It was a normal morning in Ponyville and Celestia's sun was shining brilliantly over the bustling city, making it a fairly warm day. However, something in the air told the ponies that today was going to be different, very different. And, their assumptions might be right, because soon a taxi carriage came out into the town and out walked a unicorn stallion dressed in a dark hat and dark cloak who was levitating a suitcase. His cutie mark was a puppet control. He seemed to be smirking and kept tapping his briefcase.
"Now to start my new life. Time to break out my puppets." He said to himself, his haughty smirk still visible on his face .
He trotted to the town center and then opened up his briefcase. Suddenly, a stage appeared out of his briefcase, not a big stage, but a medium sized stage. He then stepped up over it and said, "Fillies and Gentlecolts! I am Neighan-yal Strings, world famous puppet master. I give to you... The very first puppet show of the Elements of Harmony defeating the dreaded Nightmare Moon."
That instantly got everypony's attention, a puppet show about the Elements of Harmony and the defeat of Nightmare Moon. They were instantly lining up in a crowd, eager to hear about the heroic tale . At the same time, the so called Elements came around and saw the huge crowd.
"What in tarnation is with this 'ere crowd?" Applejack asked, pushing up her Stetson and trying to get a better look at the stage. .
"Maybe they're getting line for a super cool party!!" Pinkie exclaimed, jumping up and down from joy. Just thinking about parties made her so happy.
"I don't think so, darling. Look at that stallion up on that stage." Rarity said, pointing at the caped stallion who was smiling and waving at his audience. He reminded Rarity of Trixie and how she failed at entertaining Ponyville due to her arrogant nature. She hoped this stallion wasn’t the same.
"What's with the dark clothes? Does he have something to hide? Is he secretly malicious ?" Dash asked, squinting her eyes a bit, looking for something suspicious.
"Rainbow, you always assume that a bad guy dresses in dark clothes." Twilight said, rolling her eyes at her friend. They just had to wait and see. Who knows, maybe this pony was just a traveling salespony, trying to sell his wares.
Instantly, the crowd went silent. Twilight and her friends got the front and found it was a puppet stage. The curtains opened up and it revealed a wooden replica of Ponyville. String's horn then lit up and immediately puppet replicas of royal guard stallions, Twilight and Spike came down. Immediately, a perfect voice of Twilight came out of the Twilight puppet.
"Oh I so do not enjoy this at all. This is a waste of time, Spike." The Twilight puppet complained, the strings moving the puppet a bit.
"You heard what Princess Celestia said. Make some friends." The Spike puppet said. Immediately afterwards, a puppet of Pinkie hopped out.
"Just try and see for the best." The Spike puppet said.
"Well.... I'll try." The Twilight puppet answered and hopped to the Pinkie Pie puppet , "Hello there I'm..." The Twilight puppet couldn’t finish her sentence, since the Pinkie puppet gasped and zoomed of the stage.
"Wow!! He even got how I met you right." The real pink pony said, clopping her hooves together.
The rest of the show was exactly a replication of Twilight's first day and first adventure in Ponyville all the way to the end. Although there were some major changes: Twilight was more jerky and cold than usual, Applejack was too honest, Rainbow Dash was more braggy and seemed to have the personality of a lesbian, Pinkie Pie had a split personality named Pinkamena who kills ponies in secret, Rarity was much more of a drama queen than somepony honest and Fluttershy..... wasn't at all shy..... at times... and at other times was a complete jerk. And Celestia was revealed to be one who turned Luna into Nightmare Moon in the first place. The major lines in the plot were changed, but nopony seemed to care about that and stomped their hooves on the ground, giving the Puppetmaster an applause . However, Twilight and her friends weren’t amused at all.
"What the buck was that?!" Dash shouted, her temper quickly rising due to all the lies that were told.
"That was not how it happened." Twilight said and placed a hoof on Dash’s shoulder to calm her down. She didn’t want the same situation Dash had caused when Trixie tried to show off her magical abilities.
"I... I... I'm never that mean." Fluttershy whimpered, upset that somepony could tell such grave lies about her.
"Why would I even be that crazy? I'm not crazy." Pinkie said as her mane deflated. Noticing this, she blew on her hoof and her curly mane returned.
"Ah know I'm honest but not THAT honest." Applejack complained as she felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach. She was angry, yes, but she could control her anger, unlike a certain rainbow-maned individual.
"Well.... I.... I have never been so humiliated in all my life." Rarity whined as she raised her head and frowned, disgusted by the lies and the pony who told them.
"Thank you..... Thank you.... You're all too kind." Strings said and bowed, basking in the applause the ponies gave him. He then packed up the stage, his puppets and said, "If you want an autograph or even a special gift, come by my place. I'm currently going to be at the Ponyville Hotel, room P6. There you can meet me and have a special day. So I bid you all... a good day." His horn lit up and he disappeared along with his briefcase.
"What's that guys deal? Did he not know our personalities correctly?" Rainbow Dash asked, having calmed down enough to think rationally.
"It does seem a little strange, but I feel like he did that on purpose." Twilight added, her mind already beginning to search for explanations.
"Yeah... Anypony who believes I'm an insane psychopath must have done this on purpose." Pinkie pony said, agreeing with Twilight .
"I oughta have a talk with that Neighan-yal Strings." Applejack said, stretching her hindlegs and ready to give Strings a good buck.
"Me too." Rarity agreed. She and Applejack didn’t always saw things eye to eye with each other, but she was glad they could agree that Strings needed to be learned a lesson.
"I kind of liked the show." The yellow pegasus whispered. She stared at her friends and they stared back with a disbelieving expression. She could see that they were confused by her opinion. "Well I know he got our personalities mixed up, but he brought the entire day we met in perfect order." She elaborated.
"I know but the worst part was... was... That he insulted Princess Celestia. Everypony knows that Princess Luna turned into Nightmare Moon because of jealousy, not Princess Celestia out of pure tyrantness." Twilight said and this time she had to calm herself down. If there was something she hated, then it was that ponies insulted the Princess. "I'm going over to that puppetmaster's place and give him a piece of my mind." Twilight’s horn glowed and she teleported to the hotel.
________________________________________
At the Ponyville Hotel, Neighan-yal Strings flicked the lights of his new hotel room on and it was just like every other home. Except that it had a bajillion puppets everywhere, literally , and they were everypony in Ponyville. It were either string puppets or Ventriloquist dummies. He then smirked darkly and his horn started glowing. He grew in size and wings were sprouted.
"Those foalish ponies, I have my strings wrapped around them. Soon I will take total control of Equestria." He said, the grin on his face becoming larger . He then turned his head towards eight particular puppets. They were the Twilight, her friends and the Princesses. "And this time, Celestia and Luna, you will not stop me. Neither will your pathetic Elements of Harmony. So says I.... The Puppetmaster." He exclaimed and started chuckling evilly as he gazed upon his puppet collection.
He then heard knocking at his door and turned back into his pony form. “Mr Puppetmaster? I’m Twilight Sparkle, could we talk for a few minutes?”
Twilight Sparkle, You've come a little early. But never the less.... you will the first of my many puppet slaves. He thought to himself as he trotted up to the door with an evil smile.
Puppetmaster opened the door and looked at Twilight Sparkle who wasn't the least bit amused, that he could see on her sour expression .
"Ah Miss Sparkle. What can I do for you?" He asked, a cheerful tone in his voice. As much he wanted her as his slave, he had to stay polite, as not to give himself away. Twilight would be his, in time, as would her friends and the rest of this town.
"I've come to complain about your earlier puppet show." The lavender unicorn answered. Though her expression told the pony in front of her that she didn’t appreciate the show, she kept being polite. Princess Celestia told her that even though you don’t a pony for something he or she did, you always had to stay polite. That way you can create a healthy discuss where both sides receive benefits at the end.
Twilight then let herself in and Puppetmaster closed the door, giving her cute rump a quick look . The two then sat at a table, staring intently at each other before Twilight finally spoke, "Here is a list of my complaints, Mr. Strings." Twilight shoved her list to the middle of the table. She had written the list when was in the reception of the hotel, as to give Strings an orderly idea of what she and her friends didn’t appreciate about the act.
The dark clothed pony then levitated the list up to him and read from it. It had complaints about their personalities not being correct, not telling the story with enough detail, but also that he indirectly insulted Princess Celestia, and that Twilight didn’t appreciate that.
"I can see why you’re complaining. That show was meant to be a comedy act and in an alternate version of our world." Strings explained, as he put down the list. His explanation was just made up on the spot. It wasn’t a comedy, nor was it an alternate version of their world. He had created this act, because he wanted to draw the attention of the Elements of Harmony. He wanted them to notice him, that way they would come to him like Twilight just did and he could learn more about them. He was a spider, and they were the flies caught in his web.
He levitated his hat and cloak on a rack which revealed that he was black. He then turned on the lights, so that the lavender unicorn could get a good look at his place and eyed the many puppets of Ponyville's citizens.
"This is... a big collection. It's everypony in Ponyville." She said a little creeped out. She found it weird that Strings had created a parody on the story of how they saved Equestria from eternal night, but this was just too weird for words.
"I've been obsessed with Ponyville for months. I come from Hoofington, and when I was just a colt I've always wanted to be a puppeteer. However, my family wanted me to be a hypnotherapist just like the family. Yet, when I won my school's talent show for putting on a puppet show... flash, my cutie mark appeared on me: a string puppet control. I wasn't sure what my parents would say, so I decided to give hypnotherapy a try. It turned out I was good at that too. However, a pony can have only one cutie mark, so when I told my parents about my amazing talent as a puppeteer and a hypnotherapist, they were really surprised. Since then they've constantly helped me with my hypnotherapy and puppeteering. When I grew into an adult, I started my career as a puppeteer/hypnotherapist. During the day I'd pull on puppet shows, while during the night I'd help ponies with issues with hypnosis. It's a pretty good gig." Strings explained. He had just told a bit of his life, but it was on deliberate. If he could gain this mare’s trust, it would be easier for him to control her.
"Well, I guess so, but your puppet show has made me and my friends laughing stocks, and they are even laughing at Princess Celestia because of your comedy act." Twilight said calmly.
"So what if they do? It's not my problem I just do the shows." The dark pony said and shrugged. He could do what he wanted to do, and the mare in front of him would learn that soon enough. Hell, she’d even help him doing his evil deeds, like overthrowing those beloved Princesses of her.
Twilight could clearly see a smirk on his face, which angered her. She had come here to ask why he had made her friends the laughing stock of the town, and she had hoped for an apology, but has just laughing at her. "Alright whatever, I don’t have time for this, just try to not humiliate us any further." The lavender unicorn said as she left the room, clearly irritated.
When she exited Strings' smirk turned into an evil smile. Soon you, your friends, the princesses and the entire world of Equestria will be under my control. He thought to himself and chuckled evilly.
________________________________________
Luna's moon shined over Ponyville, however at P6 of the Ponyville Hotel Neighan-yal Strings turned into his real form. He stepped onto the balcony, and he was revealed to be an alicorn. He was tall, slender, with a long and flowing silver mane. His horn was as black as midnight velvet, as was his fur and his eyes were a chilling blue and evil.
Time to test if my new puppet control spell works. Puppetmaster thought to himself.
His horn started glowing blue and it formed a puppet control. As soon as the spell was completely cast, he sent the puppet control over Ponyville. Thin, white wires came down from the puppet control and went around Ponyville. The wires invaded the homes of the sleeping ponies below and wrapped around the hooves of almost everypony in Ponyville. The eyes of the ponies who were affected by the spell shot open. What had to be their eyes’ natural color had changed into a pale, blue. The glazed look in their eyes showed that the ponies were devoid of any free will.
"You shall all obey me." Puppetmaster commanded his new slaves. When he had spoken his command, he began to cackle evilly, like every self-respecting villain should do.
________________________________________
The next morning Twililght was trotting throughout Ponyville enjoying her day. That's when she noticed that some of the ponies had blue, pale eyes. She could see Carrot Tap standing next to her house, and noticed that Carrot top’s eyes had changed from emerald green to icy blue. She also appeared to be muttering something, but that was outside of Twilight’s hearing range.
"What's with the blue eyes?" She asked herself as she continued her way to the market.
She passed several more ponies and noticed that some of them had those blue eyes. Those that had the blue eyes where muttering something over and over, and this time she heard it quite good. "Obey the Puppetmaster." The blue eyed ponies muttered over and over, their voices faint.
"Puppetmaster?" The lavender unicorn asked. She recalled that Strings’ other name was Puppetmaster, and that all of this started happening when he arrived in Ponyville. Connecting one link to the other, she quickly trotted back to the Golden Oakes Library. "Spike!" She shouted as she closed the door behind her.
The purple dragon, hearing his big sister’s shout, quickly ran down the stairs and asked in a frantic tone, and slightly out of breath , "What-what? What is it?"
"Everypony in Ponyville is acting very strange." The lavender unicorn explained as she looked out the window and saw several blue eyed ponies crossing each other. They didn’t even seem to notice each other.
"Yeah, I've noticed too. When I came to visit Sweetie Belle, she had blue, pale eyes and she kept saying 'Obey the Puppetmaster.' and completely ignoring me." The purple dragon said as he recalled the memory. He had gone to the Carousel Boutique, but when he arrived, he saw Sweetie Belle exiting her house. He went over to her and said hi, but she didn’t seem to notice him and just kept repeating that one phrase while she continued to walk towards Ponyville. Her movements also seemed a little bit off, they seemed slower and less Sweetie Belle like.
"So it's not just my imagination." The lavender unicorn said. She decided to wait a day before she took action, maybe it was just some kind of disease, and then Strings wasn’t actually involved in this. "Maybe after today everything will go back to normal."
________________________________________
Night time fell fast on Ponyville and Puppetmaster said as he stood back on his balcony, watching the sleeping town of Ponyville, "It appears the test was a success. My puppet control spell does indeed work. For now I'll release the spell and invite one of the Elements and once I have complete control over all of the Elements I will storm to Canterlot Castle and take control of the Princesses. Then I’ll become the ruler of Equestria." He once again laughed evilly and released the spell that was cast on some of the citizens of Ponyville.
