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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 13

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

"Uh...no, we're not," replied Cassia. "As a matter of fact, we're sort of lost. Can you tell us exactly where we are?"

The cowpony raised a hoof to her head and pushed back her hat slightly. "Well, at the moment you all are in the middle of ma orchard about two miles outside of Ponyville."

"Ponyville?" muttered Cinnamon, "what kind of lame-o name is that?"

"Cinnamon!" both Cassia chided. "Button it, before you antagonize her!" She looked at the blonde-maned pony. "Sorry, my friend tends to be a little, uh, undiplomatic when things don't go right."

"You don't say," the pony replied. "Well, if I were lost I'd probably be a might grumpy too. What say we start over? My name's Applejack."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Cassia, and my friends are Clover and Cinnamon."

The cowpony looked at each girl's flank for a moment. "Those are some rather interesting cutie marks you all got there. You sorta look like a matched set o' playing cards. All you're missing is the spade."

The pegasus smiled. "Uh, yeah, you could say that. We're called the Power Puff Ponies, and yes, we are missing a friend of ours. He... I mean she has black fur, a white mane and tail and a white spade as a...uh... cutie mark."

"Can't say as I've seen anyone else hereabouts like you're describing. Is your friend an earth-pony, sky-pony or unicorn?"

"She's a chimera, I guess you'd say she has all three traits."

Applejack's mouth dropped open at this. "You mean your friend is... royalty?"

"Royalty?"

"Yeah... only the Princesses Celestia and Luna have wings, hooves and horns."

"Well, I don't know if you'd say she's royalty," Clover replied, "but she is our friend."

"When was the last time you saw her?" the cowpony asked.

"A couple of..... days ago," Cassia said.

"Days! How could you lose her for days?" Applejack's eyes narrowed somewhat. "You all weren't wandering around in the Everfree Forest, were you?"

The pink-pegasus opened her mouth to reply when Cinnamon abruptly jumped into the conversation. "So that's what that place is called." She looked over at Cassia and winked slyly.

"Tarnation... no wonder you fillies are lost. No one ever travels through the Everfree Forest. There aren't any real trails and it only leads into the wild lands beyond the mountains. Only person I know who lives thereabouts is Zacora, and she's a bit of a wild one herself."

"Maybe our friend made it to this Ponyville of yours," suggested Clover. "Perhaps if you pointed us in the right direction..."

"Well, I'll do you one better than that." She pointed a fore-hoof at a nearby cart loaded with apples. "I need to take them apples into town. If y'all give me a couple of minutes to hitch myself up and I'll show you the way." The cowpony quickly strapped herself between the cart's guide poles and started hauling. All three girls were impressed with Applejack's dexterity at being able to harness herself without the need for hands. Cassia in particular noticed how heavily loaded the cart was and realized that the palomino was much stronger than her size hinted at.

"So, just how big is Ponyville?" asked Cinnamon.

"Well it's more than your typical farming village. We're right on the main road to Canterlot, so we get a fair amount of traffic passing through. We're big enough to have a school, a town hall and a combination sheriff's office and fire house. We even have a library. That's where my friend Twilight Sparkle lives. You'll be meeting her if you stick with me today."

"Is she an Earth pony like you?" asked Clover.

"Heck no! She's a unicorn and one of the best dad-gum magic-users I've seen, short of Princess Celestia that is."

"You have magic here?" asked Cinnamon.

Applejack stopped in her tracks and gave the green-furred unicorn a rather odd look. "That sounds rather peculiar coming from you, girl."

"It does?"

The cowpony frowned. "Everypony knows unicorns do magic... or at least everypony should."

"Well... we're not exactly from around here," said Cassia.

"I already knew that," replied the palomino.

"As a matter of fact, where we come from, the ponies have slightly different skill sets."

"Such as...?"

Cassia looked over at her sister. "Clover... could you demonstrate?"

The blue-furred mare crouched then leapt up, easily reaching a hundred feet in the air before gravity reasserted itself. She landed then began running around the other ponies in a circle so fast she was nothing more than a blue blur. Applejack watched the display, her jaw slack in amazement.

"I didn't think it possible, but she runs almost as fast as my friend Rainbow Dash can fly."

Clover skidded to a stop. "What do you mean almost?" she grinned.

"Each of us has a different set of powers as well as several in common, such as strength, agility and invulnerability," Cassia offered.

"In vole what's itz?"

"Invulnerability," said Cinnamon. "That means we can't be hurt or killed, at least not easily."

"Interesting," Applejack replied. "I'm definitely going to have to introduce you to Twilight when we get to town. She talks a lot like you and knows even more."

"Well, if she can help us find our friend, then we definitely want to touch base with her," Cassia replied.

They walked together for about twenty minutes, casually chatting and learning more about each other before rounding a turn in the road and seeing Ponyville ahead of them. The road lead them across a short, wooden bridge and onto what appeared to be the main street. Houses with spacious lawns lined the road. There were few fences and more ponies than the girls could shake a stick at. Even more amazing was the variation in their coloring. Pink, white, violet, lavender, green, gold and many other colors flooded their eyes.

"I don't think Andy Warhol could have dreamed up anything like this on his best day," observed Cassia.

Applejack shook her head. "Who in Tarnation is Andy War-hole?"

"He's an artist where we come from; famous for using a lot of bright color combination in his work"

"Well... that's nice an all, but I'd best be getting along to Sugar Cube Corner and deliver this load of apples. Mr. and Mrs. Cake are fixing to make apple struddle for tomorrow night's celebration. I can take you over to Twilight's place when I've unloaded."

"Celebration? What kind of celebration?" asked Cinnamon.

The green-furred unicorn suddenly leapt back in surprise when a pink pony with a red, cotton candy mane and tail suddenly appeared from nowhere. "The Spring Equinox., of course, silly" she announced, bouncing around frenetically. "Both Celestia and Luna are gon'na be here, especially since it's the first time since Luna's return we have a full moon on the Equinox. We're throwing a party to celebrate their co-monarchy."

She abruptly stopped bouncing and looked at the three ponies. "Say, you're new around here, aren't you? Are you here for the party too? What're your names? I love your color combinations, especially yours," she said looking at Cassia. "It almost feels like I'm looking in a mirror, except your hair and tail are a little less puffy and you're a pegasus and not an earth pony like me. My name's Pinky Pie."

"Does she ever take a breath?" Cinnamon whispered to Clover.

"Pinky, could you all settle down and let our visitors get a word or two in edgeways?" asked Applejack.

"Sure, I can do that," she replied. She noticed the cart Applejack was hauling. "Say, are those the apples Mr. and Mrs. Cake ordered? We need to get them over to Sugar Cube Corner right away." With that, the pink "earth" pony bounce off. The cowpony simply shook her head and looked back at Cassia and friends.

"Why don't you all wait over there under that big tree. I'll be back in a few minutes then we can go see Twilight and find your missing friend." With that the palomino ambled off dragging the cart with her. The girls looked at each other and shrugged then sat down where Applejack had suggested.

Cassia carefully reached into her bag and brought out the cosmic screwdriver. She found that manipulating it with her forehooves was difficult, and that she had to work the controls carefully so as to not punch the wrong button. She was rewarded a moment later by a small beeping sound. A holographic display screen appeared near the tip of the device and a map, presumably of the local area, coalesced in the center of the screen. The pegasus studied it for a moment.

"Well, according to this, Cyanide should be somewhere nearby, probably right here in town."

"Doesn't that thing have a directional setting?" asked Cinnamon.

Cassia nodded then pressed yet another button. Turning, she found herself facing away from the town square toward what looked like an extremely large tree about two hundred yards distance. She glanced up in time to see their cowpony guide exit a nearby building and trot in their direction. She quickly shut off the screwdriver and put it back in its bag.

"Well sugar now that I'm all finished with the Cakes, let's go see if Twilight knows a thing or two about your friend."

With Applejack leading, the ponies found themselves heading straight for the large tree, which turned out to be yet another "building." "This here's our library," the cowpony explained. "You can find practically anything on everything, especially since Twilight moved in and started running it."

As they stepped up on the front porch, Clover noticed what looked like a small purple and green lizard sound asleep in a hammock that was strung along one of the lower branches. "What is that?" she asked quietly.

"That?" The cowpony followed the blue mare's gaze. "Oh, that's just Spike. I guess he's taking his afternoon nap. Baby dragons tend to need a far amount of sleep."

"Dragons?"

"What's the matter, Sugar-cube? Don't tell me they don't have dragons around your neck of the woods?"

"Not... uh..., no... uh...no, Dragons aren't surprising at all" interjected Cassia hastily.. "It's just... ah.... Surprising to see one living in the middle of town."

"Well, Spike ain't exactly your normal dragon, excepting that one time on his birthday. He gets along pretty well with most pony folk." Applejack knocked on the door with her fore-hoof and waited a moment. When there was no answer she pushed the door open and stuck her head inside. "Twilight... You here?" She walked into the room and looked around, followed by the others.

Cassia was impressed by the number of books she saw. It was almost as if the interior of the tree were bigger than the outside. Dozens of book shelves were carved into the tree walls, each was filled with books. A number of books were piled around on the floor in a kind of organized chaos, each pile sorted by subject matter. "Tarnation," muttered Applejack, "that pony's never satisfied with how things around here are arranged."

Cinnamon was about to reply when she was interrupted by a high pitched wail that raised everypony's hackles and echoed through the library.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!"

"That was Twilight!" cried the cowpony. In an instant she was galloping towards a set of stairs followed by the others. "Hang on Sugar-cube," she yelled. "Help's coming!" Within moments she had reached the only door on the second level of the library. Spinning, she bucked out with her rear hooves and kicked in the door with one blow. She whirled around then froze where she stood, eyes wide-open in disbelief. "What in tarnation?" she muttered under her breath. Cassia and the others were at her side in moments, all staring into the room.

Before them stood a lavender-furred unicorn with a blue-black and lavender striped mane and tail. She was bent forward, her rear end in the air and her tail held high and flagging back and forth. Above her stood a black and white-furred male with a unicorn's horn, pegasus wings and a horse's mane and tail which flowed around him like a white cloud. His fore legs were tightly gripped against her hips and he was thrusting heavily against her flank. The ponies had their eyes closed and were breathing heavily, oblivious to their audience.

The unicorn let out another wailing moan. "NO..OH..OH NOOOOH, UH, UN...AHHH!" She leaned back against the male, trying to pull him in as deeply as possible. Clear, heavily scented fluids were spurting from her mound and running down her legs, soaking the rug on which they stood. The chimera's white-spade flanks shivered and he suddenly stopped thrusting, letting out a moaning whinny that echoed along the rafter.

For several long moments the lavender unicorn panted lustily then opened her eyes. "That was....Oh, ah...sooo good...huff...huff...EEEEEEKKKKKK!" Seeing Applejack and the others standing open-mouthed in the doorway she suddenly leapt up, abruptly throwing the male, who was still deeply embedded within her, backward. This in turned pulled her off her back hooves and caused the two ponies to collapse in a tangle on the floor.

"Twilight Sparkle... what the darn hill is going on about here?" asked the cowpony. "And just who the heck is HE? There ain't no male alicorns in all of Equestria."

"Well, actually... HE is our missing friend," Cassia offered.

"He is? I thought you all told me HE was a SHE?

"Well, she was, last time we saw him," said Clover

"Woo Hoo!" cheered Cinnamon. "Horn Dog's back and he's primed and loaded!" She paused for a moment looking at Applejack. "What's an alicorn?"

"She is... I mean HE is," the cowpony replied looking back at Cinnamon. "What's a Horn Dog?"

"Don't call me Horn Dog," complained Cyanide as he untangled himself from the lavender unicorn.

Clover looked over at Cassia. "It's not that I'm complaining, but how did he turn back into a boy?"

"It must be due to the temporal differentiation between worlds," offered the pink-furred pegasus.

"The what?" asked Cinnamon.

"The various rates at which linear time flows from one dimensional coordinate to another," explained Twilight Sparkle as she stood up, wobbling slightly with the exertion.

"Well, actually it was a zebra that changed me back," said the chimera/alicorn.

"A zebra?"

"You must mean Zacora," Applejack said.

"Yes... That was her name. I bumped into her the morning after I arrived. She helped get me oriented and gave me a potion to restore my true nature. She then sent me to see Twilight Sparkle in the hope she could help me find a portal back to Rekooh's ship."

"Well, that's obviously not the only thing she's helping you find," grinned Cinnamon, playfully nudging the stallion. The lavender unicorn blushed an even darker shade of purple at the comment.

"It's wonderful to see the three of you again," said Cyanide hooking a foreleg around the green-furred unicorn. I thought I might have lost you forever." Cassia and Clover joined in the hug.

Twilight stood next to Applejack and smiled. "It's so nice to see friends who are lost find each other again."

"You've got that right," the palomino pony said. She looked at her own friend then nudged her slightly. "You might want to get yourself a towel, Sugar-cube. You're kind of dripping on the carpet there," she whispered.

The lavender unicorn looked down to find a substantial quantity of Cyanide's seed dripping down her legs. The blush that had been on her cheeks spread across her whole face. Turning, she levitated a towel from a nearby shelf and used it to briefly clean herself off.

"Now that we're together again, there's nothing we can't do," the alicorn announced.

"Well... The first thing we're going to have to do is find Sherman and the Maestro," said Cassia.

"The Maestro's here?"

"Unfortunately, yes," replied the pink pegasus. "She got knocked through the same portal you did about a minute after you."

"Why didn't I see her?"

"There's a slightly different time ratio between the two dimensions. Something like a hundred to one."

"So she wouldn't have appeared for about an hour. Damn, I would have so liked to kick her tail right then," replied Cyanide.

"Well we have to find her before you can do any kicking."

"Excuse me," asked Applejack. "What's all this talk about Maestros and dimensions and portals?"

"It's kind of hard to explain," responded Cassia. Before she could say another word the whole tree shook violently, throwing everypony to the floor. Book flew from shelves; plates could be heard shattering in the kitchen; and above it all could be heard whinnying screams of fear from ponies throughout the town.

Picking themselves up, they all ran to a nearby window and looked out. There towering above even the tallest structure was a war-machine that looked like it had escaped from the pages of an H. G. Wells novel.

"I think were a little bit passed explanations for the moment," said Twilight.

TO BE CONTINUED...