“Stop pulling her hair, Rarity!”
“But it’s sooooo colorful!”
“Dash, would you kindly-”
“-let Rarity keep looking at your hair and never stop!”
Twilight gritted her teeth as Rainbow Dash nodded. “Sure thing, Miss Rarity!”
Rarity’s eyes dove into Dash’s mane, Starlight watching in concern. “Huh, she can even take the order despite different voices.”
Twilight chose to ignore this and continued walking to Sugarcube Corner. “This is starting to become hopeless! They fell for almost every trick so far, I can’t even imagine what a villain will do once they-”
Starlight put a hoof on Twilight’s back before she could finish. “Twilight, listen, I know you said it’s not right before, but maybe it’s time to use magic to help-”
“NO!” Twilight yelled, making Starlight back up. “You can call me stubborn if you want, but I’m not resorting to magic to fix this, not again!”
“I-It was just a suggestion, Twilight.”
Twilight kept a straight face before turning away. “Sorry, Starlight. It’s just...it’s just that if they don’t learn it this way, then they never will. There might be a villain out there that will block any kind of magic that comes their way, and if a spell were to keep them from going under hypnosis, then they would all be doomed! I can’t let that happen, Glimmer…” She sighed, looking down. “L-Let’s just keep going until we hit-” Twilight was interrupted by the door to Sugarcube Corner hitting her.
As she rubbed her nose and stumbled back, A pink pony swung the door even wider. “Oh, hiya Twilight, whacha doing here?”
With some help from Starlight and Spike, Twilight got on all fours and looked at Pinkie Pie. “Uh, hi, Pinkie, uh…” Knowing it’d take a long time to explain to her, Twilight decided to get to the point. “I-I need your help.”
Pinkie’s eyes lit up. “Ooooh, help in what? Is it baking? Learning the two step? Do you need to run more experiments on Doomie again, cause his hips still aren’t working right after you-”
“No, Pinkie, I...uh, already know what he’s like.” She cleared her throat, ignoring the weird looks Starlight and Spike were giving her. “I’m talking about mind control.”
“Mind control? You mean like what Starlight did a couple days ago?”
Starlight looked away while Twilight nodded. “Sorta...It’s hard to explain, um, can we come in?”
Pinkie got out of the way and extended her hoof inside. “My home’s your home!” As all of them got inside, Pinkie started noticing the state her other friends were in. “Whoa Why is everyone’s eyes so swirly...and creepy, and silly?"
Spike spoke up first. “Twilight’s hypnotizing all her friends so they can prepare themselves for any kind of mind control that comes their way.”
Pinkie tilted her head. “How’s that work?”
Twilight cleared her throat. “Well, you see Pinkie, I’m trying out different techniques here, seeing if one way of doing it can work, but so far, it’s been...unsuccessful, b-but I know that if anyone has a mind that’s almost too hard to understand, it’d be you.”
Pinkie smiled. “Aw, thanks Twilight. I think you have a complicated mind too!”
“Uh...thanks?” Twilight grabbed another book from Fluttershy. “A-Anyway. I’m going to see if you can do this.”
"Do what?"
Twilight held up the book. "I'm gonna see if you can keep control of your mind while I try to do the same, do you think you can do this?"
Pinkie smiled. “I’ll do my best!” She then started pronking. “So, which kind are we doing? Am I gonna look at a watch? Are your eyes gonna go all colorful?”
Twilight kept reading the book in her hooves. “No, but my eyes will change color for this.”
Starlight was curious. “What color...actually, what other kind of hypnosis are you going to try?”
“I’m gonna try the same thing she did to Shining.”
Spike had to ask. “Uh, who?”
Twilight held up a page of the book, revealing a black, hole filled, jagged horned, fanged creature known as- “Queen Chrysalis, she’s the last one I know who can do something like this.”
Pinkie stopped jumping, having an idea what this was leading to. “Is this because of him? Because Doomie isn’t a-”
“This isn’t about your bug friend, Pinkie, this is about making sure your mind is clear enough to not let that bug queen get in your head!”
Now Starlight was thinking she was going too far. “What makes you think Chrysalis will come back and try this?”
Twilight shut the book. “You can never be too sure, Starlight. Changelings are very crafty creatures, and if Chrysalis can get into my brother’s head, I’m pretty sure she’ll get in my friend’s head.”
Starlight shrugged. “I’m just saying that she’d try something else instead of hypnotizing ponies, m-maybe she’ll try ponynapping again, getting everypony she knows in her cave in one night.”
Twilight laughed. “Like her changelings can do that all in the span of one night. Crafty or not, they’re still changelings. Me and my friends handled a huge group of them before, and we can do it again.”
Starlight decided to dismiss the thought and levitated the book Twilight had to her hooves. “So, do all changelings do it or just her?”
Pinkie put her hooves to her hips. “No, they don’t. Doomie has never done that to me.”
Starlight had to get this question out of the way. “Okay, who the heck is-”
“No one important.” Twilight answered. “Let’s just continue.”
“Hey!” Pinkie yelled. “He is important! More important than that Thoras- er, Thorax guy Spike met.”
“What’s wrong with Thorax?” Spike asked. “I think he’s a nice-”
Twilight stomped her hoof on the ground. “Can we PLEASE stay on topic here!” She turned back to Pinkie. “Listen to me, Pinkie. I’m gonna tell you to do something after I perform this spell, and under no circumstances will you do it, okay?”
Pinkie raised an eye. “What spell?”
Twilight pointed at the book. "The same thing she used on my brother, my eyes will look just like her's while I do this, and I need you to look deep inside them, Pinkie."
“Uh, Twilight.” Starlight held the book up. “Are you sure this will work? This is changeling magic we’re talking about here.”
Twilight held her head high. “Starlight, I’ve done different types of magic before, and if I can handle Dark magic, bug magic can be no problem. Now then...” She turned back to Pinkie. "Get ready Pinkie?"
"Okie Dokie!" Pinkie said, her face leaning toward Twilight, and her eyes ready for anything.
With her eyes closed, Twilight lit up her horn, the aura changing from purple to green in seconds. Starlight continued looking concerned while Spike grabbed the book. As for Pinkie, she sat still with a determined face and her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. “How much longer?” Pinkie asked.
“I need full concentration on this, Pinkie. Changeling magic is hard to do for a pony.”
“Can’t be that hard.” Pinkie said, looking away. “I mean, it’s magic, and since you’re a pony who has very strong magic, I’m sure you...can…” Pinkie trailed off as Twilight slowly started opening her eyes.
Twilight’s eyes started pulsating green, her pupils in the shape of a cat. “Pinkie, you doing okay so far?"
Pinkie squinted her eyes, hoping she was looking at them right. “I think so, am I supposed to be talking funny right now?”
“If I did this right, your own eyes should turn just as green, but you seem to be doing pretty good so far.” Her eyes went brighter while Pinkie’s went wider.
As she continued, Spike started noticing something in the book, something that Twilight left out. “Uh, Twilight, I don’t think this’ll work.”
Twilight kept her eyes on Pinkie. “What makes you say that, Spike? I’m doing the spell just fine.”
“But didn’t Chrysalis need to get Shining to fall in love with her?” Spike pointed out. “The book says it takes a changeling queen months for them to fully control a victim's mind.”
Twilight sighed and turned to Spike, her eyes going normal. “It’s more than that, Spike, she made sure Shining believed her that she was a pony he could trust. That’s all it took for her tricks to work, and I’m certain that, if Pinkie has full trust in a pony like me, and Chrysalis is disguised as me, then she’ll easily get into Pinkie’s head. Right Pinkie?”
“Mmmhh hmmm…”
Twilight pointed at her, her sight still on Spike. “See, Even she agrees...with...oh for-” Twilight recognized that tone of voice, the same tone Shining was at the wedding. “Come on, Pinkie, was it really that easy?” Twilight’s only response was another nod from Pinkie, her eyes going just as green as Shining’s were, but Twilight didn’t want to give up. “Okay, Pinkie, if you’re really hypnotized, then...then...oh, what’s the use, you’re glowing eyes already give it away…” She slumped to the floor while Pinkie nodded again, her eyes starting to go farther apart.
Starlight was just as shocked. “I-I don't get it. I thought you said Pinkie had a mind so confusing that she wouldn’t succumb to this.”
Twilight sighed. “I also said that she trusts me just as much as my other friends, and trust is the one thing a changeling can manipulate when they’re disguised as someone they love!” She turned to her friends. “and if you guys can’t figure that out, then-” Twilight stopped talking once she saw the state her friends were in.
Rarity’s entire face was buried in Dash’s hair while Rainbow continued having pinprick sized pupils and a wide smile. Fluttershy was still balancing books and Applejack was starting to go crosseyed, and now Pinkie’s eyes were glowing green with a hung open jaw. Twilight’s eye started to twitch, never thinking this would happen, that she’d fail five times in a row. Starlight stood next to her, having some concern for her teacher. “Uh...Twilight? You okay?”
Twilight would’ve broke after seeing this, but she held up her hoof to her chest, breathed in, then breathed out, extending her arm out. After a second time, she turned to Starlight and said something she should’ve done a while ago.
“It’s been a long day, Starlight...let’s go home…”