The day passed in a slow torpor leading up to the first real blow that could even halfway be called a blizzard, the winds picking up with a real bite of winter from the north. The snow the night before had been a gentle, barely there thing of wet flakes that had already started melting as soon as they’d fallen.

She sat on a north-facing balcony on the second story of the villa, ready to retreat into the warmth and security of Petal’s favorite weather-viewing room with two big bay windows on either side of the door, with pillows on each, waiting for ponies to come and watch the winter pass.

Both of them sat with her, and Dazzle on her other side, the stallion leaning into her and she leaning back as they all kept each other warm.

“The foals are going to be disappointed.”

Rosewater sipped her warm tea, watching the roiling bank of gray still far north of Damme as it rolled down the foothills, eating away at the brown and gray with a blanket of darkness. She tried not to equate it to their current situation.

“They got to catch the first snowflakes of the year on their tongues already,” Rosewater said with a smile that didn’t feel the least bit forced. Remembering the young foals, and even some of the teenagers, running around the open field between the villa and the village proper, catching as many snowflakes as they could, and making a mess of their legs and underbellies as they trampled through the cold mud from the day’s earlier rain. It had taken the entire rest of the night to get them all through the public bathhouse on the village grounds. “I think the parents won’t be disappointed.”

Seed laughed and Dazzle nibbled at her jaw, chuckling.

“That… I need to talk to all of you.” Rosewater spread a silence over the balcony, anchoring it and spreading it over the floor as well. “About escorts for when Collar and I declare for each other.”

Dazzle didn’t even stiffen as he leaned against her. “I wish I could be a witness.”

“You can! In fact, I want you to be there to witness the initial declaration, Dazzle. Stars, you’ve been such a help to me.” Rosewater’s heart fell a moment later. “I… understand why you might not—”

“Don’t.” Dazzle bit her neck lightly. “Stars, I love you, but I know you loved… I know…” He grunted and hunched his shoulders.

“It’s hard,” Seed said into the awkward silence. “You’ve been working through your jealousy, Dazzle, in a healthy way. Express it to her. Let her respond to it.”

Rosewater swallowed.

“I want to be a father of your children, Rosewater. But I know… from what you’ve told us of your vows, that won’t happen.” His ears flattened to his skull. “I know that. It’s hard for me to love you, and for as short a time as I have, and not hope for more.”

Petal reached out with a spell to cup his chin. “You’ve spoken as much to me, love. I wish, too, that the political machinations that have Rosewater trapped did not require her to sacrifice so much of her upbringing. But this may not always be the way things are. The future holds many mysteries.”

“You have heard his concerns, Rosewater,” Seed said. “I know you can’t assuage them as you would like, but what do you say?”

“I love you, Dazzle,” Rosewater said softly, meeting his eyes and leaning in to kiss him lightly. “I love everything you’ve done for me, helped me rediscover myself, steadied me in my times of fear and need, and I feel like I’ve been leading you along, knowing what I must do for my ponies, for our ponies.”

“No, no,” Dazzle said, leaning into her, nuzzling her cheek and neck. “No, never think that. I knew, and I let myself hope anyway. You have never lied to me about what you wanted to do, Rosewater, what you needed to do.”

“This isn’t your fault,” Petal said, speaking up before Rosewater could find the words and the will to keep herself from breaking into a sob. “This is none of your faults. You love each other, and that must be enough for hearts in your positions.”

Rosewater had known this would be hard. She knew it would be a difficult talk to have, and she’d put it off. “I love you, Dazzle.” She took a breath. “And I need to ask you, all of you, and the garden, to help me.”

She’d thought about how to word what she needed to tell them, what her ultimate purpose was. Victory over Roseate, victory over circumstances, ending the war… none of them were quite right. They weren’t her reasons for wanting to be with Collar. They were reasons why she had to do things a certain way, why she had to abandon such a large part of her heritage.

Not abandon my history. Embrace a new way. ‘Dammer in style, Merrier in scope.’ She loved Collar and Cloudy and Rosemary. She could find her life-long love there and in the children they would have. She loved Dazzle, too, and perhaps they wouldn’t have to be apart forever.

Or you’ll grow apart, just as you and Roseling did.

That hurt. She’d let so many friends grow apart, so many lovers slip away because she’d given in to Roseate’s pressure.

I’m not going to let that happen again.

“I want to be your friend still,” Rosewater told him, kissing his cheek. “But after tonight, I’m not sure we can be lovers again.”

“I don’t care about being lovers,” Dazzle said, leaning against her. “I just want you in my life. We all want you in our lives, Rosewater, for the joy you bring all of us.” He paused a beat, smiled, and nuzzled her neck. “I’ll miss it, yes, but I understand why you have to. Dammer in style.”

“Merrier in scope,” Seed finished, frowning. “It’s not at all Merrier.”

“And it’s not at all Dammer,” Petal added. “But they won’t be without love, won’t be constrained socially, only constrained sexually.” Petal bobbed her head. “We’ll always be here, even if we can’t have any more Rose Nights or game nights…”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Rosewater said softly, chuckling. “I would only have to make sure that my spouses are there with me. And enough witnesses to say we didn’t partake of other lovers.”

“Maybe,” Dazzle said, chuckling, his eyes not bright, but not grieving either. “The important thing is you’re staying, Rosewater. You’re not leaving.”

“I’m not. Not ever again. And I need your help to make sure that I can make sure Roseate doesn’t have the power to force me to.” Rosewater straightened, meeting each of her friends’ gazes in turn. “This is for love, not for politics. Not solely for politics. I love Collar, and I wish him to be the father of my first child. He has agreed, and when I go to the Treaty office next, I need two of you to go with me.”

“I’ll go,” Dazzle said before Petal or Seed could say anything. “It would be a pleasure to be the witness for your first declaration.”

“I’ll go,” Petal said. “I have… some things I need to ask the office anyway about trade and tariffs. It will stand as a good foil for all of us going there.”

Rosewater cocked her head, thinking. “Sending money to the legal fund for those farmers? There were problems with sending it directly?”

“Just so. It seems that constitutes too much of a problem simply gifting the money to them, tax-wise.” Petal shrugged one shoulder. “I need to ask about setting up a legal trust that can provide funds for their defense.”

“I’m sorry it’s such a mess. I should have thought about what would happen to those farmers.”

“It was my decision to buy the land, not yours.” Petal relaxed more, leaning against Seed. “Thank you for telling us, Rosewater. We will make it right. Nopony should have their marriage questioned just because they moved across the river.”

“Who has Collar chosen for his witnesses?” Dazzle asked after another moment, watching the snow as it began to cross the Merrie, not a hundred yards away. “Should we move inside?”

Rosewater added a physical barrier to the sound barrier, feeling the drain immediately. The wind was picking up, and the warmth was being sucked away even through the magical field.

She pursed her lips. Collar could hold off the blizzard and let them watch it from its heart. Maybe one day they could do just that.

“We should. I can’t hold it at bay for more than a few minutes.” Rosewater turned her eyes to the palace hidden in the distance. She should be there. Instead, she was here, with a new mane style she hoped to surprise Collar with on the night of the Gala, even if he might guess at it since her mane and tail both were a few inches shorter.

“Soon, love,” Dazzle said softly, his voice achingly compassionate. “I know.”

“I know. Come in.” She followed Petal and Seed inside, and waited for Dazzle, then kissed him on the lips firmly.

It lingered, warming her heart and soul, sparking a fire in her belly that she didn’t quash immediately. This, she could still do. This was safe and allowed in the strictures of what she was about to undergo. She wasn’t going to be cut off from her loves, only from partaking of the pleasures that were considered normal in Merrie for friends.

“Thank you for everything,” she whispered when they broke apart.

The blizzard, full of fat, wet flakes rather than the dry, whipping powder that would come around once the chill settled in. They were wet enough that it could be considered ‘rain’ by the time most of the flakes hit the still-warm paving stones outside the bay window in the largely unused sitting room in Collar’s private quarters.

Beside him, Cloudy sat, watching the snow fall with the same kind of distant expression he imagined was on his face.

On his other side, Rosemary shivered and glanced over her shoulder. Expecting, he didn’t doubt, that her guard would come looking for her. Or somepony would.

“I want you here,” Collar said softly, “because things are going to change, and you’re going to be central to many of those changes.”

Rosemary nodded slowly, her jaw set. “I know. Thank you for taking me out of my cell. It’s good to see another room.” Her tail flicked back and forth. “Can I stay here tonight?”

Collar mulled that over, then nodded slowly. “I wouldn’t be averse to it, so long as we wake up early and get you back. It should be quiet with the storm tonight.”

It would be interesting sleeping arrangements, since his bed was designed for only two adult-sized ponies, but they could fit. Rosemary was on the small side for a pony, and Cloudy wasn’t too much taller or larger than she was. The bed frame had been his grandparents’, and they had been both as tall as Lace and Collar.

“It will be nice to have another of the ponies I love close,” Collar said, his eyes scanning the storm as the night grew closer, white flakes shading gray, gray sky shading black. “I can hardly wait until they’re all here.”

“Soon,” Rosemary murmured, leaning up to kiss his cheek, then dropping back as he followed her kiss to meet her lips. Kissing her was… delightful. Different from kissing either Cloudy or Rosewater, each of whom had their own delights in store when lips met. Rosemary’s lips always seemed to be moist, and he’d had ample opportunity since he had made the leap to knowing he loved her to explore that feeling.

But never further. Not yet.

Even the thought of what was to come in their relationship made him ache to let go of his restraint, to stop resisting the heat in his loins.

He parted from the kiss and drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly to cross his horn with hers, forehead to forehead.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you.”

Cloudy’s lips on his neck drew him to the other side, and his lips found hers without a pause, reveling in the difference, her more expert use of tongue and lip drawing him in quickly and driving up his arder. Rosemary leaned against him, her teeth drawing electricity down his neck and he gave up trying to resist the feeling in his loins.

“Excited,” Cloudy murmured as she broke away, her eyes falling to look down at his cock swelling even against the cold radiating off the outer stone wall and window. “I want to make love to you, Collar.”

Rosemary, to his surprise, nodded. “Make love to her.” She sat up straighter and set a hoof on the sill. “And if I may… may I help?” Her coat shivered, her ears flattening as she said it, the fire in her eyes unmistakable. She wanted to make love to him, too, he saw.

“Not you?”

Rosemary's back arched as if he was already mounting her, thrusting into her. “Stars, I want it, but not yet. I want my first time to be with all of you. Also… I don’t have enough time to make a contraceptive active.”

Fertile. Collar’s cock jumped again, straining as the idea hit him and his attention tried to fly across the river to Rosewater. Will she be fertile now? Will she smell different?

“Soon, Collar,” Cloudy murmured, standing and dancing away from the window, her tail flirting as she drew his gaze away from Rosemary. “Soon, she will be fertile, soon, she’ll have your child growing in her, and soon…”

Rosemary shuddered to her hooves, her tail lashing side to side, almost curling over her back. Even Collar could smell her arousal, the warm wetness of the scent making him desire her even more.

“When she is, when she’s laying with us with the scent of her pregnancy thick in this room,” Rosemary whispered, her nuzzling his hindquarters and ducking her head to lick his balls and cup them with her tongue briefly. “Then I want you.”

Collar squeaked and raised a hind leg, his cock fully erect now and only slightly drooping as she turned and planted kisses along it, her breath heated as she left cold patches behind where her wet tongue lathed his bare skin. “S-stars, Rosemary.”

“Too much?” She asked, rising to kiss him.

Before he could answer, Cloudy slipped along his other side, nipping his neck and rearing up to rest her forelegs and barrel against the bed, her tail flagged to the side in a curl, exposing the dark flesh between her buttocks, winking open to reveal flushed pink shining in the dim light.

“No, but two…” He reared up to clutch Cloudy’s flanks with his forelegs. This was familiar. They’d made love like this more times than he could count, made love on the bed both laying down, slow and passionate, quick and urgent just before a bath, and they’d more than once taken tastes of each other in a quickie before starting their day with an extra kick in their step.

Rosemary ducked her head underneath him, her shoulder rubbing against his erection as she plied her tongue against Cloudy’s lips, drawing groans and murmuring pleadings for more.

But this. Two mares teasing him and each other. Stars.

“Tell me if you want me to stop,” Rosemary whispered in his ear as she came up. “I’m going to use your image to masturbate.”

“S-stars,” Collar grunted, surging forward and wincing as his erection thumped against her left buttock, making her giggle and shift, guiding him. “Really?”

In answer, she sucked in a deep breath and breathed out, drawing the mist out of the air and into a copy of him behind her, mirroring his posture over Cloudy, his duplicate’s cock erect, dripping. The only difference with the drips of his duplicate was that they returned to the form of the illusion as they fell. He thrust forward, and his duplicate followed him.

Rosemary’s eyes gleamed with lust as she watched him, and raised a hind leg to rest on the bed, pulling herself open and letting him see a little more as his own cock filled her, spreading her open further. “Rut us both, Collar,” she whispered. “And watch.”

Cloudy made a low noise in her throat, almost a growl. “Rut me, Collar.”

He slipped deeper into Cloudy, heat surrounding him, his hind legs numbing as pleasure coursed through him, his eyes locked onto the stallion and mare beside him as their movements were copied, almost perfectly, as Rosemary’s spell followed her direction, her eyes half-lidded, her mouth parted slightly as her breathing grew more heated.

It was fascinating watching himself make love to another mare, even if it wasn’t really him, but… Stars. He adjusted his stance, watching his double do the same, watching Rosemary’s eyebrows rise… just before he slipped all the way into Cloudy, dipping his hips to thrust up into his shorter mate more directly.

Rosemary let out a cry echoed by Cloudy as the mirror image copied his motion and thrust into her, his sheath almost resting against her lips. He leaned over to nip her side and get a closer look, daring as much as he did to feel her in the throes of passion. She met his ears with a nibble, kissing his cheek while he watched.

“You have a lovely cock,” Rosemary purred in his ear. She twitched as his cock did and his balls tightened further. “It’s beautiful to watch, isn’t it?”

Cloudy’s hoarse laugh trilled. “He’s flaring, Rosemary.”

The mare shivered. “Show me,” she breathed into Collar’s ear. “Show me how beautiful you are, Collar.”

Only a bit of his flesh left out in the open, his sack swaying forward, tightening. The feeling of surreality was replaced by a matching tightness as his cock flared, dragging at Cloudy’s insides as he drew out of her entirely. It would be more difficult to enter her, but he was curious, too.

He edged back, and his duplicate copied him while Rosemary settled her chin on his neck, watching as he slipped out of Cloudy.

“Beautiful,” she whispered, shivering.

The flat head of his cock greeted him briefly until the image updated itself to match the flared, thick head of his cock, the ridges perfect to what he knew he looked like. Precum drooled out from his tip, pattering to the floor and more dripping from Cloudy’s entrance.

“Get back in me, Collar,” Cloudy growled. “Finish in me. S’cold.”

“Collar…” Rosemary laughed softly, her voice deeper, more languid, excited. Warm magic surrounded his head, compressing his head until he was able to slip inside again without coming right away. Then the spell left…

And Cloudy’s heat exploded around him.

He gasped, thrusting again, dipping his hips and making Cloudy cry out, his forelegs feeling numb as the blood rushed and pleasure flooded his mind, electric crackles along his spine as he felt his cock thicken again.

His mirror’s balls scrunched up, and he watched with a fascinated desire as his seed visibly thickened the bottom of his erection, pulsing in time with his slow thrusting into Cloudy.

Rosemary and Cloudy met on the bed, kissing and nuzzling each other as both Collars came.

Rather than slipping free of Rosemary, the other Collar nibbled her neck… then dissolved into white mist, leaving Rosemary’s coat speckled with droplets like sweat.

Collar did slip out of Cloudy, the patter of come on the bare stone at the base of their bed audible in the silence broken only by their labored, joined breathing. It was then that he realized the pattering wasn’t only his come and Cloudy’s, but Rosemary’s dripping out of her with more liquidity. The cock had vanished while inside of her, and she was continuing to pleasure herself with a spell, massaging her clitories and biting the bed, tail lashing.

“Help her, Collar,” Cloudy murmured, her hind legs shifting as she pushed herself around to watch. “Use…”

Collar dropped, his cock dripping along the edge of rug and stone, and nuzzled Rosemary’s flank. “Let me, love,” he whispered.

The spell left wordlessly, and he ducked his head to lap slowly at her sex, closing his eyes to savor the salty-sweet taste of her, then slipping inside her, his tongue curling against the roof of her vaginal canal, sliding deeper until he was kissing her slowly, passionately, his chin rubbing against the winking nub of her clitoris.

“More,” Rosemary whimpered, pressing a hind leg against his shoulder, then sliding it over and opening herself more, as if she expected him to dive into her. “More, Collar, more.”

Her voice was rising as he rubbed his chin against her, flexing his tongue into her.

When she came, he felt it, heard it, and tasted it.

“Collar!” Rosemary’s voice rose in a cry that ascended to a wordless groan as Cloudy made another moaning sound, her voice suspiciously close. Her nose touched his cheek, and he raised his head to find Rosemary had dipped her head to lap slowly at Cloudy’s sex.

He felt the stirrings of desire rising again, to rut it all and mount Rosemary as well, but he pushed it back down and watched as both of his lovers relaxed, rolling to their sides and leaving a space for him between them.

“Stars.” He joined them. Cleaning up could wait.

Rosemary slid a foreleg under his neck and pulled him close against her barrel, her lips pulling at his ear. “Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you,” he whispered back, his mind replaying through the moments of passionate decision that he’d had little conscious thought in doing. This was… love. Sex. Passion. He was still unused to it being so intense and so open.

“I wish Rosewater had been here,” Cloudy murmured as she turned around in his hooves, facing him and folding her lower wing behind her. “I wish…” she yawned and snuggled her head under his chin.

“I wish she was here, too,” Rosemary murmured, surprising him only mildly. It was something he’d only vaguely thought about.

“Are… you okay with that? With seeing her…”

“Collar, I’ve been to two Rose Nights since I turned eighteen with Rosewater.” Rosemary’s voice was husky in his ear. “Not with her, but I’ve seen ponies mount her, and she’s seen ponies mount me. We’ve helped each other with choosing for game nights. Usually after she got a little more wine in her.”

Cloudy let out a purling chuckle. “Stars, I wish I’d been there. Who did she get with?”

Rosemary made a noise and nibbled at Collar’s ear before laying her cheek on his. She was warm, and her breath smelled musky, like his come. He shivered. She’d already cleaned up Cloudy.

Collar flicked his ears. “Sorry… I… I know it’s not strange to you. It is to me.”

“We’ll help you through the strangeness,” Rosemary whispered in his ear, pulling him closer. “I love her, and I love it when I see her happy, when she’s being passionate, in the afterglow of lovemaking. But I’ve never wanted to make love to her. Does that make sense?”

“Does… she feel the same?”

“I’m sure she does, but that’s a talk I’ll need to have with her,” Rosemary murmured, her voice growing muzzier, sleepier. “She vetted my lovers for four years before my first majority, Collar. She’s walked in on me making love more than once at the Garden and didn’t bat an eye.” Her forelegs tightened again, then loosened.

He tried to think that making love to the same pony would be strange, but Cloudy and Rosewater had made love together quite a few times since that first time, always secretive, always while she was ‘on patrol.’

As if she could hear the direction of his thoughts, Cloudy added, “I can’t wait until I can make love to her here. I’m tired of tents and caves with blankets.”

“Soon. It would have been perfect today, aside from the timing of the blizzard,” Rosemary murmured, stretching languidly. “I want to watch you slip into her… help you into her.”

“Um.”

“It’s normal,” Rosemary said, raising her head and looking down into his eyes, her expression serious, “for lovers to help. I’m not making love to her. I would never. But sharing is expected between spouses. And I want to help her feel as good as I can, in every way that I can.”

Cloudy chuckled. “That’s going a bit far, even for Merrie.”

“Maybe it is. But it’s my way.” Rosemary fixed the other mare with a look. “We won’t be able to make love, either of us, but… I want to participate, still. I don’t want to sit idle and just watch.”

Collar, caught rather literally between them, let out a breath. “It’s Rosemary and Rosewater’s choice, but… Rosemary, I know you. Sitting idle isn’t your way, is it?”

“No. I don’t like to be left out. I don’t like to only watch, Collar. But I respect the very limits of the boundaries.” Rosemary shivered, her ears flattening. “I don’t want to be passive in my own marriage. I don’t want to do nothing while Rosewater and Cloudy make love to you, Collar. I want to help both of you. I want—”

Her words cut off, her cheeks flushed.

“I want her to help me, too,” she said softly. “I… I want our marriage to be as close to true between all of us as we can.”

It was, Collar realized, a rebellion of sorts against the Dammer style of their proposed marriage. She and Rosewater were hobbled in their part of the marriage, and couldn’t make love to each other without violating laws and taboos older than the Treaty. Nor, he thought, did either of them want to. Rosemary, for her part was being completely honest, putting her heart out there, wanting to participate in all parts of their marriage that she could.

“I understand,” Cloudy murmured softly. “I won’t judge you, or her if she reciprocates.”

“We’ll have to keep that secret,” Collar said. “Nopony outside our marriage would understand.”

“Nopony outside our marriage will participate,” Rosemary said, her voice earnest. “It’s ours, Collar. Ours alone.” He heard something that sounded almost like wonder in her voice, mixed with a measure of pain for severing herself so completely from her ideal of freedom of sex. “Our marriage. Our love. Two traditions bound in one.”

“Then… I accept. I won’t judge you, Rosemary. You do deserve to be a full partner in our marriage, but that’s between you and… and Rosewater.” He had to resist calling her ‘your mother.’ That was another thing he would have to unlearn. Especially if Rosewater agreed, which he wasn’t sure she would. He wasn’t even sure Rosemary had thought it all the way through. One thing he had learned about her was that she was given to being impulsive. He could only imagine the afterglow of sex amplifying that trait in her.

Rosewater wasn't. She could be impulsive, incredibly so, but this was something he imagined she would put her hoof down on. But, he also had to admit that he didn't know the first thing about how open a Merrie family could be when it came to sex. Orgies happened, and he had to imagine there was a disconnect between 'family' and sex somewhere that both let them be a family and see their family have sex with other ponies.

For him, for any Dammer, being witness to another pony's sexual exploits, let alone his parents' was odd.

Now isn’t the time to bring that up. You just watched her having sex with you. How would I even ask?

“Thank you.” Rosemary settled back down and nuzzled his ears, relaxing into the bed finally.

“Thank you,” Cloudy murmured, kissing his muzzle lightly and snuggling closer.

“It’s our marriage,” Collar murmured, laying his head down and closing his eyes. “And you deserve to be happy in it.”

It was strange to have warmth on both sides of him as he drifted off to sleep, the scent of sex in his nose, and the taste of a new lover on his tongue.

One more. He closed his eyes, his thoughts flying across the river. Be well, my love.

Down the hallway, Glory lay reading quietly, a treatise on the manner of Merrier relationships. Poppy still fed her the latest rumors from the guards, so it was amusing to her to think just how wrong they were about the status of Collar’s relationship with Rosewater. That they’d had sex was clear to her, that they were preparing to declare also seemed obvious from the steps Poppy had reported to her.

She’d even given him some choice tidbits to spread around about Rosewater’s upbringing and youth, things that would imbue her rumor stream with more sympathy than fear. They were soldiers, and they would understand following orders. There were even enough old-timers still in the bureaucratic wing of the Dammeguard that remembered the raids Lace’s father had carried out that the youngsters could understand what it was like.

But the scent drifting down the hallway, encouraged by the barest spell at the base of the door to draw in the outside air told her that there was even more going on that Poppy’s rumor-gathering hadn’t been able to glean.

Two mares, Lord Collar himself, all raised in the throes of passion, all musky. One of them was a scent she even recognized from a time long ago, when she had chanced upon Rosemary and one of her paramours at the Garden.

So… even you, Rosemary? She’d thought it might happen, but to have it happen so soon spoke to a deepening of the relationship that she’d not been able to witness when she was allowed to visit Rosemary. She’d been cordial towards Collar, and while his eyes had been drawn to her when he thought nopony was watching, that was no more than natural. Rosemary had inherited her mother’s natural beauty and lithe body, and had taken care of her gift well.

Collar wasn’t one to be drawn to beauty alone. She’d known that, and yet she’d missed the regularity of the glances he shot her, and apparently missed the subtle nuance of the looks.

And if she hadn’t seen it, there was no reason to believe that anypony else had. Glory’s talent meant she had had plenty of time to observe, unseen, the interactions between ponies, and even the hidden looks that they sent each other.

Roseate wouldn’t see this coming.

Platinum sat in front of an empty room, pretending to guard it, pretending that nothing was unusual about the silence in the room, or the silence of Collar’s room far down the hallway. Collar had made her an offer for a secret mission, both her and Sunrise, just that afternoon.

He’d made the offer with both Rosemary and Cloudy there, and it had been then that Platinum had figured out that Sunrise had also been one of Cloudy’s on-again-off-again lovers. She’d already known that she and Sunrise were both Rosemary’s lovers, though only very, very occasionally, and only when the mood had struck just so.

There weren’t any stallions to her knowledge, but Stride… had shown interest, even if Rosemary was only polite and nice to him. She had never actually told Sunrise that she was sleeping with her other guards. Off duty, they’d gotten to talking, and little details had revealed the truth, and more.

She’d found Sunrise had a distinct type, specifically mares, and that she’d always been too shy to try and pursue a relationship with anypony. That changed when Platinum had taken a risk and kissed her after a few ales at Prim Tap and Lager. After that, things had seemed to move inevitably forward, into discussion of what it meant to be lovers, friends, whether that meant they could take that for themselves.

They had both been subjected to debating with the mare over the merits of this or that aspect of both of their founding philosophies, and it had apparently had more of an effect on her than she’d anticipated. She’d found herself wondering at the strictures of her own upbringing when there was an example of the openness not only working, but flourishing just across the river.

That same openness had led her to asking Sunrise out on a date, then back to Platinum’s apartment for a night of exploring what the Principes meant to them. She had been hesitant at first, just as Platinum had been, but their common link to Rosemary, their experience with making love to a mare who considered sex just another aspect of friendship, had lowered their barriers and let them be more open.

Rosemary had sussed out the relationship within minutes of seeing them together and, in typical Rosemary fashion, had been compassionate and understanding, asking them if they’d wanted to end their sexual relationship out of deference to their Dammer lifestyle.

In the end, it had been a surprise when she had broken off the relationship… and offered an explanation along with a secret mission, with Collar and Lace’s approval, to help them follow a Merrier requirement for Rosewater to become the actual heir.

The breaking off of their relationship was unexpected, but understandable after Rosemary had explained it.

Rosewater and Collar…

She didn’t know the mare half as well as she ought to to undertake something like that. To be a witness to ensure she didn’t run off to some back alley while she was fertile and get screwed by some stallion…

That didn’t suit what she knew of the mare. At all. But… laws were laws. Just like the stupid one currently working its way out in court over an established marriage not being recognized in Damme.

“Every city has its dumb laws, I guess,” Platinum muttered under her breath.

Down the hall, Sunrise glanced at her, then at her door and down the hall.

It was empty. Even the other guards weren’t patrolling as much. Just enough to watch the front gate and the ballroom, the only other place with windows big enough for more than a foal to slip through.

She was guarding an empty room while Rosemary spent the night with Collar and Cloudy in their chambers.

“Screw it.” She made her way over and plopped herself down next to Sunrise. “I can watch her door from here.”

Sunrise chuckled and nuzzled her cheek. “Thanks.” After an awkward silence between them, Sunrise extended a wing and covered Platinum’s back. “It’s cold tonight. It only makes sense to have the guards huddle up, right?”

Platinum chuckled and tried to spark a sound shield big enough to cover both of them. It flared, wobbled, and fell apart with a pop. Her talents went towards light spells and metalworking, but her temperament wasn’t right for the careful working of hot metals. Nor did she have the capital necessary to start her own shop.

“Sorry. We’ll just have to keep real quiet.”

Sunrise nipped her cheek and leaned closer, stretching the wing so her primaries brushed against Platinum’s cheek. “I can help. Thinking about the mission?”

“Yeah. I want to do it. But I don’t know her. Rosemary said it was partly a character exercise. But I don’t know her. I know Collar trusts her, but…”

“I trust her. Nopony who raises a mare like Rosemary can be that bad. And… she’s let things slip. Little things. Looks at Collar and Cloudy, her tone of voice when she talks about them. I’ve even escorted her a few times, and she talks to me about what her day was like yesterday.” Sunrise fairly glowed as she spoke about the enigmatic Rosewater. “But… there’s always a wall around her. Or there was. Did you see her today? When she left?”

“I heard the scuttlebut.”

“She was… stars, she was close to Collar, and it looked like they both wanted to kiss.”

A voice from behind them startled Platinum. “They’ve done far more than kiss,” Glory’s voice murmured under the edge of the door. “My sister…”

“What about your sister?” Platinum asked, glancing at Sunrise, her brows raising in a silent question.

The door lever rattled. “Come in. I can make a silence web for a while. You two, if you’re going to do this, need to know who my sister really is, and not the lies our mother has spread about her.”

“Can we trust her?”

Sunrise firmed her lips and nodded. “Poppy loves her. I think we can trust her.”

Platinum pulled the key off the wall beside the door and unlocked the room. “I trust you,” she said softly, and met Sunrise in a brief kiss. Little more than a melding of lips before parting and opening the door, Sunrise’s wing still over her back.

Glory studied them for a moment, head cocked, as the door closed. “All the better. The best witnesses are bonded mares.”

Platinum glanced at Sunrise and the mare’s heating cheeks. “Why? We’re not formally bonded. We’re just dating.”

“Because, for this, you need to trust each other, and trust the logs that you keep.”

“I trust… I do trust Platinum.”

“Good.” Magic sparkled across the door. “There’s a lot you need to know about the law that requires Rosewater’s firstborn be registered with a known father. There are steps and customs for the hand-off that you’ll need to practice and make inconspicuous. And… you need to know and trust my sister.”

Platinum swallowed, glanced at Sunrise, and nodded. “We’re listening.”

Glory’s smile looked victorious.

Author's Note

Collar's getting closer to taking another step in his journey.

Also... final chapter before the gala next week. Then the first Gala Arc chapter will be out close to the one year anniversary of me starting to publish this story.

I first started on June 6th of last year. The first gala chapter will be out on June 10th.