An Unearthly Filly

The ponies from the future were growing weary, but continued on knowing they were close.  Perennial was the first to see it.

"The TARDIS!  It's the TARDIS!"

Their celebration was cut short when, from the tall grass, several of the pony primitives got up from where they had been crouching.

"Get back!" Cheerilee yelled.  They turned only to come face-to-face with the pony that had kidnapped the Doctor.  She grinned a malicious grin.  Cheerilee could only scream in shock.

MY LITTLE PONY: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC

&

DOCTOR WHO

IN

AN UNEARTHLY FILLY

PART 4

The four ponies from the TARDIS were led back to the herd.  The ponies from the primitive herd were far too numerous to even think about fighting with.  They forced Big Macintosh to continue carrying the injured mare.  Most likely, Cheerilee thought, to keep him from fighting or running.  Or perhaps it simply had not occurred to them to make him drop her.  The male pony was led along with the Cheerilee, Perennial, and the Doctor. There was no doubt he a prisoner as well.  As soon as the group was in the middle of the herd, they had Big Macintosh place the female pony on the grass, then immediately surrounded them all so they could not move or run.

One of the ponies stepped forward.  Cheerilee recognized her from their first capture.  She was the one who had argued with the mare over leadership and farming.  Looking between them, Cheerilee noticed both ponies had had nearly identical cutie marks, showing what looked like a crude drawing of a single pony standing above two others.  She looked around at the other ponies in the herd and saw other crude but identical cutie marks among them.  Some had a pony split from the remainder of the herd.  Some females had an adult pony next to foals.  While similar cutie marks were far from unheard of, Cheerilee had never before heard of ponies with identical ones.

Then again, Cheerilee theorized, Modern Equestria has so many things for everypony to do.  A herd like this probably only had so many tasks and talents to go around.  If both these ponies have a talent for leadership, it was no wonder they're in conflict.

Cheerilee was so caught up in her thoughts she almost didn't notice the female pony start to speak.

"Ta and the male went with them.  I, Mus, stopped them!"

"They saved Ta from death!" the male said, attempting to explain.

"They showed how to leave the Pit of Bones and went with them!" Mus shouted over him.

"The Old Nag freed them!" The male shouted just as loud.  Mus looked down in disdain at the injured pony, Ta.  Rather than yell again, her next words were said low and with contempt.

"Ta is so weak, a male speaks for her."  This was too much for the male.

"It was the Old Nag! She showed them how to climb out the Pit of Bones!"

"The Old Nag can not speak." Mus said, "She can not say she did this or that.  She is dead.  Ta killed the Old Nag!"

Ignoring the male's objections, Mus walked over and held up Ta's foreleg with her own.

"The Old Nag was killed by Ta's own hooves!"

The herd was turning ugly.  They were ready to lynch Ta and her stallion until a new voice entered the conversation.

"There's no blood on those hooves."

Mus's eyes widened.  She looked to the Doctor.

"I said those hooves have no blood on them!"

The herd took a look and noticed the same thing.  Cheerilee hoped it didn't occur to any of them that they had cleaned Ta's coat to remove any blood from the predator attack.  The Doctor seemed to have matters under control, however.  That's when Cheerilee noticed the other mare's hooves...

"Those hooves lie." Mus claimed, "They do not show what they have done."

"Finer than your own, my dear." the Doctor said, "I have seen these hooves fight a fierce creature and send it fleeing.  Can yours say the same."

"I will show you what my hooves can do!" Mus yelled and reared up, ready to use her front hooves to pound down on the Doctor, only to find her momentum stopped by the sudden appearance of an orage glow surrounding her.  Stuck that way, in the Doctor's telekinesis, her forelegs were on prominent display to everypony in the herd.  Everypony could see what Cheerilee had noticed.  While the herd's ponies were not one for keeping their hooves clean, Mus was the only one whose muddy legs were also covered in red.

"These hooves have blood on them." the Doctor said, his horn glowing orange with the spell to keep Mus suspended, "You can clearly see what these hooves have done."

Still not releasing his spell, he walked over to Ta.

"Did you kill the old pony?"

"I did not." Ta replied.  The Doctor and turned to Mus.

"You killed the old pony!"

Mus's eyes showed a clear mixture of fear and defiance.  She closed her eyes, then opened them and shouted.

"Yes! She freed them.  She did this.  So I, Mus, I killed her!"

The crowd continued to turn ugly, but now their fury had a new target.  The Doctor was perfectly willing to fan the flames.

"Is this your strong leader?" The Doctor called out to the herd at large, "One who kills your elders?  Hmm?  Huh?  He is a bad leader!  He will kill you all!"

The herd ponies were now beyond furious.  Cheerilee recognized that all it would take was just one more push.  The Doctor looked to her and gave a brief nod.  His horn flared up in orange light and threw Mus to the ground.

"Drive her out!" he called, "Drive her out!"

Big Macintosh picked up on the Doctor's cue as well.  He rushed forward and tackled Mus as the pony tried to stand.  Cheerilee saw this serve as that last critical push as the entire herd now took up the Doctor's cry of "Drive her out."

Mus made one valiant attempt to fight back.  It was futile before the mass of assembled ponies who then proceeded to chase the would-be leader into the night.  As the herd focused on running Mus out, Cheerilee watched Big Macintosh approach the pony Ta.

"The herd is more 'n one pony." he told her.  Ta took a moment to consider this as the herd returned.  Once all were back, she addressed them.

"Mus is no longer of the herd.  We will watch.  We will all fight Mus if she returns.  We will watch."

The herd nodded at their leader's words.  They also obeyed their leader's next command.

"Take them to the Pit of Bones."

The four outsiders found themselves trapped once again in the mob of primitive ponies.  Big Macintosh was the first to respond.

"I'll teach ya farmin'." he told Ta, "You don' gotta do this."

Ta did not listen, instead assigning ponies to guard the pit so they could not repeat their escape attempt.  Big Macintosh began to try and wrestle his way out.

"Don't struggle." the Doctor told Big Macintosh.  As they were being led away, Ta gave one last order.

"If you see them leave the Pit, kill them."

Once the majority of the other ponies were away, Ta rested herself back down on the grass.  She looked to her mate.

"Tell me," she said to Bron, "What happened after I fought the cat."

"You were stronger than the beast." Bron told her, "You threw it from your back and the red one finished it off.  Then you lay on the earth.  I believed you dead."

"What did they do?"

"The lead mare of their tribe came to you. She did not kill. She called herself 'Friend.'"

"They must come from the mountains." Ta said.

"Nothing runs there." Bron scoffed.

"There are others there! This new herd must come from there.  Continue."

"I did not understand all they did.  They moved slowly. They were not fierce.  Friend was like a dam guarding her foal."

"They are a new herd." Ta realized, "Not like us.  Not like Mus.  The mate of Friend, he spoke to me."

"What did he say?"

"The herd is more than one pony."

"I do not understand." Bron replied.

"The whole herd drove away Mus. The whole tribe can fight a beast where one would die."

Bron thought about this. Looking up at the late night sky, he asked another question.

"They can not be of the mountains... do... do you think they could have come from the Fire?"

"No." Ta shook her head, "But they do understand how the Fire brings the Green... and they will not tell us."

"So you will not kill them?"

"No.  The leader must be able to provide food.  I do not want to be driven out like Mus.  I must grow the green." Ta laid her head down, "I will rest.  Then I will speak with them.  I must learn more.  Their leader Friend will know more."

* * * * *

"Is this what you wanted Mr. Macintosh?" Perennial asked as she carried a batch of the dark soil from the pit using one of the skulls.

"Eee-yup." Big Macintosh told her.  He took the skull in his mouth and dumped it on the ground in front of him.  He used his hooves to spread the soil over some seeds he had planted earlier.  Cheerilee supposed she shouldn't be surprised that Big Macintosh always carried a few seeds on him.  She wondered if he'd collected any during their initial exploration or when they had rested during their earlier escape.  The more pressing question on her mind, however, was why Big Macintosh insisted on planting any of his seeds here of all places.

She could only suppose it gave him something to do, as a full day and night passed above the pit.  The ponies had taken the opportunity to get some sleep and get rid of some of their exhaustion from the failed escape but otherwise had little else to occupy them.

"Will it really grow so quickly?" Perennial asked. She had taken to eagerly watching Big Macintosh's project to see what would happen.

"Eee-yup." Big Macintosh explained, "Good soil 'n' compost here.  Few personal touches will finish the job."

Despite being one herself, Cheerilee never failed to marvel at the age-old ability of Earth Ponies to grow plants more efficiently than anypony else.  Regardless, Cheerilee wondered if Big Macintosh was pushing his luck, apparently trying to make a plant grow in just one day.

The Doctor wasn't watching Big Macintosh.  Instead he was looking up at the edge of the pit.  Cheerilee noticed and, following his gaze, saw the pony called Ta walking the stone path the old mare had previously shown them to enter the pit.  She looked to Big Macintosh, then turned to Cheerilee.

"You are the one called 'Friend?'" Ta asked as she walked up to Cheerilee.  It took Cheerilee a moment to realize what she meant.

"Yes." she replied.

Big Macintosh looked up, apparently only just noticing the new arrival.  The Doctor chastised him and told him not to stop.

"Bron said you are 'Friend.'  I am Ta.  You are lead mare of your herd?"

"Um, no." Cheerilee nodded to the Doctor, "He's the one who leads us, actually."

Ta looked confused at the idea of a male as leader.  Perennial chose this moment to speak up.

"Are you going to set us free, Miss Ta?"

Ta did not respond to the filly.  She simply glared at her until Perennial backed away.

"I think you come from the mountains." Ta said, "Show me how to grow the Green, and I will take you to those mountains again.  Do not show me, I will leave you in the pit."

"Jus' about got it." Big Macintosh said, apparently oblivious to the conversation around him.

"Do you understand?" the Doctor asked Ta, "We are bringing the Green.  For you!"

"I am watching."

Big Macintosh stopped his work and looked Ta straight in the eyes.

"Everypony should see." he said.

"Every pony cannot be leader."

"That's perfectly true." Cheerilee said, "But in our herds, growing food does not make one a leader by itself."

Ta snorted in disbelief.

"He is but one among many who can grow food." The Doctor explained.

Cheerilee and Perennial looked at one another, hoping the Doctor wouldn't try to claim they could.

"There." Big Macintosh said.

The ponies broke off their conversations and looked at Big Macintosh's hooves.  From the ground, fertilized by the minerals left from the decaying bones and tended to all day and night by Earth Pony magic, a small bud came from the ground.  Ta looked on in amazement.

"Show 'em." Big Macintosh said.

Ta nodded.  Using a skull much as Perennial did before, she dug out the plant and carried it up out of the pit.  The others made to follow.  Ta initially glared at them, then nodded and went up out of the pit.  The other ponies decided to follow behind her.

"So can we go, now?" Perennial asked hopefully.

"I don't think we can go quite yet." Cheerilee replied.

"Give her a chance, give her a chance." the Doctor said, "Let her show her herd the plant, establish her leadership and she will let us leave."

"Shouldn't we teach 'em more." Big Macintosh said.

"No." the other three said together.

* * * * *

Ta carried the skull with the green plant inside.  Though just a bud, the fact that it was grown through the work of a pony instead of just on its own left the herd in awe.  The outsider ponies followed close behind, standing at the edge of the Pit of Bones.

"Green!" Ta cried after setting down the skull and the plant.

The herd crowded around to stare at it.

"I give you the green!" Ta said, "I am leader!  We will feed and give water to our new herd!"

The ponies cheered, except for one.  The elder mare who was Bron's mother.

"Our grazing begins to run out."

"It will last!" Ta said, "Long enough to grow food of our own."

The ponies were lead into the center of the herd, brought near a small watering hole to drink from.  There was grass enough around them to bend down and eat if they wished.  The leader Ta began speaking again with Big Macintosh.  He began offering the mare more instruction on just how to grow plants and why certain techniques were used.  Cheerilee noted he was doing quite well at explaining things, despite his preference for being a stallion of few words.

"I will go and find seeds." Ta announced, "Watch the new herd.  They will be here when I return!"

Much like their earlier capture, the herd's ponies circled around the group, preventing any attempt at escape.

"Looks like they decided to keep us." Cheerilee said.  The herd began to lead the group to a particular area.  One, Cheerilee noticed, where the grass was a bit higher than where they had been around the pit of bones.  As they were marched along, Ta's mate approached them.

"Why are you keeping us here?" Cheerilee asked.

"Ta said keep you here while she gets seeds." he told her, "We are taking you to where you can graze."

"Please!" Perennial said with a sob, "Let us go!  It's terrible here."

"Ta is leader." Bron told her.

"But we helped you.  You can raise food now." Perennial replied.

Bron stared the filly down, much as Ta had.  The girl quailed and ran back to her grandfather's side.  Big Macintosh, marching along the others, looked as though he could kick himself.

"Shoulda waited." he told Cheerilee, "Gotten some way to make sure they couldn' do this."

"We're alive." Cheerilee said, "More than we'd be if we hadn't given them farming."

When their march stopped they were near a small watering hole with a patch of high grass with easy walking distance.

"All the comforts of home..." Cheerilee said as she bent her head down.  Grazing was far less common in civilized Equestria, but everypony was still taught at an early age the value of it in situations where prepared food wasn't readily available.  Ta eventually returned with seeds found throughout the fields and wooded areas scattered around the area.  Carrying them in her mouth, she spit them out in front of Big Macintosh for inspection.  As he looked them over, to see if they were fit for planting and how to let Ta know the difference, the Doctor approached the herd's lead mare.

"When are you going to let us go, hmm?" he asked.

"You will stay here." she said, "I have the knowing of seeds and planting.  But there is much to know.  Your herd and my herd will join together."

All four ponies glared at her.

"We need to leave." Cheerilee told her.

"Why?" She asked, "There is no better place on the other side of the mountains.  Do not try to leave."

Ta reclaimed her seeds and marched off.

"We need to frighten them..." the Doctor muttered, "Break them so they will lower their guard around us..."

Hearing this, Cheerilee saw Perennial grow thoughtful.  Cheerilee watched as the filly's head turned towards the Pit of Bones.

Definitely frightening. Cheerilee thought, thinking of the graveyard, But it's not like we can use...

That was when she saw Perennial starting to grin.

* * * * *

Perennial's plan was readily accepted by the adults.  To implement it, the Doctor had to get close to the Pit of Bones.  While the herd was no longer watching their every move, they were still mindful of what their new herdmates were doing.  The ponies, as a rule, appeared to avoid the Pit unless they had a specific reason to be there.  They needed something to distract the herd for the few critical minutes they would need for the Doctor to get to work.

Cheerilee was quick to come up with a solution to that.  At her suggestion Big Macintosh and Perennial made their way as close to Ta as the herd would allow.

"Um... hello." she said, cringing a little at their glares, "Um... I just wanted to tell you that I-I saw that pony.  You know... that other pony that wanted to be leader."

That got their attention.  Immediately Ta was snout to snout with the filly.

"Where?!"

With a squeak of fright Perennial pointed her hoof to the west.  Ta nodded and began to run in that direction.

"Remember!" Big Macintosh called out.  Ta stopped suddenly.  She looked to Big Macintosh, nodded, and shouted to some ponies to join her in the search.   The returned to Cheerilee and the Doctor.

"She took a lot of ponies with her to go after that other pony."

"That should keep them running around for a little while." Cheerilee replied.

"Eee-yup." Big Macintosh said, "Doctor?"

"Of course."

With fewer ponies to watch them, the party was able to reach the edge of the pit of bones without anyone paying them much mind.  The Doctor studied the bones at the bottom for a few moments before nodding.  With only the barest appearance of concentration, the Doctor's horn lit up with orange light.  At the bottom of the pit, several of the bones began to float and come together.  With just a little work the Doctor's magic had assembled three full skeletons of ponies.  Once they were out of the pit, Cheerilee nodded to Perennial.

Perennial took a deep breath and let out a high, piercing scream of utter terror.  She was quite pleased with it.  The head of everypony in the herd shot up and looked in the direction of the scream.

Just in time to see the dead rising.

Were the ponies paying close attention they might have seen the skeletons were only loosely assembled.  They might have noticed they were surrounded by the same orange light as the Doctor's horn.  They might have noticed a lot of things.  But the sudden scream, the sight of moving skeletons, and their own lack of knowledge of magic meant that all they noticed were the bones of the dead coming their way.

To a mare the ponies turned and bolted.  As they stampeded away from the terrible creatures, the Doctor and the rest of the party ran back in the direction of the TARDIS.  Knowing the way now, they simply ran for all they were worth.

* * * * *

Ta and her party was returning to the herd after a fruitless search for Mus when she saw the stampede.  The herd, seeing their leader everypony headed for her.

"What has happened?!" Ta demanded.

"The Pit of Bones has come alive!" Bron screamed.

Ta looked behind the herd.  The bones that had been moving before now lie lifeless as they ever had on the ground.

"They were surrounded by the Fire." Bron told her.

"The Fire?" Ta's head snapped up, looking into the distance, "Where are the outsiders?!"

None of the herd could provide an answer.

"The old one tricked you!" she yelled, "He controlled them with his Fire!  After them!"

* * * * * *

The four time traveling ponies ran for all they were worth.  They didn't know how long their scare tactic would keep the herd running.  Knowing where to go this time it didn't take them nearly as long to reach the TARDIS as their previous escape.

They could hear the sound of pursuit as they reached the blue box.  It was far enough behind that they got inside well before anypony was able to catch up.  Perennial was the first one inside and hit the switch to close the door as soon as all four of them were inside.  Cheerilee sat down on the nearest seat she could find.  Perennial didn't even get that far, simply collapsing where she stood.

"Get us outta here!" Cheerilee called from the bench.

"Yes, yes yes!" the Doctor replied as he hit the necessary buttons and switches to set the TARDIS into motion.

* * * * *

Outside the TARDIS, Ta and the herd reached the strange blue tree just as its top began to light up.  They heard noises unlike anything in nature and could only watch as the blue thing vanished into the air.

* * * * *

The sound of the TARDIS's takeoff faded, replaced with a lower humming noise. Perennial picked herself up from the floor and approached the center stand of the ship.  The Doctor looked at the lights and dials on it.

"Yes, it's matching up." he said.

"We're beginning to land already?"

"Oh, how I wish..."

"We goin' home?" Big Macintosh asked.

"You know I can't do that." the Doctor said, "Please be reasonable."

"What?!" Big Macintosh and Cheerilee said together.  Cheerilee jumped out of her chair.

"You've got to take us back!  You must!" Cheerilee said.  The Doctor waved his hoof at the stand.

"You see," he began as he walked around it, "This isn't working properly.  Or rather, the code is still a secret.  Feed it with the right data, precise information to a second at the beginning of a journey, and then we can fix a destination.  But I had no data at my disposal!"

"You can't work this thing, can you?" Cheerilee asked.

"No, of course I can't. I'm not a miracle worker." the Doctor replied.

"You can’t blame grandfather." Perennial said, "We left the other place too quickly, that's all."

"Did you even try to return us home?" Cheerilee demanded.

"Well, I got you away from that other time, didn't I?"

"That's not what I asked."

"It's the only way I can answer you, young lady."

The background humming eventually died down.  The column in the center of the stand stopped its up and down motion.  The Doctor once again looked at the lights and dials again.

"Now... now we shall see."

The crystal display that had shown them the prehistoric fields before now showed them a new scene.  Rather than an open plain, they now saw what looked to be a forest covered in thick mist.  The forest's trees were all white

"It could be anywhere." the Doctor said, examining his instruments, "Dear dear dear dear, i-it's no help to us at all! Well, I suggest before we go outside and explore, let us clean ourselves up."

"Oh, yes!" Perennial agreed.  Arguments with the Doctor aside, Cheerilee liked the idea as well, after running around prehistoric times for nearly two days straight.

"What are the background magic levels like, Perennial?" the Doctor asked.

Perennial stood up over the center stand and looked at some dials.

"They're reading normal, Grandfather."

Satisfied, the Doctor led his unwanted and unwilling guests to another part of the ship so they could clean up as suggested.

None of them saw the needle from the dial that Perennial had inspected jump from one end to the other.  Nor did they see the light flash warning of danger.  Danger that would only become apparent once they began to explore the new world they had discovered.

THE END