Chapter Two: Sweetie Belle Feels Nervous
All throughout classes the next day, through history and through spelling and especially through math, Sweetie Belle just couldn't concentrate. Luckily, Miss Cheerilee didn't ask her any questions. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, on the other hoof, couldn't stop asking questions – they always knew when she wasn't feeling right. But Sweetie didn't want to answer them at recess, so the three organised an emergency meeting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to take place after school.
Once Miss Cheerilee had let the class out for the afternoon, the three Crusaders rushed to their clubhouse. There, Sweetie Belle took a deep breath and told her friends all about the singing contest. She told them how much her sister wanted her to participate, how proud her sister was of her voice and how nervous it was making her. She told them a lot about how nervous it was making her.
Once Sweetie had finished talking, Apple Bloom said, "Ah, come on, it won't be that bad!"
"Yeah, you'll rock their hooves off!" Scootaloo added, making a guitar-strumming motion with her right foreleg to demonstrate. "That awesome singing voice of yours will have the audience clapping so hard everypony'll think there's a cow stampede in town!"
"I don't know..." Sweetie Belle rubbed a nervous hoof on the floor. "What if I forget my lines?"
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "Come on, when has that ever happened? You never forget the words to the songs we hear you sing."
"That's different!" Sweetie squeaked. "You two are my best friends, but if I do this audition I'll have to sing for complete strangers! And they'll look at me with their judging expressions and their mean eyes, and then I'll get nervous, forget my lines, and then they'll laugh and – and –"
Apple Bloom grabbed Sweetie Belle by the shoulders. "Don't talk like that, Sweetie Belle! None of that's going to happen."
"But – but –" Sweetie had started shaking, and so had Apple Bloom, who was still holding onto her shoulders. "S-s-s-stop!" cried Apple Bloom.
Sweetie stopped shaking, and Apple Bloom released her... and then stumbled backwards and fell on her rump. Scootaloo stifled a chuckle with a forehoof.
"As I was saying," Apple Bloom continued, shooting a quick glare at Scootaloo, "none of that's going to happen, because Scootaloo and I are going to be there in the audience as well... smiling. And when you finish your amazing performance, we're going to stomp our hooves on the ground as hard as we can."
"Really?" Sweetie asked. If her friends were there to support her, maybe everything really would go alright.
"Yeah!" added Scootaloo. "Even if you do mess up horribly, at least we'll cheer!"
Sweetie gasped and started shaking again.
Apple Bloom slapped her forehead. "You're not going to mess up, Sweetie," she said. "Scoots is just sayin' things. You know how she can be." Apple Bloom shot a second, angrier glare at Scootaloo, who made some nervous laughing sounds and rubbed the back of her neck.
"O-okay." Sweetie Belle put on a wobbly smile and tried to look happy. From the looks on her friends' faces, she knew they didn't buy it.
***
Later that afternoon, Sweetie Belle walked home, lost in thought. She had a horrible feeling that the audition was going to be a complete disaster, but she knew she couldn't let her sister down and not do it. What would Rarity think of her?
Sweetie Belle stopped walking and took a few deep breaths. "Maybe it won't be so bad," she said, talking to herself as she sometimes did when she needed cheering up. "You're really good at singing songs, Sweetie Belle! You can practically do it in your sleep. This audition's going to be just fine!"
Feeling a lot better, Sweetie Belle continued trotting, humming a tune as she went. When she was still a few blocks away from home, she saw Fluttershy coming towards her, carrying saddlebags full of food for her animals.
"Hi, Fluttershy!" Sweetie said, putting on a big grin. Fluttershy's soothing voice always relaxed her, and she knew she could do with a bit of relaxation right about now.
"Oh, hello, Sweetie Belle," Fluttershy replied, stopping in front of Sweetie. "You sound very happy today."
"I am! I'm going to be singing in the auditions for the Sapphire Shores Singer Search next week, and I'm gonna do great!" Sweetie swept a foreleg across the air dramatically, as she imagined Rarity might. "The judges will be speechless!"
"Oh," said Fluttershy, "that sounds very... uh, um... nice. Very nice. It's very courageous of you to want to stand up and sing in front of so many ponies. I know I could never do something like that..." Fluttershy pawed at the ground and looked away from Sweetie.
"It's not that hard," Sweetie replied, waving a hoof as if she really thought it weren't that hard. "All I need to do is sing! And all my friends will be there."
Fluttershy nodded. "Oh, well, that's good, but I'm sure it still takes a lot of bravery. The last time I had to perform in front of an audience, I got so nervous that I totally lost control of my body and slipped around all over the catwalk. It was a good thing Rarity was there to cheer for me, or I'd never have been able to show my face outside my cottage again!"
Sweetie blinked at Fluttershy, suddenly feeling a lot less confident. What if something like that happened to her?
"Oh, but I'm sure that won't happen to you," Fluttershy said quickly, smiling far too wide, in a way that told Sweetie Belle she wasn't sure of any such thing.
"Ye... yeah, I'm sure..." Sweetie replied, feeling very unsure indeed. "B-bye Fluttershy..."
"Goodbye, Sweetie Belle," Fluttershy said.
As Fluttershy trotted away to her cottage, humming a happy tune, Sweetie Belle found she had quite lost her own desire to hum. She slowly walked the rest of the way to her house. Her eyes were fixed on the ground, and an awful nervousness seemed to tie her stomach in knots. She couldn't do the audition, she just couldn't. All kinds of terrible things would happen to her, she was sure of it. And even if Scootaloo and Apple Bloom cheered as loud as they could, the audience would laugh so very much louder.
Sweetie had to tell her sister she didn't want to do the audition. She made up her mind to do it the next day.