The Rise of Passion

Starlight woke up and stretched. It'd been three weeks since Cozy had taken control of the princesses' cutie marks, and she had been practising magic with Starlight and Sunburst's guidance. Sunburst had the advanced theoretical knowledge, but Starlight was much better at practical magic, especially when it came to anything mind-altering.

Trixie reached over and grabbed Starlight's breast. "Good morning. Sleep well?"

Starlight smiled and rolled over, planting a kiss on Trixie's nose. "With you by my side? Always."

Trixie moaned as she snuggled in closer. "Wanna fool around?"

"You know I do..."

There was a knock at the door. "Lady Regent?" called a guard. "The mayor of San Palomino is here for his meeting, ma'am."

Starlight turned to look at her nightstand. The mayor wasn't supposed to be there for another twenty minutes. He was early. "I guess I'll have to take a rain check on that, though. Wait for me tonight?"

"I'm already thinking of how to set it up. Breakfast, at least?"

After breakfast and a meeting with the mayor, who was asking for zoning permissions that were out of Starlight's jurisdiction, Starlight paid a visit to Stellar Flare, who was living in Sunburst's place now.

"How are things going between you and your son?" asked Starlight, sitting down to a cup of tea.

"Oh, they couldn't be better," smiled Stellar. "He's really coming into his own as a stallion. He has a fair selection of mares to comfort him, a de facto child to act as my granddaughter, and a respected position at the palace. He even has multiple foals de jure on the way! I could not possibly be more proud of my darling boy."

"And how do you think he feels about you?"

Stellar chuckled. "He comes home with a smile on his face, we don't fight anymore, and every night when he comes to bed, he gives me a kiss. I don't need him to tell me that he's feeling better about us. He's happy. That's enough for me. Maybe it's not by my hoof, but I like to think that I started him down that path."

Starlight chuckled. "Maybe, maybe not."

"I hear you're carrying one of them."

"That's right. Trixie, my lover, is carrying another."

"I'd heard. Are you still planning to raise the children in that manor of yours?"

Starlight shook her head. "I don't know anymore. We may need to keep living in the palace, or we may be sent to Canterlot Castle, but we'll think of something if we have to."

Stellar nodded. "See that you do."

After lunch, Starlight had a meeting with the head of the local trade commission regarding the opening of a new livery company near a residential area, and how best to classify the area for taxation purposes. Not much was decided at this meeting, as the formation was still conceptual in nature.

After exiting the meeting, she made her way down to Sunburst's room. The chamber where they had stored the royal family in preparation for the ritual had been expanded upon in secret, and now had two duplicates. This one was better, as Sunburst had brought in some nice things for Flurry.

"...And the resonance with the second point of contact sends the signal back and forth, amplifying it until the two can no longer communicate, and that's the point when it falls apart," finished Flurry, drawing a line graph on a chalkboard to demonstrate.

"That's correct," Sunburst smiled, hugging the filly. "Starlight, listen to this! Flurry can graph the mathematical formula that fuels the Crystal Heart!"

Starlight smiled back. "Glad to see she hasn't changed that much. How is she? Personality-wise, I mean."

"The same as always," he chuckled, ruffling Flurry's mane with his hoof. "Why do you ask?"

Starlight nodded. "Sometimes, that spell has a side effect that strains the mind. Adds an extra layer of stress."

"I noticed that when you taught it to me," said Sunburst, glancing up. "All it took to fix that was a little tweak here and there to remove it. I'll show you how to do the revised version someday."

Starlight chuckled as she left the room. "I'll keep that in mind. You two have fun!" In truth, she didn't care to learn the new iteration. The mind-altering effects were intentional to the spell's creation, and she wasn't quite sure that Sunburst had truly removed it. Flurry had continued to grin the whole time, and seemed to feel a strong connection to Sunburst, the caster. Sunburst had classified that as normal behaviour, but was it really?

The next room was Cozy's. The intent was for her and Shining to have separate rooms, but at the filly's insistence, despite Shining's objections, they were sharing a bed in the nicest room of the three by far. As Starlight pushed the door open, she was graced with the roar of moans and the wet slapping of flesh on flesh.

Cozy was crouched down on the bed, her face contorted in bliss as Shining, wearing a blank expression that screamed "enthrallment," rammed his cock repeatedly into her pussy. They were right in the thick of it, and if the sheets were any indication, this was the third time they'd had sex today.

"Working on control spells?!" shouted Starlight, barely audible over the rough fucking.

Cozy did not answer back. She may not have heard Starlight, or she may have been lost in her own world, it did not matter. She could not answer back if she couldn't interpret the words gracing her ears.

"I'll come back later!"

As she closed the door, she couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Cozy had what she wanted and was making the best of it. They still had to take down Twilight, but for now, things were looking great for their cause. It was okay if they slowed down a bit to come up with a plan as to how to proceed.

The last room was Cadance's, and she was looking very ragged. Gallus stood watch over her, and saluted as soon as she entered. "Any news?"

"None yet. We're running out of time off, and if we can't find a replacement to run the empire, you won't be able to come to me at the school."

"You have somepony to keep watch over the empire," grunted Cadance, sitting up and puffing out her chest.

"Yeah, no," smirked Starlight. "You'd scare the crystal ponies if you went out looking like that. Can you even smile anymore?"

Cadance pulled her lips back and gave a brilliant white smile. It wasn't her normal smile, though. It looked like her smile had taken over her whole face, and she had to force it back down to her scowl. "Happy?"

"Very," smiled Starlight. "You just keep on smiling, and I'll consider it."