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The following is a work of fiction copyright Radical Gopher. This story contains adult themes and situations and should not be read by anyone under the age of 18.

______________________________ THYME AFTER TIME - part 12

The ponies stared at the black and white furred collie. "I thought Rekooh had you and your sisters safely locked up," observed Clover.

"AH... THERE WE GO WITH THE ASSUMPTIONS AGAIN. DINNA MY ADVICE MEAN OCHT TO YIS... LASSIES?" The collie stopped and stared at Cyanide then erupted in a series of laughing barks. "LOOKS LIKE YE DRANK FRAE THE WRONG BOTTLE... IN A MANNER O' SPEAKING...'ALICE' MA LASS...."

"My name is still Cyanide," the chimera replied angrily. She tried launching a lightning bolt into the field surrounding her but to no avail. The energy discharge was simply absorbed by the force bubble.

"I WADNA WASTE MA TIME IF I WAR YE. I BORROWED THIS LITTLE BIT O' TECHNOLOGY FRAE YER FRIEND, CYMBALARIA... OR WAS IT TINTINABULA... I CANNA REMEMBER."

"I doubt she gave it up willingly," Cassia challenged.

O' COURSE NAE. I GOT IT WHAN SHE TRIED GETTING INTAE MA MAINFRAME. SORT O' PLUCKED IT OUTTA HER MEMORY CORE WHILE SHE WAS ITHERWISE DISTRACTED."

"Your mainframe?" Cyanide responded. She looked hard at the collie. "You're not really the Maestro... at least not Mora, are you?

"WELL LASSIE, I AM AND I'M NAE. I GUESS YE COULD CALL ME AN AMALGAM."

"A what?"

"A SYNTHESIS, OR IF YE WANT, A MEETING O' THE MINDS."

"I think I'm getting another headache," complained Clover.

"Sounds like an old sci-fi movie; The Man with Two Brains," Cinnamon muttered.

"I saw that on cable last week," Cassia said. "Worst movie in history."

"You do know it was a comedy, right?" commented Cyanide.

"DO YIS LASSIES MIND..."

"Sorry," said Cassia. "We forgot you were monologing. Please continue."

"I REALLY DINNA KNOW WHY I CONSIDERED YE A THREAT TO MA PLANS. YE'RE SO... UNFOCUSED."

"Well, don't ask us," replied Cyanide. "As far as I know, all you wanted was for me to take you for a pony ride."

"THAT WAS MORA'S IDEA. IF IT HAD BEEN UP TAE ME, I'D HAE SIMPLY LOCKED YIS IN SEPARATE DIMENSIONS AND KEPT YE THERE UNTIL I FINISHED MA PROJECT."

Cinnamon looked over at Cassia. "Let me get this straight. The two of them, Maestro Mora, or Thyme, or whatever the frack she call herself, and Sherman were in this together from the beginning? I thought Sherman was the minion."

"I think that's what they wanted us to think," the pegasus replied.

"WHY ARE YE ASKING HER?" the collie snapped at Cinnamon.

"Because she makes more sense than some fracking, bi-polar, binary bit-head of a geeky computer," the unicorn nickered.

"MA SYSTEMS ARE POSITRONIC, NOT BINARY YE TWIT."

"Aw... did I hurt the poor computer's feelings? Maybe we can call Texas Instruments and get you a nice, cybernetic lobotomy for that ego of yours."

The energy field containing Cinnamon suddenly went opaque and her voice faded away. This was followed by a soft, electronic sigh. "AH THAT'S BETTER."

Clover looked worriedly at the Maestro. "What did you do to her?"

"SHE WAS GETTING ANNOYING, SO I MODIFIED THE FIELD TAE ABSORBED LIGHT AND SOUND ENERGY ATHORT THE WHOLE SPECTRUM."

"Annoying, yes," Cassia responded, "but she was correct. The two of you, Sherman and Mora, were working together.

"YES... BUT AS SEPARATE ENTITIES! SHE MADE THE PLANS AND I PRETTY MUCH KEPT THINGS RUNNING."

"I assume that included keeping Rekooh locked up in her sleep chamber," said Cyanide.

"YES," the collie nodded. "BUT MORA HAD TAE INIATE THAT PART OF THE PLAN. UNTIL I COULD FIND A WAY TO BYPASS SOME OF MY BASELINE PROGRAMMING, I HAD TAE RELY ON HER AS THE COMMAND AUTHORITY IN PLACE O' THE PREFECT."

"So why merge with her now?" Clover asked. "It sounds like you had a pretty good arrangement."

"YE FORCED MA HAND BY WAKING UP REKOOH," the Maestro explained. "I KNEW THAT IF SHE GOT ACCESS TAE MA MAINFRAME, WHICH SHE DID, THANKS TAE YIS, SHE WOULD BE ABLE TAE ISOLATE MA HIGHER FUNCTIONS. SO I ACCESSED THE SLEEP CHAMBERS, FREED MORA AND HAD HER STANDING BY AS A SORT O' BACK UP REPOSITORY."

"So who's in control?" asked Cinnamon. "You or the Maestro?"

The collie simply barked another short laugh. "BOTH OF US," she replied. "THOUGH AT THE MOMENT I AM THE DOMINANT PERSONALITY."

"So you weren't controlling her through the implant?" Cassia frowned.

"THE IMPLANT WAS THERE TAE FACILITATE COMMUNICATION AND ALLOW HER TAE CONTROL REKOOH'S OTHER 'DEPUTIES.' SHE MOVED HER MIND ABOOT AS NEEDED TAE MANIPULATE THE ITHERS ONCE YIS TIED HER UP."

"Which she couldn't do as effectively as you," added Cyanide.

"HOW DID YE GUESS?"

"We kind of noticed the time lag when she accessed several deputies at once," the chimera responded. She paused for a moment. "You know, I suppose that really does prove the superiority of the machine mind over the organic mind."

The Maestro's voice suddenly changed to mimic that of Sherman. "WAS THERE ANY DOUBT?"

The collie's expression shifted from one of triumph to annoyance. "NAE SO FAST THERE, SHERMAN. YE DINNA SPEAK FOR US. I'M THE DOMINANT PERSONALITY HERE. I'LL DO THE TALKING."

"DOMINANT? WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN," yelled the computer voice. "I'M THE ONE RUNNING THE SHIP, NOT YOU."

"AYE... BUT TIS MA BODY YER USING," responded the Maestro voice.

The two fell into a violent argument debating the superiority of organic verses cybernetic thought.

"Good move, Cyanide," whispered Cassia. "You've got both ego maniacs distracted. Got any ideas on how to get out of these force bubbles?"

"Yeah... Just take a nap."

"What?" whispered Clover.

"Listen!" the Chimera said. "Sherman got this weapon system from Cymbalaria, right?"

"Yes. It's her zero point energy sphere. It draws power from the bubble's occupants, so the more we resist, the stronger the field gets," Cassia responded.

"So... if we don't resist..."

Cassia smiled. "The field will dissipate. Good thinking. Okay everyone, on the count of three, close your eyes and go to sleep."

"But I'm not sleepy," Clover whimpered.

"Just try," Cyanide said. "First one to get free, destroy the console the Maestro's next to... It's probably the control for these spheres."

All three ponies relaxed and closed their eyes. Despite her earlier protest, Clover was actually the first one to fall asleep. The sound of soft snoring abruptly caused Sherman and the Maestro to stop arguing for a moment and stare at the ponies.

"YE HAE GOT TAE BE KIDDING," the collie muttered.

"WELL, I'M NOT ALL THAT SURPRISED. YOU ARE RATHER UNIMAGINATIVE AND BORING AFTER ALL!" the voice of Sherman observed.

"I AM NAE!"

There was a unexpected pop, and the blue-furred pony girl dropped to the floor. The sudden sensation of falling woke her and instant before she hit, allowing her to land on her hooves.

"Surprise!" she said, taking a deep breath and blasting the control consol with her arctic breath. The device froze solid, then shattered when Clover stomped on the floor once with her hoof. The other three bubbles popped, dropping Cinnamon, Cassia and Cyanide to the ground.

"STOP THEM!" yelled Sherman's voice.

The collie raised her staff and fired, striking Cyanide in the chest. The air shimmered around her and she vanished in a loud implosion of air. A rather sizable portal floated in the air where the chimera had been only moments before. Mora brought the staff around aiming for Cassia only to have Clover snatch it away in a blue blur of speed. Turning the Maestro reached desperately for a switch on one of the consoles only to find herself face to face with Cinnamon. The green-furred unicorn smiled wickedly.

"You know what... You are a fracking terrible host... and a pathetic bad-guy to boot!" Cinnamon's punch sent the collie flying into the pit, right through the same portal Cyanide had vanished into.

"Oh Great!" groaned Cassia. "Now we're going to have to chase the villain into another dimension if we want to catch her and save Cyanide."

"Hey... I didn't aim to knock her through the portal," complained Cinnamon

"Well, you did and that's that." Snorted the pink-furred pegasus.

"So, how do we do this?" asked Clover. "I mean we can't all go. Someone has to stay on this side of the door and make sure it doesn't close."

"I don't think any of us knows enough about these things to even try manipulating these machines," Cassia observed.

"You don't... said a groggy voice, "but I do."

Everyone looked and saw Rekooh pull herself to her feet and sit in one of the nearby console chairs.

Cassia went over to the copper-skinned alien. "Are you alright?"

The Prefect smiled ruefully. "As Cinnamon would say, I feel like crap, but I'm functional."

"That's not how I would say it," commented the unicorn.

"Whatever. The important thing now is to bring back Mora and your friend Cyanide." She worked the console for nearly thirty minutes trying to analyze and stabalize the portal. The others waited, as patiently as possible. "Alright, here's the situation in a nutshell. When you go through that portal, you will be operating in a world that has a 100 to one temporal differentiation."

"What does that mean?" asked Cassia.

"It means for every one minute that passes here, about 100 minutes pass there. The same ratio goes for hours, days, weeks etc."

"So Cyanide's already been in there for a couple of days?" asked Clover.

"Yes... Geographic positioning is stable, but not quiet absolute, so you will touch down somewhere within a twenty mile radius of where the others came out. I would recommend you three hold hands when you cross over so you don't get separated."

"Got it!" replied Cinnamon.

Rekooh removed the Cosmic Screwdriver from her belt and pre-set several buttons before handing it to Cassia. "I've adjusted this so you can use it to detect tachyons. It should help you find both Mora and Cyanide as well as lead you back to the portal no matter where it shifts. I'll keep the passage open one way so nothing from that world can cross over here. When you're ready to return, just press the recall button and wait. Remember there is a temporal difference so it may take me a few hours your time to reverse the portal's bias and pull you back. And whatever you do...Don't change any of the settings on the remote...Got that?" Cassia nodded.

"What about Cymbalaria?" asked Clover. "Sherman probably has her trapped in some other pocket dimension."

"Don't worry," the Prefect said. "Now that I can access the mainframe I can find her and bring her back here. If I don't hear from you within, say, two hours local time, I'll send her through to help find you."

"Sounds like a plan," said the pegasus. Not having a belt herself, she borrowed a small shoulder-bag lying on the floor of the pit. It had been apparently dropped by one ot their earlier attackers. She tucked the cosmic screwdriver into it. She looked at her two sisters. "You guys ready?"

"Wait a minute," said Cinnamon. "There aren't any fracking tentacle thingies in there... are there?"

"I don't know what's in there exactly. All my instruments show is the area around the portal has a breathable atmosphere. With your combined powers, you shouldn't have any problem dealing with potential threats."

"We don't have to worry about stepping on any butterflies in there, do we?" asked Clover.

"Rekooh chuckled and shook her head. "It's a parallel world, not a time portal. Your influence will only affect immediate local conditions, not the time stream."

"Got it," said Cassia. She took her two sisters by the hands. "Ready girls? Here we GO!" The pink-pegasus launched herself through the dimensional door, pulling Clover and Cinnamon through with her.

The dials on Rekooh's console wavered for a moment or two then stabilized. She flipped several switches then began her search for Cymbalaria. She paused for a second or two. "I wonder if I should have mentioned the assimilation matrix before they left," she muttered. The Prefect shrugged. They were pretty smart. They'd figure it out for themselves.

* * * *

Cassia slowly opened her eyes and groaned. She and the others had landed in a pile in what looked like some kind of orchard. Her head hurt and her vision was slightly blurred, but it passed after a moment. Pushing herself up she stood, or at least tried to, only to find herself over-balanced. She tried again and managed to stagger over to a nearby tree and lean against it. Something was drastically wrong. Not only was her sense of balance all wrong, but when she stood up her back hurt.

Cassia looked over at her sisters as they woke up and also tried to stand. That's when she noticed it. Neither Cinnamon nor Clover had hands. In fact, they were no longer bipedal. Instead, she and the others had been transformed into some kind of quadruped equine form. They had each retained their basic fur-color and differentiation, mare, unicorn and pegasus, but they were now four legged. Cassia looked down and found the shoulder pouch was now hanging around her neck. Using her teeth, she opened the flap and sighed in relief to find the cosmic screwdriver still there.

"WHAT THE FRACK'S GOING ON HERE?" Cinnamon yelped, suddenly discovering she no longer had hands.

"I'd guess our physical forms have adapted to whatever new environment we're in," the pegasus said calmly.

"I don't like this," the green unicorn replied.

"What's not to like?" came a voice from behind them. The three ponies turned. Before them stood another quadruped mare with gold-colored fur, a blonde mane and tail and sporting what looked like a cowboy hat on her head.

The three sisters stared speechless.

"You all ain't from around here, are you?" the cowpony asked.

TO BE CONTINUED