Inside one of the many massive chambers of the castle, a large courtroom is bustling with high-rank civilians from all three kingdoms and their leaders. They sit in the stands circling the large chamber, overlooking the three royal families sitting at their individual tables with individual thrones, facing one another. In the middle of those three tables where the royalty sat, a circular judge’s stand towers over the ponies.

“Order in thy royal court,” a unicorn announces before clamming a gavel onto the podium before him upon the stand. “As Grand Prime Minister and judge, I decree that the annual meeting of the kingdoms of Trihearth has begun.” The audience in the galley quickly stops talking and turns their attention towards the announcing judge and the ten royals that sat around him. “King Adamán Charm, and Queen Ceria Charm, rulers of the Forest Kingdom, rise.” The brown Earth Pony and the white unicorn follow the judge’s order and rise from their seats, leaving Crystal remaining down. The pink mare quickly examines her surroundings as her parents stood, catching a quick glimpse of Seirbigh sitting with his parents at her right.

“Hey Seirbigh,” she whispers, trying to get his attention.

“You may now sit. Lord Seirbigh Cystic III, and Madam Petti Cystic, rulers of the Metal Kingdom, rise.” Crystal’s parents sit back down on their small thrones as the green pegasus and red Earth Pony get out of theirs. “You may now sit. And finally, Emperor Tiotán Folam and Empress Dia Folam, rulers of the Pearl Kingdom, rise.” Prince Seirbigh’s parents sit back down next to him as the dark-blue unicorn and mauve pegasus get up with their children watching in their seats. “Sit back down.” Dorch and Ceann’s parents follow the judge’s orders and sit. “All are present and with their kin I see, so now this meeting shall continue.”

This is so boring… Seirbigh thinks to himself, playing with his uncombed mane to pass the time.

“First item we shall discuss tonight, shall be regarding Forest Kingdom activists attacking Metal Kingdom royalty under the pretenses of reformation. King Adamán, what are you doing about this matter?”

The king immediately replies in a sharp tone of voice, “As king of the Forest Kingdom, I have enacted several actions to quell the activist activities and finding out who’s responsible.”

“You may have enacted these actions,” Madam Petti snarks “but are they being executed?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“What Adamán has failed to provide to you Judge, is the evidence that these preventative measures he preaches have not yet happened, and we have been under attack by more of his ponies by the day.”

The grey unicorn at the stand turns his head towards Lord Seirbigh and asks, “is this true what thou wife says?”

“It ‘tis,” he calmly responds, “and we are fearing, now more than ever before, that our son may be in grave danger.”

“I see.”

“Your honour,” Emperor Tiotán interjects with a mischievous smile upon his face. “If I may ask the lord, or should it be, the madam, since she seems to be the one in charge, why these activists are attacking?”

“You may.”

“So, why is it so?”

“First of all,” Lord Seirbigh barks, “I am the one in charge, Petti helps me, as a truly loyal wife should. And regarding the activists, they are attacking because of some budget changes we made they see as a threat to their trading activities with us.”

“And might I ask, what are these budget changes?”

“Uh, we are emphasizing upon military by drawing small portions from other funding programs, one of them being the trading guilds, emperor,”

“Military? I don’t recall you being a militaristic type Seirbigh, why now are you doing this?”

“Well…”

“My children must trust your kingdom when they come of age in a couple of years and we cannot trust thou who are hiding secrets from us. Why have you enacted this alteration to your expenditures?”

“In all honesty, it was my wife who enacted the change.” Tiotán’s small grin immediately grew into a gaping smile of success, knowing that he now has the upper hand in the debate. Dia looks at her husband and slowly frowns, also knowing he now has the power to attack the Metal Kingdom’s authority.

“So, you allowed your wife to make the decision instead of you, when you’re, or at least you claimed before the court, that you’re supposed to be the one in charge?”

“That is irrelevant!” The madam hisses, “Can we return back to the main matter at hoof?”

“Oh no my lady, I think this trust struggle is much more interesting.”

“But it isn’t the main focus,” Prince Seirbigh retorts, slowly rising from his seat, motivating Tiotán to give a weak chuckle before replying.

“You hear this, your honour, the Cystic family is clearly hosting problems that threaten the safety of the Forest Kingdom and Pearl Kingdom. I request a restraining action to be placed upon them.”

“You don’t have the authority to do that.” Crystal shouts. The entire galley bursts into a loud wave of whispers and gasps, to see the princess of the Forest Kingdom stand up for the Metal Kingdom at this time of distrust.

“Order I proclaim!” The judge yells and slams her mallet upon the wooden table, “Order in this court! Princess Crystal, please contain your actions and withhold your position in this room. Prince Seirbigh and Madam Petti, control your temper. And Emperor Tiotán, wipe that smug look off of your face, this is a professional court of law, not a tavern.”

“I apologize,” the emperor sneers, “continue.”

“Alright then, seeing as now, the Metal Kingdom has broken several trusts upon the peace treaty with both the Forest Kingdom and the Pearl Kingdom, which they signed in their own blood, I will have to enact a government power limitation or a complete reassignment of government control to one of the other two kingdoms, whichever I see fit.”

“Wait,” Lord Seirbigh pleas, “there has to be a way we can amend this. Is there a way we can repair the trusts?” The judge becomes silent, trying to think of a solution. He then ducks his head below the stand from everypony’s view, only to come back up with a scroll in his hooves. Carefully, he unfolds the delicate scroll with his magic and examines the paper.

“This has been the first time in generations for a kingdom to break its peace treaties. But luckily, they kept the old scrolls detailing what to do in an event such as this upon us. Here we go, according to the sixty-ninth amendment of the Declaration of Distrusts, ‘If a kingdom were to break one or more trusts detailed within an agreement of peace with one or both other kingdoms of the land of Trihearth, the Grand Prime Minister can enact any change in that kingdom’s government as he sees fit. However, the broken trust can be amended, under the commitment of the wrongdoing kingdom’s heir to be bound in holy matrimony with the heir to thy kingdom that it has wronged. If the heirs are already bound in holy matrimony and one or more trusts have been broken, then the Grand Prime Minister has the authority to move all the government’s power to the heir.’.”

“So, in order to keep our power, we must have our son,”

“Be legally married to a descendant of the next generation of the royalty of either of the two kingdoms you have broken trust with. Seirbigh the Fourth, are you currently married or engaged with a princess of either of the kingdoms?”

“Well…” the pegasus stammers, not wanting to put Crystal into an unwanted and downright serious marriage. “I…”

“He is,” Crystal declares, standing up from her seat and glaring at the judge in confidence. “With me, Princess Crystal Charm of the Forest Kingdom.”

In an instant, the entire galley roars with chaos. Every citizen of the Forest Kingdom and the Metal Kingdom boo at the proclamation, since the two kingdoms have been bitter rivals for many years. The citizens of the Pearl Kingdom however were probably the most unruly, screaming as they believe that the two kingdoms will then favor one another and be unfair towards the Pearl Kingdom.

“Order!” The judge screams once more and slamming his gavel. “Order in thy court! Now!”

But the audience does silence down one bit, continuously yelling at each other and the royals in front of them. A blue aura soon wraps around the judge’s horn, and in a burst of frustration, he fires a shockwave of magic over the entire courtroom, causing everything to become mute. The ponies realize that they could no longer make any form of audio and decide to calm down, seeing as it would be pointless now. Another blue wave a magic fires from the judge’s horn and the silent ambience of the room resets.

“Remain silent until this meeting is over.” He proclaims. The ponies in the galley slowly nod their heads in fear of the sharp tone of voice exerted onto them.

“I shall marry Prince Seirbigh IV and bring peace to our two houses.” Crystal declares once more.

“Prince Seirbigh, do you agree with this fair mare?”

“I do sir.” The stallion reluctantly replies.

“Sir, do you agree with the terms and conditions that follow with this action?”

“Can you remind me?”

“If you are to be found in a relationship with anypony else before the wedding, if either you or her die before the wedding, if you commit a violation of your kingdom’s peace treaty, or if in any other way, you are to be found unable to uphold a pure marriage with Crystal Charm, the reclamation will become void, and your kingdom shall suffer the consequences. Do you accept these terms?”

“Yes.”

“And to you, Princess Crystal, accept these terms?”

“Wait your honour,” King Adamán interposes, “can I discuss this with my wife before we proceed.”

“I shall allow it. But know this, if you fail to provide evidence of progress towards controlling the activists in your kingdom, you as well will have violated the peace treaty. I declare a ten minute recess, assembly is adjourned.” The judge firmly hits the small hammer on the board once more, prompting everypony to exit the room except for the royal families of the Forest Kingdom and Metal Kingdom. The king and queen turn close to each other and begin to whisper as Crystal and the others watch, unable to hear them.

“We must do this, it’s the best option.”

“Have you gone mad?” Ceria softly barks, “The reason we’re in this whole mess is because of them. I am not letting our proud bloodline go to shame with this troop of mongrels.”

“We might not have a future bloodline if we can’t provide evidence to justify the activist problem. Think of our daughter as well, she’s clearly very much attracted towards the prince. Don’t you want her happy?” The queen looks towards the table of the Metal Kingdom and sees Crystal now standing next to the prince. She then studies the lord’s and madam’s faces. They appear very happy. Ceria then turns back to her husband, giving a small groan before replying.

“You’re right, we have no other better option, and it’s probably the best for both her and him. Just, don’t leave her with that stallion’s parents, I don’t trust them yet.”

“I’ll try to remember that my love.”

Several minutes pass, the courtroom fills up once more. As the room returns to its previous state before the recess, the judge enters and stands upon his stand.

He speaks, “we shall now proceed with Princess Crystal’s verdict for the marriage of Prince Seirbigh IV. Crystal Charm, have you and your parents come to a unanimous decision?”

“We have,” she claims, “we have agreed to the marriage.”

“Then it is settled.” The wooden hammer slams onto the podium once more before the judge continues. “I hereby declare, that all violations of the peace treaties between the Forest Kingdom and the Metal Kingdom shall be expunged upon the marriage of Seirbigh Cystic IV and Crystal Charm in three days. Now onto the next item of this year’s meeting,”

“Excuse me, can I be excused?”

“Yes, you can be excused, you are no longer required to remain present in the courtroom thus far.”

“And me?” Prince Seirbigh asks.

“Fine.”

“And me?” Ceann also asks the judge.

“Yes, does anypony else want to be excused before we continue?”

“I desire for my son to be excused as well.” Emperor Tiotán announces. He then turns to Dorch and whispers, “Do what you must, make me proud.”

“If your son agrees, then I shall allow it.”

Dorch rises from his seat and gives a humble nod to the judge. He then exits the courtroom from the center doorway, soon followed by his sister, Crystal, and Seirbigh.

“Now, onto the topic of the wood and spice trade between the Forest Kingdom and the Pearl Kingdom…”