Little Keys

by Skijarama

Help Wanted

In the weeks following Maud’s departure from Ponyville, Twilight has worked to separate herself from her anxieties. She has spent more and more time with her friends, partly to make up for any time she has missed—be it due to her prior amnesia or modern obsessions— partly to hold her peace, and partly to keep the voice of Midnight at bay.

In spite of everypony’s best efforts to move on, however, the carnage left in the wake of the Plundervines is slow to heal, be it physical or purely psychological, as will soon become plainly evident.

---

Dear Twilight,

It’s good to hear from you again! We’re glad to hear that you were able to sort the situation with Pinkie’s sister. We can’t really blame her for being a little protective, though. Shining used to be the same way with you when you were younger, and even now he occasionally lets it slip in our letters with him how much he worries about you. It’s a sibling thing, I guess.

Your father and I are currently making plans to come to see you later this month. Work is starting to ease up a little bit for him, and we’d love to spend some time with you and see how you’re getting on. I’ll be sure to buy a box of Donut Joe’s for you, too, since you can’t come to the

Your father also wanted me to pass along his love and encouragement, by the way. He’s at work while I’m writing this, and we wanted to get this one to you without upsetting Spike’s stomach in the middle of the night. You know how grumbly he can get if he doesn’t get his beauty sleep!

Speaking of sleep, have you been getting enough rest? You mentioned in your last letter about how Princess Luna is helping you in your dreams, and I just want to make sure things are going well on that front. It doesn’t drain you to have her step into your mind like that, does it? I don’t think that’s how it works, but you and your father have always been the intellectuals of the family.

Remember, we’re always cheering you on up here!

Love, Mom.

Twilight let off a quiet sigh as she finished reading the letter from her mother. She was lounging lazily in one of the many chairs scattered around the library’s central living room, and the letter had been delivered via Spike’s Dragonfire not long ago. It was early in the afternoon, meaning that there was plenty of time left in the day.

Twilight set the letter aside and lowered her head to the cushion. It was nice to hear from her parents again, but some small part of her couldn’t help but feel irked by how her mother had so obviously crossed out part of the text as if that would somehow make Twilight unable to read it. She didn’t need nor particularly want to be reminded about her lingering status as an exile from Canterlot. It only made her stress worse.

“They’re just coddling you,” Midnight mused absently. “Too afraid of upsetting you with what you already know.”

“Gee, I wonder why that might be,” Twilight spat with a grunt, turning over on the couch so her back was to the room.

“Sarcasm really doesn’t suit you.”

“Neither does the cancerous parasite in my subconscious.”

Midnight chuckled at the riposte but otherwise did not speak again on the matter. Twilight gave off an annoyed huff and closed her eyes. Rainbow was out doing her rounds with the weather team right now and Spike was reading his comics in another room. Combine that with the hour and the fact that it was a workday for most ponies and she was, for the moment, left entirely to her own devices.

Her thoughts idly wandered over the contents of her mother’s letter again, and she eventually began to give some thought to her question about Luna. Twilight’s brow furrowed. Since Maud’s departure, there had been one or two sessions in Twilight’s dreams, but they had not been of much significance. The most notable things she had learned from any of them were a few basic breathing exercises to help her relax, as well as some tips on meditation.

“Well, there’s nothing else going on right now,” she eventually decided. She sat upright on the couch and closed her eyes. With a quick flick of her magic, she opened the windows, allowing a gentle draft to come through along with the sounds of the Golden Oak’s leaves rustling and the distant chirping of birds.

With that tranquil ambiance established, she began to breathe. She lifted one hoof up to her chest as she breathed in, combining Cadance’s old breathing technique with Luna’s meditation. When she breathed out, she pushed her hoof away, doing her best to just clear her head and let the ambiance of Ponyville outside consume her.

For many, many minutes did this carry on. In, and out. In, and out. A flick of the ear as a bird chirped or a few foals went scampering by. A small, involuntary twitch of the nostrils as the faintest whiff of something pleasant wafted through. Maybe a yawn or two here and there, but nopony could prove that.

Twilight didn’t quite know for sure how long she let herself remain like that before a sound drew her out of her trance. Her brow furrowed as she heard the tell-tale flapping of wings outside, and she opened her eyes. The door opened, and Rainbow walked in, only looking slightly windswept. The pegasus grinned at her.

“Hey, Twi! Sup?” she asked, closing the door behind her.

Twilight smiled, glad for the company, and rose from her seat. She stretched as she did so, groaning with deep satisfaction as her joints and bones popped. Sitting like that was great for her mind, but it tended to do a number on her body. She peeked open an eye as she lifted her chest from the ground, and a tiny, knowing smirk appeared on her lips when she realized Rainbow had absolutely been staring, no matter how nonchalantly she looked away and whistled.

The blush gave away the game.

Twilight, only blushing slightly, sauntered over. “Oh, nothing much. A pretty quiet day,” she said slowly. “What about you? See anything… interesting?”

Rainbow’s cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. She squirmed uncomfortably in place, her wings ruffling at her sides. “Uh… ahem, I uh…” she stammered weakly, electing to look at anything but Twilight.

Twilight giggled and rolled her eyes. She sauntered up to Rainbow and affectionately draped her forelegs over her shoulders, drawing her attention. Once they were eye to eye, Twilight’s smile softened, and she leaned in to steal a quick kiss. Rainbow, as always, did not seem to be expecting it, but she was quick to respond, enveloping Twilight in a warm hug and kissing back.

The two came apart a few seconds later, with Twilight smirking into Rainbow’s face. “Anypony ever tell you that you are just too easy to tease?” she asked in a low voice.

Rainbow groaned but managed to smile in return. “No, but I get reminded of it basically every day.”

“Mm. Good. I’m doing my job,” Twilight remarked before pulling out of the hug. “But for real, though, how was your day? You’re back earlier than I was expecting.”

Rainbow followed Twilight to the couch and flopped down with a relaxed sigh. “Eh. It was kinda dull, to be honest. Everything’s on point with the bulk of the team, and the fresh blood they hired a couple weeks back have been picking up the slack I usually carried. Mostly I was just telling them where things go and the basic protocols for stuff. They caught on quick, so I got to come home early.”

Twilight’s smile grew. “Well, that’s good. That means I get more time to have you all to myself.”

“I am right next door!” Spike’s voice emanated from the other room.

Twilight blinked, a tiny blush forming on her cheeks. Without a word, she lit her horn and cast a bubble of silence over her and Rainbow. She chuckled sheepishly. “Okay, now I have you all to myself.”

Rainbow chuckled, pulling Twilight closer so they were pressed together. “Ya know, all he has to do is walk in through the door.”

“Rainbow?”

“Yeah?”

“Hush.”

The two shared a few laughs at that before falling into a companionable silence. Twilight leaned into Rainbow’s side, resting her head on the pegasus’ shoulder and closing her eyes. The two were happy to stay quiet for a while, and Twilight allowed her bubble of silence to dispel after a minute.

Once an indeterminable amount of time had passed, Rainbow shifted, and Twilight opened her eyes to see her picking up the letter from her mom. Rainbow didn’t look long enough to actually read it, though, passing it over to Twilight once she realized what it was. “Letter from mom, huh?”

Twilight nodded, taking the letter and moving it to a different end table with her magic. “Yeah. She and dad plan to come down here sometime later this month to visit.”

“Hey, that’s good. They don’t come by anywhere near often enough,” Rainbow said encouragingly, draping a foreleg over Twilight’s shoulders.

Twilight hummed and snuggled closer to Rainbow with a nod. “Yeah… I just wish I could go see them from time to time…” she muttered, her smile fading.

Rainbow was quick to give her an affectionate squeeze. “Hey, now. You’re working on it, and you’re doing great,” she said in a hushed whisper.

Twilight appreciated the effort, she did, but she nevertheless shook her head. “Ugh, no, I’m really not. I still have no idea how to open that chest. I’ve had a few months now and what do I have to show for my efforts?”

Rainbow opened her mouth to retort, but nothing came out. After a few seconds, she sighed and gave her a kiss on the cheek, chasing away the dreary mood in her head. “Well… your temper’s a lot less fiery, for one,” she eventually pointed out with a small smile. “So that’s progress on that front, at least.”

Twilight paused, her lips drawing into a thin line. “That’s because things have been quiet recently… all it would take for me to fall right back into all of that is for something to go wrong,” she thought, knowing all too well that Midnight was listening intently to their conversation.

“Point is, this stuff’s not gonna solve itself overnight, ya know,” Rainbow assured her with another squeeze. “And we all knew that going in. Not to mention everypony and their mom’s tellin’ ya to not stress over it. So let’s not stress, eh?”

Twilight snorted but managed to smile. “Heh. That is so much easier said than done, you know that right?” she asked, giving Rainbow an incredulous look.

“I do,” Rainbow acknowledged, a playful glint coming to her eyes. Twilight tilted her head. The pegasus was planning something… the question was, what? Rainbow shifted to face Twilight more directly. “But I can think of one or two ways to make it a heck of a lot easier…”

Twilight blushed violently at that and looked away with a weak chuckle and embarrassed cough. “Oh, my. Aheh, maybe you should take me to dinner first?” she suggested sheepishly.

“Sure, just name a time.”

Twilight grinned, placing a hoof on Rainbow’s chest to hold her back. “Okay, okay. How about tomorrow evening? Spike already has the start for tonight’s dinner out to defrost, and I don’t wanna waste his time.” she suggested. It had been a little while since their last date, now that she thought about it, and spending some quality alone time with Dash sounded like just what the doctor ordered.

To her surprise, however, Rainbow did not leap into agreement. Instead, her muzzle contorted into a disappointed frown. She backed off a second later with a weary sigh. “Ugh… sorry, but tomorrow’s not a good time for that. I kinda already agreed to be somewhere else for, well, basically all of it,” she said sheepishly, rubbing at her foreleg with a hoof.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. Well, this was unexpected. “You have? What do you mean? Where are you going to be?” she asked curiously, leaning forward slightly. She didn’t think it was anything problematic, but it was still surprising that she was only now hearing about this. Rainbow must have only made this arrangement today.

Rainbow leaned back in her seat and blew out a puff of air, sending some of her mane drifting. “While I was coming back from my rounds, Applejack stopped me on the way. We talked for a bit, and she eventually asked if I’d be willing to give her and her folks a hoof in the orchard tomorrow. Those Plundervines kinda left everything on their heads, and with how big AJ’s orchard is—and since it’s right next to the Everfree—they’re still finding spots where things got torn up. They’re trying to fix everything up in good time, but it’s been tough on em, with Apple Bloom being small, and Granny Smith being a cranky old mare whose hip doesn’t work right.”

Twilight took that information in for a little bit. She leaned back and gave a quiet sigh. “I see… And you agreed to help them,” she said, only slightly disappointed.

“Yeah. Never gonna leave my friends hangin’ and all that,” Rainbow said with a nod. She gave Twilight an apologetic look. “Sorry. But it’s not a big deal, we can just have our dinner date the day after, how’s that sound?”

Twilight gave the suggestion some thought. It was the most reasonable suggestion, and it wasn’t like an extra day without a date would kill her. They already lived together, and if there was one thing that had been proven a long time ago, it was that Rainbow Dash was the perfect distraction just by being around.

Except there was a problem. Twilight frowned. Rainbow was probably going to be gone for the bulk of the day if she was going to be helping the Apples out on the farm, which meant Twilight would once again be left to her own devices for several hours on end. Not ideal, given that distractions from that stupid chest were in high demand right now.

Although… a smile came to Twilight’s lips, and the one she gave Rainbow was even larger. “That sounds fair to me… if you also bring me along when you go to the farm,” she said, jabbing Rainbow lightly in the chest.

Rainbow blinked. “Fwuh?” she asked in confusion.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Come on, think about it. It can be a different kind of date!” she suggested, bouncing slightly in her seat. “Maybe not a romantic date, but let’s be real, Rainbow, you’re about as good at being romantic as a drunk walrus.”

Rainbow’s wings sprang open, and she gave an offended squawk at the comparison. “You wanna say that again?!” she asked, her cheeks flushing.

Twilight giggled and drew closer, drawing the words out into a slow, teasing whisper. “You are about as romantically skilled as a drunk walrus.”

Rainbow’s cheeks puffed up with indignation. Her wings flapped once or twice at her sides in an open display of her displeasure, before she tried to offer up a witty comeback. “Y-yeah?! Well, you’re about as romantic as, uh, um, a dusty old book!”

Without missing a beat, Twilight lit her horn and levitated over one of the books from the shelves, and presented it to Rainbow. “Behold, a dusty old book.”

Rainbow took the book in her hooves and frowned. “What is this?”

“A romance book,” Twilight chirped.

Rainbow lowered the book with one eye twitching. “You are just… guh!” she complained, throwing the book aside and crossing her forelegs in a foalish huff. Twilight laughed openly at the display, then leaned in to hug Rainbow from the side, burying her face into the pegasus’ neck fur.

“You know you love it,” she whispered a moment later.

Rainbow heaved a sigh of defeat and leaned into Twilight’s embrace. “Yeah… guess I do,” she admitted quietly. A few seconds passed before she drew back and nodded at her. “So, you sure you wanna come along? I mean, it’s gonna just be a lot of walking around and moving stuff.”

“It’ll be a good distraction,” Twilight assured Rainbow. “I’ll manage.”

Rainbow smiled. “Okay. If you say so.”

With that, the two fell silent, and Twilight leaned against Rainbow’s side again. She let her eyes drift closed, and once again focused on the sounds of the world beyond her front door. As a gentle breeze washed over her face, carrying with it the smell of flowers and somepony’s outdoor baking, she couldn’t help but notice that it was a lot easier to meditate when Rainbow was by her side.

Author's Note:

Been a hot minute since we had some good-old-fashioned Twidash fluff.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great TwiDash chapter!

Twilight let off a quiet sigh as she finished reading the letter from her mother. She was lounging lazily in one of the many chairs scattered around the library’s central living room, and the letter had been delivered via Spike’s Dragonfire not long ago. It was early in the afternoon, meaning that there was plenty of time left in the day.

Does Celestia sent the letters from Twilight’s parents or did they learned the spell themselves? Does Spike sent the letters to her parents or to Celestia?

Are we going to see them working at the Acres next chapter?

[Sunny_and_Auri_23]

SO MUCH TWIDASH

[Skijarama]

10577346

Does Celestia sent the letters from Twilight’s parents or did they learned the spell themselves? Does Spike sent the letters to her parents or to Celestia?

Twilight's parents know the spell, and Spike sends the letters directly to them.

[Midknight Defender]

I’ll be sure to buy a box of Donut Joe’s for you, too, since you can’t come to the

This line just cuts off mid-sentence, like something got accidentally deleted.

Edit:
Oh.

but some small part of her couldn’t help but feel irked by how her mother had so obviously crossed out part of the text as if that would somehow make Twilight unable to read it.

Well, erasing it instead of striking through it means we can’t read it, anyway, Twi.

[Skijarama]

10587953
Yeah, that was supposed to be strikethrough'd. Dunno why it wasn't.

[FanficReader920]

Guessing this is AJ’s little arc?

This is the Leap of Faith episode, right?

[Skijarama]

10602076

Guessing this is AJ’s little arc?

Yes.

This is the Leap of Faith episode, right?

No.

[YewUnicorn]

Without missing a beat, Twilight lit her horn and levitated over one of the books from the shelves, and presented it to Rainbow. “Behold, a dusty old book.”

L.M.A.O.
I AM DYING.
TWILIGHT WAS SO QUICK.
SO DAMN QUICK.
(falls to ground cackling and gasping for air)

[Amos Anon]

Twilight giggled and drew closer, drawing the words out into a slow, teasing whisper. “You are about as romantically skilled as a drunk walrus.”

How does Twilight know how romantic a drunk walrus is?