Date-O-Lite

by Phaoray


Trixie's Privacy is not Respected.


There was a bakery right across the street from the park.

That was the first thing Maud noticed when she and Trixie sat down at the park bench, Trixie handing her a slice of the bread from the loaf she had hidden at the movies. It wasn’t a big deal, really. They were here to feed ducks, but it stuck out to her.

Time went by, ducks were fed, and Trixie leaned against Maud. It was...nice.


“That’s it?” Pinkie questioned, rocking back and forth in her chair. “Just...nice?”

Maud shrugged. “We fed ducks for a little over an hour.”

“No, no, I’m getting that. Ducks are cute, one hundred percent with you there,, but you aren’t a buttery, fluttery girl that oozes over ducks. Sooo...nothing else? Just...sitting still? For an hour?”

Maud nodded, further increasing the clear lack of comprehension on Pinkie’s face.

That’s fine. It was probably nice to be outside after the movie. But, you two didn’t talk to each other? Nothing against her, but Trixie doesn’t seem the quiet type.


“So,” Trixie had started, taking Maud out of her thoughts. “What was it like growing up on a rock farm?”

Maud responded after a moment, sprinkling bits of bread on the ground in front of her. “It was fine.”

Another moment passed. Trixie’s reply was a bit higher pitched than the last for some reason.

“Okay. Um...did you know my mother is a social worker?” she hazarded. Maud could feel her gaze now. “It’s why she is out a lot. The job isn’t supposed to be twenty-four seven, but some of the people she helps just need her at off hours.”

A nod didn’t seem to be enough for Trixie. Maud picked up a feather one of the ducks left behind and turned it slowly in her fingers, observing the way the light hit it at certain points, reminding her of an ammolite gemstone.

She could feel the arm that Trixie was casually leaning against her tense. A quick glance revealed Trixie was looking away now, likely at the ducks gathered at the side of the bench.

“You're looking to become a Geologist, right?”

“Maybe.”

Trixie’s gaze was back again. She’s not sure why, but Trixie’s voice seemed a bit strained now. Tense like her arm. Like Maud’s arm became once Trixie started asking these questions.

“What do you mean, maybe? You like looking into all of that stuff, don’t you? We’ve been watching shows on it weekly.”

“Yes, but you normally need a Bachelor’s to be called a Geologist,” Maud explained slowly, dusting pieces of bread off of her pants. “A Master’s with some experience is better. I may not go for that.”

“Maud,” Trixie stated, firmly. Without looking, she could already see Trixie was wearing a thin frown on her face. “If you like it, then go for it. You can’t just live at the house with your sisters forever. And if your parents can’t afford it, you could probably go with student loans or something. It’s a hassle, but if it’s what you want to do.”

“Maybe.”

After several minutes, Trixie let out a huff and seemed to slouch, staying silent. Maud took out the last of the bread and started breaking it apart.


“It was nice,” Maud repeated to Marble without any added elaboration. Silently, Marble looked over to Pinkie and Lime, the three seemed to have a quiet debate amongst themselves. Maud did her best to quietly breathe out through her teeth instead of letting the air hiss out like steam.

They did something else she wasn’t going to like. Maybe she could still get out of it though.

“Should I get to the next part, or are we done?” She asked, hoping for this to be over.

Lime was the first to speak up. “Okay, so, I didn’t think this was going to be more than a shitty side note, but something seems kind of off here, sis.”

Maud grit her teeth, failing to hide her glare. Were they going to question every single thing she said tonight? She was already emotionally exhausted as it was, something clear to her and that had to be obvious to her sister’s by how often her face kept getting...obscenely emotional every time they touched a nerve.

Lime looked at her with a quirked eyebrow, bringing a hand up and resting her head against it as she gave Maud a rare look of real concern. “We’re all shit at this. Like really shit, but we’re not...good with you calling it quits this way. Not after hearing what happened before you walked in tonight.”

Maud took a deep breath.

Maybe I should calm down.

“I didn’t call anything.” Maud protested, recalling the brief moment she expected to be in bed replaying in her head right now instead of discussing here in the kitchen.

Or not.

“Well, you sure as fuck didn’t argue about it. Look,” Lime seemed to be searching for something underneath the table with one hand as she spoke. “If you can’t talk to us about this, you sure as shit won’t be able to talk to her about any of it, right?”

Maud hesitantly nodded. Lime scowled and looked down, apparently not finding what she was looking for.

Texting is a lot easier, but even that distance won’t help if you refuse to tell her anything.

Maud gave up at being surprised by this point. “So you heard what happened at the park then?”

“Ahem,” Pinkie cut in, a pair of glasses with no lenses on her nose as she held up a plain white paper that had clearly been folded recently. “Blue s-” Pinkie’s eyes widened for a second before she started again. “Trixie attempts to open a dialogue with Frock and is denied. Trixie attempts dialogue several times after; all are denied. Frock and Trixie establish radio silence for the next thirty minutes.”

“How many reports of me and Trixie do you have?” Maud asks, trying for her usual monotone. Lime seems to pick up on her exasperation.

“Before Pinkie took it, I only had one. You can’t blame just me on this one though. They also agreed that we needed all the fucking details about our sister’s first date.”

Marble at least had the decency to look down and blush but didn’t deny it. Pinkie’s unapologetic smile was answer enough about how she felt on the matter.

“Fine,” Maud almost groaned out, trying to accept that this was her life for the next hour. “It probably didn’t go...well.” She began tapping her foot against the chair, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. “I like hearing her...talk. And I like talking about little things with her. Just not...other stuff.” She managed to push out.

“Maudie,” Pinkie cooed out soothingly. “You like her, right? Like, like like her?” She took Maud’s quiet grumble as agreement. “Well, you know all about what she wants to be, and what she did in the past, right? It’s not fair if you aren’t willing to return the favor.”

“It’s not the same,” Maud argued quietly. Despite not looking, she could feel they were going to want more than that out of her. “Nothing she says changes anything. How do you think she’ll react to finding out about our parents? Or the fact that my job is going to take me all over?”

“I don’t know, Maudie.” Pinkie admitted, a touch hesitantly. “But you won’t either till you tell her. I mean, it’s kind of sweet that you are already thinking about all the problems you two will have being lovey-dovey together after High School. But none of that is gonna happen if she stops being your girlfriend, right?”

Maud could feel her cheeks trying to redden like a piece of granite hitting its melting point at Pinkie’s casual description of their relationship. “We’re not girlfriends.”

Damnit, just saying the world was messing with her insides.

“I mean, you totally are though.” Pinkie’s smug lilt to her voice was not helping Maud at the moment. “Trixie didn’t say she doesn’t want to be your girlfriend, right? She just thinks something is going bad and needs your help to fix it before it gets in the way. Like that game about how that plumber guy has to knock that dragon into a lake of magma to be with the princess.”

It’s even easier for you since your dragon is just talking, and that should be easy, right?

Maud stared at Marble for a good, long moment.

G-good point...

“Okay!” Lime clapped her hands briefly to get her sister’s attention. “So, you have your head on a bit straighter now, right? Bodyguards are good, and talk your shit out before you fuck things up with Trixie.” Lime hesitated. “More. Before you fuck things up with Trixie more.”

“We should do this more often.” Pinkie decided with a huge grin on her face. “I can’t wait for your second date!” Maud shook her head, relieved to see Lime doing the same.

“No.” Lime countered. “Just talking about Maud’s damage is bad enough, let alone you and Marble’s. And before you start that whole ‘fairs fair’ shit, how about we get into how many near disasters happen around those friends of yours?” Pinkie looked away from Lime and crossed her arms.

“Hmph!”

“That’s what I thought. So,” Lime’s shit-eating grin centered back on Maud. “I hope you were taking notes this whole time, cause I don’t plan on doing this feelings shit again until one of those mooks finds someone that can tolerate them.”

Just remember those words when it’s your turn.

Lime snorted in amusement. “As if. Let’s get to the fuckup of a museum trip you had before it gets late.” She waves at Maud. “Go for it.”

“It wasn’t that bad.” Maud’s rebuttal is met with silence and three pained stares for a moment before Lime spoke up again.

“We’ll...walk you through it.”


“Ta Daaaa!” Trixie exclaimed, letting go of Maud’s hand to spread her arms out grandly in front of the Canterlot Natural History museum.

“I didn’t know you liked museums.” Came Maud’s leisurely reply, eliciting a huff from Trixie.

“Trixie is a girl of mystery, even if she is more willing to reveal a few of her secrets than some people we know.”

Maud didn’t really need any other confirmation to know that Trixie might still be a little upset about the Duck Pond. With a brief shake of her head, Trixie gestured to the museum and casually started walking up the steps. Maud let out a silent sigh of relief when she caught up and Trixie still grabbed onto her hand.

“Anything you wanted to see here today?” Maud inquired, letting Trixie lead.

“Well, Trixie heard there would be a guide by the dinosaur area that would talk about the different ways things formed at that time. I figured it’d be like watching one of those shows you like, only in person.”

Maud stayed silent as they approached the ticket counter, being stationed by Inky Rose. Maud easily spotted her black dress and bats pins in her pigtails from clear across the room. Inky briefly looked up from her phone; her light purple eyes giving Maud a questioning glance before Trixie stepped in front of Maud.

“Here you are.” Trixie shoved two tickets towards Inky. “Also where is the dinosaur area?”

“Huh,” Inky replied, taking the tickets and punching a hole in them. “Whatever.” After handing them back, she pointed a finger down one of the purple hallways.

If Maud knew how, she would have given Inky a thankful expression for not saying anything. Since she didn’t, Maud simply let herself be pulled away by Trixie and followed her in a meandering path, eventually reaching the Mesozoic area after Trixie consulted a map or two.
Or three.

They had just made it in time. Around a dozen different people were facing away from a giant display depicting a wall scroll with clouds at the far back of the room along with a fake volcano and two large dinosaur skeletons in front of it. Maud’s eyes quickly swept to the center of the room which was filled with glass cases showing different rocks and fossils dug up from the Mesozoic era.

Quietly, the two made their way over to the others, close enough to hear and see what the guide would be pointing out, but a touch further from the small crowd and from really being able to make out what was being spoken of. Maud had the fossils memorized by this point, but Trixie...

Well, if Trixie found any of the objects interesting she would likely just walk over and look at them after the tour, Maud reasoned, scuffing her shoe on the ground and admiring it for probably the hundredth time. She had always liked the purple and blue sigil the epoxied granite floor had, it reminded her of a captain’s wheel.

Maud’s sight finally made its way to the tour guide. He was young looking, either still in or just graduated from High School. His listless light brown hair was trimmed cleanly into a bowler cut while, just below that, lackluster lime green eyes scanned the crowd over before peering down at a watch on his wrist. His white, long-sleeved shirt and brown pants were crisp like they had just been dry cleaned.

She’d never seen him before. She would have remembered this dull demeanor he put out so similar to her own.

“Ahem,” the tour guide started, voice deep and a little nasally. “Good to see you all. I am Mud Briar; your guide to everything fossilized before you. Now, if I may turn your eyes to this beautiful bit of petrified Araucarias to your left, we can go over how much good organic materials such as trees and plants within the last twelve thousand years have done with finding out what belongs to the Mesozoic era.”

A squeeze on her arm caught Maud off guard. “Are you okay?” Trixie asked, though Maud wasn’t sure why. Yes, she had tensed a little, but it couldn’t have been that obvious. Ignoring the question, Maud took a step forward, pulling Trixie along.

“That’s not possible,” Maud stated, interrupting Mud Briar before he could make a fool of himself. “That has nothing to do with strata the fossils are found in. Especially in the Mesozoic era”

Her help was rebuked with a scoff from Mud Briar who took a step toward her. “Yes, looking at the rocks and dirt around the fossils is a very quaint method of aging, but Dendrochronology-”

“Is barely good for double-checking a real Geologist’s work with.” she finished for him, moving out of Trixie’s grasp to walk over and stand in front of Mud Briar who stared her down.

“Please, while the Law of Superposition still holds up, you can’t deny how utterly inaccurate of a method it is. Without tree ring dating, we’d likely have fossils from the Triassic period labeled as being from the Permian. Radiocarbon dating can’t hold a candle to how you can calibrate with Dendrochronology, ergo plant matter has proven to be more accurate in the long run over minerals. All evidence points to this.”

Maud felt the smugness radiating off of him as he gave her a small condescending grin that had her blood boiling.

“Q.E.D.”


Lime snickered behind her hand while Maud led out a calming breath. “Wow, and here I thought I was the only one who could get you riled up like that. How long did that dick measuring contest last?”

“Not long,” Maud assured her. “It was just a few minutes I think. He had some good arguments, but he didn’t know his history. It would have been shorter if I didn’t have to keep correcting his statements.”

Pinkie nodded along. “So, who won?”

Pinkie’s chipper question had Maud slightly turning her gaze away from them. “I would have, but...”


“What in the world?” Mud Briar questioned as smoke dropped Maud’s sight down to almost nothing. Someone grabbed her hand roughly and started to drag her away. She decided to quietly follow, considering she only knew one person who would carry smoke bombs on them at all times.

Or at all, she mentally corrected as her vision cleared up. Trixie kept going though, dragging them out of the Mesozoic area entirely and into one of the halls near the gift shop before stopping.

“What was that!?” Trixie asked, aggressively pulling her hand out of Maud’s and turning on her.

“What was what?” came her reply. Right from the start, Maud knew it wasn’t her best response, but the walk through the smoke seemed to have some lingering effects. Maud felt flushed, and her heart was beating much faster than the simple quick walk should have caused. Briefly, she tuned out Trixie and went over the last minute of the debate in her head.

How does Mud Briar even think a system that only stands on its own for a twelve thousand year time period is worth anything compared to Fossil Records?

Maud gave a small huff, thinking about how the debate would have gone if she was still there. Even Carbon Datings only goes for fifty thousand, which isn’t nearly as bad, but the inaccuracies-

She was jolted out of her daydream suddenly, eyes focusing in on Trixie’s arm moving away from where it had been waving in front of her face before turning to look at Trixie.

Trixie did not look happy.

“Sorry.”

It has seemed to be the thing to say at the time, but apparently it was also the wrong answer.

“What are you sorry for?” Trixie almost hissed back.

“For thinking about Mud Briar after you dragged me away.” She answered, regretting the way her voice tilted slightly at the end, making it almost come out as a question. Trixie caught it, by the way she glared at Maud now. Some small part of her mind noted that she was no longer feeling as warm as before, but her heart had yet to slow down its furious drum beating.

“Well, sorry if Trixie interrupted your flirting.” Maud frowned and shook her head.

“We weren’t flirting.” Trixie looked away and crossed her arms. Maud carefully stepped forward and rubbed a few fingers along Trixie’s arm, trying to soothe her.

“But you would prefer someone who knew more about all of this, right?” She replied bitterly. “Carbon dating, gas counting, whatever that Law of Superposition is, and everything else you two were arguing about?”

Another sorry wasn’t going to cut it. Maud cautiously thought for an answer that wouldn’t get her in deeper trouble, but she wasn’t sure about the problem. Why was Trixie acting like this? Was it that terrible for her to have spaced out for a moment, or gotten into a small debate with the tour guide?

“I...like to talk about things like that. Sometimes.” Maud carefully stated. “It is kind of a...passion of mine.” She further admitted.

Trixie gently grabbed the fingers Maud was still stroking along her arm and pushed them away.

“I...I need to use the bathroom. I’ll text you.” Was all she said before walking off. Trixie wanted to be alone. Maud didn’t know what she had picked up on to come to that conclusion, but she had.

The next twenty minutes was an anxious blur to Maud. She avoided the Mesozoic area, and instead just wandered. She didn’t want to interrupt whatever Trixie was doing, but she admitted to herself that she’d feel a little better accidentally finding her down one of the halls.

After another ten minutes, she began actively peeking into the bathrooms until Trixie finally texted her where to meet up again.


“We walked around, but didn’t really stop to look at anything until Trixie mentioned being hungry, so we left,” Maud said, ending her recount of the museum.

It sounds like she was really upset.

“Yeah, but at what exactly?” Pinkie chirped. “Maud should be allowed to talk about what she likes with others. Maybe she didn’t like it because you were on a date? But,” Pinkie’s face wrinkled a little like she was thinking hard on something. “That still doesn’t sound like something she’d do.”

“Maybe she felt ignored?” Marble squeaked out. “I’d be a little embarrassed if I was with someone arguing like that.”

Pinkie gave Marble a brief hug, half falling out of the chair to do so. “Happy you're with us again sis! I’ve kiiinda done similar things, but not arguing. None of my friends seem to mind it though.”

“Pft, more like they just gave up on giving a fuck when it comes to you.” Lime returned, looking back to Maud after a few seconds. “I’m calling bullshit again, by the way. Trixie’s crap when cornered, but she’s not so weak to just lose it and get upset over you arguing over shit like that. She’s seen us do it though half of those documentaries.”

All Maud could do was shrug at Lime’s reasoning. “I don’t know what to tell you. She seemed happy enough when we got into the museum.” Lime groaned, seemingly frustrated.

“Also bullshit. You already ticked her off with that stunt at the pond. I’d be twitchy and on edge if someone pulled that shit on me. You sure you don’t remember doing something else to piss her off in the museum?”

“I’m not lying.” Maud evenly stated. She still couldn’t wrap her head around how things went downhill so fast. Trixie could be touchy and evasive, but it usually wasn’t hard for Maud to eventually understand what was happening. Today was...on a different level than she was used to.

They had to talk, Maud was positive about that after her sister's invasive counseling about how she acted at the pond. She’d just have preferred to put it off for another year. Or two.

Lime broke her out of her thoughts. “Guess we’ll see.” With a nod, she directed Maud’s attention to Marble who was shyly holding up a blank looking DVD. Lime spoke up before Maud could pull her thoughts together.

“It’s what you think it is. That place owes us for half its pieces so they didn’t say shit when we asked them to hand it over.”

She glared at Lime, knowing it wouldn’t mean much with how much she had done it in the last hour. Pinkie left the room, Marble shuffling behind her.

“This is going too far.”

“Anything for you, little sister.” Lime shot back with a smug grin.”To be fair, Pinkie suggested it. She thought it would be-”

“Fun!” Pinkie interrupted, wheeling in a small cart with a television and DVD player on it. Marble Began setting it up while Pinkie moved chairs around to make sure everyone could watch comfortably. Lime rolled her eyes.

“We have all of this in the fucking living room already.”

Pinkie tittered. “People in meetings don’t go to other rooms to see things, they just bring projectors and toys to explain at the table. You’ve been to board meetings already, Lime. You know the rules. So we have to do the same.”

“Whatever,” Lime replied, shaking her head before looking back to Maud. “So, ready to find out just how shit of a date you are?”

“Trixie doesn’t have sisters to do this to her,” Maud complained, immediately regretting it as Lime’s grin turned to a full, devious smile; she could already imagine what thoughts were hiding behind it.

“You want this to be fair, sis? I am more than fucking happy to put Trixie through this next time she comes over.”


Lime gave Trixie a scathing glare, her legs propped up and crossed on top of the kitchen table as she pointed a finger to Trixie who was standing on the other side. “You’re an asshole who doesn’t deserve to be around my sisters.”


“Forget I said anything.” Maud conceded, Lime gave her a grin and a nod in return, likely having expected that answer.

“Yeah, I thought so. Marble?” Marble nodded, ready to go, hand on the remote. Let's get this over with.”

Marble hit play.


Maud had to question the cost of something like this as the video started. The lack of audio made sense, but it gave Pinkie too much of an opening to narrate.

“Okay, so that’s you two entering the Museum. Aaaand Trixie is pulling you to the ticket booth.” Pinkie nodded to herself. “So far, your story is checking out. I mean, in the business we say innocent before proven guilty, but-”

Was it favors, threats? Was this Pinkie’s contacts at work? Sadly it could have been any of her sisters, even Marble knew people online, though they mostly just found ways to mess with games online, not security cameras.

“It’s still k-kinda cute how she keeps contact, e-even after the duck pond.”

“Maybe, “Lime replied, wrinkling her nose up.” But look at her, she’s still kinda pissed.”

“T-that just makes the contact mean more, right?” Marble asked, getting a happy nod from Pinkie.

“Damneroony right it does!” Pinkie shrugged off the ‘ What the fuck?’ look she received from Lime at that. “I’m allowed to swear too ya know. We’re not a totalitarian state ruled by two immortal horses or something.”

“Seriously Pinkie, the fuck is-”

“There they are!” she squealed, interrupting Lime as Pinkie stared at the image of Maud and Mud Briar starting to argue. “Okay, so, I can kind of see why Trixie got a little jealous in the beginning. And I’m not talking about him being nice looking and knowing enough to talk to a crowd about something you're passionate about. That’s enough to get cranky feelings out of some people though. I mean, if I ever dated someone who didn’t plan parties and met someone who loved planning parties and got all heated like you are getting in this then I’d still think it was a liiiittle silly of them to be upset, buuuuut-”

Pinkie rewound and replayed the part where Maud took a step forward while replying to Mud Briar, Trixie clutching on to her shoulder in surprise. Seconds later Maud aggressively jerked her arm out of Trixie’s grip and walked towards Mud Briar, not seeing the hurt look Trixie had given her.

“I can’t really blame Trixie for getting a teensy bit mad.” Pinkie continued, throwing Maud an apologetic look. “You did kind of ditch her for a few minutes.”

Maud numbly nodded, upset at herself and not wanting to talk. Pinkie thankfully remained quiet, just giving her a small smile of understanding after another moment before turning back to the DVD player.

“I’m just gonna fast forward through this.”

Maud heard but was already sinking into her own thoughts about what she had just seen.

Maud wasn’t upset about the discussion. She’d never made her enthusiasm for all things mineral-related a secret. Trixie had listened to her recite rock-themed poetry and random facts for months now and had even encouraged it.

However, shrugging Trixie off when she was already upset? That should never have happened. Especially not to talk to someone else when she had been so silent to Trixie earlier.

There was nothing else for it. It’d feel awkward and would come out disjointed, but she’d apologize to Trixie later. At least this time when Trixie asked her to explain why she was apologizing she’d actually have an answer for her.

“Hey, dumb ass.” Lime’s voice cut across Maud’s brooding, though it was directed towards Pinkie who was hovering over the television on the cart. “What’s taking so long? I still have shit to do tonight.”

Pinkie laughed uncomfortably. “I’m trying, but there’s a itty bitty problem.” She pressed a button on the remote and stepped back, taking her seat again. “So, I’m gonna start fast-forwarding the video riiiiiight before Maud and Mud start talking and go from there, k?” Lime let out an annoyed groan at this.

“Wait, are you telling me you fast-forwarded, only to fucking rewind it right back again?”

Pinkie gave them all a smile that was far too wide for Maud’s liking before looking away again and hitting fast forward on the remote.

Maud subtly eyed the door, considering the odds that Trixie would let her crash on the couch despite what happened tonight.

It wasn’t subtle enough. After just a few seconds, Marble caught her eye and gave Maud a tight, apologetic smile and a quick shake of her head.

Marble was right, of course. She’d be tackled by Pinkie before Maud managed to get the first lock undone. Even then she could likely still get away from the house, but Trixie only had one couch and knocking on her door with Pinkie still attached to her back would be awkward.

Maud nodded back to Marble and faced towards the television.


They had fast-forwarded for three straight minutes. The argument still wasn't over.

Pinkie nervously looked over at Maudie, wincing at the stunned look on her face. She couldn’t blame Maudie for having it, time was just so silly and never played well with the rules people tried to tie it down to.

Bit by bit, Pinkie rewatched the scene that had her breaking out apology smile twenty-eight and rewinding the DVD to show the others. She could explain it, but she reallyyyy didn’t want to.

It was all okay initially, Maudie and Muddie were talking about something really heatedly. Then, around five minutes of this still going on and no sign of it ending anytime soon, the crowd started to slowly disappear. Or, Pinkie supposed, quickly thanks to the fast forward.

Ten minutes in, and half the crowd was gone. Maudie and Muddie were maybe a foot away from each other, Maud looking up at him and probably saying things that would blow Pinkie’s mind away at how cool the Earth and the stuffing inside it was.

Five more minutes, and the only one in the crowd still watching was Trixie.

Pinkie knew the look Trixie was getting as it went on. It was like if someone had put the world's greatest dessert up for eating, something like the Triple Choco-Berry Blasted Butter Biscuit Bundt Cake, and she had to wait in line for it.

Now, that’d be fine. Pinkie has three sisters, after all, she’s totally good with sharing. But, minutes of waiting and watching others cut away at the cake bit by bit would make her nervous. What if there was nothing left but crumbs by the time she got there? Fluttershy’s mice would still be happy, but not Pinkie.

Trixie looked annoyed at first, then alarmed as bit by bit, Maudie and Muddie got closer to one another. Two feet. One. Then maybe a Gummy-sized foot away at best.

Maudie was flushing, well, for her, at least. Pinkie could totally tell. Her eyes were lit up and focused like she was trying to solve a hard problem but enjoying it the entire time. Pinkie bet Maud even had that little upper pitch to her voice that made Pinkie think of a smile, if you could smile through words. But that was also a bad, bad thing. Pinkie knew Trixie had never seen this side of Maudie. Heard it a little, maybe; but never seen. It was so cute for Pinkie to hear when she had sneakily listened in on Maudie reciting poems and repeating little things she had discovered about a new rock or piece of dirt to Trixie that Dad had shown her in a video call earlier. But, Maud was crazy crushing over Trixie, so she was definitely too shy to share that type of stuff, that energy and look, in person.

Muddie wasn’t helping at all. Not really his fault though, he didn’t know Maudie already had a main squeeze. Pinkie wasn’t completely oblivious to those looks, and Muddie’s look was totally the 'Let’s go be awkward and totally adorable together' kind after Maudie got really close to him.

Trixie saw it too, and her look was the 'someone is about to take my Triple Choco-Berry Blasted Butter Biscuit Bundt Cake' kind.

Maybe Pinkie should carry smoke bombs too. She didn’t want to ever have that look.