A Journey Unthought Of

The Doctor and I stopped in our tracks as the full meaning of what the Maiden had revealed to us struck us like an anvil.

“Are you saying you created Discord?” The Doctor asked.

“Yes, we did” the Maiden’s guilt was palpable in Lyra’s voice and in Lyra’s face. “We paid for our hubris with our lives. I was the last human standing when Discord came for me.”

“Murder? Discord never showed any propensity for that, just spreading chaos and causing harm collaterally.”

“From the moment he was created, Discord hated and feared mankind. Is it not true that humans create order from chaos? We find the reason or make sense of the things insensible. In a world of insanity and turmoil, we staked out our order of things, and this was exactly why he feared and hated us; we could undo his work by merely existing. So, he wiped us from existence. With our last breath as a species, we limited Discord’s power by locking him to a single base form he must stay in. While he may never age or be able to fully change anymore, he is easily recognizable. Then, with only myself left, I had helped to create the three greatest checkmates of Discord’s power.”

The answer came to me as the pieces began to fit together, “You created the Royal Sisters and the Elements of Harmony.”

“I was selfish in that I chose Dawn and Dusk’s destiny for them, but I also did it for every other pony created, including this vassal.”

“The Cutie Marks,” I murmured to myself.

“I modeled their society on the theories of Plato; each individual having a purpose and benefiting the whole of society itself.”

“Plato’s Republic,” Doctor murmured, “Let me guess: the Earth Ponies are the bronze workers and tradesmen, the Pegasi the silver warriors, and the Unicorns are the golden merchants and knowledgeable ones.”

“Correct on all accounts,” replied the Maiden, “leaving Dawn and Dusk to be the Guardians, protectors of the land, the law, and a safeguard against the Serpent.”

“But what purpose do the Elements of Harmony serve?”

“I can only assume that is what they are called now, but when they were created, they had no name; they were simply powerful receptacles for the energies of the Tesseract. These ‘Elements’ tap the very power of the universe, and with them all of Discord’s machinations could be undone.”

The Maiden looked up to the ceiling, and the eyes of Lyra were lost in deep memory. “My two little girls sealed away the Serpent, and then they began the Panrestoration. Using some of the very weapons we created to destroy others, they created another Sun.”

“You used several hydrogen bombs and a gravity bomb to create a new star,” the Doctor couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “that’s utter genius!”

The Maiden continued, seemingly not noticing the Doctor’s praise, “Just as Discord’s power is connected to Chaos itself, so the Sisters and the ‘Elements’ are connected to Order. The eldest, Dawn, is bound to Energy. Dusk, the younger, is bound to all Matter. The Elements counteract the Destruction wrought by the Serpent with the pure, undiluted power of Creation.”

The Maiden returned Lyra’s gaze to the both of us, “If you wish to close up the Tesseract, only the combination of the Elements and the Sisters will stop it. No less will seal it.”

The Doctor looked to his watch and then to me, “We need to be off Adam; we only have four hours now.”

“Adam,” the Maiden called to me.

I turned to face Lyra once more, “Yes?”

“You wanted to know your purpose?”

“Yes.”

“Whether you came here by chance or not, I think your purpose here was to redeem us. Redeem us as a race, and make sure that my children do not make the same mistakes as I and our kind did, and save this world from the Tesseract.”

I solemnly looked to her, “I will try,”

“That’s all I can ask of you,” she said.

The Doctor made for the door of the chamber, and tried to open the door; it was locked.

I saw him from across the room struggling with the door, “Something wrong?”

“Yes,” was all he grunted.

He then tried to use his Sonic Screwdriver to open the door, and we came to realize our plight when we heard the hissing noise. The Maiden looked up. My gaze followed hers to see several nozzles emitting the hissing sounds, “Decontamination. Standard procedure was to wipe out all life in a hostile chamber by use of cyanide gas.”

She looked down at us once again, but this time there were tears in her eyes, “I’m so sorry. I’ve doomed us all.”

“Teach me how to use this,” I shoved my new mechanical left arm in her direction, “You need to teach me right now!”

“I don’t know anything about using it. It was the best arm I could give you, but I can’t tell you anything about how to use it,” the Maiden said morosely.

“The door is deadlocked!” the Doctor kicked the door with pent up frustration. “We’re stuck.”

Already I could sense the acute smell of almonds coming from the ceiling. We were trapped, nothing left to try, no hope at all, and then I remembered. I called out as loudly as I could in my mind, practically screaming it mentally, Luna, I need you now. Help me!