The Purple Balloon: most ponies just see it as Peppemint's Cutie Mark. But it's not really her Cutie Mark. It doesn't belong to her, and she hates the talent and life it brings with it. She wants it gone. She wants her life back, but nopony believes her, so nopony can help.

She had a normal life, normal friends, normal parents. It wasn't until she was ten that things went downhill; her creepy neighbor somehow spread her own curse to Peppermint and replaced whatever Cutie Mark she could've discovered. For years since, she has been absorbed in her search for a cure for the strange curse. And thanks to the one responsible for her misfortune, she can only dread the madness this curse leads a pony to.

One strange series of events after another, and Peppermint might finally find something else to her life than "this stupid cursed Cutie Mark." Along with the help of a new, much-needed friend, Pepper will need to come out of her shell long enough to solve a much more grounded mystery.