"Agreed..." Nick said. "It's time we face facts... Judy, we need to hire a nanny." Nick said, looking haggard and tired. Their doorbell then rang.
"I'll see who it is. With any luck, it's not ANOTHER poor dumb mammal trying to make it as an encyclopedia salesman." Judy said as she went to the front door... and when she opened the door she was perplexed by the emperor penguin standing on the front porch.
"Hmm... right on time." The penguin said, looking over a pocket watch. "I had expected you'd spend the entire time checking to see if your eye wasn't failing you, Judith." She said with a refined sounding British accent.
"I... have seen worse things, then a talking penguin... and how do you know my name?" Judy asked.
"I know everyone and no-one. My card." The penguin said as she entered the house, and giving Judy a business card.
'Mary Puffins: Nanny.' The card read.
"You're clearly a penguin!" Judy said incredulously.
"Yes it was my late husband's name, I kept it. Now regarding my employment-"
"Carrots, why is there a talking penguin in the house?" Nick asked.
"I am here regarding the new position of Nanny in your household," Mary said.
"Okay, we never actually agreed on that," Judy said.
"Regardless, it's obvious you require my aid," Mary said, observing the general disorder and messiness of the Wilde-Hopps household. The kicker to this scene was Elizabeth tumbling down the stairs.
"I'm okay!" Elizabeth chirped as she stood up, wobbling, disoriented and dizzy from a lack of power. "I put... I put the hairy babies to sleep."
"Case and point, your android seems to be overtaxed, rather an impressive feat if I do say so myself," Mary said as she put down her purse, and from it, she somehow produced a generator.
"Hello penguin, you're a... pretty birdy... pretty birdy." Elizabeth rambled as Mary hooked Elizabeth to the generator.
"Why thank you, young lady." The parrot-headed handle of Mary's umbrella said.
"She wasn't talking to you," Mary said, whacking the head against the wall. "Honestly, the poor girl is barely conscious as is," Mary said as she activated the generator.
"Recharging in progress!" Elizabeth said as she was restored to one-hundred percent charge. "I feel like I could run a marathon!... and... there's a talking penguin in the house."
"We noticed." Nick and Judy said in unison.
The following morning the Hopps-Wilde children woke up. And we're quite astonished to find a penguin working with Elizabeth. "Kitts, meet your new Nanny, Mary Puffins!" Elizabeth introduced as Mary whistled, and prepared breakfast for the kits.
"When did we get a penguin?" One of the kits asked, clutching at a stuffed bear.
"Your parents hired me last night. And I must say, despite the look of the place it was surprisingly easy to clean up the main floor." Mary said.
"Is that where the singing was coming from?" Another kitt asked.
"Why yes, we were singing while we worked... sorry if it kept any of you up," Elizabeth said.
"Where's the Nanny-Bot?" A third kitt asked.
"Oh... it's around, most likely brooding over its lot in life. Again, rather than being of help." Elizabeth said. The Nanny-Bot then hovered through the dining room, grumbling under its non-existent breath.
"Hmm..." Mary said, rubbing her chin at the Nanny-Bot. "Stewart, Bonnie, Hunter, Robin, Rachel, Sally, Rose, David, Fiona, Tyler, Marion, Harry, Vilthuril, and Frith," Mary said, counting each of Nick and Judy's kits. "I was under the impression that there were fifteen of you put together. But one is absent." Mary noted.
"Pandora's still asleep; she's been sleeping in ever since her fur started changing color." A fourth kitt said.
"Well, that won't do. Elizabeth, man things here I'll look into Pandora." Mary said as she made her way to the bedroom without another word. "Rise and shine, it's a beautiful day outside," Mary said as she opened the windows.
"Lizzy... you're not getting me out of bed," Pandora muttered.
"So you are awake. And I am not your robotic creation." Mary said as she ripped Pandora's bed covering off. "Now get out of bed. Breakfast is served in the dining room." Mary said as she grabbed Pandora by the ankle.
"What the?!" Pandora said in surprise as a clothed and talking penguin took her down to the dining room. "Mary I don't mean to be a wet blanket... but I don't like the way that the Nanny-Bot is chopping the vegetables," Elizabeth said as the Nanny-Bot was happily humming as it chopped away at a carrot, to the point that it was a fine mush.
"Well, that certainly can't be right. Pandora, walk me through deactivating this glorified toaster." Mary said.
"I... IS THAT PENGUIN TALKING?!" Pandora yelled, finally getting enough of her wits together to talk.
"Absolutely absurd I know, now how do I deactivate this Nanny-Bot?" Mary asked.
"Oh... the AI card is under the rear hood. There's an ejector button, can't miss it." Pandora said. "And did I just seriously give technical support to a talking penguin?"
"Yeah sis, you did," Hunter said as Mary ejected the AI card that contained the digitized mind of Dawn Bellwether.
"I would recommend that you put in a new AI into this husk," Mary said as she held out the card. "This one seemed to have been becoming... crazy I believe."
"What?... oh I've been meaning to debug that but... things came up," Pandora said as she ate her breakfast.
"She spends all day listening to depressing music," Sally said.
"I suppose going through an existential crisis can leave one compromised... though it is not necessary to continually wallow in it," Mary said.
"Who talked?!" Pandora said defensively.
"No one... I'm not sure how. But she already knew how that whole thing went down. My being possessed by Loki AND your early puberty." Elizabeth said.
Pandora was bewildered by what was going on. "Where's... where's mom and dad?" Pandora asked.
"There still asleep I believe. And for quite a while as they were quite exhausted last night." Mary said.
"Here are their exact words," Elizabeth said.
"It's eleven, we both worked about eighteen-hour shifts today alone. We're running on fumes, we haven't gotten any decent sleep all week, and we've got bags under our eyes like you wouldn't believe." A recording of Nick's voice said.
"We're hitting the sack." A recording of Judy's voice said. Followed by the sound of two bodies falling on a mattress, this was followed by snoring that sounded roughly like power tools going off.
"Fortunately for them, they opted to take the weekend off from work. And that it is a three day weekend." Mary said.
"Wait, when? I was under the impression that they had no free days left?" Elizabeth asked.
"I have seen to it that they can enjoy a weekend with their children... had to tell a white lie to Chief Ham-Hawk to get him to see reason. But they will be able to return to work without a problem on Tuesday." Mary explained, referring to the chief of Precinct 1 who had taken over after Chief Bogo was reassigned to head up the Zootopia Vigilante Registration Program, which eventually became the International Defense League. "He was quite an unpleasant pig to speak with I must say," Mary said.
Eventually, Mary Puffins along with the kits were at a botanical garden. The kits were in awe at the plants and insects buzzing around the contained building. All except for Pandora, who was just keeping pace with Mary and her sibling's, keeping her paws in her pockets and looking down at her feet.
"Blast it, child!" Mary said as she used her umbrella to force Pandora to look her in the face. "I am very much aware that your self-esteem has been mortally wounded. But it is no excuse to sulk like this."
"And what do you know about me?" Pandora said venomously as she bore her teeth.
"Firstly, don't bare your teeth it makes you look savage. Secondly:" Mary then went into length regarding what she knew about Pandora. Then, without warning the two were met up with Pandora's uncle Davies, Anna and Josephus.
"It's... it's a penguin! Pandora you're with a penguin!" Davies said in surprise. "Guys you gotta-... guys... what are you doing in there?" He said, noting that Anna and Josephus had hidden in a janitor's closet.
"It's quite alright; the undead in general feel discomfort around my kind," Mary said Pandora was far too bewildered by the penguin's knowledge of her life to even hear her.
"Figures... you're still upset about the whole, 'nobody told me I was a genetically engineered hybrid' thing, aren't you?" Davies said to Pandora.
"...no... No, I'm over it." Pandora lied. "I just... am REALLY confused by the talking penguin! Who are you and how do you know so much about me!"
"My dear, you must learn that the world is more than rules, logic, and facts. Most of the people who are in charge of such things don't even abide by those rules most of the time anyway." Mary said. "Now if you'll excuse me." She said as she went over to the closet where Anna and Josephus were hiding.
"I know you don't think much of her Pancake... but I am more than certain that you're in good flippers," Davies said.
"And what makes you so certain?" Pandora asked.
"Well she's a penguin, for one thing, there some of the best parents around," Davies said.
"That's a might presumptuous... while you are correct, I know plenty of penguins that would just as soon leave their children to die in the cold. Rather than risk their own tail feathers for the betterment of there brood." Mary said.
"You're not one of those, right?" Davies asked.
"But of course!" Mary said as she removed a drill from her purse. "Hmm..." she said to herself as she examined the door of the janitors closet hinges. "Wrong head." She said as she riffled through her bag for the right screw head.
"Pandora... I know you're still shaken up about your being a genetically engineered hybrid. But everyone still loves you for you." Davies said, trying to be a source of comfort for his niece. "I for one thought it was a bad idea to keep the whole matter a secret... but your parents were adamant on trying to give you as normal a life as they could give you. And in their mind's eye, that meant keeping you in the dark about the whole thing." Davies said.
"Is there a point?" Pandora asked.
"It's that you really shouldn't think so hard about the whole thing. You're a smart kitt... terrifyingly smart, but you can't spend every minute of every hour of every day just thinking. It's exhausting and can be very unconstructive to do. It can keep you from enjoying things... from being the person that you can become." Davies said.
Pandora thought for a moment. "I... I think I get what you're trying to say. Putting thought into things is important, but not to the exclusion of others." Pandora said as a dragonfly flew behind her. "Like... like this dragonfly. Is that an Ebony jewelwing?" She said, noting the green and blue, and black winged insect.
"I like dragonflies... their wings are pretty," Davies said. "But, you should probably get going... I think it's lunchtime."
"You got one with you?" Pandora asked.
"Well yes, Anna thought that we'd spend the day out of-"
"Then you're eating with us," Pandora said as she took her uncle's wheelchair, and drove it over to her siblings who were at a picnic table.
He was then quickly mobbed by his nieces and nephews. "...can we please get to eating? Pretty Please?" Davies said, cringing from the invasion of his personal space.
Over the course of Mary, Puffins stay, things improved for the Wilde-Hopps family by and large. Nick and Judy managed to get manageable working hours that allowed them to spend more time with their family. Pandora had regained her happy-go-lucky attitude from before learning the truth of her conception and had even gotten around to creating a new AI for the Nanny-Bot. Rather than just debug the digitized Bellwether over and over, and having to deal with the consequences for not doing so.
Eventually, Mary Puffins had to leave. The kits were crushed by this news... none more so then Pandora herself. "Pandora, I understand you're upset," Mary said as Pandora attempted to dig her claws into Mary's ankle. "But I really must be going. Yours is not the only family that needs my aid." Mary said as she used her umbrella as a makeshift crowbar.
"But... but you made us better!" Pandora wailed, tears streaming from her eyes.
"My dear I did no such thing. I merely nudged your family in the right directions where need be. And besides, you managed to fix your Nanny-Bot. I'm redundant anyway, especially seeing as how you based its new Artificial Intelligence off of me." Mary said. "Believe me, you're not the first child I've taken care of that's been upset by my leaving. But you must be strong dear." She said sympathetically. "Dry your eyes... and save your tears for the trials and tribulations that will test you in days to come."
"B-But-" Pandora couldn't say anything more as the wind carried off Mary Puffins. Pandora was quiet, barely saying anything for the rest of the day. Then as she slept, she had a dream.
A dream where the world was a pristine place, the cities were like glistening pearls, mammals of all species lived in harmony, and everywhere Pandora went and looked. She was praised for bringing all of this to pass, and there were definite signs to her. That this shining future was her doing... this all but made her forget about Mary Puffin's absence.
This dream also sowed the seeds for her future actions, both good... and bad.