> Bad Therapy
>  by Rathbane
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Mesmerized Musicians
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bad Therapy

Chapter I  Mesmerized Musicians


Vinyl Scratch watched as Octavia paced back and forth throughout the waiting room.  They were in the new psychologist’s office in Ponyville.  The renovations to the building were so recently finished they could still smell faint traces of fresh paint. 
“Calm down Tavi you’ll be fine,” Vinyl said.
“What if I’m not? What if this is permanent?  What if I’m stuck playing nothing but cider halls the rest of my life?” Octavia said, turning towards Vinyl, her eyebrow twitching.
Before Vinyl could respond the secretary pony stationed at the desk on the far side of the room said, “Ms. Octavia the doctor will see you now.”
Octavia took a deep breath as she readied herself and walked into the open door on the other side of the room.  Inside she found herself in a small room, with a couch, a small potted plant, and anther couch on facing the other couch, a saddle bag sat beside it.  A diploma from Canterlot University was hung on the wall.  She was still taking in the room when she felt a presence behind her.
“You must be Octavia,” said a young unicorn mare with a teal coat and long straight navy blue mane.  Her cutie mark was a pocket watch overlapping a black and white spiral.  She looked at Octavia with her grey eyes before continuing, “I’m Dr. Spiral Swirl.  What seems to be troubling you today?”
“Hello doctor, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Octavia said, giving a slight bow.
“It’s nice to meet you as well.  Why don’t you get comfortable on the couch and we can get to the bottom of what’s troubling you like I said.”
Octavia did as Dr. Spiral Swirl asked and lied down so she was facing her, “It’s quite embarrassing really, you see I’ve developed a bit of stage fright these past few days.”
“Has that ever been a problem for you before?”
“No never, my whole life has been up on the stage, performing at venue after venue in front of everyone from fellow musicians to Princess Celestia.  But it’s this latest one that has me all shook up.”
“What’s so special about it?” Dr. Spiral Swirl asked.
“Well I’m performing the cello works by Johann Sebastian Trot at the Canterlot Amphitheater, but it’ll be in front of all four princesses for the first time.”
“That sounds exciting.”
“It is, but every time I go out there to rehearse I lock up and have a panic attack. This has happened three times now.  And I constantly find myself drifting into thoughts about the consequences of if I perform terribly,” Octavia said, shuddering slightly.
“And what consequences might those be?” 
“Dreadful things, like Princess Celestia banishing me to sun, or Princess Twilight magically transforming me into some sort of horrid abomination, even though I know they’d never do such things.”
“I see, and do you only think about these things during the day?  Have you ever dreamed about them?”
“No never, because I’m sure Princess Luna would visit me and my dreams, like I hear she tends to do.”
“I see.  Well this sounds like a problem that is definitely being generated subconsciously.  So in order to help you, we’ll need to access your subconscious mind,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said.
“How…how do we do that?” Octavia asked, slightly nervous about what the answer might be.
“Have you ever heard of something called hypnosis?”
“A little bit, it’s a relatively new thing from what I’ve heard.  Though Vinyl Scratch has talked about her little sister being able to do it, she says she’s not a big fan of it.”
“I see,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, her horn glowing navy blue as she activated her unicorn magic and directed it at the saddle bag, “I however am quite the fan of it, and I feel it would be perfect for you.”
“What do you need me to do?” Octavia asked.
At that point Dr. Spiral Swirl had succeeded in levitating what she need out from the saddle bag.  It was a gold pocket watch on a chain.  She directed her magic so that it was suspended in the air at Octavia’s eye level and made to swing back and forth by the chain in front of her eyes.
“I just need you to relax and watch the watch Octavia,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said.
“O…okay,” Octavia said, feeling slightly nervous.
“Yes that’s it, just watch the watch.  Watch it swing back and forth for me.  Following it with your eyes as it swings.”
“Yessss, watch the watch,” Octavia said quietly to herself, as her eyes followed the watch.
“Still focusing on the watch as you begin to relax for me Octavia,” Dr. Spiral Swirl continued, “So relaxed you are beginning to feel tired. Tired and drowsy. Sleepy even. So sleepy your eyelids are beginning to grow heavy. In fact as I count from 1 to five you will no longer be to hold them open. 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... Now sleep for me. Relax. Allow yourself to sleep for me. You did so very well Octavia.”
At Dr. Spiral Swirl’s count of five Octavia’s eyelid’s locked shut as she fell into a deep hypnotized sleep.
“How do you feel Octavia?”  Dr. Spiral Swirl asked, putting the watch away.
“Wonderful.”
“Very good.  You are deeply asleep, completely hypnotized.  Your mind is empty of all thoughts.  You have no stresses, no cares no worries.  You are only focused on one thing…obedience.”
“I am only focused on obedience,” Octavia repeated.
“Very good, and since you are obedient only to me, that makes you my hypnotized slave.  Do you understand Octavia?”
“Yes Dr. Spiral Swirl, I am your hypnotized slave,” Octavia said, her voice now nothing more then a monotone.
“Oh please, there’s no need to be so formal.  You can just call me Mistress, my slave.”
“Yes Mistress,” Octavia said.
“There we go.   Now open your eyes Octavia but remain hypnotized.”
Octavia’s eyes blinked open, revealing that they had turned into black and white spirals.
“Now then Octavia, whenever you are not in a hypnotized 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, I understand.”
“Good, now then as far as your little bit of stage fright goes, when you wake up it will be gone, replaced only by confidence and a desire to put on a great performance.”
“Thank you Mistress,” Octavia said.
“I can’t have you getting suspicious if you wake up and nothing’s changed can I now?” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, smiling, “Also, it’s been so hectic since I’ve moved to Ponyville, setting up a new practice, getting my new home in order, ect.  I haven’t had a good home cooked meal in forever, so why don’t you invite me over to your place for dinner to thank me for helping you.”
“I’d be happy to invite you Mistress, it’s just that I’m Vinyl Scratch’s roommate in her shop and she doesn’t usually like the idea of me inviting company over since that means I’d make her cleanup her…unique way of displaying her merchandise,” Octavia said, a trace of sadness seeping through her emotionless monotone.
“Oh please, you don’t need to clean up on my account.”
“Then I’ll be sure to ask her.”
“Very good, now 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, but all of my commands will remain buried within your mind.  Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress, I understand,” Octavia said.
“Very good, 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 Octavia’s eyes and she shook her head a few times as the effect of being hypnotized wore off.
“So how do you feel?”
“I feel…wonderful,” Octavia said, happily, emotion returning to her voice.
“And your fears about performing?”
“…Gone!” Octavia said in shock, “I…I don’t remember what happened though.”
“That’s perfectly normal.  It’s called post-hypnotic amnesia.”
“Is there anything else you need me to do?”
“Nope, go out there and enjoy life,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, smiling.
“Oh I will!” Octavia said, jumping off the couch and leaving the room.
Enjoy it while your free will lasts my good little slave, Dr. Spiral Swirl thought.

Out in the waiting room Vinyl Scratch’s boredom had gotten the better of her and she was now using a rolled up magazine to create an improvised drum set out of her chair arms and the coffee table.  When she saw Octavia approaching and more importantly saw the death glare she was sporting, she dropped the magazine and smiled sheepishly.
“Hey Tavi, you feeling better?”
Octavia focused her death glare at Vinyl for a few more seconds before she burst out laughing.
“Oh Vinyl I haven’t felt this great in years!” Octavia said, as she took Vinyl’s front hooves in hers and began twirling the two of them around.
“What the heck did she do to you?” Vinyl asked, as Octavia twirled them straight out the door.

A short while later they arrived back at Vinyl’s record store/home on the outer rim of central Ponyville.  The House of Vinyl was small but it stood out, having been painted the color of Vinyl’s mane, a poster announcing her next appearance as DJ P0n3 hung in the window.  As they stepped inside Octavia let out her customary sigh upon seeing how Vinyl displayed her merchandise.  In traditional Vinyl Scratch fashion records were haphazardly piled on shelves or just stacked on the ground, some piles having collapsed into heaps, and yet Vinyl always knew exactly where all her product was.
“So Vinyl I was thinking,” Octavia said.
“That’s never a good thing,” Vinyl said, eliciting another death glare from Octavia, “I kid, I kid.  I kid because I love.”
Octavia let out a loud sigh, “As I was saying, I was thinking we should invite Dr. Spiral Swirl over for dinner, to thank her for helping me.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna have to say no, since you’re going to make me clean aren’t you?” Vinyl said.
“Oh no, you don’t need to clean.” Octavia said.
“Just what the heck did she do to you?” Vinyl asked.


Later that night Vinyl, Octavia, and Dr. Spiral Swirl were all gathered around the dinner table.
“Oh my, this is simply delicious,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, “What is it?”
“It’s vegetable lasagna.  I prepared it using a slow baking process using the finest and freshest vegetables from the Ponyville Market,” Octavia said.
“And I helped,” Vinyl Scratch said proudly.
“Vinyl dear, all you did was put the forks on the table,” Octavia said, with a hint of annoyance.
“Like I said, I helped.”
Octavia let out another sigh before taking a drink of water.
“So doc, what the heck did you do to Octavia?” Vinyl asked.
The bluntness of Vinyl’s comment caused Octavia to do a spit take.
“Vinyl!” She shouted, “Don’t be rude.  I’m pretty sure Dr. Spiral Swirl doesn’t want to talk about work.”
And I don’t like the idea of my psychology sessions being part of the dinner table conversation either, Octavia thought.
“Oh I don’t mind.  In fact I’d be happy to demonstrate if she’s genuinely curious,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said.
“Yup,” Vinyl said.
“Alright then, I need you take you sunglasses off and we can get started,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, focusing her magic on her saddle bag.
By the time Vinyl got her sunglasses off, Dr. Spiral Swirl had her pocket watch dangling in front of her eyes.
“Okay Vinyl, I just need you to watch the watch,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she began swinging the watch back and forth, “Watch it and relax. Relax and just focus your attention on my watch. Let the relaxation flow through your whole body. From your head to your hooves. Let your muscles grow limp and relaxed. Relax even further for me. You are beginning to feel sleepy. So very sleepy. So sleepy your eyelids are growing heavy. So heavy that by the time I count backwards from five to zero you will be unable to hold them open any longer. 5.. Still focusing all your attention on the watch. 4... Forgetting about all the stresses and worries in your life. 3... Eyelids so heavy. They feel like they are made of lead. 2.... So very sleepy. 1... Eyelids barely open so insanely sleepy. All you want to do is fall into a deep sleep. And finally zero. Now sleep for me.”
At Dr. Spiral Swirl’s count of zero Vinyl’s eyes blinked shut.
“Oh my,” Octavia said, “I must admit it is quite shocking to see that happen to another pony after having experienced it my self just a short while ago.”
“I can imagine.  Oh and Octavia?” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as a smile appeared on her face.
“Yes?”
“Trance time.”
Octavia let out a gasp as her eyes turned back into black and white spirals.
“How may I serve you Mistress?”  Octavia asked.
“For now you can just continue to stand there and look pretty,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, before turning her attention back to the hypnotized DJ, “Can you hear me Vinyl Scratch?”
“Yes,” Vinyl said, her voice quiet.
“You are deeply hypnotized Vinyl.  I am the hypnotist and the hypnotized subject always obeys the hypnotist.”
“Always…obeys…the hypnotist,” Vinyl repeated.
“And since you must obey me, that makes you my hypnotized slave.  Do you understand?”
“Yes, I am your hypnotized slave,” Vinyl said, her voice becoming a hypnotized monotone as well.
“Very good, now open your eyes but remain deeply hypnotized.”
Vinyl’s eyes blinked open, revealing they too had turned into black and white spirals.
“Now then a few quick questions, Octavia mentioned your little sister can also perform hypnosis, is she a better hypnotist then me?”
“Of course not Dr. Spiral Swirl,” Vinyl said. 
“Call her Mistress, she likes that,” Octavia said.
“You’re a much better hypnotist Mistress,” Vinyl continued, “Plus she doesn’t use a pocket watch like you do, and she doesn’t like the idea getting inside someone’s head and taking control so she rarely uses it.”
“I see,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, “And unfortunately for you and every other pony in Ponyville I love getting inside ponies heads and taking control with hypnosis.  Now then Vinyl whenever you are not in a trance and hear me say or write the words ‘trance time’ you will fall back into this deep, obedient hypnotized state. Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress,” Vinyl replied.
“Very good,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said as she turned and walked away from the dinner table and down the hall at the back of their living quarters.  Not knowing what else to do the two hypnotized ponies began following behind her.
Dr. Spiral Swirl opened the first door she came to and observed what had to be Vinyl’s room judging by the unmade bed, rock band posters on the wall, dirty clothes on the floor, and strange green substance dripping from the ceiling.  The next room was without a doubt Octavia’s since the bed was made, everything was orderly, and the case for her cello along with cases for every other stringed instrument sat along the wall.  The third door she opened housed Vinyl’s DJ equipment.
“What’s this?”  she asked, pointing to a small set of speakers mounted on wheels with a  red button on top.
“That’s my bass cannon Mistress,” Vinyl said, with as much pride as her hypnotized monotone would let her.
“And that?”
“That’s my turn table.”
“And that?” Dr. Spiral Swirl asked, pointing to a piece of equipment at the back of the room that featured a turn table and a microphone.
“That’s my small scale recording equipment.”
“I see.  I’d like to record something if you don’t mind.”
“Of course not Mistress,” Vinyl said, as her horn glowed, as she turned on the machine and placed a blank record on it, “It’s all ready for you Mistress.  Just talk into the microphone.”
Dr. Spiral Swirl approached the mike and spoke into it, “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.”
She then walked back over to the two hypnotized ponies.
“You will make a loop of that recording and play it at a low volume along with whatever else you happen to be playing at one of your DJ shows,” Dr. Spiral Swirl commanded, “You will do this even when not in a hypnotized state.  Deep down you might wonder why you are doing it, but in the end you just won’t care.  You will do it without hesitation or resistance.  Do you understand Vinyl Scratch?”
“Yes Mistress I understand.  I will obey,” Vinyl said.
“Very good my slave.  The subliminal effect of that recording will certainly help drum up business at my practice wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes Mistress,” Vinyl and Octavia said in unison.
“Now then why don’t we return to the dinner table so I can enjoy some desert while you two shower me with praise?”
The trio returned to the dinning room and after Octavia served Dr. Spiral Swirl a muffin from Sugar Cube Corner she and Vinyl began complimenting her.
“I think you’re awesome Mistress,” Vinyl said.
“You are the world’s greatest hypnotist, Mistress,” Octavia added.
“I really like your mane Mistress,” Vinyl said.
Dr. Spiral Swirl sat back and enjoyed the praise while she enjoyed her muffin.  After a half hour though she began to grow weary of it since the two had run out of original things to say and were either repeating earlier comments or just flat out making up amazing feats she had done.
“And I think it’s truly amazing how you helped Princess Twilight Sparkle defeat Tirek, Mistress,” Octavia said.
“Alright that’s enough,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, “Now then it’s time for me to head home.  So, on the count of three you will both come out of your trances.  You will forget about being hypnotized and what you did while hypnotized.  Every command I gave you while under hypnosis will remain strong though.  Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress,” the two said in unison.
“Very good. 1…2…3.”
At Dr. Spiral Swirl’s count of three the spirals faded from their eyes and they shook off the effects of the hypnosis.
“Thank you for the lovely evening ladies, but I must really be going now.”
“Thank you for joining us,” Octavia said, “And once again thank you for all your help today.”
“Oh it was my pleasure,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said as she gathered up her bag and left.
Once outside she observed the few ponies that were still milling about the town square.
That’s two down, and oh so many more to go, Dr. Spiral Swirl thought.
	





> Enslaved Sisters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter II  Enslaved Sisters


Applebloom lay on the couch in Dr. Spiral Swirl’s office.  She was remaining silent, absentmindedly picking at a piece of fuzz on the couch.
“Applebloom?” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, and upon getting no response repeated herself a bit louder, “Applebloom?!”
“Huh, oh sorry what were we talking about Doc?” Applebloom asked finally looking up.
Dr. Spiral Swirl let out a sigh of annoyance before saying, “We were talking about why you got into the fight at school.  I can’t help you if you don’t talk about it.”
“There’s nothing really to talk about I suppose,” Applebloom said, “I just got into it for the heck of it.”
“The report says you kicked Diamond Tiara in the flank.  So you did that for ‘the heck of it?’”
“Yup.”
“Applebloom I’ve known you for all of fifteen minutes and I can tell you’re a good kid and I doubt you started it for ‘the heck of it.’ It might be due to the fact that you’re too stubborn to admit what the reason is or maybe you’re even embarrassed by it.  The fact that you’ve made no effort to lie or at least make up a plausible sounding excuse for your actions leads me to believe you’ve already suppressed things deep down into your subconscious.”
“Huh?” Applebloom said, confused by Dr. Spiral Swirls psychoanalysis. 
“Let’s just say you’ve locked up the reason for the fight.  But fortunately I have a way to gain access to it,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said.
“What’s that mean?  Will this hurt?”  Applebloom said, slightly scared.
“Of course not.  It’ll be just like taking a nap…only better,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, directing her magic at her saddlebag.
“Really?” Applebloom said, her curiosity piqued by the fact that a doctor wanted to do something that would not involve her getting poked or prodded.
“Yup, all I need you to do is focus on my pocket watch,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she produced her gold pocket watch and began letting it swing in front of the young filly’s eyes.
“Um, okay,” Applebloom said, as her eyes began following it.
“Very good.  Just watch it swing back and forth. Back and forth.  Now just take a nice deep relaxing breath.”
Applebloom did as she was asked and continued to watch the watch.
“Again you’re doing very well. Still watching the watch and listening to my voice as you feel yourself beginning to relax.  Relax for me.  Just grow more and more relaxed.  Feel all that stress and tension you have built up slowly fading away.  The anxieties you mentioned are also fading away, now is not the time to think about them.  Now is the time to relax.”
I don’t know what watching her watch has to do with talking about my fight with Diamond Tiara, Applebloom thought, But she’s right, I do feel relaxed…she’s so easy to listen to.
“Just relax even more for me.  Let the relaxation spread throughout your body.  Feel your legs relaxing, your thighs, your stomach. Feeling the relaxation spreading upward to your chest and tail.  Going higher up your body to your neck, face, and eyes.  Your eyes are beginning to feel slightly heavy as you become completely relaxed all over.  Feel a pleasant warmth spread over your body in the wake of all this relaxation, like a nice comforting blanket.  You feel warm, relaxed, calm, safe, and very sleepy.  You're so drowsy Applebloom.”
She’s right, I do feel relaxed and sleepy all over…this is a good thing right? Applebloom thought, I’m…I’m getting too tired to think about it.
“You feel so sleepy, so ready to drift off to sleep.  Your eyes want to close; you want to drift off to sleep.  Let your eyes close as you fall into a deep hypnotized sleep for me,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, finishing up her induction.
Applebloom’s eyes stopped following the watch and they eventually locked shut.  As her head fell to the couch, the small filly seemed to grow even smaller as she fell into her hypnotized slumber.
“How do you feel Applebloom?” she asked.
“I feel great,” Applebloom said her voice quiet.
“Always good to hear.  Now then, you are deeply hypnotized and while in this state any mental barriers you may have put in place are gone.  If I ask you something you can talk to me about it no matter what.  Do you understand?”
“Yes Dr. Spiral Swirl.”
“Good, now tell me why did you start the fight at school today?”
“Because Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were making fun of me again for not having my cutie mark,” Applebloom said.
“That’s it?” Dr. Spiral Swirl asked, less then impressed with the answer.
“Yes, I was kinda embarrassed and angry with myself about it and didn’t want to admit that’s why I fought with them.  I’m trying to not let them making fun of me for not having a cutie mark get to me anymore.”
“I see,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, “Getting mocked for that is definitely something I can see setting you off.  In fact you and I aren’t so different in that regard.  I was late getting my cutie mark as well and was constantly made fun of for it…among other things.  But that’s me, and we’re here to focus on you.  So in a way I’m glad you stood up for yourself.  I know you said you’re trying not to let it bother you as much which is also a good thing, but just letting it build up inside of you until it bursts is something that should be avoided.  So the next time it starts to happen, maybe the best thing to resort to isn’t violence.  Just walk away and maybe do something you enjoy to calm yourself down, like spending some time with your friends maybe, and if you do need to resort to violence, direct it at something inanimate, like a tree.  Do you understand what I’m saying Applebloom?”
“Yes, doctor,” the sleeping Applebloom said in a quiet voice.
“Very good.  Now let’s focus on taking you deeper into hypnosis.  Why don’t you take another deep relaxing breath and sink down deeper into trance for me,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, and after watching Applebloom do so continued, “Very good, dropping down deeper into hypnosis.  All thoughts disappearing from your mind.  Becoming more and more suggestible.  Losing all your free will as you become my hypnotized slave in 3…2..1.  You are now my obedient little hypnotized slave Applebloom.  Do you understand?”
“Yes, I am your hypnotized slave,” Applebloom said, her voice now a monotone.
“Very good, now open your eyes but remain hypnotized.”
Applebloom’s eyes blinked open revealing they had turned to black and white spirals like Dr. Spiral Swirl’s previous victims, “I’m ready to obey your commands Doc.”
“For now just stay in this room.  I imagine your sister has arrived by now and I’ll need to go talk to her.  Oh, and call me Mistress while you’re my slave.”
“Yes Mistress,” Applebloom said.
“Good girl,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she stepped out into the waiting room.

Out in the waiting area, Applejack was sitting in one of the chairs trying to make sense of one of the magazines.
Dagnabit there’s lightning bolts drawn all over it and ‘wubs’ have been written over words.  Vinyl Scratch has been here, Applejack thought, before looking up and seeing Spiral Swirl coming her way.
“Ms. Applejack?” she asked.
“That’s me.”
“Hi there, I’m Dr. Spiral Swirl.  I see you were able to find your way here okay.”
“Yeah, sorry the school had to inconvenience you like this Doc, the regular counselor’s down in Mareami on vacation.”
“Oh it’s no trouble at all.  Applebloom is a joy to talk to.”
“So you’ve already talked to her about why in tarnation she started a fight at school?”
“Yes.”
“So should I go talk to her now too?”
“In a little bit, for now I’d really like to talk with you in private if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.”
Dr. Spiral Swirl led her over to a room further down the hall.  After the two stepped inside, Applejack took a look around.
This was quite obviously Dr. Spiral Swirl’s private office.  A filing cabinet was set against the wall.  A desk sat in the middle of the room, another pocket watch and some paper work sat on top of it.  The walls were devoid of any covering except the portrait of a unicorn.  She had a teal coat and navy blue mane like Spiral Swirl, though her mane was short and unkempt.  Her cutie mark was a pair of binoculars paired up with a blue bird.  Her most striking feature though was the fact that her back right leg was completely gone.
“So, after talking with Applebloom I’ve learned the reason for her starting the fight was her getting angry over some students making fun of her for her lack of cutie mark,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said.
“Again?”  Applejack said in annoyance, “I thought they had cut that out…or Applebloom had at least started to ignore them.”
“Now now, no need to get angry.  You should relax,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, placing emphasis on the word ‘relax’, “She knows what she did was wrong.  In fact she was embarrassed with herself for letting it get to her.”
“A fat load of good her being embarrassed will do.  Ms. Cheerilee’s already got her set up for a week’s worth of detention.”
“Now now, just relax.  I can talk to Ms. Cheerilee.  Maybe convince her to show some leniency.  Now I see in Applebloom’s file, you’re actually listed as one of her legal guardians?”
“Yeah, along with Big Mac and Granny Smith.”
“I bet that’s tough raising your sister without your parents around.”
“It is sometimes.”
“I bet it can get a little stressful at times.  Sometimes I bet you just want to relax.”
“Yes I do,” Applejack said, not noticing her muscles were starting to grow limp and loose.
“And doing most of the operations on the farm at the same time, I bet that’s quite stressful as well. I imagine there are times you wish you could break away from that and relax,” Spiral Swirl said, as she eyed the pocket watch on the desk.
“Actually I take breaks from the farm a lot surprisingly…but what usually ends up happening is I help Twilight and the others save Equestria rather then relaxing,” Applejack said, the desire to relax and de-stress entering her mind.
“I bet you wish there was someway you could just get rid of all that stress and relax, just for a moment.”
“I sure do.”
“Then why don’t you relax for me right now Applejack,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she levitated the pocket watch from her desk so that it dangled in front of Applejack’s eyes, “Relax and watch the watch for me.”
“I don’t understand?”
“This is what you wanted right? To relax?”
“I…I guess so,” Applejack said, she felt something was wrong but due to Dr. Spiral Swirl preconditioning her mind to want to relax she found herself following the watch back and forth with her eyes.
“Yes, you want to relax.  You want to follow the watch and begin to let all your stresses.  All your cares.  All your worries.  All your thoughts start to drain away.  You enjoy not having to think don’t you Applejack?”
“Yes…yes I do.”
“You enjoy just relaxing and watching my pocket watch.  No need to worry about harvesting crops or anything like that.  You just need to listen to my voice.  Nothing more.  Just listen and watch the watch.  Listen and watch.  Listen and obey.  No thoughts of your own now.  Let me do the thinking for you.”
“Yes….I want you to think for me doctor,” Applejack said.
“That’s right I do the thinking. And I think you’d be much happier if you let me take control.  Take control of your mind and body.”
“Yes….I’ll…I’ll let you take control,” Applejack said, hesitating slightly as if one last ounce of resistance remained in her.
“Good, very good.  Letting me take control of you as you fall into a hypnotized trance for me.  Becoming hypnotized, now Applejack.”
“Yes I will become hypnotized,” Applejack said, as her eyes turned into black and white spirals.
“Very good,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she set the pocket watch back on the desk, “Now that you are hypnotized and have let me take control of you, that makes you my hypnotized slave.  Do you understand?”
“Yes, I am your hypnotized slave,” Applejack said.
“Very good, now let’s go back to the other room and talk with your sister,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she led Applejack back over to where Applebloom was waiting.
“Hi Mistress!  Hi Applejack!” Applebloom said, her excitement at seeing the two of them giving some emotion back to her voice.
“Hi Sugercube, how are you?” Applejack asked.
“I’m doing great!  I’m Dr. Spiral Swirl’s hypnotized slave,” Applebloom said proudly.
“Well golly, that’s nice to hear.  I’m her hypnotized slave too,” Applejack said.
“Glad to see you two have something you can bond over,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, “Now just a quick little command for both of you.  Whenever you aren’t in a trance and hear me say or write ‘trance time’ you will instantly fall back into hypnosis, ready to obey me, understood?”
“Yes Mistress,” the two said in unison.
“Excellent.  Now then I’ve talked to both of you about Applebloom’s behavior so I think it’s time we wrapped things up.  Applebloom I’m sure you’ll take up my advice I offered you earlier.”
“Yes Mistress,” Applebloom said.
“Very good.  Like I said there’s no reason to let those bullies get to you and as a special treat when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon inevitably fall under my control I think I’ll command them to obey you as well.”
“Really?!  You’d do that for me Mistress?” Applebloom said excitedly.
“Yes, yes I believe so.  Even though my goal in the end is to have every pony in Ponyville as my mindless hypnotized slave, letting another pony share the control of a few others might help break up the monotony of things.  Plus like I said I see little bit of myself in you, and after all I never had the chance to brainwash my tormenters since my powers didn’t develop to this extent until later in life.”
“As for you Applejack you know I’m planning on talking to Ms. Cheerilee about being more lenient when it comes to Applebloom’s punishment so let’s build on that since I’m now going to rewrite both your memories of what happened while you were in my office.  Now instead of being hypnotized by me, you will remember things in a very different way.  What you will remember happening will be the two of us talking in this room about Applebloom’s behavior, and while her lashing out like she did was bad, it was somewhat acceptable given the circumstances. Applebloom you will remember me discussing the alternatives to dealing with the problem when I first hypnotized you.  Overall though it was a nice normal discussion and this is not something that needs to be blown out of proportion.  Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress,” the two sisters replied in unison.
“Excellent.  Now on the count of three you will come out of your trances. 1…2…3.”
At Dr. Spiral Swirl’s count of three the spirals faded from Applejack and Applebloom’s eyes, however they stood still for a few seconds, almost like their brains needed to reboot in order to implement the new memories.
“Thanks for everything doc,” Applejack said, finally regaining her senses.
“It’s no problem at all.”
“Come on Applebloom let’s go home and discuss this a little more.”
“Awww,” Applebloom said, sadly.
“After a quick stop at Sugar Cube corner though.”
“Yay!” Applebloom shouted as the two stepped out of the office.
“Ah sisters, bonded by love…and now by hypnotic enslavement,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said once they were gone.

Later that day Dr. Spiral Swirl walked through downtown Ponyville.
What a wasted day, she thought, Besides the Apple Sisters and Berry Punch needing help with her alcoholism I only had three new slaves added to my collection.  Oh well, once Vinyl Scratch blasts the crowd at her next gig with my subliminal messages I’ll have lots of new patients.  Plus the general practice here seems to be inviting new neighbors or ponies that help other ponies over for social gatherings so once that starts happening I’ll have lots more ponies available to hypnotize.  Inviting me in…how ironic considering… Dr. Spiral Swirl stopped for a second as her train of thought was causing anger to well up inside of her.  Once it had passed she began her internal monologue again, And of course the more ponies I help the higher up the social ladder I’ll probably climb…which means the possibility of being invited to more formal events.  Which means needing a formal dress to wear…and I left all mine back in Manehattan.  I guess I’ll have to get a new one.  Let’s see here…Carousel Boutique…I’ve heard good things about this place.
She entered the boutique, the door’s bell altering the pony hard at work on some clothes to her presence.
“Good afternoon Darling and welcome to Carousel Boutique.  I am your always helpful, always fashionable proprietor, Rarity,” Rarity said, as she walked over to Dr. Spiral Swirl.
“Hi there.  I’m new in town and was hoping to maybe have a formal dress made.”
“Of course, Darling.  Now I’m currently all booked up with orders, but I could certainly squeeze in a consultation today Ms…” Rarity said, as she lifted a tape measure with her magic.
“It’s doctor actually…Dr. Spiral Swirl.”
“My my, brains and beauty you’ll be needing to fight stallions off with a stick after we’re done here today,” Rarity said, as she began taking measurements, “Now I’m thinking a tri color chevron pattern would be best for you.  You’ve got the best color scheme for it, light coat, dark mane, and neutral eyes.”
“And I imagine if I wanted to it to be complimented by an accessory, that would also be a factor right?” Dr. Spiral Swirl said.
“A pony after my own heart,” Rarity said, “Ponies always seem to wait till I’m almost done to pull that on me.  So what is it going to be?”
“This,” Dr. Spiral Swirl, said as she magically lifted her pocket watch by its chain and let it dangle in front of Rarity’s eyes.
“Oh my it’s beautiful,” Rarity said, her gaze already locking on it.
“I know. It really is beautiful.  And I just love the way the light reflects off it. Especially if I swing it like this,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she began swinging the pocket watch in front of Rarity’s eyes.
“Oh my you’re right, that is a neat effect,” Rarity said, her eyes following the watch.
“Yes in fact, sometimes it’s hard to take ones eyes off it.  As the watch swings back and forth.  Back and forth.  You find it so easy to watch it swing.  Focusing your attention on the beautiful pocket watch.  Noticing once more the light reflecting off it.  Letting its beauty attract your attention even more.  Your gaze taking in every little detail every little facet.  You can’t look away.”
“No, I Can’t look away,” Rarity said.
“Just continue to watch the watch Rarity.  I want you to see the watch, see only the watch.  Relax...I want you to focus all of your attention on the watch and the sound of my voice. Take another moment to once again appreciate the watch. The way it glows, the way it sparkles...that's it all of your attention is on the watch now... back and forth...all of your focus...everything else is fading away... drifting away...all that matters is the watch, the sway, and the sound of my voice.”
Rarity let out a slight gasp of panic as everything around her faded to black except for Dr. Spiral Swirl and her watch, but she let that pass as her attention fell on the watch again.
“You see nothing else.  You’re also noticing how calming and relaxing my voice is.   You don’t want to listen to anything else except my voice.  Your world is just the watch and my voice as you begin to relax for me.  Relax.  Feel relaxation begin to encompass your body and your mind.  Relax for me Rarity.  Let a wave of total relaxation flow across your body.”
Rarity let out a brief sigh as the sensation of relaxation flowed over her.
“Very good.  And as the relaxation continues you are beginning to grow sleepy.  Very very sleepy.  You can feel it in your eyes. They are getting heavy and feel like they want to close.  In fact when I count from three to zero they will be so heavy they will close and you will fall into a deep deep sleep.  Three…so sleepy, so relaxed.  Two…letting the hypnosis take hold….One…You can barely hold your eyes open.  Zero…Now sleep.”
At Dr. Spiral Swirl’s count of zero Rarity’s eyes stopped following the watch and eventually locked shut.
“You did very well Rarity.  You are now in a deep hypnotized sleep.  You are completely under my spell.  Your free will is gone.   All that is left is obedience.  You must obey all my commands and suggestions.  You are my hypnotized slave and I am your Mistress.  Now open your eyes but remain hypnotized.”
Rarity’s eyes blinked open revealing them to be black and white spirals.
“Now then what are you Rarity?”
“Your hypnotized slave Mistress,” Rarity said, her voice a monotone.
“Hypnotized slave!” shouted a voice.
Rarity and Dr. Spiral Swirl turned towards the source of the voice.  Standing at the top of the stairs was Sweetie Belle.
“Don’t worry Sweetie Belle, everything’s fine,” Rarity said.
“No it’s not, I know that an anything slave is bad.  You leave my big sister alone!” Sweetie Belle shouted, as she magically lifted a ball of yarn and throw it at Dr. Spiral Swirl.
Dr. Spiral Swirl let it bounce harmlessly off her side before she turned her attention back to Sweetie Belle, “Sorry, you’ll have to do better then that.”
“Fine then I’ll…I’ll…I’ll tell Princess Twilight on you,” Sweetie Belle said, as she ran down the stairs to the door.  She got it open a half an inch before Dr. Spiral Swirl forced it shut with her magic.
“Rarity would you be a dear?” Dr. Spiral Swirl said.
“Yes Mistress,” Rarity said, as she directed her magic at a spool of ribbon.  She unwound a good amount of it before directing it at Sweetie Belle.  Once she had bound the poor filly she dragged her back over to them.
“Rarity what are you doing?  Stop this!” Sweetie Belle shouted, panic in her voice.
“Don’t worry it’ll all be over soon,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she got her pocket watch out again, and held it in front of Sweetie Bells eyes.  Sweetie Belle immediately looked away.  Letting out a sigh of annoyance, she moved the pocket watch over to where Sweetie Belle had averted her gaze, only for the young filly to look back to where had been originally only now with her eyes locked shut.
“Sweetie Belle you need to look at Mistress’ pocket watch,” Rarity said, “Maybe you’ll get a cutie mark in being a hypnotized slave.”
“Why would you say that?” Sweetie Belle said, tears forming in her eyes, “Come back Rarity.  Please help.”
“Oh but I am helping,” Rarity said.
Sweetie Belle let out a gasp as she felt a slight tugging on her eye lids.
No! she thought, She’s my sister, she wouldn’t.
The tugging grew stronger and she finally opened her eyes, only to find Dr. Spiral Swirl’s pocket watch in front of them already swinging.  Not having enough time to react and look away her gaze became locked on it.
“That’s a good girl, just watch my watch,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, “You put up a good fight, but now it’s time to relax and watch the watch.  That’s it just focus all your attention on the watch. Yes that's it just watch the watch. Watch it swing from side to side. Back and forth. Back and forth. Beginning to relax. Relaxing. Relax for me.”
No I can’t let this happen. I need to save Rarity, Sweetie Belle thought, her eyes never leaving the watch.
“You’re so relaxed Sweetie Belle.  All your fears are beginning to fade away.  This is beginning to feel so natural to you.  So right.  Being hypnotized is a good thing. So just relax and continue to watch the watch.”
No it’s not, it’s a bad thing, Sweetie Belle thought, Or is it…is it good…I don’t know anymore. I’m just so…relaxed.
“You’re doing so well now, Sweetie Belle giving up any and all of your remaining resistance as you begin to give in to the hypnosis.  You’re starting to feel drowsy. Your body feels heavy and warm. Your thoughts are fading.”
My….thoughts…are…fa…d…ing…., Sweetie Belle thought as her mind went blank.
"Now you will find that you are also becoming drowsy. Very Drowsy. Very sleepy.   A pleasant warmth is coming all over your body, just like when you fall asleep at night. Your eyes are getting heavy. You are becoming sleepy. Your eyes are getting heavier.  My voice makes you sleepy...makes you want to sleep. You cannot keep your eyes open. They are closing. Close them and drift off into a hypnotized sleep for me,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she put her watch away once the induction was finished.
Sweetie Belle’s eyes blinked a few times before they finally locked shut as she fell into her trance.
“Now that wasn’t so bad was it?” Dr. Spiral Swirl said.
“No…no it wasn’t,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Very good.  Now then, you are deeply hypnotized Sweetie Belle, you are focused on only one thing: obeying me. You are my hypnotized slave and I am your Mistress.  I expect you to say ‘Yes Mistress’ whenever I give you a suggestion or command.  Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress,” Sweetie Belle said her voice now a hypnotized monotone.
“Good job.  Now open your eyes but remain deeply hypnotized.
Once Sweetie Belle opened her black and white spiral eyes she immediately turned and looked at her backside and after noticing she still didn’t have a cutie mark she said, “Awww I didn’t get a hypnotized slave cutie mark.”
“I didn’t want you to get one anyways. I was just trying to make you feel better about falling under Mistress’ spell,” Rarity said.
“Awww, thanks Rarity,” Sweetie Belle said, smiling at her sister.
“Ahem,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, interrupting the twisted form of sisterly bonding her influence had created, “Now then I have some commands for you two.  First and foremost is your trigger phrase.  When you aren’t in a trance and here me say or write ‘trance time’ you will immediately fall back into hypnosis and become my slaves once again.  Understood?”
“Yes Mistress,” the two said in unison.
“Very good.  Now Sweetie Belle I want you to go back upstairs and finish your homework or whatever else it was you were doing and then take a nap.  Once you wake up you will no longer be hypnotized and you will have no memory of seeing me, seeing your sister in her hypnotized state or even being hypnotized yourself.  You won’t care that large blocks of the day have seemingly vanished from your memory.  Do you understand my little slave?”
“Yes Mistress. I hear and obey,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Go do it then.”
“Yes Mistress,” Sweetie Belle said, as she made her way back upstairs.
“Now then, where were we,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, turning her attention back to Rarity.
“I was helping you design your dress, before you took the time out of your busy schedule to enslave me to your will with your wonderful pocket watch,” Rarity said, “And speaking of which, I believe if I add powdered pearls to the cloth it’ll add a sheen that’ll compliment your watch nicely as you hypnotize other ponies.”
“Sounds good to me,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, “You don’t plan on charging me for this do you?”
“I would never dream of charging you for anything Mistress,” Rarity said, “In fact giving it to you for free is not nearly generous enough.  I should be paying you for it.”
Dr. Spiral Swirl laughed at the comment before thinking, Two more slaves.  I guess the day wasn’t a total waste after all.

> Hypnosis at the Hospital
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter III

Hypnosis at the Hospital


Nurse Redheart fumbled with her stethoscope as she tried to get a semi-good grip on it before she finally put it in her ears.  She let out a slight sigh of annoyance.
“Some days I really wish I was a unicorn like you, Mistress,” she said as she focused her black and white spiral eyes on Spiral Swirl.
“You seem to be doing okay,” Spiral Swirl said, before taking a few deeps after Nurse Redheart’s prompting as she listened to her lungs as well as her heart.
Once she was done Nurse Redheart took off the stethoscope and said, “You are in wonderful health Mistress, and I must say it was an honor getting to examine you.”
“That’s good news,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, “Now I noticed you were one of the ponies signed up to attend my lecture on the health benefits of hypnosis here at the hospital today.”
“Oh yes, I was interested in it before, but now I’m even more eager to attend now that I’ve had the chance to experience your hypnosis first hand Mistress,” Nurse Redheart said.
“I see,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she directed her magic at her saddle bag and withdraw a small bottle, “I want you to take this.”
“What is it Mistress?” Nurse Redheart asked taking the bottle.
“It’s diluted lamia venom.  You might not use it much here, but it’s become one of the newer sedatives to be used in the medical field.  I want you to slip it into the communal coffee pot in the lecture hall before everpony arrives.  You will remain in your trance in the meantime, but act like you would if you weren’t hypnotized.  I’d do it myself, but when has the lecturer ever arrived on time?  I wouldn’t want to arouse suspicion would I?”
“Of course not Mistress.”
“And speaking of avoiding suspicion,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as her horn glowed with magic again causing a bright flash to fill the room.
“What was that Mistress?” Nurse Redheart asked, as her eyes took on their normal appearance again.
“A simple concealment spell.  I can’t have you walking around with spirals in your eyes.”
“Does this mean I get to be under your spell permanently?” Nurse Redheart asked.
“No, because even though I told you to act normally your desire to serve me, praise me, and refer to me as Mistress, will eventually overpower your desire to act like you normally would.  But don’t worry, there’ll come a time when you will be placed back under my control permanently.  Now since there is time before the lecture I have some free time to kill,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she turned to leave the room.
“Um could I possibly ask you a favor Mistress?” Nurse Redheart asked.
Not used to being asked to do something by those she had enslaved, Dr. Spiral Swirl’s curiosity was piqued.
“Perhaps, what do you need?”
“Well as you most certainly know for every eighth accident a pegasus has that requires hospitalization they need to be cleared psychologically in order go back to weather control or other flight intensive duties.”
“Yes, I know,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, knowing where this was headed.
“And you see we are short staffed today so I was hoping you could give a patient her psych check.  She gets rather…difficult the longer she has to wait.”
“Alright I’ll do it.”
“Oh, thank you Mistress!” Nurse Redheart said happily, as she handed chart to Dr. Spiral Swirl.  She then left the exam room to return to her duties until it was time for the lecture.
“Let’s see here…Rainbow Dash,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, thinking out loud as she looked over the chart, “She’s a resident of Cloudsdale and not Ponyville, but she is the Ponyville weather manager.  Which means this will be the perfect opportunity to place her under my spell. After all the weather manager is not without sin either.”
She then left the exam room and made her way through the hospital corridor.
Stopping at the room number indicated at the chart she made an effort to knock on the already open door before going in.
“Come in,” said a voice.
Stepping inside Spiral Swirl saw Rainbow Dash propped up in her bed.  She had apparently been reading as a book lay at her side, one of her wings was in a sling.
“Hi there, you must be Rainbow Dash,” Spiral Swirl, “I’m Dr. Spiral Swirl.  I’m a psychologist and I’ll be performing your fit for flight duties evaluation today.”
“Yeah yeah, let’s get this over with,” Rainbow Dash said, not having the highest regards for psychologists having been through this many times before.
“Alright then, let’s get started.  First and foremost how are you feeling today?”
“Except my wing I’m fine.”
“Good good, speaking of which how did you get hurt?”
“It was that stupid Derpy again,” Rainbow Dash said, her voice taking on a combination of anger and annoyance, “Every time I need to do anything weather related out by Derpymail she always finds a way to crash into me at full speed going off on deliveries…and she always walks off without a scratch too.”
“I see, and it looks like you’ve gone through at least…EIGHT?! Fit for flight duty assessments recently.  That’s kind of high.”
“Like I said it was that stupid Derpy again.  She’s always sending me to the hospital.  I try and find ways around it.  I go by the Derpymail office fifteen minutes late…boom she rams me.   I try and kick the clouds over it from a distance…boom she slams me from behind.  It’s always a good day when there’s no weather over the Derpymail office.”
“So, your injuries are never your fault?”
“Well…I guess I do overdo it sometimes,” Rainbow Dash said, smirking, “But that’s just because I’m trying my best, to go above and beyond while being 20% cooler while doing it too.”
“And you’ve never had thoughts about intentionally hurting yourself right?”
“What?! No, that’s just stupid,” Rainbow Dash said, offended by Spiral Swirls comments, “I don’t know who you think I am doc, but I’d never do that.  Flying is my life, why would I try and sabotage myself?”
“Sorry sorry, I was just covering all the bases,” Spiral Swirl said, “And speaking of covering all the bases  I know that on the outside you say you’d never intentionally hurt yourself I’d like to know how you really feel, deep down in your subconscious.”
“Probably the same way,” Rainbow Dash said, trying to sound like she knew what exactly the subconscious was.
“That may be, but I’d just like to double check.  So in order to do so I’m going to need to perform hypnosis on you.  Have you heard of it?”
“Yeah, it’s that thing that happened to Daring Do in the latest book.”
Spiral Swirl was a little surprised Rainbow Dash had heard of hypnosis, she was less then thrilled about the source of that knowledge, “I’m afraid I’m not to familiar with that series could you explain?”
“Fine,” Rainbow Dash said in annoyance, her dislike for Spiral Swirl growing, not only was she a psychologist she also wasn’t a Daring Do fan, “In ‘Daring Do and the Temple of the Lamia’ she travels to the Pony-dian subcontinent to help out a small village who’s sacred crystals have been stolen by a Lamia cult.   Once she finds her way into the temple, in an awesome nonstop action sequence, she fights with the Lamia cult leader, but she uses her crazy spiral eye powers to hypnotize her and turn her into an evil jerk.  She even smacks around the annoying pony idol singer that came along with her for some reason.  Fortunately her young pegasus sidekick is able to snap her out of it and they get the crystals back.”
Once she was done she lied back down in bed since she had gotten a little over dramatic and began acting out scenes.
“….Wow,” was all Spiral Swirl could muster, “While it does sound like an interesting story I can assure you your hypnosis session will not be like that.  I am only going to use hypnosis to help you, not turn you evil.  Also that’s not how lamia powers work either.  Sure they can induce hypnosis with spiral eye effects, but their powers are more primal in that they use them to subdue smaller prey and occasionally ensnare larger predators to protect their territory during mating season.  They’re not bent on world domination or anything like that.  Now are you ready to get started?”
“Sure, I guess,” Rainbow Dash said.
Shows what you know about lamias, Rainbow Dash thought, knowing the truth about the Daring Do stories.
“Alrighty then, why don’t you make yourself comfortable and just relax and watch the watch,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she magically took her pocket watch out of her saddle bag and began to swing it back and forth in front of Rainbow Dash’s eyes, “Just focus all your attention on the pocket watch.  Just watch it swing back and forth.”
Ha if this is what regular hypnosis is like, it’ll never work on me, Rainbow Dash thought, her eyes following the watch, This is boring.  The lamia’s hypnosis was at least exciting with the spirals and happening instantly.
“You’re doing very good Rainbow Dash.  Focusing on the watch.  Letting your eyes follow it.  They're magnetized by it.  The constant simple motion of the swinging watch is beginning to relax you.  Just relax a little for me.  Why don't you start by slowing your breathing?  Taking slow relaxing breaths,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, continuing the induction.  She smiled when she noticed that Rainbow Dash was following along and had indeed slowed her breathing, “"That's it.  Now just relax some more for me. You're beginning to feel calm.  You seemed to be annoyed by my presence when I first showed up.  Allow that annoyance to fade and just relax.  You're beginning to enjoy this experience.  You're beginning to embrace hypnosis as you relax even more for me."
She’s right, she doesn’t all that bad anymore, Rainbow Dash thought, as she began to feel relaxation flow through her, And it does feel good to relax.
"You're being a very good hypnosis subject Rainbow Dash," Dr. Spiral Swirl said, "Now as you continue to watch the watch I want you to notice the rest of the room fading away as nothing else matters anymore except for the pocket watch and my voice.  You just want to ignore everything else and continue to relax.  Just relax completely for me.  Your whole body is completely relaxed and it feels wonderful."
This does feel wonderful, Rainbow Dash thought, though she found it was becoming increasingly difficult to think.
"This wonderful feeling comes with something else," Dr. Spiral Swirl said, "A feeling of sleepiness.  You're beginning to feel very sleepy.  And your eyes are beginning to feel tired from keeping a constant focus on my pocket watch.  You just want to drift off and go to sleep.  So now when I count down from ten to one you will close your tired eyes and drift off into a deep hypnotized sleep for me.  10…Letting my words guide you down into a deep trance.  9…Just drifting down deeper into relaxation. 8…So peaceful, sleepy and relaxed. 7…Your mind is calm and relaxed.  6…Your eyes are growing heavy.  5…You did so very well Rainbow Dash.  4…You're nearly there. So close to drifting off to sleep.  3…So close.  You want to sleep for me. 2…Your eyes are closing.  1…Close your eyes.  Fall into a deep hypnotized sleep for me."
At her count of one Rainbow Dash’s eyes blinked shut as her head flopped back onto her pillow.
“Now then let’s begin your therapy,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, putting away her pocket watch, “As long as you are in this hypnotized state you will find yourself open to my suggestions and willing to talk about anything to me, do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand,” Rainbow Dash said, her usually loud and boisterous voice now sounding closer to Fluttershy’s.
“Very good, could you please tell me what your greatest desires are?”
“To join the Wonderbolts, to co-author a Daring Do book, and spend as much time with my friends and Tank as possible,” Rainbow Dash said, without any restraint.
Hmmm no desires for self harm so she was telling the truth, Spiral Swirl thought.
“Alright, now please tell me who you are most loyal to.”
“The Princesses and my friends,” Rainbow Dash said her voice still quiet.
“Very good.  Now then I just want you to relax and go deeper into hypnosis for me.  You enjoy the feeling hypnosis brings you don’t you?”
“Yessss, I do.”
“Then just go deeper into hypnosis.  Letting me take you down further.  Letting me have more influence over you.  Letting any remaining thoughts you have drift away.  Let your mind grow empty.  Now just drop down into the deepest reaches of hypnosis as a new thought enters your empty mind: OBEY!  You must obey me Rainbow Dash.  You are my hypnotized slave and I am your Mistress.”
“I am your hypnotized slave,” Rainbow Dash said, her voice now a monotone.
“Very good.  Now then please remind me, what are your greatest desires?”
“To serve and obey you to the best of my abilities Mistress.”
“And who are you most loyal to?”
“You and only you Mistress,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Excellent.  Your enslavement is complete.  Now there are just a few more commands to give you.  First your trigger.  When you hear me say or see me write: Trance time, you will instantly fall back into this state of hypnotic enslavement.  Secondly our time together has come to an end so I want you to continue to enjoy your hypnotic slumber.  In a couple of hours you will wake up and return to normal.  You will remember me hypnotizing you, but you won’t remember anything that happened while you were hypnotized.  You won’t care about your post-hypnotic amnesia because I will have signed off on your fit for flight duties evaluation and that’s all that will matter to you.  Do you understand these commands my slave?”
“Yes Mistress I understand, I will obey,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Very good.  Enjoy your hypnotized slumber,” Spiral Swirl said, as she turned and left the room.  Pulling out her pocket watch to check the time she smiled and saw that her time with Rainbow Dash had made her fashionably late to the lecture.
She eventually made her way into the lecture hall.  A mix of ten doctor and pony nurses, including Nurse Redheart were there.  All were drinking from coffee cups.  Nurse Redheart gave her a wink indicating she had drugged the coffee pot.
Excellent, the lamia venom will make them all drowsy and dull their senses, making them perfect subjects for some mass hypnosis.  Of course a long boring lecture will help give some extra insurance, she thought as she made her way to the podium.
“Good afternoon everypony.  I apologize for making you all wait.  I am Dr. Spiral Swirl and today I will be talking about the health benefits of hypnosis…But first, what is hypnosis?” she said, in the most boring lecturer style voice she could come up with.
Twenty minutes later she looked across the crowd as she continued to speak.  Half the doctor and nurse ponies had their eyes half closed; one had his head tilted forward and was beginning to droll.  The only one still focused on her was the already hypnotized Nurse Redheart who was giving her her full attention.
“Now then, all these words about hypnosis are meaningless if you’ve never seen it in action.  So why don’t I give you all some first hand experience,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she magically levitated her pocket watch in front of her and let it swing so that the gathered audience could see it.  Immediately ten pairs of eyes began to follow it.
Nurse Redheart smiled broadly at the thought of being hypnotized a second time.
“Yes that’s it.  Just watch the watch everypony.  Relax and watch it swing back and forth.  Everything’s going to be fine,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said with an evil grin.

> Spreading the Word
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

> Bird Watching and Brainwashing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Spiral Swirl stood in a small clearing by the creek looking through some binoculars.  
Ooooo an indigo bunting and a scarlet tanager, you don’t see those in the city, she thought, regarding two of the two birds perched in the tree she was looking at.
A loud rustling from something crashing through the underbrush caused the birds to scatter.
“You IDIOT!  You scared them away!” she shouted in anger at the pony she saw when she turned around.
“Oh…I’m…I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said meekly, backing away slightly.
“It’s okay,” Spiral Swirl said calming down a bit, “It’s just I go bird watching with my mom all the time so it’s something I kinda hold close to my heart.  Sorry if I overreacted.”
“Oh, um don’t worry about it,” Fluttershy said perking up a bit.
“In a way it’s nice to have company.  This is my first time doing it in Ponyville and I can’t do it with my mom since she’s off on a research trip searching for the crystal billed woodpecker.”
“Your mother is Dr. Birdsong!?” Fluttershy said, excitement filling her voice.
“Uh…yes,” Spiral Swirl said, not expecting such a reaction from Fluttershy.
“She’s done so much for the ornithological field and she’s overcome so much adversity as well.”
“Yes…yes she has,” Spiral Swirl said, a slight anger welling in her voice in regards to the last bit of Fluttershy’s comment.
“Are you an ornithologist too?” Fluttershy asked.
“Nope, I’m a psychologist.  Dr. Spiral Swirl.  Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Fluttershy.  It’s nice to meet you too.  Do…do you mind if I join you in some bird watching?  I know it’s just a hobby to you, but growing up with Dr. Birdsong you must have picked up on some pointers.”
“Sure I don’t mind at all.  Like I said it’s nice to have some company.  This is a nice spot too.  Sure Manehattan had parks but this is unspoiled nature.  Just listen to that creek. Gently babbling over the rocks.  It’s kinda relaxing to listen to wouldn’t you agree?”
“I guess it is.  I’ve never really thought of it that way,” Fluttershy said, taking a moment to take in the sounds of the creek.
“And it’s such a lovely day too.  The sun’s just perfect, shining down on us.  Don’t you just feel so warm and comfortable?”
“I…I sure do,” Fluttershy said, closing her eyes and holding her face up towards the sun.
“And that wonderful breeze that’s blowing through trees it’s so refreshing.  It’s like it’s blowing all your cares and worries away right?”
“Yes, I feel them blowing away,” Fluttershy said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“And then of course there’s the creek again.  It’s constant babbling.  So repetitive.  So relaxing.  Listening to its constant flow almost makes you feel a little sleepy.  A little drowsy.”
Fluttershy felt herself being compelled to yawn, “Yes…I do feel a little sleepy.”
“All and all a beautiful scene.  The sun, the wind, the sound of the creek.  They’re all so perfect and the three of them together could enhance the beauty of anything.  Like my pocket watch,” Spiral Swirl said, as she magically lifted her pocket watch out of her bag and let it swing in front of Fluttershy’s eyes.
“Um, I guess…I guess so,” Fluttershy said, not sure of what was going on, her mind already getting cloudy.
“Just relax and watch the watch.  The sunlight reflecting off it enhances its beauty.  You can’t keep your eyes off it.  Just relax and listen to my voice while the running waters of the creek continue to relax you.  Just relax Fluttershy.”
“Yes…I should relax,” Fluttershy said, “I should listen to the creek and watch your watch.”
“That’s right.  Just watch the watch and begin to grow even sleepier.  You were getting sleepy and drowsy before, but now that feeling is beginning to become overwhelming.  You start to feel yourself drifting off to sleep.”
“So…so sleepy.”
“Yes so sleepy as you watch the watch. Feeling your eyelids growing heavy.  Heavy like they’re being weighted down.  You don’t need to fight the urge to go to sleep anymore.  Just let yourself drift off into a nice relaxing sleep for me.”
Fluttershy watched the pocket watch swing a few more times before her eyes slowly closed and her head dropped down.
“You are in a deep sleep Fluttershy,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, putting away her watch, “You are also in a deep hypnotic trance.  Your mind is blank and you free will is gone.  You are my hypnotized slave and you must obey me.  Do you understand?”
“Yes Dr. Spiral Swirl. I am your hypnotized slave and I must obey you,” Fluttershy said in a quiet monotone.
“Mistress will suffice,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, “Now then onto your trigger.  Whenever you hear me say or write the phrase ‘trance time’ you will fall back under my spell ready to obey any command I give you.  Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress, I understand,” Fluttershy replied.
“Good now open your eyes but remain hypnotized,” Spiral Swirl said, smiling upon seeing Fluttershy’s eyes blink open revealing black and white spirals, “Now then I want you to…GAH!”
Finding her time giving her new slave commands interrupted by a sharp pain in her leg Dr. Spiral Swirl looked down to investigate.  She was surprised to find a small white bunny biting her.  Noticing it had been caught it stopped and glared up at her.
Dr. Spiral Swirl used her magic to lift the bunny up to her eye level, “You stupid little white rodent.  Where did you come from?”
“Now Angel, be nice to Mistress Spiral Swirl,” Fluttershy said. 
“You know this thing?” Spiral Swirl said, levitating Angel over to Fluttershy.
“Yes I do Mistress.”
“Then why don’t you teach it some manners?”
“Yes Mistress,” Fluttershy said, before utilizing ‘The Stare’ on Angel, “You need to be a good bunny and don’t bother Mistress Spiral Swirl anymore.  Being her hypnotized slave is a good thing Angel.”
The combination of ‘The Stare’ mixed with Fluttershy’s spiraling eyes resulted in Angel nearly going catatonic.
“You won’t have to worry about Angel being mad at you anymore Mistress,” Fluttershy said smiling slightly.
“You don’t have any other animals, friends, or animal friends lurking around here to interrupt us do you?” Spiral Swirl asked, as she magically flung Angel away.
“No Mistress.  They’re all back in Ponyville.  Well except Discord, he’s away in another dimension watching another reality warper’s trillion year plan come together.”
“Oh I see…wait…did…did you say Discord?  As in the Spirit of Chaos Discord?  He’s your friend?” Spiral Swirl said, an overwhelming sense of fear taking hold of her.
“Yes he is Mistress.”
“Of all the ponies I could have hypnotized today I enslave the one who is friends with something that could turn me inside out if he so desired.”
“Now there’s no need to worry Mistress.  Once he gets back I’ll explain to him that being hypnotized by you is a good thing, and if he’s still upset about it I guess I’ll just have to use my new Rainbow Powers to keep him in line.  I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Heh, I guess if you have that kind of power then I have nothing to worry about.   Now please walk over to the bank of the creek,” Spiral Swirl said, the sense of dread leaving her.
“Yes Mistress,” Fluttershy said, as she calmly walked over to the spot Spiral Swirl had indicated.
“Now let your muscles grow stiff and rigid.  You are pretty much frozen in place Fluttershy.”
I am frozen and stiff like a statue, Fluttershy thought once she followed through with Spiral Swirl’s command.
After a few seconds a bird landed on Fluttershy.
A scrub jay, very nice.  She makes for a nice platform for the birds to land on and I need to take in a little more birdwatching to calm my nerves. Hard to believe she has that much power at her disposal.  She must be one those ponies that helped stop Tirek awhile back.  A hero that keeps a low profile that could keep the likes of Discord at bay oh opportunity has smiled upon me today.  Now back to bird watching I’m still a little stressed out.   A feared Discord attack is definitely stressful.  Speaking of which I wonder what in the world she meant by him watching another reality warper’s plans come about, Spiral Swirl thought, before returning her focus to the birds.



In a far off world Discord floated in the air in a sitting position over a pine tree covered mountain.  A floating box of popcorn sat beside him and he was looking down at the small mountain community below with a pair of comically over sized opera glasses.
“Oh really Bill rearranging the functions of the holes on someone’s face?  Where is your sense of class?” he said in annoyance.
A loud stomping sound approached him as a now sentient water tower lumbered by before lifting its top and letting loose a loud roar.
“Oh quiet you,” Discord said.


Back in Ponyville Spiral Swirl walked into her office.
“Good morning doctor,” her secretary said.
“Good morning.  Sorry I’m a little late but an opportunity presented itself this morning that I couldn’t pass up,” Spiral Swirl said.
“There’s no need to worry, your first patient is already signed in and waiting for you.  Though there’s….well…um perhaps it’s best if you just look at her patient info sheet,” the secretary said, holding up a clipboard that Spiral Swirl magically drew towards her.
What in the world? Spiral Swirl thought looking at the sheet.
Where it said ‘patient’s name’ somepony had written ‘Pinkamena Diane Pie, but you can call me Pinkie Pie.  Oh wow this pen is blue!  Really really blue!  Twilight never uses blue ink this is so much fun!’
Spiral Swirl stared in confusion at the stream of consciousness writing that filled the entire page front and back.
Uh oh, she thought.
Taking a deep breath, almost as if to steady herself she walked over to the therapy room and opened the door.  Closing it behind her she realized something, the room was empty.
Where is she?
“Hi there!” Pinkie said, popping down into her field of view.
“Gah!” Spiral Swirl said, recoiling and shock.  Looking up she saw that Pinkie Pie was standing on the ceiling, “What in the world are you doing up there?”
“Well while I was waiting I looked around the room at everything I could see and then I looked at it again and then I realized that I hadn’t looked at what was up on the ceiling yet,” Pinkie said in a rapid fire delivery.
“But…but how did you get up there?”
“You know what? I don’t know,” Pinkie said.  The realization of this hitting her though resulted in her losing her ability to walk on the ceiling and she fell to ground.  Unfazed she immediately jumped back up, “Hi there I’m Pinkie Pie by the way.”
“It’s um, nice to meet you Pinkie Pie.  I’m Dr. Spiral Swirl.  If you would please sit down on the couch we’ll get started.”
“Okie dokie loki,” Pinkie said, before walking over to the couch. Spiral Swirl followed behind her and sat down on the adjacent couch.
“So what brings you here today?” Spiral Swirl asked.
“Well, you’re a new pony in town right?” Pinkie said.
“That’s right.”
“And I usually do my best to learn about the new ponies and throw them a surprise party to welcome them to Ponyville, but I was having trouble coming up with a party theme for you.  I found out you were a psychologist and I asked Twilight what that was.  She went on and on about it and I may have tuned her out, but I think I got the gist of it and that psychologists help ponies with problems they’re having with their brains.”
“That’s…that’s kind of an ineloquent way to put it but it’s not incorrect,” Spiral Swirl said.
“So that got me thinking what if I made brain shaped cakes for the party?  Then I thought ‘what if brain shaped cakes attract zombie ponies?’  Nothing ruins a party like zombies.”
Did she just say zombies? Spiral Swirl thought.
“So I decided to go for a different theme but couldn’t think of one.  I was really worried and stressed out about it but then the other night I was at the dance club getting my groove on and listening to the great beats DJ-P0N3 was playing when it hit me, I could go see you for help about the party and all the stress it was causing me.”
“I guess I can help you with that.  But doesn’t telling me there’s a surprise party ruin the surprise?”
“Maybe a little,” Pinkie said, “But right now you just know there’s a party, but you don’t know when and where it’ll be so I can still surprise you, like a tiger pouncing in the wild. Roar!”
“Well I think one of the best ways to help you with the stress and to learn a little more about me is for you to experience one of the techniques I use to help my patients.”
“What’s that?” Pinkie asked her curiosity piqued.
“It’s a little something called hypnotherapy.  By hypnotizing you I could relieve you of your stress and with it we can gain access to your subconscious mind and maybe come up with more ideas for the party since nothing will be holding you back.”
“If it’ll help me plan my party I’m all for it!” Pinkie said excitedly.
“Very good.  I just need you to relax and watch the watch,” Spiral Swirl said, as she magically lifted her pocket watch out of her bag and began to swing it in front of Pinkie’s eyes.
Pinkie’s eyes followed the watch for a few seconds before she said, “Oh hey your watch says it’s 11:00 that means it’s almost time for lunch!  Who named it lunch in the first place anyways?  And what’s the opposite of lunch?  The midnight snack? Or would it be hcnul? No hcnul would be lunch’s evil twin.”
“Ms. Pie please I need you to focus on the watch,” Spiral Swirl said, annoyance filling her voice.
“Oh right sorry,” Pinkie Pie said, as she went back to watching the pocket watch.
“There you go.  Just watch the watch swing.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.  Left to right.  Left to right.  Re…”
“Why do you swing it left to right?” Pinkie asked her eyes still locked on the watch, “Does that work better then if you moved it up and down?”
“You know what, I never thought about it.  For now I’d just like to stick with the classic method.  Now I need you to please just focus on the watch and listen to my voice.”
“Okie dokie loki,” Pinkie Pie said.
“Alright then, from the top.  Pinkie I just need you to focus on the pocket watch.  Focus on it as it swings back and forth.  Your eyes are completely locked on the pocket watch as you take a nice deep breath in and out.”
Pinkie Pie did as she was asked before thinking, Hey my eyes are locked on the watch.  It’s like a magnet for my eyes.  This is kinda neat.
“That’s it just focus on the watch.  Start to relax a little for me.  Let all distractions fade away.  The watch and my voice are the most important things to you right now Pinkie Pie.”
She’s right that pocket watch is very important.  If she uses it on other ponies for this hypnotherapy stuff it must important to her too.  Maybe I should make a pocket watch shaped cake for the party, Pinkie thought.
“Just listen to my voice and relax for me.  Relax.  Start to feel relaxation flow over you.  Let it start at your hooves and work its way up your legs.  Just relax and watch the watch.”
Oooo I’m starting to feel it.  I feel all tingly in my legs.  This feels good, Pinkie thought.
“Let the relaxation spread up from your legs to your body now.  Through your stomach and up to your chest.  Now up to your neck and face and your head.  Your whole body is relaxed Pinkie Pie.”
Yes I’m completely relaxed, Pinkie Pie thought, I feel all tingly and warm.  Everything she tells me that’s happening comes true.  I wonder if she told me I felt like I just ate a whole bunch of pudding would that come true too.  Mmmm pudding. I could really go for some right about now.
“Now that you’re completely relaxed I want you to start feeling a little tired.  You’re starting to feel very drowsy and sleepy.  Your eyelids are getting heavy from focusing on my watch.”
I…I do feel sleepy.  Why does she want me to get sleepy? Doesn’t she want me to plan a party with her after this hypnosis stuff kicks in?  I can’t do that if I’m asleep.
“And I imagine your mind is still going a million miles a minute so why don’t you let it slow to crawl now.  Let your thoughts slow.  All you can think about is how close you are to falling into a state of deep hypnosis.”
Let my thoughts slow?  I can’t do that, I need to think about the…party…and…other…stuff…or…or…maybe I should just think about being hypnotized, Pinkie Pie thought, as she started to succumb to Spiral Swirl’s hypnotic spell.
“All you can think about is being hypnotized now.  You want to fall into trance.  You feel so sleepy now.  Your eyelids are so heavy.  When I count down from five they will become so heavy they will close and you will drift off into a deep hypnotized sleep for me.  Five…focusing on the watch and my voice.  Four…so ready to be hypnotized.   Three…eyes heavy.  Two…letting go.  One…almost there.  Zero…now sleep for me Pinkie Pie.  Relax and sleep.”
Pinkie’s heavy eyes finally blinked shut and her head dropped down slightly.  Her normally poofy mane seemingly deflated and became long and straight.
It was quite a struggle but she’s under, Spiral Swirl thought, putting her watch away, She’s so deeply under even her mane is relaxed…and that doesn’t even make sense.
“Can you hear me Pinkie Pie?” she asked.
“Yes.  Yes I can,” Pinkie Pie replied in a monotone.
“You are now deeply hypnotized.  I am in complete control of you now.  You are my hypnotized slave and I am your Mistress.  You will obey any I command I give you without hesitation or resistance.  Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress.  I am your hypnotized slave.  I must obey you,” Pinkie replied.
“Very good.  Now onto your trigger.  Whenever you hear me say or write ‘trance time’ you will immediately fall back into this hypnotized state ready to obey me.”
“Yes Mistress.  My trigger phrase is ‘trance time’.  I will obey,” Pinkie said, her voice still in a monotone.
“Very good.  Now I want you to open your eyes but remain deeply hypnotized.”
Pinkie’s eyes blinked open revealing black and white spirals.  She looked towards Spiral Swirl awaiting further commands.
“Did you enjoy being hypnotized Pinkie Pie?” Spiral Swirl asked.
“I sure did Mistress!” Pinkie Pie said happily, a huge smile spread across her face as her mane poofed back to normal.
“What the…” Spiral Swirl said in surprise.
“At first I thought it was kind of boring just watching the watch and listening to you.  But once you told me to start relaxing and feel sleepy it became a lot more interesting.  The real fun started when I fell asleep and became completely hypnotized.  Who knew letting another pony take control of your mind could be so exciting!  Oooo are those my eyes?” Pinkie said, noticing her reflection in a mirror that hung on the wall.
What is going on? None of my other hypnosis subjects act like this during their initial enslavement? Spiral Swirl thought, her confusion mounting.
“Wow look at them, they’re all swirly and whirly.  Round and round they go,” Pinkie said, admiring the spirals in her eyes and laughing a little, “Do all ponies that get hypnotized by you get spirals in their eyes?”
“Uh yes,” Spiral Swirl said.
“That’s really neat.  Hey I could use this for the party!  I could make some spiral candies.  Yeah, if I use vanilla and black cherry they’d match the black and white spirals perfectly.  They’d go great with the pocket watch cake,” Pinkie said, her excitement mounting.
The WHAT?! Spiral Swirl thought.
“Ooo ooo and I could make hypnotized dreamcicle treats and I could make muffins and put the berries in them so they make a spiral design.  I could call them ‘mesmerizing muffins’.  I could warn Derpy not to fall under their spell.  She’d get a kick out of that.”
“That’s not going to happen.  None of this is.”
“Awww why not Mistress?” Pinkie said in disappointment.
“Because I don’t need an outlandish party.  I really don’t want one at all but I’m afraid that throwing one is so ingrained into your nature that if I commanded you not to throw one your head would literally explode and I don’t need to see that…or pay for the cleaning services,” Spiral Swirl said, resigned to the fact that a party was going to happen, “So I just want something simple.  White cake.  Punch.  And I want it held in a place with lots of quiet side corridors so that any pony that wants to sneak away and take a break they can and then I can possibly hypnotize them in private if the opportunity presents itself.”
“Cake, punch, and places where you can hypnotize ponies.  Your wish is my command Mistress…are you sure you don’t want the spiral candies?”
“Positive.  Now sit back down and fall back into a deep hypnotized sleep.”
“Yes Mistress,” Pinkie replied, before walking back over the couch and drifting off to sleep again.
“Now it’s time to bring you out of hypnosis.  When I stamp my hoof twice you will come out of your trance.  You will remember nothing that happened while you were hypnotized.  On the surface you will have a trace memory about what I wanted for the party but the true purpose of why I wanted things like the venue with side corridors for hypnotizing ponies will remain buried in your subconscious.  Understood?”
“Yes Mistress.”
“Very good.  Now it’s time to wake up.” Spiral Swirl said, as she stamped on the ground twice.
Pinkie’s eyes blinked open having returned to normal and she promptly yawned and stretched.
“Welcome back,” Spiral Swirl said.
“Huh back from where?” Pinkie said in confusion.
“From being hypnotized.”
“I….I don’t remember anything.  I remember watching your watch and then…poof blank,” Pinkie said, spreading her hooves apart miming a dust cloud being scattered.
“It’s called post-hypnotic amnesia.  It’s very common.  You don’t need to worry though; we had a very productive session.  We talked about the party and what I wanted so the weight of that should be off your mind now.”
“Oh yeah, I remember a little now.  It’s hazy but I think I’ve got what I need to throw you a good party.  A simple party that’ll pounce on you like a simple tiger.  Roar!”
“See like I said nothing to worry about,” Spiral Swirl said smiling.
“You’re right.  Thanks a bunch Dr. Spiral Swirl,” Pinkie said smiling back.
“You’re welcome.  Have a great rest of the day Pinkie Pie.”
“I sure will!” Pinkie said, as she bounced out of the office.
Once she was gone Dr. Spiral Swirl let out a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness.  If I had to spend much more time dealing with her I might have ended up needing some therapy myself, she thought, holding up her pocket watch, Let’s hope I can bring this out at the party to help all those poor ponies that partied a little too hard.

> Scooters Spirals and Spies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bon Bon sat at an outdoor café and took a sip of her drink as she took in the quiet atmosphere of the post lunch rush.  She looked across the street and noticed Dr. Spiral Swirl eating a sandwich at another outdoor establishment.
That unicorn…I’ve seen her somewhere before, Bon Bon thought, But where?
The quiet was shattered when a voice asked, “Special Agent Sweetie Drops, have you forgotten about standing in the presence of a superior?” 
The voice snapped Bon Bon out of her intense concentration and she turned to see a black unicorn with a ninja headband cutie mark and grey mane tied in a top knot staring at her with blood red eyes.
“C…Commander Shadow Dancer. It’s nice to see you again,” Bon Bon said, as she nearly chocked on her drink before standing at attention.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to spook you,” Shadow Dancer said as she smiled playfully, “I was just trying to have a little fun.  We both know that agents who have left the service no longer have any authority over each other.”
“Heh heh, I guess you’re right,” Bon Bon said, settling down, “How long have you been in Ponyville?  I’ve never seen you here before.”
“A few years now.  I guess going unnoticed is a trait that always sticks with you when you’ve been in the stealth forces.”
“Yeah, the training does seem to stick with us,” Bon Bon said, “So what are you up to these days?”
“Mostly raising my daughter, Ebony Darkness.  She’s developed some sort of magic she calls ‘shadow jumping,’ I would’ve loved to been able to do that back in the day,” Shadow Dancer said smiling, “And right now she’s all excited about the upcoming magic exam.  Heh, remember the exams we used to take?”
“Don’t remind me,” Bon Bon said.
“So what were you looking at when I snuck up on you?  You had a pretty intense look on your face.”
“That unicorn over there,” Bon Bon said, pointing at Dr. Spiral Swirl, who had finished her lunch and was now heading off elsewhere, “I could’ve sworn I’d seen her somewhere before.  I think it was in one of our text books on the greatest criminals in Equestrian history.”
“You mean Dr. Spiral Swirl?  I highly doubt that,” Shadow Dancer said, “She’s probably only a couple years older then you, and the criminals featured in our text book committed crimes over forty years ago.”
“That’s Dr. Spiral Swirl?” Bon Bon asked, a sense of uneasiness filling her, “Lyra’s appointment with her is today, now I’m really worried.”
“There’s no need to be,” Shadow Dancer said, “Dr. Spiral Swirl is a fine psychologist.  She’s helped me out a lot.  A lot of things that I did still haunt me and I’m finally starting to get over them thanks to her help.  If you ever need somepony to turn to I highly recommend her.”
“Pass,” Bon Bon said.
“Well, it was nice seeing you,” Shadow Dancer said.
“Nice to see you…too…” Bon Bon said, as she turned to say goodbye only to find Shadow Dancer was no longer there, “Pfft…always hated it when the stealth forces did that to me.”
She got up and started to step out into the street only to have to jump back as Scootaloo came flying by on her scooter.
And I always hate it when Scootaloo does that to me, she thought.


Scootaloo flew through the streets of Ponyville on her scooter going faster and faster as she weaved around any pony or other obstacle that happened to be in her way.
Yeah I’m gonna do it.  I’m gonna break my record time of going from school to the clubhouse.  I’m not going to just break it; I’m going to shatter it.  I’m going blast it apart.  I’m going to…hit that pothole!  She thought.
“Oh no!” she screamed as her front wheel hit the pothole and sent her flying while the scooter itself careened out of control before it smashed through the window of a house.
“Awwww man,” Scootaloo said, upon getting up and seeing the damage.
She slowly made her way to the front door, preparing for the worst.  Pausing in front of it, she slowly raised her hoof and knocked.  She stepped back when the door opened.
“Hi there,” Spiral Swirl said, stepping outside, “You wouldn’t happen to be missing a scooter by chance?”
“Yes…sorry about that.  It was an accident,” Scootaloo said, hanging her head low.
“I see.  Well come on in.”
Scootaloo nervously stepped inside.  To the left of the foyer she could see a living room where her scooter lay on the floor along with the glass shards from the window.
“I’m sorry.  It…it was an accident,” Scootaloo repeated herself, hoping that it would help keep her out of trouble.
“I understand.  No need to worry,” Spiral Swirl said, as her horn glowed.
Scootaloo watched in amazement as Spiral Swirl lifted all of the glass shards and pieced them together in their proper places before she caused their edges to glow red hot.  When the glowing subsided the window was more or less back to normal.
“Wow!  That was cool,” Scootaloo said.
“Oh, that was nothing.  Just a simple spell they taught us my first year in school since patients tend to sometimes…break things.  Like I said, the window is no big deal and it was an accident after all, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then I think everything’s alright.  I mean it’s not like you broke anything important. Like this for example,” Spiral Swirl said, as she lifted her pocket watch out of her saddle bag and let it dangle in front of Scootaloo’s eyes.
“What’s so important about that?” Scootaloo asked.
“A couple of things.  For starters, isn’t it beautiful?” Spiral Swirl asked, as she began to let it slowly swing in front of Scootaloo’s eyes.
“I guess so,” Scootaloo said, as her eyes locked on the watch.
“Heh, I guess that wouldn’t impress you that much.  You’re a pony that probably cares about exciting things rather then pretty things.”
“You got that right.”
“Then the other thing that makes this important will definitely intrigue you.   I use it to help my patients.   It’s a very simple process.  First I tell them to watch it swing back and forth.  Back and forth.  Kind of like you’re doing right now.”
“I…I guess so,” Scootaloo said, finally realizing her gaze was focused solely on the watch.
“The next thing I tell my patients as they continue to watch the watch is that they’re beginning to relax.  They’ve told me it’s a wonderful feeling.”
“Yessss. It is,” Scootaloo said, as she felt her body begin to relax.
“And after that I tell them to begin relaxing more and more.  Continuing to build on that wonderful feeling.”
“Relax…more…and more,” Scootaloo said as she sighed contently.
“And as they relax more and more I often tell my patients to let their minds begin to grow calm.  All their stresses and worries just fade away.  In fact all their thoughts fade away as they listen to my voice and watch my watch.”
Let my thoughts…fade… Scootaloo thought as her mind started to succumb to Spiral Swirl’s hypnotic induction.
“At this point I can go two different routes.  I can either guide my patients into a deep hypnotized sleep or I can draw them down into a light trance that I can deepen later.  While letting them drift off to sleep is fine, sometimes it’s just more interesting to place them into a state of light hypnosis so that they’re open to my suggestions and completely open to me, while at the same time able to continue to focus on my pocket watch.  All they have to do is let their minds become completely clear and fall into a trance as they enter a state of light hypnosis.  Kind of like you’re letting happen right now.”
“Yes….I am in a trance…I have entered a state of light hypnosis,” Scootaloo mumbled as black and white spirals started to form in her eyes.  They were slightly transparent, so her normal purple eyes still shone through as they continued to follow the swinging pocket watch.
“Very good.  And I just realized I’m being very rude.  I’ve hypnotized you and I don’t even know your name,” Spiral Swirl said.
“My name is Scootaloo.”
“Well now that that’s all cleared up, let’s continue.  Like I said, this state of light trance is perfectly fine for my patients to be in, they’re open to my suggestions and perfectly willing to let me help them by telling me anything that they might be holding back, but I prefer to work with them when they are in a state of extremely deep hypnosis.  So why don’t you let yourself fall deeper.  Deeper into hypnosis for me.  Falling five times deeper.  Ten times.  A hundred times.  A thousand times.  Deeply hypnotized now.”
“Yesssss…deeply hypnotized,” Scootaloo said in a monotone, her eyes turning completely into black and white spirals.
“Very good,” Spiral Swirl said, as she put away her pocket watch, “And now that you’re in this deeply hypnotized state, that means you’re no longer just ‘open’ to my suggestions, but you must now obey them without any resistance or hesitation.”
“I must obey your suggestions,” Scootaloo replied.
“Good girl.  But it’s more then just my suggestions; you must obey anything I tell you to do, period.  As long as you are in this deeply hypnotized state, you are my slave and I am your Mistress.  Do you understand, Scootaloo?”
“Yes Mistress, I understand.  I am your slave,” Scootaloo said.
“And just like that, another young mind becomes mine,” Spiral Swirl said, smiling as she walked around the entranced Scootaloo, “Didn’t I tell you that the purpose of my pocket watch beyond being just a pretty trinket would intrigue you?”
“Yes Mistress, you were right.  Being hypnotized was the coolest thing ever.”
“Heh, I’ve never heard my hypnosis referred to as ‘cool’ before.  In fact I was never really considered a cool kid growing up but I guess I’m the coolest pony around in your book now right?”
“Sorry Mistress, you’re not,” Scootaloo said, “Being hypnotized by you is great and all, but Rainbow Dash is still the coolest.  She said she’ll always be twenty percent cooler then anypony out there.”
Spiral Swirl stared dumbfounded at what Scootaloo had just said before she chuckled slightly, “I guess I can’t argue with that logic.  I don’t suppose the fact that I also have your idol under my spell affects my standing?”
“Nope.”
“Fair enough.  Now it’s time to give you your trigger phrase,” Spiral Swirl said, before implanting her usual trigger phrase into Scootaloo’s mind.
“Yes Mistress, I understand,” Scootaloo replied.
“Now then, why don’t you wake up and forget all about being hypnotized?” Spiral Swirl said, as she stamped the ground a couple of times.
The spirals in Scootaloo’s eyes faded as she shook off the effects of the hypnosis, “Huh, wha?  Did I miss something?”
“Nope.  Everything’s fine,” Spiral Swirl said, smiling at her.
“So…I’m not in trouble?”
“Of course not.  Like you said it was an accident.”
“Thanks so much. I guess…I’ll see you later,” Scootaloo said, trying to make a graceful exit as she grabbed her scooter.
“Goodbye,” Spiral Swirl said, waving after her.
Oh don’t worry, you will, Spiral Swirl thought.


Lyra sat in a chair in Dr. Spiral Swirl’s waiting room watching Bon Bon pace back and forth.
“What’s gotten into you, Bon Bon?” Lyra asked, “You said you didn’t mind that I was coming here, but now you’ve come along and you’re more nervous about this than I am.”
“Sorry, it’s just…something’s come up,” Bon Bon said, her earlier suspicions of Dr. Spiral Swirl still haunting her, “Just…just be careful when you’re in there with her.  Don’t let her get too into your head.”
“You’re talking like she’s some sort of mad scientist or something,” Lyra said, “Oh no, the ‘evil Dr. Spiral Swirl’s’ going to do something weird to my brain!”
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”
“Why don’t you just relax? Everything will be fine.”
“Ms. Lyra, the doctor is ready for you,” the secretary pony said from the reception desk.
“I’ll see you later,” Lyra said as she got up and walked into the therapy room.
As she stepped inside, Dr. Spiral Swirl walked over to greet her.
“You must be Lyra.  Good afternoon,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said smiling.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Lyra said.
“Why don’t you have a seat on the couch and we’ll get started,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she sat down.  She raised an eyebrow when Lyra sat in couch across from her in her usual unconventional way.
“So I see from your information sheet you’re here because you feel you’ve started to develop an obsession with something?”
“Well, I guess I just started to feel it the other night when I was out dancing.  Everypony else was always saying it was starting to become an obsession but I just ignored them, but at the dance club it just kinda clicked that maybe they were right for some reason and maybe I should get some help.”
“I see.  So what do you fear you’re obsessed with?”
“Humans!” Lyra said excitedly.
“I’m sorry; I’m not familiar with that term.  What are they exactly?”
“They’re the most amazing creatures out there.  Pale hairless bipedal ape creatures that used to visit Equestria back during the first generation of ponies,” Lyra said, talking faster as her enthusiasm grew, “They’re not around anymore, but I’ve studied all I can about them.  Their languages, their culture, how they sit, and even how they carried stuff around in their hands.  I’ve even started to adapt the way of the human into my own life.  Of course, maybe that’s where I started getting a little obsessive.”
“Thank you for giving me that information.  It does sound like it’s starting to grow into an obsession.  It’s nothing major, I’ve seen worse.   Now the most common types of obsessions operate on a subconscious level, so in order to work with you I’ll need to access your subconscious mind.  So in order to do that I’ll be performing a hypnotherapy session with you.”
“This isn’t going to hurt, is it?” Lyra asked.
“Of course not.  In fact, I think you’ll find being hypnotized to be a most enjoyable experience,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said as she smiled at Lyra and began to direct her magic at her pocket watch.
“Okay then, what do you need me to do?”
“You just need to watch my watch,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, as she magically lifted her pocket watch so it swung in front of Lyra’s eyes.
“Okay,” Lyra said, as her eyes locked on the pocket watch.
“Yes that’s it.  Just watch the watch.  Watch it swing back and forth.  Back and forth.  Good, you’re doing very well.  Focusing all your attention on my pocket watch.  Just watch it and relax for me Lyra.”
Hey this is kinda nice, Lyra thought, as the first wave of relaxation washed over her.
“Relax more and more.  Listening to my voice calms you.  You know I’m here to help you.  I’m here to help you with your problems and guide you into hypnosis.  Feel all the tension in your body fade away.  Any stress or fear you might have is fading away as well.”
All my stress is gone.  I want Dr. Spiral Swirl to guide me into hypnosis, Lyra thought, her mind already going numb.
“Feeling so good.  So relaxed.  Starting to feel drowsy and sleepy as your relaxation increases Lyra.  You feel so sleepy.  Your eyelids feel heavy.  I’m going to count down from five to zero.  At zero your eyelids will become so heavy you will no longer be able to keep them open and you will drift off into a deep hypnotized sleep for me.”
At the count of zero I will drift off into a deep hypnotized sleep.
“Five…still focusing on the watch.  Four…you’re doing so well.  Three…your mind is slowing.  Two…So sleepy.  Your eyelids feel like they’re made of stone.  One…ready to be hypnotized.  Zero…Close your eyes and drift off into a deep hypnotized sleep for me, Lyra,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, finishing her induction.
At her count of zero Lyra’s eyes blinked shut and her head dropped forward.  Her limp and relaxed body then promptly flopped over sideways onto the couch.
Looks like there’s a flaw in your ‘human’ way of sitting, Spiral Swirl thought, as she used her magic to adjust Lyra so she was now lying on the couch.
“Lyra, can you hear me?”
“Yes Dr. Spiral Swirl, I can,” Lyra replied in a quiet voice.
“Very good.  You are now in a hypnotic trance.  As long as you are in this state you will be very open to me.  You will reveal things you would normally hold back and you will follow the suggestions I give you, understand?”
“Yes doctor.  I understand.”
“Very good.  Now let’s get started.  I want you to think back to when you first became interested in the humans.  Tell me about it.”
“It was back in college.  I was taking an archaeology class as an elective and we were at a dig site with a well known humanologist.  She explained everything that they had found at the site so far and it actually held my interest, unlike everything else in the class.  After that I would go to the library to look up papers on humans every so often.  It was just a hobby back then.”
“When did it start to evolve into more then a hobby?”
“I think a few years after that.  I read about a book they found containing human recipes and I gave it a try.  I loved the food the humans had come up with so I started making more and more of it.  After that I felt if they could make better food then us, what else could they do better?  That’s when I started to try and adapt the human life style.”
“I see,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, “That being the case I want you to regress your mind back to your college days.  Back to when your love of humans was just a hobby.  Lyra what are you?”
“I am a freshman at Canterlot University,” Lyra replied, “Go Manticores!”
“Go Manicores!” Dr. Spiral Swirl shouted back, “Now I want your mind to return to the present, but I want your interest in humans to remain back at its college level and stay there.  I don’t want to rob you of your interest in them, but I want it to remain at a healthy level.  Do you understand?”
“Yes doctor.  My interest in humans will always be nothing more then a hobby,” Lyra said.
“Wonderful to hear.  You’ve been a very good patient Lyra, so right now I just want you to relax more and fall deeper into hypnosis for me.”
She watched as Lyra took a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief.
“I feel bad about leaving that void in your mind, so I think I’ll fill it with a new obsession.  From now on you will be obsessed with obeying me.”
“Obeying you?” Lyra said, slightly confused.
“Yes, so long as you are in a hypnotized state you will obey my every command.  You will obey me without hesitation or resistance.  You are my hypnotized slave, Lyra and I am your Mistress.  Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress.  I am your hypnotized slave.  I must obey you no matter what,” Lyra replied, her voice drained of all emotion.
“Perfect,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, smiling triumphantly, “Now for your trigger phrase.  Whenever you hear me say or write the phrase ‘trance time,’ you will instantly fall back into hypnosis and once again become my hypnotized slave.”
“Yes Mistress.  I love my new trigger phrase.”
“Very good.  Now it’s time to wake you up.  When I count to three you will come out of your trance with no memory of what happened while you were hypnotized.  One…beginning to wake up, the heaviness of your eyelids is easing up.  Two…feeling your thoughts and free will returning.  Three…coming out of your trance feeling refreshed and wonderful.”
Lyra’s eyes blinked open and she looked over at Dr. Spiral Swirl.
“So how do you feel?”
“Amazing,” Lyra said happily.
“And your thoughts on humans?”
“They’re interesting creatures, but they’re really nothing more then a hobby,” Lyra said, “Wow, I can’t believe I just said that.”
“Looks like your hypnotherapy was a success.”
“I…I guess it was.  I just wish I could remember what happened during it.”
“You shouldn’t worry about that.  You were a great patient.”
“If…if you say so,” Lyra said as she got off the couch.
“It was nice meeting you Lyra.  If you feel the need to talk to me about anything else, please don’t hesitate to make an appointment.”
“Sure.  Thanks so much for your help doctor,” Lyra said smiling at her.
“You’re very welcome,” Dr. Spiral Swirl as she led Lyra to the door.
Once Lyra stepped out of the therapy room, Bon Bon came over to her as they headed towards the exit.
“So what went on in there?” Bon Bon asked, still on high alert.
“Therapy stuff, I guess.  She helped me get my obsession under control.  Humans are now just a hobby to me,” Lyra said, holding up her hoof.
“Uh that’s nice,” Bon Bon said, as she hit her hoof against Lyra’s, “But what did she do to you that made it so instantaneous?”
“I’ll tell you later.  I gotta go meet up with Minuette.  Sorry Bon Bon,” Lyra said, before running off.
I can’t wait till later.  If that Dr. Spiral Swirl really isn’t a threat she’ll tell me what went on, Bon Bon thought, as she turned around and headed back into the office.
“Oh hello, did you forget something?” the secretary pony asked.
“I need to talk to Dr. Spiral Swirl,” Bon Bon said.
“Well if you…hey!” the secretary shouted as Bon Bon walked right past her.
Bon Bon reached up to knock on the therapy room’s door, but stepped back when it opened before she could.
“Are you my next appointment?” Dr. Spiral Swirl asked her, “I’m sorry, but I don’t seem to have any information about my next patient…if that happens to be you.”
“No.  My name is Bon Bon and I’m a friend of Lyra’s.  Can we talk?”
“I have a little time.  Let’s step over to my office.”
Bon Bon followed Dr. Spiral Swirl over to her private office and stepped inside.  
“So what did you want to talk about?” Dr. Spiral Swirl asked.
That three legged unicorn…she looks similar to the criminal pony I thought about earlier as well, Bon Bon thought, looking at the portrait on the wall.
“I wanted to ask about what you did with Lyra.  You seemingly cured her obsession with humans in a day.  What happened?”
“I’m sorry, doctor-patient confidentiality,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said.
“Look, I’m just concerned for my friend.  You didn’t pump her full of some mind altering potion did you?”
“No of course not.”
“Then what? Please, I’m just a little worried is all.”
“Alright, if it’ll help you feel better I guess I can give the very abridged version, since you’re so concerned about her safety.  All we did was a simple hypnotherapy session.”
“Meaning you brainwashed her,” Bon Bon said, glaring at Dr. Spiral Swirl.
“Of course not.  The key part of that word is therapy.  That’s all it was.  I helped my patient with her problem, nothing more and nothing less.”
“Alright if that’s all then I guess I’m okay with that.”
“Good to hear, and if there is ever anything you feel you need help with, just set up an appointment.”
“Pass,” Bon Bon said, as she turned and walked out of the office.
Something still doesn’t feel right, Bon Bon thought as she walked through the waiting room, ignoring the angry glare of the secretary pony.


That evening Spiral Swirl sat at her desk in her bedroom writing a letter.  Once she was done she folded it up and placed it in envelope that had ‘Lyra’ written on the front and sealed it up.  She then placed it and a dozen other envelopes into a box containing several more sealed letters.
Tommorow I’ll have Derpy deliver these letters to everypony so they’ll know when the slave meeting will take place, she thought.
She then stood up and walked over to her window.
“It’s a beautiful night out, but something doesn’t...feel…quite…RIGHT!” she said, as her horn began to glow as she directed a levitation spell at something. As she said ‘RIGHT’ she jerked her head backwards to give the levitation a little extra oomph, resulting in the object she was focusing on to come flying through her window and falling to bedroom floor in a heap.
“Hi there,” Spiral Swirl said.
“Uh hi,” Bon Bon said, as she struggled to untangle herself from her grappling equipment that had been thrown into the room with her.
“Whatcha doing?” Spiral Swirl asked.
“Um, I locked myself out of my house, so I was trying to get in through a window.   But this isn’t my house.  My mistake.  I’ll just go let myself out.”
“I work with pathological liars all the time and you don’t hold a candle to them.  So, what were you doing out there?  Hmmmm… climbing on the side of my house all dressed in black, I’d say you were either trying to spy on me or were planning on stealing from me.  Since I don’t like the idea of either of those things happening to me, I think it might be best to give you a little attitude adjustment,” Spiral Swirl said, as she focused her magic on the pocket watch sitting on her desk.
I don’t like the sound of this, Bon Bon thought, as she prepared to go on the defensive.
Spiral Swirl levitated her pocket watch over so that she was now swinging it in front of Bon Bon’s eyes.
“What in the world are you doing?” Bon Bon asked, as her eyes began to follow the watch.
“Why, I’m simply introducing you to the wonderful world of hypnosis,” Spiral Swirl said as she smiled at Bon Bon, “So I just need you to watch my watch and relax.”
“There’s no way I’ll let you hypnotize me,” Bon Bon said defiantly.
“’I won’t let you hypnotize me.  You’ll never get away with this.  This will never work.’ I’ve heard them all and I’ve proven them all wrong.  Just like I’m going to do with you.  Now just relax Bon Bon.  Relax and focus all your attention on my pocket watch.  You can’t look away.”
I’ll show her, Bon Bon thought, as she tried to look away from the swinging watch only to find her eyes were hopelessly locked onto it. 
“What?! No! What’s going on?” she said in confusion, as she tried to turn her head away, only for that to fail as well.
“You’re succumbing to the inevitable is what’s happening.  Now just relax even more.  There’s no need to fight it anymore.  Just listen to my voice and let me guide you into trance.”
No! I won’t let her mess with my mind.  I’ll fight her, Bon Bon thought, But…it feels so good to relax.
“Relax your body Bon Bon.  Let it become loose and limp.  It feels so good.  You can feel yourself start to succumb to my hypnotic spell.”
I…I…I won’t succumb.  I can’t move…so relaxed…but…but I won’t give up.
“Feel yourself being drawn closer to the edge of trance as your thoughts fade away.  They fade away into nothingness as a singular new thought enters your mind, ‘I will obey.’”
No! I won’t let that happen…I’ve got to keep fighting…I’ve got to keep my own thoughts…I…must….re…sist…I….I will…I will obey, Bon Bon thought, as her mind began to fall under Spiral Swirl’s control.
“And as you continue to think only about obeying me, you find yourself falling into a deep deep hypnotic trance.  You are completely hypnotized Bon Bon.  You are my hypnotized slave and I am your Mistress.  Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress.  I am your hypnotized slave.  I will obey you,” Bon Bon replied, as her eyes morphed into black and white spirals.
“Very good,” Spiral Swirl said, as she placed the pocket watch back on the desk, “Now then my newest slave, which one was it?  Are you a thief or a spy?”
“I was spying on you Mistress,” Bon Bon replied.
“And why were you doing that?”
“Because, I didn’t trust you Mistress.  I noticed a resemblance between you and a unicorn that was featured in one of my text books on the greatest criminals in Equestria history.”
“And what class were you taking when you read about this?”
“History of Evil 101, it was an entry level class at the Celestia Special Services Academy.”
Hmmmph, so it’s not just in some obscure history books but also readily available for any bright eyed spy to read about, Spiral Swirl thought, her annoyance building.
“I see,” Spiral Swirl said, “Well it looks like your little mission to spy on me was a complete failure wouldn’t you say?”
“Complete and utter Mistress,” Bon Bon said.
“Who else knows about your suspicions of me?”
“Just Lyra and Agent Shadow Dancer,” Bon Bon replied.
“Then I have nothing to fear,” Spiral Swirl said, “Since I’ve turned both of them into my hypnotized slaves as well.”
“That’s wonderful news Mistress,” Bon Bon said.
“Now then it’s time for you to get out of my house.  First though, I’m going to give you your trigger phrase.  Whenever you hear me say or write the phrase ‘trance time’ you will fall back into this hypnotized state, ready to obey me.”
“Yes Mistress, I understand.”
“Good.  Now I want you to leave and return to your home.  Once you get inside you’ll come out of your trance and have no memory of being hypnotized by me or coming to my home tonight.  You will not care about the large gap of time that has elapsed, and all the mistrust you had in me will be gone.”
“Yes Mistress, I will obey,” Bon Bon said, as she gathered up her equipment and exited out the window.
Maybe I should’ve told her she could’ve used the front door this time…oh well, Spiral Swirl thought, This night certainly didn’t go as I expected it to.  After all that I should probably go to bed, but there’s one more thing I need to do.	
She then walked over and sat back down at her desk and pulled out a piece of paper and an envelope.  After writing ‘Bon Bon’ on the envelope, she started to write the letter with, ‘Trance Time,’ being the first words.

> Time to Obey
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Derpy and Dinky sat in their living room working on a jigsaw puzzle of kitten watching a mother duck and her ducklings pass by.   A knock on the door broke them out of their concentration.
“I’ll get it,” Derpy said, getting up, “Save the ducklings for me please, Dinky.”
“You go it mommy,” Dinky said.
Derpy walked through the house and into the Derpymail section, where the knocking was coming from.
“I wonder who it could be?” Derpy thought out loud.
When she opened the door, Dr. Spiral Swirl was standing there.
“Hi there,” Spiral Swirl said.
“Hi, can I help you?” Derpy asked.
“I was hoping you could do an important delivery for me,” Spiral Swirl said, holding up a box with her magic.
“I’m sorry, but we’re closed for the evening,” Derpy said, “If you’ll come by tomorrow I should have plenty of time to do your delivery no problem.”
“Oh, I think you think you can make time tonight.  It is ‘trance time’ after all,” Spiral Swirl said with a smirk.
Derpy gasped upon hearing her trigger phrase and her eyes morphed into black and white spirals as she fell back under Spiral Swirl’s control.
“I’m sorry Mistress, of course I’ll deliver whatever you want me to tonight,” Derpy said.
“That’s more like it,” Spiral Swirl said, stepping inside, “Now then, in this box is a letter to every pony in Ponyville I’ve hypnotized.  They contain instructions about when and where a slave meeting will take place.  Now I have some very specific instructions on how you are to go about deliv…..”
She was cut off by the door swinging open and smacking her in the face.
“Derpy, I have wonderful news!” Dr. Whooves said, stepping inside, “I got us tickets to Volcana Starlight’s latest production.  I had to stand in line for four hours and fight off a rabid piñata, but I got them.”
He then noticed Spiral Swirl step out from behind the door, rubbing her nose.
“I say, what’s going on here?”
“Mistress Spiral Swirl, was just about to give me instructions about how to deliver her letters,” Derpy said.
“’Mistress Spiral Swirl?’  Great wickering stallions!  Those spirals in your eyes, calling her Mistress, you’re under some kind of hypnotic spell,” Dr. Whooves said, concern filling his voice.
“Brilliant deduction,” Spiral Swirl said.
“Release her from your control at once!” Dr. Whooves demanded.
“I’m going to have to say no to that,” Spiral Swirl said, as she prepared to pull out her pocket watch, “Why don’t you just relax, and I’ll show you it’s not so bad to be under my hypnotic control?”




Well that didn’t go quiet as planned, Spiral Swirl thought a few seconds later, as she found her self splayed out on the front lawn.
“I’m terribly sorry about that,” Doctor Whooves said, stepping outside, “Normally I detest violence, but I feel you left me with no choice.  Now let us avoid any further unpleasantness, by you releasing Derpy from your spell, and turning yourself into the proper authorities.”
Spiral Swirl responded by levitating a few of the flower pots that lined the sidewalk and hurling them at him.
He dived out of the way of the incoming projectiles.
“I see.  Well have it your way,” Doctor Whooves said, as he charged across the yard and ran headlong into her, sending her flying.
Spiral Swirl got to her feet and shot a magic blast out of her horn knocking him down.
“Doc! Mistress! Please stop fighting,” Derpy pleaded, “I know, why don’t you let Mistress Spiral Swirl hypnotize you?  It’s a very enjoyable experience.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” Doctor Whooves said, as he dodged another flying flower pot.
“What’s going on?” Dinky said, stepping out of the house, having heard the commotion.
“Dinky! Run! Go get help!” Doctor Whooves shouted.
“Sorry, the only pony she’ll be helping is me.  Trance time!” Spiral Swirl said, shouting out the trigger phrase.
Dinky gasped as she heard her trigger, and her eyes morphed into black and white spirals.
“How may I serve you Mistress?” Dinky asked.
“Dinky no!” Doctor Whooves cried out in horror.
“Dinky, be a dear and help me put an end to this problem,” Spiral Swirl said, pointing at Doctor Whooves.
“Yes Mistress, I will obey,” Dinky said, as she turned and ran back into the house.
“Do you want me to help Mistress?” Derpy asked.	
“No, I can’t have you going around scuffed up from being in a fight,” Spiral Swirl said, “Dinky will do just fine.”
“Not only do you mind control children, but you make them fight your battles for you,” Doctor Whooves said, his voice filled with disgust, “You’re a special kind of monster aren’t you?”
Spiral Swirl responded to his insult by focusing her levitation magic on him.
This won’t end well, Dr. Whooves thought, before she flung him into a tree.
“Yup, I was right,” he said, getting to his feet.
“Give up,” Spiral Swirl said.
“So long as my friends are in danger from the likes of you, I will never give up,” he said, getting into a defensive stance that seemed other worldly to her.
Spiral Swirl readied another flower pot, but put it down when Dr. Whooves cried out in pain.
“What in the world?” he said, turning around to see an arrow sticking out of his rump, it had barley pierced his skin but it still hurt.  He looked up to see Dinky leaning out of her window, her bow made of pink magical energy floated beside her, “Since when is she such a good shot?  What mad pony gave a child real arrows?  And why can’t I move?!”
“It’s amazing what being hypnotized and being stripped of whatever fears or personality quirks were holding her back does for her accuracy,” Spiral Swirl said, walking over to him, “And I don’t know who gave her the real arrows, but the reason you can’t move is because that one had its tip coated in the cockatrice venom I gave her.”
“Paralyzing your opponent, that hardly seems fair,” Dr. Whooves said, glaring at her.
“I’m sure I can change your attitude about that…in fact I’m sure I can change the way you think about a lot of things,” Spiral Swirl said, as she levitated her pocket watch out of her saddle bag and let it dangle in front of his eyes.
“I’m so sorry I let you down Derpy,” Dr. Whooves said, as he looked over at the spiral eyed Derpy.
“Don’t look at her, look at the watch,” Spiral Swirl commanded, as she began swinging it back and forth in front of his eyes, “Watch the watch.  Watch it swing back and forth.  Back and forth.”
“You’ll never get away with this,” Dr. Whooves said, as his eyes locked on the watch.
“I already have, many many times,” Spiral Swirl said, “Now just relax for me.  Watch the watch and relax.  You’ve been quiet the nuisance, so the best thing for you to do right now is focus only on the watch and listen only to my voice.”
That watch…her voice…they’re so enchanting, Dr. Whooves thought.
“Just let go, as you continue to watch the watch.  Let go of all thoughts, all your anger, all your loyalties, everything that’s a part of you, just let it melt away as you begin to fall under my spell.”
Yes…no thoughts…No…I’ve got to keep fighting…Can’t let her…Can’t…think…I feel…so…empty.
“You don’t want to resist me anymore.  I am not your enemy.  You don’t want to fight me; you want to be hypnotized by me.”
I don’t need to fight anymore.  I need to be hypnotized.
“You’re feeling tired.  You’re worn out from our fight. So tired and sleepy.”
“Yessss…sleeeepy,” Dr. Whooves said, his words slurring.
“Let yourself completely go, as you begin to grow drowsy.  So drowsy.  So sleepy.  Feel your eyelids growing heavy.  So heavy they feel like you can’t hold them open a single second longer.  So, on the count of three you will close your eyes and fall into a deep deep sleep for me.   One…giving up any remaining resistance.  Two…giving up your free will.  Three…giving up your desire to stay awake any longer as you…sleep.”
At the word ‘sleep’ Dr. Whooves’ eyes locked shut, as he fell into a deep hypnotized sleep.
“Now then, you are deeply hypnotized.  You are under my complete control.  That means you are my slave and must obey me, your Mistress, no matter what.  Do you understand?”
“Yes Mistress, I understand,” Dr. Whooves replied, his voice a monotone, “I am your hypnotized slave, how may I serve you?”
“For now just open your eyes but remain hypnotized,” Spiral Swirl commanded.
Dr. Whooves’ eyes blinked open, revealing they were now black and white spirals as well.
“Now then, before I was so rudely interrupted I was getting ready to give you your instructions,” she said, turning to Derpy.
“Yes Mistress, I am ready to receive them,” Derpy said.
“First, when you deliver the letters you will act normal, like you would if you weren’t hypnotized.  Second, when you deliver them you will make it a point to say that the contents of the letters are very important and should be read right away.  If not every member of the household has been hypnotized by me, you should tell those that have been to read their letters in private.  Now, I’m sure many will ask you why you’re delivering mail so late.  If they ask you will tell them you were hired by very important client, who wishes to remain anonymous, to deliver them as soon as possible.  Do you understand Derpy?”
“Yes Mistress, I understand,” Derpy said.
“Very good.   When you return I’ll bring the three of you out of your trances and brief you personally about the slave meeting.  Now, you can’t go around town with spirals in your eyes so, so it’s time for a basic concealing spell,” Spiral Swirl’s horn glowed, and there was a brief flash of light.  When it cleared Derpy’s eyes had regained their normal appearance.
“Hmmm, better do that again,” Spiral Swirl said, as she cast the concealing spell once more.  This time when the flash cleared Derpy’s eyes had their classic cross-eyed look, “There we go.”
“I won’t let you down Mis…I mean Dr. Spiral Swirl,” Derpy said, as she started to ‘act’ normal.
Dinky ran back out of the house to wave goodbye to her.
Spiral Swirl smiled as she took flight, before letting out an exasperated sigh.
“As for you two, I want you to clean up this mess and then wait inside for me to come back.”
“Yes Mistress,” Dinky and Dr. Whooves said in unison.
“Right now though, I need a drink,” Spiral Swirl said, as she walked away rubbing her shoulder.

Derpy delivered a few of the letters before she stopped at Carousel Boutique.  She pulled out Rarity and Sweetie Belle’s letters and knocked on the door.
“Oh, good evening Derpy,” Rarity said, opening the door, “Isn’t it awfully late for you to be making deliveries?”
“Yes, but I’ve got a very special client who needed me to make my deliveries as soon as possible,” Derpy said, handing off the letters.
“Very special you say?” Rarity said, her curiosity piqued, “And who might this mystery client be?”
“Sorry, but they wish to remain anonymous,” Derpy said.
“I see.” 
“But those letters are very important.  Make sure you and Sweetie Belle read them right away,” Derpy said.
“We certainly will,” Rarity said.
“Bye Rarity,” Derpy said, before heading off.
Rarity waved at her, before stepping back inside.
“Sweetie Belle, come down here please!” Rarity called.
Important, anonymous client? And they want us to read their message as soon as possible?  What could it be? An invitation to a celebrity party?  Maybe a pony we knew long ago wanting to reestablish communication?  Hopefully this Very Important Pony hasn’t sent something scandalous, Rarity thought, as she waited for Sweetie Belle.
“What’s going on, Rarity?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“We both just received a letter from a VIP, and they wish for us to read them right away,” Rarity said, handing Sweetie Belle’s letter off to her.	
“Okay,” Sweetie Belle said.
Rarity tore her letter open.
From the desk of Dr. Spiral Swirl, she thought, reading the letterhead, What’s this all about? Let’s see here…Trance time…
Upon reading her trigger phrase Rarity gasped and her eyes morphed into black and white spirals.  She looked over when she heard Sweetie Belle gasp as well.
“It would seem Mistress Spiral Swirl has something important to tell us,” Rarity said.
“Whatever it is, I will obey her commands,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Me too,” Rarity said, “It seems she’s announcing a meeting for all her slaves to attend.  We are to fall back into our trances at 10:45 next Thursday night and make our way to Sweet Apple Acers in such a way as to not arouse suspicion of those in town that haven’t been hypnotized by Mistress Spiral Swirl, especially those that we share our homes with.  Once there, the meeting will take place at 11:30 in the barn.  Oh, that will be delightful; we’ll get to see who all has been hypnotized by Mistress Spiral Swirl.”
“I wonder if Applebloom and Scootaloo have been hypnotized by her yet?” Sweetie Belle said.
“I guess we’ll find out next Thursday.  Now, we are to destroy these letters and then come out of our trances with no memory of receiving them.”
The two of them wordlessly held their letters to the candle sitting on the table and watched them burn to ash.  Once they were completely destroyed they came out of their trances.
“Sweetie Belle, I thought you were going to bed,” Rarity said.
“So did I,” Sweetie Belle said, slightly confused.

All across Ponyville, Derpy was hard at work delivering the entrancing letters, making sure to deliver each one personally.  If a pony wasn’t at home, she stamped the letters with messages labeling them as ‘imporant’ and ‘It is a federal offence to open another pony’s mail’ to ensure they weren’t met with any tampering. 

Spiral Swirl sat alone in an all night café.
The barista, who also happened to be the owner, walked over to her table carrying a tray.
“Here you go, a peach scone and a double mocha, caramel, raspberry cappuccino latte with double whipped cream,” she said, putting the items in front of Spiral Swirl, “That will be nine bits.”
“No, I do believe these will be on the house,” Spiral Swirl said.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but nothing has happened that would necessitate these things being put on the house,” the owner said, as she gave Spiral Swirl and uneasy glance.
“Trance time,” Spiral Swirl said.
The owner gasped as her eyes turned to black and white spirals.
“I’m…I’m sorry Mistress, of course everything you order tonight will be on the house.”
“That’s more like it,” Spiral Swirl said, “Now go back to the kitchen and come out of your trance with no memory of falling back under my spell.”
“Yes Mistress,” the owner said, as she turned and walked back into the kitchen.
Spiral Swirl took a sip of her drink and took a bite out of the scone.
Was using my hypnotic influence over her to get my treats for free too petty? she thought, No…no it wasn’t.  And besides, once everypony in Ponyville is under my control I’ll never have to pay for anything in this town ever again.

> The Slave Meeting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity walked up the path to Sweet Apple Acres, before pausing to yawn.
Once she was done she opened her black and white spiraling eyes and thought, Though I am excited to attend Mistress’ slave meeting, I do wish she would’ve held it at a more decent hour.
She walked into the barnyard and found it to be bustling with spiral eyed ponies gathered for the slave meeting.
She looked at the throngs of ponies, before she noticed Applejack and the others.
“Hey Rarity, we were beginning to wonder if you had been hypnotized or not,” Applejack said.
“Oh darling, for a big social event like this one must be fashionably late, even if it’s in the service of, Mistress Spiral Swirl,” Rarity said.
“Man, even being hypnotized can’t break you out of being a fancy pants,” Rainbow Dash said.
Rarity was about to retort when Pinkie handed her a muffin.
“What’s this?” she asked, looking down at the muffin that had blueberries laid out in a spiral design in it.	
“It’s a mesmerizing muffin.  Mistress Spiral Swirl didn’t want me serving them at her ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party, but she didn’t say I couldn’t serve them at the slave meeting.
“So now that I’m here, it looks like the only one missing it Twilight.  Do you think she hasn’t been hypnotized yet?” Rarity said, as she took a bite of the muffin.
“We talked about that as well,” Fluttershy said, “She had to be in Canterlot today, so we thought if she had been hypnotized, Mistress Spiral Swirl would want her to go there so as not to arouse suspicion.”
“Our Mistress is a genius,” Rarity said.
The others nodded in agreement.
“Did Sweetie Belle come with you?” Applejack asked, “Applebloom and Scootaloo were hoping she’d be coming by.”
“She wanted to see them too, and bolted ahead of me,” Rarity said, “She’s probably with them right now.”
“Well if they want to catch up with one another, they’d better do it fast, it’ll be time to head to barn before we know it,” Rainbow Dash said.
“And then we’ll get to hear from, Mistress Spiral Swirl,” Fluttershy said happily.

Across the barnyard Sweetie Belle had joined up with Applebloom, Scootaloo, Dinky, Healing Touch, and Ebony Darkness.
“Wow, I can’t believe Mistress Spiral Swirl said she was going to let you be able to have some control of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon,” Sweetie Belle said, her voice filled with a sense of awe.
“Yeah, but that was back before we got to know them better,” Applebloom said, “It was right before we got our cutie marks, I’ll probably still asked them to do stuff, but I’m not as excited about it now as I was.”
“You’re still really lucky,” Sweetie Belle said, “I doubt she’d even think about letting me have a privilege like that after I threw a ball of yarn at her and tried to tell Princess Twilight about her hypnotizing Rarity.”
“Same here, since I kinda broke her window with my scooter,” Scootaloo said.
“Let’s not worry about that,” Applebloom said, “After all, we’re all hypnotized and we’re all here together.”
The others nodded in agreement and smiled at each other.
“So how’d you guys get hypnotized?” Scootaloo said, turning to the others.
“I came home when mom was having a session with Mistress Spiral Swirl,” Ebony Darkness said, “We talked while mom enjoyed being in a deep hypnotized sleep, and when I brought up the fact I was nervous about the magic exam, Mistress Spiral Swirl offered to help me.  I remembered how much mom had said hypnosis had been helping her, so I said I’d love to try it.  Next thing I know, I’m watching her watch and falling under her spell.”
She smiled as she reminisced about her own enslavement.
“I was at the hospital, job shadowing Nurse Fine Stitch,” Healing Touch said, “We were sitting in the break room, alone, when Mistress Spiral Swirl came in and said she was there to help the nursing staff experience a special stress relief technique requested by Nurse Redheart.  Before we could say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ she started swinging her pocket watch in front of our eyes.”
“She got me during Bow Casting practice,” Dinky said.
“What do you think she’s going to talk to us about tonight?” Sweetie Belle said.
“I don’t know, but whatever it is, I’ll do my best to be the best hypnotized slave I can be,” Applebloom said.
The others nodded in agreement.

In another corner of the barnyard Lyra, Bon Bon, Shadow Dancer, Dr. Whooves, and Derpy were also gathered.  They were all currently laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes.
“You…you…you mean you actually ATTACKED, Mistress Spiral Swirl?” Lyra said in disbelief, as she caught her breath.
“Oh yes, I was quite upset with her having taken control of Derpy,” Dr. Whooves said, “Fortunately I was shown how good being a hypnotized slave can be, before I did any serious damage to our dear Mistress.”
“That’s almost as bad as me spying on her,” Bon Bon said, “I was sure she was up to something.  Guess I was right.”
She and the others burst out laughing again.
“And the real crazy part was I almost asked Shadow Dancer to come along with me.”
“I was already under her spell at the time,” Shadow Dancer said, smiling, “Just think, all she would’ve had to do was say ‘trance time’ and things would’ve gotten real awkward for you real fast.”
“Darn right they would’ve,” Bon Bon said, as she and the others exploded into laughter again.

A short while later Rarity noticed that ponies had begun to break off and head into the barn.
“Looks like it’s time for the meeting to start,” she said.
“We’d better not keep Mistress Spiral Swirl waiting,” Rainbow Dash said, as she zoomed off into the barn.

Inside the barn the gathered ponies had formed into groups.  Families, like Sweetie Belle and Rarity and the Apples gathered together.  Ones whose families hadn’t been hypnotized yet gathered with close friends.  Scootaloo joined up with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy while Healing Touch stood near Nurse Redheart and the other hypnotized members of the Ponyville Hospital staff.
The ponies fell silent as Spiral Swirl walked out and stood before them.
“Good evening my slaves, it’s nice to see so many smiling faces and spiraling eyes.”
“Good evening, Mistress,” the gathered crowd said in unison.
Spiral Swirl smiled and began walking back and forth in front of them.
“As you can see by the sheer number of you gathered here, that the enslavement of Ponyville is going quiet well.  I’d say…sixty-five percent of you are under my hypnotic spell.  Things have progressed pretty fast.  Vinyl’s subliminal messages have been a big help.”
Vinyl Scratch let out an excited ‘squee’ upon hearing the praise.
“But the number of ponies coming in for a therapy session due to the subliminals has started to slow down.  I guess they can only reach so many.  So, I call upon you, my dear hypnotized slaves, to help me come up with ideas on how to get the remaining ponies of Ponyville to fall under my control.  I’ll open up the floor to ideas.”
A few hooves immediately shot up.
“Yes, Cheerilee,” Spiral Swirl said.
“Mistress, I’ll be teaching a summer health class session next week,” Cheerilee said, “I noticed that not all of my students are here tonight.  Perhaps you could come by during our unit on mental health and give a brief lecture, followed by a hypnosis demonstration.”
“An excellent idea, I’ll be there,” Spiral Swirl said.
Cheerilee closed her eyes and smiled blissfully as she took in Spiral Swirl’s praise.
“Okay, you,” Spiral Swirl said, pointing to another pony.
“I’m the mayor’s secretary,” the pony said, “She’s been kind of depressed lately.  She feels now that Princess Twilight has her castle here, her position is kind of meaningless.  Perhaps I could convince her to have a session with you?”
“Yes, but don’t be forceful, be tactful.  It’ll be a great joy to finally have Mayor Mare under my control,” Spiral Swirl said, “Okay, Nurse Redheart, you’re next.”
“Mistress, all the staff at Ponyville Hospital have fallen under your control.  Not all of them are here tonight due to the ones working the night shift keeping up appearances per your orders.  Since we are all now your hypnotized slaves, you could come by some night and trigger one of us and we could take you around to patients’ rooms who were feel are well enough to experience a hypnosis session with you and you could place them under your spell.”
“Another great idea,” Spiral Swirl said.
The normally restrained Nurse Redheart did a small excited dance upon hearing the approval.
“You’re next,” Spiral Swirl said, pointing to Roseluck.
“Mistress, I was thinking maybe I could order a bunch of saimin orchids and hand them out to ponies that aren’t under your control yet.  Saimin orchid pollen would place them in a light trance and you could easily pick out any target you need to hypnotize.”
“I’m going to have to say no,” Spiral Swirl said, “The idea is to hypnotize the ponies in a private, discrete situation.  Your plan is neither.  Plus saimin orchids are heavily regulated, if a pony from a small town suddenly ordered up a bunch of them red flags would most certainly be raised.”
Roseluck burst into tears upon being rejected by Spiral Swirl, while Daisy and Lily did their best to comfort her.
Ignoring Roseluck’s distress Spiral Swirl spotted the next volunteers, “Yes, you two.”
“We were thinking we could offer up a new service at the spa,” Lotus Blossom said.
“A total relaxation experience,” Aloe said, “We could relax ponies’ bodies.”
“And you could come in and relax their minds,” the two said in unison.
“That sounds perfect,” Spiral Swirl said.
The two spa ponies gasped excitedly and high hoofed each other.

The evening continued along in a similar fashion with Spiral Swirl accepting or denying the various ideas her hypnotized slaves came up with.  
“Okay that’s enough,” Spiral Swirl said, “There were quite a few good ideas.  I think I can fit them all in over the course of the week.  It’ll be tight, but doable. Hopefully if enough ponies fall under my control we can move on to the final phase of my takeover of Ponyville at the next slave meeting.  The meeting will most likely be a week from today at the same time, but that is subject to change, so you can look forward to Derpy delivering another letter to you.”
Derpy gave her a salute upon hearing her name.
“Now then, the meeting is adjourned.  You will all return to your homes, stealthily, and avoiding any ponies that might be out and go back to bed.  When you wake up in the morning you will come out of your trances and have no memory of falling back under my spell or the slave meeting.  The ideas you came up with tonight will be embedded in your subconscious minds and you will treat them as completely normal.  I look forward to seeing you all when it is time to execute them.  Until then, relish the time you have when you’re not under my control since you won’t be able to do that for much longer.  Dismissed.”
“Yes Mistress,” the crowd of hypnotized ponies said, as they turned and made their way out of the barn.
Spiral Swirl watched the departing throngs of ponies and smiled.
Soon, very soon they’ll all be mine, she thought.

> Revelations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight and the others sat around the map table in her castle enjoying their weekly pancake breakfast. She smiled as she watched Pinkie attempt to break her own record of most pancakes eaten in a minute.

“So how was your trip to Canterlot, Twi?” Applejack asked.

“It was great,” Twilight said, “We got a lot done, though I’m sorry my trip had to happen at the same time as your party at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Party? What party?” Applejack said in confusion.

“The one you had last Thursday night,” Twilight said, “I decided to practice my night flying and flew to Canterlot.  I passed right over Sweet Apple Acres.  The barnyard was full of ponies.  I was a little high up to see who they where, but there were dozens of them.”

“Sorry, Twi, but it sounds like you were seeing things,” Applejack said, “There was no late night party at Sweet Apple Acres.  Trust me, if there was we would’ve woken up and given our uninvited guests a very special Apple Family greeting.”

“Yeah, if you’re not used to night flying, you might see something that’s not there,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I guess that makes sense,” Twilight said, becoming more and more unsure of herself as she nibbled on her pancake.



Later that night she was pacing back and forth in front of Spike.

“What if they’re right?” Spike said, “What if there was no party and you were just seeing things?”

“I’ve thought about that Spike,” Twilight said, “I know I saw ponies down there, the light was on in the barn.  It was one of the most well lit areas I passed over that night.”

“Didn’t Applejack say if there had been a party, she and the other Apples would’ve kicked everyone off the property?” Spike asked.

“Yes, but what if they couldn’t wake up?  What if those party goers were an unscrupulous bunch?  All it would take to let them party unnoticed is a sleep spell cast on Applejack and others.”

“You’re over thinking things, Twilight,” Spike said, trying to talk Twilight back from her paranoia.

“Well, if I’m not maybe they’ll return to the scene of the crime,” Twilight said, “If they’ve pulled off a party once, they might try it again.  They could’ve made it a weekly thing, and if they have they’ll be there again tonight.  Do you want to come with me?”

“Sorry, but I think I’d better get some sleep,” Spike said, “If you’re going to be up all night, I need to be awake enough to keep you awake tomorrow.”

“Alright then, suit yourself.” Twilight said, as she turned and left.



She approached Sweet Apple Acres as quietly as she could, lest she reveal herself to any illicit party goers too soon.

Hmmm, there’s no pony here.  But there are tons of fresh hoof prints. So there was definitely a gathering of some sort here, she thought, as she examined the barnyard, Where could they have all gone though?  Wait the light’s on in the barn.

She cautiously approached the barn and looked in.  What she saw made her gasp.  Inside was a standing room only crowd of ponies, all facing forward.  A unicorn mare was standing in front of them.

What…what in the world is going on here? Twilight thought, her confusion turning into a sense of dread, There’s Pinkie, and Rarity, And Applejack.  There’s the mayor.  Wait that pony at the front.  I’ve seen her before.  She’s the new psychologist in town.

“Hello, my hypnotized slaves,” Dr. Spiral Swirl said, “It’s so nice to see all of you here tonight.”

“Thank you, Mistress,” the enslaved ponies replied.

Mistress?! Hypnotized slaves?!! Twilight thought in horror.

“I just wanted to say, your suggestions from the last meeting were a huge success,” Spiral Swirl said happily, “In just a week, I’ve gone from having sixty five percent of Ponyville under my hypnotic spell to ninety five percent.”

Ninety five percent!? Twilight thought, her horror growing by the second, How is that possible? Almost the whole town hypnotized?  How did she manage to do something like this without anypony finding out?

“That’s why I’m happy to announce that this will be our last Slave Meeting,” Spiral Swirl said, “Unlike last time, whenever I say the meeting is over, you won’t go home and go to bed with no memory of what happened while you were in your trances, you will instead scour the town and bring any non-hypnotized pony to me.  Your friends, your family, or any random pony you find.  If they haven’t been hypnotized by me, you will bring them to me by any means necessary.  Do you understand my slaves?”

“Yes, Mistress,” the hypnotized ponies said in unison.

No!  I can’t let her do that? Twilight thought, I’m outnumbered, but if I leave to go get help, helpless ponies will be grabbed up by their friends and loved ones.  What should I do?

She mulled over her options for a few seconds, before letting out a deep breath.  She stepped into the barn.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that to happen,” Twilight said in a forceful tone.

“My, my, Princess Twilight, I’m humbled you honored my little Slave Meeting with your presence.”

“Release these ponies from your control at once,” Twilight demanded.

“Hmmm, revealing yourself even though you’re outnumbered and had the element of surprise,” Spiral Swirl said, ignoring her, “You’re either very brave, or very stupid.  Let’s find out which one it is.   Get her!”

“Yes, Mistress,” the hypnotized ponies replied, as they turned and glared at Twilight.

“Uh oh,” Twilight said, before she turned and ran.

She ran across the barnyard, but was stopped in her tracks when a figured literally jumped out of the shadows, growling, and latched onto her face.

“Let go of me, Ebony Darkness,” she shouted, as she rapidly shook her head back and forth, causing Ebony Darkness to go flying.

Recovering from Ebony’s assault, she barely had time to sidestep the Cutie Mark Crusaders as they came at her at full speed on Scootaloo’s scooter.

“You missed her!  Turn back around,” Sweetie Belle called out.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let her get away,” Scootaloo said.

“Mistress Spiral Swirl will be so proud of us,” Applebloom said.

“Yeeesh,” Twilight muttered, upon hearing how far their minds had been warped. A sound caught her attention and she dived to avoid being hit by and arrow.

Derpy was hovering above her, with Dinky sticking out of her saddlebag.  Dinky had activated her magic bow and was loading up another arrow.

Since when did Dinky become such a good shot?  And what mad pony gave her real arrows? Twilight thought.  She quickly dodged another arrow, It’s dangerous on the ground, better take to the skies.

She took off and began flying away from Sweet Apple Acres, when Fluttershy stealthily flew up beside her.

“Um, Twilight, could you please turn back around and let Mistress Spiral Swirl hypnotize you? If it’s not too much trouble?” she asked quietly.

Twilight ignored her, and increased her speed.

“That’s not how you get her to stop,” Rainbow Dash said, as she flew up next to Fluttershy, “Let me show you how it’s done.”

Twilight flinched, as Rainbow Dash flew by her at a high rate of speed.  She watched as Rainbow Dash flew further and further away, only for her to swing back around.  

As a result of Rainbow Dash’s super sonic U-turn, a massive shockwave struck Twilight, knocking her out of the air.

No! No! No! Twilight thought, as she fell to ground in a crash landing.

“Owwww,” she moaned, as she got up and shook off the effects of the crash. She turned to run; only to find herself face to face with a spiral eyed Pinkie Pie.

“Hi, Twilight!” Pinkie said happily, before pulling out her party cannon.

“Pinkie, wait I….” Twilight started to protest, but Pinkie fired off the cannon sending the poor Alicorn flying.

“Bye, Twilight!” Pinkie said happily.

Her injuries becoming more and more numerous, Twilight took a little longer to shake off the effects of Pinkie’s party attack.

“What am I going to do?” she said aloud.

“You can do this the easy way, or the hard way, Twi,” Applejack said, as she emerged from behind a tree.

Twilight immediately put up a magic shield around herself.

“Hard way it is then,” Applejack said, as she ran over and began bucking the shield.

“Guys, please! I don’t want to fight you!” Twilight shouted.

Applejack’s assault on the shield eventually caused it to fail.

“We don’t want to fight you either,” Rarity said, as she came upon the scene, “Which is why I’m going to end this barbaric display as quickly as possible, by quoting you.  Look out, here comes Tom?”

“Here comes Tom?” Twilight said in confusion, before the realization hit her, “Oh no!”

She didn’t have time to react, as Rarity had used her magic to fling a large boulder at her.  Upon impact, Twilight’s world went black.



She didn’t know how long she had been out, but when her eyes opened she found herself in a nightmare.

Spiral Swirl was standing in front of her, smiling.  Behind her, stood all the other ponies she had hypnotized.

“Welcome back,” Spiral Swirl said mockingly.

“I won’t let you get away with this. I…I…I can’t move!” Twilight said in horror.

“Don’t worry; it’s just a small dose of cockatrice venom.  A small precaution until we’ve had a little therapy session, princess.”

“Why are you doing this?” Twilight asked.

“Hmmmm, you know what, you’re the first pony to ask me that,” Spiral Swirl said, slightly surprised, “It’s usually, ‘I won’t let you do this,’ or ‘Please don’t hypnotize me.’ That is, if I give them a chance to.”

Twilight glared at her, angry over her mockery of her victims.

“Alright, since you’re the first, I’ll be happy to answer you,” Spiral Swirl said, as she began pacing back and forth in front of Twilight, “You’re a well read pony.  Let’s see how well you know your lesser known Canterlot crimes.  Have you ever heard of an attempted theft of something called an Eclipse Bomb?”

“Yes, I read about that.  Four criminals attempted to steal a magic super weapon created by Nightmare Moon.  They were all caught and punished.  That was over fifty years ago, what has that got anything to do with you?”

“Well first of all, your sources are wrong.  Very wrong,” Spiral Swirl said, anger building in her voice, “It wasn’t four criminals.  It was three, and one innocent unicorn that had been duped into helping the others under the assumption she was helping test the security of the royal vault.”

“So you mean an innocent unicorn had to have her horn shattered?” Twilight said, shuddering despite the paralysis.

“Yes, that was my grandmother, Fine Detail.  Now tell me, did your source tell you what happened to the ponies involved with the crime after they were punished, especially the innocent ones?”

“No…it didn’t,” Twilight said, not liking where things were going.

“Then allow me to enlighten you,” Spiral Swirl said, her anger growing, “After spending four years of her ‘lenient sentence’ in the Canterlot dungeons, my grandmother returned home.  Only instead of finding her husband happy to see her return to him, she found him with another mare.  They wanted nothing to do with a unicorn that would be looked upon as the worst criminal element with her broken horn, so they handed my mother off to her and kicked her to curb.”

“Oh Mistress, that’s so sad,” Pinkie said, tearing up.

“Don’t interrupt,” Spiral Swirl commanded.

“Yes, Mistress. I’m sorry, Mistress,” Pinkie said, kneeling before her.

“Now then, where was I? Oh yes, with no place to call home and a four year old filly to watch over, my grandmother began her long journey to her sister’s home in Las Pegasus.  Because of her broken horn, no carriage or train would take her on as a passenger and inns charged her exorbitant amounts of money.  The small stipend she had received from Celestia upon her release as ‘compensation’ quickly ran out.  Now bitless, she depended on the kindness of strangers to help her get by.  It was easier in big cities, as they were more sympathetic to her plight.  However she couldn’t stay long, since sympathy only went so far, before fear of being associated with a ‘broken horn’ outweighed it.  So she and my mom moved further and further along, until they came to a small town call: Ponyville.”

Twilight gulped.

“She found no sympathy there,” Spiral Swirl said, practically hissing with each word, “They were all too concerned about maintaining their perfect ‘nice small town’ identity.  There was no place for a ‘criminal element’ there.  On top of that, the Pegai in charge of Ponyville’s weather decided to beat out Canterlot for coldest winter that year.  So my mother and grandmother were forced to walk through the area with nopony offering them shelter in that extreme cold.  That was the end of their journey.  That cold killed my grandmother.”

Spiral Swirl paused momentarily to breath heavily, trying to rein in her anger some.  Twilight remained stunned, while a few of the hypnotized ponies began crying over their Mistress’ family’s plight.

“Of course once the so called ‘criminal’ unicorn was gone, ponies were more then happy to offer up shelter to my mother, but by that time the cold had given her some bad frostbite, and she lost her leg.  Despite her hardships though, she went on to become a celebrated ornithologist, met a nice stallion and had two fillies.  One of whom, went on to go to school and get a degree in psychology to help supplement the hypno magic she had developed.  That filly then went on to start her own practice, before she moved it to little old ‘nice small town’ Ponyville.  Now you know the rest of the story.”

“I’m sorry about what all your mother and grandmother had to go through,” Twilight said, hoping she could now try and talk some sense into Spiral Swirl, “But that was almost fifty years ago.  A lot of ponies that lived in Ponyville back then are no longer living here or…uh living.  Why take out your revenge on the ones living here today?”

“Oh it’s not just the ponies, it’s the town.  It’s that small town mentality that I’m worried about.  Sure they say things have changed over the years, but they haven’t.   I know deep down they’d still reject a unicorn with a broken horn in a second.  That’s why even the ponies that live here now must pay.  By turning every pony in Ponyville into my hypnotized slave, I’ll create a heaven where no member of my family will be denied anything by them ever again, and as far as the rest of the world goes, the hypnotized citizens of Ponyville will serve as the most extreme reminder ever, to never judge a book by its cover.”

“You’re insane,” Twilight said, realizing that there would be no reasoning with Spiral Swirl.

“No I’m not,” Spiral Swirl said in offended tone.

“Then you’re a sociopath.”

“I’m not that either, but points for having a good backup insult.”

“I won’t let you get away with this, and neither will the princesses.”

“Oh, I think they will,” Spiral Swirl said, as she flashed a wicked grin, “Especially once I utter Princess Luna’s hypnotic trigger.  The war she’ll have with Celestia will make their fight when she was Nightmare Moon look like child’s play.”

“You’ve hypnotized Luna?” Twilight said in shock.

“Of course, you didn’t think I’d forget one of the root causes of my grandmother’s misery?  It was quite simple; all I had to do was dream about having a therapy session with Princess Luna, every night.  Once she dream walked into that dream her curiosity got the better of her and she played along.  Let’s just say having a hypnotherapy session with her was very cathartic,” Spiral Swirl said, chuckling slightly.

I can’t believe this is happening!  The fact that she has my friends and almost all of Ponyville under her control is bad enough, but Luna’s been enslaved by her too! Twilight thought, her despair growing.

“And even if I didn’t have Luna under my control, the Princesses wouldn’t be able to stop me, especially since I’d have all of the Elements of Harmony acting as my hypnotized protectors.  Speaking of which, I think it’s high time we began our therapy session, Princess Twilight,” Spiral Swirl said, as she directed her magic at her saddle bag.  She levitated her pocket watch out of it and let it dangle in front of Twilight’s eyes, “Now just relax and watch the watch.”

“No,” Twilight whispered.

“Just relax and watch the watch.  Watch it swing back and forth. Back and forth.  Let your eyes follow the movement of the shiny gold pocket watch,” Spiral Swirl said, as she began her induction.

No, I won’t let her hypnotize me, Twilight thought, as her eyes locked on the watch, I’m exausted and  used up so much magic trying to get away from my friends.  I just need a little more time.

“Watch the watch.  Relax.  Relax. Relax, and listen to my voice.  Let my voice calm you.  You’ve had a stressful day, Princess Twilight.  Let that stress melt away, as my voice and the swinging watch relaxes you.”

Her voice is pretty relaxing to listen to.  No!  And her watch.  It’s so pretty.

“You’re doing very well, focusing only on the watch and listening to my voice.  Your eyes are glued to the watch, as you relax more and more for me.  So relaxed.  Your legs are relaxing.  Your stomach and chest are relaxing.”

She’s right.  This is so wrong, but it feels so good, Twilight thought, as waves of relaxation spread through her.

“Now your wings are nice and relaxed.  Now your neck and head are relaxed.  Your whole body is the picture of relaxation.  All your muscles are relaxed.  All your stresses and tensions are fading away.”

Yessss…they are…it’s so nice to let go of all the stress of finding out my friends were made into her hypnotized slaves and fighting with them,  Twilight thought, as a blissful smile formed on her face.

“That’s right, you’re enjoying our hypnosis session, Twilight.  You love this feeling of relaxation.  You love watching my watch.  You’re so relaxed now.  You’re starting to feel sleepy.  And the constant swinging motion of my watch is making your eyes feel heavy.”

She’s right…I do feel sleepy, Twilight thought, fighting the urge to yawn.

“I’m going to count from five to zero.  At zero your heavy eyes will lock shut and you will fall into a deep hypnotized sleep for me.  Five…you’re doing so very well. Four…you’ve been a good patient, following all my instructions.”

I…I feel it… I’m so sleepy…can’t fight much…longer.

“Three…your eyelids feel like they’re made of lead.

Yes…they’re so heavy, Twilight thought, as her eyes started to droop.

“Two…so ready to be hypnotized.”

I…Can’t believe it.  I’ve let everyone down.  My friends.  The princesses.  I’m not ready…but I feel like I don’t have much of a choice.

“One…Feel the hypnosis start to wash over you.”

No! No! No! No! No! NO!! Twilight thought, as the fog of hypnosis started to consume her mind.

“Zer….”

“No! NO! NO! NO! NO!” Twilight shouted, as her thoughts manifested themselves into screams.

Her outburst caused Spiral Swirl to halt the induction. As she stepped back in shock, the pocket watch clattered to the ground due to her lapse in concentration.

Twilight stood there breathing heavily, as she regained her bearings for a split second.  Her horn then glowed and she vanished in a flash.

Spiral Swirl stared at the spot Twilight had stood at, before she turned to face her hypnotized slaves.

“Why didn’t anypony tell me she could teleport?!!” she demanded.

The enslaved ponies backed away slightly at their Mistress’ anger.

“Well, we kinda thought you knew, Mistress,” Pinkie Pie said, “It’s kinda her thing.”

Spiral Swirl face hoofed.

“Alright, listen up,” she commanded, “She probably didn’t go far.  She probably didn’t want to abandon the town after knowing what I have planned for it.  She also is probably paranoid about my story of triggering Luna, so she most likely didn’t go to Canterlot.  That being said, your orders are as follows.  One, go into Ponyville and bring me back any pony that isn’t hypnotize.  Two, while hunting for non-hypnotized ponies, Princess Twilight is your primary target.  Three, I want a few of you to stay here in case she comes back.  Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mistress.  I hear and I obey,” the hypnotized ponies said in unison.

“Good.  Now go!”

She watched as a few ponies took their positions guarding the barn, while the others marched towards Ponyville.

This is but a minor setback.  All of Ponyville will be under my hypnotic control tonight, she thought. 
> Fight Fire with Fire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the dark Everfree Forest, Twilight found herself practically wrapped around a large tree branch.

Note to self: Teleporting after nearly falling under hypnosis really really messes with my teleportation navigation, she thought, as she freed herself and made her way to ground.

What am I going to do now?  I have to stop her.  But how?  She’s got my friends under her control.  I can’t go to Celestia without the risk of her triggering Luna.  I could go see Cadance and Shining Armor, but she might trigger Luna and have her go to war with the Crystal Empire.  Plus with the baby on the way, I can’t risk them getting hurt or hypnotized.  Uggg.  Who else…Discord?  No, absolutely not.  After he sees what she did to Fluttershy, he might disassemble her molecules, or something else extreme.  Plus, Fluttershy said he’s still out visiting other reality warpers in other dimensions.  His last post card said he was done visiting ‘Triangle Boy’ and was now going to visit ‘Old Letter Head,’ whatever that means. 

She sat on a nearby stump to think, and then a realization hit her.

Wait!  There was one pony that wasn’t there under her spell.  Zecora!

Her horn glowed and she disappeared in a flash of light, only for her to reappear in front of Zecora’s hut.  She knocked on the door.

“Zecora!  Boy, am I glad to see you,” Twilight said, her voice filled with relief when the zebra opened her door.

“Princess Twilight, you seem stressed, forgive me for not knowing the source of your duress,” Zecora said, as she beckoned Twilight inside.

“Things are bad in Ponyville,” Twilight said, “An evil psychologist named Spiral Swirl, has been hypnotizing the citizens of Ponyville.  She’s turned almost everypony into her hypnotized slaves, the mayor, my friends, even fillies.  It’s all part of her crazy revenge scheme.  She’s also hypnotized Princess Luna, and…she was a split second from placing me under her spell too.”

“I am thankful you didn’t fall under her spell, the consequences of your hypnosis I care not dwell,” Zecora said, calmly taking in Twilight’s tale of Spiral Swirl.

“Thanks,” Twilight said, smiling at her, “Now I just need to worry about the ponies that have fallen under her spell.  They can’t be reasoned with.  They won’t snap out of it on their own.  They’re a hundred percent loyal to Spiral Swirl.”

Zecora and Twilight thought in silence for a moment before Zecora chimed in, “If freeing the hypnotized ponies is what you desire, then perhaps you might consider fighting fire with fire.”

“Fight fire with fire?” Twilight said in confusion, before she realized what Zecora was getting at, “Of course!  We could counteract Spiral Swirl’s hypno magic with our own hypno magic!”

She then hung her head in despair.

“I just wish I knew some.  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 Spiral Swirl and Blissful Trance and yet I can’t use it. I know the basics of how it works, but I just don’t know how to properly utilize it.  It is one of the most complicated forms of magic out there I guess….wait!  Blissful Trance!  Of course, she can help us!  She can help free the ponies under Spiral Swirl’s spell!”

Zecora smiled.

“Thank you so much.  My head’s a little scrambled from almost being hypnotized by her still.  By the time I would’ve thought of that on my own, it might have been too late.  I’ll go and get Blissful Trance.  No offense, but would you mind staying here?  The hypnotized ponies will probably be out hunting for those Spiral Swirl hasn’t hypnotized yet.  If they catch you and you fall under her spell you could reveal what we discussed, plus ponies fleeing from their hypnotized friends and family might risk running into the Everfree Forest.  If they do, could you take them in?”

“Twilight Sparkle, your words do no offend, protecting fleeing ponies’ free will I will happily defend,” Zecora said.

“Thank you so much.  I hope it doesn’t come to that and I can put a stop to this very soon.”

Twilight’s horn glowed again and she vanished.  Zecora then walked to the window, watchful of any ponies that might be wondering by.



Blissful Trance yawned as she walked through the darkened kitchen.  She used her magic to pull open the refrigerator door.

Maybe getting something to drink will help me sleep, she thought, as she looked though the contents of the fridge, Lets see here, milk, soda, OJ, purple stuff, mysterious flash of light, oooo Celestia D alright! ….wait what?!

She turned around to investigate the source of the flash of light she had seen out of the corner of her eye.

“P…Princess Twilight,” she stammered in her usual quiet voice, she immediately went into a slight bow.

“Sorry to startle you, Blissful Trance,” Twilight said, “But, I need your help.”

“My help?” Blissful Trance said, completely confused.

“Yes,” Twilight said, before recapping what was going on in Ponyville.

“That’s terrible! How could anypony do such a thing?” Blissful Trance said sadly, “She…she just took over ponies minds?”

“Yes, they’ve been turned into her hypnotized slaves.”

Blissful Trance hung her head.

“But that’s why I’ve come here.  I believe you can help break the spell.”

Blissful Trance began pacing back and forth, trying to wrap her head around what Twilight had just said to her.

“When we talked during the magic exam, you said you hoped you would be able to use your hypno magic for good one day.  Well, I think today is that day.  We can use your hypno magic to counteract hers and bring her reign of terror to an end.”

“I…I…I don’t know.  I’m not that powerful,” Blissful Trance said sadly.

“Yes you are,” Twilight said, smiling at her, “Your magic works differently then hers.  Yours is more visual and instantaneous.  Hers is more vocal and drawn out, which should give you an edge.  Plus, I’ve experienced both your hypno magics firsthand and I do believe you have the stronger magic.  Plus there’s one final factor.”

“What’s that?”

“That even though the ponies she’s hypnotized have become her hypnotized slaves, I’m sure there’s still a part of them, even if it’s minuscule, deep down that realizes what’s happening is wrong and would much rather be under your spell then hers.”

Before Blissful Trance could respond, the front door burst open and Vinyl Scratch stepped inside.  Upon noticing the pair, a sadistic smile spread across her face.

“Princess Twilight, I don’t recall giving you permission to enter my home,” she said, her voice filled with malice, “But I guess it’s for the best.  I came here to get my bass cannon to deal with you, but now if you’ll come quietly I’ll take you and Blissful Trance to be hypnotized by Mistress Spiral Swirl together.”

“Vinyl, how could you say something like that,” Blissful Trance said, tears welling in her eyes.

Twilight stepped in front of her.

“Don’t worry, that’s just the hypnosis talking.  I won’t let her hurt you,” Twilight said, as her horn glowed and she fired a ball of magic at Vinyl.  When the ball made contact it absorbed into Vinyl’s body before a series of green electrical streams crackled around her body.

“Hey! What gives, I can’t move!” Vinyl shouted in annoyance.

“What did you do her!?” Blissful Trance cried in horror.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a simple stun spell. It will wear off soon,” Twilight said, as she used her magic to remove Vinyl’s sunglasses.

Blissful Trance gasped upon seeing her sister’s black and white spiral eyes.

“That’s Spiral Swirl’s trademark.  Everypony she’s enslaved has them,” Twilight said.

“And you’ll have them soon too, princess,” Vinyl said, sneering at her, “Along with all the ponies in Ponyville.”

“I…I….I’ll do it,” Blissful Trance said with quiet determination, finally having enough of Vinyl’s brainwashed mantra, “I can’t stand seeing Vinyl like this.  I don’t want everypony in Ponyville to be hypnotized.  I’ll do my best to break the spell.”

Twilight smiled and placed her hoof on Blissful Trance, “Thank you.”

“Don’t worry Vinyl, I’ll free you first,” Blissful Trance said, as her horn glowed.

Focus.  Concentrate.  Project. she thought, as she closed her eyes.  She repeated the mantra again before opening her eyes, revealing them to be red and grey spirals.

“Vinyl, please look into my eyes,” Blissful Trance said.

“Ha!  This will never work.  I am a loyal slave to Mistress Spiral Swirl.  You can’t change that,” Vinyl said, her eyes locking on Blissful Trance’s.

“Please look into my eyes and relax.  Listen to me.  I want to help you.  Let my magic in.”

“Urgh….No!  What’s happening?” Vinyl said, as her body began to relax.

“Please.  Just look into my spiral eyes.  Fall under my spell, not hers.  Go into my hypnosis, Vinyl,” Blissful Trance pleaded.

“I…I…I…I am hypnotized by you Bliss, not Spiral Swirl,” Vinyl said, her eyes turned into black, white, red, and grey spirals for a split second before morphing into red and grey spirals, like those in Blissful Trance’s eyes.

“Did…did it really work?” Blissful Trance said, her eyes returning to normal.

“Yup.  I am completely under your hypnotic spell, Bliss,” Vinyl said, a smile formed across her face.

“I…I should wake her up,” Blissful Trance said, not wanting to keep her sister under hypnosis longer then she needed to.

“Wait, I want to ask her a few things,” Twilight said, “Spiral Swirl may have given her some commands that she might not remember if she comes out of hypnosis.”

“Oh…okay.  Um Vinyl, Princes Twilight has a few things to ask you.  Please answer her okay?”

“Sure thing, Bliss,” Vinyl replied.

“Vinyl Scratch, did Spiral Swirl give you any new commands after I teleported away from the barn?”

“Yes, to hunt you down, along with any other non-hypnotized pony in Ponyville and bring them back to her to be hypnotized.  You were given top priority though. She commanded a few of us to stay behind, but I didn’t notice who volunteered.”

“It’s just like I feared,  all those ponies not under her spell yet being dragged away or chased by her hypnotized slaves,” Twilight said, her anger at Spiral Swirl growing, “How long have you been under Spiral Swirl’s spell anyways?”

“A few weeks, but not all the time.  She gave me and every other pony she hypnotized a trigger phrase to bring us back under her control,” Vinyl replied.

“A trigger phrase? What was it?”

“ ‘Trance time,’ if she said or wrote that, we instantly fell back under hypnosis.”

“That’s definitely a liability.  Blissful Trance, she’s under your spell now, remove that trigger.”

“Oh, um okay,” Blissful Trance said, caught off guard by the request, “Um Vinyl, the phrase ‘Trance time’ no longer works on you.  If Spiral Swirl says it to you, you will no longer fall back under her hypnotic control.”

“Yes, her trigger phrase no longer works on me,” Vinyl said, flashing a satisfied smile.

“Are…are you all done? Can I please wake her up?” Blissful Trance pleaded.

“Yes, of course you can,” Twilight said, realizing how utterly uncomfortable she was with having her sister under her hypnotic spell.

“Vinyl, please wake up,” Blissful Trance said.

The spirals faded from Vinyl’s eyes and she shook off the effects of the hypnosis.

“Whoa!  My brain hasn’t felt like that since I tried that super subwoofer,” she said.

“Are you okay?” Blissful Trance said, running over to her.

“I’m better then okay, I’m free,” Vinyl said, smiling at her, “And it’s all thanks to you.  You broke that messed up psychologist’s hold over me; you’re an even cooler sister then ever.”

Blissful Trance smiled at the compliment.

“But what now?  I can’t possibly do that to everypony in Ponyville,” she said, the lack of confidence returning to her quiet voice.

“I wouldn’t dare place a burden on you like that,” Twilight said, “What we need to focus on is freeing Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy from her control.  She might have Princess Luna, but without the other Elements of Harmony as her slaves, we just might have an edge.  Sorry to push you like this, but we need to move.”

“Hold it right there Twilight,” Vinyl said, “I’m gonna have to come along.  Bliss is my responsibility after all.”

“Um, okay,” Twilight said, shocked to hear Vinyl take on an air of responsibly.

Vinyl then put back on her sunglasses

“Plus, I can go undercover if I need to.  All hail, Mistress Spiral Swirl, etc. ect.” she said in a mock monotone.

“Let’s go,” Twilight said, as the three of them set out.




Applejack and Rainbow Dash walked along the darkened streets of Ponyville.

“Hey Twilight! Come out, come out wherever you are!” Rainbow Dash cried out.

“Do you really think that’s going to work?” Applejack asked in a sarcastic tone.

“I don’t see you coming up with any other ideas.”

“Look, we shouldn’t fight.  We should focus on doing what Mistress Spiral Swirl commanded us to do.”

“Right, we must obey Mistress Spiral Swirl,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Pssst. Rainbow Dash, Applejack,” a voice from behind them said.

They both turned around to see Vinyl Scratch standing behind them.

“Vinyl? What’s up?” Rainbow Dash said.

“I found her!  I found Princess Twilight,” Vinyl said.

“Really? Where?” Applejack and Rainbow Dash said in unison.

“Down that alley over there.  She still looks dazed from when Mistress Spiral Swirl tried to hypnotize her,” Vinyl said, “excitement” filling her voice, “If we go after her together we might just have a chance.”

“Sounds good to me,” Applejack said.

“Mistress Spiral Swirl will be so proud of us,” Rainbow Dash said.

They quietly made their way down the alley.

“She was behind those trash cans.  On three let’s get her,” Vinyl said, “One. Two.”

“Three!” Twilight said, as she jumped out from behind the trash cans and fired off a couple of stun spells, hitting both Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

“What in tarnation is going on? I can’t move!” Applejack said, as the green streams of energy crackled over her body.

“Vinyl, you traitor,” Rainbow Dash said, angrily.

“You can come out Blissful Trance,” Twilight said.

Blissful Trance emerged from behind the trash cans.

“What’s with the kid?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Oh you’ll see,” Twilight said, “Ready, Blissful Trance?”

“I…I guess so,” Blissful Trance said, closing her eyes.

Focus. Concentrate. Project. she thought, as her horn glowed.

When she opened her eyes again, the red and grey spirals were once more present in them.

“Please look into my eyes,” she said, as she looked towards Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

“Erg, no. What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Can’t…look away,” Applejack said.

“Please look into my eyes.  You’re both relaxing for me,” Blissful Trance said, “Let the spirals calm you.  Let them loosen Spiral Swirl’s control.”

“No…can’t…” Applejack said.

“I…must…obey… Spiral…Swirl…I must obey…Spi…Bli…” Rainbow Dash stammered.

“Please let me help you,” Blissful Trance pleaded, “Please let my magic in.  Please go into my hypnosis.”

Rainbow Dash’s and Applejack’s eyes flashed black, white, grey and red spirals for a split second, before they morphed into red and grey ones.

“Yes, I will go into your hypnosis,” Applejack said.

“I must obey Spiral…Swirl. I must…I must obey…Blissful Trance,” Rainbow Dash said.

I hate it when they say they must obey me, but I guess I’ll have to make an exception tonight I guess, Blissful Trance thought.

She then breathed a sigh of relief as her eyes turned back to normal, “Um, Princess Twilight might have something to ask you guys.  Please answer her.”

“Of course, Blissful Trance,” the two replied.

“Do you know where the Rarity and our other friends got to?” Twilight asked.

“Rarity said she was going to hunt for you at your castle,” Applejack said.

“And I saw Pinkie Pie heading towards Sugar Cube Corner.  I don’t know why though,” Rainbow Dash said, “I have no idea about Fluttershy’s whereabouts.”

“It’s a start at least,” Twilight said, “Alright, get rid of their triggers and wake them up please.”

“Yes, of course,” Blissful Trance said, “Listen to me carefully please, your trigger phrases from Spiral Swirl will no longer work on you.”

“’Trance time’ will no longer work on me,” Rainbow Dash and Applejack said in unison once more, “If I hear Spiral Swirl say it, I will not fall back under her hypnosis.”

“Thank you, now please wake up,” Blissful Trance said.

The spirals faded from their eyes and they began to shake off the effects of the hypnosis.

“Whoa nelly, my brain feels like it’s been in a stampede,” Appplejack said, “Sorry bout attacking you earlier, Twi.”

“That’s okay, you weren’t yourself,” Twilight said, thankful for her friends being back to normal.

“You did good, squirt,” Rainbow Dash said, tussling Blissful Trance’s mane with her hoof, “Uh hey, Twilight.  How come you didn’t teleport or use that stun spell earlier?”

“Well, I was kind of in a state of shock from learning almost the whole town had been enslaved by Spiral Swirl and then being attacked by my friends,” Twilight replied, slightly annoyed.

“Oh yeah…sorry.” Rainbow Dash said sheepishly.

“Where to next?” Vinyl said.

“The castle,” Twilight said, before the night air was filled with a pony in the distance asking what their family member was doing and where they were taking them.

Twilight restrained Rainbow Dash from darting off to help with her magic, “And quickly.”



Rarity wondered around the map room of the castle.

“Twilight.  Oh, Twilight.  Where are you darling?” she said, before turning her attention towards some approaching footsteps.

Spike walked into the room yawning and stretching.

“Oh hi, Rarity,” he said upon seeing her.

“Oh hello, Spike,” she said smiling, “Have you seen Twilight by chance?”

“Not since she left to go see if there might be some sort of secret party at Sweet Apple Acres,” he said.

“That’s a shame.”

“Uh, what’s up with your eyes? They’re making me a little dizzy looking at them,” Spike said.

“Oh, these are simply the latest trend sweeping Ponyville,” she said, as she focused her magic on the young dragon, levitating him over to her, “I must take you to Mistress Spiral Swirl so she can fix you up.”

“That…that’s okay,” Spike said, getting nervous.

“Put him down, Rarity,” Twilight said, as she and the others entered the room.

“Why, Twilight,” she said, “I do hope you came to do the fashionable thing and surrender peacefully.”

“Sorry, that’s not going to happen,” Twilight said.

“Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Vinyl, would you mind assisting me in apprehending… Wait…you’re not under Mistress Spiral Swirl’s hypnotic spell anymore.  You traitors!”

Her anger caused her to lose her concentration on the levitation spell and Spike fell to the ground.

“Owwww,” he moaned, “Why does that keep happening to me?”

“Well, it looks like we’re going to have to go through another uncouth fight then,” Rarity said, getting ready to fight Twilight and the others.

“Nope,” Twilight said, as she fired off a stun spell.

Rarity attempted to dodge, but it found its mark and rendered her immobile.

“Urgh, what’s going on?” Rarity demanded.

“The end of Spiral Swirl’s reign of terror,” Twilight said, “Blissful Trance, please do your thing.”

Blissful Trance nodded, as she walked towards Rarity, eyes closed, horn glowing, and repeating her mantra in her head.  When she opened her eyes she stared into Rarity’s with her red and grey spirals.

“Sorry darling, but red and grey are out this season,” Rarity said.

“Please don’t say that.  They’re very important and I need you to look into them,” Blissful Trance said.

“I…guess…they are sort of pretty,” Rarity said.

“Yes they are.  Please look into them and watch them swirl around and around,” Blissful Trance said, taking advantage of Rarity now finding the spirals to be pretty.

“Yes…around and around….they’re so…so…”

“Hypnotic,” Blissful Trance said, completing her sentence, “Please let them hypnotize you.  Let my hypnosis into your mind, not Spiral Swirl’s.”

“Yes…yes…let your hypnosis in….it’s….so…much more…fashionable, Ms. Trance,” Rarity said as she slipped free from Spiral Swirl’s control and under Blissful Trance’s influence.

Blissful Trance took a few deep breaths once she finished up.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked.

“I’m fine,” Blissful Trance said, flashing a shy smile, “I just need to keep ‘doing my thing.’  Rarity, your trigger from Spiral Swirl doesn’t work on you anymore.”

“Of course, Ms. Trance,” Rarity said, “It’s not red and grey that are so last season, it’s ‘Trance time’ that is.”

“Thank you, now please wake up,” Blissful Trance said.

Rarity shook her head as she came out of her trance.

“I can’t believe that horrid Dr. Spiral Swirl,” she said, seething with anger, “Not only did she make me restrain Sweetie Belle so she could hypnotize her, she also made me attack you, Twilight, and she made me make her a dress for free.”

Her last comment caused the others to stare at her.

“Really?” Applejack chimed in.

“I used a lot of expensive materials in that dress, even my generosity has its limits,” Rarity protested.

“What matters is that you’re free from her control,” Twilight said, “Now let’s get moving.  Hopefully Pinkie is still at Sugar Cube Corner.”

“Right!” the others called out.



Pinkie smiled at the creation she had just pulled out of the oven, it was a perfect replica of Spiral Swirl’s pocket watch in cake form.  She hummed and danced as she put the finishing touches on various other hypnosis themed treats.  She paused when she heard the bell ring when the door to Sugar Cube Corner was closed.

“Sorry we’re closed…unless you’re Mistress Spiral Swirl,” she said sing-songally.

“What in the world are you doing, Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash asked, as she and the others entered the kitchen.

“Well…I know Mistress Spiral Swirl commanded us to round up non-hypnotized ponies, especially Twilight.  Then I realized, with so many ponies out there looking for ponies that needed to be hypnotized, this would be the perfect opportunity to prepare for Mistress Spiral Swirls’ victory surprise party.  I feel so bad she didn’t get a proper ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ surprise party, because she commanded me to give her a nice simple one, that I wanted to have a huge surprise party for her when she finished hypnotizing all the ponies in Ponyville.  But since Twilight’s here now, I just absolutely need to obey her and bring Twilight to her,” Pinkie said, talking in her usual rapid fire manor before picking up a spare cake and throwing it towards Twilight.

“Sorry, Pinkie,” Twilight said, as she used her magic to stop the cake mid flight, “But the party’s been cancelled.”

Pinkie picked up another piece of edible ammo to throw at Twilight, but was stopped by Twilight’s stun spell hitting her.

“Are you sure it’s safe to use that on her?  She might explode from to much pent-up energy,” Applejack said.

“I sure hope not,” Twilight said, as she noticed Pinkie was actually starting to vibrate a little, “Uh, Blissful Trance, you better act quickly.”

“S…sure,” Blissful Trance said, as she began to prepare her usual routine, nervous about the vibrating Pinkie Pie as well.

Once everything was in order she looked towards Pinkie Pie with her red and grey spiral eyes.

“Um, Pinkie Pie, please look into my eyes,” she said, her quiet voice having a trace of tiredness to it, “Look into them for me please.”

“Wow!  Your eyes are all swirly and whirly too!” Pinkie said excitedly, “And they’re much more colorful then the ones Mistress Spiral Swirl gave me.  Hey they’re red and grey! Are you a Tolfetano Tornadoes fan?”

“What? Um…no, not really,” Blissful Trance said in confusion.

“That’s a shame, they’re doing really good this year,” Pinkie said.

“Um, please just relax for me, Pinkie Pie,” Blissful Trance said, “Please relax and listen to my voice.”

“Hey, you’re being so nice.  When Mistress Spiral Swirl said ‘please’ she was kinda annoyed with me.  Wait…are you trying to hypnotize me too?”

“Uhhhh…yes,” Blissful Trance said, not wanting lie as well as being unsure how to respond.

“Well, you’re doing a great job, I feel so relaxed,” Pinkie said.

“Th…thank you.  Um, please relax even more.  Let my Hypno Magic take over.  Let me free you from Spiral Swirl’s control.”

“Let….let your Hypno Magic take over? Yes…that sounds like fun,” Pinkie said, as her eyes morphed into black, white, red, and grey spirals before settling on red and grey ones, “…….yup I was right.  I feel so blissful.  Hey! Your name’s Blissful Trance! And I’m in a blissful trance, isn’t that funny?”

“I guess so,” Blissful Trance said, as her eyes returned to normal. She breathed another deep breath as she wiped away some sweat with her hoof.

“You okay, Bliss?” Vinyl said with some concern.

“You can stop at anytime. I don’t want you overexerting yourself,” Twilight said, “You’ve already done so much.”

“I’m fine,” Blissful Trance said, flashing them a tired smile, “Um, Pinkie Pie, your trigger phrase from Spiral Swirl will no longer affect you.”

“Okie dokie loki,” Pinkie Pie said, “Do you want to give me a trigger phrase?  They’re a lot of fun, like a surprise for your brain.  One minute you’re yourself and then boom, you’re a hypnotized slave again.”

“Absolutely not,” Blissful Trance said in horror, “Please wake up from your hypnosis.”

The spirals faded from Pinkie’s eyes and immediately got on her knees in front of Twilight.

“Oh, Twilight, I’m so sorry.   I didn’t mean all those bad things I did to you, it was all meanie Spiral Swirl’s fault.”

“I know that, Pinkie,” Twilight said, “You’re back to your normal self now.  That’s what matters most.”

Pinkie immediately perked up, “So what now?”

“Now we track down Fluttershy,” Twilight said, as she stepped outside Sugar Cube Corner.

Her journey was short lived, as something small and furry leaped out of the shadows and latched onto her face.

“AAAAAA! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!” Twilight screamed, as she stumbled back into Sugar Cube Corner.

Rarity quickly used her magic to tear the enraged creature off Twilight’s face, before stuffing it into a drawer.

“Th….thanks, Rarity,” Twilight said, catching her breath.

“Where the heck did he come from?” Applejack said.

“Good job, Angel,” Fluttershy said, as she stepped into the doorway, “I guess we didn’t need to get Winona after all….uh where did you go, Angel?”

“You were going to steal Winona for your Twilight hunt?” Applejack said in disgust.

“I’m sorry, I would’ve asked if I knew where you had gone,” Fluttershy said, “But had I known you weren’t under Mistress Spiral Swirl’s spell anymore I wouldn’t have worried about asking.”

“What in the world happened to Angel?” Rainbow Dash asked, as she watched Twilight still struggling to catch her breath.

“Oh, I used ‘the stare’ augmented by the spirals in my eyes to turn him into a loyal attack bunny,” Fluttershy said.

“And now we’re gonna use some spiral eyes to return your loyalty to normal,” Twilight said, as she fired off a stun spell, still slightly frustrated at Angel’s attack.

Fluttershy cried out when the spell hit her and she found herself suddenly unable to move.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to make you mad.  I was just doing my best to serve Mistress Spiral Swirl.”

“I’m not mad at you; I’m mad at Spiral Swirl,” Twilight said, “Blissful Trance, please help us out one last time.”

“Of course,” Blissful Trance said.

Focus. Concentrate. Project. Focus. Concentrate. Project. Focus. Concentrate. Project. she thought, finding herself needing to repeat the mantra more then normal due to the draining affect her previous uses had had on her.  Still when she opened her eyes, the spirals were once again in them.

“Please look into my eyes and relax,” Blissful Trance said.

“Oh, my goodness,” Fluttershy said, as she locked eyes with Blissful Trance.

“Relax for me, please.  Let me free you from her control.  Let my hypnosis take hold.”
“I…I…I really shouldn’t, but…it feels so…right…” Fluttershy said.

“Thank you, I want to do the right thing and help ponies.  Let me help you by hypnotizing you,” Blissful Trance pleaded.

“Yes…helping ponies…is the right thing.  Being hypnotized by you….is the right thing.  I will be hypnotized by you,” Fluttershy said, smiling as she fell under Blissful Trance’s spell.

Blissful Trance smiled upon seeing Fluttershy’s eyes become red and grey spirals, right before she passed out.

“Bliss!” Vinyl cried out.

“Oh my goodness, what happened?!” Rarity said, as she and the others went to help the young filly.
“She burned herself out I think,” Rainbow Dash said.

After a few minutes Blissful Trance’s eyes opened back up and she cautiously got to her feet.

“Are you okay, Bliss?” Vinyl asked.

“Y…yes. I think so,” Blissful Trance said.

“That was very dangerous,” Twilight said, “You should’ve told us the multiple uses of Hypno Magic was wearing you out.”

“I know…I just wanted to help…free all your friends,” Blissful Trance said still slightly out of breath.

“We would’ve been fine with just the five element bearers not under her influence. You’ve already done so much for us, you don’t need to push yourself beyond your limits,” Twilight said, “But you pushed yourself for all the right reasons, so…I’m not sure what to feel right now.”

“Well I’m feeling an urge to buck Spiral Swirl in her stupid face right now,” Vinyl said.

“I’ll second that,” Applejack said.

“Let’s focus on beating up Spiral Swirl when Fluttershy’s back to normal,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing to the smiling spiral eyed Fluttershy.

“Oh no, how long was I out? How long was she like this?” Blissful Trance said, worried about having a pony under her spell longer then necessary.

“Only a few minutes,” Twilight said, “And remember what Sweetie Belle said, being under your spell is a very pleasant experience.”

“I know, I just don’t want them to be under it for too long,” Blissful Trance said, “Um, Ms. Fluttershy, your trigger phrase from Spiral Swirl will no longer work on you.”

“I understand.  I am free from the effects of the phrase ‘trance time,’” Fluttershy said, her quiet voice now a monotone.

“Please wake up for me,” Blissful Trance said.

“Oh my goodness,” Fluttershy said, as the spirals faded from her eyes, “That may have only been a few minutes, but I definitely liked being hypnotized by you a lot more then by Dr. Spiral Swirl.”
Blissful Trance smiled at her compliment.

“Alright, let’s go get the ‘good’ doctor,” Applejack said.

“What about Bliss and I?” Vinyl said.

“I’m sorry, but even though she’s worn out, it might be best for you two to come with us.  You could be attacked for not being hypnotized anymore, and if word gets out about what she’s been able to do, there could be real trouble,” Twilight said.

“I understand,” Blissful Trance said.

“Then let’s go!” Twilight said.



The trek to Sweet Apple Acres was long and slow, since they had to slip into a hiding spot every so often to avoid the occasional hypnotized pony passing by, searching for Twilight and other victims for Spiral Swirl.

Eventually they made it to the farm and up to the barn where Spiral Swirl was waiting on word from her slaves.

“Looks clear,” Applejack said, as the group approached it.

“Not so fast,” Lyra said, as she, Bon Bon, Octavia, Derpy, Doctor Whooves, Big Mac, and Bulk Biceps emerged from the shadows.

“Vinyl, I’ve known you to be many things. Loud, messy, but I never figured you would be a traitor,” Octavia said.

“Okay, even though it’s because I’m not a hypnotized slave anymore, I’m kinda getting sick of being called a traitor,” Vinyl said.

“Twilight, just stun these guys so we can get this over with,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Right,” Twilight said, as her horn glowed.

Before she could cast the spell, the hypnotized ponies let out a collective, “Rargah!” as they performed a flying leap.  Each one tackled their own target and they all proceeded to fly or tumble down into the orchard below.

Having found herself spared by ducking out of the way, Blissful Trance turned to look for any signs of life.

“Vinyl? Princess Twilight? ….uh oh,” she said.
> Face Offs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vinyl Scratch got to her feet and dusted herself off.  A few feet away, Octavia was doing the same.

“How could you, Vinyl?” Octavia said, once she had recovered enough, “How could you let yourself be freed from Mistress Spiral Swirl’s spell?  Especially after you were such a loyal slave and helped bring all those ponies to Mistress Spiral Swirl’s office to be hypnotized.”

“Don’t remind me,” Vinyl said in disgust.

“Now then, are you going to follow me back to the barn to be re-hypnotized and put this unpleasantness behind us?” Octavia said, before pulling out her cello bow and wielding it like a club, “Or am I going to have to get physical?”

“Tavi, put that thing away,” Vinyl said, as she got into a defensive stance.

“Ha, do you think just because you know karate that I’m afraid of you?” Octavia said, before she charged at Vinyl.

Vinyl sidestepped Octavia’s first strike, before blocking the second one with her front leg.

“Ow,” she said, rubbing her leg, “That kinda hurt.”

“And it will hurt a lot more if you don’t do the sensible thing and give up,” Octavia said, as she prepared strike at Vinyl once more.

“When have I ever been known to do the sensible thing, Tavi?” Vinyl said, as she focused her magic at the bow.

“Hey! Knock it off!” Octavia said, as she got into a surreal tug-of-war match with Vinyl’s telekinesis magic.

Vinyl eventually won out, tearing the bow from Octavia’s grasp and flinging it to the side.

“You fool!  You could’ve damaged it!  You’re just trying to give me another reason to hate you right now!” Octavia shouted in a rage, as she resorted to trying to kick Vinyl.

Once again Vinyl was able to either sidestep her blows, or block them.  After a mistimed kick on Octavia’s part, Vinyl was able to knock her off her feet.

“Come on, Tavi.  I don’t want to hurt you,” Vinyl pleaded.

“Oh, but I want to hurt you now.  Especially if it will please Mistress Spiral Swirl,” Octavia said, as she charged at Vinyl like a raging beast.

“Sorry to have to do this then,” Vinyl said, as her horn glowed.  She summoned a bubble with several music notes floating in it.  One by one the notes dissipated, letting off a soft musical tone.  When the last one dissipated the bubble popped and a shockwave accompanied by a loud bass note blasted out of it, striking Octavia and sending her flying.   She crashed to the ground and passed out.

“Sorry about that, Tavi,” Vinyl said, walking over to check on her, “Don’t worry, we’ll get you back to normal soon.”

“You shouldn’t have done that,” a voice from behind her said.

“Huh?” Vinyl said, turning to find the source of the voice.  When she did, she saw Octavia’s hypnotized fellow orchestra members, “Oh, this can’t be good.”





Rainbow Dash hovered over the orchard and looked over at the hypnotized Derpy, who was glaring at her.

“You know you can’t win, Derpy,” Rainbow Dash said, “I’m stronger then you, faster then you, a better flyer then you, and I have a black belt in karate.  You don’t stand a chance.”

“I have something you don’t have,” Derpy said, before Dinky popped out of her mail bag, an arrow already loaded into her magical energy bow.

“Whoa!” Rainbow Dash shouted, as she barely dodged the arrow Dinky fired off, “Two against one?  That’s hardly fair.”

“Fairness went out the window the second you chose to betray Mistress Spiral Swirl,” Derpy said, as she bobbed and weaved across the sky, giving Dinky multiple opportunities to get a clean shot at Rainbow Dash.

After dodging the barrage of arrows, Rainbow Dash counterattacked by kicking a cloud, creating a massive surge of lighting that nearly knocked Derpy out of the sky.

“You didn’t let me finish,” Rainbow Dash said, “Two on one might be unfair, but I’ll take both of you on and win!”

Derpy growled in anger, “Two can play at that game!”

She flew to the nearest cloud and kicked it, only for her attack to backfire as lighting arced forth from the cloud and struck her.

“Guess you should leave things to the professions, huh, Derpy,” Rainbow Dash said smiling.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do that again, mommy,” Dinky said, as she looked up at hers and Derpy’s smoking manes.

“Yup, back to the old plan,” Derpy said, as she flew after Rainbow Dash once more, allowing Dinky to take more shots at her.

“You don’t give up, do you?” Rainbow Dash asked, going into a vertical climb.

“Neither rain, nor snow, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor muffins will keep me from helping my Mistress achieve her goals,” Derpy said, as she pulled into a vertical climb behind Rainbow Dash.

“You left out freezing rain,” Rainbow Dash said, as she flew through a cloud.  Upon doing so, the cloud turned grey and immediately started pelting Derpy with freezing rain.

“Oh no!” Derpy cried, as she found her wings being weighed down by an icy buildup.  She struggled to gain control, but the buildup became too much and she went into a nosedive towards the orchard.  By the time she reached the ground, she and Dinky were encased in a giant ice cube.

Rainbow Dash landed beside them.

“See, what’d I tell ya?” she said in a boastful tone.  She then noticed a strange whirring sound coming towards her, “Really? Come on?”

She quickly leaped into the air, just barely avoiding Scootaloo’s scooter kamikaze attack and in one fluid motion grabbed the hypnotized filly off the scooter before landing.

“Sorry, squirt, but I easily just won a two on one fight.  You didn’t stand a chance going one on one with me.”

“What about a six on one fight?” Scootaloo said.

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash said, before a hypnotized Thunderlane, Rumble, Flitter, Cloudchaser, and Blossomforth emerged from the shadows, “Oh, I see now.  Well you all can bring it!”



Rarity stood in a small clearing across from Doctor Whooves.

“Well well, if it isn’t Unreliable Rarity,” Doctor Whooves said.

Not approving of her new moniker, she shot him a death glare.

“First you weren’t around to alter my suit for Cranky and Matilda’s wedding…”

“I was fighting a bugbear,” Rarity said in annoyance.

“…and now you’ve broken free of Mistress Spiral Swirl’s hypnotic spell,” he continued.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Rarity said, her annoyance continuing to grow.

“It is a very bad thing, and if you don’t come back with me to be re-enslaved, I’ll be forced to break this,” Doctor Whooves said, holding up an hour glass.

Upon seeing it, Rarity burst out laughing, “Darling, that’s not how you threaten somepony.  That thing is so tacky; you’ll be doing the world a favor by destroying it.”

“If I do, then you’ll be frozen in time.”

Rarity stopped laughing, “What?”

“That’s right, when I break this hourglass, you’ll be frozen in time.  Time will go by normally for everypony else.  Sweetie Belle will grow up, seasons will change, new fashion trends will emerge, but you will remain, unmoving, unaging, unchanging…forever.  In fact, I like the sound of that,” Doctor Whooves said, as he flung the hour glass to the ground.

“Noooo!” Rarity shouted, throwing her hooves up in horror as the hour glass broke into a shower of sparks and sand.  After a few seconds though she realized something, “Wait, I’m not froz…..”

Her words was cut off by Doctor Whooves delivering a surprise kick that knocked the wind out of her.

She coughed and hacked as she recovered from the blow.

“That was a dirty, dirty trick.  How uncivilized,” she declared.

“And you fell for it,” Doctor Whooves said, as he attempted to kick her again.

She dove out of the way of the kick, “Hmmph, if that’s how you’re going to play, I guess it’s time to show you a few tricks I have up my sleeves.”

“You, a fashion designer?” he scoffed, “And what ‘tricks’ might those be?”

“Allow me to enlighten you,” Rarity said, as she cast an illumination spell, causing the tip of her horn to glow with a bright ball of light.

“Gah!” Doctor Whooves cried, as he shielded his eyes with his leg.

Rarity took that opportunity to levitate a green ring from her saddlebag and place it around his raised up leg.

Recovering from being blinded by the light, he looked at the ring in confusion.

“What is this thing?” he asked.

The ring glowed and a small length of crystal grew out of it, covering a part of his leg.

“Great wickering stallions! What is this thing!?” he cried with concern.

“Oh, it’s just a little trick of the trade,” Rarity said, enjoying the moment, “A little thing for clients that want a specialized extra radiant look.  It’s called creeping crystal.”

The ring glowed again, causing the growth of crystals to grow larger, encasing half of Doctor Whooves’ leg.  He attempted to punch Rarity with his unaffected front leg, but she dodged the blow.

 The ring glowed again, and the crystals grew to encase his other front leg and part of his chest.
“Gah! It’s creeping faster!” he cried out.

“It does tend to do that,” Rarity said, as the crystal grew to encase his torso, “I wouldn’t use it if my clients had to wait for a lengthy process.”

Doctor Whooves glared at her, as the crystal encased his back legs.  At that point the ring stopped glowing and became inert.

“Now at this point, I’d carve out around my client the look they specified beforehand, but in your case, I think you’re fine the way you are.”

“And you called my trick dirty,” Doctor Whooves shouted at her, as she started to walk away.

“Normally I wouldn’t sink to such a level, but even my generosity has its limits,” Rarity said.
She continued to walk away, before several loops of yarn wrapped around her, attempting to ensnare her.

“I see you’re going for the ironic approach,” Rarity said, before using her magic to blast away the yarn, “Sorry to spoil your plans, Sweetie Belle.”

“Darn it,” Sweetie Belle said, emerging from the shadows, “I wanted to take you back to Mistress Spiral Swirl.”

“I hate seeing you like this,” Rarity said in disgust, “I can never forgive myself for helping her place you under her spell.”

She heard a twig snap behind her  and turned to see the flower trio standing there.

“Oh no, Rarity’s encased Doctor Whooves in a crystal prison and she won’t let her sister take her back to Mistress Spiral Swirl to be hypnotized again,” Daisy said.

“The horror, the horror!” Lily cried out.

“Come on girls, let’s help her experience a little horror of her own,” Roseluck said.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me!” Rarity shouted.



Applejack ran along a path through the orchard, ducking out of the way of another one of Big Mac’s powerful kicks.

“Come on, Big Mac, we’re family.  Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” she said.

“Nope,” he replied, attempting to kick his sister again.

“Golly, I forgot just how deep of a hold she had on our minds,” Applejack said, as she dodged again.

She continued to run along through the orchard, Big Mac matching her move for move.  When he went to kick her again, she met the kick with a buck of her own, causing the two of them to go flying as a result of the ensuing power clash.

“Whoa nelly, that was a rough one,” Applejack said, getting to her feet, “Whoa!”

She dove out of the way of a wheelbarrow Big Mac had kicked at her.

“What are you trying to do, take my head off?!” Applejack shouted at him.

“Eeyup,” he said, flashing a sadistic grin at her.

Fearing for her life more then ever, Applejack took off towards a specific part of the orchard.  When she got there, she paused in front of a tree to wait for him.  She didn’t have to wait long.

“You know, Big Mac,” Applejack said, upon seeing him approach, “If I were to be perfectly honest, I reckon I was a much better hypnotized slave to Spiral Swirl then you are.”

Big Mac flared his nostrils at her insult.

“Because no matter how deeply I was hypnotized, I’d still be able to recognize what part of the orchard I was in and know not to stand where you were,” she said, before bucking the tree behind her.  The kick to the tree’s trunk resulted in a hail of zap apples falling on Big Mac, each one delivering its signature shock.

When they were all done, he stood in a state of confusion, his mane standing on end.  He then promptly collapsed to the ground.

“Sorry I had to do that.  That rotten Spiral Swirl’s gonna pay,” Applejack said, before she noticed a movement behind her, “Don’t even think about it!”

“Aw, phooey,” Applebloom said, as she stopped mid-kick from hitting the zap apple tree, “Guess we’ll have to this the hard way.”

Applejack chuckled at her little sister’s attempts to sound tough, “Oh really, and what’s the ‘hard way’”

“We are,” Filthy Rich said, as he, Spoiled Rich, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon emerged from the shadows.

“Awww horse apples,” Applejack muttered.



In another corner of the orchard, Lyra fired a magic blast at the ground in front of Fluttershy.

“Yeep!” Fluttershy cried, as she stepped back.

“Alright, Fluttershy, here’s what’s going to happen, ” Lyra said, emphasizing each word with another magic blast directed at the ground in front of Fluttershy, “You’re going follow me back to the barn, you’re going to be hypnotized by Mistress Spiral Swirl again, and you’re going to help us get your friends back under her control.”

Fluttershy looked at the smoldering blast marks in the ground before saying, “I’m sorry, but I don’t want any of that to happen.”

“I’m sorry, but I thought you’d want to be Mistress Spiral Swirl’s hypnotized slave again,” Lyra said, before firing off another blast.

“Yeeep!” Fluttershy cried again, “No, I don’t.  In fact, there are a lot of things I’d rather be, like a tree or even a vampire fruit bat pony again.”

“Oh, and how is being a vampire fruit bat pony better then being a hypnotized slave?” Lyra said in mocking tone.

“Well for one thing, even after I was no longer a vampire fruit bat pony, they still recognize me as one of their own, and right now they don’t like that you’ve been firing magic blasts at me,” Fluttershy said, as she pointed up with her hoof.

“Huh?” Lyra said, as she looked up to see several pairs of glowing eyes in the trees above.
A series of screeches filled the night as a swarm of vampire fruit bats emerged from the trees and descended upon Lyra.

Lyra screamed in terror as she ran off, pursued by the bats.

“They’re in my mane! They’re in my mane!” she screamed.

Fluttershy watched the scene unfold in front of her and found herself chuckling slightly.
“Oh my, I really shouldn’t laugh at something like that,” she said.

“You really shouldn’t,” a voice from behind her said.

Fluttershy turned around and found herself face to face with Nurse Redheart, Healing Touch, and several other hypnotized nurse ponies.

“Alright girls, let us first do some harm,” Nurse Redheart said, glaring at Fluttershy.

“Yeeep!” Fluttershy cried once more.




Pinkie Pie and Bon Bon stood across from each other, any attempt at a stare down halted by Pinkie insisting on making funny faces.

“This isn’t a fight you can win,” Bon Bon said, “I’m a highly trained operative and loyal slave to Mistress Spiral Swirl.”

“Well I guess you’re right and….Oh my, what the heck is that?!” Pinkie exclaimed, as she pointed to something behind Bon Bon.

“What? What is what?” Bon Bon said, as she turned around, only to find herself face to face with Pinkie Pie.

“Hi, Bon Bon,” Pinkie said happily.

“Pinkie? What? How did you?” Bon Bon said in confusion.

“Oh, I just came to warn you I accidentally spilled a bottle of Mrs. Cake’s Sweet Sweet Ooey Gooey Super Sticky Syrup.  It’s super good, but if we put more then one drop in a recipe it might cause a pony’s mouth to be stuck shut! Then they’d have to go around all ‘mmmph mmmph mmmmmmmmphhhhhh!’” Pinkie said, mimicking a pony with a glued shut mouth.

“Thanks for the warning, now let’s go…” Bon Bon said getting annoyed, before she noticed something wet wash over her legs, “What the?”

She turned her head, only to see Pinkie standing next to an overturned bottle.

“Sorry, Bon Bon,” Pinkie said.

“How did you?” Bon Bon said, growing even more confused.  She tried to move her legs, but found they were stuck fast to the ground, “What is this?”

“I told you, I accidentally spilled a bottle of syrup,” Pinkie said.

“I thought you were telling me about something that happened at the bakery.  Not something you did behind me when you were standing in front of me,” Bon Bon said, still confused over just how Pinkie managed to do all this.

“Nope, sorry about that,” Pinkie said, before turning and walking away, “Sorry I can’t stick around.”

“Pinkie!” Bon Bon shouted in anger over the pun.

Pinkie ignored her and walked away humming.  She stopped dead in her tracks when Ebony Darkness shadow jumped out of her shadow and landed in front of her; she was followed by Shadow Dancer.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Ebony said, as she used her magic to throw a shuriken into the ground in front of Pinkie.

“Whoa!” Pinkie said, backing up only to bump into another pony behind her.  She turned to see she had bumped into Mr. Cake, who was standing next to Mrs. Cake.

“This party’s just getting started,” Mrs. Cake said.

“I don’t think I like this party,” Pinkie said.




Blissful Trance was still back at the barn, looking down at the orchard.  Down below she could hear the sounds of the simultaneous fights going on.

“What should I do?” she said, thinking out loud, “Should I stay here?  Should I go find Vinyl?  I think I’ve recovered enough; maybe I could go and use my Hypno Magic to free another pony from Spiral Swirl’s hypnosis. Should I…gah!”

Her monologue was cut short by a magic blast knocking her off her feet.  When she got back up, she turned around to see an angry Spiral Swirl glaring at her.  Spiral Swirl’s horn glowed as she fired another magic blast at the young filly, sending her flying.

“Owwwww,” Blissful Trance moaned, as she got back up.

“ ‘She doesn’t like the idea getting inside somepony’s head and taking control so she rarely uses it,’ your sister said that about your Hypno Magic when I first hypnotized her.  When she said that, I felt that since you didn’t live in Ponyville and you didn’t like using your magic, you weren’t a threat to my plans.  Now that I’ve seen the damage you’ve caused, I should’ve removed you from the equation as soon as possible,” Spiral Swirl, before she blasted Blissful Trance again.

What do I do? ?What do I? Wait…I need to do what I’ve been doing all night, using my magic to help ponies.  If she thought I caused damage to her plans before, she hasn’t seen anything yet, Blissful Trance thought with a renewed determination, she shut her eyes and her horn glowed, Focus. Concentrate. Project!

When she reopened her eyes, they were once again grey and red spirals.

“What in the?” Spiral Swirl said.

“Please look into my eyes,” Blissful Trance said.

“Your eyes. They’re…”

“How I hypnotize ponies with my Hypno Magic.  Please look into them and relax for me,” Blissful Trance said, making sure Spiral Swirl wasn’t looking away.

“Yes…relax…” Spiral Swirl said, her voice going quiet.

“Please relax more and more for me.  Let my magic wash over you.  Let yourself go into hypnosis for me, please.”

“Yes…I will…NOT go into hypnosis,” Spiral Swirl said in her normal tone, as she flashed a sadistic grin at Blissful Trance.

“What?!” Blissful Trance said, backing up in shock.

“I can’t believe how naïve you are,” Spiral Swirl said, “Here you’ve been gifted one of the most powerful magics known to unicorn-kind, but you don’t know one of its biggest limitations: unicorns that use Hypno Magic, can’t hypnotize other unicorns that use it.”

“Oh no,” Blissful Trance said, her determination fading away to fear.

“Sure they can use their Hypno Magic to counteract other Hypno Magic users’ hypnosis, as you’ve so annoyingly demonstrated, but they will never be able to hypnotize the hypnotists.  Now then, it’s time to remove you as a threat until I can re-hypnotize those that you’ve freed from my spell and finish enslaving Ponyville,” Spiral Swirl said, her horn glowing bright as she charged an extra powerful magic blast.

“No!” Blissful Trance cried, as she shut her eyes and threw up her front hooves in a vain attempt to shield herself.

She kept that position for a few seconds, finally opening her eyes and lowering her hooves when the impact from the blast never came.  Looking around, she noticed a purple magic shield covering her.

“Where’d that come from?” Blissful Trance asked, before the shield started to fade away.  Once it was gone, she noticed a presence standing next to her.  She let out a small gasp when she saw it was an extremely angry Twilight.

“Spiral Swirl,” Twilight declared, “This madness ends, right now!”
> 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.