A Change of Venue

by solsticebrony888

Day 2-Part 1*

“Trixie we’re here on time this time! Is time to wake up, have breakfast and meet your friend!”

Octavia turned over in Trixie’s bed with a mumble, “Thank you, Snakes, but she’s going to a tea party today, I don’t need to meet her,”

“My name is Snips, b-but you can call me whatever you like, oh great and powerful one! Sorry for disturbing you!”

“Oh, right, sorry”

Hearing the unicorn actually apologize for something surprised the two colts.

After climbing out of bed, and promptly making it, Octavia gracefully trotted over to a mirror where she struggled to use her magic to comb her mane. It sent a shiver down her spine to see Trixie staring back at her.

Well, just like I expected, I’m still Trixie…how wonderful is that! I have a long day ahead of me, but at least I can finally see what my potential with magic really is…I bet I can become better than Trixie in a day or two!

The unicorn shook her head at the thought. A pang of guilt caused her to grimace. She hates being anything but respectful to ponies, even her loudmouth and arrogant friend whose body she is currently occupying. The idea stuck in her head though, the thought of shocking her friend with some undeniably great magic tricks would be wonderful for the ego she rarely even admits she has.

Octavia considered herself the ONE pony you’d want in a situation where you need to learn something from scratch and master it in a few days, considering that she has always has an urge to learn something new, take it in and move on to something else.

Trixie on the other hoof, seemed like a pony that would succumb to the pressure and give up. Forcefully, Octavia tried to keep the tea party out of her mind to just focus on being Trixie and learning magic. She had no other choice.

“Is there anything we can, uh um, get you oh powerful and great Trixie?” Snails sputtered, with his shorter friend by his side.

“No thanks, but it’s awfully nice for you to ask,” The blue pony responded, once again surprising the colts with her kindness.

Snails squinted in confusion, still standing by the door, “I uh, Trixie why are you, um er-being so nice? If you don’t mind me asking, eh”

Don’t tell me Trixie treats these two like slaves! They certainly deserve better than this if they do this for her every day!

“Oh it’s, um uh…Trixie is just in a wonderful mood today, you two can go do something else, Trixie is giving you the day off,” Octavia said with a slight smile, now finished combing her mane.

“Wow, thanks Trixie! You sure are the best pony to ever grace Equestria!” Snips exclaimed, both bowing happily.
After the colts ran off to do their own thing, Octavia decided it was time for her to inspect her friend’s home. She had been in the home many times before, but now that it was hers for the time being, she needed to bump it up to her standards.

“Trixie has so many pictures of…herself, it’s almost creepy,” Octavia noted as she exited Trixie’s room and entered the hallway, “Can somepony stalk themselves? Is that even possible? If it is, Trixie would be the first to do it,”
When she entered Trixie’s living room, she saw the books she had studied the night before. The sight sent a chill down her spine in anticipation of the day ahead. Octavia could barely levitate a comb after a night of back-breaking studying and that wasn’t going to be enough to convince Twilight Sparkle that that was all she wanted to study.

Hopefully this Twilight mare is a nice pony, or just gullible, because convincing somepony that has been training “me” that I just want to practice the easy tricks is going to be a hassle.

Sifting through the cabinets in Trixie’s kitchen she found ingredients for a hay sandwich and starting making one. In the process, she noticed a little blue journal with an embroidered “Trixie’s Diary” on it.

Needless to say, this piqued Octavia’s interest. She put the bread she had been holding down, and trotted over the counter that the diary was on.

“Should I…?” She asked aloud, though the question was only to be answered by herself.

Her hoof was on top of the journal and she was fighting the urge to snoop through her friend’s most private thoughts. She opened it to its first page before feeling guilty about spying on her own friend’s most private thoughts.

“I must not ruin a friendship! I can’t! Trixie is my only true friend in Canterlot, I cannot betray her in such a way. I just need to get back to my breakfast!”

Forcefully, she puts the journal in a drawer, then made her way back to her breakfast.

Out of sight, out of mind…

Octavia decided to distract herself with her breakfast in hope that the temptation to peek on her friend’s diary would go away.

“Lady Octavia is much too lady-like to do something as pathetic as peeping in her friend’s private business! I am too good of a friend to do such a thing!” She said aloud, as if it would help her resist the temptation.

After she finished making her sandwich, filled with fresh hay and lily flowers, she used her magic to pick it up. After a moment of wavering and nervousness, she found an equilibrium that let her move while continuing to keep it in her magic’s grasp. Octavia walked slower to keep her attention on the sandwich, while walking around Trixie’s odd house setup to relax at her breakfast table. Such a simple task, but she felt accomplished by it.

Octavia failed to notice the other times she had been in Trixie’s home that her friend had such a small one. It was basically a room, kitchen and living area. It was about the size of a small apartment. Octavia had assumed that there was more to Trixie’s home. The way she had described it seemed to just make it look like it was much better than it really was.
Trixie was probably too proud to admit she lived in such a small place and this thought made Octavia feel a little guilty for even considering the place bad. The whole interior of the home was sky-blue, much like the unicorn’s coat, and it looked very nice to Octavia’s discerning eye. She made herself a mental note to tell Trixie how much she enjoyed her home, even if it was a slight stretch of the truth. Octavia knows Trixie well enough to understand that working her ego a little bit goes a long way with somepony like her.

After finishing her breakfast in just a few bites, Octavia decided to make herself useful until Twilight arrived, by doing chores that clearly Trixie never felt inclined to do herself. Using her magic, she was able to remove several cups from the coffee tables next to her friend’s dark-blue couch and transport them to the kitchen without dropping them. She gathered trash that had been lazily ignored and swiftly discarded them in her wastebasket in her tiny kitchen.

This magic thing is quite useful, if I do say so myself! It’s a mystery why Trixie’s home is still so unkempt!

She adjusted Trixie’s portraits of herself on the wall making them even. A clear layer of dust behind them showed that they had been in that slanted position for quite some time. Though it took her a couple tries, Octavia was able to open each drape with magic to invite in the morning sun and reveal a delightful view of the Canterlot castle.

She quickly turned Trixie’s home into quite a comfortable space to live; to her it looked like a completely different home and she knew she would have to do it again when Trixie’s laziness causes her own home to become a mess. Octavia made herself another mental note to tell Trixie to clean up after herself.
Soon she heard a voice from behind the door, the blue unicorn’s heart sinking at the idea of having to finagle her way through her friend’s training session, but it had to be done.

“Trixie, it’s me, Twilight Sparkle, are you here today,”

With an awkward voice crack, Tavi spoke up, “Ye-AH, Trixie is here, come in!” She still needed to get used to using her friends voice.

In an instant she saw the warming smile of the purple unicorn as she entered the tiny home. Not expecting for Twilight to give her a hug, when she came in closer, Octavia backed up awkwardly and received an almost forced hug from Twilight Sparkle, quickly thrusting them into an awkward silence.

“Oh, Uh sorry about that, I…I mean Trixie wasn’t expecting a hug,”

Twilight blushed slightly out of embarrassment, but kept her cool “I understand, even though we hug every time we see each other…may I ask why you weren’t here yesterday…?”

Octavia’s mind worked fast to generate an excuse, “Oh, Trixie was out with her friend Octavia again and had a delightful time not doing anything life changing…!” The blue pony couldn’t help but cringe when she said her own name while referring to a different pony.

“Oh…” Twilight responded, clearly saddened that she was once again left out of Trixie’s plans, but ignored the thought once more.

“Well, that’s OK, what shall we study today? The backflip? Let me see what you’ve got,”

The blue unicorn hesitated, “Oh Well, Trixie was thinking, how about we study the basics, you know? Studying the easy tricks will help Trixie get better at the challenging ones!”

Twilight arched an eyebrow, “So you want to study levitating…? Or what did you have in mind? Because on my calculations, you only have 2 days until your show, but you haven’t even mastered the back-flip on to the table! Please tell me when you went out with this “Octavia” that you at least studied a little!” Twilight enunciated Octavia’s name to show spite at the grey pony that ‘Trixie’ hung out with, and Octavia didn’t like it.

“Now wait a minute, Twilight, Trixie happens to study every day!” Tavi responded, unsure whether she was lying or not, “You don’t have to speak of my best friend in such a way!”

“Well then, you shouldn’t be messing around when you have such an important event coming up, now, show me what you have done on the back-flip, it’s an essential part of your performance!”

Oh Celestia, today is going to be dreadful

<><><><><><><><>

Trixie dropped the brush on the floor again, causing her to shout random nonsense in frustration. Even with a hook on the handle for her hoof, it kept slipping as she glided it halfway down her coal-black mane. She already had put on the dress Octavia told her about. The light-purple dress adorned with light-grey stripes made her feel quite glamorous, which is something she wouldn’t expect from being a pony that was as boring as her coat’s color.

In desperation, Trixie awkwardly laid on her side, just to grasp the brush with her two front hooves. Her mane got caught under her body, which thoroughly thwarted all her efforts to make it straight and nice. Not to mention she looked like a disabled pony awkwardly trying to pull her hair out from under herself instead of just getting up.

The grey pony hopped up in frustration, tossing the brush behind her carelessly.

“Trixie swears to Luna if today goes as bad as it seems it will, Trixie is going to buck somepony in the gut!” She exclaimed as she exited Octavia’s room and walked down Octavia’s bedroom hallway, into her living room.

“This house is too BIG!” She exclaimed as she trotted into Octavia’s large and spotless kitchen.

Her mood was lifted when she saw that Octavia had carrots in her collection of food, “OH MY CELESTIA, I LO-OVE CARROTS!”

Greedily grabbing a hoof full of carrots, she once again forgot she wasn’t a unicorn and the carrots splattered onto the shiny white tile in Octavia’s kitchen. With a frustrated sigh, she sloppily picked most of them up and hobbled over to Octavia’s couch on three legs.

“Graceful…Trixie should practice being polite,” She reminded herself. Octavia had stressed this numerous times to where it almost annoyed Trixie the night before.

She took one single carrot, about 4 inches long and ate it slowly, trying to imagine herself being regal and posh.

“Quite, I dare say this is a marvelous tea party, quite, yes, quite,” She said after slowly chewing the carrot trying not to make any distracting noise.

“Hello Princess Celestia, it's AWFULLY nice for Trixie-I mean Octav- I mean for ME to meet you, and hello there Princess Luna, you’re sure looking…blue?”

Trixie shook her head in disapproval, “ I! I! Trixie needs to say I! I!”

“Hello Princess Celestia, Princess Luna! What a marvelous tea party, I think it’s quite wonderful,”

Oh Celestia, Trixie is DOOMED!

Octavia made it apparent that Trixie needs her to arrive early to the party, because she is an honored guest as a musician. They would meet Celestia and Luna at that time before the other guests arrived which were mostly upper class citizens of Canterlot and places like Stalliongrad and Hoofington. Octavia told Trixie that it wasn’t necessary for her to mingle with other ponies there and that she was already known as the quiet pony in her orchestra. However Trixie had other things in mind.

After finishing the carrots in the most regal way she could, Trixie reluctantly got off the couch. Once again forgetting she wasn’t a unicorn, she walked straight into the door, a loud thud reminding her that it was the third time that day she had forgotten she wasn’t a unicorn. Quickly recovering from her own naiveté, she opened the door with her hoof and made sure she closed it.

HOW DOES OCTAVIA LIVE WITHOUT MAGIC?

The thought about Octavia got her a little worried. Twilight Sparkle was most likely there now and she was hoping that Octavia wasn’t failing too terribly, though the inevitable embarrassment was bound to happen.

Gotta keep my mind off Tavi, need to focus on the tea party

Octavia lived within a mile from the Castle, clearly for convenience purposes when lugging her cello to the nearby studio where they practiced. Trotting by the park where they usually met, Trixie half expected to see Octavia, but quickly noticed that she wasn’t there.

As the castle quickly grew larger in her sight, Trixie suddenly felt anxious at her first time ever entering the castle. Up until this day she had only imagined what it had looked like. Not being invited to Grand Galloping Gala only made her dislike the Princesses, although that spite disappeared with the opportunity to finally meet them today.

The closer she got the more regal and fancy things seemed. The cool morning air and dew from overnight rain made everything almost surreal. The gigantic trees that towered over everypony shined from the light of the rising sun. The streets paved in a blue brick glistened from the mist on them. Trixie was fully taking in the magnificent sight before her, understanding it’ll probably be her only chance to enjoy such an occasion.

She saw two stallions guarding the entrance, which she assumed was the entrance to where the tea party would be held. Rows of gorgeous white flowers led up to the guards, who stood side by side blocking the way to the inside.
Trixie approached cautiously, until she stood a few feet before them.

“Hello, my name is Octavia and I am here for the tea party,” Trixie said calmly, looking up at the taller unicorn stallions.

Without saying a word, they moved to the side letting her pass through. Tall ivory pillars with lush green morning glories spiraling to the top of them led her to the entrance. Her eyes widened, as she slowly got more nervous. She could hear each of her steps echo as she climbed a short set of white steps that led up to a massive and decoratively carved door made out of what seemed like some sort of shiny white stone.

Before she could make an effort to open it herself, several more guards from behind open the doors for her using their magic. They opened inward to reveal the fanciest ballroom Trixie had ever seen in her life. She nodded awkwardly at the guards, who didn’t even acknowledge her. Trixie just considered that part of their job and ignored it.
The floor was so shiny and white; she could see her reflection in the tiles which amused her for a few moments.

“Oh, Lady Octavia, how wonderful that you could make it!” A voice said from behind her, causing her to jump just a little.

When he came into her sight, she was met with a stallion clearly there as a servant.

“Oh hello there…Uh, I apologize, but I have forgotten your name!” Trixie said, quickly grimacing at her own statement.

“We haven’t met before, Miss,” The stallion said causing the grey mare to blush slightly, “However, I am sure you meet so many of us, that you may have met one of my relatives. The name is Reginald Winsterford the 7th, my family has been serving the royal family and all of Equestria for many generations, I am glad to meet you,”

“Cool…” Trixie said instinctively, quickly correcting herself, “I mean, that’s certainly a wonderful occupation for one to have, I am delighted to meet you too,”

Reginald nodded politely, straitening his bowtie before he responded, “Anything I can acquire for you before the Princesses’ arrive? They should be here any minute now!”

“Oh, I am fine. Am I the first to arrive?”

“No Ma’am, several of your fellow orchestra members had arrived minutes before you and they’re now gathered in the hall where the tea party shall be held, do you want me to show you there?"

After admiring the room she was currently in, she nodded with a smile. The grey pony felt accomplished to have a conversation with somepony else without totally ruining it with her natural uncouthness.

The waiter led her though another large artistically engraved pair of doors to reveal a large garden filled with every type of plant and animal one could find across Equestria. As they passed each patch of the flowers, the scent changed almost every second, with some fragrant smells Trixie had never even smelled before. It was an illuminating experience that she knew that she would never forget, and it was before the Tea Party even started!

Her thoughts about the situation she was in were now changing into the feeling of happiness. This was the event of a lifetime and something she would never get a chance to experience as her regular self. Trixie thoroughly enjoyed everything she saw in and was relaxing quickly.

Maybe, just maybe, things won’t go as bad as expected…

They walked on a cobblestone pathway that led past a pond filled with frogs and cluster of fish. She took the time to marvel at them as they trotted over them. As they passed some trees that had blocked her vision, they finally saw the large dome shaped building in which the tea party would be held. The details in the carvings were so intricate that it amazed Trixie that somepony could have carved that by hoof. Each tall window told a story in the painted glass, depicting heroic ponies from centuries of Equestria’s existence. In one pane, she saw a pony that looked suspiciously like Twilight Sparkle,. The pane looked so much like Twilight Sparkle that Trixie felt obligated to asked Twilight once the situation she was in was fixed.

After passing several more pillars that appeared older than the Princess herself, they walked up to the entrance.

“We have arrived, Lady Octavia, I’m sure you will have a wonderful time. As I said before, the Princesses shall be arriving soon to meet everypony in the orchestra. Please, do enter,”

Reginald backed away as the doors seemingly opened by themselves, revealing another stunningly fancy hall. Lined with colorful windows, the walls all slowly curved up fitting the structure of the dome. Right in the middle was a massive chandelier that took Trixie’s breath away.

There were two silky red thrones clearly in place for the Princesses. Just a few feet away stood the group of ponies Trixie assumed were Octavia’s fellow orchestra members.

After snapping out of her day dream, she trotted over the group of ponies with a smile. Before she even reached them, an announcement was made from behind her.

“Ladies and Gentlecolts, please welcome Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!” Reginald’s voiced echoed throughout the ivory room.

Should I bow yet? Should I bow now? Oh my Celestia, when should I bow! I can’t NOT bow, I’ll look disrespectful! OH MY CELESTIA, there they are! Everypony else is bowing, I need to bow!

Thrusting herself into a bow along with Octavia’s orchestral peers, she squinted her eyes to see the two Princesses arrive through the door she had just entered from.

They’re more amazing up close! I can’t believe I am so close to the PRINCESSES! Oh my gosh!

“Hello? You can get up now,” A colt said from behind her.

Trixie hopped up and felt her cheeks blazing with redness in embarrassment. However, those feelings quickly faded away as she saw both tall and majestic Princesses in all their glory, just feet away from her for the first time in her life.

Comments

[Blue Breeze]

that picture = swag

[oblivion2k]

Glad to see you're an author of many talents solstice! I knew I had to read this after reading appleshy, and I'm glad I did

[solsticebrony888]

79182 Thank you very much, it always feels good to know someone enjoys my stories!