Having finished her nightly rounds of checking in on ponies in their dreams. Princess Luna found there were two ponies that weren't asleep yet, Zecora and Lavender. Hm, I wonder what's keeping those two up so late? Should I physically go check on them? the alicorn mare wondered as she exited her Dream Realm and returned to the Waking Realm. With slight bags under her eyes, she felt ready for bed. So, she went back inside after having been out on her balcony and started her routine for getting into bed.

She walked over to her vanity desk and using her magical blue aura, she picked up her hairbrush and began to brush her mane. As she was brushing and humming to herself, she was interrupted by the same female guard from before. "Your Highness?" She sighed and turned to face the guard... and... a cat? The kitten was busy playing with the guards' feathers while crouched on her back. Fleet Heart did not look amused! Luna chuckled, "Do you need a hoof there.... Ms. Heart?"

"Yes, please Your Highness, that would be appreciated...." She sighed in defeat and scowled at the kitten playing without a care. Luna wasn't used to little animals but when it came to cats, she was actually ok with them. But then she realized who it was, "Sapphire! What are you doing here?" The princess asked the kitten with her dazzling blue eyes. "You know this feline Princess? She appears to carry a scroll." Luna looked at Sapphire more closely. Sure enough, she spotted the scroll of paper tucked under the back of her collar. "Hm..." Luna questioned as she picked out the scroll with her magic while the kitten was distracted. She unfurled it and quietly read the message on it. Gasping aloud she feared the worst and ordered the guard to take care of the kitten for now in the castle. "But, but Your Highness!" She called after the blue alicorn who had already bolted out of her bedroom chamber into the hallway.

On her way, Luna ran past her sister giving Celestia a start, "Luna? What is it?" She asked managing to stop her for a second. Reluctantly pausing, she roughly explained the situation. "Zecora said that Lavender's been possessed by an evil spirit! One who knows powerful magic in Hypnosis. She could be in grave danger if she stays that way too long! I got a letter from her cat." Luna said in a rushed voice.

Celestia's eyes widened in horror as she decided to drop what she was going to do and aid her sister, "I'll come with you! You're so tired!" Luna wanted to go alone but she knew Celestia as right, she did feel rather tired and that could be dangerous when going up against the unknown. "Alright... but we have to be quick!" So Celestia and Luna ran down the hall towards the main entrance hall. Stopping by the large front door entrance, they spoked to the guards, "We must aid a friend whose been taken over by black magic. Lock up the Castle for tonight, only let royalty and guests or friends in that are close with us. Such as Lavender, Juke, Twilight and her friends, Cadance and her family, etc. We will give you further instructions when we return." They ran to the edge of the steps and took flight into a graceful glide once they were done informing the guards, not wasting any time.

Seeing the house in the clearing as they approached it a few minutes later, the two sisters landed right on the island, completely skipping over the magic bridge that was no longer there. "Oh dear... the bridge has fallen! That means she's in trouble alright. The bridge stays up as long as she is in control of her magic, and she definitely isn't right now." They looked around the house and met back at the front door, looking at each other, Luna and Celestia took a deep breath and opened the door.

Gasping in unison, the two were met with a seemingly frozen zebra silhouette. "OH Zecora! It's just you.... I..." Luna was about to continue but realized that the zebra mare wasn't moving or reacting to their presence with her usual rhymes. "Zecora? Zecora are you alright?" Princess Celestia perked up as she too began to worry. Once the moon came out from behind the clouds and shone on their friend.... they were horrified at what they saw. Celestia gasped, "Oh my goodness! Is she...?"

"Hypnotized? Yes... I believe so..." The night princess said waving a hoof in front of the zebra's face to get not even the slightest reaction from her. "This isn't good... Hypnosis is rare around these parts... but..."
"But....?" Celeste was worried as to what her sister was about to say. Luna remembered back to a book she had read once on hypnosis and something she recalled just confirmed her suspicions.... but then she spotted a big heavy book laying open on the floor which just validated her thoughts. She nodded firmly, "Mhm! Hypnosian Magic. I thought I recognized it!"
"Hypnosian?" Celestia asked her sister as the mare looked at the book laying on the floor. She picked it up with warm yellow magic and inspected the pages as Luna explained, "Hynpsoians were once proud Hypno Ponies of wonder and magic who helped creatures with issues of the mind..."

Luna conjured up a magical image with her blue aura of smokey figures with glowing eyes that held black spirals. "They each had a specific type of hypnotic power that could help with a specific issue, one to help with headaches, lack of sleep, nightmares, illness, pain, and especially emotions. But then the queen began to hunger for more power and control over her subjects. She was called, Queen Black Silver, for she was born pure black with silver spiral markings, the sign of royalty in her culture. Anyway, she began to soak in the dark magic of hypnosis everywhere she could find books holding black magic spells, and instead of using that power to help her citizens, she used it to control their minds and take over their bodies to keep the kingdom under her control. They had to battle their own queen to overthrow her as she'd become too overtaken by the greed for hypnotic power and in using it for evil, she was putting everyone in danger. Thankfully she had a daughter who was a kind princess who was able to take her place and banished her mother by locking up her essence inside a magical book that would act as her eternal prison...." Celestia was fascinated by the story and finished it with, "....Until now that is..."

Luna nodded, "Indeed sister, she has escaped her eternal prison by some dark manner.... and she is after revenge for being overthrown..." Celestia understood how dangerous this soul was and the danger she possessed to the young mare that's been corrupted by her essence. "I understand... but there is one thing I'm a little confused on," the white alicorn looked at Luna who returned her stare, "Yes Celestia?"

"Why do you need to help her? I mean, yes she's your best friend, but this soul sounds far too dangerous! She could take over YOUR mind." Her ears flattened in concern as Luna gave a reassuring smile, "Don't worry sister, I have a spell that can protect my mind from dark magic beyond my own nightmare magic. And I must help her because.... because..." She struggled to tell the truth in the last part. "... I was supposed to be in charge of protecting that book to keep it from hurting anyone at all, but I was careless and placed it in the hooves of Zecora to take charge of because of my own weakness to having a curious mind. I didn't want to risk opening the book and breaking the magic seal on it. I feel like this is my fault... I've hurt Lavender... AGAIN!" She faceplanted into her front hooves and screamed out her frustration into them.
Celestia wondered what got into Luna for constantly blaming herself for things going wrong at the moment. "Please Luna, you mustn't blame yourself for everything happening. She's just facing a string of bad luck. But she has amazing friends to help her out. Come now... we must find your friend. She still has hope."

Luna lifted her head and was about to smile when she heard a faint sound of screams off in the distance. "Did you hear that?" Celestia looked out through the front door that was still open. A flash of bright white light could be seen in the direction of Ponyville and more screams followed. "Oh no...."

Author's Note

With a corrupted soul having possessed Lavender's mind, she is lost deep inside. Luna learns of the horror that's unfolded that night and races to help her. Half exhausted from her duties, Celestia tags along. The two meet with Zecora only to find the book laying on the floor in the Pegasus's house and the zebra fully hypnotized with spirals for her eyes. With no sight of Lavender's new form, they must hunt her down before she does any major damage to ponies.