I positioned myself within the room, and quickly glanced at all the different displays within it. Presumably each console and display was configured to operate a different role within the broadcast process? That seemed to make sense, but if that was the case how in the world were two ponies- myself and Misty- supposed to operate all of this machinery during the broadcast? Would we be hot desking like a group of manic weasels, bouncing from desk to desk to try and regulate the process? Or would we simply sit at one desk and hope for the best? I didn't really know which one of those to do, to be honest. I simply hoped for the best.

I glanced over to Pipp, whom I had noticed looking at me with a slight look of confusion. I decided to speak to break the awkward silence. "Doesn't look too different to most broadcast rooms," I said. I had watched plenty of BBC broadcasts, but I suspected most news rooms looked very similar. "I presume you go behind the news anchor desk, Pipp?"

Pipp nodded, and went over to the position in order to get it ready for use. "That's correct," she said, and pointed to some of the controls. "This controls the broadcast gear," she said, pointing to one of the computer consoles. I positioned myself behind it to operate it before letting her continue. "This is used to interrupt existing broadcasts with emergency or other messages, such as if somepony important dies. As a result, it's perfect for our needs!"

I had seen that at least once in my lifetime. Rest in Peace, Queen Elizabeth. I looked at the buttons and noticed the screen was an exact copy of the one that was displaying on the screen of the camera in front of the news desk. Presumably they controlled the camera from here when there weren't enough ponies to operate the camera unit manually.

I hopped over to the camera to set it up and ensure it was properly configured as a backup. Pipp, on the other hand, hopped behind the desk and did some quick mouth exercises to get her speech in order before quickly fluffing her wings. This'll sound a bit weird, but when she does that I think it does a great job of bringing out her natural beauty as it catches her facial features really well and-

Focus, Hitch!

I fiddled with more controls, trying to make sense of them. After an odyssey of zooming, focusing in and out (resulting in a very blurry image) and finally figuring out why Pipp looked like a ghost (it turned out the camera had a night vision function for some reason- I had no clue why), I finally got the device figured out for the broadcast. "I can see why focus pullers are still in a job," I said, as I flicked some more switches. "This is harder than it looks."

"Are we ready?" Misty called from another computer. I would have given a thumbs up, but remembered in the moment that ponies don't have thumbs, and as such merely nodded to the comment.

Pipp nodded too, but she had the benefit she was on the other side of a camera, so Misty could see her.

Misty then pushed some buttons, and then some more news. I got a display that the broadcast override was in effect, and I punched a button to fire up the broadcast. "Ready, Misty." A light on the top of the camera turned red to denote that it was now broadcasting the image.

"Camera's rolling!" Misty said.

Pipp took a deep breath, and began to speak the speech that had been put in her supplies. I was wondering how she was speaking without having it in front of her (which would suggest she memorised it very quickly), but then I noticed she'd plugged her phone into a teleprompter, and the words were displaying on there. Which was how she was delivering it so well.

And what a speech! I can't recount the entire thing, as I don't have a copy on me, but it was such a stunning speech it felt like one of the ones that would be preserved for all eternity. In fact, it was so moving, so powerful, that Pipp's name should be up there with the great orators of all time.

This was our 'We shall Fight them on the Beaches' moment, and it was incredible to be there seeing history being made. All we needed was patriotic music playing in the background.

If Pipp is set to become the future Queen, they're definitely in safe hands when it comes to making speeches and the like.

"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!"

And with those words the broadcast came to an end. Unfortunately, switching on all that gear must have been noticed by the authorities, as suddenly there was some noise from outside.

Chopper blades whirred outside the building, and suddenly several windows shattered as soldiers rappelled in, the sound of their gear slamming into the ground being clearly audible before they had landed. It was then followed by the noise of boots thumping across the terrain, before all suddenly fell silent.

"BREACH AND CLEAR!"

I shrugged, and grabbed a weapon from my inventory. "Looks like we just rang the dinner bell for that lot!" I lined the rifle up in a defensive position. I still have no idea how we're able to operate firearms, but in that moment it was simply best not to question and just keep fighting.

I looked back to Pipp. "Head down!" I called. "You're a high value target!"

Pipp nodded and popped below the desk whilst I readied my weapon. Misty suddenly slipped into position next to me with a submachine gun. Presumably it had been lying on the floor, which was convenient. "Here we go," she said.

"I hope they've got a good appetite for battle," I said.

Suddenly, explosions rang from the room, and after the blasts special forces began to enter the room, focusing their fire on us. I pulled back and dropped two of them before switching targets. There were such tight clearances that we didn't really need to aim. This room was a lot easier to defend than I had thought possible, so I simply had to watch where they were coming from and voila.

I noticed Misty ducked in and out of cover, and although we had helmets I had to do the same. I pulled down, and she popped up to lay down some fire. We soon settled into this pattern of popping up and down.

"COVER ME! I'M RELOADING!"

"COPY THAT!"

When one dropped down to reload, the other would pop up to lay down some fire. This prevented a situation of us being caught off guard when the enemy rushed our positions.

Suddenly, new voices could be heard.

"FLASH AND CLEAR!"

I pulled my head down to avoid getting blinded, but what surprised me was the voice. I could have sworn it was Sprout!

Loud bangs and flashes of light filled the room, and more gunfire sounded nearby. There was a fresh hail of fire. Fire that came from weapons that weren't aimed at us or from us.

I popped my head up and saw that the battle was over. The fight was concluded. And our allies had arrived in the nick of time to save us. Talk about the cavalry arriving.

As Sprout and Misty shared a moment, I stepped over to ensure Pipp was OK. "You OK?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, as she pulled herself up. "Good work out there, Hitch. There's a medal in this for you yet."

"I'm not a Pegasus citizen," I said.

"And yet you fought to defend her from her enemies," Pipp said. "Thanks."

Just then, I overheard Sprout. "I can be a cool, awesome hero when I wanna be."

I trotted over and looked at him. "Oh, apart from the fact we did all the work," I said. "You just swept in at the end and took all the credit. Bloody Yanks..."

It turned out Pipp's message had turned the tide. Soldiers had switched sides, and Gulfstream was dead, felled by an assault force that caught him by surprise. As we flew over the burning city in choppers, it was clear a great terrible victory had been won.

The art gallery was a mess, as well. Gulfstream had filled the place with paintings that aggrandized himself.

"What a mess they've made of the place," Pipp sighed. "Mom's gonna have to put all her favorite paintings back up!"

"I'm no art critic," I said, "but none of these paintings are what I would call good, Pipp."

Meeting the others in the throne room was a relief. But no sooner had we defeated one foe, then we were thrust into another fight. Yep. He was back.

Author's Note

Well, here we are! The end of another segment. Hard to believe this story has been going for all this time.

This segment is loosely inspired by a sequence in The Purge TV series, where a character risks her life in a public broadcast to expose the lies of a corrupt regime to the world. The speech itself is documented in full back in Pipp's story, but a segment of it is included here. The firefight itself draws inspiration from a setpiece in Modern Warfare 3 (the good one, not the overpriced DLC), namely the firefight in the New York Stock Exchange.

Hitch's complaint about Sprout swooping in to save the day is an allusion to common complaints about the USA's role in WW2, as Americans have a bad habit of taking credit for the victory over the Axis. Whilst their role in defeating the Japanese cannot be disputed, to say they won the European theatre is innacurate given that they entered the war 2 and a half years later than everybody else, and Germany never had less than 60% of its forces facing the USSR (who arguably turned the tide of the conflict).

Next time, we shall find out what Zipp is up to.