• Published 28th Nov 2019
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Quantum Leap Forward - Halira



Cheerilee wakes up twenty years in the future, in the body of Big Mac's daughter. Now she must find out how to get back to her proper time and body.

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Chapter 15: Two Proposals and a Nap

She crept back down to the kitchen and looked again at the assembled family.

Ma Apple and Strawberry were over in a far corner, whispering together silently; more Ma whispering and Strawberry nodding thoughtfully along, occasionally blushing at whatever the older mare was saying, but smiling as she did so. Bright Pear was sitting at the table, eating some leftover stew, and it looked like he was straining to hear what kind of conversation was taking place between his mother and his marefriend. If Cheerilee had to take a guess, Ma Apple was giving the pegasus sage advice about being a wife, and perhaps some tips on birth control so Strawberry wouldn't look like Applebloom currently did at the moment before the young couple got around to tying the knot.

Applebloom was also seated at the table, engrossed in reading a book. The pregnant mare didn't even glance up as Cheerilee walked in. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were speaking quietly in another corner. It looked like Applejack had been crying, and was now under the embrace of Rainbow Dash's wing, while the pegasus held her close. The farm pony did glance up at Cheerilee briefly, but the expression was unreadable. The Wonderbolt captain took notice, and whispered something soothing to her lover in a way that seemed surprisingly tender for the normally brash pegasus. All Cheerilee could catch was a brief 'it's going to okay, AJ'.

Big Mac stepped around where Cheerilee was standing, and walked over to his wife. The two shared a brief kiss, then the large stallion walked back to the table while the conversation between Ma Apple and Strawberry resumed. The stallion gestured to an empty chair. "You're ma set out some stew for you, since you haven't ate."

She didn't need to be told twice, and hurried over to the empty seat with a steaming bowl of stew sitting in front of it. If she was going to have to wait longer to hear what had been discussed about Candy, she was eager to have it happen on a full stomach.

When she got to the chair she reached her hooves around the bowl to pick it up, but Ma Apple interrupted her. "How about you try usin' your spoon?"

She glanced to the side of the bowl. There was indeed a spoon, but it was the type of spoon that was not easily held in a fetlock, more the type that a unicorn might use. "You know I don't know how to use Candy's horn."

"It's simple enough," Ma Apple replied. "Just hold magic in your horn and imagine reachin' out and graspin' the spoon with your magic. You do this all the time when you're yourself, and even some of your other selves. I'm confident you can do it. I'm just askin' that you try. We don't know how long this personality will last, and wouldn't you have an easier time with things if you used your magic, rather than doin' everythin' like an earth pony?"

She frowned back. "Even if I can manage levitating something, I'd probably be so clumsy at it I'd make a mess."

The unicorn shrugged. "Messes can be cleaned up. You won't get better at it if you don't try at all, and perhaps doin' things as a unicorn will jostle some memories."

So that was their plan. They intended to keep trying to put her in situations which would awaken Candy. She briefly considered protesting, but couldn't find a good reason to do so. Candy taking back control of her body and her going back to her own time when that happened was part of her goal, though she didn't want that happening yet-- she needed to get these so-called experts on the right track. She doubted Candy would wake up with the mere use of her magic, but that magic was a tool that Cheerilee wasn't utilizing. She definitely wouldn't mind being able to manipulate objects with Candy's horn.

She did as she did earlier that day. Having done it once already, the process of holding magic in the horn came in half the time. Now for the hard part. She stared at the spoon and then glanced upwards towards the stubby horn on her head that was a little too short for her to see fully. She tried imagining the spoon lifting up off the table, but nothing happened. She tried focusing harder, squinting her eyes at it, but still no result. Trying to imagine the spoon moving was making it harder for her to keep the magic in the horn, and the light coming from it flickered and sputtered.

After a solid minute of this she let the magic go and glared at the immovable object. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it isn't working." She glanced up at ponies seated at the table.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Don't look at us. Do you see any horns on our heads?"

She looked over at Ma Apple, who didn't seem concerned. "You aren't usin' your magic, dear, you're just holdin' it in your horn. You can stare at the spoon all day while holdin' it and nothin' will happen. Reach out and grasp it with your magic."

She turned back to the spoon and lit the horn again, this time barely even thinking about what she was doing. Realization that she had just lit the horn with virtually no thought shocked her, and she released the magic right away. Ma Apple was giving a satisfied smirk, knowing that this was coming easier and easier for her.

So what if it was getting easier? Wasn't that what was supposed to happen when you repeatedly did something that needed practice? Holding magic in their horns was something foals learned before they even began school, so it couldn't be that hard a thing to master quickly. Ma could smirk all she wanted, there wasn't anything demonstrating she was Candy happening.

Ignoring Candy's smirking mother, she turned her attention back to the spoon. She relit the horn and went back to trying to figure this out. There was some urgency to work quickly; if she took too long the stew would get cold. Having gotten to where she didn't need to think about sensations in order to hold magic in the horn, it was now surprisingly difficult to actually focus on them. It was like trying to focus on the flow of blood in her leg, without touching her leg with another part of her body. She could do it, but it wasn't something that came automatically, it required concentration.

It took some time, but she managed to get back to feeling the coursing magic within the horn. She tried to imagine it as an extension of herself, like another leg or hoof. She focused on the spoon and grasped at it. The spoon was surrounded by a magenta glow and she tried to lift it. Unable to judge how much 'strength' she was putting into her effort, the spoon not only lifted, it went flying off the table and across the room, with Strawberry barely dodging the utensil before it hit the wall.

"It seems that you can use your horn just fine," Ma Apple announced, as she picked the spoon up with her own magic, and gently set it in the sink. "You just need to practice usin' it some more. You can eat like an earth pony if you wish, and practice more later."

'Just fine' might have been overstating things in Cheerilee's opinion, but she supposed for not having the experience to judge how much force she actually was exerting that qualified as a successful use of Candy's horn. She'd need a good deal of practice, but there would be time. Right now she just wanted to eat, and the stew had already stopped steaming. She lifted the bowl up with her hooves and began drinking down the stew in large gulps. It only took a minute for her to down the entire thing. She must have been more hungry than she thought.

"So," she said as she set the bowl back down. "What are your plans for me? Are you just going to keep trying to jog Candy's memories, or is there more?"

"You'll be seeing Marble again the day after tomorrow, and she'll give us her opinion on how to proceed," Ma replied. "Your aunt Applebloom will be lookin' at the copies of those resonances tomorrow, just to confirm that Luster was accurate in what she saw. You'll also get additional tests from Starlight Glimmer and Sweetie Belle the day after tomorrow. After all that is done we'll decide where to go from there."

She raised an eyebrow. "I am hearing the day after tomorrow over and over again. What about today and tomorrow?"

"Today you'll spend some time with your friend when Pinkie brings him over," Ma replied calmly. "Tomorrow you're going to school, because your attendance has been abhorrent this year, and you aren't missin' the last day." The unicorn gave her a sympathetic look. "I know you want this all fixed right away, we do too, but we have to accept it is goin' to take some time, and that we still have regular lives to live. We've dealt with this for most of the year, we can afford to take time makin' sure we do things the right way now. Be patient, we're gettin' you all the help we can."

"You can try bein' a little more polite in the mean time, and not talkin' like you're in charge of things, because you ain't," Applejack grumbled.

"AJ, don't you have something else you need to say?" Rainbow said firmly, as she nudged her marefriend.

Applejack gave the pegasus a cross look. "You're gonna insist on this? What happened to you being loyal?"

Rainbow matched her look. "I am loyal, but you aren't the only pony I'm loyal too. This is kind of my family too, and Candy deserves me backing her as well. It wouldn't be fair to you either if I didn't push you to do what you know is the right thing to do when you want to be stubborn and dig your hooves in."

The farm mare looked down and sighed. "S'pose you're right. Only thing I'm tryin' to defend is my pride, and it ain't worth the price." Applejack turned to Cheerilee. "I'm still not completely convinced of all this… but what you said was the harsh truth. I ain't treated you fairly, and I might have better handled how I reacted better than I did. You seem to understand why I was upset now, but it's also been months you've had to think about it. What I'm tryin' to say is I'm sorry for gettin' so mad you felt you needed to run away, and havin' all of whatever this is start. There weren't no call for me to be treatin' ya like that."

Cheerilee gave the farm pony an apprehensive look. "I'm not sure if Candy can hear that or not, but if she did, I'm sure she is happy to hear it." She looked downward. "And I'm sorry I yelled at you, that's not like me."

"No it ain't," Applejack agreed with a frown. "Ain't like you or Cheerilee, so I know it’s upsettin’. I ain't gonna have a long talk with ya when your like this, no point in it, but we'll have that long talk when ya start actin' like yourself again. Maybe we can give each other more right proper apologies then, and talk civil about what happened."

"She'll appreciate it, I'm sure," Cheerilee replied, and she couldn't help but smile. At least she'd done something good to help Candy out if the farm pony was ready to mend fences with her.

Ma Apple walked up to the table, smiling, and dragging a terrified looking Strawberry behind her with her magic. "I'm glad that's settled. Since I said we weren't goin' to let this disrupt our lives, Strawberry needed to ask my son somethin' important."

Strawberry stopped struggling against the unicorn's magic as everypony's eyes turned to her. She looked around nervously, then bit her lip. She then looked at her stallionfriend and blushed. "Um, I was going to ask… how would you feel about me moving in here?"

Bright blinked. "But, there aren't any open bedrooms. I wouldn't want you to be sleeping on the couch."

Strawberry blushed deeper. "I wouldn't be sleeping on the couch."

"I don't understand; are Applejack and Rainbow moving out?" Bright asked in confusion.

"You are a thick one sometimes, ya know that?" Applejack said loudly. "She'd be sleepin' in your bed, ya numbskull!"

"I'm not sure Ma would appro-"

His mother cut in, pointing a hoof at Strawberry. "When are you goin' to ask this poor sweet mare to marry you? Are you goin' to wait till she's full with foal, since you two apparentlly haven't been usin' any type of birth control? Have her showin' up in a wedding dress that could fit a cow? I'm not havin' my daughter-in-law embarrassed like that!"

"E'nope," Big Mac said with a shake of his head.

Bright opened and closed his mouth a few times, stunned speechless, but apparently his mother wasn't going to settle for that. "I heard what you told Rainbow yesterday, but I don't see why you need to keep draggin' it out. Nor is it prudent at this point."

"And you accused me of pressuring him," Rainbow whispered loudly to her lover. Applejack shrugged in response and grinned. Applejack in her advancing age seemed to have a perverse pleasure in watching others squirm, or at least her nephew and Strawberry.

"Ma-" Bright began, then struggled to find more to say. "It's… the farm… and the house… and… things."

"That house needs years of work, especially with you workin' on your own. It be easier to have the whole extended family come in, tear it down, and put a fresh one up. A wedding would be a nice excuse to bring them all in, don't you think?" Ma Apple asked with one eyebrow raised high. "Further, I wasn't raised a farm pony, but I've been a farm pony since I married your pa, and I know enough to know you've got enough of the pear orchards prepped to get a decent harvest up."

"E'yup," Big Mac said in agreement.

Ma leaned in closer. "I don't buy your excuses. You've been with her since the two of you were foals, and everycreature knows you two belong together. I've talked with Strawberry Sunrise, and she's of the same mind as me about you two. You've got her blessing, my blessing, and you've got your pa's."

"E'yep," Big Mac chimed in again, smiling.

"So I expect you to stop draggin' it out and ask the poor filly to marry you!" Ma finished. "The only thing she's waiting on is for you to ask her, so ask and be happy."

Bright looked around at the rest of the table. Cheerilee shook her head vigorously. "I'm not involved, don't look at me."

The stallion looked at Rainbow Dash and Applejack. "You never did this with them," he said in a quivering voice.

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you saying you can't commit because of us?!" The pegasus beat her wings a few times and took to a low hover. "Fine then! I'm Rainbow Commitment Dash. Let me show you how it's done!"

"Rainbow-!" Applejack half-objected in shock.

The pegasus reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a small box, and opened it, holding it out towards her lover. "Applejack, will you make me the happiest mare in the world by accepting this token, and agreeing to be my wife?"

The farm pony stared up at the pegasus with eyes like saucers. "You're doin' this now?!"

Rainbow shrugged. "I was going to retire after the next class of new recruits finished, and then I was going to ask, but I'm not being used as an excuse for why your nephew doesn't ask his marefriend to marry him. So are you going to accept, or what?"

"I'll think about it," Applejack replied, pulling her hat down over her eyes. Rainbow Dash's mouth dropped, but Applejack immediately lifted her hat back up and grinned. "Ya deserved that. Come back down here, ya flyin' peacock, and put that thing around my neck. Course I'm gonna accept." Cheerilee rolled her eyes. It was a good thing things never worked out between her and Big Mac. This family had no business accusing her of being crazy, they had the market cornered on that.

The Wonderbolt and the farm pony came close together, and Rainbow gently put the necklace around Applejack's neck. Applejack lifted it up with a hoof and looked at it, then grabbed Rainbow up and kissed her deeply right in front of everypony in the room. They held the kiss long enough that they needed to take deep breaths to refill their lungs afterward, but Applejack turned to her nephew with a grin. "No more excuses, ask the mare."

Bright took a shaking step down from his seat and stood in front of Strawberry. He knelt down low and reached out a forelegs towards her. She quivered, and stretched out a foreleg and wrapped her fetlock around his. "Strawberry Surprise, I don't even have a necklace ready for you, but I've known since we were foals that I wanted to spend my life with you. You make me happy, and my life full, with your energy and your love. I didn't know how I was ever going to get the nerve to finally ask a mare as beautiful, witty, and wonderful as you, but if you would have me, I would want nothing more or less than to be married to you for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?"

Strawberry touch a hoof up to her mouth and started tearing up. "Yes! I will. I'm ready to be your Strawberry Pear Surprise!" And with that declaration, the pegasus tackled her lover and started fiercely kissing him. Ma Apple cuddled close to her husband and started wiping the tears from Big Mac's eyes, which he was making no effort to hold back. The whole thing was so sweet that Cheerilee found herself crying.

Applebloom lifted her head from the book she had been reading, with a trail of drool extending from her mouth to the pages. Cheerilee hadn't even noticed the pregnant mare had fallen asleep reading, and had been asleep through all of this. Applebloom wiped her mouth and looked at the kissing couple on the floor, glanced at her weeping brother, then turned and looked at the kissing couple occupying the chairs to her side, and blinked. "Ahh, what did I just miss?"

Cheerilee still kept smiling. This was a nice distraction from her own troubles. She wondered if Candy really was spectating, troubling a thought as that was. If she were, then at least the filly should be getting a fond memory from this. It was a good thing that Caramel was away at friends for the night, she had a feeling that two of the rooms were going to be noisy through the night. She wasn't likely going to get much sleep if that were so.

Oh well, the Apples deserved a day of happiness, after all the struggles with Candy. She at least knew how to use the horn on her head as a night light now, and would try to squeeze in some extra reading. Tomorrow she had plans, she had her sister to see, and Cheese to convince to guide her. It was time to start taking action herself.

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