Ten days had passed since Twilight began training her new recruits for the upcoming mission. Twilight had been walking around the base and is impressed with what she has seen. Shining Armor has the dark unicorns and changelings ready for the quest and Colgate has trained her friends along with Lemon Hearts and Lyra to perfection.
After eating breakfast Twilight headed down to the base and addressed her soldiers and recruits. "I have been watching over everything that has been going on and I am very pleased. Shining Armor, Dark Night and Thunder Rage, I think your forces are well prepared for our mission. Colgate, from the results everypony has had out on the range, both accuracy and power, I think we are ready to head off on our mission."
Dark Night asked, "Twilight, when are you going to tell the whole army what this is about?"
Twilight replied,"I am going to tell them now. Everypony, the mission we are going on is to retrieve a relic I desire on Alicorn Island in the city of Faustica. Not only do I need to retrieve that relic, but the library there contains a lot of special materials."
Lemon Hearts asked, "Why do you want that library so much?"
Twilight replied, "I was studying up in the archives and I read in one of the oldest scrolls that Faustica was designated as the place where the absolute most powerful books and scrolls regarding magic would be held. I do not think it is in the best interests of Equestria for some other nation to have that information."
Lemon Hearts said, "I understand Twilight. We can't have another nation having the ability to learn magic that would allow them to attack us or try to remove you from power."
Twilight smiled and said, "That is right Lemon Hearts. I see you are just as focused as I am."
Lyra added, "I trust Twilight entirely and I know that this is a national security issue. I am more than ready to help her out with this. What about everypony else?"
All of Twilight's armies and new recruits shouted, "WE'RE READY TWILIGHT!"
Colonel Lightning Wasp asked, "Twilight, what are we going to do regarding all our changelings. They are fairly vulnerable to attacks from Alicorns. Is there any sort of spell you know that could at least give them more protection against their energy?"
Twilight replied, "Yes, I do have a spell that will allow them to have that protection. I am going to cast that spell once we get a couple of miles away from Faustica. The sooner before the mission I cast it, the stronger it will be."
Applejack asked, "Twilight, are we going to take the entire army with us on this mission or will some of them be staying here?"
Twilight replied, "Thank you for addressing that Applejack. We have around 10,000 changelings and just over 5,000 Alicorn soldiers. My plan is to take half of each with us. If on the way I feel that we need more, I will simply use my duplication spell to make more. After all, we do need some of our soldiers to stay here at home to crush any rebellions or disorder of any sort."
"Which officers will be staying at home and which ones will be going?" asked Colgate
"Colgate," replied Twilight "The generals, the majors and captains will be going with us. The colonels and lieutenants will be staying here. We can't have all the officers going in the event the Alicorns there become hostile, attack us and potentially kill some of our officers."
Shining Armor added, "We will be tomorrow. There will be no further training exercises of any sort until after we complete this mission. It is a long enough flight to the coast where we will set sail and then it is a four day trip from there to Alicorn Island."
Fluttershy asked, "Will we all be on one ship Twilight?"
Twilight replied, "No, we will be taking two ships. One will have myself, my new recruits and my Alicorn soldiers. The other will contain Shining Armor and all the changelings. That way we don't have to worry about being cramped."
Colgate said, "Alright everypony, those who will be going with us need to be ready to start flying to the shore tomorrow at 9 in the morning, after breakfast. It should take us five hours to get there. Twilight has already stocked both ships with enough food for decent sized meals for the trip there. Once we arrive, we will set sail, does everypony understand?"
Twilight added, "I need all of my recruits to join Shining Armor and I in the throne room. Dark Night, Thunder Rage, I want you to make sure that both armies get plenty of rest. Just keep an eye out for things like you normally would. Otherwise, just relax and enjoy one another's company."
"Alright Twilight, will do." replied Thunder Rage
Twilight, Shining Armor and the new recruits headed up to the throne room. Twilight figured she needs to make sure they are all on the same page before relaxing for the rest of the day.
"Colgate, how is this affecting your appointments at your office?" asked Twilight
Colgate replied, "Twilight, I closed for three weeks so that I can be as ready as possible for this mission. I love being a dentist but I know that if Equestria is not as secure as possible, that I might not be able to be a dentist at all."
"Good to hear that Colgate." replied Twilight "Once we get back from this mission, even if it is before you plan on reopening, I want you to do what you hold so dear. Besides, Spike really needs to see you anyway."
"Alright Twilight," replied Colgate "but we need to focus on the task at hand."
"LaurFa, besides keeping the citizens of Faustica occupied, I am going to need you to give me a detailed description of where in that palace I can find the relic I seek. I know there are two libraries there. There is the public library which I know holds vast knowledge and then there is the Goddess's library. I need to know where both of those are. I want you to wait and tell me this until right before we get there."
"I know that whole city like the back of my hoof and I know how I can make the relocation of those materials much easier. Since they think I am their goddess, I will just tell them that the libraries need to be temporarily relocated for security purposes. They will believe anything I say." replied LaurFa
"Excellent!" said Twilight "I think this mission should go fairly easy but we still must be just as prepared as though we were going to war against Alicorn Island."
Fluttershy asked, "Twilight, who will take care of my critter friends while we are gone?"
Twilight smiled and said, "I will have Spike take care of them like he did when we went up to the Crystal Empire to shore up the Equestria Games for them. If he needs any help, I have told him to get Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to help him. Maybe they will get their cutie marks as animal caretakers."
Rainbow Dash asked, "What happened to Rarity? I know she was being really rude to you and complaining about everything, but I haven't seen her since the first day of our exercises."
Twilight has become a pathological liar by this point and had no problems telling flat out lies if it will benefit her. She said, "Rainbow, I am not sure what happened to her. I know she was complaining about the food and how much better Canterlot food is. My guess is that she decided to move there."
Rainbow replied, "That little backstabber! We ought to go into Canterlot and drag her flank with us!"
Twilight replied, "No, I do not want us to do that. She has proven that she is not loyal to us or our cause. She wants to live like Alicorns did under the old regime. She can't handle anything that might cause her to chip a hoof. Just let her go be a diva and attend all the fancy parties there."
Applejack said, "Ah agree with Twilight. She ain't loyal to us and she sure ain't loyal to Equestria. The only ones she's loyal to is herself and those high falootin Canterlot ponies."
Twilight said, "Ok, it sounds like we are all on the same page. I want all of you to do what you would normally do for the rest of the day. I want you to get here around six in the morning so we can eat breakfast, have one final meeting and then fly off to the coast. It is a long flight and we need all the energy we have."
All of her friends and new recruits left the tower while Twilight and LaurFa discussed things further. Twilight knew this was extremely important and decided that just to be safe that another loyalty spell must be cast on LaurFa, even stronger than the one she used before.
"LaurFa, I need you to stand in the center of the room. This is very important." said Twilight
LaurFa replied, "Ok Twilight. Your wish is my command."
Twilight pointed her horn at LaurFa. She began to glow very brightly, her eyes were shining radioactive green and her horn had a purple and black bulb of energy at the top of it as she recited, "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."
While it did not harm her, Twilight's bolt of energy threw LaurFa across the room. Twilight flew over to check on her to make sure that she was ok.
LaurFa looked at her and said, "Twilight, I know every single detail of that city, that palace and the location of everything you need to know. I will create a detailed map of everything. Don't worry, I will keep all the city's citizens occupied."
Twilight asked, "LaurFa, does Alicorn Island or Faustica have a standing military?"
"No," replied LaurFa "since Alicorns are extremely powerful they just use their own energy to fend off danger. Galaxia and Cosmos look at it as the whole city being like one big militia. Don't worry though, there are only 1,000 ponies that live there and with our forces, dealing with them should be easy."
Twilight was pleased with what she was hearing so she let LaurFa have the rest of the day off to relax. She headed to her balcony and looked out over Ponyville realizing that while she has it good now, that soon she would have the relic she needs and all the information required so that if she decided she wanted to conquer the world, she could easily do so.
Shining Armor walked up to Twilight and said, "Twily, what are we going to do in the event that both of us were to be killed. Who would rise to be king or queen?"
"Don't worry big brother," replied Twilight "I have spoken with both the Alicorn officers and the changeling officers, and they have agreed to share power and turn Equestria into a nation led by the military."
"Wow Twily, you really think ahead don't you!" said Shining Armor "What if there is a lot of protests against the military sitting on the throne?"
Twilight replied, "I told them that if this situation were to rise that they should do what I would do. Go and crush the rebellion and do what they see fit with the disobedient ones. Don't worry though, I doubt there will be much risk to any of our lives on this mission."