Twilight Sparkle's First Date

Chapter 4

That Friday, shortly before six, Fleur, Shining Armor and Twilight all walked into the lobby of the Golden Dome Theater. Shining Armor was wearing a snazzy-looking suit and tie, which went fabulously with Fleur's sparkling sequined dress.

Twilight was somewhat jealous of the supermodel's outfit, to be honest. It made Twilight's outfit look rather bad by comparison. Twilight didn't have any special clothes for going out with other ponies, as the fanciest place she ever visited was Pony Joe's. So she was stuck wearing the only dress she owned: a small purple piece which she got from her grandmother, three years ago. To be honest, it looked more like a sports jersey than an actual dress.

"Here we are!" Fleur said happily.

"This isn't a restaurant..." Twilight said quietly. She was a bit unsure how to act around Fleur, to be honest. How do you treat your big brother's marefriend?

"Zis is where we will pick up your date!" Fleur said. "During the intermission."

"Who is he?" Twilight asked.

"You'll recognize your date by the moon-shaped cutie mark," Fleur promised.

The three unicorns opened the doors and peeked into the main theater, just in time to catch the end of the show.

"And for her final trick, the Great Trixie will lift a forty-pound barbell!" a loud voice said.

The light blue unicorn onstage used her magic to lift up a barbell. There was applause from one or two ponies in the audience.

"Not impressive enough? Well, what if instead of forty pounds, it weighed forty tons?" the Great Trixie said. She used her magic to turn the barbell into a large elephant. She still managed to keep the elephant up in the air, and she moved it all over the crowd.

Everypony was impressed with this, and they applauded loudly, as Trixie bowed, threw her hat to the audience, then left the stage.

"Let's hear it for the Great Trixie!" an announcer said, coming onstage. "And now, we're going to have a brief, ten minute intermission, before the real show starts. Feel free to get some drinks or walk around-"

Most of the ponies in the audience got up to go to the lobby. Fleur and Shining went to the lobby to get a drink, while Twilight stayed by the door. She watched all the ponies pass her by, looking for a stallion with a moon-shaped cutie mark. As time passed, the lavender unicorn's back legs started twitching in nervousness, but she managed to keep a fake smile on her face.

Four minutes after the show ended, Trixie left the backstage area and came to the lobby doors. Her cape had been exchanged for a form-fitting, dark blue cocktail dress.

"Excuse me," Trixie said to Twilight Sparkle. "You're blocking the doorway!"

"Oops, sorry," Twilight said, as she stepped aside. "I was just looking for-hey, you're the magician who was onstage!"

"That's right," Trixie said. "I am the Great Trixie, magician extraordinaire! I trust you enjoyed the performance?"

"I only saw the last trick, where you turned the barbell into a hollow elephant," Twilight said.

Trixie's eyes widened. Somepony saw through her trick? "What?" she asked. "How did you-?"

"That was a pretty clever way to make ponies think you were lifting something heavy," Twilight said. "How'd you think of that?"

"I-a magician never reveals her secrets!" Trixie said.

"Don't worry," Twilight said. "Your secret's safe with me. Besides, I don't think anypony else noticed."