Author's Note

So yeah, I know these three characters are a little boring, but I promise the next four (Prince Lightning Dust, Princess Lunar Sky, Princess Starry Night, and Prince Cornelius) should be more exciting.

Princess Green Meadow, Princess Rainbow Mist, and Princess Dalia

Princess Green Meadow:

While there wasn’t much variety on the continent, Princess Green Meadow loved looking at Illandra’s natural beauty. She was named for the meadows that could be seen in many places of Illandra, the ones that stretched on for miles with no end in sight. Of course, finding such a meadow to view could often be a difficult task, seeing as much of the continent she ruled over was rocky badlands. It was a bit better now than it was before the previous two rulers, under the rule of Chaos, but not by much. Princess Illandra had spent much of her time cleaning up what was left behind from him, and Magnus used his time as prince to build cities across the continent out of what was previously villages. The two just never seemed to have the time to put into fixing the landscape itself, and Green Meadow thought Illandra suffered because of it.

She knew that this was partly why she was tutored by Magnus to become his successor.he had a love of nature that was obvious to anypony. It was strong, so strong that it bordered on obsession. Of course, she was still able to take care of her duties as ruler of Illandra, but more often than not, she was wandering the continent, taking it all in.

During her reign, her main focus was on Illandra’s landscape. She set out to change much of what was badlands into something livable. She created massive campaigns to dig rivers and plant forests across the continent. Of course, she made sure to keep room for the animals that naturally lived on the continent, and took measures to bring in only non-invasive species. She studied carefully how one ecosystem might interact with the next, and made certain to set things up in a cohesive way. It was so thoughtful and intricate that, by the time Green Meadow had finished manipulating the continent’s terrain, over half of Illandra was unrecognizable.

She also made sure to make time for her citizens, visiting town after town and city after city during her reign. She had the ability to make even the shyest and most timid ponies smile, and was consistently regarded as one of the friendliest ponies in Illandra. She was also looked up to by many, being the first earth pony to be named ruler and become an alicorn, and greatly missed when she went away.

Princess Rainbow Mist:

“So how come your title is ‘princess’?” Rainbow Mist asked. “Shouldn’t it be ‘queen’?”

Princess Green Meadow laughed at that. “Well,” she explained, “while you are right that the proper title would be ‘queen’, as Prince Magnus explained it to me, we go by ‘prince’ and ‘princess’ because it sounds less authoritative,”

“But aren’t you authoritative?”.

“I prefer to let Illandra think of me as guiding hoof in their lives. My job is not to be the boss over anypony, and it won’t be your job either,”.

“I understand that, I’m just saying that ‘queen’ is technically the correct term… but I guess I can settle for ‘Princess Rainbow Mist’,”.

“Do you have any other questions before your coronation?” Princess Green Meadow asked.

Rainbow Mist started to say something, then stopped and frowned. Green Meadow raised her eyebrows in question, before Rainbow Mist asked, “Were you afraid of the future?”.

“I was at one point,” Green Meadow admitted. “For a long time. I always thought to myself, ‘what if I make the wrong decision?’. Then, I thought about Princess Illandra, and all that she had done. I realized that, in some small way, all of my decisions were really her decisions, and from what I heard, she’d never made one bad decision in her life. So, if that was true, and all her decisions lead up to my being princess, then there was no way I could mess up, and so there was no reason to be afraid,”.

“That makes me feel better,” Rainbow Mist told her.

“I knew it would,” the princess told her with a small smile. “Now I’m going to leave you to get ready. You’re going out in exactly one hour,”.

Green Meadow turned to walk out of the future ruler’s room, before Rainbow Mist called out to her. “Wait!” she said. “Do you have any last words of advice for me?”.

The princess thought for a moment, then told her, “Don’t be afraid to take action, listen to your heart, and be prepared for any challenges you might face,”. She stopped, then added, “And enjoy it. You’ll be crowning your successor before you know it,”.

Princess Dalia:

Like Rainbow Mist before her, and Green Meadow before her, and Magnus before her, and Illandra before him, Princess Dalia could feel her time coming. She didn't know exactly when, maybe in a few weeks, maybe in a few years, but she somehow knew it wouldn't be much longer before she would pass. It was simply a feeling she had, maybe a whisper in her ear. And that whisper told her that she needed to find a successor.

However, she had no idea where to start. She didn't know what she should look for in a leader. Well, she knew in general what to look for. Selflessness, confidence, leadership, things of that nature. But to her, half of the ponies in Illandra fit that description. She was concerned she might make the wrong decision. Of course, she knew for her to make the wrong decision would mean that Princess Illandra made a wrong decision, which was impossible, but still, she fretted over the task of finding her successor.

Part of the problem was that many were intimidated by the princess. While she generally stayed in and ruled from the castle Illandra built centuries ago, during the few times she did go out, she struggled to connect with her subjects. She tried to appear friendly to them, but her expression was naturally a look of seriousness. She always looked as though she was going to scold them. Even when she was feeling particularly upbeat, the best she could manage was a blank expression. When she tried to smile at them, she knew it seemed fake, like the kind of smile someone would give when they were forced to be nice to you. She also struggled to talk to her subjects, having a tendency to give them one word answers and ask serious sounding questions. She wanted them to know that she genuinely did like and care for them, but was bad at expressing it.

She'd been this way as long as she could remember. Before she became the ruler of Illandra, she spent most of her time thinking. Thinking about everything. Everything from where the world came from to how to improve it to what it would be like ten thousand years in the future. She had written pages and pages of things she thought about, and a list of things she wanted to think about in the future. Many times, when somepony saw her staring at the wall, believing she was doing nothing, she was thinking. She wanted to know why things were the way they were. She also read. She read hundreds of books a year, about anything she could get her hooves on. The most common place she could be found was in the royal library, thinking or reading. These two things, combined with her royal duties, often left little room for her to go out and speak to her subjects.

Because of these things, she had an ambassador to speak on her behalf. His name was Lightning Dust, and he was exceptional at his job. He spoke the words she told him effectively and with confidence. He often delivered her speeches for her, and went to distant parts of the continent on her behalf. Before, she had a dozen ponies help her with these things, but since he'd come around, she was able to trust it all to him. He really was impressive.

And then Princess Dalia realized: Lightning Dust could be her successor. He already knew the right things to say and should have already known how to be an effective leader. He seemed bright, and from what she could tell, he enjoyed what he was doing. She was effectively already tutoring since his job was to be her ambassador, so she figured that she might as well go the extra mile and make him get successor.

And so, that same evening, she revealed her plan to him, telling him that within a few years he'd be the new prince of Illandra. And, upon seeing how excited he looked by the news, Princess Dalia let out a rare smile.