“Aren't you forgetting something?” the Doctor asks aloud. When he does, Feather Wind and Stern Wing look at him to see who the Doctor was referring to. When they do look, they see the Doctor regarding Feather Wind.
“Hmm?” Feather Wind inquires for emphasis.
To answer that question, the Doctor gestures to his own neck as he asks, “The Red Crystal. You plan on bringing it, right? With it, you could capture positive energy at any potential moment. Since one usually can't predict what will happen in the future," he says with a slightly snide glance at Vision before returning his gaze to Feather with a more casual expression, "it's probably best to carry it around on hand at all times just in case."
“Hoof,” Derpy corrects.
The Doctor snickers a bit before shaking his head.
Derpy gives an exasperated sigh as she rolls her eyes but then regards Feather Wind brightly as she eagerly requests, “Please, allow me to fetch it.”
“Uh . . . you don't have to,” Feather Wind replies to Derpy with a confused blink, wondering why she so eagerly volunteering.
“Oh, it's no trouble at all! Here. Stay here. I'll go get it,” she says before racing off.
“And she's off,” the Doctor observes. “Quite a helpful lass she is.” He then regards Feather Wind and Stern Wing. “She's accustomed to delivering stuff, I suppose. Always likes to be helpful.”
Stern Wing regards Feather Wind to her right side and pretty far below her as she asks her foalhood friend, “Does she even know where the crystal is?”
Instead of answering, Feather just looks in the direction of the hallway Derpy went to a moment ago.
“Actually, do you even know?” refines Stern Wing's earlier question.
Feather continues to regard the direction Derpy took off. Slowly his lips take on a very subtle frown, but he wouldn't have noticed until his friend asks, “Are you okay?”
“Huh?” Feather Wind looks up at Stern Wing. “Why do you ask?”
Stern Wing now frowns as she says, "I don't know. You looked a little spaced out there for a second."
Feather Wind's gaze, along with Stern Wing this time, snap in the direction of Derpy when they both hear the sound of stumbling then crashing furniture. After that, Stern Wing sighs before starting to trot along and says, “I'll go check on her.”
“No!” Feather Wind cries out in a startled voice. This freezes Stern Wing in mid-step for a moment then turns her attention back to him. In response, Feather Wind blushes in embarrassment a bit as he says, “I'm sure she's fine. Leave her be. Let her feel useful.”
“Useful?” Stern Wing reflects questioningly. “That's implying that looking after Vision in our absence is useless. If so, I object to your wording wholeheartedly.”
Feather Wind frowns further as he shakes his head and says, “It's okay. She'll be back in a moment. She wants to do this by herself, so please let her.”
Stern Wing grunts then says, “Fine. But, in that case, I guess I'll use this time to do something useful myself.” She regards the Doctor as she says to him, “I'm going to go scout on ahead. You two stay here until I tell you both that it's clear out there.”
“My, my,” the Doctor replies in surprise. “That's showing some initiative.
“Um . . . very well. If you insist.” The Doctor gestures to the exit with a grand sweep of his brown hoof. “Lady first,” he invites specifically to her.
In response, Stern Wing just nods in neutral acceptance and then proceeds to the exit. In doing so, this divides Feather Wind's attention between where Stern Wing is going and where Derpy went. He also glances at Vision for a couple of seconds as he realizes the little empathic foal is absorbing the emotions of everypony present, including that which others don't realize they are hiding or don't wish to reveal. At that moment it also occurs to Feather Wind that sensing others’ emotions might be somewhat akin to hearing a sound. Vision can pick it up everywhere around her, possibly even through solid objects and walls. When she does receive that information, she might not know how to process it. Just because she receives an extra layer of information doesn't mean she necessarily understands it. She is a foal, after all. There are likely many emotions around her that could overwhelm and/or confuse her.
When realizing this, Feather Wind privately wishes there was a way to shield her mind from unnecessary psychic intrusion.
Then Feather Wind privately wonders to himself what it must be like growing up constantly influenced by all these extra emotions around her and possibly getting confused about which ones are hers and which ones belong to others. It's more than likely there probably is a way to tell, but it takes time to develop that discernment. It's probably a learning curve just like everything else in life.
Feather Wind looks back at the exit when he hears Stern Wing open it a crack. There he sees Stern Wing pause for a cautious moment before very gradually opening it further. As she does this, Feather glances at the Doctor and notices him raise an eyebrow at Stern Wing, likely considering her behavior considerably more cautious than he's accustomed to seeing.
Feather Wind returns his gaze to the exit when Stern Wing opens the door enough to stick her head through, after which she promptly does.
“What do you notice out there?” Feather Wind checks.
“Crates,” Stern Wing answers. “Lots and lots of crates all around us. Pretty tall stacks, too. Some are about twenty feet high. Most of them are wrapped in either a tarp or some kind of net. They also look secure with ropes and ratchets.
“Um . . . I also smell the scent of the ocean out here. I think we're on a ship of some sort. Looks like a large one from what I can tell from here. The floor below us and the ceiling above us is made of metal. It looks kind of old and a bit rusty, but not enough to believe it's abandoned.”
“Decently thorough assessment so far,” commends the Doctor to Stern Wing. “What else?”
“The floor is a little wet, and it sways back and forth,” Stern Wing reports. “I hear the sound of crashing waves outside of this vessel, but I don't feel it at all from where I'm standing.”
“That's because-” the Doctor seems like he was about to explain something but Stern Wing interrupts.
“Stay here, you two,” Stern Wing orders. “I'll scout the perimeter a little further to see what else I can determine out there.”
Before either of them can say anything about it, Stern Wing steps outside and probably immediately regrets it for, when she does, she yelps as she falls away off to the right side.
“Stern Wing!” Feather cries out, startled, then gallops to the exit himself.
Just when he arrives at the door, however, he hears Stern Wing call from outside, “Stay inside!”
“Are you okay?” Feather Wind checks.
“Yeah. Just . . . give me a second,” she says as she flaps her way right back at the TARDIS. The moment she arrives, though, the environment seems to tilt in the other direction she initially fell away from. This causes her to miss the doorway despite flapping in the air, but this time she doesn't fall away as far because there is a large stack of crates on the other side to catch her.
Feather Wind peeks outside and notices the curious sight of Stern Wing trying to recover her balance while being pressed to the midsection of those crates for seemingly no reason.
“The TARDIS has its own personal gravity field,” the Doctor explains behind Feather Wind which prompts Feather to turn his right ear back to the Doctor. “It also extends a short distance away from the vessel. That's why we can be where we are without being affected by what is going on out there, but as soon as one steps beyond that field . . .”
“Then the natural gravity of the environment takes over,” Vision concludes. “Which, right now, the vessel we're on is heavily being tipped back and forth due to the violent storm outside.
“Hmm,” she scoffs. “I warned you all you'll get wet out there.”
Outside, it sounds to Feather like Stern Wing is recovering her balance and equilibrium, primarily by flying through the air and not touching anything.
“Are you okay out there Stern Wing?” Feather Wind repeats.
“I said stay inside! I mean it!” Stern Wing insists. “There actually is a moderately dangerous situation out here but I've got a hoofle on it now.”
“Yep, yep,” the Doctor says casually as he strides up to the exit of the TARDIS, peeks out himself, then leans on the right edge of the door frame as he announces, “That can happen sometimes. It can be so safe inside the TARDIS that it can lull you into a false sense of security.
“For instance, I remember this one time I had just exited the TARDIS and I barely had time to turn around before I got shot. It occurred right outside of this vessel. Not even a foot from this door.
“I perished not long after in a hospital which thus induced my seventh . . . No. Actually, it was my eighth regeneration. While not their fault due to their ignorance of my alien physiology compared to them, the doctors there made the erroneous but also understandable mistake of . . .”
The Doctor trails off as he looks at Feather Wind's spooked expression. In response, the Doctor shakes his head as he says, “The point is it is necessary to be cautious out there even right outside of this door. One never knows what exactly we'll find out there until we start exploring. I find the first few minutes of exploration to typically be the most crucial, especially if we don't know where or when we showed up. The very first thing we critically need to do at that point is to gather information.” He nods outside in approval. “And Stern Wing is doing precisely that out there. That mare sure is made of some sturdy stuff, too. That'll come in handy in our adventures, I'm sure.”
Both the Doctor and Feather Wind turn their heads and look behind them when they simultaneously notice Derpy stumbling back into the TARDIS' control room. She seems frantic at first, but the more she calms herself as she approaches, the more steady her balance becomes again. She stops a mere foot from Feather Wind and then extends her neck as she offers the dangling necklace with the tri-tip Red Crystal on it. The string of the necklace is otherwise held in her mouth. Apparently, after some sort of trouble, she managed to find it after all. While she offers it, Feather notices her left eye staring right at him with the kind sparkle of innocence in it, but the other eye was lazily drifting away to look off towards the upper-left corner.
“Ah . . . thank you,” Feather Wind tells her kindly as he accepts her offer by wrapping the necklace in his silvery aura magic and then floats it to secure it on his neck.
In reply, Derpy lifts her neck straight again and smiles kindly down at Feather Wind.
However, the moment Feather starts to turn his attention back out the exit, he pauses when he notices the disturbing sight of Derpy's smile fading and sadness twinkling in her eyes. This causes Feather to hesitate for a moment as he privately wonders what he did to upset her until it occurs to him that it has nothing to do with him specifically. Instead, it more likely stems from her desire to join them out there on this adventure, but unfortunately the blind and prone-to-sickness filly here demands a higher priority from her for the moment.
Feather hides a frown upon realizing that. He wishes he could think of something to help cheer her back up again. Maybe write her a poem later on?
Feather is shaken by these thoughts when Stern Wing returns. Feather Wind, the Doctor, and Derpy promptly back off to allow the large dark brown pegasus to return unhindered.
“What did you find?” the Doctor prompts the large pegasus.
“We're definitely in a . . . Oh hey! You got your necklace back,” she says directly to Feather Wind. “Nice. Be sure to hang onto it tightly this time.
“Well, anyway, as I was saying, we seem to be in a cargo bay on some kind of metallic vessel while it, in turn, is being rocked violently back and forth due to really intense weather outside. Giant waves are crashing on this vessel and I hear the groan and strain of the metal threatening to buckle. Maybe it already has a little bit. Some of the water has already leaked inside, but the natives here seem at least decently prepared for it. Despite the violent weather outside, the cargo seems pretty well secure. Nothing is tumbling out there that shouldn't except the water itself. Even there, the water is being drained off by some holes in the floor and grates off to the sides which appear designed to drain overflow. I wonder if that means they've dealt with situations like this plenty of times before.”
“Did you see anyone else out there?” the Doctor checks with Stern Wing. “Perhaps someone living?”
Stern Wing shakes her head as she says, “Not yet, but I might have vaguely heard alarmed cries outside this cargo bay. It's really hard to tell, though. If there is anypony else out there, their cries of alarm are easily being drowned out by the far more overwhelming noise of the storm outside.”
The Doctor cracks up a little bit at Stern Wing's description which causes Stern Wing to narrow her eyes questioningly and accusingly at him. After all, to her, she didn't say anything remotely funny. The situation seems quite grim to her.
“'Their cries were drowned out by the noise of the storm outside,'" the Doctor paraphrases with an emphasis to explain the source of his amusement.
Stern Wing looks taken aback at first but then it occurs to her what he must be referring to. When she finally gets it, she gives a disapproving shake of her head at the Doctor while trying to withhold a slightly amused grin on her face.
“Does it sound like the ship will buckle?” Feather asks in concern to Stern Wing.
“Maybe,” she replies with uncertainty. “All I know is it isn't buckling right now and the crew seems decently prepared. For all I know, this might be a common Tuesday event for them.”
The Doctor winces and shakes his head as he explains, “It seems they are prepared for this to some degree by the sounds of it, but you said the rusty-looking metal is being strained by the stress of the storm.”
Stern Wing shakes her head in confusion as she says, “I don't get it. Why is the storm this strong? It sounds to me like some weather ponies around here made some mistakes. Severe enough to get fired from their job.”
Out of the corner of his eyes, Feather Wind notices an embarrassed flash of a frown on Derpy, but then he regards the Doctor when he shakes his head and speaks.
“This isn't Equestria, nor is it even your planet entirely,” the Doctor explains. “Even if it is, the weather wasn't always under the direct control of you ponies.”
“That's true,” Derpy confirms. “The Doctor and I once visited a few ancient times when the magic in ponies wasn't so refined yet, nor was the magic in the environment refined either. In fact, even in my native time, there are some areas that weather ponies cannot control. The clouds over the Everfree Forest, which borders Ponyville, is one such example.”
“I know of a few places like that as well,” Feather Wind adds. “The Frozen North is another example.”
Derpy brightens a little as she proclaims, “That is where the Crystal Empire is . . . or rather, where it will be in your native time. But, even then, it took a powerful artifact to tame that weather, and even that artifact sort of needs maintenance from time to time. Something about a festival and charging it. Something about crystals, I think, and a Crystaling ceremony.” She shrugs to indicate she can't add much more on that specific topic.
“Are you sure this isn't our world?” Stern Wing asks the Doctor with some clear doubt on her face. “You haven't even set a hoof outside the TARDIS yet.”
“But I have gathered some useful intel here, primarily thanks to you,” the Doctor counters with a nod of approval at the large mare. “Decent enough to start to give me a good picture of what we're dealing with here. I think I know which planet we're dealing with, too, or at least I know the human world equivalent. In this dimension, however, I suspect the natives have been ponified which leads me to conclude we're actually in a parallel version of the world I'm thinking of.”
“And what is that planet like?” Derpy asks the Doctor curiously with a touch of concern.
“'Water World' is a pretty apt description if my theory is correct,” the Doctor says with a nod to indicate toward Vision. “If this is the planet I'm thinking of then either ninety-seven to one-hundred percent of it is covered in water, not counting potentially numerous vessels like this. That is to say, the planet has very little or no actual natural landmass. If it does have any land, it's a mostly sparse scattering of islands primarily localized in a certain region on the planet. Only one decently sized continent has ever known to exist on this planet and it sometimes drowns out or re-emerges in other eras. That is why that continent is often referred to as a mythical 'promised land' by many natives of that planet's history. Many do not think it actually exists. Sadly, even when it is known to exist by a few elites, the knowledge tends to be hidden for selfish purposes.
“As for the natives of the 'lost' and 'mythical' continent itself, it has had many ups and downs across the planet's history. In some eras, it is an advanced and technological paradise, and other times it is a cesspool of greed and corruption. Whenever the latter is true, a cataclysm, typically in the form of a great flood, is usually just around the corner as if summoned by the natives' inner turmoil.
“That said, the planet is also far more well-known for its sizable fleets or artificial floating cities. In some eras of their history, they've even been known to make entire giant artificial landmasses.
“But surface dwellers aren't the only natives here. The planet predictably has aquatic races too, including sentient races. If they have been ponified as well, I'm curious to see exactly what form they took and if that has any cultural significance to their history.” He widely grins. “I'm quite excited to explore this place now. I can't wait to see what might have changed.”
“In the dimension you came from, you claim a certain two-legged species known as 'humans' were especially common?” Feather Wind checks.
The Doctor nods and says, “Correct.”
“And you think these predominantly humanoid races were replaced by an equal degree of quadruped races in this dimension?” Feather checks further.
The Doctor rubs the bottom of his chin with a hoof as he says, “I haven't been in this dimension for long, but I'm beginning to suspect so. It's as if, in this dimension, some intelligent designer, who was responsible for all initial creations, almost went with a two-legged race as a widespread default but then suddenly changed his or her mind and said, 'Wait a minute. Why not try a four-legged design by default instead? That might be cuter,' so that being went ahead with that alternative plan.
“Mind you, I'm not necessarily saying that such a being exists. I'm only using it as an example of the pattern I've noticed from each dimension's overall path in their natural evolutionary process. There seems to be a different frame of mind with each example. The more evidence I gather of that, the more certain my conclusions become. That's why I need to keep on exploring. Not just for the sake of fun, although that remains true too. I'm also doing this to gather a general picture of the changes at large. Doing so might be significant because it also means certain races I've known before might not exist in this dimension at all or may have been modified potentially heavily. That's probably both a good and a bad thing. I have known certain races that have been absolutely devastating, but an equal number that has been crucial in a beneficial way. If either example doesn't exist here or has been heavily modified, I need to know because that certainly adjusts my plan moving forward.”
“In what way?” Stern Wing checks cautiously before shrugging and admitting, “I can't hoofle too complicated of an explanation. I'm only asking about your plans in a general sense.”
“That depends on what I discover,” the Doctor announces very seriously. “I've known very important races that have existed before for good and for ill. Sometimes both. If either example has changed then it could have profound ripple effects across the history of countless societies. I don't mean to sound arrogant when I say this, but my race is one such example because we have been time and space travelers throughout much of our history and, as such, affected the history of many other societies. If they never existed here or they do but in some very different way then that discovery is significantly huge. Trust me, you don't even want to know how important that discovery will be.”
“Then let's just stick with the present moment,” Feather Wind advises. “We're here now. Let's see what we can discover. One hoof in front of the other. The start of any journey begins with a single step.”
“We already have discovered some important information,” Stern Wing reminds. “This ship is suffering from a very large storm right now. Large enough to be potentially dangerous.” She lifts a wing in a halting gesture in front of her chest as she says, “I'm not saying that as an excuse to hide in the TARDIS despite how wise that would normally be. Instead, I think it's something we need to keep in mind as we continue to explore. Violent storms are never a laughing matter to those being challenged by it. Nature is so much more powerful than any of us can be. Even you, Feather Wind, who can have a significant influence over the weather and sky. We need to keep that in mind because it is never wise to underestimate it.”
“Well said,” the Doctor compliments and agrees. “But that said, I'd count it as a blessing if that were our only challenge in this particular journey. In my many adventures, I have often encountered sentient antagonists and I have never been fond of the idea of having an intelligent enemy because that virtually guarantees that someone's feelings will be hurt.”
Stern Wing looks at the exit of the TARDIS anxiously as she says, “I know it's ironic for me to say considering we arrived here in a time machine, but we're wasting time here. We may be safe in here, but there are others out there who are possibly not.” She looks back at her companions. “So if we are committed to the righteous path of a hero then let's stop talking and get this done.”
“Or gather more intel at the very least,” the Doctor somewhat agrees. “Right then.” He looks at Derpy then points at Vision as he says, “She's definitely not going and it probably is a good idea for you to hold back as well. Stern Wing is very sturdy and strong for a pegasus and Feather Wind is a trained wizard who is also highly and very unusually well connected to weather for a unicorn, but you . . ."
He trails off, hoping she will connect the dots so he doesn't have to outright say it.
Derpy shakes her head as she says, “You don't have to say it, Doctor. I get your meaning, so go!” She nods to the exit. “Save the day, Doctor. Same as you always do.” She gives a soft and brave smile that belies the pain she is hiding inside. “While you do, I will be here to serve and cheer you on as best as I can, and I will take very good care of Vision while I am here. I promise you this, Doctor.”
The Doctor passes a very deep smile of appreciation back to Derpy as he confidently says, “I know you will.”
His smile fades away in favor of a more serious expression as he turns and regards Feather Wind and Stern Wing. He nods at them as he says, “Right. Venture on, my friends. May this be the first of many foolish adventures we'll share together.”