//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: dream 
// Story: Pepper heart 
// by Hestrir 
//------------------------------//

The lights are shining through the windows above. A little filly stands in front of a huge spotted egg, sweating like crazy. She is exasperated, anxious, panicking. A few dozen pairs of eyes are looking at her every move, judging. They stalk her every breath, waiting for her to act. To do something. To show magic. 

The filly tries her hardest. Strains her mind. Focuses all her skills on a single task. But the egg stays still and unmoving, a laughing monument to filly's failures. A drop of sweat runs down the filly's cheek. But filly knows that it's not sweat. She's crying. This is supposed to be her big moment. Her fate is being decided. Her destiny gives her a test.

The pressure is overwhelming. Even dad watches her intently, calling for action. The filly feels desperate, ashamed, angry. Really, really angry at the egg which refuses to hatch. 

"Why won't you open, you damn thing!" she thinks, gazing upon an egg with eyes full of hatred.

Suddenly her vision blackens. She sees the room through a thick purple fog. The faces of ponies in the room are surprised, astonished, afraid. The filly is afraid too. The energy erupts out of her horn. Bad energy. Evil energy. Destructive energy. It wants to consume, to destroy, to erase. It is aimed at the egg.

"NO!" cries the filly. The energy listens. It is no longer out to destroy. It silently waits for filly's orders.

"Make it grow!" she commands in her mind. "Make it hatch!" 

The energy obeys.

It envelopes the egg, passing through its core being. It stimulates it. Commands it. Controls it. The egg cracks. 
Inside sits the small bird with a snake's tail, looking around innocently. Its eyes are red, but they don't have the power to petrify just yet. The bird is too young.

The filly feels joy, satisfaction, happiness. She did it! She completed the test! 

She feels itching on her flanks. She raises in the air, enveloped by the colorful energies. When she lands, she knows what has happened. A cutie mark appears, a snake made of fire! 

"So cool!" she thinks, looking at it from every direction. She has found her talent, her calling, her destiny. She looks at the audience, beaming. She expects praise. But finds none.

Only terror is imprinted on their faces. Fear, disgust, disdain. Even dad looks at her with fear. The filly's smile melts away.


Pepper woke up in a cold sweat. She was lying on a big, soft bed, with bed sheets adorned with celestial patterns. Pepper has looked around. She was in an unfamiliar place with lots of beds and bookshelves around, as well as some tables. 

The walls were made of stone and a big patterned round rug was lying on the floor. Pepper was not alone in the room. She could hear voices. Mostly familiar voices. She struggled to raise up to look around better. With each move heer felt like it was splitting apart. She has finally managed to sit up.

A small group of ponies were arguing loudly, not noticing Pepper's awakening. There stood Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, professor Cosmos, professor Cauldron and professor Quasar Quark, the dean of the school. 

A stream of memories has hit Pepper. She now had a full memory of what has transpired yesterday. She froze with fear. She has realized why those ponies are gathered. To decide her fate. She has finally done it. Pepper felt strongly like crying.

'That filly has broken a taboo we have placed upon her!' said professor Cauldron coldly. 'The promised punishment needs to be issued! We have prohibited her from using dark magic under any circumstances!'

Pepper's worst fears has came through. A lone tear has slide down her cheek.

"Sorry, mum..." she thought. "It seems end of the line for me..."

But something unexpected has happened. Ponies has stood for her defense.

'Really you should realize that those were dire circumstances!' said twilight pleadingly.

'She saved up, maybe us all from the windigo!' proclaimed Starlight, looking sternly at professor Cauldron. 'Who cares how she did it?'

'I care!' said Cauldron, looking down at Starlight. 'And YOU are not the one to talk! It was YOU who let that thing out!'

'Professor, it's not her fault!' said Twilight, making a step forward. 'It was I who brought the windigo in here! I thought I could defeat it to demonstrate the magic of friendship! But I couldn't defeat it fast enough at that hill, so this filly did it!'

'And bringing the windigo was *cough* my idea' Said professor Cosmos calmly. His voice sounded sick. 'I really wanted to show those little *cough* students what they can achieve by an example of an alicorn.'

'Why in the name of Celestia would you EVEN THINK of bringing such a dangerous creature?!' Cauldron's voice was filled with cold anger. 
'Professor Cauldron, calm down!' said the dean, his deep purple beard bouncing in tact of his speech. 'We are, I believe, a group of calm, rational adults, are we not? You are ruining our image with these shouting outbursts.' he winced.

'I... am sorry dean, I am just too... peeved at their actions' Cauldron looked shunned. Pepper's irises shrunk in surprise. She never thought that somepony had the ability to put professor Cauldron in his place.

'What has transpired today was... An unfortunate chain of events' continued the dean. His orange eyes were scanning the room, stopping on a sitting Pepper for a second before continuing through. 

'But most of it was an accident. Even so,' he looked at professor Cosmos disapprovingly. 'bringing a windigo in was a horrible miscalculation.' Professor Cosmos has nodded shamefully. 'I am sorry, dean.'

'At the moment,' said the dean, nodding lightly at professor Cosmos, 'we do not have the rules against bringing windigo in the school. An oversight to be sure. I will make sure to include such a rule in the next revision. As for you two,' he pointed on Cosmos, then on Twilight, 'I expect you to take full responsibility for your action and write me an explanatory letter. We all are lucky that that beast has caused no damage. As for the little filly here,' he nodded towards the dumbfounded Pepper, sitting sternly on her bed, 'we will ignore her breaking the taboo just this time due to grievous circumstances she was in.'

Pepper's mind has exploded with joy and relief. She was finding it hard to believe what she heard. That meant she could stay! 
Professor Cauldron looked so angry that it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine HIM shooting darkness from his horn at the moment.
'B-but dean! They... they!' he shouted, pointing at Starlight accusingly with a shaking hoof.

'Everypony makes mistakes sometimes, professor Cauldron' the dean has smiled. Cauldron has threw a gaze full of hatred and stormed out the room.

'But even so, I advise you, miss Starlight, not to appear in the school grounds in any shape or form from now on.' said the dean sternly, stressing the ending of the phrase.

'I... understand' nodded Starlight. 'I have already caused too much trouble'.

'Professor.' Twilight has made a few steps forward. 'May you revise that decision?'

'No Twilight. He's right. Don't worry about me.' smiled Starlight sadly, looking away.

'Okay... But I want to ask one more thing!' said Twilight after a slight pause, looking  right in the dean's eyes. 'Allow me to spend some time with Pepper Heart! I will try to find a way to help her get rid of the dark magic!' 

Pepper has thought that she misheard that latest statement. Get rid of dark magic? Is that even possible?

"Of course it is! It's Twilight Sparkle, the alicorn! She can help!" said the voice in her head. Pepper's whole being has filled with excitement. She looked straight at Twilight, not noticing a worried disapproval on the face of Starlight Glimmer nearby.
The dean has stood up and looked at Twilight in an appraising way.

'You have my permission, even though you do not need one. What happens outside of the school time is not of my expertise. And professor Cosmos? I wish you a quick recovery.' he nodded politely and went away. 

Twilight gave Pepper an awkward look. Professor Cosmos was smiling. Starlight's face looked rather gloomy. Suddenly a sound of hoofsteps and flapping wings has came outside of the door. Dad has stormed in, exasperated and out of his breath. His mane was a mess. He stood in the doorframe for a second, scanning the room for Pepper, after what he dashed to her and covered her in his embrace.

'Pepper! Darling! Are you allright?!' He was almost crying. 'When I have heard that a windigo has attacked you, I almost got a heart attack!'


***


What Twilight said has planted a seed of worry in Starlight's mind. She could not properly explain the source of that feeling, nor could she bring to word it's meaning. Somehow, she strongly felt that Twilight was wrong for offering to get Pepper rid of her dark magic. Thinking on it logically, Starlight could see nothing wrong with the idea. Dark magic is obviously bad, so it makes sense to get rid of it. Even then...

Starlight has climbed on her bed. She was exhausted. That sure was a long day. Pepper, who they has transported into Cosmos' tower after she lost consciousness on the hill, was apparently feeling well and went away with her father. Twilight was downstairs, discussing something with Cosmos. Starlight was alone in the guest room, free to think on today's events and misfortunes uninterrupted. Although she'd rather not think about anything.

Her stupid idea has played a part of a small-scale disaster, that could have potentially brought troubles not only for Twilight and herself, but for Pepper as well. 

"It was a miracle that they got away scot-free." she thought. "That dean sure is a nice guy, isn't she?"

She thought about Pepper. An image of little filly shooting darkness out of her horn has left a deep imprint in Starlight's memory.

"So that's what Cosmos meant." she thought. "But what exactly did he meant by saying that this problem might be of my expertise? I know nothing about dark magic. Nor do I have any notable experience at changing someone." 

She has turned   face-down on the bed. T\A thought about Twilight's changing abilities has stirred up a memory of a few hours ago. Starlight has felt a sting of guilt. How could she hold that memory as the happy one? An equal sign has risen in her mind.

"But is that really wrong, to remember being happy about something... bad?" she thought. "And is it really so bad to have dark magic?"
She was banned from the school grounds, and now she really didn't wanted to go there. Not after what has happened. But she felt that she need to see things through. She needed a different approach. 

"No more stupid ideas. No more convoluted spells. I will just talk to Pepper after school. This really seems the most rational thing to do anyway." she thought, falling into slumber.


***


The following day was boring. The fact that it felt like snails racing on molasses didn't help. Starlight was basically confined to the Cosmos' tower for whole midday. There was nothing to do and the tower's owner was absent, so Starlight has been entertaining herself by eating pretzels ant taking tours around the tower. 

The place where Twilight went to send a letter has turned out to be a small room consisting of nothing but a huge fireplace outfitted with plethora of bronze tubes,  a writing table and a locker with papers. Starlight has expected to see there a few dragons or at least something more grand, but was left disappointed. Aside from that, Cosmos' room, guest room and a library the tower also had a small empty kitchen that looked like it was not been in use for at least a thousand years.

Bored out of her mind, Starlight couldn't wait for 5 o'clock, when the school is going to end. At 4.30 she went out, pacing circles not too far from the school gate. Soon, the bell has been rung and a stream of little ponies has erupted from the gates. Starlight was looking for Pepper in the crowd, but to no avail. Soon, Twilight has came out, looking exhausted.

'Oh, hey, Starlight' she smiled weakly. 

'Hey. You don't look so good' said Starlight solicitously. 

'Been fixing up our mess' smiled Twilight. 'And I do have another thing to do today. Have you seen Pepper?'

Starlight has shrugged wonderingly.

'She's not with you?'

'No...'

Starlight was puzzled. Pepper should have exited from the school gates. It was the only exit from the school grounds (Starlight made sure of it yesterday during her stupid adventure).

'Wanna look for her?' she asked. Twilight shook her head.

'No. I'm too tired for today... I'll see her tomorrow.' she yawned exasperatedly. 

'Oh. Ok. Take care.' said Starlight. 'I'm gonna take a walk for a while.'

Twilight has yawned again and went towards the Cosmos' tower.

Starlight somehow had an idea where Pepper could have been. She remembered the wall they have leapt over yesterday. It had a concealed hole behind the bushes. Too small for a full-grown pony to go through, but perfect for a filly. Starlight has strolled around the school until she has entered a barren space between its wall and a mountain. Sure thing, the hole was there. Starlight took a deep sigh and went into the forest-park thing, keeping her head down from prickly branches.

After a few dozen of uncomfortable bush-stomping minutes Starlight has arrived to the small hill. What she saw there has reminded her of yesterday's catastrophe. The grass on the hill was scorched black in multiple places. The ivy tree on top was no more, only a smoldering stump reminding of its former glory. 

Yesterday, when Twilight was focused on rescuing Pepper from the ring of flames, Starlight has managed to douse most of the blaze, yet it still left a scar on this beautiful place. The filly Starlight was searching for sat at that burnt hill next to a smoldering stump. Alone. Her hooves and backside were dirty from the ashes. 

She looked on something in front of her. A pile of burnt papers. The remnants of her sketchbook.

Pepper did not seem to notice a mare approaching her. The hill was surrounded by thick shrubbery, so Starlight had to levitate herself to get past it. She has approached Pepper, calling her name. The filly has jumped, astonished, then turned towards Starlight. Her eyes were wet with tears.

'Ummm...' said Starlight awkwardly, 'do you mind... my company?'

Pepper has looked at her with discerned look on her face and shrugged. Her stare seemed a bit wary. 

Starlight has carefully sat next to her, disregarding the dirtying ashes underneath. They sat there in an awkward silence for a few slow minutes.

'At l-least,' said Pepper, looking away, 'the view is still the same.'

The sun was setting. The comas of the trees below were stirring peacefully in the winds. The air has smelled of dew and ashes.

'Pepper, do not blame yourself of what happened to this place.' said Starlight heartily. 'There are times when you do need to blame yourself, trust me, I should know, but yesterday wasn't it.' Starlight has looked up on an orange, cloudless sky.
They sat there for a while, looking at the sunset. Suddenly Pepper gulped.

'It b-began on my entrance exam to the school' she said quietly. 'There was an e-egg I needed to hatch. A cockatrice egg. I panicked. I was kinda mad at it' she shuddered. 'That magic came out. I has managed to hatch the egg. And I passed the exam. But... But later that cockatrice from the egg has changed. It b-became evil, aggressive... It was petrifying ponies left and right, and nopony could tame it... They have released it somewhere... At least that's what they told me.' a lone tear has rolled down filly's cheek. 

Starlight sat there, not knowing how exactly should she react.

'And they made me swear to never do this again. Ever. But I did it... I was afraid... And angry at that thing. It came out on its own.'

The filly was sitting there, shaking. Starlight has finally made up her mind on her course of actions. She hugged the little filly, disregarding her meekly resistance.

'Listen here, Pepper. Sometimes we make things we later regret. You did yours involuntary. I did mine willingly. You're not evil, if that what you think you are... I was though' she let the filly go awkwardly.

'I made some mistakes based on my own insecurities. For example, that one time I was so mad on my friend getting a cutie mark ahead of me and moving away because of it that I have created a spell to rid ponies of cutie marks and formed a society of brainwashed ponies just to be better than them. How's that for an evil pony?' she forced an awkward smile. A shameful memory of her thoughts during yesterday's windigo battle has stormed her consciousness. But the filly did not seem deterred by Starlight's revelation. On contrary, her eyes has lit up with enthusiasm that has caught Starlight off-guard.

'Y-you can remove cutie marks?' she asked in a tingling voice.

'Well, yes...' Starlight has started to regret her revelation. 'I could rip them out along with pony's talent and personality traits, making them equal-'

'Do it on me!' Pepper has jumped up. Starlight has flinched.

'Why would I-'

'My cutie mark has appeared exactly when I casted that dark magic spell on that egg!' she said hurriedly. 'So my talent MUST be dark magic! But I don't want that kind of talent! Please! I'd rather be without any talent than with an evil one!' she pleaded, looking Starlight right in the eyes. Starlight has shook off the surprise.

'No.' she said firmly.

'B-but why?!' Pepper's enthusiasm has melted. 'Because you're not evil anymore? But if you help me, you'll use that evil magic for good! So you don't have to be evil!'

'Right back atcha'' smiled Starlight softly. 'No matter what it is, it is a part of who you are. Do you really want to lose what makes you you?'
A treacherous voice in Starlight's head has reminded her of her little town, drawing faces of its inhabitants.

'But I don't want to be me! It's miserable!' cried Pepper.

'Listen, Pepper.' Starlight has touched her head calmingly 'Say a dragon lives in the neighborhood. Dragons can breathe fire. Is it an evil ability?' Pepper has cocked her head wonderingly.'It depends on how you look at it.' continued Starlight. Somehow she was finding correct words in her head on the fly. 'If that dragon uses his fire breath to burn pony homes - it is evil, right?' Pepper has nodded carefully. 'But if it uses its breath to, say, light up ovens? Or bake? Or send letters? Do that make it evil?'

'Can dark magic be used to send letters?' asked Pepper sarcastically. 'And it will probably turn a muffin into an evil demon instead of baking it.'

'I'm not saying that it can do those things.' said Starlight softly. 'But it can be used to great effect to, say, defeat evil windigos?' she winked. 

'The power itself is not evil. Nothing is evil by itself. But it can become evil if somepony who uses it is.'

'By your logic, using that evil equalizing spell on me will not be evil, because you will be helping me to lead a normal life.' said Pepper sulkingly.

'Pepper. I will not be ridding you of your talent.' said Starlight sternly. 'Why won't you try to learn to control it instead of keeping it inside? This way you'll definitely won't hurt anypony involuntary.'

Pepper said nothing. She just threw Starlight a grim look and turned away. All her stature spoke of her unwillingness to speak to Starlight anymore. After a few silent minutes, Starlight has sighed and left her alone, warping away.


***


Starlight has appeared in front of Cosmos' tower, astonishing passerby ponies around. She entered the building, thinking grimly about Pepper. 

"Am I really right to think this way?" she thought to herself, ascending up the ladder. 

Twilight was asleep on top of an unpacked bed.

"Gosh. I guess that day was really rough for her..." Starlight thought, feeling a sting of conscience. "The sun is not even down yet..."
She has carefully lifted sleeping Twilight up, unpacked the bed and put the alicorn back, covering her with a bed sheet. After that she went down the stairs to the Cosmos' room, barging in without knocking.

The old stallion was caught up in a very undignified pose, scratching his backside with a magical staff. Upon hearing Starlight's hoofsteps he has quickly, too quickly for a pony his age and definitely too quickly for a supposedly flu-stricken elder, put the staff away to the staff pile under the table and sat in his rocking chair as if nothing happened, looking at Starlight with a usual innocent expression.

'Why, Starlight. What brings you here today?'

Starlight has rolled her eyes and levitated a chair in front of a rocking old stallion, sitting on it firmly.

'We need to talk. And if you'll pull that vanishing trick again I swear you won't be able to find anything in this room ever again.'

'Okay, okay. Point taken' said Cosmos in a disheartening tone. 'What do you want to talk about?' he has beckoned a teapot on the faraway table and it flew to him. He then proceeded to drink right from the teapot, slurping loudly. Starlight winced.

'It is about Pepper. And you KNOW it's about Pepper.'

Cosmos has shrugged, taking another sip.

'So, you see the problem now?' he asked.

'I do. She has a talent for dark magic, but she is not allowed to train in this magic, while training may help her control it and use it for something NOT evil, and whole school of stuck-up jerks would rather banish her from the very Equestria before accepting her' blurted Starlight angrily.

'Is that how you see it?' asked Cosmos calmly. 'Some ponies see it differently. And by some I mean the most of them.'

Starlight has remained silent. She knew what she will hear next, so she braced herself for the redundant.

'The way most folks see the situation is that an emotional child holds something dangerous inside her that she can't control. Something that has a horrible historic track record and just plain dangerous and scary. So they have tabooed her from ever using that scary thing for everypony's safety including her own.'

'Yeah, yeah. That's one point of view.' Starlight muttered. But a traitorous voice from her head has returned once again, explaining her the logic of that view.

'Exactly, my dear.' said Cosmos unexpectedly, taking another slurping sip from the teapot.

'Eh?'

'Remember I told you that I operate on a bias?' he asked. The tea in his teapot has dried out, so he turned it in the air, looking in the teapot's nose.

'But at the same time I have an open mind. My problem is that each time I am trying to look at the matter from different angles, my prejudice of dark magic gets the best of me. If I try to think on the matter long enough, I am always rolling back to my original point of view. And by experience I know that Twilight will have the same point of view on the matter.' 

Cosmos have levitated an empty teapot away. Then he has beckoned a huge sideboard nearby. The upper section of the sideboard has opened, revealing a whole collection of surprisingly steaming emergency teapots. Starlight was so dumbfounded by what she has witnessed she lost the track of her mind. Cosmos has levitated one of the teapots towards him and took a slurp of the scalding-hot liquid. Noticing Starlight's questioning expression, he has guiltily pointed at the sink in the room's corner. It had a whole tower of empty teacups stacked in, with a lone white rug on top.

'Anyway,' he continued, 'Twilight is different from me. She is young. She can change her point of view. She can walk out from the comfortable and take the idea of uncomfortable to the heart. At least that was the original plan.' he shrugged, his sudden motion spraying some tea drops around. 'But then you came along. I am actually quite familiar with your mischief. So I decided to, hmmm... "use" will not be a great word in this situation. It will make me sound evil. Get your point of view on the matter. And it IS different, thankfully. You and Pepper might have something in common after all.'

Starlight sat there, digesting the information.

'But so what? It's not like I can help her anyway. She want to be rid of that thing herself! And Twilight has set her mind to do it. And she can and will do it.'

'I know.' Cosmos nodded, petting the teapot. 'Twilight has the power to change ponies. To help them. But you might have a power to change her mind. So Twilight could do the helping the right way.'

'So you're saying that my point of view is the right one?' asked Starlight suspiciously.

'No. I am not saying that.' Cosmos shook his head. 'But you have a point of view different than mine. I'm not saying that one is right and the other is wrong. There is no sure way to tell. But having multiple opinions gives more choice, creates more possibilities.' he suddenly put the teapot down on the floor and stood up, looking Starlight right in the eyes.

'Talk to Twilight. Discuss your points of view. Find a consensus. Maybe this way you will be able to find the best way to help that filly.'
With that said, the old stallion has made his way out of his room, leaving Starlight alone, thinking and thinking on what she should do. 


***


Pepper felt guilty about leaving early yesterday. She has completely forgot about her appointment with princess Twilight, leaving to pick up her sketchbook from the hill instead. What she saw there has severely tarnished her mood for the day. 

To make matters worse, dad has sent her a chimney letter telling that he'll be late so Pepper has spent the evening dadless and went to sleep alone with her unhappy thoughts, having nothing to distract her. There is a little wonder why her mood was horrid the next morning.

Pepper sat in her usual spot in the class, looking at princess Twilight intently. She wanted to apologize to her from leaving yesterday, but decided to wait till the school is over. Today's topic was transfiguration. 

'Now little fillies and colts, transfiguration is an advanced topic. It's a very hard magic to perform and have very advanced semantics, so I will go over it superficially, as it will be a separate subject later in your education.' she said in an excited tone. 

That did not stopped her however to rave about the topic in great detail for the whole lecture, using words and terms nopony in the class could understand. Things became more interesting when the princess has placed an apple on the table and shot a beam at it, turning it into an orange. A happy memory of Merrylight's time as a ferret has flooded Pepper's consciousness. She threw a quick glance at the colt to find him gritting his teeth angrily. It seemed that not only Pepper has recalled the event. Merrylight has remained angry for the remainder of the lecture and the next lecture after that, regularly bombarding Pepper with glances full of ire.

The next lesson for the day was astronomy, which Twilight has also been teaching, substituting for professor Cosmos' absence. She taught the class a plethora of trivia facts about the stars, so the lesson went far less sluggish than usual. 

Finally, the bell has rung. Pepper went out of the classroom, thinking on how to approach princess Twilight after pepper's last today's lesson. She has absent-mindedly entered the empty portrait hallway and went towards the staircases. The place was rather desolate. Pepper has often used this hallway for shortcuts to the dungeons, but other ponies her age were afraid of it, spreading silly rumors like the portraits tracing one's movement with their eyes or giant poisonous spiders living under the picture frames. The hallway was U-shaped and rather big. Pepper liked this place. Quiet, serene. It felt safe. At least until today. 

Pepper has stumbled, finding Merrylight in front of her, blocking the passage. The filly has gulped. She heard muffled hoofsteps behind her, signifying the lack of escape route. All Pepper's senses has ringed a danger song.

Merylight has made a few steps towards Pepper, grinning evilly. 

'What do you want?' asked pepper, trying to infuse her voice with all the aggressiveness and courage she did not have. Merrylight's grin became wider.

'Come to think of it, Pepper, we did not finish our little conversation back in the yard' he said in a creepily sweet tone.
'I saw you grinning out there, Pepper.' he said, approaching. 'It was rather funny, wasn't it? Seeing me as a ferret. A very humorous situation, wasn't it?' he moved closer. Pepper has frantically backed away, sensing presence behind her back.

'Well, guess what. That wench isn't there, is she?' asked Merrylight softly. 'So nopony can disturb us now, you little monster.'

'B-back away!' screeched Pepper, her voice giving up.

'Oh, what's the matter? Not so brave without your wittle babysitter?' suddenly, Merrylight has swung his head madly. His intonation have changed to one of pure hatred.

'Do you even realize what I had to went through because of you? I have never felt such a humiliation in my life! And when I was prepared to forget about it, you were here, giggling like an idiot you are during that stupid alicorn's lecture.' 

He leaned forward, grinning like crazy. Pepper's knees were shaking uncontrollably. Suddenly, a voice in her head has surfaced. her voice.

"Come on." it said. "It is so easy. You are afraid. you are angry. That is enough fuel."

"No..." said pepper in her mind.

"Come on. Do you plan on remaining a doormat for your entire life? Blast him." the voice tingled.

"NO!"

"BLAST HIM! To Tartarus with the consequences!" the voice urged.

Merrylight was leaning closer and closer. Pepper backed down a few steps before somepony has pushed her forward. There were no place to run.

"Blast him you idiot!" 

'NO! I will not!'

Pepper has quickly formed mom's image in her mind to ward away the urges. Mom's face was smiling. A scene from her past has flew past her mind's eyes in a matter of milliseconds. The urge has died down. The only thing left to do was to figure out the way out of the situation she was in. Merrylight's face was right in front of her eyes. But suddenly...

'Hey! What's going on here?' the voice came. A familiar voice. Merrylight has flinched and looked back frantically.

'Oh. It's just you.' he said with relief. 'Go away, numnut. This is none of your business.'

Behind Merrylight stood Lemon Star, looking at the bully with a clear resentment. Behind him stood two fillies from the parallel group, looking distressed.

'You know what, Merrylight? After words like this nopony decent will just walk past.'

Pepper's being for the first time ever has filled with hope.

'I see it. You really want some problems on your fat ass' said Merrylight spitefully, turning his back to Pepper. His entourage has nickered behind Pepper.

'Hey guuuuys!' suddenly shouted Lemon Star. 'There is bullying going on!'

Sounds came from afar. Hoofsteps and more. Pepper has took a deep sigh of relief. Merrylight has threw a destructive gaze first on Lemon, then on Pepper, and hurried away, his entourage bailing in front of him. 
'This ain't over.' he hissed over his shoulder. His horn has flashed for a brief moment. Strange. Pepper could feel literal coldness radiating from him.

The hallway has filled with ponies.

'Who's getting bullied?' asked professor Mandrake, a lean green pony, through his thick lake-green moustache, looking around.

'Pepper has been pinned by Merrylight and his goonies, professor.' said Lemon star. 

'Goodness gracious! Are you not hurt, Pepper?' asked Mandrake in a clearly concerned tone. Pepper felt weird. She didn't even knew professor Mandrake so well for those kind of concern. She saw him a few times when he was substituting Ash Cauldron.

'Um... Ok, I guess.' she whimpered.

'That Merrylight..! He is such a jerk!' said one of the fillies who were accompanying Lemon Star.

'Yeah! I heard that he took a liking at bullying Pepper!' said Glitter Light, a filly from pepper's class.

'He did? Then why didn't you say so to the teachers?' asked Mandrake, dumbfounded.

'We did! We told to professor Cauldron! But he brushed us off!' said another filly from Pepper's class. 

Pepper was the center of attention. Ponies around were talking about her. Patting her back, wondering on her well-being. This was so unusual for Pepper that she struggled to react. The shock of Merrylight's attempted attack has not wore off completely, Pepper's mind was filled with joy of her miraculous salvation, dampening most of the outside words. 

Even though Pepper was incredibly grateful to all the ponies around, she felt vulnerable. She felt pressure that was not there. The ponies around here were talking, but Pepper could not understand them. She felt weird, as if her innards were becoming cold. Her head was spinning. Suddenly, she felt like she was falling.

She opened her mouth to cry for help, but the words did not come out. She was falling into an abyss.