Troy sighed roughly while struggling to lay back in his seat comfortably. Despite having a good night’s sleep on the train, the gryphon still felt just as tired as he was jittery. The morning sun had just barely peaked a while ago, but the newfound light gave just enough illumination to show their destination in the distance. Even though it was just a speck from the train’s window, the glimmering city of Manehattan could be seen coming closer with each passing second.
Seeing that his stop was coming soon, Troy took another shaky breath as he felt his heart grow heavier in his chest. He already knew that he was just getting pre-audition jitters, but that didn’t make the gryphon feel any less hesitant about having such an important appointment. It was weird that despite how many times he performed on a stage or in front of ponies, Troy still had that same anxiety lingering before each performance. No matter how many eyes it was, or where the stage may have been, it always strangely felt as though it was his very first time.
Of course, the fact that this audition was for a lead role in one of Bridleway’s biggest shows didn’t exactly help either.
The gryphon sunk his face into his claws as he tried to settle his breathing. Troy knew that it was ridiculous to feel this way when the audition was still hours away. Nevertheless, his mind was becoming too frazzled to think coherently, let alone realize when his fiancè and dog were beginning to wake up. On the bench opposite of Troy, Canvas was the first to stir awake as his muzzle wrinkled in discomfort.
“Urgh… what the…” When he opened his eyes, Canvas realized that Tenor was not only laid on top of his chest lazily, but that the Saint Bernard’s muzzle was open and panting right in front of his nose. The stallion tried not to gag as he struggled to pull himself away from his not-so-light puppy. “Gughhh! For crying out loud!”
Troy was brought back to reality when he heard his fiancè coughing from the unholy mix of morning breath and dog breath invading his nostrils. When he saw how helpless the pony looked while underneath their undisturbed dog, the gryphon couldn’t help giggling guiltily. “Good morning, honey,” he said in a sickly sweet tone.
“Troy!” Canvas tried to roll himself off the bench, but his position made it impossible due to Tenor’s weight on him. He gagged once more as he craned his head as far away from the puppy’s panting muzzle as he could. “Troy, help me out,” he gasped as his voice became more hoarse. “I can taste his breath!”
Meanwhile, Tenor was just sleeping like a log, completely unaware of the discomfort he was giving his owner. Troy sighed with a smile and got out of his seat. “Alright, alright,” said the gryphon in a more sympathetic tone, “just give me a second.”
“Thankyou,” the pony quickly said before clenching his muzzle shut.
Canvas waited a few seconds, but realized that Troy wasn’t pulling Tenor off of his chest. Before he could look around or try to ask where he was, Canvas was greeted by the sight of the gryphon grinning evilly above with with Lyle’s camera. “Say cheese!”
“TROY DON’T YOU DARE!!”
Click!
Even though it was just barely morning, the Manehattan Train Station was still more densely crowded with ponies than Ponyville’s station was during their busiest times. Manehattan was known as ‘The City That Doesn’t Sleep’ for a reason, since many businesses and modes of transportation stayed running twenty-four hours a day. Because of that, it wasn’t uncommon to see various vagabond or migrant ponies resting in the train station for a quick roof over their heads. However, what was uncommon was the sight of three huge gryphons sprawled and passed out against one of the back walls by the platform.
Despite lying asleep with their backs against the tiled wall, the triplets were still large enough to take up a considerable amount of space. Because of that, it was surprising that none of the gryphons’ brown feathers were being scorched off from the burning glares they got from the crowds of Manehattanites who had to shuffle around them. Blane was snoring loudly for at least an hour, and the only sound that could overpower it was the chugging of the train engines that came in and out of the station. Blaze and Blade were leaned in against both sides of Blane, keeping the largest triplet sitting completely upright while their paws were sprawled out and constantly making ponies trip over them.
It wasn’t clear how long those three were asleep on the floor of the train station, but they were finally awoken by the sound of a familiar grunt directed right at them. “Ah-Hmm!”
Due to their upbringing, the sound of their Dad’s unmistakable grunt was enough to make the three shoot up and stand on all fours like a military platoon. Of course, only a second passed before the triplets’ eyes turned half-lidded and groggy once more. “Gah!” hissed Blaze as he rubbed his eyes with a claw. He winced as he struggled to adjust to the brightness of the sun coming in from the glass ceiling. “Ugh, what’s wrong with you?!” he groaned in an obvious whine. “We were sleeping!”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Jonas sarcastically with an obvious roll of his eyes, “where are my manners? It’s rude of me to disturb my children while they’re sleeping in a train station like BUMS, isn’t it?!”
Blade quickly shook his head to jolt his mind to a more conscious state, which also ruffled out his feathers in a way that resembled an alarmed cockatoo. “Uhhh,” he began with a talon raised towards Jonas, “you’re not supposed to call ‘em bums, Dad. That’s rude. The proper term is Graduate Students.”
“Just get away from the damn platform!” commanded Jonas with the intensity and professionalism of his military background. As he kept his foreleg raised with a talon pointed directly towards the exit, he watched with a stern eye while the triplets quickly scurried away from the space and through the passengers like their lives depended on it. With a bitter groan, Jonas followed the three in tow through the crowded platform; unexpectedly; the General seemed to show the best behavior by actually saying “Excuse me” and “Sorry” whenever he bumped against somepony (which was fairly often).
When the triplets finally exited the platform area and entered the main lobby, they were greeted by the sight Angela, Troy, and Lyle all giving flat stares towards them. Even Tenor, who was leashed and sitting next to Troy, had his head tilted while looking up at the triplets. Blane tried to lean to the side to see past them and asked, “So, you guys get our luggage bags or what?”
“Your luggage?!” shouted Angela in an angered shriek that instantly shut Blane up. Her eyes narrowed on him and the other two like she was contemplating getting her belt. “Young men, what do you have to say for yourselves?!”
Blane looked between Blaze and Blade worriedly, none of them looking confident with any answer that came to their heads. Blaze was the first to try while he scratched his buzz-cutted head timidly. “Uhhh… can you be more specific?”
Jonas bent in from behind and bluntly yelled, “She’s talking about the dining car you destroyed!!”
“No we didn’t!” quickly retorted Blane as he whipped his head back to face his Father. “Technically, the train was destroyed by the oven blowing up, so all the blame should be on the cooks!” He soon realized how knowing that detail may have sounded, which prompted him to turn back to the rest of his family and add meekly, “Ummm, or so we heard from… sources?”
Troy’s brows furrowed in annoyance. “Guys, Lyle and I both saw you fly off after the explosion! What happened?!”
Blade was the first to answer with an exasperated sigh. “Well, the sign for the buffet clearly said ‘All You Can Eat,’ alright?! It’s not our bloody fault those guys didn’t keep their word!”
Lyle face-clawed with a deep sigh. “Dammit, how many buffets do we have to get banned from because of you guys?!”
Blane said with a bold tone, “Until we find one that’s HONEST, that’s when!”
“Oh, for crying out loud!” Jonas moved past the triplets while his patience grew thinner by the second. “We have three taxis with all our luggage waiting for us outside, and we already wasted enough of their time looking for you bozos!”
“Oi! What are you talkin’ about?!” shouted Blade with a hint of confusion in his voice. He pointed a talon back at the platform he and his brothers came from. “We waited by the train platform so you guys would see us as soon as you got off the bloody train! We were tryin’ to be convenient!”
The triplets watched as their family began to walk away alongside Jonas. All of them shouted back to the three at the same time, “You were in the wrong terminal!”
Blaze, Blade, and and Blane all stood silent momentarily. Before the three began to walk out of the lobby towards their cabs, they looked back at each other for some clarification. Blaze grew a disappointed glare up at Blane while walking. “Dude, you said that was where the train was gonna be!”
“No I didn’t!” shouted Blane back at him. He then pointed towards Blade. “He said that!”
Blade stopped quickly shot his claws up in defense. “I thought that was the right one! You can’t blame me for being distracted by those two graduate students fighting in the lobby!”
“GUYS!!!” bellowed Jonas from the distance.
By the time the triplets finally rushed out of the lobby, Canvas was finished tying his crates of artwork on top of the roof of one of the carriage cabs. When he turned and saw that the three were finally found, Canvas sighed and wiped his head with a hoof. “Thank goodness! We were starting to worry where you guys went!”
Despite Canvas’ chipper attitude, it seemed that Troy’s older brothers were too preoccupied with the sight of the Manehattan cityscape above them to respond. Much like when Troy and Lyle first came to the city last year, the triplets’ eyes were aimlessly scanning the massive buildings which wrapped around the tightly packed cobblestone streets. The spotless glass walls that covered each skyscraper seemed to soar endlessly to the morning skies, and all of them lead back down to the ground where hundreds of ponies could be seen wherever they looked; all of which were dressed immaculately in some form of clothing to help them stand out in such a densely packed and diverse city.
Needless to say, it was clear that this was anything unlike what they’ve seen back in the Gryphon Kingdom.
“Maaaaannn.” Even though Blade toured in regions of Equestria before with his band, he looked just as wide-eyed as his brothers when he saw just how huge and seamless Manehattan’s cityscape appeared while on the ground. “This is definitely makin’ Trottingham look kinda daft.”
Troy huffed with a smirk and asked him, “Does that mean you’ll stop with that stupid accent?”
“No.”
While Troy grumbled at Blade’s answer (and just how quickly the gryphon said it), Jonas tried to motion the triplets towards the cabs impatiently. “C’mon, c’mon, we need to get to the hotel! You guys already wasted enough of our time sleeping!”
“Okay, fine! Jeez!” griped Blaze as he was pushed to one of the taxis by his Father. “You need to take a friggin chill pill!”
“WHAT WAS THAT?” asked Jonas in an especially peeved tone.
Angela was quick enough to round up the triplets to their carriage and away from their Father while saying, “Let’s go, guys. We are NOT causing a scene in the first five minutes in Manehattan.”
While his older brothers were being begrudgingly lead towards their taxi, Troy sighed as he looked to see where Lyle was. Fortunately, one glance upward was enough to see the younger gryphon hovering about twenty feet in the air with his camera. Lyle kept a determined stare through the camera’s focus as he snapped several pictures down the middle of the Manehattan roadway.
“Hey, Lyle!” shouted Troy loud enough to catch his attention. “We’re about to head out, come on!”
“One second!” The black and white Gryphon swooped around to take a couple quick pictures of the other side of the roadway. Satisfied with his camera angles, Lyle smirked before quickly floating back down to the sidewalk. “Sorry about that,” he said while stuffing his camera back in his art bag. “I just wanted some good Manehattan shots for the comic guys.”
“Well, you can do that after you guys get checked in at the hotel.” Troy then gave his brother a quick hug before heading back to his and Canvas’ taxi with Tenor. “I gotta get ready for my audition, so I’ll see you guys later!”
Blade poked his head out of the carriage window to shout out, “Break a leg, Teddy Gryphon!”
Troy whipped his head around quickly enough to risk whiplash. His bitter scowl intensified when he heard the triplets cackling loudly from their cab.
Jonas blinked a couple times while looking confused. “Teddy what?”
“GAH!” Troy pulled at the feathers on his head in aggravation.
“Don’t listen to them, honey,” said Canvas as he nudged his fiancè from behind. “Bridleway should be on your mind right now.”
“Listen to the stallion,” said Angela insistently. Before Troy could disappear into his and Canvas’ carriage, the gryphoness went over to hug him reassuringly. She kissed him sweetly on the cheek and said, “Just try to have fun, alright? You already proved yourself good enough for a callback, so there’s no reason to get all tense.”
Despite still feeling a weight pulling himself down from within his chest, the gryphon still nodded meekly and returned a nuzzle to his Mom. “Th-thanks. I’m gonna need all the luck I--”
“Don’t say the ‘L’ word!” snapped Angela with a talon prodded against Troy’s feathered chest. “I know enough about theater to know that’ll jinx you.”
Troy scoffed a little, but that statement was still enough to make him smile a bit more wholeheartedly. “Well, thank you for that detail, Mom.”
Tenor, who was already seated in the carriage happily, barked several times in excitement. “Okay, I really gotta go!” said Troy as he and Canvas jumped into the carriage along with their puppy. “We’ll meet you for lunch!”
With the city of Manehattan currently in full swing in the morning hours, the three carriages were quick to leave the front of the train station. While Troy, Canvas, and Tenor rode off towards the Bridleway District, Jonas looked over at Lyle while seated between him and Angela in their own cab. “So,” began the General with a skewed brow, “would you mind telling me what that ‘Teddy’ thing is about?”
Troy was tapping his legs anxiously with both claws, hoping that doing this action while sitting would be less bothersome than if he started tapping his paws against the waiting room floor. The gryphon was seated beside his fiancè in a massive room that was just outside the theater’s main ballroom and stage. The carpet and cushions of the benches, along with the walls, all carried the same dark, almost blood red tone which gave the space a much more menacing tone than it probably intended. The wooden bench wrapped around the entire room, holding about a dozen other ponies who were either reading scripts or doing various breathing exercises. A couple of attractive stallions were performing stretches in the middle of the room, which made Troy contemplate doing something similar as a means to calm himself down.
Tenor, who was bombarded with ponies petting and scratching him as soon as he was brought to the waiting room, was now asleep in a small doggy bed on the bench next to Canvas. Even though he was worried that bringing their dog would’ve been a bad idea, Troy was actually quite glad they decided to do so; without having a puppy around to lighten the mood, the gryphon was sure that most of these theatrical ponies would be staring at him more than anything else. Although, Troy could’ve sworn that he saw a few stallions quickly turn their head away when he glanced around the room anxiously.
Canvas nudged him lightly from the side and whispered, “So, how are you feeling?”
“Well…” As he looked around the room, Troy exhaled worriedly and said, “right now, I really wish I wasn’t the only gryphon in this room.”
“Oh, don’t be so worried,” said Canvas confidently while nuzzling against him. “That just means you’ll stand out for the judges. It doesn’t hurt to get that kind of attention, you know.”
“Yeah, unless it’s for all the wrong reasons,” muttered Troy uncomfortably.
Canvas huffed through his nostrils sharply at his fiancè’s response. While he didn’t want to see Troy act this way before his big audition, he certainly couldn’t blame him for it either. So instead of continuing to give reassuring statements that would bounce off the gryphon like a rubber ball to a brick wall, the artist decided to do a different route. Canvas nestled in closer to Troy as he started looking around the room as well. “Hmmm… who do you think is the biggest competition?”
“Hm?” asked Troy in a puzzled manner when he looked down at his mate.
“Who do you think will be your biggest competition?” repeated the pony while glancing back up at Troy. Since the two were by one of the corners of the room, Canvas wasn’t that worried to ask his fiancè in a hushed tone of voice. “I saw you staring at everypony in here, so what do you think?”
Troy didn’t feel comfortable asking that kind of question, but he figured it would be better than just letting his thoughts continue piling on like backed luggage in an airship. So, the gryphon glanced around the room once more like a falcon who was scanning a field for it’s next meal. A lot of the ponies in this room looked quite eloquent with their meticulously-styled manes, posh postures, and nicely dressed choices of clothing. And given the fact that half of the stallions were seated closely to somepony else, Troy had a feeling that not many straight guys were in this room.
The Gryphon’s beak skewed a little as he peered around slowly. He finally nudged his stallion silently before notioning his head towards one. “Honestly,” he whispered, “that guy.”
Canvas looked in the direction Troy’s beak was pointed at, which was towards a fat stallion who was sitting by himself across the room. The pony had a dark purple coat with a brown mane, neither of which seemed to go with the lime green vest or blue cap he was wearing. He also donned a pair of headphones on while listening to something on a portable radio, thus making him unaware of anypony watching him. Due to the hat and vest, it was unclear what kind of pony he was.
“Really?” whispered Canvas curiously. His head tilted to the side as he pondered why Troy was more worried about him than anypony else.
“Well, think about it,” said Troy quietly back towards Canvas. “Most of the ponies in this room are really fit and stuff. Maybe that guy has a really good singing voice or something.”
Canvas thought that answer over, and shrugged with a pout as his brows raised slightly. “Huh. That’s actually a good point.”
The grand door to the theater opened, and a very exhausted orange pegasus stumbled out of the room while panting heavily. His fur was matted with sweat, showing that he decided to go the more athletic route with his audition performance. Troy’s ear tufts pulled downward a little in worry, and he silently pondered if he should do the same. Unlike the past audition, which was just rehearsing a small scene with an accompanying song from this show, this one was meant to showcase each participant’s best qualities. That meant they could do any scene, or any song, if they felt it was the best representation of who they are for the role.
Troy gulped nervously, and he was suddenly wondering whether his plan was as foolproof (or foalproof, as ponies put it) as he had originally thought. Nevertheless, a petite, tan, unicorn mare came out of the theater behind the auditionee while holding a clipboard with her magic. “Okay, ummm… Troius Clawston?”
The gryphon instantly froze up in a panic, and his claws dug into the bench’s cushion strongly enough to risk tearing up the velvet. Canvas rubbed a hoof against Troy’s back and whispered, “Troy, it’s going to be fine.” He then bent in to kiss his fiancè on the cheek, and said reassuredly, “Just do what you do best, alright? I’ll be proud of you no matter what.”
Even though he only froze for less than five seconds, Troy was able to get his body to move again as he nodded his head faintly. When the gryphon pulled himself off the bench, struggling to keep his limbs from shaking in apprehension, he saw a lot of the ponies in the room look towards him with looks of surprise and curiosity. Troy closed his eyes and took a quick breath, letting himself breathe out in a cool exhale before walking towards the mare. “Th-that’s me.”
Even though his heart was pounding in his chest like a jazz drum, Troy still walked through the theater doors in a silent and confident manner. As the doors closed, Canvas saw everypony looking around the room and whispering to one another. The artist’s ears perked up as he heard statements like, “Wait, the Gryphon is the one auditioning?!” and “Is this a new direction?!”
Even the chubby stallion took off his headphones after seeing Troy stand up, and shook his head as he said to himself, “Man, he’s gotta be good if he’s up for consideration.”
That made Canvas grow quite a giddy grin while sitting next to his pup.
Troy was already feeling flustered about this audition in the first place, but the fact that the aisle toward the stage was pitch black really didn’t help. Luckily, the massive lighting that illuminated the stage was enough to show enough of the walkway and the steps, so Troy was able to walk towards his destination without the fear of tripping over anything. The gryphon took a breath as he neared the stage, already aware of what he needed to do since his previous Bridleway audition. He didn’t turn to look at the table of ponies pointed at the stage, and he focused on just walking up to the polished hardwood floor that shone under the heavy stage lighting.
When he reached the ‘X’ mark on the center of the stage, Troy stood fully upright to face the muted darkness in front of him. He wasn’t able to see the casting ponies out in the sea of empty seats, so he had no idea where to look. Fortunately, he quickly saw the bulb of red light that was just to the left of his line of vision, which he recognized instantly. Instead of any of the casting ponies just telling someone to stop their performance, the red light would come on to do it silently.
Even though it was a simple system that worked, Troy had to wonder what the case was for any blind ponies who auditioned for Bridleway. But then again, he couldn’t think of a single blind pony in any of the shows--
“Mister Clawston?” asked a female voice from the wall of darkness in front of the gryphon.
“Y-Yes!” blurted Troy as his posture stiffened momentarily.
“Do you have your music prepared?”
Troy already knew the procedure, and nodded to the darkness. “Yes I do. I gave the sound guy my tape when I checked in.”
“Excellent. Just let us know when you’re ready and we’ll begin.”
Troy nodded a second time. The gryphon closed his eyes, and took several seconds to practice his breathing exercises. While it may have not been too long, that brief moment was just enough to get him to feel his heartbeat settle by a tiny bit. When he reopened his eyes, Troy looked upward slightly and put out his talon to motion the sound pony who was somewhere up top. In an instant, the red light turned off, and Troy heard his tape begin.
A simple piano melody started to play, which was soon accompanied by a beautiful orchestral section that went alongside it like fresh silk. Troy breathed in as he heard the music play, already knowing where to begin at hearing the song thousands of times before. For a millisecond, the gryphon could feel his throat seizing up just before his part. This happened to him several times before, and each one makes Troy’s heart race in terror at thinking he’s going to become silent as soon as he’s supposed to sing.
But after closing his eyes, just like every time before, the gryphon felt his voice come out right at the part he was supposed to sing. His eyes slowly opened as he began the first verse, letting the practiced words come out of his beak like it was as natural as breathing. Despite the lyrics being completely foreign to Troy, he still sang them with ease as he felt his confidence grow by the second.
By the time he finished the first section, letting the music take the lead once more, Troy didn’t feel a shred of anxiety or fear in his heart. His eyes stayed open with his beak pointed upward, and his voice belted out the next section with as much heart and dedication as he could muster. His heart may have been racing, but it was from the pure excitement and joy he was feeling from letting his voice be heard. Much like Canvas with his paintings, Troy could feel himself breaking free from his mental restraints as he continued the song, and felt the same kind of freedom he would’ve experienced when flying on the clearest day. The light still hasn’t come on, so the gryphon didn’t hesitate to finish the song with the same commitment he would’ve had back in his own home.
He had no idea what the ponies in front of him thought of his song, but he couldn’t have cared less by the time his track finished playing. When the orchestra and piano finally faded into silence, a smile came across Troy’s beak before the red light shone. He knew that he did his best, and the gryphon bowed his head thankfully to the blackened space in front of him. “Thank you.”
Unfortunately, that silence was interrupted by a loud and obnoxious chorus of “WOOOOOO’s” that bellowed out from the ceiling. Troy darted his head up to see an open window at the top of the theater, and he gasped at the sight of the triplets all perched on top with huge grins. The three started to pump their fists as they chanted “TROY! TROY! TROY! TROY! TROY!”
While he heard the casting ponies screaming for security, Troy rushed out of the theater as quickly as he could with his face as red as a beet.