"A DANCE?!" Luka, Megami Raito, Gumi, Kris, and Susie all yelled in unison.
Lucoa nodded. "Yes."
"And we HAVE to go to it?" Kris complained.
"Yes," Lucoa repeated.
"Do we have to find a date?" Gumi asked.
"Well, YOU don't have to find one, Gumi, since you're a cat, but everyone else fourteen or older does," Lucoa responded.
"I'm guessing this was Princess Cadence's idea?" snarked Kris.
"It was, actually," Lucoa answered.
"Thought so," Kris sighed.
Susie groaned. "I'll never be able to find someone willing to go with me! Maybe if I offer them that candy I've got in my backpack?"
"Why don't you ask Noelle?" Kris inquired. "She's got a pretty big crush on you."
"Wait, Noelle has a crush on me?" Susie exclaimed surprisedly.
"Congratulations, you're officially the last to know," joked Gumi.
"She wouldn't be a bad choice," Susie blushed. "She's pretty cute."
"Who are you going to go with, Kris?" Luka asked.
"Probably Ralsei," Kris responded. "You?"
"Well, I would go with Megami Raito, but I don't think I'll be out of the Infirmary before the dance," Luka sighed.
"You will! That's the good thing about magic!" Lucoa chirped, carrying the finished potion over to Luka. "You'll be healed by tomorrow."
"Thanks, Lucoa," Luka smiled, taking a sip of the potion. "Say, this potion's actually pretty good! It tastes like green tea."
"It's a special potion I learned in the Dragon Lands," Lucoa said happily. "It completely heals broken bones, but it takes twelve hours to work. That leg will be totally healed at about 9:00 tomorrow morning."
"Woohoo!" Luka cheered. "I can go to the dance!"
"Now, tomorrow's going to be a busy day, what with everyone setting things up for the dance and trying to find dates and whatnot," Lucoa told Gumi, Megami Raito, Kris, and Susie. "So I would suggest that you go to bed, or else Miss Kobayashi might give you detention."
"Who are you, my mom?" Kris replied. Lucoa gave them an unimpressed look.
"I'm going to bed right now," Gumi replied. "I'm a cat, and we cats need our sleep."
"I was planning on practicing swordfighting tomorrow morning, and I don't think doing that when I'm tired would be a good idea, so I guess I will go to bed," Kris admitted. "I just don't want to leave Luka here alone, since she's our friend."
"She'll be taken care of," Lucoa reassured her.
"Okay," said Kris. She went out of the room, Susie and Gumi walking behind.
"Hey, wait for me!" Megami Raito called out, following them out of the room.
"And me!" Selene added, running along beside her.
Once everyone got back to their rooms, they quickly fell asleep, ready for the excitement that would soon come.
The next few days, there was almost no topic of conversation at school that wasn't the dance. Even Lily and her gang seemed to have stopped coming up with evil plots in favor of choosing nail polishes and accessories.
"Kris asked me out!" Ralsei squealed happily the day before the dance as he joined his friends for lunch on the grounds. "Well, they asked me out a few days ago, but I still can't believe it! I thought I was dreaming at first."
"Congratulations, Ralsei," Noelle smiled, scooting over so that she and Ralsei could sit next to each other.
"Yeah! They're super cute," Ralsei blushed.
"Why, hello," a pleasant voice said, walking past the group.
"Hi, mom!" Selene beamed, waving. "You can hang out with us! Come sit over here!"
Lucoa smiled too. "I would, sweetie, but I've got a lot of work to do to set up for the dance tomorrow night."
"We could help," Selene suggested. "Please?"
"We did set up a surprise birthday party," agreed Silverstream. "This would be a piece of cake!"
"You do have a point. Come on, everybody," Lucoa said.
Everyone followed Lucoa to the dining hall, where decorations were already being set up. The ordinary candles had been replaced by golden ones, and the tables had gold tablecloths draped over them, which came close to falling off several times.
Lucoa turned to the group.
"Now, Smolder, if you could get a feather duster and fly up to clean some of the hard-to-reach spots, that would be lovely," she said kindly.
"Yes, ma'am!" Smolder replied, and she ran off to find a feather duster.
"And Megami Raito, if you could use your powers and get some gold glitter in here, that would be very nice," Lucoa continued.
Megami Raito waved her hand, and a stream of gold glitter appeared. She pointed at different spots in the Dining hall, and glitter flew over to it. She pointed up towards the ceiling, and there was a burst of glitter that covered the whole room in sparkles.
"That was a bit...excessive," remarked Gallus as he tried in vain to get some of the glitter out of his feathers. "But very cool."
Megami Raito shrugged. "There can never be too much glitter."
"I think there can," Gallus whispered to Sandbar.
The next few hours, they prepared the dining hall for the dance, adding banners and decorations everywhere, until it was almost completely covered in sparkling gold. In fact, Elma had to cast a water spell on everyone once they left the room to get the glitter off their clothes and fur (or feathers, in Gallus and Silverstream's case). They only stopped to eat dinner, along with the rest of the school.
"Looks great," Lucoa said with satisfaction when she looked at the finished product. "Now, it's pretty late, so you all should go to bed. It's a big day tomorrow."
The group of students left the dining hall and went to their rooms, yawning loudly or brushing off the glitter Elma's water spell couldn't get to.
"I'm excited for tomorrow," Silverstream whispered to Ocellus as they turned out their lights.
Ocellus nodded. "Me too. It's going to be so exciting!"
Ocellus was correct, but the excitement would come in more ways than one the next evening...
The next evening, everyone was getting ready excitedly in their dorms.
"Do I look cute?" Noelle asked nervously. She was wearing a sparkly red dress with matching red shoes and a red hairbow.
"You look adorable," Susie answered, smiling as she examined herself in the mirror. She was wearing a simple tuxedo, her hair tied back in a low ponytail.
"Hi, guys!" Kris said, waving.
"You look cute!" said Ralsei, adjusting his pink bowtie. He was wearing a tuxedo like Susie and had opted to leave his hat behind.
Kris blushed. "Thanks. I didn't really know what to wear, but I thought this dress was cute." They were wearing a black dress with gold stripes and matching gold ballet flats, which made little clip-clop noises as they walked in.
"Konnichiwa, everybody!" Selene exclaimed as she entered as well. She was wearing a white kimono decorated with a blue flower pattern the same color as her eyes. It shimmered in the light as she walked, as if it was made of pure magic.
"What's up?" said Gallus as he too walked in. He, Smolder and Sandbar were wearing matching tuxedos as well, and Silverstream was wearing a ruffly blue dress that complemented her hair perfectly.
"You excited? Because I sure am!" she squealed.
Ocellus nodded, being careful not to let the bejeweled flower crown she was wearing lose one of its tiny gems. "Yup!" She twirled around, her sparkly pink dress flowing out beautifully as she did so.
"Yak excited!" Yona yelled. She was wearing a green-and-pink poncho decorated with blue pom-poms, and her hair was tied in braids piled on top of her head rather than the way it usually was.
"I like your hair," Gumi complimented her as she walked in gracefully. "You look less like a dork now."
Yona looked confused. "Huh?"
"Oh, never mind," Gumi sighed. "What I meant to say was, 'Your hair looks cute'."
"Okay," Yona smiled. "Yak get confused sometimes. School fun, but also scary sometimes."
"You can say that again," agreed Elma. She, Ilulu, Kanna, and Saikawa were also wearing kimonos. Hers was blue with a pattern of teal ocean waves, and Ilulu's was crimson with a fire pattern. Kanna's was pastel pink with white flowers, and Saikawa's was light green with yellow ones.
"We've come to bring this party to the max!" Fukase declared as he strode in. He wore a white tuxedo and a red tie, with Kaito wearing a matching tuxedo and a blue tie, and Luka was dressed in an elegant black gown that nearly brushed against the floor, and wore gold earrings and a gold necklace and belt. Megami Raito, although she was not present at the moment, as she was already practicing her songs, was wearing her usual outfit but had tucked white flowers into her hair. Len was wearing a black tuxedo with a yellow bowtie, and Oliver was wearing a white dress with blue stripes on the hem.
"It's starting!" cried Noelle, and with that, everyone followed her out of the room and into the dining hall.
"Look at them," Gumi grumbled when everyone reached the dining hall. She pointed to Lily and her gang disgustedly. "Do they ever think about anything other than BOYS?"
"I guess not," shrugged Kaito.
"Let me take this microphone," Miss Kobayashi said, taking the microphone from Megami Raito.
"Jeez!" the angel said as she snatched it away.
"GOOD EVENING, STUDENTS," Miss Kobayashi shouted, making the microphone screech. As it did so, a multitude of students and teachers covered their ears and Lucoa, who was sitting with the rest of the teachers, facepalmed. "Princess Cadence and I are excited to bring you this dance. I hope you all have a good time and stay safe."
And with that, the dance began.
The dance was a total blast. Everyone twirled around the room as skillfully as if they were professionals, stopping in between songs to get snacks and drink punch. However, it was during one of these breaks that the fun dance suddenly turned dangerous.
"This is a pretty cool dance," remarked Susie. "I never thought I'd find myself enjoying something as dorky as a school dance, but this one's actually pretty fun. It helps that I'm with a cute girl the whole night."
Noelle blushed. "You're cute too! You look really nice in that tuxedo. It suits you."
"Yak never thought yak good at dancing, but yak is!" Yona said happily, taking several cookies and putting them all in her mouth at once.
"Wait, who were you dancing with?" asked Silverstream. "We didn't see you the whole time!"
"Nice bird," Yona answered. "He not very good at dancing, but yak good!"
"Wait, a BIRD?" Noelle said confusedly.
"It's Berdly!" gasped Kris.
"Yak sorry," Yona cried. "Yak not remember everyone..."
"It is sorry," Berdly laughed as he walked over, a smug smirk on his face. He adjusted his glasses. "Well, sorry for you, that is. But I don't think you'll be worrying about me anymore...I brought some company..."
"What do you mean, you little punk?" Susie growled, swinging her fist at him.
He dodged out of the way, and as she tried again, she would not have to wonder what Berdly meant by "company", for just at that moment, a demonic screech resounded through the dining hall, and Rin swooped in, evil as ever.
"Well, well, well," she cackled. "It seems my spy Berdly has delivered me to my prey perfectly."
"Get away, fiend!" Kris yelled, and they pulled out their pink sword.
"Wait, you brought a SWORD to a dance?!" Ralsei exclaimed.
"You never know," Kris shrugged, and then they charged towards Rin, yelling a battle cry as they did so.
Rin merely reached out her claw, and smacked Kris in the face, sending them and their sword flying across the room.
"KRIS!" Ralsei cried, running over to them.
"ANGEL STRIKE!" Megami Raito shouted, and she shot a blast of light at Rin, hitting her right in the face.
A wicked smile spread across Rin's face, which had been beautiful before she became a draemon, but was now marred by her hideous fangs and her wicked black eyes. "RAAAAAAAARGH!"
"What's she doing?" Noelle said worriedly.
"INFERNO BLAST!" Rin shouted as a jet of fire shot from her hands and aimed straight for Megami Raito.
"DON'T HURT MY FRIENDS!" Kris shouted, and they struggled to their feet, but they could not stop the flames.
"PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!" Susie roared, and she jumped heroically in front of the fire.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Noelle wailed as it hit Susie.
"I'm fine," Susie said. Indeed, she was, for the most part, but she had a feeling her hair might be on fire.
"Here," said Gallus, and he dumped the punch on her head.
"RAAAAAAAARGH!" Rin screamed, and another jet of fire shot towards Megami Raito, but it was countered by another blast of light.
"Do you want your little friends to fight for you?" Lily sneered. "Well, then I'll fight for Rin..."
The magic spear shot across the room and hit Kaito right in the chest. He collapsed to the ground, dead. As blood pooled across the floor, the other students stepped back in shock at the gruesome sight.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Fukase sobbed as he rushed to Kaito's side. "KAITOOOOOOOO!"
"I think we've caused enough grief for one day," Rin smirked, and she, along with the rest of Cozy Glow and Jevil's followers, disappeared.