I woke to the view of a cloth sheet illuminated by light. Warm coats pressed in on both sides. I lifted my head up, confused as to where I was.

The pony to my right was a familiar white unicorn with pink mane. The pony to my left was a green and yellow mare who I vaguely recalled was named “Summer Glow”. My heart started beating quickly as I realized she was pressing herself into my side.

Something about the way she lay gave me a feeling of want that I’d never felt before. And I wasn’t sure that I liked it.

I pulled myself from the mare’s embrace as gently as I could, my efforts hampered by a headache that still kept my magic at bay. As I stood up, I realized we were not the only ponies here, there were at least 10 in total, all sprawled out in the large space. That’s when I recognized where we were. This was the cart I had laid Tia in when we fled Ùllahdmaiden. Somepony had set up a pole in the middle of the cart and had thrown a cloth sheet over the top, forming a crude tent.

I stepped over Tia to the back of the cart to open the flap of cloth that served as the entrance and poked my head out.

I shivered.

The camp had been covered in another foot of snow. I could see the breath of Ponies who had already woken up, going about their business keeping the camp alive. A few seemed to have organized themselves into foraging parties. However, what little I saw them carrying seemed meager at best. I pulled myself back into the cart and glanced around. I didn’t remember where I had put my armor, and it looked like any cloaks we had were already plundered for something else.

I cursed quietly to myself as I jumped from the back of the cart into the frigid air, taking care to keep the flap closed to trap the heat inside. A trail had already been stomped into the snow throughout the camp, but I trotted in place to keep my temperature up since I didn’t have a cloak.

“Do we have any more cloaks?” I asked a few times as I wandered, trying to find anything I could use or do to keep warm. A few ponies had the foresight to loot their own homes as the Mayor started putting everypony in the carts, bringing what blankets and cloaks they could. But nothing they brought was thick enough for another Winter.

I wanted to get two, one for myself and one for Tia. But with my sister still asleep that would just mean depriving another pony of something to keep warm. So I made do with a ratty cloak that had been otherwise destined for use as a cleaning rag. It helped, but I wasn’t going to rely on it.

Eventually I passed by a covered cart that had the distinct armor of Appleflower piled in a heap outside. An aura of despair hung over the covered cart, made evident as Ponies refused to get any closer than they had to. I stood outside and listened for the telltale sounds of a sleeping pony inside the makeshift tent.

Nothing.

“Appleflower? Are you in there? It’s Luna.” I called out, noticing out of the corner of my eye a particularly bent grieve in the pile of the giant Pony’s armor.

“G’ away.” replied the voice of Appleflower, uncharacteristically quiet and subdued.

“May I come in?” I asked.

“No.”

“Oh… Well…” I trailed off, not expecting such a response. “Do you need anything? I could-”

“Leave me be.” The sound of a giant pony shifting in the cart signaled the end of the conversation.

“Oh. Um…” I tried to think of something to say. “If you need anything, you just need to ask… I can’t promise I’ll be the one to answer though…”

The giant pony said nothing.

Sighing to myself, I turned away from the fallen giant’s covered cart and continued looking for a way to be useful.

By now, most of the camp was awake. Some tried to give out what little food had been found, mainly roasted acorns that had been found under a tree where the snow was only a slight dusting. But most of the ponies were stuck in a stupor from the last two days.

Just like Appleflower I supposed.

I found myself becoming increasingly irritated, many of the ponies were content to sit in the snow and do nothing, their eyes hollow and dark with what they had witnessed. I empathized with them, truly I did… But now wasn’t the time to give up. Every moment everypony wasn’t doing something useful, was another moment closer we all came to starvation.

How could they just give up? Don’t they see how much we needed everypony?

And that’s what irked me.

If the Mayor were here, she would’ve organized everypony. If the Mayor was here we could have work groups focus on tasks. If the Mayor-

If the Mayor were here.

Something clicked in my head.

The Mayor wasn’t here, the consensus was she had died fighting so the rest of us could escape.

The memory of the Queensford Unicorns voting for Reeve as we encountered Ùllahdmaiden, all those years ago, swam in my vision.

I knew what I had to do.

“Ponies!” I suddenly shouted, surprising even myself. “Head to the center of camp for a village meeting!” Ponies jumped in surprise and I shouted, practically in their ears. “Come on! Get up!” I urged, pushing a few ponies to their hooves. “I’m calling a village meeting! Go on!” I started to chant, walking through the camp in a zig zag pattern to get as many ponies as I could find to move.

“Luna!” Master Brickwork exclaimed, suddenly at my side. “Why are ye shouting?”

“Gah!” I jumped, not expecting him to be there at all. “Oh, Master, it’s only you…” I sighed, clutching my chest.

“Ye don’t need ta call me ‘Master’ anymore Luna.” Brickwork admonished. “Yer apprenticeship ended the second ye left the village as far as I’m concerned. But why are ye yelling and stirring up a storm?” he asked.

“Ma- Brickwork.” I corrected myself. “Look at all the Ponies. Most of them aren’t doing anything. They’re dazed, they’re confused, and they’re without direction.” I pointed out. “If the Mayor was here, she could organize us all. But she isn’t.” I stressed. “So I’m using my right to call a village meeting in the center of camp to call for a vote.” I explained. Brickwork looked confused for a moment, but that moment was shattered as an understanding smile bloomed on his face.

“Ye never did let the metal cool while ye needed it hot didn’t you?” he grinned. The stallion then turned away and began to shout. “Village meeting! Center of camp! Up and attem!” he started to exclaim.

I smiled as I turned away from the area he was heading.

“I’m calling for a meeting! Village meeting! Center of camp!” I started to shout again.

I saw a few other ponies chanting the same message. Ironplate and Flametch were amongst them.

It was good to know they both had lived.

Finally, ponies had all disappeared from the edges of the camp, all congregating in the center. Satisfied that I had gathered almost all of the villagers, I joined the crowd. Pushing my way to a cart that had been uncovered for use as a raised podium.

Tia’s concerned face came out of the sea of ponies near the empty cart.

“Lu!” she called. “You’re the one calling this? Is there anything wrong? Do we need to fortify again?”

“No Tia, nothing like that.” I reassured her. “Let me address everypony.”

Tia bit her lip in thought, but stood aside for me to climb into the cart.

As I fully stood up in the cart, I realized I hadn’t thought this far ahead.

The crowd fell silent as they realized I was taking the stage, quietly watching.

The urge to step back down and hide reared its head, but I pushed it down and cleared my throat.

“Um… Hi! Ponies!” I called out awkwardly.

Somepony in the back coughed.

Oh how did I get here? Why was I the one who chose to handle this mess? How was I going to do this?

“I suppose you’re all wondering why I called the meeting…” I began, trying to continue addressing them all like it was a conversation. “Well… I…” I sighed, abandoning that train of thought.

“The truth is… The truth is Mayor Treesong isn’t here.” I began. “Since I woke up this morning, only a very small number of us have been addressing our food problem.” I called out, finally catching onto a thread I could follow.

“I see many of you ponies, sitting in the snow, doing nothing. Grieving over the Ponies we left behind.”

“What?! Are you saying we can’t mourn our loved ones?!” called a mare in the middle of the crowd.

The crowd began to clamber in agreement.

“What? No!” I called out, trying to regain my momentum. “Grieve! Please grieve! But there are living ponies in the here and now that don’t need to be grieved over!”

The crowd fell silent at my words.

“What little food we had was stolen by the Crown! The snow has returned! We have no food and we cannot grow food!” I called out, feeling myself starting on a worthwhile tangent.

“We can’t afford moping around and feeling sorry for ourselves!” I continued. “We need to organize! We need work groups! We have to pull together! We need to elect a new Mayor to lead us!”

“What? Are you saying you should be Mayor?!” a stallion called out.

“Me? Absolutely not. I’m barely holding it together up here.” I awkwardly chuckled. A few laughed with me, but most seemed to be thinking about what I had said.

“... So… Who?” Another mare called out.

“You make your own decision.” I replied. “But I for one, am nominating Tia.” I called out, trying to make my nomination clear.

“Of course you’d vote for her! She’s your sister!” a pony called out.

“Damn Unicorns! Invade us and try to elect themselves Mayor!”

“She probably lead the Unicorns right to us!”

“What?! No no no!” I called out, trying to calm the crowd back down.

“I vote for Celestia!” boomed the voice of a familiar giant.

The crowd turned as one towards the overwhelming voice.

Appleflower stood at the very edge of the crowd, a few ponies helping her limp forward. True to the rumors, her back left leg was totally gone from the hock down.

The mare limped forward on her three remaining legs, pushing aside the crowd with her sheer presence.

“Celestia has been by the Mayor’s side since she came to our village!” she announced. “Celestia has been the Mayor’s go-to mare for running Ùllahdmaiden for years! If I were to trust anypony, it would be Celestia!”

“Tia was the one who knew how to cast the dome! Earth knows how many of us would still be here without her!” A voice called.

“Wings! Celestia had wings like the Alicorns of old when she surged! I’d swear on my mother’s life!”

“Didn’t any of you hear what she said during the attack? She literally screamed ‘You shall not touch them’!”

Suddenly hooves were going up, each casting their vote for Tia. I watched as almost the whole crowd rose their hooves with increasingly widening eyes. Even if anypony nominated anypony else, the winner was clear.

Tia climbed onto the cart and stood next to me.

“Do- Do you all feel this way?” she asked nervously. “I- I’m not the most experienced, and I wasn't born in the village… Do you really-?”

“Mayor Celestia! Mayor Celestia! Mayor Celestia!” the crowd began to chant.

I watched as tears began to well in Tia’s eyes. She looked over to me as she noticed my attention.

“Never a doubt in my mind… Mayor Celestia.” I grinned. That seemed to push her over the edge.

“I- I-” she stammered. She wept for a few seconds, overcome with emotion. “I- I promise…” She sniffed one last time, regathering herself. “I promise I will watch over every single one of you.” she promised, looking out over the crowd, addressing them directly. “I will do my absolute best to make sure you never regret putting your confidence in me.”

The crowd cheered, happy with their choice of Mayor.

In a land without light... The Sun began to rise.

Also, gay autistic horse noises.