//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Conversations With Almost Cheerilee 
// Story: Silver Spoon Adopts a Naga 
// by Halira 
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Silver's first instinct was to go seek out Twist, but when she got back to the Twistabon Candy Shop, she found it in the middle of a massive rush. She knew from experience that it was next to impossible to separate Twist from her work when that was going on. She could talk to Twist, at length, later that night, but it would have to pass for now. 

The next pony she considered talking to was Diamond Tiara. She galloped along the streets to Barnyard Bargains. Diamond had taken full control of the business from her father just a year or two before and was now there during most daylight hours. She had been at the school earlier that day for career day, but that had been again business-related. Despite being almost always doing something to further her business, Diamond did typically have time to stop and talk if she was found. Part of it was just being a friendly pony; the other part was Diamond felt it was of utmost importance to maintain good relations with everyone in the community. 

Silver rushed into the store and skidded to a halt as she realized she was about to break one of Diamond's rules, no running in the store. She did walk at a brisk trot up to the customer service desk where a green earth pony stallion was sitting going over some forms. He took notice of her as she approached and put the papers away to focus his full attention on her.

"Hello, Miss Silver Spoon. How can I help you today?" He asked with a pleasant smile. 

She returned his smile, though, with her anxiety at the moment, it was a little forced. "Is Diamond Tiara in? I need to talk to her about something, something important."

The stallion looked apologetic. "I'm sorry. Miss Tiara is currently out conducting interviews. She had her previous interview time at the school cut abruptly short today. She decided to personally meet with the students that had expressed interest in working for us at their homes for them to get their fair opportunity to market themselves as they planned. She may not be back in today."

Horsefeathers! "Alright, thank you very much. Can you let her know I came by?"

"Of course. She might not get the message until tomorrow, though."

Silver kept her smile on. "That's fine." Not really, but there wasn't much she could do about it. "Thank you again."

Two options down, and she still needed someone to talk to. 

She replayed the conversation back again in her mind. Maybe she had just misunderstood them when they seemed to be trying to just give Sisstet to her like they'd give away a piece of unneeded furniture. Their speech was tough to understand sometimes; maybe she had just seriously misunderstood. She doubted it. All her previous dealings with them showed they didn't have any particular affection for Sisstet. He was a task for them; make sure the young naga is given food, shelter, kept safe, an education, and that they listen to ponies' advice. Listening to advice didn't overrule their very literal view of the instruction they were supposed to raise one naga. They weren't cruel; they were simply too simpleminded to care for Sisstet properly. Although in other circumstances, Sythel's reaction to the idea of her egg being taken from her might have been encouraging that they might somehow have learned to love something. 

The princess was technically their kingsnake; maybe she should try reaching out to the princess. Princess Twilight could clear this entire matter up quickly. There was no way the princess intended them to take their orders to raise a naga that way. Unfortunately, the princess was in another castle than Ponyville. The best that could be done quickly would be to try to reach out to Starlight Glimmer and hope the headmare could get a message to Princess Twilight. Princess Twilight could solve this entire thing right away.

Silver hesitated, rather than head off towards the Castle in Ponyville or the School of Friendship. What was the result she wanted from going to the princess? Was it to force Mishtet and Sythel to keep taking care of Sisstet? She'd long argued that the two weren't abusive, but they seemed to be emotionally neglectful. Was Sisstet going to get the love and care he needed if he was forced to stay with them? Nothing that she had seen suggested that. She needed to hear from him exactly what he thought of their love and care, as it stood. 

Her face fell as she realized she'd made a grave error, no matter what the outcome with his guardians. They had offered him to her, and she had run. Sisstet had not been present in the room, but that didn't mean that he hadn't heard the entire exchange. He had listened to the creatures that were supposed to take care of him try to give him away.

And then he had heard her all but refuse to take him. 

What would Princess Twilight do? Maybe she would sit down and try to explain to the adult naga how to be better parents? Perhaps she would take Sisstet away and send him to the boarding school in the Crystal Empire? Or perhaps she would try to put him with a different naga 'family'. There was no telling how the other naga 'families' were doing in other places in Equestria. Silver honestly didn't know. They could all be doing much better than Sisstet's, all doing much worse, or doing much the same. Perhaps it was mixed results, and likely was, or at least she hoped it was. She didn't have much faith that all the rest were doing better, but she wanted to think at least some of them were. 

She decided not to go to the princess, at least not yet. It was her duty to advocate for her student, but she needed to know what she was going to advocate. She quickly considered her other friends that she could go to for advice, and one by one, she was forced to dismiss them. Dinky was the principal of the school, and would feel obligated to go straight to authorities with this. There was no question Silver would need to get authorities involved, but not yet. She considered each of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and had to dismiss them because they'd almost certainly go to Starlight. Going to the mayor was out of the question, as Amythyst Star was about as by-the-book a mayor as they came. 

A crazy idea about who to go to for advice formed in her head, Cheerilee: Cheerilee had been her mentor for years, and she trusted her with her life. More importantly, she trusted her with her students' lives. Unfortunately, Cheerilee had run off from Ponyville, and there were whispers among the faculty that it had been some sort of nervous break. However, there was another version of Cheerilee currently available, or at least so she'd been told. 

She turned in a new direction, one towards Sweet Apple Acres.





It was early evening when Silver Spoon reached the farm. She wondered if creatures would think her insane for doing this, and a part of herself believed they'd be right. She was here now, though, and she was out of ideas on who else to turn to. She gathered up her courage, stepped up to the Apples' front door, and knocked. 

She could hear mumbling as the latch for the door was unlocked. Something about hoping that it was at least some good news: she didn't have that, but at least she could say that she wasn't here to increase the Apples' woes. 

Ma Apple opened the door and looked disappointed. "Hello, Miss Silver Spoon. I'm assumin' that you've got some news from the school for Candy." She let Silver in, and Silver came just inside the door.

Silver tried to put on a reassuring smile, and answered softly. "I'm very sorry about everything that has happened to your daughter. I can't even imagine the stress you are under. I can promise you I'm not here to give you any more bad news." 

She spotted Bright Pear trying to eavesdrop on the conversation, but the young stallion noticed her eyes pass over him and froze. Ma Apple must have had eyes in the back of her head, because she spoke quickly to him without even turning her attention away. "Son, please give the teacher and me some privacy. If somethin' needs to be discussed with you, it will be."

Bright Pear immediately retreated into the kitchen, and Silver let out a long breath. "I'm here to speak with Cheerilee."

Ma blinked. "With Cheerilee? You don't mean Candy?"

Silver nodded. "I mean Cheerilee. If her mind is really in your daughter's body right now, then she's the pony I want to talk to. It's a personal matter, unrelated to her current situation, so I'd want a private conversation. Can I speak to her, please?"

Ma chewed on her lip then turned. "Cand-...Cheer-..." The mare shook her head and snorted, seeming at a loss at what to call her daughter. "Little filly! Please come here."

Her muscles were tight as she waited for the filly to appear. Candy Apple was a small red unicorn filly with a dark magenta-purple mane and no cutie mark as of yet. For the past few months, she had constantly been pretending to be other ponies, or at least that was what everyone had assumed. Now there was evidence that those creatures' minds had indeed taken up residence in her head, and the most recent one was none other than Cheerilee. 

"Miss Silver Spoon-" Ma began. Oh, that wouldn't do! Not with her old mentor!

"If that's really Cheerilee's mind in her, then just Silver Spoon will do," she said hurriedly. She was not going to be formal with Cheerilee. She needed Cheerilee to trust that she believed she was there, so she could have an honest conversation. 

Ma Apple seemed confused about her insistence in dropping the honorific, but didn't object. "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."

She watched Candy-Cheerilee's ears perk up at that, and the edge of the filly's mouth just barely twitched upwards for just an instant. Ma Apple walked away, but glanced over her shoulder consideringly as she walked into the kitchen. It was doubtful Candy-Cheerilee took notice of the look. The filly seemed to be studying her instead. She wondered how she was coming off to her former mentor right now.

She didn't want an audience, so she directed them towards the outside. "Let's step on out. It's a warm evening." She had no idea if that was true; she'd barely been paying attention. With all the running about and anxiety she was feeling, her sense of temperature wasn't to be trusted. 

She looked around at nothing once they were outside, unsure how to even have this conversation. The filly ended up being the one to break the silence. "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," Candy-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. How had she blinded herself to it? What kind of friend had she been to Cherrilee when she needed one? It was best to just think of this filly as Cheerilee for the moment. It was Cheerilee wearing Candy's body, and a younger version of Cheerilee at that, but the evidence said it was Cheerilee. 

"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."

That actually made her chuckle. Oh, if this younger version of Cherrilee even knew what kind of path Silver had taken to end up as a teacher. There were times back then when she thought her life was ending, and in a way, it had. A better life had begun though. 

"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."

"You want my advice?" Cheerilee seemed puzzled by this. 

She nodded. "It's about Sisstet… I don't even know how to begin. Give me a moment." She would get through this conversation calmly and rationally. She also wanted to be sure she expressed what hapoened clearly. "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."

Cheerilee was quick to interject. "I don't really know anything about naga other than what you shared with me earlier today."

"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, and her voice shivered. "What do they think they should do?"

The memory of their dismissal sent rage through her.  "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!"

There was one thing that could outrage a teacher beyond belief, and that was the mistreatment of a student by their patents. "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. 

"They didn't get angry," she said quietly. "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'." Well, that wasn't the wording they used, but they'd used that term in previous visits, and it was easier to use than 'teasser pony' which didn't make sense if you didn't hear it constantly from them. She was having to do a lot of interpretation of what they said too, but she knew what they meant. 

"It wasn't even said with hostility or mockingly, they meant it!" She continued. "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. Silver understood the feeling. "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 'kingsnakes'-- 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 kingsnake, so they were never in a position they needed to think for themselves."

"But there's no kingsnake here, right?" Cheerilee asked in a puzzled tone.

"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 kingsnakes 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 shame of her reaction came back and hit her again, and she felt ashamed as she answered. "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."

There was several seconds of silence, and she worried she'd disappointed her old mentor. Cheerilee finally spoke up though. "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."

The filly seemed to gain more confidence, and she sat up straighter as she began her reply. "Well, talking to your spouse seems to be the next logical step. 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." 

Silver let that all sink in, and as she did Cheerilee gave her a knowing smile. "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. She knew what she wanted to do to advocate for Sisstet now. "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."

They talked for a few moments more, mainly about Candy-Cheerilee's own situation, then she turned and headed home to speak to Twist.