//------------------------------//
// Lies 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

Twilight walked forward under the rising Sun, not alone as she believed herself to be, and Stella watched her at her side, walking with her. She'd been with her all day long, unseen of course, and she knew every bit and detail of what Twilight had planned and done. Not that she would have needed to to have the advantage, but it was still preferable to gather knowledge.
Everything had gone according to plan. So much so that it was almost boring. Of course Twilight had agreed to her terms, and of course she was doing everything in her power to still try to come out on top, but without putting others at risk by going too far. It just happened that there was an objectively better course of action to take given what she wanted to do, and to Twilight's credit she was smart enough to figure it out. In turn, that made her really predictable. With ponies' lives on the line the stakes were too high for her to try something other than the best alternative, and that meant she was stuck playing along exactly as Stella wanted her to.
Stella did wonder if in a broader sense it wouldn't have been preferable to harm some ponies along the way. The fact that she hadn't hurt anyone meant Twilight could theoretically have assumed that she didn't really want or mean or like to, and that she had some leeway to play off the established rules without endangering others. Of course Twilight wouldn't, being Twilight, but it was still a general possibility worth considering in a more abstract rendition of her plans.
The time was still a little early as Twilight walked to their meeting spot. Of course she would be early. Stella wouldn't. That would have just made the meeting start early, ruining the point of establishing when it was supposed to start. She would be exactly on time, and she would leave Twilight alone until that point. Partly to annoy her, partly to watch her. She would have to approach from farther away when she finally revealed herself, and for a bit before that she wanted to just study Twilight.
The alicorn was evidently nervous. Evidently wondering what she would find there. Stella had already decided how she'd appear to her, and she would have been curious to see her reaction if she didn't already know for sure what it would be. Twilight was too easy to read and predict, Stella could only hope she would be more entertaining to actually fight.
She'd show herself as an alicorn, of course. She could have gone with something else. She could have played around a bunch. But no. Those games were over with. It was time to talk with Twilight as herself. That wasn't just another one of her games, it was her main plan, and it was time to set it in motion. Slowly, as all good things took time, but Twilight would be dead by the end.