Cadance materializes amidst a million golden droplets evenly dispersed in every direction. Before she can even make sense of her surroundings her wings automatically flare and beat a slow rhythm against the thick, soupy air, a welcome benefit of her pegasus heritage: she doesn’t have to remind herself to use them, as her lavender counterpart often does.

A fond smile spreads at the evoked memories of Twilight practicing with Rainbow Dash on the dawn of Twilight’s inauguration, and the latter’s… displeasure... with her failure to not immediately and intuitively grasp the kinesthetics of her newly acquired appendages. With any luck their little ones will be spared any such frustration, though desiring the alicorn foals are as capable and eager to flex their flight muscles as the aspiring Wonderbolt is perhaps a bit ambitious. Or foalhardy. She’s not quite sure which.

She’s glad to use her wings to stay aloft and not her horn, like her husband. Even with her Aunt’s assistance she feels depleted, even after being innervated from that extended morning session with her Shiny. Exhausted, every part of her, like she just flew to the base of the Canterhorn and then back up, her body diverting blood to her wings instead of her brain, and the only thing she can focus on is how little Twilie can’t stop snickering about how her BBBFF’s plan to get the pair off the couch and go do something backfired on him. Spectacularly, and projectile-ly.

Tiny Spike, though, absolutely loved it, and was much easier to transport down and up than the recruit already starting to bulk up, who would gamely hide his discomfort with her favored method of transit. The young mare, for Twilight’s part, vastly preferred to keep reading rather than get a ride herself. How some things change, and some things stay the same.

Around her the echoes of the golden flash fade, the steely gray of spent storm clouds blocking any view of sea or sky.

Well, that won’t do!

Still, much as she wants to buck a hole in the putrescent clouds and allow the sun’s glory to stream down on the shrouded mountain below, she ought to make sure she’s in the right spot. Or doing the right thing; there’s no telling why Luna and her cutie mark are swirling high above this area. She glides down, cautious of losing altitude too quickly and potentially careening hornlong into the mountain.

She’s, frankly, disgusted at the… spongy feel of the clouds. It wasn’t bad when she was hovering, but now that she’s pushing through? The droplets are dispersed too thinly to obstruct her, though would prove a barrier against high speed maneuvers. Sticky bits cling to her wings, itchy and gunky and not just caught between the barbs of her feathers but feeling like they are actively lodging themselves deeper. Larger bits slough off into a discernible trail behind her, if she looks closely, not that she has any desire to remind herself of what she is flying through. Ah, the repulsive nature of sour clouds, obviously not tended to in years, and she’s glad when she finally breaks free out of the base. She’ll need to preen, and soon, but that can wait.

A dazzling view greets her, the sun not yet high enough for the clouds to block her rays along the water’s surface, and only barely piercing through the bottom edge of the storm clouds. A bright reflection shimmers out on the ocean, the perfect circle broken by choppy waves. Fragments of light follow all the way to the majestic mountain; is it a golden trail to her destination? The tip of the helm-shaped mountain pierces into the storm, which has long moved past roiling and now splays out like a rancid, congealed carcass. A crime against nature! She scowls, having to tear away lest she get sidetracked spending all day fixing a dozenmare job.

At the base of that mountain a dark airship looms, with swarms of green and blue and pink hippogriffs milling about on the deck. Cadance frowns as she recognizes the unmistakable mane at the top of the parrot’s nest, a blue and purple aurora that nearly blends into the dark depths below. What could Luna be doing there? She drops down and lands next to her, but gets no reaction.

So lost in thought is the younger of the ancient alicorns that her glazed eyes glance at Cadance only as her adopted niece spits out a particularly vile bit of gunk she preened from her feathers. Another holdover from her pegasus past, and while her horn might be cleaner (and taste less foul) she prefers the more intimate experience using her mouth provides.

“Love?” Luna’s distant frown deepens as she scans the skies, half expecting her Sister to be hovering about, having somehow heard the news of her floundering under the seas. “Explain thy presence.” She turns to stare into Cadance’s light purple eyes, hard and cold meeting soft and warm. “Did my Sister send thee?”

“She did,” Cadance answers honestly, though is taken aback as Luna’s brow tightens, backpedaling with her words. “Well, she assisted with the teleportation. She did not direct me here; a map did.” She leaves out the part where Discord transported her to said map. And any mention that this might be some game of the draconequus.

“A map?” Luna inquires, her hostility fading to apathy.

“The big stone table in Twilight’s new castle,” Cadance explains. “Apparently it shows all of Equestria, and parts beyond. Our cutie marks are swirling around Mount Aris.” She glances at Luna’s cutie mark, then her own. “My cutie mark was glowing, but that’s gone.” She sighs, then chuckles. “I miss it. It… enhanced certain feelings, if you catch my drift.”

“Intriguing,” Luna replies, her countenance saying anything but, and ignores Cadance’s long wink. She glumly sinks down, rests her head on her hooves and stares at the ocean below.

Cadance takes a moment to dig out another piece of gunk, spitting it out over the edge and well away from the deck below. “Alright, now it’s your turn,” she continues, perhaps a bit impudently, though Luna doesn’t react. “What are you doing here?”

“Nothing.” Luna’s heavy sigh ruffles the thin hair on her forelegs. “Less than that. Our presence has only served to make things worse.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Cadance jests, hoping to elicit a smile. Or anything at all, really. Her own smile dims when Luna continues staring, stone-faced, and stops halfway to her wing. Preening can wait. “Can it?”

“We oversaw the rending of a people,” Luna states, the lack of emotion in her voice disconcerting. “At best, we stood idly by and watched. At worst, we art complicit, having sanctioned their schism with our lack of intervention.”

“Okay, that does sound pretty bad.” Cadance smiles all the broader. Her wings, uncomfortable as they are, fold against her sides. She lays down next to Luna; Cadance is slightly taller, but her horn isn’t as long, and the long spirals nearly touch as she rubs against her Aunt’s side. “But that’s nothing we can’t fix, right?”

Slowly, cautiously, the start of a smile peeks out from Luna’s scowl. “T’would appear my Sister managed to send two pink ponies as one, as only the bearer of Laughter could make the impossible sound so simple.”

“T’is a shame,” Cadance intones, mimicking Luna’s archaic speech with a friendly smirk, “that thou art no longer Laughter’s bearer.”

“Stay thy tongue, young whippersnapper.” With a newfound vigor, Luna raises to her hooves, her wings spreading in an imperious, commanding display. “For we do not give up our aspects so easily.”

“My apologies, oh chortling one.” Cadance dips down with a low bow, her head nearly touching the floor. “Where should we begin?”

Luna locates the golden hippogriff directing the others to various piles of supplies, as well as taking stock of where those limited supplies will be most impactful. The two leap down, gliding the short distance. He does not seem surprised at Luna’s arrival, though cocks an eyebrow at Cadance.

“Princesses,” King Aponis greets with a slight nod of his head. The two alicorns return the gesture. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Luna was telling me about your new home,” Cadance embellishes, motioning toward the helm-shaped island. The ruins at the bottom are still covered in fog, slowly burning off (if at all), the rest shrouded in shadow. “Or, perhaps I should say, your old one. Surely it will be a marvelous location!”

“Indeed!” King Aponis agrees with a hearty grin and loud, scratchy claps from his compatriots. “A wonder worthy of song, sung from the highest heights!” His enthusiasm sinks as his gaze rises. “A shame, though, that this choir will be missing so many voices.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Cadance commiserates, offering the tall hippogriff a sympathetic smile.

“Don’t be!” King Aponis counters with a booming laugh, but Cadance can tell it’s pure bravado. Many of the other hippogriffs share his swaggering stance, while others let the facade falter. “Seaquestria is a pearl among nations; if they wish to remain hidden away?” He sighs, letting the curtain slip for a brief moment. “Then that is their choice.”

Cadance hides her suspicions that the king’s act seems more for his people than himself. They would follow his example: if he shows the same optimism, the same Laughter Equestrians are called to embrace, then perhaps the separation might be endured. But they, like he, can tell the holes in their heart will not be filled by song and celebration. Not for long.

“You know,” she remarks, spreading her wings and giving a telling glance upward. “Before I ascended, I did my share of cloudbusting.” She smirks. “Well, more than my share.” Her smirk becomes a little more like a grimace. “I was one of only a hoofful of pegasi at our otherwise earth pony settlement. So whenever there was any weather work?” She resolutely taps her chest. “It fell, flew, or blew my way.”

King Aponis follows her gaze, seeming to catch her drift. “Yes, it does appear to need a whale’s worth of work. And we are certainly grateful for any assistance. Sky Beak!”

“Yes, lord?” the sapphire blue hippogriff asks as he steps forward.

“Take over distribution.” King Aponis spreads his wings, rocking back and forth with giddy anticipation. “Princess Cadance is going to demonstrate how best to clear old storms from the sky.” He offers her an exaggerated wink. “Assuming she leaves any for us at all!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far,” Cadance returns modestly. She takes to the air. “Besides, they look like runoff from the Realm of Storms, something that’ll need constant upkeep. If you’ll follow me?”

Cadance takes to the air, along with Luna, King Aponis, and half a dozen hippogriffs, including Skystar and Silverstream. The alicorn is impressed at their speed; not quite Wonderbolt quality, but certainly strong given their underwater lifestyle.

“You guys!” Silverstream exclaims, zipping past Cadance. “Clouds!” The eager pink hippogriff gasps in delight, claws at the edges of her wide smile as she takes in the entirety of their surroundings, how the clouds form a layer that seemingly stretches on forever. “I mean, we’ve all seen clouds, but to get up close and actually touch one!?” She grins, explaining to nopony, “Because, you know, the Storm King would find us. And catch us. And that would be bad.” She avoids looking at King Aponis, who has a solemn and downcast look at his former position.

Cadance can’t help but snicker at Silverstream’s enthusiasm, especially as the hippogriff draws close to the cloud. But as she does, she turns this way and that, swiping at the air.

“Hey!” Silverstream’s pout is muffled by the cloud, yet her put-out expression is clear even through the haze. “Where did the cloud go?” She motions around, surrounded by clouds, but unable to grasp any.

“That’s because it’s too thin,” Cadance instructs, staying well below the bottom edge.

“Oh,” Silverstream mutters, clearly disappointed. She frowns as she shakes a claw, then glances at her wings. “Hey! It’s all sticky!” Her face lights up as she exclaims, “Oh, I know!”

With a burst of white Silverstream transforms into a grinning seapony. She plummets immediately, as expected, though it doesn’t seem to have the desired effect.

“Ewww,” she moans in disgust, feebly slapping at her slick sides. With another burst she transforms back, sheepishly grinning as she climbs back up, her claws digging fruitlessly into her sides. “Okay, that didn’t work.”

“Good to know,” Cadance reassures with a wink, then turns to the rest. She notices how Luna, while staying distant, watches and listens far closer than she expected. “So, as our young friend-”

“-Silverstream!”

“Silverstream showed us, the clouds are too thin to be properly maneuvered.” Cadance takes a deep breath, not quite over the fatigue from teleporting. “So we need to do two things. One, we need to condense them, compress them, into something manageable. The second, which we can do at the same time as the first, is we need to mix them up. Imagine you’re churning a big vat of butter; it’ll be hard at first, but over time it’ll loosen up to something much creamier.”

“What’s butter?” Silverstream asks bluntly.

“Err,” Cadance stalls. It takes her a moment to realize that something as ubiquitous as dairy, even if it had to come from ponies, might not be present, much less prevalent, under the sea.

“A delicious compound made from milk,” King Aponis explains patiently. “We have some stored aboard, if you wish for a sample once we are finished.”

“Cool!” Silverstream exclaims. She grins at Cadance. “Oh, I can’t wait! Back home, we had fish!”

“And kelp,” Skystar adds. “And clams.”

“I’ve heard butter goes very well with fish,” Cadance says before they can list off every item under the sea. This draws a glazed look from the two youngsters. “But it’ll taste even better once we finish. To do that, we’re going to direct as much wind as we can inward.” She frowns as she looks up; normally, she would work on a single cloud that’s gone bad, not a mass this size.

But you have to work with what you’ve got.

Next Chapter: Ch. 84 - Divide and Conquer, Part Five Estimated time remaining: 18 Hours, 40 Minutes