I entered the jail house uncertain that this was the right place. But the guard continued down the long hallway until we reached a cell with a pony I had grown to know well over the course of my adventure in Equestria.
Shine was in the far back corner of the cell, shivering from something deep inside.
"Hey," The guard called softly. Shine looked up slowly, scared to see what it was now. "You have a very important visitor." He opened the door to the cell as he announced. "Princess Jenna."
"Thank you." I smiled, even though I hated being introduced so formally. "Can you give us a minute?" He looked up from his bow, narrowed his eyes at Shine then made his way back down the hall to give us some privacy. I turned my full attention back to Shine, who looked terrified to see me. "Hi." I greeted entering the cell then sitting down a little ways from her to give her some space. She looked suspiciously at me then around me. I glanced over my shoulder at the open door then back at her. "I wouldn't tell." I whispered, trying to lighten the mood. It got her to smile, which was good. "Now, what happened in that mirror? Because I'm getting too many answers." I asked cautiously. Her smile disappeared as she looked embarrassed to the floor.
"I don't really want to talk about it, Princess." She whispered.
"Please don't call me that." I begged harshly. She looked a little shocked. "Just call me Jenna."
"Fine, Jenna. But I still don't want to talk about it." She crossed her arms over her chest, either in defiance or in effort to calm herself. I thought for a minute then had an idea.
"How about I tell you something I don't really what to talk about then you tell me what happened in that mirror?" She reasoned this out in her head, then nodded. "Okay," I smiled, glad we were finally getting somewhere. "Well, back in my world, I have a completely different life. I have to go to school, I have a different body, different friends, a different everything. But there's really only one thing that I'd miss too much to stay here in Equestria forever."
"That boy?" Shine asked interrupting. I smiled at the thought of that boy.
"Yes, but he has a name. Sterling." I then told her everything I liked about Sterling, how we met, how I developed a crush on him, my belief that he liked me back and my supporting evidence and the upcoming dance I was going to ask him out to, before I was sucked into a magical mirror, of course. She sat and listened. When I had finished, she asked something I wasn't prepared for.
"Are you going to ask him to be your special some pony when you get back?" There was a silence that followed for what seemed like an eternity.
"I don't know." I answered honestly. "I've had other things on my mind, recently." I motioned to my horn and wings.
"I think you should." She grinned softly at me. I grinned back.
"Okay, I will!" I smiled at this decision.
"Well, good!" She laughed back causing me to laugh too. We laughed until our sides hurt.
"Shine?" I asked in the echoing silence.
"Hmm?"
"What happened in that mirror?" She drew in a shuttering breathe before answering.
"I saw my reflection; what I had become." Her voice cracked and tears rolled down her checks. I got up and sat beside her, my back against the cold cell wall and pulled her into a hug. "I didn't ever mean for that to happen!" She wailed. "I just waited Celestia to thing I was as special as Twilight. I grew obsessed and evil." She looked up at me, with bloodshot eyes. "I'm so sorry for what I did to you!" She cried out. "So, so sorry." Her wails began sniffs as she let the last of Darkness out and breathed shakily. "The worst part is, I've been Darkness so long; I don't even remember who I am or was." She confessed in that quiet, dank room.
"Hey," I turned her face up and out to see the light shining through the narrow, opened cell door. "I don't know what or who I'll be when I return either," I said rising and helping her to do the same. "But I do know one thing," I said, crossing the cell. "We won't know until we take that first step." I crossed through the opened gate and into the hallway. I turned back to see Shine still standing there, wide eyed and terrified. I nodded her to come along. And, with shaking steps (at first), she crossed the cell and walked across the cell's threshold out into the hallway.
"And that first step," I added as we walked down the corridor and out into the sunlight. "Is always the hardest."