--- Truth in the Treetop ---
There were many benefits to traveling via teleportation, but it didn't come without its drawbacks. Such as the fact that momentum and posture were maintained through the transition, meaning that as the blue light of Starlight's spell faded, Twilight was left hanging in the air seconds away from plummeting to the ground. She landed with a thud and a groan, disoriented by the unexpected transportation, and remained still on the surprisingly soft floor while she reoriented herself.
"No, no, no, no!" Starlight was already up and running off by the sounds of it, and unmistakably upset by whatever it was she was shouting at. "Not yet! We were supposed to have more time!"
Twilight shook her head with an irritated murmur, readjusting the glasses she had been wearing and taking in the sight of a field of long-dead rosemary flowers. Starlight had taken them back to the top of the gargantuan tree at the heart of Warden's Keep. Being up here again was enough to make Twilight give an anxious shudder as she recalled the last time she was here.. She turned her attention towards the center of the organic platform, where Starlight was having her latest panic attack. Twilight watched with timid concern as the other mare frantically dashed back and forth around an ominous structure faintly glowing at the center of the space, frantically examining it, but not taking the time to actually see.. If Twilight's memory served her right, that was the spot where that small shard of crystal was embedded into the tree's bark.
Though as she cautiously made her approach, she saw that the small shard had undergone some changes since the last time Twilight had laid eyes on it. It was bigger now, for one thing, and had ascended above the thick layer of dead flowers that it had once been buried in. Where before Twilight could use her hoof to obscure it entirely, it was now large enough for her to use as a small bed, though she couldn't imagine it would feel good to rest on It no longer resembled a simple broken gemstone, and it had taken on an uncanny plant-like visage. Six large leaf-like protrusions surrounded a large bud big enough to fit a pony's head in, giving it the appearance of a flower about to bloom. Comprised of a milky quartz-like mineral, the green light held within was focused entirely at the heart of the waiting flower bud. Every now and again, as if at random, wisps of other colors made themselves visible within. . Reds, blues, yellows, and every other shade in the visible spectrum. There were even flickers of white from time to time, though green remained the dominant color, at least for the time being.
"I know you're impatient, but could you just go back to sleep for a little bit longer?!" Starlight pleaded with the crystal plant as if it could actually hear her. "I just need a little more time!"
"What in the world is that thing?"
"The cause of all our problems... the wars, the Choir going after Selene, the timberwolves. All of it because the Choir wants its claws on this stupid, impatient rock!" Starlight lashed out at the unusual growth, kicking it with a loud, resounding clang. She let out a yelp of pain that was louder and, waved the injured hoof about to try and alleviate the discomfort. "Okay, I deserved that!"
Twilight scowled. For as helpful as that answer was, it wasn’t specific enough.. "Thanks for giving me another vague answer. But would you mind telling me what it actually is?"
"I would have explained earlier if you hadn't been hyper fixated on me," Starlight managed to shoot a knowingly bitter glance at Twilight. "But to answer your question, you're looking at the Element of Harmony. Or what's left of it, anyway. It's been trying to fix itself for centuries."
That answer changed Twilight's attitude in an instant. Her eyes drifted back to the crystalline flower as she processed Starlight's words. Most ponies knew that this forest had indeed become the sacred relic's final resting place. In the last days of the relatively short Equestrian/Searăn war, when Queen Celestia stormed Warden's Keep to confront her corrupted sister, the resulting clash was enough to shatter the fortress. When all was said and done, and the smoke settled, the Element of Harmony was supposedly destroyed with Selene, having been resigned to her existence as the Mare in the Moon. And while Starlight had made some outrageous claims today, the idea that the most powerful magical artifact in the world had somehow survived its own destruction was one of the more believable.
That train of thought was shaken out of her head as another tremor shook the whole tree, the crystal bud's light growing and decreasing as the event came and went. If one were paying particular attention to the unnatural plant, they would have seen it grow, even if only by a fraction of an inch.
"And as you can see, it doesn't want to be broken anymore," Starlight managed to stammer out as she fought to maintain her balance. "Probabbly because of that little travel charm you have."
Taking the cue, Twilight's first thought was to pull out the artifact in question. Much like it had the first time Twilight had come up here, the gem embedded in the amulet was glowing brighter than usual—though it was far from blinding this time around. The bizarre ringing sound was also back, also far less prevalent than it had been the first time around.
"Yup, that's the one. Good thing you brought that, we're gonna need it." While the panic in Starlight's voice had toned down significantly, She was still very much on edge. Once again she Knox’s book in feverish search of something. "Dumb question, how fast of a learner are you? Specifically with spells."
"What does that have to do with anything? What's even going on?!" It was hard for the hectic nature of the situation not to get under Twilight's skin, the hair on her neck standing on end as her emotions began to boil over. "What in the world is going through your head right now?!"
"At least she's finally asking the relevant questions," Starlight bitterly mumbled under her breath before shoving the open book at Twilight, "To make a long story short, you need to cast this spell through that amulet over at the big weird crystal plant thing." She pointed at each of the three mentioned components in a series of overly exaggerated movements.
"And that's gonna stop the world from ending?" Flustered and confused, Twilight lookedNumbly down at the dusty old tome. From the first few words sprawled out before her, she knew what this spell was. "This is the Dream Walking spell..."
"Yup. Choir's disciples only kept the book around because that spell lets them commune with their god," Starlight snappily turned her focus back to the crystal bud, "You've probably been on the receiving end of it a few times. Well, this time you need to be the instigator. Confront her in her own head."
"I'm sorry, you want me to go back in there?!" Twilight felt a chill run down her spine. Memories of the last time she had been made to endure Selene's dreams rushed back into her head like water from a busted dam. If it hadn't been for her own home security measures and Rainbow Dash's actions, there would have been a very good chance that she never would have awoken from that awful nightmare. "What does going back into her head have to do with stopping the Choir?"
"A lot, actually. If you can manage to either sever its ties to Selene or cut her ties with the Element," Starlight kept her eyes locked firmly on the bud, watching for something, though what that was, only she knew.. "Though I will say, cutting her off is the temporary solution. Cutting her off from the Choir is the permanent answer."
"Okay..." Twilight slowly nodded, taking her time in processing this new information. It was a lot to take in all at once, but it wasn't anything Twilight couldn't handle. Her eyes drifted over to the glowing bud, becoming increasingly more worried as she dwelled on these thoughts. "So, I'm guessing they need this to do whatever it is they need to do?"
"Yes. The Choir is powerful, but it has rules that it can't break even if it wanted to." Starlight took a moment to collect her thoughts and calm herself down before she continued. "It wants to use the Element of Harmony to rewrite itself. Make it so it doesn't need a host. Or consent to infect someone's mind. They need an alicorn to do that. And it went to a lot of trouble to get its hooks into Selene way back when. It killed her mother and started a whole war just to break her down. Enough to make her take their deal."
Twilight’s mind lingered on the fact that an alicorn was needed for the Choir's objective to be fulfilled, and how they had gotten to Selene in the first place. Oddly enough, it brought her back to several days prior. Before she had gotten involved with this mess, and before she had even met Starlight. She went back to her earliest encounters with the Mare in the Moon. The entity had pried into her deepest fears and anxieties about her immortality and taunted her with them. Up until now, Twilight hadn't dwelt much on those interactions, in fact, she had almost entirely forgotten about them. But with this new context, she couldn't shake a sick feeling of dread.
"They just need... an alicorn?"
This was what got Starlight to aim her attention back at Twilight. There was a similar look of contemplative concern written across her features. "Yeah... why?"
"It's nothing..." Twilight was quick to shake off that horrid hypothetical and return to the here and now. If the Choir really had tried to make Twilight its new host, it had seemingly given up on that option, if their last encounter was anything to go by. That was enough get her to calm down and focus. With a sigh, Twilight took up the old book and began skimming over the contents of the spell. She wasn't done asking questions yet, but at least she could get started on this in the meantime, just to help get her mind back on the right track.
As she began to read in earnest, it became apparent that the translation properties of these glasses weren't quite made with spells in mind. It was still perfectly readable, but the way it was translated made it a bit awkward. The grammar was off, for one. Twilight had no idea what kind of magic had gone into these glasses, but it made sense that something like this would have a few glitches in its functionality. It wasn't enough to stop Twilight's progress, just slow her down a bit. It was less distracting than the next tremor to rattle the tree, but that was only a momentary distraction at best. The spell itself was fairly straightforward all things considered, which probably played a role in why it was outlawed.
"So, Is there anything else you want to tell me before I do this?" Twilight asked as she read, making sure she was parsing the spell correctly.
"Doing this is probably going to cause as many problems as it fixes," Starlight solemnly answered without hesitation, "There's a lot of moving parts to this whole mess. I'm not even sure if this will work in the first place..."
Well, that wasn’t at all reassuring. "What kind of problems?"
"Unless you can separate Selene from the Choir, you're going to accelerate her return... which is something that you'll have to deal with..."
Somehow Twilight knew that this wouldn't be as easy as Starlight had been making it sound, and the confirmation that there were going to be further hardships to come was oddly satisfying. "And what about you?"
"What about me?"
"You're not done explaining everything."
"No... I suppose I'm not..." There was a moment of chilled silence before Starlight continued. "Can I ask that you wait until this is all said and done?... I want time to collect my thoughts..."
"Nice try, but I don't think I'll be very conscious while I'm rummaging about in that mad mare's head," Twilight raised an eyebrow as she closed the short distance between the two of them, "How do I know you won't just run off?"
"...You don't," the hesitation there was damning by itself, but at least she was honest about it. "And I'm going to guess that there isn't much I can say to make you believe that I'll actually come back?"
"Not really, no." Twilight changed her expression back to a bitter scowl, "You can't just start the story you did without finishing it."
"In fairness, I didn't want to tell you in the first place," Starlight nervously chuckled.
This got under Twilight's skin more than it should have, and the alicorn snorted with fury before she retaliated. "In. Fairness. I'm owed an explanation for how and why you've been stalking me."
To Twilight’s surprise, Instead of being given an answer—or in all likelihood, another excuse—Starlight just took on this wide, blank expression. The life just seemed to drain out of her. It was reminiscent of the way she had gawked at Twilight the day the two had first met. As the silence dragged on, Twilight noticed that this time the primary emotion behind the expression wasn't surprise. This time it was sorrow. Her wide eyes drooped as her brow contorted with emotion, her lips parting slightly as tiny half-gasps escaped. It sounded like she was trying to say something, anything, but the words were caught in her throat. It was enough to cool Twilight’s frustration into concern. Finally, after several seconds, quieter than a whisper, Starlight was finally able to choke out the words.
"You... talk... just like her..."
Once again, Starlight's words only brought on further questions instead of answering any. Yet before Twilight could ask for clarification, the moment was interrupted with yet another outburst from the broken Element of Harmony. Twilight swore she heard the tree creek from the strain of this latest quake, far stronger than the other tremors. The green glow radiating from the crystal became unbearably bright as the very earth shook from the magical force, the air filled with the otherworldly arcane ringing. Like before, these symptoms only lasted a simple moment. But it was more than enough to command the attention of the two mares, and likely every living thing for miles if the magnitude of the shaking was to be believed.
"We're running out of time," shaken free from her mournful trance, Starlight turned back to Twilight, her eyes desperate and pleading. "Look, if we keep bickering like this, the world will end without us even noticing!"
Even so, Twilight couldn't just let Starlight run off to who-knew-where. The impending apocalypse was significantly more important in the grand scheme of things, without doubt, but even still, the story behind this unicorn was too tantalizing to resist. There was no way around it, Twilight had become obsessed with this mare and the story she had spun. Whether her story was real or not, it demanded investigation. But in the end, she had to admit that this desire was her personal vice and nothing more. The truth would mean very little to her if she had to let the world end just to get it. Twilight bit down hard on her lower lip and growled to vent her frustrations before throwing her head back. A moment later, her eyes were back on Starlight, burning with pent-up malice.
"Fine. You win. I'll stop the Choir, save the world, and put history back on the right course for you." Twilight's voice was blunt and almost cruel. She leaned in close, squinting her eyes heavily as she glared into Starlight's. "But when it's all said and done, you are going to tell me everything. Beginning, middle, and end."
"Understood." The first and likely last answer that Starlight had given that Twilight actually liked. "But if it's all the same to you, I would at least like some time to put my own affairs in order... stopping the Choir here won't stop their cult. Not all of them, at least. If nothing else, I should at least take care of that for you."
"Hmm... fine." Another low growl echoed from Twilight's throat, unhappy to hear about Starlight's plans to stall for time. But she had at least made a decent excuse for doing so, and they were running out of time. "But if you don't come back, I will find you."
"I know."
Twilight maintained silent eye contact to make sure her intentions were clear. With the looming threat of the end of days, there wasn't much else she could do. With a huff, she finally returned Starlight's personal space and headed towards the Element. With a quick adjustment of her glasses, she made another pass over the spell to make sure she had it right. Once she was confident in her ability to cast this illegal spell, she removed the glasses and placed them in her saddlebag alongside the dusty old book. Another flicker of her horn was all it took to bring the travel charm into focus, and Twilight took the time to gaze upon the jewel embedded in its middle.
"So. I'm supposed to cast the dream walking spell through the amulet at this... thing?"
"Yes. The Element is still connected to Selene. That should be enough for the spell to reach her."
The use of "should" in that sentence was concerning, but so was everything going on right now.. Twilight took a deep breath in preparation for what was to come. She closed her eyes as she looped the amulet around her neck. With a single thought, she reached out towards the amulet with her magic. She remained motionless as she cast the spell, moving slowly and cautiously to make sure that she did it right.
When the spell was completed, however, Twilight was caught off guard by a very forceful pulling sensation on her magic. There wasn’t time to react, there wasn’t time to even process what had happened. One second Twilight was standing atop the gargantuan tree within the Everfree Forest, the next her mind was just… somewhere else.. There was a single instance where Twilight was aware of whatever the spell was doing. It was now painfully obvious that she may have mistranslated a few aspects of the dream walking spell.
And so Twilight was once more made to relive the bygone days of that other mare's life. This time of her own, albeit accidental, accord.