She awakens very slowly, to the sound of escaping air. She hurts all over- especially in her horn… Which would make sense; her magic would instinctively protect her from this kind of situation. She lifts her head dazedly off of the metal floor, her breathing fast and deep. She should have thought of this before she came flying up here!
She stops mid-thought, staring out through her glass ceiling at the brightly lit space around her contraption. It’s all metal- and, as she turns in place, she spots several variances in the cavern. Most of one wall is imprinted slightly, with what looks like warning signs around it- and a few glass bumps at the top.
The other wall is a little different. It’s got some strange structures sticking out a little high up, and at the bottom is a raised walkway, stretching from side to side, with a door in the middle. She spots a few other doors as well, higher up- but none of them are flush with the ground. Interesting, even pegasi usually like to have something to stand on when operating the door. It’s only marginally easier than turning to close it while airborne- but when carrying a load, it’s many times easier to be able to put it down before operating the door.
Each of the four corners has a bright yellow light positioned at the top, where it meets the ceiling.
Completely forgetting about the air problem, she rushes down to the door into her contraption- and crashes into it. She scowls irritably before forcing it open with her magic.
As soon as the door is opened, she is struck in the face by an extremely strong wind- and she hears something shatter upstairs as the wind subsides. Reminded of her situation, she turns and rushes back upstairs- to find that half of her glass dome has been completely destroyed, scattered across half the metal floor outside, as if struck from inside. The wind could have done that, she supposes- and returns to her door.
She remembers she’d had to fly to reach her door only after she steps out- and falls on her face. The unexpected drop wasn’t bad, as only a foot or so- but it was certainly far shorter than it should have been. She rights herself and turns to examine her contraption.
It’s in worse shape than she thought. Only her cabin section remains; her massive propulsion structures all seem to have been ripped off somehow.
“Wha-! What happened?!” She cries.
Then she positively leaps into the air, scanning for the pony she hadn’t seen, as the response comes back instantly- in the same voice as had spoken over the radio, just a little clearer. “Your craft failed to withstand tractor forces exerted during rescue. Castoff sections were lost; available tractor capacity was insufficient for recovery.”
She doesn’t find anypony. Some strange radio, perhaps? She lets out a groan, and looks back at her ship. “How am I gonna get back home, then…?”
She searches again for the answerer, again fruitless. “This vessel is equipped with many small craft.”
She finally turns back to the remains of her contraption, lighting her horn to tip it up. Just like she feared, she doesn’t find what she was looking for. The power source for her radio had gone with the propulsive parts. “Aaand I’m not gonna be able… Wait.” She looks up at the otherwise empty room once again. “Can you help me contact my friends?” She asks. “They’ll be listening on the same radio… setting I used.”
“Standing by for 6.39 kilohertz unencrypted radio transmission.”
She tilts her head. “Unencrypted? Uhh… Okay. How do I…?”
“Transmission content can be recorded from any point within this vessel.”
“Twilight?” She calls, trotting down the hall. It’s not very often the purple mare will completely forget she’d agreed to do something- go on a walk, this one. It had taken some creative wording to get her to do it- but it’s for her own benefit. Had she realized, perhaps…? She calls again.
Then she pauses. She backtracks slightly, taking a side hallway- she hears Twilight’s voice coming from it. A little distorted, sure, but that’s to be expected through a solid crystal door.
“Spike?” She hears Twilight call.
She raises her eyebrow. She won’t be finding Spike here- he’d gone running out the door some time ago. Looked mighty important, too, but she wouldn’t know without asking. Knowing the drake, he could well be running a few seconds behind schedule- that is, if the event in question relates to Rarity. She trots up to and through the wide-open doors the voice was wafting from. “Twilight?”
“Spike? Are you there?” Twilight’s voice echoes slightly about the room, still distorted.
She tilts her head, spotting the device resting on the coffee table. It’s huge- consisting of a magic-based electrical generator and that thing she’d called a “radio”. Not that the radio is very small either- it has to weigh close to as much as she does herself. She raises an eyebrow. “Twilight? Are you using your radio to call Spike upstairs?”
“Spike, please!”
She nods to herself. Definitely coming from the radio. She trots up to it, taking a glance before she touches the key. She uses a spell to alter her voice into a genderless monotone. “We’re sorry,” she states, smirking like a maniac. “Spike is not here right now. Please leave a message after the tone.” She then scratches her hoof across the microphone grille, and releases the transmit key- before collapsing her spell and breaking out into a fit of giggles. She could just imagine Twilight’s reaction to that.
The device holds its silence for a while. Finally, a different voice comes over. It’s an unfamiliar voice, clearly female and carrying no accent whatsoever, yet also exuding a certain calm confidence through the distortion. “We’re sorry, but Her Highness Princess Twilight Sparkle is away from the phone right now. Please leave a message after the beep with your name and number and she will get back to you at her convenience.” A sharp, high-pitched beep sounds from the device, lasting about a half-second- and successfully launching her several feet into the air.
She stares wide-eyed at it for a few seconds, calming her breathing, before re-approaching. Twilight must have uncovered some new secret pranking spell.
… Though, whatever a “phone” is supposed to be, she hasn’t a clue.
She stalks up to the device and depresses the key again. “Okay, you win,” she states. “Though in all seriousness, Spike isn’t here. What’s up?”
The response is almost instant- and clearly Twilight’s voice, as well. “The- Lyra? Shoot! Did I miss something? What time is it?”
Lyra blinks. “Wait. You don’t have a clock?”
“Uh… what was I supposed to be doing at eight thirty-seven in the morning again…? Oh, right! Sorry, I forgot about that walk! Um… I’ll be… uh…”
She raises an eyebrow. “Oh? You’re not on the top of a mountain, are you?”
“No, no, I’m… uh…”
“That rocket was involved somehow, wasn’t it?”
“Rocket? What’s a rocket?”
She facehooves. “The one that used its exhaust to dig a small hole in the road in front of your castle?” Then she facehooves again, repeating her oration while holding the radio button.
“That was a rocket?”
Nod. Facehoof. Button. “Yes. It comes from knowing Doctor Hooves.”
“Oh.” She can almost hear the facehoof. “Um… It might. I don’t know where I am.”
She puts a hoof to her chin, thinking, for a few seconds. Maybe-
“Okay, I guess that answers that question… Um…”
She tilts her head. Perhaps that strange mare had answered an untransmitted question? She waits in silence. Eventually, Twilight’s voice comes back on, sounding worried.
“Um- could you find my friends, please? And Spike too? Make sure they know I’m okay? They might think I died in the explosion…”
“Explosion!?!” she practically screams. Fortunately, her hoof had slammed down on the radio button, so she doesn’t need to repeat the oration. The plastic might need some repair, though.
“Uh… apparently. I never saw it happen, but I guess my rocket exploded on the way back down.”
She lets out a groan, then presses the button again. “Really? You’re lucky you didn’t die that high up.”
“Yes. I’m lucky this…” Pause. “Er, ‘Athena’ was here to pull me out of it before it fell. Ooh- this might be my ticket back home!”
She tilts her head, then pushes the button again. “Uhh, Okay then. I’ll just go prevent a funeral, you work on getting back down safely from such height the absence of the air will kill anything, and I’ll see you at the Ponyville Park in fifteen minutes?”
“Uh… Deal.”
She nods, and depresses the button one last time. “Deal.”
She turns away from the radio, trotting out to the main hallway. “I wonder how she’ll do it safely in fifteen minutes… Huh, whatever. PIIINKIE PIIIE!”
A momentary whirl of pink resolves itself in front of her. “Twilight can’t be dead!” Pinkie declares.
She shakes her head. “Of course not, I just talked to her. She’ll be at the park.”
“In fifteen minutes. Got it!” Pinkie blurs away again.
Lyra nods one last time. “That was easy.”