Rainboom Revolution

by GJT_Productions

Chapters

Sign of the Rainboom
Storm Front
Whirlwind
Cruelty
Treachery I
Treachery II
Greed
Deceit I
Deceit II
Animosity I
Animosity II
Sadness
Arrival
Honor Lay Dying
The Last Stand
The Great Escape
Just Like Fire
Don't Interfere
Fort of Chaos

Sign of the Rainboom

"Lieutenant Stratocumulus?"

"All squad members present and accounted for."

"Lieutenant Vesper?"

"All present and accounted for, sir."

"Lieutenant Aldebaran?"

"All accounted for, sir."

"Lieutenant Skyver?"

"All squad accounted for, sir."

"Excellent. Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor reporting all members of Guard Shift Luna are accounted for, sir!"

"Very good, Shining. We'll get straight down to business then. At ease."

The place was the Royal Guard mess hall. The time was just before the night "Luna" shift was supposed to go on duty, the usual briefing routine interrupted by a very important event that had happened earlier that day. Captain of the Guard Gibraltar was facing the shift assembled by squad in the hall, Shining Armor and the Lieutenants of the shift (the four mentioned plus others not as yet named here) at the head of the carefully ordered crowd of stallions.

"As per the request of Princess Celestia, I called all shift members in early for a special briefing regarding something that happened at the Best Young Flyer competition in Cloudsdale earlier today. Details about what exactly happened are still being sorted out, but we do have something to show you for this briefing. Lieutenant, please roll the footage."

"Yes, sir!" Lieutenant Xergraphos calls out from the back of the mess hall, the unicorn stallion posted on a platform so that his talent as a "living movie projector" would not be hampered by the other stallions in the mess hall with him. The standard lighting is turned off, and an image of Cloudsdale arena is projected on the wall behind Gibraltar.

"This footage you're about to see is provided directly by Princess Celestia herself, shortly after returning from following up the incident in Cloudsdale. The information has not yet had time to spread far from Cloudsdale or Canterlot, so you stallions are among the first to get an in-depth briefing on the phenomenon." Gibraltar explains, the "video" beginning to roll after he had finished speaking.

Shining Armor most of all was curious as to what had happened, as he was aware that one of his sister's new friends was participating in the competition. Seeing Rainbow Dash and Rarity performing together though, Rarity "gifted" with butterfly-like wings by what he could only presume was a spell cast by his sister, was a minor shock, and some gasps of surprise could be heard in the ranks behind him.

At first glance, it seemed unbelievable to Shining Armor that his sister would be that careless - or simply unaware of the potential consequences - in spell usage. Even when he later learned the truth about the events largely being the result of the law of unintended consequences, he still privately faulted his sister for not stopping to think things through when it came to that kind of spellcasting. As has been stated elsewhere, "with great power comes great responsibility".

As the footage continues playing, Rarity dropping out of the sky after her magic wings burn away and the three Wonderbolt judging panel going after her - which Shining recognizes as the three leading Wonderbolts Captain Spitfire, Lead Wingpony Soarin' and Second Lead Wingpony Misty Fly - only to get knocked out causes a very uneasy pit to form in his stomach. Most of the concern came from wondering how much Spitfire knew about Rarity only being involved due to a spell - surely the Captain would be able to put two and two together, right?

The wave of surprised gasps that happen when the sonic rainboom goes off in the "video" as Rainbow Dash saves Rarity and the Wonderbolts finally brings Shining back out of his worried thoughts. Captain Gibraltar was speaking again: "Yes, the supposedly legendary sonic rainboom was executed during that rescue operation. And that's what seems to have prompted Princess Celestia to order this meeting. Believe it or not, this is not the first confirmed sighting of that phenomenon. Lieutenant, switch over please."

"Yes, sir." Lieutenant Xergraphos calls out again, the "video" stopping and after a brief moment a still picture in what seemed like slightly faded colors appears, also showing a rainbow-colored ring in the sky. Once again, Shining and his subordinates are in rapt attention due to the image.

"This picture was hastily declassified from Celestia's private archive, and is the first time anypony besides her has seen it." Captain Gibraltar explains. "This picture shows a sonic rainboom happening near Cloudsdale some eight and a half to nine years ago, and it is believed to have been generated by the same pegasus mare as the one that happened today, but obviously as a much younger filly. Celestia has also told me that it has something to do with the current bearers of the Elements of Harmony, although she did not go into further detail than that."

Only Shining Armor himself had an idea what Celestia obliquely referred to, as months before Celestia had personally told him about how that earlier event had connected his sister and her now fellow Element Bearers by earning them their cutie marks all at the same time. Now with this knowledge, the wheels in his head were starting to turn in worrying directions...

"Considering the context of what happened at the Best Young Flyer competition, it seems the Princess is worried the Agents of Chaos, which have been quiet for some time now, will exploit the symbolism to make another attack. We must all be vigilant over at least the next few days, and wary of any symbolism rantings that seem to bend in a treacherous direction." Gibraltar cautions, his very stern expression making it abundantly clear that this is a very serious matter.

The projected picture goes away, leaving a blank wall again, shortly after Gibraltar finishes speaking, and again Shining's thoughts start racing in several different directions, most of them involving a bad reaction from Spitfire. And as if anticipating the next thoughts he had, Shining once again hears his Captain talking: "Now, I have attempted to get an interview about the incident with Captain Spitfire and her fellow Wonderbolt members, but as they have been adamant in their refusal I can give you no more information than what Celestia has provided me. As such, this briefing is over and you are all dismissed to your posts."

It takes a moment for Shining, caught up in his thoughts, to catch up to what the Captain of the Guard wanted him to do, but finally he turns around and gives the order: "All Lieutenants with their squads to normal posts, dismissed!"

"You seem very distracted, Shining." Captain Gibraltar asks worriedly as the Guard Lieutenants begin filing out of the mess hall with their squads.

"I'm sorry sir, it's very difficult not to be considering..." Shining Armor begins to reply, but is cut off by the raising of a foreleg by Gibraltar.

"Considering how central your sister and her new friends are involved in this." Gibraltar finishes in a sympathetic tone of voice. "You don't have to tell me twice, Lieutenant Captain. There's some meetings I would not be relishing in your horseshoes. Not so much Celestia, but definitely..."

"Captain Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts, sir." Shining Armor guesses.

"She already had a tiff with you before this happened, I can't imagine what she'll be like now." Gibraltar comments worryingly.

"Let's just say, sir, I'm glad she's not here right now. Once the emotions kick in and she won't have to hide it under a professional manner..." Shining replies, letting the heavy implications simply speak for themselves.

"Mmmm. Thankfully, you won't have to deal with that, at least not tonight. And there's only so much I can do myself, so I'll just wish you best of luck dealing with her. Good night, Shining." Gibraltar says, starting out of the mess hall.

"Good night, sir." Shining replies, the worry creasing his face again...

Unfortunately for Shining Armor (and as it turned out, Canterlot in general) Captain Gibraltar was wrong in his assessment, as Shining discovered when he ran into a trio of Wonderbolts blocking his way back to his office. Captain Spitfire, her look like fiery daggers, was between a worried Soarin' and a Misty Fly that gave a contemptuous look in Shining's general direction.

"Captain Spitfire, could you please...?" Shining asks gently, hoping against hope that it would turn away her wrath.

"SHUT UP, LIEUTENANT CAPTAIN, YOU WILL NOT PASS UNTIL I AM DONE WITH YOU!" Spitfire shouts as an interruption, prompting an immediate recoil from Shining.

"Captain, please, I..." Shining tries again, only to get interrupted by Spitfire's raging once more.

"NOT ANOTHER WORD, LIEUTENANT CAPTAIN! YOUR SISTER'S RECKLESSNESS NEARLY COST US OUR LIVES, AND I WILL TOLERATE THE ANTICS OF HORNED ONES NO LONGER! I WILL MAKE SURE NO HORNED ONE EVER SERVES IN THE ROYAL GUARD AGAIN! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!?"

Shining Armor is so surprised and shocked by Spitfire's words that all he can do is nod in response. As he does so, he catches a glimpse of Lieutenant Xergraphos behind the Wonderbolt trio, the Lieutenant's horn glowing in a manner consistent with his "recording" special talent, and both shock and worry increase in Shining even more. Upon making eye contact with Shining Armor, Xergraphos turns around and scurries back around the hallway corner he had been hiding behind before.

"Now get out of my sight, Celestia's favorite! I will make sure you aren't in favor with her much longer!" Spitfire finishes off in a slightly lower volume than she had been speaking before.

"Yes... yes, ma'am." Shining weakly replies, his face showing great befuddled worry as he quickly turns around and tries to find another way to his office...

MEANWHILE, IN THE CAVES OF CANTERLOT MOUNTAINSIDE...

"I seriously hope there's a good line to use, sir." Agent 4 says to Agent Snake as the two pegasi, plus Agent X in a pegasus disguise, huddle with nervous anticipation in their hidden base.

"The horned one will still have a use even if he doesn't get a good line, Agent." Agent Snake says to his subordinate. "We need a horned one in the machine for a proper demonstration, after all."

"Are we striking with Whirlwind tomorrow night, sir?" Agent 4 asks.

"Yes. We cannot do it tonight because there is not enough time to gather the forces we need. Tomorrow night, however, we will unleash the whirlwind." Agent Snake eagerly answers, Agent X licking lips seemingly in eager anticipation as Snake speaks. "The rainboom is the sign of a pegasus triumphant we have been seeking, and now we will unleash the whirlwind we have been planning out for so long..."

It was thus that Rainbow Dash's heroism would unwittingly unleash a series of horrors upon Equestria, and many ponies would expend everything they had, including their lives, in the effort to revive their "chaotic one" and end the rule of the alicorns in Equestria, the racial divide a pretext for acts of shocking savagery and blatant treachery. The whirlwind would soon be reaped, and it would not be soon forgotten in the memories of those it affected the most...

Storm Front

Any civilian outside observer would not have been blamed for thinking there was an exclusive performance or dress rehearsal for a new show in the Canterlot Opera House, one of the most prestigious entertainment venues in Canterlot. But the armored guards posted outside each entrance, an eight-way arrow of chaos crudely painted over the side armor where the cutie mark would be, tell a very different and much more worrying story...

On the big stage inside, observing everything going on in the seats below, Agent Snake seems well pleased with the crowd in front of him. On one side of him is Agent X, in the same pegasus disguise as he "wore" the previous night, and it is to him Snake turns to speak: "X, you've outdone yourself again. I don't know where you found replacements for all those criminals that are supposed to still be in prison, but since they will serve me loyally I'm not complaining too much."

Agent 3, on the opposite side of Snake and wearing the same altered Guard armor as those stallions guarding the outside doors, looks over worryingly first at X's eager lip-smacking response to Snake's words, and then out at the crowd uneasily congregated in the front seats of the venue. There where twelve stallions, all pegasi, in the front row of seats, wearing armor painted with symbols deliberately mocking those of the Elements of Harmony - opposite in color and (except for the symmetric Magic and Generosity shapes) flipped upside-down from the correct orientation. Behind them was best described as a motley crew of almost entirely pegasi - most of them stallions although a few mares were in the mix - from various sources: some were criminals "condemned by their marks" to long sentences in jail, others were Wonderbolt Academy rejects lured into rebellion by the promise of being given what the Wonderbolts had denied them, yet others held grudges against various celebrities and joined the rebellion seeking revenge.

The ponies from these various sources would not have worked together normally, but they were all here tonight for one reason - they had been promised they would help destroy the system, and those supporting them, that had previously wronged them by spreading chaos and destruction in Canterlot. And Agent 3, a pegasus himself, knew that once the passions of such a crowd were unleashed the situation would become very serious indeed. It did not help that, as most of the activity would take place under low moonlight of the night, the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony in Ponyville might not know or be able to respond to any rebellion before morning came - assuming, of course, that the unleashed "chaotic one" allowed morning to come at all!

Agent 3 is snapped out of his worried thoughts with Agent Snake's words beside him: "The Lieutenant is in the machine, so all we wait for are those Wonderbolts to trot right into our trap..."

"Yessss, right into the trap!" Agent X speaks (a rare enough event to draw Agent 3's attention to X immediately) in a hissing anticipation, lips smacking eagerly.

"Now, Agent 3, I need you and X to work together on this assignment. You two are to start cutting communication lines within the castle complex while we wait to actually trigger the operation. Go, the guards will let you out once you tell them what you're doing!" Snake orders both Agents 3 and X, both of which respond with salutes.

After the salute, both 3 and X exit off the main stage, but 3 retains his intense discomfort working with the apparent formshifting pony, and at the first chance to go a different way Agent 3 attempts to take it. This immediately prompts another line from the usually-silent X which stops 3 temporarily: "The exit is thissssss way."

A moment passes in which 3 tries to his nervousness unsuccessfully, and then 3 takes another step in the direction he wanted to go, prompting another line from X: "I am not dumb, I know what you are trying to do. Now sssssssstop immediately or I will be forced to take drassssstic measures!"

Agent 3 this time is undeterred, and takes another step away from X after only a moment's pause. What he sees next he would not be able to explain or even understand properly until much later - a green glow enveloping X and in place of the pegasus disguise was a hideously black, hissing insectoid perversion of a pony form! Agent 3 was horrified by the "monstrosity" (as he could only describe it at the time) that started coming straight for him!

Very quickly a brief chase ensued backstage, 3 knowing he would have to escape X if his real mission had a chance of being carried out successfully. For he never intended to follow Snake's orders, and it seemed Snake putting X with him indicated Snake may have known this. The only thing Agent 3 could do is find an escape before X caught up with him and took him down in a rather predatory seeming manner...

Amazingly, the commotion backstage was not noticed due to an interesting coincidence - shortly after Agents 3 and X disappeared backstage, the three Wonderbolts that the trap was meant for entered the main seating area, Captain Spitfire kicking the doors open while Lead Wingpony Soarin' and Second Lead Wingpony Misty Fly following nervously. Some in the crowd hissed and booed at them as they past by down the central aisle, and both Soarin' and Misty Fly were alarmed at the size of the increasingly hostile crowd - they would later estimate there were well over 100 ponies total rallied there, not counting the guards patrolling the outside perimeter of the opera house to keep unwanted spectators out.

Agent Snake, now alone on the main stage, was heavily amused by Captain Spitfire's angry determination contrasting with the nervousness of her subordinates - it was that kind of bullheadedness that had made Spitfire such a useful pawn in his previous schemes, and now had lead her and her comrades right into the trap he had laid for her.

Spitfire stops at the edge of the stage and begins ranting about how illegal and underhoofed a rally this was - the pretext for luring Spitfire and her subordinates into the trap by inviting them to the opera house - while the armored stallions in the front rows begin forming a semicircle around the three Wonderbolts. The alarmed Soarin' and Misty Fly immediately turn around and form defensive poses behind Spitfire, but any and all attempts to get Spitfire's attention fail due to the high volume of her ranting.

When Spitfire finally stops ranting, all Snake can do is chortle from his position on the stage, his voice in evil distortion. Spitfire continues to be caught up in her indignation and does not hear her subordinates behind her pleading to just try to get out as the armored stallions push closer to their location.

"I don't see what's so funny, traitor! I still hold the military rank of Captain of the Guard, and I am ordering you to cease and desist this effort immediately!" Spitfire shouts at the top of her lungs. "The real Royal Guards will put a stop to this soon enough, you'll see!"

"Yes, commanded by the horned one favorite of the alicorns and serving a once-treacherous princess." Snake replies with a heavy snark, making it clear how little he took Spitfire's words seriously. "I'm afraid, Captain, you have no authority here. SEIZE THEM!"

On the command given by Snake, the armored stallions rushed the three Wonderbolts, overwhelming Soarin' and Misty Fly's efforts to put up a defense and finally causing Spitfire to stumble into realizing how much trouble the trio was in. Thanks to the military precision and the four-on-one odds in favor of the rebel attackers, the three Wonderbolts are quickly overwhelmed, lifted and dropped onto the stage in front of Snake and then pummeled relentlessly. The crowd cheered, and Agent Snake grinned with satisfaction, as the three top Wonderbolts were smashed until punch drunk, welts and bruises all over their bodies and broken snouts leaking a crimson liquid all over the dress uniforms the Wonderbolts had worn in a vain attempt to get the rebels to respect their authority.

"Halt! You don't need to do any more, just shackle them up to the back wall!" Snake finally calls out, and his subordinates stop their attacks. Due to the sheer volume of hits they'd received, the Wonderbolts were too disoriented to put up much fight as they were pulled across the stage and hauled up to be shackled to the back wall of the stage, legs spread out and wings clamped shut with special bands that were typically carried by Royal Guard members for the purpose of arresting pegasi.

As Misty Fly is hauled up and shackled, she cries out in despair at what seems to be a backstabbing on the part of Agent Snake: "What have I done to deserve this treatment?! I've done nothing but serve you faithfully!"

"There won't be a place for air shows in the rule of the chaotic one. Never was, never will be." Snake casually replies, shocking Misty Fly into realizing he had never intended to keep the promises he had made to her and her "breakaway faction" within the Wonderbolts. Meanwhile, Spitfire and Soarin' are so disoriented that they do not fully grasp all that is going on around them.

Snake then walks over to where the three Wonderbolts are shackled, stopping in front of Misty Fly and getting close enough that she could feel the crackling of "magic electricity" in the collar and unicorn horn attached to him. Snake added to his statement in a sinister tone: "Yet your cooperation has earned you one mercy. When the chaotic one emerges in his full glory, you will be allowed to keep your head. Your fellows, they will not."

Snake lets out a deep chuckle as Misty Fly recoils in horror from him, then the enemy leader moves over to Soarin'. The second-in-command stallion is already paralyzed with fear, and Snake mocks him with the same deep chuckle he had just let out before speaking to him as well: "Your pie obsession marks you as a mental defective. I will make sure you die separated from your wings."

Snake came to Spitfire next, and she alone had regained any attempt at resistance, yelling as she yanked at her restraints: "You're a monster! You deserve no better than the pits of Tartarus!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Snake shouts back, smacking a forehoof in her already-bloodied face and triggering another cheer from the crowd watching his every move.

"I don't know where you get off thinking you can just do what you want, wearing a horn of pretension like that! I know you're only the pretense of an alicorn, but who are you really?!" Spitfire continues to exclaim defiantly.

Snake lets out the sinister chuckle again, then he turns back toward the watching crowd and proclaims his next words to them: "The Wonderbolt Captain has asked me to show my true face. I think, on the eve our hopes will be fulfilled, it is only fair that I now reveal my true identity. What say you, my loyal followers?"

The crowd responds with an affirmative cheer - many of them, the armored stallions in charge in particular, suspected they already knew who "Agent Snake in the Grass" already was, but wanted to see fully for themselves, so answered Snake's question with an eager yes. The support of the crowd was all Snake needed to make his big reveal, satisfied as he turned his attention back to the captive Wonderbolts.

"You have asked, and you shall receive. Behold, the true identity of your captor!" Snake proclaims in a very stage-worthy manner, the horn glowing briefly to whisk off the hooded cloak. Both the captive Wonderbolts and the crowd gasp in shock briefly, and then the crowd, lead by the armored stallions in front, lets out a riotous cheer. With the true identity of Agent Snake revealed, the whirlwind would begin to be reaped...

Whirlwind

BACKSTAGE AT THE CANTERLOT OPERA HOUSE...

"Ssssurely you know you can't esssscape, traitor? Even if you defeat me, there are others that will desssstroy you!" Agent X taunts Agent 3, the two locked in battle as the latter attempts to escape the rebel rally point that the Canterlot Opera House had become in order to warn loyal Guard forces about the rebellion.

"I don't care who, or even what, you are!" Agent 3 replies undaunted by X's current "insectoid abomination" appearance (which 3 at the time did not realize was X's true form and related to his true purpose in Equestria). "I long ago realized that all the Agents of Chaos wanted was to steal and kill and destroy for their own gain! That's not loyal or noble or even helpful for Equestria, and I will not be a part of a rebellion against the alicorns!"

"Enough Agent! I will not wait for Sssssnake to give the ssssentence, you will die now!" Agent X threatens, charging directly for 3. Agent 3, as he had done with the power of Nightmare Moon during his brief encounter with her before, simply braced for impact.

Both Agents go down, the struggle in the backstage area initially unheard due to the commotion up front. Agent 3, trying to prevent X from pinning him, gets a close up look of X's "abomination" features, which would only become important at a much later date. It was not long, however, before Agent X drew blood, sinking fangs into 3's neck. Agent 3 lets out a mighty shout of agony as a crimson liquid spills from the two holes in his neck onto the backstage floor.

It is this agonized shout that finally brings other ponies into the situation as two of the rebel guards posted at the nearby big door leading into the backstage area intervene at the sound of the shout. Agent X, upon hearing the others coming to 3's aid, quickly switches back to his previous disguise, giving a hissing curse as he ducks around a corner.

Agent X watches as the two rebel pegasus guards, one an Upper Class and one a Lower Class, come across Agent 3, down and desperately trying to staunch the bleeding from his neck. Both guards are briefly shocked - they can hear other activity from the stage, but nopony else seems to be coming to help him.

"What happened to you?!" the Upper Class guard asks Agent 3.

"Something bit me, get me to a hospital now!" Agent 3 orders fiercely, something he can get away with due to his higher rank within the Agents of Chaos organization.

"Can you take him to the hospital? I don't want to leave that door unguarded." the Upper Class guard asks his Lower Class counterpart in nervous confusion - it baffles him how Agent 3 had gotten his injuries, but they were serious enough to demand immediate medical attention.

"Sure, I'll take him. Come with me sir." the Lower Class explains, turning and assisting Agent 3 toward the door leading out of the opera house backstage, while at the same time trying to staunch further bleeding so as to not leave an incriminating drip tail behind them.

Agent X hisses in frustration as he realizes he can do nothing to stop what is happening - he can only trust that Agent 3's words about what he'd seen would go unheeded. He also realizes word of the attack cannot get to Agent Snake, as X could not explain who he really was or what he was really doing in Equestria, even to this rebel leader he trusted to further his own mission. Therefore he hastily decided to "replace" the Guard Upper Class once the latter was alone.

Agent X strikes again as soon as the Guard Upper Class is distracted trying to figure out how to clean up the spilled blood on the floor and report the incident to Agent Snake. The Upper Class doesn't notice X's "abomination" form until fangs sink into a hindleg. The guard crumples down in pain, only getting a brief glimpse of X before a strong kick knocks him cold.

With the guard knocked out, X has time to find one of the weapons equipped on the rebel guards - a syringe filled with a concentrated cyanide solution - and inject the guard with it, ensuring he would not wake up again. X decided to leave the needle sticking in the guard's body - in case Snake noticed Agent 3's escape, X would at least be able to claim he was just covering for the guard that apparently decided to commit suicide after the escape - as he switched into the guard's image and dragged the soon-to-be dead guard into a conveniently dark corner. Having done all he could at this point, Agent X simply decides to take the station of the guard he's imitating and hope Snake didn't notice anything for a while...

BACK ON THE OPERA HOUSE MAINSTAGE...

Wonderbolt Captain Spitfire's world started to fall apart around her as she behind Snake undisguised - Lieutenant Captain Aten wearing full armor, sporting a collar and a unicorn's horn attached to a band circling his head under a crudely-modified helmet. This pretense of an alicorn for a rebel leader, wearing what was later identified as a "second-rate copy" of the Alicorn Amulet artifact, was being hailed by the crowd lead by the six pairs of Guards wearing mocking versions of the Elements of Harmony. As Spitfire now realized to her horror, the six pairs of Guards wearing those mocking symbols - the commissioned leaders of the attack squads soon to strike - corresponded to the six "lackey" Lieutenants of Aten and their "apprentices" on the morning shift. All of them were Agents of Chaos, and Spitfire had in her impulsiveness lead her and her two highest subordinates right into their trap.

"How very appropriate a pony named 'Spitfire' has provided me the match with which to ignite the firestorm." Aten taunts Spitfire, the smug confidence he exuded only matched by the menace of eyes glowing red.

"What are you even talking about?!?" Spitfire exclaims, her defiance still not completely gone.

"Is your memory so short, Captain? I'll bring out the machine to help refresh it for you!" Aten taunts again, this time the horn and collar both glowing in a manner that would be similar to a unicorn using their own magic to control things.

Now the entire audience watching in the opera house seats is rapt with attention as a large wheeled contraption, appropriately glowing a menacing red, is directed onto the stage by the faux-unicorn magic. Spitfire is shocked by the type of the contraption, which would generally be described by a human as a guillotine, but is even more shocked to find that an unfortunate unicorn stallion is already loaded into the device.

"You said I would be spared if I helped you! Get me out of this thing!" the indignant unicorn locked inside begins exclaiming, answered by some booing from the crowd.

"Shut up, Xergraphos, and play back what I told you to play back before." Aten replies, giving a hard smack to the immobilized head. Xergraphos groans a bit and gives a glare at Aten, but considering his immobilized condition can not do much more than what is demanded of him.

The chained-up Spitfire, along with Soarin' and Misty Fly chained-up beside her, are temporarily blinded by the rectangle of projected lighting that now spreads across the wall centered on Xergraphos locked in the device. Although none of the captive Wonderbolts can see what is projected on the wall, they can hear the audio "playing back" with it, and the audio is enough evidence to prove Aten's point:

The reaction is immediate, the crowd in the opera house seats shouting "DEATH TO THE HORNED ONES!" and Aten giving Xergraphos another hard smack, which causes the entire clip to be played back in a looping manner. Soarin' and Misty Fly struggle to see what Spitfire is doing, and as her words continue looping and continue whipping the crowd into a frenzy the determination - and the color - drain from Spitfire's face, leaving nothing but horror in its place. Horror over what her careless words were going to unleash upon Canterlot and Equestria, horror over having set loose demonic behavior worthy of banishment to Tartarus or even death itself. Horror that she had essentially written the death warrants of any unicorn that was captured by these rebels, and probably those of her and her two subordinates.

"I hear you loud and clear, my followers. If it is death to the horned ones you want, then I shall give it to you now!" Aten exclaims, quickly spinning the guillotine-like device around using the faux-unicorn magic so that Xergraphos is facing the crowd and then, after only pausing a brief moment to make sure the crowd was focused solely on what was happening on the stage, pulling a handle on one side of the device.

The blade above the neck of Lieutenant Xergraphos drops, and in a sickening "thunk" the Lieutenant's life is extinguished, the separated head dropping onto the stage and the "magic screen" being cut abruptly. The crowd roars with enthusiasm as Aten lifts the decapitated head into the air as proof of death, and for the trio of helpless Wonderbolt captives the horror of the sight begins to exert a crushing grip.

"You have your orders! Do what must be done to purge the influence of the horned ones! Do not hesitate and do not show mercy!" Aten proclaims to the roaring crowd, which roars even louder in response.

As that seemed to indicate that the rebels would begin their attack, the horror reached what seemed to be a crescendo among the captive Wonderbolts. But when Aten turned around with an expression both triumphant and predatory, the captive trio - with Spitfire most of all - realized that the horror was just beginning. Aten pulls out from a pocket inside his armor a pair of hoods, jamming one over Soarin' and the other over Misty Fly. Spitfire realizes just a little too late what Aten is intending, but also knows her cries would be lost in the din unleashed by the crowd. The whirlwind had been unleashed, and many ponies would suffer, some to the point of death, as a result of it...

Author's Note

(Apologies for the late upload this week, work schedule did not permit me to get it out any earlier. Also, it is IMPORTANT to understand that the next chapters detailing the rebel attack are not meant to be in chronological order, as is the usual case with my writing. Instead, all these chapters are meant to take place at roughly the same time and only near the end of the story will chronological progression resume.)

Cruelty

The task of the rebel Agent Cruelty (alias Lieutenant Supercell) and the 15 or so rebels under his command, all wearing the symbol of upside-down butterfly colored aqua-green, was a simple one. The rebels were operating under the assumption that the royal sisters knew the Agents of Chaos would do something in response to the Sonic Rainboom, even if they didn't know what it would be. This uncertainty would mean the loyalists would be forced to react to whatever the rebels decided to do instead of the other way around.

The mission of the Cruelty squad was to prepare the way for the main rebel attack force under the Animosity label, firstly by cutting communication lines between the castle proper and the Royal Guard barracks. Once that had been done, they were to attack the barracks and grab a few "horned one" hostages to use as bargaining chips before joining the main rebel attack force against the officer barracks nearby. The Cruelty operatives were mostly thuggish pegasi criminals lead by a few rebel Royal Guard officers - the rebels had somehow "replaced" the criminals in prison, and now those criminals were seeking revenge against the system that had locked them up.

The sabotage is accomplished quickly and quietly, although the unusual amount of activity around them alerts the squad patrolling the Guard barracks - Lieutenant Skyver and his subordinates, most notably Guard Upper Class Buck Withers and Guard Lower Class Ventas. Skyver's squad ends up inferior in numbers to the rebels, but that wouldn't matter if they manage to wake the sleeping residents of the barracks. Hence when Agent Cruelty gives the attack order, he emphasizes the need to hit fast, grab whatever "horned ones" they find, and hold onto them as they retreat to join the main force.

The armored Agent Cruelty, accompanied by his Upper Class Guard second-in-command, busts through the main security door to initiate the attack. The criminals supporting the rebels pour into the barracks, Cruelty and his second-in-command pulling a few aside to join their main objective - the unicorns under Skyver's command.

It does not take long for Cruelty's group to catch Skyver himself by surprise - only Buck Withers and Ventas are with him, the others are scattered at posts around the building - as Skyver tries to verify the reports of activity around him. The three stallions, each representing a main Equestrian race, are surprised and then stunned in shock as Cruelty and his group bust into the meeting room where they are currently located.

"Get the horned one!" Cruelty exclaims, having recognized Ventas as a "horned one" and traitor to Agents of Chaos.

"What is... what is even the meaning of all this, Lieutenant?!" Skyver shouts out, recognizing his fellow pegasus Lieutenant.

"The corrupting influence of the horned ones in this organization must be purged, do not stand in our way Lieutenant!" Cruelty shouts out in turn, the second-in-command zooming past him to ram into Skyver. Other members of his group attack Buck Withers, who is able to check them due to his earth pony strength, and the cornered Ventas, who recognizes to his horror that the rebels are looking for him in particular.

Buck pushes back those trying to get him, but can do nothing to help Skyver, knocked down by the joint attack of Cruelty and his second-in-command, or Ventas, who is grabbed and carted away over pleas for help. Other voices are echoing outside the room - some members of Agent Cruelty's party are in battle with awakened Guards, others are dragging captured unicorns away. Buck Withers helps Skyver back on his hooves, but Cruelty and the other members of his rebel party exit the room before either stallion can do anything else. Buck and Skyver attempt to chase after them, but Cruelty and his second turn back around and knock them both back down to stop their pursuit.

Around Buck and Skyver is chaos - individual Guards attempting to make a stand, rebels whooping and cheering as they grab hold of any unicorn seen, and after a moment Cruelty ordering a general retreat with whatever prisoners they already have. Buck and Skyver both realize they're about to be trampled and attempt to get out of the way, but again Cruelty and his second strike, temporarily making sure the retreating rebels have free reign to run them over. By the time Buck and Skyver can get out of the way of the stampede back out, both stallions have a black eye and a number of trampling bruises.

What's worse to Skyver though than the injuries to himself is the fact the rebels took him by surprise - he was not expecting an assault by a large group, just a few rouge members as had been the case with the Agents of Chaos before. It would be a very serious problem indeed if this enemy had managed to gather a disgruntled mob in support of their cause.

"We might have a full rebellion on our hooves - I want a full rollcall of everypony in the barracks, on the double!" Skyver orders as he again gets back on his hooves.

"Sir yes sir!" Buck Withers exclaims, rushing off to implement the orders once back on his hooves.

Lieutenant Skyver, in turn, rushes to a window facing out toward the rebels running away with several unicorn prisoners. As he tracks the retreating rebels, his heart falls when he sees them joining another force wheeling a large machine with them. There was a full rebellion underway, and he had to rally the loyal troops against it as quickly as he could...

Treachery I

For Agent Treachery, alias Guard Lieutenant Tempest, and the 20 or so rebels under him wearing the sky-blue lightning bolt symbol, the objective was simple. The rebel leader Agent Snake, who was also Tempest's commanding officer Lieutenant Captain Aten, had already started the humiliation of the Wonderbolts by capturing its three leading ponies - now Agent Treachery and his squad of disgruntled Wonderbolt rejects were to finish the job by destroying the Wonderbolt HQ in Canterlot. If all went right, the blow would be fatal to the organization's continued existence.

As the rebel group ascended the cloud lifts into the pegasi colony above Canterlot, Agent Treachery briefed his group - the aforementioned rejects and a few professional thieves - about what they were going to do. Thanks to Agent Snake's machinations, the Wonderbolts would be critically distracted until it was too late to stop the attack. Once the attack was initiated, the rejected pegasi would get the revenge they were so seeking...

At the Wonderbolt HQ itself, the Wonderbolts had become irreconcilably split in response to their lead trio going to investigate the rumors of rebel activity. The pro-Spitfire faction, Fleetfoot being the most important member present, insisted that Captain Spitfire was making a huge mistake in trying to stop the rebel gathering, while the anti-Spitfire faction lead by Lightning Streak argued that the pegasus-based rebellion had no particular beef with the Wonderbolts and that assurances would arrive that the rebels would not attempt to destroy the Wonderbolts.

The argument was at an impasse when a Wonderbolt Surprise lets out a ominous warning, watching as she is for the return of her senior officers: "There's ponies coming, fast!"

"How many, Surprise?" Fleetfoot naturally asks, all Wonderbolts having riveted attention to Surprise's warning.

"Not Spitfire and the other two. This is a big crowd, probably about two dozen pegasi. Two of them at the front are wearing Guard armor." Surprise somberly explains, the emotion she is named after spreading across her fellow Wonderbolts.

"What does it mean? Are we under attack?" Fleetfoot exclaims, trying to get more information from Surprise.

"We'll deal with it, Fleetfoot. You don't have any authority to stop us, anyway." Lightning Streak contemptuously interrupts, starting toward the main door leading into the offices accompanied by the four other members of his anti-Spitfire faction.

"Fleetfoot, do something! Those pegasi out there don't look friendly!" Surprise exclaims, hoping Fleetfoot would try to stop Lightning Streak and his companions from heading outside the building into presumed danger.

"I don't have any authority currently beyond my seniority." Fleetfoot replies, sadly shaking her head as she speaks. "Tell the others though to be prepared just in case something bad does start to happen."

"Right." Surprise replies as Fleetfoot flies up to the watch point - the main balcony the Wonderbolt Captain sometimes used in addressing the public - Surprise had been occupying.

A tense minute or two follows, as Fleetfoot sees Lightning Streak's party approach the lead rebel group. At first, it does seem like the rebels are interested in only talking, but watching from a higher vantage point Fleetfoot sees something Lightning Streak's group cannot - rebel party members moving around and above the group in ambushing intent!

Before Fleetfoot can shout a warning, however, the second-in-command of Agent Treachery suddenly appears hovering in front of her, wielding a Guard spear! The spear is swung around like a staff, forcing Fleetfoot to dodge the swinging and divert her attention from events outside. The blunt end of the spear connects with the left side of Fleetfoot's head, knocking her down on her side. When she gets back up, she feels the pain of the black eye the impact had just given her - the rebel second-in-command is gone.

Shouting and alarmed noises are heard outside as Surprise flies up to help Fleetfoot back up to her hooves - she had seen the attack on Fleetfoot but was unable to react before Fleetfoot took the hit. She gasps as she glimpses outside at the shouting and exclamations.

"Surprise, what's going on out there?!" Fleetfoot exclaims, a forehoof covering the damaged eye.

"The party outside was ambushed, it was a trap!" Surprise exclaims, the noise outside now joined by the sounds of a door being blasted open and her fellow Wonderbolts being knocked aside.

Fleetfoot now rapidly rush back and forth between looking outside, seeing Lightning Streak's group pinned to the cloudbank "ground" and beaten up by the rebels, two to a Wonderbolt, and looking at the entrance to the building, where the rest of the rebel group is beginning to spread out inside the building, shoving aside the rest of the Wonderbolts as they do so.

Fleetfoot and Surprise are horrified by the orders heard by Agent Treachery just inside the main door of the offices: "Looters take whatever historical artifacts you can grab quickly! Place explosive charges, set timer for one minute!"

Agent Treachery then looks up and notices Fleetfoot and Surprise looking back down at him. He pushes off and zooms at full speed straight toward the two frightened Wonderbolts as chaos envelopes the building around them...

Treachery II

The collision between Agent Treachery and the two Wonderbolts Fleetfoot and Surprise was massive. The two Wonderbolts were knocked off the balcony they were perched upon by the upward force of Treachery's flying impact, and Treachery turned back to look as the two pegasi mares tumbled head-over-hooves to the floor below, near other Wonderbolts fighting Treachery's fellow rebels to protect themselves and their offices from the rebel attack.

Fleetfoot recovers just in time to see Treachery zooming down with Royal Guard pike extended down to skewer her on impact, and dodges out of the way of what would've been a critical blow. Instead, Treachery's pike jams into the floor when it hits, the point hopelessly stuck in the floor with cracks spreading out around it. Treachery lands and knocks away a leap from Fleetfoot before trying to pull his pike out of the floor, which leaves him exposed to getting knocked on his face from behind due to Surprise attacking. Fleetfoot and Surprise pounce on the stallion, but Treachery throws them both off by spinning around and onto his back.

Treachery scrambles back onto his hooves, but Fleetfoot pounces again. Treachery bucks and kicks trying to knock her off, and Surprise prepares to ram the stallion again when Fleetfoot shouts out something else instead: "Forget about me, go stop the explosive charges!"

Surprise, showing her trademark emotion, looks around to analyze the scene. Around her, other Wonderbolts are fighting with rebels, a glass case displaying historical artifacts is shattered and the vandalizers start carting the artifacts away, and finally Treachery's second-in-command disappears deeper into the building. Surprise takes one look back at Fleetfoot fighting with the rebel squad leader, and then follows the second-in-command rebel stallion into the office building...

The Guard Upper Class second-in-command of the rebels slinks into the building, quickly finding a utility closet and ducking into it to make his way to the large natural gas tank that supplied the water heaters scattered around the office building. Exploding this tank - to either fill the building with fire or implode it with the Wonderbolts still inside - was his main objective, which he intended to accomplish by attaching small explosive charges to the sides of the tank, arming them and getting out of there before they blew.

By the point the second-in-command stallion was in the utility tunnels, he had a vague awareness of being followed by somepony else, so as he went he deployed his backup pressure-sensitive charges behind him as impromptu mines. Due to the close-quarters nature of the tunnels, there would be no way to fly over the charges, and any touch would set off the charge to cause serious injury to the pursuer. The rebel knew that doing this would complicate his escape, but he had prepared to turn himself into a suicide bomber as a measure of last resort should it come to that.

Upon reaching the tank, the rebel quickly begins his work - previously he had been a demolition specialist for the Royal Guard, but had seen several unicorn co-workers promoted past him in the service and joined the rebels as a result of the seeming injustice of this. This helped explain why a pony without unicorn magic and with wings already occupied by holding charges to be deployed could work so quickly, smoothly sticking and arming charges arrayed around the tank.

As he works, the rebel is extremely surprised to see the mare named Surprise enter the area behind him, her off-white coat and yellow mane untainted by even the soot of an explosion! He just stops his work and stares blankly at the unharmed Surprise growling back at him, despite all logic telling him that she should have stepped on at least one of the mines he had deployed behind him.

"How did you even...?!" the rebel stallion finally asks in sheer confusion.

"You'd be surprised who I have in my family tree." Surprise replies smugly, just moments later charging the rebel.

The rebel second-in-command reacts on instinct, throwing another pressure-sensitive charge at Surprise. The charge detonates on impact, the explosion sending Surprise tumbling backwards and giving the rebel enough time to launch a counter-attack. Before Surprise can recover, the stallion is upon her, trying to pin her down long enough to attach more explosives, but the Wonderbolt mare kicks him off before he can do so.

Surprise rushes to the tank and attempts to yank off the attached charges, only to get mocking laughter from the stallion, followed by more mockery in word form: "You're already too late, the charges are armed, and you're not escaping this time!"

"How are you so sure about that?" Surprise challenges in response, and the answer is quickly provided when the rebel stallion tosses aside his armor, revealing the large explosive pack attached underneath it!

Surprise can only gasp in horror before a quiet clicking noise is heard, and the confined space is filled with booming light and heat. The female Wonderbolt is thrown far back down the utility corridor, and when she recovers enough all she can make out is flames and smoke - there is no sign of the rebel she was fighting. Remembering the explosive charges the rebel had placed on the nearby natural gas tank, and hearing the boom of a smaller explosion somewhere close by, Surprise turns and gallops away as fast as her legs can carry her back up the utility corridor...

Meanwhile, back in the lobby area of the office, the Wonderbolts and rebel party were deadlocked. Agent Treachery was hampered in his efforts by the disappearance of the looters - who had already made off with whatever precious artifacts they wanted - and the members of his party still outside - who had dispersed into the night after disabling Lightning Streak's group instead of joining the rest of the rebels inside the office building as previously instructed to - so had switched to his Plan B: providing a fatal distraction to the Wonderbolts to prevent them escaping the explosion.

Surprise comes across this deadlock, embodied by Fleetfoot dodging the swinging end of the broken spear shaft wielded by Treachery, as soon as she returns to the lobby area, and shouts out a warning: "THIS PLACE IS GONNA BLOW! EVERYPONY GET OUT NOW!"

The distraction is enough for Fleetfoot, who wrestles the broken spear shaft out of Agent Treachery's control and jabs the broken end into his right eye. While recoiling from this grievous wound, Fleetfoot breaks his jaw with an extremely hard hit by the shaft from below, the hit also breaking the shaft in two. Finally, Fleetfoot puts him out for good by ramming him back into a wall and then kicking his head with a hindleg while the head is pressed against the wall - an action that immediately knocks Treachery unconscious and cracks open his skull.

Fleetfoot books it out of the office building once she sees her opponent is down, Surprise and the other Wonderbolts right on her hooves. Once outside, Fleetfoot is appalled by the condition of Lightning Streak's group - all are sprawled on a cloudbank, all are covered with bruises and welts, all dance in and out of consciousness. In the surreality of the scene around her, Fleetfoot turns back to see the office building fill with fire and a mighty boom, flaming debris blowing out of the windows and into the clouds around the Wonderbolts.

In a panic, Fleetfoot looks around... and is relieved to account for all her fellow Wonderbolts. Only rebels - Agent Treachery and a few others that hadn't escaped the blast - had perished in the explosion. But as Fleetfoot hauls up the form of Lightning Streak to carry him to a hospital, the action imitated by her fellow "faithful" Wonderbolts with the other injured, there is an overwhelming sense of dreadful failure welling up inside.

The courage and integrity of Fleetfoot and her fellow "faithfuls" had allowed the Wonderbolts to survive and escape the rebel trap, but only with their lives. Their office building and headquarters in Canterlot was now in flames, precious records and historical artifacts either missing or burning to ash. Additionally, Spitfire, Soarin' and Misty Fly were still unaccounted for - and Fleetfoot had every reason to believe terrible things were happening to them. Terrible things Fleetfoot or the other "faithfuls" knew they could do nothing to stop.

As the wounded Wonderbolts flew heavy into the night, the rebellion continued unfolding below them, and Fleetfoot realized that their divisions and the hatred that had been allowed to grow within their ranks would mean that in the end they would be left without honor. Bitterly, the ranking Wonderbolt realized they deserved the humiliation that was sure to come to them from Celestia herself...

Greed

"Is this the place, number two?"

"Correct, that's his city house. I know it like the bottom of my hoof."

"Good, then it's time to enact revenge for his support of harmony!"

The rebel squad wearing the sickly-green lozenges representing Greed's squadron had made it through the streets of Canterlot - unopposed, due to distractions by fellow rebels - to the elaborate, gated city residence of social leader Fancypants. As Fancypants was both a "horned one" and a lower-key member of those aiding Princess Luna's rehabilitation, he was high on the target list of the rebels, and thanks to an "enlightened" (read: submissive to the idea of pegasi superiority) unicorn in the Royal Guard they had chance that night to strike him in his residence.

Agent Greed, one of the six main "lackeys" of Lieutenant Captain Aten/Agent Snake, would lead the attack intending to assassinate the prominent unicorn and his entire staff. The aforementioned "enlightened" unicorn, a Guard Upper Class under investigation for ties to the Agents of Chaos due to Fancypants' suspicions, was the second-in-command of the squad. The objective was to storm the residence, allowing in a rebel squad that would loot and vandalize the place before dispersing across the city while Agent Greed went after Fancypants and his second-in-command (with the help of a few other rebels) rounded up the staff to dispose of them via cyanide canister. If the mission was successful, a timebomb trap would be laid to destroy the house the following morning, with the possibility of inflicting further injury to the loyalists in the process...

"There's a weak point in the security gate, I'll show you where it is. Once through, you should be able to batter the main door down and get in that way. There's no other security doors, just cameras and laser lines." the unicorn second-in-command explains.

"Meh, we won't care much about those things this time. Let the alarms blare, our fellow rebels will ensure that nopony will come to them." Agent Greed explains, a sinister smile spreading across his face. Behind him the group of eight or so rebels, all pegasi marked with the sickly-green lozenge, would be the ones to carry out the other tasks in the Fancypants mansion.

The second-in-command pointed to a specific spot on the security gate, and Greed ordered several pegasi to push as hard as they could at that spot. They flew up to the weak point, ear-to-ear against the gate, and gave it all the wingpower they had. Slowly, the gate was forced to open against the locking mechanism, letting in the rest of the party to the grounds of the mansion. The rebels, Agent Greed in the lead, ascended the elaborately carved marble steps to the gilded main door, and this time more conventional ramming tactics were employed, setting off the first alarms inside the mansion.

When the doors were busted open, two ponies serving Fancypants as servants were waiting in defense. Sadly, without weaponry and facing overwhelming odds, they were grabbed as soon as the rebels stormed through the door, preventing Fancypants himself from preparing for the rebel attack. The only real defense was his "escort" Fleur Dis Lee, and Agent Greed believed she could be defeated and assassinated at the same time Fancypants would be.

"Lock the two in a closet, find any other staff and throw them in there as well!" the second-in-command shouts, referring to the pegasi holding the stunned staff prisoner.

"Initiate looting and vandalism! Destroy everything that's too big to carry off in your bags! Once loaded up, escape through a window!" Agent Greed shouts, confident that on the way out after his assassination that he could help himself to some of the valuable trinkets and artifacts in the residence.

Once the rest of the squad scatters through the elaborate main lobby, Agent Greed ascends the main staircase in a fast walk, a determined and demented grin on his face, and disappears through an ebony door...

About a minute later, Fancypants and Fleur Dis Lee awake into nightmarish confusion, shouting and shattering noises coming from outside their gilded bedroom. Fleur dares a quick look behind gold-flaked curtains over the picture window to reveal the results of the other rebel attacks in the city. The two social elites are debating what to do and what should be done when the door into their master suite shudders violently, stopping the discussion in its tracks!

Both ponies' attention are riveted to the door into the suite - it shudders again, and then shatters as the fully-armored pegasus stallion called Agent Greed bursts through into the suite! Quickly the rebel squad leader spots his target, fire in his eyes as he lunges toward a horrified Fancypants!

Fleur acts quickly, her unicorn magic yanking a ceremonial sword off the wall, the blade's swing checking the lunge of the spear Agent Greed was wielding and ensuring Fancypants was not harmed by it. The rebel Agent Greed rises on his hindlegs in rage and for a moment he stares down at the undaunted Fleur, the sword floating by unicorn magic beside her as Fancypants scampers into the suite's bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him as he does so. All around, the shouting and shattering noises continue in the background.

"Shall we dance, assassin?" Fleur asks through snorting contempt.

"Gladly, horned one. I would love to see you and your charge die!" Agent Greed replies just as contemptuously, again lunging with the spear after he speaks. Fleur dodges the strike, and the duel begins in earnest...

"Get 'em in there! Get 'em in there!" the rebel second-in-command was shouting, directing three more rebels carting in the household staff serving Fancypants and Fleur Dis Lee. These ponies, most of them unicorns, had followed Fancypants traveling from Trottingham to Canterlot - some had had ancestors who served the ancestors of Fancypants. Now, all of them would suffer a horrible fate at the hooves of the rebel attackers.

The captured household staff were heaved into a large closet, the space hindering any attempt at an easy escape, as the rebel second-in-command primed the large cyanide gas canister. When he had confirmed that all the household staff had been found, he activated the canister and with a mighty shove pushed it into the closet, slamming the door shut as the canister began hissing out gas.

The second-in-command calls another rebel to support him holding the door shut against the panicked shoving of the ponies inside, rearing up on hindlegs against the pushing. The shoving quickly ceases as the almond-scented gas takes its hold, coughing and pleading for help or mercy replacing the resistance and then shortly after dying out completely.

As the gas canister finishes emptying its lethal contents inside the closet, the rebels back away from the door and begin to disperse again, grabbing smaller items as they go. The main lobby was already a mess, paintings smashed through by hooves and vases shattered in pieces on the floor, and for a moment the rebel revelled in the sights and sounds of chaos unfolding around him.

A subtle internal voice tells the rebel second-in-command to go help his leader, but he ignores it - he knew he already had orders to work his way back to the rebel rally point at the Canterlot opera house, along with the rest of the rebel force, once the household staff was dead. As such, once he hears the last hisses of gas come out of the cyanide canister, he makes a quick exit back into the streets of Canterlot...

Unfortunately for the rebel second-in-command, Agent Greed could've used the help at the time. The Agents of Chaos, like so many other ponies, had seriously underestimated Fleur Dis Lee's combat capabilities, as well as her willingness to get her hooves dirty (qualities that Fancypants would later come to admire in the young mare Rarity). Greed found himself on the losing end of the impromptu clash of weapons, and realized he was in serious trouble when a swordswing snapped his spear in two.

As Fancypants watched peeking from behind the safety of the master bathroom door, Fleur now began attacking more aggressively, forcing Agent Greed to keep dodging the sword swings. In desperation, he starts taking off pieces of armor and throwing them at Fleur - both ineffective, due to Fleur being proficient enough with the sword to deflect the objects, and a mistake that proves fatal.

Without anything else to attack with, Agent Greed is forced on the defensive, dodging the sword swings that leave notches in the walls and slices clean through other objects. Finally, the dodging skills fail the rebel squad leader and the swinging sword's tip clips his right wing. The distraction of the pain is enough for Fleur to stab Agent Greed's now-unprotected belly, causing him to crumple down to the marble tiled floor of the master suite and leaving him unable to respond to the sword slicing cleanly through his neck. Needless to say, death was very quick in following for Agent Greed.

Fleur Dis Lee drops control of the sword, which clatters to the floor besides the dead pegasus stallion, and looks back to see the unharmed Fancypants, fighting back both shock and nausea at the horrifying sight before him. Only the panting Fleur has enough self-control to speak: "We need to see what's going on out there. Now!"

Fancypants, more out of simply not having any idea what he should be doing than anything else, nods and carefully steps around the corpse and bodily fluids puddling around it to beside Fleur. In a stunned daze, both unicorns travel through hallways littered with smashed and torn objects to the top of the main entrance staircase, where a total mess of shattered vases and ripped paintings litter the floor below. A faint almond odor fills the room, and Fleur stops her charge from proceeding down the staircase.

"Something else has happened here besides the vandalizing. I'll check it myself." Fleur warns with a stern look, and Fancypants is too shaken up by events to object to Fleur's proposal.

Fleur slowly descends the staircase, sniffing the air around her as she goes. Finally she stops in front of a closed closet door, and after a moment's hesitation slowly opens it. She gasps very loudly and Fancypants rushes down the staircase to beside her. Very quickly, he sees the source of her shock - his entire household staff dead as a result of inhaling concentrated cyanide gas released by the activated canister!

The self-control of Fancypants finally fails, him levitating his trademark monocle into a suit pocket as he lets the tears flow down his face. These rebel intruders seeking chaos had taken much of his wealth, and ponies that had served him loyally for many years, in their impulsive rage and demented desires. For half a moment, he wondered if he was really still asleep, that this would be a nightmare he would shortly awake from.

Fleur's next words dash even that fragile hope, her looking out the damaged front door as she talks: "This nightmare isn't over, it's just beginning. Ponies are dying, and there's nothing we can do about it..."

Fancypants once again moves to Fleur's side, looking out into the nighttime city of Canterlot. Shadowy figures of pegasi, some armored, are moving among the buildings of the skyline, only made out clearly when passing over scattered fires blazing in the city. Over by the castle of Canterlot, a magenta-colored bubble of a shield is being rammed over and over by pegasi, raising dreadful fears of war within the city walls itself.

The two high-class unicorns are temporarily frozen by their emotions, unable to do nothing but look into the night and shed tears freely. They had already suffered greatly, and would continue to suffer from the efforts of the Agents of Chaos...

Deceit I

"Ugh, those batponies give me the creeps, Flithy! Those fangs, the matted coats, the griffon among them... why can't we have normal guards?"

"Spoiled dearest, as much as those batponies might irk you and me, they are the ones the princess has assigned guarding the hotel for the night, so we'll have to put up with them."

The hotel in question was the Alicorn's Star, the most prestigious in Canterlot and the luxury hotel of choice for the rich and famous, including the Rich couple and their filly Diamond Tiara. Diamond's friend Silver Spoon was also there in the luxury suite, joining the Rich family on a business trip into Canterlot. Guarding the hotel that night was Lieutenant Vesper and his batpony command, also including the former griffon defector Guard Upper Class Excelsior.

The command was specifically given to Vesper by Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor on orders from Princess Celestia herself, and there was very good reason for the assignment: the Agents of Chaos were coming for the Rich family! The assignment of Agent Deceit, his squadron marked with an upside-down light blue apple with pink leaves symbol, was to attack the hotel when his original target - Prince Blueblood - was found to still be assigned to Griffonstone and thus out of the immediate reach of the rebels.

The attack began when Deceit and his squad of a dozen ponies knocked down and trampled over the two guards of the Alicorn's Star crystalline main entrance, then shattered the doors in question before the hotel staff could activate their own security measures. The rebel squad spilled into the main lobby, staff and guests fleeing deeper into the hotel in panic. Deceit's second-in-command, assisted by two other stallions, cornered the night clerk behind the reservation desk and demanded he open the hotel's security vaults, the purpose being to plunder them of their contents. Deceit himself took two other stallions and proceeded via elevator toward the floor where the Rich family's suite was currently located. The remaining stallions paired up and located the rooms of "auxiliary" celebrity targets known to be at the hotel at the time, intending to break in and plunder whatever they could before retreating out a fire escape.

The Rich family was only made aware they had been targeted when the initial break-in set off the hotel's fire alarms. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon very quickly began huddling in a corner of the suite while Diamond's parents debated, ultimately to no avail, what should be done and what should be taken with them. It was only when Agent Deceit smashed his way into the Rich family suite, quickly followed by Lieutenant Vesper and and a subordinate that pulled him down to the floor, that the seriousness of the situation dawned on the family.

"We're under attack! You all need to get out of here now!" Lieutenant Vesper shouts, he and his subordinate desperately trying to hold down the armored rebel leader. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon cower in terror as they watch Guard Upper Class Excelsior and Vesper's second-in-command Arcturus battling the other two rebels just outside the broken doorway, griffon roars and batpony screeches adding ear pain to the whole ordeal.

"ATTACK?!? BUT I'M TOO YOUNG AND PRETTY TO DIE!" Spoiled Rich shouts, immediately (and unwittingly) smashing through a wall (due to her earth pony strength) near the door into the hallway, behind the two fighting pairs, and then galloping down the hallway in sheer panic.

The rebel fighting Arcturus turns to go after Mrs. Rich, but the batpony opponent rams him, knocking him down in the process. A moment later, the other rebel fighting Excelsior shouts in pain as the talons of the griffon slash his face, forcing the rebel into a quick and bloody retreat.

"Arcturus, go after Mrs. Rich, make sure she stays safe!" Lieutenant Vesper shouts, still struggling to hold down Agent Deceit.

"Yes sir!" Arcturus replies, trampling over the rebel he had just knocked down as he pursues Spoiled Rich down the hallway...

Mr. Filthy Rich's heart is racing as he whips around, trying to figure out what to do next. He can see Excelsior leaping onto the downed rebel in the hallway while Vesper and his subordinate still are struggling against Agent Deceit, who keeps wriggling out of their grasp. Behind him, he can see his daughter and her friend, hugging each other and cowering in fear and uncertainty.

A moment's debate in breathless uncertainty, and the loud screech of a griffon turns Mr. Rich's attention back to the other events unfolding around him. The screech was from Excelsior suffering a nasty blow as he was knocked off his pin. The distraction allows Deceit to wriggle away, and before the two batponies can pin him again a syringe filled with blue liquid is produced by Deceit. With great prejudice, the subordinate batpony is injected with a lethal dose, falling in his death throes onto the floor of the hotel suite.

A shaken but undaunted Vesper tries again to pin Deceit as he sees the pegasus stallion reaching in with a wing for what seems to be another syringe, but Mr. Rich now realizes that the other rebel is approaching him fast, murderous intent on his face. With the two young fillies behind him, Mr. Rich realizes there's only one course of action left to him...

Deceit II

Young fillies Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon watch in terrified amazement as Diamond's father, Mr. Filthy Rich, charges the armed rebel intent on taking his life and those of the fillies as well! The pegasus stallion rebel is knocked off balance by the unexpected attack, then downed by another push from Mr. Rich. The two stallions wrestle, Mr. Rich's clothing getting rumpled and torn in the process, the business magnate staring death in the face to protect his daughter and her best friend!

The rebel finally manages to get on top, but before he can take advantage of that fact a roaring screech is heard just behind him and he gets knocked off by a sidelong hit, the shape a vague blur of gold and red. When Mr. Rich can get to his hooves, he sees the griffon Upper Class Excelsior wrestling the rebel that was attacking Mr. Rich, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon letting out shouts of terror as the two continue their wrestling match.

"SIR, I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND... THAT YOU GET OUT OF HERE!" Excelsior shouts out in Mr. Rich's direction as the former struggles to pin the rebel he's fighting with.

"I'm not leaving without the fillies, not without my wife still missing!" Mr. Rich exclaims back, gesturing with a foreleg to the still-cowering Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

"With all due respect... sir... you have an awful..." Excelsior begins to reply, only to get cut off by Lieutenant Vesper nearby.

"EXCELSIOR, NOW IS NEITHER THE PLACE NOR TIME FOR CRITICISM!" Lieutenant Vesper shouts out in reprimand as he finally lands a solid hit on Agent Deceit, knocking off his helmet and exposing the neck to a bite attack.

Excelsior's apology is drowned out by the screaming that Agent Deceit emits after suffering a bite from Vesper, crimson liquid spilling onto the floor of the hotel suite. The distraction of the pain and gushing blood finally allows Vesper to turn and slam Deceit with both hindlegs in a bucking attack, knocking the Agent of Chaos cold in the process. With that blow, the battle is essentially finished - upon seeing what has happened to his leader, the other rebel realizes the futility of continued resistance and immediately announces his surrender.

Mr. Rich rushes over in teary relief to hug the two fillies he had been protecting, grateful above all else for their safety. Behind him, Lieutenant Vesper announces instructions to Excelsior for dealing with the rebel prisoners and fallen fellow batpony. For the first time, Mr. Rich notices his rumpled clothing and attempts to straighten it out while the two Royal Guards work.

"This is the worst sleepover ever! I want my part of the expenses refunded!" Silver Spoon shouts out, the fear dropping enough to loosen her tongue.

"Silver Spoon, that's not helping anything! Where's Mom, Daddy?" Diamond Tiara shouts out, first to Silver Spoon and then to her father, the worry for her mother still evident on her face.

"We'll find her, honey, I promise. The batpony and griffon will help us!" Mr. Rich replies reassuringly.

"I'm afraid, sir, that will be much easier said than done." Lieutenant Vesper states with exhausted worry in his tone of voice. "I fear the rest of my command will be heavily engaged, something is going on here that has not happened for a long time. Something that has bubbled up out of hatred of friendship and harmony."

"Well what CAN we do, Lieutenant?" Mr. Rich replies, looking back as he picks up Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to have them ride on his back, something the two fillies only accept reluctantly.

"Let's get you and the fillies to the lobby, we can figure out what to do from there." Lieutenant Vesper replies with as much certainty as he can, attempting to staunch the bleeding on the unconscious Agent Deceit while Excelsior behind him pulls off a sheet from the suite's bed to cover the deceased batpony laying on the floor, the batpony already having been placed into a respectful pose.

"Alright, lead the way Lieutenant." Mr. Rich affirms, double checking to see if Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are still placed on his back. Meanwhile, Excelsior was taking custody of the surrendered rebel, now bound with bands holding the wings down and a hood placed over his head, restricting sight enough to prevent him from trying to wander away.

"Leave him, Excelsior, there's nothing more we can do for him now. We'll have to take him away later." Lieutenant Vesper states, pointing to the dead batpony now covered by a sheet, surrounded by bloodstains now staining the plush carpet lining the hotel suite's floor.

"Yes, sir." Excelsior replies, leading away the prisoner out of the hotel suite. Mr. Filthy Rich somberly looks back at the mess left behind in his hotel suite before following Excelsior out, Lieutenant Vesper behind him to prevent from being surprised from behind...

Lieutenant Vesper's party cautiously makes its way down toward the ground floor of the hotel, passing by some signs of rebel activity elsewhere in the hotel - holes in walls, smashed objects on the floor, etc. They pass by a wounded batpony who gives a critical update on the situation the squadron is facing: several other suites containing celebrities had been attacked, only to be driven back by their batpony guards. The attempts at petty theft foiled, the rebel forces fell back to the hotel lobby, trying to "hold the line" to protect the rebel second-in-command currently emptying the hotel's supply of available cash.

"We'll need to speed up our progress, otherwise the rebels might get away with a whole lot of bits!" Lieutenant Vesper exclaims.

"You heard the Lieutenant, Mr. Rich. Doubletime march!" Excelsior tells Mr. Rich.

"Can you watch the prisoners, Guard?" Lieutenant Vesper asks his wounded subordinate, hoping to offload the extra burden onto him.

"Yes sir, it's just bruises and scratches, nothing more serious." the wounded subordinate replies.

"Good, take custody of the two prisoners. Excelsior and I will keep escorting Mr. Rich and the two fillies to find a way out." Vesper orders.

"My name is Diamond Tiara, and this is Silver Spoon. We have names too ya know!" Diamond Tiara indignantly interrupts, trying to maintain her balance on the back of her father.

"I'm sure they know, honey. But now is not the time for things like that." Mr. Rich gently corrects. "We still need to find your mother."

"And we're wasting time in talking. Doubletime to the lobby!" Lieutenant Vesper exclaims, starting again at a fast trot pace down the hallway. Mr. Rich and then Excelsior follow after a moment at the same speed...

A minute later, Vesper and those following him emerge onto a balcony overlooking the lobby of the Alicorn's Star hotel. There they discover the bulk of Vesper's forces fighting against rebels in scattered duels across the lobby, several hotel guests and staff in corners trying to stay out of the way of the fighting. To the dismay of both Mr. Rich and Vesper, Mrs. Rich is not seen among them.

An armored pony, emerging from a staff area behind the main desk and with the desk clerk tied up, is seen dragging a large bag full of something that jingles - doubtless the bit haul he intended to steal. Another rebel rushes over to help lift the bag, and both ponies make a series of whistles that mimic the battle call for tactical retreat. They then disappear through the broken front door with their haul. Vesper's command is too distracted fighting other rebels to stop them, as Vesper himself realizes in frustration.

The batpony Lieutenant is debating what to do next when the door on the opposite side of the balcony from where his group is suddenly busted open. Two ponies emerge through the doorway - which Vesper and Mr. Rich immediately recognize to great relief as Vesper's second-in-command Arcturus and Mrs. Spoiled Rich! The two rush over to Vesper's group in tearful relief, and another earth pony - a mare with a light blue-grey coat and a manestyle that reminded Vesper of Rarity's, only with a blue color scheme and tighter "coils" - emerges through the doorway.

"Thank Celestia you're safe!" Mr. Rich exclaims as he embraces his weeping wife, Diamond Tiara quickly mimicking her father's action.

"Arcturus, report!" Vesper shouts out as he glimpses at the two rushing rebels that emerged behind the earth pony mare. The latter turns around in a defensive measure, ducking and dodging the pair of rebels to keep their attention focused on her.

"We were cornered, but one of the hotel guests helped get us away!" Arcturus explains, gesturing back toward the mare fighting the rebel pair.

"Hey, I recognize her!" Diamond Tiara exclaims, standing beside her father as she speaks. "She's the singer of all those pop songs I keep hearing sung and talked about over and over again!"

"It's true her music is not to your taste, dear, but she probably helped save your mother's life, so I don't want to hear anything bad about the Countess. You understand me, young mare?" Mr. Rich firmly asks, preempting any attempts at criticism of the embattled Coloratura's musical performances. At the same time, Arcturus and Excelsior now rush out to help her, but before they can get there a rebel's blow knocks her off balance near the top of the stairs leading down to the lobby proper, and she can't recover in time to avoid a tumble down the gilded staircase.

As the popstar tumbles down the staircase, some of the hotel patrons and staff rush toward where she'll land, and Vesper notices to his frustration the rebels are beating a general retreat, some with plundered items in packs. The batpony squad begins chasing after them, but it's no guarantee of success. Vesper can only console himself with the fact that there appeared to be no further casualties among his command.

As soon as Coloratura lands at the foot of the stairs, two of the patrons that had been hiding in a corner - one being her manager Svengallop and the other one of the hotel baggage handlers - give her a brief lookover as she's helped back onto her hooves. Meanwhile, Vesper, Arcturus and Excelsior work together to bring down the two rebels on the balcony, knocking them down and holding them in place.

"Arcturus, Excelsior, secure the prisoners. I'm going to escort the Rich family down and see what's going on." Lieutenant Vesper commands, for the first time noticing the ruined condition of the hotel lobby - glass and crystal shattered, desks and chairs overturned and broken, and finally the clear evidence of wanton plundering by the items missing from their usual places.

Arcturus and Excelsior go about their work as Vesper escorts the Rich family plus Silver Spoon down the staircase to the trashed hotel lobby, and once at the bottom of the stairs Vesper takes a moment to check out the situation in more detail, observing Coloratura being checked out for bumps and bruises and noting the tied-up desk clerk pleading to be set loose.

"You'll be alright from now on? I have to take stock of what's happened here." Vesper asks Mr. Rich, the confusion and uncertainty finally coming to the surface.

"Yes sir, thank you for all you've done sir." Mr. Rich replies, which the batpony Lieutenant takes as permission to go attend to the desk clerk.

"Filthy, there's something going on at the castle! Look outside!" Mrs. Rich suddenly exclaims, dramatically pointing a forehoof through the destroyed entrance to the Alicorn's Star hotel.

"Dear, I've told you not to... oh. Oh my!" Mr. Rich exclaims as he follows the direction of the gesture to see a bright magenta-colored bubble enclosing an area around the castle of Canterlot!

The Rich family as a whole, along with Silver Spoon, now rush out to just outside the destroyed entrance, temporarily ignoring the shattered glass around their hooves to stare at the bubble, which was currently being pounded on by a good number of barely-visible pegasi. It certainly did not portend anything good, and for the first time the rumors of attempting to resurrect "the chaotic one" that they heard were believed to may be true.

"Daddy, I'm scared! What's going on?" Diamond Tiara exclaims, cowering again beside her father as she watches.

"I wish I knew, honey. I wish I knew..." Mr. Rich answers her daughter, neatly summarizing the sinking dread the entire group was feeling at that very moment...

Animosity I

Morning shift Guard Lieutenant Amarna, wearing the green rebel star of Agent Animosity, smirked with satisfaction as he saw Agent Cruelty's squad approaches with a few unicorn prisoners. Amarna had been the most loyal servant of Lieutenant Captain Aten - now revealed to be the treacherous Agent Snake in the Grass - and felt it a great honor to wear the perversion of Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark to lead the main rebel attack force. This force was dozens of criminals, virtually all of them pegasi and most of them with long or lifetime prison sentences as the result of having the "wrong" special talents. All of them had been "replaced" by some mysterious means in their prison cells, and all would fight to the death against the system that was seen to be both dominated by unicorns and tyrannically insecure. Perfect pawns for the spreading of chaos, as both Snake and Animosity knew well.

Animosity was relieved that Cruelty's surprise attack had succeeded, for it meant the loyalists were already playing catch-up to the rebel attack and Animosity's force could execute the main attack immediately. The rebels knew the officer barracks would contain the most important targets - the bulk of the "horned one" officers, including Captain of the Guard Gibraltar and Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor. Breaking in would allow a deliciously-anticipated general slaughter, fundamentally crippling the Royal Guard and (it was hoped) speeding up the spread of chaos necessary to revive the chaotic one.

Agent Cruelty approaches Animosity and his second, saluting and gesturing behind him to the unicorn prisoners. Animosity looked further behind and was pleased to find no pursuit of Cruelty's squad - the loyalists were still in disarray, and it would give time to set up the attack properly.

"One of the prisoners is the treacherous Ventas, sir. I would recommend he be loaded into the machine first." Agent Cruelty points out, and Animosity sees Ventas' horrified look at the guillotine-like device Animosity's squad was towing behind them.

Animosity pauses for a moment to consider the proposal before nodding in agreement, an evil grin spreading across the face of the pegasus as he speaks: "Yes, load him in first. His death will hit the horned ones hardest. Move quickly though, the loyalists will be reorganizing quickly enough."

"Yes, sir." Agent Cruelty replies with another salute, as Ventas is dragged and shoved in the direction of the machine, both rebel Agents deliciously enjoying the terror on his face...

Agent Cruelty transfers his hostages to the Animosity squad and takes flank guarding as the rebel mob begins general movement in the direction of the officer barracks, the death-dealing machine Ventas is loaded in being dragged at the rear. The machine had already tasted the blood of one unicorn, and soon it would taste more in the perverse desires of pegasi convinced of their own superiority.

Animosity notices two trends generally developing as the mob closes on the officer barracks. One is armored and presumably loyalist officers filtering in behind them, but setting up a defensive perimeter instead of attacking - doubtless the loyalist members would be reluctant to attack first, so were settling on simply cutting off any potential escape. Animosity was not worried about this, helped by the fact that loyalist Guards would "peel off" this perimeter to help respond to the attacks of his fellow rebels.

The second trend was more troubling - the lack of any castle staff joining the rebels. Snake had told Animosity that as soon as an attack was obvious, the "oppressed pegasi" of the civilian staff would join en masse to help counterbalance the loyalist resistance and cause further chaos. This terribly flawed assumption meant that Animosity was in a fragile situation once the attack was launched.

Quickly the situation got even worse as a magenta-colored magic bubble encased the entire officer barracks. The attacks were planned under another flawed assumption: any pony that had the power to put up an effective resistance would not be in the building. Instead, as a careful observation of an upper floor balcony determined, Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor had put up his shielding magic in response to the movement - not only posing a serious obstacle to any assault but indications of the loss of the element of surprise.

Animosity was undeterred though - not least because retreat would not be easy due to the royalist security perimeter behind his group. The royalists still hadn't attacked yet, so he assumed that they weren't willing to act without clear indication of rebellion. The rebel leader halted his entire squad near where the magic shield intersected with the ground, the blood of the rebels still running hot with eager anticipation for revenge.

Captain of the Guard Gibraltar, awake and wearing his full armor, shouts down at the rebel group from his balcony perch: "I WANT THIS NONSENSE TO STOP IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS AN ILLEGAL ACTION, AND EVERYPONY INVOLVED WILL BE PUNISHED MOST SEVERELY FOR IT!"

"WE REFUSE TO BEND BEFORE A HORNED ONE SUPPORTING A TREASONOUS PRINCESS! WE HAVE KEPT OURSELVES PURE BY DEVOTING OURSELVES TO THE CHAOS, AND NOW WE WILL BRING IT BACK UPON EQUESTRIA!" Agent Animosity shouts in return, and the mob takes off from their ground positions in preparation to begin attacking the magenta-colored shield around the barracks.

Inside the building, Captain Gibraltar looks back at Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor and Princess Luna from his balcony position, shaking his head sadly at the other two powerful ponies in the building with him. An attack, it seemed, was inevitable.

"At least now we know why Celestia wanted the meetings here tonight." Shining Armor grimly affirms, the magenta-colored glow of the magic sustaining the shield outside the building illuminating the dismay on both of his fellow ponies.

"Those words... why are they determined to use them against me, against us?" Luna croaks out in misty despair, obviously feeling her thousand-year previous betrayal of Celestia had given an excuse for the rebels to just ignore the Captain and Shining Armor.

"Some ponies just won't be reasoned with, Your Highness. Friendship won't even touch them, because they've shut themselves off from it. The Elements won't help, we have to fight, and ignore their tactics!" Shining Armor exclaims, the fierceness of his features amplified by the glow of his magic.

Princess Luna looks over at the Lieutenant Captain, slowly taking in both the somber reality and the unspoken implication that she, even after she had done before, was still a better pony than these rebels. With a foreleg, she wipes away the tears in her eyes, and a smile slowly spreads across her face.

"I need you both watching right now!" Captain Gibraltar shouts out from his balcony position, and both Shining and Luna quickly race to beside Gibraltar.

What they see is both horrifying and incredible: dozens of pegasi pounding on the magic shield in front of them, and in the machine on the ground below a decapitated unicorn, not immediately recognizable, the horn removed and apparently pocketed as a perverse trophy of sorts!

"They are determined to kill! They must be stopped immediately!" Gibraltar exclaims as the loyalists behind the rebel group sprint in to attack, starting a general melee in the area in front of the officer barracks.

"Sir, I can't let down the shield without letting the enemy attackers in!" Shining Armor responds, gesturing toward the pegasi ramming against the shield he was generating. The pegasi showed the same persistence at the ramming tactic the Changelings would later show, and the experience this rebellion gave helped generate overconfidence in the shielding of Shining Armor later.

At this point, Princess Luna comes up with a suggestion: "My powers have recovered enough to shoot lightning bolts through any hole in the shielding. That can be used to prevent anypony from getting in while letting others get out."

Shining looks over at Gibraltar, who nods in response to Luna's suggestion then gives his orders: "I will get the Lieutenants out as quickly as I can. Shining, you focus on keeping that shield up and telling where the Princess needs to aim in order for the plan to work. Understood?"

"Yes sir, sir!" Shining Armor replies, briefly straightening up and giving a proper salute.

Captain Gibraltar gallops off without further word, and now both Shining Armor and Luna rush to the balcony overlooking the battle area. In the sky is the persistent ramming of part of the rebel force lead by Agent Animosity himself, on the ground is an appropriately-chaotic melee lead by both Agent Cruelty and Animosity's second-in-command. Cruelty's second-in-command and several other rebels are seen carting a hapless unicorn into the guillotine-like machine - the loyalists are too distracted to prevent this unicorn from losing both his horn and his head to the blade of the machine.

"That... is bringing back memories of more barbaric times." Luna comments as both she and Shining Armor recoil from the shameless execution in front of them.

"Barbarians indeed. Why do they want chaos so much?" Shining Armor asks in sheer disbelief.

"I most heartily wish to tell you, but I fear that the reason might manifest itself soon enough if they keep doing what they are doing." Luna explains. "It is something only the Elements could stop, and with the Bearers doubtlessly unable to respond quickly we must stop the rebels from the summoning they are attempting!"

The explanation didn't quite make sense to Shining - and it wouldn't for a long time afterward - but in the stress of the situation he shoves aside his own doubts and returns his focus to the situation he was facing. Ponies were dying, and unlike the "Night Eternal" there would be no magical artifacts and friendship power to count on to fight the evil.

Several tense, adrenaline-soaked minutes passed as the brawl continued, both rebels and loyalists going down with injuries. Cruelty's second-in-command abandoned the intended plan of executing unicorns on capture and only got to use the machine once more before he was ordered to open a way for the rebel wounded to escape back to the opera house. He succeeded, allowing several rebels that would've otherwise been captured to escape, but it upped the pressure on the remaining rebels as a result.

Agent Animosity, frustrated by the persistence of the magical shield protecting the officer barracks and seeing a counterattack being organized inside it, pulled the bulk of the remaining rebels into trying to break the shield, leaving Cruelty with a skeleton squad distracting the loyalist forces under operational authority of Lieutenant Skyver. The loyalists had been reduced by injury and the need to attend to the distractions elsewhere in the city of Canterlot, but they still were a superior force to the mostly-civilian rebels. Both Animosity and Cruelty hoped to receive civilian pegasi reinforcement, but that hope was proving rather elusive, as was the signs of the chaotic one's return.

Captain Gibraltar was preparing to initiate his counterattack when the battlefield was suddenly - and quite rapidly, suggesting a deliberate action - appearance of thick, black clouds overhead, leaving the battlefield only illuminated by the magical shielding generated by Shining Armor. The battle quickly paused, rebel and loyalist alike confused by the sudden change of weather that could only logically be caused by coordinated pegasi.

"What's going on? No thundercloud banks were authorized for tonight!" Princess Luna naturally exclaims, staring up at the skies in confusion.

"I don't know who assembled those thunderclouds, Your Highness. It could be rebels, it could be the 'chaotic one', it could be anything really." Shining Armor replies, staring up beside Luna as he speaks.

"Do either of you up there have an explanation for what's going on with those clouds?!" Captain Gibraltar is heard shouting up from ground level, behind him the counterattacking force consisting of a number of loyalist officers, most of them unicorn Lieutenants, sharing in the Captain's confusion.

"No, but it seems..." Shining begins in his response, only to be interrupted by a loud sound coming from above the clouds, similar to that of a firework being launched in the sky. The cloudbank opens enough to see a bright streak, electric blue against the relative dark of the night sky, high above the battlefield and apparently aimed straight at the officer barracks!

The rebels temporarily took hope - to them, it seemed the first sign of the chaotic one's return, or perhaps the vanguard of a powerful reinforcement. The loyalists were both confused and worried, the conversation between Luna and Shining Armor encapsulating the uncertainty nicely:

"Lieutenant Captain, whatever that streak is, is it aimed at us or at the rebels?"

"I wish I could say, Your Highness, I wish I could say..."

Animosity II

The entire main assault of the rebel Agents of Chaos against the Royal Guard officer barracks was held in suspension until the electric-blue streak screaming down from the night sky came close enough to determine what exactly it was and what it was going to do. It wasn't until desperate rebel scrambling away from their positions just outside the protective magic bubble that the loyalist defenders - most prominently Captain of the Guard Gibraltar and Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor - realized that the streak was generated by a speeding pegasus aimed at the rebel attackers!

The rebels continued to scramble out of the direct path of the electric-blue energy, but it ended up being in vain - as the pegasus passed through the rebel cluster, there was a crackling KABOOM and an electric-blue ring shock of energy released in a variation of the sonic rainboom. The speeding pegasus quickly pulls around parallel to the ground, as Rainbow Dash had done after performing her rainboom rescue, prompting more scattering from both rebels and loyalists on the ground. The rebels unfortunate enough to get caught in the "wash" of the energy ring immediately dropped to the ground, blue electrical bolts surging across their bodies.

The rebel attack stopped immediately, and chaos of the unhelpful kind immediately broke out as the loyalists counterattacked in response to the rebel confusion. First were the loyalists under Lieutenant Skyver's operational authority that had been attempting to contain the rebels, then others personally lead by Captain Gibraltar out from Shining Armor's shield (that had survived the ring's impact on it but was now removed to let out the other loyalists).

Panic broke out immediately among the rebels, now realizing many of their number were injured and they were in imminent danger of being crushed between the two loyalist forces. Agent Animosity's second-in-command rushed down to where Animosity had fallen after being caught in the electrical energy wash, and very quickly the pegasus stallion realizes the limp, burned and bleeding Animosity is dead - the electrical shocks had stopped his heart and "shorted out" his entire nervous system - and that every other pony caught in that ring of electrical energy had met, or would soon meet, the same fate.

The second-in-command looks left to see loyalists closing on him. He looks right to see the same thing happening. He looks up and sees pegasi (later revealed to be a mixture of civilian castle staff and concerned citizens of Canterlot) coming through the previous opening in the cloudbank above and chasing after the fleeing rebels, making it clear they weren't the hoped-for friendly reinforcements. Finally, over the confusion din of the renewed conflict, he hears Agent Cruelty emitting a cry that he recognizes as a signal used amongst the old pegasi tribes calling for general retreat. The pegasus realizes he has little choice but to follow the retreat order if he doesn't want to get captured and takes off, gripping with his teeth the Lieutenant's star on Animosity and ripping it off the uniform as he ascends to prove the latter's death and allow him to assume command once the rebels have a chance to reorganize.

The two loyalist attacks run into each other, allowing most of the uninjured rebels to get away and causing some "friendly fire" attacks before Captain Gibraltar can restore order. Of the approximately 65 members of the rebel attack squad, about a dozen had been killed or critically injured by the electric imitation of the sonic rainboom and a few more injured in the melee with loyalists. All the injured became prisoners of the loyalists, along with a few other rebels that had been rounded up by the chasing pegasi. The rebels also lost the guillotine-style machine that had been used to execute three unicorns, which was impounded by Lieutenant Skyver and began to be dragged away to storage for usage in later criminal proceedings.

Captain Gibraltar called a hasty meeting involving himself, Shining Armor, Princess Luna and Lieutenant Skyver in order to piece together what exactly was going on. All the while he was getting updates of the other rebel attacks around the city and the situation just outside the officer's barracks - civilians and Royal Guards working together to clean up the battlefield and secure whatever prisoners the loyalists could grab.

"The evidence is clear and irrefutable! They are deliberately trying to generate chaos, and if they succeed in their efforts there would only be one solution: the Elements and their Bearers!" Princess Luna exclaims as she thumps a hoof on the table the meeting was conducted around.

"I agree that we need to summon the Bearers just in case, but how exactly is that going to work? Conventional messaging will take much too long to be useful." Captain Gibraltar questions.

"Then we wake Celestia and have her send a message by Spike. She needs to know about the rebellion anyways!" Shining Armor answers.

"Assuming the castle communications haven't been cut off, sir." Lieutenant Skyver cautiously adds.

"We can restore them if they are, odds are good part of the rebel plan is deliberately delaying Celestia coming to know of the rebellion." Captain Gibraltar states.

"Then what are your orders, Captain?" Shining Armor asks, all eyes now focusing on Gibraltar.

"We return to the castle, capturing or driving off any rebels we come across. Once there, we wake Celestia, either to alert her to the rebellion or to enable her to alert the Element Bearers." Gibraltar firmly replies in Shining's direction. "Meanwhile, our subordinates will capture and repulse any rebellious ponies in the city to protect the citizenry and preclude further spread of chaos. Their treachery means extreme measures are now justified, and I will not be afraid to order them!"

"Then we waste time by talking. Certainly they will rally somewhere within the city, and that place must be found and cleared as soon as possible as a secondary objective to our own efforts." Princess Luna affirms.

"Absolutely, Your Highness." Gibraltar replies, turning from her to Lieutenant Skyver for his next words: "Lieutenant, I am leaving you in operational authority as I need the Lieutenant Captain's help for the castle operations. As soon as you can find the rebel rally point, you are to organize a force and lead an attack to clear the place. Lethal force IS being authorized against any active opposition. Understood, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, sir!" Lieutenant Skyver replies with a salute, grim worry on his face.

"Very good. Now we go to alert Celestia. Dismissed!"

The meeting was over, but not all the twists of the night's events. As the Luna lead party exited the officer barracks heading toward the castle, a pegasus mare rushed up before Luna and bowed, telling that she had news for the Captain of the Guard.

"Go ahead, mare!" Captain Gibraltar replies directly as he rushes to beside Luna, temporarily overlooking proper protocol due to the fluid nature of the situation.

"The pegasus behind the electrical shockwave is right behind me! You see, sir, he hurt his wings in the effort and had to make his way back on hoof..." the mare begins in a rambling explanation.

"Never mind the details, civilian! Just tell him we're right over here!" Captain Gibraltar cuts off, waving off the mare with a forehoof as Shining Armor also moves up out of curiousity - Lieutenant Skyver decides it's best to stay where he is to watch the back of the others despite his own curiousity about the stallion that generated that electric shockwave.

"Yes sir!" the mare exclaims, quickly turning and running back off in the direction she'd come. A few moments later, she returns with a pegasus stallion, orange-coated with a neatly-trimmed mane and tail in stripes of different shades of blue. The stallion lets his wings hang down - an obvious result of overexertion - and the pegasus mare directs him in the direction of Luna's party.

The members of Princess Luna's party exchange looks with each other as the stallion approaches, and all Royal Guard members notice the stallion is wearing a now-rumpled dress uniform, decorated with the insignia of a Guard Lower Class. The stallion finally stops in surprise at Luna and bows, somewhat ungracefully due to his exhausted state.

"Arise, stallion. Your superiors may wish to discuss some things with you." Luna graciously replies, stepping aside to let the other party members address the pegasus stallion directly. The pegasus complies, but quickly shifts into a salute upon seeing his superior officers arrayed in front of him.

"Your name and shift assignment, Guard." Captain Gibraltar asks of the pegasus as Shining Armor and Lieutenant Skyver exchange looks again.

"Flash Sentry, Guard Lower Class, afternoon shift at the castle, sir." the orange pegasus quickly clips out while retaining his salute, also finally remembering his splayed out wings and blushing a bit as he folds them back up to his side.

"Tell me, Flash Sentry, did you rally the civilian counterattack in addition to performing the imitation of the rainboom?" Captain Gibraltar asks with an interested but firm tone in his voice.

"Yes sir, I was out on late duty and saw the rebels coming out of the opera house..." Flash starts to explain, but is interrupted by the raising of a forehoof by the Captain of the Guard.

"You can give a briefing on the details later, Guard. Let's just say we're all very impressed by your actions." Captain Gibraltar says with a smile, affirmed by nods of the other members of the party.

"Thank you sir, it was the least I could do sir." Flash replies as frankly as possible, returning the smile given him.

"Tell me, though, when was the last time you handed out parking tickets on the streets of Canterlot?" Captain Gibraltar now asks, referencing the "bottom-feeder" job of the Royal Guard in the city of Canterlot - only the lowest on the seniority lists did this task.

"Parking tickets? I don't think..." Flash Sentry starts replying in confusion.

"Sir, I believe he was one of those called up early because of Luna's arrival..." Shining Armor helpfully interjects.

"Oh that's right, you must've come from the field early because of the sudden need for an expanded service. Thank you, Lieutenant Captain." Gibraltar replies gratefully, turning first to Luna and then Shining Armor in turn in acknowledgement of the context of the statement. Luna blushes slightly in return, while Shining gives a gentle nod in his superior's direction.

"Yes sir, I was called up early from field tour after graduating Academy." Flash Sentry affirms with an uneasy smile.

"True true, but valor and quick thinking can be in a stallion of any age. The Lieutenant Captain here is an example of this in action, and in this hour of need we need more stallions like him and like you, Guard." Captain Gibraltar replies warmly.

There is a brief pause as Flash's face changes to surprise as he begins to realize what is going on. Captain Gibraltar uses his brown-colored unicorn magic to pull out from his saddlebag the double bars of a Guard Upper Class insignia, dirtied and twisted slightly from being suddenly being pulled off its previous placement and dropped to the ground.

"This was recovered from one of the main rebels. Whoever it is has forfeited the right to wear it, and now I give it to a much more worthy candidate." Captain Gibraltar explains, manipulating with his unicorn magic to take off Flash's Guard Lower Class single-bar insignia and pin the Upper Class double bars in its place. "Effective immediately, you have been promoted to Guard Upper Class, and for the duration of counter-rebellion measures you are to remain attached to this party. Understood, Guard?"

"Yes sir, thank you sir!" Flash Sentry replies, finally feeling free enough to give a smile as he saluted.

"We would appreciate if you would join us in the trek to the castle, Guard. You can tell us more about what you know on the way there." Princess Luna offers.

"Yes, Your Highness. I will tell everything I know." the now-Upper Class Flash Sentry replies to the princess of the night.

"Good. Take station on the outside of the Lieutenant Captain. The Captain will be on my right, the Lieutenant Captain on my left, the Lieutenant on the outside of the Captain. We will move in a wedge formation directly to the castle." Princess Luna orders.

"You heard the Princess, everypony. And Upper Class, try to straighten out that uniform while we move, please?" Captain Gibraltar adds as he moves to the position dictated by Luna.

"Don't worry, sir, I will." Flash Sentry replies with a chuckle as he moves to beside Shining Armor, who is already on Luna's left.

As the five ponies assemble in the ordered wedge formation, Luna gives a dramatic point with a forehoof in the direction of the castle, and the small group begins moving out in military march. The main rebel attack had been stopped, but the rebels were not yet defeated, there would still be more fighting yet that night...

Sadness

Agent Sadness, civilian identity Guard Lieutenant Typhoon of the morning shift, had a job that was second to only Animosity's in importance. His small squad, wearing an orange upside-down balloon as its insignia, had a daunting but simply stated task: keep Princess Celestia from learning of the rebellion as long as possible.

On paper, the job of Sadness' squad, composed of a few lower-ranked pegasus Royal Guard members and some professional "eliminators", was simplified by the distractions of his fellow Agents, Animosity ensuring Princess Luna and the high Guard officers could not alert Celestia too quickly. But if Snake's plan did not work as expected, Sadness and his command would be lucky to escape the castle alive. Furthermore, Sadness found to his annoyance he would have to cover Snake's own infiltration of the castle, apparently to get him into the throne room so that he could declare himself king as soon as "the chaotic one" emerged.

Snake's demand meant Sadness splitting his small squad into two, one part to cover Snake's movements in the city and the other to actually perform the infiltration. Sadness himself would lead the infiltration while his second-in-command would lead the escort. It was thus Sadness, accompanied by the "eliminators", began the infiltration, the first target being the access to Celestia and Cadance...

The plan was not to go straight to the guards protecting the suites of Princesses Celestia and Cadance, but rather to create distractions elsewhere in the castle to draw the attention of the guards and confuse them. Sadness started by having his small command pelt random windows with rocks, sending guards scurrying all over the castle looking for the source of the rock throwers, then breaking through a security weakpoint at the Luna Vault, which was the only part of the castle open to public tours and where an important target was supposed to be located. Once inside, they would head straight to the guards to the royal suites, where the "eliminators" would take them out. Sadness didn't have orders for anything beyond that point other than "plunder the Artifact Vault", but it was assumed that by that point he could improvise something based on the situation at the time.

Lieutenant Aldebaran, already overstretched by the absence of any superior officers to call upon as well as minding both his own squad and that of Stratocumulus at the same time, was caught off-guard by Sadness' plan. He only realized this wasn't hooliganism he was dealing with when he first heard of a break-in at the Luna Vault. Taking an Upper Class and two Lower Classes with him, Aldebaran begins galloping through the castle corridors to the Luna Vault...

"Sir, aren't there a lot of precious and irreplaceable artifacts in that vault?" one of the Lower Classes asks Lieutenant Aldebaran as the guards gallop down the hallways at top speed.

"Exactly, Lower Class, that's why it's public access as a museum. Most of the presents Princess Celestia reserved for her sister in the thousand years she was gone are the only items of their kind left in existence, but we can't put tighter security on the place due to the public access requirements." Aldebaran explains in annoyance, the four stallions skidding around a corner immediately afterward.

Ahead of them they can see the access door from the public displays into the rest of the castle have been blasted open, a faint smoky odor filling the air around them. Aldebaran rushes to look into the breached doors... and is puzzled by what he sees. As his subordinates pass by and spread out among the display cases, Aldebaran observes that the only damage seems to be the doors leading in and out, the items and their display cases themselves are oddly untouched. The pegasus Lieutenant is trying to puzzle out why the criminals have acted this way when he hears his Upper Class subordinate calling from across the tour hall.

"Sir, we've got ponies down! Two unicorn stallions, one of them isn't breathing!" the Upper Class shouts, prompting Aldebaran and the rest of his subordinates to carefully work their way between the displays to the other end of the display hall.

Once there, Aldebaran could see two unicorns indeed laying down on the carpeted tour path. One, a unicorn with a striking resemblance to Gaffer and wearing a star-spangled cape, moans and begins groping with a forehoof for the glasses and hat also star-spangled that lay beside him. The other stallion, wearing a Guard dress uniform with the V-shaped insignia of a Quartermaster on the collar, had the ominous sign of an empty needle and drips of a crimson liquid beside him.

"Oh my head... where's my research notes?" the unicorn resembling Gaffer asks as he sits up and slowly looks around, massaging the area above his horn as Lieutenant Aldebaran rushes to his side. At the same time, the Upper Class stops in front of the other stallion and starts a lookover to determine if CPR would even be worth attempting, considering what he guessed about the needle's former contents...

"Slow down, stallion. Let's start with your name, since I know you're not Gaffer, he's on duty elsewhere..." Aldebaran states, gently pushing the glasses and hat with a forehoof closer to the stallion he was speaking to...

"Sunburst. My name's Sunburst, I was studying the artifacts, they came out of nowhere, I tried a fireball spell..." the unicorn tries to explain as he finally activates his unicorn magic to put the glasses and hat back on, forehoof still rubbing the area above his horn.

"They must've been attacked, what about the other stallion?" Aldebaran asks desperately, turning to his Upper Class subordinate looking over the other fallen unicorn stallion as he does so.

"He's the Acting Quartermaster, sir. Already dead, lethal injection judging from the needle." the Upper Class replies, and a horror streaks through all the other ponies watching as for the first time it was suspected the Agents of Chaos were involved.

"What else can you tell me, Upper Class?" Aldebaran asks, shoving down the dread beginning to well up inside him.

"The Quartermaster was stripped clean, sir. None of the keyrings can be accounted for." the Upper Class adds with a dreadful weight in the voice.

"Sir, that means they have access to the armory, the treasury..." one of the Lower Classes quickly points out.

"The Artifact Vault!" Aldebaran concludes breathlessly.

"What's that, sir?" the other Lower Class present asks.

"It's one of those things that's not supposed to exist in here, like the Luna Vault was before Princess Luna arrived here." Aldebaran explains. "There's all kind of dangerous magical artifacts hidden in there, and unlike the Elements of Harmony Celestia doesn't have a protective forcefield around them because they aren't supposed to even exist at all - the field would draw too much attention to the spot."

"How do you know about all this, sir?" the Lower Class that spoke before naturally asks again.

"Being the longest-serving officer on the night shift, you tend to learn about things you shouldn't necessarily know about. Now we need to go secure the Artifact Vault, I'm certain that's where the attackers are headed!" Aldebaran explains.

"Sir, what about Sunburst and the Quartermaster?" the Lower Class continues asking.

"The Quartermaster we can do nothing to help, but I want you to get Sunburst some medical attention, Lower Class. Escort him to the medical station within the castle, have him checked out." Aldebaran orders.

"Yes, sir. Come with me please, Mr. Sunburst." the Lower Class replies, first to his Lieutenant and then to Sunburst, who by this point has realized his research notes are nowhere nearby - possibly stolen by the attackers. Reluctantly, Sunburst slowly begins following the Lower Class Guard deeper into the castle through the breech where the doors leading inside used to be.

"We're going to the Artifact Vault. Now. Doubletime!" Lieutenant Aldebaran shouts, and he takes off in full gallop with his remaining subordinates quick behind him, the direction opposite the one Sunburst was being escorted...

MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE IN THE CASTLE...

Despite the qualifications of the guards posted in front of Princess Celestia's royal suite, they stood no chance against the Gemini Bats, a pair of twin batpony mercenaries who were busy for their hefty bounty that night. The bats flew high and slow just below the vaulted ceiling, too quiet for the confused and anxious guards to hear, then swiftly dropped on quiet wings and delivered their lethal payload in well-honed synchronization. As the two unicorn stallions slumped down from the cyanide's effects, the assassins catch them and lay them down gently so that there was no sound to echo across the castle hallways.

"What next, brother? We have already taken out the guards in front of Cadance's suite." one of the batponies asks, looking back and forth to see if anypony was watching them.

"Agent Sadness will open the royal treasury to us. We help ourselves to its wealth, as much as we can carry, as our pay." the other batpony answers.

"Sounds like a plan to me, brother. Lead the way."

Although the batponies in general were supportive of Luna, these two had been bought off by promises of the rebels, and rather like the Flim-Flam Brothers Twilight Sparkle and her friends would deal with later were willingly ruthless seekers of wealth. The Flim-Flam brothers, though, did not have the talent of silent wings or stolen supplies of cyanide at their disposal. And as the loyalists would find out, stopping these traitorous assassins that had already taken four pony lives that night would prove a much tougher nut to crack than the Flim-Flam Brothers.

All was now set for the final confrontations between the rebels and the loyalists. With the main rebel attack failed, and the loyalist forces preparing to counterattack, the only real hope of the rebels, despite the delusions of Agent Snake leading them to victory, was the appearance of the "chaotic one"...

Arrival

Even vaguely aware of what was going on around them, the guards at the front castle gate were in no way prepared for what they faced. Before they could even level their pikes at the approach, the red-eyed pretense of an alicorn called Agent Snake glared at them both and a ring of red magic energy like that used by unicorns appeared around the necks of the guards. Snake took a perverse pleasure in hearing the guards, both "contemptuous horned ones", gag and choke on the remote applied grip around their necks. It is not long before both slump down in unconsciousness, leaving the approach uncontested.

"Should we stop to inject them, Your Highness?" one of the escort ponies, an armored pegasus wearing an upside-down orange balloon symbol, asks of the power-mad Snake.

"No, we don't need them dead. Just unable to fight back." Snake replies, following up with an evil chuckle. He focuses on the locked gate ahead and with a flash of red energy it WHOOSHES open, allowing Snake and his several escorts to immediately enter the castle's main hall. There, another armored pony wearing the upside-down orange balloon symbol rushes up to Snake as the latter's entourage approaches the grand staircase in the hall.

"Do you have the artifacts from the vault, Agent Sadness?" Snake as the pony that rushed up as that pony bows before him.

"Yes, Your Highness, they are all in the bag with me right here." Agent Sadness answers, pointing to the bag faintly glowing with the power of the magic artifacts inside it.

"And the Gemini Bats?" Snake continues.

"As far as I am aware, the assassins have done their work successfully for the alarm has not yet been raised." Sadness continues on.

"Good, good." Snake comments with an evil grin, looking into the bag as he speaks. Inside the bag among the other artifacts were been two items later used against Twilight Sparkle and her friends: the Staff of Sameness used by Starlight Glimmer to remove cutie marks and the Alicorn Amulet later bought and used by Trixie. Snake had deliberately planned these and other "dangerous" artifacts long ago secured by Princess Celestia to be released so as to increase the level of chaos - although it didn't work out as Snake intended, it allowed the artifacts to torment others again in the future.

"I won't wait for the twin batponies to secure the treasury, I want the artifacts distributed now. Take them to the rally point, Sadness. The second-in-command here has done his escort work well enough, and I won't need any more help now." Snake orders his subordinate Agent. For half a moment, Snake had considered swapping out his second-rate imitation of the Alicorn Amulet with the real thing, but just as quickly remembered that the real Amulet would be better off in the wild causing chaos, so let it go to be distributed, trusting that the second-rate copy would be good enough for what he needed.

"Yes sir!" Sadness replies, saluting as he speaks, then eagerly whizzing past by the stallion pretending to be an alicorn to carry out the orders given to him. Sadness' second-in-command follows quickly behind, shouldering the bag of magic artifacts as he does so.

"All opposition is neutralized. Now we just wait for the fulfillment of our hopes." Snake proclaims to his remaining escorts, eager to sit upon the throne of Celestia as the rule of the alicorns fell and "the chaotic one" returned to torment Equestria once again...

Due to the distraction of the main rebel attacks of Agents Animosity and Cruelty, the loyalists were not aware of the infiltration of Snake (or Agent Sadness, for that matter) into Canterlot Castle until the party lead by Princess Luna from the Royal Guard officer barracks arrived at the breach of the Luna Vault. (Although the main gate had been opened before this point, this opening would not have been visible from the direction Luna's party was coming from.)

As the party spread out, Luna was both relieved and confused that the artifacts inside seemed to have been untouched, and like Lieutenant Aldebaran before her she was confused what exactly the purpose of the break-in was. She was about to issue a more complete search order when Lieutenant Skyver calls the rest of the party - Luna herself, Captain of the Guard Gibraltar, Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor and Guard Upper Class Flash Sentry - over to the rediscovered dead Quartermaster.

"Looks like he was stripped clean after the lethal injection, sir." Skyver reports grimly to the other ponies arrayed around him.

"The question is who did it, and what the purpose was." Captain Gibraltar grimly comments.

"More to the point, sir, where is Lieutenant Aldebaran? Surely he ought to have responded to this situation by now..." Shining Armor adds, continuing to look around as he speaks.

"The Lieutenant Captain makes an excellent point. It is entirely possible that he is engaged elsewhere in the castle, and we should check for such a possibility in the swiftest possible manner." Princess Luna suggests.

"Yes, Your Highness, but where should we check? If the Quartermaster was stripped specifically to access vital areas, there's three or four reasonable possibilities to consider in choosing the search area." Captain Gibraltar asks of the princess of the night.

"There are five of us and three logical places to check for Lieutenant Aldebaran. We will split up as follows: I myself will check the Artifact Vault, the Captain and the Lieutenant will check the armory, and the Lieutenant Captain will work with the Upper Class to check the treasury. Understood?" Luna crisply commands, followed by a reluctant string of affirmative responses - none of the other ponies really have a better plan to suggest.

"Good. Doubletime haste then. FORWARD!" Luna exclaims, the last word in a blast of the trademark Royal Canterlot Voice that startles the other ponies enough to allow Luna an exit into the castle corridors without being seen which direction she was going. All the Guard members left behind give shrugs of resignation and start off to implement Luna's plan, Flash Sentry stopping briefly to cover the dead Quartermaster's body with a cloth dust cover so as to prevent any more shocking surprises...

The alicorn princess of the night moves at a fast canter through the castle hallways, hoping to avoid her movements drawing too much attention from possibly unwanted quarters. She had other, more sneaky methods of getting around, of course - the mist she could shift into being one, as well as just shifting into something that didn't have hooves. But she didn't want to test magic not much practiced since regaining it in an emergency situation such as this one, and it boosted her confidence to hear hooves on the marbled floor. She was still an alicorn princess after all, a warrior that was never supposed to stop fighting for harmony, but often she needed reassurance of those facts to herself...

Luna slides to a stop when two wriggling burlap sacks appear in the hallway ahead of her. With unicorn magic she begins working them open, spilling one armored pegasus stallion from one sack and a second pegasus stallion, also armored, from the other sack. The alicorn recognizes the first one she freed as the critical pony Lieutenant Aldebaran, the other stallion wearing the rank of a Guard Upper Class.

"What's going on here, Lieutenant? Report!" Luna snaps out, desperate for information.

"There's rebels running amok in the castle, Princess! The guards to Celestia's and Cadance's suites are dead, and the assassins were heading to plunder the royal treasury!" Aldebaran exclaims.

"And despite what some ponies might tell you, bondage in a burlap sack is not artistic in any sense, just plain humiliating!" the Upper Class guard with Aldebaran quickly adds with a huffy snort.

"Keep it together, Spearhead, we can discuss your artistic opinions another time! Helping the Princesses is the highest priority!" Lieutenant Aldebaran snaps back.

"You know anything about the Artifact Vault, Guards?" Luna asks, trying to divert focus from what she was convinced was the certain objective of the rebels - resurrecting the "chaotic one" she and her sister defeated with the Elements of Harmony long before, but she dare not speak of now nor could do anything about if he got loose.

"Already opened and stolen from, at least according to what I heard from one of the assassins." Aldebaran answers, temporarily depressing Luna's mood.

"We may not be able to do anything about the artifacts immediately, but if there are rebels in the treasury they must be stopped there." Luna explains, already turning in the direction the treasury would be located. "I sent Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor there along with one escort, they may already be engaged. We must go help them with all haste! FORWARD, FULL GALLOP!"

The last words, again in the Royal Canterlot Voice, echo in reverberation as Lieutenant Skyver and Guard Upper Class Spearhead scramble to follow behind Princess Luna racing through the hallways of Canterlot Castle...

Luna's fears are quickly proven true as her trio approach the site of the Equestrian Treasury and hear the sounds of conflict. First they pass a downed pair of guards that were unlucky enough to have been assigned to guard the treasury's entrance that night, then see Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor and Guard Upper Class Flash Sentry in pitched melee against the batpony pair of Gemini Twins and several other assassins, all the rebels seeking to escape with a haul of bits after accomplishing their task.

Without hesitation, Luna charges into battle, shouting "TRAITORS ALL OF YOU!" as a blast of lightning quickly fires past Shining Armor and Flash Sentry to shock the trapped rebels. Skyver and Spearhead follow up with a charge of their own, finally leveling the odds against them. Amidst stacks of bits and record ledgers, the rebels desperately try to keep away from Luna's electrical blasts and Shining Armor's steamrolling shield bubbles, bit piles and tables flying every which way in the attacks.

The rebels back up, but are quickly running out of room, even after climbing atop piles of bits that would make a dragon feel right at home. Shining Armor puts a magic barrier in the path of the rebels, forcing them to hit it and slide back down the piles right to where the Luna-led force is waiting. The lower-ranking Guard officers spring out ahead of the princess and senior officers to quickly pin the rebels down, ending the battle right there. The assassins were indeed caught without being unable to escape with a monetary prize (partly a fault of their own greed), but as Luna and her allies would soon learn the serious damage had already been done.

"WHERE ARE THE ARTIFACTS FROM THE VAULT, TRAITORS?!" Luna shouts in her Royal Voice mode at the captured Gemini Twins.

"You're all too late, Princess." one of the twins calmly replies as he is bound. "The Artifacts are loose, the guards are dead and Agent Snake is on his way to the Solar Throne to watch the end of the alicorns and return of the chaotic one. We may die, but we have done our duty, and it will not matter if Snake's hopes are fulfilled as we expect shortly."

"What in Equestria is he talking about?!?" Shining Armor exclaims in total confusion.

"It would take too long to explain everything, Lieutenant Captain." Luna tries to answer without revealing too much in the process. "All you need to know is that we need to summon the Captain and his companion here as quickly as possible, then act to wake Celestia so that the Element Bearers can be put on standby. They will be the only ones to stop things if this 'chaotic one' does indeed get loose."

Shining Armor recoils a bit as the other Guards continued their work - he could not conceive of any other villain besides Nightmare Moon that would compel the use of the Elements of Harmony as the final solution. Sure, he wanted to see his younger sister again, but an emergency summoning in the middle of the night was not the way he wanted it done. And what was the deal with Snake sitting on Celestia's throne anyways?

No, he had to push aside his questions and doubts, there was still a crisis to resolve. The climax was rapidly approaching, and in this climax the hopes of the Agents of Chaos would be gloriously fulfilled or brutally dashed. The first place this would happen was the Everfree Forest outside Ponyville, and to the Element Bearers our attention now returns...

Honor Lay Dying

The world of the captive Wonderbolt Captain Spitfire and her two highest subordinates was crumbling around them, the honor of the old organization lay dying among the horror and the violations committed to them in their captivity. The worst nightmares of every famous pegasus, particularly those of famous mares, were coming true...

The dispatching of Agent Snake's subordinates in the rebellion left the captive Wonderbolts entirely for the renegade, power-mad pegasus to toy with, and toy he did. Spitfire had refused to submit willingly to his advances in the past, and now with the mare his prisoner and her two highest subordinates captive and blinded beside her the horror would reach full maturity.

Lead Wingpony Soarin' and Second Lead Wingpony Misty Fly, helpless as they were, could only listen to the horror that enveloped them, but it was enough to drive out thoughts of themselves or even the other Wonderbolts they were cut off from. All three of them had been played for fools, and now the Wonderbolts risked ceasing to exist - certainly as it had been before if not in total annihilation.

As soon as Snake's attention was focused on his captives, horror replaced all other emotions, Soarin' and Misty Fly being unable to see anything along the mind's eye to enhance the horror. Spitfire would try to shout out resistance, only for a crackling and sizzling sound to overwhelm it, each time leading to a loud yell from Spitfire and wispy smells of burned fur and feathers to pass into the snouts of the other two Wonderbolts. Spitfire was definitely being tortured by Snake (electric shocks via his faux-unicorn magic, as it turned out), and it was going to quickly get worse.

With the passage of time lost in the horror, even Spitfire did not know how long the ordeal worthy of Tartarus lasted, but with both her body and her will pushed to their breaking point it was in short order that there, exposed on the opera house stage, that Snake's perverse sexual conquest was finally achieved. She felt his heavier form, rising up on hindlegs, press against hers, and something very unwanted push into her body.

All was lost in the nightmare of the stallion's conquest - the worst kind of waking nightmare a mare, particularly a pegasus mare, could endure. The Wonderbolt Captain screamed like she had never screamed before - the screams of a totally helpless mare, screams that would haunt Soarin' and Misty Fly in their sleep, screams they hoped to all that was good and just in Equestria they would never hear again. How much pleasure the conquering stallion got out of the most heinous act was a secret he kept to himself - but the pleasure of the conquest he made clear to those that could listen.

When the great Wonderbolt Captain had been reduced to a blubbering, weeping mess, Agent Snake finally removed his method of conquest from her body and let out a chillingly-disgusting moan of satisfaction, followed by a simple statement: "And now I go to see the rise of the chaotic one and the fall of the alicorns. With their fall the Wonderbolts will be no more, and all will submit to me. I will return in glory, to deliver the final blows to the corrupt organization."

It was then, and only then, that the hoods over Soarin' and Misty Fly were removed by the escorts of Agent Snake. Agent Snake and his party were walking away to one exit of the stage, and all in the opera house was horror-drenched silence. No words were needed - the bleeding, scorched, tear-stained face of Spitfire told everything that needed to be said.

The cloud of shame and fear hovering over the three captive Wonderbolts was at first only broken by Spitfire's distressed weeping, but it was not long before Soarin' did something even he couldn't quite explain later. Perhaps it was because the combination of Spitfire's humiliation and Misty Fly's shame left Soarin' as the only one who dared to speak his mind. Perhaps because it was a build up of frustration on his part, or even perhaps his fear that soon all three of them captive would soon be dead. But regardless of the motivations, Soarin' acted, shouting into the emptiness of the opera hall at no one in particular:

"WHAT THE BUCK ARE WE DOING HERE?!? WHY DID ANY OF US THINK THAT WE COULD STOP THIS OURSELVES?! There's ponies likely dying out there, at HIS hooves, and we're trapped up here because of the delusions of powerful mares! We're supposed to be better than this! The Wonderbolts were formed to protect Princess Celestia, and instead we've courted and collaborated with traitors! We've let down everypony that admires and looks up at us, not to mention the Princesses and the Royal Guard! If we die, it will be entirely the fault of the two mares beside me! If we live, we will be forced to suffer whatever punishment Celestia gives us for what we have done! We've let the hatred grow and dominate to poison us all, and it will take a miracle to prevent it killing us all! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE BETTER THAN THIS, WHY AREN'T WE?!?"

The words struck hard on both mares, Misty Fly more than the already-suffering Spitfire. Misty Fly had only come with Spitfire and Soarin' in order to help lead the latter two into the trap her "rebel faction", but Agent Snake's own betrayal had left her in the same situation as the other two, and privately she feared with great dismay that she had signed the death warrant of the entire Wonderbolt membership. Soarin's rant crystallized her horror and shame in accusing words, and Misty Fly broke down in tears after he was finished shouting.

Again the silence in the opera house was only broken by the weeping of the two Wonderbolt mares. Soarin' looked up into the vaulted ceiling and started mouthing a silent prayer to the princesses, the Element Bearers, anypony he thought might be able to save them from seemingly-certain further humiliation and death. He was only interrupted when he heard Spitfire speaking again, for the first time since the trauma inflicted on her.

Soarin' was surprised when a small smile spread across Spitfire's face as she spoke, sniffling up tears as she did so: "Now I remember why, ever since I was a cadet at Academy, I always wanted you as my wingpony."

The Wonderbolt Captain pauses to sniffle again, a few more tears streaking down her face, before continuing: "Everything you just said, Soarin', was true... all of it. I don't... don't think I can make up for this in any way, so I... our relationship is over. We can still be friends and co-workers, but never anything more. Not ever again. There's much better ponies out there than I will ever be, and who am I to pretend I'm something I'm not?"

Spitfire stops again to make sure both Soarin' and Misty Fly have absorbed the implications of her statement - the "much better ponies", as they quickly realize, include ponies of all types - horned, winged, neither, or both. In particular, the aspiring young Rainbow Dash stands out the most in the minds of these senior Wonderbolts, and so it is not very surprising what Spitfire does next.

Both Soarin' and Misty Fly are riveted to Spitfire after her last statement, so she addresses both of them this time: "We have failed and brought shame to those that have come before us. That is why, if any of us get out of this alive, I want you two to promise you will help me with something."

Spitfire pauses as she waits for a sign to go on, which is given from a subtle nodding from both Soarin' and Misty Fly. It is only then she delivers her teary-eyed promise: "I want you two to help me make sure that young mare Rainbow Dash becomes Captain of the Wonderbolts in the future. If not with our hooves, then those of the ponies that come right after us. I want you to help me make sure that rainbow-maned mare holds the position I hold now. It is the only thing we can do to make up for the damage we have caused to the Wonderbolts as a whole. You two understand?"

Both Soarin' and Misty Fly nod again, faces somber and tear-stained as they do so. Although there would be future fractures within the Wonderbolt ranks, the long-standing rift that the Agents of Chaos had exacerbated for their own ends was starting to heal. The only question was what would the ultimate consequences of this rift's effects would be...

The Last Stand

Silence fell over the opera house again briefly after the heart to heart between the captive Wonderbolts, but it was not long before it was broken as a trickle, and then a gush, of retreating rebels fell back on the opera house as a rallying point. At first it was just a manageable scattering of refugees from the rebel operations in the city, but chaos of an unhelpful kind started to manifest as Agent Cruelty arrived leading the retreat of the main rebel attack. That Agent very quickly realizes that none of his peers have shown up there, and with no chance of getting in contact with Agent Snake assumes overall command of the rebel force in order to initiate a reorganization.

Cruelty has his second-in-command posted to watch for a feared-imminent loyalist counterattack, then "field promotes" Agent Animosity's second-in-command, who had joined Cruelty in the main retreat, to replace his superior that had been killed in the failed rebel attack. Cruelty and the new Animosity next gather what information they can from the incoming refugees, drawn by the chaos arrow banner flying over the opera house in place of the Equestrian "yin-yang" flag. From the information the two gather, a depressing picture begins to emerge: Agent Treachery and his second dead, Agent Greed dead, Agent Deceit captured by loyalists, no knowledge of the status of Sadness or Snake, no imminent signs of the arrival of "the chaotic one".

Cruelty is debating what the next move should be when he gets a report of Agent Sadness arriving with news of Snake and "the chaotic one". The pegasus stallion works his way past electrically tense fellow rebels and is relieved when he sees Sadness arrive with his second at the main door, the second carrying a glowing sack full of items Cruelty can only guess at.

"Please tell me you have some good news, Sadness." Cruelty asks his fellow Agent of Chaos, the worry and battle damage all too obvious to the now-concerned Sadness.

"If you mean Snake made it into the castle without raising the alarm, then yes. But what happened to you?" Sadness asks with a great deal of worry.

"The attack on the officer barracks failed, many casualties on our side." Cruelty reports as calmly as he can, fighting down rising dread and fear. "Animosity is dead, Treachery is dead, Greed is dead, Deceit has been captured... I've assumed overall command, trying to reorganize everypony, have about 60 now... waiting to see if the second-in-commands show up before I do anything. You have anything else to report, Sadness?"

"My second and I will seed the city with artifacts to facilitate the emergence of the chaotic one, on Snake's orders. No sign of the loyalists preparing a counterattack, but I would not be surprised if they will as soon as they have reorganized enough - there's loyalists all over the place." Sadness answers, shaking his head as he speaks.

"Anything that helps generate chaos is in our best interests. Go, but split the artifacts between yourselves and head in two different directions, that way you're more likely to succeed." Cruelty advises.

"Yes, sir. Good luck, sir." Sadness replies, forced to accept the very mixed current situation - although the Agents had inflicted terrible damage, it did not seem to be enough to bring forth "the chaotic one" as had been hoped, and there seemed to be no guarantee the success of Snake's infiltration would change that.

"Same to you both. Do what you can, and get out of the city if at all possible. You know of the contingency plan - the odds are good we are going to have to execute it." Cruelty orders.

"Understood." Sadness answers, both him and his second turning away to head back into the dangers of the city. Cruelty was worried that was the last time he would see either stallion alive, but for now he had more pressing concerns on his mind...

The mood started improving when the seconds of the lost Agents started arriving shortly after Sadness' departure, bringing both their welcome presence and less-welcome speculation that the loyalists were gathering a counterattack force. Already worried that time was short and without further orders from Snake to go on, Cruelty assembled the remaining Agents in a backstage area to formulate a plan.

"Due to the death or capture of more senior Agents, I have assumed overall command here on my own initiative. I have already promoted Animosity's second to fill the vacant position, now I will do the same for Greed and Deceit. Treachery and his second are both dead, so whoever was in their squad will be transferred to my command." Cruelty begins addressing, the junior rebels exchanging nervous looks as he speaks.

There is only a short pause before Cruelty continues: "I do not believe we have yet failed despite the thwarting of the attack on the officer barracks. Our leader Agent Snake has made it into the castle, and Agent Sadness is dispersing magic artifacts through the city along with his second. We also still have about 60 strong ponies supporting us. But it is only a matter of time before the loyalists counterattack, and we must make a stand here to provide Snake with the time he needs to summon forth the chaotic one. There is a contingency plan in place in case we need it, but I will decide if and when we implement it. In the meantime, I want the squads reorganized and ready to repulse a counterattack. Clear?"

"Sir yes sir!" the other rebel officers reply in booming unison, giving a brief pass or relief across Agent Cruelty's face.

"Good, you are all dismissed! And please hurry, we do not have much time to act, regardless of whatever needs to be done!" Cruelty reminds as the other rebel Agents start filtering back out into the opera house...

However, just when things were starting to look up for the rebels, the mood starts crashing down again when Cruelty, supervising the reorganization of the rebel groups, sees his own second rushing back and forth among the groups, pleading for help. Cruelty naturally intercepts his second and asks what's going on, the response striking fear into his heart: "THE LOYALISTS ARE COMING NOW!"

"Take me up top, show me what's going on!" Cruelty exclaims, his second leading him and several other ponies who had already agreed to help up to the roof of the opera house. It was there, below the rallying arrow banner flag, that Cruelty saw the loyalists were indeed coming, judging from the cautiously-moving cluster of pegasi a few blocks away.

"How many do you think?" Cruelty asks his second as both of them stare into the low-lit night.

"Maybe 15, 20 pegasi. There's a few more ponies on the ground too." the second-in-command answers.

"We can take those numbers!" one of the volunteer stallions speaks up from behind Cruelty and his second.

"It's not the numbers of the opponents I'm worried about." Cruelty answers - he has realized the rebels are out of time, and escaping the city is the only chance for the rebellion to survive.

"What do we do?" Cruelty's second asks his superior, the senior rebel officer looking back and forth between the worried stallions standing on the roof behind him and the looming loyalist counterattack inching its way closer.

The senior pegasus finally lets out a long, sad sigh, and to the surprise of his comrades reaches down with his teeth and pulls off the Lieutenant's star decorating his rebel-altered uniform. The second steps up beside him, and Cruelty drops the pulled-off star in front of the junior comrade.

"Sir?" the second naturally asks.

"Take it. Take the star." Cruelty quietly orders, his face showing determination not to break down emotionally in front of his fellow rebels.

"Sir, you can't be serious! You're only one pony!" the second begins to object, but is silenced by a raised forehoof on Cruelty's part.

"Me and the volunteers must counterattack, must buy time for the rest of the force to get out of the city." Cruelty begins to explain, a tear streaking down his face as he does so. "If we stay here, the rebellion will be ground down to nothing. A few brave ones that you've already gathered, I will lead to buy time, but you must lead the rest out of the city. Get out of the city, southwest to the army forts on the frontier, at whatever cost. You understand?"

"... Yes, yes sir." the second replies, choking up as he picks up the dropped Lieutenant's star and takes off his own Upper Class double bars to put the star in its place. Effectively, he has realized he has assumed overall command of the remaining rebels.

"You all are brave souls, and Snake will be sure to honor your courage when he hears of the sacrifice. We go, and probably will not come back. But we are making our last stand here and now, to ensure the survival of the rebellion." Cruelty addresses the five stallions besides his second behind him, and the five nod in grim affirmation of the orders given to them.

This perverse application of courage was motivated by the knowledge that mercy would not be given if they were captured alive, and besides that many of the rebels had been convinced the Equestrian society was prejudiced against pegasi in general. Their minds were completely corrupted by the kind of thinking that those lusting for control and power build their ambitions upon, and those stallions would ultimately lose their lives to it.

As Cruelty's second watched, his superior took off flying with the small force in the direction of the advancing loyalist group, now approximately one block away from the opera house rebel stronghold. And as Cruelty predicted, the stallions would go and not come back - the advancing loyalists begin engaging in aerial battle, and Cruelty's second ducks back into the opera house to organize the flight of the remaining rebels. The rebellion was far from over, but they were running out of time for the expected arrival of the chaotic one...

The Great Escape

Lieutenant Vesper, holding his force at a position one block from the rebel stronghold, smirks as he finds his cautious approach tactics vindicated by the oncoming "scratch" rebel attack, lead by Agent Cruelty. Vesper now commands a mixed force, mostly batponies and pegasi with a few unicorns on the ground, and gives a growling shout into the night as he leads the aerial charge in response: "SHOW THE TRAITORS NO MERCY! KNOCK THEM ALL OUT OF THE SKY!"

Vesper had his blood rushing, due to both anger in his losses in fighting Agent Deceit earlier in the night and the reinforcements he had received afterward. The batpony Lieutenant had lead his squad chasing the fleeing members of Deceit's attack when he ran into a "detached" loyalist Guard squad - Lieutenant Stratocumulus' command temporarily operating under Lieutenant Skyver's orders, along with a few others Skyver had joined to them - chasing the retreat of the failed main rebel attack. The two loyalist groups formally joined up about four blocks away from the rebel rally point, just far enough away to avoid the detection of the rebel lookout in the low moonlight, and exchanged reports about the different rebel attacks.

"Then this is a great conspiracy, which requires a swift and heavy response!" Vesper exclaims as soon as he hears of the main rebel attack on the officer barracks - there was no knowledge yet of the other attacks, or Snake's infiltration into the castle, but that would come soon enough. Right then, though, the batpony had enough to act upon.

"Fellow soldiers of the night and Equestrian citizens, under my authority as a Lieutenant of the EUP Guard and last Keeper of the Compact," Vesper begins pronouncing, "I am assuming command of any detached Guards currently present here with me and order an immediate attack of any rebel rallying points!"

The array of batponies and pegasi nod eagerly in response to Vesper's pronouncement - he had authority to do this as he was the highest ranking Guard member present at the moment - but one of the unicorns speaks up in seeming objection: "Sir, we have orders from Lieutenant Skyver to report..."

Vesper cuts off the lower-ranked unicorn with a raised forehoof, then speaks himself: "Only one pony is needed to carry out my fellow Lieutenant's orders. You, Guard, may go with the report, but I will take the rest and flush out the rebels from their hiding points!"

"... Understood, sir." the unicorn stallion replies after a moment's hesitation, turning and running full gallop back to the castle.

The unicorn had barely started his galloping back when Vesper starts pontificating again: "In the low moonlight, the eyes of the batpony have a decided advantage, and I see the great opera house is a likely rallying point. We will move cautiously, only striking once we are sure whether the rebels are there or not!"

Vesper's orders are acknowledged by a chorus of acknowledgements, and the batpony Lieutenant gives the order to move out, placing the batponies ahead of the pegasi in the air and coordinating with the few unicorns present on the ground. In all, there were about 15 strong in the force, which Vesper was confident was enough to throw back any rebel attempts to stop them.

The cautious advance technique pays its due when at the last block of the opera house, with Agent Cruelty's "scratch" force launched in grim persistence toward Vesper's squad. Of course, the point for the rebels was not to win the fight, just buy enough time for their fellows to make a "great escape" out the southwest side of the city to prevent annihilation.

Vesper's force does not advance any further, simply braces for the collision between the two forces. The unicorns on the ground watch as the rebels whoosh through the loyalist force, then engage in aerial battle, dodging and swinging at each other. Vesper has already authorized lethal force, and several times the fangs of the batponies flash out to deliver nasty bites, blood gushing and dripping down into the streets and on the rooftops below the site of the battle. The unicorns can do nothing but watch, hoping to catch any pony that fell out of the sky, friend or foe.

Dancing in low moonlight and against superior numbers, the rebels are at a decided disadvantage, mostly operating on sound cues. Several ponies cry out in anguish as the batpony fangs sink in. This includes Cruelty, facing against the enraged Vesper himself; after a brief dance, Vesper catches a bite on the neck, drawing blood and critically distracting the rebel Agent. A loyal pegasus rams Cruelty from behind and the stricken rebel falls out of the sky, impacting a rooftop near the battle scene and tumbling off down to the hard cobble streets below.

The dizzy Cruelty attempts to get up, glimpsing both his fellow fighters being knocked out of the sky as well and, happily, a cascade of pegasi launching out of the opera house opposite the battle site - his mission had succeeded, at least partly. A loyalist unicorn knocks him down again from behind, and when he turns to see who hit him the attacking hooves smash open his face, cracking his skull open like an eggshell on the cobbles. Death is quick in catching up to him after that.

Lieutenant Vesper's command succeeds in knocking the rebels, one by one, out of the sky, some becoming prisoners and others lethally wounded on impact with the hard cobbles below. But, to his frustration, he also sees the main rebel force exiting as fast as their wings could carry them out of the opera house. Since he doesn't have the numbers to try to contain the escape, he decides to simply grab who and what he can by storming the opera house now, not even bothering to attend to the wounded rebels that lay dying on the streets below him.

Vesper lets out a mighty screech and zooms straight for the opera house, which the rest of the squad takes as a signal to charge the place. They follow Vesper's lead, unicorns bursting through doors the rebels had not had a chance to lock down and the rest of the squad landing on the roof to work down from there. One of the batponies flies up to the rebel flag and rips it off the pole with his fangs, the tatters fluttering down among his fellows as they enter the opera down through the roof access stairway.

The commotion outside causes the few remaining rebels left inside to give up their plans to take the valuable Wonderbolt prisoners with them, abandoning the traumatized Wonderbolt Captain Spitfire and her two highest subordinates - they were both surprised and relieved that they would get their rescue after all as loyalist ponies spilled into the main areas of the opera house, spreading out to ensure the area was secure.

A young pegasus and unicorn leap onto the stage and team up to let loose the valuable Wonderbolt prisoners. In the confusion of the opera house's storming, only snatches of their dialogue are audible to the Wonderbolts: "Help me with these restraints!", "What happened to them in here?", "Should we get them to a hospital?"

When Spitfire finally comes free, she spills facedown onto the opera house stage, and it takes a moment for the Wonderbolt to push herself into turning over. When she does so, she finds the two rescuers looking back down at her, the imprints of the shock and horror treatments she has endured all too obvious judging from their expressions.

"Ma'am, we need to know if we should take you three to the hospital?" the pegasus asks anxiously, the unicorn beside him sharing the anxiety. All around are the echoing shouts of other loyalists and clomping of hooves, chaos again threatening to take over the opera house.

Spitfire's face contorts in a squint, as if trying to analyze the faces more carefully, and then she lets out one name in a throaty whisper: "...Thunderlane?"

An amused smile briefly spreads between the two rescuers before the pegasus speaks: "No, ma'am, Thunderlane is my cousin. My name is 8-Bit, and Gaffer is the unicorn with me. You've probably heard about us as the Lieutenant Captain's friends."

"... Help me up." Spitfire commands, suppressing the urge to make a very inappropriate snarky comment about Shining Armor. Gaffer and 8-Bit oblige, Spitfire looking around to see Soarin' and Misty Fly free and looking around worriedly at the confusion around them.

"Do you want us to take you to the hospital, ma'am?" Gaffer naturally persists, seeing her battered condition and the apathetic dimness in her expression.

As soon as Spitfire is on her hooves and sees her fellow Wonderbolts are OK, however, the fire returns to her eyes, which explained her response to the question: "No, take us to the castle, to the princesses. The alicorns are the only ones who can stop all this now..."

MEANWHILE...

Agent Cruelty's former second, having now assumed his commanding role of the rebel force, leads three other replacement Agents and just over 50 other pegasi in a loose cluster speeding southwest from the opera house. Traveling at full speed, the retreating rebels are driven by both adrenaline and fear - the emotional state of creatures that know capture would mean certain death. A few other rebels that had previously scattered in the city join the retreat, ensuring the cluster would not be attacked, but their state remains grim - no sign of "the chaotic one" or Agent Snake's plan otherwise having worked, and not even being sure where they could flee to find refuge and a new stronghold.

One of those that join the retreating cluster is the former second of Agent Sadness, having succeeded in his assignment to "seed" the city with dangerous magical artifacts but unable to reunite with or even contact his superior. Assuming the superior Agent was dead or captured, the second assumed the title of Sadness himself and joined the retreat as it passed nearby his position.

"Good to see you!" the new Agent Cruelty exclaims in partial relief after his Sadness counterpart has caught up to the flight of the rebels.

"The artifacts are distributed, but I can't contact my superior! What happened to yours?" the new Sadness asks.

The new Cruelty pauses for just a moment before he makes his response: "... He covered our retreat from the opera house. I don't expect to ever see him alive again. What do we need to do to get out of the city?"

The new Sadness in turn needs a moment to process what his counterpart was saying before he could answer the question: "The loyalists have already deployed catch nets atop the wall, supported by air cannons. We'll need to deal with both these things in order to escape."

"Listen carefully Sadness, here's what I want you to do." Cruelty firmly commands, aware the Canterlot wall was coming up fast and the dark shape of the catch net becoming visible in the low moonlight. "Have Greed and Deceit race across the top of the wall to knock down the ponies controlling the air cannons, full speed without stopping. I will order Animosity to control the rest of the group pushing against the catch net. We will then try to knock out the ponies holding the top of the net tight. Understood all that?"

"Yes sir." Sadness grimly affirms.

"Then fall back and inform the other three Agents, we don't have much time to put the plan into action." Cruelty orders.

It was mere minutes after that before the rebels confronted the obstacle of the southwest wall straight in front of them. As the retreating rebels closed on the wall, the air cannons mounted on top of it opened up, shells exploding dangerously close to the flying rebel cluster. As previously ordered, the replacement Agents Greed and Deceit race down, drawing the air cannon fire as they do so, and crisscross zooming along the top of the wall, several ponies yelling as they are knocked off the wall to a nasty fate below.

Meanwhile, the replacement Animosity leads the bulk of the retreating rebel force - now approximately 55 ponies total - into charging directly into the catch net. The net, which was only made to deal with much smaller groups, strains under the pushing force, but does not immediately break as the rebels had hoped. At that point, Cruelty and Sadness, which had fallen back a bit to observe the results of the push into the catch net, charge toward the straining pegasi holding the top of the net - all they need to do was disrupt the operation enough for the push to overcome the net.

The two lead rebel Agents ascend toward the top of the net - they see Greed and Deceit underneath make another crisscross path along the top of the wall, which ensures the silence of the air cannons. Cruelty aims for one top corner, Sadness the other top corner. There is but a moment before the rebel Agents slam into the distracted and straining loyalists, knocking some of them out of the sky and allowing the net to go slack.

The push of the main rebel force causes the net to fall over the side of the wall facing outside the city, and the rebels make their great escape, lead by the replacement Animosity. The replacement Cruelty is relieved to see his fellow Agents converging on the main group from various directions - in total, somewhere between 55 and 60 ponies, slightly more than half the strength the rebels had started the night with, escaped the city.

"Where are we going, Cruelty?" Sadness exclaims as soon as he joins Cruelty at the head of the rebel squad, relieved and joyous at the successful escape.

"I'll lead the way, based on the contingency plans..." Cruelty answers, as the rebel force makes its relieved way into the darkness of the night, calling out to make sure the group stayed together until dawn, where they could find a place to hide and sleep, and then make their next move.

The rebel forces had accomplished their great escape, but there was still no sign of Snake's triumph or "the chaotic one" appearing. And they were acutely aware that they had left Snake to fend with only a small group to support him, but there was nothing they could do to help him. They had to have faith he would succeed on his own, and it is back to him we now turn, to see the finale of the rebellion of the Agents of Chaos...

Author's Note

(Again, apologies for the late posting - my work schedule did not allow me enough free time to finish this until a few days ago, so I decided to simply skip last week and post on the normal time this week. Hopefully, it won't happen again for the next - and final! - chapter of this story...)

Just Like Fire

The rebel leader Agent Snake in the Grass, cloaked with eyes glowing red, sat upon the great solar throne normally occupied by Princess Celestia during the daytime, two armored guards wearing the eight-headed arrow of chaos beside him in the place Celestia's personal guards would normally be posted. All three were insistently shouting numbers into the echoing cavern of the hall - 15 digits at a time, forward and backward, backward and forward, with no seeming pattern of timing or digit choice in the echoing numbers.

This seemingly pointless and pathetic display, however, did have a reasoning to it. Agent Snake, following a traditional belief passed down by his predecessors leading the Agents of Chaos, believed the cacophonic shouting of three different irrational numbers - what humans would call "pi", "e" and the square root of 2 respectively - all at the same time while the leader sat upon Celestia's throne would ritually summon "the chaotic one" to appear and retake rule of Equestria from the alicorn sisters that had displaced him all those centuries ago.

This belief, however reasonable it may have seemed, had serious downsides. The echoing noise not only alerted Princess Luna to what the rebels were intending, it also concealed the movements of her and her supporters; it also concealed the fact the rebels inside the throne room had been cut off from any support. Not that Agent Snake seemed too concerned about that last point, however.

It was some minutes before the loyalist force Luna led was ready, but as soon as they were the counterattack began with great vigor. Luna herself smashed open the great doors into the throne room - locked behind the rebels when they had entered previously - stopping the echoing numbers dead in their tracks. The princess of the night glared in fury at the rebel on Celestia's throne as the two rebel guards rushed toward her.

Luna's horn crackles with a blue electrical energy, and she fires out at the two approaching guards. The bolts shock them both, causing them to tumble to the ground with temporary paralysis. Behind Luna, previously out of sight of Snake on the throne, the four lowest ranking members of her force spring out in pairs - Lieutenant Aldebaran and Guard Upper Class Spearhead to the left, Lieutenant Skyver and Guard Upper Class Flash Sentry to the right - to pin down the rebel guards and keep them from getting back up once the temporary paralysis wears off.

Snake is surprised but undaunted as he steps off Celestia's throne and walks, each step forceful to indicate his unintimidated state, meeting Luna in the center of the hall close enough to feel her snorting breath. The contempt in those glowing red eyes is unmistakable, and certainly speaks of deep-seated treachery.

"You are in no position to condemn me, Nightmare Moon. Nor are you in one to stop me." Snake spits out as he stares straight into Luna's icy blue eyes.

"That name is not our name, and you are wrong on both counts." Luna replies, returning his contempt with her own.

"Your little rebellion is over, Aten. Your forces have been chased away, and you have not summoned your Tartarus-worthy monster to save you." Captain Gibraltar's voice sounds out from Snake's left, prompting the latter to look in that direction.

Snake spins around in place as he very quickly realizes he is surrounded by angry glaring figures in the center of the hall: Luna in front of him, Captain Gibraltar to his left, Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor to his right, and Princess Cadance (still messy-maned and bleary-eyed from her sudden awakening) behind him. A quick glance shows he will get no help from his two subordinate guards, who have already been bundled up by the junior-ranked loyalists and stashed in a corner of the hall under guard, unable to do anything more but watch the fate of their leader.

"This is the last chance you will get, Aten. It doesn't have to end in pain and death, if you surrender right now. Come quietly, and I'm sure the princess will exile you instead of executing you." Gibraltar offers, hoping that the prospect of not potentially immediately losing his head would convince Aten to come around.

"NEVER! I WILL NEVER AGAIN BOW TO THE LIKES OF YOU!" Snake screams out, dramatically whisking off his cloak using the faux-unicorn magic to reveal his true identity in full battle armor, also wearing a severed unicorn's horn attached to a headband and a collar with a glowing red jewel that worked together to give him the delusion of alicornhood.

The rebel leader Aten immediately charges for Princess Luna, but a blast of electrical energy let out by the alicorn princess knocks him back down to the floor of the royal hall. Shining Armor's horn glows with magenta magic, and a bubble of the same color encases the downed Aten. Aten presses against the bubble, growling as his red faux-unicorn magic glows trying to break the shield bubble. Cadance's light-blue magic now glows, layering her own shield over Shining Armor's bubble and temporarily backfeeding a pulse of magic energy into Aten's faux-horn, stopping the attempt and causing a wincing pain typical of a unicorn's magic being overwhelmed.

This wince gives a window of opportunity Princess Luna takes full advantage of, ramming the bubble Aten is encased in to send the rebel tumbling end-over-end. The other three surrounding Aten now rush in, providing the horrified rebel subordinates with a show of kicking the encased rebel leader around like an oversized buckball, limbs flailing every which way and armor pieces being dented from the impacts. Eventually, with armor weakened, the shield bubbles come down and the impacts land directly on the armor, causing it to crack and shatter, metal pieces flying every which way as Aten continues to be kicked around helplessly.

Finally, Luna lands a mighty kick with both rear legs that sends Aten down the length of the royal hall. As the rebel pegasus tumbles, his fake unicorn horn finally cracks from the stresses of repeated impacts, and as Aten rolls to a stop the band which held the horn in place slides loose from its position, causing both the jewel on the collar and Aten's eyes to cease glowing red.

The rebel leader groans as he tries to push himself back on his hooves amongst the broken pieces of his battle armor, but slumps back down again as the band with the cracked unicorn's horn falls off completely, leaving only the now-useless collar still attached to his now-unarmored form.

"Have you had enough yet, traitor?" Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor asks Aten with unmixed venom in his tone, he and his fellow attackers having backed up temporarily as Aten struggles again to get back up.

Pressing through obvious pain, Aten does manage to get back on shaky hooves, and then lets loose with feelings it was suspected he had suppressed for a very long time: "I HATE YOU! I HATE EVERYPONY WITH A HORN ON THEIR HEAD! I'LL HAVE THE CHAOTIC ONE KILL EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM, AND MAKE THE ALICORNS BOW BEFORE THE REAL KING OF EQUESTRIA! I'M GOING TO SEND EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU TO TARTARUS, OR THE MOON!"

Aten's ranting never got any farther, though, because the loyalist "trump card" finally acted according to a previously-worked out plan. What could only be described as a walking fireball - Princess Celestia's flaming form barely distinguishable amongst the flames - now passes through the open doors to the royal hall. Aten whirls around upon feeling the heat and seeing the light coming from behind him, and for the first time his face shows fear, a quiet gasp being the only sound coming from his throat now.

A great wave of fire blasts forth from Celestia's position, picking up Aten's form and pushing it hard into a column, scorching Aten's entire bottom half and burning off the collar he was wearing, which falls away and is shattered under a hard hoof of Celestia's. The smells of smoke and burned hair fill the royal hall, and Aten is wincing in pain from both his burns and hard impacts. Before he can react again, Celestia's bright yellow unicorn magic glows around his wings, forcing them to open fully against Aten's will. The yellow glow intensifies, and a mighty scream echoes across the hall as the feathers on Aten's wings ignite in furious flames!

Everypony else watches in grim horror as the rebel leader writhes in pain - his wings are literally burned off by Celestia's magic, quickly leaving only charred stumps sticking out just behind the withers. When the flames finally burn out, Aten is in so much pain that he can no longer put up any effective resistance, and now Captain of the Guard Gibraltar works with Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor to restrain Aten's badly-damaged form.

Celestia lets out a loud, blowing sigh as she finally tamps down the flames previously wreathing her form - the rebellion of the Agents of Chaos was essentially over. Although some of the rebel force had escaped the city, they were no longer in any position to do what she had feared they would do - release the old draconequus enemy currently petrified as a statue in her castle's statue garden.

She wanted to be absolutely sure about that, though, and so as soon as Shining Armor was securing the unresisting Aten to be transported to a hospital, she very firmly summoned Captain Gibraltar over to her side, glaring down the whole time as she did so. When he finally stopped in front of her, looking up in the same manner as a young foal wondering if he had done something wrong, Celestia spoke down in a tone very reminiscent of a stern mother: "Captain, I want you to do something, and do it straight away. Go to the statue garden, and check over the Statue of Discord there. If there are any cracks or breaks whatsoever, report it to me immediately. Do you understand, Captain?"

Captain Gibraltar thinks it a very odd order to be given when there's clearly higher priorities for him to deal with right now, but Celestia's recent display and continued sternness convince him to not question the orders, and immediately the Captain of the Guard rushes through the doors leading into and out of the royal hall to follow the orders given to him...

The echoes of Gibraltar's hoofsteps had barely faded away when more commotion was heard coming from the hallway leading to the royal hall. The work of transporting Aten to the hospital and the other rebels to a holding cell is temporarily stopped, the alicorn sisters moving to stand side-by-side near the open doors leading into the hall. Just moments later, an unexpected group of ponies skidded into hall - the battered and exhausted lead trio of Wonderbolts, escorted by the duo of Guard Upper Classes 8-Bit and Gaffer!

The Wonderbolt group pauses for only a moment observing the site of the impromptu battle against Aten, before reflexively dropping down into a cowering bow against the glaring princess duo. They already knew from the condition of the hall Aten had been stopped, and it seemed there would be no delay in taking the brunt of the response of the princesses.

"We see the leaders of the Wonderbolts - Captain Spitfire, Lead Wingpony Soarin' and Second Lead Wingpony Misty Fly - cowering before us." Princess Luna begins preaching to the prostrate figures. "We see you have suffered much during this rebellion now defeated, but this is suffering you brought upon yourselves by what you have done before."

"The Wonderbolts were created for my protection and to keep peace in this kingdom, and yet you have collaborated with and accommodated traitors!" Princess Celestia picks up where Luna left off. "I cannot overlook this, and you should know THERE. WILL. BE. CONSEQUENCES."

The last four words would both encapsulate and dominate the aftermath of the now defeated rebellion of the Agents of Chaos, and the consequences would be mighty indeed, but that story will be told later, another time...

Author's Note

(An appropriate depiction of Celestia's rage in this chapter: http://mykegreywolf.deviantart.com/art/Commission-Hell-Hath-No-Fury-649540532 )

Don't Interfere

"What a waste of perfectly good frosting..."

"The place where you live and work just got vandalized, and that's all you can think about, Pinkie Pie?"

"Well it's true Rarity!"

The condition inside of Sugar Cube Corner on the night of the rebellion was appropriately chaotic - tables and chairs overturned, the cash register smashed to the floor and emptied of its contents, "display goods" thrown every which way inside their cases to make a big mess inside, the smouldering ruins of deliberately-sabotaged equipment, and finally frosting sprayed along a wall to read "DON'T INTERFERE!" in shaking letters along with a eight-way arrow underneath the lettering.

The Cake couple running the shop were beside themselves in grief, Mrs. Cake currently being comforted by Applejack and Fluttershy while a dazed Mr. Cake was being interviewed by Royal Guard Lieutenant Crispin about the exact effects of the crime. Pinkie Pie and Rarity, awakened along with the other Element Bearers upon hearing word of the vandalism, were observing Twilight Sparkle making her analysis of the writing in an attempt to figure out who wrote it and why.

"Let's see... too high for an earth pony on hindlegs, and trying to stand on anything to write would be a recipe for disaster..." Twilight comments. "The writing isn't steady enough to be a unicorn's..."

"Are you saying pegasi are bad at writing?!" Rainbow Dash angrily pipes up from her watch position at the door to Sugarcube Corner.

"I'm saying that unicorn magic gives more accurate control..." Twilight calmly tries to respond.

"Load of bull, and insulting to boot!" Rainbow Dash continues, apparently having taken the insinuation personally.

"Rainbow Dash, you really should let..." Rarity speaks up again, trying to prevent a fight from breaking out between Rainbow and Twilight.

"You're in no position to talk, Miss Butterfly Wings!" Rainbow Dash snaps out, frustration building within her.

"Hey hey, this arguing isn't helping anything!" Pinkie Pie interjects, the unusual anger in her tone temporarily silencing Rainbow Dash.

"Pinkie's right ya'll. We all need to let Twilight use her book-learnin' to figure out whodunnit here, before they strike again." Applejack also interjects.

"Thank you, Applejack. Now where was I...?" Twilight comments, turning her attention back to the writing on the cafe wall.

An angrily muttering Rainbow Dash also turns back to her watch... and gasps when almost in her face are two pair of yellow glowing eyes! Before she can do or say anything, something covers her field of view as it grabs a hold...

"So as I was going to say, based on how the writing was accomplished there was at least one pegasus involved, probably hovering just below the ceiling and squeezing the frosting tube between his or her forelegs." Twilight Sparkle concludes.

"That's dandy to know, but it doesn't help us a whole lot. There's so many pegasi that live in Ponyville, and we don't..." Pinkie Pie begins to comment before being interrupted by a loud yelp coming from nearby.

"HELP ME! LET GO YOU CADS! GET YOUR HOOVES OFF ME!" Rainbow Dash is heard shouting, accompanied by the sounds of a struggle. When Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie rush in Rainbow's direction to give aid, one of the abductors throws a smoke bomb into the cafe which temporarily stops the other three mares in their tracks.

"Stop, in the name of the Princesses of Canterlot!" Lieutenant Crispin shouts, dropping his interview for the moment to assist the Element Bearers. But it is no use - when the smoke clears, everypony can see two cloaked figures taking off flying with a still-struggling Dash in tow.

"Lieutenant, we're all going after them. All of us, now. We owe it to her." Twilight exclaims, taking off out of Sugar Cube Corner after the abductors. Rarity and Pinkie Pie are right behind Twilight, and after a few moments Applejack and Fluttershy reluctantly follow behind.

"Where are they all going?" Mr. Cake asks Lieutenant Crispin in his confusion, the weeping Mrs. Cake beside him as he speaks.

"After Rainbow Dash's abductors, sir. I have a gut feeling that those two were also behind this vandalism, so it is important to catch them. There's still work I have to do here, so I hope the young mares are up to the task on their own..." Crispin comments, looking out into the dimly-lit night...

The two cloaked intruders are still trying to keep hold on the struggling Rainbow Dash as they flee, so one of them deliberately swings her hard against a wall as they fly past it. The impact knocks Rainbow Dash into a dazed state, and her struggling ceases. By this point, the other Element Bearers were following hot behind them, so one of the intruders drops a smoke bomb in an effort to distract their pursuers. As the bomb falls away, the intruders see Twilight's horn glowing brightly, and a shielding goes up around her and her friends that deflects the bomb away harmlessly.

Now afraid of a counterattack they had no real defense against, the flying antagonists decide to take a stand, hurling Rainbow Dash through the upper floor window of a vacant building nearby and then flying in after her themselves. The pursuing Element Bearers are following at full gallop, but are forced to skid to a stop in front of the building when one of the antagonists hurls yet another smoke bomb out through the broken window. The smoke envelopes the mares, and as they endure a coughing fit Twilight realizes in frustration their enemies now have time to organize a counterattack.

As soon as the smoke clears, Twilight wastes no time giving orders: "Applejack, Pinkie Pie, get that door open! We're going in there fighting!"

"Alright!" Applejack and Pinkie Pie exclaim simultaneously, galloping toward the front door of the vacant building. Applejack stops and bucks the door like she would a tree on her farm, which cracks the door enough that Pinkie ramming it full speed moments later causes it to shatter, allowing access to the building. However, the enemy is waiting, and before the Element Bearers can take advantage of the opening Pinkie is hurled back out by the antagonistic abductors, causing her to bowl into both Applejack and an approaching Twilight.

Rarity and Fluttershy move up to help the other three mares get untangled from the heap, and as they work Rarity lets out a gasp of shock after catching a glimpse of the intruders, quickly followed by an explanation of her surprise: "Horns, Twilight! Horns and wings, they have both!"

"Alicorns?! How in tarnation is that even possible?!" Applejack exclaims in sheer disbelief as Fluttershy helps her free of the other two mares.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out very quickly. Come on!" Twilight exclaims in turn as the intruders retreat up the stairs of the vacant structure. Once on her hooves again, she charges into the building and up the stairs, followed single-file by the other Element Bearers.

Twilight stops just in front of the stairs, staring down the two apparent alicorns guarding a dazed Rainbow Dash. The other mares come up behind and then beside her, giving her the same reassurance she felt when staring down Nightmare Moon in a similar situation not that long ago. This time around, however, the situation was more than a little different.

"Our king wants us to prevent your interference with the Elements of Harmony. They alone can stop the chaotic one he is resurrecting, and at least one of you must be prevented from reaching Canterlot in a condition to use them." one of the cloaked "alicorns" explains.

"Fat chance we're gonna let that happen. Rainbow Dash is our friend and a hero to Equestria, and we're not going to let you two do bad things to her without a fight!" Twilight exclaims, her horn glowing in another charging of energy.

"Then you have pronounced your own destruction! In the name of the chaotic one, we shall destroy you!" the cloaked "alicorn" volleys back, him and his partner now charging straight for the five mares. Twilight leads a counter-charge of the other Element Bearers - even the normally reluctant Fluttershy joining in to protect her old Cloudsdale friend - and the collision results in a straight-up brawl, hooves flying every which way and connecting with kicks and punches.

The dizzy Rainbow Dash is watching the brawl, slowly attempting to get back on her hooves as she does so. The only magic in use is Twilight's - the horns of the "alicorns" are not seen glowing at all despite the obvious advantages using it would give in this situation - and the charged energy is released in a purple flash followed by a wave of heat that Rainbow wincingly endures. She hears the screams of stallions while her eyes are closed, and when she opens them again she's knocked back down by two panicked stallions ramming into her on the way out of the window.

"Ugh, how much trouble is it to get some respect around here?" Rainbow Dash weakly asks as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie rush over to help her back up again.

"You alright?" Fluttershy tentatively asks, the worry heavy on both her face and Pinkie's.

"As alright as I can be considering I just took a couple nasty bumps on the head." Dash comments, rubbing the top of her head with a forehoof as she speaks, the wince passing over her face again.

"Hey you three, take a look at this!" Twilight exclaims to get the attention of everypony else, standing over a pair of smouldering but empty cloaks while Rarity and Applejack exchange looks of dismay and horror. The hooves of Twilight, Rarity and Applejack are black with soot - consequence of stamping out the burning cloth before it ignited the entire building.

"What? You found something important, Twilight?" Pinkie Pie asks as Fluttershy helps Rainbow Dash back onto shaky hooves and all three move in Twilight's direction.

"Yes. This. They weren't really alicorns after all." Twilight bluntly comments, lifting out with her magic a pair of headbands, each with a cut-off unicorn horn screwed into a post on the center of the band.

"Pretentious pegasi, thinking they can just go around..." Rarity exclaims, recoiling back from the sight of the bands as if it were stinking garbage.

"Aren't those things supposed to be illegal or somethin'?" Applejack asks in alarmed worry.

"To use an actual horn, yes." Twilight begins explaining. "Those Nightmare Night costumes with horns always use hard plastic or some other non-organic material - it's the law by Celestia's decree. To wear an actual horn, you have to have legal proof it once belonged to you and was removed for medical reasons. Non-unicorns are not supposed to have these things, there's strict laws against that."

"So the question becomes what were those pegasi doing with them, and who did those horns once belong to?" Rarity asks with grave concern in her tone of voice.

"I have an idea the answers, but nopony is going to like them. And it might even mean we're traveling to Canterlot to use the Elements of Harmony again..." Twilight replies with just a grave a tone in her voice, riveting the attention of her fellow Element Bearers completely as she begins her explanation...

Fort of Chaos

"Alright Twilight, let me see if we all understand this correctly. Ya'll sayin' that there's ponies in Canterlot that were tryin' to get Princess Luna to turn back into Nightmare Moon again?"

"That's correct, Applejack."

"And that when that didn't work they started killin' off unicorns hopin' to bring back some Tartarus-bound 'chaotic one' or somethin' like that in the process?"

"Mm-hmm."

"And two of those ponies placed here got those horns and tried to fillynap Rainbow Dash to do terrible things to her?"

"Yes. And not just the abduction and vandalism of Sugar Cube Corner tonight, there's reason to believe they're behind the parasprites first showing up, the dragon we had to deal with... most everything that's happened here since I was assigned by Princess Celestia to learn about friendship."

"That's all dandy Twilight, but it doesn't explain why we're all runnin' at full gallop toward the Everfree Forest again in the middle of a strange night!"

"Because that's where..."

Twilight Sparkle's last statement was interrupted when she saw the ponies in the path ahead, located just outside the Everfree Forest, and was forced to turn sideways into a sliding halt due to the momentum behind her. The other ponies galloping beside her - Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity - were forced to do the same while Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flying just above simply pulled up and switched to just hovering in place.

It wasn't who was seen that surprised Twilight and her fellow Element Bearers so much, it was what they were doing that was the surprising part. In the path ahead at the forest's edge, the zebra Zecora and Guard Lieutenant Crispin were hunched over a crudely-drawn map, the low lunar illumination supplemented by a torch in a holder carefully manipulated by Guard Lower Class Lucky Clover. The other Guard members present in Ponyville at the time - Aide Cherry Fizzy, Guard Upper Class Noteworthy and Guard Upper Class Caramel - are standing at attention in a row along the side of the road, the only acknowledgement of the arrival of the Element Bearers being the gazes that track the young mares as they move.

"What's going on here?" Twilight Sparkle naturally asks, moving closer to the huddle with Applejack beside her.

"Two stallions fast on the wing dropped a map. We were hoping, Twilight Sparkle, you could help us fill a gap." Zecora replies in her usual cryptic rhyming manner, staring down at crude line drawing on the sheet of paper.

"What the zebra is getting at is that we're trying to figure out how this map relates to the lay of Everfree Forest. We know the stallions that flew through here must be hiding inside the forest - that's why I've got everypony rallied now - but we have no idea where to start looking once inside." Lieutenant Crispin adds as Twilight bends down to look over the parchment.

"Hmmm, I've definitely seen this map pattern before..." Twilight comments, muttering several different words under her breath and moving a hoof over the paper as she does so. Applejack simply stares down blankly at the paper, while the other Element Bearers behind Applejack and Twilight just exchange confused looks.

"OK Lieutenant, listen carefully." Twilight finally states after a few moments looking over the paper, the others staring down looking up with her a moment later.

"I'm listening. You know what this thing can tell us?" Lieutenant Crispin asks.

"Yes, this looks like a crude replica of a trail map of routes inside the Everfree Forest." Twilight Sparkle begins explaining. "My friends and I took the main road to get to the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, but there's plenty of other routes and some other ruins inside the forest because before Princess Luna's exile all manner of roads converged here to service the castle and the town surrounding it, sort of like how everything converges on Canterlot today."

"That's understandable, sure, but how does it help us find those two fugitives?" Crispin asks again.

"One of the ruins still standing today was once a rest stop for messengers and patrol officers on a side road off the main one. It could only house a couple ponies permanently, but if there was a way to supply and protect it it would still be a usable hiding spot. Those two stallions that attacked tonight must be hiding there, using it as a base to hide and launch attacks on the town from." Twilight answers, dramatically pointing a hoof at a certain spot on the paper as she does so.

"So are we goin' in and gettin' em? By that fancy teleportin', maybe, so that we have the element of surprise on our side?" Applejack offers, having an idea what Twilight is getting at.

"Sorry, Applejack, no teleporting. Not with this many ponies and how dense the forest is. Besides, those pegasi might be expecting that and we'd end up right in a trap. We'll have to do this the old-fashioned way - hooves and wings." Twilight answers.

"Then what do you want us to do?" Lieutenant Crispin asks, a clear indication of the authority temporarily being handed over to Twilight.

"I'll lead the way to the hideout with a shield in front so as to block or defuse any traps we may come across. The Lieutenant and the other Guards behind on one side, my friends behind on the other." Twilight answers, looking around as she speaks so as to make sure everypony was listening to her. "As soon as we arrive, we attack, either trying to get them to surrender or flush them into a trap."

"Sounds like a plan to me. I would only recommend Zecora come with us, since she knows this forest better than anypony else and she's been a victim of their schemes too." Lieutenant Crispin affirms, looking over at Zecora after finishing.

"Joining your expedition I will indeed, to help protect peace and harmony." Zecora chimes up quickly, showing no objection to the proposed arrangement.

"Very well then, you be in the column with my subordinates. And the sooner we get this started, the better. ALL GUARDS, SINGLE FILE LINE BEHIND ME!" Lieutenant Crispin exclaims. Seconds later the other Guard stallions begin lining up behind Crispin, Lucky Clover at the tail end still holding the torch so as to help define the end of the line.

Twilight smiles as Zecora moves between Lieutenant Crispin and Applejack, who's expression seemed resigned to leading her fellow Element Bearers behind Twilight. As she would later realize more fully, this unity was a strong testament to the magic of friendship and the commitment to harmony that stood against the baser desires for chaos and selfish gain that characterized their enemies. She turned to face into the forest, a determined expression now lit up by the magenta-colored magic of her horn as she casts ahead a large semi-circular arc of magenta energy, reaching across the length of the path into the forest and up as high as the tops of the surrounding trees.

"ALL PONIES, MOVE OUT!" Lieutenant Crispin shouts out again, and the entire group of ponies begins moving into the forest, slowly following Twilight's magic shield plowing ahead on the forest path...

The glowing purple magic shield moving ahead of the party, accompanied by the disruptions that would occur in the forest foliage by its movement, meant it was painfully obvious to the combined Element Bearer-Loyalist Guard party that the enemy would know they would coming, but in this case it wouldn't matter in the slightest. Agents of Chaos P1 and P2 had had no choice but to retreat from Ponyville after the failure of their abduction plan, and now they were prepared to fight to the death. The "stolen", illegitimate Lieutenant's stars each stallion possessed on the uniform they wore reminded them surrender was not an option - barring a last-second reprieve by the Element Bearers being called away to deal with the "chaotic one", the only options the two rebel pegasi stallions had were to fight to the death or stand their ground as long as they could and then try to disappear into the forest.

By the time the combined party broke through into the area of Fort Chaos, the two Agents of Chaos were ready, each with a grenade launcher set up as an impromptu cannon and deployed directly facing the expected approach angle. The purple magic shield breaks through the tree line into a small clearing in front of the rebel fort, setting off a number of deployed traps - a mixture of rope snares, catch nets and crossbow bolts triggered by tripwire - in the process. The defusing of the traps by Twilight Sparkle's magic shield meant the only real resistance would come from the rebels themselves.

Twilight's shield splits apart into two separate sections that are blasted sideways in opposite directions from each other as the party enters the clearing, setting off a few more traps harmlessly in the process and ensuring safe movement in the area around Fort Chaos. The two rebel Agents glare down as the combined party of their opponents sets up - Twilight and Pinkie Pie with her "party cannon" in the back as an improvised artillery, Rainbow Dash above ready to pelt the rebels with whatever she could carry, Fluttershy and Rarity in reserve ready to carry any injured ponies back to safety, everyone else in the party marching forward to smash into the walls of the rebel fort.

"THIS IS THE ONLY WARNING YOU WILL GET, YOU REBELS SEEKING CHAOS! SURRENDER NOW AND WE PROMISE YOU WILL GET A FAIR TRIAL IN A COURT OF LAW!" Lieutenant Crispin shouts as the main portion of the his force stops in front of the walls below the two rebels. The only response is Agent P1 pulling a pin on one of the grenades he had with his teeth, then loading and firing it out of the launcher to impact harmlessly in the clearing.

The rebel defiance made clear, it was thus what would be recorded in the annals of Ponyville history as "The Battle of Fort Chaos" began. Twilight Sparkle firing blasts of magic energy and Pinkie using her party cannon for more military purposes opened up on the rebels, while Rainbow Dash begin throwing down whatever loose sticks and other debris she could find from above and the rest of the party (save Fluttershy and Rarity, who both stayed back in order to make sure any injured could be lead back to Ponyville) tried smashing the wall with whatever bucking technique they were most comfortable with.

The rebels were undeterred, priming and dropping down or firing grenades as fast as they could, but it was not easy work between the return fire and the walls shaking each time they were hit with a good buck from the massed earth ponies below. The trapped Agents however were determined to hold out as long as they could, hoping against hope that the appearance of the "chaotic one" thanks to the efforts of the comrades in Canterlot would bail them out.

There would be no such luck, however. After several minutes of fruitless exchanges of fire, Rainbow Dash gets an idea and abandons her drop attack, flying down first to Twilight and then to Lieutenant Crispin. Both agree to the idea, and Crispin orders his attackers, who have already put serious cracks in the wall around them, to back up to a safe distance while Rainbow Dash flies high into the sky above Fort Chaos.

The rebels are initially confused by this development, wondering if its perhaps actually the reprieve that they had hoped for, and do not notice what is actually happening until its too late. Due to the clearing in the forest, Rainbow Dash has a clear shot at dropping down from above at full speed, and before the rebels can do anything the impact causes the entire ruin to explode, a shockwave in muted rainbow colors and multi-colored smoke shooting into the sky.

Upon impact, Twilight Sparkle temporarily throws up her shield to protect her fellow attackers from the rainbow shockwave and flying stone debris, the stones bouncing off and away into the forest now riled up with disturbed birds and wildlife. As the smoke begins to clear, it's obvious that "Fort Chaos" has been completely destroyed by the explosion, leaving only a shallow crater in the ground strewn with rocks and other debris.

"REPORT!" Lieutenant Crispin shouts as Twilight drops her shield again.

"We're all right, Lieutenant, I think..." Twilight replies, squinting into the clearing smoke to see what she can make out. In the middle of the crater, she sees a woozy Rainbow Dash slowly get back on her hooves, and both Fluttershy and Rarity now rush out to help her. Along one edge of the crater are two pegasi stallions in uniform laying in motionless sprawl, surrounded by both unexploded grenades and a pair of broken grenade launchers - Twilight and Lieutenant Crispin rush out to these two stallions as the rest of the party stays along the edge of the clearing.

Twilight and Crispin stop near the two unmoving stallions and the latter looks them over quickly as Rarity and Fluttershy help Rainbow Dash out of the crater. Finally, Crispin pronounces his conclusions to a stoic Twilight: "Dead. Both of them. The released magic energy must've been lethal. Can't say they didn't deserve it though..."

"I still have a feeling we're not done tonight, though." Twilight comments as she worriedly looks around at the disturbed forest. "I'm worried something is going on in Canterlot that we're going to be needed for. Not just me and my friends with the Elements of Harmony, ALL of us."

Lieutenant Crispin nods understandingly - he already had an idea his comrades in Canterlot were engaged at the same time thanks to letters sent to him in advance. He smiles down at the powerful young mare and puts a dirty forehoof on one of her shoulders.

"You and your friends go on ahead back to Ponyville. If Celestia needs you, it's important you find out from your little dragon assistant sooner rather than later. Zecora and my subordinates can take care of cleaning things up here." Crispin firmly orders.

Twilight gives a brief look around in hesitation before looking back up at Crispin and nodding in turn. She turns around and calls to her friends while Crispin's subordinates now canter past her to Crispin's location.

"Where's Twilight's group going, sir?" Lucky Clover naturally asks of his commanding officer.

"Back to Ponyville, they may be needed in Canterlot yet. We're needed here, to secure the battle site and carry away the dead pegasi." Crispin answers, pointing down to the dead pegasi near him. "Tell Zecora she can help as much as she can, and then she's free to return to her residence when we're done here."

"Yes sir!" Lucky Clover replies in salute as the other subordinates scatter across the shallow crater, searching for any grenades or other dangerous material still present in the ruins of Fort Chaos.

Crispin lets out a heavy sigh and looks over in weary worry in the direction of Canterlot, the actual outline of the castle and city itself hidden by the foliage of the forest. Then he lets out a short prayer of sorts, embodying the mood of the moment: "Oh great defenders of friendship and harmony, do not let the chaotic one become free. Do not let the hatred and selfishness win tonight..."