The three carriers landed as best they could. Knight set the All of My What down at the same time the All of My Rage set the All of My Yes down in front of Dan's base. Finally, the All of My Rage, being the only airship left that could operate under its own power, landed in between its heavily damaged sisters, settling into the sand as gently as it could.
Although Dan and the others were used to the carriers by now, the hippies were not. As soon as the enormous ring-shaped aircrafts landed, the hippies panicked. Pony hippies, yak hippies, buffalo hippies, pony versions Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, even a couple zebra and griffon hippies, they all panicked.
"ALIENS!! THE ALIENS ARE BACK!!"
"No man, it's the feds! HIDE THE WEED!!"
"Wait... what if it's both?"
"ALIEN FEDS!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES SLASH WEED!!!!!"
Or, at least half of them panicked. A good portion of the hippies were genuinely excited at the prospect of encountering extraterrestrial life and there were even some that celebrated the ships' arrival. Also, there were a bunch of them that were just too high to *squee*ing care. As the craft settled, there were very few hippies that dared approach them.
One of the ramps on the bow of the Rage lowered, light from within the vessel pouring out. A large silhouette appeared and stepped towards the ramp, an enormous shadow eclipsing the light. The hippies watched in awe as it came closer, closer. It grew larger in the doorway as more hippies gathered around, eager to see the first alien to set foot on Equestrian soil... that they knew of. Finally, the figure reached the edge of the ramp and they all saw who it really was.
"GRAAAANAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHH!!! *ahem*," Tuxley yawned.
It took the hippies a full moment to process their response. "THE ALIEN FEDS ARE DINOSAURS!!!"
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES SLASH WEED SLASH... LIVES!!"
"Oh, good heavens, aliens?" Tuxley said, looking around. He regarded the airships, including the one he just stepped out of and quickly took note of the hippies behavior. "I don't suppose you're referring to us?"
The hippies continued panicking. They frantically tried to hide, retreat into the base or hitch up their caravan wagons and run. Unfortunately, stoned and panicking were not good combinations so the few wagons that did try to flee only managed to drive a circle around the base, not realizing they weren't going anywhere.
Dan stepped out onto the ramp next to Tuxley. "Attention hippies!" he bellowed, "You will now vacate the premises or we will open fire!!"
"THEY'RE GONNA SHOOT THEIR DEATH RAYS AT US!!"
"RUN FASTER!!!!"
The announcement Dan made only served to further frighten them, causing the caravans to travel in a circle around the base faster. Spike and Fluffle Puff watched them like it was a NASCAR race.
Twilight and the others joined Dan and Tuxley at the edge of the ramp. "Dan, stop scaring the hippies."
"But they're on my base! MY BASE!"
"Babe, listen to Twilight," Chrys said, turning into Twilight. "She said to stop scaring the hippies. And remember; even though it is your base, we're still her guards."
"Fiiiine," Dan sighed. "They're still not authorized to be on our property. They showed up without warning and without an invitation."
"I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason they're here," Twilight reminded him. "So we're not going to simply shoot them for trespassing, not when they don't pose an immediate threat."
"We can't shoot them anyway," Gust said, flying down from over his ship's bow.
"Why is that, oh chicken-livered one?" Dan asked.
"All of the cannons and turrets are wrecked and even if we did have the guns, we don't have the ammo to use them," he said. "What shells and bombs we didn't use exploded when the guns did. With most of our fliers in the medbays, we're sitting ducks for the time being. Might need the hippies' help."
"I say, that may be more difficult a prospect than we realize," Tuxley said, pointing towards the hippies. He held up a pair of opera glasses. "It would appear most of them have taken up refuge within our stronghold. And a few of them outside seem to be attempting to disguise themselves with their bed clothes."
They all looked to see what he was talking about. Even from their distance, it was clear the hippies were trying to cover themselves with blankets, as if that was some kind of impenetrable defense. The caravan wagon pullers eventually got exhausted and came to a halt just in front of the base, stopping exactly where they'd started from and collapsing into the sand. Because cartoon irony.
"We just need to talk to them, explain things in a calm, rational manner," Twilight said.
"Would it help if I turned into Celestia?" Chrys asked, turning into Celestia.
"You could turn into Bob Marley. Or Jimi Hendrix. They'd probably love that," Dan said, chuckling.
"Or Bob Dylan," Phoenix commented.
"You're not helping," Twilight continued. "We'd only have to wind up explaining how any of those people got here."
"True," the two humans plus changeling said.
"We just need to explain what happened to whoever's in charge," Twilight said.
"Okay," Dan nodded. "Good idea. We'll find out who's responsible first."
"Alright," Twilight said, stepping forward. She stood on her hindlegs and waved her forelegs wide. "Attention hippies!!" she called out to them. The hippies, from wherever they were situated, looked to the purple alicorn. Hippies peaked out from under blankets, from behind doors and shutters inside the base and from their positions faced down in the sand. They all turned their eyes to Twilight Sparkle.
And Twilight said, "Take us to your leader!!!"
"..."
And for a moment, all was silent. Dan, Phoenix and all of Twilight's crew slowly rose their hands/hooves to their heads as they realized what she had just said. "Twilight?" Spike said.
"Um... what?"
"ALIENS!!"
"THE ALIENS ARE BACK AGAIN!!"
"I WON'T GET PROBED AGAIN! I WON'T!!"
"GAME OVER, MAN! GAME OVER!!!"
And the hippies resumed panicking, running in circles and shivering under bedsheets. Twilight slowly lowered her legs and stood on all fours.
Dan patted her on the shoulder. "You managed to end the hippie movement by trying to make peace with them. Good job, Twilight."
"I don't think we'll be able to talk to any of them in this state," Phoenix said.
"What do we do now?" Chrys asked.
"Heh, they're hippies," Dan said.
"And what exactly does that mean?"
"They have a built-in reset button," Dan explained. "We go back inside the ship, wait fifteen minutes and come out again and they'll have forgotten all of this."
"That's... not a bad idea," Twilight admitted.
"Okay guys, back in the toilet ship, it's a do-over," Dan said, leading them back inside.
"It's not a do-over, Dan," Twilight protested. But her voice was quickly overwhelmed by Spike and others saying,
"Do-over! Back in a few, we're taking a mulligan, guys!"
"We're having Fluttershy go next. She's almost a hippie," Dan said. They all entered the ship and raised the ramp again.