"Kill it." A new voice commands, causing Chrysalis to express great annoyance.
"What a thing to command against another's claim," Chrysalis hisses as she turns to face the newcomer, "Aurelia."
"And what a claim to make so close to my hive," Aurelia deadpans back, "Chrysalis."
Aurelia walks forward, accompanied by several of her hive, as she gives another short glance towards Sentinel before closing her eyes and appearing to sigh. Chrysalis in turn reacts by expanding her wings as her changelings do the same, forming a small parameter between Aurelia and their captured prize. Aurelia does the same as many of her own changelings whose chitin reflects the same rust hue as their queen fly or dig their way up around her.
"Don't you dare interfere Aurelia!" Chrysalis warns.
"It's almost dead already." Aurelia merely lifts her foreleg and flicks her hoof towards the creature who appears to be trying to bite into the changeling clawed onto his chest, much to the annoyance of both. "...and quite upset with you? Of course after what you just put it through I would hazard I'd be rather sour myself." Aurelia states with a light chuckle.
"Such things are of no consequence." Chrysalis declares as she backs up to a high pitch scream, matching Aurelia steps forward.
"Disturbing my nursery has no consequence you say?" Aurelia continues to walk forward with her eyes drilling into Chrysalis.
"You were supposed to of been gone to oversee your little...pact." Chrysalis spits out in disgust.
"Oh I was." Aurelia states with a hint of annoyance, "But I had to hurry back when I received word that something was fighting my sister's hive right on my very doorstep." with annoyance turning to agitation, "So after alerting my hive to safeguard all of my little ones, I rushed over thinking we were being invaded by all of the destruction felt clear down in the nursery." agitation turning to anger, "Only to find you fighting against one creature!" she says as she slams her hoof into the dried rocky soil.
"This is none of your..." Chrysalis tried to bark back without success.
"Where did it come from." Aurelia almost hisses.
"I..." Chrysalis begins to panic.
"WHERE!" Aurelia demands.
"Where do you think..." Chrysalis growls out.
"This is no pony!" Aurelia states as her anger continues to grow thinking she was being deceived, "In fact I've never seen anything such as this anywhere across the land." she stomps her hoof once more, "So once again..." she seethes.
"I don't know where it came from!" Chrysalis finally blurts out, causing Aurelia to halt her anger after sensing no deception from her sister, but instead was replaced by borderline reservation.
"When you invaded Canterlot, and failed" Aurelia says with a piercing gaze on Chrysalis, "I could have killed you when I found you broken and defeated." her eyes slightly soften, "Don't make me regret that sister."
"All I know is that it came from the same place that those invaders did several months ago inside Canterlot." Chrysalis puts aside her pride in the hope of her life not being next, "During that fight even the royal sisters were pushed back on the defensive along with the infallible elements of harmony failing," Chrysalis explained noting the reaction in her sister's expression, "This creature then fought with ease that which the ponies could not!"
Aurelia scans the battlefield, noting the amount of destruction along with how long the creature had endured the onslaught of Chrysalis, while smaller and weaker than her own, hive. However she couldn't help but make a few keen observations that strongly conflicted with the account of it's arrival to their world.
"How many did you lose." Aurelia asks Chrysalis, who in turn looks slightly confused by the question's premise.
"Hah!" Chrysalis scoffs at the question, "Not even one drone."
"Exactly..." Aurelia notes with curiosity. "Which means one of three things."
"One." Aurelia steps forward again, "You're lying to me."
"Two." Aurelia takes another, "Something happened that made it inferior to your accounts."
"Three." Aurelia stops within a few feet of Chrysalis, "It chose not to kill."
"I speak no lies!" Chrysalis states with some anger, "Today!"
"Then it stands that it couldn't kill, which seems next to impossible given the injuries I see on your hive members," Aurelia says as she turns her gaze to the near dead creature, "Or it wouldn't." she concludes as she travels past her sister and towards it.
"Creature," Aurelia states in a rather nonchalant tone, "Two things are about to happen and the third and fourth will depend entirely upon you." she waits until it looks at her with it's rather disturbing milky iris's. "You will be released and then given just enough life energy to properly interact with me. If you decide to become hostile at any point you will be immediately executed."
"..won't...submit.." the creature says gritting it's teeth as it stares towards Aurelia.
"How far you fall is entirely to you." Aurelia says aloud as she looks at her sister, who while hesitant for many reasons, finally concedes and sends the command across her hive's wavelength. Just as the creature falls it can only use the bend on one of it's upper appendages to keep from fully collapsing onto the ground, lower bends quivering just above the soil.
Aurelia then motions to one of her drones, "Inject him with just enough little one, then have two others escort you back to our hive." she commands as the drone bites the creature who barely reacts to the pain as some life is transferred, causing the creature to rise as the drone almost falls as if severely disoriented before being picked up and flown away.
"Your name, or whatever you'd prefer labeling yourself." Aurelia asks.
Sentinel stands there silent as he tries his best to look about, while impaired, to take note of the newcomers especially. This new one, much like this Chrysalis, appeared to be the leaders of the changelings that he had read about a few weeks ago.
"Do not waste my time creature. You can consider this a reprieve if you must and not an actual truce." Aurelia stated.
"Sentinel." Sentinel responds with a bit of the milky expanse leaving his normally turquoise iris's.
"Name or Label?" Aurelia asks, genuinely curious.
"Both." Sentinel responds, before shrugging, "Now."
"You seem quite docile from the creature that was trying to bite the face of one of my sister's drones a few moments ago." Aurelia has to note as a jab against both for her own amusement.
"You've stepped within striking range of yourself," Sentinel notes, causing many changelings to tense up save for Aurelia and Chrysalis, "So If I go down I will at least get in one hit." he then decides to test his limits, "Which be worth more than a dozen on that bitch you call a sister." now causing Chrysalis to almost go into a rage as Aurelia just starts to laugh.
"Oh I like you." Aurelia states in a saucy tone, "But if I wanted to hear jokes I'd ask Chrysalis about her future plans." causing Chrysalis to hiss."So lets get straight to what interests me." Aurelia states to Sentinel, "What are you doing here?"
"I was bucked here, I believe." Sentinel says giving Chrysalis an raised eyebrow for confirmation, who was right now on the verge of flipping her lid. "After taking such a nice stroll with some rather colorful ponies..." followed by a raised middle finger.
"Do you take me for a fool Sentinel?" Aurelia genuinely asks, sounding almost offended, earning a surprised expression from Sentinel who was quite unsure on how to answer given his history Aurelia's sister.
"I know exactly how you arrived." Aurelia states as she becomes less playful and and more serious.
"I know about all your dealings in Canterlot Castle both in, out, and..." Aurelia leans closer, "under." before leaning back gaining even more of an surprised expression on Sentinel's face.
"Wait whats under..." Chrysalis asks in futility.
"Let me rephrase since perhaps some of my sister's idiocy contaminated you..." Aurelia says as Chrysalis expression turns to a scowl.
"What are you doing here without your fellow ponies." Aurelia asks with a flat tone.
"They're not my ponies, Aurelia." Sentinel says with a hint of agitation.
"Not from where I'm standing..." Aurelia says as she is waving her hoof in front of her muzzle like there is a stench. "You not only smell like them but you taste like them too." she says with a mock queasy expression. "Not as much as Chrysalis did however. Took me almost drowning her to get it all off her."
"You told me I fell asleep in the lagoon when I woke up in the infirmary!" Chrysalis screams as Sentinel lifts his arm up his arm and sniffs, now carrying a disgusted expression to contort the confused one.
"Tell me that you're not that dense to not understand." Aurelia gazes at Sentinel whose returned expression gives her the answer that she has to almost facehoof in order to recover from.
"Really thought it be that easy didn't you." Aurelia whispers to herself as she quivers her hoof almost to her forehead, "While it is your business how you perceive yourself, pony, in your own territory it is most assured not the case in my own." Aurelia then stares into Sentinel's eyes, "Especially when you're dealing with the one such as I".
"I'm really starting to get sick and tired..." Sentinel tries to interject.
"You know when Chrysalis was scheming this last time about foalnapping some creature in order to extract it's abilities to make her own hive that much stronger I didn't really worry." Aurelia half exclaims half complains as she begins to trot back and forth, "Did I?" she asks one of her drones who shakes it's head no, "I told myself that something that had absolutely nothing in our world but had somehow garnered the protection and friendship not only the ponies but also their royal princesses wouldn't easily be taken."
Sentinel begins to raise his hand to interject when Aurelia keeps on her tirade.
"But you bucking walked right to her!" Aurelia jabs a hoof towards Sentinel who is starting to become annoyed, "And in order to accomplish what exactly?" she directs towards Sentinel who was about to answer when he was denied once more, "That you think standing alone is something to be proud of?" she once more jabs another hoof at Sentinel who jabs an open hand upwards as he looks ready to scream out an answer when denial reproduced itself.
"You act like I couldn't of succeeded otherwise!" Chrysalis yells towards Aurelia who sighs in return.
"Two stubborn idiots set forth to battle each other, each refusing to kill. One in order to gain something valuable to the survival of her hive at the expense of her hive member's very lives had the adversary not been equally idiotic." Aurelia states in one deep breath while deadpanning towards nothing, and everything.
While Chrysalis fumes with her changelings doing their best not to openly agree with Aurelia, Sentinel looks as if in rather deep self contemplation, or just self conflict. Closing his milky eyes as he shakes his head, he opens then along with his mouth to confront the verbal assault when...
"So once more" Aurelia once more points with her hoof towards Sentinel, "I will ask you." she then lets her hoof drop as she stands before Sentinel. "What are you doing here?"
Sentinel stands there. His eyes shifting back and forth awaiting for another interruption. When he finds none he proceeds to mock open his mouth, once more testing the waters that seem intent to infuriate him. With all distraction aside, and taking into consideration of what was just thrown at him, he can do nothing but sigh.
"Earning it." Sentinel flatly answers, thinking what the hell considering the only things here want to kill or do something even worse to him. Knowing that none of the ponies would hear any of this put his mind at ease on venting.
"Elaborate." Aurelia almost demands.
"They scare me." Sentinel answers, and from the twitch in Aurelia's left eye, he continues, "The ponies. They scare the living hell out of me when by all rights it should of been the other way around." He tries his best to explain, "They treat me like we've known each other all of our lives. They freely offer me a bed that feels way too good, food that smells too damn good, and overall have tried to provide for me everything that they think I could ever need."
Aurelia, while somewhat annoyed at the complaints of easy comforts, remains silent.
"My auras have always ran on my own life force. However the auras came from splicing my DNA with that of the demons. So when a demon died that energy was in turn absorbed and used instead." Sentinel continues, "But whatever happened when we were altered also caused the demons to enrage and come for us, even if miles away. That was also....absorbed."
"So it would slowly drive you into madness?" Aurelia asked, genuinely intrigued, while Chrysalis also listened with a growing hint of guilt towards her hive against what she had planned to try and extract from this creature to use on her own hive.
"Dying hurts you know. Dying slowly across several days hurts more so you fight back cause It's instinct. But they never stopped so we never did either. Most of my brothers and sisters, who were like me, met an end that no one deserves." Sentinel then softens his eyes, "Even if I know its different now, I not sure that I understand that it's different."
"So you came here to prove what exactly?" Aurelia asks narrowing her eyes.
"I came here to find and deal with a threat. I just wasn't sure if the actual threat was Chrysalis, or myself." Sentinel said with complete honesty.
"Or yourself?" Aurelia asks with surprise and then laughter, "Are you sure you haven't deluded yourself into madness?" she says giggling until the laughter of the creature forces her to suspend her own.
"You'd be surprised at how far you may go when driven to madness." Sentinel states with sudden bitterness. "I came through that portal with the goal of not letting it happen again. Even if I went mad during that battle that didn't change my goal, just how far I was willing to go in order to achieve it. Madness and Insanity are not exactly the same."
"From accounts across the land the one thing that has been attuned to the creature that arrived was never madness." Aurelia says in almost an confronting tone, "So you would attest the entirety of your actions that day to something you could not control?"
"You know for a bug that seems to of had a much rougher life than the cozy one back with the ponies you sure don't seem to grasp simple concepts yourself do you?" Sentinel says with irritation, "My goal was to kill those demons and protect those who regardless of their merit in this world." he states, causing Aurelia an opening that she just couldn't refuse.
"Do you...remember saving some of the guard ponies during the ensuring conflict that day?" Aurelia asks, needing to be absolutely sure the account, and more importantly the context, was correct.
"There were several, and if you asked me that very day I wouldn't of known what you meant by a guard pony, but I remember healing one and trying to get him or her to escape." Sentinel raises his brow in remembrance, "I think i kind of pitched one to get it to finally run to safety." causing Aurelia's eyes to flicker, "Why?"
Deflecting the question for now, "So you came here alone in case Chrysalis was indeed the bigger threat, but you also refused to kill. How did you know that such a tactic would work out for you in the end?"
"I didn't." Sentinel bluntly replies.
"What if you were the actual threat?" Aurelia then asks while thinking no matter how stupid her sister was, that it was quite vain of this creature to think that it was the bigger threat unless it killed...
"As coldly as it sounds?" Sentinel took a moment before finishing, "Kill two birds with one stone."
"My sister was very intent on keeping you alive contrary to the means to her methods, and sadly, even if you had killed some of her changelings." Aurelia makes note to Sentinel as she switched her disappointed gaze to Chrysalis then back. "In turn that means that the only one in true danger was yourself".
"You say that as if I you haven't been listening this entire time." Sentinel states as he crosses his arms, "Besides if I had come here and killed a bunch of changelings I have no doubts that my end would come from a pony in turn." Sentinel says as if such a thing wouldn't of been a big deal. "But if you must know I expected an ambush at best, not being shot into the horizon."
"You actually think that the ponies would kill you?" Aurelia asks, quite surprised at the premise of those goody goody ponies doing such a drastic thing.
"I know for a fact that the princesses would of." Sentinel replied with confidence. "But given how things have turned out I think that I can at least breath a bit easier on a few things."
Aurelia tilted her head which told Sentinel to she wanted him to explain himself once more.
"The day it was done I will never forget, neither right before or immediately after." Sentinel further explained, "I haven't been myself for a very long time even if I can only remember it from the same day that it changed." before giving a small shrug, "But for the last several months thing have been..." he searches for the best way to describe, "more like back when".
"And yet you boasted that you were still the you after what your father had done to you." Aurelia questions, "That makes very little sense in even the dumbest of context." Aurelia places a hoof to her chin, "Wait." as she turns to Chrysalis, "Hey you understand what this creature meant?" earning a hiss and some colorful language in response.
"It's just that when it happened my equilibrium shifted so to speak. I would consider myself, even living around all that destruction and death, so happy as a kid it was almost sickening to reminisce." Sentinel continues to try and explain it better, "Maybe I just took it hard? Maybe the DNA did more than just change me physically from the get go? Who knows." he says as he shrugs.
"It's starting to sound less dumb. Keep going less I lose interest and just do what I came here to do." Aurelia states.
"Think of a house maybe. I was so young that all I had was the foundation and someone went and slammed a house on top of me that I had no say over and I had to support it the best that I could." Sentinel says as he sees what appears to be a faint smirk on Aurelia's muzzle, "Now the the entire house has been blown away and I am checking to see if the foundation can be salvaged."
But before Aurelia could make a smartass remark, "Just wish I knew what finally blew over the house." Sentinel openly questions.
"Perhaps it's from when you were hit by the elements of harmony as you died?" Aurelia taps his chitin hoof to her chin in mock consideration.
"What was that about being hit by the elements of harmony?" Sentinel asks, sounding somewhat surprised and concerned.
"You don't remember?" Aurelia asks, sincere in her surprise.
"I don't...ah..." Sentinel starts to say as like sitting on that pile after the fight, his head started to slam with images too fast to make any sense of, but just endure through but finally rob him of the last of his patience. "Why the hell are you even asking me about all this?" Sentinel says with a bit of bitterness in his voice.
"I find you weak is all." Aurelia states in a flat tone, "You display great strength as one entity but you also manage to weaken the entire structure in the process." she elaborates, "If you were to die today then my entire hive would be pulled into the consequences dealt to my sister's hive by association." her expression becomes rigid, "And such weakness is too much of a price to pay for even one of my drones!" causing sentinel to position himself for whatever may come next.
"But don't misunderstand me." Aurelia then adds in causing Sentinel to stop mid posture, "That is not the only reason that I am going to let you live." She steps so close that Sentinel was feel her hot breath on his face, "The guard you said you pitched to safety? Was mine." she then snorts in Sentinel's face, "Consider my debt repaid in full".
As if to tempt fate further, "Are you to have me believe that you're stepping in front of your sister over the life of one drone?" he confronts as he leans in to close the few inches to under one, "Or the farce that the ponies would go to war over the murder of one of their adoptive own."
"I would!" Aurelia screams with such fury that even Chrysalis backs away.
"Bullshit!" Sentinel screams right back, "The first thing you said was to have me killed!".
"It was the only way to get close enough to guarantee that I didn't have to fight my sister!" Aurelia hisses out, "She may be an idiot but she's still another changeling." Aurelia slowly lowers her voice as Chrysalis appears somewhat affected by the statement.
"I'm afraid that I must take my leave less I lapse into a coma watching even more idiots battle it out." Aurelia says as a sneer creeps onto her muzzle before entirely fading away along with her hive members. As all of Aurelia's hive is engulfed in rust hued flames the lingering embers reflect of metal numbering in the dozens behind the remaining unaware changelings.
"Back to square one..." Sentinel mutters as he gets into an defensive posture, slowly coming to terms with the notion that not only is his eyesight heavily impaired internally, but with nightfall and lack of equipment externally also. "Perhaps in more ways than one." he whispers as he does something he can't ever remember doing. He takes a step back.
"Oh?" Chrysalis says returning to her usual demeanor, "Cold feet after having tested the waters?"
"You might say that," Sentinel replies, "but it has nothing to do with you."
"Take them/him down!" Shining Armor/Chrysalis commands, earning a look of utter surprise from the latter before several dozen armored Lunar and Solar guards commence coordinated group assaults on the rather uncoordinated and wounded changelings, with at least half of the guards going after the behemoths.
"Well if it isn't..." Chrysalis starts to say with spite as something hits the back of her head with some timber as she turned to face Shining Armor, "Why you worthless piece...!" Chrysalis tries to scream at Sentinel as she quickly turns back to him, only to take another timber to the back of the head clasped in a pink hue.
"That's it!" Chrysalis screams as she does a point blank blast of green flame knocking both assailants back before regrouping.
"Shining what the hell are you all doing here?!" Sentinel demands as he elbows an incoming changeling, almost missing from both the darkness in and outside of his eyes, causing the changeling's horn to slice up his arm as it is deflected.
"Saving your flank!" Shining states as he lets forth a barrier that expands with blinding speed causing any changelings nearby to be catapulted away. "We have to hurry or we will be stuck here!" he states, trying to inject the severity of the situation just as a flying bolt of bright green flames does it for him, and almost him in, had Sentinel not taken it instead. "Sentinel?!"
Coughing up a bit of blood and trying to push back the urge to vomit from the smell of his own burning flesh, "You missed your chance Shining." Sentinel then says, "Next time I take a blow instead of worrying about me why don't you use that horn and hit what I am unable to?" he then turns back doing his best to give a smirk.
"You're almost dead!" Shining yells into a growl, "again!"
"Then..." Sentinel says as he catches an incoming soldier trying to ram into them both and in turn feeling the grit in his chest, "Get busy!" he yells as Shining materializes dual maces and swats the soldier away.
"Maces?" Sentinel asks a dead serious looking Shining.
"An suggestion from my wife actually." Shining says losing just a tad of his seriousness just as he swats back another changeling. "She thought it suited me better than swords."
"Sounds like she was afraid of you cutting yourself." Sentinel said chuckling, and joking of course, until he noticed the embarrassed expression replace the serious one on Shining's muzzle. "I was joking damnit!"
"She wasn't!" Shining yells out as he swats another changeling that had gone for his backside only to damage the other arm of Sentinel who blocked it, just as one of the Lunar guards gets slammed into the ground between them.
Shining rushes over to check on his fellow fallen pony when Sentinel stops him with the slamming of his foot, "He will be alright." Sentinel states as he rears back and punches another soldier that barely swiped past him just as the guard gets back up as a faint shimmering red hue fades away.
But before Shining or the Lunar Guard can thank Sentinel, "I say we go ahead and wrap this up..." Sentinel says lightly unlike the changeling he throws into another coming in from above, "and go home." before looking at them with eyes with only a hint of turquoise left, "I'm a bit tired."
"Retreat!!" Shining Armour yells out as dozens of ponies break off from their respective fights and charge into the darkness, disappearing one by one as Shining seems to be counting each and every one. "We're the last two Sentinel!"
"I've never retreated!" Sentinel growls causing Shining to become uneasy, "But there's a first for everything!" he states as he backs up towards where Shining is, causing shining to smirk a bit until a giant column of green flame erupts and engulfs Sentinel.
"Sentinel!" Shining screams out as he instinctively shields his eyes with his foreleg and tries to back away from the intense heat just as he hears Chrysalis voice.
"If I cannot use you for my own then none shall!" Chrysalis screams towards the horribly charred Sentinel as he falls towards the ground only for his arm to catch over something that his burned arm could barely register.
"You better run Shining..." Sentinel mutters as his eyes were starting to swell shut.
"Y...you're very....heavy...!" Fluttershy groans out causing Sentinel to turn his head towards her voice.
"Flutershy?!" Sentinel croaks out in surprise.
"Where did all of you come from?!" Chrysalis screams out in rage, just as all of the changelings around her are pelted by everything from fallen timber to scattered pebbles and rocks, causing them to flee.
"Where are you going?!" Chrysalis screams to her fleeing hive before turning back in time just to take two cyan hooves to the muzzle, "Blast you ponies!" followed by another pair of orange ones to her chest causing her to get shot back into a skid, "Every time!" only to stare forth once more after recovering to see the open end of a cannon, but not hear the boom.
"We're getting out of here now!" Twilight yells to all of them as they either grab hold of Sentinel with magic, a hoof, or bite onto whatever clothing is left back through the portal and back home just as it collapses.
Roughly two hours later
"Is all this really necessary?" Sentinel asks as he lays on an hospital bed. Along with the princesses, prince, and bearers the entire room is barricaded in by guards. But the only noise he hears is the nurse checking his vitals as the doctor goes over his readouts after been in magical surgery for at least an hour as the princesses themselves regenerated, not just repaired, his charred skin.
"I still am not sure on how to read your vitals laddy." The doctor says in something that reminded Sentinel of something Scottish.
"I'm perfectly well and the best medicine is to let me out of here." Sentinel states with a irritated undertone.
"You ain't leaving even if the doc said you were healthier than Celestia herself." Applejack stated in a dead serious tone. "Ah think ah speak for all of us here when ah say that too." she says, earning nods from everypony in the room.
"While I appreciate the notion Applejack," Sentinel says with sincerity, "I am entirely comfortable given what all I just went through to say," he says as he fumbles with his hand around the side of the bed while staring forward until he finds the safety rail, "that I'm no worse for wear." until his hand is grasped by who knows what pony and flung off the railing.
"You're blind." Twilight says like she is also in pain, "It'll be at least a month until you can begin to see the blurred outline of objects close to you and several more until your vision comes back to acceptable levels." she seems more saddened with each word, "It'll take you years to recover the life energy that you lost in one night!" until sadness is slowly replaced by worry masked in anger, "How can you say that you're no worse for wear?!"
"Well what I meant was..." Sentinel attempts to explain, and given what all has happened, wanted to.
"Is it truly too much to ask darling," Rarity speaks softly, "that you give us some peace of mind?"
"What do you..." Sentinel now attempts to question, and given what was said, also wanted answers.
"Or..." Fluttershy begins but hesitates, before closing her eyes, "Or that you talk to us about how you feel or what you think?"
Sentinel, having done this not long ago, just decided to shut up and let it all come his way.
"Instead of us having to find out through paintings or listening in through age old portals!" Pinkie adds in and in turn gets gaping muzzles from all of the bearers and shocked looks from the royalty.
"You know you can find such paintings all throughout Equestria?" Sentinel tries to deflect, "And what do you mean listening through age old portals?!" Sentinel asks in worry.
"Then we turned off the lights!" Pinkie says with excitement, much to the frantic clopping, "And we heard eeeeeeverything from when that Aurelia changeling said to kill you onwards!" followed by Pinkie's muffled giggles.
Sentinel merely sighs as he reaches up and pinches the bridge of his nose as he feels heavy breathing on his relaxed arm resting along the side of the bed.
"How did you know those things?!" Rainbow demanded, anger and confusion mixed together, but more at the situation at hand and stress of the entire day and night rather than focused on any one pony, or non pony.
"I wish I knew..." Sentinel mutters, causing Rainbow to flash a look towards Applejack who in turn gives a rather surprised one in return before nodding in confirmation.
"Why would you forsake us instead of come to us for help?" Princess Celestia asks in a solemn tone.
"If you all heard what me and Aurelia talked about then the question has been answered before it was ask." Sentinel says, trying his best not to sound rude, but just complacent.
"Actually neither Princess Celestia or Princess Luna could hear, see, or speak while maintaining the portal." Twilight stated, only to have Princess Luna walk forth with a rather guilty expression.
"While our physical bodies remained with thee, our astral bodies were placed on the other side as to anchor passage back." Princess Luna stated as if such knowledge should be common place, "We heard everything." she said with a rather worried undertone.
"Do I not deserve a personal answer?" Celestia asks once more, causing any off talk to immediately cease.
"You never would of let me bleed to earn it." Sentinel whispers.
"To earn what?" Celestia asked, thinking she already knew the answer.
"To live here." Sentinel replies, causing some of the ponies to gasp at the concept.
"That is NOT how one finds a home in our realm Sentinel!" Celestia states, showing some anger. "You earn it by displaying the very values that we hold dear. Which you did and have!" she slightly raises her voice, "Not by going out to face our enemies alone in the hopes of proving that you're not one of them!" she finally just succumbs to yelling. "I don't know what hurt me more. You refusing our help or that you ever considered I'd kill you if you were suffering from a debilitating mental illness!" she finally says with a lower voice.
"Then I might of misjudged you..." Sentinel said with a bit of sadness.
"Yes you did. Because I would never..." Celestia begins.
"I thought you were my friend." Sentinel interrupts, causing even the guards to look his way is utter shock and confusion.
"Once more. You've heard what was said between Aurelia and myself. Then you heard when I mentioned that some of my brothers and sisters met an end that they did not deserve." Sentinel says as he leans up into a sitting position on the bed, his open eyes fully clouded by a milky expanse, "Then you also heard when I said that the madness does not change your objectives just what you would do to achieve them."
"Sentinel..ple....please calm down...!" Fluttershy pleads.
"Please don't make me explain what happens when someone whose main lifeline is to try and keep little ones from suffering horribly cruel deaths finally is driven completely mad and in turn what those who they called friend had to do." Sentinel says, pointing towards where he heard Celestia's voice come from, without a hint of anger, but enough masked pain that some got through. "That was something that I truly felt only you or Luna could understand, and in turn, save me if it came to be."
"So I thought the very least I could do was bleed for it and earn my right to live here or be cast out." Sentinel says as he lowers his arm, "Least then I could be satisfied with myself regardless of how it went and move forward, either way." and finally sighing, "And that you could do what you had to do and also know that I made sure that you didn't have to ever doubt if it was without any ponies being harmed."
"Do ya really think that no ponies would be hurt if ya didn't make it just now?" Applejack sincerely asks. "Do ya also really think that if you had to be put down that no ponies would be hurt?!" she then demands. "Rainbow! Bite em or something!" which gets the rather offended expression in reply from Rainbow before she seems to shrug. "Ow shit!"
"Sentinel," Luna addresses the one who just called her what she's called him for awhile now, "Our friendship, along with yours with our dear sister, was kindled and set ablaze in the fires of pain and struggle." She then tries to breath some wisdom into the conversation, "Thou would call of us to put thou down if control was lost, and while we would never heal as we never have from each time before, we would not abandon thee."
"But..." Luna quickly says as to not lose any ground or speaking rotation rights, "Would it not be wise to forge friendships in order to have somepony that might be able to save thine life rather than save only thine honor?"
"I could never forge a friendship under such pretense." Sentinel concluded.
"Is that not thou did with us?" Luna said for both herself and her sister who was looking deep in contemplation.
"Luna..." Sentinel says as he deadpans, "I am just as surprised as you are that the only beings so far in this world that I could personally relate towards are both unimaginably older than myself, the inter dimensional portal hopping alien."
"You speak as if we are ancient!" Luna almost growls.
"You are" Sentinel replies, having missed having these sort of fun confrontations with Luna, "to me!"
"Utterly preposterous!" Luna exclaimed getting once again worked up, "What thou needs is to spend more time while in the prime of one's life around other ponies doing the same."
"I couldn't agree more, Luna." Celestia says as she looks at Sentinel with nothing but determination.
"What?" Sentinel said trying to get a handle on the steering wheel that was his current life.
"I am sending you to Ponyville Sentinel." Celestia says with a genuine smile as a golden hue grasp the hands suddenly trying to help pull one's self out of his bed. "To live and spend time with your fellow ponies and especially the bearers," as the hands start vibrating in vain struggle, "But I'm not a pony!"To learn the value of friendship and true harmony with one's self and in nature." she concludes as the struggle against her magical grasp starts to relent.
"I also expect friendship reports." Celestia adds in as the bed begins to chatter from renewed struggling.
"You can count on us Princess Celestia!" All of the bearers say with a mix of excitement, planned mischief, and determination.