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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 16

The Professor, Cyanide, Cymbalaria and the girls all watched from the shelter of a small stand of trees overlooking the valley. The plowed fields through which the war machines were slowly advancing were less than four miles from the town. A number of them looked slightly charred while more than a score of the armored behemoths littered the banks and shallows of the river.

Even as they watched two or three pegasi were pushing one last cloud into position before stomping on it. A bolt of lightning shot to the ground, catching one of the machines dead center. The cloud dissipated and the ponies retreated quickly. The machine froze where it was, then keeled over to lay silently for almost a minute before slowly rising back to its feet and moving in pursuit of its fellows.

"Okay," said the Professor. "Our best tactic with this number of targets is a series of hit and run strikes. We each pick a machine, then make an attack, hitting it with our long range powers then pulling back before they can coordinate and bring their own energy weapons to bear. Every run we make must come in from a different direction." The Professor handed out individual comm-links for each pony. "I'll function as strike coordinator and back up. Go for the legs first so they're immobilized. We hit them hard and fast, and don't give them a break."

Cyanide led the first charge. With his wings healed thanks to a spell from Twilight Sparkle, he was able to make a low level pass between several of the war machines. He fired off a lightning bolt that shredded the leg on one machine before breaking off and heading for cover. Several bolts of energy passed behind him as his speed prevented accurate tracking.

Simultaneously Clover ran in from the opposite side, moving so fast along the ground she wasn't much more than a blur. She dashed around a second machine at high speed and unleashed an arctic blast that caused two legs to freeze solid. The armored monster brought one of its frozen legs up and tried to stomp on the flue-furred mare. It missed and the leg shattered into a thousand pieces. Staggering, it tried to brace with one of the other two legs only to have it collapse. The machine toppled over, knocking down one of its companions in the process. Clover bolted away before any of behemoths' weapons could draw a bead.

Like Cyanide, Cassia dove through the armored formation too fast to track. Passing close to a machine in the middle of the column she unleashed a force beam from her eyes that cut cleanly through all three of its legs. It crumpled immediately, the main body bouncing heavily along the ground. A second machine accidentally kicked it, sending it skittering into the legs of one of its companions tripping it up. The pink pegasus quickly retreated, laughing at the comical sight.

Cinnamon's attack was as unique as the unicorn herself. Teleporting to the top of one of the machines she began trotting in place, kicking at it with her extraordinary strength, denting and rupturing the armor. A hatch opened in the top and a blaster took aim. Grinning, she 'ported' away just as it fired. The armored monster blew a hole in itself large enough to drive a carriage through. It ground to a halt and stood there silently frozen in place while smoke billowed from its body.

Cymbalaria's assault was equally original. Using the rockets in her hooves, the android pony leapt high above the enemy formation then cut her thrust to zero. She fell like a stone, waiting until the last moment to surround herself with a protective force field. Dropping at terminal velocity, she landed atop one of the machines and drove it straight into the ground cracking its hull open. Its three legs were splayed out in different directions. She launched herself into the air again, leaping away from the behemoths before they could react.

"Okay everyone," the Professor said over the comm-link. "Wait for about sixty seconds then hit them again. Cinnamon, why didn't you use your long range sonic beam?"

"I'd have to stand still and concentrate for too long. I'd be a *^$)@* sitting duck!"

"Point taken," the Professor acknowledged. "Just be careful they don't adapt and anticipate your teleport."

"Fat chance of that," smirked the green-furred unicorn.

"Good work, everyone," radioed Cassia, "but don't get cocky!"

"I think around here you're suppose to say everypony," quipped Clover

The ponies launched two more attacks, mixing it up with the war machines so quickly and at such close quarters they could not effectively deploy their blasters without taking each other out. About eight of the behemoths were flailing around on the ground having lost one or more legs while another four were permanently out of action. The others began to mill around in apparent disorder.

"It looks like we're kicking their collective hinnies." Cyanide nickered as the ponies momentarily rejoined in the cover of the tree stand.

"Maybe," said the Professor raising a pair of binoculars to his eyes with his fore hooves. "Something appears to be happening out there." As they watched, the machines with damaged legs slowly began to recover as the old damaged supports were ejected from the main hull and new ones started to appear.

"FRACK!" cursed Cinnamon. "They're repairing themselves."

"Not the ones which have their hulls breached," observed Cymbalaria.

"Should we switch targets?" asked Clover.

The Professor shook his head. "We're slowing them down. The longer we can keep them tangled up and away from town, the more chance there is for reinforcements to arrive."

"The only problem is using our ranged attacks is draining," Cyanide pointed out. "We can probably make maybe half-a-dozen more runs, and then we'll have to switch to a more physical assault.

"Professor?" called Cassia. "Who's that?"

They all looked. There, trotting calmly back and forth between the machines was a figure wearing a long, blue, hooded cloak. Two large saddlebags hung from the pony's flanks. Every few steps it would buck slightly, throwing a cloud of seeds to the ground.

"What does that pony think they're doing?" asked Clover.

"What pony?"

They all looked up at Cymbalaria. "Can't you see him?"

The android shook her head. "If there's someone down there, they're invisible to my sensors. Give me a moment to shift to infra-red."

"If that pony is invisible to Cymbalaria, then the war machines probable can't see him either," said Cyanide.

"Maybe... maybe not," said the Professor.

"Uh Oh," responded the android. "He's invisible on infra-red scans as well, but his hoof prints are hot and leaving a trail to follow. If they should target..."

Cymbalaria never got a chance to finish the sentence. As the ponies watched one of the war machines fired a blaster into the ground just behind the cloaked figure. The pony was thrown head over tail landing several yards away. The cloak slipped off revealing a black and white stripped zebra.

"It's Zecora!" yelled Cyanide, Cymbalaria and the Professor together.

"I'm on it!" called Cinnamon. She vanished in a bright flash, reappearing next to the dazed zebra. "Come-on...Let's get the FRACK outta here."

With one swift move the green-furred unicorn flipped Zecora onto her back and vanished just as three of the war machines opened fired. She reappeared next to the others and carefully lowered the shaman to the ground, then started hopping and dancing around, her singed tail smoking behind her.

"(#&[email protected] HOT...HOT...HOT!"

Clover gave the unicorn a tiny arctic blast that coated her tail and hind quarters with a thin sheet of frost, extinguishing the smoldering fur. The pony sighed in relief.

Shaking her head, the zebra stood and looked at Cinnamon.

_ "I thank-you for your actions bold. Your coarseness hides a heart of gold."_

"You're welcome... Uh Zecora, isn't it?"

"What were you doing out there?" asked the Professor.

_ "Contributing to this great cause, some seeds to make these monsters pause. _

_ If you can help my plants to grow, I guarantee a merry show."_

"If you mean magic, I'm afraid it won't work. I can't speak a growth spell while holding my wand in my mouth."

_ "You do not understand, I fear. You need no wand for magic here._

_ Just speak your spell and use your horn. Remember you're a unicorn!"_

The Professor's eyebrows rose in surprise. "I hadn't thought of that. You're right. Around here I'm a creature of magic, not just a manipulator of thaumaturgy." Taking a deep breath, the blue-gray furred unicorn closed his eyes and began concentrating, reaching out with his mind to feel the newly sown seeds. When he could feel their potential within himself, he began to speak.

" A'nal na theta 'rax, ur** theta vas be' theta ud, dox'jel 'djenve**." He repeated the chant twice more. As he did, his horn began to glow and was surrounded by a nimbus of blue energy.

The others watched as a lush carpet of green began spreading everywhere Zecora had trotted. It grew quickly, scattering out across the fields and then, growing up the legs of every war machine that happened to be standing in the path of the growth. More than two dozen of the behemoths were quickly covered by it. Servos whined in protest and the machines came to a dead stop. The zebra smiled in satisfaction

_ "Though Grab Grass is a farmer's bane, it serves to drive our foes insane_."

"THIS IS AWESOME!" said the Professor, a wide, somewhat uncharacteristic grin spreading across his face. The glow of his horn faded.

"Alright everypony... Once more unto the breach!" yelled Cyanide, launching himself into the air.

"Since when did he start reading Shakespeare?" asked Clover, looking at Cassia. The pegasus just shrugged and followed the alicorn into the sky. The others quickly launched into their own varying styles of attack.

"Make sure you KEEP OFF THE GRASS!" the Professor called into his comm-link. He turned to look at Zecora and found that as before, the zebra shaman had vanished.

* * * *

Twilight Sparkle stood atop the partially completed rampart looking out across the empty farmland. "It looks like our new friends are doing better than they expected. Those metal monsters have stopped advancing."

"At least they're given us time to finish our fortification, though I don't know what good it'll do against them things," said Applejack.

Rainbow Dash landed with a gently thump next to her friends. From her expression it was easy to see she was tired.

"Nice job with them thunderclouds, Sugar-cube," said the palomino earth pony.

"Yeah... but those were the only lightning storms within a hundred miles. It'll take us hours to herd more of them in from the north."

"Where are the rest of the pegasi?" asked Twilight.

"They're trying to move Cloudsdale so it's not in the line of fire."

"Wish y'all could do the same for Ponyville," said Applejack.

"We would if we could," Rainbow Dash replied, a note of annoyance in her voice.

"I know y'all would. I didn't mean to sound ornery. I just don't like to think of what them machines are gon'na do to our town."

"It hasn't happened yet," Twilight Sparkle said. "And it won't as long as we have anything to say about it."

Rainbow Dash chuckled. "We're going to have to start calling you Brigadier General Sparkle after this is over."

Applejack smiled. "That's for sure."

* * * *

On his fifth attack run Cyanide decided to change tactics in mid flight. Instead of firing off a lightning bolt, the alicorn passed underneath his target then zoomed straight up. The machine reacted by popping its lower hatch and aiming its blaster at him. Cyanide side-slipped throwing off the weapon's aim then latched onto its flexible, articulated arm with his teeth. Flying in a tight, high-speed spiral, he set the machine spinning like a top then let go, causing it to whirl about colliding with anything in its path. The alicorn performed a barrel roll and dove clear.

Spinning madly the war machine took out three other behemoths before disaster struck. It collided with another of its fellows at the same instant that Cinnamon teleported atop it. The armored monster started to topple taking the unicorn with it. Before she could teleport again, the blaster from the spinning behemoth caught her along the side of the head and sent her catapulting across the fields and into the center of Ponyville. She plowed through the Carousel Boutique and came to a rest next to the remains of the first contraption they had fought.

The green-furred unicorn lay silently as several other ponies ran up to her. Among them were Rarity and Twilight.

"She doesn't look too good," said a brown-furred pony with a black mane and tail, and an hourglass as his cutie mark.

"Of course not," replied Twilight. "She's broken her horn."

Rarity gasped in shock as she saw tendrils of energy flare outward from the broken unicorn horn. "We need a doctor here... Now!" she called to the assembled ponies. One of them dashed off and returned moments later with the doctor in tow.

He immediately began wrapping a specially designed bandage around the jagged stub of a horn. The escaping flow of energy stopped. He quickly examined Cinnamon. "This is incredible," he muttered. "I saw her land. By all rights, she should be dead, but her breathing and heart are normal and except for her horn, nothing else is broken."

"Well, she is unconscious," Twilight pointed out.

"Yes, and judging from the damage done her horn, she'll be out for quite a while. At least we stopped her energy loss."

A very small voice suddenly drew their attention to the green-furred unicorn. "Cinnamon, this is the Professor... Report status, over." The voice repeated seconds later. "Cinnamon... What's your location?"

Twilight noticed what looked like a small plug in the Powerpuff pony's ear. Using her magic she carefully lifted it out and discovered it was the source of the strange voice.

"Cinnamon...Cinnamon are you there?"

Twilight carefully brought the plug up to her ear and gently pushed it into place. "Hello?" she tentatively asked.

"Cinnamon?"

"Ah, no. Cinnamon's here, but she's out cold at the moment."

"Who's this?"

"Twilight Sparkle," she replied, quickly explaining Cinnamon's condition.

"Understood!" came the Professors response. "She's probably out for the count. Please keep an eye on her and when she wakes up, try and keep her out of the fight. With her horn broken, she might hurt herself more than help us."

"You can count on us, Professor." Twilight removed the plug from her ear and looked at Rarity. "How many gems were you able to find?"

"I've plumbed my entire stock, darling, and came up with twelve medium-sized boxes of just what you asked for. I've already had Derpy and a few others take them to the ponies along your rampart."

"Good," Twilight replied. She watched as Cinnamon was gently lifted onto a stretcher and taken in the direction of the Ponyville clinic. "I need somepony to keep an eye on Cinnamon and make sure she stays in bed when she wakes up."

Rarity looked at her friend. "Well, I suppose I could, but how in Equestria would I stop her if she tries to leave?"

The lavender unicorn shook her head. "I don't know. Appeal to her common sense, tell her a story... Maybe offer her a make-over. Use your imagination." With that, Twilight galloped off to rejoin the others on the rampart.

Rarity watched her friend for a moment then trotted over towards the Ponyville clinic. "Use my imagination, eh? Well, at least I'll get to practice my bedside manner."

* * * *

The Professor watched the war machines as they began to reform into a single wedge formation, one designed to pierce a defensive line. At last count there were about sixty-two machines permanently immobilized. That left thirty-eight to deal with. Cinnamon was out of the fight for now and the others were tiring quickly. As Cyanide had warned, using their longer ranged attacks was draining the ponies faster than desired.

Cymbalaria landed next to the others then sat down to one side and began reattaching her left arm. "Are you alright?" Clover asked.

The android pony nodded. "I will be. Several of the machines anticipated my last attack and I took a hit from their force beams. Fortunately, my shields blunted most of its effect, though as you can see they did disarm me."

"What about using your force cocoons or molecular destabilizer?" asked Cyanide.

"The former only works on organic beings, while the latter would require I stand still for two point one five seconds to activate it. Against these monsters, that would make me a parked waterfowl."

Cassia knelt on her fore legs breathing heavily. She looked up at the Professor. "If these damn things didn't regenerate their support struts, we'd have had them all down by now."

"You wouldn't have anything in that saddlebag of yours that might help, would you Professor?" Cyanide asked.

The blue-gray unicorn was levitating different objects into view, examining them, then putting them back. "Well, if Cinnamon were still in action I could use the P-Quad formula, but without her, it's pretty much useless." Two more vials popped into view, and then were quickly stashed away. The next thing he pulled out was a large amethyst.

"This might work," the Professor said.

Levitating the gem in front of him he pointed his horn at it and recited a rather long incantation. Both the gem and his horn began to glow brightly. Focusing, he repeated the incantation twice more, then tapped it with his horn. The amethyst broke itself into thirty-eight equally sized facets. Each one flew off independently towards a different war machine. They impacted the sides of the main body. Moments later, the legs of the behemoths began rising off the ground. Within a few short moments every one of the giants were flaying around about six or seven feet above the ground.

"Way to go Professor," cheered Clover.

"This spell won't last," the blue-gray unicorn warned, his horn still glowing; "but it will stop their advance long enough for you to get your second wind."

"Even then, I don't know if we can stop them all from reaching Ponyville," Cassia admitted

"What about using a dragon?" asked the blue-furred mare.

The professor looked at Clover. "A what?" Instead of answering however she simply pointed up into the sky. Everyone looked. Sure enough, there was an enormous, red scaled dragon flying toward them from the mountains. As they watched the beast suddenly folded its wings and launched itself into a power dive that looked as if it were aimed at them.

"I don't think I like the looks of this!" muttered Cyanide.

TO BE CONTINUED...