//------------------------------// // The Auditions: Part Two // Story: Stability // by SlightlyOnline //------------------------------// Lyra nervously sat in her chair as the first preparations we made upon the stage. Her mouth was dry and she felt that her coat was slightly matted with sweat. One hoof was tightly wrapped around her lyre case while the other anxiously massaged Bon Bon’s. She could feel her body almost shaking as a young mare stepped out onto the elevated platform to address the crowd. “For our first audition,” the upbeat pony said, “we have Accent Accordion!” Lyra quietly breathed a sigh of relief as the crowd broke into stomping applause; at least it seemed like they were going in alphabetical order. While she wouldn’t be going first she would still be able to get the auditions over with soon. The thought of being done with her anxiety was definitely reassuring. She drew out a nervous breath, and slowly her eyes focused again, revealing that Vinyl was talking to her from the seat in front. “I’m sorry, what?” she said on instinct. “I said that that guy’s got some name. He probably made it up so he could jump to the front of the queue,” the DJ snickered. Lyra wanted to chuckle with her, but she could only bring forth a weak “Yeah.” Vinyl must have picked that something was wrong, because she lifted her glasses, revealing her brilliant eyes, an eyebrow raised above one of them. “You need something to drink,” she said as a doctor would give a perscription. “Why aren’t you doing the normal thing and making fun of that colt’s name?” The lyrist wanted to tell her she was nervous; she wanted to tell the whole world that she was the most nervous pony in all of Equestria. At least that confession would take some of the edge off. She merely coughed, futilely trying to get the awful lump out of her throat. “Just... just a little tired. That’s all.” She wasn’t lying; she was wholly exhausted, but the reality was that she was too nervous to admit to being damagingly nervous. Vinyl shrugged and turned back to the pony on stage who was playing... something. She thought of a nervous little pegasus that would sometimes visit Bon Bon’s store/home and be barely be able to order a box of sweets. She would stutter on the words ‘candy’ and ‘chocolate’, or basically anything with two syllables. This must have been exactly how she felt; trapped and unable to back out. Still, though, the mare would overcome her nervous stuttering and walk out of the store carrying a box of chocolates. Lyra raised her head up; that was exactly what she had to do. She had her own box of chocolates in sight. She looked to her right to see Bon Bon looking at her in concern; she must have noticed her sudden change in posture. Lyra reassured her marefriend with a smile, scooting closer to her and planting a quick kiss on her cheek. She then turned her attention back to the stage where Accordion was taking his and everypony was applauding, somewhat less excited than before. She had hardly noticed he had even started, let alone that he had finished his performance. Lyra absent-mindedly joined the applause. The same mare stepped out onto the stage, addressing the crowd once more. “Next up, we have Beauty Brass!” Of course. More alliteration, Lyra thought. She considered that she should have changed her name to something silly before her audition; obviously, that was what ponies enjoyed. It made it really hard to tell if they were going by first name or last name. What about Octavia? Did she have a strange last name, or was she just Octavia? Octavia Octavariumfortissimostaccato? She never asked, even when they were dating. Lyra almost facehooved. Here she was, getting ready to audition for what could completely change her life and she was worrying about the possible last names of an ex. Worse yet, there was a pony, her competition, on stage performing and she hadn’t even glanced at her. How was she supposed to know how well she was going to do if she didn’t have something to judge herself by? Unfortunately, just as she turned her attention to the sousaphone player, everypony started applauding. The musician blew a kiss as she hopped off the stage, leaving Lyra to wonder what she had missed. The unicorn just folded her hooves. She’d have to catch the next musician to scope out her competition. That made her worry, however; these musicians were getting on the stage and hopping off so fast that it would be her turn in no time. On the one hoof, she could finally get over nervousness that had suddenly returned, which she quietly cursed at. On the other, it was coming up awfully fast, and it made her question her preparation. She wanted to scream; nervousness coming in waves was the worst. She couldn’t, however, because the mare returned to the stage to announce the next contestant. “For our next audition, we have our fantastic Concerto!” Awesome, Lyra thought to herself. I could use a good laugh. ***                        ***                        *** She didn’t get a good laugh. He was good. Very good. That pianist definitely knew his instrument and, unfortunately, so did many of the following contestants. It made Lyra regret wanting to pay attention to her competition. If it wasn’t for one poor colt breaking down on stage she probably would have given up and left right there. Otherwise, she thought there was no way that she could possibly succeed; her competitors were just too skilled, making her just want to quit. As well, if not for Bon Bon gently caressing her hoof and whispering reassurances, she might have followed Vinyl’s advice and grabbed a drink. Or six. Luckily, her marefriend was a reminder that she was not alone, no matter how desolate it seemed. Periodically, she forced weak smiles to hopefully reassure Bon Bon, her confidence and anxiety trading off throughout the performances. She just didn’t know what to feel. Should she be intimidated? Excited? Abashed? Horny? Before she could contemplate her feelings in depth, that mare, whose name, Lyra learned, was Microphone Condenser, returned to the stage. Lyra gulped. They had just passed F on the last names, so unless there was somepony named Grey Guy or something, there was an intimidatingly large chance that she was next on the list. Microphone cleared her throat. “And now, we welcome a newcomer to this audition.” Oh no, Lyra thought. I’m a newcomer! “Coming from Ponyville...” Oh no. I’m from Ponyville! “...we are pleased to announce...” Oh no. I’m part of ‘we’! The anticipation was almost too much for her. “Lyra Heartstrings!” She could have fainted right there. If it wasn’t for the sudden applause, she would have jumped and hid behind the seats. Lyra looked out at all the eyes, all the smiling faces, that were upon her, cheering for her. Slowly, she rose from her seat, her nervous grin gaining in confidence by the second. She could do this. She took one step. Then another. Soon, she was walking up to the stage with confident posture. Think of the chocolate, she thought to herself. This is for my chocolate. There was a chair already set out for her in the middle of the stage with a microphone for her lyre in front of it. She sat down on her chair, her dress folding just as it was designed to accommodate for her instrument. She took a breath, looked out into the blinding stage lights, and cleared her throat. She should say something. That’s what ponies do at these kinds of things, right? “Um, hi.” Her strangely oscillating confidence failed once more as she realized she had no idea what she was supposed to say at these types of events. A greeting seemed like the right thing to start with, although she mentally slapped herself for starting with somethings so lame. She could have at least added a formal ‘fillies and gentlecolts.’ Unfortunately, there was no place to hide on the stage with all the lights upon her. Lyra cleared her throat and began again. “My name is Lyra Heartstrings. There’s a couple ponies I’d like to thank before I begin.” She paused, almost wanting to stutter, but the words seemed to come naturally. “First, I would like to thank my marefriend, Bon Bon.” She looked to the earth pony and smiled. “You’ve always been there for me. You’ve supported me in everything I’ve done and continue to do so. I only hope that one day I could be as good of a pony as you are. I love you, Bon Bon.” A collective chorus of ‘awww’s sounded throughout the theater and Lyra gave a weak smile in response; thanking somepony she loved so much was the easy part. When the ponies in the audience quieted down, she coughed and began again. “Also, I would like to thank Vinyl Scratch.” Her eyes scanned the crowd for the electric-maned DJ, finding nothing but an empty seat where she once was. “I’m over here!” returned her voice from the direction of the snack bar. It didn’t take long for her to appear, levitating basically everything that was on the table. “I wanted to have something to eat during your performance.” Lyra laughed. She supposed that she didn’t really have to say anything more about her. She took a deep breath of air, preparing for her next and final expression of gratitude. “Lastly, I would like to thank... O-” Her voice wavered, almost refusing to say the mare’s name. “Oct- Octavia.” Instead of the professional tone she was going for, she sounded like a schoolfilly trying to say the name of her first crush. What the hell? What was that? She kicked herself mentally. She had no idea what is going on in her brain, but she didn’t like it. Her eyes made an attempt at glancing at Octavia, but found that that made her waver even more. Taking a breath, she just decided to drop it. It wasn’t important when she had an instrument to play. “Thank you,” she said finally, a light applause following. The unicorn relaxed in her chair, her hooves moving to the proper position on her lyre. They lightly tugged at the strings, making sure they were all nice and taught. With a raspy breath, she rested a hoof on the string that would be her first note. She looks up from her instrument, looking at all the eager faces in the crowd, save for Octavia’s. All those eyes were watching her, scanning her. Everypony was paying attention to and judging her every last move. Not a twitch would go unnoticed. Lyra gulped. “We are ready for you to begin, Miss Heartstrings.” Quickly, her head darted to the judges table where the voice came from. She gave a forced smile with a nod and turned her attention back to her lyre. Her hoof didn’t want to move. There was some sort of barrier preventing her from plucking that first note. Was it because of all the eyes upon her? Or was it because of just one pair of those eyes? She forced herself to play it; it was an awful, twangy, sharp C. She cringed at the sound of the rough note, hesitating to continue her song. Forcefully blowing out her held breath, she shakily moved her hoof to the next string. This one sang true; a beautiful, clear note resonated throughout the theater, amplified by the microphone. Lyra took a brief moment to glance at the crowd and saw what looked like a hundred eager, smiling faces. She could do this. She had nothing to fear. With each note plucked, she lifted her head up higher. That confidence she so missed slowly crawled back to her as she began to strum more strings. The volume rose slightly as her hooves continued to dance. Soon, the pretty sound of her lyre was filling the entire auditorium, each note falling perfectly in line. Lyra glanced at the crowd a few times, each time seeing more and more grins upon the faces of her onlookers. She felt like she was floating higher with each tone struck. She reasoned that that must be what a pegasus felt like; she was in control and in her element. Now, she had the power and there was nothing in her way. She could play forever and see all those smiling faces. Her eyes closed on their own; her music was taking her amazing places. She was soaring as if she had wings, feeling rather than playing. Each second that passed only brought more beauty, and she was what it flowed through. Deeper and deeper she fell into her trance, continuing to fly above the clouds while her instrument sang. She was a musician; this was what her cutie mark meant. Her physical body automatically swayed with the rises and falls in the notes as she played. Small beads of sweat appeared upon her brow. A hoof silently tapped, keeping time. Even with her consciousness elsewhere, she could feel her own breathing, heavy and deliberate. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel Bon Bon’s beautiful blue marbles upon her. She just knew that her beautiful marefriend was lovingly staring at her, watching her each and every movement. She smiled at the thought of Bon Bon blowing a kiss to her as she played. She could almost feel the warmth of the mare next to her, as if she was soaring along with her. Lyra’s flying mind landed as she continued to play. Slowly, she cracked one eye, then both eyes open; she wanted to take a peek at the mare she loved. Her eyes scanned the audience until they finally came upon one mare whose beautiful face was smiling wider than all others. She returned her smile the notes seeming to sound even sweeter. It made her happy to know that there was somepony out there who cared about her so much. A harsh reality set in as she realized who the mare was that she was staring at. Instead of the blue eyes she had so longed to see, she was staring into Octavia’s purple ones. The mare continued to give her a warm smile as Lyra’s eyes widened. Her notes turned sour before she pushed too hard and the unthinkable happened:   A string snapped.