Twilight woke up the following morning happy that she was able to consolidate all of the most important information in Equestria into her tower, knowing that no information on magic was available to the general public. She headed down to her dining hall and was greeted by her generals.
"Good morning Twilight." said Thunder Rage
"Good morning you two, did you sleep well?" asked Twilight
"Yes we did." replied Dark Night "What sorts of plans do you have for us today?"
"Well after breakfast I want you two to go over to the military instillation and just do some general exercises but for the most part, just remain alert and relax." replied Twilight
"Why do you want us to do so little today?" asked Thunder Rage
Twilight replied, "Given that we have that force field around all of Equestria we don't have any external threats and there are no internal threats. Also, since I have all the archives relocated here, I really want to do some studying. I have a feeling there are many things that I have yet to learn and you know that my quest for knowledge is infinite."
"Alright Twily," replied Dark Night "we will do some simple exercises and stay alert, you have fun studying."
"Oh, one more thing" said Twilight "I have decided that the name of our military instillation will simply be Ponyville Military Base. Nothing fancy, but just call it the base for short."
"Alright Twily," replied Thunder Rage "we will let the rest of our forces know about this."
After they ate their breakfast Dark Night and Thunder Rage headed out to the base while Twilight headed to the Ponyville Archives to do some more studying. While she had read a decent portion of the material there, there was still a lot in the Starswirl the Bearded wing that she has yet to read. She thought to herself, "I remember overhearing Celestia and Luna discussing some ancient relic on Alicorn Island, but I really need to read and see if it was a joke they had or if it is true."
Thunder Rage and Dark Night headed over to the base and addressed the rest of Twilight's military. Dark Night said, "We have a message from Twilight. She has decided to give our instillation a name. She has named it Ponyville Military Base, but she wants us to simply call it the base for short. Do you guys understand?"
One of the changeling drones shouted out, "Yes sir! We understand, sir!"
"What about the rest of you?" said Thunder Rage
The whole army shouted in unison, "Yes sir!"
Thunder Rage replied, "You know guys, while I appreciate you calling us sir or addressing us by our rank and name, just call us by our name. I think that is what Twilight would want. She utterly despises things being overly formal and I think we should adopt her laid back ways."
"That sounds like a good plan." replied Colonel Ice Storm "After all, Twilight is the queen and commander in chief, so let's do things her way."
The whole army cheered over this idea and then started their daily exercises before relaxing and conversing among one another.
Back in the archives Twilight was in the very back of the Starswirl the Bearded room when she discovered an ancient scroll that spoke of a jade alicorn that was located in Faustica, the capitol city of Alicorn Island and home to LaurFa, the Queen of all Queens.
Twilight said to herself, "Yeah, it WAS her home until she so foolishly challenged me and actually believed she could remove me from power!"
She continued to read through the scroll and discovered it was the jade alicorn that gave LaurFa the power to see everything from afar and for it to work that it must be placed in the hole in the center of the magical emerald plate. The scroll continued, "For many millennia the jade alicorn has been kept in the bedroom of the goddess LaurFa, as having it close to Her makes it's effects the strongest."
Twilight shouted, "A-Ha! Now I know where that relic is kept and I know how to maximize it's effects once I acquire it and bring it home with me!"
Twilight continued to read through the most ancient scrolls and found a scroll that designated the library on Alicorn Island in Faustica to have the largest collection of books on magic and especially hold ancient, one of a kind scrolls from the greatest unicorns in the history of the world.
Twilight thought to herself, "I am going to need a lot more than just changelings to help me empty out that library. I am going to have to convert many unicorns here into Alicorns and I am going to have to take the biggest risk of all. I am going to have to release LaurFa. Wait a minute, I will just cast the loyalty spell on her! I can do that since she is so much weaker than me now! Twily, you are a genius!"
Twilight realized that before she releases LaurFa, that she needs to gather other unicorns and transform them into Alicorns, whether they have written their own magic or not. She knew her brother was going to be visiting her today so she waited at her tower for his arrival.
Around noon Shining Armor showed up. "Twily!" shouted Shining Armor "How is my little sister doing?"
"I am doing great big brother! I have just been doing a lot of studying today. How are you doing?" replied Twilight
"Well I am doing ok. I heard you relocated the Canterlot Archives to Ponyville." said Shining Armor
Twilight replied, "Yes, I did. I just wanted all the information closer to me and since I moved the capitol here, I figured they should be in the capitol city."
"Good move," replied Shining Armor "I wouldn't trust having it in another city and being vulnerable to those who should not have access to them."
Twilight smiled and said, "You know big brother, we are way too much alike! It is lunch time, what would you think of joining me for lunch. I know you have always had a huge appetite and there is plenty of food to be had!"
"I would never pass up a free meal Twily," replied Shining Armor "especially one you are having prepared!"
Twilight and her brother began to sit down for lunch and he asked her, "Twilight, now that you have the archives here, what other endeavors will you be leading your forces on?"
"Big brother," replied Twilight "I do not discuss anything involving military action or future endeavors during meals. I have studied and it has been proven that leaders, commanders and soldiers who refrain from discussing such things during meals have a much higher success rate than those who do."
"Wow Twily!" said Shining Armor "Here I was captain of the royal guard but you know much more about battle plans and other military tactics in general than I do!"
After they finished their lunch Twilight told him about the vast knowledge in the Faustica library, which holds even more information than her archives do and how she wishes to get that information to Ponyville. She also told him about the jade alicorn and the emerald plate it needs to work and how she wishes to bring those back home as well.
"How are you going to get those?" asked Shining Armor "Faustica is the most heavily guarded city on the face of the planet."
"I have plans big brother, don't worry! I do have a question, what would you think of becoming an Alicorn?"
"WHAT?" said a stunned Shining Armor
"Yes, an Alicorn big brother. You are of royal blood since you are my brother. Your powers will be far greater." said Twilight
"Wait a minute," said Shining Armor "You want me to aid you in your raid on Faustica, don't you?"
"Yes big brother, I do. Your efforts will be well worth it. How would you like to be a five star general, the general of the army?"
Shining Armor asked, "Would I still be able to be a prince as well?"
Twilight replied, "Well sort of. I would elevate you to Grand Prince and you would be first in line to the throne, given that you are my brother."
"Alright Twily," replied Shining Armor "you have got yourself a deal!"
This pleased Twilight very much. She figured that instead of making Shining Armor write his own magic that she would simply transform into an Alicorn right away.
"Shining Armor, I need you to go over into that open field for what I am about to do." said Twilight
"What are you going to do Twilight?" asked Shining Armor
"I am going to transform you into an Alicorn now. Being the most powerful pony in the universe I can transform ponies into Alicorns without them writing their own magic." said Twilight
Shining Armor nodded and they went over into the field she requested.
Twilight pointed her horn at Shining Armor as it began to glow a deep shade of purple. She sent energy to Shining Armor 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 smarts they will be great and they shall never have a bad fate."
The energy hit Shining Armor and he began to levitate and great amounts of energy gathered around him. This lasted for three minutes before the energy dispersed and he floated to the ground using his new wings.
"It worked!" shouted an ecstatic Twilight "Big brother, or should I say Grand Prince Big Brother! You're an Alicorn now!"
Shining Armor looked at his new wings and said, "Twilight, this is awesome but I just want you to call me big brother or Shining Armor like you prefer to be called Twilight or Twily by those close to you, or in the case of me, sis or little sister."
"Alright," replied Twilight "Wow, I did a lot of studying in the archives but I never thought this would actually work!"
"I have a question Twilight," asked Shining Armor "Are my wings supposed to be this big compared to my body?"
Twilight replied, "Of course they are. All Alicorns have wings that are large compared to their body."
Shining Armor was impressed with Twilight's ability to write magic so advanced and with his new title. "Twilight, what are my new responsibilities as general of the army, Grand Prince and first in line to the throne?"
Twilight replied, "Well, your role as general of the army is to supervise our army to make sure they are remaining focused and that the generals are doing their jobs. As Grand Prince, if I can't make it to a speech to our subjects, you will go in my stead. You will also join me with the ones I do make it to as we will address our subjects together. As far as first in line to the throne goes, if I die you will become King."
"But I thought Alicorns didn't die." said Shining Armor
"We can not die of old age or any kind of ailment, as we are immune to them but we can die on the battlefield just the same as a regular soldier can."
Shining Armor understood this and they went into her throne room to engage in discussions with their officers. General Dark Night and General Thunder Rage joined them.
Twilight addressed her generals, "Dark Night, Thunder Rage, this is my brother, Shining Armor. I have just recently transformed him into an Alicorn Prince. He has an immense amount of military and battlefield knowledge. He is the General of the Army. While you will still oversee the forces you have commanded, he will oversee all military issues, including your performance. Do you understand?"
"Yes Twily, I understand." said Dark Night
Thunder Rage was not quite so impressed with the idea of there being a commander above him. He said to Twilight, "Twilight, I thought I was the highest rank within our army."
Twilight replied, "Before my brother became general of the army, I oversaw everything you did, so this is no different."
"Oh, ok. I understand Twilight. You are our leader and anything you do is good in our eyes." replied Thunder Rage
After Dark Night and Thunder rage left she told him that she needs to release LaurFa from the void to aid them in their next campaign.
Shining Armor said, "What? You know that you can't make a pony more powerful than you loyal to you."
Twilight replied, "Big brother, don't worry. In the battle where I fought off the royal family's takeover I drained a majority of the life out of her. I will easily be able to cast the loyalty spell on her. It will be the reeducating of her that will take more time."
"She will have to be reeducated?" asked Shining Armor
"Yes." replied Twilight "When I drained her I transferred her knowledge to myself. However, to bring her back from the void, we must go to Canterlot to the exact place I banished her to the void."
Twilight and Shining Armor discussed how this would be a difficult endeavor but Twilight told him that if they take some changelings with them, it will be easy as pie.
"Ok," said Shining Armor "When do we do this?"
Twilight replied, "Tomorrow after breakfast. Let's just relax for the rest of the day. When it is time to go to bed, there is a VIP bedroom that is the absolute best of all of them. It is across from my bedroom. That will be your living quarters. I am sure you will enjoy it."
Shining Armor replied, "I'm sure I will. I have a feeling that this will be the best time of my life!"