Equestria and The Land of Patriam

By the end of the day

Celestia along with Luna and Cadence stood a few feet away from the border between Equestria and Patriam. A thick tree line full of foliage blocked them from seeing too deep into the mysterious land. Surrounding the Princesses were both Equestrian and Crystal Empire soldiers. They had been told to wait there as instructed by Twilight's letter. After a while, they hear a bunch of rustling, coming through the foliage. The soldiers quickly aim their spears forward and stand in formation, waiting for whatever was moving to come out. Finally, to their surprise, a human knight steps through. He looks at the pony soldiers and immediately begins to hold up his hands.

"Nicht angreifen! Bitte nicht angreifen!" The human said in his strange tongue. The pony soldiers look at each other in confusion. Celestia held up her hoof, to signify her soldiers to stand down. She then takes a few steps forward, and shocked almost everyone there by speaking.

"Hallo, ich heiße Princess Celestia, Frauscherin von Equestria. Wie heißen Sie?" Princess Celestia said fluently. The soldiers were a bit shocked to see Celestia use the human language so fluently. The human in turn slowly began to lower his arms, finding some comfort in knowing someone spoke his language.

"...Ich... Ich heiße Gerhard... Aus Germania" He said. Celestia stepped forward a bit close to examine the human. He felt his intimidation rising again. Celestia was the first pony he had seen that met him at eye level.

"Gerhard, Warum bist Sie hier? (Why are you here?)" She asked him, her voice soft and gentle.

"Mein... mein König und meine Landsleute fliehen! Wir... Wir brauchen Ihre Hilfe. Bitte. (My... my king and my countrymen are fleeing! We... We need your help. Please)" Gerhard, was practically begging. As they talked, two more knights stepped through both wearing drastically different armor from each other.

"Tedesco! Hai trovato aiuto!? (German! Did you find help!?)" One of them barked at Gerhard.

"Whoa... Putain de merde. C'est un énorme poney... (Whoa... Holy shit. That's a huge pony...)" Said the third. Celestia looks at the two other humans, a bit taken back at how they all spoke a different language. Though it wasn't a difficult task for her.

"Facile umano. Sono qui per aiutarti. (Easy human. I'm here to help.)" Celestia said to the second human before turning to the third. "Comment observateur de votre part. (How observant of you.)" She chuckled. She greeted herself in both of their languages as she did for Gerhard, asking for their names as well.

"Lorenzo D'Italia!" Responded the second human.

"Blanche De Gallia." Said the third. Celestia looked all of them over.

"Gerhard, Lorenzo, and Blanche. You are all three from the different kingdoms. How interesting you are all together." Celestia said to herself. "Why are you all here?" She asked the other two in their respective languages. They pretty much repeated what Gerhard had said, proving none of them were lying, since it appears they have no way of communicating with each other because of their language barrier.

"Very well. I will assist you three. Pray tell, were there any other ponies accompanying you?" Celestia asked in all three languages.

"Intendi il Principe Shining Armor? (You mean Prince Shining Armor?)" Lorenzo would ask. Cadence's head shot up, hearing her husband's name.

"Shining Armor? He knows my husband?" She asked her aunt. Celestia gives her a nod before looking back at Lorenzo.

"Hai con te il Principe dell'Impero di Cristallo? Dov'è lui adesso? (Do you have the Prince of the Crystal Empire with you? Where is he now?)" Celestia asked him, urgency was in her voice.

"È laggiù con la mia regina. È un guerriero coraggioso. (He's over there with my queen. He is a brave warrior.)" Lorenzo responded, crossing his arms.

"Altri pony che lo accompagnano? (Other ponies accompanying him?)"

"SÌ. parecchi. (Yes, Several)"

Celestia breathes a long sigh of relief. She instructs one of them to bring their group forward. Blanche volunteers and heads back through the foliage. The rest of them wait for the group to finally get through, and pass into Equestria. Slowly, one by one, humans began to flood out of the foliage. One of the figures who pass, was Johannes. He notices Celestia pretty quickly, and approaches her, bowing his head.

"You must be the ruler of this peaceful land. I am King Johannes Drachenkopf, ruler of Germania." He said, bowing his head out of respect. Celestia raised her eyes at him, returning with a head bow of her own.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, It has been a very very long time since a Drachenkopf has entered Equestria." Celestia Said, To which Johannes gave her a quick nod. Aurora would step through next, to which Johannes quickly went to her, she was still very much distraught. Finally the ponies started to walk through. Celestia was surprised to see the number of Guards return, only one third of the guards she sent with shining were left. Finally Applejack, followed by Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and finally Spike, all looked depressed and upset. Celestia watches as after a while, Shining Armor walks through, carrying a weak Twilight on his back. Cadence quickly approaches them, before gasping, seeing Shining's head wrapped in bandages. Celestia steps forward and helps Twilight off of Shining's back. Celestia is horrified at the condition Twilight was in. So thin her ribcaged showed, her fur dirty and matted, her bloodshot eyes, and worse of all, her missing horn. Celestia feels her eyes fill with tears seeing the poor princess in such a condition. She saw Twilight as a daughter, and seeing her in such poor condition... broke her heart.

"Twilight... What did they do to you?"