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THYME AFTER TIME

Reaching the front of the formation the pegasus held up her hooves signaling them to stop. She was approached by two alicorn princesses who seemed to be in charge. Cassia quickly explained why they couldn't directly attack the machines, not for at least the next twenty minutes. The white alicorn with the multi-hued, pastel mane understood immediately.

"I can't say I'm comfortable with using biological warfare, magical or not, but we can discuss it later," Celestia said. "The important thing is to defend both Ponyville and Equestria. Do you have a way of communicating with anypony in town?"

Cassia nodded. "Twilight Sparkle is using Cinnamon's communicator to keep us posted."

"Fine. My sister and I will assist with the secondary defenses." With that, the two alicorns wheeled left and led the army back towards Ponyville. Cassia rejoined the others.

From the hilltop they watched the gigantic machines as they began advancing on Ponyville again.

The pegasus looked at the professor. "How long until that virus of yours takes effect?"

"Ten, maybe fifteen minutes tops."

"Fifteen minutes will put them at the barricade," Clover pointed out.

"I think I'm feeling a little better," Cyanide suggested weakly over the communicator. "Maybe we can make another attack run? Slow them down more?" The alicorn groaned, then sneezed violently several times in a row. He laid back down on the blanket. "Or not!"

"Maybe I could try," offered Cassia. "The dust cloud has already dispersed."

"I wouldn't recommend it," said Cymbalaria. "The outside of those machines must be coated with the virus. An attack could expose you to the disease."

"It will expose Ponyville if we don't stop them," Cassia said.

"Not if we can help it," the Professor muttered. He tapped his communicator. "Twilight... Are you still there?"

There was a brief hiss of static then the voice of the lavender unicorn came on line. "Can I help you professor."

"Listen, Twilight... Is it possible for your pegasus ponies to make another thunderstorm attack, say in the next ten minutes?" As he listened he could hear the librarian consulting with someone else.

"Rainbow says there aren't enough thunderclouds around to do that again. Besides, we only have three or four pegasi on hand. The others are busy moving Cloudsdale out of the line of fire."

"What about the Royal Guard? Can they help?" Is there any other kind of weather that can be dropped on these things without getting too close to them?" There was another long pause before Twilight called back.

"Rainbow Dash says to sit back, relax and hang on to your manes."

As they watched a line of several dozen gleaming, armored pegasus ponies rose from ground and began flying in a circular column, rising and falling in a coordinated spiral. They were led by a cyan blue pegasus. As they accelerated a cone-shaped vertical mist began forming, the narrowest end reaching just a hundred feet off the ground while the upper half towered nearly a half-mile into the air.

"What the heck are they doing?" Cassia asked.

"I think they're pulling a Pecos Bill in reverse," the professor said, smiling.

"A Pecos who?"

"Just watch."

The pegasus ponies flew faster and faster, causing the funnel of mist to coalesce into a darker, more solid column of high pressure air.

"Did they just make a... cyclone?" Cassia asked.

Continuing to watch, they saw the ponies suddenly pull away from the funnel in a single, high speed line, almost as if they were playing snap the whip. Like a top sent spinning when you yanked on the string, the funnel cloud roared forward towards the advancing machines. It touched down just in front of them and plowed into the mechanized formation, scattering it across the open fields. Several war machines were scooped up and spun around the inside of the funnel before being ejected from the top. They rose high into the air, lost momentum and fell back to earth like cannon balls. The first three face planted themselves in the ground. The fourth slammed down on top of yet another machine which began lurching around madly.

"Not bad," Cymbalaria observed as the funnel cloud faded away. "That cyclone not only bowled over our opposition, but it probably dissipated your virus into the upper atmosphere. By the time it settles back down, it will be inert."

The majority of the war-bots began picking themselves up off the ground and making a weak effort to reform. They staggered about dizzily, bumping into and tripping over each other. The three that had face planted themselves quivered feebly and flayed their legs, but otherwise did not move.

As the professor and the others watched, the movements of the war machines became lethargic. One by one they began grinding to a stop and toppling over like dominoes.

"I think the virus is working," said Cymbalaria.

Within about ten minutes all the machines had ground to a halt. Hatches popped open and a number of bulky creatures with head-like torsos, beaks and tentacles sitting or lying on the ground. The sound of violent, alien hooting, which could have been sneezes, wafted over the now quiet countryside.

The professor studied them with a telescope he'd pulled from his canvas saddlebags. "Herbert... You magnificent bastard... I read your BOOK!" Cassia looked at him in confusion. He grinned. "Sorry, I just couldn't resist."

"So now what?" asked Cassia.

"We get Twilight and her friends to herd those 'Martians' somewhere that they can be taken care of and won't be any trouble. Then we find your Maestro Thyme and get this whole cross dimensional business sorted out."

"I'm curious to know exactly how the Maestro was able to open up a portal and bring those machines in from another world," said Cassia. "All her instrumentality is back on the chrono-sphere with Rekooh."

"That's the sixty-four dollar question right now." The professor looked at Cymbalaria. "How are our patients doing?"

"You were right about their recuperative abilities," the android pony said. "Clover's already past the worst of the symptoms and Cyanide should be back on his hooves in a couple of minutes. I'd say give them about ten minutes and they'll be as good as new."

"Maybe,' said the black-furred alicorn, scratching at a rapidly vanishing purple spot. "But getting there hasn't exactly been fun." He gave off one last, extremely violent sneeze that echoed off the hills.

"If we're not having fun, I almost feel sorry for those Martians," Clover mumbled, sitting up on the blanket. She looked at the professor, her bloodshot eyes slowly clearing. "Are we still contagious?"

The blue-gray unicorn closed his eyes and used his horn to magically examine them. "No... Once the spots start vanishing you can't infect other people... I mean ponies."

The communicator crackled in their ears. "Can you hear me...? Hello, professor?"

"We're here, Twilight... How can we help?"

"It's hard to tell from here, but it looks like those metal monsters have stopped moving. Can you confirm this?"

"Yes... I can confirm. All the machines are now down and out of commission. Tell your pegasus friends that the cyclone worked perfectly."

Twilight passed the word on to the other ponies around her and within moments a dull roar could be heard emanating from the town as everypony cheered and stamped their hooves. The unicorn's next few words were drowned out by the noise, but she was eventually able to make herself understood over the din. "Princess Celestia and Luna want to talk with you. How soon can you get to town?"

The professor looked over at Cymbalaria who held up five fingers.

"We'll be on our there in about five minutes."

"Good... the whole town wants to thank you guys."

The professor repacked his saddlebags, then quickly checked over Cyanide, Clover and Cymbalaria, making doubly-sure that the magical virus had completely been expunged. When everyone was ready he looked over at Cymbalaria. "Mind if I get a lift to town?"

Smiling, the android pony bent down so he could grab onto her back. "Hang on," she cautioned as she once again ignited her rear rocket hooves and arched into the sky. Cassia and Cyanide both spread their wings and followed while Clover trailed them on the ground, kicking up a high speed cloud of dust.

Reaching Ponyville, the professor and the others landed in the town square and quickly sought out Twilight Sparkle. They found her surrounded by her friends. Pinky of course was jumping up and down yelling something about a victory party. Next to them stood a somewhat bedraggled Cinnamon, her horn completely healed. Cassia and the others trotted up to her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been &%$**$# run over by a semi-truck that was carrying an Abrams tank... TWICE!"

Twilight's friend, Fluttershy, looked at the green-furred unicorn in shock and hid her face in embarrassment. Cyanide just smiled. "Yeah, she's going to be fine." He trotted over to where the professor was consulting with Twilight.

"Yes... we can totally do that," the lavender unicorn said. "We'll just get some unicorns to levitate the... What did you call them?"

"Martians."

"The Martians to an empty barn. That way no one has to touch them until your magical illness isn't contagious." She paused for a second. "You wouldn't happen to know what they eat, would you. I mean if we're going to be caring for them..."

"Well," said the professor. "If I remember Herbert's story correctly it was human bloo..." He paused as a shadow enveloped both Twilight and himself.

Looking up he saw two female alicorns standing side by side. They were dressed in elaborate, silver armor with gold filigree and accompanied by more than a dozen armored pony guards. Everypony in the vicinity became quiet and bowed to the regal figures. Taking their cue from the others, the professor and the Power Puff Ponies also bowed, though not as deeply as the local residents.

Smiling, Twilight looked up at her mentor. "Princess Celestia... Princess Luna, are we glad to see you. Your pegasus guards arrived just in time to help us win the day."

"We came as quickly as we could and are glad to have assisted," the white-furred alicorn said, "but it appears you had the situation well under control."

"Only thanks to the professor and his friends," Twilight gesturing to her new friends. Celestia's gaze followed, but when she set her eyes on Cyanide her mouth turned downward and her brows furrowed.

"GUARDS! Seize that imposter, IMMEDIATELY"!

Within seconds the alicorn found himself surrounded by earth ponies armed with sharp spears, the heads of which ironically resembled his cutie mark.

"Uh... Was it something I said?" Cyanide muttered.