Twiggled Ever After: A RariTwi Exquisite Corpse

by SigmasonicX

5. The Road to Château Branché (femikol)

Chapter Five

“Trenderhoof couldn’t have put Château Branché somewhere more, er… hospitable, could he?” Rarity asked, pulling a twig out of her hair.

It had hardly been what, thirty minutes since she, Sunset, and Rainbow had left the Apple family bunker and already they found themselves wading through a most dreary hodgepodge of tree, shrub, mud. Wherever Starlight was leading them, the suggestions of an old pathway were certainly there, if one counted drowning wood and the occasional rusty nail signs of a boardwalk once upon a time.

“Yeah, no kidding. I’d kill to have my wings!” Rainbow said as she shook one of her legs in a vain attempt to remove some of the mud. “You think our Trenderhoof used to live in the Everfree, or something?”

“Trenderhoof doesn’t live out here,” Starlight said. She hardly seemed bothered by the forest’s obstacles, hacking away at any of the shrubs and vines that dared cross their path. “But it’s the quickest way,”

“How?” Sunset asked. “It feels like we’re just going deeper in. We could’ve just gone around, right?”

“You’ll see,”

Infuriating, but wholly unsurprising. Rarity let out a huff.

“Will this at least be a quick route?” Another twig in her hair… fantastic. “I’m not sure how much more I can take of this shrubbery,”

“Should be. Can’t say there’s much ground to cover now,”

* * *

“Come on, come on,”

In the Apple family safehouse, Twilight held a hand over Trixie. Getting into the woman’s mind was… complicated, for lack of a better word. Granted, taking a trip into a mind was hard enough as was with how fundamentally intricate it was to begin with. But with Discord still hanging onto Trixie’s mind, that introduced another unknown.

‘That and she’s also from another world. Should I have tried diving into Rarity’s mind before trying this?’ Her face began to burn at the thought of the – although mostly professional – intimacy at diving into Rarity’s mind. ‘Maybe not…’

Oh well. She had to focus on the here and now.

Twilight closed her eyes and laid her hand on Trixie proper. Indeed, she could feel Trixie’s mind easily enough, but there was something else there too; constantly shifting, distorting. Whatever it was, it was foreign.

‘I’ll need a closer look,’

She sucked in a breath through her teeth and pressed further, carefully pushing herself through the myriad of corridors and connections that made up Trixie’s mind. She didn’t want to be too fast, both for fear of being detected by Trixie, or potentially damaging her. The consciousness was a delicate thing, prone to damage like the rest of the body. It was a nerve wracking process, and she privately thanked Sunrise, Duchess Muffins, and Big Mac for not making a scene – wherever they were. A sense of weightlessness took over her body before vanishing, and her feet made contact with a hard, stone surface.

Opening her eyes she found herself in a stone hallway, wide enough for five of her to stand shoulder to shoulder comfortably. The ceiling – or lack thereof – wasn’t far above her, easily within arms reach, where it gave way to a pitch black void. She couldn’t see too far behind her either, a haze of the same blackness of the void obscured anything more than a few arms reaches away.

In front of her, however, was a transparent yellow barrier. At least, that’s what it looked like. It wasn’t completely solid, swirling and churning like storm clouds, though much, much faster. Beyond it the hallway continued, free of the haze behind her, and split off into other hallways not far down.

“I’m on the outskirts…” Twilight mumbled as she stepped up to the barrier. “I can’t say I’ve been here before,”

Tentatively she raised a hand to the barrier. It crackled as her hand got closer, which was… ominous, certainly. She lowered her hand and let out a hum. For being magic cast by a dead guy, it was surprisingly lively.

“Okay… here goes nothing?”

Twilight sucked in a breath and pressed an arm into the barrier. It passed right through, and after a pause, she forced the rest of herself through as well.

“I suppose it’s not much of a ‘barrier’ is it?”

She looked down at herself. She didn’t feel any different, which was probably a good thing. She never had before. ‘But I guess I can’t be too sure,’ She cast one last glance at the ‘barrier’.

‘I hope this doesn’t affect my body,’

* * *

“And here we are,”

After finally] ridding themselves of that ghastly forest, Rarity, Sunset, and Rainbow stumbled into a clearing, which wasn’t exactly ridding themselves of it, but close enough. For now. They all followed where Starlight pointed.

A well with a blue glow inside it sat in the middle of the clearing; a humble construct made of stone that sat on a small patch of grass surrounded by a puddle. Rainbow was the first to walk over it, and gave it an experimental kick.

“What the hay is this?”

Starlight raised an eyebrow. “I’d hope you can see it’s a well. It will take you to Trenderhoof’s,”

“What?” Rainbow eyed the well a split second longer before turning her attention back to Starlight. “Wait! I thought you said he doesn’t live out here!”

“He doesn’t. I said this is the quickest way to his place,”

“But that’s basically the same thing!”

“It’s really not, Rainbow,” Rarity said. She and Sunset both made their way over to the well proper, and she cautiously bent her head over the brim of the well. Whatever liquid in here was unnervingly close to its surface. She would hardly have to bend down to scoop some of it up in her hands. “So, how exactly does this well take us to Trenderhoof’s?”

“We’re jumping in,” Sunset appeared strangely grossed out as she eyed the well. “Aren’t we?”

“Correct,”

“Of course we are,” She let out a sigh as she hopped onto the stone rim. “Alright, come on girls. Let’s get this over with,”

‘Jumping in,’ Rarity suppressed a shutter as she mimicked Sunset’s movements. ‘Well, I suppose my clothes can hardly get any more unpleasant,’

“That was quite a good guess,” She said to Sunset. Anything to distract herself from what fate awaited her clothes.

“It’s not as much of a guess as you’d think. Equestria’s got ‘em too. Or, we used to, anyways. Before Celestia removed them.” Sunset reached down and scooped up some of the strange water. Well, whatever it was it didn’t seem to be water. It broke off in little globules much bigger than water ever would, and slipped through her fingers effortlessly, leaving no trace it’d ever been there. “You’ll see why. Leaping through them is not a fun experience,”

“Yeah, yeah!” Rainbow had joined them on the rim, her feet fully submerged in the strange liquid. “Are we gonna stand around here yacking, or are we gonna go get that staff of Suck-A-Nuts?”

“Suck a…?” Sunset’s cheeks reddened as the words sputtered and stumbled. “It’s Sacanas, Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow just cackled before leaping into the water.

* * *

“Ohmygosh, they’re here, they’re here, they’re here!” Pinkie clapped her hooves – no, hands together as flashes of blue light appeared right outside of Château Branché. The three girls stumbled to their feet, all clutching at their heads. Rainbow seemed to recover the fastest, pulling Sunset to her feet, and producing a lead pipe from… somewhere. Was she gonna try and break down the door? That’d be rude! Sunset and Rarity both stumbled to their feet, and Rarity looked ready to vomit. She didn’t though, which was good!

“Alright, girls. The sooner we get that staff, the sooner we can stop Manehattan’s riots. Let’s go,” Sunset’s voice was loud enough to be heard through the window. Pinkie really hoped Sunset wasn’t trying to be stealthy!

As soon as the three girls began making their way toward the château, Pinkie booked it back to the throne with the puppet Trenderhoof. She couldn’t hold back a giggle as she heard the front door crash open.

“Oh, this is gonna be so much fun!”