The Shards of Power

The sound of trumpets woke Princess Twilight Sparkle up. She looked around her room. Her baby dragon assistant, Spike, was not in his bed. Twilight was in trouble. It was Thursday. Not just any Thursday, but the third Thursday of the month. The day when she and her friends met up to discuss important matters in Ponyville.

And she was going to be late!

Twilight flew to the vanity in one corner of her room. She levitated her crown onto her head, making sure it was at the right angle. A royal guard busted into the room.

"Princess Twilight! Thank Celestia you're awake! The meeting is about to start!" he stated in a rushed manner. He ushered Twilight to the landing on which she was to wait for her cue to enter. Another guard opened the doors to let Twilight's friends into the castle.

A pink pony with a wildly curly mane skipped into the room. A guard tried to stop her, but she was too fast. Pinkie Pie was made of boundless energy, Twilight was sure of it. She also believed Pinkie lived off of the infamous cupcakes she made. The ones made of pure sugar. She plopped into her throne, illuminating the balloons that mirrored those of her cutie mark.

Twilight had told the white Unicorn that these meeting were not formal events and that there would be no ponyrazzi, but Rarity insisted on wearing he most fabulous dresses to the meetings. This particular dress looked like the one she wore to the Grand Galloping Gala. The three diamonds on her throne lit up upon her sitting down.

A sky blue Pegasus flew into the room, but stopped when she remembered where she was. She tried to look as poised as possible, but Rainbow Dash was not one for poise. Her rainbow mane was a perfect offset to the purple and silver interior of the castle. The rainbow lightning bolt lit up on her throne when she sat down.

The orange pony's name didn't go with her color, but did for her cutie mark. Applejack normally wore her famous cowboy hat, but today it was absent. Twilight knew it had some sort of tie to her parents, whom Twilight never met. She wondered when she would. But when Applejack sat down, illuminating the trio of apples on her chair, she slipped her hat onto her head. Twilight giggled. It was good that her chair was to the back of the guards.

A light yellow Pegasus shyly entered the room, her light pink tail trailing on the floor. Twilight never knew why it did that until the infamous Gabby Gums event that wrapped Ponyville in numerous controversies. It may have even ended one marriage. Not the tail, the controversies. Whatever the case, Fluttershy didn't particularly like these meetings. She was very shy about public speaking, even though the only ponies that could hear the meetings were her friends, Spike, and the guards. She gingerly sat in her throne, illuminating the pink butterflies which adorned it.

Trumpets sounded. A guard spoke loudly.

"Presenting Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship."

Twilight descended the stairs, her wings spread in an effort to look more regal. She walked to her throne. The purple and white stars lit up when she sat down, bringing the cutie marks of her and her friends full circle. Spike walked into the room, standing at the center of the circle. He spoke loudly and clearly. He rhetoric skills were improving.

"Welcome, everypony. Today, we will discuss two matters concerning Ponyville." Spike stated. Twilight nodded at him, gesturing to him to continue.

"Mayor Mare would like to destroy the old, broken clock tower to make room for a new, more accurate one." Upon Spike's finishing the request, the six ponies took a vote. It was decided that the old clock tower would be destroyed.

"Excellent. The next request comes from a committee called 'Muffins for Ponyville". This committee would like to make muffins the official dessert and pastry of Ponyville." Upon hearing this, Pinkie Pie launched into a speech on why cupcakes were superior to muffins, and the request was approved, inexplicably. Everypony knew Pinkie had some sort of secret ingredient to her cupcakes, and it made everypony suspicious.

"Great job, everypony. Meeting adjourned." Twilight called out. Nopony got up. They wanted to talk with Twilight about whatever they wanted to. Spike walked up to the room he shared with Twilight, presumably to take a nap.

A minute passed as the guards left. Rarity was about to launch into a ramble about her last trip to Manehattan, but a loud belching noise interrupted her.

"Pinkie Pie!" Rarity gasped, "How rude!"

"It wasn't me!" Pinkie replied.

Spike rushed down the stairs. He clutched a scroll and book in his claws.

"Twilight! This looks super important! It's from Celestia!" The book read 'Ancient Equestrian Defense Volume Two: The Shards of Power'.