"Crystal?" Pitch's voice asked her in a soft, kind manner. Not the arrogant or boastful one he normally used, but an emotion-filled one of pure generosity for her own thoughts, and maybe even her feelings. "Would you come with me so I could talk to you about something very important? But you don't have to if you don't want to."
He was asking for her permission. Ohhhhh, that just made the decision harder. Crystal didn't know what to do. He was not forcing her to do whatever it was he wanted, and Crystal found it so, so romantic, and she liked it. Go along with Pitch and possibly fulfill her own crush and ignore her mother's orders... or stay here and risk the chance of being alone in a crowd. Pitch was the only pony who had ever been so thoughtful and helpful throughout her whole school career.
"Of course she doesn’t want to. She needs to stay here with me." Ms. Wheatmire's voice called out from the other side of the room. Crystal didn't even get a chance to say anything. Didn't her voice matter in these things? Because ponies all seemed to know what was better for her than she did. Wait! She was babying her...like so many other adults and foals had, Ms. Wheatmire was babying her. For the first time in a long while, Crystal felt complete anger well up inside of her. A dormant volcano, covered in snow, ready to blow its top. And she did just that with fury that even she had no idea that she held.
"I can think for myself, so you don't have to do it for me!" Why do ponies have to do...that? Crystal immediately felt so guilty for yelling at her teacher that she felt a few tears fall from her eyes. "I'm sorry, I-I don't know where that came from." What was wrong with her? To yell at her own teacher because she was being a teacher. Wait, no she wasn't teaching her math or any academic subject, she was just using her authority to make the filly do what she wanted her to do.
"It's okay." Pitch said comfortingly to her as he wrapped his forelimbs around her. It was warm.
"No, it's not okay. She should never yell at..."
"Hey lady. Shut up! Can't you see that she's crying, or can your black hole of a heart and tapioca of a brain not process what emotions are?"
Crystal didn't listen to their argument, but she could feel the vibrations of Pitch's chest as she thought about things that were important to her. Maybe even more important than obeying her mother. Pitch never babied her. Never once had he treated her as if she was just a blind filly, but some pony that actually mattered. He said that she did the same for him, but she treated Pitch as she tried to treat everypony else, yet Pitch was the only one who returned those feelings. What was so different about him?
"Crystal, it's okay. Just calm down." Pitch cooed in the filly's ear. He calmed her with words alone, like he always did. Boy, was he good with those words, and Crystal couldn't get enough of them.
But Crystal knew that what she had done was wrong.
"No, Pitch. She's right." Crystal said softly, almost in a whisper. "I'm sorry for talking back at you, Ms. Wheatmire. But I've told you that I want to be an adult, not just some blind filly...And you agreed with me and..." Wait, that was true. Ms. Wheatmire did agree with what she had been saying earlier that day...She lied! Her teacher lied and didn't care about what she wished or wanted. "You know what, I take that back. You lied to me Ms...no, not even going to call you Ms. because Pitch is right, we're not in school. It's just Wheatmire. I can't stand liars, especially those who lie right to me." Crystal brought her forelimbs up and around Pitch's body, feeling his small, undeveloped muscles, and gave a big hug. "Maybe it would better if I just go with Pitch. I think I'd feel safer."
"Wait, what?" Wheatmire sounded confused all of a sudden, as all the malice from before fell out her voice in an instant.
"You lied to me Wheatmire. You brought up my hopes of somepony understanding what I'm going through, and how my mind is tearing itself apart. Only to crush them when your authority is threatened." Crystal had to force herself to not cry anymore, as she had to be strong to prove herself and achieve her goal of being recognized as a mare in a filly’s body. That drive fueled her rebellion against the beliefs forced upon her by her elders to replace her own that she felt in her soul, her very being, was right for her to be happy. To move past the point of no return, the filly spat on the wooden floor of the schoolhouse that only taught conformity.
"Crystal." Pitch stood in and pulled her back with him. Pulled her off of a rising pedestal in her mind that made her feel so euphoric and so in control. It made her feel like a leader. "That's enough, I think she gets the point." Crystal felt the urge to suddenly kiss his talking lips but she heard his voice change direction and point to where Wheatmire was. "See what forcing yourself on others could do?"
There was a cold steel silence that penetrated the room and its three inhabitants with a feeling like the tip of a sword, bringing Crystal back to Equestria and her right mindset. What? She felt the floorboards beneath her vibrating in syncopation to the trotting of hooves upon it and Pitch pulled her closer into his chest as the colt brought them a step back. "Stay back toad!" He yelled out. What's going on?
"Pain and headache is all you give me Pitchpatch. Pain and headache. Just look at the grey hairs that you've given me. Refusing to be educated the right way and instead trying to use me to prove a point. Crystal is not going anywhere, as I've promise her mother personally that I would stay here and watch her until she arrives. Now Crystal, don't make me go over there. Come here now!" Wheatmire's voice was so forceful and rude. Anger flared up from her lips like fire from a dragon's throat, cooking her like a summer chicken. All of the courage that she had felt from before was now gone completely as she wrapped herself in Pitch's arms for the protection that she now so desperately sought from him. But beneath everything that she afraid of at that very moment was a small trickle of that defiance that remained, compelling her to not go back to her teacher.
"No!" She shouted as loud as she could yell out the word of her choice. This was a battle of who could push the other into doing what they want.
"You hear that, don't you? She doesn't want to be around you. Now get out of the way of the door!" Pitch shouted at the teacher. Crystal then felt the warm air of a whisper on her ear. "She's blocking the door, we can't go out that way."
No way to get out then, as this building had only one door that led to the hallway to outside. Crystal wracked her brain to try and think of a way to get past the angered beast that The Wheatmire had become. For once, the filly was really glad that she was blind, as she couldn't see how angry she was. But from the sound of her breathing from all the way across the room, she was furious, and was most likely going to make good on her threat of forcing her to go with her.
But it was then that she felt a slight stroke along her back. Not from a hoof, but something that was velvet and not even solid. A petting along her spine. That was it! The open window from before was open right behind them. That was their way out. It was in the opposite direction of The Wheatmire. She gently whispered in Pitch's ear, "The window behind us is open. I don't think that she notices."
"Yeah, I feel the wind. I'll jump and you hold on, and then it's freedom time." Pitch confirmed a quick plan. Crystal had no choice to go along as she couldn't see where to jump anyway. Her grip on him tightened with love in his strength and gentleness together. Those feelings helped make this whole thing so much better.
"What are you two planning?" The Wheatmire asked in a dangerously calm voice. "Crystal, I'm losing my patients. Get over here right now! If you don't within the next five seconds…"
"Do you ever shut up? I think I've told you this before, but she's not going over there, and I'm not leaving her side. We're going to be leaving and there won't be a single thing that you could do about it." Confidence rained from Pitch and splashed onto Crystal. If he was this relaxed about what they were doing, than she should be too.
"And what makes you so sure about that little...thing? I'm between you and the door and from the looks of it, you're surrounded by these desks, so by the time you could even get across the rows, I would be right there waiting for you to run right into my strangling arms to squeeze that worthless life out of you before I go on with my day." Crystal heart jumped at that savagery. Where was that anger coming from? It scared her to think that they were in the very same room as she was. Suddenly, she heard a click coming from Pitch. Like a tape player being turned off. "What was that?" Wheatmire must've noticed it too.
"Oh, nothing." Pitch answered in an overly sweet voice. The voice that told others you had something to hide, but weren’t going to hide. "Just this little tape recorder that had recorded everything that you had been saying. Including threatening our lives."
"Don't you dare." Wheatmire's voice was full of a sudden panic. "Give that to me NOW!"
Pitch clicked his most likely grinning lips with his tongue. "You still don't get it, do you?"
In a storm of vibrations, desks and chairs were thrown from where they were, slamming into each other from a powerful shove. Crystal could feel Pitch's muscles tighten and she held onto him as they took off in the opposite direction.
"Oh no you don't!" Wheatmire shouted at the pair and Crystal suddenly felt weightless. A shimmering sound surrounded her and she instantly knew that she, and most likely Pitch, were caught in a levitation spell. Pitch thrashed and jerked every which way next to her in an attempt to shake off the magic. Wheatmire's hooves forcefully grabbed onto Crystal and pulled her away from her knight. She screamed in a panic and fear of what was happening to her. Her teacher was crazy, she didn't want to go with her.
A powerful tightness rushed to her horn with no warning, and Crystal felt a metaphorical snap, like something elastic had just reached its breaking point. A power, unlike anything she had ever felt before, came cascading out of her, and Wheatmire started yelling a painful wain like a wolf howling to the moon. Then the magic Crystal had felt surrounding her broke off and stopped and she fell, striking the floor and dazing her a bit.
Before she could even think about moving, she felt another hoof pull her back in the direction of the window. Another feeling of lightness on her hooves filled her before they hit the ground. She could heard Pitch's lovely voice shout next to her, "Keep running next to me, and don't stop!"