Prodigy

Two Days Later

The day started off nonchalantly enough, which was a bit of a surprise given our situation. I was walking towards the kitchen at the moment. I had already checked in Austin's room to see if he was there. Of course, he wasn't, and my next guess was the kitchen. Austin was usually thinking with his stomach, and I felt that this was the best place to go and look for him.

I pushed open the doors to the mess, and looked around. There were a few of the guard there, just sitting and eating, socializing. I smiled at this, before noticing Austin about halfway down the aisles of tables. Before I got there, I passed by a group of humans who were eating alone. A few of the glared at me, but I could swear that one of them was giving me an almost sympathetic gaze.

There had always been rumors about what the princesses were doing to us behind closed doors. Some of the theories I had heard were quite enthralling, some were rather disturbing, and some were downright disgusting. Things ranging from torture and experimenting to questionable sexual encounters for a few of the more adventurous guards. I was pretty sure that the princesses knew about all of them, but as for now, our presence still remained hidden to the public. A couple of kids was of no importance to the people of Equestria. But once those kids took the elements of harmony, a commonly known historical artifact, and all but destroy them, it becomes a much bigger story. So for now, things were hush-hush.

I walked up to the table that Austin was sitting at, and he smiled at me as I approached him.

"Hey, did those guys over there look angry to you?" I asked him as I sat down, motioning to the group that I had passed when I came in.

"Who?" he asked as he looked to where I was pointing. "Oh, them? I mean, I didn't really pay any attention. I was hungry, so I just got my food and sat down," he told me. I nodded as I poured myself a glass of water from the carafe that was on the table.

"Hm, oh well. How's the whole 'archer' thing going?" I asked him, taking a sip of water before placing it down in front of me.

"I mean, once I started getting tired, I could barely pull back the string, but otherwise, it's not so bad," he told me.

I pulled my glass water over to me, and ran my finger around the rim. This was just something I liked to do when I was waiting. I ran my finger around the rim of the glass without looking at it, and pulled my hand back in surprise and a bit of pain. The glass apparently had a chip in it, on the rim, to be precise. I looked at my finger to see what had happened.

"I mean, it's kinda hard to pull back in general, but that's probably just because I need to work out more," he told me, lost in his own train of thought. I, however, was concentrated on another ordeal.

"Do we have a weight room in the castle? I mean, obviously. What else would the guards do to workout,"

My finger was bleeding. Okay, that's normal. But... something was off. My blood wasn't normal. It wasn't a deep red like it was supposed to be. It was yellow. And not a normal either. If it was a darker yellow, I could pass it off as being some sort of infection. But... this yellow was the brightest yellow I have ever seen. A bright, golden yellow tainted my finger. I stared at it in confusion.

"Hey, are you good? It's just a small cut,"

I looked to Austin, and flipped my hand around so he could see it. He looked at my finger for a few seconds before giving me confused look.

"Is it infected?" he asked me.

"See, that's what I thought when I first saw it. Look again. It's way too bright to be infected," I told him. He looked a little harder.

"What if it's something that we've never seen before?" he asked.

"We were perfectly healthy a few days ago, and if it is an infection, I don't feel sick at all," I told him.

“Isn’t that an awful lot of assuming to be doing?” he asked me, but I payed him no mind.

I reached for the napkin that wrapped the utensils, and unwrapped them. Before I had the napkin, my eyes landed on the knife. I tilted my head in thought.

What if... just what if...

Slowly, I picked up the knife, and looked to Austin.

"Austin, when was the last time you had your blood done," I asked him.

"...like a week ago? A little more? Why?" he asked me. I took the knife and placed the blade against my finger, looking up to him.

"...why?" he asked me.

“I mean, what if it’s just something normal, like an infection? What if, we go and see a nurse, and I get some drugs, and after taking them for a few days or weeks or whatever, everything goes back to normal, and I become immune to whatever I just had” I asked Austin. He tilted slightly in confusion, before slightly shaking his head at me.

“I... I’m... what? I mean, then that would be totally normal and you wouldn’t have to worry about getting this infection again. What else am I supposed to say?” he asked with rising confusion.

“But... what if this is different?” I asked back across the table.

“...if... what is different?”

“Tell me this. When was the last time you got an infection of any kind?” I pressed him to think.

“I guess... a few years ago? I mean, if you mean sick, then probably before all of this happened, but... if you mean full on infection... probably a few years ago? Why? What does that have to do with anything?” he asked in more confusion.

“When that happened, what color did you blood turn?” I made my point.

“...it didn’t,” he said in a slightly bored tone. I gestured to my finger, which had started to clot at this point.

“What if?” I asked him. He looked to my hand, then back up to me.

“What if what?” he finally asked.

"What if this is what we're looking for? Something might have finally changed!" I told him. He gave me a concerned gaze, before sighing and sitting back, nodding to me withe defeated look on his face. I took a breath in, and drew the blade across my finger in one quick motion. As I was hoping, a stream of golden coloured blood oozed from my finger, as I put the knife down. I held my finger upside down, letting the blood pool up into a drip. The liquid amassed on my finger until it could no longer support itself, and dripped off of my finger onto the table. My vision blurred slightly at the sight of my blood. We looked at the drop on the table, puzzled at the yellow colour. Austin looked up to me.

"Should we go show the princess?" he asked me.

"Uh... yeah, probably," I told him. We stood up, and went out the doors opposite where I entered.

“Wait a second, shouldn’t we go and see a nurse first? What if you’re still wrong?” he wondered aloud.

“I have no idea what this means, but if it means anything, and I mean anything at all, I want the princesses to be the first one to see, not some doctor. She told us that as soon as they figured out a way to get their elements back, then we would be able to go ho-” I stopped abruptly as the thought of going back to Dismith crossed my mind.

Magic, Canterlot, doctors and princesses. This had all happened so fast... and the chance for it to be all taken away from us had just made itself apparent to us.

“What? Why’d you stop?” Austin pressured me to continue talking. I slowed my walking to a crawl, before stopping in the hallway that lead to the throne room.

“What if... what if this is the answer? What if we... have to go back home. To Dismith?” I asked myself more that I asked Austin.

“Daniel, the odds of that happening today are next to none. Start walking, and let’s get this over with, right now,” Austin coaxed me into moving again. I gave him a nod, and we finished our small journey.

Upon arriving at the throne room, we found the doors wide open. Celestia was behind her desk as usual, signing away at documents. She looked up to us as she walked in, giving us a smile.

"Hello Austin, Daniel. How can I help you today?" she asked us. I shook my head viciously in an attempt to clear my thoughts. I looked to Austin, before stepping up to her desk. I help up my finger, which was still freshly coated in blood from the amount that I drew. She looked at it, and gave me a quizzical look.

"That's blood. Any idea why it's not red?" I asked her.

“Immediately, I would suspect a blood infection, but, based on how you are currently moving about, we can likely rule that option out, for now. Blood infections are nasty, and would limit your ability to walk, so...” she gave up speaking to think some more.

Before anything else could be said, we heard a voice call out from behind us.

“Greetings you two, hello sister,” Luna called out to us as she walked up to us. I glanced at the clock that was sitting on Celestia’s desk

Eight thirty two...

It seemed logical that Luna would be going to bed soon.

“I have finished my duties for the night, and after doing some light reading, I thought I might come see you for a few words before I retire for the day,” she told Celestia.

“Of course Luna, always nice to see you. I was just in the middle of helping Daniel with a problem he seemed to have regarding his blood. Maybe you could be of assistance,” he told her in a friendly tone. Luna glanced at me, before I held up my hand for her to see. She took it in one hoof, before inspecting it for a few moments.

“This is... most interesting. I have never seen such a bright color in someone’s blood. Perhaps... no, that wouldn’t be it. What...” Luna’s face ran pale.

“What, what is it?” I asked in a slightly worried tone. If something was crazy enough to startle Luna, then I definitely had ample reason to be concerned.

“Sister... have you ruled out... ichor?” she said shakily. Celestia drew her head back in surprise.

She seemed almost dazed for a few moments.

Her eyes widened almost immediately.

“Ichor. I... no, it... it couldn’t be, could it?” she asked the air.

She looked past us, and called to one of the guards who was on duty outside of the room. He came trotting in, and saluted the princess.

"Yes your highness?" he asked in a gruff tone.

"Allow me to see your weapon soldier," she said to the guard. I could swear I caught a confused look my way, but before he could ask anything, he drew his sword from his scabbard, holding it up to the princess. Celestia thanked the guard, and he nodded, taking a step back. I looked back to the princess.

"Daniel? Do you know if it was just your finger that bled yellow?"she asked me.

"Uh, yeah, just my finger, I don't know about anywhere else," I told her. She nodded, and using her magic, placed the sword against the bare flesh of my other arm. I pulled away immediately.

"Whoa whoa! What are you doing?" I yelled to her.

"Daniel, if any other parts of your body bleed yellow, we have an extremely important matter to deal with. I can only tell you what this is if you let me know," she told me, lowering her gaze. I looked to Austin, who had moved back, and was standing beside the guard from earlier. I looked back, and swallowed nervously.

"I can cast a spell that will eliminate the pain," she told me. I looked into her eyes. She was serious.

Jesus...

Weighing my options, I could see no reasonable way out of this. If the princess said it was this serious, then it was serious.

I threw my caution to the wind, and held my arm out, giving a sigh in the process. She nodded, and ignited her horn. My arm was coated in a yellow aura, before it faded away. I clenched and opened my fist a few times, before holding it out. Celestia pressed the blade against my arm, and looked to me.

"How deep are you going to cut?" I asked cautiously. She gave me a reassuring smile.

"Nowhere near deep enough to hurt you permanently," she told me in an almost... motherly tone. It was comforting, really. I nodded.

She quickly drew the sword across my arm, and I practically jumped back in... nothing, actually. There was no pain, no pressure, nothing, which was good for me. I looked to my arm. Again, the golden yellow liquid from my finger was pouring out, dripping down my arm onto my elbow, and eventually onto the floor.

"...what the fuck is that stuff?" Austin asked, looking to the princess. She used her magic to clean the blade. I was frozen, looking at the huge gash in my arm. However, the main thing that captivated me, was the color. It was the brightest, clearest shade of yellow... no, golden, that I have ever seen in my life. And it was my blood! Like, what the hell is this stuff?

"Then it is as I thought..." Celestia trailed off with a concerned expression. I looked to her confusedly.

"What? What does that mean!?" I asked, getting progressively more scared of what was to come. She then did something that I was not expecting.

She quickly looked to her sister. Celestia then held up her hoof, and drew the blade across her own hoof, putting the same style of gash in her leg. Austin and I jumped a little at this, before gazing at what she was showing is. Just like me, the same golden yellow liquid flowed out of her wound. She looked to me.

"Daniel, the substance that courses through your veins has a name," she told me. I tilted my head in suspicion.

"It is called... ichor. In terms of liquid, it is the blood that runs through the veins of gods... and immortals," she told me. I slowly processed this information, not being able to make any sense of it. Then it hit me.

My eyes widened.

"You have the same blood," I told her. She nodded.

"...you're immortal," I told her. She nodded.

The silence was deafening.

"...am... I immortal?" I asked her.

She nodded.