//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: The News 
// Story: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Anarchy 
// by Simply Anarchy 
//------------------------------//

	"Breakfast is ready! I made pancakes!" Spike announced to the crowd of ponies surrounding the map of Equestria. He took a moment to take in the echo his voice caused. It still amazed him that this massive crystal tree was now their home. The smell of freshly made pancakes immediately snapped him out of his deep thoughts. He pulled the cart stacked at least 4 feet high with pancakes. His stomach produced a rumble more vicious than anything he could ever muster out of his own mouth.

Rainbow Dash heard the growl and started giggling. "Geez, Spike! Are you sure you brought enough for all of us? It sounds like you could probably eat the whole cart by yourself!" She teased as a wide grin spread across her face.

Spike blushed slightly. "Hey! You try staying up most of the night organizing Twilight's library and not be hungry afterwards! I didn't even have enough energy to eat dinner!" he stated in rebuttal. Then he turns his gaze to Twilight, who his sitting on her throne. "Of course, I might have had time for dinner, if Twilight hadn't made me start over after I was already halfway done. All because I was organizing in alphabetical order instead of classification order."

Twilight rose from her throne. "Order is important, Spike. It is what keeps everything in line and from falling into a chaotic mess." the alicorn lectured. "Spell books should not be mixed with history books unless it is a book about ancient magic, even then I'm not sure.... wah wah wah." The aroma of pancakes began to corrupt Spike's senses. He starts tuning Twilight out and just stared wondrously at the skyscraper of pancakes that towered before him. They were made according to his own special recipe he discovered with Pinkie Pie a while back. A perfect blend of cinnamon and other sweet ingredients. "Wah wah wah wah wawa. Wawa? WAH? Spike!"

Spike was once again brought back from his food-induced trance, this time by Twilight's irritated voice. "Spike, were you even paying attention to a single word I said?" the princess asked agitated.

"Huh? Uhh.... yeah, sure. Order is important! Gotcha!" Spike retorted quickly to avoid another lecture. Judging by the look on her face, he had a feeling she wasn't buying his answer. The other five ponies just laughed. They truly fought like brother and sister, and the annoyed look on Twilight's face was, in a word, priceless. Spike felt another grumble in his stomach. "Can we eat now? Please? I'm starving!"

"Not yet." Twilight commanded, ignoring Spike's obvious evasion of the argument. "We have to wait on Starlight." 

"Is she still sleepin'? Ah know she's been workin' hard on her friendship lessons, and whatnot, but sleepin' past breakfast is kinda pushin' it a little. Don't cha think?" Applejack questioned concerned for their friend.

"A lady does need her beauty sleep, darling." Rarity chimes in her usual majestic tone, while looking at her reflection in a pocket mirror. She pats her purple mane while batting her lashes. "And after all she has done in these past few weeks, I believe she is entitled to a little extra rest."

As if on cue, the pink unicorn comes bolting through the door. Her forehead is dripping in sweat and her mane is a bit wild in some parts. She looks like she's already had quite a morning already. "Sorry that I'm late!" Starlight interjected frantically. "I spent a lot of time trying to find the bathroom, and when I finally found it, I lost my way back. So I spent even more time trying to find my way here that-"

"Woah, woah! Take it easy, Starlight." Rainbow Dash intervened cutting Starlight off before she caused herself to have a heart attack. "It's no biggie, really. You're acting like missing breakfast would have been the end of the world."

Twilight smiled at Starlight. With a gesture from her hoof, the princess instructed her friend to take a deep breath. Then, she motions her to release. Starlight did as she was told and felt a whole lot better. "Thanks, girls. I needed that." the unicorn stated calmly. It was times like these that made her feel so lucky to have met these girls.... and Spike, too. "Some signs on the doors might not be such a bad thing either. I'd even settle for a map of the place." The girls all laughed, and Starlight did as well, even though a part of her wasn't joking. She has been living in the castle for a little while now and still can't figure out which door leads to her bedroom and which leads to just another broom closet. But most of the time, it's the broom closet.

"Soooo? What are we waiting for? Let's eat already! My tummy's ready to chow down!" Pinkie Pie exclaims in her typical hyperactive manner. Only Pinkie could have the ability to be this happy in the morning. But it does liven the mood, so there are no real complaints there.

Spike stacks six pancakes on his plate and pours an ungodly amount of maple syrup on them. He jabs his fork in and goes to take a bite. But before he could even lift the fork to his face, he feels an all too familiar burning sensation coming from within his chest. He belches, and as expected from said feeling, a scroll emerges from the flames. The scroll bared the royal insignia of Princess Celestia herself. It was unusually early for Celestia to be sending scrolls now, so it must be important. Breakfast would have to hold for just a moment.

Twilight grabs the scroll with her magic and unravels it in front of her. She quietly reads it to herself. The other girls look on waiting for their alicorn friend to say something.

"What does it say, Twilight?" Fluttershy asks timidly.

Twilight looks up almost forgetting that there were other ponies eagerly awaiting for the news from Celestia. "It says that the Rich family was robbed this morning." the princess stated with concern. "And it says that their security caught the robbers before they could escape."

"Well, that's a relief! But if they were caught, why couldn't this news wait until later? Y'know when it's not so early?" Applejack asked confused. 

"Because the two claim that they were set up by somepony who actually escaped with the money that they stole." Twilight responded. She scanned the scroll further as if not wanting to miss even the littlest detail. "And Celestia wants us to talk to them to get more details."

Rarity looks to Twilight puzzled. "Why would Celestia want US to talk to a couple of petty thieves? Isn't that the job of her guards?" She asks.

"Ordinarily, yes." Twilight answers sounding just as confused as she did. Twilight pondered to herself for a moment trying to figure out Celestia's reasoning. "Maybe this other pony is such a major problem that she needs our help in capturing them?"

"In other words, the princess needs our awesomeness to kick yet another bad guy's butt." Rainbow Dash interjects in excitement. "I mean, it's not like we have ever failed her in the past. Besides, now we have a seventh member on our team. Which is like, twenty percent cooler!" The rainbow pegasus can barely contain herself. She just wants yet another chance to show off how awesome she is, which doesn't surprise Twilight in the slightest. But for once she kind of agreed with Rainbow. They have always pulled through together in the end. There is no evil that their friendship can't endure.

"Rainbow's right. If we stick together, we are unstoppable!" Twilight stated, obviously inspired by her friend's speech. One thing she had to give Rainbow credit for, besides her undying loyalty, was her determination and ability to get ponies pumped up. "Now let's go to Canterlot, and talk to some bandits!"

"Can we eat first? Pleeeeeeeeeeease?" Spike begged putting on his best puppy-dog face.

At this point, Twilight could feel her own stomach grumbling. She looked around the table and saw her friends with eager expressions on their faces as they stare hypnotically at the pancake mound. Just the sight alone was enough to make the alicorn giggle. "Fine." She replied as she gave them all the okay to dig in. After all, it's hard to work on an empty stomach.