Equestria
Midsummer Night Castle
Back on regular Equestria, Twilight and friends weren't having near as much fun as Dan and the others were having in the Mirror Universe.
"Get behind me! Get behind me!" Chris shouted. Twilight with Spike on her back came crashing through the east door followed closely behind by Trixie and Vinyl Scratch riding of all things, Vinyl's Bass Cannon. And right behind them was all their other friends, except they were trying to murder them.
Chris and Tuxley fired from their respective rifles. Rubberized rounds, as most of Chris' ammo had somehow changed from a lethal to non-lethal variety since coming to Equestria, not that it mattered anyway because shields blocked his shots. Still, it slowed them down, so he continued firing.
Two other humans, Norm Cooper the stormtrooper and Jeb the Rebel soldier, fired their own blaster rifles at the oncoming crowd. The two men, former enemies from a galaxy far, far away, had also found themselves summoned to Equestria and were doing their best to support Twilight and friends. Despite their past as bitter foes, they were now fighting alongside the royalists to help them restore the kingdom.
"Norm!" Jeb yelled, "Grenades! To the back!"
"Right!" The two soldiers pulled out a pair of sonic detonators. They activated them simultaneously and tossed them over the crowd, over the mob's magic shields to the entrance. The grenades exploded but didn't hurt the ponies, only knocked them down and shook them off their hooves. It gave Twilight, Chris, Tux and the others a few moments to regroup.
"Wait, those are our ponies!" Reginald shouted.
"Not right now they're not!" Twilight yelled, taking cover behind him. "They're possessed! All the ponies and griffons that got seasick have become possessed somehow!"
"Terrific, I'm happy I packed my own food," Chris said.
Twilight spun on her hooves to face the oncoming attackers. They weren't zombies or in a trance, the ponies and griffons attacking them seemed fully aware, awake and coherent. Apart from the eerie glowing eyes accompanied by the murderous look and shouts of violence. They were using magic, they weren't climbing on top of each other, they were a mob. A very angry, possessed mob.
Her horn glowed, she threw up her front hooves and summoned a shield. "I'm not sure how long I can hold them back!" Her purple barrier filled the hallway from floor to ceiling, blocking the possessed ponies' attacks. They threw things at the shield and the unicorns fired their own spells at it, but Twilight was an expert at shield spells. She could hold off their attacks for a while, at least. Still, their advances forced her back.
At least until ponies came crashing through the stained glass windows.
"Return!"
"Whole again!"
"Return us!"
They shouted as they landed.
"We're surrounded!" Lightning said, chain-zapping the new possessies as they charged in.
"Retreat to the foyer! We're being outflanked!" Chris shouted.
"How?! They're pouring in all sides!" Twilight yelled. Spike's claws digging into her mane didn't help either.
Trixie's took a stand, cape whipping around her. "Stand back! Trixie shall save us!" She tossed a quartet of smoke balls at the ground. "Now, we flee!" Three of the smoke bombs exploded and for once, they actually worked.
"Good job, Trixie," Twilight said, galloping alongside her.
"Yeah, your disappearing finally worked for once!" Spike commented.
"Ha!" Trixie scoffed, "Trixie's tricks always work, Spike the dragon." The fourth smoke bomb exploded, except it wasn't a smoke bomb. The corridor exploded in a wave of fire, blasting all of them into the foyer. The possessed ponies had also, for the moment, been knocked unconscious. Most of them, anyway, but now a gaping hole was in the wall of the east wing. For easy access by sinister mind-controlled hordes.
Dazed and knocked on her rump, Trixie used one hoof to straighten her singed sorceress hat and the other to stop her eyeballs from swirling around her noggin.
"And what was that trick, exactly?" Twilight asked, getting to her hooves.
"Part of Trixie's... grand finale. To be honest, I might've gotten that one from the Blast Sisters."
"Speaking of those two, where would they be?" Tuxley asked.
"Were they seasick?" Reginald ask. "If so, we may have a bit of an... explosive situation on our hands."
"Pun intended?" Tux asked.
"Punfortunately, no, sir."
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEE!!"
"Well, speak of the demo," said Spike. He folded his arms as he and the rest of the group watched the explosive sisters fall from the ceiling. They hit the ground, smacking into it hard. Rolls of toilet paper landed around them.
Twilight Sparkle rushed over to them and levitated them off the floor. "You two!" she exclaimed, hoping to shake them out of it before they said something stupid.
"That's one way to crash a party," Fusey said, defeating Twilight's efforts.
"You two-"
"Hi Twilight!" they said simultaneously, waving at her as she held them aloft.
"What were you both doing on the ceiling?"
"Ummm..."
"Scratch that, I don't wanna know."
"That's probably a good idea."
"Which one of you is the smart one?" Twilight asked. Both sisters pointed at the other sister, eyes wide and locked on Twilight. Neither of them wanted responsibility.
"Guys, we're gonna have more company soon," Chris said.
"The sand is magic," Lightning Claw said, thinking out loud, "But the Blasties' bombs were able to break it. How is that possible?"
Powdy made a literal rainbow with her hooves. "Mmmmagiccccc~*Bam*" The rainbow then exploded.
Vinyl trotted up to Twilight. "Twilight, Vinyl said she might be able to use the Bass Cannon to like, knockout everypony and it might, just MIGHT un-brainwash them. Maybe. Her music has that effect on ponies."
"Okay, then why aren't you over there doing that right now?" Twilight asked. "And why are you speaking in third-pony?"
"Only Trixie is allowed to speak in third-pony," said Trixie. "When other ponies do it, it's just cliche. Trixie makes it fabulous and special. This has been proven with Trixie Sciencetm."
"I'm DJ Pon-3 right now," Vinyl said, giggling. "Dude, if I broke character every time an angry mob was chasing after me... uhhh... I'd be a... uhhh... something."
The thought of dying surrounded by morons was not appealing to Twilight Sparkle. She magically lifted up Vinyl's shades, revealing her red eyes.
"EEK!"
"EVERYPONY KNOWS YOU'RE DJ PON-3. YOUR STAGE PERSONA IS NOT YOUR CHARACTER!" Twilight raged.
Prompting "OMAIGAWD VINYL SCRATCH IS DJ PON-3!!" from the Blasties.
"The princess stole my identity!" Vinyl shouted.
Twilight slowly replaced Vinyl's glasses. "I am gonna die surrounded by morons."
"I know that feel," the Director said, casually flipping through the guest book at the concierge desk. "Of course, I didn't die, so... not quite the same thing. But yeah, saying "I told ya so" to a buncha corpses and the uncaring void of absolute oblivion doesn't really have the same impact. Still did it."
"Okay... DJ Pon-3," Twilight said. Vinyl-errr, sorry, I mean, DJ Pon-3 smiled widely. "Work on modifying your Bass Cannon-"
"It's Vinyl's-"
"Work with me," Twilight said. "Focus on modifying THE Bass Cannon while we hold off the... our brainwashed friends. Please."
"Yes, Twilight. For Vinyl and Tavi."
"Alright," Twilight turned to the rest of the group, "We hold this room. Trixie, shield the front hall. Lightning Claw, the west hall. And I'll take the east," she said. With a pair of salutes, they marched off to defend their flanks. All their flanks. Flanks. Has more than one meaning here.
"Surprised we haven't had more butt jokes in this update," Fusey said.
And Twilight spun to her and her sister. "You two."
"Hi Twilight!"
"Keep making bombs."
"Thy will be done, princess purple smart," they solemnly replied.
"Protect DJ Pon-3's Bass Cannon at all costs. Our backs are to the wall on this one so... make every moment count."
It was in that very moment that the Mini Magic Gears, still attached to Lightning Claw's back, perked up.
"System reboot complete. Location unknown."
The horde of brainwashed horses attacked again, pushing against the shields Twilight, Trixie and Lightning produced. The three magic masters pushed back, holding their shields against the onslaught. Rocks, sticks, magical blasts, it was only a matter of time before they hit one of their shields with something they couldn't handle.
"Twilight?" Trixie called.
"What?"
"The seaponies... are back."
The Porto-Fun Cave fell from the ceiling and landed in the center of the room.