Hivemind Control

Twilight opted out of lunch, despite Applejack's urging. She just didn't feel like eating right now. There would be time later to sate her hunger, preferably when her stomach stopped turning. Cercus, not wanting to slow the tour any further through his own actions, simply took a brief nibble of affection from a unicorn mare before continuing.

Back to the stairwell, they ascended half a floor. The rotation of the bridges around the central column provided a platform every two steps that extended eight bridges to the next floor. Sixteen steps up would place you right above where you had been, about four meters up. Despite the small difference between platforms, a full rotation was nice and wide, and felt very gradual and gentle, especially given that it was a spiral staircase.

Crossing the alternate bridge, the next room they found themselves in was lit differently. Gone was the grey-green glow, as these mushrooms had been filtered through a red cloth to emit pink light. This one had almost no changelings, just a few to make sure that all was going according to plan. What it did have was a plethora of ponies. Along the walls and in rows across the floor were triple-decker bunk beds. In the middle of the room, several tables had several ponies gathered around them. On the largest table sat several ponies, each equipped with a musical instrument that they were playing.

Right in front of them, a pink mare was simultaneously conducting the music and dancing with the crowd, doing her best to ensure their happiness. As she turned back to face the crowd, she spotted Twilight and zipped over. "Twilight? Is that really you?"

"I think so," said Twilight, among having her face and body examined. Pinkie was very hooves-on, which set Twilight at ease. It was more likely that this was the real Pinkie. But just to be sure, she asked, "Is that really you, Pinkie?"

Pinkie narrowed her eyes and pushed her face right up against Twilight's. "How can I possibly be certain?" she asked. "For all I know, I'm a changeling who's gone so deep into the history and life of the real Pinkie Pie that I can no longer tell which Pinkie is the real one and which one's a fake! Like that time with the mirror pool! What makes this Pinkie different from a fake? How do I know which me is the real me?"

"You're both real," sighed Cercus. "You're both under lockdown right now, and that means there's no reason to trick you. Pinkie, tell Twilight what you do here that makes you an asset."

Pinkie wrapped a leg around Twilight's shoulders and led her forward. "Real Pinkie or not, I have a very important role to play, here. You know how changelings feed on positive emotions, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, there was so much sorrow and hurt with the ponies that they were feeding off of that they were bleeding them dry. What little bits of joy these ponies could feel was immediately scraped away and used to fuel the changelings. Applejack and I, or perhaps a changeling disguised as--"

"She was real, too," interrupted Cercus.

"We noticed that the ponies were suffering greatly, and wanted to make their lives less painful. This does have the side effect that it feeds the changelings more efficiently, but look around you. Even with the changelings devouring more and more of their joy, there's still hope in these ponies' hearts. Applejack or her double will tell you the same."

"I know, Pinkie," nodded Twilight. "I've already been to see her. I think you're doing the right thing. You may be helping the changelings, but more importantly, you're helping these ponies. I can think of nothing that would make me quite as proud as in this moment."

"Thanks, possible changeling disguised as Twilight. I'll tell Twilight when she comes through that you're doing a good job acting like her." Pinkie bounced back to the center of the room and started conducting the music again, to make sure the party kept going into the afternoon. It would calm down again at night when everypony was sleeping.

As Twilight and Cercus left the room, Twilight turned to face him. "Why are you showing me this? What is it you hope to gain?"

"I never said I was gaining anything from this," denied Cercus, shaking his head. "I've already achieved my goal for today, and it's time to start working on my next one. But I can't start on that until the queen gives me the green light, so until then, I may as well pass the time by talking to you."

"A likely story," snorted Twilight. "Look, I know you're not going to tell me your real reason for doing this, but if you're going to make something up, I'd rather you just tell me that I'm not allowed to know why and be done with it."

Cercus chuckled. "I only answered one of your questions. I have nothing to gain from this. I'm just waiting to start the next stage of my plan. What I hoped to gain was that you'd be healthy enough to be considered useful. You survived the trip back, so that's my main concern. As for why I'm taking you on the tour, That's for your own benefit. Do you really want to be wandering around blindly when we can finally send you to run errands on your own? Do you want to have to ask passersby how to reach the cafeteria?"

Twilight took a deep breath. "While it may be embarrassing, I think I can manage. Can we skip ahead to the end?"

"No, we can't skip to the end. We can skip the next three stops, though. You won't be able to see Rainbow, Rarity or Fluttershy, but it's not like there's much to see. They aren't really doing anything. Well, Fluttershy is, but if you don't want to see her, I suppose we can move along. Come on, let's go see the princesses. You're definitely not going to want this to come as a surprise."

Cercus led Twilight up several flights of stairs. Twilight had been thinking about the friends she'd skipped over and lost count of exactly how many flights, but it was less than half. She'd gone from almost the bottom to just under the center. It wasn't that she wanted to avoid her friends, more along the lines of not wanting to see them suffering. Applejack and Pinkie had only mentioned each other as being deemed important, meaning it was unlikely that the others were being treated as well. Best case scenario, Pinkie was managing to keep them from losing all hope. To see them suffer would bring her no end of pain.

"Are you ready?" asked Cercus, placing his hoof on the doorknob.

"If I say no, will it make a difference?"

"No."

"Then I guess I'm ready."

As the door opened and Twilight walked in, she realized that she should have braced herself. This was something she needed to be ready for.