Hivemind Control

When Twilight awoke the next morning, Applejack had already relit the campfire and was cooking up breakfast with Rainbow, chatting quietly amongst themselves. Pinkie was snoring audibly from inside the tent she'd shared with Applejack, with the tent flap gently swaying along with her breath. Fluttershy and Rarity's tent was silent.

"Good morning," groaned Twilight, pulling herself out of the tent she'd shared with Rainbow. Groggily, she wobbled over to the fire and took a seat. "Sleep well?"

"Like a log," beamed Applejack, still in a bit of a hushed tone so as not to wake the others. "You?"

"I think I had a twig in my back," grunted Twilight. "Camping without a ground cover was a bad idea."

"I told you we should have slept in the clouds," shrugged Rainbow. "Much more comfortable."

"You also said it would be cold," huffed Twilight. "I don't want to be cold, but I also don't want to sleep with a rock as my pillow."

"Have ya considered using a bedroll?"

Twilight slowly turned to face Applejack. "I was using a sleeping bag."

Applejack smirked and shook her head. She grabbed Rainbow's hoof and slapped a wooden spatula into her grip. "Don't let it burn," she said, tilting her head toward the cast-iron skillet over the fire where some chopped up potatoes were sizzling. She stood up and dipped into her tent, coming out a moment later with a large blocky pad, being careful to keep the balloons Pinkie had inflated to make the night more fun from floating away. "This here's a bedroll. I have an extra, so don't worry about takin' this one. Ya put it under your sleeping bag and it protects ya from the ground. Anything small won't be a problem, so just find a flat enough spot."

Twilight looked over the folding frame. It looked like the bottom of an egg carton. "You're sure it won't be a problem if I take one?"

"The other one's a really old one, a deer hide. This new one's synthetic, and it seems ta work just fine. I was testin' it out last night, ta see if it would serve as a good replacement."

"And?"

"I think I prefer the old way, ta be honest."

Twilight nodded and tucked the block into her tent. She'd pack it up with the rest of her gear when they left. She came back to see Applejack scolding Rainbow as the potatoes were beginning to burn. She quickly dumped in some chopped-up onions, as well, along with a bit of salt.

Soon, breakfast was ready to come off the fire. As soon as it did, Applejack replaced it with a metal kettle full of water. Not wanting anypony to miss out on breakfast, as they wouldn't stop to eat again until nightfall, Twilight decided to start with Pinkie. Moving into the tent, careful not to let the balloons out, she gently shook her awake. "Pinkie? Pinkie? It's time for breakfast."

Pinkie lifted her head and shook her mane into the right amount of poofiness. "Can we do pancakes with whipped cream?"

"No, but Applejack made some skillet potatoes that smell delicious."

Pinkie sighed. "Oh, well. There's always tomorrow."

As Pinkie began packing away her balloons and streamers, Twilight made her way to the last tent. "Fluttershy? Rarity? Are you up yet?" Hearing no answer, she assumed that they were still asleep and poked her head in. What she saw was not what she expected.

"Fluttershy and Rarity are missing," she said, returning to the center of camp. "They're not in their tent. They're gone."

"I'm on it!" called Rainbow, bolting into the air and flying around in wide circles.

"They probably didn't wander too far," reasoned Applejack. "Fluttershy, perhaps, if she was sidetracked by some ornery varmint, but Rarity wouldn't venture too far out into the wild on her own. And I reckon that if they're not close by, It's more likely 'n not that they're together."

As if on cue, Rainbow dove down into the trees and came out with Rarity in tow, dropping her at camp before wordlessly dashing back into the sky to find Fluttershy.

"There's one," smiled Applejack. "Fluttershy'll probably be close. Best eat up now, before it all turns cold on us."

"Where did you go, Rarity?" asked Twilight. "We were worried about you."

"Not that worried," argued Applejack. "We didn't know you were gone until a minute ago."

"If you must know," huffed Rarity, "I had to visit the little fillies' room. Since there is no actual room, I thought to just find a secluded spot, but these squirrels kept chasing me from place to place and watching me. Such reprehensible behaviour."

"Was Fluttershy with you?"

"If she was, she could have convinced the squirrels to look somewhere else."

"So you don't know where she is?"

"She was gone when I woke up. I guessed that she was availing herself of all of this woodland to solve the same issue. By your line of questioning, I would now guess that she has yet to return."

"I still think she's off fraternizin' with some critter. I choose to believe that she's askin' the birds and squirrels and lizards and stuff if they seen any fancy wheeled boxes bein' pulled by a pink alicorn," smirked Applejack, pulling the kettle off the fire. "Who wants coffee, and who wants tea?"

"Coffee!!" shouted Pinkie, bouncing up and down.

"Just tea," smiled Rarity.

"Tea's fine," nodded Twilight.

Applejack added tea leaves to two cups and coffee grounds to two others, all strained through a filter, and poured the boiling water over the top. The filters were biodegradable, so they could just be chucked into the ash pit when they cleaned up camp with no repercussions. Two cups remained for when Rainbow returned with Fluttershy. Before giving Pinkie hers, though, Applejack had to put a hoof on her shoulder and make her promise not to bounce. It was, after all, boiling temperature water. With her assurance, they all took their cups and began eating breakfast. As Applejack suggested, it wasn't more than a few minutes before Rainbow returned with Fluttershy.

"Good news," smiled Rainbow, fixing herself a cup of coffee. "Tell 'em what you heard, Fluttershy."

"I spent the sunrise chatting with an eagle," she began. "Such a nice young thing. She was raised in the area and is very interested in--"

"Yeah, yeah, just cut to the chase, already."

"She saw the princess's carriage pass this way. She watched it for awhile, but lost interest and decided to hunt something more appetizing. Setting out the way we were going, it's left, left, right, and after that, we'll have to start guessing again, but we at least know where to start."

"See, Twi?" smiled Applejack. "I told ya she was cavortin' with critters."