It was less than half an hour before the alicorn and the dragon were standing in front of the city. Or a city. It appeared to Lightning Blade, at least on its surface, to be a small, unimportant town, one of perhaps hundreds in the country he found himself in. It simply reinforced the idea that this so-called "princess" was simply sent away to stay out of trouble.

"I now present to you: Ponyville!" Spike announced, stretching out an arm for emphasis. He seemed excited as he did so, and looked to the prince for his reaction.

The prince remained expressionless as he stared, quickly learning a lot about where he was just off of this glance. The very first thing that caught his eye were the roofs of the houses. Wherever he traveled, whether in Illandra or otherwise, when he saw thatched roofing, he immediately knew that it was someplace underdeveloped. It didn't help his perception of the town that each house seemed to have been built in a seemingly random location, at least where he was viewing from, with no thought put towards city planning. He didn't see any out houses however, which he figured was either a good thing or a very bad thing.

He then turned his attention to the ponies in the city, or, in this case, the creatures. In Illandra, the only sentient creatures were equines, so it was a bit of a shock to see so many different types of things walking around. However, he wasn't caught completely off guard thanks to meeting the dragon next to him. As well, it didn't seem as though there were that many creatures wandering around, to be about an eighty-twenty percent split between ponies and those other… things.

The town itself seemed clean enough, as well as the creatures in it. Although, he couldn’t help but feel annoyed at the fact that it was named Ponyville, and that he was heading to the city of Canterlot, where somepony named Celestia ruled over Equestria. In Illandra, they didn’t name things after their species, instead giving names after important ponies, like the nation of Illandra or the city of Magnus. In some cases, they named places after the terrain, like Highloch, where he and Midnight Bloom both came from.

“Well,” the dragon asked hopefully, “what do you think?”

Lightning Blade gave it another second of thought before answering. “It seems… exotic,” he said. It was the best he could honestly answer, although he thought "strange" might have been a more appropriate description.

"I'm glad you like it! It's where Princess Celestia told Twilight to move to so she could make new friends, and where she stopped Nightmare Moon when she found the Elements of Harmony."

"That settles it," he thought. "She was sent away because she causes trouble."

"I can show you around if you want," Spike told him eagerly.

"If it's alright, I'd rather get to this pony, Celestia, as quickly as possible."

"Oh…" Spike let out, a bit dejected. "Okay. Well, the train station is at the back of town, so I'll just point out the most important stuff on the way."

"If you insist," Lightning Blade answered, starting to walk again.

The two made their way into Ponyville, receiving stares from every creature there, especially the ponies. Out of habit, Lightning Blade subconsciously slowed his walk a bit and let them get a good view of him. He was used to the stares he received, and as such, it took him a little while to realize that these creatures weren't just staring, but gawking at him as he walked, and seemed to be a bit on edge by his presence. There was a silence spreading through them, and their reactions were a mix of surprise and fear. There were a few instances of excitement, but it was mostly fear, which was something he wasn’t really expecting from them, and not one he ever received from his subjects. To try and set them more at ease at his sight, he gave them reassuring smiles as he passed by each of them. It helped a little, but not much.

“Have they never seen an alicorn before?” the prince asked as he dropped his smile, not bothering to whisper. “Why do they seem so afraid? I thought you said that a princess lived here.”

“Well, she does, but ponies are still pretty excited to see her. And it might be because you’re a stallion, and they haven’t ever seen a male alicorn.”

That caused Lightning Blade to stop in his tracks. “You’ve no male alicorns here?” he asked, surprised.

“Nope, none that I’ve ever seen. I don’t think there’s ever been one as far as I know.”

That was extremely shocking for him to hear. While in Illandra, most of the rulers were mares, it wasn’t exclusively mares. It made some sense why he would get such fearful stares if there had never been a male alicorn in Equestria.

He tried to put the thought out of his head as he began walking again. However, as soon as he took another step, he was tackled and pushed to the ground from behind by another pony. It was unexpected, and not the sort of thing he would normally let happen to him. He was normally more in tune to what was going on around him, especially when he was out traveling through someplace he'd never been. He assumed that their gawking and his surprise had lowered his guard. However, it only took him a moment to regain his senses, and he quickly used his strength to turn himself over from under the pony so that he was on top of them.

"Woooow! You're good!" the pony, a bright pink mare with hot pink hair, told him with a large smile as she lay under him. "I've never seen anypony that-"

He shoved a hoof in her mouth, silencing her. "What are you doing?" he demanded, glaring angrily at her. "Who are you?"

“It’s okay!” Spike told the prince. “That’s just Pinkie Pie!”

Despite what the dragon told him, he stayed on top of the mare, Pinkie Pie. She was strangely calm about the whole experience, seeming almost excited actually. She kept on a smile as he continued to glare at her, debating whether she was attacking him or simply just crazy. She looked like the latter as she continued to try and talk over his hoof, but he couldn’t be entirely sure.

“Tell me why you're attacking me,” he commanded, removing his hoof from her muzzle.

“I’m not attacking you, silly!” she told him, still grinning at him. “I’m just meeting somepony I’ve never met before! And that pony just so happens to be you!”

Lightning Blaze stared at her suspiciously, debating if she was telling the truth or not. She didn’t seem as though she was lying, and that dragon obviously knew her. If his reaction was any indication, she did this all the time to ponies, and they believed her to be harmless. Of course, while the probability was small, the mare might have been Brimstone in disguise. However, even as powerful as Brimstone was, Lightning Blaze knew that he couldn’t shapeshift. At least, he thought he couldn’t shapeshift. He wasn’t entirely sure. In any case, the alicorn didn’t believe that the villain would be so direct in attacking him.

After staring intimidatingly at her for a few more seconds, he spoke. “Don’t do that again,” he commanded. “Do you understand?”

“Okie dokie!” she told the alicorn, still grinning foolishly at him.

He kept the angry glare he had on and stayed on top of her for a few more seconds before letting her up. When he did, she immediately bounded up from the ground and started hopping around him like nopony he’d ever seen. He made sure to keep his eyes on her as she started jabbering at him.

“Who are you? Where are you from? Are you a prince? How did you become an alicorn? What’s your favorite color?” On and on she went, asking question after question without even offering him time to answer the previous. As the pink pony went on, Lightning Blade began to wonder if she was afflicted with some sort of mental illness. It would explain why that dragon said that she was “just Pinkie Pie”, and why she went around jumping on ponies she didn’t know.

“Since you’re somepony new, we have to throw you a ‘welcome to Ponyville’ party so you can make new friends!” she said to him excitedly as she kept on bouncing.

She was definitely unhinged, that much he could tell. Deciding he was better off leaving her, he started to make his way past her, before remembering that he should ask about Brimstone. He debated for a second whether or not to ask this… mare. She likely wouldn’t know, and might just bother him about it. However, despite this, he knew he had to ask. He wouldn’t have been doing his due diligence if he didn’t.

Pinkie Pie was still grinning stupidly at him, and he sighed before speaking. “Have you seen a yellow coated alicorn anywhere in the last little while?”

“Well, of course I have, silly!” she answered. “One’s standing right in front of me! You!”

Lightning Blade scowled at her again, and added, “He had a black mane and tail, as well as a red horn.”

“Hmmm, that sounds a lot like Sombra, except Sombra’s not yellow or an alicorn.”

That was the second time the prince heard that name, and he decided he needed to ask about it. “Who is that pony, Sombra?”

“He was just some big, old, meanie who tried to take over the Crystal Empire before Spike here stopped him.”

He looked at Pinkie Pie skeptically, then turned to Spike wordlessly for confirmation. Lightning Blade watched him shrug and say, “Yeah, it’s true. It’s not a big deal or anything, though.”

“Where is this pony now?”

“Umm…” the dragon answered unsure. “Dead, probably?”

Lightning Blade rolled his eyes. Dead probably. That wasn’t reassuring for him to hear, although it might have left him with a clue. Of course, it might also mean absolutely nothing and he’d just be wasting his time looking into it. Still, he would be thorough and ask the ruler of this country about it when he got to her.

“Wait, is that pony you’re looking for… is he a bad guy?”

This was what the prince didn't want to get into. However, seeing as it was pretty much already revealed by his asking about that other pony, he decided to be honest. "Yes," he answered bluntly. "That's why you're taking me to see that princess, Celestia."

"What is he going to do?" Spike asked.

"That, for now, is none of your concern," Lightning Blade answered.

"Is he gonna try to take over Equestria?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Because if so, I should definitely tell my friends about this. Hey! Rain-"

"No you don't!" he commanded forcefully, cutting the mare off. "Nopony is going to hear about this except the princess, understand? We're not going to bring everypony into a panic when we don’t have to." The prince knew that panic was the last thing they needed. Brimstone fed off of panic.

"I don't know…" Spike trailed off, unsure. "Maybe we should tell them. I mean, Pinkie and her friends have saved Equestria before…"

Lightning Blade found that very hard to believe. With as looney as the mare near him seemed to be, any friends she had likely wouldn't be capable of stopping a mouse from stealing cheese, let alone stopping somepony like Brimstone. He himself was barely able to stop him. He was certain that whoever this mare’s friends were wouldn’t be able to do anything.

“No,” he said with finality. “Nopony is going to know about this, at least not yet. We’re going to go to the ruler of this country and see what help they can offer.”

“I’m pretty sure she’ll ask me and my friends to help you. So maybe we should get a headstart and tell them!”

“We’ll tell them when she asks us ti tell them. Until then-”

“Hey Spike, hiya Pinkie,” a voice called, interrupting the stallion. He turned to see a light blue pegasus with rainbow colored hair floating above them, watching as they talked. “Watcha doing?” the pegasus asked.

“Hi Rainbow Dash! We’re going to Canterlot to tell Princess Celestia something super important!”

Lightning Blade growled slightly to himself, rolling his eyes. He didn’t even know why he tried.

Midnight Bloom watched as Twilight Sparkle worked, quickly organizing the city according to who could do what and what ponies were in most need. Gone was the nervousness she had before as she had a calm and collected focus on what she was doing. It seemed almost like second nature to her as she directed ponies around. It seemed to Midnight exactly like what a princess would and should do.

She was almost jealous of her, but it felt more like she was ashamed of herself. That should have been her leading them, but it wasn’t. She knew it was Lightning Blade’s intention for her to be in charge, and yet here she was, shrinking away her responsibilities to somepony else. Somepony who was a complete stranger.

“No,” she silently told herself. “Don’t think that way. You’re handing leadership over to somepony who can do something. It’d be irresponsible to try and do something you know you can’t.” That’s what she told herself anyway. It didn’t stop her from feeling like a failure though, but that feeling was normal enough for her anyway.

“Midnight?” a pony, Sterling Silver, got out. “What's going on?”

She turned towards him, surprised at how unexpectedly he appeared. She knew who he was, he being an acquaintance of hers and a friend of Lightning's, and knew him almost as long as she knew the prince. She knew that he was typically one to be unfazed in troubling situations, but in this instance, he had a look of surprise on his face as he spoke to her.

He was asking about the battle the prince and the villain had. Not that it was much of a battle. She wasn’t even sure herself what happened. Lightning Blade said he had a trick he had planned on using on Brimstone and knew a spell that could banish a pony to stasis. As well, he explained that he’d be sent to stasis with him, and that she’d be given the crown to rule over Illandra, the way Princess Rosalie originally intended. The two fought on this point, Midnight doing everything in her power to try and convince him that it was a bad idea to make her ruler, explaining how useless and ineffective she would be, but this was a moot point. To Lightning Blade, what he said was going to happen, and that was final.

And then… well, she didn't know exactly what happened, but judging by the look of surprise he had just before he left, it hadn't been what he intended.

"Where's Lightning?" Sterling Silver pressed. "Didn't he say he'd give the crown to you?"

"I, um- I don't know what happened," she answered quietly. "A few seconds before he left, she came here," she continued, pointing a hoof at Twilight, who turned nervously to look at the two of them. "It didn't look like he planned it, but I don't know. He might have changed his mind about me. I mean, she does have a crown after all…"

Sterling dropped his surprise, sending a glare her way that asked if she was being serious. He, along with a few others, knew what happened between her and Princess Rosalie. He also knew that Lightning Blade wasn’t one to change his mind easily once he made a decision.

“Princess Midnight,” he started, making sure to emphasize the first word. He watched her cringe back as he continued, “You know as well as I that anything outside of your ruling Illandra wasn’t what he intended.”

She swallowed nervously at those words. “Well, um… I mean, it can’t be a coincidence that she appeared a few seconds before he left can it?” she asked.

“Midnight…”

“And well,” she continued, whispering now as the two watched the alicorn make their way towards them, “she could easily force her way to power if she wanted to anyway, so why bother?”

“That sounds like an excuse.”

“Besides, with how I am, she'll be able to help more in an hour than I ever could in a lifetime…”

“That’s awful reasoning,” Sterling Silver whispered harshly.

“Um, excuse me?” Twilight Sparkle started nervously as she got up to them, her voice cracking. “I really need your help.”

Given how she looked and sounded, nervous was a severe understatement. She was frazzled, legs shaking, hair already a bit of a mess in her few minutes of being in Illandra. Her eyes were wide from what she’d seen, wide because they were looking to her for a solution to whatever happened here. Even that alicorn asked her if she could take charge over the situation that was this city. She didn’t even know her, yet she was expecting her to do something, as if she had the slightest idea what she was doing. Sure, she was a princess, but she’d never face anything like this.

Midnight didn’t know what she needed help with, but she automatically started to protest. “Well, I- I’m not really-”

“Please? I really need your help,” she almost begged. She looked like she was about to cry, she was that upset. “This is all… it’s just.. too much!”

Apparently, the calm and collected focus Midnight thought Twilight Sparkle had portrayed was an act, or maybe shock. Still, she was able to get something done, seeing as there were more ponies up and working on helping ponies around them now, following whatever orders the Princess of Friendship assigned to them.

“Princess!” another pony called from behind the three of them, rushing up with fresh tears. "My son!" she cried. "He's crushed under the rubble of our house! You have to help him!"

Both alicorns flinched hearing that as both of them thought different things. Twilight Sparkle looked to Midnight Bloom, hoping she would go in her place. She’d seen more dead and dying ponies in the last few minutes than she had in her lifetime, and she didn’t want to see anymore, especially not what was probably a colt being crushed under rubble. Midnight herself simply looked at the ground knowing there was nothing she could do, wishing the alicorn in front of her would go, but somehow knowing she wouldn’t.

“Well, um… w-we have ponies d-digging through-” Midnight shakily tried to get out.

"Please! We can't wait that long! He won't make it if we have to wait for them to get to us!"

Both this pony and the alicorn looked desperately at Midnight, as though she could do something, the former sobbing as Midnight stared quietly back at the two of them. "Where's Prince Lightning Blade?" the mother asked in between her tears.

She trailed off, looking away. “He’s umm…”

“He’s not here at the moment” Sterling interjected quickly. “However, it was Prince Lightning Blade’s intention to make Midnight Bloom the new Princess of Illandra.”

Twilight Sparkle and the mare looked at Midnight with hopefulness, while she herself grimaced, sending a glare Sterling’s way. She hated that he brought it up, and didn’t know why he did. Everypony already heard when that other pony called her princess a little while ago. Besides, it wasn’t as though anything about her changed in the past few minutes upon the prince’s departure. He was getting this mare’s hopes up for no reason, and putting Midnight in a spot to let her down.

“I- I really think you should wait-”

“We can’t wait!” she pleaded. “You’re the princess! You have to do something!”

Once again, Midnight felt the urge to cry, and tried to shake her head and take a step back. However, before she could, she felt herself being pulled by the mare’s magic. She didn’t try to fight it, not that she could, and followed to where the mare took her, Twilight and Sterling keeping pace behind the two.

As she neared the wreckage of a building, Midnight flinched at the sight of the scene around her. There were dozens dead and hundreds injured as she passed by, with many more working to follow the orders both she and Twilight gave out. She watched as the purple pony held back her tears at the destruction. Having seen similar destruction before, Midnight herself under normal circumstances would give a sad sigh and wait for what her best friend instructed her to help with. Now, however, doing so would leave her and everypony else waiting on somepony who wasn’t there. They needed somepony to help them, and that somepony wasn’t there. It made her terribly afraid to know they were relying on her to do something she couldn't.

“Please!” the mother said, pointing to the rubble at somepony as she cried. “Do something!”

Midnight Bloom took a second to gather the strength to look, then turned to the pony. What she saw was both not as bad as she imagined and worse than she imagined. It was a colt, probably nine or ten years old, laying partially under the rubble of a house. He was still breathing, but it was slow, and his eyes were unfocused. It was good that he was still among the living, but bad because it looked like he could be gone at any minute, and his mother was expecting her to do something about it.

“I’m fine,” he told them, directing his unfocused gaze to Midnight. It was clear though that he wasn’t fine. They didn’t know what happened to him beyond what they could see, but it looked like he wouldn’t last long without medical attention.

“I’m fine,” he said again, trying to reassure them as his mother rushed up to him and stroked his cheek. “I can wait while you help other ponies.”

“Do something!” the mare demanded, almost angry as she stared at Midnight. “He can’t wait!”

“Think of an excuse, think of an excuse, think of an excuse,” Midnight thought to herself. She wanted an excuse for why she couldn’t move the colt without revealing her complete lack of ability. She looked behind her to Twilight and Sterling, the former of whom stared ahead at the colt with eyes that were sad and fearful, the latter staring back at her with a look that told her she could handle it when she couldn't. She was absolutely hating him for saying anything to this mare. He knew full well there was nothing she could do.

Midnight turned back to the mother and nervously started to speak again. “Um, I- I really think we should w-wait for the ponies working through the rubble…”

The mare opened her mouth to protest, but before she could get a word out, Sterling Silver spoke up. “The princess doesn’t want to move him without help because we don’t know how he might be pinned under there. Moving him would risk hurting him, or even killing him.”

“So I’m supposed to just sit and wait while he… lays here dying?” she asked angrily, and turned back to her son. His eyes were closed now, his cheek pressed against the dirt as though he were sleeping. She went up to him and used her hoof to brush his mane. “Sandstone? Please don’t fall asleep.”

The colt, Sandstone, didn’t respond. He simply lay motionless, eyes still closed, still seeming as though he was sleeping.

“Sandstone?” the mare asked, with fear and worry in her voice, shaking her son slightly.

Twilight Sparkle turned away with tears in her eyes, Midnight Bloom grimacing at the sight of them while Sterling Silver frowned slightly. All that could be heard was the colt's mother crying, along with the sound of hundreds of ponies working to help each other amidst the destruction.