Hivemind Control

Twilight was awoken the next morning by a blast of cold air washing across her body. The sudden cold caused her so much discomfort that she shivered, pulling her sleeping bag tighter around her to no avail. As she sat upright to see the source, she noticed that Applejack was gone, and the tent flap was half open.

Poking her head out, she could see that it wasn't yet time to raise the sun. Applejack was over the firepit, mucking about with some of last night's unused firewood. A few sparks kicked up, and the camp began to glow softly as the fire started.

"Starting breakfast?" groaned Twilight, hobbling over.

"Did I wake ya?"

"Yeah."

Applejack scratched the back of her neck. "Sorry 'bout that. If ya want, you can go on back to bed. It'll be a bit before breakfast is ready."

Twilight waved her hoof. "I'm already up. Pinkie said something yesterday about pancakes. Can we do that for her?"

Applejack looked at her stock of ingredients. "If she's okay with nonfat dairy solids instead of milk, I suppose. Not as good, but we didn't really bring a cow with us on this excursion."

Twilight sat down next to the fire and extended her hooves toward it. "I guess that means no whipped cream."

"I'll make her some brown sugar syrup. Pretty sure that'll make her happy enough."

After a few more minutes by the fire, Applejack pulled a few of the logs out to serve as coals, over which she would cook breakfast. Her cast iron grill from last night, flipped over, was a large griddle that would do a fantastic job of making pancakes. She also pulled out a mixing bowl and several dry ingredients, along with water and eggs. "Ya know, If Pinkie had said somethin' about pancakes yesterday, I'd'a made her a bannoch."

"She did say it yesterday."

"Not to me."

"Well, better late than never."

As Applejack began mixing up the dry ingredients, Twilight looked into the fire. They'd been out here for two full days, now, and were about to start their third. Even if they weren't going very fast, they were way off the original path. The way they were going, they'd need to do some serious backtracking to end up at Ponigsburg. The only thing keeping her from calling off this whole thing and returning to examine the original road more closely were her trust in her friends, and the fact that the princesses had yet to be found.

Applejack quietly hummed a tune as she poured little puddles of thick batter onto the griddle. As they quietly opened up across the hot metal, Twilight smiled. She had to remember to thank Spike for this when she made it back to Canterlot. Had she been out here on her own, she wouldn't even have made it this far, much less had the expanded cuisine. Fruit leather was fine, but it was nothing compared to the hazelnut apple butter it was made from.

After raising the sun, Twilight went to wake up Fluttershy and Rainbow. Fluttershy was once again missing, but Rainbow seemed well-rested, and recovered from last night's incident. "Morning already?"

"I figured you'd be up by now," smiled Twilight. "I take it you're feeling better?"

"Yeah." Rainbow stretched out and popped her various joints. "Just needed to rest for a bit and my back was all fixed up."

"Really?"

"Well, don't tell anypony," she whispered, "but Fluttershy gave me a massage last night that really helped."

"Where is she, anyway?"

"She said something about going to find a bird or something. Probably planning out our next move. Like yesterday. She'll be back by the time breakfast is ready."

"Breakfast is ready."

With a soft chuckle, Rainbow followed Twilight out of the tent and into the main clearing. As she sat down, Pinkie and Rarity made their way out of the tent. Pinkie's hair was especially poofy this morning. "And the longer you leave them in, the more they'll try to hold their form," smiled Rarity. "They were all the rage a few decades ago."

"I can't believe that it does my mane while I'm sleeping!" giggled Pinkie. "That's so coo-- PANCAKES!!" In a flash of pink, Pinkie zipped over to Applejack with her plate and fork at the ready, her eyes wide as saucers as the first two flopped onto it, only to be smothered seconds later in brown sugar syrup.

"Now then," sighed Applejack, turning to the others. "How are we feelin' today?"

"Much better than yesterday," smiled Rarity. "I know I wasn't quite myself, but now I am. Just feeling a bit of pressure, which has since been alleviated."

"I'm feeling better, too," smiled Fluttershy landing nearby. "It took so much effort to glean anything from the locals yesterday. This morning, a badger gave me some spectacular news. Well, not so spectacular for him, but great for us, and he wasn't hurt, just scared."

"What'd he say?" asked Rainbow.

"A little over a week ago, he saw a dark blue carriage pulled by a big white unicorn headed that way." She pointed southwest, the direction they were going. "The very next day, he was almost run over by an identical carriage, but white, pulled by a pink alicorn. Both Luna and Celestia came this way, and we're still following their path."

"That is spectacular news!" smiled Twilight. "We may not be catching up, but at least we know we're going the right way."

"Unfortunately," continued Fluttershy, "I was unable to discern whether or not they made any turns, as the badger didn't follow them. They aren't known to be the fastest runners, especially compared to ponies. He actually didn't think anything of it until I asked."

"You did great, Fluttershy," smiled Twilight. "Even if you didn't find all the information, we know more now than we did an hour ago. Presuming that your badger friend is accurate, we should be on the right path."

She couldn't be relieved completely; not yet. She would not let herself stop until she found out what happened. But knowing she was making progress was a comfort she would allow herself to feel. She knew all too well that it was too soon to start celebrating, but having a lead that she could follow was a source of hope. That was enough to keep her moving.