Pain was the first sensation to return.
“Oooooh. The Great and Powerful Trixie has a great and powerful headache.” she murmured.
...or tried to, at least. There was something in her mouth, muffling her words. She tried to spit it out, but it appeared to have been tied in there. Brief exploration with her front hoof showed that there appeared to be some sort of – leather straps, tied around her head.
“Did you see that? No horses' legs should be able to bend like that!”
The alien language bought Trixie's memories back in a rush. The archway – the new world – the highwayponies. Who weren't ponies. Her eyes shot open.
There were at least a dozen of the creatures around, most of them armed with swords or clubs. More than enough to overpower even the Great and Powerful Trixie. She struggled upright – discovering in the process that her rear hooves were bound. Moreover, the leather straps on her head appeared to be tied to a nearby tree. These factors would make 'running away' somewhat tricky.
“Jus' means the circus will pay more for it.” said one particularly large, bearded individual.
Surprisingly, for all their efforts to restrain her, these creatures had done absolutely nothing to prevent Trixie from using her magic. It would be the work of half a minute for Trixie to untie her rear hooves, perhaps a bit longer to figure out the straps on the bridle, and then she could run for it...
...but it would likely only take half that time for one of these creatures to start poking a sword into Trixie. It only made sense to wait for at least some of them to fall asleep before Trixie made her escape.
“Pack up the camp, everyone.” said the bearded man. “We're taking our new pile of gold to find a buyer. Someone take off that hobble and take its rein. And don't let it get away.”
* * *
“You... talked.” said Sparhawk, looking down at Twilight. “You... talked. You... talked.”
This hadn't been the reaction she had expected; but at least the black-armoured knight had lowered his lance and wasn't trying to kill anyone for a few minutes.
“Yes,” she said, “I talked.”
“You're a talking horse.” added Sparhawk.
“Pony!” corrected Twilight.
“Don't try to sneak away!” commanded Sparhawk, suddenly raising his lance and pointing it at Krager.
“Nopony is killing anypony!” insisted Twilight.
“Yeah!” added Rainbow Dash, hovering above and slightly to the left of Twilight; and she felt the comforting presence of the other four Element-bearers standing behind her.
“That man,” said Sparhawk, grimly, “is wanted in Elenia for crimes including high treason, kidnapping, conspiracy to overthrow the royal family, being an accessory to murder, murder, and attempted murder, among others.”
“My dear fellow,” said Rarity, “even assuming that all of that is true, there are right and wrong ways to go about this sort of thing.”
“Quite.” added Twilight. “For a start, you aren't in Elenia. You're in Equestria, and we have laws about extradition. You'd need to – just a moment, I need to look this up.”
Twilight's horn glowed, and there was a pop as a large book (The Laws and Ordinances of Equestria – A Reference Guide For Princesses, book one of a limited-run edition of one copy, printed shortly after Twilight's coronation) appeared in front of her. Hovering in the lavender glow of her magic, the book opened and the pages flipped; first to the index, then, once Twilight had the reference, to page 142.
Sparhawk stared at the hovering book. He raised his lance to point skyward, and asked “How are you doing that?”
Twilight glanced up. “Doing what?”
“Making that book float.”
“That? Oh, that's just magic.” Twilight shrugged. “Any unicorn can do that.”She flipped past a few extra pages. “Can you do magic?”
“Not in the same way.” said Sparhawk. He reversed his lance, poking the pennoned tip back through the portal and waving it about, back and forth in a horizontal line.
“And what was that for?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“No doubt some sort of pre-arranged signal.” said Twilight. “I'd imagine he's got some friends waiting on the other side of the portal, watching for that flag of his.”
“It let them know I'm still alive and not trying to fight off an army on my own.” explained Sparhawk.
“If you're from another world,” asked Pinkie, “how come do you speak Equestrian? Hey, wait a minute, how come Krager speaks Equestrian?”
“I have absolutely no idea.” mutters Krager.
“I think that Discord made it so Krager could understand Equestrian.” said Fluttershy, quietly.
“In my case,” said Sparhawk, “I have a very good friend who can teach people new languages in about five seconds.” He shrugs. “I don't understand the spell myself, but it works.”
“Oooooooooh!” said Pinkie. “Wait – how did your friend learn Equestrian?”
“She said she'd met some children exploring through the portal.” explained Sparhawk. “If she'd said they were horses -”
“PONIES!” interrupted all six Element-bearers, in chorus.”
“- if she'd said they were ponies,” continued Sparhawk, “perhaps I would have been less surprised.”
“That must be whoever it was who the Crusaders thought was a changeling.” said Twilight. “Ah, here it is. Let's see... in the case of countries with which Equestria has an extradition treaty... hmmm... no, no, no, okay, Elenia's not on the list... in the absence of an extradition treaty... hot pursuit clearly doesn't apply... no crimes on Equestrian soil... the correct and legal course of action would be an extradition hearing, presided over by one of the Princesses. That would be Luna, Celestia, or Cadance.”
“Or you, Sugarcube.” added Applejack, poking Twilight in the ribs with one hoof.
“Hmmm. Yes, or me, I guess. But I really don't have any experience in extradition hearings. I'd really rather one of the more experienced Princesses took this one on.”
Sparhawk's face was well hidden behind his visor. He considered this information for a few minutes. “Very well,” he said. “Do you mind if I go back and talk this over with my friends for a few minutes? I propose further that, we limit any visitors, whether from your world to mine, or from my world to yours, to a few metres from the portal, until we get the diplomatic niceties sorted out?”
“That seems quite reasonable.” said Rarity.
“Hold on a minute.” said Rainbow Dash. “There's somepony here who's been real quiet, and I want to hear what he thinks of this.”
She zipped forward, and poked Sparhawk's horse on the nose. “You have anything to say, big guy?” she asked.
The horse snorted, and attempted to bite Dash's hoof; however, Dash's reflexes were too sharp.
“Faran's got a bit of a temper.” said Sparhawk. “Don't poke him in the nose again, he can do a lot worse than biting.”
“What's that thing in his mouth?” asked Rainbow. She looked over Faran's bit and bridle, working out the effects if Sparhawk pulls back on the reins in his hand... “Oh, that can't be comfortable.”
“Why would anypony want to wear anything like that?” asked Fluttershy. She hovered up, to get a closer look.
“If Ah had ta guess,” said Applejack grimly, “it ain't something he'd be wearin' 'cos he wants ta. Anypony remember the Diamond Dogs?”
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. “He's a slave, isn't he?” she asked. “You've enslaved ponies where you come from!”