Neon signs and bright streetlights wowed Twilight and her friends as they reached the edge of the city. "This place is crazy…" Twilight comments looking up at Rage who crossed his arms and paused.
"Yeah, stay together and don't wander too much." Rage warns "It's easy to get lost in a place like this."
"So who's this contact of yours?" Rainbow Dash asks.
"Her name is Maria the Fox. I met her years ago when I first fought Nix. She was part of a rebel group seeking to free the world from his treachery. These days Maria and the rebels mostly watch Nix's movements while occasionally mounting a defensive against the occasional raids from monsters." Rage explains as they turn a corner.
"Rebels?" Twilight asks "Rage, why would they want to rebel against their leader? Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"He's no leader." Rage says in a spiteful voice as he clenches a fist. "A leader is looked up to by his people. Trusted. Nix is a tyrant."
There was silence after this. Twilight wanted to make a rebuttal but Applejack put a hoof to her shoulder and shook her head, a silent gesture to dissuade her from doing so.
The seven finally found themselves outside of a small bakery. Rage let a sigh out and looked at the ponies with him. "Once we're inside…let me do the talking please." He says. The six agree and he opens the door.
The seven enter. A bell rings signaling the door opening. Nobody seemed to be there. "Be there in a minute!" A firm female voice comes from the kitchen.
"She sounds like a busy pony." Applejack comments.
Shortly after a tall, cream colored female fox came out from the door leading back into the kitchen. She had a short sleeved gray shirt on and some black sweatpants with an apron covering her front. Her violet eyes looked at the six ponies before locking her eyes with Rage's.
The fox smirked and crossed her arms before she spoke "Well, well, well if it isn't Ragis Chaotic the Hedgehog." She says in a cheerful, slightly sarcastic voice.
"Maria. It's been far too long." Rage says as she walks from behind the counter and the two hug like long lost friends.
"Who are these strangers you brought with you?" She asks, looking at the six ponies.
"Maria, meet my friends." Rage says as he gestures to them. "Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash." He introduced them before reaching Twilight, "…and Princess Twilight Sparkle. They're from another world."
Maria chuckled and smirked. "Rage you and a Princess? I never expected you to bat so high." She says in a flirtatious, teasing voice. "Mmm and a good looking one too!" She says looking at Twilight "I can't believe you'd replace me like this." She teases with a frown.
"We're not a thing." Twilight grumps looking at Maria with a glare.
"I was only joking." Maria says with a hearty laugh "Anyway what brings you to my humble shop today?" She asks.
"Nix." Rage says simply.
"I should have figured." She sighs "I thought him putting Chaos Emeralds in old strongholds wasn't a coincidence. How'd he manage that?"
"Eh…not my proudest moment…" Rage sighed.
"You can tell me all about it later. Come on." She says waving at them to follow her.
The seven were led down a set of stairs and to an open room with a few couches, a whiteboard and some amenities. A small computer was set up in the corner with various monitors on the wall and a radio base, a door in the back was open and led to a small room with some bunk beds.
"This place hasn't changed a bit." Rage says as they sit down.
"A little…dirty…don't you think?" Rarity complains looking at the small trash can that was littered with rubbish and various chip wrappers.
"Sorry it's not to your liking. Things have been busy these last few weeks." Maria scoffs.
"Lots of foot traffic through here?" Rage asks.
"Yeah. About a week ago Nix's forces started moving back into old strongholds that haven't been used in hundreds of years. Along with that he's been seen with some new regulars. We've been working overtime to keep tabs on him." Maria says as she hands Rage a handful of pictures which he and his friends look at
"Tirek and Discord…" Twilight says shifting through two that had the two villains. "But Discord was months ago…"
Rage then flipped to another picture. One with Kira. He looked at her and he felt a surge of anger, she was the one who had taken the Emeralds. "What's Nix's goal here though?" he asks, letting his anger subside.
"We're not entirely sure." Maria says as she walked over to the computer and pulled up surveillance images of the old strongholds.
"I don't like the look of those..." Fluttershy whimpers. "They look scary."
"Old sure. But scary? Nah. They're nothing special." Maria comments. "Or so we thought."
"Do they have some...hidden purpose?" Rainbow Dash asks as Twilight looks closer at them.
"Wait a minute...Rage this architecture..." She says rubbing her chin. "It's the same as the buildings on your island isn't it?" she asks, looking at the crimson hedgehog who crossed his arms and looked closer at himself.
"It is." he says "The structures are the same as the Chaos Temples..."
"Why would there be buildings from your island here?" Pinkie Pie asks. "Aren't they like suuuuuuper far away?"
"They were built by the same people..." Rage says "But why would the Ancient Guardians build Chaos Temples here on Dark Mobius...?"
"They're remnants of The Shadow War." Maria says with a sigh. "Until recently we believed that the Ancient Chaos Guardians had built them so that they had safe places to take refuge..."
"There's a but coming isn't there...?" Rarity asks.
"But...thanks to some intel we managed to...appropriate from Nix." Maria says as she pulls up a window with walls of text. "They had a secondary purpose...but we're not exactly sure as to what it was."
"They were...super weapons." Twilight says in disbelief as she reads what was on screen. "If everything else failed...they planned to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds to...destroy everything..."
"You can read that?" Applejack asks, looking confused. "I don't understand a lick of it!"
"I uh...learned thanks to Rage's friend's journal." Twilight says embarrassed.
"Not quite..." Rage says. "The Chaos Emeralds can't just destroy everything like that...based on this they planned to end all life...by using a massive wave of Chaos Energy aimed at wiping out living cells..."
"Why would they do that? I thought they were the good guys!" Rainbow Dash exclaims.
"Wiping another world void of life would have been seen as an acceptable loss in the grand scheme of things..." Rage says in a distant, yet upset tone. He clenched his fists. "With potentially an entire universe at stake who cares about one little planet...bastards..."
"Rage...?" Fluttershy looked worried as Rage turned and walked back up the stairs.
"He took that harder than I expected..." Maria says as she looks at the six ponies.
"Nix can't be planning the same thing right?" Rainbow Dash asks.
"We don't know but even if that is their plan there's one problem." She says turning back to the report. "They'd need a Chaos Guardian to do something like this..."
"...and there's no way Rage would ever go along with such a thing." Twilight says. "So why even try..." she then sat and thought. She looked at the photos and focused on the one with Kira. "Unless...you don't think she's a Chaos Guardian do you?" Twilight asks Maria holding the photo up with a levitation spell in front of Maria.
The fox looked closely at the picture. "If she is...I don't recognize her..." she says "Rage seemed to know her."
"She's the one who took the Emeralds in the first place." Twilight says putting the photo down. "He doesn't know who she is either." she looked to the stairs Rage had gone up and sighed.
"Give him some time." Maria sighs. "It can't be easy for him learning how bad those he once revered so much truly were..."
"What do you mean?" Rarity asks.
"A few years ago...when Rage first came to Dark Mobius in pursuit of Nix he revered and held the Ancient Chaos Guardians in the highest regard. That they could do no wrong. Not that I blame him...they were touted as heroes on Mobius and they're the ones who raised him for half his adolescence...but war doesn't decide who's right and wrong...only who's left." Maria sighs explaining Rage's conviction. "When he learned that they were not as altruistic as he thought, it shook him up pretty bad. It's clear they want him to continue their legacy but he found different meaning in it."
"Okay now yer talking nonsense." Applejack says. "Legacy? Meaning? It's a title not a family."
"They were his family though, Applejack don't you see?" Fluttershy says softly. "He looked up to them."
"He only knew the good about what they did." Maria sighs looking at a picture of Rage, her and a gray wolf with violet eyes. The three were smiling. The photo was taken not long after Rage stopped Nix for the first time. "He aspired to protect everyone...not realizing that they only cared about those they deemed good. Us dwelling in this Dark world were seen as no different than Nix and his loyalists, hell he was no different to some of them."
"You sure know a lot about Rage." Twilight says walking up to her.
"He's been a close friend for years." Maria chuckled with a smile. "He genuinely cares about this place too. He sees beyond Light and Dark...it's why he's so devoted...and probably why he's so quick to jump headlong into things...and why he's adamant about doing things alone."
"Well he's not alone anymore." Rainbow Dash cheers. "He's got us by his side!" she boasted and Maria looked at her. The fox's face was cold but warmed up slowly.
"I don't know where he found you six but he needs more friends like you." she chuckled. She couldn't explain it but these six ponies just made her fears and worries melt away, warm joy replacing it all.
It was shortly after Rage came back down. His face was much less tense and he seemed a lot more relaxed. "Regardless of what they were designed for..." he says, turning the topic back to the temples. "Now they're holding some of The Chaos Emeralds and we have to get them back...and while we're at it we'll make sure they can never be used to harm anyone..."