Equestria Girls: Love Is Magic

by onekface

Sanctuary (Part 2)

Sunset nodded proudly as she looked at the state of her new temporary home. Compared to what she had to sleep through last night this place was looking a heck of a lot better than before.

Thanks to the help of her friends and a little bit of help from magic they were able to turn the old hillside house to a place where it was actually livable. All the dust and cobwebs were taken away (With Fluttershy’s permission of course), Twilight took out the bed sheets that have been left unattended for years to wash and dry outside, and even the white picket fence around the house was mended thanks to Applejack’s basic knowledge of repair. Pinkie was of course, naturally selected to deal with the kitchen.

The house would probably never return to its former glory. But after giving it a thorough cleanup, Sunset would say that this place must’ve looked pretty beautiful during its time. She can imagine how the old pair would’ve had so much fun here especially when summer rolled in. They’d take strolls on the beach below the cliff or simply watch the sunrise on the porch.

“Wow…” A familiar voice echoed from the entrance alerting her to the new arrivals. “Did Spring Cleaning come early?”

She chuckled. “We thought we’d give this place a little facelift if we’re gonna be staying here for a while. Seems like the least we could do.”

The boy laughed back in approval. “Well it certainly looks a lot better the last time I was here.” Which wasn’t really that long.

“It helps when you have magic to do all the heavy lifting.” Sunset reminded gesturing to Twilight who was levitating all the dusty objects out to air in the backyard and Applejack who easily lifted planks of wood with one hand while snacking on an apple with the otehr. “Speaking of which, what took you so long?”

“Yeah. Sorry. We had to stop by a few places before we got to it.” Flash rubbed the back of his head in apology.

Rainbow Dash came by a second later handing her friend a surprisingly heavy suitcase. “Here ya go. All set and done. You can thank me later.”

“Gah!” Sunset struggled with it barely lifting the darn thing. “What in this? Bricks?”

“No silly. Those are my old clothes. I figured with your old place getting torched, you could use a totally awesome new wardrobe.” She gave a finger gun salute. “Trust me. You’ll be 20% cooler wearing these gigs.”

“Speaking of your old apartment…” Flash cringed. “We stopped by the place as well to see the damage.”

Sunset’s face froze up. “And? H… how bad is it?”

It took a few seconds to come up with the word. “To be honest it’s… not as bad as you think.”

“Oh yeah. It’s totally way worse.” Rainbow threw it over much to their displeasure. “The whole thing was burnt down to the last scrap. The storm last night only saved pieces of the support. But on the flipside, you have exclusive rights to a whole heap of charcoal.”

Ah… Apple Fudge.

“Nothing?”

“Sorry Sunset.” Flash shook his head, sympathizing with the girl. “The firefighters looked it over and they said that there was nothing they could do. By the time the emergency services got there it was too late to save anything.”

The girl was distraught. But at the same thing she didn’t really expected much out of it. That kind of explosion wouldn’t have spared much anyway. But deep down, she still hoped that she could return to that place. It wasn’t exactly the best apartment in the world but it was a place she called home for the last few years.

“They did find something in the wreckage though.” Flash continued earning a glimmer of hope from the girl as he produced a familiar journal from his back. “It was the only thing that survived.” She clutched the book on her chest, feeling a tad bit relieved that something survived. Sunset could only guess that the magic within its pages protected it from the fire otherwise it would’ve been the first thing to go.

“Thanks you two.” She appreciated their effort.

“We also talked to your landlord.” The boy added once more much to her dismay. “He was not happy. Thankfully the authorities are blaming the whole thing on faulty electrical wiring, poor maintenance and the storm last night, so there shouldn’t be any questions regarding the incident.”

“Ugh… I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I should probably call the landlord too. Maybe I can make the rest of the payment later.”

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that.” Sunset looked at him questioningly not noticing the startled look Rainbow had on her face. “The landlord was pretty livid. But he said that you don’t have to worry about making your pay. He was actually more worried about you.”

“He was?” Strange. That doesn’t sound like the money grubbing owner she lived with.

“Hmm…” Rainbow Dash looked like she wanted to say something but strangely enough decided to keep her mouth closed.

“Yeah. He said that that he had it all covered.” Flash tilted his head in thought. “Something about having insurance on the place.” Ah… there we go. That made more sense. “Anyway… we also brought you that thing you asked for.” He pulled out a cardboard box and placed it on the table by the fireplace. “It was right on time too. When we reached the portal in front of the school, it… just magically appeared.”

“Yes! That’s what I’ve been waiting for.” Sunset exciting opened the large box revealing an assortment of items inside and… rocks?

“Uh… Sunset. Did you ask your friend on the other side to deliver stones?” Rainbow Dash didn’t look all that impressed or happy about using transdimentional delivery service just for common rocks.

“Not stones. Magic rocks.” She corrected. “I’ve been thinking about how to defend ourselves from the shadow monsters and keeping them from sneaking up on us like before. I talked it over with Starlight. We both agreed that the best way to defend against creatures of magic is by taking away their magical abilities.” She held up one of the fancy looking rocks, seeing it glow with a strange power. “These shards she brought are made from Queen Chrysalis’s Throne, a Changling tyrant who wanted to conquer my world with her slave army.”

“Sounds like someone I know.” Rainbow coughed, jabbing the former unicorn.

“It has anti-magic properties, which I can attune to prevent uninvited guests from slithering in. With a little adjustment and time, I can surround this place with a literal invisible barrier. No one will be able to enter without our permission.”

“Whoa…” Rainbow Dash threw away her first impression and gawked in awe at the stones. “Ok… that does sound pretty cool. But what about these things?” She gestured to the trinkets that came with the stones.

“These are just a few artifacts that I asked for. With our magic geodes limited to our own capabilities and our opponent stronger than ever, we’re going to need all the help we can get. And these things are going to give us the extra edge.” Sunset pulled them out as the gang clamored in with attentive gazes.

“Oooh I like this one.” Rarity pointed out to the cape made of fine wool.

“Clover the Clever’s Cloak.” She declared. “He used it during his 7 Trials to avoid and subvert his enemies. He enchanted it with the power of invisibility.” And just as Rarity put the hoodie part over herself she magically vanished into thin air.

“Ooooh! Yes! I’m definitely keeping this one.” The fashionista stated giddily as she reappeared in the corner of the room a few seconds later.

“Why in tarnation would you want that?” The cowgirl questioned with a curious brow raised at her. “I thought you like people looking at you. Isn’t that thing the opposite of what you want?”

“As much as I do crave attention darling, we celebrities aren’t perfect 24/7. With this little cloak I can hide myself from the world just in case I have a… bad hair day.”

That sounds about right for her.

“This one looks pretty.” Fluttershy came next pulling out a silver bracelet with a sapphire embedded as the centerpiece.

“The Windigos’ Hooflet.” The former unicorn named it. “It was made by the old smiths of the Pegasus Kingdom after the Windigos were defeated. All that remained from their ghostly visage became one of the purest crystals. Anyone who wears it can control the very air itself. It’s a difficult thing to master. I tried it once before when I was Princess Celestia’s student. It was not pretty. I ended up creating a mini-tornado in the public library. It took the faculty months to put everything back in order.”

“And this thing?” Twilight asked next pulling the third object in the box which looked like a thinly strewn together tiara.

“That’s the Crown of the Four Fools. It was a gift from the Dragons to Princess Celestia. It creates a perfect duplicate of the wearer which follows your every command. So you can literally be in two or three places at the same time.”

“Cool~” Pinkie yoinked it. “So I can literally have 50 of me around? I wanna try it!”

“NO!” The girls protested in unison, confiscating the crown from her immediately. The thought of having two or three Pinkie Pies walking around was a nightmare fuel they didn’t want to feed.

“Let’s not do that.” Applejack exclaimed. “These gizmos sounds pretty powerful. It might just give us some advantage against those shadow monsters. But I’ll feel a heck of a lot safer if we can take down Hoity. I don’t like it knowing he’s still out there plotting his next move.”

“True. That’s why we need to be prepared for every eventuality. And having this place as our temporary hideout is the first step.”

“And it’s not like we can just confront him.” Twilight reminded them. “A celebrity like that will definitely have an entourage everywhere. We need to find a moment where we can catch him alone.”

“Good luck with that darling. Hoity Toity runs a very strict business. He hardly ever leaves the store if at all. And his secretary stays next to him all during the day. The only way you’re getting a one on one talk with him is by hosting a TV show and have him cast as the guest of honor.”

Pinkie gasped.

“We’re not doing that.”

“Aww… but I wanted to make a TV show. And we can call it ‘Hello~ Pinkie Pie’!”

“No.”

“We can even have guests from…”

“No…”

“Aww… boo.”

“How about this one? This one looks pretty cool.” Rainbow reached out but Sunset snatched it first.

“Don’t touch that one!” She snapped, clinging onto the amulet tightly which earned her the confused look of her friends. “Sorry. It’s just that this one is a little more fragile than the others. I’ll give you the full detail on it after I make some adjustments. In the mean time we should probably get settled in while we still have daylight. I’ll work on setting up our new barrier. Can you guys handle your own rooms?”

“Oh oh!” Pinkie spoke up. “I call dibs on the one next to the kitchen!”

“I will have the second one upstairs. The lighting there is just perfect for my new workshop.”

“I call the room next to that!”

And just like that the gang dispersed quickly with Flash in tow leaving Sunset alone for a moment. Once she was certain that they were gone, she let out a sigh as she took a quick glance at the red and black amulet in hand. Out of all the artifacts she asked from Starlight, this little decorative jewelry is perhaps the most powerful of them all. The magic inside of it can probably turn anyone into a mage rivaling the most talented unicorns throughout Equestria, though at the price of their sanity.

While it was indeed pretty to look at. The alicorn figure left a rather sinister taste in its aesthetics.

Luna left the restaurant with a satisfied smile on her face and a full on stomach. The pasta in that place was definitely worth the wait. The salad was a little dry but she still loved all of it. Even more so seeing as she didn’t have to pay a single coin on the meal.

“You know, for a woman of your size, you eat a lot.” Sombra commented, throwing a generous tip to the cashier who seemed very grateful for his generosity.

“I need a full stomach to work my brains.” She reasoned while she stretched her arms out. “Besides, you were the one who said I could order anything.”

“I didn’t think you’d order the most expensive thing on the menu!” He barked. “Honestly. I was beginning to think you were going to order 1 of everything after you inhaled the garlic bread. I don’t think I’ve spent so much on a meal.”

“Oh please. Like you have problems with money. And admit it, you had fun too.”

“Oh yes. I enjoy it when other people stuff their faces with sauce.” The wealthy archeologist added pulling out a napkin to wipe a leftover stain on her cheeks. “At least the conversation wasn’t a complete lost.” He took a quick glance at his watch and nodded. “I still don’t know what to get Flash.”

“I still think having his own private yacht is the right way to go.” The Vice-Principal admitted. “Think about it. Cruising the sea in the spring and summer, not having to worry whatever happens on land. Sipping on a cool drink while having a suntan.

“This is for my son, not your grandiose illusion.” Though Sombra did consider it if he could see Flash having a fine time with Pinkie on a yacht. “Besides, I don’t think Flash has a pungent interest in the sea.”

She chuckled softly in return. “Alright jokes aside. Just don’t think too much about it. I’m sure he’ll love whatever it is you get him. Remember, it’s the thought that counts. Why are you so hung up on a gift anyway?”

“I’m trying to make up for all the years I haven’t been with him.” Ah… right. That actually made sense. “I’ve been gone for a long time Luna. And coming back to his life so suddenly has been kind of… overwhelming sometimes. I want… I want to make it right. And the perfect gift is the right way to rekindle our relationship. What are kids into these days?”

“Why not get him clothes?” He gave her a disapproving look. “No. You’re right. A kid like Flash would never enjoy something like that. How about something he can use? Like… a new phone or a game console.”

“That could work. Flash has been meaning to get a new phone. I could stop by the store and get him one.” Sombra looked over to the electronic store eyeing some of the latest models. “It shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Whoa, easy there. Do you even know how to pick a phone?”

“How hard can it be? I just buy the most expensive one.”

Luna face palmed herself. Only the rich can say such a thing without so much as a hint of humility. Damn upper-class and their wealth. If Celestia and him ever get together, she’s gonna ask so much.

“Why don’t I help you? It’s what I’m here for.”

“I know this is a bit sudden Timber. But this is for your safety too. Not just mine.” Twilight stated as she paced around the library of the clubhouse taking mental note of the amazing collection of books while simultaneously talking with her boyfriend on the phone.

“It’s just that you kinda got the drop on me here.”

“I know. But I don’t want to risk you or your apartment either.” She reasoned back, eyes clicking over to a particularly fancy book at the end of the rack. She gave it a tap and eagerly awaited for the moment she gets to read it. “Besides, it’s just temporary. The moment we sort this all out, I’ll be staying with you on the weekends just as we planned.”

“Yeah… I guess so. But I’m also kind of worried. Maybe I should hang out with you instead?”

“Not while those shadow monsters are after us.” Definitely not when the whole gang was here either. “Listen. I know that you put a lot of work on preparing that room for me and I really love it. But right now this magical phenomena has to take priority.”

“Of course. I… understand.” His voice seemed hollow and sad.

“Don’t worry. This is just a temporary setup. It shouldn’t take more than a week.” Her eyes lit up when a thought came to mind. “How about this? We’re still up for that getaway you planned for us at Camp Everfree, right? Maybe after this whole debacle is done, we can take a trip down there a little early and watch the Winter Solstice together. It’ll just be the two of us until the end of the year. No magic, no other friends.” She paused. “Ok maybe Spike. But that’s it. I promise.”

The boy on the other line let out a chuckle. That certainly cheered him up. “Alright. I’m a patient guy. I guess I can wait a little longer. I’m gonna hold you on your promise though. How about we meet up later for dinner?”

“You got it.” She snapped her head back when she heard a knock coming through the door. “Oh! Hey Flash. Come on in. Just put those right there.”

“Wait… Fl—” He was cut off a second later.

In his apartment, Timber’s nose suddenly flared as jealous anxiety built up in his body. With a frustrated mumbling he tossed his phone to the table clattering the nearby plates.

Angry grunts and groan spilled from his lips as he tried to bury that anger. That blue haired boy was really starting to get on his nerves.

The blue haired boy gently put down a medium sized cardboard box filled with personal items on the table nearby before wiping the sweat off his brow. “No offense Twilight. But I actually expected Rarity’s luggage to be the heaviest, not yours.” He eyed the boy. “What is all this?”

“Oh just some of my lab equipment from home.” She answered as a matter of factly. “And don’t worry. These are the less energy consuming ones. What would say the wattage limit is for this house?”

“Uh…”

“Never mind. I’ll figure it out myself.” She quickly opened the box and began unloading a few of her personal belongings in the room which seemed to have been remodeled quite a bit.

“Wow… you certainly made yourself at home.”

“If I’m going to be hold up in this place until we can deal with this secret society, I may at least be comfortable.” She snidely added with a cute smile. “But don’t worry. I’ll be sure to put them all back exactly as they were the moment we’re done.”

“Hey knowing you guys, I’m sure you’ll treat this place right.”

“Oh absolutely.” Twilight gestured to the library wing. “I mean look at this place. The collection here is absolutely amazing. I’ve taken inventory of some of the books and many of them are first-edition copies! There’s no way you can find these in ordinary bookstores anymore. A few of these might even be worth a small fortune to the right collector. Your dad must’ve been one heck of a reader.”

“Actually, I think these were my moms’.”

“Your mom?” She blinked, surprised.

“Yeah. My dad collects a lot of things but books were more of my mom’s alley. I’m not really sure why.” He took a brief look at the selection brushing a finger down the covers. “Maybe they had different taste in things.”

“I saw her portrait with your dad. She was really pretty. I can see why your dad fell head over heels for her.” He agreed on that twice now. “Oh! Speaking of your mom. I did find something cool in here.” She then hastily reached into study table and pulled out what looked like an old photo album. “I know I shouldn’t intrude but I just couldn’t help myself.”

With a simple flick of the page Flash found himself staring at the face of his parents in the happiest days of their lives. You could feel the memories in each of these pictures like each of them a little story of their own. Perhaps the saying that a picture can paint a thousand words rings true here.

He can’t remember seeing his old man with such a silly face. There was even a photo of their wedding day. Sombra held his wife up high in his arms while she tossed the bouquet into the air. A lot of guests were there. Some he didn’t recognize and some he did. A younger Mr. Doodles was easy to pick out amongst the crowd. And… was that his butler in background?

The next batch of photos appear to be honeymoon collections with the newly wedded couple doing all sorts of extreme activities. Mountain climbing in Yakyakistan, paragliding in Griffonstone, scuba diving in Stalliotopolis? Wow that’s pretty far away.

“Looks like your parents were really well traveled.” They absolutely were. Otherwise his dad never would’ve been the famous archeologist that he is now. “And that pin he’s wearing. Is that the same one you have?”

The boy nodded, brushing his fingers on the pin. “Yeah. He gave it to me as a hand me down. Mom made it for him during their honeymoon.”

“Aww… that’s so sweet of him.” But her face went even sweeter when she flipped the page finding an adorable baby staring back at her. “AWWW~~ Is that… you!?”

“Yup. That’s me alright.” He groaned. “In diapers and holding a giant dog pillow.”

“Oh you’re so cute.” She said that in the best baby voice possible. “How could an adorable little thing like that turn into something like this?” The blue boy gave her a questioning look. “I mean… not that you’re bad or anything. It’s just that the difference is uncanny.”

“Nice save.”

“Hey Twilight.” Rainbow Dash suddenly called from the door. “Mind giving us a hand with your levitating magic? Rarity brought her luggage in and… let’s just say she’ll be needing an extra room to keep her stuff.”

“On it.” She casually left leaving the boy to look over the album.

The baby pictures of him was kind of a bummer but he guessed that it was natural for parents to put something like that in their memory book. However… as Flash skimmed through the photos, noticed something missing from all these pictures. While he and his dad shared many frames, there wasn’t a single picture of him and his mother together.

And that felt just a tad bit odd…