Big Mac stood in Sweet Apple Acres’ barn, his gaze was focused solely on the gold pocket watch that was being suspended by magic so that it swung in front of his eyes.
“You’re doing so well Big Mac,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, “Going deeper and deeper for me and you’re hypnotized in 3..2…1.”
At her count of one Big Mac’s eyes turned to black and white spirals as he fell under her spell.
Dr. Spiral Swirl put away her pocket watch before continuing, “Now then you are deeply hypnotized. You are my hypnotized slave and I am your Mistress do you understand Big Mac?”
“Eyup,” Big Mac said.
“Now then, I’m going to give you a trigger phrase for when you’re not under hypnosis. Whenever you hear me say or write the words ‘trance time’ you will instantly fall back under my hypnotic control. Do you understand?”
“Eyup.”
“You’re a pony of few words aren’t you?”
“Eyup.”
Dr. Spiral Swirl then turned around to face Apple Jack and Applebloom who were standing behind her awaiting instructions with black and white spirals in their eyes.
“Now that that’s out of the way I can get down to the real reason for my visit,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, putting her pocket watch away, “The ponies in town that have fallen under my spell have grown to such a large number that meeting with them individually to update them on my progress and plans is no longer feasible time wise. So you don’t mind if I use Sweet Apple Acers’ barn as a meeting place for all my slaves to come to do you Applejack?”
“Of course not Mistress you can use it whenever you like,” Applejack said.
“I thought you might say that,” Spiral Swirl said, a smirk spreading across her face, “Now then I need to go recruit a pony that will help deliver the ‘invitations’ to my slave meetings and I think I know just who to use. I’ll be leaving now. The second I am off the property the three of you will come out of your trances with no memory of being under hypnosis or even seeing me here understood?”
The Apple Family members acknowledged that they understood her commands and she quickly turned and left.
A short while later she was walking through a small stand of trees.
I think this is the back way into the Derpy Mail building. I’ve heard she comes quite highly recommended, even though she’s spacey and clumsy; she always gets the job don. Of course those two things won’t be a factor once she’s under my control and is focused only on…WHAT THE!!? Her train of thought was interrupted by something striking her side. She soon found it to be an arrow with a suction cup at the end. Using her magic she removed it and held it up to her face, Where in the world did this come from?
Hearing a noise up ahead she slowly walked forward until she stood at the edge of a clearing and saw a unicorn filly.
Dinky Doo’s horn glowed as she concentrated, a pink crackling ball of energy formed in front of her that soon elongated into an arched beam. A second beam soon shot between the two points of energy creating the rudimentary bow she could create with her bowcasting ability. She then loaded a practice arrow into it, aimed at the target in front of her and let the arrow fly. It veered to the left of the target before ricocheting off several trees before flying back towards her and landing back in her quiver.
“That would’ve been amazing had I meant to do that,” Dinky said to herself sadly.
Hmmm she’s a bowcaster, Dr. Spiral Swirl thought before and evil grin flashed across her face, Oh the irony.
“Hello there,” she said emerging into the clearing.
“Um, hello,” Dinky said, not sure how to respond to the new pony that arrived, the lessons of not talking to strangers entering her head.
“I’m looking for the Derpy Mail building.”
“It’s actually right over there,” Dinky said in a helpful tone, pointing to the building behind her, “My mommy will be happy to help you.”
“I see. I never expected a delivery service to have an archery range in its backyard,” she said, before presenting the arrow that had hit her, “Speaking of which is this yours?”
“Yes. Thank you,” Dinky said, blushing that another of her arrows had gone errant.
“That’s quiet the skill you have do you mind if I watch you take another try?”
“Sure,” Dinky said happily, not wanting to offend a potential customer. She took out another arrow and let it fly. This time the arrow nicked the edge of the target before going on another wild course of ricochets that caused it to fly back towards Dr. Spiral Swirl who stopped it with her magic inches from her face.
Why does it always go towards the face? Dinky thought.
“Sorry about that,” she apologized.
“There’s no need to worry. Does that happen often?”
“Yes,” Dinky said, looking at the ground and kicking at it with her hoof.
“I think I might know what your problem is.”
“You…you do?” Dinky said, perking up.
“Oh yes, I’ve seen it before. It’s something called ‘target blindness’. It’s what happens when your mind becomes focused solely on a singular type of target. You need to mix things up. For example you’ve been focusing on a large stationary object. If you could find something small and moving it would probably help your mind break out of its funk and make your aim better.”
“Okay,” Dinky said, happy that somepony was willing to help her.
“And I think I’ve got the perfect object for you right here,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she used to her magic to lift her pocket watch out of her saddle bag and let it dangle in front of Dinky’s eyes.
“What…what do I need to do?” Dinky asked.
“You just need to watch the watch,” Spiral Swirl said, as she began swinging it back and forth in front of Dinky’s eyes, “Watch it swing back and forth. Left to right. That’s it.”
This seems weird, Dinky thought, as her eyes became locked on the watch, I guess she knows what she’s doing if she’s seen other ponies with my problems.
“That’s it. Just watch the watch. Let it become the sole focus of your attention. Just continue to watch it swing and relax.”
I don’t know what relaxing has to do with this, but it does feel good.
“Yes that’s it relax and let all your tension go. Relax. Take a nice deep breath in and out you enjoy this feeling don’t you? You enjoy listening to my voice don’t you?”
“Yes…yes I do,” Dinky said, as she took a deep breath.
“Very good. Just let that feeling of relaxation continue to grow stronger. You are so relaxed now. So relaxed and sleepy. You feel so drowsy.”
Yes…I feel sleepy. Is this still part of helping me with my bowcasting, Dinky thought, her mind starting to feel cloudy.
“Very sleepy now my dear. So sleepy and tired. You can feel your eyelids growing heavy. You feel yourself struggling to keep them open.”
Can’t…can’t keep my eyes open.
“Just relax even more. Let your thoughts just melt away as you let your heavy eyelids close in 3…2…1…eyes closed as you drift off into a deep sleep,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she finished her induction.
At her count of one Dinky’s eyes locked shut as she fell into a deep hypnotized sleep.
“Now then you are deeply hypnotized. You have no free will. You must obey my every command. I am your Mistress and you are my hypnotized slave. Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress I understand,” Dinky replied, her voice quiet.
“Excellent. Now then my cute little living weapon I want you to open your eyes but remain deeply hypnotized.”
Dinky’s eyes blinked open revealing the traditional black and white spirals of a Spiral Swirl victim.
“Now then since you are my mindless hypnotized slave that means any personality quirks, fears, and other factors that were hindering you before are gone. So take a shot at the target.”
“Yes Mistress,” Dinky said, as she formed her bow once more and placed an arrow in it. Focusing on the target she let the arrow fly. This time it flew straight and true before striking the bull’s eye.
“Good job. Now to make sure it wasn’t a fluke take another shot.”
“Yes Mistress I will obey,” Dinky said, as she fired off another arrow. This one also hit the bull’s eye.
“You’re going to be very useful,” Spiral Swirl said, before taking something out of her saddle bag and placing it in Dinky’s, “I’ve just given you some cockatrice venom. It is a powerful paralyzing agent that will go well with real arrows once you get some. I want you to hide it in your room the next chance you get and since that will most likely be when you’re not in a trance you will do this automatically and not care where you got it or why you are hiding it. Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress,” Dinky replied.
“Very good. Now then onto your trigger, when you see me write or hear me say ‘trance time’ you will instantly fall back into a hypnotic trance and be back under my control. Now I want you to take a few more practice shots and once you are done you will take a short nap under that big tree over there. Once you wake up you will no longer be hypnotized. You will not remember seeing me, being hypnotized by me, and you will not remember how you performed your perfect shots but will be filled with a sense of pride upon seeing them.”
“I will obey,” Dinky said.
“Very good,” Spiral Swirl said as she began to walk towards the front of the Derpy Mail building, she could hear the sound of Dinky firing off shots behind her.
Once around the front she opened the door and found herself inside facing a happy Derpy at the front desk.
“Hi and welcome to Derpy Mail where neither rain nor snow nor dead of night nor muffins will keep me from delivering your package,” Derpy said excitedly.
“That’s always great to hear,” Spiral Swirl said.
Wait did she say muffins?
“How can I help you today?” Derpy asked.
“Do you ship fragile items?”
“Oh yes, we even offer free triple bubble wrapping on all fragile items.”
“That’s awfully generous, but why triple the wrap?”
“There were some…incidents,” Derpy said, “Let’s leave at that.”
“Fair enough. Here’s what I need to have shipped,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she lifted her pocket watch from her saddle bag once more and let it dangle in front of Derpy’s eyes.
“Oooo that’s very pretty,” Derpy said.
“It is isn’t it? It’s even prettier when in motion,” Spiral Swirl said, as she began to swing it back and forth, “The way it catches the light is especially striking isn’t it?”
“Yes, yes it is,” Derpy said, as the watch caught her focus so much that both her eyes became glued to it.
“And the more I swing it the more it catches your focus. You want to absorb every inch of it. Your gaze never leaving it.”
“Yes…I can’t look away,” Derpy said.
“That’s right you can’t look away. You won’t look away. All you can do is watch the watch. Watch it swing and listen to my voice. You must listen to my voice. Absorb every word I say.”
“Yes I must listen to you.”
“Very good. Now just relax for me. You work so hard. It’s time for a break as you began to relax,” Spiral Swirl continued, while she discreetly used her magic to lock the door and flip the open sign to ‘closed.’
“Thank you…I needed a break,” Derpy said, as her muscles began to loosen up.
“Yes you did. You just want to relax for me. Relax your legs. Relax your body and wings, your face and neck. Your whole body is relaxed and it feels wonderful.”
“Yessss….It does…” Derpy said, as a smile of pure pleasure spread across her face.
“Now then just relax even more. You are getting sleepy. Very sleepy. You feel like you haven’t slept in a week. You just want to close your eyes and drift off to sleep.”
“I…I want to go to sleep…just need to sleep.”
“Very good. There’s nothing stopping you. Just relax even more and let your tired eyes close as you drift off to sleep for me. Drift off into a wonderful relaxing hypnotized sleep. Let yourself become hypnotized.”
“Yes…I will become hypnotized,” Derpy said, as her eyes locked shut.
“Very good,” Spiral Swirl said, putting her watch away again, “You are deeply hypnotized. You have one goal in life: to serve me. I am your Mistress and you are my slave.”
“I am your slave,” Derpy said in a monotone.
“Very good. In fact your are a very important slave. You will be delivering messages to my other hypnotized slaves that will instruct them on when and where meetings with me will take place.”
“I will be honored to do so for you my Mistress,” Derpy said, a sense of pride filling her hypnotized mind.
“Of course when you do this you will always be under my control so the trigger phrase that will bring you back under hypnosis will be ‘trance time.’ Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress I understand.”
“Very good. Now then I’m going to leave. When you hear the door close behind me you will come out of your trance with no memory of seeing me or being hypnotized by me. Farewell for now.”
Spiral Swirl then turned and unlocked the door before stepping outside.
Hearing the door shut Derpy’s eyes opened up and she shook her head a few times.
Huh? I could’ve sworn I heard somepony come in, she thought, Oh well, I’d better call Dinky in for lunch. Looking outside she saw Dinky sleeping under a tree, Aww she’s all worn out. Lunch can wait.
Later that night at one of Ponyville’s smaller dance clubs Vinyl Scratch sat at her turn table ensuring only the highest quality of music played. She also unknowingly played the recording Dr. Spiral Swirl had made at a low volume so that while the ponies sitting off to the side were unaffected the ones on the dance floor got a full dose of her subliminal message.
Down on the floor several ponies were giving Pinky Pie a wide berth as she busted out into a wild and spastic dance routine.
Bon Bon meanwhile sat at a table in the corner and glared at the approaching Lyra.
“You should’ve joined me down there,” Lyra said.
“No thanks I’d rather not get involved with…whatever that display you were doing was.”
“Ancient human texts refer to it as the Macarena,” Lyra said happily.
“Lyra I think you’re starting to get a little obsessed with humans. It was fine when it was just hobby, but I think it’s starting to get a little out of hand. Maybe you should see somepony about it. I’m worried,” Bon Bon said.
Help…what’s she talking…about… Lyra started to think before a voice entered her mind, ‘Hello everypony, this is Dr. Spiral Swirl. If you are facing great stress in your life, relationship issues, perhaps you need help with a phobia, an addiction or obsession, or any other psychological issue, make an appointment with me. I’ll be more then happy to help you out. I’m always happy to see new patients.’
“Lyra you okay?” Bon Bon said asked.
“I’m fine,” Lyra said, shacking off the affects of the light trance she had just fallen into, “You’re right Bon Bon. Maybe I should go see somepony. I hear there’s a new psychologist in town. I’ll make an appointment.”
“Oh…um okay,” Bon Bon said, slightly shocked Lyra had actually agreed with her.
They sat at their table for the rest of the evening watching the other ponies on the dance floor, each one getting drawn into Spiral Swirl’s Subliminal Spider Web.