The Timepony’s Journal

by Penny_Shavins109

Chapter 21 - Above and Below

Hedley danced around the console, appearing as if her actions were random when in actuality each move was quite concise and calculated. Traveling across the galaxy was easy for her, but a short hop upwards even a few miles required a bit of finesse. Even while the TARDIS was dematerializing she was shrouded in her mental bubble of determination and calculation. She’d hardly even noticed Prism just standing there slack jawed and bewildered.

“It’s bigger on the inside… like a whole house crammed into a tiny casino.”

“Gazebo, and there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. I’ll show you around once this is all done and sorted.”

Just like that the glass cylinder in the center of the console finally stopped moving, signally that they’d arrived. Right before she left Prism lightly grabbed her hoof, a bit of a nervous look in her eyes. It was clear that she was a little bit frightened despite holding up a jovial appearance until now.

“I want to come with you, this is my home too. Everything around me is completely new and beyond my understanding. But I want to understand, I want to understand you I… I don’t want to be alone just yet.”

Hedley’s face softened, showing the feelings that she’d also been secretly hiding. She was always afraid to be connected to others because they always left. As a TimePony she was tough that the her kind had always been above most races and those that were seen as equals were to be feared. This is why she left Gallophrey, not just to smell the roses and see sights, but for the people as well. Hedley smiled and pulled her into a hug.

“I’m not leaving you, you’re the only pony I’ve met that I truly cared so much about.”

“Even from your own kind?”

“I wouldn’t consider the TimePonies ponies, they’re much different than you and I. That’s why you’re here with me. Now come on, we have a complaint to file.”

Upon opening the doors they arrived in what was a large iron bulkhead , the ground a much darker steel than the walls around them. It was cold but the walls were so hot they were slightly steaming. Crates, containment units and computer banks were littered all around the areas in a neatly fashion.

“Must be a storage area, the actual control deck must be upstairs.”

Hedley grunted as she pulled the lever on the door to the side in order to open it. The bulkhead door loudly groaned as it was pulled open. Their hooves clicked and clacked across the cold metal, traveling down several old winding corridors. Finally they arrived at another bulkhead, this one luckily not as thick and hefty.

“Are we there yet?” Prism groaned sarcastically.

“Apparently so, if my sense of direction is correct.”

“I thought you only went off world for the first time last week.” Prism raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“Well, it’s always best to… check.”

Hedley paused as the door slid open to the side. Luckily it was automatic and not someone on the other side. But on the other side was a room filled with a large amount of monitors and surveillance footage. Not just of the planet below but of several other worlds as well. Hedley quickly trotted up to the camera controls, switching around to see footage of the ship’s interior. There were so many different species walking around, pamphlets being handled out with several different stands on display.

“An expo… this is one big weapons expo! I can hardly believe it. Can you hardly believe it Prism?”

“Uh…”

“Well neither can I. I’ll just find the emergency warp drive, boot them a few light years away and they’ll be out of our manes.”

“Wait, wait, wait. You’re just shooing them away, kicking them to the far curb and that’s that?”

“Yup. They won’t be our problem.”

“But they’ll be someone else’s! You can’t think that they won’t move on to another pony colony, or another place just like this and start back up again? What if this makes them angry and they march right up to our doorstep all extra huffy.”

“W-well I…”

Hedley paused and thought for a moment, Prism’s gaze staring into her soul. Prism even looked a little hurt as she tried to avoid her gaze. She didn’t have the words anymore and Prism didn’t need them. The look in her eyes was enough. There was so much more behind those eyes, things that went unsaid. Hedley’s internal Timepony programming of nonintervention were colliding with her own new morals that Prism was giving her. It actually hurt her head a little.

Prism turned around and a large security guard clad in hefty obsidian black armor stared down at her with their lizard like yellow eyes. The guard was like a fusion between a diamond dog and a dragon, possessing strength even without the weapon in a holster at their side. Prism took a few steps back, almost falling over in fear. Hedley looked at her, the joyful white mare cowering in fear. She stuck a hoof out defensively in front of Prism.

“Guests are not permitted in these areas. State your name, rank and identification number.”

Hedley didn’t back down, not even thinking before replying. She stood in her place proudly, trying to assert some form of authority as if she belonged.

“My name is Hedley, agent of Provia and here to state that you’re in violation of galactic code. Provia is a level fou- five planet with sentient inhabitants developing their own community. Now please… leave?”

The guard stood still, processing the information through a crest on the left side of their chest. Prism felt impressed until she looked back at Hedley. She was absolutely making most, if not all of it, up on the spot. It was a tall order but it seemed to work as the guard nodded to follow, not calling out her bluff. On the surveillance footage the firing onto the planet’s surface appeared to have stopped, but the forces had not yet retreated.

Prism gulped as she went forwards, her planet being held hostage. The hallways began to give way from the dank and rusty corridors to somewhat of a intergalactic venue. They’d come out of the shadows but weren’t fully out in the open. A few gazes made their way upon them, but nothing beyond a passing glance. Eventually they came to the real heart of the ship. An old creature that look like a vulture on two legs stared down at them.

The room they were in was more akin to a corporate office than the more open public vendor halls. The vulture was covered in scars, clearly caused by being in this line of business. His voice was thick and raspy before he cleared his throat.

“My apologies, madam, but you say that you have a complaint?”

The atmosphere was thick, the head honcho’s voice calm and smooth yet set off several internal alarm bells. Prism looked over at her new friend, the only person she knew who could possibly handle the situation, whom was clearly out of her depth despite holding solid with determination.

“Yes, you’re testing your weaponry on a newly inhabited planet. I and my associate from the planet below are speaking on the inhabitants defense.”

“You claim to speak for a planet that has no current registry of sentient life according to the Galactic Bureau. We’ve determined that these creatures below are a mere infestation. So you could say that we’re doing this planet a favor.”

“As I’ve stated, they’re a newly inhabited colony with no current contact to yours or any other bureau. It’s not their fault that you’ve failed to double check your paperwork.”

The vulture leaned forwards, intrigued by such a challenge along with the hilarity that such a lowly species talk back to him.

“Are you suggesting that the Galactic Bureau of the entirety Sector 18C, part of the federation that catalogues nearly 7 billion sectors of the universe, has made a mistake?”

“No. You did.”

The room went completely cold and silent. Only a few words struck like a fired bullet, ringing across the room’s tension only to strengthen it, making it heavier and more suffocating. The shots had been fired, and there was no turning back now.

“In fact, it was quite deliberate if you ask me. I presume that testing such weapons with high mortality rates and even higher death counts is quite a hard chance to come by. I’m sure no legal system would allow such a slaughter to go unnoticed. I bet that all of this would be swept under the rug had nopony come to complain.

No way of knowing that this colony exists, no way of the colony calling for help. How many weapons have you been ‘testing’ under these conditions, hmm? I’m sure that the Galactic Bureau, federation, or what have you would like to have a strict word with you.”

The vulture merely laughed. She was right, she was absolutely right. The whole expo was a black market business with ties to many powerful people. They had all of the power, their web of control was too strong to break.

“Oh, how you’ve entertained me. I know that you’re no official, you’re not even of the same species as the colonists. You didn’t think that my guards didn’t do a bio scan, or even the most basic of background checks, did you? Your word has no merit whatsoever. Guards, dispose of them. I’ve had my fun and these pesky ponies have become rather dull to me. Ta ta, you’ve all been dismissed.”

The guards quickly picked the two of them up, much to their complaints and dismay. They were rather easily thrown into a waste storage facility. More appropriately, the air locked disposal unit. Only a large metal gate stood between the two of them and the cold confines of space.

“We’re dead…w-we’re actually going to die. And I literally just paid off my student loans yesterday! T-this is all your fault, I just wanted to live peacefully and-“

“Mechanic.”

Prism paused in the middle of her distressed rant. She looked at Hedley in a mix of confusion, anger, and sadness. She was already on the verge of tears.

“What?”

“First mistake of trying to dispose of a temporal mechanic and her best friend, put her in a junkyard.”

Hedley was already grabbing random bits of scrapped circuitry and steel, pulling random tools out of her seemingly endless pockets.

“This is very slapdash, primitive, and extremely dangerous but it’s our only option with about-“

“T-Minus 2 minutes until airlock release. Please clear all personal from the premise due to risk of ejection.”

The lights began to flash red while sirens wailed from every wall. The scraping and clicking of several different deadbolts were already present as time was running out.

“Ah, right. Luckily this only needs to be about one or two meters in diameter over a short distance, preferably far from the other side of that door.”

“W-what!?”

Everything was moving so rapidly and yet appeared to be in slow motion around them. Only a mix of fear and adrenaline kept them going as more deadbolts released, the air slowly being sucked out in the depressurization. The noises were only getting louder as they got closer to the end.

“TRANSMAT! SHORT RANGE! SUCK IT IN OR YOU’LL LOSE A KIDNEY!”

“WHAT!?”

“HANG ON!!”

In a matter of seconds, the final deadbolts started to release. All sound in the room was gone as everything was being ejected. Hedley pulled Prism in closely as a strange electrical field surrounded them. Time slowed to a stop, stuck in the moments between life and death. Prism closed her eyes as everything flashed with a blinding white light. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t breathe. There was nothing. All within that moment she was both alive and dead. She didn’t dare open them, until they opened themselves…

---

The ground was cold, which was good considering there was ground. Prism took in several deep breaths shakily, her body warming up once again. She was sore all over, but she was very much alive. She looked up with blurry vision to see Hedley already fiddling with the device that had saved their lives. She immediately stopped and looked back at her in relief. She was crying, and she’d never seen her cry before.

“You… are so lucky… that I can’t kill you right now…”

Hedley’s expression changed from overly joyful to an emotion that can only be described accurately, as “wow, thanks”.

“Good thing I have two hearts or I’d also be unconscious, and then where would we be?”

“Is there anything… else you have two of? Particularly… something that I painfully… remove?”

Hedley chuckled, not sure if liked this Prism or the angrily disappointed Prism any better. Either way, now wasn’t the time to be pondering such a question.

“Per your advice, I’m making sure that these people never harm anyone ever again. You were right, making them someone else’s problem. I’m sending a massive distress signal, something particularly nasty that can’t be ignored even by the stingiest of higher ups. I don’t know what it’ll do to the planet below, or even do period, but we’re weak and low on options.”

“Glad to see you’ve gained a conscience… while I’ve lost a few pounds… or gained some, I don’t know.”

“Heh, glad to see the old Prism mostly back. We’ll have to get to my ship as fast as possible. We’ll be safer there and be able to rest… I’m trying my best…”

Prism smiled warmly as the device started to pulse and buzz rapidly. Hedley carried her away on her back, leaving the little electrical pulse bomb to detonate an electrical wave that would fry the expo ship’s and likely any other electrical impulses on the same frequency within a couple of light years away. Due to the colony’s more primitive nature, all they would experience was a minor power outage for a day.

As she entered her Tardis and let Prism rest, all she could think of was not only the collateral damage that she could cause in nearby systems but also the TimePonies. She went into dematerialization and scanned the area of effect. Meanwhile the she decided to do a little architectural reconfiguration. A garden, just like the one on Provia, where both she and Prism could rest.

---

Radiance looked up at her non-corporeal past counterpart. Barely any time had past since she’d started crying in the garden. Yet it felt like weeks had gone by. She remembered more than she did before and that time was starting to weigh upon her. Radiance was more whole and stronger than ever before. But there was still a lot ahead of her. Four regenerations worth. How long until that darkness, until Iridescence, caught up with her.

Author's Note:

Act 1 - Now Complete