As Sunset adjusted the bodice of Twilight's tasteful gown, she reflected on the length of her own life.
Her low birth, crawling out of the orphanage, ascending to the top of the School for Gifted Unicorns. Earning a spot under Celestia’s private tutelage. Having Twilight enter her life at her lowest moment, when she otherwise might have thrown herself from the mountain city.
She closed her eyes and allowed images to flicker across her mind. Endless days of waking up with Twilight at her door or in her bed. Breakfast. The walks to school. Waiting, writing lessons. Walking home.
She tried to think of when she'd started to think of Twilight as more than a receptacle into which to dump knowledge. When her regard had transformed from the basic pony instinct of being nice to foals to some sort of affection.
Probably… Twilight’s sixth birthday.
The gate swung open, Sunset’s hooves crunching on the raked gravel walk leading up to the doors of Sparkle Manor. A small smile crossed her face. She diverted from her path towards a small pavilion that had been erected on the smooth lawn.
A few of Twilight’s classmates were in attendance; in those early days this just meant that Twilight was flanked on one side by a book held in a telekinetic aura and on the other by the perpetual grin of Betty.
She could almost imagine the minutes and seconds preceding her arrival. Cadance would have been gently implying that Sunset might not show. Twilight would have been adamant that the rituals of cake-cutting and presents would not begin until Sunset came.
As she approached, there it was. One expression of mild shock from Cadance, and a quiet stare from Twilight.
That intense expression slowly changed. A smile, as sweet and honest as the rise of the Sun crossed her face, showing the gap in the center where her front teeth were missing. She rose from her seat and dashed across the lawn to throw herself against her mentor.
She was wreathed in a simple pale-cream birthday dress, her mane pigtailed and tied in peach bows that waved in the slight Canterlot breeze.
“Sunset, you came.”
Zero surprise. Not a question, just a simple fillyish statement of fact. That was it, the moment. Sunset felt it like a punch in the gut.
One foreleg wrapped over Twilight’s withers, and she reveled in the noon sparkling in the filly’s bright eyes. She looked up. Cadance was ridiculously dolled up, Betty wore a dress that wouldn't look out of place on the wild frontier in a saloon, Moondancer was wearing a slightly nicer than usual turtleneck.
Star Sparkle and Night Light in fancier clothes than the rest, worn with a sort of scoffing ironicism. They were better than her, but didn't think they were. In their eyes she was already accepted, as Twilight’s mentor. They all trusted her with Twilight’s growth and wellbeing.
Sunset felt something stir in her breast she'd only had faint inklings of in Celestia’s presence, when the Princess Mask cracked. She was right where she belonged, and all was right with the world.
Surrounded by her favorite ponies, the party commenced. Moondancer brought her a book (surprise), Betty brought some trinket; beaten-silver and turquoise from the Buffalo.
Sunset had brought the most well-loved gift. An ornate box purchased at some expense. It had been the work of several months enduring filly-eyes and entreaties as to purpose, of stolen moments in research and manufacture.
When the lid opened, a reel of punch-paper turned on its spindles. As smoothly as Sunset could manage, a clockwork ballerina spun and cavorted, and the box emitted a song. Twilight became entranced, studying the device and conquering her instinct to dismantle it and find out how it worked.
A small piece of magic for a foal who bent the universe around her horn on a daily basis.
Those lines inspired a torrent of other memories.
Twilight had noticed her coat darkening along her hindlegs and her haunches, her pelt beginning to dapple. She'd been incredibly embarrassed about it and had desired the unthinkable for about three seconds; skipping school as the students were having photographs taken that day.
Five summers, watching Twilight approach a paired headstone. Together they peeled back the overgrowth from the epitaph; “As he watched the twilight sparkle, he knew this was meant to be, and everything would work out.”
These last few years, watching her stumble. Helplessly trying to prevent her from walking too closely in her own hoofsteps.
She tried to think of when Twilight’s attention turned inwards, her world shrinking to Cadance, Spike, Shining, Sunset. When she'd begun researching the mythology marking the early Celestial Era.
Now before her stood a moody teenager. Despite the best efforts of all, she'd foregone the company of other ponies. She'd begun to become cold. Sunset couldn't help but see parallels everywhere she looked.
Twilight giving up on friendship. Twilight becoming obsessed with the Elements. Her growing sense of duty.
Her first words to Sunset, in Canterlot the night before their trip had begun, had been “And the Stars shall aid in Her escape.”
The myth of the Sisters was true, if embellished. Twilight and Sunset were among the few who knew Luna’s real name. That the Elements had been used but were now dead.
She swore that Twilight was only currently doing her duty as Duchess Everfree in receiving Celestia because time and place. Close to the old Castle, on the thousandth anniversary, the longest night.
The ancestral home of the Sparkle Estate had long been converted into an orphanage, culling the unfortunate from across the settled zone. The vast wealth of the Canterlot Elite, prodded into action by Sunset and Fancy Pants, ensured the foals were well cared for and educated.
This however had left the small party at loose ends. The town was small enough that it didn't boast much for lodging, and the inn and all available space was devoted to revelers streaming in for Summer Sun. Neither Twilight nor Sunset wished to turn anypony out of their bed.
The town’s library was a technical part of the Sparkle holdings, and boasted an empty apartment in the upper floors. Spike, always happy to lend a claw, had devoted himself to making the space livable as the mares had retreated to the task of dressing Twilight.
“You're supposed to meet with the matriarch of the Apple Family- they're handling the catering for the event-, ensure the weather fits the schedule, and visit the mare who will be running the music. After that I suppose there will be the traditional night-party, and it'll wrap up Sunrise tomorrow. We'll be back in Canterlot tomorrow evening.”
Twilight was barely paying attention, staring out the window.
“If the Sun even rises tomorrow. It's Longest Night, Mom. She's coming tonight, I know it.”
Sunset took a small breath, trying to recollect when Twilight had started calling her mother. She'd changed and grown a lot in the last five years, but she had made her peace with the deaths of her parents quickly. Probably around the time she'd shorn off the mourner’s shag after the traditional year and a day.
She suppressed the impulse to curse, and her expression slid into the Mother Mask.
“Yes Twilight, I know. I've heard it every day for the last year. Before that it was Discord, before that it was Sombra. Now get going, and take Spike with you.”
She pecked Twilight on the cheek and pushed her to the door.
“But my research!”
“Will keep. Make me proud. Make some friends, starshine.”