To Chase The Shadows of Redemption

Maverick heard about the emergency meeting while he was on his way to the castle. Now, it was a rush to get there.

On the way, he met up with another one of his cabinet. Meticulous Manner was one of the ministers he got the least amount of time to talk to, but held in a high regard. Hearing from him a mini-briefing would be perfect.

It was a hushed tone that he brought it with.

"Can you believe that Celestia came back from that god-forsaken meeting covered it blood? The griffins actually used it as an attempt to kill her. This is unbelievable."

He knew it wasn't good news. This was worse than he imagined.

"Are... are you serious? Then she—"

"Yeah... she defended herself. There's already been confirmed casualties by guards rushing in after her return. This is crazy."

They rounded the corner in the castle, hastily approaching the meeting room.

"Then brace for impact, who knows what kind of state of mind she will be in."

The guards based outside let them in immediately, and the meeting room was found to already almost be full despite the earlier than usual summons.

"Good, now almost everypony is here. I will explain everything shortly my little ponies, despite how much it pains me to go through it again."

Maverick quickly came around the large wooden table to seat at his assigned seat like always. He sat forward and at attention without thinking. This meeting would by and at large dictate the future of Equestria for the coming times.

After about five more minutes and a lot of nervous shuffling by those already here in their seats, the last minister arrived and the meeting doors slammed closed.

Celestia gave the entire room a scan slowly.

"I will be direct and get to the point you're all most likely already fearing the worst of. The griffins merely listened to me for show. Over the course of the night they slowly maneuvred to surround me in a way to optimize blitzing me, I assume. They did it at the emperors signal as he tried to distance himself once it started. I still cannot believe how much of a risk the emperor was willing to take, with his own life at stake. I barely managed to react in time and save myself. I was forced to use as much power as possible in the moment, and I ended up claiming the lives of many griffons. I do not know if any of them escaped the initial attack from myself. The emperor was caught up in it, which reports will soon confirm."

Some mummers were of relief, while in others the anxiety only seemed to rise.

"We're all glad you survived, your majesty, it is completely unacceptable that the griffins take our hospitality and try to take away our beloved ruler from us. This is beyond unacceptable. They must pay."

The old stallion, Wessex, of course was the one to be mentally ahead and replying to Celestia without pause. Maverick wished to be at his level some day. Ponies around the room gave quick nods or comments of approval as they caught up with his thought process.

Now that Maverick had more time to look at Celestia, she was cleaned already, but clearly in a rushed manner. There was no way she would show up fresh from the scene to something like this, but the imagery of it gave him a shiver down the length of his spine.

"This has come at the worst time my ponies. We all know and understand that. Just the other day we were discussing the current economic pressure." She paused to give them a moment. "While it is going to be an additional stressor, I do believe all of you know that this cannot stand. What the griffin's did must be met with severe punishment. We must respond."

Many ministers rushed to agreement, and Celestia had to hush them down.

"I will be declaring war shortly," Actually saying it out loud caused several gasps of those present, "who knows what the griffins will do once they receive word that their assassination attempt failed. We don't even know how many were involved in this plot. It is my goal to limit casualties as much as possible for this reason. I promise you all, our victory shall be swift, and I see now that a heavy hoof of reformation will be needed for them. We shall begin military preparation immediately. I will lead our forces myself - this is personal. We will need to mobilize by the end of a months time."

The rest of the meeting was tense, and several ponies couldn't help bring up the burden that had already been mentioned. Celestia had even mentioned confiscating griffin wealth after their victory to help pay for everything, and several ponies had been shocked to hear that, even if they didn't directly bring it up. Maverick was one such pony. The after party was going to be a massive headache this time around. It would be no party at all.

It came to him that suddenly his job was ten times more important than he had realized. Perhaps this was a new era on Equus, ponies only had so much influence in the end after all. The griffins had proven that they could force the ponies into action like this. Equestria needed to be ready for anything, and the new city they were building, of which he had already seen was going quite well with no short contribution from his part, would be critical for increasing and maintaining the hegemony of Equestria. If they were to remain the pillar of harmony and effort for peace across Equus, they needed to be at their strongest. His hooves which had felt full before, suddenly didn't feel that way. He needed to do more.

The meeting continued with many intense bouts that had to be intervened and mediated by Celestia, many ponies facing a situation they could not handle well the first time around. By the end of the several hours long meeting, their plan of action, while lacking details, was clear. General Reacher would be the second hand pony of Celestia in the upcoming conflict, and it was his job to set up and organize the military expansion and chain-of-command in the next thirty-ish days. There would be assistance of logistics from some others, and any pony patriotic enough would be given a quick chance for training in order to see if they could be allowed to join the war effort in a unit alongside the current forces if they were up to par. Many guards would be transferred directly into positions of soldiers and some officers would be selected in this process to govern their eventual units under the command of Reacher, enacting his orders with leadership. They would also most likely receive some sort of official response from the griffins in that time.