Princess Celestia sat on her throne, gaze directed upon the four figures below her. One of them was somepony she would be able to recognise even if she was on the other side of the planet, her Faithful Student Twilight Sparkle.
The other three? Well, they weren't ponies, that was for certain. In fact, they were a type of creature she, in her vast knowledge of all of Equestria's species, had never seen before. They reminded her of Diamond Dogs, or Minotaur's, if only in the fact that they were bipedal and had hands. Hands that she had seen fit to clasp in chains, considering the damage they had caused when they arrived.
They were standing in a row, and Celestia had been able to discern their genders. The one to the far left was definitely male, if his bulky stature gave anything away, never mind his beard.
And what a magnificent beard it is, Celestia thought. It would make some of her generals jealous.
The other two were female, judging by their more, well, feminine features. They were all around the same size, though the man was maybe a head taller than the women. They were a third taller than her ponies.
However, by far the most striking feature of all of them was their hair. In comparison to their skin, which seemed relatively pale, their hair was a reddish orange that reminded Celestia of a wild, raging fire. The man's hair had random braids throughout, reminding Celestia of the barbarian ponies of the Wild Moors. The woman in the middle had her hair in a short tail, while the one on the right had cropped hair that reached to her neck.
It was also obvious that they were all warriors. It wasn't that look in their eyes, always wary and ready for combat. It wasn't how they held themselves, proud and powerful. Nor was it their armour, though that was particularly eye-catching. The man wore white plates that looked sturdier that any diamond Celestia had seen, with pauldrons with wicked looking spikes, his horned helmet lying on the ground in front of him. The woman on the right was wearing black combat armour, a red and white stripe running down the right arm, the chest piece bearing an 'N7' logo, whatever that was.
This was where the woman in the middle differed. She was simply wearing a no-sleeved duster, the number '21' emblazoned on the back in yellow. A hole-ridden, faded cloth shirt covered the armoured chest piece, with knee pads the only other sign of protection. She had a strange gauntlet of some kind on her left arm. Yet despite this, she still looked just as fearsome, if not moreso, than the other two.
But it was none of these things that made it obvious they were fighters. No, it was the massive pile of weapons that was currently being guarded. Celestia recognised hammers, swords, daggers, staves, axes and bows of many different variations, but there were other things in the pile she had no idea of what they were. She was almost tempted to undo their bindings just to find out.
Celestia sighed. There was work to be done.
She looked over the congregation of ponies. There were quite a few, almost all of them glaring at the three standing before her. Among them were the other Elements of Harmony, Mayor Mare, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, Big Macintosh and quite a few store and stall owners. Even Zecora was among them. And they were all demanding the same thing:
Compensation.
Celestia addressed the crowd. "My little ponies, I understand that there has been quite the commotion in Ponyville. Would anypony be kind enough to refresh my memory of what has happened?"
It was Twilight who answered. She looked distraught. "Princess, this is my fault." There were cries from the crowd, but Celestia shushed them. "Go on, Twilight. How is this your fault?"
Twilight glanced at the three figures before speaking. "I was attempting an advanced summoning spell, the one that lets you call an object from great distances. Problem was, I wasn't focusing properly and managed to summon beings from even greater distances than I thought was possible."
Celestia was shocked. She knew her student was very powerful and gifted, but to be able to do that? Just because she wasn't focusing?
Rainbow Dash interjected, her expression confused. "Wait, Twilight, are you saying brought these boneheads from, what, the other side of the world?"
Twilight looked at Celestia pleadingly. Only the both of them and the three before her knew what Twilight had really done.
"No, my little ponies, Twilight did not reach across the world." Some in the crowd exchanged puzzled looks. Then what had she done?, they thought.
"My student has reached through the very fabric of time, space and reality. She has brought these three from completely different universes."
The crowd went completely silent. The woman in the middle reached up to scratch her head. The crowd burst out in excitement, before Celestia silenced them with a wave of her wing.
"Please, we can address Twilights' ... rather remarkable achievement after we have dealt with the matter at hand. Now please Twilight, you were saying?"
Twilight flushed slightly as all focus was on her." Yes, well. I brought these three to Equestria. It was obvious when they appeared that they were confused. I believe that the first they came into contact with were each other. They looked around them then started to talk. I couldn't actually hear what they were saying so I moved in closer, but I stopped when they started walking away from each other. The one in white there passed by me and I tried to talk to him, but he ignored me." Twilight joined the crowd in glaring at the three." Then, when they were a distance away, they charged towards each other and started fighting."
Celestia levitated a scroll given by one of her servants. "And this brawl resulted in damage to... lets see... Sugar Cube Corner, the Carousel Boutique, various market stalls, a few more shops and- wait a minute Sweet Apple Acres? How did THAT happen?"
Twilight motioned to the woman in the middle. "Well, she punched him," indicating the man," with a strange glove and sent him flying through the air, all the way to the farm. I have no idea how he is still standing."
"Well then. You will all be glad to know that I can and will compensate you for the damage. Now, onto the matter of what to do with these three." Celestia said, glaring at the three.
Then the one in the middle spoke. "Well, I think that the first thing you should do is pay more attention to your prisoners. We really have to thank you for the distraction."
Every pony in the room looked at the three, and then the three pairs of cuffs dropping to the floor, then the man picking up his helmet and the woman in the middle her hat and sunglasses.
The woman on the left spoke this time, all of them cracking their knuckles. "Because if we weren't all nice people, we could've taken that as an opportunity to hurt you all very badly." Her entire body glowed with a blue, flame-looking energy, as if to emphasize the point.
"Now then!" says the man, "I think proper introductions are in order. We have made ourselves known to each other, but not to all you fine folks. I am Darvish Stone-Shield, Son of Skyrim."
"Zia Ironfist, leader of Free New Vegas," says the woman in the hat and sunglasses.
"Beatrix Shepard, Commander of the SR2 Normandy" says the final woman, still glowing blue. "And I think we would all like to know where the hell we are."