"This had better be worth my valuable time, Lieutenant."
"I can assure Your Highness, once you see what I have to offer you will see this meeting was well worth your time."
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Lieutenant Troilus resists the urge to roll his eyes as Prince Blueblood continues to fuss with his mane, trying to make sure every strand was in its proper place before beginning the appointed meeting with the Lieutenant. It was the early afternoon, and Troilus was eager to get through the meeting as quickly as possible after a long morning shift.
"There. Now, you brought me something for my consideration, Lieutenant?" Blueblood asks with practiced politeness, seating himself on a cushion across from the Lieutenant, with a gilded table between the two of them.
"Yes, Your Highness. First off, I congratulate you for a successful mission to Griffonstone..." Lieutenant Troilus gamely begins.
Prince Blueblood lets out an irritated snort before giving his reply: "Most ungrateful group of bastards I've ever come across. Celestia wanted me to protect them from the wrath of one of the pretenders to King Guto's fallen throne and all they ever wanted to do was hit me up for bits! If it wasn't on Celestia's direct orders, I would've walked away from the mission long ago..."
"Yes, Your Highness, those feathered fiends are never much fun to deal with. And putting the same feathered wings on ponies don't make for much of an improvement..." Troilus comments.
"Are you trying to get at something, Lieutenant?" Blueblood asks, an eyebrow raised in suspicion.
Troilus straightens himself up again before giving his answer: "I am certain Your Highness is aware of the events of 'Operation Whirlwind' that occurred a week previous to this date?"
"Of course, Lieutenant. I was informed of the events on my way back from Griffonstone, and of course I was horrified that I had been targeted specifically by those rebels! The former Lieutenant Captain Aten I always knew was a potential source of trouble, from what meetings I did have with him, and it still amazes me he got as far as he did with his plans. I still am not certain what you are getting at though, Lieutenant." Blueblood states, just as gamely as Troilus before him did.
"The rebellion was entirely a pegasus-conducted operation. All the major players were pegasi, Aten and his 'lackeys', as their usually called. Most of them fought to their deaths or flew away like cowards! It's the old tribalism rearing its ugly head, and its corrupted the entire Royal Guard at this point. Celestia and her favorites don't seem to see that, and one day it will come back to kick them in the flank!" Troilus exclaims, thumping a hoof on the table for emphasis.
"It is true that Aten and his supporters were behind this, but there are still good pegasi that resisted the rebellion valiantly. Your new Lieutenant Captain, for one. And some of the Wonderbolts, for another." Blueblood calmly counters, citing both Stratocumulus and the faction of Wonderbolts lead by Fleetfoot in fighting the rebels during "Operation Whirlwind".
"There might be noble souls, but they aren't enough to check the passions ingrained to the race!" Troilus continues. "Aten's power playing has seriously compromised the Royal Guard, and it won't stand against an outside invasion! The training, the staff levels, the trustworthiness of the pegasi left, all are serious problems! And I already know the alicorns will turn a deaf ear to any suggestions I might offer."
"Which is why you came to me." Blueblood affirms, giving a thoughtful look in Troilus' direction during a brief pause. "I am flattered by your confidence, surely, but I am also convinced you have misread the situation at hoof. The Wonderbolts will survive, as will the Royal Guard, despite these problems."
"The Wonderbolts only survived because Aten failed, that Captain they have nearly led them to their ruin with her impulsiveness! She deserved the punishment she got, and as for the Royal Guard it goes back toward not following the principles passed down from the service that protected your ancestors, Your Highness." Troilus continues, circling back toward flattering Blueblood - by far the best way to try to get what he wanted.
"Yes, it is true that the current E.U.P. Guard owes more to the service that protected King Bullion and Princess Platinum than the warrior tribes of the pegasi, and that integrating the two different concepts of what the service should be like has always been a challenge, but Equestria will weather it just fine, Lieutenant. Those kind of rebellions have happened before and the princesses have always succeeded in taming them. Why should I believe it's any different this time around?" Blueblood counters.
"Because there are rebels still out there! And we don't know who might be still aiding and abetting those traitors!" Troilus exclaims. "Remember we found out about what 'Lord Zedd' had done? There could still be civilians like him out there, just waiting for the right chance to strike! And unless we strike first, more innocent ponies will die!"
"If it's a military campaign you're seeking my support for, you're asking the wrong stallion, Lieutenant." Blueblood replies calmly. "My experience is purely in diplomacy, none in military training or leadership. I know it will sound like a long shot, but I would recommend you try your luck with your superiors instead of trying to end-run around them with me."
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At first, it looked like the unicorn Lieutenant had struck out with Prince Blueblood, pretender to the old throne of Princess Platinum and King Bullion, but there was still one more thing he could try, which he started at this point: "I already know they won't listen to me, Your Highness, but I know you will after I reveal what information I have on your ambitions."
"Ambitions? What in Equestria are you talking about, Lieutenant?" Blueblood asks, pretending to have no idea what Troilus was referencing.
"I know you are disastisfied with simply being one of Princess Celestia's diplomatic troubleshooters, more so ever since Princess Cadance was recalled to Canterlot to help in Princess Luna's rehabilitation. Your disgust with dealing with the griffons is proof of that. What I am offering is a way out of being trapped in that unwelcome service for the rest of your life." Troilus firmly states.
Blueblood pauses before giving his response, and the unicorn Lieutenant can tell the pretender prince is now curious enough to not reactively blow him or his offers off. And the response Blueblood gives is further encouragement: "Go on, Lieutenant. If you really have a way for me to get out of simply being a troubleshooter for the rest of my life, show it to me."
Lieutenant Troilus gives a devious smile, looking around briefly to make sure no one else was listening before dropping his bombshell: "I know where the rebels are, Your Highness. I was sent out southwest of Canterlot to find them several days after the failure of 'Operation Whirlwind', and I told in my written report that I found no signs of rebel activity in that area. I lied on that report though, I have everything documented here."
Blueblood looks on with stunned surprise as Troilus pulls out and unrolls a scroll on the table between them via unicorn magic. The pretender prince clearly recognizes the drawings on the scroll as a military map, showing the rebels hiding in two forts that had previously been abandoned after buffalo stampedes had breached the walls and allowed them to trample the ponies inside. This map also showed a hypothetical campaign to attack these forces and capture or drive away the rebels.
"Lieutenant, surely you know the consequences of lying on an offical report, don't you?" Blueblood finally manages to ask after recovering enough from the surprise he had just gotten.
"Princess Celestia and the Guard command will give me the benefit of the doubt because I am a unicorn, not a pegasus trying to cover tracks for anypony else. I have believed that we unicorns are the superior ones, and this campaign will prove it to Equestrians everywhere. And I need your help not just getting allies for this secret expedition, but in administring justice to the conquered rebels." Troilus lays out.
It didn't take long for Prince Blueblood to pick up the implications of Troilus' offer - to return to Canterlot in glory with the captured rebels would certainly boost his personal image greatly, perhaps enough to allow him to start a settlement of his own in that southwest area between Appaloosa and Canterlot. It wasn't a kingdom with a crown, sure, but it beat being Celestia's troubleshooter for the rest of his life. Visions of grandeur began forming in his head, and in that moment Blueblood made a wistful expression that Troilus saw was evidence of success.
"... Alright, Lieutenant, I'm in. What do you need me to do?" Blueblood asks, much to a pleasure that Lieutenant Troilus had to work hard to restrain.
"Just tell whatever unicorns will listen to you that you are going after the rebels that escaped Canterlot, and need their help. I'll take care of everything else." Troilus answers, smiling like a cat that had just caught a mouse as he rolls up the scroll again and puts it away using unicorn magic.
"What about Celestia though?" Blueblood understandably asks.
"Celestia will not act until it is too late for her to do much. She believes all is well now, when she will not acknowledge we are the superior ones and need to keep the impulsive pegasi in line and underhoof." Troilus replies confidently.
"That's right. We are the superior ones, and I am their prince. I will keep that in mind, Lieutenant. Thank you, sir, the meeting was well indeed worth the time." Prince Blueblood affirms with a nod. "You are dismissed to your barracks."
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Once Troilus leaves the meeting with Prince Blueblood, he once again smiles, this time rather more deviously. He had succeeded in convincing Prince Blueblood to support his pet project pursuing pegasi rebels by appealing to his weakness: the vanity and pride Blueblood had in being the descendent of Princess Platinum and King Bullion. Little did Blueblood know at the time he was being manipulated in the same way Aten had manipulated Spitfire, and that similar consequences would eventually follow from this manipulation...