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// Chapter 24: Student-Teacher Bonds 
// Story: Quantum Leap Forward 
// by Halira 
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Conversation in the room continued without her joining in. She and Candy were talked about at length, but it was again like she wasn't even there, or a piece of furniture being discussed. On rare occasion a question would be asked; questions about whether Candy's consciousness manifested in any way, was there any physical discomfort, requests to describe in detail the last thing she remembered before waking up in Candy's body and first thing after. Once the answer was given she was ignored once again, not a participant in solving this problem, but instead a problem to be solved.

It made her want to scream again. 

Decisions on action were eventually made. Celestia and Luna admitted they were not sure what use they'd be in this particular circumstance, but had agreed to stay in Ponyville for the next few days if they were needed for anything. Before the school day finished, Rainbow Dash was dispatched to it to give them an update on Candy/Cheerilee's situation, and returned shortly after. Starlight said that she and Sweetie Belle would assist Luster in conducting a new round of tests tomorrow. Cheerilee would attend her appointment with Marble Pie as originally planned as well. 

Big Mac, Bright Pear, and Strawberry Surprise came in from their respective work in the late afternoon, all shocked to find two alicorns and the headmare of the School of Friendship standing around in Candy's room. They all went through a period of shock when learning the news that it was largely agreed upon now that Candy was being truly possessed by the ponies and creatures that decorated her bedroom walls. They also didn't engage Cheerilee in conversation, seeming to avoid even looking at her. Conversation continued on till early evening, and eventually the two alicorns and Starlight departed for the Castle of Friendship for the night. With the guests gone, the family migrated out to the kitchen, to prepare for dinner.

Ma and Strawberry set themselves to preparing food, which was actually Strawberry cooking and Ma carefully guiding her through what to do. Everypony else sat down at the table as they waited. After a few minutes of everypony getting settled, Caramel, who was apparently given a great deal of freedom to come and go as he pleased, wandered in from school. "Ma, Pa, I'm home! I got my report card!"

"In the kitchen!" Ma called out, while keeping her eyes glued to Strawberry was doing.

The colt hurried in and looked around, seeming to pick up that something was off. He turned his eyes to Cheerilee. She had her forelegs crossed on the table and had her head resting on them, feeling somewhat depressed as she tried in vain to figure out what she could be doing to help Candy.

"Is somethin' wrong? Did Candy get in trouble for what happened at school?" Caramel asked hesitantly. 

Ma turned and glanced back and forth between Cheerilee and Caramel anxiously, before turning her eyes to her husband. "Big Mac, do you think you can take your son aside and explain to him what's happened? I don't think I can talk about it any more today. I still need time to figure it all out myself."

"E'yep," Big Mac replied, as he got up from his seat. He walked over to Caramel and gently led him out of the room. The colt might take it better than they thought, since she had partially discussed this with him before she'd accidently started that food fight. 

There was a sudden knock at the door, and everypony turned in confusion at it. Ma headed to the front of the house mumbling to herself. "What now? I hope it is good news at least."

The unicorn went to the front of the house, and she could be heard talking quietly with whoever was at the front door. She was taking so long that Bright Pear went out to look who she was speaking to, only to come hurrying back. "Silver Spoon is at the door. Maybe, talkin' about Candy, can't tell. They told me to give them privacy."

"Cand-...Cheer-..." Ma called out with two false starts. "Little filly! Please come here."

She hopped down from her chair. Hopefully she was going to be treated as a pony this time around, instead of a curiosity. She walked out to the front door and noted that Silver Spoon seemed tense.

"Miss Silver Spoon-" Ma began.

Silver Spoon stopped her. "If that's really Cheerilee's mind in her then just Silver Spoon will do."

Ma blinked. "Okay, well, Silver Spoon wanted to speak with you in private. The two of you can step just outside, but don't go wanderin' off, and come right back in when you're done."

That almost made her smile. Somepony actually wanted to talk to her. She nodded her agreement, and Ma walked back to the kitchen. 

Silver Spoon gestured at the front door. "Let's step on out. It's a warm evening." The teacher still seems tense.

She followed the teacher out, and they both sat down. The weather team had apparently cleared the skies, and it was easy to see around her by the light of the full moon and stars. Silver Spoon quietly looked around at her surroundings, rather than say anything. It didn't appear as if the teacher was looking for anything, simply delaying speaking.

After a solid minute of silence she decided to be the first to speak. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

Silver Spoon licked her lips. "Dinky briefed me about the message Rainbow Dash delivered. It's a little hard to believe, but if two former princesses, Starlight Glimmer, and two of the element bearers believe it, then it most likely is true."

"Three of the element bearers," Cheerilee corrected. "Pinkie believes it as well. She did before any pony else." There was no point in keeping that secret any longer.

Silver nodded and hung her head. "In that case, I guess I owe you an apology. I should know Cheerilee, she wasn't just my old teacher and my supervising principal, she was my mentor and friend. I'm sorry I didn't believe you."

"Well, to be fair, I'm from twenty years ago, so at least half of that hasn't happened yet," Cheerilee replied. "I actually was surprised to see you became a teacher. In my time you're about to graduate and seemed very unsure what to do with your life. I wouldn't have expected you to go this direction."

The teacher let off a small chuckle. "I'd have called you crazy if you suggested it to me at that point. Life takes us in unexpected directions sometimes. We think we know what we want, only to find disappointment and heartache, and after that passes we find that there was something better waiting for us the entire time."

"I can certainly agree with unexpected directions happening," Cheerilee grumbled. "I certainly didn't expect to find myself here."

"I couldn't even imagine," Silver said slowly, then took a deep breath. "I didn't come just to apologize, that was kind of secondary. I came because right now I need my friend and mentor to help give me advice. I know we don't have the same history, but you're still Cheerilee."

Cheerilee flicked her ears and stared up at the other pony, unsure if she'd just misinterpreted what she had heard.  "You want my advice?"

Silver nodded. "It's about Sisstet… I don't even know how to begin. Give me a moment." The teacher stared down at the ground, collecting her thoughts. "I took Sisstet back home today after school. His guardians can misunderstand things that I couldn't imagine them misunderstanding, so I wanted to discuss his report card with them when he gave it to them."

"I don't really know anything about naga other than what you shared with me earlier today," Cheerilee said quickly. 

"This isn't really a strictly naga issue, even if them being naga plays a huge part in it," Silver said with a shake of her head. "Sythel, his female guardian, has recently laid an egg. She is very protective of the thing, which is understandable-- it's actually the closest thing to love I've seen out of them. However, the orders that the naga were given by their leaders didn't really account for another foal, and their interpretation of what they should do is… alien to what anycreature I know would think."

Cheerilee laid back her ears, fearing the worst. "What do they think they should do?"

Silver suddenly stomped a hoof, making Cheerilee jump back. "They think their obligations involving Sisstet are over! They took the fact they now have two foals instead of one, and the fact Sisstet has been doing better than them in terms of integrating into Equestrian society, and they decided that he no longer needed them!"

Cheerilee's ears completely flattened back as she shared in the outrage. "What! He's what, eight or nine years old? He's not old enough to fend for himself!"

"Apparently foals even younger than that used to be made to fend for themselves back in the Clutch," Silver growled. "Oh, but that's only half of it. I lost my temper when I heard this. I didn't even care that they're huge and capable of ripping me apart with ease. I told them flat out that he couldn't be allowed to fend for himself at his age, and it was his guardian's responsibility to care for him."

"And what did they do in response to that?" Cheerilee asked in a hushed voice. Clearly they hadn't done anything to hurt Silver Spoon, but that could not have gone over well.

The fire seemed to go out of the teacher. "They didn't get angry. They said that 'if furry-four-leg teacher thinks he needs to be cared for more, then furry-four-leg teacher can care for him'. It wasn't even said with hostility or mockingly, they meant it! What better way of having naga integrate into Equestrian society than to have a pony raise one. They even seemed to think their leaders would be pleased with them for coming up with the idea! And with how warped their culture's thinking is I can't say for sure they're wrong."

Cheerilee shook her head in disbelief. "How-how could a society like theirs have even sustained itself? Changelings weren't this bad, and changelings had to live under absolute authority as well."

Silver shook her head. "Changelings had to at least think for themselves when they were out doing infiltration. Their queen didn't crush out all free thought, just any disloyal thought. Naga didn't get that much. Their 'king-snakes'-- which is an odd term because they use it for all their royalty and both males and females-- made every little decision for the lesser naga. The lesser naga didn't ever even go out of shouting distance of a king-snake, so they were never in a position they needed to think for themselves."

"But there's no king-snake here, right?" Cheerilee asked, puzzled.

"No, they are all up north, far west of the Crystal Empire," Silver explained. "They overextended their population threshold to where their lands couldn't support them. They initially tried invading Equestria, but after being soundly beaten back by Princess Twilight and Princess Cadence, they decided they needed to learn how we do things-- we easily won and were thriving, so we were worth emulating. As part of the peace treaty, they have sent out their excess population into Equestria for re-education. It hasn't gone the smoothest, because none of the king-snakes came, and these regular naga only understand following orders. What free thought they do manage has less logical reasoning than a foal."

Silver sighed again. "But Sisstet has been encouraged to think for himself his whole life, and been shown love and kindness they never knew. He is a perfectly wonderful foal, although his emotional needs at home aren't really being met as they should be."

"So what did you do after they tried to unload him on you?" Cheerilee asked. 

The teacher's ears sagged and shoulders slumped. "I was so shocked I just kind of froze. I stuttered out something about needing to consider things, and then I fled. Worst of all, this whole conversation happened right in front of Sisstet. I'm worried about what kind of effect hearing his guardians trying to toss him out, and then me reacting the way I did, will have on him. He could take it as nopony wanting him."

Cheerilee sat quietly for a moment, making sure she worded her reply clearly. "When you were telling me about him earlier today, I got the impression he meant more to you than just a student. You seemed to want to fill his emotional needs yourself, and you seemed to show an attachment I would more expect out of a parent. Are you considering bringing him home to live with you?"

"I-I don't know," Silver said quietly. "I was just so caught off guard by the whole thing. I'm trying to think about what is good for Sisstet. Do I bring him home? Do I find somecreature that the naga will listen to when ordered to care for him? Do I go to the princess and let her deal with this? I need advice, and I didn't know who to go to at this hour. Twist was working late today, so I haven't had the opportunity to talk to her yet. I figured if you really have the mind of Cheerilee, then you're a pony I trust for advice."

"Well, talking to your spouse seems to be the next logical step," Cheerilee replied. The fact that she was needed as herself gave her a boost of confidence. "I don't doubt for a minute that you're ready to step in and be his adopted parent, but it is important that both his potential parents feel the same way. If Twist is onboard with the two of you adopting, then you need to talk to Sisstet to find out what he wants. This can be a very confusing time for him, and he is almost certainly hurting right now, so be patient with him." She smiled. "I don't think you needed me to tell you all that though."

"I needed to hear it from somepony other than myself. This is a big thing, and I need to know I'm thinking straight," Silver replied. She then stood up. "I do want to give that foal a good home. I guess it is time to talk to Twist to find out if I have one for him. Thanks for helping talk me through this."

Cheerilee stood up as well. "It just feels good to know I have made some sort of positive impact today, after what happened earlier. I'm worried about how much I have messed things up in Candy's life."

Silver went stiff. "There is another matter that brought me here tonight. I've already told Ma Apple, but you need to know too." She took a deep breath and looked down at Cheerilee. "Spoiled Rich has convinced the school board to move their meeting up. You have even less time to figure out how to fix everything with Candy."

Cheerilee's chest tightened. "How soon are they meeting?"

"One hour after noon, three days from now," Silver said grimly. "You effectively have tomorrow and the next day to find a way to end all this, or Candy's days at Ponyville Elementary may be finished."

Three days? She hadn't had enough time as it stood before, and they just cut her time to find a solution in half. What was she going to do? 

"Good luck to you on that," Silver said sadly. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. I don't want anything happening to the poor filly. I will stand up for Candy during the meeting, but I'm not sure how much help that will be."

"I appreciate it, and I'm sure Candy does at well, if she's able to hear all this. I really have no idea how much she is aware of anything," Cheerilee said quietly. "Thank you Silver Spoon, you're a good mare and a good teacher. I'm sure my future self has nothing but pride for you." She hesitated, but decided to ask something else on her mind. "Did my future self do anything out of the ordinary before she left?"

Silver frowned, and looked at the house door. She then dipped her head close to Cheerilee's. "Yes, you did. It started about a year ago. You'd suddenly start acting anxious and nervous at seemingly random times. You'd be perfectly fine, going about the day as normal, then all the sudden you'd start looking all around you like you were going to be attacked by something. It got progressively worse over a few months. Then one day you just called Dinky into your office, said you were leaving, and you were appointing her principal in your stead since her class was about to graduate and would be least impacted by a sudden change in teacher. After that you just took the first train out of Ponyville, not even bothering to pack more than a few small items from home."

She tried to wrap her head around this. What she was hearing made no sense at all. "Did I ever say what was making me so nervous?"

Silver shook her head. "No, you actually denied knowing what it was. It was just a bunch of random anxiety attacks. You'd never had them before this, but this year they came in force. You are getting older, and there were a few whispers among the faculty that you might have had something snap in your old age, like some sort of dementia. Maybe if you return to your own time, and are aware of it, you can do something to stop it from happening. I hated seeing you go through that."

Dementia, that was a kick to the stomach. She'd seen older ponies come down with it before, but to think that she...to know that she would be a victim of it herself made her want to cry. There were things that a pony was better off not knowing.