Later that night was the Annual Young Musicians Celebration. Two other groups performed earlier and Black Gryphon was up for the third and final round. Gryph started his segment walking out on stage with Are We There Yet? playing and was accompanied by DJ-PON3 at the turntable. He had just finished singing and the crowd could not contain their enthusiasm. Stallions whooped and pumped their hooves in the air while mares everywhere screamed and stared dreamily at Gryph as he took a bow on stage.
“ARE YOU EXCITED TO BE HERE TONIGHT, PONYVILLE?!” he asked the crowd as they cheered. “That’s awesome! You guys are a beautiful crowd by the way. Well hey, I’m really happy to be here and I have a really good lineup tonight. How many of you in here have heard Fighting Back yet?”
While ponies in the crowd raised their hooves in response to his question, Twilight and her friends were murmuring in the audience about Gryph.
“Pinkie……we are at a concert with Black Gryphon! THIS…IS…SO AWESOME!!!!” shouted Rainbow Dash, pressing her face in with both her hooves.
“I know! I’m so excited I could burst! Well I can’t do it cuz if I bursted I’d fly all over the place like cotton candy and then I’d ruin the concert and then everypony would have to leave and they’d all be so sad and Black Gryphon’s night would be ruined so I can’t do it now but HOLY CELESTIA I’M STILL SO EXCITED!!!” Pinkie replied with her lips moving faster than Rainbow Dash could keep up with.
“I say! Black Gryphon has a beeeeeautiful voice! Hahaha!” said Rarity, looking rather enchanted.
“I agree! I didn’t even think his music would be nearly this good.” Fluttershy responded. “It’s so uplifting! It…it makes me feel so warm inside!”
“He’s got some great stuff! Sure is a handsome fella too, ain’t he Twilight?” Applejack said, nudging Twilight right next to her.
“Oh…well I mean not saying he isn’t or anything, but yeah, I guess so, I mean I really do think so…I mean, not saying I like…uh …” Twilight said blushing uncontrollably.
“Ooooh, sounds like somepony’s got their eyes on the Gryphinator!” Spike teased.
“I DO NOT! I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with that! Not saying I don’t think he’s handsome, I wouldn’t want to hurt his feelings or anything… Do you think that would hurt his feelings? Did I say anything wrong?! Hehehe…”
Twilight had a huge smile on her face while blushing as drops of sweat trailed down her forehead. All her friends were giggling at the sight of her.
“It’s alright, Sugarcube. I think we’re all a little stars-truck right now.” Applejack said, giving Twilight a pat on the back. “Ponyville ain’t had a performance like this since Rara got her act together!”
“SSSSSHHH!! QUIET! He’s gonna move on to the next song!” Rainbow Dash said, trying to whisper as the audience started to calm down.
“Alright, Vinyl, we ready for this one?” Gryph said to DJ-PON3 as she nodded her head up and down and prepared for the music to start.
The stage went dark and the sound of an alarm could be heard beeping. The lights slowly faded on while flickering between colors in sync with the alarm sound effect. The beeping grew louder and louder as music started to play along with it. The energy of the music grew and was followed by percussion and the sound of someone saying “I” over and over again. Gryph finally took a deep breath and began the first verse.
The ponies in the crowd continued pumping their hooves and jumping up and down to the bass. Their jumps were so heavy that they caused thunderous clops on the ground that sent tiny pebbles nearby into midair for a brief second. The lights shone and flickered with the music as mist-makers spewed smoky clouds all over the stage that glowed the color of the lights they were covering. Gryph moved and danced methodically while carrying the microphone in the feathers of his right wing. He would hold it in one of his hooves when he flew off the stage to perform airborne acrobatic moves with ease.
Meanwhile, in the audience, Twilight and her friends couldn’t stop marveling at the show.
“I NEVER THOUGHT I’D BE BOBBIN MY HEAD TO HIS KINDA MUSIC!” yelled Applejack to her friends over the ambience of the musical build-up into the interlude of the song.
“THIS IS THE DEFINITION OF AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash responded.
“HEY TWILIGHT!” yelled a familiar voice right next to her.
“OH, HEY FLASH!” she said to him. “ARE YOU HERE TO ENJOY THE CONCERT TOO?!”
“I HEARD THERE WAS A CONCERT HERE EARLIER AND I WAS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO DO SO I DECIDED TO BUY A TICKET! I’VE HEARD OF THIS GUY AND HE’S GOT SOME GREAT STUFF! I WISH I COULD SING LIKE THAT!!”
“YEAH, HE SURE IS SOMETHING ELSE!”
The interlude then started and Gryph began singing again.
As the song reached it’s end, Gryph moved to the center of the stage and set his microphone on the ground. He turned around with his back to the audience and moon-walked out to the edge. Just as the music was ending, he leaped backwards off the stage and did a backflip into the space between the stage and the gates separating the crowd. He then turned around and put his hooves out as they responded with thunderous applause. For a few brief moments he continued to smile while panning the audience. He suddenly noticed Twilight in the center and waved to her. Twilight was surprised to see he recognized her and waved back bashfully as Flash looked at her confused. Gryph gave her a wink and turned around to fly back onto the stage and retrieve the mic.
“Do you know this guy?” Flash asked Twilight.
“Yeah, I met him the other day in Canterlot right before the summit! Look what he gave me!” Twilight said, putting her hoof in the air that had the Black Gryphon band around it.
“Oh. Well that, uh… was rather nice of him!” he replied.
“WOOO!” shouted Gryph as he took a deep breath and turned back to the audience. “You guys are awesome! Well hey, guess what, I have some good news for you: this next song is really special. None of you guys have heard it before and if you have, well stop stalking me!”
The audience laughed at Gryph’s joke as he smiled back.
“Anyway, yeah, this song has never been heard by anypony. It’s not quite as crazy as the last one, but it’s a song I wrote for somepony very special. You all know this pony; she’s been with you for a very long time. She came to Ponyville as a unicorn to learn about friendship and now she’s become even more…”
“Oh gosh, is he talking about me?!” Twilight said as all her friends stared at her in amazement.
“…and perfect timing too, I just noticed she’s in the audience with us now. Everypony please welcome the Princess of Friendship: Twilight Sparkle!!”
Gryph gestured to Twilight as one of the stage lights was moved by DJ-PON3’s magic to shine on her. The audience cheered loudly for Twilight and she couldn’t stop blushing while waving to them all.
“DUDE, TWILIGHT, BLACK GRYPHON WROTE A SONG ABOUT YOU!!!” said Spike, grabbing Twilight’s leg and shaking it with excitement.
“SONG FOR TWILIGHT!! WHOOOOOOOO!” Pinkie, shouted loudly.
The ponies continued cheering for a rather flattered Twilight as Flash clapped lightly but had a somewhat suspicious look on his face.
“Alright, well here it goes! Get read to spin it, Vinyl!”
DJ-PON3 switched out a record and placed the play-head on top of it to start the song. The music started up quiet and deep and began energizing till Gryph started singing the song he wrote for Twilight: Faster Than You Know.
As he was finishing the interlude, Gryph got up and flew down into the audience right towards Twilight. Her eyes widened as he reached for her hoof. Shaking a little, but with a big smile on her face, she took his hoof and flew with him. As soon as she got up, the pitch of the song shifted and filled Twilight with joy. The lyrics of this song were perfect because this was exactly what she was thinking when she got her wings and became a princess. He lead her to the stage to sing directly to her. She stood on the stage blushing and smiling as Gryph finished the song.
After the song had ended, Gryph and Twilight exchanged glances on stage. She moved in to nuzzle against him and he put his wing around her. They then parted and Gryph turned to the audience.
“Let’s hear it for Twilight, everypony!” Gryph said just as the music was ending.
The audience applauded the Princess of Friendship as she waved to them all. In the center, her friends were so full of zeal. Spike, Pinkie and Dash were whooping loudly, Rarity and Fluttershy had their hooves up to their cheeks and looked so happy for Twilight, Appleljack was rearing and saying “YEEHAW!”. Flash, on the other hand, had a rather sad look on his face. His ears went down and he turned around and walked out of the audience.
“Thank you so much, Gryph.” Twilight said to him, smiling warmly.
“Any time, Twilight.” he replied, covering the mic so they could only hear each other talk while the audience continued cheering. “It took me forever to get that song made at the last minute but I enjoyed writing it! I hope it wasn’t too inaccurate to how things were for you after you got your wings…”
“Oh, not at all! That is totally what I was thinking after it happened! It’s almost like you were there the whole time.”
“Oh good. Well I’m glad you liked it!”
“I loved it! By the way, I hope you don’t mind I introduce you to my friends and get some autographs after the concert? They’re really big fans of yours.”
“Aw, of course! I’d love to meet them! Actually, here, take this…” he said handing her a small card with his feathers. “It’s a backstage pass though I’m sure you could get back there anyway since you’re royalty.”
Twilight smiled and went in to hug Gryph one last time. She then took the pass with her magic and then flew back out to see her friends as ponies in the crowd could be heard shouting her name.
“TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!” they chanted.
Twilight landed right where she was standing earlier and was welcomed by all her friends staring at her with their faces grinning.
“Twilight, darling, that was so sweet of him!” Rarity exclaimed.
“Twilight, seriously, that was AWESOME! You got to be on stage with Black Gryphon!” Rainbow Dash said, grabbing Twilight and shaking her.
“I may be wrong but I think Gryph’s got a bit of a crush on ya, Twilight!” said Pinkie appearing right next to Twilight out of nowhere as she nudged her in the side and raised her eyebrows up and down.
“Daaaw, stop, I’m sure he’s just…hehe, being nice and stuff…” said Twilight.
She then turned to her side where Flash was to see he was no longer standing next to her. Her smile went away and she looked around for Flash but couldn’t find him anywhere.
“Flash? Flash, where are you? That’s odd. He was right here when I left with Gryph.” she said.
Twilight looked somewhat disappointed that Flash was no longer there but she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to the stage while Gryph was ready to move to his next song.
“Ooooh, boy! It felt good to finally sing that song! I put a lot of work into it. I’m glad you guys liked it.” he said as the audience cheered in response. “Well hey, you guys ready to hear Academy now?”
The audience shouted in approval and Rainbow Dash squealed with delight.
“EEEEH! I love this song so much! It totally reminds me of my training for the Wonderbolts! I get so pumped when I listen to it!!” she exclaimed.
The song started off before the first verse and the lights flickered to the beat as the bass continued to boom with workout-style music. Everypony danced around and stomped their hooves on the ground waiting to hear Gryph start singing. Gryph walked back up on the end of the stage, not missing a single step, ready to dance and move with energy. He was just getting started and had all the time he needed to continue pleasing the crowd. What he did earlier for Twilight and how well she responded left him feeling even more confident in himself than ever before. He knew he had this…