I once again find myself on the ground, but this time nowhere near as forcefully as before. Looking down at Kaia, I can clearly see the excitement in her eyes. I’m glad she can be happy about such a thing; I was more annoyed with my eye when I first got mine. Even after getting out of stone, magic had been such a common sight for me that I wasn’t nearly as excited about the prospect of it. Sure, it was cool, and without a doubt useful; but I just couldn’t get anywhere near as into it as she currently is.
I smile back at her, and pat her on the head. “Yes, you did it, very good.”
After a moment, we separate and get back to our feet. “Wonder what else I can do…” She questions herself excitedly.
I raise an eyebrow at her. “Easy now, one thing at a time. You can barely even control what you got so far.”
Some of the wind is knocked from her sails, but she’s still smiling. “I guess you’re right. Still, this is awesome! I actually have magical powers!”
“Again, powers you don’t know how to use yet. Go mess around with them a little bit before we call it a day.” I say.
“Call it a day? But it’s only what… noon?” she asks disappointedly.
I check my watch. “Actually, a quarter past one. But time isn’t why I’m cuttin’ you off. More a principle of practice. Don’t push yourself; Especially when it comes to these eyes.”
“But!” she starts, but I cut her off.
“But nothing. We’ll come back another time and spend more time than today, but this is your first time using your eye; you don’t wanna overdo it. Sit on it for a bit, there's no rush.”
She visibly deflates. "You're starting to sound like my Systema teacher…"
I raise an eyebrow at that. "I don't know who Systema is, but they must be a good teacher then."
She giggles a bit at that. "Systema isn't a person, but yes. He was a good teacher."
"What is Systema then?" I ask with mild curiosity. Not often I get to learn about Earth. Not like my eye works on my own thoughts or words I can't see.
She starts rotating her arm with her hand on her shoulder. "Well, it's a Russian martial art focused on grappling, hand to hand combat, weapon training and self defense techniques; Pretty flexible and easy to learn honestly, though I started young."
I raise an eyebrow at that. "Why would you need to learn all that at a young age?"
"Well, aside from the fact it's easier to pick up habits and learn at a young age, it was mainly because of you." She says as she moves to the next arm. "When you went missing, mom and dad thought you got kidnapped or something. They wanted to make sure that didn't happen to me." She stops and looks down at the ground. "But here I am… the same thing that happened to you happened to me anyways. Not technically kidnapping, but close enough…" she starts to tear up. "Right after Christmas too… What a shit gift for mom and dad…"
It's at this point she's almost full on crying now, and I take this as an opportunity to walk up and hug her, which she returns almost immediately. "Hey, it's not your fault. Besides, I haven't sat down and done the math, but it's probably not even been an hour back on earth yet." I tell her, remembering the time dilation between Earth and Equestria.
She sniffles to herself and wipes her eyes, but the crying doesn't stop. "But it is my fault, if I listened and never went into that forest this never would have happened…"
I let out a breath of air. "You gotta try and think positive. It isn't a perfect situation, but it's got some bright side to it." She looks up at me, her expression not quite conveying her thoughts. "I got to meet you, a sister I wouldn't have known I had. And if you get back to earth, probably nobody would believe you, but at least you'd know the truth."
"And if not? If I can't get back home?" She asks, still not giving up much through her expression, but the slight raising of her cheeks, and hitch in her voice says enough.
"I'm sure the princesses can find a way to at least send a message then. Let them know you're okay, a few pictures, maybe a gift or two. It's up to you, depending on what's possible." I say pulling her into a hug with a smile. It hurts seeing her upset like this, but it wouldn't help if both of us were crying. That isn't what she needs right now.
She looks up at me, tears streaking down her face. “W-what about you?”
I raise an eyebrow, visibly confused. “What about me?”
“What would you do? Would you come back with me? Would you be in those pictures?” she asks.
My face falls a bit at her barrage of questions. “Oh...I… don’t know honestly. I can’t answer that easily.”
She starts to look a bit more upset. “Why not? You could finally show them that you’re okay!” she says, breaking away from the hug.
“There's a lot of problems with all of it… I mean, look at me! I haven’t physically aged a day since then, I have a glowing eye; hell I don’t even remember anything about them, home, or what life is like back on Earth!” I exclaim, not being aggressive with it. Taking a deep breath, I continue. “It’s been eighteen years on Earth, and even if that was a short amount of time there, which it isn’t, I’ve lived two thousand years here. I made my peace about going back a long time ago, hell, I signed off my life not long after that.” I let out a long exhalation. “Besides… if human behavior is anything like these ponies, they probably wouldn’t accept me, or even think I’m real. There's no point for me to go back…”
She stands there having listened to my thoughts, digesting it. After a moment, she opens her mouth to speak, but her voice fails her for a moment. “Maybe you could make them believe? Show them undeniable proof… your phone would be good enough to prove you’re you! And if they don’t believe you, they can’t deny your eye; showing them something that is as outlandish as that would show them that it’s possible that you’re being truthful!”
“Or make them faint. Report me to the authorities, run me out, or even attack me. Not only that, I’ve been gone for 18 years. I can’t just reintegrate into society, it would draw attention…” I say sadly.
“B-but…” she breaks down, defeated, tears freely flowing down her face.
Letting out another sigh, I walk up to her and put my hands on her shoulders. “Look. I’ll think about it. Okay? I can’t promise you anything, but I’ll think about it.”
She brightens up a little bit. “That’s the best I’m gonna get, isn’t it?”
I smirk a little and back away, putting my hands behind my head. “Yup. Anyways, go play for a bit longer.”
She sniffles, wiping the tears from her eyes and gives me a teary smile.