Before anything else could be said between the princesses and I, a small knock could be heard at the door.
"Come in!" Celestia said, while turning to face the door, matching whoever was on the other side of it. The door was pushed open, and Austin sauntered in, followed closely by doctor Windy. Austin was directed to sit down back on his bed and pay attention. He did as he was told, and we exchanged concerned glances. Celestia and him exchanged nods of the head, and the conversation went back to the previous.
"Well, now that we're all here, we can continue. Doctor Windy! I trust that your patient was a little bit more cooperative this time around?" she asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Doctor Windy directed her attention to Austin, opposite of me. "Yes princess. Everything went a lot smoother this time around, and we got through everything with that we needed to without any complications," she told Celestia.
"And? Did you learn anything about the boy's condition?" she asked in a slight monotone. By the way that Celestia was talking, I felt that she was quickly losing her patience with the lot of us.
"Immediately, there is no indication that any physical change has occurred. The boys physical prowess is on par in general with other boys in his age group," she explained to the princess. Celestia closed her eyes, and looked down.
"Will you still need me to do the procedure with Daniel, your highness?" Windy asked Celestia.
"No doctor, that won't be necessary. Just... not yet, anyway. If anything happens while we are monitoring the pair, then you're up, but as for right now, we'll keep a close eye on them and see if anything happens," she repeated her point.
"You know we're right here, right? We can hear what you're saying," Austin said to the room, hoping that everyone would hear him. Luna turned to him.
"Then hear this. Keep your mouth shut, you whiny brat," she angrily said to him. This got a major laugh out of me, to which Austin was not happy about. He shot a confused gaze my way.
"I thought you were on my side!" he yelled at me, as I wiped a tear out of my eye.
"Oh, man. I don't care what you say, that was funny," I told him, as I chuckled at the thought of Luna's anger again. If I wasn't paying attention, I would have missed the small smirk that Luna had of her face. She sat back, content with the job she had done, as Austin sat back with a frustrated sigh. Celestia cleared her throat, directing the attention of the room back to her.
"If there is nothing anyone else has to say, then we will take our leave. Any questions?" Celestia asked the four of us. I raised my hand.
"Yes?"
"What kind of freedom do we have? Where can we go, if anywhere?" I asked her.
"At the moment, I would like you two to remain here. A guard will be along shortly to guide you back to your rooms. Austin, you will be given a room in which you will be staying while you are here. I trust that everything was fine in your room, Daniel?" shed asked me.
Austin went to speak, but I shot him a hard gaze, which silenced him. I slightly shook my head at him, and kept his eyes down. I looked back to Celestia, shaking my head. She nodded.
"Alright, let's give these two some time to reunite. Like I said, a guard will be here in around 5 minutes to see you back to your room. From henceforth, we will keep a guard posted outside of your rooms. If you need to go somewhere, you ask him. If you need something, you ask him. You are not to leave your room without supervision until we deem you fit to do so, is that clear?" she asked us.
"Hold on. So we're just your prisoners? Are we just supposed to rot in our rooms while you figure out what happened to your precious stones?" he pushed back. "And what happens when you do? What then? Are you just going to cast us back to our home? What then?!" he was up and yelling at this point. Celestia met him with a hard look, before turning around, and walking out of the room. Luna followed in suit, and the doctor gave us a small smile before herself leaving, shutting the door behind her.
Austin practically flinched at that, not expecting such a disinterested response. He turned to look at me. He sat down on his bed, and we looked at each other for a few seconds before the silence was broken.
"What's the name of the blue one again?" Austin asked me.
"Princess Luna,"
"Yeah, her. She seems nice,"
"Oh yeah, she seemed like she was totally into you,"
"What, are you jealous?"
"I'm practically green over here," I said with a bemused smile. The atmosphere of the room quickly turned stale, as the usual fountain of things that we had to talk about had run dry under the absolute pressure that was the situation that we were in.
"So... Canterlot, huh?" Austin asked, to which I nodded. We started at each other, both of us praying that the each other would say something. Austin beat me to it again.
"Daniel, what the fuck happened to us? I can't remember anything past walking into that stupid cave," he forcefully asked. If looks could kill, I would be dead. I looked down, gathering my thoughts, before looking back to my friend.
"According to what the princesses think happened..." I stopped, thinking. Austin motioned for me to keep going. "...we were in the cave, like you said. We... found the elements of harmony, you remember what those are, right? Well, somehow, and this is where my memory stops too, we found a way to... activate... the elements, which is what knocked us out." I stopped, thinking about the fact that we were in comas.
"Really? Holy shit, that's..." he trailed off. He looked down at the floor, apparently in thought.
"Austin... do you know how long ago this happened?" I carefully asked him. He looked back to me, and shook his head.
"That was three months ago. We were in comas... for three months," I solemnly told him. Austin back arched, and he practically winced in surprise, before blinking a few times.
"...days?" he asked me.
"No. Months. Three of them,"
"...that's not possible,"
"That's what I thought as well. But it's true. I woke up sooner than you did," I told him. He got off of his bed, and started pacing the room. He looked at me, and went to the window, looking out of it.
"It's the end of August, Austin. It'll be fall soon,"
He slowly went back and sat down on the edge of his bed again, looking at the floor, not me.
"...what happened to us?" he seethed. I could practically feel his anger, most of it warranted from his confusion.
"Princess Celestia used a powerful spell that allowed her to... enter my mind, and see what had happened. According to her, the elements of harmony fused with my soul, to who I am, in her words. And we assume that that's what happened to you too," I told him. He clenched his fists.
"Look, I know you're angry, and confused. So am I. But for now? This is how it works. We deal with this, and when it's all over, we go home" I reinforced my thoughts to him. He closed his eyes.
"What home?" he said, barely above a whisper. Before I had a change to respond, there was a knock at the door, which promptly swung open. Two members of the royal guard stepped in, clad in armour. I briefly thought about how they were able to move around without making a complete racket, before dismissing my thoughts.
"My name is Lieutenant Bell. This is private Glass. We're here to escort you back to your rooms," he told us in a commanding voice. We both stood up, and moved towards the door.
"My name is Daniel, and this is Austin, thanks," I spoke for us. The lieutenant nodded, and he turned to leave. The private followed in suit, Austin and I doing the same. The walk back to our room was uneventful, though I did make sure to absolutely memorize the way, just in case.
Upon arriving at our destination, Austin was showed his room, which in the hallway, was directly across from mine. Lieutenant Bell turned to me.
"Me and private Glass are stationed outside of your room, until the princess lifts the order. If you need anything, just ask us. I'm sure the princess gave you this talk already," he told us. I nodded, and watched as Austin shut he door to his room. I heard the sound of the door locking. I shook my head, and entered my room. With nothing to do, I plopped down on my bed, my mind racing with what our next move was.
At the moment? Not much.
Before long, I felt the tendrils of sleep pulling at me, before I fell into a deep sleep.