Quantum Leap Forward

by Halira


Chapter 6: Home on the Strange

If she had walked up to Sweet Apple Acres without seeing the rest of the town, she would have sworn she was in her own time. There were no new structures on the property, and she was pretty sure even the smaller gardens were exactly as they were before. The main barn looked new, but the Apples rebuilt their barn every few years anyway. In fact, they’d done so just a few years earlier, from her perspective. 

As they approached the farm, she spotted Macintosh hauling a plow into the barn. He was better-dressed than he usually was, but that only added to his graceful aging. If anything, he looked even more handsome than he had been before. His physique was always appealing, and many a mare in the past had swooned over those rippling muscles; even knowing that he wasn't a good match for her, even with him being a married stallion, she knew he was still immensely attractive to look at. Luckily, the eight-year-old body she was occupying wasn't at an age it could be easily aroused, otherwise this would be a hundred times more uncomfortable. She simply had the mere clinical knowledge that Big Mac was hot. No real sex drive was a small benefit of this body, at least in this situation. 

"Come on, young filly, time to see your mother," Silver Spoon said, then began trotting towards the main house. She didn't mind bypassing dealing with Big Mac for the moment. Her planned tactic with him was to give information about their past dates; she was sure those weren't in the Journal of Friendship. It just was going to be so cringe-worthy in this circumstance that putting it off a few more minutes was no bother at all. 

She followed the teacher to the front door and waited as Silver Spoon knocked on the door. A slightly squeaky "I'll get it!" was shouted from somewhere within, and a moment later the door opened, revealing a purple colt about her size. 

The colt looked at her and the teacher, then turned back into the house. "Ma! Candy's gone n' got in trouble again!" 

Really?!? Silver Spoon hadn't even said anything yet! Yes, teachers didn't typically escort students home unless there was some sort of trouble, but she still felt offended on Candy's behalf all the same.

After the colt retreated into the house, Sugar Belle-- or Ma Apple, if that was what everypony called her now-- walked up to the door, wearing an apron and looking like she just bit into a lemon. There were big streaks of grey in her mane, but it was far from completely grey. The unicorn gave Silver Spoon a tight smile and took a deep breath. "Is everythin' alright?" The mix of her old, nasally voice, coupled with the famous Apple accent, made for a very interesting listening experience. 

Silver touched a hoof to Cheerilee's back. "Candy seems to have taken some potion supplies from her aunt, and she was trying to make a potion in my classroom. Judging by the mess, it exploded."

Sug-- Ma Apple's eyes went wide and Cheerilee felt herself lifted in the unicorn's magic and pulled towards the pony, before being quickly grabbed by hooves and closely inspected. "Oh dear, are you hurt?"

Answering was a struggle, as the embrace was making it hard for her to breathe. "I'm...fine."

"She's unharmed, I checked her over right away," Silver Spoon assured the unicorn. "But we need to have a talk about this. Not only was what she did dangerous, she stole potions ingredients to do it."

Ma Apple-- she was going to force herself to think of Sugar Belle with that name-- gave Silver Spoon a deep frown. "My little Candy is not a bad foal!"

"I never said she was," Silver said soothingly. "But this is a serious issue, and I can't just let her off with just another detention. This is the first time this has happened with her, and we don't want to have it become a habit. It needs to be made clear to her that theft is unacceptable."

The Apple matriarch grabbed Cheerilee with her magic again and set Cheerilee down behind her, as if shielding her from the teacher. "I'll make sure she gets a good talkin' to, I promise." Hearing those dropped 'Gs' made it much easier to think of Sugar Belle as Ma Apple instead.

Silver gave Ma Apple a sad look. "I'm sorry, but that might not be good enough. Spoiled Rich is calling for her expulsion from school."

Ma gasped and held a trembling hoof up to her mouth. "She...she can't do that. I told you, my Candy is not a bad foal. She's just goin' through a phase right now. She'll grow out of it."

"Speaking of her phase, she's pretending to be Cheerilee right now," Silver informed the distraught mother. "I'm a little surprised she hasn't brought it up yet."

"She hasn't really given me a chance to yet," Cheerilee yelled around the unicorn's backside.

Silver sighed. "I assure you that neither I, or the principal, are going to let that happen, but we can't just give her a slap on the fetlocks and hope to satisfy the school board if Spoiled drags them into this."

"Applebloom's on the school board too. She won't vote for them doing anythin' to my little Candy," Ma Apple said confidently. 

"She's one vote in six, and Spoiled can be very persuasive when she wants to be," Silver said grimly. "We need to do something to show that this is being taken much more seriously than her previous antics."

The unicorn hesitated, and turned to look at Cheerilee. She then looked back into the house. "Caramel, your sister is pretendin' to be another pony. I need you to take her to her room while I talk with her teacher."

"Okay, Ma," the colt called out. He came hurrying out from somewhere deeper in the house and came to a stop next to Cheerilee. "I know the drill by now. Because ya'll say ya don’ know, I'm Caramel, and I'm yer brother." Maybe Ma Apple's accent wasn't that strong, at least not compared to this colt. 

There wasn't much point to objecting at the moment. Big Mac was her main target to convince, and he hadn't come in the house yet. She motioned for the colt to lead, following as he turned and started up the stairs.

"So who are ya this time?" Caramel asked cheerfully as they began up the staircase.

"I'm Cheerilee," she replied. "And it isn't an act."

The colt turned and looked at her in confusion. "The old principal? Couldn't ya be more fun than that?"

"I am Cheerilee, and I'll prove it," she said, more forcefully than she intended.

The colt laughed. "Same as always. Ya always say that, and always get mad when ya can't."

"Well, this time it isn't an act. I'll come up with something that proves that I'm not Candy," she growled.

The colt shrugged. "If ya say so. Just don't go tellin' how moms and dads make baby ponies again. Ma still hasn't recovered from the last time ya did that. One Friday, right in front of yer whole class! Never seen Miss Silver Spoon give a pony a detention for a whole week, and the weekend before that."

She gasped at him in horror. "She explained sex, to a classroom full of young foals?"

"E'yep, gave lots of details too," Carmel said with a giggle. "Miss Silver Spoon had to talk to all the parents of all the students. Ma and Pa then had to give us all 'the talk' after that. That was pretty funny. Maybe ya should do that again. Ya said ya was gonna roleplay, whatever that meant."

"Sorry, but no." Sweet Celestia! If one of her students tried that, she would have had no idea what she would do. Just thinking about all the upset parents, and the impromptu lesson she'd have to come up with on sex education, made her want to faint. On rare occasion, she'd been forced to sit a student down privately and explain it, but not the whole class!

"Aww, I was a'hopin' ya'd do somethin' fun." Caramel, pouting with all the force he could muster, thankfully distracted from her introspection.. 

She gave the colt a raised eyebrow. "You don't seem upset at all about the trouble your sister gets into."

"Ya make stuff all lively," the colt replied. "Ma and Pa say it's just a phase, and to jus’ take it as it comes." He motioned with his head. "Come on, Ma will fuss if I don't get ya to yer room quick."

She followed him in silence. He led her to the far end of the hallway upstairs, past the closed doors of the other rooms. As the were nearly there, one of them opened and a blue head with a rainbow mane peeked out. "Everything alright out here?" 

She stopped and blinked. That was Rainbow Dash. She was obviously middle aged at this point, though there wasn't a drop of grey in that mane. It was slicked back and cut short, similar to Rainbow Dash's fellow Wonderbolt Spitfire wore hers. 

"Candy is just pretendin' to be Principal Cheerilee," Caramel said nonchalantly. 

"Well, that's not very interesting," Rainbow said mournfully. "I was hoping the next one would be a dragon, or a bat pony, or maybe even Discord."

"Rainbow, don't go encouragin' her!" Applejack's voice shouted out from somewhere inside the room. 

Applejack wasn't expected to have any foals. She put two and two together and blushed at the result. She could be jumping to conclusions, but had a feeling she wasn't, though she'd never have pictured those two together as a couple. They seemed to be at each other's throats more often than not, at least competitively. Of course, that could have been a sign. Whatever, it was another piece of information that would be hard to deal with knowing when she got back home to add to her already--impressive pile. She didn't even know if she should try avoiding learning these things at this point; it was just going to keep happening no matter what.

She briefly considered making her case to Rainbow Dash, but couldn't think of anything great to use right away. She was sure there had to be something she could cite, but couldn't come up with it on the spot. She'd think about it while waiting in Candy's room.

"Leave them young’ins be, and come back to givin' me a rub. My back still feels like a herd of buffalo ran over it," Applejack instructed.

Rainbow turned. "It's your own fault. If you'd just let me help you with-" The rest of the conversation was muffled as the door shut. It sounded like Applejack's propensity to overwork herself without asking for help hadn't changed, no matter how many times the stubborn pony seemingly learned the lesson. Some ponies just refused to learn from their mistakes.

Caramel finished walking to the end of the hall and pushed the last door open. "Here ya go. I'm'a supposed to remind ya that ya have to walk past everypony else's room if yer gonna try to sneak out, and we can hear it, so it ain't gonna work."

"Have this down to a science?" She asked. 

"E'yep," he replied with a grin and a nod.

She gave an aggravated whinny and then walked into the room, pushing the door shut behind her with one of her back legs. 

Looking around the room, the first thing that stood out was the fact that there were papers with drawings of ponies-- and other creatures, she noticed after a second-- taped all over every wall. Other than those, there was a closet, a desk with a stool in front of it, and a bed with a nightstand and lamp. There was one window overhanging the bed, with red curtains pulled back, letting in a copious amount of light. The bed's covers were in green and white stripes, with apples embroidered in seemingly at random. 

With nothing else to do, she began inspecting the drawings. She quickly spotted a drawing of Sombra, looking very menacing. The depiction was very well done, and she had to admire Candy's art skills. Candy seemed adept at a great number of things, and Silver Spoon's assessment of the filly as an exceptionally bright foal seemed valid. Looking around at the other drawings she spotted a changeling, in the old black chitin, rather than the reformed version. There were various other mares and stallions in a variety of colors, tribes, and body types. There was even a short, angry-looking diamond dog. Were these all the ponies and other creatures that Candy had pretended to be? 

Further browsing of the drawings revealed no picture of herself- Cheerilee, not Candy-, nor of any other pony she knew. There was one drawing that seemed completely out of place, a drawing of a muffin with a smiling face, that had heavy amounts of tape holding it to the closet door. It looked like the drawing had been crumpled up and uncrumpled several times, with the edges of the paper torn and frayed from being ripped down repeatedly. What made the filly so mad about Dinky Doo's earrings? And if the filly was so mad at them, why did she keep putting the picture back up?

She walked over to the desk. There was a small waste basket next to it, and she took a quick glance into it. It looked like several wadded up drawings that Candy had apparently decided weren't up to standard, along with the remains of what looked like a crushed up muffin. What did this filly have against muffins? Candy and Derpy must not get along well at all, if they knew one another.

She hopped up on the stool and looked at what was on top of the desk. There were several blank sheets of paper, sitting in a neat pile, presumably for Candy to draw on. There was also a box of crayons set to the side, with a paper underneath. She pulled the paper close to her, dragging the crayon box along with it. When she read what was written on it she blinked.

Don't touch my crayons!

Was that a message to her? Did Candy know that she was here, in her body? It could be a general message to anypony that came into the room. There wasn't enough information yet to say one way or another. She carefully put the paper and crayon box back into position and inspected the other items on the desk. 

There were three books stacked in a pile to the side. She picked up the first one and looked at the title, Professor Applebloom's Beginner's Guide to Potion Making. That explained where Candy had gotten the information on how to make a potion. If the filly was anything like her aunt as a filly, she probably either hadn't followed the instructions properly, or had failed to read all the details involved. She trusted that Applebloom's book was accurate at this stage of her life, but that didn't mean an eight-year-old couldn't mess them up. She opened up the cover to do a quick glance, and as she thought she might, saw Property of the Ponyville Castle Library stamped on the inner cover, along with a history of checkouts.

She set that book aside and grabbed up the next, 'Perilous Parade's Guide to Precariously Paranormal Creatures'. She didn't know what to make of that one, but a quick inspection showed that it came from the castle library as well. After setting that one aside, she looked at the third and final book, 'Matron Marefield's Mythical Magical Maladies and How to Treat Them'. That book again came from the castle library. She flipped through a few pages of the last book, and determined quickly that this was not something that an eight-year-old would typically make heads or tails of; she couldn't even tell what half of what the terms in the book meant. Candy might be very bright, but unless she was another Twilight Sparkle there was no way she could understand any of this.

She hopped down from the stool, unsure if she'd learned anything useful. If she stayed here too long, she could spend time reading through those books and try to find any useful information there. They were likely just research for another of Candy's acts, but they still shouldn't be dismissed as unimportant. 

A quick check under the bed showed that Candy was not the type of filly who cleaned her room by just shoving everything under the bed. There actually was nothing under the bed at all. That made another detail that was out of place occur to her. Candy was eight years old, so where were all her toys? There had to be more than just crayons and paper. Ma Apple seemed like the kind of mother who loved to dote on her foals, and it seemed highly unlikely the mare didn't get her daughter a fair number of toys to play with. Even if budgets were tight here, there would still be plenty of toys stored away from previous generations of Apple foals. 

They had to be in the closet. She walked back over to the closet and gave the odd drawing of the smiling muffin another look. As she stared at it, she began to feel a little creeped out by the thing. Perhaps it was the fact that the drawing was so damaged and the feelings Candy had for it could be felt by gazing upon the abuse she'd given it. Perhaps the way Candy had drawn it had been deliberately unsettling in some strange way. Whatever the case may be, she was eager to just open the door so the drawing was out of sight and mind. 

She cracked open the closet. She gagged at the strong smell of mold coming from within, strong enough that she was shocked she hadn't smelled it while it was shut. Holding her breath, she opened the door the rest of the way. 

Well, there was a closed chest that could be any little filly's toy chest, but there were also crumbs and broken crumbled bits of muffins all over the lid. The smell was strong, nearly overpowering, with the door all the way open. She continued to hold her breath and inspected the rest of the closet. There were some dresses hanging to the sides of the toy chest, filly sized, but didn't look like they got much use. At least one of them looked far too small even for an eight-year-old. She pushed the dresses out of the way to see if anything was hidden behind them. When she did her eyes watered as the smell intensified and hit her at full force.

Piled in the corners of the closet were muffins, lots of muffins, many of them were covered in mold. The smell was too much at this point, and she had to retreat from the closet and shut it. This filly had a serious issue with muffins, a seriously troubling issue, and something needed to be done about it. 

This wasn’t just unsanitary; this was hazardous. As a teacher, her instincts told her that she needed to address this with Candy's parents right away. That would have to hold for a few minutes, but it needed to be done. She might be trying to get out of Candy's body, but Candy was clearly a foal in need, and Cherilee, teacher of Ponyville Elementary, did not ignore a foal in need!

She looked back up at the drawing of the muffin, still giving its sinister smile, and shivered. "What is going on with you, Candy, and does it have anything to do with why I'm here?"

The muffin gave her no answer.