The Crusaders

by GJT_Productions

A Dark Meeting

"Moon Dancer, what are we even doing here?"

"Those pegasi killed our father and crippled our mother, and I want to help get revenge on them. Staying in Canterlot isn't going to do that!"

"Can't we talk about this over at Pony Joe's? What would Princess Celestia and Twilight...?"

"Don't mention those names to me ever again! I have no use for them or friendship! Revenge is all I want now!"

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Java Jive retained her mortified expression as she followed her fuming sister Moon Dancer down the back alley and through a side door into the meeting place she had been told about previously. Through the door, the pair of young mares observed a small group, all unicorns, mixing civilians and lower-ranked Royal Guards, with Prince Blueblood in conversation with Lieutenant Troilus in the back of the small room.

Immediately all attention was drawn in the direction of the arriving pair, and Lieutenant Troilus stops his conversation to work his way over to Moon Dancer and Java Jive - due to Moon Dancer's former social prominence, Troilus and some of the other Royal Guard members recognized her quickly despite the makeover she had done to resemble Twilight Sparkle.

"Moon Dancer - I remember standing guard outside of a lot of your parties. It's shocking how completely you flipped around in the social department. Too bad about your parents, Aten and his minions really screwed them over didn't they..." Troilus says to Moon Dancer.

"That's why my sister and I are here, sir. We want to join your campaign, the one you mentioned in the mailing." Moon Dancer replies with a determined expression on her face.

"Very good, very good. We can use the help of every pony we can get. Why don't you two get acquainted with Prince Blueblood over there, and make sure that you are paying attention when we go over the situation at the meeting?" Troilus offers, pointing back in the direction of Blueblood as he speaks.

Moon Dancer looks over at her sister, who just shrugs in response. The two mares begin working their way into the small room, already feeling more comfortable in the space as they do so...

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A LITTLE LATER...

"Order! We shall have order!" Troilus exclaims while simultaneously banging down on a table with a forehoof, quieting the conversation going on between the attendees of the meeting.

The mixture of civilians and low-level Guards - including Moon Dancer and her sister, together at one table by themselves - settles onto cushions on the floor and look toward the far wall, where Troilus and Prince Blueblood are standing side-by-side facing the crowd. Guard Upper Class Lycaon emerges with a rolled-up wall map, unrolling it and manipulating it with unicorn magic to tack it up on the wall. Troilus levitates a pointing device with his unicorn magic and begins addressing the crowd as if in a classroom:

"This map shows the area southwest of Canterlot and Ponyville, also west of the Everfree Forest and northwest of the Earth pony settlement of Appleloosa. These 'Appaloosan Wastes', as it has become known, are generally considered too arid for even the earth ponies to deal with and would generally be left for the buffalo tribes to roam alone if it wasn't for the road to Las Pegasus and Applewood."

The entire room watches in rapt attention as Lieutenant Troilus points with the pointer toward two squares on the map, each pointed to by a large blue-colored arrow: "These two forts were built in the early days of the settling of Las Pegasus and Applewood to base patrols protecting the road from buffalo tribe attacks. These forts - I will just call them 'Alpha' and 'Beta' - were abandoned after coordinated buffalo tribe attacks breached their walls, but the earthen bricks and wood still stand in the arid climate. The pegasi rebels, presumably including the now-escaped ex-Lieutenant Captain Aten, have occupied these forts and intend to rebuild them for the purpose of harassing ponies that travel the road through this region."

"What about the buffalo tribes? What happened to them?" one of the civilian unicorns asks Troilus.

"The buffalo tribes later moved on to what is now Appleloosa, conflicting with the settlers there. This is why the pegasi rebels feel confident reoccupying those forts. We must deter their confidence and drive them out of those forts!" Troilus replies confidently.

"I thought Princess Celestia was looking for the rebels actively, shouldn't we be helping that out instead of doing something on our own?" Java Jive speaks up.

"That 'search' is a dodge, just to placate the unenlightened masses!" Troilus exclaims, giving a bald-face lie to deter the suspicions of the skeptical civilians being essentially asked to conduct a military campaign "off the books". "Celestia believes the trouble ended when the rebels fled Canterlot, but the pegasi will always give trouble unless we, as unicorns, assert our inborn superiority and drive them from their strongholds!"

"What about asking the Appleloosans for help?" another civilian asks.

"Pfft!" Troilus blows off. "The earth ponies are too embarrassed they can't get anything to grow in that region, so they want nothing to do with it! We can prove them wrong with enslaving the pegasi to provide the water and earth ponies to provide the irrigation labor to build a pair of flourishing settlements around the ruins of the rebel forts!"

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This bombast from Troilus set off internal alarm bells in Java Jive - that kind of enslavement was supposed to be illegal, and one reason why only earth ponies had been allowed to settle in Appleloosa. But she looks over at the enraptured face of Moon Dancer, and immediately realizes that her sister is only thinking of revenge, not judging Troilus' words critically. Java Jive knew she was in over her head, but also knew she could not walk away from what Moon Dancer wanted her to do. It was tough enough to get Moon Dancer to help her crippled mother out - any further deterioation of the relationship would mean Star Dancer would be left without any support from her firstfoaled, which meant Java Jive now found herself between a rock and a hard place...

"Ahh, Prince Blueblood is here because he wants to use this campaign to revive the old kingdom as a client state, governing the region surrounding the two forts to make it prosperous and secure, an example that will outshine the Appleloosan settlement and prove beyond doubt unicorn superiority! Princess Celestia has ended his 'troubleshooting' services, so he's joined me to give a form of legitimacy to the operation, even if unsanctioned by Celestia herself." Java Jive heard Troilus explain, apparently in response to a question about Blueblood being at the meeting.

This statement sets off a quiet buzz among the meeting participants, but all Java Jive notices is her sister's enraptured stare at Troilus and Blueblood, and once again realizes she could be in huge trouble. The buzz is calmed down by Troilus speaking again: "Fellow unicorns, I am not going to pretend this campaign and subsequent nation-building is going to be easy. But I believe that being foaled with a horn is the mark of our superiority, and we will do this without help from any that are not unicorns. Not of the Royal Guard, not of Appleloosa - we will not even eat their food if they offer it to us! We are the superior ones, and working together we will build a settlement even greater than Las Pegasus and Applewood!"

At this bit of bombast, several unicorns, including Moon Dancer, thump hooves on tables in signs of affirmation, and Java Jive feels a pit forming in her stomach. Somehow, some way, this dark meeting would end up with very bad things happening to her and everypony else in that room...