I pulled the handle down, and in an instant the alarm went off. Suddenly, the building was changed to a different feel than before.

Red lights began to flash in my sector, and an alarm started to blare loudly above my position. It echoed down the corridors loudly, meaning that its sound was inescapable.

I was determined to not get spotted as a result, so ducked behind a column and waited for the movements nearby to stop. Suddenly, I heard the room was full of movement, and soldiers suddenly began to move.

"ALARM'S BEEN TRIGGERED!"

"THERE'S A THREAT IN THE BUILDING!"

"FIND THE SOURCE OF THE NOISE AND SILENCE IT!"

One group suddenly sprinted past, their gear clanking as they passed me. Well, it seemed that worked if they were so easily distracted by those sorts of things.

Once they were gone, I turned my attention back towards the broadcast room, which was now a lot emptier than before. I looked left, then right, to ensure the coast was clear, then I ran back as fast as my legs could carry me.

And they had to, or else this plan wouldn't work at all. And it would all be for nothing at all.

I stopped in front of the door, where Pipp and Hitch were, and indicated to the broadcast room. "Door's open," I said. "The guards are gone."

Hitch nodded. "Gotcha," he said, before adjusting his gear. "Hopefully this won't be too complex to set up."

"I'll show you how to configure it," Pipp said, leading both me and Hitch inside the room.

The sudden switch from dimly lit corridor with the odd flashing red light within it to a properly lit room was certainly quite jarring. The change in light momentarily startled me, so I lifted my goggles and popped them on my forehead to allow me to see properly.

Hitch looked about. "Doesn't look too different to most broadcast rooms," he said. "I presume you go behind the news anchor desk, Pipp?"

"That's correct," Pipp said, and she trotted over to a computer. "This controls the broadcast gear. 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!"

Pipp got into position behind the desk and fluffed her wings and feathers to be more comfortable, whilst Hitch positioned himself behind a camera to set it up. He fiddled with the settings on it. "I can see why focus pullers are still in a job," he said. "This is harder than it looks." He reached down and set the camera to another setting, whilst still remaining seated.

Me, on the other hand, was at the computer system, looking at the buttons and displays. But I quickly figured out which button to push.

"Are we ready?" I asked.

Pipp nodded.

I reached up, and pushed the button.

Text appeared on the screen. WARNING: THIS WILL OVERRIDE ANY ONGOING BROADCASTS. THIS CANNOT BE UNDONE ONCE INITIATED UNTIL THE BROADCAST IS COMPLETE. DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED?

YES / NO

I clicked yes.

"Camera's rolling!" I said.

And so, Pipp began her speech once she was sure the camera was broadcasting properly. It certainly helped it had a red light on the top to denote this.

It was a moment that will forever stick in my memory. History is often defined by great speeches and great ponies. And those who witness them never truly forget them.

For those who were there that day when Winston Churchill delivered his famous speech about never surrendering, it would be a moment you never truly forget. And this is a moment I will never forget myself.

What Pipp said was so powerful, so moving, it actually chokes me up a little to think about it now. That was the speech that turned the tide and shifted the battlefront in our favor.

Unfortunately, the broadcast had a number of unintended side effects. Making it immediately alerted the enemy to the fact we were in the broadcast room.

Only seconds after Pipp had finished speaking a series of explosions tore through nearby windows, accompanied by the whirring of helicopter blades.

"BREACH AND CLEAR!" shouted a voice in the distance.

Hitch moved into position behind a desk and grabbed a rifle from his equipment. "Looks like we just rang the dinner bell for that lot!"

Pipp pulled her head below a desk whilst I picked up a gun of some description that was lying on the floor. Luckily, it still had a magazine in the weapon. How very convenient.

I took up position alongside Hitch. "Here we go," I said.

"I hope they've got a good appetite for battle," Hitch replied, as he steadied his weapon.

Suddenly, the firefight began as what I can only assume were special forces rushed the broadcast room, their weapons firing and laying down a hail of lead.

I pulled my head down to avoid the worst of it, firing back every now and then. I thought this was supposed to be a stealth mission!

As we continued to hold the line, there were more bangs and explosions from nearby, and we heard more voices breaching the room.

"FLASH AND CLEAR!"

We pulled under the desks and covered our eyes to try and avoid the worst of the blasts, and once the bangs were over we heard more gunfire. But the gunshots weren't from us or at us.

Once the bangs had stopped, I looked up to see the room had fellow soldiers within in, having cleared out the enemy.

But the most surprising of the lot was Sprout himself. He smiled at me. "Hey Misty," he said. "The cavalry's arrived. Guess we arrived in the nick of time, huh?"

I dashed over to him and hugged him. "You came back for me," I whispered. "Thanks for saving us."

"No problem," Sprout said. "I can be a cool, awesome hero when I wanna be."

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

And with that, the war was over. I'm not entirely sure how it went on the other fronts, but we have achieved victory and overthrown the tyrant I had accidentally placed in power.

As we trotted down the corridor of the palace, ready to meet the others and put the world to rights, I saw my friends looking about the place sadly.

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

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

I glanced about, mostly seeing propaganda pieces depicting the General as some form of king, and other bombastic displays of military might. In short, a world crushed under the bootheel of Pegasus military power.

Good thing we'd averted the victory of one crazy dictator, eh?

I no longer needed my goggles, so they simply sat atop my forehead, and I moved my locket out of view. What was odd was that Opaline hadn't tried to contact me at all. Was this normal? Usually she checked in on my progress fairly regularly.

Oh well. No need to worry about that right now, so we pushed onwards through the corridors. Although they were a bit messy, being in such a familiar place did bring me some much needed relief from the chaos and fires of war. I hadn't spent much time here compared to, say, Pipp, but this was my place to rest as well, alongside any other fellows who had survived.

We stepped inside the throne room to find it an equal mess. Orderlies were still recovering bodies, and other soldiers were still dragging wreckage and damaged equipment away from the damage zone. Our work was no yet done by any means.

I sighed as we stopped inside, noticing the others were safely assembled. We had all pulled through and emerged victorious, which was always good to see I must admit.

I was relieved all had ended well. This was my mistake, a consequence of my own foolishness and my willingness to mindlessly follow orders. Instead, I had carved my own path for my life, and had emerged from it all with a better sense of who I was, not to mention having undone my mistake.

My ears weren't too focused on the conversations being had, but my attention was suddenly drawn to a conversation about a distress call being sent. I noticed in that moment Zipp looked oddly agitated, but chalked it up to the last few days. She had had her life turned upside down and ruined, after all.

Suddenly, there was a screeching noise, and something happened to the screens that were fitted to the roof. I looked up, and saw a horrifying face on it.

The last face I had ever wanted to see here.

And yet, he was back.

Author's Note

And with that... another block for of Misty Brightdawn on this side of Rebirth of Magic is in the books.

We'll return to her on a later date, but for now... and coming up next month... time to return back to our favorite influencer pegasus. =3