Twiggled Ever After: A RariTwi Exquisite Corpse

by SigmasonicX

1. Something Rotten in the City of Manehattan (WilloIllo)

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Chapter 1

Something Rotten in the City of Manehattan

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Looking at things objectively, Bubble Manor was every bit as opulent as the royal palace back in Canterlot. The furnishings were elaborately carved out of aged mahogany, with soft down cushions covered with silk imported from Kirea. The parlor that Her Royal Highness Twilight Sparkle found herself in was richly decorated, with a beautiful grandfather clock against one wall and a massive painting of the Duchess herself standing over the mantle. Really, if she ignored the finer detail, she could easily imagine herself back at home in the palace.

… If only she could ignore the feeling of the cold steel magical limiter placed on her neck, the distant view of royal guards clustered outside of the gates, and the tall stranger in a poncho stationed at the door to make sure she couldn’t leave. And most of all, she couldn’t get Rarity, the girl she’d seen just an hour before, out of her head. Her smile, her face, her smashing in the head of a House Manehattan thug trying to kidnap Twilight with a pipe. Her… honestly particularly impressive use of the magical instruments that said thugs had been wielding.

Her look of shock as a gunshot hit her in the gut and she crumpled to the ground.

Twilight sighed and shook her head, turning away from the window and taking a seat on a couch. There was no point dwelling on Rarity's fate; her situation was dire enough as it was. Duchess Muffins had her right where she wanted her, and given the hesitation from the royal guards she could see outside, the dastardly duchess clearly had some sort of scheme already in the works. She had to do something to stop it, but to do so she'd need to get out of here.

Getting out involved getting past her guard, the tall man in a poncho who’d shot Rarity and taken her here in the first place. He was sitting in a high backed chair next to the door, wide brimmed hat covering most of his face; it almost looked like he was sleeping. She stood up and tried to get closer as quietly as possible; if she was lucky, maybe he’d have some sort of key for the magical restrainer she was wearing.

“Don't try it.” Before she had even made it within arm’s reach, his head tilted up and he gave her a cool look. He had a deep baritone voice and a thick accent that fell on every word. "I don't wanna hurt you, Miss, but I got my orders."

Twilight sighed, taking a step back. “Am I really so transparent?”

He sized her up, taking his time choosing words. “I got a sister ‘bout your age. She gets that same look in her eye when she thinks she’s pullin’ one over on me.”

Twilight frowned. “Oh.”

He gave her a smirk and pulled his hat over his eyes. “Now if I were you, I’d have a seat. Duchess Muffins is gonna be in shortly.”

Twilight nodded distractedly, her mind racing. Duchess Muffins was coming here?! To talk to her? That… completely changed things. She gave an idle nod. “Thank you, Mister…”

“Macintosh. Call me Mac.”

“Mac, then.”

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Outside of Bubble Manor was a mess of activity; it seemed like every single royal guard in the city was outside of it. Rarity sat in a nearby café, doing her best to keep her patience; it was a virtue after all. However, the constantly tapping finger and the fact that her tea was completely untouched gave away the lie. Fortunately for her, the other person at the table was more than enough energy for both of them. Pinkie was going at a very large parfait with gusto.

“What on earth is taking so long…?” Rarity asked idly, her annoyance clear in her voice. “I hope nothing happened to them…”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Sunset’s voice was wry and full of amusement as she came through the door. Rainbow Dash followed behind her, looking a little more disheveled than usual, and they both sat down at the table.

Rarity flushed slightly out of embarrassment. “Well, you can hardly blame me for being concerned,” she said. “What’s it look like?”

“Well, they’re not letting anyone near,” Rainbow said.

“That much is obvious, darling.”

“Hey!! Do you want to do the report or should I?!” Once Rarity rolled her eyes, she continued. “The guards are stretched real thin. Only a few people on the servant’s entrance. Pretty sure we can take em, easy.”

“You sure you want to do this?” Sunset interjected, looking Rarity in the eyes. “If we do this, there’s no going back.”

Rarity took a deep breath. “If I don’t, I won’t be able to forgive myself. Sitwee– no, Princess Twilight– needs us.”

“Yeah!!” Pinkie said, interrupting with a smile. “Besides, we all saw the goo-goo eyes you two were making~”

Rarity flushed. “Regardless, we should get going.” She stood up and led the way out into the dingy Manehattan streets.

The route was fairly straightforward, if a tad less glamorous than Rarity would have liked; after a brief stop to pick up the magical instruments they had stowed in Sunset’s apartment nearby, then down several alleyways. Rarity cringed and clutched her keytar closer as Rainbow Dash pushed her forward anyway.

Eventually, Sunset put up an arm, stopping them. The iron-wrought gate was almost boring, in its way; completely innocuous, were it not for the fact that the courtyard behind it was the most opulent manor in Manehattan. Unlike the massive crowd of guards at the front, this one only had two guards; they were dressed in casual outfits, but their bearing was anything but.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Rarity said, turning to Sunset.

"Plan? This whole thing was your idea," she shot back.

"Darling, please, I'm a dressmaker. You don't expect me to know how to sneak by guards."

"Ooh ooh!" Pinkie said, raising her hand. "Maybe if we bring them cupcakes they'll let us by!!"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Pinkie, you can't solve every problem with baked goods."

"You never know~"

Rarity sighed; this was going nowhere. "Well unless someone ha—"

She was interrupted by the loud twang of an electric guitar. She turned back towards the gate to see Rainbow Dash standing over the unconscious bodies of the guards, her electric guitar in hand still glowing lightly with magic.

Rarity knitted her brow. "So much for subtlety…" she muttered.

"What?" Rainbow said. "It's not like you three had any ideas!!"

"Fine, fine," Rarity said. "Let's get going, shall we?"

She led the way towards the gate, but before she, Pinkie, Sunset and Dash could get inside, they was stopped by a short barked command. "Stop right there."

Rarity froze, her body going stiff. This was surely it; the gig was up. She was going to prison, never to see her dear Sitwee again. Slowly, she turned around to face the guard that had caught her.

There were only two of them; a woman in a royal guard uniform and another whose hands crackled with magical energy. To her surprise, she'd seen them before. "You two were there when Twilight was kidnapped!!"

The redhead paused, then get face hardened, and she gripped her weapon tighter. "And last I saw you, you'd been shot."

Rarity smirked at her. “You’ll find I’m full of surprises.” When Redhead didn’t flinch, she blanched. “Can’t I just say ‘I got better’ and we can get on with our lives?” Beat. “Alright, fine. Sunset here rescued me. Isn’t that right, darling?”

“Would it really be too much to say it was magic, Rares?” Sunset complained, before unslinging her guitar. “We took these off of Muffins’ minions that were knocked out; this one healed Rarity. You, uh… just saw what Rainbow Dash’s guitar does.”

“Wait.” the girl with swirly hair’s hands stopped lighting, and she stepped in front of Redhead. “... You can do that too? I thought it was just sparkle-eyes over here.”

“The name is Rarity, thank you very much,” she interrupted. “And yes. They can. Before you so rudely interrupted us, we were going to use them to rescue your princess. Something your guards seem woefully unequipped to do, if the milling about is any indication.”

Redhead sighed, and lowered her weapon. “It seems I owe you an apology, then.” She offered a hand. “Strawberry Sunrise, Captain of the royal guard. And this is Starlight Glimmer, Agent of the Crown.” she offered a hand, and when Rarity took it, she shook it. “Our hands are tied right now, that much is true. But that doesn’t mean a civilian like you should be taking it into your own hands.”

“That may be true, but I can’t just sit idly by,” Rarity insisted. “Twilight is far too important to me. Besides, it’s not like we’re helpless– you saw what we can do firsthand.”

Sunrise frowned. Several different thoughts seemed to go through her mind at once, before she let out a frustrated groan. “This is absolutely insane, you realize this?? You’re insane. But I get the sense that you’ll do it no matter what I say, and it’s not like I can help Her Highness.”

She sheathed her weapon, and Rarity’s face lit up. “You’re letting us go?!!”

“I don’t like it, but I don’t see any other options.” she offered a hand again.

Rarity ignored it and pulled her into a hug. “Oh, thank you!! You won’t regret this, dear, I promise!!”

Rainbow Dash made a face. “Can we get going now? We could’ve bagged the Duchess by now!!”

As they turned towards the gate, Starlight Glimmer grabbed Rarity’s wrist. “Wait. I know you’re insisting on going in there, but you’re going to need someone with more experience with magic and infiltration. I’m coming with you.”

Rarity lifted an eyebrow. “I suppose there’s no reason to stop you, dear.”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “Can we just get a move on? This conversation has been going on foreverrrrr.”

Sunset laughed. “Hate to say it, but I’m on Dash’s side. We should really get a move-on.”

“Yes, yes. We can get to know each other better later,” Rarity said. “Let’s get going, shall we?”

As she headed through the gate, Rarity took one last look up at the mansion, watching silently over them. Was Twilight still thinking about her? Was she safe? So many thoughts rushed through her mind.

“Wait for me, Twilight. I’m coming.”