//------------------------------// // 14: The Storm (Pt. 2) // Story: Blooming // by Bookish Delight //------------------------------// Wallflower simply stared at Juniper, trying as hard as she could to fully comprehend what she'd just heard.  However, the possibilities behind Juniper's words were just too numerous for her to process by herself. Eventually she settled on the one question going through her mind above all others. "What do you mean, you lied?" she asked, her voice as soft as the rain. She saw Juniper choke up just before replying.  "I mean, I'm not who you think I am. I'm not some amazing hotshot movie director. I'm a wannabe! I always have been." Juniper folded her hands, looking down at her legs. "The Juniper Montage you became friends with is a lie. I clearly can't make good movies. I'm not an actress like I want to be. Mainly because I can't act, on either side of the camera. All the smiling and happiness you've seen out of me? It's..." She squeezed her fists, choking up again. "Hard. It's actually really hard. In reality, I can barely hold myself together when the slightest thing doesn't go the way I want or plan it, and it wrecks me." She gestured around herself. "It wrecks me like this." "The worst part?" Juniper hiccuped. "I-I lied to you, just like I've been—" At this she pointed to her phone screen, back to the string of rejection mails. "—lying to myself this whole time! The whole time you I fooled you into thinking I was some amazing movie guru, I was also able to fool myself into thinking I liked who I was, for once! I liked being Juniper Montage!" She looked at Wallflower, tears—raindrops?—streaming down her face. "But... but when it comes down to it, I'm just some chick who watched a bunch of movies being made, thought I could be part of it, somehow, just from raw talent... and now I'm just getting my reality check." She paused before adding, "Again." Juniper navigated from the app to her photo archives, pulling up a home video: this time of herself, Sunny Flare and Photo Finish during a shooting session. Photo's face was often hidden behind a studio camera, with Juniper gesturing stage directions with her arms, and Sunny acting accordingly while Photo moved around Sunny.  During takes and between takes, there was fun. There was laughter. There was Juniper, looking the happiest Wallflower had ever seen her—to say nothing of the most in her element Wallflower had ever seen her. The video finished, and Juniper put the phone back in her purse. "Photo and Sunny put everything they had into making this movie with me. They believed in me. I've let them down. Just like I've been letting you down from day one. You just didn't know it yet." Juniper got up from the bench. "But that's the reality," she said with a sigh. "Letting people down is what I do. And I'll do it to you, too. So please. Just go, and forget about me, before that happens. Because you don't deserve some girl who's going nowhere in life. And I definitely don't deserve you." Juniper turned, walking away from the bench. Wallflower got up to follow. "Juniper, wait!" she called out... just before something, something nagging at the back of her heart, stopped her. Is... is Juniper right? As Wallflower puzzled over Juniper's dilemma, trying to figure out what she, of all people, could possibly do to ease the pain she'd seen on display, memories pushed themselves to the forefront of her mind. Memories that she ironically had sole possession of, because she'd erased so many of them, from so many people. Her needlessly long grudge and magical battle with Sunset Shimmer. The Gardening Club presentation. More school dances and events than she could hold in short-term recollection. Fundraisers where people greeted her with a shrug and blank looks. Science fairs where gardening projects were passed over for flashing lights, bells and whistles straight out of science fiction shows. Every single one of those memories came part and parcel with another one. The same one, over and over. A lonely girl, crying, with the world refusing to hear her. Crying in the darkness, first crying alone in darkened rooms...  ...and then, in dim, lonely, friendless gardens. Much like the one she was standing in right now.  It used to be that she could reconcile that by hiding from people until they forgot her, and then hiding the memories forever, so no one else could hurt her.  But the Memory Stone was gone now. All Wallflower had was herself.  I'm not enough.  Wallflower buried her face in her hands.  I can't be enough. I've done too much. I'm not someone to look up to, either, I... She looked behind herself to see Juniper, still shuffling away, wiping her eyes as she barely held a single traveling direction. She was also halfway across the park by now.  A single desire washed over Wallflower Blush, intense and heartfelt—and she acted on it. But I want to be. She was, for me! For the second time that night, Wallflower broke into a sprint. For the second time that night, she barely felt a thing as she tore across the park at speeds she never knew she was capable of, almost slipping a couple of times but not caring. She wondered if Rainbow or Indigo would be able to train her, to help her hone her obvious natural talent. I have to be enough! There's no one else here but me. And she likes me enough to try and 'save' me from being hurt... but it's already way too late for that, and none of it was ever her fault! "Juniper!" Wallflower called out, catching up to her, and grabbing her hand from behind. And then, finally, Juniper's voice cracked. "Huh? Why are you still..." she trailed off, looking at Wallflower, and there was no longer any mistaking the rain for Juniper's encroaching tears. Not that Wallflower immediately noticed, given how much her world was spinning. What... what am I doing? Her mind screamed as she looked up at Juniper. I'm actually approaching someone instead of going the other way. Instead of just going off by myself! Another memory came to her, unbidden but still welcome—of Juniper consoling her in the video booth. And this time, the memory clicked. Back then, she'd looked into Juniper's eyes then and seen the same ones she saw now. So lonely, and so close to her own. I'm still here. She reached out with one hand, placing it on Juniper's cheek, meeting Juniper's eyes the same way Juniper had met hers back then. I'm still here, because I've failed so many times. Cried by myself so many times. I’ve hated myself and thought I was the worst, for so many reasons. And it looks like you have, too. No words. Only comfort. If Juniper wanted it. Wallflower embraced Juniper as tightly as she could. She had no clue just how much of a fool she was making of herself right now, and she didn't care.  I know what happens when no one's around to see you cry. Hopefully I can be enough... just by being here. She felt Juniper choke in Wallflower's arms, then felt Juniper's arms embrace Wallflower in return, before she heard Juniper's resolve finally evaporate into sobs. As it did, the rain fell in earnest. Eventually, Wallflower would realize that she'd forgotten her umbrella.  And she would then decide that was the last thing that mattered. Juniper's sobs died down nearly in tandem with the rain, which slowed to a light drizzle. Seriously, Wallflower was beginning to wonder if that was a magical power of Juniper's, and if so, where she could get her own version. She'd use the magic more responsibly this time. No, really.  Juniper reached into her purse, took out a small package of tissues, and used them to wipe her eyes and her glasses. She put her glasses back on and looked at Wallflower with several blinks. Finally, she uttered, "You're... still here."  "Of course," Wallflower asked matter-of-factly.  Juniper opened her mouth to reply, but the moment she did, Wallflower's finger found its way to Juniper's lips. It was, again, another action Wallflower never would have expected out of herself, and even in the moment, she didn't quite believe it was happening.  Nor did she fully believe the rush of power she felt. Not over Juniper, just over... life. Over sadness. Was this the "confidence" that Rarity and Sunset sometimes talked about? Was this what it allowed for?  Even to one person, she could matter. Even to one person, she could make a difference... maybe. She still wasn't completely sure. But for Juniper, she absolutely wanted to try. Especially since she had full confidence in what she was going to say next. "You're the best thing that's happened to me in years," Wallflower softly said. "And it was never because you were the 'Movie Girl'. I'm sure the 'Montage' part of you is interesting, and I'd love to get to know it." She removed her finger from Juniper's lips with a huge smile. "But I fell in love with Juniper." The two stood together silently, with only the light rain for ambience, until Juniper's smile finally returned as well, and she burst into uncontrollable giggles. "Oh, my gosh. You're still full of surprises, aren't you?" Wallflower winked. "Only because most people don't look in my direction." Juniper stepped in even closer, placing her hand on Wallflower's cheek, and held Wallflower's free hand with her other. She brought Wallflower's hand up, kissing the back of it, before looking at Wallflower with completely fogged lenses.  "You'll never have to worry about that with me," Juniper breathed. Amidst twin blushes in the middle of a rainy park, the two embraced one more, in the warmest hug Wallflower had ever experienced.  Several minutes later, even after the rain had stopped completely, they still hadn't let go of each other. "Hey," Wallflower said, finally breaking the quiet moment. "Still have an appetite?" Juniper giggled. "You have no idea."