Hypnosis Fault: Uprisingby AperturewheatleyChaptersSmoothiesLyra Lyra LyraScented CandlesPaperworkA Note On The StoryPrologueSmoothies"Did y'all see that? That was amazin'!" said Applejack as she, the rest of the girls, and the human boy known as Seth made their way out of the crowd. It was a beautiful day, with warm sunlight, a gentle breeze and even some loose flower petals flying through the air. The party of six ponies and one human had just witnessed the amazing skills of a master hypnotist, a pegasus conspicuously named Hypnos. After inviting Pinkie Pie onto the stage, she had quickly put her under and demonstrated "the power of hypnosis". This included inducing paralysis to any area she touched with a hoof, and also sending Pinkie into a laughing fit whenever she saw a leaf touching a pony. Surprisingly, Pinkie didn't seem to mind this afterwards, happily bouncing around as usual. "It was awesome! You shoulda seen yourself, Pinkie! You couldn't stop laughing when that leaf landed on Bon Bon's head!" said Rainbow Dash gleefully. Twilight Sparkle, who was trotting beside the slowly flying cyan pegasus, smiled slightly at the memory of Pinkie under Hypnos' spell. "Yeah, it musta been pretty funny!" Pinkie Pie said brightly. "I was in a trance for it, though, so I couldn't laugh at myself." Pinkie let out a harrumph. "I didn't enjoy seeing Pinkie acting so...boorish." muttered Rarity. "Boorish?" said Rainbow Dash, flying up beside Rarity. "All Hypnos did was make Pinkie's leg freeze and get her to laugh hysterically." Rarity looked down awkwardly. "Yes, I know, dear...I just...well, seeing Pinkie mindlessly taking orders from some stranger...well, you see what I mean, don't you?" The snow-white unicorn looked back up at Dash. "Eh. Not exactly, but whatever." said Dash, losing interest. Using her wings to launch herself up like a mortar, Dash started a series of tight turns, loop-the-loops and dives directly over the group, grazing Rarity's mane more than a few times. Seth listened to this whole exchange in silence. Something wasn't right about what just happened. What he had seen after Hypnos' demonstration...would the girls believe him? He turned his head to speak to the ponies who he was walking next to, but hesitated and turned it back. No, he thought. They wouldn't believe me. I mean, I am a human, after all. An outsider. They wouldn't trust me. Seth looked to the sky. Damn...how did this happen? oOo Seth was a handsome boy who, besides his appearance, really had nothing much to say for himself. He had long, dirty-blond hair that he kept long partially because he liked it that way, and partially because he was too lazy to go out and get it cut. He lived a fairly simple life, achieving good grades and never really getting into trouble. That is until one day, he woke up in a field of flowers just outside the Everfree Forest. He was clueless about his situation until he saw the "WELCOME TO PONYVILLE" sign. When he realized he was in Equestria, he was shocked at first, but quickly adjusted. Seth was a brony, and had been for years. Being in the world of ponies was his dream, and it was finally coming true, against odds of a trillion to one. He still didn't know why, though, and he was trying to find out. Nonetheless, Seth was content living in Equestria, as Twilight Sparkle was kind enough to take him under her wing and have him live in the library's upper floor. But then Hypnos arrived, and things began to change. Little things. Meaningless things, seemingly. At first, he was the only one to see something strange in the pony hypnotist. But nopony realized that this small string of odd happenstances would turn into what it did. Nopony could have foreseen what would happen to the citizens of Ponyville. No one but Seth. oOo Soon, the six ponies and the human were having a smoothie at Sugarcube Corner. "Oh, come to your senses, girls. It was obviously faked. She's just another traveling bard trying to get some recognition." said Rarity, who was not convinced of the legitimacy of Hypnos' act. "You're jumping to conclusions, Rarity." said Seth. "Try not to be so skeptical. Hypnosis is a completely scientific and grounded art. I mean, you wouldn't know much about it, since the closest thing to hypnosis you've seen was getting yourself brainwashed into being the Element of Greed by Discord." Rarity furrowed her brow and looked down, blushing. She still didn't like to talk about that. "Also," continued Seth, "It couldn't have been faked because, aside from Hypnos' name, Pinkie had no clue as to what was about to happen to her." Rarity rolled her eyes dramatically. "All right, we get it." She picked up her smoothie and took a sip. "Have some of yours, dear." Seth sipped his smoothie and gagged. "Ugh. What's in this?" "Oats, cream an' strawberries." Applejack said with a raised eyebrow. Seth pushed his drink into the center of the table. "Who wants it?" "Oooh! Me! Memememe!" sang Pinkie Pie, grabbing the drink and immediately pouring it into her own. Slamming the plastic lid back onto her cup and jamming the straw back in, she sucked out the smoothie like a vampire sucking blood. Twilight gave her a quizzical look. "It seems kinda scary, letting someone take over your brain like that...I would never want that to happen to me." said Fluttershy. Pinkie pulled her head up for air. "Don't be silly, Shy! It wasn't scary at all! It's actually a really nice experience. You feel all calm and everything, like nothing bad could ever happen!" She plunged her head back onto the straw. "Actually, Fluttershy brings up a good point." said Seth. "Oh, um...well, I...uh...thanks." said the soft-spoken pegasus. Seth gave Fluttershy a fond smile before continuing. "Have any of you ever considered that there might be a dark side to hypnosis?" Twilight nodded slowly. "Yeah...it's true, hypnosis can be misused, but..." "It just doesn't seem likely that Hypnos would do somethin' that sinister." finished Applejack. "Well, how do you know that she wouldn't? You don't know her." Seth replied. "Come on, Seth. Chill out." said Rainbow Dash. "Hypnos is new here. We get it. We don't want another Trixie. Cut her some slack." I'm not worried about Hypnos being another Trixie, Seth thought but didn't say. Ah, Dash is right, I guess. I should cut Hypnos some slack, he thought. I'm being too suspicious. The seven of them were quiet for a moment, and Seth could hear the chatter of the other Sugarcube Corner patrons. He wasn't surprised that much of it was about the pony hypnotist. "...amazing..." "...so unreal..." "...how in Equestria did she do it?..." One particularly loud stallion, an earth pony, said, "If Hypnos were here, do you think she would hypnotize someone else?" "I most certainly would." said a voice from the doorway. Seth's face fell into his palm, which he dragged down his exasperated face. You have got to be shitting me right now. All eyes in the room turned towards the source of the voice. "Check it out, guys! It's Hypnos!" said Dash. Hypnos stood in the doorway, a smile on her lips and an eyebrow raised. The loudmouth stallion spoke to her, breaking the stunned silence. "You'd hypnotize someone again?Who?" Hypnos eyed the stallion. "You, of course. Stand up." Seth gave the girls a look that said, pay close attention to what she's about to do. The stallion was suddenly a lot quieter now. His face was rather pale, and he spoke with a stutter. "Uh...um, maybe someone else?..." The violet hypnotist shook her head, her fuschia mane swaying slowly. "Come on, don't be shy. I don't bite." Seth looked back at the girls, who were watching the event unfold with rapt attention. He rolled his eyes and looked back to the stallion, who now nervously stood up and trotted toward Hypnos. "There we go. All right. What is your name?" Hypnos asked the stallion "Poncho." said the stallion, and blushed when he somehow got a round of applause from the restaurant. "Good, good. Okay, Poncho, let's begin." Seth was slightly surprised to see Hypnos not reaching for he crystalline pendant she used on Pinkie pie. Instead, she extended a single hoof towards Poncho. Poncho was a bit confused. "Um...what do I do?" "You just need to hold hooves with me for a moment." replied the violet pegasus. "What the underworld is she doing?" whispered Rainbow Dash. "Dash! I don't want to hear that profanity from you!" Rarity whispered dramatically in response. Dash rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mom." she muttered sarcastically. As the ponies' eyes returned to Hypnos and Poncho, they saw that the stallion had a hoof raised and locked with Hypnos'. Hypnos said to Poncho, "Ok, nod when you're ready, and I'll put you into the trance." Poncho swallowed a little at this. He half wanted to just ask her to stop, to just let him sit back down and finish his coffee. But, the thought of a whole room of ponies staring at him made him keep his loud mouth shut. He had always had stage fright, and even though this wasn't exactly the high school drama club, it was nonetheless a nerve-wracking experience. Hypnos seemed to sense his nervousness. "Don't worry, this will feel great. All your troubles will just melt away. Hypnosis is powerful stuff." she winked. "Again, just nod when you're ready." His nerves eased by Hypnos' charismatic demeanor, Poncho gave the nod. Hypnos nodded back and began to firmly shake his hoof, quickly bringing it up and down over and over again. This confused the stallion. What confused him even more was that Hypnos was seemingly trying to make small talk during the hypnosis process. "Nice weather today, huh?" said Hypnos. "Um, I guess..." "How's the job, by the way?" "Good..." Over at the table, the girls were just as puzzled. "Ah don't get it." said Applejack. "Shouldn't she be sayin' some sort of hocus-pocus like she did with Pinkie?" "I'm sure Seth can explain this, right, Seth?" said Twilight. "Later. Watch this." Seth nodded towards what was happening to Poncho. Nobody saw it coming. One second, Hypnos was laying down her distracting chatter, the next she was flicking her wrist hard and pulling down on Poncho's hoof. "Sleep." Poncho's eyes immediately snapped shut and his body went slack, collapsing into Hypnos' arms. Instantly the stallion was deeply entranced. Hypnos kept him in this state by slowly lowering him to the floor and doing things like rotating his head, lifting and dropping his arms, and tapping his chest all over with a hoof. Seth's eyes narrowed, his fingers locked with each other. No. That's impossible. A pony, knowing that kind of hypnosis? At this point, everyone went wild. "HOW...WHAT...THAT'S CRAZY!" "HOW IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA DID YOU DO THAT?" "Can I learn how to do that?!" "Yes, you can." Hypnos replied to the last voice. "Just meet me at my home. It's a short walk north from the town hall. Ponies are always welcome to knock on the door." Applejack and Rarity were gaping at the hypnotized Poncho, and Rainbow Dash was practically in a stupor with amazement. "That...was...AWESOME! Seth was still deep in thought. "Who would like to give our friend a suggestion?" "Me! Me! Mememememe!" shouted Pinkie, bouncing up and down in her seat. "Sure, Pinkie. Come on up." And that was when Seth got out of his chair, walked over to the door, opened it, slammed it shut and ran away, never once taking his eyes off the violet pegasus known as Hypnos. oOo No. It couldn't be. It just seemed impossible. Seth ran down the Ponyville dirt road, heading towards the library. His thoughts were in turmoil. What he had just seen...just wasn't possible. Hypnos had just performed a rapid induction, a technique used back on Earth by street hypnotists and comedy hypnotists. How would she know? And the other thing. After Hypnos' first show, why had he seen Pinkie being once again hypnotized by Feather Dance? He didn't have any evidence to prove his suspicions, but he knew that he would be hard pressed to find any. Hypnos had only just arrived in Ponyville that day. Also, he had only seen and not recorded or even photographed Pinkie being hypnotized. He had no proof at all. Perhaps there was nothing wrong. Perhaps Hypnos wasn't anything to be suspicious of. A traveling bard, just like Rarity said. Maybe Feather Dance was just removing the last of the suggestions from Pinkie's mind. Maybe. Just maybe. oOo "Feather?" Hypnos said to her apprentice. "Yes, Mistress Hypnos?" "I want you to keep an eye on the human." "Oh, the Seth kid?" "Yes. He seems to be suspicious of me. Questioning my intentions, it seems." Hypnos replied calmly. "I can't really blame him." Feather Dance nodded quietly. "After all, I am an outsider. No one knows of any intentions I might have. I could be a criminal. I could be a changeling spy. No one knows." Hypnos turned to Feather Dance. "But still, keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't act out." "Got it, Mistress." Hypnos turned her eyes to the sky. It was a beautiful, clear blue sky, with a few tasteful clouds. They didn't know her intentions, but they would soon. Soon. Author's Note All right, first thorough edit. I hope it's better now, ya cynical bastards. I can't stress how Important it is to leave a comment, guys. Get up off your lazy asses! Tell me how I did this time around! Oh yeah, and the next two chapters are on deck. Yay! Lyra Lyra Lyra(2 weeks later) The entire village of Ponyville was abuzz with talk of Hypnos' unbelievable skills. Huge numbers of ponies were flocking to her home to get help from her hypnotherapy sessions, and they were all coming out with their problems solved. Her hypnosis classes were even more successful. Everyone learned fast. Soon ponies were doing their own hypnotherapy sessions to help others. Hypnos' arrival was having a profound effect on how Ponyville functioned. And everypony loved it. Everypony looked up to Hypnos. Everyone except Seth. Seth still didn't believe that Hypnos' intentions were benign. He knew what he saw at Hypnos' first show, and it stoked the fire of doubt in his heart. Pinkie being hypnotized again by Feather Dance...it wasn't right. The doubt never left his mind, and he found himself trying to find as much evidence against Hypnos' legitimacy. He didn't find any, and almost gave up the will to keep at this stupid game. But then something happened that made his resolve strong. A friend disappeared. And that was when Seth realized that if he wanted to know anything, he would have to face the problem head on. oOo "I'm telling you, there is something very wrong about that pegasus!" Seth and Twilight were sitting on a couch on the library's top floor. Twilight was flipping through a book about Naponian Bonaparte (whatever that meant) while Seth used his iPod Touch, one of the few items that he had brought to Equestria, to look at Web footage of Hypnos' show. Seth had been lucky to find that the ponies actually did have their own Internet, commonly referred to as the Thunderhead. Wi-Fi hotspots were, in turn, called shock points. Twilight had a shock point built right on top of the library for the patrons to use when she moved in. She didn't use it much, though, for two reasons. Reason one was that unicorns and allicorns could access the Thunderhead anytime using their magic. This gave most unicorns splitting headaches, though, so they preferred not to do this often. Reason two was simply that Twilight simply preferred books. Twilight turned to Seth. "You're not going on about Hypnos again, are you?" "Damn it, Twilight. Mark my words, nothing good will come of that mare." Twilight moaned in frustration. He hadn't stopped with this for the entirety of the two weeks since Hypnos' performance. "Dear Celestia, would you just stop? You even said it yourself: there's no evidence." Seth nodded grudgingly. It was true. The six ponies had caught up to him during his sprint home to the library. He made sure they got an earful of his frustrations, especially the fact that he couldn't justify them. He still didn't tell them what he had seen, though. If only he could prove it to them. "Speaking of evidence, you kept mentioning something about Pinkie Pie..." said Twilight, using magic to turn a page in her book. Seth tapped a link on his iPod. "Yeah, after the show." "What happened?" Twilight asked curiously. While Seth was a bit paranoid at this point, she was actually interested in what he had seen. Seth smirked ever so slightly. "You wouldn't believe me." "I've seen some pretty weird things and believed in a lot of them. I don't think anything you have to say would be too outlandish." replied Twilight, adopting a smirk and a raised eyebrow of her own. Seth sighed. "All right, I'll tell you. But don't make fun of me if you don't believe it. Also, I'll warn you, it has to do with Hypnos." Twilight nodded. "I won't make fun of you. Don't worry." "You sure?" Twilight's ears flattened and she gave Seth a peeved look. "Okay, fine. After the show, Pinkie was-" Seth said. He never finished his sentence, though, as he was cut off by Spike slamming the door open. It hit the wooden wall with a sudden WHAM, making both Seth and Twilight jump like crazy. Spike stumbled into the room and placed his little hands on his knees, hunching over to catch his breath. He looked up and the two on the couch could see that his face was red with exhaustion, possibly from sprinting. "Spike?" said Twilight, unsure of what was going on but still slightly nervous. "Twi...the...she...ah...*huff*...what..." "Spike, get it together! What's wrong?" said Seth. His big dragon eyes were filled with fear. "You should...*huff*...probably come see this...*puff*...right now." "Where? What happened? Asked Twilight frantically, slamming her book down. "Follow me." wheezed Spike, and shuffled back downstairs. Twilight and Seth looked at each other. They both knew what the other was thinking. You take the lead. oOo The pony and the human approached the building slowly, apprehension filling the pits of their stomachs, as they followed the tiny dragon. The structure was already surrounded by ponies, all chattering nervously. A warm wind pulsed through the area, but the two friends couldn't have felt more cold. "What the hell is going on, Spike?" asked Seth almost angrily. And then he saw the yellow tape. His face went cold and his stomach seemed to drop out of his body, sailing downward into the Equestrian soil. A murder? No. No. No. No. No. NO! Before Seth realized what he was doing, he sprinted to the front of the crowd, pushing and shoving ponies aside. He heard grunts as equine bodies smashed together at his sides, and behind him he heard toppled ponies cursing him out. He didn't care. Everything about the late afternoon atmosphere, even if it usually relaxed him, seemed to make his terror all the more intense. The bright sun, the soft swishing of the grass as he sprinted, the sound of his own rhythmic breathing. It all made his heart pound more and more. Yellow tape. A crime scene. Death. No ponies are going to die when I'm around, he thought. I won't let it happen. There wasn't much he could do about it, though, if this pony really was dead. oOo "She didn't die." A burly, militaristic earth stallion in a police uniform said this to Seth. Seth breathed in deeply. He felt relieved beyond belief. He was about to start crying with happiness that he hadn't lost a friend, when the police officer finished his remark. "To be precise, we don't know if she's dead or not. She disappeared. Into thin air, really. One minute she's there, living her normal life, then poof. Gone without a trace." Seth furrowed his brow. That was impossible. Ponies didn't just up and disappear like that. "Who was she?" he said. His voice was steady and calm, but on the inside, he was quivering. A breeze rustled through the nearby foliage and hit the side of his head, giving him a shiver. The police stallion looked at him, and for a moment his face showed complete sadness. "Her name was Lyra Heartstrings." oOo Lyra. Seth tried to listen to the police stallion as he was given all the information the police knew. It wasn't much. Try as he might, he couldn't forget that name. Lyra. Lyra. Lyra. He shuffled away from the house in a daze. He met up with the girls, who had joined Twilight, outside the crowd. "Hey, what's up, Seth?" Rainbow Dash said in a naively chipper manner. Seth didn't reply and kept walking. "Darling, what happened? Please tell me. I wouldn't be able to bear not knowing what has become of our fellow citizen!" said Rarity. Seth stopped and looked deeply into Rarity's big purple eyes. "Lyra's gone." said Seth. His voice was still calm, albeit a bit more on edge. "She disappeared from her house a few hours ago. She isn't in Ponyville. She isn't to be found in any other towns, either." Everyone was visibly nervous now. "Ah'm sure she just...went on vacation?" said Applejack in a futile attempt to make some sense out this whole ordeal. "Highly unlikely. Okay, look, I want you guys to think for a second. A pony comes into town. She has hypnosis skills. She promises free hypnosis lessons and hypnotherapy lessons-something a bit strange and out of the ordinray is happening already-to everybody." "EveryPONY." corrected Pinkie. "What she said. Anyway, she does all of the hypnotherapy stuff to pretty much everypony in the village-" Seth glanced at Pinkie, who nodded in approval, "-and no one has any clue what really happened to them while they were under. Now, at this point half the ponies in the village know that I'm the human boy who doesn't trust Hypnos. They don't give me any attention. Only one person would actually side with me, and that's Lyra. She's pretty much the only pony who trusts me besides you girls. She loves humans." "And then, suddenly, your only potential ally in forming some sort of rally against Hypnos suddenly disappears." finished Twilight, her eyes widening. "I see what you're getting at, Seth!" This was actually a legitimate fear for Seth to have, she thought. He should have said it this Seth nodded. "Now do you get why I'm suspicious?" Rainbow Dash shook her head, seemingly peeved. " For the love of Celestia, guys! This isn't a conspiracy theory! Lyra disappeared! We get it! It's sad! Stop turning it into something stupid!" Applejack nodded somberly. "If anythin' , y'all are disrespecting Lyra by not being serious about the situation." Seth reeled. Not being serious?! Applejack didn't get it. "I couldn't ever disrespect you ponies! I care about you guys more than-" he stopped abruptly. He didn't want to finish the sentence. "More than what?" Fluttershy asked, her small, yellow head tilting slightly." "More than I care to admit." said Seth, sighing deeply. The afternoon air was thick and heavy with sorrow and raw fear for Lyra. All of the seven were quiet for a moment, and heard the ponies talking over by the house behind him. Lyra. Lyra. Lyra. oOo Hypnos watched this all unfold from high above, standing calmly on a cloud. She wasn't a suspect now, but judging by what Seth was telling the others, she would be soon. That was upsetting. Hypnos turned to her apprentice, Feather Dance, who was standing behind her on the cloud. "What has the human been up to?" Feather Dance walked to the edge of the cloud. "It's pretty much just been this"- she nodded at Seth's conspiracy rant-"these whole two weeks. She turned and looked behind her to check on the small unicorn that Hypnos had put into a doze earlier. Her fur and mane were a perky turquoise, with white streaks running through the hair. Had her sleeping eyes been open, Feather Dance would have seen two golden yellow irises, filled with hidden energy. Hypnos nodded. "That's not really surprising or concerning. That boy won't do be able to do anything to prove whatever he wanted to prove to the village. Only Twilight believes him at this point." Hypnos' eyes narrowed. "That could be a problem." "Should I do anything about it, Mistress?" asked Feather Dance, turning to meet her teacher's eyes. "No. Let's just wait. If we act too soon, it could prove consequential later." said the violet pegasus. She walked down the edge of the cloud, taking a bit of a stroll. "We can go home now. The ponies can't see us very well at this height, what with the glare and all. We'll just arc up over them and fly downwards once we're over the Everfree. We'll wake her up when we hit the ground," she said, nodding towards the sleeping unicorn. "All right, then" said Feather. "We do have haul her weight, though." Hypnos said. "Yeah, that's a drag." oOo Seth walked back home with only Twilight at his side. The other five ponies stayed to ask around about Lyra's vanishing act, hoping to glean some important info. Seth doubted they would. As hoof and and foot met dirty gravel in an endless monotone, Twilight Sparkle spoke. "They could have been right, you know." Seth turned to look at Twilight . It was almost dusk, and a cool breeze brushed the side of his head. The glare behind Twilight went straight into his eyes. "I know. I'm trying to figure out if Hypnos is even messed up like I'm making her out to be, or if I'm just being a jackass." Seth shook his head. "I want to think the latter is true, but there's still that one thing..." "The thing with Pinkie after the show." Twilight said, looking expectantly at Seth. Seth raised an eyebrow. Twilight had a surprisingly sharp memory. She had probably read a few books on the subject. Actually probably more than a few. "Yeah. I can tell you what happened now." Seth responded, kicking a stone a few yards as he did. "And you really do need to know this. After the show, I saw Pinkie-" He was once again cut short by a loud noise behind him. "HEY FLESHBAG! YEAH, I'M TALIKN' TO YOU, YOU FRIGGIN' PINKSKIN! GET THE FRICK OVER HERE BEFORE I GUT YOU WITH A STICK!" That's not usually a good sign, thought Seth before turning around to face the source of the angry profanity. Twilight followed suit, clearly irked by the sudden distraction. A teenage earth pony, seemingly having followed the two of them the entire time, limped over to Seth and promptly smashed a hoof into his nose. Seth let out an angry yelp as his nostrils began to drip, heavy red fluid rolling down his upper lip and into his mouth. "I HOPE THAT BROKE YOUR FREAKING NOSE, FRICKFACE! WHAT THE UNDERWORLD IS YOUR FRIGGIN' PROBLEM?! ASSHOLE!" shouted the pissed-off earth pony. "Aaah...agghh..." moaned Seth, clutching his bleeding nose. Twilight faced off with the pony. "What's YOUR problem?! What in Equestria did he do to you?" Through tear-filled eyes, Seth somehow managed to get a good look at the earth pony who socked him. She appeared to be about Twilight's age, with a sharply orange coat and dirty-blond mane (similar to Seth's in color, actually) that cascaded back, falling partway down her neck. Her mane wasn't solid-colored, though, with the tips of the locks ending in an unusually bright pale green. One of her eyes was bruised and battered where something had jabbed it and was swollen shut, but the other was an emerald color, and so Seth assumed that they both were. She also had some pretty geeky freckles. The earth pony's already angry face contorted into a snarl at Twilight's question. "He frickin' shoved me down! He was just plowing his way through all the ponies near Lyra's, like, "Move, bitch, I'm important" and he hit me in the friggin' windpipe! I went down, and my face landed on a stallion's horn! I was lucky it just grazed my eye, but any closer and I wouldn't freaking HAVE an eye!" Seth winced. That sounded like it hurt. But then he remembered how he felt when he saw the crime scene, and his sympathy for this pony started to melt away. He was doing his best to stop the bleeding, with not much success. His best bet was to use the arm of his T-shirt to soak up as much blood as possible, but at this point the sleeve was drenched. The raging pony apparently wasn't done. "And to top it off, I landed funny and sprained my ankle!" to emphasize, she lifted her right hind leg and nodded backwards toward it. Twilight finally spoke back to the orange pony. "Look, I need to go home. My friend has something very important to tell me, and I need to get him patched up, thanks to you." The orange pony chortled in spite of her injuries. "What?! This...this friggin' THING is your friend?!" Twilight ignored her. "I'm just going to teleport now. My friend has some important information to tell me, and it involves Hypnos, so it's going to be big. Goodbye." "WAIT!" said the pony said. She was still angry, but something new shone behind her eyes. "Did you say something about Hypnos?" "Yes, why? " said Twilight, her built-up teleportation burst fading. "God, I hate that bitch." said the pony, forgetting her anger for a moment. "Creeps the frick outta me. I went into her house to get rid of some job stress-being a tech engineer can be a big pain in the rump sometimes-and I didn't even get past the first minute of the hypnosis before I went, 'Screw it, I'm outta here.' I still get shudders thinking about her." "Did you say you were an engineer?" said Seth through his sleeve. Looking back at Seth, the pony regained her attitude. "What's it to you, frickface? And yes, I am an engineer. Shut up." Twilight once again ignored the pony's foul mouth. This could mean something. "What's your name?" she said. The pony glared some more at Seth, then turned to Twilight again. "It's Diesel Burn. Nice to meet you. As for the pinkskin..." she once again turned to face Seth. "I can't say as much." "Seth also thinks that there's something wrong with Hypnos. He's trying to prove it, but he isn't really getting anywhere." said Twilight. Maybe she could bring the two of them together just through their shared hatred of Hypnos. "Huh. He's sharp for a fleshbag." "Would you stop?!" said Seth angrily, wiping his nose on his sleeve once again. He was quiet on the surface, but underneath he was tingling with electricity. Another pony who didn't like Hypnos? This was great. And if she was telling There was a moment of quiet, and then Diesel spoke. "Huh. I get it. We both hate Hypnos. This is interesting. All right then." she said, breathing deeply. "I'll let you guys go do whatever. But don't think you're of the hook, punk." Diesel knocked Seth's head with a hoof, eliciting a pained "Mmph". " Next time I see you, you're screwed. Public place or private, it doesn't matter. I will beat the living shit out of you. You got it?" Seth gave her a ridiculously angry look. "I'll take that as a yes. I'm off to get some ice packs. My home's right up the road. See ya, fricktards." With that, Diesel Burn limped off in the direction Twilight and Seth were heading. Seth was the first to speak. "Well, she's just a boatload of fun, isn't she?" he said. Turning his bloodstained face to look at Twilight, he said, "You think you could magic this off now? The bleeding's stopped." "Sure, but..." She paused to summon up her magic and shave off all the dried blood at a molecular level, then continued, "I was just thinking..." "No way. You? Thinking? Wow!" Seth said sarcastically. Twilight hit him with another peeved look. "Sorry." he muttered sheepishly. She continued. Her tone was thick with concern. "If what you said about Lyra was true...then that pony is in danger." Seth thought about what Twilight might mean by this for a second, then it hit him. "You mean, because since she might want to side with me, she would be a target for whatever is going on. Right?" Twilight nodded. Seth pondered this for a bit, then nodded. "You're right. That's probably it. But it isn't my main concern. "Huh?" "I'm going to do something for real right now. Take action." What is he talking about? Wondered Twilight. He's acting a bit strange. "What are you gonna do?" asked Twilight, worried at what the response might be. He looked at her, and she saw something new. There was a spark in his eyes. A glimmer of energy. Hidden, but just waiting to be unmasked. "I'm going to deal with the source." Twilight gasped, realizing what he meant. "No, you can't be serious, Seth. If what you're saying about her is even remotely true, he'll have you under before you can scream. She's a master hypnotist." She paused. "Even if I'm not sure I believe that what you're saying is true, I still want you to be careful. "Twilight, I need to face the problem. If something really is wrong about Hypnos, I need to be the first to know about it. I'm going to just go in and ask her a few questions. I might even get her to spill some info about Lyra, if she's involved with her disappearance. I won't let her lay a hoof on me. Promise." Twilight sighed. "Be careful." she said quietly. "I will, Twi." Twilight started. That was the first time anypony-or in this case, anybody-had called her that in such a tired, nervous moment. It made her feel good. Before she knew it, she had Seth in a passionate hug. Seth was taken aback, but quickly got used to the feeling of the lavender unicorn gently nuzzling his stomach. Finally, he pushed her away gently. He met her big, purple eyes one last time before he left. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to have a chat with a certain pegasus hypnotist." And he was off, jogging down the dirt road. Dust kicked up in his wake. The young unicorn stood quietly, now alone. Dusk had become night, and she felt Princess Luna's gentle light beaming down on her from above. "Good luck, Seth." Twilight said peacefully. And that was when she realized that he never told her what had happened to Pinkie Pie. Author's Note Ok, here it is: chapter 3. I have mixed feelings about this, and I'm sure you do too. Tell me, god dammit! Comment on this story or PM me. The fic will begin to get sinister maybe in chapter 5? Scented CandlesHypnos sat at the desk in her living room, quietly scribbling in her journal. It was dark outside, and being a teenage filly, Feather Dance had already retired for the night. Since Hypnos had had such a busy day, she was thinking of doing the same. She never thought everypony could be having so much trouble in their lives. A dead family member. Depression. Both at once. Hypnos leaned back in her chair and breathed deeply, inhaling the heavy aroma of the scented candles she had lit. She WAS a hypnotist, but this was a lot to put up with. It would pay off, though, she reminded herself. She stood up from her chair, closing her journal book with a barely audible *thump*. She was about to head upstairs to brush her teeth and settle down for the night when she heard a knock at the door. Hypnos groaned inwardly, but kept her composure. Just one more, then she could go to bed. Hypnos briefly considered using a rapid induction on her "customer" while they were at the door, and suggesting to them that they return to her house the next day. She quickly chided herself for thinking about that, though, and set out for the door. Show some discipline, Hypnos, she thought to herself. Some professionalism. Extravagances will come later. Running her hand through her dark mane, she slowly trotted into her mudroom and opened the front door. She was greatly surprised to see the one person she never thought she would. oOo Seth stood quietly on Hypnos' doorstep, waiting for her to answer his knock. What the hell am I doing? I'm about to put myself in serious danger, he thought. I'm stepping into a confined area with somebody-somePONY-that I don't trust at all, who has the ability to hypnotize me in seconds. Plus, in the area that this house is located-he glanced around in reaction to his own thought-no one will be able to hear me cry for help. You know what you're doing it for, said an optimistic voice in the back of his his head. You're doing it for you. You're doing it for Lyra. You're doing it for the mane six. You're doing it for all of freaking Equestria. Whoever he was doing it for, he hoped he was doing it soon. Equestria got pretty damn cold at night. He was shivering, but he wasn't sure if it was the cold, his nerves, or both. Calm down, man. She's a pony. She hardly comes up past your stomach. You have a physical advantage. If she tries anything funny, just deck her. Finally, the door opened, and there was Hypnos. She was wearing a black fleece sweater with a softly swirling mist pattern on it. Her wings were folded back relaxedly, and her mane spilled back over her fleece loosely. In fact, everything about her seemed rather loose or relaxed. A soft flower-like aroma drifted from inside the house, and since it was night out, she had sleepy eyes. Seth smirked inwardly. Oh, the gut-busting irony. The pegasus pony's eyes weren't tired for long, though. When she saw Seth, they flew wide in shock. "Why, hello, Seth! What brings you here at this hour?" she said, expertly masking a mixture of confusion and exasperation. Seth raised a hand calmly in greeting. "Hey, Hypnos. I don't know if this is the best time, but...may I step inside for a minute? I'm freezing out here." "Of course you may," she said, stepping aside to clear a path into her house, "but why are you here? Have you come to do a session with me?" Seth stepped inside. The cold air wafted onto the back of his neck, making him shiver once before Hypnos shut the door. "Sorry. Not tonight. I just need to talk." He looked around the interior of the house. It was warm and comfortable, with a bright fire blazing gently in the hearth. The walls, floor and ceiling were a dark, dark stain of brown, and looking into the room before him, there were two couches: a soft-looking love seat of a beige color, and a psychologist's couch-bed which was more of a pinkish-red hue. Seth guessed that this must be the one she used during her hypnotherapy sessions. There was also a small wooden desk, a coffee table, and a TV, all in the living room alone. A side door opened out from the right wall of the room, presumably leading into a kitchen. Lastly, to the left of the room's opening, a staircase led up to the second floor. That flowery scent was much stronger now that he was inside, and he saw that it came from a cluster of scented candles on the coffee table. The scent made him a little bit drowsy. It probably had a sedating effect on the ponies she worked with, make them slip under faster. Aromatherapy and hypnotherapy at the same time. Clever girl. "All right. Go ahead and take a seat on the couch." Hypnos said, gesturing to the love seat. Seth narrowed his eyes inwardly. This, he supposed, was the hypnotist's equivalent of trying to get him drunk. He shook his head. "I'll stand." he said politely. This would make it slightly harder for her to hypnotize him, since this position left him more self-aware and required much more physical effort than sitting. It wasn't a huge difference, but it would help. "I wanted to tell you something, Hypnos." he said, gazing distractedly into the blazing hearth. "Yes...?" responded Hypnos. He turned suddenly, locking eyes with the violet pegasus. They seemed calm, fierce and infinitely intelligent at the same time, a look which sent chills down Hypnos' spine. "I'm onto you." Hypnos seemed surprised. "What do you mean? I didn't do something wrong, did I?" "You know damn well what I mean." replied Seth, never breaking his strange stare. "Don't play freaking dumb with me, Hypnos. I saw your little helper with Pinkie after your first "demonstration." She was hypnotizing her again. Maybe you can explain that?" Hypnos shook her head in astonishment. "I cannot believe you would think Feather Dance would do something like what you are implying. We are both completely legitimate and use our skills only to help others." Seth could see it in her eyes. She was lying through her teeth. "I'm going to make this clear once, Hypnos. You better listen the frick up." Seth leaned in close, although his nerves were crackling. He could feel the pegasus pony's breath on his nose. "I know that you kidnapped Lyra. I know that you aren't the goodwill pony you pretend to be. And I will freaking screw you up if you try anything. ANYTHING. Got it?" Hypnos said nothing. Her expression was calm, blank even. Seth's stomach suddenly lurched. He hadn't thought about how she would've reacted to his speech, and for some reason, this face terrified him. No. Breathe, he thought. Just...just breathe. She's not scary. She's just a pony...just a pony. Seth's calm tone returned. "That's all I have to say. If you don't mind, I'll be leaving now." he said as though what had just happened was mere small talk. He was about to turn around and leave when he suddenly froze and shut his eyes, furrowing his brow. Bowing his head slightly, he spoke. "Hello, Feather Dance." Hypnos finally noticed a faint glow behind Seth. Green magic. "You can stop playing hide-and-seek now. I know you're there." Seth said, opening his eyes and raising his head. Slowly, the green-maned unicorn trotted into the open, dousing her magic. Seth looked down as she walked slowly out from behind him. "Nice try." he said, gazing angrily into Feather's eyes. The green unicorn blushed as she trotted up next to Hypnos. Hypnos cocked her head in a way that said, keep talking. I want to hear this. Seth grinned. "You see? You can deny it all you want, but your little assistant just proved that you were lying. Trying to sneak up behind me, eh? That's a really tricky thing to do. Do you do that to other ponies when they try to run from you?" Hypnos interrupted suddenly. Her tone was calm, yet her purple eyes were filled with unspeakable malice. "Fine, Seth. You can believe whatever you want. Just be aware of the consequences." "What consequences?" Seth replied. He was insanely tense, despite the cozy atmosphere. His heart pounded at one hundred twenty percent speed. His hands were balled up into fists. And yet he still grinned. Maybe he wanted to feel superior. It wasn't working. Hypnos said nothing. Instead, she simply turned to Feather Dance and said, "Let's go back to bed." She looked back at Seth, her face once again unreadable. "You are no longer welcome here. Leave now, before I make you." Seth knew what she was implying. The two ponies left the room, walking up the stairs toward their bedrooms. On the way upstairs, however, Feather Dance looked back down at Seth. It was an odd look, somewhere between sadness, contempt and pity. Seth locked eyes with Feather Dance. "Well, you heard your mistress." he chirped. "Go back to bed." The green unicorn rolled her eyes and continued to trot up the stairs. Seth's chest tightened gleefully. Slowly, carefully, so as to make no sound, he reached for his pocket. He pulled out a sleek, flat device. Seth hit the "Stop Recording" button on his iPod Touch. It's a start, he thought. Author's Note I know, technically it's on hiatus, but I couldn't resist uploading this. I feel it is better than most other chapters, and I hope it makes up for the chapters that earned your enthusiastic hate. I'll say this once, so listen. Leave a fucking comment. Leave a fucking review. And please make sure it helps me get back on track. I might un-hiatus the story if I get enough likes and positive feedback. Yay muffins. Now go make me a happy monkey and leave a review. P.S. I'm not a monkey. It's an expression, dumbass. I'm really a pony. Paperwork"Screw off." Seth was hardly taken aback by Diesel Burn's vulgar response to his question. Even though he was just asking to borrow some tape (because apparently, almost nopony found a need for it; tacks were more popular, meaning that Diesel, at least some semblance of a craftspony, might have some herself), it seemed that even the slightest comment from Seth set the orange earth pony off. He looked down at her. "Diesel, please? I ripped my only poster." Seth began to hold up the piece of paper he was carrying up near Diesel's face. He was answered, however, by a loud and blatant SLAM of her door. Seth sighed and turned around. He began to walk down the steps from Diesel's worn front porch. "How'd it go?" A playful, steady voice rang out from the general area of the bushes to Seth's left. As he descended the steps, he turned his head and shrugged. "I think it's self-explanatory, Flora. She just can't get over me getting her trampled." Seth said as he finally hit the grass. As he exited the porch's shady awning, he reflexively raised his hand to block out the glare. It was another cool Ponyville spring day. The bright Equestrian sun seemed especially so today. Some ponies trotted down the road, carrying satchels full of who-knows-what or gently leading their foals and fillies to school. Others lounged in the shade. Underneath the trees, wind blowing overhead and all that. Seth found it amusing that he really didn't get weird looks anymore. It seemed that, being a magical race by nature, the ponies easily grew used to a human in their midst. Convenient, at best, as he felt it hard to walk around with a million large eyes trained on him. He also took care to remind himself, however, that he WAS a human. This was by no means his home, and at the first opening he got, he would probably have to go back to Earth. His parents and family were probably worried sick... But how the hell was he supposed to get back? He didn't even know what brought him here, much less how to utilize it in reverse. Was it a force or an object that brought him here? Magic, maybe? Some sort of rift in the fabric of the universe? No way to tell. He had was going to have to ride the situation out. Seth looked at Flora. Flora was Diesel's roommate, and was comically out of sync with the fiery earth pony. She was a unicorn; a gardener and expert naturalist with a skinny frame, olive-green fur and a long, scruffy, cream-colored mane. Her cutie mark was a pretty tulip of a soothing light blue color. At the moment, she was calmly pruning a pony-sized shrub outside the house. Flora liked Seth. In a friend way, of course, nothing more. She couldn't help but respect his unrelenting perseverance towards his goals, and how he was almost headstrong in trying to complete them. Even if she did think he was being a little overreactive to the whole Hypnos thing, they still bonded very quickly and would probably stay that way. Of course, Diesel didn't exactly approve of their friendship. Flora lowered the hedge trimmers she had been carrying with her magic and shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "There's not much arguing with her when she gets like this. The best thing to do is just wait until her eye heals. It'll probably blow over pretty quickly after that." Seth chuckled a little. "Eh. I guess. It's not that I need her to be my friend or anything. Hell, I just needed some tape!" Flora got up, her mane bouncing slightly as she did. She smiled at Seth. "I can get you the tape, hon. What's it for?" Seth lifted the flyer he had drawn. It had a large tear in it from when Spike tripped while holding it in the library, and Flora had to hold it together with her magic as she used the soft green glow to pluck it from his hands and lift it to her snout. As she read, Seth explained. "It's a poster for a meeting I'm holding." he said, pointing at the paper. "I finally have evidence against Hypnos. It isn't much, but it should be enough to get ponies thinking." Flora read the poster in silence for a minute, then looked at Seth with a slightly puzzled expression. "Can I see this 'evidence'?" "Sure. It's right here." Seth reached into his pocket, fumbled around for a few seconds and finally got his iPod out. After some taps, slides and a few clicking noises, the screen finally showed a video. Seth showed the screen to Flora and tapped "Play". It was muffled for a bit, and there was no video aside from slowly shifting darkness. Flora heard a door open, and there were some voices. Occasionally she heard the voices get louder, and then return to normal volume. As the video went on, Flora placed the voices; Seth's and Hypnos'. The voices in the darkness continued for a while. Flora only caught snippets of what they were saying. She looked at Seth, confused. He pointed back at the screen and said, "This is the important part. Watch." Flora did so. She was slightly confused as the screen slowly began to glow green, ever so slightly at first, then becoming more and more pronounced. Seth and Hypnos were no longer talking now. Flora was about to turn and say something to Seth when the camera moved. It went up, peeking out of the blackness ever so slightly as if pushed from below. Through the sliver of light, she could see somepony, but only a little bit of them. They were light green, a bit like Lyra...Flora quickly recognized the unicorn, whose glowing horn was now visible) as Feather Dance, Hypnos' apprentice. Feather Dance obviously didn't see the iPod's camera, although she did keep walking in its direction. This is when Seth decided to interject. "The iPod was in my back pocket." He explained to the puzzled Flora. "I had my hands near my waist, and I pushed it up stealthily using my thumb. Feather Dance and Hypnos didn't notice." Flora looked slightly concerned now as well. "She was sneaking up behind you." Seth paused the video, shut his iPod off, and slipped it into his pocket. He shrugged and gave a sarcastic grin. "I know, right? Why would she want to do that? It seems like she was doing something sneaky, especially since she was about to use her magic. It's a good thing I was standing in a shadow of the fire, or else I might not have have seen the glow." Flora cocked her head. "Shadow of the fire? You mean you were in somepony's house?" "Yeah, Hypnos's." "Right. Makes sense." Flora sighed and closed her eyes. "I suppose your suspicions aren't totally unfounded after all." Seth threw his head back and groaned inwardly. FINALLY, someone believed him. "I hoped you'd realize that." Seth said, hiding his inner thoughts. "Anyway, if you look at the poster, it says I'm holding the meeting in the town hall." "Yes, I see that. Are you absolutely sure that the mayor will let you, though?" Flora raised an eyebrow a little. Seth probably didn't know this, but Mayor Mare thought he was a few parasprites short of a swarm. Seth shrugged. "To be honest, I really don't know. It's worth a shot, in any case..." "All right, you go ahead," said Flora, bumping Seth playfully with a hoof. "But don't make a fool of yourself, all right?" Seth scowled a little. "Flora..." She giggled cutely, then started to trot towards the steps. "You want me to get you that tape now?" Seth nodded, but the glare from the bright sun struck him in the eye as his hand visor tilted. "Ye-oof. Dang, Flora. What's with the sun? It isn't like this on earth." The Equestrian sun seemed to be a lot brighter than the Earth sun, especially today. And also, the brightness was inconsistent; he could swear that on some days, he could see the sun dimming, only to become brighter than it originally was. Sometimes, this happened in the same hour. Flora nodded. "Of course, hon. The sun is controlled by Celestia, remember?" Seth nodded. Well, duh, you idiot, said a voice in his head. Seriously, sometimes I wonder how much of the actual show you watched before the universe hauled your ass here. Flora began to trot up the stairs, but was stopped short when a voice came from behind her. "Hey, uh, Flora?" Seth said? Flora turned around. "What's up, hon?" Seth pointed to the bush. "You missed a spot." oOo Mayor Mare worked quietly at her desk. To say she was busy was an understatement. For the past week, it had just been work, work, work! No time to relax at all. File reports, sign petitions, manage taxes, blah blah blah! All while cooped up in this tiny room in this tiny office complex. It truly was enough to drive a mare gibbering off her rocker. The only peace she could find was in a cool glass of pink lemonade and a fresh donut or two from Sugarcube Corner. "Well, a good day's work, Mayor." said a suave male voice from behind her. Mayor slowly swiveled in her chair to see the source of the voice. An earth stallion with a slicked-back black mane and tail, tan fur (much like hers, actually) and a simple hourglass cutie mark was trotting through the doorway of her office, his gentlemanly necktie bobbing slowly back and forth as he approached her. Mayor smiled, the dimples around her muzzle crinkling a bit. "Hello, Time Turner. I didn't expect to see you today." "Neither did I expect to be here. I got caught up while...um..." Time Turner wracked his brain for an alibi. What he had actually been doing was attempting to hold off an alien invasion from a foreign dimension in a back alley of Manehattan, but he needed something that sounded more plausible. "Uhm....I was....caught up at my sister-in-law's birthday party!" he finally managed with a nervous grin. Mayor chuckled, seemingly unaware of Time Turner's verbal stumbling. "I don't recall you telling me about a sister! I'd love to meet her one of these days. If I can escape these four walls for more than a few minutes at a time, that is." Time Turner laughed nervously. He didn't have a sister-in-law. Mayor turned back to her work. "So, relatives aside, what promoted your visit?" the earth pony said as she scribbled some signatures in some blanks, holding the pen in her mouth. "Nothing really. I just wanted to come in and say-YIPE!" Time Turner cut himself off midsentence as the door behind him, which had drifted closed without either of the ponies noticing, opened. This happened to land its thick wooden bulk directly on the earth stallion's hind hoof. "Hey, Mayor!" said Seth as he slowly half-peeked, half-shuffled into the room. "Um...good evening, Seth. Can I help you?" asked a slightly bewildered Mayor Mare. Seth slipped fully inside, brushing past Time Turner. After giving a quick nod and a "Hey, man." to the earth pony (who was still recovering from having his hoof slammed in a door), Seth turned to Mayor. After a brief awkward pause, he began to speak. "Yeah. I hope this isn't he wrong time...erm, yeah. Anyway..." Seth paused to see if Mayor had any objections. She blinked. Seth continued. "So...look. For starters, I have evidence against Hypnos. I got some audio and a little video of something she was doing, and..." Seth began to speak, but Mayor cut him off. "Seth..." the earth mare said, dropping her face into a hoof. "This had better be worth my time, Seth. I'm really, REALLY busy, and if this is just more nonsense..." "Nonsense?!" Seth cried defensively. He began to grope around in his pocket. "You think it's just nonsense? This whole town is in danger. See for yourself." He managed to grab his iPod at last, and handed it to Mayor. Mayor lifted it to her face, gave it a confused look, and then gave Seth another. "Seth, I don't know what this is or what it does." Seth sighed, but facepalmed himself inwardly. They have hooves, he told himself. Hooves. He took the iPod from Mayor, and after a few brief moments and a few more digital clicking noises, handed it back. "Just watch the screen," he said, and Mayor did. Seth joined her. Time Turner, who had now recovered from the sharp pain in his hoof, watched them watching the video, and, intrigued, decided to watch it himself. He slowly trotted up to them and, taking his place behind them, looked at the screen. He was definitely shocked by what he saw, and from what he could tell, so was Mayor. Evidence? This was definitely a start. When the short duration of the video was over, Seth pocketed his iPod and turned to look at the two earth ponies adjacent to him. He raised his arms and shrugged. "So?" Mayor was silent, clearly deep in somewhat troubled thought. Time Turner, however, was instantly all chatter. "Seth, this is interesting. Where did you record it?" he said, giving Seth an intrigued look. "Hypnos' house. She invited me in, and I started interrogating her a little. She stonewalled for a bit, but eventually she cracked. Feather Dance was much the same; as you can see, she snuck up behind me. Probably planning to rapid-induce me." Seth replied, returning Time Turner's look with one of mutual interest. "Hmm..." Time Turner put a hoof to his chin thoughtfully. "Based on what you just showed us, yes, it's certainly possible. Seth, I don't necessarily agree with you, but I think you have yourself a case." "I'm honored that you'll at least respect my suspicions. No one else seems to be able to." Seth replied with an awkward grin. "Hypnos may be evil, but she makes a good first impression, I'll give you that." Time Turner gestured at Seth. "See? That. That, good sir, is why nopony believes you. You try to cram your beliefs down the throats of others. You need to take a more suggestive approach; one that will allow them to make the decision for themselves in the end." "Right. And that's exactly why I came here." Seth now turned to the still-silent Mayor Mare. "Mayor, I'd like to show this footage at the town hall." The earth mare was shocked. She considered what she had heard for a couple of seconds. Was he seriously asking this? She replied with an unsure note to her voice. "Seth, you're really asking a lot. We need to use the town hall for...well, not anything in particular at the moment, but we need to be able to use it at a moment's notice. I'm not sure..." Seth gently cut her off. "Mayor, I understand. I don't need too much time; half an hour at most. Twilight can use a projector spell. Please consider this. I'm trying to warn you ponies. That mare is intelligent, skilled and dangerous. What if I'm right and she really is trying to control the minds of Ponyville?" Seth paused to let this sink in, then continued. "The other thing is, I believe Hypnos is connected to the disappearance of Lyra Heartstrings. If you let me do this, I might be able to get some ponies to look into it." "Hmm." "And, as I recall, you went to see Hypnos yourself." Mayor said nothing, simply twirling her pen on her hoof for a minute. It was true, she had gone into a hypnotherapy session with Hypnos in an attempt to alleviate some of her job stress. She felt better now, but it was still pretty lousy working there in the office. She finally replied. "I'll consider it, Seth. You are excused." "Great. Thank you so much. Have a good evening, Mayor!" Seth veritably skipped out the door, and shortly there was the sound of the double doors opening and closing. Mayor turned to Time Turner. "Er...donut?" she said, pushing a chocolate glazed in front of Time Turner. He didn't notice. He was lost in thought. "That human is different than the rest I've seen...and I've seen a lot, being the Doctor..." he thought, squinting out the window to watch Seth leave into the night. "He saw something in Hypnos right away...and he won't let go..." Time Turner gasped inwardly. "Wait...the tome...could he really be 'the one who doubts'...?" Mayor waved a hoof in front of Time Turner's snout, snapping him out of his trance. "Hello? Earth to Time Turner..." The earth stallion turned suddenly, nervously adjusting his tie. "Mayor, I just remembered. I'm-I'm extremely late for...something important. Cheerio!" He sprinted out the door, not once looking back. Mayor just stared and blinked. What was that all about? Oh well, she thought. There's paperwork to do...odd as those two may be, I still have work, and lots of it. Picking the pen up in her teeth, she set back to work. And like an ant under a pony's falling hoof, she wasn't aware of the crisis she was about to dive headlong into. And all of Ponyville with her. Author's Note YUSS! FINALLY HIATUS IS OVER! More chapters on the way, guys. Keep calm and purple swag on! A Note On The StoryHey internets, Pixelmix here. I've been thinking, and I realized that by far, the majority of feedback on this story has been negative. I can sort of understand why. It is a rather mixed-up story. Also, if you guys come in expecting the "psychological thriller" part, you won't get it yet. The story is currently in the buildup phase. Bear in mind, though, my writing conditions. I prefer strongly to write in private, and the only laptop in my house that I'd be willing to use to write this fic is broken. I have school, and a jampacked afterschool day, so I write and post the story with my iPod. If it sucks, that's because I have to write this on a keyboard the size of my mouth. I'm going to tell you guys a bit about what the fic will be in the future. I'll try not to spoil anything. -There will be cameos from other fics. -There will be blood and stabbing. -Characters will die. -There may also be some shooting. When I say Grimdark, I mean it. I really don't want to kill this fic, but if it keeps getting all the dislikes and bad reviews, I will have to put it down. MOST IMPORTANTLY: LEAVE A MOTHERF@CKING REVIEW. I can't stop screwing up if you don't tell me what I'm doing wrong! Jeez! That's common logic! God damn!! Ok, that's all. Remember these things. Have a great one, guys. Pixelmix out. PrologueHe was there when Pinkie Pie was shouting that a new pony had arrived in Ponyville. He was there to see the stage set up in front of the town hall. He was there to see her, the pony with the violet fur, the fuschia hair, and the ivory necklace. He heard her say her name. Hypnos. He was there when she asked Pinkie to be her "volunteer". He witnessed the violet pony demonstrate her hypnotism skills on an unwitting Pinkie Pie. He heard the audience snickering and giggling as she toyed with Pinkie's mind. He was there to see the hypnotist's apprentice, Feather Dance, come shyly onto the stage. And when everyone was leaving, and Hypnos was informing everyone of the free hypnotherapy and hypnosis classes she was offering, he was the only one to notice Pinkie being once again hypnotized. He saw her, just out of sight, with the hypnotist's apprentice holding her horn to Pinkie's forehead, magic aglow. Whispering something unintelligible to Pinkie. It was then that he knew something was wrong. Author's Note Yep, first chapter! Hope it sounds dramatic enough. Feedback?
Smoothies"Did y'all see that? That was amazin'!" said Applejack as she, the rest of the girls, and the human boy known as Seth made their way out of the crowd. It was a beautiful day, with warm sunlight, a gentle breeze and even some loose flower petals flying through the air. The party of six ponies and one human had just witnessed the amazing skills of a master hypnotist, a pegasus conspicuously named Hypnos. After inviting Pinkie Pie onto the stage, she had quickly put her under and demonstrated "the power of hypnosis". This included inducing paralysis to any area she touched with a hoof, and also sending Pinkie into a laughing fit whenever she saw a leaf touching a pony. Surprisingly, Pinkie didn't seem to mind this afterwards, happily bouncing around as usual. "It was awesome! You shoulda seen yourself, Pinkie! You couldn't stop laughing when that leaf landed on Bon Bon's head!" said Rainbow Dash gleefully. Twilight Sparkle, who was trotting beside the slowly flying cyan pegasus, smiled slightly at the memory of Pinkie under Hypnos' spell. "Yeah, it musta been pretty funny!" Pinkie Pie said brightly. "I was in a trance for it, though, so I couldn't laugh at myself." Pinkie let out a harrumph. "I didn't enjoy seeing Pinkie acting so...boorish." muttered Rarity. "Boorish?" said Rainbow Dash, flying up beside Rarity. "All Hypnos did was make Pinkie's leg freeze and get her to laugh hysterically." Rarity looked down awkwardly. "Yes, I know, dear...I just...well, seeing Pinkie mindlessly taking orders from some stranger...well, you see what I mean, don't you?" The snow-white unicorn looked back up at Dash. "Eh. Not exactly, but whatever." said Dash, losing interest. Using her wings to launch herself up like a mortar, Dash started a series of tight turns, loop-the-loops and dives directly over the group, grazing Rarity's mane more than a few times. Seth listened to this whole exchange in silence. Something wasn't right about what just happened. What he had seen after Hypnos' demonstration...would the girls believe him? He turned his head to speak to the ponies who he was walking next to, but hesitated and turned it back. No, he thought. They wouldn't believe me. I mean, I am a human, after all. An outsider. They wouldn't trust me. Seth looked to the sky. Damn...how did this happen? oOo Seth was a handsome boy who, besides his appearance, really had nothing much to say for himself. He had long, dirty-blond hair that he kept long partially because he liked it that way, and partially because he was too lazy to go out and get it cut. He lived a fairly simple life, achieving good grades and never really getting into trouble. That is until one day, he woke up in a field of flowers just outside the Everfree Forest. He was clueless about his situation until he saw the "WELCOME TO PONYVILLE" sign. When he realized he was in Equestria, he was shocked at first, but quickly adjusted. Seth was a brony, and had been for years. Being in the world of ponies was his dream, and it was finally coming true, against odds of a trillion to one. He still didn't know why, though, and he was trying to find out. Nonetheless, Seth was content living in Equestria, as Twilight Sparkle was kind enough to take him under her wing and have him live in the library's upper floor. But then Hypnos arrived, and things began to change. Little things. Meaningless things, seemingly. At first, he was the only one to see something strange in the pony hypnotist. But nopony realized that this small string of odd happenstances would turn into what it did. Nopony could have foreseen what would happen to the citizens of Ponyville. No one but Seth. oOo Soon, the six ponies and the human were having a smoothie at Sugarcube Corner. "Oh, come to your senses, girls. It was obviously faked. She's just another traveling bard trying to get some recognition." said Rarity, who was not convinced of the legitimacy of Hypnos' act. "You're jumping to conclusions, Rarity." said Seth. "Try not to be so skeptical. Hypnosis is a completely scientific and grounded art. I mean, you wouldn't know much about it, since the closest thing to hypnosis you've seen was getting yourself brainwashed into being the Element of Greed by Discord." Rarity furrowed her brow and looked down, blushing. She still didn't like to talk about that. "Also," continued Seth, "It couldn't have been faked because, aside from Hypnos' name, Pinkie had no clue as to what was about to happen to her." Rarity rolled her eyes dramatically. "All right, we get it." She picked up her smoothie and took a sip. "Have some of yours, dear." Seth sipped his smoothie and gagged. "Ugh. What's in this?" "Oats, cream an' strawberries." Applejack said with a raised eyebrow. Seth pushed his drink into the center of the table. "Who wants it?" "Oooh! Me! Memememe!" sang Pinkie Pie, grabbing the drink and immediately pouring it into her own. Slamming the plastic lid back onto her cup and jamming the straw back in, she sucked out the smoothie like a vampire sucking blood. Twilight gave her a quizzical look. "It seems kinda scary, letting someone take over your brain like that...I would never want that to happen to me." said Fluttershy. Pinkie pulled her head up for air. "Don't be silly, Shy! It wasn't scary at all! It's actually a really nice experience. You feel all calm and everything, like nothing bad could ever happen!" She plunged her head back onto the straw. "Actually, Fluttershy brings up a good point." said Seth. "Oh, um...well, I...uh...thanks." said the soft-spoken pegasus. Seth gave Fluttershy a fond smile before continuing. "Have any of you ever considered that there might be a dark side to hypnosis?" Twilight nodded slowly. "Yeah...it's true, hypnosis can be misused, but..." "It just doesn't seem likely that Hypnos would do somethin' that sinister." finished Applejack. "Well, how do you know that she wouldn't? You don't know her." Seth replied. "Come on, Seth. Chill out." said Rainbow Dash. "Hypnos is new here. We get it. We don't want another Trixie. Cut her some slack." I'm not worried about Hypnos being another Trixie, Seth thought but didn't say. Ah, Dash is right, I guess. I should cut Hypnos some slack, he thought. I'm being too suspicious. The seven of them were quiet for a moment, and Seth could hear the chatter of the other Sugarcube Corner patrons. He wasn't surprised that much of it was about the pony hypnotist. "...amazing..." "...so unreal..." "...how in Equestria did she do it?..." One particularly loud stallion, an earth pony, said, "If Hypnos were here, do you think she would hypnotize someone else?" "I most certainly would." said a voice from the doorway. Seth's face fell into his palm, which he dragged down his exasperated face. You have got to be shitting me right now. All eyes in the room turned towards the source of the voice. "Check it out, guys! It's Hypnos!" said Dash. Hypnos stood in the doorway, a smile on her lips and an eyebrow raised. The loudmouth stallion spoke to her, breaking the stunned silence. "You'd hypnotize someone again?Who?" Hypnos eyed the stallion. "You, of course. Stand up." Seth gave the girls a look that said, pay close attention to what she's about to do. The stallion was suddenly a lot quieter now. His face was rather pale, and he spoke with a stutter. "Uh...um, maybe someone else?..." The violet hypnotist shook her head, her fuschia mane swaying slowly. "Come on, don't be shy. I don't bite." Seth looked back at the girls, who were watching the event unfold with rapt attention. He rolled his eyes and looked back to the stallion, who now nervously stood up and trotted toward Hypnos. "There we go. All right. What is your name?" Hypnos asked the stallion "Poncho." said the stallion, and blushed when he somehow got a round of applause from the restaurant. "Good, good. Okay, Poncho, let's begin." Seth was slightly surprised to see Hypnos not reaching for he crystalline pendant she used on Pinkie pie. Instead, she extended a single hoof towards Poncho. Poncho was a bit confused. "Um...what do I do?" "You just need to hold hooves with me for a moment." replied the violet pegasus. "What the underworld is she doing?" whispered Rainbow Dash. "Dash! I don't want to hear that profanity from you!" Rarity whispered dramatically in response. Dash rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mom." she muttered sarcastically. As the ponies' eyes returned to Hypnos and Poncho, they saw that the stallion had a hoof raised and locked with Hypnos'. Hypnos said to Poncho, "Ok, nod when you're ready, and I'll put you into the trance." Poncho swallowed a little at this. He half wanted to just ask her to stop, to just let him sit back down and finish his coffee. But, the thought of a whole room of ponies staring at him made him keep his loud mouth shut. He had always had stage fright, and even though this wasn't exactly the high school drama club, it was nonetheless a nerve-wracking experience. Hypnos seemed to sense his nervousness. "Don't worry, this will feel great. All your troubles will just melt away. Hypnosis is powerful stuff." she winked. "Again, just nod when you're ready." His nerves eased by Hypnos' charismatic demeanor, Poncho gave the nod. Hypnos nodded back and began to firmly shake his hoof, quickly bringing it up and down over and over again. This confused the stallion. What confused him even more was that Hypnos was seemingly trying to make small talk during the hypnosis process. "Nice weather today, huh?" said Hypnos. "Um, I guess..." "How's the job, by the way?" "Good..." Over at the table, the girls were just as puzzled. "Ah don't get it." said Applejack. "Shouldn't she be sayin' some sort of hocus-pocus like she did with Pinkie?" "I'm sure Seth can explain this, right, Seth?" said Twilight. "Later. Watch this." Seth nodded towards what was happening to Poncho. Nobody saw it coming. One second, Hypnos was laying down her distracting chatter, the next she was flicking her wrist hard and pulling down on Poncho's hoof. "Sleep." Poncho's eyes immediately snapped shut and his body went slack, collapsing into Hypnos' arms. Instantly the stallion was deeply entranced. Hypnos kept him in this state by slowly lowering him to the floor and doing things like rotating his head, lifting and dropping his arms, and tapping his chest all over with a hoof. Seth's eyes narrowed, his fingers locked with each other. No. That's impossible. A pony, knowing that kind of hypnosis? At this point, everyone went wild. "HOW...WHAT...THAT'S CRAZY!" "HOW IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA DID YOU DO THAT?" "Can I learn how to do that?!" "Yes, you can." Hypnos replied to the last voice. "Just meet me at my home. It's a short walk north from the town hall. Ponies are always welcome to knock on the door." Applejack and Rarity were gaping at the hypnotized Poncho, and Rainbow Dash was practically in a stupor with amazement. "That...was...AWESOME! Seth was still deep in thought. "Who would like to give our friend a suggestion?" "Me! Me! Mememememe!" shouted Pinkie, bouncing up and down in her seat. "Sure, Pinkie. Come on up." And that was when Seth got out of his chair, walked over to the door, opened it, slammed it shut and ran away, never once taking his eyes off the violet pegasus known as Hypnos. oOo No. It couldn't be. It just seemed impossible. Seth ran down the Ponyville dirt road, heading towards the library. His thoughts were in turmoil. What he had just seen...just wasn't possible. Hypnos had just performed a rapid induction, a technique used back on Earth by street hypnotists and comedy hypnotists. How would she know? And the other thing. After Hypnos' first show, why had he seen Pinkie being once again hypnotized by Feather Dance? He didn't have any evidence to prove his suspicions, but he knew that he would be hard pressed to find any. Hypnos had only just arrived in Ponyville that day. Also, he had only seen and not recorded or even photographed Pinkie being hypnotized. He had no proof at all. Perhaps there was nothing wrong. Perhaps Hypnos wasn't anything to be suspicious of. A traveling bard, just like Rarity said. Maybe Feather Dance was just removing the last of the suggestions from Pinkie's mind. Maybe. Just maybe. oOo "Feather?" Hypnos said to her apprentice. "Yes, Mistress Hypnos?" "I want you to keep an eye on the human." "Oh, the Seth kid?" "Yes. He seems to be suspicious of me. Questioning my intentions, it seems." Hypnos replied calmly. "I can't really blame him." Feather Dance nodded quietly. "After all, I am an outsider. No one knows of any intentions I might have. I could be a criminal. I could be a changeling spy. No one knows." Hypnos turned to Feather Dance. "But still, keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't act out." "Got it, Mistress." Hypnos turned her eyes to the sky. It was a beautiful, clear blue sky, with a few tasteful clouds. They didn't know her intentions, but they would soon. Soon. Author's Note All right, first thorough edit. I hope it's better now, ya cynical bastards. I can't stress how Important it is to leave a comment, guys. Get up off your lazy asses! Tell me how I did this time around! Oh yeah, and the next two chapters are on deck. Yay!
Lyra Lyra Lyra(2 weeks later) The entire village of Ponyville was abuzz with talk of Hypnos' unbelievable skills. Huge numbers of ponies were flocking to her home to get help from her hypnotherapy sessions, and they were all coming out with their problems solved. Her hypnosis classes were even more successful. Everyone learned fast. Soon ponies were doing their own hypnotherapy sessions to help others. Hypnos' arrival was having a profound effect on how Ponyville functioned. And everypony loved it. Everypony looked up to Hypnos. Everyone except Seth. Seth still didn't believe that Hypnos' intentions were benign. He knew what he saw at Hypnos' first show, and it stoked the fire of doubt in his heart. Pinkie being hypnotized again by Feather Dance...it wasn't right. The doubt never left his mind, and he found himself trying to find as much evidence against Hypnos' legitimacy. He didn't find any, and almost gave up the will to keep at this stupid game. But then something happened that made his resolve strong. A friend disappeared. And that was when Seth realized that if he wanted to know anything, he would have to face the problem head on. oOo "I'm telling you, there is something very wrong about that pegasus!" Seth and Twilight were sitting on a couch on the library's top floor. Twilight was flipping through a book about Naponian Bonaparte (whatever that meant) while Seth used his iPod Touch, one of the few items that he had brought to Equestria, to look at Web footage of Hypnos' show. Seth had been lucky to find that the ponies actually did have their own Internet, commonly referred to as the Thunderhead. Wi-Fi hotspots were, in turn, called shock points. Twilight had a shock point built right on top of the library for the patrons to use when she moved in. She didn't use it much, though, for two reasons. Reason one was that unicorns and allicorns could access the Thunderhead anytime using their magic. This gave most unicorns splitting headaches, though, so they preferred not to do this often. Reason two was simply that Twilight simply preferred books. Twilight turned to Seth. "You're not going on about Hypnos again, are you?" "Damn it, Twilight. Mark my words, nothing good will come of that mare." Twilight moaned in frustration. He hadn't stopped with this for the entirety of the two weeks since Hypnos' performance. "Dear Celestia, would you just stop? You even said it yourself: there's no evidence." Seth nodded grudgingly. It was true. The six ponies had caught up to him during his sprint home to the library. He made sure they got an earful of his frustrations, especially the fact that he couldn't justify them. He still didn't tell them what he had seen, though. If only he could prove it to them. "Speaking of evidence, you kept mentioning something about Pinkie Pie..." said Twilight, using magic to turn a page in her book. Seth tapped a link on his iPod. "Yeah, after the show." "What happened?" Twilight asked curiously. While Seth was a bit paranoid at this point, she was actually interested in what he had seen. Seth smirked ever so slightly. "You wouldn't believe me." "I've seen some pretty weird things and believed in a lot of them. I don't think anything you have to say would be too outlandish." replied Twilight, adopting a smirk and a raised eyebrow of her own. Seth sighed. "All right, I'll tell you. But don't make fun of me if you don't believe it. Also, I'll warn you, it has to do with Hypnos." Twilight nodded. "I won't make fun of you. Don't worry." "You sure?" Twilight's ears flattened and she gave Seth a peeved look. "Okay, fine. After the show, Pinkie was-" Seth said. He never finished his sentence, though, as he was cut off by Spike slamming the door open. It hit the wooden wall with a sudden WHAM, making both Seth and Twilight jump like crazy. Spike stumbled into the room and placed his little hands on his knees, hunching over to catch his breath. He looked up and the two on the couch could see that his face was red with exhaustion, possibly from sprinting. "Spike?" said Twilight, unsure of what was going on but still slightly nervous. "Twi...the...she...ah...*huff*...what..." "Spike, get it together! What's wrong?" said Seth. His big dragon eyes were filled with fear. "You should...*huff*...probably come see this...*puff*...right now." "Where? What happened? Asked Twilight frantically, slamming her book down. "Follow me." wheezed Spike, and shuffled back downstairs. Twilight and Seth looked at each other. They both knew what the other was thinking. You take the lead. oOo The pony and the human approached the building slowly, apprehension filling the pits of their stomachs, as they followed the tiny dragon. The structure was already surrounded by ponies, all chattering nervously. A warm wind pulsed through the area, but the two friends couldn't have felt more cold. "What the hell is going on, Spike?" asked Seth almost angrily. And then he saw the yellow tape. His face went cold and his stomach seemed to drop out of his body, sailing downward into the Equestrian soil. A murder? No. No. No. No. No. NO! Before Seth realized what he was doing, he sprinted to the front of the crowd, pushing and shoving ponies aside. He heard grunts as equine bodies smashed together at his sides, and behind him he heard toppled ponies cursing him out. He didn't care. Everything about the late afternoon atmosphere, even if it usually relaxed him, seemed to make his terror all the more intense. The bright sun, the soft swishing of the grass as he sprinted, the sound of his own rhythmic breathing. It all made his heart pound more and more. Yellow tape. A crime scene. Death. No ponies are going to die when I'm around, he thought. I won't let it happen. There wasn't much he could do about it, though, if this pony really was dead. oOo "She didn't die." A burly, militaristic earth stallion in a police uniform said this to Seth. Seth breathed in deeply. He felt relieved beyond belief. He was about to start crying with happiness that he hadn't lost a friend, when the police officer finished his remark. "To be precise, we don't know if she's dead or not. She disappeared. Into thin air, really. One minute she's there, living her normal life, then poof. Gone without a trace." Seth furrowed his brow. That was impossible. Ponies didn't just up and disappear like that. "Who was she?" he said. His voice was steady and calm, but on the inside, he was quivering. A breeze rustled through the nearby foliage and hit the side of his head, giving him a shiver. The police stallion looked at him, and for a moment his face showed complete sadness. "Her name was Lyra Heartstrings." oOo Lyra. Seth tried to listen to the police stallion as he was given all the information the police knew. It wasn't much. Try as he might, he couldn't forget that name. Lyra. Lyra. Lyra. He shuffled away from the house in a daze. He met up with the girls, who had joined Twilight, outside the crowd. "Hey, what's up, Seth?" Rainbow Dash said in a naively chipper manner. Seth didn't reply and kept walking. "Darling, what happened? Please tell me. I wouldn't be able to bear not knowing what has become of our fellow citizen!" said Rarity. Seth stopped and looked deeply into Rarity's big purple eyes. "Lyra's gone." said Seth. His voice was still calm, albeit a bit more on edge. "She disappeared from her house a few hours ago. She isn't in Ponyville. She isn't to be found in any other towns, either." Everyone was visibly nervous now. "Ah'm sure she just...went on vacation?" said Applejack in a futile attempt to make some sense out this whole ordeal. "Highly unlikely. Okay, look, I want you guys to think for a second. A pony comes into town. She has hypnosis skills. She promises free hypnosis lessons and hypnotherapy lessons-something a bit strange and out of the ordinray is happening already-to everybody." "EveryPONY." corrected Pinkie. "What she said. Anyway, she does all of the hypnotherapy stuff to pretty much everypony in the village-" Seth glanced at Pinkie, who nodded in approval, "-and no one has any clue what really happened to them while they were under. Now, at this point half the ponies in the village know that I'm the human boy who doesn't trust Hypnos. They don't give me any attention. Only one person would actually side with me, and that's Lyra. She's pretty much the only pony who trusts me besides you girls. She loves humans." "And then, suddenly, your only potential ally in forming some sort of rally against Hypnos suddenly disappears." finished Twilight, her eyes widening. "I see what you're getting at, Seth!" This was actually a legitimate fear for Seth to have, she thought. He should have said it this Seth nodded. "Now do you get why I'm suspicious?" Rainbow Dash shook her head, seemingly peeved. " For the love of Celestia, guys! This isn't a conspiracy theory! Lyra disappeared! We get it! It's sad! Stop turning it into something stupid!" Applejack nodded somberly. "If anythin' , y'all are disrespecting Lyra by not being serious about the situation." Seth reeled. Not being serious?! Applejack didn't get it. "I couldn't ever disrespect you ponies! I care about you guys more than-" he stopped abruptly. He didn't want to finish the sentence. "More than what?" Fluttershy asked, her small, yellow head tilting slightly." "More than I care to admit." said Seth, sighing deeply. The afternoon air was thick and heavy with sorrow and raw fear for Lyra. All of the seven were quiet for a moment, and heard the ponies talking over by the house behind him. Lyra. Lyra. Lyra. oOo Hypnos watched this all unfold from high above, standing calmly on a cloud. She wasn't a suspect now, but judging by what Seth was telling the others, she would be soon. That was upsetting. Hypnos turned to her apprentice, Feather Dance, who was standing behind her on the cloud. "What has the human been up to?" Feather Dance walked to the edge of the cloud. "It's pretty much just been this"- she nodded at Seth's conspiracy rant-"these whole two weeks. She turned and looked behind her to check on the small unicorn that Hypnos had put into a doze earlier. Her fur and mane were a perky turquoise, with white streaks running through the hair. Had her sleeping eyes been open, Feather Dance would have seen two golden yellow irises, filled with hidden energy. Hypnos nodded. "That's not really surprising or concerning. That boy won't do be able to do anything to prove whatever he wanted to prove to the village. Only Twilight believes him at this point." Hypnos' eyes narrowed. "That could be a problem." "Should I do anything about it, Mistress?" asked Feather Dance, turning to meet her teacher's eyes. "No. Let's just wait. If we act too soon, it could prove consequential later." said the violet pegasus. She walked down the edge of the cloud, taking a bit of a stroll. "We can go home now. The ponies can't see us very well at this height, what with the glare and all. We'll just arc up over them and fly downwards once we're over the Everfree. We'll wake her up when we hit the ground," she said, nodding towards the sleeping unicorn. "All right, then" said Feather. "We do have haul her weight, though." Hypnos said. "Yeah, that's a drag." oOo Seth walked back home with only Twilight at his side. The other five ponies stayed to ask around about Lyra's vanishing act, hoping to glean some important info. Seth doubted they would. As hoof and and foot met dirty gravel in an endless monotone, Twilight Sparkle spoke. "They could have been right, you know." Seth turned to look at Twilight . It was almost dusk, and a cool breeze brushed the side of his head. The glare behind Twilight went straight into his eyes. "I know. I'm trying to figure out if Hypnos is even messed up like I'm making her out to be, or if I'm just being a jackass." Seth shook his head. "I want to think the latter is true, but there's still that one thing..." "The thing with Pinkie after the show." Twilight said, looking expectantly at Seth. Seth raised an eyebrow. Twilight had a surprisingly sharp memory. She had probably read a few books on the subject. Actually probably more than a few. "Yeah. I can tell you what happened now." Seth responded, kicking a stone a few yards as he did. "And you really do need to know this. After the show, I saw Pinkie-" He was once again cut short by a loud noise behind him. "HEY FLESHBAG! YEAH, I'M TALIKN' TO YOU, YOU FRIGGIN' PINKSKIN! GET THE FRICK OVER HERE BEFORE I GUT YOU WITH A STICK!" That's not usually a good sign, thought Seth before turning around to face the source of the angry profanity. Twilight followed suit, clearly irked by the sudden distraction. A teenage earth pony, seemingly having followed the two of them the entire time, limped over to Seth and promptly smashed a hoof into his nose. Seth let out an angry yelp as his nostrils began to drip, heavy red fluid rolling down his upper lip and into his mouth. "I HOPE THAT BROKE YOUR FREAKING NOSE, FRICKFACE! WHAT THE UNDERWORLD IS YOUR FRIGGIN' PROBLEM?! ASSHOLE!" shouted the pissed-off earth pony. "Aaah...agghh..." moaned Seth, clutching his bleeding nose. Twilight faced off with the pony. "What's YOUR problem?! What in Equestria did he do to you?" Through tear-filled eyes, Seth somehow managed to get a good look at the earth pony who socked him. She appeared to be about Twilight's age, with a sharply orange coat and dirty-blond mane (similar to Seth's in color, actually) that cascaded back, falling partway down her neck. Her mane wasn't solid-colored, though, with the tips of the locks ending in an unusually bright pale green. One of her eyes was bruised and battered where something had jabbed it and was swollen shut, but the other was an emerald color, and so Seth assumed that they both were. She also had some pretty geeky freckles. The earth pony's already angry face contorted into a snarl at Twilight's question. "He frickin' shoved me down! He was just plowing his way through all the ponies near Lyra's, like, "Move, bitch, I'm important" and he hit me in the friggin' windpipe! I went down, and my face landed on a stallion's horn! I was lucky it just grazed my eye, but any closer and I wouldn't freaking HAVE an eye!" Seth winced. That sounded like it hurt. But then he remembered how he felt when he saw the crime scene, and his sympathy for this pony started to melt away. He was doing his best to stop the bleeding, with not much success. His best bet was to use the arm of his T-shirt to soak up as much blood as possible, but at this point the sleeve was drenched. The raging pony apparently wasn't done. "And to top it off, I landed funny and sprained my ankle!" to emphasize, she lifted her right hind leg and nodded backwards toward it. Twilight finally spoke back to the orange pony. "Look, I need to go home. My friend has something very important to tell me, and I need to get him patched up, thanks to you." The orange pony chortled in spite of her injuries. "What?! This...this friggin' THING is your friend?!" Twilight ignored her. "I'm just going to teleport now. My friend has some important information to tell me, and it involves Hypnos, so it's going to be big. Goodbye." "WAIT!" said the pony said. She was still angry, but something new shone behind her eyes. "Did you say something about Hypnos?" "Yes, why? " said Twilight, her built-up teleportation burst fading. "God, I hate that bitch." said the pony, forgetting her anger for a moment. "Creeps the frick outta me. I went into her house to get rid of some job stress-being a tech engineer can be a big pain in the rump sometimes-and I didn't even get past the first minute of the hypnosis before I went, 'Screw it, I'm outta here.' I still get shudders thinking about her." "Did you say you were an engineer?" said Seth through his sleeve. Looking back at Seth, the pony regained her attitude. "What's it to you, frickface? And yes, I am an engineer. Shut up." Twilight once again ignored the pony's foul mouth. This could mean something. "What's your name?" she said. The pony glared some more at Seth, then turned to Twilight again. "It's Diesel Burn. Nice to meet you. As for the pinkskin..." she once again turned to face Seth. "I can't say as much." "Seth also thinks that there's something wrong with Hypnos. He's trying to prove it, but he isn't really getting anywhere." said Twilight. Maybe she could bring the two of them together just through their shared hatred of Hypnos. "Huh. He's sharp for a fleshbag." "Would you stop?!" said Seth angrily, wiping his nose on his sleeve once again. He was quiet on the surface, but underneath he was tingling with electricity. Another pony who didn't like Hypnos? This was great. And if she was telling There was a moment of quiet, and then Diesel spoke. "Huh. I get it. We both hate Hypnos. This is interesting. All right then." she said, breathing deeply. "I'll let you guys go do whatever. But don't think you're of the hook, punk." Diesel knocked Seth's head with a hoof, eliciting a pained "Mmph". " Next time I see you, you're screwed. Public place or private, it doesn't matter. I will beat the living shit out of you. You got it?" Seth gave her a ridiculously angry look. "I'll take that as a yes. I'm off to get some ice packs. My home's right up the road. See ya, fricktards." With that, Diesel Burn limped off in the direction Twilight and Seth were heading. Seth was the first to speak. "Well, she's just a boatload of fun, isn't she?" he said. Turning his bloodstained face to look at Twilight, he said, "You think you could magic this off now? The bleeding's stopped." "Sure, but..." She paused to summon up her magic and shave off all the dried blood at a molecular level, then continued, "I was just thinking..." "No way. You? Thinking? Wow!" Seth said sarcastically. Twilight hit him with another peeved look. "Sorry." he muttered sheepishly. She continued. Her tone was thick with concern. "If what you said about Lyra was true...then that pony is in danger." Seth thought about what Twilight might mean by this for a second, then it hit him. "You mean, because since she might want to side with me, she would be a target for whatever is going on. Right?" Twilight nodded. Seth pondered this for a bit, then nodded. "You're right. That's probably it. But it isn't my main concern. "Huh?" "I'm going to do something for real right now. Take action." What is he talking about? Wondered Twilight. He's acting a bit strange. "What are you gonna do?" asked Twilight, worried at what the response might be. He looked at her, and she saw something new. There was a spark in his eyes. A glimmer of energy. Hidden, but just waiting to be unmasked. "I'm going to deal with the source." Twilight gasped, realizing what he meant. "No, you can't be serious, Seth. If what you're saying about her is even remotely true, he'll have you under before you can scream. She's a master hypnotist." She paused. "Even if I'm not sure I believe that what you're saying is true, I still want you to be careful. "Twilight, I need to face the problem. If something really is wrong about Hypnos, I need to be the first to know about it. I'm going to just go in and ask her a few questions. I might even get her to spill some info about Lyra, if she's involved with her disappearance. I won't let her lay a hoof on me. Promise." Twilight sighed. "Be careful." she said quietly. "I will, Twi." Twilight started. That was the first time anypony-or in this case, anybody-had called her that in such a tired, nervous moment. It made her feel good. Before she knew it, she had Seth in a passionate hug. Seth was taken aback, but quickly got used to the feeling of the lavender unicorn gently nuzzling his stomach. Finally, he pushed her away gently. He met her big, purple eyes one last time before he left. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to have a chat with a certain pegasus hypnotist." And he was off, jogging down the dirt road. Dust kicked up in his wake. The young unicorn stood quietly, now alone. Dusk had become night, and she felt Princess Luna's gentle light beaming down on her from above. "Good luck, Seth." Twilight said peacefully. And that was when she realized that he never told her what had happened to Pinkie Pie. Author's Note Ok, here it is: chapter 3. I have mixed feelings about this, and I'm sure you do too. Tell me, god dammit! Comment on this story or PM me. The fic will begin to get sinister maybe in chapter 5?
Scented CandlesHypnos sat at the desk in her living room, quietly scribbling in her journal. It was dark outside, and being a teenage filly, Feather Dance had already retired for the night. Since Hypnos had had such a busy day, she was thinking of doing the same. She never thought everypony could be having so much trouble in their lives. A dead family member. Depression. Both at once. Hypnos leaned back in her chair and breathed deeply, inhaling the heavy aroma of the scented candles she had lit. She WAS a hypnotist, but this was a lot to put up with. It would pay off, though, she reminded herself. She stood up from her chair, closing her journal book with a barely audible *thump*. She was about to head upstairs to brush her teeth and settle down for the night when she heard a knock at the door. Hypnos groaned inwardly, but kept her composure. Just one more, then she could go to bed. Hypnos briefly considered using a rapid induction on her "customer" while they were at the door, and suggesting to them that they return to her house the next day. She quickly chided herself for thinking about that, though, and set out for the door. Show some discipline, Hypnos, she thought to herself. Some professionalism. Extravagances will come later. Running her hand through her dark mane, she slowly trotted into her mudroom and opened the front door. She was greatly surprised to see the one person she never thought she would. oOo Seth stood quietly on Hypnos' doorstep, waiting for her to answer his knock. What the hell am I doing? I'm about to put myself in serious danger, he thought. I'm stepping into a confined area with somebody-somePONY-that I don't trust at all, who has the ability to hypnotize me in seconds. Plus, in the area that this house is located-he glanced around in reaction to his own thought-no one will be able to hear me cry for help. You know what you're doing it for, said an optimistic voice in the back of his his head. You're doing it for you. You're doing it for Lyra. You're doing it for the mane six. You're doing it for all of freaking Equestria. Whoever he was doing it for, he hoped he was doing it soon. Equestria got pretty damn cold at night. He was shivering, but he wasn't sure if it was the cold, his nerves, or both. Calm down, man. She's a pony. She hardly comes up past your stomach. You have a physical advantage. If she tries anything funny, just deck her. Finally, the door opened, and there was Hypnos. She was wearing a black fleece sweater with a softly swirling mist pattern on it. Her wings were folded back relaxedly, and her mane spilled back over her fleece loosely. In fact, everything about her seemed rather loose or relaxed. A soft flower-like aroma drifted from inside the house, and since it was night out, she had sleepy eyes. Seth smirked inwardly. Oh, the gut-busting irony. The pegasus pony's eyes weren't tired for long, though. When she saw Seth, they flew wide in shock. "Why, hello, Seth! What brings you here at this hour?" she said, expertly masking a mixture of confusion and exasperation. Seth raised a hand calmly in greeting. "Hey, Hypnos. I don't know if this is the best time, but...may I step inside for a minute? I'm freezing out here." "Of course you may," she said, stepping aside to clear a path into her house, "but why are you here? Have you come to do a session with me?" Seth stepped inside. The cold air wafted onto the back of his neck, making him shiver once before Hypnos shut the door. "Sorry. Not tonight. I just need to talk." He looked around the interior of the house. It was warm and comfortable, with a bright fire blazing gently in the hearth. The walls, floor and ceiling were a dark, dark stain of brown, and looking into the room before him, there were two couches: a soft-looking love seat of a beige color, and a psychologist's couch-bed which was more of a pinkish-red hue. Seth guessed that this must be the one she used during her hypnotherapy sessions. There was also a small wooden desk, a coffee table, and a TV, all in the living room alone. A side door opened out from the right wall of the room, presumably leading into a kitchen. Lastly, to the left of the room's opening, a staircase led up to the second floor. That flowery scent was much stronger now that he was inside, and he saw that it came from a cluster of scented candles on the coffee table. The scent made him a little bit drowsy. It probably had a sedating effect on the ponies she worked with, make them slip under faster. Aromatherapy and hypnotherapy at the same time. Clever girl. "All right. Go ahead and take a seat on the couch." Hypnos said, gesturing to the love seat. Seth narrowed his eyes inwardly. This, he supposed, was the hypnotist's equivalent of trying to get him drunk. He shook his head. "I'll stand." he said politely. This would make it slightly harder for her to hypnotize him, since this position left him more self-aware and required much more physical effort than sitting. It wasn't a huge difference, but it would help. "I wanted to tell you something, Hypnos." he said, gazing distractedly into the blazing hearth. "Yes...?" responded Hypnos. He turned suddenly, locking eyes with the violet pegasus. They seemed calm, fierce and infinitely intelligent at the same time, a look which sent chills down Hypnos' spine. "I'm onto you." Hypnos seemed surprised. "What do you mean? I didn't do something wrong, did I?" "You know damn well what I mean." replied Seth, never breaking his strange stare. "Don't play freaking dumb with me, Hypnos. I saw your little helper with Pinkie after your first "demonstration." She was hypnotizing her again. Maybe you can explain that?" Hypnos shook her head in astonishment. "I cannot believe you would think Feather Dance would do something like what you are implying. We are both completely legitimate and use our skills only to help others." Seth could see it in her eyes. She was lying through her teeth. "I'm going to make this clear once, Hypnos. You better listen the frick up." Seth leaned in close, although his nerves were crackling. He could feel the pegasus pony's breath on his nose. "I know that you kidnapped Lyra. I know that you aren't the goodwill pony you pretend to be. And I will freaking screw you up if you try anything. ANYTHING. Got it?" Hypnos said nothing. Her expression was calm, blank even. Seth's stomach suddenly lurched. He hadn't thought about how she would've reacted to his speech, and for some reason, this face terrified him. No. Breathe, he thought. Just...just breathe. She's not scary. She's just a pony...just a pony. Seth's calm tone returned. "That's all I have to say. If you don't mind, I'll be leaving now." he said as though what had just happened was mere small talk. He was about to turn around and leave when he suddenly froze and shut his eyes, furrowing his brow. Bowing his head slightly, he spoke. "Hello, Feather Dance." Hypnos finally noticed a faint glow behind Seth. Green magic. "You can stop playing hide-and-seek now. I know you're there." Seth said, opening his eyes and raising his head. Slowly, the green-maned unicorn trotted into the open, dousing her magic. Seth looked down as she walked slowly out from behind him. "Nice try." he said, gazing angrily into Feather's eyes. The green unicorn blushed as she trotted up next to Hypnos. Hypnos cocked her head in a way that said, keep talking. I want to hear this. Seth grinned. "You see? You can deny it all you want, but your little assistant just proved that you were lying. Trying to sneak up behind me, eh? That's a really tricky thing to do. Do you do that to other ponies when they try to run from you?" Hypnos interrupted suddenly. Her tone was calm, yet her purple eyes were filled with unspeakable malice. "Fine, Seth. You can believe whatever you want. Just be aware of the consequences." "What consequences?" Seth replied. He was insanely tense, despite the cozy atmosphere. His heart pounded at one hundred twenty percent speed. His hands were balled up into fists. And yet he still grinned. Maybe he wanted to feel superior. It wasn't working. Hypnos said nothing. Instead, she simply turned to Feather Dance and said, "Let's go back to bed." She looked back at Seth, her face once again unreadable. "You are no longer welcome here. Leave now, before I make you." Seth knew what she was implying. The two ponies left the room, walking up the stairs toward their bedrooms. On the way upstairs, however, Feather Dance looked back down at Seth. It was an odd look, somewhere between sadness, contempt and pity. Seth locked eyes with Feather Dance. "Well, you heard your mistress." he chirped. "Go back to bed." The green unicorn rolled her eyes and continued to trot up the stairs. Seth's chest tightened gleefully. Slowly, carefully, so as to make no sound, he reached for his pocket. He pulled out a sleek, flat device. Seth hit the "Stop Recording" button on his iPod Touch. It's a start, he thought. Author's Note I know, technically it's on hiatus, but I couldn't resist uploading this. I feel it is better than most other chapters, and I hope it makes up for the chapters that earned your enthusiastic hate. I'll say this once, so listen. Leave a fucking comment. Leave a fucking review. And please make sure it helps me get back on track. I might un-hiatus the story if I get enough likes and positive feedback. Yay muffins. Now go make me a happy monkey and leave a review. P.S. I'm not a monkey. It's an expression, dumbass. I'm really a pony.
Paperwork"Screw off." Seth was hardly taken aback by Diesel Burn's vulgar response to his question. Even though he was just asking to borrow some tape (because apparently, almost nopony found a need for it; tacks were more popular, meaning that Diesel, at least some semblance of a craftspony, might have some herself), it seemed that even the slightest comment from Seth set the orange earth pony off. He looked down at her. "Diesel, please? I ripped my only poster." Seth began to hold up the piece of paper he was carrying up near Diesel's face. He was answered, however, by a loud and blatant SLAM of her door. Seth sighed and turned around. He began to walk down the steps from Diesel's worn front porch. "How'd it go?" A playful, steady voice rang out from the general area of the bushes to Seth's left. As he descended the steps, he turned his head and shrugged. "I think it's self-explanatory, Flora. She just can't get over me getting her trampled." Seth said as he finally hit the grass. As he exited the porch's shady awning, he reflexively raised his hand to block out the glare. It was another cool Ponyville spring day. The bright Equestrian sun seemed especially so today. Some ponies trotted down the road, carrying satchels full of who-knows-what or gently leading their foals and fillies to school. Others lounged in the shade. Underneath the trees, wind blowing overhead and all that. Seth found it amusing that he really didn't get weird looks anymore. It seemed that, being a magical race by nature, the ponies easily grew used to a human in their midst. Convenient, at best, as he felt it hard to walk around with a million large eyes trained on him. He also took care to remind himself, however, that he WAS a human. This was by no means his home, and at the first opening he got, he would probably have to go back to Earth. His parents and family were probably worried sick... But how the hell was he supposed to get back? He didn't even know what brought him here, much less how to utilize it in reverse. Was it a force or an object that brought him here? Magic, maybe? Some sort of rift in the fabric of the universe? No way to tell. He had was going to have to ride the situation out. Seth looked at Flora. Flora was Diesel's roommate, and was comically out of sync with the fiery earth pony. She was a unicorn; a gardener and expert naturalist with a skinny frame, olive-green fur and a long, scruffy, cream-colored mane. Her cutie mark was a pretty tulip of a soothing light blue color. At the moment, she was calmly pruning a pony-sized shrub outside the house. Flora liked Seth. In a friend way, of course, nothing more. She couldn't help but respect his unrelenting perseverance towards his goals, and how he was almost headstrong in trying to complete them. Even if she did think he was being a little overreactive to the whole Hypnos thing, they still bonded very quickly and would probably stay that way. Of course, Diesel didn't exactly approve of their friendship. Flora lowered the hedge trimmers she had been carrying with her magic and shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "There's not much arguing with her when she gets like this. The best thing to do is just wait until her eye heals. It'll probably blow over pretty quickly after that." Seth chuckled a little. "Eh. I guess. It's not that I need her to be my friend or anything. Hell, I just needed some tape!" Flora got up, her mane bouncing slightly as she did. She smiled at Seth. "I can get you the tape, hon. What's it for?" Seth lifted the flyer he had drawn. It had a large tear in it from when Spike tripped while holding it in the library, and Flora had to hold it together with her magic as she used the soft green glow to pluck it from his hands and lift it to her snout. As she read, Seth explained. "It's a poster for a meeting I'm holding." he said, pointing at the paper. "I finally have evidence against Hypnos. It isn't much, but it should be enough to get ponies thinking." Flora read the poster in silence for a minute, then looked at Seth with a slightly puzzled expression. "Can I see this 'evidence'?" "Sure. It's right here." Seth reached into his pocket, fumbled around for a few seconds and finally got his iPod out. After some taps, slides and a few clicking noises, the screen finally showed a video. Seth showed the screen to Flora and tapped "Play". It was muffled for a bit, and there was no video aside from slowly shifting darkness. Flora heard a door open, and there were some voices. Occasionally she heard the voices get louder, and then return to normal volume. As the video went on, Flora placed the voices; Seth's and Hypnos'. The voices in the darkness continued for a while. Flora only caught snippets of what they were saying. She looked at Seth, confused. He pointed back at the screen and said, "This is the important part. Watch." Flora did so. She was slightly confused as the screen slowly began to glow green, ever so slightly at first, then becoming more and more pronounced. Seth and Hypnos were no longer talking now. Flora was about to turn and say something to Seth when the camera moved. It went up, peeking out of the blackness ever so slightly as if pushed from below. Through the sliver of light, she could see somepony, but only a little bit of them. They were light green, a bit like Lyra...Flora quickly recognized the unicorn, whose glowing horn was now visible) as Feather Dance, Hypnos' apprentice. Feather Dance obviously didn't see the iPod's camera, although she did keep walking in its direction. This is when Seth decided to interject. "The iPod was in my back pocket." He explained to the puzzled Flora. "I had my hands near my waist, and I pushed it up stealthily using my thumb. Feather Dance and Hypnos didn't notice." Flora looked slightly concerned now as well. "She was sneaking up behind you." Seth paused the video, shut his iPod off, and slipped it into his pocket. He shrugged and gave a sarcastic grin. "I know, right? Why would she want to do that? It seems like she was doing something sneaky, especially since she was about to use her magic. It's a good thing I was standing in a shadow of the fire, or else I might not have have seen the glow." Flora cocked her head. "Shadow of the fire? You mean you were in somepony's house?" "Yeah, Hypnos's." "Right. Makes sense." Flora sighed and closed her eyes. "I suppose your suspicions aren't totally unfounded after all." Seth threw his head back and groaned inwardly. FINALLY, someone believed him. "I hoped you'd realize that." Seth said, hiding his inner thoughts. "Anyway, if you look at the poster, it says I'm holding the meeting in the town hall." "Yes, I see that. Are you absolutely sure that the mayor will let you, though?" Flora raised an eyebrow a little. Seth probably didn't know this, but Mayor Mare thought he was a few parasprites short of a swarm. Seth shrugged. "To be honest, I really don't know. It's worth a shot, in any case..." "All right, you go ahead," said Flora, bumping Seth playfully with a hoof. "But don't make a fool of yourself, all right?" Seth scowled a little. "Flora..." She giggled cutely, then started to trot towards the steps. "You want me to get you that tape now?" Seth nodded, but the glare from the bright sun struck him in the eye as his hand visor tilted. "Ye-oof. Dang, Flora. What's with the sun? It isn't like this on earth." The Equestrian sun seemed to be a lot brighter than the Earth sun, especially today. And also, the brightness was inconsistent; he could swear that on some days, he could see the sun dimming, only to become brighter than it originally was. Sometimes, this happened in the same hour. Flora nodded. "Of course, hon. The sun is controlled by Celestia, remember?" Seth nodded. Well, duh, you idiot, said a voice in his head. Seriously, sometimes I wonder how much of the actual show you watched before the universe hauled your ass here. Flora began to trot up the stairs, but was stopped short when a voice came from behind her. "Hey, uh, Flora?" Seth said? Flora turned around. "What's up, hon?" Seth pointed to the bush. "You missed a spot." oOo Mayor Mare worked quietly at her desk. To say she was busy was an understatement. For the past week, it had just been work, work, work! No time to relax at all. File reports, sign petitions, manage taxes, blah blah blah! All while cooped up in this tiny room in this tiny office complex. It truly was enough to drive a mare gibbering off her rocker. The only peace she could find was in a cool glass of pink lemonade and a fresh donut or two from Sugarcube Corner. "Well, a good day's work, Mayor." said a suave male voice from behind her. Mayor slowly swiveled in her chair to see the source of the voice. An earth stallion with a slicked-back black mane and tail, tan fur (much like hers, actually) and a simple hourglass cutie mark was trotting through the doorway of her office, his gentlemanly necktie bobbing slowly back and forth as he approached her. Mayor smiled, the dimples around her muzzle crinkling a bit. "Hello, Time Turner. I didn't expect to see you today." "Neither did I expect to be here. I got caught up while...um..." Time Turner wracked his brain for an alibi. What he had actually been doing was attempting to hold off an alien invasion from a foreign dimension in a back alley of Manehattan, but he needed something that sounded more plausible. "Uhm....I was....caught up at my sister-in-law's birthday party!" he finally managed with a nervous grin. Mayor chuckled, seemingly unaware of Time Turner's verbal stumbling. "I don't recall you telling me about a sister! I'd love to meet her one of these days. If I can escape these four walls for more than a few minutes at a time, that is." Time Turner laughed nervously. He didn't have a sister-in-law. Mayor turned back to her work. "So, relatives aside, what promoted your visit?" the earth pony said as she scribbled some signatures in some blanks, holding the pen in her mouth. "Nothing really. I just wanted to come in and say-YIPE!" Time Turner cut himself off midsentence as the door behind him, which had drifted closed without either of the ponies noticing, opened. This happened to land its thick wooden bulk directly on the earth stallion's hind hoof. "Hey, Mayor!" said Seth as he slowly half-peeked, half-shuffled into the room. "Um...good evening, Seth. Can I help you?" asked a slightly bewildered Mayor Mare. Seth slipped fully inside, brushing past Time Turner. After giving a quick nod and a "Hey, man." to the earth pony (who was still recovering from having his hoof slammed in a door), Seth turned to Mayor. After a brief awkward pause, he began to speak. "Yeah. I hope this isn't he wrong time...erm, yeah. Anyway..." Seth paused to see if Mayor had any objections. She blinked. Seth continued. "So...look. For starters, I have evidence against Hypnos. I got some audio and a little video of something she was doing, and..." Seth began to speak, but Mayor cut him off. "Seth..." the earth mare said, dropping her face into a hoof. "This had better be worth my time, Seth. I'm really, REALLY busy, and if this is just more nonsense..." "Nonsense?!" Seth cried defensively. He began to grope around in his pocket. "You think it's just nonsense? This whole town is in danger. See for yourself." He managed to grab his iPod at last, and handed it to Mayor. Mayor lifted it to her face, gave it a confused look, and then gave Seth another. "Seth, I don't know what this is or what it does." Seth sighed, but facepalmed himself inwardly. They have hooves, he told himself. Hooves. He took the iPod from Mayor, and after a few brief moments and a few more digital clicking noises, handed it back. "Just watch the screen," he said, and Mayor did. Seth joined her. Time Turner, who had now recovered from the sharp pain in his hoof, watched them watching the video, and, intrigued, decided to watch it himself. He slowly trotted up to them and, taking his place behind them, looked at the screen. He was definitely shocked by what he saw, and from what he could tell, so was Mayor. Evidence? This was definitely a start. When the short duration of the video was over, Seth pocketed his iPod and turned to look at the two earth ponies adjacent to him. He raised his arms and shrugged. "So?" Mayor was silent, clearly deep in somewhat troubled thought. Time Turner, however, was instantly all chatter. "Seth, this is interesting. Where did you record it?" he said, giving Seth an intrigued look. "Hypnos' house. She invited me in, and I started interrogating her a little. She stonewalled for a bit, but eventually she cracked. Feather Dance was much the same; as you can see, she snuck up behind me. Probably planning to rapid-induce me." Seth replied, returning Time Turner's look with one of mutual interest. "Hmm..." Time Turner put a hoof to his chin thoughtfully. "Based on what you just showed us, yes, it's certainly possible. Seth, I don't necessarily agree with you, but I think you have yourself a case." "I'm honored that you'll at least respect my suspicions. No one else seems to be able to." Seth replied with an awkward grin. "Hypnos may be evil, but she makes a good first impression, I'll give you that." Time Turner gestured at Seth. "See? That. That, good sir, is why nopony believes you. You try to cram your beliefs down the throats of others. You need to take a more suggestive approach; one that will allow them to make the decision for themselves in the end." "Right. And that's exactly why I came here." Seth now turned to the still-silent Mayor Mare. "Mayor, I'd like to show this footage at the town hall." The earth mare was shocked. She considered what she had heard for a couple of seconds. Was he seriously asking this? She replied with an unsure note to her voice. "Seth, you're really asking a lot. We need to use the town hall for...well, not anything in particular at the moment, but we need to be able to use it at a moment's notice. I'm not sure..." Seth gently cut her off. "Mayor, I understand. I don't need too much time; half an hour at most. Twilight can use a projector spell. Please consider this. I'm trying to warn you ponies. That mare is intelligent, skilled and dangerous. What if I'm right and she really is trying to control the minds of Ponyville?" Seth paused to let this sink in, then continued. "The other thing is, I believe Hypnos is connected to the disappearance of Lyra Heartstrings. If you let me do this, I might be able to get some ponies to look into it." "Hmm." "And, as I recall, you went to see Hypnos yourself." Mayor said nothing, simply twirling her pen on her hoof for a minute. It was true, she had gone into a hypnotherapy session with Hypnos in an attempt to alleviate some of her job stress. She felt better now, but it was still pretty lousy working there in the office. She finally replied. "I'll consider it, Seth. You are excused." "Great. Thank you so much. Have a good evening, Mayor!" Seth veritably skipped out the door, and shortly there was the sound of the double doors opening and closing. Mayor turned to Time Turner. "Er...donut?" she said, pushing a chocolate glazed in front of Time Turner. He didn't notice. He was lost in thought. "That human is different than the rest I've seen...and I've seen a lot, being the Doctor..." he thought, squinting out the window to watch Seth leave into the night. "He saw something in Hypnos right away...and he won't let go..." Time Turner gasped inwardly. "Wait...the tome...could he really be 'the one who doubts'...?" Mayor waved a hoof in front of Time Turner's snout, snapping him out of his trance. "Hello? Earth to Time Turner..." The earth stallion turned suddenly, nervously adjusting his tie. "Mayor, I just remembered. I'm-I'm extremely late for...something important. Cheerio!" He sprinted out the door, not once looking back. Mayor just stared and blinked. What was that all about? Oh well, she thought. There's paperwork to do...odd as those two may be, I still have work, and lots of it. Picking the pen up in her teeth, she set back to work. And like an ant under a pony's falling hoof, she wasn't aware of the crisis she was about to dive headlong into. And all of Ponyville with her. Author's Note YUSS! FINALLY HIATUS IS OVER! More chapters on the way, guys. Keep calm and purple swag on!
A Note On The StoryHey internets, Pixelmix here. I've been thinking, and I realized that by far, the majority of feedback on this story has been negative. I can sort of understand why. It is a rather mixed-up story. Also, if you guys come in expecting the "psychological thriller" part, you won't get it yet. The story is currently in the buildup phase. Bear in mind, though, my writing conditions. I prefer strongly to write in private, and the only laptop in my house that I'd be willing to use to write this fic is broken. I have school, and a jampacked afterschool day, so I write and post the story with my iPod. If it sucks, that's because I have to write this on a keyboard the size of my mouth. I'm going to tell you guys a bit about what the fic will be in the future. I'll try not to spoil anything. -There will be cameos from other fics. -There will be blood and stabbing. -Characters will die. -There may also be some shooting. When I say Grimdark, I mean it. I really don't want to kill this fic, but if it keeps getting all the dislikes and bad reviews, I will have to put it down. MOST IMPORTANTLY: LEAVE A MOTHERF@CKING REVIEW. I can't stop screwing up if you don't tell me what I'm doing wrong! Jeez! That's common logic! God damn!! Ok, that's all. Remember these things. Have a great one, guys. Pixelmix out.
PrologueHe was there when Pinkie Pie was shouting that a new pony had arrived in Ponyville. He was there to see the stage set up in front of the town hall. He was there to see her, the pony with the violet fur, the fuschia hair, and the ivory necklace. He heard her say her name. Hypnos. He was there when she asked Pinkie to be her "volunteer". He witnessed the violet pony demonstrate her hypnotism skills on an unwitting Pinkie Pie. He heard the audience snickering and giggling as she toyed with Pinkie's mind. He was there to see the hypnotist's apprentice, Feather Dance, come shyly onto the stage. And when everyone was leaving, and Hypnos was informing everyone of the free hypnotherapy and hypnosis classes she was offering, he was the only one to notice Pinkie being once again hypnotized. He saw her, just out of sight, with the hypnotist's apprentice holding her horn to Pinkie's forehead, magic aglow. Whispering something unintelligible to Pinkie. It was then that he knew something was wrong. Author's Note Yep, first chapter! Hope it sounds dramatic enough. Feedback?
