Eyes of Sunset, Siren Song

Sunset Shimmer sashayed down the halls of Canterlot High, head held aloft, teal eyes gazing down with superiority on those poor, simpering fools called her classmates. Although the halls were already crowded, somehow, her mere presence parted the throng like the Red Sea. Most would instant hide behind books or bodies, trembling, and any who dared to meet her gaze would soon back into a corner and hide.  She liked it that way. After all, this may have well have been her school. Sure, Luna and Celestia ran the place, but everyone knew that she was in charge.

As she walked down the halls, already wondering what she would have for lunch, a solid object slammed into her right shoulder, knocking her to the ground with a painful thump. Wincing in pain, Sunset glared upwards, looking for the one so foolish as to have knocked her over. Her eyes rested on a stocky girl with pale blue skin and long, fluffy, purple and lavender striped hair, held back with a yellow headband adorned with a ridiculous bow. Sunset vaguely remembered her from an incident a few days back. she had come to the rescue of one of Sunset's victims, comforting them after Sunset had left them in tears. Pastel Petticoat, that was her name!

Pastel turned to see who she had hit and, once she saw it was Sunset, the snarky, "Watch where you're going!" died in her throat. She gulped audibly, swallowing the dead lump of words, before walking up to Sunset, a feeble smile on her face. "Sorry, Sunset Shimmer," she said weakly, holding out a pale blue hand. "I didn't see you. Need a hand?"

Sunset snarled, baring her teeth, and the girl flinched away as though the noise was a flame, scorching her flesh. Sunset stood up, dusted herself off, and grabbed the girl's wrist with an iron grip. "Come on," she growled, dragging the girl into a nearby bathroom. Inside a group of girls were laughing, texting, and applying lip gloss in mirrors. Sunset shot all of them her best death glare. "Out!" she barked.

The girls looked up, terrified, and as one, rushed from the room, leaving Pastel to cower at the thought of what Sunset would do to her. Sunset dragged the girl into a stall, locking the door and shoving her into the corner. She rested a hand on the wall, her back to the girl. Pastel gulped. What happened now? She had heard of kids getting their heads stuffed into toilets, but that seemed far too brutish a method for Sunset Shimmer. She wildly considered texting her friends for help, but knew, in her heart, there was no way they'd save her. Facing Sunset's wrath was too great of a risk.

Sunset turned back to face the girl, eyes hidden underneath her gold and crimson striped hair. "Look at me," she said, in a quiet, almost two-toned snarl. Pastel, startled by this demonic voice, automatically looked up. As she did, Sunset moved her hair away from her eyes.

Pastel gaped. Sunset's eyes, instead of their usual wide-pupiled teal, were now glowing, spinning with black spirals that twisted and shimmered like swirls of oil paint on a canvas. Pastel, terrified as she was, couldn't help but notice how beautiful it was. There was just something so perfect about the way that the teal glow pulsed with a gentle light,  how the spirals merged in the center into bottomless pools of shadow, and how the whole thing shimmered as if through a heat haze. The longer she looked, the less she wanted to look away.

Sunset smirked, already seeing that her power was taking it's toll on the girl. Her eyes, which seconds ago had been full of fear, were starting to be replaced by the dull, glassy look of a tired child. Few people knew that, in Equestria, she had not been a unicorn, but a powerful daemon, spawned from the primordial shadows in the depths of Tartarus. She had disguised herself as a pony in order to get close to the princess, who, to her delight, not only accepted her, but promoted her to her own student. Eventually, Celestia had become suspicious, so she fled to this world, assuming the role of a furious, scorned unicorn who believed she was destined for greatness that her teacher refused to bestow. Instead, she was biding her time, waiting for the right moment to return and conquer Equestria, silently laughing at the naivety of the Solar Princess . Although she kept almost none of her powers, this one had stayed, although she didn't know why. Still, it had been useful in conquering this school.

Pastel continued to stare into the depths of Sunset's eyes, a warm numbness stealing over her. Her thoughts slowed. Thinking became less important. All that mattered was  looking at Sunset's eyes, because if she didn't, everything would turn cold, the world would end, she would surely die of sadness...

Sunset laughed. "Do you like this?" She mused.

In her state, Pastel was blind to everything, but Sunset's voice broke through the fog that had crept over her. Dimly, she was aware of Sunset laughing. Good. if Sunset was happy, maybe she would let her look at her eyes more. She heard her question, chiming like a bell, reverberating around her brain. "Do you like this?" She had to answer.

"Yes, Sunset," she said dreamily. Her vision had actually begun to cloud over, filled with more of those beautiful spirals. She could barely think anymore. A relaxing warmth, like being cradled in cloud, had enveloped her.

"Well of course you like this," chuckled Sunset. "You like this more than anything. Looking into my eyes makes you so happy. Notice that, starting now, the more you look, the heavier your eyes get. Each word I say makes them heavier, until it's painful to keep them open."

Pastel's eyelids began to droop. As she watched, they got heavier and heavier, until she had to fight to keep them open. Each second they stayed open just made them heavier. They started to ache, begging to shut. Still, she couldn't close them, or the colors would disappear...

"Now, I'm going to count down from five. With each number, your eyelids get ten times heavier, until you want nothing else but to close them. However, you're going to keep them open until I get to zero. Then, you'll fall into a deep, blissful sleep. Anything I say to you while you're asleep, you'll hear and remember, but it won't interrupt your rest. Ok?"

Pastel nodded mechanically.

"Good girl," purred Sunset. "Now...Five."

Pastel felt more weight on her eyelids, fought harder to keep them open. The spirals were everywhere now. They dominated her vision, filling her mind with irresistible swirls of beauty. Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes at the pain of holding them open.

"Four."

More wieght. More pain. More utter exhaustion.

"Three."

If Pastel's arms had worked, she would have used her fingers to hold her eyes open. With each blink, re-opening her eyes became ten times harder.

"Two."

Sleep taunted her, just out of reach, not available until Sunset said it was ok. She had to listen to Sunset.

"One."

Pastel's eyelids sank, until her eyes were only squinting, an unseen force keeping her from shutting them completely and falling into oblivion. She teetered on the edge, waiting for the last number.

"Zero."

Finally. Pastel's eyelids snapped shut, a wave of relaxation like a tsunami washing over her, swamping her. With a sigh, she sank into sleep, teal spirals giving way to utter darkness.

Sunset smiled, patting the sleeping girl's head in a fond way, before grinning deviously, already having the perfect punishment in mind.

"Pastel Petticoat, listen to me. Follow my voice..."

In the cafeteria, a group of girls sat around a table, chattering like a group of canaries. "She really didn't do anything?" said one, in wide eyed tones of reverence, as she stared at Pastel Petticoat.

"Nope," said Pastel, absentmindedly poking at her fruit salad with a spoon. "She said that she figured I was busy, but I did have to apologize and give her some cash. She called it, 'paying insurance costs.'"

"Wow, said the girl, impressed. "You really were lucky."

Pastel's pupils shrank to the size of pin heads, before widening until they dominated her eyes. She stood up abruptly and, in one swift motion, hurled her fruit salad at the nearest person, a curly-haired jock. It hit him square in the head, grapes and melon slices sticking in his hair. Pastel looked around the lunchroom, which, inexplicably, had fallen silent. She screamed two words, two words that would result in a detention, several dry-cleaning bills, and a punishment of cleaning up the resulting chaos.

"FOOD FIGHT!"

As pandemonium erupted, Sunset smirked from the corner of the room, calmly chewing on her sandwich.