My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Magic, Magic Everywhere! Page 6

  “Wait for me here,” she instructed Starlight Glimmer. She needed to investigate. Starlight hung back and peeked around the corner to watch what was happening.

  Juniper Montage seemed unexpectedly happy to see Sunset Shimmer. “I was wondering when you’d show up,” she said, smiling.

  “I’m really just looking for my friends,” Sunset Shimmer told her. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen them?”

  Juniper giggled.

  “Where are they?!” Sunset Shimmer demanded to know.

  “I’ll never tell,” answered Juniper Montage coyly.

  “You don’t have to!” With one hand, Sunset Shimmer held her geode, and with the other, she touched Juniper’s shoulder. She looked into her eyes—and fell into Juniper’s mind. She immediately saw a memory.

  Canter Zoom was talking to Juniper Montage in the lobby of the cinema. “You’re lucky I offered to get you this job after the stunt you pulled on my set,” he was telling her.

  “I just wanted to be Daring Do,” grumbled Juniper. “I just wanted people to like me.”

  Now Sunset Shimmer saw Juniper Montage watching the dance video. She could see her thoughts. Everyone would love me if it weren’t for you girls. This is all your fault.

  Poor Juniper Montage, thought Sunset Shimmer. What she really needed wasn’t popularity or admiration; what she needed were friends.

  But knowing that didn’t make her any less dangerous. That’s when Sunset Shimmer saw a more recent memory: Juniper wishing that the girls would disappear and sucking them up into her mirror.

  Sunset Shimmer backed away quickly from Juniper Montage. She knew she was dangerous, but she hadn’t realized she also had magical powers.

  Juniper’s eyes narrowed. “What? What?”

  “I know you want people to like you,” Sunset Shimmer said carefully. “But trust me, the magic in that mirror is only going to make things worse for you.”

  Juniper tossed her hair. “You’re just saying that because you want the mirror for yourself.”

  “What I want is my friends back. Please, Juniper. You wished them into that mirror. Maybe there is a way you can wish them out.”

  “Or maybe,” cackled Juniper, “I wish you’d join them!”

  Whoosh!

  A beam of magic shot out of the mirror like a lasso and wrapped itself around Sunset Shimmer, sucking her into the reflected limbo.

  “Sunset!” called Starlight Glimmer.

  But it was too late. She was gone.

  Stars and Shards

  Sunset Shimmer flew into the limbo like she’d been shot out of a cannon. She hurtled past the cluster of girls, tumbled over and over, and finally stumbled woozily to her feet.

  “Sunset Shimmer!” exclaimed Twilight Sparkle, surprised to see her.

  “Hurray!” Pinkie Pie shouted. “We’re all together again!”

  Fluttershy felt something pulsing at her neck. It was her geode. Its light dimmed and brightened, dimmed and brightened. The geodes all the other girls were wearing flashed, too.

  “Um…” noted Fluttershy, barely able to talk.

  “But wait,” realized Twilight Sparkle, a look of horror on her face. “If we’re all together, then nobody out there knows where we are!”

  “Starlight Glimmer does!” Sunset Shimmer told them.

  “Um… g-girls…” Fluttershy stuttered. But she was speaking too softly for anyone to hear. The geodes were glowing now.

  “Whoa!” said Rainbow Dash, suddenly noticing. “Check out our geodes!”

  “That’s what I was trying to say!” A relieved Fluttershy sighed.

  Not only were the geodes pulsing, but the empty space where the girls were seemed to be vibrating to the same rhythm.

  “Something’s changed,” Twilight Sparkle noted. “This wasn’t happening before.”

  “Maybe it’s because all seven of us are together now,” suggested Sunset Shimmer.

  Applejack pursed her lips. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

  Beams of energy shot out of their geodes at the exact same moment. They lit up the frame of the mirror that trapped them.

  Rarity gasped. “Oh dear. I’m not so sure this is a good thing!”

  “Check it out!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, investigating. She was peering around the mirror frame. Everyone joined her. What could she see?

  They could see Juniper Montage’s face looking into the mirror.

  With each pulse of the mirror in her hand, Juniper was changing. She was growing taller, her hair was curling, her face was sharpening. Her uniform was even becoming an evening gown. She was turning into her enchanted reflection.

  “Everyone will finally recognize I’m a star!” Juniper’s bright-green eyes glittered. “Now to sign some autographs!”

  She stomped past Starlight Glimmer without seeing her. She glided through the mall. She felt perfectly glamorous, but she didn’t have any idea how terrifying she was. She was twice as tall as everyone else! People fled as soon as they saw her. They didn’t want an autograph; they wanted to get away!

  Starlight Glimmer tailed her, trying to figure out what to do. “Okay, first things first. I need to get that magic mirror away from her.”

  Cowering mall-goers snapped photos of the strange monster stomping past the stores. Juniper thought they were paparazzi and posed, smiling. She saw a small child eating an ice cream cone with his mother and approached them.

  “Want Mommy to take our picture together?” she asked, grinning.

  The child burst into tears and leaped into his mother’s arms.

  “Juniper Montage! Juniper Montage!” called Starlight Glimmer. “I’m from the… uh… um… Canterlot Times. I’m writing an exclusive.…”

  Juniper spun around. “An exclusive?”

  “Yes,” said Starlight Glimmer, thinking fast. “About the secret to your amazing success. I’d love to get an interview.”

  Juniper Montage sighed happily. “But of course!”

  “Great! Maybe you could take me somewhere a little quieter so we won’t be interrupted by all your adoring fans?”

  “Good idea,” answered Juniper. “I don’t think you’d be able to hear a thing over my screaming fans.”

  A patron had just seen Juniper and run howling with terror into a department store. Juniper waved before heading back toward the theater lobby.

  The moment Juniper wasn’t looking, Starlight Glimmer lunged—and snatched the mirror. Juniper was furious! Both their hands were on the mirror, tugging at it. Starlight Glimmer wouldn’t let go. Juniper wouldn’t let go. But the mirror flew out of their hands anyway. It dropped on the ground—and cracked.

  Mistakes and Forgiveness

  The girls felt the glass crack. The invisible world around them began to shake. Huge cracks appeared under their feet. The girls screamed.

  “The mirror is breaking!” shouted Sunset Shimmer.

  “If Starlight Glimmer doesn’t find a way to get us out of here soon, I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Twilight Sparkle cried.

  Starlight Glimmer’s face appeared in the mirror frame.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” whispered Sunset Shimmer.

  The girls heard Juniper Montage screaming, “Give that back!”

  “No,” Starlight Glimmer refused. “This mirror is nothing but trouble. You have to realize that.”

  “What I realize,” said Juniper Montage, “is that you are just like those other girls. I wish you’d join them.”

  Starlight Glimmer braced herself, preparing to disappear. But nothing happened. “Looks like you can’t make that wish unless you’re the one holding the mirror,” she realized. “I wish Sunset Shimmer and her friends would come back.”

  But nothing happened.

  Juniper smiled. “Looks like you can’t use it, either! Might as well give it back to me.”

  Juniper lunged toward the mirror, but Starlight Glimmer jumped away from her. A shard from the broken mirror splintered and fell out. />
  Fluttershy screamed as she teetered toward a gaping hole of nothingness inside the mirror. Sunset Shimmer grabbed ahold of her, and Rainbow Dash grabbed Sunset Shimmer. But there was nothing else in their strange limbo world to hold on to but one another.

  Juniper Montage could not take her eyes off the mirror in Starlight Glimmer’s hands.

  “I’ll return the mirror,” Starlight Glimmer told her. “But if its magic still works for you, you have to try and use it to bring the girls back.”

  “And why in the world should I do that?”

  Starlight Glimmer took a deep breath. She thought about everything she’d learned about friendship—in Equestria and since coming to Canterlot High. “I overheard Sunset saying that you want to be liked. I have to believe that deep down you know this isn’t the way to make that happen.”

  “Isn’t it?” sneered Juniper Montage. “Those girls took away any other chance I had of being famous.”

  She lunged again toward Starlight. Starlight lifted the mirror over her head—and another shard crashed to the ground.

  The girls inside the mirror screamed. What would happen if they went from limbo into nothingness? Where would they be then?

  But Rarity remembered her geode! She clutched it. She activated it—and a diamond dome shielded the girls from the gaping abyss. But how long would it last? What if more cracks, and more unfathomable crevices, appeared?

  Starlight knew the girls were in danger. She had to act fast. “Is fame really what you’re after?” she asked Juniper Montage. “Or are you looking for something else?”

  Juniper’s brow furrowed. “Like what?”

  “Like,” said Starlight softly, “a friend.”

  Juniper sniffed. “Who would want to be my friend? If I’m famous, people have to like me.”

  “I want to be your friend.” Starlight Glimmer reached out her hand.

  But Juniper Montage didn’t trust her. “Why?”

  “Because I understand you, Juniper. You’re angry, hurt, and sad. You think getting revenge is going to make you feel better, but it’s not! Please don’t make a mistake that you’ll end up regretting for the rest of your life.”

  Juniper Montage hung her head in shame. “I’ve already made too many mistakes. What I’ve done is… unforgivable.”

  “No, Juniper,” said Starlight Glimmer, trying to reassure her. “I have a feeling they’ll forgive you. But first, you have to set them free!”

  She knew she was taking a big risk, but Starlight Glimmer held out the mirror to Juniper Montage.

  There were gaping cracks everywhere inside the mirror. The girls were slipping and sliding toward them. The dome couldn’t protect them from the void much longer.

  Juniper greedily grabbed the mirror. She gazed at its surface. But this time she did not see herself. She saw the girls, afraid and in danger.

  “I wish I could make up for my mistakes,” murmured Juniper.

  More cracks cut through the white expanse of nothingness. The dome disappeared. The girls were all careering in different directions. All hope seemed lost.

  Boom!

  The girls burst out of the mirror into the lobby of the movie theater.

  “Starlight, you did it!” exclaimed Sunset Shimmer with relieved gratitude.

  A crowd of people was clustering around, trying to figure out what was happening.

  “So much for laying low.” Starlight Glimmer shrugged.

  “I think even Princess Twilight would understand,” Sunset Shimmer reassured her.

  Juniper was back to her normal self. When she looked in what was left of the mirror, all she could see was her plain, regular, ordinary face.

  She put down the mirror. “I’m so sorry,” she said. But unlike when she had apologized for disrupting the Daring Do movie, this time she meant it.

  The girls recognized her sincerity.

  “It’s okay,” said Sunset Shimmer kindly. “We’ve all been there.”

  “Really?” Juniper Montage didn’t believe that.

  Starlight Glimmer raised her hand. “I manipulated an entire town into giving up their talents so they wouldn’t think they were special.”

  Twilight Sparkle stepped forward. “Over-powered by a magic I couldn’t control and created a rift between two worlds, almost destroying both of them in the process.”

  “Turned the whole school into my own personal zombie army at Fall Formal,” Sunset Shimmer admitted.

  Juniper’s mouth hung open.

  “Wow!” said Pinkie Pie. “We are a really forgiving group.”

  Everyone burst out laughing. It was true. They were.

  Juniper Montage pointed up at the video screen. “You are also an award-winning group,” she said.

  “What?” exclaimed Sunset Shimmer. Could it be true?

  “What are you talking about?” Rarity held her breath. If they had won, they would get the prize money and be able to pay for the repairs Camp Everfree needed. Her plan would have worked!

  “Is that our video?” whispered Fluttershy, amazed.

  “It is! It is! It is!” Pinkie Pie was jumping up and down. “We won the dance video contest!”

  “And the prize money!” shouted Rainbow Dash, pumping her fist in the air.

  “Dance Magic” was the winning video. The girls had done it.

  They had saved Camp Everfree again.

  Not only that, they had saved Juniper Montage from herself. And they had made a wonderful new friend in Starlight Glimmer. Once again, they had shown that the best magic was always the Magic of Friendship. With friendship, you could do anything.

  Endings and… Beginnings!

  It was time for Starlight Glimmer to head back to Equestria. The girls clustered around the statue of the Wondercolt.

  “I’m so sad to leave,” said Starlight Glimmer. “I haven’t really had the chance to get to know all of you!”

  Sunset Shimmer was just about to say something when her journal began to glow. A message was appearing. She quickly opened it up to find out what Princess Twilight had to say. She smiled as she read. “Maybe you don’t have to leave yet!”

  The girls cheered.

  Sunset Shimmer read out loud the message from Equestria. “Dear Sunset Shimmer. Some lessons are better learned in action, and you girls are great teachers. Starlight should stay for a few more days. At least until you find out how the Daring Do movie is doing!”

  Starlight Glimmer beamed with happiness. “I think she means you, too, Sunset. Think you can focus on the positive and not worry too much about out-of-control magic?”

  “Whatever happens is going to happen,” realized Sunset Shimmer. “Not much I can do about it, so I’ve just gotta live in the moment, right?”

  “Right!” agreed Starlight Glimmer.

  Magical things were always going to happen, but if you had friends, nothing would ever go wrong for very long.

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