A prideful smile crossed Starlight's face as she surveyed her village. True, this place was small, but it was hers. Her domain. And her mindset, her thinking, was what reigned over this place. The community she'd built here was loyal to her and what she preached. None challenged her, and on the off-chance that they would, well, there was always re-education and peer pressure to help her with such trifling matters. She chuckled as she glanced backwards, to her false cutie mark. It really was a wonder that a small coat of paint was all it took to fool so many, yet here was the proof. Her eyes then turned to the side, and she looked upon the cave where her village's cutie marks were stored. She was truly the power here, the only power, and that thought gave her immense delight. A sigh escaped her as she gently sat down upon the ground, content in seeing things play out down in the village below this hill. But then, as was so often the case for her these days, the sound of a clearing throat was heard behind her, and her smile vanished. Taking a deep breath, she turned around, raising an eyebrow to the one who now disturbed her solitude.

"What is it now, Kevin?"

The human shrugged.

"You mean besides the fact that most of the ponies I have to talk to around here are all really creepy doll-people who'll probably give me nightmares for the rest of my life?"

Starlight rolled her eyes.

"Yes, besides that."

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Kevin got down to business.

"Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but things are pretty, how shall I say it, kinda boring compared to all the stuff I've been working with before."

Starlight's smile returned, but it was more of a condescending one, as was her tone when she spoke.

"You make it sound like a bad thing that the village is quiet right now."

Kevin gestured to that place.

"Boring I can deal with, but this is just really lacking in ambition on your part. I mean, what, you're just gonna sit here and wait for ponies to just wander in so you can add them to your little community?"

Starlight stared at him.

"...What's your point?"

It was Kevin's turn to sigh.

"I just...what's the end goal here? You rule one little village in the middle of nowhere with an iron hoof and then just settle for that? Where's the plans to reach out for other places? Or to spread your message? This slow and steady approach is pretty mind-numbing when you get right down to it."

Starlight giggled.

"As long as things are stable and nopony rocks the boat too much, I see no issue."

Kevin glanced to the side.

"Yeah, call me grateful that I never had any of those mark things. I kinda feel that life here would be pretty abysmal if I did."

Starlight frowned to that.

"Consider yourself lucky, human. I wouldn't have made you my confidant if that were the case."

Kevin looked to her with a smirk.

"You know, all it takes is one bit of rain for your whole plan to fall apart, right? You didn't even use waterproof paint for your fake mark!"

Starlight looked to the mark in question, but otherwise seemed unconcerned.

"You have any idea how hard it is to go and get waterproof paint when you live this far from civilization? Besides, you needn't worry. This place hasn't seen rain in many moons. I doubt it'll suddenly start now."

Kevin nodded.

"Sure. But you also need to maybe plan for what will happen if some pony with authority comes along. Something like this is gonna attract attention sooner or later, and you'll need to be ready for the opposition you'll get."

Starlight actually seemed amused by that.

"Oh, you silly little assistant you. If somepony does come along, we'll just, well...add them to our happy little family."

Kevin blinked.

"Yeah...that's not creepy at all," he remarked sarcastically.

He sighed again.

"Well, if nothing else, at least you're not doing anything catastrophically stupid like some other villains I could mention."

Here, Starlight paused, slowly glancing to her assistant.

"Pardon?"

Kevin looked back to her.

"What?"

Starlight frowned.

"Did you just call me a villain?"

Kevin had another bout of slow blinking.

"Er...yeah?"

Starlight, who was now quite indignant, pointed to him before speaking in an accusatory manner.

"I assure you, Kevin, I'm doing good work here! Freeing all these ponies from the tyranny of cutie marks and the false feeling of 'specialness' that came with them!"

Kevin glanced to the left and right, then focused again on Starlight.

"You're...you're kidding, right? You think you're a good guy?! Starlight, you've set up a cult here! You've got all the ponies forcing smiles, thinking the same way and even having uniform haircuts! Just what part of this scenario sounds like something a protagonist would do?!"

Starlight folded her forelegs, looking away and seeming quite insulted.

"Hmph! I should have expected an outsider wouldn't understand any of this! Here I am, doing this noble task, and you take one look and call it evil. Typical."

Kevin stared at her for the longest time, and then, realisation dawned for him. He slapped his own forehead, groaning with irritation before grumbling to himself.

"Oh no. This...this is one of those, isn't it?! I've got myself stuck with a baddie who thinks they're in the right! Argh! I'm gonna be stuck with all the rhetoric about being wronged in the past and how it's good to do things which are objectively terrible and...ugh!"

He rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"The agency always said it, didn't they? Always keep an eye out for the ones who think they're good. Always stick with the obviously evil!"

He looked to the village.

"Well how was I supposed to know there'd be someone out there who'd look at this and think it was good?!"

Starlight, who had been watching him rant for some time, kept her eyebrow nice and high.

"...Are you done?"

Kevin, who had just about had enough, slumped his shoulders and sighed again.

"Yes...yes I am."

He took a step forward.

"Miss Glimmer, I wish to resign. It was my own fault, but I've let myself get roped into just a really, really bad villain situation."

Starlight frowned again.

"I thought I told you I'm not a villain?!"

Kevin stared at her, dead-eyed.

"Yeah...and that's the problem."

Starlight, thought clearly still irritated, kept her anger in-check before turning away from him.

"Oh, very well. You may go. But I hope I don't need to tell you..."

Kevin nodded as he finally started to walk away.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. What happens in Starlight's village stays in Starlight's village."

He marched on, shaking his head for the longest time.

"You know...maybe getting involved with colourful ponies wasn't as good for my blood pressure as I thought."

And with that, I bring the story to a close. Not because I think I couldn't come up with future Kevin-villain scenes, but because Starlight's introduction marked a turning point in the show as far as my feelings towards the antagonists is concerned. From this point forward most of the new villains we got were ones that, quite frankly, I just didn't care about. And on the rare instances I did enjoy the villains (Midnight Sparkle and Gaia Everfree to be precise), their time in the story was so short that it wouldn't make much sense for them to suddenly get an assistant.

So, for that reason, I'm bringing it to and end, but I hope you've all enjoyed what I've done up until this point