//------------------------------//
// Well, excuse me Princess Celestia! 
// Story: Valhalla? 
// by Kumei 
//------------------------------//

Sigfrid was just about to turn his great axe upon the orange monster's horned friend when the heavy steel instrument was forcibly wrenched from his firm grip. Before he could react, the whole, too colourful world was suddenly washed out in shades and tints of purple. Recovering soon after that, the enormous man began pounding on the sphere's boundary. Left fist, right fist, left fist, both fists, and it went on. He at one point attempted headbutting it, and achieving no apparent result, continued raging against the sturdy barrier with his fists. 

Twilight struggled to keep the barrier up, this was one of the first times she had actually used it to contain something, and certainly the first time anything had tried to break out from within with such ferocity. She grunted in exertion, sparks flying from her horn as the bubble continued to take a beating, and she could almost feel it crack. Reflexively, the unicorn shrunk the ferocious and obviously confused creature's prison, creating less volume within for it to move, but more importantly giving her less surface to maintain, which she was immediately grateful for.

The bear of a man continued to struggle, despite now being collapsed, it felt like, into a space only barely enough to allow for his movement. After a few minutes, he was becoming sluggish in his struggles, both from his previous injuries and his renewed effort. Finally, he slumped in the odd, purple bubble, glaring at the horned creature below him, paying no heed to the little dragon who was crying hysterically. Suddenly, there was a flash of light that, even shrouded by purple, Sigfrid could tell was gold. When the light faded, there was a tall white figure, almost as tall as Sigfrid, but of similar build to the strange creature beneath him. The newcomer had a long, pointed horn and great wings which stretched at least as far out as his arms. Atop her head sat a tall, thin crown of gold with a large, purple gem set in the center of it. Around it's neck was a large gold necklace with similar gems set in it, and it's mane was like a strange, flowing multicolour spatter of light blues, pinks, and greens. All in all, it exuded influence and power, and despite the strange appearance Sigfrid couldn't help but shudder a bit in awe.

After taking in the scene, the tall one, who had a picture of the sun on it's flank, spoke to the smaller purple one in a muffled voice, though Sigfrid wouldn't have understood it anyway. It then turned to him more fully, and glared into his eyes with a stare that he swore would have defeated each of his villager's resolve in but seconds, and spoke once more, this time it amplified it's voice within the sphere so that he could hear what it had to say, despite still holding no understanding of it. It spoke a few more times, in what he assumed were different languages, and he realized that the tall one was a woman. Finally she sighed visibly and spoke something again to the small one, and he was unceremoniously dropped to the ground. The tall one again approached him, this time bending her head down and touching the long, spiral horn to the crown of his head.

A few minutes later, the rest of the Elements arrived, and Twilight had a hard time finding the words for what was happening. Finally, she spoke, "Girls, I... I have some bad n-news..." She began, tears beginning again to stream down her face. "Applejack is... She's... We won't be seeing much of her anymore..." At this, the other four gasped while Twilight plodded a few steps to where she had covered the body with a white tarp. "I'm s-sure you're wondering why the Princess is here, and what that thing is..." A deep breath while the air tingled in anticipation, "It... k-killed her... and the Princess wouldn't... I couldn't... I... I don't..." She took another deep breath as she wiped her eyes, "I think that the Princess is in it's mind. It seemed really confused when she asked him what it was doing, so she told me to drop it and that about brings us to now..." Twilight sniffled, "It just jumped out of nowhere and then she was dead! Just..." She broke down crying, while the rest of the Elements surrounded her and tried to console her.





"Girls," Princess Celestia said, "I need you to listen to me. What happened today was terrible, but I need you girls to look after this one. He's not from here, and while that does not excuse his actions, I feel that we can't just leave him to fend for himself, and we certainly can't have him murdering anypony else."

"B-but Princess..." Twilight started, "Why can't we just banish him? Or imprison him? Or banish him to a-"

"Twilight, I understand how you must feel. I have a feeling that this will all make sense soon, until then, please help him learn our ways. You may even learn to enjoy his company, even if you can't forgive him."

"Princess, surely you don't mean for one of us to house this brute? And so close to other ponies?"

"Be at ease, Rarity, I feel like the one most qualified to handle this 'brute' is Fluttershy, who is far from most of Ponyville. In addition, I shall send a scrying mirror so that if something bad happens, I can be there quickly, so you needn't worry for your safety or the safety of your animals. As a thank you for your help, I shall give each of you a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala, where we will see if he truly deserves our trust." Celestia smiled at the ponies, most of whom still slackjawed from the ordeal. She then pulled from thin air a small circular mirror which shimmered slightly in the sun and gave it to Fluttershy, who nodded somewhat blankly and accepted the trinket.

With that, the Princess departed, taking off with a powerful leap and a flap of her wings, leaving the ponies, dragon, and human standing somewhat dumbfounded. After a pause, the massive man cleared his throat and turned towards the rest and knelt down, fist across his chest and his head down solemnly, and spoke.

"Mitt namn är Sigfrid björnen-arm, jag ber om ursäkt för mina handlingar. Jag hoppas en dag vi kan gå förbi detta."