Moments ago, they were running away from a collapsing laboratory; and now they were standing within Ponyville's town square, surrounded by a sea of diminutive ponies in front of a stockade of cottages. They were almost dizzy from the wall of bright colors and cheers all around them, as they questioned their current location.
"Aren't we supposed to be at home, Blackie?" a stubby brown Shetland pony asked. "This Egweshtcha place doesn't look like my farm at Idaho. At least I ought to find a tasty sandwich somewhere."
"I did not have time to think, Schubert," replied Blackie, the tall Arabian horse. "There was water and lava outside the room, and most of the portals around us are quickly shutting down, so I had to lead you all to the nearest functioning portal. It also looks brighter out there!"
"By the First Mother," Burr-Hurr-Hurr the Houyhnhnnm muttered, "what kind of Yahoo place is this?!" Normally this intelligent white equine kept himself calm and eloquent, even while he and his two friends tried to leave the destruction and cruelty behind the portal. Here in this bizarre realm of flowery horse-creatures, everything was too unnerving, too whimsical, and too childish for his refined tastes, leaving the poor savant shuddering over the strangeness of that world he is in.
As for the others, the winged horse Pegasos has successfully returned to his world (and appeased the wrath of the Gods), while several others failed to make it. The fourth survivor, General Inky Tatters, marched to them in a suit of shiny golden armor with some of his guards.
"Thank you, guys," he saluted, "for helping me saving our world from Dr. Avtokratos' schemes. He forced us to fight and die again and again, but you three have put it to a stop."
"Actually, Inks, It wasn't us. It was a bunch of ugly people from outer space who saved your world, and a few angry Gods as well," Blackie answered. "This is just getting more weird with each passing moment ... "
"You'll get used to it, Blackstone," the pony with a white coat and a black mane answered. "What you consider to be 'normal' is weird to us, so we are not so different after all." He gestured to him and the other two horses. "Come on, your reward's this way."
While Blackie and Schubert went on, Burr was still quaking and muttering as he tries to comprehend the world around him. Its ponies . The terrified equine was then dragged away, kicking and screaming for help, by a purple glow on his legs.
"Burr, it's not as bad as you think it is," another voice cooed. "Everything will be okay."
~~~
The three equines reached a maroon platform with several arches and columns behind draped with blue and gold banners. Standing on the dais was a slender white mare, clad in a crimson dress. Next to her is a blue mare in dark blue robes cornered with golden stars and moons along the rim of her attire. Inky and all the other colorful ponies and creatures made a little bow once the two winged unicorns flew to the dais.
The white mare cleared her throat. "I, Princess Celestia, Guardian of the Day,"
"And, I, Princess Luna Selene, Keeper of the Night,"
"Hereby thank you for helping us drive the Avtokratorians out of our universe."
Celestia turned towards Inky Tatters. "For your role in weakening the invaders' communications, and helping us achieve victory, I promote you, Inky Tatters, to be among the Grand Generals, on par with Shining Armor, Trixie, and Sunset." Most of the ponies around them applauded as Celestia fastened a gleaming gold medal to his breastplate, before his girlfriend and his family swarmed him with their hugs.
"She seems to know a lot about human technology," whispered Schubert. "What kind of horse is as smart as her?"
"Perhaps she might not be a horse, but a creature more sinister than the Avtokratorians," Blackie answered. "Perhaps all this is either a trap, or she wants to take over our world, who knows?"
Then it was the two horses' turn. They were joined by a frightened Burr, who got himself magically dragged to the dais by a purple unicorn. As the unicorn turned her head around her magic caused Burr to stand upright. However horrifying and weird that realm is to his senses, he Houyhnhnnm had to stay calm, both to preserve his honor and to avoid any further harm from the equines around him.
"For your bravery, your service to Sir Tatters the Brave, and your defeat of Avtokratos the Devourer," Luna declared, "We declare you three to be honorary citizens of Equestria." The ponies around them cheered and applauded so loudly, that the trio folded their ears and turned their heads away.
"Defeating a web of fire using all sorts of unusable machinery, and having to live with a mad horde of screeching horse-like midgets? You all have got to be kidding me!" Blackie shouted. He turned towards Schubert. "No offense."
"None taken."
The crowd stopped their cheers upon hearing Blackie's remark. "We welcomed you, and this is how you treat us? You're not even a good friend!" They started booing and shouting all kinds of nasty things at the skinny black horse.
"I just want to get out of this mad place, that's why!" Blackie defiantly responded. The crowd got more angry. "I never wanted to become a deformed freak in a crazy world, like the rest of you!"
"Then you should not have cursed at us in the first place!" one pony countered.
"Go back to your stupid Earth if you don't like it here!"
~~~
Then Celestia shone a blinding flash of light from her horn.
"Our ceremony is not finished yet!" She turned towards Blackie, and asked, "Would you not be so rude this time?"
"Just send me back home already, and all will be fine," he answered.
"I'm afraid that you have no choice now." A wide smirk slowly grew along Celestia's face. "As your punishment, I hereby forfeit your right to return to your homeworld." She cooed into his ear. "You'll have to become part of our herd ~ "
Many of the angered ponies grinned with her, knowing that they will have their revenge once the three horses will be transformed. "Love and tolerance ... " they chanted, " ... love and tolerance, love and tolerance, love and tolerance ... " A swarm of pegasi and changelings flew circles around the three horses, covering the sky above them with dark clouds.
"I do not like the looks of this place, Blackie," Burr whispered. "We should leave if we can, as these creatures are too Yahoo to be reasoned with. We should go now!"
The two horses then set off, with Schubert following them. But what appeared to be a screen made of pink fire appeared right in front of them: when they turned around they found that the wall of fire is part of a dome, generated by the same purple alicorn that tormented Burr moments ago.
She flew towards the white Houyhnhnnm. "Burr," the alicorn purred, "didn't Celestia say that she is not finished with you and your friends yet?" She is followed by five more of her undergrown friends, all of which have been egging him and the other two.
A pink mare hopped around Schubert. "You can have all the friends and the fun that you want, Scooby!" she chirped. "Just let us help you love and tolerate us! It's very simple!"
She was followed by a white unicorn with a curled purple mane. "You three darlings need to learn to be proper ponies, so we will be your guides."
Blackie and Schubert devised a plan in their minds: they split up, expecting the startled Houyhnhnnm to run with them, so to confuse the purple pony and her friends. Once the weird mares will hurt each other while trying to catch them, the purple pony's magical roof will break down, and they can escape. As he was trying to comprehend his friends' bizarre plan the white unicorn used her magic to carry him in the air.
Three other unicorn mares attached magical pieces of gold and jewelry to her and her other five friends. One of them has a mane that looked like a blazing fire, the second was a blue mare with a mane as pale as a tablecloth, and the third is a nervous purple mare who questioned the worth of this action. Before they could surround Burr and perform some magic ritual to turn him into one of them, Schubert bumped the white unicorn, toppling her over and allowing Burr to break free and drop to the ground. Blackie ran into four of the other ponies and kicked the purple mare, sending her flying and breaking her dome of magic fire.
"Come on, Burr," Schubert urged. "Let us go!"
Angered by what Blackie has done to one of their alicorn rulers, the horde of ponies cried out, "Get them!" Like a torrent of clubs their hooves pounced unto the three horses, and beat them up as they furiously cursed at them. While each of the three horses were strong enough to kick or topple any one of those ponies, several ponies at once would become too heavy for them to handle. It was especially the ponies with no wings or hooves that were heaviest and most burdensome, and more so than Schubert's own weight.
~~~
But within the blink of an eye, everything stopped and the three horses could see what appears to be a blue light to Celestia's right. All the ponies that were attacking them froze like statues, but they were able to move their eyes to see an azure flash zip around from that blue light. One moment Schubert was struggling to free himself from the ponies that were wrestling him; and in another he was free, galloping with a short humanoid mounting his back. His two friends were running with him, with two more humanoids sitting on each of their backs, and beating their rumps with their riding crops.
In a few seconds the blue light behind them was gone, and they were being pursued by that horde of colorful ponies. Not wanting to get any further lashes or to have those diminutive monsters catch them and torture them, the three horses ran with all of their might towards a portal ahead of them. Behind the three horses and their riders, three ponies were flying to catch them. Two of them, the fastest fliers in Equestria, had wings, while the third (who seemingly appeared out of nowhere) was a happy blue unicorn stallion who swatted Schubert's rider in the head, knocking him unconscious and causing him to fall from his back. THe blue unicorn then latched unto the frightened Shetland's back.
"Hey there, stupid!" he shouted into Schubert's ears. "You think you could get away from us?!" He whipped out a lasso of napkins and tied it around Schubert's legs. While the other two riders were busy shooting and throwing grenades at their pursuers, the Shetland pony tripped and fell, while the blue unicorn landed on his hind feet. With a swipe of his napkin lasso the poor short horse was flipped into the air, and landed face-flat on the ground.
"Braeburn's got nothing on me and my skills!" he cried. But when Schubert got up and ran for the portal, he tried to pull him back with his napkin lasso. Schubert tried to run before anypony else may catch him: he broke free from the lasso, and dived straight into the portal, with the humanoid following him. The other two humanoids mounted his friends and rode into the portal.
(Art by ChainChomp2: http://chainchomp2.deviantart.com/art/When-Party-Favor-Corners-You-677897455)