Hivemind Control

Twilight had to wonder if she was actually the one going crazy. If she was going loony, she wouldn't be able to tell because she was going mental. What if the princesses were fine, and she went off on this insane quest because she had made it up? What if Spike was in on it? Even worse, what if she had been misinforming Spike so he would think something was wrong, but it was really just her own mind? What if she'd lied to her friends to convince them to go on this bizzare adventure just to placate her own imaginings? What if she wasn't even a princess and had just gone crazy from reading too many books years ago?

Seeing her whipping herself into a panic, Applejack placed a hoof on her shoulder. "You overthinkin' things again, Sugarcube?"

Twilight took a deep breath. "You'd tell me if this whole mess was just made up by me, right?"

Applejack looked up to the clouds above. "Pretty sure I would, if I could tell. Did ya make it all up?"

Twilight shook her head. "I don't think I did, but... Maybe I'm wrong."

"I don't think you'd make this up," she assured. "If ya did make it all up, ya did a dern fine job. Ya convinced all these animals to lie to Fluttershy, convinced all the guards at the castle to lie to Equestria, and had the newspapers print very convincin' lies. If your goal was ta pull the wool over my eyes, congratulations. I truly do think something went horribly wrong. But if you're tellin' us the truth, then all the evidence is agreein' with ya. And I find that it's easy to believe a claim with evidentiary support."

Twilight took a deep breath. "Are you sure?"

"Sure as the day is long. But I will admit that I, too, have been noticing some weird behaviour as of late." She leaned in close and whispered, "You're talkin' 'bout Rainbow, right? She seems lazier today, if that's even possible."

Twilight also looked up. Rainbow had, previously, thought to cover a wider area, and in response to the slower movement of everypony else, had flown in wide circles overhead for a repeating scan of the area. Today, she hovered just over the ground, with her eyes mostly on her hushed conversation with Pinkie, going just as slow as the rest of them. Certainly, she'd injured herself last night, but if she was in too much pain to fly overhead, she shouldn't be flying low to the ground, either.

And Pinkies change in behaviour, while not as drastic or strange, was still troubling. While it was normal for Pinkie to walk, she was inclined to bounce and skip, as well. Perhaps this was not as strange as one might guess, but as Twilight was actively worrying about her friends acting weird, this was a red flag. A small one, but still noticeable.

"It feels awful, accusing your friends of not taking your worries seriously. I don't want to believe that they're taking this lackadaisically, but I can't help it. I just want everypony to be back home and safe. Is that so much to ask?"

"I don't think so," smiled Applejack. "That's what we all want, and what we're all tryin' ta do."

Twilight nodded, lightly weeping. "Thanks, Applejack. You truly are one of the most dependable ponies I know. I'm sorry for leaning on you so heavily for this."

"Oh, stop," she chuckled. "What are friends for, anyhow?"

Twilight was awoken from her nightmare that night by pained shouts and fleshy impacts. She rushed out of the tent she shared with Applejack only to find her in the middle of the camp, illuminated by the creatures she was fighting, whose bodies seemed to have an otherworldly glow.

"Back, you devils!" shouted AJ, bucking one in the chest while trying to hold onto one she'd lassoed. One was already hogtied next to Rarity and Pinkie's tent, likely a quick job from AJ.

Twilight dashed to Rainbow And Fluttershy's tent. AJ couldn't last forever. Either Rainbow would help her smack them down, or Fluttershy would help her convince them to leave. Both were good options.

Unfortunately, the tent was empty when she threw the flaps open. Rainbow and Fluttershy's sleeping bags had been thrown open from the inside, and were still warm, meaning they'd left in a hurry, and recently. While Fluttershy might have rushed off to hide, Rainbow would likely have stayed and helped Applejack.

Turning back to the action, Twilight cast a bright light over the site, illuminating everything so she could see. "Where's Rainbow?!" she called to Applejack.

"Tied up by the tent!" called Applejack in response. With more light on her, Twilight could see that Applejack was not winning. She was only just holding her ground against the three creatures that had jumped her, and not doing a particularly good job. She had a few cuts, and more than a few bruises. But it was the bite marks that really showed her struggle.

A quick glance at the figure Applejack had indicated told Twilight everything she needed to know. The body tied up next to the tent was not Rainbow Dash, at least not right now. It was a changeling. The other three fighting Applejack, also changelings, lightly luminesced in the moonlight. Those were the sources for the strange behaviour of Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy. The only one of her friends to remain constant during this was Applejack, and now she saw why.

As she prepared a spell to blast the changelings off of AJ, a hard blow landed against her back, dropping her to the ground. Whatever it was pinned her wings to the ground, grabbed ahold of her mane, and pressed something sharp and cold against her neck, likely a knife.

"Surrender!" came a changeling voice from behind her. "Drop your hooves and your last remaining princess lives! Keep fighting, and she may find out what the afterlife is like."

Two of the changelings took a step back from Applejack, the third unable to as she'd latched her leg around its neck.

"Let him go, and your precious pony princess is preserved."

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "How do I know you won't just plunge the knife in as soon as I do?"

The changeling behind Twilight chuckled. "What say we both kill our hostages? Equestria loses a princess, and the hive loses a single guard." His grip tightened, and a small trickle of blood ran down the blade of the knife. "We can recoup our losses. You cannot."

Applejack paused for a moment. "If I let him go, can you promise she'll go free?"

"I can."

Taking a deep breath, Applejack released her grip and the changeling scurried away, allowing the other two to approach her and tie her up with her own lasso. "I released your friend. Now, release mine."

"I said I would," chuckled the changeling. "But unlike you, I'm good at lying."

Twilight felt a hard low to the back of her head, and the world turned black.