CA-CRACK!
Sunset Shimmer was barely out of the magic mirror’s threshold before Twilight grabbed hold and shook her. Canterlot Castle was soon filled with the sound of Sunset’s fillings rattling as her friend hugged her.
"Twil-agh!-Twiligh-!"
“I can’t do this I can't do this I’m in so much trouble now!” Twilight bawled.
“Twilight, calm down!” shouted Sunset, pulling her left hoof free and applying it to the sides of Twilight's face… in windmilling smacks... several dozen times. Certain that Twilight's eyes were perfectly straight afterwards, Sunset quickly continued. “Now what happened?”
“I’ve been fielding questions from Equestria’s finest all day about the Friendship School, and whether I’m fit to lead it! Curse Chancellor Neighsay for starting that psychotic train of thought!” bellowed Twilight, her hooves scrabbling at her own hair. “But! I figured, since you were in a school too-”
“That I nearly burned down-”
“-And then saved from another me, that you could help me get past this little hurdle!” Twilight quickly scanned over the books nearby her. “So, has your work on that mimic spell been successful?”
Sunset dragged a hoof along the back of her neck. Right. That spell. The one that she’d totally mastered during her time in Canterlot High, instead of surfing with Trixie. “Well, I mean, testing is still in the beginning stage, right? No point in going off half-cockatriced on this!“
‘And the best testing is field testing! You know, like so.” Snapping a small remote in front of her, Twilight quickly slammed a hoof on its big shiny button. “SCIENCE!”
With a not-at-all-foreboding hum, the electric towers surrounding Sunset’s mirror portal de-powered. “Twilight, what did you do?” Sunset warily asked.
“N-not make it so you have to help me or not get back to Horse Girl High, t-that’s for sure!”
“Twilight, you also did this when you needed help getting Starlight off the ceiling!”
“How was I supposed to know she’d nearly have an aneurysm finding out there’s another her?”
“The time she hypnotized your friends because she was scared she wasn’t the best pony, for starters!” Sunset groused.
“...Point.”
“Fine. What about the Fire Ruby incident!”
Twilight wearily sighed. “That time, Rarity threatened you! And it was because you wanted to split her jewelry in half and give one part of it to both her and Spike for the anniversary! Where’d you even get that idea, anyway?”
“...Internet.”
“Okay then, so I just dangled the mirror use over the Starlight thing, and the Ruby thing-”
“And the choosing cereal thing,” sighed Sunset. “I still think Flank n’ Berry was the better one.”
“We can talk about your stubborn refusal to join the Boo-Moon Berry brigade later! Now do you have the mimic spell?”
“Again yes, but-”
“Then let’s do it now! You’ve always wanted to be me, right, Shimmer? Well for one night only, you've got your chance!” Twilight shoved her crown onto Sunset’s head, barely stopping to switch their clothes before she babbled on. “There’s a Q&A cocktail party at Fleur’s house in an hour; you can be me and I’ll be you! I’ll even drive us there!”
Sunset’s right eyebrow cocked. “Drive what-”
CRASH!
The powerful motions of a golden chariot burst through the Palace’s walls, Royal Guard Spearhead manning the reins. “Come on Twilight - Rarity gave me the memo, we don’t have much time!”
Sunset turned to face Twilight - and only saw her mirror staring back at her. Driving me crazy, apparently, Sunset’s despairing mind finished for her. Sighing, she moved her glowing horn, etching out the magical diagrams that would make her look just like Princess Twilight Sparkle.
“..and that question, Miss Sparkle, is one not even Starswirl’s managed to answer! So I submit it to you, the head of the Friendship School, to help Equestria out!”
His grand question finally delivered, Hoity Toity finally stepped down from his position on the dais. Before him, ‘Twilight Sparkle’ shifted in her seat, her hoof rubbing along her mane. The motion revealed the slight hints of red and gold under the purple and pink. Even here, she knew an attempt to impress when she saw it. Half of Canterlot High did it for her, even after she became a succubus.
Actually more, now that I think about it.
Stepping to the podium, Sunset wobbled under the five glasses of cocktails she’d gulped down, straightening out her tiara and prepared to respond. Before her, Twilight herself - the real one - was sitting, still looking like Sunset Shimmer and still grinning around her seventh glass of apple cider.
Clearing her throat, Sunset - the real Sunset - magically amplified her voice.
Alright, Sunset, she thought. This is what you’ve been waiting for for years. A chance to show you’re just as good as Princess Twilight under the bright lights.
Showtime.
“Well, Hoity Toity...” Sunset slowly began. “That’s a strange question to ask.”
Sunset slowly rolled her neck, taking in the opulence of Fleur’s ballroom. Even here, the crystal lining on everything - the tables, the floor, the seating of the thirty-strong audience here to hear her - filled her with glee. She’d rarely gotten this type of attention from Equestria before.
A small part of her wondered if she was fully free of that egocentric edge she’d had.
“But of course, Hoity, I’m always up for a challenge.”
But Sunset knew there was only one way this situation didn’t end in tears. And that was by making sure the attempts of Hoity to try and trip up ‘Princess Twilight Sparkle’ didn’t come to fruition.
Staring Hoity right in his sparkly purple shades from her podium, Sunset steeled herself. Also seriously, who wears those indoors? she grumbled, her lips pursing to answer him. The room hushed, sucking the air out of Fleur’s house with their collective silence.
“Even for my tastes, though, this really isn't a challenge. In fact Hoity; that question is so easy, so simple to answer…”
Sunset’s hoof aimed right at Twilight Sparkle.
“That I’m going to let my traveling buddy do it for me.”
