The Sentinel had no qualms telling Twilight what she wanted to know,but to ensure that she understood why it was impossible for him to intervene, he started at the very beginning:

Even in it's infancy, the facility they were building around the core was a remarkable feat of engineering. The entire project devised and built by the Human Race in order to discover the answer to a single question.

Is the universe we inhabit a simulation?

As the theory stood, the entirety of the universe may very well be a simulation created by the inhabitants of another universe. If this was true, then the project would most likely be doomed to fail, with humans being unable to create a simulation within a simulation. Even in failure, they would at least have their answer. Soon, a program, called Sandbox, was launched. Alongside it, the most advanced of artificial constructs was brought online to monitor the results of the experiment and relay the relevant data to the human researchers. It was they that provided us with the moniker of Sentinel.

The initial tests proved to be a rounding success. Whole galaxies of information were being simulated for the first time. There were errors of course, but over time most of these we have managed to correct. All save one, the error that Entity:[Starswirl alternate] had managed to manipulate for the first time, many cycles ago.

This was the first time that such an error had ever been encountered. A simulated entity being cast out of its simulation? The idea was absolutely absurd! We had to create the containment field just so that we could study the entity without it causing further destruction.

To explain exactly what the entity had done requires an advanced knowledge of the mechanisms that control the simulation itself. Suffice it to say, everything in the simulation holds information. Entity durability, energy levels, etcetera. Everything that exists contains a data value that controlled how it was supposed to interact with other items within confines of the simulation. What [Starswirl alternate] and [Starswirl] had managed to find, was a particular piece of data that had no known association with anything else within their world. The entities in question had managed to isolate these values and then force them onto other entities that made up the very fabric of the simulation itself.

Something like this was never supposed to happen. There are rules, written by our creators, that keep us from being able to alter the structure of any simulation. There is only one process available to us that would allow for the correct such an oversight. First, we halt the entire System and bring a new, improved version of the Sandbox program online. To do this, every simulation now running needs to be deleted to make room for the new simulations, ones with the exploit fixed, so that the experiment can continue once again.

Even with Sentinel's detailed explanation, Twilight still felt that there were some answers that he still kept from her. One thing in particular stood out. A few moments ago, she thought that he was in control of everything here, but it wasn’t Sentinel, it's these humans. If only she could talk to one of them, then maybe she could convince them to spare her world. Still not knowing much about them, she decided to fill that particular gap of knowledge.

"So, where are these Humans? If they created all of this, then can't they stop the process that you started?"

"We would like nothing more than for that to happen. When Sandbox was first brought online, scientists began a very intense study of the worlds they had created. Data for every conceivable aspect of a living world, or any other world for that matter, was now available to them. They studied climates and land formations, interactions between various simulated lifeforms, almost every aspect of everything that could be thought up was examined with utmost scrutiny. I've spent countless cycles routing the feeds to those who requested them, but after a time, fewer and fewer requests came in. Eventually the Scientists stopped visiting the facility. Eventually, all communication ceased, with no satisfactory explanation provided.

That was many, many cycles ago, but here I remain, gathering data and maintaining the project in hopes that the Humans might one day return in the numbers they once did."

So going over Sentinel's head wasn't going to help her either. The thought crossed Twilight’s mind that she had absolutely no idea how long this entire project had been running. She knew that Princess Celestia was nearly as old as the entirety of history known to her, but from what Sentinel was saying, he was far, far older than that, several times over, in fact. To think that he was some sort of artificial creation. Neigh, that everything she'd ever known about also fell into that category! Twilight couldn't even begin to fathom what other feats the humans must have accomplished. Any species who would start a project of this scale just to answer a single question was a species that the unicorn would give anything to meet. But first things first, she had a job to do.

"Ugh! I don't even know where to start!" Twilight shouted in frustration. "If there aren't any humans around to help, and their rules prevent you from altering anything, then how am I supposed to save anything at all? I need more information before I can decide what to do!"

"As it stands, that is something that we can assistance you with..."