Chapters Twilight sprang out of bed happily. Today was the day that Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie would finally be able to come to Canterlot to have a look at her new house. With all the new Princess-related tasks she had to do, Twilight was seeing her friends less than she wanted to, so today was definitely going to be amazing.
"Spike, have you seen where I put my quill?" asked the princess. "I need to make sure I have a checklist of what I need to do this week."
"But can't you just remember what you need to do?" questioned Spike. "I mean, because you're a princess, doesn't that mean you have a super kind of, you know, princess memory?
"Sorry, Spike, but there are just too many things for me to remember without writing them down, and besides, I might still need that quill just in case Princess Celestia sends a... Wait, what are you-"
Suddenly, a jet of green smoke flew out of the baby dragon's mouth, and from it formed a scroll.
"Spike get my quill. I'm sure this is from Princess Celestia."
"But Twilight..."
"No 'buts', Spike. Now go and find my quill. Try checking my writing desk."
"No, really Twilight..."
"It doesn't have to be the golden quill. Or the one with the gems. A normal quill will-"
"TWILIGHT!"
"Yes...Spike?"
"Don't you think you should at least eat breakfast before reading that letter?"
After a delicious breakfast, Twilight opened out the letter. It was indeed form Celestia. Twilight read it aloud.
"Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student,
Yesterday I was searching through the archives in Canterlot when I found a dusty old book. I opened it up and started reading, and soon I found a spell I think you will be interested in - mind-control.
I will send the spell to you as soon as I can.
~Princess Celestia."
Twilight quickly re-read the letter, before jumping up in the air joyfully.
"I've always wanted to learn mind control! This is going to be amazing! And Celestia really thinks I can perform it well!"
"Err, Twilight..." said Spike, who was just standing and watching as the Princess of Friendship bounced excitedly around the room. "You kinda have a small problem on your hoofs."
"Wait, what?" enquired Twilight, as she slowed down and then stopped leaping around the room.
"Well, it goes along these lines... who do you think would actually want to have their mind taken over by... well... anypony?
Twilight stood completely still, and she thought hard.
"Ok... maybe you're actually right."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door of Twilight's palace.
"Yay! My friends are here! We're going to have so much fun!" Twilight exclaimed.
Unfortunately, it wasn't her friends. It was the mail pony.
"Oh, umm, hello sir, are you... Having a good day?" Twilight asked. It had been a while since Twilight had just had a nice, quiet chat with a normal pony and she wanted to at least remind herself of what it was like.
"This package is for you, your Majesty. Oh and by the way, well, yes, I am having a good day, thank you. Now, I must be on my way, plenty of mail for other Canterlot ponies!"
Twilight took the package inside and shut the door behind her. She hoped this was what she thought it was, that would make her feel a little bit happier.
It was the spellbook Celestia had sent her. Twilight's eyes lit up with happiness and wonder.
The book itself had an old, worn but still lovely purple cover ; in fact, the purple cover was just like Twilight's coat, only a lot dustier. On the front, it had a picture of the sun and moon creating an eclipse, which was a very rare in Equestria. Twilight had always wanted to see a real eclipse, but thought she never would. Underneath the picture were the words 'Spells of Extreme Difficulty.' This didn't put Twilight off, though.
She then flicked through the pages of the book, wondering why she didn't know about these spells before today, who had written the book, how some of the spells were even possible...
There was then a sudden knock on the door, startling Twilight. Even though she just wanted to continue reading, she knew that whoever was at the door was probably her friends. Maybe they could help her figure out what some of them meant. She carefully levitated the book to her bedroom, before opening the door.
This time, it was her friends who were waiting outside.
"SUPRISE!" Pinkie Pie shouted enthusiastically. She actually seemed more energetic and hyper than normal, but then again, after two weeks of not speaking to her in person, Twilight just realised that things had been calmer during those two weeks. Kind of.
"Howdy, Twilight!" Applejack said."How're things going here in Canterlot? Ya havin' a good time?"
"What's the nature like in Canterlot?" Fluttershy asked timidly. "Have you seen any rare animals?"
"Have you seen any of the new designs in Canterlot?" Rarity enquired. "I'm starting to run out of inspiration, but I just know that the fashions here are spectacular!"
"Hey Twilight!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Guess what? I'm one step closer to being a Wonderbolt! How awesome is that!?"
"Well, hello guys!" Twilight said joyfully. "Hey, come in here and I'll get Spike to make us all drinks while I tell you about the letter I got from the Princess earlier today!"
After Twilight had told her friends about the letter, the book and the spell, she came to something that just made her feel slightly anxious.
"The only trouble is, I need somepony to volunteer to help..."
"Wait, so what yer' sayin' is that you want one of us gals to volunteer for a mind-control spell? I mean, we all believe it's possible... but what if it goes wrong?"
Twilight's friends were worried by the thought that if they volunteered, the spell could go horribly wrong, and they could be under Twilight's control forever...
"Don't worry, girls. Princess Celestia trusts me with this, and if she trusts me, then I'm sure you can too."
Nopony said a word. Even if Celestia herself trusted Twilight, the spell could still go wrong. That would be a disaster.
Finally, Rainbow Dash spoke.
"I-I'll volunteer. For Twilight. I know it's risky...but I trust Twilight. She's the reason we still have a sun - she helped us defeat Nightmare Moon. She's the reason we're not being ruled over by Discord or Crysallis. Having saved Equestria 1...2...3...err... a lot of times...I'm going to voulounteer."
"Oh, thank you so much, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight cried, her eyes sparkling. "This really means so much to me! Thank you! Thank you!"
"Hey. I heard you the first time, Twi."
"Sorry. Is there some time you'd like to have the spell done?"
Rainbow Dash thought for a minute.
"Well...I don't really mind doing it... Now..."
"Are you sure?" Twilight asked. She herself was starting to feel just the slightest bit nervous.
"Well..." Rainbow Dash then took a deep breath. "Yes. We can do it now."
A couple of minutes later, Twilight had lead the other four ponies, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity into a room where they couldn't be influenced by any of the magic.
"It would have been dangerous to let you stay in there, anyway. My magic would have easily reached you, and I don't want to perform this on anypony who didn't want it to happen to them..."
Twilight then returned to the room where she had left Rainbow, who was being her usual self, flying through the room and performing amazing tricks. Twilight knew that someday she would have to learn how to do some of those things.
"Right, Rainbow Dash, just come over here. I've made sure everything is safe, and I've also been warming up my magic, so you'll be fine. Now just stand there and look at me..."
Twilight then started to cast the spell. It used a lot of her power, but then she saw something in Rainbow's eyes. It was a reflection of her, except something was different. Very different. A pink ring was slowly becoming larger and larger in her eyes. Rainbow Dash was focusing on her eyes harder now.
As the spell became stronger, more rings appeared in Princess Twilight's eyes, ranging from blue to pink to purple to red. Dash was literally staring into Twilight's eyes, and soon she was completely mesmerised by the spirals.
Twilight felt like she needed to have a rest before she kept going, but as she looked away from the cyan Pegasus, Rainbow Dash screamed.
"NO!! "
Twilight walked calmly to the room her other friends were in. They were all really worried about Dash, and even Spike had come in to help make sure Fluttershy didn't faint.
When Twilight opened the door, the friends expected to see Twilight looking even the slightest bit distressed.
But to their surprise, she was smiling like it was just a normal day with her friends.
"Guys, before you ask," Twilight whispered, "Rainbow Dash is fine. But right now, she's asleep. So when we go to see her, do not say the word 'magic'.
The six friends all then walked into the room that Princess Twilight had left Rainbow Dash.
"Wow, Twilight...you really completed the spell!" Fluttershy whispered excitedly.
"Well, it was difficult, but I got there in the end." Twilight said, feeling proud of herself. "Come on guys, let's go to the Canterlot Cafe. They have great food there. We'll just leave Rainbow for a few hours or so. I know that sounds a little cruel, but I'll wake her up when the time comes."
Ten minutes later, and the five ponies (and Spike) were sitting at a fancy table in the amazing Canterlot Cafe. Of course, they were sitting at the best table, because the staff running the cafe had obviously thought ' Princess = Best table', but that didn't really matter for Twilight. Her friends were all happily sipping their drinks ( apart from Applejack, who didn't want to be too 'fancy') and talking together happily. Their orders had been taken and their food was being prepared.
"While y'all are just eatin' ya food 'fancily'... I'm just gonna eat mine!"
"Applejack, we're all going to eat politely, not fancily, and besides, you shouldn't be so uncouth around Princess Twilight. Besides, then you would hardly be able to sell anything in Cant-"
"Rarity, I get the picture."
Then, a unicorn came out from the kitchen carrying six plates.
"Order for table number twenty-five."
"Oh, goodness!" cried Fluttershy. "That's our table! Excuse me, sir! This is table twenty-five!"
After the delicious meal, the six friends walked home together until they reached the palace. Twilight was wondering whether now was a good time to wake Rainbow Dash up or not. She finally decided. She would. It seemed unfair for Dash to miss out on having fun, especially having fun with her friends.
As they opened the door, Twilight wondered what to tell Rainbow, mainly because she hadn't seen much herself, but also she didn't want to scare her friend.
"Ok everypony, I'm going to wake Rainbow Dash up, so just keep quiet. Right... three... two... one... Magic."
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash's eyes snapped open. She felt worried. How much time had passed? What exactly had Twilight done to her? She wanted answers.
"Twilight! Guys! What happened? I can't remember anything but a few colourful spirals, but even those are hard to remember..."
Everypony else just smiled. Rainbow Dash was fine.
"NO!! "
Twilight instantly span around when she heard Dash's scream. She then felt the sudden urge to try the spell again. Soon, her eyes were spiralling once again. Rainbow Dash sighed in relief. As long as she could see the amazing colours, she would be happy. She saw Twilight smiling out of the corner of her eye. Good. As long as her new mistress was happy, she was happy.
Twilight then decided to try something out.
"Rainbow Dash, can you hear me?" She asked the hypnotised pony.
"Yes...Princess...Twilight Sparkle..." she replied in a faint voice.
"Aren't my eyes beautiful?"
"Beautiful...stunning...colours..."Dash said in an even fainter voice.
"Do you feel safe?" Twilight enquired quietly.
"Never...felt...safer..." Dash replied even more quietly. She sounded like Fluttershy.
Twilight smiled even more. She enjoyed being in control of a pony more than she realised. She liked the power. She loved it.
Rainbow Dash's mind was filled only with the spirals. Right now, she didn't care about anything else. Not even the Wonderbolts or Daring Do. She felt tired and wanted to collapse, but closing her eyes would just mean that she couldn't see the stunning rings.
Suddenly, Princess Twilight realised that Rainbow's entire body was looking weaker than she had ever seen it. She decided that enough was enough.
"Right, Rainbow Dash, I'm going to countdown from three and when I get to zero, you will fall into a deep, deep sleep. Then, when I say magic, you will wake up, no longer in my power, and you will remember this as a new, exiting experience."
Rainbow just nodded gently.
"Three... Two... One... Zero."
Rainbow Dash then collapsed onto the hard floor. Luckily, Twilight soon teleported a cloud inside, and magically lay the sleeping pony on top of it. Twilight would only wait a few hours, and only then would she wake Rainbow up.
Soon after Rainbow Dash had woken up, it was unfortunately time for Twilight's friends to go.
"I wish I could live here myself, Twilight darling." Rarity said. "You're so lucky; you're a beautiful alicorn princess, living in Canterlot with VIP access to anywhere!"
"I wish you could all stay to." Twilight replied. "But Ponyville needs you. All of you. Without you, Ponyville just falls apart."
"Oh well, we can still come another day. Or, even better, you could come to us!" yelled Dash, having properly woken up. "But then again, I do need some time to practice for the Wonderbolts."
"Oh my!" exclaimed Applejack. "We better get movin' - the train leaves in ten minutes!"
"Bye!" Twilight said as her friends walked to the train station.
After she had closed the door, she decided to go upstairs and read on her bed. It was starting to get late, after all, and the purple alicorn was quite tired from all the effort she had put in from casting her spell. As she lay down in her bed, she chose a random book off her shelf. It was called 'Quest for the Magical Cure' and it just so happened to be one Twilight had never read. She loved reading new books.
The story was about a pegasus pony who couldn't fly, and a group of ponies who had to find some sort of magical antidote to help their poor friend. But as Twilight read on, it got later and later. She decided to finish the story the next day. Reluctantly, she put down the book. But she knew she had to get her energy back.
As Twilight fell asleep, she dreamed of all those spells she had found in the old book.
