Rage's fist meets Nix's as they collide with force. Rage gives a yell and manages to hit Nix with his other hand. Nix leaps back and pants looking frustratingly at the hedgehog in front of him.

'Dammit…what happened?! He's too-' Nix tried to sort his thoughts but he noticed Rage was gone. "Where-" he began to exclaim before he was hit from the right side by Rage's fist. The force sent him into the wall across the yard.

Rage exhaled and hopped some. The amount of energy he had surging in his body was overwhelming. All of the energy he stored for his arsenal of magic and Chaos abilities was now surging like adrenaline and he couldn't quite describe it but he felt hyper, energetic.

"Having trouble?" Christain's voice chuckled inside Nix's head.

"Shut up…" Nix says out loud.

"Hey, this is your own fault." Christain chuckled "You can play the wiseass all you want but you don't know anything about Rage."

"I said shut up!" Nix shouts.

"I didn't say anything…" Rage says now again next to Nix as he grabs him and throws him.

Nix barely had a chance to react. Rage was too fast. Nix couldn't keep up, not while he held the spell that was binding all of the others. Nix got up, some blood dripped from his brow and he wiped it. He had realized something though, Rage wasn't using his Chaos or his magic.

"I don't get it." Maria says "How did Rage change if Nix is just absorbing all of the magic or Chaos he uses?"

Twilight rubs her chin "I don't sense any magical energies coming from him at all either…do you think he somehow sacrificed it all to like give himself more physical power?"

"That seems like the case. I've never seen him move so fast." Sonic says. "Except maybe that one time on the ARK when he used his strongest form."

Nix gets back up and leaps back. He had to buy himself time to figure something out. 'He doesn't seem to be using any magic or anything…' Nix thinks 'I should be able to just keep my distance and hit him with my own.' He then smiles a toothy grin and starts throwing bolts of dark magic at Rage.

Rage dodged each one as he closed in again and went for a roundhouse kick to Nix's left cheek. Nix grabs his leg and tries to stop Rage but it was too fast and had too much force. All he did was soften the blow. He slid backwards and spit up blood. "You insolent pest…" he pants. "Are you trying to kill me…?" He looks at Rage with a glare of anger. "You know if I die Christain is gone forever too!"

"I know…" Rage says baring his teeth. "But I know he'd prefer that outcome over being forced to see the atrocities you would commit if I let you win…" he says in a grim tone.

"He's right." Christain's voice echoes again in Nix's head "If it was my choice though I'd have my body back and you'd be scattered across time and space."

"You…you'll never have your body back." Nix scoffs. "As for you…"

"Hmph. Christian bothering you there Nix?" Rage chuckles before he strikes Nix again with a firm right hook.

"Why…" Nix asks as he stands up "Your friends were nearly killed…you still fight. You should be a bumbling little mess of despair…" he complains as he looks at Rage. "Yet you just pulled some new trick out of thin air…I should have won by now…any normal person would have given up when I took your friends hostage…"

"Because I have a reason to keep fighting…." Rage sighs "To protect those who see me for who I am…my friends…"

"What? Your friends are your power?" Nix scoffs. "What good are friends?" He spits looking at Fluttershy. "All they do is hold you…back!" He shouts, firing an energy beam at her.

Rage gasps and quickly runs into the path and intercepts it. The beam hits him and he grunts in pain but stands firmly.

"See?" Nix scoffs while extending an open gesture at Rage. "They bring you pain because they can't help themselves. I mean look at her. She can barely stand up for herself against some weak bullies."

"You don't know the first thing about friendship, Nix!" Twilight shouts as she stands up and faces him.

"Hm?" Nix looks at her with a scowl.

"Friends hold each other up." Twilight says stomping a hoof. "Sure we all have our flaws…" she says looking at Fluttershy. "And when we can't overcome those flaws our friends help make up for them. They support us even when we're down!"

"Silence!" Nix shouts furiously as he glows with a black energy. "I'm sick of this!" He screams as his eyes glow a bright, sinister red.

"What?!" Rage exclaims as Nix floats into the air.

"Friends just lead each other to despair! I'll show you!" He shouts as the aura of darkness shrouds him. Wind begins to blow furiously, nearly knocking Twilight off her feet. As the energy builds the bubbles surrounding the others vanish.

"What's going on?!" Sonic exclaims looking to the ever growing orb of shadows.

"He's snapped!" Maria shouts.

"Whatever he's doing he can't maintain his spell." Twilight says as she ran over to Fluttershy and helped her up.

"Thank you…" the pegasus says weakly. They go to help the others one by one

While they all were collecting themselves and making sure one another was okay; The orb of Shadows expands and Nix was replaced by a tall bipedal monster with two large bat wing-like appendages sprouting from its back. The legs and arms were thin and jagged. Its hands had long claws the size of swords. Its head is almost human-like with two large horns.

"What in Celestia's name is that…?" Twilight gasps as the beast roars.

"Despair." The monstrous Nix roars as it swings a fist downwards. The ponies all dived out of the way and Rage flash stepped in and held it up.

Rage grunts and struggles as his feet are buried into the dirt. "Twilight you guys need to get out of here!" He shouts as he holds his ground and manages to push back enough that Nix raises his arm up.

"Rage-" Twilight started to argue.

"No buts!" He shouts "Go while you can! I'll hold him off."

"Rage, you can't fight this thing alone!" Sonic shouts.

"And we can't let it reach the town!" Rage barks back as it charges a red laser from its mouth. It fires and Rage rolls out of the way. The ground shook and cracked from the attack.

'Sonic's right though…without my Chaos Powers whatever this beast Nix turned into has me dead to rights…' Rage thinks as he puts his arms up and blocks another punch. He looks back to them "I'll be fine! Go!" He shouts.

Maria, who was helping Rainbow Dash looks back as Rage's feet dug into the ground again. She then looked at the scorched grass and saw a strange yellow object glitter in the moonlight. "Wait…" she says, stepping away.

"Maria, what are you doing?!" Sonic asks, grabbing her arm. "You heard him!"

"Look." She says pointing at the area where the beam that Nix fired had struck and under the scorched dirt and grass was what appeared to be a small yellow gemstone in a stone floor panel.

"It's an old tile, big deal, come on!" Sonic scoffs pulling her.

"No Sonic!" She says breaking away. "It's part of the old chapel! That stone is what's nullifying our powers!"

"How do you know that?!" Twilight asks.

"Because I used to go to this chapel. The Shadow Priests would give their magical energy as an offering…we need to destroy it!" Maria says.

"What good will that do us?" Sonic scoffs.

"If we destroy it Rage can use his powers again!" Twilight exclaims realizing what Maria was getting at. "Plus I can use my magic."

"How do you propose we do that?" Sonic scoffs. "None of us are remotely strong enough to break something like that."

Twilight thought a second before she ran to the panel and stood on top of the gemstone. She inhaled deeply and looked at Rage who was distracting the beast. She then let out a shout "Hey ugly!" Her voice comes out with an echo causing both the monster and Rage to stop and look.

"Twi-" Rage started to say but the beast fired spears of dark magic at her. Twilight quickly evaded but one clipped her wing and she shouts. The others hit the panel and it cracked. She looked and smiled.

"Come on! You can do better than that!" She shouts again. Nix roars and fires another beam of energy. Rage swooped in and grabbed Twilight this time as the beam hit the panel and destroyed it.

"Twilight what are you thinking?!" He asks her "You're going to get yourself killed!"

"I'm saving you." She says as she flies up and fires a beam of magic.

"Twilight no!" Rage exclaims, expecting it to end like everything had before. This time however the beam struck Nix and he roared in pain.

"Impossible…" Nix's voice echoed in a deep tone "How can you…use magic?!"

"You should know. You destroyed it yourself." Twilight taunts.

Nix roars as he swings for Twilight but she flies into the air evading the attack. "Insolent…" Nix growls.

"You should be focused on me!" Rage shouts as he leaps into the air and kicks Nix. He was swung at but he kicked off of Nix's fist and flipped himself around to land on his feet.

Rage gave a sly smirk but deep down he was worried. 'Even with Twilight destroying that thing I am not sure if I can use my powers. I'm absorbing all of the chaos I produce to use this form…I'm probably stuck like this until I bleed myself dry.' He thought.

While he was lost in thoughts Nix swiped at him and hit him. Rage was sent flying into the outer wall up on the castle. He broke through the wall and found himself in a chamber of boxes and other miscellaneous items.

Nix chuckled and shrunk back down to normal, laughing. "Give up! Without your precious Chaos you're nothing!" He shouts.

"Rage!" Twilight exclaimed and she flapped her wings, taking off towards the hole in the castle.

"Oh no you don't." Nix cackles as he leaps up into the air and grabs her leg. Twilight kicks and tries desperately to shake him off.

"Get off me!" She shouts before finally firing a burst of magic at him and he is flung back to the ground. Twilight then made it to where Rage had broken through and found him on top of a pile of broken clutter. He was barely conscious.

"I…I'm not done…" he says struggling back to his feet. He looked at Twilight who was standing in front of him. "T-Twilight…"

"Rage…" she says walking up and using a healing spell in an attempt to help him. "I've got you…"

Rage managed to stand up. His fur returned to normal and he sighed. "Nix is stronger than I thought…" he says weakly. "You need to get the others and run while you still can…"

"What about you?!" She exclaims.

"Yes, what about you?" Nix's voice echoed off of the walls with a sinister chuckle. Twilight turned around to see the dark hedgehog floating in the air just outside the hole in the wall. "Look at you, barely able to stand. Barely able to move. What are you gonna do? Tickle me?"

"Go Twilight." Rage says, pushing himself in front of her.

"Rage…" Twilight whispers. She was not sure what to do. She looked at Nix who formed a ball of sinister energy and chuckled as Rage formed his sword and stood defensively but he was clearly at his limit.

Twilight closed her eyes and cried. She wanted to help him but didn't know what she could even do. "Stop…" she begged. "Why are you so dead set on fighting?!"

"What's she going on about now?" Nix scoffs. "Cry all you want. It won't change anything."

"You were friends!" Twilight shouts. "Why…?"

"We were never friends!" Nix barks looking at her. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I do! Rage told me all about you…Christain…" Twilight says softly.

"Twilight…" Rage grunts painfully. "What are you doing…get the others and run…"

"No!" She shouts defiantly "I am sick of seeing you hurt! Please…stop."

"You can-" Nix starts to speak but stops and shouts, grabbing his head. The red glow around his eyes fades and a pair of sorrowful violet eyes look at the two.

"Rage, Twilight…go. Run." He says, his voice much more calm and collected. "While I hold him back…"

"Christain…" Rage pants as he looks at Twilight. Then he looks back "Twilight get out of here…" he says weakly.

"Rage!" She shouts "You can't be serious!"

"No." Christain shook his head "Go. Rage is right. Leave us."

Twilight looked at them. She felt anger and frustration surging in her. None of this made sense. They're friends but they continue to fight. It made no sense. Finally she lets out a frustrated shout. "Fine! But you have a lot to answer for when you get back!" She shouts at Rage before flying back down to the courtyard.

The others were slowly coming around as she landed. "What…happened?" Applejack asks, looking at Twilight.

"Where's Rage?" Fluttershy asks.

"Being stubborn." Twilight says scornfully "Let's go." She orders.

"We're leaving him?!" Rainbow Dash exclaims.

"He told me to grab you all and go…" she says.

"We can't leave him behind!" Sonic shouts "He's barely holding up as is!"

"If we-" Twilight started to argue before a bright golden light burst forth from the castle.

"What's that?!" Rarity gasps in shock. They all gazed at it before out of it came Rage flying directly at them. They all scattered as he slams into the ground.

"Rage!" Sonic exclaimed as he ran over and helped him up.

"Are you okay?" Fluttershy asks him.

"I'm fine…" He says roughly. "We need to go."

"What about Nix or…Christain?" Twilight asks. "Is he…?"

Rage looked up to the castle. A golden glow still radiated from the room he and Nix had been in. "He…won't be a problem for a while."

"What do you mean by that?" Rainbow Dash asks.

"Sealing Light Magic." Rage says with a heavy breath as he leans on Sonic. "It'll keep him there for a while…"

"Won't he just come back after us once the spell breaks?" Twilight asks.

"He can try." Rage sighs "But he won't have the strength to travel for a while."

"Are you going to be alright?" Sonic asks. "You're pretty worn out."

"I'm exhausted." He says "That took a lot out of me."

"I'll say." Maria comments "I can't sense a lick of magic or Chaos in you."

"Yeah…" Rage nodded slowly. "I converted all of my power into physical strength. So…I'm just physically exhausted." He then gave off a soft laugh. "Plus I've never tried that before. Good thing it worked!"

"That explains the lack of injuries." Sonic says "You took a beating."

"Here!" Pinkie Pie exclaims holding a cupcake up. "This'll wake you up!"

"Where did you get that?" Maria asks as Rage hesitates but takes it. He takes a bite and sighed. His muscles relaxed and the sweetness of the cupcake was a welcome taste.

"Secret!" Pinkie Pie giggles "It's sure to perk you up though!"

"Thank you." Rage says with a heavy sigh. It was a boost he desperately needed. "It's delicious."

Rage continued to eat it as they walked back down to the city. The walk was fairly silent. Twilight looked over at Rage and she thought about what she had seen in the castle.

"Twilight…" Rage finally says after finishing the cupcake. Both stopped and the others kept walking. She didn't say anything before he continued "What happened up there…don't tell the others…."

"Why?" She asks "Why are you so afraid to speak about that?"

"Because…" Rage sighed as he looked at her. "I know it looks bad…Christain and I…but I refuse to let him go. I know somehow, someway I can still save him. More importantly though…are you okay?"

"Why are you worried about me?" She asks, raising an eye.

"He hit you with a pretty strong spell…I…I can't stand to see any of you hurt because of me." Rage replied, looking away from her.

"Rage…" she smiled softly. "You still don't get it…"

"Get what?" Rage asks curiously.

"We're-" she starts to explain but was interrupted by Rainbow Dash;

"Rage! Twilight! C'mon!" She shouts.

"I'll tell you later." She says with a sigh and a smile "Come on. Our friends are waiting." She says and Rage smiled with a nod as they turned towards Rainbow Dash and hurried to catch up.