“Good evening, everypony.” Firelight stepped out onto the edge of the raised dais, surveying the ponies that had stayed past the mandatory attendance period. Quite a few more than had been there during the summer gala, and it was heartening and exciting to see the changes that had gone on since that tense gala. “Tonight brings to mind a story Princess Celestia once told me about the moment she knew the Battle of Two Nights was almost over.”

Ponies stopped their talking to turn ears to him, and even the Primfeathers stopped their quiet proselytizing of other Damme nobles to pay attention to his words. The Battle was an event of mythic proportions, and still entered into mythologizing despite Her Highness’s attempts to maintain the accuracy of the records.

“A week before the Long Night was over, she said there was a tension to the air over her soldiers, not a feeling of impending doom, but that of a veil ready to tear and unveil a hidden wonder.” He tipped his head to Wandering Star. “It was something she said she felt before Wandering Star and I were assigned here.”

He held his breath for a moment, seeking out the two faces in the crowd that had finally let him feel that same tension and nodded to them.

“Tonight, I felt that for the first time. When I saw Lord Collar and Lady Rosewater dancing together, laughing together, and enduring the trials of facing their own ponies with their decision to set aside their past animosity—even personal animosity, as I understand—and look past what they knew about each other, I felt it, and I encourage all of you here to examine the reasons why you object to their courtship and if it makes sense.”

Tonight, he could feel it. His task, inherited from a line of ponies that included Rosewater’s own father, who’d stood watch for his five year stint here, was close to an end, and he could see Blue Star’s dream for the end come true. He’d read the old stallion’s logs as soon as he’d known whom he’d sired, and wished he’d had a chance to read his last testament.

Blue Star was a legend in the knighthood, and his daughter was a fascinating mare, both in who she was and what she’d done with her life.

“This night, Celestia believed, would let you come together and see that you’re not what you thought of each other before. It has taken time, as it has since the War of the Long Night, for ponies to see that the past does not speak to what you can achieve in the future, and I am glad that I’ve been here to see it.”

Wandering Star took that as her cue to step up to the front of the stage. “There is still work to do, but these first steps are important on the road to a united Merriedamme, and I, too, am excited to see them being taken. Some of you have heard some… terrible things tonight. I ask, in the interest of putting the past behind, that all of you think about tonight and what Lady Rosewater and Lord Collar have shown. We’re not here to tell you what to do, we’re observers and peacekeepers, moderators in a discussion that has gone on for centuries now.

“My office has always been open, as has Firelight’s, and I encourage you to take advantage of our experience as students of Princess Celestia and her long experience to discuss what comes next, how to adapt, and how to make friends and forge lasting relationships across the river that’s divided you ideologically and physically. We have experience with that in rebuilding our nation, and we would want to see you united, even if you choose not to join us in a union of nations.”

Wandering Star had stayed closer to the speech that Celestia expected them to deliver at every gala than he had, and she gave him a little smirk as she turned back away. Something that she would tell Celestia and he would have to endure her teasing for.

“Thank you all for staying as late as you have. As is tradition, now is the time for open questions of Her Highness’s representatives.”

Also on cue, Rosewater stepped up, raising her head and a hoof to tap lightly on the stage before anypony else could muster a question. “I know it’s late, and I know it’s outside the treaty bounds, but I want to tell my daughter that I’m courting Collar before it has a chance to get back to her through lips not my own. She deserves to hear it from me.”

“Of course, my lady. I would also like to check on both of Lady Lace’s prisoners and ensure they’re receiving the best care despite their long incarceration.” Firelight glanced at Wandering Star, practically vibrating where she stood. “Does anypony else have any questions?”

Cloudy flicked her ears and tried to pay attention to the cards tucked into her feathers. It was very hard, though, with Rosemary’s ears perked and her breathing quavering as she tried not to laugh at the comical face Thistle wore while examining his hoof of cards.

“I can lend you a few—”

“I am not going to lose!” Thistle rumbled hoarsely.

“You’re going to lose,” Coat whispered in his husband’s ear. “Look at that face. So serious.”

“I’m not. Now stop bothering me.” Thistle flicked his ear and set aside two cards. “Raise two petals.”

“Stars, this isn’t poker. It’s petals.” Cloudy rolled her eyes but discarded two cards. “I’ll raise you two. And pay in ten to get my kiss, Rosemary.”

Thistle’s cheeks heated, but he didn’t react as Rosemary leaned in, her eyes locked on Cloudy’s. She let her eyes linger on his for a moment only before she closed them and settled into the warm kiss, her fourth this evening bought mostly on teasing Thistle into giving up what his cards were.

“You’re not going to get me this time,” Thistle growled.

“You say that,” Coat replied lightly as he doled out the four cards, “and yet you’ve only bought one kiss from me tonight.”

“I was saving up for two. Besides, this is… I don’t understand the rules all that well.” He glanced at Rosemary, raising a brow, then sighed and flicked an ear. “Can you give me some advice?”

“Hey, no fair!” Cloudy cried.

“It’s not my fault she checked out early for cuddling.”

“Fold,” Rosemary said with a grin and a wink. “Cloudy’s got a solid hoof that’ll be hard to beat.”

“Not helpful.”

Cloudy felt it first when Rosemary raised her head minutely and sniffed at the air. When her marks glowed as she took a deeper breath and closed her eyes, even Thistle went quiet.

“They’re coming,” Rosemary said, her voice quavering with excitement. “Rosewater and Collar and…” She raised her head and sniffed more deeply still, gathering the air around her muzzle as she rose along with Cloudy and moved to a position by her bed. “Sunrise and Platinum and Lace and Dapper. And… I don’t recognize those two.”

“That will probably be the Knights,” Cloudy said, testing the air and smelling only a confused crowd of ponies with Rosewater and Collar foremost in her recognition. “Coat, you have your witness book?”

“Aye.”

“Oh my stars, this is happening,” Thistle said nervously standing and trying, briefly, to bring order to the cluster of food and drink Coat had brought from the vendor hall. “Stars, is this really happening? Coat, help.”

“Calm,” Coat said, using a spell to neaten the tray while Rosemary pulled together the rest of the room and settled the bed back into order. “This is expected, and we planned for this, remember?”

The tawny-coated earth pony bobbed his head and nodded, stepping back and tending to his own appearance with hooves and lips. “I know, but, stars… it was enough of a surprise when you sprang it on me.”

“Then imagine how surprised I was when a mare I had known as an enemy combatant only was to become my lord’s wife and mother to his child in the same night.” Coat said with a glance at Cloudy. “I was certain it was going to be you, eventually.”

“I know.” Cloudy offered him a small smile and checked again her log book, the entry for tonight already there in as good a hoof as she could manage, but not marked completed yet. It was the first entry in her book, the most important one not only on Rosewater’s journey, but what Cloudy imagined would be her journey to becoming a mother. Her journey to marrying Rosemary as she’d so often dreamed of. “I’m sorry, Coat. We wanted to tell more ponies, but not until we had more than a vague hope of a plan.”

“It’s still a vague hope of a plan,” Rosemary whispered in her ear as she settled the comforter down and arranged the pillows with a swift spell, then set about fluffing and rearranging the pillows they’d all lain on, remaking her bed-nest of pillows.

“Stars, I know.” Cloudy felt a moment of trepidation flitter through her. If Roseate snapped, there might not be a second chance, but if they could keep her distracted and unknowing for long enough, they might be able to make it. “But it’s the only way I can see forward.”

“Yeah.” Rosemary nipped her cheek lightly. “But… it’s happening. Mom’s getting married!”

“Very exciting for you,” Coat said gently, smiling and bobbing his head. “I’m glad you’re here for it, Rosemary.”

“And I,” Cloudy murmured against her cheek just as the door shook lightly, then Dapper’s graying muzzle poked through a crack in the door.

“You’re not doing anything I wouldn’t be doing, are you?”

“Dapper!” Lace’s exasperated voice sounded just behind his. “There are still guests here.”

“Ah. My apologies for any prudes that might be trying to listen in, then,” Dapper said with a smirk before he opened the door more widely and stuck his head in. “Seriously, though, is everything ready?”

“What do we need to get ready for?” Cloudy asked, leaning aside to try and get a look at Rosewater. She and Rosemary had watched them all trickle in, but from the second floor it had been hard to get good angles before they disappeared behind the bulk of the palace. “We’ve been playing Petals and getting to know each other all night while you—”

Cloudy’s words fell away when Rosewater poked her head around the door jamb, her crown glittering ruby and sapphire in the light from the myriad lamps around the room. She’d had some makeup on her cheeks, on her eyelids, and when her gaze swept over them, her smile burst into radiance.

Stars, it felt like a month or more since she’d seen her, and a part of her wanted to leap to her and throw her forelegs around her, but Lace’s reminder was right. There were guests out in the main hall still, their voices carrying inconstantly down the way in distant flickers of sound.

“Cloudy, Rosemary, it’s so good to see you again,” Rosewater’s voice came rich with emotion, thick with it as she picked her way past Dapper and bobbed her head briefly to Coat and Thistle. “Coat, Thistle. Thank you for entertaining my daughter and my lover tonight. I wish they, and you, could have joined us.”

Cloudy’s hackles prickled and her pinion feathers twitched. More was there behind the words than what Rosewater had told them she’d planned for, but there was so much she couldn’t have in the past hectic week of preparations and discord on both sides of the river.

“You look radiant,” Rosemary whispered, her eyes tracking over the dress and her mother’s mane and tail. “Stars…” She flicked a look at Cloudy, then at the other ponies in the room and behind in the hallway beyond. “Mother.”

“They all know,” Rosewater said somberly, closing her eyes for a moment and glancing behind her, then stepping forward to let Collar join her in the doorway and lean against her. “Roseate knew, and I had to tell them before she used it against me. So… they all know, Rosemary. We don’t have to hide anymore. We can’t.”

Cloudy’s eyes flitted to Collar, resplendent in his full regalia with the crown on his brow glittering in counterpoint to Rosewater’s, and leaned against her in support of her. They were closer than they had been before, open with affection to each other, and there was a not-so-subtle return lean from her.

“It had to happen,” Rosemary said after a long moment, stepping away from Cloudy, then back towards her as Rosewater and Collar came farther inside at the gentle clucking tongue of Lace behind them. “Stars, I’m not sure how… this is…”

“It will be crowded,” Lace said as she slipped in behind Collar and Rosewater as they shuffled in closer, Rosewater settling in beside Rosemary and nuzzling her lightly. “But we need all of these ponies as witness to tonight’s events so it will be undisputed.”

Cloudy settled in closer to Collar as he awkwardly backed himself in beside Rosewater, his tail flicking and ears flat as Firelight and Wandering star came in, pushing Coat and Thistle closer to the bathing room.

“It’s useful that you moved your bed against the wall,” Cloudy murmured around two ponies to Rosemary. Her wings felt tight as Sunrise and Platinum came in, followed by Poppy leading Glory. “Stars, I don’t think we have room for more if…”

“We have room,” Lace said calmly. “The other two rooms can see what will happen if ponies stand close to the door. “Be calm, everypony. We have a few things to discuss before we can start.”

Cloudy hesitated, then reared up and rested one hoof on Collar’s back, looking around the room at all the faces gathered to watch the union of her lovers. Some looked back at her with trepidation and worry. Even Lace gave her a worried look as the mare settled in beside the door as it closed.

I have to say something.

Even Rosewater was looking to her as if she expected her to say something.

Because some might view her as poaching from me. Not everypony here knew that she was courting Rosewater as well, or that Cloudy and Rosemary were lovers. She imagined the knights knew the least of the situation.

“Um. So…” Cloudy cleared her throat. “I’m not really one for speeches or big plays, but…”

“One moment, dear,” Lace said gently, her horn flaring. “Sir Spark, Lady Star? Would you consent to me silencing the room?”

“Of course, Lady Lace,” Wandering Star said, bobbing her head briefly. “And thank you.”

“Of course.”

“Stars…” Cloudy swallowed as Lace spread her magic through the gemstones in the corners of the room. “Sorry, my lady. I’m… anxious.”

“Of course you are. You’re about to stand witness to your lover being married.” Lace cocked her head and held one ear up. “You can give your speech now, my dear.”

Cloudy closed her eyes and accepted a nuzzle from Collar, then a surprise one from Rosewater across his back. “I, um. Stars, put me on the spot.”

“You put yourself on the spot,” Rosemary said with a soft chuff of a laugh.

“Fine. I approve of this marriage. For anypony that was worried that I was being set aside, you’re wrong. Collar has made sure I know that he’s not setting me aside, and Rosewater has, too.” Cloudy met the eyes of everypony in the room, looking for uncertainty or concern, pausing briefly on Platinum and Sunrise, two ponies brought in at the final hour out of necessity of trusting them.

They would be Rosewater’s initial escorts to ensure that the requirement of documenting her movements and whether she was alone with anypony else.

Sunrise flicked a look at Rosewater and bit her lip for a long moment before she nodded firmly, standing straighter and meeting Cloudy’s gaze again. “I have no problem with this. I’ve always thought it unfair to those that come to us from Merrie that they couldn’t practice their culture here.”

Platinum merely nodded. “I know, Cloudy.” She flashed a cocky smile. “I mean, I did help you break the law already. What’s one more, eh?”

Cloudy laughed and flicked one ear when Lace shot her an exasperated look. “It was a minor law, my lady. I assure you it wasn’t even close to illegal in Merrie.”

“Stars help me,” Lace muttered. “And to think you remind me more of Dapper each and every day.”

Dapper cackled. “Love and crime together. I love it.”

Cloudy chuckled and winked at him. “I think this counts as a conspiracy to commit crime, right?”

Firelight rolled his eyes and nudged Wandering as she started snickering. “We didn’t hear anything. We’re here to hear the vows of the betrothed and recognize the marriage. Since you can’t really do that publicly without giving away your entire plan. Right?”

“Exactly so,” Collar said with a sigh and a look at Cloudy. “Thank you, love. I promise, we’ll make this right as quickly as we can.”

“I know.” Cloudy kissed his cheek, then his lips. “Until then, I want you to enjoy marriage to one mare. I want you to embrace this marriage, Collar, and abide by it. Let’s not give Wing any more ammunition.”

His somber smile hurt, but he nodded and faced forward.

Collar worked free the ring on his horn, twisting it to get it free of the ridges of his horn, the crown floating with it for a moment before it left the passive aura of magic around his horn. Immediately, the faint strain left his horn, and he caught the crown before it could bonk him on the head like it had the first time he’d worn it.

Rosewater, beside him, had an easier time of it. Lifting the ring off her horn only made the thin silver metal of the crown wobble a little before she gave it to Rosemary. “I know I can’t take the ring home with me,” she said as her daughter worked the ring free of the hooks gently. “But I… I would like to wear it here, in private.”

“My dear, it’s my son’s to give to whomever he wishes, and of course you may wear it here. You may take it with you, if you want,” Lace said. “That he chose to give his grandmother’s wedding ring to his first wife is poetic and fitting. The last of the Prim raider regime to the first peaceful heir of Merrie.”

“It is,” Collar murmured, nuzzling her cheek. “I want you to take it with you. Wear it in private, love. Get used to it on your horn.”

Rosewater closed her eyes and leaned into him, then stood up straighter and stamped a hind hoof. “I’ll wait a few weeks to take it home and wear it openly. It will show that our romance is moving along faster than some might like, but it is moving along the lines ponies would expect for a Dammer marriage. Courtship, proposal, and then a long planning period before the marriage, and with winter coming…”

Collar chuckled. “Clever. Yes, let’s do that. Will you be ready… well, I suppose we won’t know until you do, will we?”

“No, we won’t,” Rosewater purred. “But… we can’t tonight, can we?”

“Nay,” Firelight said, breaking in with a step forward, then back. “Tonight is not the night to start your… carnal attempts. We must record the wedding in our logbooks for it to be accurate, and while I admit there are enough witnesses here, I daresay that if you were to get pregnant from tonight, the very fact that until tonight you were effectively uncelibate in the eyes of the law would pose questions. At least insofar as I understand the law in Merrie.”

“You have the right of it,” Wandering Star said with a sigh. “It’s one of the few restrictions on inheritance that I actually kind of do agree with on the Merrie side of the river. It has and does cause problems for ledgers, but we do get the occasional request to register a child by declaring and tracking, and it’s actually required for inheriting a certain amount of land… but I’m getting ahead of myself.”

“It’s actually rather interesting to learn,” Platinum said in a musing tone, ticking an ear and glancing at Rosewater again. “I can see why it’s been so hard to find a mate in Merrie if your mother has interfered with every attempt for you to find one willing to undergo that.”

“Stars…” Rosewater shook her head and flattened her ears. “Not tonight, Platinum, please.”

“Oh.” The mare flattened her ears in apology and dipped her head. “Sorry. Of course, I’d love to hear more later about what goes on.”

“Feel free to drop by any time, my dear,” Wandering star said with a grin. “We get so few Prims interested in the laws of Merrie that sometimes I have to send my secretaries in just to dust the place. But! Stars. Are we ready?”

“We will be in just a little while, I hope,” Collar said, glancing at the door. “We’re just waiting for Seed and Petal, I believe. They were still finalizing some deals, I believe, and… I think enough time has passed for you to give me a request to see them, dear Rosemary.”

“Collar!” Rosemary reared up and embraced her mother’s neck, using it as leverage to lean over her and nip at his neck. “You could have told me that was an option!”

“Surprise, lovely,” Collar said, dancing away and forward, slipping between Lace and Dapper to the door, evading most of her playful wrath. But not a tweak to his tail from a spell. “I thought you might enjoy the shock of it.”

He danced out of the room to her laughter, and felt colder when it cut off abruptly past the silencing of the spell. A glance back at her smiling, laughing expression and Rosewater’s equally delighted look was enough to salve the loss, and the sound of the Dammeguard and vendors engaging in breaking down their stalls and setting off was a reminder, too, that the night was still very young for most of these ponies.

“My lord,” one of the guards at the entrance to the ballroom said. “Is everything in order?”

“It is. We had a request to see family from Rosemary. Seed and Petal. Are they still here?”

“Aye, my lord.”

“Thank you.”

The interior of the ballroom was all but empty, with just a few pockets of nobility hanging about and talking to each other. The Primfeathers were still there, as far from the wine table as was possible to be without crossing the Merrie-Damme divide, where a few Merrie nobility were talking with Clipper Primwave still, the shipping magnate talking animatedly and likely telling one of his seafaring stories to his apparently rapt audience.

More than a few connections had been made tonight and, he hoped, the start of a solid foundation for Merriedamme when the time came to unify the city at last.

Petal and Seed were loading up a pair of small carts in their corner with the barrels, and the stock of wine barrels and bottles they’d brought seemed more compact now that it was packed into the honeycomb crates and stacked seemingly precariously, though the bar-top extended the bed of the they’d used as a part of the bar, the wheels and nature of the supporting structure hidden by the cloth they’d draped with the flag mark of the Garden of Love and the flag of Merrie.

“Seed, Petal,” Collar said, bowing his head to them briefly when they looked up from their deconstruction efforts. “I trust tonight was everything you hoped it would be?”

“More than, my lord,” Petal said diplomatically. “We made several deals, I believe, that will more than make up for the losses we incurred lately.”

“And we’ve made a new friend,” Seed said with a broad grin. “And you, my lord?”

“Actually, I’m a bit under a time crunch, but when visiting Rosemary, she asked if it would be possible to see the two of you tonight. Since, you know, you are both here.” Collar watched as realization flickered through both of them at what he was actually saying flittered through them. “Neither Firelight nor Wandering had an issue with letting you see her, as it is unusual for such a long incarceration, and family visits were never explicitly encoded in the laws of prisoners of war.”

Petal beamed. “Of course. We’d love to see her. Seed has dearly missed his cousin and partner in crime since… well, since she started making herself more scarce.” She coughed and glanced at Seed. “We’ve wanted to talk to her since she was taken.”

“Don’t get us wrong,” Seed said, glancing at his wife. “We’re grateful for the care you’ve taken of her.”

“She has been a pleasure to have here, forced guest or not. I wish the circumstances of her stay were different, and that she could have more freedom.” Collar waved at a guard close to the door. “Can you please keep an eye on their belongings? We may be gone for some time. It’s been months since they’ve seen Rosemary.”

The guard, a burly earth pony, glanced from him to Seed and Petal, saluted and nodded. “Of course, my lord.”

“And feel free to sample some of the goods,” Seed quipped at the guard as they all started to move away. “The less we have to take home, the easier the trip.”

Collar laughed and nodded to the incredulous guard. “It’s a party, Dust. Have a little fun tonight after us stuffy nobles had our fun.”

“Yes, my lord!”

“Stars, Seed,” Petal grumbled as they left the hall. “You could have given me some warning. I was hoping we’d be able to celebrate a little tonight at the Garden.”

“Who says we can’t?” Seed shot back, prancing more than a little as he kept up with Collar’s longer stride. “I’m definitely in a celebratory mood.”

“Emphasis on ‘brat,’” Petal muttered despite the grin on her lips. “Alright, alright. I’ll say we can break out one of the new vintages when we get home, along with whatever we have left.”

“If you have anything left,” Collar added. “My ponies are used to Dammerale.”

“And?” Seed raised a brow. “Our wine is as strong as your Dammerale. I’d propose a drinking contest sometime between you and Lady Rosewater, but I suspect I already know the outcome of that.” He raised his other brow and gave Collar a suggestive grin.

“Seed!” Petal swatted her husband’s flank with her tail and pranced ahead a few steps. “I apologize for him, but—”

“He’s not entirely wrong. I suspect he does know the eventual outcome of such an endeavor. Though perhaps not who would come out on top.”

Seed fell back half a pace, his jaw slack before he bellowed a laugh and caught up again with even more of a bounce in his step. “You surprise me, Lord Collar.”

“I’ve surprised a lot of ponies tonight,” Collar said faux indignantly, “I don’t see why I shouldn’t treat Rosewater’s cousin any differently.” He nodded to the guards watching them, one blushing and trying not to look at him, the others confused but at least looking amused. “We’ll be a little while. It’s a family reunion of sorts.”

“Of course, my lord,” the sergeant in charge of the group of privates and corporals said, her eyes dancing away from his as her cheeks heated more deeply red. “We’ll file it in the logbook as such.”

“Thank you, and Sergeant Comb, I assume, as per usual, that rumors of my ability to drink Rosewater under the table will be around the barracks by the end of the night?” Collar laughed at her further blush, and nudged her foreleg lightly. “I apologize for teasing, but tonight is a night I am in especially high spirits.”

The sergeant glanced at her guards, then nodded, her blush fading. “It’s good to see you in high spirits, my lord.”

“Does she love you?” Another guard asked, her eyes wide as she stared at him. Her uniform said she was a private first class, and her coloration and cutie mark said she was one of Poppy’s distant cousins at least.

“Parsnip!”

Collar raised a hoof at Sergeant Dovey Comb’s objection as the name gave him who she was. “Primbloom Parsnip, right?”

The young mare, likely barely old enough to join the Dammeguard, bobbed her head vigorously once.

“She does, Ms. Parsnip. I assure you, I wouldn’t court her if there were only political motivations. I am not my grandfather, nor my grandmother. We’re still exploring each other’s feelings, but…” Collar reached out and touched her shoulder. “I’m also not abandoning Cloudy. I know she means a lot to all of you, and I would never hurt her intentionally. I never would have started courting Rosewater without her consent and support.”

“But—”

Collar could feel Petal and Seed fairly vibrating behind and beside him as the young guardsmare struggled with the idea.

“She’s a Merrier at heart, Ms. Parsnip. Or, I should say, a Merriedammer. Her heart is in both cities, and this was the choice she made. And this is the choice I made. Lady Rosewater said it best that it’s up to every pony to choose their own path through life, not to have it mandated by one side of the river or the other.” Collar studied the other guards looking alternately at each other or at him, all of them clearly uncertain of how to feel. “All of you, if you take nothing else away from tonight, let it be that.”

Parsnip bobbed her head in a more subdued manner, as did the rest of the squad of guards. “O-of course, my lord. I meant nothing by… it just came out and I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“Calm, Private,” Collar said, chuckling. “I mean to address the Dammeguard later about this development, but I’m glad to speak to anypony. Tonight, I’m reuniting a family for just a little while, but I’ll be announcing a talk with the Guard within the week.”

“O-of course, my lord.” The mare flattened her ears and gave her sergeant a sheepish smile as Collar moved on and up the stairs to Rosemary’s suite.

Opening the door, he found Rosewater laying half on the bed, Cloudy half draped over her while Rosemary gesticulated with her hooves and ponies laughed silently on the other side of the doorway and spell.

Rosewater looked to him, her eyes sparkling with mirth and flicked an ear backwards just as Cloudy rolled over and threw her hooves in the air, mouth open in howling laughter.

“Stars…” Seed swallowed, stepped forward, stopped, and glanced at Collar. “I can go in?”

“I wouldn’t have you sit out here and stare at her, Seed. Go in and say hello.”

“So, the second time I snuck out,” Rosemary said, glancing at Rosewater as her mother rolled her eyes and made a gesture to go on. “I asked her if she could get me another cushion and a blanket, because I wanted to lay down and read and it was cold.”

“Oh stars,” Rosewater muttered, rolling her eyes and covering her muzzle with a foreleg. “Rosemary, please, I fear I shan't recover!”

“Oh, let her tell the story,” Cloudy murmured, giving Rosemary a wink and a small flick of her wing. “I want to hear how she finally tricked the observant, super-serious Ms. Mom Teacher into letting her run free.”

“I didn’t sneak out right away. She was wise to that tactic, and I was old enough to know it. Instead… I sat there for a few minutes and read like I was supposed to until Seed—”

“Distracted Auntie Rosewater with a kerfuffle down the hall from where she was keeping watch and doing her own homework,” Seed exclaimed, his voice alone making her jump and spin around to stare at her near-brother and his wife. “And then, while Rosewater was distracted, she put the extra pillow under the blanket and snuck out the window!”

“S-Seed!” Rosemary launched herself at him, catching him around the shoulders and nuzzling him from cheek to neck as he pranced in a circle to absorb the impact. “Stars, I… I hoped, because you were here, but I didn’t… I didn’t… know if you’d left already.”

“We’re here, trouble,” Seed murmured in her ear, pulling her close and stroking a hoof down her side. “We didn’t know if Lord Collar could manage it without it looking extremely suspicious. But he’s sneakier than I thought he was.”

“I’m sneakier than most of you think I am,” Collar grunted, nipping Rosemary’s ear as he passed. “Sneaky enough that most of you don’t think I’m sneaky at all.”

“He’s lying,” Cloudy called from the bed. “He’s about as sneaky as a thunderclap.”

“I don’t know,” Rosewater murmured musingly. “Thunderclaps can be pretty sneaky. Especially when you close your eyes so you can’t see the lightning.”

“Excuse you?” Collar huffed and nipped Rosemary’s ear.

“Excuse you!” Rosemary leapt up from Seed to wrap Collar’s neck and nip his ear. “What did I do?”

“You were closer,” Collar laughed, staggering as he bent his head towards her. “But to the point, he can’t be here for very long. I made it known that I was reuniting family to the guards, and they’ll do the job of spreading the reason better than if I’d announced it.”

Rosemary’s ears drooped, but she nodded. “Can… can he stay for a little while after the ceremony?”

“A little while, sure.” Collar glanced at Seed. “How much of your stock did you want to put to good use?”

Petal opened her mouth, and Rosemary could see the argument brewing there before it fell away in a smile. “All of it, my lord. However long it takes to empty the last cask. As Seed says, the less we have, the easier it will be to carry it home.”

“Then I think we can let it be an hour or so afterwards,” Collar said, tipping his head and nuzzling Rosemary’s cheek. “You have the ring, love?”

“It didn’t really fit in the crown’s hooks,” Rosemary said raising both the diadem with the silver chains reattached to the original silver ring and the golden ring with the thicker band decorated with tiny sapphire chips around the rim and the words of Damme chiseled in tiny letters wrapping around them. “It’s a beautiful ring, Collar.”

“And you’ll have one like it, if that’s the style you like, Rosemary,” Collar promised her. He glanced at Rosewater, then at the other ponies around them. “I know the laws of Merrie and Damme both prevent Rosemary from joining us in lawful wedding until her twenty-first birthday, but she will be joining us when the law allows. She and Cloudy were lovers before Cloudy and I, and had plans to marry before Cloudy’s ouster. I won’t break up that relationship, nor does Cloudy wish to break away from me.”

“That makes things rather complicated on the side of the vows,” Lace said, stepping forward and bowing her head. “It’s my duty to approve of the vows of my heir to ensure they conform to the laws of the land. In this case… I must make exception to my duty and approve vows that explicitly fly in the face of our laws in the hope that they will change. To that end, I ask that this marriage be recorded under the Seal of the Sun, and ask that the Crown of Canterlot recognize an… unusual set of vows.”

“Are you attempting to circumvent your laws?” Firelight asked calmly, looking unconcerned by the severity of the question.

“No. Rather, we are asking that my son’s marriage be recorded in the style of Merrie, but obviously the one that would register such a marriage is hostile to the union.” Lace snorted and glanced at Rosewater. “Thank you for making that a matter of public record, by the way.”

Rosewater snorted. “I didn’t provoke her on purpose. I meant every word of what I said, and if she had blessed our union, even sarcastically, I would have taken it as approval.” That sly look Rosemary knew so well came back a second later. “Not that I didn’t know the answer long before.”

“Then, with the power vested in me by Princess Celestia as her chosen representative, I will agree to witness your wedding under the Seal of the Sun with the vows you have chosen to follow the Merrie tradition.”

“With modifications!” Rosemary blurted, then blushed and wormed her way through the crowded room to her desk, where she pulled out the scroll she and Cloudy and Collar had been working on with the sporadic input from Rosewater ever since they’d decided on their course of action. “We have some modifications. Namely, it’s not a completely open marriage. But neither is it completely closed. It’s more like a formalization of the social niceties of Merrie culture where lovers are… vetted is the best word, before they enter the relationship.”

“She’s spent a lot of time working on them,” Collar said, nuzzling her ears when she came back with the scroll. “If we succeed in this endeavor, then they are the same vows she and Cloudy will speak when they join us.”

“They’re not really written into Merrie’s laws,” Rosemary said, ears flat as she offered the scroll to a curious looking Firelight Spark. “They were me writing down what’s normal for couples when they’re considering expanding their family to other members, either as full marriage or as lovers or occasional partners or surrogates for foals.”

She watched as Firelight read over the vows and the addenda and the copious notes she’d taken while she and Cloudy had talked over the unspoken rules of Merrie, sometimes with Collar learning the history, sometimes with Rosewater offering her own interpretation.

Wandering, reading over his shoulder, bobbed her head periodically, smiling and whispering in Firelight’s ear whenever he seemed confused over some piece.

“This is an interesting set of vows,” Firelight said at last, both brows raised. “I can see it’s a blending of Dammer mores in some senses, but it takes in its main form the ways of Merrie. You’ve seen the vows, my lady?”

“I have. I’m prepared to defend the decision against our current laws, as the law doesn’t specifically disallow a marriage from being declared as ‘open’ so long as the marriage is not functionally open. Meaning so long as they don’t invite others to take part in their marriage, it’s not an open marriage.”

Rosemary beamed and reared up to set a hoof on Collar’s back. “That was the key to getting around Frosty’s Law. It prevents polyamorous marriages, but the way we wrote the vows and the binding, it’s only polyamorous if Collar and Rosewater agree it is. And they’re not going to agree it is until after we’ve defeated Frosty’s Law!”

“I see you’ve spent your time well,” Firelight murmured, reading over the vows again.

“I’m sure the librarian thinks I’m getting ready to argue my own case for release before the court with as many legal books I’ve been asking for from the library.” She waved at the writing desk with a hoof. “I had to do something or I’d currently be standing on the ceiling and wondering why all you weird ponies were in my dimensional space.”

Firelight snorted but nodded. “Very well. In the interest of keeping your sanity, I will recommend to Lady Lace that you have more time outside your cell. Given the length of both your and Glory’s tenure, I’m going to write formal recommendations that your sentences be made more lax despite the laws requiring confinement. Long-term incarceration for non-violent combatants is… cruel.”

Rosemary’s heart skipped a beat. “I… I can go outside more? I can… maybe I can go to the city?”

“I can make the request,” Firelight said, his ears dipping. “It’s up to Lady Lace’s legal experts to find the limit to which your laws can be stretched, but if you are kept in too much confinement… it’s unjust, in my eyes, but I am only an observer.” He ruffled the scroll again. “But for tonight, thank you for providing the vows for our records.”

“I think we can manage letting you out to the city on special occasions,” Lace said as she stepped off to the side and tapped a hoof on the floor. “Rosemary, would you stand with me as witness for Rosewater?”

“I-I will.” Rosemary swallowed and settled in beside Lace, taking the place beside the mother of the groom that Rosewater’s mother should have been even as Seed joined Dapper opposite her as witness for Rosewater in place of her father. Her near-brother flashed her a smile and a wink. “You had this planned out, didn’t you?”

Rosewater chuckled. “We did. The surprise part was actually Seed’s idea.”

“Hey!” Collar nipped Rosewater’s cheek as he settled into place beside her. “I thought we agreed that would be my idea?”

“Your idea was how to get us back here. I said you should keep it from Rosemary so I could surprise her.” Seed stuck out his tongue and laughed when Dapper raised a hoof to tap with him. “You’ll have to come up with your own tricks to play on her.”

“My own father!”

“Boy,” Dapper warned with a laugh, “I taught you better than that. You can’t borrow tricks. Make your own!”

“Don’t encourage him!” Rosemary cried out, laughing. “Stars, the three of you together…”

“The four of us together, Rosemary,” Rosewater said, using a spell to touch her chin. “The four of us together can defeat whatever coalition Dapper and Seed manage to bring against us.”

The four of us together. For the first time in so long, her family was closer to being whole than it had ever been. “And you’ll start it.” Rosemary raised her chin free of the spell and squared herself to face her mother, her husband-to-be, her family waiting to have her join them. “Please, I hope my contribution to the marriage can be something that will bring us all together.”

Rosewater looked around at friends and family all watching her and Collar and felt the levity leave the room as Rosemary’s words settled over the gathering, reminding them all of the solemnity of the occasion despite the levity Rosemary had brought to the moment with stories of her and Rosewater in their relative youth.

“Thank you all for agreeing to be here,” she said softly when she was certain she’d captured everypony’s attention. “I wish more of my family could be here, but thank you, Glory, for agreeing to set your hoof in the rapids with me against mother.”

“At this point,” Glory said with a sardonic, twisted smile, “I’m certain that if I did regain my freedom at her hoof, I’d do nothing more than gather my lovers and all I cared for and return here. I can’t watch her destroy my family even further without doing something.”

“Amnesty and protection could be granted,” Lace said softly. “In my eyes, you’ve more than served your time, Glory, for a mistake.”

“It was no mistake, my lady. I broke into Cloudy’s apartment on purpose with the intent of gathering intelligence on her. I deserve to be where I am at this moment.” The smile came back, more sly and with a touch more warmth than before as she leaned into Poppy’s embrace. “I deserve to be where I am, my lady. With my secret lover, on vacation from playing my mother’s sick games.” She smirked and nodded back to Rosewater. “And thank you, dear sister, for including both Poppy and I today.”

“Of course. I wish I could have invited Silk, but…”

Glory met her eyes and nodded slowly. “She’ll understand, Rosewater. She’s got too much to worry about to also keep your secrets. Leave her to keep hers and do what you can to help her and Vine, please.”

“I will.” Rosewater looked around and found Sunrise and Platinum standing half in the doorway to Rosemary’s sitting room, the small chamber barely large enough for two ponies to sit on the couches inside. “And thank you, new friends and confidants for accepting your roles in our plan. I very much could not do this without your help. You will be pivotal in making our plan work.”

Sunrise flushed, but nodded, and Platinum chuckled.

“Of course, my lady. Now, please get on with it. I hear there’s wine in the ballroom.” She raised a hoof and coughed into it. “And I think Rosemary really wants to catch up with Seed.”

“Alright, alright. I suppose we ought to.” She grinned sideways at Collar and pulled over the chair Rosemary more often used as a bookcase than for its intended purpose and turned it sideways so they could set their hooves on it together. “We’re ready, Sir Spark, Lady Star.”

“Then, let us begin.” Spark glanced at the scroll one more time and let it roll back up. “Friends and family, we are gathered here today to witness a historic moment. It has long been a dream of Princess Celestia’s to see the conflict ended and the cities of Merrie and Damme brought to peaceful union, and tonight, I am more than happy to witness and guide these two ponies through the vows they have written as a group to bind themselves in the tradition of Merrie.”

Silence followed his words as he opened the scroll again, the tension in Rosewater’s muscles coming and going as she imagined that Roseate might barge in at any moment and ruin everything.

But nothing of the sort happened, and Firelight mouthed several words before beginning again.

“Lord Collar, as this is not your city’s tradition, there are certain requirements that must be met in order to ensure that your marriage remains whole and complete in the eyes of the law. First, you must swear and attest that for the duration of the effect of Frosty’s Law, you will not lie with another mare or stallion in the matrimonial bed, nor sire by accident or purpose a child on any mare besides your lawfully wedded wife.”

“I understand and do so swear,” Collar said, his voice thick for a moment as his eyes flitted from Firelight to Cloudy and back. “Under the law, I will have attestations available for any that care to review them that I will not have slept with any other pony for the duration of the law’s effectiveness.”

“Then… do you need the scroll to recite the vows you have written?”

“Nay. I have them memorized.” Collar licked his lips and shifted his hoof closer to Rosewater’s. “In the light of a promised future where we will not have to hide, where our loves will not have to sit aside from us, I give myself to this union with a heart full of wonder at the beauty of what the future holds for us. Whatever may come for us, the hardships and glories, arguments and compromises, joys and miseries, I will always be mindful of our promise to each other to watch and care for each other, to accept help and guidance from our family and friends, and never let the small things work against our love for each other.

“In the spirit of an open heart, I promise to consider your love for others as well, and ask that you consider my open heart, that together, we may decide whom else we share ourselves with.”

“I will,” Rosewater promised with a quiet, tremulous voice, her eyes flitting to Lace and then back to Firelight.

He raised his hoof to cover Rosewater’s foreleg, his eyes earnest as he finished his vows. “Our children will never want for love from me, Rosewater. None of our children will ever find their lives anything but full of love from all of their parents. I swear, Rosewater, that their lives will be as far from you and your sisters’ childhoods as is possible for them to be.”

Rosewater closed her eyes to stop the tears from coming as she heard the soft murmur of approval from Glory. “Thank you, Collar,” she murmured as the tears came anyway, trailing down her muzzle. “Stars, thank you.”

“That means more to her than you may know,” Glory said into the intensity of the silence. “Thank you, Collar.”

“My lady,” Firelight said gently. “Do you need the scroll to say your vows?”

“N-nay,” Rosewater said through a throat thick with the need to unleash more than a few paltry tears. “But… thank you, Collar. I know you will. I’ve come to know you more through your parents, and I have come to trust that the Lady Lace and Lord Dapper have raised a stallion that not only knows what love is and means, but knows how to show it and share it.”

“He is his father’s son,” Lace said solemnly. “He has always known the value and meaning of sharing love, no matter to whom it was.”

“And from you, he’s learned stubbornness in the pursuit of what’s right,” Dapper added in a rare grave voice. “This is right, Rosewater. This is what’s right. Never doubt that. I will be proud to call you my daughter after all is said and done, but first… you do need to get the said part done, dear heart.”

A soft chuckle came from the rest of the gathered ponies, pushing back some of the lingering threads of dread and fear that Collar’s words had dredged up, that she needed to always do more.

“Of course,” she said after swallowing back the ache and pushing herself back into shape long enough to get things done. She could collapse at the Villa tonight knowing that she could unload all of the stress from tonight, all of the joys and triumphs, and know that tomorrow… tomorrow she could begin to put her life to rights once more. This time as a married mare aiming for a life together with her family.

“Lady Rosewater, as this tradition is yours, but you are unable to register your marriage with the Merrie Registrar of deeds, the Seal of the Sun will be placed upon your vows until such time as you are able to properly register your marriage and your intent to bear foals with Collar. We will act as intermediary in this matter. Do you so swear that your intent is to join with Collar with the purpose of bringing to this world a new life?”

“I do so swear. I have four of my Mares in Waiting here to witness my intent and set their hooves to paper to declare that they will attest to my whereabouts, my companions, and my activities for the time that I am fertile and ready to get with foal. I have more Mares in Waiting waiting to speak their oaths, but these four will vouchsafe my word immediately.”

“Will those four please raise their hooves and say after me,” Firelight said.

Petal raised her hoof, as did Cloudy, Sunrise, and Platinum, the four mares glancing between each other and sharing small smiles at their cross-river covenant of silence.

“I do so solemnly swear that I will accurately record any time when I am put into Rosewater’s company, whom was with her before, and whether she was alone with a stallion for any length of time. I swear that my testimony will be accurate under the Seal of the Sun and I will speak no falsehood under penalty of law and forfeiture of the validity of the lineage of the foal.”

Sunrise swallowed thickly when she finished reciting and glanced aside at the solemn-faced Platinum, but lowered her hoof as the other mares did.

“Thank you. I expect all of you to visit my office regularly to review your log books and make any copies necessary to the master ledger.” Firelight lowered his hoof. “Thank you, my lady, and now you may speak your vows.”

“In the light of a promised future where we may celebrate our love openly and without fear, where our lovers may join us on the grand stage of life and love, I give myself to this union fully, my heart full of the wonder at the beauty waiting for us once we cross the bridges between our cities. Whatever may come for us, whatever trials and joys we may face on the path through life, we will always have our love, our family, our shared community to help us get through even the worst of arguments, and to share the greatest of joys. I will always be mindful of the promises we have made to each other to watch and care for each other, and never let the smallest of things come between us.

“As you have asked that I consider your open heart, please consider my open heart, that we may share more fully with each other and bring our other loves together in an open and honest relationship.”

“I do so promise to consider your loves with an open heart, Rosewater.”

Just as she finished and Firelight raised his hoof, Rosewater raised hers to forestall him.

“I wish to make our promises more than words, Collar. Words can be forgotten, their meaning lost to time or corrupted by darker emotions. I propose we take a new name for our family. Neither Prim nor Rose.” Rosewater shook her head. “I am not proposing we abandon our history, nor am I proposing we lose our heritage. Rather, I propose we take the family name of Primrose, combining our families together, that we might never forget our promise not only to each other, but to all of our loves, to all of our ponies both Merrier and Dammer.”

“Lord Primline Collar Primrose,” Collar said softly, nodding gravely. “I like the sound of the idea and the name, my love, and it will serve as a reminder to our ponies that we are neither Prim nor Rose. We are both.”

It took a moment for the congruence to register.

“A new city,” Lace said softly. “A new ruling family. A new name born of both. I approve.”

Firelight nodded gravely. “Very well. If you are assured of your decision, then, Lady Rosewater Rosethorn Primrose, Lord Primline Collar Primrose, it is my greatest pleasure to pronounce you husband and wife, your vows witnessed and Sealed to the Sun. Congratulations. You may now kiss.”

“We’ve got that part down pretty well,” Collar murmured as he turned to her. “My lovely Lady Primrose.”

“Lord Primrose,” Rosewater said, a laugh coming to her lips just before his met hers.

Wedded. They had come so far just to get to this point, and had so far to go yet.

But that hardly mattered at the moment as the kiss lasted and deepened, shared breath coming in a quick gasp before they parted to cheers that strained the spells holding sound at bay.

They were one step closer to being able to live in peace.

Author's Note

My apologies for the bland naming for the chapter. I couldn't very well include the word elope or wedding in there for spoilery reasons, but yes. Rosewater and Collar Primrose. The first of a new ruling family to hopefully lead a new city into the future. If only evil horse mom would get out of the way.

Next chapter, Firelight, Celestia, and as long promised, Carnation in a much longer exploration of their current situations.