A Change of Venue

by solsticebrony888

Day 2-Part 2*

“Don’t you think you have studied levitating enough for today, Trixie? You have repeated lifting that cup for the past hour and a half.” Letting the plastic cup fall to the ground, Octavia turned around pretending not to be so elated that she can levitate a cup so easily, “I think Trixie still needs more practice.” Twilight Sparkle sighed in frustration, “Then why am I even here, if you’re just going to practice juvenile abilities?” Octavia gasped dramatically, assuming that is what Trixie would do.

“Juvenile? Everypony knows practicing simple, yet essential abilities is the foundation of being the best and I intend to be the best, Twilight.” Though she liked her own argument; Octavia knocked herself for forgetting to speak in third-person.

“Well, as true as that may be, it doesn’t help your back-flipping abilities. Mastering that trick is imperative to wow the crowd and you won’t wow the crowd, full of UNICORNS, by lifting a cup up and down,”

“Just trust me, Twilight, you can leave if you want, I know what I’m doing,” Octavia insisted.

The purple unicorn’s heart sank. First she didn’t want to give her a hug, now she doesn’t even want her to stay. Twilight had assumed that she had a much more profound existence in Trixie’s life and it made her feel terrible to think that she may just be her teacher and nothing more.

“Can I ask you something, Trixie?” She said her tone now serious. She was bothered by Trixie’s ignorance.

“Sure,” The blue unicorn responded, dropping the cup to return her attention to Twilight Sparkle.

“Am I even your friend, at all, or are you just going to forget about me once this performance is over?” Twilight said with a hint of sadness.

“What?” Octavia responded, genuinely bewildered, “Of course you’re Trixie’s friend, you help Trixie a lot!”
Twilight shook her head as if to shake away her thoughts once more, “Yeah…well, never mind…just tell me when you’re ready to practice something more challenging, Trixie,” She said, trying to ignore the reoccurring feelings she felt for the blue unicorn and how hurt she felt when Trixie disregarded her. Twilight always tried to rationalize it, because she reacted so dramatically and assumed the worst when Trixie said something a little offending. However she rationalized it, every now and then the purple unicorn wished she never even met Trixie because in a sense, that would be better for her. The stress of these confusing feelings brought an unbearable weight upon her shoulders. Twilight knew however, that she wouldn’t have met Trixie in the first place if she didn’t have some minuscule importance in her life.

This situation was different for her because she didn’t have a book to help her through it. Usually if she spent a night curled up in her bed just studying could solve anything, but not a single book in her library discussed love. This situation confused the purple unicorn because Trixie was basically the exact opposite of her besides the fact she was a mare, which the one thing she would have preferred to be different. She heard the saying “opposites attract” but there was no saying whether Trixie even remotely had mutual feelings for the lavender pony. The feeling of being so unsure about something bothered Twilight to no end.

It wasn’t long after finally making friends for the first time that Twilight Sparkle delves into the subject of love. It was when this idea of love was just an idea for her, not something she had to live with on a daily basis. During this time she found that she couldn’t learn how to love unless she experienced it for herself. No book warned her about the feelings she felt for Trixie, no book warned her how scared she felt. No book acknowledged feelings a mare may have for a mare. No book warned her about how much it hurt to be disregarded too often.

Twilight could remember the exact moment when she started feeling different around Trixie. On the third day she had come to help Trixie train, less than two weeks before, Trixie legitimately smiled when she saw Twilight. No matter how many times friends have smiled when they saw her before, there was something special to Twilight when such an egotistical and arrogant pony smiled warmly when seeing her.

It made Trixie’s disregard for her feelings hurt more. It didn’t help when Trixie went out with other friends, forgetting about Twilight.

Am I not cool enough? Maybe it’s because we’ve only been friends just a few weeks…Maybe she only invests time with fellow performers?

These were the thoughts that bounced around in her head relentlessly.

The one thought that scared Twilight the most was the idea that Trixie may know about her infatuation with her, simply from the times where she has blushed just from seeing the blue unicorn. Twilight considered this the reason Trixie may push Twilight out of her life when her performance is over.

Why in the hay can’t love be as easy as Mr. and Ms. Cake make it? Twilight thought, thrust back into the present after daydreaming about the recent past, which she found herself doing a lot since meeting Trixie.

Octavia tried to hide her jubilation when she was able to levitate three cups at one time, without having to struggle to keep control of them. She couldn’t help smiling, the fact that she could hold three things without using a single hoof was mind-blowing to her, and she felt proud. Through focus and practice, the blue unicorn found that she didn’t need to focus on the objects she was controlling, but keep them In the back of her mind as she focused on other things. Despite the purple unicorn being bored to tears, Octavia was just thrilled she was able to levitate something, boosting her confidence tremendously.

“Twilight?” Octavia said suddenly, startling the purple unicorn that was clearly lost in thought, “Trixie thinks Trixie is ready to practice some harder spells,"

“Finally!” Twilight elated, hopping up with a smile, “I think we should practice that back-flip and then some spells, don’t you agree?”

“Is there some sort of spell for that?” The blue unicorn asked dumbly. Only receiving a laugh in response, Tavi played it off as if it was a joke laughing along nervously.

She remembered Trixie telling her that she needed to spawn a table while doing a back-flip. Octavia laughed at the idea, but Trixie INSISTED for her to at least try the back-flip, to which the blue unicorn begrudgingly agreed to do. Octavia wasn’t one to lie to friend, so now that Twilight suggested her to try the back-flip, she was going to.
Twilight stood several feet to Tavi’s side; while Octavia gave herself what she thought would be enough room for a back-flip.

All I have to do is jump and pull back, right? My oh my, why didn’t I attempt this before now!?

“Any day now, Trixie,” Twilight said with a giggle.

Well, here goes absolutely nothing!

With one swift movement, Octavia launched herself in the air. She started turning back in mid-air but the floor was approaching too fast. Before she could react, she landed flat on her back, hitting her head on the ground and instantly causing her to grimace.

She looked up at the laughing Twilight and blushed from pure embarrassment.

“Looks like Trixie slipped; yeah that’s what happened…” Octavia said as she got up, groaning from pain she felt in her back.

That couldn’t have gone worse!

“Trixie, it’s time to be serious, do the back-flip so we can move on the table! it’s almost like you have seemingly FORGOT about how important that trick is! On my calculations, if you’re unable to complete this trick successfully, you’ll have a 70% chance of being “booed” off the stage!”

How do you calculate something like that…?

“OK, OK, Trixie will try to do another back-flip, let’s just hope Trixie hasn’t randomly forgotten how to do it for no reason…”

Back in position, Octavia took another deep breath, trying to focus on how she could do this. She was never an athletic pony and now all of a sudden being thrust into a situation where athleticism was imperative, caused her confidence to waver slightly.

Despite this, her second try was much closer. She was able to complete the flip but wasn’t able to stick the landing. The improvement was great for Octavia, but in Twilight’s eyes, that was Trixie barely able to perform a back-flip for a second time.

“Trixie, what’s wrong with you today? You seem to have forgotten how to do everything!” The purple unicorn chided in response to Octavia’s sloppy back-flip.

“Nothing, Trixie is just having…an off day, I’ll be back to normal soon, hopefully”

Twilight put down the spell book that detailed how to spawn the table.

“I think it’s time for a break, Trixie. I think your nerves are getting to you just a little!”

“Yes, Trixie agrees!” Octavia exclaimed. A break was EXACTLY what she needed, because she could use the time to think of how she was going to pull this off. Her newly gained confidence was already wearing thin and her nerves really were getting to her.

It wasn’t just that she had to learn magic at an astonishing pace; it wasn’t that she would have to perform those in front of a crowd, Octavia had to do all of this while hoping that Trixie wasn’t ruining her life at the same time. It was hard for her to focus on magic when she had her whole life in her friend’s hooves. Octavia needed to pull off a miracle while not knowing whether she’d have a life to return to. Even worse, she didn’t know if she’d ever be herself again! Those were thoughts she banished away before they could get to her.

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

Behind Octavia’s ensemble members, Trixie lined up waiting for her chance to meet the Princesses. She couldn’t believe it was happening and the whole situation felt completely surreal for her. She made mental notes of what ponies in front of her were doing, so she wouldn’t do anything awkward.

They were lined completely straight facing the Princesses who were perched on their thrones. While they were in line, the waiters set up several tables where they would have their tea. The extravagance was perfect for Trixie, which sort of made her feel guilty. She couldn’t imagine how bad it probably was going for Octavia. Granted, once this tea party was over, she was going to have to work on her infantile skills on the cello, but right now she was enjoying her time, while Octavia was already thrust into learning skills she can’t possibly learn in time.

This thought caused Trixie to grimace, just thinking about the next few days nearly made her sick to her stomach. The grey pony distracted herself by noticing Luna looking towards her every once in a while. Clearly, Luna was looking for something in particular and it confused Trixie as she waited in the line.

The pony in front of her, a large stallion, was next. After him it was her turn to greet the Princesses. Her heart beat faster than she expected, but it didn’t surprise her. Unlike everypony in the room, this was her first time ever being so close to the Princesses and it was a moment she would never forget.

The stallion in front walked away and soon Trixie was graced with the presence of the two Princesses.

“Hello there, my star cellist Octavia! It’s wonderful to see you again!”

Trixie bowed as the other mares had done, then spoke trying not to sound so nervous, “Hello, Princess Celestia and of course, Princess Luna, It’s wonderful to see you both!”

Just speaking to them made Trixie feel more important than in any of her many shows and as quick as it happened, it was over and the few ponies behind her had their chance to meet the royal sisters.

“Wow…” Trixie whispered to herself, reliving the past few moments in her head.

Standing on the opposite side of the magnificent room, Octavia’s ensemble members completely disregarded who they considered was Octavia. This bothered Trixie, because usually when somepony attends a tea party, they have friends to talk to. Trixie liked talking and she wasn’t going to attend a prestigious tea without talking SOMEPONY’s ears off.

Has Octavia been too shy to even make friends at her own practice place? I don’t think it is possible to be more closed-off than Tavi is. Time to make some friends for her

“Hello ladies and gentlecolts, what a wonderful evening we have in store, if I do say so myself,” Trixie said in her most regal voice.

The initial reaction of the group of Octavia’s peers was too look around to who said that, because Octavia talking wasn’t something any of them expected.

An all blue stallion spoke up first, “Goodness gracious, she actually speaks!”

His response provoked the group to laugh almost in unison, which Trixie took in stride.

“Oh, I just thought that this tea party would be a wonderful time to come out of my shell, you know. I’m assuming I was quite a bore before! I’m confident that you all know my name, but I’d love to learn yours now,”

I think should consider taking up acting as my next profession! The great and powerful ACTRESS Trixie!
The group seemed to accept what she said, the blue stallion went first, “Well, although you have played next to me since you’ve come to perform with us, I’ll start! My name is Windsong, it’s awfully nice to finally meet the pony I’ve played with for such a long time!”

Trixie awkwardly offered her hoof for a hoofshake when all that was required was a curtsy.

This fanciness is going to take some getting used to She thought as she played off her offering as a joke.
It didn’t take much for her to feel right at home with the upper class orchestral ponies, no matter how arrogant she could usually be, it still surprised her how well she fit in with Octavia’s ensemble members. Rarely did anything surprise Trixie because she always had such high expectations for herself and whether she accomplished it or not, she’d just say she did anyway and feel good about it. But this was different for her; she wasn’t used to accomplishing things that didn’t involve magic. So, instead of arrogantly expressing her fondness of herself, she actually felt prideful without the need to tell the world about it. This made Trixie feel really good. Confidence high, she knew this night wouldn’t be as bad as she had initially expected.

“…and so I said, OATMEAL, are you crazy!?”

Many other high class ponies had just arrived and Trixie was on a roll. Immediately followed by laughter, she had pulled off another successful joke and felt right at home. She would have to thank her pink Ponyville friend for telling her that joke in the first place.

Making friends wasn’t exactly the hardest thing for Trixie to do, even with her arrogance, but it did surprise her that she could make friends with high class instrument playing ponies. Then again, her best friend IS a high class, instrument playing pony.

On a long table where all the ponies would sit, waiters were setting up the china that held the delicious tea. The waiter had told them before-hoof that the tea was the finest somepony could find in Equestria, and had the most unique taste they could even imagine.

The two princesses would sit at the end of the table, while everypony else sits on the sides. The china that the tea was in was decorated with gold drawings of the two princesses, and the detail once again impressed Trixie. Trixie definitely wasn’t somepony known to actually be impressed by somepony or something else, but she couldn’t help herself. The party was just so perfect.

Sitting at a random seat next to Quaver, one of Trixie’s new friends, Trixie found herself with a dilemma. As a unicorn, she had no need to use her hooves to pick something up, because she always had magic. Now in front of her was a freshly poured cup of tea that she was contemplating on how to pick up.

After using her magic to take a sip of her cup of tea, Quaver looked towards Trixie who was intensely focusing on the white teacup in front of her, “Are you going to drink that Octavia, or just stare at it?” She remarked with a quiet chuckle.

“Trix- I mean, I am going to drink it, I just love the designs on the cup,”

Despite being surrounded by the richest and smartest ponies in all of Equestria, Trixie lowered her head, and took a loud, obnoxious slurp of the tea. Instantly all eyes were on her.

She darted up, “Just kidding everypony..!”

WHY DID I DO THAT?

“What was that, Octavia? That was quite uncouth for a pony like you,” Quaver remarked, squinting at the grey pony in confusion.

Think fast, Trixie!

“I-I, I was just, I needed to test how hot it was,” Trixie stammered, smiling awkwardly.

I was doing so good for so long, why’d I have to mess up now…! That was pure idiotic of me!

“You have just touched your hoof to the cup,” The earth pony said, erasing Trixie’s excuse and making her feel stupid.

“I guess I should have, but it got the job done,”

“OK then,” Quaver said with another quiet chuckle.

How is Trixie going to do this? The cup is so small! Maybe wrap my hoof around it like….no, maybe grab it with both? Oh my Celestia, this is the weirdest dilemma Trixie thinks she has ever been in…

Placing both hooves firmly on the sides of the cup, she lifted it up slowly and shakily, once again gathering the attention the other ponies as she did. Their stared pierced her soul, causing her to shake more. After another loud sip, something she couldn’t help, she slowly lowered the cup back down.

Then it slipped.

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

“So what do you want to work on now, Trixie?” The purple unicorn asked, her nose in another spell book, sifting through the pages for a suggestion.

“Trixie wants to practice spawning, maybe like a cup or a plate or something,” Octavia said, more confident than she probably should be.

How hard could that be? Can’t be as hard as playing a cello…or a back-flip in that case

Twilight sparkle closed the book as she looked up towards the blue unicorn, “You still want to practice spells you already know?”

“Yes, now hand me the spell book that I need in order to spawn a cup, or whatever is necessary for me to do so,”

“It’s right there,” Twilight said pointing to a blue book that was sitting on a shelf.

Twilight squinted in confusion when she saw Trixie go to pick it up with hooves, when she could easily use her magic.
After a minute of studying a plate spawning spell, Octavia focused as hard as she could. However, only a fragment of the plate appeared, fell to the ground, and disappeared.

In frustration, Octavia tossed the book on the ground, ignoring the look she was getting from Twilight Sparkle.

“Trixie, are you OK? That plate spell is quite easy, if you ask me,”

“TRIXIE IS FINE!” Octavia exclaimed out of pure frustration, “I thought for sure I was going to do that spell correctly and then once again I fail! Trixie is so tired of this!”

The purple unicorn was completely lost, “Tired of what? You’re confusing me, Trixie, You’ve spawned a table before and now you can barely do intermediate tricks, I think you’re just having an off day. You’ll be fine in 2 days when the show is, just focus and you’ll do fine,”

Twilight decided on being supportive instead of critical over Trixie relapse in abilities. To her, Trixie was having some sort of meltdown due to how soon the show was. In a way, Twilight Sparkle was correct.

The agitated Octavia took a deep breath just too calm herself down. Nothing she had ever done on the cello was as frustrating as magic has been for her. Her opinion on Trixie was quickly changing, but in no way was she willing to give up any time soon.

Octavia walked over and picked up the spell book she had thrown, hay-bent on learning that spell before the practice was over.

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

Pretending not to be flustered by her own clumsiness, Trixie stood several feet away as the waiters cleaned up her mess caused by dropping the tea cup on the floor. As the other ponies continued mingling and drinking their tea, Trixie sat out awkwardly frantically searching for a way to mend the awkwardness of the situation.

At least that one single sip of tea tasted good

The waiters finally finished, with a new fresh cup of tea waiting for her. Trixie sat down gingerly, trying to ignore the rude looks she was receiving from some regal ponies she hadn’t even met yet.

“Well that sure was unlucky of me!” The grey pony commented trying to re-break the ice between the ponies around her, “I-I sure apologize for that,”

“Oh it’s fine, my young subject, everypony makes mistakes every now and then, and it’s fixed now, so let’s have some more tea!” Celestia’s voice mused from the end of the table.

“Thank you Princess,” Trixie said with a tiny voice crack. Instantly the Princess saved Trixie’s night, for the time being. A wave of relief went through Trixie’s body; she had just escaped ruining a party with her own lack of focus to what she was doing. This bothered her, because focus is everything when it comes to performing in front of crowds, and yet she couldn’t drink tea without causing an accident.

Trixie thinks she may have underestimated how hard it is to be Octavia…

The grey pony played it cool from then on out. She didn’t touch the tea in front of her, which nopony felt the need to point out after her earlier accident. Slowly, Trixie was able to get back into a grove with talking with other ponies again, once she felt comfortable again. She got along with Quaver the best, both sharing similar aspirations to perform in front of the largest crowds in Equestria.

She found that Arpeggio had two fillies of his own that were learning how to play instruments at a very young age. Trixie found out that Ledger Line was Bar Staff’s young nephew. All of these things Octavia would have never found out, and now Trixie feels obligated to relay this info to ‘Tavi once they find a way to return to their normal lives.

Trixie is such a good friend!

As the tea party slowly came to an end, Trixie breathed a sigh of relief. It may not have gone as well as she hoped it would, but making friends motivated her to work on her abilities on the cello when she went back to Octavia’s house.

Trixie sure hopes Twilight Sparkle didn’t ruin anything for TRIXIE! Trixie bets she did ten times worse than I did!

As she walked about, conversing with the other ponies who had seemingly forgotten about her earlier mishap, it started to hit Trixie that now that she has the member’s respect. At first, this seemed good, until Trixie realized that she didn’t have as much room for error as she had before. They expect the best out of her and they wouldn’t settle for less. Though, they may forgive her easier if she messes up just a little. Trixie had somehow gotten herself into quite a conundrum, within an already dumbfounding situation she was in. Trixie was knocked out of yet another daydream once she noticed that Princess Celestia was about to speak.

“Before everypony leaves, I would just like to thank each and every one of you for a truly wonderful time. I look forward to next year’s tea party, and seeing all of you once more,” Celestia said, in all her glory, with her shorter sister by her side.

“Thine subjects have pleased Princess Luna!”

Everypony besides the Princesses themselves bowed in respect as they left the room.

Now that the Princesses were gone, Trixie realized that she would have to go back and learn several practice symphonies in one night. That made her just a little nervous.

As if that wasn’t enough stress, Trixie also needed to know whether Octavia had successfully fooled Twilight Sparkle into thinking she only wanted to practice juvenile magic tricks. These thoughts sent a chill down her spine, as the blissful state of being around the Princesses left her. She temporarily ignored these thoughts, because she was surprised to see Octavia’s ensemble members walking with her purposefully, instead of naturally avoiding her do to Tavi’s shyness.

Trixie really can do anything! Octavia shall be amazed! She doesn’t have to know about the tea cup, though…! Trixie thought as she exited the castle with a whole new group of friends.

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

One more try, I am sure I can do this!

Still working on the same spell, an exhausted Octavia gave it yet another try. She felt it was imperative for her to complete this spell if she wanted any chance to wow a crowd in 2 days. The unicorn had tried countless times all while Twilight Sparkle fell into a deep sleep out of pure boredom.

Then it happened, a full plate falling out of midair, breaking on the floor and waking the purple unicorn up. If the breaking of plate didn’t wake Twilight Sparkle, Octavia’s joyous yell would have for sure. This only confused her more, to see Trixie so excited about a simple trick.

Octavia then used her magic to sweep up the broken pieces which was like a cherry on top of the cake of success.

After hours and hours of flank breaking work, Octavia could use magic at a somewhat intermediate level.

On the way to the train station where Twilight sparkle would return to Ponyville, Octavia couldn’t hide her elation at the fact she had been successful with a spawning spell.

“I can’t believe I was able to spawn a plate! Er, I mean Er- TRIXIE MEANS Trixie can’t believe that Trixie spawned that plate!” Octavia sputtered, causing Twilight to laugh.

“Why are you NOW so impressed you could do this? We practiced spawning the plate two weeks ago and you did it easily,”

I really am awful at being Trixie…

“Oh, um, that’s because Trixie all of a sudden had problems completing that trick yesterday…and Trixie is happy to see she could it today!”

“Mhmm…” Twilight said inquisitively, knowing the blue unicorn was lying. She decided against calling her out on it.

“Trixie is just glad practice for today is over, Trixie can finally go find Octavia and do something RELAXING,” Octavia said with an enthusiastic sigh.

There was an awful silence as Twilight debated whether to ask to tag along. Once again she was being left out of plans; the pony she has feelings for, disregarding her as a friend once more. Twilight Sparkle now knew her place and it made her feel terrible.

She bit her lip and responded like she assumed Trixie would expect her to.

“Don’t tell me you’re just not going to study now that I’m going back to Ponyville!”

Octavia shrugged, “Trixie will study, she just needs some relaxation before she continues,” She said, as the two entered the train station where Twilight was to leave.

Twilight sighed, but Octavia was too distracted to notice. All ‘Tavi could think of was how Trixie did at the tea party. Images of her friend insulting the Princesses with some sort of unwarranted arrogance caused her heart so skip a beat.
The purple unicorn didn’t dare to try and hug the blue unicorn again, so she did some awkward hoofshake instead.

“Before I go Trixie, I’m not going to be at your house until probably an hour later than I usually am, I have something to do tomorrow morning,”

“Alright! Trixie says bye,”

I need to get my flank to the castle!

It wasn’t an unusual sight to see the blue unicorn running frantically about town, which was something Trixie usually did. Now that Octavia was in her body, she was doing the exact same thing as Trixie as she made a beeline towards the castle. She was able to fend off thoughts of what Trixie’s day may have been like while she studied with Twilight, but now it was imperative that she should know what happened as soon as possible. If things went decently, she’d gain confidence in Trixie’s ability to be her, but if it went terribly Octavia considered herself hay out of luck.

Octavia spotted her quickly in the midst of a crowd exiting the castle. She galloped over to her friend who had a silly smile on her face.

“Trixie! Tell me how it went! Tell me how you treated the Princesses, did you buck anyone? Did you have to play the cello and why are you smiling?!”

Though her friend was breathing fast and panicking, Trixie responded with a dismissive wave of her hoof.

“Trixie NAILED IT! Was there ever any doubt that I would? Meeting the Princesses was amazing; Princess Celestia is so…out of this world when you’re so close to her! Princess Luna spoke…weirdly though and for some reason she kept looking at me. I don’t know why, but the best I did was for YOU! I made you some friends!”

“You, what? I-I…with who?”

“With your own ensemble members! None of them knew you, so Trixie made them know you! Quaver is cool, I think you’d like her! Arpeggio is amazingly smart! Though Trixie is undeniably genius, he sometimes, every once in a while, made Trixie feel a little un-genius!”

“I don’t even know who those ponies are..” Tavi responded, blushing slightly, “I didn’t really want friends in my ensemble, it would distract me from playing the cello,”

“That’s really ridiculous Tavi,” Trixie said with a slight chuckle, but then a thought hit her, which she immediately vocalized.

“Trixie thought you were joking when you said Trixie was your only friend, is that actually true…?”

“No!” Octavia responded without thinking, “Well…maybe, but that doesn’t matter right now, you need to learn how to play the cello and FAST!”

The grey pony sighed loudly, expressing her disliking for that idea.

“OKAY, OKAY! We’re almost at your house. This is really going to be the most annoyingly hard thing that Trixie has ever done….!”

Taking one last look at her friend, Octavia’s eyes widened in fear.

My life as I know it is over…

Comments

[Adzainy]

Poor Twilight, Octavia is going to completely destroy her feelings.

[Tome]

Awesome chapter I shall patiently wait for Moar >:0

[solsticebrony888]

92465 Thank you I'll try and post the next chapter ASAP! The chapters for this story just get so dang long, that I need extra time to look over them.