"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!