Chapter 7 - Heart to Heart
Chapter 7
Heart to Heart
“Consarn it Carny'...” Champlain had returned to the farmstead not five minutes after the breakdown of the relationship between his new marefriend and his daughter. When he passed through the final row of apple trees, his sights fell on the elegantly tall and striking figure of Carnation, but who now wore a concerned face, and paced in front of the chicken-wire fence of Lobo's kennels with a slow, confused portraying gait. She had told Champlain all about the argument that her and Lobo had, how it ended with their daughter breaking down completely and running off, and how Turnover was present at the time and elected to chase after his sister on a mission to comfort her. Meanwhile, Champlain knew what he had to do. Carnation's stubbornness and egotistical bend was the most major aspect of her personality that Champlain disliked. Before, whenever the issue was raised, that ego itself resulted in the mare not paying any heed to the warnings from her family, but seeing the state she was in now after this incident, it seemed like her ego was at it's weakest and prime for being shaped out of it's worst tendencies.
That had led Champlain and Carnation into the family's kitchen, abandoned since the morning apart from the constant presence of Pappy Pippen, Champlain's father. On their entrance, noticing the dower tone that Carnation carried, Pippen had spoken up, a rarity for how disconnected and insular he became into his old age. “What'dda she end up doin' now?”
“She's done something she regrets now, Ah'll tell you that Pa'” Champlain responded diplomatically. Due to his reclused nature now, only Champlain knew of Pappy Pippen's disdain towards his new marefriend and expectantly at some point, his second wife, so Champlain knew that his father wouldn't pass up an opportunity for a “told you so” or “serves you right” if not for the preface that Carnation wasn't in the state of mind for receiving any more kicks to her flank.
“Well'ah suppose... don't mind me then... Ah won't be in yar mane.” Pippen resigned, knowing that the couple would be entering a serious talk now, and returned his focus out of the kitchen window.
“Consarn it Carny', Ah know you know we been talking to ya about your stubbornness! You gotta know that we been doin' it to make sure you don't ever get into this here situation!...” at this point, they had both found seats at the kitchen table and were sitting kitty-corner to each other. Champlain took in a deep breath and a sigh, looking his lover in her eyes, which were now recovering from her state of shock and resigned into a state of obvious regret “... Look hun'. Ya know Ah love ya, an' Ah'm sure deep-down the kids love ya as well... But you also know... we've struggled after the loss of their ma', an' Ah' don't think they've gotten over her yet.”
Carnation had affixed her gaze down to the table, taking in everything that Champlain told her. Probably for the first time internalizing and actually reflecting on those words and not dismissing it for her surety they were over-reacting.
“I doubt that the children love me... I don't think they can even bare me here... Lobo... I was so sure that Lobo had been hating me, spiting me, for no other reason but to do that.”
“And ya never reckoned... that Lobo was feeling threaten'd by you?... Not only were ya stranglin' her and bein' right harsh, but ya were so sure that she was the one in the wrong?!”
“I thought... since you all introduced me into this family... that you made me feel at home here... that you were properly settled with the past... I'm...” tears began to well in the eyes of Carnation, her lips quivering before she continued in a shaky voice “I'm so sorry, I didn't know!”
A fore-hoof wrapped around the white pony and pulled her in close to the barrel that the fore-hoof belonged to. Soft strokes began being applied in aid of comforting the mare. “Ah know, jus'... ya gotta get better now, ya hear? Take this, an' learn from it, be a better ma' to Lobo...”
The front door squeaked open as the couple remained in this embrace, eyes closed and were only made aware of who had just entered by the feminine voice of Lobo introducing her presence in the house. “Hey... Carnation... uh... Ma'.” This had beckoned the attention of both parents as they looked beyond the kitchen through the doorway to the duo of red ponies at the threshold.
“Oh... my babies!” Carnation called out with a wobble in her voice. “Lobo, darling... I am so, so sorry!”
Champlain took another deep breath and turned to face both Lobo and Turnover. “Lobo, Turnover, take a seat if you may... Ah think it's right time we all sat as a family and talked.”
The following moments in the Willow Springs Apple household consisted of the four family members sat around the dining room table; Champlain, Carnation, Lobo, and Turnover, while Pappy Pippen sat aside at his window seat but continued to chip in to the conversation where he felt his presence was needed. Most of the talk that was had covered the same grounds that Lobo and Turnover covered in their talk with each other, and those covered by Champlain and Carnation between each other before the siblings returned to the farmhouse.
Lobo had apologized for what it's worth in her part in reacting so hostile to her surrogate mother, understanding that what the new matriarch was doing wasn't purposeful slights against her, but made no mystery her feelings still towards Carnation's stubbornness and egotism. To which Carnation finally admitted her flaws within the family-unit, including her as mentioned stubbornness and egotistical bend to mark her presence in the farm, and belief that the problems were with Lobo's and not reflecting inwardly at herself.
“I... I know that everything won't be better instantly, Lobo darling... but the least I can do to start, is tell you that what I said before... about threatening to make you move out... or getting rid of your pups... All of that is gone, you don't need to worry about any of that now... and... and I do love you” Carnation concluded in her apology towards Lobo for all she had done.
“Ah... ah love ya too Ma.'” Lobo responded, taking in the peace offering that Carnation had provided, before slowly reaching a fore-hoof across the table to offer her mother in a show of freshly rebuilding compassion. At this point in the conversion, tears were welling in both of their eyes as they professed their reforged familial bonds.
“I cannot begin to tell you how seriously I want to try and... find a way forward with you... together... And that goes for you as well Turnover darling.” Attention fell on Turnover across the table, as Carnation turned her head in their direction, Carnation extending her olive-branch towards her other surrogate offspring. Melissa was doing well to hold back tears in Turnover's face to present the more masculine pony as himself, up until that point Carnation turned her attentions and proclamation of love towards Turnover.
“Ah trust you Melissa... an'... don't worry none about letting the floodgates open...” the voice of Turnover mocked, while allowing Melissa to finally break down in front of Turnover's family and handing her control over his response. “Ah'm just mighty glad that we're finally mendin' things.”
“...Thanks Ma'...” Melissa began, a smile cracking on Turnover's muzzle as Melissa finally allowed tears to fall from Turnover's eyes. “...Ah'm sure me and Pa' will be keeping you to your word... But Ah'm mighty happy this is happenin'.”
Melissa mirrored Lobo's action of reaching for Carnation's other fore-hoof as a sign of acceptance, to which Carnation obliged, with the three sitting around the table with tears flowing freely.
Champlain let out a relieved sigh and wore a wide smile as he dismounted from his place at the table and took position at the counter-tops of the shared kitchen-space the dining room was set in. “Well... Ah' think we all deserve a right filling lunch, if Ah say so myself!... Certainly y'all be needing it.”
The rest of the day was spent with Melissa and Turnover staying by Lobo's side, one to keep her company, but also to continue on from how they helped deliver the package from the post office earlier this morning, a morning that felt like it occurred on a very different day at this point. Afterwards, the pair took to just hanging out together.
Meanwhile, the parents had returned to doing their jobs for the day as well; Champlain returning to the orchard to tend to the apple trees, while Carnation resigned herself into her office to give her more time to ruminate on the changes she would need to make to herself, while burying herself in work.
And as the day drew to a close, the sun setting on the Willow Springs farm-stead, Melissa and Turnover retreated to their room, to allow themselves time to internalize the events of the day, especially for Turnover who Melissa could accept had been present throughout the entire development of this family drama and was so much more effected by the events of today than her. In lieu of making any conversation during this time, Melissa picked back up the book surrounding The Mare in the Moon that she had began reading the evening prior. The feeling was shared between both of the presences that the stresses of the day just left them too drained for anything else that night.
Melissa had positioned their body to be loafed on the bed, all four legs tucked under their torso and tail wrapped parallel to it. It had been a position that Melissa had been getting use to throughout the day, as opposed to just flopping down on their side and splaying out like a wild animal, which had been her preferred placement otherwise.
At this point, the house had settled into quiet, dinner having been eaten, the parents retiring to their own room while Turnover and Melissa returned to their room. Lobo was the odd pony out, still outside and seeking comfort with her pups before the sun had been fully set below the horizon. The atmosphere at this point was flooded with warm colours as the sunset sent streams of yellow-orange-y tint everywhere.
The silent rest taking place between the two was cut off suddenly and drastically, as the room they were in was suddenly flooded with an interrupting bright flash of pure white light, brighter than the setting sun's streaks of autumn could achieve, and bright enough to temporarily blind them for the duration of the flash to the point that differentiating between light and shadow proved difficult to do. If Melissa intended to or not, her thought of “Oh lord... don't let that mean what I think it means. No, no no no no...” with a continued panicked repetition of the noes ran from the mouth of Turnover as she entered a state of panicked shock.
And this was responded to internally by a more composed, but still shocked Turnover, who replied with uncertainty in his voice “Melissa... we don't even know for sure that was is... but... wait... wait, no!” as the cogs slowly turned in Turnover's own domain of their shared mind-space as he realized quickly and entered that same state of panic Melissa was in. They both had a clue, a head start on coming to conclusions as to what the flash was, and if they were correct in their collective uncertainty...
Melissa called out into the air of the bedroom, even though she was aiming to relay the message internally to Turnover only, “You know what that was right? That's what happened to us!” requesting clarity that Turnover was along the same train of thought that Melissa found herself on. Before giving Turnover time to reply, Melissa leapt from their position on the bed, scrambling upright like a baby deer taking their first steps, again, before Melissa moved with an instinctual speedy-gait faster than she had attained with this new body to this point.
The duo were not alone in the house in coming out of their bedrooms in response to the flash of light that seemed to engulf the farmhouse from an origin source outside. The scrambling Melissa skidded to a stop at the top of the stairs before both Champlain and Carnation, who both shot them a look that equally said 'We don't know what that was, but we are also equally worried' but at the same time, being the parental figures they were (inexperienced as Carnation had now self-professed herself to be) they were quick to offer statements of calming reassurance in a facade of confidence to Turnover, betrayed only by the cracks in that aforesaid facade.
“Everything'll be okay son.” Champlain reaffirmed.
Carnation stated in succession a confirmatory “Whatever this was, it will be okay... and we'll get through whatever this is together.” trying to apply the lessons she learnt earlier that day to heart in a clunky manner.
As they moved in procession down the stairs towards the front door, Champlain let out another hefty sigh, clearly in worry, and muttered to himself, and a lesser extent to Carnation, “This'ud be the second time in two days... Something goin' on here.”
Outside of the farmhouse, nothing had seemed to have changed. Like the section of the orchard that Turnover was found in by Madam Beets, there was no scorching of the ground, not even the moving of dirt or grass to signify anything was different. But quickly, there was a notable outlier to the situation, in Lobo.
Lobo remained within the bounds of the kennel's fences, circling a section of it closest to the angle the family approached at. She paced the ground of the kennel, with a look of confusion and fear etched into her face, swinging her head around to take stock of her surroundings as if she found it an alien environment she had no familiarity to.
The trio had pulled short of the kennel, by a couple ponies-length, and watched as Lobo paced around. Champlain was the first to take the lead fresh from their shared concern and fear energized stupor. He approached slowly, and only slightly, craning his short neck to get a closer look at Lobo for any visible injuries.
Physically, on initial observation, like with Turnover there did not seem to be any physical injuries on the surface level. But still... concern bubbled away, despite the fact that there seemed to be no indication that Lobo was any more worse off than Turnover was. He made the decision then to play the same plan he executed with Turnover, rush into town and call the expertise of Rapid Aid. As he decided this, he turned his extended head back towards Carnation, who had followed behind her stallion-friend but continued a larger gap between herself and the kennels.
“Carny hun'... Ah'm gonna dash into town and grab Doc Rapid again... can ya look after Lobo for me?... Both the kids for me... yeah?” He added after looking back and spotting Turnover frozen in place. 'Celestia's damnation, Ah hope this ain't causin' Turnover any pain to see...' he internalized. Despite this, he still managed to fit in another confirmation of reassurance, saying to both of the ponies behind him “It'll be all a'right. We'll get through this if we got through everything already!”
Carnation took one step further after this affirmation and planted a kiss on the cheek of the family's patriarch, and gave a following nod of acceptance and put on a steely, confident face. Champlain then took his leave as he broke into a dash heading out of the farm-stead.
Turnover and Melissa both know, or had a better educated guess, as to what had happened. The same exact thing that brought them together inside of Turnover's body. But whatever happened between them, it seemed to be different with Lobo. Her movements were already more confident on four hooves at the least? It took Melissa longer to realize that she even needed to stand on four hooves. 'I don't like this Turnover... I... It can't be happening again...' Melissa stumbled out, although now having herself collected enough to say this internally to Turnover.
“Ah can't much believe it either... If this is... what we think, then what happened to my big sis'?!” Turnover responded, still echoing shock in his thoughts, his internal monologue wobbling with emotion.
'Ahh, damn it all you're right! This is your sister it's happening to! I'm so so sorry this is all happening to you, of all people.' Melissa responded after coming to the realization of just how serious a situation this is for Turnover of all ponies.
“There's no need to be sorry for me... but Ah just... How can we help her? We haven't even helped ourselves yet!” Melissa could sense that Turnover was beginning to spiral at the thought of what his sister would be going through now... he had the best experience of being the back-seat driver in your own body as anybody in this admittedly rare scenario.
'Okay Turnover, hey Turnover! Lets keep a focus on my voice okay, take some deep breaths, or least... count your breath with me I guess?' Melissa instructed, trying to offer what Turnover had in calming her rushing mind when she had first arrived here, although she couldn't be certain he could do the same as just a thought in their mind. But none-the-less she took some deep breaths herself, with guidance that Turnover should try and follow, or at least count along with, and this did seem to help him as it had helped her. 'Are we okay Turnover? 'cause your big sis needs you, she needs us, 'cause we are the only ones who can know what she's going through right now... what they are going through right now. Are you okay with me approaching?' Turnover responded with an quick affirmative hum.
Melissa pulled the body of Turnover up equal to where Carnation was standing, who had closed the gap to Lobo in the time it took to calm Turnover. As they pulled equal, Carnation glanced over with a worried look cracking through her confident and reassuring smile, and leaned her muzzle over to gave Turnover's cheek a quick nuzzle. Returning her attention to Lobo, Carnation took a short breath to steady her nerves as to not break any further in displaying her confidence. “Lobo, my darling... You are going to be okay! Ma' and your lil' bro' are here. It'll be okay baby!”
The introduction of Carnation's voice to the otherwise quietly growing night gained Lobo's attention who shot a glare in the direction of the two ponies, before her face fell into a deep fear-laden open-jawed shock. Before either of the two ponies on the outside of the chicken-wire fence knew it, Lobo had shot back, retreating deeper into the kennel's pen, corralling as many pups behind her as she could handle, before splaying her stance wide and lowering her neck.
From her came an uncharacteristic, growly tone that was underlaid with a sense of fear. “Don't. You. Dare. Touch. My. Babies.” She proclaimed, punctuating every word in her warning.
Carnation's head tilted to the side, like a confused dog herself, her facade of confidence breaking at this point, but rather than into a negative emotion, she just entered a confused state as she tried to make sense of the scene in front of her. They had talked earlier today about her daughter's kennel. Carnation thought she made it clear to her that she would be allowed to keep it, to keep all her pups. She wanted an answer to this contradiction, so she prodded further. “But... we discussed this darling. Today? You can keep the pups. Remember that?”
But all that returned from the being that was in Lobo currently was a deep growl through clenched teeth and a barking of “You want to steal my babies! I won't let you!” she completed the second part of the sentiment with a cracking, wavering tone as her emotion started to betray her.
Seeing how the situation was evolving before her, Melissa decided to grab the initiative. She didn't know who, or even what, was sharing the mind of Lobo. Her responses didn't strike her as something a human would say, this was more animalistic. But if she could attempt to bring some calm to the situation at the least, she wanted to speak up. She moved Turnover's body a few steps forwards beyond Carnation. “Hey! Hey focus on me, okay! I know you're scared, I am too. I don't know how we got here, but you are not alone! You have to trust me, I'm like you.” It was the best she could do, and she only hoped that it'd be enough.
And it did seem to be enough for the situation Lobo found herself in. A look of recognition broke through the look of fear she had as her head turned and fixated on Turnover. Within her mind-space, the shared presence began replaying that moment in the cave earlier in the day, where Turnover played that awful, stupid prank that made no sense to her, having another being trapped in his body... but now, in the situation she found herself in, it was far more believable.
Everything down to the bright flash that the two beings inside of Lobo experienced were a shared experience with what Turnover had told had happened to him, Lobo could internalize that. Her brother wasn't just talking hogwash.
All conflict that Lobo held at that moment towards Carnation, in a guttural instinct to protect her pups was replaced with a deep and heavy well of fear and uncertainty. Her growling ceased and was replaced with a whimpering, as she fell onto her belly, fore-hoofs stretched and crossed in front of her, her withers raised as she laid her head and neck against the ground.
Behind Melissa, Carnation just watched on, muzzle agape at what she had witnessed. She was still in a confused paralysed state, and the actions of her son had only added to it, despite him doing it in the strangest way. Carnation had spotted that when Turnover spoke up, not only did his father's inherited country accent disappear, but he was speaking to Lobo's condition with a sense of a personal connection. That those strange displayed behaviours of the out of character growls and whimpers were things that he shared experience of.
She approached Turnover, placing a fore-hoof on her side of his torso. “How did you do that darling? What did you mean?... Are you... Okay?” Carnation questioned.
The only response she got from Turnover was “Ah'm okay Ma'... it's... complicated... Ah don't think Ah can tell you right...” before letting out a sigh, lowering their head before continuing on a different tangent “Ma'... Ah' should best be out here with sis'... least til' Doc Rapid gets here... You should head'ta bed.”
“Hmm... well okay darling... you sure you don't want me watching over?” Carnation rebutted.
“Nah Ma', we'll be okay... Ah think Lobo'd rather you not honestly... We'll be alright Ma'... Love ya.” Turnover stated, closing the conversation by making their way forward towards the kennel. Carnation could understand the argument he was making, as much as it hurt her that this soon after they had began mending the bridge between them... that Lobo had appeared to suddenly grow afraid of her.
So she started to make her way back inside the farmhouse, turning back once on her way back to give a quick response to Turnover. “Love you too darling...” before she disappeared inside, as Turnover positioned himself in the kennel and laid himself down next to his prone sister.
Come tomorrow over breakfast, she'd have to continue trying to ask Turnover about whatever happened this evening. It felt like there was something he needed to say... maybe she'd need to start working on gaining his trust again now as well? Either way, that's all questions and decisions to make for tomorrow.
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