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.