Midnight Starlight

by Moonatik

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.

Comments

[Slippin_Sweetie]

Looks cool. I am always a big fan of character studies and dramas.

[Mix-up]

This is a really fun read, this have a lot of the stuff I like to read, a nervous dorky Sunburst completely out of his depth of the situation he is in, a still 'evil' Starlight Glimmer ruling over Our Town, a despotic Nightmare Moon ruling and alternate Equestria, with pore Sunburst trapped in the middle trying to negotiate and placate between both parties. By the way I love the descriptions of the outfit they are wearing, so geeky, I am sucker for that, and I am willing to draw the design just for the fun of it. I wonder if Sunburst is going to have to 'pretend' that he wants to going Starlight's cult town, or that Starlight thinks she could use him to spread her Equal cult to the rest of Equestria, I a pretty sure Nightmare Moon could use it spreading it in rebellious areas where she could more easily clamp, or use the Equalization spell on dissidences. I am pretty sure The army is just looking for an excuse to move in and take over the place at this point. Looking forward to seeing more of this story in the near future

[Moonatik]

11645509
warms my heart to read these sorts of comments ahah

[Comma Typer]

I would say some more on Sunburst, but actually, I think Starlight takes the cake here. I haven't encountered a lot of fics where Starlight's next direct opponent is the entire Equestrian state (under Nightmare Moon or otherwise). Starlight may be a cult leader, but she certainly can't field enough resources to make a difference should the Empire come knocking at her door, not to mention that I think, for now, she's gotten off easy: just occasional visits from whoever's interested.

So you've got me hooked into seeing a strange dynamic where Sunburst is fearful of Starlight who's fearful of Sunburst's employers. Keep it up!