> Date-O-Lite
>  by Phaoray
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Trixie's head is not a melon.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marble eyed Trixie suspiciously from the other side of the kitchen table.

“Yes, she did! Trixie was surprised too.” Trixie confirmed, making sure to avoid eye contact. As expected, the phone in her hands vibrated.

That’s not what Maud said. She said you brought it up first.

Trixie scoffed. “All Trixie asked was if Maud wanted to go out to eat with her, Maud is the one who called it a date.”

But you asked her out first, it counts. All Maud did was confirm it was a date. 

Trixie glared at Marble, holding back the urge to poke the picky girl in the side. Marble was calmer around her now, but it had taken weeks to get to the point where they could casually be in the same room alone like this.

Trixie propped her head up on one hand, watching as Marble typed out a message on her phone fast enough to give some people whiplash. She was still unsure about coming over for things like this, but Maud and Marble were very persuasive when they wanted to be. 

First dates are so sweet. Still, you two have been together a lot so I doubt a date will change much. Should I expect my big sister home tomorrow night?    

“Just what kind of girl do you take Trixie for, Marble?” Trixie replied in mock anger. It was hard to actually stay mad at Marble, though Limestone assured Trixie that it was very possible. “Trixie isn’t a pervert, despite what your sister might say.”

Marble kept her head down as she replied, a blush etched over her cheeks and a creepy grin on her face. Trixie inwardly groaned and repeated Limestone’s words in her head for the dozenth time.

I know she likes to bitch on her phone all the time, and yeah, it probably doesn’t make a ton of sense. But, hey, she needs to be better around people, right? So just come over and text to her. Seriously, this is what the fucking therapist that she never visits said to try so help me out here. 

A vibration brought Trixie back to her phone. 

Says the girl who Limestone found topless in Maud’s room on her second visit. How about we talk about those things you called pajamas the first few nights over? It looked like you were trying to get more than one Pie that night. 

“Well, aren’t you feeling cheeky today?”

Bitch, I’m adorable.

Trixie glared over at Marble, she was sure Marble knew she was doing it and refusing to look over. “Adorable my foot. No one is going to find you adorable with a mouth like that.”

Marble let out a whisper of a giggle.

Please, I’m going easy on you. You’re too innocent to take what I dish out to Lime. Maybe one day, but I doubt it.  ლ(=ↀωↀ=)ლ

The smug, cat face emote sent with the message irritated Trixie a little. It always did considering Marble always used it when she was acting superior. “Oh?” Trixie grinned. “Fine, let’s test that iron mouth of yours, shall we?”

Marble briefly looked over to Trixie with a raised eyebrow before turning back to her phone.

You are lucky I like you enough to let that slide with simply saying ‘repeat what you just said back in your head’.

Trixie did.

“You’re terrible.”

Adorable. Marble corrected. Trixie could just see the mirth in her eyes as she continued to type.  So, just what did you want to do with my mouth, girl who is supposedly only trying to date my sister? 

“Yeah, okay, fine,” Trixie growled out, pointing her phone towards Marble to see as Trixie turned it off. Trixie then placed the phone on the table next to her green bag and smugly stared at Marble. “All you have to do, miss Mud Mouth, is look me in the eyes, and say ‘shut up’; do you think a big, strong girl like yourself can manage that?” She mocked.

Marble kept her phone in both hands as she looked over at Trixie with a glare. 

“Mmpt hurp.” Marble barely managed to mumble out.

“What was that?” Trixie asked, holding a hand up to her ear. “Trixie couldn’t hear you. And she said you need to look her in the eyes, not look through her. Trixie’s smart enough to know when she doesn’t have someone’s attention you know.” 

Grinning, Trixie leaned on the table and stared intensely at Marble’s lavender eyes. A few long seconds later, and Marble finally stared back. It took all of ten seconds for Marble to visibly swallow and clutch her phone tighter, Trixie could even begin to see a few beads of sweat forming on her face.

Marble finally made a pained, keening noise before slumping over in her seat, hiding most of herself under the table. Trixie snickered. 

“Okay, so, why the fuck were you two just staring into each other’s eyes?”  Came the sudden gravelly voice of Limestone behind Trixie.

Another keening sound came from underneath the table, followed by buttons being hit at high speeds. 

“No, no, I got this one, Marble. Listen, Trixie.” Limestone said evenly. Trixie felt the sudden urge to bolt and tried to stand up, only to have both of Limestone’s hands slap down on her shoulders and press her back into the chair. 

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s great having you around. Maud likes you, and I appreciate you babysitting Marble for me. It lets me get some fucking work done without worrying what stupid shit she’s going to do next.”

Marble’s head cautiously peeked out from under the table so she could glare at Limestone.

“But-,” Lime continued, squeezing Trixie’s shoulders a bit too tight for her sake. “Let me make one thing picture fucking perfect for you.”

Trixie could feel a chill run down her spine as Limestone leaned down to whisper loudly in her ear.

“I would rather break you in half and hide your corpse under my bed than have to tell our parents that you are fucking two of my sisters, are we clear?”

“Y-yes,” Trixie replied shakily.

“How clear?” Came the growl behind her. One of Lime’s fingers began tracing around her shoulder, goosebumps cropping up wherever it roamed.

“Crystal!”

“Naw, see-” Limestone gripped again, shaking Trixie in the chair slightly. “Crystal is clear, but it’s also fucking cheap; give me an answer worth a fuck. Try again,”

“W-what?” she blurted out, confused and receiving a light whack to the back of the head and an admonished tone from Limestone in reply.

“What? You’ve been spacing out looking at Marble’s tits during our group video nights?” A muffled squawk came from somewhere under the table.

“It’s a simple question.” Lime continued, slipping her hands up Trixie’s neck, her tone turning mocking as she gripped the sides of Trixie’s head in a vice-like grip. “What gem is clear, but isn’t cheap as shit like crystal?”

Trixie audibly swallowed, eyeing her green bag that she had no way of getting to at the moment. She desperately wracked her brain, searching it for anything that might help from the catalogue of documentaries she had watched with the three sisters. “Q-quartz?”

The vice tightened. “Still a crystal. Last shot.”

Maud, don’t let me die before our date!

“A-agate?” Trixie squeaked out, closing her eyes.

“Mmm-hmm!”

Trixie cautiously opened one eye. Marble was mostly out from under the table, glaring at Limestone and making shooing motions with her hand. With a relieved sigh, Trixie felt Limestone let go of her head and back away.

“Fine. It’s still a cheap answer though.” Limestone muttered, stepping around Trixie’s chair and propping herself against the table before she continued.

“So, where are you taking my baby sister for her first date?”

“Just the Cantertina.” Trixie said, rubbing the side of her head and trying to act like she was totally used to talking casually with someone who just threatened to pop her head like a zit not even a minute ago. 

Lime and Trixie eyed each other for a second as two small rings rang out. A quick glance over confirmed that the texter was still taking refuge under the table.  

Oh, nice choice. I like the burrito bowls they have.  

“Huh, Trixie didn’t really think you ever left the house.”

I don’t really, but they do delivery. 

Trixie snorted at this. “Well, yeah, they say that, but you need to order at least sixty bucks worth of food, don’t you?”

Well yeah, but it’s not THAT much food, right?

“Not really the point I was trying to make, Marble,” Trixie explained, looking over at Lime. She brought her elbow up to nudge Lime in the side, but the glare she received halfway there made her reconsider. “I guess your parents save a lot homeschooling you.”





Trixie really is an idiot when it comes to money, Limestone thought. We still pay the damn school taxes regardless, and just how cheap does she think a tutor is, even if they have to keep their distance?

Still, something didn’t add up right.

“The Cantertina, right?” Lime repeated, eyeing Trixie.

“That’s what Trixie said, is there a reason she has to repeat herself?” 

Marble’s head popping up again with eyes slightly narrowed at Limestone reminded her to bite back her first few responses to that question. 

It’s fine, you need the practice, dad literally just berated you for making that worker cry last month when they were acting like a fucking idiot.

“Right. Sorry.” Lime made an effort to stop scowling.

Marble’s glare remained, apparently her smile still needed work.

“What I MEANT was; that place is a bit expensive, and Maud mentioned you were handling everything, you sure you can afford it?”

There. Calm, no swearing, nothing for anyone to bitch about.

“Pfft, please.” Trixie scoffed, making some kind of flicking hand gesture to Lime obnoxiously. “Trixie may just be in High School still, but she makes more than enough with her allowance and street performances for something like this.”

“Wait, when the fuck does begging in the street turn into having ‘more than enough’?”

Shit, now they’re both giving me those looks.

“Trixie. Isn’t. Begging!” she stated, actually poking Limestone in the chest with each word. Lime grabbed her wrist just after the third one.

“Whatever the fuck you call it then! Still doesn’t change that you're poor as shit, right!?”

The red tinge around Limestone’s vision was not helping. Her eyes wandered briefly to Marble’s frantic waving gesture. 

The fuck is she trying to tell me? Limestone thought when Marble caught her look and gave her a ‘keep going’ gesture before discreetly reaching out for Trixie’s green self-labeled ‘Pie’ kit.

Much to Pinkie’s disappointment, it did not contain anything for baking, but it was something Trixie brought over on her visits now after some kind of compromise with Marble that she refused to tell Lime about. 

To be fair, Lime thought, squeezing Trixie’s wrist a little tighter to stop her from squirming so much. Pinkie is a bit much, and her idea of personal space is shit. 

One day that girl was really going to hurt someone by accident.

HISS! HISS HISS!

Limestone instinctively jerked backward, letting go of Trixie’s wrist as something very cold and wet sprayed across her face.

“AHH! What the fuck!?”

She eyed the spray bottle in Trixie’s hand while wiping her face off. 

“D-did you seriously just spray me with water like some goddamned cat!?”

Lime paused in what was about to be an entirely justified murder as her hand and face somehow began to sting, distracting her. 

It wasn’t pepper spray, she was fairly familiar with how that felt by now. This was much cooler and the feeling was slowly sinking deeper into her skin. She licked her lips.

“Mint?”

“Trixie’s not about to explain to Maud that she pepper-sprayed her sister.” She defended, not quite whispering out “Though I doubt she’d mind.” afterwards.

Lime’s glare was met with Trixie’s own. Trixie shook the spray bottle dangerously. 

“Plenty more where that came from.” She threatened.

“Spray me with that again and I will fucking wreck you.”

Seriously, she has a plush gator in that bag to distract Pinkie when she needs a moment, and she brings THAT for me!?

Lime was just considering her odds of tackling Trixie before she could spray her again when both their phones went off. Hesitatingly, they checked their messages.

Maud mentioned you won some vouchers at school, is that why you chose Cantertina? Is it expensive otherwise?

“W-well,-” Trixie answered, taking a step back and taking a full half minute to slowly sit down again, though she was sitting backward in the chair to keep an eye on Lime it seemed. “It can be. The voucher helps cover half of one meal and an appetizer. so Trixie is just paying around two thirds. She can easily afford that.” 

Were my reports off somehow? It’s not like Trixie has a bank account I can check or anything.

Not having a bank account was a good indicator to Lime already, but then…did all High School students really have one? 

“Whatever.”

Marble gave her a curious look. She shrugged at her little sister.

If Trixie said she had it covered, then she probably had it covered.





Marble did not agree with Limestone apparently. An opinion she was more than happy to share after Trixie left and Limestone had explained her reasoning.

“She's always going to say she has it covered. You need to listen when people talk.” 

“I do listen! She said she had it covered, didn’t she?”

“Ugh! And y-you’re terrible at observing how and why people say what they say!” Marble explained with a withering look.

“Well excuse me for fu-for thinking when she said ‘I have it covered’ to mean she would be fine!”

“Nevermind! I actually have it covered, I took care of it while you distracted her.” Lime gave a questioning look.

“Wait, what?” 

“I slipped some money into her bag after handing her the spray bottle.” 

“You fu- you traitor!”

Marble looked at her like Limestone was a child before her face gave way to a curious tilt. “Y-you don’t have to do that you know.”

“Do what?” Limestone dodged.

“You know.”

“Geh...I need to anyways.” Lime admitted. “Can’t be swearing at everyone if I am hoping to help run the company.” She cracked her knuckles. “And besides, you keep throwing me off.” The last statement seemed to, ironically, throw Marble off. Her voice, only slightly below a normal conversation level, quickly petered out. 

“W-what? S-shoul I-”

“No.” Limestone interrupted, happy Marble was still not up for eye contact right now. “Keep it up. It’s nice to hear you more than once every other month. I...guess having her over has helped then?” 

Marble swayed her head back and forth a little before finally giving a small nod.

“I-I just figure, if I can finally be okay with T-Trixie alone in a room with me, I should be okay with talking to my sister’s a little more, r-right?” 

Marble nervously rubbed her own shoulder.

Lime stiffly reached out and squeezed Marble’s arm briefly. “R-right.” She teased, getting a pout in return. “I’m happy about it, really. Mom was too when you called her to say hi the other day. But you aren’t really up for ripping into me like usual, right?” 

“I'm not r-really that bad, am I? I-”

“Pfft, fuck no...aw dam-dangit.”

Limestone shook her body briefly. 

“Okay, that’s enough for today. Look, I like you speaking your mind, I don’t have to wait a fucking century for you to say -well, text- what you want like Maud. And you don’t go all hug happy or screechy as hell like Pinkie. You do you and if it means that when you talk I need to get used to you not being as...edgy?”  She hazarded.

Marble glared at her.

“Yeah, gonna go with edgy; Then that is fine. I’ll try to tone it down a bit too.”

“It’s o-okay. Y-you won’t scare me off. Really.”  

The small smile Marble gave her pulled at Lime’s heart enough for her to give a shaky one of her own.

“C-cool. SO!” Lime slapped the table, eager to change the topic. “So, Maud and Trixie, you think it’ll go well tomorrow?”

Marble nodded. “They’ll be fine. They just need to be a b-bit more open, I think? It’s really c-cute how much Trixie tries.”

Lime snorted. “Yeah, and fails. Seriously, Agate? The fuck kind of an answer was that?”

“T-to be fair, it was a trick question.”

“Right, and just look at her fucking name.”

“I-I dunno? Maybe suggest next time they watch a video about the Clarity scale then?” Marble shrugged.

“Maybe. But you are right, they’ve been friends for awhile. They’ll be fine so long as Trixie doesn’t screw anything up tomorrow night.”





Maud closed the door behind her, leaning against it in confusion. She was happy it was so dark inside. She had a lot to figure out about Trixie’s declining state throughout the date and didn’t need her nosy sisters in her face about-

Maud paused, studying the darkness of the kitchen intently. The absolute silence.

It was too quiet.

She flicked the lights on.

Before Maud knew it, Limestone was in her face.

“What the fuck was that!?”
> Trixie's Popcorn is not Bottomless
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




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.”
> 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.
> Maud's Date is not Over
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





“It’s totally a blush,” Pinkie chirped after pausing the tape.

“It’s not,” Maud refuted, chewing at the side of her cheek. “It’s called a heated argument.” Pinkie shrugged it away.

“Doesn’t matter. Trixie probably thought it was a blush, so she went all smokey.”

“I’m just glad she finally did something.” Lime cut in, looking like she had a bad taste in her mouth. “I mean, damn. If I saw my date doing that with someone for over twenty minutes, I’d kick both their asses. Trixie’s good at running like hell, but she sucks at confronting shit like this.” she added with a grumble before looking over at Maud and mimicking her voice in a sarcastic manner. “-It was just a few minutes- my ass.”

Maud didn’t have a reply to that. She was still a bit stunned at just how long the debate had gone on herself. A part of her wished Trixie had stepped in sooner, like she often did before, but it was quickly squashed down. 

“T-to be fair, I lose track of time too when I am arguing online.” Marble quietly added.

“Yeah, but have you ever done it on a date?” Pinkie countered, grinning.

“M-maybe I will, next time I go on one?”

Pinkie gave Marble a tight hug. “It’s good to dream, little sis.” Marble stiffened, but after a few seconds sighed and hugged Pinkie back.

“I hate it when I can’t tell if you are teasing me or not.”

“Then I’m doing it right,” Pinkie stated in reply.

Lime smirked at her sister's antics, then grabbed the remote and hit play. Maud watched as she fast-forwarded through the brief discussion afterward, and then let the tape resume normally when Trixie stomped off on her own to find a bathroom.

“Really glad they cut this right for us,” Lime murmured as the camera cut to two side-by-side images. The left image showing as Maud leaned against the wall in the hallway, and the right shifting camera’s to follow Trixie. 

Maud watched herself in the camera, remembering how confused she was at the time. How she fiddled with her hands and tapped her foot before finally meandering the way Trixie went to hopefully meet up with her again.

Trixie’s camera was a lot more...hectic. As Maud observed, Trixie looked over a map briefly before heading down to the lower levels and light-sensitive exhibits, fists still balled to her sides.

“What is she-oh. Fuck.” Lime’s eyes widened in surprise as Trixie completely ignored several warning signs and ducked under some yellow tape warding a closed-off area of the museum. “Okay, she is definitely ballsier than I gave her credit for,” she admitted, watching Trixie walk down a small hall where only every other light was lit, casting long shadows across the walls.

After another moment or so she seemed to find a small tribal exhibit area that was particularly shaded over, casting several old stone statues in an almost creepy aesthetic. The camera was angled to peer into the exhibit only, meaning that Maud could only see Trixie from the side. 

Trixie looked both ways cautiously, face twisted in a way Maud wasn’t very familiar with but twinged at the back of her memory. Trixie then seemed to listen to make sure she was alone before almost aggressively slamming her back into the wall and slowly sliding down it.

Oh. That’s where Maud remembered that look from. Memories of secretly watching Trixie breaking down in their quiet spot in the quarry came unbidden to her mind. Trixie’s face was mostly hidden, shoved against her scrunched up legs as her shoulders shook occasionally. Maud couldn’t hear, but she could see Trixie taking deep breaths like she did in the past, her way of trying to regain control and keep herself together.

It had never worked in the quarry, but maybe the higher risk of being seen helped here. Trixie’s breaths slowly came back to normal after a few minutes and she brought her face back up, body still pressed firmly against the wall. 

Her face wasn’t a mess, but Maud might have been a little biased. Trixie’s eyes were clearly red despite the darkened area making such a detail harder to see, and the light make-up she had put on that day needed a little help, but Maud had seen her worse off than this. 

That thought didn’t comfort her much though, knowing she was the cause of it this time.

Trixie took a few seconds to wipe at her face with a cloth and then sit there for another moment with her eyes closed. 

“What’s she doing?” Pinkie asked as Trixie’s brow furrowed and her lips softly moved, like she was quietly speaking to herself.

“She does this sometimes,” Maud replied helpfully. “I haven’t seen her whisper like that, but I think that look means she is trying to find something else for us to talk about?” Lime’s face took on a bitter look.

“So, what? She’s like, suppressing shit?” 

“Everyone has to...sometimes.” Marble mumbled out.

Maud hadn’t thought about Trixie’s sudden switches as her suppressing anything. It was just changing gears to another, safer topic when Maud clearly didn’t want to talk about something. It was Trixie being understanding. There was nothing wrong with that, right?

Maud’s eyes returned to the screen when Trixie pushed off of the wall. She shuddered for a second before opening her eyes and giving a slight grin. After one last deep breath, Trixie made her way out of the closed-off exhibit and to a bathroom, returning moments later with a cleaned face and fixed makeup before heading back upstairs.  

The rest of their time at the museum at least seemed to go as Maud thought it had. Meeting up again, ambling through the displays as if nothing was wrong, a few comments, and then heading out to eat. It had been nice.

She wanted to believe that. 

She never took my hand.

“Did you offer it?” Pinkie asked gently, making Maud realize she must have said that out loud.

She didn’t have to, Trixie just did it. That’s just how they worked. Maud showed up, and Trixie was the one who made the decisions and pulled Maud in. It had been great so far for her, so why wasn’t it working now?

“It’s her thing.” She explained, getting a befuddled look from Pinkie. 

“Hand-holding? You don’t like it?” 

“I mean hand taking.” Maud corrected. Pinkie looked down at the table, twiddling her thumbs.

“Maudie, I don’t want to be mean about this, but you need to do stuff like that. You’re dating now, it is awesome to do big gestures, like that statue of Trixie you had made, or when my friends helped me bury Rocky so he wouldn’t be able to fling himself at cars and blame me for it anymore. But it’s the itty bitty things. Talking about yourself, or trying to be around them. I mean, what are you going to do when it’s your turn to plan a date?”

Maud didn’t know.

“Okay,” Pinkie clapped her hands together. “So, let’s go over the basics of cooking up a good date. No flirting with someone else. Obviously, this goes out the window if you are in a rom-com, but I am pretty sure Trixie isn’t going for that with you.”

“It wasn’t flirting.” Maud reiterated, barely managing to say it before Pinkie talked over her.
“It doesn’t matter if Trixie thinks it was. I think another rule for you would be to not get into arguments on the date, except with Trixie. That is kinda your thing I think.”

“Why did she bring you to the museum anyways?” Marble quietly cut in. “It’s mostly stuff our family donated anyways, and Maud gives that tour half the time.”

Maud quietly stared at the table, ignoring her sister’s questioning looks.

Lime’s voice cut in. “Let me guess, she doesn’t know any of that?”

If only I could feel as grounded as this table is, Maud thought, tapping the side of it, a little agitated at the pressure she could feel from her sister’s continued stares that she was avidly avoiding.

A moment more of silent judging, and she cracked. “You...might be right about talking more.”





The Cantertina was a little much for Maud. She’d never been here herself but had heard some about it. Polished wooden floors, Chandelier’s, and a real fireplace off to one side gave it a stark contrast to where Maud would occasionally order a taco from. But, the chairs covered in cartoon style cactuses and sombrero’s looked exactly the same, minus the cushions on them being a bit more comfortable. 

What wasn’t comfortable was the way Trixie sat on the other end of the table, biting her lip and giving Maud a strained looking smile. Maybe she felt a bit weirded out too by this place? Even after ordering and getting their appetizer, Trixie didn’t pull her chair over to Maud’s side like normal, didn’t talk fast about herself or what was on her mind. She didn’t take pictures of the two of them trying their food. 

Maybe this is normal for a date, Maud reasoned. She was hap-preferred to see Trixie in her element, squeezing Maud’s arm while complaining or cooing about the taste of the food loudly for anyone to hear, but she was acting almost aloof now, eating quietly and giving Maud small glances every now and then. 

“Any tests coming up?” Trixie asked casually, nearly drawing a sigh of relief from Maud. The silence was grating on her, feeling too unnatural in this environment. 

“Nothing major.” She replied, regretting her answer when several seconds of silence rang out afterward with nothing forthcoming from Trixie. “Just Biology, it’s not my favorite subject, but the dissection lab was interesting,” Maud added, receiving a curious look from Trixie. 

“Mmmm,” Trixie hummed out while taking a sip of her drink. “Gonna guess because it’s a little like cracking a geode for you? Though comparing cutting into a frog like that to a chunk of rock is...a bit nauseating for Trixie at the moment. Trixie supposes she has no future in Science if you have to do those types of things.” She ended the statement by picking up a skewer of chicken and biting into it while still giving Maud that interested look from before. It rattled her as Maud tried to think through what was happening.

Trixie seemed to want to talk about the future today a lot. Maud didn’t want a repeat of the duck pond from earlier. She had gotten what she wanted, but at a cost then. She didn’t think she could stand a quiet Trixie a second time. Maybe you were supposed to talk about future plans on a date? But, thinking on it, Maud’s future plans all involved Trixie. 

“I...don’t think I’ll be looking into Biology either.” She blurted out, hoping to buy time as she quietly retrieved her phone from her pocket.

HELP.

“Pfft, I never had any doubts about that.” came Trixie’s flippant reply. “Tell me, does work in Geology involve a lot of travel?”

Huh? Kind of busy at the moment, getting my groove on.

“It can, the Canterlot area doesn’t have much to offer for that field, the quarry was the only significant thing here, and it was abandoned when it dried up.”

Is it too early to ask Trixie if she wants to excavate with me in a different country after High School ends?

Maud nodded along to Trixie’s voice.

What!? Like, eloping? Are you using weird rock innuendo on her? She’s not gonna pick up on it.

“Yes, something like that,” Maud responded to an inquiry with.

No, she is asking about what I want to do in the future. 

Well, that’s not so bad, right? 

Wait, would we have to marry to travel together like mom and dad do? I need you to look that up.

Why!? WTF?

If she says yes then it’s like I’m tricking her into marrying me or something!

Calm down dumbass, you’re acting like an idiot.





Lime was growling while flipping through the conversation on Marble’s phone. 

“Seriously, what the fuck is all of this?”

A moment later, Lime started quoting the last few lines of text.

“Marble: No, Just keep your fucking last name. Maud Lulamoon is fine, but whoever heard of a Trixie Pie? It just doesn’t work.

Maud: But if she says yes to the travel, and the marriage, and the combined bachelorette party, and the honeymoon, and being a traveling magician, and the last name, then what if she gets sick or injured and I can’t get in because I’m not family because we don’t have the last name as proof?

Marble: I AM going to kill you when you get home and get on your computer tonight, Maud! It’s the first date! For the last time, just talk VAGUELY about what you THINK you are doing after High School, that’s it!

Marble: Maud?

Marble: Please tell me you weren’t just texting me and not saying shit this entire hour?

Marble: Whyyyy are you like this!?” 

This wasn’t the first time Maud wished to disappear down a pit. She heard the phone lightly hit the table and Marble retrieve it before Lime’s voice bit into her.

“Let me guess how the end of the date went.”





They made it outside of Maud’s house before Trixie had had enough.

“Maud, you barely said shit this entire date to Trixie. Trixie thinks that Trixie and Maud should just stay friends. Trixie, Trixie, Trixie!”

Maud slowly shook her head, not understanding that anything was wrong. The entire date had been perfectly fine! “Trixie, what went wrong? You know how long it takes for anything to sink in for me. Please say your name a few more times and don’t ask me anything!”

“No! Trixie needs to go, we’ll talk later since no one else is dumb enough to listen to Trixie talk about Trixie for hours on end! Trixie, Tri-AH WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT!?”





Lime retreated from Pinkie after another hit from Trixie’s spray bottle. 

“Lime,” Pinkie started sweetly, despite the frown on her face. “You’re really not helping right now.”

Marble made soothing noises into Maud’s ear while rubbing her back. Maud had enough energy to glare at Lime, but her heart wasn’t in it. Lime was basically right after all.

“I don’t know when she stopped talking, but I didn’t realize it until after we were done eating.”

Maud didn’t even remember ordering her food, maybe Trixie had while she was panickedly texting Marble? What did it say about her that she lost track of time twice on the same date?

“She didn’t say anything until we got back here and...yeah,” Maud confirmed for them. “She thinks we should just be friends.”

Maud’s grip on her legs tightened under the table. “She might be right.”

Lime clicked her tongue sharply, one of her nicer ways of demanding the three’s attention.

“Yeah, no. She’s pissed, and definitely should be, but she’s way too fucking invested in you to believe that.”

After seeing the disbelief in Maud’s eyes, Lime held up a single finger and then left the kitchen, returning a moment later with a small folder. She plunked down into one of the chairs and opened it.

“Look, between the movies, the museum, and the dinner, she definitely spent over a hundred for this date. Trixie’s family is…” Lime shuffled a paper to the side. “Lower middle class by all accounts. Dad sends money but doesn’t live with her, mom’s a social worker with decent enough pay. None of them have anything on their record either, though I would never trust her dad with a loan.”

Pinkie quietly walked over to Lime as her other two sisters gaped at her. Pinkie gave Lime a pat on the head before gently taking the folder away. “So, this is getting burned.” she flatly stated. 

After looking at her other two sisters again, Lime wisely didn’t argue.

“What I was trying to say,” Lime continued. “Is that Trixie expected a dinner date that she had some certificates to help with, got saddled with a lot more, and still didn’t call any of it off. She just rolled with it for you. The girl probably gets like, forty bucks a month, so she felt spending some of her savings or whatever was more important than telling you no.”

Maud’s eyes widened a bit in shock. “I told her I could cover it.”

“Yeah, Maud? Maybe that would have worked if she knew your allowance was a lot bigger than hers.” Lime explained with an annoyed look. “I’m not sure why she hasn't checked Pie industries on a computer yet, but I’m still saying it's your fault for not telling her this shit by now.”

Pinkie gave a small giggle snort. “Yeah, it’s kinda funny that no one in my classes seems to know that, maybe they think the school is paying for all my party supplies or something? I wish I could ever talk Vice Principal Luna into splurging on those chocolate fountains! Those things are bleeding me dry.”

Lime gave Pinkie a look and received an eye roll in return.

“Fine, stay on topic, no one cares about Pinkie’s party problems, yadda yadda. You’re worse than Professor Doodle sometimes.” Pinkie groused. 

Lime ignored her. “I’m not saying all of this is your fault, Maud. Trixie should have been clearer with you instead of trying to pull something like this off at the last minute. And she sure as shit should have talked about the argument at the Museum instead of being vague as fuck and walking off like that.”

Maud grit her teeth and shook her head slightly. “I should have known.”

She received a bored shrug from Lime for her effort. “Yeah, but you don’t, and Trixie has been around you enough to know you wouldn’t. A lot of this is your fault, don’t get me wrong, but there is no fucking way she’s getting out of this without some blame.”

“R-right now, I think you two should talk.” Marble cut in. “Try to be honest and not o-overthink it.”

Maud was still unsure, she wanted to talk with Trixie, but giving her time to rant and vent was important. Usually, Trixie did that while Maud listened, but if it was about Maud she probably didn’t want her around for that. “Would she even want to talk after how dinner went?”

Pinkie hummed to herself for a second before speaking up. “Well, she didn’t walk off during the dinner, right? She even ordered you food despite you being a chatty cat with Marble. So she was probably really hoping to talk to you.” She gave Maud a thumbs up. “I mean, it’s a little late, but I’m sure she’d be happy you went after her, especially if you noticed all the silly stuff you did.”  

Maud looked outside, it was turning dark and they had been in here discussing this for nearly two hours now. “She probably isn’t home, and I don’t think she would answer if I called her…”

“I got this,” Lime said, holding something up to her own ear. “Yeah, I'm here.” A few seconds went by. “Good, is BS still there? Okay, stand by.”

Lime took her finger back from her ear and pocketed something the others couldn’t see. “She’s over where Pinkie works right now.” She gave a grin at Maud’s questioning look. “Hey, those guys come in use sometimes, and it’s not like you needed them here right now. Get going.”

With a nod, Maud closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and stood up.

When she opened them again, Maud eyed the duck pond report near Pinkie, who seemed to be trying to look at the end of her own nose apparently, then looked back to Lime questioningly.

“I swear, talk to your bodyguards, then to me if you have any issues with them, and neither of us will have to see a report about you ever again,” Lime confirmed.

“Okay.” Maud agreed, right before snatching the report from Pinkie.

“Oooh,” Pinkie exclaimed happily. “That’s what that twitch meant!” Her eyes widened a bit in panicked realization before she quickly turned to Maud who was skimming the report with clenched hands. “Wait, you really don’t want to do that!”

A few seconds of silence passed before Maud monotonically repeated the report out loud. “Blue Slut attempts to open a dialogue with Frock and is denied. Blue Slut attempts dialogue several times after; all are denied. Frock and Blue Slut establish radio silence for the next thirty minutes.”

Marble slinked under the table while Lime’s eyes grew wide like Pinkie’s currently were. 

“Oh...fuuuuuuck.” She let out a low whistle. “I totally forgot to change that. That was before me and Trixie had that talk. Yeah, okay. I, I’m gonna go fix that right now.”





The old kitchen table had served many uses to the Pie family throughout its long years there. No one had ever expected its last service to be that of a projectile. 





How? Trixie thought, blatantly ignoring the girl now standing by her table.

“Hey.”

Trixie stared at Maud over her milkshake warily, narrowing her eyes.

Am I that predictable? 

She had steered clear of the restaurant closer to her house so she would avoid the chance of this happening. She sullenly looked away from Maud, letting the straw out of her mouth for a few seconds to reply.

“Hey.”

She took another sip, listening as Maud sat down opposite of her in the booth. The waitress came by with a glass of ice water, talking to Maud briefly, though Trixie had tuned her out already.

She really didn’t want to speak to Maud right now. And maybe not even tomorrow. She definitely would in a few days, but after the worst dinner of Trixie’s short -but fantastic- life, her heart needed a break.

Seriously, She thought. Why did Maud pick today of all days to not pay her any attention? 

Maud had to know by now that it would bother Trixie on a normal day, but it had been downright hurtful for her to do it on their first, and likely only, date.

A quick glance over revealed Maud was fidgeting, nervous.

Good.

Trixie wasn’t breaking the silence first. She had already tried at dinner and had gotten the cold shoulder. Maud could stew there all night for all Trixie cared, could talk the entire time, and Trixie wouldn’t give her the time of day, let alone respond. 

“So, about today...” Maud finally started, catching Trixie’s eyes and setting one of her hands flat in the middle of the table.

“What about it?” Trixie found herself blurting out, irritated when a second later she realized her hand was already on top of Maud’s.

I’m angry and upset! She reminded herself. 

“You’re angry and upset-”

“Trixie already reminded herself!”

“Oh…” Maud paused, clearly confused but struggling on. “Well...good. I was a bad date.” She ended simply.

“I’m aware.” She replied, curious whether Maud was going somewhere with this, or if she expected Trixie to unpack a paragraph of meaning out of that single sentence like usual.

“It’s just, I like you, but everything past that is complicated,” Maud admitted, her brow creasing. Trixie could practically see the gears in Maud’s head glacially turning as she tried to piece more of her thoughts into words.

“It’s fine, Maud.” She said, the words already bitter in Trixie’s mouth. “It’s why I said we can forget what happened today and go back to normal.”

Maud’s other hand reached out, sandwiching Trixie’s between her own. “But I don’t want that.” 

Trixie huffed, finding it hard to believe after what happened today. It would be childish to retract her hand now, so she didn’t.

“I focused on the wrong person at the museum. But everything else,” Maud rambled, eyes showing the glint of panic in them. “What happens in ten years, or fifteen, it just-”

“I wasn’t asking what you were doing in ten years, Maud.” Trixie interrupted, exasperated about this topic. “You could have told me next year's plans, or next month's plans, anything about what you want to do! Instead, you just looked at your phone the entire time…”

Her hand felt too warm for this now, so she tried drawing it back only to have Maud’s grip tighten

“Maud, let go!” 

Maud’s eyes widened in growing panic. “I don’t want to lose you.”

She could already feel the flush creeping up her own neck. Idiot. “I meant my hand, Maud! Not me.” 

“Oh.”

Maud still didn’t let go. Trixie brought her other hand up and started pushing against Maud’s. It wouldn’t budge but what did she expect? She had literally seen Maud crack a rock just by gripping it hard enough once. 

Trixie couldn’t even put her full strength into freeing her hand without drawing unwanted attention. She took a few seconds to glance around the restaurant. Thankfully it was mostly empty, and the waitress was occupied, talking to a man in a grey suit. 

Trixie’s eyes narrowed at the unique scar on his cheek. She was sure she had seen him at the duck pond earlier. 

“I’m going to travel,” Maud babbled, drawing Trixie’s attention away from the man. “and you’re a magician, right?”

“Well, Trixie hasn’t-”

Maud didn't let go of Trixie’s hand as she stood up and quickly moved to sit down next to Trixie, putting her shoulder at an awkward angle while continuing to talk. 

“Magician’s travel too, so it would be...cheaper if we-”

Too close. Maud’s face was inches away from Trixie’s own. Even bringing her other hand up and pushing against Maud’s head did nothing to further the space between them.

“A-and some places aren’t safe alone, m-medically only f-family can-”

Maud was flushing for the first time. 

What the hell is going on? Trixie mentally screamed.

“Maud, calm down!”

Trixie gave up on holding her back and reached for the cup of ice water, dumping it over Maud’s head. She blinked a little in surprise, but thankfully, finally stopped rambling. Her grip slackened, letting Trixie finally get her hand back. A brief glance around confirmed that the shop was empty, save for the waitress putting up a closed sign, and the grey-suited man sitting on a stool up at the counter.

She breathed a sigh of relief. I guess we weren’t as loud as I thought.

A glance over confirmed Maud was no longer blushing, or quite as panicked. She still hadn’t moved away from Trixie however. 

She took a long pull from her milkshake before looking Maud over. “Are you okay now?”

Maud nodded.

“Good. Seriously Maud? Travel plans? That’s like, I don’t even know.” Trixie explained, shaking her head. “Fourth, maybe fifth date stuff? And Trixie means good dates, not like today.”

Maud’s eye twitched. “I...don’t know how to do this right, and-”

“You don’t have to do it completely right.” Trixie groaned, still slightly annoyed, but feeling better. She never wanted to hurt Maud, but tossing ice water on her had been a bit cathartic. “You just, need to try, and NOT shut down on me the minute I ask one little thing about you.”

That tiny, almost unseeable blush was making its way back up Maud’s cheeks. 

“You're just...so much more interesting,” Maud confessed, causing Trixie to scoff.

“Of course Trixie is. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear about you too you know. Seriously.” She groused. “It doesn’t have to be everything at once. Trixie just wants to be part of things with you, else why would she have even tried dating in the first place?”

Maud’s gears seemed to be turning again. Trixie gave her the time she needed, curious, though hoping she didn’t need another glass of ice water.

“So, you’re okay with just one thing at a time?”Maud confirmed, continuing on after receiving a nod. “Well, does it...have to only be the one?” She ventured.

“Not if you don’t want it to be. Just, try to hold back before asking Trixie to go on a world tour with you or something.” She added.

“I like rocks…”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “You don’t say.”

“But,” Maud continued. “I also like you.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And, I really like when those two go together.” Maud finally concluded.

Trixie sighed. She hadn’t expected much but this was disappointing. Apparently, Maud caught her look.

“Sorry, I was trying to lighten the mood. I do like stand up comedy though.”

“Well, that is something Trixie didn’t know.” She admitted, giving Maud a small smile.

“I also don’t like being cold and wet,” Maud added, brightening and pointing to her soaked hair. 

Trixie nodded at that and looked around, surprised to find a few hand towels on the table already. Had the waitress come by with them? She didn’t even see the waitress anymore, actually. Just that guy nursing his drink at the counter. 

Whatever. She’d worry about it later. Maud was more important. Even if she was still terrible at sharing.

Trixie started drying Maud’s hair off, all the while listening to Maud’s continued sputtering starts and stops. 

“That’s where my dad is working right now,” Maud explained at one point, bringing up a picture on her phone of a dusty brown work site with a huge looking hole in the middle. 

It wasn’t quite what she had hoped for in a first date, but it was enough for Trixie to consider a second.