Hivemind Control

Cadance and Dip made their way down to the postmaster in charge of Fort Phalanx. While the princesses could send correspondence back and forth in an instant, and Spike had an optional extra node on that network, everypony else was using the mail system to communicate long-distance. That included the royal physician, unless he took it to Twilight or Spike to send it. It's possible that, if he didn't want to risk sharing that information with them, for some reason, the postal system would take care of it.

Luckily, the report was in the mail, just waiting for her to pick it up. It was marked as urgent. It was also exceptionally heavy, indicating a lot of information about Luna's state leading up to the rash, the data from her samples, treatments given and their results, and peer-reviewed observations. Knowing that she was not trained in medicine, she went straight to the doctor to find out if he had learned anything about Celestia's condition. He'd had all night to look into it, he must have come up with something.

When they arrived, he was passed out on a half-written form at a lab table, with two vials in a centrifuge next to him. He snored softly, clearly in the middle of his sleep. While she wanted answers as soon as possible, she didn't want to overwork him. He was her only hope, after all.

Dip, however, didn't have that aversion. "Wake up!" he shouted, slamming his hoof down on the table. The doctor woke with such a jolt that he fell out of his chair, collapsing to the ground. Cadance bolted in the direction he was falling and barely managed to catch him by the shoulders before his head hit the ground.

"What was that for?!" shouted the doctor as Cadance helped him to his hooves. "Just shaking my shoulder would have worked just fine."

"We can't afford to waste time," said Dip, scowling. "Celestia could be dying, and you're down here napping instead of working on a cure!"

While Cadance found his words to be harsh and crude, she could not bring herself to chastise him for his actions. Perhaps it was her compassion shining through, or her desire to see Celestia recover, but she was somehow finding herself in agreement with Dip. Perhaps he truly loved her, and she was feeling that.

"While I can't agree with his methods of waking you, Dip has a point," she smiled, giving the doctor the file. "We need our princess back, and with your help, we can at least start off on the right hoof. I know you need your sleep, but since you're already up, can we have you compare Luna's notes with Celestia's? It would be a lot of help if you could. Pretty please?"

The doctor took a deep breath in, then yawned it back out. "I suppose I should, but I'll need to go to bed early tonight as a result. I'm the only physician here, and you don't want me falling asleep during surgery."

"Thank you, doctor," smiled Cadance, patting him on the shoulder and kissing his cheek. "You're a credit to your profession."

"And make it fast," warned Dip. "If you can't figure out what's wrong, we can't save her in time."

After Dip made his exit, Cadance excused herself to follow him. "Well, we've done all we can to save her," she sighed. "Nothing to do now but wait."

"I suppose that's all we can ask for," concluded Dip. "I suppose we should pass the time. Any suggestions?"

"How do you normally pass the time?"

"Anymore? Celestia climbs on top of me and uses my--"

"No, no," interrupted Cadance. "What did you do before that?"

"I swam a lot."

"Why don't you do that?"

"No pool."

Cadance put her hoof to her chin. It wouldn't do to let his glistening, well-toned muscles atrophy. All of these guards were doing something to keep in shape. She just had to find out how they were doing it. "Wait here." She galloped over to one of the guards, asked him a few questions, then came back. "I know exactly what we can do to pass the time."

Leading Dip down through the hallways, she took him to a gymnasium where a fair few off-duty guards were training. Weight sets, treadmills, exercise bikes, and all manner of other equipment Cadance couldn't name lined the walls and half-walls, most of them occupied by guards. There were a few still open, notably a resistance machine and a treadmill.

"If you don't have a preference, I should work on my cardio," reasoned Dip. "My stamina needs work."

"That's a real shame," smirked Cadance. "You would be better suited with more longevity."

Dip raised his eyebrow. "Was that... did you just flirt with me?"

"Maybe," she smirked. "What are you going to do about it?"

Dip smirked back. "I'm going to show you just what you're missing. Keep your eyes on this tail, and you'll see exactly what drew your aunt to me in the first place." He hopped on the treadmill and set off at a full gallop, not even taking the time to warm up. Cadance sat down on the resistance machine behind him and set it to something easy. If she was going to be watching him for awhile, she wanted to be able to make it seem as if she were actually working on something.

As she watched his tight arse expand and contract twice per second, she reflected on the morning so far, most notably her opinion of Dip, and how rapidly it had changed. She'd been so upset with him for interrupting her intercourse, but already she was thinking of dragging him back to her room to show him exactly what he had intruded upon. She'd made the same leap before with other stallions, but usually over the course of a week, not in the span of a single morning.

Well, no matter. He had a cute butt. She could almost see why Luna was hitting on Celestia's stallion, as she was guilty of the very same. If Cosmo had a similar charisma, she could potentially see herself competing with both of them for the right to both stallions. The difference was, she knew how to share.