//------------------------------// // Chapter II - Fast Food Friday // Story: Dazzling Illusion // by ChudoJogurt //------------------------------// Trixie enjoyed going to school. Not that she liked the classes or enjoyed the company of fellow students, but ever since Dazzling came into the school everything felt different: It was like Adagio's spell filled every hall and classroom, an invisible, green mango-and-peppermint-scented fog that permeated all of CHS, tickling against Trixie's skin so delightfully. Lessons and classes blurred away and faded into the background, and all anyone could talk about was the Battle of the Bands. Every clash of former friends, every loud boast and every fight over who's band was better just filled her up with energy and resolve to win, no matter what. She barely even thought of Adagio - her violet eyes, her smooth orange skin, the curves of her voluptuous body.... No, Trixie's thoughts were all about dominating in the Battle of the Bands. It was almost too easy to win. Extra practice she made her friends put in, her special effects she used and the newfound energy that just filled her to the brim, she simply blasted her opponents off the stage in wicked solos and amazing tricks, their humiliated bands filling the rows of haters and enviers in the audience, and their boos and shouts of hatred giving her that extra jolt of power to win again and again. It would be already a reward enough in itself, but the real reward waited for her after the set, when tired and sweaty she would walk off the stage and maybe, just maybe catch Adagio looking at her, a glint of interest in those violet eyes. She could feel Adagio’s eyes on her when she went to the stage the third time. A spark of curiosity, a touch of encouragement. She was no longer just a little star, a face in the crowd to the elder Dazzling and that meant the world of difference to Trixie. And as the Rainbooms stumbled onto the stage, stepping on each other's toes and snapping at each other, she knew she would win. It was her destiny. It was inevitable: A showdown that was meant to be, a battle for her own soul. The Illusions versus The Dazzlings. And again with three silken voices, her world came crashing down like a house of cards. She watched them come in behind Principal Celestia and Luna, their gemstones glowing with green light. And even over the petty squabbles of the Rainblooms, she could hear their song - a wordless, humming tune that seemed somehow familiar, like she knew it a long, long time ago. This time, unlike in the cafeteria, she could see what they were doing - the thin spider web of a spell woven by the sound in the air. Somewhere in the depth of her mind, she knew should have been terrified as she watched the song creeping into principal's heads, filling their eyes with the green light, tugging at their limbs like strings of a puppet. Turning living, breathing humans into nothing more than mechanical mannequins filled with Adagio's voice. She should've been scared. Instead it just felt hot. Captivated by their spellwork, she almost missed what exactly was Celestia announcing: "The band that will be joining the Dazzlings in tonight's finals is... Rainbooms." "WHAT?!" *** . Why would she do that? thoughts and emotions ran rampant in her head like a bunny stampede. - was she afraid of competing with The Great and Powerful Trixie? Was she tired of playing with me, and just wants me to go away? Does she just not care? The Great And Powerful Trixie had never been so confused in her entire life. And given the events of the past few months, that was saying something. "Adagio!" Catching up to the Dazzlings just walking off stage, she grabbed the girl, pinning her to the wall. "Why did you do that?!" A small smile played on Adagio's lips. The full, all-too-close to Trixie plush lips, that almost made her vision swim just looking at them. "Oh my, you caught me red-handed. Whatever shall I do?" mocking and sarcastic tone just wound Trixie up in her righteous indignation. The other Dazzlings tittered again, in their usual fashion. Trixie growled in frustration. "Are you afraid of The Great and Powerful Trixie's music so much?" Suddenly, Adagio twisted in her grip in a single sinuous motion that bordered on inhuman, and then her body was pressed into Trixie's back, her hot breath on her ear. "Hardly, my little star. Just giving you a chance." All thought was banished from Trixie's head, all she could do was try not to drown in the orange hands coiled around her shoulders. "Those bands don't hold a candle to The Great and Powerful Trixie, do they?" "N-no" a whimper. Almost a whine, as Trixie melted into a puddle, Adagio's lips too close to her ear to form coherent thought. Adagio hand pulled Trixie tighter into her embrace. Something hot and soft and pliable pressed into Trixie's back. "And you do want to impress me, don't you honey?" Trixie's nod set the fluff of Adagio's hair in motion. Hot breath on her neck set her nerves on fire - a reward for the right answer. "So very admirable. And you've done marvelously so far. But that is not enough to impress me. Not yet." The cold of open space would be more bearable than the torturous absence of Adagio's breath on Trixie's neck. "Now only if you could figure out a way to still make it to the finals... one last shove so to speak, and then.." Adagio's tongue did something warm and wet and utterly amazing to Trixie's ear "I might actually be impressed." The last word underlined by a sharp bite on Trixie's earlobe...and she probably blacked out, because the next thing she remembered was her propped up against the wall, too weak in the knees to stand up, Adagio nowhere in sight. This floor feels nice... *** "Trixie, this is insane!" Apparently, Fuchi did not like her plan. "You need to snap out of it, G&P", Lavi kept up the futile argument, "we want to win the Battle as much as anyone else, but you are entirely too obsessed. All those endless rehearsals I can understand, but actually trapping Rainbooms under the stage? Someone could get really hurt!" "That Dazzling is doing something to you, I swear. Making us rehearse for six hours straight, hurting yourself while playing, and now this? Come on, girl. Let's just sit this one out. It's just a stupid song contest, it's not even your thing." Trixie winced and rubbed her temples. After the talk with Adagio she felt so drained, and now this argument was giving her a headache. Maybe they were right. Things were getting seriously weird. Like Fall Formal - level weird, and she should have been scared. She gripped her guitar, running her fingers across the strings, feeling an almost invisible smudge of her blood on its neck - a reminder of her practice sessions she could never entirely remove. Adagio clearly was doing something to her. Are you a loser or a fighter? Messing with her mind. Impress me, honey. Then come back Using her. One last shove... and then... She gripped her guitar like a weapon, tugging at the strings. The sound echoed through the empty locker room and something flickered back from the bottom of her friends' eyes. Mangoes and peppermint. Pure, unadulterated vertigo of magic. "Trixie... please," Fuchsia almost begged. As if she was afraid of Trixie. "let's go home." "No." Her fingers came alive on her guitar and green mist and mango rolled across the room. *** Trixie had never wanted anything more than this moment. Nothing came close. Not vacation in Las Pegasus with Daddy. Not her first successful magic trick. Anything before or beyond this moment was pale, irrelevant, flat compared to the stage that was now in front of her. Her very bones ached for her to go out and start playing, and were anyone to try to stop her from it, she knew - with terrifying, complete certainty - that she would rip their throat out with her bare teeth and walk over their corpse without a second thought to get on that stage. She entered the mango scented mist covering the stage and felt it trickling through her skin as it filled her with energy and power. Fuchi and Lavi followed - smiles on their faces, spring in their step, green light in their eyes. Oh yeah-ah-yeah She never practiced this song. It just came to her with the rush of being on the stage, the pulse of something new being born within her. If you wanna see some action Gotta be the center of attraction Make sure that they got their eyes on you Like a face that you see on every magazine And they had. All of the school was watching her play, and she could feel Adagio's eyes with the back of her head, a heavy violet gaze that was now unable to look away from Trixie. Come out from the shadows it's your time 'cause tonight is the night for everyone to see Plectrum exploded in her fingers, but it didn't matter - her nails extended and hardened, keeping the tempo of the music. It's natural! Her fang nicked her own lips, blood trickling down her mouth and pooling by her throat like a red necklace. Sensational! Electricity ran across Trixie's skin like a miniature storm of her own making, begging to rush in and fill her. Pain and pleasure of the shocks mixed into something greater than both. Feel the heat that's all around you Flashing lights and ecstasy surround you Unearthly tones crept into the music, swirling the surrounding fog into vortexes and whirlpools, expanding the storm of eldritch energy. You're the queen of the scene living in a dream She pulled Adagio on the stage, the Dazzling powerless before her song. And you believe that this is what you've waited for and it's you that they all adore A savage kiss ripped Adagio's lips, their blood mixing on their lips. And then something happened. A resonance. A spark connected the two of them. It was like a shock to restart a heart she didn't know had stopped. Like a slap they give to the newborn to make it take its first breath. And like a baby being born Trixie screamed, her cry intertwined with the music. She could feel everything so crystal-sharp, every sensation a flash of pleasure and pain against the naked nerve: The discord of the audience that loved and hated her at the same time. The pulse of stolen power that filled the Dazzlings. Hotter than a thousand suns, more delicious than honey - the magic of the Rainbooms' argument beneath her, spilling in the air like blood from a gushing wound. And now it was the easiest thing in the world to just reach out and inhale it all through the crimson gem of congealed blood on her throat. The world exploded in a blissful agony of energy rushing into her like a mighty torrent. White-hot lightning ran along her spine and she arched her back to the near-orgasmic sensation as fin-like translucent wings ripped out of her back in a shower of gore. She could feel the blood vessels pop in her eyes, drowning the world in red. It was the best feeling in the world as if she just now came truly alive. There was just one last thing left to do. Hidden from the view by the salvo of the final fireworks and last chords of the song, in a blinding flash of teleport, they vanished off the stage. *** Her eyes still glazed over, Adagio propped up on a pillow and lit a cigarette. "Well." Adagio's voice was a little bit coarse, giving it a deeper, more velvet feel, "Colour me impressed, my little star." Tobacco smoke filled the room. Mango-flavored of course. A long pull masked the awkward pause, neither of them sure what to say. "So... you want to conquer the world with us?" Trixie snuggled closer and licked one of the bite marks she left on the impeccable orange neck, tasting the saltiness of her lover's blood. "With you. Anything with you".