My Little Hypnofetish

“It’s just so great to have you here!” Twilight Sparkle, archmage turned novice goddess of friendship, multiple-time savior of worlds, and all-around lovable nerd had been unsurprisingly enthusiastic about getting a visit from her former foal-sitter and current sister-in-law. She had also subtly inquired at Fluttershy’s to see if Discord was up to anything, but this time around, it looked like Cadence’s visit was going to be reasonably quiet.

Well, perhaps not too quiet. Cadence had expressed some boredom with her administrative duties up North. Briefly, Twilight considered the possibility of taking the older alicorn on some sort of short adventure.

“I’m always happy to see you, Twilight. Though maybe next time, I’ll stay in the Crystal Empire so Shining can take the time to visit. He misses you just as much as I do.” For this particular visit though, it had to be Cadence. She loved Shining, but… he was not quite as qualified to have a certain discussion as she was.

The conversation was delightful. The flight around Ponyville’s surroundings was enjoyable. The pastry stop at the Sugarcube Corner was lovely.

But eventually, they got back to the privacy of Twilight’s castle. Which meant it was time for Cadence to have that conversation.

That, of course, was a daunting prospect. However, delaying it any further would do no good. She’d just end up having to rush the entire thing, which would be doing Twilight a disservice. And so, she brought her hoof to her chest, and exhaled as she extended it forward, imagining throwing her stress away.

“Twilight… as fun as this day has been so far, there’s something we need to talk about.”

“Oh?” The younger alicorn raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“It’s like this,” said Cadence. “Do you remember the parasprite attack on Ponyville a few years back?”

“How could I forget?” Twilight shuddered. “It took an entire week of repairs before the town stopped looking like a disaster zone.”

“Right. But parasprites usually only eat food, not wooden structures.”

Twilight immediately took that embarrassed look of a genius pony being reminded of a stupid mistake. Which, in a way, made it easier for Cadence - knowing the other party felt embarrassed actually made what was to come feel less awkward. “Eh-heh. Well, OK, that was my fault. I thought using magic to make them stop eating food would solve the problem, but I was rushed, and I didn’t think it through.”

“All right, but there’s more to it,” said Cadence. “Do you remember the incident with the Want-It-Need-It spell?”

At that, Twilight took a downcast look. “I… I know I failed badly that day.”

“That’s not what I mean, Twilight. I’m not here to rub your old failures in your face. You’ve come a long way since then, and your actual former mentor is rightfully proud of you.” She gave her sister-in-law a reassuring hug. “However, I’m going somewhere with this. My point is, you were desperately looking for a solution, and you turned to a mind-control spell, again.”

The purple alicorn nodded. “...What about it?”

“It seems to be a consistent tendency,” Cadence explained. “You tried to use mind-control spells on Discord. You used them on the vampire fruit bats.” She paused. “What I find telling is that you seem to favor this type of approach despite the fact that it has never worked out well for you. Usually, you learn from this sort of mistake and move on.”

Twilight now looked puzzled herself. “I hadn’t really thought about it that way.”

“I’ve also read your official reports about the human world,” Cadence added, “and, well… you go into a lot of detail about Sunset Shimmer and the Sirens’ use of mind control. In fact, your descriptions of those things was more detailed than anything else in the report.”

Once again, Twilight was looking nervous. “You… You think I have some kind of unhealthy interest in mind-control?”

“I think you have an interest in it. I think that interest is subconsciously biasing you toward using it as a solution to problems. I think, Twilight, that you might need healthier ways to explore that interest.”

“What would that even mean?” said Twilight. “I suppose there are books on the subject, but I’m not sure if I’m even really interested in mind-control, although it is a fascinating subject, and did you know that Hearts and Hooves Day originally came from…” She paused. “I’m sorry… Did you have something in mind?”

“Well, mostly, I was trying to determine the exact nature of your interest,” said Cadence. “In hindsight, I remember that even as a filly, you had a penchant for stories of love potions, evil hypnotists, memory-altering spells and the such. What do you think it is, precisely, that makes you interested in mind-control?”

“I’m not sure I’m…” Twilight paused, allowing herself a moment to think. “Well… It is a fascinating subject, right? I mean, our mind is who we are. If an external factor starts controlling that, then it raises all sorts of interesting questions about the nature of self!”

Cadence struggled to keep the amusement out of her smile. “True, but I think there’s more to it, Twilight. To better understand it… well, think back to the Sirens. Now, use your imagination a bit. Imagine yourself in their hooves.” Twilight nodded.

“Imagine that you are one of the Sirens. You have a hypnotic voice. When you sing, you can touch the minds of others. You can control what they think. You can change how they feel. You can enchant them, make them your loving, devoted thralls.” It would not have been entirely correct to call Cadence’s tone seductive - that would have felt all kinds of wrong with Twilight, whom she still caught herself thinking of as her baby sister - but there was something enticing about it, lulling Twilight into the fantasy. And Twilight was only too happy to follow. “You have chosen someone to influence. It doesn’t matter if it’s as part of a plan, or simply because they have caught your eye - you want to mesmerize this person. You begin singing, and they briefly take notice as your power entrances them, leaving them helpless in your power. You mold their mind like soft clay, making them your servant, your slave, your pet. They are under your control, and they are yours.”

It was Twilight herself who almost looked entranced, lost in the fantasy Cadence’s words were weaving. Finally, the long lull in the pink alicorn’s words brought her out of it. “Um, yes? And then?”

“And then,” said Cadence, “how does that make you feel? Twilight, I apologize in advance for how awkward this conversation is going to get, but, I know a thing or two about the signs of arousal in ponies, and it’s pretty obvious that this has been making you very horny.”

*Goddess_Of_Magic.exe has performed an illegal operation and must shut down*

“Twilight? Twilight, are you alright?”

Twilight, all-around lovable nerd with a mind-control kink, stood frozen in place, her mouth open wide enough to swallow Trixie’s ego whole.

“Twilight? Can you-”

“ABAGADABILUPLUKLIK!” Twilight strongly asserted, before reverting to panic. “That’s not… I’m not… I don’t… Why would… It’s not…”

Cadence put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “Twilight, to better understand this, you need to let me tell you a little story.”

Twilight nodded in silence, her jaw muscles tight, as Cadence spoke: “Once upon a time, the ants decided to kill the elephant. They swarmed all over him - thousands of ants covering the elephant, biting at this hide. But the elephant shook himself, and the ants fell to the ground.

“The ants looked up, and saw the elephant - and they saw that a single, solitary ant was still holding on to his neck.

“And all the ants began cheering: ‘Go Jim! Strangle him! Go, Jim! Strangle him!’”

Twilight blinked. Then she snorted. Then she laughed for a bit. “...OK, but how does that relate to…”

“I said it would help you understand. You understand better when you’re not panicking, don’t you?” Cadence winked.

“Right… Giggle at the ghosties,” said Twilight. She then took a deep breath, mimicking throwing her stress away like Cadence had taught her. “All right. I’m listening.”

The pink alicorn smiled. It always made her proud to see how Twilight had grown, even if Celestia had played a far greater part than her. “Twilight, it is extremely common for ponies to have ‘fetishes’ - things that, whether or not they are themselves related to sex, feel extremely sexual to them. Some ponies only feel attraction toward someone wearing a Wonderbolt uniform. For others, it’s socks. Some have a wing fetish, some get aroused by their own physical pain of all things, some by the scent of lavender… I suspect everything is someone’s fetish. And, yes, there’s a fetish for mind-control and hypnosis, sometimes referred to as ‘hypnofetish’ for short.”

“Hypnosis isn’t mind-control,” said Twilight. “It’s true that post-hypnotic suggestions can have a strong effect on the mind, but only to the extent that the subject’s subconscious allows it. Now, if you somehow enchanted the subject to fully cooperate, or drugged them to remove resistance, or made them believe so hard that your hypnosis controlled them that it became true via the placebo effect, then I suppose hypnosis might be used as a mind-control tool to some-” She paused. “...I may have thought about this sort of things a lot over the years. Whiiiich I’m now starting to think wasn’t just innocent curiosity.”

“Celestia once told me, ‘innocence is less important than wisdom’,” Cadence quoted. “This hypnofetish, if I can call it that, is part of you, and that means you need to understand it.”

“But…” the nervousness was quickly returning to Twilight, “But it’s wrong! Mind-controlling ponies… it’s evil! It’s mind-rape, which is just as bad as regular rape! It’s what villains do, and I’ve gone and done it, several times, because I’m some kind of pervert!” Yup, there was that distinct Twilight-ish panic. “Oh Celestia, what’s wrong with me?!”

Once again, the comforting hoof-on-shoulder came to the rescue. “Twilight, there is nothing wrong with you. You’re one of the best ponies I know. That was true yesterday, it’s true today, and it’ll be true tomorrow.”

Twilight nodded silently.

“You are not some kind of pervert. Like I said, fetishes are extremely common. Yours is not even remotely the weirdest I’ve encountered… and believe me, there are fetishes centered around much worse things.”

“...I have trouble imagining,” Twilight admitted.

“Don’t even try,” Cadence shuddered. Some things she almost wished she could scrub from her memories. “Now, don’t get me wrong. What Discord did to ponies using mind-control was monstrous. What the Sirens did was evil. And if somepony cast the Want-It-Need-It spell on themselves, then entered someone’s house and ravished them while they couldn’t refuse, that would be wrong.

“There is nothing wrong, however, with thinking it’s sexy,” she went on. “There’s no accounting for taste. What you feel, what you like, is neither good nor evil - only your actions are. And as long as your actions don’t hurt people, there is no problem.”

Twilight considered. “So having a hypnofetish doesn’t make me a bad pony or anything, I just need to avoid indulging it.”

“Even that is a bit extreme,” said Cadence. “Completely repressing a side of yourself is unhealthy. You just need to indulge it in ways that don’t hurt others.”

The purple alicorn’s face took a confused expression. “How would I indulge that without hurting ponies?”

“There are ways!” Cadence chuckled. “There are ponies with far more problematic fetishes who live perfectly fine lives. You can fantasize about mind-control. You can read stories, even write your own… including some stories that are, ah, not for little fillies,” she blushed even as she smiled coyly; “I could help you locate some, discreetly. If you get a coltfriend or a fillyfriend, they might be willing to indulge your fetish by pretending to let you mind-control them. And finally… just as you have a fetish for mind-controlling others, there are ponies with a fetish for being mind-controlled. If you get together with one, and you both agree in advance on what you do, and you’re very careful and don’t abuse their trust… then you might both be able to get what you need.”

Twilight took a while to digest it all. “That’s… a lot to take in. But you’re right, I need to analyze this rationally instead of panicking. You say there are other ponies with a hypnofetish? How common is it?”

Cadence remained silent for a moment.

Cadence backed away, stopping with the bed at her back, giving her best impression of a fearful whimper. “Shining Armor? You’re acting so strangely. And when did your magic turn green?”

Shining Armor, giving his best impression of a wicked grin, used his (still pink-colored) magic to cast a basic illusion spell, giving himself an appearance that looked like a cross between a stallion and a changeling. “It is not Shining Armor that you address, little filly, but King Metamorphosis!”

“You monster! Where is my Shining Armor?”

“All in due time, pet. For now, gaze into my eyes, and feel your thoughts drain away!”

“Ooooh…” She gave a soft whimper, letting him gently push her onto the bed.

“Such an obedient little filly,” he caressed her cheek. “Feeling my magic emptying your mind, filling it with devotion and obedience to your new king!”

“Yes… Master…”

She briefly glanced at his impressive erection. This role-playing always got him hot and bothered faster than anything else they’d tried in the bedroom. She had originally suggested it because she’d hoped it would help him get over the trauma of what Queen Chrysalis had done to him… but as she had quickly come to realize, Shiny actually loved the mind-control scenario, as long as he was the one in control. It gave his lovemaking a rare enthusiastic quality.

Besides, going along with his kinks seemed entirely fair, considering how he went out of his way to go along with hers. Even the one about the threesome with the hunk from the jousting team.

“...More common than you’d think,” Cadence finally said. The “It must run in the family” muttering remained silent in her mind. “It’s the sort of fetish that seems rare, because ponies are afraid to talk about it, but you’d be surprised how many have it. In fact, several ponies you know share it to some degree or another.”

Once again, the budding goddess of friendship stared in shock. “Wait, really?”

“Absolutely.”

A moment of hesitation, and then… “Who?”

Cadence took a deep breath. “Well, for starters, take Rainbow Dash.”

Twilight blinked rapidly. “Rainbow Dash has fantasies about mind-controlling ponies?”

Cadence chuckled. “Goodness, no! Rainbow Dash has fantasies about ponies mind-controlling her.”

The purple alicorn paused. “...That makes no sense. Rainbow Dash is… she’s brash. She’s bold. She takes charge of situations easily. I don’t think she’s the type to like being told what to do.”

“Twilight, being dominant or submissive in the bedroom is completely different from being dominant or submissive in general life,” said Cadence. “There are shy, introverted people who couldn’t bark orders in their daily life if they wanted to, but find the idea of controlling their sexual partners incredibly hot. Conversely, there are people who love to be in charge most of the time, but also love being helpless and in someone’s power in bed. Kinks are not dictated by personality.”

“All right,” Twilight nodded, “it still seems hard to believe, but… wait, how do you even know that?”

“I… have my sources,” Cadence shiftily looked away. While Luna rarely discussed ponies’ dreams with Equestria’s mortals, she seemed to love mining them for conversation material whenever she and Cadence hanged out.

Twilight relented. “Very well. So, Rainbow Dash. That’s one. Anyone else I know?”

“Well, Fluttershy is pretty much Rainbow Dash’s opposite. As meek as she is, she has secret fantasies of turning attractive ponies into her pets. Of course, she’s too shy to act on them - in fact, she might even be too shy to fantasize most of the time - but the desire is there.”

“...Should anything surprise me at this point?”

“Not really,” she chuckled. “And finally… Rarity herself seems to be a switch.”

“A what?”

“Oh, sorry. It means, someone who can be dominant or submissive, depending on the context. I think she enjoys acting dominant toward those she considers her social inferiors, and wants to submit to those she considers her social superiors.”

Twilight paused. “She didn’t seem very submissive with Prince Bluebl- no, I suppose bad graces would turn Rarity off no matter what. Er, how would she feel dating an equal, then?”

“I couldn’t tell you. But just in case you forgot, Twilight… you’re a Princess,” Cadence winked. “I know you don’t consider yourself above any of your friends, but in the social construct that Rarity uses, you’re very much her superior.”

Twilight blinked. “Uh, right. Er… Should you really be telling me any of this?”

Cadence winced. “Normally, no. I should respect other ponies’ privacy.” The situation with Luna was a bit more complicated; the older alicorn’s dream patrol was a practical necessity, and Luna needed someone to talk to about that part of her life. “But at the same time, what better option is there? It’s not like there’s a dating service for hypnofetishists. Almost no way for ponies who share this kink to find each other, since so few are willing to discuss it. So it’s a bit of a moral gray area.”

Twilight paused. “Huh. You know, there was this thing in the human dimension called the World Wide Web… It’s a lot less sinister than it sounds… Sorry, I’m getting off-topic.” She took a deep breath. “Cadence… You’ve given me a lot to think about. I’ll probably want to talk to you some more after I’ve given it some thought. But… thank you, for all your help.”

“Anything for my favorite sister,” Cadence hugged her. Twilight returned it eagerly.

There was some more talking, and then they resumed the schedule Twilight had originally set for Cadence’s visit. Eventually, the time came for the goddess of love to return to the Crystal Empire, and for the goddess of friendship to return to her books… and to swirling new thoughts.

Rainbow Dash, huh?