I flinched as the bell rang, about to get up along with the rest of the foals before Brightstar held out her hoof. Right, I had tutoring to go through with. As the class filtered out into the halls, just myself and the three other foals previously brought up remained. Brightstar seemed content, not wishing to be somewhere else, but not overly eager either. Night Stem, on the other hand, was smiling happily, clearly more than eager to be here and keep learning. In stark contrast, Light Stem looked as if she wanted to be anywhere but here. soon, Ms. Marigold entered, and she quickly approached me.

“So Mesmer, did Brightstar teach you anything during writing?”

“Uh-huh, learned alphabet,” I proudly said, then proceeded to start listing off the letters. I got to F before I was hushed.

“Well now, I think it’s time for you to get acquainted with your new friends here. Night Stem, Light Stem, could you come over?” She started to move some desks together to form a little table, gesturing for everyone to take a seat, “Girls, this is Mesmer Swirl, she’s going to be joining you here. For now, we’re going to be having a stronger focus on grammar for her,” she explained.

“Well a little break from math might be nice,” said Brightstar.

“And a new friend!” added Night Stem. Light Stem just rolled her eyes, thinking deeply about something. Hah, thoughts. Those wouldn't be around very long.

“Yes, a new friend. Said you’d like me, wasn’t lying,” I was already picking up on the greater intricacies of language, but if someone who had only spoken broken sentences started speaking fluently, that might raise some eyebrows. My wings would buzz if they still existed as I thought. Perhaps…

“What’s on your mind?” I started as Ms. Marigold interrupted my thoughts,

“Nothing. Thinking ‘bout future.” I technically wasn’t lying. I was thinking about the future, but primarily the one in which everyone is bowing before their true queen.

“I think it’s looking bright with you here,” Brightstar smiled softly. Light Stem facehoofed. “What, it was funny!”

“Honestly, that was a bad joke,” interjected Night.

“Yeah, seriously,” adds Light. Brightstar puffed out her cheeks, letting out a hmph. I giggle at their squabbling.

“See! She thought it was funny!” Brightstar pointed at me and I giggled a bit more.

“Alright, settle down now,” Ms. Marigold said, and everyone slowly complied, “Now then, I’ve noticed that you’ve struggled with articles, Mesmer.”

“Ar-ti-culs?” I had my guess as to what those were, but I wasn’t sure.”

“Words like ‘the,’ ‘a,’ and ‘an,’” she explained, “It’s been a struggle for you, though I’m sure that you’ll get the hang of it,” she emphasized specific words, so I began to start using them.

“Happy you think that I’ll learn,” I smile brightly at her and sense her happiness swell within her.

“There you go! Already getting it!” She praised, making my smile grow some more, though now for a different reason. The praise was intoxicating, but not yet enough…

“Can I go to the bathroom?” I asked, noticing it as a thing some other foals did that let them leave.

“Of course, the little fillies room is just down the hall, you’ll see it,” she gestured out the door, and so I made my way out and over to the bathroom.

There was no lock on the door, but there didn’t appear to be anyone else here, so I felt safe to experiment some. I had something I wanted to try that needed a bit of privacy. I looked over in the mirror and focused, focused on my wings, and with a fwoosh, I saw Mesmer Swirl with a pretty set of insect wings. With a smirk, I laid them against my back and sides and made my way out of the bathroom, hiding them as best I could as I reentered the room.

“Welcome back, Mesmer,” Ms. Marigold gestured for me to sit down again and I shook my head.

“I have something I want to show you all,” I said, wings twitching slightly. Everyone turned to look at me, and I heard something from Light Stem.

“What’s that on your side? It looks like...bug wings?” her confusion turned to shock, then relaxation as my wings were spread and spiraling before anyone could react.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you,” They all nodded blankly, “I want you to praise Queen Mesmera,” I smirked as I walked towards the front of the room, the four ponies standing up from the makeshift table and kneeling before me.

“Of course, Queen Mesmera, we will do as our queen asks,” they all said blankly, speaking in perfect unison, so perfect that it might not even sound like there were multiple people.

“Ponies do what Mesmera say.”

“We will do as you ask,” they all say, but Ms. Marigold adds to the end, “We will obey.” Obey. That’s a fun word, I think I’ll use it myself.

“Not just you, all ponies obey!”

“All will obey Queen Mesmera,” they say, and I begin cackling like a madmare as they continue to kneel, whispering praise to their new queen.

“Yes, all! All ponies in all Eque-”

“Mesmera!” I jumped at the voice of pathfinder, “What did we talk about this morning?” His voice was filled with anger. I lowered my wings sadly.

“No hypnotizing ponies…” I muttered under my breath.

“And what did you do?”

“I hypnotized ponies” I muttered, drooping as my wings disappeared, though the ponies didn’t seem to be waking quite yet. Before I could contemplate this further I feel a pain on my ear as Pathfinder drags me out by it.

“Please, just forget this ever happened,” He says with my ear in his mouth, and the ponies nod as he drags us both out.

———————————————————————————————————————

Once we got home I was instantly brought to my room. He dragged me into the corner and made me face the wall.

“You’re going to spend the next five minutes in the corner, and…” He leans in right next to my ear, “no cookies,” he says with a devilish smile.

“What!?” My head spun around to face him, horror in my eyes, “You can’t do that! I’m Queen Mesmera! You will obey me!” My wings glowed a bright red, and as I spread them to try and make him obey, I couldn’t get them to stop glowing red.

“Mesmera, I don’t want to have to tie those to your sides to stop you from using them on me. You need to learn to use them responsibly. This is for your own good,” He’s silent for a few moments as he thinks, then he smiles warmly, “my queen,” he adds, and I smile a tiny bit in return.

“Fine,” I say begrudgingly.

“Thank you,” he gets up and turns away, “oh, and if you learn to be responsible, I’ll let you do it more.” With that, he walks away, leaving me in the corner, less angry than I thought I’d be given the situation.

Author's Note

I’ve admittedly been putting off publishing this chapter because I felt kinda embarrassed about the middle section, despite the fact that it’s literally what Mesmera is built for. I just hope that people aren’t weirded out by it. But yeah, Chapter 5.