//------------------------------//
// 06: Just Add Nostalgia 
// Story: Being Juniper Montage 
// by Bookish Delight 
//------------------------------//

"Alright, then, girls, let's get this night started!" Juniper said, with a huge smile and fist raised to the sky. "You know what I realized? This is officially a slumber party just full of nerds."

Twilight grinned. "It really is, isn't it?"

"Yep! And I love it when events have themes! Also, theme songs." Juniper pointed to herself. "Pop culture nerd." She pointed to Starlight. "Magic nerd. I think?"

Starlight grinned and nodded. "Pretty much."

Juniper pointed to Twilight. "Music nerd! Kidding."

Twilight giggled. "I can invite her, if you want."

"Maybe next time?" Juniper said. "Having three whole friends over at once is me diving into the deep end of the pool already as it is. Anyway, that leaves..." Juniper turned to Sunset, and put her fingers to her chin. "Hmm. From what I've heard, you do a little bit of everything, but with no hard specialties like the rest of us... ooh!" She snapped her fingers. "I've got it!"

"You even try calling me a 'liberal arts nerd', and you won't make it to film school," Sunset said with a wink.

"Whoa," Juniper said, stepping back to capture Sunset in a finger-screen. "Totally pictured you in tacky, spiked, all-black leather there for a second." She winked back at Sunset. "Ever give it a shot?"

Twilight burst out laughing. Sunset swatted at her, blushed and rolled her eyes. "Hey, I made it look good. Anyway, you said something about getting started?"

"Right!" Juniper said. "Wanna see my room? That is how this goes, right?"

"Works for me," Starlight said. "I think your house is the only one of our group's I haven't toured yet."

"Oh, yeah. Fixing that." Juniper took the lead, and the four walked upstairs to Juniper's room. It wasn't until Juniper approached the door that she realized just what she'd agreed to do.

She lingered in front of the knob. Could anything go wrong? The room was clean—she'd made sure of that an hour ago. It was completely presentable. But it was also full of... well, herself. Should she go inside first, close the door, and rearrange some furniture? Bare the walls? Clear the area of her film equipment? Erase her browser history?

Oh, wow, yeah, I really should have at least cleared the browser history. At least the computer's off?

She looked back at the others. They looked back at her. As far as Juniper could tell, they looked just happy to be there.

Nuts to it. I almost destroyed a city, and them, and they still came to my house. At this point, I'm not sure anything could drive them away.

She shut her eyes, turned the knob, and opened the door. The next sounds she heard were multiple simultaneous gasps of awe. She opened her eyes, and saw the others rush inside to look at the posters more closely.

And Juniper felt warm all over again.

"Wait a second," Twilight said, darting towards a camera sitting on top of a tripod at the far end of the room. Sunset followed her. "Is this an Avantgarde-brand 'Diminutive Deluxe' video camera? This year's model, even?" She picked it up, handling it gently. "Oh my gosh, it is! 4K, multi-codec, 16-bit audio, even remote operation via Wi-Fi? I've never seen one of these in the wild!"

"Understandable," Juniper said, flipping her hair with one hand and doing her best to appear calm as her heart leapt for joy. "It's technically studio-grade. But this is just my daily driver." She leaned in to Twilight's ear, speaking softly. "You wanna see some real tech?"

Twilight turned to Sunset, bouncing on her toes and giggling like crazy. "S-S-She just asked if I wanted to—"

Sunset snickered. "Hey, cut her some slack, she's new. Learning to keep track of all of your science fetishes takes a few months at least."

"Fair enough." Twilight turned back to Juniper. "Yes, absolutely, yes, please!"

"Right this way, then," Juniper said, leading the girls to the side closet. She opened the door, revealing the collection of video cameras. Twilight squealed loud and long.

"Yikes," Starlight said, dropping a book she had been holding. "Same pitch and everything. It's like I never left Equestria."

Twilight ignored Starlight, darting to the shelves. Amidst excited babbling, she grabbed and examined cameras, one after the other. "She'll be here a while," Sunset said.

"Wouldn't dream of getting in her way," Juniper said, motioning for Starlight and Sunset to follow her, and walking around. "While she's busy, this is the rest of my room. Over there are my wardrobes, and over here's my bed-slash-stuffed-animal-collection."

As Sunset picked up and cooed at a stuffed replica of Lester, the Vacationing Tiger, Starlight pointed to the nearby flat-screen. "What's this large window?"

"Oh, that's my television," Juniper replied.

"You remember the big screen the Daring Do premiere was shown on? That, but room-sized," Sunset added.

"Oh, right." Starlight pointed to Juniper's computer monitor. "So, what's this smaller one?"

"That's my computer," Juniper said. "It's where I go on the Internet, type up blogs, and check social media."

Starlight replied with a blank, silent stare.

Sunset placed her hands on Starlight's shoulder. "There are some technologies Star here isn't acquainted with yet. A lot, actually. Don't worry, I'll get her up to speed soon enough."

"Of course! No worries." Juniper walked over to her shelf in the corner. "Some people have bookshelves, I have a movie shelf. Every single disc holds its own world—sometimes even universe."

Twilight walked over. "Wow, you've got tons of them, too!" She looked the movies over, then froze. "Oh my gosh."

Juniper followed Twilight's gaze. "Oh, did you find something you'd like to see?"

Twilight backed away, playing with her hair. "It's... a little embarrassing."

"Oh, no you don't," Juniper scoffed. She stepped behind Twilight, cutting off any easy means of escape, and folded her arms. "You've been seeing embarrassing sides of me all week. Out with it."

"Oh, all right." Twilight took a deep breath, reached to the shelf, and pulled out a video. The cover showed several multicolored horses standing majestically atop a mountain.

Juniper looked at it, and gasped. "You've never seen the old Transformares movie?"

"I told you it was embarrassing!" Twilight wailed.

"No, no, not at all!" Juniper shook her head. "A little confusing, sure, especially if you were a fan—"

"I had. Every. Toy," Twilight breathed. "Had."

Juniper nodded. "Outgrew 'em and gave 'em away, huh? Totally understand."

"No, my one-hundred-percent collection's still in the—" Twilight met Juniper's eyes, her expression deathly serious. "If I ever go back to referring to them in the present tense, I will be tempted to take them out of sealed storage and play with them again, which would then utterly destroy their resale value, not to mention their physical and archival integrity, and there's a very good chance my psyche might not survive any of those effects," she said, before breaking into manic, breathy titters. "Therefore. Past tense. Had. Basement. Forever."

Juniper blinked. "Whoa. Understood."

Sunset raised her hand. "Still waiting for context." Starlight nodded in agreement.

Juniper faced the two. "Transformares is a show—and toy line—starring lots of girls with different personalities, who have the power to magically turn into horse versions of themselves and back again. They then go on adventures ranging from the mundane to even the interdimensional, all while solving friendship problems for people who can't themselves—" She then noticed Starlight and Sunset shaking, with scrunched lips. "What's so funny?"

"P-P-Pretty unique concept you've got there," Starlight managed to stutter.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Still staring at the two girls, the realization hit Juniper not five seconds later. She gaped, and her palm met her forehead. "Holy crap baskets."

The other three girls burst out laughing, complete with Twilight rolling back and forth on Juniper's bed.

"S-Shut up!" Juniper said, breaking into her own laughs and looking over at Twilight. "I know it went over your head, too! It had to have!" she said, tossing a stuffed lion in her direction.
Twilight caught it, still laughing. "I plead the fifth, now and forever! Also, wow, this little guy's soft."

"I'm wondering if we should ask for royalties," Sunset said.

Twilight giggled and sat back up, still hugging Lionardo, the Cuddly Jungle Assassin, in her arms. "You could, but you'd need a good lawyer. My science powers do me no good in the courtroom."

"Anyhow," Juniper cut in, trying to get the conversation back on track, "it's been around for ages, in various incarnations, but—"

Twilight cut her off. "Gen One for life."

"Yep." Juniper high-fived Twilight, then loosed a dreamy sigh. "Unicus Prime was my hero."

"Eeeee, mine too, mine too!" Twilight squealed. "She was just so nice to everyone, and so smart!"

"Not just book smart, either, but totally sage and wise." Twilight and Juniper pointed to each other. "'Friendship is the right of all sentient beings, Pegatron!'" both chanted, before falling on top of each other on the bed in a newfound heap of giggling.

Sunset looked to Starlight. "I don't think there's any getting them back."

"It's not too late for you and me to escape," Starlight said. "We could just go back to Equestria. Right now. For at least a month."

"Sorry, sorry. Right. Movies. Also, slowly cooling pizza." Juniper held up her copy of Transformares: The Motion Picture. "You never saw this, then, Twi?"

Twilight shook her head. "Nuh uh."

Juniper narrowed her eyebrows. "So, you know... nothing about what happens in it?"

Twilight shook her head again. "Not a thing."

Juniper gaped. "Oh my gosh."

Twilight sighed. "I know, I know."

"No, I'm not making fun of you! I promise!" Juniper's grin was ear to ear as she gripped Twilight's shoulders. "I'm seriously just so happy I actually get to see someone watch it for the first time!" She looked at Sunset and Starlight. "I mean, if that's okay with you two?"

Twilight was in front of Sunset like a shot, with hands folded. "Can we, Sunny? Can we, please?"

Sunset shrugged. "It's not like I haven't watched dorkier stuff since I met you."

"I've only seen one movie ever in my life," Starlight said. "The novelty has far from worn off."

Twilight and Juniper whooped for joy.

Sunset turned towards the door. "I'll get the pizzas, then we can curl up in here, pig out, and watch... horse... girls. Girls who are also horses. Fictional horses, who are also fictional—"

"Let it go, Sunshim," Starlight said, clasping Sunset's shoulder. "It'll hurt slightly less."

"My room's one plan, and a valid one," Juniper said. "However, since a movie's involved?" Her eyes glinted. "Follow me. Sunset, feel free to grab the 'zas on the way."

The other girls nodded and followed Juniper, who led them back down to the first floor, then around and behind the staircase. She opened a door fixed at its rear, then flicked a light switch, revealing another set of metallic steps leading down. "Watch your step, and stuff."

The others nodded again, holding onto the rails as Juniper led them down, down, and further down still, with Juniper getting more and more excited with each step. Finally, they reached the bottom, and Juniper flung open one more door, revealing darkness. "Here we are."

Starlight blinked. "You led us down here to gaze into the infinite void?"

Juniper giggled. "Wait for it."

Juniper flipped a switch on the wall next to her. Ceiling lights brightened, revealing an auditorium, complete with a large screen and armrest-equipped cushioned seats. She crossed her arms with a satisfied smile as everyone gasped.

"It's..." Sunset rubbed her eyes and looked again. "It's a full-on theater! Like, not just a home theater setup—you have an actual movie theater in your home!"

"That we do," Juniper said. "Smaller than an actual cinema, to be sure, but no less on-model."

"Let me get this straight," Twilight said. "Once you have dinner with your date, you could totally go see a movie here. And once the movie's over, the both of you are already in your house?" She rubbed her hands together, cackling. "Efficiency! I love it!"

"Yeah, 'efficiency'. Definitely the right choice of words." Juniper smirked at Twilight. "Go find some seats. Starlight, want to come with me and see how I set things up? You know, more world education and stuff."

"I'd love to," Starlight said.

As Twilight and Sunset examined the seating arrangements, Juniper led Starlight to the console at the back of the auditorium, where both a disc player and a traditional reel player were set up.

"I have a weird feeling that this'll be the only time I'll get to ask something like this tonight," Juniper said, taking the Transformares disc out of its case. "But how's life been for you? Back in Equestria, I mean?

"It's never been dull, I'll give it that," Starlight said. "It's a long story, but I recently stopped our government from completely falling apart due to a sisterly spat."

"Whoa. Those two ruling Princesses you told me about, right? Like Principals Celestia and Luna, but in charge of a whole world?"

"That would be them, yes." Starlight sighed. "What gets me is that the few dozen who know what happened keep treating me like I was some kind of hero for it. Which I don't get. I didn't do anything to deserve it." She shrugged. "You know what really happened? I got angry at the two of them for one minute, and scared for them the next, and that was it. They did the rest and patched things up themselves."

Juniper slipped the disc into the console, and grinned at Starlight. "You do realize I know a classic 'selling yourself short' speech when I see one?"

Starlight blushed. "Yeah, but still."

"But still, nothing! You succeeded where who knows how many else would have failed, right? Just take the win, I say. Bask in the glory!"

"You sound like another one of my friends back home. And, just like I told her, I often have trouble doing that." She smiled back at Juniper knowingly. "And I know I'm not the only one."

"Yeah, well. Be that as it may." Juniper sighed and chuckled, kicking at the floor.

The screen lit up, and Juniper dimmed the lights. She closed her eyes, nostalgia washing over her. "Uncle Canter used to bring reels of his latest works here, and screen them with me." She reopened her eyes, and looked at the ground. "I haven't used this place in almost a year."

Juniper felt Starlight take hold of her hand, relaxing her. She looked back up at Starlight with a happier expression. "That said, this is the first time I've ever been able to share this theater with anyone who isn't my family. I'm glad that it's with all of you."

"And we're all happy to be sharing it with you," Starlight said. "Come on, let's go find our own seats."

"Be right there," Juniper said. "I still need to get us past the previews and navigate the menu."

"Okay."

Starlight headed over to the seats, striking up conversation with Twilight and Sunset. Meanwhile, Juniper fiddled with the control panel's buttons, skipping past all the meaningless advertising fluff. Her finger inched towards the Play button.

"It won't matter what you do for them. It won't matter how nice you try to be."

Juniper froze as she heard the words, echoing in whispers, around her.

"You know what you're risking. What if this ends the same way all your other 'friends' did? Or your uncle?"

Juniper looked around. No one was near her. Which, oddly, made sense, because she recognized the voice as the exact same one from her dream earlier. She was sure of it.

It was a young woman's voice.

Another storm overtook her surroundings. Juniper heard it, felt it plain as day. Tears ran down her face as she saw Starlight, Sunset and Twilight staring at her with disapproving looks once more.

And then, the scene changed, and she was the little girl, back at the bottom of the hill, clutching her broken camera, lost in a million sobs.

"These girls may say they like you right now, but how long until that changes?" the voice continued. "Because we both know it always does!"

Juniper forced the memory from her mind, turned to the wall and splayed her palm on it, pressing hard as she shuddered. "Whoever you are," she growled, low enough so that the others couldn't hear, "could you just quit it already? I don't need you ruining the best night I've had in months!"

She stood still for a whole minute. The voice didn't answer. Juniper exhaled, pressed the Play button, and walked over to the other three girls and the pizza boxes.

"Hey, glad you could join us!" Twilight said.

"Hey, no more outdated previews," Sunset added. "Starting to see the advantages of a home cinema already."

"Glad you approve," Juniper said with a snicker. "Ready to get this show on the road?"

"You bet," Twilight said, straightening herself and staring at the screen. "Wow, I can't believe I'm finally going to get see this movie!"

"That makes two of us," Juniper said. "Hope it treats you right."

Twilight giggled, and grabbed a slice of pizza. "I'm sure it will. I mean, when you get down to it, this is a feature length motion picture for a massive worldwide toy commercial. Simple, formulaic entertainment. How could they possibly screw it up?"