The classes were finished for the day and it was time to read Mageriums. Catalyst wrote down the name of the first Human when Princess Luna translated it for her, 'Michael Joyner'. The Arch Magister could already tell there was something incredible about the Human male. She felt alive, invigorated by his mere presence.
The Arch Magister was lying down on a thick blanket with a six inch tall, angled lectern and a quill, ink vial, Official Royal Archives Forms and a sand case on top of it, in front of her. Princess Luna stood to Catalyst's left ready to translate everything for both parties for simplicity sake, the Humans could understand Velensovth well enough, but their grasp of speaking it was tenuous at best so, to expedite the process, Luna volunteered to talk back and forth for everyone. However, if the lunar Princess was being completely honest with herself, she was also willing to act as translator because she was excited to learn what each Human could do. The other volunteers waited, preparing upstairs for when Catalyst tired herself out with the magical scans. Once she was tired another Unicorn would take her place and the process could continue. The Humans scheduled to be scanned first were the ones who were involved with a group the Alicorn Princess had referred to as the 'Leadership'. There looked to be more than twenty of them waiting patiently by the entrance to the Town Hall.
The first Human was a light colored male who had been extremely cooperative and patient,
"Alright then, would you please ask him to hold still?" Catalyst asked quietly.
Luna relayed the Arch Magister's instructions and the Human man sat down across from Catalyst and closed his eyes. Catalyst smiled and began her scan, horn glowing brightly. After a full three minutes of still silence, Catalyst slowly opened her eyes.
"Princess," she addressed quietly, "Step away from him please. I need to be certain of something."
Luna quirked her left eyebrow but took twenty steps away from the Human and Pony. Catalyst closed her eyes again and her horn lit up once more. After three more minutes she opened her eyes with an unreadable expression.
Princess Luna was curious,
"What is it Catalyst?" she asked.
Catalyst turned her head toward Luna while poor Mike looked like he was ready to explode from curiosity,
"He has a passive Noun and Verb combination . . . " Catalyst suddenly looked very unsure, "Come over here Princess."
Puzzled, Luna trotted over and lowered her head down so her mouth was next to the Arch Magister's ear,
"What's going on?" Mike asked suddenly in American.
"I'll tell you as soon as I know." Luna replied turning her attention back to Catalyst, "What is wrong?" she asked seriously.
Catalyst lowered her voice to a near-silent whisper,
"His passive Noun and Verb combination is Create and Magic. I had you step away to be certain I was right, but it's true. He's constantly radiating magic all around himself. I checked your Nouns and Verbs Princess, when you are close to him, every one of your Nouns and Verbs are a . . . ten. You are as powerful as Discord."
Luna's eyes widened substantially as she leaned over to Mike speaking quietly,
"Your passive magic is creating magic, you bolster the power of everypony around you."
"His other Verbs are Change of one, Comprehend of two, Control of one, and Repair of two." Catalyst continued at normal volume, "And his Nouns are Earth of two, Mind of three, Space of two, Time of two, and Flesh of two. All other Nouns and Verbs he is blind to."
Luna nodded as Catalyst wrote down Mike's Nouns and Verbs for the Royal Archives, and spoke quietly and urgently to the Unicorn mare,
"We must ensure that nopony knows of his ability. They might attempt to abduct him and use him for nefarious purposes." she turned to Mike, "Be absolutely sure you do not ever tell any of your passive Noun and Verb combination. They would seek to exploit you. You deserve to know though, anyone close to you will be much more powerful with their magic. This is both wonderful and terrible. Should you ever see a tall, serpentine creature that has mismatched body parts, do not, I repeat, do not let it get close to you. It could very well mean many terrible things for the world." she pulled her head back and spoke in a more normal tone, "In any case, your magic is wonderful, please sign up for magical tutoring as soon as you can. Your magic can be useful to all beings." she said warmly and she meant it.
Mike smiled and nodded to the lunar Princess with all sincerity,
"Sounds good. Where do I sign up?" he asked.
"I will personally make sure your name is cataloged with one of the first tutoring classes." Luna said, "Please send over your next friend from the Fellowship of Leadership."
Mike chuckled,
"We're officially a Parliament now, but I'll send you the next person." he turned toward the line and cupped his hands around his mouth, "Hord, you're up."
The other members of Parliament eagerly crowded around Mike. They were all clamoring for his attention, curious about his magic. Little did they know he wouldn't tell them everything.
Darryl jogged up and plopped himself down in front of Catalyst sitting cross-legged, a healthy looking red fox came with him and sat down next to him,
"Darryl Hord and Shadow, present and more than ready ma'am."
Luna giggled lightly, she did rather like the Marine, she turned her head and spoke in Velensovth,
"Darryl Hord."
Catalyst wrote his name down, though she spared a brief moment to admire his animal friend,
"Please ask him to hold still while I perform the scan."
Catalyst lowered her horn, excited to see what wonders this second Human would reveal. After three minutes of strange expressions flashing over the Arch Magister's face, she raised her head and began writing down numbers in the Nouns and Verbs categories of the official Royal Archives form.
Concerned, Luna leaned over and read off the form out loud in American so Darryl could hear,
"Blind to Create, Change, and Sustain in Verbs and blind to Air, Earth, Water, Flesh, and Spirit. Destroy of a one, Control of a three, Repair of a one in Verbs. Nouns have Fire of three, Illusion of two, Plants of one, Magic of one, Mind of one, and Time of two." she peeked closer and Catalyst levitated the document up in front of Luna's face, "Passive Noun and Verb combination is Comprehend of two and Space of two?"
Catalyst looked up from her writing, she hadn't understood Luna's words in American but her reaction was universally obvious,
"I triple checked to make sure I had not made a mistake. He can intuitively sense everything for roughly fifty Fathoms in EVERY direction, a literal sphere of omnipotence." she locked eyes with Luna, "He should have already gone insane from the hyper stimulation. No mortal mind could ever process so much information. Perhaps somebody put him on a strict regime of Pharmaceutical Thamaturgic Nullifier doses, it would help to stabilize the effects. I am fairly certain he is already on something, otherwise he would probably be clutching his head and screaming about air currents, insects, specks of dust, everything around him."
Luna looked at Darryl in puzzlement,
"Are you taking any pills regularly?"
Darryl nodded,
"Yep, sure am." he reached into his right shirt pocket and withdrew a small glass vial which contained five remaining pills, "Doctor Steady Hoof gave them to me." he scratched his head, "At least I'm pretty sure that's her name. Anyway I have to get these refilled every week, otherwise there's something about my magic that poisons my body."
Luna examined the pills,
"Tis not magic poisoning your body, rather it is your magic affecting your mind. You have an ability with magic around you that allows you to . . . sense everything around you for fifty Fathoms."
Darryl looked almost smug,
"I kind of had an idea already."
Luna cocked her head in confusion but continued with her line of thought,
"It is an unfortunate magic for you. Your mind will not be able to handle your magic if you cease taking the pills. We may be able to lessen your dose and allow a portion of your magic back in, but to allow it to give you knowledge of everything around you would overload your mind very quickly."
Darryl pursed his lips and nodded his head slightly,
"So, what do these pills even do?"
"Your body breaks them down and the chemicals in the pills force your body not to absorb as much Latent Thamaturgic Energy as it normally would. Basically, it neutralizes a portion your magic." Luna explained.
"Well then it didn't do a very good job of it," Darryl said bluntly, "When I got close enough to that disguised Changeling, I knew something was off."
Luna put a hoof to her mouth in thought,
"I would guess that the dosage is likely off considering our different physiology. Are you saying that you can feel things around you right now though?"
Darryl nodded,
"Yep, I can tell you there is a scar behind your left ear, even though you've never shown it to me." Darryl said confidently, "I can tell you that there are twenty-seven earth worms below us right now. I can also tell that this Unicorn mare in front of me suffered a broken right hind leg because one of the bones is a bit more dense." he actually did look smug, "I didn't tell anyone, because they would have thought I was crazy."
Luna was stunned,
"How far away can you sense things?" she asked.
Darryl scratched his head,
"Uh, about ten feet. I started practicing with seeing how far I could feel things when I first noticed it. I can't read minds, so don't get me wrong, but I can feel things even inside bodies. I've been practicing with it for a little while now, I'm not perfect, but I would like to think I am pretty reliable."
"Your magic is potent and useful, please sign up for a class as soon as you can. I'll see to it that you are given a personal tutor. Now go tell your friends and please send over the next person." Luna said warmly.
Darryl threw a smart salute and he and Shadow jogged off toward the other Parliament members while Luna and Catalyst spoke briefly,
"You seem surprised Arch Magister." Luna accused playfully, "Did you expect anything less from such an unusual species?" the lunar Princess was in a good mood.
Catalyst had no snappy reply for the widely smiling Princess,
"I admit I am very surprised. These Humans possess an amazing type of magic I've never seen before. I keep thinking that I'm missing something though, it's almost as if there is a whole area that we are ignoring."
Luna withdrew her head thoughtfully,
"Hrm, I never felt anything else when I scanned some of the Humans before. Would you mind if I scanned the next one after you perform your scan?"
"Hey there Queeny!" Chris Vacca said playfully as he sat down in front of Catalyst, "So how does this whole rigmarole work?"
Luna closed her eyes and sighed patiently,
"Arch Magister, THIS is Chris Vacca. He is friendly and playful, but extremely insincere and while not rude, neither is he particularly respectful. He tries my nerves and he will try yours."
Chris smiled a dopey grin. Inside he was chuckling, his Velensovth was all but perfect, both speech and comprehension, but he wasn't about to spoil Luna's fun.
Catalyst wrote his name down,
"Will you please tell him to hold still while I perform the scan?"
Luna looked at Chris evenly,
"Please hold still while the Arch Magister scans your Magerium?"
Chris looked around curiously, intentionally moving around as much as possible,
"Oh, who's this Arch Mage? Can I meet them first? This sounds kind of . . . heh, personal." he said with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.
Luna facehooved and sighed again,
"The Unicorn mare laying down in front of you is the Arch Magister, and the scan is not physically intrusive. Please sit still."
In response to Luna's request Chris froze in a ridiculous pose with his right hand curled up against his chest,like a mentally disabled person, his left arm covering his stomach, the hand curled at the wrist and fingers flexed to extremes, and his facial expression one of pure, ridiculous, comic surprise. Despite the borderline rude behavior, Luna couldn't help but to let out a tiny giggle at his antics.
The Lunar Princess was silently wary though. The mental image of the spinning portals Chris had created during the Battle For New Humansville were permanently burned into her mind. The flying pieces of bodies and streams of blood made her shudder every time she thought about it. It had haunted even her dreams. Catalyst quirked an eyebrow at the Human's ridiculous pose but decided to go ahead with the scan.
She lowered her head and closed her eyes then delved into Chris' body to read his Magerium. She began by examining the first strand she saw in his body. It was immediately obvious that there were few strands in Chris at all. She focused her mind's eye on the white thread and determined that it was representative of the Noun of Time. It was fairly thin and obviously a two. She then searched around for another thread. The second one she found was much more thick and a close inspection of the purple thread indicated that it was representative of the Verb of Control. After a few moments, Catalyst determined it was an impressive four in level. She then searched around for another thread, there were not many. She suddenly came upon a thread that was a bright, strobing orangish brown in color. The thread was thick, like a finely woven rope and pulsed with phenomenal arcane power. Catalyst pulled herself completely out of Chris to make sure she hadn't accidentally scanned Princess Luna. She found herself staring at the silly face of the Human and her blood froze, 'It cannot be!' she thought.
Catalyst was almost frantic in casting her Third Eye spell again. She delved deeply into Chris and sure enough, that same orangish brown thread was still there. Catalyst's mind's eye carefully approached the thread and began examining it. It was incredibly powerful, she had only ever seen such a thing in an Alicorn. The thread was absurdly powerful, well beyond Catalyst's own incredible skill. She came closer and began examining it as critically as she could.
Princess Luna noticed that Catalyst seemed very concerned about something as she came out of Chris' scan,
"What is it this time?" she asked harboring a sinking feeling.
Catalyst was pale,
"Please scan him Princess," she turned and looked Luna dead in the eye, "Make sure I'm not wrong."
Luna's eyebrows furrowed together and she closed her eyes and scanned Chris.
After only a brief moment, she gasped and broke off the spell,
"No." she whispered, 'It is as I feared. He already manifested once under stress and he might be able to do so again. Were he to cast at full strength, Catalyst couldn't stop him, even with her best ward. I'm sorry Chris. This must happen. Temporary though it will be, this must happen.' Luna's face suddenly hardened but with a sorrowful edge, "Stay here please Chris." her horn lit up and she vanished in a flash of light.
Chris unfroze and looked at the space Luna had just been occupying,
"I'm sorry." he said earnestly, "I'd have toned it down of I thought it was THAT offensive." he scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.
The other members of Parliament had taken notice of Luna's disappearance as well. They began talking amongst themselves curiously while Mike, Darryl, and Kolo walked over toward Chris.
Darryl called out to Chris from across the massive room,
"What the fuck did you do?" he asked.
Chris turned to his friends and shrugged,
"I don't know. I was just trying to get them to laugh."
Luna appeared a few moments later levitating a silver collar in her magic, she presented the collar to Chris,
"Chris, I'd like you to put this collar on please." she asked quietly.
Luna seemed calm but Chris could clearly see sad fear behind her eyes, he took a step back, holding up his hands,
"What?! Why? A collar, really? What exactly is it for, what does it do? Why did yall look like I had a deadly disease or something? What the fuck is going on, Luna?"
"Please try to remain calm Chris." Luna said pleadingly, "This collar is an a'dam. It's a magic restraint to keep you and others safe from your magic. Your magic is too powerful Chris. We need to take every step to be safe. Your magic is so powerful that even Celestia and I might have trouble stopping you if you acted against us. So I'm asking you, please put the collar on for now. I promise, it will not be forever, but I need you to trust me."
Chris took a moment and focuses blankly on nothing in particular as the shock of the reality of the situation sunk in before speaking,
"Wouldn't it be more dangerous to take the risk of telling me that, than to not tell me in the first place. If I really were a bad guy I'd be blasting this place to pieces. Now that I know that, I'm going to want to learn how to use it properly. I will not wear this . . . this thing unless I get training time. I have no idea what you mean by how powerful I am, but I'm sure as hell going to learn how to control it. I want a guarantee before I even consider it." he said stoically.
Luna bit her lower lip and averted her eyes briefly before answering,
"I . . . I promise to tutor you personally. The clasp comes undone with the push of the button on the front, but magic has to be flowing through it when it is pressed or else it does nothing."
Chris held out his hands and Luna levitated the device into his fingers. He took a few moments to examine the collar, then shrugged. Chris slipped on the a'dam and clicked the clasp closed. His arms instantly fell limply to his sides, he tried to speak, but he found his mouth unable to utter a sound. He tried to lift his hands to take off the collar but his limbs refused to respond. He could do nothing at all, he was a prisoner within his own body. His mind began spinning wildly, trying to break free. He wanted to yell, holler, scream, struggle. He could do none of it.
Luna quickly brought out the chain and bracelet she had hidden beneath her folded wings and fastened the cuff to her left forehoof. She used her horn and quickly clicked the chain onto the collar then fastened the chain to the bracelet. After a second, her horn lit up again and she and Chris teleported away in a flash of light.