Brains and Brawlers

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

The First Date

The restaurant Gilda took Twilight to was the semi-casual place with eclectic decor. The type of place where someone in jeans and a tee shirt were not under-dressed, but it was not quite as casual as a fast food restaurant. The walls were covered in all sorts of items: pictures from around the local area throughout the years; framed outfits; movie posters; license plates; there was even a car hood from somewhere on the wall beside where the two of them were seated. The menu was similarly varied: appetizers, desserts, burgers, salads, pastas, soups, and sandwiches.

After placing their orders, including an appetizer, Twilight excused herself to go wash up. As she made her way to the restroom, two familiar looking faces got her attention. Especially since she noticed something rather odd about the pair.

"Maud?" Twilight asked as she approached the table. "Trixie? What are you two doing here?"

"Having dinner, obviously," Trixie said, sticking her nose up in the air. "Maud asked The Great and Powerful Trixie out after The Battle of The Bands. We have been dating ever since."

"So, why are you wearing fake mustaches?"

A bright red blush covered Trixie's pale blue cheeks as she turned away from Twilight. With a huff, she took the mustache off and tossed onto the table before facing the wall, arms crossed over her chest.

More calmly, Maud picked up the tossed mustache and took off her own. She slipped them into a pocket before turning her attention back to Twilight Sparkle.

"Pinkie Pie asked me to come keep an eye on you during your date," she admitted. "Since I had a date with Trixie already planned, I was simply to come to the same restaurant report if anything happens. The idea was that since you don't know us as well, you wouldn't notice us."

"That makes sense," Twilight admitted. "Except for the mustaches. Why were you wearing them?"

"Because," Trixie cut in, "a certain somebody has a hard time saying 'no' to her favorite little sister."

Twilight could not be sure, but she thought Maud's gray cheeks took a slightly pinker tint.

Straightening up, Trixie took a deep breath and put on a massive grin.

"But Maudie!" she squealed in a high pitch voice. "You just have to wear the mustaches! They're totally part of being a spy keeping from being recognize." Clasping her hands together in front of her, she fluttered her eyelashes. "Pleeeeeaase."

That certainly sounded like something Pinkie would think to Twilight. She then turned her attention back to Trixie.

"So why were you wearing one?"

The grin and wide eyes vanished from Trixie's face as she started blushing again. Crossing her arms, she looked to the wall again, mumbling something that Twilight could hear, but not make out.

"What was that?" Twilight asked, turning her head and leaning in.

Trixie mumbled again, softer than before and at a faster pace.

"Trixie has a hard time saying no to me as well," Maud explained. "I asked her to wear the mustache so I would not be doing so alone."

That was... weirdly and surprisingly sweet. Especially for Trixie. From what Twilight had been told and seen for herself, Trixie was a rather proud and haughty girl, who liked to be the center of attention. While she did seem to do silly things, like use smoke bombs to "disappear," doing something like wearing a fake mustache in public did not seem like the type of thing Trixie would do at her own volition. She must really care about Maud to do such a thing.

"Well I appreciate the concern," Twilight said, "but Gilda and I are fine. We don't need..."

A thought suddenly occurred to her.

"Did you also spy on me during my date with Timber?"

"No," Maud answered. "Trixie had a show that night."

"Okay. Anyway, as I was saying: Gilda and I don't need to be chaperoned. I appreciate the concern, but we are old enough to handle things ourselves."

"I'll let her know."

"Thank you," Twilight said as she straightened up. "I'll leave you two alone then. Enjoy the rest of your date."

In the bathroom, after washing up, Twilight Sparkle looked at herself in the mirror and let out a sigh. Despite what she had said to Maud and Trixie, she was not actually feeling so confident. This was her first date with Gilda, and the second in her entire life. It was a whole part of life that she had pretty much no experience with, and there was only so much studying one could do when it came to social interaction.

Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out her phone and pulled up the list she had made.

Dress in something comfortable and semi-casual

Check. She was wearing jeans which would let her do most physical activities, and a blouse that was a bit dressy.

Compliment date during pick-up.

Did she do that? Had she remembered that? With the change of plan and schedule, Twilight had gotten a little flustered. She could remember Gilda saying something about how she was dressed. Did she remember to do the same? If not, was it too late to correct it? How awkward would it be if she did?

Deciding to try and figure it out later, she went to the next item.

Get to know them by asking questions.

She could do that. Easily enough. Twilight knew a little about Gilda already, and she had always been inquisitive. Just needed to ask a few questions, and pay attention to what Gilda said. No problem.

If comfortable, initiate minor physical contact.

That was not something she was ready for yet. Especially in the restaurant. Maybe during the concert though.

Putting the phone away, Twilight Sparkle looked at herself in the mirror one last time as she collected herself.

Moving past Trixie and Maud's booth, Twilight noted that Maud had moved over and was now sitting on the same side as Trixie. At her own table, the drinks and green bean fries had arrived.

"So, where do you go to school?" Twilight asked as she sat down and grabbed a fry.

"I don't," Gilda answered. "Got a G.E.D. 'bout two years ago."

The statement made Twilight freeze, the ranch dipping sauce dripping from the edge of her fry. General Educational Development -- commonly referred to as a G.E.D -- meant that instead of actually completing high school, Gilda had taken a test to meet some minimal requirement. From what Twilight understood, it was not as bad as simply dropping out, but not as good as getting a proper high school diploma either.

"Why?" Twilight found herself blurting out before she even realized it.

"School doesn't pay the bills," Gilda answered. When she saw the look Twilight was giving her, Gilda leaned back in her seat and sighed.

"Look. In case it missed your notice, we're not exactly well off. Both your parents work full time, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well since it's been me and Grampa, we've basically been lifting off his retirement and social security." One shoulder shrugged. "Not a lot of money in either. Pretty much enough to cover bills, if barely."

Shifting she looked at the wall.

"So when his health got worse, even with his healthcare, we didn't really have enough to cover all the bills, buy food, and get his medications. It was either get a job, let Grampa go without his medicine, or have water and power cut off." She turned to Twilight again. "If it comes down to going to school or keeping your home and family, not much of a choice, is it?" One of her eyebrows raised up.

Twilight could only nod. It may have been selfish of her, but a part of her way grateful that she never had to make a choice like that.

"Gramps wouldn't let me just drop out though," Gilda continued. "So in my off time, I studied and took the G.E.D. exams."

"But, what about college?"

"Not really an option for me."

"But--" Twilight started, but stopped when Gilda held up a hand.

"I appreciate the interest," she said, "but like I said, not an option. That's not going to change any time soon, so let's drop it and change the subject." She then leaned forward. "Tell me about you."

Twilight felt an urge to argue. From what she had seen, Gilda was by no means dumb. Twilight was fairly certain that if Gilda applied herself, she could get a degree in whatever she wanted. She loved learning and of itself, but had also been told practically her whole life how important education was. Better education, better degree, better job, better future.

On the other hand, Twilight Sparkle did not want to start an argument. Especially on their first date. Plus, she could kind of understand where Gilda was coming from. Taking care of necessities and her grandfather now took priority over college in the future.

"What do you want to know?" she asked.

Gilda's eyes narrowed as she smirked.

*****

After dinner, the two drove to the city park where a concert was being set up. There were a few bleachers set up facing the stage, so people could sit there if they liked. There was also plenty of open space where people could set up their own chairs, or spread out blankets to sit on. Turning out to have chosen the latter, Gilda opened the trunk to pull out a blanket and carry it to one of the hills.

As they walked, Twilight Sparkle caught sight of another group of familiar faces.

"I'll catch up with you in a second," she told Gilda. "There's someone over there I want to talk to."

"Alright," Gilda said with a shrug as she continued. "I'll be over there. Call if you can't find me."

Twilight gave a nod, and watched Gilda walked off for a moment. Fixing her glasses and straightening her shoulders, she turned back to the others and started walking toward them.

Several blankets and chairs had been set up together, more than enough for the nine girls to sit, lie down, or do anything else. There was an ice chest filled with bottles of apple juice, and several picnic baskets, one of which was overflowing with cupcakes. Several of the gathered girls noticed Twilight's approach. Reactions at her appearance varied from warm and friendly -- if surprised -- smiles, to looking away.

"Twilight," Rarity said with a smile. "How lovely to see you. What brings you here?" The smile faded as her brow furrowed. "Your date with Gilda has not ended already, has it?"

"No," Twilight answered. "We're actually here as part of the date." She then turned to look at Pinkie Pie, who was pointedly not looking at Twilight. "So, you're not here to continue spying on us then?"

Pinkie continued to look away, while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy joined her.

"What are you talking about?" Sunset asked.

"When Gilda and I were at dinner, I found Maud and Trixie there as well." Twilight turned her full attention back to Pinkie. "Wearing fake mustaches. When I asked her about it, Maud admitted she had been sent to spy on me while on her own date."

Sunset Shimmer, Rarity, and Applejack turned to look at the other three, who continued to avoid eye contact.

"Pinkie?" Applejack asked.

"We just wanted to make sure that everything went okay," Pinkie blurted out. "Twilight's our friend, and we didn't want to see her get hurt."

"Or Gilda in this case," Rainbow added.

"What about my date with Timber?" Twilight asked. "Did you have someone spy on me then, too?"

Dash and Pinkie shifted. Fluttershy raised her hand.

"Uhm... I... may have convinced my Zephyr and Tree Hugger to keep an eye on you two..."

"Fluttershy?" Sunset called out. "Really? Why?"

"Well..." Fluttershy shifted, pulling her legs under her. "We... did kind of push Twilight and Timber together. If things didn't go well and either got hurt, it would kind of be our fault. Since Twilight hadn't met Zephyr or Tree Hugger yet, we thought they would be perfect for keeping an eye on things and letting us know if things went well or not..."

Everything went quiet for a few seconds, the others looking at the trio behind the date spying.

"Well, their hearts were in the right place, I suppose," Applejack spoke up.

"Indeed," Rarity agreed. "I do hope that they did not cause you any trouble."

"No," Twilight answered. "But I would appreciate it if you could all just let me have my date in peace."

"No problem," Sunset said. "We'll just be over here if you need us."

"Don't hesitate to call."

Twilight Sparkle nodded and turned away. As she did, she could not help but smile just a little at the whole thing. As irritating as it was to have people spy on her, it was nice to have them care for her. Like Applejack said, their hearts were in the right place. They were just trying to make sure that she did not get hurt.

But Twilight was old enough to take care of herself.

Finding the blanket and Gilda, Twilight moved to sit down next to her. As she did, her eye traveled along one of Gilda's bare arms, studying the lean, tense muscles that her holding her up. Twilight's gaze traveled down to the hand on the blanket, and she considered putting her own on top of it.

"So did you talk to your friends about spying on us?" Gilda asked.

The question caused Twilight to jump, eyes wide as she looked up at the other girl. She could feel her mouth hanging open and her cheeks heating up.

"How did you know?"

"Two girls wearing mustaches do stick out around here," Gilda answered with a smirk, "and I would recognize Rainbow Dash anywhere."

Twilight moved closer.

"Well don't worry," she said. "They promised to leave us alone for the rest of the evening."

Everything went quiet as a gray skinned and dark gray haired girl made her way onto the stage, carrying a cello. Twilight recognized her from school, but did not know her name. After the girl took a seat on a stool, a honking noise drew the audience's attention to the other side of the stage. There, another girl -- one with white skin and electric blue hair Twilight remember being called Vinyl -- drove on the stage. As in, she drove up in a car.

Before the audience's eyes, the car turned into a DJ station, with pulsing lights and massive speakers.

"That is totally cool," Gilda said, staring wide eyed. It was a sentiment that Twilight found herself strongly agreeing with. She could now see why Rainbow Dash had called Vinyl a better engineer.

Digital music began to play. Heavy thumps of bass that the lights on the front of the... music-mobile? ... pulsed in time with. The other girl soon joined, playing a song on her cello that fit with it.

Gilda reached out, wrapping an arm around Twilight Sparkle and pulling her against her. Twilight tensed slightly at the touch, but quickly relaxed. Leaning against the other girl's shoulder, she let the mix of techno and classic music fill her mind and the night.

Comments

[ShadowLDrago]

"Because," Trixie cut in, "a certain somebody has a hard time saying 'no' to her favorite little sister."

Ah.

Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out her phone and pulled up the list she had made.

Of course.

"Two girls wearing mustaches do stick out around here," Gilda answered with a smirk, "and I would recognize Rainbow Dash anywhere."

With a head of hair like hers...

"That is totally cool," Gilda said, staring wide eyed.

You're goddamn right.

[zerofireking13]

MOAR!!!!!

[Cojo5536]

Found a typo:

"What about my date with Timber?" Timber asked. "Did you have someone spy on me then, too?"