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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.

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THYME AFTER TIME - part 01

Saturday afternoon at the local supermarket was anything but routine, at least for most of the other customers. That was when the Professor and his "family" showed up to do their weekly shopping. There wasn't anything particularly dangerous or annoying about their visit, but it did liven things up just a bit. The other patrons didn't mind. They had learned to ignore the frenetic activities of the Power Puff Ponies as they flitted, zoomed and bamphed their way around the shelves; each gathering his or her share of the groceries then depositing it in a shopping cart under the Professor's watchful eye.

Most of the local senior citizens even timed their own visits to correspond with the ponies' arrival. Old Mrs. McPherson could always count on either Cassia or Cyanide to fly up and get things she needed off the top shelves. Similarly, Old Man Mo would frequently give Clover a few dollars to make a super-speed dash over to his pharmacy and pick up his medication, saving him a cross-town bus trip. Even Cinnamon was helpful, teleporting into cars that the elderly owners had accidentally locked themselves out of. Cymbalaria, aka Tintinabula, tended to stick close to the Professor, helping him keep track of their food budget and shopping list. However if asked she would provide other customers with price checks, stock quotes and sports scores.

Of all the ponies, Cyanide liked the weekly outing best. He wasn't as competitive as the three mares were, racing each other to see who could gather the most groceries. He liked to amble down each aisle looking at the colorful displays as he carefully made his selections. He gazed at the wide variety of similar products, wondering why there had to be seven or eight brands of the same cereals or canned goods. Food was food. It served a specific purpose that shouldn't require so much energy or thought. Still, comparing and selecting the most nutritious items was an intellectual challenge he could appreciate. The girls didn't understand. When he talked about it with them their response was to say he was beginning to sound too much like the Professor... as if it were a bad thing.

The chimera pulled down on the front of his shirt. Unlike the other ponies who loved wearing their costumes whenever possible, he preferred to dress more casually, unless of course they were going out on a mission.

He was looking up at the top shelf as he rounded a corner, so he didn't see the object until he stepped on it. Surprised, Cyanide felt one of his hooves go out from under him. Cans, cartons and crackers flew every which way and he found himself lying on the floor. It hadn't hurt, but it did make a rather impressive racket. Adding insult to a lack of injury, a small bag of flour had flown out of his hands and described a perfect parabolic arch, winding up impaled on his spiral horn. The contents exploded outward, covering his face under a molehill of white flour. Within moments the pegasus/unicorn hybrid found himself surrounded by the other ponies.

"What happened?" asked Clover and Cassia as they both reached out to help Cyanide to his feet. White powder slid down his chest, leaving its residue sticking to his normally black fur.

Cinnamon would have helped too, if she hadn't been laughing so hard. "Looks like we're going to have to de-flour you when we get home, horn-dog."

Cyanide huffed, producing a small cloud of white as he cleared his muzzle. "I wish you wouldn't call me that," he replied in annoyance, "at least not in public." He tried patting himself down, but that only made the mess worse.

Cymbalaria joined them. "What was all the noise?"

"I slipped on something," Cyanide replied. He looked around then spotted what looked like a chrome ping-pong ball on the floor. "There it is." Bending over, he tried to pick it up, only to discover it weighed a lot more than it should have. He braced himself and lifted it with a small grunt. "Geez! This thing must be half-a-ton at least!"

"How's that possible?" asked Cassia. The red-furred pegasus leaned forward looking at it closely. All she could see was her distorted reflection in its surface.

"Perhaps its density is greater than we suspect," offered Cymbalaria.

"That doesn't make sense," said Clover. "If it's as heavy as all that, how could it move enough to throw Cyanide off balance? It would have to roll, wouldn't it?"

"It would," Cymbalaria said. The yellow/gold-furred android thought for a moment. "Maybe it has elastic properties we know nothing about."

"Flexible physics?" asked Cinnamon

"More like differential density," Cyanide responded... "Hey, it's getting HOT! YOWTCH!" He yelped and dropped the sphere, blowing frantically on his hand. It fell about a foot, then stopped and floated in the air in front of them.

"Whoa! Way cool!" said Cinnamon. The green-furred unicorn reached out a finger to touch the sphere.

"Careful... You'll burn yourself," Cyanide warned. He watched expectantly as her finger made contact with the sphere.

"What are you talking about," Cinnamon asked. "This thing isn't hot. If anything, it feels cool to the touch." She craned her head, calling towards the front of the store. "Hey Professor! You ought to come over here and see this... GAAAHH!" The unicorn girl yelled in surprise as her whole hand suddenly was sucked into the sphere. "Hey you! #@$#%$^%&%^*& Thing... let go!"

Instead of granting her request, the sphere pulled her in up to her elbow. The unicorn girl desperately planted a hoof against the sphere, trying to gain leverage to yank her arm out. It immediately pulled her leg in as far as her knee.

"GUYS! A LITTLE *@&#^$% HELP HERE...LIKE NOW!" Both Clover and Cassia grabbed Cinnamon's free arm and pulled. It didn't help. Within seconds the gadget had drawn her in up to her hips. When her clothing came into contact with the object, it instantly unraveled itself, leaving the unicorn naked to the fur.

"WHAT KIND OF *@&%$*^@, DEMENTED PERVERT BUILT THIS..." The remainder of Cinnamon's curse was cut off as her head disappeared into the sphere. Refusing to let go of their sister, Cassia and Clover began to vanish as well. Cymbalaria immediately grabbed Cassia by her legs and pulled.

"We need an anchor... NOW!" she yelled at Cyanide. The male chimera circled one arm around the android's waist then grabbed the nearest solid object he could, which happened to be a stanchion for one of the display shelves. He began pulling at Cymbalaria, beating his wings in reverse flight mode against the ever-increasing resistance.

Cyanide was able to stop their progress into the sphere for all of about five seconds, then the bracket holding the shelves to the floor snapped. Android, ponies and chimera were instantly sucked into the orb, along with about a dozen cases worth of food. The silver sphere dropped to the floor, cracking the linoleum then it vanished from sight. Silence descended on the canned good aisle once more. All that remained were scattered store products and several piles of unstable molecule nodules.

* * * *

Cymbalaria was the first of the ponies to "wake-up" though in her case, reboot would be a more apropos description. She stood, and then scanned the area around her, starting with the pile of ponies in the center of the room. No one appeared to be either injured or traumatized... only asleep. A fair amount of the flour that had been plastered on Cyanide's face had transferred itself to each of the ponies.

Moving her scans, she found herself to be in some kind of holding chamber. The room appeared to be circular, with seamless white walls, floor and ceiling. Neatly piled off to one side were a collection of packages and cans that had been drawn into the sphere along with the ponies. She looked at herself. Not only was her costume missing, but the carefully designed, form-fitting, gold "fur-suit" that she normally wore over her silver-metallic body was thoroughly shredded. All that remained were a few scattered patches, though her silver-white mane and tail remained intact. She brushed what was left off her body with an electronic sigh.

Increasing the strength of her sensors, she found she could not detect anything outside of the room. A small groan drew her attention back to the pony pile, which shifted slightly as Cassia pulled herself free. The red-furred pegasus looked around dazed as Cymbalaria helped her to her hooves.

"Where are we?" she asked, trying to brush flour out of her fur.

"Analysis of my last data input would indicate we have been drawn into the sphere," the equine android responded.

"How is that possible? That sphere was no bigger than a ping-pong ball."

"Logically, it isn't, unless there are some kind of trans-dimensional forces at work here."

"Trans-dimensional... Could you put that into English?" Cassia asked

"She's talking about a pocket universe," muttered Cyanide as he sat up rubbing the back of his neck. "A quantum of space-time that can be made as large or as small as desired by its creator."

"You're not helping, horn dog," Cinnamon groaned as both she and Clover sat up.

"Don't call me horn dog," Cyanide responded in annoyance. "HEY... How come you're all naked?"

The girls quickly looked down at themselves. "I don't know," Cassia replied. "How come you're not?"

"I don't know," the chimera said, "curious."

"Is this pocket universe thingy anything like those cartoons where the characters walk into a tent that's bigger on the inside than the outside?" asked Clover. The blue-furred mare sneezed, sending a small cloud of white into the air

"A rather simplistic explanation," Cymbalaria responded, "but essentially correct."

"Well," Cassia said, "I'd like someone to explain to me how we get out of here."

"That's easy enough tae answer," came a voice from behind them. "Yir dinna... unless I let yir out!"

Everyone turned to look toward the oval doorway that had suddenly appeared in the far wall of the chamber. Standing in the opening was a rather tall, bipedal figure. She, for the voice had been distinctly feminine, was for all intents and purposes a black and white border collie. She wore a light colored shirt with the tails hanging out, a brown pair of tweed trousers, a beige, vee-necked sweater-vest, a long, burgundy-colored velour coat that looked like a cross between a duster and a smoking-jacket, and an extremely long, multi-colored knit scarf that wound around her neck, draped down to her knees in front and trailed a good foot or so on the floor behind her. A black tail with a white tip stuck out from the rear. Her head fur consisted of a mass of tight black curls that hung down to her shoulders. It was topped by a slightly crumpled looking fedora. She stood with her arms akimbo; hands tucked into her coat pockets. She wore a pair of what looked like leather biker boots, complete with buckles and straps. Her trousers were nicely bloused into the boot tops. Cyanide couldn't help but noticing that her feet were plantigrade, like a human's, instead of the normal digigrade footpads one would find on an anthrop. Her eyes were framed by a pair of horn-rimmed glasses.

"Who are you?" asked Cassia, taking charge as she normally did.

"I'll tell you who she is," Cinnamon shouted. "She's toast!"

"NO... WAIT!" Cassia yelled, but it was too late. The green-furred unicorn was already charging at the strangely dressed figure, winding up for a haymaker. An instant before she connected an oval of gold energy opened up in front of the collie who didn't even blink. Cinnamon disappeared into it, carried forward by her own momentum. There was a slight pop and the oval disappeared, compressing itself into a small, chrome sphere about the size of a ping-pong ball.

"Where's our sister?" Clover demanded, watching as the sphere floated above their heads.

"Na tae worry," the collie replied. "She shoud be back ony moment nou." Seconds later, another gold oval appeared in the ceiling and a slime drenched unicorn landed with a squelching, sloppy plop on the floor.

"Ah... right aboot time," the collie said with a smile. "And I see ye hae met the natives while ye war thar. I always find cross-cultural exchanges tae be most illuminating... dinna ye?"

Cinnamon climbed slowly to her hooves, wiping some of the slime out of her eyes as she glared at the collie.

"You okay?" asked Cyanide.

"Yeah," the green-furred unicorn said tiredly. "I've only spent the last couple hours fighting off a bunch of greasy tentacle monsters... That's all."

"Hours?" Clover asked, "but you've only been gone a few seconds." All the ponies turned and looked at the collie who simply smiled and shrugged.

"Whit can I say... time is fluid efter all."

"Hookay..." said Cassia slowly. "Why don't we try introductions again?"

"Fine by me," replied the collie. "But yis can save yersels the trouble. I already know yis are the Powerpuff Ponies. As for maesel, I am Chrono-Maestro Rosemary Thyme., but yis can call me the Maestro."

"Maestro Who?" asked Cyanide.

"If ye prefer," she replied, "or just Maestro Thyme, whitever is easiest."

"You're a time-traveler?" asked Cassia.

"A time-weaver woud be a more correct answer ma dear," the collie responded. "I voyage athort time as well as linearly. Anywhaur, anywhan anyhou I so choose."

"Why are we here?" asked Cymbalaria. "Our meeting isn't accidental, is it?"

"Oh my, o' course nae," the Maestro replied, "but if yis want tae know more, it wad be best if yis followed me somewhaur I can more properly brief yis."

"Why should we?" grumbled the green-furred unicorn.

"Cinnamon!" Cassia hissed. "Don't make things worse than they are."

"Worse? How can they be worse? "I'm standing here stark naked, in goop up to my eyeballs. How can they be worse? The least Miss Fleabody here can do is offer us a way to clean up and loan us some half-decent clothes."

Maestro Thyme paused a moment, as if noticing for the first time that the ponies were all naked. "Let me guess. Yir costumes war made o' unstable molecules, right?"

"As was my fur-suit," Cymbalaria interjected

"How'd you know?" Cinnamon replied sarcastically.

"Sherman hae a problem letting ony kind of unstable matter athort the threshold o' the chrono-sphere. Ye nae know whit the side effects micht be."

"Who's Sherman?" asked Clover.

"He is the Macro-Integrated Binary Organic Intelligence system that runs this place, but I like tae call him Sherman. It is more personable, dinna ye think?"

"WHO CARES WHAT THEY THINK?" responded an electronic voice. "I LIKE IT JUST FINE, MAESTRO."

"Sherman... mind yer manners," the collie chided gently. "The ponies are oor guests after all."

"YES, MAESTRO."

The collie gently shook her head in a bemused fashion. "Sorry aboot that." She said. "Sherman can be a little prideful frae time tae time." She looked back over at the ponies. "Yir sister, Cinnamon, is it? Well, she hae a point. Yir need a little food, some clothes and a wee rest afore we deal with universe-sized problems."

"I thought you were going to tell us what the big emergency was," observed Cassia.

"Ay that I am ma wee lass, but there's nae need tae rush intae onything unprepared. The one thing we have in excess around here is time," the collie chuckled. "It is ane o' the benefits o' being a Chrono-Maestro." She gestured to the ponies, beckoning them to follow her out the door. They walked a short distance down the hall and stopped in a short side corridor with four sets of doors.

"Scottish house rules," Maestro Thyme said, a bit of a twinkle in her eye. "Twa lassies tae a room and a single for the laddie, and nae patty fingers, if ye please. I'll hae Sherman whip up a bit o' food and by the time yir are rested, he'll hae a new set o' garments for all o' ye." She glanced briefly at Cyanide. "Or at least for them that needs them. With a casual wave, the collie turned and disappeared down the corridor, leaving the ponies behind to look at each other in uncertainty.

"What do we do now?" asked Clover.

Cassia thought for a moment. "It might be best if we play along with the Maestro for now, at least until we know more about the situation."

"Lacking any detailed data, that is probably the most logical course of action to take," observed Cymbalaria. "Though I would not recommend lowering our guard just yet."

"Right now, lowered guard or not, I need a friggin' shower," grumbled Cinnamon. She turned and marched into the nearest guest room, a trail of slime droplets dotting the floor behind her.

Clover yawned and gazed sleepily at her sisters. "I don't know about you... but getting sucked into a chrome ping-pong ball has made me feel more than a little tired. I think I'll lay down for a while and wait my turn in the shower." The blue-furred pony turned and followed Cinnamon into the room. The door quietly slid closed behind them.

Cassia turned to look at Cyanide. He was squatting on his haunches examining the floor. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing really," the black-furred chimera responded. "I just noticed that all the slime Clover dripped on the floor has vanished."

"What do you suppose happened to it?" Cymbalaria asked.

"I don't know," he replied, wiping his paw across the floor. "It's almost like it evaporated, but there's no residue at all."

"Yet another element of weirdness we can chalk up to our hostess," Cassia responded. She yawned abruptly. "Come on... let's figure this one out in the morning." She turned and entered the second guest room.

Cyanide observed the pegasus disappear then focused his attention on Cymbalaria. He reached out a hand for her to grab and help pull him to his feet. In the few seconds of hand-to-hand contact he quickly tapped out a brief Morse code message on her palm. The android responded with a brief nod then followed Cassia into her room. Cyanide looked around briefly then casually strolled into his own room. The door closed behind him.

* * * *

Watching via a monitor in the control room, the Maestro leaned back in her chair. She absent-mindedly began chewing on the end of her writing stylus. Having been showered and fed, the ponies were all, save Cymbalaria, lying down to relax.

"YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY FROM HERE ON OUT," said Sherman. "BRINGING THEM ONBOARD IS A MAJOR RISK."

"Yes, it is," the collie observed, "but ye saw the scenarios. Tis nae as great a risk as leaving thaim out yonder for the ithers tae find an turn against hus." She pressed a series of buttons, activating monitoring devices in each of the rooms. "If we are lucky, keeping thae ponies tae wirsels micht be our key to everything."

"THEN LET'S HOPE WE'RE LUCKY."

The collie stopped and deliberated for a moment or two. Luck was something she hated relying on. "On second thought, we shoud dae more than hope," she said, running her hands across the console in front of her.

"WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN MIND, MAESTRO?"

"I'm setting up a series o' pocket dimensions. I think it best we isolate the ponies, each in thair own specially designed continuity. That shoud keep them occupied and prevent thaim frae fighting hus." She looked up at the monitors Glowing ovals opened up beneath Cassia, Cinnamon and Clover as they slept on the beds provided. Another opened in the floor under Cymbalaria where she silently stood guard over Cassia. All four figures vanished instantly. As before, each oval compressed itself into a ping pong sized chrome sphere that hovered in mid air.

"WHAT ABOUT HIM?" asked Sherman, indicating the room containing Cyanide.

"I hae a wee different distraction in mind for him," the collie said, licking her lips.

"NATURALLY."

The collie frowned. "Look Sherman... It's been a lang time since I hae a chance ta blow off some steam... an' I swear by James Watt I'm gonna hae some fun afore ye get rid o' him an' the others."

"AS YOU WISH," sighed the computer, shutting down the cameras in the now empty guest rooms.

The lights in the room dimmed and for a moment all was silent. Then there was a slight flicker of movement from the opposite corner. An instant later, Cymbalaria appeared as she dropped her cloaking field. She smiled in satisfaction. The holographic decoy had worked. Instead of transporting her, the temporal gate had taken the small projector she had casually dropped on the floor. She didn't like the idea of letting the others be taken to places unknown, but there was no obvious danger involved, at least not enough of one to activate her defense protocols, and she knew she could better serve them trying to gain access to Sherman's mainframe.

The android paused for a moment considering. She knew she was suppose to wait for a signal from Cyanide, but with the girls gone logic indicated that now was the time to begin her reconnaissance. Carefully she crept out of the room, searching for a terminal to access.

TO BE CONTINUED...