Author's Notes:

This takes place directly before season 9 and directly after season 8

The moment before Lightning Blade cast his spell, Twilight Sparkle suddenly appeared out of a black portal, which, for a moment, served as the doorway between Illandra and Equestria.

It was quite unexpected, and the sight of her shocked the alicorn prince, interrupting his concentration for just a second as he flew through the sky. He quickly regained it, but it was already too late. Losing his concentration might not have meant much had Brimstone not been in his grasp at that very moment. However, he was, and as a result, Lightning Blade was unable to stop the momentum from sending them through the portal in the sky, much to one's anger and the other's satisfaction.

It was exactly one second before the two reappeared on the other side, in the place where the pony who interrupted Lightning Blade came from. The portal they came through disappeared the instant after they exited to the other side, and then, before he could blink, Brimstone himself had vanished from his grasp, making his way off to… somewhere. Lightning Blade growled to himself, angry with what just played out in the last few seconds. He had lost Brimstone because of that pony’s interference, whoever she was.

He had a perfect plan, too. Or, at the very least, unbelievable luck. Somehow, he’d managed to take Brimstone of all ponies by surprise. There were very few who would have been able to accomplish such a thing, those few being the most powerful ponies to ever exist. And yet, somehow, he was able to do it. However, just before he was able to cast his spell and pull the pony into stasis with him, that mare came in and interrupted his concentration. And thus, he was thrust here, and, unfortunately, would have to find and capture Brimstone again. He sighed to himself at that thought. He knew that recapturing him wouldn’t be easy; it was unlikely that Brimstone would be taken by surprise a second time.

Of course, to find him, Lightning Blade would have to find out where they had ended up. He stopped hovering in the air, setting his hooves on the ground, and looked around himself. He was clearly in a castle of some sort, one with a purple ground and blue walls that were covered in white crystals. A large room is what he saw himself in, one that was fairly empty except for a large table with six chairs around it. The table seemed to have a map on it, but he didn’t take time to examine it, seeing as he didn’t think it would be that helpful in finding Brimstone. He was sure the villain knew just as much about where he was as Lightning Blade did. Of course, he had the benefit of being able to hide wherever he so chose, whereas Lightning Blade had to locate him in a place he didn’t know. He stamped a hoof in frustration. If that pony would have just waited one moment later to show up…

“Twilight! You’re back!” a voice said excitedly as the prince listened to a pony make its way into the room. Or, at least, he assumed it was a pony. The prince turned around, and was given a surprise when he saw that it was actually a dragon entering the room. A baby dragon, but a dragon nonetheless, and one that could talk at that. It was a light purple color, with green scales and wings, and didn’t look very menacing. It was a sharp contrast to the creatures at home, who simply destroyed buildings and killed ponies without a second thought, and were mostly colored either red or black. And couldn’t talk. It was a very strange sight to behold, however, the prince kept his surprise off of his face.

“Oh. You’re not Twilight Sparkle,” the dragon said, seeming unconcerned about the fact that a potential intruder was in this castle. Although, it did give Lightning Blade a name to go with the pony who sent him here. Twilight Sparkle. It was similar to the name of his best friend, Midnight Bloom.

“No, I’m not,” he responded, then, not wanting to waste any time, proceeded to get down to business. “Have you seen a sulfur coated alicorn with a red horn and black mane around here?”

“Uh, no, I don’t think so…” the dragon answered, seeming confused by the question. “That sounds kind of like Sombra though… what color is sulfur?”

“Yellow.”

“Okay, no, I haven’t seen him.”

It was what Lightning Blade expected him to say, but he still hoped for a better answer. He wasn’t really feeling up to searching the world, let alone one he didn’t know, for the villain, and sighed at the prospect of having to. Although, he made a mental note of the name, Sombra...

“What are you doing here?” the dragon asked him curiously. “Who are you?”

He debated answering the question, not wanting to tell a dragon of all creatures who he was, but decided there was no harm in it. It didn’t seem as though this particular dragon was any threat, especially if it was allowed to be in this castle without supervision. Besides, he was an alicorn, and was still wearing the Crown of Illandra on his head. It didn’t take that much thinking to realize he was important.

“I am Prince Lightning Blade, the ruler of Illandra,” he announced, spreading his wings out a bit, a gesture he subconsciously did when greeting his subjects.

“Nice. I’m Spike,” Spike introduced simply, giving a small bow. “I’m Princess Twilight’s assistant.”

Ah, the pony’s assistant. It made sense now why a dragon would be kept in the castle. Although Lightning Blade was sure that the title “assistant” was a proxy for the word “slave”. He was also intrigued by the idea of that pony being a princess. It made sense though, she being an alicorn after all. He thought he remembered also seeing her wearing a crown.

“Um, do you know where she’s at?” the dragon asked him.

“From what I can tell, she’s in Illandra,” the alicorn explained, silently adding, “Likely dealing with the aftermath of Brimstone’s appearance.”

“Do you know when she’s going to be back?”

“I wouldn’t be able to say. I only saw her for a second before I was sent here.” The prince paused, adding, “Since you’re the princess’s... assistant, would you be able to direct me to the pony who would be in charge in her absence? There’s somepony else who came here with me, and it’s very important that I find them.” He made certain to leave out the fact that the pony he was searching for was highly dangerous, so as not to start rumors or cause the dragon to panic.

“Oh, that would be Princess Celestia and Luna. They live in Canterlot and rule over all of Equestria.”

He had to assume that Equestria was the nation they lived in, in the same way Illandra was the nation he himself ruled over. He thought it was a bit weird to name a nation after one’s species, but didn't think much more of it. Although, the mention of two other princesses brought up an important question.

“There’s more than one princess in… Equestria?” he asked, puzzled.

“Yup,” Spike explained. “There’s five actually. But one’s a foal.”

He had confusion on his face at that knowledge. This nation had not one ruler, but four. And they made a foal into a princess as well. How they kept things from descending into political turmoil, he had no idea.

“Is that not normal where you’re from?” Spike asked innocently.

“No, I’m the only ruler of Illandra,” he answered. Or, at least, he was. He was actually planning to give up being ruler that very day, to have Midnight Bloom be crowned as Princess of Illandra. Not that he wanted to, but it was what needed to be done to keep Illandra safe from Brimstone forever. Besides, Midnight was his friend, and she had once before given up being ruler to him. It was only fitting that he did the same for her. However, that pony, Twilight Sparkle, had to insert herself and screw things up for him.

“Which princess do you believe would be the most helpful to me?” he asked.

“That would be Celestia,” the dragon answered. “I can take you to her.”

“If that’s no trouble to you,” Lightning Blade said politely.

“It’s no problem. Just follow me and we’ll be there in no time.”

The prince followed behind Spike, who quickly led him out of the room and through the castle. He was curious about the lack of guards, or any other ponies for that matter, in the castle, but didn’t ask. It seemed largely empty anyway, lacking many valuables and whatnot. It honestly gave him the impression that it was recently moved into, like this Twilight Sparkle was recently crowned a princess, much like himself.

“You know,” Spike started, trying to make small talk, “for an alicorn prince, you’re not that big, only a little taller than Twilight is.”

“That’s because I haven’t fully grown,” he responded. “I’ve only just become an alicorn two years ago.”

“Hey, that’s almost as long as Twilight’s been one! She was actually Princess Celestia's student."

So one princess was another's lesser. That was how they kept themselves out of political unrest. This Celestia was likely at the top, and made rulers out of those she could trust to keep her subjects in line. It was still a strange thought, however, to know that multiple princesses were alive and ruling at the same time. In Illandra, a prince or princess was only crowned when the previous was about to pass on. How the previous knew when that would happen, he had no idea.

Well, he had some idea. The one before him, Princess Rosalie, explained that it was a feeling they got. She didn’t know how or why they got it, but they did. It was the very same feeling he'd had in the weeks leading up to today. The feeling that his reign would be coming to an end, despite ruling so briefly in comparison to every pony before him. Still, despite his initial worry, he accepted it, and planned to give up his rule and the crown to Midnight Bloom once he had cast his spell.

However, as of now, the crown was still on his head because that pony, Twilight Sparkle, had interfered and broke his concentration.

The prince was led out, and he realized why the castle he teleported into was so empty. It was located in the middle of nowhere. Maybe this pony, Twilight, wasn't actually trusted by Celestia, and was only made a ruler to keep her at bay, and to stop her from teleporting into other countries and causing disruptions. Or from teleporting those countries' rulers to places they didn't belong.

He turned around to view the castle itself, and was shocked to see that the entire thing was built into a tree. It was a castle in a tree. Not an ordinary tree either. This one was blue and crystal looking, the castle itself being bright purple, with yellow peaks contrasting against it.

"Who would ever build their castle in a tree?" Lightning Blade asked, flabbergasted.

“It wasn’t built,” Spike answered. “That castle grew out of a chest after Twilight defeated Tirek and became the Princess of Friendship. It’s actually a long story.”

He quickly took the surprise he felt off of his face. “Princess of Friendship,” the prince thought, rolling his eyes. “Scratch that. I’m not in another country. I’m in another world entirely.”

Midnight Bloom stood terrified, partly because of both the pony’s sudden appearance and the destruction created before the pony’s arrival, but mostly because Prince Lightning Blade had left. He was gone, which meant that, as the only alicorn available, she was the one who had to rule amidst the destruction. Her ruling Illandra wasn’t something she could pass off to somepony else again, especially now, seeing as the crown had left with him.

Well, maybe. There was another alicorn standing directly in front of her, and she did have a crown on her head, which meant she might have been a princess. However, it was ridiculous to think she could rule, seeing as Midnight didn’t even know who she was. Not to mention the fact that she looked more terrified than Midnight herself felt, seeming like she wanted to hyperventilate as she stared out at what was left of the city, glancing between her and the destruction.

It wasn’t just her staring, though. Everypony in Magnus was staring at her, at both of them, waiting for something to be done. Waiting for Midnight to do something, as though there was much she could do about the destruction of the city, or about the now hundreds of injured and dying ponies in it. She was an alicorn, and a natural born one at that, which meant she should have been more powerful than Lightning Blade was, maybe as powerful as Illandra herself. However, she felt as though a foal would be more useful than her. With wings too small to fly, an undersized horn that wouldn’t cast magic, and hooves that were unable to grip things, she felt like the most useless pony in the world, able only to stand around and watch as others got things done.

Still yet, they stared, the eerie silence in the city becoming deafening to Midnight. They needed somepony, and she wasn’t it. All Midnight wanted to do was ball up and cry, and let somepony else take charge. And very conveniently, there just so happened to be another alicorn standing directly in front of her, one who wore the crown of some kind of ruler on her head. Although she didn’t know her, she found herself hoping the purple coated alicorn would quickly take charge of the situation for her, so that she herself wouldn’t have to.

“W-what… what happened here?” the purple pony stammered out nervously, her voice cracking, still wide eyed as she tried to process the scene in front of her. It was a look that Midnight didn’t like, and wasn't the reaction she was hoping for. She bit the inside of her cheek as she saw her hope for somepony else to take charge start to fade away, and knew that, as much as she wanted to break down, she couldn't keep standing there waiting for something to happen.

"Um, excuse me?" she started very quietly, barely audible, taking a timid step towards the alicorn. "Are you… do you... know any healing magic?"

The alicorn didn't answer, staring off as though she didn't hear her. She'd never encountered anything close to what she was seeing now. While she'd seen and faced many situations and villains, she never had to deal with somepony who was actually dying, let alone hundreds of them at the same time. And they all, including Midnight, were waiting for her to do something. As though she could help them when she didn't even know where she was or what had happened.

Midnight stared at her, cowering back a bit as she waited for her to answer. However, the purple alicorn, looking as though she couldn’t believe what she saw, said nothing. Realizing that this wasn't something she could pass off to somepony else, at least not immediately, Midnight raised her head and asked a bit louder, "Does anypony here know any healing spells?"

She watched as a few ponies raised their hooves, wincing at the sight of a couple of bloodied ones. "I- if you're able, we need you to help any injured ponies you might see," she got out, then glanced at the alicorn next to her. She sorely wished she would take over, and waited a few seconds to see if she would before continuing. "Are- are there any strong earth ponies and unicorns?" Several more hooves raised, along with a few nods from some ponies. "We… need to start looking for any ponies who might be crushed under rubble," she told them.

“Yes, Midni- Princess Midnight Bloom,” somepony said.

She flinched at those words. She didn’t want to be called princess. She wasn’t the princess. Prince Lightning Blade would return to reclaim his spot as ruler. Eventually. After all, he did still have the crown, which meant that he was still the ruler of Illandra. And, until he returned it, he would stay ruler.

“Um,” she stammered quietly, quickly shaking her head so that her hair would cover what could be seen of her horn, doing her very best not to blush, “I- I’m not- I’m not the, um… princess. But, um, we need any pegasi who are still able to fly to gather supplies from other cities, and bring in any ponies willing to assist us.” She paused, and added, “If that’s not any trouble anyway.”

She silently wished that they wouldn’t have listened to her as she watched ponies stand up to do what they were told. She wished they would have fought back against her, or that somepony else would have taken charge. Namely, the other alicorn in the ruined city. They would have listened to her just as much as they listened to Midnight. Maybe more so, seeing as she did have the crown of a princess.

Midnight Bloom turned to her, and saw that she was still staring into space. It wasn’t good to see. Midnight needed her to get herself together so she could take charge over the city for her. Even though she didn’t know her, Midnight didn’t think she would be the kind of pony to cause more chaos. Besides, she was an alicorn, and Midnight wanted as much help as she could possibly get, especially given her limitations.

“Um, excuse me?” she asked the alicorn again quietly. “Are you okay?” The purple pony looked to her again, seemingly acknowledging that she heard her and casting a strange expression. Midnight thought that she in general looked strange. If there was one word to describe her appearance, it would have been purple. Her coat, her mane, and even her eyes, they were all purple. It was quite strange to see a pony with so little variation. The only thing that really stood out about her, despite her alicorn status and her crown, was a star-like tattoo near her flank.

Midnight herself, despite lacking the tattoo this pony had, had to admit that she was very similar looking to her, with a few differences. The biggest difference they had was their eyes, Midnight’s being dark green, like grass. Her coat was a couple of shades on the blue side of violet, and her hair a couple of shades on the purple side, with a deep purple stripe in it, just like this pony, although her own stripe was much less pink than this pony’s. She was taller than Midnight, about as tall as Lightning Blade, and had the same kind of build as each other, although Midnight herself felt more stout. And judging by her crown, they were also, as of now, both rulers of their respective countries.

No, that wasn’t true. Midnight Bloom was not the ruler of Illandra. That title still belonged to Lightning Blade. She was just holding his place for him until he got back.

“Um,” Midnight started again, “if it’s no trouble… or, um, who are you?”

“...what?” the pony asked, confused, still seeming like she wasn’t paying attention.

“Well, um, you’re an alicorn,” Midnight explained, rubbing one of her hooves behind her leg, “so I was just wondering if you were a princess…”

“Oh, um, yes!” the alicorn announced, suddenly snapping to attention. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship.”

That was another thing they had similar. Twilight Sparkle was a very similar sounding name to Midnight Bloom, although she thought that the former sounded a bit more upbeat, perfect for somepony who claimed to be a princess of “friendship”. She wondered what becoming such a princess would entail. Maybe she helped other ponies become friends… or maybe served as an ambassador to other nations?

She watched the pony, Twilight Sparkle, swallow, trying to keep her composure. “Can I ask what happened here?” she got out, using a hoof to wave to the destruction around them.

“Well… Brimstone happened,” Midnight answered simply.

“Brimstone? Like, sulfur? What does that mean?”

She sighed, saying, “He’s a pony. It’s... a long story.” She then paused for a second, and changed the subject. “Ah, I know you don’t know me, or, well, any of us, since you just…” She trailed off, referring to her sudden appearance out of the portal she watched her friend fly into, then continued. “But, um, would you be willing to… take charge… for me?"

She knew Princess Rosalie, if she were still around, would be upset with her for trying to give up her rule to somepony else again, and especially somepony she didn’t know. She knew her best friend, Lightning Blade, would be upset, too. But Midnight couldn’t help it. She desperately didn’t want the job, and even if she did, she was completely useless. She would be the most ineffective princess to ever exist. Besides, this pony could take it away from her in a second if she wanted to anyway, so she might as well have asked.

"Take charge?" Twilight asked, confused. "Of what? This city? Didn’t that other pony say you were the princess?”

Midnight looked at the ground uncomfortably. “Yes, well… I’m not the princess. I’m not supposed to be the princess.”

That was a lie, and she knew it. It was entirely Lightning Blade’s intention for her to be princess, and Rosalie’s intention before him. They both used the saying “Illandra is never wrong” to try and convince her to accept it, and most of the time, she believed in that saying. However, if Illandra was saying that Midnight was meant to be princess, then she was absolutely wrong.

“But you’re an alicorn!”

Of course, Midnight was, and she hated that fact. It was the exact same reasoning Rosalie and Lightning Blade used when they tried to get her to accept being princess. She hated that she had to be born one, and thought that she was an embarrassment to every alicorn who existed before her. She couldn't do anything. However, even as useless as her body was, they still used the simple explanation, “You’re an alicorn,” when trying to convince her to take up ruling Illandra.

She took a breath at Twilight’s response, her eyes becoming a tiny bit wet as she shook her hair to cover her horn again. “Well, um… I mean… can you please do this for me?”