My sleep was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a bugle sounding over the camp. They weren't kidding when they said the bugle would be early. My eyes groaned open as I looked about. It was, as they had said, five in the morning.

Somehow I still felt exhausted. My eyes were open and still felt tired.

I heard outside the sound of ponies hauling themselves out of tents and getting into position.

I heard a knock on my tent. "Rise and shine sleepyhead!"

"Gotcha, Zipp!" I replied. I pulled myself out of my sleeping bag and onto the ground, closing it behind me. I then slipped the zip on the edge of the tent open and stumbled out into the base we had built the previous day.

After a few minutes of looking about, I then spotted where we were in the camp. All the equipment was being lined up for duty, as the monumental task loomed before us.

Me and my friends were standing in position, ready to join the attack on Zephyr Heights. The orders had directed us to the briefing room, so we headed once again to the large tent that had been our dining hall the previous night.

Once inside the tent, we were all directed to our seats, and took a look at an enormous map which had been positioned on the wall in the time since yesterday. And boy were there a lot of arrows on it.

As far as I could see, Opwinden had put together a very ambitious battle plan for us to follow. Although we had a large force, made considerably bigger by the Gulfstream exiles we had picked up the previous day, we were still a limited force, and throwing all of us at one line of defence would have been close to foolhardy.

Instead, we were to be deployed into several different attack groups, each striking a different portion of the city. That way, Gulfstream's defences would be stretched thin, and he would be unable to properly retaliate in force against any of us as he would have to cope with six other offensives at the same time.

I had to admit it was a bold strategy. But fortune favours the bold, so goes the saying. We had to keep going to ensure the safety of the world. Besides, I had a promise to Pipp I had intended to uphold, no matter what.

Sure enough, I continued to watch the plan, and saw the arrows all converge on the palace itself- the headquarters of the dictator himself. This was the end goal. We take that, we defeat his regime once and for all. Rather like taking the Reichstag. Symbolically, we would have won the war. I was a little tense as I saw the plan floating across the display, but the soldiers seemed to take it in their stride. Pun not intended.

But then things soon changed, as we were prepared to see what they had in store for us. Most of the soldiers had left the room, but then we were told to come forward.

Opwinden had set up a relief map of the region, complete with more markings upon it. He pointed to it, and showed us the basic problems with the assault on the city he had once called home. "There's only one road in and out of the city that could handle our armour column, given that most pegasi fly in or out of the city on planes. This rather limits the armour support that we can receive. A recon drone was dispatched last night, and revealed the road approach has been turned into a fortress. Pillboxes, machine guns- it'd be suicide mounting a frontal assault with our full force."

Opwinden then revealed the next stage of his plan. To try and boost morale, he would be assigning us to different fronts of the battlefield and assisting the troops in the advance.

It seemed like madness to me. I didn't know the first thing about tactics or strategy, nor had I been military material back on the other side of the dimensional curtain. But I quickly sensed I had little choice in the matter after Zipp enthusiastically volunteered to take part in one of the assaults.

Great. I hate being voluntold into doing stuff.

After that was over, and Zipp received her briefing, Opwinden spoke again. "Very good. Your gear is waiting for you outside. Sunny and Izzy, your briefing is next."

Once she had left the tent, Opwinden spoke to us next. "You two," he said, "have a very important task ahead of you. As you already know from earlier in the briefing, the core of our assault will be initiating a diversionary offensive on the enemy lines up this road." He then indicated to the main road, which helpfully had white lights illuminated on it. "Our forces will be following this road and splintering off, but the only way in and out for the tanks is this road. It's a perfect defence which is now being used against us."

Brilliant. It always should be said that fortifications can be used against you at any times. Just ask the British at Yorktown, who found part of their defensive line being incorporated into the American siege works.

"So, what do we do?" I asked, not sure where this was going. Or rather, desperately hoping this wasn't going where I thought it was going.

"About half of our armoured contingent is vehicles from the unicorns, and the core of the infantry assault brigade is unicorn soldiers as well. As such, I intend for both you and Sunny to join and assist them. Your knowledge of their customs and beliefs will be invaluable during this offensive, so I want you two to act as liasons."

Wait, what? He couldn't be serious! I didn't know the first thing about fighting in battle! This had to be a joke!

I had no chance to protest, as Izzy answered for me. "Yes sir! We won't let you down, sir!"

"Very good," Opwinden said. "Weapons and armour are outside. Make good use of them."

I resigned myself to my fate. It looked as though I would be going into battle after all, and this wasn't going to be easy. I trotted over to one of the tanks after collecting my gear and sat on the back of one.

Izzy joined me a few moments later, looking a little odd with her helmet and flak jacket on. "Never thought I'd be going to war here," she said.

"Me neither," I replied. "Shows how suddenly things can change, huh?"

"That's true," Izzy replied. "But, you know, I've been sensing something. There's an odd feeling, an odd sparkle if you will."

I was trying to maintain eye contact with Izzy, but the weight of this helmet was making that rather difficult. "I was wondering if you'd ever bring that up again," I said, encumbered by this helmet. "This helmet is really heavy."

Izzy nodded. "Well, it is designed to stop a bullet," she said. "But Sprout is not a bad guy- and the world seemingly has another dictator ready to go. What if we are simply being driven around the map like pieces on a board by some unknown actors?"

I knew who she was alluding to, but based on what I knew of the guy he wouldn't be capable of something like this. "You're thinking of Chris, aren't you?" I asked. "I don't think that's him. He's mean, but he's no strategist. He'd probably get bored of moving us around and go back to playing on his Switch." Given his approach to dealing with us thus far had been 'fire erratically and hope for the best,' I didn't think we had too much to worry about.

"He has a Switch?" Izzy asked.

I sighed again. "At least three. Why he needs three I have no idea. Surely one is enough?"

Just then, the order to advance was given, and the tank crews began preparing their machines to move. The hatches were closed and engines started, and before long we were on our way.

The road then narrowed to the point that the tanks could only fit in two across, with infantry columns moving up behind them. Our troops were on the move as well, so we had to keep our heads on the swivel in case any snipers had been positioned in the rocks.

I tried to focus hard, but I was arguably in the scariest situation in my entire life. I was about to go into battle.

Gradually, our different groups splintered off on their various missions. We only knew our portion of the operation in case we got captured. That way, we couldn't blow the entire plan.

Our tanks continued to role out, reaching the enemy lines fairly soon. Like the other soldiers, we dismounted from the back of the tank, and got into position behind the wall, seeing a maze in front of us.

Well, here we go. Omaha Beach Simulator, pony edition.

Author's Note

Sunny finds herself marching towards war once again, a scenario she never dreamed she would end up in. But life does often throw us in unusual directions like that.

The assault plan is loosely inspired by Operation Overlord, the largest and most complex amphibious landing in history which started to liberation of Europe. Sunny also alludes to the Reichstag, which was the site of a very bloody battle between Soviet and German forces in Berlin during the final days of WW2.

Chris Chan has owned three Nintento Switches in his lifetime. It is unclear why he owned two at once, but the third was acquired after his release from jail (as the previous two are believed to have been sold during a clearance of junk at his old home).

Omaha Beach needs no introduction, but its prevalence in popular culture has rather skewed popular perception of D-Day. Whilst the landings were contested, Sword and Gold went as planned, and Juno saw a tank battle rage on the beach for most of the day. Utah was also captured with minimal difficulty owing to being basically undefended. Omaha was the only one to turn into a particular bloodbath owing to poor weather.

And next time, the offensive shall begin.