(Story idea requested by ObeliskX on FanFiction.net.)

Twilight Sparkle's quest to travel to the world beyond the mirror and retrieve her crown ended in failure, Sunset Shimmer managed to harness the power within said crown to defeat Twilight and conquer Equestria. She now rules over it with an iron hoof, controlling the sun and the moon.

But Sunset has begun to resent the way she is seen by others, especially when she has to also grapple with the constant strain of maintaining the illusion of harmony in Equestria. Desperately, she begins to search for a way to restore Equestria to its former, peaceful state.

Meanwhile, having narrowly survived her encounter with Sunset Shimmer's demon form, Twilight Sparkle faces her own struggles with getting back to Equestria. And even then she must grapple with the fact that it will not be as it was when she left.