Ducenti Septuaginta Septem

by Capacitor


Chapter Thirteen: Folly and Probation

Part Two: Theory of Singularity


Chapter Thirteen: Folly and Probation

Something seemed to shift gear, and with another thunk, Luna found herself on a rapid journey further down into the depths below.

The circular chute she was descending exactly fit the dimensions of the platform carrying her, walls blank save for several corrugated lines engraved along its length, possibly for some type of gear or other mechanical component to find purchase on.
Looking up, she found the circle of the tube's opening shrinking quickly into the distance.

She stood there, wondering what this place was, and who had built it, and when. It couldn't have been there before she and Celestia had taken residence in Castle Everfree, for then it would have been discovered during the vault's construction. The real question was whether it had been built before or after Celestia had moved her court to Canterlot. If it was afterwards, it was a highly suspicious undertaking – a secret construction in a desolate and wild part of the world, no less in the ruins of what used to be the very navel of Equestria.
If it was before, it was outright treason, literally undermining the Princesses' authority by creating unlawful access to their most valued and powerful treasure.

After what must have been about a dozen stories, the shaft abruptly expanded into a tall, round chamber. Three thick columns of stone suspended her descending platform and milky globes hanging from the walls provided mild light.
Below her, Luna saw the six Bearers of Harmony, and with them Twilight Sparkle's dragon assistant, who was seldom far when these six grouped up. There were also two other ponies Luna hadn't met before. Above floated, chasing his own tail in dizzying, twisted spirals, Discord the draconequus.

The platform screeched and slowed, then settled into the ground, vanishing with an almost inaudible click. Princess Luna stepped forward.
“What is the meaning of this?” she asked.

One of the two unfamiliar ponies, a unicorn, swiftly moved and bowed before her. The other lagged slightly behind and she noticed – before, she had mistaken it for a guard of some description – it to be not a pony, but in actuality an animated mannequin holding a set of armour which looked dreadfully familiar upon closer inspection.

But before her thoughts could stray too far, the unicorn recaptured her wandering attention.
“Your Highness, it is quite an honour. If I may welcome you here at the Everfree Technologies Alpha Compound?” The name meant nothing to Luna. “I realize that it is in a simply pitiful condition, but Your Highness can rest assured that profound renovations are planned in the immediate future. For now, I can but apologize. I am Theory, holding an administrative office in this venture.”
The unicorn was speaking fast, but respectfully. Nonetheless, Luna found her patience wearing thin. There was a time and place for decorum, but this was not it.

She pushed the kowtowing mare out of the way. “Excuse us, young lady, but we have not time for this,” she said haughtily. “We must consult with Twilight Sparkle.”
Princess Twilight seemed to shrink under her stern gaze as she made towards her. Out of the corner of her eye, she half-consciously registered a flicker of almost-surprise running over the shunned unicorn's face.
“Tell us, what is the meaning of my sister's banishment?”

Twilight swallowed, and looked down in shame. “I'm so sorry, princess. We really didn't mean to banish her like that.”

“But she was doing some crazy kind of magic, so we had to use the Elements,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, zipping in front of Twilight, as if to shield her from Luna.

Fluttershy stood up next to Rainbow. “I thought the Elements would just turn her back to normal,” she explained. “I didn't want to send her away.” She looked up at Luna's face, only to shrink back instantly. “I'm sorry,” she whimpered.

Placing a comforting hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder, Rarity stepped forward as well. “It's alright, Fluttershy. I'm sure none of us expected that the Elements of Harmony would respond in such a drastic way.”

With an “Uh-huh” from Pinkie and an “Eeyup” from Applejack, the rest of the group joined up at Twilight's side, facing Luna.

“I'm afraid I don't understand,” Luna pleaded. She hadn't sincerely expected anything but this group of friends to stand together and defend their actions, but she just wanted to understand their reasons.
“Please, what forced you to use the Elements against my sister?”

“Allow me to explain, Luna.”
The unicorn she had dismissed before had appeared by Luna's side without a sound, and none of her former deference seemed to remain as she met the alicorn's gaze with a smile. Only now did Luna realize that if not buckling before her, this mare was almost tall enough to meet her eye to eye.
“Your sister became aware of a dark power at work in Castle Everfree and set out to resolve the issue. She took those who wield the Elements with her to stand by in case something went awry.
However, what she learned about the darkness that had taken hold here caused her to make a reckless move, and it infested the only place she could not drive it from: her own body.
When our six young heroes here stepped forward, they believed the Elements would cleanse Celestia just like they cured you from your own darkness. They lacked the knowledge necessary to understand why the Elements of Harmony could not expel this particular entity from an alicorn body.”
The light grey mare gave her a short, demure bow of the head as she continued. “That aside, I take full responsibility for the entire affair. All of this happened because of me.”

There was some crackling and popping from above as Discord materialised a bright blue bag of metal foil in his claw, withdrawing something yellowish, spicy and crunchy for him to munch on.

While Luna had expected and feared that some kind of corruption had overcome Celestia and forced the Elements' hooves, the peculiar choice of the message's wording as well as the messenger herself seemed strange to her. Sizing up the unicorn with renewed interest, she found only affirmation of her suspicions in what she saw. The mare before her bore the appearance of a pony, but her blank flank and puzzling demeanour told a different tale. The way she moved, the way she talked – something didn't seem quite right.
“What are you?” Luna challenged her counterpart.

“I am Theory.” The mare gave a smile and a small flourish. “I am just a simple pony.”

Luna could not hold back a short, grim laugh at this outrageous claim. The more she looked, the more Luna could make out that occult spark of otherness that so distinctly set apart Theory from a pony – she couldn't really put her hoof on it, but it seemed to tie into the strange energy in Theory's gaze as well as the missing mark of destiny on her haunch.
“You are no pony. Whatever manner of changeling or foul shapeshifter you are, you can't fool me!”

“She's a spirit, like Discord,” Twilight Sparkle provided.

Luna's brow furrowed as she sent a glance her way. It was a curious claim Twilight had made, and worrisome as well. Another Spirit of Chaos could indeed prove an incalculable risk, as just a single one had been enough to plunge all of Equestria into anarchy. Still, this certainly explained Discord's presence and interest.

Theory, meanwhile, pouted. “Well, I would like to be a pony. Say,” she started, quickly regaining a chipper tone, “how about we make that official? You, as a princess, accept me as your little pony and grant me amnesty for the sins of the past. I think it would only be fair after what I have done for you.”

The mannequin stepped forward, suit of armour glimmering in the dim light filling the hall. Luna drew in a sharp breath. Now, there was no mistaking the armour she herself had once worn—and she didn't even want to think about what seeing it again, here, might mean.
She shied away, took a step back, murmured “I'm not sure I understand what you mean.”

In response, crimson energies lit up from nothing and coalesced into a yellowed scroll of paper.
“According to this transcript of an oral contract originally offered and negotiated in the dreamscape and, as specified in said contract, agreed on by Princess Luna by creating an eclipse on the day of the Summer Sun Celebration in the 454th year of the Two Sisters' reign, the Order of the Watcher and by extension their associates and successors agree to aid Princess Luna by granting her the power to defeat and overthrow her sister, Princess Celestia. Aforementioned power is to be granted through the here visible magical artefact” – Theory's hoof indicated the mannequin – “which amplifies arcane ability and canalizes the power of nightmares into the world of the living.
In return, Princess Luna, then known as Nightmare Moon, played her part in the Order's designs to bring about the desired circumstances for the creation of a specifically aligned Void Gate, as it occurred today.”

Theory looked up from the scroll.
“In affirmation of this contract, said artefact is hereby returned to you, Princess Luna, after a brief period of dysfunction. While extended maintenance and customer support were not part of the original agreement, I would like to forward them as a sign of good will.”
The paper rolled up again, and vanished to whence it had come.

Luna opened her mouth, closed it, staggered backwards, shaken, unable to speak. Never had she expected her desperate delve into the dark arts to fall back onto her again after being restored to good, and certainly not in such a way.

She of course remembered that in the months and years before her final transformation into Nightmare Moon and after Celestia's forceful rejection of her plea to prolong the night so that her subjects may learn to love it, when she had already been in a half-maddened state and made her decision to bring her sister down and instate a night without end, she had sought out arcane secrets and lost magics to gain a substantial advantage in her inevitable battle with her sister.
As it had been (or so her ever-growing madness had her believe) impossible to leave the castle for a greater amount of time without arousing suspicion, she had taken to longer and longer ventures through dreams, calling up allies and potential aid from all the world to her in secrecy.
But chief among them was one whom she had met during one of those lonely, melancholic nights, a shade in the dreamscape without correspondence in the physical world that eventually offered even remoter help than the other dark magics she had sought out. This shadow's promises had been the final keystone in the rise of Nightmare Moon, and when she had eclipsed the sun on that fateful longest day of the year after weeks of preparation and secret ritual, it had been the power offered by this creature that flowed through her when she transformed into that wicked mare of darkness.
Truly, at the time, she hadn't seen it as a pact or trade between independent parties, but as a right she had long been denied, just as the adoration of her subjects.

She was the Princess of the Night, wasn't she? There had never before been any doubt in her that the evils she had summoned as Nightmare Moon had come to her in anything other than deference and respect. Wasn't all that fell under the shade and light of the Moon subject to her power?
The thought that Nightmare Moon was not just a product of her own volition and most ill desires, but also of the manipulations of the dark forces she had called upon was unreal, and the prospect that the same forces that had stood behind Nightmare Moon still sought to lock her in their grasp was paralysing.

Shock mixed with resolve, fear mixed with anger. She would never let this darkness of her past reclaim her! The turmoil swelled in Luna, rising and bursting out like champagne from a newly opened bottle.
“You, you turned me into Nightmare Moon!”
It was as much confused, frightened question as it was raging, helpless accusation. She didn't know what to do.

Theory's answer came almost lazily, calm laced with indifference. “Well, if you retroactively attribute the Watcher's involvement to me and neglect the quite considerable possibility of you descending into madness unguided and unchecked, you surely could say I did do that.”
She dismissively waved her hoof. “But right now, that does not really matter, does it?
Still, Luna, you have a choice to make. Either you accept my proposal and accept me as one of your ponies and citizen of Equestria, or you do not. Whatever your decision, it was power that you bargained for and this power still belongs to you.”
The armour of Nightmare Moon seemed to gleam brighter as Theory pointed at it once again.
“Go ahead, take it.”

And before Luna's disbelieving eyes, the shining metal garb, the power of nightmares made matter, glimmered one last time and, as if to some unspoken command, dissolved into shadow.
Streaks of darkness blacker than mere absence of light rolled off the armour stand, streamed across the floor, towards Princess Luna, approaching, encircling her.
Fear encroached Luna's heart just as the dark encroached her body, a sight she recognised from a millennium ago.
“No. Please, not again,” she pleaded, tried to back off, but the strands of shadow were closing in from all sides.

Black tendrils wrapped themselves around her form, pulling her not downwards, but up into the air. Luna thrashed and screamed, kicking her legs wildly, but to no avail, as she was literally fighting a shadow. Panic clouded her mind as the shadows rose around her to wrap around her head and engulf her completely, and desperately, she lashed out with everything she had against her incorporeal assailant. A bright lance of cyan light erupted from her spiralling horn, but it, too, passed the shadows unhindered, and struck the pony opposite her in the barrel. The blast sent the mare skidding across the room, and she hit the back wall with a wet crunch, slumping to the floor. A pool of dark red slowly spread around her now still, prone form, seeping from the long gash in her side.

Meanwhile, the web of shadow around Luna had coalesced into an opaque cocoon. An inner, hellish glow penetrated its surface as it condensed, swirled, the reddish glow swelling to a fiery quality before waning into darkness. Luna could feel the cold metal of the armour that had once again bonded its sinister powers to hers against her hide from the moment the black shell dissolved and gave her free. When her armour-clad hooves set gently back on the ground and the dark veil before her eyes cleared, she almost did not need to see the terrified expressions on the faces of Twilight and her friends, mouths hanging open in stupor, eyes widened in horror, a painful reminder of what she had again become. No, she could feel the change herself, the power ebbing and flowing between her and the nightmare realm, that strange bodily sensation of being able to give up corporeal shape, transform into mist, only to reform into almost any shape imaginable.

When she had first felt that way, those thousand years ago, she had been exhilarated; Nightmare Moon had revelled in the freedom this power lent and the feeling of superiority it granted her over Celestia. But now, after she had realised her own foolishness and cruelty and sworn to never repeat this grave mistake, feeling this accursed power once again was only terrifying and shameful. It was a scene from her nightmares, made infinitely worse by the fact that this wasn't a dream.

A small glance into their fearful, bright eyes was enough to send a jagged javelin of pain and shame into her heart, and she curled up on the floor, wrapping wings and hooves around herself in desperate attempt to shield herself from their gaze and, in turn, cover her own eyes from the fear she caused in others, a sight she couldn't bear.
“Please, don't look at me!” she cried, barely repressed a sob. “I don't want you to see me like this again.”

She pressed herself against the cold floor, eyes closed, when she heard the soft clip-clop of hooves closing in. A warm hoof gently pulled her foreleg from covering her face, and laid itself comfortingly on her shoulder. Luna blinked, looking up into the young features of Twilight Sparkle.
“It's alright, princess,” Twilight said, and smiled. “Look.” She pointed at Luna's hoof.

She stared at it, at the shimmering boot from unnatural metal protecting hoof and shin, and it took her a few seconds to realize that the coat that covered her leg was blue. A deep, royal blue, not a sleek, midnight black. She shook her head, confused; her eyes wandered along her leg, over chest, neck, barrel, wing—but what she found only matched the dark blue of her front leg. She had remained herself. This didn't make any sense.
“I don't understand.” Luna shuddered. “Why haven't I turned back into Nightmare Moon?”

“The last time you put on that armour,” Twilight explained, “you were overwhelmed by bitterness and jealousy. That's what turned you into Nightmare Moon in the first place.”
Her purple hoof reached out again, helping Luna up.
“But now, you're not the same pony you were back then. You've learned from your mistakes and come to regret what you did as Nightmare Moon.”
As Twilight continued, looking Luna firmly in the eye, her six friends closed the distance between them, moving up to join the princesses.
“And you may be afraid to repeat those mistakes, but I promise that as long as you have friends to support you, it won't happen,”
She pulled the Princess of the Night into a hug, where she was quickly joined by the other five ponies.

“Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna sighed. Twilight was right, of course. She felt stupid for slipping into hysteria, for letting fear cloud her judgement. It also felt odd that her friends seemed to trust her more than she herself did; but in a good way. “I acted foolish; I remembered what happened back then and I – I overreacted.”
She gently pushed Twilight away from her, breaking the hug, and smiled down at her. “Celestia was right to believe in you.”
She stepped forward, turned to Theory.
“As for you, I don't know what trickery you were up to, but challenging me will be your final mistake.”

The unicorn hadn't moved an inch during their conversation. She was still lying on her left side in a sizeable puddle of her own blood, eyes closed, breathing shallow. As Luna addressed Theory, her right eye fluttered open; she grimaced. A fine strand of blood was dribbling down from the side of her quivering mouth as she drew in a slow, ragged breath.
“Oh, go ahead and kill me already,” she groaned.
That caught Luna off-balance. Theory's mouth contorted into a small, painful grin at the slight expression of shock that had snuck onto the princess' face.
The other ponies, having been occupied with the princess before, had only now noticed her condition and joined Luna in various stages of shock and unease. Fluttershy had paled and was covering her mouth with both hooves, while Pinkie and Rarity looked slightly sick. Even Rainbow Dash seemed unnerved.
“Look,” Theory chuckled, “I am not going to die of blood loss any time soon, so unless you have decided to be merciful, I suggest you already murder me and get that over with.”

Princess Luna was appalled. “Do you think us some kind of monster? Nay, we will not kill you. You shall rot in Tartarus, as befit your sort,” she said firmly.

“Have you not learned anything from your troubles with Discord?” Theory wheezed. She opened both eyes, fixated Luna intensely. “No prison can hold me forever, Luna. I have no intention to stay in Tartarus or even in stone for long, and once I am free, I might not be as inclined to act amicably. Next time, my response to an attack might not be as passive.”
Luna wanted to say something, but found she couldn't. Theory's gaze seemed to hold her in place, to keep her from looking away. As the unicorn continued, every word seemed to impact like the beat of a hammer and Luna felt almost weightless, as if suspended in the sheer presence Theory emanated. This presence, this power was like a steady stream that washed over her, flowing from the light-draining abyss of the pupils that had captured her.
“I have already submitted myself to your authority.
Slay me, and I shall die and depart from this world. Imprison me, and I shall rise up again as the monster you cast me down as. It is your choice.
Theory closed her eyes.

For a short moment, the room seemed to sway. Luna felt as if she was falling from a great height and then suddenly coming to a stop, while in reality she was standing still. She stared at her hooves while the dizziness died down, taking deliberate breaths. There had been something weird about the sudden clarity and intensity behind Theory's words; it was like something had almost been shown to her, but only barely. She had almost seen, nay, felt a hole, an opening to somewhere unimaginable.

Despite Theory's apparent injury and vulnerability, Luna felt certain that this twisted imitation of a unicorn possessed a magic of the likes of Discord's, even if she hadn't shown much of it. Normally, Luna wouldn't have considered letting something so mindbogglingly dangerous roam free in Equestria, but the recent reformation of Discord had yielded surprisingly good results. While Theory had admitted to playing some part in the rise of Nightmare Moon, the brunt of the blame still lied with her, Luna, and even these crimes were smaller than the eternal torment Discord had inflicted.
And wasn't all that Theory was asking for a second chance, just like Discord had been given?

Luna cleared her throat. “Seeing that you surrender yourself, we shall grant you the same lenience as Discord, provided that you adhere to the rules we put in place. Your transgressions will be overlooked and you will be allowed to live in Equestria freely as long as you place yourself under the care of Twilight Sparkle and her friends to be reformed. Should you, however, do ill, you will be punished accordingly.”

“Well, that is good enough for me,” Theory stated matter-of-factly.

As she turned her body to rise, the blood on the floor underwent a sudden change. It seemed to coagulate almost instantly, turning darker and very viscous. From the now almost black rivulets running down from the wound, the now rubber-like substance separated cleanly from floor and coat, turning into dozens of thin, curling, whipping tendrils, writhing and squirming, then slithering, retracting, crawling back into the wound like worms.
Dislocated joints audibly popped back into place as Theory pushed herself up onto her hooves, and the needle-thin ends of the last of the rapidly disappearing tendrils curled and dug into the edges of the long gash in Theory's side, quickly closing it, sealing and stitching the cut within moments.
A final shiver ran through her coat, and the last trace of the wound was gone.

With a smile, Theory, good as new, stepped forward and bowed to Princess Luna. “Thank you, Princess, for your generosity and kindness. Still, there is but another small boon I would ask of you, a trifle, really.” When Luna didn't interject, she continued. “You see, this entire complex down here is in a pitiful state, and there are still some loose ends left to tie up. I would just like the opportunity to clean up this whole mess first so I can fully concentrate on learning the magic of friendship. If you would allow it, I would just get the renovations going and put these things off my mind.” She motioned to indicate the dark openings of the doorways lining the room's perimeter, looking at Luna expectantly.

Luna considered this. She still had a lot to discuss with Twilight and the other Bearers of the Elements, both concerning her sister and this spirit that called herself Theory. Having Theory out of the way would certainly help with that. For a moment, she considered letting Discord watch over her, but he'd yet to explain his involvement in this. She didn't like it, but she'd have to leave Theory without supervision – and she didn't know how much she could trust her.
Finally, she gave a slow nod. “Very well. You may leave, for now.”

“Splendid.” Theory gave a bow. “Should it find your approval, I will report back to you in Canterlot after sunset. By then, I will have concluded my business.” Upon Luna signalling her agreement with a second nod, she added “Wonderful. I has been a pleasure, Your Highnesses.”
Then, with what almost amounted to a gleeful pirouette, she turned to leave. “See you all later, everypony!”

As the unicorn disappeared into one of the corridors leading deeper down, Princess Luna turned back to Twilight.
“Twilight Sparkle, I believe you still owe me a full explanation.”


It took the better part of an hour for Luna to garner a coherent story from the six ponies, with some more or less helpful interjections from Discord.
Theory was apparently not a Spirit of Chaos, but a Spirit of Insight – a distinction Discord seemed quite eager to make. This type of spirit, by Discord's word, was aligned to foresight, learning and perception rather than unpredictability, change and confusion (though Discord also listed boring and preachy among the failings of Insight as well as good-looking and fun-loving as merits of Chaos).
She had apparently come into being just this afternoon, by means of a portal opened by the Elements of Harmony, the same portal that Celestia had been sent through.
The reason why this happened seemed unclear; some of the ponies insisted they had been tricked, Discord blamed a fork weirdly named 'Morton', Twilight said it wouldn't have made a difference anyway.
Some entity going by the moniker 'the Watcher' – either fragment or precursor of Theory's, which it was seemed uncertain – had orchestrated events since time immemorial to assure that the portal being opened was the only possible thing to happen; either through Spike, Celestia or the Elements of Harmony. Discord also seemed to suspect the Watcher had arranged for some type of nuclear force to act as a dead-pony's switch if events had unfolded in an unforeseen way.

The matter of Celestia remained similarly unresolved. All agreed she had been banished, none had intended for her to be, but whether the use of the Elements had been necessary, perhaps the only choice, or even a grave mistake couldn't be agreed upon.
Rainbow Dash insisted they had been tricked. Celestia had told them to use the Elements if things went out of control, but then Celestia had been tricked into losing control in the first place.
Fluttershy and Twilight were more inclined to seek the blame with themselves; they shouldn't have acted so rash, should've thought it through beforehand, should've remembered what happened when Celestia had banished Nightmare Moon, and so forth.

Even more inconclusive was the question what had become of Celestia. She had been banished through the portal, which had appeared as a black opening, that was all that seemed to be certain. Pinkie, shuddering, recalled an unspecified big nasty that somehow ate all fun sitting at the bottom of this pitch black pit, and Twilight hesitantly supplied that the portal might have led outside the world, into nothingness – whatever that might mean for Celestia.
At last, Discord admitted that while he didn't know where she went, it was within his power to try and follow her.
“I don't think trying will be much use,” he'd said. “If she's still real, she'll be locked outside by your oh so wonderful Elements, and if she's further out, I'll not be able to reach her. There's directions into which I cannot think, you know.” A bit more hopeful, he'd added “Though, given that you all still remember her, there might still be a way to find her.”

In the end, Discord had agreed to try and find Celestia – out there, in whatever bleak emptiness was even beyond the cold spaces between the stars. Before he left, he sent their little group out of the Everfree Forest and up into Canterlot Castle.
The palace was, understandably, in a state of wild panic. The sudden fall and reappearance of the sun and the absence of all three princesses had left the governing bodies of Equestria headless in more than one sense. It would take Luna some time to get it all under control and running smoothly once again – without Celestia.
For all their heroic qualities, this wasn't something Luna wanted to burden Twilight and her friends with.

“It seems to be farewell for now, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said. “You should all go and rest whilst I get the affairs of the state in order.”

Twilight pulled her in for a final hug. “Are you sure you're going to be okay, princess?” She glanced at the shimmering helmet that still rested on Luna's head. “If you need anything, we're all willing to help.”

“Don't worry about me.” Luna smiled, she and Twilight separated. “You will all have enough on your hooves with reforming Theory.”

Spike, who had remained silent and listened for most of their conversation, opened his mouth, but only a crude belch escaped his lips, and a green wisp of smoke and fire curled upwards.

Twilight caught the scroll in the air. She and Luna shared a hopeful glance – had Celestia sent it?
The paper uncurled and Twilight read aloud.

Twily,

Something bad is happening in the Empire. A unicorn I don't know trapped me and Cadance in our room; it's sealed with some kind of spell I can't get through.
She's done something to the guards, they're not responding. She's also done something to Cadance. I'm not sure what, but I think she's in a state of shock right now.

Send help quick
Shining Armor

The next glance they shared replaced hope with doubt and worry.
Frowning, Twilight said “If that is what I think it is, you're definitely right with that last part.” She turned to her pony friends “Girls, Spike, we're going to the Crystal Empire!”

“I think it might be better if Spike stayed here in Canterlot with me,” Luna said. “That way, staying in contact with each other will be easier.” What she left unspoken was that after the day he'd been through, even if he couldn't seem to recall most of it, he'd more than earned his rest.

Twilight looked unsure. “Would that be okay with you, Spike?” she asked.

“Yeah, sure.” He scratched the back of his head, gave a small laugh. “Besides, given how I've seen Celestia spend her days, Luna's gonna need some help with all that paperwork, and who better to help her than your number one assistant!”

“Well, she better take good care of him, then.” Twilight chuckled.

They all shared a short laugh, and with a few last words of goodbye, the six bearers of the famed Elements of Harmony left for the train station.