Midnight Starlight

Chapters

1 - Meet the Cultist
2 - Inside the Vault
3 - Fresh Faces, Canned Expressions
4 - Layers of Deceit
5 - Caught
6 - Second Shot

1 - Meet the Cultist

02:59 - 05/03/1002 - Canterlot Castle

“Come on, where is it? No, I’ve already checked there! Twice!”

Fumbling through the mess of papers and folders scattered across the desk and floor, Sunburst frantically searched for his misplaced report, muttering his thoughts aloud to himself.

Around him, a dozen or so other ponies dressed just like him in formal, dark blue and purple suits worked at their desks almost like schoolfoals in a classroom, as they were closely observed by a small number of sharply dressed supervisors wandering the floor. Even amongst them, the catastrophic disorder of Sunburst’s workspace stood out like a sore wing. Somepony who didn't know better would have assumed Sunburst’s desk had been hastily raided by an amateur burglar.

“Where is it?” Sunburst mumbled. “No, nonono, not now!”

Across from Sunburst, on the other side of the desk, a magenta-maned pegasus stallion tried to focus on his own work, though he couldn't help but be distracted by Sunburst’s frantic fumbling.

“Sunburst,” the pegasus began, catching Sunburst’s attention, "What are you looking for this time?”

“Sorry, Altie, it's my report on oneiromancy,” Sunburst explained, “You know, dream magic, dream walking. Director Saitasuna herself asked me to hoof deliver it to her office, and if I don't have it with her by-”

But before Sunburst could finish, Altie opened a drawer on his desk and reached into it. After a second or two, he had retrieved a folder and dropped it on the desk in front of Sunburst. The cover of the folder read “Oneiromancy Report, IMPORTANT”, in Sunburst’s hornwriting.

Sunburst, dumbstruck, stared at his lost report for a moment, then at Altie. “Y-y-you stashed it away? In your desk?” Sunburst stammered. “Wh-why would you do that?”

“It was on the floor?” Altie said. “On my side of the desk?”

Sunburst’s eyes darted around as if literally looking for something to say, but then he caught a glimpse of the clock on the wall.

“Shoot! Late!” Sunburst used his magic to pull the report towards him and hastily galloped out of the chamber.

“Could’ve- could've said thanks,” Altie added, but by then Sunburst was long gone.

While visits to the castle itself were rare during his time as a student, Sunburst remembered the interior of Canterlot Castle as an open, almost desolate place. Every so often he’d have seen a servant or a guest wandering the halls, but seldom much more than that. A pony’s voice would’ve echoed through the empty space so much as to allow ponies from opposite ends of a long hall to hold a conversation.

Since the ascension of Nightmare Moon to the throne of Equestria, however, the palace had been gutted out and transformed into a bureaucratic labyrinth. Chambers which were once used as opulent accommodation for Canterlot’s nobility had been turned over and repurposed as gigantic office spaces, like the one he now worked in. Grand pieces of artwork that once hung from the walls had been whisked away into storage, as the space was needed to hang noteboards, chalkboards, whiteboards, and every other sort of board needed to organize information and direct such a large operation. What was once calm serenity had given way to a never-ending din of telephones ringing, machines whirring, and ponies talking.

In every direction Sunburst trotted, he passed pony after pony who were themselves going to and from the countless offices and workplaces, as he had to watch his every step to avoid carelessly bumping into another pony or into a stack of carefully organised papers. Despite being such a large space, the clutter almost made it feel claustrophobic. Whilst a new Castle to serve as the administrative capital of all the Empire was being built on the ruins of the ancient castle in the Everfree Forest, the old capital served them well for the time.

Navigating this managerial maze was always a pain, but sure enough Sunburst had arrived at the door to his boss’s office. He stopped to take one last look through the folder to make sure everything was there. Sure enough, nothing was missing. Sunburst proceeded to open the door to the office and stepped inside.

As Sunburst entered, the pervasive maddening noises of the castle bureaucracy faded out, giving way to an almost sudden silence. He struggled to discern his new surroundings, as the only light source inside the dark room was a small lamp atop a clean, tidy desk on the far end of the room. Of course, sitting up straight on a large black cushioned chair behind the desk was a bat pony mare wearing a coal black suit and tie. Her saffron mane was up in a neat bun, and the stare of her orange eyes sent shivers down Sunburst’s spine. Sunburst, as well as everyone else in the offices, knew Director Saitasuna when they saw her.

“You’re late,” Saitasuna said plainly.

Sunburst let out a brief whine as he stumbled into the office, “By like, two minutes-”, he looked up at the clock, “Twenty, twenty-two minutes. I-I’m sorry, Ma’am. It won’t happen again.”

“Indeed, it won't.” Scowling at Sunburst, Saitasuna sat up in her chair ever so slightly. “Consider yourself lucky that the pony I was supposed to meet now was as early as you are late. Come here, sit down.”

Sunburst groaned to himself as he took a step towards the desk.

“And close the door behind you.”

Sunburst pinwheeled around, then realised he had left the door open in his hurry. He did as he was instructed, telekinetically shutting the door carefully, then sat in a chair in front of Saitasuna’s desk.

With his eyes now adjusted to the darkness, Sunburst got a better view of the room. Plain, undecorated blue walls and an immaculate purple carpet on the floor. The closest thing to a decoration on the wall was an austere, utilitarian clock. On one end of the room there was a bookshelf with not a single loose item out of place, and opposite that was a row of filing cabinets, barely a millimetre out of line. The room had a single window, blinds down, which looked outside. There were other details, but Sunburst felt that the office looked less like a used space and more like a showroom in a furniture store, given how calculated and precise the placement of each individual component was.

“Your report,” Saitasuna demanded of Sunburst. He passed it over to her without a word.

As Saitasuna read through Sunburst’s report, only the ticking of the clock on the wall and the slight rustle of paper as Saitasuna turned from one page to another made a sound. It was so quiet Sunburst could’ve heard a needle drop on the carpet. Saitasuna was an efficient reader, but for Sunburst each moment spent sitting in her presence felt like an eternity. He dared not interrupt her or get up and leave without permission, so the best he could do is stare at the clock and watch the hands turn, second by second, minute by minute.

Thankfully the report itself was brief, describing what oneiromancy spells the Institute had in its possession, how they worked, how they were used, who could use them, and so on. Before long, Saitasuna had finished reading the last page and looked up at Sunburst.

“This is good,” said Saitasuna as she put the report to one side.

“Th-thanks, Ma'am,” Sunburst began. He looked to one side, then back at Saitasuna. “Can I-”

“We're not done,” Saitasuna carefully reached into her desk and retrieved another folder, then placed it in front of her. She opened the folder and took out a small photograph, which she then passed to Sunburst. “Do you recognise this mare?”

Sunburst examined the photo. A unicorn mare, with a neat orderly mane, stared directly into the camera as if she was making eye contact with Sunburst at that moment. She was grinning, grinning wide, so much so the smile felt artificial and somewhat creepy. It was black and white, so identifying the mare was difficult, but something about the style of her mane and the shape of her face was oddly familiar. Then it clicked.

“Is this Starlight?” he asked, “Starlight… Glitter? No, Glimmer?”

“Correct,” Saitasuna confirmed. “We interviewed her father recently, and he told us that you two were friends up until you left for magic school, at which point you lost contact. Tell me what you know about her.”

Sunburst thought it over for a moment. “We were friends, but that was such a long time ago, back when we were little kids. We used to do everything together, then after I got my cutie mark and left for magic school, nothing. She never even wrote to me,” he explained. He went quiet for a good few moments, his eyes wandering slightly. “Did something happen to her, Ma'am?”

“She's been up to a lot since you last saw her,” Saitasuna added, sliding the folder and lamp across the desk. “Read this.”

Lifting the folder with his magic whilst adjusting his glasses, Sunburst started to read through the enclosed document. The first page was all stuff he knew: Her name was Starlight Glimmer, born in Sire's Hollow on 4 April 979, basic information about her childhood, and so on. But as Sunburst read on, and the details of Starlight’s life after they separated, he struggled to believe it.

Glimmer is the founder and de facto leader of a small settlement named Ourtown … Glimmer extols an ideology of extreme, inordinate egalitarianism, desiring the reduction of all members of the community to a single common denominator, where even a pony’s cutie mark is removed to erase all differences between members … All residents of Ourtown live “cutie unmarked” and talentless … According to Glimmer and other residents, Ourtown was founded in September 998 with the meeting of Glimmer and Double Diamond … As of February 1002, there are twenty-six residents of the settlement, including six foals …

Clipped to the page was a photograph overlooking the whole of the village, consisting of a single unpaved street with two symmetrical rows of bleak, identical houses, with a single separate house on one end. There was another photo of a small group of ponies with wide unnatural smiles affixed to their faces. They all shared the exact same straight short fringe manecut, with the mares having the backs of their manes braided and the stallions having the back cut short. Each of their flanks was adorned with an identical cutie mark displaying a grey ‘equals’ symbol. A third photo displayed a pair of blank-flanked fillies, yet they had freakish grins all the same.

Sunburst looked up from the documents. “Is this all true?”

Saitasuna gave a firm nod.

His own experiences with Starlight were a hazy memory at this point, but even the little he had at the forefront of his mind made the whole thing seem absurd. Though, thinking back, he somewhat remembered a few occasions where Starlight let little bits of authority get to her head. Oh yes, of course, he could never forget the tyrannical reign of Student Council President Starlight Glimmer at Sire's Hollow Primary School. But did Starlight really have it in her to do all this? It sounded like Starlight was leading a cult. He continued reading.

… According to Glimmer, the “cutie unmarking” initiation is accomplished using the “Staff of Sameness” … Glimmer claims the staff is one of Mage Meadowbrook's “nine enchanted artefacts” …

Included in the description was a photograph of a large wooden staff, resembling an overly elaborate tuning fork, labelled “Staff of Sameness”.

He looked up at Saitasuna. “Mage Meadowbrook only had eight magical artefacts to her name, not nine, and none of them were a staff-”

Saitasuna raised a hoof, prompting Sunburst to stop talking. “We know. As far as we know, she uses her own magic to unmark ponies and pretends the magic comes from staff. Good catch, though.”

Sunburst returned a slight smile, moments of elation were rare in this job. He continued reading.

… State policy since Lunar forces established contact with Ourtown has been to allow it to operate autonomously, albeit under close observation …

A strange approach, Sunburst thought. Why not just shut it down? The whole thing was extremely suspicious and probably illegal. He read further.

… No weapons have been found anywhere in the village or the surrounding areas … Glimmer and the other villagers have made no challenges to Lunar authority and have made no attempts to promote their ideology outside the village itself … Ourtown is too insular to be considered a threat to anypony outside of it … Observations of the village have proven intriguing to sociologists interested in the study of cults and ideological extremism …

Made enough sense to Sunburst, even if studying the subject of cults by letting one freely operate sounded like it would never pass an ethics board. Though he knew he was no expert in sociology or in national security, perhaps questioning it wasn't his place, he wondered.

The report continued to explain in detail everything they had to know about Starlight’s little village, other important ponies, the cult’s culture, and even Lunar attempts at infiltration, but Sunburst felt he had read enough.

Holding a hoof to his face, Sunburst passed the folder across the desk. “This is-” he started, stopping to groan for a second. “This is insane.”

“Indeed,” Saitasuna calmly collected the folder and put it back in her desk.

“I just-” Sunburst struggled to get a coherent response out, “I- what do you want me to do with this, Ma'am? I told you already, I haven’t had any contact with Starlight for years. Like, more than a decade.”

“I didn't present this information to you right after you'd delivered your Oneiromancy report for no reason,” said Saitasuna.

Sunburst raised an eyebrow with his mouth agape. “I'm not sure I follow, Ma'am.”

Clearing her throat, Saitasuna adjusted her posture to sit up taller. “You will enter Glimmer's dreams and extract as much information as you can about her cutie mark spell directly from her mind. And once you are done you will compile a report detailing her spell.”

Sunburst’s jaw dropped so hard he could practically hear it hit the floor. “What!?” he cried, jumping out of his seat.

“Sit down,” Saitasuna scowled, as her cold glare froze Sunburst in place. He did as demanded without another word.

“As I was saying,” she continued, “your job will be to enter her dreams and extract as much information as you can. We favour this approach as dreamwalking is discrete, thorough, and undisruptive,” Saitasuna then gestured to Sunburst’s report. “In your own words, you described how a pony may not even notice there is a dreamwalker in their head if the spell is done right.”

“W-why me?” Sunburst asked nervously, barely stopping himself from blurting out a fresh round of confused whines. "I’ve never done anything like this!"

“You’ve known her since childhood, haven’t you? If anypony’s suitable for this job, it’s you.”

“But, but-” Sunburst desperately searched his mind for a way to rationalise his way out of it. “I can only do the spell when I’m near the dreaming pony! You’ve seen how I did on my physical magic exams, right? There are actual oneiromancers out there who can do it at any distance!” he added.

“That’s not a problem. The Night Guard will escort you to Glimmer’s village when she and the cultists are asleep.”

“Well-” Sunburst gasped. “Do I have a choice?” he asked.

Saitasuna glared back. Sunburst understood.

“I-I’ll do what I can, but,” he stammered whilst scratching the back of his head. “Again, it’s been so long since I’ve even seen Starlight, I don’t know what she’ll be like. What if I can't get anything out of her dreams?”

“The guards will protect you if she becomes violent,” Saitasuna explained. “If your efforts prove unsuccessful, we'll simply have to extract the information from her by other means."

Sunburst shuddered and blinked a few times. “O-other means?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Saitasuna said. “It doesn’t concern you. Before I dismiss you, do you have any questions?”

Yes! Sunburst internally screamed. Is there nobody else who can do this? What in the world are you doing? Are you crazy? Do you think I’m crazy? But before he found his voice, his eyes turned to the floor. “No,” he said.

“Then our business is concluded for now,” Saitasuna said. “You are dismissed.”

Not wasting a second, Sunburst got up and hastily made his way to the door.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Saitasuna said.

Sunburst stopped and turned around.

“I’ve seen the state of your workspace. For your own sake, take some time to organize it properly.”

“Huh- oh,” Sunburst bit his lip. “Yes, Ma’am.”

17:09 - 05/03/1002 - Ourtown

“Look! Starlight!” Bang bang bang bang. “New friends!”

By now, Starlight was all too familiar with the sound of somepony banging on her door, and even if the walls muffled it somewhat, she could recognise Double Diamond's voice. Or was that Party Favor? Not like there were any meaningful differences between them anymore. Either way, she’d been in the middle of writing her latest piece on the virtues of Equality and was once again so rudely pulled away.

Glumly, she pulled her front door open, but as the outside moonlight hit her, she affixed a wide toothy grin to her face mirroring those of the two stallions on her doorstep. Turns out it was both Double Diamond and Party Favor. “Yes Double Diamond, Party Favor, where are our new friends?” Starlight asked.

Starlight’s question quickly answered itself as she noticed the vehicle at the far end of the village. A jeep or a truck, Starlight wasn't sure what to call it, carried four ponies. Two thestral stallions in the front, clad head to hoof in menacing purple armour, and two unicorn mares in the back wearing shirts, sweater vests, thick glasses, and bowties with their greasy unkempt manes pulled back into loose buns.

“Over there, Starlight!” Party shouted, throwing a hoof back to point at the new arrivals, his mouth wide open in an 'o' shape with eyebrows shooting up into his forehead.

“There’s gonna be so much friendshipping!” Diamond squeed, leaning close to Starlight whilst mimicking Party’s expression.

Pushing past her two followers, Starlight walked up to the vehicle as the ponies within disembarked.

One of the unicorns, purple mane and beige coat, waved to Starlight. “Um, hello? Hello! Is this the cult?” she said.

“What?” Starlight gasped, skidding to a stop. “We are not a cult! We are an innovative community of free, cheerful ponies guided by an alternative to the pervasive cutie mark ideology that has dominated Equestrian society since time immemorial-”

“O-kay! This is it!” the same unicorn said with a smile, shifting her weight from side to side. "Well, my name is Polly Math, and my companion here is Pencil Neck. We’re sociology students from UC Buckley and we’re looking to write a dissertation on cults like yours! How they form, how they maintain social cohesion, how dissenters are dealt with, all that funky stuff! We’ve been granted privileged access and a Night Guard escort. Oh! Were you told we were coming?”

“No,” Starlight seethed through her grinning teeth. “But we’re always happy to have surprise visitors! Please, look around to your heart’s content. Everypony!” she announced, catching the attention of her followers. “Please make sure our visitors are comfortable! Show them how great Equality can be!”

Despite the shakeup from the absence of daylight, Starlight tried to keep her village together as usual. If anything, the abrupt end to the day and night cycle correlated with a flux of new visitors to their town, so much that the population had more than doubled less than a year after the last sunset.

It was all fine until Lunar soldiers showed up. The village was close to Equestria’s borders so the Army wanted to set up a base nearby. At first, the only thing they asked of Starlight and her village was that they respect Lunar authority and don’t interfere in Lunar affairs, in return they’d leave the village alone, and this suited her fine. Then ‘Lunar affairs’ started to mean sending all sorts of ponies into the village to snoop around under Night Guard protection, with Starlight effectively powerless to stop them. Sometimes they sent researchers, sometimes journalists, and sometimes tourists.

Fighting back would invoke the Empire’s ire, and surely end with Ourtown in ruin. But now, her home, her experiment in utopia, had been reduced to a mere curiosity.

As the visitors passed along, the two unicorns went to go interview villagers with the guards always shadowing them, Starlight was presented yet again with an undeniable example of how control was slipping from her hooves. Frustration was building, and it needed an outlet. Usually, she could trust her followers to toe the line when speaking to outsiders and she had made extensive efforts to coach them, but some ponies weren’t so considerate of their friends.

At the edge of the village, there was a house reserved for those who had arrogantly turned their backs on their friends and dared to challenge the truth of Equality, and Starlight was headed there. Two ponies stood guard by the single locked door of this house and they obediently stepped aside as Starlight approached. Starlight flicked a switch controlling the loudspeaker inside, unlocked the door, and entered the dark, desolate, dusty house. Slouched over a creaky bench at the far end of the single room was the withered husk of a pegasus mare named Night Glider.

“Starlight?” she wheezed, weakly pushing herself up.

She’d been caught red-hooved. A journalist for some state-owned outlet had been given a tour of the village, and behind Starlight’s back, they isolated and interrogated the villagers. Night Glider had told this journalist that she missed her cutie mark and wondered what it would be like to get it back, but unknown to her, Double Diamond heard everything and reported it straight to Starlight. That was a week ago, and Night Glider had been here since.

“Please, Starlight, I’m sorry,” Night Glider begged, crawling off the bench and rising to a stand. “I’m so hungry, I just want to go back to my friends now. Come on, please.”

“Oh, Night Glider. I’d love to, but I’m not sure you’ve learned your lesson,” Starlight sneered with a sadistic smirk. “Unless I’m sure of that, I’m afraid I might need to use this.”

Starlight levitated a stick and aimed it up at Night Glider. It was nothing more than a stick she’d found in the desert, but her village had been taught to fear this ‘wand’ using the same principle she’d applied to the Staff of Sameness. Whenever Starlight needed to cast a spell that would go beyond what being unmarked would allow, such as a spell to inflict terrible pain, she used this ‘wand’.

“No, no, please, Starlight!” Night Glider wailed.

On a worse night, Starlight may have launched a vicious streak of crackling lightning at Night Glider there and then, but she stopped herself. Seeing her cower, seeing her cry, seeing her break down in fear because Starlight waved a stick brought her all the satisfaction she needed. Her grip on control had been reaffirmed.

“I'll come back for you later,” Starlight said, stowing the stick away and making for the exit. “The village has guests.”

“You’re not going to let me out?” Night Glider cried, moving to follow after Starlight. “I’m sorry, I mean it! I don’t want to ever see my cutie mark again, I just want to see my friends-”

Once outside, Starlight slammed the door shut and securely locked it. But as she moved to switch the loudspeaker back on, she froze. The two unicorn students, with their guards, were attentively standing by one of the windows. One of them, Polly Math, was still staring through the window to gawk at the sobbing Night Glider. Half the village had followed them, and they were gathered around the house.

“My, my! Fascinating,” said Pencil Neck, as both she and Polly Math were scribbling something in their notebooks.

“Were you watching me?” Starlight carped.

“Oh, don’t worry about us!” Polly Math giggled. “Just pretend we’re not here!”

“Mhm,” Pencil Neck nodded. “Wouldn’t want our presence to influence your behaviour!”

“Oh no!” she heard Polly Math say. “What if we just did bias the result by coming here? Like, like what if that was because of us?”

“Pssh, come on, you really think she would’ve tormented one of her followers if she thought we were watching?” Pencil Neck said. In front of half the village.

The smiles of the villagers wavered and faded, a few frightened gasps sounding out.

“Ooh, that's definitely going to bias the result!” Pencil Neck murmured, her jaw clenching.

Anger flared in Starlight. With a furious spell bubbling in her horn, she marched up to the students. The students staggered back as Starlight relished their terrified expressions, watching them with their notebooks held close to their chests and their glasses slipping down their muzzles. Starlight was more than ready to turn these twerps to ash.

But that would have to wait, as in a sudden synchronised step, both of the armoured guards moved in front of the two unicorns, formidably looming over Starlight as they cut her off. She flinched and backed away, the magic in her horn dissipating as a gulp passed down her neck.

Could she take on these two guards? Without a doubt. Could she take on the waves of Lunar goons who'd storm her village when the ones they'd sent in didn't return? Not without losing everything. And had she really released her magical might on the guards without mimicking the use of her ‘wand’, the illusion she spent years crafting would have certainly been shattered. Thrust into another no-win situation, whatever feelings of control she had wrestled back were once again falling from her grasp.

“My- My apologies!” Starlight fretted, feeling beads of sweat run down her temples. “Excuse me, Pencil, Polly, may I have a private word with you and your guards?”

The students looked at each other. The guards looked at each other. The students looked at the guards. One of the guards shrugged. They all looked back at Starlight. Polly Math grinned. “Okie dokie, Miss Glimmer!” she chirped.

“Behind the house,” Starlight commanded, the four visitors followed after her.

Once out of sight of the villagers, the students curiously waited for Starlight to speak as the two guards stood close by Starlight’s side, almost literally breathing down her neck. Fortunately for her, she thought of something that would hopefully convince the students not to stir up any more trouble.

Starlight leaned in close to the students. “If you really don’t want to bias the result, follow my lead, tell them you only saw me talking to Night Glider, then keep your damn traps shut. Got it?” Starlight hissed.

Both of the students stood quietly, their eyes wide and mouths shut.

“Ya know what?” Pencil Neck said with a smile. “Sounds good to me!”

All five ponies untensed and returned to the village proper, the three unicorns all with smiles - artificial or otherwise - on their faces with the guards close behind.

“Wow, I can’t believe we misinterpreted what we saw so badly!” Pencil Neck announced as she rounded the corner. “Turns out Starlight was just giving her friend a sincere and friendly talking-to!”

“Oh yes, we sure have misunderstood how ponies do things here!” Polly Math returned loudly, her voice then dropping to a low murmur. “This whole experience has been fascinating!”

To Starlight’s relief, her followers seemed to have bought it as relieved sighs sounded through the village and toothy smiles were once again affixed on their faces. The students returned to quietly making notes and only asking softball questions to the villagers, having understood Starlight’s reasoning and not saying anything that might upset the delicate experiment.

With her image hopefully salvaged for the time being, she knew it wasn’t the last time something like this would happen. It wasn’t the first, and the Lunar Military was only getting more and more intrusive. A million thoughts had come to her mind regarding what she could do. Could she make a counteroffer to the Empire to preserve her independence? Try to assert herself? Abandon the village and make a run for it? Persist and hope for the best? Her options were narrow, and none of them were ideal. The writing was already on the wall for Ourtown and Starlight couldn’t deny it.

Something had to give. It was only a matter of when.

2 - Inside the Vault

12:00 - 12/03/1002 - The Open Road, baby!

The warm light of the midday sun shone through the canopies above and onto the winding forest road, where a motorcycle carried Starlight down the road at blurring speeds. Kicking up dirt and leaves in her path, she raced ahead with the wind in her mane and without a care. A stereo was on her back, blasting an upbeat synth track that mirrored her feelings of joy, warmth, and the thrill from the open road. Freedom never felt this good!

She heard the roar of another engine off to her right. She looked and saw a gorgeous, blue unicorn mare racing aside from her on a motorbike of their own. The mare turned her head to Starlight, presenting a smug smirk that expressed boundless confidence. The way the wind rushed through her silky, luxurious pale-blue mane only amplified Starlight’s attraction to the mare. She blew a kiss at Starlight, winked, revved her engine, and sped ahead.

Being the experienced motorcyclist she was, Starlight knew a challenge to race when she saw one. She kicked into gear and throttled, quickly catching up to the mare in front by making use of the slipstream. Yet she failed to take the lead as a litany of obstacles stood in her way. Either the road narrowed to the point where overtaking was impossible or she failed to push her advantages or the other mare simply outskilled her.

A sharp turn was dead ahead, straddling the edge of a steep drop. Likely in anticipation, the other unicorn slowed down. Starlight, however, did not. She wasn’t intimated, she sped up. Rapidly she approached the bend, taking the lead, shooting ahead, whipping her vehicle around to drift and…

All of a sudden, she was driving on flat ground. She turned her head around. The trees were gone. The other mare was gone. The blue sky was gone, replaced with an expansive uniform grey. No hills on the horizon, no sun nor moon in the sky. In all directions, nothing but a dry, flat, desolate desert. There wasn’t even the puff of wind.

Confused, Starlight steadily slowed her motorcycle down to a complete stop and disembarked. She looked from side to side, finding nothing but vacant emptiness that seemed to stretch endlessly, like the whole world had been rolled flat. Just moments ago she was rushing through a dense forest, how did she end up here? It didn’t make any sense. And, wait, since when was she a motorcyclist?

Then the truth of what was happening popped up in Starlight’s head unceremoniously, so obvious it wasn’t even worthy of a shrug.

“Oh, right, I’m dreaming. Duh-”

A sudden bright flash of white light filled her environment, nearly blinding her.

Once she blinked the light out of her eyes, she was out of the desert and back in her hometown of Sire’s Hollow.

No, not just back in Sire’s Hollow. Back in her home on the day her life was ripped up at the roots.

Sitting before a tower of books of varying sizes, Starlight, her body back to that of a filly, and colt-aged Sunburst struggled to magically remove a thick book from the bottom of the stack. Starlight knew what happened next, the books would fall, Sunburst would catch all of them with his magic, he’d get his cutie mark, and would be whisked away to magic school. Though this was all in a dream, not affected by real events. Perhaps this time things would be different?

It wouldn’t. Everything happened exactly as she remembered. She expected it to the point that she didn’t even flinch when the books came tumbling towards her. Sunburst caught them, he got a cutie mark, and he was never to be seen by Starlight again. Right as it had happened before, as it always had.

Of course. Why would it have been any different? Far too many times had Starlight relived this awful day in her dreams, but for some reason, it felt different this time. Usually she was overwhelmed with bitterness and anger, though now she could barely put on a frown. Somehow she felt reason to smile, like she was better empathising with Sunburst-

But before she could gather her thoughts, another bright flash stunned her.

She was still in Sire’s Hollow, still a filly, yet a few years older, out on the outskirts of town and flying a kite on a warm and clear spring day. Strange as it may have been, flying kites was one of the few things that Starlight took honest and wholesome pleasure in. Regardless of experience or skill level, anypony could experience the joy of watching a kite fly. Truly, an egalitarian hobby. Something she easily got the whole village into.

At least, she felt that way until the spool was yoinked from her hooves. As a sudden gust of wind ripped the kite away and out of her control, panic rushed through her.

“No! Where are you going?” she wailed.

She shot to her hooves and dashed after the kite, her little legs hardly able to keep pace and her meagre attempts at grabbing it with magic failing to retrieve it. Soon it blew into the leafy clutches of a tall, thick tree, and she skid to a stop.

First she tried pulling at the trapped kite with simple telekinetic magic, but it came to nought as it was thoroughly entangled in the dense network of branches, as if the tree were eating it. On top of that, the way it was pressed against a particularly pointy branch meant that pulling it loose risked tearing it. She grit her teeth and groaned, but quickly repressed the frustration.

Instead thinking to be more surgical, she used her magic to pluck away and span individual branches that were keeping the kite in place. Yet every time she pulled one branch away, another branch would swing out of nowhere and pull the kite further in. Before long, it was more trapped than it was before. Every new thing that the kite got caught on only fueled Starlight’s fury further.

“Stupid tree!” she snarled, feeling magic mustering in her horn. Directing her magic towards the canopy she engulfed practically every branch and leaf in her aura, making it emanate a spectral glow. Like a piece of paper she split the canopy in half, sending a woody crunch sounding through the air as the kite drifted loose. She snatched it up with her magic and brought it safely to the ground.

But retrieving the kite wasn’t enough. With the kite secure, Starlight’s bulging eyes glared at the tree, fury pounding in her head. Her aura moved away from the canopy and gripped tightly around the trunk. With little effort, she started to pull the whole tree upwards. The ground shook, then cracked. She threw her head back, ripping the tree with all its roots right out of the earth, and with a flick of her head and a “Hyah!” she launched it skywards and across the horizon.

Watching it disappear, Starlight smirked. In the face of her outburst, the world had momentarily yielded, allowing her catharsis. Wherever it was going to land was the last thing on her mind.

That was until an otherworldly sensation hit her on the flank.

An itch, followed by a chill, completed with a sharp sting. Starlight’s eyes went wide as the whole of her body tensed up. Dread slowly crawled over her like a thousand spiders as her legs stiffly trembled in place. The thought that her worst fear had come true sprang to the forefront of her mind, and she knew that there was only one way to find out. Turning her head, she hesitantly looked back at her flank.

To find that a cutie mark had appeared.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” she whined. “No!”

Her blood exploded like water poured into a hot vat of frying oil. Impotently, she tried to rid herself of the new mark, punching at and scratching her flank. That soon turned to her rolling around on the filthy torn ground, frantically kicking her hind legs as if that would somehow rid her of her cutie mark, as her whines descended into incoherent wails.

It happened so quick, as the result of such a sudden surge of emotion, and in such mundane circumstances that there was nothing she could’ve done to prevent it. Yes, without the magic granted by her cutie mark it would’ve been impossible for her to build her utopia, but every time she returned to this memory, it infuriated her that she had been branded with this cursed blemish against her will.

Except for this time. Right then she found it… funny?

At least, something in her head found the sight of a filly raging at their cutie mark amusing. She froze on the spot, the jarring thought practically taking her out of the memory. Not just that, but her focus was pulled away by another bizarre intrusion.

“Cutie mark memories, cutie mark memories.”

That voice! It was familiar, but simultaneously like nothing she'd heard before. It felt like it was coming from right next to her, but also so distant, and from no direction in particular. Less the voice of someone present, more the voice of an otherworldly, omnipresent force. Yet it was too dorky to be-

Then, another sudden flash.

“Woah, are you alright?” Starlight had heard the crash and the pained scream all the way from her isolated little garden and came running. The sounds were way off in the mountains behind her house, yet still in earshot.

Sure enough, a white earth stallion was lying in the snow, goggles strapped to his face and a path marked in the snow leading from him to a broken pair of skis. She didn’t know his name back then, but this was the first time she met her most loyal and dedicated follower, Double Diamond. Given that she was running through a memory meant she knew his name all too well.

“Yeah, I’m-” Double Diamond tried to stand, but pain flashed across his face and he crashed back into the ground. “Nope, nope, not alright! I think I broke one of my legs!”

Starlight had expected as much. Ponies rarely came out here for a reason, getting injured this far away from help was a death sentence. There was a small train station nearby, but that could more accurately be called a train stop, it didn’t even have a ticket office. For all intents and purposes, the only pony out there was her. Fortunately, she had the foresight to bring a first aid kit and some thick blankets.

“You don’t seem to be bleeding, that’s good. I’ll splint your leg, that should prevent any further damage until I can get you back to my house. Here.” Starlight reached into her bag and passed Double Diamond a small vial containing an opaque red liquid. “Basic healing potion, should accelerate the healing and repress the pain.”

“Thanks,” Double Diamond breathed, uncorking the vial and swallowing the potion in a single swig. All the while Starlight started work on a simple yet effective splint around the stallion’s leg, carefully holding his leg up with magic as she worked.

At some point during the ordeal, Double Diamond’s eyes must’ve drifted to Starlight’s flank. “What’s your cutie mark meant to mean?” he asked. “It’s just an equals sign.”

“Oh, that?” Starlight looked back at her flank, her magic still working on the splint. “I removed it.”

“What? Really?” Double Diamond’s eyes went wide. “How is that even possible?”

She’d just finished applying the splint as she held her head up. “Well, if you’d like to know more -” Starlight froze as she spotted a pony-shaped orange blur amidst the snow. She locked her gaze towards it, it reacted with a subtle flinch. Narrowing her eyes, Starlight peered through the snowy haze, the figure slowly backing away. She recognised the figure, she was sure of it. Determined to see it clearly, with a flare of magic the snow was parted and the figure came into full clarity.

“Sunburst?” she gasped.

“Aah! Starlight!”

The two ponies stared at each other, Starlight stunned into silence with her mouth and eyes wide open. Sunburst looked so different, so much taller and now having a goatee, yet it couldn’t have been anypony else. His fiery orange mane, his distinct creamy blaze and ‘socks’, his sapphire eyes behind circular glasses, all draped in a cyan cloak. His presence didn’t feel dreamlike, but physical. Like a lone island of corporeality in a sea of formless hazy abstraction.

“Starlight - I - Um, hi?” Sunburst stammered, shakily waving at her. Even with his unmistakable verbal quirks on display, his voice was clearer than anything else in the dream.

With Starlight’s attention locked solely on Sunburst, everything else dissolved into blurry noise. Double Diamond’s leg was no longer a concern, it was hard to tell if he was even there anymore.

“Hey, uh, now that you're here - um, now that I’m here with you, you’ve always been here, it's your mind. Right, um, could you uh, tell me how your cutie mark spell works?” Sunburst said, a grin flashing on his face.

Almost suddenly, Starlight was sent scrambling at the request. “Wh- My what?” she said, pulling away.

“You know, the spell, for the cutie mark magic! The one you use to remove ponies cutie marks? It's easier if you just tell me than-” Sunburst paused for a moment. “Actually, just come up to the cave, you can explain it there.”

Starlight shook her head in bewilderment. "Cave? What cave?"

“Yes, the cave above your village! With the cutie mark thing, the staff, the other cutie marks! Just come over here! I'm right here Starlight!”

His words echoed through her mind.

“I'm right here!”

Starlight shot up out of bed gasping.

01:36 - 12/03/1002 - Ourtown

Sunburst’s breathing was still heavy, as performing the dreamwalker spell took a lot out of him. He knew the theory back to front and took extra time in the preceding week to practice, yet those practice sessions were always under controlled conditions and without the attached baggage of digging around in a childhood friend’s mind. It was impossible to know just how cold the water felt until he stepped in.

Being forcibly ejected from the dream once Starlight awoke shot him back into the frigid embrace of reality. In front of him stood a tall glass vault that towered above everything else in sight, its eerie blue light flooding the entire cave. It held dozens of floating images in segmented individual compartments, without a doubt the cutie marks of the villagers. Standing before the vault was a tall wooden staff, the lynchpin of Starlight’s myth.

He had a thick black cloak to keep himself warm, and it was doing a good job in the face of the biting draft. It had served him well so far, even if it did drag on the floor. If anything it was nice to not be stuffed into a Arcane Institute uniform for one night.

But by his side, one of his three escorting guards was grilling him.

“You told her to come here?” the armoured unicorn stallion barked. “Giving away our location and our mission?”

“Well- yeah!” Sunburst cowered. “It’d be easier to just ask her, right? I’m supposed to get information on the spells she uses and-”

“Through the dream!” the unicorn yelled. “That’s literally the entire point! Stars above, this was your assignment! How are you screwing up so bad?”

“It seemed like she was missing me! Starlight and I grew up together, that’s why I was assigned to this mission! Maybe she’d be willing to give it up if I’m nice to her?”

Pressing a hoof into his helmet, the unicorn guard seethed. “You’ve got the be the stupidest pony I’ve ever had to escort-”

“Hey, lay off of him!” a second guard, an earth pony stallion of an astonishing stature, butted in. “Look, there’s no point giving him a hard time. We’re here to do a job, and it’s to help this guy complete his mission. So quit it.”

A tense moment passed, with the earth pony staring down quietly at the unicorn. The unicorn soon backed away, huffing hot air from his nostrils. Rank dynamics likely came into play, Sunburst thought. He’d been introduced to the three guards on the long train ride over, learning that the earth pony was a volunteer corporal in command of the other two conscripted privates. The third guard in the cave, a thestral, kept to himself.

“Okay, Sunburst,” the earth pony said, removing his helmet and turning to Sunburst. His unbound head revealed that he had a soft, disarming baby face that sharply contrasted with his gigantic build. It surprised Sunburst at first, but the calm earnest look from the earth pony put him at ease. “What did you find out? What did you learn about Starlight or the spell from the dream?”

“Uhh,” Sunburst thought for a moment. “I dug through Starlight’s cutie mark memories, I saw the moment I got my own cutie mark, which I guess left a lasting impression on her if it’s that prominent of a memory. I saw a memory of her getting her cutie mark, I saw the founding of the village and almost got to the first use of the spell.”

“What about Glimmer’s own cutie mark?” the earth pony asked. “Anything we should know?”

“She must’ve been ten or eleven at the time, she was flying a kite that got stuck in a tree. Struggled to get it out and ended up pulling the whole tree apart to get it free then pulled it out of the ground,” Sunburst recalled. “Big tree, too.”

The thestral finally spoke up. “How big we talking?”

“Fifteen or so ponies tall, big thick trunk, and she just-” Sunburst threw a hoof up to emphasise “-ripped it out of the ground! Roots and everything!”

“And that’s what got her a cutie mark?” the earth pony asked.

“Yes, it must have been. Memories are just retellings of the pony’s perspective,” Sunburst asserted. He wasn’t making it up as he went along either, his own research into the mountains of theory and evidence confirmed it. “They can be corrupted, filtered, or distorted but never consciously altered. Like, ink might fade on a dirtying old parchment and what state you’re in at the time may change how you read it, but the ink can't change what it says. That’s how she honestly remembers it.”

“Magic’d a whole tree out of the ground before she was in high school. So her special talent is magical strength and you told her exactly where to look for us,” the unicorn huffed. “We’re all screwed.”

“Hey, well, she doesn’t know about you!” Sunburst retorted. “Couldn’t you just go hide somewhere? Or teleport us out?”

The unicorn was stropping around the cave. “I’m better off teleporting out of here myself.”

“You’ll do no such thing, Private,” the earth pony commanded at the unicorn. He turned back to Sunburst. “He can only safely teleport himself or one other pony. We can all hide and leave quietly, but she might go looking for you if you do. Doesn’t leave us with a lot of choices.”

Sunburst felt trapped, physically and mentally. There was no easy way out of this cave. Until, like lightning, an idea flashed in his mind. “What if I go with her?” he blurted out.

All three guards snapped their heads around towards him. He could only see the earth pony’s expression, jaw dropped and eyebrows shooting into their foreheads. He assumed the others looked much the same under their helmets.

“How stupid are you?” the unicorn raged.

“Private!” the earth pony barked at the unicorn. It silenced the unicorn right away. “Alright, I’ll be honest, given what we’ve heard about Starlight, that sounds nuts,” the earth pony said to Sunburst. “Are you sure about this?”

Sunburst recalled what he was told in his initial briefing with Saitasuna. “I-if anypony’s right for this, it’s me,” he stammered. “I’m a childhood friend of hers, she still holds fondness for me if her dreams are any indication. She’s probably not going to hurt me.”

“And if something goes wrong, how will we know?” the earth pony followed up.

“I mean, there’s guards and soldiers poking around normally, right?” Sunburst asked, unsure of his own rationalisation. “You can just hang around. Keep watch. It’ll be fine. I’ll be fine,” he insisted, both to assure the guards and himself.

The thestral suddenly chirped. Everypony turned to him, watching his tufted ears frantically flickering. “She’s near,” he muttered. “I hear her.”

“Okay, we’ll go with your idea, Sunburst. We’ll stay close.” The earth pony spoke in a considerably lower voice. He then gestured to the unicorn. “Private, cast spells EEI-6 and SA-3”

The mage-guard jargon was familiar to Sunburst. EEI-6 referred to a spell that made them invisible to anyone but themselves, and SA-3 made them inaudible to anyone but themselves. Sure enough, after he groaned and nodded, the unicorn's horn flared with light and the three guards vanished. To the naked eye and ear, Sunburst was completely alone. All there was left to do was to wait for Starlight to arrive.

He knew he wasn’t alone, but that didn’t ease the sudden sense of vulnerability flooding through him. He chewed on his lip, fiddled with his cloak, and wiped the growing sweat from his forehead. The howling wind rushed through the air accompanied by the dozens of thoughts rushing through his head, a whirl of what-ifs and maybes and could’ve beens combined with worries regarding how best to present himself. Look casual? Look professional? Sure, Starlight might’ve seen him in the dream, but it was essentially a first impression all over again.

Moonlight didn’t penetrate very deep into the cave, there wasn’t a lot of it to go around on the best of nights, leaving the vault as the main source of light and sending his long shadow casting across the floor and to the entrance. Soon a distinct distant murmuring from outside cut through the noise of the wind, followed by hoofsteps, followed by a glow from the outside rapidly approaching. More and more it felt like a bad idea, and part of Sunburst was screaming for him to hide or turn to the guards.

Yet before he could act, Starlight stepped into the cave and into the illuminating light of the vault, and her eyes met his. She skidded to a stop. The light spell in her horn snuffed out. She staggered on the spot, nearly losing her footing, her eyes going wide and jaw hanging open as she heaved out panting breaths. Like she’d just had a heart attack.

“Sweet Celestia,” she gasped.

All the while, Sunburst was frozen stiff. “Uhhh.” He timidly raised a hoof. “Hi?”

“Sunburst!” Starlight ran up to Sunburst with a smile reaching across her face, leaping forwards to practically tackle him in a hug. “It- it really is you! Good grief, I- I never thought I’d ever see you again, I’d written it off entirely, but you’re back! You’re here!”

Lost in the struggle of trying to think of something to say, and with the wind knocked out of him from Starlight’s sudden embrace, Sunburst simply reciprocated the hug.

Eventually, Starlight released him and took a step back. A relieved, almost innocent smile was adorning her face. Her teary eyes moved up and down his body, taking in all his features. “You have a beard!”

“Hm?” Sunburst’s eyes moved down his face. “Um, yep. That I do.”

“Never thought you’d be a goatee guy!” Starlight chuckled, her captivated gaze still examining every inch of him and focusing on his cloak. “I take it you’re some kind of important wizard now, right?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that. I’m a researcher of sorts, in the study of magic. A lot of it’s kind of degrading, my boss is a serious pain in the flank,” he muttered, “but you know, it’s good work.”

“You must’ve done well in magic school, then,” Starlight commented.

Sunburst opened his mouth to speak but swiftly bit his lip, glancing away from Starlight. A sudden, strong compulsion to lie about his experiences crossed his mind, only for it to be drowned out by a logical impulse assuring him that there wasn’t much point in misleading her. Perhaps sharing his shortcomings would more easily convince her that he’d be interested to try living in her crazy village. “No, I- I flunked out,” he confessed.

“Oh.” Starlight’s smile faltered. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Ah, it’s fine,” Sunburst assured. “I nailed the theory but I wasn’t able to actually do any of the magic myself. Like I wrote this report on Oneriomancy for all the big wig wizards to draw from, but that doesn’t make me a good Oneriomancer. As you just found out.”

“Oneriomancy?” Starlight cocked an eyebrow as her lips hung open, then realisation flashed across her face. “Oh, dream magic! So that was you in my dream?”

“Yeah…” Sunburst admitted.

Starlight rubbed her chin, her eyes narrowing. “Hm. I’ll be honest, that’s kind of creepy-”

“Hey, uh, what’s all this about, aha?” Sunburst hastily cut Starlight off and threw a hoof back to point at the vault. “Big wall of, um… Cutie marks?”

A broad, exuberant grin illuminated Starlight’s face. “Why, I’m glad you asked!” she exclaimed, prancing past Sunburst and towards the vault, making a sweeping gesture to draw his attention to its dominating presence. “This is the Ourtown’s Cutie Mark Vault! It’s what I’ve been up to the last few years. This contains the cutie mark magic of everypony in our little village!”

“Wow. The whole village?” Sunburst feigned surprise. As unbelievable as it was in person, he’d had a week to process its existence.

“After my isolating upbringing, I learned that difference and individualism only tore ponies apart. Cutie marks were the most disgraceful expression of this, making ponies think they were so much better than everyone else. This knowledge and experience acted as the furnace to forge an ideal society free of cutie marks and their suffocating influence, and this village, Ourtown, is the realisation of that vision! Let me tell you, it’s so much better here, ponies are so much happier!” Starlight had a proud smile on her face and a hoof held to her chest. “You should see it when everypony’s awake!”

“Yeah, it’s all pretty… Um…” Sunburst pouted his lips, his eyes darting around the cave. There were a hundred words that crossed his mind, strange, confusing, horrifying. Though he knew that openly criticising or degrading Starlight’s actions would doubtlessly offend her. After a long awkward pause, he eventually settled on a neutral “Interesting?”

“And it’s all made possible by this!” By use of her magic, Starlight excitedly hoisted the Staff of Sameness into the air. “Behold, the Staff of Sameness! It was one of the great Mage Meadowbrook's nine enchanted artifacts, and we are so incredibly fortunate to have it- why are you looking at me like that?”

The proud smile on Starlight’s face faltered and crumbled into once she noticed the look Sunburst was giving her. Brow furrowed, head pulled back, lips tightly clenched, a look that saw right through Starlight’s nonsense. Once Sunburst realised his expression, he snapped to a stiff, neutral look and dismissed Starlight's concerns with a “Oh, oh, nothing. Nothing.”

“Is something wrong, Sunburst?” Starlight clutched the staff, holding it close to her chest. “I didn’t say something bad, did I? You’re not gonna leave again, are you?”

“What? No!” Sunburst shook his head. “It’s just that… that stick- staff. It’s… It’s just a stick!”

Starlight’s face said everything, a combination of disappointment and sheepishness. “Oh. Right,” she sighed, eyes drifting to the floor as she put the staff back on its stand. “What gave it away?” she asked, a hint of wry amusement in her voice.

“Well…” Sunburst shuffled on the spot. As long as she was asking, he thought he might as well explain. “It doesn’t radiate any independent thaumatic energy, there are no detectable enchantments, and the thaumatic signature that does linger on the staff is nothing like what appears on Mage Meadowbrook’s artifacts. Plus, Mage Meadowbrook had only eight famous magical items, not nine.” Sunburst came to an abrupt halt. “That’s- that’s how I knew. Figured it out as soon as I got here.”

“Wow, really?” Starlight said, seeming impressed at Sunburst’s breadth of knowledge.

“Have uh, any of those-” Sunburst pointed to the vault. “-ponies caught on yet?”

“Nope,” she chuckled. “Guess they aren’t as knowledgeable as you, heh.” Starlight rubbed the back of her head, a smile on her face with her eyebrows pulled together.

Was she trying to just laugh it off? Sunburst thought.

“Okay, aside from that, it’s great here, trust me, I could-” Starlight gasped. “Ohh, I’ll show you around town tomorrow morning! Well, ‘morning’, but yeah! You’ll stay at my cottage tonight, and first thing tomorrow I’ll introduce you to everypony! You’ll get a feel for the place, meet all my friends, talk with me about books and magic, it’ll be great! Just like old times!”

Sunburst jerked back and repressed a gasp. She was rolling out the red carpet for him, not questioning his motives or even reason for being there, like she’d forgotten or ignored everything he’d said in the dream. Exactly what he had proposed to the guards, going better than planned. He didn’t even need to ask. Turns out there was an easy way out of this cave. “You know what, Starlight? That sounds great!” he said, forcing a smile onto his face.

“Yes, yes!” Starlight's face lit up with unbridled excitement, giddily rearing up and kicking her forehooves like a foal waking up on Hearth’s Warming. It took her a moment to regain composure, her smile unchanged, before she skipped gleefully past Sunburst and towards the exit. “This way!”

Sunburst barely had a second to react until Starlight’s magic tugged his cloak and pulled him alone. Once underneath the cave exit, Sunburst took one quick look back into the cave. No sign of the guards, no footsteps leading to the exit or any sight of them in the cave. They must have still been in the cave and watching Sunburst’s back from a safe, invisible distance. He internally insisted to himself it was assuring.

“What are you looking at?” Starlight said suddenly, startling him.

“Um, the vault!” he lied, whipping his head around to meet Starlight’s eyes. “It’s really an… impressive work of magic. Mhm.”

“Heh, I know,” Starlight chimed, donning a self-assured smirk and confidently sauntering forward.

Sunburst locked his gaze ahead, hiding his apprehension for the remainder of their stroll.

3 - Fresh Faces, Canned Expressions

01:47 - 20/03/1002 - Ourtown

“Make yourself at home!” Starlight announced, throwing her house door open and ushering Sunburst inside.

Starlight couldn’t believe her luck. Right when she felt she was rapidly descending a downward spiral, he appeared. The walls were closing in and he’d shown up right when she needed someone to tear them down. She couldn't have imagined a more perfect pony to show up. The encounter felt divinely ordained. First reaching out to her through the realm of dreams,then manifesting before her bathed in the radiant glow of the cutie mark vault. Gratitude, hope, and relief all surged through her. Things were going to be okay. No, not okay. Things were going to be perfect.

Upon entering, Sunburst’s gaze floated around the room, finding plain walls and utilitarian furniture free of any ostentatious embellishments. He’d been quiet since they left the cave.

“What do you think?” she asked with a smile.

A quiet moment followed. “Seems nice,” he replied flatly.

“There’s the stove, the fireplace, my study’s through there, bathroom through there, and the stairs go to the bedrooms,” Starlight said, her hoof dancing through the air to guide his gaze.

“Sweet,” Sunburst said, finishing his examination of the room and turning to Starlight. “Where do I sleep?”

“There’s a spare room for new arrivals, buuuut…” Starlight leaned in close to Sunburst, her smiling muzzle inches away from his. “You could sleep in my room.”

Sunburst let out a quivering chuckle, sliding back a step. “I’d rather have my own bed, thanks,” he said. “No offence. I appreciate the offer.”

Recoiling, her eyelids twitching a little, Starlight forced a wider grin. “No problem!” she beamed. “I could just drag the bed from that room into mine, and-”

“Do you still snore?” he interrupted.

Her voice halted as her facetious smile crumbled. She scoffed, and a smaller, sincere smile formed. “Ha! Yeah… Alright, fair enough. Have your own room. It’s upstairs on the right. I’ll show you.”

She guided him upstairs and into the guest bedroom. It was nothing special. Unpainted walls, a window, a bed, a dresser, and a bedside table with a glass of water and an alarm clock. Aside from a empty fireplace, nothing more or less than the bare essentials. Though, as a means to further comfort new entrants, Starlight made sure that the mattress and pillows in this bedroom were especially soft and plush, much more so when compared to the ones in the rest of the village.

“Oh, this looks nice! Thanks Starlight,” he said, smiling at her.

Starlight felt herself giggle. “Anytime.”

Almost immediately upon laying eyes on the bed, Sunburst yawned. Perhaps being in a bedroom amplified his feelings of tiredness. A quick flick of magic undid the fastening on his cloak and levitated it towards the hanger on the door, all of which was done while he walked up to the bed itself.

But as he tugged the covers upward and poised to climb into bed, his gaze gravitated towards Starlight, who still lingered in the doorway. “Uh, why are you standing there?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow. “You’re not gonna take away my cutie mark in my sleep are you?”

Starlight snorted, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks as her hoof shot up to her mouth. “Why of course I wouldn’t do that, that would be weird and creepy and offputting and I wouldn’t want to do anything weird and creepy and offputting to a long lost friend that might drive them away, would I, right? Right? Aha?” she blurted out, attempting to laugh it off.

Sunburst glanced at the window as he faintingly furrowed his brow. His lips subtly pulled back as he looked back to Starlight. “Yep. Sure would be.”

The message mostly received, Starlight retreated behind the door and pulled it to a near close. She was ready to let him rest, until another thought cropped up in her mind. “Oh um, by the way, Sunburst?” Starlight poked her head through the door again.

“Mrm?” he groaned. He was halfway to being under the covers, having already put his glasses on the bedside table.

“I hope you understand, I-” She drummed her hoof on the door, biting her lip while her ears flopped down. “I have to…” she said, looking to him as she threw on a remorseful expression.

“Have to what?” Sunburst squinted at her.

“I have to tell the whole story about the Staff, and Mage Meadowbrook, and have this makeup on.” Starlight pointed to her flank. “If I didn’t cover up my cutiemark, this wouldn’t work. The whole village would fall apart. If there was a way I could do it without keeping my own magic, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Like, I don’t want a cutie mark, I never asked for a cutie mark, and I’d like nothing more than to have a place like this where nopony needs one. But the way things are, it’s something I need to do for any of this to work. Ponies are happier here, they were miserable in their old lives and I’ve given them something better. I’ll prove it to you tomorrow, alright?”

His eyes were already drifting shut. “Y-yeah. Sure thing, Starlight,” he said. “Sleep tight.”

“Okay, goodnight Sunburst,” she said, pulling the door closed and keeping it so.

Now alone with her thoughts, she leaned against the door. She’d thought of developing a way to remove cutie marks without needing her magic, but only in passing. Sunburst’s arrival suddenly made the concept seem much more feasible. Perhaps with his supposed knowledge of theory and her practical ability, they could develop a way to remove cutie marks without requiring Starlight to keep hers, finally giving her the chance to rid herself of that infuriating stain on her flank To use their exceptional talents to end exceptional talents.

Though it would definitely be best to leave it for the ‘morning’. She let out a yawn, finding it hard to keep her own eyes open. Sunburst had clearly been tired, and now so was she. Only now were those thoughts keeping her up. Sleep was calling her back, and he wasn’t going anywhere anymore.

06:00 - 20/03/1002 - Ourtown

A deafening, monotonous beeping ripped through Sunburst’s ears and yanked him out of his slumber. His legs jolted and kicked in a startled frenzy, throwing the covers into the air. Desperate urgency took over, his hoof frantically and blindly flailed towards the bedside table and threw a relentless slam down on the ‘stop’ button. Silence returned to the bedroom as suddenly as it had left.

Rolling back into a more comfortable position, Sunburst released a relieved sigh. Though hefelt his ears flick as if he could still hear beeping. Not from anywhere in his room, but from the window. Alarms going off in the rest of the village, perhaps? Whatever, he thought as he tossed a pillow over his head. The noises were out there, and the bedroom was quiet. He had achieved a moment of much needed calm.

It didn’t last.

The door crashed open. Artifical light from the hall flooded into the room and Starlight leapt in. “Wakey wakey!” she sang. Sang. First thing in the ‘morning’.

Clutching the covers closer to himself, Sunburst groaned. “What? Now? What time is it even?”

“Six o’clock exactly!” Quickly flicking the lights on, Starlight pranced up to the foot of the bed. “Everypony in Ourtown wakes up at the exact same time!”

“Six in the morning?” he complained, squinting and rubbing his eyes as the sudden burst of light assaulted him. “We went to bed at what, two? Three? And I got zero sleep on the train here. Just give me a few more minutes.” He pulled the covers over himself. “Or hours.”

Starlight brow furrowed slightly, her grinning teeth grinding together a little. “Sure!” she beamed. “Just be up before long! I’ll make sure there’s enough breakfast left over!”

While she slowly slinked backwards towards and through the doorway, Starlight’s gaze was locked on Sunburst. Even as she grabbed the door to pull it shut, she did so in no hurry, her head still poking through the diminishing gap and keeping him in sight until she disappeared behind the door entirely.

Not that Sunburst took much notice of it. He struggled to see any further than a hoof’s length without his glasses, and combined with the overwhelming tiredness fogging his perceptions, Starlight was nothing more than a lilac blur. By the time she’d shut the door, his eyes had already drifted shut, his head comfortably cushioned into the pillow, ready to pick up right where he’d left off before the alarm.

Sleep was well on its way to taking him back, only to falter as a wide range of distracting noises came from below. Sizzling stovetops, striking silverware, and clattering crockery. No discernable scents reached up to his room which had him wondering what was being cooked. Another thought, how were things being cooked? He didn’t see any signs of plumbing for water or gas, and it was unlikely any utility provider was serving them. He was wondering how they got the neccesary water or heat to cook, how they gathered and grew ingredients, and before he knew it his mind was abuzz with thoughts and questions that wouldn’t let him rest.

More noises followed, this time from outside. The front door to Starlight's house swung open, and doors all around the village echoed the same act as lamps flashed on all around. Starlight’s voice followed, being projected across the village and reaching into his bedroom. While he couldn’t discern anything she was saying, he caught onto the attitude that she was giving orders. Whatever it was, there was no chance of him getting back to sleep with everything going on.

Admitting defeat, Sunburst pushed himself up, throwing his covers off. After putting his glasses on, he crawled out of bed and groggily plodded out of the bedroom and towards the downstairs bathroom, intending to take a shower. There he found his suspicions about the lack of plumbing confirmed, that the word “bathroom” had a more limited and literal meaning. Nothing but a cramped room with a bathtub. He made a mental note to ask Starlight about the sanitation.

He pulled himself back up the stairs and into the bedroom, going to collect his cloak. Upon levitating it off of the hanger, however, he noticed a neatly folded slip of paper in one of his inside pockets. He picked it up and read it to himself.

Pvt. Popper should’ve teleported this into your pocket. This ink will be visible only to you. Checked with higher ups, they aren't pleased but have formally authorised your mission. Get the spell without disrupting the social order. If we believe you have lost sight of the objective, we have orders to extract you by force if necessary. Will stay in and around the village and keep a close eye on you. Night Guards are commonly seen so a few extra shouldn’t raise suspicions.

-Cpl. Radiance

Corporal Radiance? That must’ve been the earth pony guard’s name, Private Popper being the unicorn. He’d been too nervous to ask for their names on the trip over and in the hurry following the dream disaster left little chance for a proper introduction. He stashed the note back where he found it and put the cloak on. The process of going down and up the stairs, as well as reading the note, had invigorated him, dispelling his sleepiness at once.

He made his way to the front door and stepped outside, being presented to the sight of the whole village gathered around a collection of tables arranged in a straight line with empty pots and ladles lay scattered on top. The villagers, mare, stallion, and foal alike, were all sat on wooden benches, digging into their meals. The lampposts lining the solitary street cast a cool off-white blue glow, lending much-needed light to the gathering. On the ledges and hills overlooking the village, he noticed a small number of Lunar guards presumably keeping close watch of both him and the village as a whole.

The scene reminded him of a large school cafeteria, only here it was an open-air affair. But it was also considerably quieter than any school lunchroom he’d ever been in. Not a soul was engaged in conversation with their neighbours. Everypony was just eating or sitting quietly.

Starlight, seated halfway down the table, quickly perked up upon noticing him. “Sunburst, you’re awake!”

Right as Starlight drew attention to him, everyone snapped around to stare at him in frightening synchronicity. It forced a shudder out of him, his glasses nearly slipping off his muzzle. Thirty-some ponies, all with the same unsettlingly, nearly perfectly identical features, only differentiated by size and colour. All sported broad, uncanny grins that spread the whole width of their faces, their wide unblinking eyes staring blankly like hollow voids, boring into Sunburst. The ponies seemed like puppets pulled on the same string, their every movement choreographed and commanded from above. The photos he’d seen didn’t capture even a fraction of the discomforting atmosphere that lingered over this cult.

“Come, sit!” Starlight commanded, nudging up and patting the space on the bench next to her.

Unsteadily, he heeded Starlight’s order and made his way over, desperatly attemping to avoid eye contact with anyone, as all the villagers swivelled their heads around to keep their stares locked onto him constantly. He sat down next to Starlight, unable to completely settle down as the feeling of being surrounded started to seep in.

“Everypony, meet my old friend Sunburst!” Starlight gestured to literally present him to the villagers.

“Welcome, Suburst!” the crowd chanted back, almost like a preprogrammed response, their expressions and eyes never wavering even for a moment.

Sunburst gave a meek wave in response. “Hi?”

“Believe it or not, Sunburst here is the pony who revealed to me the inherent wickedness of cutie marks!” Starlight swayed to glare at Sunburst, her jaw and cheeks noticeably tense. “Isn’t that right?”

Sunburst shrinked away, feeling a sudden antagonism directed at him. “Mrm, yep!” he said, nodding frantically. “I guess I was?”

“I’m certain everypony is thrilled to have you here!” she asserted. “Why don’t you introduce yourself, in your own words?”

He shuffled on the spot. “Erm, my name’s Sunburst. I…” His eyes were darting all over the place, finding no relive at all in the contantly blank, seemigly void eyes of the crowd. “I do magic. Specifically I research it, I’m a researcher-”

“A researcher, hm?” interrupted Starlight.

“Yeah,” he replied. “That’s what I said.”

“And who do you do this research for?”

“Huh? Oh, a… technology company, called um…” Sunburst’s eyes darted around the village, from pony to pony and table item to table item literally in search of a response that wouldn’t be suspicious. Then, in the corner of his eye, he spotted a Lunar guard gliding down under a backdrop of the stary sky. “Star… Guard. Starguard Enterprises,” he said, following it up by putting a grin on his muzzle. “Canterlot based firm. Been around for years.”

Starlight and the villagers said nothing for a few seconds. “Sounds exciting!” said Starlight, cutting through the silence.

With that particular bullet dodged, Sunburst felt himself ease a little, yet he was still unquestionably tense. “Sooo… How’s this all work?” he asked. “Eating, I mean.”

“Ooh, ooh!” A unicorn mare to Sunbrust’s side perked up. “Every house has a kitchen with all the same things and all the same recipes, we follow a schedule set at the start of each week telling us what to make, and we bring it out here to eat together!” she explained, that creepy smile plastered to their face the whole time.

“Equal kitchens, equal recipes, equal meals!” an earth stallion seated across from them added.

Starlight clapped her hooves together. “Excellent, everypony! I see we’re well on our way to teaching Sunburst the ideals and benefits of Equality! And as our little welcome gift to him…” Starlight presented a steaming bowl of what looked like mashed potato, previously out of view, and set it in front of Sunburst. “We saved him a meal!”

“Oh, wow.” He stared at the bowl, a grateful smile forming on his lips. “Thanks.” A small assortment of utterances and giggles commenced from ponies no doubt eager to see his reaction. It took Sunburst’s attention away from the food itself, reminding him of the intense pressure he was under. But he felt he could push those thoughts to the side for a moment. After all he was being offered a free meal. And he was hungry, so what the hell, no reason not to. He scooped up a spoonful, put the spoon into his mouth, tasted it…

“Hm,” he uttered, his mouth full.

“How is it?” Starlight asked, leaning closer and fluttering her eyelashes.

Bland. So bland that to describe it in any detail would undersell its blandness. It wasn’t even bad, just tasteless and inoffensive. Yet saying that out loud would be offensive, so he said “It’s… good?” and went in for another spoonful.

As he ate, Starlight turned to the villagers, all of whom were reacting positively. “Now keep in mind everypony,” she said, “Sunburst here hasn’t undergone the cutie unmarking process quite yet, but until he’s ready for that, we should all do our part to assure his transition to a new life is a comfortable one.”

“Mch-what?” he gagged, coughing up bits of food. That was the first Starlight had said anything about him being ‘cutie unmarked’. What in Equestria was she trying to do?

“Something bothering you?” she asked, turning to him with lidded eyes.

“I- uh…” he murmured, fidgeting with his spoon. “What else do you eat out here? I didn’t see many-”

“All sorts!” Starlight interrupted. “Potato stew, jacket potato, roast potatoes…”

He quietly stared at her for a second, then at his bowl, then back at Starlight. “Anything that isn’t potatoes?” he asked.

“Usually just potato meals. They’re a good crop, very reliable,” Starlight said with a nod. “I can assure you nopony’s hungry here! Right friends?”

“Yes, Starlight!” boomed the whole village at once, their voices echoing as one.

“Wow, okay,” Sunburst murmured, startled by the sudden explosion of voices. Uncharacteristically true to Starlight’s word, none of the villagers appeared hungry or malnourished. All were well fed, some more than others, each with a similarly sized bowl in front of them…

Wait.

Some more than others.

The contradiction hit him like a mallet banging a gong.

“Sorry,” he swallowed, “if you all don’t mind me asking.” He scanned the villagers looking for ponies who’d make a good case, finding two that would’ve served his point well. One was a tall, broad earth pony stallion whose muscles were small in spite of his impressive build, the other was a small, meek-looking pegasus mare with some noticeable extra fat in her torso and thighs. He pointed to both of them. “You two. Do you have the same portions?”

“Of course!” the pegasus mare said, her smile unwavering.

“Everypony’s equal here, down to our food!” the earth stallion followed, his smile somehow growing wider.

“Alright, and - no offence or anything - you have fairly different physiques, one of you is pretty small and one of you is rather big. Different physiques with different biologies and different dietary needs, but you eat the same amount of food,” he continued. “Right?”

The pegasus and the earth pony shared a quick glance, a quiver on each of their brows and a fade in the firmness of their smiles. They slowly nodded.

“So…” Sunburst raised his shoulders. “Wouldn’t that make you unequal in a way?”

Silence. The smiles of the villagers flickered, replaced with a wave of furrowed brows and lips that clamped shut as if to try and lock some unspoken thoughts inside. Nopony said a word, the only sound the tense low howl of nearby winds that drifted through the street.

The pressure on Sunburst mounted evermore; the need to justify his point rose. “Well, certainly different builds would require different caloric intakes, so if you were going to be equally well fed, you’d need different portions, and that would make you unequal in terms of the amount of food you get-”

“That is such a great question, Sunburst!” Starlight seethed, her eyes narrowing as she cut him off by throwing a hoof around his shoulder and pulling him tight. The suddenness of her motion nearly knocked his glasses off of his face. “Why don’t you finish your breakfast and we can talk about that later, hm?” she said, pressing her face in close to his, the words coming out between her teeth.

“Uh, sure thing!” Sunburst deftly slipped out of Starlight's grasp, adjusting his glasses and wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead.

“Alright everypony, are we all finished?” Starlight said, her smiling returning to normal, acting as if nothing had just happened.

“Yes, Starlight Glimmer!” The villagers' chorus of affirmations and nods followed.

“Alright, let’s clean up!” Starlight hopped to her hooves, then leaned close to Sunburst. “Stay here,” she said through grinding teeth, then prancing away to help the others.

At her word, the village sprang into action. Ponies gathered up the pots and utensils, stacked up the bowls, then carried the lot into their houses to be cleaned. The tables themselves were then dragged and pushed inside the houses. Everything was done by hoof, no magic in sight. Even Starlight contributed manually.

Sunburst could easily hold the bowl in his magic, so the table being whisked away wasn’t an issue. He continued to shovel mouthfuls of potatoes into his mouth, savouring it not for the taste but solely as a source of sustenance. While it certainly could’ve used a little butter, or salt, or… anything, it was an edible meal.

He felt a sudden nudge on his shoulder. “Psst, Sunburst!” a mare’s voice. An oddly familiar voice at that.

Sunburst flinched as he turned to see who it was. It was a mare. A unicorn mare. Dull-blue mane and dull-yellow coat as anonymous as anyone else, only her face was devoid of a smile and her gaze darted incessantly over her shoulder.

“Meet me in my house when you can, go downstairs, make sure you’re not followed,” she whispered, subtly pointing to the second house to the left of Starlight’s.

Sunburst shook his head. “What? Why?” he blurted out. But before he could ask any further questions, the mare’s grin returned to her face and she assimilated back into the mass of villagers, like she’d never said anything.

Taking a mental note of whatever that was, he absentmindedly dived in for another spoonful. A clink of metal hitting ceramic briefly resounded, and he looked down at the practically empty bowl. Only enough for one last spoonful, if that. Shrugging, he scraped the last remnants of potato up and ate.

“I’m sorry, Sunburst.” Starlight sauntered up by his side right as he swallowed the last spoonful. “I got a little carried away, didn’t I? Did you sleep well?”

“Ehh, I slept fine,” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck, a small snap escaping from it. “Just wish I got more of it. I could tell you made an effort with the room.”

Starlight smirked and brushed up the back of her mane. “Heh, do I try! Now I oughta give you a proper tour of the village! It’s more than meets the eye! Anything you want to know first?”

He struggled to think of anything specific until a base biological instinct he’d tried to hold back rushed to the forefront of his mind. “Yes. Where’s the toilet?”

“The toilet? Ohoho! I can’t believe I forgot to tell you!” Starlight laughed. “We have an outhouse, just over there,” she said, pointing to a shed in the shadow of a rock formation just outside the main row of houses. Difficult to find it in the dark, but once he focused he could see it.

“Alright, thanks.” Sunburst nodded at Starlight. “Back in a second.”

He trotted over and entered. To his great relief, it was an ordinary outhouse. Even had a small light on the inside and a fresh roll of toilet paper. The smell he could do without. He quickly relieved himself and cleaned his hooves using his magic. At least some things here were sane, Sunburst thought. Though he kept thinking of the unicorn mare who briefly got his attention. Something about her was recognisable, and she spoke his name with a degree of familiarity. First chance he got, he decided, he’d go into that mare’s house and find out what was going on.

He stepped out of the outhouse and froze. Right in front of him stood Starlight with a white stallion by her side, both ponies in a stiff upright posture with grins fixed to their faces.

“Uh, Starlight?” he raised an eyebrow, taking a short look over his shoulder. “Were you waiting outside the toilet for me?”

“Sunburst! Meet Double Diamond!” She raised a leg to present the stallion standing by her side, sidestepping his question entirely.

Diamond dashed up to Sunburst, his grinning muzzle pushing up to Sunburst’s own. “A joy to meet you!” he said, seizing Sunburst’s hoof and shaking it firmly before he could react.

“Y-you too,” Sunburst replied, pulling his hoof away and stumbling back. A passing look at Double Diamond revealed little, an all-white coat and mane with the same uniform presentation as anypony else in the village. But meeting his gaze demonstrated there was more to him than the average resident. Real energy holding his smile up, real conviction behind his unblinking eyes, real zeal in his slightly frantic breath. In the Ourtown report he’d read it noted Diamond’s fanaticism, and glimpses inside Starlight’s mind had shown Sunburst that she considered Diamond her most loyal follower. He was the first to heed the call of Equality, after all.

“If you have questions about Ourtown and I’m not there, ask Double Diamond.” Starlight took a couple steps closer to Sunburst. “Just Double Diamond. If you want the most accurate picture.”

“I’ll help you however I can, new friend!” Double Diamond saluted, his grin somehow seemingly growing wider from its already wide contours.

“Now you two, follow me,” Starlight instructed, walking in the other direction. “I’ll show you the farm.”

With Starlight ahead, and with some not-so-subtle prodding from Diamond, Sunburst followed along. She led them through and past the main street onto the other side of the town. As they walked, Sunburst looked up. Perched on clouds and cliffsides he could spot mostly thestral Lunar guards, their gazes clearly following the trio. They weren’t making much of an effort to hide themselves, and neither Starlight or Diamond paid much attention to them. Possibly he may have had a chance to signal to one of them, have them distract her. No, Sunburst disregarded it. Saying anything to the guards or drawing attention to them might reveal his allegiance.

“Don’t worry about the Guards,” Starlight grimaced, likely having taken notice of where Sunburst was looking. “They’re always following and watching me.”

“Ah, gotcha.” Sunburst nodded.

“And we’re here!”

It was a potato farm. Just potatoes. Not even plumb, well attended potatoes. Somehow here in Ourtown, even the potatoes were all equally plain and stock. Starlight gleefully presented it and explained in detail how it all worked, but much was self evident. Sunburst pretended to pay attention. His mind was elsewhere, fully focused on how to slip under he notice. Perhaps he could create a distraction, such as sparking a small fire? What? No, Sunburst immediately forced the thought out his mind. He wasn’t an arsonist, that’d risk ruining the town’s food supply, and it wasn’t like he could pull off subtle pyromancy to begin with.

On the walk back to the village proper, Starlight was telling the tale of how how she met Diamond and how Ourtown was founded. Sunburst knew parts of it were laced with lies, and could intuitively guess the truthfulness of parts he wasn’t sure about. If she was going to breathing down his neck, then he’d never get a chance to quietly slip to the side. Unless…

“It was there, upon showing him the Staff of Sameness, that we decided-”

Sunburst slowed to a stop. “Starlight.”

Starlight and Diamond abruptly halted. “Yes?” she said.

He brought his chest up and sucked in a breath. “Could I…” he groaned. Word whirled in his head as he constantly struggled to seek out the right ones to use amidst the fear of awkwardness or infuriation. He waved a hoof in front of his mouth. “Could I have some space?” he finally blurted out.

Starlight blinked. “...I’m sorry?”

“I-I don’t mean any offence by it, but,” he gulped. “But I’d rather explore the village at my own pace. Without anypony looking over my shoulder. Without being pulled along to see things in the way you’re having me. Without worrying about who I’m supposed to talk to. Just let me have some space, okay? Please?”

Starlight's once animated voice fell silent, her lips drew into a line that mirrored the furrow of her brow. Her eyes turned away from Sunburst and towards the ground. She drew a breath in and sighed it out. “Okay.”

“Wh-” Sunburst stammered. “Really?”

“Double Diamond,” Starlight said, causing the earth stallion to perk up, despite the hard tone of her voice. “Let Sunburst be for the time being. We wouldn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable, would we?”

The surprise nearly forced a laugh out of Sunburst he was only just able to repress. “Wow, uh, just like that?”

“Of course!” A full grin had returned to Starlight’s face. “The last thing I’d want is for you to feel weirded out here or get any thoughts of… leaving.” Her smile again faded, and her eyes drifted to the ground. Suddenly her gaze shot back at Sunburst as the grin lit up again. “But nopony who’s ever spent a night here has ever wanted to leave because we’re very very accommodating!”

Sunburst had personally read over at least three cases of ponies leaving Ourtown.

“Stay out as long as you like,” she said, making a small grin. “If you decide to stay here for good, that will be entirely your choice. But there is something I’d like to discuss with you in private when we’re both back at my house.”

“What do you need to talk about?”

“Just a thought I need to share, but it can wait until later,” she said. “See you!”

Just as easy as that, Starlight and Diamond had set off in the opposite direction, leaving him be. He nearly laughed. All his thoughts on how best to create a distraction or slip past her notice when all he needed to do was be open and ask her. Of course, any reasonable adult would’ve adhered to his request. Even though everything around him suggested Starlight was anything but.

Whilst the pair were walking away, Sunburst could overhear what they were saying. “I thought you said a pony living here with a cutie mark would disrupt our entire way of living?”

“Oh, I know what I said, Diamond. See, he’s a special case…” The pair had drifted out of earshot, and crucially out of sight.

For a brief moment, Sunburst could enjoy a moment where nopony was looking over his shoulder. But as nice as the moment was, he hadn’t gotten Starlight off his back just to get a bit of quiet. Sunburst focused his eyes forward, and set off to that one unicorn mare’s house.

4 - Layers of Deceit

07:02 - 20/03/1002 - Ourtown

The door creaked open as Sunburst stepped into the house. Cold, blue lamps lit the colourless, drab interior. Inside was a single, mostly empty, room with a couple doors on one side and a staircase going up.

“Hello?” he called out.

“Welcome!”

Sunburst flinched, spinning to face the sudden greeting. That mare from earlier, the one who whispered to him at the end of breakfast, had jumped out of nowhere, her muzzle inches away from his. She had the same smile as everyone else he’d seen so far, every inch of her body was stiff and tense. Now able to get a better look at her features, Sunburst could’ve sworn he recognised her but struggled to put a name to her face.

“Come in here all by yourself?” She tilted her head, glancing outside.

He backed away from the mare, stopping when his rump bumped into the corner of the nearest wall. “Uhh, yeah!” He put on a grin and nodded.

“Is that so?” Her eyes snapped back towards him. “Starlight isn’t with you?”

“Y-yeah, I asked her for some space, and she left me alone,” he explained.

As if a switch had been flicked, her smile collapsed and her posture loosened. She blinked a few times and her mouth hung open slightly. “Woah, really? That’s a first.” The superficial cheeriness in her voice was gone too; her voice was barely above a whisper. She soothed her cheeks, shook her head, and went to look out the windows. “Huh, okay,” she murmured.

Sunburst inched out of the corner. “Uhm, what’s going on?”

She closed the curtains and walked to a door on the far side of the room. She turned towards Sunburst as she pushed it open. “Follow me.”

Whatever she wanted to say, or do, it required privacy. Probably privacy from Starlight specifically. Slowly, and with frequent glances over his shoulder, he followed the pony down the stairs. As he descended the rickety staircase, he noticed how thick with dust the basement air was. The basement was a lot like the dreary upstairs, only darker and dustier. The only light came from the passageway to the upstairs.

“Why’d you bring me down here?” Sunburst stepped off the stairs and onto the cold stone floor.

“So nopony overhears us.” The unicorn’s voice returned to a conversational tone. “It’d be best if we talked to you away from Starlight.”

Sunburst winced. “We?”

“Back here!” came a voice from behind.

He jumped and stumbled back. Cloaked in darkness were two other ponies who shuffled into the light, revealing them to be indistinct from the other villagers save for a few details. Both had equal cutie marks, heavily desaturated colours, and roughly the same manestyle with short-cut bangs and the backs of their manes up in buns. One was a thestral stallion a little shorter than Sunburst himself, his coat a faded green and mane a greyed-out blue. The other was a pegasus mare, the yellow of their coat and pink of their mane barely discernible in the low light. Looking closer at the mare, Sunburst realised she was the mare he’d pointed out during breakfast to illustrate his point regarding unequal food portions.

Realising they posed little threat, Sunburst calmed down. “Have you been waiting down here for me?” he asked.

“Actually,” the thestral said, stepping forwards. “Lemon Hearts and I were brainstorming a way to distract Starlight so you could talk to her and Fluttershy in private. But it looks like you got away from her yourself. Name’s Rain Bolt, by the way.”

“Lemon Hearts?” Sunburst’s eyes lit us as he turned to get a closer look at the unicorn. “Wait, no, I remember you! We were at magic school together!”

“Ah!” A bright, genuine smile spread across Lemon’s face. “I was wondering when you’d recognise me!”

Rain chuckled. “Wow, is there anyone here Sunburst hasn’t met before?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea, we weren’t even in the same year group,” Lemon clarified. “We just ran into each other a few times, sometimes studied in the same places.”

“Yeah. So, how have you been, Lemon Hearts?” Sunburst asked, trying to rerail the conversation.

“Oh, you know,” Lemon laughed with a flick of her hoof. “Graduating at the School for Gifted Unicorns. Hopping right into a job at the Royal Palace. Having all that blown away when the civil war started. Spending three nights sheltering in a wine cellar with a hundred other ponies. Getting out to find myself treated with mistrust and suspicion at every turn. Running away from Canterlot in search of somewhere that’d accept me. Ending up… here.” Her eyes had floated away from Sunburst as her lips quivered, her smile suppressed. “Anyway! What’s been up with you?”

Sunburst put a hoof to his mouth. “Oh, sorry about that. Though um, I’ve been okay. Mentioned that I’m a researcher and all…”

“Um, excuse me?” Fluttershy meekly spoke up. “I’m sorry. Weren’t we supposed to-”

“Ah, yes!” Lemon perked up. “Sunburst, we need to talk to you about Starlight.”

“Oh boy,” Sunburst sighed. “Where to start?”

Lemon gave a nod, and a light grumble escaped Rain. “Recently, Starlight’s been…” Lemon moved her hoof in a circle. “She hasn’t been particularly-”

“She’s out of her damn mind!” Rain butted in.

“Rain! Don’t be so rude!” Fluttershy spoke up. But she shrank away once everypony’s eyes fell on her, her voice falling to a hush. “And, um, keep your voice down, please?”

Rain groaned at Fluttershy, rolling his eyes. “Look, Sunburst, guy,” he said in a softer tone. “There’s no way to sugarcoat it, Starlight’s gone mad with power. Every week or so she does something completely off the rocker. There’s a pony here called Night Glider, as great a friend as any of us. One night she mildly expresses the thought of having her cutie mark back, and you know what Starlight does to her? Locks her in a house all by herself with no food for eight nights!”

Sunburst blinked, stepping back. “What, really?” he gasped.

“She’s not the only one, too.” Rain rustled his wings, his jaw was tense. “Another pony, Sugar Belle, used to be a baker. One night suggested that we grow more than potatoes, have some variety in our diets. Starlight said ‘If you don’t value the food that we cook for you, see how you fare without it’! Just for making a suggestion, starved her until she came grovelling back!”

“That’s- Oh stars.” Horror flooded through Sunburst, stemming not only from the described acts themselves but from the fact that they didn’t arouse a modicum of surprise. It was all entirely consistent with the Starlight he’d seen over the last night.

“There’s no reasoning with her, you see?” Rain added. “You step an inch out of Starlight’s line, she breaks you. Those two? Broke both of them. Broke all the others who stepped out of line too. They’re so broken they’re grinning in their sleep. Rest of us don’t smile like that when nopony’s looking.”

Sunburst practically froze on the spot. “Wh-what do you want me to do about it?” he stammered.

Rain stepped aside, and Lemon Hearts came forward. “Earlier today, at breakfast, I noticed that you noticed that things around here aren’t exactly right,” she said. “Starlight being controlling, a lot of her ideas being contradictory, and nopony’s really able to stand up to her. Am I right?”

Sunburst gave a nod. “Yeah, I’ve noticed.”

“But I think you can give us a chance to do something about it. See, most of us would be punished if we said what you said at breakfast, but Starlight seems to value your opinion enough not to do that.”

Sunburst glanced at the floor, then back to Lemon. “I guess you could say that,” he admitted.

“Right.” Lemon nodded. “What we were thinking is that we can express our concerns about Starlight and everything she’s done to you. Well, Rain’s kind of already done that, so that part’s covered. To us it looks like you have her ear, so we’d like to ask you to ask Starlight to try doing things differently.”

“Oh, really?” Sunburst felt his breath getting heavier.

“Mhm!” Fluttershy fluttered her wings. “Starlight can be so mean to us when we disagree with her. But if you talk to her and have her change her mind, things here might get better!”

“For what it’s worth, I think there’s no saving her,” Rain admitted. “Honestly, I’d love for you to prove me wrong.”

Immediately, part of Sunburst took to the idea. His proximity to Starlight gave him a unique vantage, giving him the chance to amplify the voices of all those ensnared by her most egregious abuses. There was a chance to make a real difference in this place, improve these ponies' lives. A smile was forming on his lips. In fact, he could skip going through Starlight and just drop the truth of Starlight’s deception on the villagers now and get it over with-

Suddenly, Sunburst’s smile fell as his mind flashed back to the Corporal’s note.

Get the spell without disrupting the social order. If we believe you have lost sight of the objective, we have orders to extract you by force if necessary.

“I don’t think I can help you.”

Lemon coughed. Fluttershy gasped. Rain scoffed.

“See, told you.” Rain shrugged. “Starlight’s too far gone. Even he thinks so. We’re gonna have to bring her down.”

“Hey, no,” Sunburst mumbled, “that’s not what I-”

“No, we can’t do that!” Fluttershy slipped up to Rain. “We’d rip the town apart!”

“Not if we’re quick,” Rain countered. “Starlight’s no stronger than any of us. If there’s enough of us on our side we can overpower and lock her away fast. Then we tell everyone else what’s happened, and there’ll be nothing she can do.”

“No!” Sunburst instinctively blurted. The three whirled around to glare at him. “No, no, Fluttershy’s right, you can’t do that,” he mumbled, “because, um…”

Sunburst blanked. As much as he wanted to, as much as he felt he’d have to, he knew he couldn’t divulge the truth of Starlight’s power without incurring the wrath of Starlight or his Lunar higher-ups. Yet if he allowed Rain to go through with whatever he had planned, the absolute best case scenario is that he’d get blamed for disrupting Ourtown. Worst case scenario? He didn’t even want to imagine what a cornered and aggravated Starlight would do. What to do, what to say?

“Because what?” Rain said sternly, taking a step towards Sunburst.

There was no way forward. Sunburst couldn’t deny that he had walked himself right into a corner. There was only one way out of the corner. It might not be completely honest, but it was something. “Because… I think I can get Starlight to change her attitude.”

Fluttershy perked up. “Oh, really?” A smile appeared on her muzzle.

“Not what you said earlier, if you don’t mind me pointing out,” Rain added.

“What I meant is that I don’t think I could help you for an extended period of time,” Sunburst clarified. “I'm only really here because Starlight is here and I wanted to see her again. After that, I'm going home. You get me, right? Like I mean, sure I could help for a bit? I could push her in the right direction but after that, y'know…”

“Hey, look, whatever it is you do, you should do it soon if you want to keep your cutie mark. Fluttershy here-” he pointed his wing to Fluttershy, “-didn’t keep hers for more than a couple hours, and Starlight did not ask first. If you got here when we were asleep, then you’re already breaking records.”

“Oh, uh, she told me I could stay as long as I liked and leave if I chose.” Sunburst rubbed the back of his neck.

“That’s what she said to all of us!” Rain seethed. Sunburst stumbled back.

“I don’t think Starlight’s let me choose anything since I got here,” Fluttershy mused, rustling her wings. “Or if anyone’s let me choose anything…”

“Alright, I get it, I get it.” Sunburst rubbed his forehead. “But if this is all so bad, why don’t you just, I dunno, leave?”

His question was first met with silence, each of the three villagers turning to silently look at each other. Maybe they didn’t have an answer. After a moment, they turned to Sunburst, presenting him with frowns and lowered eyebrows. Lemon drew in a deep breath. “Leave and go where?”

It suddenly dawned on Sunburst. Ponies don’t find themselves in places like this without a reason.

“I already told you my story.” Lemon pointed to herself, then at Fluttershy. “Fluttershy was thrown out of her life when she couldn’t bear the Empire’s barbarism, and Rain…” She gestured to Rain. “You might as well tell us yourself.”

Rain sighed through gritted teeth, his eyes at the floor. “I’ve always wanted equality.” He turned up to look at Sunburst, stepping closer to him. “And twice I’ve been burned by madmares who throw the word ‘equality’ around and twist it to suit their own crazy purposes. First the Nightmarists, now Starlight. We can’t do anything about Nightmare Moon, but we can do something about Starlight. There’s something good here, something different. I want it done right. You understand?”

Rain’s voice trembled with unyielding determination, but an undercurrent of smoldering bitterness ran strong through it. Every word was delivered with the sharpness of shattered glass, the names of Starlight and Nightmare Moon practically spat. With the distance closed between them, Sunburst could see the weary wrinkles around his eyes previously hidden by the basement’s darkness.

Sunburst was left stunned, and the doubt that lingered in his mind was momentarily pushed to the wayside. “Okay.” Sunburst nodded his head. “I understand. I’ll talk to Starlight as soon as I can.”

“You will?” Fluttershy’s wings fluttered a little.

“In fact.” Sunburst trotted to the stairs. “I’ll go up right now. Get this done sooner rather than later.”

Fluttershy quietly sighed, her wings relaxing. Lemon pumped her hoof before following Sunburst up the stairs. Rain chuckled. “Best of luck to you,” he said, then going over to the base of the staircase. “Yo, Lemon, should we stay down here, or..?”

Lemon ducked and turned towards Rain and Fluttershy. “Stay out of sight a little longer,” she said. “Don’t want to draw attention by all coming out at once.”

“Ah, gotcha, gotcha.” Rain stepped back. After a quiet few seconds he turned to Fluttershy. “So, uh, you any good with small talk?”

“Oh, I’m not very good with small talk.” Fluttershy glanced away from Rain. “But, umm, talking small on the other hoof…”

Lemon nudged the basement door shut. She turned to look at Sunburst with a warm smile. “Thanks for doing this, Sunburst. It’s really great that you showed up when you did, you know? Things might finally turn around for the better here.”

Sunburst forced out a laugh and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, hah, no problem!” he insisted. No problem at all, absolutely none. All he had to do was get Starlight’s mind on a more sensible track, all while making it look like nothing was changing without losing sight of his mission, on top of not giving away the actual reason he was there. Like walking a line finer than the hairs on his head. No pressure.

Sunburst looked at the window, he observed minuscule raindrops tracing delicate paths down the dusty windowsill, a few daring droplets breaching the glassless frame and trickling into the room.

“Hm, looks like it’s started to rain.”

7:20 - 20/03/1002 - Ourtown

As soon as the first drop of rain hit the end of Starlight’s muzzle, she jumped. She might’ve been talking to someone, might’ve been talking to multiple someone’s, didn’t matter. Her legs launched into a gallop on instinct. Barely a few moments had passed and already she’d made her way through the town and disappeared into her house, slamming the door shut behind her.

She hurried up the stairs and into her bedroom. Right away she seized a mirror and put it up to her flank. Relief promptly washed over her, as only a few barely noticeable trickles of makeup ran down her flank, the cutie mark beneath still fully obscured. While running indoors at the first sign of rain was obviously strange, she just needed to tell the villagers she dealt with a severe case of ombrophobia. They believed her, because of course they did.

Grumbling, she stropped downstairs. Damn Lunars and their weather schedules. Sure, the farm needed the water so plants would grow, but would it be so hard to concentrate it on the farm? Jumping her with rain like that risked her entire image. Were they trying to engineer her downfall?

Throwing on a grey raincoat and rain hat as she stepped outside, she noticed that in the short time she’d been inside the light trickle of rain had turned to a thunderous torrent. Most of the villagers had either gone inside and remained there or come back out with their own raincoats, as was common. All the raincoats, Starlight’s included, had equal signs imprinted over the flanks to ensure that the symbol of their sameness was plain in view at all times. One size fits all, too. Starlight’s size, specifically.

Her eyes scanned over the village as she strolled onto the street, curious as to where Sunburst had gotten off to. It hadn’t been long since she left him be, hopefully not long enough for him to have scampered off. Though her eyes were drawn up, partially obscured by rain were a number of Night Guards standing on low lying clouds around the village perimeter. The rain didn’t seem to bother them. Not only that, but there were definitely more of them today than there were in the days before. Why the uptick?

“Hey, Starlight!”

Starlight's head whirled with a swift, almost abrupt motion, pivoting towards his voice.

Sure enough, she spotted him in the doorways of one of the houses, waving at her but flinching as the rain hit his face. By his side was… Lemon Hearts, was it? Hard to tell anyone apart at a distance.

“Oh, Sunburst!” Starlight called, waving him over. “Follow me! There’s something I need to talk to you about!”

He briefly whispered to Lemon Hearts, inaudible under the backdrop of the falling rain. Sunburst struggled to shield himself from the rain. The pair picked up their pace as the rain only got more intense. It was turning into a hostile storm, as if the heavens themselves were trying to force them both inside. The moment she and Sunburst hopped inside Starlight threw the door shut.

“Wow, that came out of nowhere,” Sunburst noted, partially shaking himself off.

As Starlight had hung up her own coat and hat, she turned to Sunburst and gasped. “Oh, gosh, look at your cloak! You were only out there for a minute!” Water was dripping from Sunburst’s cloak like a sponge.

“Hm?” Sunburst looked at his cloak and lifted a part of it up, cringing as he noticed how drenched it was. “Eugh.”

“I have a place to dry it upstairs.” Starlight threw a hoof back to the staircase. “I’ll fetch you a towel, too.”

“Uh, alright, sure.” Sunburst unfastened his cloak and levitated it to Starlight. She promptly snatched it away from him and made her way upstairs to her room.

Her room had some rails bolted into the wall to hold drying towels, though at the time, they were empty. A deft flick sent the cloak billowing through the air, throwing some of the water off but also sending the contents of the cloak’s pockets tumbling onto the floor. The unexpected cascade jolted her, but only for a moment. She absentmindedly threw the cloak onto the rail, her mind fixated the intriguing assortment before her.

Without a thought, she dug through the ejected contents, and goodness was there a lot to go over. Pencils, erasers, loose change, a loaded keyring, napkins, a stuffed wallet, a blank piece of paper, a notebook, a yo-yo, and miscellaneous ‘other stuff’. She scooped up the notebook, it having drawn her immediate curiosity, and she flicked through its pages. Yet she could only squint at the unintelligible and incoherent hornwriting. The few words she could read, a few notes about oneiromancy, lacked any semblance of flow or grammar. Chances were it made sense to Sunburst and only Sunburst. Otherwise it was nothing but scribbles.

“Hm.” She shrugged. She retrieved the contents and stashed them into a dry burlap sack for safekeeping. Along with that, she picked up a towel from the dresser and collected her secretly kept magical kit, then headed back downstairs with all of it in her arcane grasp.

Back downstairs, she saw Sunburst was leaning against the windowsill and staring into the rain with a hoof to his chin. “I’m back!” she announced, nippily drawing his attention. She lay the burlap sack on the ground and passed Sunburst the towel.

“Thanks.” He aggressively rubbed the towel over his head, tangling up his mane.

“Say, that unicorn you were just talking to, do you know her?” she asked.

Sunburst peered up from the towel and blinked. “Lemon Hearts?” he stammered. “Mrh, a little? We were at magic school at the same time.”

“Ohh, I see.” Starlight struggled to stop a groan escaping through her teeth. “What were you talking about?”

“Uhh, how much better her life is under equality?” He shrugged, putting on a smile as his brow furrowed. “Hey yeah, what did you want to talk to me about again?”

She started back in silence for a moment. “Ah yes!” She laughed, magically pulling a table to the centre of the room and laying all the pieces of her magic kit out on top. Sunburst stepped up to the table, his eyes going over all the kit, while Starlight made her way up to Sunburst. “Okay, so I was thinking about this last night. I’ve never figured out how to do the whole cutie mark thing without, ahem.” Leaning close towards him, she dropped her voice to a whisper. “My magic, right?”

“...Yeah?”

“But!” Starlight pulled away, giddily skipping on the spot. “You’re a serious theoryhead, you’ll know all about how artifacts and such can be developed to get around those limitations, and even if you don’t know how to do this specifically, you’ll be able to find out! Right? Right?”

“Maybe?” He shrugged, giving a weak smile.

“So my idea,” she giggled, hoof to her smiling mouth as her whole body was jittering. “We should make the Staff of Sameness into a real thing!”

“What!?”

“Yes!” A broad grin spread across Starlight’s face as she threw her head back and rubbed her hooves together. “We’ll do it in here. Nopony comes inside without my permission, so we’ll have privacy. You can keep your cutie mark until it’s done, as will I obviously, but as soon as we’re done? It’ll all be fixed! Sorted! We’ll never have to worry about cutie marks getting between you or me or anypony here ever again!”

For a moment, Sunburst said nothing. He stared blankly, his jaw slack and eyes barely blinking. “Um, well.” He drew a breath through his teeth and rubbed the back of his head, glancing to the side. “I don’t really know if that’s possible, to tell you the truth.”

“Not with that attitude!” she carried on, completely undeterred. “If you knew how the spell worked, you could easily figure something out! Here.” She grabbed a scroll and quill. “I’ll write it down for you.”

“Wait, just like that?” he gasped. His glasses nearly slipped off his muzzle.

“Just like what?” she inquired.

“I mean, yeah! That’d work!” A grin appeared on his face. “Just like that, I could figure something out if I saw your spell in writing! That’d be much easier.”

“Perfect!” Right away she put the spell to scroll. She knew it by heart, so writing it down was no problem at all. Words and symbols flowed straight from her head and onto the page, as naturally as speaking. It didn’t take much longer than a minute until she had the whole scroll filled out. Once done, she passed the scroll over to Sunburst.

Sunburst grabbed the scroll and held it out in front of him, his eyes scanning the paper in wonder. “Wow.” A bewildered laugh left his mouth, hardly repressed.

Starlight tilted her head. “What is it?”

A second or two passed with a wide-eyed Sunburst marvelling at the spell. His focus snapped back to Starlight, blinking and shaking his head a little. “Ah, uh, nothing, just, the sorcerership on this spell. It’s impressive.”

Chuckling, Starlight flicked her wrist at him. “Oho, thank you.”

“Though before we start.” He rolled up the scroll and held it close to his body. “There’s one more thing I wanted to mention.”

“Uhuh?”

“Just um, I was…” He pushed up his glasses up. He turned away from her, his gaze dancing around the room. “I was thinking…” He pushed his glasses up again. He put his hoof up to his mouth. He shook his head. “I… Uh.” He rubbed his chin. He pushed up his glasses again.

Starlight held a hoof out, literally begging for him to speak. “Come on, what is it?” she chuckled.

“I…” He locked eyes with her, his body freezing and expression going blank. Suddenly a grin appeared as his eyebrows pressed together. “I feel really naked without my cloak. Mind if I go get it?”

Silence, then Starlight snorted. “That was it?”

“Y-yeah,” he insisted, glancing at the door.

“Pft.” Starlight shrugged. “Alright, it’s in my room. It’ll still be wet though.”

“Aha, just a little rain never hurt anypony!” He rushed past her and up the stairs, keeping the spell scroll in his magic.

Starlight leaned on the table, content to wait for Sunburst to walk back down. Rain continued to pound against the walls and occasionally trickling into the house, not letting up at all. If anything it was getting heavier. Given how drenched his cloak was, he’d probably take it off after a few minutes. Was this a new thing or was he always this strange?

Then Starlight remembered the sack of Sunburst’s stuff, she hadn’t told him that she’d taken everything out and bagged it up to keep it all dry. He might freak out a little, but he’d probably understand once he got down and explained it. Shrugging, Starlight thought it best to make sure everything actually was dry. A flick of magic carried the sack onto the table and she poured its contents out, finding to her relief that everything was still dry. Everything aside from a few drops of water that had gotten onto the blank piece of paper. She levitated the paper close to her face, inspecting the water damage closely. Not like there was anything to damage, of course.

She could hear Sunburst galloping down the stairs behind her. “Hey, Starlight, you haven’t seen my-” His hoofsteps abruptly stopped.

Starlight looked up. Hind legs still on the staircase Sunburst was back in his damp cloak with the scroll levitating by his side. But his entire body had locked in place with a look of abject terror on his face, like he’d just seen a ghost. His stare, solid and unmoving, was dead on her. But on a second glance, she noticed he wasn’t staring at her, he was staring at the blank paper.

“Starlight, I'd like that back.”

Starlight snorted. “This?” She spun the paper around in her magic, scanning both sides. “It’s a blank piece of paper.”

“Yes.” His lips were unnaturally pushed together. “I’d like it back, please.”

Starlight glanced at the blank paper, then back at Sunburst. She cocked an eyebrow. “Why?”

“It’s- It’s important to me, for-” Sunburst gulped. “For p-private, personal reasons. Okay?”

If the cloak thing wasn’t weird enough, this certainly was. What was so special about a blank piece of paper? Maybe it really wasn’t her business, so she reluctantly moved to levitate it towards Sunburst. Until she froze too. She felt the light tingle of thaumic radiation, immediately flaring her interest.

There was a spell on the paper.

Not a strong spell, a very simple and weak spell. Something a newbie could pull off. Something a filly could pull off. A spell she recognised the vague silhouette of, something she’d used in her foalhood on her private diary, something to render ink invisible. It hit her. She just stopped herself from gasping.

“Starlight, please.” He was sweating so much it was like he’d just walked in from the rain. “Just give me the paper.”

A light magical push purged the paper of its magic, and a hoofwritten note was revealed. She read it, but struggled to believe it. They were orders. Orders to infiltrate her village. Orders from military personnel. No doubt Lunar military personnel. Including language about the social order, Night Guards, and getting the spell off of her.

It all suddenly made sense. Sunburst, the extra guards, his behaviour, everything. For a good few moments, she was motionless, only her lips and eyebrows trembling. It felt like a black hole had ripped her chest open. Soon the light in her horn faded and the note fluttered to the ground, her eyes wide and mouth agape. Momentarily, she tried to force herself not to believe it, but she knew she had no choice.

“I see,” she sighed.

A gulp. “Starlight, I-”

“I should’ve known it was too good to be true!” she screamed, casting the table aside.

“Please calm down.” He raised a hoof in defence.

“Of course it was!” She stomped forward, mag. “You finally coming to see me after all this time, just to pull me through this whole song and dance to get spells for the freaking Lunar Empire!?”

“Y-you’re scaring me Starlight.” He shuddered.

“Because stars forbid you ever actually come here to reconnect with me!” she manically laughed, now pacing back and forth. “Even after all this time, after all of this, your cutie mark is keeping us apart!” she seethed, throwing an accusatory point at him.

“Starlight, just let me-”

“No!” A blast of magic burst out of her horn. It filled the room with light and incinerated the scroll instantly. Sunburst staggered back and gasped, nearly tripping on the stairs.

“You want my cutie mark spell so bad?” she raged. “Fine! Why don't I demonstrate!”

5 - Caught

7:31 - 20/03/1002 - Ourtown

“Starlight, wait!”

Arcane energy erupted from Starlight’s horn. In a frantic scramble Sunburst hastily conjured a meagre shield. The force from Starlight’s surge punched through the barrier like paper and rapidly shrouded Sunburst in a pulsating turquoise aura. He winced on contact, and groaned as the magic hoisted him off the ground and forced him into a rigid, upright stance.

Unable to resist her overpowering magic, Sunburst writhed and groaned in place. “Nrrg, Starlight!” he pleaded. His eyes flared open, a pleading gaze fixing upon Starlight. Breath rushed in and out of his mouth. “Stop! This is cr-”

“Crazy?” Starlight seethed. “You know what’s crazy to me? Lying to your friend to empower the Lunar Empire!”

“Starlight, just-” She tore Sunburst’s cloak away, forcing a gasp out of him and revealing his bare naked body branded with that wretched mark. No longer. Channelling magical power into her horn, she relentlessly pried his accursed cutie mark from his flank. Unyielding to his gasps, cries, and anguished screams, each agonizing connection pried off with unwavering resolve. Until it had been torn clean off.

Released from the magic’s hold, Sunburst tumbled onto the floor like wet cardboard. Before he’d even hit the floor, the colours of his coat and mane had already dulled. Past whines and grunts he struggled to push himself to his hooves, seemingly lacking the strength to achieve anything more than a crawl. But then his gaze fell upon his cutie mark ensnared within the tendrils of Starlight's magic, and he froze.

“Oh no,” he panted.

Starlight floated the captive cutie mark closer, a satisfied grin curling her lips, savouring the opportunity to finally examine it up close. All the turmoil in her life could be traced back to this, a constant thorn in her side, and yet, she'd never seen it so close. A sun quite literally bursting with bright rays and sparkles, how ironic given the state of the world. For so long it had spat in her face and eluded her grasp, and now it was wholly hers to do with as she pleased. She struggled to resist the temptation to destroy it there and then.

She looked up at Sunburst, still on the floor and with a marvellous mark of equality now adorning his flank. He pushed himself away from her, his breath ragged and frantic. Thick beads of sweat ran down his face as he constantly stumbled and faltered in his attempt to put distance between the two of them. Starlight approached at a measured pace, her hoofsteps hitting the ground like drum beats. With a deft touch, she gently deposited the cutie mark into a dusty mason jar, sealing it shut.

As she closed the remaining distance, he’d been cornered, his back pressed against the cold stove. His voice trembled as he struggled to speak. “Starlight-”

Starlight forced his jaw shut, her magic clamping down on his muzzle, cutting him off. “Not another word,” she spat.

His mouth didn’t move as the magical hold was released.

“Here’s how this is gonna work, Sunburst.” Starlight loomed tall and imposing, casting a menacing shadow over the hapless stallion. “I’m not asking nicely anymore. I’m not taking no for an answer anymore. I’m not putting up with any of your lies anymore. Because if you do anything to upset me, your cutie mark goes up in flames.”

With every word he shrank further away from her until the back of his neck was inches away from the floor as she loomed over him

“From now on you’re going to smile like everypony else. You’re going to be one of my faithful followers like everypony else. You’re going to do exactly as I say like everypony else. If those Lunars come for you, you’re going to stay by my side and tell them that you want to stay here with me. And you’re gonna use that little noggin of yours…” She tapped him on the head, getting a squeal out of him. “…to show me how I can make myself a real, working Staff of Sameness. You better hope it’s not impossible, because you’re not going anywhere until you do, and if I’m even a little dissatisfied, your cutie mark is gone for good.” She leaned in close enough to feel his frantic breath on her neck as she moved to his ears, her eyes narrow as she conjured up as much force as she could into her final words. “Is that clear?”

No reaction for a few seconds. A quick glance to the side. Eyes back on Starlight. He gave a shaky, uneasy nod, his lips quivering.

“Good!” She stomped. “You know, after all this time, I’m glad we could finally come to a proper understanding! Now that you’re here, you’ll stay here! Now that you’re staying here, you’ll stop making things hard for me! Now that you’re not making things hard for me, you can be the friend I’ve that I was always meant to have!” She cast a spiteful glare at him, disregarding the weak twinkle of magic in his horn. “Isn’t that right?”

Sharp pain reverberated through her skull as an unseen force crashed into the side of her head. Her whole world was thrown into chaos as she staggered and tumbled over, hitting the stone floor. Her ears rang. Her mind fogged. All she could hear was metal banging against stone. Through her blurry vision, she saw a thick iron cooking pot rolling across the floor. Had Sunburst just..?

A sudden crash from the door, wood splintering. Starlight’s head shot up and flicked towards the open door, barely catching a glimpse of Sunburst’s tail as it disappeared into the stormy night. The jar was gone from the counter.

“No!” Propelled by a surge of adrenaline Starlight surged to her hooves and raced through the door and into the night. Her hooves struck the muddied ground as the rain struck her face. Through the storm she struggled to discern Sunburst's silhouette, yet the ethereal glow of the cutie mark jar gave him away like a beacon in the night. A fragile and faltering figure stumbled forwards.

“Guards! Guards! Help!” he yelped, begging for his masters to come save him. Some villagers, their smiles sliding off, slinked back as they watched him run by. Starlight charged forwards. A quick flare of magic from Starlight seized his tail and yanked back. The sudden pull caused Sunburst to trip and launch him facefist into the mud. The jar was thrown forwards, landing in the mud with a splat. Starlight’s pace was unbroken, ready to all but literally whip him to her will.

A Lunar Guard blocked her path. Having emerged unseen out of the darkness it landed in front of her, its leathery wings reaching out wide. Instinctively, Starlight staggered back, her breath catching in her throat. Amidst the stormy shroud of darkness and rain, the guard's was nothing more than an imposing jagged silhouette, save for two blood-red, draconic eyes that blazed like the deepest pits of Tartarus through the narrow slits of its helmet.

“I’d choose my next move very carefully if I were you,” the guard glared.

“Move,” she snarled. It didn’t react. Tearing her eyes off the guard, Starlight looked up and around the village. Through the lighting, at least a dozen other guards were surrounding the village, half of them perched on the houses in a circle around Starlight, and the other half standing between the guard directly in front of her and Sunburst. On any other night the sight of a Lunar guard peering down at her would’ve cowed her into submission, but not tonight. She drew in a deep breath, trying to regain her composure.

Until she caught a glimpse of Sunburst past the other guards. He clutched the cutie mark jar in his hoof, his face drenched in mud and distress. Right by his side a unicorn guard had magic shimmering in his horn. He looked back, making eye contact with her for no longer than a second, until he and the unicorn guard were gone in a flash of magic.

“No!” She attempted to charge ahead, yet the guard reached out and shoved her back. The push nearly threw her to the ground but she retained her footing. Her eyes went ablaze with unyielding resolve. Her glare bore into the guard, who stood as immovable. On pure instinct, her horn crackled with gathering magic. Her teeth ground together with a guttural growl, and her eyes seemed on the verge of bursting from their sockets. The guard stumbled back, a flicker of surprise dancing in his eyes. “Get the hell out of my way!”

A searing turquoise beam tore through the air with the swiftness and brilliance that even lightning couldn’t match. On contact a seismic shockwave surged forth, coursing through the muddied ground and propelling Starlight back. She retained her footing, if only barely. The guard, though still standing, had been sent skidding back, his armour bearing a smoldering scorch mark that emitted a wispy plume of smoke.

The guard straightened his posture, raising his head and squaring his shoulders. His blood-red eyes locked on her like lasers. He tapped the side of his helmet. “This is Private Dreamer, code lilac. Over.” Thunder grumbled in the distance as the guard lowered his hoof. Starlight barely repressed a gulp.

A door flew open in the edge of her vision. “Starlight? What’s going on?” Party Favor raced out of a house and up to Starlight. “Where’s your-”

“They’ve come to take me away!” she screamed at him whilst throwing up a hoof to point at the guards. “Stop them!”

“Nobody move!” a guard bellowed. Starlight looked forwards and found that the guards were marching forwards, the unicorns amongst them having spells at the ready. “Starlight Glimmer, you are under arrest for the assault and battery of Lunar personnel!”

Starlight shifted her focus away from the guards, directing her gaze towards the villagers who’d gradually ventured into the rain. Anticipation thrummed in her veins as she gauged their responses. However, to her mounting frustration, the villagers remained eerily still, their gazes fixed on her with an almost indifferent passivity. Didn’t they just hear a word of what was going on?

“What are you all waiting for?” Gesturing frantically in every conceivable direction she stammered her words out, stunned at the indolence of her followers. “Do something!”

“S-Starlight?”

“What?” she snapped at Party Favor, the rain flickering through her drenched mane. She flinched upon seeing the look on his face. Slight widening of the eyes, a quiver at the corner of his lips. Gaze snapping from her face to her flank. Slowly, he raised a hoof, his steps uneasy as he shuffled back.

“Your cutie mark, it’s-”

Her head violently snapped around, and time froze. In her rageful dash, she hadn’t stopped to get a raincoat, the consequences of her hasty foolishness as rain washed the facade on her flank away. A suffocating tightness gripped her chest. She turned to face her villagers, a tableau of emotions on all their faces. Confusion from some, anger from others, shock from all. In the moments after she felt like she was choking on her own breath. She felt stupid, she felt exposed, but more than anything she was overwhelmed by ice cold fear.

“Starlight?” Party Favor had tears in his eyes. “You- You lied to us?”

“Oh, come on!” Double Diamond marched forwards, gesturing at the approaching Lunar guards. “They're obviously playing a trick on us! They're trying to turn us against her!”

“She’s a liar, I knew it!” Rain Bolt asserted, catching everypony’s attention. “This whole time she’s-”

“You're turning against her?” Diamond spat back. “You're letting them trick you?”

“You’ve been letting her trick you this entire time!” Rain retorted, flying up to Diamond.

“Can’t everypony please just calm down?” Fluttershy shuddered, her voice lost in the uproar.

The voices from the assembled villagers devolved into indistinct noise, impossible to discern who was speaking or who was saying what. Yet magically amplified commands from the guards boomed above the shouts. “Step away from the suspect! Return to your homes!”

Regardless of whether they were doing it of their own volition or by the guard’s command, the villagers stepped away. Starlight felt her eyes and head being pulled from one direction to another. Guards were closing in as rain continued to strike her head and back, adding to the oppressive atmosphere. All she could do was stagger back, watching the walls closing in.

No. No, she couldn’t take this lying down, she was Starlight Glimmer! She brought these ponies out of their miserable lives! She lit the path to a better future! She created harmony! And these lunatics were trying to wrest it away from her? No!

She lowered her head and clenched her teeth, her glare a searing lance aimed at the nearest guard. The frigid tendrils of fear that had momentarily paralyzed her were vanquished by a scalding, white-hot fury. Her horn radiated with blistering arcane power, poised to erupt in a cataclysmic release.

It abruptly dissipated as a bolt of magic struck her in the temple. She tried to turn to meet the source of the magic but another hit her in the chest. Then another in the flank. She was nearly knocked to the floor. Then another in her leg. She struggled to retain her footing. Again in the face. All sense of focus she might have had on the world had been lost. Her hearing became muffled, her vision blurred, her legs felt like jelly.

She gracelessly fell into the mud, and was out cold.

17:15 - 20/03/1002 - Rural Equestria

“For what it’s worth Sunburst, you screwed up big time,” said Corporal Radiance. “But I don’t blame you for anything.”

“Huh?”

The two ponies occupied a small booth in a train carriage that was thundering across Equestria. Since leaving the village with their unconscious prisoner in shackles, Sunburst had learned that the earth pony’s full name was Corporal Whisper Radiance. He’d lacked the chance to ask between the last time they met and when they boarded, but felt much more comfortable around the Corporal after he’d done a good job watching over him.

“Clearly you were sent on an assignment you weren’t properly trained or prepared for, on far too short of notice. That’s hardly your own fault, it’s the fault of whichever cretin sent you here.”

“Uh, are you allowed to be saying that sort of thing about your superiors?”

Radiance snorted and smirked. “Nope,” he chuckled. “But hey, I seem to remember you saying something about your boss being a major pain in the flank.”

“That was to Starlight, not to a colleague.”

“Forget we were there that easily?”

“Hrm, I guess.” Sunburst shrugged.

While they were alone in the small car, they weren’t alone on the train. With Starlight in a prison carriage near the back, the privates in their own carriage, and a crew on the engine with some extra guards on patrol and guarding Starlight. Most of the cars on the train were carrying military cargo of various types from the base near Ourtown to other parts of Equestria, Canterlot being one of the stops on the way.

Almost immediately after they embarked, Sunburst threw himself onto a fold-out bed to get some well-needed sleep. Being reunited with his cutie mark hardly rejuvenated him. More than anything it just relieved him. Several hours of sleep followed, and another hour had passed since he woke up. Yet there were nearly a thousand miles between Ourtown and Canterlot. Even the fastest train in the world would’ve taken more than six hours on the most direct route to make the journey, and they most certainly weren’t travelling on one of the fastest trains in the world. Not to mention all the stops and detours that they had to make on the way to drop off cargo. If the moon had risen at the start of their journey it would’ve set by the time they were in Canterlot. They were literally in for the long haul. At least the track was smooth.

The air was only filled with the chuffs of the engine and the occasional sound from the surrounding environment, until Radiance broke the silence. “What was it like to not have a cutie mark?”

“Hm?” Sunburst blinked a few times.

“You know, the whole cutie mark removal thing?,” Radiance leaned forwards. “I’m just curious, don’t feel pressured.”

“No no, that’s fine, it’s…” Sunburst's eyes wandered around the carriage as he gathered his thoughts. He sighed. “It was… It felt… wrong.” He shuttered. “Like there was a hole in my mind where all my knowledge about magic should’ve been. When I tried to run, my legs would barely move, like something was weighing them down-”

“Agh! You son of a-” Eye Popper’s shouting voice followed by a loud crash from another carriage. Sunburst had also learned the full names of the unicorn and the thestral, Eye Popper and Big Dreamer respectively. With his experience of the private fresh in his mind, Sunburst made sure to stay clear of Eye Popper since getting on the train.

“Hm, they’re still playing blackjack from the sound of it,” Radiance noted. “Don’t know why anyone plays with Eye, such a sore loser. Sorry, where were you?”

“Oh, um…” Sunburst tried to focus his mind back on the cutie unmarked experience, but given how things had been left he couldn’t perish another thought from his mind. “How’s Starlight?”

Radiance snorted. “Terrible.”

“No, how’s she doing-”

Radiance waved his hoof and frowned. “Like I said, she’s been terrible. Banging on the doors to her cell. Trying and failing to pry the inhibitor ring off her horn. Screaming at anyone standing outside her cell.”

“Screaming about what?”

Radiance shrugged. “Oh, where to start? Insisting she’s done nothing wrong, demanding to be let out, demanding to speak with someone in charge, demanding to speak to you of all ponies. Stars have mercy on the ponies who’ll be handling her once she’s off the train. Pretty much the usual.”

It had been hard for Sunburst to not think about her, given what had just happened. He wasn’t there to see her getting arrested; the last he’d seen of her was her trying to force herself past Big Dreamer. Even given everything that had happened, he couldn’t deny that he felt a little bad for her. If there was a chance that they could work things out… “Can I talk to her?” he mumbled.

“Oh?” Radiance’s eyes lit up. “Sure you want to?”

“Yeah, I-” Sunburst stopped himself. Did he really want to talk to Starlight, after what he’d done to him? Maybe that was it, on the off hoof chance that he could talk things out with her even as her fate seemed sealed. Whatever it was, something was urging him to go and speak to her. “Given how I left her, I don’t know, it might be for the best.”

A moment passed where Radiance said nothing. He smirked, shrugged, and pushed himself to his hooves. “Alright Sunburst, follow me.” He turned to walk down the train as Sunburst, tentatively, got up and followed.

The first carriage they entered hosted Big Dreamer and Eye Popper engrossed in a card game. Seated on ration crates by one of the windows, they used an empty barrel as their makeshift table. Big Dreamer appeared nonchalant, sparing only a fleeting glance at Sunburst and Radiance. Meanwhile, Eye Popper, gripping his cards, met Sunburst's arrival with a hostile glare and a guttural grunt. Sunburst picked up his pace.

Nopony was in the next carriage, just crates of military supplies stacked up to the ceiling. Once at the other end Radiance put a key into the door to the next car, but stopped before he turned it. “You really sure about this?” He looked down at Sunburst, a concerned look on his face.

No, Sunburst thought. “Yep,” he said.

Radiance glanced back at the door they’d just gone through, then turned back to unlock the prison car and step inside.

The prison car was a cramped and dominated by steel cells, the only walking space in a narrow corridor off to the side. Each cell had sturdy metal doors secured with formidable locks and narrow, barred windows at eye level. Of the four cells, only one was occupied. A unicorn guard, slouched and half-asleep, abruptly snapped to attention upon noticing Sunburst and Radiance's presence, sprang to his hooves and rendered a crisp salute to the Corporal.

“What? Who’s there?” came the voice of Starlight, punctuated by a bang on the cell door. “Hey! What’s going on?”

Sunburst drew a steadying breath and glanced back at Radiance, seeking reassurance. Exhaling slowly, he steeled himself and spoke. “It's me, Starlight.”

Recognition flashed in her eyes, and she pressed her face against the cell bars, her bloodshot, bulging gaze fixated on him. Beneath the inhibitor ring, her horn glowed an incendiary red. “You!”

Stepping closer to the cell door, Sunburst examined her dishevelled state. Her mane hung matted and heavy, while dark, wearied bags marred the skin beneath her eyes. Sunburst let out a heavy sigh, forcing himself to meet her gaze. “Yes. I’m just-”

“You owe me some sunblasted explaining!” Spit was flying out of her mouth and onto the bars. “Starting with what the hell did you think you were doing in my village?”

“Starlight, I just wanted to-”

“Wanted to what?” She slammed on the bars. Sunburst shuddered. “Something caught your tongue, huh? Having trouble coming up with another lie?”

“I-” He groaned. “I wanted to talk because I think we left off in a bad place.”

“Left in a bad place?” She forced out a fake, mocking laugh, then screamed. “You tricked me!”

Sunburst flinched back. “I tricked you?”

“Yes, you tricked me! You tricked me into thinking you wanted to come see me, but no! It was all a ruse! Then you hurt me, you humiliated me, you aggravated me, and now you’ve ruined my whole life! You couldn’t just tell me what you actually wanted, you played all these deceptions on me! Why?” She slammed on the cell door. “Come on, why?”

Sunburst could feel his gaze slipping away from Starlight, fixating on the floor. Even though he’d asked to come here in the first place, he was at a loss for what to say. For the coherent thoughts he had, he struggled to muster the confidence to voice them. When he finally did reply, his voice was barely higher than a weary groan. “Because you’re insane.”

Starlight scoffed. “I’m what?”

“You’re insane!” His booming voice propelled by sudden confidence as he snapped his head up. Starlight stumbled back, her previously tense jaw going slack. Radiance and the other guard peered in closer.

“Ripping off ponies’ cutie marks and forcing them to smile all the time? What kind of pony does that? How am I supposed to be honest with somepony who surrounds themselves with dishonesty every moment of every night? Of course I wouldn’t say who I was working for, you’d lash out like a maniac if you knew! And I was right!” He put a hoof to his forehead. “The moment you figured it out, you attacked me! You tried to force me into your cult and- and- oh, this is so rich! You, you, of all ponies complaining about being tricked, you tricked that whole village!”

Starlight pushed herself away from the door, slightly receding into the darkness. Sunburst didn’t stop.

“No wonder you needed to force ponies to be friends with you, you couldn’t handle your friends going to do something with their lives without you! You couldn’t be bothered to do anything as simple as writing to me! Or finding someone else to hang out with!”

Starlight’s eyebrows were depressing, her lips trembling. “I-I-”

“Why would I want to be friends with you? Why would anyone want to be friends with you?”

Starlight gasped, her hoof shooting up to her mouth. Finally feeling out of breath, Sunburst had no more words to give. Starlight inched away from the door and out of sight. As Sunburst gradually regained his composure, the surge of pent-up frustration began to ebb as he came down from the ranting high. The two guards stared at him with wide eyes and dropped jaws.

Then it hit him like a truck, the weight of what he’d said and the built up spite with which he delivered them. He blinked a few times as he felt a tight knot in his chest. So much for not leaving things in a bad place. He moved to peer through the bars, his voice low and regretful. “Starlight, I’m-”

“Go away,” came a muffled weep from inside the cell. “Just go away.”

He raised his hoof and opened his mouth, then stopped. He promptly left the way he came.

There wasn’t a peep out of Starlight’s cell for the rest of the trip.

6 - Second Shot

21:03 - 21/03/1002 - Canterlot Castle

Upon returning to his desk, Sunburst practically fell into the seat. The first time back at the office since setting off for Ourtown, yet the same disorganised mountain of paper sat atop his desk, right as he left it. It was noisy as the chatter of a new work night began, ponies filing in and going to their desks, but to Sunburst it was little more than white noise.

Opposite him, Altie was preparing for the work night. He looked up at Sunburst. “Hey, welcome back.”

Sunburst looked across, his vision still a little blurry. “Oh. Hi Altie.”

Altie leaned forwards a little, furrowing his brow. “Stars, Sunburst, you alright?” he chuckled. “You look like you haven’t slept in three nights. I haven’t seen bags under your eyes like that since I last saw my mother in law.”

Sunburst had slept fourteen hours straight after returning to his Canterlot apartment. After that, it was pretty much straight back to work. Didn’t even get a night off after the experience in Ourtown. “I’ve been worse,” Sunburst yawned. His eyes slid off Altie as he lazily scanned the desk, fumbling through the papers and trying to remember where he left off.

A minute or so passed before Altie cleared his throat. “Alright, I’m curious. What was it like?”

Sunburst looked up. “Hm?”

“Being out on an assignment!” Altie leaned over the desk, his ears forward. “Doing some real field work! I wanna know what it’s like, I never get sent out on missions.”

“Oh, that,” Sunburst sighed.

“It was all about oneiromancy, right?”

He’d almost completely forgotten how that it had been his knowledge in oneiromancy had gotten the ball rolling on his mission given, well, everything. “I dunno,” he said, “it’s probably all classified.”

“Alright alright, what was it like then?” Altie was tapping his hooves on the desk. “Trying out magic in the field, how’d it all feel?”

Sunburst sighed, head in his hooves, utterly out of it. He probably should just ignore or dodge whatever Altie wanted to talk about. Oh, screw it, he needed to vent about it to someone. “You ever worried that you’ve screwed up?”

“Ah,” Altie breathed. “Mission failed, then?”

“Well, no, not exactly.” Sunburst shook his head. “At least- I dunno, it’s not really the mission itself. I don’t know if it could be called a success or a failure. That’s not it, though, it’s more…” He fidgeted with some papers on his desk. “More about someone who was part of the mission.”

“Uh huh, I see.” Altie redirected his gaze towards his desk.

“The reason I was chosen in the first place was…” Sunburst looked up at the ceiling, pushing air out of his nostrils. His mind was abuzz with thoughts that he struggled to form into words. “Well, without giving away anything that might be confidential, I was picked because I used to be friends with one of the ponies there. Though, turns out they were nothing like I remembered. More or less.”

When Sunburst looked back, Altie was digging through one of the drawers on his desk. “Hm?” He looked up at Sunburst. “Oh no no, go on, I’m listening,” he insisted.

“Right,” Sunburst sighed. “Well, it didn’t go well between me and them. They were… kind of nuts. Either way, the last chance I got to speak to them I wanted to say something important, but instead I snapped. Bunch of bottled up rage all came spilling out at once. And because of that I think that bridge is burned for good.”

“Nutcase friend, gotcha.”

“Like, I had a shot, but now?” Sunburst slumped down, his head landing on the desk. “Whatever relationship we might have had is gone. Even if I thought of something to say, I don’t have a way to contact them. Nothing to say, no way to say it.”

“Uh huh.” Altie nodded. “Nothing gleaned about applying oneiromancy, then?”

Sunburst nearly scowled at Altie, but struggled to find the energy. He couldn’t blame Altie for not caring about his relationship with Starlight, she didn’t know him. Made sense that he’d only be interested in the…

“Wait.” Sunburst sat up. The oneiromancy, dream magic. Something Sunburst had proven himself at the very least capable of. Capable of entering Starlight’s dream’s specifically, meaning… He gasped. His eyes lit up and he practically leapt out of his seat. “That’s it!”

Altie shuffled back. “What’s it?” His question went unanswered as Sunburst started making a further mess of his desk. Yanking open drawers, digging through their contents, scanning paper after paper and sending some to the floor. “Hey, you okay?”

“I just need to-” Sunburst kicked a drawer shut. “Agh, darnit, where’d I leave my oneiromancy research?

Rustling his wings, Altie quietly chuckled. “Don’t hate me for this,” he said. Sunburst paused, turning to Altie, seeing that his winged colleague had a folder in his hooves. “The topic interested me so I thought to look through your desk while you were away and got everything on oneiromancy together. Organised into notes, sources, theory, practice, and the like.”

Promptly, Altie passed the folder to Sunburst. Sunburst flipped it open and found it exactly as Altie described, with a remarkable degree of organisation at that. Tabs on everything important, divided into logical sections, it even had a hoofwritten index. There was a ‘?’ section, chock full of notes on torn and crumpled pieces of paper, written in his hornwriting. He could read them, but given his subpar calligraphy skills, he could forgive Altie’s confusion.

“That’s…” Sunburst flipped through the folder some more, picking out random topics. “That’s actually super useful. Thanks.”

Giving a smirk, Altie shrugged. “No problem.”

There was much in the folder Sunburst had only gone over in passing when compiling his original report, but with it all organised for him, he could analyse it with much more rigor. Long range oneiromancy and how to locate specific dreams and dreamers, all things he personally struggled with, were explained in plain Equestrian. All he needed was the time to go through it and work out the practical magic.

“Oi!” The pair were startled by a harsh voice from across the room. Both turned to meet the voice, seeing a small, wrinkled unicorn mare marching towards them. Her Institute uniform hung partly loose from her body, appearing a size too big for her, and she sported the same scowl that she always had. Sprit, their supervisor.

“You two better be working!” she snapped, shuffling to look over their desks.

“Uhm, yes, of course.” Sunburst moved some papers across his desk.

“Definitely.” Altie smiled and nodded.

Sprit glared at Altie. “Why’ve you got that there?” she spat.

Altie raised an eyebrow. “Got what?”

“That.” She said, as a hoof shot out to a large glass cylinder on Altie’s desk

Altie turned to the bottle. “It’s only a bottle of water,” he said, lifting it up.

“You’re not allowed to have it,” she asserted, holding her chin up. “It’s against workplace policy.”

“What?” Altie flinched back, nearly dropping the bottle. “Why can’t I have some water?”

“You’re being very argumentative!”

Altie opened his mouth as if to retort, but he quickly clamped it shut. He groaned under his breath, pushed himself away from the desk, taking his water away.

“And what are you doing?” Spirt barked as she snapped back to Sunburst, making him flinch.

“Oh, working,” he said, mimicking the action of scribbling down Very Important Notes.

After intrusively glaring at him and his desk, Sprit stropped away. Sunburst dug back into the folder. While there was no chance of him figuring out everything he needed to do in one night, he probably still had some time before he had to get back to whatever it is he actually had to do. Probably.

07:56 - 24/03/1002 - Embawk Detention Centre, Canterlot

“Why would anyone want to be friends with you?”

Some nights had passed, and yet the words Sunburst had said lingered, almost haunting Starlight, as she lay on her bed. Being stuck in a little jail cell with little in the way of stimulation tended to trap someone with their own thoughts. A newspaper was posted under the solid steel door with her breakfast every morning, but it could only entertain her for so long. It was especially hard to engage with it as all the pages were chock full of propaganda. Perhaps her jailors thought that by trapping her in a tight space and only giving her ideological nonsense to chew on, they’d break her.

It took her longer than she may have liked to admit to for her to make that connection, and she physically exclaimed “Oh, for crying out loud…” the moment she did. Difference was, this place at least had a bed with pillows and blankets as well as a working sink and toilet. Even the food here was better than back in the village, if only in the sense that there was variety.

How long had it been? Four, five years? All that time subjecting ponies to conditions like this, conditions worse than this. And for what? She wouldn’t want to be friends with whoever put her in here, so why would anybody want to be friends with her?

Her silence was interrupted by a bang on the door. She jumped to her hooves at the sound. The door then swung open allowing a pair of stallions in guard uniforms to step into the cell. One, a unicorn, wordlessly gestured for Starlight to follow them, and she did as ordered.

They escorted her through the monotonous corridors of the jail. Stone brick walls, all painted white, occasionally passing a barred window or a metal door. Before long, she was led into a room with a table in the middle and a single chair on either side, complete with oppressive fluorescent lamps on the ceiling and an ugly off-white colour on the walls. The huge mirror dominating the wall to her right clued her into what sort of room it was.

She sat down at the chair on the far end of the room, as instructed by the guard who escorted her. When she seated herself, the guards exited and shut the door behind them, briefly leaving her unattended. Using this possibility to escape had crossed her mind, but given that she was certainly being watched through the mirror, she figured that she might as well see where things went for the time being.

Before Starlight could act on whatever course of action she'd prefer, the door opened. A bat pony mare donning a black suit calmly entered the room, her saffron mane was tied up in a tidy bun, and her piercing orange eyes were locked onto Starlight in a cold stare. Starlight met her with a glare, sitting up in an attempt to make herself look stronger.

“Ms Glimmer,” the mare opened. “I am Saitasuna, the Director of the Imperial Institute for Arcane Sciences. How has your stay here been?”

Starlight scoffed. “What do you think?”

“Then you’re in luck.” Saitasuna sat in the chair opposite Starlight, laying her saddlebags on the ground. “Contingent on your continued cooperation with us, tonight may be the last night you spend in a prison cell. Should you give us what we want, you’ll be moved to an apartment in Fillydelphia, a short trot from the train station, where you’ll be given a new job. The work is simple, and the pay is decent. If you show up to work every night and stay out of trouble, we can ensure you a comfortable living.”

Starlight’s eyebrows raised. “Wait. Seriously?”

“Of course, we’ll be keeping a close eye on you, but it’s a life most ponies would be content with. Consider it a lenient parole,” Saitasuna explained with a subtly warm inflection and a slight smile. Then, her demeanour gave way to a cold, fierce, stare. “But, if you prove yourself uncooperative, the full weight of the Lunar justice system will come down on you.”

That last phrase caught Starlight’s attention, and she was listening much more closely then.

Saitasuna continued. “You’ll be the star of the biggest trial of the year, journalists from all of Equestria’s newspapers standing by watching, eager to report on the crazed cultist who brainwashed a whole village and stole their cutie marks. You'll be assigned an incompetent, overworked defence lawyer. Your former cult members will testify against you. You’ll be convicted of assault and battery on multiple counts, ponynapping on multiple counts, and spreading a harmful anti-Lunar ideology. You'll be sentenced to at least twelve years of corrective labour. If you’re lucky.”

“Corrective labour?” Starlight repeated, letting out a mocking snort. “What, like, shipping me off to a work camp?”

“Not just any camp, Ms. Glimmer.” Saitasuna lifted a folder out of her jacket. She picked out a series of photographs and slid them across the table to Starlight. “You're going to the Smerti Coal Mine in northern Severyana, not far from Ourtown believe it or not.”

Starlight looked over the provided pictures. One showed a row of miners covered in ash and what was either soot or snow, and the wrinkled skin on each of the ponies made it look like death could claim them at any moment. Another captured what looked like barracks, barracks so dilapidated her village’s houses would be prime real estate by comparison. Another displayed an earth stallion dangling from a rope over a deep shaft, the caption reading “Bloss - RIP”.

“It's one of the most dangerous coal mines on the continent due to a record of extremely poor safety equipment and unusually high levels of methane in the air,” Saitasuna explained. “In 990, it was the site of one of the worst industrial tragedies in Equestrian history, when forty miners lost their lives during a single incident. An independent investigation found that the company had been ignoring safety regulations to keep costs down. Nothing was done about it until we took over.”

Starlight looked up from the photographs. “Stars above…”

“For transparency’s sake, those photographs are a few years old. We've made attempts to improve living and working conditions for miners after our government seized the facility, but it's only been under our full control for a few months, so only so much progress has been made.” Saitasuna put her front hooves together and slowly leaned closer. “The chances of a fatal accident befalling an inexperienced miner are still very high compared to similar facilities.”

Feeling small drops of sweat run down her face as her breathing became heavier, Starlight reexamined the photos and looked over the ones she hadn't given much attention to. They didn't paint a much better picture. She gritted her teeth and let out a groan. “What do you want?”

Saitasuna retrieved a tape recorder from the saddlebags, placing it on the table. She pressed the 'record' button.

“Your cutie mark spell,” Saitasuna said clearly. “How does it work, Ms Glimmer?”

It all clicked, and Starlight gulped. “What if I-”

Saitasuna tapped the pause button. “What I have presented is our only offer. There is no room for negotiation.” She resumed the recording.

A binary choice between doing exactly what the Lunar Empire wanted with her magic, or perishing. Why did it feel so familiar? For a moment she thought that if they were going to use her and dispose of her no matter what, she may as well keep her dignity.

But Starlight thought to put her pride to the side for a second, and tried to imagine her predicament another way. What good is pride when you’re breaking your back in a coal mine? And what had her pride done for her, aside from making her the sort of pony nopony would want to be friends with? What was any of that worth when all it resulted in was the closest friend she’d ever have snapping at her? Plus, if they stood by their word, which was a big 'if', she had effectively been given a second chance at life.

Deep breathe in, deep breathe out. Starlight shuffled closer to the recorder. “Well…”

03:56 - 2/04/1002 - Peytral Station, Fillydeplhia

They actually held up the deal. How about that?

Well, they didn’t mention that the job was as a janitor, but them’s the breaks.

In all fairness, it was fine. The station itself was a beautiful piece of classic east coast earth pony architecture, functional yet stylish. Liberal application of magic made short work of any filth, so she ended up spending more time trying to look busy than actually being busy. It was the start of her second week on the job, closely approaching the end of her shift. She’d been lucky enough to have a shift during the quiet hours of the station, close to high moon. Just had to take out the trash, then it was back to her apartment.

A newspaper was hanging out of a garbage can. She would’ve thrown it in with the rest of the trash and not given it a second thought, but she stopped at the sight of one of the images on the open page. A photo of Ourtown. Intrigued, she took a closer look.

Shakeup in ‘Ourtown’ Cult
Village Near Nova Griffonian Border Uncovers Former Cult Leaders’ Lies

Apparently since her arrest, Double Diamond more or less took over. Diamond was a true believer, Starlight knew as much, but he was far from the leader she was. Half the ponies had already abandoned the town, the remaining half are alleged to be questioning him constantly. At least, if this newspaper was to be believed.

A lot of the language instinctively frustrated her, referring to her village as an ‘academic curiosity’ rather than what it was. No pictures of her, thank goodness. The last thing she’d need is to be recognised by strangers. Also, a cult? Come on, why do they keep calling it that? They weren’t making sacrifices to Grogar or anything like that. Though, the more she thought about it with a clear head…

“Starlight!” Her manager’s voice called.

She swiftly stashed the newspaper back into the trash and spun around. “Uhm, yea?” she said, punctuated with a nervous laugh.

A tall, old earth stallion with an orange coat and greying hair trotted up to her, a smile on his lips. “Getting along well?”

“Yep! Just about done! Only got to empty the trash!” She yanked the bag out of the bin and tied it tightly shut.

“Looks like you’ve made short work of the place,” he said, his head moving in every direction and scanning the spotless surfaces. His neck went all the way back as he turned to look up at the chandeliers. “Heh, even cleaned out the lights. I didn’t even expect you to do that.

Starlight pipped up, her eyes widening. “You noticed?”

“Sure I did!” he chuckled, spinning around to show Starlight his flank and the cutie mark it held. It displayed an eye in the lens of a magnifying glass. “See that? I’ve got such a good eye for detail even my cutie mark is all about it.”

“Huh.” Starlight smirked. “Well, what do you know?”

12:00 - 10/04/1002 - a desert

Shelter from the roasting hot sun was hard to come across in the vast, lifeless desert valley, but Starlight had found some at the top of a rickety wooden tower. At some point in the past, it must have been a clock tower, but the interior had been gutted of anything valuable and replaced with piles of junk and rotting wood. It would’ve provided a pleasant bit of solitude if it weren’t for the idiot trying to sell her stuff.

“Try these gloves on Starlight!” the stallion said, literally shoving a pair of hot pink evening gloves in her face.

Starlight batted the stallion’s hooves away. “I’m fine, thanks, really I don’t need-”

And then the stallion was gone, the gloves with him.

Acting like nothing had happened, Starlight turned to one of the boarded-up windows to peek through the gaps. Yet the moment she got a look, she recoiled and shielded her eyes. The outside sunlight felt omnipresent and oppressive, threatening to blind her with little more than a glance. Even standing in the path of sunlight creeping through the gaps in the fall almost felt like it was singing her skin.

She stopped. A chill she hadn’t felt before rushed through her spine. She turned her head away from the window, sensing a sudden presence, and she gasped at the pony before her.

Sunburst.

“Hey, Starlight,” he meekly said, with a similarly meek smile and wave.

“Sunburst?” Starlight jumped back. “How long have you been here?”

“Got here when the stallion with the gloves disappeared. Whether that was five seconds ago or two hours, kind of hard to tell with dream logic.”

“What?” Starlight cocked an eyebrow but lowered it back to place shortly after as her eyes wandered around the room. “Oh, right. No, I remember now. Guess that means you’re doing the dreamwalker thing again.”

Sunburst shrugged. “Yep.”

“So, uh,” Starlight pawed at the ground. “How have you been?”

“I taught myself longer range dream magic and figured out how to do this in dreams.” Sunburst waved the hand on the end of his leg. “Turns out I’m not completely useless at doing physical magic.”

“Oogh, freaky.” Her face wrinkled up in reaction. A moment later she blinked. Turning towards the window, she gave it a curious look. She leaned into the incoming light, the rays lighting up her smiling face. “Hey, now that I’m lucid the light isn’t blinding me anymore, ain’t that neat? I sometimes forget how bright the sun was.”

“You don’t seem mad,” he noted.

“Hm?” Starlight looked back to Sunburst. “Oh! Yeah, I know. My bad. Sorry about the way I treated you, by the way.”

“O-oh.” He blinked. “Apology accepted, then. And, uh, sorry about what I said back on the train. I kind of lost it there.”

“Psh, please,” she dismissed with a flick of her hoof. “I needed that reality check. Heck, I should probably be saying thanks.”

“Uh?” Sunburst gasped. “You mean that?”

“Yeah, of course I mean it!” Starlight giggled. “Not just for the rant, but for basically forcing me to face the truth. That whole village thing was doing nopony any favours, probably best for everyone now that it’s gone.

“Wow, really?” said Sunburst, tilting his head. “What the heck did they do to you?”

“Gave me a job taking out the trash.”

Sunburst scratched his head.

“No, seriously!” Starlight laughed. “It’s nothing special, I’m just a janitor. Night shift too. Well, off shift I should say. Been doing it for a couple weeks or so. Honestly, it isn’t that bad. Tiring, boring, but magic helps me get it done quickly and the folks there appreciate me. A few nights ago the big boss of the station did a surprise inspection to see how I was getting along, and they were really pleased with me! Shift manager even chimed in to say that I’m one of the most reliable they have. It’s nice, you know? Being rewarded for a hard night’s work? Really, the whole thing made me see the value in cutie marks, everypony’s cutie mark brings something special.”

Sunburst held back a laugh. He couldn’t believe his ears. Had he wound up in the wrong dreamspace? “After all this time, wondering how I might have to account for arcane barriers that might be put up around a prison. I thought they would’ve locked you up for sure after, well, you know.”

She nodded. “Mhm! All is forgiven! Guess hoofing over a cutie mark removal spell on a silver platter is the price of freedom in this country…”

“Yeah, no worries.” He shrugged. “Wasn’t too sure how the department got the spell.”

“Say, did you get to do anything with it?” She smirked, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

“Oh, mhm, yeah, a little.” He rubbed the back of his head. “They let me give it a try on this weirdly enthusiastic test subject, but, uh, I couldn’t pull it off. Some ponies have, apparently.”

“Huh.” She scratched her chin. “Wonder what they’re going to do with it.”

“Whatever it is, they haven’t told me.”

“Something better than trying to create an impossible utopia, I hope.”

Sunburst blinked. “Wow.” He titled his head and furrowed his brow. It prompted a curious look from Starlight. “So you’ve really, just-”

“Oh, yeah!” Starlight beamed, a proud smirk spreading across her face. “I am a changed mare. No longer do I detest cutie marks! Henceforth, Starlight Glimmer officially renounces Equalism. The old Starlight would surely say I’m blinded by cutie mark ideology, but as far as the new Starlight is concerned, that’s progress!”

“But…” He raised a hoof. His eyes slid off to the side, then shifted back onto Starlight. “You realise what you did wrong, right?”

“I just spelled it out for you, didn’t I? Or do you need me to repeat it?” she chuckled.

He took a step back, his jaw slowly sank. He took a moment to consider his next words, taking deep breaths. “That’s not the problem, Starlight.”

“Hm?” Starlight’s grin started to fade.

“It was that you lied. Not anything about cutie marks, it’s that you were a liar who hurt ponies who didn’t go along,” Sunburst asserted, feeling his voice growing more confident. “That you had this system of manipulation and control, that you abused anyone who stepped out of line and tricked ponies into thinking you were helping them when you were enslaving them. Even foals! Foals! Like, you get that, right? You understand how wrong that was?”

Starlight’s smile slowly faded while Sunburst was talking. After he’d finished, she didn’t say anything for a few moments. “Oh,” she mumbled. “I mean, yeah, of course I know lying is bad,” she snorted, the smile partly returning as she rolled her eyes. “I’m not a filly, Sunburst.”

“Well…” Sunburst’s hooves pawed at the ground as he subconsciously shook his head. “Well no offence, but you’ve done a lot of lying the last few years. I just want to know that- that you’re not like that anymore. That you won’t do what you did to those ponies, what you tried to do to me, anymore. I know it’s a process to change, that it doesn’t happen overnight, but I want to know that you’re going to try. Can you promise me that, Starlight?”

“Sure,” Starlight said abruptly. Her face was unchanged.

“You certain?” Sunburst took a step closer, leaning his head forward.

Starlight glanced at the boarded up window, sunlight still trickling through. She turned back to Sunburst and put on a grin. “Of course.”

Author's Note

haha time for incoherent self indulgent rambling

I'm going to be honest. Towards the end, writing this story became kind of a slog and I more or less lost the passion for writing it. Given the arduous journey to getting it done as well as all the other stories I want to write, it was a drag to finish writing this. Now that it's done, it sort of feels like a weight has been lifted. It was technically four years in the making, doesn't show does it?

In all fairness most of those four years were me doing nothing to the story. Only in the last couple months had I properly restarted it and got it finished. Hell, I only came up with the name "Midnight Starlight" a month before the first chapter was published.

For anyone curious, in the original first draft of this story, the plot was almost totally different. The story opened with first contact between Ourtown and the Lunar Empire, with Saitasuna as the protagonist. Sunburst didn't show up until the end, and in a dumb "oOOOoo what a twist!!" way at that. Here's the thing, Saitasuna is kind of boring as a protagonist. Her personality is "strict bureaucrat" and her background is even less interesting. On top that she has zero emotional connection to Starlight, meaning the story lacked anything to get invested in. Nightmare Moon also played a direct role in the story, but I figured I could replace her role in the story with Saitasuna and replace Saitasuna's old role with Sunburst, for (hopefully) a more engaging read.

You may have picked up on the lack of much Nightmare Moon in this Nightmare Moon AU story, and this is an intentional writing choice. Not having Nightmare Moon herself be active or present in either of my "What happened to X in Nightmare Moon's Equestria?" stories so far (the other being Private Pinkie) has been my way of incorporating themes of the banality of evil. My aim is to demonstrate how the evil of the Lunar Empire goes well beyond just Nightmare Moon, that it's an entire system that enables the worst instincts of a lot of awful people and encourages otherwise good people to do or participate in evil things.

But! While this story might be finished, Starlight and Sunburst's story in this world isn't over yet! Stay tuned for the continuation of this story in 2026! I kid, I hope it isn't that long, but with the rate at which I write you can never know.