Sure enough, we were now partway up the rockface and standing atop a rocky outcrop. This outcrop, which as noted before sat on the outskirts of the city, gave commanding views in all directions as we could see in virtually all directions for hundreds of miles. It was also good that there was no cloud, as that allowed for clearer views as well.

I looked back at the rest of the party, who were all atop the rocky outcrop as well. They glanced about, some of whom didn't seem to be in the best of health. I noticed the Colonel and Captain Feldsturm had come with us as well, alongside some other soldiers and, of course, Golden himself.

Feldsturm seemed to be breathing somewhat heavily. "I'd forgotten how that climb can knock the air out of your lungs!" he said, trying to conceal his breathing a bit and not doing a very good job of succeeding.

Opwinden laughed as he looked over. "Having trouble, sir?" he asked, jokingly.

"Not in the slightest!" Feldsturm said, with a smile on his face. "Just testing all of you can keep up!"

"Right," Golden said, as he trotted over to me. "This route is a little rockier than I was imagining. Is this the right way?"

"According to our map it is," Opwinden said, looking at his map again. "We cut across here to make our way into the city via a side entrance. This side entrance, based on drone recon earlier this morning, is very lightly guarded- seemingly as if the authorities are unaware it exists."

I presumed this was how Pipp and her friends had snuck out of the city during the coup. Handy that we were now using it to sneak back into the city.

I nodded. "Shall we get going then?"

Opwinden nodded. "Right away, Your Majesty. Form up to move, troops! No marching, broken file! Try to avoid forming consistent patterns so we don't get spotted!"

The soldiers with us nodded, and we were soon underway on the ground. The landscape remained rather flat as we proceeded along, with the rocky surface still familiar and easy to trail under my hooves. I kept on the move, my eyes focused on the tasks ahead of me as we crossed the land before us at speed.

I continued to dash along, my eyes focused forward and sometimes checking back to see what the others were doing. It then occurred to me that perhaps Golden and I should be in the middle, in case any enemy patrols came across us and wished to do us harm. So, I dropped back into the middle, and Golden alongside me.

Sure enough, we began to make pretty good ground across the top of this mountain, with our formation staggering along to avoid any unwanted attention. The lack of obvious shapes that resembled ponies helped our escape, which was an effective way of escaping from the enemy who wanted to spot us. Keeping our disance was vital, after all.

Partway through our journey, in which I am proud to report that thanks to my fitness I was able to keep up with (with considerable ease may I add), we eventually stopped for a moment to break up our lines. These periodic pauses were intended to break up the lines of movement and make us harder to spot, not to mention allow for periodic breaks in the action to drink water or the equivalent. The hot sun was bearing down on us, after all, making things warm despite the high altitude. I wondered to myself how our non pegasus allies were coping, owing to not having lungs as large as ours. Was the air causing them to struggle with the climate? Air, after all, does become thinner the higher you go, of course.

We were overlooking the city now, looking down on the western approaches. This was the section which had been heavily fortified, with Gulfstream clearly thinking we'd throw everything at those guns and fortified structures. I could see from this distance that troop numbers were high, which concerned me greatly. Could the tanks break through without sustaining losses of severe levels?

As we looked down, our attention was suddenly attracted to a series of explosions, which were sounding from the area near the fortifications.

"Sounds as though the attack's started," Golden said, indicating to some flashes of light and some bangs. I could see the tanks down there had opened fire, alongside the infantry moving up across the landscape. The war was now officially underway, although I would argue Gulfstream started the war when he fired upon his fellow pegasi.

Oh well. Now was not the time for sitting about and moralising. It was the time for action and battle, which meant that I was now to advance once more. It was not a matter of who started the fight, but who ended it.

So, we got on the mov once more, covering the ground as swiftly as we could and our hooves pattering across the landscape. I continued moving as best we could as a collective, as we were only as strong as the weakest chain in the link, and that chain could be weak indeed.

We made our way further across the landscape and into the area we needed to be. We descended down a slope at the side of the rocks near the edge of the city, and soon found ourselves at what seemed to be the edges of the suburbs.

Launching a full scale assault on one side of a city whilst others sneak into the other side undetected? This entire thing was giving me a distinct sense of the Battle of Berlin, which was the last comparison I expected to make after touching that crystal all that time ago. We stopped outside the entrance to let everypony form up, and once we were all in position, Opwinden once more took the front of the line and confidently began to step forward.

What immediately stood out to me was how lifeless the city felt. Normally the place is bustling with ponies going about their day or taking advantage of consumer opportunities. But there was none of that now. The place seemed completely deserted. Presumably with a nutcase in charge the citizens were too scared to go outdoors for fear of facing penalties or threats of violence.

I continued following my fellows as we trotted along the empty, lonely streets. The only sounds that could be heard was the rustling of street objects in the wind, which gave the place a creepy, abandoned air. But onwards we went, determined to save the lives of those who lived here.

As we snuck across the landscape, one of the soldiers asked a question. "So, how exactly are we going to get into the palace? Isn't it only accessible by an elevator?"

"Indeed," Opwinden said. "And it's likely to be heavily guarded by Gulfstream's goons to stop us from getting in."

"Then how do we intend to get up there?" another asked. "It's not as if we could just fly up there, sir."

"Indeed," Felsturm said, with a smile. "But if my memory of this place is at all accurate, there is a second elevator normally used for emergency evacuation procedures. It can go up as well as down, and that is the elevator we will use to get up there."

No consistency on whether they use British or American English, then. I'd probably have to call it an elevator in order to ensure nopony got confused.

We continued through those awful streets, the lack of life in them very worrying to me. Our citizens were clearly terrified if none were even acknowledging us. Or even spotting us, for that matter. Wouldn't not reporting us produce fear of reprisals from the General? Then again, fear cuts both ways.

After a while of walking, we reached the location of the backup elevator. Unlike the main one used to access the Palace, it was a simple and drab thing intended to blend into the background. I stepped forward, suspecting the operations button was hard coded to my hoofprint or another royal hoofprint.

I placed my hoof on the reader, and the doors slid open. That went better than intended. I meant expected, sorry. We then all stepped into the elevator, which I will admit made for a rather snug fit, and then pushed the button to take us up a level.

And upwards we went, the elevator rapidly climbing into the skies. Unlike the main elevator this one had no windows, so I couldn't tell what level we were at whilst we climbed into the air like a bird in flight.

Once it reached the top, the doors at the back opened, and we snuck onto the central plaza. Which was completely undefended.

I looked up at the Palace, seeing Gulfstream had festooned it with banners of himself. Those would need removing. But first, we began to make our way over to the building, ready to retake it.

Author's Note

The main travel section of this chapter is loosely inspired by the fiction of Fenimore Cooper, whose work frequently featured characters roaming across and exploring wild and hard to traverse terrain. A classic on that front is The Last of the Mohicans, revolving around an escort mission to convey the daughters of a British officer to safety.

The allusion to reprisals is intended as a reference to Stalinist purges. Stalin had a long history of launching violent reprisals towards his enemies, with completely innocent people becoming caught in the crossfire of violence. The Death of Stalin, a 2017 film, captures the paranoia of living in the Soviet Union very well. This purge policy would ultimately come back to harm the USSR; the Purges of the 1930s killed many of the country's experienced generals, severely hampering the defence of the nation during Operation Barbarossa.