The world keeps spinning 'round, but I'm hanging by a moment here with you

I normally don’t get stage fright during an actual performance, but I could actually feel it starting to settle into my mind right there.  While I did occasionally sing off stage, that was nothing compared to being the lead singer.  I took a short moment just staring into space, but then had to remind myself that we had to start at some point.  I looked over at Jade, who was sitting down and had his acoustic guitar, all set and ready to play.  He looked me over, gave me a nod, and then I mouthed out a short countdown to begin the song.  One…two….one, two, three….

“This time, what I want is you, there is no one else….who can take your place”

I’ve only sang the first line, and the crowd is already quieting down.  Much more quiet than they were earlier.  Don’t stop now, I tell myself, keep going!

“This time, you burn me with your eyes, you see past all the lies, you take it all away.”

Alright K, keep it up!  Try moving around I tell myself again.  I start walking across the stage a bit as I sing the next line:

“I’ve seen it all, and it’s never enough.  It keeps leaving me needing you.”  At the last word, I point my hoof into the crowd, not pointing at anypony specifically since I figured Jade would do something like that.  After a short pause, I begin the chorus:

“Take me away, take me away, I’ve got nothing left to say…Just take me away.”

I look into the crowd to see some ponies starting to sway left and right along with the music, and even Trey and Fluttershy are moving, as well as smiling.  I start smiling myself as I gain more confidence and start with the second verse.

Something happens though.  Just before I start singing, I start flying around the crowd.  I’m not really thinking about it, I’m just doing it.  The crowd lets out a small cheer, showing they did not expect me to come out into the crowd with them, especially considering I’m still singing.  However, just like when I drum, I’m getting lost in the music, letting it fill me up, and singing without a care in the world.  The second chorus ends, and I start singing the post chorus bridge:

“Don’t give up on me yet, don’t forget who I am.  I know I’m not there yet…but don’t let, me stay here alone….”

It is after this part and during the instrumental portion of the song that I notice something going on in the crowd.  Some couples are getting closer to one another, swaying together with the music, while others are even looking each other in the eyes, locked in an embrace that only two lovers could pull off.

I don’t really think too much of it, but then I notice that Trey and Fluttershy are doing this too.  It’s at this point that I think about my own life, and how I have longed for a lasting romance in my life.  During this segment of the song, I feel a sense of loneliness as I look back on my life so far at all the moments I was too nervous to speak up and share my feelings.  Regret starts to grow in my head, but something else takes its place.  Something more powerful.

Hope.

And that newfound hope gives me an idea.  I make my way back to the front of the crowd, land, and start walking along the front, with fans eager to see me being so close to them.  I repeat the first verse, and then I start coming up to Fluttershy’s five friends.  My heart starts pounding as I get closer to my eventual target, and I start singing again:

“I’ve seen enough, and it’s never enough.  It keeps leaving me needing you…”

Right as I finish singing that, I stop and look at Twilight directly in the eyes, and I sing to her with honesty:

“Take me away….Take me away…I’ve got nothing left to say….Just take me away…”

As I’m singing, she lets out an enormous blush and moves her head to look down, yet keeps her eyes on me.  I wonder if she has any idea how cute she looks right now? I think to myself as Jade finishes off the song and I jump back on stage to applause.  I take a short bow and thank the crowd for their awesomeness, and I head back to my drum set.  The twins give me a slap on the back as Jade looks at me with a huge grin on his face, which tells me only one thing: “You’ve got guts, bro.”

The question is, I ask myself, will those guts come back to bite me in the flank later on?

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The rest of the concert was fairly normal in terms of performance.  However, I found it harder to concentrate on the music after that stunt I pulled with Twilight.  My anxiety was starting to seep in again, and Jade noticed it and pulled me aside after the concert.

“Hey bro, quite worrying.” He said.  “I do stuff like that all the time in concerts.”

“As always though, you make it look a hell of a lot easier to handle.” I said in return.  “I need to relax, dude.  I don’t know why I’m getting so nervous, but I am.”

“Good thing we don’t have any shows for another year.  You can take all the time off you need until we have to start writing the new record.” Jade said.  He was right; we had a lot of time off after our show here in Ponyville for me to unwind and chill.  With that in mind, we started to head backstage so we could get at least some packing done before tomorrow.

Before we could do anything though, we found the twins looking at an envelope addressed to us as a band sitting on one of the guitar cases.

“Do you guys know who left this here?” I asked them.

“No, it was sitting here when we put our stuff away.”  Bench said.  Brody nodded in acknowledgement with a look of confusion on his face.  Jade then proceeded to open the envelope with his magic and started to read it out loud.

“Dear awesome band members, you are invited to Pinkie Pie’s After Concert Party at Sugarcube Corner immediately after you finish reading this invitation!  We want to thank you for giving us an awesome show tonight!  Come as you are!”  Jade read.  He then looked at all of us and said, “Well, are you guys ready?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I said.  “You say that like I have to go!”  While I didn’t mind parties, I had no idea that I would possibly have to see Twilight again so soon.  The idea, while it made me a bit excited, also made me nervous.

“You really should, bro.”  Brody said.  “You gave them an awesome show, and they want to thank you for it!”

“Seriously, they’re throwing a PARTY for us!” Jade exclaimed.  “Don’t worry; we’ll make sure you have a good time.” He said with a wink.  I then hung my head down, defeated.

“Fine, you win.  Let’s go, I’m ready when you three are.” I said with reluctance.

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As Sugarcube Corner came into view, my heart started pounding yet again.  I could see from a distance a number of ponies trotting towards the gingerbread style building, excited to meet the band that had given them such a great show.

Perfect, I thought to myself, time to put on my mask of zero anxiety.  According to my friends, I was pretty good at hiding any negative emotions, which could be both a good and a bad thing.  Jade knew this and smiled, as he liked seeing me at least appear confident.  We looked at each other, nodded, and trotted into the building.

Our arrival was met with instant applause and the usual swarm of fans eager to meet us.  Somepony had even set up a camera and a table for us to sign the pictures.  As I was being dragged to the camera with my band mates, I looked in the crowd for any sign of Trey.  Unfortunately, I didn’t see him anywhere, though he was likely on his way.

Fortunately, I managed to get through pictures with the full band without saying a word, save for an occasional “Thank you” or “Glad you enjoyed the show”.  After that, however, were a few lines set up so ponies could get pictures with individual band members.  I didn’t mind those, but they were still a bit uncomfortable due to the spontaneity of this meet and greet.  Luckily, most of the pictures took no more than a few seconds to take.  At the end of the line was a trio of young fillies, who practically tackled me to the ground in a hug (which was also normal, we were popular with the younger crowd too) and were constantly talking about how much they loved the concert.

“Thank y’all so much for performing for us tonight!” said the filly with a yellow coat and a red mane with a bow.  “Mah favorite part was the first song y’all played!  What was it called, mister?”

“That song was called “All In”, and I’m glad you liked it!  That’s one of my favorite songs to play too!” I responded kindly.  Then I turned to her two friends, a light gray unicorn with a purple and grayish-pink mane and an orange Pegasus with a fuchsia mane and asked them which part of the show they liked.

“I liked your totally awesome drum solo in the fourth song!  It was radical!  Can you teach me to do that?” the Pegasus asked.

“I sure can, whenever I come back here to give drum lessons.  What’s your name, miss?”  I asked.

“Name’s Scootaloo, and this is Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle!” she responded.  Then all three of them said together, “We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

“Well then, Cutie Mark Crusaders, have you ever considered forming a band?” I asked.  They all fell silent and kicked at the ground until Sweetie Belle spoke up.

“Yeah, we sang at a talent show a while ago, but it….didn’t end well.” she said with disappointment.  They all sighed in unison, but then I smiled.

“Hey, don’t feel too bad.  My first show was a disaster too.” I said with a slight chuckle.  “You just have to be persistent!  Keep practicing and you could very well end up with something amazing!”  This brought a smile to their faces and they gave me another hug.  Then we all posed for the picture, with Scootaloo climbing onto my head and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle pretending to climb onto my shoulders, resulting in a silly picture.

Ah, fillies.  The future of Equestria. I thought to myself with a smile on my face.  I was starting to feel better and less nervous, so my smiling face was actually genuine now.  I looked over at my band mates, who were just finishing up with their pictures.  I started trotting towards Jade, but then he shooed me away.

“Come on, bro.  Go socialize.  You need to get out more anyway.” he said with a smirk.  I lowered my head a bit, but relaxed a little as I summoned up some confidence and walked towards a small group of ponies and started conversation.  Like anypony, they were excited to see me join them, but seemed to relax more when they noticed I was just a normal pony off stage.  I was having an absolute blast when somepony tapped me on the shoulder.  I turned around to see Trey and Fluttershy standing side by side with Anacrusis and Flutterwing on their backs, everypony having a huge smile on their face.

“You did a great job, Kirakuk!” Trey said.  “I’m glad you came to town.”

“Same here.” I said.  “It’s always fun to play shows, but it’s even better when I meet my longtime pen pal.”  I then proceeded to ruffle his hair playfully, resulting in me earning an even bigger bruise on my shoulder.  “What did you think of the show, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, it was wonderful!  I really liked that song you sang.” she said.

Oh no.  Please tell me this isn’t where the conversation is going….

“Speaking of which,” Trey said, “where did THAT come from?”  He grinned and then continued, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone flatter a mare in that fashion.”

I laughed nervously and said, “It was…kind of….well…spur of the moment?”  I blushed and looked away momentarily.  “I guess…I dunno….she’s just too cute NOT to sing to, ya know?  Everypony deserves a special somepony, and I’m sure she’s probably a wonderful mare to know.”

“And you can’t truly know until you get to meet her, right?”  Trey said.  I nodded, and he continued with a smile, “Fortunately, that can be arranged.”

My pupils dilated, and I was starting to feel nervous again.  “See, that’s what scares me….” I said with my voice shaking.  Trey then shook his head

“Seriously?  You basically profess your attraction to her in front of a crowd, and you’re still too nervous to approach her?” he said.  I nodded my head.  “I think you’re ready to talk to her.  She’s definitely ready to talk to you.”

My ears perked at this.  “Really?” I asked.

“Yes!” Fluttershy said.  “She couldn’t stop talking about you after the concert.  The rest of the girls are all outside talking to her about it, probably having the same conversation we’re having with you.”

She’s outside right now?  The very mare I sang to?  “Uhhh….what am I supposed to say to her?” I asked.

Trey responded with an easy answer, “Hello is a good place to start.”

Well, it looks like we’re both looking for something.  Something we’re afraid to find.  I swallowed and summoned all the courage I could muster.

“Ok, I’m ready to talk to her.” I said.  Trey instantly started to smile and nodded to somepony behind me.

I turned around and nearly fainted to see Twilight standing right behind me.

“Uh…hi…”