Stars Whirl and Starry Glory are sitting in front of each other in one of the conference rooms in the castle. They had send a servant to tell Rarity to come here but she hasn't arrived yet. For the moment the two where content with just sitting and watching each other.
The tension in the room is thick enough to cut with a knife. Starry Glory has a serene expression on his face but on the inside he is fuming with so much anger he could almost burst. This was supposed to be his moment of victory, with the help of the Night Guard he could have finally fulfilled Nightmare Moon's dream of building a paradise for batponies. But know he is stuck with these two ruthless careerists who only care about themselves and the status quo.
Starry Glory keeps wondering about why Nightmare Moon would make this illogical decision. Surely the only reason she would agree to this is if she was forced by them. It would make sense, Stars Whirl and Rarity both have considerable power in the Lunar Empire.
Meanwhile Stars Whirl is putting a considerable amount of effort in trying not to glare at Starry Glory. She doesn't like it one bit that she has to work with this genocidal maniac. Altho it does give her the chance to moderate his radical proposals so at least there is that.
And of course there is the question of why Nightmare Moon would appoint him on this counsel? Stars Whirl always prides herself on being a good soldier and good soldiers follow order, but she can't stop wondering if Nightmare Moon made a mistake appointing Starry Glory. Stars Whirl suspects that all they are going to achieve is sabotage each other.
Before the intens staring contest between Stars Whirl and Starry Glory could become worse the door opens and Rarity trots inside.
"I am sorry I am late I needed do talk to Nightmare Moon." Rarity says while taking a seat next to Stars Whirl.
When Rarity sits down the silence returns, no creature want's to speak first. After a couple of second Stars Whirl is the one to speak first.
"Nightmare Moon has placed the fate of the Lunar Empire in our hooves. We can't put the security of our great nation at risk because of some personal differences." Stars Whirl says.
"I am going to say the same thing I have always say. We can't protect ourselves from external threats as long as the internal enemy remains." Starry Glory says.
"The hoofful of Celestia loyalists that still remain don't have over a hundred divisions along our border. The internal enemy doesn't have bombers capable of destroying our capital while Stalliongrad has both of these things. They are our true enemy." Stars Whirl speaks.
Stars Whirl is getting more and more irritated at this point. Starry Glory just can't seem to look at the big picture he is always obsessing over the enemy within and creating his batpony paradise and it is driving her crazy.
"Listen! There are actual problems that need to be dealt with and you raci-" Stars Whirl yells but before she can finish here sentence she is interrupted by Rarity.
"Ponies please just calm down before someone says something that they will regret. We all care about the Lunar Empire and Nightmare Moon right?" Rarity takes a short pause while staring at the other two before continuing.
"Surely there has to be a way for us to work together. How about this, we divert our recourses evenly for now between internal and external threats and then depending on how the situation evolves we can change our priorities. Is this acceptable to everyone?" She speaks in her over the top sweet voice.
"No it isn't!" Starry Glory angrily stands up from his seat.
"Now is the time to repair all the damage done towards batponies. What is the point of protecting us from Stalliongrad if our citizens have to suffer the same occupation that they rebelled against in the first place. We need to root out the last remnants of Celestia's followers and return the land that was stollen from batponies. When we have done that then we will have a country worth fighting and dying for and there is no doubt in my mind that our citizens will fight ten times as hard for a country that also fights for them then for any oppressor."
Stars Whirl starts to clap slowly.
"While your speeches are as amazing as ever" Stars Whirl states sarcastically "they won't stop the tanks of Stalliongrad. And dividing our country between batponies and the other pony races will only make us weaker."
"It will make us stronger because it was batpony labour that build this nation, it was me who convinced Luna to allow Nightmare Moon to return and it where unicorns, pegasi and earthponies that tried to stop this. If it where up to you two we would still be in Celestia's chains." Starry Glory answers.
Something breaks inside Rarity. She already didn't like being in the same room as that monster but hearing him brag about Nightmare Moon that is just too much. Rarity cared deeply about Luna and her cause but she was always opposed to using violence to further their goals. The only reason she followed the monstrosity that Luna became was because she believed and still believes that deep down Luna is still in there somewhere and of course because she couldn't bring herself to abandon Luna during those horrible times.
"Well if it is up to you me, Stars Whirl and anyone else who isn't a batpony would be laying death in a ditch by now. I will never allow you to implement you twisted ideas and I will do whatever it takes to make sure that your dream will remain dreams." She yells before storming out of the room.
Stars Whirl sighs. She knew this was going to happen the only thing they all have in common is that they have nothing in common. She then get's up and walks after Rarity. Meanwhile in Starry Glory is grinning, this meeting turned out to be more useful than he thought.