I sent a letter to Celestia and Luna telling them about my meeting with Soaring Skies right away, but our conflicting schedules meant that we couldn't meet until the following week. I managed to get enough time off to fly to Canterlot the following Saturday. When I arrived, the three of us went straight to the private meeting room. We had... a lot to discuss, and if I was right, and I had no reason to suspect that I wasn't, then our conversation might affect the course of our nation for decades, if not centuries.

But hey, we're princesses. Excuse my little joke, but that's called Tuesday.

Celestia poured the three of us some water, and I took some notes out of a small folder I had brought with me. I laid them out in front of me and accepted the water to start the meeting.

"So, we read your report, Antares," Luna began. "'Twas most disconcerting."

I took a sip of the water and nodded. "Yes, yes I would imagine that a lot of what I had to say in it was disconcerting. The question is, what do we do about all of it?" I motioned down to my notes. "The way I see it, we have a major internal issue, and another potential major external issue on our hooves. My question to you is which is the more pressing of the two? The Las Pegasopolan arms dealers are getting truly bold if they think that we can just wrest control of the army from the nobility and hoof it to them without any problems."

"'Twill never happen," Luna muttered. "The nobility have been directly tied into the military since before my leave, and bold arms dealers or not, We do not think that We can take control away from them so easily."

"As nice as that would be." Celestia sighed and shook her head. "To me the more pressing issue is the minotaur unification. Given that Las Pegasopolan arms dealers heard whispers about it before we did, I wonder how serious the claims really are."

I shrugged with my wings. "I can't say for sure. Though on that note, I did say that I would discuss it with the two of you, whether or not to give them an order, on any investigations they make before selling weapons are given to us."

Both of my fellow princesses grimaced and exchanged an uneasy glance at that. Celestia rubbed the back of her neck and clicked her tongue. "I am unsure if that is a wise move, TD, but I can see where you are coming from in that. On the one hoof, we need to know about any threat to our nation, and that is one more source, but on the other..."

"The Las Pegasopolan arms dealers will react adversely to that order, We think, and do their best to circumvent it in any way that they can," Luna finished.

"Yeah, I figured." I took a quill and ink and jotted that down on the sheet with my Las Pegasus notes. "So, what do you suggest we do, then? We can't ignore the fact that they find out about things like this before we do, on top of the fact that they don't see the big picture as well as we do, so they may look at a report and not see a threat there, when there really is one."

"A conundrum to be sure." Luna tapped her jaw. "A spy perhaps?"

Celestia shook her head. "If that ever got out, it would be a public relations disaster. Any other large corporation would immediately go on a changeling hunt for any more potential spies of ours."

"So what, then?" I questioned. "So we just give the order and catch a few important details that help national security but irk the Las Pegasopolan arms dealers, or do we let them be and potentially not catch anything when it arises because they misinterpreted some data?"

"We will have to discuss that at a later date, I think." Celestia levitated her own writing materials over to her and began jotting some things down. "To me the minotaur unification is the far more serious issue. While they are getting bold in their moves for more power, Las Pegasus is still loyal to us. A unified minotaur kingdom would not be, particularly since many of the larger clans have alliances with Aepnet."

"Do any of them have alliances with us?" I tilted my head. "That would make unification a lot more difficult, don't you think?"

Celestia shook her head. "No. We don't. It's not for a lack of trying, but we have no allies within the minotaur clans. We've had a rather... rocky past with the minotaurs. We've had several small wars that have resulted in the near annihilation of some of their important clans, not to mention some towns and cities of ours. No, they do not trust us even now."

"Hence their alliances with Aepnet," I guessed. "We've had a similarly rocky past with them, yes?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes, but we've gotten a little better." I saw a slight grimace cross her face. "For what that's worth."

"All of that aside, sister, We think that the proper course of action is to gather intelligence on just who is trying to unite the clans, why, and with what tactics, then see how to get involved, or even if we should," Luna said. "If a powerful warlord is attempting to take over by creating a bloody civil war until he is the last one standing and all others bow to him, then we should certainly stay out of it."

"While I agree with that assessment, I do not think that is the case this time, given historical precedent." Celestia looked down at her notes and idly tapped her two front hooves together. "Many, many warlords have tried that in the past, and all have failed. No, I think that this time, whomever is attempting to unite the clans, is doing so through diplomacy."

"Or a common enemy," I said.

Celestia glanced up at me, an eyebrow raised. "Oh?"

I nodded. "Yep, and I think that common enemy is us, maybe even me more specifically. Soaring Skies said that the reason that the clans are attempting to unite in the first place is because they're scared of Equestria now that a third alpha alicorn has taken the throne and created her own effective army. She said that others noticed what I did with those griffin raiders, and it worried some of the minotaur clans." I sighed and tapped the table. "If I know my history back on Earth, it's that nothing unites people like a common enemy. Soaring Skies thought that the minotaurs were uniting because they thought that we might take over, or install puppet leaders."

"A completely ridiculous notion!" Luna scoffed. "Why would we do such a thing?"

"To get places like Schunie under our control."

Celestia scoffed and rolled her eyes. "As if the most economically prosperous nation on the planet would need to take Schunie."

"Yeah, well, that's what they seem to believe, given my appearance and the creation of my forces." I gathered my notes together and put them back in a stack. "So, I guess the question is what do we do about it? Do we send a delegation to the minotaurs to talk to them about all of this?" And maybe start trying to create some human weaponry in case of Equestrian World War One?

"Perhaps." Celestia 'hmmed' and tapped her jaw. "To be fair, this information is just based on one Las Pegasopolan arms dealer that you spoke with. While I have little reason to doubt her, I suppose, we cannot act on this just by her word. we must gather information of our own."

"Fair enough," I said, "and then what do we do if this turns out to be real?"

"Then we send a delegation consisting of myself and you, to whomever is leading the attempts at minotaur unification." Celestia stood up from her seat, and Luna and I followed suit. "We do need to keep an eye on Las Pegasus, but I think they are the lesser of the two problems. I will determine the validity of the minotaur unification attempts, and we shall determine what exactly to do from there."

"Agreed," Luna and I said at the same time.

I have to say, I despised how complicated all of this was getting. If the rumors of minotaur unification were true, and, like Celestia said, I had no doubt that they were, I had a bad feeling about all of this. If the minotaurs fear us as much as the rumors say, on top of the fact that the griffons would ally with them over us, then it might not be a matter of if there will be a world war, but when.

The rumors were true. The minotaurs had begun uniting.

Celestia sent some preliminary delegations to some of the smaller clans who didn't quite know who they would be allied with, and the news always came back the same: two of the larger clans joined forces, and then gathered many of the other clans to them to unite into one large minotaur kingdom with the largest clan at the head, and its clan leader as the king. Schunie looked like the frontrunner for the capital city of the new minotaur lands, which didn't surprise me. But yeah, it looked like my hypothesis was correct: they were unifying because they shared a common threat now that a third alpha alicorn ruled in Equestria with a decent army.

So Celestia and I traveled to Schunie by chariot to speak with the minotaur leader responsible for the unification of his people. Four hours in and the two of us hadn't spoken two words to each other, and Schunie appeared on the horizon. I took a deep breath as I saw the tiny forms of armored minotaurs marching into the walled city, and rather got the impression that the two of us were going into a lion's den. I glanced over at Celestia, and noticed that she was looking at me.

"Are you nervous, TD?"

I scoffed and nodded. "Hard not to be when my ascension is what triggered all of this. They look like they're preparing for war, and I think that would be a rather destructive conflict, don't you?"

Celestia gave me a small smile and put a wing around my shoulders. "You mustn't blame yourself, TD. Do not see all of this as your fault. The minotaurs have been trying to unite on and off for centuries. This is just the latest attempt."

"Yeah, well, it was brought on by my ascension. Besides, have any attempts ever brought Equestria close to war?"

"Yes, once or twice." Celestia squeezed me with her wing and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. "Don't worry, TD. We'll figure this out in a way that does not lead to mass violence."

I sighed and gave a subtle nod. "Yeah. I guess." I looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. "Are you nervous?"

Celestia chuckled and looked over at the rapidly approaching city. "Terrified."

Great.

Within fifteen minutes, the two of us found ourselves coming in for a landing over the city, and I got my first look of the place that the minotaurs seemed so certain we wanted. It... kind of underwhelmed me compared to most pony cities. I mean no disrespect to the minotaurs, but the city seemed to be mostly just wooden shops and inns and such. It kind of reminded me of the setup of a renaissance fair, in all honesty. A stereotypical medieval village. I know that most of the wealth of the clans was here, but... we didn't need this city to be richer. It looked roughly the size of Baltimare.

Not that the minotaurs seemed likely to believe us, of course.

The chariot touched down near the largest building in the place, one of the few made out of brick instead of wood, I noticed, and I saw a group of at least fifty minotaurs standing outside of the building, all dressed in full black armor and carrying various weapons. An intimidation tactic, no doubt. They wanted to show us that they weren't a force to be trifled with. Well, I had worse welcomes to places.

As Celestia and I stepped off of the chariot, the door to the building opened, and a minotaur dressed in black armor, sans helmet, though, stepped out and walked up to the two of us. He gave us a small bow, which we returned.

"Greetings Princess Celestia and Princess Antares of Equestria. It is my honor to welcome you to our glorious city of Schunie. I am Bludworth, and I am here to be your guide for today." He bowed again, as well as he could in his full armor, that is, and motioned to the building. "Please join me in city hall. Our leader is most anxious to speak with you."

"And we to him," Celestia said. "We hope to resolve any bad blood that our two nations may have quickly and peacefully."

"I am glad to hear it," Bludworth said as we began following him inside. I glanced back at the second chariot we brought, carrying our captains and a few of our servants. I saw Captain Blaze help Tulip out of the chariot holding a half dozen of my and Celestia's ground-bound soldiers, and both of them trot to catch up to me once they had their hooves on the ground. The pegasi soldiers that we brought landed beside them, and moved to flank the two of us. Content that my support arrived safely, I turned my attention back to Bludworth.

"I do not wish for strife between our nations any more than you do, Princess Celestia but..." Bludworth hesitated for a moment as we walked up a flight of stairs. "Our leader might not be so willing to avoid war as I'm sure you're aware."

"Yes, we've heard tell that he is worried about Princess Antares and her forces, but I assure you, it is simply a protection force for both Princess Antares and the good citizens of Baltimare, not a major addition to our standing army."

"Perhaps," Bludworth said with a shrug, "but it's a good protection force, if that incident with the griffin raiders is to be believed. Not a single casualty on either side, or from the civilians from a fighting force that had never seen battle before?" Bludworth glanced back at me and gave me a single nod. "My compliments. You trained them well."

I returned his nod, but remained silent.

"And that's the problem," Bludworth said, returning his attention back to Celestia. "Our leader feels that with a force so well trained, and a princess who trains them so well, you could be a threat to our national security. I hope you are able to convince him otherwise. I think a war between our nations would be long, costly, and far bloodier than either one of us would like."

"And I agree." We reached the top of the stairs, revealing a hallway flanked by more armed and armored troops, and a doorway at the end. I glanced down at Tulip who eyed the guards with some apprehension, and I gave her a comforting smile.

"This is just a diplomatic mission," I muttered to her. "Nothing to be worried about. At worse we'll all shout at each other."

"And a war will start," Tulip muttered in reply.

I shook my head. "Nah, Celestia's a better diplomat than that. We don't want a war. There is truly no reason for one. Just do your job, and we'll handle the nasty stuff, okay? It's gonna be fine."

Tulip nodded, but I noticed her glance up at the armed guards again. They made for an unnerving sight, I'll admit, but they wouldn't do anything. Celestia and I would massacre them.

I think.

We reached the doorway and Bludworth grasped the door handle. Before opening it, he turned to us, a grim expression on his face. "I do not want war, and I know that you do not either. Our leader may. I trust that you are great diplomats, and I hope that we can come to a peaceful resolution to all of this. I know that you do not desire Schunie. If you can convince him of that, then I think we shall be far better off."

Celestia tilted her head in a single nod. "Of course. We shall do what we can."

Bludworth returned the nod and, with nothing more to say, opened the door.

The first word that came to my mind when I saw that minotaur leader was... smug.

Charming.

He sat upon a simple iron throne, and had six guards on either side of him, similarly armed and armored as the ones that we had been seeing since our arrival. He wore a cloak of what appeared to be wolf skin, and held a long, sharp spear. He didn't have a crown on his head, but I figured that he expected that to come soon enough. To top it all off, he wore just the most punchable grin ever. Seriously, I saw it and just wanted to sock him right in the jaw, and not just because, well, I have a history of that kind of thing.

Celestia and I reached his throne and both gave him small bows and waited for him to begin speaking, as good manners dictated, seeing as we were his guests. The minotaur leader shifted in his seat, but did not start talking.

Ah, so it was going to be like that, was it?

Having pulled the move myself, I knew that his silence meant that he wanted us to know that he was the one in charge. That we were lucky to just be allowed in his presence, and that we should really stay bowing.

Like I said: really, really smug and punchable.

After a solid minute of that, the minotaur leaned back in his throne and pointed his spear at me. "Princess Antares." He moved it over to Celestia. "Princess Celestia. I am called Purgle, formerly of clan Banag, and soon to be king over all of the minotaurs. We have much to discuss."

I noticed that he never said "welcome," showing that we really were not, and only by his "mercy" were we in Schunie at all.

"We do indeed have much to discuss," Celestia said. "I have heard tell that you have worries that Equestria has its sights set on acquiring Schunie and the other cities like it, either through military force or through other means. I would like to say that we have no such desires, and that should the minotaurs unite, we will of course recognize its legitimacy as a country."

"I see. I see." Purgle began drumming his fingers on the shaft of his spear. "And you would recognize me as the king of the newly formed country?"

"Should you be crowned as such, yes."

"Hmm." Purgle narrowed his eyes and leaned forward a touch. "And what assurances do I have that your words carry even a kernel of truth to them? How do I know that you aren't just telling me what I want to hear?"

"Why would I lie?" Celestia said with an evenness that I might not have had were I speaking to him right now.

"To lull me into a false sense of security of course! Be honest, Celestia, if you were going to take over Schunie, however slim a chance that may be, you wouldn't tell me that you were. You'd tell me the opposite, just as you are doing now."

"Yes, but you are forgetting that taking over Schunie would doubtlessly trigger a large war." A hint of a smile graced Celestia's lips. "Why would I want to lead Equestria into a war?"

"Because now you think that you have the might to pull it off." Purgle pointed his spear at me, and I became a touch grateful that the two of us stood far enough away that we were out of his reach. "I've heard the rumors about her army, Celestia. Her guards are a capable fighting force."

I snorted and took a half step forwards. "And I was just supposed to go halfway in creating my guard? Or not create one at all?" I raised my eyebrow and looked around to his armed guards. "Seemed kind of hypocritical, don't you think?"

"Let's not be insolent, Antares," Purgle said coolly, "I'm merely stating facts. A third godlike alpha alicorn ascended to the throne, and when you did, you increased the size of Equestria's military with a group that has shown itself to be somewhat capable. Not only that, but from what my intelligence has told me, you come from a planet that was far more warlike than even we minotaurs are, with weapons that could level cities." Purgle's smug smile returned, and he began drumming his fingers on his spear again. "I'm right, am I not?"

I narrowed my eyes, but grunted and nodded.

"Exactly. So, a third god sits on Equestria's throne, one who knows how to create super-weapons, and creates a decent fighting force. I don't need to tell you why my country would find that unnerving."

"I don't suppose you do, though tell me..." I gave a slight smirk of my own. "How many of these super-weapons have you seen? Or even heard of? Or know for a fact were created? Zero, am I correct?"

"Nevertheless, you can create them, and that's what worries me."

"It shouldn't. Equestria has absolutely no desire to go to war with you."

"And if we did go to war?" Purgle tightened his grip on his spear. "Would you create these super-weapons to beat us quickly?"

"It would be unwise to give you any semblance of a military strategy we may have in the event of a war between our countries; a war that, I must stress again we have no desire for," Celestia said. "Would you like to give us your country's military secrets and strategies?"

Purgle remained silent for a few moments before leaning back on his throne again and slamming the end of the spear on the ground. "That is as good as a confirmation to me. You may not want Schunie but in the event of war between our nations, I believe that Antares would give you the secrets to powerful weapons to destroy us." He glanced over at me, his eyes narrowed to slits. "You're dangerous Antares. Too dangerous, some might believe."

"You're still ignoring the question of just why we would want war with a unified minotaur nation Purgle," I growled.

"Because we are a threat to your thousands of years of hegemony." Purgle pointed with his spear in the direction of Equestria. "Be honest: even with your new troops and super-weapons, could you win a war with us? You think you could, and so you'd defeat us quickly to ensure your hegemony remains."

"Baseless accusations Purgle." Celestia scoffed. "What have we done exactly to give you this idea?"

"You deliberately created a fourth princess." Purgle shrugged. "Oh, your precious gemstones may not have been aiming for the human, but you set out to create a fourth princess regardless; a princess that would also have created her own army, correct?" Pugle's smug smile widened even further. "Admit it, Celestia, Your plan from the start was to strengthen Equestria with a fourth princess and more troops to go with it."

Celestia snorted and narrowed her eyes. "No. What my plans were with my student are none of your concern, then or now, and I do not wish to stand here anymore and listen to such baseless accusations. Neither you nor Schunie has anything to fear from us. Even now after all of the insults you have slung at us, Equestria will still recognize your kingship, should that come to be, and the legitimacy of your country. Unless you have something else, I feel that we are done here."

Purgle continued smirking at us, but subtly shook his head.

"Very well. I hope that our countries avoid war, now and in the future."

With that, Celestia and I turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Purgle alone with his stupid delusions. I for one couldn't wait to get back home where I could just relax for a little while. I had made sure to set aside a little time for after the meeting for myself, because I knew that it would be stressful.

I... underestimated just how bad things were between Equestria and the minotaurs.

I looked down at Tulip, who was struggling to keep pace with Celestia. "Can you write a letter for Princess Luna telling her about what happened? I think that she'll want to know right away."

"Of course, princess."

"Good." I looked back over to Celestia and didn't notice the slight grimace on her face. I waited until we were out of the city hall to speak to her about it. "That could have gone better."

"I did not think that he was that delusional, TD," Celestia growled, motioning for the pegasi pulling the chariots to begin preparations for takeoff. "He's warmongering, I'm sure of it. He wants war between our nations, and will go to whatever lengths he can to make it happen."

"But why? What can he possibly gain from that?"

"Legitimacy, I imagine." Celestia herded me into the chariot, and the pegasi began running forward to takeoff. "If we get in a war and he wins it, he will be king. No one will challenge his legitimacy."

"Yeah, but we'll wipe him out!"

"Maybe." Celestia frowned and stared at the chariot floor as we got into the air, silent for a few moments. "Do you?"

I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head. "Do I what?"

"Do you have the knowledge to create super-weapons?"

"Er..." I cleared my throat and uneasily rubbed the back of my neck. "That's... complicated. Could I go back to Baltimare and within a night have a machine gun ready for field use? No, I couldn't. Did I learn the ingredients that went into gunpowder in some science class, the basic design of a gun in a history class, and now that I'm an alicorn I can recall all of that way easier?" I gave a grimace of my own. "Yeah."

"So you can create these super-weapons?"

"You would call them super-weapons. On Earth they're just kind of mundane. That aside... yes, yes I think that I could given the right scientists and time."

"And what would happen if you managed to create these 'machine guns' and we took them to battle?"

I started feeling sick to my stomach, and I looked down at the ground going by. "Well... if they worked as well as they do on Earth, then... well, any minotaur army that went up against a pony force armed with machine guns would be wiped out. Fast."

"I see." Celestia looked up at me, her eyes unblinking. "So Purgle, in a way, is right."

"I guess," I mumbled.

"Hmm." Celestia looked out into the horizon in the direction of Canterlot. "TD, I don't want you making these weapons. I think that the effect that they would have on the world would be too costly."

I nodded. "Yeah, I agree."

"I would, however, like you to join me in my bedchambers when we land in Canterlot." I looked over to Celestia and saw that her frown had been replaced with a slight smirk. "Or do you have other things to do?"

I returned her smirk and straightened up a little. "Even if I did, I wouldn't now." I looked in the direction of Canterlot, hoping that we'd land soon. "I mean, if--"

My smirk fell, and my eyes widened when I saw something coming the other way. Celestia noticed my shift in mood and frowned, tilting her head as she did. "TD? What's wrong?"

I raised a hoof and pointed at the object that was beginning to pass us. It was a chariot, just like ours, but it didn't carry ponies. It carried griffins. Griffin royalty, to be specific.

More specifically Emperor Aepnet, whom I'd bet my crown was going to meet Purgle.

Author's Notes:

With the publication of this chapter, this is now the longest story I have ever written.

So yeah.