//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: The Old and the New 
// Story: Quantum Leap Forward 
// by Halira 
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Walking straight on to Sweet Apple Acres had been her intention, but after having it confirmed that Big Mac was Candy's father made her drag her hooves. It was silly, because logically it didn't really matter that he was, but it still made her feel uncomfortable, and therefore she didn't rush. 

Silver Spoon had also shared with her information about the family, saying that she couldn't play ignorant if she'd just been told. Bright Pear was the oldest of Candy's brothers, by more than nine years. She was told he was easy to pick out, as he was big like his father, and a pear green with a bright yellow mane. The other brother was Caramel Apple, at a little over a year older than Candy, with purple fur and a bright orange mane. Caramel was expected to be who would be the pony to eventually take over Sweet Apple Acres in the next generation; seeing as Bright Pear had been gifted the old Pear farm by his great grandfather-- the pear farm was apparently in such disrepair that Bright Pear would have his hooves full with just that, and Candy Apple didn't seem to be the farming type. Applebloom's foal could possibly be in the running for the farm, but it was far too early to say anything about that. Applejack was apparently without foal, and was anticipated to remain so. Sugar Belle was now known almost universally as Ma Apple, even being called that by Applejack and Applebloom. It seemed to be a kind of title of sorts in the family, an Apple family tradition, and it was explained that when Candy or her brothers one day had their own foals she'd be referred to then as Granny Apple. No word had been spoken about Granny Smith, but given how old she'd been before… well, best not to think about that. 

Ponyville looked much the same as it had in her own time, for the most part. There were more houses, a lot more houses, but they were of the same design and style as the older ones. Some businesses she was familiar with were gone in favor of new ones. Some roads that she expected to be there were now gone, with new roads in other spots. Many notable landmarks were the same; town hall, Carousel Boutique, Sugarcube Corner, the castle, the School of Friendship, all of these looked exactly as they did in her time. There were some new statues and monuments scattered about, but they fit right in with the natural small town charm of Ponyville. Even twenty years into the future this still felt like the same old Ponyville… almost.

The most notable difference was how many non-ponies were about. She spotted changelings, yaks, griffins, kirin, hypogriffs, and even an occasional dragon. The very name Ponyville seemed inappropriate with how diverse the population was. She might expect large amounts of non-pony residents in a large city or town near the outskirts of Equestria, not in a small town directly in the center of it. Her best guess was that the School of Friendship brought in lots of creatures from elsewhere to study, and that large numbers of them chose to remain in Ponyville after graduation.

Silver Spoon stepped in front of her and brought her to a halt. "We're going to take a quick break to eat some food. If your lunch got mixed in with that potion then you haven't eaten all day, and I'm not returning a hungry filly to her parents, or having your discipline discussed with your stomach growling."

Her stomach growled immediately as the teacher finished speaking, and she rubbed a leg over it in embarrassment. A few minutes spent eating something wouldn't hurt. 

There was a street vender nearby, selling carrots on buns. Silver Spoon paid the vender for two and they sat down to eat their small meal. As she lifted the carrot to her mouth the teacher gave her an appraising look. "You could just use your horn. I've seen you levitate things before."

She'd actually almost forgotten she had the thing sticking out of her head. Her headache had long since cleared, so bumps on her head had been dismissed from thought. "I'm normally an earth pony, so I don't have any idea how to use it, and I'm not planning on staying in this body long enough to need to learn how to use it."

Silver Spoon shrugged as she finished off her carrot. "It was worth a shot to try to catch you in a logic failing. Oh well." 

That caused her to get grumpier again, and she rapidly finished off eating the helpless carrot like a timberwolf might chomp through a pony that dared to kick the monster in the nose and stand around to find out what would happen. She then got to her hooves and prepared to be on her way again.

However, an interesting sight distracted her. There was a green changeling that was surrounded by a group of half-a-dozen kirin… she guessed the term for them was foals as well, along with two pony foals, and a dragon whelp. It seemed like some sort of lesson taking place, and curiosity got the better of her, making her step towards them.

"Fall Color," the changeling greeted one of the kirin 'colts'. "Why don't you tell your brother how you feel when he eats all the pudding."

The little deep-yellow kirin surprisingly turned to a dirt-brown earth pony colt. "When you eat all of Mom's pudding, it makes me mad. I think you're being greedy. I want pudding too."

The changeling turned to the earth pony colt. "And Fall Leaf, what do you have to say about that?"

Leaf scrunched up his muzzle. "It's not like you're going to eat any anyway. You act like I eat it all at once, but I wait. After two or three days of you not touching it, it is like you said you don't want it."

Color's brow creased and he growled. "I just don't want to eat it right away! I want to have it when I'm ready!"

"You're never ready!" Leaf shouted back, getting right into the kirin's face as he did.

The changeling made a soothing gesture with its forelegs. "Okay, we have some strong emotions, but let's just sit back and talk about this ca--."

Color shoved his muzzle forward, pushing the earth pony colt back. "I am too! It just isn't as fast as you want it to be!"

"Calm down-" the changeling said with more frantic soothing gestures.

"Nah-ah!" Leaf shouted back.

"Uh-huh!" Color countered, with all the grace and well thought out wording to be expected of a colt his age.

"This arguing really isn't neces--" the changeling tried to interject. Unfortunately, the two colts decided that the best way to take care of their pudding disagreement involved boxing each other in the nose and tackling one another. 

Her first instinct as a teacher was to step in and try to break up the fight, but she stopped as the changeling transformed into a terrifying bugbear. Even knowing that it was just a changeling she had to fight the urge to run away. The two colts didn't initially notice the transformation, being too wrapped up in their fight, but they quickly noticed when the changeling grabbed them under each arm.

"Okay, I think we may need to try that again," the bugbear said in a perfectly calm changeling voice. "No worries, that's why we have these anger management sessions, because we need to learn to constructively deal with those feelings." The bugbear set each of the colts down and looked out at the other foals. "Now class, can anycreature tell me where this discussion may have gone differently?"

She stared in confusion for a moment. "Anger management classes? For foals?"

"Mainly for kirin, so they know how to manage their tempers by the time they’re old enough to go nirik, but they can benefit everycreature," Silver Spoon answered from beside her. "You might benefit from them as well, young filly. Maybe I'll discuss that with your parents."

"I'm not angry," she muttered, then shook her head as she realized how foalish she sounded. "Look, I get it. Candy acts out by pretending to be other ponies-"

"Other ponies and creatures," Silver Spoon interjected.

"-other ponies and creatures," she agreed. "So I understand where you might think she has some repressed anger issues, but I'm not Candy Apple."

"You sound like an angry little filly to me," Silver Spoon said with a knowing smile. She had no intention of showing the teacher how angry at the situation she really was. She had a strong desire to tell Silver Spoon she was getting detention for not listening to her teacher, but that was just petty. This Silver Spoon may have once been the filly from her class, but that was twenty years ago. It was easier to think of Silver as a different pony, as time had made her, rather than make judgements to or against the soon-to-be young mare from her own time. 

"Since I'm done eating, can we go now?" She asked sulkingly. 

"Of course, did you want to continue to lead the way?" The silver furred mare asked. "You were doing exceptionally well for someone claiming to be from twenty years ago."

She snorted as she started walking again. "The way to Sweet Apple Acres hasn't changed that much."

They continued on their way, and she continued to be stuck noticing the changes in town from her own time. A few times she passed ponies she knew. Lyra came hurrying by at a light gallop, not even giving her the opportunity to stake her case for her identity. She might have had a chance, but she was caught off guard by how visibly older the mare was. How old did her body appear now? Had she aged gracefully, or was her mane heavy with grey? If she was going to try to confront herself-- or Candy if it turned out to be her, then she'd inevitably find out. It was another encounter she wasn't looking forward to.

She stopped again as she spotted another pony she recognized, Sea Swirl. The mulberry unicorn with dolphin cutie mark had been a student of hers when she first took over teaching at Ponyville Elementary. Though Sea Swirl was a grown mare even in her own time, she was still much younger than her. Looking at Sea Swirl now was more of a shock than seeing Silver Spoon, Applebloom, or Dinky Doo. The reason being was that Sea Swirl had some whisps of grey showing in her dual-shade of blue mane, and had clear age lines under her eyes. Seeing somepony that had been ten years or more her junior being visibly older than she was supposed to be was a new shock for her. 

The shock was heightened when a much younger mare with similar coloration proudly showed her 'mom' her new engagement necklace. Sea Swirl didn't even have a foal yet in her own time, and here was that yet-to-be-born filly as a young mare greeting a student that had been in one of her classes as their mother. It drove in how far removed in time she really was. How well would anypony remember details from her own time if this much time had passed? She could barely remember details about singular events what happened last year if it wasn't something notable.

She sat down where she was, and her eyes began to fill with tears. It might seem silly that this was what pushed her to crying, but it was one thing too much! She wasn't one of the Element Bearers who went off and saved the world; she was just a simple schoolteacher who wanted her students to learn and grow, one that maybe wanted to find a nice stallion to raise a family with, one that liked to visit comedy clubs, and take time during the summer to see new places, but what she wasn't was a pony cut out for big things like this. This was something for a hero to deal with, not her. The floodgates opened, and she was now sobbing in the street.

A leg reached around her and pulled her into a hug. She didn't resist, she just turned and hurried her face into the fur of the other pony, as they used their other foreleg to soothingly brush her mane. "Don't feel ashamed to cry. I don't know what brought this on, but if you need to cry then just cry, and don't try to hold it in. Everycreature needs to cry sometimes."

She tried to speak through her sobs. "I'm… I'm not going to get home. I'm-I'm g-going to be stuck in this time forever."

Silver Spoon's barrel expanded slightly as the teacher took a deep breath. Another lecture about how she was Candy and not Cheerilee was no doubt coming. "Little filly, I think you just broke character."

That made her pull back in shock. "What? No! I am-"

The teacher put a hoof up to her mouth to silence her. "The Cheerilee I know would never give up, just because things were hard."

"But… I'm not cut out for this. I'm just a regular schoolteacher, not somepony that goes on big adventures and deals with problems like this," she explained, and lowered her head. "If I were Twilight Sparkle, or anypony like that, I would have already figured this out and be home right now. I keep trying to think of how to fix this, but I can't come up with anything. I don't know who to turn to for help that will believe me. This is something for a big hero to solve, not me."

Silver Spoon gave her a considering look, she then grimaced and shook her head. "I can't believe I'm about to do this," the mare muttered. "Come sit in front of me, and I'm going to tell you some things about Cheerilee. If you intend to keep playing Cheerilee for the time being, then you need to play her correctly."

"I'm not playing. I am-"

"Just come sit down," Silver Spoon ordered, pointing a hoof in at the ground directly in front of her.

She did as ordered, it wasn't like she was in much of a position to just disregard the teacher. Silver Spoon waited for her to sit before talking. "Now, let me tell you what you are getting wrong about Cheerilee." She resisted the urge to snort. Silver Spoon might know her, but apparently not well enough.

The mare took another deep breath, then smiled. "Cheerilee has been teaching about as long as I have been alive, at least up until this year. I don't know why she retired so abruptly this year, but I can tell you it wasn't because she gave up. Even after being appointed principal of the school she still taught, substitute teaching for any teacher that needed a sick or personal day, and giving private instruction to any student that was struggling. Regardless of how she was feeling or the circumstances, she came into every classroom with a smile on her face, and with commitment to do all she could for her students."

It did warm her heart to hear that kind of praise from a former student, everypony wanted to hear that what they did was appreciated, but she didn't know why Silver Spoon was bringing this up. "I don't see what that has to do with right now."

Silver looked down at her, staring over the rim of her glasses. "You don't think Cheerilee is any type of hero, but I disagree. She had a commitment to others for over thirty years of teaching, and that is pretty heroic in my book. And you know those heroes that you claim could deal with this where she couldn't? A lot of those heroes wouldn't be who they are today without her. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were her students, and have more than once helped save the world. Even some of the students they have taught have even gone on to save the world now. The world always seems to need saving, but we always have heroes up for the job. We have those heroes because heroes like Cheerilee sat six hours a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for years on end, making sure that her students grew up to be their best selves."

She blinked. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had gone on to help save the world, and multiple times? She really shouldn't find that surprising, but it still was. 

Silver touched a hoof gently to the side of her face. "If you intend to be playing the part of Cheerilee, then you better play the part right. Cheerilee is a hero. She might not be a flashy one that goes out and directly fights villains and monsters, but she is no less important than the ones that do, because the ones that do wouldn't even be there without ponies like Cheerilee. Cheerilee would also never say she couldn't do something if it really mattered, she'd give it her all and keep trying, not give up and lay down in the street. I won't have you disrespecting her by playing her character wrong. Do it right."

That made her feel like crying again, not because she was upset, but because that was the highest praise she had ever been given. She always wanted to feel she made a difference in her students lives, but this was the first time somepony had spelled out how much she did. Instead she just gave the teacher a big hug. "Thank you, you just made a difference for me."

"Only because I had some great examples to look up to," Silver said quietly. Then huffed. "Though I hope I didn't encourage you to draw this act out even longer."

Cheerilee pulled back and smiled. "It's not an act, but I'm not giving up on proving that. I'm ready to go meet Candy's family now."

She'd figure this out yet. She was no quitter.