Quantum Leap Forward

by Halira

Chapter 28: Up's and Down's

They finished eating at a normal pace, although Ma kept looking anxiously over at the bar to try to judge the pace of Bright and Strawberry. Cheerilee could tell the swirl of emotions Ma was going through; the mare didn't want Spoiled to see how much effect their talk had, she didn't want to have a simple night out to eat ruined, and she didn't want to cut short the date she promised her son and future daughter-in-law. Ma was clearly eager to move, and clearly trying to calm her nerves-- as evidenced when she drained her first drink quickly and ordered a second stronger drink right after.

The meal was eaten silently for the most part, only interrupted by the occasional mutter from Ma Apple about how Spoiled wasn't going to be taking her baby away (using language unfit for foal ears), and the occasional mutter from Caramel which used equally colorful language to describe Spoiled in all her rottenness (of which Ma either didn't notice or chose not to object to).

Cheerilee sat quietly for her part. Her appetite had been blunted, and she had to force herself to eat. She didn't think Spoiled could actually get Candy committed to an asylum, but twenty years had passed, and she had no idea what laws and regulations now existed, a lot could change in twenty years. She tried to keep her confidence up that Spoiled was overstating what she was capable of, but the nagging doubts couldn't be fully banished.

Long after everypony at their table had finished eating, the two ponies at the bar finally made their move to go. Ma quickly signaled the waiter for the bill, and paid it without bothering to check what had been ordered. She then led the group of them out of the restaurant and informed them that they were going to be making a detour before going home, with no explanation given about where they were going.

The detour turned out to be a significant one, to a small house on the opposite side of town. The moon was high in the sky when Ma told them to wait towards the road and marched purposely up to the front door of the house, banging her hoof on the door loud enough that one neighbor stuck their head out the door to see if she was trying to break down the door, and several others peaked out their windows to see what the commotion was.

The door cracked open just am far enough to let a sliver of light out of the house, and Ma began hurriedly speaking to whoever was on the other side of the door. After a moment the door cracked open far enough to let Ma in, and she quickly entered.

"Who lives here?" Cheerilee asked, breaking the silence.

Strawberry started to shrug, but Bright had the answer ready to go. "This is Marble Pie's house. She gets nervous with a lot of visitors; probably why Ma told us to wait here."

Cheerilee nodded and kept silent. She knew what Ma was doing; Ma was finding out from a psychologist if Spoiled could actually follow through with her threats. The old saying went 'When in doubt, get it from the horse's mouth'.

They sat waiting for what seemed an eternity, which just further increased her anxiety. If Ma had come out quickly that would have meant a simple response that Spoiled couldn't do that. The fact that it was taking longer meant that there might be conditions under which the mare could indeed follow through with her threats. She sat trying to run through her head every possible scenario that might lead to Spoiled being able to commit Candy, but her mind was so flustered she could barely think straight.

When Ma emerged, saying a quick thank you and goodbye to the shy mare, it was difficult to read her body language. She walked back to them and quietly announced that they could now head home.

They walked in silence for several minutes before Cheerilee couldn't stand it anymore. "So what did she say?"

Ma hung her head. "She said that the school board couldn't do any such thing. At least, what they would have to do would be so time consumin' and cost so much money that not one of them, even Spoiled Rich, would agree to it. However, they do have the power to refuse her attendance at the school, and can do that by a simple vote."

"I hear a but to the first part," Bright said glumly.

Ma nodded. "But Spoiled can petition the mayor's office, as a concerned citizen. If she can convince the mayor that Candy presents a danger to the community and herself, by virtue of who is in her head, and the unpredictability of who could end up in her head and when, then the mayor can order her detained. They'd be arguing a murderer or somethin' could end up in Candy's head and nocreature would know until too late. Bein' detained could mean any number of things, but it could mean hospitalization. This would have its own hard challenges for Spoiled to get around, but would be easier than what she'd have goin' through the school board. It depends on how determined she is to get Candy. It'd still be very hard for Spoiled to make a case."

Cheerilee shuffled her hooves anxiously."What exactly would they need to do to make a case?"

"It would require opinions of experts with no reason to be sympathetic or hostile to Candy," Ma said slowly. "Which means none of our current experts would be usable, not even if we got the princess herself, since they are all family friends, but it would require Spoiled to find experts that aren't friends with her either. It would probably only happen at all if this can't be fixed, which we have time to prove it can be, for now."

Cheerilee let out a sigh of relief. "So at least it seems like she can't do that much anytime soon."

"Isn't likely able to do that much," Ma corrected with a hiss. "It's tearin' me up knowin' that it's a possibility at all, even if it's improbable. Plus if we can't stop these personalities from comin' the chances she can do somethin' start risin'."

"Well, it ain't going to happen, Ma. Starlight and the rest will find a solution. So don't fret," Bright assured her.

Cheerilee nodded along to herself, but didn't feel particularly uplifted as they walked back to the farm. A simple vote, and Candy was out of the school. Ma said she'd attend to Candy's education one way or another, but this would damage Candy's friendships with Cheese, Autumn, and she supposed Sesstet. That hurt Candy, and it hurt all those foals. Plus, who knew what kind of stigma it would attach to her, or if it would interfere with Candy becoming the best pony she could be. As a teacher… no… not just as a teacher, but as a loving and caring pony, she couldn't let that happen. She just didn't know how to stop it.

There was still the lingering problem of the second rogue resonance that none of them could identify, and that was still counting on them confirming the other really was poison joke. If they couldn't figure out what both were, then Candy may never be cured. Luster said she could contain the effects-- with some study, which should satisfy all those experts, but it was still going to have Candy dependant on having that sealing spell reapplied regularly for maybe the rest of her life. It just wasn't a good situation. If Luster couldn't contain the magic, then who knew what might happen to Candy.

She just had to hope for the best. Hopefully Applebloom could confirm that resonance as poison joke soon, and somepony would stumble onto whatever that second one was. That was if something else didn't go wrong.

---

As they reached the farmhouse they found Rainbow Dash pacing anxiously outside the door. The pegasus spotted them and raced through the air to them. "Where have you been?! You need to go down to the hospital, like right now."

"Has aunt Applebloom had her foal?" Bright asked eagerly, completely missing the frantic behavior of the pegasus, as Cheerilee started to worry.

Rainbow licked her lips. "Yes, she actually had three of them-- what's the word for thar? Triplets? All three of them are earth pony colts."

"Three!" Ma shouted in astonishment. "We knew she was big, but… are they healthy?"

Rainbow nodded, but still seemed frantic. "They're all small, but otherwise healthy. The doctors knew they were coming, and were ready, but Applebloom isn't doing good. It was a rough delivery. They had to cut her open to get them all out, because they were blocking each other somehow, and she's lost a lot more blood than they thought she would when they did it. They think she's stable, and not in any danger, but you should still come all the same."

Bright turned to go as Ma held a forehoof up to her mouth to cover a gasp. Ma proved immediately why she was the matriarch of the family by turning to Caramel and Cheerilee. "I want both of you to stay here with Strawberry. I might be gone all night, and maybe tomorrow too, I don't know. Don't give her any trouble."

"But if aunt Applebloom is hurt I wanna-" Caramel began to protest.

Ma cut him off sharply. "No! You will stay here. You'll be good to your sister-in-law, and be good to your sister." She looked over to Strawberry. "I'm sorry to saddle you with this, but I can't have them-"

"I understand," Strawberry replied quickly. "Just go ahead and go. I'll make sure they get to bed alright, and I'll make sure they eat all their meals tomorrow, even if I just have to make them just sandwiches with some fruit on the side. Go take care of Applebloom."

The unicorn nodded, and quickly ran off. Rainbow Dash took off through the sky at the same time, leaving the remaining three of them standing in front of the house. She hoped Applebloom would be okay. They said she was stable, which was good. Medical care had hopefully advanced in the last twenty years as well, because around the time she had been born something like that had a high chance of killing the mother, even though things had much improved by the time she had grown up. Medical care used to be really poor; there were reasons there weren't that many older ponies in Ponyville back then, and only part of the mortality was due to things out of the Everfree.

She felt guilty, Applebloom had done a lot of running around because of her the last few days. There was no way of saying if that had any impact on the rough delivery-- having triplets was enough on its own for that. Still it left her wondering. Worse yet, she felt even more terrible because the first thing her thoughts had gone to upon hearing the news was that there'd be no way Applebloom would be able to help confirm or not if poison joke was one of the resonances, at least not anytime soon. It was a highly selfish thought, and one she'd been immediately ashamed of. However, it was an unfortunate fact. Hopefully, Applebloom would make a speedy recovery, for Applebloom's sake, and Candy's.

Strawberry led them inside, and gave them a considerate look. "You don't need to head straight to bed if you don't want to. I know you've both got a lot on your minds. Do either of you want to talk about anything? I know I'm not Ma, or your pa, or even Applejack, but I'm here if either of you need an ear. I've got two of them, right here for the two of you."

"Is Aunt Applebloom goin' to be o'kay?" Caramel said in part whimper.

Strawberry sat down next to the purple colt and wrapped a wing around him. "She's going to be just fine. Your aunt is pretty tough. Did she ever tell you about the time she saved Applejack from being eaten?"

Caramel shook his head, but perked his head up in interest. Cheerilee couldn't help but be curious, and sat attentively close by to listen to the story.

"Well, this was back when I was a foal, even younger than the two of you," Strawberry said with a smile. "The naga had just invaded Equestria, and all our big heroes went out to try to stop them."

"I thought the princesses stopped them," Caramel said in confusion. That's what she had heard from Silver Spoon as well.

"They were the ones who did the bulk of the work, but there were naga spread out all over the place, and they couldn't be everywhere at once," Strawberry explained.

"Oh," the colt said, as if just considering for the first time that Twilight and Cadance weren't omnipresent.

"So a bunch of naga had come into this one small town, so small you could see the whole town just looking left and right," Strawberry continued. "Your aunts, along with some others, went into that town to protect the residents and try to force the naga out. There was a big fight, and your Aunt Applejack got caught off guard by a huge king-snake. The king-snake was as tall as a house, with coils so long it could wrap up a dozen ponies and still have room left for more."

"That sounds scary," Caramel said with a shiver. Cheerilee shivered as well. She guessed she understood how the king-snakes ended up as the royalty of naga, they were big enough they could eat up the rest if they were disobeyed.

"Oh, it was," Strawberry said in agreement, lowering her head close to the colt's face. "The king-snake moved in for the kill. It opened its mouth wide, wide enough to swallow a whole pony, and it was going to try to eat your Aunt Applejack!" Caramel cringed back. "But then, out of nowhere, your Aunt Applebloom jumped down from off the roof of a house, right into that big scary snake's mouth, and she held it open. Then she started pounding on the roof of that snake's mouth with one hoof, still holding the mouth open with her other three. That gave Applejack time to recover, and Applejack bucked that snake right in the middle. The king-snake had never been really hurt like that before, and not by anything so much smaller than it was, and got scared, so scared that it sounded a retreat out of the town."

Caramel looked up at the pegasus with wide eyes. "Really? Are ya makin' this up?"

Strawberry shook her head with a grin. "Applejack told me, and she doesn't lie. Applebloom isn't just a boring old teacher and potion maker. She's done a lot of amazing things in her day. I could tell you lots of stories. She's settled down a lot, and is letting younger heroes do things instead, but she's still tough as nails."

"Wow," Caramel saud, blinking in astonishment.

"Let me tell you, it's kind of intimidating marrying into a family that has not one, not two, but three big heroes; between Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Applebloom," Strawberry said with a sigh, then hugged Caramel tighter. "I'll never be like them, but I hope I can be a good big sister for you foals."

Cheerilee frowned. Oh, she was very impressed by the story, and given what she'd seen in Ponyville over the years she could certainly believe it. What made her frown was the fact that despite them all being big heroes, the ones she had assumed could have already settled the problem with Candy in the first hours, they had been blind to it for months.

When Candy needed heroes, the heroes had failed her. They were doing things now, but only after a regular school teacher had come along and been forced to be involved. Maybe that was part of her problem in trying to help Candy, she didn't give herself enough credit that she could make those huge differences. She'd gotten the ball rolling, and what was to say she couldn't continue to be making a positive impact. She had made a huge blunder by surging, but even the big heroes made big mistakes sometimes. What separated a normal pony from a hero?

Well, taking action was the obvious answer, and at the moment she was at a loss as to what kind of action she could take. She was at a dead end; waiting again for the heroes to step in and save the day.

"I'm going to head upstairs, and do some reading before bed," she announced, and began walking up the stairs.

She kept the bedroom door open when she walked in, allowing herself enough light to make it over to the lamp and switch it on. She tried reaching out with magic for the door, but it was far enough away that she couldn't grip the door right. She was getting better at using the horn on her head, but she was still far from mastering it, doing anything more than a few feet from her didn't work out very well. She walked back over to the door, shutting it with a leg, then turned and looked at the drawings once more.

Did Candy remember and learn things from all these ponies and creatures? How much did she learn? Did Candy know how to do Sombra' s dark magic? If Twilight Comet had managed to teleport a short distance with Candy's magic did Candy learn how to replicate the feat? Did she know how to fight like that unicorn warrior? Ma's distress about the prostitute was almost amusing at times, but was It really misplaced-- was Candy an expert on that subject as well? They might not know the full extent of what Candy had absorbed for years yet to come, as they waited for her magic and her mind to mature. She hoped she was imparting something positive to the filly during her stay.

Being able to talk to the filly would be so helpful. The pony she most needed to talk to was always with her, yet always silent. "I don't know if you can hear me, or what you'll remember if you do, but when I leave you, if this isn't all fixed, I hope that you tell everypony what really happened to you. I feel like it is almost all there, and you're the only one that knows the last missing pieces."

There was no answer. She hadn't been expecting one, or giving it any hope. She sighed and saw the book she'd been reading open on the floor, a short distance from the bed, along with the blanket. She must have tossed them both on the floor this morning in her haste. She walked over to them, and started using her magic to first get the blanket back on the bed, and then to pick up the book.

As she picked up the book she froze and stared at it. Staring back at her was an illustration of a smiling loaf of bread.

Comments

[PaintedPony]

So. All baked goods will soon be suspect?! The horror!

[Viper Pit]

Oh shit

[Da Fennec]

Hummm wonders if there is any magical expert that isn't known to the princesses if it would come to that.

[Jixstun]

It's been hinted a few times that most of the pieces are in place as to what's going on & what can be done to fix it, but I must admit I'm still mostly at sea. Is there some malevolent force actively at work here, or is it a condition that can cured like Poison Joke? Like Cheerilee, I just don't know what the next move is, apart from hoping that Luster comes up with an 11th hour save or something like that.

[Da Fennec]

10097888 Well so far we are missing what happens to Candy's mind during this and are those Candy becomes echoes with no impact afterwards on the original or something we haven't seen yet