//------------------------------// // K // Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot // by Equimorto //------------------------------// Twilight tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean by that?" "Oh, nothing in particular." The Charioteer shook his head. "Moving on then. Is there anything else you wanted to ask about scales, or should we switch to a different topic?" Twilight hesitated, biting her lower lip. Before she had time to say anything, the Charioteer spoke again. "You can always come back to this topic later, if you feel like it. I understand what it's like wanting to be sure you're getting every bit of information you can. Just ask whatever comes to mind, don't worry about missing out on something just because the conversation seems to have moved on." Twilight furrowed her brow at that. "Well, if you put it like that, I do have something else to ask. Are you reading my thoughts?" The Charioteer chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment. But no, I'm just good at reading expressions." He pursed his lips, and hummed for a moment. "Your spell will hold, yes. Don't worry about running out of time." "Are you lying to me?" Twilight asked, moving her legs before they grew too stiff. "No, but I should clarify that I don't consider the omission of truth to be the same as a lie. Morally, perhaps, but semantically it's a different thing," the Charioteer replied. "You'll only get the truth from me. Just not the whole truth at once." Twilight gave a very small, mostly instinctual nod. "If I were to leave now, what would you do?" "Go back to watching and waiting. Like I've been doing for most of the last few months," the stallion said. "How do you watch?" asked Twilight, curious. "Is it another benefit of being stuck there, or something else?" The Charioteer smiled at that. "You know how I do it. And I should probably point out that being here is more of an informed choice on my part than an obligation." Twilight's first reaction was mild surprise. She asked him, "Then why haven't you left?" "Do you want me to?" He smiled again. "But like I've said before, I was waiting. I can't just march up to your castle and announce that I'm here to drive this creature around and destroy your world and all that. Where's the mystery in that?" He gave a shrug to accentuate his question. "Besides, I did have to direct the Behemoth. It's not something that can be done at a distance." Twilight then moved on to the second reaction to what she'd heard. "Does that make Sweetie Belle special, in some way?" "Aren't they all special?" the Charioteer asked back. "Curious that you would ask about her in particular. Perhaps I worded myself wrong." Silent for a moment, Twilight thought about what to ask next, and about what to actually take away from what she'd been told. "Will coils and scales all go away, if the Behemoth does?" "Oh, there's an interesting one. Scales should physically remain, but as much duller object than what they currently are. Coils will disappear, yes."