Around the circle as Rosewater stepped past her mother were some of the ponies that she’d come to think of as, perhaps not allies yet, but ponies that at least wouldn’t look at her unfavorably for dancing with Collar in the first dance of the evening.

It had been, in the past, the way an heir or heiress of Damme had made his formal announcement of courtship public, even if the courting had been ‘public’ before. The fact that she was a Merrier put something of a confusion around that, as her tradition was for courtships to be chaotic and multifaceted.

Which would come soon enough. Tonight was about the Dammer traditions.

The floor opened up further, spreading out a circle that let nearly every pony that wanted to watch what would be historic. The first romance across the rivers between high ranking nobility after Frosty.

“I have waited for this dance,” Collar said loudly enough to be heard around the circle, but not so loud that it sounded like he was speaking to them. “And I thought about what song we should dance to first. Something… not of your city, nor of mine. Something that would speak to our purpose here. Something grand and stately and full of meaning.”

“What did you plan for?” Rosewater asked, a touch of trepidation in her voice that wasn’t entirely feigned. She’d studied the dance, tried to practice the motions with a mist faerie in her bedroom, and even practiced it twice with Lace in her private garden in the past two weeks.

“The Sun and Moon Waltz,” Collar said, finally looking around and nodding to Wandering Star and Firelight, speaking up to the crowd at last, “A dance that our esteemed representatives from Canterlot will recognize, and that I invite to join us, if you so choose.”

Firelight beamed as he stepped forward. “While I do greatly appreciate the gesture to include us, and even more the gesture of reconciliation between your cities, I must respectfully decline. My four left forehooves would end up broken if I tried.”

“I must also respectfully decline,” Wandering Star said, stepping forward briefly to bow. “This dance shouldn’t be about Canterlot, but we do appreciate the inclusion. This dance should be about unity, and I applaud you both for setting aside your differences to come together in so spectacular a way. It gives Firelight and I such hope that we might see an end to this conflict.” She stepped back, smiling and bowed once more. “Please, enjoy your first dance together.”

As if her words were permission to start talking, ponies turned to their neighbors and started talking for only the few seconds before the first chord of the dance struck, then stilled.

Rosewater found her place, her hooves settling into what felt like grooves worn into the floor, her head bowing in the ‘darkness’ after the first note, as Collar bowed his head in the same angle, their horns almost touching, their breath mingling.

Hers felt faster, more giddy than she had ever felt before.

On cue, she raised her hoof to cross with Collar’s and began the first circling orbit around him, his hoofsteps slow and deliberate, hers quicker as she had to move faster to make the same motion, the tap-tap-tap of her three hooves on the ground in time with the slow plucking of the cellos and the somber, slow notes from the violin describing the motion of the sun and moon.

She stopped at the first thumping of the drums, and it was Collar’s turn to orbit her, faster still, the tap-tap-tap of his hooves in time with the drum.

When the cellos started plucking again, Rosewater started orbiting with him around a common center, their pace picking up and up as the drums and cellos competed with each other until Collar and Rosewater had to lock their ankles together to keep from flying apart.

The trickiest part was the transition from three legged to two legged, without slowing their side-stepping prance around each other, without breaking the locked horns of the age of uncertainty following the Battle of Two Nights that this frenetic pace represented, Rosewater pushed off between one beat and the next as Collar did the same, the clarion call of horns announcing the climax of the battle as they drew closer and closer, disaster always on the edge of a knife, a misstep, a hesitation, a moment of worry about her partner.

Locked together, stable and breathing harder, Rosewater found herself wanting to laugh as the beat sped up yet more, the horns becoming more strident as they spiraled in towards each other with every revolution, courting danger more and more as breasts touched, necks arched, and the fire in Collar’s eyes seemed to be a reflection of her own vigor.

As quickly as it had come, the end of the battle came quicker still, cellos and drums silencing as the violins rose through a higher pitch, the cries of Celestia at the broken lands, the destroyed nation and shattered alliances and the devastation wrought by magic of moon and sun competing for space in the sky.

They stopped at once, breathing heavily, her tail swishing on its own as her vision whirled, her only source of Stability being Collar, and his only source her. One sway too far and they would both fall entwined so closely that their forelegs were almost about each other.

“Are you okay?” Collar whispered, his lips barely moving, his nose pressed to hers.

“More than,” she whispered back. Her hind leg twitched, waiting for the separation, then stepping back, letting her forelegs drift along his until they were entirely supporting each other, nose to nose, eye to eye, heads raised. The drums and cellos settled into a more sedate rhythm while the violin and horns drifted away and their orbit began again, together and in harmony with each other, timid at first, every step coming seconds apart.

They were approaching the first Summer Sun festival and the beat became more joyous, celebratory and quickly paced, the days growing longer and the moon still rising and falling at the same pace. Her role as the moon meant that she came closer to him, speeding up her steps while his slowed.

It was the perfect pose to share a more intimate moment.

It was the perfect pose, the perfect moment, she pressing closer to him while he stayed in the same place relative to her. He could feel the heat of her breath on his lips, almost feel the touch of them against his, and her eyes locked on his seemed to be asking him, pleading with him.

It started with a light brush of his lips against hers during a transitional motion towards the Summer Sun, the moment when the sun stood still aside from turning slowly to keep pace with the moon. He broke, for a moment, the support of her right foreleg, making her shift in response, but didn’t stop her slow rotation, instead pulling him closer as his foreleg brushed down her neck.

She shivered, her lips parting as if to ask him a question, then closed, and parted again to take in a breath.

He kissed her then, tilting his head slightly to the side to meet her lips, his own parting as she mirrored his tilt, followed his lead, trusting him even as he brought his foreleg up again to support her.

Gasps rose from around them as their slow rotation took them through the Summer Sun sequence, their kiss holding as they shared breath, shared a heartbeat, and shared the first moment of announcing they were courting to the rest of the nobility in much more explicit terms than they were likely expecting.

It felt like a flush in his entire body as the sequence ended and the kiss parted, her eyes fluttering open, tears in them that she blinked away to trail down her cheeks.

They parted again as summer went on, horns and violins speaking above the sound of cello and drum as the world moved on. The long autumn brought in a lone cello from the synchrony of plucking to sing about the slowing of the world’s affairs as the first winter approached and the Autumnal Equinox celebration came and went with only a passing note, the cello growing louder and louder as the plucking grew more and more faint, slower as Rosewater’s turn to stand still came closer and closer.

The sun passed faster, and Collar sped up his step, his heart thundering as his position started to mirror the first kiss, and…

“Again,” she whispered, standing almost still with the slow shuffle of her hooves her only responsibility as she broke her supportive pose briefly to stroke his neck, drawing a louder murmur from the crowd around them, but she paid them no mind, and he forced the repercussions away. His first kiss was permission.

Her first kiss given to him was confirmation, and they stopped while the music went on, slow and drifting away as the Winter Solstice’s quiet melancholy melted away in the heat of her lips pressing to his, her breath washing over his muzzle as she breathed in sharply, then out.

He didn’t let her pull away as the music began to fade, taking the lead and a step closer, deepening the kiss, welcoming the heat of his barrel against hers, the flutter of her heart as she pressed back, deepening their passionate moment yet further, lengthening it and drawing out until the last notes of music faded away.

When he finally pulled away, her cheeks were flushed, her lips still parted as she breathed in deep, rapid breaths.

He pressed his forehead to hers, their crowns clinking lightly as his slid under hers and he raised his hooves to cup her cheeks gently. “I love you,” he whispered softly.

“Stars,” she replied breathlessly, and for a moment he thought he could see them in her eyes, bright and shining as tears formed and spilled down her cheeks. “I love you.”

Collar kissed her once more, lightly and briefly, and nudged her gently as he backed away and dropped to all four hooves again, she following a second later.

Firelight was the first to move from the crowd of stunned onlookers, his smile broad enough to show teeth, and Wandering Star was a step behind him, her expression one of quiet pleasure.

“My lord, my lady.” He held out a hoof to Collar first as Wandering Star held one out to Rosewater. “Am I to take it to believe that this is an announcement that you are now courting?”

“You may, Sir Firelight,” Collar said, glancing aside at a beaming Rosewater as she accepted an embrace from Wandering Star. “You may indeed believe that.”

It wasn’t often that Silk felt a thrill of pleasure at hearing someone say anything, but when she heard Collar confirm that he and Rosewater were indeed courting, it confirmed for her everything she’d suspected. Their courtship was farther along than this. Rosewater’s mysterious hiding from my mother two day stretch now felt… like more. With Crown confirming that she’d completely sealed the place against sound intrusion and even her wards had been beefed up in the days before, as if she’d been planning for something.

Silk made her way across the gulf that still divided the two city’s factions while Rosewater and Collar vacated the floor to let Lace and Dapper and a few older ponies and their partners join in a more sedate waltz.

“Where are you going?” Pleat demanded before she’d made it halfway to the dividing line. “You know there are ponies that will want to know what you know.”

“I do. And I’ll be back, but…” Silk glanced at the gathering stormcloud that was her mother talking to one of her sycophants in a low tone. She couldn’t even remember the stallion’s name, but it was usually best not to pay too close attention to those her mother deigned worthy of lifting her tail for. They tended to look at Roseate’s daughters as competition, so even learning their names tended to be a sign to the pompadours that she considered them a worthy adversary. “I need to see if I can prevent an explosion.”

Pleat considered the focus of Silk’s attention for a long moment, then drew her back and away from the line with a light spell on her neck. “Is this going to splash back on you?”

“Probably. How much…” Silk shrugged. “I need to find out sooner so I can plan for it.”

Her companion was quiet for longer this time, the intense sympathetic look flicking between her and her mother painful to endure. “If you need it—”

“Don’t. Please. Stars,” Silk resisted the urge to scrub her face and put on a smile instead. “I might not be able to resist any offer you make, Pleat, and you only barely know me or what baggage I have. I don’t want to put that on you.”

Pleat’s jaw firmed. “And you don’t think you deserve it?”

“I don’t. Not until you can trust me.” It was an effort not to embrace her, but Silk leaned in close and bumped her nose against the other mare’s cheek. “Let me earn it through action and not sympathy.”

Pleat snorted and reared up just enough to wrap her in an embrace. “Then you’d better start earning it. You remind me too much of my niece, Silk. Go on. Do what you feel you need to, and we can talk later,” she whispered. “If you’re still around.”

Meaning if Roseate doesn’t drag me away in a fit of pique. “Thank you. For everything tonight, Pleat.”

With that she crossed the floor to where her mother had turned her attention away from the stallion she’d been venting at. Some lord who relied on shipping and trade for his wealth.

Roseate sniffed at the wine glass she was holding again, sipped at it, and scowled. She seemed about ready to fling the glass at somepony, possibly Rosewater, but she finished it off instead. “Rut that mare.”

Silk took a breath and inched closer, her tail flat to her hind legs, scared out of her wits at what might happen next.

“Did you know anything you didn’t tell me?” Roseate snapped out the question without bothering to wait for others to move away.

“No! Stars, she never told me anything. She told me what colors she wanted and even provided the silks for me.” That was half a lie, but not a big enough one for it to matter. “I thought she wanted it for Dazzle, not him.”

“She played us. The little traitor.” Roseate snarled and passed the glass to Silk. “What did you find out while you were being pampered by the Prims?”

“Pampered? Stars, they treated me like—” Silk cut herself off at her mother’s glower. “N-nothing much more than we knew already. Nothing about this. They were all as surprised as I was that Rosewater seemed to be getting ready to make the move she just did.”

“We can use that. Did you hear anything about how she’s viewed?”

Stars. She glanced aside at the ponies that looked at her with fear, disgust, or a haughty superiority. “Nothing that would affect this,” Silk said, tipping an ear back towards where Rosewater and Collar were being surrounded by more and more Merriers and Dammers all asking them questions. “Ponies hate the war. Half of them are elated. The other half are terrified she’s taken control of his heart.” Silk snorted and shook her head. “The first half think I’m better than my sisters because Collar attached me to—”

“Why did he do that? What game is he playing?”

“Rosewater asked him to take pity on me,” Silk said in a mechanical sounding tone that hid the surge of thankfulness for her sister’s thoughtfulness. “I don’t know why. Maybe to show me how much sway she has with him and the Primlines.”

Roseate gritted her teeth, but nodded. “More than likely, that’s the case. I thought she’d lost her ambition. Clearly I was wrong.”

You failed to quash it, and you failed so spectacularly that now it’s working against you. “I should get back. They’ll be talking about Collar and Rosewater’s courtship, and you’ll want to know everything, won’t you?”

“Yes. Do that.” For the briefest of moments, Silk thought she saw uncertainty in her mother’s mien, though it was gone before she could start to wonder why. “See if you can find out why she’s announced it tonight and so openly. And how long the romance has been going on.”

Months, you idiot. Since you forced them together to protect her daughter. Even that little tidbit of information, had she not already known it, would have been a shock to her. “Of course, mother.” She could imagine the reason Collar had switched his view of her. Recontextualizing all of her antagonism from a personal vendetta to attempting to keep her head afloat in the river of a mad ruler’s whimsy. “Is there anything else?”

“No. Do whatever you must to get into their circle. I must know in order to plan.”

Plan for your early exit from office. I’d put bits on them being bound to each other by marriage before the month’s out.

“Of course.”

“And find out where your sister is. I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of her.”

“Probably still in the library. You know how she is with books.” Silk snorted. “She probably insisted she be able to finish it tonight rather than trying to find it later.”

Roseate chuffed a laugh. “As long as she’s doing what she’s been ordered to, I don’t care.” She clucked her tongue and glanced around. “Get back to it, daughter. I expect a report at the end of the night.”

You’ll get whatever I give you. “Of course, mother,” Silk murmured, flattening her ears and bowing her head. “What—”

“Will I do?” Roseate turned to face her and cast a spell to straighten Silk’s ears. “What I will do is none of your business. Your only business is doing as I tell you. Need I remind you what happens if you fail?”

Vine. She would hurt Vine. Silk’s own pain was secondary to that. “No.” She pulled her head free of Roseate’s spell and shook it, her ears buzzing from the strain. “No, you don’t.”

“Good.” Roseate snapped her tail and stepped back. “Remember what they’ll do if we lose, Silk. Your sister doesn’t seem to care that she’ll be locked into having only one lover forever, but I do, and I know you do, too. This is for our culture to survive. If we lose…” Roseate’s features softened into an almost believable fearful mother’s look. “I do what I must, Silk. Do what you must.”

It was almost compelling. If Silk didn’t know the truth, if Rosewater hadn’t told her, if Collar hadn’t been kind to her, she might even want to believe it.

You do want to believe it. It was easier than believing she’d gone the way her mother wanted her to without considering any alternatives, too scared to look for another way to live.

“I will, mother,” Silk said softly and turned away, aiming for her sister where she was cloistered with Collar and Lace.

She only made it halfway across the gulf again before a wing settled over her back, startling her into a jump to the side. “Stars!”

“I called your name twice,” Dapper Air said, winking at her. “Granted, I said it very quietly because it’s so very hard to sneak up on pretty mares anymore.”

Silk laughed, sharp and short, then covered her muzzle, coughing and glancing around. Roseate had briefly looked her direction, but even as she looked, Roseate was already smiling at another lord. “My lord?”

“You were looking so intense, I simply had to intervene.” Dapper glanced over his shoulder and made a face at Roseate, already working her way through the sycophants and no doubt spreading her propaganda. It seemed like she’d already decided that her response was going to be along the lines of ‘My daughter has abandoned our way. Fear for the future.’ “She’s vile.”

Silk clenched her jaw tighter.

“You needn’t respond. Let’s go get a drink, you and I,” Dapper went on. “I know you’re afraid of her, but I don’t know what she’s holding over you. And you don’t need to answer, either.” Dapper pressed his wing to her side and guided her away from Collar and Rosewater. “But maybe I could answer the question you had for them? Perhaps better than they could right now.”

“I didn’t have a question I wanted to ask them.”

“And I’m a Hearth’s Warming turkey.”

“E-excuse me?” Silk asked, glancing at him.

Dapper clucked his tongue and strutted forward a few steps, his head bobbing back and forth. When he stopped, he glanced at her, brow raised. “Nothing? Seriously?”

“Is… it a tradition in Damme? I know what turkeys are, of course, but I’ve never heard of a Hearth’s Warming turkey before.”

“Oh, you sweet winter child. It is the most glorious and extravagant custom from Canterlot. Keeping a turkey for a pet and feeding it your table scraps during winter. The fatter the turkey, the richer the family is seen as being.” Dapper fluffed his feathers out, making Silk sidestep the extension of his wings for a moment. “And they have a contest at Hearth’s Warming to see who has the fattest turkey.”

“And then?”

“What do you mean ‘and then?’” Dapper clucked his tongue again and laughed. “That’s it. Fat turkey. And I am not a fat turkey. Which you will tell Lace at the first opportunity you get.”

“I-I will?” Silk felt herself floundering farther and farther into this strange stallion’s trap, whatever it was. “Why?”

“Because then I’ll answer your question.” Dapper flattened his feathers with a flick of his wings. “You were going at your sister with a look on your face I’ve only seen on hers when she wanted to know something and didn’t know how to ask it politely.” He grinned cheekily and flicked a wing against her side lightly. “You’re definitely sisters.”

“Alright. Fine. But how do I know you’ll give the same answer she would?”

“I guess you don’t. Do you trust her?”

Silk froze with her mouth open and kept walking after a sharp breath. “I trust her.” Roseate would expect her to add ‘to do what’s best for her.’ That was a lie. Rosewater had at least shown some of her true heart tonight and with her in the past. She’d given Crown an out to save herself. She cared more about her family than Roseate did, who viewed them all as easily manipulated puppets with secrets and blackmail material that she knew going back to childhood. “I trust her with more than anypony but Vine or Crown.”

“Then ask your question.”

“Is Rosewater tying herself to Collar, and Collar alone?”

Dapper was silent for a long moment, his expression blank before he glanced aside at her, then forward. “Do you think your sister would abandon the city she grew up in? Set aside a way of life that let her be happy despite all her mother tried to do to her? You know her perhaps better than I do, or at least for longer, but—”

“But you would be…” Images of Rosewater taking her hither and thither in the city, the mare tall enough to feel like an adult to her young self despite her lankiness flitted through her mind. Buying her candy, laughing with her and Rosemary as she and Rosewater and Carnation’s daughter played together and played jokes on each other. For almost two decades, she had grown up under a variety of parents, no one there long enough to ever be a solid part of her life, not even her mother.

“I thought you would. She’s done much to push your memories of her away, hasn’t she? Pushing her out of your lives as much as she was trying to keep her from gaining even an imaginary upper hoof.” Dapper shouldered her lightly towards the bar. “So… would she?”

“No. Not unless she thought it was the only way forward.”

“Mmm. Forward to what, I wonder.” Dapper set a hoof on the bar. “Seed, an opinion and a wine, please.”

“Got plenty of the first, my lord,” Seed said, glancing towards and away from a stallion his wife was currently having a long talk with in between sips of wine and others coming up to talk with one or both. “And more than enough of the second to remake the river in here. What’ll it be?”

“Mmm. Rosemary Reverence, please. I quite enjoyed my last glass.”

“R-Rosemary Reverence?” Silk asked, unable to keep her eyes from widening.

“For you, too, cousin?”

“It has a very nice bite to it that is missing from most other wines. It’s like a mulled wine without needing to heat it and spice it yourself.”

Seed rolled his eyes. “It is a mulled wine, my lord.”

“How long did you know, Seed?” Silk asked, her voice low.

Dapper tapped her hoof lightly. “Not the time, my dear. Don’t let yourself get distracted. Ask your real question.”

Seed paused in setting out the two glasses to glance at Dapper, then Silk. “Surprise me.”

“You know Rosewater better than I do, Seed. Stars, you call her auntie.” Silk swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. Her aunt had been sent away by her own mother for being a thorn in her side. “Would… she give up our culture?”

Both of Seed’s brows rose slightly. “Are you asking or is your mother?”

“Me. Stars, Seed, do you think I’d be that direct if I was asking on her behalf?” Silk leaned against the bar-top, making it rock briefly as she slumped and sat hard on the floor, not caring if her dress got wrinkled. “I’m going to get burned for asking if it gets out, dear cousin. She’s already convinced that Rosewater is abandoning us, or at the very least she’s going to tell everypony who will listen that she is.”

“And you want to know if she really is.” Seed glanced at Dapper, then took a breath at some hidden signal from the older stallion. “No. Collar wouldn’t let her, either, if I’m reading him right.”

“He wouldn’t,” Dapper said, bobbing his head.

Silk closed her eyes. “Then what’s she doing?”

“You’ll have to ask her, cousin,” Seed said, judging his pour carefully, glancing at her, and adding a little more before re-corking the bottle. “It’s not my plan, but hers. Enjoy the wine. I’m told it’s very refreshing.”

Silk sighed. “I... I wish I could without looking like I was conspiring with her. Tonight, I mean. I… I want to go home and be able to tell Vine everything will be okay.”

Seed just gave her a look.

That look was asking her why she couldn’t go ask her. Well, why can’t I ask her? She could likely find out what she needed to if she tried to attach herself to Rosewater, too. Enough, at least, to convince Roseate that she wasn’t doing what she was actually doing.

If she actually trusts you enough to…

Silk took a sip of the wine and leaned against the bar a little more, looking around and trying to spot Pleat. Rosewater was easy to find, but Pleat…

“You did a wonderful job on her dress,” Seed offered, mistaking her silent study of Rosewater as she showed off her dress to her new friend as trepidation or perhaps something else. “Petal’s been talking about commissioning one from you.”

“Thank you.” There wasn’t anything more to say. She took another sip of the wine and stood up, straightened her dress, and squared herself off to face Rosewater. Just as Rosewater and Collar laughed at something one of the nobles attending them said and broke away for the dance floor again. “Stars…”

“Mmm.” Dapper nudged her flank with a bob of his hip. “I think, perhaps, you ought to take some time to catch up with your dressmaker friend.”

“Friend? After one night?”

“Don’t discount yourself, my dear. You are more than capable of building a new friendship after one night.” Dapper nudged her again. “We’ve been watching you tonight. You’re quite charming when you want to be.”

“I wasn’t trying to be charming,” Silk said, feeling her ears fall as Rosewater and Collar joined up again for a dance, looking more intimately acquainted than they had before the first dance. Not in their poses, it was hard to be more intimate than nose to nose, forehead to forehead, but in the way they moved together, how familiar they were with each other, and how easily they matched each other. This was a dance they’d practiced together before, and the look of beatific joy on her sister’s face as she spun through the first steps of the slower waltz warmed her heart.

“I hope I can find somepony I can dance with like that,” Silk’s lips said before her mind caught up with her.

Seed startled her by pouring a little more wine in her glass and pushing a bowl of fragrant twists at her. “I think, maybe, you ought to have some salty food before you go back out there.”

“I—” Silk met his eyes, saw the sympathy there that hadn’t been there earlier. Briefly, she wanted to reject it, protect herself from seeming friendly with Seed, even though she desperately wanted to be.

“She’s complaining at Lace,” Dapper said softly in her ear. “You’re safe to be yourself, my dear. Besides, you can claim you were abducted later.”

Silk snorted a laugh and crunched into one of the crispy twists. “What are you talking about? You did abduct me.”

“That was more calming,” Rosewater murmured into Collar’s cheek, parting from him when the music died away. Cheek to cheek for a few minutes, their hooves moving in time to the beat, each of them keeping an eye out for neighbors as they otherwise followed their whims on where they went, sometimes revolving around other dancing partners and sharing a little talk or smiles with the Merriers that joined them, or nodding to Dammers. “We should do this more often.”

“Mmm. Yes, we should.” Collar kissed her cheek, then stiffened when that act seemed to galvanize some of the crowd watching them. He glanced towards the bar where Seed and Petal were apparently playing a game with one of the patrons, though she spotted another pony making their way circumspectly towards the area.

As she watched, Petal broke off to tend to another patron, and the stallion opened his eyes, laughed, and…

“Trouble,” Collar whispered. “That’s Gale. Come on, let’s—”

“My lord, my lady,” Clipper’s voice from behind them just before he came around them, a worried looking Pleat following along behind. “A moment of your time, if you please.”

Collar clearly wanted to hare off and take care of whatever was happening with the Primfeather stallion by Petal and Seed, his eyes flicking from them to Clipper Primwave and back before he settled back slightly and nodded. “Of course, Lord Primwave.”

“I won’t take but a little of your time, but if we could have a bit of privacy, I’d rather have this be between us.” Clipper smiled at Rosewater and bobbed his head. “I quite enjoyed the show, my lady, and I was quite relieved to hear that many of the ponies I approached were at least impressed by your agility, if nothing else.”

“Thank you, Lord Primwave, for your entertaining my little game against my mother,” Rosewater replied with a light laugh as Collar surrounded them with a silence spell, straining to hold it against the swelling music. She lent a touch of power to his spell, shaping it lightly to be more like Crown’s efficient blocking spell. With the two of them working together, he relaxed minutely.

“Unicorn magic has always fascinated me,” Clipper murmured under his breath as the sounds around them faded away. “Is it usually easy to work together?”

“Not usually, my lord,” Pleat said, giving Rosewater a considering eye. “It takes practice, usually. Or long familiarity with each other’s magic.” She took a breath and shook her head. “But that’s besides why I asked Clipper to come with me. We’ve both heard, and corroborated some concerning things with each other, mostly with your mother’s opponents in the opposition houses.”

Cold settled into Rosewater’s guts. This was the uncertain point. The point at which everything could fail and fall apart. “What are they saying?”

“What I warned you would happen if you played your cards too early,” Clipper said with a sigh. “I understand you may have planned it all long aforethought, and I understand the reasons why you thought you had to play your cards here, but the Primfeathers, the Manes, and the Coifs are all trying to sway others to their cause.”

“Not everypony is laughing at them anymore,” Pleat went on, nodding at Clipper’s words and focused on Rosewater. “They’ve long claimed that the Reformations were a way for Lace to surrender power to Merrie, and now… it looks, to some of them, like they have proof. Nevermind the economy and the general lack of suffering. I know—”

“And I.”

“—that Lady Lace’s Reformation was always a way to find a way to end the war without one of us conquering the other. I believe that if your grandmother had not passed when she did we might have seen it come true.”

“I believe it too,” Rosewater said, bowing her head to Pleat. “I… thank you for taking care of my sister tonight. I need to say that first. I need a good thing to come out of tonight, no matter what else comes of it.”

“Of course. It’s clear from talking to her tonight that she loves you as a sister should. And I’m actually glad that you mentioned her. She might be the source of turning aside some of the ponies starting to think that Wing might have a point.”

“No.” Rosewater shook her head. “Stars, she took enough risks making this dress for me.”

“You have no idea how much more of a risk she’s taken for you tonight,” Pleat said softly. “Let her decide. This is her war, too.” She turned and waved her hoof at Silk, trying to look inconspicuous as she sipped at wine and watched the crowd around her until Pleat waved her closer. “We’re trying to make this look like an attempt at reconciliation, so…”

“Reconciliation…” Rosewater closed her eyes, waiting until she heard Silk’s hoofbeats on the floor before adding, “This is dangerous for you, Silk.”

“And it’s not for you?” Silk snorted and stomped closer. “Do you really think I’d let you take all of this on yourself? That’s just like you, just like Carnation to try to do. Stars, she tried to raise you on her own—”

“She didn’t! Stars, she raised me with Budding and Blue Star and Tempest. They all raised me in the Garden tradition, and that was half the reason mother hated me when I was young. She hates the Garden, and she always has since Roseline told her they were their own special rule.”

“Then why did you try to raise Rosemary all on your own? Why did you take that all on yourself if it wasn’t because Carnation taught that to you?”

“Ladies,” Pleat broke in before Rosewater could answer, her ears flat. “Please, I know you said you wanted to play it like a reconciliation, but stars, you’re not supposed to actually fight over your lives. Silk, you had a question for Rosewater, and… honestly, how you answer it is going to influence where I fall.”

“Pleat?” Silk blanched and glanced at the pregnant mare.

“I barely know you, as you said,” Pleat said, “but I consider myself a good judge of character, and I want to get to know your sister. I believe you can both do a good deal of good, but I would be lying if I said some of what Wing said wasn’t starting to make sense to me, too.”

“S-stars…” Silk stared at her. “Is… he really that convincing?”

“He styles himself something of an orator when he gets his nose out of his backside, and he’s not half bad at it when his gander gets up, and with the Garden playing games with his children, he’s not in an especially kindly mood tonight.” Pleat jerked her head towards where the bar was, where Gale wasn’t anymore, and where the young Primfeather Stride stood talking to Petal and Seed, the two of them making placating gestures.

“Stars…” Rosewater shook her head. “They’re not malicious. They’re friendly, and—”

“Oh, I know. They were more than kind to me when I went up, and they were even thoughtful enough to carry something that could give me a taste without endangering my foal.” Pleat snorted and shook her head. “Talk, Silk.”

“What are you doing? I mean… with this. With everything you’re doing tonight. Courting Collar, are… stars, what are you doing? Dapper said Collar wouldn’t let you abandon our way, but I can’t see… stars, I can’t see any other way, Rosewater. They’d never accept you marrying Collar and Dazzle.”

“I’m… not marrying Dazzle,” Rosewater said with a feeling of deeper sadness than she wanted to contemplate. “I can’t, Silk. Not and have my marriage to Collar work. Vine already tore into me over it, and if you think I’m not as torn up, at least as much, then let me tell you another thing. I love him. I love Collar. But if I’m to do what must be done, what needs to be done to end the war…”

“You need to abandon our way of life.” Silk’s voice sounded despondent. “Was there truly no other way, Rosewater? Is mother so in control that the only way you can win is to lose?”

“No.” Rosewater glanced at Collar, who gave her a smile, but nodded towards Silk as if saying it was her decision. “No, Silk. Dapper was right. I’m not abandoning our way of life, but neither is Collar abandoning his. If Merriedamme is going to work, we’re all going to need to compromise. We can’t have a divided city that only works because nopony ever crosses the river. We can’t be afraid of each other. Stars, just the other day, I saw young love blossoming between a Dammer washmare’s daughter and a young stallion of the Garden apprenticed to a vintner. That’s what we need.”

“And… you’re it?” Pleat asked while Silk stared at her.

“I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying, to Silk, that Collar and I, and Lace and Dapper have agreed to support an arrangement that suits both Merrier custom and Dammer custom. We’re not having an open marriage like many in Merrie have, but a closed one after the Dammer style. Four of us.” She left out who. Dealing with her being married to her daughter in a public forum was… not the best of ideas. “Cloudy is one of them, and I have been courting her at the same time I’ve been courting Collar.”

“We’re working with the fourth, but we don’t want to make it even secretly public yet,” Collar added, glancing between Pleat and Primwave. “You, my lord, I know understand that compromise is necessary. We’re not giving in. Rosewater is giving up much of her cultural freedom, but I’m also giving up much of my cultural stability.”

Silk’s eyes widened more and more as Rosewater told her what she was doing, her jaw dropping until she started to tear up. “But… Rosewater, stars, you’re giving up more than he is. Stars, mare.”

“We discussed that,” Collar said, glancing from Rosewater to Silk, and then to Primwave. “Obviously we haven’t been able to vet the idea, but…”

“But we’re not ready to share them yet,” Rosewater added, glancing at Collar and shaking her head. “Rest assured, neither of us is giving up anything that would make ponies object too strenuously on either side of the river.”

“Rosewater…” Silk closed her eyes and took a breath. “You know what mother is going to say. That you’re abandoning our way, that you’re preparing to surrender to Damme and force us all to accept the Tussen Twee.”

“I do.” Rosewater winced and glanced at Collar again, closing her eyes. “And… I’m not going to make that easier to disprove for some time, sadly. Suffice to say that… when the time comes, I will show her lies for what they are.”

“But you’re… Rosewater, how long? Stars, you’re not getting married tonight, so you can’t possibly hope to head her off with whatever contract you have.”

Guilt twisted Rosewater’s guts again. In a perfect world, she’d have invited her sisters, all of them, and her friends and other family to witness. She could show Silk the vows they’d written and the contract Lace had prepared that left them a way to open their marriage to others for Cloudy and Rosemary to come into it. She could tell them that as of tonight, she’ll have declared for Collar, but that would reach more ears than she wanted it to too quickly.

It would be Roseate’s suspicion anyway, and any word or rumor that she’d actually done it would send her into an unpredictable and dangerous rage. She might ignore the binding of the Rosewine territory agreement and order her goons to attack the Garden directly.

“I don’t know,” Rosewater said with a deep exhalation. “I don’t, Silk. I’m sorry. A Damme courtship is… lengthy, as Lady Pleat can likely tell you. Months, at best.” Months she’d already gone through tension and doubt and growing certainty. “I promise you, though, I’m not abandoning our way.”

“Nor would I want her to, but my mother is right in stating that we need to be a unified front for a time to reassure ponies in Damme,” Collar added. “We’re not going to be enforcing the Principes. We’re not going to be enforcing the Tussen Twee. What we’re going to do is let ponies decide for themselves. That’s the only way Merriedamme will work. Neither of us can win. We have to come together and decide for ourselves what we want to do with our lives. We’re trying to be the example of that.”

“What you say makes sense,” Pleat said with a sigh. “But that’s not how either of your opponents are going to see it.”

“Since you’ve played your cards,” Clipper added, “you’ll need to be aggressive and push your initial surprise. Tell ponies what you’re telling us. If you have a third or a fourth, bring them out, have them tell their support.”

“It’s Cloudy,” Rosewater said softly. “I’ve been courting her, too.”

“That’s going to give mother conniptions,” Silk replied with a sigh. “But it makes sense. And that upset you put Vine through about Dazzle?”

“I… he knows. He helped us plan this, and he’s going to be a big part of it succeeding.” Rosewater closed her eyes and leaned against Collar. “Collar asked me not to hurt anypony, and I’ve tried my best to keep to that. It’s been hard to navigate the acting to make it seem like I was going to go all in for Collar. I never wanted to hurt him or her. I love both of them.”

Pleat sighed.

“It’s not so bad,” Clipper told her with a jaunty smile. “So long as she stays true to her heart, most of our ponies aren’t going to listen to too much of what the Primfeathers are saying.”

“You hope. Stars. Silk, this… this is what you wanted, isn’t it? You wanted to see your sister not abandon your ways. But what the Primfeathers are saying is going to have a push forward, too. You and your mother need to push back against it before it has a chance to take hold.”

“We were going to say something at the closing remarks,” Collar said, glancing towards the knights currently mediating a discussion between Lace, Roseate, and a pony whom presumably had called them over to keep things cool. “Let the fire burn and heat the metal, then strike while it’s still hot.”

“I would suggest doing that sooner than later,” Clipper said. “Ponies will start finding their way out soon and you’ll lose your chance to do some amatuer blacksmithing.”

“He’s right,” Rosewater said aloud, realizing the truth of it. Galas weren’t long affairs, and as long as she was still going to stay, it meant that ponies were going to start leaving within the hour if not sooner. “Stars. Silk, I hate to ask you—”

“I already volunteered by listening to you, dear sister, and while I appreciate your caution, have a thought to how much we’ve endured, too.” She raised a hoof to Rosewater’s breast and pressed lightly. “You can’t be Carnation, Rosewater. You can’t take everything on yourself and get exiled for it. We need you.”

“Then, please. Do what you can with Pleat to downplay what Wing is saying. You know I wouldn’t force my way of life on anypony, and you’ve heard what I want, Pleat. Ponies to decide for themselves.”

“I have. I believe you, my lady. I’ve heard some of who you are from the Guard whose uniforms I burnished for tonight. Some hopeful. Some fearful. Some a mix of both.” Pleat tapped Silk on the shoulder. “Come along. I think I have some idea of whom to start with.”

“Be careful, ‘Water,” Silk said, her smile quirking at the nickname. “I don’t know when we’ll get to talk again like this.”

“It had better be tomorrow,” Rosewater told her with a nip to her cheek. “I need to complain at you about my dress, after all.” She winked and waved her off. “Be safe, and stars watch over you.”

“And I,” Clipper said as soon as they left, “shall go to do battle with the Lady Roseate’s misinformation.” He started off, stopped, and laughed. “You know. This is the most fun I’ve ever had at one of these galas. They’re always so stuffy and boring. Thank you, at the very least, for making things more interesting.”

Collar chuckled and tapped hooves with the older stallion. “Good luck and fair sailing in troubled waters.”

“Aye, thank ye.” Clipper turned to her and raised her foreleg gently with his, bending to kiss it even as he looked up into her eyes. “And you, my fair lady. Please be more open now that you’ve no more secrets to hide. You’ve a beautiful smile, and it would do both cities good to see it more.”

“I will do my best, my lord, and I will remember your kindness tonight. Thank you.”

It was… interesting to fold back into the crowd of Dammers, more of them wanting her opinion on Rosewater than giving it to her, each question full of its own bias against her and her way of life, as if romantic love should automatically be assumed to only apply to two ponies and no more than two.

“What do you think they’re going to do? Is she going to court more ponies alongside him?”

“How long do you think Lord Collar will entertain this fancy of his?”

“When do you think she’ll let him know she’s been seeing that Dazzle fellow?”

“Is she keeping that a secret from him?”

The barrage was nonstop, with only the faintest of pleasantries offered as each new question came at her, before she could even ask any of her own about Collar or what he was like, or what his relationship with Cloudy had been like.

“Ponies, please,” Pleat said, stepping half in front of Silk as another round of questions started before she’d even had a chance to consider what her answers to the first could be. “Let her get a chance to think, please, and don’t expect her to betray her own sister’s trust, even if she doesn’t follow our ways.”

Silence fell over the group for a few precious seconds, letting Silk pull herself together at least a little more fully. “Thank you, Pleat. Stars, ponies, I know you want to know more, but there’s only so much I can say.” Less than you might think, if I’m going to protect my…

She’s going to know what I said earlier. It will get back to her. Unless she hurt Rosewater here, she was… she almost cringed at the direction her thoughts were taking her, where she was afraid she might fall again. They wanted to hear things that would let them hate her, and they were giving her the chance to ingratiate herself to them. It was the same game, but on the other side of the river.

“Rosewater,” Silk said hesitantly, facing the first questioner, “isn’t one to abandon her ideals, but neither is she one to push her ideals on others like our mother. She’s a good pony, just like the mare who raised her, and respects and cherishes your way of life just as much as she loves ours.”

“Debauchery,” somepony muttered from the crowd. “Hedonistic flights of fancy.

“It’s not hedonism!” Silk said more heatedly than she wanted to. “Stars, we fight against it every day with our laws and our togetherness. We watch out for each other, take care of each other, and make sure that we’re all taken care of.” Silk closed her eyes and raised her head, taking a deep breath before opening them again. “I wish I could share with you the openness, the feeling of community that springs out of our way of life. The communal nature of our lifestyle is so welcoming and heartening. I truly wish that I was free to be as open as I could, but… I’m a soldier. Tonight is the first night I didn’t feel like I had that hanging over me when talking to a fellow Merriedammer.”

“Dammer, you mean?”

“Stars, no. That’s what Rosewater means when she talks about togetherness. It’s so much more than winning. We don’t have to win over you. You don’t have to win over us. All we want, all I have ever wanted, is to live a quiet life.” Silk tapped her breast lightly as she turned to face more of the ponies around her. “I don’t want to take away your lifestyle. I admire you for the commitment it takes to stay with one pony for the rest of your lives. I’m not nearly so strong as that. But I don’t have to be. What I lack, my neighbor has, and what she lacks, I have.”

Pleat was nodding slowly. “I… never really thought of it like that. But it makes more sense than what I’ve heard about having nothing but sex all the time. You do have an economy at least equal to ours, and having sex all the time seems hardly conducive to the spirit of… is it hard work or cooperative work?”

“Both. Stars, I’d get nowhere if I didn’t rely so much on my assistants. And if we get done early for the day…” Silk shrugged and let it sit. No need to further disturb her audience. “We help each other with each others’ tasks to get done earlier.”

Pleat startled and looked up at the sound of a shout from across the ballroom floor.

“I desire to leave! It is my right to leave!”

“Oh stars,” Silk muttered.

“Mother,” Rosewater’s voice came clearly over the silence that followed. “Please, this is something important. Collar and I—”

“I care not what madness you get up to! You won’t gain my consent in this union. I’ll not let you surrender Merrie to Damme’s wiles without a fight, and neither will my loyal subjects!”

“Stars above, that’s not what we’re doing! I love Collar, and—”

“Rut him, then, I care not, but you’ll never get my blessing.”

“I don’t need it,” Rosewater said more stiffly, standing up straighter and staring down at her mother. “I was asking because it was the proper Damme tradition.”

“You heard it from her own lips!”

“And Collar and I chose together,” Rosewater went on calmly, “that we would respect both traditions. I, honoring his, and he honoring mine. Though he has yet to ask my other lovers their blessing for my hoof in marriage. It’s our choice.”

Silence reigned in the ballroom for long moments. Wing, thankfully, hadn’t chosen that moment to leap on her calm words. For good reason, as well. It would make him look as reactionary and frankly deranged as Roseate appeared to Silk’s eyes.

“Let her leave if she wishes, please Sir Firelight,” Lace said in a tired voice. “Rosewater made her attempt, and I am satisfied that she has tried to uphold our traditions. I give my blessing, Collar. Rosewater has shown herself to be a right and honorable mare.”

“Princess Celestia’s writ…”

Firelight’s voice was lost for a moment behind a shimmering shield of silver and gold as the stallion conversed quietly with Lace. Roseate waited impatiently, blocked by the Dammeguard politely and extremely nervously watching from their positions guarding the open doors to the hall beyond.

“You’ll not steal our ponies’ way of life from them,” Roseate said in a decent approximation of passionate disapproval. “I won’t let you.”

Stars. She’s still playing up that angle.

After a long, tense silence with Rosewater looking extremely apologetic and embarrassed, Firelight dropped the magical silence, frowning. “You may go, Lady Roseate, but I will be having words regarding your conduct later. There are better times to… address your concerns.”

“I will accept the reprimand if it means I don’t have to watch the city I love be sold out from under us.” Roseate stormed out before Rosewater could respond or, by the looks of it, even decide how she could respond.

“I… apologize, everypony,” Rosewater said loudly enough to be heard over the starting whispered conversations all around the ballroom. “I wished to follow your cultural traditions and get the approval of not only my parent for Collar, but his for me. I am not trying to surrender my way of life, but neither am I trying to say that yours is beneath me. I want to respect your traditions as closely as I may and still keep my identity as a Merrier.”

She waited a theatrical beat, her head bowed for a long moment as if contemplating something profound.

“Not as a Merrier. As a Merriedammer. A citizen of a city united, where choice is free to all of which cultural heritage they wish to follow. Where Merrier and Dammer can live side-by-side in peace, prospering under the shining light of a new dawn that we make for ourselves, where we can all work towards a common good.”

“Stars,” Pleat breathed. “Did she goad her mother to act just so she could say all that?”

Silk stood there for a long moment, staring at her sister and realizing for the first time that she had a chance. Not just saying she had a chance, but believing that Rosewater could succeed. Not win, but she could succeed at her goals.

“No.” Silk took a deep breath and looked at all the ponies around her, waiting for her opinion, eager to hear her say something grandiose or pithy. “Stars, she doesn’t think that curvy. She might have tried to provoke her into saying something stupid, and asking for her blessing definitely qualifies as poking the rabid badger. But to say that? No. That… stars. Merriedamme.”

“What does Merriedamme mean to you, Silk?” Somepony asked. She glanced at him, then back to her sister. “What she said. Working together… stars, where’s Crown? She needs to hear this. She… stars, I want to hope and I want to share it with her.”

Crown rested her cheek against Note’s neck, her hooves stilled as the distant music faded, brought by Note’s tenuous magical connection to the hall and the music flowing outside the library door. Tonight was bliss. Surrounded by books, with her lover holding her close, her mother with no chance of finding her here without fighting her way through the entire Dammeguard contingent in the palace.

“Tonight was perfect,” she murmured.

“Almost perfect,” he replied, leaning back and looking into her eyes. “Your other lovers aren’t here.”

“They’re not yours.”

“Yet. Stars, mare.” He nipped her nose lightly and kissed her lips gently. She’d lost count of how many kisses they’d shared, all ‘in the open,’ in his city, in his home almost. “I’ve been watching you all for half my life, listening to everything you do, and longing for something even half as rewarding for myself, but afraid to admit I wanted more than what anypony in my city would possibly be okay with.”

Crown bit her lip, studying her love, staring into his eyes and looking for anything that said otherwise.

But all she saw was the faint exasperation of his words, no veil of deception in his eyes or his words. He was sincere, or at least as sincere as a Dammer could be without trying it for himself and seeing if it worked for him. Exchanging words in letters was one thing, but actually sharing day-to-day life, loving and sharing all around was another. She’d seen too many Dammers fail at that.

Stars, for a time she’d thought Dazzle, even after a year of living in the Garden, wouldn’t be able to handle so clearly and obviously falling in love with Rosewater. The signs had been clear enough even from the few glimpses of them together she’d had, and that late night rendezvous between them had been so charged and fraught with tension despite her sister’s blocking sound that she’d almost heard his confession anyway simply from the way they looked together.

And now she was here, in her sister’s position, wondering if her lover could be not only with her, but also Crisp and Gilded.

It came down to the same decision she was almost certain Rosewater had to have made. Either she trusted him or she did not.

“I trust you to know your own heart,” Crown said at last. “I trust you to tell us if you have any doubts or worries. I love you, Note, and it worries me every moment that we’ll be another one of the romances across the river that ultimately end without… without any…”

“You’re not Frosty Rosewing, and neither are you your mother. We’ll make it out on the other end, love. We will. Somehow we’ll find a way to make it work.” Note kissed her again, letting it linger as her eyes slipped closed, sharing more than breath, but hope for a future together, and not just together but with others they both loved.

When he broke away, she was breathing more heavily, her cheeks flushed and leaving her wishing that Crisp and Gilded were there with her to share the moment with him.

But they were not, and could not be until they’d solved the thorny problem of Roseate ordering her to capture him.

Would that she could tell Roseate that she’d already been captured by him and be with him openly and without reservation, take her loves and her books and her clients with her to Damme and set up to live a quiet life selling, reading, and writing books with her loves.

“I want it,” Crown whispered hoarsely. “Stars, I want our own place to be, surrounded by all that we love. Books and scrolls, friends and lovers, free…” Her throat tightened as an image of that dream came to her, late in the autumn, a fire in the hearth warming her flank on one side, a lover at her other sharing in the same warmth. The wind outside might be cold and fierce, the first real snow that would stick around until the next year already coming down in thick, gusting waves of white.

On stage, Gilded Page would be reciting a poem of her own to a small crowd of friends sipping warm mulled wine or warm cider, or ale, or…

“We’ll have it, love. All the things I see swimming in your eyes, beauty and friendship, love and peace.”

“Soon?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“Sooner than you fear, but not so soon as you hope.” Note pulled her in for another embrace, holding her close. “I wish you could stay the night.”

“Me too.” But all she could manage was this time, alone with him and away from eyes that would warn her mother that she had already failed her mission. She would have to tell her sometime that she failed, but it was her sincere hope that she could wait until she was on the other side of the river. On this side of the river. With everypony that her mother could strike back at already also safely away.

“You did mention you wanted me to come to the Librarium… and I’ve been giving that some thought since you mentioned it.”

“You have? You didn’t mention it before now, why? Why not when I made that quip earlier?” Crown pulled back just enough to see the amusement in his eyes flash briefly.

“I wanted to save it for either a surprise… or when you needed a pick-me-up.” He nipped her nose and laughed at her faux-sour expression. “Come now. I need to keep a twist in my saddlebags at all times or you might get bored.”

“I would not!” Crown nipped his cheek, laughing, and leaned close. “So… tell me, my intriguing and not at all boring stallion… what’s this brilliant idea of yours?”

Author's Note

The big moment. The fallout. The hope and almost the climax of the book. Or maybe it is the climax. Somewhere in there. The next chapter, the Gala ends, and a surprise that I've been hinting at the entire arc.

Hypervelocity, please don't die from excite.