It's been two and a half years since Twilight Sparkle returned from the other world, leaving Sunset Shimmer in the company of the alternate group of friends she made. However, not all has gone well for her one-time rival in the other world. On the night of the 30th moon, Sunset emerges from the mirror and uses an ancient relic to switch their bodies. Alone in the care of Sunset's overbearing ex-tutor, Twilight uncovers the forgotten past that drove her rival to such desperation, while back in Ponyville, Sunset struggles with Twilight's lifestyle clashing with her own dreams.
Proofreaders: RTStephens, Winter Solstice, The Albinocorn, Dartrunner and NightWolf289.
Cover art: FallingRain22
Featured by Twilight's Library September 2014.
Featured on Equestria Daily
Hmn, this looks interesting. Tracking for now.
Interesting premise indeed.
But will it finish? That is the question.
4496339 It will. This won't be a sprawling epic, maybe a dozen chapters or so. But it will be done.
Huzzah! Let us begin!
In the words of Mr. Burns: "Excellent."
4497545 Woo-hoo!
Hmmm...kind of reminds me of The Superior Spider-Man comic series where Doctor Octopus switches minds with Peter Parker.
Twilight: SUN OF A GUN! This is the second time that this happened!
Yep, gonna be trackin' this'n.
4497979 When was the first time?
4498742
There is a fun little fanfic/Radioplay called "Princess Trixie" where Trixie performs a mind swap with Twilight. Don't worry, I am just making a little joke for Twilight's sake. The two stories are completly different, this is just because I find it odd that this is the second time I have seen Twilight get switched with her rival.
4498967 Ah, ok. No
Colour me interested. I look forward to see how Twilight will deal with this ordeal, and what Sunset will do next.
I think there is too much exposition on the fic description.
4500209 Fair point, cut down. I was pondering that myself a bit.
lol. His name is RTStephens, not RE. X3
Still, if mah buddeh Arteh has pre-read for this, then that makes it worth checking out, I suppose. Allons-y!
4501128 And that's why I need two proofreaders :p. Thanks.
AMAZING!!!!
This is interesting. Curious to see where this goes.
Please at the end make Sunset die
4584351 By the time I get to the end, you won't want her to.
4584351
Why? What she's doing might be bad, but she isn't the worst type of monster. They didn't kill Trek, they didn't kill Discord, they didn't kill the Flim Flam brothers or Trixie. Why would they kill Sunset?
4584355 That's only going to happen if she later helps twilight and regrets her actions
Things are off to a good (though diabolical) start! One would still assume that it would only be a matter of time before Twilight would be able to write a letter to someone explaining things, as most any prisoner would still get at least those privileges, but I suppose we'll see what kind of conditions service to this Magistrate entails.
I'm a bit bothered by Twilight breaking down at the end... She's usually made of sterner stuff than that. Crying in her sleep was a good touch, but even though things may have just gotten worse I don't see her getting more than teary eyed in that moment.
I'm curious to see how Sunset does at maintaining the act, and what waits in store for poor Twilight. Looking forward to the next chapter!
4585008 You underestimate my power.
4585241 May i ask? Why does this even have dislikes?
4585641 Different stokes for different folks, I suppose. It has far more likes though, which is perfectly good for me.
4586014 I just would like to know why someone dislikes this. The one dislike i've received in one of my stories i would really love to know why i received it.
4586252 So would I. Unfortunately we gotta live with it though.
4586255 It's not that it's going to torture me up inside i just would find it interesting to know.
4585241 Maybe but I don't think you will make me like Sunset because I started to hate her from Equestria Girls and I don't really know why I just hate her, maybe because she was the villain in that forsaken movie, who knows...
4587499 Like her? I don't know if you'll like her. But I intent to take what the canon gave us and expand on it to create a three-dimensional and understandable character.
4587534 Please do because in the cannon the only thing we know about her is that she was a student of Celestia
Sunset Shimmer seems fairly sharp, I wonder if she'll show up in Ponyville with bandages on her head, claiming a concussion or something. If TV has taught me anything (and it probably hasn't), it's that head trauma can explain radical personality changes, memory loss, and calling oneself "Sunset Shimmer" under one's breath.
I also hope she recruits Snips and Snails as her minions, just to get the band back together again and all that.
There's no way Sunset will fool Pinkie, AJ, or Rainbow. Pinkie Sense, Element of Honesty, and Loyalty will see right through her.
Pinkie would probably catch on to her on the spot... and knowing her keep quiet about it for some wacky reason until the truth comes out.
AJ and Dash, suspisous, but will porbably take a bit longer. Honestly, I can't help but wonder what'll happen when SPIKE comes into the mix, the 2 don't exactly like eachother after all.
Wonderful story so far.
Besides the letters, current Shimmer's plan has another huge problem: Princess Luna. First of all, Shimmer was banished during Luna's return, so her knowledge about Luna is none.
Then Sunset can fool around during the day, but when Luna will decide to visit Twilight at night for princess business sake or just to say hi, there're gonna be some problems: she will either lands up in real Twilight's mind and Shimmer is done, or she'll end up in Sunset's dreams which look nothing like Twi's dreams(SS can barely pretend consciously: "Sunset was finding it more difficult than she expected to pretend she cared how Celestia felt." Tartarus help her with pretending in subconscious dreams). In fact, I'm wondering what body will Shimmer have in her dreams.
She's also not aware about Twi x Cadance greeting ritual.
If Shimmer destroyed the portal, Twilight's return would be more problematic than it's now.
Can't wait for the next one
I like this story, but please don't let a sob story on Sunset Shimmer's part is going to justify assaulting a princess, taking her place, and threatening to kill her friends.
4678902 Well, oops then :p.
You know at first the premise seemed a little bland. But the superb characterisation and devolopnent in this chapter just got me hooked, can't wait for a new chapter!
Seriously no criticisms for this chapter, well done.
4679467 Thank you. I'll be the first in line to confess I don't always write the best first or even second chapters, my full-length stories tend to take that time to really get going.
4678902
SS was very explicit about not killing Twilight's friends
Though even then she should be put out of misery.
4678902
A) She won't kill her friends, she seems to want to treat them right. She seems to even be treating Spike decently after an initial bout of guilt over making him work so hard.
B) This seems more like context on why she is the way she is. After all, "she's just evil" is boring all the time.
4682661 I'd say Point B is fairly accurate. I'm not going the direction of "She's not evil, she's just misunderstood and sympathetic". But there are reasons Sunset turned out the way she had, some of it her doing, some not.`
4682681
Yes!
Finally! Somepony who gets that idea! That is exactly how I feel about her in the canon universe of the actual show! More specifically, her backstory comic.
Does anypony else agree with me?
I'm going to be very depressed, but NOT very surprised, if the reason Sunset Shimmer is found out is because she doesn't exploit Spike as much as Twilight does.
4681342
For the moment, she is about to discover Twilight´s princesshood isn't all it's cracked up to be.
!
Sunset: "What do you mean I must pay for supplies? the whole town is mine! Can I simpl-... wait, "fill out form A-38 and send it to the Major?" I AM A GODDAMN PRINCESS, SPIKE!"
4687388
I doubt the story will turn that way at least next chapter or two:
We know that Twilight has free money now: Twilight thought back to the tribute fund and grinned sheepishly. "Well… the position does come with perks besides a castle and a crown." , so severe lack of money will contradict first chapters. Also Ponyville has a mayor, so SS can shove problems to her like true princess.
It possible for the story to go The Prince and the Pauper where fake prince was afraid to scratch his nose because of the fear of breaking the rules of etiquette. Though considering canon behavior of princesses, that's not likely.
Another possibility is to go Game of Thrones, where khaleesi has power and watching her awful decisions is like watching the train wreck in slow motion. Canon Twilight lacks actual power to fail horribly though.
So honestly, at this point I dunno where SS will start regretting being a princess: besides waving and smiling, Twilight has no royal responsibilities(she has to save the world though on occasions), ponies adore her and give her free stuff and money(ch.1) simply for spending time with her. This position looks so perfect for Sunset Shimmer.
4687686 Yes.... it does look perfect for her doesn't it? ;) Don't worry, we'll be looking at why Sunset wants to be a Princess and how she reacts to getting it very closely.