Author's Note

This chapter will be told in the first pony by Starlight Glimmer

Journey to the Border

Meeting with My General

When I arrived at the base I was greeted by my top general, Yellow Star. He had seen my address to the nation and asked, "Starlight, I take it the time has come?"

I replied, "Yes, the time has come. We are going to march into West Equestria, take down Tirek and then make that tyrant Twilight beg for mercy."

He suggested, "I don't know what you will think of this but I think we should march into Ponyville first, take down Twilight and then wait for Tirek to arrive in Ponyville. I have heard rumors that he is attacking other cities and given that Twilight lives in Ponyville, he will likely save that place for last when he will be at his strongest."

I replied, "Excellent suggestion General." I patted him on the back and continued, "You know Yellow Star, given your intelligence I have special plans for you."

He asked, "What sort of plans?"

I replied, "What would you think about being a regional governor?"

He asked, "Seriously? You want me to be a regional governor?"

I replied, "Yes, I do. I want you to march with me into battle and when we depose Twilight and kill Tirek, you will be the regional governor there in Ponyville."

He asked, "I do have a question." He blushed and continued, "Could you see if Morning Glory could leave her post at the university and come out with me."

I gave him a smile, "Oooh....it looks like somepony has a crush!"

He replied, "It is much more than a crush. We have always been very close and ever since I moved to Fillydelphia, we have kept in contact and realized that our feelings for one another are much more than merely being friends."

I said, "Consider it done. Once we have Twilight deposed and Tirek killed, if she wishes to do so, she can join you out there."

Yellow Star hugged me and replied, "Thank you Starlight! That will mean so much to both of us!"

I said, "You're welcome but now back to the issue at hand. I need you to gather the thousand most capable soldiers from the base. We will need a good sized army if we are to bring down Tirek."

He asked, "What kinds of ponies do you want? Do you want a mix of all three races or do you want more of one kind?"

I replied, "While pegasus ponies can come in handy, I think we should take a mostly unicorn army into battle. After all, they can use their magic to fire those spears into Tirek's eyes with maximum force, hopefully with enough force to penetrate his brain."

He asked, "So when do you want me to have them trained and ready?"

I replied, "I completely forgot that they will need to be prepared for this." I sighed and continued, "Have them ready in three days and we will head to West Equestria from there."

He nodded and began to choose those he thought would be best for the battle while I headed home frustrated. I wanted to be able to get this invasion started and win this as soon as possible but the best army is a well prepared one so all I can do is wait.

The Trip to the Border

The three days seemed to drag by but it was also a time for me to get more composed. Had I decided we should have left the day I addressed the nation, not only would my army had not been ready, I wouldn't exactly have been calm and collected enough. That day I was too agitated and would not have had everything planned out perfectly.

After eating breakfast I headed down to the base and would be mostly pleased with what I saw. There stood General Yellow Star and 1,000 unicorn soldiers, ready for battle. By Yellow Star's side was Morning Glory. I rushed into her hooves and said, "Morning Glory! It is so good to see you!"

She replied, "It is so good to see you too Starlight."

I noticed that she was clad in armor like the rest of my army was. I asked, "Morning Glory, why are you wearing armor?"

She replied, "Because I am going with you guys. I want to fight alongside Yellow Star."

My jaw dropped open. I asked, "What? You can't be serious."

Morning Glory replied, "I am serious. I want to help you take down Tirek and depose Twilight."

I asked, "Morning Glory, have you ever engaged in any kind of military exercises? Do you know how much composure is needed in warfare?"

Morning Glory replied, "Starlight, I'm not as gentle as you think I am. When I was in high school I was a member of the junior reserves as I initially wanted to go into the military but because of some dumb rule of Celestia's prohibiting mares being in the military, I was not allowed to sign up for the guard."

I sighed, "Well ok, but remember, we are dealing with Tirek."

Yellow Star interrupted, "Starlight, I know for myself that Morning Glory is more than capable of keeping her cool in battle. Now for the issue of our weapons. Are the size of spears I have equipped our soldiers with going to be sufficient?"

I replied, "Yes, those will be great." I saw a much longer, larger spear laying up against the wall behind them. I levitated it to myself and continued, "I will be taking this one. When we confront Tirek, I want him to know that I will be ready to destroy him."

Yellow Star asked, "Well shall we take the train to the border and march to Ponyville?"

While I initially wanted to do things the way the armies of ancient times would by marching directly to Ponyville from Fillydelphia, I realized that taking the train to the border and then marching to Ponyville would be a much better way to do things. Not only would we get there quicker, we would be much more well rested. I replied, "Yes, let's get going."

We headed to the train station and boarded a train to the neutral location, as I thought it would be the best place to cross. We remained mostly quiet on the train ride there with the exception of Yellow Star telling Morning Glory about how they would be living in Ponyville once we took it over. I interrupted them, "Yellow Star, Morning Glory, I know you two are happy that you will have a great future after we take care of all this but you need to focus on the task at hand. You need to focus on us killing Tirek and then dethroning Twilight, after we do that then you can focus on your future together."

Morning Glory replied, "You're right Starlight. We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves."

Yellow Star added, "Don't worry Starlight, we know that the battle comes first."

I simply nodded and they went quiet as well. A couple hours later we reached the border and disembarked from the train. As we headed towards the structure we were met by a couple of guards. One of them said, "Wow Starlight, you have quite a few soldiers with you. I take it the invasion is starting?"

I replied, "Yes, now how the guards on the west side will react I don't know but if they have any problems with us it won't matter. If they resist, they will meet their demise."

The guard laughed, "I don't think those western guards will have any issues. Besides, seeing an army of a thousand will likely terrify them."

I nodded and we proceeded to make our way through the structure and into West Equestria. As we headed into their country their guards simply gasped at the size of my army. I looked off to the north and said to my troops, "Well guys, our target is off to the north. Let's get some rest here and head off to Ponyville tomorrow."

My forces cheered realizing that our objective would soon be realized but I had to reprimand them. Yes I was confident that we would be able to win this but I was not going to go cheering before we won. While I doubted it would happen, I actually hoped that Tirek would be in Ponyville when we arrived. That way we would not have to worry about a difficult battle after deposing Twilight and punishing her in what way I see fit.