Elements of Redemption

by Draxonos135


Element of Reflection

Juniper Montage landed on a purple floor, with what looked like solid windows decorating the otherwise pitch-black environment.

"Where the heck am I?"

"You'll find it to be a familiar place."

She turned around and the donkey was right next to her.

No cloud smoke, no teleportation, not even a sound indicating he just arrived. He literally was just there.

"The donkey?!"

"In person!" the ungulate chirped as he happily trotted to Juniper's side. "And I'm here to help you find out about your element."

Then, with absolutely nothing prompting her to take a guess, she reached an odd conclusion.

"Were you the one who wrote the message?"

"Yes."

"And you're the guide of these elements of redemption?"

"Yes."

"And you know where we are?"

"Yeah, but I believe it's better if I show you, rather than tell you."

The donkey clapped his hooves together, and the environment just... suddenly lit up, revealing that the windows were actually mirrors all around a house-like scenery.

"So, I'm basically in a house of mirrors?" Juniper asked.

"Yes, a house of mirrors, where each reflection will reflect not only on a piece of your old history, but also remind you of the people who stopped you, helped you, and much more," the donkey answered, progressively souring Juniper's mood until she was angrily pouting. "So, what do you think?"

"I think I understand why another name of your species is a-"

"As I was saying, you'll see reflections of your past actions in these mirrors. So please, don't waste a minute and walk around. Maybe you'll be able to think about what you've done?"

"The only thing I'm going to be thinking of is what kind of nonsense did I get myself roped into," Juniper stood up. "But oh well, I can't see a door around here, so I might as well look for one in this place."

She began walking around the mirror-filled hallways, with the mirrors, as the donkey said, showing a reflection of past events.

As in, they were literally showing past events.

The first mirror depicted Juniper stealing an artifact from the movie, bringing down a chase between her and the Rainbooms.

Juniper became slightly upset, but she continued forward nonetheless.

The next mirror depicted a younger Juniper trying to learn how to act, with the other children holding back their laughter.

Now Juniper was feeling a little bit more upset, and confused too. Why would the first mirror show something that happened recently, but the next one would show something that happened back in her childhood?

In fact, how did the mirrors know what reflections to play?

Well, that question escaped her mind once Juniper saw the next mirror, depicting a kindergarten Juniper drawing a woman that highly resembled her transformed state.

And to drive the point home, the mirror showed her transformation next.

Juniper stood still, looking at the transformation with a horrified look as the donkey walked up to her, and glanced at the reflection.

"The mirror shows things that have already happened, not things that will happen. So, if you're silently trying to figure out a way to fix that little incident, I'm afraid you won't find anything."

Juniper frowned.

"That's not it..."

She pointed at her transformed state.

"That's my... that's my-"

"Self? Yes, indeed, she is, now let's move on okay? There's a lot left to witness."

When Juniper remained frozen in place, the donkey pushed her forward, taking her to the next mirror, which depicted her teleporting Sunset Shimmer and her friends into the inside of her magical mirror.

They then quickly went to the next, which depicted the arrival of Starlight Glimmer, the girl who would end up being the one to literally kick Juniper down a peg.

"That girl! The one that ruined everything that I was already ruining myself!"

She was happy to see her, it seems.

"It seems this memory in particular brings out a strong, emotional response from you," the donkey spoke. "Could there, perhaps, be something about this memory that greatly upsets you?"

"Didn't you just hear me!?" Juniper snapped. "That was the girl that ruined me in my greatest moment! I was already feeling down after those other girls ruined my chance to be in the big screen! I get my revenge on them, and then this other girl appears and ends my career before it even began!"

"You're right about one thing: your career ended before it began. However, why don't you try looking at what transpired, from their point of view?"

Juniper raised an eyebrow. "Why would I do that? What is there to see?"

The donkey grinned. "You'll be surprised."

Juniper did as requested and looked at the mirrors once again. The first rewatch, she didn't see anything new: just her rise and fall from stardom by those girls and that pink-skinned girl with the beanie.

However, upon the second rewatch, Juniper started seeing a different interpretation: a girl tried to gain what she thought was entitled to have, only for reality to punch her in the face and make her pay for her reckless action.

Then, while still upset about what happened, she wished to get revenge.

She gained power, and the power allowed her to do whatever she wanted.

From there forward, the girl deluded herself into being something she never was, until a brave little stranger-who still came out of nowhere regardless-stopped her and turned her back to normal.

Yeah, now that she looked at it, she was a bit of a prick.

"You see it now, don't you?"

Juniper sighed.

"Fine, I get it! I almost ruined a film production, and sealed people in another dimension for petty reasons!"

Juniper looked at the donkey.

"There, I said it, happy!"

"Depends," the donkey raised an eyebrow. "Would you have liked for things to go down a different path?"

Juniper thought about it, then silently nodded.

"Then you really do deserve the element of reflection."

Just then, the mirror detached themselves from the window and headed straight for Juniper, whose left shoulder glew as the mirrors all hovered around her, then combined into a single one.

"Even with karma as a reaction, and guilt as a foundation, without reflection, the road to redemption will lack meaning."

The combined mirror slowly flew down and was grabbed by Juniper, whose glowing shoulder had turned into the image of the mirror.

"Now, it will be your job to make people reflect on their actions."

Juniper lifted her sleeve and looked at the symbol, and turned to the donkey to see him being enveloped by light.

"W-Wait a minute, there's something I want to ask! What-"

Both the donkey and Juniper were teleported away...