As the two trotted through the streets of Manehattan, Sky tried again to lighten the mood a bit.

"Did you hear me trip up at the transition to the B section?" He scoffed at himself. "How embarrassing. I wouldn't be surprised if we lost the whole competition because of that."

Midnight rolled her eyes. "It was fine. What was embarrassing was your little display with Ms. Perfect Melody."

"What's the deal with you two? Can't you just get along? There's no reason for you to fight with her all the time."

"You're clueless." She stopped walking. "Hey, there's that sandwich joint that we've been wanting to try. How about it?"

Sky eyed the little sandwich shop. "Witch's Witches," it was called. A mutual friend of his and Midnight's had recommended it to them, saying the food there was "enchanting." He shrugged.

"I don't see why not," he mused. He began walking toward the diner. "Let's go see if it's worth all of Spade's hype?"

Midnight muttered something about doubting that under her breath but followed.

The diner was nice, though a bit cold for Sky's tastes. The interior was painted a dull green, with rainforest and jungle scenery decorating the walls and furniture. For some reason, he half expected the shop to be run by a zebra, but the cashier was a younger unicorn mare. Her apron matched the scenery, but her pink coat and cherry red mane made her stick out like a sore thumb. Midnight ordered a tofu club sandwich, and Sky ordered a BLT. Sky set down his bass as they sat down at a table to wait for their food and began to talk about the performance.

"You did a really great job, Sky." Hearing Midnight's praise made Sky's heart flutter a bit. "I liked what you did with the accel throughout the piece, and you gave me a lot of room to play around." She swept her blonde mane out of her gray eyes, and for some reason, every time she did that his brain would do a backflip. After he recovered, he responded.

"Yeah, I figured we'd have a better shot if we both contributed some musicality, instead of me just showing off as a soloist, you know?" Hell yeah, he'd said something intelligent.

Midnight smiled at him, her eyes gleaming. Her cream-colored cheeks flushed slightly, which made Sky grin like an idiot. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, the cashier unicorn floated their sandwiches over to the table. The rye bread that his BLT was on smelled delicious and fresh-baked, and Midnight's sourdough tofu club also looked great. Before either of them could think, they were both digging in.

"This is really fuckin' good," Midnight said between bites. All the response Sky could muster was a nod and an "Mmhm!"

After a few more minutes of munching and a few assorted jokes or acknowledgements of the food quality, the two had finished their sandwiches.

"Holy crap," Sky muttered. "I can't believe it's gone already... I feel like I could eat twenty more..."

Midnight nodded. "I'm full, but not at the same time. I could probably eat a couple more before everything I ate today comes back out."

Sky chuckled and loosened his collar and bowtie, looking up at the clock tower as he did. It had been about 1:30pm when he and Midnight had performed, and it was now nearly 2:00. He wondered if the final results had come out yet. Midnight followed his gaze, and then looked back at him.

"You nervous?" she asked.

Sky thought for a moment and shook his head. "Not really. Nothing I can do about it now. It's just up to the judges on how they score us."

Midnight let out a small sigh and leaned back in her chair. "Understandable. To be honest, I'm freaking the hell out."

"Why? We did our best. It's not like we can change the scores if we didn't like them."

"You're right, but..." she trailed off. "I dunno, I guess I just don't want to lose to Octavia anymore. She's been at the top for too long, I'm tired of being second place." As she spoke, she looked down at her empty plate on the table, fiddling with the crumbs on the dish. "I feel like I'm never gonna be better than Sol."

Sol Okeys, another pianist and Octavia's accompanist, had been fighting back and forth with Midnight to be the premiere pianist in Manehattan for years. For the last few, though, Sol and Octavia had been sweeping every competition.

"You're already just as good, if not better than Sol," Sky encouraged. If anyone understood how she felt, it was him. "I've been under Octavia's shadow ever since we were foals. I'm just as tired of it as you are." Sky reached out and held her hoof. "Today's the day that we finally break their streak. I just know it."

Midnight looked up at Sky, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She tried to give a small smile, but it was apparent that she didn't quite believe him. After a few seconds of silent staring, she cleared her throat and pulled her hoof from his, and stood from the table.

"We should probably go check the results, huh? I'm sure they're up by now."

Sky huffed, but followed suit. Sky grabbed his bass, and they walked back the way they came. When they made it back to the auditorium, they looked at each other before walking through the doors, both nodded, and walked in. The lobby was almost packed with performers, each muttering and looking up at the giant corkboard with the final results posted on it. Sky and Midnight were unsure why, but whenever they would pass others, they would get sideways glances and they'd hear extra hushed mumbling. As they continued to walk toward the corkboard, the mumbling and muttering quieted. They made it to the end of the lobby and looked for their names on the placements. Midnight was the first to see it.

"What. The."

"Fuck." Sky finished.

Author's Note

Surprise! I'm back.

It's been a long time since I've even been on this site, let alone publish a chapter of anything. Let me know what you guys think, and if I've still got it...