The Life and Advantages of Being Famous

by capekall

Prologue: Preparation

She sat on an olive old sagging sofa, which must’ve stood there for ages. The smell was quite intense, but not really disturbing. It was kind of old, but not rotten or unpleasant. It was more like the old but enjoyable smell of grandma’s furniture. She didn’t know why, but somehow this sofa was comfortable for her in this situation, although it had squeaky springs, which pierced through the top fabric of the sofa.

The room was quite chaotic. On its rear side was a rack, which bristled under the bulk of useless items like pans with two grasps, or a flashing christmas tree stand. In the center was a black table with six chairs around it. The front right corner showed a small fridge, which contained nothing but cider and the walls were made of concrete. Some posters were up, to hide the grey bleak wall.

Everything looked worse than she had expected. In every movie, those rooms are bright and appealing, with large windows on one side. But all that casted light was the humming and flickering neon tube in the center of the ceiling. Sun was never seen inside these walls.

Although there were other ponies in the room, she felt quite lonely. Maybe it was because they didn’t care for each other. Everyone was minding his or her own business without noticing the others. Anyway, she felt like she was the only one who saw them.

The brown pony to her right, which sat on a small plastic chair - that fell out of the rack before - looked as dirty as the chair itself. The last time his mane had been washed must've been three years ago, or even longer.

Normally she would have started a conversation with anyone inside the room, but they all looked so scruffy that she didn’t even want to talk to them. Just one pony seemed to be neat and smart enough to be an appropriate conversation partner.

“It’s your turn, Amalia“ she heard a voice shouting from the next room.

The silver-coated mare with a blue and violet mane left the room.
'Okay! Fine. I won't talk to anyone then.' she thought.

The ash-grey pony thought about taking a cider to loosen up, but thought better of it quite fast. She was afraid she would make mistakes if the cider influenced her. She simply couldn’t disappoint the crowd. Not again! Just as she did when she was just a nine year old filly. Her thoughts went back to that day.

She was trying to be the narrator in an elementary school play. The whole show was just perfect. Everything went as expected, and everypony played their role great. Well… at least as great, as you can be as a nine year old filly. She sat in her armchair holding a gigantic book.

"Then he knelt down and began to dig"

Those were the last words she had to say. They were written in the book, so she could read them out. She repeated it multiple times in her head:
'Then he knelt down and began to dig. Then he knelt down and began to dig…'

She knew how important it was to pronounce these words right. It was the punchline of the play, which was about a little pony, which dreamed of reaching earth’s core, because it wants to know how it looks like. The story was sweet, though it had some serious undercurrent. And those last words showed that all your dreams could come true, if you just believe in yourself and try your best.

She knew the importance of her role, and she liked it in the first place, through the entire play as well. But now the pressure began to rise. What if she didn’t catch the right tone so everypony missed the punchline?

'Then he knelt down and began to dig'

The spotlight pointed at her and it was time to say the final words. The tone was just fine, but how could it be otherwise, her mouth twisted because of her nervousness and she said:
“Then he fell down and began to die”.

That sounded so rude, but in context of the play it actually was a little funny. Nopony knew why, but it was.
As the audience began to giggle she realized what she just said. And to make it worse, she fell down from her chair and the laughter began to grow.

She had just turned a serious play into a comedy show. While she realized this, the laughter was provided by clapping.

The enthusiastic crowd brought her mind back to the small room she just sat in.
No, it definitely wasn’t a good idea to take a cider right now. Instead she just wandered around the room, inspecting the posters on the wall. They showed some big artists, which had been here before. Not some small musicians like herself. Real prominent artists, like Nightshade.

She wondered whether Nightshade had had the same thoughts when she had been here. Was she drinking a cider, or straying through the room like she did? Or did she have better whereabouts, because she was famous? While she was wondering about all these questions, she stared at Nightshade’s poster. Her thoughts took control and sent her in a dream of being as famous as she was.

The curtain opened and the excited cheering crowd was expecting her, though nopony could see her yet. She jumped on the stage as the music started playing. Not a real song, just some background music to create some tension. Out of the blue, a beat pumping like a heartbeat came up and the lights flashed, so that the stage is flooded in lights. The crowd now seemed to be unstoppable. They screamed and shouted, as if there would be no tomorrow. As quick as the beat started, it stopped and the lights turned off again. The tensional music stayed. A few seconds later, the beat started and the lights flashed up again just to vanish like a bursted bubble. But this time, the music slowly faded into one of her songs. The crowd joined her singing and the whole stadium was filled with loud great music and satisfaction.

“Octavia, you’re on next”
The voice of the assistant woke Octavia from her trance.

"Break a leg," said a gentle voice from behind her. As she turned around, she saw the silvern mare coming back into the backstage room.

"Uh.. Thanks." Feeling a little guilty about not having wished the same to her, she started making her way to the stage. But it vanished quickly as the excitement and nervousness entered her body once again.

It was time for her soundcheck!

Author's Note:

Okay, this is the prologue of my first story.
I hope it isn't so bad, but please be critical. Say anything you want to say. Show me all my faults, and tell me what to do better next time :)
But: have fun reading it.

Comments

[Cynewulf]

Just a heads up! You might want to capitalize your title! People will often shy away from stories without proper capitals and such

The Life and Advantages of Being Famous

[capekall]

2324769
Oh thanks. :)
Forgot to do that.