King Aponis slowly rises, twisting to take in the grandeur of the royal chamber. He offers his wife a broad, unfaltering smile - hers is clipped and short-lived - before continuing his relaxed scan of the seaponies beginning to surround him. Those following are not some giggling entourage, nor any sort of armed guard, but a crowd of curious onlookers; many exchange hurried whispers as they form a rough sphere around the returning king, an impromptu stadium that doesn’t block anypony’s view.

Princess Luna finds herself drifting to the edge alongside Princess Skystar, the two guards, and a host of other seaponies. She doesn’t mind losing the spotlight, as this isn’t her stage, yet keeps a careful watch. Her surprise comes not when the king breaks off and swims in her direction - she expects some recognition, being a Princess - but when he greets the guard next to her.

“Ocean Flow!” King Aponis clasps her pink fins with his own, a warm smile the guard returns. He glances down at two approaching seaponies, both on the cusp of adulthood: the white colt remains shy and deferential behind a messy curl of teal mane while the pink filly can hardly sit still, her excited attention split between the king and the outsider. “These must be yours!”

“Terramar and Silverstream,” Ocean Flow replies with a slight but friendly nod, enough to remind her king that she is technically on duty. Her smile widens as her husband, Sky Beak, joins her, his blue coat complementing her gold.

“Yes, very good,” King Aponis says, again giving a friendly nod. He turns to Luna, raising his fins, and she automatically raises her hoof to meet his. “Luna.” He clasps her hoof, again a short nod as warm as his fins. “Welcome.”

“Thank you,” Princess Luna returns, somewhat stunned as the king continues along to the other guard, greeting Sea Breeze as fondly as Ocean Flow, and then the next seapony. She expected him to use at least one of her honorifics, or to thank her for playing a part in releasing his people from the Storm King. Not to move on so quickly! Granted, there are many others, but still! She huffs, but to herself, her mask concealing her brief scowl.

Silverstream seems ready to burst, barely kept in line by the firm hold of her sire, a dozen questions dancing on her tongue. She doesn’t get the chance to ask them; once the murmurs and whispers die down, and everypony goes still, drifting in place, King Aponis returns to the center of the sphere of seaponies, having greeted more than a dozen of his subjects.

“It is good to be back!” he exclaims, booming voice easily carrying through the water.

A cheer erupts from the crowd, loose and spirited, a much different character of celebration than the thundering hoof stomps of the ponies. After a few seconds of whooping and hollering the king raises his fins and they reluctantly quiet down.

“It gladdens my heart to see so many familiar faces,” King Aponis continues. He spins around, seemingly locking eyes with everypony. “And so many new ones! The seas have truly been kind.”

Again the chamber echoes with cheers. Luna finds herself and Princess Skystar dragged by Silverstream, then enveloped by the rest of the seapony’s family in a tight embrace; many families follow suit, hugging not only themselves but their neighbors. Only Queen Novo sits alone, her hard stare never leaving her husband.

“But I come,” King Aponis states like a dam on Hearth’s Warming, drinking in the faces hungry for whatever it is he conceals and enjoying the suspense. “Bearing not only good news of my return. Not only victory over the Storm King and his forces!” He raises his voice again, above the ensuing murmurs, quieting the chamber down with pure presence. “But of our return to Mount Aris!”

Luna frowns as loud ‘Hurrahs!’ fill her ears. Victory? Perhaps in the abstract, in the failure of the Storm King to obtain the Skysea Pearl, to eradicate or subjugate the seaponies, and in his concession of Mount Aris to the hippogriffs. She notes a similar frown on Queen Novo.

“And for that purpose, I bring more than my own, not-inconsiderable strength.” He grins, flexing a fin, drawing a few bemused chuckles and one over-wrought shriek of ecstasy. “But an entire dreadnaught full of supplies, ready to go!”

If there was surprise before, now everypony turns to their neighbors, excited chatter filling the chamber. In the chaos, King Aponis swims to Queen Novo, rising above the throne.

“My Queen,” he supplicates, bowing his head as he reaches down, his smile just as wide as always.

Luna notices the symbolism, how he would lift her off her shell throne to a place above the waves. And yet the queen’s cold stare immobilizes him, her fins remaining firmly locked across her lap.

“What did it cost?” Queen Novo demands, her words barely audible above the clamor of the crowd.

King Aponis seems stunned by the question, his smile faltering for the first time. “My love,” he endeavors, still holding out a fin for her to take. “Let us not dwell on the past, but celebrate the future! For now is a time of rejoicing!”

Around them, the clamor has died down. Many of the seaponies, curious and cautious as to the delay, have returned to their spherical arrangement.

“What did it cost,” Queen Novo repeats, louder this time. Worried glances flit back and forth among the crowd. She takes his deep breath as license to continue. “Or do you deny selling out your people to that riptide!?”

In an instant the excitement pervading the crowd dissipates to a dead silence. Eyes lock onto the royal couple, dreading his response. Others turn to Sky Beak, the known renegade, and his colt, whose mane shares the Storm King’s teal.

“Selling out?” King Aponis exclaims, astonished. “Selling out? I gave my life for Seaquestria! A worthy sacrifice, if the Storm King had taken it! For how many fell on those shores? Hmm?”

He spins, waiting for a response. For his last stand had paid off, buying enough time for the others to transform and slip into the seas. And while many nod along, or offer contrite bows, many more stiffen at the reminder of the hated enemy who drove them from their cliffs in the first place.

“Shores that you now wish for us to return to,” Queen Novo spits out accusingly when no others speak.

“Precisely!” King Aponis swims in wide circles, regarding each seapony closely, so they can see his candor. “I have seen firstfin how the Storm King treats those he admires, those who display qualities he respects.”

“Y-you worked for him?” Princess Skystar ventures, tentative. “All the stories…”

King Aponis bows his head contritely. “Yes, my daughter,” he confides, yet loud enough for all to hear. “The stories are true: how I worked my way up, from a lowly sailor to a captain of the Storm King’s armada. And yet I never forgot my home; every time I looked down on these waters, every time I thought I saw a glimmer of a fin, or a crest peeking above the waves, I thought of you. It tore my heart to be apart.”

“And yet you didn’t return,” Queen Novo condemns, many of the crowd beginning to drift lower and away from the king. “How many times could you have leapt overboard, abandoned our oppressors and rejoined your people?”

Shame fills King Aponis’ countenance. “I could not,” he starts, faltering. “I could not break my word, for I swore to serve at Raikou’s behest, as long as it did not betray my people.” A flash of anger crosses his face. “And what would have been accomplished should I have forsworn myself?”

“You remark on how many new faces there are?” Queen Novo motions to those around her. “You should have been there for them! But what do I know? Oh, that’s right. I’m the Queen! Did you rally your people during times of crisis, when the schools departed and we had to search near and far for sustenance? No!”

She rises from her throne, furious.

“And what good did it do for you to stay? Did you lead a revolution against his oppression? No! What happened?” She thrusts a hoof toward Luna, and it just as easily could have been a spear. “You bode your time! You took part in their persecution, gleefully, until the Storm King gambited against Equestria. And now you ride in their wake, proclaiming their victory as your own!”

King Aponis rises further, equally incensed. A good portion of the seaponies rise with him, including Sky Beak. Others sink down, joining the Queen, Ocean Flow among them. The two gaze at each other, longing, both thinking the other followed when they split. Terramar and Silverstream remain with Luna, conflicted, unable to choose between their parents. Many of the other seaponies mirror them.

“Should I not take advantage, when one swims in front of me?” King Aponis laughs, short and derisive. “Or should I keep my gaze firmly fixed behind me?”

“You would side with our oppressors!” Queen Novo accuses. “You would rather shackle yourself to his glove, hunt at his command and eat from his fist! Did you forget your hood, or do you not need one?”

“Says the one who would keep her people locked below the waves!” King Aponis returns just as bitterly. “We are not only seaponies, but also hippogriffs!”

“For their safety!” Queen Novo jabs a hoof upward. “If you want to return to that King you so foolishly trust, then do so! But do not think that I will be suckered in, a young fry who follows the current wherever it goes.”

Princess Luna feels a certain dread, twisting in her gut. She wants to step in, to say something. But what could she say? What defense could she give, of the Storm King, or of King Aponis, or of Queen Novo, or even of her own actions? She can see the battle lines being drawn, those who support the king rising while those who wish to remain, or perhaps those who do not trust the capricious Storm King, sinking. And those in the middle grow ever thinner.

“Come, Skystar,” Queen Novo orders when she sees her daughter rising. She glares at a lack of immediate response. “Or do you want to be grounded?”

“Yes!” Princess Skystar plaintively cries out, startling her mother. “Yes, I want to be grounded! I’m tired of staying here, hiding away! Even if I get captured, even if I perish, I want to be free! Why can’t you see that? Being above the surface is in my name!”

Queen Novo takes a long, hard look at Skystar. “Then you are no daughter of mine,” she declares coldly. Her voice raises, reaching everycreature. “And any who wish to leave, may they never again call Seaquestria home.”

“Mother,” Princess Skystar pleads, swimming closer. She gasps as Ocean Flow intercedes between them, spear raised.

“Begone,” Queen Novo orders. She waves her hoof, dismissing the seapony.

Skystar’s mouth clenches shut, eyes shimmering, her whole body shaking with sorrow, then rage. She unleashes an exasperated scream as she bolts away, passing her father, and disappearing into the reaches above.

Queen Novo does not look surprised when the other guard, Sea Breeze, offers up her ceremonial spear. She snatches it away, glaring, as the former guard joins the increasing number of seaponies gathering above.

“Surely there is a better way,” Princess Luna implores, swimming to the center.

“And what way is that? Living together in harmony?” Queen Novo scoffs. “We could never live with one who refuses to ask forgiveness for their misdeeds, or to even acknowledge that wrongs have occurred.”

“And neither could we live with those who would never allow us to be free.” King Aponis turns to Princess Luna. “So I ask you, Princess. If you could have walked away, and avoided your fate with your Sister. Would you?”

“We…”

Words die in the younger alicorn’s throat. Her Sister, her dearest Celestia. Who would - and had - waited a thousand years for her. Who would - and had - bowed her grieving head when she so selfishly demanded her obedience, if that is what it would take to keep them together. Who would do anything for her.

Luna bows her head. “If there is fault, it is mine alone. We would take any course rather than raise hoof or horn against her.”

King Aponis draws in a deep breath as the surrounding seaponies go silent.

“Well,” he states forthrightly, the sound echoing in the still water. “There you have it.” He turns to the throne. “My Queen.” He offers her a curt nod. “May we meet again, when waters still.”

The Queen of the Seaponies stares past him, impassive, the only motion her ceremonial spear tapping against her side, a metronome counting the seconds until he is out of her presence.

In silence, with a mourning fit for any funeral, King Aponis swims upward. Nearly half of the seaponies follow him, including Sky Beak and Silverstream. Ocean Flow watches, holding onto Terramar, using him for support as much as he is using her. Finally, despondency overcomes her, and she hurriedly swims away, her son in tow. The other seaponies follow, and soon enough the entire chamber is empty save for Queen Novo and Princess Luna.

“The folly of alicorns,” Queen Novo utters, before she too leaves Princess Luna. Alone.

Next Chapter: Ch. 81 - Divide and Conquer, Part Two Estimated time remaining: 19 Hours, 11 Minutes