//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Tell the Tooth // by The Lord Thunder //------------------------------// Every muscle in Rainbow Dash's lean body shuddered as she stepped onto the front patio of Dr. Neighnamel's office. Tomorrow morning was way too soon for her liking, but she had stupidly said “yes” when the receptionist offered her the earliest available appointment in Neighnamel's schedule, which Dash had learned was due to the doctor's original client reportedly chickening-out at the last minute. She cursed her luck. How in Equestria was she supposed to prepare herself to face one of her absolute worst fears in less than 24 hours? She needed more time, but as a pegasus, she lacked the means to stop or turn back time. Even Twilight Sparkle, the most powerful unicorn she knew, could only travel back in time for roughly one minute before being warped back into the present. Nearby, a mint-green unicorn and a cream-colored earth pony with a purple and pink mane took a few moments to stare at the shivering pegasus. Dash felt their eyes upon her and shot them a glare. “What are you staring at?!” she snapped. The unicorn and the earth pony shied their eyes away in submission. Scowling, Dash opened her wings, then shot upwards towards the sky. There was no way she could return to Cloudsdale in her current state, trembling with fear and anxiety. It was bad enough that the ponies of Ponyville had nearly discovered her fears, but the very thought of her fellow Cloudsdaleans finding out was just plain unbearable. What if the Wonderbolts heard about it? They'd never let a pony who was afraid of the dentist join, it would make them a laughing stock! Ponyville was far beneath Dash now. It looked like nothing more than a scale model replica of the village. A large, soft cloud nearby beckoned for her attention. She performed an aerial loop and placing her hooves on the floating, cotton-like substance, dropped to her haunches to think. She didn't want to go to the dentist. She wasn't ready. But she also didn't want that horrible toothache to come back, either. Then again, if she went and got it over with, nopony would have to know she was afraid. Dash set her Daring Do book down (thankfully, Twilight had put a spell on it to keep it from falling through) so she could scoop up a pillow-sized blob of cloud and clutch it against her torso. The soft, puffy facets of it gave her something of a sense of comfort. Yes, much as she hated to admit it, just going in and getting it over with seemed like the best idea. She squeezed the cloud harder. Why did it have to be so hard to face one of the few things she was genuinely afraid of? Exhaling wearily, she let her makeshift pillow go, grabbed her book and flew off in the direction of Cloudsdale. **** Normally, Rainbow Dash welcomed the familiar sights of her home: its majestic waterfalls, the rainbows arching over the city, Cloudsdale's flags dancing proudly in the breeze; the various architectural pillars adorned with stripes and spirals. Any other time, she might have paused for a moment to admire it all. Today, however, she just wanted to get home before somepony saw her and started asking questions. Taking a deep breath to try and steady her nerves, she flew on towards her house at an even pace in an attempt to not draw attention to herself. She passed the bluish-grey twins, Cloudchaser and Flitter, engaged in an animated conversation with each other. A certain lazy-eyed blonde mare with a grey coat passed above, headed in the opposite direction. One large-bodied white stallion with ridiculously tiny wings perched on a cloud to her right and flexed his massive foreleg muscles, shouting “Yeeeaaah!” to nopony in particular. Thankfully, not one of them paid any special attention to the rainbow-maned pegasus. She flew on. Finally, her own house came into view. She flew in through her bedroom window, grateful to be away from the prying eyes of the world outside. But now a new problem presented itself: it was still mid-afternoon. What could she do until morning to take her mind off of that all-consuming fear? As she hovered in place, wings fluttering, her attention drifted back to the book she carried. Might as well start on another fantastic Daring Do adventure, she thought with a shrug. Landing, she set her flask of Zecora's pain elixir on the nightstand next to her bed. Looking at it made her grateful that the toothache hadn't come back yet. Pulling her favorite blanket around her, the one adorned with a giant version of her rainbow lightning bolt cutie mark, Dash snuggled into bed and opened up her book. She read until the last light of dusk had disappeared over the western horizon and stars began to dot the sky, stopping only for a quick supper. This time, as the title suggested, Daring was up against Sh'Danusk, the ancient Emperor of the Night, an evil alicorn who made even her old enemy, Ahuizotl, look like nothing by comparison. A thousand years ago, the Emperor had been nearly unstoppable, his tyrannical reign finally ending only after he was sealed away in an ancient tomb. Unfortunately, the tomb had been accidentally rediscovered in the present day, near the bottom of a recently-excavated mineshaft, allowing him to escape and once again set terror upon the world. The story had been riveting. How was Daring supposed to stand up to somepony so powerful? Dash couldn't wait to find out, but fighting pain and being wracked with anxiety all day had sapped most of her strength. She let out a sleepy yawn, then set her book on the nightstand, trading it for Zecora's painkiller. Dash dipped her hoof in the flask and applied some of the teal-colored ointment to her tender gum, then shoved the cork stopper back in place. Setting the flask down on top of the book, she blew-out her lamp and nestled-in for some much-needed sleep. The next morning... Rainbow Dash stepped into Dr. Neighnamel's office. The waiting room was quiet. The only ponies in there, aside from the receptionist,were a young, blue-maned unicorn filly around Sweetie Belle’s age, and her similarly-colored mother. Gulping, Dash approached the reception desk. “Um.” Part of her wanted to turn for the door and fly away as fast as she could, but Dash took a deep breath to steel her nerve. “Hi.” Despite her efforts, she couldn't keep her voice from coming out in a note of anxiety. “Rainbow Dash?” the middle-aged unicorn mare behind the desk asked, looking up from her paperwork. She had a faded, poofy red-orange mane, a tan coat and wore a pair of half-moon spectacles in front of her magenta eyes. “Yeah. Here for a nine o'clock appointment.” “Have a seat. The nurse will call your name when the doctor's ready.” Dash gulped again and took a seat, trying hard not to fidget. The minutes ticked by agonizingly slow, as she waited for the nurse to call her. It took everything she had to ease her nerves; the last thing she wanted was to frighten the filly next to her. Lacking anything better to do, the pegasus turned slightly in her seat and watched the child for a moment. With her eyes squeezed shut in what seemed to be considerable effort, the filly struggled and then finally succeeded in making her stubby little horn glitter with a dim light; just enough magic to levitate a set of crayons from a box on the coffee table in front of her. Pleased with herself, the filly smiled widely at the sight of the floating sticks of colored wax, then with a little more effort, began to move them across the pages of a coloring book on her lap. If her mother took any notice of the feat, she didn’t show it, being totally engrossed in the novel she was reading, “The Pony of Zenda.” Which reminded Rainbow…why, oh, why hadn’t she brought her Daring Do book to read? She facehoofed, mentally cursing her oversight. “Rainbow Dash!” called a somewhat gruff, but feminine voice. Dash looked up. The nurse standing in the corridor adjacent to the reception desk, a clipboard balanced on one hoof, was a pale-yellow earth pony mare of late middle-age. Her curly, two-tone grey mane was bound-up in a hairnet and beneath upper eyelids smeared heavily with matching grey eye shadow, she peered out at the world with a set of stern, but deceptively gentle green eyes. She looked familiar. Hadn’t she been one of the nurses at the hospital that time she’d broken her wing? She glanced momentarily at the older mare’s flank. No, it couldn’t be her: the nurse at the hospital had had a white cross with tiny pink hearts in each corner for her cutie mark…this one had a large white tooth and a blue toothbrush for hers. Still…the resemblance between the two was uncanny; twin sisters with similar career choices, perhaps? “Rainbow Dash!” she called again, a bit more insistently, glancing down at the clipboard. The pegasus stood up from her seat. “Um, right here!” “This way, please,” the nurse said, impassively, setting the clipboard aside and then turning and walking down the hallway towards the examination room. After a moment’s hesitation, Dash slowly trotted after her. “Have a seat, dearie,” the nurse said, indicating the large, reclining dentist’s chair with her hoof. “The doctor will be with you shortly.” Without waiting for a reply, the nurse turned and briskly walked away, leaving the pegasus alone again. Swallowing hard once more, Dash regarded the chair and the collection of various hooks, tooth extractors, drills and other tools of the trade in the rack beside it (implements of torture, in her opinion) with disdain, but finally climbed up into it and planted her rump on the seat with a muffled “plop.” Dash tapped her forehoof against the arm of the chair. Her hind leg spasmed with anxiety. All she wanted was for the dentist to hurry up and get in here so she could get this over with, but what would he actually do? Would he want to drill the tooth, or even worse, pull it out? Would the numbing shot hurt as bad as she remembered? “Good morning, Miss Dash.” A stallion's voice pulled Dash from her thoughts, causing her leg to spasm even harder. She wasn't ready! “It's about time!” Dash shouted before she even had time to think about what she was saying. “It's only been thirty seconds,” the voice informed her. A middle aged stallion with a wild, unkempt mane that was completely grayed with age stepped in front of the chair. His coat was a ghastly shade of ice blue, even paler than the Great and Powerful Trixie’s, like a pony who had frozen to death. Behind his glasses were a pair of eyes set deep in their sockets and surrounded by dark circles. They were a dull pastel yellow in color and lacked the luster most ponies had in their eyes. To Dash, they looked positively evil. “You're Dr. Neighnamel?” she asked incredulously. The creepy-looking stallion pushed his glasses up with a hoof. “Oh, I'm afraid Dr. Neighnamel won't be in today. I will be treating you instead. I'm Dr. Payne, D.D.S.” Dash scratched the back of her head. Her spine tingled. D.D.S.? Was that “Doctor of Dental Science” or “Doctor of Depraved Sadism”? A clipboard floated in front of the dentist as his eyes scanned the notes scrawled on it. From the glow surrounding it, Dash could tell that Dr. Payne was holding it in place with magic, but how was that possible? He was clearly an earth pony, not a unicorn. Maybe he'd sold his soul to a demon from the pit of Tartaros in exchange for some of its power; it would be the perfect tradeoff. She shivered at the thought. “I see here that you have been suffering from an acute and persistent toothache.” The doctor looked up from his clipboard and flashed a menacing smile. “How delightful.” The doctor's harsh, grating and miserly tone sent an unpleasant tingle crawling its way across the ends of Dash's fur and made the tips of her hooves prickle. Not to mention his ugly, unkempt appearance. Of course, Dash was no Rarity when it came to judging other ponies by their appearance, but Dr. Payne was in his own league of ugly. Eyes darting, Dash sat up straight. “Um, no offense, Doc, but you're really starting to creep me out, so I think I'm just gonna leave now.” Before Rainbow could follow up on her statement, the doctor, in a lightning-quick move, shoved her back down onto the chair, then pressed a pedal mounted to the base of it. Instantly, a pair of cuffs extended from the arms of the chair and wrapped around Dash's wrists, while a second pair emerged from the lower edge and pinned her ankles down. She felt herself being thrust backwards and before she even had time to contemplate what was happening, found herself staring up at the ceiling. Now wearing a pale green facemask, Dr. Payne approached his captive, leering down at her with those dark, eerie eyes. “No, my dear. I'm afraid you're not going anywhere until we've given the ol’ chompers a look-see. Now, open up and let's see what the issue is, shall we?” After a gulp, Dash opened her mouth. Dr. Payne creeped her out enough as it was; she didn't want to run the risk of provoking him. Glittering magic energy surrounded a hook, which lifted into the air and found its way into Dash's mouth. The sharp, pointy tip of it came within millimeters of the cavity on Dash's bad tooth. The pegasus shuddered. That was too close. “Ah, you're referring to this one, no doubt.” Dash's body jolted from a shot of agony. Not TOO close. Right on target! Payne had stuck her right in the deep cavity with that hook! “Hmmm,” Dr. Payne said. He didn't seem to pay any heed to the pain he was inflicting. “Just look at that pit of decay. Indeed, this tooth must really be killing you.” Dash continued to moan and struggle. A demonic grin formed across Payne's compassionless features. “Relax, Rainbow Dash. Pain is just your body's way of telling you that I'm having the time of my life.” Payne pulled the hook out of her mouth. Rainbow let out a small sigh of relief. Though... what could he have planned for her next? The thought raked Dash's nerves like a set of claws. Cold sweat ran down her face. Dash wished she could at least wipe it off, but her hooves were still bound to the chair. “Now that I know what's bothering you, it's...” Fast, nervous panting came from Rainbow Dash. She was sure she was hyperventilating. She couldn't even see what Dr. Payne was reaching for next. As fate would have it, she didn't have to wait long. Dr. Payne turned back around. To her utter horror, a small drill hovered in front of him. “…time for drillin'!” Dash struggled with all her might. This must have been how Daring Do felt when she was tied to a stone pedestal in a room that was filling with quicksand! She closed her eyes, hoping it would make that drill go away, but it just kept getting closer. When she could take it no more, she shouted. “WAAAAIIIT!” The horrible high pitched whirring stopped. Thank Celestia! Dr. Payne pulled down the mask from his face. “What is it now?” “Well, I'm not really the biggest fan of needles, but I still think I want to be numbed-up before you start.” Dash couldn't keep from shuddering. Without anesthetic, that would have hurt. A LOT. “Darn, you figured it out.” Dr. Payne turned back around. Dash sighed in relief at no longer having that drill next to her face when he set it back down on the tray. The strange doctor gave a sigh and continued to speak as he dipped the needle of a syringe into a vial of clear liquid. “You smart patients are so boring.” He turned back around again, full syringe hovering in front of him. “Ok, if this hurts, just tough it out!” She supposed the needle wasn't as bad as the drill, but Dash closed her eyes anyway. A sharp prick stung her gums, though it didn't hurt nearly as bad as she'd remembered. “Listen to you. Whining and moaning, just to get a quick shot of neigh-vocaine.” Dash opened her eyes again after she felt the needle being pulled out of her gums. To her surprise, Payne had already grabbed the drill again with his magic. She was sure she wasn't numb yet! “Oh, what am I thinking? How silly of me. This just won't do, will it?” For what she felt must have been the hundredth time that morning, Dash sighed in relief as Dr. Payne set the drill back down and left the room. Before she had much time to wonder where he'd gone, he came back in, this time, carrying an industrial carpenter's drill the size of a small filly. “There we go!” His face twisted with a look of insane glee as the huge drill bit began to spiral, its motor emitting a menacing growl. “Now, open wide!”