//------------------------------//
// Manehatten Tour: Confessions 
// Story: Show Business 
// by Natedogg2006 
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"Dreadful, simply Dreadful." Of all the diners in all of Manehatten they had to choose this one.
"I know, seriously, what an eyesore." And of all the places to put an advertisement, this street corner just had to be selected over all the other perfectly acceptable ones in the whole city.
"I mean really, after Ponyville is she even relevant anymore."
"Yeah, especially after Twilight totally showed her what real magic is all about." And now they were dragging her into this conversation, great. "Hey Twi, maybe we should get tickets just so you could show her up again. Show her what a real magician is."
Ok, now she really was going to have to address the situation. Rarity had insisted on a trendy diner just a few blocks down from Twilight's hotel. While that in itself was not a problem, nor was the choice to sit in the outdoor dining area, what was plastered on the billboard just across the street was. An image of her secret marefriend clad in her stage attire was displayed big and proud, inviting one and all to the show at a mid sized theater just another few blocks up the road. It had actually been nice for Twilight to see every day up until this point, this being the intersection she would turn on to go to the convention. But the minute her friends started leading her in this direction that all turned to dread.
'ok Twilight,' she thought to herself, 'there's no way they'd be ok with our relationship if I told them we are together while they're remembering the incident in Ponyville. I guess I have to find a way to diffuse this as best as I can right now. Maybe it will soften the blow later. If there is going to be a later at this rate.'
"Actually Rainbow Dash, if we're speaking in more literal terms, I'm not what you would call a magician."
Dash looked very confused at this statement. "What the hey are you talking about. This isn't you trying to be all modest like you were right before kicking that ursas butt is it."
"No, this is me lecturing you on proper terminology with regards to the different fields of magical use." Just as she had planned she saw Rainbow Dash's eyes glaze over and could tell her pegasus friend was barely half listening. "To be more precise, my designation would be that of a mage. I study and experiment with magic in order to improve my own understanding and capabilities for the betterment of ponykind. Magicians use existing magical knowledge in unconventional ways in order to perform feats that seem impossible by common understanding." By this point her plan seemed to be working as both of her friends seemed to be having a hard time paying attention to her explanation. Just a little more and she should be able to steer the conversation any direction she wanted. "To put it simply, magicians do magic tricks, I use magic in it's most basic and raw form."
Twilight hated to admit it but she definitely knew the look in a ponies eyes when they had completely stopped listening, but in this case it came in handy. Now all she had to do was get one of them talking about themselves and the conversation would probably never come back to the subject.
"So what your saying is that you could kick her flank on multiple levels." Dang it Rainbow.
"Rainbow Dash, how uncouth. Of course that is what you would take away from that explanation." Pony feathers, Rarity too. Apparently her friends were getting better at resisting her technical babble. "But I wouldn't think the idea was too far off the mark. You are a truly talented mage and I'm sure you would be more deserving of such adoration then that charlatan would ever be." And that would make it a full 180 back to exactly where she didn't want them to be. 
'Well if they're not going to drop this then I really am just trying to lessen the damage for later. But what's the best way to do that?'
"What I'm saying is that I have as much interest in upstaging her now as I did back then. It really wouldn't even be valid for us to compete, it would be like the two of you competing. Rainbow does a trick, Rarity makes a dress, who wins."
"Me!" Rainbow blurted out without a second thought. Rarity just rolled her eyes. 
"You get my point. Honestly, I didn't even realize back then in Ponyville that she was a magician. The way everypony reacted I thought there was actually something bad about her."
"That's just the thing Twilight darling, there was something bad about her. Don't you remember all the dreadful things she did."
"Hmmm," Twilight had to be careful here. Her friends were obviously still upset about the incident so she didn't want to make it seem like she was treating it as if it was a trivial thing, but she didn't want it to seem like it really was as big a thing as they remembered. "If I remember correctly.. she challenged anypony to out do her, then she tied up Apple Jack's legs, spun Dash around till she puked, and turned your hair green."
Now Rarity was descending into full on dramatics. "You see, absolutely dreadful. How could anypony be so uncouth as to do such things."
"Yeah Twilight, totally uncool. I was dizzy for like half an hour."
Twilight actually let out a real snicker at that. "Oh come on Dash, you literally tried to out gloat her and made no secret about it. Although I will say the trick you pulled off was really cool, probably cooler then what she did to you." Twilight actually felt proud about that one. Rainbow Dash was now giving a slightly smug smirk while rubbing her hoof on her chest confidently. 
"Well that still doesn't excuse something like destroying my magnificent mane." Even more dramatic now, she would have to hit this one just right.
"Rarity, you do have a magnificent mane. And that is why I took extra time to make sure I had researched the absolute best spell to fix it."
"Best spell? Twilight, not to be rude but you spent all of five minutes researching."
"And it took all of five seconds to cast. I was just being thorough for your sake, it was honestly an easy fix. And now your mane is even more magnificent now that you know how to use transformation magic for yourself."
Bingo. Rarity's dramatics halted instantly as a slight blush became immediately visible on her Ivory cheeks. "You noticed I was doing that huh?"
"Everypony noticed when you started using it on yourself," Twilight explained as  Rainbow agreed with her observation by nodding emphatically with an even more smug smile on her face. "It's fine though, I'm sure you're not the first. You've always taken pride in your appearance so it really is just an extension of your natural style." Rarity's blush faded as she stroked her hoof through her mane confidently.
'Dang, why can't I be this convincing all the time. I am on fire today.'
All three of the mares were about finished with their meals, and two were definitely not thinking very much about The Great And Powerful Trixie. Twilight had been planning on taking some fair bit of time warming her friends up to certain other aspects of her confession, but how great that just went was astonishing even to her. She was weighing her options heavily as the waiter came over to collect their plates and drop off the check. Making a decision much more hastily then she normally would she suddenly opened her bag with her magic and floated a good pile of bits out before either of her friends had even begun to reach for theirs. 
"Change of plans girls. I have something I really need to tell you." Her horn lit up brighter as she passed her bits to the slightly taken aback waiter. "There should be a good tip in there for you, thanks for everything." All three mares were suddenly enveloped in a flash of light before they were gone. The waiter just sat blinking. 



Back in front of Twilight's hotel a flash of light got the attention of everypony in the area as three mares suddenly appeared out of nowhere. 
"Twilight, what the hay." Rainbow shouted. Twilight's reaction was to sway back and forth unsteadily, catching herself on said shocked friend.
"Three is a little much," her voice was shaky in a way it hadn't been in just over a month as she shook her head to clear away the dizziness, "even for me."
"Yes Twilight dear. Why are we back at your hotel. I thought we were going sight seeing. What so important all of a sudden."
Straightening up, Twilight started leading them into the hotel. "It's something big, but I think right now might be the best time for it. Please just trust me, and please don't be too mad." 
"Twilight dear. What ever could this be about. What could you possibly have done that could make us mad at you."
They had made it to the elevator at this point where a stallion stepping off held it open for them. Getting on Twilight pressed the button for her floor and waited for the doors to close. Luckily they were alone in the small space.
"Ok..." She was feeling confident just a minute ago, now it felt like she was going to have to drag the words out of herself kicking and screaming. "The first is something about myself. Something kinda big." She hesitated again. "I.. I'm gay." It felt like the silence was weighing down on her, or that might have been the elevator beginning to rise. "I'm a lesbian". Still no reaction.
She glanced to her right, feeling Rainbow would be the more accepting of the two. What she saw was a look of disappointment on her friends face. This threatened to break all confidence Twilight had left as the expression remained even as Rainbow Dash reached down and started nosing through the satchel around her neck. Sitting back she came out with a small jingling bag, which she promptly opened, dumped out a small pile of bits from, and with a huff tossed them over to Rarity who caught them in her magic. "Hey. It was a fifty fifty shot."
"Thank you very much darling." Twilight looked over to her other friend and saw her smiling smugly. "I'll be sure to let Pinky know you and Apple Jack both owe her as well."
Twilight could only gape, looking back and forth between the two on either side of her. Finally she settled to her left and exclaimed, "wait, you knew. How could you have known. I only just figured it out."
It was actually Dash that began explaining, "oh, like a few weeks ago Rarity started gushing about you acting weird. She got it in her head that something happened while you were in Canterlot. Something 'romantic'," she finished with a gag.
The elevator stopped at a random floor. The doors opened to no ponies standing and waiting. The doors closed slowly. 
"And it seemed that everypony couldn't even imagine you as being capable of romance. None of the girls could honestly imagine the kind of pony who could sweep you off your hooves, so there was some speculation there. The bet was actually on whether or not something happened, not specifically on if you were gay or not. Though I got that one right too." Rarity's smugness while saying this was practically radiating off of her by this point. 
"Yeah yeah. If you look for mushy stuff everywhere your bound to get one eventually." Rarity's reaction was to stick her tongue out at Rainbow in a very unladylike way.
"Well.." to say Twilight was stunned was an understatement. "I guess at least that makes everything from here a little easier. Was it really that obvious. I honestly thought I was acting normal."
"Oh it's just the little things darling. You just seemed to have an extra spring in everything you did. So when do we get to meet her." The elevator dinged as they finally reached the floor.
"That's the other thing I wanted to tell you girls." She started leading them down the hall. "And once again I really hope you can understand." They reached her room as she floated her key from her bag and started unlocking the door. Taking a deep breath she braced herself and put her hoof on the handle. "I'd like to introduce you to somepony kinda special to me". 



A sleepy haze had just begun to settle over Beatrix. Being given total freedom over her marefriends room had been fun so far. Upon making it to the room and cancelling her transformation she had first tested room service thoroughly on just what was the most extravagant meal they could prepare, as well as the second and third most. She had also decided to prepare for Twilight's return. The hotel staff member that had brought that order up couldn't help a suggestive smirk as they brought it in. She had also decided to freshen up, extensively, fogging up the entire room from her long and luxurious shower. She may not have much experience with the finer things in life, but she seemed to be a quick study. 
She had finally settled into a bed even bigger and softer then the one Twilight and her had once shared on their first night together. She really couldn't believe how much better her life always seemed to be ever since Twilight came into it. It was thoughts of this, and what she would be doing with her marefriend when she got back that were gently lulling her into a relaxing sleep. Then she heard something she wasn't expecting to hear for at least a few more hours. Or maybe she actually had nodded off. Either way, she was not expecting it when she faintly heard the clicking of the door in her half awake state.
Beatrix started to roll over to strike the seductive pose she had practiced briefly before settling into the covers. She did so as she heard the voice she'd been waiting to hear.
"... This is my marefriend."
Trixie froze in place. She had not considered this particular possibility. She was about three quarters of the way into the pose, which was enough to see Twilight standing just inside the doorway holding it open for her friends.
Despite not knowing these ponies at all the emotional transition was easy enough to track. They had started off with quiet expectation. Shock and confusion had quickly followed as their eyes met and connections were quickly made. Then, just as she had feared, matching scowls appeared. 
The pegasus suddenly jumped into the air and flew with incredible speed straight at her. She didn't even have time to brace for the punch she knew was coming. But instead the rainbow blurs hoof stopped just inches in front of her face. Her tone harsh and accusing she growled out, "Twilight!!! What the hey is she doing here."
"Rainbow Dash, calm down. Five minutes ago I got you both to realize she's not as bad as you both thought..."
"There's not as bad as I thought and then there's finding her in one of my best friends bed." Rainbow shouted as her attention shifted to Twilight. 
"Yes Twilight dear. This is a little much. While we'd normally be happy to hear about new developments in your life, we all have very little history with this charlatan and all of it is bad."
"That's just it. Our history with her isn't really that bad, her history with us is actually way worse. If you girls would just relax for a second and let me explain..."
"We don't need you to explain that she's a jerk and there's no way you should be with her." Rainbow Dash had flown over to Twilight and was now pointing her hoof accusingly at her. 
"Rainbow Dash, don't call her a jerk." Twilight was starting to get mad as well, which meant the situation was not getting any better any time soon. Trixie's attitude had been at the center of many arguments before, but usually she would just regard that as good publicity. This time she definitely wanted calm level heads, and it looked like she was the last in the room.
"I'll call a jerk a jerk so long as they are a jerk.."
"Eh-hem," her attempt at getting their attention was remarkably effective, three sets of eyes turned straight towards her. She had abandoned her semi seductive pose and was now sitting on her haunches on the bed in what she hoped was a neutral manner. "If I'm interpreting information from Twilight's letters correctly you two would be Rarity and Rainbow Dash." Both of their glares remained, but at the very least the pegasus's wings slowed and she landed just a short distance from Twilight. Both of them nodded but made no effort to hide their contempt.
'This is going to be tough, I gotta be careful or I'm just going to make this worse.' She took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing.
"I wasn't quite sure how to handle this situation, I've never been in the position of actually needing to explain my actions. The only time I ever have was back in Canterlot when Twilight and I got together." Misstep, that made the rainbow one glare harder, though it made Twilight smile a little which was nice. "But I think explaining would end up sounding like I'm trying to throw blame around, and that would probably be counterproductive. I think the best way to start this off would be to make the first step and offer you both my apologies." Both of them seemed to be somewhat disarmed at this point, but their glares only softened a little. Twilight however started to walk over to her with a warm smile on her face.
"Bea.." she started but then thought better of it and started again. "Trixie?" she paused and Trixie gave a warm smile to match hers. "You don't need to do that, we all have things to be sorry for, you don't need to be the only pony..." 
"It's ok Twilight, the rainbow one is right. I've been the biggest jerk and so I probably have the most to answer..." She stopped as Rainbow Dash's hoof was once again thrust into her face.
"The name is Rainbow Dash chump. You got it right once so you got no reason to get it wrong this time." She stopped her rant as Trixie reached up and grasped the accusing hoof in her own.
"It's nice to meet you officially Rainbow Dash. You can call me Trixie." She let go of Rainbows hoof as the pegasus retracted it slowly, some fair bit of confusion entering her scowl. "I'm sorry for spinning you so hard that you ended up puking. It was only my intention to spin you enough to get you off the stage. I just always forget that pegasus are built lighter.  I actually felt bad to see you crash the way you did, but I couldn't break character to apologise back then."
Rainbow Dash slowly started backing up and set her hooves back down a short distance from the bed. "Character??!!" It was not Rainbow Dash that responded. Rarity had stomped forward and propped herself up with her front hooves on the bed so she could glare down at the still seated mare. "Are you going to try to blame a character on what you did to me. Do you really expect us to believe anypony would act that way on purpose and do something so, so, evil!!"
"Rarity come on. Evil? Isn't that a little much?" Twilight started to defend Trixie again but her marefriend only smiled to her again to silence her.
"It's ok. That one was actually a little more messed up as far as what I usually do to hecklers. To tell the honest truth.. I had only just learned to use transformation magic and was still trying to figure out a way of integrating it into my act. I wasn't sure how long it would last, I wasn't even sure what color it was going to come out at that time. I'm actually glad to see it wore off just fine. You're mane looks even better than back then." 
"Don't try to get out of this with compliments. You're still not taking responsibility for this. Do you really expect us to believe you only pretend to act like a jerk."
"No. I don't expect either of you to believe it at all, much less understand it. At least not right away." She looked down in contemplation before continuing. "You are Twilight's friends, and while I may not have known her as long as you have, I do know she is sweet and innocent almost to a fault." Rarity was still glaring at her, but at this she stepped back down off the bed and went to stand next to Rainbow Dash. "If you girls are anything like her then it's probably going to be hard for you and the rest of your friends to understand the situation I come from. Twilight knows some of the stuff I've gone through, but without bringing down the mood in here too much I'll just say that I have a past that I don't want to have to go back to again. So if making everypony hate me keeps me away from that then it's a small price to pay. The Great And Powerful Trixie is who I play on stage, and her personality is designed to get attention at all cost. The fact that you all hate me is more or less by design."
"So you came into our town and purposefully acted like a jerk to make bits," Rarity started. 
"And you challenged us for the sole purpose of upstaging us to make yourself look better," Rainbow finished. 
"Yup, that's just about right. So if you want to keep hating me then I'm ok with it. But I'd appreciate it if you'd give me a chance. I'd hate to cause issues between you all and Twilight, but I also don't want to lose her."
"Trixie, I already promised that you wouldn't lose me so easily. And I really appreciate you being understanding about the whole thing, but could you please stop being so down on yourself. I think it's about time for them to apologise to you."
"Seriously Twilight, why would we apologise. She out and out said she was being a jerk for the sake of being a jerk. What would we have to be sorry about." Rainbow didn't seem quite as mad as before, but neither her or Rarity stopped glaring from where they sat on the carpet. 
"Twilight, it's because of you that I stopped blaming what happened on you and them. But if you really want me to," Twilight gave her a very slight nod, urging her to go on. Trixie took another deep breath. "My trip to Ponyville nearly destroyed my career, left me destitute and homeless, and I've only just been able to drag myself out of the gutter and start doing more then just barely surviving." The anger that was still left on Rainbow Dash's and Rarity's faces was fading as their faces started dropping. "I spent a few months after that literally sleeping on park benches and under bridges. I caught a break during the winter, one of the few other performing magicians who works the off season and would still talk to me let me stay and perform with them, I just had to do all their grunt work and sleep in their luggage cart. It was actually really nice of them, I really couldn't have asked for more."
"S, so.." Rainbow started, it seemed like she was having a hard time deciding what to feel about the situation. "So, you survived by basically becoming someponies slave and sleeping in their dirty laundry... And that was a step up for you."
"And I blamed it all on your little group of friends. Honestly, if I had randomly run into one of you back then like I did with Twilight.. I probably would have attacked you. I was bitter, angry, and generally not fun to be around for a while."
"W.. what happened." Rarity this time. "I mean, we both came in here hostile towards you and you did nothing."
"It's hard to keep a grudge when there's work to do. I started rebuilding and tried to put it behind me. So much so that when I ran into Twilight, literally by the way, I just tried to get away. But I'm learning that Twilight is nothing if not persistent."
That actually got a legitimate chuckle out of both of them. This started to ease Twilight's nerves that had been wound tight since she first opened the door.
Blowing air between her lips Rainbow Dash decided to take advantage of the lightened mood and spoke up. "Well you started so I guess that makes it my turn. I act like a jerk to get attention too. The difference is I really am kind of a jerk, I'm just cool enough to pull it off. So faulting somepony for being a jerk was really uncool of me." She huffed another breath, "sorry". Twilight had actually expected that to be much harder. She gaped at Dash a little as she heard these words come from her. "What?? I can be sincere when I want to be."
Rarity had been gaping as well but managed to pull it back as she spoke too. "Yes, well. I suppose my turn then. I really can't say I approve of the manners of your stage character, nor her actions. But I suppose I too have spent some fair bit of time cultivating a specific image for the purpose of advancing my career. So I can actually say I understand that this version of you might be the authentic one. If you actually are sorry about your actions then I can apologise for mine. I'd hate to be known as a 'heckler', so I am sorry for interrupting your show. I don't think it would really have been our fault, at least not completely, as to what happened after, but nopony deserves to go through all that. So if there's anything I, we, could do to make it up to you then you've but to ask. If you and Twilight are together then I think it would be best if we all get along."
Trixie sniffed, and broke her neutral stance finally to quickly rub her foreleg across her face. She forced back a slight sob before starting. "Thank you both so much. I really don't need anything. Twilight is probably the best thing that's ever happened to me so I don't need anything as long as I have her."
Rarity was still trying to remain somewhat reserved, but at these words a dreamy, "aaaaaahhhhhh" slipped out as she looked between the two now staring lovingly at each other.
By contrast Rainbow let out a mild gagging sound before cutting off the entirely too mushy scene before her. "No, Rarity is right though, you gotta let us do at least something for you. Consider it a congratulation gift for the two of you."
Broken away from her marefriends gaze Trixie actually tried to think of something she might want from them. The problem was that she had been truthful, she really didn't want much ever since she got Twilight. And asking them for money or favors just seemed vindictive. "... Well, if the two of you didn't have any plans for tomorrow..," both shook their heads so she would continue, ".. then would you consider coming to see my show. Nopony in Ponyville got to see my real show back then so getting to seems like it would be a poetic way of making us even. Plus my percentage of the box-office take depends on how many tickets are sold."
All four mares smiled before Rarity spoke for both herself and Rainbow Dash. "That sounds like a simply lovely idea. We'll definitely be there." She paused a second looking over at Twilight. "Should we pick up an extra ticket for Twilight as well or did you already get her a seat?"
A look of realization passed over Twilight's face but she managed to hide it quickly. She looked over to her marefriend, barely contained laughter causing her to shake as Trixie just gave her a cocky smirk knowing what she had just set her marefriend up for. She wasn't keeping any more secrets from her friends this time. "Actually, yeah. I already have a pass for the show. So I will definitely see you two there tomorrow." Her smile was a little more manic then what might be considered normal, but her friends seemed to brush it off. 
"Sounds like a lovely plan then. But I suppose it still leaves us with the question of what to do with the rest of...." Rarity trailed off as her attention finally shifted off of Trixie and Twilight and she noticed certain details of the room. Tightly drawn curtains and dimmed lights, as well as thin red cloth draped over the lights gave the room a very romantic atmosphere. The normal blankets for the bed seemed to be folded neatly in the corner of the room and some silky soft ones covered the bed in their place. Lastly, there was a room service cart next to the bed complete with chocolate covered strawberries and chilling champagne.
The fashionista's eyes went wide and her cheeks colored slightly. "Rainbow I just remembered there was something I needed to show you." She had jumped to her hooves and was now trying her best to shove her pegasus friend out of the still open door.
"Rarity, what are you talking about. What..."
"Just go," her words were strained as she pushed the athletic pony out. "Tata girls," she got out as her magic enveloped the door handle and closed it quickly behind them.
Beatrix stared at the door for a second before looking over to the mare she had waited so long to be alone with. She found that her marefriend was also staring at the door, though she seemed to be standing nearly frozen, her entire body tinted red in a way that had nothing to do with the mood lighting.
She walked to the edge of the bed and hopped off. Sauntering over to her still stunned marefriend she buried her face into her mane, taking in as much of her presence as she could before she would have to address the situation. "It would be way too awkward for you if your friends knew what you were doing wouldn't it?" Twilight's only response was to grow even redder as she managed to turn her head to look back to her affectionate marefriend. Trixie's response was only to reach her hoof up to pull Twilight into a deep passionate kiss. "Don't worry. We were planning on having a day out anyway. And as long as they're here I might as well get to know your friends as well."
Twilight's body started to visibly relax as her color also started to return to normal. "Beatrix, you are the best," she said as she nuzzled into the other mares mane. 
"Yeah, just don't forget it during the show tomorrow. Come on, let's see if we can catch up to them." They kissed once more as they both started trotting to the door.