Rage's alarm clock blared an ear-piercing screech as the clock struck 6:00 AM. A quiet grumble escaped the boy as he flung his left hand out to find the off button. He felt around the nightstand for a second before finding it and pressing it. Slowly he rolled over and sat up in bed. His eyes half open. A loud yawn escaped him.
"I swear…alarms have to go off at the worst possible times…" he grumps to himself. "I feel like I barely got any sleep." Rage got out of bed and ready for his day. He grabs his bag and walks out the door locking it behind him. He walks to the intersection at the end of the block where he would meet Sunset, Sonic and XL. He waited about ten minutes and looked at his watch, 06:34 AM.
This was unusual. Normally Sunset would have been here by now. Sonic was always a gamble and XL was normally on time. Rage sighs, he couldn't wait around today. He had to get to school. He began to walk as the warm summer breeze blew. His mind wandered to the incident last week, where he was in Equestria. He rolled his left shoulder, it was still a bit sore from his last battle. Also, a bit abnormal, his wounds normally healed in just a few days, it's been almost a week now.
As he rolled his shoulder, he felt a hand on it. Startled, he turns to see Sunset looking back at him. "Good morning." She chuckles.
"Sunset!" Rage exclaims happily "I wondered if you went to school already since you weren't at the corner this morning."
"I was just running a little late." She smiles. "Sorry."
"No, no it's okay." Rage replied as they shared a hug.
"How have you been since your little venture into Equestria last week?" she asks.
"I have been alright." He answers.
"Hopefully that's the most excitement you'll have for a while." Sunset says.
"Don't jinx it." Rage sighs "I'll be honest. I am sick of all the heroics. It feels like every other week there's something new…Eggman, Magical sirens, my old enemies, changelings, vampires…I just want to have a normal day. Is that so much to ask?"
"I feel you." Sunset chuckles "Things have been a bit of a roller coaster since you got here…"
"Right?! Not to mention everyone else. It always seems to end up with you or the girls getting drug into things in one way or another." Rage sighs. "I'm sorry…"
"Hm?" Sunset looks at him a bit confused. "What?"
"I am sorry I have been such a terrible boyfriend, Sunset…" Rage reiterated. "We've barely been on any dates lately, barely spent time alone…and—" Sunset silenced him with a kiss. They held there for a few seconds before Rage broke it. "Wha—"
"You don't have to apologize, Rage." Sunset smiles "I know things have been…difficult lately and all but I know you'll pull through."
"Yeah but… I worry that…you're not happy with me…" Rage says, looking away from her.
"What?!" She exclaims "What could possibly have given you that idea?!"
"Well, I mean…I've seen how you look at Rainbow Dash and Sonic's relationship…when we haven't even…" Rage mutters.
"You're worried about THAT?" Sunset scoffs "Rage, you said it before, there's more to a relationship than hormones."
"I never said that." Rage replies. "Pretty sure that was Rarity."
"Whatever." Sunset says dismissing the correction with her hand. "The point is I know that when you're ready, you're ready and I respect it. Is it hard for me sometimes? Sure, it is…I mean…it can be REALLY hard sometimes…" she answers.
"All the more reason for me to apologize." Rage says.
"What's with you today?" Sunset asks, raising an eyebrow. "You're not normally this emotional…"
"I guess you could say recent events have been…food for thought." Rage answers as the two cross the street and reach the school. "I've had a lot to think about since the incident involving Equestria."
"So you've spent it…thinking about how our relationship compares to…Sonic and Dash's…?" Sunset asks Rage, giving him a look showing she didn't like that.
"I know it sounds stupid…" Rage says "I guess…I just feel like—"
"Rage, you're comparing our relationship to SONIC AND RAINBOW DASH. You can't compare the two!" Sunset grumps "Their relationship is like 85% hormones, they're like rabbits from the way Dash talks about it. We built ours out of a mutual respect and fondness for one another…and because I thought you were pretty hot…"
"Wait what?" Rage asks, taken back a bit by the compliment.
"N-Nothing." Sunset retorts looking away from him with a crimson red blush covering her cheeks.
"You say nothing but your face is redder than mine." Rage chuckles. "Let me guess, all the way back then, you thought I was cute, even when you were bad." He smirks.
"S-So what?!" Sunset objects.
"Nothing." Rage chuckles "It's just I always saw our relationship as a bit...well spur of the moment. I guess it just makes sense."
"Oh and I bet even when I was a bad girl you probably thought I was pretty cute too!" Sunset smirks.
Rage looked away, his face turning red. "I don't know what you mean." He says. Sunset burst out laughing as they crossed the road and were at the statue in the school courtyard.
"You know…I am looking forward to this year." Sunset says "Even though it's our last year here…"
"Yeah…" Rage sighs looking at the Wondercolt statue.
"Alright Rage, what's wrong now?" Sunset asks with a stern tone.
"Well…" Rage inhales and pauses before exhaling another sigh and looking at her. "I want this year to be normal! I am sick of all these wacky adventures! I am sick of these Dark Gods, evil scientists, evil beings from other worlds every other week! I want to be able to act like a normal person for once! To be able to just hang with you and the others, take you out on a nice date and not have anything ruin it! Is that too much to ask?!" He explodes.
Sunset just stood there in silence. She didn't quite know what to say, Rage wasn't usually so volatile. She looked at him and his face went from the frustrated angered look to one of apology.
"I-I'm sorry." He says turning away. "I shouldn't have exploded like that…"
"No…no…" Sunset says, waving her arms defensively "It's okay. I just wish you were honest about this sooner." She says.
"It just never felt like a good time." he sighs "It always felt as if it wouldn't be appropriate."
"You don't have to justify it to me Rage." Sunset smiles giving him a kiss. "I know talking about your emotions isn't your strong suit."
Rage smiled as they broke the kiss and walked inside. "I never asked, but did you tell Twi…you know…about us?" Sunset asks.
"No." Rage says "I never got a chance to. Considering half of the time I was apparently in a nightmare and a chunk of time before that…well…she wasn't herself."
"Oh…" Sunset says looking into the distance. She worried if Twilight still wanted to go for him or not, especially after the incident last week.
"If you're worried my heart is with you." Rage says "It was a bit awkward when we saw each other again. Especially given the obvious."
"Right because who would have thought you of all people would turn into a pony." Sunset chuckles.
"What's this about a Pony?" Applejack's voice catches the two off guard. Both turn around to see her and Rarity behind them.
"Nothing." Sunset chuckles.
"She was just telling me more about Equestria." Rage lies.
"I bet it was wonderful there. I'd give anything to meet this so-called Princess Celestia." Rarity says.
"Right." Sunset chuckles.
"I'll see you girls in the music room." Rage says "I gotta grab something from my locker before class."
"See you later Rage." Applejack says waving as he walked off before Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo run between her and Rarity. "Hey! Watch where yer goin Applebloom!" She shouts at the three.
"They sure seemed energetic." Sunset says.
"If only she'd put some of that energy in ta helping out in the fields." Applejack complains with a sigh.
As for Rage he made it to his locker and unlocked it. Inside was what you'd expect a normal locker to hold. A few textbooks, extra pencils, pens, notebooks and paper. Rage had a few books and a hardcover leather bound notebook. It was the one he was given by Twilight a long time ago, he opened it and noticed a new entry.
'Rage, I never got the chance to tell you before you left but thank you. I was in a dark place after I lost myself and when I heard you had come to rescue me it gave me the strength to keep on going. I want you to know, if you're ever in need of somewhere to go Equestria is open to you. Please come visit soon.
Princess Twilight Sparkle'
Rage smiled and closed the notebook, placing it in his bag. "Note to self; send a reply…" he mutters to himself as he closes his locker and turns around. He ends up bumping into someone who fell to the ground.
Startled Rage looks down to see an almost maroon skinned boy with short charcoal hair with some red highlights. A pair of green eyes a lot like his own looked up at him. Skiddishly the boy quickly looked down collecting his things.
Rage squats down and helps him "You okay?" He asks "I didn't see you there."
"I-I am fine." The boy says quickly as Rage hands the boy his dropped papers. "I really need to go!" He says standing up and going around Rage quickly.
"That was weird…" Rage says crossing his arms watching him scurry around a corner "I know I've seen that kid before…"
"Yo Rage!" A familiar voice calls getting his attention. Rage looked to see Sonic and Shadow walking down the hall towards him. A bright smile on the blue haired boy's face.
"Sonic, Shadow. Good to see you." Rage says walking to meet the two half way. "Everything work out well on Mobius?"
"What do you think? Eggman is nothing." Sonic boasted.
"The way I remember you nearly got caught again." Shadow chuckles.
"Hey!" Sonic exclaims. This got a laugh out of Rage. "What are you laughing about? You didn't even stick atound to help!"
"You know if I didn't come back you'd have been stuck back on Mobius." Rage says. "Besides, it's not like I just sat around here the whole time. I was off doing some antics of my own."
"What'd we miss?" Sonic asks crossing his arms and cocking his head curiously. "Rainbow didn't say anything happened here."
"It wasn't here." Rage answers "I went to Equestria."
"Equestria…?" Sonic asks rubbing his chin "That's…the other Twilight's world right? The one you got with during Freshman year?"
"Yeah." Rage nods "Get this, the Princesses of that world came looking for me of all people."
"Now why would they do that?" Shadow asks. "Seems a bit silly."
"I guess Twilight talked a lot about our exploits here…that or Celestia read her journal…still not clear on that yet." Rage answered.
"What was up there?" Sonic asks.
"Some old evil dude." Rage answered. "Along with Nix…somehow…"
"Nix?" Shadow asks "Didn't you-"
"Yes." Rage interrupts him. "I did. Like six times. No, I don't know how or why he keeps coming back and I don't care."
"So…because they knew who Nix was?" Sonic asks.
"No…" Rage sighs "Remember Midnight Sparkle?"
"Of course." Sonic nods
"Kinda hard to forget after everything that happened…" Shadow scoffed.
"Right. So I guess the other Twilight has that capability too…? That's why Princess Celestia and came asking for my help." Rage answers. "So I helped Twilight and we stopped them."
"Weird…" Sonic says.
"Oh yeah…" Rage nods as the warning bell rang. "Well, I'll see you guys later." He says with a wave and he heads for his homeroom.
"Let's see…" Rage looks at the numbers "Room 106…" he says "Here we are." He opens the door and looks around the room. Immediately his eyes locked onto Sunset's. They had the same homeroom. He also noticed the boy from earlier. Rage went over and sat next to Sunset and put his bag under the chair.
"New homeroom this year?" Sunset asks him.
"Yeah, guess they shook them up for whatever reason." Rage answers.
"I heard it was because some staff got moved and the new Freshman class is larger than normal." A pink skinned girl with silver hair in front of them turns around and says.
"That seems a bit...out of the ordinary." Sunset says cocking an eye.
"I guess that makes sense." Rage says rubbing his chin. "Though it must be a good sized group if it's disrupting so much..." he says as his eyes wander over to the red boy from earlier who was looking at him. Once he noticed Rage was looking back he quickly looked away.
"You know him?" Sunset whispers to Rage who shook his head.
"No." Rage answers "Seen him around school but that's it." he says as the teacher walks in.
The rest of the morning goes by as Rage expected. First day of classes were mostly just teachers introducing themselves to the students, students introducing themselves and all. Rage's last class was Magical Arts IV. They started the class not too long ago. Apparently magic had been a thing in CHS's world for a long time and the point of Magical Arts Classes was to help train those who had it to control it.
Due to his exploits Rage was almost immediately thrown into the class his first year and has been taking it ever since. This year he had Twilight and Sunset in the class. In fact they also shared the same AP Chemistry II class. So they had the last two hours of the day together.
After the bell rang Rage was walking down the hall on his own. He had to use the restroom after class and agreed he'd meet the girls in the usual spot. The halls were a bit empty for just 10 minutes after class. Rage turns a corner and finds himself bumping into the same kid from before. This time however Rage grabs him to prevent him from falling.
"Sorry!" the kid exclaims.
"We need to stop bumping into each other like this." Rage says with a slight chuckle as the kid looks up.
"Oh!" he exclaims "It's you! I am so sorry! I really need to be-" he sputtered in a panic before a loud shout echoed down the hall.
"I really must be going!" the boy, apparently named Lunar says to Rage.
"What's going on?" Rage asks him.
"N-nothing really. You don't need to concern yourself with me." he says, trying to side step around Rage.
"You're not very convincing." Rage says "You were like this when you ran into me this morning."
"Really everything is fine!" the boy says.
"If you say so." Rage says as he walks around the kid.
"Wait!" the boy called. Rage turned and looked back at him. "Who...who are you?"
"Name's Rage." Rage answered "Rage Chaotic."
"You're...the same one who...has..." The boy tries speaking again.
"Has weird powers. yes." Rage sighs. "I would much prefer it if I wasn't known as the kid with weird powers but whatever…"
"I'm sorry…I-I didn't know!" The boy exclaims.
"Jeez lighten up a bit." Rage sighs "What's your name?"
"I-it's Lunar…Relic…" he says. "But you can call me…Lunar if you want…"
"Lunar huh?" Rage nods "Well nice to meet you. I'll see you around."
"Oh uh…sure…" Lunar says as Rage waves and walks away. Rage walked into the music room to find Sunset, Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Sonic.
"We were wondering where you were." Sonic says as Rage closes the door.
"Sorry about that." Rage apologized as he grabbed a seat and sat down. "So Sonic, what exactly was going on with Mobius?"
"Bah the usual. Eggman was just trying his luck again." Sonic scoffs "I hear you had a bit more of an adventure though."
"You could say that." Rage nods "Though as I already told Sunset this morning, I am sick of these little adventures and such. I just want things to settle down for a while. None of the grand adventures or fights against Darkness."
"I have to agree." Shadow says "It'd be nice to have some down time."
"One or two a year isn't that bad." Rarity says looking up from her nails.
"Except we're already at that and it's the first day…" Shadow retorts.
"Moving on…" Sunset says interrupting the two. "Aside from that…how was everyone's summer?"
"Oh you know…the usual." Rarity grumps. "Had to watch Sweetie the whole time…"
"Fields were as bad as evah." Applejack sighs "This heat don't help either." She looks to Sonic.
"Oh Rainbow and I had a great summer." Sonic boasts.
"More like loud." Shadow grumps. "You two don't know how to keep it down…" he comments. This got a chuckle from the others.
"What'd you do, Flutters?" Twilight asks looking at Fluttershy.
"I…spent most of it with the shelter." She answers "We had a lot of adoptions..."
"That's great news!" Pinkie exclaims. "I am sure it was a lot of fun!"
"It…it was…" she days softly.
"What about you Twilight…?" Sonic asks.
"Oh? Me? I uh…did some independent study stuff and spent time with Pinkie and Sunset." Twilight replies, adjusting her glasses.
"I thought Rage and Sunset spent their summer together." Pinkie complains.
"Not every single day." Sunset scoffed.
"We had a lot of days together but we also had days apart." Rage adds. "It was nice to have a summer where we didn't have three hundred things going on though...for the most part."
"Equestria hardly counts." Sunset chuckles "Literally just had to happen during the last week of the summer..."
"Tell me about it..." Rage groans "I'm still sore from all I put myself through..."
"You should rest then darling." Rarity says "You don't want to hurt yourself."
"I've been saying the same thing. Go home and rest Rage, really." Sunset orders holding Rage's hand gently.
"Alright." Rage sighs with a smile as he stands up. "I love you." He says hugging her and telling everyone good bye before leaving the room.
"It's not normal for him to still be hurt like that after a week." Shadow says not long after he was gone.
"I was about to say the same thing. Wonder what happened…" Sonic agrees looking at Shadow.
"What are you talking about?" Twilight asks "Given how much he is tossed around he's bound to be sore after any of his little adventures!"
"We're not doubting that fact." Sonic says "Because that is very much the case. The thing is, he heals fast, I mean real fast. He can be beaten to a pulp, slashed, burned and stabbed and a day or so later he's running around like it never happened!"
As for Rage he was slowly making his way back home. He was enjoying the warmth of the late afternoon sun. It brought back memories of his early years of growing up. He turned the corner into the neighborhood he was living in. Shortly after he felt a strange feeling wash over him. His hair was on end and a deep, cold pit filled his stomach…he knew this feeling…
"Darkness?!" He exclaimed looking around. He knew he sensed it, but how? He was on edge, "Dammit…I had to go and say something…" he mutters. Whatever it was, it was strong and it was close.
"Rage?!" Sunset's voice comes from behind him and he turns.
"Sunset?!" He exclaims as she caught up to him.
"What's gotten into you?" She asks worried.
"You don't feel it…?" Rage asks blinking.
"Feel what…?" Sunset asks.
"The darkness…" Rage says in a low tone looking around.
"Darkness?" Sunset questions. Now she really was worried. "Rage, what's going on?" She asks demandingly.
"I…I don't know." Rage answers "I just…sensed this surge of Darkness a little bit ago…I think…"
"Rage…I think you've become a little *too* sensitive to this kind of stuff." Sunset says "Come on, I'll walk home with you."
Rage wanted to object but he couldn't come to do it. He sighs and walks towards home with Sunset holding his hand. He couldn't help but look over his shoulder. Nothing that he could see.
While they walked they ended up releasing each other's hand. Sunset walked next to him and looked at Rage who had a pinpoint gaze forward. He was attentive as if looking for something or watching. "Rage…" she speaks up with a worried voice.
"Huh?" He shook his head and looked at her. The two stopped and faced the other. "Sorry…what's wrong Sunset?"
"Rage…you're worrying me." She says "You're all focused on Darkness and this and that…and…Well it makes me feel sidelined…"
"Sunset…" Rage says in a soft voice "I…" he paused
"You what Rage?" She asks, crossing her arms.
"I just…worry is all…" he says.
"About the world and all I know…" she scoffs.
"That's not—" Rage starts to object but Sunset puts a hand up in his face to stop him.
"I don't want to hear it!" She scoffs turning around and refusing to look back at Rage "Maybe it's better if you had less to…"
"Sunset…?" Was all the red haired boy could say "What are you-"
"I am saying I need a break!" Sunset shouts, turning back at him. "Just…leave me alone." She then turns back around and walks down the road.
Rage stood there as she walked. He couldn't say anything. He felt his heart drop into his stomach like a rock. Like everyone he had ever been close to, he had done it again. Pushed away those he cared about. Now the one person he could say he truly loved was gone. A sigh escaped his mouth as he turns and walked home.