Twilight was, again, silent, but so was the other. They both stared at each other, one smiling and relaxed, the other tense. It was Twilight that finally broke the silence, as she asked, "What would the Behemoth do, exactly, if I stopped you now?"
"Are we finally getting somewhere?" The Charioteer had a look around, and quietly began to whistle to himself, until he spoke again. "I can't say for certain, Twilight. I can't see the future, after all. But if I had to take a guess?" Standing straight, he stretched his legs. "Not much. Oh, perhaps it would thrash around at some point, cause a bit of commotion, sure. But from experience pulling at its reins, this creature is much more prone to staying still than it is to move. I've never had to hold it once in all my time here. And while it may agitate itself when the signs we're waiting for come, it'll most likely stop not too long after."
"So what you're saying is-"
"That stopping me would lead to the least amount of damage overall, barring you somehow finding a way to remove the Behemoth entirely, yes." The Charioteer nodded. "And you won't find any easy way to do so anytime soon. You've seen what risks are there in merely dealing with a single scale. So you can just stop me, right here, and that'll be the end of this whole thing."
"Why are you telling me this?" asked Twilight. "What do you want?"
"Nothing, really. And everything. I'm just doing what I'm here to, would you say a plant wants something in particular as it simply exists through life?" The Charioteer chuckled. "But it will be funny to see you fail."
Twilight's lips twitched at that. "Are you that convinced I can't stop you?"
"This is not just about me," the stallion replied. "Ponies and creatures will die, Twilight, and you'll play a part in it, and you'll fail to stop it. You can't take yourself out of this game any more than I can."
"I am not alone in this," Twilight replied, "and I don't plan to give up just because I've been told to. I've seen myself, my friends, and the creatures of this world do what we were told we could never hope to more than enough time to believe that we can make it this time too." Magic buzzed at the base of her horn, ready for use, and her back tensed.
The Charioteer continued on, unimpressed by Twilight's words. "That world you found, where Nightmare Moon rules? Its abomination is coming, and it'll be far faster than your world's. And you'll happily leave it behind and condemn all the ponies there to it."
Twilight grit her teeth, but she still held herself back. "What's the point of this?"
She may as well have said nothing. "You'll try to find a new way to use scales, and bring more destruction on this world as a result. You'll fail to see the mistakes you've already made until it's too late, and your friends will suffer the consequences of it."
"This is getting us nowhere." Twilight's horn was alight with magic. "Stop it."
"Why don't you stop me yourself, then?"