The Rise of Passion

Despite Gallus's lateness, it was Sunburst who arrived last, having been next door with Flurry. The two of them came in and sat down, with Flurry sitting on his lap at the table.

Despite having her cutie mark removed, Flurry still looked to be a normal filly. She even seemed to still be happy. With Sunburst being around all the time as her window into the outside world, and also shielding her from Cozy, she had little need to be afraid.

Next to them sat Double Diamond, wearing the same big, dumb grin as Cadance, but without as much of his mental faculties missing. He seemed to be completely aware of his surroundings, and happy to be where Starlight was. Around his neck was a collar, acting as a necklace when nothing was attached.

In this instance, there was a leash attached, and at the other end of that leash was Starlight Glimmer, holding it in her hoof. Around her neck was a small bottle that contained Double Diamond's cutie mark.

Next to her sat Trixie, looking significantly less stressed than she had been for the last two weeks. With as tightly as she was clinging to Starlight's hoof, they'd already had a round of lovemaking tonight before coming to the meeting.

Cozy was next, sitting on Shining Armor's face. His horn disappeared inside of her, his face completely blank aside from the green swirls in his eyes. He was completely under her control.

Next was Stellar Flare, looking dreamily at her son, and finally, Gallus.

"We're all here now," said Gallus, looking around the room. "Can we start the meeting now?"

"We can," answered Cozy. "Trixie, how much control do we have over the school?"

"It's only been two weeks," answered Trixie. "We can't expect a lot of progress, but a particular group of students have taken a few steps down our new path, by obvious means. We're working on a way to assist them toward driving themselves forward of their own accord, but convincing everypony else to follow them is going to be a lot trickier. As for the faculty, there's one that understands the concept, but is unwilling to go all the way."

"What about Zecora?" asked Sunburst. "You said she seemed ready to help, and even mentioned giving her warmest regards to Cozy. Surely, she'd offer some kind of aid?"

Starlight shook her head. "Too risky. She's been a huge asset to Twilight, and I doubt she'd turn on her so fast, no matter what the EEA thinks of her. She could be a double-agent, working for us while feeding that information back to Twilight. Whether that's because she truly believes in Twilight or is specifically trying to build us up against each other only to warmonger us both is anypony's guess, but I have my doubts."

"We all have doubts," sighed Gallus.

"I don't!" smiled Double Diamond. "Mistress is very smart. She knows what she's doing. I believe in her!"

Gallus rolled his eyes. "All of us that aren't brainwashed have doubts. After all, we're each guilty of treason if we fail. But we can't advance if we have trepidation. We may have to step around Zecora for the time being, but if Trixie is willing to keep the others busy, I will personally go talk to her and try to find her stance. We've built a bit of a rapport."

"If you think you can handle it," nodded Cozy.

"Welcome!"

All heads immediately whipped to the door at Cadance's salutation. Every member of their group was here. Who could she be talking to? Even more important, they needed to be stopped, before they could breathe a word of this to the outside.

Cozy and Gallus bolted to the doors and threw them open, while Sunburst and Stellar grabbed Flurry and Starlight and hid in Flurry's room, Double Diamond and Trixie following close behind for their own safety.

When Gallus burst into the hallway brandishing a giant fuck-off knife, He was greeted by a sight he truly hadn't expected. Not just Sandbar, but all four of their friends were standing there, shocked at seeing Princess Cadance. Their awe only grew as Cozy showed up, putting a force field over the exit.

"Gallus?" questioned Ocellus.

"Cozy?!" gasped Smolder.

"Princess Cadance?!" squeaked Yona.

"Sandbar?!" shouted Silverstream.

"I came down here with you!" answered Sandbar.

"Oh, yeah..."

"What are you all doing here?!" demanded Gallus.

"We could ask you the same thing!" replied Sandbar.

"You could," snarled Gallus. "But I asked you first, and this is a restricted area."

There was a brief pause before Ocellus spoke up. "We felt kind of bad about excluding Sandbar from our assignment," she explained. "So, we followed him up here, and we all picked up visitor passes at the gate. When we found him, he said that you had gone to a security meeting, so we opted to wait for your return. Yona wanted to look at a book called... um..."

"Learn to Trust the Needle Again: From Crippling Addiction to Coronation," answered Yona. "I tried to pull it out, and the whole bookcase came with it. We followed the hidden passage, and here we are."

"Now, you owe us an explanation," spat Smolder. "A few, actually. "Why is Cozy Glow here, why is the missing Princess Cadance here with her tail shaved off, and why are you involved in any of this?"

"Also, why is Cozy an Alicorn?" asked Ocellus.

The gaze of the other students shifted from Gallus to Cozy, who was looking to be very thoughtful about her situation. When Gallus looked up, he could tell that she was absolutely pissed, and as she glanced down at him, he felt absolute terror in his heart. She had the power to seal him away. A few well-placed words from Starlight, and he could be shouldering all of the blame for the disappearance of the royal family, and any attempt he made to fight back would be fruitless. All of his effort to achieve his dream would be wasted. He swallowed hard, feeling his life draining away.

"Gallus," she said, snapping him back to attention.

"Yes, mistress?"

"Take our guests into the conference room. We have much to discuss."

He nodded and put his knife away. "This way, all of you."