“Even going with my own normally low standards, I gotta say...” Sentinel says as he gives himself a quick once over, “I look like shit.” he finishes nonchalantly before looking straight ahead.
“What do you all think?” he seems to ask the beings all gathered in front of him.
What he got in return was the same as its been, gibberish. They looked like some sort of equine, albeit not like any equine he'd ever seen before. Their faces let alone their eyes, were very expressive unlike the horses or ponies on earth.
“Well.. I guess compared to normal ones... those half mutated adornments of horse heads merged into those abominations were pretty expressive I guess.. “ he pondered out loud, “if you count a constant state of frozen perpetual horror.” he finished with a shrug, and shudder.
Going back to the eyes, he couldn't help but marvel at how much their Iris would reach out and grab hold. The shimmering, like a prism, was so much easier to see than that of his own kind, highlighting dilation several fold. He also took note of how wide the spectrum was for the hue of their fur, or hair, as he wasn't quite sure anymore.
"Well, given the possibilities..." He pondered for a moment. He was about to make another verbal observation to himself when something touched him. Had his nerves not been dulled he might of made what he would of forever regretted, striking a butterscotch colored equine who appeared to be trying to clean off all the blood on his bare skin.
"You're either incredibly brave," Sentinel said as he looked at the equine who looked up at him back, "Or just never had reason to know any better." he then softened his eyes, "And I don't know about you," as he noted tears forming in it's large eyes, "But I hope its not the former..." as the equine seemed to try and communicate with him to no avail.
“Hmm.. well that ain't no good now is it?” Sentinel asked as he shifted his eyes to examine the metal sticking out of his leg. Slowly reaching for the shard, he heard the butterscotch one yell out right as a orange toned appendage whip lashed his hand away.
"Look, " Sentinel said as he watched the orange equine mutter something, "If I don't get this out I can't exactly heal the wound." he tried to get across, but upon looking at the orange equine with a stetson in the eye, he knew the missing bridge made it impossible.
Figuring he was fighting a losing battle he did what any intelligent being would do when communications weren't possible. He pointed towards something behind the two, as they quickly turned around both saying something in surprise, before yanking the metal out of his leg.
"<Gibberish!>" the butterscotch one cried out as it turned back around to notice what he did.
"<Gibberish!!!>" the orange one yelled much louder, as she somehow bent her foreleg enough to take off the stetson and then smack him several times while having quite the angry look in it's eyes, before giving him a dead on stare.
"<gibberish...>" the butterscotch one softly said to the orange one as he lifted one eyebrow in observation.
"<gibberish!> the orange one seemed to reply as it took it's eyes off him.
"Well if that's over with..." Sentinel said aloud as he reached towards and gripped metal set into his lower abdomen.
"<GIBBERISH!>" one of the equines said, causing him to look up at an utterly pissed off orange equine with the hat in it's mouth, right before it proceeded to try and beat the ever living hell out of him with it.
"Creatures must thhhppppptttt," Sentinel started to say until he took part of the stetson to the face, "be thinking I'm hurting myself or something." He calmly said as he was starting to get annoyed, reaching up to grab the incoming stetson.
But before he could get himself into even more trouble, the butterscotch one unfurled one of her wings, wrapped it over his forearm, and brought it in taking his arm with it to her side. He felt pressure, and knowing a bit about birds applied none back.
Looking at the stetson wearing equine, “You win this round, Dixie,” Sentinel says playfully, getting a loud snort and head shake in response. With yet another distraction settled, Sentinel reserved himself to losing himself internally as to process what all had happened, and more importantly, how to move forward. But he was quickly brought out of his trance by some of the equines yelling at "each other?" Sentinel said aloud.
Sentinel decided just to sit back and observe as the cyan colored equine with a vibrant mane was seemingly scowling towards a pearly white equine with a purple swirling mane.
"Maybe they're fighting over who takes ownership of the new thing in their world." Sentinel almost chuckled if it wasn't an actual real possibility. "For all I know they think I purposely brought all of this down on their world." he surmised.
"All of which would of been done and over with had I just stayed...." Sentinel feels a mass of pressure and pain on the right side of his head as he clamps his eyes shut. "...stayed...." He reaches up and lifts his helmet off, letting his dirty brown hair fall free as the falling helmet makes a loud noise bringing some gasps and then silence.
Sentinel instinctively grapples the right side of his head with his free hand as bright flashes envelopes his vision. He attempts to shield his eyes by slamming his eyelids like vices but to no avail or relief. Images, much too fast to understand or memorize, slams through his vision like a runaway freight train as he feels blood flowing out, concealed by his neck guard with what his palm could not.
"...why...can't...I remember!" Sentinel growls out as his left eye opens to take in an image before him that he wouldn't soon forget. All of the equine before him were either outright freaking out with expressions of concern and worry, or looks of shock and guilt, as the largest of them all walked towards him.
"<Gibberish?>" the white equine with a mane that strangely moved on it's own, seemed to try and communicate with him. If he hazard a guess, it was asking if he was okay, as the look it was giving him read as nothing but. It then directed more of their strange dialect to the butterscotch equine who was looking worried, and very confused.
"<Gibberish>" The large white equine stated, looking directly at Sentinel, before lifting a foreleg and tapping a hoof to his hand.
"Trust me," Sentinel stated to the large white equine, "It's going to be best if I keep my hand here." he tried to reason, only for the large white one to once again seemingly state the same gibberish and stomp it's hoof into the ground.
Shaking his head back and forth, Sentinel hoped the gesture would somehow be understood. When the white one lifted it's head a bit, and the shocked looks of the others near it, he was confident that it had. He was about to go back to trying to understand why when he tried to remember he felt such pressure, when out of the corner of his eye he noticed his hand was enveloped by a golden glow.
"What the..." Sentinel barely had time to ask aloud when he felt his hand being forcefully pulled away, as if the golden glow was alive. Looking back at the large white equine he noticed the sharp horn like appendage out of it's head was glowing the same hue.
"I said no damnit." Sentinel declared to the equine, as he applied even more pressure on his arm to keep his hand over the side of his head. In turn, the golden glow grew in force as the white equine narrowed it's eyes as well.
"<Gibberish!>" it seemed to command, as it started to envelope Sentinel's entire arm now in golden glow.
The butterscotch equine lifted her wing to release Sentinel's arm as it backed up giving Sentinel the look of worry and fright of the sudden conflict. It then moved forward, trying to talk in a rather soothing tone before turning towards the larger white one and saying something a little louder.
"Okay I'm starting..." Sentinel had just started saying as the butterscotch appeared to scream at the larger white one causing the equine in question to come to it's senses and in it's shock flare the golden grasp yanking Sentinel's hand away.
"to get..." Sentinel continued as the equines all suddenly screamed and the massive pull of the golden grasp just vanished, leaving all of Sentinel's strength to slam a now closed fist into the side of his own head.
"annoyed." Sentinel could only mutter as he was now toppled over the debris he had been sitting on, face down, as he thought back to how he came to be in such a situation.
Roughly one hour ago
"..wha..." Twilight muttered in a daze. "How...how could the elements...fail..."
"C...c'mon girls.." She starting calling out as her vision was shifting in and out of focus, "We can't let it end..."
She would of finished, had the scene before her not ended it for her. All of her friends laid spread out around her, down and barely moving. Rainbow and Applejack, known as the heartiest of all of them, were giving small spasms as they had taken the negative feedback at the forefront.
"Applejack! Rainbow!" Twilight called out, tears starting to run down her muzzle as she tried to drag herself forward as she just couldn't find the strength to fully stand. "We..we got to get.. get up and..." she began to say as she heard the light thuds of two more to her left.
"Rarity..." she shifted her gaze to one of the most beautiful, both in and out, ponies she'd ever known who was now darkened in soot. "Fluttershy!" she yelled as she craned her neck just a little behind Rarity, the kindest and most gentle of ponies now collapsed onto her side.
As another explosion landed not far from them, Pinkie Pink managed enough strength to lunge forward and push Twilight out of the way of an incoming broken slab of marble.
"Pinkie!" Twilight barely managed to yell out before she watched the most energetic and free spirited pony she'd ever met get clipped by some wayward debris, sapping the last of her energy as she in turn met the ground with a soft thud.
As Twilight managed to crawl towards her pink friend, she used her muzzle to nudge Pinkie in her cheek, "Pinkie..."
"Twilight...if you can...teleport out of here..." Pinkie barely managed to get out, her visible teary eye somewhat enshrouded by her straight lined mane.
"I wont leave you!" Twilight yelled as she wrapped a foreleg around the back of Pinkie's neck, "Any of you!" but as she gently shook Pinkie no reply came, as the party pony had passed out from the pain sustained from her injuries.
"Help..." Twilight tried to scream out, as time began to slow all around her. She saw guards being overran by the unworldly invaders as citizens were galloping away for their lives. She saw the invaders attempting to destroy anything, alive or not, with maddening abandonment. But it wasn't until her eyes met the ones of another, somepony very important to her and she always felt secure and protected by no matter the odds, that she started to lose hope.
Princess Celestia, coupled with Princess Luna and Princess Cadance, were all fending off a wave of the invaders, or rather defending. Behind the three princesses were dozens of citizen ponies, screaming and crying, as the invaders went at the shield even at the cost of self injury.
Even in the maw of madness, Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle's eyes met, for a brief moment, as tears began to flow freely from both. Even as another highly concentrated black and red mass of energy was traveling towards Twilight and her friends, their gazes did not falter, and neither did the words either of them mouthed.
"I'm sorry", was all Princess Celestia could mouth, and in turn see mouthed by her student, as the black energy slammed into a small reflection of white light as it engulfed Twilight and the rest of the bearers. Even if for just a moment, she closed her eyes as the pain was threatening to send her into a rage as she squeezed out tears with gritted teeth.
"How dare you..." Celestia muttered through her clenched teeth.
"Tia..." Princess Luna directed towards her sister in a confused tone, even as Celestia didn't answer.
"Tia!" Princess Luna then shouted, pulling Celestia out of her borderline rage. "Look..."
The Princesses, along with the citizens who took notice, were shocked into silence and extreme unease. All of the demons had stopped, and lowered their weapons. Even demons who were about to finish off a guard pony, had just nonchalantly slowed to a stop as if they were suddenly shut down.
But what would cause fur on the pony's neck to rise was how the demons all slowly turned towards the swirling black mass of energy where the bearers had been moments before. A low buzz like sound was being emitting from within, along with the feint voices of the bearers themselves, as Cadance was the one to break the unnerving silence.
"Fear." Cadance said in almost a whisper, "They're afraid!" she then yelled louder.
"Of?!" Princess Luna shouted towards Cadance, who only lifted her foreleg towards Luna as a ear deafening clash of metal on what used to be flesh came from behind.
As Luna quickly turned her head forward, her shifting vision caught her sister's entirely surprised expression as her own soon joined in. Before them stood another bipedal creature that seemed covered in metallic armor, it's face bore a cross that split down the middle two thirds the way up that was illuminating a blue hue.
Upon one appendage it held a shield that was glowing a dimmer purple than the bright purple embers shooting outwards of where the upper body of the demon that once stood there, had been. Yet while this was for anypony else what captured all of their attention, for Princess Celestia it was what was not far behind the new arrival.
The bearers, all of them huddled together looking scared shitless but otherwise in good health, were also giving the new arrival much the same look of surprise.
"Look out!" Celestia shouted towards the creature, as all of the demons let out crazed screams and charged.