Bad Therapy Part 11

Bad Therapy

Chapter XI Face Offs


Vinyl Scratch got to her feet and dusted herself off.  A few feet away, Octavia was doing the same.

“How could you, Vinyl?” Octavia said, once she had recovered enough, “How could you let yourself be freed from Mistress Spiral Swirl’s spell?  Especially after you were such a loyal slave and helped bring all those ponies to Mistress Spiral Swirl’s office to be hypnotized.”

“Don’t remind me,” Vinyl said in disgust.

“Now then, are you going to follow me back to the barn to be re-hypnotized and put this unpleasantness behind us?” Octavia said, before pulling out her cello bow and wielding it like a club, “Or am I going to have to get physical?”

“Tavi, put that thing away,” Vinyl said, as she got into a defensive stance.

“Ha, do you think just because you know karate that I’m afraid of you?” Octavia said, before she charged at Vinyl.

Vinyl sidestepped Octavia’s first strike, before blocking the second one with her front leg.

“Ow,” she said, rubbing her leg, “That kinda hurt.”

“And it will hurt a lot more if you don’t do the sensible thing and give up,” Octavia said, as she prepared strike at Vinyl once more.

“When have I ever been known to do the sensible thing, Tavi?” Vinyl said, as she focused her magic at the bow.

“Hey! Knock it off!” Octavia said, as she got into a surreal tug-of-war match with Vinyl’s telekinesis magic.  

Vinyl eventually won out, tearing the bow from Octavia’s grasp and flinging it to the side.

“You fool!  You could’ve damaged it!  You’re just trying to give me another reason to hate you right now!” Octavia shouted in a rage, as she resorted to trying to kick Vinyl.

Once again Vinyl was able to either sidestep her blows, or block them.  After a mistimed kick on Octavia’s part, Vinyl was able to knock her off her feet.

“Come on, Tavi.  I don’t want to hurt you,” Vinyl pleaded.

“Oh, but I want to hurt you now.  Especially if it will please Mistress Spiral Swirl,” Octavia said, as she charged at Vinyl like a raging beast.

“Sorry to have to do this then,” Vinyl said, as her horn glowed.  She summoned a bubble with several music notes floating in it.  One by one the notes dissipated, letting off a soft musical tone.  When the last one dissipated the bubble popped and a shockwave accompanied by a loud bass note blasted out of it, striking Octavia and sending her flying.   She crashed to the ground and passed out.

“Sorry about that, Tavi,” Vinyl said, walking over to check on her, “Don’t worry, we’ll get you back to normal soon.”

“You shouldn’t have done that,” a voice from behind her said.

“Huh?” Vinyl said, turning to find the source of the voice.  When she did, she saw Octavia’s hypnotized fellow orchestra members, “Oh, this can’t be good.”





Rainbow Dash hovered over the orchard and looked over at the hypnotized Derpy, who was glaring at her.

“You know you can’t win, Derpy,” Rainbow Dash said, “I’m stronger then you, faster then you, a better flyer then you, and I have a black belt in karate.  You don’t stand a chance.”

“I have something you don’t have,” Derpy said, before Dinky popped out of her mail bag, an arrow already loaded into her magical energy bow.

“Whoa!” Rainbow Dash shouted, as she barely dodged the arrow Dinky fired off, “Two against one?  That’s hardly fair.”

“Fairness went out the window the second you chose to betray Mistress Spiral Swirl,” Derpy said, as she bobbed and weaved across the sky, giving Dinky multiple opportunities to get a clean shot at Rainbow Dash.

After dodging the barrage of arrows, Rainbow Dash counterattacked by kicking a cloud, creating a massive surge of lighting that nearly knocked Derpy out of the sky.

“You didn’t let me finish,” Rainbow Dash said, “Two on one might be unfair, but I’ll take both of you on and win!”

Derpy growled in anger, “Two can play at that game!”

She flew to the nearest cloud and kicked it, only for her attack to backfire as lighting arced forth from the cloud and struck her.

“Guess you should leave things to the professions, huh, Derpy,” Rainbow Dash said smiling.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do that again, mommy,” Dinky said, as she looked up at hers and Derpy’s smoking manes.

“Yup, back to the old plan,” Derpy said, as she flew after Rainbow Dash once more, allowing Dinky to take more shots at her.

“You don’t give up, do you?” Rainbow Dash asked, going into a vertical climb.

“Neither rain, nor snow, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor muffins will keep me from helping my Mistress achieve her goals,” Derpy said, as she pulled into a vertical climb behind Rainbow Dash.

“You left out freezing rain,” Rainbow Dash said, as she flew through a cloud.  Upon doing so, the cloud turned grey and immediately started pelting Derpy with freezing rain.

“Oh no!” Derpy cried, as she found her wings being weighed down by an icy buildup.  She struggled to gain control, but the buildup became too much and she went into a nosedive towards the orchard.  By the time she reached the ground, she and Dinky were encased in a giant ice cube.

Rainbow Dash landed beside them.

“See, what’d I tell ya?” she said in a boastful tone.  She then noticed a strange whirring sound coming towards her, “Really? Come on?”

She quickly leaped into the air, just barely avoiding Scootaloo’s scooter kamikaze attack and in one fluid motion grabbed the hypnotized filly off the scooter before landing.

“Sorry, squirt, but I easily just won a two on one fight.  You didn’t stand a chance going one on one with me.”

“What about a six on one fight?” Scootaloo said.

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash said, before a hypnotized Thunderlane, Rumble, Flitter, Cloudchaser, and Blossomforth emerged from the shadows, “Oh, I see now.  Well you all can bring it!”



Rarity stood in a small clearing across from Doctor Whooves.

“Well well, if it isn’t Unreliable Rarity,” Doctor Whooves said.

Not approving of her new moniker, she shot him a death glare.

“First you weren’t around to alter my suit for Cranky and Matilda’s wedding…”

“I was fighting a bugbear,” Rarity said in annoyance.

“…and now you’ve broken free of Mistress Spiral Swirl’s hypnotic spell,” he continued.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Rarity said, her annoyance continuing to grow.

“It is a very bad thing, and if you don’t come back with me to be re-enslaved, I’ll be forced to break this,” Doctor Whooves said, holding up an hour glass.

Upon seeing it, Rarity burst out laughing, “Darling, that’s not how you threaten somepony.  That thing is so tacky; you’ll be doing the world a favor by destroying it.”

“If I do, then you’ll be frozen in time.”

Rarity stopped laughing, “What?”

“That’s right, when I break this hourglass, you’ll be frozen in time.  Time will go by normally for everypony else.  Sweetie Belle will grow up, seasons will change, new fashion trends will emerge, but you will remain, unmoving, unaging, unchanging…forever.  In fact, I like the sound of that,” Doctor Whooves said, as he flung the hour glass to the ground.

“Noooo!” Rarity shouted, throwing her hooves up in horror as the hour glass broke into a shower of sparks and sand.  After a few seconds though she realized something, “Wait, I’m not froz…..”

Her words was cut off by Doctor Whooves delivering a surprise kick that knocked the wind out of her.

She coughed and hacked as she recovered from the blow.

“That was a dirty, dirty trick.  How uncivilized,” she declared.

“And you fell for it,” Doctor Whooves said, as he attempted to kick her again.

She dove out of the way of the kick, “Hmmph, if that’s how you’re going to play, I guess it’s time to show you a few tricks I have up my sleeves.”

“You, a fashion designer?” he scoffed, “And what ‘tricks’ might those be?”

“Allow me to enlighten you,” Rarity said, as she cast an illumination spell, causing the tip of her horn to glow with a bright ball of light.

“Gah!” Doctor Whooves cried, as he shielded his eyes with his leg.

Rarity took that opportunity to levitate a green ring from her saddlebag and place it around his raised up leg.

Recovering from being blinded by the light, he looked at the ring in confusion.

“What is this thing?” he asked.

The ring glowed and a small length of crystal grew out of it, covering a part of his leg.

“Great wickering stallions! What is this thing!?” he cried with concern.

“Oh, it’s just a little trick of the trade,” Rarity said, enjoying the moment, “A little thing for clients that want a specialized extra radiant look.  It’s called creeping crystal.”

The ring glowed again, causing the growth of crystals to grow larger, encasing half of Doctor Whooves’ leg.  He attempted to punch Rarity with his unaffected front leg, but she dodged the blow.

 The ring glowed again, and the crystals grew to encase his other front leg and part of his chest.
“Gah! It’s creeping faster!” he cried out.

“It does tend to do that,” Rarity said, as the crystal grew to encase his torso, “I wouldn’t use it if my clients had to wait for a lengthy process.”

Doctor Whooves glared at her, as the crystal encased his back legs.  At that point the ring stopped glowing and became inert.

“Now at this point, I’d carve out around my client the look they specified beforehand, but in your case, I think you’re fine the way you are.”

“And you called my trick dirty,” Doctor Whooves shouted at her, as she started to walk away.

“Normally I wouldn’t sink to such a level, but even my generosity has its limits,” Rarity said.
She continued to walk away, before several loops of yarn wrapped around her, attempting to ensnare her.

“I see you’re going for the ironic approach,” Rarity said, before using her magic to blast away the yarn, “Sorry to spoil your plans, Sweetie Belle.”

“Darn it,” Sweetie Belle said, emerging from the shadows, “I wanted to take you back to Mistress Spiral Swirl.”

“I hate seeing you like this,” Rarity said in disgust, “I can never forgive myself for helping her place you under her spell.”

She heard a twig snap behind her  and turned to see the flower trio standing there.

“Oh no, Rarity’s encased Doctor Whooves in a crystal prison and she won’t let her sister take her back to Mistress Spiral Swirl to be hypnotized again,” Daisy said.

“The horror, the horror!” Lily cried out.

“Come on girls, let’s help her experience a little horror of her own,” Roseluck said.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me!” Rarity shouted.



Applejack ran along a path through the orchard, ducking out of the way of another one of Big Mac’s powerful kicks.

“Come on, Big Mac, we’re family.  Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” she said.

“Nope,” he replied, attempting to kick his sister again.

“Golly, I forgot just how deep of a hold she had on our minds,” Applejack said, as she dodged again.

She continued to run along through the orchard, Big Mac matching her move for move.  When he went to kick her again, she met the kick with a buck of her own, causing the two of them to go flying as a result of the ensuing power clash.

“Whoa nelly, that was a rough one,” Applejack said, getting to her feet, “Whoa!”

She dove out of the way of a wheelbarrow Big Mac had kicked at her.  

“What are you trying to do, take my head off?!” Applejack shouted at him.

“Eeyup,” he said, flashing a sadistic grin at her.

Fearing for her life more then ever, Applejack took off towards a specific part of the orchard.  When she got there, she paused in front of a tree to wait for him.  She didn’t have to wait long.

“You know, Big Mac,” Applejack said, upon seeing him approach, “If I were to be perfectly honest, I reckon I was a much better hypnotized slave to Spiral Swirl then you are.”

Big Mac flared his nostrils at her insult.

“Because no matter how deeply I was hypnotized, I’d still be able to recognize what part of the orchard I was in and know not to stand where you were,” she said, before bucking the tree behind her.  The kick to the tree’s trunk resulted in a hail of zap apples falling on Big Mac, each one delivering its signature shock.

When they were all done, he stood in a state of confusion, his mane standing on end.  He then promptly collapsed to the ground.

“Sorry I had to do that.  That rotten Spiral Swirl’s gonna pay,” Applejack said, before she noticed a movement behind her, “Don’t even think about it!”

“Aw, phooey,” Applebloom said, as she stopped mid-kick from hitting the zap apple tree, “Guess we’ll have to this the hard way.”

Applejack chuckled at her little sister’s attempts to sound tough, “Oh really, and what’s the ‘hard way’”

“We are,” Filthy Rich said, as he, Spoiled Rich, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon emerged from the shadows.

“Awww horse apples,” Applejack muttered.



In another corner of the orchard, Lyra fired a magic blast at the ground in front of Fluttershy.

“Yeep!” Fluttershy cried, as she stepped back.

“Alright, Fluttershy, here’s what’s going to happen, ” Lyra said, emphasizing each word with another magic blast directed at the ground in front of Fluttershy, “You’re going follow me back to the barn, you’re going to be hypnotized by Mistress Spiral Swirl again, and you’re going to help us get your friends back under her control.”

Fluttershy looked at the smoldering blast marks in the ground before saying, “I’m sorry, but I don’t want any of that to happen.”

“I’m sorry, but I thought you’d want to be Mistress Spiral Swirl’s hypnotized slave again,” Lyra said, before firing off another blast.

“Yeeep!” Fluttershy cried again, “No, I don’t.  In fact, there are a lot of things I’d rather be, like a tree or even a vampire fruit bat pony again.”

“Oh, and how is being a vampire fruit bat pony better then being a hypnotized slave?” Lyra said in mocking tone.

“Well for one thing, even after I was no longer a vampire fruit bat pony, they still recognize me as one of their own, and right now they don’t like that you’ve been firing magic blasts at me,” Fluttershy said, as she pointed up with her hoof.

“Huh?” Lyra said, as she looked up to see several pairs of glowing eyes in the trees above.
A series of screeches filled the night as a swarm of vampire fruit bats emerged from the trees and descended upon Lyra.

Lyra screamed in terror as she ran off, pursued by the bats.

“They’re in my mane! They’re in my mane!” she screamed.

Fluttershy watched the scene unfold in front of her and found herself chuckling slightly.
“Oh my, I really shouldn’t laugh at something like that,” she said.

“You really shouldn’t,” a voice from behind her said.

Fluttershy turned around and found herself face to face with Nurse Redheart, Healing Touch, and several other hypnotized nurse ponies.

“Alright girls, let us first do some harm,” Nurse Redheart said, glaring at Fluttershy.

“Yeeep!” Fluttershy cried once more.




Pinkie Pie and Bon Bon stood across from each other, any attempt at a stare down halted by Pinkie insisting on making funny faces.

“This isn’t a fight you can win,” Bon Bon said, “I’m a highly trained operative and loyal slave to Mistress Spiral Swirl.”

“Well I guess you’re right and….Oh my, what the heck is that?!” Pinkie exclaimed, as she pointed to something behind Bon Bon.

“What? What is what?” Bon Bon said, as she turned around, only to find herself face to face with Pinkie Pie.

“Hi, Bon Bon,” Pinkie said happily.

“Pinkie? What? How did you?” Bon Bon said in confusion.

“Oh, I just came to warn you I accidentally spilled a bottle of Mrs. Cake’s Sweet Sweet Ooey Gooey Super Sticky Syrup.  It’s super good, but if we put more then one drop in a recipe it might cause a pony’s mouth to be stuck shut! Then they’d have to go around all ‘mmmph mmmph mmmmmmmmphhhhhh!’” Pinkie said, mimicking a pony with a glued shut mouth.

“Thanks for the warning, now let’s go…” Bon Bon said getting annoyed, before she noticed something wet wash over her legs, “What the?”

She turned her head, only to see Pinkie standing next to an overturned bottle.

“Sorry, Bon Bon,” Pinkie said.

“How did you?” Bon Bon said, growing even more confused.  She tried to move her legs, but found they were stuck fast to the ground, “What is this?”

“I told you, I accidentally spilled a bottle of syrup,” Pinkie said.

“I thought you were telling me about something that happened at the bakery.  Not something you did behind me when you were standing in front of me,” Bon Bon said, still confused over just how Pinkie managed to do all this.

“Nope, sorry about that,” Pinkie said, before turning and walking away, “Sorry I can’t stick around.”

“Pinkie!” Bon Bon shouted in anger over the pun.

Pinkie ignored her and walked away humming.  She stopped dead in her tracks when Ebony Darkness shadow jumped out of her shadow and landed in front of her; she was followed by Shadow Dancer.  

“Where do you think you’re going?” Ebony said, as she used her magic to throw a shuriken into the ground in front of Pinkie.

“Whoa!” Pinkie said, backing up only to bump into another pony behind her.  She turned to see she had bumped into Mr. Cake, who was standing next to Mrs. Cake.

“This party’s just getting started,” Mrs. Cake said.

“I don’t think I like this party,” Pinkie said.




Blissful Trance was still back at the barn, looking down at the orchard.  Down below she could hear the sounds of the simultaneous fights going on.

“What should I do?” she said, thinking out loud, “Should I stay here?  Should I go find Vinyl?  I think I’ve recovered enough; maybe I could go and use my Hypno Magic to free another pony from Spiral Swirl’s hypnosis. Should I…gah!”

Her monologue was cut short by a magic blast knocking her off her feet.  When she got back up, she turned around to see an angry Spiral Swirl glaring at her.  Spiral Swirl’s horn glowed as she fired another magic blast at the young filly, sending her flying.

“Owwwww,” Blissful Trance moaned, as she got back up.

“ ‘She doesn’t like the idea getting inside somepony’s head and taking control so she rarely uses it,’ your sister said that about your Hypno Magic when I first hypnotized her.  When she said that, I felt that since you didn’t live in Ponyville and you didn’t like using your magic, you weren’t a threat to my plans.  Now that I’ve seen the damage you’ve caused, I should’ve removed you from the equation as soon as possible,” Spiral Swirl, before she blasted Blissful Trance again.

What do I do? ?What do I? Wait…I need to do what I’ve been doing all night, using my magic to help ponies.  If she thought I caused damage to her plans before, she hasn’t seen anything yet, Blissful Trance thought with a renewed determination, she shut her eyes and her horn glowed, Focus. Concentrate. Project!

When she reopened her eyes, they were once again grey and red spirals.

“What in the?” Spiral Swirl said.

“Please look into my eyes,” Blissful Trance said.

“Your eyes. They’re…”

“How I hypnotize ponies with my Hypno Magic.  Please look into them and relax for me,” Blissful Trance said, making sure Spiral Swirl wasn’t looking away.

“Yes…relax…” Spiral Swirl said, her voice going quiet.

“Please relax more and more for me.  Let my magic wash over you.  Let yourself go into hypnosis for me, please.”

“Yes…I will…NOT go into hypnosis,” Spiral Swirl said in her normal tone, as she flashed a sadistic grin at Blissful Trance.

“What?!” Blissful Trance said, backing up in shock.

“I can’t believe how naïve you are,” Spiral Swirl said, “Here you’ve been gifted one of the most powerful magics known to unicorn-kind, but you don’t know one of its biggest limitations: unicorns that use Hypno Magic, can’t hypnotize other unicorns that use it.”

“Oh no,” Blissful Trance said, her determination fading away to fear.

“Sure they can use their Hypno Magic to counteract other Hypno Magic users’ hypnosis, as you’ve so annoyingly demonstrated, but they will never be able to hypnotize the hypnotists.  Now then, it’s time to remove you as a threat until I can re-hypnotize those that you’ve freed from my spell and finish enslaving Ponyville,” Spiral Swirl said, her horn glowing bright as she charged an extra powerful magic blast.

“No!” Blissful Trance cried, as she shut her eyes and threw up her front hooves in a vain attempt to shield herself.

She kept that position for a few seconds, finally opening her eyes and lowering her hooves when the impact from the blast never came.  Looking around, she noticed a purple magic shield covering her.

“Where’d that come from?” Blissful Trance asked, before the shield started to fade away.  Once it was gone, she noticed a presence standing next to her.  She let out a small gasp when she saw it was an extremely angry Twilight.

“Spiral Swirl,” Twilight declared, “This madness ends, right now!”