— Chapter Forty-Six —
--- Beyond the Veil ---
The brilliant light of the teleportation spell only lasted for a moment, and when Twilight's vision was no longer obscured she was greeted to a very different environment than the Golden Oak's library. A sudden sense of vertigo told her that she had been warped somewhere higher than the library's third floor. A tower was the only explanation, given the old stone brickwork around them. Twilight could only assume that they were in one of the few still-standing structures of Warden's Keep. It was the only place that would have old architecture like this. Speaking of the building's construction, the only way out of this room was a door that had long since fallen off its hinges, leading directly to a downward-going spiral staircase.
It was the perfect place for the secluded conversation that Starlight wanted out of Twilight. And based on the state of this room, Starlight had been using this place as a base of operations for quite some time. While there were very faint hints of sunlight spilling through the gaps in the boarded-up windows, the primary light source was a series of mismatched lamps scattered about the space seemingly randomly. Tucked away in one corner was a small plastic trash bin that looked far too new to belong to the old military base, stuffed to the point of overflowing with discarded food wrappers. Next to that literal pile of trash sat an old oak desk that looked like it could have been here before Starlight came along. Time had not been kind to the piece of furniture, yet it was still standing even though it looked like it could turn to dust if someone sneezed at it. The unicorn who had been squatting here had made use of it though, judging by the stacks of papers scattered across it.. The only thing missing was a makeshift place to sleep, though it was very likely that there were other rooms in this tower that Starlight had appropriated for her uses. Such places could wait, though. Twilight was here for answers, not a tour.
"Alright, we're alone," Twilight turned to face the unicorn, a cold and serious look strewn about her face. "Let's hear what you have to—"
"It wasn't supposed to be like this..." Starlight's interruption was carried on a heavy sigh. She slouched over as if she had partially deflated. "All it was meant to be as a push in the right direction, a little vague note to pique your curiosity and get you to... well, figure all this out on your own. I wasn't supposed to get this involved..."
"That's... an interesting way to start off," Twilight replied hesitantly, eyes narrowing as frustration began to give way into intrigue. Though subtle hints of frustration were still able to shine through given all this mare seemed to know. "So, would you care to explain why you chose to push me in the 'right direction? Because, to me, it seems a little too convenient for you to pick the only alicorn in town." There was a twinge of bitter sarcasm in those words, just enough to get across the point that Twilight was at least a little aware of what Starlight knew.
"I... uh... hmm..." A sharp inhale through Starlight's teeth cued the immediate look of regret upon her face. She pulled herself out of this stupor with a quick shake of her head though and magically reached into Twilight's saddlebags, drawing forth the book and glasses that had been retrieved from Rainbow Dash just moments prior. A wide, obviously forced grin took hold of her face as she brought the objects towards the dusty old desk. "How about we worry less about me and more about the oncoming end of the world? Seems like a much better use of our time! Wouldn't you agree?"
"You said we have twelve hours. Plenty of time for you to tell me—"
"Eleven hours and eighteen minutes, to be specific, but who's counting?" An unhinged chuckle echoed through the chamber as Starlight hurriedly tore through the first several pages. There was an almost psychotic smile on her face. She quickly snapped back to Twilight and gave her back the glasses. "There we go! You just need to read a few paragraphs, and we'll be all set to keep going!"
The elated look on Starlight's face slowly faded away as Twilight continued to glare at her. Twilight wasn't too happy with the sudden attempt at a change of subject, and she made no effort to hide it. Starlight withered under that glare, her ears drooping.
"How about you actually tell me what's going on here?" Twilight demanded, taking the glasses in her own magic and placing them next to the opened book. She could deal with that later. "You obviously need me for whatever it is you have planned. You clearly know things about Spike and I that you shouldn't. If you want me to cooperate, you're going to give me an explanation. Period."
Silence prevailed as Starlight stood there, watching Twilight intently as if waiting for something to happen. She bit down on her lower lip and her knees began to shake. Twilight could only guess what kind of thoughts were running through her head. She looked intimidated by Twilight, something that she honestly couldn't be blamed for. It was clear that she didn't want to fill Twilight in on what was going on, but it seemed that Twilight's requests had at least made her think twice about that plan. Finally, Starlight hung her head and sighed in defeat. She slowly trudged over to one corner of the room and placed her heavy-looking saddlebags onto the floor before turning back to face Twilight.
"Can you at least start reading first?" Starlight pointed over to the book on the desk. "You deserve answers, and I want to give them to you, but you need to compromise with me here. The world as we know it is going to end if we waste all our time bickering."
Twilight growled under her breath She didn't like being jerked around like this, being left in the dark despite being a supposedly important player in this game. But it was obvious that Starlight was just as stubborn as Twilight was, and the continuous demand for answers was only going to be met with further resistance. Another groan signaled the further acceptance of Starlight's increasingly restrictive demands. Giving the unicorn one last dirty look, Twilight turned her gaze over to the book and glasses that had been left on the desk . A flourish of magic delivered the spectacles to her face, and she leaned in to read.
As advertised by Rainbow Dash, the Old Searăn words were made to appear as if they'd been written in modern Equestrian. She found herself quickly taking them off and on to test the translation effect that they had upon the pages before her, her sour mood slowly giving way to giddy curiosity as she watched the words change. Even in this dire situation she couldn't help but wonder just how they worked. It was remarkable. Revolutionary even. A mental note was made for later to check and see if Dash would let her keep these things when all of this was said and done—or at least let her look them over so she could make her own pair later on. But her desire to learn how these glasses worked needed to be redirected towards the book placed in front of her and the spell she supposedly needed to read.
Just as she had confirmed the last time she had attempted to read this journal, the book was indeed written more like someone's research log on the Choir. The page Twilight had been told to start on spoke heavily of the Choir's supposed true nature, not a god-like entity that Knox and his allies worshiped— but an arcane parasite of extraplanar origin that had been present in this world for centuries untold, even at the time of this old book's conception. Despite the entity's boasts to Twilight that it was a being far above this world, the author of this book had seemingly managed to discover and prove that the Choir was reliant on a connection to a mortal being in order to survive.
It manipulates the heart and mind of its host, drawing out and feeding off of the darkest parts of their psyche in order to survive, Twilight donned a concerned grimace as she silently read the words. In turn, the host is influenced to act in ways that benefit the Choir's motives, being granted physical mutations and arcane abilities in order to accomplish these goals.
What these goals entailed wasn't made clear, at least here, but there was something almost as useful left to be seen. While there was evidently no way to track where the Choir had come from in the first place, the book's author had managed to find its earliest actions within the material world. The distant nation of Minok seemed to be where the Choir first made itself known, and if what Twilight was reading was to be true, then the minotaur nation owed its very existence to the arcane entity. It was utterly impossible for Twilight not to recognize the name of The Great Overboss Steve With Many Sharp Horns For Stabbing With. A rather prominent figure in the overall history of the world, as he was credited with the unification of the numerous minotaur tribes under one banner—using both masterful diplomacy and incredible violence. The journal made it a point to mention Steve's unique trait of having several horns where the normal minotaur would only have two, as well as an apparent fondness that he had for garbing himself in wolf pelts.
At some point, however, Steve lost his life in a campaign to conquer the Kingdom of Gryphell, something else that this journal saw fit to detail. But it wasn't long after his demise that the Choir's second known host made himself known in the griffin lands, and it was yet another name that Twilight recognized from history classes she had taken way back when. Basile of House of Ghrimtal. Otherwise known by aliases such as Basile the Terrible, Basile the Impaler, and Blade-Beak Basile. That last nickname had been given for a very specific reason. All depictions of the infamous dictator show him to have a serrated beak, more akin to a weapon than an actual piece of his biology. In his time, he was a warlord who led an insurrection attempt to overthrow his homeland's centralized government. An insurrection who had flown flags depicting a wolf pack, something else that seemed to tie him to the Choir's chosen canine form according to the book.
It was around here that Twilight had stopped reading, as her mind began to wander back to her short time trapped in the world of dreams. That field of black thorny vines was just as vivid to her now as when she was stranded in that nightmare. Specifically though, Twilight found herself lingering on the deformed and discarded remains of once-living things tangled within the bramble. The skull of a minotaur with far too many horns and that of a griffin with a saw-like beak were among the remnants of life that Twilight had seen. It was an unsettling sight back then, but now Twilight couldn't help but tremble for a moment from this new and horrific context. They weren't ominous decor meant to intimidate Twilight, they were trophies. Prizes claimed from previous vessels of the Choir, a literal headcount of just how many lives that this thing had dominated.
"The Choir's been around for a very long time," Starlight suddenly spoke up, having noticed the obvious shift in Twilight's posture and focus. The sudden voice was enough to get the alicorn to flinch before turning back to face her. She wore an equally uncomfortable expression on her face. "But it isn't as eternal as it would make you think, as I'm sure you managed to read."
"I saw a mention of something like that..." Twilight glanced back to the book for a split second before returning her focus to the conversation. It was true that the entries she had read told that the Choir needed a host to survive, but there wasn't anything to back up these claims. Thus, doubt began to bubble upward from the depths of Twilight's mind. "It didn't exactly give any proof though."
"Why else would it cling to 'lesser beings' like a tick?" Starlight strode forward and past Twilight, once again beginning to flip through the book's pages. "It's not the god that it wants us to think it is. It's a parasite. And like any parasite, it'll die if it doesn't have something to feed off of."
Twilight narrowed her eyes into a skeptical glare, thinking back to the conversation she had with Rainbow Dash the other night. "I was told that the Choir—"
"Couldn't be stopped, only stalled. Right? Yeah, because the Choir's disciples would go around letting info slip that their 'god' could actually die." Starlight interrupted with another sarcastic quip. "They've been at this for almost as long as the Choir's been around, and they've been feeding people like the Black Hooves fake intel for literal centuries to keep 'em off the right trail."
"... And you expect me to just believe that?" Twilight shrugged, unsure of exactly what she could believe from this mare. The way that she spoke so casually about this gave some credit to Starlight's supposed knowledge of the subject, but at the same time, this mare hadn't exactly been the most open and honest until very recently. It wasn't hard to believe that Starlight was trying again to deceive Twilight. It wouldn’t be the first time.
"You can believe me or not, the truth is still the truth and nothing's going to change that." Starlight stopped turning through the book's pages and locked eyes with Twilight. There was a fire in her eyes, an intensity that told Twilight that Starlight wasn't ready to tolerate any nonsense. "I brought you here to help get you ready for what's coming next. And the only thing I can do is arm you with the knowledge I have. If you choose not to believe me, you could at least not rub it in my face. This is hard enough for me already..."
Starlight returned to skimming the book for the next passage she needed Twilight to read through with a huff. And Twilight was left momentarily speechless at the answer she had been given. Or, to be more specific, the way the answer had been given. It was delivered in an exasperated yet tired tone of voice. But more than that, it was easy to see that something about this was upsetting Starlight. She had said as much herself, and her tone and body language reflected back. Though Starlight's mental and emotional wellbeing weren't Twilight's top priorities at the moment. Such formalities hadn't even crossed her mind. Starlight held information that Twilight needed to stop the supposed end of the world as well as an unexplained knowledge of her and Spike. And it was now that Twilight decided that it was time for some more answers.
"In that case... since you're here to give me information," Twilight spoke cordially enough despite the situation she was in, "How about you make good on your promise and actually tell me who you are and why you know about me?"
Ever so slowly, Starlight's eyes rose from the dusty old book to stare straight into the decrepit wall just ahead of her. "Really? You're going to do this now?"
"You said I needed to compromise, and I did. So it's time for you to meet me halfway."
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."
"And you're going to let that stop you now?" Twilight vindictively smirked. "Here. If I choose not to believe you, I won't rub it in your face."
Silence. Starlight stared at the wall with such intensity that she might have been trying to knock it over. She was as still as a statue, a grim frown on her face.. Twilight had made an excellent counterargument just now, and it was obvious that even Starlight couldn't come up with a rebuttal for that. There was the slightest tremble that traveled from one end of her form to the other before a sudden sigh marked the end of her silence, and she turned and stormed over to the other side of the room, practically burying her face in the corner. Starlight sighed mournfully before continuing.
"That's... not what I'm worried about..." The unicorn's voice shook violently with her words, the unmistakable cadence of a mare on the verge of breaking down. Twilight would know, as she had sung a similar song the previous day. Despite this, however, Twilight did not relent. At least, not entirely. While empathetic of this mare's supposed trouble with this topic, that didn't change the fact that Twilight felt violated by Starlight's intimate knowledge of her and her son. Not to mention the inexplicable need for Twilight to be wrapped up in this literal world-ending scenario. She deserved answers.
And she was sick and tired of waiting for them.
"I'm sorry, but I really don't care what you're worried about. You're the one who's been trying to make me solve this cryptic puzzle by myself. You're the one who invaded my home—put a dangerous charm on my son! You're the one who knows things that you have no business knowing." Twilight snarled through clenched teeth, emphasizing her words by aggressively pointing her hoof in Starlight's general direction. She wasn't yelling yet, but she was ready to.. "And to top it all off, you're the one who won't even give me an explanation, and you seem to think that I'm just okay with that. Well, guess what? I'm not. If you want me to play along with your little plan, you could at least tell me—"
"Do you think I wanted this to happen?!" Starlight yelled as she spun around. The anxiety and trepidation she had been displaying were gone, replaced by a painful rage. "Do you think I'm getting some sick kick out of any of this?! I don’t want to be here! I shouldn't be here! But I am! I am because I've made mistakes! Huge mistakes that took away everything and everyone I ever cared about and put the whole of creation at risk!... And the only thing I have left is the insignificantly small chance that I can help set things right..."
The flash of anger was quick to burn itself out, Starlight's rant fading into a defeated monologue, accompanied by tears that began to flow freely down her cheeks. Twilight honestly considered this to be just the latest in the unicorn's series of lies and deceptions, but she couldn't deny that there was a sense of sincerity here. The kind of anguish that Starlight was showing her was very difficult to fake. Twilight went to say something in response, but that was the exact moment that Starlight chose to cut her off and continue herself.
"If I could do this without getting you involved, I would! If I could get somebody else to do it, I would! But it has to be you, Twilight... And it hurts me to be the one to put you through all of this!" Starlight hung her head low as she sighed. A moment later, she pulled it back up and trudged over to her bags. She opened one bag and began to push things around within as she talked., "I don't like having to lie to you like I have been, Twilight... but I was scared that you might choose not to fix everything this time around! And I couldn't let that happen. So I tried to push you in the right direction... But I pushed too hard, and now we're here!"
Twilight blinked in confusion. It had to be her? What in the world did that mean? But, more than that...
"What do you mean... 'this time around'?"
"I mean I've done this all before! I've tried to stop the Choir myself, but I couldn't! Because I'm not you! I tried to get others to do it when you didn't show up, but they couldn't because they weren't you!" Starlight suddenly lashed out at Twilight, the tears returning as she bore her heart out. There was no faking the desperation carried in her shaking voice. "I don't know why it has to be you, but it just has to be you! That's how things are supposed to be!" Gritting her teeth, Starlight made a sound that was somewhere between a groan and a scream, kicking over her bag in a fit of rage as she spun back around and scattering a few items across the floor. It was as if she couldn't stand to look at Twilight any longer.
The room became chillingly still when Starlight stopped ranting. Anything Twilight could think of saying ended up getting caught in her throat. She didn't have any meaningful response to what she just heard. Starlight's outburst raised more questions than it answered, as most of what she said simply didn't make any sense. Starlight had previously mentioned that she had been doing this for a long time, and how things weren't supposed to be the way that they were now. Yet more evidence to support the fact that Starlight knew more than she should, and whatever it was, it was tearing away at her emotionally.. Twilight found herself ruminating on this for some time, actually feeling sympathetic for this mare.
Why she felt this way she couldn't quite explain. Perhaps it was just her bleeding heart getting the better of her, or maybe it was a legitimate concern for this other person's wellbeing—stranger or not. Whatever it was, she couldn't bring herself to ignore Starlight's plight. Even if her methods weren't the greatest or most thought-out, it was clear that her intentions weren't sinister. Just a mare who knew too much, trying to do the right thing. Something Twilight could relate to only all too well..
"That's how things were before I mucked everything up..." Starlight kept going on with her speech. No longer yelling, she spoke in the voice of a beaten down and broken mare.
"And I wish I could change that... but it's the one thing I can't... and you're not going to accept that as an answer." The resonating sound of a deep inhale overtook the room as Starlight regained her composure. Her attention was then shifted to the scattered objects that had fallen out of her bag. "I know I'm going to regret this... but I don't know what else I can do at this point..."
With bated breath, Twilight watched as Starlight lifted and subsequently offered yet another dusty old book to her. It was large and old, stuffed to the brim with makeshift bookmarks and other loose strands of paper. The cover itself was worn down, but it was evident enough that there was never really anything there of note, to begin with. The simple and bland diamond-esque pattern that decorated it had faded with time. And yet, Twilight actually felt some inexplicable familiarity towards it. But before she could muse on that idea any longer, Starlight opened up the book and began flipping through the pages with a pinpoint focus in search of something specific.
"What is this?" Twilight moved to try and catch some glimpse at whatever secrets this book held. But Starlight was keen on keeping Twilight's nose out of this business until she was ready.
"You wanted to know why I know so much, right?" Starlight mumbled with a slight twinge of bitterness, "Well, the short version is that I've been keeping up on my reading."
With that, the book was magically thrust back towards Twilight, held firmly in place by Starlight's magic. Without even being given a chance to further question things, Starlight firmly gave the order to just read what was on the page. Twilight gave a cautious grimace before turning her attention down to the levitated book. While it was true that she had been wanting answers, Starlight's breakdown just now made Twilight a bit hesitant on actually getting them. An unpleasant foreboding feeling began to well up inside of her, an ominous sensation that whatever was written there wasn't something that she was meant to see. But she was able to shake it off. She wouldn't back out now after Starlight had finally caved in.
Though as she began to read, she found that there was some justification for that ominous feeling. The first few words alone were enough to get her undivided attention. While the book's well-worn cover was vaguely familiar by itself, the contents within were even more so to a disturbing degree. There was no denying that this was a journal, judging by how it was written, but that wasn't the part that resonated with Twilight. From just the entry's date alone she was able to not only figure out why the cover had been so familiar but also who had written this journal in the first place. The way it was written was a dead giveaway. The exact wording used, the penmanship used in putting those words to paper. No matter how impossible it was, there was no denying what Starlight was showing her.
Journal entry number three hundred and forty-three. May 16. Year 1,011 on the Grand Celestial Calendar.
This was Twilight's journal.
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Time travel's really torn down Starlight, I don't think she can handle seeing the world end again and again for much longer.
We're back & hooboy what a bombshell has been dropped on Twilight & the readers here, now let's see how she takes it next chapter!
She's a time-traveler who messed up history and is trying to "put things back on track" so to speak... that's my theory at least
Ah, so it's THAT. I was expecting Starlight to be stranded away from the original MLP timeline, but this works too I suppose.
Starlights gone Hard Reset?
So now Twilight knows Starlight is a time traveler. Interesting that Starlight's already tried this several times. Figured she must have had some relationship with Twilight in the future, but to have her journal?
Okay...moment of truth time...
No, no, no, no, no, don't you go changing the subject, GlimGlam! There's been lots of speculation about just what your real deal is here (particularly me), and it's high time we (particularly me) found out if any of us (particularly me) were even on the right track!
Well, clears up a few things there, but really not anything too hard to have realized on one's own at this point, especially given other MLP canon lore details many fans would already know something about.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, go on...lemme know whether or not I've guessed right about your whole deal, Starlight...
Oh, that settles it. It can't possibly be anything else at this point.
Starlight's a time traveler. She has to be. And she did something to mess up the whole timeline, so now she's trying to set it back on track.
*fistpump* Yes!
I mean, I coulda laid out all the basics of that almost precisely several chapters ago...part of me almost wishes I had now.
10893279
Yeah, credit where it's due, you were among one of the many to call the fact that Starlight's a time-traveler. And I will say that your specific theories were always the closest to the actual truth, but ya didn't hear that from me.
10893603
Well then, credit back where it's due--you had done a fairly decent job neither confirming or denying that you still had me second-guessing more than a couple times, wondering if I was actually way off track--hence why I was so excited to finally have confirmation, so to settle that second-guessing.
Hooray! You're back!
It's a relatively short chapter, but also very pivotal to the plot. The "Big Reveal" as it were. Of course, still with many details to fill and questions to answer, but it's basically when the dam breaks and the height of tension is crested as far as the overall underlying plot.
I will say that fr such a short chapter, you really pinned the emotional trauma of Starlight head on! It's hard to convey such raw, empathetic emotion to a character we've only had limited interaction and almost no perspective on in the story thus far, but you conveyed it brilliantly!
Can't wait for more!
Well, you got yourself another fan. The story is very well written and captivating. I couldn't put it down. Seriously, I want to immediately go back and read it a second time because I'm not ready to leave this world you've created! Followed and eagerly awaiting your next update. Keep up the amazing work :)
Woo-hoo a new one lets go!
Y'know now I'm curious as to when Starlight messed up and just how many times has this played out for her
Kinda frustrating that you used three chapters to get here and she still didn’t just straight up said who she is.
Like she made a big deal about time, but wasted a bunch of it.
11089616
To be perfectly honest, I kind of agree with you. Starlight's inclusion in this story is something I'd go back and change if I could.