Adventures in the TARDIS

by Scroll

Part 9: Vision of Doom

An intense crashing sound, followed by strong shaking, disturbs the balance of the Doctor, Feather Wind, and Stern Wing. As they yelp and collapse to the ground, cracks spread in the glass, tubular tunnel that they are in. Because of that, water starts to leak into the tunnel as a result of the vast ocean that is beyond it.

“What was THAT?!” exclaims Stern Wing as she tries to get up again but another crash and shaking put her right back down. When that happens, cracks spread in the glass even further.

"Oh NO!" Feather Wind cries out in alarm and then immediately gives a pushing motion with his forehooves as he creates a force field in front of the cracked glass to reinforce it. That, in turn, relieves some of the pressure off the glass as well as halting the leaks.

“Doctor, what's going on? Are we under attack?” Stern Wing asks fearfully.

“Clearly the answer is yes. The question is . . . by what? And why?” the Doctor replies as he rises to his four hooves shakily.

Outside the clear glass, they see an unusual and greatly alarming sight. Many kinds of aquatic sea creatures are just ramming themselves into the underwater base they are in, sometimes at suicidal speed even for the creatures. Some of them explode into an aquatic balls of blood and guts, but the facility they are in took some damage as well. That in itself is scary enough, but the sheer amount of sea creatures attacking the facility is alarming in the extreme. At this rate, the whole base will collapse within minutes and likely kill everyone who is inside since there is a lot of pressure out in these deep ocean depths.

That, and the ponies can't breathe underwater.

“The sea creatures have all gone berserk!” Stern Wing reports in alarm after she scans the carnage.

“And their target is really specific!” Feather Wind adds with a grunt of effort as he struggles to fortify his force field after the glass gets struck by several more sea creatures outside. “None of them are attacking each other. They are all aiming only for this base!”

“This doesn't make any sense! Why would they all do this?” the Doctor cries out in near panic but he is clearly struggling to maintain his wits. “Think, Doctor! Think! What am I missing? There has got to be something.”

The Doctor paces back and forth frantically with three hooves while the fourth hoof, his left forehoof, repeatedly taps his head four times with the head of his sonic screwdriver as if doing so might induce faster wit in him. While he trots back and forth, his other three legs are splashing in the water that is quickly collecting below them.

“First of all, what is out there that possibly could do this?" the Doctor asks himself aloud then proceeds to answer his own question as if he is another person talking back to him. "Well, Doctor, you marvelously handsome devil, one of the things that could cause mass hysteria in animal life on this scale, especially while underwater, is a bi-polaric, crystalline oscillator device. Such a thing can send out huge waves of psychic energy just like a tuning fork that is struck.

“But such a thing is way ahead of the technology level of this current pony society. Even if they did have such a thing, why would they wield it against themselves?

“On the other hoof, such a thing is quite likely within the means of the Alphalmians except, again, they would have no motivation. They wouldn't do this. It simply isn't in their nature.

"But who else could possibly control such a device? Under most circumstances, it would have to be wielded by someone with telepathic abilities.”

"Ah . . . DOCTOR!!!" Stern Wing cries out in alarm as she beholds a massive body closing in on their side of the facility. Unlike many others, this one isn't coming at them directly. Rather than that, it is about to side-swipe the underwater facility.

Seeing this as well, Feather Wind widens his eyes to an extreme degree as he cries out, “YOU TWO, GET BEHIND ME!”

Almost out of pure reflective instinct and because of the intense urgency in Feather Wind's voice, Stern Wing and the Doctor proceed to do so without much thought. That's good because they did not have time for much thought. Just as those two get behind Feather Wind, the small blue unicorn stretches his force field in front of him from a curved second layer of a window pane to a full circular bubble around them. Just as he does that, the huge body outside rams into the facility from its side and shatters what is left of the glass tubular tunnel completely. The next thing they know, they are tumbling outside as the rush of water current comes in to claim them and then sends them spinning outside.

When they start to settle, Feather Wind's intense grunt of strained effort gradually rises into a pained scream. He is constantly shaking and almost suddenly sweating a bucket full because of the extremely tense amount of effort he has to exert just to hold this bubble intact and keep out all the highly pressurized water because of the depths they are in.

“He can't hold this for much longer!” Stern Wing warns the Doctor.

The Doctor doesn't pay attention to any of that, though. Instead, he looks below them in horror as the underwater facility they were in is being crushed, rammed, and flooded in many directions. Bursts of air from many pockets around it explode into the water and then rise to the surface.

“I failed!” the Doctor says with numb shock. “I can't believe this! I failed!”

In remorse, he closes his eyes and bonks his head once against the critically spreading cracks of Feather Wind's desperately formed force bubble.

But, before the bubble collapses, they hear a giant, low-pitched gurgling sound around them. That is their only warning before a giant mouth closes in on their position. A mouth that has an arrow-shaped horn above and below the mouth that is as thick and as strong as a tower. Such a bony cartilage, due to its massive size and strength, could likely easily shatter through the hull of any wooden ship if this creature rammed it at full force and most likely greatly damage a metal ship as well. As the maw approaches them, it sucks in the water nearby them which draws them in. They briefly scream in a panic until the bubble collapses which suddenly silences them for good.

---

Vision wakes up from her nap drenched in a cold sweat. As her wits quickly return to her, she contemplates how familiar waking up in this fashion is.

Her eyes are now wide open, but she sees absolutely nothing around her. That is somewhat ironic to her considering she would visually “see” perfectly fine in most of her dreams only to awaken from them and be denied sight altogether. It is only because of her dreams that her mind can even fathom what “seeing” is like at all since she was born blind.

One curious difference about this nightmare, in comparison to most of her others, is Vision personally knows the subjects of the dream well this time. Often in the past, she has had nightmares of many other individuals and societies that she never met before. It was a great talent of her mother, as well as the other monks at their former temple, who figured out how to properly interpret these dreams and know who to warn in order to prevent these visions of doom from coming to pass.

But now Vision is all by herself in this room. There is no pony else she can rely upon to properly interpret and act upon these vivid prophetic dreams.

Which makes her realize it is all up to her from this point forward.

Vision gets out of bed and struggles to find her way outside of the room.

---

“Good morning, Sleepyhead!” Derpy cheers when Vision arrives in what the young filly assumes is the main console room of the TARDIS. That's good because it means she's that much closer to the exit of this place.

Also, Vision privately notes how tired the former young mail delivery pony sounds at this precise moment. For some reason, she must have gone through a heavy exertion recently. Noting that actually makes Vision pause for a moment and tilt her head curiously in the direction she suspects Derpy is. While doing that, the ears on top of Vision's head swivels about to try to determine the other mare's more precise location.

“Are you okay?” Vision asks in concern. “You sound like you need some rest yourself.”

“Yeah! No kidding!” Derpy agrees. “I've just finished going back and forth, back and forth delivering food and some medicine to other ponies at the exit of the TARDIS. I even let some of them in to help me out even though I wasn't supposed to. I'm used to delivering a saddlebag full of letters in the past, but this much cargo and so many trips later . . . I'm exhausted.”

Vision hears Derpy just collapse on the spot she's at. She also gives a strained sigh at first but it shifts to a relaxing one in the middle of that sigh. There is also a plopping sound as the mare's body collapses on the floor, but Vision can't tell exactly what pose or position the other mare is in.

Vision scrunches her face. That is not good to hear. She may need Derpy to soon guide her out into that dangerous and wet world just outside of the TARDIS.

“Honey, what's wrong?” Derpy asks with sudden and sharp concern in her voice. Vision can feel waves of concern emanate from the other mare. “Please tell me! I'd like to help however I can.”

“I need to go,” Vision answers as she turns her head to where she suspects the exit of the TARDIS is. “I have to join the others.”

"What?!" Vision thinks she hears either Derpy rise again or at least sit up straighter. "But Honey . . . you'll get sick out there. You'll catch a cold! It's very wet and chilly outside. Brrrrr!" Vision can almost hear Derpy shuddering out there. Frankly, it is kind of adorable even to this little foal.

“Nevertheless, I have to do this,” Vision insists. “I either go out there and risk getting sick, or wait in here while our friends die.”

“What?!” Derpy screeches in sudden and intense alarm. “Wait! Hold on, hold on. Time out here. Back it up a second. What do you mean our friends are in danger and are going to die? Did you have another prophetic dream of that happening?”

“Yes,” Vision answers in a tone heavy with the weight of finality.

“Oh dear,” Derpy moans with worry. “What am I going to do?”

“I know what I am going to do," Vision replies. "I'm going to go out there and help them. I used to have a bunch of monks and my spell-casting mother to help me spread these warnings out into the world, but now it is just the two of us. I know there are many risks involved, but quite frankly, if we felt fully unprepared to face them, we have no business being in the TARDIS at all with the Doctor. Adventure is the name of the game while here. We have to be brave, step up, and do what is right or there will be heavy consequences.

“Look . . . I know it's very scary for you to face these challenges out there and that is for many reasons. You're scared for me too and, believe me, I get that and I even appreciate that to some degree. However, if you want to protect me then that also means protecting that which I value, and that includes my new friends out there. They need us, Derpy, and they are lucky to have us to help them overcome this dire warning.

“Something you need to keep in mind is my psychic visions can be prevented, but they will definitely happen if no effort is issued to stop them. At least, that's what the other monks told me. I don't know. This is the first time I participated in the adventure myself.”

There is silence between them following Vision's statement but, in the air, Vision can feel the electric charge of raw emotion as she can feel Derpy struggling between morality and courage. Both sides are giving her a noble message and yet they also somewhat conflict with each other in terms of what is the best course of action moving forward. Derpy cares about the fate of her friends very much but that includes Vision as well. If Derpy does decide on supporting Vision's argument, then it means putting a foal who is very vulnerable at grave risk. Not only does it seem like it might be difficult for the Doctor to forgive Derpy for that later, but quite frankly it might be difficult for the young mare to forgive herself if Vision gets hurt.

Because Vision can feel that internal dilemma pushing and pulling within the other mare, Vision realizes she's going to have to make another push to convince her friend.

“Fate and destiny are often a very tricky thing to decipher,” Vision begins again. “Especially with the extra complication of free will being tossed in the mix. That's the X-factor. The wild card is always there. Destiny is like a river that we swim within. We can either swim with the currents, against it, or do nothing and let it drag us. The choices we make can help us avoid obstacles we can foresee in the river or we can blindly crash into them. I'm giving you a warning of what is incoming on the course of the river we're currently on. It's up to us what we decide to do with that information. Ultimately what will happen in the future is whatever we decide to happen.

“And look . . . the Doctor himself may have chosen this planet and time at random, but the TARDIS didn't. Like me, it sees the big picture too and it knows when and where we are supposed to go.

“And Derpy . . . fate didn't just choose them to wrestle with this challenge. We are here too . . . so ultimately this is a fate we all share. So are we going to take it relaxing on this river while our friends get washed over a waterfall into the spiky rocks down below, or are we going to get off our lazy flanks and go help them? You can fly, Derpy, so you definitely have an alternative to prevent your friends from falling to their deaths. It's up to you to choose whether or not you'll use that power, though."

“Geez, Vision. Are you really just a filly?!” Derpy exclaims in surprise. “You're lecturing me, a full-grown adult, in a way that heavily reminds me of the Doctor himself.”

"Um," Vision blushes a little because of this compliment. "Well . . . I am kind of used to doing whatever I can to help prevent a nasty fate." Vision firms up again as she asks, "And I'm willing to do whatever that takes. Are you?"

“Stop growing up so fast!” Derpy complains with a bit of a playful tone. “You're making me feel very nervous and inadequate.”

“Help me save our friends first and then you can lecture me about maturity,” Vision bargains.

“Okay-okay! Geez. Cut me some slack, will ya? I'll do it,” Derpy assures. From what Vision hears next, now she's definitely certain that Derpy has risen fully to her four hooves. "But you have to promise me something. Promise me that, no matter what, you'll immediately obey me the moment I request something of you because, whenever I do that, I'm only looking after your well-being and it's likely to help you avoid that which you cannot foresee. Whatever happens out there, I'm still going to try my hardest to keep you safe. You're precious to me.”

“So are they,” Vision counters and then insists, “Don't forget that. As long as you keep that in mind as well, I'll cooperate with you because yeah . . . I feel your affection for me too so I know I can trust you. I know you're being sincere about your concern for my well-being, but there other factors to keep in mind as well.”

“I know! That's why I'm agreeing to take you along,” Derpy retorts. “But not until you promise me. Do you?”

Vision grunts as she realizes Derpy is waiting for a more concrete answer. To speed things along, Vision just silently nods her agreement to keep the promise itself as ambiguous as she suspects Derpy will allow at this moment. After all, there may come other circumstances in the future where Vision may need to extend the risk to herself to prevent even greater harm from befalling others. Realizing that possibility is very real, Vision wants to keep her options as open as possible by necessity.

“Alright. In that case, I'll go get some warm gear and a raincoat,” Derpy decides. “If we're going to do this then let's be as prepared as we can be while we have these resources still available to us.”

Comments

[Walrusesarecute]

love the dynamics so far, can’t wait to read more.