Wow, so, after all the scares, it's finally happened, Juniper thought to herself as she looked across the girls' disapproving expressions. That's irony, right?
Sunset's expression softened the tiniest bit. "Are you all right?" she asked.
"Y-yeah," Juniper said.
"What were you thinking, doing what you did?" Twilight said immediately afterwards, darting forward and gripping Juniper's shoulders. Starlight took hold of Twilight's shoulders, gently pulling her back.
Juniper sighed. Twilight had gone straight to the point, which she had expected, but had still been afraid of. "Twilight, I—" She searched her thoughts, and decided that she was ill-equipped to answer the question as things stood. She decided to even the playing field. "Actually, I have some questions too."
"Which is fine," Starlight said. "I think we've got stories to share all around."
Juniper looked around again. "Also, how come I can still only barely see anything around me?" She felt up to her eyes. "Whoa! Where are my glasses?"
"They were, uh, broken," Twilight said. "Do you have a spare?"
"Nightstand drawer, top shelf," Juniper said. Twilight reached for and retrieved them, handing them to Juniper. She put them on, and the world came back into full focus. "Wow, that's so much better."
She looked at the three again, who longer looked quite so unhappy. Twilight looked more worried than anything, Starlight looked thoughtful, and Sunset looked tired. "All right, exposition time. What happened to me, exactly? Cliffs Notes, if you can."
Sunset sighed and looked away. "Equestrian magic."
Juniper blinked, and her jaw dropped. "Again? You cannot be serious!"
"Yeah, I'm afraid I'm—" was as far as Sunset got before she slumped over with a long exhale. Starlight and Juniper caught Sunset before her head could hit the headboard. "Whoa!" Juniper added, not expecting the sight. "Forget about me, are you all right?"
"I'll be fine," Sunset replied through more deep breaths. "I've just never used my geode for that long before. Or that intensely."
"Geode?" Juniper asked.
Starlight picked up Sunset's pendant. "Stones that Sunset and her friends found in your world's Everfree Forest."
Juniper blinked. "Wait, as in the summer camp?"
Sunset nodded, and sat back on the bed. "The same. I'm sure they're connected to Equestria, I just haven't figured out how yet. Either way, they give us... powers. Mine is the ability to see into hearts and minds of anyone I touch."
Juniper thought back to the day at the mall, when Sunset grabbed her arm. "That explains way too much." She chuckled. "Though wow, that's got to be handy on dates."
Sunset chuckled back, and rolled her eyes. "You and Twilight, I swear." She saw Twilight do her best to hold back a mirthful expression.
"So Equestrian magic took me on Miss Montage's Wild Ride again, huh?" Juniper huffed and rolled her eyes. "Well, that's just prime." She looked at Twilight, who looked away, but finally giggled. Good. The calmer the situation, the better.
Starlight nodded. "You freaked out during our talk, and we saw your glasses glowing when we caught up to you. Sunset got them off the second she noticed, but you'd already fainted. Though thankfully, still with a pulse. Unfortunately, that was when you started glowing. Totally oozing magic. Also, your hair was... well, longer."
Juniper's breath hitched in her throat.
"We carried you back upstairs and put you in bed," Starlight continued. "We didn't want to call the hospital unless we had to because of magic matters, but we would have if it came down to it. Still, your face looked like you were fighting something... and losing."
"I used my geode to look in on things," Sunset said. "You were at some sort of packed movie premiere. The longer I observed, the more I was able to piece together what was going on, and tell the others. At the same time, though, I also had to tell them that I didn't know what to do."
"But, well, Twilight didn't accept that," Starlight said. "She took hold of Sunset's geode, and held on to Juniper, shouting for her not to give up and a whole bunch of other stuff. Then Twilight's geode started glowing along with Sunset's. "Neither of us know how any of that worked. But everything you heard from Twilight in whatever dream you were having, we heard out here."
Juniper blushed, and looked at Twilight, who she saw was doing the same.
Sunset looked into Juniper's eyes. "When you went into the theater anyway, Twilight went just about hysterical. Even when Starlight was the first to see that you had a new... assuredness about yourself, trying to use my geode from then on only ever resulted in static." Sunset paused and sighed. "What you did was very dangerous, Juniper. You know that, right?"
"Not really? It's not like this stuff comes with an instruction booklet," Juniper said.
"I was the instruction booklet, Juniper!" Twilight exclaimed. "I was exactly where you were a few months ago! Tempted by the monster inside me, brought by magic to the surface! It took everything I had, with all my friends behind me, not to give in. But then instead of trusting me, you went with her, and..." She sniffled. "I was sure you were lost to us. To me."
"What?" Juniper shook her head. "No way, Twilight! You and Sunset and Starlight taught me so much better than that! You were all so right—I had to look inside myself. All these months, I hated who I knew I could be when at my worst. I kept wanting to beat that. To conquer it. To make it not exist anymore. But that wasn't the way, because I now know it was me trying to beat myself. That was why I went with her! Instead of 'beating' her... I found another way."
Juniper reached out and clasped Twilight's hand. "If you were the instruction booklet, Twilight, then guess what? You worked. I trusted you all the way, which is why I did what I did. But I couldn't give away what I was planning to do just then. At least, that's what I was thinking at the time." She chuckled. "Turns out when your hearts are linked, subterfuge is kind of pointless."
Twilight tilted her head. "What... did you do?" she asked slowly.
"I went with her—with myself—so we could talk things out. And we did. That's what you wanted me to realize, right? I'm... guessing that's what you did with Midnight Sparkle, too." She looked up at Twilight with a smile. "No wonder you're so at peace with yourself."
Twilight blinked, breathing deep. "I—"
Sunset put her hand on Twilight's shoulder. "You got it in one, Juniper."
Twilight looked at Sunset. The two shared an eye-locking moment, after which Twilight nodded and sighed. "Yeah. It looks like you did."
"And you got there by going with your gut," Starlight said with a grin. "I like it."
"I would have never been able to do so without you there to guide me," Juniper said. "Most friends I've tried to make... tended to give up on me. I'm so sorry for scaring you all. But taking that chance was the best thing I've ever done." She closed her eyes, checking in with her heart. "There's so much more I feel like I can do now."
She chanced flashing a smile. "Besides, if nothing else? In movies, you always need a plot twist. Which means something always goes wrong once before you get to the happy ending."
The others chuckled. "I remember when it was me who gave the friendship lessons around here," Sunset said.
"Yeah, those were the days, huh?" Starlight said, winking at Sunset. She looked at Twilight, then at Juniper, back at Sunset again. "Can I talk to you outside? I want to ask you something."
"Sure," Sunset said, and the two got off the bed. When they were outside, Juniper squeezed Twilight's hands. "Hey. I'm not hearing a storm anymore.
Twilight nodded. "It's just a light shower, now. It's almost nice out."
"You've got an umbrella, right? I'd really love to take a walk and get some real air. And talk with you. If—" She took a deep breath. "If you want to, too?"
Twilight nodded. "I do."
"Great. Meet you downstairs? Pretty sure I'll need a quick costume change."
"Sure thing," Twilight said, getting up from the bed and heading towards the door. She looked back. "Don't fake me out this time," she said with a small smile.
Juniper rolled her eyes and smiled back. "Nothing to worry about this time. Promise."
Twilight left, and Starlight and Sunset came back in, holding a book. Juniper got out of the bed, and looked at her dress. There were some light soil stains—nothing as bad as she'd feared. Still, she would have to throw on something else before walking with Twilight.
For the moment, however, she looked at the other two girls, and the curious book which bore two familiar symbols on it. "What is that? Some kind diary?" She gasped. "Ooh! Is it a book of forbidden spells?" She paused. "Odd. For some reason, magic doesn't sound quite as appealing now as it did a couple of hours ago."
Starlight chuckled. "You were closer the first time. It's more like a communication device." She pointed the book in Juniper's direction. "Whatever I write in this book shows up in another book that's linked to it, and vice versa. In this case, the second book's in Equestria, in Princess Twilight's room. I've been checking in, reporting on how tonight went."
Juniper's eyes went wide. "Oh, wow! So that's how Sunset contacted you in the first place to ask you to come here?"
"Yep. And once tonight's over, I'm letting Princess Twilight know—even with our little magical adventure—just how glad I was to have come here tonight. How many smiles and laughs I've seen in the space of so few hours. Especially from you. Doubly especially given the last time I saw you."
Juniper giggled. "You're not the only one."
"Glad to hear it." Starlight opened at the journal and shuffled past several pages. She grabbed a handful of blank sheets, then ripped them out of the book. Juniper gasped, but Starlight nodded reassuringly.
Juniper's eyes then went wide as Starlight handed her the sheets. "Is this what I think it is?"
"Remember what I said about how I almost couldn't make it here save for the grace of a shiny magic table? Well, that'll probably always prove true, but I'll keep the corresponding pages from the book in Equestria in my room. This way you and I can talk about anything, anytime you want. And it'll be just between us."
"Oh my gosh!" Juniper threw her arms around her friend. "Starlight, thank you so much!"
Starlight hugged back. "Thank you for giving me an excuse to come here. I'm so happy we got to talk some more. I think I finally see what Twilight sees in keeping our connections, so I want to do the same with you. Thanks for helping me figure that out."
"Well, you know, next time you need me to almost fold in on myself, just text me on magic paper, I guess." Juniper chuckled and rolled her eyes.
Starlight chuckled back. "We won't let it get that far."
Beeps and vibrations echoed in the room. Starlight looked at her watch, which was glowing and rattling. "Had a hunch. Guess that was what I had to do over here. At least... the last thing."
"And it only involved bending the rules of yet another ultra-special magical artifact," Sunset said.
Starlight shrugged. "Hey, what can I say? It's what I do."
"Well, given what I'm holding onto here, I'll absolutely keep these secure." Juniper walked towards one of the walls, and peeled aside a movie poster, revealing a wall-mounted combination safe. "Voila!" she said, before unlocking it and putting the pages in.
Starlight chuckled. "That's awesome."
The book itself then vibrated, practically dancing in Starlight's arms. Juniper peered over at it. "What's going on?"
Starlight held the book open—and just barely managed to hold it still—with both hands. "We. Um. May not have warned Twilight that we were going to do that." Words appeared on its visible blank page, at high speed. "Yep. Now she's screaming. In writing. I'll probably need a few minutes."
"I'll talk her down," Sunset said. "It is technically my book as much as hers."
"Great. Could you do it in the guest room? I've got to change for a walk," Juniper said.
"Of course," Sunset said. "Come on, Starlight. It'll probably take both of us for Twilight, anyway."
The two exited, and Juniper closed the door, leaving her alone in her room for the first time in hours. It was strange how such a familiar situation... now felt the slightest bit foreign, and less desirable than the alternative.
She went to her closet to pick out another outfit. There was one last thing left for her to take care of.