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...)