The ponies backed away as the Yeti, eyes aglow with menace, advanced. “Right,” the Doctor said. “Everypony, behind me.”
He boldly strode forwards, face stern. “Right,” he said. “I invoke Article LVI, Clause XLII of Section VI of the Shadow Proclamation, regarding the regulation of artificial intell—”
He was cut off as a Yeti picked him up and tossed him aside like a rag doll. “Doctor!” Ditzy shrieked, rushing to his aid. She was stopped, however, by one of the Yeti, who brandished a gun of some kind at her. She kept her bad eye on the fur-coat robot, searching with the other to see the Doctor. She saw his chest rise and fall, and gave a sigh of relief. He was still alive, for now at least.
Meanwhile, the other two Yeti pointed their own guns at the console. Strands of filmy webbing shot out, coating the controls. Once it was completely clogged, they turned their attention to the huddled mass of ponies standing against the wall. “Buck this,” Dash growled, springing at the monstrous robots. She flew circles around their heads. They attempted to hit her, but she nimbly evaded each blast. Finally, she stopped, hovering over the Yeti that had threatened Ditzy. The others fired, and Dash sprang aside— but just a little too late. The webbing caught in her feathers, and she crashed to the floor.
Beside her, the Yeti had fallen, coated in webbing. Dash allowed herself a small smirk at this victory, but it quickly vanished as she saw that the creature was dying. Its red eyes blinked, strobing and erratic, before finally flickering off. She glanced up to see the other two advancing, guns raised. She glared at them, unwilling to flinch. She saw, therefore, when a lariat lassoed one of the Yeti’s arms and yanked the beast to the floor, turning it into so much scrap. Dash and the remaining Yeti looked over to see a scowling Applejack. “Get. Away. From. Mah. Friend,” she growled, picking up the gun in her mouth and firing at the monster.
The webbing caught the Yeti in its chest. Sparks flew, but were caught and turned back by the impenetrable bonds. It collapsed in a sparking heap, its eyes blinking out. Applejack grinned in satisfaction. “Hah! That’s how we do it down on the farm!” she crowed.
She glanced at Dash. “Y’all right there, sugarcube?”
The pegasus’s smile threatened to split her face in two. “That… was… AWESOME!” she replied.
“Um, not to be a downer here,” Twilight interrupted, “but we’re still kind of crashing, and the only one who knows how to fix it is unconscious…”
At that moment, the lights flickered and died. A moment later, the red emergency lights flickered on. “Um, okay,” Dash said, struggling to her hooves. “So we need to fix a broken time machine using a web gun, a lasso… what else have we got?”
“Ma hat and a broken screwdriver,” Applejack deadpanned. “Ah sure wish Mac were here with his fancy mathematics.”
“That’d be good, yeaAOWW!” Dash yelped.
“Rainbow? Are you alright?” Dinky asked, rushing to her side.
Dash hissed slightly, inspecting her wing. “I think there might be more to that webbing than we thought…”
Applejack tugged futilely at the thick layer on the console, but came up hacking, desperate for air. “Whoa nelly! This stuff’s thicker than Granny’s cornbread dough!”
There was a long moment. Then, quietly, Ditzy spoke up. “We’re going to die, aren’t we.” It wasn’t a question.
“... Yes,” Twilight admitted.
The room was deathly silent. Finally, Applejack spoke up, her voice firm. “Well, there ain’t no use cryin’ over it. Any rate, ah can think of worse places t’ die than this. Surrounded by yer friends.” Dash put a protective wing over the farmer's back, wincing as she did so.
“And family,” Ditzy concurred, pulling Dinky and the Doctor’s prone form into a hug.
Dinky scowled. “Forget that, I want to live!”
“Muffin?” Ditzy gasped as her daughter pulled away and walked toward the console.
The little unicorn stared at the controls for a long moment. The cloister bells rang off in the distance. “Hi,” she said at last.
“My name’s Dinky. Well, not really, but that’s what everyone calls me.”
The ship rumbled slightly, but Dinky soldiered on. “So, apparently you’re sentient. That’s nice, that’s cool.”
The rumble came again, quieter this time. “So listen. The Doctor said that you ‘like’ me. And I know you like him. I mean, he’s your friend, right?”
The noise that came this time was not unlike a gentle chuckle. In the corner, Pinkie’s rapid vibrating was threatening to knock her out again. Dinky took a deep breath. “I need your help,” she finally admitted. “I don’t want to die, and I don’t want anypony else to die either. But I don’t know what to do!”
Her calm facade was breaking as the cloister bells echoed in the background. One by one, the last of the emergency lights faded. The only light left in the room came from the console. Her voice thick, she continued. “Please. I need help.”
IT WILL HAVE COME AT A PRICE, a voice in her head warned. WERE YOU WILLING TO BE PAYING IT?
“Yes.”
The voice laughed. MY, MY. YOU REALLY WILL HAVE HAD BEEN MY THIEF'S DAUGHTER, WEREN’T YOU?
Dinky screamed in pain and fright as the world shone with golden time energy. Her horn lit to match it. The void of time seemed to grasp at the ship hungrily.
But then, wonder of wonders, there came a noise- a wheezy, grumbling roar that echoed throughout her head. Her eyes flew open, glowing with golden light. Twilight stood back in shock, staring at the massive surge of power coming from this little unicorn filly. Applejack and Rainbow Dash gazed in wonder at the ethereal golden light drawing circles and diagrams in the air, burning away the webbing around the console. Levers flicked by themselves, knobs turning, screens flickering to life. The Doctor woke up in a daze, muttering, “Wha? Wha— Dinky?”
Ditzy pressed up against him, and they watched their daughter with trepidation and joy and befuddlement. These emotions go together far more frequently than one might think. Meanwhile, Pinkie gave one last prophetic shudder. She smiled. “Called it!” she cheered, as the TARDIS materialized away.