Sunlight, Moonlight, Love, and Friendship

Ideally, they would leave just shortly after Midnight, halfway through the winter season and after all the worse storms had already passed.

Naturally they got caught in a blizzard two days into the journey.

“Weather teams are going to be a pain to organize.” Big Heart muttered as she listened to the rasping din outside the igloo they’d constructed. Igloos were a lot more comfortable than tents were, she was glad Cadence knew about them and how to make one with magic. Big Heart wished that Tight Ship had more talent in a wider variety of magic so he could’ve learned it too, but other than small survival spells he just couldn’t wrap his horn around anything that wasn’t navigation based.

By her counting Tight Ship and Quick Fix should have reached Neighagra Falls by then and were either aboard their ship or still awaiting pick up. She hoped they were alright.

But yes, weather teams were going to be complicated. Big Heart barely understood cloud sculpting, let alone fine weather management. Getting a storm cloud to follow her brother around was half unicorn magic, not something she could do for a long period of time or large scale. They’d need pegasi who were actually trained in weather management, and who knew how many of those there were.

Weather management, agriculture, trade, infrastructure, settlement, so many issues standing between Big Heart and Equestria’s Restoration. She didn’t even know where to start! And ponies from all those aspects were going to be arguing about which ones were more important than the others.

Not to mention law keeping, mail relays, a military or at least militia in case other countries weren’t keen on Equestria getting back on her hooves!

In the interest of distracting herself before she panicked and went galloping into the blizzard, Big Heart looked at her travelling companions.

Cadence, she really needed to get back into the habit of calling her princess before they met other ponies and offended somepony, was sleeping fitfully. She called out in her sleep depressingly often, normally for Shining Armor. Big Heart didn’t know how to help with that, other than using her magic to wrap the blanket tighter around her withers and whisper words of comfort.

Trotter was leaning against her side, sleeping much more peacefully. Thank Sun for small favors. If he’d been awake and seen her momentary panic he would have tried comforting her, and she was unfortunately fully aware that there was really nothing he could say that would make the fear less.

They were almost out of the Winter Region at least, they were almost beneath Cloudsdale, if the map was accurate. Big Heart allowed herself a selfish moment in which she wished Trotter had wings so they could all visit it, but the moment soon passed.

Someday, she promised herself, she would visit the cloud city.

The blizzard finally ended late the next day, and they wasted little time in trotting further south. With the thick sheet of clouds gone, Big Heart was able to see Cloudsdale in all its ancient glory above.

There were no rainbow waterfalls anymore, which made it pretty disappointing. She’d never seen a rainbow in real life before but she’d heard they were beautiful to see. The colors on the picture books sure seemed to think so at any rate.

Nopony lived in Cloudsdale, but it was a common resting spot for pegasi. Food didn’t grow there and no pony liked making regular trips back to the earth for every little thing, so the city was mostly abandoned.

But only mostly.

“Did you see that?” Trotter gasped and gestured a warmly padded hoof up at the clouds.

“I did.” Big Heart didn’t move her eyes away from that spot, hoping the blur would pass by again. In a few seconds it did so, a white pegasus moving beyond cloud cover just long enough for them to be sure that’s what it really was.

Two pegasi, actually. Both of them were solid white, though perhaps their mane and tails were a softer shade of gray, and they appeared to be playing a chasing game. She’d never seen any pegasi move that fast before!

This brought up an interesting dilemma. Did they approach the two pegasi? Did they walk past and pretend they didn’t see them? What was the right move to make here?

Both Cadence and Trotter were looking to her, expecting Big Heart to tell them what to do. Just once, she wished one of them would come up with a suggestion instead.

The pegasi were going lower, abandoning the clouds completely as they settled for a simple race, but it didn’t appear as though her group had been noticed yet. That would change in a moment though.

It looked like her decision had been made for her.

“Excuse me!” She cried, trying to get their attention as they zoomed overhead.

It must’ve taken a moment for what she said to register, because a few seconds later both mares braked in the middle of the sky and looked around in confusion.

“Trotter, Cadence, you two stay here for a minute.” Big Heart ordered them, taking wing.

“Hello there!” She called again, causing both mares to turn.

“Hiya!” Said Mare one.

“Howdy!” Said Mare two.

And then they both saw the horn on her head.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” They squealed together and began circling her in a whirlwind of feathers. “A princess!”

This was a new reaction, but so far she liked it better than bowing and scraping. Big Heart smiled nervously and, with a burst of her wings, led both mares in a steep dive back to earth where she landed easily next to her companions.

“Another princess!” Mare one, or maybe two, she’d lost track when they were circling her, gasped.

Cadence, predictably, attempted to make herself smaller and only succeeded in drawing more attention her way. At least Trotter seemed amused.

“Whoa, this is, like,” Said Mare one.

“A head rush, right?” Mare two continued.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s weird, isn’t it?” Mare one spoke again.

“Like, nopony expects to meet two princesses!” Mare two finished.

“Expected or not,” Big Heart cut in, afraid this might continue forever if she didn’t nip it in the bud now. “You see we stand before you, real as day.” Or Night, really, but that was just semantics.

“I am Big Heart, this is my brother Trotter and my friend, Princess Cadence.” She introduced them all.

“Oh, right, intro!” Mare one giggled. “I’m White Streak.”

“Yeah, and I’m her twin, White Blur!” Mare two guffawed. “This is so awesome, your highness!”

“Isn’t it, like, highnesses?” White Streak frowned in confusion.

“Do I look like a dictionary to you?” White Blur shrugged. “But who cares? They’re princesses!”

Big Heart could see this getting very annoying, very quickly.

“White Streak, White Blur,” She called to get their attention. Was there any way to tell them apart? She subtly tried to look at their destiny marks.

Streak had a horizontal lightning bolt, Blur had a vertical lightning bolt.

“Are you two travelling alone or with a group?” She asked, curious to know if there was a herd of pegasi nearby. It’d probably be a good idea to practice her negotiating technique with a smaller herd before she met with the Cake herd.

“Just us, we don’t hook up much with others.” Streak answered.

“Just like, every other week or so.” Blur contradicted with an exaggerated eye roll. “We get on each other’s nerves if it’s just the two of us too long.”

“Yeah, right!” Streak snorted. “You just can’t handle how much better I am than you!”

“Puh-lease!” Blur openly laughed. “I was leading that race the whole time and you knew it!”

“Streak, Blur!” Big Heart snapped, drawing two pairs of identical pink eyes her way. “You’re both very remarkable athletes, I’ve never seen anypony else fly like you two, can we please move on?”

“Aw, shucks!” Blur blushed. “You’re a pretty high flier yourself, Princess!”

“Yeah, that dive of yours was timed perfectly!” Streak agreed.

“Thank you for the compliment.” She accepted gracefully.

Well, now what?

Here were two ponies who now knew she existed, what now? They weren’t part of a larger group, so she was pretty much at a loss on what to do now.

Thankfully, Streak and Blur soon took it out of her hooves in their usual one-mind-two-bodies sort of way.

“Say, you’re on some sorta secret mission, aren’t ya?” Streak gasped in delight.

“Oooh, I’ll bet it’s really dangerous!” Blur babbled excitedly.

“Can we come?” They asked at once.

Big Heart blinked and turned to look at her companions. Trotter was rolling on the grass laughing, it was pretty obvious that he wanted them to come along. Cadence was impossible to read, she’d probably go along with whatever Big Heart suggested.

Five ponies was better than three, right?

“If you two are sure you want to.” She sighed. “This is a pretty important mission though.” She made sure they were paying attention.

“We are travelling to the location of the Cake herd in order to negotiate with them for the betterment and eventual restoration of Equestria.” She informed them, thrusting her chest out and trying to stand as tall as she physically could.

“Nice.” Both mares nodded appreciatively. “We’re in!”

Two more travelling companions acquired, the group continued their march, turning their bearings towards the distant Ponyville.

The week that followed, while blessedly warmer, proved to be an exercise in patience for all of them. Streak and Blur were unaccustomed to travelling slower than a brisk flight, while Big Heart and the rest had to learn how to more or less tune out the twins’ constant verbal back and forth.

But overall the group got along well together. Streak and Blur, though a bit abrasive, had their hearts in the right place. They enjoyed playing with Trotter, listened earnestly to Big Heart’s stories, and thankfully seemed to sense that Cadence was best dealt with gently.

They also had a game where they would chase each other’s tails in a tight circle until they became one white ring, before breaking apart suddenly and challenging the rest of the group to guess which mare was Streak and which was Blur.

Big Heart had the highest score so far.

But the most irritating part of the journey definitely had to be when Trotter convinced Streak and Blur that she apparently needed bodyguards, and they took to the idea like fish to water.

She really wanted to know how he’d done it, because she hadn’t been able to replicate it to convince them to leave her alone. She’d tried pointing out that she was an alicorn and alicorns could turn armies to stone (Theoretically) but they’d retorted that even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had royal guards at all times. She’d tried saying that there was nothing really dangerous out here but they started talking about stables of all things, almost word for word what she’d told Trotter so long ago. She’d even tried racing them to see if they were fast enough to keep up, just because she’d never seen a pegasus move at those speeds didn’t mean she couldn’t, but they’d kept up.

Everywhere she went, she had bodyguards. Cadence thought it was funny and Trotter just looked smug, teasing her in bovine whenever she got too aggravated by it.

Big Heart had to concede defeat after day four, she honestly couldn’t think of a way to make them stooooop!

For now she was working under the hope that Streak and Blur would get bored of bodyguard detail and move back to trying to outdo each other in aerial stunts.

The moon was moving steadily towards the western horizon, though still weeks from dawn, when they arrived at the border of Ponyville.

There was a clearly marked border to get their attention, a helpfully erected signpost that said You are now entering Cake Herd territory, please wait for a representative at the next Rest Station.

“Rest station?” Trotter quirked his head.

Big Heart looked up, following the helpful arrows leading to a small gazebo by the side of the road. It looked like a very nice, picturesque place.

“We don’t want to offend anypony, so we may as well sit down for a while.” She led them to the gazebo and built up a fire in the fire pit to provide a bit more warmth. The nights were warmer here, but still too chilly for her liking, and it felt good to set down her saddlebags and just rest.

“How long do you reckon it’ll take before somepony checks this place?” Streak asked her sister.

“Who knows? Could be hours!” Blur seemed genuinely distressed by the idea.

“Maybe we could, you know, fly ahead a bit? Just to see if they’re coming?” Streak suggested.

“No!” Two heads snapped around to look at her.

“I know waiting patiently isn’t easy,” She carefully ignored how comfortable Cadence had already made herself. “But we really don’t want to offend anypony. This is an important meeting and we want to make a good impression.”

“Ugh, fine!” Blur groaned. “But they’d better not take too long!”

“Yeah, there’s no food here!” Trotter butted in, having inspected the entire structure for some kind of food stash.

“Our rations are still holding.” Big Heart reminded him. “We have enough for another few cycles and we’ll forage a bit tomorrow if nopony comes to see us by then.”

“But I’m tired of rations!” The colt grumbled. He was a lot less picky about his food when he thought there was plenty of it, she remembered.

“I’m sure it won’t take them long.” Cadence tried to reassure him.

Big Heart wondered why, with all the previously helpful signs, there wasn’t one that stated how often patrols went through here. It would’ve been extremely useful.

“For now, everypony should try to get some sleep.” She urged them. “We’ll want to be well-rested for tomorrow.”

Big Heart swore she’d only closed her eyes for a few minutes when a scout group found them. The shocked gasps and questions were what woke her, and she hoped none of them would hold it against her that her first instinct was to flap her wings so hard she broke through the roof of the gazebo in her haste to reach open sky, younger brother held in a magical grip.

So, in a situation where she has been discovered by noisy strangers her first instinct is to grab her brother and gain altitude, it was always good to know which way a pony would jump when threatened.

Probably not fair to her other companions, but Cadence was an alicorn princess and Streak and Blur were in the air only half a second after her, so she figured they could take care of themselves.

“Highness, please forgive us for startling you.” One of the strange ponies, the leader of the scout group she guessed, bowed and apologized. “We weren’t expecting to see two princesses here!”

Big Heart blinked away the last of the sleep from her eyes before settling down on the ground and putting Trotter down next to her. There were five ponies in the scout group. Two earth ponies, two pegasi, and a unicorn. The leader was a pegasus, seafoam green with a midnight blue mane streaked with black and a destiny mark depicting a falling star encircled by a strange spiral.

Streak and Blur took positions on either side of her and Princess Cadence came up from behind. The five companions now faced the five newcomers.

“I understand it must’ve been surprising.” She smiled nervously. “I’m sorry about the way I reacted, I—“ She paused before offering to fix it. She’d never used a repair spell on something so big and wasn’t confident that she could do a good job.

“No, think nothing of it.” The pegasus leader shook his head quickly. “We should have announced ourselves better.”

“Okay, are we done apologizing to each other now? Can we move on to the fun part, please?” The other pegasus, bold white except for her exuberant yellow mane and tail. Her destiny mark looked like a colorful explosion of some kind, a demolitions expert?

“Surprise, when we agreed to let you come with us you Pinkie Promised to behave in a suitable manner as a representative of the Cake Herd.” The leader facehoofed.

“I am!” The mare, Surprise, frowned in confusion. “I’m representing that the Cake Herd is the most funnest and friendliest Herd in all of Equestria!”

The other ponies in the herd all facehoofed, but none of them continued trying to scold her.

As amusing as this was, Big Heart figured she should probably do or say something before Streak or Blur got impatient and tried instigating something.

“Excuse me, sir pegasus,” She paused until his attention was back on her. “Allow me to introduce myself and my friends,”

“I am Big Heart, this is my brother Trotter, my friend and mentor Princess Cadence, and my—“ She inwardly grumbled but pushed through, “Bodyguards, White Streak and White Blur.”

“We’ve come a long way, hoping to receive an audience with the herd leader of the Cake Herd.” She finished and tried to keep her wings from fidgeting so much.

“Princess Big Heart,” The pegasus stallion bowed again. “It is an honor and a privilege.”

“I am Steady Wings, this is Surprise,” He gestured towards the other pegasus. “The unicorn is Crystal Cake, the earth pony stallion is Rum Cake, and the mare is Apple Toffee.”

“We’re one of the scout groups that regularly patrols this area, and if you’ll follow us, we’ll lead you to Ponyville.” He offered.

“Thank you, we really appreciate how helpful you all are.” She smiled a little more sincerely this time.

“Crystal and Rum, you two sit tight here, we’ll send a few more your way to complete the patrol.” He ordered his subordinates. The unicorn and earth pony nodded and sat on the steps of the gazebo.

“Your Highnesses, right this way.” Steady Wings began trotting down the path.

“Whoa, this is all so,” Streak grinned to her sister.

“Wicked, I know! Like, we’re traveling with a bunch of VIPs or some such!” Blur agreed. Big Heart had yet to see them really disagree on anything, except when they were arguing about who was better at this or that trick.

“They always like this?” Steady Wings asked subtly.

“You get used to it.” She lied through her teeth.

“Ah,” She thought he might’ve been able to see past the (flimsy) lie. “I see.”

“This is so exciting!” If not for the slightly higher pitch she would have mistaken the voice for one of the twins, but Surprise’s eager bouncing (Literal bouncing) told her the truth. “I mean, we hardly ever get new ponies in town, except when foals are born but you have to be so responsible with them, it can’t just be playtime all the time because you have to feed them, change them, make sure they take naps, don’t let them put stuff that isn’t food in their mouths,” She continued extoling on the rigors of foal-sitting.

“Surprise,” One word from her superior made the torrent cease.

“Losing battle, Steady.” Apple Toffee, a reddish-brown all over, save for the caramel mane and tail, shook her head. “Ah love my cousin, ah do, but she’d drive a saint to drink. If ya make her stop it up it’ll just come pouring out in a huge explosion later on, best to just get it outta the way now.”

“She wanted to be a patrol pony, she’s going to act like a patrol pony.” He ground his teeth together.

“I don’t want to be a patrol pony.” Surprise’s honestly perplexed expression called them all to a halt. “I just wanted to come with you today.”

“Why?” The stallion demanded, looking as though this was a personal betrayal. As if his loving mother and father had forsaken him for a few spare bits and a length of twine.

“Pinkie Sense!” She beamed brightly. “My Pinkie Sense told me that a doozy would happen today so I was so excited and I wanted to see it! And boy is it a doozy, two princesses, I mean that’s just amazing!”

“What is a Pinkie Sense?” Trotter asked. Toffee and Steady acted more like he'd asked them where foals came from instead of a perfectly understandable query.

“Well, little colt,” Big Heart blinked. Suddenly her brother was riding on the back of the white pegasus, looking as confused as she was, as the energetic mare spoke with an uncharacteristic seriousness.

“A Pinkie Sense dates back to the Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie, who’s also my great-granddam!” She smiled proudly. “It was a special gift she had that told her about stuff before it would actually happen, like stuff falling from the sky or something else unexpected!”

“She was the first pony to have it, but then my granddam got it too, then my mom, and now I have it! And it told me you were coming today!” She frowned for a second. “Well, actually my barrel trembled, my withers shook, and my hooves itched, which told me that there would be a doozy today, but that’s pretty much the same thing!”

“I don’t get it.” Trotter looked helplessly at her. Big Heart had no reassurances to give. None of the stories she knew about the elements mentioned a Pinkie Sense.

"So, what’s a Pinkie Promise?” She asked, carefully reclaiming her brother and placing him on her own back. She didn’t like the way Surprise kept jumping around with Trotter on her back.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Surprisingly, this nonsensical rhyme came from the previously so sensible stallion Steady Wings, though he did say it with a long-suffering groan.

“It is the greatest oath anypony can give,” He explained. “Some sort of magic ritual created by Pinkie Pie, I don’t pretend to understand it. All I know is, I’ve seen three ponies who ever dared break it, and they regretted that mistake for the rest of their very short lives.”

At this point, Big Heart was sure they were playing some kind of trick on her.

“Breaking a promise is the fastest way to lose a friend forever.” Cadence nodded knowingly, making the betrayal complete.

“Foreveeerrrrr….”

“What the hay was that?” Streak reared up, scanning the horizon back-to-back with her sister in search of the source of the echo.

“That’s just the echo of Great-Granddam Pinkie Pie!” Surprise informed them cheerfully.

The Element of Laughter was some sort of witch, that was the only explanation. Strangely, the thought calmed her. She’d always been a little confused by the stories about Pinkie Pie and at least now she knew why.

“You guys are weird.” Trotter denounced them all.

Ponyville was bigger than Dodge Junction, a lot bigger. Big Heart thought there had to be more ponies here than in the Strong Heart’s tribe and Dodge Junction twice over, and she was only just entering the town limits.

Ponies gasped and muttered to each other as they walked past, falling to their knees in their haste to bow and staring with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Big Heart wasn’t able to keep a smile on her face, as such, but she at least tried not to look too intimidating.

Word had spread by the time they reached the center of town, the Herd Leader and another pony were standing in a position of authority before the steps of a huge crystal palace.

She’d heard stories of this place, but it had always been referred to as the Tree of Knowledge. She hadn’t known it was made of crystal.

“It is an honor to act as hosts,” Now that she looked closer she realized the leadership was divided by two ponies, a stallion and a mare, both earth ponies. “To Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of Love, and her friends.”

This was going about like they’d thought it would. Big Heart was an unknown, but Cadence was famous, a legend, ponies were going to look to her for leadership, at least at first.

“Thank you for your warm welcome,” Cadence stepped lightly forward, matched step for step by Big Heart. “But I am not the leader of this band of friends, I came here at the behest of my friend and fellow princess, Big Heart.”

Big Heart took one more step forward, paused for a brief moment, and bowed her head to the leaders of the Cake herd.

“Please,” She took a deep breath and prayed. “I am Big Heart, Friend of the Apple Buffalos, and I am here to try,”

Sun and Moon, there were more ponies here than she’d ever dreamed existed.

“To try to gain your hoof in friendship, to help ponies who do not have anyone to help them, to re-establish Equestria as the nation it once was!” She spoke clearly, enunciating each word. She spoke not to the leaders, she spoke to them all.

“Since the Fall of Sun and Moon ponies have splintered in all directions, the bonds of friendship torn and frayed.” She forced her wings to be flare out wide, when they wanted to cramp at her sides and make herself small.

“I have seen this!” She told them empathically. “I have seen ponies dying of thirst and famine. I have seen ponies abandoning their foals. I have seen our fellow equines and bovines turning on one another for food. I have seen the great cost this anarchy demands we pay,”

“And I say we need no longer pay it!” She took a breath.

“I’ve come here with my friends beside me to ask for an alliance, the first step of many to reunite Equestria and provide a better life for all ponies, donkeys, buffalo, and other sentient beings who dwell within her borders.”

“I will not demand your loyalty, nor your friendship.” She continued, softer. “I ask for it, I plead for it, but in the end the decision is yours. Ponyville is a stable community, a rich one, I don’t see any signs of hunger or coldness here.”

That was the crux of the matter, wasn’t it? The Cake Herd didn’t need them like Dodge Junction, perpetually on the verge of starvation or destruction, did. They didn’t need the hope an alicorn could provide. She was the one who needed them, and she let them know it.

Was that the way a princess should have acted? Maybe, or maybe not, but she didn’t have a lot of good role models.

“I never thought I’d see the day.” The stallion leader stepped down from the steps, followed closely by his female cohort, they stopped right in front of her.

“Princess Heart, we trust in your words.” The female leader said. “And your friendship would honor us.”

For a moment, Big Heart thought she was at the center of a stampede. The thunderous applause made the earth shake, and she felt it deep in her bones as every mare, stallion, and foal whinnied and stamped their hooves in celebration.

Big Heart folded her wings and followed the leaders inside.