//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: The Secret Talents of Those Stallions Part 1 // Story: Ponyville Bachelor Auction // by Captain Unstoppable //------------------------------// Chapter 6: The Secret Talents of those Stallions Rainbow, Applejack, Twilight, and Fluttershy made their way back into the crowd just in time to see Mr. Cake reappear on stage. This time, he was not in his normal apron and hat, instead wearing what looked like a old tuxedo. Rainbow chortled to herself at the strained buttons and the stiff way he walked; he had put on some weight since the last time he wore the thing. “Hello again, all you wonderful mares! I am sure you are just as excited as I am to get this show on the road! Am I right?” Mr. Cake just grinned at the deafening roar that followed. “Well, that’s perfect, because these stallions just can’t wait to show off their special talents for all of you! There is always more to a stallion than rugged good looks and cutie marks, for we each house a talent that can only come out when we want to show the mare of our dreams who we really are!” As the cheering took over again, Rainbow noticed that Mr. Cake was not looking out at the crowd this time, but a little to stage left where Mrs. Cake stood, shaking her head slightly and laughing. “But, before those stallions can come out, let’s meet our judges!” The curtain pulled open and a spotlight broke through the darkness to illuminate a table sitting on the far left of the stage. “Our first judge of tonight’s talent competition is Ponyville’s own expert on grace, eloquence, and fashion: Miss Rarity Belle!” Rainbow immediately rolled her eyes as she watched Rarity bask in the roar of the crowd. Rarity waved to them, held her head up a bit higher, and looked like the high class pony she had always made herself to be. “Oh, thank you, Mister Cake! I am so excited to be here,” Rarity said, waving to the crowd. “I just can’t wait to see what talents those stallions have prepared for us. Also, being this close to the action might help me decide which lucky one will be earning my bits,” Rarity added with a wink as a murmur of laughter and whistles came out from the crowd. “Uh, yes... I’m glad that we can help you with your decision-making process.” Mr. Cake pulled at his bowtie a bit before clearing his throat. “Our next judge is joining us all the way from Canterlot! Known as one of the most influential ponies in the land, and a true expert on being a gentlecolt, please help me give a big Ponyville welcome to the pony everypony should know, Lord Fancy Pants!” Cake shouted as the white unicorn in a suit waved to the crowd and adjusted his monocle with his magic. “Thank you, kind sir, and thank you, Miss Rarity, for inviting me to this little soiree,” Fancy said, gesturing to Rarity, who blushed slightly and just waved at him. “I am glad to lend a hoof for charity. Plus, my wife demanded that I, oh, how did she put it... ‘scope out the competition’.” These last words were greeted by thunderous applause and several laughs. “Well, thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to help. How about we move out to our next judge, who everypony knows as their friend, always bubbling over with excitement. My niece, Pinkie Pie!” Once more, the crowd broke out in applause as the energetic mare waved to the ponies in the crowd, bouncing over to the table. “This is so exciting! I would like to thank my Uncle Cake for allowing me to be a judge, Rarity for suggesting me to be a judge, my mom for giving birth to me so I could be a judge, and I would also want to thank–” “Pinkie, this isn’t a competition. You don’t need to thank everypony that had some influence on this.” Carrot moved the mic away from his mouth, trying to make the cut off as subtle as possible.   “I know! I just want to thank everypony there is! Otherwise I wouldn't be a good friend! Oh! Then I have to thank my best friends of course and all the moms and dads in Ponyville for making such good looking stallions to bid on! And of course I have to thank Captain Jake the Unstoppable Army Guy!”  “Um... o-okaay! Now, our judges tonight are only here to give their own review on the talent, so don’t let what they say influence your decision on who to bid for. So, without further delay, let’s welcome back to the stage Braeburn Apple and his one-stallion rodeo act!” The spotlight on Mr. Cake turned off while another one turned its powerful light on Braeburn, who was entering stage right, waving to the cheering mares as he walked towards center stage. Once there, Braeburn took off his hat and gave a deep bow to the audience, which only seemed to add fuel to the fire of applause that just kept going. As he stood back up, he placed his hat back on and gave the audience a sly grin. Rainbow noticed that there was a rope wrapped around his chest, which appeared to be the same one that he had been using in the back when they had visited Mac. As the cheering started to die down, Braeburn pulled the rope off himself, showing that it was a lasso with a very large loop. He let it gather on the floor beside him as he held the end of it in his mouth. Adjusting his stance so his hindlegs were further apart than his forelegs, Braeburn lurched his head backwards to send of the rope flying into the air so he could catch with his mouth further up the length. He then jerked his head to the left, slightly bringing up then end of the loop over his head. Jerking his head to the right, he made the loop swing above before it started to fall back towards the ground. From there, Braeburn made subtle movements with his head, allowing the lasso to spin above him with what seemed to be absolute ease. With a turn of his head, the rope was now spinning perfectly beside him at a ninety-degree angle. Then, in a flash, Braeburn jumped sideways through the loop, pulling his head to the left to pull the rope towards him as he moved through. Coming out the other side, he kept the lasso spinning as he jumped through the opening again. Each time he did, he was greeted by a thunderous applause, but the cowpony was nowhere near done. As he jumped through the loop for a fourth time, he started to gradually spin the rope back over his head. Now, his movements with his head and neck got much more pronounced as the large loop hovered above him. He started to spin the lasso slower until it was falling from the air and was circling Braeburn, hovering a few inches from the ground. Braeburn then jumped out of the loop, landing right outside of it as he kept the lasso spinning. Then, he jerked it back towards himself. Once more, he jumped over the loop and was soon jumping back and forth over the loop. Again, the country stallion was greeted by a wave of applause as he continued the trick for a few more moments, sweat running down his face as he did a few more jumps. On his last jump, Braeburn jumped into the middle of the loop once more and started to make the rope rise around him. With a quick jerk of his head, the lasso tightened around his neck as he tossed the end in his mouth towards the judges. It landed right in front of Rarity as the rope snugged around his neck. Looking at Rarity, he gave a wink to her before facing the audience again and giving a deep bow, to which he got a standing ovation, wolf whistles, and cat calls of almost every kind. “Ya got ta be bucking kidding me.” Applejack groaned as she watched her cousin bow to the mountainous cheering that was thrown his way. He gave another wink to Rarity, whose white fur could not hide the blush that was growing. “Just as Ah thought, that no-good playcolt is just showin’ off ta every mare he can.” “W-well, it is a auction. He’s just trying to get as many bits as possible.” Fluttershy squeaked as she watched Braeburn prance about the stage a bit more as he wrapped the rope around himself again. “Ah know ya got a bit of a crush on him, sugar, but Ah know ma cousin and he is a playcolt at heart. Playin’ around with him is just like playin with fire; yer gonna get yerself burned.” “Yeah, Brae-burned!” Rainbow added before bursting into a fit of laughter so intense that she fell onto her back, snorting between each burst of laughter, her legs kicking as she did so. Twilight gave an indignant snort at Rainbow as she placed a wing around Fluttershy to comfort her, who looked down at the ground, trying to hide her face. “Don’t listen to them, Fluttershy. If you really like Braeburn, you can find to make it work,” Twilight said, with a genuine smile. “Besides, from what I saw back there, Braeburn might like you as much as you like him.” She put as much good will as she could into her statement, which seemed to make the shy pegasus smile a bit. “Let’s give one last round of applause to Braeburn and his amazing rodeo tricks!” Mr. Cake’s voice boomed over the speakers as Braeburn gave a few last bows before trotting off stage with his head held high. “Now then, let’s see what our judges have to say.” The spotlight fell back on the three judges, who each had a white sheet of paper in front of them. Rarity was the first to go up, revealing an eight that she was fanning herself with due to her face still being a bit red. The next was Fancy Pants, who gave a seven, a bemused smile on his face. The last was Pinkie Pie, who held up a picture of a cookie. “Uh, Pinkie… A cookie is not a number,” Mr. Cake laughed nervously and shook his head. “I know, silly! I just think cookies are super amazing and Braeburn did a super amazing job!” she said with a large grin, which earned her a mix of sighs and laughs. “Well, let’s just call that a seven then.” Carrot laughed as he looked down at his cue cards to remember which contestant was next.   “Please welcome back to the stage, the little dragon with a lot of heart, Spike! And his lovely assistant Rumble!” There were a few scattered laughs throughout the crowd, along with a welcoming applause as Spike and Rumble appeared on stage. Spike was wearing the tuxedo he had worn to the Royal Gala, top hat and all, which only served to make Twilight facehoof.  Rumble, who wore a black bowtie, pushed a cart on stage that was covered in a red tarp. The pair made their way to center stage, waving the entire way, while making some small bows, as if trying to imitate what Braeburn had done a few moments earlier. There were bouts of giggles as the pair did this, but they didn’t seem to mind as they started to set up for their part of the show.   “Fillies and gentlecolts!” Spike announced. “Tonight, you shall be amazed with feats of talent that have never been attempted by ponies or dragons to date! The stunts that you are about to see are done by professionals and should not be attempted by anypony who has not trained and prepared like we have!” Spike’s voice carried across the crowd with ease as Rumble began to pull the tarp off the cart, but stopped halfway through. “Spike, we only practiced this a few times, and barely got it right. Are we still professionals?” Rumble whispered, but it heard by all since he was still close to the microphone. “Dude, don’t let them know! It breaks the illusion. Besides, we got this,” Spike whispered back. Shrugging, Rumble pulled the rest of the tarp off the small cart to reveal several yellow balls on top of it. Spike took three of them, two in one claw and one in the other. “Tonight, we will show you the world’s greatest juggling act!” “Oh, thank Celestia,” Twilight said, letting out a sigh of relief as Spike started to juggle the three balls he had picked up to a welcoming applause.  “For a minute there, I thought he was going to do something wild and crazy.” She laughed. However, her relief did not last long, for once the three balls had gone full circle in Spike’s claws, he took a deep breath and sent a gout of emerald fire at each ball, setting them ablaze. “Now, Rumble!” Spike called, as all attention now focused on the grey colt, who had three more balls ready in his wings. Tossing them over to Spike, the new balls also caught on fire as Spike juggled them all. It almost seemed like Spike was controlling an ever-spinning ring of green fire in his claws as he tossed each ball into the air, catching another green fireball at the same time. “Eeek!” Twilight held a foreleg to her chest while she watched the display as her assistant/friend/sorta-brother/sorta-son juggled the balls of fire. “I have to stop him! That’s too dangerous! Oh, I knew I shouldn't have let him enter! He’s going to hurt himself!” Twilight was now in full mother mode, as she spread her wings, getting ready to fly on stage and stop the dangerous act. “Hold on there, sugarcube,” Applejack grabbed Twilight by her tail, bring the Princess back to the ground and landing on her rump hard. “Don’t go and interrupt his act. Look at ‘im! He’s havin’ the time of his life up there, and listen to that crowd.” Twilight looked back at Applejack as if she was about to attack before looking back at the stage. Spike had a wide grin on his face as he juggled the nine green fireballs in his claws, keeping them going at an even pace and creating a very impressive ring of fire. As he did this, the cheers and applause from the audience grew louder, now rivaling what Braeburn had received. “I-I guess he is doing okay,” Twilight whispered. “But at least he could have told me what he was doing.” “Okay, Rumble! Add the last three balls!” Spike shouted. “But Spike, we only got you to juggle twelve balls once before. Are you sure? We almost set the Everfree Forest on fire last time, remember?” “They almost what?!” Twilight shouted, both Applejack and Rainbow Dash now struggling to hold the alicorn back. “Easy, there! Ah’m sure it will be okay!” Applejack said, trying to sound as calm as possible. Rumble grudgingly tossed the last three balls towards Spike, each one catching on fire as they entered the ring. At once, the ring became larger and brighter, making the audience applaud even louder as Spike kept on juggling. Spike was grinning widely as he kept the twelve balls going in the air, moving his claws as fast as he could to keep the illusion alive. He looked over at the judges and could see each one of them were blown away by the act, or, at least, he thought they all were. Pinkie had somehow gotten a stick with a marshmallow at the end of it, trying to roast it from where she was. The one he cared about seemed to be in a trance. Rarity’s eyes were following the emerald flames, making her blue eyes seem more spectacular than any stars in the night sky. “Alright, Rumble! Let’s end it!” Spike called to his assistant. Rumble flew behind the curtain, returning with a bucket of water clenched in his mouth. He placed it right in front of Spike before speeding away from the ring of fire. Spike did one more rotation with the balls before tossing them one-by-one into the pail of water. The sound of sizzling water as the balls made their way inside filled the air. A thick cloud of steam rose into the air as each ball was tossed inside. Once all the balls had found their mark, Rumble made his way back to Spike’s side. The two bowed. The crowd exploded in a flurry of stomping hooves and raucous cheering. “Thank you, Spike, for that magnificent display!” Mr. Cake said, his words dying out as the cheers erupted from the crowd as Spike and Rumble continued to bow. “Now let’s see what our judges think of–” “Spikey-Wikey, why in the name of Luna’s mane would you do something so dangerous?!” Rarity had galloped over to the bowing performers and wrapped them in a bone-crushing hug. “Don’t you dare scare me like that again! You understand?! Never!” “Rar-Rarity! W-we can’t br-br-breath!” Rumble choked out as he tried to take in a breath of air to fill his crushing lungs and looked for his brother to save him. Spike, on the other hoof had a dreamlike smile on his face as Rarity hugged him, finding the need to breathe overruled when the mare of his dreams had him wrapped in a hug. “Well, I guess we can safely say what Rarity’s thoughts are on the talent of Spike the Dragon! Other judges, what do you think?” “I thought it was a superb job of showing off our dragon friend’s skills to juggle and control over his own fire,” Fancy Pants said, holding out a card with a eight on it. “Truly a fantastic job overall, though I must agree with Rarity that it was very dangerous for a colt and a dragon to perform at such a young age, but, altogether quite a fantastic show.” “I really like the part where it made a emerald green ring! It look really, really cool! I give it a upside-down lemon cake!” Pinkie held up the card with the cake described, smiling widely as she did so. Carrot just shook his head as he watched Rarity let go of the pair and head back to her seat. Rumble had to pull Spike offstage as he tried to recover from such a embrace.  “Now hold on to your bits! There are many other stallions left on the block tonight! Up next, Soarin Nimbus!” Mr. Cake went backstage as the mares in the audience continued to cheer.   “I wonder what Soarin plans on doing,” Twilight asked out loud as the blue pegasus walked on stage. “Probably some awesome tricks!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “He’s the co-captain of the Wonderbolts. What else could he do?” In truth, she was excited to see Soarin do some tricks. It was always something beyond awesome whenever she could see one of her idols perform. Soarin made it to center stage and cleared his throat, a noise that Rainbow shouldn’t have heard from where she and her friends were sitting. That was when she noticed that he had a headset on a microphone attached to it. Shaking his head and ruffling his feather, he turned to off stage with a smile. “Alright, play it!” Soarin said to somepony. Soon, silence fell over the crowd. Suddenly, a soft, rhythmic tone started to play, catching everypony, especially Rainbow Dash, off-guard. Soarin started to sway back and forth with the beat of the song as he closed his eyes. Soon, the sways started to turn into steps back and forth as the song kept going. “You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off you.” Soarin’s voice was smooth as silk, flowing from his lips in a deep tenor. Each word sent a shiver down every mare’s spine as he paced slowly up and down the stage, looking over the crowd with what could only be described as a smoldering stare. Rainbow had to admit that, if she didn’t have her mind set on Big Mac, she would bid on him like there was no tomorrow. The music suddenly became louder and faster and Soarin jumped from the stage and spread out his wings. With a mighty flap of his wings, he shot into the air above the crowd. Several mares cheered loudly as his athletic body danced over their heads, performing twists and turns, all the while still belting out the song in perfect pitch. His wings gave a powerful flap as he glided a few inches above the mares before doing one large loop in the sky before landing back on stage, his wings still fully extended. It felt as if Soarin was putting his heart and soul into every word as he sang louder and harder. Trotting back and forth downstage to the screams of mares while wearing a confident smirk, Rainbow Dash could hardly believe that this was still the same Soarin who was sent crashing because a few cute fillyleaders. Suddenly, Soarin jumped off stage and into the crowd. To many ponies’ surprise, none of the mares jumped him, but spread apart as he approached, as if he was spreading the sea of mares with his words alone. As the music picked up again, Soarin became more flamboyant with his walking, his body swaying back and forth along with the song. During a lull in the lyrics, he shot a deft wink to one mare, who let out a dreamlike sigh before falling over and fainting. Soarin gave a questioning look before he began to sing again and walked towards where Rainbow Dash was. “I love you, baby, and if it's quite alright, I need you, baby.” He was now only a few inches from where Rainbow was. Her face felt like it was on fire. Was he coming on to her? Begging her to bid on him? Her mind was torn now between this stallion and Mac. Could she just pass Soarin up after this? She closed her eyes tightly as he advanced. The music came to stop. Soarin’s voice did not die down, but became softer and more gentle, as if he was talking to a lover. Opening one of her eyes, expecting to see Soarin standing right in front of her, giving her that stare that made mare’s hearts come to a stop. But as she opened her eye, he was not there, but his voice was still so close. Turning around, she saw the side of Soarin’s face, but he was looking into another mare’s eyes. The eyes of her best friend. Applejack’s face was bright red as Soarin’s face was only a mere few inches from hers. He was giving her a devilish grin and staring right into her eyes. “You're just too good to be true,” he sang in such a voice that Rainbow thought Applejack’s heart just stopped working. Then, as if that was just not enough, he gave her a chaste peck on the cheek before taking to the air again, doing a backflip onto the stage before giving a deep bow. Rainbow watched Soarin give his bow, but whipped back around to Applejack to see she had not moved one inch. Her face was redder than any apple that Rainbow Dash had ever seen. Her eyes were open wide, staring straight ahead, right at Soarin. It was more than obvious that Applejack’s mind had come to a dead halt as it tried to process what had just happened, and that Soarin might had more than just a little crush on the farmer. “So… you think Soarin is still just trying to get under your skin?” Rainbow asked, trying to hold back her laughter at her friend’s expense. “Sh-shut up!” Applejack stuttered, her face giving no indication of going back to its normal color anytime soon as the applause for Soarin just kept going like a never-ending river. As they did so, many mares looked over at Applejack in either admiration, jealousy, or disgust. One of them was Cloud Kicker, who seemed ready to bite off Applejack’s head. While Rainbow was ready for her to make a move, Applejack was still at a loss. “That was something I wasn’t expecting!” Carrot laughed, trying to bring the crowd back under control as Soarin left the stage, but not before giving a wink in the general direction of Applejack. “Nopony said stallions couldn't try to get the mare of their dreams as well. Judges, what do you have to say for the performance Sorain Nimbus just gave us?”   “Well, I have to say this. Applejack, you better win that hunk of stallion! Looks, money, an athlete, and an out-of-this-world singing voice! Can you get a better stallion?” Rarity gushed as she held up her score of a perfect ten. “Oh, if I didn’t just see that, I would spend every last bit on him right now.” “A remarkable performance, I must say,” Fancy Pants agreed, holding up a nine for his score. “However, I can not give him a perfect score since he did present to one mare, and this is a competition for all mares out there. But still, a wonderful performance. Soarin, if you ever want to leave the Wonderbolts for a singing career, just look me up, lad, and I can get you the deal of a lifetime!” “Two good reviews so far! Pinkie, what did you think of Soarin’s song and dance?” Carrot asked, turning to Pinkie. Pinkie, however, didn’t seem to be paying attention, as she was busy drinking from the connected tube of her drinking helmet that had two sodas attached. All that could be heard coming from her was the noise of her hitting rock bottom of two cans and slurping for the last bit of carbonated goodness. “Uh, Pinkie? Pinkie, we need your vote. Pinkie… Pinkie!” “Huh? Oh, hi Uncle Cake! What up?” “Pinkie, we need your vote for Soarin’s performance.” “What?! Soarin performed?! I was getting this nifty hat! Can he do it again? Was it flying? Or surfing? Oh! Oh! Was he doing a sweet ollie?!” “No Pinkie… no he wasn’t…” Carrot shook his head as Pinkie started to poke Fancy Pants for answers. “Well, we will just say Soarin get’s a good review with two outstandings and a missing in action. Now, put your hooves together for Bulk Biceps!” Carrot shouted as the crowd began to cheer again. As his name was called, Bulk made his way onstage, carrying with him a stool and a stand for a microphone. His small wings fluttered as his massive frame made its way to center stage. Once there, silence fell over the crowd as Bulk set the stool down behind him and started to fiddle with the microphone stand, raising it up a bit before lowering it again, trying to find the correct height for him. This process took a few seconds, in which the entire crowd stayed silent except for the occasional cough or whisper. When he was satisfied, Bulk trotted back offstage to return a few seconds latter with a small, brown book in his mouth. Sitting down on the stool, Bulk took the book from his mouth and began to flip through the pages until he came to a page that had a small, pink page holder. Putting his hoof to his mouth, Bulk cleared his throat and shook his head slightly as he looked down at the page. Taking a deep breath, Bulk opened his mouth before coming to a sudden stop. Getting up, he placed the book open on the stool before once more walking offstage. Coming back, Bulk was wearing a pair of small reading glasses that barely connected to his ears. Taking his seat once more, Bulk examined the page and took a deep breath. “And wilt thou have me fashion into speech The love I bear thee, finding words enough, And hold the torch out, while the winds are rough, Between our faces, to cast light on each?— I drop it at thy feet. I cannot teach My hoof to hold my spirit so far off From myself—me—that I should bring thee proof In words, of love hid in me out of reach. Nay, let the silence of my stallionhood Commend my stallion-love to thy belief,— Seeing that I stand unwon, however wooed, And rend the garment of my life, in brief, By a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude, Lest one touch of this heart convey its grief." Bulk stood up from his stool, placing the book under one of his wings as he picked up the stool with one hoof. The crowd sat in total silence. Not even crickets could be heard in the extensive silence. Bulk looked around at the stunned crowd for a few moments before clearing his throat again. “YEAH!!!” Giving a final flex of his bulging muscles, he turned and walked offstage, the silence following him all the way. For a few moments, nopony dared to speak or make a noise of any kind. Finally, Rarity cleared her throat. “Well, that was… something.”