"So you think we overreacted?" Blade asks Rage as he rests on top of Rage's bag. Rage was trying a tuxedo on and had his bag off to the side.
"I dunno..." Rage sighed. "I think it's better we took this precaution personally. I think just having a familiar friend comforted Twilight a lot." he says as he finishes tying the bowtie.
"I don't think I've ever seen you wear anything nearly as nice as this." Blade comments "It looks nice."
"Thanks." He says as he picks the bag back up. Blade quickly bolted back into the main pouch and stowed himself away as Rage walked out of the fitting room. All of the other's aside from Twilight were there.
"Oooo look at you!" Rarity calls "You look fabulous!" She cheers happily.
"You think so?" Rage asks with a hint of nervousness in his voice. "It does fit pretty well.
"Wow...so you gonna ask Twilight to dance then?" Fluttershy asks softly with a cheerful smile.
Rage felt a shiver go down his spine when she suggested such a thing. "No...why would you suggest such a thing?" he asks.
"Well, you two seem close." Fluttershy says "I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you upset..."
"No, no it's okay." Rage says laughing it off. "She and I are just friends, generally you ask somebody you want to be...more than friends with...to a dance like this...at least from what I have heard."
"Hey, we get it." Rainbow Dash smiled, "Sometimes, it's best to keep it that way."
"Speaking of which...where is Twi-" Applejack began to speak before Twilight came running into the room and grabbed Rage by his arm.
"Hold up!" Rage exclaims before he is pulled into the fitting room with her. A silence settled among the other five. An awkward silence. One that lasted uncomfortably long before Rainbow Dash broke it.
"What...just happened?" she asks in shock.
Inside the room Rage managed to get his arm free and he rubbed it, undoing a crinkle that she had made. "Twilight, what in Chaos has gotten into you?!" he exclaims in a whisper.
"Rage, this is bad..." she says in a panicked tone as Spike hops out of her bag. "Sunset Shimmer destroyed all of the decorations for the dance! They're postponing it until tomorrow night!"
"Twilight, calm down. It's-" He starts to speak.
"Calm down?! Rage, if they don't have the dance tonight then we'll be stuck here!" Twilight exclaims.
"That's not true." Rage says "I made an anchor in the school. We should be able to use it to get back to Equestria..."
"Should?" Twilight asks, raising an eye.
"Well...yeah...I sorta...haven't tried teleporting more than myself with this thing..." Rage admits.
"So you don't even know if it's safe?!" Twilight exclaims. Rage shook his head. "What do we do?"
"We have to come clean." Spike says. "If we're honest with them I bet we could get them to rally behind us again."
"Or we ruin any bridges we've built so far." Rage says, crossing his arms.
"No...Spike is right." Twilight says "We have to come clean..."
Rage looks at her and Blade flies out of his bag and hides himself under Rage's collar poking his head out just enough. "Twilight, this is a big risk." the small dragon says.
"I know but what other choice do we have?" Twilight asks.
Rage looks at Blade and the two sigh in unison before Rage nods before he speaks; "You're right. We have to come clean." he said.
Twilight looked at him and sighed in relief. "I'm glad you're on board with this." She says. She took a deep breath and opened the curtain. The two walked out to the other five who were all waiting with worry all over their faces.
Twilight exchanged one more look with Rage who nodded affirming that he was behind her. With another deep breath she spoke; "Guys I need to tell you something-" She begins to speak.
"You're actually from another world and in this world you're a pony princess and Sunset Shimmer went to this world and stole your crown which houses some crazy powerful thing and changed it with the Fall Formal Crown and you have to have the dance tonight and win the crown back otherwise you are stuck here for a really really long time!" Pinkie Pie all of a sudden blurts out.
The outburst left a shocked look on everyone's face. Rage, Twilight and Spike for how accurate the account was and the others for how absurd it sounded. "Yeah...I don't think that's it." Rainbow Dash says.
"No, she's pretty much spot on." Spike replies.
"He can talk?!" Rarity gasps.
"Of course I can!" Spike boasts "And where I'm from I am really a fire breathing dragon!" he proclaims.
The others look at her in shock. "You're a pony?" Applejack gasps.
"You're a princess?" Rarity asks in pure shock.
"It's a long story." Rage says.
"So wait, what about you then Rage?" Rainbow Dash asks. "Are you...?"
"I'm from that world too." Rage says "I've...got my own reasons for coming here, namely though I was sent to ensure Twilight made it back with her crown."
"Do you have a talking dog?" Fluttershy asks.
"No." Rage replied, shaking his head.
"I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you up front." Twilight apologizes before she gets swarmed by the other girls. Rage stepped back and looked at Blade. The small dragon let a small chuckle out before he quickly hid again due to him being looked back at.
"So...are you going to help clean up the gym?" Rarity asks.
"You know it." Rage smiled with an affirming nod. "We're gonna need all of the help we can get!"
With that the seven made for the gym to begin cleaning up. At first it seemed like a lot of work but slowly, other students noticed what they were doing and ended up chiming in to help. It was early evening and the sun was barely peeking over the horizon when they got it all done. Just in time too. Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna agreed that the dance would go on.
A cheer erupts from the students and the lights dim. Rage, seeing as a good opportunity looks to Rainbow Dash, "I'll be right back. I need to get washed up." he says to her and she nods. "Alright, don't keep us waiting!" She chuckles.
"I won't." Rage says as he slips out of the side door to the gym. The hall was oddly quiet, with everyone in the gym it gave the halls this creepy empty feeling. Rage walked towards the restrooms. However, when he turned the corner in the hall he saw Sunset Shimmer leaning against the lockers. She looked at him with an angry look.
"I tried to warn you now Rage." She sighs as she stands up straight. "I told you to go back home and act like nothing had happened...but no, you didn't listen..."
"Sunset Shimmer." Rage says in a dark tone. "What makes you think I would have listened to you in the first place?" He asks "Regardless of your thoughts on Twilight, she's my friend and I wasn't going to leave her alone at the time."
"Can't say I didn't try." Sunset sighs.
"It's over Sunset." Rage says "After all you've done and all we've done, Twilight's a shoe in for the Princess of the Fall Formal. You've lost."
"I wouldn't be so sure..." Sunset smirks as she turns her back to him. She then took a few steps before turning her head to look back at him. "I hope you sleep well." she chuckles.
"What?" Rage asks confused before he was grabbed from behind by Snips and a white rag covered his mouth. He felt himself get drowsy. "Sunset...!" He tried shouting but it was for naught. He went limp.
"Gosh I didn't expect him to be so heavy!" Snips said as Rage went limp and Snails had to grab his feet. "C'mon we gotta hide him!"
Meanwhile, in the gym, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna had taken the stage to announce the winner of Princess of the Fall Formal. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity all stood near the front together.
"Hey...where's Rage?" Twilight whispers.
"He said he was going to wash up..." Rainbow Dash says "But that was like 20 minutes ago..." she whispers back as Celestia opens an envelope.
"The winner of Princess of the Fall Formal is...Twilight Sparkle!" Celestia announces. A cheer erupts as Twilight walks up on stage and accepts the crown from Celestia. She looked across the gym. It was then Spike's voice echoed across the room
"Twilight!" Spike calls. Snips and Snails had taken him.
"SPIKE!" Twilight exclaims in surprise as she jumps off the stage and runs after the two. Her friends quickly followed her. They ran down the hall. Right past the utility closet, the door was slightly open and inside, Rage was on the ground, passed out.
As the rumble of feet rushed by Blade peaked his head out of the door just enough so he could see what was going on but not so much he'd be seen. He saw the pursuit and let a frustrated grunt out. "C'mon and wake up already!" He shouts before he does the best he could to slap Rage across the face.
Rage muttered before slowly opening his eyes. As they came into focus he looked at Blade right in the face. "B-Blade?" he asks groggily "What happened?"
"You were drugged." The dragon says as he flies to his shoulder. "Come on and get yourself together! Twilight's in trouble!"
Rage shook his head and hopped to his feat. "Sunset..." he says in an angry tone before he grabs his bag and takes off running.
"What are you going to do?!" Blade asks. "We can't use our powers!"
"We may have to." Rage says as they reach the main hall. Rage stopped looking at the mass of students in front of him. All were standing around like mindless zombies. Rage looked at Blade who was floating next to him.
"Rage-" Blade says before Rage shoves him into his bag.
"We have to get to the-" Rage starts to speak as he gets closer to the doors he was able to see what was going on. Sunset, looking like a fiery demon, was laughing maniacally. A swarm of strange, shadowy creatures had his friends surrounded. "No..." he says softly.
"Dark Spawn?!" Blade exclaims "Impossible..." he looked to Rage who gave an angry glare.
"Farewell Twilight Sparkle." Sunset says with a sinister chuckle as she charges a ball of dark magic.
"Blade!" Rage says as he runs past some of the zombified students. The small dragon flew out of his bag and with a flash of light and flourish of fire became a sword which Rage grabbed in his right hand.
Twilight and her friends embraced each other as if it was the end. Sunset laughs as she launches the spell at them. Rage leaps and turns in mid-air. He puts his sword out defensively and blocks the attack. It threw a cloud of dust up obscuring everything.
Sunset smiled and chuckled sinisterly watching the cloud slowly clear up. Her victorious smirk soon faded to a frustrated and furious frown. Instead of Twilight and her friends being nothing but a pile of ash like she had hoped, there stood Rage with his sword in hand, standing firmly.
"What?!" She exclaims "How can you-" she stammered furiously. Rage stood up straight and looked at her with anger.
"Rage!" Twilight gasps happily.
"Rage?!" Applejack exclaims in shock.
"I warned you earlier, Sunset Shimmer..." Rage speaks in a grim tone. "About what would happen if you tried to harm Twilight..."
"You're cute." Sunset shuckles "You think you could stand up to me and my army?"
Rage looked at her and out of his back the Chaos Emeralds flew out. "Give us the crown Sunset Shimmer." He demands as they glow.
"Or what? You plan to bribe me?" She laughs "Sorry but some silly crystals can't compare to the Element of Magic!"
"Very well..." Rage sighs. He closed his eyes and with a blinding light the Chaos Emeralds vanished and a golden flare of energy surrounded Rage. His hair flailed and his eyes glowed a furious red. His crimson hair had some golden highlights.
"Rage!" Twilight calls "This isn't like Sombra...you have to be careful!"
Sunset Shimmer shouts and launches another blast of magic at Rage who sliced it with his sword. This caused the magic to spread and strike the Dark Spawns that had his friends surrounded. This caused them to vanish. His friends, now free, walked up next to him.
The other six glowed with Rainbow Magic. Similar to that of the Elements of Harmony.
"What?!" Sunset exclaims in shock. "How is this possible?!"
"You may have the Magic from the Element Sunset but there's still a magic more powerful than that!" Twilight says with a stern tone. "The Magic of Friendship!"
"Th-Those are just words!" Sunset stammers before a rainbow beam formed by the six is launched at her. She tried to run but Rage fired blasts of fire magic which stopped her movement just long enough for it to strike.
Sunset let out a shout as the beam caused the dark magic she had been using along with the magic from The Element of Magic to flow off of her like a strange black goopy substance. The Element of Magic lands on the ground between her and the others.
Sunset tried crawling to it but Rage swooped in and grabbed it before returning it to Twilight. "Sunset Shimmer...you lose." Twilight says. Rage returned to normal and the Chaos Emeralds returned to his bag.
Sunset sat sobbing in defeat as the rest of the students were returning to normal. Twilight looked at Rage who still had a cross look. "Rage?" She asks.
"You deal with her." he says with a tone showing he was still upset. "I'm in no mood to do so right now..." he says looking at her. "After what she did..." Twilight nodded and put a hand on his shoulder.
Rage turned to the portal back to Equestria and walked over to wait for Twilight. As he leaned against the corner of the statue's base Blade once more came out of his bag and rested on his shoulder. "Well?" the dragon asks.
"Well what?" Rage looked at him confused.
"What? No thanks for waking your lazy butt up?" Blade asks.
Rage looked at the small dragon and chuckles. "Alright fine." he says "Thank you."
"Was that so hard?" Blade laughs as Rage shook his head and looked at the girls. Twilight helping Sunset Shimmer up and the two hugging. A sour feeling washed over him briefly but it was shortly replaced with a spark of hope that Sunset was going to change for the better. That she'd not torture the school here in this world anymore.
He wasn't able to make out what was being said but he knew it was kind words. That much was clear. Shortly after what he could only assume were goodbyes from her friends Twilight walks over to the statue and meets with Rage. "Ready to go?" he asks.
"You could loosen up a bit, you know. "Twilight says. "Not be so uptight."
"Sorry Twi..." Rage says softly.
"Sorry?" She scoffs. "You need to learn to open up more..."
"Twi..." Rage says in a sad tone.
"Yes?" she asks.
Rage shook his head. "I'll tell you when we're safely back home. He says as they turn to their new friends and wave back to them. Then they exchange one more look. "After you." Rage says gesturing for her to go ahead. Twilight smiled and nodded before she entered the portal back. Rage then turned once more to his friends from CHS and they all were waving. He waved back before hopping into the portal right as the moon made it to the highest point it would that night. With a soft glow and glint of light, like that, the portal was closed.
"You think they'll ever come back?" Applejack asks curiously.
"I am sure we can find a way to get them back here." Rarity says.
"They have to come back some day." Rainbow Dash chuckles.
"I hope wherever they're going they're safe." Fluttershy says softly as the five girls started to make their way back. As the other five made so distance, Sunset stopped and took off her necklace.
Sunset stood there, on the steps of the statue and looked at the strange necklace she had been given by that one strange visitor who she helped show the way to Equestria. It still radiated with a powerful Darkness. Though it just gave her an uneasy feeling. She threw it on the ground and stomped on it, destroying it.
"Sunset!" Applejack calls.
"Oh coming!" She says before looking at the side that held the portal to Equestria. "Best of luck Twilight Sparkle, you're going to need it..." she says before running off to catch up with the others.