Faux Mark: The Purple Balloon

Faux Mark

The Purple Balloon

Chapter 1: Shoulda Stayed Home

“Happy Birthday, Peppermint!”

The little green unicorn filly with candy-striped hair jumped in surprise as a crowd of her friends and parents jumped out from behind the furniture in her home. Slowly but surely, she cracked a smile. She couldn’t think of what to say. She just giggled and ran excitedly inside.

A young colt trotted alongside her. “Were ya surprised, Pepper?” he asked. “Huh? Were ya?”

Pepper was still grinning from ear to ear. “Yes, sooo surprised! Thank you!”

A couple of fillies caught up to Pepper next, each with inverse colors of each other. “Happy Birthday, Pepper!” they said in perfect unison.

“Aw, thanks girls!” said Pepper, brushing quickly past the twins. More-or-less subtly, she inched her way through the crowd towards the table with the cake on it. The fact that every filly and colt from her class kept trying to get in her way wasn’t helping.

“Yeah, yeah, thank you,” she said in passing to the last colt before the table. She hopped her front hooves onto the table, next to the cake. Her eyes widened, and she licked her lips.

A dark green hoof slammed in the table in front of Pepper. She gasped.

“Now, now,” said a deep voice, “you know the rules, young lady.”

“Aw, Dad!” Pepper whined. “Just one piece? Pleeease?”

Her father chuckled. “Sorry, Honey, you just have to wait.”

Pepper pouted while her father levitated her down. “How long though?”

“Twenty minutes, tops,” he reassured.

“But that’s like forever!” Pepper retorted. The cake just sat right there, taunting her sweet tooth.

Her father rolled his eyes. He grabbed her shoulders, and turned her towards the other party guests. “There’s plenty to do in the meantime, Pepper,” he told her. “Just go, have fun with your friends!”

“But—”

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “And your mother’s baking a little something special, besides the cake.”

Pepper’s smile slowly grew wider and brighter than it had ever been before. She bounced in place, squealing with joy. “Oh, thank you thank you thank y—”

“Shh!” he interrupted. “It’s supposed to be another surprise!”

Pepper nodded, then mimed “zipping” her lip.

Her father chuckled again, shaking his head. “Happy Birthday, Sweetie.” She hugged his leg, then skipped off back to the rest of the party.

— — —

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Pepper yelled, flailing. A few of the fillies around her winced as she crashed to the floor.

Pepper groaned, lifting a blindfold off her eyes. “Gah!” she yelped.

“Are you okay, dear?” asked a purple mare standing over Pepper. Her face was a bit uncomfortably close to the filly’s.

“Ms. Rivers?” Pepper asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh I stay for all the parties I help with!” Ms. Rivers answered, bouncing in place on her tip-hooves. Peppermint knew she was the one everypony got their party supplies from, but that didn’t stop her from being a little “weird” for a grown-up.

“Oh, shoot!” called somepony’s mom. “Windy, can you help me? One of the streamers fell loose.”

“On my way!” Ms. Rivers sang back. She skipped over toward the corner, smiling and letting her tail swing back and forth.

Pepper slowly got to her hooves, then looked around at all her concerned friends. “Uhh, maybe pin-the-tail-on-the-pony isn’t for me,” she mumbled. This got a few giggles out of them.

A loud SHOOP caught all of their attention at once. Pepper stared, one eyebrow raised, at Ms. Rivers. The streamer was fixed, but now she was fixing a balloon to the corner was well. Not that anypony was complaining, since it was her decorating in the first place.

“How’s she do that?” asked Pepper.

“Do what?” asked the colt next to her.

“That thing with the balloons, right?” offered some filly in the group.

As if in response, Ms. Rivers levitated over another balloon from a bag on the table. Without missing a beat, the balloon SHOOP-ed up to full size while she was still “holding” it. She carefully secured it next to the first one, then skipped off to the kitchen.

“It must just take practice,” somepony said.

Pepper thought on it for a moment. “Well her Cutie Mark is that purple balloon with the crazy string.”

“‘Crazy’ string is right,” some filly added. Everypony giggled. Everypony except Pepper.

“Crazy or not,” she muttered, “at least she has her Cutie Mark.” She sighed and curled her tail around her still-blank flank.

A small murmur broke out among the children, most of them rolling their eyes and trying not to speak their minds. One filly stepped forward, however. “It’s okay Pepper,” she said. “You’ll get yours soon.”

“She’d better,” one colt whispered to another. “I’m sick of hearing her whine about it.” They snickered, though not quite quietly enough to slip by Pepper.

“Ahem!” the filly snapped. She turned back to Peppermint. “Don’t worry about it too much, okay?”

Pepper cracked a smile. “Thanks, Tulip,” she said. Suddenly she jumped up. “Besides, it’s a party, right?” The rest of the children cheered.

A bell rang out from inside the kitchen. “Muffins are ready!” Pepper’s mother called out.

“Oh, mmmm, they smell delicious!” Ms. Rivers added.

In the blink of an eye, every filly and colt forgot whatever it was they had been discussing and surrounded the cake table. A few were actually drooling over the sweets, Peppermint included.

One hour, two dozen goodbyes, three pieces of cake, and two muffins later, Peppermint outright collapsed to the floor. “Phew!” she sighed.

Her parents were busy walking around the living room, gathering up the trash. “Did you have a good birthday party, Sweetie?” asked Pepper’s mom.

Peppermint nodded feebly. While she was distracted, her dad quietly stepped over and rustled her hair.

“Hey!” she yelled, rolling over to see him.

He smirked. “I guess somepony’s not so tired after all,” he said, passing Pepper a trash bag. She groaned, grabbing the edge in her mouth as she stood up.

“Well I’m glad you had a good time,” he added.

“Are you happy with your presents?” asked Pepper’s mother, busy taking down a particularly feisty streamer.

“Mhmm!” said Peppermint. She spat out the bag before continuing. “I can’t wait to play with that Foal’s Play Oven that Lemon Drop got for me!”

Her parents exchanged uneasy looks. “Well, uhh,” her father started.

“I think,” her mom interrupted, “you’re a whole ten years old now, and you’re old enough to try playing with something like that.” Pepper’s dad shot her mother a dirty look. She just smiled and added, “With a little help from one of us, of course.”

“Did you thank Lemon Drop?” her father asked.

Pepper smiled. “Yup! And Tulip, and Drizzle, and—”

“So basically everypony?” Her father chuckled.

“Yup! I thanked all my friends!”

Her mother almost fell to the floor when the streamer finally gave way. “Whoops!” she said. Pepper giggled. Her father took the opportunity to remind her of the trash bag she was so conveniently ignoring.

“Oh!” Pepper’s mom chimed in. “Did you remember to thank Wind— I mean Ms. Rivers?”

Pepper raised an eyebrow. “No,” she said, muffled with the trash bag in her mouth, “Why would I?”

“She’s helped set up for every one of your birthdays, you know,” her dad said.

“And the surprise party this year was her idea,” her mother added.

Pepper frowned. “Really? I thought it was Drizzle’s...”

Pepper’s dad thought for a moment, then smiled. He took the trash bag back from his daughter, then trotted over to her mother and whispered something in her ear. Pepper’s mother smiled and said, “I think that’s just a fine idea.”

“What is?” asked Pepper.

Both parents smiled at her. “You don’t have to help clean up,” her father started. “But,” he added quickly, before she slumped back to the floor, “we do want you to at least go to Ms. Rivers’ store and thank her for all she’s done.”

“Oh,” Pepper mumbled. She glanced to the side and groaned. Weird-o Ms. Rivers, or chores, she thought. What a choice...

“When I come home, if you’re not done, I don’t have to help finish, do I?” Pepper asked, the true deciding factor.

“Of course not,” said her mother. “It’s your birthday, after all.”

Peppermint smiled. “Then I’m off to Ms. Craz— I mean Ms. Rivers’ place!”

As she skipped past her parents, her dad added, “And be nice!” Of course to Peppermint, it didn’t sound so much like order so much a kind suggestion.

The door to Ms. River’s store seemed a lot bigger and more daunting once Peppermint got there. She’d gone in once or twice before, mostly when her parents were helping out with another foal’s party, but never alone. It looked fun enough inside, but Ms. Rivers had some strange habit of always being there, ready and willing to help.

Really, to Pepper, it was a little creepy.

“Let’s get this over with,” she mumbled, pushing the door open. A small bell chimed as she entered. Peppermint winced. So much for quiet, she thought.

“Just a minute!” Ms. Rivers called from the back room, in her typical sing-song voice.

Take your time, Pepper thought, rolling her eyes. She glanced around at the shelves. Balloons, streamers, cards, candles.... Peppermint couldn’t help but wonder how Ms. Rivers still had so much after her party.

She looked up just in time to see Ms. Rivers skip up to the counter. “Yeees? Is anypony there?” she asked, way too cheerfully to be considered “normal”.

“Oh, umm,” Pepper chimed in. “I, uhh—”

“Peppermint!” Ms. Rivers gasped. “What a nice surprise! I hope you enjoyed your party today.”

“I did, thanks,” Pepper muttered. She did her best to avoid eye contact with the weirdo. “Actually that’s sorta what I’m here about. I wanted to say ‘thank you’ for helping out.”

Ms. Rivers squealed happily. “Oh, you are quite welcome! That was very sweet of you.” She paused, her eyes wide, then ducked behind the counter.

Pepper barely noticed. “Well it was sorta my parents’— I mean, yes, thank you!”

“Ah, there it is!” Ms. Rivers called from below the counter. She popped back up with a bounce, plopping a bag of balloons on the counter. “Go on, Pepper, pick one!”

“Me?” Pepper asked. “I mean, why?”

“Well I can’t let you go home empty-hooved, can I?” Ms. Rivers retorted. “How ‘bout just a color? Red? Purple?”

“Blue?” Pepper asked, eying the bag skeptically.

“Good choice!” Ms. Rivers hovered out a flabby little blue balloon from the bag, then in an instant and another SHOOP, it was fully blown-up. Pepper blinked in amazement.

“How do you do that?!” she asked.

Ms. Rivers tied a string to the end, then offered it to Pepper. “Oh, just a little magic, and a little practice,” she replied, half-looking at the ceiling.

Pepper grabbed the string and pulled down on it. She sat down on the floor and grabbed the balloon in her hooves. “And it’s like real, too,” she said. “It’s not a trick.”

“Of course not, dear!” said Ms. Rivers. She giggled to herself. “My, my, I just remembered. You turned ten today, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, so?” Pepper asked.

“You’re gonna start practicing your own magic more, right?” Ms. Rivers continued.

“Y-yeah?”

“Weeell,” Ms. Rivers continued, “how would you like me to show you how I do that balloon spell?”

Pepper jumped up, letting go of the balloon's string. “You’d do that?!” she exclaimed.

Ms. Rivers giggled and clapped her hooves together. “Oh, goody!” she said. “Yes of course, Pepper! Just come on back, I’ll show you step-by-step how I do it.” With that, the side door to the back room unlocked and opened just a hair.

Peppermint started to take a step, but caught herself. She spared a glance up, at the blue balloon bouncing on the ceiling. Seeing this, Ms. Rivers hopped up, all fours on her counter. She stretched herself as tall as she could, balancing on just one hoof, and barely managed to reach the string. Once she had a hold, however, she bounced back down to the floor in one smooth motion. Pepper stared in awe for a moment, then smiled and took the string from Ms. Rivers, skipping her way toward the door.

Windy Rivers watched Pepper with a smile, snickering like a giddy filly herself, before skipping her way to the back room.

— — —

Peppermint sat down in the middle of the room and stared around in wonder. Piles and piles of supplies filled the corners and lined the walls. To top it all off, a few were apparently already opened, as streamers hung around the ceiling. More balloons hung between some of the streamers.

It struck her as odd, how bad the lighting was. The blinds were pulled on both windows, not that they was easy to spot behind the mounds of bags and boxes.

“Okay, Pepper,” Ms. Rivers chimed in, startling Pepper. “Are ya ready to have some fun?”

Pepper nodded excitedly. “How do you— er, I— er, we start?”

Ms. Rivers giggled. She hovered over a pack of balloons from the top of a stack and dropped it in front of Peppermint. “Well first, could you be a dear and open that for me?”

“Uhh,” Pepper hesitated. “Alright, I guess.” She picked it up in her hooves and bit down on the top, yanking as hard as she could. It was stubborn plastic, though. Just not as stubborn as Peppermint.

While Pepper worked at it, Ms. Rivers slowly circled around her. Her horn glowed for a second or two, then she silently giggled to herself.

The plastic finally tore after about a minute. Pepper spat out the piece left in her mouth, then set the open bag back down. Ms. Rivers stepped back out in front of her quickly, and levitated a red one from the packaging.

“Now the first thing to understand,” she said, “is how a balloon normally puffs up.” She snickered, then stretched on the balloon in the air. “Repeat after me,” she added. In one motion, she took a deep breath, then blew it all into the balloon. Pepper could barely follow as she tied off the bottom with magic.

Pepper stared at the package and frowned. “What’s this have to do with magic?” she asked.

“You can picture it better if its fresh on your mind, right?” Ms. Rivers’ eyes drifted toward the ceiling.

“I guess so,” Pepper mumbled. She sighed, then focused on the bag. She picked out another red one, and carefully levitated it through the packaging. It wasn’t as if she was completely new to all magic, but it wasn’t quite a strong suit for her.

“Now remember,” Ms. Rivers sang, “you gotta take a nice, deep breath.”

Pepper nodded. She held the balloon up to her mouth and took a few practice breaths. Finally, she leaned back, breathing in for as long as she could manage. It wasn’t until she actually felt her chest bump up with her front leg that she knew it must be enough. She dropped back to the ground, giving it everything she had.

The balloon she held swelled up to about two-thirds the size of Ms. Rivers’. But that wasn’t what Pepper noticed first.

“What the—” she gasped. Pepper looked down in shock; she still felt her chest against her legs. And as impossible as it was, it was true. Her chest and belly had swolen up against her legs. It didn’t hurt or anything, but she looked like she ate her whole birthday cake in one bite!

Ms. Rivers snickered and said, “Oh well, there goes the surprise.”

“Gah!” Pepper screamed. “W-what’s going on?!”

“Isn’t it obvious?” asked Ms. Rivers. She winked at Pepper as her horn started to glow again. This time Pepper definitely noticed. Her belly glowed softly blue, the same color as Ms. Rivers’ horn, as it swelled up just a little bit more.

“B-b-but— w-what—” Pepper stammered, shaking in her hooves.

Ms. Rivers. trotted over to Pepper, smiling widely as her horn flashed again. Pepper felt herself wobbling a little. Her belly was down to a hair’s width from the floor, and pressing against all her legs. “Oh, come on, Pepper,” said Ms. Rivers, “it’s all in good fun!”

“What are you doing to me?” Pepper asked feebly.

Ms. Rivers stifled another giggle behind a hoof. “Oh, exactly what I said I’d do,” she answered. With another flash of her horn, Pepper felt the cold floor against her stretched-out belly. “Showin’ ya balloon magic!”

Pepper just blinked. “B-balloon magic? But I’m not a—”

“Oh, you might as well be,” said Ms. Rivers. “At least with my magic.” She shook her flank before Pepper. “See? Balloons!”

“I always thought that meant you liked parties,” Pepper mumbled. She tried to step forward, but struggled to move against own belly. She frowned, then leaned back to get her back hooves some better ground to stand on. Unfortunately, her belly poofed out in front of her in doing so. She lifted up her front hooves and pushed back down on herself; it wasn’t until just then that Peppermint actually believed she was filled with air. “Ms. Rivers?” she asked. “W-why can’t I walk?”

“Oh, please dear,” Ms. Rivers responded, “call me Windy.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Pepper mumbled. Just then, the blue balloon she brought in bounced onto her head. She grabbed it in her front hooves and squeezed it a few times. It felt just like herself, minus the coat...

POP!

Windy and Pepper gasped in unison. “Oh dear,” Ms. Rivers remarked. “Oh well, things happen!”

“That’s not gonna happen to me, is it?!” Pepper exclaimed in panic, eyes locked on the tiny pieces of blue rubber resting on her puffed-out chest.

“Oh, of course not!” said Ms. Rivers. “What fun would that be?” With a giggle, she sent another pulse through Pepper, shaking off the pieces.

“This isn’t much fun anyway...” Pepper mumbled.

“Oh, don’t be a party-pooper, Peppermint!” Windy joked with a snicker. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere!” she added as she trotted upstairs.

Just as a sort of insurance, Windy waved her horn at Pepper once more. Pepper’s ears perked up, then immediately drooped down. She heard a faint hissing, and slowly felt herself being pushed more and more off the floor. She shut her eyes tight, wishing for it to be over. Only when the sound of skipping hoofsteps coming back downstairs did the hissing stop. But now Pepper could barely reach the floor with the tips of her back hooves and still keep her view from being blocked out.

Suddenly, a tea pot and a pair of cups slammed on Pepper’s chest. “Whoa!” she yelled as the air shifted, knocking her back hooves finally loose. She flailed her legs; none could reach the ground now.

Ms. Rivers giggled. “Tea time, dear?” she asked, levitating one of the cups up to her lips. Despite there being nothing in any of them, of course. All Pepper could do was shiver and stare, wide-eyed, at the tea set.

Windy shook her head. “Oh, Pepper, you really need to learn to—” She stopped mid-sentence, unable to fight back the laughter at her own joke. “Lighten up!” she finished, punctuated with another surge of air.

“This feels really weird,” Pepper whined. She winced, a tear welling up in the corner of her eye. “Why are you doing this, Ms. Windy or Ms. Rivers or whoever you are? And why me?”

Windy thought for a moment. “Well, it’s not just you dear,” she said.

“W-what?”

“Actually, you’re a little,” Ms. Rivers started, snickering before the punchline again, “‘late to the party’, I’m afraid.”

“What are y-you talking a-about?”

Ms. Rivers skipped around Peppermint, horn glowing. “Well let’s see,” she said. “I already puffed up Lemon Drop in the first week or two, then Drizzle the month after that...” She sat down, leaning onto Pepper’s belly; Pepper winced. “And Tulip was three— no, four months ago.” Windy giggled. “Oh, and your parents, too!”

“M-mom and Dad?!”

“Oh yes!” said Windy. She spun around to face Pepper directly and smiled. “In fact your father was just last week, when he came to ask about your birthday party!”

“B-but how—”

“How does nopony notice?” Windy offered. “Oh, I just follow the puffy-ing with a little forget-me-spell, and poof! No one knows again!”

Pepper stared at Ms. Rivers with wide, terrified eyes. “Y-you are crazy!”

“Oh, but it’s so much fun!” Suddenly, Ms. Rivers gasped. “Oh, I just realized, you are special, Pepper!”

“How?” Pepper mumbled. So far the conversation had at least kept her the same size for a few minutes, for which she was grateful.

“You mark the first full family I’ve gotten around to!” She paused, then giggled uncontrollably, rolling on the floor. “I said ‘full’...”

With that, the streak was broken, and Pepper swelled up another few inches around. She could barely move her legs at all anymore. I’ve gotta be at least as big as Daddy now, she thought, wincing. This is too weird...

“What’s the matter, Pepper?” asked Windy. She skipped over to Pepper. “Come on, this is fun!”

“I wanna go home...” she whimpered.

“Oh, there’s time for that later!” Windy said. Her horn glowed again, letting Pepper swell up right next to her. “Enjoy yourself!”

Pepper sniffled, a tear falling onto her swolen chest. “I don’t wanna,” she whined.

Ms. Rivers giggled. “Aww, come here,” she said. She grabbed Pepper’s cheeks and lay forward, braced solely on the pressure in the filly’s belly. “Aren’t you just the cutest not-so-widdle filly,” said Windy, giggling afterward.

Pepper cringed at the feeling of Ms. Rivers laying on her. Now I know how my bed feels, she joked in her head. Oh jeez, I’ve gotta be as big as my bed by now...

Windy bounced off of Peppermint, then skipped toward the stairs again. “Don’t go anywhere, Pepper,” she sang, “not that you really could!”

Peppermint waited until Windy passed up the stairs again, then tried to wobble her front hooves to the ground. “I gotta get outta here,” she muttered frantically. “I gotta— I gotta— Agh!” Her inevitable failure left her only tilted slightly forward, but no matter what angle she tried, she couldn’t reach the floor with anything but belly.

Windy was almost to the top of the stairs when a sound caught her ear. She stopped cold; Peppermint was sobbing loudly.

“I just wanted a nice tenth birthday,” Pepper cried. “Was that too much to ask?”

Ms. Rivers poked her head out from the staircase. “You know what, Peppermint?” she asked, in a surprisingly calm tone. “You’re right.”

Pepper sniffled and her eyes widened. “I am?”

“Of course!” said Windy. “You deserve better than this, it’s your birthday!” Pepper’s eyes lit up as Windy skipped down the stairs and over to her. Ms. Rivers jumped up onto Pepper’s chest and stared her in the eyes. “Now hold still, dear!” she said.

Pepper did as she was told, as best as she could manage. Ms. River’s horn began to glow again, but this time Pepper didn’t feel anything in her midsection. Actually, for a moment, she started to feel less and less of anything at all. Her vision narrowed down to just enough to see Ms. River’s eyes. Just when she thought she was going to fall asleep, or that she would wake up from the nightmare, all that feeling came rushing back.

Windy giggled. “Happy Birthday, Pepper!” she said. “Now if you’ll go excuse me, I have to pack.”

“Wait—” Pepper started, but couldn’t catch Windy before she darted back upstairs. She frowned. “Why am I still huge?!” she yelled.

“Hm?” Windy called from upstairs. “Oh, right, just a minute!”

Pepper raised an eyebrow. Then what’d she do? she thought.

Windy suddenly burst out of the upstairs, with two full-to-bursting saddlebags and a trunk. She set the trunk down at the foot of the stairs. “Phew!” she said. “But that’s everything important. Clothes, personal stuff, and photos.” She gasped. “Oh, that reminds me!” Out of one saddlebag, she levitated an old-fashioned camera. “Smile!”

Pepper only had teary eyes and a quivering lower lip to show.

The camera flashed, and the photo printed out from the front. Ms. Rivers took one look at it and giggled. “That’s okay, they never smile.”

“Where are you going?” Pepper asked. “And can I go back to normal now?”

“In that order, I don’t know, and yes,” said Windy. “Well, ‘normal’ as in not-puffy.” Her horn flashed once more, and Pepper heard another hissing noise. This time, however, she felt herself sink closer and closer to the ground. For the first time in the last hour, she smiled.

“So, what did you do to me?” she asked. Her eyes suddenly widened again as she remembered the conversation. “You’re gonna wipe my memory or something, aren’t you?”

Windy giggled. “Oh, that wouldn’t work on you, Pepper. Not after I gave you your present!”

“Alright— Then what was the present?!”

Ms. Rivers smiled brightly and pointed behind Pepper. Pepper barely managed to stretch her neck around enough to see: There was a Cutie Mark on her flank!

Pepper gasped twice. The first time, in excitement and awe. The second time, in horror.

It was a purple balloon with, as she called it, a “crazy” string.

“What’s that mean?!” Pepper exclaimed. “Isn’t that your Cutie Mark? How can that be mine?”

Ms. Rivers leaned in closer. “You wanna know a secret?” she asked. Pepper nodded, and Windy leaned up to Pepper’s ear. “It’s not my real Cutie Mark either. But I just love it so much now—”

“What?!” Pepper yelled, frantically pushing away from Windy. Pepper felt the tip of her back hoof touch floor again.

“You’ll learn to love it too, someday!” said Windy. “Now if you’ll excuse me—”

“Don’t go...” Pepper whined. It wasn’t directed at Windy, as she thought she heard it, however. Pepper was staring, entranced at her rescinding chest and belly.

Windy squealed with glee. “Oh, goody, it’s starting already!”

Pepper shook her head a few times, then stared forward blankly. “What did I just say?”

“Seeee?” said Ms. Rivers. “I told you it’s fun! And when you grow up, you’ll get to have all the fun you want with everypony you meet!”

“Wha—”

“Now really, I must get going. I gotta tell Mr. Frosting down the street that the store’s all his now.”

“You’re leaving town?”

“Of course, dear!” said Ms. Rivers. She sounded like she didn’t have a care in the world. “I can’t stay here, now that somepony knows, can I?” Before Pepper could even answer, Windy skipped toward the door. “Do get the lights when you leave, would you Pepper? And tell your folks I said ‘hi’!”

Pepper just felt her hooves touch ground when the door shut behind Ms. Rivers. She sat down, waiting out the rest of her deflating belly. In disbelief, she double-checked her flank. Purple Balloon, just like before. And just like Ms. Rivers.

And nopony would believe her without Ms. Rivers around.

Shock, amazement, worry... so much flooded poor Peppermint’s mind at once. But one thing stood out, in the silence of the old party store: curiosity. She stared at the now-squashed bag of balloons on the ground in front of her. Slowly, she levitated one out from it. As it hovered a foot in front of her, she dared give it a shot: just by a thought, the balloon started to fill, all on its own. Pepper even thought she heard a faint shooooop to go with it. She tied off the end once it was done, with a little help from her hoof to hold the knot.

Not that she would understand why until later, but at that moment, Pepper simply could not stop smiling.