Sunset Shimmer sat in the prison cell, with the bridle still firmly locked over her head, although she had the mouthpiece freed at least. At first she had been shaking with fear, then rage, and finally she realized that things had definitely gotten way out of hoof. What had really shocked Sunset, however, was the strange creature that had tackled her. Magical disguises were not overly hard, but they tended to leave tell-tale markers. She huddled into the corner of the cell and looked down at her forelegs.

Careful Steps leaned against the cell door, and lifted one forehoof to gently tap the metal bars. He very specifically didn't bring anything with him but his carapace. "Do you want to tell me what you were doing?"

Keeping her snout shut, Sunset huddled down a little more. She kept her eyes away from the odd creature, but despite her best efforts there really wasn't anything else to do but look at Careful.

"Going to keep quiet? Well, you can stay here then. For the rest of your life." Careful started to turn and walk away, when he heard movement in the cell.

"Wait, forever? All I did was take her crown, and she got the stupid thing back!" Sunset's anger flared and she grabbed the cell bars with both forehooves, testing them with a shake.

"Assaulting a princess." Careful turned and looked at Sunset. "Then you assaulted our queen… Prince Shining Armor. And I might add the two ponies who put their lives at risk to undo your little stunt were put in danger as well."

Sunset frowned and shook the bars some more. "That's ridiculous! Equestrian law wouldn't hold me accountable for them putting themselves in danger to retrie—"

"Equestrian law?" Careful chuckled and tapped the floor with a hole-filled hoof. "What makes you believe we are in Equestria? This is the Crystal Empire, and we will hold our own court." He saw the mare's face drop from anger to fear, and could even taste the waves of emotion she was putting out. "So talk to me. Tell me your side before we hear Princess Twilight's at court tomorrow."

"You really don't know?" Sunset stared at Careful for a moment in surprise. "Well, okay… My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I was Princess Celestia's special student. While things started off well, we didn't see eye-to-eye." With her thoughts trailing back to one of the happier moments in her life, Sunset smiled. "And then I started to see ways that her plans weren't working, and she told me she knew best. Then things got out of control."

"You didn't get along, I can understand, but what happened with the mirror?" Careful turned and fully faced Sunset, then sat down.

"I was stupid, young, and had no clue what I was messing with." Sunset spread out on the bed and stared at her forehooves. "I was trapped. If I quit the school I would have been seen as a loser. If I had waited for Celestia to kick me out it would have been worse." She looked up at Careful. "I did research—I found out about the Elements of Harmony, and the mirror…"

Careful sensed a mare with very distracted thoughts, and sought to guide her story. "Start with the Elements first. What did you find out and do about them?"

"I read about the world through the mirror; it has no magic at all. I tried to find the Element of Magic to take with me. Celestia wasn't using it anymore." Barking a harsh laugh, Sunset shook her head at her own hubris. "It was just a lump of rock. But that gemstone—"

"That crown is not yours and never will be yours. And you certainly are not going back through the mirror." Careful made the words as plain as he could so that Sunset could absorb them all. "You are a pony, a unicorn, and if you are on the level with me then maybe your cause isn't lost."

"What?" Sunset stared at Careful. "What do you mean?"

"Keep going with the story; leave nothing out about your time with the mirror." Careful's tone brooked no arguments.

Sunset looked at Careful for a full minute, before she realized that he wasn't going to continue. "I found out about the portal mirror in an old book by Star Swirl the Bearded. It told of a terrible place that was cursed to have no magic. I thought even without the Element of Magic I could hold on to my own." Just to test out the restraint-bridle, she tried to channel magic—and failed completely to make even a spark. "It was worse than wearing this thing." She pointed at the bridle with a hoof. "I can feel magic with this on. I can channel it, but it sucks it all away. On Earth, there is just nothing to channel."

Careful narrowed his eyes a moment in thought, then opened them back wide to watch Sunset. "How did you find out about the Element of Magic in the Princess' crown?"

"The last time I came back, Twilight Sparkle had just defeated Nightmare Moon. I worked as quietly as I could, and almost got caught on the second day. With the information I needed, I fled back to Earth." Sunset tapped her hooves together slowly, the sound echoing out of the cell and down the hall outside. "I just wanted some magic, and to be away from Princess Celestia…"

"You need to face your crime of theft. And from what we understand, you 'borrowed' bits from somepony in the mirror world?" When Sunset nodded, Careful continued. "You will need to pay that back to Prince Shining and Princess Cadance. I will have a word to Gleaming and Rainbow Dash about their own part in retrieving the crown."

The way Careful spoke to her shocked Sunset into interrupting. "You… you mean I will—"

"You stole one of Equestria's greatest treasures." Careful gave the words the import they commanded. "You caused two other ponies to risk their lives, and they will have to again to repay your debts there. You will owe the Crystal Empire a debt, and you will have to face your day in court."

Sunset jumped to her hooves and raced to the door of the cell. "Please, just don't make me go back to—"

"You will not be extradited." Careful smiled warmly. "The Crystal Empire happens to need unicorns right now."

"Please, one thing?" Sunset tried to regain some semblance of control and took a deep breath. When Careful nodded to her words, she continued. "What is your name? And what are you?"

"My name is Careful Steps. I am a changeling of Queen Shining Armor and Queen Cadance's hive." Careful stood, proud of his position in the Crystal Empire. "Please rest. I am sure somepony will see you tomorrow."

"Hey." Gleaming Shine, with Rainbow Dash at her side, approached the prison cell. Looking at the mare within, she narrowed her eyes. "Why did you do it?"

"Yeah, what was the big idea attacking Twilight like that?" Rainbow Dash stomped up beside Gleaming and pointed a wing at Sunset. "We had to go and clean up your mess, and I missed half a night of sleep!"

"I didn't exactly sleep well myself." Sunset had no say about when ponies could come and talk to her, but it seemed like the pair there now were somewhat familiar. She recognized Rainbow Dash from her counterpart at Canterlot High, and Gleaming Shine's colors seemed familiar. "And I did it because…" She paused and reminded herself that she had spilled everything the previous night. "Because of an argument." Any wind she had left in her sails left her and she slumped a little.

"An argument? Must have been a good one." Gleaming parked herself in place. She had come to the cell before donning her armor for duty, and bumped into Rainbow on the way. "You see, we had to go to that other world and recover the crown."

Rainbow Dash nodded to the assessment. "It kinda sucked at first, but then I got my wings working and—"

"Wings?" Sunset's attention focused on Rainbow Dash. "How did you get wings? What did you do to get them?" She stared hard at the pegasus, searching for answers.

"Well, when I had to catch someone who was fainting. I remember thinking that I couldn't make it without flying, without really flying." Rainbow Shrugged. "What can I say? I am that awesome!"

Gleaming grunted and rolled her eyes. "And modest. So who was the argument with, and what was it over?"

"Princess Celestia, and I guess it was over nearly anything we could talk about." Sunset hung her head, realizing the two ponies before her were a part of her crimes. "It was stupid I guess. I didn't mean for you to have to risk yourselves."

"What do you think we would have done if you had gotten away with it?" Rainbow Dash stepped closer to the bars. "You know what would have happened, right?"

"Uh… Princess Twilight would have come and gotten it?" Sunset looked between the two, a little confused.

"Stupid." Gleaming stamped a hoof angrily. "Maybe a year ago. Prince Shining Armor has changed, and the Crystal Empire has changed. You could have started a war." She turned and stomped away, leaving Sunset in her cell.

"It really was stupid, but kinda cool too. You don't get on with Princess Celestia, huh? That is pretty stupid too." Rainbow shared a grin with Sunset. "I do stupid stuff too sometimes, like flying through the sky of a place with no magic. But sometimes you have to do the stupid things." She squinted a little in thought. "I don't know where I am going with this, but next time you do stupid stuff, make sure it is for the right reasons."

"So what do you think?" Shining waited for Rainbow to come down the stairs before addressing Gleaming. He yawned widely, and tried to hide it with a hoof. "I got a sense of deep remorse from her, and something like a flame of anger. It seemed to be directed in two places: one is inwards—"

"And the other is Princess Celestia." Rainbow Dash cut in where Gleaming would not have. "Sunset's really angry about something, it's pretty stupid of her to cause all this mess over not getting along with somepony."

"How does she know the Princess, anyway?" Looking up to her Prince, Gleaming tried to keep telling herself he is just like anypony else, but she knew more secrets about him than the average guard; Shining Armor was not like anypony else.

"Sunset Shimmer was Princess Celestia's student before Twily was… Princess Twilight." Shining rolled his eyes at the need to clarify. "I spent all night watching over her, and listened to Careful's debriefing." He grinned. "I was disguised as the guard, of course."

For a moment Rainbow Dash was confused, then the figurative light bulb came on, and she remembered he was now a changeling.

"Your Highness?" Gleaming left the question open, wanting to give her ruler a chance to focus without Rainbow Dash cutting in all over him.

"Her motives haven't changed since she left." Shining gave a deep sigh. "She is a mare with the motives of a filly. There are more questions, but I think I will need to ask those at Court." He lifted a hoof and offered it to Rainbow first—of course she gave a clop back. "Thanks, both of you. Are you sure you are alright to take the payment back tonight?" After being left hanging for a moment, Shining finally got a second clop against his hoof by Gleaming.

"I think we can handle it…" Shifting her eyes to the side, Gleaming lifted a hoof and poked Rainbow Dash in the shoulder. "Unless you think it is too boring?"

"Ha!" Rainbow Dash shoved back, almost hitting a brick wall when she tried to push Gleaming. "As if, I am totally going back. You never know, we might run into the other me there!"

Author's Notes:

Shimmer: are you still sorry it has to be this way?

"Yes!" Sunset shifted uncomfortably, the bridle still firmly attached and nullifying her every attempt at magic. "This was all so stupid. And the worst bit is I go and do this in the one place I can finally have magic and be away from Her."

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and I they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, I they will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! I They will pick one question per chapter.

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