Twilight Sparkle was among the only ponies in Equestria who had first hoof knowledge of just how much damage one can do when messing with the awesome powers of space and time. She knew that even the slightest tinkering of the timeline could have major consequences. She spent an entire week dealing with those consequences once before and swore to never do it again. However as she stood listening to the umpteenth overly dramatic pitch about some new half baked field of magical study, she found she had multiple reasons to wonder if the Canterlot archives might have some sort of spell to speed time relative to herself.
The first was obviously that she was on the third day of a magical sciences and technology conference and hadn't been intellectually stimulated since the first hour of the first day. It hadn't taken Twilight long to realize she was probably the most talented magic user and smartest scientist in the whole of the event, but every one of them there wanted her to see their work so that they might get an audience with the princess herself. She knew this situation would have been harder on Celestia if it were her here instead, but Twilight was still thinking that her mentor was going to owe her for this one.
The second was something that had been making her wish time would move faster for just over a month now, but was more prominent as she kept listening to each new pony drone on and on. Twilight Sparkle hadn't even been going out with her marefriend for a full day before they had had to part ways knowing full well that they would be apart this long. Though they had managed to set up a magic link that would allow them to send letters back and forth, and this had allowed them to get closer in some ways, she had found herself missing The Great And Powerful Trixie, or Beatrix Lulamoon to her marefriend while they were in private.
But luckily for Twilight, this was the last day of the convention, and Trixie.. Beatrix, would be arriving in Manehatten mid day tomorrow. So as she realized the brown earth pony stallion in thick black rimmed glasses was staring at her expectantly having apparently finished his rant on whatever it was he had been talking about, she decided it was time to start actually paying attention again. Time would not move faster, but she had almost made it. Soon she would have her marefriend back, even if it might only be for a brief time again.
Beatrix Lulamoon... Was it a bad thing that the name almost sounded unfamiliar to her. It was her name, had been her whole life. But she spent years at a time without being around anypony who called her by that name. Despite what ponies thought she really wasn't "The Great And Powerful Trixie", in fact at times she didn't even like her. Yet it seemed that most ponies could not separate that character from the pony she really was. But as she sat in her cart, having made it to the place she wanted to rest for the night early, she was going through letters she had been getting for the last month, all addressed to Beatrix Lulamoon. And for a little extra bonus the newer ones were addressed with a heart over the "i", and were sealed with a kiss and a blue bow that matched her coat almost perfectly.
Trixie... Beatrix, it really shouldn't be that weird to hear ones own name in their own head, was used to long weeks of doing nothing but pulling her cart from place to place. Long days on the road doing little else but imagining ideas for her shows that she would probably never have the actual magical skills to pull off. Long nights trying to get comfortable with only a thin bed roll between her and the wood floor of her cart. But recently as she was walking during the day her mind was filled with thoughts of her marefriend and their one memorable night and half day together. She thought of all the messages they sent back and, forth, of cute things like Twilight actually encouraging her to try the outlandish tricks she had thought up. And her nights were spent rereading her marefriends rather sizeable letters and crafting responses to her that she hoped would let her marefriend know that she missed her, but didn't make her worry about how lonely she might be.
And while she did feel that special kind of lonely that you can only get while walking down empty roads without seeing anypony for days on end, it didn't seem to be affecting her in the ways it use to. She noticed that the most when she had come to her final rest stop before Manehatten at least two hours ahead of schedule. Usually by this point the loneliness would have gotten to the point of seeming almost physical, and that feeling would somehow make her cart seem so much heavier in the final days of a trip between shows. But this time around it seemed that the closer she got to Manehatten, the closer she got to Twilight, her cart, her heart her every hoof step seemed lighter.
And that was just the way she felt as she lay in her cart putting the final touches on her last letter to her marefriend before she would be able to see her again. All she was doing was letting Twilight know when she would be making it into town and when to expect her, but the act made her smile anyway. As she was closing the letter she thought about it and signed the end with a whole line of X's and O's. She then rolled it and tied it up with a lavender ribbon that had caught her eye in the last town she was in. Satisfied, she focused her magic on the candle she was using to write the letter by. The flame grew and took on a glow to match her horn. She tossed the letter into the flame, causing it to immediately vanish into a puff of smoke which gathered itself up and swept itself out of the cart and in the direction of Manehatten, the lights of which were just visible on the horizon.
Today was the day. Twilight couldn't help but do a little dance as she gathered some essentials into her saddle bags. Though it was clear that both mares did want their relationship to.. eh-hem.. go from where they left off, both mares had decided they had to fill in at least some of the dating steps they had skipped. Thus Twilight had actually spent a fair amount of time planning what they would be doing on their first official date.
Despite the fact that both mares had been to the city before, they found something they had in common. Both had always been too focused on what they were specifically in the city for to have ever even considered doing the usual touristy stuff. Thus Twilight was packing several tourist guides for different landmarks, binoculars for the two of them, some bits, and a letter of introduction given to her by princess Celestia. The princess had actually been happy when Twilight had requested to stay a few extra days in the city for, "personal reasons", and had given her the letter saying it could get her into all "the good places".
Placing the bags on her haunches she couldn't help but think that if her friends saw her now they would think her behavior more along the lines of Pinky Pie as she did another little dance while walking out of the door of the hotel room. Her room was just a short walk down from the elevator, but she still managed to get a strange look from a high society pony as she skipped the distance there and sat humming a happy tune after pressing the button and waiting just a short time for it to arrive. All she could think about on her way down was her marefriend. She had waited so long for this and was going to enjoy it to the fullest.
"Oh there you are darling." Twilight let out a small yelp as the elevator doors opened to the lobby and before her were two faces she definitely did not expect to see. Rarity and Rainbow Dash looked slightly taken aback at coming face to face with their friend as well. "How fortuitous, the front desk just told us were to find you, but it looks like you couldn't wait to see us."
Finding her voice Twilight managed to force a smile onto her face and stuttered out a greeting. "Rarity, Rainbow, what are you doing here."
"Oh, I just figured you hadn't had a good dose of Rainbow Dash in a while so I figured I'd swing by and indulge you. Oh, and I brought Rarity too."
Rarity just gave Rainbow an incredulous look as the elevator door started to close in front of Twilight's face. Rainbow managed to get her hoof into the gap before it closed. "Hey Twilight, I know your happy to see us but you should probably get out of the elevator."
Coming to her senses somewhat Twilight did start to step out. "Oh yeah right, I'm just surprised. Seriously what are you two doing here."
The three moved over to the side of the lobby with Rainbow and Rarity standing between Twilight and the front door of the hotel. Rainbow was about to respond but Rarity cut her off. "We each had our own reasons for being here in Manehatten, but we knew you were still here so we thought it would be a simply wonderful idea to come a few days early and have a nice day out together."
"Yeah, I won a ticket to a Wonderbolts show the day after tomorrow, it's gonna be totally awesome," Rainbow gushed as she held out a single ticket, presenting it as if it were some kind of masterpiece.
"And I was invited to a very exclusive fashion show the day after," Rarity cooed with no small amount of pride showing. "We thought today would be the last day we'd be able to see you, seeing as that conference of yours had already ended, but the front desk said you were here for the rest of the week."
"Yeah, what's up with that Twilight."
"Oh that, that's just.." Twilight froze as the pony she had been waiting over a month to see walked in. She had walked in and briefly took a look around before their eyes met. And well Trixie had a moment of elation upon seeing her marefriend she quickly adopted the same barely contained panic Twilight had as well. Twilight had admitted to Trixie through one of her letters that she hadn't told her friends about their relationship, so seeing Twilight with two of the mares she distinctly remembered being not so nice to while in Ponyville she quickly started looking around for a place to hide. Noticing Twilight's distraction both of the other mares started looking in the direction she seemed to be looking. Panicking more Twilight suddenly blurted out, "Vacation!" The statement came out probably a little louder then necessary, but it did it's job in getting the two to turn there attention back to her. "Yeah, I had just planned on having a little vacation here in Manehatten, I've never actually taken the time to see the city." Using the distraction Trixie managed to dive fairly ungracefully away from the main lobby area and into a side sitting area out of sight. "I was just about to go out sight seeing as it so happens, so now I guess we can all go together, what could be better then a day out with friends." The goofy grin she plastered on her face seemed to convince both mares as they smiled and voiced their agreement.
"Wonderful darling, but I must insist that our first stop be some kind of restaurant, I am simply famished."
"Yeah, she only says that because she was too prissy to eat the 'dreadfully low quality' dining car food on the train." Dash said this as the two were turning to lead Twilight out of the hotel.
"It is not a matter of being 'prissy', I simply have discerning tastes. And besides, we happen to be in one of the finest culinary centers in Equestria, it would have been a shame to ruin my appetite on simple buffet.. stop that." Rainbow Dash had begun hovering off the ground in order to mock Rarity by pantomiming along with her explanation with her hoof. They were just stepping out of the doors during this exchange when Twilight stopped.
"Actually girls, could you give me a minute. I.. I almost forgot I was going to leave a message with the front desk. I'll be right back, you two decide what you want to eat." Both mares nodded to her while they proceeded out the door still arguing. The second they were far enough away Twilight darted towards the sitting area.
Within the sitting area were several large armchairs arranged around a small table in a circle. In the chair on the furthest side from her was a mare with a familiar build but unfamiliar coloration who seemed to be reading a newspaper oddly intently. She proceeded quickly to her.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so so so sorry. I had no idea they were going to be here. They just showed up to surprise me. I'm also so so sorry I haven't told them about us yet. I swear to Celestia it's not because I'm ashamed of being with you, it's just a lot to explain. Please please please don't be mad, I swear I'll make it up.."
"Pssst". The noise came from a voice she recognized but did not come from the place she expected it to. Looking up she saw a very confused earth pony mare looking at her from the side of her paper. Looking behind her in the chair she could not see from the main lobby was another mare with a familiar build but unfamiliar coloration, this one however was a unicorn with a much more familiar face. Trixie seemed to be barely containing hysterical laughter as she watched her marefriend making a heartfelt apology to a random stranger.
Smiling sheepishly to the random mare she stepped away and turned around to her actual marefriend. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so so..."
"I heard Twilight, and I might actually be mad if that hadn't been so funny." Twilight's momentary hesitation at the drastic change in their plans quickly faded as the month worth of longing caught up to her upon seeing her marefriends smile. She practically dove forward and hastily took out all her anticipation on her lips. Trixie met her with equal enthusiasm, but had to break their moment before she could let Twilight get too lost in it. "Well don't you have some friends to go hang out with?"
Sensing some actual frustration layered in with her exaggerated teasing caused Twilight to grimace a little. "I really am sorry. I wanted today to be perfect, and it could have been if I had said something before now".
"It's ok Twilight," she knew she had to find some way to placate her otherwise it might ruin the rest of the time they could manage to get together, "you know that old expression about absence making the heart grow fonder." Twilight nodded. "Well it's kinda true. I missed you so much I don't think I can be too mad at you right now." She gave her a small kiss on the snout to show her this. "It just gives us more time to make up for later. And trust me, I'm going to make sure you make it up to me." Both mares smiled at the promise of things to come.
Twilight stole one more kiss before looking back to magically rummage through her saddlebags. She pulled out a key and presented it to the still seated mare. "This is your room key. The princess uses this hotel for official visits so she put me up in the royal suite. You'll love how big and soft the bed is. The staff already know I was going to have somepony over so you shouldn't have any problems. You're probably tired from traveling so get some rest and feel free to order whatever you want from room service. I promise I'll try my best to be back as soon as I can. And I'm going to fix this today, I swear on the princess I'll tell them and then..."
She was silenced by Trixie's lips pressing against hers again. "You had me at 'bed'. Go have fun, I'll be waiting." She gave a suggestive wink before giving her a playful nudge back the way she came. Twilight couldn't help but give her one more peck on the cheek before running back towards the front doors to meet her friends.