“Are all the students ready?” Theresa asked Vinyl as she joined her and the headmistress on the teachers’ parking lot.

“Almost. They’re busy doing a last minute check on their instruments in the theater,” Vinyl explained casually. “When are the judges supposed to arrive?”

“They should be here any minute now,” Celeste replied calmly as she checked on her watch.

“Please tell me you’re not going to keep your hair like that,” Theresa asked slowly, pointing at the usual mess of spikes formed by the two-toned blue hair of the younger teacher.

“What’s wrong with my hair?” Vinyl asked back with a frown.

“You need to look your best. The school’s reputation is at stake.” Theresa explained as she pulled an hairclip from of her suit’s pockets. “Luckily, I came prepared.”

“What am I supposed to do with that hairclip?” Vinyl cocked an eyebrow at the Vice-principal.

“Style your hair in a bun,” Theresa replied casually as she put the hair clip in Vinyl’s hand. “You’d look more professional with one than with your usual style.”

“.... Not gonna happen, Theresa,” Vinyl let out after staring blankly at the metallic hair clip for a few seconds.

“Put that thing in your hair, Vincenza!” Theresa ordered with narrowed eyes. “Even the Headmistress did it with hers!” she added, pointing at Celeste’s four-colored hair styled in a very classy bun thanks to two long, golden needles.

“Yeah, well, the Headmistress is hot as hell with her hair like that,” Vinyl countered matter-of-factly.

“Thank you, my dear,” Celeste let out casually at the comment, her eyes still focused on the parking’s entrance.

“Maybe she is but it’s not about looking hot. It’s about looking professional!” Theresa explained angrily. “Which is already hard enough for you with the way you’re dressed today,” she added in a snarl.

“Hey, now! What’s wrong with my suit?!” Vinyl asked in an offended tone, waving the white suit Rarity had made for her. “It’s the classiest one that I have!”

“Also the tightest one you have,” Theresa muttered, pointing at the concerned region of Vinyl’s body.

“That’s sexual harassment!” Vinyl stated, pointing an accusatory finger at the Vice-principal.

“That’s not! I’m merely pointing out flaws in your attire that will make you look unprofessional!” Theresa explained sternly. “Like I’d do to any other member of the staff.”

“That’s still sexual harassment, besides you and I both know that you do not do that to any member of the staff,” Vinyl added slowly.

“Why the nerves of some people!” Theresa let out angrily. “Can you give one single time that happened?”

“It’s happening right now! You’re bitching at me about my suit but you’re saying nothing to the Headmistress.”

The Headmistress in question turned her gaze away from the parking’s entrance to cast a dubious stare at the music teacher.

“What’s wrong with the Headmistress’ choice of clothing?” Theresa asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Hello! Have you seen how tight her skirt is?” Vinyl asked as she waved in Celeste’s direction while still glaring at the Vice-Principal. “It’s as tight as my suit. Probably even more!”

“You’re exaggerating!!” Theresa replied with a shake of her head.

“I’m exaggerating?! The headmistress’ large butt is like an eye-magnet for all the men and quite possibly all the women as well in this school. Her tight pants and pencil skirts only reinforce that.”

“That’s propestrous!”

“Oh, don’t play the innocent with me, Theresa! I saw you look at it a couple of times when she was walking before you in the hallways,” Vinyl retorted with narrowed eyes. “Admit it!”

As a blushing Theresa denied having ever done that before starting a loud argument with the music teacher, Headmistress Heliopolis craned her neck to look at her backside. Feeling suddenly self-conscious, she brought her hands to each side of the fullest part of her hips. After pressing them against her skirt, she raised her hands back up to her waist level. The difference of girth between the two was quite striking, a lot more than what Celeste had previously thought.

“... And the Headmistress jacket is quite tight as well!” Vinyl nearly shouted to a scandalized Vice-Principal.

“How dare you compare Ms Heliopolis to you?! She doesn’t show her cleavage for all men to fall into it, unlike some other!” Theresa countered with a shout.

“Lady, I wear a top under my suit. I show no cleavage at all!” Vinyl retorted slowly, pointing at the black fabric under her suit’s jacket.

Ignoring the back and forth that followed this remark, Headmistress Heliopolis looked down at her chest, blushing in discomfort when she realized that her cleavage was a lot deeper than what she had imagined. Celeste closed the upper buttons of her shirt, a task that was proven far more difficult than planned. After closing two buttons, she noticed the strain her voluptuous figure caused on them. They would surely crack if she ever decided take a deep breath, so Celeste reluctantly opened them back while mentally noting to renew her stock of shirts.

“... Admit it, you’re just jealous of my bust, and that’s why you’re always picking on me!” Vinyl demanded the Vice-principal loudly.

“Oh my god! Did all your cell development go to your breasts?” Theresa asked back snappily. “First of all, I have no reasons to be jealous of you for that matter when the Headmistress has them big..AAAAAIIIIEEEE!!!”

“OW!OW!OW!” Vinyl let out at the same time as the pained Vice-principal before her.

Through the pain they were feeling, both women turned their gazes toward the person who was twisting their respective ears, finding a clearly fed-up Headmistress.

“While it was a bit fun at first, your little argument is now blowing out of proportions,” Celeste commented in a low threatening tone as she stopped twisting her employees earlobes. “Now, Theresa, if Vinyl doesn’t want to put her hair in a bun, let her do as she pleases. It’s part of the personality that makes her a good teacher, don’t you agree?”

“I ...Suppose I can agree to that, Madam,” Theresa let out a scared whisper before the headmistress turned her narrowed purple eyes toward the blue-haired teacher.

“Vincenza, you know that Theresa is pushy with you about protocol because she worries about the impact on your image, not just the school’s. Surely with your background, you can realize the importance of one’s image?” Celeste asked slowly.

“I...guess so,” Vinyl whispered sheepishly.

“Good! Now, I’m going to let go of your ears, you’re going to apologize to one another, and promise me that what just happened isn’t going to repeat itself today. Is that clear?” Celeste asked, tweaking the entrapped ears to prove how serious she was.

“...Crystal clear, boss,” Vinyl let out in a scared whispered.

“... Couldn’t be any clearer, Madam Headmistress” Theresa whimpered submissively.

“Good,” Celeste said calmly as she let go her employees’ ears, earning relieved sighs from both of them. “Now apologize to each other quickly: Our guests have arrived!” she turned back to the parking’s entrance, seeing a couple of cars driving through it. “Also, if you ever talk about my curves as if I’m not standing right next to you, I’ll destroy the both of you. Understood?” she asked in a low, threatening whisper while Theresa and Vinyl rubbed their sore earlobes after they apologized to one another.

“Duly noted,” Theresa nodded quickly.

“What she said.” Vinyl added slowly as the two black sedans came to a stop before all three of them. “Here we go,” she whispered to herself when the rear doors were being open.

Celestia’s Royal Academy theater, backstage, five minutes before the start of the auditions.

“Has anyone seen my headband?” Octavia asked while growling in frustration. She had been looking for it for the past five minutes.

“Huh...It’s on your head already,” Arietta replied uneasily, pointing at one of the large mirrors that had been installed backstage.

“Huh?!” Octavia twirled on her feet to look at her reflection. “Oh! Right.” she sheepishly let out when she noticed the headband was doing its job: keep her hair off her face during her performance. “Thanks, Arietta.”

“No problem!” Ari replied casually.

Once the last minute tuning of their respective instruments was done, all the students of the Class Pon-3 had been preoccupied with their appearance. Everyone was paying close attention to the smallest detail that could ruin the first impression the judges were going to have of them. As their teacher had told them, first impressions are often the last ones as well.

A few feet away from Octavia, Laura was helping Diana attaching her hair in a short, upward ponytail, while convincing the small blonde that this style looked really good on her. Beatrice, who was doing short breathing exercises in preparation of her audition, was mimicked by Arietta. Just next to them, Fiona was loosening up the joints of her bow-holding wrist under Viola’s watchful eyes. Nathan was keeping his fingers busy by rolling his plectrum through his knuckles while Henry and Harpo were checking that each other’s bow ties was well in place.

“Guys!” Frederic called softly from his watching point at the edge of the stage. “They’re coming in!”

Instantly after the words left his mouth, Frederic was almost pushed on stage by his ten classmates rushing behind him to have a glance at the judges. Ten discrete “sorry”’s addressed to the pianist later, eleven pairs of eyes turned to the three guests who were discussing with the Headmistress, the Vice-Principal and their Music teacher, who was, surprisingly enough, in a vivid conversation with one of the three judges.

“Tavia, you recognize the judges?” Laura asked in a curious tone.

“Only two!” Octavia replied slowly, pointing at the two judges who were talking to the Headmistress and the Vice-principal. “The oldest is Gerald Muller, the conductor of the Canterlot Symphony,” she explained as all gazes focused on the tall, white-haired man who was talking to Ms. Heliopolis. “The youngest is Benjamin Noteworthy. A former student of the C.R.A.C.. He’s now the mayor’s cultural advisor and the one officially in charge of the Gala’s organization.”

“Any idea on who the mustached guy is?” Nathan asked slowly, pointing at the last judge who was laughing discretely at something their teacher was saying. “The one who apparently knows Scratch.”

“Not a clue,” Octavia replied with a shrug.

“I think I’ve already seen him, but I can’t remember when or where,” Viola let out, frowning in intense focus.

“That’s Francis Patterson!” Ari stated after she managed to get a clearer look at the mustached man.

“Right!” Viola tapped her fist in her palm. “My father had been invited to a couple of his soirées in Manehatten.”

“Relative of yours, Henry?” Harpo asked casually to the drummer.

“If he is, then my family must be in bad terms with him for I have never heard of him before today.” Henry replied with a shrug. “Probably just a coincidence.”

“Doesn’t really tell us who he is though,” Fiona remarked slowly.

“He’s only one of the most influential philanthropists there is,” Arietta explained casually. “Any charity, any festival, any cultural event that is organized somewhere in our country and even beyond sometimes, you can be sure he’s got a little something to do with it.“

“How come Vinyl knows him?” Octavia asked curiously, earning a cocked eyebrow from Arietta at the use of the nickname for the teacher.

“Scratch’s best friend worked for him during a couple of years,” Arietta explained slowly. “Must have been in contact a few times. Also, the man’s known to be very easy to befriend.”

“Hey, they’re taking their seats!” Laura called as she witnessed the three judges sitting in the second row along with their Headmistress and Vice-Principal.

Tension rose backstage as Vinyl casually went to grab a set of microphones while the three judges were preparing themselves. After quickly explaining to her students that the judges would be calling for them alphabetically, Vinyl gave them one last encouragement before she walked off the stage. After she left, Beatrice, who was the first one to pass, started to shake nervously.

“Hey,” Frederic said gently, giving one of Beatrice’s trembling hands a gentle squeeze. “You’re going to be great. Relax.” he added before softly pecking the back of said hand.

“T...Thank you,” a flaming-red Beatrice replied in a stutter but she had indeed stopped shaking.

“Miss Beatrice Bluenote!” a man’s voice called through the speakers of the theater.

“Allright,” Beatrice whispered to herself before she grabbed her massive instrument. “See you all in a few,” she called calmly before she stepped on stage.

“Fred, what was that?” Harpo asked with a wide grin as he mimicked the pianist’s kiss on the hand. “Something we should know about?”

“Later!” Frederic snarled with a faint blush, ignoring the dozen of grins aimed in his direction to focus on Beatrice, who had just reached the center of the stage.

“Good Morning, sirs,” Beatrice sheepishly said to the judges, who replied in kind.

“Feeling nervous, Miss?” Mr Noteworthy asked with a warm smile.

“A little bit,” Beatrice admitted softly.

“It’s quite normal, my dear,” Mr Patterson commented softly.

“Whenever you feel ready to, you can begin, Miss Bluenote,” Maestro Muller let out in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Thank you,” Beatrice replied before a taking a deep breath.

Beatrice brought the mouthpiece of her tuba close to her lips. She bobbed her head a couple of times before she placed her lips against the brass instrument. A second later, she started to play.

Beatrice Bluenote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYOsNp4O7AU

At first, Beatrice’s playing was slow and gentle, not totally unlike Beatrice herself. The sounds of her brass instrument were soothing, and the judges all nodded with a small smile as they scribbled something on their respective notepads. Vinyl, who was sitting next to Mister Patterson, tried to get a look at what he was writing, while Theresa was trying to do the same with Mr Noteworthy. But their snooping was interrupted when Beatrice paused for one second.

The sudden change of pace in the music made everyone look straight at the tubist on stage. The young brunette had closed her eyes in deep focus as her right fingers danced over the valves of her instruments, not missing a single note of performance. Even Vinyl was surprised by how fast the notes were played despite knowing that Beatrice was quite at ease with fast-paced pieces.

Beatrice kept going, pausing the fast-paced moments of her piece with calmer, slower moments every now and then, before said piece came to an end with a long, high-pitched note. Only then, did she pull the mouthpiece away from her mouth to take a long breath. Her cheeks, already rosied by the effort, took a deep crimson shape when she heard the applause coming from the second row and backstage.

“It was very good, Miss Bluenote,” Maestro Muller called warmly.

“Thank you, Sir,” Beatrice said in a slightly hoarse voice as she bowed to the judges before going back backstage.

While the judges were commenting the performances among themselves, Beatrice was welcomed backstage by the quiet and sincere cheers of her comrades. Blushing profusely, she put her instrument back in its case before she let herself fall in Frederic’s embrace, earning even more excited cheers from her friends. As thumbs up and a few taps on the back were given to Frederic and Beatrice, Fiona checked that her scarf well in place.

“Miss Fiona Buckner-Smith!” Mr Noteworthy called through his microphone.

“Well, here Ah go!” Fiona said, facing Viola who was standing next to her. “Kiss for good luck?”

Viola simply rolled her eyes, then gently shoved her lover toward the stage, causing Fiona to chuckle playfully. She calmly made her way to the center of the stage to face the judges and the members of the school staff present. She noticed two of the judges scribbling something on the top of a new page of their notepad while Mr Patterson whispered something to her music teacher, which prompted said teacher to nod as she mouthed the word “yes”.

“Howdy, gentlemen,” Fiona called with a polite, short bow, smirking briefly during it when she heard the sounds of a facepalm from backstage.

“Howdy to you too, Miss,” Mr Patterson replied politely. “Whenever you want to start,” he invited her with a wave.

“Thank ya, Sir,” Fiona said with a nod before she readied her violin and her bow.

Fiona Buckner-Smith:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xmg0uVsPpk

Her first notes were soft as she rocked from left to right in rhythm with the movement of her bow. Theresa smiled softly at the good performance of the southerner, leaning to her right to whisper something to the Headmistress. She never got the chance to though, as the headmistress was waving her fingers, and rocking her head to the music with her eyes closed.

Fiona observed the rest of audience as she kept playing: the three judges were whispering among themselves while taking notes about her performance while her music teacher was focused on her, a proud smile on her face. She also spotted the thumb of her teacher pointing in the judges direction before pointing upward. Grinning from ear to ear in her mind, Fiona played one last soothing note, twisting her body to look at the backstage. Her friends seemed impressed by her performance but it wasn’t their reactions she was interested in. Her eyes fell on Viola’s tearful ones, her performance clearly had moved her lover.

Ah ain’t done yet. She thought, casting a wink at her lover, who clearly had seen it. Now that the technicality bit is done, time for some real music!

“That was really ni….” Maestro Muller started before quicker notes rang through the theater, interrupting him instantly.

Back in the second row, Vinyl smiled happily as Fiona started to make her bow dance across the strings while she was almost dancing across the stage. While surprised at first, Mr Patterson and Mr Noteworthy quickly found themselves tapping the fast rhythm of the violinist’s playing on their notepad with their ballpens. The headmistress and the Vice-principal, for their parts, were busy clapping to the music along with all the students backstage. The only one who seemed a bit put out by the second verse of Fiona was Maestro Muller, though that was mostly because he had been interrupted, and he quickly joined the audience’s rhythmic clapping. Fiona’s piece was quite catchy, even by his standards.

Soon after, her performance ended with the cheerful applauses of the sixteen people watching her. Fiona deeply bowed to the judges and teachers, before thanking them for listening to her, and slowly making her way backstage. Before any of her classmates could compliment her on her performance, Fiona was yanked by the scarf by a very into-it Viola, who decided to compliment her in the best way she could think of: a long and very passionate make-out session.

“Miss Laura Hart!” Mr Noteworthy called warmly.

“And I’m missing out on the girl-on-girl action again!” Laura falsely complained with a chuckle as she picked a stool and her lyre up.

“I wouldn’t worry if I were you,” Diana playfully remarked while she took Fiona’s violin in her grip, thus allowing its owner to pull her lover even closer. “I think they’ll still be busy by the time you’re done.”

“One can only hope,” Laura let out with a sigh.

As Fiona gave the rest of the backstage area the finger, her lips firmly glued to Viola’s, the rest of the class merely laughed at the gesture before they all focused their attention on the lyrist who had placed her stool in the middle of the stage. After a brief hello to the judges, Laura sat on it and positioned the bottom of her lyre against her right inner thigh. Then she began to play.

Laura Hart:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHmPNtdSGC0

While the three judges seemed happy at the professionalism in Laura’s playing, the three teachers were more than surprised by it. Even if Vinyl had seen it many times already, it would still surprise her. They knew they could expect much from Laura but a peaceful melody totally in contradiction with her personality wasn’t something they expected. Then again, Laura’s choice for her instrument was a contradiction to her personality to begin with.

Celeste was the first amongst the school staff members to recover from the shock, due to her being more used to Laura’s contradictory life as a C.R.A.C. student. The young musician had been an oddball for as long as Celeste could remember. The file from Laura’s former school was accompanied with a note from the school’s psychologist. Said note claimed that Laura suffered from ADHD, and that it would probably be impossible for her to ever make it in a high-standards school like the C.R.A.C.. For a while, Celeste thought that the psychologist had been right as Laura kept getting distracted during classes, and she was a real nightmare to handle for all her teachers during her first six months at school. Then, Selene returned from her sabbatical year and started teaching again.

Look at her now. Celeste thought with pride as she watched Laura finish her piece in poised professionalism. Selene, you did a wonderful job with her…

Under the polite applauses of her friends and her audience, Laura bowed gracefully before she cast a brief glance at Diana, who waved her hand down a couple of times in response. Nodding to her friend, Laura bid the judges a good day before leaving the stage and the stool she had brought behind her. As she walked up to her best friend’s side, Laura smiled casually before she passed her free arm around the diminutive blonde’s shoulders.

“I tranquilized the judges, Muffin,” Laura stated casually. “You can wow them awake now!”

“Oh, shut up!” Diana rolled her eyes before she nudged her friend’s ribs with her elbow. “I’m probably not gonna wow any...OUCH!!!” she let out, jerking away from Laura, holding her side. “What was that for?”

“Your mom said that whenever you feel down I should pinch your confidence awake,” Laura explained casually as Mr Patterson called Diana on stage.

“Do you think that it’s going to be helpful?” Diana snapped as she picked her instrument from its case.

“No, I just promised your mom to do so but I think what’s about to happen will be a lot more helpful,” Laura explained casually as she pushed Diana toward the stage area.

As the small flautist was about to leave backstage, she received final words of encouragement from the rest of her classmates. When Nathan assured her she was going to be even better than during Nightmare Night after he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, Diana turned bright red until she came into the judges’ view. It wasn’t about wowing the judges anymore for Diana, and this prompted Ari and Laura to bump their fists together before pulling away while opening their hands to mimic an explosion.

“You can start, Miss Hoovet,” Maestro Muller called after Diana took place on the stool Laura had left on stage.

Diana let out a brief sigh as she loosened her fingers up one last time. She pulled a few stray strands of hair out of her face. Then she brought the lip plate of her piccolo to her lips. She strummed on the keys of her instrument as she took the breath she needed to start playing.

Diana Hoovet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DINpTAlinfU

“I knew she could do it,” Arietta commented in a whisper as the judges smiled appreciatively to Diana’s music.

“The only one who didn’t was her,” Laura remarked with a shrug, bobbing her head right and left to Diana’s music. “Maybe now, Little Miss Muffin will also see that she’s more than ready to play with the big boys…Or at least with the big boy that matters for her.” she added, grinning wolfishly at Nathan’s back.

“Hehehe!” Ari giggled softly in response as she eyed the concerned big boy. “He seems to be more attentive than the others,” she commented slowly, witnessing that the tall guitarist’s eyes never looking away from the diminutive flautist. “Or is it just me?”

“Kinda hard to tell with him,” Laura whispered slowly. “Unlike the rest of our boys, Nathan’s actually good at hiding his feelings. Add that to the fact that Muffin is quite successfully secretive when he’s around, and here we are: not knowing if it’s mutual attraction between them.”

“I see…” Ari let out while rubbing her chin pensively. “I think we’re going to have to call some help to get those two together….”

“I have meetings with her Mom on Friday evenings when Diana goes to her kung-fu practices.” Laura explained the pinkette in a whisper. “I’ll tell her that you’re willing to work on project Shipping Muffin!”

“Cool…”

“What are ya two talkin’ about?” Fiona asked curiously as Diana finished her piece, prompting her audience to start applauding.

“Nothing!” Laura and Arietta let out in a casual, yet simultaneous reply as Diana bowed to the judges.

After the three guests invited her to leave the stage, Diana went backstage with her instrument and her stool. As the “well done!”s from her classmates rained down on her, Diana’s ears turned dark crimson not long before her face followed suite. Though that last part had happened mostly because of Nathan initiating a group hug for the small flautist. No one had the time to question whether her blush was because of the tall blond, or because of the whole class’ sweet reward for overcoming her well-known stage fright, as Frederic was called on stage just a second before they all broke apart from one another.

“All right, it’s my turn now,” Frederic let out with a sigh while Nathan and Harpo pushed the grand piano on stage just like planned.

“You’re going to be excellent, Frederic,” Beatrice whispered in encouragement before shocking everyone still backstage by actually giving the pianist a brief kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you, Beatrice,” Frederic whispered back, his cheeks reddening a little bit at the affectionate gesture, before he walked on stage.

As they had planned before the auditions started, Frederic arrived in the center of the stage at the same time as his instrument. He swiftly helped Nathan and Harpo with locking the wheels and setting the stool correctly before his two helpers mouthed him the words “good luck” as they thumbed him up while going back backstage. Once the usual pleasantries were exchanged between him and the three judges, Frederic took a seat at his instrument before he placed his hands over the ivory keys.

Frederic Horzowski:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYo9jEU_fGw

As the melody of the piano filled the theater, Vinyl clearly noticed the changes in Frederic’s playing. It wasn’t that he had gotten essentially better since she had started teaching at the C.R.A.C. -Frederic was already an excellent pianist to begin with. His posture and attitude had greatly changed. That was what brought a smile on teacher’s face.

Whereas he used to play like a he had a lamppost for a spine and a yoke so massive that he couldn’t even turn his head, now Frederic let his body follow the dance his hands were doing across the black and white keys. It wasn’t noticeable enough for him to look like a heavy metal pianist. For the trained eyes and ears of the judges it was obvious he was more relaxed when playing, and it only made him sound much better than he already used to. Maestro Muller seemed particularly happy with Frederic’s performance, if the excited movements of his pen witnessed by Theresa across his notepad were of any indication. Meanwhile, Beatrice observed the pianist’s performance with an even greater dedication than what she used to. A detail that didn’t go unnoticed by her closest female friends.

“Is there something you’d like to tell us, Beatrice?” Octavia asked with a knowing grin.

“Huh-huh...” Beatrice let out softly, her gaze focused on the pianist in action.

“Something about Frederic?” Viola asked in the tubist’s ear.

“Huh-huh…”

“I don’t think she’s listening to us,” Diana let out casually.

“One way to find out,” Arietta stated with a shrug. “Laura, say something gross.”

“How gross do you want that something to be?” Laura asked curiously.

“Beatrice’s level of gross,” Fiona explained matter-of-factly, earning nods of approval from the other girls.

“Hmmmmmm…. Bea, I saw Frederic making out with Henry Saturday afternoon at the park,” Laura stated calmly to the focused brunette.

“WHAA...” Henry nearly shouted as Nathan placed his hand over the drummer’s offended mouth.

“Huh-huh….” Beatrice answered with a nod as Frederic finished his piece.

“Nope! She wasn’t listening to us at all!” Laura declared with a chuckle as they all started to applaud their classmate, Beatrice being the most enthusiastic of all.

After waiting politely for the applauses to stop, Nathan and Henry, who had kept glaring daggers at Laura since her remark, went on stage to help Frederic push the piano back to its original place: out of the judges’ field of vision. Once the wheeled instrument was secured in its spot, Frederic turned to the rest of his comrades just in time to see Beatrice beaming at him.

Grinning happily, Frederic calmly walked to her side, prompting a very quiet murmur that he was the only to have heard. His smile widened a bit, and he reached for one of her hands as Viola was called on stage. Ignoring the few remarks and questioning glances thrown at them, the pair entwined their fingers together as they looked at the stage’s general direction while Viola kneeled down next to her violin case. Once her instrument and her bow were firmly secured in her hands, the violinist stood up to go on stage.

“Hey,” Fiona called softly just before her lover reached the visible part of the stage.

“Fiona, no, I don’t need a kiss for good luck,” Viola retorted playfully as she looked at the other violinist of her class. “Is that what you wanted to ask me?”

“Yes,” Fiona replied calmly as she brushed the back of her fingers against Viola’s smooth cheek. “Ah know ya need some sugar before a performance, and Ah hid the cereal bar ya kept in the pocket of yer jacket.”

“.... Quite mischievous of you, Dear,” Viola replied sternly before she leaned forward to brush her lips against her girlfriend’s for the blink of an eye. “... I like it.” She purred with a wink before professionally walking toward the center of the stage.

“It’s at times like this that I don’t get how fast you two changed with one another,” Laura let out in confusion while Viola chatted with the judges. “I miss the good old days when you’d claw at one another.”

“Who said we don’t do that anymore?” Fiona asked with triumphant smirk.

“.......I’m extremely jealous and proud of you at the same time for what you just said,” Laura replied after a second silence just before the other girls nudged them to look at Viola’s performance.

Viola Krauss:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wznQQv1IOW4

As soon as the first notes rang through the theater, Maestro Muller stirred on his seat to observe the curly-haired violinist closely. An orchestra conductor through and through, there were certain pieces that always caught more of his attention than others. Viola’s choice for the audition was one of those. A piece he had worked on with many musicians during his life, therefore Maestro Muller would be very critical about the young girl’s performance.

While Muller cast an almost predatory gaze at the focused violinist, Benjamin Noteworthy turned toward Mr. Patterson to ask him if he knew which piece Viola was playing. Despite graduating from this school’s musical program, Benjamin had lost most of his touch when it came to music due to his function as the Mayor’s cultural advisor. The piece was familiar to him but he couldn’t put a name to it. Mr. Patterson calmly answered his question, ignoring the low condescending ’humph’ from the conductor aimed at the youngest judge sitting to his left.

As the bow danced against the strings, Fiona watched all its movements with a much greater attention than her comrades. They were precise, swift and lacked all the extra flourish Fiona had put in her own performance. That was exactly what Fiona admired the most in her girlfriend’s playing, even if that used to be one of the causes of her past jealousy of the curly-haired violinist. Viola’s calm professionalism was something Fiona looked up to. She wasn’t just playing the notes of her pieces, despite the southerner’s past claims of the opposite. Viola had always managed to let the emotions of a piece run free once she was comfortable enough with it, all while looking collected, poised, dignified, elegant… In short, watching Viola playing was the most peaceful and beautiful thing Fiona had ever laid her eyes on, even if it took her years to admit it.

After Viola bowed to the applauding judges and teachers, she walked to her violin case, which laid on a table just next to Fiona. Once her instrument secured in the protective leather, Viola felt two arms wrapping her arms and barrel gently. Two arms she recognized instantly. She relaxed into Fiona’s embrace while her lover slowly and softly caressed her both her arms. Viola sighed happily as Fiona graced her temple with a brief and chaste kiss.

“..... You know, I was kinda expecting a more grandiloquent after-performance from Viola,” Diana whispered discretely to the other girls as they watched the two violinists silently enjoying each other’s proximity.

“We were all kinda expecting her to date some popular rich boy, probably the son of one of her dad’s fellow judges or lawyers, and look at her now,” Laura let out in response, waving at the hugging pair.

“I wasn’t,” Ari commented matter-of-factly.

“You can only say that because you didn’t know how they were before they got together,” Octavia retorted calmly.

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” Ari waved off as she picked up her traverse flute after hearing the judges calling for her on stage. “Be right back!”

“She’s so innocent about certain things,” Beatrice commented softly as they watched the pinkette introducing herself on stage.

“It’s weird that you’re the one saying that, Bea,” Octavia stated matter-of-factly.

“What do you mean by that?” Beatrice asked in confusion.

“Nothing,” Diana, Laura and Octavia replied in one breath.

“Let’s just watch Arietta’s audition,” Frederic suggested while diverting Beatrice’s gaze from her friends to the stage.

“Seriously, what did she mean by that?” Beatrice asked again in puzzlement, only to have Frederic pointing at Ari, who brought the lip plate close to her mouth.

Arietta Lafleur:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz40f_geQRo

“Wow!” Laura let out in surprise as the fast-paced notes escaped Ari’s flute. “She’s fast.”

“Indeed she is,” Octavia added, impressed by Ari’s quick playing.

She wasn’t the only one impressed: all her classmates were. While they had heard her play during their rehearsals in class with Vinyl, Arietta clearly hadn’t showed them all what she could do. Octavia took a discrete look at the six-person strong audience. The same surprised, yet approving looks as her friends’ were visible on the Headmistress and the Vice-principal’s faces but not Vinyl’s. Vinyl’s face showed the similar impressionability as the judges’ but there was even less surprise on her expression than on theirs.

Figured as much…. She knew Arietta before, so she probably also knew that she was good with her flute. Octavia thought as she watched Vinyl calmly tap the rhythm of Ari’s piece on her temple with her finger.

Octavia saw Mr. Patterson lean his head toward Vinyl to ask her something with a confused and curious expression on his face. The fact that Vinyl stopped tapping the rhythm of the music just after he finished talking made Octavia realize that he was probably asking about Arietta’s family. Seeing Vinyl rub her eyes with a sigh before saying a few words back to Mr. Patterson only confirmed her hypothesis. As Octavia remembered Vinyl’s past with Ari’s older brother, sighing shortly, Mr. Patterson warmly tapped Vinyl’s shoulder in a comforting manner before watching back Ari’s performance attentively.

A couple of minutes later, Ari pulled her lips away from her instrument, slightly out of breath and with her cheeks rosied by the effort, before she bowed to the six people in the audience under a dozen of applauses. With a satisfied smile, she headed backstage whereas she let herself fall ungracefully on a chair as soon as she couldn’t be seen by the judges. Before anyone could react, Beatrice had left Frederic’s side to give her one of the bottles of water they had brought. Ari accepted it without any second thoughts and chugged a good half of it in one go.

“AAAAAAAAHHHH!” Ari let out happily as pulled her lips away from the bottle’s neck. “Thank you. I needed that.”

“I could tell,” Beatrice said gently. “Though, I’d say you’re lucky they’re not asking for an encore.”

“... You’re right,” Ari replied in an exhausted tone. “I aimed a little too big with this one.”

“What do you mean? You were great!” Laura commented cheerfully, earning mumbles of approval from the other students.

“She doesn’t have enough breath for a piece like the one she played,” Beatrice commented slowly. “Or, more specifically, not enough breath to be comfortable with it.”

“What she said,” Ari whispered before chugging the other half of her water down. “Last time I try to show off like that…. Too risky.”

“All winners are part of those who took the risk to fail,” Octavia reminded wisdomly.

“....That’s actually a pretty good saying,” Arietta commented slowly in a sincere tone after moving her empty bottle away from her mouth. “Where does it come from?”

“I learned it from Scratch,” Octavia replied matter-of-factly.

“...Huh… Surprising,” Arietta whispered softly more to herself than to Octavia, who had looked away from the out-of-breath pinkette after hearing Nathan being called on stage.

Nathan stopped leaning against the wall to head for the open case in which laid his acoustic guitar. On his way he rolled both his wrists while rapidly opening and closing his hands. Then he brought his hands together, alternatively tightening his hold on each of them, all while slowly walking towards his instrument. He let out a short sigh before he clapped his cheeks strongly before slamming his palms against the muscular chest contained by his uniform. Nathan leaned forward to pick up his guitar, before heading toward the center of the stage, oblivious to that fact that Diana had slightly started to tilt her head to the side when he had bent over.

“Too obvious, Muffin!” Laura whispered playfully as she pulled Diana’s flustered head straight on her shoulders.

“What the heck did he do that for?” Arietta asked in confusion.

“That’s just his pre-game ritual,” Fiona explained casually, prompting all gazes to briefly turn in her direction. “He always did that when’ver he played a match back when he was in the football team.”

“Well this is not a football game,” Viola remarked slowly from her spot in Fiona’s embrace.

“The game changed. The ritual not so much,” Fiona commented matter-of-factly. “That’s how he calms down before a performance. It’s still less weird than that massage of toes thingy ya did this mornin’ fer good luck,” she added with a playful smirk, causing the cheeks of the violinist in her arms to become bright red.

“Shhhhh!” Diana chastised sternly before Viola could retort something to her snickering classmates. “He’s about to start his audition!” She added firmly just as Nathan began to play.

Nathan Meadow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUPx42UmSng

Low, soothing notes soon filled the theater under sixteen pairs of attentive eyes. Three of those slowly but surely focused on the notepads their owners were having on their laps. A cerise pair glinted with pride while another violet one were filled with calm awe. Nine others kept on watching with approval and a faint admiration at the tall musician’s performance. In the last pair of eyes shone something bigger than admiration as their owner let out a brief sigh.

“Not that watching you be the love-sick puppy girl isn’t funny but don’t you think that you should just ask him out already?” Laura whispered in Diana’s ear after sneaking up on her. “It’s not wrong for the girl to make the first step you know…”

“Shhhhh! I’m listening!” Diana chastised as her elbow dug in Laura’s stomach as a reflex.

“.........” Laura kept her lips pinched together as she took a few steps back from her diminutive best friend.

“Laura, you should know better than to put your nose in Diana’s love life, especially since you told us all at the beginning of the year.” Octavia reminded in a whisper. “So stop acting offended about it.”

“I’m not offended,” Laura whispered back in a high pitched tone. “I’m hurting…” she specified before she leaned forward while holding her stomach, prompting Henry, who was standing the closest to her, to help her sit down on a nearby chair.

“Aren’t you exaggerating a bit?” Henry asked with a cocked eyebrow. “She barely touched you.”

“.....Why don’t you just go provoke her and see if that doesn’t hurt like hell?” Laura asked back snappily.

“Maybe I will!” Henry let out in a confident bravado as he walked toward the small flautist who turned around just after he took a single step in her direction.

“SHHHHHH!” Diana sternly demanded with her forefinger on her lips while casting a hard, golden glare at the drummer.

“......... Maybe not,” Henry whispered as quietly as possible at the same time as Diana’s attention went back on Nathan.

While Laura mouthed silently the word “wimp” at Henry, the rest of the class Pon-3 held back their mocking chuckles or simply rolled their eyes at the scene. Soon after, Nathan had finished his solo, something that granted him polite but vigorous applauses, Diana’s being the more intense of them all. He thanked the judges and the teachers with a bow for having listened to his audition and went back backstage, where he was received with approving nods and congratulatory calls or taps on the back.

“....Hum...You were pretty good,” Diana complimented sheepishly from behind Nathan as the guitar player set his instrument back in its case.

“Thanks,” Nathan replied with a smile as he looked up to her. “Then again, we all did well so far,” he added, knocking on one of the wall’s wooden beam several times.

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t do that much,” Diana whispered with a sigh.

“Actually, the performance I enjoyed listening to the most was yours,” Nathan commented softly.

“......R.Really?” Diana stammered with a growing blush, oblivious to Laura and Arietta bumping their fists together from the shadows.

“Mr. Hars..Harshordan...Harsha…. How do you pronounce that, Gerard?” Mr. Noteworthy’s voice asked loudly through the theater, as he showed the list of students to the conductor, interrupting all the conversations backstage.

“Hmmmmm… Harshavodan.. Pariss Na.” the maestro called in a hesitant voice before a growl of annoyance well known by all the students interrupted them.

“Gentlemen, please! It’s not that hard!” The Vice-Principal chastised the two judges snappily. “Mr. Harshavardhan Parish Nabarunmandhu, could you please get ready on stage?”

At the correct pronunciation of his name, Harpo adjusted his bow tie, and waved at Nathan and Frederic to come help him. With the help of the two blonds, the harpist set his heavy instrument on stage along with a stool. Once all was set, Frederic and Nathan quickly went backstage as Harpo introduced himself to judges, who had just apologized for butchering his name. After assuring them it wasn’t a problem, and that it happened very often, Harpo sat down behind his pedal harp. He took a deep breath, and he plucked the first string of his piece.

Harshavardhan Parish Nabarunmandhu:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VLDpztb7VU

Soon after, his fingers were dancing across the strings of his harp, filling the theater with a soothing melody. All of Harpo’s classmates started to gently move their head right and left to the delicate notes with their eyes closed, as if in trance. At some point during Harpo’s performance, Octavia opened her eyes to have a glance at the judges.

At first she spotted Headmistress Heliopolis absently waving her finger in the air, as if it was a wand, and that she was the conductor of a one-man orchestra. Next to the tall headmistress, the Vice-principal was busy scribbling something on the notepad she always carried around. The fact that was she keeping her eyes on the harpist with a relaxed, happy expression on her face made Octavia seriously doubt of the worth of what Miss Sedgwick was writing, if she was even writing at all.

Once her attention was on the actual conductor, Octavia noticed that, while he wasn’t entranced like the two teachers to his right, he was at the very least interested in Harpo’s playing. Thanks to her father and her previous performances at the Grand Gala, Octavia had come to know the conductor a little bit. Thus she knew that he was a fairly big fan of stringed instruments. Of course, she didn’t share that detail with her friends to not stress them over that little detail. Maestro Muller was a professional conductor after all: he wouldn’t let his fancy take over his knowledge at forming and leading an ensemble. He was also only one of the three judges. The final decision on who to pick for the gala was not his alone.

Octavia’s gaze wandered to the right, finding Mr. Noteworthy watching Harpo attentively as his pen twirled in his fingers. He kept his face relatively impassible before he stopped his pen in the proper writing position, and lowered it to his notepad. Octavia kept watching for a few seconds but the younger judge didn’t seem about to raise his head from his notes again.

Finally, she looked in Mr. Patterson’s direction, only to see him just like the other times she had glanced at him. He was comfortably installed on his chair, his hands joined over his stomach, with his two thumbs bumping into each other to the rhythm of the music, only looking away from the stage to ask a question or two in a whisper to the blue-haired teacher next to him, barely for a few seconds. Unlike the other two judges, the mustachioed gentleman only took notes about the musicians after they were done auditioning.

Finally, Octavia was about to gauge Vinyl’s reactions to Harpo’s music just when said music came to a stop. Her instant of confusion was cleared away by polite applauses for the young harpist. She had been so focused on the judges that she hadn’t realized that Harpo’s audition was over. Octavia quickly joined the applauding group as Harpo bowed his head to judges before Nathan went to help him pull his instrument away. The judges, who had been briefed about Henry’s instrument, called that he could already start installing his drums while they were finalizing their notes on Harpo’s auditions.

At the same time as Nathan and Harpo pulled the latter’s instrument in, Frederic, Henry, Fiona and Diana rushed on stage, each of them pushing one of the four kettledrums needed for the next audition. Henry quickly placed the largest drum just before the stool Harpo had left in the center of the stage. He oriented so that wheels’ brakes and the drum’s pedal were facing the stool before locking the formers down. With the help of his three classmates, it only took less than a minute for him to set the four timpani in half a circle around him.

“That was quite a fast setting,” Maestro Muller commented with an approving nod as Henry’s helpers promptly left the stage. “Whenever you’re ready, young man.”

“Thank you, sir,” Henry replied with a polite bow as he took place on the stool.

Henry moved the stool a little closer to the center of the half-circle formed by his timpanis before he reached for the pair of mallets that were in the holster he had installed on the largest drum’s wheeled leg. He swallowed his spit nervously, only to sigh with a relative calm as he spun the mallets one time in his hands. Then he started to play.

Henry Patterson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgcMG4EijSo

Soon after he started playing, the rhythm of his drums took over his audience’s bodies. While some were discrete and graceful while doing so, like Octavia and Viola who were just gently tapping their foot on the floor like civilized people, others chose to act like a bunch of degenerate baboons, like Laura and Arietta who were trying to mimic Henry’s drumming in the air while frantically shaking their heads for no real reasons. Seeing them like that had almost prompted Octavia into letting them know that even the former wild DJ that was their teacher was behaving.

Though that was before Octavia remembered how Vinyl often acted whenever she was lost in her headphones. While the violent bouncing of certain parts of her teacher’s anatomy was certainly a happy memory for the young cellist, she realized that Vinyl was most certainly forcing herself to act professional. Vinyl had always loved a catchy beat, and that was what Henry did best.

Whenever Henry started playing, they would all follow his pace. It was one of strongest qualities as a drummer whenever they rehearsed together as an ensemble, or as a band -Vinyl prefered they used the latter. He would set the rhythm, and they would follow it no matter what. Despite how he often jokingly complained that the others would order him around or that he was the lackey of the group, there was no denying that he was the driving force of their class whenever a group performance was required.

The deep rumblings of Henry’s timpani came to a stop all too quickly for some people in his audience, if Laura’s long, plaintful sigh was of any indication. He raised his hands from the drums’ plane surface, which he had put to stop his music faster than by simply waiting for it, Henry sighed in relief and stood up to bow at the judges who were applauding him with a certain enthusiasm. After a final compliment from his namesake, Henry unlocked the brakes of his kettledrums just in time for them to be brought backstage by the same three helpers as before.

“Miss Octavia Philharmonica!” all the students heard after Henry’s congratulatory cheers from his classmates when he went backstage with his last drum.

Here we go…. Octavia thought in a slightly worried tone as she picked her wooden instrument and her bow from her case.

On her way to the center of the stage, Octavia smiled warmly at the encouragements her friends were giving her. Sadly, the warmth of her smile was absent in her mind, as stress poked its way through it. As talented as she was in her craft, Octavia had always suffered from the fear of failure. She hadn’t told anybody about that yet but what drove her forward in her skill with a cello was her will to make her father proud and, most importantly, to make him forget a little.

It was a bit after her mother’s death that Octavia started to really get into playing the cello. It had been hard at first but she kept practicing for insanely long periods of time whenever her father was away from home. When she played her first piece for him, Vito had smiled for the first time in the months that followed his wife’s death. He had told her that he was very proud of her and since that day, Octavia had taken it upon herself to excel in everything she would start — school, cello, motorcycling— all for her father to keep on smiling.

As the tension built itself up inside of her, Octavia calmly saluted the judges and took place on the stool. As she readied her cello and bow, the young cellist scanned the six-person audience in front of her. Her heartbeats became a bit erratic at the thought of missing a note in front of the three important figures of this year’s Gala but then her gaze fell on Vinyl.

The young teacher had leaned forward to rest her arms on the back of the seat before her, placing her chin on her joined hands, her cerise eyes focused on Octavia. The young cellist locked eyes with the teacher before the left eyelid covered the magenta iris for barely more than half a second. Then she saw Vinyl’s lips faintly smile at her and Octavia’s stress was banished deep inside her mind to be replaced by the happy feelings related to her secret lover. Someone with a lesser self-control than Octavia would have probably blushed like a love-sick schoolgirl, which was ironically exactly how Octavia was feeling right now.

Calmly and professionally, Octavia brought her bow-holding closer to the chords of her cello. She plucked one of them one time and then another, producing two sounds closer to the ones produced by a guitar than by a cello. Octavia positioned her bow across the strings, and closed her eyes as she remembered one of the very few, relatively deep, quotes Vinyl had said in class.

And so, Octavia followed Vinyl’s advice. By the time she would be done, Octavia would have realized that once again, her former DJ of a teacher had been right all along, even if she had been the only to have understood what Vinyl had said back then.

Octavia Philharmonica:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qRn8UyHogA

Author's Notes:

And Finally the auditions are done. But now, the three judges needs to pick five young musicians for the GALA.
How are they going to decide, I'm asking you.... Please don't skip that link, it's important :p

Anyway, I hope you liked it.

Don't hesitate to comment, and tell me if you liked the music choices. (Thanks to Royal Rainbow to help me pick them.)

Also a huge thank you to my editing/proofreading team : Royal Rainbow, Xhoral1865, & Cyanhide

Mariacheat-Brony

PS: I started a Patreon page for my MLP fan fiction writing,
if you want to support my writing, go check it out on the link just above and have access to extra contents for the next chapters