Once she changed into her more favored black skirt and purple vest, and made sure she was presentable via the bathroom mirror, Juniper went downstairs. As she approached the kitchen, she heard the dull sounds of metal hitting metal. She went through the living room, and peeked into the kitchen from there.
Twilight was at the kitchen counter, working away at her umbrella with a miniature screwdriver. A tablet sat by her side, and a small bag of tools lay close to her.
Twilight stepped back, studied the umbrella a bit, then went back to prodding it with the screwdriver some more. A wire poked out. Twilight scrunched her face, visibly unamused at the sight. She reattached the wire, then put her tools, umbrella, and tablet to the side, crossed her arms, and slumped onto the counter with a groan.
That got Juniper's attention, and she walked over. "Twilight? Are you alright?"
Twilight looked up and gasped. She turned around to meet Juniper with the speed of a grasshopper. "O-oh, hi, Juniper! I didn't hear you come in. Which is, uh, extra funny since I was expecting you."
"Yeah, sorry." She smiled, unable to avoid blushing as she did. "Though, hey, at least we're even for CHS now?"
Twilight chuckled, also unable to stop Juniper from noticing her own flushed cheeks. "Yeah, I guess we are."
"Yeah." A silence hung over the kitchen as both faces slowly regained their neutral color. Juniper did her best to ignore the current state of affairs by getting a glass of water from the faucet. She took several much-appreciated sips, then walked back to Twilight. "How are you, though? It looked like you were really hard at work just now."
Twilight nodded. "I was. Tonight's first field test of my anti-storm umbrella is technically a success." She sighed. "But the process used appears to be too much for the micro generator I'm using. It never takes very long for it to give out. I'll have to do some redesigning. Still, at least the concept's been proven."
"Wow," Juniper said, peering over the umbrella. "It's amazing that you even managed to invent this, though! I thought you were being silly over the phone when you mentioned it, but you're the real deal."
"I'm never silly about science!" Twilight beamed, then put her fingers to her chin in thought. "Okay, except when I am. But I don't keep track of when I am. Do you think I should?"
Juniper stepped closer to Twilight. "If you want, I'll keep track for you. I know you're a busy girl."
Twilight giggled. "Watch out, or I just might take you up on that."
Silence reigned once again as the two gave each other slanted smiles, and Juniper fought the most epic battle in the history of her life to keep her body temperature under control.
After several moments, Twilight turned her head, a little too quickly, towards the window. It was still drizzling. "H-hey! Want to see it in action?" Her tone turned serious. "I-I mean, if you really are okay with going outside again. I know things didn't work out so well the last time you did. But I really would love to show and tell you how this works."
Juniper gasped. "What? No, I'd love to see how it works, Twilight! Also, real air, remember?"
Twilight giggled. "Yeah, I could definitely use some too. Okay, give me just a second to get things ready and to put all this stuff away—I'd be a horrible guest if I made a mess all over your house."
"Not a big deal to me either way? But thanks for being gracious."
"Of course."
"Do you want some help?" Juniper offered.
"No, it's okay. I've got a special organizational storage system for all my supplies. Go ahead and get ready, I won't be long."
"All right, then. I'll meet you at the door."
Juniper walked out of the kitchen and to the front door, and put her coat on. She put her hand on the knob, allowing herself to calm down, cool down, and thank her lucky stars that she just barely got out of that one without doing anything... well, weird.
She opened the door. A quiet, amply lit neighborhood greeted her, with a minimum of people walking the sidewalks. Now that the worst of the storm was over, some people had finally emerged from their houses, but most were likely still downtown for the weekend nightlife.
Nevertheless, Juniper was grateful for the ability to reflect in silence. If there was one word she would use to describe the night so far, it would be "cluttered." She looked up at the stars, several of which were visible amidst the scattered storm clouds. Stars rarely went away. Thank goodness for their reliability. She closed her eyes with a peaceful smile.
I still can't believe this all happened.
Even with the drama of the last couple of hours, she'd never had laughs like the ones she'd had tonight. To say nothing of talks like tonight. At least not with people her own age. She tried to think back to if she was wrong about that, but all she could come up with were fragments of memories that made her want to not think about it anymore.
So, she stopped. Quite frankly, right now she was perfectly content to just not have to think anymore until sunrise.
"It's really beautiful out here, huh?" a voice said behind her.
Juniper turned to see Twilight. "Yeah, it is. Is it like this near your house too?"
"Yup. Which is why I have a high-powered telescope at my window for when there aren't any clouds."
Juniper gasped. "You have a telescope? Wait, why am I surprised? I do think that's awesome, though. I used to do a lot of stargazing myself."
"Really?
"Yeah." Juniper slouched her shoulders, leaning against the doorframe. "I had a lot of nights to myself growing up."
"Oh, yeah, been there." Twilight nodded. "That'll do it."
Juniper chuckled. "Yeah, but I stopped because of the dumbest reason."
Twilight tilted her head. "Which was?"
"When I took up movies, my cameras' zoom features never really cut it trying to look that high."
Twilight laughed. "I told you it was dumb!" Juniper wailed.
"What? No, not dumb. Okay, maybe a little silly. But it makes complete sense when looking at it through the lens of your changing interests."
"I see what you did there. I still appreciate the night sky, though."
Twilight stepped closer and grinned. "We'll have to make arrangements for you to visit my place, and get you back into stargazing there."
"I'd like that a lot," Juniper said, feeling the temperature battle starting all over again. She was very thankful the front door was open.
"So would I! We'll talk about it more later this weekend. For now?" Twilight held up her closed umbrella. "I hit a minor breakthrough in the last ten minutes, and made a couple of last-second adjustments to increase power efficiency. Which means I'm actually really psyched to show you this now."
"All right! Let's go, then!"
"Yep! Oh, but one last thing before we do?"
Twilight placed the umbrella on a nearby counter—then wrapped her arms around Juniper in a firm, warm and earnest embrace, and rested her head on Juniper's shoulder. Overtaken by equal amounts of surprise and joy, Juniper wrapped grateful arms back around Twilight, grasping her just as firmly.
"I'm so happy you're safe," Twilight whispered.
If they never let go for the rest of the night, Juniper reasoned, she would be just fine with it. "I'm happy to be all right, too—and you're a big reason why," she whispered back.
"Hee. I see what you did there," Twilight said.
"I figured you would," Juniper replied.
The two stayed like that for several more moments before slowly parting. Twilight took the umbrella back, and stepped outside. Juniper followed, locking the door behind them.
They walked in silence, enjoying the near-quiet of the night, while sticking close together under the umbrella. The longer they walked, the more Juniper realized that she was a lot warmer than being outside in the middle of a rainy night would suggest—and for once, it wasn't simply because she was close to Twilight. As they walked, Juniper realized she wasn't cold at all. She looked around, and noticed that there was no rain dripping off the umbrella, either. She craned her head around to verify that that was the case.
Twilight smiled as she observed Juniper's reaction. "Mwahaha! Seeing people enjoy the wonders of science never gets old!"
"That's one word for it," Juniper said, poking at the umbrella fabric and finding it completely dry. "What is going on here? Seriously, why do I feel almost better under here than I do in my central-air-controlled house?"
"Because, Miss Montage, you're currently walking under the proto-prototype Northstar Technologies SparkleMatic Climate Controlled Umbrella!" Twilight crowed. "Patent Pending."
"Do not ask me to say that three times fast."
Twilight giggled. "The concepts exist, of course, but nobody's cracked the technology for mass production or consumer use. That's what I'm working towards. Remember when we had that awful storm a couple weeks ago?"
Juniper nodded. It was the only time in recent memory that she'd been grateful to have a long shift at the movie theater. Still, she'd seen it coming down like crazy out of every mall window, and all the customers who entered looked like soaked cats—even the ones with umbrellas. Not that she'd had a lot of sympathy for them, being who she was back then.
"Well, anyway, that storm utterly drenched me and my friends, even after taking our best precautions. That was the day I decided to take back our hair. So, I started work on this baby."
"Nice. Well, I'm a pretty big fan of my hair, too, so if there's any way I can help, let me know. I want to see this take off. Also, you."
Twilight blushed. "I might take you up on that. But for now, thanks."
The two went back to walking in silence for a while. Soon, the lights of downtown suburban Canterlot flickered on the horizon. Juniper surmised that they were a quarter of a mile from the end of the residential district. Once they got downtown, things would be more crowded, and far more distracting. She decided to speak the rest of her mind before that happened. "Twilight?"
"Hmm?"
"About what happened—a couple of hours ago, I mean. I know we're good, but I'm still sorry about scaring you the way I did. I didn't want to at all. I mean, friendship's about honesty and stuff, right? But I didn't know what to do in that situation. I guess I'm still feeling a lot of this stuff out. What works and what doesn't. But I still feel awful. Especially given your reaction."
Twilight closed her eyes, and took a slow, deep breath through her nose. However, her expression didn't change from the happy one she'd already been wearing up to that point. "It was scary, I'll admit. Even with all my scientific knowledge, Equestrian magic is... beyond me. It scares me. And I honestly thought I was about to lose a new friend to it, in the same way Sunset almost lost me."
Juniper nodded. "I understand."
"I know," Twilight said. "So. Answer me one question, and we'll call it even."
"Sure."
Twilight looked at Juniper. "When you two actually talked it out… what was she like?"
"Really, really scared. And sad. All that ranting, all that bravado... was all because she didn't want to be alone. To be rejected. To be cut off from the rest of me. And it's a good thing I didn't. It would have been cutting out a piece of my heart."
Twilight was silent for a long time before she sighed. "You know, I'm a lot better with logic circuits and artificial intelligence algorithms than I am with... actual human emotions. Almost everything I've been doing and saying with regards to friendship, for a while now, has been me emulating Sunset's example. But after I had time to think about it, I realized that I would easily have done the same thing in your shoes... if I'd been smart enough to think of it at the time."
Juniper blinked. "Huh? What do you mean?"
Twilight took another long time before answering, and Juniper saw her body tense and shudder. "I'll tell you another time. I promise. Just as soon as I'm comfortable thinking about it myself."
"No worries."
"I appreciate it." Twilight relaxed. "But what about you, though? How are you holding up?"
"Honestly? I feel like I've been through the wringer. But slowly getting better. And it's because..."
Juniper stopped walking, and turned around to face Twilight. If she didn't say everything she wanted to now, then forget downtown's distractions—she would implode far before they got there. She made sure to stay under the umbrella, to ignore the trembling of her heart, and to fight through the rest of her body's twitchiness. More than anything, she fought every fear that entered her mind the second it realized she was about to both speak and bare her true self.
Her unshielded self.
"Juniper?" Twilight asked. "Are you okay?"
Juniper took a deep breath, and blocked every single incoming thought. It was time to infodump.
"Way better than okay," Juniper replied. "Thank you, Twilight. For giving me a taste of what it's like to have friends. Like, real, close friends. Even with everything that's, uh, happened, I'm pretty sure this has been the best night of my life.
"And I know I have you to thank for putting it all together. Even if for just one night. Even if it was only because you saw me when I was really... vulnerable. I can't thank you enough. You and the girls didn't have to do any of this, but you did. And that makes you a wonderful person in my book. Someone I can actually really trust."
Juniper shut her eyes tight, fighting to keep her composure, then opened them again when she was sure she could continue. "I've never had a lot of those, and until now, I didn't really think much about how I would eventually keep driving them away. I don't want to make that mistake again, and especially not with you. Not with someone who cared even though they had every reason not to. And I want you to tell me if I'm ever in danger of doing that. Please."
Juniper exhaled. She looked up at Twilight, and saw her lips shaking, her eyes misting. Juniper offered Twilight a tissue while taking one herself. Both lifted their glasses to dry their eyes.
"Thanks for that," Twilight said, before taking a deep breath of her own. "You know, when I first met my other self from Equestria, one thing I quickly learned was that I'm no Princess of Friendship." She rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Heck, I'm not even a magically reformed student from another dimension who had a massive revelation about friendship and managed to turn their life around.
"I've had my moments, but when it comes down to it, I'm a scientist who's only recently discovered being sociable, and who still likes staying in her house doing experiments. I've never set up a sleepover for any of my friends before! I've kind of been doing this whole night by the seat of my pants." Twilight paused, looked down, then back up. "Skirt? Wow, we really could use a unisex version of that expression."
Both girls laughed. Juniper felt herself relaxing afterwards. It looked as if all her fears were for nothing after all. A heady feeling of relief washed over her.
"Back at Crystal Prep," Twilight continued, "I was always subtly given the message that I was good for remembering facts, figures, and formulas, but not a good enough person for other people to want to be friends with. Barely a person at all, really. And even though I tried my hardest not to? I..." Twilight looked away. "I know now that I took those messages to heart."
Juniper went from relieved to horrified in seconds. She did her best to keep her expression comforting, to hide the righteous indignance bubbling inside of her, so as not to alarm Twilight. "That's awful," she said, stepping close and placing a supportive hand on Twilight's shoulder. "I'm so sorry. Someone like you deserves way, way better than that."
"Thanks. It was a long time before I was able to tell myself the same thing." Twilight sighed. "At least things ended well enough. I didn't want to dwell on it after I transferred schools, but seeing your transformation a few weeks ago kind of forced the issue. Not that I'm blaming you or anything."
Juniper shook her head. "No, I don't feel that way at all. I'm just sorry I brought up bad memories." She hesitated, trying to figure out if she should continue her train of thought, then decided to just go for it. It was Twilight, after all. Of course, she'd understand. "I don't think I had an entire school working against me, but I've always had my own special brand of crazy. It was easy enough to hide for years—but the moment I discovered I loved movies, I started doing all of my make-believing out loud and in public."
Juniper looked down and sighed. "Being that 'crazy daydreaming movie girl' who acted out scenes at the drop of a hat didn't exactly endear me to a whole lot of people my age. Get called that for enough years, and you get it in your head to... well, really, just take your social ball and go home, you know?"
Juniper saw Twilight take her hand, and looked up to see her nod. "I definitely know," Twilight said.
"And I never looked back, especially when Uncle Canter started shooting movies in Canterlot. He let me start helping out at his studio, and poof." Juniper rolled her eyes. "Problems of the world solved—because I never had to venture out into it."
"And you stay in your bubble," Twilight said, slumping.
"Yup. Until someone, or something, pops it. Hard." Juniper bit her lip. "Wow, am I the only one who notices the two of us get into this spiral of agreement whenever we're talking?
That got a snicker out of Twilight. "You're not. I'd say it extends all the way back to when we first met on the Daring Do set."
Juniper smiled. "Yeah. I remember being so happy to see someone else—not just online, but right in front of me—who was into something I was into, and had the same eye for detail I did. Including when it, uh, came time to foiling certain hare-brained schemes," she added under her breath.
"I felt absolutely awful about that," Twilight said. "I mean, not at the time, because put a problem in front of me to solve and I just go tunnel-vision. But I did later. When I thought about everything that had happened."
"You shouldn't have. I deserved it. But at least it led to tonight."
"Yeah. It actually makes me happy that I took that chance." She looked up at Juniper. "To say nothing of this one. Sunset always tells me that we don't spread friendship to be appreciated for it. But you know what? Appreciation never hurts. Thank you, Juniper. For just... being here, and sharing all this. Sharing yourself. That means so much to me." She chuckled. "And I won't lie, it was a total rush, going all superhero for you."
Juniper grinned from ear to ear, her hesitation completely gone and replaced with courage. She closed the very last bit of distance between herself and Twilight, gently took the umbrella out of Twilight's hands, closed it, and placed it on the ground. No longer protected from the elements, rain sprinkled on them from above. Neither of them minded.
Juniper took Twilight's hands, and looked into her eyes. Twilight looked back, the two of them sharing gazes of awe and curiosity. Through the faint light of the street lamps, Juniper could see Twilight blush—just as hard as Juniper could feel herself doing the same.
"Thank you for being my friend, Twilight." Juniper said.
"Thank you for being mine," Twilight replied. "I know what it's like to be scared to let people in. I think we should promise each other, however, that next time either of us has this sort of problem, we call each other, and tell each other everything. So, we can face it together."
"Definitely," Juniper said. "I don't ever want to lose this connection. Especially since I don't get many. I mean, sure, you can go online and find other nerds like yourself, but the ratio on that working out... well, it's total RNG."
Twilight giggled. "I don't ever want to lose you, either. I meant everything I said back in your dream. I'd be glad to spend time together, almost anywhere or anytime. Because trust me, I can always use more friends to talk to in between quiet lab nights. Sometimes even during—I've lost track of the amount of times Spike gets restless around me."
Juniper giggled back. "I'm so happy to hear all of that. And I'll definitely take you up on all of all of those things you said you wanted to do." She sighed, let go of Twilight, and took a step back. "For now, though, it's been a long night for all of us, I think. Don't know about you, but I totally feel like a comedy before we hit the sack. Which I've got a ton of. What do you think?"
"That's a great idea!" Twilight replied. "Oooh, do you have A Full Family of Strangers? I missed that when it was in theaters."
Juniper's mouth twisted into a sly grin. "Don't be ridiculous, of course I do." She snapped her fingers. "Oh! Another idea! Sweet Shoppe's not far. Do you wanna go grab some snacks for us and the others?"
Twi "hmm"ed. "Eventually. Because now that you mention it, I really feel like a smoothie. There's just one problem, though."
"What's that?"
"I enjoy those way more with my best friends." Twilight stepped back in, standing right in front of Juniper, her blush back in full force. As close as they were, their glasses slowly fogged up in the midst of each other's breaths. "Do you know where I could find any best friends close by at this time of night?"
It was all Juniper could do not to melt in the view of Twilight's partially-obscured smile. "I might know someone."
The two of them set off towards downtown, hand in hand.