Pinkie Pie's POV

Stuck in a Shed (3/5)

(20 minutes of Containment)

"So?! How does it look Dr. Fluttershy?! Is RJ gonna live?! Or is he pushin' up daisies?!" I asked in utter fear. I didn't want to be the one responsible for killing a defenseless, mask-wearing raccoon! HE HAD SO MANY THINGS TO LIVE FOR!

"He-he's pushing up daisies?" The good doctor asked, looking towards me with a sort of confused look.

"HE IS?! NOOOOOOOOOOO! Why?! WHY COULDN'T I HAVE KICKED THE BUCKET?!" I asked, yelling up into Celestia's unforgiving Sun of Sorrow!

"Wait. You kicked some pony's bucket?" Fluttershy asked, even more confused than before.

"But no! Instead, some pony besides me started sleeping with the fishes!" I cried in unanswered sadness.

"Wait. You can sleep with the fishes?" Fluttershy asked, perking up at the offer. "I've always wanted to sleep with fish..."

"OH, WHY WASN'T IT...Wait, what?" I asked, stopping my fit of guiltiness to look at Fluttershy with a confused and slightly worried look. To which she didn't even pick up on because she was actually picturing sleeping with the fishes.

I shook my head towards her and just spoke up. "Fluttershy, I think we need to get you an appointment with Dr. Twilight after this. Because I think you have some problems that need working out."

"What do you mean Pinkie Pie?" Fluttershy asked, now looking at me with an innocent look. Wow. No wonder I've never noticed this before. She does a really great job at hiding it!

"What I mean is-hey! There's Twilight now!" I said, spotting Twilight, Applejack, Spike, and Rarity coming over to see us now. "Twilight, come quick! We need you to do your psycho stuff! STAT!"

"Pinkie," Applejack interrupted with a stern look. "How's come ya left Blitz's house after I left with Scootaloo an' Sweetie Belle?"

"Huh? Oh, that!" I said, realizing just what she meant. "We'll I accidentally hit RJ with a rock to the head! So after he fell to the ground, I picked em up an brought him right here to Fluttershy's Butterfly Grotto! But..." I started, my mane deflating because of the bad news I was about to say. "Fluttershy said he's gonna die..."

"What?!" Fluttershy said in complete shock. "I didn't say that! RJ's just resting, see?" She then gestured towards the grotto where a few butterflies moved aside to let us see RJ. Who was just laying back with his arms folded behind his head. His hat adjusted so it was covering his face from the sun. And upon hearing his name, he gave us a lazy wave.

"Oh! Well, I guess there's nothing for us to worry about after all! That's a relief!" I said, sliding to the ground to take a nap myself. "I think I'll go ahead and visit Gumdrop Island. Nighty-night!"

"Pinkie Pie, what about Blitz and Rainbow Dash?!" Twilight asked, hoping to remind me about them.

"Well, I don't think either of them really go to Gumdrop Island in their dreams. Rainbow Dash usually has dreams about being a Wonderbolt, or flying. And Blitz probably has dreams of swimming in pools of motor oil or something." I explained, guessing on Blitz's dreams. I never get the chance to ask, but I think motor oil pools would sound like a fun dream for Cyponies.

"Really, motor oil?" Spike asked in confusion. "He told me he has dreams of living in 'Minecraft', whatever that is." Spike said with a shrug.

"It's a human game made up of blocks. And I heard that you can make cakes in it!" I explained, looking up with a smile. "I wonder what Minecraft cakes taste like-"

"Excuse me, Pinkie Pie?" Rarity stopped before I could guess. "I think what Twilight's referring to is how Blitz and Rainbow Dash happen to be locked inside a small storage room."

"Oh no, that doesn't sound good at all!" Fluttershy said, knowing just what the problem was. "How long have they been stuck inside?" At that moment, RJ jumped up and onto Fluttershy's back. Wanting to know what happened to his companion, Blitz.

"Some time longer than twenty minutes!" Applejack said, just as worried. "We just got back from Blitz's house with the blueprints. But because yer message wasn't that detailed, I've been lookin' all over for ya!" She then took out my note and showed it to me.

"What do you mean, not that detailed?!" I questioned, snatching the note out of her hoof and reading it out loud. "To whom it may concern, I've gone to our best friend _ _ _'s house to help with something that may or may not have something to do with helping a different set of friends." After reading it over about two more times, I gave out a nervous grin and squee. "Hehehe...Oops."

"Never mind that now." Fluttershy intervened. "If we don't go get Rainbow Dash out now, then she'll start getting paranoid. And after that fades, it only gets more unpredictable." She told the rest of us. Making us more aware of what might happen.

"Then what're we all waitin' for?! Come on, we gotta save em as fast as we can! Let's go!" Applejack said, running back towards her farm. Followed by the rest of us, while RJ and Spike rode on Fluttershy and Twilight's backs respectively.

What we didn't notice though, was one lone butterfly that watched all of us ride off. One with yellow kooky eyes, two horns, and a straggle tooth grin on his face.

"More unpredictable, hmm?" A chaotic voice mused. "Well, this day might not be as boring as I thought it would be."

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for Blitz, Joe, and this idea in general.

---

Fluttershy's POV

ACT I

Enter the Mane Humans!

AND

Introducing: The Honorable Thieves!

"What in Celestia's name is that?!" Twilight asked, nearly every pony taking a step back as the animal charged at us without any signs of stopping its attack.

"A Great Dane! And a big one at that!" Blitz said, worried himself. He took a step in front of all of us and got ready to use his bionic arm. Showing all of us that even he was being cautious about this.

"It's even bigger than a Timberwolf!" Applejack remarked, now heading back to the truck as slowly as she could without raising much alarm.

"Every pony for herself!" Rarity shrieked in terror as she made a b-line for the truck. Followed by Twilight, Spike, and Pinkie, who were just as scared themselves.

"No way am I letting it get past me!" Rainbow Dash said, flying right beside Blitz. Ready to help take it down as it approached all of us very quickly with the intent to take down any intruders. "No way are we letting you hurt our friends you-"

"Stop!" I yelled out, flying ahead of them and stopping in front of them. The Great Dane was still running towards us, but I stood up against it. Seeing how it was still a dog that was only trying to get us out of his home, it didn't really want to hurt us.

"Fluttershy, what are you doing?!" Blitz asked, worried about just what I was about to do. To what made perfect sense to me, might have seemed like craziness to him. I wish I could apologize to him, but I didn't have the time.

Thankfully, the animal answered the question for him as he stopped directly in front of me. Hackles raised and growling directly at me, who was the one closest to the home itself. "He doesn't want to hurt us. He's just mad that we're here."

"Uh, I think that qualifies as wanting to hurt us." Rainbow Dash said confusingly.

"No I do not!" The Great Dane barked out. Thankfully, I knew how to speak dog and could communicate with him. He sounded like each word was a sentence within itself. All while sounding angry at the same time. "You are not allowed here!"

"But Joe opened the gate for us. Didn't he?" I asked, staying calm in hopes of stopping him.

"He did?!" The Great Dane Dog asked, giving a quick glance towards the house before turning back towards me. Now a little confused. "So you are friendly?"

"I...I think so..." I said, not sure what that exactly meant. He didn't sound like he would say a word like 'friendly' like that. So I think he was trained like that. "What's your name?"

"Oh!" The dog said, perking up in excitement. "My name is-" But he stopped himself and started glancing around. Sniffing around after picking up another scent. Soon enough, stopping at Applejack as he got ready to run again. "Stop right there, dog!"

"Uh...Fluttershy? Why's he lookin' at me?" Applejack asked, now a little worried as she stood besides the truck door.

"I...Think he smells Winona." I said cautiously before Blitz pulled me aside with his grapple hoof. Moving me away from the Great Dane's instant charge before he could run me over as he ran towards Applejack angrily. He must've been territorial when it comes to other dogs.

"Woah Nelly!" Applejack yelled out as she jumped up onto the truck to hopefully avoid the dog's anger. Sadly with his size, the dog was about to just jump right up on top of the truck and take Applejack down to insure that his home was safe from other dogs.

If it wasn't for a very firm command.

"Dan! Stop!" Joe yelled out as he came outside. To which Dan slid to a stop without any complaint. But he still kept his guard and hackles up as he growled menacingly at Applejack, who stayed on top of the truck. But she tried to keep a straight face as well.

"But Joe!" The dog said, though it sounded like a growl to every pony else. "The dog is-"

"Dan." Joe said calmly as he walked towards us. He had his hands folded behind his back, and a kind of scary look on his face. He had dark brown hair, blue eyes, and very pale skin compared to Blitz and Princess Luna as humans. But what was really more frightening was the look on his face. The very emotionless look, plus his glasses which only made his unamused eyes even more noticeable, was very uninviting. "Friendly."

"OH!" The dog barked in realization, going from angry and defensive to friendly and inviting instantly. "Oh boy, oh boy! New friends! Hi there!" The dog said, wagging his tail as he looked towards all of us until he stopped at Applejack. "I am sorry Ms. Dog!"

"Oh, um, Dan?" I asked, hoping that I was right on the name. "Applejack's not a dog. But, her pet Winona is a dog." I explained to him, making Applejack have a look of realization.

"So he is just smellin' Winona on me." Applejack said as she slowly jumped down and let Dan walk over excitedly to greet her. "Gotta say though. This fella's bigger than a Timberwolf. He really a dog?"

"Yes, a Great Dane to be exact. And he's even bigger than the average Great Dane if you're willing to believe it." Joe explained as he finally stopped ten feet ahead of us. "I apologize for Dan's uninviting approach. Due to recent events, he's a little on edge. Even more so since my brother's not here for today."

"Oh, why that's quite alright. So sorry for thinking him unruly before. I'm just more of a cat lady because of the...Drooling." Rarity said, apologizing herself to try and make a polite impression.

"Well, rest assured he isn't a drooler. He's more of a shedder if anything." Joe told her. "I suppose it would be nice if I introduced myself. Seeing as how you've heard either nothing about me..." He paused as he and Blitz made eye contact for about ten seconds. Both of them staying quiet as if they were silently greeting one another. "Or merely biased opinions."

"Hello to you too Joe." Blitz said with a hint of anger in his voice. It was clear that the two of them had met, but Blitz had never really explained how before.

"Hello Mr. Zeke." Joe said meeting eye contact once again for only a few moments this time before looking back at the seven of us. Who were all starting to group up besides Blitz to his right.

"My name is Joseph Frei, although nearly everyone, or 'everypony' as I think it is pronounced in your world, calls me Joe. Eighteen years old, that being the oldest out of me, my brother Big Mike, and my lifelong friend Morgue. I am also the smartest out of our little group by a wide margin, and the one that usually comes up with many of the plans and such. And finally as told by Princess Celestia, I am apparently the element of Persistence." He told us, introducing himself.

Pinkie Pie then took this opportunity to jump towards him first. Bouncing in front of his face and ignoring his blank expression as she got ready to explain just who she was herself. "Hi Joe, it's so nice to finally meet you! My name's-"

"You're Pinkie Pie, a name that is short for Pinkamena Diane Pie. You live in Ponyville as the local assistant baker, and best party planner in town. You're the most excitable out of all of you, and are the Element of Laughter. You also tend to explain everything so quickly that it's hard for other to fully understand just what it is your saying." Joe said for her, going as far as to make a 'Pop' sound as if a bubble had burst. Still, that same scary expressionless face was shown. Not changing at all.

"Woah...You're good! How'd you know that?!" Pinkie asked, bouncing back a space as she looked at him in awe. Completely unfazed with how he knew so many things about her.

"Yeah." Blitz said, taking a step forward. "How did you know all that?" He challenged with a frown. Followed by Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight who all followed suit.

"Simple." He stated, snapping three times in the direction of Dan. Who then stopped going around to all of us and ran to Joe's side before sitting down. "As I said before, Princes Celestia had told me. Along with telling me the origins of our elements, she had told the three of us about your world. How it works, how these Elements protect it, and the three races of pony that inhabit it."

"So she also told you about us too." Twilight said, filling in the rest of the blanks herself.

"No, I took a wild guess." He said sarcastically while staring Twilight down. "Now would you let me finish? I hate it when others make conclusions based on what I talk about." Twilight looked annoyed at the joke, but stayed quiet. While Rainbow snickered a little and listened on.

"So after hearing her out, I had asked for bios on each of the fellow elements. I like to know about all of what I'm working with before it begins. Seeing the question before the equation is usually how most people like to work out the problems." Joe explained. "So she matched up your names to your elements, then left me more in depth bios on each of you. To which I studied, wrote notes on in my own words, and then destroyed the originals to ensure that the knowledge would be safe to me and me alone."

"May I see these bios you happened to write on us?" Twilight asked, taking a step forward towards Joe.

"Of course. It only makes sense." Joe agreed before reaching behind him and into a small pack that I didn't notice before. It was open along the top and he took out a binder with some papers in them. Followed by a small piece of paper from his pocket. "All pages are encrypted with a code. On the paper is the encryption key."

"So, the papers have a super-secret code of secrecy on them?!" Pinkie asked, looking towards Joe with even more excitement than before. "Does that mean your a spy?! Can you do other spy things?! GASP! Can you read my mind?!"

"Pinkie, I doubt he's a spy." Twilight said with a shake of the head as she decoded the notes to see what they said about them. "And what would reading minds have to do with being a spy anyway?"

"Ms. Sparkle does bring up a good point. Spies don't use any mind reading techniques." Joe said with a nod in agreement. "Although, what she fails to recognize is that I do know how to read minds."

"How do you know how to read minds?" Twilight asked as she stopped looking at the notes momentarily. "I thought Princess Celestia said that humans can't use magic."

"We can't. But, it doesn't take magic for us to read minds. It only takes years of training and study to hone our skills, heighten our senses, and reading faces and other tells. A field that is commonly referred to as Mentalisim. That of which makes me a Mentalist." Joe told her, directing his attention towards her.

"Uh...Say that again?" Rainbow Dash asked, lost by what Joe said. To which Joe straightened his glasses to hide his annoyance and explained it to her in a simpler way.

"The can read your mind just by looking you in the face." He told her calmly. And to add onto it, he looked her dead in the eyes with a small frown. Making Rainbow Dash slowly take a step back from him and nod silently. Scared as to just what Joe was doing right now.

"You said that there were others right?" Applejack asked, hoping to change the subject. "Where are they anyway?"

"A very good question Ms. Applejack." Joe then turned and started walking towards his house. "But I think it would be a little nicer if we all found somewhere to rest. I'm sure the trip here was tiring."

"Oh, you would not believe what we had gone through to come to Earth." Rarity started, walking at a quick enough pace to catch up with him. "You see, we were brought here by this fellow named Discord."

"I met him once, actually." Joe added. "I already feel sorry for what it took to get here."

"I know! That man is a brute when it comes to assisting with travel. What he had done was..." As Rarity started explaining our trip, Twilight turned towards the rest of us.

"Are we sure that we can trust him?" She asked. "He doesn't seem that nice."

"He isn't." Blitz said with a shake of his head. "But we don't have much of a choice so we need to listen to him." He didn't sound too happy about that himself, but he did have a point.

"M-maybe he'll be nicer once we get to know him." I suggested, hoping I was right. "He is a Protector of Harmony after all." I reminded them. Maybe he was like Discord or Rainbow Dash were. When you first meet either of them, they don't seem too nice or friendly. But after you become friends with them, they turn out to be the best friends you can ask for.

"Yeah, Fluttershy's right. Let's just give em a chance 'fore we say anythin' that ain't fair." Applejack agreed with a nod. "Sides, looks like Rarity's makin' quick friends with em."

"Well I say Joe's a great person to be friends with!" Pinkie also agreed with a nod. "After all, he can read minds! Oh no! Do you think he was reading my mind when I was thinking about how brownies are secretly better than cake?!"

"Pinkie Pie, he can't read minds." Twilight said in a deadpanned tone before walking forward to where Joe and Rarity were headed. Which happened to be behind the house. "All he can do is read expressions and the tone of your voice and make an educated guess as to what you're thinking about."

"Uh...What?" Rainbow Dash asked, obviously confused by what she was saying. To which Twilight sighed in temporary annoyance.

"He looks at your face to guess what you're thinking" She explained further, pointing towards Rainbow's face for emphases.

"Well either way, I don't trust him either." Spike said with a frown as he caught up with Twilight and started walking with her over to the back of the house. "But I guess we don't really have too much of a choice."

After that, the rest of us followed suit towards the back of Joe's house to hopefully talk the rest of this out. Joe might've seemed scary, but at least he wasn't rude. I guess he was nice to invite us in. And Dan listens to him without any doubt or distrust. Sure dogs were very loyal, but they also weren't afraid in speaking aloud. So I think I'll go along with Applejack and Rarity to trust him.

---

Twilight's POV

I can't believe how inconsiderate this human is! Blitz was right, he isn't nice at all! He takes his time calling off his dog, he's rude, and to top it off he's trying to trick every pony into thinking he can read minds!

The only way any pony can read minds is by magic. End of story. So his whole 'mentalism' talent is nothing but a sham. As for everything else, this human wasn't some pony that I think I'm going to befriend so easily. This might've been a problem, but I suppose it wasn't too hard to live with. After all, Trixie wasn't very nice when I first met her. Maybe it'll just take some adjusting and compromise.

"Ah, there you all are." Joe said as he saw us all coming over. He then looked towards Rainbow Dash, but spoke to all of us. "Please, have a seat. After all, the boring introduction may take a while."

She then stayed in mid-air, taking a second to take in what he said. "Wow, you can read minds." Rainbow Dash said in slight awe as she flew ahead to get to a seat first.

Behind the house was a giant patio that comfortably fit all of us. On the opposite side of the patio was a door that led inside, along with steps that went off on both sides. And ahead of the door was an above ground pool. One that was just a bit smaller than the patio itself, and was circular.

On the patio were multiple seats. Joe was already sitting in a normal wooden chair with a matching desk in front of it. On the desk was his backpack and some papers, while under the desk was Dan himself. The area under the desk was made to fit Dan himself and had a few cushions to make it more comfortable for him.

There were also two wicker couches that fit three humans each and four wooden lounge chairs, to which Rarity was already sitting in one waiting for us also. And to top it all off, all the seats were arranged in a circle to surround a fire pit.

In total, there were eleven seats. Just enough for all of us, plus two more others. Rainbow Dash, Blitz, and Spike joined Rarity in the lounge chairs. Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie all took one couch. And finally, I took the second couch for myself since it was the last one.

"So, we were talking about the other two, correct?" Joe asked once we all got situated in our seats. Signaling that he was ready to get on with it. "Well, I guess it would be best if I mentioned them before I say what they're doing right now."

"Big Mike, my brother and the apparent 'Element of Heart', is a rather big human. He's the strongest out of the three of us, but he's also the dumbest out of us." He began, not even holding back about what he thought about his brother.

"Woah now!" Applejack interrupted with a mad frown. Well, it didn't take too long for Joe to make an enemy of her now did it?" Do you actually go around sayin' stuff that mean 'bout yer own kin?! Now, that ain't right!"

"Applejack, don't get too upset about it." Rarity reasoned, speaking up for Joe. "Yes, it is rude for Joe to say such things, but there is a reason. You see, his brother even admits that he is not too smart. But that isn't something that he frets about."

"How do you know that?" I asked, looking towards her with a questionable look.

"While we were waiting, we begun talking about our siblings. And might I say that Big Mike sounds very polite." Rarity said, smiling towards Joe in hopes of staying on his good side.

"Humph..." I hummed, not sure whether to believe that or not. If 'Big Mike' was that nice if he was only being compared to Joe.

"Yes, well that is another thing." Joe said, getting back on topic. "As I'm sure all of you picked up rather quickly, I'm not nice. In fact, I'll be the first to point out that I'm a very cruel and cynical individual. I don't make friends, and I'm not so quick to trust others. That being said, I don't expect others to trust me so easily. So for that matter, say whatever you want. I know I'm not inviting."

"Let it be known though that my brother Big Mike is the exact opposite. He's quick to trust others, he loves making friends, and he's extremely nice. That's what everyone likes about him. So please keep an unbiased opinion when you meet him." Joe asked, sounding a bit sincere if anything. Though, the emotionless tone was still there a little.

"Where is he now?! Is he inside?!" Pinkie Pie asked, turning towards the door to the house. "HIYA BIG MIKE! I'M PINKIE PIE!"

Joe then chuckled once. A bit amused by how Pinkie Pie was acting. Of course as shown by his notes on us, it looks like he expected as much. "No, he's not here right now. You see, he plays a sport us humans refer to as Football. That Football game is tonight, and practice was immediately after school. And seeing how it is now..." He paused momentarily to check his watch. "Eighteen till four, he's still at practice. He won't be back until early tomorrow morning."

"He plays sports huh? How good is he?" Rainbow Dash asked, now following the conversation.

"Well, it helps that he's usually the biggest human on the field. And since he runs the ball and no one can tackle him, he's praised like a god out on the field." He said with a small smile. "Still..." He frowned. "I suppose it's time we talk about the other one of us."

"...Morgue..." Blitz muttered with a low growl.

"Yes, Morgue." Joe said, sighing. "He's most likely the reason you're all here to begin with. However, I don't think I'll need to give him much of an introduction. The second all of you meet him, three words will come to your mind instantly."

"Is he scary?" Fluttershy asked, still focused on the name. "I mean, Morgue sounds even meaner...Oh! Um, n-not to say that you're not-"

"You can stop apologizing. No point in saying sorry when it's the obvious truth." Joe cut in. Keeping Fluttershy quiet. "Morgue's not naturally mean. In fact, he's very inviting despite the name. The name simply referring to what he's most known for. No, the three words that you think of instantly are; Loud, Con, and...Different."

"Different how?" Pinkie asked, smiling innocently at Joe.

"..." Joe studied Pinkie for a second, before shaking his head. Probably giving up on his 'mind reading' since he couldn't come to a conclusion on Pinkie Pie. "Let's just say that it is very ironic that you're the one asking that question." After answering her question, it looked like Pinkie had one emotion after another. Going from confused, to happy, to excited, to curious, to angry for some reason, to finally content.

"Anyway," Joe moved on, all of us kind of confused about Pinkie's reaction. "Morgue's the leader of our three-man group. He's also the most athletic all-around, and the one that makes most of the important decisions. I'm considered second in command when he's not, though I don't like leading. I prefer just pointing out the options and tactics to take into consideration."

"That sounds kinda boring." Rainbow Dash said, laying back on her lounge chair. "But I guess that kind of Egghead stuff's easy when you can read minds." Oh come on, are we seriously coming back to that?

"Yeah! I bet it makes it super easy for all your secret spy operations!" Pinkie Pie added, agreeing with Rainbow Dash. How can those two possibly believe he reads minds?! There is no scientific proof that shows that non-magical creatures can do anything like that!

"Actually yes, I'd like to see some mentalism myself if you don't mind. May we see a demonstration?" Rarity asked, curious about this as well.

"You know what..." I said, getting pretty annoyed that every pony was starting to believe his lies. But as every pony looked to me to see why I was getting worked up, I actually got an idea. "Actually...Yeah. I would like to see these amazing 'Mentalist' powers at work. How about you show us, Joe?" I asked, smiling in victory. Sure he could say he could do it, but let's see what happens when he's forced to actually show it.

"Two things. First; it's not a 'power' Ms. Sparkle. Power would insinuate that it has something to do with a sort of divine or supernatural ability. While it is something that I have taken years to learn and master. Making it a skill. Second; are you really going to call me a liar just because it's not probable?"

"I didn't call you a liar." I defended with a frown.

"No. You didn't quite say it. At least, in a physical sense. But your were thinking it." He pointed out, only making me frown. "Am I wrong?"

You know, for some reason I really hate that question all of a sudden. Because by asking me that one question, he's forcing me to either admit he's right or lie. And if I lie, then Applejack and the rest of the others will spot it instantly.

So swallowing my pride, I sighed and spoke up. "No. You're right. I do think you're lying."

"Well, that's a pretty stupid thing of you to say Ms. Sparkle." Joe told me with a small smirk. "Because how can I be right when I'm 'lying' like you say I am? Seems a bit contradictory to me."

Did...Did he just?... "Well...Wait, hold on a second!" And it was too late as Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Pinkie Pie started to snicker. "You-you tricked me! You made me walk right into that trap!"

"That may be. But let it be known that I didn't trick you into pointing out your own mistake. That was your own fault." He told me, showing off and making me feel like an even bigger idiot. This making the others start to laugh at me a little louder. Applejack and Rarity joining in by snickering themselves.

"I...But-it wasn't...Wait...That-that still doesn't prove anything!" I managed to stutter out. "All you've done is back me into a corner! How does that prove you can read minds?!" I asked angrily. Okay, now Joe was really starting to get on my nerves.

"I suppose it doesn't..." Joe said, sitting back in his chair to try and think of something else. "Alright then, how about I do something else?" He then turned to Rarity. "Do you mind if I use you as an example?"

"I...Suppose not. What do you need me to do?" She asked, not sure how this worked.

"Well you said you had your sister Sweetie Belle, but just to make sure the others are aware, all you explained was that she was your younger, kind-hearted little sister. Was there anything else at all you mentioned?" Joe asked, going over everything so the rest of us would be aware of what Joe knows.

"I mentioned that she and two other fillies about her age are trying to earn their Cutie Marks by trying new activities day after day. I never said who those other two were however." Rarity explained, pointing that out for us.

"Oh, no need." Joe said as he looked over all of us casually. "The other two are little sisters of two others." That's when we got surprised. And after about five seconds of awkward silence, he started again. "More specifically, the little sisters of you, and you." He figured out, pointing towards Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

Applejack spoke up first. Acting just a little more protective of her sister than Rainbow. "Wha-! How did you-"

"Although all of you looked uneasy as I came to that conclusion, you two seemed the most affected by going wide-eyed and tense. But knowing that wasn't enough, I noticed that you also got worried and nervous as to what all I would find out. Finally to lock in the answers, I saw how the two of you were picturing your little sisters through your actions. Looked down slightly as if to picture your little siblings in front of you, followed by the slight movements of your mouth as if to utter something that reminds you of your sisters. Such as a name, or recalling a clear memory you had with them. In layman's terms, you two subconsciously had flashbacks regarding your sisters."

"You...You figured all that out by just lookin' us in the face?" Applejack asked, very scared of Joe's ability. Already, Joe found out about her sister. And he didn't even ask a question either. All he did was go over what he and Rarity talked about earlier. Was he even prepared to study our faces?

There wasn't much of a chance that he knew the two of them had sisters. I had been reading the files he wrote on us, and none of it talked about family aside from me having Shining Armor as a brother with Cadence as a sister in-law. That, and Spike as 'Undetermined Relation'. Other than that, no mention about family at all.

"To be fair, it was especially easy to read all of you. None of you can really keep a straight face in these kinds of matters. As a matter a fact, I figured a few other things out. For instance, it looks like Pinkie Pie has multiple sisters. One or two siblings about her age, and one or two very young siblings." Joe noted, surprising us even more.

"Wow, you are good!" Pinkie said, unaffected by how he just pointed out something else he shouldn't have known. "But, your just a teensy-tiny bit off! I don't technically have any very little siblings! Mr. and Mrs. Cake have baby twins, Carrot Cake and Pound Cake, but I'm more of an aunt if anything! Actually, I guess you could call me a foalsitter, but I still think they're as close as family!"

"So what else can you do?!" Pinkie asked, jumping up and down in her seat while making Applejack and Rarity bounce around since they were on the same couch.

"Well Pinkie, that's about the full extent of mind reading. And while some, such as Ms. Sparkle," Joe said, momentarily giving me a small glance. "May argue that it's only studying facial features, they're missing the main aspect of it. Whether I'm looking at your face or not, I can still tell what you're thinking. That alone is enough to define mind reading. Am I wrong Ms. Sparkle?"

Oh yeah, it's official. I really hate that question. Added to the whole 'Ms. Sparkle' thing, and he's basically controlling my own opinions in the most polite way possible. Because I can lie all I want about those questions, but in the end it's either be dishonest or accept whatever he's saying.

So knowing that I have no choice with every pony watching me, I sigh and shake my head. "No...You're right...again..."

"So nice to hear you approve." He subtly gloated. "But if I had to explain anything else I can do, I guess I can say that I dabble in a bit of hypnosis. You know; one, two, three, snap." To add emphasis to it, he then snapped his fingers as well. The motion looking very similar to Discord's Chaos Magic.

"Hypnosis? Really?...Hypnosis, that's what you're good at? Seriously?!" I asked, giving him an 'Are you for real?' look to show how annoyed I was. Okay, forget his whole 'mind reading' thing. That was just a name for him reading faces. At least that was provable! But, oh no, not only did he have mind reading powers, Oh! I'm sorry! I mean, skill! So much a completely different thing, silly me to forget!

He also knew Hypnosis...Yeah, okay! This human was supposed to be the smartest and most cynical one of the three?! Empty journals are more accurate than him! Because, sure. He was cynical for sure, but any pony or human that believes in hypnosis loses all credibility!

"Yeah...Yeah, I'm sidin' with Twi on this one." Applejack said hesitantly, not sure how Joe would react. THANK. CELESTIA! Finally, every pony's starting to question him! "Hypnosis seems a might silly to be true."

"A might? Try completely insane!" I yelled as I kept my glare on Joe. Who silently stayed seated emotionlessly with his hands folded on his desk. Letting it all play out in front of him. Geez, from minute one he's done nothing but annoy me in the most subtle way possible with his blank face staring right at me to try and study my face for reactions! Not to mention, his sarcastic remarks and how he acts like he's smarter than me is way too annoying!

I mean, who does that?!

"What are you getting at Ms. Sparkle?" Joe asked, no reaction whatsoever other than raising an eyebrow behind those irritating to look at glasses. That was the other thing. With every insult and one-up against me, he keeps this polite tone the whole time. Silent, hands folded behind his back, straight face, and

"What I'm getting at is," I started, sitting up to make sure he would hear me loud and clear. "That you are just full of yourself and nothing more. Because all you've done is point out the obvious and get lucky with all your assumptions. There is no way that you can be a mentalist."

That's when Blitz decided to try and intervene. "Twilight stop, you don't know what you're getting into. Listen when I tell you this, the last thing you wan to do is question Joe's-"

"Now, now, calm down Mr. Zeke." Joe interrupted calmly as he pulled out a small silver container. Unscrewing the top of it, he took a few small gulps of whatever was inside. And after putting it away, he adjusted his glasses in a way that let the sun reflect off of them without shining in any pony's eyes.

"Let her go on. If she wishes to challenge my intelligence, then let her try. She'll learn in time not to question me."

"Is that a threat?" I asked slowly, only deepening my glare.

"You don't scare Twilight!" Rainbow Dash called out, helping me call out Joe on his lies.

"U-um Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, getting worried. "Maybe we should take Blitz's advice. I don't want to see any pony to get hypnotized."

"Come on Fluttershy, Twilight knows what she's doing!" Spike said, also taking my side. "She's the smartest pony we know! If she says Joe can't hypnotize us, then he can't!"

"Now hold yer horses fer a minute." Applejack stopped, looking at the three of us that were against Joe worriedly. "Let's not rule that out so quick. We've been proved wrong b'fore."

"I agree. Joe's the first human other than Blitz we've been introduced to. It wouldn't be right to take Joe's word as false." Rarity tried to reason, not agreeing with us either.

"But it is all a lie!" I told them with a glare, turning back to Joe who still sat quietly. Politely ticking me off even more. "And we're not going to be tricked by all your stupid lies!"

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

After all the silence that lasted for nearly half an entire minute, we all turned towards Joe. And for once instead of a straight emotionless face, he had a different expression. It wasn't anything much, just a small mix of upset, sad, and angry in a very small dose. But it still felt like a victory to me to be able to pull one over on him.

...

...

"...Did..." He finally began, taking in a silent but deep breath. He was definitely trying not to show any emotion, but he was having a hard time doing so. "Did you just call me...Stupid?" He asked, looking at me with a little more anger than before.

Seeing how that was the only way as to how I could be on even ground with him, I smiled and let the idea set in his mind a little. I knew that I couldn't call him stupid all the time, so I'll only do it this once. Still, he deserved to be told at least once.

"Twilight, I'm begging you. Please don't." Blitz told me, sounding very worried. "You don't know what you're doing. Just say sorry and let it go." He told me, genuinely scared as to what might happen.

"Hm..." I hummed in thought, already having my answer. I'm sure that Blitz had his reasons, but again I was only going to say it this once an be done with it. What could go wrong?

"No, I'm gonna say it." I said with a smile before turning towards Joe. Who tried to stay calm and collected, but now had an obvious scowl on his face. "Hypnosis is not possible, and any pony with even a little sense would no that it's all fake. So I guess I am calling you stupid."

"We're dead..." Blitz said, shrinking in his seat. Fluttershy and Spike saw this and got really afraid of what Blitz was getting so worried. And if that wasn't something out of place, even his dog, Dan, got scared. So much so that he bolted out from under the desk and ran out of sight of the patio. Whimpering all the way.

"So...I'm stupid...Because...I know hypnosis?" Joe said very slowly, taking off his glasses and looking down at the table as if he was trying to accept some sort of surprising realization. So much so, that he kept quiet for another ten seconds.

"Well I'm sorry, but I just don't think hypnotism is-"

"Fine then." He interrupted, putting his glasses on while he snapped back to his calm and emotionless demeanor almost instantaneously. "How about I prove it to you? Surely some proof is in order to help make my claim more believable."

"Twilight, say no." Blitz said quickly.

"Blitz, calm down." I said to help reassure him. "I know what I'm doing. And yes, I think a demonstration might be interesting to see." I answered, turning towards Joe with an amused smile.

"...Perfect." Joe said, flashing the smallest of smiles I've ever seen. And oddly enough, it almost looked a little devious in appearance. It was only for a split-second though, so I thought I might've just seen it wrong. "To begin, are you sure you're all comfortable? I mean, it didn't look like you liked your original seating arrangement."

"Yep, we're all snug in our...Wait, what?" Pinkie asked as she looked in her seat confusedly. Probably because she was now sitting in a wooden lounge chair. "When did I sit down here? I thought I was sitting on the couch over there." She said, pointing towards the couch that Blitz, Spike, and Fluttershy were in.

"Hold on, now I'm on the couch!" Rainbow called out as she looked at the couch that I was sitting in before. And upon seeing this, I looked down and saw that I was in a lounge chair all of a sudden.

It was so confusing. When we got here, there were two wicker couches that fit three humans each and four wooden lounge chairs. But now, there were the two wicker couches, three wooden lounge chairs, and a wicker loveseat that wasn't here before. All facing towards the fire pit in different locations. Except for Joe's chair and desk, all seats were in different spots.

Me, Pinkie, and Applejack were in the lounge chairs. Rainbow Dash was sitting on the couch I was in before. Blitz, Spike, and Fluttershy were sitting on the other couch. And finally, Rarity was resting on the loveseat by herself.

"Where did this come from?" Rarity asked. "And I thought I was sitting on the lounge chair that Applejack is in."

"You were. Until all of you, save for Ms. Fluttershy, moved." Joe explained without any curiosity as to why we were all so confused. "None of you remember that?...How odd." He said, now showing a smirk that was half amused, half sly, and completely devious.

"What happened to us?" I asked, looking all around for what happened. There had to be some kind of-

"Oh Ms. Sparkle, it's not a trick." Joe explained, finishing my thought out loud. Okay, now this is getting strange. "But let's not dwell on why you all chose different seats. Instead, how about I give you that demonstration I promised?"

"Um..." I said, not sure how to answer that. Was he really that unaffected by what's going on?

"Ms. Applejack, I sure you don't mind if you could help me with this." Joe started, quickly turning his head towards her while keeping that same slightly unsettling smirk.

"Well, I don't know about-"

"It will only take a second." Joe said, dismissing her hesitation. "You see, what I need you to do is simply count to ten."

That's when Applejack lit up right away. Smiling ecstatically. "That all?! Well if that's all you'll be needin' how can I say no?!" She asked, sounding way too upbeat all of a sudden.

Nonetheless, she sat up and started counting to ten. Tapping her hoof on the arm of the lounge chair for each number. All while acting way more cheery than she should be right now. "One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven...Hold up, how'd in Equestria did I ever get eleven?"

She then dropped the cheerful emotion and traded it for a confused one as she got up and started walking off. "Now let's see. One. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. No, that still ain't right!"

"Applejack, where are you going?!" Rainbow Dash asked while trying to jump out of her seat to follow. Only while she moved her hooves and wings as if she was about to take off, her flank stayed in the lounge chair. When she saw what was happening, she tried to pry herself out of her seat. Still while everything else seemed to move as if nothing was wrong, her flank wouldn't move at all. "I'm-I'm stuck!"

"What?" Rarity asked confused. That is, until she tried to get up herself. And just like Rainbow Dash; while the rest of her could move freely, her flank was stuck to the seat itself. Refusing to get up. "Ah! I can't get up!"

One by one, the rest of us tried to stand up, move aside, fly away, teleport, anything. But nothing worked as all of our flanks were stuck to our seats as if they had merged with the seats themselves.

"Why can't we get up?!" Rainbow Dash asked as she glared at Joe. Who only turned towards her with the same quickness as he did with Applejack before. Which made Rainbow Dash rethink her aggressive approach instantly and instead looked a little bit afraid.

"I don't know. According to Ms. Sparkle, there shouldn't be any reason at all for you to be acting like this. Unless you were all stupid, that is." Joe said, twisting my words to make it sound like this was all my fault.

"Twilight... I'm scared." Fluttershy said, cowering in her seat. Tears starting to form in her eyes. Joe didn't pay any attention as he got up and walked in the middle towards the fire pit. Turning a small wheel that in turn made the fire somehow flare up around the logs that were already in the pit.

"Ah, now we're officially in business." Joe said, folding his hands behind him while taking a step back to face all of us. "Even though Ms. Applejack has already left, enough of you are still here. So allow me to welcome you all to the event I commonly refer to as The Torture Circle. Where I now control all of you."

"Yeah right! Just wait until I get out of here! Because as soon as I do, you'll wish you were sorry!" Rainbow Dash threatened as she kept trying to get out of her seat.

"I'd be careful of what I say if I were you Ms. Dash." Joe said, walking over to her seat next. "Keep this in mind. Applejack didn't do anything wrong. In fact, she was nice enough not to doubt me or turn on me. And I just made her start roaming around the area while counting to ten incorrectly over and over. I had no reason to do that to her. You however, are starting to annoy me."

Rainbow Dash then went wide-eyed at what Joe was telling her. Of course all of us were worried. "You...What are you going to do?" She asked, now very scared as to what he was about to do.

"Oh, I'm not going to do anything." Joe said, taking a step back from Rainbow Dash to let her relax a bit. Then he looked at her face with a fake thinking expression. That smirk still on his face though. "But now that I'm looking at you a little more directly," He started, making Rainbow Dash go wide-eyed again. "I just realized something. Did you forget to put make-up on?"

In that moment, Rainbow Dash forgot all about being scared and just looked worried. Going as far as to gasp a little too dramatically. "Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! I can't believe I forgot my make-up!"

"...Rainbow Dash?...Is something wrong?..." Blitz asked very hesitantly, now very confused and worried about her.

"Is something wrong?!" Rainbow Dash asked in complete annoyance as she flew out of her seat and over to the edge of the pool to use its reflection. "Of course something's wrong! Why did I ever think that my natural beauty was enough?! Now I'm in a whole new world and I look horrible!"

"...What?" Rarity asked with a deadpanned tone. She was the only one of us that could even manage to respond to what Rainbow Dash just said.

"Guys, I'll be right back!" She said, flying over to Rarity next. "Please understand Rarity, I have a major beauty disaster right now! So I need to go get your make-up bag real quick so I don't look like such a mess! Thank you for understanding!" Rainbow Dash thanked her, flying off to the truck to go get Rarity's make-up so she could use it herself.

...Did I really just say that?

"Oh my stars! Would you look at that?!" Rarity asked. Suddenly excited about something that was behind me as she jumped out of her chair and looked like she was in complete awe. Which wasn't comforting considering everything that was happening so far.

"Wait a second! Rarity, you're free!" Spike said, glad that she got up on her own without Joe hypnotizing her.

"Yes, I am free!" Rarity said happily before running forwards towards Spike, Blitz, and Fluttershy. Making the three of them get hopeful as to getting out of their seats. Only, instead of helping any three of the up, she passed right by them and kept running ahead. "Free to jump into that absolutely fabulous mud puddle!"

"WHAT?!" We asked in nonbelief while we watched her run off. Or at least, tried to watch her run off. She was going behind us so it was hard to turn and look towards her. All of us heard her though, and how she was just jumping around in the mud like a little school filly.

"So sad." Joe said. The five of us then glared at him angrily. "She had a chance not to be affected too. Oh well. Guess it can't be helped." He quickly turned his head towards us. And even though he had done the same thing with the same smirk every time, it was still unsettling.

"Joe, stop." Blitz told him with a frown. "You made your point, now let them go. They didn't do anything to you." He said in a commanding tone. By this point, he wasn't even worried about Joe doing something to him as well. Instead, he defended us as best he could.

"Well, well, well. Color me impressed Mr. Zeke." Joe said, raising an eyebrow in recognition.

"Already got it covered, Joey!" Pinkie announced with a smile while holding up a picture she had been drawing in crayon this whole time. And holding it up, we all saw that she drew Joe in the middle with an impressed look along with the others that were already...I won't say hypnotized but messed with, to the sides of him. With five spaces left for the rest of us. AJ had 1-2-3-4-5-7-8-9-10-11 above her head. Rainbow Dash was in a dress and heavy make-up looking into a mirror. Finally, Rarity had a pig nose and was rolling in a mud puddle.

"So, what are you gonna hypnotize me into doing?! Because it looks super fun!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, beaming at what Joe had in store for her.

"First; please don't call me Joey. It brings bad memories. Second; when you're finished, can I make a copy of that? It's actually pretty amusing." Joe said in admiration. And after seeing Pinkie nod in agreement, he went on. "Thank you." "You're welcome!" "Finally; I hypnotized you into closing your eyes and having you make a F-I-S-H face. I recommend drawing that before saying the trigger word yourself."

"Gotcha!" Pinkie said with a salute before quickly drawing herself with the description.

"I can't believe you're actually going through with this!" I yelled out in annoyance. "You're still going on about this?! Just quit it already, hypnosis isn't real! You really are dense if you believe it this much!" I insulted.

"Dense, am I?" He asked, now suddenly sounding very aggravated at me. "Alright then, how about this? Mr. Zeke, let's go back to what you said earlier." Joe started, turning towards Blitz. "Before you had quite literally disappeared off the face of the Earth to go to there's, you never stood up against us. Not even if it was just one of us. But not only are you standing up to me, but you're standing up for others. Another thing you never did. Why the change?"

"Because when I went to Equestria, they made friends with me." Blitz explained. To which me, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Spike all smiled in agreement. "They didn't judge me because of me being a Cypony, being from somewhere else, or...Well, or for kinda lying to them about that." He added sheepishly. "But yeah, they're my friends. And they wouldn't hurt any pony for no reason." He finished with a glare.

"Yeah, you tell 'em Blitz!" Spike cheered, grinning at the nice little speech he gave. "You hear that Joe?! None of us would hurt some pony else for no reason!" Me and Pinkie went ahead and nodded confidently. While Fluttershy, being right beside Blitz, went ahead and gave him a friendly uppercut to the jaw. One strong enough to not only send him flying a few feet out of his seat, but to also knock his ear off of his head. Making it land beside him on the patio floor.

"F-Fluttershy?" Spike asked. He was on the other end of the couch the three of them were on with Fluttershy on the other side. And with how she punched Blitz off the couch, Spike had no way to hide from her as she flew up out of the seat.

"OW! Fluttershy, what the hay was that for?!" Blitz asked, sitting up and holding his jaw in pain. "Why did you do th-AGH!" Fluttershy kept him quiet by flying into him and landing on his stomach with a small amount of momentum.

"Shut up and put 'em up small fry!" Fluttershy demanded as she hovered off the ground beside Blitz with her wings. Holding her hooves up in a boxing pose. Ready to beat the feathers off of Blitz.

"What?!" Blitz asked, completely shocked as he quickly stood up and jumped away from Fluttershy and looking towards Joe. "What did you do to her?!" He questioned in a demanding tone.

"Ey! Look at me when I'm talkin' ta you, Chump!" She ordered, while for some reason developing a 'tough mare' accent that made her voice match how she was acting. Like a ruthless fighter. "Now come on, we gonna do dis or what?! I mean, what are ya?! Chicken?!"

Blitz, hoping that one of the others could still help him, looked towards the others. Applejack was now walking beside the fence on the far side of Joe's fenced in home. Looking like she was slowly losing her patience and sanity because she kept getting to eleven when meaning to count to ten. Rarity was now going as far as to start oinking as she starting rubbing mud deep into her mane on purpose. So those two were definitely not able to help Blitz.

Luckily for him, Rainbow Dash was flying back over towards us as fast as she could with Rarity's make-up bag in tow. After coming here, she landed beside the pool and set the bag down beside her. Opening it up and digging through it as if her life depended on it.

Blitz, seeing that Rainbow Dash was the only one not losing it, decided to ask her next. "Rainbow Dash, a little help please!" Then out of nowhere, Fluttershy charged at him full force with the intent of punching his head off. All with the same speed and determination she used when we were saving Rainbow from Discord's control. He saw her coming however, and used his bionic arm to hold her back. Fluttershy didn't give up trying to reach him though as she kept struggling to get free.

Sadly for him, Rainbow Dash didn't even seem to realize that he existed as she kept digging through the make-up bag. Pulling out a few supplies and putting them beside her to use. She then picked up the first item and read it over. Smiling in glee as she got ready to use it. "So awesome! Rarity even had the permanent eye shadow in my color!"

As she started to apply it to herself, Blitz just groaned in annoyance. "Oh, you have Got to be kidding me!" He yelled out. Dropping his guard just long enough for Fluttershy to get the upper hoof.

She then grabbed Blitz metal arm and used it as leverage to pull Blitz off his feet. Following through and flipping Blitz over herself and onto the patio with a painful landing. As he let out a pained groan, Fluttershy went back to her boxing pose. Flying left to right and throwing pretend jabs as if she was in a boxing match already.

"Come on Robot! Whatcha gonna do 'bout dat!" Fluttershy asked, acting as if she was the toughest girl on the planet right now.

"Oh no..." Me and Spike both said in unison. Every time some pony called Blitz a 'Robot', regardless of the situation, it never ended well. Even when Rainbow Dash gets to the point of calling him a robot, there have been times where we've had to hold those two back to keep them from fighting each other. And by how much those two got in arguments, it was a surprise that Blitz actually had a crush on Rainbow Dash. Let alone, how they were still friends with each other.

And after all those times, and some times where I've had to help Blitz not fight some pony besides Rainbow, I've realized that it all depends on his mood prior towards being called that name. If he's happy and having a nice day, then it'll probably just be an argument. That what happens most of the time between him and Rainbow.

If he's bored and having a dull day, but still not a bad one, he won't hesitate to not only argue but he'll start instigating fights with that pony. Apologizing depends on exactly who he's yelling at.

Finally, if he's already angry and having a horrible day, that's when fights might start. And with how Fluttershy's been hurting him, doubled with everything going wrong around us, all that anger just turned towards Fluttershy. Who was still instigating the fight.

So without wasting a second, Blitz got up and put Fluttershy in a chokehold and hanging her an entire two feet off the ground. The grip wasn't tight, and Fluttershy could still fly, so it wasn't hurting her. If anything, all it did was catch her by complete surprise.

"Target acquired." He said in a deep, metallic, robot voice as he raised Fluttershy even higher towards the sky.

"Blitz, think about what you're doing!" I tried to tell him, but he didn't do so much as look in my direction as he kept all attention on Fluttershy. And as he did, his arm started sparking with electricity from out of nowhere. He didn't eat a storm cloud cupcake earlier, but he still had electricity to use.

"Mach 1..." Blitz said slowly, still with the robotic voice. Now concentrating all electricity from his arm into his hand. Making it spark more wildly since the energy was all built up in one area. Oddly enough, it still wasn't hurting Fluttershy at all. Instead, she finally started to recover as she snapped out of surprise and delivered a drop kick to Blitz's stomach with the intent on bringing him to the ground.

Even though it looked so painful, and was probably strong enough to take any of us down, all it did was make Blitz flinch slightly. Making Fluttershy look completely taken by surprise as she looked up to his blank face.

"Blast." He spoke, making a giant focused blast of electricity hit Fluttershy at point-blank range. Not only looking even more painful then the dropkick as Fluttershy went flying unintentionally towards the sky. Going about 2000 hooves, or one-thousand feet in human measurements, in height. With her wings still working perfectly fine, she quickly recovered and started shaking off the static that was on her coat.

Blitz then took this moment to get the upper hoof himself. He quickly took off his jacket and took off into the air with his wings. Which by a quick glance from where I was, they looked different. Instead of being pointed backwards like Pegasi wings were, they were instead angled to point towards the ground. And since a human's body was longer than a ponies, the wings were about the size of Princess Celestia's. The one thing that hadn't changed at all was the color of the feathers, the type, and how they smelled like fleshly cut lumber.

The feathers were still jet black, even while his body was now a very light-brownish color to it. The type of his wings were still the same type that Rainbow Dash's were. Which were Racer Wings. And like I said, they had that fresh cut lumber smell that he got from his occupation.

"Well. That's new." Joe remarked, watching as Blitz flew up to attack Fluttershy again. Both of them looked ready to kill the other with how Fluttershy was glaring at him, and with how Blitz wasn't even trying to hold back a little with his bionics. Sadly for Blitz, Fluttershy saw him coming this time and was more than ready to counter his attack.

As if she was against a raging bull, she quickly flew off to the side at the last second. Following through by doing a backwards loop in order to deliver another full force drop kick to the center of Blitz's back. Making him break his flight pattern and start falling downwards towards the pool.

Before he could even come close to falling into it, he acted in response. Using his grapple hoof...Err...Well, I guess it's hand now. Either way, he shot his grapple hand towards Fluttershy and caught her by her left back leg. He then swung under her like a pendulum while she acted as the point of suspension.

And after coming to the end of his swing, he used his wings to follow through and increase his speed. He then started to drag Fluttershy around as if the grapple hand was a leash. Meaning that Fluttershy wasn't able to do much of anything as he kept flying her around like a ragdoll. As he kept flying towards the ground in an erratic pattern, he eventually focused in on a big oak tree. And with retracting his grapple hand, and pulling in Fluttershy, he then threw her with a tremendous amount of momentum. Ending up in Fluttershy slamming into the side of the oak painfully.

"It seems that those two need to work out there problems." Joe announced, acting as if they just decided to start beating the feathers off of each other by their own free will.

He then turned towards us. "And then there were three." He said, no longer having that smirk on his face but still an amused look. "Now, who wants to be next?"

"Oh, don't worry! I'll do it myself!" Pinkie told him with a big happy grin on her face. "FISH FACE!" She screamed out as loud as she could before instantly going quiet and closing her eyes. Making a small, not over the top, fish face just like Joe said would happen.

"Well, at least she made it easy for me. Now all that leaves is you two." Joe said turning his attention towards us. Spike looked terrified as to what Joe would do to him, where as I just glared him down. Regardless of what we did, he already had something planned for the two of us. So why beg for him to stop?

"Why are you doing this? What did they do to you?" I asked, not even bothering to be nice about it. He was somehow making my friends do all of this stuff, and for no reason!

"Well, a majority of them didn't do much." Joe said as he looked them all over. Fluttershy and Blitz looked evenly matched with how they were pretty much trading blows. Rarity was looking like a little colt with how much she was playing in the mud and oinking like a pig. Applejack was pretty much losing it as she just laid on the ground, muttering numbers over and over. Rainbow Dash now had eye shadow, mascara, and blush on while she was getting lipstick ready. And finally, Pinkie was just sitting on the couch with a fish face.

"Mr. Zeke, you, Mr. Spike, and Ms. Dash treated me badly without much of a second thought." Joe told me. And as I opened my mouth, he cut me off. "Don't deny it, you know it's the truth. You hated me the second I walked out that door. Then you thought I was an...idiot...And didn't even attempt to believe my talents of mentalism or hypnotism. Blitz and Rainbow Dash snapped at me when all I did at the time was trigger Ms. Applejack's minor hypnosis and keep you all stuck in your seats. Did I really do anything to warrant the title of enemy at that point?"

"..." I kept my glare steady. Both of us knew he was right, but I refused to let him hear me admit that.

"No. I didn't. Ms. Rarity, Mr. Zeke, and Ms. Fluttershy getting hypnotized were all pure accidents, I assure you. Pinkie decided to hypnotize herself. All of this could have simply been avoided if you listened to Mr. Zeke in the first place or kept an open mind." He explained to me.

"..." I still kept quiet, but did listen to what he was saying. He was basically telling me that this was all of my fault because I didn't believe what he was telling us. And if he was expecting anything out of me about that, then he really is a fool!

"No. I don't expect you to say anything about all of this." Joe said, making a perfect assumption as to what I was thinking. Alright, so maybe he was a little skilled in that field, but that meant nothing by this point! "What I do expect, however, is an apology.

"...What?" I asked with a deadpan stare. "You had AJ lose her sanity because she can't remember ten numbers at once. Had Rarity act like a pig. Had Rainbow Dash act like looks are everything. Made Blitz and Fluttershy start fighting to the death! And you expect me to apologize?! WHY?! I have no reason to apologize to you! I've done nothing wrong!"

"Done nothing wrong?" Joe asked with a raised eyebrow. Ever since he's been explaining everything to me in his own way, he dropped the amused look and the smirk altogether. Now he was back to his judgmental, original look with his hands folded behind his back.

"Who was the one who came here and questioned everything about another person, scratch that, another species that you know next to nothing about? Who questioned my intelligence with next to no credible facts to back it up? And finally, who was the one who needs my help accomplishing whatever your objective here is?" He then turned towards Spike. "Mr. Spike. Care to answer?"

"Uh..." Spike looked towards the two of us back and forth before gulping. "Is it Twilight?"

"Correct." He said with a nod before coming back to me. "Ms. Sparkle, I am going to ask three things for you. And you will either comply the easy way. Or the hard way. First, I want an apology for all that I've pointed out. Second, I want you to admit that mentalism and hypnosis is an actual science. Lastly, I want to hear it from you."

"Hear what from me?!" I asked, trying my best to sit up and look a little more intimidating or something. But with how I was stuck in this lounge chair, it wasn't too easy for me to do.

"Princess Celestia told us that you'd need our help in this world to blend in. But you've never said it yourself. So I want to hear it from you. Ask for our help." He clarified with an expecting look. Ready to hear me say those three things.

"Apologize to you, admit something that goes against everything I believe in, and ask you for help?! Forget it Joe! I don't care what you do! Nothing will make me do everything you want me to! I'd rather date Discord than do any of that!" I yelled directly at his face, huffing in anger. "And if you think that there's anything that you can do to make me, then you! Are! A! MORON!"

"...Ms. Sparkle, get up girl." He ordered as if I was a dog. He then walked back to his desk. Sitting down and putting his hands behind his head to relax and watch something play out.

"Um, excuse me? I will not get up just because-" But before I could say anything else, I watched as I jumped out of the chair and turned towards him. I didn't move any part of my body, and I definitely didn't want to take orders from him! So why was my body doing exactly what he was ordering?! "How did you-"

"Now from now on you shall be named Max, and will take any orders addressed to you by that name." He told me, taking this completely serious, despite my glare. Spike didn't know what to think right now because somehow this seemed a bit funny for him. But at the same time, it was Joe that was doing all of this to me.

"If you think that I'm actually going to go along with any of this-"

"Oh, you don't have a choice." Joe told me, letting a very faint smirk grow on his face.

"Now when I snap my fingers, you won't even be able to call yourself Twilight Sparkle. Instead, you'll only respond to the name 'Max'. If anyone calls you otherwise, you won't know that they are talking to or about you. Every time you try to call yourself any other name, you'll find yourself saying that your name is Max. You'll be aware of that fact, but you'll find that there's nothing that you can do to stop it. No magic. No breathing exercise. Not even focus, concentration, or willpower will break that fact. You. Are. Max." He said everything so slowly and with a soothing, relaxed voice that it was almost hard to listen to it. Still, it didn't matter. It didn't make me want to listen to him, and nothing changed.

He then snapped his fingers. Somehow forcing me to blink a few times and just glare at him. "Congratulations! You managed to talk in the most calm voice possible! Yeah, that's gonna make me do whatever you say!"

"I wouldn't talk back to your owner, little girl. Now. Sit down Max." He commanded, keeping that annoying smirk on his face.

"NO! I don't care what you say, I'm not sit..." As I refused his command, my body didn't listen as it did just as he asked and sat down where I was standing. Making me angry, but I didn't care. "O-okay fine! I wanted to sit down anyway!" I lied, feeling like an idiot for doing what he wanted. "But I don't care what you tell me! My name is Max, and there is nothing that you can...Say?..."

"Twilight, did you just call yourself 'Max'?" Spike asked, a little frightened as to what was happening to whoever 'Twilight' was. So after several silent seconds, he tried to call out for Twilight again. "Uh...Twilight? Hello?!" Why was he trying to talk to a time of day? That just seems so random!

"Sorry Mr. Spike, but I'm afraid that her name's no longer 'Twilight' anymore. From now on, her name is 'Max' and that will forever remain a fact until I say otherwise." Joe explained to him.

"You...You mean that Twilight thinks that she's a dog?!" Spike asked Joe, very concerned about whoever 'Twilight' was. Did...Did I miss something? Who was Twilight?! Was there some other human around here or something?

"No, Ms. Sparkle doesn't think that she's a dog. She just think that Max is her new name. Isn't that right Max?" Joe asked me. Causing me to...Growl at him?!...WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!

"NO! My name is MAX! Not Twilight!" I yelled out in anger before getting confused right away. "Wait, what? NO! My name's MAX! No, it's Max! I mean, YES! NO! Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...MY NAME IS MAX!...GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Max, shush." Joe commanded.

"I WILL NOT 'SHUSH' UNTIL. You..tell..." But I couldn't continue. I wanted to yell at Joe. I wanted to use my magic to force him to stop whatever he was doing, but...

No. Joe told me to stay quiet so I...Wait, no! I didn't want to stay quiet!...But he told me to stay quiet. If I don't, then I might be scolded...Why do I care! I hate-my master!...HE'S NOT MY MASTER!

"Ah. Max's canine instincts are started to kick in. Well Mr. Spike, I'd say that now she's starting to act like a dog." Joe explained to him. Canine instincts?! I don't have any canine instincts!

"Oh, I almost forgot." Master-JOE!- said to Spike before turning towards me. Once again speaking in that calm, relaxing accent. "Max. When I snap my fingers, you will no longer be able to speak like a normal pony. Instead, you can only bark, growl, pant, and make any other dog responses. In fact, there are only three things that you can say normally: The apology you owe me. You admitting that hypnosis and mentalism are both actual sciences. And finally, I want you to ask for my help. Last chance before I take your ability to speak, will you say any of those three things?"

Growling towards my master, I barked my response. "Never! I'm not apologizing! I'm not asking you anything! And for the last time, hypnosis is not a proven science!"

"Uh...Max? You're wagging your tail." Spike told me, very confused as to why I was doing so. Looking towards it, I saw that my tail was wagging back and forth before it finally stopped. Making the motion that I was very upset right now.

"Guess not. Alright then. If you're not willing to stop being too stubborn to admit what is happening right in front of you, then we'll have to make you admit what you already know." He then snapped his fingers. Somehow making me cough as if there was something in my throat.

"See?! Nothing happened! I'm still talking normal!" I said...No...I barked at him! "What! Wait, no! I'm not barking! I'm not a dog! Spike! You-you can hear me, right?!" I...whimpered in desperation.

"T-Twilight?..." He said, now looking towards me worriedly. Why would Master Spike call me Twilight? I thought I was Max...Did my master forget about m-NO! I'm not Max! Why am I thinking like that?! Why do I keep calling them my masters?!

"J-Joe, why is Twilight barking and whimpering so much?" Spike asked Joe in deep confusion.

"Because she's too foolish to admit that hypnotism is taking place." Joe said, reaching into a drawer that was in his desk and pulled out a small bowl and a small bag of brown pellets. "Mr. Spike, would you be so king as to fill this up with some dog food?"

"Uh...Sure." Spike said reluctantly. And after slowly trying to get up, he found that he wasn't trapped in the chair anymore. But not wanting to get hypnotized, he did as Joe asked and filled the bowl up. Putting it down on the ground where I could see it.

"Food!" I barked out in joy as I ran over to it. My tail wagging excitedly. I just realized that I haven't eaten all day!...But...But, it's dog food! Dog food is disgusting! I don't want to eat that! I would never eat that in a thousand years!

"Oh come now Max, aren't you hungry?" Joe asked me with fake sadness. "I mean, it's vegetarian and it's just the thing for a growing dog like yourself. Unless...You're willing to admit that you aren't a dog."

"I'm not a dog!" I growled at him in anger. "I'm only acting like a dog because you're making me!" I yelled out normally.

"Twi-err-Max! You said something normal! Keep going! I think that if you admit that this is all real, then you'll stop!" Spike pleaded. Hoping that I would finally break and admit that Joe was right about something that I wasn't.

"Yes Max." Joe agreed. Making me look towards him. "Please. Admit that this is all real. I'd love to hear that from you." He said with a small, victorious smirk.

"Never!" I growled once again. Making me start whimpering at how I was speaking like a dog again.

"Well in that case. Enjoy your food Max." He said, pointing towards the bowl of dog food. I looked towards it as it all seemed so messed up. Half of me was telling me to eat it, while the other half was trying to hold me back. But regardless, I slowly walked over to the bowl and started lowering my head to it. Every second felt like torture as the dog food got closer to my mouth.

"Max please! Just say sorry!" Spike asked, hoping that I would. Still, I got closer to it. And smelling it just once, I already felt kind of sick since it had that dry dog food smell.

"Bon appetite...Max." Joe said, watching as I opened my mouth to start eating it. And slowly, I caught one pellet in between my teeth and rose my head. It all felt so degrading. So messed up. But I bit into the dog food anyway and started chewing it.

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And afterwards, I immediately spat it out. "FINE! Fine, I admit it!" I yelled out in desperation. "I'm sorry that I thought you were lying about what all you could do! I'm sorry I didn't trust you when I had no actual reason to do so! And I'm sorry that I called you an idiot!"

I gave Joe a desperate look. Hoping that he would just end this. "Well...That's one out of three. I guess that warrants a slight cooperation from my part. Pixel." He said out of nowhere, looking towards me as he said it. "What is your name?"

Desperately wanting to go back to normal, I tried to answer. "T-wi-ligh-t?" I said, sounding out the word so awkwardly it almost seem like I was trying to speak a different language. But hearing myself say my name. My actual name! I just smiled in joy! "My name is Twilight Sparkle!" Sparkle! Sparkle! Sparkle!" I kept yelling out. Hoping around the fire pit like a little school filly.

"So it is." Joe nodded in agreement. "But you might not want to cheer yet. You still have two more things to say to me. And I suggest you hurry, because your friends are probably having a worse time than you were." He gestured towards all of them to show me what he meant.

Rainbow Dash was now starting to talk as prim, girly, and proper as a beauty obsessed Canterlot pony. All while doing her mane up with manespray, and admiring herself in the pool's reflection.

Rarity was now not only oinking, but squealing like the happiest pig in Equestria. Going as far as to start digging into the ground and just roll around for the heck of it.

Not only that, but it looked like Applejack was doing the worst out of all of them. She finally walked back onto the patio, but her ponytail bands were missing, her hat was about to fall off, her eyes dilated, and to top it off she was starting to mutter like she belonged in an insane asylum.

"You mean that they're..." I started, figuring out just what was happening to them. Which was the same thing that was happening to me before.

"Yes. They're merely watching themselves do all of this. I temporarily took away their ability to hear. Or at least, hear anything aside from what they're doing. So they can't hear us talking. But they can see, feel, taste, and smell just fine. And just like what happened to you, they have no control of what they're doing or saying. Ms. Dash is probably screaming right now for her body to stop putting on all those beauty supplies. Ms. Rarity's probably crying on the inside. And I'd say that Ms. Applejack's either extremely confused or ticked off right now. See for yourself. All you have to do is look them in the eyes, and you'll see it in an instant."

Wanting to see just what he was talking about, I teleported right beside Rainbow Dash. And leaning in front of her, I looked into her eyes. They didn't even twitch in response. It was like they didn't notice I existed. But waving my hoof in front of her face, she started twitching for a few seconds. Stopping her actions for only a few seconds before shaking her head and going back to putting on more make-up.

"She's...She's trying to stop!" I yelled out. "I saw her stop! What's happening to her?!" I really wanted to know this. Rainbow Dash would never do this on her own free will...None of us would do any of this...Unless we were forced to do so!

"Tell me this Ms. Sparkle. When you thought you were a dog, were you debating your decisions? Questioning why your tail was wagging, or why you sat down?" He asked me. And seeing my reluctant nod, he went on. "What I did was hypnotize you into altering your personality. When a personality is altered, you start questioning what you're doing. Everything from your mind, your opinions, even your conscience starts to question itself. Leading to a mental issue known as MPD. Otherwise known as Multiple Personality Disorder."

"So when part of me wanted to listen to you as if you were my 'master', that meant that part of me was convinced that I was a dog?" I asked with a bit of fear.

"To be fair, your hypnosis was probably the quickest to take affect because of how the human mind, and by extension possibly an Equestrian pony's mind, has some canine instincts. So that was your canine mind taking much more control than before." Joe informed me, giving credit where it was due.

"Hypnosis, as much as I hate to admit it, sounds like a very flawed science Joe." I told him. And in doing so, admitting that hypnosis was truth. Which I was kind of forced to admit since it was either that or say that I acted like a dog and obeyed his every command by my own free will.

"Yes. It's a skill that can be abused. Which means that if someone power-hungry knew hypnosis, it wouldn't end with happy conclusions. That's why I seldom use it like this, unless it's to make a point. Now what say that we go ahead and free them of their trances Ms. Sparkle? No doubt you'll want to see how they respond first glance." He said, figuring that I'd want to see how it works since I put science in high regard.

"Sure. How do you break them from...Their trances?" I asked, keeping that word in mind. He then held up a small sign that read "Say the word 'Welcome'." And seeing why he wrote it, I nodded and went to Rainbow Dash first to see how it all worked.

If I was right, it looked like she was at war with herself like I was. Except instead of fighting her canine self, she was probably fighting a feminine side of herself. Except that her feminine side was most likely a bigger impact than it normally should have been. She looked happy to be applying all those beauty products. Not only that, but the make-up all looked professional. As if it was Rarity or the Spa Ponies that did it. Was that from the hypnosis, or did Rainbow Dash already know how to do that?

Whatever the case may be, she was trying to stop herself and was probably losing it on the inside. Meaning that it was time to put an end to this. "Welcome." I said, watching as Rainbow Dash flinched to a halt. And after blinking a few times, she looked down at the hoof nail polish she was about to put on her hooves. Slowly, she dropped it before any harm could come from it. Then after doing that, she leaned towards the pool and looked at her reflection. She had red lipstick, mascara, eye shadow, blush, and pretty much every other make-up there was on her face.

She went wide-eyed as she looked at herself. And before she could even say anything about it, she dunked her head into the pool and desperately started scrubbing the make-up off of her. Leaving a colorful mess of products to start lingering in the pool water.

"Spike, quick! Help me get the others!" I yelled out, now not wanting to waste a second to free the others. Rainbow Dash hadn't even said anything yet, and already she acted very scared about what she's been doing. I can only imagine how the others are acting!

"On it!" Spike yelled out, running towards Rarity to free her. But not before passing by Pinkie. "Welcome-" He yelled at her. Simply making her open her eyes and look around with a smile on her face. Acting as if nothing was wrong at all. Not stopping to explain it to her though, he kept running towards Rarity and stopped at the side of the mud puddle. "WELCOME!" He yelled out, loud enough for not only Rarity to hear, but for Applejack to hear him and snap out of it.

"Wha-huh?! What!...What happened?!" Applejack asked as she jumped up. No longer looked completely destroyed over the fact. Just extremely confused.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! WHY?! WHY HAVE I BEEN ROLLING AROUND IN MUD?!" Rarity screeched out in complete fear as she looked around. Spotting the pool and running for it as fast as she possibly could. And upon getting to the edge, she didn't even waste a second as she jumped up and cannonballed into the middle of the pool in hopes that the mud will come off.

Seeing how most of us were okay and back to normal, I sighed in relief as we were almost done. "Okay! All that leaves now is Blitz and Flutter-" "WOAH! FLUTTERSHY, STOP!"

All of us, not counting Rainbow Dash and Rarity, all looked towards the right as we saw Blitz running towards the patio. With Fluttershy following right behind with his tail in her hooves. Using it as a weapon against Blitz as she chased him. "Joe, what did you do to Fluttershy?!" Blitz asked as he ran up the patio and tripped on the final step. Falling on his face and flopping just a few more feet afterwards.

"Blitz?! How's come you're back to normal?" I questioned, watching as Fluttershy landed at the top of the steps. Blitz's tail in her mouth for her to use as a sword against him. Blitz, tried standing up, but fell back to the ground as he held his foot in pain.

"I think he heard you! See?!" Pinkie pointed out, holding up Blitz's discarded ear from earlier. "His ear was here the entire time!"

"Not so tough now, are ya chump?!" Fluttershy asked with as menacing a voice as she could muster through the tail as she kept walking towards Blitz. Blitz, not able to stand up to run or fly away, started to slowly crawl backwards to try and get away. "Now yer gonna get it." She started raising the tail in the air to slash him with it. Fluttershy was twitching like crazy to signal that she was fighting back as hard as she could, but nothing helped.

"Some pony say the word, quick!" Spike yelled out, too afraid to say it himself.

"Fluttershy, what're you thinkin'?! Drop the tail!" Applejack yelled out, very confused as to why Fluttershy was doing any of this. But Fluttershy didn't pay her any mind, not able to hear her because of the trance. So without hearing us, she got ready to swing the sword-

"WELCOME!" Joe yelled out, stopping us all from just staring at Fluttershy helplessly. "Good Lord, was that so hard?!" He asked, breathing heavily at how nervous he was about how close Fluttershy came to getting Blitz.

Speaking of Fluttershy, she flinched at the word. Showing me that she was back to normal. She looked towards Blitz with wide-eyes, then at the sword-tail that she had in her mouth. And slowly, she realized just what she almost did and let the tail drop to the floor with a clang!

After she stopped trying to hurt Blitz, we all let out a breath that we had each been holding in. All of us dropping to the ground and chairs in relief. The rest of them were recovering from all of what happened to themselves, while I just went over everything that I saw.

Joe was the first ordinary human we've all met, and yet he was the one willing to help all of us with Celestia's mission. And as far as a first impression went, I learned one very important thing about Joe.

Never question his intelligence.

---

Before anyone says so in the reviews, yes. I know. I took forever to write this. Let me go ahead and say sorry on that part. I'm just really backed up. So hopefully to make up for it, I'm going to make way longer chapters like this to try and last longer than most chapters.

That aside, I want to explain something real quick. At the beginning of the chapter, it said this:

ACT I

Enter the Mane Humans!

AND

Introducing: The Honorable Thieves!

Let me try and answer a few questions about it before it comes. ACT I is just the first part of this finale. The three chapters before this was the Prologue. The two titles are just what the ACT is about. So yeah. Expect some Mane Humans, Morgue, and Big Mike soon enough!

So with all that said, I think I'm gonna end it off here! Hope you all liked the chapter, and I will see you all next time! And don't worry! No matter how long it takes, there will be a next time! I can promise you all that!

Goodbye every Brony!

QotC: If you were stuck in the 'Torture Circle' Joe set-up, what do you think you'd be hypnotized into doing?