"Adam's a good guy." agreed Maggie. "I don't know him that well, but anyone who can do that is awesome in my book."
Adam noticed his friends. He waved, and walked over to them. "They really went all out on this didn't they?"
"Yeah, but it's high school.", Peter replied. "Prom is one of those moments they want you to look back on."
Cadence sat at one end of the dance floor, watching the other students and counting Fall Formal Prince and Princess ballots with Assistant Principal Luna. As she finished her stack, she wondered aloud, "This seems like way too many...Luna, how does your count look?" Luna looked over at Cadence and smiled. "It seems to me as if Miss Star Shimmer is ahead of the others." Cadence frowned. "That's exactly what I thought...it doesn't seem right. She's a freshman, she's not too terribly popular... This doesn't seem like her at all..." Luna seemed to just get Cadence's implication, and her tone became serious. "It wouldn't be the first time someone stuffed the ballot boxes... But whom?" "I have a feeling I know who it may be...someone who's been spending a lot of time with Star Shimmer... Do you know where Blueblood is?" Luna shook her head. "I haven't seen either him or the Principal." "That's strange..." Cadence stood up from the table. "I'm going to go look for them. Don't make any announcements about the Fall Formal until I get this sorted out." Luna nodded. "I'll do what I can. Some of the students appear anxious..."
Candence's footsteps echoed in the hall as she headed toward the Principal's office. On her way there, she found Blueblood, seemingly watching for someone. Upon finding him, she called out to him. "Blueblood! There you are!" She jogged up to him. "Where's the Principal? Luna said you two were together." Blueblood stared at her blankly before replying in a flat affect, "She's in her office. I'll take you to her." "Good! We can get to the bottom of this." ----- In a few moments, they were at the principal's office. Blueblood opened the door, revealing that it was completely dark. Cadence turned to Blueblood in confusion, but before she could say anything, he shoved her into the office and slammed the door. "Hey! What on Earth are you doing?! Celestia is going to hear about this!" Cadence's threats were for naught as she heard the click of a lock being engage from outside. Then, she heard a low voice from somewhere in the room. "He's not exceptionally bright, is he? But, I gotta make due with what I've got..." The guidance councillor whipped around toward the sound of the voice. "Mr. Drims? What are you doing here? Why are the lights off?" Mr. Drims chuckled. "Because...it'll be more dramatic if I do this!" The lights flicked on to reveal Mr. Drims and Celestia, who at the moment, we tied to her chair, a piece of tape covering her mouth. "What the-?!" Cadence cried. Drims patted the annoyed-looking Celestia on her head and walked around the desk. "I thought there needed to be a little more excitement at this school...a little more disharmony...a little more... Oh drat, what's the word I'm looking for?" He stood now directly in front of Cadence and pressed her against the door while he looked deeply into her eyes. "Ah! I remember!" His eyes swirled with green and yellow lines, and despite Cadence's initial resistance, hers began to as well. "Discord..." ---- Everyone who had coins suddenly noticed that they were a bit softer to the touch.
"The coins feel weirder. less coiney. You got the same thing Mag." She looked at the confusion on her dates face. "long story short, both me and Mags, got coins from Mr Drim's... Wait, thats it maybe he know's whats going on with the coin."
Jessie lead Star over to their friends in time to hear about the coins. "So you did have a coin when I asked for one the other day, didnt you? Oh well. I guess they must be magical!" He put air quotes around the word magical. "He left that position a while ago. Should we... Look for him? Or does it not matter."
"I have a bad feeling about this. Coins don't just get softer out of nowhere. I'm coming with you." Adam said, a bit nervous.
Star, trying her best to hide her trepidation, replied, "Yeah. Anything to be out of here when they announce the winner of the Fall Formal Princess..."
"I'm sure there is a logical scientific explanation for this." Peter said. "Maybe it's the type of metal reacting to the atmosphere."
(I guess it's my turn...) The students left the gymnasium and went out into the hallways. The hallways of the school were not lit as brightly as they were usually during the day due to the fact that the entirety of the student body was expected to be in the gym. All of the classroom doors were shot, and most of them were locked. Every now and then, one of them would peer into the windows of the door to see if they could see Mr. Drims going about his usual janitorial duties, but had no such luck thus far. Just as Star was about to suggest turning back before they got into trouble, they heard someone call out to them. "Excuse me, students. What are you all doing here?" If they turned around, they would find Miss Cadence, standing alongside Blueblood. Neither one appeared to be altogether "there". Stephanie and Adam also heard footsteps running in the other direction, further down the hall.
"Mr. Drims gave our friends some small gifts, that seem to be acting up. We were looking for him, hoping he could explain it." Jessie smiled. He kept one of his hands wrapped around something at his hip, seemingly prepared to pull it out to take care of Blueblood. "If you know where he is, it would be greatly appreciated for you to tell us."
Blueblood spoke up. "He's in the office. We could take you th-" He was suddenly interrupted by a hard smack on the head by Cadence. She cleared her throat. "He's not here right now. And you should really all be at the formal. Come along now, students. Let's return to the formal."
Cadence answered, "I'm fine. There is no need to worry. Now, let's all go back to the dance." Cadence and Blueblood got closer to the students, arms outstretched. Whether to grab them, or simply usher them in the right direction wasn't all too clear.
"Now now. You two should be enjoying the dance. We'll be fine in the hallway. We have people to find, and so do you. Please try to understand it's not your fault. Everyone in there isn't being watched. You should be helping us get back in there." Jessie walked behind the two out of it people and while he ranted seemingly endlessly he walked them into the gymnasium and locked the door behind them. "That was fun. Now... Blueblood said something about the office, so... Lets try that first. If he isn't there at least we'll know why those two were acting odd." (and all the stuff he just said was intended to be illogical and senseless.)
"We're going to get in trouble." Said Maggie. Then she shrugged, "But, then again, I sprayed paint in Blueblood's face."
