Spiral Swirl's Encounter

by Juke Denton

Chapter 1

A loud groan could be heard coming from the middle of a forest clearing where a unicorn with a teal coat, gray eyes, a long straight navy blue mane and a picture of a pocket watch overlapping a black and white spiral for a cutie mark, woke up from a comatose state. As she looked around, the mare couldn't help but wonder how she ended up in the middle of a grove. Last thing she remembered was walking back to her office to close up for the night, when she suddenly was knocked unconscious and ended up in Celestia knows where.

The unicorn noticed that she was still carrying saddlebags and quickly checked what she had on hoof. In her saddlebags were a pair of binoculars, a notebook and pen, keys to the office, and her lucky pocket watch.

After closing her bag, the mare went down a set path heading north to find a possible exit. As she was trotting along, she took notice of her surroundings and came to the conclusion that she was indeed far away from home, possibly in a different world even.

Fifteen minutes of traveling through the woods later, she heard something that sounded like laughter coming from nearby. With nowhere else to go, the unicorn made her way to the source of the noise.

When she got close enough to where the laughing was, what the mare saw shocked her. It was two creatures, the likes of which the pony never saw before, sitting near a pond. The two were bipedal, dark-skinned, fur-less (except for hair on the head), had strange claw-like appendages, and possessed no cutie mark of any kind. The unicorn quickly recovered as she stayed hidden from the two creatures as she observed what was happening.

The two creatures were a seven-year old girl and an eight-year old boy who were both clad in their swim wear (with the girl wearing a two piece pink suit and the boy wearing a pair of orange trunks) and sitting on towels. They both giggled again as the boy spoke up.

"Alright, it's my turn now."

The unicorn, was slightly taken back as she said in her mind, 'So these creatures have intelligence like ponies.' She continued to stay hidden to see what the two children would do next.

"Okay. Okay." The girl said in a relenting tone as she went into a sitting position against a tree and prepared herself for what was to happen.

The unicorn got out her binoculars to see a better picture of what they were about to do. The boy then held out his arms in front of the girl with his fingers acting in an erratic pattern as he spoke in a spooky like tone.

"You are getting very sleepy...your eyelids are becoming very heavy...let yourself fall into a hypnotized state...obey your master..." The young girl closed her eyes and responded in a monotone, "Fall...asleep...obey...master..."

The unicorn was all the more surprised at what she was witnessing. 'These creatures have hypnotic abilities? Intriguing.'

The boy continued wiggling his fingers near the girl until he heard her giving off the sound one would give when asleep. He then said, "Now, when I count from three, you'll act like a monkey. 3......2......1......0!”

The girl opened up her eyes and started to screech and scratch under her arms like a monkey would. While the boy was laughing hard, the mare in hiding was all the more fascinated with what was unfolding. 'That one must have some unimaginable hypnotic powers to make her do that in just a matter of seconds.'

After a couple of minutes of giving the girl other commands, the boy decided enough was enough and said to her, "Stop! Now I'm going to countdown from three to one and when I do, you'll awaken. 3......2......1......Awaken!"

The girl shook her head, looked around and asked the boy, "How did I do?"

"You did great. You might have what it takes to be an actress someday."

The two of them then burst out into laughter with the unicorn only confused as to what they meant by that. The boy's laughter soon died down as he said, "It's too bad that it's only pretend. If we could actually hypnotize one another that would be something else."

The mare in hiding was all the more taken back at what she heard. 'That was all just an act?!? So they don't possess hypnotic abilities of any kind then.'

The boy sat next his sister, put his arm around her and said, "Man, I wish hypnosis was real. Could you imagine how fun it would be to pull off that kind of power?"

The unicorn drew a smirk on her face from hearing the boy's wish and decided, 'Perhaps that's my cue to introduce myself to them. And who knows? This could be fun.' She giggled to herself before making her way to the two children.

The two swimsuit clad children heard a rusting coming from nearby and saw something approaching that made them both unable to move from fear and fascination.

It was a unicorn.

As it slowly approached them, the children took notice of the pony's features. From the teal coat, to the saddlebags, to the strange pictures on the mare's flanks, to even the smile she had on her face. Both children immediately grew nervous as they backed up to a tree trunk with the unicorn only about an arms distance away from them. Trying not to be intimidating, the teal-colored pony stopped and tried being friendly by saying,

"Hello there!"

The two kids had a look of shock on their faces as not only was there a mythological creature in their presence, but it could also talk. Trying to break the awkward silence, the mare continued to speak in the best way she could.

"I'm sorry if my presence has startled you but I've never seen your kind before and my curiosity compelled me to learn more about you."

The girl, working up the courage, got up, made her way to the unicorn, dropped down to her knees and slowly stroked the pony's fur. The mare sighed in delight from the girl's hand stroking her head before the girl quietly asked, "You're real? You're actually real?" The unicorn giggled in delight both from the ticklish feeling from the girl and her question. "Of course I'm real! I wouldn't be talking to you or letting you stroke me if I wasn't here, would I?" The unicorn said, keeping that friendly demeanor.

The little girl was at a loss for words, before gaining the strength to say, "This. Is. AMAZING!!!" She was squealing with delight and hugged the pony like a stuffed animal. The mare was gasping for air as she responded with, "AAAACCKKK!!! I'm......glad too. But......could you please......let go of me?"

The boy took the opportunity of springing into action, by pulling the girl away from the pony, and holding her tightly. He then gave the unicorn a nervous smile and said, "You'll have to forgive her. When she gets pretty excited, she likes to grab onto things like no tomorrow."

The mare recovering from the girl's actions, brushed off, and responded to the boy by saying, "It's alright. I know she meant no harm. But if she could ask me next time she hugs like that, it would be appreciated."

The boy, not wanting to fall back into awkward silence, put the girl down next to him (after quieting down) and said, "Well, I believe introductions are in order. I'm Joey and this is my younger sister Maddie."

Joey held out his hand to the pony as the pony stuck out a hoof to shake his hand with. "It's nice to meet you Maddie and Joey! Though I have to say, those are the strangest names I've ever heard."

"Really?" Questioned Joey with curiosity. "Because where we're from, they're pretty common names. If I may ask, what's your name?"

The pony closed her eyes, puffed out her chest, and pointed a hoof to herself in a proud fashion and said, "I am Dr. Spiral Swirl!"

Joey felt a bit of confusion dwelling within him as he responded with, "Spiral Swirl? I feel like I'm on the opposite side of strange names now because that sounds like a basic adjective mixed with a verb. But I digress, it's nice to meet you as well!"

The unicorn opened her eyes in surprise to Joey's response and said, "Oh! Well then, I guess it's not every day you come across somepony or something that has a foreign sounding name, is it? Though if you don't mind me asking, what type of creatures are you anyway?"

"We're humans." Joey said bluntly. "A species that has five fingers on each hand." The boy said he demonstrated for Spiral. "And feet so we can walk around without any problems." As he lifted a foot in front of the unicorn. Spiral Swirl studied the foot before her and brought a hoof towards it to feel it. The fur brushed against the boy's foot as he retracted it and said, "That tickles!"

'How amusing.' Spiral Swirl thought to herself. "Sorry about that. I didn't know you were sensitive in that area." She said as the mare brought her hoof back down before continuing. "I'm sure all of us have more questions for each other, but there is something I wanted to ask first. And I hope you don't mind, but I was actually observing the two of you earlier and it looked like you were just playing around. What was it you were doing?"

"Nah, why would I mind a pony observing my sister and I, let alone a unicorn?" Joey said casually before answering Spiral's question. "As for what we were doing earlier, we were just playing pretend hypnosis. We both have a strong fascination with how hypnotism works from what we've seen, that sometimes when we're alone, we simply just act out what it'd be like to have that kind of ability."

Joey took a deep breath before falling onto his back and looking up at the trees. "Sometimes, I'd give anything to actually experience what it feels like to be hypnotized and see someone obey any command you give them."

'Anything you say?' The unicorn thought to herself as ideas started going through her head. "What if I told you I knew somepony who has that ability?"

Joey shot back up into his sitting position as he and his sister gave Spiral their full attention. "You do? Who?"

The teal-colored pony's horn glowed navy blue as she activated her unicorn magic and directed it at the saddle bag to open up one side of her saddlebags and presented to both children her gold pocket watch on a chain.

"I'm not called Spiral Swirl for nothing."

Both siblings were simply in awe. They were not only in the presence of a magical, talking unicorn, but also one that had actual hypnotic powers. Maddie was all the more ecstatic and simply couldn't hold back anymore. "THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!!" She shouted as she went to hug the pony again. The younger sibling however was stopped short as her brother held her tightly to prevent her from suffocating Spiral. "Uggghhhh...Remember what we talked about Maddie!"

The little girl soon settled down as she looked at the unicorn's gray eyes and said, "Sorry about that. It's just we've never come across a unicorn with the ability to talk, let alone, hypnotize others. By the way, why do you have those pictures on your flank?"

"Oh! You mean my cutie mark?" Spiral asked as she looked down at her rear. "It's a symbol of what my special talent is. In this case, hypnotism. Speaking of which..." The pony looked back at the children, with her magical grip still holding the pocket watch. "...who wants to try it out?"

"OH! OH! OH! OH! ME FIRST! ME FIRST!" Yelled out Maddie with excitement. Joey gave his sister a glare before she calmed down again with the unicorn chuckling at her response.

"I guess maybe the question I should have asked is, do you two want to be hypnotized to see what it's actually like?"

"Of course!" Joey responded this time. "I've...or rather, we've always been intrigued with what it's like to fall into a trance. Just tell us what to do."

'These two are even more trusting than I thought. This will be easy!' The unicorn said in her mind while keeping her innocent smile. She then directed her magic so that the pocket watch was suspended in the air at Joey and Maddie's eye level, but didn't start just yet. "I just need you to relax and focus all of your attention on the watch. Can you two do that for me?" Asking in a friendly way.

"Okay." Said Joey as he adjusted himself and his sister in a comfortable sitting position on their towels.

"Sure thing!" Maddie added with excitement.

With that, Spiral began to swing the pocket watch back and forth by the chain in front of the children's eyes.

“Now just concentrate your eyes on the watch.” Spiral began in a calm manner while keeping a consistent rhythm with the swinging. "Yes that’s it, just watch the watch. Watch it swing back and forth for me. Following it with your eyes as it swings.” The unicorn said, luring the kids to a more relaxed state.

“Yessss, watch the watch,” Maddie slurred on her words as her eyes followed the watch. Joey could do nothing as he kept his eyes glued to the watch without missing a single swing. Both siblings' fascination for the watch grew stronger with every swing as their minds soon began to grow cloudy.

“Continue to focus on the watch as you begin to relax for me." Spiral Swirl continued, “With every swing of the watch you feel yourselves slipping into a more relaxed state. So relaxed you are beginning to feel tired. Tired and drowsy. Sleepy even. So sleepy, your eyelids are beginning to grow heavy.”

The two children were on the verge of collapsing from the induction, but kept staring at the watch until they were told otherwise by Spiral. The pony herself couldn’t help but give out a soft chuckle at the sight of the human kids struggling to stay awake and decided to wrap up.

“Now, when I count from one to five, you will no longer be to hold your eyes open and you’ll drift off into slumber. 1......Relaxing for me more and more. 2......You’re doing so very, very, well concentrating only on the watch and listening only to my voice. 3......Feeling ready to fall into deep hypnosis. 4......So sleepy, eyelids so heavy. 5......Sleep! Allow yourself to fall into a deep sleep."

At Spiral Swirl’s count of five, both Maddie and Joey's eyelids locked shut as they fell into a deep, hypnotized sleep. The unicorn put the watch back in her bag and sat on her haunches in front of the spellbound children.

"How do you feel Maddie and Joey?" The teal-colored pony asked.

"Wonderful..." and "Perfect..." were the responses that came from their tired, state-of-minds. The unicorn was delighted with their responses as she proceeded further with what she wanted to do with them.

"Very good. Now, I want the two of you to repeat after me." She cleared her throat before starting. "I am deeply asleep and completely hypnotized."

Maddie and Joey processed the unicorn's words before repeating back in perfect synchronization.

"I am deeply asleep and completely hypnotized."

"My mind is empty of all thoughts, as I have no stresses, no cares, no worries; only...obedience.” The pony said as she got off her haunches and circled around the human children.

"My mind is empty of all thoughts, as I have no stresses, no cares, no worries; only...obedience." The entranced siblings replied.

"Since I am obedient and mindless, that makes me Spiral's hypnotized slave, ready to serve her in any and all ways."

Maddie and Joey repeated Spiral's phrase in a monotonous voice, "Since I am obedient and mindless, that makes me Spiral's hypnotized slave, ready to serve her in any and all ways."

"You may stop repeating me now." Commanded the pony as she looked over her fine work on the two newly met creatures. She smiled to herself before adding, "Also, while you two are in this state of mind, just call me mistress and when I give you an order, you’ll both respond with, ‘Yes, mistress.’ Understand?"

"Yes, mistress." The two kids answered in a drone tone.

"Good! Now then, both of you stand up and open your eyes, but remain hypnotized."

Maddie and Joey obediently stood up from where they were sitting and their eyes blinked open, revealing that they had turned into black and white spirals. As the two of them stared off into the distance, they only waited to hear more commands from their mistress.

"Maddie. Joey. I want you two to listen very carefully to what I say next. Whenever you are not in a hypnotic trance and you hear me say or write the words 'Trance Time' you will immediately fall back into this obedient, hypnotized state. Do you understand?”

"Yes, mistress." The compliant siblings said as the command drove itself deep into their subconscious.

The unicorn was thinking of other ideas, until a sudden realization hit her. She had no place to stay. She took the opportunity and said to the entranced Maddie and Joey, "You know, with the time I've spent with you two, I never once thought about my current predicament of having nowhere to go. But I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I went home with both of you, would you?"

"We would love to have you come home with us, mistress." Maddie said as she continued to stare at nothing in particular.

"The only problem is how our parents would react to seeing you." Joey brought up. "They've never seen a real-life unicorn that can talk."

Spiral Swirl thought about it for a few moments and finally said, "Well, if they don't approve, I can always persuade them to let me stay with you. Isn't that right my little, hypnotized slaves?"

"Of course, mistress." Joey responded.

"Whatever you think is best." Maddie added in her emotionless tone of voice.

Smiling with satisfaction, Spiral said to the human children, "Very good! Now that that's settled, it’s time to wake you up. When I count to three you will come out of your trance and return to normal. You will forget everything that happened while you were hypnotized and only remember how nice and pleasant you felt under the trance, but all of my commands will remain buried within your mind. Do you understand?”

"Yes, mistress." The spellbound Maddie and Joey said together.

"Then on the count of three you will wake up, feeling happy, refreshed, and wonderful. 1…2…3!” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, putting emphasis on the ‘3.’

The spirals soon faded from Maddie and Joey's eyes and the two shook their head a few times as the effect of being hypnotized wore off. Spiral putting on her innocent face again, looked up at the children and asked, "How do you feel?"

"I feel...great!" Joey said, with emotion returning to his voice.

"Let's do it again!" Shouted Maddie as her excitement returned once again.

The pony chuckled at the youngest sibling's response and asked, "I take it from your expression you enjoyed the session?"

"Enjoyed it? I loved it!" The dark-skinned boy replied. "It was definitely one of the best things I've ever experienced. But, how come I don't remember anything past watching the pocket watch though?"

“Because it's a normal condition called post-hypnotic amnesia.” Spiral made up to hide her intentions. "Most of the time, subjects who wake up too quickly from their trance don't remember what they did while hypnotized."

"That's a shame." Joey said in disappointment, but quickly cheered up by saying, "But I'm sure the experience was worth it!"

"I hope we can do more again soon!" The little sister said happily before asking the unicorn, "Would you like to come home with us?"

"I don't know..." Spiral said, playing with the children's post-hypnotic suggestion. "I mean, we have just met after all. And I don't know if your family would approve of me."

"Please!" Maddie pleaded as she got down to the pony's level of height and hugged her, but not as tightly as before. "Don't leave us! We were just starting to become good friends!"

The unicorn simply returned the hug and said, "Well...if it means that much to you, I'll travel with the two of you to your home. Besides, it's not like I have anywhere else to go."

Maddie broke the hug and said in her gleeful tone, "Great! Our house is this way!" She was about to run in the direction of where she lived, until her older brother caught her by her arm and brought her to a halt.

"Not so fast Maddie!" Joey said he looked at Spiral then back at his sister. "Don't forget, she's probably never been in these woods before. Added to that is the fact she doesn't know the path to our house, so let's stay close and keep ourselves at a walking pace."

Maddie sighed before she said to Joey, "Okay...you win." The oldest sibling then released his sister's arm, grabbed their towels and shoes.

As the children were putting their footwear on, Spiral couldn't help but ask, "What are those things you're putting on your feet?"

Joey looked back at the pony and said, "Oh, these?" As he pointed to his pair of sneakers. "These are shoes. They protect our feet from getting scraped, burned, and hurt on surfaces.

"Interesting..." Spiral said studying the way both children put the shoes on.

After tying both laces, Joey stood up, looked at the mare and said, "Well let's get going. It's going to be sunset soon and our parents will start to worry about us if we don't head back."

"Lead on!" Said Spiral in a cheerful tone.

Author's Note:

I hope you all enjoyed this so far. This is actually my first time posting a story online. So let me know what you think of it so far. Creative criticism is welcome.

Comments

[Rathbane]

Great job you wrote Spiral Swirl really well. Loved the little clash of cultures bits. Heh lucky Spiral Swirl stumbling across kids with an interest in hypnosis.
The hypnosis and induction were nicely done.

[Juke Denton]

>>Rathbane

Glad you're enjoying it so far. And thanks for the compliments! I spent a good week perfecting the writing structure for this chapter after I wrote it to ensure it was in the best reading condition possible.

I'll probably upload a new chapter every few days or once a week depending on how busy I am. But you can definitely expect more to happen in this story.

Also on a side note, thanks again for letting me use Spiral Swirl for this story!

[Canary In The Coal Mine]

This is a good start. I kind of wish there was more commands given, more molding of the personalities of her new servants, but I guess more could come later on. Heck, I kind of wish the hypnosis went much further in general, both the induction, and the trance. They are so willing to be hypnotized though that they fell right into it, with no resistance, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.