//------------------------------// // Chapter 14: The Battle... Begins! // Story: A Shattered Rainbow Rock // by FourShadow //------------------------------// The next week at school had grown much more exciting. Everyone was hyped up for the upcoming Battle Of The Bands, and the band teams had began assembling. As Adagio and her sisters strolled along through the hallways of the school, gleefully watching everyone around them. The more happiness she saw, the bigger Adagio's smile had gotten. "Can you believe this girls? We sing one song to them, and then everyone finally springs out of their fear again." "Gee, when you say it like that it sounds stupid." Aria rolled her eyes. Adagio took a deep breath, and sighed, trying her best to stay calm. "The point is, we should be proud that no one is living in fear anymore. Not even the Rainbooms or their antics can send anyone in fear anymore." "I know! Its amazing!" Sonata squeed. "In fact, all last week, there were so many boys that kept lining up and they wanted to hang out with me!" Adagio raised a brow at her youngest sibling, smirking. Aria scoffed. "Oh please, have you seen the boys lining up at me? All of them kept begging me for my phone number." "They bought me food!" "You know when you really think about this, this seems more like we're using them." Adagio stated, with a disturbed look on her face. Aria and Sonata stopped in place, all sharing the same thought. Indeed, the thought had crossed over to each other. "So... should we tell them to leave us alone?" Adagio blinked, but she shrugged. "I don't see reason for us to scare them away. After all, what's so wrong with a little indulge in fame? Oh and by the way..." She looked behind herself at the two siblings, smirking even more. "I have you both beat." She gave them a voluptuous wink, and snickered to herself as she kept walking forward. Aria just scowled while Sonata was left bewildered. "Adagio, that's not something to be proud about!" Aria yelled. "Oh hush..." As Adagio went about admiring her work, the three young ladies veered to the right and looked up on a bulletin board. As they moved closer, their eyes began to read the pieces of paper that were pinned. Most of them were just PSAs about eating healthy or doing the right thing, or offering friendliness, most things you would normally find on school walls. Eventually, Adagio's eyes stirred around until she found a roster with a label that said 'Battle Of The Bands Teams'. "Are we on the roster?" Sonata asked. "Let me check." Adagio squinted her eyes and she moved up closer. Her finger went down on each name, reading them as she looked. "Lets see... Flash Drive, the Sonic Rainbooms... the Serpentine... Storm Kingdom... Changelings..." "Those names are weird." Sonata tilted her head. "Not as weird as this one. What kind of group is named the Four Shadows?" "That's. Just. Stupid." Aria huffed. Adagio rolled her eyes and looked down some more. "No... no... that's not it... I don't know. I don't know which one's which!" "Girls!" The sisters looked to Trixie down the left hall with the biggest smile on her face, waving at her friends. With a spring in her step, she whizzed over to the girls who were looking at the roster. "I got you girls in! And the rest of our friends made it in too!" Trixie smiled. "That's great Trixie. Who are we, actually?" Adagio said, looking back at the list. "You girls are, listen to this... the Dazzlings!" A hush fell over the girls as they heard the aforementioned name. "Dazzlings? Why Dazzlings?" Adagio asked. "Isn't it obvious? Our own beauty attracts everyone around and its our own looks that everyone loves!" Trixie blinked. "Um... I only picked Dazzlings because... never mind, its not important. But anyways, you girls are on the roster, and everyone else has made it. They're going as the Song Of The Sea." "Good. Now I hope they had practiced?" "Yes." "Aww, and we didn't get to see it?" Sonata whined. "Sadly, yes." Sonata just continued to pout. "Come on, we better get going then. We have practice to do." Adagio ordered. The rest of the day went by very briskly, and nighttime fell very fast. It was that time for the Battle of the Bands. Everyone who signed on had arrived at CHS and were preparing for when they would have to go on stage. The crowds in the auditorium were buzzing with excited students and band members all strewn around. Some were sitting, some were standing, others were practicing for when they had to go on stage. As the clock went past 7:00, the two principals stood on the stage in front of everyone, addressing them all. Principal Luna was first to speak. "Welcome everyone to the first Canterlot High Battle Of The Bands." Everyone let out a giant cheer. "This event is sure to be by far the greatest thing that Canterlot High has put together. We hope to see lots of great talent here tonight, and we cannot wait to see all you can do." Everyone's faces were big with smiles of excitement. "But, as this is a competition we can only pick one winner. Who will it be? Lets find out. First up on the stage; The Dazzlings," Vice-Principal Celestia called out. The two judges got off the stage and sat at their table to judge the performance. Pens at the ready, and papers in front, they were ready to judge. Behind the closed curtains, Adagio and her sisters held the microphones close, and shook themselves off trying to break free of any jitters. It was now or never that they were going to perform. "Remember girls, we've got this. Just stay calm, cool, and collected." "Adagio, we are calm." Aria crossed her arms. "I was talking to myself on that part." Aria and Sonatas eyebrows jolted, but lowered back down. They shrugged and they huddled close, preparing to step onto the stage. "Oh, and one more thing, try not to waste your energy. We'll need to save it when we absolutely have to." Adagio nodded. The two siblings gave their thumbs up, and looked ahead. They braced themselves for the crowd that would be in front of them. The curtains wiped away, showing them standing in the darkness. On cue, the spotlights shined on them, and they began to sing. Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh You didn't know that you fell Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh Adagio was next to sing, and she began to lead her siblings into the song. Now that you're under a spell Blindsided by this amazing beat Clapping your hands, stomping your feet. "Yeah, clap ‘em, stomp ‘em boys!" You didn't know that you fell Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh Now you've fallen under a spell Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh As the girls continued to 'dazzle' everyone, true to their band name, everyone was having the same entranced look that they had when they first sang in that very auditorium. It was like they were hypnotized by them and they just couldn't keep their eyes off of them. Nothing that anyone around them could or would do would get their minds off. The Rainbooms as well took notice of everyone's trance, but all they could do was scowl at the Dazzlings as they played. We've got the music, makes you move it Got the song that makes you lose it We say "jump", you say "how high?" Put your hands up to the sky We've got the music, makes you move it Got the song that makes you groove it. We ask "jump", you ask "how high?" Now come on, put your hands up to the sky Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh You didn't know that you fell Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh Now that you're under this spell Adagio's hand extended out and pointed to everyone in the crowd, and soon everyone started to bob their heads as she sang to them. Listen to the voices that chime Oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh Soon you'll find you’ll have a grand time Oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh Captured in the web of our song Oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh And then… Soon you'll all be singing along Oh, whoa, oh Nearing the end of their song, the Dazzlings pendents began to glow red just like before. Their pupils turned purple again, and a little humming sound could be heard. Mists started to fog up the auditorium, and the streams all began to flow right towards the girls. The glowing mist flowed into straight streams, and flowed directly to the pendents main core. We've got the music, makes you move it Got the song that makes you groove to it We ask "jump", you ask us "how high?" Put your hands up to the sky We've got the music, makes you move it Got the song that makes you prove it We ask you now, "jump", you ask us "how high?" "Now then… hear me out boys..." Put your hands up to the sky Just off the stage, Trixie hid behind a corner. Her eyes popped through her glasses when she saw their pendents glow bright. She hoped that she only imagined that when she was at the Dazzlings home, seeing Adagio's pendent glow in that pool. Was she imagining things? Was it all in her head? No. It couldn't have been. She saw it once, she saw it twice, and now it was triple the time she had seen it. Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh You didn't know that you fell Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh Now that you're under a spell Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh You didn't know that you fell Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh Now that you're under this song’s... Adagio let out a tiny whisper into the microphone, capturing everyone's attention. Spell... Adagio let out a little chuckle as she finished her song, hearing the grand applause for the performance of her and her sisters. True to thy name, they dazzled everybody. But Trixie? She let out a little whimper when she saw all of the magic become absorbed. There was no doubt about it. Even if she was friends with them, she knew that there was something wrong with them. There was something that they had that they didn't tell her or her friends about. Well, now wasn't the time to ask. She would have to meet the rest of her friends in one of the practice rooms. Unfortunately, within that crowd, one of the Rainbooms had spotted her. They too noticed her look of worry. They could see under those big glasses that she was afraid of something... perhaps she knew something truly ominous about them? They would have to look into it then. If she knew something vital... they were going to pry it out of her somehow.