Three weeks had passed since Twilight had returned home and the time had come for her and her envoy to head off for Maredrid. Twilight woke up in a good mood knowing that she will be able to change the plans for generating revenue as it would be much easier and be less of a hassle than forcing ponies into hard labor.
Twilight headed down to her dining hall and was greeted by her usual company.
"Good morning Twilight. Did you sleep well?" asked Dark Night
Twilight replied, "Yeah, I slept well. I am just excited to get headed out to the coast today so we can set sail."
Shining Armor asked, "I have a question, are there any of those apples along the east coast like there are on the west coast?"
Twilight replied, "Honestly, I don't know. I have been to Fillydelphia but I never actually visited the coast."
Starswirl said, "There are bushes out there but they don't have apples on them. They have plums on them, which means we will need to eat more of them because they are smaller, but unlike the apples on the west coast, if they get exposed to sea water they will not get damaged."
Twilight asked, "How is the weather in that ocean this time of year?"
Starswirl said, "It is alright but there are risks of storms as the ocean waters are warmer this time of year."
Twilight replied, "In other words there is a risk of hurricanes?"
Starswirl said, "Yes, there are. Don't you know weather spells to simply force them to dissipate?"
Twilight replied, "Yeah, I do. It is no big deal if one comes along, I will just dissipate it."
Twilight and her company ate breakfast that morning and then got ready to head to the coast. Colgate arrived a little bit early to take over.
"Colgate," asked Twilight "are you ready for the next couple of weeks?"
Colgate replied, "Of course I am! You know I'm always ready to help out!"
Before Twilight could say anything else, BELCH, Spike coughs up a letter from Queen Galaxia.
Twilight said, "Oh, a letter from Galaxia. I wonder what it says."
"Twilight, there has been a minor change of plans. There will now be two meetings. The first is going to be in Maredrid and the second will be here in Faustica. This change has been made because we are not feeling well. Lemon Hearts and LaurFa will be holding the first meeting together. Also, Lyra has decided to boycott both meetings and refuses to enforce the tribute law. We look forward to seeing you when you all arrive in Faustica."
Twilight shouted, "Lyra is boycotting the meeting? That wretch, she just can't do anything to hurt the ponies' feeling down there now can she?"
Shining Armor asked, "What are you going to do about this?"
Twilight replied, "Well I will just have Lemon Hearts relay the message to her that she is to seize non-payers property instead. I doubt if it will do any good but I will take the risk. If it doesn't work I will go down there myself and unleash my wrath upon her."
Colgate asked, "If you have to do that, what would you do?"
Twilight replied, "Rather than banish her to the void, I would probably drag her flank here and throw her in the dungeon. To punish her further, I would put her in the same cell as Rarity even though there are other empty cells."
Colgate laughed, "Wow, that would be brutal punishment!"
Twilight shouted, "Ok everypony, let's get going. It is no short distance to the coast where I have my ship docked. It will then be a three day trip to Maredrid."
Dark Night asked, "I have a question. After leaving Maredrid, how long of a trip is it to Faustica?"
Shining Armor replied, "Well given that we will have to sail all the way around, that will take us 10-14 days, depending on the weather, so actually, we might be gone for closer to a month. So Colgate will have her hooves full."
Colgate said, "Shining Armor, I can handle things just fine! I have done so before!"
Twilight added, "Yeah big brother, she handled things great while we were gone to Faustica."
Twilight nodded at her envoy and said, "Ok everypony, let's get going. Oh, and Colgate, you can sleep in my bed again."
Colgate replied, "Thanks Twilight!"
Twilight and her envoy then flew off to the east with great haste hoping to get to the coast by mid-afternoon.
Once Twilight got far enough away that she could no longer be seen Colgate few down to the base to get her officers as she wanted to let them know that the time to prepare for her takeover had come.
"Ice Storm, Lightning Wasp," said Colgate "I need you to gather up the rest of the officers and meet me in the throne room. This is important."
Colgate headed to the throne room and five minutes later her officers arrived. Black Mist asked, "Colgate, what is this meeting about?"
Colgate replied, "The time has come. Twilight will be gone for a month. Even better, there will be two meetings. One in Maredrid and the other in Faustica. Lyra is boycotting both of them, which means that I can bring her here and just educate her and keep her here for the final battle. Twilight's days are numbered."
Lightning Wasp asked, "What about her armor spell? Won't that stop us from harming her forces?"
Colgate replied, "I have written a spell to shatter armor that Twilight does not know about. I also know a few other spells that she does not know. Tomorrow, we will act on my plans. I want to make sure that Twilight and her goons are out at sea."
Dark Cloud asked, "What do you plan on doing with her if we win?"
Colgate shouted, "IF? Don't you mean WHEN we win? I will cast her into the void and let her keep Chrysalis, Sombra and Cadence company."
Ice Storm asked, "When will we have a meeting that includes her friends?"
Colgate replied, "Well I don't know if they are exactly friends anymore since they are loyal to me now but that will take place that afternoon. I will invite them all for lunch and then afterwards we will discuss things much further. I am going to go let them know when they need to be here. This meeting is adjourned."
Colgate knew that with it being mid-morning, that her recruits would all be over at Sugarcube Corner so she flew over there to meet with them and have a small snack.
Colgate walked in the door and was greeted by Pinkie. "Hi Colgate, how is everything going?" asked Pinkie
Colgate replied, "Things are going well, very well. I would like a snack but also I have come to tell the four of you that the time has come."
Rainbow asked, "THE TIME?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, the time. Twilight and her envoy left for the coast this morning. They will be setting sail late in the afternoon. I want the four of you to come to lunch with me and my officers. Then we will go to the throne room to have a meeting."
Applejack asked, "What is this here meeting going to be about?"
Colgate replied, "You will find out then. I will let you know though that some things have happened that will work to our advantage. Pinkie, do you think I could have a couple of donuts?"
"Of course you can! The ones today have extra sprinkles!" said Pinkie
Colgate gave Pinkie ten bits for the donuts and said, "Great! I love sprinkles on my donuts. The more the better."
Rainbow Dash said, "Uh, aren't those really bad for your teeth? I thought you wouldn't eat donuts if your life depended on it."
Colgate replied, "I always brush after my meals! So I don't have to worry about it!"
Colgate just decided to hang around with them until lunch time came and just engaged in normal chit chat and shared a few laughs with them, not to mention a couple slices of cake.
Flutteshy said, "Wow, I've never seen you eat so many sweets!"
Colgate replied, "Well I was just craving some today. Besides, I am in a good mood and after lunch, I will brush anyway."
Pinkie saw it was getting close to noon and asked, "Colgate, is it time to go?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, it is time to go. I don't want to keep my officers waiting."
Colgate and her recruits headed up to her tower and entered in through her bedroom balcony as that is the quickest way to the dining hall. They were greeted by her officers.
Lightning Wasp said, "Hi Colgate, hi ladies."
Applejack said, "Howdy Lightning Wasp. How is your day treating you?"
Lightning Wasp replied, "Well it is going good. It is nice to have Colgate as the pony in charge, everything seems even more laid back than it does with Twilight."
Rainbow Dash said, "Well I can understand why. Colgate doesn't go strutting around like she owns the entire planet."
Ice Storm asked, "Where is Luna? Isn't she supposed to be here?"
Luna came running into the dining hall and said, "Sorry I'm late Colgate. Staying in the Everfree Forest you lose track of time."
Pinkie asked, "Why are you staying in the Everfree Forest? I thought you lived on Alicorn Island."
Luna replied, "We will discuss that in the meeting."
Very quickly Accurate Aim and the other chef brought them their meals. Applejack said, "Wait a minute, you look awfully familiar. Have I seen you before?"
Accurate Aim replied, "Yeah, I am Accurate Aim. I am the crystal pony you found collapsed in your apple orchard."
Applejack asked, "How is life going for you now?"
Accurate Aim replied, "Things are going better. At first I thought it was going to go worse when Twilight had be brought here because I couldn't afford to pay tribute and she forced me to dig for gems out east of town. Once she saw how good of a worker I am, she brought me in here and made me a chef."
Fluttershy said, "Well so far the food you cooked tastes great!"
Colgate replied, "It does Accurate Aim. This tastes better than anything I have had in a long time!"
Pinkie asked, "Do you know what happened to the other crystal ponies?"
Accurate Aim replied, "I have no clue. I don't know if the rest of us are dead or what because I had heard rumors that Sombra had been banished somewhere."
Colgate said, "Yeah, he was. Where, I don't know. But we need to get eating because we have an important meeting this afternoon."
Colgate and her company ate a lunch consisting mainly of meat but did have some apples. After lunch, they headed into the throne room.
Applejack asked, "So what is this here meeting about?"
Colgate replied, "Alright everypony, Twilight left this morning and will probably be reaching the coast in a couple of hours. They will set sail this afternoon and probably arrive in Maredrid in three days."
Rainbow Dash asked, "And this is important why?"
Colgate continued, "Well, Twilight received a letter from Queen Galaxia this morning, there will not be just one meeting, but two. The first will be in Maredrid, which will take three days. The journey from Maredrid to Faustica takes ten to fourteen days. Then the meeting there will last around ten days and the journey home from there will take four days. So Twily and her envoy will be gone somewhere between 28-32 days."
Fluttershy asked, "So we will have plenty of time to get things ready?"
Colgate continued, "Also, Lyra is boycotting both meetings so we will be able to go and get her and instead of having to educate her on a ship, we can just bring her here and have her with us for the battle."
Luna asked, "What are we going to do about my parents?"
Colgate replied, "Ok, they won't be at the first meeting. So here is my plan. Tomorrow, I will form a time bubble where myself, Rainbow Dash, my colonels and some of our other soldiers will travel in. I will freeze time and we can get to Faustica very quickly. Once we get there all of us will head to the palace. I am going to drain your parents so I can become larger than Twilight. I am already smarter than her, I want to be physically larger and stronger than her."
Luna replied, "Wait a minute, my parents are loyal to you. When the time comes, they will show their true loyalty.
Colgate replied, "That is right. Are there any other large Alicorns there?"
Luna said, "Yes, his name is Muscles. He is much bigger than any other Alicorn I have ever seen. He is also very intelligent for a non-royal or non-studious Alicorn. I think he should be the one you should drain. He hangs around the cafe in the town square very often."
Colgate replied, "Thanks. That will make things much easier and when Twily, Lemon Hearts and LaurFa get there, they won't suspect anything."
Luna said, "I think we need to have the whole army ready. You never know what she will be bringing with her."
Fluttershy said, "Won't it just be her and those who went with her that will be going with her. Won't the only army she has with her be her two generals?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, but I have a feeling that while she is in Faustica, she will duplicate the army there and bring some back with her. I have the eye that I can watch her with. Whatever she creates, I will duplicate you guys to where we have three or four more times of soldiers than her. Then she will be flying into a hornets' nest that there will be no escape from."
Applejack asked, "So chances are none of us will ever have to pay any tribute?"
Colgate replied, "Nope. We all know more magic than her now, Luna can turn into Nightmare Moon, we all know an armor shattering spell and we know how to put more power into our spells. We just need to tie up a couple of loose ends over the next day or two and we will be ready for her when she returns."
Lightning Wasp asked, "Once we win, what will happen with the stewards in the other provinces?"
Colgate replied, "Well those provinces will become sovereign nations and the stewards will become leaders of those nations. There will be no one world government anymore."
Pinkie said, "I bet Lyra will really like that!"
Colgate replied, "Yes, Lyra will love it and the ponies of Neigh Zealand will love it. That is all we need to discuss, this meeting is adjourned."
While everypony else went home and Colgate's officers headed back to the base, she headed up to her bedroom realizing that tomorrow is going to be an extremely important day. She was thinking to herself, "I hope that I won't get so big that I will be too big for this bed once I drain Muscles! I will just have to be careful how much I drain from him!"