"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!