//------------------------------// // Stranded in Space Part 5: Open Space // Story: Adventures in the TARDIS // by Scroll //------------------------------// “Feather Wind? Are you out here?” calls out Vision's voice. In doing so, she rouses Feather Wind from his meditative focus. He opens his eyes as he relaxes his trance connection with the Red Crystal. As a result, the crimson glow around the Red Crystal gradually dims again as it hangs out in front of him while it floats in this zero-gravity environment. Similarly, his mane is floating about in a manner he had only encountered on one pony before, and that was Princess Celestia. As his eyes focus, he drinks in the view of the endless sea of stars alight all around him except straight down where the sidewards view of the TARDIS obstructs further star gazing in that direction. Feather then leans forward and gazes down into the sideward view inside the TARDIS and its still open doors. There he sees Vision standing at the threshold of the vehicle from the inside. “Yes. I am out here, Vision. Watch your steh . . . Um.” Feather Wind rethinks his words. “Scratch that. Vision, I'm warning you that if you take one more step forward, you will be outside of the TARDIS and in a zero gravity zone.” “I know. I'm aware of that,” Vision assures. “So . . . a little help?” “You wish to join me out here?” Feather Wind surmises. “Yes,” Vision answers simply. “Okay. Be warned that my magic is a little ticklish, and the sensation of being in zero-g may take some getting used to,” Feather Wind cautions before grabbing small portions of her body, particularly the tips of her hooves which has the least number of nerves, and uses it to guide her out of the TARDIS. Once there, zero gravity takes a hold of her. To her credit, she does not utter a peep. Now that she's weightless, he easily guides her forward, around, and to the side of the TARDIS so she can sit on it as if it is a bench in outer space. “Okay. I'm guiding you to the side of the TARDIS beside me. Once there, use your hoof to latch onto the vessel,” Feather Wind instructs. “If you don't, you could float off into space, although I would rescue you and pull you back well before you cross the air shield here in that case.” “Alright,” Vision says simply. With that, Feather Wind gently sets her down directly beside him. Once he does that, she touches the TARDIS and thus latches onto it with a magical, magnetic-like grip. “It feels funny having my innards float freely,” Vision remarks calmly. “I know. It's a strange sensation at first,” Feather Wind agrees. “It almost feels as relaxing as floating in water. Both of our manes and tails are, indeed, floating about like such.” “So . . . you really like open spaces, huh?” Vision guesses. “It wouldn't surprise me if a pony with a natural affinity for the open sky might feel claustrophobic in the TARDIS after a week of floating in space.” “Well . . . yes and no. It depends.” Feather Wind chuckles softly in amusement before he says, “Funny. I said something similar with Doctor Kelly in my private therapy session with her two days . . . Well. More like two sleep cycles ago. Days and nights seem awfully ambiguous when we're just floating out there in the middle of outer space. “Anyway, as I was saying, I told her then, as I am telling you now, my comfort level with narrow or open spaces largely depends on what I am doing. If I am studying, reading, or writing, I actually prefer enclosed, quiet, and dark places with a soft flicker of candlelight. Maybe some relaxing music too, especially instrumental. “But whenever I'm not doing those things, I suppose I do tend to prefer open spaces in general. And wow . . . it doesn't get much more open than this.” Feather Wind takes in a deep, savoring breath as he stares out into the endless sea of stars and glowing nebula clouds. “I really wish you could see this,” Feather laments softly. “It is such a beautiful sight. On our home planet, stars like this are only visible at night, not accounting for Celestia's sun. However, in that world, and likely many others with an atmosphere, the stars twinkle which is basically an intermittent pulse and a very slight sparkle. Out here, however, the lights of the stars are totally steady. “And it's quiet out here.” He closes his eyes and savors this experience. “Oh so very quiet.” “You were working on your attunement to the Red Crystal out here,” Vision remarks. “I sense you made a lot of progress, for the Crystal was communicating back.” “Yeah,” Feather agrees as he slowly exhales a breath. When he finishes that, he goes on to say, “Doctor Kelly taught me a new strategy on how to understand the attunement process. It's not unlike the sonic harmonics of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, except the energy is magical. There is a very steady hum to the energy of Crystals. It feels slower, yet it also kind of feels like a heartbeat. That is how I can best describe it.” “I'm well aware of that,” Vision conveys. “I've communed with crystals before too, back in my homeland. Sacred crystals we use for all kinds of ceremonies.” “Oh yeah!” He expresses as he looks at the white filly beside him. “I keep forgetting that you're a religious icon back where you came from. Both you and your mother. Out here, ever since I set hoof in the TARDIS, time has felt wonky. Some memories of my past feel distant and sometimes they feel close. The feeling with the same memories can change over time as well. It's so weird.” “I wonder if the Doctor would have called it, 'Temporal Psychosis',” Vision muses. “If not him, then it certainly sounds like something Doctor Kelly might say,” Feather muses with an amused chuckle. “Oh, that reminds me, how was your session with Doctor Kelly?” “It was good. Productive,” Vision answers. “We learned a lot about each other. Doctor Kelly was especially interested in my psychic abilities. She wanted to record and document that phenomenon. She also asked me a lot of questions about my homeland. I told her whatever I could and isn't a secret for any reason, but I also warned her that I was a very sheltered pony at the time. Not exactly by choice, but I can understand why my culture was very careful with how they treated me and what they exposed me to. Many also feared that too much exposure might taint my abilities somehow. The system they had worked so they were nervous to tamper with it.” “Many of them gave their lives up to defend you and your mother when Puppet Master attacked the temple. I keenly remember that,” Feather assures with a shudder. “I can't question their dedication. You were just that important to them.” “You shared this information with Doctor Kelly as well, didn't you?” Vision guesses. “We touched on it a little. I also know she's aware of the incident,” Feather informs her. “But she advised me to go slower because she knows this is a very traumatic experience for me. I still have nightmares about those ponies' shredded corpses which Puppet Master animated and made it seem like they were singing some chilling nursery rhyme. That and that echo-y, ghostly foal laughter. It haunts me still.” “I was there too,” Vision reminds. “Yeah, but you didn't see those corpses. Sometimes I envy your blindness.” “I see in my own way,” Vision assures. Feather looks back at her as he asks, “Is that how you made it to me? It didn't sound like anypony escorted you to me this time.” “I followed my empathic impressions to you,” Vision tells him. “Besides that, I have a keen intuition inside the TARDIS for some reason. It feels like my psychic sensations are magnified in there, especially with anything specifically pertaining to the TARDIS itself. I can just 'feel' my way around the ship. I'm learning to know it as if coming to understand an aspect of myself.” “You did say the perspective and existence of the TARDIS is timeless,” Feather reminds. “And your psychic senses can see through time as well. Maybe there is a correlation there. It's like you're a kindred spirit with the TARDIS.” “That may be,” Vision casually agrees as she playfully kicks her hind hooves intermittently as she sits on the edge of the TARDIS. Sometimes her hind legs swing inside the TARDIS since the doors are still open. “Anyway, I feel I don't need to see the stars when I can feel your wonder of it. Besides that, I have seen the stars, sometimes, in my dreams.” Vision pauses for a moment before she adds, “I have even seen from within a star. To feel its warmth. Its radiance. Its light. Its love.” She smiles. “That is truly spectacular.” She tilts her head to the side. “I get the impression that the wonder of gazing upon them from the outside feels nowhere near as sensational as knowing what it is like to be a star.” “You are such a marvel, Vision,” Feather says with a smile. “You're right. You do have a unique way of looking upon the universe. Both me and especially Stern Wing and Derpy feel cautious around you, but you make up for your hoofycaps in very unique ways. Ways that likely lead to the maturity that Derpy sometimes complains about. Likely that is hard to help, though, for you see much deeper layers to the universe than ponies do with their naked eyes.” “You wrote a poem about that, didn't you?” Vision suddenly realizes. “Similar to me, you see pretty deeply into the world as well. I sensed that about you a long time ago. You don't just trust your eyes. You feel deeper than that. I wonder if that's a common trait among good artists. “It's the same with your magic and your attempt to connect with the Red Crystal. You experience everything as something that is beyond mere visual form. You sense the deeper layers of truth and you trust it. I suspect you couldn't connect to the winds and the sky as deeply as you have if it weren't for those innate traits.” “You may be right,” Feather Wind agrees with a soft grin of his own. “I tend to look beyond the mundane. That, I think, is more than just a unicorn trait. At my core, that is just me. It is who I am.” “Trust your instincts, Feather,” Vision advises. “There is more wisdom buried within it than your intellectual mind, as formidable as that is too, can ever know. You don't need to seek the answers when you can simply be them instead. It's a matter of perspective, and many tend to underestimate those gifts.” Vision breathes in deeply for a moment before she says in a wispy way, “It's consciousness. That's all existence really is, was, and ever shall be.” “The monks at your temple taught you these things too?” Feather Wind guesses. “I'd say they introduced me to these concepts, but knowing that knowledge and being that knowledge I did on my own. They showed me the door and I trotted through it. When I did, I never really returned from the other side of that door. I just kept on going. I explored the nature of existence by feeling it. Much like you tend to study more easily in the quiet dark, my life has ever been that from day one. Without seeing the distractions of the three-dee world, I learned to 'look' beyond it. I pierced the veils and experience deeper layers of truth. That is my purpose, Feather. That is what my cutie mark represents. So important is that knowledge and guidance for this journey that entire prophesies have foretold my coming in my home culture. Prophesies exist not only to prepare the world for my coming, but to help teach the world that there are layers to existence that transcend time. That already is an inherent lesson. My mere existence is meant to teach something important.” “You are such a fascinating little filly, Vision,” Feather Wind marvels. “I feel honored by your wisdom and guidance.” “And you don't just treat me like a little filly. Unlike the others, even the Doctor in his own way, you sense the truth and respect that. That part of you bows in humility. For that reason, Feather, you are wiser than you know.” “That's the nature of wisdom, I think,” Feather Wind muses. “It's not about what we know but rather a calm awareness and acceptance of our ignorance. To empty our minds of worldly clutters and let more brilliant rays of truth shine through unobstructed.” “That's why you meditate,” Vision informs. “That's the small part of you trying to channel your greater, higher self. Being as connected to nature as you are, you have the advantage of already sensing a natural rhythm. It is sometimes cluttered by worldly concerns, but that is why you keep coming back out here to open spaces and the quiet. In silence, you are centered. It is the roots of nature that keep anchoring you back to that center even if you occasionally stray from it.” Just then, both of them sensed activity pick up in the Red Crystal. The crystal starts to hum, particularly in an empathic and magical sense. Both of them sense that, but Vision understands it better. “The wheels of fate are turning,” Vision announces mysteriously. “The next chapter shall soon begin. We are about to enter a central node to our existence.” “I only partially understand,” Feather warns. “Good,” Vision commends. “To understand that, you must abandon your worldly knowledge to embrace a larger truth.” They are silent for a moment as the Red Crystal continues to hum. “Come,” Vision says she lets go of the TARDIS. “The Doctor has awakened, as soon we shall all bear witness to the next crux of our journey.” Feather just stares forward blankly as he absorbs this information numbly before shaking his head and reminding himself that Vision had just let go of the TARDIS and is now starting to float off into space without a shred of concern. To save her from straying too far, he grabs them both with his magic and then guides them safely back into the ship.