//------------------------------//
// Auditions 
// Story: New Musician In Town 
// by Dulcet 
//------------------------------//

At the auditorium, Jazz and his band mates waited for the contestants who were about to perform right in front of them. “All right, let’s hear our first audition!” The first contestants, Snips and Snails got on stage, shaking their hooves in fear, and jittering their teeth uncontrollably. 
“Uh hi there.. Judges.. We will be.. perform-“
“Just cut to the chase. We have a lot more contestants waiting,” pointed out Jazz, writing down comments on his clipboard. 

Snips and Snails cleared their throats and the music began. However, their singing voices screeched and echoed around the auditorium. Their voices were so terrible, it tore some of the wallpaper off the walls of the auditorium, it caused one of the judges to faint dramatically, it caused baby ponies next door to cry, and it caused animals to hide in their homes, fearing that a vicious beast was about to attack them. As soon as Snips and Snails’ audition ended, Jazz stared in shock, completely shaken up by their incompetent singing. 
“Uhmm, how do I put this lightly..” whispered Jazz. “Your audition was… alright. I still think you guys have.. somewhat a chance in winning these auditions..” 
“Did you hear that, Snails! He said we still have a chance!” Snips and Snails then confidently left the stage. 

Jazz stared at his fellow judges. The one judge who fainted regained consciousness and stated “Wow, I had a terrible dream that I heard two extremely bad singers and it looked like the world around me was ending because of their singing”.
“That dream was true, my friend. Maybe the next audition will turn out better. On second thought, I’m pretty sure ANY audition can turn out better that what we just heard,” inquired Jazz, hoping for the best. 

However, audition after audition, the performances got worse and worse. So worse, that Jazz was the only judge remaining at the auditorium in the end. The unicorn expressed his frustration, ripping his clipboard into two and banging his head into the podium. After the auditions ended, Jazz left the auditorium and looked up at the sky, sighing. 

Jazz headed to the smoothie shop for a break, where he sees Twilight and her friends at a table outside of the store. He walked toward the table, sat down, and laid his head down at the table in frustration. 
“Whoa thar, sugarcube. Y’all look like you could use a smoothie right now. Anything wrong?” asked Applejack.
“Auditions been terrible. I have no other pony auditioning; I don’t even know how I am going to choose the winner!” grunted Jazz. 
Rarity sets down her smoothie and replies, “Come on now. All you need is to relax and have some fun!”
“FUN! Did someone say FUN?!” shouted Pinkie. “I do love having fun!”
“I’d love to, but the concert is near and I still need to write the song for the concert! Wait a minute, do you ponies plan on auditioning as well? “asked Jazz.

One by one, the ponies shook their heads sideways, much to the dismay of Jazz. “Well, I think you ponies should at least try to audition. Just imagine, being on that stage, right in front of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, having a lot of other ponies cheer your name! It’s your chance to be recognized, known, to be popular! I mean, this is a one- time opportunity! You can have the chance to gain fans, ponies who will admire you for having the wills to be on that stage, not to mention Princess Celestia will obviously recognize you for your talent. You only live once (YOLO), the least you can do is try."

The ponies were fascinated, imagining the idea of being well known by other ponies. They were in awe, but most importantly they were determined to get their name known throughout Ponyville, if not then all of Equestria. 
“Ya’ll know wha’? Auditioning for this may not be so bad of an idea. Ah will make the Apple family proud if I do get the part,” exclaimed Applejack.
Rarity even nodded for head. “If I do get the part, I can have the chance to try on the new dresses I made! Maybe, ponies will finally want me to make them dresses when they see how magnificent my dresses turned out to be. It will be a big boost to my business!”

Even Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all liked the idea of performing right in front of the Princess, the idea of having fans, and the idea of having other ponies admire them as well. 
“So are you ponies in or not?” Jazz hesitantly asked. And as a result, one by one, the ponies nodded ‘yes’. Jazz stomped his hooves in excitement. “Great! Stop by at the auditorium tomorrow and I’ll be there to evaluate your performances! Good luck!”

The next day, the ponies silently waited at the auditorium. Not knowing whether their performance would be good enough to please Jazz, each pony trembled in fear and anxiety. 
At an instant, the doors flung opened, and there came Jazz, with a new clipboard in his hand and his valuable ukulele strapped around his waist. “Hey there every pony! I’m glad all of you made it! I wish you all luck in your auditions today!” 

One at a time, the ponies began their auditions. One by one, Jazz became easily pleased with the auditions that he had seen today. Though, the final pony to audition was Twilight. Twilight didn’t know what to expect nor did she know whether Jazz was a harsh evaluator or not. But then, as she walked onto the stage, she saw Jazz down stage, smiling right at her. “Hey Jazz, I will.. be performing.. my audition right now.” Twilight gulped and then the spotlight was all on her. It was complete silence and Jazz waited for her to perform. And then, all of a sudden, Twilight took a deep breath and began singing. In a snap, Twilight realized that she was already done with her audition. Looking down at him, his jaw dropped. “That was AMAZING! Nice job, Twilight. That will be all.”

The moment Twilight left the auditorium, she had a feeling of confidence. She closed her eyes, lifted her head, opened the door, and chaos ensued. Outside the auditorium, Twilight saw her friends arguing over whose performance was better.
“He said that my performance was magnificent, so ha!” brawled Rainbow Dash. 
“So? He told me that I had the voice of an angel!” Rarity railed.
“Ya’ll getting too confident in yourself. Obviously, Ah will win these auditions!” Applejack battled. 
Even Fluttershy was becoming heated in the argument, slowly trying to assert herself to her own friends, but then backing down when seeing all her friends stare down at her. 
“I’M ONLY YELLING RIGHT NOW BECAUSE ALL YOU PONIES ARE YELLING. AAAHHHHHH!” screamed Pinkie. 
“Hey. Hey. HEY! What’s going on?” demanded Twilight. 
“Nothing, Twi. Every pony is just claiming that she will get the part based on what Jazz said about our performances,” replied Fluttershy.
“Yeah Twilight. What did Jazz say about you?” questioned Rarity.
Twilight paused and then smiled. “Well, he just said I was amazing. Nothing special about that.”
“Nothing special about that?! I bet you that he is gonna choose me for the soloist part!” Rainbow declared.
“Yeah? I bet you he is gonna choose me!” Twilight responded with a force.
“Stop fighting. You ponies know he will obviously choose me,” Rarity stated.
“Ye right. Ah’m gonna win this far sure,” Applejack confidently reassured. 
“Fine, you ponies are on for a fight. The pony that Jazz chooses will have the last laugh. I’ll tell you that,” replied Twilight. 
“Ha, if there’s something I’m good at, it’s first impressions. I’ll do whatever it takes for Jazz to WANT.. to choose me for the solo part,” added Rarity.
“We’ll just see about that,” Twilight surmised. 

While they continuously fought over the auditions, the door frantically opened. As the door opened, the ponies rapidly try to act all natural and cool. Jazz galloped toward the ponies with a grin on his face, “Nice job on the auditions, girls! I really think all you ponies are neck-and-neck. But I really want spent some time with every one of you. I’d like to know more about the pony I will be performing with so I hope we can get to know about each other more!” As Jazz left the auditorium, the ponies stared at each other, giving a menacing and disdainful look toward one another. 

Twilight then laid out her hoof in front of her friends. “All right. May the best pony win.” Each pony shook each other’s hoof, finally agreeing to the challenge.