1. "Begone, you cur! You will never have my Empire, or my subjects! If you lay one hoof on any of them, I will banish you back to the shadows from where — no, whence you came!"


"Mwhahahaaa! You think a little pink pony like you can defeat me?! I am of the Umbrum! I AM the shadows! I am Sombra, and nothing will stand in my way from conquering the planet!"


During their debate practices as fillies, these two loved to pretend to be the evil villains that Equestria has faced over the years, as well as the heroes that defeated them. While their in-reality interactions weren't as…verbally embellished, Dawn and Flurry often take on the roles and roleplay it as if a slightly different universe — giving them all the freedom to be as dastardly or as heroic as they can. Flurry especially loves to act as the fiend that faced off against her mother ("Did you know he tried to get me before you were born?! I…can't really remember what happened, but I do remember he was a big, ugly jerk!").



2. Flurry's horn alit with golden sparkles, lips pursed as she stared into the mirror, fixing her crown and making sure it sat perfectly atop her mane. She gave her reflection a cheerful, confident smile. However, a rather sad sigh came from behind her. Turning around, the pale pink alicorn saw that her wingless cousin sat beside the window, still fixated on a long piece of parchment before her.


"Dawny, what's wrong? You've gone over that speech of yours a million times. The Summer Sun Celebration is in, like, half an hour. You can't exactly change anything now." Flurry Heart said, trotting over to the purple unicorn and sitting beside her.


"I know, I know." Dawn Star said quietly, waving a reassuring hoof while still reading over the paper. "I just…I still don't think this is right. Not right enough for this. This is the first celebration they're leaving up to Mom and Auntie, and…I mean, how am I going to keep their attention after your ice dancing?"


"Hey, you're helping!" Flurry chided, nudging her younger cousin with a wing.


"A few sparks? C'mon, Flur. I've got to compel these creatures, and keep up the hope and love within them so Auntie and Mom can do their thing right. This has got to be one of hardest speeches I've had to put together. I've scrapped every piece of it, and each time I think I've got it right, I want to redo it…and then it ends up being worse than before. I just…" she trailed off, before giving a quiet chuckle. "Remember that game we played as kids? Where we'd be the princesses and villains?"


Flurry tilted her head, looking slightly confused.


"I just wish it was as easy back then sometimes. When I just needed a few sparks and a toy spear to defeat the bad guys…or to have a place with the princesses."


"Oh, Dawn, you — " Flurry started quietly, reaching out to put a hoof on her shoulder.


"Its okay. You know, its probably just my overthinking. I want it to be perfect, and not every single royal speech in the history of Equestria has been perfect. As long as its good enough, and we can all celebrate, that's all that matters." Dawn said, her demeanor brightening. She gave her cousin a nudge back, standing and neatly rolling the piece of paper. "C'mon! Let's get to the Great Hall. Gotta make sure everything is ready to get started."


With that, she turned and trotted towards the door, ignoring the alicorn's worried frown.