//------------------------------//
// Fourth Meeting 
// Story: The Council of Friendship 
// by DrakeyC 
//------------------------------//


The Council of Friendship


Twilight banged her gavel on the arm of her throne thrice. "Hear ye, hear ye, the fourth Council of Friendship is now in session!" She swept a hoof to the side. "First, let me welcome our newest councilor, Starlight Glimmer."
 
Starlight chuckled at the introduction, sitting next to Twilight in a wooden folding chair. "Thanks, Twilight, but I really asked to be here more as an observer. I’m just sort of wondering what a council of friendship does."
 
"Join the club, we’ve got jackets," Rainbow Dash muttered with a roll of her eyes.
 
"Not yet, dear, the order should arrive by next week," Rarity replied.
 
Twilight slapped her forehead. "You seriously placed jacket orders for the council?"
 
"Indeed." Rarity held up a design sketch and moved a hoof over it. "We have our official royal crest—"
 
"I never agreed to use that flag or crest and you know it."
 
"We have our unofficial royal crest emblazoned on the breast, and the words ‘Ponyville Council of Friendship’ on the back. And they’re in powder-blue satin with a silver lining, all the rage this season."
 
 "Did we order one for Starlight?" Fluttershy asked. "Even if she’s new, it wouldn’t be fair to leave her out."
 
Starlight shook her head. "That’s fine, I don’t need a jacket."
 
"Nonsense, darling! It so happens I ordered seven, one for each of us!"
 
Spike raised a claw to his mouth and noisily cleared his throat. "What about me?"
 
Rarity looked at him and seemed surprised to see him sitting next to Twilight. "Oh! Well, Spikey-wikey, to be honest designing clothes for dragons is a bit of a grey area in my expertise, compensating for your body type and scales and all, not to mention I didn’t think you’d want one…"
 
"You didn’t order me one."
 
"Not as such, no." Rarity frowned. "I’m sorry, I guess it just slipped my mind."
 
Spike rolled his eyes and folded his claws. "Not surprising. This council always has been racist against dragons."
 
"Spike!" Twilight’s jaw dropped. "That is simply not true!"
 
"Isn’t it? I’m still stuck in a smaller throne when I was promised an upgrade months ago, and now I’m left out of the jackets. I’d say the writing is on the wall."
 
Pinkie Pie turned in her seat. "I don’t see it."
 
"It was a figure of speech, Pinkie," Applejack called over the table. "Look, Spike, we ain’t racist or anything."
 
"That’s not what I’ve heard about you."
 
"Shut up. Ah think it’s just you’re kinda an outsider. You know, you don’t exactly have an Element of Harmony, and you ain’t a pony and you ain’t got a cutie mark. So when it’s time to decide on group things, sometimes we just forget about you."
 
"Racist."
 
"Hey!"
 
Twilight glared at Spike. "How do you even know that word?"
 
"I asked the Mayor what you call it when someone is treated badly because they’re a different species. She said it's racism."
 
"Well, yes it is, but we aren’t, so don’t use that word anymore." Twilight sighed. "I am sorry about the throne, but we’ve been busy here lately. I promise it’ll be taken care of sometime in the future."
 
"Hold on." Starlight held up a hoof. "What’s this about Spike’s throne?"
 
Spike tapped his armrest. "It’s smaller than everyone else’s. I don’t care what the Tree of Harmony did, if I’m on this council I deserve a throne the same size as everyone else’s!"
 
Starlight raised her eyebrows. "Good point." She thought, then her horn lit up pale green. Spike cried out as his throne shifted and expanded beneath him, growing until it was the same size as Twilight’s. "There." Starlight finished her spell and smiled. "A simple mass expansion spell."
 
"Niiice." Spike looked over his throne, and saw the back. "Hey, how about my symbol?"
 
"Oh, right." Starlight thought. "Have any ideas?"
 
"Do you know what the Bloodstone Scepter looks like?"
 
"I’ve read about it. Coming right up!" Starlight’s horn glowed again, and the image of a violet scepter holding a red stone appeared on the back of Spike’s throne.
 
Spike grinned at Twilight, now level with her. "Was that so hard?" Twilight responded with a grunt and slapped her forehead again.
 
Starlight tilted her head. "Why did you want the Bloodstone Scepter as your sigil?"
 
Spike puffed out his chest and grinned. "I was the Dragon Lord. For about two minutes, but still."
 
"Really?" Starlight gasped. "How did that happen?"
 
Twilight reached over and patted Spike on the back. "Spike teamed up with Princess Ember to get the Scepter before a mean and nasty dragon could. He grabbed it first, but then he gave it to her since he didn’t want to rule."
 
Starlight frowned. "You gave it up?"
 
"Yeah, it wasn’t for me." Spike held up his claws. "No big deal, I wasn’t interested in ruling."
 
"Why not?" Starlight waved a hoof in the air.  "Ruling is awesome! You get to boss others around, you don’t have to do anything yourself, other folks respect you. Not to mention that ruling over an entire race is about the best thing anyone could strive to achieve. You’re practically to the dragons as Celestia and Luna are to ponies."
 
Spike murmured and rubbed his chin. "At the time it seemed a good idea but you make good points…"
 
"Starlight!" Twilight glared at her student. "Stop filling his head with corrupting thoughts of evil!"
 
Starlight scoffed. "It’s not evil to know that running a nation is a good position."
 
"She’s right." Rainbow Dash nodded. "I’ve run the weather teams, teams of Wonderbolt cadets, and I gotta tell you, it’s pretty sweet. Makes you feel important."
 
"Party planner, and yup."
 
"Ah run the farm. Nice to give out orders to get things done."
 
"Opened three stores across Equestria. I feel quite self-satisfied and proud."
 
"Run an animal daycare. And it is nice to have them listen to me."
 
Spike pouted. "Why did I gave up that darn thing!? Think it’s too late to call Princess Ember and ask to be her consort?"
 
"Spike!" Twilight gaped. "You are way too young to know what that means!"
 
"Why?"
 
Twilight leaned closer. "Do you even know what it means?"
 
"Yeah, it means friend." Spike jerked a thumb across the room. "I heard Rainbow Dash and Rarity talk about how you needed a consort and asked what that was."
 
Twilight slowly turned to glare at her friends. "Context. Now."
 
Rarity laughed awkwardly and looked away. "Well, darling, you see…"
 
"You need to get laid," Rainbow said simply. Twilight’s glare intensified, and Rainbow held up her hooves. "Every time you hold one of these council meetings, you get all stressed out and angry. I just joked to Rarity that maybe it would help if you had somepony to… you know… relieve your stress."
 
"Spike, leave the room," Twilight deadpanned.
 
"No way, this is getting good!"
 
"Perhaps Flash Sentry?" Fluttershy pointed out. "You do seem to like him."
 
"I am not asking Flash Sentry to become my consort."
 
"So you don’t want to be friends with him?"
 
"Spike, stop talking."
 
Starlight thought aloud. "If you two were to be married, that would make him a Prince, wouldn’t it? Like Shining Armor or Blueblood."
 
"Ya know, Ah always wondered about that," Applejack said. "Is Blueblood married to Celestia, or did she have a kid or somethin’?"
 
"You know what I always wondered?" Pinkie shook her head. "How come Princesses become alicorns, and Princes don’t? Seems kinda unfair to me."
 
"I think it’s because Equestria has historically been a matriarchy, dear. Even back to the founding, most of the founders were female."
 
Spike slumped in his seat. "So by giving the Bloodstone Scepter to Ember, I was just reinforcing a gender and racially biased system. No wonder my life sucks, I’m a dragon and I’m a guy."
 
Twilight slapped her hooves on the map in front of her. "Stop that! Equestria is not some sort of woman-dominated dystopia for men!"
 
Starlight raised an eyebrow. "Then how come the entire Council of Friendship sans Spike is all composed of mares?"
 
Twilight’s eye twitched. "It’s not my fault the Elements of Harmony chose six mares to receive their power!"
 
"No, but it’s entirely in your power now to fix that." Starlight nodded. "You appointed me to the council, why can’t you appoint some stallions, too?"
 
Twilight groaned and propped her head on a hoof. "Like who?"
 
Applejack tilted her eyes up. "Well, Big Mac, Mr. Cake, and Filthy Rich are big business owners… and, um…"
 
"Are we sure there’s many stallions that even live in Ponyville?" Rainbow asked.
 
"There’s several." Starlight smiled. "I propose, seeing as Spike is already here, that we appoint six stallions to join the council. That’ll make it seven mares and stallions each, perfectly equal."
 
"Starlight, what have I said about using that word?" Twilight held out a glass jar with a pile of bits in the bottom. Starlight groaned and dropped a bit in it.
 
"I just meant that for the sake of a democratic council, both sides should have eq…" Starlight stopped and cleared her throat. "Both sides should have the same amount of representatives."
 
"And once again Dragons are left out. Racists."
 
"Spike!"
 
"Hang on, Twilight." Starlight held up a hoof. "Spike makes a good point. Why not appoint a female dragon to the council, like Princess Ember?"
 
"Probably because she’s too busy running her own kingdom!" Twilight snapped. "You know, nopony seems to be suggesting we appoint Zecora or Gilda, or Prince Rutherford."
 
"That is a perfectly good observation, Twilight." Starlight smiled at her.
 
"I was being sarcastic!"
 
"I wasn’t."
 
Twilight grunted angrily and let her head fall forward to hit the table.
 
Applejack sighed. "Ya know, it seems every time we hold one of these meetings, we get less and less done." The others nodded or murmured agreement.
 
Starlight frowned. "So, this is what the Council of Friendship is? We try to discuss important things and then break down into bitterness and inane banter?"
 
"Pretty much."
 
"That doesn’t seem very friendly. More it seems like a counter-productive waste of time."
 
"Welcome to politics." Twilight lifted her head. "Does anypony have new business?"
 
"I do!" Spike raised his claw. "I’d like to be appointed as ambassador to the dragon lands!"
 
"Sure." Twilight raised her gavel.
 
"Wait," Starlight said, "don’t we vote on measures to pass?"
 
"Does anyone object?" Twilight asked. No one replied. "Motion passed." She banged the gavel.
 
"You mean carried, right?"
 
"What?"
 
"When a motion is approved, you don’t pass it, you carry it. You carry motions, pass measures, adopt amendments, and enact bills."
 
Twilight growled. "Who the hoof cares?"
 
"I do." Starlight sniffed. "There are important legal distinctions between all of those terms. Amendments, for instance, are changes made to existing policy. Motions are actions to be undertaken by the administration. Measures are what laws are proposed as before they’re signed into law. Bills, along with other terms, are the written documents that explain the law."
 
Everypony and lone dragon in the room stared at Starlight. She shrank back at the attention. "What?"
 
"How the heck do you know so much about this stuff?" Rainbow asked.
 
Starlight chuckled awkwardly. "I may have studied legal theory and philosophy when taking over that town. And, you know, I actually ran it, too. It’s not a big deal, really."
 
"It most certainly is!" Rarity smiled. "It’s so nice to have somepony at these meetings with a proper understanding of legal structure!"

"Hey!" Twilight’s wings flared. "I know all about legal theory!"
 
"Then how come you’ve been saying ‘motion passed’ instead of ‘motion carried’ during all these meetings?"
 
"Because the words we use don’t matter!"
 
"Ah’ll say they do, the way Starlight described it those words all mean different things. Could get confusin’ if we don’t use the right ones."
 
"You were not confused, until she said them I’ll bet most of you didn’t even know what those words meant!"
 
"So you ruled over your friends using improper legal terminology and counting on them being too ignorant to call you out on it!"
 
"ENOUGH!" Twilight gritted her teeth and slumped back in her throne. "Fine, I’ll use the bucking proper terms from now on! Does anyone else have business to bring to the table?"
 
"I do." Fluttershy leaned forward. "I motion – is that the right word?" At Starlight’s nod, Fluttershy continued, "I motion that we appoint Starlight Glimmer as the new head of the council."
 
"What?"
 
"Well, Twilight, she seems to have a better handle on her temper, and she knows more about the law than you."
 
"No." Twilight shook her head. "Absolutely not. This is my council."
 
"Not if the election goes my way," Starlight pointed out. "The election is now in session. All votes for me, raise your hoof." Six hooves and one claw rose into the air.
 
"Spike!"
 
"Sorry, Twilight, but she did more for dragons in five minutes than you have in three councils."
 
"All votes for Twilight?" Starlight asked.
 
Twilight raised her hoof. "Not that this vote matters, because I’m vetoing this measure. HA!"
 
"You can’t. The executive veto can only be used for enacting laws, not elections. Besides, the veto can be overruled by a two-thirds majority, of which we have." Starlight smiled. "By a vote of seven to one, I, Starlight Glimmer, am the new head of the council." She raised the gavel on Twilight’s throne and banged it down.
 
Twilight went rigid, and slowly turned her head to glare at Starlight. She leaned down towards her. "Don’t touch my gavel."
 
"Well, technically, it’s my gavel now."
 
"Over your dead body."
 
"Don’t you mean—"
 
"I know what I said."
 
"Twi." Applejack hopped down from her seat and approached her. "Maybe you just take a break, hm? You’re kinda stressed, we can talk about this later."
 
Twilight looked around the thrones. She slowly smiled. "Of course. I understand. Yes…" She smiled wider up at Starlight. "Enjoy the council, Starlight." She climbed out of her throne and left the room, carefully shutting the door behind her.
 
Starlight sighed. "Well, that could have gone better."
 
"Don’t worry." Applejack climbed back in her throne. "She’ll get over it in an hour."
 
"If you say so." Starlight stood and sat back down on Twilight’s throne. "Does anypony know where a charter for the council is, so I can have a look at it?"
 
The other six exchanged glances. "Charter?" Rainbow asked.
 
"Yes. The charter recognizing the Council of Friendship as a legal body of government with appropriate authority and power."
 
"I don’t think we have that," Pinkie replied.
 
Starlight’s eyes widened. "You mean Twilight has been trying to run a government all this time without a formal charter even stating it exists?" She shook her head. "Well, you’re all fortunate I’m here now, or else you could find yourselves in a lot of trouble. Spike, get some paper and something to write with, please."
 



 
Starlight looked over the raised hooves and nodded. "Motion carried." She banged the gavel. "Under Section 4.3 of the Council of Friendship Charter, ‘Identifying Sigils and Miscellaneous Icons – Foodstuffs’, the apple fritter and apple cider are adopted as the official snacks of the council." She looked to the side. "Got all that, Spike?"
 
"Yes ma’am!" Spike wrote furiously on his paper, another stack of papers already written on next to him.
 
Starlight looked over the checklist on the table in front of her. "Next, I believe if that is all for matters of council identity, we can move on to Section 5, when and where the council meets, and for how long."
 
Rarity beamed. "It’s so nice to have you here, Starlight."
 
Applejack nodded. "Yeah, it feels like we’re actually gettin’ stuff done here instead of just arguin’." The others all agreed.
 
Starlight blushed. "I’m just trying to follow proper procedure, nothing fancy about it. As I was saying, Section 5, if none disagree, can be titled ‘Council Meeting Regulations’. Section 5.1, ‘Location’.  Does anypony—"
 
The doors to the room were flung open. "Hello, councilors." Twilight walked into the room, her head held high.
 
Starlight turned. "Oh, hello, Twilight. We’ve moved on to forming a charter. Even if you were informally in absentia, I can go over what we discussed, if you like."
 
"No need." Twilight looked around the table and smiled. "I want to thank all of you for coming here, today. But I am afraid I have been pushed to extreme measures."
 
The others looked at her worriedly. "What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.
 
"I am staging a coup."
 
"Again?"
 
"You can’t." Spike shook his head. "Celestia said a coup has to be done by a show of military power."
 
"I know. Which is why my newly appointed palace guard will be doing it. Guards!" Twilight looked at the door to the room. After several seconds of nothing she stamped her hoof. "Guards, get in here and stage my coup!"
 
"Coming, Twilight!" There was the sound of shuffling, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders filed into the room. Sheets of cardboard taped into form covered their heads and flanks and were painted to look like armor.
 
The others burst out laughing. "Seriously, Twi?" Applejack wiped a tear from her eyes. "They’re your royal guards?"
 
"Yes. The Cutie Mark Crusaders have done a lot to promote the values of friendship and diversity." Twilight smiled proudly. "I can think of no better ponies to serve as my guards."
 
"Twilight, mah helmet is itchy."
 
"And mine smells funny."
 
"Not now, girls, Twilight is seizing control of government."
 
Starlight frowned. "You’re seriously asking these three to fight the council on your behalf?"
 
"Fight?" Twilight smirked. "Do any of you really want to fight them, hm?" She swung a hoof forward. "Attack, my guards! Dispose of these traitors!"
 
"Rarity, am I grounded if I attack you?"
 
"Yes."
 
"Applejack, what about me?"
 
"Yer darn tootin’."
 
Scootaloo shrugged. "You guys can’t ground me, so HEY!" She stopped as she was raised into the air in an aura of teal magic.
 
Starlight swung Scootaloo through the air in her magic, her eyes dull. "You know, Twilight, I don’t think you’ve really thought this through."
 
"If I throw up, I’m aiming for you!" Scootaloo called down.
 
"Starlight, stop it!" Twilight ran up to her throne. "Are you really going to endanger that foal for the sake of kicking me out of the council to seize control?"
 
Starlight rolled her eyes and gently lowered Scootaloo to the ground. "First, Twilight, we didn’t force you to leave the council, we just voted you out of head office, you're still a member of the council itself. Second, it hasn’t been so bad. Spike, show her the charter."
 
Spike held out the stack of papers he had written. Twilight took them and flipped through them. "What is this?"
 
"The Council of Friendship Charter," Starlight said proudly. "We’re just formalizing a lot of the things you girls have agreed on already by putting it into writing, so our legal authority is on paper."
 
Twilight stared at Starlight for a moment, then flung the charter papers into the air. "I’m going to bed."

"Twilight, it's not even noon."

"I know what time it is!"