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DuskDawnAU
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“You’re sending us away?!”

Sunset looked at her sister, more shocked by the actual statement itself than the loudness of Twilight’s shriek. She gave the filly a once-over before processing the information for herself, going it over her head a few times before looking up to her mother - their mother - with eyes so wide they could pop out at any moment.

“The two of you are going away for a while.” Empress Celestia repeated, a statement Sunset had only been paying half the attention to earlier, sighing sadly to herself. Her mother always had that sad look for as long as she’d been around to witness it, Sunset thought - just a permanent, despondent longing she couldn’t place.

Sunset stood up, nudging her sister as she did so as a call for Twilight to regain her composure. As Twilight stumbled beside her, Sunset furrowed her brows, meeting her mother with a confused look.

“Mom, what do you mean? You’re sending us away? Where? Why?”

There was something in her mother’s eyes. There was always something in her mother’s eyes. Both Twilight and Celestia shared the same irises that rippled of pastel pink sunrises. But unlike Twilight’s, whose eyes often sparkled with joy and utmost curiosity, Celestia’s were like a sun dipping behind a wall of rain, hidden beneath cold, foreboding clouds.

“It won’t be forever.” Celestia spoke gently, and as she did, her entire presence exuded the secretive behaviour she’d had for the whole 13 years the twins had been born to her. “It’s only so you two could supervise the preparations for the next upcoming Summer Sun Celebration.”

“Don’t you always have ponies for that?” Twilight reasoned. “You would send servants every year.”

“I believe the two of you are capable of this task.” The alicorn told her, sitting up a little straighter. “As my heirs, it is important that you both learn how to manage such a substantial event, especially one of great importance.”

“But surely there are ponies that could do it better.” Sunset protested, subconsciously puffing up her chest feathers. “We’ll just be sitting on a throne eventually anyway. We don’t have the need to do commoner’s work.”

Empress Celestia dipped her head in consideration, impartial to her eldest’s words. “Perhaps this is the exact reason why you need it.”

“Why?”

“There’s no two I trust more.”

That was how the twins knew for certain that the Empress’s decision was final. The way her gaze lingered, stern and sad, as if she herself was convincing herself that her daughters needed this.

“Is there a catch?” Twilight asked. Sunset met her eyes, recognising how she wasn’t the only one seeing how strange her mother’s request was.

The Empress smiled, a smile that didn’t reach her eyes - it never did.

“It’s time for my children to spread their wings and explore the world beyond our castle.”

That night found Sunset strolling through the hallways of the castle, a small yellow lump snoozing softly on her back. She hadn’t seen her mother since the Empress had told them of their next upcoming duty - the alicorn had been disappearing a lot lately when nighttime came along. She simply wasn’t within the castle’s premises. Sunset had long since stopped questioning what her mother got up to during these moments. She had been secretive since the twins’ birth, and if anything could cause Empress Celestia to open up and confide in the girls, it certainly wasn’t the two princesses themselves.

Curiosity left Sunset wondering.

She sang a little when the small creature on her back stirred, resuming her careful pace as she lulled the baby dragon back to sleep. She might as well return to her quarters so her companion could sleep on a proper bed, she decided. She knew what she was about to find when her room neared close and she could see the dim light of a candle light up the room from a distance.

Sunset knocked slowly, careful not to awaken her sister’s own dragon companion, only making enough noise to alert Twilight of her presence.

The purple alicorn smiled at the sight of Sunset, briefly looking up from the book she’d been reading. Twilight was almost never seen without one. Beside her, another baby dragon was curled up against her, snoring gently.

“What are you reading?” Sunset asked as she carefully lowered the dragon into a comfy basket by the end of her bed.

Twilight watched Sunset tuck her bonded dragon in before answering. “The elements of harmony.”

Flicking an ear, Sunset gave her sister a weird look. “Mom got you a new book already? Weren’t you just on the one about the Everfree forest monsters yesterday?”

Twilight hummed, finishing the page she was on before levelling Sunset with a look. “I finished that.” She responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Mom gives you new books all the time.” Sunset said suddenly. “She never gives me any.”

“Maybe that’s because you never read them.” Her sister laughed, returning her gaze to the book.

“I do so read them.” Sunset protested. “I just like to do the stuff that writes the stuff in books more.”

Twilight didn’t answer her straight away. She continued reading for a good while, letting Sunset pick up her own dragon familiar to tuck him in an adjacent basket. By the time Twilight had completed yet another page, Sunset was making herself comfortable by her side, nuzzling comfortably as she leaned her full weight against her. Twilight grunted once at the additional mass, but allowed the affection.

They stayed that way for a while until Twilight closed the book, inhaling noisily for her sister’s attention. Sunset answered with a quiet hum, far too comfortable to speak - though the other princess’s next words got her sitting up straighter than a statue.

“She’d been planning to send us away for a while.” Twilight spoke thoughtfully. “She’s been giving me books about the history, places and locations in Ponyville, as well as the creatures that reside by the outskirts of it for the past few weeks.” She squinted her eyes when she delivered the next part, as if she was reciting something odd, “The next Summer Sun Celebration is in Ponyville.”

“That’s awfully… organised of her.”

“Isn’t it?” Twilight rested her hooves on the book. She furrowed her brows together thoughtfully. “She’s planning something.”

That, Sunset had no doubt. “What is Ponyville? Is it anything huge like the metropolitan city Manehattan?”

The younger of the two shook her head. “It’s a small town, actually.”

“A Summer Sun Celebration there?” Sunset pursed her lips. “It makes more sense to do it in Canterlot.”

“Not exactly. A Summer Sun Celebration is meant as a yearly celebration to celebrate the banishment and defeat of Nightmare Moon. It’s meant to be remembered, plus every year it was to be hosted at a different part of Equestria. This year is Ponyville.”

Sunset nodded. It was not unusual for a different location to be chosen for the celebration every year. Her mother, however, tended to choose towns with denser populations to host the event each year. But never had it been in such a small town, and not once had she had a personal touch to it every time, only ever leaving it up to the townsfolk while she only appeared once it was time. Sending her two daughters ahead this time was entirely unusual.

“What is Nightmare Moon, anyway? Mom always said it’s just an old foal’s tale. Like how we celebrate Hearts Warming to keep Equestria warm from the wendigos’ eternal snow storms. The wendigos aren’t real, and Nightmare Moon isn’t either.”

Twilight shrugged. “I don’t know, Sunny… anything is possible. And, well…” The younger princess closed her eyes, as if saying the next few words pained her to even consider, “…you know as well as I do that Mom never tells the full truth.”

She resisted an unladylike snort at that. “Tell me about it. It’s like we’re pawns to her chess set or something.”

Her sister gasped. “Sunset.” Twilight spoke, voice low. “You can’t say something like that about our mother.”

Sunset was at the edge of her short temper, simply rolling her eyes as Twilight attempted to calm her down. “You know I’m right.”

“She’s our mother.” Twilight hissed.

“She’s also an Empress.”

The bite in her sister’s voice caught Twilight off-guard. “I-”

Sunset inhaled sharply. “Don’t you realise it, Twilight?” Sunset stood up and stepped away, facing her twin. “Ever since we were old enough, she’s been going on and on about getting us prepared for something. Something related to her past. She’d taken that plan into action now. The plan she’s never told us about.”

“Sunny…” Twilight attempted to tug her sister back down, only for Sunset to step further out of reach. She gave up, breathing in carefully to not get herself worked up as well. “I don’t know what’s going on, or what Mom has planned. But at the end of the day, it’s our duty, isn’t it? We’re princesses. We’re bound to be sent out on missions sooner or later just like Cadance was, and it was all to prepare her to take back the Crystal Empire - to which she succeeded, by the way. Maybe Mom has bigger plans for us. Plans she doesn’t want us to know quite yet. Perhaps for good reason.”

Sunset knew Twilight was telling her to simply trust. But for the years they had lived, while Twilight was often the one with the endless thirst for knowledge, Sunset was more often the one to seek for information that could not simply be found in books. Her curiosity ran wild, never to be soothed for as long as the information she needed was not discovered. Living with such a cryptic mother did not help either - there were always little secrets, mysteries that were held behind locked chests.

It stings, perhaps more than a little bit, when the one that was meant to be your safe space was the one that you could not rely on fully for answers. Perhaps Twilight could accept it, but Sunset wasn’t so certain. Not when she was at the receiving end of it.

“Doesn’t it hurt you the slightest that we’re only born to be used, Twi-why?” Sunset’s tone dropped massively, as did her ears as they folded down to the back of her head. The use of the affectionate term however, told Twilight that she had marginally calmed down. “She’s never honest with us.”

Twilight didn’t answer immediately. She watched as her sister deflated before her eyes.

“…Look, I don’t want to fight about this.” She spoke softly, moving closer to put a wing over Sunset. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I have a feeling we’ll find out sooner or later. The things she’d been giving us, the books, the upcoming festival… they’re like pieces to the bigger picture. It’ll make sense soon. If you can’t trust Mom, then have faith in us.”

She nuzzled her sister, sensing Sunset untensing underneath her embrace.

The older of the two sighed. She levelled Twilight with a fond look - they’ve always had a close bond. Despite having such drastically different appearances, they shared many similarities that could only make them so much closer.

“I can have faith in us.” Sunset mumbled, leaning into the hug. “I’m sorry I said all those things about Mom.”

“You were just being cautious.” Twilight’s gaze dropped to the book. She levitated it close to them so Sunset could read the title. “And besides… I might idolise Mom too much to not notice these things. While you’re probably right about her having something planned… I do have a feeling it’s for a good reason.”

Twilight hadn’t always been the most sensitive - she tended to have a poor sense of empathy when it came to understanding the emotions of others. Everything was factual to her. But when it came to her twin sister, she could easily read Sunset like a book.

Perhaps she should believe in Twilight. It was good enough for that moment.

Yet there was always a nagging feeling deep within her, tugging at invisible strings. Quiet whispers often filled her mind, reminding her trust was easily betrayed. Her nightmares often reminded her of such things, of a dark shadow lurking deep within.

Twilight was silent beside her, recognising the inner turmoil the young alicorn was often plagued with.

“Mom.” Sunset stared up at the darkening sky. There were no stars that night. “Just what are you hiding from us?”

*drops this here*

So… I’ve been thinking about mlp for a long while. I’ve missed it so much - regardless of how many Fandoms I’ve been jumping to and from in the past few years, mlp will always have a special place in my heart. I will continue this AU sooner or later, I’ve had many plans for it, and let’s hope I still remember most of it XD

In any case, Uni has been absolutely crazy. I’m currently on my final year animation project and OUCH. Don’t do animation if you’d like to keep your sanity intact XD It’s been taking up my time 25/7 - there are never enough hours in a day! I’m currently on a bit of a brief break and the Equestria girls nostalgia had caught onto me enough to finally quickly draw something <3 I don’t know when the next part is coming - I’m gonna be super busy in Uni for the rest of the year. I’m not graduating yet.. so I can’t promise anything. But I definitely plan to continue this so ^^

Many many thanks to everyone that stuck around so for long. Your support meant a lot and is so, so special to me <3

Characters (c) Lauren Faust/Hasbro
Art & Redesign (c) CastASpellLiana
Background from www.deviantart.com/boneswolbac…