Twilight Swirl
“Princess Twilight, it’s so good to see you came back for a follow up appointment after our last one was cut short,” Spiral Swirl said, smiling.
“Sorry, that’s not happening,” Twilight said, as she fired a stun spell at Spiral Swirl.
Spiral Swirl jumped out of the way and the spell flew past her.
“A stun spell? How quaint,” Spiral Swirl said.
“Blissful Trance, please go find somewhere safe until this is over,” Twilight said.
“O….okay,” Blissful Trance said, as she ran off.
Once she was sure that the young filly was out of danger, Twilight fired another stun spell at Spiral Swirl. Spiral Swirl responded by firing a magic blast that not only obliterated the stun spell, but kept on going, hitting Twilight and knocking her back.
“Let’s try this again,” Twilight said, as she fired off three stun spells at once.
Spiral Swirl successfully evaded the attack once more, by combining her strategies from before; she dodged two of the stun spells and obliterated the third with her own magic attack.
“Gah!” Twilight cried as she dove out of the way of the incoming blast.
Time for a new strategy, Twilight thought.
Her horn glowed and she vanished in a flash of light as she teleported.
Oh no you don’t, Spiral Swirl, thought, as she fired a magic blast into the ground the second she saw Twilight disappear. The blast kicked up a large cloud of dust around her.
“Ha!” Twilight shouted, when she reappeared. She fired off a stun spell at the spot where Spiral Swirl had been, though she was caught off guard by the new cloud of dust, “Wait… what?”
Taking advantage of her confusion, Spiral Swirl emerged from the dust cloud and delivered a kick to Twilight’s midsection. After the blow sent her stumbling back, Spiral Swirl followed up the kick with a magic blast that sent Twilight flying.
“Owwww,” Twilight moaned, as she got to her feet.
Okay, ground attacks aren’t really working right now, and she picked up on my teleportation sniping strategy immediately. Looks like it’s time for a third option, Twilight thought, as she took to the air.
Once she was high enough, she fired off a barrage of stun spells at Spiral Swirl.
“Uh oh!” Spiral Swirl said, as she ran across the barn yard, bobbing and weaving as she did her best to focus her attention not only ahead of her, but on the sky as well. She eventually made it to the safety of the barn.
Where are my slaves? She thought, once she was inside, Surely they must have dealt with Twilight’s friends by now, and the ones that aren’t must be bringing some unhypnotized ponies back to me.
Looking around the barn she saw a few farming implements hanging on the walls.
I guess I’ll have to provide my own anti-air attacks.
Twilight hovered above the barn yard and looked down, searching for signs of life.
I guess I’ll have to go down and go into the barn, she thought, Wait, something’s coming out.
She watched the shadow of something emerge from the barn, only to react in horror as it launched itself up at her.
“Incoming!” she shouted, as she dove out of the way of the bag of chicken feed, “That was close…….uh oh!”
The bag of chicken feed was soon followed by a rake, shovel, and several other implements that made up Spiral Swirl’s improvised arsenal. Twilight dodged all of them, before blasting a coil of rope that was threatening to wrap her up like an improvised bolo. After a couple minutes of dodging, the barrage died down.
I guess she finally ran out of ammo,Twilight thought, as she landed in front of the barn, before realizing, at the last second, that Spiral Swirl still had something else to chuck at her, Oh, not good!
A high speed hay bale flew into her, knocking her senseless as she tumbled across the ground.
“Ugghhh,” Twilight moaned, as she got to her feet and rubbed her head. When she turned back towards the barn she gasped. Spiral Swirl had taken the opportunity to get out her pocket watch. She was using her magic to levitate it by its chain so that it was swinging back and forth in front of Twilight’s eyes.
“I’m sure this fight has been tiring and stressful,” Spiral Swirl said, as she walked towards Twilight, “Why don’t you relax and watch my watch. Focus only on the watch, Twilight.”
Twilight gasped as her eyes became locked on the pocket watch.
“That’s it, just like before. Relax for me. Let my voice start to guide you into hypnosis.”
“No!” Twilight shouted.
Her horn glowed and she fired off a magic shockwave. The resulting blast sent Spiral Swirl flying into some bushes. With her magic no longer holding it up, the pocket watch clattered to the ground.
Freeing herself from the bushes, Spiral Swirl smiled upon seeing a terrified Blissful Trance.
“Looks like I stumbled upon your hiding place. Why don’t you make yourself more useful?” Spiral Swirl said, as she focused her magic on Blissful Trance.
“What? Whoa! Oh…oh no!!” Blissful Trance cried, as she felt Spiral Swirl’s levitation field surround her and she began to be lifted off the ground.
Twilight had finally shaken off the effects of Spiral Swirl’s attempted hypnotic induction and looked over towards where Spiral Swirl had landed.
There she is, Twilight thought, upon seeing Spiral Swirl emerge.
“Hey, Twilight! Catch!” Spiral Swirl shouted, before used her magic to fling Blissful Trance at Twilight.
Blissful Trance screamed as she flew across the barnyard, like an improvised javelin. Fortunately, Twilight was able to use her magic to stop the filly’s flight a few inches before impact.
Twilight and Blissful Trance both breathed a sigh of relief, before Spiral Swirl took advantage of the distracted Twilight and blasted her again with a magic attack. As Twilight went flying, her magic around Blissful Trance faded and the filly fell to the ground.
She coughed and wheezed due to the wind being knocked out of her.
“Have you gone completely insane!?” Twilight shouted, as she walked over to comfort Blissful Trance.
“In a fight like this, anything can be a weapon,” Spiral Swirl said.
Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight noticed a bushel full of apples under a tree.
“Alright then,” Twilight said, as she focused her magic on the apples and lifted them out of the basket. She then lobbed them at Spiral Swirl, putting very little energy behind the magical push.
The apple attack flew at Spiral Swirl so slowly; she was able to stop them all in midair with her magic.
“Really?” Spiral Swirl said, unimpressed with the attack.
Twilight replied, by firing a magic blast at the apples.
“Gah! Aaaa!” Spiral Swirl cried, as remnants of the apples splattered across her face.
She rubbed her face and eyes with her hoof, desperately trying to get the mess off.
“I’ll get you for that,” she said, once her vision had cleared, only to realize a stun spell was inches away from impact, “Oh no!”
The ball of magic absorbed into her body once it made contact. A series of green electrical streams then crackled around her body.
Spiral Swirl let loose a primal scream as the paralysis effect of the stun spell took hold.
She quickly regained her composure though.
“Well you got me, but your holding back almost cost you dearly,” she said.
“I was holding back so I didn’t hurt you,” Twilight said, as she walked over to her.
“So, what now?” Spiral Swirl asked.
“Now, you’re going to release the ponies you’ve hypnotized from their trances,” Twilight demanded.
“No.”
“Don’t make this anymore difficult then it has to be.”
“Oh, I think I’ll be as difficult as possible,” Spiral Swirl said, as a smug grin formed on her face.
“Please don’t force me to make you do it,” Twilight pleaded.
“Making me to do something? That doesn’t sound very princesslike,” Spiral Swirl said, “Though the big question is, how are you going to make me to free all those ponies from my spell? Are you going to lock me up until I do? You’ll be waiting a long time. Perhaps you might torture me into doing it. I’d love to see how my slaves react to seeing you doing that.”
“No, I would never do something like that,” Twilight said, getting annoyed with her.
“Oh wait, maybe you’ll break off my horn. After all, princesses seem to love doing that to members of my family,” Spiral Swirl said angrily, “So, Princess Twilight, were any of my guesses correct?”
Twilight sighed before addressing Spiral Swirl, “No. I’m going to take a page out of your book and turn the tables, because I finally understand.”
“Understand what? What on earth are you babbling about?” Spiral Swirl said in confusion.
“Usually after I’ve witnessed a form of magic I can pretty much adapt it and use it almost instantly, but I’ve seen and experienced Hypno magic from both you and Blissful Trance and yet I couldn’t use it. I knew the basics of how it worked, but I just don’t know how to properly utilize it,” Twilight said, repeating what she had told Zecora earlier, “However, when I was watching Blissful Trance free my friends from your control things started to click together. Every time she used her Hypno magic on one of my friends, I started to grasp the inner workings of the magic and how it affected ponies’ minds, and since she was using it against your Hypno magic I began to see how that magic worked too. After seeing her perform her spell five times all the pieces fell into place. I now know how to perform Hypno magic. I can’t believe how complex it really is. It makes teleportation seem like simple levitation.”
Twilight then focused her magic on Spiral Swirl’s watch, which had fallen to the ground earlier, and levitated it over to her.
Spiral Swirl immediately burst out laughing.
“Obviously you arrived too late to hear the lecture I gave to the little brat,” Spiral Swirl said, “Unicorns that know Hypno magic can’t hypnotize other unicorns that know Hypno magic. So not only won’t you be able to hypnotize me, the fact that you were starting to succumb to my spell a little earlier tells me that you don’t really know Hypno magic, since you lack the immunity to it.”
“Maybe I lack it since I don’t have a natural talent with Hypno magic. Plus there’s another factor you’re forgetting, I’m not a unicorn anymore. I’m an alicorn,” Twilight said, unfolding her wings to add emphasis.
Spiral Swirl rolled her eyes at the little demonstration.
“I really don’t want to have to resort to this. This is your last chance,” Twilight said.
“Go ahead,” Spiral Swirl said, “I doubt it’ll work. Heck, you might end up accidentally hypnotizing yourself. Now that would be fun to watch.”
Twilight gave one final sigh, before she used her magic to levitate the pocket watch by its chain so it dangled in front of Spiral Swirl’s eyes.
“To ensure this does work, I’ll be using both your version of Hypno magic and Blissful Trance’s at the same time,” Twilight said.
Her horn glowed slightly brighter, as she projected a purple and pink spiral onto the face of the pocket watch. She then began to swing it back and forth in front of Spiral Swirl’s eyes.
“Please watch the watch, Spiral Swirl,” Twilight said, her voice taking on a calm yet authoritative tone.
Spiral Swirl just glared at her as the modified pocket watch swung back and forth in front of her eyes.
“Watch it swing back and forth. Back and forth. Find your eyes being drawn to the watch. You follow it back and forth. Your eyes become locked on it as it swings back and forth and the spiral swirls around and around.”
Spiral Swirl let out a small gasp as her eyes began to follow the watch’s path.
Wait…what?! She thought in confusion.
“That’s it,” Twilight said, “Just focus all your attention on the watch and on my voice. Your eyes are drawn to it. They’re drawn to the spiral as well. Its swirling motion seems to draw you into the center of the spiral.”
Quite the interesting tactic, my focus is on the center of the spiral so my gaze never stops following the swinging motion of the watch, Spiral Swirl thought, Interesting, but it’ll never work.
“Watch the watch, Spiral Swirl. Watch it and relax for me. Relax. It’s gentle swinging motion is relaxing you. My voice is calming you. The pleasant colors of the spiral are also having a soothing effect on you,” Twilight continued.
Spiral Swirl sighed slightly as a wave of relaxation washed over her.
That feels good. I can see why my hypnosis subjects love this feeling so much…NO! I must resist! Spiral Swirl thought.
“Relax even more, Spiral Swirl. Let your whole body relax. Starting with your hooves and legs. Now let it spread up to your chest. Now this pleasant feeling of relaxation is spreading up your neck and into your face. Your whole body is relaxed,” Twilight said, as she focused even more energy on the Hypno magic.
I can’t move from the stun spell, but I can feel it. My whole body is limp and loose. She’s actually doing it. She’s starting to hypnotize me….urgh! No! I won’t let it happen. It can’t happen! Spiral Swirl thought, growing more and more desperate.
“As you soak in this feeling of complete relaxation, please stare deeper into the spiral. Let all your remaining tension be drawn down into the spiral, like water going down the drain. You have no stresses, no tension, and no resistance.”
Yes…no…resistance…no! Must…res…ist… Spiral Swirl thought, as her mental defenses finally began to fail.
“You’re so relaxed now. You’re starting to feel sleepy. So sleepy and drowsy. When I count down from five to zero you will go into a deep hypnotized sleep for me,” Twilight said, as she prepared to put the finishing touches on her induction, “Five…So sleepy. Four…I’m sorry it had to come to this. Three…Eyelids so heavy. Two…Ready to be hypnotized. One…drifting off to sleep. Zero…now sleep for me. Relax. Allow yourself to sleep, Spiral Swirl.”
At Twilight’s count of zero, Spiral Swirl’s eyes morphed into pink and purple spirals, before she slowly closed them and drifted off to sleep.
Twilight sighed as she put the pocket watch back down.
“I really didn’t want it to come to this,” Twilight said, “Can you hear me, Spiral Swirl?”
“Yessss. I can, Princess Twilight,” Spiral Swirl said quietly.
“You are deeply hypnotized. In this state you will be open to all my suggestions and commands.”
“Yes, Princess Twilight. I will do as you ask,” Spiral Swirl said.
Upon hearing her say this, Blissful Trance gasped, and backed up a little.
“Don’t worry,” Twilight said, smiling at her, “I haven’t suddenly gone mad with power or anything like that.”
“What…what are you going to make her do?” Blissful Trance asked.
“What needs to be done, we’ll be right back,” Twilight said.
Twilight’s horn glowed and she and Spiral Swirl vanished in a flash of light. They reappeared in the bell tower of the town hall. Twilight then used her magic to create a magical construct in the form of a megaphone.
“Alright, the first thing I want you to do is free the ponies you’ve hypnotized from your control. You will also remove their trigger phrases.”
“Yes, Princess Twilight. I will do as you wish,” Spiral Swirl said, as she opened her eyes. She walked over to the megaphone and shouted into it, “Attention, all my hypnotized slaves, on the count of three you will come out of trances! You will no longer be under my control and the trigger phrase ‘Trance time’ will no longer work on you. One…feeling my influence over your minds fading. Two…your freewill is returning…Three!”
Her amplified voice echoed across Ponyville, as pony after pony broke free of her control, the black and white spirals fading from their eyes.
“Good job,” Twilight said, “Now we’re going to take a trip to Canterlot so you can free Princess Luna from your influence.”
“That won’t be necessary, Princess Twilight,” Spiral Swirl said, “I never hypnotized Princess Luna.”
“What!?” Twilight shouted in disbelief.
“You were the first alicorn I ever tried to hypnotize. I only told you that story to break your morale. I wanted to ensure you were broken down as physically and mentally as possible.”
“Well…it worked,” Twilight said, remembering the despair she had felt when she thought that not only had her friends fallen prey to Spiral Swirl, but Luna as well, “Let’s head back.”
Her horn glowed again and they vanished.
When they reappeared in the Sweet Apple Acres barnyard, she was surprised to see everypony that had been fighting had made their way there. The nurse ponies and Healing Touch were doing their best to patch up everypony’s injuries.
Several ponies walked over to her and apologized for what they had done while hypnotized.
“Don’t worry about it. Everypony she hypnotized is not responsible for their actions while under her spell,” Twilight said, “I’ve already forgiven all of you.”
“Blissful Trance filled us in, Twi,” Applejack said, “Sorry we couldn’t be there when you fought her.”
“Undone by the very thing she used against all of us, how poetic,” Rarity said.
“Oh wow! You’re a hypnotist now, Twilight!” Pinkie said excitedly, before holding up a muffin, “Here, have a celebratory Mesmerizing Muffin!”
“Uhhh thanks, Pinkie,” Twilight said, not sure how to react.
“So what’s going to happen to her now?” Fluttershy asked.
“I say, we make her our servant. Everypony in Ponyville gets Spiral Swirl as a maid for a week,” Rainbow Dash said.
“That’s not going to happen,” Twilight said, glaring at her.
“Well, what is going to happen to her?” Applejack asked.
“She’s going to face the consequences of her actions,” Twilight said, “Though for something like this, she’ll be facing the Canterlot Law Council rather then a regular trial.”
“What if she tries any hypno-shannigans with them? Having them under her spell could be really dangerous. The princesses will be in the room too, and we know how close she came to hypnotizing you,” Bon Bon said with concern.
“I guess…I guess I’ll have to keep her in her trance,” Twilight said, “I don’t want to do it, but it might be the safest option. I’ll stick around to act on her behalf during the council proceedings to ensure she gets a fair representation.”
“You’d do that for her after all she did?” Rainbow Dash asked, before giving her an affectionate head rub, “You’re one in a million, Twilight.”
A few days later, Spiral Swirl sat at a table in the Law Council meeting room. Her eyes were still pink and purple spirals. The princesses sat at the front of the room, observing the proceedings while the law council members sat off to the side. Twilight stood in front of the table, ready to speak up on Spiral Swirl’s behalf if she needed to.
“With her actions, it’s obvious that any unicorn that knows Hypno magic is too dangerous. We should lock them all up,” one councilor said.
“Oh sure, that’s a great idea,” Twilight said, her voice laced with sarcasm, “We could lock up the shy little filly that helped free my friends from her control. I hear there’s a nurse in Manehattan that knows Hypno magic too, I’m sure her patients would love having her torn away from them. Plus you can’t forget I know Hypno magic now too. I’m definitely a huge danger to society.”
“Never mind,” the councilor said sheepishly.
“I say we give her to Discord,” another councilor chimed in.
“For the last time, no,” Twilight said.
“But he told me if I didn’t convince you to do that, he’d shuffle the functions of every hole on my face. He said it was something he learned from an evil triangle. AN EVIL TRIANGLE!!” the councilor cried in despair.
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy and I will have a long chat with Discord,” Twilight assured him.
“How about we put her in Tartarus,” another councilor said.
“That’s your solution to everything,” another one said.
“No it’s not.”
“You wanted to send Doughnut Joe there after he messed up your order.”
“My coffee had too much cream in it. You know how much I hate cream.”
Twilight rolled her eyes as the two argued back and forth.
“Enough of this nonsense,” another councilor said, “The best solution here is to break off her horn.”
“Absolutely not!” Twilight shouted, “A broken horn is one main reasons this whole thing started. We’re not letting this cycle repeat itself.”
“Well, princess, you’ve shot down all our ideas,” the council member that was arguing with the other said, “Perhaps you could enlighten us with your ideal solution.”
“Errr um…just a second,” Twilight said, caught off guard.
She paced across the room while the law council cast a critical eye on her. She looked up at Celestia who gave her an encouraging smile.
“Okay, I think I’ve got it,” Twilight said, after thinking it over a little longer, “She definitely needs to be punished for her actions. So she definitely needs to spend some time in prison. However, perhaps while there she can use her talents to help those in there with her. She is a trained psychologist after all. The ponies she hypnotized said that even though she enslaved them, she still put forth an effort to help them with her problems. Ponies from Manehattan also say that when she was practicing up there, she always put the needs of her patients first. Do you think you’d be okay with helping other prisoners with therapy while you’re in there, Spiral Swirl?”
“Of course,” Spiral Swirl said.
“They say time heals all wounds, and while I doubt she will ever get over her hatred of Ponyville, we can still hold out hope.”
“And what’s to prevent her from hypnotizing the prisoners and guards into being her hypnotized army?”
Twilight let out a defeated sigh, “I guess I’ll have to ask her to no longer use Hypno magic on ponies before I wake her from her trance. She would still be able to help ponies with their problems, both while in prison and when she’s released, but hypnotherapy would be out I guess.”
The law councilors huddled together to discuss matters.
“Alright, Princess Twilight, we’ve reached a decision,” the head law councilor said, “We agree to your terms, on one condition: You keep Spiral Swirl under your hypnotic spell. If you wake her up, she might be able to start resisting your suggestion she not use Hypno magic on ponies after awhile.”
“I don’t want to keep her hypnotized, let alone hypnotized indefinitely,” Twilight said.
“It’s either that or we come up with a solution and seeing as how you’ve shot down our other ideas it might be one you don’t like.”
Twilight sighed, “Fine. I’ll make it so she’s 100 percent her normal self, but still keep her hypnotized.”
“Then we accept these terms. Spiral Swirl will be held in the castle dungeon until the Department of Corrections assigns her to another facility. You may give her your commands later on today,” the head councilor declared, before slamming down a gavel.
Twilight stood to the side while the councilors left the room and a couple of palace guards led Spiral Swirl away. Once everypony was gone, she walked over too the princesses.
“I really didn’t it want to end like that,” Twilight said, addressing Celestia, “Couldn’t you have said anything?
“I know you don’t like how things turned out. I don’t like some of the solutions they come up with either,” Celestia said, “But if I overstepped their rulings time after time, it might begin to seem like I’m acting like a tyrant…and that is the start of a very slippery slope. The fact that they were willing to be flexible with you shows me they appreciated the uniqueness of the situation. In the end I think you came up with the best possible solution despite what you were up against.”
“I…I guess so,” Twilight said, “Even though she had no qualms about keeping my friends hypnotized, I still feel bad she needs to be kept under my spell.”
“That is why I feel you will be a responsible Hypno magic user,” Celestia said, “Just like young Blissful Trance.”
Twilight smiled at her encouragement.
“Speaking of Blissful Trance, have you told her she is set to receive the Royal Order of the Sun and Moon for her meritorious actions in Ponyville?” Luna asked.
“I told her, but she feels she doesn’t deserve an award like that. She’s just happy she got to use her magic to help ponies,” Twilight said.
“Truly a sweet and humble pony,” Celestia said, “If she ever feels she is ready to receive it, the ceremony will commence, it is a lifetime invitation to the award after all.”
“I’ll let her know,” Twilight said, “But right now I think she’s celebrating things in her own way.”
Back in Ponyville, Blissful Trance sat at the table in Vinyl’s kitchen. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Healing Touch, and Ebony Darkness had joined her.
“I can’t believe you tried to hypnotize her, that is so cool,” Scootaloo said.
“Thanks…but it didn’t really work,” Blissful Trance said bashfully.
“My yarn attack on her didn’t work either,” Sweetie Belle said, “But you were super brave to even try something like that.”
“Yeah, you did a great job tryin’ to stop her,” Applebloom said, “And thanks again so much for bringing Applejack out of her hypnosis. I can’t believe I tried to buck some zap apples onto her while I was hypnotized.”
“I can’t believe a lot of things I did while hypnotized,” Healing Touch said sadly, “I helped lure my family to her and I attacked Fluttershy. I want to help ponies, not hurt them.”
“Ugh, yeah I didn’t like that either. It’s so creepy how she called my mom and me living weapons due to our martial arts skills and my shadow jumping magic,” Ebony Darkness said.
“Why don’t you kiddos stop worrying about stuff like that,” Vinyl Scratch said, walking into the room, “And starting worrying about eating your treats.”
She was carrying a bag from Sugar Cube Corner. The fillies started forgetting about what they had been through as their mouths started watering at the thoughts of the treats within.
“Alright, Scootaloo here’s your chocolate extreme milkshake,” she said, starting to hand things out, “Applebloom, your fritters. Sweetie Belle, here are your cream puffs. Healing Touch, your strawberry parfait. Here’s your green tea ice cream, Ebony Darkness. And, Bliss here’s your small sundae.”
Vinyl produced a sundae that filled the entire center of the table from the bag.
“That’s a small?” Blissful Trance said in shock.
“I think Pinkie may have taken a few liberties with what she calls a small after all you did,” Vinyl said.
“I don’t think I can eat all of this,” Blissful Trance said.
“Don’t worry, now we get a chance to help you,” Applebloom said giggling.
Blissful Trance smiled, happy to have this fun moment with her new friends.
A few days later, Keychain, one of Canterlot’s more senior guards, stood by the entrance to the Canterlot Castle dungeons training the new guard.
“Remember, if a visitor comes, you are to escort them to the cell and not leave their side for a moment.”
“Yes ma’am,” Shield Squire, the new trainee, said.
Keychain was about to brief her protégé on some more rules, but was distracted by some approaching hoofsteps. The two of them tensed up knowing it wasn’t time for a changing of the guard.
The source of the hoofsteps soon revealed itself. It was a unicorn. She had a teal coat and navy blue mane that was short and unkempt. Her cutie mark was a pair of binoculars paired up with a blue bird. Keychain raised an eyebrow over the fact that her back right leg was completely gone.
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to stop there and state your name and business,” Keychain said.
“I’m Dr. Birdsong. I’m here to visit my daughter, Spiral Swirl,” Dr. Birdsong said, stopping in her tracks.
“My protégé and myself will be escorting you during your visit,” Keychain said with an authoritative tone, “Please present your bag for inspection.”
Dr. Birdsong levitated her saddlebag over to Keychain.
Keychain walked over and looked in it, using her magic to not only illuminate the inside but scan the contents.
“Hmmmm I’m not seeing or detecting any weapons, magical dampeners, or other implements. Though I am detecting high amounts of sugar and cocoa powder?” Keychain said in confusion.
“If everything is in order, I’d like to see my daughter,” Dr. Birdsong said.
“Yes, of course,” Keychain said, as she unlocked the door to the dungeon, “You will start down the stairs first and we will follow behind. Your daughter is in the next to last cell on the right.”
Dr. Birdsong walked through the door and started making her way down the stairs. Keychain and Shield Squire followed closely behind her.
Dr. Birdsong’s missing leg made the trek down the stairs a slower one then usual, much to the two guards’ annoyance. About a quarter of the way down the stairs, Dr. Birdsong stopped and turned to face them.
“Please tell your associate to stop staring at my missing leg,” Dr. Birdsong said in offended tone.
“Shield Squire, you know better then that,” Keychain said in a harsh tone.
“But…but I…um…I’m sorry ma’am. It won’t happen again,” Shield Squire stammered.
Satisfied with the apology, Dr. Birdsong started making her way down the stairs once more. About halfway down, she stopped again and turned to face them.
“I can see where she gets her behavior from,” Dr. Birdsong said in anger, “Please stop staring at my missing leg!”
“I…I um…er. My apologies ma’am,” Keychain said, “Uh…perhaps it would be best if you visited your daughter alone. After all, I’d hate to intrude upon a private moment between a mother and daughter. We’ll wait for you upstairs and come and get you after your twenty minutes are up.”
“That sounds fine,” Dr. Birdsong said, as she turned and began walking down the stairs again.
Once they made their way back upstairs Shield Squire looked at Keychain, not quite sure of what to make of what just happened.
“I wasn’t looking at her missing leg. Honest,” she pleaded.
“I wasn’t either,” Keychain said.
“If you weren’t, then why did you violate the one rule you’ve been reminding me about day after day? We let a visitor down to the dungeon unescorted.”
“Trust me, getting reprimanded for violating a rule is a lot better then dealing with a PR nightmare. I only let her down there to get on her good side, can you imagine if she wrote to the head of the royal guard about us ‘staring at her handicap and making her uncomfortable,’ or worse the princesses, or heaven forbid, the media,” Keychain shuddered, thinking about that last one.
Down in the dungeon, Dr. Birdsong had finished making her way down the stairs. She walked among the mostly empty cells, until she reached the next to last one.
Spiral Swirl sat on the cell’s cot with a defeated look on her face. Her eyes were still pink and purple spirals.
“Hello, dear,” Dr. Birdsong said to her.
Hearing her mom’s voice, Spiral Swirl perked up and walked over to the cell door.
“Hi, mom,” Spiral Swirl said.
“It seems you’ve been keeping yourself busy,” Dr. Birdsong said.
“Yeah, I guess you could say that. Um..how are you doing?”
“I’m doing fine, all things considered. Inside Scoop sends her love…and these,” Dr. Birdsong said, levitating a small cooler out of her saddle bag and passing it through the bars to Spiral Swirl.
Spiral Swirl opened it and smiled upon seeing its contents.
“I can’t believe my suggestion for her to share her frozen fudge bars is still strong after all these years. I’m surprised she didn’t come with you.”
“She’s quite busy at the paper these days. What you did in Ponyville is big news, and her being your sister has made her big news, so it’s been complicated for her.”
“I see,” Spiral Swirl said, feeling bad for her sister, “What about you? Have things gotten difficult for you?”
“When the press and the department heads at the institute wanted to talk to me, I told them that while I still do not hold a very high opinion of Ponyville, I did not approve of your actions in the slightest… I also told them to stop staring at my missing leg. After that, they left me alone to get back to my research.”
“I’m glad things worked out for you. What about Beachcomber?”
“I talked to her the other day, and she’s very disappointed in you,” Dr. Birdsong said.
“Oh,” Spiral Swirl said, hanging her head.
“She said your actions were unbecoming of you, as well as a dangerously misguided revenge scheme. But she did say that despite all you’ve done, she still values the time you spent together ever since you were fillies, and even though she sees you in a whole new light, she still considers you her friend.”
Spiral Swirl smiled upon hearing she had not completely lost her friendship with Beachcomber.
“She’ll be by to visit you when the busy season is over at Palomino Point Beach. She’s booked solid for scuba diving tours.”
“I’ll be looking forward to seeing her,” Spiral Swirl said, “So, how’d your search for the crystal billed woodpecker go?”
“Not as well as I had hoped. We found evidence of woodpecker activity in the trees and a feather I can’t really prove came from one of them. I’m going back there in the spring to look during their theorized mating season.”
“I guess both our missions didn’t really pan out,” Spiral Swirl said.
“I really wish you would’ve told me what you were planning to do,” Dr. Birdsong said.
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Spiral Swirl said in depressed tone.
“Well, let me know when you’re going to try it again. That way I can be there to offer you moral support,” Dr. Birdsong said, “After what the residents of that horrid little town put me and my mother through all those years ago, you stripping them of their free will seems quite fitting.”
“There won’t be another attempt,” Spiral Swirl said, “Even though I’m acting like myself, I’m still under Princess Twilight’s hypnotic spell, and she’s commanded me not to use my Hypno magic on other ponies.”
“Did she specifically just say ‘other ponies?’” Dr. Birdsong asked her curiosity piqued.
“Yes. I can hear her voice in my head ‘Spiral Swirl, I want you to please no longer use your Hypno magic to hypnotize other ponies.’”
“Perhaps when you’re ready to try a takeover of Ponyville again, you can rely on other hypnosis subjects. After all, there are a lot of species out there you can hypnotize that aren’t ‘other ponies,’” Dr. Birdsong said, her voice taking on a triumphant tone.
Spiral Swirl smiled upon realizing a giant loophole had been there the whole time.
“And if that doesn’t work, perhaps down the road you might be able to modify those spirals in your eyes to have a hypnotic effect on others. If you were to pull that off, you’d technically be using Princess Twilight’s Hypno magic to hypnotize others, not yours,” Dr. Birdsong continued.
“How’d you get so good at loophole abuse?” Spiral Swirl asked in awe.
“I write dozens of research grant requests a year. I’ve become a master at getting around red tape. I can spot technicalities and loopholes a mile away.”
“Thanks mom,” Spiral Swirl said, her confidence returning.
“You’re welcome, dear. I’m afraid it’s about time to for me to leave, my twenty minutes will be up soon and I don’t want those guards to accidentally walk in on us making plans.”
“That’s okay, it was great seeing you,” Spiral Swirl said.
“I’ll visit you again when they move you to a different facility,” Dr. Birdsong said, nuzzling Spiral Swirl through the bars, “Goodbye for now.”
“Bye, mom,” Spiral Swirl said, as she watched her turn and leave.
Once she was gone, Spiral Swirl popped open the small cooler again and began snacking on one of the frozen fudge bars. She walked around the cell while doing so, stopping when she passed by the mirror hanging on the wall by the cell’s sink. She looked at her reflection, focusing intently on the pink and purple spirals in her eyes.
Hmmmm, mom’s right. It’ll probably take some time and a lot of research, trial, and error, but I might be able to modify these spirals to work for me, rather then against me. I may have lost, but Princess Twilight might have just given me the tools to enslave Ponyville again in the future.
Here it is the finale. The end game. The End.
I hope you've enjoyed the ride of this epic tale that has now come to an end...with a sequel hook XD
I wanted to make the finale as epic as possible. So we get a crazy fight between Spiral Swirl and Twilight. Which like Spiral Swirl pointed out Twilight held back for, since an alicorn vs a unicorn wouldn't normally be the fairest of fights.
And we also get one of the aspects I planned from the beginning. Twilight hypnotizing Spiral Swirl. To make it unique I added the twist of her using both kinds of hypnosis magic so we get the spiral within the pocket watch imagery. But let's just enjoy the idea of Twilight as a hypnotist 
And as I pointed out she wants to use this newfound power responsibly. Not letting herself go mad with power. Not turning Spiral Swirl into her slave and also not wanting to keep her hypnotized. Also since she only inherited her powers via her usual way of learning magic she's seemingly not adapted the immunity to hypno magic that natural users get, so she's still vulnerable to it.
Also we get touch on a few other things that have been lurking in the background, like Discord being out there and most likely not liking to hear about Fluttershy being enslaved, as well as finally getting to meet Spiral Swirl's mom Dr. Birdsong.
I wanted to make the meeting between the two touching, while at the same time not showing that Dr. Birdsong actually fully supported Spiral Swirl's actions right away. She's smart, and while she's managed to work her way around her disability, she still uses it as a way to get ponies off her back if need be.
Like I said, I hope you've enjoyed the ride. The fights, the hypnosis sessions, and Blissful Trance's cute little ice cream celebration with the other cute fillies.
As always I appreciate any feedback or thoughts you might have.
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8515058
One more. And i just posted it :)
Well, it was good. I don't think you are going to post a revenge sequel or something like that.
I would love to see an alternate ending, perhaps a "bad end" version. Or maybe a whole sequel for just that, drawing strongly from the end of this story? Our imprisoned doctor must have learned a thing or two about subtlety and forethought from her mother at this point...
8515812
Heh thanks. I might do a bad ending at some point in time.
8515608
You never know what the future might hold.
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
like the story and great ending
8515957
Thanks so much. Glad you enjoyed the story:)
So, Birdsong approves of what her daughter tried to do. And she plans to help her try again one day. Oh God.
I liked the story, but these two are stupid. Twilight took mercy on Spiral and offered her a second chance, and now Birdsong is gonna screw that up. Since Spiral still retains her personality, this stupidity also applies to her. Spiral failed once, they will fail again. Next time, Twilight might not be so merciful. I don't know what Inside Scoop or Birdsong's husband think of Spiral's attempt or if they would support taking over Ponyville, but I know that Beachcomber is disappointed in Spiral for it. If she tries again, she may lose her as a friend. They are upset with how their family has been treated, but they just keep digging themselves deeper. There is no way they could succeed in taking over Ponyville. Discord was not affected by Fluttershy's stare, so hypnosis probably wouldn't work on him, and he would definitely be able to stop them. If they try again, they will be defeated, Spiral may lose Beachcomber as a friend, and they will dig their family deeper. For doctors, these two are pretty stupid.
Rathbane, if you do make a sequel to this, I hope it ends with these two realizing how dumb they are being and finally learning to let it go.
8516469
Glad you've enjoyed the story. But yeah I think you hit the friendship lesson on the nose. It doesn't matter how many degrees you have, revenge can still make you stupid. The whole family is deep in the I hate Ponyville well so yeah they all would've approved of this idea. And good point about beachcomber she could end up being a moral compass in the end of they try this nonsense again.
This was a good story to read. And to say thanks I'd like to show my inhuman reactions in overwatch. If you can figure it out why it was inhuman without checking the description I might leak something to the winner. Link is in the text below.
OH MY GOD INHUMAN REACTIONS
8517696
Yeah, they will obviously fail again if they try this once more. Since Spiral never actually tried to hypnotize Celestia or Luna, it's not clear if she could, and even if she did succeed in hypnotizing them along with Cadence, twilight, and all of Ponyville, there would still be Discord, and as I said, since Fluttershy's stare didn't work on him, it's doubtful hypnosis would, and the Elements of Harmony aren't around anymore, so she would have no way of stopping him. What I wonder is if the family would finally learn to let it go after another failed attempt and what would happen to them afterward (the punishment would obviously be harsher the second time), as well as what you mentioned about Beachcomber.
I guess we won't know unless you make a sequel one day, but that's your choice, and only time will tell. If you do write one though, I hope someone calls them out on their stupidity. You should also make sure to do a blog post announcing it in that case so your followers know. Anyway, good luck with your future stories. I'll check them out as they get published.
8515850
Hello, I'm... THE FUTURE!!
I was thinking of trying out on your story the "Abridged story" technique where you write a shortened parody of another's story. After many attempts at writing stories including one somewhat successful stories, I thought that since I'm better at making an abridged version of a story rather than writing new ones that I should at least get one down on my metaphorical bucket list. Out of many stories, this one seems like the best candidate for me to write thanks to it not being too low nor high quality of a fanfiction (sorry if I offended you)
Would you allow me to do a parody of this?
8519396
Kind of like all the avatar references I called out in this series.
Hello?! I don't wanna be rude, but the wait for the other comment response is killing me
You can has review!
8517696
I just had an idea for an alternate ending for this story, Spiral Swirl find Blissful Trance's hiding spot, but instead of chucking her at Twilight, she uses her as a bargaining chip: her freedom in exchange for Twilight to become Spiral Swirls hypnotized slave.
Question, the story left off on a (semi) cliffhanger,do you have any plans for a sequel
Blissful trance can try but Twilight will win regardless cuz she can just activate Spirals trigger and this time she could just disable her ability to use hypno magic.
9303353
I’m I’m not quite sure what you mean sorry.
9303674
ah sorry bout that.
what i’m saying is that i assume that Twilight being the braniac she is would have developed a trigger to put her back into her “receptive trance state” every mind controlled victim needs a trigger or things would get out of control and considering the damage Spiral has done she most likely thought of one and kept it from Spiral.
EX: when i stomp my hoof you will fall asleep and obey me
9562419
Yeeesh what did she ever do to you? ;)
9521673
I’d agree but I don’t think scientists have researched subliminal messages that utilize magic and unicorn DJs
9573330
She also had been illegally torturing creature (from there venom) for her own game.
9585959
Oh really??
9585932
Yup all hail Mistress SpiralSwirl. Empress of Ponyville
9596539
Heh I’m glad you’ve read it. Now you can get all the extra inside jokes
9596850
No, my greatest fear is someone I know doing meth
I'm finally done, time to write a story about Spiral Swirl taking over Equestria.
Meh
10474661
Nah the spiral eyes are just the effect of being under her spell. That’s why she used a spell to disguise Nurse Redheart’s spiral eyes.
10474694
I like to think that her Hypno magic is so strong that once you see the watch and she starts her induction it’s already too late for almost any pony.
Yeah I gotta admit the Bon Bon part is a little weak. I initially had her sittin in on Lyra’s session and getting hypnotized along with but decided to split it apart.
10474707
Heh didn’t even think about that angle.
10474734
Yup. Luna is a major issue after all ;)
She was stressed. Been set upon by her brainwashed friends and nearly hypnotized herself. Things tend to slip her mind.
And yep, one syllable away from becoming her next victim.
10475794
Pocket watch was a gift from her mom so she’s been using it since she was a filly so she’s most comfortable with it
10476302
Well, if at the end, she's looking to use the spirals in her eyes from Twilight to hypnotize others ...