"Very good, everypony! That sounded much better! Alright, from the top."
The string musicians of the Ponyville orchestra readied themselves for the signal of their conductor. At her mark, they began moving their bows over their strings to create the beautiful music they'd been working so hard to perfect. They'd come a long way since the day they began practicing this suite, and it had definitely paid off.
"Alright, that's good for today. Thank you so much, everypony! I think we're prepared for tomorrow night's performance!" The conductor exclaimed
"I can't wait!" said one of the mares playing the bass
"We'll blow 'em outta their seats!" said a cellist who was off to the side
"Haven't you got anything to say, Cantus?" asked the conductor, "You're usually full of excitement when concerts are near."
The first violinist whom she was addressing was lost in his own thoughts.
"I've just got a lot on my mind..." he mumbled, still half-gone
"Well, in any case," said the conductor, "everypony should get plenty of rest, and make sure you're ready for tomorrow!"
The musical group disbanded, packing away all of their instruments and trotting out of the orchestra hall. Cantus trailed slowly behind, sluggishly going about the same procedure as everypony else.
"Are you alright, Cantus?" his conductor asked him
"I'll be fine, Adene. Like I said before, I just have a lot on my mind."
"Might one of those things be the judge that Canterlot's sending down to watch our show tomorrow?"
"Well, I'm not going to deny it..."
"Oh, don't worry about it,” she consoled, “Just do your best! None of the other firsts are fretting about it. ... Well, at least they're not showing it."
"I guess you're right. I'm probably just worried over nothing. All I need is a good night's rest."
"That's the spirit! You enjoy the rest of your evening, Cantus. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Good night, Adene."
The teacher waved to her pupil as he trotted outside and began the short journey home.
While it is true that the judge wasn't the only thing on his mind, everything else that was was related to it in some shape or form. Or at least, related to tomorrow night's performance. Everypony knew the judge was coming. Canterlot made a rather large, one could even say obnoxious, announcement about it. Although he didn't quite realize it, he was pressuring himself with unrealistic expectations of a perfectly flawless performance. And though they might not have meant to, his friends were pressuring him as well, saying things like "You're gonna be picked, not contest!" and "I bet the judge isn't even gonna look at anyone but you!" Needless to say, it's understandable that he be feeling stressed.
Cantus arrived at his home and made himself a sizable evening meal, as he hadn't eaten all day. Once he finished eating he went into his music room and began practicing once again for the next day's performance. He really must have been driven, as he found himself sleeping in the piano bench early the next morning. Once he realized the time, he proceeded to put everything away and head to his bedroom for some decent rest.
Due to his late-night practice session, Cantus slept in the following day. He probably would have slept longer, but his friend, Mocha, had decided to make a visit. Her knocking on the door is what woke him up.
"I'll be down in a minute," he said drowsily
"Take yer time," Mocha responded
Cantus hastily groomed his mane. Not wanting to keep Mocha waiting, he dashed to the door and opened it, welcoming her into his home.
"'Ya look like a mess, Cantus," she commented, "What'cha been up to? Did'ja just git outta bed 'r somethin'?"
"It's that obvious, huh?" he laughed nervously
"Well, I ain't gonna say no," she chuckled
"So to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" he asked
"I just thought y' might be able to use a day t' relax b'fore the concert starts tonight, what with that big fancy city-folk comin' down to watch you guys perform. Wanna come have lunch or somethin'? Maybe go visit some of our friends? Maybe you just need another nap," she poked fun
"I could go for some food. Where do you think we should eat?"
"Why don't we go t' the Cake’s bakery? They've always got good food. Pinkie’s always there t’ greet ‘s, too. I also heard she's gonna retire soon. Maybe we sh'd pay 'er a visit. Or if you'd like, we could go back t' my shop 'n have some coffee 'n pastries. I won't make y' pay,"
"Why don't we go to your place? You make great coffee, and I could use some. Let's visit Pinkie some other time. Tomorrow, maybe? And I'll pay you for your food, I insist."
Mocha simply smiled at him and gestured for them to start trotting. It was a moderate distance from his house in-town to her cafe on the edge of Ponyville. Once they reached it, Cantus walked in and Mocha followed, turning away the "Be back soon" sign she had left in the window. There were a few hungry customers standing round, knowing it'd be well worth the wait for the food.
"Well, howdy! Sorry to keep y'all waitin', I'll be out to take yer orders in just a sec'," she said, "Just make yerself at home, Cantus, I'll be back out with some coffee 'n stuff for us in a few minutes."
"Alright, I'll be here," he responded
He took a seat at a booth by the window and waited patiently for her to finish serving the other customers. A few other people came in, too, so it took a little bit longer than expected. This allowed him some time to get lost in his thoughts. Why'd they have to tell us that he was looking specifically for first violins? He thought to himself. I doubt I'd be as nervous if I knew he'd be judging the whole orchestra, rather than just five of us. Well, I shouldn't keep worrying over this. I just need to do my best and everything will be fine.
Mocha finally showed up with two cups of coffee and a couple of hot sandwiches for the two of them.
"Here ya go," she said, "Jus' got the veggies fresh fr'm the farmers this mornin'."
Cantus didn't notice right away. He was leaning into the table from his seat, gazing out the window. He didn't respond until she nudged him a little bit by pushing the plate into him.
"Oh! Thank you," he smiled as he took the first bite of the sandwich
"Yer head's up in the clouds in' it?" She chuckled, "Don't tell me yer frettin' over that concert t'night. 'Lemme tell ya, all them city folks 're nothin' but hot air. I should know. Just pretend he in' even there. F'rget that 'e's comin'. It'll help ya stop stressin' over it."
"I wish it were just that easy," Cantus responded, "Thank you, though. I'll try."
They continued talking, eating and drinking. Once they were finished, Cantus thanked her a second time for the food and then walked out the door. He hid outside for a moment. He wanted to give her a false sense of victory, to make her think she got him to take the food for free. It worked. He waited for her to go back into the kitchen, then bolted in and out of the dining area again, leaving 20 bits on the table.
* * *
Evening fell and the time for the concert dwelled nearer. Cantus arrived at the orchestral hall about twenty minutes earlier than everypony else. He spent most of this extra time readying himself. He tuned his violin, made sure his suit and tie were on right, etc. Once he finished those things, he spent the last few extra minutes he had out on the stage, sitting on the floor. Adene trotted through the door and stood behind him. Of course, he was too lost in thought to notice.
She surprised him when she asked, "So, do you think you're ready?"
He jumped a little and responded, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure."
She simply smiled at him and walked out of the room.
The time had come for the group of players to perform. Everypony was dressed well in black suits or dresses. Each pony wore something a little different, though. For instance, some of the stallions wore bow-ties instead of neckties, some of the mares wore sleeveless dresses while others wore sleeved ones, among other various differences that Cantus knew were there, but didn't quite pay attention enough to find them. The orchestra members each sat in their respective sections on the stage and proceeded to tune their instruments. Since he had tuned his before the show, he simply ran his bow over each string once to double-check. They were all still in tune.
While everypony else was preparing their instruments, he glanced out over the audience to see if he could find the judge of the violins that everypony knew was going to be there. If he was there, he was indistinguishable from the rest of the crowd. Cantus couldn't pick out anyone from the crowd, aside from Mocha, who gave him a wave when she noticed him looking at her.
I guess he isn't here, Cantus thought to himself, I wonder what happened to him.
With the mindset that the judge wasn't there, he lost a decent amount of the stress that he had gathered while worrying about it. Now that his mind wasn't as cluttered, he was able to play his best. The performance began and the entirety of the orchestra had played one of the most beautiful concerts they had played in a long time.
I guess I'm not the only one who over-prepared after all.
They played through each piece they had prepared, seamlessly flowing from one to another. At the very end of the performance, the audience gave a very enthusiastic applause. It was almost as if they had jumped out of their seats. They probably would have, were it not a formal orchestral performance. All of the musicians stood and bowed as the audience continued to show their appreciation.
* * *
Cantus was sitting in the storage room where the instruments were kept. He had changed from his dress clothes, and was simply relaxing for a bit before the canter home. He was content with his performance, and rather proud of the rest of the group for doing the great job that they did. He was also, however, rather disappointed that he couldn't spot the judge from the city.
Maybe next time... He thought
He suddenly found himself accompanied by Adene, who had also changed from her dress clothes. She grinned as she took the seat next to him.
"You did a fantastic job, Cantus," she said, "I'm really proud of you."
"Thanks," he replied, "I think everypony else did pretty good, too. You should go congratulate them as well."
"Well, just between you and me, I think you did the best out of everypony," She smiled
"That's going a little overboard don't you think?"
"Well, I don't think so. And in any case, everypony else has already left. I couldn't congratulate them if I wanted to. Besides, I'm not the only one with that opinon."
"I doubt I really did that well, Adene."
"I beg to differ," she said, gesturing toward the door, "I know someone who'd like to meet you, Cantus. He should be here any moment."
"Oh?"
"Well hello!" said an unfamiliar voice, "What do you know? He was back here just sitting around like you said he'd be."
"Hi there!" Cantus said, genuinely surprised, "Who might you be?"
"Why, I'm Canterlot's judge of course," responded the new face
"Oh! You really were here! I didn't think you had come," Cantus explained, "I had assumed you'd be wearing some form of uniform showing you were from Canterlot, but you're just wearing casual attire."
"Yeah, my regular uniform was at the cleaners, so I had to rent a suit out for today," the judge laughed nervously, "But anyway! I was here to judge the performance of each of the first violins in your section here tonight, as you probably already knew. I'm happy to tell you that I rated you the highest of the others by far! Adene told me that you were still here, so I figured I'd deliver the good news before I headed back to the hotel for the night."
"A-... Are you serious?!" Cantus stuttered, "You can't be, you must be joking!"
"I'm not! I liked you the most out of the other players in the section!" Exclaimed the judge, "Now, I'm not going to say you played better than everypony else. That would be rather hard to gauge, actually. You all did a wonderful job playing. What I saw in you was enthusiasm, enjoyment and passion for what you do. Not only did you play well, but you wanted to play well. I admit that in the beginning I was a little off-put by what seemingly little effort you put into tuning your violin, but it didn't take long for me to notice that you were better tuned than the violinist sitting next to you, despite the fact that all you did to tune was glide your bow over the strings one time each. Now, don't get me wrong, that wasn't the only thing I enjoyed about your performance. I'm rambling, though. I wrote everything down in my report, which I'll have given to you at a later date. My point here is that I want you to join Canterlot's Symphonic Orchestra!"
Cantus was really stunned. Even though he had been preparing for this concert for a very long time, he had never expected that he would actually be chosen as the violinist to join the Canterlot Orchestra. It must have been obvious to the judge that he needed a moment to take everything in, as he made a comment.
"I can see you'll need some time to let this settle in your mind," he laughed, "I'll leave you be for the night. The lovely Miss Adene, here, has been so kind as to allow me to collect your information. I'll be stopping by tomorrow and we can discuss how everything will happen. Does that sound okay?"
Cantus beamed and nodded. The judge smiled at him one last time and then made his leave. Adene must have had places to be as well, because she followed shortly after, waving to Cantus as she departed. It wasn't long after that Mocha wandered into the room to find Cantus sitting in his chair and gazing off into space.
"There y' are!" she exclaimed, "I've been lookin' all over for ya! I needed t' ask you if y' could give me a ride home. I f'rgot to bring enough bits t' pay a taxi."
He simply nodded.
"Y' alright?" She asked, "Ya look like you've got 'yer head farther int' the clouds than y' usually do."
"I'm just... really happy," Cantus answered
"Really? I thought you'd be kinda dissapointed, what with that judge person not bein' here an' all. I didn't see 'im, anyway, so I assumed he wasn' here. Was I wrong?"
"Yep, you were wrong," Cantus laughed softly, "Absolutely wrong."
"That's great!" she said, "Did he give y' his rating?"
"He sure did, Mocha. And you know what?"
"What?"
"I'm going to Canterlot."
