“Easy, easy!” the pegasus yelled before running forward. She tripped over her own hooves and slammed face first into the ground, before flipping over and landing on her back. “Ow...”
Dazzler stared for a few moments, backing away and, for the moment, forgetting her screams. It was hard to feel scared of a pony that just did that. “Who... who are you?”
“Ah, yes, me. Ow. Ummm, hold on. Come on you blasted things, work! What is the point of having wings if they don't do what you tell them?” The mare finally managed to roll onto her stomach and, shakily, get to her hooves. She then tried to push off the ground with her front hooves. For a few seconds she managed to stand on her back hooves, but quickly toppled forwards again. She then rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Fine! Be that way. Ah, yes. Me. As a matter of fact, I am Dawn.” She glanced down at a hoof. “New Dawn, now. Though Old Dawn was quite the woman, I tell you. I hope to be her again soon. Indeed. But first I need to find out what went wrong. Don't know what all those calibrations were for and not to mention the fire.”
“Your... your clock is smoking. A lot,” Dazzler said, eying the clock. She couldn't see the fire, but there was no way there couldn't be a large one. With so much smoke coming out, she was amazed she hadn't smelt it earlier. If that door had been holding it all in it should have killed the pegasus. Burned her alive even. “How... are you alive?” Frankly, she didn't know how she couldn't see the fire. The smoke was just so thick.
“Oh, well, luck mostly. Fell through an interdimensional... thingie. It has a name but I really never paid too much attention to the names of things. Now I'm a horse though and my tardis is about thirty minutes from exploding and creating a black hole the size of, well...” She glanced up and gaped. “Oh my! You're a horse!”
“I'm a pony.”
“Well, yes. But you're a pony and... you're talking!” Dawn glanced to the desk and a wide grin formed on her lips. “Is that your desk?”
“Well, yes. Well, it was my father's, but he gave it to me when I got this job. But what does that have to do with anything?” She slowly inched back towards the large, heavy book she'd held as a defensive weapon earlier. She had a sneaking suspicion she might need it.
“Everything! That is your pen, yes? That means you must have a greater grasp of motor functions than I am, currently, capable of bringing to bear! You must help me!” The pegasus charged forward, stopped behind the earth pony and started pushing the other mare forward with her head. Or at least, that was what she seemed to be attempting to do. She more awkwardly hobbled and gently nudged the mare, before falling over again.
“Are you drunk?” Her book was temporarily forgotten as she realized how many motor functions the mare seemed to have lost.
“What? Me, drunk? Never! Can horses even get drunk?”
“Yes... what are you going on about?”
“My tardis, I require your assistance before it explodes!”
She glanced towards the clock that was billowing out a distressing amount of smoke. “Your clock.” She shrieked and galloped forward. “It's on fire, you're going to burn my home down!” How could she forget? She swore the thing had a way of just... disappearing from a pony's focus.
“What? Oh. No. It won't burn anything down, honest. It'll explode, and well... take out everything for many, many miles. I wish you really would listen for just a second and help me stop it from doing just that.”
Dazzler moved closer, squinting through the smoke. That... that was impossible. The smoke seemed to be coming from deeper inside the clock. It didn't make any sense, her wall should have been there. As well as the back of the device. But there was just smoke, billowing out rapidly. Her mouth fell open. “It's... it's...”
“Bigger on the inside, yes yes, we've--”
“This is some unicorn magic vehicle, isn't it? I'm going to be arrested, aren't I? Ohhh, what if it's top secret! I work for the news, I'll be shot out of a cannon! Banished to the moon! Turned into a potted plant!”
“Uni... corn?” Dawn asked softly, before gasping. “This dimension has unicorns? That's amazing! But really, follow me. Again, explosions. Everything destroyed, unless you help me. Time really is of the essence. Won't take but a moment, really. It's the stairs, mostly. And turning things. Turn it too far and nothing works.”
She gulped and then slowly followed after the mare. The pegasus' awkward movements were almost humorous, if not for the fact Dazzler was sure she'd be going to jail. Then all the pieces fell together. “Wait, you're a test pilot, aren't you? You've got a concussion. That's why you're moving so funny. This must be some kind of... special... testing vehicle, right? Magic and all that? I'll bet the princess probably had you working on getting it to fly, right?” A grin flowed onto her lips like water. Never mind about her little comic, a story like this was breaking news. Front page. Real front page. A secret new vehicle, hidden from the masses? Or maybe it was one that they had hinted at, but this was the first successful test run? Or non-successful? What if this was the unveiling test? She wouldn't go to jail, she'd win a prize! What it--
Oh. It was going to explode and take out the city. That seemed to be rather important now that she had a second to think about it. “How do I stop it?”
“Oh, that's simple, come with me,” Dawn said as she hobbled into the clock, falling flat on her face a moment later. After a few seconds she managed to make her way in and Dazzler followed after her.
The news pony's mouth nearly hit the floor. She stared in fascination at the large control console in the center of the wide open room. It was on fire and had some kind of weird substance hovering about in the center in a glass tunnel. The ground rattled under her hooves and a quick look told her they were suspended about twenty feet off the ground. A staircase branched off from the side and went to the ground, which the pegasus was... trying to go down. After a great many tries, she managed to make it to the floor with only a few new bruises.
Dazzler walked down it with ease, though she found the hoof rails to be quite odd, reaching to just over her head. What kind of pony had this thing been built for? Not to mention it was so narrow even she had to struggle not to fall down it. “So, what do I do?”
Dawn motioned towards another console on the ground, attached at the base of the tower that went up to the entrance level. “How are you with tools?”
“I can use a screwdriver?”
“Great! I don't have one of those.” Dawn motioned towards a small spiral like device with a handle. “Unfortunately, almost everything seems to be... broken. Or not working. Or well... don't even get me started on trying to get the doors to open. I was halfway through my book and now I can't even get into my bedroom. It's all this weird... energy in this world, I swear.”
There was a loud hiss from above, followed by the sound of something metal popping off and pinging against the wall. “Dawn! Attention, pay it!” Dazzler yelled. “Fire, explosion, stopping it, how?”
“What? Oh! Right, yes!” she motioned to the spiral thing before pointing to a screen built into a tower and a small hole. “I need you to use that and insert it in the hole, then twist seventy-five degrees until you hear a pop, then--”
“Why don't you do it?” Dazzler asked, looking at the device.
“I've tried, but well, my mouth isn't made for such precision tools.”
“I mean with your hoof.” The earth pony picked up the tool in her hoof and held it out. “Here.”
“How... but... you have a hoof. You don't have anything to grab it with. There's no fingers or--”
“I'm a pony, not a dragon!” she snapped angrily. “Just take it and do your thing!” She shoved it into the pegasus' hoof, but it fell to the ground. “What did you do that for?”
“I've only got hooves. Flat surfaces. I can't grab things!”
“What do you mean you can't--” A shrill alarm filled the air, making her cringe and pull back. “By Celestia! What's that?”
“Warning of imminent core de-timeization! It's saying it's best to get out of the tardis, off the planet and, if possible, out of this time! Come on, jam it in and twist! Remember, just until you hear the pop, then push it in and push the green button on the right side while I push the yellow button.”
Dazzler growled but took the tool and jammed it inside a small hole under the screen. A quick turn, a pop and a shove. Symbols flashed across the screen and the pegasus nodded. “Good, good! Perfect!” The two pushed the buttons. “Okay, that takes care of the fire!” From above the sound of something loud and blowing could be heard. “Now, up the stairs on the console is a big blue button. Do NOT push it! Besides it is a twisty spiral thing. Turn it very fast and THEN hit the big blue button. After that, the alarm should turn off! Finally, once the alarm is off, smack the big red button. Do NOT smack the big red button UNTIL the alarms are off, okay?”
“Fine! Got it!” Dazzler yelled before running up the steps. The shrill noise was even worse up here, making her head ache. She made it to the console, which was now covered in thick white foam, and searched for the big blue button. Unfortunately, it was hard to see the console since it was quite a few feet off the ground and she had to jump onto two hooves to see over it. Fortunately, she found the buttons without any issue. There was a little round disk besides it, it looked like something from a foal's board game. A quick twirl and it spun around rapidly, at which point she hit the blue button. A few seconds later and the alarms went off. The lights went off with them, making her frown.
The console still glowed, however. Out of the corner of her eye she saw it. The big red button. It called to her. Pleaded with her. Begged her to push it. She grinned widely as she reached out. It was what she was told.
“No, wait! I was wrong--” Dawn yelled, but it was too late.
Dazzler pushed the button and the console died, turning the entire room to darkness. The only light came from the open doorway that led to her office. There were no sounds and the room smelled of smoke and foam.
“Oh dear. Now you've done it,” Dawn said with a moan.
“What?” The excitement was starting to die and Dazzler couldn't help but feel quite silly, listening to the likely head damaged pegasus.
“I thought the damage was worse than it was. Hold on...” The pegasus appeared in the light, hobbling up the stairs. “The button didn't need to be pushed.”
“What did that button do?”
“Released all the energy stored into time...” Dawn sighed softly. “I didn't know the first release would work so well.”
“Okay... I'm going to go get the royal guard. I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't, ummm... don't move.”
“What? No!” the pegasus jumped up, only to fall back down the stairs with a scream.
“Are you okay?” Dazzler called down into the darkness.
“Never... never better. Don't call the guards. Please don't call the guards. I need to find out where I am. What I am doing here.”
“Sure. I'll be right back in a few minutes.” She wondered where the nearest guard would be.
“Wait! Wait wait, I can explain everything! Ow... just... just give me a few minutes to get back up the stairs. Ow.” There was another loud thump from below.
Dazzler hummed and considered for a moment. On the one hoof, crazy pony with magical government vehicle. On the other hoof, the pony was so concussed and having trouble walking, she couldn't really be a threat. Imagine the article she could write. “Fine. Start talking. How did this end up in my living room?”
“I'm... not quite sure. Ow!” Another thump. “I was on the way home but then there was... well. Lots of blue boxes. Explosions, daleks everywhere. I get sucked into this... thingie that was all... well, it took the planet with it. I was trying not to get sucked into whatever weapon they seemed to be using. I succeeded! I think. Possibly. But the whole going up and down through dimensions doesn't always work like we'd hope. Power sources don't always exist. Sometimes we get to a dimension without a proper power source and we have to wait for rescue. Other times this happens and we get such a massive power surge that everything just explodes and overloads. I can fix it though! I think. Maybe. Probably. Possibly.”
Dazzler stared into the darkness. “You're making absolutely no sense.”
“Sorry, sorry. I did just die a few hours ago, you know how it is. New body. Though, really, never had one with quite a harsh shift. Don't get me wrong, I've had a few doozies. Even had scales once. Long story. But this? Ohhhh. I've never had anything like this. I have four legs! No hands!”
Dazzler stared for a few moments as she struggled to process this. Then everything clicked into place again. “Wait, you're a dragon, aren't you? Some kind of spell turned you into a pegasus?”
The was a momentary pause as the pegasus stopped halfway up the stairs. “Dragon. There are dragons. Oh that is-- I mean, yes! I was a dragon! Am a dragon! That is why I am having so much trouble walking and such! I really must find a way to fix this. All of this. New model, you see. Scouting operations. Very important. Nothing quite like finding a whole plethora of daleks and well... you know how it is.”
“I... really don't. I'm going to summon the royal guard. If you're from the dragon lands, I'm sure the princess will want to speak with you.”
“Princess? What about the queen?”
“The changelings aren't involved. Are they?”
“What? Oh. Never mind. Go on, get your princesses. Heh.” Dawn looked around her ship and sighed. Once she heard the mare trotting away she shook her head. “Yeah, go get your princesses. I know plenty about government and it'll be weeks before you get a chance to tell her anything. By then I'll probably be long--”
------
“It hasn't even been a full day!” Dawn objected.
“Princess Luna is very accommodating,” Dazzler said as the two walked through the castle halls.
“There's accommodating and then there's... it's been less than a day!” Dawn shook her head. “Government isn't supposed to be fast and efficient! It's supposed to be slow and laboring, like taffy rolling down a hill! Also, oddly sticky.”
“Well, it would have taken a lot longer to talk with Princess Celestia. But Princess Luna isn't quite as busy. I just came during the night court. Really, it only took a few hours.”
“It's not... but...” Dawn stared out the window into the night sky. She had been so tempted to just lock the door and wait for everypony to go away, but she couldn't deny a bit of curiosity about this world. It was so bright and colorful, like nothing she'd ever seen before. Also, so many colorful ponies, it was the kind of thing children would dream up. Except it wasn't, it was all real. That, or a very vivid dream. Still, locking the door would likely have held them off forever, but her ship had very little power as it was and she had very few parts with which to fix it. She might need these ponies in the end and, for now, she decided it was best she just go along and say hi. Besides, what was the worst that could happen?
She was led through the halls to a large, golden door with an emblem of the moon on it. Pegasi, wearing dark purple armor, stood on either side and slowly opened the door. With a deep breath, the pegasus mare stepped forward and paused. She had a bad feeling everything was going to start once she stepped through that door. She gave a smile to her comrade. “Well, miss Dazzler. It has been a pleasure getting to know you. I do hope we can meet again.” She then slowly trotted inside.
The earth pony watched the mare go, letting out a soft sigh. Whatever was going on, she hoped it would make a great article. She--
The color drained from her face as she realized both her article and her little failures of comics were back at home, waiting to be shipped. Not only that, they were extremely past her deadline. She turned and ran, nearly toppling over a pony on the way out.
A light brown earth pony, with a dark brown mane and an hourglass for a cutie mark. He watched her go before turning back towards the doors leading to Luna's chambers. He stared for a few moments, before turning and walking away.