//------------------------------// // Paranoia // Story: Little Keys // by Skijarama //------------------------------// Rainbow was growing concerned. The quiet gathering in Pinkie’s room had gone on for quite some time. Jokes were made, laughs were had, and some basic, non-physical party games were played to keep everypony entertained. Pinkie had been clearly eager for something more strenuous, but Maud was never far, watching her like a hawk or an overprotective mama bear. The presence of her big sister was always more than enough to get Pinkie to simmer down and contain her desire for physical activities; no conga lines that day. As time went on, though, Pinkie’s eyes would more and more frequently dart at the stairs or the window. Every so often, she would ask Rainbow when Twilight was going to show up, and every time she had been given the same answer. “I don’t know.” It must have been a few hours by now, and Pinkie was starting to show signs of wearing down. Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were all making their exits, explaining that they had their own obligations back home to deal with: Applejack still had work to do at the farm, Rarity had a few orders she needed to get back to, and Fluttershy, while still waiting for her house to be rebuilt, was focusing her efforts on helping the fashion designer however possible. “Bye guys!” Pinkie waved to the trio as they stepped out, leaning forward slightly. “Thanks for coming! See ya next time!” “Of course, dear!” Rarity called back. “Just get some rest in the meantime, yes? It just won’t do if you fall and hurt yourself!” “Will do!” Pinkie replied before, finally, the tops of their heads disappeared down the stairs, leaving Spike and Rainbow alone with Pinkie and Maud.  Rainbow shifted uncomfortably on her hooves. She wasn’t sure there was much else she could add at this point. Things had wound down, and there wasn’t anything else Pinkie could really do without potentially agitating her injuries. Rainbow sighed and turned to her. “Spike and I should probably be getting a move on, too,” she said apologetically. “No offense, Pinks, but you look beat. You should probably lay down and get a few Zs.” Pinkie shook her head emphatically. “Nuh-uh, I can still keep going for a little while. I just need to-” a loud and unattractive yawn interrupted her mid-sentence, immediately disproving her denial. Her cheeks turned a slightly darker shade of pink, eyes darting this way and that as if she were hoping nopony had seen it. “...Uh, you didn’t see that.” “We saw that,” Spike replied in a dry tone. Maud nodded, placing a hoof carefully on Pinkie’s back. “Rainbow’s right. You should sleep.” Pinkie offered feeble resistance as Maud began to guide her towards the bed in the center of the room. “B-but! But Twilight hasn’t come by yet!” she protested weakly. “I haven’t gotten to talk to her yet, and she hasn’t had her cupcake!” Rainbow’s ears drooped, and her eyes turned back to the window. “C’mon, Twi… Now would be a great time for one of those last-second entrances to make everything better.” But there was no sign of the alicorn by the window. Not even a single lavender feather. She wasn’t here. “She can have it later,” Maud said simply, finally ushering Pinkie into bed. “But you won’t recover any faster by wearing yourself out so much. Rest.” “But I-” “Pinkie.”  A silence fell over the room, and though Maud’s expression was unchanged, Rainbow got the impression there was a fire in her eyes that only Pinkie could see. The way she shrank and cowered back into her mattress all but confirmed it. She stuck out her lower lip in a pitiful display of childish disapproval. “That’s mean, sis… You haven’t busted out your meanie voice in years!” Maud blinked. “Yes. But I’m your big sister. It’s my job to look after you if you won’t.” Pinkie sighed dramatically, her eyes starting to drift closed. “Ugh. Fine, you win… I’ll nap.” Maud stayed where she was for several seconds, waiting. Then, after a moment, a series of loud, obnoxious snores began to emulate from the now-slumbering Pinkie. Rainbow tilted her head. How in the world did Pinkie fall asleep that fast? A heavy silence fell over the room. Maud looked down at Pinkie the whole while, her expression as unreadable as ever. She glanced at Rainbow and Spike after a time, and her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “Is Twilight still at the wreckage?” she asked bluntly. Rainbow almost jumped in her skin from the abruptness of the question. She took a moment to find her words before nodding. “Yeah, she is. Or, at least, she was when we last saw her. She might’ve gone back to the library, though.” Maud turned back to Pinkie at that. Her brow furrowed in thought. Then, with a flick of her tail, she turned and marched to the stand with the last remaining cupcake. Without a word, she picked it up and made her way for the stairs at a brisk pace. Rainbow watched her, an eyebrow going up. “Er, where are you going?” Maud didn’t even slow down. “To give Twilight her cupcake.” With that, Maud disappeared from view. Rainbow blinked and glanced over at Spike. The young dragon was looking back with uncertainty in his eyes. “Er… is it just me, or was the way she said that kinda… ominous?” he asked. Rainbow knelt down and unfurled a wing to let Spike up. “You took the words right outta my mouth,” she stated matter-of-factly. She nodded for her back for Spike to get on board, and he did not waste any time in doing so. Once he was nestled between Rainbow’s wings, she rose to her full height and went after Maud at a brisk canter. Whatever was about to happen, she wanted to be there. “This saboteur of ours must be quite good at hiding their tracks,” Midnight mused absently as Twilight scanned the surrounding environment. Twilight grimaced. She had been at this for several hours, now, and had yet to find any further clues that could prove her—or rather, Midnight’s—theory that someone had sabotaged Pinkie’s course. Just the one wooden beam that had snapped in a strange way. She didn’t find any other clues aside from that; no scuff marks in the dirt, no disturbances in the local shrubbery, no marks of magic. She couldn’t even use the spell she and Starlight had used to find the Empire, as if it had been a spell, it would be far too small for such a scan to find. So where did that leave her? With a single plank of wood and a severe allegation with no suspects to throw it at. She was stuck. She looked down and heaved a heavy sigh. “Or maybe there was no saboteur, and we’re just overthinking things.” “Oh, there was a saboteur!” Midnight scoffed, sending a spike of pain through Twilight’s skull. “We know that Pinkie’s creation wouldn’t have collapsed like that! We know it perfectly well!” “Well, there isn’t any sign of anypony else!” Twilight argued, scuffing her hoof along the ground. “I’m not a carpenter. Maybe I misread that stupid piece of wood! Maybe I made a mistake in letting you convince me that there was something else going on here!” “You deny me at your own peril,” Midnight warned in a low hiss. “I speak from your heart. To deny me is to deny yourself. But, then again, that has ever been your wont, hasn’t it? To scoff and turn your head whenever I dare to tell you what you already know. To lie to yourself, deceive yourself, and pretend that I am your enemy.” “YOU ARE MY ENEMY!” Twilight finally snapped, turning and grabbing a large piece of shrapnel and throwing it off to one side. The loud crash it made as it collapsed jarred her senses, but she kept going. “From the moment I first turned, you’ve been a parasite in my head! You are everything I refuse to be! You’re paranoid, you’re malevolent, you’re sadistic, and you mock and torture me at every turn! There is NOTHING of me in you!” Midnight gave off a series of quiet, disappointed ‘tsks.’ Twilight gasped as, suddenly, her vision went dark. She blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, she was standing before the Tree of Harmony. She took several steps back, her heart twisting with the memory of the ancient flora literally tearing the life out of her. “A fool to the last.” Twilight’s blood turned to ice. She spun around, her horn flaring with energy, and without thinking, she unleashed a beam of magic at the voice, pumping as much power into it as she could. “WOAH!” Twilight blinked as a new voice entered the fray. The cave was gone. The tree was gone. She was back amid the mounds of junk and shrapnel, one of which had just been reduced to ashes by her magic. “What…?” “Twi, what the hay are you thinking?!” the voice came again. Twilight looked up at it, and her heart dropped into the pits of her stomach. There, flying above her with a singed tail, was Rainbow Dash. On her back and clinging for dear life was Spike, and held firmly in her hooves was none other than Maud. She was holding something in her hooves, but Twilight couldn’t see it from here. Twilight’s throat tightened. “...Rainbow?” she choked out in shock, the realization clicking into place as to what she had almost done. She took several steps back, her heart beating harder in her chest. “What… what just… what did I…?” Rainbow slowly came back down to the ground. She gingerly let Maud go, the earth mare landing soundly, before touching down beside her. Rainbow stared at Twilight with wide, shocked eyes. There was a flicker of anger in her expression, but it was quickly bleeding away, replaced with worry and fear. “Twi…? Are you okay?” she asked carefully, taking a few very tentative steps forward. “I… I… I should be asking you that!” Twilight cried, finally finding the will to step forward. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I didn’t realize you were there, and I, I just, I was so frustrated I… I didn’t… I wasn’t… I’m so sorry!” she babbled, her eyes starting to mist over with tears. She had almost reduced all three of them to ashes. If Rainbow had been even a second slower, then… Rainbow turned slightly to look at the tip of her tail. She frowned, then shrugged. “I mean… you missed the important bits, I guess, so…” she tried to joke, but it fell flat.  Spike hopped down from Rainbow’s back. The moment his clawed feet met the ground, they wobbled like jelly, and he fell forward onto his hands and knees. “Oh, man… I think I just saw my life flash before my eyes…” he mumbled. Twilight’s first instinct was to go to him, to hug him and tell him everything was alright. Her legs remained planted, however, and her expression contorted with fear. Was it safe? What if Midnight made her lash out again? She didn’t want to hurt them… “Twi?” Rainbow called gently, slowly inching forward, as if to not scare or startle a dangerous animal. She lifted a wing out in a simple beckoning gesture. “I think you’re done here. Let’s get you home, okay?” “I… But I…” “You’re not okay, Twilight,” Rainbow stated matter of factly. She then pointed carefully at the band around her mane. “I hate to do it, but please don’t make me pull rank on you. Let’s just go home and call it a day. I’ll have Spike send Luna a letter, and make sure she talks to you tonight. I think you need her.” Twilight’s hooves remained planted for several seconds. The way Rainbow and Spike were looking at her, their eyes uncertain and fearful. And next to them, Maud. Her gaze was as unreadable as ever. The combined weight of their stares broke down any will to resist them she had left. It just wasn’t worth it. Not anymore. “Okay… okay,” she relented in a barely audible voice. A few seconds passed before she felt Rainbow’s wing on her back, and the pegasus began to guide her away from the site. As they passed by Maud, though, they came to a stop. Twilight didn’t dare look at her, though. She could only imagine what Pinkie’s sister thought of her now. Then, Maud’s hoof came into view. Twilight’s eyes widened as she saw the squashed remains of a cupcake held in it. She looked up at Maud to see a smear of frosting staining the front of her frock. Maud’s eyes narrowed and hardened. “This is for you,” she said. “Pinkie made it.” Twilight gulped and gingerly took the cupcake in her magic. “I… Maud, I-” “Stay away from my sister.” The breath left Twilight’s lungs as Maud uttered those words. With her statement thus given, Maud then turned and walked away, not even waiting for a response. Twilight opened her mouth to call after her, but no words came. What could she say? What could she even try to say? “Maud, hey!” Spike called after her, but there was little strength in his voice, and Maud did not listen. Soon enough, she disappeared from view, vanishing behind one of the mounds of wreckage. Twilight stared after her, working her jaw up and down. A few seconds passed before she felt Rainbow nuzzling against her. “I’m sorry… let’s go,” she whispered in a reassuring tone. Twilight shook her head but did not resist as the pegasus began to guide her along. “You’re not the one who should be sorry,” she thought.