31 (FINAL): The Next Interruption
It was late morning, and both girls were back in suburban Canterlot, sitting at a booth in a small diner on the edge of town.
"So, million-dollar question," Sunset said as she and Starlight waited for their orders to be prepared. "How did you sleep?"
It was the question Starlight had been hoping Sunset would ask as soon as possible, just so they could get it out of the way. "As well as I could?" she replied. "I actually didn't dream at all, which was refreshing. Looks like no news is good news—really good news in my case."
"No kidding," Sunset said. "I'm glad to hear it."
Starlight nodded. "I'm definitely in a slightly better place than I've been over the last few days, for now. But that doesn't mean this is anywhere near over. I still want to know why my magic... hijacked me, but I'm afraid to go back to find out. Not yet. Need to... still need to vacation." She exhaled. "And a place where I don't have any magic to my name is still the best candidate."
"We'll get to the bottom of it," Sunset said. "I promise."
Starlight started to respond, to say how much she trusted Sunset's words, but it was then that the waiter—a beige-colored boy with blue spiky hair, and a white work apron hastily tied over his khakis and shirt—arrived with two dishes. "All righty, that's one deluxe fruit salad, and one pancake tower," he said. "Enjoy, Shimmer and Posse. Let me know if you need anything else."
"Thanks, Flash," Sunset said with a sincere smile. "How's this new gig working out for you?"
"You know, I didn't think I'd like it at first, but it's actually going really great." Flash beamed. "It's part-time, meaning I don't miss out on everything with my friends, but at the same time it's nice to just have a quiet place with all grown-up customers who aren't so loud. One gets enough decibels in your diet from rockout practice, if you get my meaning." He mimed strumming a guitar with his fingers.
"Hell, yeah. Big mood," Sunset said, holding out her fist for Flash to bump. "Oh, also, as far as the 'posse' goes: Starlight, this is Flash Sentry. Flash Sentry, Starlight Glimmer. She's from out of town."
"Oh! Hi, nice to meet you, Starlight," he said, shaking Starlight's extended hand... before raising an eyebrow towards Sunset. "Mind if I ask how far out of town?"
"Spoilers," Sunset said.
Flash chuckled, shaking his head. "Ahhh, whatever. You know the visitor I'm waiting for. Anyone else, long as you don't cause a world-endangering magical catastrophe, you're a-okay in my book. Enjoy your stay here!" he said, walking off to tend to other customers.
Starlight walked him leave, then turned to Sunset with the first question that came to mind. "Wait. That's a Flash Sentry? The 'dreamboat' from Twilight's di—I mean, that Spike's told me about once or twice and that's totally the only way I know him I swear?"
Sunset giggled. "The same, yeah."
"Huh." Starlight shrugged. "He seems so... harmless."
"Yeah," Sunset said, sighing with a spaceward stare. "Looking back on it, he probably always was." She looked back to Starlight, who was making starry eyes at the stack of flapjacks in front of her. "So, I'm the last one to judge peoples' eating preferences," she said, looking around at the modest portions of the rest of the diner's clientele.,"but since I am paying for this: Are you actually going to eat all ten of those?"
"Yeah, so, I used to live in a town where I ate not much else but sticks, bland bread and the occasional vegetable root, entirely by my mayoral decree." Starlight slathered on a bunch of maple syrup over the stack, raised her knife and fork, and dug in. "My penance is an eternal craving for double sugar and carbs at every meal. Speaking of, though: has Princess Twilight ever told you about her pancake misadventures?"
"What?" Sunset gasped, slamming her hands on the table. "They're real? She keeps pretending they're not! Like, sometimes she writes to me saying 'I had another pancake incident today, I wish I could quit them,' and I'll be like 'tell me, I'll listen, also this sounds hilarious already', and she'll say 'it's nothing interesting', and I'm all 'filly, please, you're not fooling anypony with—'"
"Oh, they are that interesting." Starlight leaned in, her smile conspiratorial. "I promise."
Sunset pointed to Starlight's plate. "Okay. Every story gets you a free stack of those from now until your vacation is finished."
Starlight squealed. "Deal! Just know what you've gotten yourself into, though: there are a million stories. But it all starts with the very first one, where she pulled an all-nighter and then woke up with a stack perfectly balanced on her head—"
"There you are! Hey, Sunset!" a new, female voice sounded from their left, causing Starlight and Sunset to turn their heads.
The voice's owner rushed up to the booth, plopping her hands down on the table upon arrival. "I'm here like you asked: high noon on the dot, just like in all the old westerns! What's this really important cool thing you'd said I would totally love?"
Sunset smiled to the new arrival, then turned to Starlight.
It took Starlight and the new girl—a bespectacled, green-haired ivory teenager wearing a purple blouse, black skirt with fuchsia polka dots, and carrying a green camera bag—a few seconds to recognize each other, but the moment they simultaneously did, they gasped, putting their hands to their mouths.
The new girl stared at Starlight with shining eyes, tears already threatening at their corners. "Holy crap. Hi, Starlight," she breathed.
Starlight responded in kind. "Hi, Juniper."
The End For Now
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Thanks for playing! Show's over, ninjas win.
Thumbs are on now.
This was a lot of fun. I'm glad you made this.
I feel like the ending warrants this:
...Are you implying that You're Not Alone Anymore is now canon, or is this something completely different? ...Eh, I'm probably overthinking it. That's almost always the case. But even without said story happening, they haven't seen each other since the monster incident... that I'm aware of.
9744892
... you're very overthinking it.
Even without the monster incident totally counting, there's also another MCU story where they meet that you haven't finished yet. ;)
9744931
Yeah, I figured that was the case. Like I said, I tend to overthink things. To put too fine a point on it:
Starlight is to overdoing as CapNTilfy is to overthinking.
Anywhosiwhatsit, this was a fun read!
...I'll finish Being Juniper Montage. Pinkie Promise!
And then the internet exploded in anticipation ^^
Nice, heartfelt, and sweet with great character interactions AND a solid role for our favorite zebra.
That was entertaining. Love the interactions of the two characters. A simple slice of life tale with a possible sequel hook
Fun, fluffy and heartwarming. Thank you for this lovely little slice of life story Bookish.
A most successful experiment! Thank you for taking us through the process, and one heck of a heartfelt journey as well.
Also, I do have to commend this Flash. He really is taking the whole "magical horse aliens from another world" thing quite well.
This was a pleasant story
"I'm here to talk to you about the
Avenger InitiativeMCU."Not a particularly fun story, but a meaningful one. Congratulations on the successful experiment, and good luck with wherever it leads you next.
An enjoyable finish to an enjoyable story!
I'm afraid you'll have to keep waiting, Flash. FOREVER.
But yeah, great story.
I came back, and finished the story! Loved the friendshipping, loved the backstory, and loved that ending. xD
I can finally give the story the thumbs up it deserved.
<3
9746288
Thanks for coming back ❤️
Starlight Glimmer, you remember Juniper Montage? The girl who had a magically-induced psychotic episode based on vanity that was so amazingly harmless that I'm really shocked that she thinks she's on the same level of psychosis as a megalomaniac sociopath (Starlight) and a paranoid megalomaniac (Sunset)?
She's recently been dating this other kid who has been struggling with self-esteem issues and, yeah, you guessed it, magic escalated this into a psychotic break that I ended up having to fix at nearly the cost of my mind and identity.
I think that you two are going to like getting to know each other.
9751280
Thanks, these were fun to read
And so begins a bold new age of Bookish! It's definitely an interesting change of pace; more rugged, more particular...the day-by-day structure and the way each one simultaneously acts as a tiny piece of Story unto itself while also ultimately interconnecting into a coherent whole means that we experience the story in much the same way the characters themselves do: a day spent together in reflection and self-discovery. That's especially effective here because of how so much of what Sunset and Starlight do with each other ultimately reveals itself as the creation of a rapport, a space of trust and openness, which ultimately unfolds like a peeling back of layers that draws both closer together such that they can ultimately share in the root problem that prompted all of this in the first place (which itself is a great way you use the structure to your advantage: it's never quite like a mystery per se just what it is that had Starlight so worried at the outset but the way it lingers in the background of almost every chapter even without always being explicitly present works exceptionally well). And then we get to bathe just as calmly in the aftermath of that problem's exposure.
For all that this story was written almost improvisationally, that very fact means that each piece feels invested with a meaning and weight of its own even as they also add up together into a greater picture of Starlight's always-open road to recovery (which you continue to find new and fascinating angles to explore by the way; the notion that maybe Starlight might well have had a point about the negative effects of Cutie Marks even if her response was wrong is well handled and seeded into the story just right), and how those facts compare and contrast with the road Sunset's own life has taken. There's a fullness of time and feeling created by the way this story's creation process was handled that I really appreciated all throughout. The pacing, the mood, the emotions...it's at once eminently recognizable as Yours, but this new style frames it in an energizing new light that was a real joy to read along with from day to day.
Plus there's just so much here that's simply fun, brilliant, or both like literally everything to do with your take on Zecora. Starlight and Sunset are the obvious stars here but Zecora really does steal the show every time she's here; nevermind that you handle her rhyming dialogue like a champ but you do so many great things to reinterpret her for the EqG 'verse; the Beat Poet angle is the most self-evidently Clever and I love it, but the way you fit her into one of the weirdest holes the movies have left open for so long (i.e. how the heck did Sunset survive for so long after coming to the mirror world before Twilight arrived?) and make her Sunset's caretaker and foster-mom is maybe my favorite detail of the entire story for how utterly perfect it is. Or the way you play up the Magic VS Technology angle all throughout as a way of not only reflecting on the central emotional conflict bubbling along beneath the surface but also as a unique way to play up Starlight and Sunset's differing perspectives AND do some nifty little world-building/lore-fiddling along the way? That's genius! Even the Big Rant that may as well be directly aimed at Certain Fans feels equally satisfying on THAT level as it does an entirely diegetic piece of the story, an often hard balance to strike.
It's all just so fascinating to watch as these Classic Bookish Ingredients get mixed together in an entirely new way, creating as a result a story that simultaneously reminds us of all the best elements of your work while promising that in truth there are new avenues you can still explore in that same space with the right point of view, and I'll be eager to see you sink your teeth deeper and deeper into that fact as we go forward because this story alone makes for a truly excellent entry in its own right. ^_^
I finally read it! And it was beautiful!
No for real, this story is gorgeous. And now I want to see where Juniper shenanigans lead. o.o
Also, Zecora as Sunset's sort of adopted mom here was not something I knew I wanted until you gave it.
What a sweet and engaging story. I certainly hope more comes later, but if not then I appreciate this little slice of life friendship story that has all of the tasty tendrils of romance tickling the edges. ♥
Aw, the video's gone. :C Well, this was fantastic regardless.
So is there's gonna be a part 2 of this sense it ended with the end for now????????
And with that, you have earned your 1697th follower!
What a beautiful story. I adored the chemistry between the two unicorns, as well as there individual characterization (particularly Sunset’s deadpan snark). You have such a wonderful way with words. Here’s your upvote!