Rainboom Revolution

"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...