Princess Twilight would always wonder where it went wrong.

If you asked Princess Celestia, it would be the day that Midnight Sparkle finally received a letter of surrender from the United States of Equestria.

If you asked Princess Luna, she would say the moment Midnight Sparkle took over Twilight Sparkle once more.

If you asked any of her friends, they would flip you off and make you swear on Discord himself that you would never utter their counterpart's name again.

If you asked her, however, she would say approximately 4 years, 3 months, and 12 days ago.

It wouldn't be an approximation, however. No, it would be a fact.

Because to Twilight Sparkle, that was the day she asked Sunset Shimmer to buy her a book from Barnyard Bargains.

It was a specific book, a copy of the newest Daring Do that had yet to be released in Equestria for 6 months.

She just couldn't wait. After waiting for nearly a year, then finding out that the author had to push it back because she 'didn't like the feel of the ending'?

She was so stupid.

But, she didn't know that for another week. Back then, all she heard from Sunset was a casual 'okay' and an agreement for them to meet in an hour for her to drop off the book.

She wouldn't hear about the attack for another day. According to Sunset's friends, she was still clutching the book in her arms when they had to wheel her into the ER.

It was a miracle that she didn't bleed out before they hooked her to the ER.

But, she couldn't put all the blame on Sunset's attackers, she knew. She knew it was also her fault. It was her fault she took so long to grieve.

It was her fault she never responded to her counterpart pleading for any help on what to do about Sunset's condition.

It was her fault that she never saw the shift of her writing. From teary-eyed scratches to cold, hard writing.

It was her fault that she wasn't there to help any of her Human friends when Midnight Sparkle had swayed the over to her side.

But, now was not time to dwell on the past, she told herself. Now, Sunset was awake, and she had to be there for her like she should have been 4 years ago.

Shelving her thoughts, she dared a glance at Midnight, who took up a quarter of the elevator they were in. Because of the amount of raw power she held, she was able to match Celestia and Luna in stature. Twilight, being the smaller princess of the three, looked like a teenager compared to them.

The ride up was cold, lifeless. In a 'show of power', Midnight had the elevator made of tempered glass on all sides and made it so the elevator ran directly in the middle of each floor, so any visitors can see the might of her Empire. Floor after floor, Twilight could see soldiers, guns, and weapons of such destruction Little Boy was a grenade by comparison. On each floor, she could see soldiers wheeling around corrosive material, laser weapons, and torture devices ranging from the 15th Century to today.

"Enjoying the show, princess?" Midnight whispered in her ear. "Imagine what we could do if we have an infinite amount of magic at our disposal. Imagine all of the great achievements we could have if you just worked with me."

"Stop," Celestia growled. During the entire trip, she had not once spoken besides her demand to see Sunset when she walked out of the portal. She drew her ceremonial sword and pointed it at Midnight's throat. In turn, Twilight unsheathed her own sword and readied herself.

As royalty themselves, Celestia, Luna, and Twilight all had ceremonial armor and swords to accompany them. Since they weren't allowed to bring guards with them, they compromised to be allowed to arm themselves should they ever come here. The swords were custom-made in the Celestial Forge in Canterlot, being infused with spells that made the armor of Midnight's army feel like paper.

The armor was made out of SkyForge Steel from the top of Mount Canterhorn and was capable of holding up against the power of the literal sun. Each set was infused with blood and magic from the owner, made so that it would reject the touch and use of anyone else besides themselves. It was a pain though since it also had to be specific to that particular iteration of them, or else Midnight or her former Principal and Vice-Principal could use it.

Luckily, Twilight had pulled the spell off, and Midnight had to get treated for second-degree burns when she first tried the armor.

To any other leader, drawing weapons would immediately be taken as a sign of hostility. However, with the circumstances surrounding Midnight, her friends, and their counterparts, drawing swords upon each other was a regular basis.

Midnight stared at Twilight, then looked at Celestia, before she relented and backed off. When the elevator made it to the top of the castle, she ushered them into a conference room to the left, which held the rest of the Empress's sans Fluttershy.

"Hey there, Princess," Rainbow Dash sneered. "How are you today?"

"Likewise, Spectrum," Twilight replied with malice, "I suppose you've supplemented your days with torturing more employees if that hospital wing was any indication."

"That dweeb had it coming!" Rainbow roared, rushing towards Twilight. With deft skill, Twilight side-stepped her and put her leg out to trip the Empress. She toppled over and crashed into a chemistry set that was (thankfully) empty. If there was one thing Rainbow hated, it was being called by her Empress name by those she still considered her friends.

"Well, I do hope you have a nice trip here, Princesses." Rarity stepped forward, diverting attention from that mock-up that was her best friend. "You must simply visit us more often, Twilight."

"I suppose," Twilight grumbled, "Now that Sunset is awake."

"On that topic," Midnight cut her counterpart off, "We all have to transform into our human forms." She turned to face the Equestrians, "Sunset is out there with Fluttershy right now. We placed an illusion spell over her, so that she wouldn't be surprised immediately by the state of the world. We have to wait until her heart can handle the stress before we break it to her what happened."

"An illusion spell?" Luna mused, with a hint of amusement in her voice. "I wonder how much of your precious magic is needed to keep up one of such magnitude. That must be a lot of power being used to keep the spell up."

Midnight glared daggers into the Night Princess, "And that's why I need your help to keep the spell up. We can't spare any more magic on the illusion, and our geodes can't siphon enough magic to hold it up, especially after you cut us off of any other natural portals to Equestria." Twilight could hear the anger in her voice.

"Well, such a shame," Celestia sneered, "You need magic to hold up your illusion, and we don't want to give you the magic."

"You know, if you just shared the magic of Equestria with us, we could do so much more together." Midnight quipped. "How about you just give us some more magic?" She already knew the answer Twilight would give, but she was persistent.

"Buck off," Twilight growled. "It'll be a cold day in Tartarus before I give you more magic."

"That's a bit selfish of you, isn't it Twilight darling?" Rarity batted her eyes at the princesses.

"Not at all." Twilight bluntly replied, looking at Rarity with innocent eyes. "It's our magic. I don't see a reason why I need to help you when we are at odds with each other." She turned her gaze back to Midnight, "We will only use our magic to cover our armor. Anything else would have to be supplemented by your own reserves."

"Not that there's much left..." Midnight muttered under her breath. Despite how they appeared to the masses on television and online, they actually had a very small budget of natural magic compared to Equestria. All of their magic reserves had to be carefully managed, as they didn't have any other sources of natural magic besides their connection to Equestria. They used to have more, with the Natural portals to Equestria, but Celestia had ordered them closed by Starswirl when they first found out the humans were siphoning magic from them.

Even their own powers weren't infinite. While the geodes acted like the Elements of Harmony, in which they can create their own magic, it was minuscule compared to what the Elements can create. When they first found this out during Twilight's first official visit to Earth with her Element, they had tried to steal her crown because of the sheer amount of magic it had been expelling. However, Twilight had found out what they were doing, and it ended up in a Second Grand Canyon cutting a swath through Canterlado.

A good chunk of their magic was dedicated to the Weather Service, who regulated the weather of the planet. The rest of it was dedicated solely to R&D and military R&D. It was one reason why Midnight had wanted to end the rebellion so quickly, as they were a major drain on the planet's magic either through the rebel's magic weapons, or their own.

"Whatever the case, I believe it would be a good time to visit dear Sunset, should we not?" Rarity suggested, attempting to clear up the air in the room. A chorus of agreement rang out, and each person used their own magic to disguise themselves before exiting the room...

Only to see Sunset toppled out of her own wheelchair, with Fluttershy holding her body and crying.

"MEDIC!" She screamed.

Author's Note

Hey, look, another continuation!

Yeah yeah, some of you may say I'm stealing other's stories But if you read the rules, I'm really not. There is no rule against continuations, only re-writes, and plagiarism. So go ahead and act pissed all you want. I'm still going to continue this.

I get this was a lot of world-building, but you guys need to know how magic works in this universe before I continue since it will be a major plot point later in the story.

Also, as per moral rules, the original chapters aren't here. You have to head to the original The Empresses to read them, so as to properly credit the author.

Anyways, au revoir!