(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?