Aural Awakening
"...and so that's when Keith collapsed... again." Twilight ended her explanation to her friends as to why the Human they had met only earlier that day, was unconscious once more. A blood red colt, known as Professor Trotter to his colleagues, stood over the Human. His face showed a lighter shade of red as he was still trying to get over what he'd done.
"I didn't think that the reaction would have caused such a negative output! The stone is linked to the Human race after all..."
"It's not your fault, scholar," Princess Celestia stood over him, and the body, which now lay resting on a pew. "Like you said earlier, the consequences were unknown. Even with my powers, I can't predict what that stone could do."
The reaction ceased not a few minutes before. Everypony in the experimentation room was busy with something or other since the ethereal explosion. A scholar was rapidly scribbling in his notebook, excitement in his eyes. A few others stood and anxiously discussed the subject. A lesser number of them were still fearful of this newfound magic. But they hand't paid attention to what had become of the stone.
Trotter was the first to notice. "Everypony! Look! The stone! It's... it's... no longer just a rock!"
True to his words, the physical magical barrier had been removed. Revealing to all what lay beneath it. It was a solid gold medallion with five different gems. But in the center, there lay a hole, just right for a sixth gem.
And the sixth gem was missing.
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*groan*
It was almost as if I was spending most of my time in Equestria asleep, the reasons for doing so always varied. I sensed that I was lying down on something soft. Pillows most likely? I could hear voices talking above me...
"Uh, Twilight, dear? Has our friend woken up yet?"
"Not yet Rarity. He was really winded from the reaction."
I'm not unconcious! I just can't move!
As much as I wanted to get up, any effort exerted caused significant pain. I couldn't lift a finger without feeling a muscle ache. But I had to get their attention somehow. With all the air I could muster in my lungs, I attempted to speak. It came out as a whisper.
"I'm awake..." My eyes fluttered open, revealing the six pastel coloured ponies that stood before me.
"Keith, darling! We were so worried about you!"
"Ah almost thought that you'd never wake up!"
"Me and Rainbow Dash thought you were dead! So she suggested that we go get a bucket of water to dump on you! But then I said "Oh Dashie, that won't wake him up! Put frosting in his mouth!" and then she said..."
"Can't...move..."
"What's wrong, my dear?"
"Body...in pain..."
"Oh, you poor thing... Twilight?"
"Don't worry girls, I got just the thing. Keith, open wide." The lavender unicorn magicked a dropper, filled with a blue liquid. I struggled to move my jaw down, until I felt the strange concoction enter my throat.
I shot up within seconds. There was no more pain or shortness of breath. It was as if I was revitalized!
"Wow," I was sitting up now. My head energetically looking about, and my eyes surveying the surroundings. We were still in the experiment room. It was night time, as Luna's moon was raised high in the dark blue sky. the traces of the earlier reaction disappeared. Most of the scholars left, but only Trotter remained, busying himself with the information of his most recent finding.
"What awesome kind of magical Equestrian potion was that!" Twilight tilted her head and raised a brow.
"Liquid Adrenaline."
"...Oh...got any more?"
The ponies giggled in response. "I'm afraid thats all I can give you Keith. Anymore and you would be bouncing around the room!"
"But its really fun! I do it all the time! You should try it sometime too! You don't need a fancy potion, just lots and lots of sugar and..." Pinkie Pie seemed extra happy that I woke up.
"Calm down, Sugarcube. Keith, I think a certain Scholar has something to tell you." Applejack gestured towards the Professor, who had only just realized I had gotten up. He seemed to be a lighter shade of red than I remembered.
"K-Keith! You're back! Listen, I'm terribly sorry about knocking you out- I mean I didn't do it directly! It's just that I made a little mistake with the medallion is all... terribly sorry..." He was acting as if I was going to punish him. Princess Celestia
"It's ok Trotter. We all make mistakes," Princess Celestia casually trotted up, joining the conversation. As it was night, she was off duty now.
"Wait a second... you said medallion. Didn't you mean the stone."
"Oh ho ho! Not anymore it's not!" Trotter's mood lightened immediately as the subject was changed. He rushed to get something from behind his desk, fumbling about quills and ink bottles. "Remember how I said the stone was protecting something...?"
At last, his head reemerged from beneath the desk, magicking a shiny golden medallion.
"This was what it was protecting."
I jumped off the pillows where I lay, filled with new curiosity, The group of us gathered round the table to examine it further.
The medallion was similar to the symbol on the stone that protected it. The pentagonal shape, the circular base, even the gems! But the medallion was bigger than the symbol. Much like the stone originally, it could fit the whole of my palm. On the pentagon shape, 5 different coloured gems marked its points, all different coloured. But there was one missing... only a hole lay where the center and biggest gem should have been.
"There seems to be one missing..."
"And that's where your assistance is required once more!"
"Umm... what?"
"You see, Keith, all the gems here represent Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty, Generousity and Honesty." He pointed at them respectively. "But as you can see, the center one, which corresponds to the Element of magic, is missing. At first, we assumed that it merely needed a spark, like what was required originally from the other elements. But as hard as Twilight Sparkle has tried, the gem has refused to appear. It was only then did we realize where we were going wrong. This medallion has yet to respond to any form of Pony magic. Human magic, on the other hand, is a different matter altogether..."
Using his magic, Trotter pushed the Medallion across the table towards me.
"We believe that if the medallion was directly exposed to your magic... your Aura, it might work!"
I took this information in. It was going to take some getting used to to the fact that I, in addition to the other seven billion people on Earth, had a special form of magic.
"So what do I do? Just touch it?"
"Rather simple, but that's the idea. Go on! I doubt anything bad would come of this."
"If I recall correctly, you were wrong the first time." I couldn't tell if the scholar's face had become any redder along with his awkward smile.
"Just joking Trotter! I'm not mad at you. We're all learning from this experience." I gave him a warm smile. Everypony nodded in agreement.
"Yes, well... still, it was an accident! I promise you, it won't happen again!"
I pulled my hand from the warmth of my jean's pocket. Slowly extending it over the Medallion.
But suppose something does go wrong?
A bead of cold sweat ran down the side of my face. It didn't matter. It was now or never.
I clamped my hand over the Medallion. Just as I did, a sudden rush propelled itself up my outstretched hand, and into my body. It felt like something was crawling around inside of me! It was searching for something. Everypony else just looked at me with mixed expressions. Some scared, some concerned.
A minute of discomfort later, it found my heart. It entered my heart. And, like the old meme, it felt as if it was about to explode. Literally. The pain started welling up in my chest. I gave out a short little yelp from the pain, causing the Mane Six to flinch. An strong, unknown wind had begun to blow everything lightweight around the room. It tussled my hair, but other than that, I was unaffected.
Then, it burst. Just as soon as the pain had entered, it was released. I gasped for air. My body felt a source of excessive energy! It was like adrenaline, only one hundred times better! My vision began to fade into white, but I wasn't going unconscious. For a while, I couldn't see what was happening, only enjoying the energy. However I heard a massive amounts of amazed gasps from the others.
And then, the wind had ceased, and my eyesight slowly became clear once more. I was greeted by the shocked, open mouthed expressions of everypony,along with papers still drifting in the air. Even Princess Celestia, though it was her duty to remain calm, had her mouth slightly agape and eyes wider than usual. Everypony's mane had been blown about messily by the wind. I on the other hand, was perfectly fine. I felt better than fine! I felt like I could accomplish anything!
"Did it work?" They gave no response. They just averted their eyes to the Medallion in my hand. I brought it up to eye level. And, true enough, there, in the center of the medallion, the biggest, shiniest purple gem I had ever seen filled the center of the Medallion. It completed the symbol of Harmony.
I too was astounded, but only managed to utter one word.
"Awesome."
"YES! I knew it would work!" Trotter snapped out of the daze first, jumping up and down on his legs in ecstasy.
I drew a grin as I saw him act like Pinkie Pie in the candy store. Rainbow Dash stretched upwards and yawned.
"Well, activating the Medallion was cool and all, but I've already missed a lot of nap time for this. What say we hit the hay?"
"Ah'm with ya on that Rainbow. Ah'm mighty tired mahself..." Applejack stifled a yawn.
"But what about the Medallion?" I didn't feel like sleeping. In fact, I was wide awake, be it from Adrenaline or Aura
Trotter regained his composure, and magically cleaned his spectacles. "Although we have achieved a number of great things today, I'm afraid the Scholars of Magic can no longer aid you in your research."
At once, all of our faces shot him a look of confusion and betrayal.
"I-It's not that we do not want to! In fact, we would have liked to take it from you entirely! But like I mentioned earlier, it does not respond to our magic, only Human's. In fact, we are all still unsure of how it works, let alone recreate the Bridge that led Keith here. With that said, I believe it is in everyone's best interest that Keith takes possession of the Medallion for now, until its energy can be truly understood. All those in favour...?"
"Aye!"
"Seconded!"
"Ah!"
"As do I!"
"ME TOO!"
"Umm...aye?"
"In that case," At last, the Princess spoke up. "Keith, allow me to give you this..." The royal Alicorn's horn glowed tinge of yellow, like the sun. With it, Celestia pulled at a number of yellow strands of her golden hair. She broke it off, and with her magic, strung it together, forming a perfect length of golden string. She also produced a silver loop.
"Lend me your Medallion." I handed her the Golden Harmony Symbol. She magically tied the new golden string around the silver loop on each end, inserting the string through the Medallion's top loop. She had turned the Medallion into a Pendant. She returned it to me.
"There. That should keep it safe with you."
"You majesty, I don't know what to say..."
"You need not give thanks, Keith. That Pendant is now just as important as the elements of harmony themselves! Seeing as you're the only who can use it, I feel that you should keep it."
"Thank you, Princess. I won't let down such a great responsibility. Until I return home, I won't let anything happen to it!" She flashed a smile of approval. Twilight Sparkle spoke next.
"Speaking of returning home, the six of us have to return to Ponyville soon. We've been in Canterlot for three days now."
Ponyville!
"Come to think of it, where am I going to stay? I presume I might be in Equestria for a while..."
"OOOH! OOOH! HE CAN COME TO PONYVILLE WITH US!! Can he? Please Princess? PLEEEEEEAAAAASSE?!?!" Pinkie Pie's face grew extremely close to the Princess's, but she dismissed it with a chuckle.
"I don't see why not. Twilight Sparkle, I assign you the responsibility of updating us here in Canterlot on your studies of the Pendant. Do you accept?"
"Of course Princess!"
"Then its settled. Tomorrow morning, you will return to Ponyville! I wish all of you the best of luck!" With that, the Mane Six joined for a group hug. I stood aside and watched as they did.
"Keith, what are you waiting for? You're our friend too you know!"
I get to hug pastel-coloured ponies? Sweet!
I joined them in their cuddly embrace. And the fans were right. Pinkie Pie's mane did smell of cotton candy!
The Professor cleared his throat. "As much as I hate to break group hugs, it is rather late. You should be getting some rest. We all should! There's a big day ahead of us!
And with that, seven Ponies, one Human, and an Alicorn left the Scholars Of Magic's Headquarters. The old colt at the reception desk swore that it was the strangest, yet happiest group of people he had ever seen in the department.