The Job search

Dash had regained her composure by the next morning, but their emotional moment had not removed the elephant in the room. The rainbow haired woman could feel more and more that she was imposing on the hospitality of her friends the more she went without a job. She had tried to hold employment in the past, but between the boredom she had felt behind various counters and in backrooms as well as the numerous absences she had fighting crime did not give her the most glowing resume on the planet. She really could not even use her speed as an advantage for a job position. Every time she used it, no matter how minor, it produced an iconic rainbow streak in the wake of her movements. Her hair alone was pushing it when it came to her identity, but using her power out of costume would just make her secret identity that much harder to keep. Honestly she felt it was the worst kept secret ever, but there was just enough of a barrier between her and her alter ego that the cops hadn't come banging on her door with questions.

With this in mind she had set out early in the morning for another round of job hunting, her suit hidden underneath her clothes just in case something happened.

"Alright, I'll see what I can get today!" Dash called out to Applejack who was already working out in the fields. The farm girl lifted a large bale of hay she had just wrapped up and casually tossed it into the growing stack before waving her off.

"Aren't all the applications online now a days?"

Dash scratched behind her head and flushed slightly at that. "I uh.... i've been running into a lot of dead ends on that front." She called out.

"Get a better resume and that won't happen gurl, now git, happy job hunting!"

////later that day///

Her spirit was soundly broken. So many places in town pretended they didn't have physical applications with her. Still others that had once employed her ranged from consoling to flat out irritation as they turned her down. Her reputation as an unreliable employee had preceded her pretty much everywhere she had went, and it did no favors for her job prospects. She could use her speed to get to a new city relatively fast, but the commute between the two cities and her civilian persona being present on both ends on an above ground job would raise far to many suspicions. The cops were on her enough as The Wonderbolt without blowing her cover.

She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed someone walk up beside her and say her name. It had taken several tries from the stranger to even get the rainbow haired woman's attention. Dash looked up at an amazonian looking woman in a stylish fur coat and tastefully spiked white hair. She reminded Dash of a mix between a bird and a cat in a way with the way she walked along side her in her expensive looking garb.

The realization of who the warmly smiling woman was didn't hit her until several long seconds of dumbly staring at her handsome looking face. Handsome was the word too use with her. She was attractive, and clearly female, but her masculine appearance lent itself to that descriptor more than beautiful did. She did not wear much makeup either, though it did not take away from how dark and full her eye lashes were. Dash could see in her minds eye a version of this woman that was much smaller and cuter, with big sparkling eyes begging for someone , anyone to be her friend.

"Gilda? Gilda!" Dash held nothing back as she hopped to hug the taller woman. She didn't even come up to Gilda's shoulders and from what her arms was feeling the woman was built like a tank underneath her velvety coat. The white haired woman returned the hug with an affectionate pat on her back. Dash couldn't help but blush a little at how solid and strong Gilda seemed, and how her head seemed to fit perfectly into the crook of her neck. She smelled of Cigar smoke, and from how pleasant it felt to her nose it must have been a notably expensive brand.

It had felt like yesterday when it was Gilda that was the scrawny runt of the two of them.

" Come on! Lets be camp buddies!"

"R...really?" Gilda had asked so shyly, giggling a little as the proud Dash ruffled her hair.

"Sure! Lets be buds forever!"

Gilda held her out and looked dash over. Rainbow became distressingly aware of the red tie, her white button up shirt was tucked in to her khaki pants that she hated so much, and the most uncomfortable pair of leather dress shoes she was wearing, along with the manila folder in her hand.

She squeaked a little and flushed an even deeper shade of red as the statuesque woman plucked the envelope out of her feeble grasp and opened it up.

"Job hunting eh? How is that going?"

Dash nervously rubbed the back of her head and laughed "Not so great. I think the whole town got me blacklisted."

Gilda laughed at that, but it didn't carry the tone of being condescending or mean. It was a sympathetic laugh of someone who had definitely been in her shoes before. Gilda tucked Dash's envelope under her arm and gestured her to follow.

"Come on, I'll get ya some coffee and we can work on some of those woes of yours."

Part of Dash wanted to protest and get back to her fruitless search, but the rest of her was all to happy to follow her old friend's lead. She prayed that her thumping heart wasn't too loud as she walked next to the taller woman.

//////In The Coffee Shop//////

"So why are these nice places refusing to hire a cutie like you anyway?" Gilda asked as she handed Dash her order and sat down in the booth beside her. They could have sat opposite of eachother, but instead the tall woman had penned the rainbow haired woman into the window seat, which would require Dash to ask her to move if she wanted to get out. Somehow she had a feeling Gilda knew she wasn't going to ask that without a LOT of effort on Dash's part. Dash was known to be a bit thick when it came to noticing things, but the way her body was reacting to Gilda's presence left very little to misinterpretation.

"Well uh... My attendence wasn't so hot, I had...other matters to attend to that got in the way of work, if you get what I mean."

Gilda nodded lightly and looked down playfully at the smaller woman as she took a long sip of her coffee. Her gaze was enough to sent an electric shock through Dash as she shifted nervously in her seat. She felt like she was a rabbit being eyed by a hawk that was circling from overhead and there wasn't a hole to dive into.

Dash had never, NEVER had romantic feelings for anyone while she was in school, and even in the years following it. People were starting to suspect that she just didn't have a sex drive, that all that energy was dedicated instead to sports and competition, or into the thrill of hero work. Now here she was, inexperienced as a child being eyed down by her old friend that had the distinct feeling that she was far more mature in this department.

"I could help with your problem." Gilda said, placing her coffee down and leaning casually back in the booth. Dash's eyes lit up at this, almost forgetting the cocktail of new emotions she was going through as she looked up at Gilda.

"Really? You know someone who's hiring?"

"I am." Gilda said with a calmness rumble in her voice that came from smoking for years. She lit up a cigar as she looked over the resume Dash had and took a few puffs.

"Um...Ma'am, this is a no smoking section..." a waitress said as she looked nervously at Gilda. The white haired woman swiftly pulled out a a several crisp hundreds, and Dash's eyes balked at the sight of her casually handing it to the nervous waitress.

"It is for right now if you don't mind. that'll cover the meals of anyone inconvenienced by my little habit. You can keep the change afterward."

The woman looked at the smooth bills and nodded enthusiastically. "O-Of course ma'am, as you wish. Th...thank you very much."

Dash's mouth was opening and closing in surprise as she took another look at Gilda. She had vaguely noted it before, but she was wearing very expensive clothing. She had seen these kinds of material among Rarity's collection as she designed her latest lines. She couldn't even begin to name off any of the types of cloth they were, but she knew it was the kind that Rarity payed special care to not waste.

Smoke billowed out in graceful tendrils from Gilda's pursed mouth, making mesmerizing patterns over her their table before dissipating, leaving the pleasant smell of the cigar in its wake.

"I own a number of businesses, I'm sure I could work something out for you. Depending on how willing and able you are to work I can even snag you some positions with good money attached. You interested?"

Dash nodded happily at this, beaming from ear to ear at the prospect of finally snagging a job.

Gilda had a nearly private smirk as she looked at the looked at her old friend. Perhaps handling this little problem would be easier than she thought... still, she had to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

She could afford no hesitation when it came to how this week needed to go, even for someone like Dash.