Quantum Leap Forward

by Halira

Chapter 30: Inopportune Happenings

They didn't head straight back to the farm, they instead went to Ponyville General Hospital. The hospital looked almost exactly the same as it did back in her own time. There were different faces among the staff, and a few new gadgets and machines that she didn't recognize, but the halls still had the same paint color, the waiting room still had the same seats (which were old twenty years before, and now looked ancient), and she was pretty sure that at least some of the informational posters were the exact same ones from before. She didn't know who was in charge of decorating, but if twenty years had passed with no changes then they were seriously slacking off.

A nurse-- who must have been a newcomer to Ponyville, because Cheerilee didn't recognize her as having been any filly she ever taught, and was too young to have been an adult twenty years ago-- directed them to the appropriate room. Applebloom was sound asleep, with multiple IV bags hooked up to her. Big Mac was passed out on a small couch in the corner of the room. Ma, Applejack, and Sweetie Belle all were sitting in a semicircle with each pony holding a different baby colt and a bottle. The three mares all looked exhausted.

Ma looked up at them and raised a hoof to her muzzle and looked pointedly at Applebloom to indicate they needed to keep their voices down. "We're tryin' to let her sleep, along with Big Mac. I don't think any of us got a full night's rest."

Strawberry looked at the two sleeping ponies as the four of them walked deeper into the room. "The foals were awake all night?"

"As soon as one of the youngin's got to sleep another one would wake-up," Applejack said with a yawn. Rainbow and Scootaloo are off tryin' to find us some real food since we haven't ate yet today, although they're pretty tuckered out too. These three are a hoof-full-and-a-half. Tender ain't here yet, train got delayed. A hydra of all things went and messed up the track, nocreature is really sure what it was even doin' so far away from where it should be. They're tryin'to get the track repaired quick, but it won't get here for another few hours, at a minimum."

"I hope it isn't too long," Sweet Belle mumbled. "These colts are adorable, and I'll help where I can, but I'm ready for them to be Tender's problem for a few hours."

"I want to see the new foals!" Cheese yelled excitedly as he tried to hurry over to the mares. Cheerilee went wide-eyed and ran to block him, holding a hoof up to her mouth in shush him. He looked down bashfully, realizing he was getting loud. "Oh, sorry."

Cheerilee turned back to Ma and Applejack. "You'll be back at the farm by tonight, right? I wanted your help to plan out how we're going to defend Candy tomorrow."

Ma nodded. "One way or another, I'll be there, so will Applejack and your p-- and Big Mac." The mare gave the sleeping form of Applebloom a regretful look. "It's goin' to be rougher tomorrow without her there. She's on the school board, and we really needed her vote. Maybe we can convince them to allow her to give her vote from here."

She'd forgotten that Ma had said before that Applebloom was on the school board. It seemed that everything involving helping Candy had been turned more difficult with Applebloom out of commission.

"We found something else, what that other rogue resonance is," Cheerilee continued.

"We haven't confirmed it yet," Strawberry corrected. "But it might be it."

Cheerilee grumbled to herself as the three mares caring for the newborns focused their full attention on her. "It's something called a grain sprite. They can take up homes in baked goods, and if anypony tries to eat whatever they are living in they lash out with magic. There might be some in the Everfree."

Ma raised a hoof up and rubbed her chin. "Candy did raid the kitchen before she tried to run away. I'm fairly sure that muffins were among the things she took. Muffins, apples, pears, a canteen of water, some other things I can't recall right now-- or never noticed missing. We didn't find any of that stuff when we eventually found her. She had lost everything she'd brought with her."

"But they need Applebloom to help with any search of the forest," Strawberry explained. "If the grain sprite thingies exist, then they must live way off from the normal paths through the woods. The paths are safe, but going way off path is not."

"Don't have to be tellin' me that," Applejack said with a snort. "Don't know how many times over the years I've had to help try to track down ponies that went off path. Zecora and Applebloom are the only ones that really have a clue how to safely make their way around away from the main paths. I was scared stiff and angry when I found out Zecora had been teaching Applebloom all that, in addition to potions."

"Even they don't know the Everfree perfectly," Sweetie Belle chimed in. "They know a lot more about the geography than other creatures, but they haven't been to every inch of the forest. What they do know is how to not get lost, and how to spot signs of danger long before you run into it. Things like being able to tell if a timberwolf has been by an area recently, and how far away and in what direction it might be if they spot a sign; not to mention signs of any number of other potentially lethal or dangerous things."

Applejack looked at her little sister. "One of these days she's going to need to start teaching a few more ponies how to do all that. It used to be we lost a lot of ponies to the Everfree, back before Zecora came, and while Applebloom carries on with what Zecora was doin', we really need more creatures that know all that stuff so we aren't so dependant on just her." Cheerilee silently agreed, if there were more ponies that knew how to deal with the Everfree there could be ponies out looking for the grain sprites right now.

"Applebloom! Are you in here!"

They all turned to see an orange stallion with purple mantle come barrelling in through the door. She instantly recognized him as Tender Taps. His loud voice disturbed his three newborn sons, and the three colts started crying loudly. The mares holding said colts all gave Tender Taps dirty looks. The combined noise woke the mare in the hospital bed, and Applebloom looked towards the door with half open eyes. "Tender? Is-is that you?"

He rushed over to Applebloom's side. "I'm here. I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier."

"How did ya get here?" Applejack asked as she tried to sooth the colt in her forelegs-- one that had bore a strong resemblance to the farm mare; the one in Ma's hooves had similar coloration, and Cheerilee wondered if the two were identical twins while the third was a fraternal triplet. "We thought they said it would be hours till the tracks were fixed so the train could get here."

Tender nodded. "We got lucky. Celestia and Luna were in the area, and they came and fixed the tracks themselves. They got it done way faster than the repair crews could have done. As soon as the track got repaired the train started moving again. I ran straight here from the train station."

Applebloom blinked more sleep from her eyes, and focused them on her husband. "Come give me a kiss. I deserve a kiss. Then ya can meet your new sons. I named one of them already, Tangle Bloom, but ya gotta help me name the other two of'em."

"And you can help feed and watch them. I'm exhausted," Sweetie Belle said with a yawn, giving the colt that Cheerilee guessed was Tangle Bloom-- based on his bluish-green fur and darker green mane-- a fresh pacifier. "Especially since you went and upset them again."

Applejack looked over to Ma. "I'll stay here, and ya can go on home. I'll be at the school when the time comes, but my gettin' rest ain't as important as you and Big Mac gettin' it. Parents are more important for this than aunts, even famous aunts. I'll be there, ya got my honest word on that, but I gotta help Applebloom too."

"So can we see the new cousins, since they're'a all awake now?" Caramel spoke up for the first time.

Cheerilee sat back and let everypony bask in their family moment. As she waited she sat and considered what she was going to be saying tomorrow. That was all that mattered for the moment, at least to her. She didn't know for sure if she was even real, or something that was just an impression in Candy's mind, but she did know that she had an obligation to the filly, and she wasn't going to fail Candy again.

---

When the group of them returned back to the farm Ma took her up to the attic. Applebloom had taken most of her things with her when she'd moved out a few years before, but she had left some things behind. The thing that was pertinent right now was some of her old books on the laws and regulations involved in education. Cheerilee knew a lot of these by heart, but a lot of them were more obscure, and there were certainly more added since Princess Twilight's education reforms. Applebloom's old book was not completely up-to-date on all those, but it was more current than Cheerilee's knowledge from twenty years ago. She wanted to be sure she knew everything she could to help Candy tomorrow.

The search of the attic was slowed by Ma constantly being sidetracked by nostalgia.

"Look at this," Ma said, floating over a small toy cart. "Bright Pear used to roll this toy all over the house. It was his favorite toy when he was small. Big Mac had to replace the wheels and tighten them up so many times because Bright would wear them out. I should make sure we don't lose this. I want his foals to be able to play with it like he did."

"That's nice," Cheerilee responded in an uninterested tone, as she tried to tilt over a box far enough for her to look in. Being in the body of a filly had the massive drawback that most if the boxes were bigger than she was.

"Oh my!" Ma exclaimed, pulling out some photos from another box. "Here's all the pictures from when I gave my cousin Sugar Rush official ownership of my shop back in Our Town. I thought I lost all these. I really need to go visit him and see how he's been doin'. I've been so caught up in other things. You'd like him. He's always been kinda crazy, but not in a bad way. Just kinda hyperactive."

"We're trying to find Applebloom's old things," Cheerilee reminded the mare.

There didn't seem to be much in the way of organization around here, just boxes filled with things and pushed into piles. She looked into another box and found some old grainy family pictures, some of them included what looked like Granny Smith as a school aged filly, standing beside an earth pony mare with an old style sewing machine cutie mark (maybe her mother?). Somepony had added a date to it's corner, placing it over eighty-two years before the ascension of Princess Twilight, which would make this picture over a hundred years old. It gave her a rough estimate of Granny Smith's age, the mare had to have been in her late eighties or early nineties in Cheerilee's own time. The picture even gave names to them; Spindel Seed and Apple Seed-- guess she couldn't always have been named 'Granny', but she was curious where the Smith part came from. A mystery for another day, not important to her current search.

Before letting go of the box she spotted another grainy picture that caught her eye. A picture of an extremely stallion with a cherry next to a jar for a cutie mark. She used magic to float it out of the box and look on the other side. It was labeled 'Granny's great-great uncle Cherry Seed'. Marble had said she and the Apples had a shared relative, she guessed this was her ancestor. If current circumstances were different she might be curious enough to dig through this box further to find pictures of her own long gone family. She could understand Ma's nostalgia while being up here. It wasn't just a bunch of old junk up here, it was a time capsule of things long past.

"Found it!" Ma called out, opening a newer looking box open with her magic.

Cheerilee ran over to the unicorn and propped herself up on the box. It was packed with old letters, drawings, pictures, and books. She even recognized a few of the the items as report cards she had personally filled out about Applebloom, though they were yellow with age. Ma started floating the books carefully out of the box. The first was an old photo album. The next was a book on Introductory Herbology. The third was oddly a book on formal dance technique. Finally she found the book they were looking for; 'Education Guidelines and Standards for Discipline-- Fourth Volume Under the Reign of Princess Twilight Sparkle'.

She immediately grabbed up the book with her magic and flipped it open right there. She was surprised to see a note in her penmanship on the first page.

Applebloom,

Congratulations on finishing your apprenticeship with me. It's been a long few years, and you've made things exciting at times, but I know you'll be a great teacher. You've also helped me be a better teacher as well, and I've learned a great deal from you. Good luck with your first class of your own!

Your proud friend,
Cheerilee

PS: If your classes ever get a little too stressful, you're always welcome to come by my place and talk it over with me over a drink, or just come over just because. Remember, the creative dance-off is next month, and I'm looking forward to the two of us crushing the competition.

Creative dance-off? She hadn't done a dance competition since she was in school herself. Although it sounded like it might be something fun. It seemed like she and Applebloom had fun together outside of school. It was nice to see that she'd formed a strong friendship with her former student. It was great seeing all the former students of hers she would come to call close friends. Why'd she have to run off to Vanhoover? If she was having mental problems wouldn't it be better to stay here with her friends? Again, the reasoning of her future self completely eluded her.

They left the attic, and she took the book back to Candy's room to read and make notes. She gave herself a pep talk as she went up the stairs, telling herself that she could do this. She knew that Candy's problems could be fixed. The fact she had come to realize how important the friendships she herself had formed at the school were just reinforced the need to keep Candy in school with her friends. School was not just a place to learn facts and figures, it was a place where you met some of the most important ponies in your life, and she was not going to have Candy lose out on that. She'd make the school board see how important it was that Candy remain in school.

She carefully set the book down on Candy's desk and flipped it open. She gave the crayon box a wary look, and decided that she had no choice but to violate Candy's one rule for her. There was no regular quill to write with, and she needed to take notes. She put a blank sheet in front of her and the book to the side. She then used her magic to carefully float a red crayon out of the box and in front of her. Should she try writing using her magic? She wasn't sure how coordinated her use of the horn was. She guessed she would try, and if it didn't work out then she could just write with her mouth as she normally would.

Gripping the crayon tight with her magic, she tried to do a few experimental strokes with it, but she suddenly got light headed. The next thing she knew her vision was fading out and her body felt heavy. The room seemed to go dark, and the crayon snapped in her magic as she lost consciousness.

---

She opened her eyes. Sitting right in front of her muzzle was a broken red crayon. Her teeth grit in anger at the sight of it. "I told ya not take touch ma crayons!" Her eyes went wide, and she sat bolt upright. No! This couldn't be happening right now!

She looked around the room, and knew it was true. "No, no, no, no! Ya can't have left now! I need ya!"

There was no getting around it. Cheerilee had left her. She started to cry as she stared at the book that she was unsure if she could even understand without Cheerilee. What was she going to do if Cheerilee wasn't going to be there to argue her case tomorrow? That mean old mare was going to kick her out of school!

She turned and glared at the muffin drawing-- the grain sprite. She could swear it was laughing at her. Her ears wilted as the full weight of how much trouble she was in came down on her.

"Oh boy…"

Comments

[Jhonn]

OMG!!

[TCC56]

Well that is an unexpected twist.

[Da Fennec]

10110972 Not that unexpected changing out at the worst moment is almost a trope in itself

[Starlight Nova]

If the main OCs in this story and Lil'Cheese were voiced, what would they sound like?

[Halira]

10111203
Bright Pear sounds a lot like Bright Mac. Strawberry sounds a lot like her mother, Strawberry Sunrise at just a finest higher pitch. Caramel sounds like a young Rumble. Autumn sounds kind of like Daniel Radcliff when he made the first Harry Potter movie. Sisstet has a deeper, snakelike voice. Candy sounds a lot like Babs Seed, with more of a country accent. Cheese has a very high squeaky voice that seems to fluctuate between sounding boyish and girlish, and sounds more girlish when he laughs or giggles. Most of the adults who were previously foals have slightly deeper voices, with Silver Spoon having a trace of a Manehatten accent, and Sweetie Belle having a trace of a Canterlot accent.

[Nota]

Chaaaaaaaaannnnnnfleeeeeeeeeeesssssssssss

No se que pensar de este final. Que bien ya ha saber que significado tienen esos crayones... ¡Pero no es momento de pensar en eso!

Hasta ahora la historia ha seguido el POV de Cheerilee, pero ha último segundo (y un momento de una importante revelación) regresas a Candy... Si fuera un POV tercera persona lo pasaría por alto, pero este es uno de primero persona...
Bien que también estaba la segunda opción (y en mi parecer la más lógica) que Cheerilee regrese a su cuerpo y al pasado. Pero no. Eso no paso.
¿Qué diantres significa esto? Ni idea.
¿Todo este tiempo se trato de un POV de Candy?
En vez de Cheerilee siendo Candy ¿Candy era Cheerilee en el cuerpo de Candy?

She looked around the room, and knew it was true. "No, no, no, no! Ya can't have left now! I need ya!"

Pero no. No. Y triple No.
Candy dedució muy rápido que Cheerilee estaba en su cuerpo. Bien esto significa que Candy estaba al tanto de las "presencias" dentro de ella, al punto de incluso saber su identidad. Y, más importante, estar al tanto de los sucesos sucedidos en su ausencia.

There was no getting around it. Cheerilee had left her. She started to cry as she stared at the book that she was unsure if she could even understand without Cheerilee. What was she going to do if Cheerilee wasn't going to be there to argue her case tomorrow? That mean old mare was going to kick her out of school!

Aquí no esta tratando a Cheerilee como si fuera un producto de su imaginación o un simple "agarre/fusión/etc de recuerdos. Sino algo un poco más complejo, que bien podría tirar a la verdadera Cheerilee.
No sé. Existe la posibilidad que ni Candy entienda en su totalidad lo que le sucede

Fuuuaaaa. Esto no me lleva a ningún lado...
Al menos, al parecer, resulta que the grain sprite si tiene algo que ver en esto. ¿Candy intertuo con él/ella?

Es bueno que se resolvieran un par de preguntas. Pero prefiero no pensar muchos en esas respuestas... ni gana de llenarme de más preguntas.

Jaja. Solo queda esperar y leer. Más otra no le puedo hacer que soltar teorías a lo loco así me desahogo un poco estas dudas.

Jeje

[Viper Pit]

OH SHIT

[lord_steak]

So then...breaking the one maxim Candy left for her visitors was the ticket to kicking them out. I wonder how much she had been silently screaming inside her own noggin, unheard by the conscious non-self.

[Jixstun]

Gripping Twist at the end there. The thing is though, so far this story has been entirely in Cheerilee's POV, so are we now switching to Candy or will we keep following Cheerilee? I'm on the edge of my seat to find out.

[Solarfollow]

Why'd she have to run off to Vanhoover? If she was having mental problems wouldn't it be better to stay here with her friends? Again, the reasoning of her future self completely eluded her.

Maybe future Cheerilee wasn't reasoning. Maybe she acted on emotion, not reason. Could be that she was ashamed of her mental problems, ashamed to show her deteriorating mind to her friends. So she just ran away.

[Teraunce]

Welp that's a twist and no mistake.