Magic Mirror in the Hand
Chapter 7
Magic Mirror in the Hand
A few weeks had passed since the incident at the film lot. With no further delays, the Daring Do movie was able to be completed, and now the day of its premiere in theaters had finally arrived. However, the time of the first showing wouldn’t be until later that evening, so those who were looking forward to seeing it still had a full day ahead of them. For now, it was the start of a new day, and the citizens of Canterlot City were ready to go about their daily lives.
Over at the district of Sunshine Plaza, one individual who was walking along the brick red tiles of Celestia Avenue knew all too well about the movie that was to premiere later that day. To say that Juniper Montage was in a bad mood would be a huge understatement. Not only was she still very resentful over getting kicked out of the film lot her uncle worked at, but now she also had the humiliation of working at one of the cinemas that would soon show the Daring Do movie — a movie that she ultimately got no involvement in at all, despite her desperate wishes. But most of all, she placed all of the blame for her misery on a certain group of girls.
Suddenly, television screens all along Sunshine Plaza began playing the Dance Magic music video, and due to the presence of those girls in that video, Juniper’s frustrations quickly boiled to the surface. “Ugh! Those girls!” she grumbled. “First they get me kicked off the Daring Do set, and now— Oh!”
Juniper hadn’t been paying attention to where she was walking and had ended up bumping into a posterboard stand. She glanced down at it and saw that, of all the things it could’ve been advertising, it just had to be the new Daring Do movie. Even worse, the seven girls responsible for her misery were displayed on the lower right corner of the poster; hardly noticeable for most, but for her, it stuck out like a damaged piece.
“They’re everywhere!” snapped Juniper. She folded her arms and grumbled, “I bet they’ll be at the premiere tonight. I bet I’ll be the lucky one ushering them to their seats. Ugh!” She smacked her hand against the posterboard, which only made it wobble a little. She then kicked it, sending it up into the air. Before it came back down, she grasped it and furiously slammed it down onto the street, breaking the posterboard apart into the separate Lego pieces it was made of.
Juniper’s shoulders rose and fell from her heavy breathing, and after a few seconds, she realized that some of the civilians walking around nearby had stopped and were staring at her. “What are you freaks looking at?!” she snapped.
Slightly intimidated, the civilians quickly turned their attention away from Juniper and continued on their way up or down the street.
“Juniper, where are you?” asked a voice through the walkie-talkie Juniper was carrying. “We need you back at the popcorn popper, stat.”
Juniper rolled her eyes, then pulled out her walkie-talkie and — while occasionally imitating static noises — responded, “Shhhh — What was that — shhhh — boss? Can’t hear you — shhhh — losing you — shhhh!” She then swiftly put away the walkie-talkie and resumed storming down the street.
It wasn’t long until Juniper arrived at a kiosk that sold sunglasses. “If those girls hadn’t shown up, I would have played Daring Do!” she grumbled to herself. “Tonight would’ve been about me! I would’ve been a star!” She took off her glasses and replaced them with a pair of star-shaped sunglasses from one of the shelves in the kiosk.
The clerk running the kiosk glanced over at Juniper and simply shook his head without saying a word.
Juniper picked up a hand mirror on the counter and looked at her reflection. “You’re right, they are a bit much,” she muttered as she set down the hand mirror and removed the sunglasses. She then put those sunglasses back on the shelf and searched for another pair.
Right at that moment, no one noticed a glowing trail of magical energy flying around over the buildings and eventually come down in Sunshine Plaza, landing on the hand mirror that Juniper Montage had been using. When the magic infused itself into the mirror, it transformed from a standard blue hand mirror into one with a more stylish crystal-like design.
The magical energy had faded completely out of sight by the time Juniper grabbed the mirror again after picking out another pair of sunglasses. As soon as she looked in the mirror, she saw her reflection suddenly change into a face that definitely wasn’t hers. Startled by such an unexpected sight, she yelped and dropped the mirror onto the counter. “What was that?” she muttered in confusion. After taking off the sunglasses, she reached for the mirror and when she touched the glass, the surface rippled with glowing energy, causing her to yelp in shock again.
Juniper glanced around and saw none of the few people in the area had their attention on her — even the clerk was now wearing headphones and had apparently tuned out his surroundings. Once she was sure no one was watching, she put her regular glasses back on as she picked up the mirror and looked at her reflection. Again, that different face was looking back at her, but now that she took the time to study that face, she realized that it was actually herself, only with a more elegant hairstyle, makeup, a sparkling dress, and no glasses at all — it was exactly how she had always envisioned herself as a movie star. Even more remarkable, the reflection moved independently of her and actually blew a kiss towards her.
Juniper gasped in delight and whispered, “Incredible…” She then reached into her pocket, pulled out a few dollars, and tossed the green 1x2 tiles over onto the counter. “Keep the change,” she said to the clerk as she began walking away with the magical hand mirror. “Something tells me this thing’s more than worth it…”
Further up the street in Sunshine Plaza, Sunset Shimmer was sitting alone at a table outside a café. She currently had her magic journal open and was writing a message to Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria.
Dear Princess Twilight,
Tonight’s the night of the big movie premiere. All my friends are really excited, and I should be too, except I can’t seem to keep my mind on anything other than our new powers and the rogue magic that’s loose in this world and how scary but exhilarating it all is. How does it work? How can we be prepared for it? When will it show up again? Well, you see the problem. With the weight of all of Equestria on your shoulders, you must have some advice on how to—
Sunset turned to the next page, only to see nothing but the back cover of the book. “Oh, shoot!” she grumbled under her breath.
“What’s the matter, Sunset?” asked Pinkie Pie as she suddenly sat down at the table across from Sunset.
Sunset glanced up and saw the rest of her friends had also arrived. She closed her journal and held it up as she replied, “Oh, I just ran out of pages in my journal, that’s all.”
“Chillax, Sun-Shim,” remarked Rainbow Dash as she and Twilight sat down at another table.
“Um, who’s ‘Sun-Shim’?” asked Fluttershy as she, Applejack, and Rarity sat down at yet another table.
“That’s Sunset Shimmer’s new movie star name,” Rainbow casually replied. “I made it up!”
Applejack facepalmed and pointed out, “For Ole’s sake, we only have bit parts in this flick. We’re not movie starts.”
“Yet, darling,” Rarity smugly remarked. “Yet.”
“There’s more bothering you than just journal pages, isn’t there, Sunset?” asked Twilight.
Sunset hesitated to respond as she stared down at her journal.
“C’mon! Share your troubles,” pressed Pinkie Pie as she leaned close to Sunset and started rubbing her cheeks. “It might help soothe your stressed nerves.”
Sunset lightly shoved Pinkie away and uneasily replied, “Uh, I don’t wanna take any of the fun out of our big night—”
“I said spill it, Sun-Shim!” snapped Pinkie as she got right in Sunset’s face.
Sunset lightly shoved Pinkie away again and replied, “Okay, okay! It’s just that… things have been calm around here, magic-wise.”
“And that’s bad how, precisely?” asked Rarity.
“It’s not,” replied Sunset shamefully. “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, like… like what things?” Fluttershy nervously asked.
“I don’t know,” admitted Sunset with an uneasy smile. “I shouldn’t even be thinking about any of this stuff right now, and neither should any of you.”
As Sunset finished speaking, Pinkie noticed the magic journal starting to glow and vibrate. “Look! Princess Twilight’s writing you back!” she suddenly exclaimed excitedly. She quickly grabbed the journal and held it up as she leaned over Sunset. “Hey, everybody! Sunset’s getting an Equestri-text!”
Sunset snatched the journal out of Pinkie’s hand and once again shoved her away. “Honestly, Pinkie, do you have any sense of personal space?” grumbled Sunset before she opened her journal and began reading the latest message from Princess Twilight — which took up the very final page in the journal.
“What’s it say?” asked Applejack.
Sunset took a moment to read the message, her eyes growing wide as she neared the end of it. Once she was finished reading, she replied, “Princess Twilight wants me to come to… Equestria.”
“WHAT?!” exclaimed all six of Sunset’s friends at once.
Pinkie started to tear up as she asked, “You mean… you’re gonna leave us?!”
“What? No!” responded Sunset. She turned to everyone as she explained, “You see, Princess Twilight had already realized that I was about to run out of journal pages, so with a little help from Princess Celestia, she already has a new pair of magical journals all set for us to start using. Of course, I’ll first need to actually go get my new journal, so I’m just gonna make a quick visit to grab it, then I’ll be back with plenty of time to spare before tonight’s movie premiere.”
“Oh, well then, that’s quite a relief, darling,” remarked Rarity with a smile. “For a moment there, you really had us believing that Princess Twilight was asking you to move back to Equestria.”
“No, I’d never abandon you girls like that,” assured Sunset. “You’re my friends, and even though Equestria is where I grew up, this world is where I’ve been able to build a better life for myself. Trust me, it’ll take a lot more than just a filled journal to make me throw it all away.”
“That’s good to know,” said Fluttershy with a smile.
“Besides,” added Rainbow Dash, “I’m sure there’s a few other reasons why you’d rather not go back to Equestria anyway, right?”
Sunset hesitated for a moment before she replied, “Well, I won’t exactly deny that, but I’d rather not go into any details.”
“Understandable,” noted Rarity with a smile and nod.
“I’m also glad to know that we can still keep in touch with the ponies of Equestria,” Twilight spoke up. “To be honest, I’ve always been a little concerned about the finite amount of writing space available in that one book, so it’s good that you can just simply get a new blank journal.”
“Same here, Twilight,” admitted Sunset. “With all the worries I’ve been having lately, I’m really glad one of them won’t be losing contact with Princess Twilight.”
“So when does Princess Twilight want you to head on over?” asked Applejack.
“She said I’m welcome to visit at any time,” replied Sunset. She placed her journal into her shoulder bag as she continued, “Now seems as good a time as any, so I’ll just head on over to the interdimensional portal in City Park, visit Equestria for a few minutes to get my new magic journal, then come back and meet up with you girls later.”
“We’ve already planned on spending the day here in Sunshine Plaza, so you shouldn’t have much trouble finding us once you return,” Rarity pointed out.
“Just make sure you don’t stay too long to miss the big movie premiere tonight,” warned Rainbow Dash.
“Like I said, it’ll just be a quick visit,” assured Sunset as she stood up and slung the strap of her bag up onto her right shoulder, leaving the bag hanging over her left hip. “I probably won’t even set foot outside of Princess Twilight’s castle — or rather, set hoof outside the castle.”
The seven girls all giggled at that little reminder of the inhabitants of Equestria.
“Well, I’ll see you girls later,” said Sunset as she began walking away from the café.
“Bye, Sunset!” said her six friends as they all waved to her.
Sunset waved back to them, then turned away and continued walking up the street.
A few seconds after Sunset had left, Rainbow Dash turned to the others and asked, “So, uh, what do you girls wanna do while we wait for her?”
“Well, there’s plenty to see and do here in Sunshine Plaza,” replied Twilight, “so I’m sure we can think of something.”
“Perhaps a little window shopping will help us pass the time,” suggested Rarity as she stood up.
Applejack shrugged and stood up as she said, “Eh, not like Ah’ve got any better ideas.”
“I thought we were just gonna stay here and get a bite to eat,” said Pinkie in confusion as she gestured over at the café entrance.
“We’ve still got some time before lunch,” Twilight pointed out as she and Rainbow stood up, “but we can always come back here later.”
While Fluttershy also stood up, Pinkie shrugged and remarked, “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” She then stood up and walked over to her friends.
As the six girls began walking down the street of brick red 2x4 tiles, Rarity spoke up, “Be sure to keep your eyes open, girls. You never know when you might find something of interest in this district.”
Over at the Flixiplex Cinema in Sunshine Plaza further down the street, Juniper Montage was starting her shift. Over her standard clothes, her work uniform consisted of a burgundy vest on her torso, a short red and yellow striped apron over the front of her skirt, and a headband on top of her hair that displayed the cinema’s logo of a series of film reels and film strips.
Usually, Juniper would be in a bad mood as she worked behind the counter, but today, she had a rather lovely distraction from her woes in the form of a magical mirror in her hand. She smiled as she continued staring into that mirror, which was currently displaying her dream reflection surrounded by camera flashes and microphones pointed at her. She let out a happy sigh and muttered, “It’s like this mirror is the only one around here who gets me…”
“Ahem!”
Snapped out of her daydreaming, Juniper quickly turned around and saw her manager with a displeased frown on his face and holding a broom in his hand. In addition to wearing the cinema’s uniform, he had light green skin, a short green hair piece parted to the sides, and a small mustache on his face.
“Popcorn spill at the condiment counter,” stated the manager as he held the broom out to Juniper.
Juniper furrowed her brow, then held her magic mirror up to her manager and defiantly asked, “Does this look like someone who cleans popcorn spills?”
The manager raised an eyebrow as he saw just an ordinary reflection of himself. He glared at Juniper and replied in an unamused tone, “All I see is the face of an employer, asking a certain employee to do her job, or said employee will get fired.” He then shoved the broom into Juniper’s hands. “Now start sweeping!”
Juniper groaned loudly in frustration, then begrudgingly started walking towards the site of the mess while lazily dragging the broom behind her.
“And if I catch you staring at that silly mirror again, I will confiscate it,” the manager firmly added.
Juniper let out a sigh of frustration as she arrived at the pile of spilled popcorn. She glanced back and saw her manager turn around and walk away to attend to other matters. Now that she was sure she wasn’t being watched, she tossed the broom aside and grumbled, “This is the worst.” She then smiled and quietly remarked, “Hey, I know what’ll perk me up! A little Mirror Me time!”
Juniper held up and stared into the magic mirror again, and saw her dream reflection was now signing autographs on photos of herself to a crowd of exited fans.
Juniper giggled and pleasantly remarked, “That’s more like it!” She held the mirror close to her chest as she sighed sadly and muttered, “I wish this popcorn would just clean itself up so I could just stare at you all day.” She held up the mirror again, but before she could take another look into it, a bright blue ray of magical energy suddenly shot out from the glass and spread out to cover the pile of popcorn on the floor. The ray lasted for only a few seconds before it vanished just as suddenly, and once that bright glare was gone, Juniper was shocked to discover that the entire pile was now completely gone — not even a single crumb had been left on the floor.
Behind Juniper, her manager walked by and as soon as he noticed the now completely clean floor, he stopped and said in astonishment, “Huh? Done already? I’m shocked.”
Juniper quickly turned to her manager — making sure to hide the magic mirror behind her back — and smiled innocently.
The manager scratched his head, then simply shrugged and continued on his way.
Once her manager was again out of sight, Juniper turned back to where the popcorn mess had once been and stared down at her mirror as she muttered, “You and me both…” She couldn’t help but feel a little concerned that she was actually holding such a powerful artifact in her hands. For a brief moment, she considered whether she should even be in possession of such incredible powers, but another look at her dream reflection in the mirror immediately convinced her otherwise.
Well, not like I have anything better to do around here, Juniper thought to herself. Might as well try to figure out how it actually works. Besides, there’s plenty of popcorn to go around, so I’m sure nobody will care if a little more goes missing.
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Poor Spike gets shafted so much its like noone really knows what to do with the poor sod in a pretty pink princess pony girls show.
I guess it's a little difficult to insert a lot of LEGO humor into a story based off of a short about girls chilling at the mall before chaos strikes.
Sweet! Now we begin our mirror magic adventure! Yeah I can understand this being a short chapter. But I'm looking forward to whatever comes next.
And now, the Mirror Magic starts.
I look forward to seeing Sunset's return to Equestria...
8896992 Like I said in the author's note, there will be a reason why Spike isn't with the girls for this part of the story, but you'll have to wait until a later chapter to find out what it is.
8897201 Yeah, but I still manage to fit in a few bits and pieces wherever I can, such as Juniper smashing that posterboard stand to pieces.