Hivemind Control

Celestia laid the tablecloth across the table. She would be in a conference room for her date with Dip tonight, as she didn't need a grand dining hall for a one-on-one. While she didn't need to personally be the one setting the table, she wanted to tell him that she'd at least done something.

"Are you going to allow me to meet him?" smiled Luna, setting out some flatware. "He sounds like a bit of a hunk, the way you describe him."

"Keep your hooves to yourself," smirked Celestia. "You have your own."

"Yeah, but he's out of town tonight. Trying to upscale his orchard."

Celestia looked up as Luna was distributing the silverware. "Careful with those knives. You have enough problems with your legs, I don't want you coming to any more harm."

Luna's rash had spread over the last week. On her right front leg, it was just past her elbow. To her left, it was almost to her shoulder. It was also starting to form near her knees and hips. She'd taken off her bandages to show Celestia yesterday, and the boils were grotesque. They seemed to be following the rash, but the bad ones on her hooves had decreased in size. a few of them had completely cleared out, leaving small cavities where they had been.

It had been missed the first time due to her dark coat masking it, but around the edges of the boils, disappearing or not, there were dark rings, almost black. They were hard to see against the midnight blue of her coat, but under a bright surgical light, they'd appeared. Luna admitted to the surgeon that the area felt very tender, but not painful.

"I know, Tia," nodded Luna. "I'll be using that new topical medication tonight to see if it actually does anything."

"Let me help you," said Celestia, setting the last of the candles on the table. "I still have some time before Dip is supposed to arrive."

With a nod, the two adjourned to Luna's room, where a fresh bowl of herbal ointment was sitting on a bedside table, along with a clean roll of bandages. Luna sat down and unspooled her current bandages, revealing that two more boils had popped and were sinking into her flesh.

First came a rag with some hot, soapy water. The area needed to be cleaned thoroughly. As she was dabbing at the boils, Celestia found that the darkened skin was very hard, almost solid, but where the boils had been had left the flesh very soft. The doctor had called this a compaction brought on by the boils pressing against each other, pushing the skin together outside and stretching it thin on the inside.

"At least some of these seem to be healing," confirms Celestia. "Hopefully, this won't last too long."

"It's only been a week and a half. Give the medicines some time to work."

"The first one didn't work."

"We didn't know that it wouldn't, yet."

"We don't know if this one's going to work, either."

Luna rolled her eyes. "And we won't if you don't apply it already. Did you want to help, or not?"

With Luna's leg now clean, Celestia scooped up a gob of ointment in her hoof and began to slather it on. She hadn't applied it yet, and hadn't directly touched Luna's skin. It was only through a rag or bandage so far. She expected it to be scaly, as it appeared to be, but it was actually very smooth. The compacted skin felt like polished wood that was somehow still kind of flexible. It only felt scaly at her joints, where the movement had kept her skin from becoming too hard.

She wasn't quite sure if it was the ointment against her own hoof, or perhaps some secretion from Luna's boils, but Celestia's hooves began to tingle on contact with her sister. It wasn't an uncomfortable feeling, but she was mildly disturbed that she couldn't quite place the feeling. She'd felt it before, but wasn't sure where.

After the ointment was firmly rubbed on, Celestia wrapped Luna's leg in a bandage, tying it off at the shoulder. She then started on the other leg. "I'm sorry your stallion of choice is away, Lulu. I know I've been flaunting mine all week, and that's not the best behaviour I could be displaying. When does he come back?"

"Cosmo should be back tomorrow afternoon, barring any delays. Why?"

"I want to invite him to dinner. To put aside my animosity and apologize. I see you suffering an unknown rash, and you look to be stressed. If he can make you happy, I want him here as soon as possible. Perhaps the lack of stress could slow the rash."

Luna smiled. "That's very kind of you, Tia." Wrapping her bandaged hoof around Celestia's shoulder, she pulled her into a half-hug.

"Of course, if he makes your rash worse, I'll have to separate you two."

Luna burst into a laugh. "There's the overprotective sister I know and love."

With both hooves slathered and wrapped, Celestia moved to Luna's hips. These were a bit awkward to do, as Luna had to stand and Celestia had to be behind her. If Luna had applied it herself, she would have started there, before her hooves were bandaged. She'd had a nurse to help her with it, earlier.

Celestia washed the ointment off of her hooves, sealing the bowl with a lid to ensure that the solution didn't dry out. She opened her mouth to speak, but a knock at the door interrupted her. She walked over and opened it, and there stood Dip, wearing a short-sleeved blouse and minimalist vest. The price tag had been removed from the vest, but the little plastic pin that held it on was still there, as was one of the stickers on his shirt displaying the size. He obviously hadn't worn these clothes before.

"One of the guards said you were in here," he said, glancing around. "Is this your bedroom?"

"You weren't kidding about him being a hunk," smiled Luna, licking her lips. "Though his wardrobe needs work. Let's take off that shirt and fi--"

Celestia pushed Luna back, stepped into the hall and closed the door. "Not a word to anyone about what my sister just said to you," she scowled. "She's suffering from an illness that's affecting her mind. You're to keep quiet about that, too."

Dip nodded. "I mean, I'd heard something about her being ill, but I've suddenly forgotten. Do you even have a sister?"

Celestia patted his cheek. "Good boy." As she drew her hoof away, she noted that the tingling in her hooves was still there.