Canterlot was buzzing with excitement as the first official Daring Do Movie was set to premiere at the Canterlot Mall. Inside, the four friends from yester year were hanging out, that being Lightning Blitz, Heather Bloom, First Aid and Iron Core. They had decided to meet and catch up, Heather asking the first question, "So how're things at Crystal Prep?"
"A lot better now that Principal Cadance has taken over." Lightning replied, "Without the constant need to be the best, everyone's getting along a lot better now."
"That's good," Iron chimed in, "So, any plans to start your own band over there? The Royal Knights could use some competition."
Lightning let out a laugh, "I think you guys have enough competition at your own school." He pointed at a nearby TV screen, which was playing Canterlot's newest hit: Dance Magic, by the Rainbooms and Crystal Preppers.
The four laughed, only for their laughter to vanish when they heard a scream, "Those girls!" They turned to see a girl wearing a movie theater uniform, growling at the screens showing the Rainbooms.
"What's her problem?" Iron asked, only to see her hiss.
"First they get me kicked off the Daring Do set, and now they..." She began to walk away, only to stop as she saw a stand holding a poster of the Rainbooms. "Oh! Its like they're everywhere!"
Everyone soon turned to her, staring at the complaining girl as First said, "I believe she might be Jupiter Montage, the girl that tried to ruin the movie shooting in an attempt to get the staring role."
"I guess she ended up getting a job at the movie theater," Heather added with a raised eyebrow.
"Serves her right," Iron finished as Jupiter took out a walkie-talkie.
"What was that..." She asked before she started imitating static, "Boss? Can't hear you!" She made the static noises again. "Losing you!" She then put the device away and let out another hiss.
"Well, this is boring," Iron yawned as he glanced back at his friends. "Wanna go check out the arcade?"
"Shouldn't we tell the others about her?" Lightning asked, pointing at Juniper as she walked away.
"Don't see why," Heather shrugged. "She's just a girl. She's not gonna be able to do anything except whine and complain." The boys nodded before walking off, not looking back at the girl. And as they did this, a shining blue light suddenly flew into the mall from an open overhead window. Equestrian Magic.
Juniper sighed as she reached a sunglasses booth. "If those girls hadn't shown up, I would have played Daring Do!" She picked up some star-shaped shades. "Tonight would have been about me! I would have been a star!" She put them on and turned to the kiosk clerk, who lowered his shades to give her a head shake. Juniper picked up a hand mirror and looked into it. "You're right," she took them off. "They are a bit much."
She put the shades back down and started glancing at the other ones, not noticing the Equestrian Magic flow over and hit the mirror, causing it to glow before morphing into an almost crystal-like design. Juniper put some new shades on and picked up the mirror, only to go wide-eyed as she saw her reflection change. In the blink of an eye, she was looking at...herself, only it wasn't the plain old Juniper. Instead, it was like she had just stepped out of a limo about to walk the red carpet.
Juniper screamed and dropped the mirror, which amazingly didn't break when it hit the ground. "What was that?!" She reached down and tapped the glass, which sparked and unleashed puff of magic that made her scream again. After a few seconds, the magic died down and she picked the mirror up. She put her glasses back on and stared at her reflection, which once again morphed into the movie star appearance she had seen before. Her reflection gave her an air kiss, Juniper's eyes going wide in wonder.
"Incredible." She reached into her pocket and pulled out all the money she had made working at the theater, which she threw at the clerk without looking away from the mirror. "Keep the change," she told him. "Something tells me this thing is worth it."
In another part of the mall...
Flash and the Rainbooms were all at the foot court, all minus Sunset getting something to eat. Sunset was saving them a table, though that didn't seem to be necessary since there were so many open ones. "Hi," Flash told the guy at the booth, "I'll have the double extra large cheese burger, fries and a large coke." He nodded and Flash smirked, only for that to vanish when he noticed Twilight's stare, "What?"
"You're really gonna eat all that?" She asked, "Even though I know you're planning to get an extra large popcorn at the movie?"
"Heck yeah I am," Flash laughed before pointing at the gem around his neck, "This thing makes my body supercharged, and that includes my metabolism." He looked over at Rainbow, who had just as much on her plate as Flash had ordered. "You know what I'm saying."
Rainbow smirked while Twilight rolled her eyes. "Do you actually intend to use your magic sometime today?"
"Nope," Flash replied while taking his loaded plate, "But you never know. Something could happen at any moment that'll require me to use it. Better safe than sorry."
Twilight didn't respond to that as they walked over to the open tables. And when they got close, they heard Sunset cry out, "Oh no!" She let out a sigh, "Shoot...."
"What's the matter Sunset?" Pinkie asked as she plopped a tray full of burgers down next to the pony turned human.
"Oh..." She held up her book. "I just ran out of pages in my journal. That's all."
"Chillax, Sun-Shim," Rainbow chuckled as she sat down at a nearby table. As she did this, the others all stared at her until Fluttershy asked what they were all thinking. .
"Um, who's Sun-Shim?"
"That's Sunset Shimmer's new movie star name," she replied before taking a sip of her drink. "I just made it up!"
"For sweet apples' sake," Applejack groaned from her and Fluttershy's table. "We only have bit parts in this flick. We're not movie stars."
But then Rarity sat down beside her, "Yet, darling. Yet."
Applejack rolled her eyes as Twilight turned to Sunset, "There's more bothering you than just journal pages, isn't there Sunset?"
"Um..." Was all Sunset could say.
"Yeah," Flash told her. "You've got that, 'I'm feeling worried about something but I don't wanna bum my friends out' kinda look."
Sunset bit her lip at this, only for Pinkie to drag her chair over so she could lean against the girl. "C'mon! Share your troubles." She started pinching at Sunset's cheeks, "It might help soothe your stressed nerves."
"Uh..." Sunset glanced away, "I don't wanna take any of the fun out of our big night-"
"I SAID SPILL IT SUN-SHIM!" Pinkie screamed into her face, making Sunset jump.
"Okay, okay." She pushed Pinkie a safe distance away before opened her book again. "It's just that things have been calm around here...magic-wise, that is." They all raised an eyebrow at this.
"And that's bad how, precisely?" Rarity asked, Sunset shaking her head.
"It's not. It's just that instead of enjoying the fact that things are calm, I'm constantly thinking about things going wrong, even when they aren't."
"Oh dear..." Fluttershy gulped, "Like...like what things?"
"I don't know," Sunset sighed. "I shouldn't even be thinking about any of this stuff right now. And neither should any of you."
"But she does have a point," Flash chimed in, "Until we know for sure whether there are any more magical threats we have to deal with, we should still be careful. What's that old saying? 'The strongest of storms starts with the most gentlest of breezes' or something like that?"
Everyone frowned at this, Flash fearing he might have bummed them all out. But then, Pinkie noticed something and picked up Sunset's journal. "Look! Twilight's writing you back!" She held the book up as Sunset tried to grab it from her. "Hey everybody, Sunset's getting an Equestritext!"
Sunset yanked it out of her hands, opening it up, "What's it say?" Applejack asked as Sunset read it, a surprised look appearing on her face.
"Princess Twilight wants me to come to...Equestria." This statement made them all go wide-eyed.
"Why?" Rainbow added, "What could she need you to go to Equestria for?"
"I'm not sure," Sunset sighed, "She used the last bit of space to just tell me to come. I wish I hadn't written so much now."
"So...will you be going?" Fluttershy asked, Sunset shutting her book and nodding. "Right now?"
Sunset nodded again, making Rarity stand up, "Sunset, you can't do that! What about the movie premiere?!"
"Hopefully, I'll be back before it starts. But if I'm not..." She shrugged, the others frowning. Some were thinking of saying to stay until the premiere was over, but they knew that wouldn't be fair to Princess Twilight. She was a busy mare, and if she needed Sunset to come to Equestria, it was only right she headed there immediately.
"Well, I'd better get going," Sunset stood up.
"You want us to come with?" Flash asked, "I mean...maybe we could come too. I didn't get a real good look at Equestria when I was hurtling to my almost certain doom last time."
Sunset rolled her eyes as Twilight blushed at the memory of what Flash had done to help save her. "No," she shook her head. "I think it's best I go alone. Don't forget, you all have pony counterparts over there. The last thing we need is somepony else thinking you're a Mirror Pool clone, or a changeling or...whatever else and attacking you."
The others nodded, understanding...kind of, as Sunset bid them farewell and headed for the exit of the mall. And once she was gone, the others turned to each other, "Gotta wonder what it's gonna be like." Flash spoke up. "Heading back to the world you abandoned after so long..."
"I hope she doesn't run into any trouble over there," Rarity added, "It would be horrible if something were to happen to the machine Twilight uses to keep the portal open."
"Wait a minute," Pinkie spoke up. "Isn't the only reason the machine works because of the link between the two journals?" The others nodded, "So if the journal goes back to Equestria, then wouldn't the link between our world vanish?"
They all blinked at this, their eyes slowly shifting to Twilight. "Theoretically...the book returning to Equestria would mean there'd be nothing keeping the portal open." She started, "Since it's using the magical link between the two journals as both a power source and a focusing point..." Her eyes went wide at this, "She might end up trapped in Equestria for who knows how long!" The seven quickly took out their phones and madly texted Sunset, telling her not to take the journal through the portal with her.
They began to panic at this, Rainbow preparing to super speed over to check the portal, only for Sunset to message them back, thanking them and mentioning she had also realized this herself. But before they could say anything else, Lightning and the Royal Knights walked up to them.
"Hey guys!" Flash waved, "Having fun?"
"We were," Heather sat down next to him and Twilight. "But then we heard someone complaining about...well, you guys."
They all went wide-eyed at this, "Alright..." Rarity twirled her finger, "walk us through it honey?!"
Lightning sat down beside her, "There was a girl who seemed to work at the movie theater and was...having a grudge against you girls." He turned to First, "What did you say her name was?"
"Juniper Montage," he replied, the others going wide-eyed as they let out a combined 'WHAT' at the top of their voices.
"She's the girl you guys busted, right?" Iron asked, Fluttershy nodding. "Well, she's working at the movie theater now."
"I can't believe she's here," Rainbow chimed in.
"Now hold on," Twilight spoke up, "There's no guarantee it's her. These four haven't actually met her."
"Yellow skin, bluish green hair, wears purple shades and has a seriously bad attitude towards those that wrong her."
"That's her," Flash sighed, "So what do we do about this?"
"Not much we can do," Applejack replied, "If she's workin' there, we can't exactly avoid her. She'll probably be there at the premiere."
The others nodded, only for Twilight to stand up, "You know what? We should try and make peace. Go over there and tell Juniper that we're sorry for getting her kicked off the movie, but we don't regret it. Hopefully, she'll accept that and be willing to move on with her life."
They all shared glances before nodding, Flash then adding, "I just hope she doesn't try anything funny."
"Oh please," Rainbow laughed, "What could she do again to all of us?"
Canterlot High...
Sunset had gotten everything she believed she would need, the girl now standing at the portal. The portal....towards Equestria. She stared at the destroyed horse statue's podium, her former home inside as she took a deep breath. Slowly she put her hand on the stone...and pushed forward.
The stone gave way and began to act like water, allowing her right through. And as soon as she completely stepped in, she felt a tugging sensation. "WHOA!" She screamed as she was dragged through the magical passageway, being swirled around and around until she reached the light on the other side. And the next thing she knew, she was being thrown across a room and slammed into a pile of books.
"Ow..." she moaned as her eyes rolled around in her skull. She blinked as her vision came into view, now seeing a blurry image walking up to her. She couldn't get a clear view, but she could tell they were a pony that had a horn and a purple mane. "Princess Twilight?" She held her head, "Is that you?"
"Nope!" The figure replied as Sunset's eyes adjusted themselves, "Hello there. I'm Starlight Glimmer." The pink unicorn smiled down at her, Sunset letting out a tiny laugh. But before she could say anything, two smaller ponies jumped out from behind Starlight.
"We're here too!" said a red pegasus colt with a yellow mane with orange tips that wore a orange hoodie. Sunset then turned to the other pony and saw it was a silver alicorn with a mane and tail that went from light to dark blue that wearing a bluish-purple turtleneck. "Name's Fire Heart. And this is my sister..."
"Shining Soul," she continued, "It's nice to meet you." Sunset nodded and pushed herself up onto her hind legs, only to find herself stumbling.
"Whoa!" She yelped before she tried to stand still, letting out a sigh a second later, "Phew..." She glanced back up at the trio, now seeing their stares as she said, "Sorry. Its...been a while since I was pony." She rubbed her front hooves against the floor. "It feels a little weird after all this time." She then stared at the older unicorn, "Starlight Glimmer..." She slowly trotted over to her, "You're...Twilight's student, right?"
"Uh-huh," Starlight nodded before Heart leapt in front of her.
"You must know about us, right?" He pointed between himself and his sister.
"Of course I do," Sunset giggled, "You're Flash's apprentice right?" Heart nodded with a smug smirk as Sunset turned to Soul. "And you're Twilight's other student."
Soul shook her head, "I wouldn't say I'm solely her student. Honestly, I take lessons from whoever's willing to teach me magic."
"You should have seen the bread monster she made when Donut Joe tried to teach her how to bake with magic," Heart laughed, Soul glaring at him before turning back to Sunset.
"So...do you know any cool magic you might be able to teach me? Twilight told me you were Princess Celestia's student at one time too!" Sunset stared at the filly, seeing her tail wag. She put a hoof to her chin, thinking about what magic she remembered, that and her mind reading ability. Thinking about this made her look down and see her geode was missing, along with her clothes. The only thing that had survived the trip over was her bag, and that had somehow morphed into a saddlebag.
"There might be one thing I can do that could be impressive," Sunset trotted over to Starlight and placed a hoof on her shoulder. As she did, her eyes were suddenly filled with light. The three all flinched at this, only for the light to fade as Sunset let out a giggle, "Let me guess, Twilight wanted you to give me a new journal because she and her friends all got called off to solve a friendship problem someplace else?"
Starlight went wide-eyed at this, only to use her magic to pick up a nearby book off a table. The book looked like her old journal, but this one had a mix of Sunset's and Twilight's cutie marks on the cover. "How...how did you know that?"
"A little something I picked up on the other side," Sunset giggled before gesturing to the portal. "Hopefully, it'll still be there when I go back."
"Alright," Starlight floated the book over to her, "Well anyway, here you go." Sunset reached out for the book, but Starlight let it go and it dropped to the floor.
Starlight looked down at the book, then up at Sunset. The unicorns smiled at one another before Sunset tried to pick it up with her hoof, only to realize she no longer had the miracle of opposable fingers. She tried several times to pick up the book with just the one hoof, growling at the sight before seeing Starlight pointed to her own horn. Sunset blinked at her before gasping, her horn glowing as red magic wrapped around the book and picked it up.
"Sorry. Been a while since...I had a horn. The magic I'm now used to is a bit...different."
"I understand." Starlight replied, "Anyways, like you figured out, Twilight and her friends had to leave for a friendship problem." She then grimaced at this, "That happens a lot around here."
Sunset, who had been flicking through her new book, snapped it shut before placing it into her saddlebag. "That must be stressful, huh? Never knowing when you might be called on to save the day." As she said that, her mind thought back to her own problems back through the portal. "Dropping everything at a moment's notice...just like me recently." She put a hoof to her eyes, rubbing them for a second before asking, "How does she do it?"
"Do what?"
"Be on guard all the time. You know, ready for anything."
Starlight turned to the others, all shrugging as she responded, "Sorry. She just told me to give you the journal."
"Heh-heh," Sunset blushed before glancing around, "So...are you sure she won't be back anytime soon?"
"Pretty sure."
"And you're not the only one bummed out that they had to leave," Heart groaned, "Flash was supposed to teach me this really awesome flying move!"
"And Rarity was gonna teach me her gem finding spell," Soul sighed.
"Ooookay..." Sunset slowly said as she tried to stand herself up...only to forget once again about being a pony and trying to stand on only two legs. "I guess I'll be going now." She then lost her balance, waving her front hooves around wildly before landing on them. She slowly trotted to the mirror, only for Starlight to speak up.
"What's it like back there?" She glanced back at Starlight, who was staring at the mirror now, Heart and Soul doing the same.
"Yeah!' Heart added, "Flash and Twilight always say we shouldn't mess with it cuz it'll..." He turned to Soul, "What was it again?"
"Something about doppelgangers." Soul replied, "And the world is like really weird."
"She's right." Sunset chimed in, "It's pretty different in there, and not so different at the same time. It's kinda hard to explain. Its like...a half-mirror of this world."
"Huh," Starlight scraped her hooves against the floor, "Guess you kinda have to go there to really get it, huh?" Sunset stared at her as Starlight tried to continue, "I uh, don't suppose..."
Sunset raised an eyebrow at this, "You really think Princess Twilight would be okay with that?"
Starlight then threw her a coy smile, "I don't know for sure that she wouldn't be okay with it."
"That's not a particularly compelling argument."
"She wants me to learn as much as I can about friendship," Starlight shrugged, "And I'm not learning a whole lot just hanging out here in her castle."
Sunset glanced around at the library, then rubbed her chin, "Well...I haven't ever seen you in that world, so chances are you aren't gonna run into yourself."
"That's not something you hear everyday," Starlight giggled.
Sunset grimaced at this, "Well...I mean...if you lay low and don't draw too much attention to your-"
Starlight scoffed and waved a hoof, "You'll barely even notice I'm there!"
"Introducing you to my friends could be a nice distraction," Starlight then zipped up next to her.
"But you'll also totally notice I'm there, and it will keep your mind off of other things that might be bothering you." She gave her a wide-eyed, hopeful look with stars in her eyes, "So?" She elbowed her, "What do you think?" She jumped on the spot, "Can I go back with you?!"
"Hmmm..." She glanced back at the mirror before nodding with a smile.
"YAY!" She cheered like a little filly, Sunset laughing before turning back to the mirror...and seeing a pair of young ponies clearly wanting to go through as well.
"Please!" they asked with big puppy-dog eyes. The sight reminded Sunset of a certain scene from Fluttershy's favorite dis-neigh movie.
She let out a sigh, "Alright. But you stay close and don't do anything unless I tell you too. Understand?" The siblings cheered and leapt up and down. "Alright, one at a time. Give it...two minutes between you all coming through. I don't wanna deal with three terrified ponies turned humans at the same time."
"Why would we be terrified?" Heart asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You'll see. Remember, you asked for this." With that, she stepped through the mirror and was transported back to the human world. She quickly walked out of the portal, looking herself over and sighing in relief when she saw her geode. But as she did this, the portal sparked and somebody fell out.
"WHOA!" Starlight yelped as a girl flew out of the portal. Sunset saw she was wearing a pink wool hat, a black vest over a green top, black ripped jeans and boots with pink laces. She looked disorientated, Sunset knowing that feeling. "Wha...what happened?"
Sunset kneeled down and grabbed her hands. "It's all pretty weird at first, but try to roll with it." She pulled Starlight up, the new human instantly wobbling as Sunset turned to Tennis Match as she walked by. "Hi there!"
Starlight glanced down at herself, fully wide-eyed as she stared at her arms and fingers. "Are these?"
"Hands," Sunset replied. "You'll get used to them."
Starlight then stared at her legs, "And what happened to the rest of my hoo-"
"Feet!" She interrupted her. "Those are feet." She glanced around at all the students at school, doing weekend activities, then back to Starlight. "Remember the whole thing where I said you need to lay low? Now would be a good time to play it cool."
"Oh...right. Sorry." Starlight nodded, though she kept her hands balled up to resemble her hooves. "Heh. Play it cool. Heh-heh."
But before she could try, the portal glowed again and another one fell out. It was Heart, Sunset helping him up and seeing he was still wearing his orange hoodie, but was also wearing blue jeans and red shoes. On his hands were a pair of red fingerless gloves that showed his yellow fingers, and he still had his freckles, but the white spot he had had on his face was gone. His cutie mark could be seen on the backs of his gloves.
"Whoa..." he moaned as he rubbed his head. He then saw his hands, going wide-eyed before he opened his mouth, only for Sunset to shove her hands over his mouth.
"It's okay," Sunset slowly said, "Just relax." She helped him to his feet, finding he didn't seem to have much issue standing. And as he did this, the initial shock of his transformation started to wear off.
"Whoa...this is awesome! Its like I'm Ace!" He commented as he glanced himself over, only to stare at his back and go wide-eyed, "What the-where are my wings?!"
"Humans don't have wings," Sunset replied, "They'll come back when you return to Equestria."
"I've changed my mind. This place sucks."
"Heart! Language!" Starlight yelled, the mare turned human trying to bonk him with her fist next, only to almost lose balance again.
It was here that the portal glowed again and Soul appeared. She was still wearing her turtleneck, but had a white skirt on with blue leggings underneath, and a pair of long boots with the same color as her jumper. She was also wearing gloves on her hands, but hers appeared to go up to her elbows under her jumper and her cutie mark was printed on her skirt. She looked herself over and her eyes went wide as Sunset feared she was about to scream...only to instantly calm down.
"Are you okay?" She asked, Soul looking up at her, "You're...not gonna scream?"
"I'm good," Soul replied, "This isn't the first time I've suddenly changed into an entirely new species." She pushed herself to her feet, slightly wobbling at this, "So...you walk around on two hooves her?"
"Feet," Starlight corrected, "But yeah."
"Eh, I want my wings back." Heart moaned as he tried to walk around. Starlight started to understand his pain as she realized she didn't have her horn, only to find walking was a bit harder for her. As for Sunset, she smiled at the sight, knowing these three were gonna be a good distraction.
Back at the mall...
The Rainbooms had arrived at the theater, now seeing Juniper Montage behind the counter. She was talking to two customers only to point a mirror at them and say something. The customers didn't look happy and walked off, Juniper smiling at the mirror. "Well, that kinda worked."
"Juniper!" The girl gasped and accidently threw some popcorn into the air.
"So you really do work here?" Fluttershy asked, the girl turning to them before growling.
"As little as possible," she swept the popcorn off the counter. "My uncle Canter Zoom felt bad for firing me, so he pulled some strings and got me this job."
"Huh," Flash shrugged, "Well I guess it's better than nothing. The guy had every right to fire you."
Juniper hissed at the boy at this, not recognizing Flash, but knew he had to be trouble if he was with the girls. But before she could say anything, Rainbow spoke up, "You know, if you hadn't tried to sabotage the movie, you could be celebrating with us."
This statement caused to almost scream, the girl barely holding it back as her face started turning red. "This should be my night!" She growled as she walked past the counter, "I would have found a way to be in the film if you all had
stayed out of it! I would have been Daring Do! Everyone would've loved me!" She held up her mirror, "See?!"
The seven stared at their reflections, then shared a glance before looking back at her, "Are you okay?" Flash asked, "Maybe you've been spending too long under these hot lights."
Juniper's anger spiked at this, "Can't you see what's right under your noses? Ugh! I wish you'd all just go away and LEAVE ME ALONE!"
As she screamed that, she pointed the mirror at them, and then...it happened. The mirror unleashed a brilliant light that shot out and engulfed Flash and the girls. The seven barely had enough time to register what was happening before the light was sucked back inside, the group screaming as they were pulled into the mirror. In the blink of an eye, the six of the seven people Juniper hated most were gone...along with their rather cute friend. As they vanished, the mirror sent a wave of blue energy up Juniper's arm and into her eyes. She blinked and the light faded, the girl smiling as she looked down at the ground.
In the commotion, Fluttershy had somehow lost her butterfly hair-clip. She reached down and picked it up, then put it onto her vest before looking into the mirror. "Hmm...looks like I may be finally getting the hang of this." Her reflection changed to her glamour model form, the girl looking back giving her a giggle.
"Hi, me!" She waved and Juniper waved back, the sudden feeling that anything was possible washing over her.
To Be Continued...