• Published 10th Nov 2019
  • 5,071 Views, 831 Comments

Equestria Girls: Love Is Magic - onekface



A new enemy threatens Sunset's new home. It craves magic and it craves all who has it. She and her friends must rise to face it. But they can't do it alone. Flash x Mane 7

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Yaztec Magic

Chapter 20: Yaztec Magic

(Park)

“Thanks again for helping out with the cider stall Pinkie. When Granny Smith told us that she had an immediate order to fill out. I didn’t know she meant… immediately.”

Pinkie waved it off, finishing her touch on the booth. “No problem silly. If I can help get these people to taste your absolutely delicious cider, then I’m more than happy to help. Especially when I get some free samples. I still can’t believe you still had a ton of these after your family reunion.”

“Yeah we had a ton of leftovers. And a few of the family chipped in too.” Applejack explained putting another six crates down. “There’s no way the whole family can drink them all, and they were just taking up space at the barn so we may as well give them out for cheap. We’ve also got another hundred orders of apple fritter flapjacks.”

“Speaking of barns… how’s Big Mac. Is he still… you know?”

“He’s fine.” The cowgirl reassured her pointing over to the booth where her brother stood with a cast around his left leg and holding onto a crutch. He looked happy enough though it would seem like he was demoted to manning the stand and doing checklists instead of the usual manual labor that he was so good at. “I told him that he didn’t’ need to come. The doc said that he should lay off the leg for another month or so. It’s a good thing that apple season is over. Otherwise we’d be behind on our harvest. Still… thanks to all this business, we might even make enough to expand the field.”

“That's great! That means more apples!"

"Yup. And from the looks of the size of this place, there's bound to be a whole lot of people who'll wanna eat our pies. Not to mention they got a band playing."

"And it's a good thing too." Pinkie agreed. "I mean we're already like 20 chapters into this story and we haven't had one musical number! I mean come on! Oh! An apple!"

“Easy Pinkie. There'll be plenty go around during the fair.” Applejack stopped her. “Oh that reminds me. I need to get the manager to sign the delivery forms. Mind handling the rest of these?”

“Okie dokey lokie!”

xxxxxxxxxx

Applejack nodded and headed off to the large stage that was being prepped at the far off corner of the side walk. The whole park itself seemed to have been converted into one giant fairground. There were game stands, food stalls and all manners of entertainment being thrown in. And to think, by tomorrow, everything here will all be free for everyone who came by. Whoever was holding this event really spared no expense to help those poor folks who lost their homes. With all the clothes, towels, toys that were being donated here, they’ll be able to restart their lives with little problems.

“Pardon me.” She called out to a crowd of important looking people who were busy prepping the stage. “I’m looking for the manager around here. I need a couple of forms signed.” If the crowd there had any attention span, they didn’t bother giving her any time of the day. “Um… hello? Does anyone know where I can find the… manager?” Irritated she turned to the nearest person she could find. “Excuse me. Who here can sign for this delivery?”

The man shrugged and went away dealing with some stage props.

“Well aren’t you a big bundle of help.”

“Don’t take it personally. They’ve been working all day. The whole thing was kind of a rush job so I’m not surprised that they’re cranky.”

“Flash?” The cowgirl jerked back. “Wh wh… what are you doing here?”

He shrugged giving the gal a smile. “Why, I’m going to be the entertainment for tomorrow evening. Me and the gang are going to perform right here at the Canterlot Park. My dad’s hosting this whole event.”

His dad?

“Your old man is funding this whole thing?”

“Yup. From the toys, food and everything right down to the big money he’ll be giving to the construction company to rebuild the entire block.” He gave a playful nod in return.

“Whoa… that… that’s really kind of him. Rebuilding a whole area of the city using his own money? Now that’s pretty generous.”

“Well to be fair, he is doing it to get some voters for his election next year. And besides… if I can hire a company to fix up a friend’s barn, my dad can probably do things even better.” Was it arrogant to toot your wealth while you’re doing charity? Applejack couldn’t tell.

“Yeah.” Her freckles turned a shade of red recalling her family reunion. “Thanks for that. If you hadn’t come along I’d probably worked myself to the bones fixing the place up. I’ll uh… try and make it up to you?”

“Don’t sweat it.” Again he waved it off. “I’m just glad I could help. Speaking of which, I’m guessing you’re looking for the manager?”

“Huh? Oh yeah. I need to get this form signed before we can set up our stall. But folks here ain’t exactly… warm with the welcome.”

“Oh? You guys putting up all that cider?”

“You bet!” Her face gleamed with pride. “Apple cider, apple pie, apple fritter flapjacks, caramel apples. Red and green and everything in between.”

“That sounds like a sale’s pitch.”

“That’s cuz it is.” She laughed. “I got that from Micro Chips. We’ll be up all night at the kitchen filling out the order. The house will smell like pie for weeks.”

“Sounds delicious.”

Applejack turned to him with a sly look. “Well compared to your corn soup it should be peachy. But that isn’t really saying much.” It was his turn to shy away and blush.

“Hey that was my first attempt at cooking. Granted it wasn’t the best. But it’s the thought that counts. Right?”

“It doesn’t really counts when your soup is literally to DIE for.”

Flash grumbled under his breath. “Ok fine. So my culinary skills aren’t exactly stellar. But in my defense, it came out pretty good for someone who cooked for the first time.”

“I wouldn’t call ‘Mistakin’salt and sugar’ to be good - and that's not even an exaggeration.”

He slumped. “Ugh. Fine! But if you’re so confident about your apples – you wouldn’t mind if I stopped by for a bite now, would you?”

“Ha! Is that a challenge? If it is then you’re more than welcome to try.” She gracefully accepted his request. “By the time you taste one of my famous apple pies, your mouth will be watering for the next one.”

“Now which one of us is exaggerating around here?"

Her smile widened. “Pfft. Why don't you stop by our stand tomorrow and have a taste? I'll bet anything that you'll be craving for a second serving after the first bite."

"Anything?"

Applejack's face turned a shade pink for her misuse of words. "Uh... y... yeah. A... anything."

Flash gave her a suspicious look, like a cop trying to break a crook in interrogation. He then smiled and clasped his hand on hers. "Alright Applejack. I will call and match your bet. Winner gets to order the loser, one wish. Law abiding, nothing humiliating and nothing too expensive of course."

“Hey Flash!” Micro Chips called out appearing from the stage. “I finally worked out the kinks on JVJ-24601! We’re ready to start the performance!”

“Be right there.” The boy answered back turning to the cowgirl who now stood stiffer than a scarecrow. “I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Yeah… tomorrow.” She responded, one hand waving. All thoughts of getting that signature vanished from her mind.

(Everfree cave)

They were stuck in some kind of loop trap.

That was the only explanation Sunset could give in their current situation. For some reason beyond their control or understanding they managed to be caught in some kind mysterious loop.

“Ugh… nothing. I’m getting no signal on my phone. How about you, Twilight?”

The nerd gal shook her head in response holding her phone up near the ceiling. “No bars here either. We must be in too deep. There’s no way for us to contact the outside.”

Sunset cursed quietly under her breath. “I don’t get it. How did we get stuck in a loop spell? I don’t even feel a tick of magic here.”

“My magic tracker isn’t getting a reading either. Either it’s an illusion or something worse. But there’s no mistaking it now. There’s definitely magic here. We just need to figure out how it works.” They turned around noting Timber return panting heavily as if he just ran a marathon.

“Well it’s official.” The green haired camper said after a deep breath. “I’ve ran passed you girls five times in a row now and no exits. Either there are five identical people like you in this cave doing the exact same thing as you’re doing now, or we’re really trapped in some kind of loop.” He paused for a spell, smiling. “I guess we can say that we’re trapped in a… loop hole?”

“Not really the time, Timber.” Sunset patted the guy down and allowed him to rest for a bit. It was a worthy effort but Timber’s attempt to beat the magic with brute strength just wasn’t gonna cut it. Magic wasn’t just something you can hold in your hand. You needed to feel it to understand it.

“Ok let’s think for a minute.” Twilight suggested, putting her brain on overdrive. “This is definitely magic. No doubt about it. But this kind of magic requires energy to sustain it. And the energy here is feint… almost… non-existent.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that every time one of us goes around the corner, the trap requires more power to be drawn. If we can get it overload, we might just break it.”

“So we plough through?”

The nerd gal nodded. “It’s the only way I can think of. But we have to make it big. I’ll go this way and you take the other way around. Timber, you stay here and keep watch.”

“You got it.” And with that the two girls ran off on opposite ends of the loop. As expected, they met one another. It became a strange form of déjà vu and honestly they became quite dizzy after the first four encounters. By the end of it all, they stopped right back at Timber, panting heavily. “Anything?”

“Other than the fact that I’m slowly realizing that I am desperately out of shape?” Twilight said through pants. “No…”

“Well running around in a circle certainly wasn’t a solution.” Sunset whined. “Why don’t we just blast our way through with our magic?”

“And risk a cave-in? Not a chance! A single blast from our magic can bring this whole place down on us.”

“Well what else are we supposed to do? We can’t exactly stay here until - your bag is glowing.”

Timber raised a brow at her. “Uh… I don’t think that’s how that phrase works.”

“No, not me. Twilight. Your bag is glowing.” And to her truth, Twilight’s bag was indeed glowing with an ominous aura. She quickly ruffled through it producing the dark gem bracelet that they took from Cinch. “You brought that thing with you?”

“I certainly wasn’t going to leave something dangerous at home.” Twilight argued lifting the bracelet to her face, hearing the gem hum with an odd sound. They almost sound like voices. “But… it never reacted like this before. I wonder what it means.” She tapped the gem expecting some kind of reaction but instead found it cute and gaudy. Maybe Rarity had a point. Everything does look better in black. “Huh… maybe it’s brok…”

“Twilight?” Sunset’s eyes shot up when her friend suddenly vanished from view, her bag dropping right where she stood. “Twilight!?”

“Where’d she go!?” Timber reached out to where his girlfriend stood but found nothing but air. “What happened?! Twilight! Hey Twilight!”

“Twilight!” Sunset joined in the echo. But just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, she felt something stir within the walls of the cave. “Did you hear that?”

“You mean the creepy growling sound just now?” Timber shivered. “Yes. And I think I know what’s making it.” He pointed over to the wall where a big round eye suddenly appeared. It rolled around for a moment before finally turning over to them. The wall itself began to move forming into a giant golem Cyclops like it made out of clay. “That’s normal, right?”

“Run!” She grabbed him by the arm and sprinted off in the opposite direction thinking they could outrun the golem only to find themselves back to where they left it. “Oh right. That’s still happening.”

xxxxxxxxxx

“… ken. BWAHH!” Twilight fell on her back having suddenly been teleported to an unknown location. “Ow… what happened?” She rubbed her aching head as she rose back up to find herself alone in the dark. “H… hello? Anyone out there?” She extended her arms outward hoping to find someone. “Sunset? Timber? Are you guys there?” Panic and fear swelled up on her chest hearing no one respond other than her own echoes. “Guys?”

There was nothing. No reply. The only thing she could see was the bracelet in her hand, now glowing even stronger. It vibrated violently before suddenly pulling itself in a certain direction like a magnet dragging her along.

“Whoa! Hey! What gives!?” Twilight protested, tightening her grip around the magical artifact using her flimsy arms to hold it back, but just barely. “Get back here!” She quickly wrapped it around her wrist wrestling control over it. “Gotcha now you…” Her voice choked when the something in the room illuminated. A small object ahead glittered with the same glow. Humming with power. “What the…?”

When the nerd gal got close enough she slowly realized that the glowing object was some kind of statue. It was a statue of a woman… or maybe a goddess with wings. She wasn’t really sure. The thing stood atop a pedestal facing the other way. It stood out from the area like a sore thumb. The craftsmanship however was splendidly done with great attention to details. There were no blemishes or bumps. Every angle of that object was sanded leaving nothing but a smooth surface to the touch.

But just as Twilight laid one ghost of a finger on it, the statue suddenly shined illuminating the room in its bright blue glow. She shielded herself from the light until her eyes finally adjusted. But what she saw then… made her brain go ballistic.

Twilight found herself in an oddly shaped room that seemed to have been carved into the mountain in a circular form. The ceiling reached up high like it was making a cylinder. There were no exits. No paths or tunnels that led in or out of here.

But what caught her attention was the large rock formation at the center of the room itself.

She took a quick glance at the strange structure that seemed out of place. Two heavy slabs of monoliths made up the support which held up the third one with one side a tad bit shorter than the other. It stood on top of an elevated platform with the figurine facing it with its bland eyes. Hieroglyphs and runes decorated the slabs and the ground around it going all the way to the walls themselves.

“Whoa…” The girl couldn’t resist the temptation and quickly pulled out the phone she had kept in her pocket and snapped a few pics here and there. “The girls are never gonna believe this.” But then as she was snapping her pictures, the bracelet reacted again pulling her hand over to the statue. “Whoa! Hey! Stop it!” Twilight felt the magical energy within the gem slowly slip off into the figurine. Was it draining its magic or was the bracelet giving it away willingly?

Its eyes gleamed like two bright jewels before they fired beams onto the mouth of the doorway ripping space and time like plastic.

In seconds, Twilight saw the door open completely revealing a totally new scenery. It was as if she was looking out the window. And… was that a ziggurat? A temple maybe?

“What in the world?” Her curiosity reached its peaked as she stepped closer, trying to make sense of it all. It died out a second later when her feet stepped on something crunchy and fragile. She lifted her foot away, only to see a human skull glaring back at her. “YAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!” The girl panicked at the sight and fumbled on her feet. She immediately reached for the only thing to hold her balance which just so happens to be the goddess statue.

With one good pull the statue ripped itself from its pedestal. The beam that projected from its eyes died, as well did the portal. And just like that the girl vanished from the room.

xxxxxxxxxx

“Twilight!” Panic swept over Sunset when she saw her friend magically reappear, crashing onto the floor. She hugged her breathing a sigh of relief. “What happened? Where did you go?”

“I… I don’t know.” She admitted but later looked at her hand noting that the statue she tore off was still there. “One moment I was here and then there… and then… here? I’m not entirely…”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but we’re kind of in the middle of NOT-DYING!” Timber reminded pulling the girls away as the Cyclops golem charged at them with its raised fist.

“What is that!?”

Sunset forced an awkward laugh. “Yeah, you were gone for about 5 minutes and this thing showed up while you were away. Mind helping out?”

The two of them quickly ponied-up and fired beams from their hands. Normally the impact would've been enough to send the guardian flying. But much to their surprise it barely even flinched. It continued to approach, its one eye focused on them like a camera.

Twilight quickly regained her bearing and quickly lifted a pile of rocks to block the path. But the golem brushed them away with hardly an effort.

"This... isn't good."

“Hey guys!” Timber called out pointed at the back tunnel. There was sunlight pouring in that direction. Though feint, it was still visible. “I think I see our exit. Come on!” They gladly complied sprinting towards the entrance with all the strength they could muster. Within seconds they arrived at the entrance of the cave with sunshine greeting them. "W... we're out? We're out!"

"Yeah but not out of trouble!" Sunset reminded gesturing to the giant terror lumbering behind them. "We gotta get out of here!"

“Hold on!” Twilight spoke up conjuring another of her spells lifting a large boulder from the area and plugging the mouth of the cave. The three of them could hear the Cyclops roaring on the other side, slamming its fist over the stone but to no avail. It went on for a few more seconds before it finally gave in to the futility and lumbered back. The three of them breathed a sigh of relief afterward, all slumping to the ground.

It took the three about ten minutes to finally reach the safety of the parking lot. It was exhausting. But knowing that they were out of that loop was good enough.

“Ok. Next time we go on an expedition, we’re adding magical defense traps on the list of preparations.” Twilight nodded in agreement panting heavily. “So mind telling us what happened? Where did you go?"

“I… don't know." Twilight admitted, clearly shaken from that adventure. "But I have a theory.” She showed them the figurine statue. “I believe this thing is the one causing all that magical mishap. Recognize it?”

She did. Though the object was vaguely smaller, the figurine shared the same design as the statue that was on display at the museum the other day. Part of Professor Sombra’s collection.

“That’s… Yaztec.” Sunset gasped. “But how? I thought those guys only originated in the southern forests.”

“Me too. But the room I was in had all of their designs. I have a suspicion that the rumors about them using magic isn’t just myths anymore. There’s definitely something here.”

“We should probably tell everyone what happened.” Sunset flipped her cellphone out immediately texting the club members of their exploits. “Don’t’ want them to get all worried over us.”

Twilight nodded but grumbled back too. “Ugh… if only I still had my lab. I could spend the whole night analyzing this.”

“Why don’t you let me handle those?” Sunset suggested, taking the bracelet and the figurine off her hands. Strangely enough she could feel some magic pulsing inside of them. “I think I’ll consult with an expert. I don’t want you disappearing all over again.”

“Same here.” Timber agreed. “I don’t know about you, but I think that was a good enough adventure for one day.”

(CHS)

Rainbow Dash tore her eyes off her test that afternoon, her senses tingling at the back of her head. She looked out the window squinting softly at the clouds above. Her feet began to itch, telling her to run.

“Something wrong, Rainbow Dash?” Professor Doodle inquired from his desk looking as annoyed as ever. In front of him stood a row of students, all who were taking a makeup test.

“Sorry sir. It’s just that… I just have this feeling that I just missed out on something big! Like... there's an adventure happening and I'm not a part of it.”

Cranky didn’t really seem to understand or care for that matter. “Well I don’t know about your adventures, but your test is on your desk. So unless you want to have another retake this weekend, I suggest you finish it.”

Rainbow complied. Yet she can’t shake this feeling like someone had completed an awesome adventure just now.

(Evening) (Sunset’s house)

Sunset fell on her bed that evening feeling somewhat exhausted. The expedition this morning wasn’t exactly a long one. In truth it actually took a span of four hours or so but it felt a heck of a lot longer if you included the magic trap they had to go through. That alone was scary. Not to mention that guardian they fought just now.

She trembled at the thought of facing that monster again. As if the shadow wolf wasn’t bad enough already. What was that anyway? Some kind of protector? A tomb raider stopper? It was clearly magical. There are no reference of that kind of thing in the internet other than some fantasy game: Ogres and Oubliettes. In all her years living here she never once encountered a monster of that kind. This world definitely had its way of surprising her.

Putting her pen down on the magic journal she closed the book and rested her head on her pillow. Sunset had just finished writing a message to Princess Twilight asking for some aid with this magical problem. As much as loved solving problems on her she had to admit that it was high time to call in the cavalry. While her own knowledge with magic were extensive thanks to her lessons with Princess Celestia, without her horn or access to Equestrian tools she had to rely on technology from this world. And sadly she wasn’t completely proficient with them. At least not in Twilight’s level.

Hopefully she’ll get an answer soon.

Her eyes drooped down, feeling the bed take her to dreamvile. Today was both frightening and exhausting. But right before she could get her first snooze her phone rang with that annoying ringtone that she thought she changed. Damn it Pinkie! I keep telling you to stop doing that!

“WHAT!?”

The caller on the other line most likely flinched at her answer. “Umm… hi?”

Her eyes went up when she recognized the voice. “F… Flash? Is that you?”

“Uh… yeah. Is this a bad time? I can call later.”

“No no no! I was just umm…” She looked around frantically for an excuse. “I was just having trouble with this uh... math problem Twilight gave me.”

“Oh… ok then.” He seemed to accept that reason. “Anyway, I was calling to see if you’re still coming for the charity event tomorrow. My concert’s in the evening.”

“Definitely. Wouldn’t want to miss it.”

“Great!” The boy’s mood was easy to discern. She could tell that he was smiling like a kid holding a gold coin in a candy store. “And you might wanna look at your mailbox. I sent you a little something as a gift.”

A gift?

She quickly head down to her door where a thin stack of mails were piled on one another. She mostly receives ads and newspaper. But on top of all of those was a thin brown envelope that smelled of motor oil.

“A VIP tag?”

“Yup. My dad said I can give one to my friends. I thought you could use it. It’ll get you anywhere in the park. Just flash it to any of the staff and they’ll give you the First-Class treatment. You could even use it to go backstage if you want.”

“Really? That is cool.” She gave a smug look despite knowing that he can’t see it.

“Anything for my favorite magic friend from the other world.”

She laughed. “Heh… how long did it take you to make that one up?”

“About… two hours.” The boy answered grinning. “Anyway, don’t forget to catch my performance. I don’t wanna spoil anything but I can guarantee that it’ll blow your minds.”

Her eyes rolled. “You say that on all your performances.”

“And I haven’t been proven wrong yet.” He coughed softly into his hand as he went on. “So… how’d your latest adventure go?”

“Not good.” Sunset replied exhaustingly. “At first it started out fine. We got to this cave that looked pretty amazing. But then we got trapped in this loop magic and Twilight vanished. Then we got attacked by this Cyclops thing…”

“Huh. That’s funny. And here I thought you and Twilight could’ve spent this Friday peacefully studying.”

“Well yeah but… we…” Her voice croaked when she realized that she was duped. “Oh… umm… I mean…”

Strangely enough Flash didn’t seem all that offended. He simply chuckled on the other line. “Yeah I figured that you weren’t being completely honest back at the toy store.”

She smacked her head roughly feeling somewhat cheated. “H… how’d you know?”

“Come on Sunset. Give me some credit. We used to date for an entire semester. That’s more than enough time for me to read your signs. I’d make a pretty bad boyfriend if I didn’t learn a thing or two about you.”

That was a good point. He certainly put more effort in that relationship than she did. Heck she didn’t even know that he was super rich until recently. “Look Flash. I’m sorry I lied. But if I told you about what we were really doing, you’d…”

“I’d probably go after you guys at the drop of a hat?”

She blinked. Surprisingly enough she didn’t have a better description. “Yeah… that.”

“Well… I can’t say that you’re wrong there. I have been known to be spontaneous.” Very spontaneous. “So…… what’s this about a loop trap?”

“It’s… a long story.”

“I’m not doing anything right now.” He replied cockily. “Unless you’re busy solving a difficult math problem.” Her cheeks colored. When did he get so good at teasing? But thankfully, before she could answer, her journal suddenly began to vibrate. Twilight must’ve replied.

“Sorry Flash. I umm got another call waiting. Let’s… talk again tomorrow.” She didn’t bother hearing an answer as she opened her journal expecting a positive reply.

Except that it wasn't.

Author's Note:

Another week has come and gone. Not a lot happened on this chapter. :fluttershyouch:
A little heads up on the next update. It might be delayed. My hometown is having a Strawberry Festival so we're all preppin for it. We're gonna have strawberry jam for sale, strawberry cake, strawberry bun, strawberry tart and maybe some strawberry sunrise!
So expect some measure of delays if anything.

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