When The Dazzlings woke up on the next day, they were quite snugly tucked into the bed that they'd been allocated. They couldn't remember how they got there, or what happened when they fell asleep last night. The last thing they remembered was falling asleep in the middle of a hallway of hotel rooms.
When they sat up in their beds, they let out little yawns and stretched up towards the ceiling. Once this short process was over, they all threw the covers off of themselves and climbed out of bed. However, they were surprised to see that Sunset was still asleep. They looked at their mother, then looked at the time. It read 8:59 on the digital clocks by the bedsides.
Sonata tiptoed over to Sunset's slumbering body and lightly shook her to try and wake her up.
"Mommy, wakey wakey..." Sonata whispered into Sunset's ear as she continued to gently shake her from her slumber. She was quite surprised to see that Sunset still wasn't budging from all that shaking and whispering. "Dagi, Ari, help me out here, will ya?"
Obeying Sonata's words, Adagio and Aria joined in with trying to wake Sunset from her sleep. They too shook Sunset as gently as possible, trying to wake her up, but not so violently that she gets mad at them. They also tried whispering into Sunset's ears themselves, aided with Sonata's voice.
"Mmmmph... Just five more minutes..." Sunset said, tossing and turning lightly. It seemed like she was still deep in her sleep, but was about to wake up. "This bed feels like heaven..."
"Mommy, wake up!" Sonata said, in her regular voice as she began shaking Sunset harder. She was starting to get impatient and wanted to get her mother up from her bed by any means necessary. "It's time to see Coltimore!"
"Wha- Huh? Oh. Morning, girls..." Sunset said, finally awakening from her slumber and seeing that The Dazzlings were all right in front of her, looking ready to take on the day ahead of them. Smiling at her three children, Sunset quickly got out of bed and changed into her regular clothes.
The Dazzlings watched as Sunset quickly got changed into her shirt, shoes, jacket and trousers. Then, she looked at herself in the mirror and grinned at her reflection. She then took her keycard from her bedside table and handed The Dazzlings their keycards.
"Make sure you don't lose these, girls. You'll need them to get back into the hotel every night." Sunset spoke to each of The Dazzlings as seriously as she could. She needed to make sure that her children knew what importance those cards held for the three of them.
"Okay, Mommy." The Dazzlings said, obediently taking each of the cards that Sunset gave to them.
The Dazzlings were about to go outside to have some breakfast, but were immediately stopped by Sunset.
"Are we forgetting something, kids?" She asked, seeing that The Dazzlings were still in their pajamas from last night.
"Uh..." Sonata looked around, trying to find something that they'd forgotten to do. Eventually, she looked in a pristine white bathroom and saw four electric toothbrushes on the shelf. "Is it brushing our teeth?"
"Well that's one thing, but I'm looking more towards your clothes, Dazzlings..." Sunset replied, seeing that Adagio, Aria and Sonata were all following her words with little questioning at all. "Do you really think it's normal for other people to see you in your pajamas in a place like this?"
"Uh... No?" Adagio guessed.
"It isn't. I'll allow the three of you to quickly brush your teeth and get changed before the big day ahead of you. Then, when you're done, we can head down and get breakfast with all your aunties." Sunset said, seeing that The Dazzlings were already walking towards the electric toothbrushes in the bathroom.
Adagio, Aria and Sonata all found the toothbrushes with their names on them and immediately spread toothpaste on each of them. Seeing that they were satisfied with their now pasted toothbrushes, they put the brushes to their teeth and pushed a button on each of their brushes.
The Dazzlings instantly heard the buzzing of the electric toothbrushes as the brushes quickly sprang to life. The brush parts of the toothbrush began shaking back and forth, so it looked like they were vibrating. With this all going on, Adagio, Aria and Sonata began moving their respective brushes around their open mouths, cleaning every nook and cranny of their jaws.
Sunset could see that almost instantly, the toothpaste was working its' magic. The dull colours of The Dazzlings' teeth quickly began to get whiter and whiter as they continued their brushing. Despite the thought that Lyricans might have songs for this kind of thing, Sunset wanted to make sure The Dazzlings were properly looking after their teeth, with or without a song working its' magic.
Once The Dazzlings were finished with their toothbrushes, they spat out the remaining paste and rinsed their mouths with water. When this was all done, they made their way back into the main bedroom and shed their pajamas. They looked around for something to cover up their naked bodies after that.
They then looked at Sunset, who pointed them towards their bed. Adagio, Aria and Sonata looked and saw that their clothes were all folded up on the bed. Not only that, but their head accessories were also there as well. As The Dazzlings all dressed themselves, Sunset took it upon herself to apply the accessories to their hair whilst they did so.
Within seconds, The Dazzlings were all dressed in their clothes. To top it all off, they looked at themselves in the mirror and cracked large smiles when they saw how their hair looked. They put their hair in their hands and stroked it as they picked the keycards back up and slipped them into their pockets.
When everyone had their keycards, Sunset walked out back into the hallway of hotel rooms and walked over to Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity's room. She knocked on the door and watched as The Dazzlings did the same on Pinkie and Applejack's hotel room door.
Within seconds, everyone was up and making their way towards the lift for breakfast. It wasn't long before they all arrived at the lift and made called a lift to their position with the console. It wasn't long before another set of golden doors opened up, revealing a lift for the nine girls to enter.
Before long, The Dazzlings, Twilight, Sunset, and their friends arrived back on the ground floor of the hotel. They saw that it looked different in the morning light. It didn't seem like all the lights were on, and the marble looked like it was white instead of golden. They didn't pay much attention to this and instead made their way towards the dining room, where breakfast would be waiting for the nine of them.
When they got inside, they were surprised to see that there was a long line of humans waiting to get at the buffet, all letting out unsatisfied huffs as they saw what was going on. It seemed like there was a clear window, where things were starting to catch on fire. Some staff were scrambling to put the blaze out, but with little success.
"Uh-oh... This doesn't seem good..." Sonata looked at all the humans in the line and saw slight entrails of red energy flying off their eyes. It wasn't long before a Dystopian would be called into the dining room.
"Come on, man! I've been waiting in this damn line for ten minutes!" one of the humans said in a rather disgruntled voice as he addressed all the employees in the kitchen.
"Sir, please, bear with us on this. This was a complete and utter accident on our part. I assure you that it won't happen again." another member of staff spoke back to that same angry human.
"An accident?! In a four-star hotel?! You've gotta be fucking joking me..." another human spoke, seeming ready to snap at the member of staff.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we're trying our best to-"
"And your best isn't good enough!" a human yelled out before charging towards the staff member in a blind rage. He yelled a war charge and tackled the staff, punching his face in repeatedly before kicking him away.
The other humans all watched this go on, and completely backed the guy who was fighting the staff member. They let out their own little arguments with other members of staff, completely oblivious to the fact that red energy was being expelled from them.
The red energy collided, creating another Dystopian who fed off of the humans' anger. This time, the monster was ten feet tall and made entirely out of carved boulders, so that it resembled a monster riding a bull. Two red eyes shone brightly as it raised its' hand towards The Dazzlings and summoned a rock formation behind them, sealing everyone inside. To further ensure that no-one left, the monster raised both arms, turning the room red and spawning prison-like bars on all other doors and windows.
When it was satisfied with how the place looked, it pulled out a concrete sword from its' scabbard and pointed the tip towards The Dazzlings.
Technician of Torment
INCONVENIENCE
"Now you guys are ruining breakfast too?!" Sonata looked frustrated herself as she pulled out her sword and walked towards the Inconvenience, who looked read to slice her head clean off. "Oh, that is it! No more Mrs Nice Sonata!"
Sonata charged towards the Inconvenience and nimbly dodged one of its' sword swings. Upon a swift dodge such as that, Sonata dove her sword into one of the Inconvenience's shoulders, getting it to howl out in pain as it violently shook its' hands in an attempt to get Sonata and her sword off of it.
Then, it looked towards the humans and saw complete red. It let out a sonic roar, letting out red shockwaves of death upon the humans. It looked rather satisfied when it heard the once angry humans screaming in terror as they were hurtled into the kitchen. Then, it heard as their screams quickly turned into pained groans of suffering.
It turned towards Twilight, Sunset and the others that were with the two of them. It let out a battle cry and charged towards the six scared girls, who looked like it was the end of the line for them. They let out terrified screams when the Inconvenience raised its' sword and attempted to bring it straight down on the six helpless girls. It was about to hit them all, when two more swords collided with that of the Inconvenience's.
It looked to see what could have possibly stood in its' way. It saw that Adagio and Aria were at each side of his sword, using their two swords to push the sword back, and eventually out of the creature's grasp. It ran over for its' sword, before being knocked into a scattering of empty tables and chairs.
"When will they ever learn?" Adagio taunted before charging forward and slashing at the creature's neck. She'd completely decapitated the creature, but some red lightning was now connecting the head right back to the body. Unimpressed with the creature's healing factor, Adagio performed a vertical slash that left a large scar on the creature's body.
Seeing the beast was almost at the end of its' tether, The Dazzlings all joined hands and stomped on the Inconvenience's scarred chest.
"Scelbra!" they all said, as a red stream flew out of their hands and right above the creature's head. Then. they quickly jumped out of the way and landed near some foot pumps. Using their feet, they all stomped on the pumps, crushing the Inconvenience with giant spike plates. They continued stomping until the beast was thoroughly tenderized. Then, they threw the flattened remains upwards, allowing two more spike plates to sandwich the beast into a pulp.
When the dust finally settled, the dining room finally returned to its' normal colours and all the humans had calmed down. They looked at all the carnage that had been caused by their hands alone and immediately felt sorry for themselves. Just from looking at The Dazzlings, the humans could see that all this carnage was their fault, not that of Adagio, Aria or Sonata.
The Dazzlings all turned towards the rocks that blocked the door and threw their swords at it. They watched as the rocks completely cracked and shattered into pebbles. In turn, this also destroyed all the bars on the other doors and windows, enabling everyone else to leave and enter this room freely once more.
"You know, I think it's best if we just eat out for breakfast..." Sunset said once The Dazzlings finally returned to the group with their swords disappearing shortly afterwards.
"Good idea. It seems like that would yield better results." Adagio said calmly as the girls all walked out of the room and walked out of the building completely nonchalantly.
It wasn't long before the girls were travelling the streets, trying to find somewhere nice to have breakfast. While they saw all the different restaurants on offer, they were more enthralled with all the different sights to see. There were different statues with different humans depicted in each of them, as well as some pretty looking fountains with exotic designs.
They watched all the sights flash by, but saw nothing worth eating for the time being. Eventually, Rarity pulled out a phone from her pocket and began to mess around with it. She was using the internet to try and find a place where good food would be. She just randomly ended up tapping "Good food in Coltimore" and saw dozens of search results with different pictures of the delicious meals on offer.
Before they could make their way towards the place that Rarity had suggested, they were stopped by two girls from CHS. They both had light lavender skin, but one of them was blonde, whilst the other had more amethyst hair. They looked at Twilight, Sunset, and The Dazzlings with rather concerned looks on their faces.
"Girls. Do you mind if we talk to you for a second?" the blonde asked the group.
"First things first. Who are you?" Adagio decided to ask. Sure, she remembered the girls from the Christmas Dinner at CHS, but she'd never caught their names. "I mean, I know you're one of our friends, but what are your names exactly?"
"Oh, sorry about that, Adagio. Things just tend to come and go these days, huh?" the girl with the amethyst hair said, smiling for Adagio as she happily revealed their names. "My name's Fuchsia Blush. And my friend here's Lavender Lace."
"Oh yeah. I remember you now... You were there when we were cleansed of our darkness..." Sonata perked up, remembering the girls clearly now. "Hey, where's your other friend? You know, the wizard girl who likes to boast a lot?"
"Oh, you mean Trixie? Well, that's exactly what we wanted to talk to you about..." Lavender said, hanging her head solemnly as she remembered her friend. "Well, she's seen better days..."
"Oh my... What could have happened to the poor dear?" Rarity asked, feeling sympathy for the two members of the Illusions. Sure, Trixie had a habit for running her mouth, but hearing that last sentence had got Rarity feeling rather sorry for her.
"Well, it happened when she ended up boasting in the middle of a show..." Fuchsia decided to explain. "As I'm sure you all know, Trixie began boasting an awful lot after the Battle Of The Bands. However, when she did it this time, she was hit by a blue lightning bolt..."
"When she woke up, she felt gradual growing pains every time she boasted about herself. Almost to the point where she actually likes this sort of pain," Lavender explained further. "This pain also occurred when there was that pillar of fire at the stadium, and then again when that hurricane assaulted the town half a year ago...
"Hmm... So, when you say she felt pain when she boasted, what exactly do you mean by that?" Aria decided to ask, hoping to know more on the story. Clearly, if Courageour and Silenzel had been involved, then there was something up with Trixie.
"Whenever she says her name instead of I, me or my, she ends up clutching her temples and screaming out in pain. Not only that, but I think I saw some blue streaks of light dripping down her cheeks..." Fuchsia answered. "Do you know what could have been the cause of this?"
"I've got odds on Hierarxe, the Euphorian Deity of the Hierarchy," Adagio finally spoke up when the other girls failed to answer. "Hierarxe is different from the other Euphorian Deities. Unlike the others, who are drawn to a large crowd of the six virtues, Hierarxe is drawn towards one life-form who boasts the most frequently."
"Hierarxe can latch himself onto the one person who tends to boast, who in this case, is Trixie. Then, he continues to feed off of her pride and boastful nature, amplifying his own destructive power to the point where he can prove that the boaster is not to be messed with," Adagio was about to finish. "Or in your case, he's gonna make the Great and Powerful Trixie into a reality... And believe me, when Hierarxe takes control of someone, he won't ever leave until the vessel dies..."
"English, please?" Lavender said, tilting her head in confusion.
Aria sighed. "Some giant invisible monster is taking control of Trixie, getting stronger and stronger by feeding off of her boastful ways. The only way Trixie can be cured is if Hierarxe can be slain. But there's a problem. Hierarxe also hides deep within the person, not revealing himself until the time is right. It could be months, even years before Hierarxe manipulates Trixie into being his puppet of death and destruction..."
"If Trixie ever ends up floating off of the ground, looks at you with evil blue eyes and a sinister grin, run the hell away and call us IMMEDIATELY," Sonata said, showing Sunset's phone to the two of them. "We'll take it from there..."
"Alright. We'll be sure to let you know if anything surfaces," Lavender said before the two girls walked off past them. "Have a nice time here in Coltimore, girls!"
"We will!" The Dazzlings all said back, waving the two off as they went off to do their own business.
The girls continued their walk towards the restaurant, that Rarity had found for them all. They took in their last sights of the city before waltzing into the restaurant, hoping to get something to eat.
Despite all this, the nine girls were relatively silent. With all this information about Hierarxe running through their head, it would only be a matter of time before Trixie would be classified as a weapon of mass death and destruction. They needed a plan to deal with Hierarxe, before he ruined everything for them...