Within the doors of the grandiose Canterlot theatre, Tchiakovsky’s musical masterpiece from ‘Swan Lake’ floated through the atmosphere as lightly as the costumes worn on the dancers. It was not only the music and costumes that were opulent; the svelte and long-legged ponies were magnificent as well. In the ‘orchestra’ seating area, a young filly gazed with sparkling eyes at the ballerinas twirling and leaping with a splendid grace never before seen to the youthful pony. With each measured step, each bounce of the costume, and each touch of the duo center stage, the young filly was entranced. Not until it was completely over and her mother and father call her did her attention leave the stage.
“Petite Lace, darling. Come along, it is time to leave.” The tall, thin mare model said to her daughter. Her perfectly styled pink mane and snow-white body turned leaving Petite Lace with her blue mustached father who asked: “Ah, did you like that dearest?”
“Yes, papa!” Exclaimed the tiny white unicorn with glimmering lavender eyes. “It was magnificent! I would like to join the Empyreal Danseuse, too, one day!” Walking side by side with her father, his one step being three of hers, he chuckled deep in his chest from the exclamation. “That will mean you will have to begin dance lessons, blossom.” He cooed affectionately, holding out the forms for trying out at Canterlot’s: ‘Academie de Danse’. “D-Do you really mean it? Oh boy! Momma, momma, guess what!!!” She bounded forwards, her long lavender tail gone missing in the crowd after her mother as Fancy Pants folded the papers neatly and put them in his coat pocket.
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The morning of trials had appeared for the young white coated unicorn, her long purple mane and tail had been tied into neat buns by her loving mother. She wore a black unitard with a sheer black skirt that her father had bought her as a good luck gift and sat at the breakfast table, far too nervous to eat. "Not eating will cause you not to grow taller, my dear." Her mother reminded her as Petite Lace looked miserably at the food, knowing if she ate a bite she would do more than shake from fear inside of the trial room.
Finally, when all preparations were finished, Fleur and Fancy Pants walked their beloved daughter to the Academie de Danse a few miles from the home and arrived around seven O'clock. Lace remembered her father's cologne wafting around him and her mothers soft perfume, scents that soothed her insides until she entered the breathtaking doors of the Academie. The three followed the signs to the large room where Fleur and Fancy Pants were asked to drop off Petite Lace and wait in the lounge a few halls away.
"Goodbye momma, goodbye papa." Lace's voice quivered with fear. "My darling, chin up. You are a creation of your father and myself and there could be nothing more splendid in the world than you. The judges will find you simply radiant." With a kiss on each cheek from both her mother and her father, encouraging words and a quick glance back, Lace was left in the massive wooden floored room.
Every wall with the exception of the very front wall with the door had mirrors and the side walls had railings on them. There were twenty five other fillies in the room with her when the doors shut and the judges took their seats in the chairs of the wall lacking mirrors. In front of them was a long mat and the girls where asked to line up on the far wall facing the judges. Quickly seven fillies filed out of the room with disappointment and grief clearly written on their faces, the closing of the doors once more caused Lace's heart to twitch and flutter with fear. She was not sure why they where not selected, she could only tell that the judges had only seen their bodies and decided against those seven...
The remainder of the eighteen fillies got number pads that they clipped onto their backs, Lace received the number three and stood numerically in order on the wall, facing to the left. Each of the judges stood up and scrutinized the bodies of each filly and five more left. That left thirteen left to flexibility and grace tests...
The thirteen split up on either of the walls with a railing and were further instructed by the main instructor. "Now, I am going to call your number and you are going to grab onto the railing and bring your left leg as high as you can, pointing your hoof. Okay? One." The first filly lifted her leg rather high, but not impossibly so and the judges whispered to one another before two was called. Her leg did not go far up at all and embarrassment was written all over her face as she blushed. She was instructed to bring her leg back down and the judges did not say anything at all. Lace's number was called and her heart pounded inside of her chest. She brought her leg up as high as she could manage, which was just above her head and she pointed her hoof as far as she could manage without dislocating a muscle. Her leg quivered just as the instructor told her to place her leg down in the same tone he had asked the two prior however the judges whispered for her, too.
When all of the thirteen had shown their leg flexibility, three more where called out, leaving a total of ten fillies out of the twenty five that they had started with. The girls were asked to relax and the judges and instructor all whispered to one another about the trial; what else they spoke of, the curious little fillies did not know. When the instructor approached the girls once more, he had the same straight face and the ponies eyes widened.
"Congratulations girls, you are the ten accepted fillies to the Academie de Danse this year. You will be coming to live in the on campus dormitories when the school session begins in twelve days. You may go to the lobby and visit your parents to take you home now." He then turned and left the room, with the judges filing out behind him.
The fillies did not yet talk to each other but instead they bolted from the room into the lounge where they each embraced their guardians with joy and the coming down of fear. Stroking her daughters cheek once, Fleur's eyes deepened with a proud emotion: "Congratulations my lovely prima ballerina!" She teased and Fancy Pants winked at his two ladies. "Let us bring you home and then we will go out for a celebratory dinner!" He exclaimed as the family exited the Academie, the receptionist giving the family a congratulations and a farewell on their way out.
Petite Lace's heart swelled with joy as she glanced back at the beautiful campus once more, not thinking of the difficult journey ahead; rather she thought of the passion she had for dance. This was the start of a very long scandal stained road.
End of Chapter 1: A Splendid Ballerina
