“You wanna run that by me again?” Smolder stuck a claw into an ear to make absolutely sure that nothing was stuffed up. “You want one of us to do… what?”
It was the next morning after Hearth’s Warming and Sandbar called in his friends for a private meeting. All of them were there except for Gallus, as his idea to set his friend free needed a couple of other opinions before presenting it to him. Crammed in that small room, the girls looked on with disbelief that the dragoness had voiced.
“I know this is a lot.” Sandbar explained. “But after hearing his other reason why he doesn’t want to go home, I just had to figure out a way to free him. I mean, I’ve thought about this long and hard. Adopting him is a no go, there’s no one related to him by blood to perform that coming of age ritual. So, the only option to have him set free is to have one of us marry him.”
The girls shared an uncertain look, from the Changeling to the Yak, Hippogriff to Dragoness, there was an uneasiness in their expression.
“You do know that none of us are adults… right?” Smolder pointed out.
“Yeah…” Silverstream rubbed the back of her neck. “I mean if my parents found out that I decided to get married this soon… I’m pretty sure it might start a war.”
“Gallus good friend…” Yona admitted. “But don’t see as husband.”
“My reasons are all the above,” Ocellus said, “plus with the fact that if I did this, not only will I have my parents to answer for, but to King Thorax as well. Besides, even if any of us did have feelings for him, and even if one of us married him temporarily, along ignoring the fact that it’ll be next to impossible to agree to marry a couple that’s underaged, why would marrying him help?”
“Gallus said so himself.” Sandbar got off from his bed. “The only way for those other griffons to accept him as an adult is if he undergoes that ceremony by an adult who is related to him by blood or marriage. I figured that if one of us enters into a marriage, we can have our parents carry out that ritual to make him his own guardian. Then just like that, we’ll get a divorce and Gallus would be free to move here.”
“So, in other words…” Silverstream scratched her head. “Marry him, perform the ritual, then divorce him.”
“Pretty much.” Sandbar nodded.
It was then, that Ocellus got an idea. “Why don’t you marry him?”
The earth pony paused for a moment. He blinked. “Come again?”
“I mean… Why don’t you marry him? I mean, besides the fact that Equestria has same-sex marriage, I think that you can still do this legally, despite your ages.”
Yona raised an eyebrow. “How does Ocellus know this?”
“Well, even before we Changelings have been reformed, it was best to be versed in other country’s marriage laws for the sake of strategy. I mean, Queen Chrysalis’s first invasion through the Royal Wedding wasn’t an accident. It was planned out, and knowing those laws was a factor in that.”
“Okay, setting that aside…” Sandbar turned to her. “How would me marrying him be considered legal?”
“Simple,” she closed her eyes and recited, “‘Nopony under the age of twenty-one years can be wedded unless one of the parties parent/guardian shows up to a priest, judge, city-official or a member of the Royal Family to express that he/she has given their permission to wed.’” The Changeling opened her eyes and said, “Which is why that out of all of us, that the only way this scheme to work is if you got your parents to okay this.”
The others looked at her for a moment before Smolder broke the silence with, “Lady Encyclopedia everyone! But joking aside, I guess that it probably makes the most sense.” She put a claw to her chin. “After all, us girls have some ties to our leaders in one form or another so if any of us did it, chances are it would raise too many eyebrows. But with you… there would be nothing political attached.”
“It would be interesting to see.” Silverstream smiled, “I never heard of two males getting married before. Oh! Do you think I could get a camera to take pictures to send home? I’m sure that none of the other griffs have seen that kind of wedding before.”
“Would pony go through it?” Yona questioned and all eyes were on Sandbar.
The earth pony sat on his haunches, rubbing the back of his head. “I mean… I don’t exactly know how Gallus would feel about this… However, if I explain it to him, and he does agree to do this, I guess I will marry him.”
The young yak nodded her head solemnly. “Then Yak will prepare feast when Sandbar and Gallus wed.”
“Really?” Ocellus was taken aback by this. “Uh, not to be prejudiced here, but I didn’t take it that out of all of us, you would be okay with this.”
Yona laughed. “What Ocellus talking about? Yaks encourage such union before Equestria did! Especially males being warriors. Such arrangement an honor for one be in. Sandbar, in yak eyes, is doing this for honor. Yona will make big feast!”
“So the snow-loving, smash-everything-in-sight Yaks are surprisingly progressive with gay couples.” Smolder shrugged her shoulders. “Who knew?”
“Still,” Ocellus said, “I guess it all comes down to what Gallus says about it. Especially for the part when the two of you will be a married couple for about a month.”
“Of course, I’m gonna have to ask…” Sandbar trailed off when that bit of information reached his brain. “Say what now?”
“Well, according to Equestrian law, ‘A couple, once wed, will not be allowed to divorce or annul the marriage within a month and a day of the wedding unless there is evidence of domestic violence.’ Which means that once you two do get married, then neither of you can’t get a divorce until about a month after the ceremony.”
“Oh…” Sandbar blushed in embarrassment. “And here I thought that it would all happen in a matter of days, but…” He shook his head. “But no matter. If it still means that it would end up freeing Gallus, then I’ll still do it.”
“Question is,” Silverstream asked, “would Gallus?”
To Sandbar’s mind, the best way to present his plan to free his griffon friend would go well with a milkshake. After all, it made sense, right? To scuff down some comfort food, getting one nice and full before hitting the detonation button that might send someone in shock at the mere mention of how to get Gallus out of legal and cultural limbo.
“So I got your note to meet you here,” Gallus said approaching the booth. “Ya know, I was curious to know what Sugar Cube Corner looked like on the inside.” Taking a seat across from the pony, he studied Sandbar’s expression. “Hey dude, is something wrong?”
“Huh?”
“You have that… look. Like the kind that you have something really heavy on your mind.”
Mercifully, Sandbar didn’t have to answer that when a scrawny yellow stallion carrying a tray of two green shakes with plenty of whipped cream and a straw in each appeared. “Two grasshopper milkshakes for ya fellas.” He said placing the tray down on the table and serving to them. “Would there be anything else?”
When told no, the yellow stallion left them as Sandbar immediately took hold of the frozen treat to start sucking it up.
Gallus, however, raised an eyebrow. “Okay seriously dude, what’s going on?”
Gulping, the young stallion set his shake to the side. “Well… remember what you told me the other day how you’re not considered an adult over there?” He nodded. “So… what if I told you that I may or may not have figured out a way for you to… get out of it.”
The griffon’s eyebrow refused to lower down. “But that’s impossible. I’m practically untouchable over there.”
“Not exactly…” Sandbar drew in a sharp, deep breath. “I figured out how to set you free… but I doubt that you’re gonna like it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean… well… I’ve talked to the girls about this and they all agreed that it can work… but there’s a catch.”
“Well spit it out! What did you come up with?”
There was an awkward pause.
“Just… promise me to hear me out.”
Gallus folded his arms and harrumphed. “Fine. I do want to move out of my dump of a home as soon as possible. I don’t care if I have to sell my soul to Discord himself, at this point, I think I’m willing to do pretty much anything.”
“Okay…” Sandbar breathed in a calming breath before saying: “Marry me.”
Another, but this time, very uncomfortable pause. For a long couple of minutes, neither of them said anything as the ponies within the shop carelessly chatted away without taking notice of what was going on in the corner of the room. Sandbar studied his expression to get some sort of hint of what was going on inside his head. However, Gallus was motionless. For a few minutes, not even his eye twitched as he just sat there, processing what he just heard.
“Say what?” He finally said.
“Yeah, before you jump to conclusions, just let me explain.” Sandbar told him of his discussion of the girls from why they couldn’t do it to the marriage laws that Ocellus brought up. When he was finished, he added, “If you agree to do this, all that’s left is for me to get ahold of my parents to convince them to do this and before you know it, you’re free to move here!”
Gallus ran a claw through his head. “I don’t know dude… I… I guess it could work… but…”
“You don’t like the idea.”
“I’m not saying that I’m against it. When you explain why I guess it kinda makes sense. But… I mean it’s one thing to get married when I’m a couple of years away from being eighteen, but to get hitched to you, a guy… This plan is just… weird.”
“Dude, I know. Even if I was older and a guy asked me to get married… I wouldn’t be quick to jump on board with it too. However, we have to face the fact that this might be the only way out. It’s not like once we’re married that we have to… you know… We’d be just together on paper for about a month. In the meantime, I can have my parents do that ritual thing so you can be a legal adult in Griffonstone. Once it’s all over, we’ll get divorced and you can finally move out of there without anyone else saying that you can’t.”
Gallus sighed into his claws. He reflected on this for a moment before saying. “I’ll do it—but on one condition.”
“Okay… what’s that?”
“I will get married to you, only if you can convince at least one of your parents to let us get married. If you can, then let’s do it.”
Somehow, in the back of his head, out of all the things that Sandbar wasn’t prepared to do, it was that. No doubt that once he does tell someone like his dad that he wants to get married to a male griffon, he could envision the tidal wave of questions that would no doubt he’ll have to answer for. Not to mention that engaging in that conversation could immediately change his parents’ view of him.
“Uh yeah… it’s a deal,” Sandbar said with an uneasy smile.