The Enchanted Computer: A RariTwi Exquisite Corpse

by SigmasonicX

~ 01 ~ The Return to Granite's Rest (SigmasonicX)

Twilight felt the train rumbling beneath her seat.

As she and Rarity had planned, following their weeklong vacation—marked by several occasions where Rarity quite adeptly distracted her from her anxiety—they immediately set out for their first and biggest lead.

A long time ago, a pony named Indigo Glen found Princess Celestia. Somehow, they broke through whatever enchantment Discord had placed to hide her away and was able to paint her. Though few could decipher the meaning, this painting lasted the test of time and could now be found at a tourist trap in Granite’s Rest.

The train slowed to a stop and Twilight stepped off with determination.

Rainbow Dash and Spike were checking the Rainbow Falls. Applejack was rustling up what family she could to check Neighara Falls. The royal guards and Princess Luna were flying all across Canterlot Falls, in hope that it was just the curse that prevented them from finding Princess Celestia right away.

Twilight looked to Rarity to her left and Pinkie Pie to her right. Their mission was to find something—anything—about the painting to narrow down their search. The most minute detail could be the key to finding her mentor and putting an end to this entire ordeal.

She would not fail.

---

Twilight adjusted her wings underneath her cloak as she jostled against tourists in the street. Even on a return, she was amazed how many ponies would come to an abandoned town just to see that it was abandoned. Except it obviously wasn’t abandoned if there were this many ponies and—ugh, this wasn’t worth thinking about.

Except if she wasn’t thinking about that, then she had to think about the painting. The one that showed her princess in excruciating pain, casting a spell that was strong enough and persistent enough to ruin her horn. And so much time had passed since the painting was made, so she must be even worse off, and—

Twilight felt something warm against her neck. “Are you feeling alright, dear?”

Rarity’s words immediately brought the alicorn back to reality. Of course, Rarity was here this time. It would be alright. “I am now.”

“Luckily for you, I love when you say things like that,” Rarity replied with a wink.

Twilight felt something else warm—this time on her back, and rather heavy. “Ooh, check it out, they’re giving out free T-shirts over there!”

Pinkie’s presence offered its own form of comfort. Twilight shook her head. “What? Free shirts? I’m confused. If they’re free, they can’t be high quality, and if they aren’t high quality, why even bother wearing a shirt during tea time?”

Pinkie laughed from above her. “Oh Twilight, you’re really missing out if you’ve never worn free T-shirts before! It’s T for Twilight and everything!”

The princess scrunched her eyebrows. “Wait… these shirts are named after me?” Of all things, this is where they got her name right?

Rarity laughed. “Oh don’t listen to her, she’s just being silly. They’re T-shirts like the letter T, because of their shape. I’m not a fan myself, but they have their place.”

“And free ones are the best! Look, even Applejack likes them, she’s in the crowd and everything.”

Before Twilight could react, she felt another mare climb on top of her and grimaced under the added weight. “What, Applejack’s here?”

“Yeah Rarity, look over there!”

“Pinkie Pie, don’t tell me you’re pointing at that mare with a white cowboy hat! She looks nothing like Applejack!”

“Oh huh, I guess you’re right.”

Twilight sighed. “Alright, both of you, get off.” She shook like a wet dog and both mares fell on either side of her.

Though she landed on her feet, Rarity still pouted. “Darling, that was quite rude.”

Twilight smiled awkwardly. “I’ll make it up to you later.”

Rarity smiled back. “I know you will.”

Pinkie, meanwhile, had somehow landed on her back but was none the worse for wear. “You know, that mare was close enough to Applejack that she could be our Applejack for this adventure!”

“What do you mean?” asked Twilight.

“Applejack isn’t with us, but it’d still be awesome to have an Applejack. So she can be our Applejack!” Pinkie jumped from the ground and flipped right-side-up. “Ooh! And that mare with her that had a lightning cutie mark! She can be our Rainbow Dash!”

Rarity shook her head. “Pinkie-dear, please don’t bother those two.”

Giving up surprisingly quickly, Pinkie smiled and nodded. “Alright. Anyway, with everypony off getting T-shirts, the path to the painting should be completely clear.”

Twilight looked along the path she followed last time. “You’re right, there’s barely anypony at all.”

“Just looks like there’s someone sweeping up, in fact,” Rarity said.

As they approached the painting, Twilight braced herself to look upon it once again, only to immediately get distracted by a loud gasp.

“Oh my hoofness!” Pinkie yelled. “I can’t believe it!”

The pink mare galloped straight into the custodial mare, sweeping the gray pony in her front legs and squeezing her hard, making her drop her broom. Though this would surely give the average pony a heart attack, the mare only showed a minimal amount of surprise and then smiled warmly.

Pinkie shook her. “Marble! What are you doing here?” The custodial mare mumbled something and Pinkie looked up at the painting. “Oh, duh, of course! Rock painting! Perfect place to get a job!”

“Pinkie, care to introduce us to your friend?” Rarity asked.

Pinkie spun around, putting her front leg around the shoulder of the other mare, who looked everywhere except at the unicorn and alicorn in front of her. “Rarity, Twilight, I want you to meet Marble Pie, my twin sister! We’re so much alike it’s crazy, huh!”

Marble seemed like she wanted to say something, but gave up and said, “Mm-hmm.”

Rarity clapped her hooves together. “What a wonderful bit of serendipity! To think we’d run into your sister here.”

Pinkie’s eyes widened. “Rarity, you’re exactly right! Marble must be here to be our Fluttershy!”

Rarity’s face scrunched. “Well, not exactly…”

Pinkie turned to Marble and screamed, “Marble, do you want to be Fluttershy?!”

Marble looked away and mumbled something, which Twilight could only assume was, “I don’t know who that is.”

“Oh, you’d be great! Just keep being you!” With that, Pinkie separated from her sister. “Anyway, we’re on a secret mission, and this painting here is the key to the whole thing. What can you tell us about it?”

Like a switch had been flipped, Marble’s eyes lit up and she looked straight at the other mares. In a practiced routine, she went into a long lecture about the history of the painting and the nature of the rock it was painted on.

Unfortunately, Marble mumbled the entire thing and Twilight couldn’t hear a word. Once the lecture ended and Pinkie applauded loudly, neither the princess nor Rarity had the heart to ask her to repeat it.

Rarity put her hoof on Twilight’s. “Well, I’m sure there’s something we missed when we looked at the painting before,” she said with a somewhat pained expression on her face.

Twilight nodded. “Both of us are here together now, so I’m sure that—”

“And down she goes!” Pinkie shouted from the side of the painting as pushed her head against it. Twilight and Rarity froze in place as the painting wobbled, and then with another push from the earth pony, topped over.

With a yell that surprised even Twilight, she lunged forward and reached out with her magic, just barely cushioning the painting’s fall before it could break against the ground.

Twilight wanted to angrily ask Pinkie what she was doing, but instead she stared blankly at the opening before them. She looked at Pinkie, who had an annoyingly innocent expression. “There’s… a cave behind the painting.”

Pinkie nodded. “Yup! Sheesh, it’s like you guys didn’t listen to Marble’s story at all. It’s obvious from the sounds the painting makes when you hit it with your hoof that there’s an opening behind it.”

Twilight flailed a front leg. “But how?! How did so many ponies visiting not think to check for a big cave back here? For so many centuries?”

“Centuries?” asked Rarity. “That’s it! Twilight, dear, it’s the curse. It was broken when you and I each came here before, but it wasn’t before then.”

Twilight considered this. “A royal guard checking wouldn’t see this cave… and anypony who did would go get a royal guard and then get cursed themselves.” Her eyes widened. “But wait, if this cave is linked to the curse, then…!”

Rarity grinned. “This must be where we can find Celestia!”

Pinkie shook. “Ooo, this is so exciting!” She gasped. “I need to get Lightning Dust and Fiddlesticks!”

Leaving no chance for anyone to respond, Pinkie darted away.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Lightning and… are they the ponies we saw earlier?”

“The names do seem appropriate,” Rarity responded.

“But they were strangers, right? When did Pinkie learn their names?”

Rarity fluttered her eyelashes. “Darling, you and I both know that isn’t worth dwelling on.”

Twilight groaned lightly. “I suppose you’re right. Now, about this cave.” She reached out with her magic, searching for any abnormality. “It seems safe enough.”

Rarity glanced down at her necklace. “No chaos magic either, at least not yet.”

Twilight rubbed her chin. “But that can’t be right. Everything we know indicates that Celestia’s imprisonment is connected to Discord, and as powerful as she was and probably still is, it would take a lot of chaos magic. There can’t just be none.”

“Perhaps the cave system is very large and we just can’t sense it yet.”

“No, I can tell with my magic, this entrance goes to a single room with no other pathways. In fact, I don’t think it’s a natural cave at all.” Twilight rubbed her forehead. Celestia couldn’t be here, yet the curse indicated she was. What did this all mean?

Rarity lightly pushed her head into the crook of Twilight’s neck. “Darling, you can think about this all day, or we can just take a look. If it’s as straightforward a path as you say, Pinkie should be able to follow us when she returns. And better if we do it before another tour group comes.”

Twilight nodded. Rarity was absolutely right. “No time to waste, then. Let’s go.”

The three mares stepped toward the cave. Twilight and Rarity stopped, followed shortly by the third mare.

The princess and the unicorn turned to the other pony with them. Pinkie’s twin sister, Marble Pie, glanced around awkwardly, her one visible eye darting back and forth, then down to the ground. Her mouth was shut tightly and she gripped her broom like a walking stick.

“So, Marble,” Twilight said gently. “It looks like Pinkie left you here with us.”

Marble made brief eye contact and simply said, “Mm-hmm,” before looking elsewhere again.

Rarity tilted her head. “Did you want to come with us?”

Marble shrugged and said, “Mm.” She then murmured something that Twilight couldn’t quite hear, but Rarity was slightly closer and her ears perked up.

The unicorn looked at the cave and back at her. “I suppose you would have to explain to your employer what happened here.”

Marble nodded.

Rarity lightly smiled at Twilight. “Well, we did determine it’s safe enough inside, so we might as well.”

Twilight sighed. “And Pinkie plans to bring two more strangers, so we might as well go with it.”

With that resolved, the three mares stepped bravely into the cave.