When Princess Celestia comes down with a mysterious illness despite her immortality, her loved ones flock to her side, including Sunset Shimmer. With only so much time left, Sunset takes it upon herself and Twilight to get to the bottom of it. The two of them work together non-stop to find a cure, which would be fine, if Sunset had gotten around to telling any of them she's dating the other world's Twilight.

Edited by the kind and insightful Space Jazz. Cover art designed by the incredibly talented Kiki-Kit and modified by the masterful Amber Spark! Spoilers in the comments.

Principal Celestia has accidentally fallen through the mirror into Equestria, and it may be a bit before she can go home. Until then, she has to learn to cope with a strange world, in a strange body.

At the same time, Twilight has to figure out how she can help her new guest while keeping Equestria from freaking out over the presence of a second Celestia, and Sunset Shimmer has to figure out how she is going to make amends with those she had left behind in Equestria, while keeping an eye on her Principal.

Disclaimer: Since I wrote this description ages ago before I even knew the plot, the story is mostly pure comedy in the beginning, with eventual Sunlight and Chryslestia shipping!

Cover image by Arvaus, used with permission.

The Equestrian Unicorn Society is meeting one night, and things appear to be going well. That is, until an old member shows up and things start to go downhill...

In an Equestria where the mirror portal didn't exist; a very different fate awaits Sunset Shimmer.

Every alicorn has a mirror, meant to hold her if she ever turns upon Equestria in rage and bitterness. She will be safe inside, comforted by the familiar.

Twilight has come to Canterlot to update her own personal prison. While she's there, an old friend wishes to meet her for the very first time.

Written for Everfree Northwest's 2015 PreCon Contest.

"My name is Sunset Shimmer, and there are two Twilight Sparkles who are both madly in love with me.

Please help."

No one has seen Sunset Shimmer in a week after the Fall Formal. Principal Celestia is getting worried. She doesn't really know much about Sunset Shimmer, but she is aware that she is alone in this world. When Celestia finds Sunset it is worse than she knew. Now, Celestia moves to heal the heart of the girl from another world. It is to be a difficult and hard fought battle against Sunset's own perception of self.

Can Sunset turn her life around from the downward spiral that it is in? Or is she right to believe that she is only a demon and deserves only the worst in life? Sunset's journey to forgiving herself starts with allowing her mentor's alternate into her life, but does she deserve to have the chance to disappoint two Celestias?

Now being edited by devas and The Albinocorn

Featured! August 18th 2014! For all of 10 minutes! Still counts!
Freatured again! September 15 2014! For a much longer time! Last time I update this bit though.

It all started with a simple question. "Can the portal go to other places besides Equestria?

The answer turned out to be "No, but we might be able to make one that can."

When their research is complete, Sunset and Twilight are pulled into an adventure in another world, where they meet even more doppelgängers of themselves. But their alternate counterparts may reveal some things about themselves they never knew.

This story is a sequel to Habits of the Equestrian Phoenix

After going to Coloratura's concert, Sunset gets both good news and bad news.

Somepony stole her identity and is running around with her face.

That's the good news.

Historian’s Note:
Set in the Wavelengths timeline where the Sonic Rainboom didn’t happen, How Not To Use Your Royal Prerogative occurs about five years after Grading on a Bell Curve and about two years before the events in The Application of Unified Harmony Magics.

Knowledge of the previous tales is suggested, but not required.

Cast: Sunset Shimmer, Cheerilee, Moon Dancer, Minuette, Coloratura & Coco Pommel
Co-Starring: Spotlight, Security Chief Gateway, Vinyl Scratch and special guest star Octavia Melody

Stories set in the Wavelengths Timeline in chronological order:

Origins Arc
The Alchemy of Chemistry
Bards of the Badlands
Grading on a Bell Curve
Habits of the Equestrian Phoenix
How Not To Use Your Royal Prerogative

Applications Arc
The Application of Unified Harmony Magics
Princess Celestia: A Brief History
The Cloudsdale Report

Dreamers Arc
Tactics of Snowbound Unicorns
A Study in Chaos Theory
Teahouses of Saddle Arabia
As the Raven Flies

Cover Design by Amber Spark
Coco Pommel Vector: DashieSparkle
Coloratura Vector: DashieSparkle
Sunset Shimmer Cutie Mark: Millennial Dan

Beta Reader & Editor Credits
Ebon Quill: Audio Director & Quest Designer on The Manehattan Project
Little Tinker: Master of Systems at Poniverse & Scripting Engineer on The Manehattan Project
Beltorn: Commenter-at-Large on FimFiction
Tchernobog: AppleDash Fanatic - My debt is paid
Cursori: Reader of Many a Pony Word

Word Count: 64,000
Version: 12.54

Worthless, weak, ugly—as far as Twilight is concerned, that's all she'll ever be. Even three months into their relationship, Twilight still refuses to believe that an absolute goddess like Sunset could ever love a loser like her. And it doesn't help that Twilight spends every night being tormented by nightmares of Midnight Sparkle, the one being who hates Twilight more than she hates herself.

Twilight can only remember a single moment in her life when she felt strong: the five minutes that she spent as Midnight Sparkle. The five minutes she spent with magic.

Now, tortured by fear, anxiety, and never-ending nightmares, Twilight knows the only way to win Sunset's love is to make herself stronger—even if that means resurrecting the demon inside of her.

Originally written for the January 2016 Writeoff, "Look, I Can Explain...", where it made finals.

Thanks to Horizon, Bookplayer, and FanOfMostEverything for offering advice on the original. Thanks to Quill Scratch, Oroboro, Monokeras, Lise Eclaire, Monarch Dodora, Majin Syeekoh, PegasusMesa, Reneigh Haycart, and Hazeyhooves for helping me brainstorm certain parts. Preread by Pascoite.

Art by Ta-Na!