Quantum Leap Forward

by Halira

Chapter 35: The Shield and the Protector

The smell hit her nostrils before anything else; something was on fire. It didn't take much longer for Cheerilee to get hit with the waves of actual smoke. The woods ahead of her were burning. She had to push down her normal instinct and good sense, and force herself to run towards the fire. That was the direction Candy was in, and if the woods were on fire, then that was yet another thing Candy needed saving from.

Small animals; squirrels, rabbits, mice, opossums, birds, and more, all were running past her, away from the now visible flames. She had to bring herself to a halt as she reached the inferno, and coughed into her hoof as she tried to find a path, any path, that she could use to go into the flames. As she was looking about, something huge came bounding out of the blaze ahead of her. She let out a scream as she realized that it was a timberwolf. Her scream died off as the timberwolf ran right by her, and she realized the beast was on fire, and terrified. She watched as it turned and started running deeper into the forest, away from the cliffs, spreading the flames further into the Everfree as it went.

She stared back to where it had come from. Was Candy responsible for all this? If so, the filly had indeed beaten back the timberwolf, but might well have doomed herself in the process. How big was this fire going to get? The timberwolf might be running for a river or pond, but it was going to make the forest fire much worse along the way. Help had to be coming soon; somepony would see the fire and find a way to put it out. That help wouldn't be fast enough for Candy. She had to find Candy now, before the filly died by her own flames.

Gathering as deep a breath as she could, and steeling up her courage, she went straight into the least flame filled area she could spot ahead of her. The blaze licked at her sides, and she whimpered and cried out as she felt it do so. The heat was intense, and her whole body was dripping in sweat within seconds of going in. The sweat felt like it was boiling against her fur, and her eyes watered to the point she could barely see. She just kept repeating to herself that she needed to find Candy, because there was no way the filly could survive much longer in this… if she was still alive at all. She shook her head, crushing the thought in her head. Candy was alive. Candy had to be alive.

She let off a silent thank you to Celestia when her eyes fell on Candy. Worry immediately surged again when she saw the filly laying still on the ground. The flames were everywhere but a small circumference around the filly. She quickly rushed over to her, crying out again, as more flames burnt her sides. Candy's barrel was moving, showing that the filly was still alive. She carefully lifted the filly, saddlebags and all, onto her back, and made a retreat from the blaze as quickly as she could, hoping that she didn't accidently scorch the filly in the process. If Cherrilee got some more burns she could live with it, that was why there were doctors, but she wanted Candy to avoid them if possible.

It took some zigging and zagging to get away from the fire, and she was back running parallel to the cliff face. She didn't stop when she exited the burning area. She needed to put it well behind her, and she needed to get back to Cheese and get all three of them moving back towards the tree house. There was no telling how far this fire would spread, or how quickly, and sitting in one place was not advisable. They needed to get where they knew they were safe. She hoped that the fire would at least ward off any other dangerous creatures from the area.

Her body ached as she ran. She was far more physically fit than Candy, so normally this wouldn't be a problem. The burns she had suffered trying to get the filly safe were the problem. She could feel them throbbing, and they still felt like they were burning even now. It took a lot of effort to push the pain out of her mind, and was only possible because the overriding need to get the foals to safety was that great.

Cheese clapped his forehooves together excitedly as he spotted them coming towards him, but his excitement died off quickly as he got a better view of them. "You're hurt! Is Candy okay? What's wrong?"

"No time!" She shouted, pausing to make sure she didn't lose the colt, and to adjust Candy's limp form after it had started to slide slightly. "There's a forest fire, and we need to keep moving along the side of the cliff. We aren't going to run." If she ran the whole way Candy might fall off. "But we need to keep up a brisk pace to keep ahead of the flames."

The colt didn't argue, but did look warily at the two of them. He got close to her, and they started moving again at a fast walk. She could see the smoke in the sky now, and it was rising high enough that it had to be visible from Ponyville. That meant that the weather team was probably already preparing to move out to try to bring rain down on the blaze. It would take time for them to gather the clouds for it, because the clouds that formed over the Everfree were notoriously difficult to control. However, they'd be moving as quickly as possible.

After walking for a few minutes, Candy began to stir and cough on her back. Both she and Cheese noticed, and came to a halt to check on the filly. She gently set Candy down and let the filly cough to try to clear her lungs.

It was just now that she noticed that Candy now had a mark on her flank. It was similar to Applebloom's cutie mark, an apple on a shield, only Candy's shield was not the tri-colored one the Crusaders had, but instead was shaped like a red and orange flame. A closer inspection showed that at the peak of the shield there were three smaller marks, each occupying a different lip of flame. From right to left were a crossed silver sword and spear, a moon with a comet flying in front of it, and her own three smiling flowers. The three marks were smaller, and probably only easy to identify when inspecting up close. There was no sign of any other marks on the shield, aside from the prominent apple in the middle. If Candy was incorporating her occupants' cutie marks why just these three? There had been far more ponies than this that had been in her. The apple made sense, the flame certainly made sense under the circumstances, but the additional marks she couldn't figure out.

She caught a glimpse of several pegasi flying overhead. A fast-moving rainbow trail flew between them all briefly, then a moment later the rainbow returned and landed next to them.

"You found the foals!" Rainbow cried out excitedly, then her ears dropped as she looked at Candy. "Is she hurt?" Cheese looked up at Cheerilee for the same answer.

"I think she's unharmed, other than having breathed in a lot of smoke," Cheerilee replied, and winced her own burns reminded her of their existence. She still hadn't looked herself over to see how bad it was. It couldn't be too bad, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to keep moving. "She still needs to get to a doctor, all the same."

Rainbow looked her over. "She's not the only one, some of those burns look rough. Stay right here. We'll have the fire under control in a few minutes, and I'll help the three of you get out of here. Where's the rest of your search party?"

Cheerilee shook her head. "I don't know. Flurry Heart was turned to stone by a cockatrice and we all kind of scattered after that."

All three of them turned to Candy after the young Apple had an intense, but mercifully short, bout of coughing. The filly blinked once or twice after, and gazed up at her weakly. "Cheerilee? Are ya really here?"

She gently hugged the filly. "I'm really here, along with Rainbow and Cheese. Does anything hurt? How hard is it to breathe? Did you start that fire?"

The filly coughed some more in response, but answered after that cleared. "Breathing hurts. Timberwolves don't like fire."

"You nearly burned yourself up. What were you thinking?" Rainbow demanded in a voice mixed with concern and anger.

Candy coughed again, and then looked at the pegasus. "Timberwolves don't like fire," she gave as her only response.

Cheerilee worriedly frowned down at the filly. "Is that you Candy? Or are you somepony else?"

"Ah'm me," Candy replied weakly. "Candy Apple."

She let off a sigh of relief, then looked at Rainbow Dash. "I'm pretty sure she's just dazed and weak from her experience. It's best not to push her for too much right now. I'll watch these two. You do what you need to do with the fire."

Rainbow nodded back. "Okay, just sit tight. I'll be back in a flash." The pegasus launched herself into the air, and once again zoomed off in the direction of the fire. Clouds were already visibly raining in the distance, although the smoke continued to rise.

Cheerilee sat down next to Candy, and Cheese laid down to the other side of the filly. They didn't get too close to her, for fear of overcrowding her when she was already having trouble breathing, but they still had a protective air about them.

"I'm not sure if you noticed, but you got your cutie mark," she gently told the filly.

Candy must not have previously noticed, because even in her dazed state her eyes went wide and she whipped her head around to gaze at her freshly branded flank. The quick action incited another short coughing fit, but as soon as it ended she reached out a forehoof to her flank to touch it, as if not believing the mark was really there.

"Ah got ma cutie mark," Candy said slowly, still sounding not all there. She blinked a few times, and then started to grin. "Ah got ma cutie mark!" This second declaration started another coughing fit, but the filly's grin immediately returned to her face after she recovered her breath. Awareness and energy were now present in Candy's eyes and demeanor. Nothing could deter a foal's joy at getting their cutie mark.

Cherrilee smiled, sharing in Candy's moment. "I couldn't help noticing my cutie mark was included in yours. I'm guessing the other two small ones came from Twilight Comet and Platinum Gilt. Do you have any idea why just the three of us, and not the rest are there?" The filly turned to her, blinking, and Cheerilee brushed Candy's mane with a hoof. "I remember being in you now, I remember it like it was just this morning… which I guess it was."

Candy's eyes filled with tears, but the filly kept smiling. If anything, her smile grew. "The whole time ah was thinkin' about what the three of ya would do. None of y'all would let Cheese get hurt by that mean ol' monster. Ah was thinkin' that, an' thinkin' about keepin' ma promise to keep him safe. Nothin' else mattered to me then."

Cheese gasped, then threw himself into hugging Candy. Cheerilee almost objected that Candy didn't need him crushing the air out of her, but held her tongue when no new fit of coughing began. She just let them have their moment together.

"You're my best friend!" Cheese exclaimed, as he continued to hug the filly. To Cheerilee's shock, Candy's smile dropped, and the filly pushed her friend off. Cheese gave her a hurt look in response. "What's wrong? Did I do something bad?"

Candy looked down and shook her head. "Ya wouldn't have been in danger if ah didn't take ya out here with me. Ah need to say ah'm sorry. Ah wasn't as good a friend to ya as ya were to me."

Cheese shook his head back. "Friends help each other out, and you needed me. I could have said no if I really wanted to."

"Fat lot of good comin' out here did," Candy replied bitterly. The filly seemed to focus on her horn for a moment, but the magic just sputtered, still drained from the earlier strain. Candy sighed, and took a second to open up her saddlebags with her mouth. "Ah'm hungry. Suppose we can just eat this bread. Waste of time tryin' to catch a grain sprite in it."

The filly reached a forehoof into her saddlebags and lifted out a loaf of bread. As it cleared the bag, the filly screamed and dropped the bread. Cheerilee, perhaps still having residual fear from her time in Candy's body jumped backwards as well. The two of them stared at the bread in horror, it was smiling.

"Cheese…" Cheerilee said slowly, not taking her eyes away from the sinister grin. "Can you see a smiling face on that bread?"

Cheese walked in front of the two of them, obstructing their view of the loaf. "Yeah! The bread has a happy face in it! Does that mean we did good?"

Candy had done it; she'd caught a grain sprite. With all the ponies out here, there had to be somepony that could find some poison joke. They had everything they needed to fix Candy.

"Just keep your distance from it," she ordered the foals. "Let's not give it any reason to think it needs to defend its new home. We're just going to patiently wait here for help to come for us. Rainbow Dash knows where we are, and will be back soon."

She smiled. After everything Cheerilee had endured while stuck in Candy's body, she was going to get the chance to see it all resolved. Her smile faded. Everything was almost over, but there was one more thing that needed taking care of. There was still one last task that she needed to help Candy with-- the school board meeting tomorrow. Word would get out about Candy's actions on today, and Spoiled Rich would use it to push that Candy had willfully endangered another foal. Spoiled was not going to get her way.

On a more personal note; she really wanted to have some words with the detestable head of the school board about being called deranged. It wasn't just Candy that needed to be validated and exonerated tomorrow. This was a fight for both of them.

Author's Note:

Nearing the end.

Comments

[Nota]

Entonces ahora se entra en recta final y, por lo que supongo, tira a un final feliz. ¿O no va a ser así? Hay mucho en contra de Candy y ahora se le suma el incendiar el Everfree, poner en peligro a su amigo como a otro ponis y ser la causa indirecta por la cual una princesa se convirtió en piedra.

Aunque espero que lo quede el caso de Flurry no quede pendiente. Eso sería muy mal por parte de scootaloo

Aunque la cutie mark es rara. ¿Viruela cutie?
En si un pony puede tener màs de un talento, pero la cutie mark representa el talento especial. Además, ¿Por cual razón esas partes tienen tanta semejanza con los ponis que la ocuparon? Mnnnn. Bien tengo una teoria. Relacionada a qué los ponys que la ocuparon "forman parte de ella" , en más de un sentido. Y, al realizar tal acción en la cual pone aprueba el talento (y personalidad? de esos tres ponys, algo llevo a tal resultado.
Pero bue. Ya a dejar los textos rellenos. Jeje.

Hasta próxima.

[alfonso_rd_33]

10131624
Como dijo candy, ella estaba pensando "Qué haría X para mantener al Queso a salvo" basada en las experiencias de ellos, ya que gracias a los espíritus del grano lograron a<traerlos a ella, y como ya se dijo, Candy podía ver sus pensamientos como en una televisión. y como dijo, estaba pensando en Cherilee y los otros 2.

[Nota]

10131923
Se que medio parece que no tome en consideración las palabras de Candy, pero si lo hice.
Es apartir de lo que dice que considere eso. Puede pensar en esos ponys, Imitar sus acciones y eso, pero no por eso conseguirá sus cutie Mark implementadas a la de ella. Quizás hay algo de por medio (como el caso de las CMC). Las cutie mark tiene sus misterios asi que no pensaré demasiado en esto

[alfonso_rd_33]

10132007
Mi teoría es Simple: Candy estaba destinada a canalizar a los ponis de antes, pero la combinación de Broma venenosa y Espíritu del grano terminó transportando a los ponis para que habitaran el cuerpo de candy completamente en Control, mientras que la forma correcta de la manifestación de su magia sería llamar al espíritu del poni, quien entraría en ella y ella podría consultarles como resolver sus problemas.

[ferret]

10131922
Or Being John Malkovich.

[Nota]

10132313
Estamos en el mismo canal entonces. Un poco de las palabras de Big mac ahí, y en su parte estoy de acuerdo.
El "destinado" suena a una palabras demasiado grande considerando el evento tan bizarro y ha corto plazo. Que se yo. Tampoco estoy para decir a qué tipo de vida le llevará estos sucesos en el futuro (o si incluso lo sabremos).
Podría decir un poco màs y no dejo lo que quiero decir suelto, pero creo que va a ser terriblemente laaargo.

Por lo que bien supongo la Broma venenosa y el espíritu de grano no son del tipo que le hagan la vida fácil a uno. Como dices, tal vez su activación mutua tuvo algún efecto contrario en Candy (- x - = + [?]). Quedaría saber que sucede si se desasen de alguno de ellos. (Candy se negara?)

Pero bue, a todo esto, Ahora que me acuerdo ¿Donde entran los crayones?

Jaja. No espere a alguien dispuesto hablar conmigo.

[alfonso_rd_33]

10132371
podrían deshacerse de alguno(s) de los ponis que Candy ya ha canalizado, pero eso no debería afectar a Candy, y si lo hace, ella podría ser capaz de volver a llamarlo(s), y sin la influencia de la broma venenosa y espíritu del grano, no debería haber posesión.

y de los crayones.... supongo que uno de los primeros ponies que la poseyeron se acabó una primera caja de crayones por eso
Candy dijo después que no los usaran.... a Candy le gusta usar sus crayones.

[PaintedPony]

This was a great story. Full of imagination and tribulation. I was on the edge of my seat a couple of times and you effectively made me loathe Spoiled. I look forward to your other projects and hope your Dad is doing better and your 14 days of isolation is just a precaution. Be well.