The Rise of Passion

Starlight was worried. Ever since she'd freed Cozy Glow, the filly's range of movement had been contained to a single building, or she'd been in disguise or in a container. Now she was out and about, flying free with no restrictions. While this was the end goal, she had hoped to have Twilight out of the picture before letting this happen.

Trixie put a hoof on her knee. "It'll be alright, my love," she smiled. "Twilight calling for your aid is a good thing. It means she's reaching out to those she trusts, and you're on that list. There can be no better place for you than at the front of her mind."

Starlight nodded and put her hoof on Trixie's belly. "You're beginning to show."

"So are you," smiled Trixie. "We need to hurry along our plans, or we'll be too distracted to finish them."

Gripping each others' hooves tightly, they took some deep breaths as their carriage rode into Ponyville. Cozy was to hide nearby and watch, and everything Starlight could hear went right into Cozy's ears via the spells she'd placed there. Cozy had the dart gun and half a dozen darts, all supplied by Zecora. While the darts and gun could be purchased from any creature catcher depot, meaning anypony could pick them up, the contents were Zecora's own brew.

The carriage stopped at the gates to the school of friendship, and Starlight stepped out, followed by Trixie. They were, of course, searched, though not particularly thoroughly. Their cavities were left alone, and special care was paid to their baby bumps.

When they were let through, Twilight rushed over to them and hugged them. "I'm so glad to see you're alright," she breathed, relieved. "I can't tell you how scared I was that you'd be targeted by whoever's killing my friends."

"Don't worry about me, Twilight," she smiled, hugging back. "I'll be right behind you until the very end. Now, let's go to your office. We never know who might be listening."

Cozy knew who might be listening. It was her.

After flying out of Starlight's carriage between Whinnyapolis and Ponyville, she'd braved the Everfree forest, and was now sitting just outside of town, hiding in a tree branch. Her part of the plan was simple; shoot Applejack with a poison dart. She just had to wait for the perfect time, which Starlight would help create.

"Take a few steps to look around the school," instructed Cozy. "Don't just go straight to Applejack. Ask about security issues."

Starlight cleared her throat. "So, have you had any incidents since the increase in security?"

"A few," answered Twilight. "Nothing serious, thankfully. Nopony's gone missing, there's less fighting between the students and teachers, but there's been a collective lashing at security. We've had more guards hit in the face with water balloons at this school in the past month than the rest of Equestria combined in the last ten years."

"Wow. How many water balloons?"

"Five! Five guard have been hit with water balloons! I know it's not harmful yet, but I fear that it soon will be, and I don't want to see that happen!"

Starlight put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Calm down. That's exactly what we don't need. No more panicking, okay?"

Twilight took a deep breath. "Okay."

"Good. Now, you say that the students and teachers are fighting less often. Why do you think that is?"

Twilight thought for a moment. "I imagine they're scared, for one. The teachers are afraid that a student is eliminating them, so they're being nicer. The students think a teacher is trying to eliminate the others to take up all the glory for themselves. Both sides are afraid of involving the guards in their petty squabbles, but having no way to vent these frustrations, they turn them on the dominant force, that being the guards. It's disrespectful at worst, but I'm reluctant to punish, because this really should be something we can deescalate."

"Sounds perfectly reasonable to me," nodded Starlight. "Do the rest of the teachers agree?"

Twilight bobbed her head from side to side. "Some of them. Applejack thinks we should increase the pressure from the guards. She seems to think that doing so will catch the culprit behind this faster so the rest of us can go back to living happy, peaceful lives. I'm worried that doing so will cause more problems than it solves. After all, we're adding weight to completely innocent students."

"How is Applejack, by the by? Is she holding up okay?"

Twilight swallowed hard. "I think I've made a mistake with Applejack, actually..."

"Oh? How so?"

"She was so absolutely sure that Gallus was the one causing everypony to go missing. She was practically begging me to let her take him back to her barn and interrogate him. I wasn't about to subject him to that, in case he was innocent, but given any amount of tangible, non-circumstantial evidence, I would have let her pry a bit more. Then Gallus comes in saying he's found a threat against her life, and wants to join the guard forces. I thought it best to assign him to guard her."

"Why would that be a mistake?" chuckled Starlight. "It sounds like a fair compromise. He can act in defense of Applejack, and Applejack can keep an eye on him. It seems reasonable."

"It does, doesn't it?" groused Twilight. "But it seems to have just made everything worse. Now Applejack is complaining that always having him around is making it so that he can cover up or distract from evidence, and is preventing him from actually doing anything that would generate evidence."

"But isn't that a good thing?" asked Starlight. "If he were involved, and I'm not saying he is, wouldn't him not being able to advance his plans to kill her be a good thing?"

Twilight shook her head. "I don't know. I thought so, but now I'm not so sure. It's just aggravating her, and I think it's turning him away from wanting to protect her."

"Don't be ridiculous, Twilight," chuckled Starlight. "He knows how to deal with ornery charges. Neither of them is going to break. They're both too stubborn."

Twilight sighed with relief. "You're right, of course. Come on, let's go see how they're doing."