part of the furniture, I'm sure."

Had Twilight been paying attention, she would have asked what Captain O meant. As it stood, though, she was on her fifth page of notes and had gone from writing stuff down about Phillip to writing stuff down about Odd Squad and the portals used to get to Earth. It was like a treasure trove full of new things to research had been discovered and was ripe for her exploration. And Starlight's, too, if she was already involved in the creation of portals. All Twilight needed now was a plan.

She took a deep breath and looked up. "Okay." With her magic, she slid the notepad and pen into hammerspace. "I think I have all the notes I need."

"For what?" Ozzie asked, with just a tinge of caution.

As much as the deep breath made Twilight calm, it was only for a moment. "A portal made by my friend got me here. A portal made by my friend who probably let other unicorns through it! There is Equestrian life on this planet, and I'm going to devote every single ounce of my time-"

"Second."

Twilight knew the voice belonged to Captain O. She didn't, however, bother to respond. "Towards my work. And as for you..." She thrust a hoof at Phillip. "You are coming back to Equestria with me."

"Um...do...I have to?"

Twilight's horn lit up, and encased Phillip in a large bubble. Lifting him up, though, proved to be a harder feat than anticipated, probably because Phillip's weight was changed between worlds. Another thing to research. "You don't have a choice," she snarled, before beginning to walk out of the door.

"B-but I like it here!"

"Once I'm done with you, then you can go wherever you want to. Right now, though? You are my test subject, whether you like it or not!"

"Um, Twilight..." Captain O took a few steps forward. "Please, don't harm him. Without him, the Captain's Club-"

"Will be obsolete? Yeah, sure. Don't worry, I'm not going to harm him. If he cooperates."

The gulp Phillip made seemed to echo throughout the room before he was toted out by Twilight, who didn't bother to tell Captain O and Ozzie it was nice to meet them. Besides, with the knowledge of how to make an Earth-bound portal, she could come back to this world eventually.

About a few minutes in, Twilight stopped and looked around in confusion, hoping to find a passing human she could ask for assistance.

"Are you lost?"

The question was innocent enough. Twilight, in her one-track state of mind, didn't see it that way. "No." A lengthy pause, and then a sigh. "Yes."

"All right, well, you'll want to take a left..."

Begrudgingly, Twilight walked the halls with Phillip in tow, trying to suppress her questions about the doors and the agents and just about everything else her eyes laid on. It was too overwhelming to think about, and besides, she had bigger priorities on her mind.

When Twilight emerged from the portal with Phillip, the first thing she noticed was that he seemed lighter to carry, which was an indication that perhaps he had turned back into a pony. The second thing she noticed was Starlight reading a book in the far-off section of the room.

"Oh, Twilight! You're back!" Starlight set down her book and trotted over. "I trust you had a pleasant trip?"

"Yeah, uh-huh. Listen, could you get Rainbow Dash for me? Tell her to meet me at the castle. And tell her it's important. Important like a summons from Celestia herself!"

Starlight slightly tilted her head. "Uh...okay? I'll go get her. Just one question, though, since you didn't bother to give me many details..." She pointed at the pony in the bubble. "Who's that?"

"Phillip. I'll explain later."

"Okay." In a flash, Starlight teleported away, leaving just Twilight and Phillip alone to walk the halls and rooms of the castle.

"Erm...so where are we going, exactly?" Phillip asked tentatively.

"Somewhere where I can interrogate you."

"I-Interrogate?" Phillip scoffed. "Are you saying I'm a villain?"

"No. How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Because when Odd Squad interrogates people-"

"Let me stop you right there." Twilight held up a hoof. "This isn't Earth, my castle is not Odd Squad, and I think you've been spending just a bit too much time over there, don't you think?"

Phillip fell quiet for a moment. "Perhaps. My apologies. It's just that I don't quite understand what it is you're doing, exactly, and why it involves me."

Twilight's raised hoof met her forehead for a moment before it slid down. "I'm going to interrogate you to find any possible links between Equestria and Earth. From there, I can see if other ponies have made their way towards Earth, find out where they are, and find out if they have any connection to Odd Squad. Then comes the second phase, which is researching Odd Squad and its inhabitants. Clearly, it has a level of planetary influence, so it must be very important to Earth's ecosystem. And if there are Equestrian unicorns within Odd Squad, then we can start working towards a potential alliance between them and the Equestrian government. If an alliance is secured, then the next step will be towards interdimensional travel between our two worlds, bringing-"

"Um." Phillip blinked. "I'm...sorry, but you lost me after the first...ah...'phase' was explained. Could you simplify it just a little?"

"I'm going," Twilight spoke slowly, "to interrogate you, to find a link between Equestria and Earth."

"Oh, is that all?" Phillip let out an airy laugh. "Well, I think Captain O might've given you the answer to that one. A link already exists. There are already Equestrian unicorns on Earth. I'd say your next step should be finding out what Odd Squad is."

Twilight stopped. Slightly narrowed her eyes. Turned around and craned her head upwards to meet the smaller form of Phillip. And glared. "You can't be serious."

"Unicorns on Earth are merely one part of the equation. Odd Squad is an even bigger part. After all, they are the ones who keep the world in order."

This earned an eye twitch. "And how's that?"

"Well...I could tell you. Or, I could let you drive yourself mad researching about it." Phillip tapped his chin. "I think I'll go with the latter."

Suddenly, Twilight began to realize where Rainbow got her teasing from. Her look of anger shifted to one of getting the upper hoof. "The joke's on you, because that's exactly the answer I was expecting."

"...What?"

"I love doing research!" Twilight chirped, turning around and continuing to walk. "So don't tell me anything. Let me find out about Odd Squad for myself."

In preparation, she added a soundproof layer to the bubble, which muted any revealing conclusions Phillip would utter. If he was going to give her a challenge, then so be it. She would face it head-on. If she could weave her way through the trials and tribulations of the Human World, then surely she could do the same for the human world.

Taking a vacant room near the castle's front doors, Twilight stepped inside, closed the doors behind her, and set Phillip down on the floor before releasing him from his bubble. If he had been speaking before, he certainly wasn't now, instead staring at her expectantly.

"If you could have a seat at the table." Twilight gestured to a chair, at which Phillip was happy to sit in. She, in turn, took a seat across from him, glancing at the door for a moment to see if she could spot any oncoming shadows approaching her door before turning her gaze over to Phillip. By all means, he looked every inch like he did on Earth, discounting his horn being white instead of gold and the shrunken size of both body and horn.

The doors bursting open, and the sound of flapping wings, made her jump slightly. "Oh wow." Rainbow landed gracefully, wiping stray tears away from her eye. "When Starlight told me you had 'some weird unicorn' with you, I didn't think..." She couldn't finish the sentence, and laughter filled the gap. "You brought him here?"

"Yes, Rainbow." Twilight let her frown deepen. "He gave me a breakthrough, believe it or not. He and Captain O both. There are Equestrian unicorns roaming about on Earth already. Odd Squad is massive. I mean, they keep world peace!" She threw her hooves into the air before moving one slightly towards Phillip. "So naturally, the next step is to find out all about them."

Rainbow looked hesitant. "Uhh...I don't know about that. You sure they want you sticking your snout in their business?"

"If they didn't, I don't think their agents would have welcomed me."

Phillip interjected by clearing his throat. "Erm, if I may?" He raised a tentative hoof. "From my visits, I happen to know that Odd Squad has quite a lot of books in its library. In fact, I believe they have a department dedicated to literary matters. As such, there may be something there that can help you."

Twilight's head snapped to Phillip like someone had been twisting it and gotten it into position. She stared at him, blinked rapidly several times, then slowly leaned towards the table. "Excuse me?"

"Mm, what was its name..." Phillip tapped his hoof on the table. "Darn, it must've slipped my mind."

Taking a deep breath, Twilight tried to compose herself. She could just drop the interrogation and go back to Earth right now, but as long as she had Phillip here, she might as well make the most of it. "Okay, Phillip. So here's what we're going to do." She slammed her hooves on the table and lifted herself up. "You're going to tell me everything you know about Odd Squad."

Phillip blinked. "All of it?"

Starlight teleported into the room. Twilight only barely noticed her as she narrowed her eyes that were blazing with passion and excitement.

"All of it."

Author's Note

Writers hand me ideas on a silver platter. It is my moral duty to do something with them. In this particular case, this story has been in the making since this unicorn was revealed in a behind-the-scenes photo, wherein I did, in fact, joke about it being Odd Squad's version of Super Rainbow Dash. Lo and behold my amazement when I found out it was an MLP reference, just not to Rainbow Dash, taken from my Seren's Study episode followup of "Club 37":

So essentially, it's bootleg Rainbow Dash with the white from G1 Twilight's mane and tail (or perhaps the coat of Rarity from G4) and her cutie mark from that generation. A mix-and-match, if you will. (Or, likewise, the very-fanon Super Rainbow Dash, where her fur is, in fact, white.)

Because they're too scared to make an actual reference, the fucking bastards.

You didn't have to include the cutie mark. You chose to add that. And then you half-assed the rest of it. Could have made the unicorn have G1 Twilight's colors and that's it, but God forbid, Hasbro's gonna hunt them down for money, oooooo scawy.

0/10. See me after class.

Makes one wonder if episode writer Omar Khan is some kind of brony underneath the terrible writing and the obsession with sleeping characters.