Hivemind Control

Shining took a deep breath. He was keeping his cards close to his chest, hiding his emotions and putting out an external air of being helpful. On the inside, he was panicking. Cosmo had a strong grip on Luna, and as he conducted his investigation, he noted that she kept deferring to him whenever the question applied to both of them, inferring that he was the one making all of the decisions.

But there was something else that bothered Shining even more than having Luna deferring most of her answers, and that was the confidence with which Cosmo spoke today. Yesterday, he'd been very cautious, trying very hard to not give himself away. Now, he was behaving as if he was untouchable, as though he had read the fake note from Twilight. That, or he could sense his fear.

"Let us say that this illness is cured," continued Shining, genuinely still trying to stabilize the relationship between the princesses. "Let's say the rash goes away, the boils fade, and your skin returns to its unblemished state. If that happens, what happens then?"

"That's a very vague question," retorted Cosmo. "And she can't really answer it because of that. The method of being cured does matter, because it may indicate how she came to be diseased in the first place. All we know about the stallion that stabbed her with the knife before she started to change was that he had blue eyes. We've done all manner of tests. Unless you have information that we don't, I hardly think you're going to be the one to find a cure."

Shining locked eyes with Cosmo. He was a stallion with blue eyes and no history until he had inserted himself into Luna's life. As much as Shining wanted to accuse him now, he was willing to wait for the right moment. "As you have been involved in this for over a month, I'm certain that you know quite a bit more about this disease than I do," he reasoned, his piercing gaze visibly causing Cosmo to twitch, "but I'm catching up. Soon, I will have all of the information I need. Mark me, I will not stop until I find a solution, even if that solution comes from somepony else."

"You have blue eyes," spat back Cosmo. "How do we know that it wasn't you who stabbed her?" Luna's eyes shot open as she glanced from Cosmo to Shining. "You've elevated quite some distance, Prince Shining Armor. You were just a regular unicorn, once upon a time. Since then, you've become a military leader, then a pseudo-royal. That's quite a lust for power you have. How do we know you're not trying to usurp the Equestrian throne?"

Shining had an intense, white hot fury burning behind his smile and his cool, calculating eyes. "Aren't you also a stallion with blue eyes trying to become exceptionally close with one of the princesses of Equestria?" he asked, already knowing the answer. "In fact, let me rephrase that. Did you or did you not have intercourse with both of the longest-running princesses of Equestria?"

"That's not a fair statement!" shouted Cosmo. "They invited me into their beds. That was entirely their idea. I just went along with it. Are you prepared to tell me that if two beautiful mares invited you for sex, you would decline?"

"I'm quite prepared to tell you that I would not," answered Shining. "In fact, I'm prepared to tell you that the mare I'm currently with would not become jealous that I was seeing somepony else on the side, nor would she start a fight over which of them would go in which order. More importantly, your refusal to answer whether or not you even remotely look like the most basic description of the guilty party is very telling. I was trying to relay to you that a great many stallions have blue eyes. Based on a census taken two years ago, if you and I are the only stallions with blue eyes, we can count on Equestria's population to be... about fifty ponies total."

Cosmo narrowed his eyes. "Just what is it you're accusing me of?"

"Deflecting," answered Shining. "I am saying that you were very quick to accuse me with the most basic of evidence."

"You were accusing me!"

"I don't throw around baseless speculation," smirked Shining. "I'll only accuse you of a crime if I'm sure you're guilty. An innocent stallion needs not fear me. Unless, that is, you have something you wish to confess?"

The cell fell silent as the two stallions stared daggers at each other. Shining's emotions had run up and down all over him today, and it was still morning. However, despite his exhaustion, he was beginning to see through Cosmo's defenses. Whatever he was hiding, it would be out in the open very soon, and he would have a better chance of helping Luna.

"Let's move on to the next question," said Luna, breaking the silence. "Or even better, let's take a break. It's obvious that there's still a lot of tension between the two of you, so let's break for tea."

"A splendid idea," smiled Cosmo. "You two wait here. I'll go fetch it."

As Cosmo left the room, he whispered something to the guard at the door, whom Shining had not felt anything from. He could not help but wonder if this was evidence of some sort of conspiracy, but when the guard turned and stepped through the door, he just looked confused. Confused was a good sign; it meant that he wasn't in on the plan, and was just a normal, likely trustworthy, royal guard.

"Now, princess, I wan--" Shining's appeal was immediately cut off by the guard. "What's wrong?"

"I was asked by the other guy to not let you two discuss things until he came back."

"With all due respect, specialist, I believe that it is the princess who decides that."

The guard, unsure of what to do and just trying to follow his instructions, turned to Luna. "Your orders, princess?"

Luna took a deep breath and pursed her lips. "I suppose there's nothing truly stopping our conversation. As you said, Shining, we are the royalty, and we give the orders. If we wanted to, we could carry on a whole conversation. However, Cosmo should be right back, and it would be disrespectful to do so. I think we should wait. What's the worst that could happen?"

"I could hazard a few guesses," huffed Shining under his breath.