Hivemind Control

After having her mane and tail brushed, Twilight was released from the floor and brought back to the dining room to eat. She'd been on edge for the whole morning, and having something in her stomach definitely set her at ease. Applejack had been right yesterday, and she likely would have felt better if she had taken the time for a quick snack before continuing the tour.

Speaking of Applejack, she wasn't around this time. Twilight had asked the pony who'd made her breakfast, and he'd said to just let her sleep. Reasoning that she'd see her at lunch, Twilight ate her breakfast in silence, with Cercus smiling condescendingly at her as he drew his sustenance from somepony else not too far away.

"How do you feel now?" he asked as they exited from the dining hall. "I mean, I already know, because I can feel it radiating off of you, but I want you to tell me, anyway."

"A bit better," admitted Twilight, knowing there was no use in lying. "But that doesn't mean I'm happy with you. Don't misunderstand, I still have no love for you or your kind."

"That's fine," chuckled Cercus. "I didn't expect a short stack of flapjacks to undo the invasion of Canterlot. That would be unreasonable."

"The invasion itself was unreasonable," groused Twilight.

"Perhaps," nodded Cercus. "So what say we do something reasonable now?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Let me show you." Rather than turning back downstairs to the bedroom, Cercus led Twilight up, passing Pinkie's dorm room, to where some ponies were being escorted. A few levels beyond that, they crossed a bridge that led to a very large bathroom with several tubs. To one side, a large communal bath was blocked off for exclusive use by the changelings and had a pleasant herbal aroma. On the other side, multiple shower heads lined the wall. In the middle, several smaller tubs of various sizes were evenly distributed.

Cercus stopped at the entrance to the room. A small desk was set up with one changeling handling the administration, and several ponies acting as attendants under her command. "Size two," he ordered, "herbal, with soap and an attendant." The administrator nodded and gave him a sachet of herbs to hang under the spout. He led Twilight to a tub that was big for a casual bathroom, but small for a spa. Inside were two seats.

As the water filtered through the herbs, Twilight turned to Cercus. "You don't really expect me to wash you, do you? I thought you said this was going to be reasonable."

"No, I don't expect you to wash me."

"You want to wash me?"

"If you insist," smiled Cercus, reaching out only to have her jump away. He chuckled. "No, I had enough trouble convincing you to let me brush your mane and tail, and you didn't even really let that happen. What makes you think I'd reward that behaviour with a personalized lathering? I called for an attendant to scrub us down."

"Oh." Twilight had been to the Ponyville Spa countless times with her friends, as well as at least three in Canterlot. She knew that some ponies were given bathing attendants for an extra fee to help them scrub, especially those who had a harder time, such as the elderly or disabled. For them, Twilight was okay with the service, but being perfectly capable of scrubbing herself with a long-handled loofah, she didn't ever consider the service necessary.

With the tub now filled with a pale green fluid, Cercus climbed in and sat down in one of the seats, taking a deep, relaxed breath. "Well?" he smirked, turning to Twilight. "Are you coming in?"

Twilight furrowed her brow. "No, I don't think I will. I don't want to bathe if you're going to be there, too."

"Oh, come now, Twilight. It's only a bath. It's not as though I'm asking you to let me shove a pineapple up your arse. I don't want to have to bind your hooves and tie you to the chair. Are you going to force my hoof?"

Twilight sighed and looked to the empty seat. She really didn't enjoy being tethered to the floor for half the morning, and really didn't want a repeat of that performance. Not to mention the fact that, if she was bound, any and all skin under the bindings could not be washed, and parts of her coat would still be filthy when she stepped out of the tub. "Keep your hooves to yourself," she snarled, slipping into the water.

"I'm sorry," came the small voice of a unicorn mare. "I didn't mean to offend." She had her mane cut short and tied back behind a bandana. On her back, she had a basket loaded with equipment for bathing a pony. There were some things that Twilight did not know the use for, likely tools meant for cleaning a changeling's carapace, as chitin was dissimilar to a pony's coat.

"Nonsense," smiled Cercus, waving her over. "Why don't you begin with me, and Twilight can be scrubbed after."

"Yes, sir," nodded the mare, placing the basket on the floor. She pulled out a rounded bristle brush, similar to something Twilight had seen before, resembling a scrubber for cups, or perhaps a toilet brush. She watched as the mare pulled out a terrycloth rag, lathered it up with soap and water from the tub, and wrapped it around the brush, gently soaping up the cavities in Cercus' legs. She was methodical, but not slow, making short work of the interior and detaching the rag to clean the outside of his leg.

With no notable issues, she scrubbed and rinsed each of his hooves, then pulled out a small hoof brush to scrub his body, which she did beneath the water's surface, which was now opaque with soap bubbles. It was easy to tell when she reached his groin, because he became mildly vocal and leaned his hips into her movement. After that came his back, including his dorsal membrane, and with that rinsed, he leaned back to let her scrub his chest.

"You see how easy this can be, Twilight?" he smiled. "All this time spent fighting would be better used in growing accustomed to your new home in the hive. It would be so easy to just lean back and let it happen."

As he leaned forward to unlatch her harness to allow a more complete scrub of her body, Twilight punched him in the balls and bolted toward the door, unhindered by the lead end energized by her breakfast. She was leaving, and she wasn't going to let him stop her.