Having entered the grand music hall, I took a quick look around to take in the sights. A high vaulted ceiling, varying decorations depicting pegasus flight, unicorn magic and earth pony strength. It was truly breath taking. Just like the few times I came here to enjoy some of the orchestra's music, however this time I had time to admire them. Suddenly a sound caught my attention, after a moment I realize they are hoofsteps and voices. From the sound of things, someone just finished auditioning and had failed spectacularly. Turning around to face the source of the sound I come across what I can only call beauty. The first seat cellist from the orchestra, Octavia, if I remember correctly. Her black mane and tail, elegantly styled, gives her an air of class. Her gray coat that shimmered perfectly in the light, and a simply fitting no-back black dress that was form fitting and definitely left little to the imagination regarding her beauty. What can I say, I may not be looking for a relationship, but she is hot. Her chest was moderately sized, once again I chastise myself for looking so much. However, as a guy, she is definitely not ignorable. Thankfully her purple eyes hold my attention the most.

It is then that I caught what she is saying more exactly, like I thought, he had failed spectacularly. I hear him apparently ask for her contact information at least, but she definitely is not in the mood for flirting and simply ushers him out the door without another word. She then looks to me, seemingly judging me from my outfit (A simple black tuxedo with a black bow tie), my posture and my hair. It seems as though she has accepted me as 'adequate' as I hear from under her breath. She then asks to see my invitation. It seems she believed I was the next audition, as they were supposed to be here ten minutes ago to receive their music to study and play as best they can for the judges, of which she is one.

I am also proven correct as to her name, Octavia. Once again speaking before thinking I say, "I remember you very well. First cellist with amazing ability. You are in my opinion one of the better players among the best here in the orchestra." I mentally face palm from this, I don't want to flirt, yet, when someone, or somepony, this beautiful talks to me I end up flirting anyway. Luckily, she just takes the compliment in stride.

She says, "Well thank you, but there are plenty in the orchestra better at playing then I am." Taking a mental sigh, I prepare myself for my instructions. She says to follow her to the resting area for the performers and to wait a bit and see if the other audition shows. After waiting in the room for about seven minutes another orchestra memeber comes in. Her name is Beauty Brass. I remember that she plays Various brass instruments as her name would imply. She does prefer the larger instruments though, such as the tuba and sousaphone. She hands me some sheet music and tells me to memorize it as best I can for my audition, they do not expect perfection, but they expect good. I quickly went through the music, it was not a complicated piece, but if I was not good then it would definitely be a challenge to fully memorize it. I eventually broke it down and had most of it memorized when they came to tell me to put the music down and come perform. They gave me the go ahead to begin playing as they picked up their quills. I took a breath, hit a few keys, and stopped.

They looked quizzically at me for a moment before I say, "This piano is terribly out of tune. How can you expect anyone to play on this piano?" They looked to each other and then did something I didn't expect, they started clapping. Apparently the first test was if I was able to tell, in an instant, if my instrument was in tune. It was part of the reason that I was given twenty minutes. They wanted to know just how experienced I was with my instrument. They then had me play on an electric keyboard. It may not sound as good, but at least it was in tune.

I played the song they had given me in about four minutes. Having quite a bit of time let over, they asked me to play one song from memory, or to make up my own to showcase my talent. I thought about quite a few songs before deciding to stick with something a little closer to classical music. It was a sad song I made up during my all too recent break up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePLKJSfjb8M

I quickly became lost in my music, forgetting the world around me for a time. Everything simply disappeared, but for myself and the piano. I swore I could hear the rainfall from that day, as well as some musical accompaniment. Then again when I was in this state, I heard a lot of things, painful things. As I played the last notes, I returned to full consciousness. I realized I was crying a little. Taking a breath, I became startled when clapping started to originate from everywhere. I was not the last audition that day, but I had a good feeling about making the orchestra members clap. The only one to stand out was Octavia. She seemed to have been affected more then the rest. She was not the only one crying, but she was the only one to keep to her seat.

After that I had been given the all clear to go, they had all the information on me they needed. As I headed out Octavia accompanied me just like she had with the previous auditioner. She said, "Now that your audition is over we will be contacting you should we feel you are the best pianist to fill the job, if not we will still contact you so you know that the decision has been made. There is also a personal interview that may come into play if things get close with the decision making process. Are there any questions you would like to ask before I let you go?"

"No, I no questions to ask you at this time Miss Octavia."

"Please, just Octavia, I hate being called 'miss' by those who at least know how to play their instruments."

"Alright then, I have no questions for you at this time Octavia."

"Alright then. All that is left is to wait and see. We will be in contact soon." With those words I started for the door just as the final auditioner came through the door. He was a big stallion. He had a dark blue coat and a deep red mane and tail. I knew him well, we had played together before on multiple occasions. He smiled when he saw me. A gentle giant that one. His name was Resonant Frequency. He played plenty of different instruments and he was good at getting things to sound good as a group. He also had a reputation for trying to bring buildings down with sound.

This had been how I had met with one of my best friends. Perhaps one of the few friends I have that I trusted with some of my biggest secrets. She is one of the few to know that you weren't looking for a relationship at all. She didn't know the details, but that was fine. I decided to pay her a visit while she was preparing to start her shift. I had done this plenty before and could easily get access to her.

Walking for a good twenty minutes I finally arrived at the place. A little place that was preparing to open for the night. Taking the usual route I bypassed the line waiting to get in to get stopped, as usual, by the bouncer. He had a job to do after all, even if he already knew I was on the VIP list, he had to ask so that the crowd wouldn't get upset at him. The somewhat small bouncer, a unicorn, asked for my name. I gave it and was quickly through. Looking up at the center of attention, I saw my friend preparing for her set, five hours of nonstop music, mixes and the such. Looking up I simply said, "Sup Vinyl."

Author's Notes:

Special thanks to Deadpony for finding several mistakes in this chapter!