Feather Wind stirs restlessly today because something feels unfamiliar. Instead of the cool crisp scent of the morning dew, the air is dry. Instead of resting on clouds, he's on a solid bed. The last time he checked, he was in nature. Was this his room in his father's mansion?
Eventually cracking his eyes open, he looks about himself and sees he is surrounded by darkness. To alleviate that, he ignites his horn which then emits a silvery glow. He then brushes aside his poofy, cloud-like mane with his small sky blue hoof. In doing so, he gets more confused to notice that he is in totally unfamiliar territory until he consults his memory which needs a moment to awaken and unfog. When it does so, it gradually tells him a tale so outrageous that it really is hard to believe.
But of the few bits of his memory he does trust, one of the most alarming news he recalls was that he fell asleep with his marefriend Stern Wing, but she isn't here now. In that case, where is she instead? Considering the fantastical story the rest of his memory is reporting, it doesn't feel safe to leave this to his imagination.
And so, with a minor groan of effort, he rises from his bed and explores his surroundings more. As he takes in the sight of this boxy room, it gradually appears more familiar as his memory returns. It doesn't take long for him to locate the exit of the room which he promptly uses.
Feather Wind also locates his cloak made of misty clouds. He floats it over to himself and drapes it on him as he makes his way to the exit. Doing so conceals his cutie mark of a white feather being blown in the wind which also has tiny magical sparkles within the wind.
The egress from the last room leads to a metallic hallway. The floor is a metallic grate of some sort that leads to a slightly lower drop beneath it. Looking to his left and then to his right, he notices that the right direction leads somewhere brighter and to a wider room. He hears other noises in that direction too, like a shuffle of hooves.
Deciding that is probably the best course, he lifts one of his short legs to begin his journey in that direction, but he freezes when he hears a very odd noise. Whatever it is, it sounds mechanical and perhaps barely functional since it sounds like the engine struggles to come to life. It sounds almost like it is wheezing. That noise crescendos on the fourth wheeze before fading away. When it does, a new noise picks up that is even harder to identify, but it kind of sounds like a laser-blasting sound. That sound, too, rises then falls.
“And voilà, ladies and gentlemen,” triumphantly declares a stallion in the next larger room. “We are here.”
“'Here' as in where, exactly?” Feather hears Stern Wing ask.
“When and where,” corrects an innocent-sounding mare with emphasis. “This super-duper wonderful place can go anywhere in time and space.” There is a brief pause before the mare giggles cutely before saying, “Hey! That rhymes.”
“To either question, the answer is . . . I don't know!” mischievously announces the stallion.
“What do you mean you don't know? You were the one fiddling with the controls just a moment ago,” reminds Feather's foalhood friend, Stern Wing.
“Right,” the stallion agrees, “but I set it to go to a random place in space and time on purpose with the criteria that it must be a place with gravity and oxygen.”
“Why would you do that?” Stern Wing exacerbates in a complaining tone. “If you do that, we'd have no idea what is out there!”
“Exactly! Isn't it fantastic?!” the stallion replies enthusiastically. “Imagine it. Absolutely anything can be beyond those doors. It will be a wonder to explore.”
“You're impossible,” Stern Wing growls. “Lest you forget, we have a young blind foal traveling with us now. I would think that would warrant a little extra caution on your part.”
“That it does,” the stallion agrees in a much more serious tone. “She's staying here. At least until I can determine the threat level out there.”
Deciding he's heard enough, Feather Wind ventures on into the next larger room. Doing so reveals a large semi-circular room with a weird sort of console in the center that has a large assortment of glass tubes, spinning wires, and do-hickeys above it that extends all the way to the roof. The stallion in question is still located there. He is a brown stallion with a darker brown mane. He has a cutie mark sporting an hourglass and he wears a green necktie. If memory serves, Feather Wind recalls this individual simply calling himself “The Doctor” and he claims he's the only one in the room not inherently a pony but rather some pretentious-sounding race calling themselves the “Time Lords.”
Then again, Feather Wind himself grew up with the aristocracy so he's somewhat accustomed to pretentiousness.
His large foalhood friend Stern Wing, who is a brown pegasus with darker brown wingtips and tips to her hooves and mane, is standing just outside of the rail surrounding the console in the center of the room. She has a cutie mark of a heart on a sturdy-looking shield which has wings extending off to the sides of the shield. Initially, she was glaring with her brown eyes somewhat accusingly at the Doctor but her expression softens when she notices her friend enter the room.
“Well good morning, sleepyhead,” Stern Wing greets softly before her expression grows confused. After that, she turns to look at the Doctor again as she asks, “Actually, is it morning?”
“I don't know yet,” the Doctor replies with a light shrug. “I haven't explored this world, space station, or rock formation yet. It could be that there is no distinguishable 'morning', as you eloquently put it, relative to this time and place. Furthermore, you'll find such concepts to gradually get more ambiguous as one continues to travel through time and space.” He looks at Feather Wind as he says, “So suffice it to say, he is early in his waking cycle.” He looks back at Stern as he offers, “How about that?”
“It does take some getting used to,” announces a gray pegasus with a shaggy, dirty blonde mane. She sports a cutie mark of a bunch of bubbles. Her light yellow walleyes make her especially distinctive. If memory serves, this individual is a former mail carrier from the future relative to Feather's native timeline. She said her name was Ditsy Do, but has accepted the affectionate nickname from the Doctor, Derpy Hooves. Everypony else here seems to accept that too, including Feather. “I think I'm still not accustomed to it,” Derpy goes on to say.
“Physically, I did not feel any motion sway as we traveled,” announces the youngest member of their new traveling family by far, a blind albino earth pony filly with a snowy white mane that has just a hint of ice blue in it. Her cutie mark is a single open eye in the center of a pyramid tip. Feather recalls her name to be Vision and his history with her is interesting because she is a blind, psychic foal who once gave her mother a prophetic vision that ended up saving Feather's life several years ago. Far more recently, Vision needed saving herself when she became a target of the very same threat that once almost claimed Feather's life, a psychotic and deeply twisted unicorn stallion by the name of Puppet Master who might no longer be alive anymore but rather a magically animated puppet of his own former body that is powered by a magic crystal hidden somewhere within the corpse. When Puppet Master assaulted the temple Vision lived at, he was far more overt in his assault that time and easily tore at anypony who physically stood in his way. Not only that, but he gruesomely animated their shredded corpses to make them sound like spooky ghost foals who cackled madly and kept insisting that they wanted to “play” with anypony they spoke to. It is the single most horrifying memory of Feather's existence and is among the reasons he's questioned his sanity lately.
There are other reasons he's questioned his memories and sanity too but, unlike Puppet Master, those memories lean in a far more positive direction.
“Yet still I know that we have arrived at a new location,” Vision goes on to say. “A different vibration permeates beyond the walls inverted universe.”
“Huh?” Stern asks Vision with a questioning wince.
“The TARDIS exists beyond the confines of normal space/time,” Vision replies. “It's like its own separate dimension. That's why we didn't feel ourselves traveling outside of this place.”
“Good on you for noticing,” the Doctor commends Vision with a very impressed nod at her for all the good that gesture did for a blind filly. “You're mostly correct. However, there have been some circumstances where external forces outside the TARDIS have affected the interior environment. Usually, when that happens, either something has gone wrong with the TARDIS itself or whatever external forces outside this place can travel through subspace.”
“I'm, ah . . . not understanding any of this,” Stern Wing announces in confusion.
“You and me both, sister,” Derpy affectionately agrees. “But hey! At least we get to go on an awesome adventure. Right?” Derpy cheers but then goes on to say more somberly, “That said, though, I'm staying here if Vision is. I won't leave a foal unattended here. We may be largely immune to the shenanigans that go on outside of the TARDIS, but I can't, in good conscience, leave a new, often sickly, and blind filly to roam around this place unattended.”
“Well said,” Stern Wing agrees with a very proud and respectful nod to Derpy. “But if you're staying here with her, then I'm going.” Stern Wing gives a stern look at the exit of the TARDIS. “Not out of some mad thrill for adventure, but because I want to remain prepared to defend my friends from any unforeseen danger.” Using her face, she nods to indicate the exit as she goes on to say, “Besides, it's more than just the occupants of this vessel that may need a helping hoof out there. The natives, too, could potentially use my services.”
“An admirable sentiment and one I fully endorse,” the Doctor commends Stern which wins her attention back to him. “That said, be aware that other complications might exist out there. Sometimes the natives might not welcome your help even if they truly need it. Sometimes it's because they are unaware of the danger or because of some silly and stupid pride or custom.” He applies a hoof to his chest as he says, “Usually I'm all for respecting most customs, but when lives are on the line . . .” he trails off.
Stern Wing nods at the Doctor and then seems to conclude his sentence with, “. . . action may be required.”
“Exactly,” the Doctor agrees. “The thrill of adventure is not my only motivation to travel. Sometimes what we do out there is also a worthwhile accomplishment in other important ways.” He nods to indicate Stern Wing as he adds, “And it's companions, like you, who have natural heroic instincts that are more than welcome to join me in my travels.” He tilts his head at her and turns his head slightly to his right as he aims his left eye at Stern more fully as he proclaims, “You may not always approve of my motivation to charge into danger, but whenever I do, it's because someone out there needs saving. When the moment of action is required, we do as we must.”
“True,” Stern agrees, but then she says, “But I thought one of the points of bringing Feather and I on your adventures is to charge his red crystal with positive energy, so why would you chuck a dart at a dart board blindly in this case?”
The Red Crystal! Feather Wind almost forgot it!
He looks down at his neck and notices it is missing. Thinking back, he recalls putting it safely in one of his saddle bags and that is back in the room he left. Notably, the very same magical tri-tip red crystal that houses the original soul of King Sombra. A wizard and sagely stallion within the crystal who prefers to call himself Crystal Sage now to distinguish himself from his dark counterpart. It is necessary for Feather to not only learn to attune himself to that crystal that houses the spirit of his ancestor but also charge it with large amounts of positive energy to counteract the negative charge crystals that Crystal Sage's dark counterpart employs. One of such crystals is hidden within the animated corpse of Puppet Master. If that dark crystal is not attacked with the right kind of energy, that psychotic villain might as well be invincible.
Not to mention that Feather Wind might also need that energy to contend with what basically amounts to his ancestor's magical ghostly clone.
Feather Wind isn't used to having that crystal around yet, but right now it suddenly feels irresponsible to leave it anywhere unattended. If Feather happens to encounter a situation where there is enough positive energy to be useful in absorbing into the crystal, then it makes even more sense to get used to carrying it around just in case. One never knows when a situation like that might appear in advance.
Except, maybe, for a certain psychic filly in their company. But, even then, she claimed she only experienced such visions in her dreams. It may also have something to do with Equestria's native moon. Vision gets nightmares about impending but also preventable disasters when she sleeps at night on that planet, but also receives good, or at least neutral, dreams when she sleeps in the day on the same said planet.
Which reminds him, Feather regards Vision as he privately wonders if Vision is still receiving psychic dreams now that they are no longer on their native planet. Even if the TARDIS happened to land on it somewhere within history, she said herself that the TARDIS is basically its own internal dimension separate from whatever transpires outside most of the time. That inherent fact might even be why it can move so easily through time and space. It is because it is not directly tied to it. The TARDIS, apparently, operates on its own rules of physics. Stepping in here is akin to stepping into a whole different world or, indeed, a whole new universe according to Vision which is sort of verified by the Doctor.
“Because it's fun,” the Doctor replies to Stern's question as if that simple explanation should be enough.
“Fun?” Stern reflects with a piercing and narrow stare. “You call placing our lives, and yours, in potentially mortal peril . . . fun?”
“Well, that and to challenge myself, my dear,” the Doctor replies. “That's how we all grow.” He looks at the exit as he goes on to say, “With my considerable degree of knowledge, intelligence, and experience, I wouldn't necessarily say we are in any unreasonable degree of danger. Whatever is out there, I'm fairly confident we can handle it.”
“Hoofle it,” Derpy corrects with a tired expression as if she's growing tired of correcting that statement over and over again.
For some reason, the Doctor giggles a bit at that statement before looking at his right hoof and saying, “Hoofle? Oh, you ponies crack me up sometimes with your horse puns. Then again, I suppose I can understand the logic of omitting a term like handlefor a species that never had 'hands' to begin with. Still, your terminology is so adorable!” he squees.
Derpy rolls her walleyes in exasperation.
“If it is at all possible, I would like to go, too,” Vision requests with a bit of a frown. “I lived my whole life stuck within the confines of my previous temple. Now that I'm finally out of it, I actually want to explore.”
“I find your courage and motivation admirable,” the Doctor replies to Vision. “But I am far older than I appear. Long enough to have gathered many regrets over the years. All of those are extra weights that I have to carry for a long, long time and a long time to come. As such, I do not wish to add to that burden unnecessarily by accompanying a pony so young and fragile in her health. As a psychic empath, you should at least be able to feel the sincerity of my words even if you don't fully agree with them.”
Vision sighs as she says, “I know. Sort of. But if you establish that it is relatively peaceful out . . . there . . .” Vision trails off as she slowly turns her head towards the exit.
“What?” the Doctor challenges her in sudden alarm. “What is it?”
In response, Vision is quiet for a moment as she unconsciously closes her eyes and tilts her head as if listening to something external to herself, but Feather suspects she's actually listening to something internal. One of her psychic senses, perhaps.
“I think I dreamed of this last night,” Vision eventually announces. “Déjà vu has struck me which, believe me, is very common in my life.” She opens her eyes, for what little good it does her, and turns her head in the general direction of the Doctor while also turning her ears in his precise direction as she goes on to say, “Water world. Prepared to get wet out there, my friends.”
The occupants inside the TARDIS are quiet for a moment as they each internalize her announcement.
“Storming too,” Vision eventually adds before turning her head kind of in Feather's direction before warning him. “You shan't be able to quell the storm with your internal talent, my friend.” She shakes her head. “This isn't our native world so the weather won't be as cooperative. There are, however, some ponies in it much akin to ourselves.”
“Spoilers,” the Doctor lightly and a bit playfully complains. “I can tell you're going to be an interesting one for me even if you don't leave the TARDIS.”
Vision turns her head roughly in the direction of the exit of the TARDIS for a moment before turning her head down, sighs, then says, “You're right. My fragile constitution would have no chance out there.”
“You're still getting psychic dreams in here?” Feather queries Vision. “Earlier, you told us your visions were tied to the Equestrian moon somehow on our native world, and the Mare in the Moon in particular.”
“That's true so I don't know where my visions are coming from now,” Vision replies to Feather. “But, for some reason, I feel even more confident in my visions than I usually am. The dreams were unusually sharp and clear, even for me. Even standing here now, it almost feels like I'm reliving it.”
“So your unconsciousness has made a connection to a new source,” the Doctor muses aloud as he rubs his chin with a hoof. “Fascinating. I wonder what that new source can be.” He returns his hoof to the ground as he goes on to say, “If you had these prophetic dreams last night, or what is basically the equivalent of 'night' around here in your sleep cycle, then it is unlikely to do with anything on this planet.
“But then again, who's to say your visions are limited to the confines of space/time in the first place? When it comes to psionics, it really is governed by its own set of rules which are not necessarily limited by the confines of third-dimensional reality.”
The Doctor lifts a hoof and taps it on the rail around the center console four times with a thoughtful expression on his face before he goes on to say, “It would be interesting to learn which new source you are channeling because that might help to determine how reliable these visions of yours have become. Depending on what it is, I may have other concerns as well.”
“Such as?” Stern Wing asks the Doctor cautiously.
The Doctor shifts his eyes to look at Stern Wing for a silent moment before tapping the rail four times again. After that he stands up straighter, sighs then says, “I don't wish to announce any further unverified conclusions yet. Let's just gather more evidence over time and we'll see where that takes us.” He grins as his eyes shift towards the exit of the TARDIS as he goes on to say, “In the meantime, adventure awaits us. Onwards and upwards, my friends.”