For some reason, I really liked hearing those words. When I had come to the Crystal Empire, I hadn't even thought of the idea that I would have left with a student. Yet here I was, with a student. I had somepony who I was going to teach, who was going to need me to make sure that they were able to interact with the world around them. The fact that I didn’t know what I was going to teach, at least not at this point, was slightly less relevant at this point. I just wanted to be happy that I was going to have Sunset Shimmer as a student, and that my lie hadn’t hurt anypony at all.

Then there was the fact that my student was Sunset Shimmer.

My new student, something that I had to hold back a squeal of joy when I thought, was correct. There was no use sitting around there. The other thing she said, about my friends forgiving her, wasn’t something I was worried about. She didn’t know my friends like I did. So, in a way, she was right about the fact that my friends were going to be as forgiving of her as I was. After all, there was no reason for any of them to hold a grudge.

Yep, everything was coming up right.

“We’ll head right to the train station as soon as I get a couple of books from the library.” I noticed a slight change in her expression, though I didn’t think too much about it. From her perspective, this was likely just a little bit longer that she had to stay somewhere that she was banished from. If it were me, I knew that I wouldn’t have wanted to be there any longer than I had to be. “There is one book that I need to borrow, and another one that I think might help me figure out a few things about my new position as your teacher.”

The first book was also about teaching, but I didn’t want to let her know that yet.

Before she could have responded, I quickly moved to get the key from the guard. The sooner she was out of here, the sooner I was going to get that book. I had a lot of reading to do. That was actually something else that made this whole thing exciting. I was going to be doing something for the first time. There was nothing more exciting than when a pony expanded their knowledge, and that was exactly what I was going to do. Words couldn’t describe how happy I was, even if I still felt terrible for the fact that this was all built on a lie.

Within a couple of seconds, I had unlocked the door and opened it. “It won’t take long, I promise.” I didn’t know why I said that. It was only two books, but I had no idea where these books were in the library. I also didn’t know if there were any other books that I might have wanted to borrow. There were far too many possibilities for me to have said that with any real accuracy. At the same time, I knew that I probably had to try to ensure that this took as little time as possible.

“No problem, take your time. You’re the one that saved my flank back there, after all.”

Twilight Sparkle

While it had taken practically no time to get here, it was taking forever to get the books that I needed. The first title was simple. Learn to Teach: A Simple Way to Get Your Ideas Across was in the self-help section. It was one of those things that I knew I would need. It was next to another book that I had wanted, and had actually snatched before Sunset had looked over. Slumber 201: More Things You Need to Know was a very hard book to get ahold of. I was actually kind of surprised that this library had been able to get it when I hadn’t.

Maybe it would have helped if the librarian hadn’t used some strange system

No, no, there was no reason to blame the librarian. She used what worked for her, and for the ponies that were here.  I was going to have to find the other book that I had come here to get. Maybe if I simply asked Sunset to help me, we would both have been out of here quicker.

Actually, I was going to do that right now.

“Sunset, could you help me find a book called The Anatomy of Magic: How the Horn Works? It should be around here somewhere.” I looked over to see that my new student was reading a book, a rather large book actually. This was one of those moments that I was kind of proud. When she looked up at me, with a smirk on her face, I thought that maybe she had discovered something while she had been reading. Instead, the thing that I got was something even better.

She soon closed the book, which was titled The Anatomy of Magic: How the Horn Works. She had been reading the exact book that I had been looking for. “If you had asked sooner, I probably could have saved you at least ten minutes.” I felt a blush come to my cheeks, my expression a slightly embarrassed smile. I should have known that asking was the best idea. A nervous cough came next, and then I tried to pick the book up from the table.

“Thank you. And now we can get these borrowed, and we can head back to Ponyville.” I stopped for a moment, and realized she had never been there. “Well, I can go back. It’s obviously going to be your first time there.” A nervous chuckle escaped. It seemed that the more I spoke, the more I said something wrong. Maybe I just needed to get the two of us out of here, and maybe I just needed to try to calm down a little.

I shook my head, made sure I wrote down which books I was borrowing, and then we were both soon heading to the train station. As we walked, I could have sworn that I heard Sunset mutter something under her breath. It sounded like “about time”, but when I asked her she denied it. It didn’t seem like something important enough to start an argument over, though, so I simply let it slide. Even if I had heard it right, it didn’t matter.

I didn’t know what to think of all of this.

I knew what the old me would have said. The old me would have thought that this was a waste of time, and I wouldn’t have been referring to the time in the library. There was something about the old me, the arrogant and rude me, that was just so easy to almost slide back into. There was also something about it that was just simple to understand. Right now, though, I was walking alongside a pony that I had actually tried to kill. Not only that, but this was the one pony who had actually just saved me from a long jail sentence, and she did it through a lie that she told her brother.

Part of me still wondered why.

This whole thing just brought about a lot of questions. I had been the student of Celestia, and now I was the student of her student. I didn’t know what I was going to learn, or how she was going to teach me. Celestia had been a fan of a more hooves-off approach. She let me just go the library, and every once in a while she made sure that my lessons were progressing in a certain way. Maybe those were things that Princess Twilight was thinking about as well. I was going to be her student, it likely wasn’t something that she had put a lot of thought into.

Maybe that was why we weren’t talking right now, the two of us trapped in our own minds while we walked to the train station.

“So, what did you actually come here for, if you don’t mind me asking?” I had to know. It was obvious that she hadn't come there for me. She hadn't even known that I was there. There had to have been something that she had wanted to do. Part of me hoped that she had been able to get whatever it was done. I looked over to her, she was looking up at the sky with a thoughtful expression on her face.

“I was hoping to get some advice from Cadance and Shiny. They’ve both been royalty a lot longer than I have, they know more about it.”

“What did you learn?” I had to admit, I was kind of curious. There had been some time when she could have asked. Actually, I didn’t know how long she had been there. For all I knew, she had just shown up a little before I did. I wanted to assume that she had been there for longer, though, because the idea that she just showed up seemed a little farfetched.

“The most important lesson I learned was that it’s important to do whatever you can to help out your subjects.” That sounded like a good lesson to learn. It seemed like something a pony of her stature would have likely already known, though. “I also learned a few other things, though. Cadance mostly taught me about when it was right to do certain things, especially when dealing with crimes within the kingdom.” I was actually starting to think that she hadn't learned much from her friend or her brother, it seemed just too coincidental. Any of those things could have been tied to the fact that she had to deal with me.

“Be honest with me, Princess Twilight. Did you really get any advice, or are you just making flowery comments about how she was lenient on me?” I noticed a scowl appear, then heard a humph. It seemed like I had hit the nail on the head. Then again, that meant that she hadn't actually been given much useful advice when it came to ruling. “If you want, we could have back and you could take the day talking to them. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind too much if I was with you.”

“No, no, it’s alright.” I was sure that I could have gotten Princess Twilight to change her mind, if I had enough time. “We’re at the train station, I’m going to go get a couple of tickets.” As she started to talk away, she turned back to me. “Also, you can just call me Twilight. It still feels weird to be called “Princess”.” As she walked away, I heard “wait right there”.

When she got the tickets, we were soon aboard the train and headed for Ponyville.

I had actually learned a lot from that past day I had been there, but this wasn’t something to argue about. The fact that I had been caught in the lie by Cadance, but she had let it slide anyway, was a lesson unto itself. Then there was the fact that she went through with what she had. I still didn’t know the importance of the banishment, or the fact that she wanted to know how well Sunset was doing as a student, but there had to be something. Cadance had been taught politics by my mentor, and Celestia had picked up a lot over the years.

A private room on the train, that’s where we eventually ended up. I figured that it was best if we had some privacy for the time back. After all, I had a few questions that I had to ask her. I wondered if there were any other reasons for her to be here, what she thought about the idea of being my student, and a lot of other things. I was actually hoping that she was going to open up on the train ride about her family. It would be nice if I knew a little bit more about my student’s life.

“I was wondering if we could talk about a few things. I’m just so curious about you.”

The look that I got from that was one of confusion. “Sure thing, I guess. Actually, there are a few things I want to ask you as well. Maybe we can trade questions?” That didn’t sound like a bad idea. I was going to get information from her, she was going to sate her need for knowledge. Everypony was a winner in this little game. It wasn’t as if she was likely to ask anything major, and I wasn’t going to say anything that I wasn’t supposed to.

“That sounds wonderful. I’ll go first, though.” I wondered what question I needed to lead off with. Obviously the most important one was about her family. If that was the reason why she was here, and it was obviously part of it, then I needed to make sure that I knew about them. “What’s your family like? How long has it been since you’ve seen them?” That was technically two questions, but I was sure she’d answer both of them anyway.

“Going for the big ones first, eh?” I wasn’t sure how those were big questions, at least to her. Those were the ones that I had considered the most important, sure, but I had doubted that she considered the same. Then again, it was definitely good that she considered that question to be a big one. “Well, my family was just like any other the last time I remember seeing them. It had to be about seven or so years ago.” I looked at her as she closed her eyes, seemingly she was remembering something. “Mom always told me that I was going to be something big, somepony to look up to. My dad worked his hardest to make sure that the family had enough to live on, not a single handout from Celestia was taken.” That seemed to be a pride issue, at least in my opinion. Her eyes opened, and she looked at me. “I suppose it’s my turn.”

I had to wonder what her first question was going to be.

“Your brother didn’t seem to like me back there.” I supposed that was one way of putting it. “Thinking back, I’m starting to think he didn’t want me to be thrown in jail. What was he going to do if he had his way? Send me back to the other Equestria?”

That was not a question I wanted to answer. “Well, the only thing he knew was that you had hurt me. He’s a fairly protective brother.” I tried to think of any possible way to tell her the truth, but it just wasn’t coming to mind. I didn't want to lie to her, though. I had already lied enough in the past couple of days to last a lifetime. The only other thing I thought I could do was avoid the question completely. If I let her know that I didn’t want to answer it, I knew she wouldn’t push. “We have better things to think about than the punishment, though. We should stick to more positive things.” I tried to give my most convincing smile, I hoped that it was enough.

“Come on, I need to know.” I really didn't want to let her know. “If you won’t say it, it obviously wasn’t being sent back. That only leaves a couple of things. He didn’t want to trap me as a statue, did he?” I was going to just stay quiet, I was going to. “No, obviously not.” I didn’t know if I was giving some sort of sign that she hadn't been right. “Well, the fact that you don’t want to tell me says that it’s something horrible.” She was right, it had been a horrible idea. “He wanted to get me executed, didn’t he? Maybe a good old-fashioned hanging?”

I couldn’t stop myself at that point. She thought that my brother wanted her to hang? “He wanted your horn removed.” I really wished that I hadn't said that. Sunset had just pushed me, she had really wanted to know. I didn't know whether I should have been angry at her for prying that knowledge from me, the fact that she had thought that my brother would have done that, or worried about the fact that my student thought that executions were going to be brought back.

I shook my head.

I had to move the conversation forward.

“I’d like to hear more about why you chose now to come back, and your plans.” That sounded like a nicer way to put it. I knew it was best to trust what she said, but there was time for her to tell me more about it. There was no reason for her to lie about the idea of seeing her family. There was no reason for her to lie about the idea that this place was somewhere she belonged more. I had to wonder if there was anything else to it, though, that she just hadn’t told me yet.

“Why now? That’s a pretty good question.” I waited, and hoped that she was going to say more. “Really, it’s just sort of coincidence. It takes a while for the portal to open, and I was having a lot of fun with my new friends. It wasn’t until I went to a few of Pinkie’s parties that the idea even started to come to my head.” I had to mark that in my head as a question for later. “As for why, I didn’t lie at all. The things I told you about are why I came back. No big, mysterious, motive. Not much planning at all, really.” That seemed like a foreign idea, somepony actually just rushing in without thinking.

Well, it seemed like something Rainbow would do. It didn’t seem like something that a former student of Celestia would do.

“My turn.” I was already worried. The last question hadn’t been something that I had wanted to answer, and it had been her first one. Part of me worried that it had been a sign of what was to come. “Why did you really lie to your brother? I’m glad that you did, it just seems strange that you did that for me.” I blinked a few times. This wasn’t the horrible question that I had assumed was coming. This was actually one of the simplest things to answer.

“I don’t know, really.” She looked flabbergasted, but I had more to say. “All I knew, at the time, was that Shiny had just said something about cutting off your horn. That just seemed so … cruel. If I had just let him cut off your horn, I couldn’t have lived with myself. I just sort of said the first thing that came to mind.” That wasn't that hard to admit, actually. I had been spontaneous, and it had turned out alright. “So, there was one thing that I’ve been wondering … well, one of many things. How did you change from Celestia’s student to a student at that school?”

I had really hoped that she wouldn’t ask that, that nopony would. It was one of those things that I knew I wouldn't ever be able to escape, something that was going to continue to be with me forever. It was also something that I wasn’t proud of. That was the old me, that was the me that I was going to make sure didn't show up again.

Part of me thought about trying to get out of answering.

I wondered how she would have reacted if I had told her that I didn’t feel like answering. There was a chance that she would have just moved on, that she would have accepted that it was something that didn't need to be brought up. That was the old me, it was irrelevant right now. Princess Twilight seemed to be the type that wouldn’t have pushed too much, at least not if I was right about her. If I was wrong, she’d have made me say what it was that happened. All I needed to do was see, to tell her that I didn’t want to talk about it.

Yet I knew that wasn’t an option.

As easy as it would have been to say that, I knew I owed her. She had given me an answer that she didn’t want to give, to a question that she had likely hoped I wouldn't have asked. I knew that I owed her an answer, even if I didn’t want to give it. Sometimes, it was hard to do the right thing. Well, this wasn’t hard in the normal sense of the word. I just had to tell her exactly what had happened to me back then.

I closed my eyes and thought about it.

“It all started when I saw that mirror.” That much was probably obvious, or at least it should have been. “The thing that I saw was me, but different.” That likely made no sense. It barely made sense to me, and I was the one who had said it. “I wasn’t a unicorn, I was like you are now. And I was wearing a crown. I was a princess, just like I had known I deserved.” My expression, as I thought about what happened back then, certainly wasn't a smile.

Who like remembering their greatest failure?

“I knew I deserved it. I knew that Celestia was just holding me back.” I didn’t want to open my eyes, not sure what Princess Twilight was reacting to what I had just said. “I confronted her about it. I was so mad. When she told me that I was wrong, I couldn’t take it.” This was going to be the part where she started to dislike me. “I’m not proud to say that I attacked her, so sure that she was doing it on purpose. Obviously I failed, the only thing that stopped me from being thrown in jail was a fortunate accident, when I tripped into the mirror.”

That sounded even worse than I thought. It made me sound like I had been a giant klutz. The real thing had been that I hadn’t anticipated that Celestia would have looked so mad. Around that time, a question came to my mind. “Actually, I have  question about that. Why was the mirror in the Crystal Empire to begin with? I could have sworn that it had been in Canterlot when I had last seen it.”

As I opened my eyes to look at Princess Twilight, I was greeted by a shocked expression. Apparently, she hadn't been told about the day that I had left. Well, that made sense. If she had known, there was no chance that she would have asked me. There also would have been no chance that she would have asked if I wanted to be her student. Part of me had to wonder, though, if she was going to ship me back to the Crystal Empire and let her brother have his way. That certainly would have been the easiest way that she could have gotten revenge for what I had done to her mentor.

Not that the attack had done much anyway.

“Equestria to Princess Twilight.”

“Huh?” It seemed that I had gotten her attention. “What had you asked, again?” I gave her a look. Has she really not been paying attention? “Oh, right, the mirror. I really don’t know anything about that. Really, I didn't even know the mirror existed until you came through it, and escaped.” I had to wonder why that was the case. “For all I know, she wanted to get rid of it because of bad memories.” That didn't seem like a good reason to me, but that was the only one that I had gotten.

That did bring up a question, though, that only Celestia herself could have answered. Why was it that she seemed to want her subjects to know as little as possible? I knew there were several things that she had kept from the others, some things she had hoped to keep from me. It hadn't worked, obviously, but that didn’t mean that she hadn't tried to ensure that there were subjects that I didn’t know about. I doubted she let anypony know about her past, for example.

“Equestria to Sunset. Are you listening?”

That snapped me from my thoughts. “Wha? I’m sorry, I got lost in a thought.” That wasn’t a lie.

“I was just asking about your favorite food.” That seemed like one of the weirdest questions to ask. It seemed like she understood what I was thinking, as she quickly added. “I figured that it would be a good idea to make something you like, or at least see about figuring out how to make it.” I didn't even notice that I had started smiling again. There was just something about her positivity that made me want to be happy.

“I’ll eat anything, it’s been a while since I’ve been around here. It might be best of we just try things until something sticks.” I didn't want to say anything meat related, I knew this world was different. Griffons ate fish, but ponies only ate different kinds of plants and baked goods. I was going to have to get used to that, I just knew it. It probably wouldn't take too long, really, it was just a diet.

“This isn’t a question that’s going to matter much now.” At this point, I was just saying what came to mind. Right now, I felt like paying back her kindness. “But I was thinking that eventually, I’d take you over to the other side again and show you what I ate over there. I promise, you’re going to love it.” The wonder that was steak, it was something that couldn't be matched anywhere. I knew she’d agree.

Before she had an opportunity to answer, though, I heard the whistle.

We were here.