Terror in Equestria 4: The Collapse of Evil

Chapters

The Invite
Departure Day
The Commander's Plans
The Trip to Faustica
A New Alliance
Twilight's Return Home
A Change in Punishment
Departure and Discussions
Travels of the Time Lady
A Promise Fulfilled
Testing their Abilities
The Trip Home
Somepony's Last Stand
A New Dawn
Professor Colgate
The Maredrid Meeting
The Second Trip to Faustica

The Invite

It had been a week since Twilight had transformed the skies purple and her and Spike have been having a lot of fun, like they did in the old days. Spike did wonder though why Twilight had not been studying as much anymore and decided to ask her.

"Twilight, why don't you study as much anymore? Are you losing your love of learning?" asked Spike

Twilight replied, "Well I know pretty much everything there is to know. When that is the case there isn't much more to learn."

Spike asked, "Twilight, when we are out doing stuff, who keeps an eye out on things here in the tower?"

Twilight replied, "Shining Armor does and if he is tied up, Commander Colgate handles things."

Spike trusted Shining Armor completely but was unsure about Colgate. "Twilight," asked Spike "do you ever wonder if Colgate might try to overthrow you two?"

Twilight laughed, "Oh Spike! You're so funny! Colgate doesn't have even close to the magical know how to even think about it! She can't even tap into the eye or get into the archives. I'm the only pony that can do either one of those!"

Spike replied, "Ok Twilight. I just have a strange feeling about her. I'm probably just being paranoid."

Twilight said, "You're starting to sound like my brother now! He gets worried like that too."

Spike looked like he was about to go into a coughing fit when "BELCH" he coughs up a letter from Queen Galaxia.

Twilight opens the letter and says, "Wow Spike, you just coughed up your first letter from Queen Galaxia."

Spike asked, "Who is Queen Galaxia?"

Twilight replied, "She is Princess Luna and Celestia's mom. Alright, let's see what the letter reads."

The letter read, "Twilight, this is Queen Galaxia. I just wanted to let you know that Cosmos, Luna and myself are holding a meeting for all the stewards and I think that since you are the world leader, that you should be present. We would also like it if Spike, Shining Armor, Starswirl and your two generals could make it as well. It will be more than just leadership discussions, there will be food, music and fun for four days. Please reply ASAP and let us know if you will make it, the events start on Saturday. Queen Galaxia"

"Twilight, what do you want me to say?" asked Spike

Twilight replied, "Tell her that we all will be there."

Spike wrote the reply to Galaxia and sent it. He was really excited about being able to travel abroad.

"Wow Twilight, I can't believe that I will be able to travel abroad!" said Spike

Twilight replied, "Well I could never go on a trip like this without my number one assistant! Right now though, we need to call a meeting with everypony who is going and Colgate."

Spike said, "Alright Twilight, who do you want me to inform?"

Twilight replied, "You inform everypony here while I fly over to Colgate's office. I think it would be better if I told her myself."

Spike said, "Alright, when will this meeting be?"

Twilight replied, "It will be at 6:30, right after supper. Make sure everypony is in the dining hall before 5:30 for supper."

Spike said, "Consider it done!"

Twilight headed up to her balcony and then flew over to Colgate's office. Applejack was taking Apple Bloom home after her appointment.

"Howdy Twilight," said Applejack "What brings you to these parts?"

Twilight replied, "I need to talk with my commander. We are having a meeting tonight involving an overseas trip and I have to have her up in the tower running things."

Applejack asked, "What about us? Do we get to come?"

Twilight answered, "No, not for this one. The issues with this just involve me, my brother and the others within the inner circle of my government."

Applejack sighed and said, "Well alright Twilight. It's whatever you have going on."

Twilight headed into Colgate's office. Colgate saw her coming and was not exactly thrilled about what she was probably going to say.

"Hi Colgate, could we talk for a minute?" asked Twilight

Colgate rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, sure. I have a patient coming in for a root canal in 15 minutes, will that be enough time?"

Twilight replied, "Yeah, it will just take a couple of minutes. I need you to be up at the tower by 5:15 for supper. After supper we are having an important meeting that everypony must attend."

Colgate said, "Yeah, I can do that. This root canal will be the last appointment of the day. I will be closing at 4:30, so sure I can be there."

Twilight replied, "Well good. I will see you then. I will let you get back to work."

Colgate said, "Bye Twilight, see you then."

Twilight headed out and flew back to her tower. She could tell that Colgate was not exactly thrilled but she still wanted her to be the pony in charge while they were gone since she is the only one with any kind of leadership experience.

Colgate finished her root canal and headed over to Twilight's tower early. She was thinking to herself, "I bet she is going to go to some party abroad. If she does, perhaps Equestria needs a new leader."

Colgate arrived at five and headed up to the dining hall where she was greeted by Spike.

"Oh, hi Spike. How are things going?" asked Colgate

Spike replied, "Oh they're going great! I get to travel abroad with Twilight!"

Colgate replied, "Well that is good. I take it you have never been out of Equestria before?"

Spike said, "Nope. I get to meet Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos!"

Colgate was a bit irritated but did not let it show. "Well that is good Spike. It is always great to meet other leaders."

Twilight walked into the room and said, "Colgate, you know who Spike is don't you?"

Colgate replied, "He's your assistant, right?"

Twilight replied, "Yep, and he is the best assistant that anypony could ever ask for!"

Starswirl, Shining Armor, Dark Night and Thunder Rage all came into the room. Twilight shouted, "Ok everypony, it is time for supper before our meeting."

The chefs brought in a huge meal consisting of steak, potatoes, oats and carrots. Spike however, did not get a plate of food.

Spike asked, "Where is mine?"

Twilight replied, "Just a minute Spike, yours will be here in a minute."

Colonel Ice Storm levitated a huge bowl of gems and set them in front of the hungry dragon. Spike was amazed at this.

"Wow! Thank you Twilight" said Spike "Rubies, Emeralds, Sapphires, Diamonds and Amethysts! Those are my favorites!"

Twilight replied, "I figured that you should have something special for tonight."

Dark Night asked, "Where are your other friends Twilight? Weren't they invited?"

Twilight replied, "This meeting doesn't involve them. This one is only for the higher ups in my government along with Spike."

After supper they all headed into the throne room where Twilight addressed them.

"Alright everypony, Queen Galaxia has requested that me, Shining Armor, Spike, Starswirl, Dark Night and Thunder Rage head to Faustica for a get together with the other stewards. She said that since I am the world ruler, that I needed to be there."

Shining Armor asked, "So when is this going to start?"

Twilight replied, "The events will start on Saturday. Today is Sunday. I think we should fly out to the coast tomorrow morning and set sail for Faustica after a quick lunch. That way we should get there by early Friday. I want to make sure we have plenty of time to get there."

Colgate asked, "If that is the case, then why did I have to come to this meeting?"

Twilight replied, "Colgate, you are in charge when Shining Armor and myself are gone. I need you to be here and basically keep an eye on things. That isn't going to be a problem is it?"

Colgate was thinking to herself, "hmmm...if I could just find a way into those archives I could learn anything and everything! This will be perfect!"

Colgate replied, "Oh no, not at all. You can count on me!"

Twilight replied, "That's the Colgate I have come to trust and think so highly of!"

Starswirl asked, "Twilight, what time will we be leaving tomorrow morning?"

Twilight replied, "We will be leaving immediately after breakfast, around 8:30. Could you be here around 7 and join us for breakfast Colgate?"

Colgate said, "Yeah, sure. I can do that."

Twilight said, "Tell you what, there is one VIP bedroom that is going unused. Why don't you just sleep in there tonight. While I am gone, you can sleep in my bed. After all, the one in command should get the most comfy bed!"

"Thanks Twilight," replied Colgate "I really appreciate it."

Twilight said, "Well everypony that pretty much covers it for tonight. I will discuss more once we set sail. For now I am off to bed, I'm tired. Good night everypony."

Twilight was up in her room with Spike looking through the book on locks that she had used to write her spells for the locks to protect archives. Spike noticed that she had written the spells in the book.

Spike asked, "Twilight, why did you write those spells in the book itself? Isn't that kind of dangerous?"

Twilight replied, "I'm going to have to have a talk with my brother. I honestly think he is making you more paranoid by the day!"

Spike said, "Maybe you're right. Perhaps I am getting too paranoid. I just worry about information falling into the wrong hooves."

Twilight said, "Oh, it will be fine. I'm getting tired. I really need to get some sleep. Besides, we have to get up early tomorrow."

"Alright Twilight," said Spike "I'm off to bed as well."

Spike headed to his room while Twilight read over the spells that she had written. She knew they worked and was simply admiring them as she has been with a lot of her spells she had written lately. Twilight put a bookmark at the page where her spells were written, closed the book and laid it on the nightstand. She went to sleep and had a very peaceful night's rest.

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Loyalty spell---"From another to me, that is where your allegiance will now be, you thought your old commander loved you like pie when all they wanted was for you to die. With me all shall be great, there shall be no hate."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

Unbanish---"The one who has been banished has done their time, they are now forgiven for their crime, their time has come, now they need to contribute some, it is Equestria that they must serve or into the spiral of the void they shall curve."

Transform unicorn to Alicorn--- "The unicorn who has no wings is bound to the ground, they can not really get around, their smarts are great yet without flight they will be late, with these wings they will be great and they shall never have a bad fate."

Transform multiple unicorns to Alicorns--- "The unicorns who have no wings are bound to the ground, they can not really get around, their smarts are great yet without flight they will be late, with these wings they will be great and they shall never have a bad fate."

Transform Pegasus to Alicorn---"The one who can fly likes to fly free desires the powers that allow the unicorn to be, he/she wishes so much to levitate and create, rather than berate, for the winged one now has magic, without that it would be tragic."

Transform Earth Pony to Alicorn---"The pony without magic or flight is in a bind, for they feel like they have fallen behind, they work themselves to death, even to their very last breath, for now with magic and wings, great things shall be what life brings."

Increase size of pony---"The small one wishes they were tall so that they won't have to crawl, with height their future is bright and everything will be alright, for the small one is small no more, with height their happiness shall be galore."

Mature pony--"The innocent pony is unsure of who she wants to be, that may be cute but it is not what is good for me, she needs to mature if she is to be strong for without maturity she won't last for long, the naive one shall be so no more, for her maturity will carry her into lore."

Strengthen Armor---"The one without armor does not stand a chance, so it is what we must enhance, the unarmed one will likely receive death, with armor he shall continue to draw breath, without armor he will be torn to shreds like a rag but with armor victory is in the bag."

Activate Jade Alicorn---"The jade Alicorn will help me see all, without it I might miss a brawl, while the distances are great, I can see all the hate, wisdom is what comes along with the eye so that overthrowing me nopony will try."

Hurricane spell--- "The nice weather must come to an end, for without a storm the enemy will not bend, the wind shall be strong and my enemies won't last for long, a hurricane is a must so the tyrants will sink and go bust."

Fixing spell--- "The city was devastated by a storm, which is not the norm, their suffering is great yet we can not allow normalcy to be late, the city must be restored to the way it was before so they can pay taxes like they did before.

Departure Day

The following morning Colgate woke up first and was waiting in the dining hall. She knew that once they were gone, that she would be able to try to get into the archives. With Col. Ice storm and Col. Lightning Wasp more loyal to her than Twilight, she figured it shouldn't be too hard to stay in the archives once she gets in there.

Twilight and Spike walked into the dining hall and asked, "Colgate, how long have you been waiting here?"

Colgate decided to lie. Even though she had been there for thirty minutes she said, "I have been here for ten minutes. I woke up early so I thought I should be here so I won't be late."

Twilight replied, "I think you are more paranoid about being late than my brother, and he is very paranoid about that."

The rest of Twilight's company arrived in the dining room to eat a good filling breakfast. After breakfast, before they left, they headed to the throne room for one more meeting.

Twilight addressed everypony, "Alright, we will be leaving at 8:30. This trip will involve a small amount of business, but it will mostly be food, relaxation and fun. So don't worry everypony, this trip is basically more of a casual visit."

Starswirl asked, "How long will this trip last?"

Twilight replied, "Well we will reach the coast this afternoon. It will take us around four days to get there. We should arrive late Thursday night or Friday morning. The festivities start on Saturday and end on Tuesday night. We will leave on Wednesday morning and return on Sunday, probably sometime in the afternoon. So we will be gone for thirteen days."

Shining Armor asked, "Colgate, think you will be up for thirteen straight days of ruling?"

Colgate was not amused with this question but held back her anger. "Of course I am." said Colgate "Why wouldn't I be?"

Shining Armor replied, "Well I know this will be a longer duration event and I just don't want you to get overwhelmed."

Colgate said, "Don't you remember I was the leader for 78 days when you guys set out to conquer the world? Thirteen days is nothing."

Twilight could tell Colgate was not happy with her brother's questions and decided to change the subject. "Spike, are you ready to be levitated all the way to the coast?"

Spike replied, "Yeah, I guess. Couldn't I just ride on your back since you are so much bigger now?"

Twilight replied, "Yeah, you can. But if you start to fall off you will be levitated the rest of the way."

Spike said, "Thanks Twilight!"

Twilight shouted, "Let's get going, it is no short trip to the coast. See you in thirteen days Colgate."

Colgate answered, "See you soon Twily!"

Twilight and her envoy headed west towards the coast. They were in luck that day as they had an easterly wind pushing them along. Twilight was thinking to herself, "Perhaps this trip to the coast won't be so bad. I just hope that the wind keeps blowing from the east once we hit the ocean."

Back in Ponyville Colgate was not a happy camper and Lightning Wasp could tell it. He asked, "Colgate, what is wrong. You seem upset."

Colgate replied, "I am upset. When Twilight went on her trip to conquer the world I wasn't able to see but a few patients and now with the way things are, I am going to have to close up shop entirely for two weeks. Sometimes I think it would be better if I were the pony in charge and not her."

Lightning Wasp said, "I agree with you there. I have heard a lot of the soldiers and other officers talking about how they think Twilight is becoming exactly what Celestia used to be, a pony who just sits there and looks pretty."

Colgate replied, "My thoughts exactly! She sits there with her fancy 'Dark Goddess' title and acts like she is the best thing in the world. I think Equestria needs new leadership, someone who has no Canterlot influence on them at all."

Lightning Wasp said, "That's right. Her and Shining Armor do have Canterlot influence on them while you don't. She doesn't think that Canterlot or the traditions of the past should influence the new monarchy. Well she still has some Canterlot influence on her."

Colgate replied, "She was coddled growing up. She was basically raised by Celestia. My family lived here in Ponyville. I EARNED my way into the dental school in Manehattan through lots of studying and I became a dentist through studying and I worked underneath a very demanding boss in Fillydelphia for years before saving up enough to have my own practice here at home. I have worked for everything I have. I never had a thing handed to me and that is why I think we should take Equestria for ourselves."

Lightning Wasp said, "Wow, you have worked hard your whole life. I am willing to do anything to help you in this cause."

Colgate replied, "Well, swearing unconditional loyalty to me is the first thing. Trust me, Twilight will go on another trip again soon. By then I should have learned everything I need to know and every single officer will get a promotion. How does General Lightning Wasp sound to you?"

Lightning Wasp said, "Wow! That would be amazing!"

Colgate replied, "Well I just need to figure out how to get into those archives. If I can do that, I can learn everything she has and then some. Once I do that, I will have the power to dethrone her and take the whole world as my own."

That afternoon Twilight and her envoy reached the coast where her ship was docked.

Twilight said, "Ok, fill up on those apples and drink plenty of water. There are fresh water lakes just on the other side of the sand dunes. We need to gather as many of these apples as possible, I do not want us running out on our trip to Faustica."

Starswirl added, "These apples provide plenty of liquids and prevent dehydration but there is nothing better than the real thing."

Dark Night replied, "Yep. You're right on that one."

After eating lunch Twilight and her envoy set sail for Faustica. They had a gentle easterly breeze, the seas were calm and the skies were clear, perfect weather for sailing.

Twilight said, "Wow, we couldn't have asked for better weather. Let's just hope it will last the whole way there."

Thunder Rage replied, "This is so calming. I hope the conditions stay like this."

Starswirl said, "Well enjoy it while it lasts. I hope it lasts the whole way there too but I wouldn't count on it."

It was supper time in Ponyville and Colgate along with all the officers had gathered for supper.

Lieutenant Iron Chains said, "Thank you Colgate for letting us all eat with you instead of just the generals."

Colgate replied, "Well every officer is important to me, if I could fit them all up here I would have the whole military up here."

Major Dark Cloud suggested, "Perhaps tomorrow night we should all have our meal at the base, then we could all eat together."

Colgate said, "That is a perfect idea Dark Cloud. Tonight though, after we eat supper we need to have a meeting in the throne room. There is one pony that I do want to go and get though. I think she should be here."

"Who is that?" asked Frigid Wind

"Applejack." replied Colgate "She wasn't thrilled about Twilight not inviting her to the meeting last night. I will be back in a few minutes. I'm going to get her."

Colgate flew over to Sweet Apple Acres and saw Applejack resting out by the barn.

"Howdy Colgate, what brings you over to these parts?" asked Applejack

Colgate replied, "I need to speak with you. My officers and I are holding a meeting in the throne room and I want you to be present."

"Really?" asked Applejack "But Twilight didn't want me around the meeting last night."

Colgate replied, "Well Twilight is gone, AGAIN, and I am the de facto pony in charge."

Applejack said, "Ahlright, let's go!"

Applejack and Colgate flew up to her balcony where they went to the throne room through her bedroom. When they got into the throne room Applejack was surprised to see that many officers there.

Colgate said, "Guys, you know who Applejack is, don't you?"

Lightning Wasp said, "Yeah, I know who she is. She is one of the ponies you brag about so much because of her hard work ethic and her performance out on the range."

Applejack replied, "Ah wouldn't go that far."

Colgate said, "Applejack, it is because you possess these qualities that I have brought you here tonight. I do want to ask you some questions though."

Applejack said, "Alright, what do you want to ask me?"

Colgate asked, "How do you think Twilight is doing as the 'Dark Goddess?'"

Applejack replied, "Y'all won't tell Twilight Ah'm saying this?"

Colgate said, "Nope. She won't hear a word of this."

Applejack replied, "Ok. Ah think she is a lousy leader. She wanted all this change, wanted to scrap the old traditions but it seems like all she does since we returned from Alicorn Island after taking everything is sit in here on her throne looking pretty. Ah see her going on all these 'casual trips' and it makes me think she is more ignorant than Celestia was. Yeah Twilight is tough and fearless, but we need somepony with not just those qualities, but somepony who will be responsible."

Colgate said, "That is my feelings exactly. Now on for the exact reason I wanted you to come up here tonight. What would you think about being second in command?"

Applejack looked stunned and said, "How am Ah going to become second in command?"

Colgate replied, "Twilight and her envoy will be gone for thirteen days. I am going to find a way into the archives. I will study non-stop. When she returns I will know everything I need to know but I won't go about turning the nation against her until her next trip. When she leaves on that trip, I will declare myself Supreme Commander and you will be Commander Applejack. I will reveal more of my plans later. What do you think?"

Applejack was smiling and she said, "I will under one condition."

Colgate replied, "Name it."

Applejack said, "I will do it if you will transform the rest of my family, along with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo into Alicorns."

Colgate replied, "I will do that. It will have to be during Twilight's next trip. If she comes back from this trip and sees all of them as Alicorns, she will know I figured out how to get in there. Is that ok?"

Applejack said, "Yes, that will be alright."

Colgate replied, "Welcome aboard team Colgate Commander Applejack!"

Applejack said, "It is getting late, is it ok if Ah head on home?"

Colgate replied, "Of course, I'm heading to bed myself. I will keep you updated on how the progress is going on getting into the archives and once I get on there, my learning of her spells."

Applejack said, "Ahlright Colgate, see you then. Goodnight."

Colgate replied, "Goodnight commander!"

Colgate headed up to Twilight's room getting ready to go to bed, thinking to herself "Soon this will be MY bedroom and this will be my bed!"

Colgate sat down on her bed and saw a book on the nightstand. She looked at the cover and it said "Information on Securing Locks." She saw a bookmark and opened the book to that page. She saw Twilight had written down two spells, one on opening a lock and one on locking the lock.

Colgate smiled and thought to herself, "JACKPOT! How could Twilight be so careless! Her carelessness will lead to my victory!"

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

Unlock---"The door is locked, but from me my information is blocked, a lot of learning I have to do, but with this locked I won't have a clue, now the door is open for me and infinite knowledge for me shall now be."

Lock---"Right now the door is not locked, from others the information is not blocked, the others must not be allowed to learn, for this is not theirs to earn, the door is now closed for all but me because infinite knowledge is not free."

The Commander's Plans

Colgate woke up the following morning in a very good mood. She realized that she would not have to do anything except cast Twilight's spells to get into the archives.

She thought to herself, "Who would have thought Twily would be so careless as to leave her book right there where I could get to it. Even better she left a bookmark to take me to the right page!"

Colgate headed downstairs to the dining hall and found her officers waiting for her. Colgate asked, "Hi guys, how is everything going?"

Lightning Wasp said, "Things are going quite well. You seem to be in a very good mood this morning."

Colgate replied, "I am, but the reason why must wait until after breakfast. It is a business issue."

Ice Storm said, "Alright, we understand. Oh, our food is here anyway, let's eat."

Colgate and her officers had a larger than normal meal that morning, which was greatly appreciated by everypony.

Biting Wind asked, "Colgate, is there any reason why we got more food than normal this morning?"

Colgate replied, "Well I just figured that since Twilight, Shining Armor, Starswirl, Spike and the two generals are gone, that there will be plenty for each of us to have more."

Black Mist said, "Well I will tell you one thing, I really wish that you were the ruler instead of Twilight."

Colgate replied, "Well we all have to deal with her.....for now."

Storm Force asked, "For now? What do you mean by that?"

Colgate replied, "You will find out during our meeting."

Colgate and her officers finished their meal and headed into the throne room, where Colgate planned on telling them about the book and her other plans.

Colgate addressed her officers, "Ok guys, first thing is first. I want to know if you approve or disapprove of the job Twilight is doing as 'Dark Goddess.' Those of you who approve, raise your hoof."

Nopony raised their hooves.

Colgate said, "Now for those of you who disapprove of her, raise your hoof."

All eight of her officers raised their hooves to disapprove of the job Twilight is doing.

Iron Chains said, "Before we took Alicorn Island she seemed to be everything she promised she would be. She was always keeping busy, she was always down at the base with the rest of us and now that she is the ruler of the world all she does is sit up here, go on trips, play with her dragon and admire the spells she has written."

Colgate replied, "That is right. I have come to the conclusion that Equestria needs a new ruler. Equestria needs somepony who has never even lived in Canterlot. Twilight was coddled as a child. She was basically raised by Celestia. She still has some Canterlot in her. I can see it in the way she acts now that everything belongs to her. Who thinks we need change?"

All of her officers shouted "aye!"

Colgate said, "Good, were all on the same page. Now I am going to tell you about something that is going to make our lives easier."

"What is that?" asked Iron Chains

Colgate replied, "I was getting ready to go to bed last night and I saw a book on Twily's nightstand. I decided to grab it. It was a book regarding information involving spells and locks. Well Twilight had a bookmark in it and I opened it to the bookmark. On the page it opened to she had two spells written down. One was the spell for opening a lock and the other was for locking it back. I am shocked that she would be so careless as to leave something like that laying around, especially since she is letting me sleep in her room."

Ice Storm shouted, "She did what? Is she becoming scatterbrained since she took power as well?"

Colgate said, "Apparently so. Do any of you know what percentage of the army supports Twilight more and which percentage supports me more?"

Lightning Wasp said, "Well within the changelings the ones who support you more has grown to 75% and is increasing by the day."

Ice Storm said, "Among the dark Alicorns the ones who support you is around 80% and is growing exponentially. My guess is that by the time Twilight returns, they will all be more loyal to you than they are her."

Colgate said, "This is great news. By the time Twilight goes on her next trip, hopefully EVERY SINGLE SOLDIER will prefer me over her. If they do, I can then cast a duplication spell on them and then Twilight will be facing a force she won't be able to overcome."

Lightning Wasp said, "Colgate, her magic is much more advanced than yours, she will be able to take our forces out easily."

Colgate replied, "Once I study for the next ten days straight, she will have nothing on me. I will OWN her. I will just bide my time until everything is right. Then her reign will be history. I better get down to the archives, I have tons and tons of studying to do. Lightning Wasp, Ice Storm, I need you to come down with me and stand guard in the event one of the soldiers still loyal to Twilight show up."

Lightning Wasp said, "You can count on us!"

Colgate replied, "Let's go. I have tons of studying to do."

They got down to the locked door that secured the archives. Colgate's horn began to glow as she recited, "The door is locked, but from me my information is blocked, a lot of learning I have to do, but with this locked I won't have a clue, now the door is open for me and infinite knowledge for me shall now be."

Colgate could hear the lock click and she pushed the door open. Colgate saw all these books in front of her and was amazed by everything Twilight had in there. She then saw the door to the Starswirl room. She walked back to it but strangely enough, Twilight did not lock it back the last time she was down here.

Colgate said, "Wow guys, talk about a stroke of luck! First Twilight leaves her book out with her spells for anypony to see and now the Starswirl room is completely unlocked! I thought it had a separate lock on it. Talk about my lucky day!"

Lightning Wasp said, "You know Colgate, I am really starting to wonder about the so called 'dark goddess.' She doesn't seem all that mean and she is being completely careless here lately. One day she will wind up being completely clueless as well."

Ice Storm said, "Yep, you got that right."

Colgate saw a box in the Starswirl room, it contained all of the spells that Twilight had written for various things. Colgate was thrilled when she saw this.

Colgate shouted, "Holy moly! Twilight left the spells she wrote in this open box! This is clearly a sign that I am the one to free the ponies of Equestria from her rule! I do want to do plenty of studying though so I will know things she won't. I am thinking a spell to shatter armor would be good."

Lightning Wasp said, "That would be good. That way we would have armor and then you could recite the shatter armor spell, fire your energy at them and then leave them completely vulnerable!"

Colgate replied, "Exactly. Twilight goes strutting around like her armor spell makes her forces invincible. Well guess what, not only am I going to cast the spells differently to make mine stronger and make your armor better, I will shatter her forces' armor and she will be so shocked she won't know what to think."

Ice Storm said, "I can see it now, the dark goddess, who thinks her spells are beyond perfect, winds up failing. Her loyalty spells are already wearing off and are doing so faster and faster every day. We need to tell our forces to continue to pretend to be loyal to her. We don't want her casting a new spell on them."

Colgate replied, "No, we can not have her doing that. That would harm our cause greatly. I am thinking, should I cast a loyalty spell on all of you. The way I plan on casting it, nopony will get hurt and the energy will be absorbed into your bodies, not throw you back. That way, it should be permanent."

Lightning Wasp asked, "How do you know that it would work that good?"

Colgate replied, "I use that type of energy, the type that is absorbed by the body, to make my patients' root canals pain free. I have yet to even hear one of my patients complaining about pain, even several months after the procedure."

Lightning Wasp said, "Wow, you know your magic! How did you learn how to write that spell for the painless root canal?"

Colgate replied, "Well Celestia needed a root canal but wouldn't get it done unless I wrote a spell for pain free root canals. I studied over a lot of dentistry books and I figured it out. A lot of ponies think Twilight was the first pony here in town to write her own magic, but she wasn't, I was. When she became and Alicorn, all she did was rewrite Starswirl's failed spell. The reason I didn't become an Alicorn was because I didn't want to have to go live in the ivory tower in Canterlot and just sit there and look pretty. I wanted to remain a dentist and Celestia said that if I chose to become a princess, I couldn't have my practice anymore."

Lightning Wasp asked, "I take it Twilight let you keep it after she transformed you."

Colgate replied, "Yeah, she did. Twilight had a different view on what it means to be an Alicorn. But as time passes, I think she starts to become more and more like Celestia."

Lightning Wasp replied, "Yeah, what a shame too. Well I guess you can take the pony out of Canterlot but you can never fully remove Canterlot from the pony."

Colgate said, "Yep, that's right. I have got to continue studying, I want to learn as much as possible. I have memorized Twilight's spells, I have written my own spell on shattering armor and I am thinking, perhaps I should try to revise Twilight's spell on making a pony larger so I can cast it on myself."

Ice Storm came in and said, "Make yourself bigger? I think that would be a good idea."

Lightning Wasp said, "Wait a minute, you are a Time Lady as well. Not while she is on this trip, but perhaps you could travel to Faustica in a time bubble and drain Galaxia and Cosmos."

Colgate said, "That is right! Her next trip will take her first to Maredrid, then to Ridead, then to Prancington and then up to Faustica, where she will be greeted by a small and weak Galaxia and Cosmos!"

Ice Storm said, "What about Luna? She is one pony I have heard that Twilight is still afraid to go up against."

Colgate replied, "I will cross that bridge when I get there. Maybe Twily will do something to piss her off on her trip out there. Seriously though, I have got to get back to studying."

Lightning Wasp said, "Ok, have fun!"

Colgate wound up skipping lunch entirely and realized that her stomach was growling loudly. "Oh my, I am so hungry. I better head up for lunch!"

Colgate realized that she better fix things exactly the way they were before, which she did. She then recited the spell to lock the door to the archives.

Colgate's horn began to glow as she recited, "Right now the door is not locked, from others the information is not blocked, the others must not be allowed to learn, for this is not theirs to earn, the door is now closed for all but me because infinite knowledge is not free."

Colgate finally went up to the dining hall a little after six. She soon realized it was time for supper, not lunch. When she arrived she was greeted by her officers, some of who were worried about her.

"Colgate?" asked Black Mist, "Are you ok? You usually show up for meals."

Colgate replied, "I was studying so hard that I missed lunch? That's odd, I usually don't miss meals for anything. Perhaps I am developing Twily's studying habits, but then again maybe not. She does it just for fun while I am doing it to crush her."

Ice Storm asked, "So how did the studying go? Have you come up with some spells that Twily doesn't know?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, I have. Those I will wait to share until we need to either use them in battle or it is important. Besides, here comes our meal and you know my rules regarding meals."

Storm Force said, "Yeah we know, no discussing anything involving business or war over meals."

After supper Colgate and her officers headed to the throne room for one more meeting before hitting the hay as Colgate likes to touch base at the end of every day.

Biting Wind asked, "Colgate, I hope you don't get mad at me for asking this, but what does your cutie mark represent?"

Colgate replied, "Besides being a dentist, I am also a Time Lady. When I was a filly I learned how to manipulate time. When Twilight heads east to Maredrid, I plan on freezing time, creating a time bubble for myself and 100 dark Alicorns and 100 changelings and heading off to Faustica to drain the royals there."

Ice Storm asked, "If time is frozen and nopony else can move, why would you need so many soldiers?"

Colgate replied, "Well here is the thing. I have to cast the time bubble spell around us before I freeze time. Inside the bubble time will continue. Then I poke the very edge of my horn out of the time bubble and cast the time freezing spell. I must leave my horn like that throughout the duration of time being frozen. Bringing it in would allow frozen time to enter the bubble and we would be stuck in place forever."

Lightning Wasp asked, "How do you undo the bubble?"

Colgate replied, "First I cast the unfreeze spell for time, then I have to cast the spell to undo the time bubble. It is pretty simple really, well for a Time Lady anyway. No way the dark goddess could do it!"

Lightning Wasp laughed, "She certainly couldn't! You've got time on your side!"

Colgate replied, "Yes I do. Now though I think the time has come to hit the hay.

Black Mist said, "Good night everypony!"

Colgate headed up to her room and decided that she needs to tap into the green eye since she knows the spell.

Colgate's horn began to glow as she recited, "The jade Alicorn will help me see all, without it I might miss a brawl, while the distances are great, I can see all the hate, wisdom is what comes along with the eye so that overthrowing me nopony will try."

Colgate was now watching the world using the eye. She faced it to the west and saw Twilight and her envoy turning their ship to the west-southwest.

Colgate was thinking to herself, "Yeah you six, enjoy your trip. Twily, you will one day learn that your carelessness will lead to your destruction!"

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

Shatter Armor---"Our foes' armor is great, that is something I hate, with their armor they are strong, but them having armor is just plain wrong, now their armor is gone and it is time for them to say bye as they are struck by energy and die."

Return Blue sky---"The sky is purple which is ok for some, but it just makes me numb, for I miss the way it used to be, blue is beautiful to me, the normal sky shall be back and everything will return on track."

Drain pony---"The large pony is too big for me, for smaller the pony shall be, the size and knowledge will become mine, but the negative qualities is where I draw the line, for what must grow is my power, so that I may remain in the tower."

Change eye blue---"The green eye is not for me, for blue is what it shall be, the evil shall be banished as the good can not vanish, what shall return will be an eye of blue as it is the perfect hue."

Freeze time---"Tick tock, tick tock, look at the racing clock, what is short is time and being late is a crime, we must finish on top so it is time I must stop, with time froze, it is my enemies I shall bulldoze."

Unfreeze time---"Look at the clock, it is stuck in place, with this there can be no pace, everything is still but that does not fit the bill, for now the clock shall again run so everypony can have fun."

Time bubble---"A bubble is what we need, so from frozen time we can be freed, in this bubble we can move fast, while everything else is stuck in the past, it is frozen time which through we must pass so we will never be late to class."

Undo time bubble---"In the bubble time continues to run, but now the time outside runs and allows fun, the bubble must burst so we can quench our thirst, from the bubble we are now free and everything we can clearly see."

The Trip to Faustica

It had been four days since Twilight and her envoy set sail for Faustica, they still had a gentle easterly breeze, calm seas and clear skies. This pleased all of them, especially Twilight.

Twilight said, "You know something everypony? This is probably the best four days of weather that any voyage has ever had."

Shining Armor replied, "Don't jinx it Twily. You say that and then chances are the wind will shift directions, the seas will get rough and we will run into a storm."

Dark Night said, "You know Twily, you're right about your brother. He is paranoid. I think we should just enjoy the trip."

Spike asked, "What if Colgate does something and casts a storm spell on us the same way Twily did with Rarity?"

Twilight laughed, "Why are you so against Colgate Spike? You know she doesn't know that kind of magic and you know she is loyal to me. I trust her being alone with the other officers more than I do any of my friends."

Starswirl said, "Wow, that is a whole lot of trust. With Colgate though, I can see why you have so much trust in her. She is the perfect commander. She is loyal, tough as nails and has developed a great ability in training troops."

Shining Armor laughed, "Don't go telling that to Rarity! She hates Colgate and her drill sargent mentality."

Twilight said, "Well Rarity is a pony who likes the finer things in life and doesn't like having somepony telling her what to do and she especially doesn't like somepony barking orders at her."

Thunder Rage asked, "Colgate really barked orders at her? I never knew she had that mindset. She would have fit in perfectly with Chrysalis and the way she trained us."

Twilight replied, "Yes, Colgate barked orders at her. The rest of my friends did what she requested so she was nice with them. Rarity on the other hand, was sassing her, not doing what Colgate wanted her to do during the training exercises so she had to get tough on her."

Starswirl could see something on the horizon, something that looked like an island. Starswirl asked, "What is that on the horizon? It looks like an island."

Twilight looked hard and replied, "It is Alicorn Island! We are almost there. It will be so good to get some real water in me."

Dark Night said, "Same here. These apples have plenty of juices in them, but some water sounds so good right now!"

An hour later they finally docked at Faustica Bay and headed into town. They flew up to the palace that LaurFa used to live in and were greeted by Luna.

"Hello Dear Twilight," said Luna "how are you and your envoy doing?"

Twilight replied, "Oh we are doing alright, it was a long trip but we had perfect weather on the way."

Luna said, "You all must be hungry and thirsty, come on up to the dining hall. I'm not sure what you are hungry for but I am certain you want some water."

Starswirl replied, "You must have been reading our minds. When you go four days without it, you get to the point where you would give anything for it."

Luna asked, "Why are you here so early? You know the festivities don't start until tomorrow afternoon."

Twilight replied, "Well I like to get places early. This way my envoy will be well rested before we start things out. What are we going to start things out with anyway?"

Luna said, "Well we will hold our meeting on Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening so we can get it out of the way and just have fun and relax up through Wednesday. After all, who wants to have fun but still have a meeting coming up."

Thunder rage said, "I like your way of thinking princess. Too bad Chrysalis didn't think like that. Oh, wait, Chrysalis never let us relax, it was always work, work, work."

Twilight asked, "So Luna, how are your parents doing?"

Luna replied, "Oh they are doing ok. Mom is still a bit distraught over Celestia being banished to the sun, but she knows that she committed a high level crime and had to pay for it."

Thunder Rage asked, "How are you feeling about her being banished so far?"

Luna smiled and said, "Every sunrise and sunset feels like sweet redemption. Seeing her silhouette makes me so happy. Perhaps in a thousand years when she comes home she will know how I felt being banished to the moon for a thousand years."

Shining Armor said, "Yeah, hopefully so, although I would think the sun would be worse than the moon."

Luna replied, "It definitely is, but the crime she committed was far worse than simply threatening to cast the world into eternal night."

Twilight said, "Yeah, it is. What you did as Nightmare Moon was bad, but you never bought children from their parents either. In my opinion, Celestia is one of the highest level villains in the history of Equestria."

Luna said, "Enough of this negative talk! Let's go up to the throne room. I'm sure that mom and dad are just dying to see you!"

When they arrived at the palace Galaxia ran up to Twilight and hugged her. "Twily, I am so glad you could make it! said Galaxia

Twilight replied, "Well I am glad you invited me. I have so many things I want to discuss and suggest."

Galaxia said, "Well you do rule the world so of course you would need to be here."

Twilight asked, "So who will be running the meeting?"

Cosmos walked up and said, "Why you of course. You have more power than all the other creatures on the planet combined."

Twilight blushed and replied, "Yeah, that is true. I have been thinking about ways to help me along with all you stewards have more funds to run things better, but that can wait until tomorrow when everypony else is here."

Galaxia asked, "So Spike, how did it feel to cough up a message from me?"

Spike replied, "Well it was shocking to open a scroll that wasn't from Celestia."

Galaxia said, "Well by the time she would be able to send messages again, you will be fully grown and who knows where you will be living."

Spike replied, "Hopefully I would still be with Twilight!"

Twilight replied, "Well we'll see Spike. I would need to build something huge for a full grown dragon to live in."

Cosmos said, "Well it is time for supper, let's eat!"

The meal they ate that night rivaled even the largest meals Twilight had ever served.

Thunder Rage said, "Wow, you three sure know how to throw a party. This reminds me a lot of what Twily serves us!"

Galaxia replied, "Well we have the same mentality as Twilight. We treat our guests and allies well."

After supper Spike asked Luna, "Princess Luna, Twilight keeps telling me that I have nothing to worry about, but is your opinion on Colgate? Do you think she would ever try to overthrow her?"

Luna laughed, "Oh Spike! You have been spending way too much time with Shining Armor, haven't you? She is the last pony I would worry about."

Cosmos asked, "Spike, why do you have these feelings about the commander? Has she showed any signs of betraying Twilight?"

Spike replied, "Uh, no she hasn't. I am just paranoid. Twilight is like a mom to me and I do worry about her."

Twilight blushed and said, "Oh Spike, that is so sweet of you to view me that way!"

Cosmos said, "I am getting tired, I am thinking that we should hit the hay. Twilight, you know where the VIP bedrooms are. Show the rest of our guests where they are."

Twilight replied, "Alright Cosmos, will do!"

Everypony slept well that night and when the morning arrived, the other stewards were arriving. Galaxia flew down to greet them.

"Lyra, Lemon Hearts, LaurFa! How is everything going?"

Lyra replied, "Things are going great! Things in Neigh Zealand have improved so much since I took over. The economic conditions are the best they have been in 200 years!"

Lemon Hearts said, "Well things are pretty much the same. There is more stability in the country and everypony feels safe with us having a military now, but other than that, things haven't changed."

LaurFa said, "Well the country has something that it hasn't had in ages, which is stability. Everypony seems to be a lot happier now."

Everypony flew up to the throne room where they were greeted by Twilight. Twilight looked happy with the smile she saw on Galaxia's face.

"So everypony, how are things going in the provinces I have assigned you?"

Lyra replied, "Things are going great Twilight, better than they have in 200 years."

Twilight said, "Wow, that good? I guess I was right in putting you in charge down there."

Lemon Hearts said, "Things are pretty much the same except there is finally stability and happiness there."

LaurFa said, "Well things are going pretty much the same, except there is stability."

Twilight said, "Well it looks like Lyra has done the job of turning the province around completely. We will discuss how to make things better for everypony this afternoon."

After lunch they started their meeting. Twilight banged her hoof on the table and said, "Ok everypony, before we start the fun part of this get together we must have the meeting part of this first."

Galaxia added, "Twilight has some plans, that she hasn't even told me, that she thinks will make the world better for every province. She will also ask for suggestions from all of you."

LaurFa said, "I do think that giving each province a little bit more ability to make decisions on their own without having to go through you would make things easier, as the trip to Ponyville is not short for any of us."

Twilight replied, "LaurFa, who is the world ruler here? You should be happy that I give you the power that I do. How is your military working out?"

LaurFa replied, "They are doing good. The population of the Equine province seems to feel more safe than they used to back in the times when we had to worry about invasions."

Twilight said, "Well that is good. To me that shows that you are doing fine. By the way, why did you think I should allow you a bit more power?"

LaurFa said, "Well the citizens do sometimes ask that we help them out more, as in helping the less fortunate."

Twilight replied, "We will see. I have a plan on how to raise funds for the less fortunate. What about you Lemon Hearts?"

Lemon Hearts said, "Well things seem to be going ok. I don't see any problems."

Twilight replied, "That is good to hear Lemon Hearts. What about you Lyra?"

Lyra replied, "Everything is going perfectly fine. Just leave everything the way it is. Yes we are still not the most well off province in the world but we are far better off than we were and things continue to improve."

Twilight smiled and said, "That is spectacular Lyra. What about the royals here on Alicorn Island? Do you have any suggestions?"

Luna replied, "Well mom, dad and I have been discussing things for a couple of weeks and given that things haven't changed much of any, we have no problems with the way you are running the world."

Twilight started jumping around like a school filly shouting, "Yay! I'm so happy! I feel like I've done my job!"

Galaxia said, "Well we are all happy that you feel that way. Is there anything else business related you wish to discuss or can we move on to the fun part of things?"

Twilight replied, "We have more things to discuss. I think that there are way to raise funds to make the lives of everypony better."

Lemon Hearts asked, "How is that?"

Twilight replied, "I believe that the ponies around the world should pay tribute to me for having the privilege of living on this planet. After all, since I have placed stewards around the world and replaced the old leaders, things have improved, especially in Neigh Zealand. I believe the ponies of the world owe me this."

Lyra shouted, "WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

Twilight yelled, "No, I'm not kidding. Look at how much better things are for them. They should be thanking me for putting you in power there."

Lyra said, "Twilight, Neigh Zealand has just emerged from over 200 years of economic oppression. Forcing them to pay tribute will only plunge them back into the same economic disaster they were in before."

Luna shouted, "Twilight, are you nuts? What exactly do you want to do with this money?"

Twilight said, "What do I want to do with it? I'm not exactly sure right now. I might help other provinces, I might build on to my tower, I'm not sure."

Lemon Hearts suggested, "Instead of making them pay tribute to you to help other provinces, why don't we just have them pay taxes and help their own provinces. I don't know about you, but I think that would be a much better idea."

Twilight shouted, "You're kidding, right? I rule this world and you are merely a steward. I decide how the money is distributed and what it is used for. If I were to want to build a huge statue of myself with it, then that would be my right."

Lemon Hearts replied, "I'm sorry Twilight, you're right."

LaurFa said, "Twilight, you do rule this planet so it would be up to you. Whatever you choose to do, I will enforce it."

Luna put her hoof over her face and said, "Twilight, your idea is beyond ridiculous. Just keep the money within each province. Things will work perfectly that way."

Lyra added, "I agree with Luna. I cut taxes completely down there and we are experiencing a period of economic prosperity that has never before been seen. The quality of life for everypony is much better. Look at things through the eyes of one of our citizens down there. What would you pick, high taxes and poverty or low to no taxes and prosperity. I know I would pick the latter. What about you?"

Twilight shouted, "I am the ruler of the world. That is not my problem. I don't care. As long as I get my money I will be happy. Galaxia, Cosmos, instead of letting Luna run the show, what do you two think?"

Unlike Luna, Galaxia and Cosmos were sort of afraid of Twilight. They replied, "We will do whatever you think is best Twilight."

Twilight said, "Well Luna, it looks like you are outvoted."

Luna shouted, "THAT'S IT. I'M FINISHED WITH THIS CRAP. I'M OUTTA HERE. I'LL FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO LIVE. YOU KNOW WHAT MOM AND DAD, YOU ARE PATHETIC COWARDS. GOOD RIDDANCE!"

Luna headed out the door and started flying east. She had a great amount of physical strength which allowed her to fly much greater distances without needing rest. She decided she would head to the coast of Equestria, head to Ponyville and then head into the Everfree Forest until the time was right.

Twilight said, "Give her time. She will come crawling back begging for forgiveness. I'm not worried about her. She has very little power compared to me."

Lyra asked, "Then why have you always been leery about going up against her in battle?"

Twilight snapped, "Lyra, that was before I became far more powerful than her. If it comes down to a horn to horn battle, I will win and she will wind up in the void."

Galaxia said, "I figured she would do something like this Twilight. I guess the never say die Luna has shown her true self."

Twilight said, "Alright, before we go to the fun part of this trip, let's cast a final vote on what will happen regarding the tribute. If it passes, then we need to discuss what the percentage of income the tribute will be. If it fails, then things will remain the same. Those of you who favor the tribute, say aye."

LaurFa, Lemon Hearts, Cosmos and Galaxia said , "aye"

Twilight said, those opposed say "nay"

Lyra said, "Nay"

Twilight said, "The vote passes by a vote of 4-1. Let's break for supper then we will discuss the amount of tribute to be paid whether it be a set figure or whether it will be a percentage of their monthly income."

Lyra headed out to the courtyard feeling dejected. She felt like she had failed her province. She started to cry and thought to herself, "I helped them out of a horrible economic depression and thanks to Twilight and the other stewards, they will be plunged back into a depression."

Galaxia heard her crying. She walked up to her and said, "Lyra, what is wrong? Why are you crying?"

Lyra replied, "Why should I tell you? You voted for Twilight's oppressive measure on forcing ponies to pay tribute."

Galaxia said, "The only reason Cosmos and I voted for it is because we are scared of her and don't want her to punish us."

Lyra said, "Well Luna isn't scared of her."

Galaxia replied, "Well Luna can transform into Nightmare Moon and easily avoid detection. Luna has no reason to be scared of her. Twilight could never catch her."

Twilight was in a very good mood during supper as her measure had passed. She knew that Galaxia and Cosmos felt forced to vote in favor of it but she didn't care, she got her measure passed and will soon be getting tribute money for anything she wants.

Twilight noticed that Lyra wasn't touching her food. Twilight asked, "Lyra, what is wrong? You're not even touching your supper."

Lyra replied, "I just feel like a failure. My ending taxes in Neigh Zealand lifted them out of an economic depression and now they will have to pay tribute and fall back into the horrible economic problems they were in before."

Twilight replied, "Oh, they will be fine. You're as bad as Spike and Shining Armor when it comes to being paranoid. I'm sure once tomorrow arrives and the fun part of this begins, you'll be fine."

After supper they returned to the throne room to discuss the amount of tribute that will be paid.

Twilight asked, "Alright everypony, what do you think will be a fair amount of tribute for each pony or their family to pay?"

LaurFa suggested, "I think that 10% of their monthly income would be fair as I think paying tribute each month would be fair."

Lemon Hearts looked nervous and suggested, "I think a flat rate of 10 bits per month would be fair."

Lyra looked irritated and said, "I think ZERO BITS is a fair amount."

Galaxia and Cosmos suggested, "We agree with LaurFa, 10% of their monthly income seems fair to us."

Twilight gave Lyra a glare and said, "No need to be sarcastic Lyra. I know you oppose this but give me a realistic amount."

Lyra replied, "I am being realistic. I oppose this entirely and I do not believe money should be taken from the ponies just so you can do what you want with it."

Twilight said, "Ok, I have decided that 10% of the monthly income will be fair."

Lemon Hearts asked, "What if a pony has so little money that paying tribute would cause them to be unable to make it?"

Twilight replied, "That is their problem, not mine. As long as I get my money, I will be happy."

LaurFa asked, "What if a pony refuses to pay tribute?"

Twilight replied, "If they refuse to pay they will be shipped to a labor camp of my choosing and will be sentenced to 12 years of hard labor."

Lyra shouted, "Twilight, how could you be so cruel?"

Twilight replied, "Well you helped me conquer all of this, so I figured you would support everything I want to do in this new world."

Lyra said, "Twilight, I helped you with this because I thought you would bring a better life for everypony on the face of the planet. I never dreamed you would want ponies to pay tribute and force those who won't or can't into labor camps."

Twilight said, "It is getting late. Let's go to bed everypony. Tomorrow we will start our rest and relaxation part of this. Let's just put all this behind us, ok. We will have another meeting in Maredrid in three weeks to discuss the enforcement of this. Goodnight everypony.

Twilight headed to bed realizing that she would need to have extra officers down in Neigh Zealand to make sure that once all this takes effect, that Lyra would enforce this. Little did she know that she would soon have more problems to worry about than Lyra simply being upset.

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

A New Alliance

Monday morning arrived in Ponyville and Colgate was standing out on her balcony before she headed down for breakfast. She saw an Alicorn flying in from the west. She got ready to attack first but then she saw it was Luna. Luna landed on her balcony.

Luna said, "Colgate, we have a serious problem."

Colgate replied, "What is that?"

Luna said, "Twilight is becoming the dark goddess everypony had feared. She is now going to force ponies all over the world to pay her tribute."

Colgate shouted, "WHAT THE HAY?"

Luna said, "Yep, she is wanting to force ponies all over the world to pay her tribute. I stormed out of the meeting before everything was complete but I do know that Lyra is extremely opposed to this."

Colgate replied, "Well perhaps that would work to our advantage. For right now, I think we need to have a meeting with my officers. First though, let's have a huge breakfast. You must be starving."

Luna said, "Thank you Colgate. I am very hungry. Flying almost non-stop for a day and a half is very tiring. I stopped at the coast and ate and slept for a few hours yesterday but then I got going again. I know that getting this information to you is extremely important."

On the way down to the dining hall, Colgate asked, "How much longer will this meeting last?"

Luna replied, "Well they said that they will be having fun from Sunday through Wednesday. So I am guessing they would leave on Thursday and get back here on Sunday."

Colgate replied, "Excellent. That will give me plenty of time to get things in order. Before we have breakfast, I need to get Applejack and her friends."

Luna asked, "Applejack and her friends? Aren't they friends with Twilight?"

Colgate replied, "They have seen what she is doing and they think I would make a better leader so they are on my side now."

Pinkie Pie and everypony else were having a get together over at Sugarcube Corner when Colgate and Luna arrived.

"Hi Commander Colgate, Hi Princess Luna," said Pinkie "can I get you something sweet to eat?"

Colgate replied, "Sure, but we didn't come here for a bite to eat. We need all of you to come up to my tower and have breakfast with Luna and I. After that, we have an extremely important meeting involving not just the future of Equestria, but the whole planet."

Rainbow Dash said, "Your tower? That is Twilight's tower."

Colgate glared at her and said, "Very soon that will change. The winds of change have hit this world. Come with us, eat breakfast and then Luna will you what she has found out about Twilight."

Applejack said, "Thank y'all kindly for inviting us up for breakfast. Ah'm glad you want us to be informed on everything."

Colgate replied, "Well unlike Twilight, I think of you four as part of the inner circle of the government. After all, you were transformed into Alicorns and there are a lot of responsibilities that comes with that, including taking part in meetings regarding government policies and fending off military threats."

They got up to the dining hall where they were met by Colgate's officers. "Hi everypony," said Lightning Wasp "how is everything going?"

Fluttershy said, "Well I am grateful Colgate is letting us have breakfast with all of you but I'm worried about what the meeting is about."

Colgate replied, "Don't worry Fluttershy. It is nothing bad and I have seen how you are when your friends are threatened, you take the initiative and show their foes who's boss."

Fluttershy said, "Yeah, I do. Oh, here comes our breakfast!"

Luna added, "Oh good. I am so hungry! I feel like I could eat a full grown dragon!"

Pinkie said, "Wow princess, you must be really hungry!"

Luna replied, "I am, except for a few hours rest, I have been flying non-stop since Saturday evening."

Applejack asked, "Wow princess, what caused y'all to do that?"

Luna replied, "We will discuss that later, not during our meal."

After breakfast Colgate, her officers, Luna and Applejack and her friends headed to the throne room for the meeting.

Colgate started, "Alright everypony. This is extremely important. Luna arrived early this morning and gave me some information that has caused me to realize that the rumors that Twilight will one day become the 'dark goddess' she calls herself are starting to come to pass. Luna, the floor is all yours."

Luna started, "As you all know there was a meeting held in Faustica on Saturday afternoon and evening before they started the fun part of the trip on Sunday. At first it was just touching base with how things are going in the provinces and everything seems to be going better, especially in Neigh Zealand. Well, Twilight was strutting around like a prize rooster taking all the credit for things improving, this is where things began to go south."

Rainbow Dash said, "Well I figured Twilight would start acting like this sooner or later."

Luna continued, "Well, she had the audacity to say that the ponies around the world should start paying her tribute for having the privilege of living on HER PLANET."

"Her planet?" shouted Fluttershy "I never imagined she would do this, but I guess the predictions are coming true."

Luna continued, "Twilight along with all the other stewards had the audacity to belittle Lyra for opposing this. They seem to think that Twilight is the best thing in the world and my mom and dad are scared of her so even though they opposed it, they told her anything she wanted, they would do."

Black Mist asked, "Luna, I don't want you to get mad, but do you think if you unbanished Celestia, she would help us in our cause?"

Luna replied, "Are you kidding? She thinks Twilight is the best thing ever. She would go into her 'my Twily, oh i love you Twily, anything for you Twily' mode. She would be a major enemy and besides, I get too much satisfaction with seeing her silhouette in the sun twice a day. She deserved what she got. Maybe I should send Twily there and then it can be mama Celestia and baby Twily together for a thousand years."

Rainbow Dash asked, "Wow, Celestia thinks that highly of Twilight?"

Luna said, "Yes, she does. Celestia is in the sun now so she is irrelevant. We need to focus on the current problem. The thing we need to do is get Lyra to become more powerful in magic.

Colgate said, "I have a plan for that. I'm not sure if all of you know this or not, but besides being a dentist I am a Time Lady."

Pinkie asked, "What is a Time Lady?"

Colgate replied, "A Time Lady is a mare who has the ability to manipulate time using her magic."

Applejack asked, "Ah notice Dr. Whooves has the same cutie mark as you. Is he a Time Lord?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, he is. I have thought about it but I am not sure if having two ponies who know how to manipulate time would be that good for our cause."

Luna asked, "So what is this plan of yours involving getting Lyra to become more advanced in magic.?"

Colgate replied, "Well, what I can do is create a time bubble first for myself and a few soldiers. Then I would freeze time. We would then use our wing power to get that time bubble cruising many times faster than the sound barrier. We would head to Prancington. We would then unfreeze time and then undo the time bubble. We would get Lyra, create another time bubble, with her in it with us, freeze time, travel back here, educate her and then do the same thing when we take her back. This could all be done while Twilight and her goons are out in the Alicorn Ocean."

Lightning Wasp asked, "How long would this take?"

Colgate replied, "Well as far as going there, getting her and bringing her back, that would take approximately 5 minutes. It would be the educating her that would use the most running time, probably a couple of days if it is high intensity education, then it would take 5 minutes to take her back."

Applejack asked, "What about that meeting in Maredrid? Will she be attending it?"

Colgate replied, "Crap, yes she will be. I have an idea, we could set out right at the time her ship leaves. With time frozen we will get there, land on her ship, unfreeze time, undo the time bubble and educate her on the ship. It is a five day journey from Prancington to Maredrid. With my plan, we will easily be able to get her re-educated and then refreeze time, get home and then unfreeze it again with more than enough time to spare."

Ice Storm asked, "What about her soldiers, they are loyal to Twilight and they see us coming, what if they try to attack us?"

Colgate replied, "I will cast an armor spell on us so if they do attack us, we will escape unscathed."

Rainbow Dash said, "Wow Colgate, you are dead set on making sure what Twilight wants won't come to pass, aren't you?"

Colgate replied, "Yep, I will make sure that Twilight does not get that tribute pay and if I have things my way, she will have no power whatsoever. The stewards, especially Lyra, have made things better in their provinces. The only part of 'Twily World' that has not improved is Equestria, and I plan on changing that."

Luna asked, "Colgate, how much magic have you learned since she has been gone on this trip?"

Colgate replied, "A lot. Twilight foolishly left a book that had her spells for the lock on the door to the archives on her nightstand. She is letting me sleep in her comfy bed while she is gone. I saw that book, memorized the spells, got into the archives, found all of her other spells written on paper in an open box, I learned them, then I read works of Starswirl's even more advanced than Twilight has and wrote some of my own magic. So I know more magic than Twilight does, well more magic when it comes to battle. She knows armor spells but she does not know spells to shatter armor, whereas I do. Of course I have my time spells from since I was a filly. With that being the case, we have the ultimate ally, TIME!"

Applejack asked, "Regarding the magic, is there anyway you could teach us any of it so we can use it against her?"

Colgate replied, "Of course. If we are to defeat her, we all need to know as much magic as possible. She will be returning next Sunday. So we have plenty of time to learn as much as possible. I want all four of you to learn as much as you can and the same goes with you Luna."

Rainbow Dash asked, "Now will we only be able to learn all of Twilight's spells and your non-time spells or will we be able to learn the time spells as well."

Colgate replied, "I'm sorry Rainbow, but only a Time Lady or a Time Lord can use those kind of spells. It is kind of something you are born with but you could help us move the time bubble much faster when we go out to educate Lyra."

Rainbow Dash said, "I'm up for that! That sounds exciting."

Fluttershy asked, "Colgate, when do you want to start teaching us all this magic?"

Colgate replied, "This afternoon, after lunch. I want to get this done as soon as possible. Once Twilight returns, DO NOT use any of the advanced magic I will be teaching you. I CAN NOT have her finding out that I am educating any of you. Let's head to lunch and then I will take you all down to the archives so we can get started."

Fluttershy asked, "So Luna, where will you be living now?"

Luna replied, "I will be living in the Everfree Forest. Colgate, I will come here when my sixth sense tells me to come."

Colgate said, "Good. Just try to lay low until that point. For now though, let's eat and then head down to the archives. I know there is plenty you have yet to learn as well Luna."

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

Twilight's Return Home

Sunday finally arrived and Twilight and her envoy reached the coast of Equestria and feasted on some of those apples everypony likes so much before heading back to Ponyville.

Spike asked, "Twilight, how do you think Colgate did while we were gone? Do you think she has done anything to try to turn everypony against you?"

Twilight laughed,"Oh Spike! There you go with your paranoia again. She is the last pony that would ever do that!"

Shining Armor said, "I'm sorry Spike but I'm with Twily on this one. I know Colgate well enough and that is something that she would never do."

Spike said, "It seems like Lyra is turning against you. What if Colgate does as well?"

Twilight replied, "Enough with the whole what ifs? Colgate is far more loyal than Lyra and doesn't have a province to watch over. A military commander is far more loyal than a steward is."

Starswirl said, "I'm just happy to be close to home. I am so excited to sleep in my normal bed again."

Twilight replied, "I agree Starswirl, let's just get home."

Dark Night said, "I agree Twilight, let's go!"

Twilight and her envoy headed back home but had a strong head wind which was slowing them down quite a bit.

Back in Ponyville Colgate was watching them through the eye. She saw that they were in their final leg of their journey and made sure that everything was as it was when Twilight left. Colgate made sure that the book on her nightstand was exactly the way it was, she did not want to get in trouble.

It was late in the afternoon when Twilight and her envoy finally got home. Colgate flew down from the balcony and met Twilight at the base of the tower.

"Hi Twilight! How was your trip?" asked Colgate

Twilight replied, "Well it went. We need to discuss something important. It involves one of the other stewards and my plans for generating revenue for the country."

Colgate asked, "When do you want us to discuss this?"

Twilight replied, "I have sent the others up to the throne room. I want to discuss this now."

Colgate replied, "Alright, let's go."

Twilight and her commander headed up to the throne room to have a meeting over this. Colgate knew what this was about but she knew that she had to agree with Twilight on this. When they arrived up in the throne room they were greeted by General Thunder Rage.

"Hi Colgate, how is everything going?" asked Thunder Rage

Colgate replied, "Well things are going. It was a rather uneventful couple of weeks. Nothing out of the ordinary happened."

Twilight asked, "Nothing at all? Everything just went as it normally would?"

Colgate said, "Yep. Except for when I was over at the base, I was able to relax."

Twilight said, "Well at least one of us was able to rest and relax. As for me, I have a problem."

Colgate asked, "What kind of problem are you having?"

Twilight said, "Well, I have a new idea for how to generate revenue for various things around the world, such as helping those in need, repairing infrastructure such as dams and aiding with construction costs of new homes. We voted to pass a measure that would require that ponies pay me 10% of their monthly income in tribute. Everypony except for one went along with it, and she is extremely mad over this."

Colgate asked, "Who is against it?"

Twilight replied, "Lyra Heartstrings. She went on crowing about how she had pulled Neigh Zealand out of 200 years of economic hardship by eradicating taxes and letting them keep their money in their own saddlebags. She told me that forcing them to pay tribute would cast them back into an economic depression."

Colgate replied, "Well you are the leader of the world. Whatever you choose to do is your right."

"Thanks Colgate," said Twilight "I knew you would understand this. Lyra goes around acting like she knows everything about economics when I am the pony in charge. What is your opinion?"

Colgate replied, "I'm no economics guru, I'm a military commander and a dentist. You are the best one to judge what economic policies will work and which ones will not."

Shining Armor said, "Well it looks like Spike's paranoia was all over nothing."

Colgate asked, "Why do you say that?"

Twilight replied, "Oh he thought you were jealous of me being in power."

Colgate replied, "Me, jealous? Never! I'm perfectly happy being a commander and a dentist!"

Twilight asked everypony, "What is your opinion on Lyra's questioning me? Do you think she is being disobedient and needs to be punished or do you think she is simply getting overly emotional towards those who live in her province."

Shining Armor said, "Well I think it might be a bit of both. She shouldn't be questioning you but I do think that she is overly sentimental towards the ponies down there."

Starswirl said, "I think it is just her being overly sentimental. I don't see her as the type to blatantly disobey you."

Dark Night said, "I know disobedience when I see it and I think that is what she is doing. She is showing blatant disregard towards your authority."

Thunder Rage said, "I agree with Dark Night. Chrysalis would have killed her on the spot. She's lucky you're nice."

Twilight asked, "What about you Colgate?"

Colgate replied, "Well given that I wasn't there I can't give a fair assessment of it. From what you have told me though, she is being disobedient."

Shining Armor asked, "Twilight, I know we just got home but who is going with us on our trip to Maredrid in a few weeks?"

Twilight replied, "The same ones who went on this trip. Colgate, will you be up for another couple or three weeks of watching over things?"

Colgate replied, "Of course! You can always count on me!"

Twilight replied, "I wish all of the stewards were like that. I know Galaxia and Cosmos felt forced to vote yes, Lemon Hearts seemed a little scared as well and you all know about Lyra. LaurFa is the only one of the stewards who is unquestionably loyal to me."

Shining Armor asked, "Twilight, do you think your loyalty spell is wearing off or do you think that those stewards are just adjusting to their new roles?"

Twilight replied, "I honestly believe that they are just adjusting to their new roles. No loyalty spell keeps them absolutely subservient to you. A pony would have to put an unimaginable amount of power into a loyalty spell for it to never wear off."

Colgate said, "I have heard that loyalty spells can wear off, I guess it is just depends on the pony it is cast on."

Twilight said, "Well I need to get some rest tonight because tomorrow I am going to start going around town collecting what ponies owe me. Thunder Rage, I have a question. Would the area down around where Chrysalis's tower is still standing make a good labor camp?"

Thunder Rage replied, "Well if you want them to be in a gloomy place where little grows, yeah."

Twilight said, "That is right. I remember when I was down there that there were plenty of rocky hills and cliffs that could be broken down into smaller rocks."

Thunder Rage asked, "What would you do with the rocks?"

Twilight replied, "I don't know. I might just make ponies chip rocks away from those hills simply as punishment. I might decide to do nothing with the rocks at all."

Dark Night said, "You know, if you want a good place for a labor camp, the place where Sombra lived before he retook the Crystal Empire is dark and gloomy as well and there are plenty of rocks for them to break."

Twilight replied, "That is good. I also want to find some areas where there are precious metals and gems. There are those areas off to the east of town where Rarity always went to find gems. I can force those who can't pay or refuse to pay to find gems for Spike to eat."

Colgate asked, "Are you going to send forces to every city in Equestria to collect the tribute and round up those who won't and send them to a labor camp or are you just going to focus on Ponyville for right now?"

Twilight replied, "For now I will just focus on Ponyville and send those who can't or won't pay out east of town to find gems. After all, Spike is always hungry."

Shining Armor asked, "Twilight, why don't you just let Rarity go out and find them?"

Twilight said, "No big brother, no. She isn't leaving that cell. Besides, that would make things way too easy on the other ponies and it isn't punishment if things are easy."

Starswirl asked, "What about the other provinces? Will the ponies there who can't or won't pay be brought here or will they be put in labor camps in those provinces?"

Twilight replied, "Those in the Equine province and Saddle Arabia will be put in labor camps there. Those in Neigh Zealand will be brought here and the ones in Faustica will be brought here as well, although Faustica is well off enough that I doubt there won't be any that can't, it will just be a matter of they won't."

Colgate asked, "Who will you have watching over these labor camps?"

Twilight replied, "I will give more drones minds of their own and give more Alicorn soldiers the wits to be officers and guards. Each labor camp will have 100 of each type of soldier and 3 officers of each. I figure that will keep them in line and any dissenters will be punished enough that they won't complain more than once."

Shining Armor asked, "Will there be different camps for different levels of criminals, disobedient ponies, non-payers or other dissidents?"

Twilight replied, "Yes, there will be. The low level dissidents, including those with low incomes who refuse to pay will be placed out east of town collecting gems. If any of those are from Ponyville, I might even let them stay in there homes. For the worst, such as rich snobs who refuse to pay, will be sent down to what used to be Chrysalis's realm or what used to be Sombra's realm."

Colgate said, "I think that is a great idea. I have a feeling I know of one pony who won't be able to pay."

"Who is that?" asked Twilight

Colgate replied, "Miss Cheerilee, teachers generally don't get paid much so she may be classified as a low level dissenter."

Twilight looked stunned and said, "Oh no. There is no way I am touching Cheerilee. We do need a teacher around here. We can't have our foals growing up to be dumber than dirt. That would not be in our best interests. I am thinking instead of starting off with Ponyville, we should hit Canterlot first."

Starswirl asked, "Why do you think we should start out there first?"

Twilight replied, "Take care of the high level non-payers. I am sure there will be some there who refuse to pay and naturally, they would be high level non-payers and wind up in the far south."

Dark Night asked, "Aren't there some ponies there who aren't that wealthy?"

Twilight replied, "There are a few. They will be classified as mid-level offenders and will be sent to the northwest."

Very soon her entire company realized that she had everything planned out. Shining Armor was completely behind her but surprisingly, it was Dark Night and Thunder Rage who were starting to see the dark goddess in Twilight coming to the surface. This scared them but they knew better than to say anything.

Supper had come and gone and Twilight was ready for bed. "Good night guys" said Twilight "I am turning in for the night."

Colgate headed home after that while everypony else headed into their bedrooms within the black tower. This would wind up being the last somewhat peaceful day in Equestria, as tomorrow Twilight would begin rounding ponies up and putting them in chains.

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

PINKIE'S SPELL

"The changeling's power is good, but not great, they can fire ooze but not enough to make their foes lose, for them to be great, they must fire bolts of hate, the energy shall be strong so their enemies won't last for long."

A Change in Punishment

Twilight woke up the following morning in a very good mood. She realized that the day had finally come that she would be able to stick it to some of the wealthy up in Canterlot who think the world owes them. She headed downstairs to the dining hall and was greeted by her normal company.

General Dark Night said, "Good morning Twilight, did you sleep well?"

Twilight replied, "Yeah, I slept very well. I am very excited about today."

Shining Armor said, "Yeah, I can tell. What are you going to do if everypony up there pays their tribute? I know you are just itching to send some of them off to labor camps."

Twilight replied, "Well I will be happy that they paid up. Yeah I am hoping that I will be able to send some of them to labor camps, but having them pay up will be nice."

Starswirl asked, "As far as the remote labor camps go, how are you going to get food down there? After all, they will need food and fresh water. Laborers who are starving are very weak and won't be productive."

Dark Night said, "The fresh water issue is covered up where Sombra used to live. There are a couple of fresh water lakes and the food issue won't be too difficult as there are plants and animals that live off to the west of there."

Thunder rage added, "The realm that Chrysalis used to call home isn't so welcoming. It is a good thing that changelings don't require much food or water to survive. It is nice to have it but it isn't life or death. Unfortunately, the laborers will need that stuff."

Twilight was not thrilled. She grunted, "Well I guess for right now all of the laborers will be brought here. They will need housing as our barracks are already overflowing. I will create much more housing, both for our soldiers and for the laborers."

Shining Armor said, "Well here comes breakfast. It is a good thing too because I'm starving!"

Twilight replied, "You're always hungry big brother! Between you and Colonel Ice Storm, you could probably eat more than the rest of us combined."

"Speaking of Ice Storm, how much more has he been able to eat here lately?" asked Shining Armor

Twilight replied, "Well my parents are eating all of their meals but it is Rarity that is making him fat. She barely eats enough to survive. Well the hunger part is a punishment she is bringing upon herself, so I'm not going to worry about it."

Dark Night said, "You know, you might want to have him split Rarity's leftovers with Lightning Wasp. He is getting so big his armor is getting really tight on him."

Twilight replied, "I think you have a good idea there. He ain't going to be much use to us if he gets so heavy he can't fly."

Starswirl asked, "Shouldn't we be waiting to discuss this until after breakfast, since it does involve the business of Twilight's government?"

Twilight replied, "Yeah, we probably should."

After breakfast Twilight and her company headed into the throne room to discuss the collecting mission. Twilight wanted to hurry up and get this started.

Shining Armor asked, "So who will you be taking with you to Canterlot?"

Twilight replied, "Well I will be going obviously. I will be taking the two generals and 100 of each type of soldier. I will need to cast an armor spell on all of you because there are plenty of unicorns up there."

Dark Night asked, "Are there any Alicorns up there anymore?"

Twilight replied, "No, there are no more Alicorns there. There are only powerful unicorns, earth ponies and a few Pegasus ponies left."

Shining Armor asked, "What will I be doing?"

Twilight replied, "You will be staying here. Colgate has a full schedule today and I have inconvenienced enough of her patients already. I have to go."

Twilight flew out from her balcony and met with her generals and the soldiers they would be taking. Twilight said, "Alright everypony, gather around me. I need to cast our armor spell."

Twilight began to glow brightly as did her horn, she recited, "The one without armor does not stand a chance, so it is what we must enhance, the unarmed one will likely receive death, with armor he shall continue to draw breath, without armor he will be torn to shreds like a rag but with armor victory is in the bag."

A huge bright purple ball exploded giving them the extra armor necessary. They then sped off towards the west to collect the money that they owed Twilight.

In Canterlot it was an ordinary day. Things were going on normally as Photo Finish was again holding a photo shoot for prospective models and Hoity Toity was hosting a party for the elite. One of the ponies saw Twilight and her army coming and shouted, "It's her, it's Twilight. Run for your lives!"

Twilight heard this right as she landed in front of the pony. It was Accurate Aim, the pony that escaped from the Crystal Empire. Twilight said, "Who are you and what makes you think you can go saying crap like that?"

Accurate Aim said, "My name is Accurate Aim and I said that because I have seen the many things you have done to this city."

Twilight said, "Thunder Rage, Dark Night, grab him. He's going with us, whether he pays or not."

As her generals grabbed him Twilight flew up to the old balcony that Celestia and Luna used. She knew that making her address from there would gather the most attention.

"Attention everypony," said Twilight "I am sure you are wondering why I am here addressing you."

Hoity Toity shouted, "Actually yes, we are wondering why you are here. I thought you hated it here."

Twilight continued, "Hoity Toity, I do hate it here. Now back to what I was saying. I am here to collect the tribute that you owe me. I have made it global law that everypony or every family will pay me 10 percent of their monthly income, every month. I want all of you to go to your houses, get ten percent of your income and bring it to me. Do not try to screw me over, I can tell a liar from a hundred miles away. If you do not give me the required amount or you refuse to pay, you will be sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in a labor camp of my choosing."

A pony out in the crowd said, "Where are we supposed to bring our tribute to?"

Twilight replied, "I will fly down to the courtyard where my army is. Take it down there."

Twilight flew down there and was met with Photo Finish. She said, "Twilight, I will not pay you any tribute. You don't know who you deal with."

Twilight said, "Ok boys, cover her in ooze. Do the same with Accurate Aim."

Hoity Toity was the first in line to pay tribute. He said, "Here are 50 bits, this is my tribute."

Twilight glared at him and said, "This isn't even close to 10 percent of your monthly income. Pay me your full tribute."

Hoity Toity shouted, "This is ten percent."

Twilight yelled, "Look Hoity, I can tell a liar from a hundred miles away and you are not telling me the truth. Pay me the rest of what you owe me or I will haul you off to a labor camp."

Hoity Toity said, "Well I spent a lot of money hosting a party up in the gardens today. This is all I have left."

Twilight replied, "Well this will have to do. Thunder Rage, cover him in ooze. He is coming with us."

Hoity Toity shouted, "But I payed you, why are you doing this?"

Twilight shouted, "NEXT!"

Next was Red Mane, a cousin of Celestia's. She gave Twilight 200 bits and said, "Here your Majesty."

Twilight gave her a smile and said, "Thank you. It is nice to see some of the elite being honest."

The rest of the ponies went through line and paid their tribute. Twilight was pleased that she had collected a great amount of money. She collected so much that it took five dark Alicorns to levitate all of it. Dark Night and a couple other dark Alicorns would levitate her new laborers.

Twilight said, "Alright guys, let's get back to Ponyville. I need to get some extra housing put up and then these three need to get to work immediately."

Accurate Aim asked, "Twilight, don't you know what I went through with Sombra and now I am going to be your forced laborer? How can you be so cruel?"

Twilight replied, "You want me to be cruel? Tell you what, as soon as I get things set up, I will relocate you to a much harsher camp. That is what ponies that whine will get."

Accurate Aim said, "I'm sorry Twilight, I didn't mean to upset you."

Twilight shouted, "THAT IS DARK GODDESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE TO YOU!"

They returned home around lunch time and while Twilight is turning into a mean, ruthless pony, she did allow her new 'laborers' to eat lunch with her military, under tight security.

Up in the dining hall Twilight said, "I'm sorry I was a little bit late. I don't know what is going on but maybe I need Colgate to teach me how to be on time again."

Spike asked, "Twilight, why were you late anyway?"

Twilight replied, "Oh I had to go and collect some revenue for Equestria."

Spike asked, "How did you do that?"

Twilight replied, "Spike, lunch is coming. Now isn't the time to discuss things like this."

Starswirl said, "You know Twilight, I have never ate this good in my entire life. Thank you so much for freeing me from my madness."

Twilight replied, "You don't have to thank me so much Starswirl. It was my honor to free you and bring you back to your normal self."

After lunch Twilight headed down to the base where her army and her new laborers were. Twilight looked at the shortage of barracks and thought to herself, "my soldiers need more housing and my new laborers will need housing as well."

Dark Night asked, "So Twilight, what are we going to do with these three?"

Twilight replied, "Well before we do anything, everypony needs more housing."

Twilight fired numerous bolts of energy causing many more barracks to appear. She then fired a bolt of energy for a twenty foot high fence to appear around the barracks that will be used for her laborers.

Thunder Rage said, "Wow Twilight, that is amazing. How do you do it?"

Twilight replied, "Just like everything else, tons and tons of studying!"

Accurate Aim asked, "Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle, when will be able to move into our new housing?"

Twilight barked, "AFTER YOU DO SOME WORK. You three follow me, I need to show you what I want you to do. Dark Night, Thunder Rage, come with me, I don't want them trying to escape."

Twilight and her generals led them out about a mile east of town to the area where Rarity used to find gems. They had a feeling that what Twilight was going to have them doing would not be easy.

Twilight ordered, "Ok you three, I want you to dig in the ground and find gems. My assistant is always hungry and he loves gems."

Hoity Toity asked, "What in the hay is your assistant, a dragon?"

Twilight shouted, "YOU ADDRESS ME AS DARK GODDESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE, GOT IT? And yes he is a dragon."

Photo Finish said, "No, I won't do this. I might chip a hoof."

Twilight went into a rage. She shouted, "Either you do this or you die. Remember, I control your destiny. Do you want me to make that twelve year sentence a lifetime sentence?"

Photo Finish said, "No, but twelve years will seem like a lifetime."

Twilight rolled her eyes and pointed her horn at her and said, "Dig or you will wish you were dead."

This caused Accurate Aim to start digging in earnest while Photo Finish and Hoity Toity were barely dragging their hooves on the ground. This did not sit well with Twilight.

Twilight screamed, "What the hay are you doing? I said to dig, not drag your hooves on the ground. Look, Accurate Aim has already found a lot of gems, but here you two are acting like a bunch of wimpy elites, so afraid to chip a hoof! Oh wait, you are a bunch of wimpy elites. Get digging, NOW!"

This finally caused them to start digging like Accurate Aim was. Despite that, they did not find any gems while by supper time Accurate Aim had a huge pile of gems piled up.

"Accurate Aim" asked Twilight "do you have some sort of special talent for finding gems?"

Accurate Aim replied, "I don't think so Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight said, "Well I do know that Spike is going to be one happy dragon. Tell you what Accurate Aim, I want you to come up and eat supper in the tower tonight. I like your work ethic, I might have other plans for you."

Accurate Aim sounded kind of scared and said, "Yes your Majesty Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight replied, "You don't need to be scared. Also, since you have a good work ethic, just call me Twilight or Twily."

Photo Finish shouted, "ARE YOU FREEING HIM ALREADY, JUST BECAUSE HE FOUND A FEW GEMS?"

Twilight growled, "Look, he has a good work ethic and what my plans are right now are only known by me and will be known by him shortly. Dark Night, Thunder Rage, get them put in their barracks. Have Ice Storm and Lightning Wasp bring them their food. Supper awaits us."

Twilight and Accurate Aim headed up to the dining hall and were greeted by her usual company.

Starswirl asked, "Twilight, who is this with you?"

Twilight replied, "Well it depends. Accurate Aim, are you good at cooking?"

Accurate Aim replied, "I can cook some. I can't cook fancy things but regular things like oats, eggs, bacon, sausage, beef, stews and things like that I can cook very well."

Twilight asked, "Accurate Aim, how would you like to be one of my chefs. If you choose to accept, you will get to live here in the tower, you will be paid very well and you will be exempt from having to pay tribute."

Accurate Aim asked, "Will this be for the 12 years or will this be a different type of work?"

Twilight replied, "This is not forced work as you are going to be getting paid. You can work for me for longer or for less if you wish. You are an at will employee. So do you accept my offer?"

Accurate Aim said, "I accept your offer Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle!"

Twilight answered, "Now that you work for me, just call me Twilight or Twily. I apologize for taking you the way that I did."

Accurate Aim replied, "It is ok Twilight. It looks like things have worked out good for all of us. I can't wait to cook you your first meal. I hope you will like it."

Twilight replied, "Well you will get to test your skills tomorrow morning. For now you will be sharing a room with the other chef until I can get you sleeping quarters of your own."

Accurate Aim said, "Thank you Twilight! You are no evil pony, you are a wonderful, sweet pony and any pony that tells me otherwise I will tell them they're wrong!"

Twilight blushed and replied, "Wow, I don't really get compliments like that. Could you go help the other chef get things cleaned up, the rest of us have a meeting in the throne room."

"You got it boss! Which way is the kitchen?" asked Accurate Aim

Twilight said, "Go through those double doors and it is the second door on your right."

They headed into the throne room and everypony else looked at her with a stunned look.

Shining Armor asked, "You went all the way to Canterlot, rounded him up in a not so pleasant way and now he is a chef? Why did you decide to give him such a cushy job?"

Twilight replied, "Why did I do that? Because he is respectful to me and he has a good work ethic. I am beginning to wonder if this whole forcing non-payers into work camps is even worth it. Perhaps it would be easier for us to seize their assets and sell them to the highest bidder. We could always generate revenue that way."

Starswirl asked, "Why the sudden change of plans?"

Twilight replied, "Today I learned that forced labor doesn't work with a lot of ponies. Besides, it is too much of a pain in the flank for me and my army to monitor them. When we go to Maredrid, I will let my stewards know that I no longer want to do the forced labor. I will let them know that simply seizing assets will be easier."

Dark Night asked, "May I offer a suggestion?"

Twilight replied, "What is your suggestion?"

Dark Night replied, "Well I was thinking. Since you plan on seizing their assets which would include their house, you could always charge them rent to live in the house since it would belong to you."

Twilight smiled and said, "That is a genius idea Dark Night! I never would have thought of that!"

Shining Armor asked, "What do you think Lyra would think of this plan?"

Twilight replied, "Oh she would still oppose it. If she did have full control down there, she would do nothing but coddle every single citizen down there and they would love her more than they already do."

Starswirl asked, "Wouldn't that bankrupt Neigh Zealand if she did that?"

Twilight said, "Not coddle them economically, just be nice and use her magic to help them out any way she possibly could."

Shining Armor asked, "So what are you going to do with the other two?"

Twilight replied, "Well they sassed me so they're going to the dungeon. I am thinking a 10 year sentence a piece will work. I'm sure that Rarity will love having some of her elite buddies down there with her."

Thunder Rage said, "You know Twily, you will have to build an entire penitentiary before too long! How many cells do you have down there right now?"

Twilight replied, "I have ten right now. I will just use my magic to blast out more room. I am planning on vaporizing enough rock that I can have 100 cells down there. Chances are I will need them."

Dark Night asked, "When do you plan on putting those two down there?"

Twilight replied, "Now. I don't want my military to have to put up with them any longer than they have to. I need you, Thunder Rage and Shining Armor to help me."

They headed out to the base where Photo Finish and Hoity Toity were being held. Thunder Rage grabbed Hoity Toity and Dark Night grabbed Photo Finish.

Hoity Toity asked, "Where are you taking us? What are you going to force us to do at this time of night?"

Twilight said, "Just come with us or you will wish you were never born."

Photo Finish shouted, "You are pure evil Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle!"

Twilight, her brother and her officers finally got them down into the dungeon and into their cells. Photo Finish was placed in the cell across from Rarity and Hoity Toity was placed in the cell next to Photo Finish, which allowed Rarity and her elite friends to communicate better.

Photo Finish shouted, "How dare you put me in a jail! I am an elite pony and you don't do this to elite ponies."

Hoity Toity said, "You won't get away with this Dark Twily."

Twilight said, "Shut up you two. I was only going to give you 10 years, but now it will be 35, just like these three. Keep your traps shut or I might just give you life and then some."

Rarity shouted, "Why don't you just kill us all your Royal Darkness, I know you would just love that!"

Twilight replied, "Because that would be going too easy on all of you. I know all of you hate my food and hate the dank, dark conditions down here so this is the perfect punishment for all of you."

Twilight Velvet said, "Rarity, stop it! She will just increase your sentence."

Twilight replied, "Mom, just keep your trap shut or it will be YOUR sentence I increase. Come on guys, let's get out of here. Their whining and complaining is getting on my nerves."

Shining Armor said, "Alright guys, come on. It is getting late."

Twilight replied, "Yeah and I do want to get some sleep tonight. I might send a message to Galaxia tomorrow telling her about my change of plans."

Twilight headed up to her bedroom and tapped into the eye. She saw that over in the Equine province that LaurFa was having her military round up those who refused to pay tribute and putting them in labor camps. She saw the same thing in Saddle Arabia and was thinking to herself, "I have got to get a meeting set up sooner. I am not going to do this here and I don't want them doing it there."

She then looked at Neigh Zealand and Alicorn Island and saw things were going normally, which for once pleased her. She thought to herself, "Well I know Lyra and the royal family won't start doing this yet so at least the ponies there won't have to put up with it."

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

Activate Jade Alicorn---g"The jade Alicorn will help me see all, without it I might miss a brawl, while the distances are great, I can see all the hate, wisdom is what comes along with the eye so that overthrowing me nopony will try."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

PINKIE'S SPELL

Departure and Discussions

Three weeks had passed since Twilight had returned home and the time had come for her and her envoy to head off for Maredrid. Twilight woke up in a good mood knowing that she will be able to change the plans for generating revenue as it would be much easier and be less of a hassle than forcing ponies into hard labor.

Twilight headed down to her dining hall and was greeted by her usual company.

"Good morning Twilight. Did you sleep well?" asked Dark Night

Twilight replied, "Yeah, I slept well. I am just excited to get headed out to the coast today so we can set sail."

Shining Armor asked, "I have a question, are there any of those apples along the east coast like there are on the west coast?"

Twilight replied, "Honestly, I don't know. I have been to Fillydelphia but I never actually visited the coast."

Starswirl said, "There are bushes out there but they don't have apples on them. They have plums on them, which means we will need to eat more of them because they are smaller, but unlike the apples on the west coast, if they get exposed to sea water they will not get damaged."

Twilight asked, "How is the weather in that ocean this time of year?"

Starswirl said, "It is alright but there are risks of storms as the ocean waters are warmer this time of year."

Twilight replied, "In other words there is a risk of hurricanes?"

Starswirl said, "Yes, there are. Don't you know weather spells to simply force them to dissipate?"

Twilight replied, "Yeah, I do. It is no big deal if one comes along, I will just dissipate it."

Twilight and her company ate breakfast that morning and then got ready to head to the coast. Colgate arrived a little bit early to take over.

"Colgate," asked Twilight "are you ready for the next couple of weeks?"

Colgate replied, "Of course I am! You know I'm always ready to help out!"

Before Twilight could say anything else, BELCH, Spike coughs up a letter from Queen Galaxia.

Twilight said, "Oh, a letter from Galaxia. I wonder what it says."

"Twilight, there has been a minor change of plans. There will now be two meetings. The first is going to be in Maredrid and the second will be here in Faustica. This change has been made because we are not feeling well. Lemon Hearts and LaurFa will be holding the first meeting together. Also, Lyra has decided to boycott both meetings and refuses to enforce the tribute law. We look forward to seeing you when you all arrive in Faustica."

Twilight shouted, "Lyra is boycotting the meeting? That wretch, she just can't do anything to hurt the ponies' feeling down there now can she?"

Shining Armor asked, "What are you going to do about this?"

Twilight replied, "Well I will just have Lemon Hearts relay the message to her that she is to seize non-payers property instead. I doubt if it will do any good but I will take the risk. If it doesn't work I will go down there myself and unleash my wrath upon her."

Colgate asked, "If you have to do that, what would you do?"

Twilight replied, "Rather than banish her to the void, I would probably drag her flank here and throw her in the dungeon. To punish her further, I would put her in the same cell as Rarity even though there are other empty cells."

Colgate laughed, "Wow, that would be brutal punishment!"

Twilight shouted, "Ok everypony, let's get going. It is no short distance to the coast where I have my ship docked. It will then be a three day trip to Maredrid."

Dark Night asked, "I have a question. After leaving Maredrid, how long of a trip is it to Faustica?"

Shining Armor replied, "Well given that we will have to sail all the way around, that will take us 10-14 days, depending on the weather, so actually, we might be gone for closer to a month. So Colgate will have her hooves full."

Colgate said, "Shining Armor, I can handle things just fine! I have done so before!"

Twilight added, "Yeah big brother, she handled things great while we were gone to Faustica."

Twilight nodded at her envoy and said, "Ok everypony, let's get going. Oh, and Colgate, you can sleep in my bed again."

Colgate replied, "Thanks Twilight!"

Twilight and her envoy then flew off to the east with great haste hoping to get to the coast by mid-afternoon.

Once Twilight got far enough away that she could no longer be seen Colgate few down to the base to get her officers as she wanted to let them know that the time to prepare for her takeover had come.

"Ice Storm, Lightning Wasp," said Colgate "I need you to gather up the rest of the officers and meet me in the throne room. This is important."

Colgate headed to the throne room and five minutes later her officers arrived. Black Mist asked, "Colgate, what is this meeting about?"

Colgate replied, "The time has come. Twilight will be gone for a month. Even better, there will be two meetings. One in Maredrid and the other in Faustica. Lyra is boycotting both of them, which means that I can bring her here and just educate her and keep her here for the final battle. Twilight's days are numbered."

Lightning Wasp asked, "What about her armor spell? Won't that stop us from harming her forces?"

Colgate replied, "I have written a spell to shatter armor that Twilight does not know about. I also know a few other spells that she does not know. Tomorrow, we will act on my plans. I want to make sure that Twilight and her goons are out at sea."

Dark Cloud asked, "What do you plan on doing with her if we win?"

Colgate shouted, "IF? Don't you mean WHEN we win? I will cast her into the void and let her keep Chrysalis, Sombra and Cadence company."

Ice Storm asked, "When will we have a meeting that includes her friends?"

Colgate replied, "Well I don't know if they are exactly friends anymore since they are loyal to me now but that will take place that afternoon. I will invite them all for lunch and then afterwards we will discuss things much further. I am going to go let them know when they need to be here. This meeting is adjourned."

Colgate knew that with it being mid-morning, that her recruits would all be over at Sugarcube Corner so she flew over there to meet with them and have a small snack.

Colgate walked in the door and was greeted by Pinkie. "Hi Colgate, how is everything going?" asked Pinkie

Colgate replied, "Things are going well, very well. I would like a snack but also I have come to tell the four of you that the time has come."

Rainbow asked, "THE TIME?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, the time. Twilight and her envoy left for the coast this morning. They will be setting sail late in the afternoon. I want the four of you to come to lunch with me and my officers. Then we will go to the throne room to have a meeting."

Applejack asked, "What is this here meeting going to be about?"

Colgate replied, "You will find out then. I will let you know though that some things have happened that will work to our advantage. Pinkie, do you think I could have a couple of donuts?"

"Of course you can! The ones today have extra sprinkles!" said Pinkie

Colgate gave Pinkie ten bits for the donuts and said, "Great! I love sprinkles on my donuts. The more the better."

Rainbow Dash said, "Uh, aren't those really bad for your teeth? I thought you wouldn't eat donuts if your life depended on it."

Colgate replied, "I always brush after my meals! So I don't have to worry about it!"

Colgate just decided to hang around with them until lunch time came and just engaged in normal chit chat and shared a few laughs with them, not to mention a couple slices of cake.

Flutteshy said, "Wow, I've never seen you eat so many sweets!"

Colgate replied, "Well I was just craving some today. Besides, I am in a good mood and after lunch, I will brush anyway."

Pinkie saw it was getting close to noon and asked, "Colgate, is it time to go?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, it is time to go. I don't want to keep my officers waiting."

Colgate and her recruits headed up to her tower and entered in through her bedroom balcony as that is the quickest way to the dining hall. They were greeted by her officers.

Lightning Wasp said, "Hi Colgate, hi ladies."

Applejack said, "Howdy Lightning Wasp. How is your day treating you?"

Lightning Wasp replied, "Well it is going good. It is nice to have Colgate as the pony in charge, everything seems even more laid back than it does with Twilight."

Rainbow Dash said, "Well I can understand why. Colgate doesn't go strutting around like she owns the entire planet."

Ice Storm asked, "Where is Luna? Isn't she supposed to be here?"

Luna came running into the dining hall and said, "Sorry I'm late Colgate. Staying in the Everfree Forest you lose track of time."

Pinkie asked, "Why are you staying in the Everfree Forest? I thought you lived on Alicorn Island."

Luna replied, "We will discuss that in the meeting."

Very quickly Accurate Aim and the other chef brought them their meals. Applejack said, "Wait a minute, you look awfully familiar. Have I seen you before?"

Accurate Aim replied, "Yeah, I am Accurate Aim. I am the crystal pony you found collapsed in your apple orchard."

Applejack asked, "How is life going for you now?"

Accurate Aim replied, "Things are going better. At first I thought it was going to go worse when Twilight had be brought here because I couldn't afford to pay tribute and she forced me to dig for gems out east of town. Once she saw how good of a worker I am, she brought me in here and made me a chef."

Fluttershy said, "Well so far the food you cooked tastes great!"

Colgate replied, "It does Accurate Aim. This tastes better than anything I have had in a long time!"

Pinkie asked, "Do you know what happened to the other crystal ponies?"

Accurate Aim replied, "I have no clue. I don't know if the rest of us are dead or what because I had heard rumors that Sombra had been banished somewhere."

Colgate said, "Yeah, he was. Where, I don't know. But we need to get eating because we have an important meeting this afternoon."

Colgate and her company ate a lunch consisting mainly of meat but did have some apples. After lunch, they headed into the throne room.

Applejack asked, "So what is this here meeting about?"

Colgate replied, "Alright everypony, Twilight left this morning and will probably be reaching the coast in a couple of hours. They will set sail this afternoon and probably arrive in Maredrid in three days."

Rainbow Dash asked, "And this is important why?"

Colgate continued, "Well, Twilight received a letter from Queen Galaxia this morning, there will not be just one meeting, but two. The first will be in Maredrid, which will take three days. The journey from Maredrid to Faustica takes ten to fourteen days. Then the meeting there will last around ten days and the journey home from there will take four days. So Twily and her envoy will be gone somewhere between 28-32 days."

Fluttershy asked, "So we will have plenty of time to get things ready?"

Colgate continued, "Also, Lyra is boycotting both meetings so we will be able to go and get her and instead of having to educate her on a ship, we can just bring her here and have her with us for the battle."

Luna asked, "What are we going to do about my parents?"

Colgate replied, "Ok, they won't be at the first meeting. So here is my plan. Tomorrow, I will form a time bubble where myself, Rainbow Dash, my colonels and some of our other soldiers will travel in. I will freeze time and we can get to Faustica very quickly. Once we get there all of us will head to the palace. I am going to drain your parents so I can become larger than Twilight. I am already smarter than her, I want to be physically larger and stronger than her."

Luna replied, "Wait a minute, my parents are loyal to you. When the time comes, they will show their true loyalty.

Colgate replied, "That is right. Are there any other large Alicorns there?"

Luna said, "Yes, his name is Muscles. He is much bigger than any other Alicorn I have ever seen. He is also very intelligent for a non-royal or non-studious Alicorn. I think he should be the one you should drain. He hangs around the cafe in the town square very often."

Colgate replied, "Thanks. That will make things much easier and when Twily, Lemon Hearts and LaurFa get there, they won't suspect anything."

Luna said, "I think we need to have the whole army ready. You never know what she will be bringing with her."

Fluttershy said, "Won't it just be her and those who went with her that will be going with her. Won't the only army she has with her be her two generals?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, but I have a feeling that while she is in Faustica, she will duplicate the army there and bring some back with her. I have the eye that I can watch her with. Whatever she creates, I will duplicate you guys to where we have three or four more times of soldiers than her. Then she will be flying into a hornets' nest that there will be no escape from."

Applejack asked, "So chances are none of us will ever have to pay any tribute?"

Colgate replied, "Nope. We all know more magic than her now, Luna can turn into Nightmare Moon, we all know an armor shattering spell and we know how to put more power into our spells. We just need to tie up a couple of loose ends over the next day or two and we will be ready for her when she returns."

Lightning Wasp asked, "Once we win, what will happen with the stewards in the other provinces?"

Colgate replied, "Well those provinces will become sovereign nations and the stewards will become leaders of those nations. There will be no one world government anymore."

Pinkie said, "I bet Lyra will really like that!"

Colgate replied, "Yes, Lyra will love it and the ponies of Neigh Zealand will love it. That is all we need to discuss, this meeting is adjourned."

While everypony else went home and Colgate's officers headed back to the base, she headed up to her bedroom realizing that tomorrow is going to be an extremely important day. She was thinking to herself, "I hope that I won't get so big that I will be too big for this bed once I drain Muscles! I will just have to be careful how much I drain from him!"

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

PINKIE'S SPELL

Travels of the Time Lady

Colgate woke up the following morning ready and raring to go. She knew though that she would need to get a good breakfast in her as would everypony that would be going with her so she flew up to Cloudsdale to get Rainbow Dash. When she got there Rainbow was just waking up.

Colgate said, "Hi Rainbow, are you ready for our trip today?"

Rainbow knew this would maybe save the world from Twilight's wrath and she said, "You bet I am! I'm ready to free the world!"

"Good!" said Colgate "I need you to come down for a good, filling breakfast. We need plenty of energy to get that time bubble to move good and fast!"

Rainbow said, "Alright, let's go boss!"

Colgate and Rainbow arrived in the dining hall right on time and were greeted by her officers along with the soldiers that would be going with them.

Ice Storm said, "Good morning Colgate, good morning Rainbow Dash."

"Morning." said Rainbow Dash

Colgate said, "Alright everypony, the day has arrived but first we must eat a good filling breakfast. I do not wish to discuss anything involving business, like Twilight since she was very successful using that method."

Rainbow said, "Yeah, even though the prophecies about her were true, her methods do work involving meals."

Colgate asked, "How is everypony's breakfast?"

Everypony said that it was very tasty and filling, that they weren't hungry at all anymore.

Colgate said, "Good, let's go to the throne room before I do what I need to do to get us going."

Colgate and her company headed into the throne room and had their final briefing before they left.

Rainbow Dash asked, "So what exactly are we doing today?"

Colgate replied, "Ok troops, we are first headed to Faustica where Luna told me that a huge Alicorn with the name of Muscles resides. She told me that he is bigger than all the other Alicorns there. You already know about my time spells and how I cast them so you know what will happen there. I will actually fix the time a quarter of a mile away from Faustica so I can cast the armor spell on all of us. We will fly in there, I will drain Muscles until I am larger than Twilight. I will then take care of the time again and then we will go to Prancington, Neigh Zealand where we will grab Lyra and bring her back to Ponyville using the same time methods. Alright, let's go!"

Everypony shouted, "LET'S GO!"

Everypony flew outside and gathered around Colgate, she began to glow, her eyes began to shine blue as she recited "A bubble is what we need, so from frozen time we can be freed, in this bubble we can move fast, while everything else is stuck in the past, it is frozen time which through we must pass so we will never be late to class."

A bubble formed around all of them. Colgate then poked her horn just barely through it, she began to glow again as did her eyes and then she recited "Tick tock, tick tock, look at the racing clock, what is short is time and being late is a crime, we must finish on top so it is time I must stop, with time froze, it is my enemies I shall bulldoze."

Time was suddenly frozen. Everything stopped, no pony outside of the bubble was moving, the clouds stopped moving and the wind stopped. Colgate said, "Alright, let's get this thing moving."

Rainbow knew the way to Faustica the best of all of them so she used her wingpower to steer the bubble towards Faustica. Given the strength of her wings, they arrived to within a quarter of a mile of Faustica in a matter of what would have normally been three minutes.

Colgate began to glow and her eyes began to glow as she recited, "Look at the clock, it is stuck in place, with this there can be no pace, everything is still but that does not fit the bill, for now the clock shall again run so everypony can have fun."

Everything was back in motion again which allowed Colgate to undo the time bubble.

She began to glow and her eyes began to glow as she recited, ""In the bubble time continues to run, but now the time outside runs and allows fun, the bubble must burst so we can quench our thirst, from the bubble we are now free and everything we can clearly see."

Now they were all outside and free from any bubble. Colgate said, "Ok, gather around me. I need to cast the armor spell on all of us, including myself. They will not be thrilled to see our arrival, particularly their military. Luna told me that Muscles usually hangs around the cafe in the town square. That is where LaurFa and Twilight had their address the last time they were here."

Colgate began to glow brightly and her eyes began to shine like laser beams as she recited "The one without armor does not stand a chance, so it is what we must enhance, the unarmed one will likely receive death, with armor he shall continue to draw breath, without armor he will be torn to shreds like a rag but with armor victory is in the bag."

The wave of energy spread out and was absorbed into their bodies. As soon as this was done, Colgate shouted, "Let's go guys, I need to get bigger!"

It was a normal day in Faustica as Galaxia and Cosmos were standing out on the balcony facing the east, they saw something that appeared as a flock of birds. Cosmos thought it was Twilight after a few seconds.

He shouted, "It's Twilight. Why is she attacking when we agreed to do what she wanted?"

Very quickly, they saw it was not Twilight. It was a blue and white Alicorn with some soldiers with her.

Cosmos said, "What is Colgate doing here with soldiers? She doesn't look like she is going to attack anything."

The citizens in the streets started shouting, "We're under attack, stop them!"

They started firing bolts of energy at them but they bounced off of them and just did damage to buildings so they simply stopped. They saw the huge Alicorn, Muscles, and surrounded him. He looked scared with what was surrounding him.

He asked, "What do you want?"

Colgate said sarcastically, "Your size! Stand still."

Muscles didn't even know what to think and he was simply frozen in place.

Colgate began to glow very brightly, her eyes began to shine blue and her horn was shining a bright blue as she recited "The large pony is too big for me, for smaller the pony shall be, the size and knowledge will become mine, but the negative qualities is where I draw the line, for what must grow is my power, so that I may remain in the tower."

Colgate began to increase in size and Muscles began to shrink, her muscles began to grow as his shrank. Colgate finally stopped once she was a bit larger than Twilight. She was thrilled with this and Muscles broke down and started to cry.

Muscles said, "Why? What did I ever do to you?"

Colgate snapped, "Does it matter why? Come on guys, let's go! We have things to do!"

Colgate and her forces sped off to the south and left a dejected Muscles, who was no longer the big, buff pony he used to be. He was a powerful weight lifter, but those days are now over.

About a quarter of a mile southeast of Faustica, Colgate formed the time bubble again and then froze time. Her and her company sped off towards the south, right towards Prancington.

Rainbow asked, "Colgate, will you have to put another armor spell on us?"

Colgate replied, "No. We are moving so fast that very little time is passing for us in here at all. Look off in the distance, it is Prancington."

About a quarter of a mile north of the city Colgate unfroze time and undid the time bubble. They headed south into the city and headed to Lyra's palace. She saw Colgate coming and froze in her tracks. Once they all landed around her she thought she had done something to anger Twilight.

Lyra said, "What are doing here? Are you going to punish me because Twilight told you to?"

Colgate replied, "No. Come with us if you want to save the ponies of Neigh Zealand and everywhere else in the world."

Lyra said, "But wait, who will watch over things while I am gone?"

Colgate replied, "Just get one of your generals to do it."

Lyra asked, "But what about Twilight, what if she banishes me to the void for coming with you?"

Colgate replied, "Look, once we achieve our objective Twilight will no longer be a problem. Talk to one of your generals and have him keep an eye on things."

Lyra flew over to General Dark Thunder, her dark Alicorn and said, "Dark Thunder, I need you to watch over things for a while, I need to go on a trip."

Dark Thunder replied, "I thought you were boycotting those meetings."

Lyra said, "I am. This is a different trip I must go on. This one I have no choice but to attend. The fate of the entire planet rests on me attending this meeting."

Dark Thunder had no clue what she was talking about but said, "Ok, see you when you return."

Lyra asked, "Shouldn't we have a huge meal? This will take us a very long time and use a lot of energy for that long of a flight."

Colgate replied, "No, we don't. We will eat when we get back to Ponyville. Gather around us, I need to cast a time bubble."

Lyra said, "A what?"

Colgate said, "Just get with us, we need to hurry!"

Lyra did as Colgate requested as she cast the time bubble spell and then froze time. Colgate said, "Lyra, flap your wings, it will help us get home quicker."

Lyra flapped her wings along with everypony else and the bubble was moving faster than Colgate ever had one moving before. What was six minutes for them is all the more time it took for them to get back to Ponyville. Colgate unfroze time and undid the time bubble. Lyra was amazed at what had just happened.

Lyra asked, "Colgate, how did you do that, what was all that about and what did you bring me here for?"

Colgate replied, "Lyra, there is something very few know about me, besides being a dentist and a commander, I am also a Time Lady. I used a spell for the time bubble, to freeze time and to undo each so that is why it only took us a grand total of 17 minutes to take care of everything we needed to take care of."

Lyra asked, "How did you get so huge? You're bigger than Twilight now."

Colgate replied, "Yeah, I am. We made a pit stop so I could go drain a bodybuilder pony in Faustica. I am now smarter than Twilight and if we got in a hoof to hoof fight, I could crush her, easily. As to why I brought you here. You need to be further educated like I am and all of those who used to be Twilight's friends, well except Rarity, who is whining in the dungeon."

Lyra asked, "But why are you saying these things about Twilight? I thought you were loyal to her?"

Colgate replied, "I was until she started turning into the dark goddess and wanting everything everypony has, the tribute, wanting to seize their assets and also after she conquered the whole world, she started acting just like Celestia, sitting in there on her throne looking pretty, playing with her dragon and admiring the spells she wrote. When she started going on these trips, I decided it was time to take over."

Lyra asked, "How did you get into the archives, only she knows those spells."

Colgate replied, "Well, she left her book that she had written her spells in on the night stand in her room. She let me sleep in her room while she was gone. This was when she went to Faustica to tell all of you to force your citizens to pay tribute. I went in there, studied everything she did and then some things that she didn't. So now I know more magic than her and I have written a lot of my own magic. I look at myself as a pony who wants to bring down the dark goddess and liberate the world."

Lyra asked, "If you do, what will happen with the world?"

Colgate replied, "Each province will become it's own sovereign nation. You will have full and absolute control of Neigh Zealand and the other stewards would rule their new nations as well."

Lyra said, "Really!"

Colgate replied, "Yes, really! Let's get up to the dining hall. I'm hungry!"

Lyra said, "Me too, I miss the huge meals here!"

Colgate, Lyra, her officers and all of Twilight's old friends headed up to the dining hall for a good sized meal as they had done what they needed to do. All that was left was educating Lyra.

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

PINKIE'S SPELL

A Promise Fulfilled

Morning had arrived in Ponyville and Colgate woke up early. She decided that today was the day that she would fulfill her promise to Applejack and turn her family into Alicorns. She got up early and flew over to Sweet Apple Acres to find them already heading out into the orchards.

Colgate hollered, "Applejack, can we talk for a minute? This is important."

Applejack said, "Sure, we are just getting ready to go out apple bucking."

Colgate asked, "How would you like me to fulfill my promise to you today?"

Applejack said, "What promise? Ah don't remember you promising me anything."

Colgate replied, "You said you would become my second in command if I transformed your whole family into Alicorns so you would never be parted. I am here to do that, then I want all of you to join me in my tower with my officers for a big breakfast. Then everypony else will join us in the throne room to have a meeting."

Applejack said, "Oh yeah, you did promise that, didn't you?"

Colgate said, "Yep, I did."

Applejack shouted to everypony, "Come on over y'all. I have someone I would like for you to meet. She is very powerful and has great plans for all of us."

Everypony ran over to where Applejack and Colgate were standing. Apple Bloom gave Colgate a nervous smile even though she knew that nothing bad was going to happen.

Applejack said, "Colgate, this is my family. The stallion is Big Macintosh, this here is Granny Smith, this is my little sister Apple Bloom and our cousin Babs Seed. These two are sort of adopted family, the unicorn is Sweetie Belle and the Pegasus is Scootaloo."

Colgate replied, "Ok, I want to take care of everypony in the Apple family, since you are all earth ponies. I need all of you to stand side by side in a row."

Applejack asked, "Are y'all ready Apples?"

Big Mac said, "Eeyep!"

Apple Bloom shouted, "Ah'm ready!"

Babs shouted, "Yeah, I'm ready."

Granny Smith said, "I'm only doing this for you Applejack."

Colgate began to glow blue, her eyes began to glow blue and her horn began to glow blue as she recited "The ponies without magic or flight are in a bind, for they feel like they have fallen behind, they work themselves to death, even to their very last breath, for now with magic and wings, great things shall be what life brings."

Colgate fired her energy and it encircled all of Applejack's relatives and they began to float in the air. They were shocked by what was happening. Granny Smith was especially shocked because besides her growing wings and a horn, her pain was starting to go away. After a few minutes the transformation was complete and they floated to the ground with their new wings.

Granny Smith shouted, "Wow Colgate! I never imagined I'd have these but you did something even better, my pain is entirely gone! Thank you so much"!

Granny Smith flew over to Colgate and gave her a tight bear hug and then started dancing around like she hadn't in decades.

Colgate said, "You're welcome Granny Smith. I'm happy to see what a difference this has made in you! You are dancing like a pony straight out of high school."

Granny Smith said, "Well I FEEL like a pony straight out of high school!"

Apple Bloom asked, "Will we know magic like y'all do or will we have to learn it?"

Applejack said, "Well Sugarcube, you'll have to learn it like everypony else does. Even natural born Alicorns have to learn their magic."

Colgate looked at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and said, "Who's next?"

Sweetie Belle asked, "Can't you just do us together?"

Colgate replied, "No, Sweetie Belle, I can't. The spell to transform a unicorn into an Alicorn is different than the one to transform a Pegasus into an Alicorn."

Sweetie Belle said, "I'll go next!"

Colgate said, "Ok, I want you to go stand over there by yourself. Don't get scared because some ponies get nervous when they have this spell cast on them."

Sweetie Belle replied, "Ok Colgate, I won't!"

Again Colgate began to glow as did her eyes and horn as she recited, "The unicorn who has no wings is bound to the ground, they can not really get around, their smarts are great yet without flight they will be late, with these wings they will be great and they shall never have a bad fate."

Sweetie Belle became encircled in Colgate's energy and she began to feel wings growing out of the sides of her back. She was wondering what was really going on and despite what Colgate told her, it was scaring her a bit. After three minutes she levitated to the ground using her new wings.

"YAY, I CAN FLY!" shouted Sweetie Belle

Colgate looked over towards Scootaloo and saw her looking really sad and knew why. She said, "Scootaloo, it is your turn."

Scootaloo asked, "Oh Alright, will this help me fly?"

Colgate replied, "It should!"

Scootaloo replied, "Really! I'm ready!"

Again Colgate began to glow, her eyes began to glow as did her horn as she recited "The one who can fly likes to fly free desires the powers that allow the unicorn to be, he/she wishes so much to levitate and create, rather than berate, for the winged one now has magic, without that it would be tragic."

She fired her energy and it began to encircle Scootaloo. She was feeling excited hoping that she would finally be able to fly. She felt a horn growing from her head but the thing that was making her happy was that she felt her wings growing. After three minutes the energy dissipated and Scootaloo started flying around like a natural.

"I'M FLYING, I'M FLYING, I'M FLYING!" shouted the excited filly.

Scootaloo was so excited that without knowing it she picked up Colgate and was levitating her as she was flying around. She had never been more happy in her life.

Applejack shouted, "Scootaloo, Ah know you're happy but could you put Colgate down and come over here with the rest of us?"

Scootaloo said, "I'm sorry Colgate. I hope you're not mad at me."

Colgate had a huge grin on her face and said, "Scootaloo, I'm not mad, I'm happy! I am so happy to see you being able to fly and the fact that you can already levitate me shows that you have a ton of power that could never have been released had you never become an Alicorn."

Scootaloo yelled, "I can't wait for Rainbow Dash to see me and see me fly. Hopefully we will be able to be flying buddies!"

Colgate asked, "Scootaloo, I have never seen you around with your parents. Where do they live?"

Scootaloo started to cry and said, "They abandoned me because they wanted a boy. They just flew down here from Canterlot, put me behind a pile of bricks and then flew back home. If it weren't for generous ponies here around town giving me food, I would have died."

Apple Bloom said, "Wait a minute, why didn't you tell us that you didn't have a home and we would have brought you in?"

Scootaloo was crying and said, "I was afraid to. I thought you and Sweetie Belle wouldn't want to be friends anymore if you found out."

Sweetie Belle asked, "Where have you been living all this time?"

Scootaloo replied, "I live right at the edge of the Everfree Forest. That is why I'm not scared of it because I live there."

Applejack said, "Well not no more sugar cube, you're gonna live with us now, well if you want to."

Scootaloo asked, "Really! I get to live with you, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle?"

Applejack replied, "Eeyep!"

Big Macintosh said, "You should never be afraid to ask for help. We would have taken you in no matter what, even before you and Apple Bloom met."

Scootaloo replied, "Thank you so much Apple family! I can't thank you enough. I can help you with the chores and anything else you want."

Granny Smith said, "Well I'm sure you will have lots of fun helpin' out Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. You three youngins will be able to help us all out so much."

Colgate started to cry and said, "I feel so bad Scootaloo. When I never saw you with any family I should have known you were an orphan. Perhaps this was meant to be as now you do have a family."

Scootaloo shouted, "THIS IS AWESOME! Wow Crusaders, now we are sure to earn our cutie marks for sure!"

Apple Bloom asked, "Applejack, can we consider Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo part of the family?"

Applejack said, "Of course we can. We're like one big happy family now y'all!"

"YAY! CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SISTERS!" shouted the cutie mark crusaders

Applejack said, "Ok y'all, Colgate wants us to join her for breakfast up in her tower. Let's fly with her up to her balcony and head to the dining hall that way. It is quicker."

Colgate and the Apple family followed her up to her tower and down into the dining hall where they were greeted by Lightning Wasp and Ice Storm.

Lightning Wasp said, "Wow Applejack, I didn't expect your whole family to be Alicorns. I am happy for all of you."

"Well thank y'all," replied Applejack "Colgate is the best leader anypony could ever have. Thank you so much Colgate for ensuring that we will never be parted."

Colgate replied, "Oh, I don't know if I'm the best leader but all of you mean a lot to me."

Sweetie Belle asked, "What's for breakfast Colgate?"

Colgate replied, "Plenty. Bacon, eggs, toast, lots of your guys's apples, oats, hay, wheat and of course cider."

Colgate's chefs brought breakfast into them and Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Babs looked in awe at everything that was on their plates. None of them had ever seen that much food at once before.

"Wowza!" said Babs "I've been in restaurants back home that served a lot of food but nothin' like this!"

Colgate replied, "Babs, I take it you're from Manehattan. I went to school there."

Babs said, "Really? What school did ya go to?"

Colgate replied, "I went to the Manehattan Dental Academy. The ponies in that city treated me so nicely when I went there. It is the ponies in Fillydelphia that are jerks. I worked there for a while and I was treated like dirt."

Babs said, "It doesn't surprise me. Fillydelphia is full of jerks."

Colgate said, "Eat up everypony, we have this and then plenty more if anypony wants seconds, after breakfast I want us all to go to the throne room for a meeting."

Applejack asked, "Wait a minute, wasn't Lyra supposed to be here?"

Before Colgate could say anything Lyra came running into the dining hall as fast as she could. "I'm sorry I'm late Colgate. I had a real bad stomach ache and that kept me at home longer than I had hoped."

Colgate replied, "It's alright, things like that happen. You better eat up! We have an important meeting after breakfast!"

Lyra replied, "Alright, I will. I know this is a very important meeting that could change the entire makeup of the world."

Colgate said, "Yes, it could. Let's finish eating everypony so we can get started."

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

PINKIE'S SPELL

Testing their Abilities

After breakfast, Colgate, the Apple Family, Lyra and the officers headed into the throne room to discuss some important things.

Colgate started, "Ok, I see we have six new Alicorns, all of who need to be taught magic. You showed you know levitation already Scootaloo but I want us to all go down into the archives. Applejack and her other friends already know almost as much as me and I want all of you to reach that level."

Scootaloo asked, "Why don't they know as much as you Colgate?"

Colgate replied, "That is an excellent question. You see the hourglass cutie mark on my flank. When I was a filly I learned how to manipulate time on my own. I was born with a very rare gift. Manipulating time is something you can't simply learn, only a pony who is a Time Lord or a Time Lady can do it. While that is my special talent, I am a dentist because since I was a filly I was fascinated with dentistry when I read a book about it."

Apple Bloom asked, "So you're a Time Lady, a dentist and a commander? You must be the most talented pony on the planet!"

Colgate replied, "Oh I wouldn't go that far. I'm sure there are other ponies out there who can do more."

Babs asked, "So what are we going to do when we all go down into the archives?"

Colgate replied, "Well we will study all the material that I have went through to learn my magic and we will read the books that Twilight used to write hers and study her spells that she has written."

Scootaloo asked, "So Colgate, after we do all this studying, how will we prove our skills?"

Colgate replied, "Well you will learn the same way that Applejack and I tested ours. We will go out to the range where you will test your levitating skills and your accuracy and power skills. We still have over two weeks to study all this and test our skills before Twilight returns home but I do want us to try to be ready as soon as we can so that we can be well rested and completely alert when she comes back. When she sees all of you as Alicorns she will not be happy and I have a feeling she will be bringing some duplicated forces with her."

Apple Bloom asked, "Duplicated forces?"

Colgate replied, "Well you will learn that spell yourself but Twilight can duplicate soldiers so that she can double, triple or even quadruple the size of her army. Chances are, she will duplicate some of the Faustica army and bring them back with her."

Granny Smith asked, "Colgate, now why would she duplicate soldiers if she isn't expecting this?"

Colgate replied, "Excellent question. Her brother has a sixth sense and he may tell her that he thinks they need to bring some with them. Now he won't know why, but he will just have that feeling and she usually listens to him. Alright everypony, let's get down to the archives. There is a lot of studying and learning that needs to be done."

Everypony headed down to the archives and Colgate cast the spell to unlock the door. Sweetie Belle was amazed with this and she asked, "Wow, I've never seen a lock that you have to cast a spell to unlock!"

Colgate replied, "There are few who have. It also requires a spell to lock it back. Now there are a couple that we won't be studying. Those are the spells to lock and unlock this and the spell regarding the jade Alicorn. I don't mean to sound like I don't trust you but those spells are pretty much just for me. I hope you understand."

Big Macintosh said, "Eeyep!"

They all stayed in the archives studying nearly non-stop for four days straight before Colgate decided that they all knew enough to get them through a battle and then some. She was hoping that they would have good levitation skills and power and accuracy.

Finally it was late night on the fourth day and Colgate yawned, "I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired. What do you say we all hit the hay. I want you here early tomorrow so we can eat breakfast and then head out to the range and you can test your skills."

Lyra said, "Yeah, that sounds good, but I have already tested my levitation and power skills and I got them to equal what yours were at the time."

Colgate replied, "That is true, but I think that all of us, even me, should check our skills to make sure that we are all ready for the battle to come."

Scootaloo asked, "Battle? Are all of us going to be taking part in it?"

Colgate replied, "I didn't plan on having any of you fillies or Granny Smith taking part in this. I made you Alicorns so none of you would ever have to be parted. Big Macintosh, will you take part in this?"

Big Mac said, "Eeyep!"

Colgate replied, "Good, we need all the soldiers out there we can get."

Apple Bloom asked, "Why don't you plan on having Granny Smith or any of us taking part in the battle?"

Colgate replied, "Well with you being fillies I don't think I should be putting you in battle and with Granny Smith I figured that with her being older, that it might be best if she doesn't take part."

Granny Smith shouted, "Who are you calling old! I'm an Alicorn now, remember? There is no such thing as old and I'm more agile than I ever have been in my whole life!"

Colgate replied, "Alright, if any of you five want to take part in the battle, then go for it. Now really, it is getting late and we all need to get our rest."

"Good night everypony" said Lyra

Colgate cast the spell to lock the door and everypony headed back up to the throne room and headed home. Colgate went to bed that night exhausted hoping that they would have good results at the range the next day.

The following morning came much too quickly for Colgate as she was still tired when she headed to the dining hall but much to her surprise, the Apple Family and Lyra along with her officers were all there waiting for her.

Colgate said, "I'm sorry everypony. I didn't mean to keep you waiting, I overslept."

Applejack said, "Don't y'all worry about it Colgate. I know you were exhausted when we left last night."

Scootaloo asked, "So when are we going to be doing these tests you want us to do?"

Colgate replied, "After breakfast, oh, here comes breakfast!"

Sweetie Belle shouted, "Yay! I'm hungry!"

Everypony had a huge breakfast as they knew they had to be at their most alert for the tests Colgate had planned for them. After breakfast they headed down to the range all ready and rarin' to test their skills.

Colgate said, "Ok, there will be two skills tests. The first test will be to levitate that large rock off to your left. You will levitate it as high as you can and hold it for as long as you can. If you hold it for three minutes, I will have you set it down as I don't want us to be out here forever. The second skills test will be to fire bolts of energy down at those targets. There are sensors on the targets that will measure the energy in your bolts. Who wants to go first?"

Granny Smith said, "I'll go first!"

Colgate replied, "Alright, give it your best shot!"

Granny Smith easily levitated the rock to a height of 100 feet and held the rock in position with no problems at all. After three minutes Colgate had her set the rock down.

Colgate asked, "Did you feel any stress holding that rock up?"

Granny Smith replied, "Are you kidding. That was like holding a feather! There was nothin' to it!"

Colgate said, "That is amazing! With you having so much life experience, I have a feeling your energy and accuracy test will go well."

Granny Smith asked, "Can I test those now as well?"

Colgate replied, "Sure, I was going to have everypony do the levitating test first but let's have each pony do both tests at once."

Granny Smith stood towards the targets and rapidly fired three bolts of energy at them, scoring direct hits on them.

Colgate flew down to the other end of the range and was ecstatic over the results.

Granny Smith asked, "So youngin', how did I do?"

Colgate replied, "Wow! You have more power than Twilight ever did! I can tell you are more than ready for this. You're the most powerful Alicorn I have ever seen!"

Granny Smith replied, "Well you never know how good you are until you push yourself."

Colgate said, "Yep. Alright, we need to get going on this. There are still plenty more of us."

Scootaloo was next. She pointed her horn at the rock and levitated it easily. She had heard rumors about what Rainbow Dash did and she wanted to see if she could do the same so she levitated the rock up to 100 feet, started flying around it and carried it with her as she broke the sound barrier. She then set it back down where it was before.

Colgate's jaw dropped open and she said, "Holy moly Scootaloo! You did the exact same thing Rainbow Dash did, well except she threw the rock down somewhere else. I am so proud of you!"

Scootaloo's eyes got huge and she said, "Really?!"

Colgate replied, "Yes, now I want you to test your power and accuracy."

Scootaloo stood towards the targets, lowered her head and fired three bolts of energy quickly, scoring direct hits. Colgate flew down to the other end of the range and found the targets were emitting a bit of smoke. She shouted, "What the hay?"

Scootaloo flew down to the other end of the range and asked, "How did I do?"

Colgate replied, "The energy you put into these was two times more powerful that Twilight's. You are going to be unstoppable!"

The other fillies did a good job on the skills test, their skills were equal to Granny Smith's and Applejack's. Next it was Lyra's turn.

Colgate said, "Alright Lyra, let's see if your skills have improved any since before you became the steward down in Neigh Zealand."

Lyra replied, "Ok, I hope I have improved!"

Lyra first levitated the rock. She had improved her height to 100 feet and was easily able to hold it up for three minutes. She then did the accuracy/power test and scored far better than she did before. She had the same amount of power as Scootaloo.

Colgate said, "Wow Lyra, you have really improved! I am so proud of you!"

Before Lyra could say anything Luna swooped in and said, "Colgate, do I not get a turn to test my skills?"

Colgate replied, "Yeah, you do. Give everything your best shot."

Luna first levitated the rock to a height of 250 feet and carried it around with her while she was flying around the base. She then set the rock down and fired at the targets, she scored direct hits and the results were off the charts. Colgate flew down to the targets and was thrilled.

Colgate said, "Luna, do you want to know how much power you put into your energy?"

Luna replied, "Well of course we do!"

Colgate said, "You put ten times more power into your bolts than what Twilight can. I have a question, is your energy more powerful as Nightmare Moon?"

Luna replied, "A lot more. If you want me to test my energy as Nightmare Moon, you better test yours first because as her those targets might get fried."

Colgate said, "Alright, but it takes energy 100 times more powerful than Twilight to fry those."

Colgate decided that she would do the skills tests. She levitated the rock up to 150 feet and held it for three minutes before setting it down. She then fired her energy at the targets and left then spewing some smoke. Colgate flew down to the other end of the range to discover that she had power equal to Luna's.

Luna asked, "So Colgate, how did you do?"

Colgate replied, "My levels were the same as yours. Now I want you to transform into Nightmare Moon and do this again, well the power part anyway."

Luna began to fly vertically and clouds began to fill the sky as she transformed into Nightmare Moon. She then flew down to the range and fired her energy at the targets, incinerating them. Colgate was shocked but thrilled at the same time.

Nightmare Moon asked, "So Colgate, how much power do you think I put into those?"

Colgate replied, "Well, I'm not exactly sure but the way those were fried, I am guessing at least 200 times the power that Twilight has. With you on our side, Twilight stands no chance."

Nightmare Moon started laughing, "Well, I am looking forward to defeating her. When we defeat her, can I banish her to the sun?"

Colgate replied, "Of course you can! You took care of Celestia so it would be fitting that you take care of Twilight as well!"

Nightmare Moon then transformed back into Luna and asked, "Colgate, What will my role be in the post-Twilight world?"

Colgate replied, "You will be the queen of Alicorn Island. There will probably be a power struggle between you and your parents, since they are loyal to Twilight but I know in the end you would win."

Luna said, "I hope so. I'm hungry, let's go get something to eat."

Colgate replied, "So am I. Come on everypony, let's go up to the dining hall and grab a bite to eat!"

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

PINKIE'S SPELL

The Trip Home

Five days had passed and Twilight and her envoy were ready to head back to Equestria. Galaxia and Cosmos put a couple of their generals in charge and got on board. Twilight ordered Shining Armor to raise the anchor so they could get headed back home.

"Wait!" said Shining Armor "Remember, you were going to cast a duplication spell on their military so we could take some with us."

Twilight growled, "Oh, and where are we going to put all of them? I will need at least another ship."

Cosmos said, "We have an additional ship that we can take. You can use the largest ship in our fleet, our carrier should be able to hold all of them."

Twilight replied, "Thanks Cosmos. Alright. You know Spike, I'm only doing this so you and Shining Armor will feel better."

Spike said, "Yeah Twilight, I know. But you know how Shining Armor and I worry."

Twilight ordered the Faustica forces to gather together. She pointed her horn at them. She began to glow, her eyes began to shine green and her horn began to glow as she recited, "From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Galaxia said to the duplicate forces, "Come on guys, get on board. It is a four day trip and we don't need to wait any longer."

General Dark Moon, the changeling general, said, "Alright guys, you heard our queen, get on board."

Galaxia and Cosmos's duplicate forces got on board and began their journey east towards Equestria.

In Ponyville Colgate was watching this and flew down to the base. She said, "Alright everypony, they have set sail and are returning. For the next two days, we need to have high intensity exercises and after that we will relax and prepare mentally for this. The fate of the entire planet rests on what happens once Twilight returns here."

Fluttershy asked, "What happens if we don't defeat Twilight?"

Colgate replied, "You don't want to know Fluttershy. All of Ponyville would be covered in our blood, but since we all know more magic than her now and have more powerful energy, we don't have to worry about that happening."

Scootaloo shouted, "That's right! Twilight's going down!"

Colgate yelled, "That's the spirit Scootaloo! Never say die! Also, there is something very important I need to do regarding you officers."

"What is that?" asked Lightning Wasp

Colgate asked, "Remember how I said I was going to give you all promotions while Twilight was gone on her second trip?"

Ice Storm replied, "Yes, I remember that."

Colgate said "Well today is the day. All of you are now one rank higher than you were. However, now we need a lieutenant for each branch of my forces. General Lightning Wasp, General Ice Storm, you know your forces the best. Find the most self-aware of your kind and bring them to me. I need to transform them into officers."

Lightning Wasp and Ice Storm headed out and got the best officer material out of their soldiers. Lightning Wasp and Ice Storm brought back who they thought would be the best officer material. Lightning Wasp brought Harsh Wind and Ice Storm brought Cold Wind. They both lined up in front of Colgate for their transformation.

Colgate began to glow blue, her eyes were shining blue and her horn began to glow as she recited, "those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

Colgate asked, "Who are you two?"

Both of them immediately knew their new roles. Cold Wind replied, "I am Lieutenant Cold Wind."

Harsh Wind replied, "I am Lieutenant Harsh Wind."

Colgate was thrilled with this and said, "Good, I'm glad to know that you two know your roles. What are we preparing for you two?"

In unison they both replied, "The return of Twilight, our mission is to destroy her."

Colgate shouted, "Hay yeah! Let's break for lunch, I'm getting hungry."

Two days had passed and out at sea Twilight, her envoy and soldiers were half way back to Equestria when a shift in the wind took place. Instead of a good tail wind they encountered a nasty head wind that caused them to slow down considerably.

Twilight asked, "Shining Armor, do you think there is a storm coming?"

Shining Armor replied, "No, the winds shift like this sometimes. You see those dark clouds off to the south?"

Twilight replied, "Yeah, I see them."

Shining Armor said, "Well this wind is blowing in a counter clockwise motion around them, causing these easterly winds down here. The winds should calm down before too long."

Starswirl said, "I certainly hope so. I know how much Twilight is looking forward to being able to sleep in her own bed again."

Twilight replied, "You bet I am. Colgate better enjoy it while she can, because after this I have no plans on traveling for quite a while."

LaurFa asked, "Twilight, how are the rest of us going to get home after this meeting?"

This question irritated Twilight a lot. She snapped, "That has to be the dumbest question I have ever heard. You will fly to the coast and there will be a ship that you can sail home in. Good grief, how do you think you would get home, teleport? Nopony, not even me, can teleport that far."

LaurFa said, "I'm sorry Twilight, I was just wondering."

Very soon the wind was starting to make Twilight nervous as she began to bite on her hooves and her mane was starting to get messy.

"Twilight," asked Shining Armor "What has you so worried? Is it the wind?"

Twilight replied, "No big brother, it isn't the wind. I don't know why, but I'm just getting nervous."

Spike asked, "Twilight, do you think it has something to do with Colgate?"

Twilight snapped, "No. For the last time Spike, Colgate is as loyal as they come and wouldn't betray me. So would you just drop it?"

Clouds began to develop and it began to rain. Twilight ordered everypony to get under deck as the winds began to pick up.

Twilight said, "Shining Armor, I thought you said there wouldn't be any storms coming our way."

Shining Armor replied, "Well ok, I'm sorry. There just aren't any hurricanes coming our way."

Lemon Hearts asked, "You don't think this could transform into a nasty storm do you?"

Twilight was no frantically pacing back and forth in the cabin and said, "You know Lemon Hearts, I don't know. The waters out in this area are very warm which is conducive for the development of strong storms."

Shining Armor said, "Twilight, with the way this wind is getting, I think we better drop our anchor and wait it out until the winds calm down."

Twilight said, "Ok, tell the soldiers on the carrier to do the same. I don't want us to be separated."

In Ponyville Colgate saw all of this and realized that this would delay Twilight's arrival but decided to keep her forces' schedule as it was planned. Lightning Wasp came up to her bedroom and said, "Colgate, you have been watching that a lot. What is happening?"

Colgate replied, "Well General, they are caught in a rather nasty storm right now and dropped their anchors. Because they have 5,000 soldiers with them, they had to bring Faustica's carrier with them."

Lightning Wasp asked, "Did you send a storm their way?"

Colgate replied, "No, I didn't. Like I said before, I want to bring Twilight down here. I want her to beg me to go easy on her."

Lightning Wasp said, "Knowing Twilight, she won't beg for anything. She will probably go down screaming and yelling, whether you banish her to the void, have Luna send her to the sun or whether you just decide to kill her."

Colgate replied, "Well I have already promised Luna that she can banish her to the sun. Besides, I think it would be fitting for mama Celestia and daughter Twily to be together for a thousand years."

"Wow," said LIghtning Wasp "it seems as though you really want to punish her."

Colgate replied, "I do. She complained so much about Celestia sitting there looking pretty more than she did rule and once she took the whole world, she became just like her. Both her and Shining Armor started becoming globe trotters leaving me here to take care of everything. Since I already run the show, I may as well cement myself as Supreme Commander and get her out of the picture."

Lightning Wasp asked, "Colgate, what are you going to do with Shining Armor?"

Colgate replied, "Oh crap, I totally forgot about what to do with him. Maybe I'll just cast him into the void."

Lightning Wasp asked, "What about the other stewards? What are your plans for them?"

Colgate replied, "Once Twilight is banished to the sun, the loyalty spells on them will be gone and they will have minds of their own. They will be like Lyra, have plans of their own, which will most likely be go and rule the provinces they currently do, except that they will be sovereign nations and they will be queen, princess, supreme commander or whatever title they choose."

Lightning Wasp asked, "What title will you choose, will you become Queen Colgate?"

Colgate replied, "No. I will take the official title of Supreme Commander Colgate. I will still be part of the military and Equestria will become the first nation in the history of the world to be ruled by it's military."

Lightning Wasp asked, "Don't you think you need some body armor for the upcoming battle?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, I do. I am going to head down to the local blacksmith and have him make me some."

Colgate flew down to the local blacksmith and told him that she needed body armor. She also told him that she needed a good commander's helmet with a hole for her horn to fit through.

The local blacksmith, Steel Mane, replied, "Alright Commander, I will have to measure you. This won't be easy as I have never made body armor before."

Colgate replied, "Well as long as it fits, provides adequate armor and my helmet gives me protection and a hole for my horn, everything will be fine."

Steel Mane measured her and said, "Alright Commander, I will work on this tonight and everything should be ready tomorrow morning for you. I think you will look like the toughest pony on the face of the planet."

Colgate replied, "Thanks Steel Mane. You have no clue how much I appreciate this. Oh, and you don't have to address me as Commander, just call me Colgate."

"Alright Colgate, you have a good night." replied Steel Mane

Colgate flew back up to her tower and decided the time to get some rest had arrived. She looked into the eye one more time and noticed that Twilight's ships were still anchored down enduring the storm. She thought to herself, "Well this will give us a bit more time to prepare."

Morning arrived out at sea and the storm had finally let up. Twilight was the first to wake up and saw the sun was shining and the wind had calmed down. She yelled at everypony in the cabin, "WAKE UP! WE NEED TO GET THE ANCHOR UP AND GET GOING!"

This scared everypony and Shining Armor said, "Twilight, why do you have to yell like that?"

Twilight screamed, "Because we need to get going. I am in no mood to be away from my bed any longer than I have to be!"

Everypony realized that it was going to be a very rough day. They knew that Twilight was not going to be very pleasant to be around but knew better than to say anything.

Twilight said, "Starswirl, would you fly over to the carrier and check on our soldiers. With the mood I'm in today, I would suggest you simply ride with them for the day."

Starswirl replied, "Alright Twilight, will do!"

Starswirl felt a sense of ease as he flew over to the carrier. He was greeted by Dark Night. "Hi Starswirl, how is everything going?"

Starswirl replied, "It is going alright. Twilight is in a very bad mood today and she suggested I ride with you guys today. You guys are a lot nicer than she is and I'm getting to the point of where I am scared of her sometimes."

Dark Night said, "You too? I have been a bit scared of her for a while, but I try not to let it show. I have a feeling that eventually she will be so mean that we will all wish we had Sombra as our leader."

Thunder Rage asked, "Starswirl, I'm not sure if you will know this, but how much longer do you think we have before we hit the coast?"

Starswirl replied, "Probably this time tomorrow or earlier. We have a decent tailwind and it is pushing us along nicely."

It was midday in Ponyville when Colgate flew down to the blacksmith's shop and got her armor. When Steel Mane showed it to her, she liked what she saw.

Steel Mane said, "Well try it on Colgate. I want to see how it looks on you."

Colgate tried it on and it fit her perfectly, the holes for her wings were perfect and the helmet fit perfectly as well. The hole in the helmet was exactly perfect for her horn to fit through. She said, "Thanks Steel Mane, I greatly appreciate it. I better go up to my tower and check on things. You have a good day."

Steel Mane replied, "You too."

Colgate headed back up to her balcony and went into her bedroom and tapped into the eye. She saw that Twilight's ships were within a day of reaching the coast. She immediately went down to the base where all of her forces were engaging in military exercises. She shouted, "AT EASE SOLDIERS!"

Sweetie Belle asked, "Colgate, are they getting close? Is that why you want us to be at ease?"

Colgate replied, "Yep, they are Sweetie Belle. They will probably be hitting the coast around 9 in the morning and be arriving around 3 in the afternoon tomorrow. We need to be well rested, have a full belly, be alert and relaxed. I have tapped into the eye and also I want you all to know that Twilight is being a total jerk to her envoy and is biting her hooves a lot."

Applejack asked, "What does that mean?"

Colgate replied, "That means that she is very nervous. She gets nervous like this but I know that she isn't sure why she is nervous. You know what they say about soldiers who go into battle nervous?"

Fluttershy said, "Don't soldiers and commanders who head into battle nervous usually lose all control of their forces and lose?"

Colgate replied, "Yep, they do!"

Scootaloo said, "Wow Colgate, that is awesome body armor you have, and that helmet makes you look fearless."

Rainbow Dash added, "Yeah Colgate, your body armor looks a lot better than Twilight's and a soldier helmet makes you look like a legitimate warrior, unlike Twilight's bulky crown."

Colgate replied, "You bet! Why the hay she would go into battle wearing a crown is beyond me, but she sure didn't look like a warrior of any sort. Alright troops, let's get some food in our guts and then get some rest."

Out at sea Twilight had gotten into a less rotten mood but she was still biting her hooves.

Shining Armor said, "Twilight, you are going to bite your hooves down to the quick. That is going to hurt really bad if you do."

Twilight said, "I can't help it big brother, I just know something is going on but I can't put my hoof on it."

Shining Armor was going to say something about Colgate but figured he better not because he did not feel like getting screamed and yelled at.

As day was transitioning into night Twilight asked, "Shining Armor, where is Starswirl?"

Shining Armor replied, "He is still over on the other ship. Maybe he figured he would keep them company or keep an eye on them for you. You know little sis, this isn't like you. Usually you are so composed. Not only are you biting your hooves all the time now but your mane and tail is a complete mess."

Twilight shouted, "DOES IT MATTER WHAT MY MANE AND TAIL LOOK LIKE? NO IT DOES NOT!"

Shining Armor replied, "I'm sorry Twilight. I can tell you are getting more nervous the closer to Equestria we get."

Twilight replied, "I'm sorry big brother. I don't know what is happening to me, I just feel like I am going to explode at any moment. I am sorry that everypony has had to see me like this."

LaurFa said, "It is alright Twilight. Everything will be ok. By this time tomorrow night, you will be sinking into your bed getting ready to go to sleep."

This put Twilight in a far better mood. Even the mention of her bed caused her to relax some. She got a big smile on her face and said, "Yeah, my bed! I hear it calling my name!"

Twilight and her envoy finally decided to go to bed. Twilight knew that she would be getting home tomorrow, but she had no clue that her return to Ponyville would be anything but pleasant.

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

PINKIE'S SPELL

Somepony's Last Stand

It was just before sunrise when Twilight's ships made landfall. The ships making landfall woke her up. She said, "Wake up everypony, we have made landfall!"

Twilight was in a far better mood than she was yesterday and that made everypony very happy. Twilight was looking forward to eating some of those apples that she likes so much. Just as the sun rose everypony got off their ships and Twilight addressed them.

Twilight said, "Ok everypony, let's get some breakfast in us before we fly home. It is a long flight and even I get tired after it. I do know that the first thing I am going to do when we get back is I'm taking a nap!"

Lemon Hearts asked, "What about that important meeting?"

Twilight growled, "Lemon Hearts, please don't ruin my day already. I'm in a good mood and I want to stay that way. We will all rest for the rest of the day. The meeting can wait until tomorrow. Don't worry, there will be places for you to sleep. For now, let's eat!"

Twilight and everypony else began to eat the apples that grow along the coast and drink the water in the lakes that are just inland. While they did this, Colgate and her forces had already eaten breakfast and she was watching her.

Colgate flew down to the base and said, "Alright everypony, they just arrived at the coast. They are eating those apples that everypony likes so much. Within the next 30-45 minutes they will take off and be here by mid-afternoon, probably around three. Let's just relax, enjoy one another's company and keep an eye on the western horizon. That is the direction they will be coming from."

Lightning Wasp asked, "Colgate, when will you duplicate us multiple times so Twilight will be flying into a hornets' nest from which there will be no escape?"

Colgate replied, "After lunch. The duplicates will have full stomachs like you guys will. We don't have the food to spare to feed an army of over 100,000."

Pinkie Pie asked, "So what will we do when we see them flying over the horizon?"

Colgate replied, "Well I will have already cast the armor spell and the duplication spell, so we will just wait for them and once they get close to town, I will cast the shatter armor spell on them and then we wipe them out."

Luna asked, "Do I still get to banish Twilight to the sun?"

Colgate replied, "Of course you do! When they get within a mile of town, I want you to transform into Nightmare Moon. I want us to do everything we can to strike fear into an already nervous pony's heart."

Lyra asked, "How do you know she is nervous?"

Colgate replied, "Because I have been watching her through the eye. The closer to Equestria they get, the more paranoid and cranky she gets! I'll be back, I need to go check and see what they are doing. I need to monitor their every move."

Out at the coast Twilight suddenly started freaking she was shouting "OH NO, NO, PLEASE NO!"

Shining Armor asked, "What is wrong little sis?"

Twilight said, "Remember that first trip we took to Faustica?"

Shining Armor said, "Yeah, I do."

Twilight said, "Well I accidentally left the book that i had my locking and unlocking spells in on my night stand and Colgate was sleeping in there. What if she read them and learned them?"

Spike said, "But Twilight, I thought you trusted her entirely."

Shining Armor added, "If she would have done that, wouldn't she have broke in there, learned everything and attacked us when we returned from Faustica the last time?"

Twilight said, "You're right. Now here I am the one paranoid about Colgate and you two are trying to reassure me. What a role reversal!"

An hour had passed and Twilight said, "Alright guys, let's head home. I miss Ponyville so much!"

With that they took off towards the east not realizing what awaited them, and Colgate was watching their every move.

In Ponyville, Colgate saw this and flew down to the base. She said, "Alright troops, they just left the coast. Let's eat some lunch, then I will duplicate our forces and then we wait."

Babs asked, "So, what is our last meal going to be?"

Colgate replied, "Last meal? You act like we are going to lose!"

Babs said, "Ok, so I worded it wrong. What are we going to eat?"

Colgate replied, "Well we are going to have steak, potatoes, apples, corn and cider. Here comes our lunch everypony! Eat up!"

While Colgate and her forces were having lunch Twilight and her forces were heading east but Twilight just couldn't fly as fast as normal. They stopped for a short rest out in the desert.

LaurFa asked, "Twilight, what is wrong? Usually you can travel this distance so easily."

Twilight started to cry and said, "It was a careless mistake I made before my first trip to Faustica. I left a book with spells that provide access to the archives out in the open where anypony could get a hold of it, what if Colgate learned them, broke into the archives and learned everything and then some?"

Spike said, "Twilight, what did we tell you back at the coast? Had she done that she would have attacked you when we got back from the first trip."

Twilight said, "You're right, I have nothing to worry about. Let's get going again. I want to get home by three or four."

With that Twilight and her forces continued to head east while Colgate was getting ready to duplicate her forces many times.

Colgate addressed the changeling drones and dark Alicorn soldiers, "Alright troops, I need you to gather over there in that field. I am going to duplicate you multiple times. This way when Twilight comes, she will be totally overwhelmed."

"Yes ma'am!" shouted her forces

Her forces gathered in the field and Colgate began to glow a bright blue, her eyes began to shine a bright blue and her horn began to blow as she recited, "From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Colgate fired her energy at them and suddenly there were twice as many of them. She continued to cast the spell until there were 50,000 of each type of soldier. Colgate shouted, "Alright troops, once she gets within 10 miles of town, I will cast the armor spell."

Everypony shouted, "ALL HAIL SUPREME COMMANDER COLGATE, DEATH TO THE DARK GODDESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE!"

A couple hours later Colgate flew up to the tower and tapped into the eye one more time. She saw that they were ten miles away. She knew the time to cast the armor spell had come. She then flew back down to the base.

She said, "They are only ten miles away. Everypony gather around me."

Colgate began to glow a deep shade of blue, her horn began to glow, her eyes shined like blue laser beams and her cutie mark began to glow brightly as she recited, "The one without armor does not stand a chance, so it is what we must enhance, the unarmed one will likely receive death, with armor he shall continue to draw breath, without armor he will be torn to shreds like a rag but with armor victory is in the bag."

As she finished the spell a huge burst of energy spread outwards, causing the energy to be absorbed by everypony's body. Colgate realized that the armor spell she cast was far more powerful than anything Twilight could ever cast.

Apple Bloom said, "Wow, that must've been an awful powerful spell for even your cutie mark to glow!"

Colgate replied, "Yep. I put a ton of power into it. I don't want there to even be a chance of us getting injured or killed."

Lyra asked, "What do we do now?"

Colgate replied, "We wait. They should be here within ten minutes. Oh boy, Twily is going to be in for the shock of her life!"

Twilight and her forces could see Galaxia Ridge off in the distance and Twilight said, "One more ridge and home will be in our sights! I'm so happy!"

Twilight's happiness would soon be transformed into a sense of absolute fear. They cleared Galaxia Ridge and saw a massive army in Ponyville, one larger than any army any of them had ever seen."

Twilight stopped in her tracks and started to cry, "What happened? She got into the archives, I know it. Let's land here and think about what to do."

Shining Armor looked hard and said, "Uh Twilight, this isn't good. She obviously did get into the archives. She has duplicated the forces to where she has over 100,000 soldiers in total. Even worse, she has Lyra and Luna with her."

Twilight looked harder and said, "Holy crap! She has transformed Granny Smith, Big Macintosh and all of the cutie mark crusaders into Alicorns." Twilight started to cry realizing that her reign was in danger of coming to an end.

LaurFa asked, "Twilight, what are we going to do?"

Twilight went from crying to going into a rage and said, "We go in there and crush her. She will wish she had never been born. I AM GOING TO KILL ALL OF THEM."

Colgate looked off to the west and saw them all standing on Galaxia Ridge. She said, "Alright forces, they are standing on Galaxia Ridge, they will head this way any minute. FOR EQUESTRIA, FOR THE WORLD, TO WAR, TO VICTORY!"

Her forces started cheering so loudly that Twilight and her forces could hear it. Shining Armor said, "Are you sure you want to go through with this little sis?"

This sent Twilight into a rage and she shouted, "YES I WANT TO GO INTO IT. WHAT ARE YOU, A DAMN COWARD. FOLLOW ME INTO BATTLE OR DIE, ALL OF YOU!"

Twilight and her forces sped towards Ponyville. Luna knew her time had come. Clouds began to shroud the sky and the wind began to howl as she transformed into Nightmare Moon. Twilight's forces were terrified but Twilight was thirsting for blood.

Twilight shouted, "Gather around me you maggots, I need to cast an armor spell."

Her forces gathered around her, her horn began to glow as she recited, "The one without armor does not stand a chance, so it is what we must enhance, the unarmed one will likely receive death, with armor he shall continue to draw breath, without armor he will be torn to shreds like a rag but with armor victory is in the bag."

Her energy spread out and formed a dome of protection around them. Twilight demanded that her forces remain in the formation around her. Colgate saw this and knew that the time had come to destroy their armor.

Twilight's forces got to within a half mile of town when Colgate began to levitate skywards, she began to glow brightly and she recited "Our foes' armor is great, that is something I hate, with their armor they are strong, but them having armor is just plain wrong, now their armor is gone and it is time for them to say bye as they are struck by energy and die."

She fired an incredibly powerful bolt of energy at Twilight and her forces. As it hit the dome of energy, the protective shield shattered like glass. It appeared as though shards of purple glass were falling to the ground.

Twilight was stunned and terrified by this. She said, "How does she know an armor shattering spell? Even I don't know an armor shattering spell. Now I know she got into the archives for sure."

Colgate could see the distress in Twilight's face and irrational anger flowing throughout her body, she decided the time for battle had come.

Colgate shouted, "Alright troops, let's get them, crush them!"

Colgate and her forces flew in and began to decimate Twilight's dark Alicorns and changelings. Twilight began to panic, her wings froze shut and she fell to the ground. Very quickly the same happened to the rest of her non-military envoy, leaving only dark Alicorn soldiers and changelings in the air.

All of Colgate's forces were firing energy as fast as they could and within a minute, all of Twilight's army was dead. Colgate and her Alicorn recruits landed around a terrified Twilight.

Twilight looked up and was terrified by what she saw. She saw a wrathful Colgate who was larger than her and had blue eyes. Twilight said, "Colgate, you miserable wretch, how did you do this?"

Colgate began to laugh and said, "Oh Twilight, you are so generous! Remember the first trip you took to Faustica?"

Twilight replied, "Yes I do."

Colgate said, "Well you left the book containing your spells to get into the archives on your night stand. Well I read your spells, I got into the archives, learned more than you ever have and taught it to all MY recruits! I guess once you conquered the world you became so careless and started strutting around like a prize rooster you left a big present for me!"

Twilight asked, "But why? What did I ever do to you?"

Colgate replied, "Well, you and your brother started traveling all over the world and left everything else to me so I decided that Equestria needs a leader who will actually be around to do the job, not be off globe trotting and start demanding ponies pay tribute."

Twilight shouted, "You address me as Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle! You are nothing! You're going to the void forever!"

Colgate began to laugh and said, "Oh Twily, you make me laugh. You do know you can't banish a pony more powerful than you anywhere don't you?"

Twilight shouted, "You more powerful than me, yeah right you little ass, I am the most powerful being in the universe!"

Colgate was fed up with Twilight. She lowered her horn, began to glow brightly, her eyes began to shine blue and she recited "The large pony is too big for me, for smaller the pony shall be, the size and knowledge will become mine, but the negative qualities is where I draw the line, for what must grow is my power, so that I may remain in the tower."

She began to drain Twilight. As Twilight began to shrink in size Colgate grew even larger. Colgate finally stopped when Twilight was the size she was when she was crowned as a princess.

Twilight's defeat was complete. Colgate was now ready to transform the provinces into sovereign nations and make their stewards the leaders of the new nations. The filly Twilight laid there dreading what her punishment would be.

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

PINKIE'S SPELL

A New Dawn

Colgate has just defeated the self-proclaimed Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle and drained her of a lot of her magical powers yet left the evil within her. All of Twilight's loyalty spells were broken and she quickly discovered that it wasn't just Colgate who had a bone to pick with her, but everypony did.

Twilight stood up after being drained, looked at Colgate with those green eyes and said, "You'll never get away with this. I'm still the most powerful being in the universe!"

Colgate just shook her head and said, "Twilight, you have committed many crimes and you have many ponies who are angry with you, very angry."

Twilight shouted, "Nopony hates me, everypony loves me!"

Fluttershy walked up to her and said, "Twilight, you took away many ponies' free will. You used a loyalty spell to force us to be loyal to you. Good thing it wore off on Colgate or you would still be oppressing us all."

Spike was stunned by this and said, "Twilight, I never saw this in you. How could you just do all of this. You never told me you took away their free will. I'm sorry but I can't be your assistant anymore, you aren't the pony I cared for so much."

Colgate said, "Ice Storm, Lightning Wasp, go get Twilight's prisoners. I want them to see Twilight in this state before I release them."

Lightning Wasp said, "Will do Colgate. We shall return."

Twilight began to cry as she realized that her whole world had collapsed in on her. She realized that her lies and deceit finally caught up with her.

Colgate asked, "Why are you crying Twilight? What happened to the big, bad Twilight that you have been for so long?"

"I'm sorry everypony, but I was corrupted by Chrysalis and then I just got out of control. I don't know why I did what I did. Just please forgive me." cried Twilight

Shining Armor said, "Twilight, here I thought what Celestia did was bad, buying you and me from mom and dad, but what you have done is worse, far worse. You have oppressed an entire country, started to oppress the whole planet, made unjust and ridiculous laws, turned the skies purple, destroyed the Crystal Empire, killing over 2,000 crystal ponies and too many other crimes to name. If I were Colgate I would simply kill you but this is her decision."

Colgate replied, "I will announce her punishment when the time is right."

Twilight asked, "Can't I be let off because I was corrupted? I wasn't my true self, so you can't punish me. After all, you can't punish a dark goddess!"

LaurFa said, "Well obviously you still aren't your true self. You still have those green eyes and still think of yourself as a dark goddess."

Twilight replied, "Well look at Commander Colgate, her eyes are like mine except her's are blue! Shouldn't she be classified as a dark goddess too?"

Starswirl interrupted, "Twilight, she did cast a spell so powerful it turned her into a goddess but the blue in her eyes is her true self. The green in yours is a corruption of darkness. That is something that there is no spell to remove from you. You will forever be evil."

Ice Storm and Lightning Wasp returned with Twilight's prisoners. Spike saw Rarity and ran up to her and hugged her. "Rarity? I thought Twilight said she made you leave Ponyville?"

Rarity replied, "My Spikey-Wikey! I'm so happy to see you! Regarding Twilight, she did not make me leave Ponyville, she just locked me up and made you think that."

Spike walked over to Twilight and said, "You lying wretch. You can forget about me ever being your assistant again. I want to go wherever Rarity goes!"

Rarity said, "Spike, I don't know where I'll go. I might reopen my shop or I might move to Canterlot, I'm not sure."

Twilight's parents walked up to her. Twilight Velvet said, "Twilight, you can claim all this I was corrupted crap all you want but we aren't buying it. You thought you had the whole world in your hooves but now your whole world has collapsed. Colgate rules the world now and she holds your destiny in her hooves, not me, not Lyra, not Scootaloo, not Lightning Wasp, her."

Twilight broke down crying harder and harder but she still had that rage in her. She shouted, "Curse all of you, I hate all of you."

Rarity shouted, "Twilight, these stumps are a fashion disaster, you could at least remove them or give me my wings back."

Starswirl said, "Rarity, Colgate is the only pony that can do that. You will have to ask her."

Colgate said, "Rarity, it is your choice. Do you wish to be an Alicorn or do you want to simply be a unicorn?"

Rarity replied, "If you wouldn't mind, could you restore my wings Commander?"

Colgate said, "Sure. You don't need to call me Commander anymore, just call me Colgate."

Twilight sneered, "So Commander, do I have to call you commander now?"

Colgate replied, "Just a minute, I need to restore Rarity's wings and then I will deal with you further."

Colgate lowered her head, placed her horn on Rarity, began to glow and recited, "The unicorn who has no wings is bound to the ground, they can not really get around, their smarts are great yet without flight they will be late, with these wings they will be great and they shall never have a bad fate."

As she recited this a gentle beam of energy entered Rarity and her wings sprouted back to their full size. She was thrilled by this. She began to fly around ecstatically ans shouted, "Thank you Colgate, thank you!"

Colgate smiled at her and said, "Don't worry Rarity. Despite you being an Alicorn, you don't have to be part of my military, actually, that is the case with all Alicorns. You are free to do what you wish, you don't have to be part of the military unless you want to. Despite being Supreme Commander of Equestria, I will still continue to see patients in my practice."

Applejack asked, "Colgate, does this mean that Ah don't have to be your second in command if Ah don't want to?"

Colgate replied, "Applejack, if you wish to do so, then good. If you don't want to, then that is good as well."

Applejack said, "Well if Ah decide to just be a full time apple farmer, who will get the job?"

Colgate replied, "Well if you don't, I was thinking of Shining Armor for the post."

Applejack said, "Well Ah think Ah will just stay on the farm the whole time."

Colgate asked, "Shining Armor, what would you think of being General of the Army again and second in line to the top spot?"

Shining Armor said, "Sure. What title are you using Colgate?"

Colgate replied, "I am going to use the title Supreme Commander. I am remaining as the head of the military and Equestria will be a nation ruled by the military, not a monarchy."

Twilight shouted, "WHAT? You can't do that!"

Colgate said, "Guess what, I rule this place now. As for those of you who were the stewards, you are now the leaders of those countries. I am officially dismantling everything from planet Twilight."

Twilight said, "Well, the skies are still purple and you can't do anything about it!"

Colgate gave her a scowl, flew skywards, filed a powerful bolt of energy skywards, shattering the planet's purple skies. It appeared as though a purple snow was falling all over the world and the sky finally returned to normal. This enraged Twilight.

Twilight shouted, "YOU RUINED MY BEAUTIFUL SKIES YOU WRETCH. I HATE YOU!"

Colgate replied, "Luna, shall we just finish this. I think it is time for the world to move on to it's new era. An era where peace and calm will be the norm again?"

Luna said, "Sure, let's finish this off."

Twilight Velvet asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Luna replied, "We believe that your daughter needs to be punished for her crimes."

Crescent Sparkle asked, "What punishment do you have planned?"

Colgate whispered in both of their ears, "We plan on sending her to the sun with Celestia."

They both said in unison, "That is a fair punishment, go ahead with it."

Colgate said, "Alright Twilight, the time for your punishment has come. The self-proclaimed dark goddess Twilight Sparkle, for massive mind control using spells, destroying the Crystal Empire which resulted in the deaths of over 2,000 ponies, forcing ponies to pay tribute, altering the planet's skies, attacking other nations for no good reason, bodily mutilation regarding Rarity's wings and numerous other crimes against the welfare of the planet, is sentenced to reside in the sun with Celestia for the duration of her sentence."

Twilight shouted, "What? I have to be in the sun with HER?"

Colgate replied, "Yeah, you do. I know you hate her. I figured that would be the best punishment possible. Luna, you may do the honors."

Twilight looked terrified realizing that she would be in a horrible place for almost 1,000 years and even worse, she would have to put up with Celestia.

Luna lowered her head, she began to glow, her eyes began to shine a bright white, her horn began to glow white as she recited, "The dark goddess has been mean, the crimes she has committed must be paid for, which like those before her will lead her into lore, the time has come for her to go to the sun, which definitely will not be fun."

Luna fired a powerful bolt of energy at Twilight. She went soaring skywards into the sun. Scootaloo asked, "Did that kill her?"

Colgate replied, "No, it did not kill her. She will just be residing within the sun as Celestia is. Just wait until sunset, you will no longer just see one silhouette in the solar disk, but two."

Lyra said, "Wow, that is going to be quite a sight!"

Rarity added, "It is going to be simply marvelous! So what now Colgate?"

Colgate replied, "Alright, I have various plans. LaurFa, you will become the leader of the Equine Empire. Lemon Hearts, you will become the leader of Saddle Arabia. Lyra, you will return to Neigh Zealand and have full power there. Luna, Galaxia and Cosmos, you three shall return to Alicorn Island and resume your leadership here and I will be the Supreme Commander in Equestria."

Sweetie Belle asked, "What about the military? I don't know if we have the resources here to feed 100,000 soldiers."

Colgate replied, "Excellent point Sweetie Belle. They will be stationed at bases throughout Equestria, near the major cities. I will be keeping the same size of forces here as there were here before I duplicated you guys. Don't worry, there will be adequate resources near these other cities."

Twilight Velvet asked, "What about those of us who were Twilight's prisoners?"

Colgate replied, "You may go wherever you wish. You are free now."

Rarity asked, "Even though I sassed you out on the range at the base?"

Colgate replied, "Yes. All of you are free."

Photo Finish said, "I'm returning to Canterlot."

Hoity Toity said, "Same Here."

The Sparkle Family replied, "As are we."

Rarity said, "Well this is a tough decision for me but I simply have too many bad memories here in Ponyville. I feel as though I have ruined too many friendships here so I shall be going to Canterlot as well. I believe I will fit in better there. Sweetie Belle, you may stay here as I know your true love is on the farm with the Apple family and Fluttershy, you are the only pony Opal has ever liked so she may remain with you."

Sweetie Belle flew over to Rarity and hugged her and said, "Thank you Rarity! Now I finally know you love me!"

Fluttershy said, "I know Opal will be happy."

Applejack said, "Ah know everything y'all said in Faustica about us being unrefined is your true thoughts but Ah hope that we can at least mend the bridges y'all burned."

Rarity replied, "I hope so as well. I am deeply sorry for what I have said and I hope you will all let me come and visit every now and then."

The remainder of what was Twilight's friends gathered together and discussed things. When they came to a decision Rainbow Dash said, "We forgive you Rarity. You can come visit whenever you like."

Colgate said, "Well everypony, the past year has been traumatic for this entire planet. I know it will never return to the way it used to be, but I do hope that things can be restored to some sort of normalcy. I consider this meeting adjourned."

Those who were imprisoned by Twilight returned to Canterlot, those who Twilight made stewards became queens of their prospective countries and Colgate spread the military throughout the nation. Finally, after a year of terror, Equestria had finally returned to a sense of normalcy, albeit being ran by the military, love and harmony returned to Equestria.

The sunset that evening was spectacular. It had the silhouettes of Princess Celestia in the back facing one direction and the smaller silhouette of the defeated dark goddess Twilight Sparkle in the front, facing the other direction. Every sunrise and sunset will be a reminder of the year of darkness, but also a reminder of the triumph of good over evil.

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

PINKIE'S SPELL

Professor Colgate

Lunch time had come and gone and Colgate led everypony down to the archives where she unlocked the door and led everypony in. She was bound and determined to make sure her allies knew more magic than Twilight.

"Ok everypony," said Colgate "all of Twilight's spells are in this box. Over here on this table are the scrolls and books that she used to write them. You have to read the books before you can understand the spells. I have placed bookmarks in them to mark where the material is you need to read to understand the spells."

Applejack said, "Ah am wondering, how many days will we be able to study down here before we will have to fix everything back to the way it was so Twilight won't know we were down here?"

Colgate replied, "We will have two days of high intensity education before I will have to fix everything back to the way it was. I have the books I used for my spells over in my house right now. On the third day i will bring over the books that I borrowed from here to write my own spells. We will have very high intensity education for two days. On the first day it will be reading the material I used and on the second day, study my spells and then practice casting all the spells you will be learning, both Twilight's and mine. That way, we will have finished everything and still have a day and a half before she gets home."

Luna asked, "What will we do once Twilight leaves for that second trip?"

Colgate replied, "First we will go and educate Lyra as that is a must. Once Rainbow Dash, a few of my soldiers and myself return, we will practice our spells and fine tune them if we need to. I will then watch them using the eye. On the day that they return, when they reach the coast, I will increase the size of both the dark Alicorns and changelings tenfold."

Fluttershy asked, "How many soldiers will she be taking with her on the second trip?"

Colgate replied, "Like this one, she will only be taking her two generals. So when she returns, she will have no choice but to surrender."

Rainbow Dash asked, "What is Twilight going to do when she returns from her second trip and we suddenly start using our advanced magic?"

Colgate replied, "Well she will know that it will be surrender or go down in battle. She will be facing up against six Alicorns who are more advanced in magic than she is. She will especially know her reign of terror will be over when we shatter her and her army's armor."

Pinkie was looking through one of the books and said, "Wow, these books do give good information. This says, 'The changeling's power is good, but not great, they can fire ooze but not enough to make their foes lose, for them to be great, they must fire bolts of hate, the energy shall be strong so their enemies won't last for long.'"

Colgate said, "Pinkie, where did you find this?"

Pinkie replied, "I found it in this book about unusual and rarely used spells."

Colgate said, "Pinkie, you have found the one thing that nopony else has been able to! Now we can cast a spell upon our changelings and their attacks will be much more powerful!"

Rainbow Dash was stunned by this. She said, "Wow Pinkie, it is awesome you found that. Now to learn how to use that spell."

Pinkie replied, "I think I know what energies are needed to do that. It will require a type of energy that isn't like Luna's, that isn't like Celestia's and that isn't really like what Discord used when he was Discord. I am working on the exact details of it in my head right now, but hopefully this will work and our changelings can have tons of fun bringing down Twilight and her goons."

Colgate said, "Ok everypony, we need to read through all the books and information that I have marked today. Then tomorrow we will read Twilight's spells and you guys can figure it out."

They spent five hours reading through the books and all the spells that Twilight had bookmarked along with the changeling spell, which Colgate studied as well. This really taxed all of them as they were not used to this much studying.

Colgate said, "Ok everypony, it is time for supper. Let's go up and eat some supper and then discuss a few things in the throne room and then you can head home for the night."

Applejack said, "Ah like this idea. Ah am so hungry right now!"

Colgate and her recruits headed upstairs and were greeted by her officers. Lightning Wasp asked, "Hi everypony, how did all the studying go?"

Colgate replied, "It has gone very well so far, Pinkie even found a new spell to help you changelings have more power in your attacks."

Lightning Wasp said, "Really? That is amazing Pinkie! That is something that we have been hoping for. Perhaps after we defeat the dark goddess, you could host a huge party for all of us!"

Pinkie replied, "Weee. That will be fun!"

Colgate said, "Before we go planning any parties, we need to focus at the task at hand, which right now is learning all these spells. There are many more things ahead of us before any kind of party can be planned."

Ice Storm said, "Here comes our supper! It looks so tasty!"

Colgate replied, "I'm glad to hear that. I'm sure it will be just as tasty as it looks."

Colgate and everypony else enjoyed one another's company while they ate supper. Like always, they did not discuss anything involving the military during supper, after supper, they headed to the throne room for a quick meeting before everypony headed home.

Colgate said, "Alright everypony, things have gone well today. I want you here by seven in the morning so that we can have a good filling breakfast. We will be studying Twily's spells and learning them for a good portion of the day. If we learn them well enough tomorrow we can start studying the books that I wrote my magic from so I will be bringing those over from my house."

Fluttershy asked, "Who will be taking care of my critter friends while I am gone all day?"

Colgate asked, "Who has been taking care of them while you have been busy here lately?"

Fluttershy replied, "Well Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo have been caring for them."

Colgate asked, "Have they been doing a good job?"

Fluttershy replied, "Yes, my animals absolutely love them. Even Opal has grown to like them."

Colgate said, "Wow! Then they are doing a great job. They will continue to care for them then."

Lightning Wasp asked, "What other issues do we have to discuss tonight?"

Colgate replied, "We have no other issues to discuss. This meeting is adjourned."

Over the next three days Colgate was able to teach her recruits all of Twilight's spells along with her non-time related spells. She along with everypony else worked hard on learning Pinkie's spell, which was difficult since it required energies that nopony really knew much about.

Two days before Twilight was to arrive home Colgate had all the books, scrolls and papers back in the exact place where she found them. That day they were out at the base practicing some of the spells. Colgate needed the assistance of some changeling drones and some dark Alicorn soldiers for the testing of the armor shattering spell.

"Lightning Wasp," said Colgate "I need you to gather some changeling drones and Alicorn soldiers. I along with my recruits need to test an armor shattering spell. Don't worry, it won't hurt them."

Lightning Wasp replied, "Ok, we can do that."

Lightning Wasp led several dark Alicorns and several changelings out into the test range. He said, "Don't worry guys, this will not harm you."

They replied, "Ok Colonel, we won't move out of the way."

Colgate said, "Alright guys, first I must cast a powerful armor spell upon you."

Colgate's began to glow a deep shade of blue, her eyes began to glow blue and her horn began to glow as she recited, "The one without armor does not stand a chance, so it is what we must enhance, the unarmed one will likely receive death, with armor he shall continue to draw breath, without armor he will be torn to shreds like a rag but with armor victory is in the bag."

Colgate fired the energy at them and the energy was quickly absorbed into their bodies, giving them nearly indestructible armor. Colgate said, "Alright guys, now the time has come to see if my armor shattering spell works."

One of the drones asked, "Will this kill us?"

Colgate replied, "Like I said before I started this, no, it won't."

Colgate began to glow like she did before and she recited, "Our foes' armor is great, that is something I hate, with their armor they are strong, but them having armor is just plain wrong, now their armor is gone and it is time for them to say bye as they are struck by energy and die."

Colgate fired her energy at them and there was the sound of glass shattering, what appeared to be blue glass shattered around them. Colgate knew that the spell worked.

Colgate said, "You see guys, it didn't do anything to you. Alright, everypony else will now do the same thing I did. You need to put a strong armor spell on them and then shatter it."

Luna asked, "I know your shattering spell worked on your armor spell, but will our spells work on other ponies' armor shields?"

Colgate replied, "Thanks for bringing that up Luna. We will need to work our shattering spells on each other's armor spells."

They spent the day working on their spells and fine tuning the amount of energy they use. Everything was working out perfectly, which pleased Colgate greatly. There was just one more that they needed to test out, and that was Pinkie's spell.

"Pinkie," said Colgate "We are going to test your spell out on our changelings now."

Pinkie replied, "Okie Dokie!"

Colgate said, "Lightning Wasp, Dark Cloud, I need you two to stand over here by the tower. Pinkie has a spell she needs to cast on you. It is supposed to make your energy far more powerful."

The two officers stood over by the tower while Pinkie got ready to cast her first spell.

Pinkie began to glow pink, her eyes began to glow pink and her horn began to glow pink as she recited, "The changeling's power is good, but not great, they can fire ooze but not enough to make their foes lose, for them to be great, they must fire bolts of hate, the energy shall be strong so their enemies won't last for long."

Pinkie's energy hit them and then was absorbed by their bodies. They then started firing ooze energy off in the other direction. Besides just firing ooze, it fired powerful energy as it left burn marks in the grass where it hit.

Colgate saw this and said, "Pinkie, that worked even better than I thought! Now the rest of us need to see how well we can make that spell work.

Colgate along with everypony else cast the spell on various changelings and it worked just as good as Pinkie's did. This thrilled both Colgate and Pinkie.

Pinkie said, "Weee, they're going to have so much fun taking down Twily and her forces!"

Colgate replied, "Yes they will. Thing is though, Twilight probably won't be bringing any military with her when she gets home from that second trip except for Thunder Rage and Dark Night. But still, we will prepare as though she were bringing a million soldiers with her."

Supper time arrived on Saturday and Colgate along with her officers and recruits set down for one last supper together before Twilight got home. Colgate made sure that they had a huge meal, much larger than anything Twilight had served.

Colgate told them, "You have all done well. I am not sure exactly when Twilight will go on her trip to Maredrid, but when she does, you know what our plan of action is."

Luna replied, "Yes, we know what it is. Well, here comes our food! Enough business talk for now!"

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

PINKIE'S SPELL

The Maredrid Meeting

While Colgate was crisscrossing the Pegasus Ocean getting ready to bring Twilight down, Twilight and her envoy were sailing across the Alicorn Ocean towards Maredrid. Despite strong headwinds, Twilight wasn't worried about anything.

"Twilight," asked Dark Night "how much do you think this wind will slow us down?"

Twilight replied, "Oh, I'm not overly worried about it. This Ocean isn't as big as the Pegasus Ocean so the worst it might be is four and a half days to reach Maredrid, unless we run into some really nasty weather."

Shining Armor said, "I don't think we have to worry about that. Yeah the seas are choppy but the skies are generally clear and I have a sense of when things like that are going to happen."

Thunder Rage asked, "Twilight, you don't think Colgate will cast a hurricane spell like you did, do you?"

Twilight laughed, "No, she doesn't have that kind of power! First Spike and now you? Why are you so suspicious of Colgate?"

Thunder Rage replied, "I don't know. I guess it is just the way she was when she was doing the exercises with your friends, especially the way she was with Rarity. Always yelling and screaming at her when she wouldn't do what she was supposed to, always getting on Rarity's case when she would just play with her mane and demanding so much. She reminded me of Chrysalis, rewarding a good performance but yell at those who did poorly."

Twilight said, "Well then that means she was doing her job as commander. That is nothing to worry about."

The winds abruptly shifted directions and started blowing from the west, pushing her ship along at a great rate of speed.

Twilight said, "Wow big brother, that wind shift was abrupt, but it is nice to have the wind pushing us along!"

Shining Armor replied, "Yeah it is but sometimes sudden wind shifts can mean that a storm is coming our way. The skies have become very cloudy in the past hour."

Dark Night said, "Twilight, are those clouds blue?"

Twilight replied, "No, they are gray, it is just an optical illusion that is making them blue."

They very quickly ran into a nasty downpour. Twilight shouted, "Everypony under deck. This is a nasty storm!"

Lightning began to flash all around them and the rain continued to fall heavier and heavier as the wind picked up in intensity. The part of the ocean where they were was a bit shallow so Twilight ordered Shining Armor to drop the anchor. The ship began to rock back and forth violently the winds were so strong.

Starswirl asked, "Twilight, you don't think this storm will tear the ship apart do you?"

Twilight replied, "No but I do know that we're not going to be able to go anywhere until this wind calms down and the rain lets up a bit.

Shining Armor said, "I think I'm getting sea sick. I feel like I'm going to throw up."

Twilight replied, "Well just don't puke on me. There is a bucket over there in the corner. Puke in it if you have to throw up.

The storm raged all night, rocking the ship back and forth not allowing anypony to get sleep. All they were able to do was lay on the floor trying to avoid throwing up.

Finally morning arrived, while it was still cloudy and there was a drizzle falling, the winds had calmed down enough to where they could continue sailing. Twilight ordered Shining Armor to raise the anchor so they could be on their way.

Dark Night asked, "What kind of storm was that? Whatever it was, it was very violent."

Twilight replied, "It was the remnants of a post-tropical storm. Those storms create very heavy rains, still have strong winds, produce plenty of lightning but also move very fast. Had it still been a tropical storm or a hurricane, we would still be getting hammered."

Thunder Rage said, "Wow, I have never seen any kind of storm like it. I can just imagine how bad it must be for somepony to have to sail through a hurricane. Has anypony ever sailed through one of those?"

Twilight said, "Yeah, some have. From what I understand their ship was destroyed and some of the crew wound up getting thrown overboard and were eaten by sharks."

Spike said, "Wow, there are storms that bad. I feel bad for those who were eaten by sharks though."

Starswirl asked, "How do you know that some of the crew were eaten by sharks? Did you find it in a history book?"

Twilight replied, "Yeah, I did. It was written by the survivors of the voyage. From what I understand it was the wealthiest members of the crew that fell victim to the sharks."

Spike said, "It kind of makes you scared to go sailing in areas where those types of storms happen."

Twilight's stomach started to rumble. She said, "Let's eat something. I'm getting hungry and then I just want to rest some. I didn't get much rest last night."

Twilight and her crew rested for a majority of the trip until the afternoon of the fourth day of their voyage when they finally saw something on the horizon.

Twilight said, "I hope that is what I think it is, please be Maredrid. I just want to get on dry ground again."

Shining Armor took a closer look and sure enough, it was Maredrid.

Dark Night said, "Finally, I thought this voyage was going to take forever!"

Twilight said, "Well this voyage will be short compared to the trip from Maredrid to Faustica. That one could take us anywhere from 10-14 days."

Starswirl said, "It is too bad we don't have a Time Lord or a Time Lady in our service. That would have made the trip extremely quick."

Twilight said, "I know but we don't, so we just have to do the best we can."

They finally reached the dock and stepped onto dry ground. They were all very happy and decided to fly up to the palace that LaurFa lived in.

Lemon Hearts was already there with LaurFa when they flew up to the balcony. When they got there LaurFa asked them why they took so long.

Twilight said, "Well we got caught up in a horrible storm. It was so bad that we had to lower the anchor and just stay in place for over twelve hours.

Lemon Hearts stated, "I had heard there was some nasty weather out that way and I was worried that you would run into it. I knew that with you there though, you could easily fix the ship if there was any damage or just dissipate the storm."

Twilight looked shocked and said, "I didn't even think of dissipating the storm. I was so scared that night that I just went into survival mode, not to mention I was really sea sick. I just laid on the floor trying to not throw up.

LaurFa asked, "So when should we have the business part of this meeting before we move on to the rest and relaxation part of the meeting."

Twilight replied, "Well given that there is not a ton of business to discuss, let's just do it now and get it out of the way. It might take an hour at the most."

LaurFa, Twilight and Lemon Hearts headed to the throne room while everypony else walked around Maredrid relaxing and getting a better look at the city.

LaurFa said, "Ok, I know that Lyra isn't here but Twilight does have something important that she wants to discuss with us. Twilight, the floor is yours."

Twilight said, "Thanks LaurFa. Ok, shortly after I returned from the meeting in Faustica I headed to Canterlot to collect the tribute they owed me. I let them know how much they would owe. Most of them paid their tribute except for three. One was a crystal pony who had no money that was basically a refugee, another was an earth pony who spent a lot of his money on a party and another was an earth pony who flat out refused to pay tribute because she was an elite pony and she claimed that she should not have to pay."

Lemon Hearts said, "Well it is good that you got so much tribute money. Why is it that you seem upset?"

Twilight replied, "While we did get a huge amount of money, it is handling those who you are taking to the labor camp that is a royal pain in the flank. Besides being a royal pain, it caused my military a lot of grief to have to watch over them and providing the extra food isn't cheap either."

LaurFa asked, "Who exactly were those ponies you took to Ponyville?"

Twilight replied, "Well the one that flat out refused to pay was Photo Finish, a high profile photographer in Equestria, another was Hoity Toity, who blew a majority of his money hosting a party and only had 50 bits left to pay me and the third, the one who had no money to pay me, was Accurate Aim, a crystal pony who fled the Crystal Empire when Sombra and Chrysalis took it over. He was basically a refugee."

LaurFa asked, "Why would you demand money out of a refugee? If a pony has no money to pay you, then they shouldn't be punished, especially if they are a refugee."

Twilight shouted, "Oh I see, you are a softy just like Lyra. Why more ponies can't be like me is beyond me."

Lemon Hearts asked, "What happened with them that caused you to decide to change the type of punishment for those who won't or can't pay?"

Twilight replied, "Well not only did they cause my military grief but they also are not very good workers. I learned very quickly that forced laborers aren't the best workers."

LaurFa asked, "What about those you took from Fillydelphia to gather the materials for your tower?"

Twilight replied, "Well ok, MOST forced laborers aren't the best workers. Only Accurate Aim did a good job. Photo Finish and Hoity Toity are your typical elites, afraid to chip a hoof."

Lemon Hearts asked, "What about Accurate Aim?"

Twilight replied, "Well he dug like crazy and found a lot of gems. I saw how good his work ethic was and decided to give him a good paying, at will job."

This shocked both LaurFa and Lemon Hearts that Twilight would give a pony she took in like that a job.

LaurFa asked, "What kind of job did you give him?"

Twilight replied, "Well he is now a highly paid chef. Since he works for me he is immune from the tribute law I put in place and I tell you, he is the best chef I have ever seen. I am working on getting him his own sleeping quarters in the tower so he doesn't have to share a room with the other chef."

Lemon Hearts said, "Wow, he's that good! Mentioning the tribute, I thought you wanted to change that."

Twilight answered, "I do. It was the experience with the elite snobs that made me decide that. Right now I have Hoity Toity and Photo Finish in the dungeon with Rarity and my parents."

LaurFa asked, "You have your parents in the dungeon? Why?"

Twilight replied, "Because they sold my brother and I to the monarchy for financial gain when we were young."

Lemon Hearts asked, "Why does the sun have a silhouette in it every morning and every evening?"

Twilight replied, "Well it was Princess Celestia that paid my family very well in exchange for my brother and myself. I found that as the worst crime possible so I had Princess Luna banish her to the sun for a thousand years."

LaurFa asked, "Was this sort of like a revenge punishment having Luna do that because of what Celestia did?"

Twilight replied, "Well I was going to banish her somewhere regardless. Luna and I have grown very close here lately so I let her be the one to administer the punishment. I felt she needed vindication."

LaurFa said, "That is good but when are you going to tell us about your new plan for non-payers?"

Twilight said, "Now. I think that seizing non-payers' assets would be a much better option. That way things such as bank accounts can just be drained empty, their houses become mine and I can charge rent for ponies to live in them, which will provide plenty of revenue."

Lemon Hearts asked, "What about the ponies' that live in those houses?"

Twilight replied, "Well they can either pay me rent to live in it or relocate elsewhere."

LaurFa asked, "What if they can't afford to move elsewhere and what if they can't afford to rent the house that you take over?"

Twilight replied, "That isn't my problem. If I seize assets and they can't afford to pay rent or they can't afford to move elsewhere, they can go live out in the middle of nowhere and live off the land."

Lemon Hearts asked, "Will there be a certain amount of their assets you will seize or will you take everything they have and leave them with absolutely nothing?"

Twilight snapped, "Well what do you think I would do? Anypony who knows me knows I would take everything."

LaurFa asked, "Would you ever consider selling the houses you seize to other ponies to make money?"

Twilight replied, "It would depend on how much they offered. They would have to offer me twice the market value before I would consider selling to them."

Lemon Hearts said, "Well, I know you won't like what I am going to say but you will have a lot of empty houses if you do that."

Twilight growled, "I am irritated yet at the same time I know you are right. That is probably why I will consider turning them into rentals instead. I want to know something, are you two willing to enforce this or will I have to have extra officers in your provinces to enforce this?"

Lemon Hearts said, "What ever it is that you desire, is what I shall enforce. You are the leader of the world and if the ponies don't like it, I will warn them to do what they are told or that they will have to deal with you directly. That should scare them into obedience."

Twilight smiled and said, "I am so happy to hear that. I know I can trust you. What about you LaurFa?"

LaurFa replied, "I will do the same. We can't have the ponies showing blatant disrespect towards you. Also, what are we going to do about the ponies we already have in labor camps?"

Twilight said, "Just release them or throw them in the dungeon, whichever you think would be better. I threw the two Canterlot snobs in the dungeon and like I said, I made Accurate Aim a chef. If any of them have a good work ethic and a can do attitude, give them a paying job in your palace."

LaurFa replied, "I will do that."

Lemon Hearts said, "Same here."

Twilight said, "Alright, it seems as though the business part of this trip is finished. Let's get our officers together, the rest of my envoy together and have some supper, I'm starving."

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

PINKIE'S SPELL

The Second Trip to Faustica

The meeting and festivities in Maredrid had come to a close and everypony was getting ready to leave. Twilight was looking forward to her trip to Faustica as she knew that while Galaxia and Cosmos would have no problems collecting tribute, it was discussing the punishment that Luna would receive for walking out that had her excited.

Twilight and her envoy were getting ready to board ship when Lemon Hearts said, "Twilight, you and everypony else have a safe trip. I will probably be headed back to Ridead tomorrow."

Twilight replied, "No Lemon Hearts, you won't."

Lemon Hearts asked, "Why do you say that Twilight?"

Twilight replied, "You and LaurFa will be coming with me to Faustica. After our meeting and festivities there, we will all head to Ponyville for a final meeting."

LaurFa asked, "Why do you want us to do that?"

This question irritated Twilight greatly. She snapped, "Because I think we all need to have a meeting with my commander as she will take a large part in enforcing my land grabs and imprisonments."

Lemon Hearts asked, "Do you know what Colgate's opinion is on this? Do you think she is against this?"

Twilight replied, "No, she is not against this. She is all for this. I could see her being just like me when it comes to this."

Spike interrupted, "I don't know Twilight. I just have a feeling that she is going to turn on you one of these days. I'm not sure why, but I think she wants to overthrow you."

Twilight laughed, "Oh Spike, you are so funny. I think that both you and my brother are way too paranoid!"

Dark Night said, "I agree with Twily. I have seen Colgate and her loyalty to Twilight. I think she would be the absolute last pony to ever turn on her."

Twilight stated that she agrees entirely with Dark Night and ordered LaurFa and Lemon Hearts to get on board as it is a very long trip to Faustica.

Twilight said, "Shining Armor, raise the anchor, we need to get going."

Shining Armor raised the anchor and they had a good tail wind pushing them along faster than normal, this pleased Twilight greatly.

Thunder Rage asked, "So Twilight, how long do you think it will take us to get to Faustica? Twilight replied, it should take us between 10 and 14 days. For a while we will have this tailwind but ultimately we will have to turn the ship north. If we have the same wind there as we do here, we will have a crosswind, which will slow us down."

Lemon Hearts asked, "Will that we be doing during our trip there?"

Twilight seemed a bit irritated as this was a no brainer question. She growled, "We will be relaxing and just hoping there won't be any kind of storms that would come our way."

Shining Armor said, "Well I don't sense any storms coming our way, so I don't think we have to worry."

In Ponyville Colgate is watching their every move and decided to fly down to the base where all the ponies and changelings in her service were gathered.

She addressed the crowd, "Alright everypony, Twilight and her envoy have left Maredrid, sailing east. They plan on sailing straight to Faustica. They will not be stopping in Ridead. They will reach Faustica within 10-14 days. While we do not need to start any high intensity exercises for now, I think we do need to do one hour of standard exercises in the morning and in the afternoon. Applejack will be overseeing the morning exercises as she is the second in command."

Lyra asked, "What will you be doing?"

Colgate replied, "Well in the morning I will be watching Twilight while in the afternoon I will be down here."

Ice Storm asked, "Do you plan on casting a hurricane spell to crash their ship and maybe kill them?"

Colgate replied, "No. I want to bring her down here in Ponyville. I want to see her begging me to go easy on her. Besides, I made a promise to Luna involving her punishment."

Lightning Wasp asked, "But didn't Twilight allow her to banish Celestia to the sun?"

Luna said, "You will see when it happens. After that, I will let you know why."

Twelve days had passed since Twilight and her envoy had left Maredrid and they saw something on the horizon, Twilight was hoping that it was what she thought it was.

Shining Armor said, "Guess what Twilight, we are approaching Alicorn Island."

Twilight replied, "Yes! Finally, I am so ready to step on dry ground. I tell you everypony, I have been at sea way too much since I became ruler of the world."

Spike said, "I know, but I'm glad you let me come this time."

They finally reached Faustica and were greeted by Galaxia and Cosmos as soon as they got off the ship. Twilight said, "Galaxia, Cosmos, it is so nice to see you!"

Galaxia replied, "It is so nice to see you too Twilight!"

Cosmos said, "Twilight, I know this is not going to sit well with you, but Luna still hasn't returned."

"Oh great, this is just dandy." replied Twilight sarcastically

Shining Armor said, "Well I have a feeling that she has abandoned our cause. Where she went, I'm not sure. I doubt if she is going to start any kind of rebellion given Twilight's power, but I wouldn't count on her aiding us anymore."

Twilight replied, "Well given that she can transform into Nightmare Moon and become that purple mist, we will never catch her. We will just have to live with it."

Dark Night was surprised because normally Twilight would stop at nothing to get her enemies. He asked, "Twilight, are you ok? Normally you would try to hunt down your enemies no matter what."

Twilight replied, "Well you would have to understand Luna. When she is Nightmare Moon, she can transform into a purple mist, hide in trees, rocks and everything else."

Galaxia said, "Twilight, shall we head up to the throne room and have our meeting and get it out of the way?"

Twilight replied, "Yes. I want to get this done so we can enjoy the rest of our time here."

Everypony headed up to the throne room for this last meeting abroad for Twilight. Twilight has always been ready for everything but she had no clue what would await her after this meeting.

Twilight addressed everypony, "Alright everypony, as Lemon Hearts and LaurFa knows, I have changed the way I want to punish those who can not pay tribute. Rather than forcing them into labor camps, I think that seizing property and draining bank accounts would be much better. That way they will pay whether they want to or not."

Galaxia said, "You know something Twilight, I think that is a spectacular idea. That is something that I would never have thought of. What caused you to change your plans for punishment for non-payers."

Twilight replied, "Well it involved some of the ponies I took into custody when they couldn't pay the amount of tribute they owed me. One had no money at all and even though he was a refugee, I figured he should pay something anyway. Another one, who is a celebrity photographer, flat out refused to pay and another who works with her and is involved in fashion, wound up hosting a party in the Canterlot gardens and had nowhere near the amount of money left that he owed me."

Cosmos said, "What wound up happening with them?"

Twilight replied, "Well I took them to a labor camp off to the east on Ponyville. The photographer and the fashion pony would just barely drag their hooves on the ground when I had ordered them to dig for gems for my dragon to eat."

Galaxia asked, "What about the refugee?"

Twilight replied, "He dug like crazy and found a ton of gems. I decided that a pony with that kind of work ethic should not be forced to do that kind of work. He said he was a good chef so I had him cook a meal for me and he cooked the best meal I ever had, so I made him a highly paid chef, and made him immune from my tribute law."

Cosmos said, "You did what? There must still be some kindness left in you after all."

Twilight replied, "Well to me, hard work should be highly rewarded. As far as the Canterlot elite goes, I threw them in the dungeon. They were too much of a pain for my military to monitor and I didn't feel like having to go out and monitor them either. I figured imprisonment would be better than hard labor."

Galaxia asked, "So did Lyra ever start enforcing this?"

Twilight replied, "No and she did wind up boycotting the meeting in Maredrid and obviously this one."

Cosmos asked, "Is there any other business we have to take care of?"

Twilight said, "Yes, there is. Do you two plan on changing your plans to adhere with my new plans?"

Galaxia said, "Yes, we will. So far we have had no problems with non-payers. We have collected plenty of tribute, which we will hand over to you before you leave."

Twilight snapped, "First off, I want that tribute NOW! Second, you two will be coming with me just like Lemon Hearts and LaurFa. I want us to have one more meeting in Ponyville with commander Colgate, as she will be in charge of handling this in Equestria. We all have to be on the same page."

Cosmos said, "Alright, we can put a couple of our generals in charge while we are gone. Everything will be fine and besides, I think every capitol should have a meeting there."

Galaxia asked, "But what abut Prancington?"

Twilight replied, "We can deal with Lyra later. After I am through with her she will wish she had never been born. This meeting is adjourned, now on to the rest and relaxation part!"

"One more question," asked Cosmos "Will we be taking any soldiers with us? I don't know why, but I think we should."

Spike said, "I agree with Cosmos, we should duplicate some of their forces and take them with us."

Shining Armor added, "I agree with these two. Please Twily, we need to be prepared for anything."

Twilight said, "Fine. I don't think we have anything to worry about but I will do that. I will duplicate enough to where we will have 2,500 of each."

Shining Armor said, "Well that makes me feel better, now let's get on to the rest and relaxation part!"

In Ponyville, Colgate had been watching all of this and knew what she needed to do. She knew that they had around five days there for fun, three to four days of sailing to the west coast of Equestria and half a day of waiting for them to fly from the coast to Ponyville. She decided the time had come to address her troops.

Colgate headed out to the base in the afternoon when she knew everypony would be there. She shouted, "ATTENTION, I have something very important to tell you."

Scootaloo asked, "What do you have to tell us?"

Colgate addressed her troops, "Alright troops. I have been watching the events in Faustica today and I have learned some very important things. First, not only will it be Twilight's envoy she left with, but she will also be bringing Lemon Hearts, LaurFa, Galaxia and Cosmos with her. Second, Twilight is going to duplicate enough forces to where she will have 2,500 dark Alicorns and 2,500 changelings with her. While that may not seem like much compared to what we have, I want to duplicate us to where we have at least 50,000 of each. Third, they have just started the rest and relaxation part of their stay in Faustica. They will be flying over Galaxia ridge at some point between 8 and 9 days from now."

Lightning Wasp asked, "When do you plan on duplicating us?"

Colgate replied, "On the morning of the sixth day from now. Also, starting on the afternoon of the seventh day from now, we will halt all military exercises so you will all be as alert as possible."

Luna asked, "So who is going to handle Twilight and her other non-soldier ponies?"

Colgate replied, "Our changelings and dark Alicorns will handle her soldiers. The rest of us will handle Twilight and her envoy."

Apple Bloom asked, "Who will handle Twilight?"

Colgate replied, "I will handle Twilight. I want her to cower in terror to the one pony she thought would never betray her. I want her to stare into my blue eyes realizing that her days of ruling are over."

Colgate's forces started cheering loudly chanting "DEATH TO THE DARK GODDESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE, ALL HAIL SUPREME COMMANDER COLGATE!"

Back in Faustica Twilight was relaxing with Galaxia and said, "You know, I am so happy that you two are on my side. We will be able to collect enough tribute to help every province in the world."

Galaxia asked, "What do you plan on doing as far as Neigh Zealand goes?"

Twilight replied, "Well I will banish Lyra to the void, put somepony else in power down there and aid them the same way I do every other province. But I do also have other things I want to do as well."

Galaxia asked, "What is that?"

Twilight replied, "I am going to have statues of myself made of solid gold constructed in each capitol city. I think that everypony needs to know who the final authority is?"

Galaxia replied, "Oh, I think that would look amazing in our town square! I look forward to you getting one put here!"

Twilight patted Galaxia on the back and said, "Good. I know having you be part of the stewardship here was a good decision. Let's go get a bite to eat. I'm hungry."

Author's Note

Invisibility----"Whether it be one or a bunch of ones, nopony needs to see so that we don't have to flee, invisibility is the treat of not having to retreat."

Visibility---"The unseen shall now be seen, with their friends being present, hiding only shows resent, those who have disappeared shall now appear."

Duplication---"From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."

Banish to void--- "You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."

Giving drones a mind of their own---"those without a mind are in a bind, no longer shall they just be, but they will still be loyal to me, for officers they are now but they don't ask how."

COLGATE'S SPELLS

PINKIE'S SPELL