After a moment of silence, I look down to the two ponies who’s charge I’m in. “Well? Did she?”
They both stare at me unwaveringly before the unicorn -still hard to believe they actually exist- speaks. “Perhaps it’d be best to ask her yourself.”
“And why can’t you tell me?” I ask annoyed.
“We could, but I know there would be follow up questions that we can’t answer; wouldn’t be our place to. Better to just start from the source.” he says simply.
Sighing in defeat, I start walking back in the direction I came from. We re-enter the throne room, which is still empty minus various guards, and the two princesses themselves, both of which were talking about something. I couldn’t tell what, because they stopped almost immediately as soon as they noticed me, which was pretty quick.
“Is there something we can help you with, Kaia?” the white one, Celestia, asks. I stand there for a moment, not exactly sure how I should act, considering they are the rulers here. After a brief moment, I take a deep breath and let it out. “I wanted to ask you some questions about Jace, if that’s alright with you?”
They exchange a glance with each other, then look back at me. “That sounds reasonable; though if I may ask, why is he not with you right now?” the darker colored one, Luna I think her name is, asks.
“He… ran off. I upset him, and that’s sorta what I wanted to ask you about him.” I say while pointing at Celestia.
She nods, but says nothing else. “Why was he turned to stone? He said there wasn’t a reason, but I just can’t imagine that being true.” I ask.
They exchange another glance, then Celestia sighs. “The blame would fall with me for that one, I'm afraid; His story is an unfortunate one, and not written by himself.”
“You really didn’t have a reason?” I ask, backing up a little.
Celestia’s wings shift around on her back apprehensively, but Luna speaks first. “We had a reason, but it wasn’t a very good one. Around two thousand years ago, back when Equestria was first being founded, your brother had a run in with The God of Chaos, Discord. They had a small altercation, leading to Null being time warped a few days into the future, right where my sister and I were combating him, trying to free the land from his cruelty. He was caught in the middle of a conflict not his own.” she explains.
I stand there looking up at them, listening intently to their story.
“It was a difficult battle. We nearly lost, even with the elements of harmony. We were young, rash, and inexperienced. We were also tired, fearful, and not thinking properly afterwards. Out of fear, I had convinced my sister to use the elements of harmony with me on Null after seeing his eye, turning him to stone.” Celestia continues for Luna.
I furrowed my brow in confusion. “You turned him to stone… because of his eye?”
Celestia nods. “Unfortunately, yes. In hindsight, we should have at least tried talking to him. But you must understand, that eye has a history. The Left Eye is a mark bearing great power. A long time ago, well over two thousand years, another human with the Left Eye nearly wiped out all life in existence. He was only narrowly defeated, but the circumstances of which were unknown. We… I didn’t want to risk the potential end of the world, especially not knowing how it was circumvented the first time. Though it seems in my haste, I have put the world at risk of just that.” she says with a downtrodden look.
Luna clears her throat after a moment. “Yes, your brother is a delicate subject that needs to be handled carefully. It was through no fault of his own that he ended up the way he is. He has the power to rival my sister and I, but isn’t actively trying to. He genuinely just wants to live his life.”
“He also genuinely wants to kill me…” Celestia said somberly. “Yet he knows to do so would ruin any chance he has at the life he wants.”
Luna nods. “It’s an unfair predicament he has found himself in, but he is trying to make the best of it.”
I take a moment to digest this information, but then something stands out to me. “Hey, why doesn’t he seem to hate you? You had an equal hand in what happened, so why would he want to live a normal life?” I ask, pointing to Luna.
She smiles a bit, looking proud of herself. “Well, we’re friends, to put it simply. As to how we became friends, it’s, a bit embarrassing admittedly, but as my sister said, we were young, rash, and inexperienced. That applied to alot of things. Suffice to say, I was upset one night, and ended up seeing his statue as a means to vent. It’s silly, but I started seeing him as a friend. Even if it was all in my head, as I had no way of knowing if he was conscious at all during it, I treated him like a pony. Er… Person, in this case.” She sighs and smiles a reminiscent smile.
I tilt my head at the oddness of that, but shrug it off. Kids latch onto the weirdest things... I know I did.
“One thing led to another, and I started researching a way to undo what the elements did to him with the help of Starswirl the Bearded, a prodigy wizard who tutored even my sister and I. however, there were numerous setbacks. Even after roughly seven hundred years of off and off research, we were unable to free him.” she says.
“It took you almost two thousand years of research to turn him back?” I balk at how complicated magic must be.
She sighs again, with a wistful look in her eye. “Unfortunately, no. roughly a thousand and three hundred years ago, I met a shadow. One who deceived me, and took advantage of my own anger at the time to corrupt me. She helped accelerate the process, but in the wrong direction. Had I cast the spell we were working on the way she designed it, Null would have been a mindless puppet to control. Around two hundred fifty years later, I finally lost control of myself. I was banished to the moon by my sister for a thousand years. When I returned from my banishment and was freed from the shadows' grip, I quickly noticed what she did to the spell, and had to scrap it all. Two hundred years of spellcraft, wasted. Well, almost all of it seems to be, since we do not know how he was freed, as I didn’t do it. But it’s the thought that counts, and Null seems to agree.”
You were imprisoned as well? For a whole thousand years? I’m starting to sense a theme here… but I guess it does make her more relatable for Jace...Null… Fuck that, I’m still calling him Jace.
I must have been silent for a while, because Celestia speaks up again. “While we promised to try to find a way home for you, I cannot say whether or not your brother would want to go back, though it seems unlikely. From what I gather as well, magic and eyes of power are not normal where you are from. Am I wrong?” she asks.
I shake my head. “That’s… a good point… I don’t know how others would react… the government would probably try and capture us too if the stereotypes are true.” I shudder. “Not something I wanna try and test… is there any way for you to remove the eye? And ya know… replace it with a normal one?” I ask, unsure how to feel about the eye one way or another.
They exchange another glance with each other. “We… are unsure; It is of unknown origin. We can look into it, but we recommend against it, as doing so could have a wide array of repercussions, potentially even killing you. Even normal surgery would be risky, as we don’t know your anatomy. Not to mention I don’t think your brother would be too happy to hear about us researching a way to take away his power, even if it is meant for you.” Celestia explains.
My heart sinks at that news. I can understand their reasoning, but it's still disheartening. It’d probably slow their research on a way home as well…
Luna clears her throat after another silent moment. “I’d also suggest you take some time to figure out what your eye is capable of when you can open it, and get the hang of it; lest you not be able to control it, or worse, it activates itself when you don’t want it to. And if you feel it’s trying to influence you, please, tell us. Null claims his Left Eye isn’t trying to control him, but he can’t speak for yours. The last thing we want is for you to lose yourself.”
I mull over what she’s suggesting, and admittedly, she is right. We don’t know what this thing is capable of…
“If it’s as dangerous as you say, where would be a safe place to test it out?” I ask, not wanting to endanger anyone or anything like that.
“The dueling circle would be a decent place to do so. Ciauss and Aria can direct you there. It’s where your brother practices as well. Perhaps he can help you figure out how to use your eye as well when you see him again.” she suggests.
“...You seem a bit unconcerned about him running off.” I say with a raised eyebrow.
“To be honest, it does worry me. But considering the topic, it seems best to let him air himself out. He wouldn’t have gone very far, assuming he keeps his promise to stay on the castle grounds.” she explains. “Besides, if trends are anything to trust, he’ll seek you out to apologize when he calms down.” she tacks on at the end with a smile.
I nod, and Celestia continues. “Is there anything else we can help you with?”
“Not that I can think of at the moment… thank you though… “ I say, and motion for my two guards to follow me as I leave… God it feels weird thinking that I have personal guards…