A Change of Venue

by solsticebrony888

Trixie's Day Part-1

It was the day of Trixie’s performance with Octavia’s orchestra. Everything she had worked for the past few days was now going to be showcased to ponies that have no clue of the situation she was in. They had made the bold decision to go through with performing each other’s performances, which only made it more stressful. They had no excuse if they failed because they could have just switched back in time to return to each other’s bodies.

“Great, a sleepless night. Just what Trixie needs when she’s going to perform on the cello in front of a crowd in an ensemble…for the first time ever,” Ten seconds after waking up, the grey pony already psyched herself out, “Tavi…Tavi! Wake up! We should get ready,”

“I’m already up, Trixie,” The blue unicorn called from the bedroom where she slept. They walked to meet each other in the middle of the hallway. It was apparent that neither of them got a good amount of sleep during the night.

“We should get ready,” Trixie reiterated, “Trixie doesn’t want to mess anything up,”

“Well…you’ve put a lot of work into your playing these past few days. When the performance starts, just stay calm and you won’t stick out as much. Now go and eat some breakfast, I’ll pack my cello for you. Then we’ll go meet Bar Staff and everypony else. You’re the third performance today, after the band and choir,”

“Trixie knows that already,” The grey pony said with a huff, “Trixie is just nervous,” The grey pony went and grabbed some hay fries as Octavia continued.

“Of course you are, but that should go away when the time comes. You remember what the time signature is for every piece right?”

“Yes, yes. The first is 4/4 and the rest are 3/4. One, two, three, four…one, two, three, four…” Trixie recanted, showing that she remembered what her friend had taught her.

“Good…that was one part I didn’t expect you to understand,” Octavia said, using her magic to swiftly put the cello in its case, then zipping it shut.

“That part wasn’t even hard for the Great and Powerful Trixie to learn. It was the note name…A B C D E F G, then the sharps and flat. Why does music have to be so overly complicated, Tavi?” The earth pony questioned with a sigh.

“If music was simple, symphonies wouldn’t sound as extravagant and amazing. Complicated symphony require complicated structure although not all songs are challenging in respect to your skills,”

“Well, for Trixie they are,” The grey pony said, then took a bite out of a hay sandwich, “Trixie just hopes we didn’t make a mistake by not switching,”

“Don’t even think about it, Trixie. Don’t think negatively, or I will think negatively, then we’ll both have mental breakdowns and nothing will go right. I believe we can do this, though it may be challenging,”

“You better not mess up my performance tomorrow,” Trixie chided, “Will you watch my performance today or stay here and practice magic?”

“I couldn’t stay here, the anticipation of how you did would kill me, I guess I’ll bring a book with me to study some of the spells I am supposed to perform tomorrow. Oh Celestia, I’m now starting to feel quite nervous, why’d you have to say such mean things about Twilight? She could have helped me yesterday and today!”

Trixie was taken aback, “Whoa, Tavi, Trixie didn’t even mean what she said, it was just unlucky that she overheard us…” The grey pony said, oddly offended.

“I know, I know, sorry,” The blue unicorn said, “I just wish WE hadn’t have done that…that wasn’t very smart, It doesn’t matter that she’s a filly fooler.”

“Don’t call her that, that’s mean,” Trixie chided, surprising Octavia once more.

“Why are so defensive about her? I didn’t know somepony like you would care about what’s nice and what’s not.”

“Maybe it’s because she was my friend, Tavi, and she isn’t anymore because Trixie actually said some things she regrets,” Trixie felt her face redden in embarrassment just from admitting her own regret from the day before.

“Look, we have no time for this, Trixie. Let’s go. Being early is something I was known for anyway,” Octavia said, using her magic to roll her cello case towards the door. She was really starting to enjoy using magic in her daily life, everything just seemed much easier for her.

When constantly thinking about the upcoming events, things always seem to go much faster. Leaving Trixie’s home, the two reversed friends walked towards the practice building where the orchestra would meet. They would meet there, tune their instruments, then walk to the center of town where the performance would take place.

They would wait behind a curtain until the band and choir were finished, then enter the stage, in front of hundreds and hundreds of ponies. This was the same stage that Octavia, in her new unicorn body, would perform Trixie’s tricks upon.

They went over their plan carefully, considering that Trixie had a tendency to not pay as much attention she probably could due to her own cockiness. While on their way, they made sure that Trixie remembered the symphony order, which was something she had trouble remembering when practicing. The pieces she was supposed to play weren’t the most challenging in the library of symphonies her class could have chosen to play. This is the sole reason why Trixie has been able to learn them, whether they be slightly dumbed down to her level or not.

It was on oddly cold morning on their walk to the practice studio. They could see the mist forming with each breath, which is odd for this time of season. They arrived at the studio quickly and Octavia could see the nervousness in the grey pony’s eyes.

“Look,” Octavia said with a sigh, “We decided to not go to the Princesses to have our situation reversed and I was thinking that…well, it was my decision to let you stay as me, so if something goes wrong, well, I guess it’s okay.”

“Really?” Trixie questioned, cocking her head to side.

“Just try your best, okay?”

“Trixie will, Tavi…Trixie won’t let you down.”

Standing in front of the practice studio, the friends gave each other a hug before parting ways. Octavia reminded Trixie that the conductor’s name was Bar STAFF not Bar Graph and, with a chuckle, the grey pony entered Octavia’s practice area.

The blue unicorn sighed.

Whether that was a mistake or not, I’ll only know with time.

The first performance which was the band’s, was due to start in an hour. Bar Staff had told Octavia that the performances were earlier in the morning to prevent getting in the way of the mid-day shoppers who flock the town square and most likely would have just gotten in the way during a performance

So with the spell book she brought to study, Octavia trotted off in the short walk to the center of town where show would be played. There was a small group of ponies already there, mostly the fancier tier of ponies in Canterlot, who were probably there just for the orchestra. The spots where each pony would stand while playing their instrument was denoted by numbered markers. Octavia knew that Trixie would be told her number by Bar Staff before they head up onto the stage.

Octavia found a decent spot in the crowd, towards the middle, where she could see her whole orchestra and Trixie without a problem. The band, which was the first act of the day, was setting up first and was about to begin. With a natural rivalry with the band, Octavia would only less than enthusiastically study during their whole performance.

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

Not many ponies where there once Trixie arrived at the practice studio. Bar Staff was in the back prepping some of the other instruments for the performance. Windsong and Quaver were the only two other ponies that Trixie could spot in the first room. Trixie remembered them both because she had gotten along with them well at the tea party, even though Octavia had asked her not to converse with her ensemble members.

“Hello Octavia, early as ever, I see,” Bar Staff commented as he exited the back room with a bass that he was tuning, “You’re ready for today right?”

“Yes I am,” Trixie said, entering her ‘polite’ mode now that she was around such ponies.

“Hello Octavia, how are you?” Quaver asked, while tuning her violin, “Haven’t seen you since the tea party,”

“Oh, hello Quaver. Um, I was practicing for this concert with a friend, it’s all,”

“Let’s make sure we show the band how it’s really done,” Windsong added with a chuckle, “They surely haven’t a clue on how real music is played,” He said with a grin, while taking his bass out of a massive locker that he had it in.

“Windsong, you’re always so brash, no need to bring in a competition where there is none,” Quaver jested, “The band is first up anyway, I’m sure they won’t even see ours, or the choir’s performances,”

“I think the band wouldn’t even want to see our performance knowing how much better we are,” Trixie said, surprising the musician ponies in front of her, who weren’t used to such confident words coming from the grey pony.

“Octavia, you certainly have come out of a figurative shell recently!” Bar Staff commented as he dragged another bass from the back room in preparation for other students to arrive.

“Well, I guess it was just time I wasn’t such an outcast, I mean, I guess I was pretty boring and such.”

“Well that’s a sure thing,” Quaver added, her violin now in it’s case.

A few others arrived then and started unpacking their instruments and tuning them. Octavia had already done the tuning in the cello, so Trixie had nothing to worry about since she couldn’t tune a cello to save her own life.

Things went fast. She didn’t like it. Trixie compared it to her first performance in front of a crowd when she was a filly. She didn’t have the magical abilities to wow a crowd and she didn’t have the confidence to fool the crowd into believing her powers were better than they really were. Needless to say, her first performance was embarrassing. She felt the same tingle down her spine, the same subconscious doubting of herself and the same obviousness to what she was getting herself into. This could be one of the worst mistakes of her life, and she wouldn’t know until after the performance.

Get it together, Trixie. You know what ‘Tavi taught you. Don’t forget it.

“Is everypony here yet?” Bar Staff asked after waving his hoof wildly for attention, “Say not here if you’re not!”

The class laughed in response and once he realized what he said, Bar Staff joined in awkwardly.

“It appears that everyone is here. Ready, everypony?” After a mixture of nods and yes’s, he continued, “Just relax, we’ve played much bigger venues before, this is just a quick set in town square. I’ll meet everypony behind the stage, where you can fine-tune your instruments and prepare your music,”

It wasn’t a far walk from the practice studio to the center of town. The class walked together, everypony except Trixie calm and collected, because the idea of ruining her best friend’s life was something she couldn’t bear. It also felt odd to her to even care about such a thing considering how just the idea of caring about something, or somepony would have been a laughable idea to her a week before.

Twilight Sparkle changed me.

It didn’t make her feel better when she realized that she may never see the purple unicorn again. If there was anything she may regret more from this experience, if she ends up messing up on stage, is that she looses a good friend in the process, over something as trivial as the fact the purple unicorn had feelings for her.

Soon she was standing quietly behind the curtain, waiting the royal choir to finish their set in front of a crowd of several hundred ponies. The sound of the crowd made Trixie nervous, knowing they were much more posh than any pony she had performed for before switching bodied with Octavia.

...And then it was their turn. The violinists and viola players went to the front, the cellists in the middle and the bassists in the back. They were all under a wall that curved forward over them to project their sound more.

Bar Staff, without saying a word, instructed the class to lift their instruments and start playing.

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