FSE

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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 15

"What are we going to do?" whispered Fluttershy as they watched the war machines approaching in the distance.

"First, you're going to wait up here and signal us when they get as far as the river," ordered Rainbow Dash.

"Do I have to?" the yellow and pink pegasus asked, a tremor of fear in her voice.

"Yes... Unless of course you want to see those things squishing all your animal buddies when they attack Ponyville."

Her fear was replaced by a look of nervous determination. "No one hurts my little friends while I'm around."

Nodding in satisfaction, Rainbow dove to the ground to find Twilight Sparkle. She was joined by Cassia. The blue-furred pegasus quickly briefed Twilight on what she had seen.

The lavender unicorn looked at Cassia. "Is there anything you guys can do to stop them?"

"I don't know," the pink pegasus replied. "I mean, sure, we can fight them, but we've never taken on odds like that before." The other Powerpuff Ponies joined with her and stood to one side.

"We could always try," said Cinnamon. "I mean we kicked that other (#*@)$* robot's ass, didn't we?"

"I think what we need to do here is coordinate our efforts with everyone else here. After all, this is their world," said Cassia. Both Clover and Cyanide agreed, while the green unicorn grumbled under her breath.

Twilight stood quietly for a moment lost in thought, then, almost as if some pony had flipped a switch, she started issuing commands.

"Spike? Take a letter."

The sleepy eyed dragon immediately came to full alertness. Seemingly from nowhere he pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. "Ready!"

"Dear Princess Celestia: Ponyville is under attack by giant, metal war machines. We need immediate help from any and all militia and royal guard units available."

"Got it!"

"Good. Mark it URGENT and sign it: Love, Your Faithful Student: Twilight Sparkle. Send it as soon as it's finished."

The baby dragon quickly rolled the scroll up and set it afire with a blast of green flame. The parchment vanished in a puff of smoke which flew off into the morning sky.

The lavender unicorn looked over at her friend. "Rainbow Dash?"

"Yes?"

"I want you and the other pegasi to gather as many storm clouds as you can find and form them into squall line right above the river. Don't let those machines see you in the clouds. When they try to cross the river, stomp as much lightning out of those clouds as you can. See if you can hit them while they're in the river, it might short them out."

"I'm on it!" Dash responded, saluting Twilight before zooming off towards Cloudsdale.

"Applejack... I want you and as many earth ponies as you can get to throw up a defensive rampart along the south side of town. Make it high enough so that those machines can't see what's behind it until they're within fifty feet."

"You've got it, Sugar-cube." The cowpony rose up on her hind legs. "Ye HAW! Come on all you pony folk. Grab your shoves, picks and axes and let's get a building." She galloped off joined by several dozen or more earth ponies.

The mayor trotted up to Twilight Sparkle. "What can I do to help?"

"You, Mr. and Mrs. Cake and Cheerilee need to gather up all the foals and get them over to Sweet Apple Acres so they're out of danger. When Princess Celestia arrives with the Royal Guard they'll most likely be passing through there."

The Mayor nodded in agreement and galloped off towards Sugar Cube Corner to get the Cakes.

The lavender unicorn looked around her. "Any pony see Rarity?"

"Right here, Twilight darling, what do you need?" Cassia watched as a snow white unicorn pony with beautifully quaffed mane and tail walked up to Twilight.

"I want you to find as many sharp edged and pointy gemstones as you can from all over town and bring them here. The more, the better."

"How pointy and how sharp?" asked Rarity.

Twilight plucked a small gem off of a collar the other unicorn was wearing with her telekinesis and hurled it against the side of a nearby tree where it became imbedded. "That sharp and pointy."

Rarity smiled ruefully. "Well, there goes my fall ensemble." She trotted off towards her home with Spike watching her every move, a dreamlike expression on his face. He sighed.

"Can I go with her and help?"

The unicorn shook her head. "Sorry Spike, but I need you for something else."

"Twilight... Twilight! My tail! It's going twitch, twitchy, twitchy, twitch." Everypony turned to see a pink-furred earth pony as she bounded up to them.

"Oh Pinky, please not now!" muttered the unicorn, even as she and many of the other ponies either took shelter or pulled out hardhats and put them on.

"What's going on?" asked Cyanide

An instant later there was a whistling sound and something large and metallic impacted the ground between all the ponies. Several, including Pinky, Twilight and the dragon Spike were bowled over on their backs. A large, bipedal figure rose out of the dust cloud, servos whining.

"We're under attack!" yelled Pinky Pie.

"We are?" asked a slightly metallic voice which the girls all immediately recognized. The dust cloud faded to reveal a tall, lithe, female, equine cyborg with a platinum-silver mane and tail and a metallic, gold body.

"Cymbalaria... You're here! You made it!" yelled Clover.

"I should hope so, though it wasn't easy," she replied.

Twilight picked herself up off the ground. "Is this a friend of yours Cassia?"

The pink pegasus nodded. "This is Cymbalaria. She's the missing Powerpuff Pony."

"Really. Then who's her traveling companion?" asked Spike as they watched a blue-gray unicorn clamber off the android pony's back.

"This really is an uncomfortable way to travel," he grumbled.

"You could have used your rocket broom if..."

"Yes, I know... If I hadn't let that alien dinosaur chew it into small, bite-sized bits."

The other Powerpuff Ponies stared for a moment. "Professor?"

"Who else? You don't honestly think I let some extra-dimensional crackpot kidnap you without giving chase...OOOF!" The unicorn suddenly found himself the center of a group hug.

When they all finished they backed off to get a good look at the professor.

"Hah...Not only do you get to be a pony for once," said Cinnamon, "but you've got your own 'cutie mark!'"

"He's not a pony?" asked Twilight.

"Normally, no... he's a human."

"A professor of Thaumaturgical Physics to be exact," the Professor responded. He reached into his carpet bag and pulled out a wallet, examining his driver's license. "As I thought, non-organic so it didn't change." He held out his I.D. picture for Twilight to see. "This is what I normally look like.

The lavender unicorn examined it along with Spike and Pinky.

"Kind of ugly if you ask me," the dragon muttered.

"Spike!" chided Twilight

"Well, he is!"

The Professor just nickered. He brought out another picture. "This is what the girls normally look like."

"They look more like small versions of Cymbalaria!" said Pinky.

"Professor... That's not our baby picture, is it?" asked Cassia

"Of course not; it's from when you were in kindergarten."

Cinnamon, Cassia and Clover all groaned with embarrassment. They did not notice when Fluttershy gently touched down next to Twilight and began talking to her.

"Are you sure?"

The shy pegasus nodded. "They were nearly up to the river when the clouds rolled in. Now they're so thick and black I can't make anything on the other side of the clouds."

"Is something going on that we can help with?" asked the Professor.

"Maybe... Let me talk with Fluttershy for a moment." Twilight led her off a few paces and talked quietly with her. Watching, the professor noted how the pastel yellow pegasus was somewhat reluctant, maybe even frightened, by what the unicorn was proposing. It took a couple of minutes before Fluttershy was grudgingly nodding her head in agreement.

Twilight turned and called for Spike. The baby dragon was at her side in a moment. "I need you to go with Fluttershy and help her. She'll explain what she wants you to do on the way."

"Aw! Can't I stay here with you Twilight?"

"I wish you could, but if we're going to save Ponyville, I need you to help her."

"Alright," said the dragon, "I'll go... but no barrel rolls, okay."

"Spike, you're riding Fluttershy, not Rainbow Dash."

"Oh yeah! Right." He quickly scrambled up on the pegasus' back and held on as she launched herself into the air and headed west.

Twilight looked over at the Professor. "Do you still want to help?"

"Yes, what's the plan?"

The lavender unicorn nodded. Levitating a small stick, she drew a simple, but accurate map of the area. "I've designed this as a defense in depth. The war machines are coming at us down this valley. When they reach the river here, the pegasi will use their cloud herding ability to hit them with a line of thunderstorms. That will hopefully damage or destroy some of them and scatter their formation. Once across the river they'll have to traverse this open farmland. That's where you attack them. Use whatever tactics or maneuvers you can to slow them down. We need to delay them long enough for Princess Celestia and her army to arrive."

"What happens if they get by us?" asked Cassia.

"Then, they run up against our last line of defense here, this rampart. Behind it I'll have a couple dozen unicorns like myself. We can each do different kinds of magic based on our talents, but we can all levitate objects."

"You can't possibly levitate anything as large as these machines," observed Cinnamon.

"Probably not, but we can levitate smaller objects and even throw them." explained Twilight.

"Ah... Just like a linear accelerator," the Professor responded. "Put enough velocity on even a small object and you can do some damage."

"That's the idea." Twilight turned as the mayor trotted up.

"I'm sorry," the mayor said, "but some of the children are so frightened that we can't get them to come with us."

"That's understandable," the lavender unicorn replied. She looked over at her friend. "Pinky... Do you think you could go with the Mayor and help keep the children calm with some of your games and stories?"

"Rodger Dodger Edgar," she replied, giving Twilight a comical salute before bouncing away with the mayor trotting at her side.

"Edgar?" muttered the unicorn then shook her head. Trying to understand Pinky Pie was like strolling through a maze in the fog. By the time you figured out how things connected, you lost all sense of logic.

Twilight's train of thought was abruptly derailed by the distant boom of thunder. Flashes of lightning could be seen illuminating the clouds. She had hoped it would take the war machines longer to reach the river, but they were apparently moving faster than she'd estimated.

Cinnamon looked at everyone and grinned wickedly. "Well people, it looks like its time to pony up!"

There was an audible groan. Cassia stared at her sister. "I don't believe you just said that."