Welcome to Gaia! ::

The person who opened the door looked at Pale Moonlight, snappily asked for his name and then ushered the stallion in quickly when he gave it.

The directions on the napkin led him to a huge, nondescript warehouse just outside the Phonyland city limits. Windowless, with no outer markings and only a few small doors around the sides, it seemed like an odd place to be directed too. Once there, he'd noticed one door had a bright pink sign with the word "AUDITION" written on it in large letters.

The person who let Pale in asked him to follow, letting the door crash closed behind them. The hall he's lead down is devoid of anything decorative. No pictures, posters, notices, or anything. The carpet was thin and industrial. Opening a second door at the end of the hall, the person holds it for Pale to pass through.

"Please wait here." he said before shutting the door on Pale.

The room, which was just a little more decorated then the hall, had a water cooler and many chairs and benches along the wall. Several people and phony in chairs were looking up at him, assessing the new comer. Some stared, a couple rolled their eyes and went back to chatting with others, one snickered at him.

A yellow pegasus mare scooted over a little on the padded bench she was sitting on, silently making room for him to sit while studying the sheet music book open in her hooves intently.

Aurora Light chewed her bottom lip anxiously, in turn, chewing on a row of bobby pins she had clamped in her mouth. She carefully pinned her pink bangs back and under her mane. She liked them, but for Aurora the singer, they were too bright. She was going to meet and judge the pianists as her singing persona, and not as herself. The flutter decided to only glitz her wings a little, gloss her lips and wear her hair as she would at a concert. She'd considered getting completely into wardrobe but she'd run the risk of him being confused or put off by it.

Him...

She bit through a bobby pin as she blushed furiously. She'd pulled a lot of strings, a LOT of strings to get a lot of things where they were now. Aurora hadn't dragged her label all the way to Phonyland for a stallion no, no. She'd just missed home and going right into the studio just after a small tour...she was deeply homesick.

He had just been surprise...and perhaps, it'd been fate.

When the move to the huge warehouse of a studio happened, their pianist, a wonderful woman had declined to follow. She'd recently become in a family way and wanted to raise her child for awhile before returning to a professional gig. They knew they would have to get a new one. It was only after returning to Phonyland and running into Pale Moonlight that she recalled he too, was a pianist.

Spitting out the bobby pin halves, she murmured to herself to relax and take deep breaths. Aurora had been able to bat her lashes at Steel Rift to get him to allow a "relative nobody" to come in to audition, but it would be up to Pale to impress everyone. Why she bent over backwards to help Pale when he had several gigs of his own, she couldn't exactly pinpoint and had become a small bone of contention between her and Rift. And the fact that she had helped get his hoof in the door meant that they would be even harder and more critical of Pale, which she felt bad about. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea after all. Maybe he just wouldn't come anyway..

She found herself very sad at that idea.



The door at the other end of the waiting room opened and a different tech then the one who'd been showing people into the waiting room appeared.

"Hello everyone, welcome to the Darkhope piano auditions."

A light smattering of applause.

"In a moment you're going to be meeting with the band and hearing a little bit of music played for you."

A round of excited murmuring.

"Please leave all bags, backpacks, purses and anything you might have brought with you here in the waiting room. We'll be locking it on both ends so no one can take your stuff."

A second person appeared behind him, whispered in the first techs' ear and he nodded.

"Ok ladies and gentlemen, we're ready for you. Come this way."

The group is lead into a large sound stage and sat down in a several rows of chairs. High above their heads pegasus phonies dart around, adjusting lighting, moving coils of rope from one end of the room to another. Just as they settle, a side door further in the back corner of the room opens. Two lines of people filed out, diverging into two different staging areas. Those who came out with musical instruments sat in the area with a group of chairs, those without instruments filed into the empty staging area, arranging themselves in a group. Another door opened, and a line of stallions paraded out, lead by a massive grey draft with a long black mane. But no Aurora.

The yellow pegasus squealed softly. "Eeee..it's him! It's Steel Rift!" she squeaked between her teeth.

The rest of the members of the band all filed behind their instruments, their stage about 10 feet in front of Pale and the others, and started fiddling with nobs and tuning. When the one named Steel Rift nodded, the room became pitch black. Slowly, low lighting appeared under the staging areas of the choir and orchestra, throwing shadows.

6 soft taps, the sound of the conductor's wand on his stand. The music started so suddenly several jumped in their chairs. The classical instruments blending in with the aggressive sound of heavy metal chords. The choir bursting into song.



"The nightingale is still locked in the cage.." a soft voice coos the words from the darkness that still shrouded the band in front of them as the choir sung softly. A soft blue light faded up, casting it's light over Aurora as she continued to sing. The lighting made the flutter phony look ethereal. Her light blue hair seemed transparent and to float in a ghostly way around her body.

The music picks up in beat in a moment and bright lights flash on, illuminating all of the musicians. Looking a less like a ghost now, Aurora still shimmered under the stage lights. Her wings were folded and held flush to her body, making her figure glisten slightly.

The room vibrated with the singing and music. While the sound was still unpolished, some notes missed and lacking a lot of the finishing work that had to be done in a studio, it was almost like being in a actual concert.

The music slowed, and Aurora's voice dropped a couple octaves as she started to sing slower and in a more sultry tone.

"Sometimes the within is piano black..." as she sings, her blue eyes settle on Pale. "Piano black over cleansing waters..."



There was no mistaking those red eyes that looked up at her. Even with the bright lights in her face, making a lot of the crowd look like a bright blur, deeply crimson eyes stuck out like warning lights.

She couldn't read his expression. Was he impressed? Bored? Aghast? She desperately wanted to ask him but the music guided her on, leaving the question hanging, unsaid and unsung between them.



She closes her eyes as continues to croon the song. The choir in the background joined back in on the chores. As her part ended, Aurora stepped back from the mic and exhaled deeply. One of the runners appeared suddenly, handing her a bottle of water as the orchestra and the band wrapped up the song.

When the room had gone quiet, the crowd of potentates jumped up, applauding and cheering. The band, the choir, and the orchestra all stood and bowed to their small audience.

The large grey draft that had been playing lead guitar whispered something in Aurora's ear. They had a short, whispered discussion where she smiled, shook her head, nodded, and then kissed his cheek.

"I heard they're dating.." the yellow mare whispers to the girl next to her.

"Ok you guys, thank you for listening to that rough draft of one of the songs we're working on." Steel Rift said into the mic Aurora had stepped away from. The flutter stood behind him drowning the bottle of water and looking a bit winded. "We wanted you to get a little idea of what sound we're going for on this new album. Everyone here is excited to hear your try outs for the piano. Remember, you will be playing a section of a song we've written for you as well as a original piece.If you're hired, you will be consulted with during song writing to help compose some of the piano parts as well as to play till we're satisfied with the composition."

The crowd of hopefuls murmured excitedly. Aurora peeked around the Steel.

"Good luck everyone!" she chirped as Steel pushed another bottle of water into her hoof, shooing her and the other members of the band out of the room.

"Don't linger on him, don't linger on him, you can't give the impression of favoritism." Aurora willed herself strongly as she was shepherded away.

The tech appeared again, waving his hand rapidly to have them stand and ushered them back into the waiting room.

"We'll be calling you in one by one. After you have auditioned you are free to leave. You'll be notified one way or the other in a few days. Goldie Locke, you're first."

The yellow pegasus squeaked, gathering her saddle bag and sheet music, she walked back into the music room, leaving behind the small packet with AUDITION stamped across it, the a fore mentioned song written by the band. When the door clicks closed, the waiting room explodes in quiet, but excited talking.

Aurora sat attentively through all of the auditions. She didn't know much about music in the aspect most were auditioning for. She didn't write the notes or knew what key they were in, she was just the pretty one they put up front to sing.

All the hopefuls had come in and played their own pieces as well as Steels' and had done well. They were, as Steel would say, technically proficient. They could follow a beat, they could read the sheet music and hit the keys are the right times. If they were looking for someone who could bang out notes, they had many good applicants. Glancing at her band mates, she could see the disappointment in their expressions even when they were praising a applicant. No one had written anything original, not really. Everything they'd heard so far was something made to sound like their past work.

"They're too busy trying to sound like us and not busy enough trying to sound like themselves.." Steel had said. She and everyone else had to agree.

But when Pale came in, there was a noticeable shift in atmosphere. Aurora knew that they would scrutinize Pale harder then any of the other applicants because she'd insisted on his audition. She couldn't take her eyes off him as he played. His curls bounced and fell into his eyes as he played, but he didn't noticed because his sight was turned inward, reading the music off of his soul. When he'd begun to play the one that was a work in progress for the band, she found herself singing along to it softly.

The sound of music stopped and it took every ounce of professional control to keep her from leaning over the panel and asking him to keep going. But it couldn't stop her from lightly tapping her small blue hooves in delight. His eyes on her. Her heart skipped several beats.

"W..what's the name of your song...?" she asked "Could..could you tell me..?"

"It means you've got the job!" Aurora purred. The other members of the band, who'd sat neutral faced through the whole day, whipped around to stare at the flutter with a "WHAT?" look on their faces. Either the mare didn't see or didn't care. Picking up a large, thick envelope, she quickly scribbled something onto it before walking from where the band had been seated.

"I'll be honest," Aurora held the packed out to Pale. "When it comes to the writing and composing of music, I'm completely hopeless. I'm only the pretty singer. But even I know when I hear something unlike anything I've ever heard before, when it makes my stomach fluttery and my heart skip beats even while it thumps in my chest like a base line. I know you just don't let someone..ah...' she blushed lightly. "Something like that go."

She waved the packet in her hoof lightly. "This is all our music, past and current. Copies of our sheet music, our first album, hiring paperwork..' she flips the packet over where a phone number was hastily scribbled, "and my number.'

It happened suddenly. Aurora leaned up on the tips of her dainty hooves, brushing her lips across Pale's cheek. "You start on Monday, but call me before that, I want to hear more of your music." she whispered softly in his ear. Turning on her hoof, she walked back toward her shell shocked band mates. "Your reputation proceeds you Pale Moonlight, don't let us down." she called in a sing-song voice over her shoulder.

The flutter rejoined her bandmates, who instantly jumped up and began talking swiftly. Aurora just smiled serenely and waved her hoof as if their concerns were silly. A tech touched Pale's shoulder. "Mr. Moonlight..? Please come back at 8am Monday morning.."