Date ETA: T-minus-sixteen hours...
“You don’t have to,” Maud repeated, turning off her laptop and getting ready to head back home.
“No, no. Trixie insists.” Trixie repeated, getting off of her bed and reaching for some socks so she could walk Maud home. “Tri-I have it all planned out already; My plans, my bill.”
Maud felt her cheeks heat up, thankful that of the family, only Marble was capable of a visible blush. “Alright, if you are sure.”
“She, er, I am,” Trixie said, grabbing up her green bag. “Alright, ready to go.”
Since the night after the Battle of the Bands where Trixie woke up the next day both ashamed and embarrassed by what happened, things had changed a little between them. Maybe they already were before, but, they were now definitely, stealing a term from her sister Pinkie, besties. She didn’t feel the need to correct Trixie’s unique way of speaking as often now, but Maud also appreciated how often Trixie did it herself when she was trying to take something serious with her, despite how quickly Trixie would fall back into it again when stressed. Or gloating, or proud, or angry.
Deciphering the why of Trixie was a puzzle Maud was still working on, but she at least had some clues now.
Maud looked at her curiously. “Are you coming over?”
With a nod, Trixie slid into her normal high heeled boots. “I have everything ready, and sweet little Lime-”
“She’s not, and you shouldn’t let her hear you call her that.” Maud sedately interrupted, completely ignored by Trixie.
“-mentioned that Marble is free nearly all the time, so I felt it would be a good idea to continue her therapist's little experiment.”
Maud looked to the side discreetly. “You still shouldn’t call her that.” She repeated.
A few seconds later, Maud felt something pointy, yet also soft press underneath her chin. She let Trixie slowly move her head with her finger until they were face to face again.
“Maud,” Trixie started with a shaky frown. “Your sister still freaks me out a little, okay? I know she won’t intentionally hurt me, now, but she’s still a bit of a sadist.”
“She’s not that bad…” Maud halfheartedly defended, only to have Trixie wave her off.
“You’re family, I’m not. You can break rocks with your hands while Trixie’s...talents lie elsewhere.” Trixie shrugged, elaborating when Maud didn’t say anything.
“Do you want me to be comfortable around your sisters?” Maud nodded. “Then Trixie needs something to hit Lime back with, since actually hitting her is out of the picture. Trixie refuses to be anyone’s doormat again.”
Maud nodded again, understanding where Trixie was coming from. After her last school and what Sunset did to her in this one, it made a strange sort of sense.
Pinkie nodded along next to Trixie before raising her hand.
“Hold up!”
“What?” Maud questioned curiously as Pinkie put her hand back down, twitching in her chair in the kitchen.
“I’m happy to hear all about yesterday in super de duper detail later, buut we kiiinda need to get to what happened on the date a little more right now.”
“It’s not that obvious, is it?” Marble squeaked out, holding both hands over her cheeks only to have Pinkie lean over and start poking one of them.
“Hehe, Sorry little sis, but I can already see them flaring up again!”
Limestone growled, arms crossed and leaning her chair dangerously back. “I’ll show her a sadist next time she comes over.” She huffed out.
“See?” Pinkie said, pointing a thumb over at Lime. “Totally distracting from the date. Right, Marble?”
“I-it’s just that I get a little flustered at times.” Marble went on, obliviously. ”And Pinkie’s skin color is so unfair. I don’t-”
“RIGHT, MARBLE!?”
“AH! U-uhm, right?”
“Thanks for the backup!” Pinkie said, holding up her hand and receiving a very soft high five in return. “So, for now, let’s get past Trixie and sweet little Lime’s-”
“I know where you sleep!”
“-friendship problems and to the part you two talk about the date again.” Pinkie finished.
“So you won’t be joining us?” Trixie pouted as they neared Maud’s home. She gave Maud’s arm a squeeze with her own two.
“I can’t.” Maud squirmed a little, more to feel her skin run across Trixie’s own than any real interest in her letting go. “Dad has some samples he needs me to go over with him.”
“Oh?” Trixie perked up, surprising Maud. “I haven’t met your parents yet.”
“He’s not home. We’re doing it over the computer, but it’s going to take some time, so...”
Trixie nodded. “Got it. Are things going ...well? None of the video’s you’ve shown Trixie talk about ‘rock farming’, and if he has to ask you instead of-”
“It’s fine.” Maud interrupted, hoping her tone didn’t betray her anxiety. “It’s just how we spend time together since he’s gone a lot.” She leisurely explained.
“Ah, ok. Trixie just-”
“Sorry.” Maud interrupted again, noting the narrowing of Trixie’s eyes and reminding herself that she had used up her interruptions for the day. Maud swung open the door, holding it for Trixie. “I need to get on with him really soon is all. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Trixie’s eyes slid away for a second, meaning she was switching gears. Maud inwardly sighed in relief.
“Of course,” Trixie said in a bolder tone as she brought a fist to her own chest. “Trixie will blow your socks off with the dinner date she has planned!” She oozed out confidently.
Maud grinned, knowing Trixie would actually notice it. “Great. I’ll see you at nine then.”
Trixie’s proud, stage look left her face as confusion seemed to set in. “T-that’s a little late for dinner, Maud.”
“I meant in the morning.” Maud clarified.
Trixie’s eyes seemed to widen for a second before she seemed to switch gears again, albeit with a slightly strained tone to her voice that left Maud confused. “A-ah! Okay then. Right, well...sure! Trixie can definitely do that.” She stated with a shaky smile.
Something was off with Trixie, but Maud couldn’t place it.
Maud felt left out of the loop as her three sisters shared confused looks before turning back to her.
“I was wondering why Trixie left early yesterday...she said it was a dinner date, right?”
Maud nodded once but didn’t get to speak before Lime stepped in.
“Then why the fuck did you say you wanted to meet up at nine in the morning?”
“We always meet up early on the weekends.” Maud sedately replied.
“Right, right, but Maudie?” Pinkie started, looking over at her with a too-wide smile. “It’s like a very first date day, isn’t it? I mean, it’s totally good if you’ve been on a bunch of dates with them already, but when you meet for the first one it’s supposed to be special. There are all those fuzzy feelings and nerves that you just know Trixie is going to have and totally try to hide the entire time.”
Lime eyed Pinkie curiously. “Wait, how would you know? I’ve not heard a single damn thing about you being on a date before.”
“Pfft. Please, it’s not like your hired goons can keep up with me as it is.” She replied flippantly. “But if you're gonna poke at me then no, I haven’t. I just think Trixie is kinda like my friend Rarity, and she’s pretty big on how important her first date is going to be when she finds Mr. Right. Or, well, the right Mr. Right.” Pinkie rambled. “I mean, cause I introduced her to Mr. Right after she mentioned liking him, but they still aren’t dating from what I can tell.”
Maud’s phone buzzed a few seconds after Lime’s and Pinkie’s.
Your bad on this, sis. I’m pretty sure Trixie expected to meet you a lot later in the day and you freaked her out.
The sisters stared over at Marble, who puffed her cheeks out and quickly began typing again.
What? No one complains when Lime can’t stop swearing for more than a half-hour. My throat is tired.
Marble then proceeded to follow the example of the face she sent with the text and glanced to the side nervously while rubbing her thumbs over the phone soothingly.
“We meet up early on the weekends.” Maud restated firmly. “She said it was a dinner date, so why couldn’t we play games or go to the quarry before it?”
“I dunno, did you tell her that?” Lime asked.
Maud shook her head slightly.
“Well then, what the fuck did you expect? She says you're going on a date tomorrow, and then you say you want to meet up at nine in the damn morning. Of course, she is going to assume you wanted some sort of fucking marathon out of her.”
Marble nodded.
That’s a lot of pressure, especially since she insisted she was going to plan it out and pay for everything.
“And of course Trixie agreed. She’s too fucking stupid to do anything else.”
Lime rolled her eyes at the glare Maud sent her way.
Lime just means Trixie has a lot of pride.
Maud briefly glanced at her phone before going back to glaring at Lime anyways.
Pinkie gave a shaky laugh. “Soooo, how was the movie?”
Trixie was hiding a half a loaf of bread in the movie parking lot. Maud wanted to ask her about it, but Trixie must have caught the questioning look in Maud’s eyes when she turned around already.
“It’s for later.” She insisted.
Maud left it at that.
The front of the theatre wasn’t very crowded, though Maud didn’t really know what to expect for a weekend matinee. Trixie grabbed their tickets from the front and then they walked over to the concession stand.
“What are we seeing?” Maud asked once Trixie had ordered for them.
“It’s a new action movie about volcanoes. Apparently, a Geologist and her group discover one in a city and have to get out before it blows or something.”
Maud grabbed the popcorn and one of the drinks when they were passed over, wanting to feel useful.
“Interesting. I wonder if I’ll recognize the Geologist.”
Maud stared at the bucket of popcorn, trying to remember something about dates she had heard a while ago.
Trixie was waving her hand at Maud briefly in denial.“No, no. Unless they are also an actor, it won’t be a real Geologist. But I was told they consulted one before making the movie, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
It wasn’t fine.
Maud did her best to keep her annoyance off of her face, but it was a challenge. She knew something was going terribly wrong when the movie opened with the ‘Geologist’ explaining there was no real way for her to understand what is happening in the city at the moment. As if increasing seismic activity and sudden gases killing people in the subways wasn’t an obvious tell or something.
To make matters worse, Maud had finally remembered the trick with the popcorn, but only the first half of it, putting her plan into action before having to quietly text Marble for assistance with the other half. Now there was a hole in the bottom of the popcorn container she was actively hiding with one hand while Marble was silently giving her a verbal thrashing via texts.
No one at the table argued when Lime slapped Maud in the back of the head.
A gentle brush of a hand on her shoulder turned Maud’s focus to a confused Trixie. “Is everything okay?”
Away went the phone. She could look over Marble’s tirade later.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
For now, she had a date with Trixie and a movie to enjoy.
“Oh, gods! The magma is getting closer!”
“Quick! Line the buses up and make a barrier! That’ll block it!”
Bear, she mentally corrected. She had a movie to bear.
“Just...fine” Maud insisted, trying to keep her expression in check.
“It’s working! The lava’s going down the other street instead!”
“Oh no! The orphanage is down that street! Quick! We need more buses!”
Trixie’s arm wrapped around and pulled hers over, dumping a fair bit of the popcorn out of the bottom before Maud could adjust it with her other arm. Trixie thankfully didn’t notice.
“Better?” Trixie asked, giving Maud’s arm a brief squeeze.
A nod was all Maud could do in return, happily grabbing on to the distraction.
Despite her intentions, it was clear by the halfway point of the movie that Trixie knew Maud was struggling. She wasn’t sure how or why, but Trixie seemed to almost be making a game out of it.
Subtlety was proven worthless, a slight tensing of a muscle over a false claim from the Geologist, and then Trixie was gently stroking a finger over Maud’s trapped arm. A glare at a tree surrounded by lava, yet not burning? Trixie was whispering breathily into her ear about her latest trick or a game they have to try next time she came over.
Each little touch or whisper Maud grasped on to, eyes briefly looking over to the girl next to her before the next disaster appeared on the screen and Trixie did it all over again. Maud rarely caught Trixie staring, but she could feel Trixie’s gaze burning into her often. Analyzing her. Picking apart each twitch and trying to understand what caused it.
Maud found her own mind wandering at times to what Trixie would do next, if Trixie was following some kind of pattern or just being random. Maud figured these thoughts were a good way to keep the movie endurable.
Or maybe this is just another way Trixie is keeping you distracted, she thought.
Regardless, the credits finally rolled, Maud barely biting down on the urge to sigh in relief. Her body must have slumped in her seat or something though by the way Trixie immediately patted her arm soothingly.
“So,” Trixie started casually, a tight grin on her face, “How far off was the movie?” a finger came up and started slowly twisting a few strands of hair around it.
She didn’t want to lie, but she didn’t want to tell the whole truth either. “They got how lava looks correctly?” she complimented.
Trixie’s grin became a bit weaker. Maud scrambled for something else to say.
“The volcanic bombs were also pretty accurate. Usually it’s not quite so many of them, but they did show just how terrible it would be to be caught near a volcano.” Maud tried.
“Hmm,” Trixie responded, still tightly winding her hair with a finger and briefly looking away for a second. The lights had just turned back on in the theatre, but they still had a few moments before they likely had to get up. “so the movie might have been better with some...modifications?” she hazarded.
Maud was a bit confused at the strange glimmer in Trixie’s eyes but went along with it. “I guess?” She slowly agreed. It was clearly the wrong answer, as Trixie’s slight grin turned into a thin line.
“Mod...ifications?” Trixie repeated, slower.
What is she…
“Maaaaaud” Trixie almost hissed out, eyebrows coming down a bit into a glare. “Ifications?” She said a full ten seconds later.
...Oh…
Before she could stop herself, Maud gave out the slightest of snorts. Trixie’s eyes relaxed as she took Maud’s hand, helping her stand up.
“About time. Trixie thinks she’ll let you pick the next movie though.”
Pinkie put both arms around herself in a hug. “Awww, Trixie sounds so sweet when she isn’t trapping people under stages.” Marble nodded along until she heard the last part, lightly glaring at Pinkie by the end.
“So she fucked up the movie, but it sounds like she recovered okay,” Lime stated, looking over to Maud. “At least she thought it was about something you’d enjoy, right?”
“Right,” Maud stated from her chair, head propped against one arm on the kitchen table as she talked. “I hope to do better when it’s my turn to pick. But it wasn’t bad.”
Pinkie grinned and wiggled her eyebrows up and down a few times. “The movie, or the cuddles?” Maud briefly looked over to her but didn’t reply, using the beep from her phone as an excuse.
So next is the ducks, right?
Maud went still as she looked at the message. With almost glacial slowness, her eyes came up to stare right at Marble. It wasn’t a glare, but When Marble’s eyes came back up from her phone, she became pinned at the stare boring into her.
“How do you know about that?” she questioned, causing Marble to begin to shiver. Maud was not giving an inch on this, however, forcing Marble to flounder in her gaze and work some moisture back into a suddenly parched throat. All that came out was little wheezes and gasps before Limestone stepped in.
“You’re not stupid, you know how they know already.”
Now Limestone was being glared at. Maud ignored the gasp of relief from Marble and the slight noise of her ducking low in her seat. “You didn’t.” She stated, receiving a shrug in reply from Lime.
“Of course I did.”
The flippant reply had Maud standing up from her chair in an instant. Maud had to fight to keep her face neutral, but she could feel her eyebrows knitted slightly together regardless. “I told you I don’t want you spying on me anymore.” Lime’s short, humorless laugh destroyed any pretense of calm, leaving Maud openly scowling at Lime over the table.
“They aren’t spies, dipshit. They’re bodyguards. Guards that wouldn’t have to tell me everything if your dumb ass would just talk to them instead of trying to hurt them every time you fucking spot one.”
“I call mine The Shadows!” Pinkie chipped in helpfully.
“I don’t want-”
Lime immediately cut her off. “Then don’t be part of the business then.” Her glare made Maud pause long enough for Lime to continue. “Or, if you really want out, break Ma and Pa’s fucking hearts and tell them you don’t want to be part of the family anymore. Change your last name to Orange something or Appleshit and leave.”
Pinkie Pie grumbled unhappily to Maud’s side.
Maud ignored it. “You know I wouldn’t do that.” Lime nodded, some of the tension leaving her face. She cut eye contact with Maud before drumming her fingers on the table once and leaning back into her seat.
“Then you are fucked. It’s only going to get worse after High School.” The disbelief in Maud’s eyes caused Lime to grit her teeth and continue. “Shit, you seriously think this is bad now? Ma and Pa have already talked about moving us to a gated community. The kind with a private school behind the fucking gates. Uprooting Pinkie from her social circle a second time is probably the only reason it hasn’t happened yet.” Lime glanced over at each of her sisters in turn. “It’s not like the rest of us have anyone to give a shit about if we leave.”
Lime met Maud’s eyes again.
“Or, well, had.” Lime corrected.
Maybe we could talk about this another time? Get back to why we are here?
Marble’s plea went unnoticed, despite her two sisters glancing at their phones.
“You're just going to spy on me my entire life?” Maud asked, even more irritated now that she could hear how sullen her tone had become. Sister or not, Lime didn’t have the right to demand something like this from her.
“You’ve been doing this to yourself, sis.” Lime’s tone was irritated, but her smirk was showing through. She was going to try to make a point here, one Maud wouldn’t like. “I haven’t talked to Pinkie’s guards in months.” Maud clenched the table, likely leaving an impression of a few of her fingers in it.
“I don’t believe you.” She almost hissed out, receiving a roll of Lime’s eyes in return.
“It’s true, dumb ass. Unlike you, Pinkie met them already, they have access to her plans for the day, and she keeps them up to date if things change.” Lime’s small smirk turned into a cracked, smug look. “Half the time they are a block away instead of trying to follow her because she doesn’t try to kick their ass every time they check in with her. They check in with the fucking head of security, -no, it’s not me, I already have enough shit on my plate thank you very much- and they only get me involved if there is a problem, which there hasn’t been since whatever the fuck happened with those three singing mental cases at her school.”
Lime pointed a finger over to Marble. “Marble’s is mostly just an overpaid errand girl that checks her take out orders and stays in a car outside watching the house. She actually asked for a new bodyguard when her first turned out to be a guy and guess what?” Lime faked a wide eyed stare of wonder and disbelief. “We fucking listened! Now she has someone else she who can tolerate at least waving at, which was a fucking miracle in itself at the time.” Lime turned her eyes briefly away from Maud. “Don’t look at me like that, it’s fucking true, Marble, and you know it.”
“Mmmmmm….” Marble grumbled from Maud’s side.
“But you?” Lime slammed a fist down on the table suddenly, her smugness evaporating into a vexed look as she stared up at Maud. “I always have to get involved. I have to tell them where you’re likely going, what you are probably fucking doing; and before I knew about Trixie they were driving me crazy cause fuck if I knew what was up! I had to look into your damn accounts because you kept running off and buying shit they can’t track and I couldn’t explain. I still have to find new security for you constantly because, guess what? No one likes to protect someone known for breaking their bodyguard’s wrists!”
She wasn’t that bad.
“I’m not that strong,” Maud argued, receiving another irritated look from Limestone.
“No, Maud, you are. Like stupidly I-can’t-explain strong. It wasn’t so bad before but when we moved here it’s like you’ve been training for a Miss Muscle’s competition or some shit without the fucking training. Or putting on the muscles for that matter.”
Maud briefly flashed back to a scared Sunset Shimmer and a broken locker. Maybe Lime had a point. A small one.
“Awww, don’t be like that, Lime, Maud’s just special.” Pinkie butted in with a smile for both her sisters. “And, I mean, can you blame her, really? She feels like you two are playing Cops and Robbers all the time, but she is always the robber out on parole and you are always in your car with the swishy red and blue lights keeping pace to see if she’ll rob again.”
She received three pairs of eyes desperately trying to comprehend her line of thought.
“Pinkie,” Lime started, rubbing the back of her own head a little. “Seriously, I fucking love you, but you’re just as bad as Maud, only not with the crazy bullshit strength. I’m almost afraid to find out what would have happened to me and Marble if we went to the same school.” She briefly glanced over to Marble. “I mean, for more than a month or two.”
Maud wanted to ask what Lime meant by that. It was on the tip of her tongue before her phone went off again and Lime looked away.
Please, can we get back to Trixie and Maud now? You can be angsty all over each other later but the longer this goes on, the less time we have to fix Maud’s screw up!!
Maud looked curiously over to Marble, who had the decency to blush.
I mean, to fix anything if Maud screwed something up.
Maud continued to stare until Marble ducked back under the table.
Oh, shut up. You know what I meant.
“Fine.” Lime looked over to Maud, softening her stare a bit though her tone was still insistent. “But I’m not trying to be a bitch here, okay? Whether you want them or not, someone has to be covering your ass, and it’s better if you fucking know them, right? I’m not asking for a damn miracle here, Maud, but,” Lime’s face scrunched up a bit like she was tasting something sour. “Please at least think about meeting with them? If you don’t like your bodyguards, we can get someone else. But if you don’t put some fucking effort into this, then I’m going to be hearing about what you do every day for the rest of our lives, and we both don’t want that, right?”
Get along and deal with someone following me around my entire life, or change my name and leave? What kind of choice is that?
In the end, it wasn’t one, not really. She knew Limestone; she was the oldest of the siblings for good and bad. Overprotective, overbearing, and brutally honest. Maud knew she was being sincere about this. As sincere as Lime knew how to be, at least. It still made Maud grit her teeth though. But if Lime was trying, then so should she. She couldn’t put her family through the alternative.
“I’ll think about it.” Maud finally breathed out after a moment, breaking the tension in the room. Lime’s eyes had actually widened for a brief moment, as if she hadn’t expected her to say that. She caught herself and gave Maud a small, craggy smile.
“Good. T-that’s good.” Lime nodded her head a few times. “So, umm, the ducks?”
Maud nodded back. “The ducks.”