Somepony that believed her, it finally happened, and it was the craziest pony in Ponyville. "How… how are you sure?"
Pinkie gave her a long look. "I've talked a lot with Cheerilee, private talks. You were saying the same things she said to me, about how Lil' Cheese needs to talk to me. You were trying to push him to talk to me, just like you tried to push me to make him talk to me. Candy never heard those talks between us, I'm sure of it."
Cheerilee wanted to be overjoyed, but there was something scary about the pink mare right now. "You seem a lot more serious than I remember you."
Pinkie drew close to her over the table. "When it comes to somecreature getting my son upset, I don't play games. There's nothing fun about him being upset. You were making him cry. No laughs, no smiles, just a very angry mommy!"
Cheerilee cringed back, and Pinkie stared at her for a moment more before breathing in deeply and letting out a long breath. "I understand what you were trying to do. I understand that you were trying to help, but I'm going to say the same thing I told you from this time; he will come to me when he is ready. It's important that he feels like he has control, and isn't going to be forced to do things that make him uncomfortable. Me and Marble are trying to help him get there, gently. Don't push him to do what he isn't ready to do, got it?"
"I got it," Cheerilee squeaked in fear. She'd seen Pinkie angry before, but it had always been loud and full of energy. There was something terrifying about this cold and serious anger that the mare had right now. It was like Pinkie was a whole other pony, completely incompatible with the normally cheerful and bouncy mare.
And as if a switch had been flipped, Pinkie's whole demeanor reverted back to normal. "Hooray! Since we got that out of the way; welcome to Ponyville in the present! Or I guess it is the future for you. I should throw you a party, but ponies would think I'm crazy." Pinkie then giggled like a schoolfilly who just heard a funny joke. "Actually, they already think I'm crazy, so I guess I can throw you that party. I know your favorite cake is chocolate with extra fudge and a cherry on top, but I'm not sure if you prefer cherry or chocolate ice cream, it seems like it changes back and forth. Which do you prefer right now?"
"Is that really important right now?" Cheerilee asked in disbelief, then remembered who she was talking to. With how fast the mare switched modes just now she was willing to say Pinkie was crazy as well.
Pinkie gasped. "Of course it is important, silly! We have to have the right ice cream for the party. Hmm, maybe I should just bring both. I have to warn you, I'm going to have to leave the walnut pieces out, Candy is allergic to walnuts. We don't want to hurt Candy." Pinkie paused and looked at her with one eye. "Hey… wait a minute, if you're here, then where is Candy?"
Cheerilee threw her forehooves up in frustration. "I don't know! I don't understand any of this, and you're the first pony that has believed me." She set her hooves back down. "But at least now somepony believes me, and you can tell everypony that I'm telling the truth."
Pinkie's ears fell. "Um, I can try, but I don't think they'll listen to me if I tell them that."
Her own ears laid back. "What? Why?!"
The party pony slumped in her chair. "Being the premier party pony had its drawbacks. Anytime I try to tell anypony something that sounds really weird they just go 'it's Pinkie being Pinkie,' and don't listen until they figure out on their own it's true."
This wasn't fair! "But… what about the other element bearers? Surely they'll believe?"
Pinkie gave her a sad look. "Do you remember the parasprite invasion, and how no pony believed me? There's been a bunch of things like that since then that were just the same. I'm smart. I know things. Two of my sister's are doctors, so the Pies are smart. I have one of those photographic memories where I can remember everything I read like it is right in front of me. Nocreature believes me still."
"But-"
Pinkie cut her off with of hoof. "If I walked over to you and told you something that sounded crazy, like real crazy. What would you say when I left?"
She hung her head. "That it's just Pinkie being Pinkie." The bearer of laughter was right. Everyone saw what she said and did as a joke.
"And Applejack is really really sure you're lying, and Applejack is really, like really really, super-duper stubborn," Pinkie explained. The party mare then tapped her hoof against the side of her head, as if trying to prod her thoughts along. "And Rainbow is just going to agree with Applejack. Rarity isn't around much anymore, but I can try talking to Fluttershy, or sending a letter to Twilight."
"What did Candy do that made Applejack so against believing her?" Cheerilee asked. It had to be Applejack that was the primary source of disbelief. Just like everypony thought everything Pinkie said was a joke, everypony believed everything Applejack said was the truth.
Pinkie slumped lower. "She did something really bad, that hurt Applejack-- hurt her feelings. Then she made it worse by lying about it before and after. Applejack hasn't believed her about anything since then."
"I guessed it was personal already. What exactly did she do?" She asked again.
Pinkie bit her lip then opened her mouth to answer. "She-"
"I'm all clean, Mommy! Boneless Six is too!"
They both turned to see Cheese hurrying down the stairs, his rubber chicken riding on his back in a way that defied gravity.
"That's great! We'll leave in just a minute. I have an emergency picnic basket I need to grab from its hiding spot!" Pinkie called out to her son. She then put her face right up to Cheerilee and whispered, "Lay low, which should be easy, because foals are lower to the ground. Pinkie Pie is on the case to help you. We'll talk again later. The codeword is kumquat!"
She reached out a hoof towards the towards the quick moving pony, who was already halfway to the kitchens. She was going to shout after her, but thought better of it, and lowered her hoof. Lay low? She wasn't going to pretend to be Candy, and nopony believed she was Cheerilee anyway, so how was she supposed to lay low? Why was there a codeword? The urge to say it was just Pinkie being Pinkie was strong, but she resisted it.
Putting a more positive spin on this development, she did now have an ally; a questionable ally, but an ally all the same. Perhaps Pinkie would be able to convince Fluttershy, or better yet, Princess Twilight, that she was telling the truth. Princess Twilight had to be able to come up with a solution for all this. If anypony could fix this, it would be the princess herself.
While she had been speaking with Pinkie, activity had continued on in the busy shop, though she hadn't been paying close attention to the various ponies and creatures that had entered and exited. Marble Pie had seemingly departed the store, and now Ma Apple stood in conversation with a pony that she recognized as a recent resident of Ponyville in her own time who frequented some of the evening trivia games and comedy shows she herself enjoyed attending, Sunburst. He looked very much the same, showing little sign of being middle aged, though his signature red beard was now much larger, hanging down almost to the ground.
The two adults talked for a few seconds after she had taken notice of them, before Sunburst nodded and departed out the front door. Ma Apple then walked over to her, smile on her face, and became the third owner this morning of the seat opposite her.
"All the arrangements have been made with everypony," Ma explained. "Marble has agreed to meet with you again in two days, and will determine how often she sees you after that. I just spoke with the vice principal of the School of Friendship, and he says that we can come by anytime today to speak with Luster Dawn-- that's the name of Princess Twilight Sparkle's student who is doing special studies over at the school. I also got to talk to your principal, and she says she'll call you into her office while you're at school tomorrow to discuss your community work."
It hadn't even occurred to her that she would have to attend classes. They were talking about the fact that Candy had tested well so she could advance, so she had assumed the school year was out. Then again, Applebloom had mentioned two more days. That was going to take away some of her time from trying to find things out. She wasn't going to skip school, not with the precarious situation Candy already was in regarding that, but it was doubtful she'd find anything useful out about the filly in Silver Spoon's classroom.
"I'll be on good behavior," she gave as a neutral reply. She was still eager to meet this Luster Dawn. There had to be some magical something that the grad student would pick up on, and be able to confirm to everypony that she was who she said she was. Things were looking up; she had one pony that believed her, Marble Pie might yet be able to fill some information in for her, and Luster Dawn would be confirming something was magically wrong with Candy. All and all, it was a much brighter outlook today than it had been yesterday. Enough to make her smile.
"Is that a smile I see?" Ma Apple said warmly. "I haven't seen many of those on you the past few months. You used to smile so much more, before what happened in the Everfree Forest and all these acts you've been doing since."
Her smile fell as she blinked. "Wait, what happened in the Everfree Forest?" That place was full of crazy and unexplained things, and it might be what started all of this!
Ma Apple's own smile fell on disappointment. "We agreed we weren't goin' to talk about it anymore, it's done and over with, and we're goin' to move on. Unless you're willing to be honest about everything, and apologize to your aunts and pa."
"I'm not Candy, so I don't even know what happened!" She protested. "Please tell me. It could be the key to all this."
Ma Apple scowled. "No, we aren't playin' games with that. You know how much that hurt everypony's feelin's, and how angry your aunt still is about it. I love you, and I let you play your games, but I'm not lettin' you restart that disruption. We need to all just let it go."
She snorted in frustration. It was a little more information at least. Whatever had happened had upset all of the Apples, it was just Applejack who was carrying the grudge the most. If it involved a lie, and involved all the Apples, that might be why they were all disinclined to believe Candy was telling the truth. Hopefully Marble would be able to find out exactly what had happened and let her know. She didn't know what she could do about something Candy legitimately did, but she could do nothing for sure if she didn't even know what it was.
"Anyway, I'm done here for today," Ma Apple announced, dropping the subject of Candy's misbehavior. "I've got enough pastries baking to last Pumpkin till the end of the day, so she can focus on bakin' cakes all she wants. Two more days and then she'll stop screamin' at me all mornin' long. I can hardly wait. She's normally really sweet, but this time of year she gets me so…peeved!" Her eyes went wide, as if just remembering her daughter was right there. "Please don't use that word! It's a word for only grownups to use."
Cheerilee raised a single eyebrow. "I'm Cheerilee, remember? I'm familiar with curse words. I might be in your daughter's body, but I'm no foal."
"These games you play," Ma Apple said with just a touch of annoyance. "I almost forgot how adept you are at usin' those words. Just don't use them, okay?"
She shrugged in reply. She didn't want to appear obstinate, but she wasn't going to pretend to be Candy, and beIng treated as if she were Candy was getting old. "So, are we going to the School of Friendship now? To meet...Luster Dawn, was it?"
The older unicorn nodded. "Yes, it's time to do that. Say goodbye to your friend, and we can be on our way." She paused. "And by the way, he'll be comin' over to stay with us after you two are out of school the next two days, at least until supper. Try not to get into any trouble."
"I'll do my best," she replied, hopefully between the twin Pie sisters she didn't need to do that much running around anyway. She still wanted to try to find her sister, as she considered her sister more reliable help than Pinkie. It also didn't hurt to find more ponies in general she could convince she wasn't Candy. Still, she couldn't imagine it would cause that much trouble to just visit a simple tea shop.
She didn't have to go to Cheese to tell him goodbye, the androgynous colt was as fast as his mother at setting upon a pony and giving them a hug. "Bye Cherrilee! I'll see you later!" The colt exclaimed, as she struggled to breathe. For being rather feminine, he certainly had a good grip.
As he released her, his mother walked close to her and whispered. "Remember, kumquat!" Before escorting her son out of the bakery.
Ma Apple gave her a quizzical look. "What was that about kumquats?"
Cheerilee shook her head in bewilderment. "I really have no idea."
The Apple matriarch shrugged. "I guess it's just Pinkie being Pinkie. I shouldn't even bother to question what nonsense she does. Come on, let's get goin'."
The School of Friendship, and the accompanying castle (or other way around if you saw it that way), looked almost exactly like they had twenty years ago. The only noticeable difference was in a few flags that were waving from the castle balconies; they marked the castle as Starlight Glimmer's, by bearing her cutie mark. It was just the castle that was decorated that way, as the school bore the element crest on its own flag. She didn't really know what to make of the fact that Starlight Glimmer felt a need to mark her territory, but it really wasn't that important a detail.
There were some students standing about outside, a few laying out in the grass, and a pair of young dragons that were throwing back and forth what looked like a shallow pie tin which seemed to hover in the air as they threw it. She even spotted a few students lounging on one of the castle balconies, with several more students sitting on the castle stairs. Perhaps the castle had been converted to a dorm space for the students? She seemed to recall that the school itself had housing for students in her time, but perhaps they decided that they needed to house them elsewhere. A huge castle that was right on the school's doorstep would make an excellent place for that.
Ma Apple led her up to the school's entrance, where they were met by a light pink female hippogriff. "We're here to see Luster Dawn, do you know where we can find her?" Ma Apple asked the imposingly large creature. It took Cheerilee a moment to recognize her, it was Silverstream, who had been a student in the initial class for the school, and from what was rumored, had some sort of tie to the Elements of Harmony just like the element bearers.
Silverstream tapped her paw to her beak. "Luster Dawn? I think around this time of day you can find her in one of the labs. The main one she uses is the third door on the right immediately after you go up the stairs to the second floor. I would knock first, just in case she is in the middle of something that could go boom. We and headmare has spoken to her about doing dangerous experiments, but Luster seems to have her own opinions about what qualifies as dangerous."
The older unicorn took a step back. "She's supposed to be doing some tests on my daughter… is this goin' to be safe? I wasn't told that she might do somethin' dangerous."
Silverstream blew a raspberry and laughed. "Oh, don't worry! Luster might be a little… eccentric, but she has yet to do anything to anycreature we couldn't fix right away."
Cheerilee shared a look with Candy's mother. "Is it too late for me to change my mind and object to this? I don't want to be blown up."
"It will be fine, I promise," Silverstream assured them. "Luster isn't a bad mare. She got really good at magic as Princess Twilight's student, she just really needs some remedial work with dealing with other creatures. She's here to do that, and she's getting better all the time."
She gave the once friendship student a confused look. "How did the Princess of Friendship's personal student turn out to be bad at friendship?"
Silversteam shrugged. "Princess Twilight is really busy. If you spend time studying under a creature that can move the sun and moon, and who can call down magic rainbow blasts that can take out the strongest of monsters, you can get the wrong idea about what you're studying to do. She is getting better, like I said."
Ma Apple had her ears half laid back as she looked at the entrance. She flicked them, and they rose perhaps a quarter-inch as she looked down at Cheerilee. "Let's just meet her, and then we can decide if she is somepony that can be trusted. We just need her to run a few simple tests, not anythin' major. We probably only need to see her just once."
"If you say so," Cheerilee replied warily. "If she blows me up I'm going to come back as a ghost and haunt you."
The mare let off a reserved chuckle, then led her inside. The halls were clear of students at the moment, either because they were in classes or it was just an off day from class. It was probably the second, given the younger foals were off today, and the students she had seen outside didn't seem to be particularly concerned about school at the moment. The fact that Luster Dawn was in a lab while every other student was taking it easy might be a sign of her reclusive or anti-social nature.
They reached the staircase and There was a defining crash and bang from upstairs, followed quickly by smoke drifting into view from the upstairs hallway. She cowered for a moment and braced herself to run, and beside her she could see Ma Apple doing the same.
"Come back here, foul fiend, and face me!" An equally deafening female voice rang out. It sounded like Princess Luna using her Canterlot voice, but Cheerilee could tell that wasn't the princess of the night. It was a completely unfamiliar voice.
A young pink unicorn mare with a bright yellow mane came running for her life out of the hallway. "This is all a misunderstanding!!"
A massive beam of magical energy engulfed the hallway and could be heard ripping through walls further down the hall. "The only misunderstanding is that you thought the future Empress of the North would allow you to steal her life essence so easily!." The voice from before bellowed.
The unicorn had managed to sidestep the beam and was now running down the stairs. Before they knew it, the frightening voice's quarry was hiding behind Ma Apple, using her for a shield. The mare looked sheepishly up at Ma Apple. "Hi there, I'm Luster Dawn. I'd ask your names, just to be polite, but I have a slightly more pressing matter. You don't mind being my pony shield for a moment, do you? She probably won't try to incinerate you, and I like living."
Well, one thing was for sure. Ponyville still had crazy stuff happening all the time.