And with that order, we did.

There was a ferocious blast from all of the guns, and they lobbed shells into the building facing us that was packed with enemy fortifications. They exploded on contact, blowing chunks out of the bulding.

"Reload and fire again!" the officer shouted. "The men are preparing to rush the building!"

I observed the others pulling open the cannons and removing the old shells, before slamming in a new one and readying the gun to fire once more.

"FIRE!"

So we did. We kept this up for what felt like hours, and sure enough the resolve of the enemy began to crack. We began to push forward as quickly as we could, and crossed the ground at speeds that we could only have imagined.

I was referring to the assault forces, of course. I was attached to the artillery still, so couldn't really move up with the rest of the unit. I was determined to keep going, mind you, so with every order we kept firing the guns over and over again to soften them up. Slowly the enemy fire began to reduce, as the power of our heavy guns continued to light them up over and over again.

The storm party had broken into the structure, and based on the explosions and gunfire were busy clearing out the structure from the enemy. I watched intently, keen to see what else might happen before they broke through and ended the fight for us now.

Whilst I was watching, I suddenly got a buzzing on my radio. "Hello?"

"Sunny? It's Pipp!"

"Yes? What's going on, over?"

"I've got a little surprise that I think will help you tip the scales. Watch the skies!"

I looked behind me, and suddenly saw the big screens had changed. Instead of constantly broadcasting Gulfstream's propaganda non stop, it was instead showing something new and dramatic.

It was instead playing the speech that was running on the TVs I had passed earlier!

"You have suffered under tyranny and oppression for long enough! It is time for the light of hope and peace to return! We are here to free you from Gulfstream's terror! So rise up, and help us overthrow him!"

I was amazed. Pipp and her friends had achieved a miracle and accessed the main screens. This message was now being broadcast across the entire city and was a source of relief for all who were watching the scene unfolding before us.

Eventually, the assault party emerged from the building, hauling large numbers of prisoners out of the structure. It seemed the last survivors had decided to do the sensible thing and surrender directly to us.

They were hauled into the courtyard and placed where we could see them. "Sit in the corner and put your hooves where I can see them!" a soldier shouted.

"You only won because you had more guns!" shouted another soldier. "History shall remember us!"

"Indeed, history will remember you," said the first soldier. "They will remember you as a byword for treason."

"Leave some soldiers here to guard this lot, and proceed onwards to the Palace," said another soldier. "Gets those guns packed up and fire up the artillery tractors. We retake the palace next. Any of you ready to kill Gulfstream?"

But when we got to the palace, things were oddly quiet. It was as if somepony had been here before us. And had already cleared out the defenses to the palace. Many soldiers were already there, processing enemy soldiers who had surrendered, and armour was already in position to monitor any funny business on their part.

Just then, I received a buzz on a device, informing me I needed to proceed to the throne room immediately. So, I went inside the palace. I still could follow the corridor layout and knew it like the back of my hoof, even if Gulfstream had changed the decor a bit. I pushed across the field and made my way into the palace proper, shaking my head at all the paintings he'd replaced others with. Most of them were of himself or were overt propaganda pieces depicting glorious victories over the other tribes. Figuring out who won what and establishing the true truth would be quite the challenge to unpack later on.

I continued to make my way through the corridors, navigating them with ease. I mean, I had had a week to learn them, so finding my way around in here was pretty simple if I do say so myself.

I looped round a bend and walked down more corridors, the sun shining through them for the first time in what felt liked quite a while. It had rained constantly according to Zipp, almost as if Equestria itself was weeping for the devastation Gulfstream had brought about.

As I rounded the corridor, I suddenly heard what sounded like sobbing. I stepped closer, and saw a figure leaning next to a wall. Her shoulders were heaving, and her breathing was erratic. Her body movements were consistent with somepony who was crying.

I stepped closer, and realised it was Izzy. But why was she so upset?

I trotted closer, and spoke up. "What's wrong, Izzy?"

Izzy turned her face to me, her muzzle and fur stained with tears, and suddenly her face shifted. No longer was a look of sorrow and pain. Now it was tears of joy and happiness.

Before I could react she threw her forelegs around my neck and pulled me into a hug. "Sunny! You're alive!"

Figuring we were both balancing each other's weight, I decided to return the favour to her. "Nearly wasn't for a moment there," I admitted. "But I made it. Izzy, I'm so glad to see you again."

There was a sudden change in Izzy's manner, and she abruptly dropped back from the hug as I tried to regain my balance. "Don't ever scare me like that again, you understand?" she said, sternly.

Wow. Never knew she was capable of that. So I decided I might as well give her this one. It had been quite a scary few hours, I had to admit. Makes being fired upon by splatapaults from a rampaging robot seem almost quaint in comparison, when you'd lived through what was basically a massive siege. "Yes, mom," I said, before dropping the act. "Shall we go to the throne room? I think the others will want to know what we've been up to."

Izzy was more than happy to oblige, so we made our way down those corridors back to the throne room. I must admit it felt weird not seeing all the usual things in there, as what had formally been a room with a party in it had been turned into some sort of command centre. Machines lined the walls, and monitors hung above the walls and looked directly at the throne. Perhaps Gulfstream had installed these so he could monitor the soldiers?

There was no body in there. "What happened?" I asked.

"Gulfstream went down fighting," said one of the soldiers. "I was amazed he didn't try to run like a coward. He may have been a sack of shit, but you've got to give him credit for not being a coward."

I nodded. "Right." I saw the Queen was in a conversation with Zipp and her husband- still a bizarre revelation if you ask me- so myself and Izzy went to another part of the room to catch up with the others.

And to my delight, the entire team was here. They stood together, and we'd made it through the fires of war and emerged victorious. That felt great to know my friends were through this.

I stopped in front of another section of the room and spotted Misty and Sprout seemed to be sharing a moment. Good thing Alphabittle wasn't here, or else he'd throw a fit.

I made my way back down the room and stopped near a different location to get a look at the TV screens once more. They currently weren't broadcasting anything, which wasn't surprising. They needed to get the war mess cleaned up from the disaster which had just befallen this city.

I continued to look about, and as I looked around I noticed some objects were left lying about. I trotted closer to one, which looked very out of place in the art deco trappings of Zephyr Heights.

It was a yellow object on a chain, which seemed like it would be worn around the neck. I took a closer look. It was a vaguely yellow thing with the shape and face of some Sonic like thing.

Why would that be in here? It made no sense as Sonic didn't exist in this world, unless...

I clicked what this meant a few seconds later. It meant our old friend was here. But how had he gotten into the palace without anypony noticing? Was he working with Gulfstream?

In that next moment, my question was answered. A face I had hoped I would never see again appeared on the screen.

Author's Note

The fighting here, as noted in the previous chapter, is based in the liberation of France, which saw brutal building to building combat as many towns had been turned into effective fortresses. Some inspiration was also taken from Stalingrad; Call of Duty World at War does a fantastic job of capturing just how nerve wracking and terrifying such an environment would have been-considering soldiers didn't have respawn on their side.

And yes... he's back. The thing Sunny finds is an object called the Sonichu Medallion. Sonichu was a character created by Chris in an attempt to evade a requirement for a high school class to not use copyrighted characters on an album cover. The character is a combination of Sonic and Pikachu, and quickly went on to become an all consuming obsession for Chris, to the point he believes Sonichu literally exists in another reality.

We will now take a pause here until December, so see you then!