Silver Spoon and Twist were not a couple she would have predicted, even less than Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Twist had those same glasses she had as a foal, but her eyes were more lidded than her wife's. The mare was wearing a necklace that matched Silver Spoon's, and she was now uncertain if it was a family heirloom that Silver wore or not. The two came in, exchanging pleasantries as they were guided to their seats. She found herself seated with Silver Spoon to one side and Caramel Apple to the other. Applejack was sitting across from her, and the Apple parents took up seats at opposite ends of the table.
"Sorry we are running late. We had to take Cheese Slice home," Silver explained. She gave the Apple matriarch a small frown. "He said that Pumpkin kicked him out of Sugarcube Corner for the day, and that his mother was too preoccupied to watch him. I'm a little concerned." Cheerilee's frowned as well. That did sound concerning.
Ma Apple sighed. "I can understand what's going on. It's graduation season, that's a very busy time at Sugarcube Corner. Pumpkin can get a little testy around this time of year." The unicorn blinked and shook her head. "Don't get me wrong, she's normally a very nice young mare, but when she bites off more than she can chew, in terms of cake orders, a whole different side of her comes out."
Silver turned her head to the side. "But doesn't she have lots of help? I know you help out, and she has her brother and Pinkie Pie. I'm pretty sure her parents come and help each year too."
The unicorn's ears sagged. "Um, not so much help as you think. I only help with the normal prep for the normal sales day, and I do that in the mornin'. I have work to do here too. Pinkie Pie packs her schedule with graduation parties like Pumpkin does with graduation cakes. Pound has to run the front of the shop. And her parents… they aren't coming to help this year."
Twist gasped and put a hoof to her mouth. "Is something wrong with Cupcake and Carrot?"
Cheerilee braced herself for hearing bad news about the Cakes. They would be getting up there in age by this point, and that opened them up to all kinds of medical problems, or worse. She already had to deal with the knowledge that Granny Smith was almost certainly dead, she didn't want to hear about the same with other ponies she knew.
Ma shook her head and grimaced. "They're fine. Enjoying their retirement community. After last year they said enough is enough with helping, after Pumpkin got rude with them. Mrs. Cake said 'if Pumpkin has to learn the hard way not to take on more orders than she can reasonably manage, then I'm not going to hold her hooves through it. She needs to learn to set a quota.'"
She let loose holding her breath, not even realizing that she had been holding it. No deaths, no major medical problems, no bad news about ponies she called friends. Granny Smith had been very old in her own time, so her passing was something she could expect. It was easy to forget that the Cakes were as old as they were. It had been a mild shock that Mrs. Cake had twins at her age, an age that those Mrs. Cake grew up with might have started having grandfoals-- or at least foals that were old enough to have graduated from school. The Cakes had been running Sugarcube Corner since she was a young foal… her actual self as a young foal, so they were no spring chickens, but they never seemed as old as they were.
"I'll talk to Pinkie about it tomorrow," Ma continued. "Perhaps Cheese can spend the days with Candy and Caramel; at least till his father and siblings get back home again. They get along well-- at least Candy does most of the time, it depends on who she's playin'."
"I have no problems with Cheese," Cheerilee spoke up. He was at least one pony that would humor that she was who she said she was, even if he was just a foal. It felt a little bad using him, but she needed somepony that knew all about the Ponyville of this time that wouldn't dismiss her as a liar.
"Speaking of you," Silver said calmly. "We have decided what will happen to try to remedy your behavior, and hopefully break this habit of pretending to be other ponies and creatures."
"I'm not pretending," she blurted in.
"Candy," Ma Apple scolded. "Don't interrupt your teacher. I raised you better than that."
She glowered in place as she waited for the teacher to continue. Silver Spoon for her part waited briefly to see if there would be any further objections before continuing. "We are going to do a few things. First, the principal will be prescribing you some community service around the school; cleaning gum off desks, that sort of thing. Second, you'll be seeing a psychologist regularly-- your mother already knows one, and will be making arrangements with them tomorrow."
Hopefully she'd be gone before she had to see the shrink. Candy clearly needed some help, but anyone trying to psychoanalysis her would be getting all the wrong impressions.
"Third, and finally," Silver continued. "There is a sort of graduate student at the School of Friendship who specializes in many fields of magic. She'll be examining you, and testing to confirm there is nothing magically wrong with you. Hopefully after that we can put to bed these games of yours. I love that you are so dedicated to your craft, but this has been too disruptive."
Her ears perked high as they could go. "You're going to get a magic expert to look at me?" This was an unexpected blessing!
Silver Spoon nodded, but her brow narrowed. "It is the best way to prove this is all pretend. She was trained by the princess herself."
Cheerilee almost jumped for joy, but the teacher's voice went grave. "I need to stress how serious this is, young filly. You were already on thin ice before today, because of how much school you have missed with your performances. It was only because you tested so well a few days ago that you were even going to be allowed to advance with your class. We don't want you held back a year or expelled, so we need you to take this all seriously. This could impact your entire future."
She stared back at the teacher. Candy had missed a lot of school? Well, she supposed that made sense. If her characters had no intention of sitting in an elementary school class. King Sombra? Sit in class? That was a joke! "I understand the position Candy is in, and intend to cause her no further trouble, if I can help it."
"And I'm stressing that you had better help it," Silver Spoon said firmly. "This isn't a game, and we can't protect you forever if you keep doing these things."
"Please, be a good filly," Ma Apple pleaded. "No more takin' over town hall, recitin' things that must have come out of an extremely smutty novel, no more tryin' to burrow tunnels under the house, just none of that."
Burrow tunnels under the house? Why would… oh yeah, one of the drawings in the room had been a diamond dog. "I'm Cheerilee, what kind of trouble do you really expect me to get up to?"
"Cheerilee might not be a lot of trouble, but you've suddenly switched who you are playing before," Rainbow Dash said with a snort, the others nodded along in agreement. "You're Cheerilee today, but there's no telling if you'll be Cheerilee tomorrow. I'm still holding out for a dragon."
"Don't encourage her, Rainbow," Applejack growled.
"And some of the ones that you wouldn't think would be much trouble turned out to be nothing but trouble," Bright Pear added in. "What was that one? The accountant? Tax Break? Tax Broker? Can't remember the name. Anyway, you tried running off to Canterlot with that one. We can't have that."
"Or that one that you played that just spent the entire time cryin' in your room, or the one that kept talkin' in all that fancy talk and callin' us all knaves and ruffingins," Caramel contributed. "You challenged me to a duel and started shooting stuff at me with your horn, that hurt!"
"Crying in her room? Are you sure she was pretending at the time?" She asked the colt. Candy clearly was troubled, between all the acts and the… whatever it was with the muffins.
The colt gave a deep frown. "You said that your name was Amber Sap, and you wanted to go home, even though you were already home in your room. When you shot me you said your name was Platinum Gilt, great captain of Unicornia, and we were all dirty earth pony ransomers."
It was certainly an interesting variety of ponies and creatures Candy pretended to be. There didn't seem to be any consistent pattern for type of pony either. Some seemed to be remarkable characters like this captain from Unicornia-- not that there had been a Unicornia for well over a millennia, not to mention Sombra; but others were completely ordinary, like that accountant, or whoever Amber Sap was…
...or like her.
Was Candy actually pretending? Or was this something bigger than just a potion accident? On the positive side, at least for her, if it turned out Candy really did get 'possessed' by all these other ponies and creatures, that gave strong evidence that this would just end on its own. On the negative side, that meant the little filly had a very chronic and troubling magical problem, and there was no telling how much time there actually was to solve it before the filly was left to figure it out on her own again, without anypony believing her. It was still very possible Candy was making all these characters up, but from where Cheerilee sat she was more to be open to the possibility the filly was truthful.
If it was true, why had everypony been so inclined to think Candy was lying? Sure, it sounded improbable, highly improbable, but improbable things happened in Ponyville all the time-- at least they did back in her time, but she wasn't inclined to think that had changed much. The Apples didn't seem the type to just dismiss one of their own as a liar right away. There was something missing, something that had complicated matters more.
And given that everypony around her was dead set in believing her a liar it might be best to ask somepony else about the details of that. Here's hoping Cheese was going to prove useful. There was somepony else that would be useful too. "When do I start seeing this graduate student?"
"We still have to work out a schedule between your school, the psychologist, and the student," Ma Apple explained. "It'll be at least a day or two, but we might just meet her briefly and have a get to know one another talk tomorrow after I'm off work at Sugarcube Corner."
"You'll meet with everypony tomorrow," Silver Spoon said authoritatively. "Please be on your best behavior. I'm not sure how quickly Spoiled Rich is going to go after you, but knowing her, it won't take long." That was easy enough to believe. Spoiled Rich liked to take action quickly against whatever displeased her, and after Dinky stood up to her today both she and the principal were likely going to be immediate targets. She hoped Dinky was made of strong enough stuff to counter the contemptible mare.
"I'll do nothing to cause trouble tomorrow," she replied. "But I'm not going to claim I'm Candy. That filly has problems, and I want to get to the bottom of them. What you have planned might help with that."
"Dagnabbit, she's gonna make some bigger game out of this!" Applejack said in a raised voice.
Cheerilee flattened her ears at the farm pony's anger. "If I may ask, what did Candy do that made you not believe her?"
Applejack gave her a frown and turned her head away. "If ya want to go pretendin', then don't go pretendin' about that." Okay, whatever it was had to be something deeply personal that the farm pony had no wish to speak of. Perhaps Candy was guilty of something at some point with the farm pony. Add that to the pile of mysteries. Maybe she could catch Rainbow Dash or another member of the family alone and ask them. Applejack was just going to be too standoffish against somepony she considered a liar.
"She really doesn't sound much like a foal," Twist observed. Her voice was very clear, now that the braces were long since gone. The candymaker's teeth were briefly visible when she spoke, and they looked to be extremely well kept and white, despite the amount of candy the mare must consume with her occupation. It occurred to Cheerilee that neither Twist nor Bon Bon from her own time were particularly pudgy mares either. How did a candymaker end up avoiding cavities or extra weight? The world had a strange humor and injustice to it sometimes.
"Don't go buyin' into it," Applejack replied with a grumble. "She's a good actor, I reckon maybe the best, but she's still just actin'."
She really needed to find out what Candy had done to so thoroughly convince the bearer of honesty that she wasn't truthful. There was just so much about Candy's situation she still had no clue about; between the other ponies she ended up being, the fact Applejack had some deep rooted sense of distrust for her, and whatever in Tartarus was going on with the muffins. Candy was an enigma, and the only thing Candy had to say for herself was an order not to touch her crayons.
No, that wasn't true. Candy had communicated with her, just not in words. The muffins, the pictures she drew, the books she checked out, the fact that she wasn't playing with her toys, those were all wordless communication. They might not be deliberate messages, but they told things about what Candy experienced and thought about. The pieces of Candy's life were all here, it was just a matter of figuring out what it all meant.
With Candy's immediate fate decided, the focus turned to eating. Cheerilee sat and ate in silence, only partially paying attention to the chit chat going on around her. She did learn a few minor things, like Bright Pear had been in Silver Spoon's class back when he had been attending school. The pony who had been mentioned as Bright Pear's marefriend was named Strawberry Delight, and was a pegasus. The two of them had been dating since the final year of elementary school, and that had been six years of dating in total. It certainly sounded like those two were meant to be together, and Silver Spoon was only slightly better than Rainbow Dash at casually asking when the couple would make it official.
Other details learned were Rainbow Dash was captain of Wonderbolts-- though seemed to be debating retirement, Caramel was in another teacher named Miss Mandible's class-- and apparently each teacher in Ponyville Elementary oversaw just a single year's worth of students through from when they first started attending to graduation day, causing each year to have a different teacher with a graduating class in rotation. She liked the sound of that system, and from what she heard she was the one that instituted it. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for what she was yet to do.
But mostly her thoughts were turned to trying to figure out what to do next, mixed with a strong bout of homesickness. This was Ponyville, but this wasn't the Ponyville she knew, nor were the ponies around her the same as the ones she knew. Time changed things, including her, but she hadn't gone through all these changes that everypony else had. In twenty years of living from her time this would feel like home, but right now she was displaced and feeling alone-- not helped at all by being in a strange foal's body. She wasn't even given the right to be Cheerilee of twenty years ago. She wondered if the real Candy did in fact act out. Not having anypony believe her while going through having others take control of her body was more than enough to make a grown adult angry and resentful, much less a young filly.
She finished her food and pushed her bowl to the side. "May I be excused to go to Candy's room?"
"Wash-up," Ma Apple instructed. "Then your brother can lead you back to your room. You can stay up for an hour, but I expect lights out after that. You'll be gettin' up early and comin' to work with me."
Bright Pear got down from his chair and moved as if getting ready to shadow her. Ma Apple gave him an eyebrow. "The other brother. Let Caramel take care of it."
The colt frowned and laid his ears back. "Why me?"
The unicorn mare turned to him. "Because your brother has enough to take care of on his own without havin' to take care of Candy. You, on the other hoof, don't have much you're responsible for yet. It's a little thing, just make sure your sister gets to her room without trouble." She flicked a single ear then looked over to Big Mac. "While she's washin' might be a good time to check on your daughter's mess."
Big Mac nodded and got down from his chair. "E'yep." And then silently walked off and up the stairs. It was amazing that a stallion that big could move that silently in a house full of squeaky floorboards.
She was going to ask where the bathroom was, but then recalled that last time she was here the Apples had an outhouse. Twenty years had passed, so the farm family might have finally installed a proper bathroom, but with how little else had changed on the farm that was doubtful. That meant washing her hooves and face in the kitchen sink, and she wasn't even sure how baths and showers were done. Even her foalhood farm had been more up to date on those kinds of amenities. Thoughts of her parents' old farm made her suddenly wonder who was running the old Cherry orchard now; probably some cousin or another. Her parents might well be… something best not to think about. The future could be depressing sometimes.
Big Mac might be made of stern stuff, but it clearly had his limits. Still, nopony could say that the mighty red stallion hadn't been warned about the closet.
She sat on Candy's bed as Ma Apple floated out another few muffins from the stash into an open burlap sack. The older mare had a clothespin clipped onto her nose, and Big Mac sat a few feet away, still throwing up into a bucket. As punishment, she was not allowed to do anything to block out the smell, and had to sit and endure it. She really wanted to join Candy's father at that bucket right now, but managed to keep her stomach from full rebellion.
Ma Apple turned and gave her an accusing look, horn still glowing brightly. "This will not happen again. Do I make myself clear?" Her normal voice involved a lot of talking through her nose, so there was an odd buzz to the mare's voice with the clothespin in place.
She wasn't comfortable making promises on Candy's behalf, but she also didn't feel comfortable opening her mouth to explain that, and giving any more openings for that noxious smell to get to her nasal cavity. She gave a silent, tight lipped, nod; and hoped that it would suffice.
The unicorn finished loading the pungent mess into the sack, and tied up the opening. With the sack tied shut the smell lessened slightly, but not completely. She then gave Cheerilee a disapproving grimace. "I expect your lights to be out as soon as your pa and I are out of the room. We'll talk about this further with the psychologist tomorrow." She then turned to her husband and her expression softened in pity. "Come on, I'll brew you some ginger tea and it will help you feel better."
Big Mac lifted his head from the bucket, looking slightly green, and gave his wife a miserable-looking nod. Ma Apple took up the bucket and sack in her magic and led her husband from the room.
Cheerilee reached over to the nightstand and flipped off the lamp, before pulling the covers up over her and turning to face the closet as she lay in bed. So much for trying to read the books Candy had checked out of the library for clues, at least for tonight. Tomorrow would be a fresh day, though, and she'd find time to do so before it was out. She had to resign herself to the fact that whatever this was, it was going to take several days to solve.
She looked over at the closet. Ma Apple had closed the closet door upon finishing removing the muffins from it. Moonlight from the window fell squarely upon it, giving a perfect view of the smiling muffin drawing that hung there watching over her with that terrible smile. She didn't like that thing, and wasn't sure why, but the more she looked at it the more menacing it seemed. Was this what Candy felt when she stared at it at night? That would explain why it had been ripped down so many times, but didn't explain why she kept putting it back up. So many things about Candy didn't seem to make any sense.
She turned over in bed, now facing the window. Tomorrow would hopefully bring some answers, without bringing too many new questions.