Monstrous? That might be a bit much. Or a set of different values, rather. With the parasprites, Twilight was under extreme pressure as they’ve been infesting and messing up the town… But there’s been discussions about brainwashing the bats. She found that spell in her freaking public library (along with other brainwashing spells she had there - remember Discord eating all the reformation spells?) Quite clearly, ponies don’t seem to care about mind control for a good cause. And hey, stopping a destructive, unsustainable pest species is a good cause!
Not to mention, these spells being widely available extremely highly implies that they’ve been extensively used before, which would explain the highly abnormal behavior of animals everywhere in Equestria - all animals are completely incapable of doing the basic tasks to take care of themselves, despite seemingly having a close intelligence level to a pony (making their own nests, getting their own food, waking up in Spring, finding their way to migrate south, etc.).
All of that highly implies that they’ve been mentally “neutered” to stop any kind of disruptive behavior for a very long time and quite extensively. Conclusion? Mind control over animals is a very common and daily occurrence in Equestria (or at least it was, until all the animals were tamed). They control the very moon and sun, the laws and seasons of nature, why not the minds of animals?
@beirirangu
Me too. But I feel like the journey of discovery is better with it being unclear what’s going on at first.
@Badumsquish
Man, you brainwash ONE entire species, and suddenly you’re a “monster”. C’mon, she didn’t spend her entire childhood studying magic from the local equivalent of a Sun Goddess just to give ponies mustaches. What’s the point of having a dangerous level of power over space and time if you don’t get to experiment with it from time to time?
@beirirangu
There wasn’t much I could think of to indicate otherwise. In my mind the spell is the “fully realized” version of the cutie mark swap spell from Magical Mystery Cure. The only visible indicators I could come up with are the cutie mark, eyes (which tentacles don’t have), and the little magic “poof”.
@Pagan
This is the same Twilight who decided monstrously and forcibly changing the very mentality of a living (and clearly intelligent) species was a good way to deal with pests.
She could have just hung out Moth Balls: bats can’t stand ‘em and won’t come anything with a bag of them in it.
I just realized that I find it hot seeing the tentacle monster’s expressions. The new feelings going through her is most likely very confusing and very scary.
And as it typical of whenever Twilight attempts a questionable solution like this, the tentacle creature loves it- so much that it becomes far more aggressive in the future.
