Protocol had to be observed. Celestia and Luna extended the hospitality of Canterlot to the King of the Western Sea and his entourage, and offered them berth for the royal vessel in one of the zeppelin docks that were dotted down the side of Canterlot mountain. The crowds of shmoozing nobility and rich up-and-comers was then hastily dispersed, and the royal tet-a-tete was quickly moved into the throne room.... with only the most need-to-know ponies present for the discussion. Which in this case was Celestia, Luna, Triton, Twilight, Nyx and a handful of guards who knew that it was worth more than their jobs to flap their lips about what was discussed here.

King Triton now stood on four hooves. Those who did not know of the powers of the hippocampi would have never known him for a creature of the sea-- though perhaps the shimmer of scales on his flanks and the slightly fin-like appearance of his tail might have made them wonder. He strode into the throne room, only two of his guards at his side, still in their floating bubbles. He looked about the room... with a surprising air of awkwardness. "You've... done a few things with the old place, I see," he said, coughing a bit. "--How fares Sea Foam?" he asked suddenly.

"Quite well," Celestia said. "She is the one who did my mane like this."

"Ah," Triton said. "She always was talented in that regard. It looks lovely, may I say. Goodness, she was barely more than a filly when she left my palace for yours..."

Celestia's serene smile didn't change. "As I said before," she replied, "It has been far too long since last we met. And far longer since you last visited. You were a good friend in my sister's long absence."

"Indeed," he admitted, finally meeting her eyes. "And as I said, I would that this visit was under better circumstances." He looked sincerely unhappy.

"As much as we surmised," Luna said dryly, breaking into the conversation. "Wouldst thou care to enlighten us as to why the Western Kingdoms are raising a cry for reparations against our nation?"

King Triton jerked and looked over at the lunar princess. "Because it is the opinion of the Council that Equestria has violated the provisions of the Celestial Pact," he said.

"The Celestial Pact?" Twilight said.

Celestia sighed. "Twilight, you know that before my sister and I were born, the Unicorns raised the Sun and the Moon. Did you ever wonder who it was that did it before even they did?"

Twilight nodded, blushing a bit. It had crossed her mind.

"And what did you learn?" Celestia urged.

Twilight suddenly took on the air of a little filly being quizzed in a lecture hall, glancing aside awkwardly and shuffling one hoof. "Well, thousands of years ago, before even Equestria was founded, the Sun and Moon... well, apparently at one time, the Sun and Moon orbited our world entirely on their own. Then, something happened to disrupt that. History doesn't say what... some versions of the story state that we once had a different Moon and Sun, but lost them... and had to make new ones...." she shrugged.

Celestia nodded. "More or less. Either way, at the time there were few races or beings that could handle the job of setting them in motion. After much delegation and deliberation, A treaty was signed between the great powers to divide the oversight of the Sun and Moon, and the forces that they once controlled. The Sea Ponies were given control of the great ocean currents. the Gryphons, the jet streams, the high winds of the stratosphere. The Ki Rin, the Aurora. And the Sun and Moon, to the Unicorns.

"This was the state of affairs for millennia, the oversight of the powers being passed on when time or tragedy would take one of the signatories. Then Luna and I were born...and sort of altered things accidentally.

"Due to our... unique natures, and our bond with the Sun and Moon, The Pact had to be renegotiated. This time with ourselves as signatories rather than the entire unicorn race. That was how King Triton and I-- er, we-- met." Celestia blushed a bit at her slip and gave Triton a look.

"Just as I myself became the steward of the ocean currents and the tides," King Triton said. "...Ah, though I always follow the lead of the Moon in the latter. As a matter of professional courtesy." He gave Luna a courteous half-bow. Luna nodded, acknowledging it.

"That treaty had certain provisions," Celestia went on. "The first was that none of the signatories ever abuse that power or use it to cause harm to the other nations of the world, particularly to the kingdoms or races of its signatories."

"The first provision was broken by the Gryphons, during the Gryphon War," Luna cut in. "Celestia was then permitted by the pact to use her powers to cast an eclipse over the Gryphon Empire, forcing them to fight in darkness and breaking their will."  

"The provision was broken... at least in letter... some thousand years ago as well. Ahem. I think you can surmise how." King Triton nodded at Luna, who flushed. "The signatories let it slide; it was for little more than a day. Likewise they let it slide when Discord mucked about with things-- the unicorns could hardly be blamed for his antics, and there was some guilt over not coming to their aid when Discord rose to power. And to this day they are uncertain whether he actually made the moon and sun hop about like that or whether he simply cast an illusion to make it seem that way. Either way, he was soon brought to task... by none other than fair Celestia and Luna."

"And once again, by Twilight and her friends," Celestia added, nodding at a nearby stained glass window commemorating the event.

"Ah, yes," Triton said. "Goodness, quite an achievement. And a new alicorn-- two new alicorns... it's good to see your numbers finally multiplying." He pointed between Twilight, Nyx, and the two elder princesses. "I'm assuming the little one is yours, Luna and..." he seemed to hesitate painfully, "And the older one is....?"

Celestia blinked, and then laughed. "Oh no no no. Twilight is only my student, Triton, though she is as dear to me as if she were my daughter. She ascended fairly recently. And Nyx is her adopted daughter." She very explicitly gave no more explanation than that.

Nyx lifted her hoof and started to say something, but Twilight put a hoof over her mouth. "Ssh dear, the Princesses are talking," she said, giving Nyx a look. Nyx got the message; further explanations of her origins were not wanted right now, thank you. She closed her mouth and shut up. It was probably too long-winded to go into right now anyway.

"Oh really? So you never-- that is, um..." Triton said.

"Oh no," Celestia said, shaking her head. "I'm still not... that is... um, no special somepony, really--"

"Oh? Oh, good." Triton sounded suspiciously happy about that. "Ah, I mean-- I didn't mean to imply that... I mean not to say either of you--" he pointed to Celestia and Luna, faltering. He harrumphed. "Well, getting back to business--"

"Yes," Celestia agreed.

"Anyway. Those incidents, the signatories could brush off. But, just this year past..." he shook his head. "Without warning, without explanation, the Sun became frozen in the sky over the Western Sea. For two weeks. Two weeks!"

Nyx blinked, then it dawned on her. Of course: the world was round. While she had been making "Night Eternal" here in Equestria, she'd been making DAY eternal on the other side of the world!

"Was the damage... bad?" Twilight asked, wincing fearfully.

Triton looked at her. "Princess Twilight, do you know anything of meteorology? Fourteen days of sun didn't just make it unduly hot, or hard to sleep. It warmed the ocean. The surface temperature of the ocean waters rose several degrees over most of its surface. And when you get league upon league of unduly warm water, the air above it gets warm and humid too. Meanwhile, the perpetual nighttime made huge, deep masses of cold air. And when cold air blows from the dark side of the world and collides with the warm masses of the sun side, you get--"

"Storms," Twilight finished, closing her eyes and pulling her ears back in dismay. "Huge continuous storms. Probably in a line encircling the globe, between the day and night sides...."

"And hurricanes," King Triton added. "Huge, destructive typhoons... like a tornado hundreds of miles across that destroy everything in their wake."

"Everything?" Nyx whispered in horror. Her insides turned to water.

"Everything," Triton affirmed, looking at Celestia and Luna. "Rip up trees, flatten buildings, flood surges that drown entire islands, flood coastal cities and turn harbors to kindling, .... And there were nearly a dozen of them. One after the other, for months after the Sun and Moon resumed their courses." Nyx's eyes turned rounder and rounder with every sentence.

"It took that long, even with all my power turning the waters of the ocean over, to cool the waves to normal. Most of my kingdom lies below the surface of the ocean, but other nations on our half of the world were not so fortunate. The island of Formosa had thousands of families living on it, but after three enormous typhoons rolled over it not a single living soul is left there--"

"NO!"

The adults nearly jumped out of their shoes as Nyx's piteous scream split the air. The little alicorn staggered forward blindly on unfeeling legs, horror and anguish falling over her like a black curtain. Villages, cities, harbors, Thousands and thousands of ponies, dead, because of her, Nonononono---

She toppled off the dais and fell over onto her side on the floor, her quaking hooves tucked up to her belly as her eyes stared sightlessly into nothing.

She woke up... she didn't know how much later. The darkness slowly melted away, and she found herself cradled in her mother's forehooves. Twilight was rocking her and nuzzling her and crooning that everything was okay, everything was okay... But nothing was okay, she'd messed up the Moon and the Sun, she'd set loose storms, she'd killed all those people...

Somepony was shouting. It sounded like Luna? "... Clotpole!  Maggot-pie! Jolt-head! Dunce! Fie on thee, thou chowder faced loon! Wast thou born an addlepate, thou oceangoing get of a drunken fishmonger?"

Nyx suddenly wanted a dictionary. She was pretty sure some of those words were naughty.

Nyx opened her eyes and peeked out of her mother's embrace. It was Princess Luna all right. She was bellowing at the top of the Royal Canterlot Voice right in King Triton's face. He looked absolutely chastened, and a little bit intimidated too. "Canst thou not check thy tongue ere thou let it fall out of thy head?" Luna yelled. "Thou didst make the poor child believe she'd slain thousands unawares!"

"Gads, I didn't--- wait, what?" Triton went from chastened to bewildered. "How...?" He collected himself. "How the deuce could a little filly be responsible for all that destruction..."

Tears gushed from Nyx's face. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed. Twilight rocked her harder.

"TRI-ton...!" Celestia said, exasperated, facehoofing. "THINK before you speak!"

"I would if someone would explain enough for me to think about!" Triton yelled, a little exasperated himself. He stared hard at the filly in question. Guilt, shame, grief, all etched in the streaks of tears down her face.The tiny thing was shaking from the strength of her emotions.

The filly wailed into her mother's neck. "I killed them, I killed them all--"

One could see the moment he realized, the dawning realization spreading across his face; it really was true. Somehow the hysterical filly was connected to the wayward sun. He then realized what the sobbing filly had thought happened to Formosa. "Oh dear Maker, my blundering tongue..."

"Oh, no, no, child," he said, kneeling down to bring his face closer to Nyx. "You misunderstood. Nopony was killed on Formosa."

"But-- y-you said there was nopony left alive--"

Triton blew out a breath in chagrin. "I meant that nopony lives there any more, because the buildings were all squashed," he said. "The Formosans are selkies... they look like monkeys on land but turn into seals when they go into the water. They just all swam off the island when they saw the storm coming. Not a one of them was harmed."

"Really?" Nyx said weakly.

"I give you my word," King Triton said.

"...Pinkie Promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," King Triton said, going through the motions with a smile. At the other's astonished looks, he merely shrugged. "Word gets around."

Most of the tension left Nyx's body the moment the pinkie oath was made. "I'm still sorry," she said. "I'm so sorry." She fought back another batch of tears and sniffed mightily. "I-- I broke the world--!"

"No," Triton sighed. "But you did ding it up quite a bit." He raised up on his forehooves and looked at the Princesses. "Now, could somepony please explain to me how a filly barely bigger than my hoof is responsible for the hijacking of the Sun and Moon?"

The three mares present looked at each other and sighed. Celestia settled down on her throne cushion. "That, dear Triton," she said, "Is a long story."

It was a tale long in the telling indeed. A half hour of talking later, the king of the Western Sea was left all but speechless. "Unbelievable," he said. "I cannot believe all this happened in such a little space."

"I guess you don't get the Trans Equestria Chronicle out in Atlantis,"  Twilight said in amusement. The king gave her a puzzled look. Twilight laughed. "That's an even longer story, your Majesty. One involving lost legacies, ancient tombs, earth pony magic, giant dragons and the Crystal Empire."

Triton started. "The Crystal Empire has returned?"

The princesses laughed at him. "You really do need to stay in touch more," Celestia chided.

Triton glanced at Nyx, who was huddled under her mother's wing. "This does make a strange addition to the pot, doesn't it?" he said ruefully. "I find it almost inconceivable, I can only imagine what the other members of the Council will have to say."

"I promise I'll tell them it was my fault," Nyx said humbly.

"That is very honest of you, Nyx." He got to his hooves and started pacing. "Though I don't see how it makes any difference in the long run. For you, or for your kingdom."

Nyx looked up at her mother, worried. "What does he mean?"

Twilight in turn looked to her mentor, frowning. "Yes, what does he mean?"

"He means that it matters little who was on the throne when the skies... went out of control," Celestia said. "A ruler is the embodiment of her nation. As such, her actions are counted against not just her, but against her country."

"Which is why the Council, and the nations of the Western Sea, will assemble here," Triton said. "The nations of the Western Sea, to submit their petitions demanding penalties, reparations, or both, to be levied against Equestria... and the Council, to determine what course of action to take against the entities responsible."

Nyx's mouth dropped open in shock. "You mean all of Equestria is going to be punished for what I did?" Her voice was the very essence of childish upset. "That's not fair!!"

Twilight Sparkle was no less shocked. "You can't be serious!"

Triton cocked a regal eyebrow at her. "Completely. What," he said, his voice rich with droll amusement, "do you think that the signatories of the Council are just going to show up, give the guilty party a spanking, and then be on their way?"

Nyx made a discomfited noise and scootched her rump further back under her mother's wing, safely out of harm's way. Twilight resisted the urge to snort in amusement. "Wait; they're coming here? All of them?"

"Yes, all of them,"  Triton said. "They should start arriving sometime tomorrow, as scheduled."

"Oh no," Nyx whimpered, burying her face in her forehooves. "I broke the world, and I broke Equestria!"

Twilight put got to her feet and put Nyx on her back. "I think that's more than enough excitement for her for one day," she said, nesting the distraught filly between her wings.

"Go on, Twilight," Celestia said sympathetically. "I'm sure we will have this sorted out soon enough." Twilight gave them all a shallow curtsy and turned to go.

"Allow me to accompany you, Twilight Sparkle," Luna said suddenly. "I... feel a need for some rest from these affairs, myself."

"Of course, Luna," Twilight said. The two departed the throne room side by side.

Once they had departed, Celestia glanced at Triton out of the corner of her eye. "So they arrive tomorrow," she said. Triton made a noncommittal sound. "How... interesting that you arrived a full day ahead of them."

"Well," the amphibious alicorn said. "Circumstances. Our thrones are scattered about the world, after all. Just coincidence that I arrived early."

"Early enough to let us know of what the Council intends," Celestia noted. "To give us time to prepare."

"....Maybe." Triton hedged.

"And perhaps... to smooth things over between us? Assuage any hurt feelings that might arise from you being the bearer of bad news?"

"...Somewhat." He dipped his head a bit. "And... to apologize for falling out of touch... for so long." Celestia's heart fluttered. That flutter faded fast at his next words. "--After all, our nations should strive to maintain cordial relations," he added hastily.

"Yes," she said. "....Cordial." She stood and turned to regard the stained glass windows, hiding her disappointment. "Well. In the spirit of... cordiality... what will the kingdom of Atlantis seek from us?"

"Though we do have a few islands to our name, my own kingdom is almost entirely beneath the waves," Triton said. "We suffered little damage or injury, nothing we could not quickly mend. But not all of us were so fortunate. The reason we did not come sooner was because we spent much of the last year rebuilding; rebuilding and arguing over how much to demand.

"As the head of the Council, and leader among the nations of the Western Sea, I would be expected to place the weight of my vote with the best interests of all those so enjoined. And many are calling for... quite punitive measures. Some may even demand that the Sun and Moon be wrested away from you and your sister."

Celestia chuckled ruefully. "They may find it more complicated a proposition than they imagine," she said. "Luna and I are not mere caretakers, as the unicorn ancients were. We are bonded to the Sun and Moon, on an intimate level. In the end I could not wrest away control of the Moon from Luna, even in her madness; I was forced to banish her into the moon and control it from without. We could no more "hand over" those two heavenly bodies than we could split them into pieces and share them around."

"There are those on the Council who would not be deterred by that," Triton warned.  "The Gryphons, in particular, may see it as an opportunity for payback for the humiliation of the Gryphon wars. And there are others... I fear that many of them are going to demand their pound of flesh." He tried to let an politely aloof expression fall across his face. "I fear I must remain somewhat impassive, in the name of my kingdom."

Celestia sighed, a sound full of melancholy, weary patience with the impatient and demanding world, and no little pining for the apparently oblivious stallion in front of her. "As it may be," she said. "Come, let me escort you to your guest chambers. May you and your entourage make yourselves at home, while you are here."

Twilight and Luna had barely made it down the hall when they were accosted by five rather fretful looking mares. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie, still in their finery, surrounded her and clamored for explanations about what happened.

"What was that awful row out in the courtyard all about?" Rarity said, tossing her mane.

"Yeah, grievances and petitions and reparations and all that junk," Rainbow Dash said. "I thought we came here and got all fru-frued up to welcome some foreign dignitary, not to listen to some, some fish-butt jerk throw a list of complaints in the Princesses' faces!"

"Yeah, that King Triton feller sure seems to have a chip on his shoulder," Applejack said.

"We're not... going to war, are we?" Fluttershy whispered, frightened.

"No, no, of course not!" Twilight said. Fluttershy, she noted, wasn't the only one to sigh in relief. "But I'm afraid King Triton and the kingdom of Atlantis have some grievances against Equestria, and so do several others. And they're going to demand some sort of compensation." She looked over her shoulder at her daughter, who was hunched up in a ball on her back. "It seems Nightmare Moon's return had further reaching consequences than we realized." She gave the girls a quick condensed version of what King Triton had told them.

"My word," Rarity said faintly at the description of what Nyx's reign over the sun had caused.

"Wow!" Pinkie Pie said. "And I thought the Cutie Mark Crusaders caused a lot of damage when they blew up Applejack's barn!"

" 'Cutie Mark Crusaders Industrial Chemists,' my eye," Applejack muttered. She was never gonna find another insurance company after that last payoff.

"Please, girls," Twilight said. "I think Nyx has had enough for one day."

"Ooo. Sorry, punkin," Applejack said, giving Nyx a pat. "Didn't mean to rub salt in the wound."

"It's okay," Nyx mumbled. It certainly didn't sound it.

"We would appreciate it if you five made yourselves available at the palace as much as possible for the nonce," Luna said. "The palace will provide ready transport from Ponyville. It will aid our cause before these other Principalities to have the best and brightest of our land on display before them."

"Sure, no problem, Princess Luna," Rainbow Dash said. The others agreed readily.

Rarity actually clapped her hooves in glee. "ooh, this gives me an opportunity to put some of my newest dress designs on display-- before royalty no less," she said. "Oooh, I hope I have enough outfits for the week.." she nibbled at a hoof worriedly.

"And we certainly wouldn't want to leave you and Nyx alone to face this," Fluttershy said. The others nodded readily.

Twilight gave her friends a nuzzle. "Thank you, girls," she said. "This means a lot to me. I've got to go now; after today I think Nyx and I need to retreat to our quarters and batten down the hatches for a while." The others smiled in understanding and let her go her way.

Once they had shut the door of the observatory behind them, Twilight sagged with relief. Nyx made no move to leave her side. Immediately four white mares and a small purple dragon set upon them, cosseting and inquiring what was wrong. "Please, girls, Spike," Twilight said. "It's been a rough day..." once again she gave a brief breakdown of the disaster.

"Wow," Spike said. "And I thought the Cutie Mark Crusaders took the cake when they flooded the Ponyville Salon trying to get surfing Cutie Marks." Nyx tried to glower at him but couldn't muster the enthusiasm.

The Quartet gasped and clucked in sympathy. They'd heard most of it through the castle staff grapevine, but having it confirmed was dreadful. Not so say they'd been idle.

"I've set out blankets and stacks of your favorite books by the couch," Spike said.

"I've got a fire going," Snowcap said. "It's going to be chilly tonight."

"And there are trays with yours and Nyx's favorite comfort foods," Cherry Blossom said. "List 127 A, section 12. Heavy on the chocolates."

"And daffodil sandwiches and celery soup," Sea Foam said. Nyx smiled for the first time in hours as Sea Foam hustled her over to the sofa.

"Thank you, girls," Twilight said sincerely. "Thank you, Spike." She looked back and saw Luna lingering at the doorway. "Is... something wrong Luna?"

Luna looked surprisingly vulnerable. Twilight hadn't seen her looking that way since her very first Nightmare Night. "Mayhap..." Luna started. Stopped, and started again. "Could I perhaps... stay here with Nyx and thee? For a while?"

Twilight got an inkling of what might be bothering her. "Of course, Luna," she said. "If you'll excuse me..." She trotted off to the bathroom, leaving Luna and Nyx alone.

Once she was alone in the bathroom, Twilight let the rest of her mask slip. She regarded herself in the mirror. Her eyes had bags under them, and her mane was frayed around the edges. She looked haggard. Not until today had this particular harrowing truth about life as a princess sunk home: She was being judged. Always, being judged. Every mistake she made, any mistake she made, could not only be used against her, but against the entire land of Equestria. Every single pony could suffer, if she, Twilight Sparkle, made a single mistake.

Twilight rested her head on the cool rim of the sink. How could she do this? How could she keep up a facade of perfection forever without turning into a hollow shell?  Answer: she couldn't.

Why had this fate landed on her shoulders?

She took care of her brief toilette, and got ready to go back downstairs. There'd better be a ton of things smothered in chocolate down there waiting for her.