I probably should have seen this coming. I’m not exactly the most popular pony around here. I tried to steal the crown … well, I did steal the crown. Then I used it to try to get an army to take over Equestria. Not that the plan would have likely worked, thinking back on it I don’t know why I thought that brainwashed kids were going to be able to take down two ponies strong enough to move the sun and moon. Obviously I should just put that one down to poor planning, I really wasn’t thinking clearly near the end.

The only successful part of that was stealing the crown.

I turned to look to the two ponies, presumably guards, standing outside of my cell. They looked the same, mostly. The two of them were white Earth Ponies with a blonde mane and the same set of armor. I wondered if this was anything like the guard of Canterlot, where they rigidly enforced that. I remembered looking, and asking Celestia how they could all have looked the same. She said something about the armor being enchanted, making it to where everypony in the guard looked the same to ensure … I couldn’t remember what it was that she said it was to enforce.

That wasn’t actually all that important right now.

“I’m guessing I don’t get a phone call or anything?” As those words left my mouth, I instantly realized just how stupid it was. There weren’t phones here, there had never even been the need for anything like that. Equestria, and likely this kingdom as well, stuck with what was known as a letter. It was a much slower, less efficient, form of communication that I had gotten out of the habit of using.

From the looks I was being given, though, I knew I would have to get used to the habit of talking about letters again. Either that, or just not talk about either of them.

“I don’t suppose I can speak to somepony in charge of this place, could I?” That was something that I knew would get me a much better reply. One of the guards looked to the other, then back to me.

“The Prince will be here soon. You may speak with him at that point in time, criminal.”

There was at least one good piece of information from that. Actually, there were two. One of them was the fact that I was going to be able to speak to whoever this Prince was. The thing that I liked more, though, was something that I wouldn’t have liked even a few months prior. Neither of these guards seemed to know that I was anything more than a simple prisoner. I knew things would have been a lot worse if they had known my name, and my previous crimes.

That moved onto something that I just realized was weird.

Why was the Prince coming to talk to me? I wasn’t important enough to warrant this, unless they knew who I was. If they knew who I was, they likely wouldn’t have been as nice so far as they have been. I knew what happened to ponies who trespassed the crown, and it wasn’t anything as simple as jail time. Royalty didn’t often speak with normal criminals to my knowledge, though Celestia had often tried to see a few of them from time to time. Maybe that had been something that had changed since I had last known.

My reconnaissance has time had been primarily focused on my mission, after all. The way things worked for criminals wasn’t going to be necessary information if I had won.

All of that aside, all I can do now is wait. The pony who was going to come to see me, and likely question me, was royalty. From my experience, even with Celestia, that meant that the wait could be a while. There was a lot on the plate of some, and others simply wanted to make themselves feel as though they were important enough to make everypone else wait for their arrival.

A name came to mind at that thought, and that name was Fancy Pants.

Then I heard a knock on the door, which promptly pushed that name to the dustbin of not important. I was sure that the minor noble would have probably disappeared anyway. Right now I had to focus on the Prince. I knew it was him, as there was a gasp. Either it was the Prince or it was somepony else of major importance. Maybe I could have gotten lucky and it might have been another criminal. If there were the two of us, maybe the focus on me would be less.

No, no, I knew that was a bad thought to have.

If they knew who I was, which I was really starting to think on the basis that the Prince was coming to talk to me, whoever else had to do something horrible. Probably something that hurt somebo-pony. I had to really try to keep with the good lessons I had learned. If only the Elements of Harmony were able to flip some light switch as make it to where being good was easy. Things would have just been a lot better if that were the case.

I shook my head as the door opened.

If this really was the Prince, that was good. Executions didn’t happen often, though my crimes were definitely bad enough to warrant it. There was also the chance that this would have ended in a jail sentence, or maybe a full pardon and I was just about to be let out. One of those things, jail time, would have been acceptable, the other terrible, and I didn’t even bother throwing the third into a category. There was absolutely no chance I was being let out of here. I did wish that the news came soon enough, though, because the wait was the worst part.

There was something about waiting that made everything seem worse than it was.

Then I realized it wasn’t the Prince. I was still seeing royalty, just not the one that I had expected. The lavender pony princess in front of me was unmistakable. I saw it in her face, in those eyes that looked at me with a shocked expression. Even though I hadn’t seen her much on this side, I would have known Twilight Sparkle anywhere. The real question was why she was here, though. I had been told that the Prince was going to be here to see me.

Of course, there was a chance that they had meant the Princess.

There was always the chance that this was the Princess of the realm. I had thought that it was some pony named Cadance, but maybe I had been wrong. It wouldn’t be the first mistake I had ever made, and most certainly wouldn’t be the last. It even made sense that Princess Twilight would have wanted to be the one that handed out judgment. The old me, the one who still poked its dirty little head every now and again, would have loved to do that sort of thing. While Princess Twilight was a good friend to some, I still couldn’t say what she was going to do in this situation.

I knew what would have happened if my old self had seen Twilight Sparkle in a cell, though, all that time ago.

I couldn’t help it, though, when I moved my gaze from her eyes. There was something different about her. Obviously I knew the wings would have appeared, and grown. I had actually gotten a look at the wings initially. They looked stronger, though. Her horn had also changed, growing in size. I wondered if that had something to do with her magic. Her entire body seemed to have grown, actually. That was something that I hadn’t anticipated, though Celestia’s size should have likely been a key in figuring out that it would have happened.

The only thing I didn’t like was what seeing her automatically did to me.

I could have sworn that I had gotten over it. I had friends on the other side of that mirror. Pinkie Pie Rarity, Fluttershy, they were there for me when I needed them. They likely would have been the first to tell me that being a princess didn’t matter. At the same time, though, part of me wants that to be me. Part of me really wants that. “Have you come here to sentence me, Princess Sparkle, or just gloat?” As those words left my mouth, I once again knew that they weren’t the right words to be said.

Sentence or gloat?

Neither of those made any sense.

I hadn’t even known that she was here before now. I still didn’t know what she was being charged with, if anything. Even if that was the case, I wasn’t the pony in charge here. If anypony was going to sentence her for anything, it would have been either my brother or Cadance. That wasn’t something that she likely knew, though, so I understood that one being a question.

Gloat, though, made very little sense.

I was sure that I hadn’t done anything that could have made her think I was a gloaty pony when I had gone to Canterlot High. I looked up for a few moments, I tried to think of anything. There had to be something, maybe, that would have come me. Maybe she had a real reason to assume that she was either going to be punished by me or bragged to be .. me. Either way, I had to make sure that I set the record straight.

“I didn’t even know you were here until I got here. I just heard the noise, and I was curious.” I hoped that a chuckle would help out, it always helped out according to the speech book I read shortly after becoming a princess. “And even if I had, there’s nothing for me to gloat about. Being a princess doesn’t make me better than anypony.” My mind moved back to the idea of punishment, though, and decided to ask the most basic question. “What exactly did you do to get locked up anyway?”

The look I got definitely wasn’t one that believed what I had just asked. Either that, or she was just trying to taunt me. I knew to believe the best in everypony, but sometimes ponies seemed to think that taunting was acceptable. Also, she didn’t really seem to like me all that much. It did seem like she was going to respond to me, though, which was progress. “I didn’t do anything, really. Well, nothing this time.” As I looked at her face, I kind of wished that Applejack was here. She would have been able to tell me if this mare was lying. In the end, though, all I had was my own judgment. “I guess they didn’t like that I just showed up through the mirror. It’s not my fault that it’s here, though.”

I wanted to believe her.

There were a lot of good points. If she had done anything too terrible, there would likely have been more than two guards here. Another point was that any pony would have assumed that they would have moved the mirror. I still don’t know why it was still where it was. If she was telling the truth, though, there was something that I needed to know. I had left her in the care of good friends. If she was here, something bad could have happened.

Maybe they needed my help.

Maybe the land had been devastated by a war, something that Sunset Shimmer needed our help with.

Maybe I just needed to ask, to make sure.

“So …is there something happening on the other side?” The confused look I got told me that I had to continue. “Well, I kind of didn’t expect to see you again.” Those words earned me a sneer, and I knew they were the wrong way of putting it. “Not that I’m upset that you’re back, I just thought you liked it over on the other side. And I want to make sure my friends on the other side haven’t gotten into any trouble while I’ve been gone.”

That seemed to make her a little less angry.

“They’re just fine.” I let out a breath that I hadn’t even known I was holding in. “I just have to do some things around here. It’s been years since I have shown my face around here, after all.” Part of me wanted to as for more details, but something stopped me. “I have a family, after all, I’m sure they’re worried about me.” I had to wonder if that detail had slipped out, or if she had wanted me to know part of what she was going to do.

“I’m going to go talk to my brother and see if I can’t help you out of here. I know you’re not a bad pony, and I’m going to make sure that he knows that as well.” With that, I turned and left. I had a job to do, and I wanted to get it done as quickly as possible. Nopony liked being in a jail cell. Not to mention that this was all one big misunderstanding.