Canterlot Castle,

Canterlot,

Central Equestria

The Fourth Earl of Bitter Creek, Alabaster Fetlock, stood upon the balcony outside his office in Canterlot Castle’s Platinum Tower. Constructed eight hundred years ago, the east-facing marble minaret was where the realm’s Peerage were traditionally quartered whenever they were in residence in Equestria’s capital. While many of the more senior peers elected to purchase much more spacious manors in the city proper, Alabaster felt it rather indecent of nobles like himself to spurn the generosity of the Princesses. Especially when the reason those nobles were present in the city was for the expressed purpose of fulfilling the obligations of their positions in the governance of Equestria.

Thus the earl spent nearly seven months out of the year in his suite in the tower. Not all at once, mind you, but between the myriad of parliamentary sessions and the travel time to reach the capital, his wife and foal saw very little of Equestria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs throughout the year.

Uncountable were the birthdays and anniversaries that were left by the wayside in the interests of his duty to the realm. It was a high personal price to pay, to be sure, for the power and influence that the unicorn stallion wielded. However, it was also a price that his wife had long known he would be paying even before they were married. She had known of his ambitions―most of them, at any rate―before they’d officially tied the knot, and she’d accepted the consequences of those ambitions. Their foal, on the other hoof...perhaps in time, she too would be as understanding of his frequent absences as her mother was.

That was the problem though, wasn’t it? ‘Understanding’. He knew that so few would be. At least at first.

Alabaster had known that when he’d set out on this venture of his. He’d started out by broaching the subject only very obliquely with his compatriots in the Peerage. The reactions that he’d gotten to those ‘hypothetical’ notions of his had confirmed that his plans would be regarded with a certain amount of...reservation―though revulsion might have been a slightly more accurate descriptor for some. That hadn’t dissuaded him though. It had merely encouraged him to observe a certain amount of prudence when it came to recruiting other ponies to help realize his vision for the future of Equestria and its ponies.

In a perfect world, he might have been able to enact his grand plan for the land that he loved so dearly on his own. Of course―and despite the best efforts of their immortal diarchs―Equestria was not part of a perfect world. Thus why it was necessary for the minister to seek out assistance. Speaking of which, it shouldn’t be that much longer before―

“My Lord?”

Alabaster glanced back over his shoulder into the suite’s parlor. An older unicorn stallion had poked his head in through the doorway. “Brigadier General Maniple is here to see you, My Lord.”

“Excellent; show him in.” Alabaster Fetlock turned from the balcony entirely and strode back into the suite’s parlor. This meeting was precisely the reason that he had been waiting in his suite today instead of out managing his other contacts and political supporters within Parliament. The Earl made himself comfortable on one of the parlor’s lavish chaise loungers while his guest was shown in.

The aging unicorn majordomo bowed out of the open door. A moment later, a stern-faced earth pony stallion with an auburn coat and attired in the gilded breastplate and crimson sash that identified him as a general of Equestria’s Royal Cavalry stepped through. His pale blue eyes scanned the room briefly, as though he half expected assassins―or more likely spies―to be lurking in the wings. It was a mildly understandable concern, Alabaster supposed, as the topic of their discussions here might have arguably come very close to treasonous. Depending on whom you asked, at any rate.

Alabaster certainly didn’t believe that there was any credence to the idea that a crime of such magnitude could be assigned to their proposed plans, but there was no accounting for how the courts might inevitably see things if the right parties influenced them; so it was best to be circumspect at this stage. Perhaps, when matters were far enough along, they could be more open about their machinations with the rest of The Court. After all, if things went the way he intended, there would come a ‘point of no return’, after which the legality and morality of his intentions would become moot, and everypony else would have no choice but to see things through to their inevitable conclusion. Whatever consequences the Princesses saw fit to levy against him at the conclusion of his plans were immaterial as far as the unicorn was concerned. Whether Alabaster was festooned with medals or manacles, his beloved Equestia’s future would be secured.

All that the two of them had to do was stay out of the paddock until that time.

That was a worst case scenario, of course. A more ideal result would be that, once the fruits of his plans were seen by all, the rest of the Royal Court would understand the purpose behind his efforts and realize how important it was to continue to pursue those ends; for the good of Equestria. In the face of overwhelming support from the nobility, the Princesses wouldn’t intervene. After all, they sought to rule through Harmony, not tyranny. To defy the will of Parliament and act unilaterally would risk the citizens of Equestria questioning how benevolent their immortal benefactors truly were.

Neither princess wanted to sow those doubts among the general public.

“I’m grateful that you could make it, General Maniple,” the Earl nodded his head towards another nearby lounge. “Please, be seated. We have much to discuss.”

The cavalry officer frowned slightly but bowed his head respectfully all the same as protocol dictated and then made his way to the offered seat. “I was seen on my way to your suite by several of the castle's staff and at least one other minister,” the stallion grumbled, “there will be ponies wondering what need the Minister of Foreign Affairs has for discussions with one of Their Majesties’ generals.” His tone suggested that he was none too pleased by the prospect of being subjected to questioning by any of their peers seeking to satisfy their curiosity with regards to such ‘wonderings’.

“You need not concern yourself with such matters,” Alabaster assured the general with a smile. “I have made ample mention of the reason for our meeting today with my fellow ministers,” he spared a brief moment to enjoy the look of consternation and, indeed, naked terror on the other stallion’s face before he continued on, “and none of them found it the least bit odd that I should wonder what sort of deployments have been observed among the forces of the other nations along Equestria’s borders. Indeed, they agreed with me that it is only prudent for the Foreign Affairs Minister to want to be advised of how what other nations are saying they have done with their armies in their correspondence with my office accords with what those armies have actually been observed doing.

“‘Trust, but verify!’ is the axiom, don’t you know?”

Maniple seemed to relax considerably at the Earl’s assurance, for which Alabaster was grateful. The less on edge the general was, the more likely he was to be amenable to what needed to be done. “Which also accords very well with the inquiries you would have been making over the last few days if anypony thought to wonder about that as well, wouldn’t it?”

The auburn stallion frowned again, but nodded. “Yes, My Lord, I suppose that it would at that.”

“Then perhaps we should discuss those very inquiries, don’t you think?”

The general nodded once more before slipping a folder out from behind his breastplate. He opened it up and selected several sheaves, offering them to the Earl who very gingerly took them in his telekinetic grasp and floated them in close for a clear look at the information that they contained. Of course, he had very little experience deciphering intelligence reports himself―that was what he had aides for―so the raw data turned out not mean a whole lot to the Earl. He set the sheets of parchment aside and looked back at his guest.

“Perhaps if you would be so kind as to give me the ‘broad strokes’ version, Brigadier General?”

“Of course, My Lord,” Maniple nodded before clearing his throat. “At a glance, any confrontation with either the Zebra Confederation or the Griffon Kingdom would be costly to win. Indeed, there is a high probability, in my opinion, that an armistice would be reached before any decisive conclusion, in the interests of avoiding unnecessary collateral damage that tends to go hoof and hoof with a full scale war.” He watched for the Earl’s agreement that neither of those nations would be a viable target of their proposed operation before continuing. “The Minos Hordes lay far across the sea, negating the possibility of rapid military action―to say nothing of the inherent perils of seaborne landings. Again, a premature peace is too likely for our purposes.

“Our best options lay with either Yakyakistan, or Saddle Arabia. Neither have flight-capable militaries, or inherent magical abilities, or an advanced understanding of alchemy. Militarily, they are objectively inferior to our own forces, and thus would be easily conquered if we were provoked with a viable casus belli to present to Their Majesties.”

Alabaster idly tapped the nearby reports as he considered the general’s words. He had already discounted using the yaks, due to the distant and inhospitable lands that they inhabited. In truth, he would have preferred to deal with the griffons. It wasn’t that he felt any sort of personal animosity towards them, but rather he believed that their clear physical differences and widely acknowledged caustic demeanors would make it a simple matter to keep public opinion on the side of war. However, the general was right that if the fighting went on for too long, their chances of settling matters short of outright conquest grew immensely.

If his machinations were going to work, what he needed to orchestrate was a short, victorious, war that ended with the complete and unconditional surrender of their target.

“Princess Celestia has long maintained amicable relations with the Saddle Arabians,” the Earl mumbled, more to himself than to the brigadier general, but the earth pony stallion nodded all the same.

“Her Majesty will almost certainly sue for peace as quickly as possible,” Maniple agreed.

“Her Majesty is perhaps not quite as averse to conflict as you believe, General,” the earl mused as a smile tugged at his lips. “That barding from the Crystal War on display in the Royal Museum was not merely for show, after all. When she believes her subjects are threatened, Princess Celestia does not shy from a fight. And, by all historical accounts, Princess Luna is even more aggressive when incensed.

“The challenge will come from convincing Their Majesties that Equestria is indeed under dire threat, and that peace will not be an option even as we make decisive military gains against our adversary.” Alabaster rubbed his chin pensively. “As Celestia sends her envoys, the Saddle Arabians must rebuke them, even to the last. That will actually be the easy part in all of this.”

“Oh, My Lord? How so?”

The Earl frowned at the general and leveled a bored expression at the stallion before pointing at his own chest. “Exactly whom do you think Their Majesties will ask to treat with the Saddle Arabians?” Comprehension dawned on the other pony’s face and he flushed with embarrassment as he realized the obvious answer. “I will be the pony who is physically writing the correspondence to the sultan. I will also be the pony who receives the Arabian envoy's missives for presentation to the Royal Sisters. All I need to do is to frame the exchanged diplomatic messages in such a way as to further stoke the ire on both sides and ensure that the Princesses refuse to accept any terms short of an unconditional surrender and the annexation of all lands held by Saddle Arabia.”

“There will still need to be a viable casus belli,” Brigadier Maniple said, recovering from his earlier momentary lapse, “and in order to be one that convinces the Princesses to commit to such a war, it would need to be a rather serious one at that.”

“Agreed,” the Earl nodded. “While, as I made mention, Their Majesties have demonstrated a willingness to engage in armed conflict in the past, they have never taken up the banner or war under any but the most dire of circumstances. That is where you come in, actually.”

“What is it that you need from me, My Lord?”

“An ‘incident’.” Alabaster cocked a wry smirk as he leaned back in his chaise lounge.

“What sort of…‘incident’, My Lord?” Maniple asked, a nervous quality to his question.

“Ideally, I would prefer for one of our frontier settlements to be attacked, with clear blame able to be ascribed to the Saddle Arabians. With the proper manipulation of the media, public opinion could be worked into a fervor, forcing Their Majesties to act before the diplomatic channels get too mired. However, there wouldn’t be much to keep the Saddle Arabians invested in such a fight if they knew they did nothing wrong. They would almost immediately surrender and offer to cooperate fully with an investigation into what ‘actually happened’. What we really need, I believe, is for one of their towns to be attacked―razed to the ground entirely would be preferable―by forces that they reasonably believe to be ours; and for them to then respond by attacking us in turn, for real.

“By the time they have reprised, their own populace will be incensed by the loss of life they suffered when their town was sacked, and our citizens―as well as Their Majesties―will be outraged at what they will see as an ‘unprovoked’ attack on Equestria. With neither side prepared to admit fault―since neither would believe that they were actually at fault―there is unlikely to be any preemptive offers of peace.”

The general looked decidedly unhappy now. “Finding any of our forces willing to attack a civilian settlement, even a foreign one, will be difficult. Honestly, I imagine it would be impossible, My Lord.”

“Don’t worry about the initial attack,” the Earl assured the other stallion, “I can make arrangements for it to be carried out without any official involvement on the part of the Equestrian military. No, General, what I need from you is a 'sacrificial lamb', of sorts. I need you to put some of our forces in the right position, so that they can act as an obvious source for the forces that destroyed a Saddle Arabian settlement, and a target for their inevitable retaliation. Nothing too strong, you understand. We will need them to be completely wiped out as well so that nopony is alive to plead innocence when the Saddle Arabians level their charges that an Equestrian force slaughtered their citizens in an unprovoked act of aggression.

“The more unanswered questions there are on both sides, the harder it will be for either to be willing to acknowledge fault and offer peace.”

Maniple considered the unicorn’s plan for several long moments, then, “I...think I can manage that, My Lord.” His expression brightened significantly. “In fact, I’m certain that I can; but only with your help.”

“Oh?”

“There would only be two reasons our forces could be assigned near foreign borders without raising too many eyebrows here at home: formal exercises, and community outreach missions,” the general explained. “Now, a genuine military exercise would require several regiments―five thousand soldiers, at least, in order to be greenlit by EUP Command. Anything smaller would be seen as a waste of time and funds, and Equestria’s military budget has been rather tight of late with so much money going into the rearmament programs.

“I take it this would be a somewhat larger force than you would like for this purpose?”

“Indeed,” the Earl cringed, “if they saw such a force on their borders when one of their towns was destroyed, their sultan might make a personal visit to the Princesses to get to the bottom of the matter before things got out of hoof. They certainly wouldn’t be able to quickly respond with the sort of knee-jerk counter-attack that my plan requires. We can’t make them quite that nervous, I’m afraid.

“You mentioned a 'community outreach mission'? I trust that they require a somewhat more conservative deployment?”

“Yes, My Lord,” the general nodded, “much more conservative. A single company would be all that is needed.”

“Forgive my ignorance; I am not a military pony,” the Earl said. “How many ponies are in a ‘company’?”

“Our Frontier Corps has companies as small as a hundred ponies, My Lord. Which, if you’ll permit me to preempt your next question, is a very small force. On its own, it could be easily overwhelmed by even the smallest regional militias that we know the Saddle Arabians typically levy to respond to monster incursions.” He leveled his gaze at the Earl. “Or to quickly strike back at a force that they thought had sacked a small village.”

“Perfect,” Alabaster nodded. Then he frowned. “But why exactly would you need my assistance with assigning such a force to the border?”

“Because, My Lord, such a force would require the temporary attachment of a Foreign Ministry envoy,” Maniple explained quietly, “and if your goal is for there to be no survivors…”

“I see,” and the earl did. He recalled now that his Ministry often did send out small delegations to both outlying towns and settlements within Equestria as well as foreign villages that were near the border in order to help with relations. Those were not the sort of matters that he ever attended to personally―that was another reason he had a staff, after all―but it still fell under his general area of responsibility. So, if the brigadier was to get a properly small group of soldiers near the border with Saddle Arabia, he would need Alabaster’s ministry to give him one of their diplomats to act as the delegation's leader.

And if the earl truly meant for none of the soldiers that were sent to survive to return home, then that would also have to hold true for whatever diplomatic official accompanied them. Which meant that he would need to choose a member of his staff to go on this mission, knowing they would never return.

Really, Al? You didn’t think twice about sending a hundred soldiers to their deaths, but now that one of your own diplomatic corps will end up on the same sacrificial altar, you’re hesitating?

The earl snorted and shook his head. It was silly of him, he knew. This was bigger than a single company of soldiers, or a single envoy for that matter. Sacrifices would have to be made for the greater good of all of Equestria. Perhaps nopony would ever understand that―or at least admit it―but that didn’t change the truth of the matter. “I’m sure I can find somepony fit for the task.” Ideally, the Earl thought, somepony whose loss wouldn’t significantly disrupt the functioning of his ministry. Somepony who also possessed little in the way of experience as well.

That way, when everything was over with, they could even go on to blame the whole debacle on an inexperienced envoy who didn’t understand what they were doing. The inevitable investigation that was launched to ensure another such conflict ‘never happened again’ would be quick to lay the blame at the hooves of a dead envoy. A convenient scapegoat for the whole mess. While it would be sad that a whole nation had fallen due to the mistake, it had really all just been the result of a simple cultural misunderstanding made by an envoy too green to have been trusted to act on their own initiative.

It would be a tragedy, to be sure, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would ensure that, in the future, great pains were taken so that only properly qualified envoys were dispatched on such missions. So, while, in the end, perhaps Equestria’s government had made some less than ideal decisions that had led to the war with Saddle Arabia, it had been the result of simple naivety, not malice, and therefore wasn’t really anypony’s fault, right?

That was how history would remember these events, in the fullness of time: tragic, but nothing more than an innocent mistake. He might not even end up imprisoned on the moon when the dust settled!

“I’m certain I can find somepony suitable for the mission,” Alabaster assured the general. “You may go ahead and have an appropriate force for the mission recalled to Canterlot so that they can be briefed and dispatched.

“In the meantime, I’ll begin laying the groundwork with some of our other neighbors. If we can get any of them to come in on our side, all the better. We wouldn’t want to be seen as warmongers, now would we?” The Earl flashed a fierce grin at the other stallion, who returned it in kind.

“Of course not, My Lord,” Brigadier General Manipal’s words would have sounded almost sincere to the casual listener, but his eyes easily betrayed their sarcastic undertone. “Of course not.”

Author's Note

Thank you so much for reading! As always, a thumbs up and comment are always greatly appreciated

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