//------------------------------// // Sentinel’s Return // Story: At the Twilight of Harmony // by Rammy //------------------------------// Twilight tried to make herself as small as possible. She was torn between complete terror and heartbreak over losing He of Hourglass. Tears were flowing down, and her body was shivering. Losing hope I see? A voice called out. Twilight couldn't tell if she was hearing it out loud or in her head, but she knew that voice. It was Sentinel’s voice. She ignored it, as she knew that he was dead. It seemed her head wanted to mock her, to add insult to injury. Suddenly, a light caught her attention. She looked down and towards the source: her necklace, containing the Element of Magic. Confused over its glowing, she looked over at the other Bearers, who were struggling with their own fear and grief. The other elements were also glowing. She was sure she had seen this happen before, years ago. Twilight gasped as a rainbow came down from the sky and swirled around them. By this point, the bearers and Phoenix Wave had noticed that something was going on. Phoenix Wave, having not seen it before, turned and readied a spell. He knew it would probably do next to nothing, but he figured, if he was going to die today, he was going to go out fighting like a rabid timberwolf. The light faded away to reveal a dragon. The dragon was hard to see, as half of the dragon was black and the other half a very light pinkish white. By coincidence or design, the side facing the moon was the side with the black scales, and the other side was facing the sun. As the dragon lifted his head, there was no mistaking who it was. The blackened scales may have masked his identity, but those purple and green eyes left no doubt. “How!?” Twilight whispered in shock and disbelief. It was Sentinel! It was impossible! Discord had said that the sparks had been around his throne. Discord would not have lied about that, especially after He of Hourglass’ rage over said death. That, and she knew that Sentinel would not have told Discord to lie about his death, as she knew Sentinel was mature in hoarding and would not have done something that would have clearly hurt He of Hourglass. Furthermore, it was clear that He of Hourglass was not fake grieving. Even though she was not able to sense lies like Applejack, she could still tell that the rage was too real, and too raw. Sentinel looked down warmly at Twilight, before his expression became neutral. “Later, my Bearer of Magic. We have to deal with Firstclaw, He of Hourglass, first.” With that, Sentinel looked up at He of Hourglass and roared. He of Hourglass eyed the much smaller dragon, becoming more enraged at the recognition of who dared challenge him. He roared back. He did nothing more, as he would deal with the interloper soon enough, but first, he wanted more power; the rage was all he cared about, anyway. With the challenge accepted, the remaining dragons in the area moved some distance away to watch. “Bearers, may I have your Elements?” “But how then are ‘we’ going to help with He of Hourglass? Without the Elements, we are basically unable to do much.” “Unless the ‘we’ you meant was the clan…” “We need friendship magic, if we are to have any hope.” Sentinel countered. “He of Hourglass is a spark dragon, remember? Dragon magic is of a higher order than pony magic. Harmony magic is of a lower order than friendship magic. As such, your friendship magic should be strong enough to counter his magic completely, even though you are technically still using pony magic.” “You said yourself that you had not intended for us to break the friendship barrier that day with Tirek!” Twilight began to counter. “We don’t have time to figure out how to replicate what happened that day!” “I know!” Sentinel nearly roared at Twilight. He winced when he saw Twilight’s reaction. “I know…”  Sentinel opened his eyes and found himself in the same plane as before, when he wielded Loyalty. This time, however, the other elements joined the loyalty element. Why you try wielding us as one? You know consequences... “Yes I am aware, Tzirüstele atülāja…” Sentinel answered. He was fully aware of the consequences. “But once we deal with the Dragon Keeper, my role as a keeper will end. After today, you will no longer be my elements… as I always wanted. I was always planning to wield you all as one, one last time, anyway, to seal you away from me, as the mark of the end of my keeper duty. I just didn’t plan to have to use you in a fight…” “Between your current Bearers and myself, we both know I can utilize you better in a fight. Plus, in order to end this threat once and for all, we need friendship magic, and time is not on our side… True, your Bearers should be able to utilize friendship magic, even while bearing you… That was proven when the dragons did it, with the Dragon Keeper still possessing his harmony magic...” Then let them. You said you wanted ponies to find and maintain harmony, remember? “Yes, I did say that, Honesty.” Sentinel turned to face Honesty. “The issue at hand isn’t that, but friendship magic… I have a theory…” THEORY!? “Yes, theory.” Sentinel resisted the urge to facepalm. He needed to Elements on his side, to not make it more likely for them to deny him usage. “As I said, we don’t have time to figure out how exactly it was done the first time, when they fought Tirek, so I’m trying to replicate as many of the variables from the last time and hope for the best... Remember, we are dealing with a raging spark dragon, and without dragon harmony magic...” You too angry… though correct, you too harsh with Generosity’s bearer. Kindness interrupted this time. Exactly. Generosity agreed. “Yeah…” Sentinel admitted. He could have handled Rarity a bit better… And Kindness was right, he had a anger issue… especially when it came to Firstclaw/Spike. “I probably was a bit too harsh on her…” Apologize. “I will.” You better… Sentinel shook his head at Honesty's uncertainty. “Es zrisu.” “Joy, you have been quiet.” Sentinel questioned Joy. He ignored Loyalty for the moment, as he had spoken to that aspect not too long ago, and knew that he would not need to defend his loyalty. Or at least, he hoped so. Nothing to say… grief not controlling, anymore... Then I have your okay to wield you one last time? Yes. “And what say the rest of you?” Sentinel questioned. Sentinel then sat down and waited. For some time, the elements spun lazily. Sentinel was okay with them taking time to decide, as time ran differently than outside, and mere few heartbeats would have passed when he left. Quartermaster and Scorpion, who were away from the Bearers, and had not seen the arrival of Sentinel, did, however, hear his roar of challenge. They looked at each other in confusion before Scorpion flapped up to get a better look. What he saw both shocked him and brought him to tears. Standing in the midst of the bearers was a dragon he thought two weeks gone: Sentinel. It can’t be… Was all Scorpion could sing. Before Quartermaster could ask what Scorpion meant, Sentinel had risen into the air and into his sight. This, of course, shocked Quartermaster. He looked for the draconequus, his anger rising for what he saw as a cruel deception on the part of the draconequus, one that he was going to kill him for. When he caught sight of the draconequus, however, he could see that the draconequus was blubbering in disbelief. Sentinel soon landed next to both dragons, Scorpion having landed moments before. “Secondclaw… how…” Quartermaster tried to come up with the proper words, but found himself mostly speechless. “Later, my clan.” Sentinel smiled warmly at the sight of his clan. “We have to deal with Firstclaw first.” *Time has come.* Vorac noted, to the confusion of Sentinel. *It’s time for that!?* Sentinel mentally shouted at him, when he figured out what Vorac was saying. “Of all the times.” Sentinel muttered out loud, shaking his head in disbelief, while Vorac chuckled Quartermaster and Scorpion looked at each other with a sense of confusion and concern. Both were glad to see the Secondclaw alive and semi-well, but they both wondered if, along with the clearly burnt scales covering half of his body, he also had become a bit addled in the head. They were aware that their secondclaw was a combination of the feral Vorac and the sentient Sentinel, so it did cross their minds that it could just be that. All in all, everything was becoming too much for them. *Okay, listen up!* Sentinel projected to the clan, Bearers, Phoenix Wave, and Discord. *We may only have moments before the Dragon Keeper tires of watching us and makes his move. Bearers, we are only going to get one shot at this, so don’t release the friendship magic until I give the word.* *Got it.* Twilight nodded her understanding. *He of Laughter! Use any remaining Harmony magic you have to hold Dragon Keeper down. I will assist.* Discord saluted and readied himself by preparing lassos of chains, rope, even one that looked suspiciously like licorice. That last one made it hard for everyone to not facepalm or facehoof. *Scorpion, I need you to use soul song magic…* I… I don’t know if I can anymore… Scorpion started to tear up. He was so ashamed of his actions that he felt like he shouldn’t use soul song magic anymore, as it was. “Don’t worry, I’ll get us going,” Sentinel put a comforting wing, or as much as he could, around Scorpion. “And it’s good to hear your voice again.” *Phoenix Wave, guard the Bearers; it may take a bit for them to achieve the friendship transformation. The remaining guard is to help in getting anyone still alive away, to safer ground, and get them treatment; this fight is the clan’s, only. Twixt’d, help in that endeavor. Your speed will be vital, and can be the difference between life and death.* *Yes, Secondclaw.* Phoenix Wave responded with a salute. *On it, Secondclaw.* Twixt’d answered before he started directing the remaining Griffons in the task he was given. Sentinel blinked in momentary surprise at the fact that there was not a shred of disappointment in his orders; if anything, there was pride in it. Usually, he would have a bit of resistance, if Twixt’d was given a ‘support’ function in a fight. This is why he explained to Twixt’d why he was assigned to his role, to minimize that resistance. He of Hourglass apparently had had enough, as he roared, then flew right at Sentinel, preparing to use his claws and flame to kill him. Sentinel didn’t have much of a chance to do anything other than summon his fire sword. As He of Hourglass was about to hit Sentinel, Quartermaster suddenly flew into his side. “I may have forgotten my promise before…” Quartermaster growled angrily at his firstclaw. ”But I will beat the rage out of you!” Sentinel teleported into the sky above Quartermaster and He of Hourglass. He needed to get He of Hourglass to focus completely on him, so that he and Discord could bind him up while also keeping everyone safe from errant attacks. Rah. Sentinel began to chant. Everydragon there, minus the clan, focused on Sentinel. Sentinel had initiated what was known to be a Dragon Chant, a sub set of Soul Songs. Rah. Rah. Rah. Rah, rah, rah, rah! Scorpion began playing a low bass note on his guitar, over and over, at the same rate and cadence as Sentinel’s initial ‘rah’s.’ When a dragon fights, how does a dragon tend to fight? Claw (Claw) The surrounding dragons echoed Sentinel's own response. Fang (Fang) Flame (Flame) Tail (Tail) Sentinel then roared loudly. He of Hourglass sent off a stream of black flame at Sentinel, who easily dodged it. He doesn’t have the speed of the Nameless One… good. Thazs, zoss, uzuths, size!  Everydragon then roared. Suddenly, Quartermaster got caught in one of He of Hourglass’ errant swings meant for Sentinel. Quartermaster went flying into the ground, and He of Hourglass slammed down on him, hard. Sentinel roared in anger and slammed He of Hourglass with a particularly strong harmony magic attack, getting him to ignore Quartermaster and come after him again. Oh, the blood and gore! Sentinel began the chant once again. The blood and gore, what does it paint? Scales (Scales) Horns (Horns) Wings (Wings) Spines (Spines) Sentinel roared alone again. This time, Discord finally managed to lasso He of Hourglass around his tail with his licorice lasso. This enticed the spark dragon to try and attack the draconequus, to make him release his tail. However, Sentinel used the Elements to smack He of Hourglass, allowing Discord to lasso his back leg. He was not going to let his firstclaw hurt anyone else. Liza, razi ūsas, thlathzs, scktalva! Once again, the gathered dragons roared. Rah. (Rah!) Rah. (Rah!) Rah. (Rah!) Rah. (Rah!) Rah, rah, rah , rah!  By this point, He of Hourglass was bound tightly, and, even with his ferocious attempts at getting out of the bindings, he could barely move. Sentinel gazed behind him to see that the Bearers had managed to initiate the friendship transformation, and Twilight was holding the magic, ready for release. *Ready Vorac?* *Yes.* *NOW!* Sentinel mentally shouted to Twilight. As the friendship beam shot towards He of Hourglass, Sentinel pulled back the harmony magic that he was using to hold the spark dragon in place and added it to the stream of friendship magic. The rainbow colored beam then hit He of Hourglass square in the chest. The world then went white.