Well to the east of Ponyville, White Magick and his forces were heading west at a steady pace. Despite knowing that their march would end in a battle, all of the soldiers and even the king and prince found it nice to be outside of their realm, in Equestria. As they were marching west, Blue Star asked White Magick, "Father, if we defeat this dark goddess, are we going to take Equestria for ourselves and leave our closed off realm?"
White Magick replied, "You know son, I haven't even thought about that." He began to look at the vast, seemingly endless lands around them and continued, "I know your mother would likely oppose it but I would love to have a much bigger realm again, I'm sure our subjects would love it here, I would love it if we could have room for a larger military and I would love to not have to live isolated behind a portal."
Blue Star suggested, "Well after we defeat their dark goddess, I think we as a family should discuss it. I think we've lived in isolation for far too long and like you, I like what I see around us....."
Before he could say anything further his father got a case of the shivers. Blue Star saw this and asked, "Father, what is wrong? I have never seen you shiver like that before."
White Magick turned back to his troops and ordered, "Halt!" His troops stopped marching and he continued, "Troops, we have been spotted. I don't know how but I felt as though our enemy was piercing my very soul with her evil eyes."
Black Night knew what it was that made him feel that way. He said, "Your Majesty, I think I know why you felt that way."
White Magick asked, "General, what is it then? Does she have some sort of special ability that other ponies don't?"
Black Night replied, "Yes, she does. She has this great green eye at the top of her black tower that she uses to scan the whole world to check for trouble. When you got the shivers that was likely when she was looking in our direction."
White Magick asked, "General, do you know if she can see forces that are invisible with that thing or not?"
Black Night replied, "I don't think so." He had a feeling as to what the king was going to ask next so he continued, "I would advise you cast an invisibility spell on us and not reverse it until right before we attack."
White Magick said, "You must have been reading my mind." He paused for a minute before continuing, "Troops, I need you all to gather right here in front of me. I am going to cast an invisibility spell on us so our enemy can't see us."
Black Night nodded and ordered all the troops to stand right in front of their king. Once everypony was in place, White Magick's horn began to glow and he recited, "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"
As the energy spread out from his horn, he, his son and all of his forces were invisible. Despite being invisible, since they were invisible as well, they could all see one another. White Magick said, "Alright troops, now we can continue our march undetected."
Black Night advised, "I don't mean to tell you what to do your Majesty but I would advise we march until Ponyville is in our sights, take a look at what they have there, then go to the Everfree Forest and then reverse the spell so we may eat and drink."
White Magick replied, "You must have been reading my mind general." He looked forward and continued, "Come on, let's get going."
White Magick and his forces continued their march west under the cloak of invisibility. With them being invisible, White Magick felt far more confident but knew that since Twilight had seen them, that he would need to duplicate the dark Alicorn soldiers and changelings many times over as Twilight would likely duplicate her forces many times over.
Two long days had passed of nearly non-stop marching with little to eat or drink and finally Twilight's dark tower was becoming visible on the edge of the horizon. When White Magick saw this he ordered his troops to stop. He turned to his general and asked, "General, where is their military base? We need to see how many soldiers they have."
Black Night replied, "That is it right to the south of her tower."
White Magick saw the base and noticed that Twilight did have a fair amount of soldiers but not nearly as many as he thought she would. He looked more closely and began to count them. He couldn't help but chuckle, "Five hundred soldiers overall, that's it? Talk about being unprepared!"
Black Night suggested, "Your Majesty, I would advise that you do not underestimate her. If I know her as well as I think I do, she will likely have calculated how long it will take us to get here and will duplicate her forces after they are well fed, right before she thinks we will attack."
While White Magick was the one who originally wrote the spell, he had forgot about duplicates being exact copies of the originals, including whether or not they had full stomachs. He replied, "That's right general. It has been so long since I've had to use these spells that I completely forgot how a few of them work!"
For another hour they stood there watching the activity at the base until they saw Twilight heading out to the base to check on things. The very sight of the dark goddess made Black Night, Green Death and the hoof soldiers shudder while the rest of the army just watched her in disgust as they saw how she was carrying herself, strutting around like she was the best thing in the world.
White Magick remembered Black Night discussing how she had likely calculated how long it would take them to get there. He asked, "General, you said that Twilight has likely calculated how long it would take us to get here?"
Black Night replied, "Yes your Majesty, she most likely did that."
White Magick said, "Well I'm betting she is going down to duplicate her troops. I'm thinking perhaps we should stay here and monitor what is going on until we know for sure."
Black Night replied, "I agree. I have a feeling that she is likely going to duplicate her troops and have them stand guard, waiting for our arrival."
Green Death overheard them and suggested, "Your Majesty, before she starts duplicating them, I think we should charge in there and take them down."
White Magick gave him a slight glare, "No general, we will not be doing that. All of us are tired, hungry and thirsty and I'm sure there is a place in the nearby forest that we can refuel and besides, I think if we wait a couple or three days, especially if she duplicates them now, that her forces will not have enough to eat and then we can go in and win this after I duplicate our soldiers."
Blue Star, who had been quiet for the most part interrupted, "Father, troops, watch her. I think she is going to duplicate them! I can tell by the way she is acting that she is going to."
The whole army went quiet and focused on Twilight and her forces, monitoring what she was doing. While Blue Star thought that she was going to duplicate them, given the time of day it was, Black Night and Green Death knew different. Green Death said, "Prince Blue Star, I know it looks like she may be getting ready to duplicate them, I can tell that she isn't."
Blue Star asked, "What is it you think she is going to do?"
Green Death replied, "Given that it is a day she thinks an enemy will attack, she is likely going to have breakfast with them first and then duplicate them."
White Magick asked, "Really, she would have breakfast with her soldiers on a day like this?"
Black Night replied, "Yes, she would. She thinks of it as a way to say 'thank you' to her troops and improve their morale so I don't think she will be doing any duplicating for a couple of hours at least."
White Magick knew that his generals, given that they used to be part of Twilight's army, would know what they were talking about. He said, "Well troops, we will stand here and monitor what is going on until she has duplicated her forces."
One of the unicorn soldiers asked, "And then can we go into the forest and eat and drink some water? We're all famished and dehydrated here."
White Magick pointed his hoof towards the north and replied, "How about all of you go and wait for us in the forest. I along with our generals will stay here and monitor her. Once we know more what is going on, we will come, I will reverse the invisibility spell and then we can eat and drink some water." He cast his gaze towards his whole army and continued, "Dismissed."
His army and his son headed into the forest while the king and his generals crept right to the outskirts of Ponyville so they could get a much closer look at what Twilight was doing. As they were monitoring her activities, they could hear her and couldn't help but sigh in disgust as they heard Twilight giving an arrogant speech to her soldiers, basically guaranteeing victory.