“Alright, I believe that about does it. There’s no turning back now” Ivory Rose spoke out loud, honestly more to herself then the council members that were present around her. Her hoof gently placing the receiver back onto the radio before her, finding the small locking noise to be of some comfort.
Several sighs were heard as some of the tension the group had been feeling dissipated, though a large portion of it still remained. This was a pivotal moment for all them. For their entire order it seemed.
“Well, I must say, this is quite exhilarating” one of the stallions at the table spoke, catching the attention of his surrounding ponies. There were several raised eyebrows at the small smile upon the mustached face of the unicorn.
“Fancy, I could think of a hundred words that could define our situation at the moment, but exhilarating does not exactly fit” The mare directly across from him spoke, removing her hood for the first time in hundreds of meetings, her signature light purple and grey striped mane tied back carefully into a stylized bun. A sigh escaped her before she realized she had the attention of several of her colleagues.
“What?” she asked, looking genuinely confused at the glances she was receiving.
There was a ‘humph’ from the pegasus mare directly next to Ivory, the pony crossing her fore hooves. “Already breaking protocol Velvet?” she questioned, receiving an eye role from the unicorn.
“Please Silica; you know we haven’t enforced that rule in decades. Besides, you would forgive me if it isn’t rather hot in here with all our frayed nerves” to illustrate her point, she began to fan herself lightly with a hoof. While many others didn’t want to admit it, it had begun to grow rather hot in the meeting room, the close proximity of body heat generating a warm environment.
“I’m just finding it curious that you decide of all times to show off your nervousness now, a bit too late for that isn’t it?” ‘Silica’ smirked, leaning back into her chair as Velvet leveled a glare at her.
“And here I thought you were supposed to keep your readings to yourself, breaking a rule yourself now aren’t you?” the unicorn smiled knowingly as the smirk disappeared from the other mare’s face. Though, before a rebuttal could be issued, the lead stallion of the table suddenly cleared his throat, his attention on Silica.
“Speaking of reading, Silica, what did you get from him while we talked?” The stallion referring to the day before, when Ivory had brought Gaunts to be introduced to the rest of the orders leaders, as well as give him a proposition. Said proposition what had caused them to have their stress and tension.
All eyes turned to the mare with a fiery orange and yellow mane, as she appeared to brood in her seat for a moment, the hood of her cloak hiding her eyes from them. Finally though, a sigh was heard as the mare looked up, striking emerald eyes greeting the onlookers.
“I wasn’t able to read him. His magic resistance prevented me from feeling anything”
At the mare’s words, a few of the members broke out in murmuring, Ivory and Twilight being the exception, though the latter was thinking carefully.
“Are you sure you didn’t get anything? Maybe just a sliver of emotion?” the earth pony continued.
“Perhaps there is nothing to give, eh Powder Keg?” she spoke innocently, which only agitated the white peguasus next to her.
Placing her hooves on the table in frustration, she eyed the mare seated next to her, a glare present across her features.
“I am getting truly sick and tired of your accusations Silica, if you have a problem with him, just say it! If not, stop attempting to slander him with false truths!” Ivory demanded, her eyes boring into her fellow member. Her challenge to her co-patriot was not taken lightly as her fellow pegasi suddenly barred her teeth, her lengthened canines well on display. She moved to match Ivory’s intrusion into her personal space, the two practically head-butting.
“Oh, I’m sorry Ivory. Am I being a little to careful trying to protect this order?!” Silica raged, catching a few off guard with the strength of her voice. The remaining members were just grateful that sound-proofing the room was a consideration in its construction.
Ivory Rose blinked rapidly as she leaned away from the now angered mare, confusion at the choice of words used.
“What is that supposed to mean?” the white pegasus fired back, returning the challenge.
“Oh please, don’t play innocent! You know exactly what I’m talking about! You practically reek of it!” Silica shouted, earning herself several glances.
“Silica…” Twilight Velvet’s voice warned, any trace of playfulness gone.
The mare whirled on the tone of her usually leveled headed friend, now her anger directed at the unicorn.
“Oh shut it Velvet, I don’t need to be a changeling to see her opinion is biased toward him!” She pointed an accusatory hoof back at mare adjacent to her, and much to Ivory’s chagrin, found many eyes once again on her.
“My dear, you did set your family history aside in this matter, correct?” The refined voice of one sir Fancy Pants, earning a pained expression from Ivory.
“Of course I did! I know what is at stake here, I would never risk letting the order suffer by not having a neutral disposition!”
A scoff next to her caused her teeth to mash together in a slow grind.
“Noooooo” Silica began, faining attention inspecting her hoof, “It’s not like years of family stories and tales would corrupt your opinion on the matter”
“Oh, and I suppose you are free to throw those jabs? Considering you have a similar history you were raised with?” At this, the Silica lost any sense of her slight cockiness, now instead replaced by ice cold anger.
“Watch what you say from here on out Ivory…” the mare warned, yet the crimson maned pegasus continued on unperturbed.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware that this was a touchy subject for you, considering your mother practically worshipped the ground he walked on!”
Only twin barriers of magical energy popping up between the two-one of gold and the other pink-prevented Silica from delivering the blow she had aimed for Ivory, her hoof striking off the shield spells.
“My mother was a fool! And so was her mother, and her mother before that!” the mare vented, no longer directly focused on Ivory, partially because the shield spells remained intact.
Her eyes glowed dangerously as she continued to yell at her fellow members, the stress from the situation finally coming to a head.
“Years! Years my mother believed he was some type of savior, even as she eventually passed!” Twilight, Fancy, and the lead stallion all bowed their heads softly at this fact, knowing the mare in question for many years.
“And not once, not once! Did she care to acknowledge the truth before her! Even as I told it straight to her face!” The next words were nearly pulled entirely from memory, the heated conversation with her mother returning to the forefront of her mind.
“We were a means to an end! Tools! Nothing more! He only spared us so he could use us! He sent changelings into battles for the sole point of causing chaos in their ranks, even knowing that they would be swarmed by the enemy! And not only that, but because of those actions, he spawned an entire subculture in Griffonia centered on hatred and fear of changelings!”
“Enough” the gruff voice was heard, but ignored. The flood gates had opened, at they weren't looking to close anytime soon
“Did you honestly think my hive would have stayed in Equestria after the crystal empire was able to eradicate most of my ancestors?! No! They may have had ambitions of taking the love of the empire, but their greed was there downfall and in accepting Gaunt’s generous hand, they sealed themselves to their doom!
“Enough” the voice now could be heard by half the table, yet Silica continued on strongly.
“We are only in Equestria because we can go nowhere else! Sure, Saddle Arabia and Zebafrica are available, buck, even the minotaur lands could hold us, but with many of them having some superstitions born out of the Griffons legends, it would only take a slip up of a single changeling and the entire hive would face a changeling hunt!”
“Enough!” the thunderous voice surprised the mare mid rant, her startled look soon turning into fear at the stallion with his fore hooves slammed upon the table, the marble having hairline cracks where his hooves had impacted.
The stallion’s hood was down, revealing the face of barely restrained anger at his fellow members, his nostrils flaring repeatedly as he breathed.
“We will have a ten minute recess. In that time, I want all of you to get a hold of yourselves. When we return, we will finish this meeting” He spoke, his eyes daring anyone to challenge his ruling on the matter.
When none objected, he returned to his seat, letting out a sigh as the guards outside opened the meeting room’s doors.
Several minutes later, the council once again found themselves in session, though a somber mood had descended over those gathered, tensions that had been rising splaying out among their usually level headed members.
As proof of this, Ivory Rose and Silica found themselves separated from each other by being placed on the opposite sides of the table, the seating arrangement momentarily forgotten in an attempt to keep the peace.
The leader of the council found himself placed in the middle of the table, all eyes on him as he leaned back into his chair, releasing a sigh through his nose.
“I will state the facts of the matter at hoof and that will be all for this particular meeting. All non essential discussions will be held till the next we meet” At this, several nods where made, and after a moment, reluctantly did Silica as well.
“Silica” he turned toward the fiery maned mare, choosing to start with the biggest problem in the room. “We are aware of the history between your kind and Gaunts, but do not believe that we think he is infallible. However, your own opinion on him holds merit, but that doesn’t necessarily mean his actions were made with malice or uncaring for your kind. There are more facts to consider then you want to admit I believe”
Silica simply cast her eyes away from the stallion, her thoughts elsewhere.
“Now, before I move onto the main point I would like to make, I would like to clarify something involving our third seat mare, Ivory” At this, Ivory Rose noted that many eyes fell on her.
“It was at my insistence that Ivory attempt to rally Gaunts to our cause as soon as possible, rather then take her own pace at trying to recruit him. And for that, I am sorry Ivory. It was not my intention to have unfounded claims thrown at you”
There were several murmurs of apologies and well founded sympathy at her situation, including a somewhat apologetic glance from Silica, Ivory offered her own thanks to the council head seat.
Clearing his throat for the last part of speech, he spoke once more, a strong conviction laced in his voice.
“In the time of barely a year, Equestria has seen threats to itself that have been more threatening to it than the wars it faced in its youth. Nightmare Moon, Discord, two unbelievably powerful entities just to name a few, have nearly caused untold havoc to our home, and despite our best hopes, we were hardly in a position to stop them”
The stallion sighed once more, shaking his head somewhat.
“We have technology and advances that may surpass all that currently exist in Equestria, yet we are practically useless in situations where our country would need us most. We need an edge, a game changer if you want to call it that”
He placed his hoof on the table, tapping the surface lightly.
“We need Gaunts. We need his comparable strength to stand at the level of these beings, and perhaps with him on our side, be able to defeat them before Equestria’s civilians are threatened. I can say that you might feel more comfortable with your daughter out of harms way Velvet”
The mare in question nodding solemnly. “As much as she is her own mare, I still worry”
“Gaunts is not without suspicion, as we only have what is written to go upon. But if he truly is what he has been portrayed as, we may be the solution to our problems. If what we have planned succeeds, we will have some the most valuable stores of artifacts under our protection and the knowledge that comes with them to boot. Never in our history have we dared approach the castle of the royal sisters without fear of being discovered.
“Things are changing everyone; I don’t think I need to explain that. Enemies are appearing all around us, and I fear if we don’t gather any allies to support us, both the order and Equestria could face disaster”
The stallion finally finished his speech, practically slumping back into his seat as he relaxed his tense muscles. With his eyes closing wearily from the being emotionally exhausted, he spoke one last time.
“This meeting is adjourned”