The Predecessors of Midnight

Princess Illandra:

No pony knew how old she was. She was just always… there. Well, not exactly there. She lived on the outskirts, alone, rarely ever seen. Sometimes it was years in between sightings of her. Some ponies thought she was a legend. But she was real. And she protected them. As best she could anyway.

Many claimed to be healed by her, or even saved from death by her. Some claimed that she visited in dreams, others claimed to have seen a glimpse of her, only for her image to vanish with the wind. Many claimed that she brought good fortune. More claimed that she was their good fortune. Almost everypony knew her name, and the thought of her being out their brought everypony, from the smallest foal to the oldest stallion, a glimmer of hope in their lives.

On the continent ponies lived on, there was an awful ruler named Chaos. Being an alicorn, he was much stronger than his subjects, and consistently disregarded their well being and oppressed them. As a result, it left the continent in shambles, it being filled with hunger, sickness, and poverty under his rule. The ponies on the continent had a constant feeling of hopelessness, and desperately wished for something to change.

However, Illandra’s capabilities were limited. While she was an alicorn like Chaos, she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop him. Chaos was powerful, just as powerful as her, perhaps more so. She knew that in the worst outcome, she would die, and her legend would die with her. If that happened, she feared there would be nothing left for these ponies to hope for. Even in the best case, she knew that both her and Chaos would die, leaving the continent in shambles and giving way to the possibility of another, more terrible ruler to take Chaos’s place.

So Illandra did what she could. She used her strong wings to bring rain or sun. She used her powerful magic to heal the sick. She used her knowledge of the world to help grow food and medicinal herbs. She did everything she could to ease their lives. However, in her heart, she knew it wasn’t enough.

But one day, as she was traveling the continent, searching for ponies to help, she came across a crown. Her inclination was to ignore it, but she could feel it calling to her. As Illandra drew near, she could feel the magic radiating off of it. Suddenly, she thought of Chaos and his reign as a terrible king over the continent. In that moment, seeing the crown lying there, she knew that this would be the end of Chaos’s rule.

Illandra put the crown on her head and felt the magic in it rush inside her. She felt more powerful and magical than ever before, and used her newfound power and magic to defeat Chaos. In doing so, she freed the ponies subjected under him from his wrath, and they named her the new ruler of the continent, which they named Illandra, after her. She reigned for a thousand years afterward, improving their lives immeasurably during that time. What was once a poor and miserable continent became a rich and pleasant one during her reign as the Princess of Illandra.

Prince Magnus:

Prince Magnus lay in his bed, thinking about the events of his life that led up to that moment. He didn’t think he was anything special. Or, at least, he wasn’t anything special before. Now he was the most special pony on the whole continent. He was the ruler of Illandra, crowned by Illandra herself. He never expected it to happen to him. No pony expected it to happen to him. No pony expected it to happen to anyone. Princess Illandra had reigned for the last thousand years, so they naturally just assumed that she’d reign forever. As it turned out, however, that wasn’t the case.

Magnus had always been intelligent, as well as talented. He was a natural leader, a great organizer, and delegator. He quickly developed a reputation as somepony who got things done. Being a unicorn, he also had natural magical ability, and used this along with his leadership as best he could to help the ponies around him. With these two things combined, it wasn’t anypony’s surprised when Princess Illandra decided to become his tutor.

However, after a few years of tutoring him, watching Magnus excel in magic and grow into a great leader, Princess Illandra made the announcement that he would be her successor. Of course, she told him privately at first, much to his shock. He naturally asked her why, to which she answered cryptically, “I feel my time is coming to an end,”.

Magnus stared at her blankly at that response. “How?” he asked. “When?”

“I don’t know,” the princess responded. “Not more than a few months I believe,”. She then looked down at him, smiling gently, and said, “But I have faith in you,”.

“What are you going to do?” Magnus asked her, a drop of worry starting to make its way into his voice.

“I already told you,” Illandra told him calmly, “I’m going to make you my successor,”.

Over the next few months, Magnus warmed up to the idea of succeeding the princess. You could even say he was a tad excited. Perhaps also a little worried, but not very. From what he'd heard, during her entire reign, Princess Illandra hadn't been wrong even once. And if that was the case, there was no reason for Magnus to doubt her faith in him.

Eventually, the time came for Magnus’ coronation. Thousands of ponies from across the continent gathered before him and Princess Illandra to attend. They watched as the princess gave a short speech about how, after a thousand years of reigning over the continent, bringing immeasurable changes, she would be leaving them, and how they would be in capable hooves under Magnus. While the thought of Princess Illandra leaving did make the crowd feel sad, the fact that the princess chose him as her successor reassured them.

Finally, for the first time in a thousand years, Illandra took off her crown and placed it on Magnus's head, declaring him the new ruler of the continent of Illandra. Magnus felt its magic rush into him as it touched his head, and the crowd watched as he turned into an alicorn. He was quite shocked by this, as was the crowd, and he looked to the now former ruler for an explanation. All he got from her was a small smile, a small affirmation that this was the way it was meant to be. Then, a moment later, the new prince, along with the crowd, watched as she turned into white feathers that blew away in the wind.