//------------------------------//
// 4 - Kemerskai Council 
// Story: EaW: A Republican Chick's War Chronicles 
// by CheshireTwilight 
//------------------------------//

Alicorn-ification: The New Face of the Pony Aristocracy

The Coronation Ceremony of the newest Princess of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle, has chilling implications for the future of freedom and liberty in that powerful pony nation. Every alicorn has had very favorable opinions of current government policy and has obtained positions of authority without showcasing the requisite merit for governance. Why? Many can point to the achievements of Mi Amore Cadenza and Twilight Sparkle, but fighting criminals is not a useful skill when a famine crisis hits, as seen with the iconic mismanagement of Stalliongrad. As of yet, the Equestrian leadership refuse to comment on the process with which the pegasus Mi Amore or the unicorn Twilight Sparkle transformed into the alicorns they are today.

A question emerges: will Princess Celestia’s political rivals at home or abroad gain access to this transformation capability? Will their own citizens? Whatever the answers, it is clear that with the growing number of these “super-ponies” at the highest levels of office, a new political class has emerged. - See Page 6 for more

- Opinion article on the front page of the Griffonian Republic National Newspaper, Der Republifaner (1st Week of October 1002 Edition)





Oct 8th, 1002 ALB – Republic Square, Cloudbury, Griffonian Republic – Clara POV

“Is this for us democracy?!”
““Is this for us democracy?!””

“Where is our vote, our sovereignty?!”
““Where is our vote, our sovereignty?!””

An olive-green griffon hen with brown eyes and a mohawk stood on a podium. Clara Löwenkin – long-time workers activist for the Democratic Socialists of the National Republican Party – yelled into a microphone to a crowd of over 2,000 supporters who chanted back in return. They were joined by over 10,000 supporters of the Central-NRP Harmonist faction, and in the far distance was a third group; the Right-NRP with well over 6,000 members. Each group was crammed into the small Republic Square to the point that many griffons were forced to spill out into the adjoining streets. Yet despite this, a “healthy” gap between the three groups existed to avoid “accidents” boiling over into riots. They had learned that the hard way.

The square had all of its statues and fountains removed when the city of Cloudbury was taken over 15 years ago and so it was now just a flat sheet of fitted stones. The only thing left in place was a large flag pole in the middle which now flew the Republican Tricolor. With the removal of the statues also came a removal of the name; it would never be Plumenjar Square – named after its former nobility – ever again.

“Or is this aristocracy?!”
““Or is this aristocracy?!””

“Let us end this hypocrisy!”
““Let us end this hypocrisy!””

Behind Clara was the focal-point of the demonstration today: the Republican Palace. A contradiction of terms unless one remembered the reason for the rally: the current President had banned all national elections with “The Salvation of the Republic Act of 986”. That, combined with its history as the former “Grand Plumenjar Palace” of the Cloudbury Barony made it stick as a name whether the government wanted it or not.

“The leadership’s afraid of me!”
““The leadership’s afraid of me!””

“The people’s power is unity!”
““The people’s power is unity!””

With the end of the chant, there was a cheer and a round of applause, griffon claws came together in a cacophony of dull but heavy-sounding clacking. It took a few minutes for the crowd to die down before Clara could once again speak back to the crowd.

“Thank you all for coming! It is only with your support – the power of the people – that I can stand before you today, ready to force President Kemerskai to do his job! I-”

She could not speak another word as the crowd cheered again. It took almost another minute for them to calm down before she could continue.

“Yes, thank you, thank you again! As you all know, it has been exactly 17 Years and 2 Months since the Act of 986 was first introduced and-”

This time, it was booing that she could not speak. However, in the interest of time, she powered through it by signaling to the operators of her magical speakers to increase the volume.

“But as we all know, there was good reason at the time! Skyvania abandoned us, the bandit attacks got worse, even General Rosewing – the damn traitor – defected with his army to become some “warlord” in the north! These have all hurt, but through it all, we were told it would only be for a short while! Well, it’s been a long while and we’ve had enough!”

This time the crowd going wild was intended and Clara waited for them to finish. Checking the time, she realized she was running a little behind schedule and quickly moved on to the end.

“The Democratic Socialist Party has heard your pleas and vows to push that grumpy old President to do his damn job or step aside!”

With the crowd going wild one final time, she signaled to the operators to cut the power to the speakers. She hopped off the podium with a brief glide of her wings and stood in between two tough-looking griffons clad in blood-red armor. On their helmets was a golden star. These were the Red Guard of Moe Sparrowsbane, the Chairgriff-General of the Red Army that remained after the Skynavian Communists left. They were part of an elite unit that regularly fought against the bandits in the north and looked it, with fierce scars and bulging muscles. With them by her side, they were able to easily “part the sea” of Left-NRP supporters and make their way to the Republican Palace.

The meeting taking place was the monthly “Kemerskai Presidential Council”. Representatives of all the political movements and the government would meet to discuss recent political developments as well as make suggestions. She was there representing the workers while Rikard represented the party. With the Left-NRP leader busy with an emergency at one of the Workers’ Councils, he had a replacement go in his stead.

With the doors of the Palace closing behind her, Clara was greeted by the sight of said replacement: the “rising star” of the party, Tanya. Over the past few months, the 11-year-old griffon had acted as the “Party Ambassador” working to resolve disputes and was already involved in over 30 cases of worker-related unrest. It was something somegriff her age should have had no business doing and she was no miracle-worker.

In a majority of the cases, the issues remained unresolved or continued to deteriorate. The worst being the Cavegrove Lumberyard Massacre where the workers – who had been on hunger-strike for 3 days – suddenly went mad with delirium and charged a line of Republican soldiers guarding the perimeter. Over 200 died before the riot could get under control. While she certainly did not blame Tanya, she raised concerns with Rikard about why she was appointed to the position in the first place.

Then she started to see a glimpse of what Rikard had.

Tanya had worked with the Teacher’s Union to draft a revised curriculum that reduced marking and cut a full year off of schooling. That had been the thing which broke their strike and had them returning to work after three weeks off the job. There had also been a strike with the Squark Steel Worker’s Union when the owner of the Krupp Steelworks – Krupp Ironfeather – slashed wages for all non-technical workers by 30% while refusing to lower rent on the company town they all lived in. Tanya had somehow provided enough evidence of mismanagement that an audit was called which uncovered significant embezzlement between the company leadership and the Strawberry Duchy. The court case for that was still underway, but as a sign of good faith, the company was now state-owned with supervision by all the parties and Krupp was hanged for treason.

Belying her obvious intelligence, the small griffon chick’s face was puffed-up with indignation. She looked adorable. No doubt she had had to wait in the lobby for hours with nothing to do while Clara was outside talking up the crowd.

Tanya let out a sigh of annoyance.

“Why do you do all this? Hasn’t the President been reasonable with his actions so far? I thought you trusted him?”

While Clara was almost certain the chick was just venting and did not want an answer, it was a good enough conversation starter to “break the ice”, so she went along with it. She gestured towards a staircase and began to walk to their meeting with the President.

“Well there’s reasonable and reasonable just like there’s trust and trust.”

Tanya frowned.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

Clara chuckled, brushing the chick’s feathers much to her indignation.

“Well think about it this way. Why do good fences make good neighbors?”

As they reached the top of the staircase and made their way down one of the hallways, Tanya rolled her eyes at the common anecdote.

“To maintain boundaries, to enforce the social contract and avoid issues of disagreements on small differences of opinion blowing up into bigger problems. I know the analogy, I just don’t see how it applies.”

‘Well, that makes it clear she just wants to argue. If she knows that much already, there really isn’t anything we’re disagreeing with.’

Clara raised an eyebrow.

“I can’t see how it doesn’t. We’re here every month on the 8th – the anniversary of the 986 Act – doing the same song-and-dance, to mark down where the “fence” of President Kemerskai’s authority is and show that we mean business. While it might not seem like a lot of people – just a few thousand of the millions – remember that we rotate them out every time. This is 1% of the griffons that can afford to protest in spite of how bad the state of the country is right now. Sure, nogriff – outside of us in the leadership, of course – is here more than once every few years, but even that is a message. We’re showing the President we’ve still got the popular support if he tries anything. He also knows we can ramp up the protests however large it needs to be to force him to back down. Not just us either.”

Clara pointed out a nearby window overlooking the square and the mob outside.

“There are Harmonists and Militant-Republicans from the Center-NRP under Vice President Schnabel Sunglider. He shows up with the most griffons because – despite being close friends with the President – they have fundamental disagreements. For Schnabel, he would rather we abandon our nation-building and march right back into Griffenheim again. With the results we’ve had so far, you can imagine he has plenty of supporters.”

They both found their way to the end of the hall and Clara pointed to the fancier-looking setup of banners at the far-end of the square.

“There’s the industrialists and technocrats of the Right-NRP lead by Heinrich Kingfeather. I might hate his guts – and the world would be a better place with “pragmatic” aristocrat-apologists like him hanged from a tree – but he’s using his ill-gotten wealth to keep liberty alive. I guess the fact I'm willing to work with his ilk is the real power of the republic. There’s even some anarchists sprinkled in. I honestly can’t understate how universally hated the 986 Act really is. If it was tabled by anyone else – or if the cause of Griffonian Liberation were any less under threat by banditry and traitors – we would have tried and hanged President Kemerskai for treason against the Republic.”

Clara stopped at a set of doors leading into the meeting room and turned to Tanya.

“In short, the horrific violations of our civil rights are reasonable because we knowingly accept that burden for the future liberty of the griffon race. The legal power we granted the President is something we can entrust because he knows we can take those powers back by force if necessary. These rallies are to remind him of his duty. I will not let another Emperor Grover rule me. Not while I draw breath!”

“I would appreciate it if you would keep rhetoric like that to outside the palace, if you could?”

They both turned around to see that President Kemerskai himself was holding the door open for both of them to come in. The brown-feathered older griffon had a look of consternation. Tanya paled in worry, but Clara grinned.

“My parents hid in the cellar of our squat little homestead back in the 980s while the army did all the dirty work freeing us from tyranny. I’ve had enough hiding from what’s right. I know we’ve had these protests for most of my life now, but us citizens are no less passionate about freedom! We’ll fight and die if we have to.”

A laugh from inside echoed as Schnabel Sunglider made himself known. The silver-feathered war-hero tried to sound friendly, but the thick leather patch covering his left eye made him look intimidating regardless of his mood.

“Quite right! It’s as the saying goes: ‘The Tree of Harmony is watered by the Blood of Patriots’. While we might all wish that a little less blood was needed, liberty and freedom are ideals worth any price.”

President Kemerskai coughed awkwardly into a claw and gestured to inside the room.

“Yes, well I think it’s clear that this blood-pumping Republican fervor is sure to continue keeping me in line. Why don’t the two of you have a seat and we can get started.”

Clara nodded and walked towards the large table at the center of the room. Like the knights of Ancient Griffonia, they sat as equals around a circular table. Being the last ones in, Clara got the seat closest to the door and furthest from the President, with Tanya next to her. Clara did not mind. She had chosen to come last on purpose.

‘Staying a few more minutes riling up the crowd outside and getting the Voice of the Socialists heard is far more important than this boring meeting. Since we only have a few percent of the votes, nogriff here will listens to what we have to say; just token acknowledgment of our potential to cause trouble. Of course, that means the rest of the Party conveniently had other things to do today and I got stuck with coming here.’

It was the real reason that Rikard Astler was not here. Even his Chief of Propaganda or somegriff more “political” would have been a better choice than Tanya. No one in the party was expecting much from the debate.

She looked to Tanya.

‘Although… with her here, perhaps this meeting will be a little more interesting.’





Oct 8th, 1002 ALB – Republican Palace Council Chamber, Cloudbury, Griffonian Republic – Tanya POV

‘While I hate to say anything… nice about the socialists, I can say that there’s absolutely no way I would be seated at this table without them.’

In the room with her were the leaders of the nation; of the 4 million citizens of the Griffonian Republic. While there was no “head” of the round table, there was a clear division. On the one side was the President himself, surrounded by the government ministers, the Chief of Staff Reinhard Suntail and Vice President Schnabel Sunglider. To the left were the generals and aids to the war ministry. On the right, the civilian party representatives included Heinrich Kingfeather: the leader of the Right NRP.

‘What I don’t understand is what the Democratic Socialists are doing here. They haven’t done anything productive; thank goodness for that! Apart from setting up a few tiny, inconsequential Co-Ops and distributing their “literature”, anti-Skynavian laws and investigative journalism have kept them well away from the weak worker unions. That’s meant that the only real achievements for the party have been my own, and I can attest there’s nothing socialist about that!’

With everygriff seated, President Kemerskai was quick to bang a gavel which quickly quieted the griffons seated at the table.

“Let the 184th session of the Presidential Council convene. As many will no doubt expect, the primary focus will once again be on the North and dealing with the crisis of banditry and warlords hiding in the mountains. The purpose here will once again be finding a bipartisan solution to the issue. I ask the Council to please remain quiet while I have our experts give the facts of this matter. We will discuss our potential future actions to take when they are done. I’ll start us off with the Militia Organization Chief Schwartsen Eckleburg to detail the current situation to us.”

The next fifteen minutes detailed a summary of the military and socioeconomic factors of the banditry.

There were now 43,614 militia operating out of the 119 villages and urban areas north of the Squark-Bleakspire Line holding the territory against the bandits which had 337 casualties and 842 new or returning members. This was in spite of a recent downturn of attacks. The projections even had all banditry being quashed by the end of 1003.

There were 82,372 enlisted members of the armed forces with most units missing equipment needed to be fully combat effective thanks to modernization efforts. Some of the militia and infantry were stuck still using muskets from half a century ago, but it was better than nothing. The pre-980 imperial cannons had been fully scrapped, but only 120 of the 440 artillery needed to fully equip the army were ready.

The cruiser and destroyer the Republic had captured with Winghagen in 980 were still undergoing refits but their first submarine was about one quarter complete. The Admirals were confident that the navy could protect trade against attacks by the Kingdom of Vedina, but little else. The only hope to expand the fleet was to rely on submarines and Jeune École in case of any engagement with Feathisia or Skyfall.

Finally, the Fluggerät Heureka Empire-model fighter bi-plane purchased from Skyfall completed trials. But it was clear from the hesitation of everygriff in the room that there was no desire to begin a serious production campaign.

‘It’s understandable… the military budget is already 23.4% of GDP! The fact the country’s economy hasn’t completely collapsed is only by sheer will.’

The final discussion on the sociological causes of banditry seemed to fall apart as soon as the topic began. There were tenuous links to the Sunstriker Clan that raided the eastern border, the Skynavian traitors in the north as well as simply opportunistic natives that sought profit amid the chaos. The only member of the government that seemed to make any progress on that front was General Claus Rosewing who had been sent there after “disagreements” with the administration. That a rogue agent could do better than the entire Department of Intelligence despite the latter working on it exclusively for several months had the entire council up in arms. The only thing they could even report on since the last meeting was that the completion of the Windford railway had reduced banditry in the region to almost zero. Apparently, the consequence of an improved logistic chain no longer enabled easy raiding.

Kemerskai hit his gavel again on the table.

“Thank you all for your patience, I now release the floor to the council to-”

Chief of Staff Reinhard Suntail interrupted the President. The blue griffon snapped his wings out as he stood.

“Me. I would like to once again propose building a railway to Lostgate in the north. We just heard the benefit Windford had with theirs. It is high time we open up better trade with the city. A military garrison there supplied by the railway would keep the surroundings clear of bandits and-”

Armaments Minister Erich Kreiger interrupted him with a slam of the table, the portly griffon's bulk making an audible groan of the table.

“And nothing. We have a bad enough iron-shortage as it is without dumping thousands of tons of it into steel production for your boondoggle.”

Suntail pointed at the minister with accusation.

“Oh, not like your railroad to Windford?”

Erich rubbed his eyes in frustration. The dark bags made it clear the man had little sleep recently.

“The Windford railroad allowed us to expand iron mining there. Unlike Windford, the Cloudbury river flows through Lostgate; we can already ship its iron by barge, but Windford’s river flows into the Empire. Yes, the citizens paid a heavy price for that loss of weapons production while we constructed that railroad, but we are now on our way to finally having an iron surplus for the first time since our liberation of Cloudbury! Until the mines in Windford start giving us a surplus again, we need that iron for the military!”

Suntail curled his thin mustache with an annoyed look.

“Typical of you to only think of profits. We could just purchase iron from any of our neighbors but that would require your businesses to dip into their savings.”

Erich looked to the Chief of Staff with anger, his jowls vibrating with rage.

“What savings?! Are you saying my annual account statements are fraudulent?! Every pfennig is re-invested!”

The President slammed his gavel.

“Enough. Chief of Staff Suntail, your comments are unjustified. If you can provide some evidence that the cost of a railroad would outweigh the benefit of firearms and artillery made from those resources, you can submit it. That was what got the last railroad made and it will get any future infrastructure plans approved. This country won’t survive unless we are making the best use of our resources.”

Suntail scowled. He leaned over to Kemerskai and whispered something in his ear, but otherwise said nothing more. A dark look came over the President but he said nothing.

Clara knocked on the table, getting the attention of everygriff there.

“If we’re talking about the ‘best use of resources’ then what about our people! That seems to be missing from the equation. While you might be pushing hard to eliminate banditry, you seem to be ignoring the death your mismanagement is creating! Suicide is up 600% and workplace injuries are up over 1000% since last year. Disease and illness rates have been increasing by over 10% every year and you best not think I forgot the Cavegrove massacre! You want threats, what about the very livelihoods of the people! You’re pushing workers too hard!”

Erich Kreiger pointed to her.

“Get that sanctimonious crap out of here?! If you’ve got it all figured out, then fix it!”

Erich gestured to Tanya.

“That’s something your colleague seems to understand. At the end of the day, I don’t care how, but we need as much guns and ammunition as we can make! Tens of thousands die every year to bandits and it will only get worse! We talked about the casualties in the militia, but we had 985 casualties just this month from banditry! And that was the best month on record! Everything you’re talking about would require perpetual funding to maintain, it would be a permanent drain on the nation. The need for guns and ammunition lasts until the bandit problem is solved. When the bandit problem is solved, then we talk about pushing workers a little “less hard”.” 

Clara sat back with a look of disgust.

“That makes you little better than the bandits you purport to fight. You’re trading the lives of our citizens for bandits on the off-chance it may save more lives. That’s cold calculus. It’s evil. If you care about the bandits so much, we should be trying to end things peacefully with them! Solve the root-causes of the bandits rather than just treating the symptoms. The government is neglecting the poor and marginalized Cloudburians who cannot even talk with you because you don’t even speak their language! I hope I don’t need to provide “evidence” of that either, what with Cloudbury teeming with refugees being marginalized as we speak!”

Erich’s beak grinding on itself made an audible noise as his rage boiled over.

“Are you suggesting collusion?! These are vicious murderers! You can’t negotiate with terrorists!”

Clara pointed to the President.

“Apparently we’re fine with Rosewing’s collusion, but my suggestions are a step to far?!”

Erich threw some of the papers on his part of the table in Clara’s direction.

“You-”

Kemerskai pounded his gavel on the table.

“Enough! Stop it, all of you! Clara, we’ve tried to make inroads in the past but the political situation up north is too complicated for any one solution. There’s foreign interference, greed, political differences… Rosewing was our answer to that, but it’s clear that uniting the bandits under a warlord is not the solution we had in mind. That’s why we need to be careful.”

Heinrich Kingfeather stood up.

“I agree with our President and Armaments Minister in this. The benefits to pushing back the bandits are not something that can just be calculated by lives lost. Think of the stability of the nation. This is security and safety for people to live and work without fearing for their lives. While we in the south might be pushed harder than ever, it’s having a noticeable impact on the north! Productivity and infrastructure developments have been at a all-time high and those statistics you mentioned have all gone down in those regions.”

The argument did not end there, of course. The Council descended into bickering as Clara – the workers’ representative – fought with the united front aligned against her.

Tanya sat back for a few minutes unsure what to do to take advantage of the situation.

‘Hmm… as much as I love a socialist losing a debate, Clara’s only completely derailing he meeting. At this rate nothing would get done… I suppose this would be a good moment for a middle-of-the-road approach.’

Tanya thought for a moment before raising a claw.

“I’ve a suggestion, if that’s alright.”

Everygriff paused. Heinrich Kingfeather mumbled something into the President’s ear who lit up in response.

“Ah, Heinrich’s new favorite socialist! I was told you were young, but I had not realized… honestly, I had thought Rikard Astler was making some sort of statement by having a chick take his seat on the Council. Well, what have you got to add? I can’t imagine that it could be any less productive than this argument already is.”

Tanya groaned.

‘I wish somegriff would realize I’m not a socialist… have I been too subtle?’

It was a difficult game to play when she had been unable to get another job lined up. If she pushed too hard to sing capitalism’s praises, she would just find herself on the street again. Her current strategy of undermining the socialist cause from within had been making progress, but it was clear that the other parties were no closer to accepting her as one of their own.

“I was thinking that perhaps the Democratic Socialist Party can put actions to words. Obviously these arguments are not ever going to go anywhere without proof. Why not have the government fund a new factory; I imagine there is already one in the works, Armaments Minister Kreiger?”

He gave Tanya a skeptical look.

“Of course. The construction of the new Artillery Works is close to completion. We will soon be able to double the production of artillery barrels to 16 per month thanks to the aforementioned iron coming in from Windford.”

Tanya pointed to Clara.

“Then perhaps the government would be willing to help us prove the superiority of socialism by handing over the operation of the factory to us?”

Rather than the anger she expected, Erich just seemed confused.

“Are you kidding? This is a pretty bad joke if you are.”

Tanya smiled.

‘The first rule of negotiation is to start high and be talked down to something more “reasonable”. What I’m really after is a way to undermine the socialist cause. Since it’s self-evidently impossible for them to run a business better than the best capitalists, this proof will stop its spread before it’s too late.’

Tanya had seen the so-called “Workers’ Councils” running the various co-ops and cottage industries set up by the Left-NRP. They had no oversight, with workers only working 4-hour days and spending most of their time talking or working on personal projects. They were little more than a hobby group masquerading as a business.

The President nodded.

“It isn’t a bad idea.”

Erich was in shock and stood up from his seat.

“What in Boreas’ name are you talking about, President Kemerskai?! That factory is something I’ve been planning for over a year!”

The President raised his claws in surrender.

“Ah, my apologies; that came out wrong. The idea has merit is what I meant, but most certainly not for use in a brand new factory. It would hardly be a good test. If it did better than your other factory, it could be because of your own planning or the new technologies involved. No, we should have them take ownership of one of your other factories.”

Erich choked out a growl.

“I refuse. Their entire ideology is clearly a farcical mess of moralism trumping common sense.”

Tanya stifled a nod.

‘That’s something we can both agree on.’

Clara, however, looked smug.

“Excuses, excuses. You just don’t want to give us an opportunity to prove you wrong. When our methods produce results, it would prove that the whip-and-slave methods in your factories was just misery without a purpose.”

The President looked to Erich with a raised eyebrow.

“Well? She’s right that we can never prove her wrong without evidence.”

Erich clenched a clawed fist tight enough to change color.

“One factory: the 3rd Munitions Plant in Squark. The owner’s incompetent and I’ve yet to find a good replacement. You’ll be given the same contract as anygriff else. When you fail, I expect the Democratic Socialist Party to shut up for these meetings or disband. I’ve had enough of your complaints.”

Tanya nodded with a smile.

‘I’m glad he’s realized my hidden motivation. Don’t worry Erich, I’ll prove your trust was not unfounded. There’s no way for this plan to succeed.’

Clara also smiled with a clear sense of superiority.

“Oh we’ll shut up alright, but only because our actions will do the talking.”

The President banged his gavel before the arguments could go on any longer.

“Then – for once – we have a bipartisan decision regarding the banditry problem… no matter how far removed it is from solving the issue. The Left NRP will work with Minister Kreiger on the details for taking ownership of the Squark factory.”

With another bang of the gavel, he took out a piece of paper off the table.

“Next on the docket is energy. Specifically our work in setting up electrical and telegraph wiring along the railroads. General Karl Vettericht? I believe it was your department in the war ministry that was in charge of the installation? General Vettericht?”

While Tanya did not know the General, the faces all turning to a brown-feathered griffon made it clear who they were talking to. The griffon in question seemed distracted by something on the radio which he was listening to with headphones. It did appear he could hear the President, however, because he took one of the earpieces off to respond.

“Sorry Marshal Kemerskai I’ve- hold on… yes… Sorry sir, we have a situation in the West. A barracks of the 3rd Infantry Division in Bleakspire was just attacked. We’ve sent reinforcements but-”

President Kemerskai got up off his seat.

“What?! No recall those reinforcements immediately!”

The General seemed confused.

“Marshal, sir? If there’s been an attack, the doctrine states that-”

Kemerskai shook his head.

“The war doctrine is to reinforce against a surprise attack. This isn’t an invasion from Vedina is it?”

The General grimaced.

“Bandits sir, probably to raid the armory.”

The President rushed over to the General.

“Damnit! They aren’t there to raid the armory! Think! There is a less well-defended armory in Lostgate, why didn’t they attack that? No, somehow they knew we would pull out forces from here in Cloudbury, the next attack would be-”

Bang. Ba-ba-bang. Boom.

A series of dull thuds reverberated throughout the building. The sounds were quickly followed by the staccato of machine-gun and rifle fire. All the attendees quickly rose from their seats as realization set in.

The General brought a clawed hand to his face to cover his shame.

“-They would attack us here in Cloudbury. Do you want my resignation sir or-”

The President brought a clawed limb down hard on the generals withers.

“You followed procedure. I had never thought the bandits would be this bold, so get to work. Organize the 8th, 9th and 11th Infantry Divisions to mount a defense. All claws on deck. You can pull the 5th off the border with Strawberry as well. By the time the Empire can even think of trying to capitalize on all this, it will be over.”

The President turned to the rest of the representatives in the room.

“In return, I expect barricades on every street, a rifle in every claw. If the bandits have the gall to dare strike at us right now, it’s proof the past few months of reduced activity was just them biding time and gathering their forces.”

Everygriff calmly nodded and went about carefully packing their things.

‘What is everygriff doing?! There’s fighting just outside! We need to run!’

Of course, Tanya knew she could not let herself be the only one panicking and so kept her emotions from showing on her face.

Vice-President Sunglider chuckled.

“A citizen’s militia? Ho ho, I never thought I’d ever see the day again. You must be serious.”

Kemerskai growled.

“I’ve had it with these damn bandits. It’s time the citizens take their country back.”

Tanya did not hear anything else as Clara grabbed her by the claw and bodily forced her out of the room. The adult griffon took out a pistol she had tucked in a holster underneath her wing  and gave it to her.

“Here, you can have this. I’ll want you by my side until we get back to Headquarters and I can get a spare weapon from one of the Red Guard.”

Tanya stared at the weapon with a dumb expression. It was the first time in either of her lives she had ever held a gun.

“W-what? Why are you giving me this?”

Clara looked down at her with a soft expression. The action was somewhat undermined by the sound of bullets echoing in the distance.

“Ah, right. You wouldn’t remember. The President’s called a citizen's militia. That means unless you’re working, you need a gun and a station. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure to find you somewhere close to HQ so you don’t need to go very far.”

Tanya’s brain stopped.

“But that would mean I would have to fight!”

Clara smiled and ruffled her feathers.

“Yeah, isn’t it great?! You got those stuffy politicians to finally give us a project to show our stuff and now we can do the same on the battlefield! I know you’re probably itching to prove yourself, but try not to run off and bag a few bandits on your own alright? You’ve probably never even had proper combat training!”

As Tanya was hauled away by the exuberant Hen, her mind was racing a mile a minute.

‘No, no, no! I joined a political party to avoid becoming a soldier! Damn it, if I knew this was going to happen, I would have signed myself into the nearest recruiting station! At least I could have gone to officer’s school and taken a few years of education. This isn’t supposed to happen!’