Radiance looked up at the sunny blue sky, watching the clouds pass. She felt more at ease with herself and yet no more of her memories had returned. Only the memories of her first incarnation were with her and that wasn't boding as well as it used to a few days prior. She needed another form of relaxation, a place where she could dive into herself. Sure what she'd been doing in Castrovalva with the library was building her confidence in how much she knew about her current self, but yet it still wasn't enough. There were hundreds of blank pages in her mind, chapters to unlock, and she'd been biding her time with the busy work of exploring the vast library that the small brick town had to offer. It was time to leave the pearlie white gates once again and walk outside.
Walking up to the pink painted gazebo in the town garden Radiance put her head against the warm wooden surface that vibrated with life. Her TARDIS, her space and time craft that she'd made her own over the centuries, was now more alien to her than ever. Upon opening the doors and entering she came to the same old hexagonal console room full of marble roundels, warm candlelight, and a woodgrain console covered in various controls welcoming her in. She wasn't leaving, not just yet. There was still more inside for her to rediscover. Her hooves clopped on the sleek granite floor that had a slight coating of dust. The TARDIS knew her more than anyone else, she rescued her from that old workshop. Or at least that's what her older self thought of that moment.
"Well my friend, I'm back again. TARDISes don't speak but I know that you have, or had, a deep connecting bond with me. You know who I was, you can help me get back to where I was and need to be. I can only remember our first journey together, so I need you to show me more."
Radiance wasn't so sure about what to think when it came to talking to what was practically an inanimate object to many, but she knew that the ship had heard her. With a vibrating buzz, the side door opened up to a new corridor. She thanked her TARDIS for the guidance and went in blind once again. The halls were similar to the console room, soft pink roundels set into smooth slanted marble walls that were accented with deep mahogany. Approaching a nearby door she tried the handle and it opened. This room wasn't exactly where it should be, she somehow knew instinctually, but the TARDIS could reshape its architecture however it pleased. This was likely to make sure that she wouldn't come across anything that she wasn't ready for yet.
The Cloister Room. The room was full of stone pillars, walkways, and vegetation. If her TARDIS had a heart then this room was the veins closest to it. Taking a deep breath she felt her nerves destress and her mind becomes at ease. A small hammock hung between two trees, inviting her for a rest. Looking around she could almost hear the hoof steps of the friends she'd made and ponies she'd met. This was her stable home in a vastly changing universe. It wasn't a Zero Room, but this place felt more open. Radiance didn't feel alone here, the ghosts of days past keeping her company. Radiance now needed more than just a calm and relaxing environment to remember, she needed familiarity. She needed something to remind her of what was once lost. This is what was missing and what she would have to look for. As time ticked by she climbed into the small hammock and let her mind wander, loosening the boundary on which her mind had set upon itself.
Hedliaellfrolithene, or Hedley for short, grumbled as she observed her tools. She was holding a chronic regulator as well as the Helmic Drive of another type 59 time capsule. She desperately wanted to go back into the time ship she'd gone to Provia with, an older model that was a pet project for her, her pride and joy. Though she didn't interact with any locals on the planet she still committed the act of interaction, breaking the Time Pony law of non-interference. She got off with a light sentence and a scolding from her superior. For now, she was on watch by her supervisor, probation for lightly breaking a high Gallopfreyan law. No TARDIS interior repair without direct supervision. Though she didn't care about the other TARDISes that were kept in the lot, ranging from minor repairs needed to highly unserviceable and decommissioned. She only wanted the one that she worked on, her TARDIS. She nearly broke one of her tools when she heard that it was permanently decommissioned. That part of the punishment stung the most.
Somehow, someday, she knew that she'd reunite once again with her beloved craft and that exceptional day was today. Even her low-level status as a repair pony granted her access to the scrapyard. It was a devastating wasteland underneath the Citadel to her. Derelict and defunct capsules that had been worn, abused or battered by their owners lay here to die in peace. She made sure to keep the noise of her hoof steps to a minimum and avoiding as much camera appearance as possible.
"221 Alpha, 221 Beta, 221 Gamma, ah here we are! Mark 39 TT Capsule registered under decommission label 221 Delta. Mamma's home." Hedley thought to herself.
Checking one last time for cameras, she pulled out her hidden key that was on a necklace underneath her Time Mare robes. This was it, the moment of truth. She stopped before bringing the key up to the access port. Right here and now would change her life forever. She was essentially abandoning everything that she had once known throughout her current life. No more TARDIS repair, no more getting up in the morning to report to her superior, no more seeing her friends and family in the outskirts where her favorite soup was made for her. Just for her.
Suddenly she heard the movement of a guard and swiftly went inside. Her heart thumped inside of her chest, frightened at what she’d just done and the crimes she was about to commit. But it was exciting nonetheless. Slowly she trotted up to the console and saw the travel locks set into the console’s frame to prevent any travel.
“Look at you, you poor thing. Who did this to you, eh? Those nasty old brutes in upper management barely know what they’re doing sometimes. Let me just fix ya up and...”
Hedley hummed to herself, proceeding to remove all and any parts that prohibited her travel. The scanner suddenly switched on and the deep voice of the Chancellor almost echoed inside the room.
“ Hedliaellfrolithene, we know that you’re in there!”
She yelped as the surprise caused her to hit her head on the underside of the console. With a grunt she looked up in alarm at the screen. She was in big trouble now. She was already on thin ice but now it was crumbling underneath her. The regal facade she’d put on for so long was beginning to slip away as she fumbled with a few controls.
“Ah, Chancellor Rydothia, how nice to see you. Don’t mind me, just adjusting the volume.”
Rydothia frowned, knowing that she was already planning something.
“You cannot escape, the transduction barrier prevents all unauthorized time capsules from escaping.”
“Funny thing about that Chancellor, older models of time capsules were once disposed of off-world due to black hole containment not being as well structured and advanced as it is now. So fun fact: when in a decommissioned state all TARDISes of model 40 and below have an automatically installed emergency access pass through the barrier. It has been an honor serving you and the High Council my lord, but I must say one thing.”
“If you leave you and your TARDIS will officially be under court-martial law to be terminated or exiled!”
“True, but I just have to smell the roses every once in a while.”
The Chancellor was clearly writhing with anger and shouting at her, but Hedley didn’t hear a single word of it. She no longer cared about the world she once knew, she’d likely never see her family anyway inside of the capital. She switched off the scanner and pulled the lever, the choice made and done. She let out a breath of relief that she didn’t know that she was holding. It wasn’t exactly going to be smooth sailing from now on, and she was officially on the run for however long this would last. Thent the "turbulance" hit, nearly knocking her off of her hooves and back onto the floor.
"Oh sweet Rassilon, have mercy on my soul. Passing through the transduction barrier!"
Hedley dashed around the console, left and right. These certain models of TT Capsules weren't ment to be piloted by just one pony, but rather a group of six. She was trying her hardest to keep everything steady, using the one card up her sleeve to her advantage as much as possible. Then, everything went black. The console room darkened for a few seconds that felt like an eternity each. Finally a bright pink glow started to emit from the time colum that rose up and down in the center of the console. It was warm and inviting, the light spreading everywhere until it nearly blinded Hedley. Once again, everything went dark around her. She'd passed out on the console room floor with only a hope and a prair to keep her safe.
Radiance gasped and jolted upward, feeling herself breathing heavily. She felt stronger, a little more whole as well, but there was also the fear of what happened long ago. She still had more blank pages in her book of memories that laid dormant within her mind. She looked left and right for anypony, trying to regain her wits. Were the Time Ponies still after her, or had she been caught and served a horrible punishment? Suddenly a soft glow of pink edged around the cracks in a nearby door. Getting up Radiance caught a closer glance before opening the door. It was her old room that she felt was once lost, junked in an effort to get away from something or somepony that she knew.
"I see you've regained more of our memories, I can feel the same sensations that you are."
Radiance jolted around to see the apparation of her younger self once again, but now within the waking world. There was a similar pink glow around her, a manifestation of the TARDIS perhaps.
"Y-yes, I know more of who I am and yet..."
Radiance paused, combing over the recent memories that she'd both regained recently and within the past week.
"You're scared of who you think you are, might become, might've been, and other such related matters." said Hedley completing the thought.
"I know who I am, where I'm from, where all of this started. But what I don't know is what followed. Am I still in trouble, am I still atonning for what you, I mean we, did long ago."
Hedley chuckled and smiled, trotting over to the bed and patting it as a gesture for her to sit next to her. Radiance joined the vision of Hedley and she was enveloped in a warm enbrace. She felt much happier, safe, at home and one with herself. Radiance almost started to cry, feeling the verge of the cliff into the abyss of lost days long ago.
"It's alright, you've attoned for what I started and have faced those concequences. But that descision did not go without it's merit. Come with me through the vast corridors and I'll show you some of the adventures that we've been on along with the many things that you've missed."
Hedley smiled and offered her hoof after getting off of the bed. Just like before when she left Gallopfrey, a descision combined with a leap of faith. She'd yet to know what would be waiting for her along those vast halls but she knew that something exciting was waiting for her. So taking the vision of Hedley's hoof in her own she took the leap, and hoped that whatever was in store for her would be a wild and exciting ride. It was time to go to the garden outside and smell the roses once again.