Pinkie's Sweet Tooth

by Atreyu

When Darkness Falls

Sweet Tooth approached the Library with an unbreakable march.
He tried being nice, nice was for suckers.
He wasn’t going to let some pint-sized lavender unicorn push him around!
He felt the familiar, fleeting comfort of vengeance take hold of him as his grin matched the one plastered on his mask.
He came to a halt by the letterbox, taking a moment to look over the site.
“Ah, Golden Oak Library” he sighed, placing his hands together behind his back with mock nostalgia. He peeked downward and noted the number on the letterbox “One Eighty-Four...” his twisted grin snapped back in place “Let’s BURN IT DOWN!” he laughed hysterically, lighting up a Molotov cocktail.
He wound-up his throw, aiming to send the first one straight through the front window. The dry old pages of the books Twilight had left littered on the floor were sure to catch nicely. The leafy exterior would take care of itself.

“What are you doing!?” called a voice behind Sweet Tooth.
He decided he would rather show then tell.
But before he could continue, he realised, his first clip of cocktails were gone as his pitched arm grasped at empty air.
He dropped his arms tiredly “This just keeps getting better and better!” He muttered to himself.

***
Sweet Tooth slowly, irritably, turned around to see Rarity, levitating the bottles into a nearby skip bin. He bore down on her with a foreboding stare “What are you doing here?” he demanded balefully, sending a chill down Rarity’s spine.
Rarity felt the breath of the monster's words send a chill down her spine, freezing her where she stood. This plan was so much easier in her head—
“I was in a good mood when I let you get away from me the first time...” Sweet Tooth explained menacingly. “...I’m not going to give you any more chances: Just turn around and walk away, right now.”
Rarity recoiled in fear. Her heart was beating like a hummingbird trapped in a glass jar, her mouth had gone dry, her stomach knotted. Her mind, drowning her with screaming visions of what would happen next... her fear had evolved into terror and she couldn't move.

She closed her eyes, summoning all the strength within herself to regain her composure.
She inhaled and opened her eyes.
The transformation from petrified dressmaker to bearer of the Element of Generosity was astounding.

“I came to say: I forgive you” she informed Sweet Tooth.
The words stopped Sweet Tooth and his murderous rampage in his tracks, puzzled. Did he hear that right?
He’d seen fear turn to hysteria before, but never-- like this
“...What?” he finally puzzled quietly.
“Pinkie said that you wanted to change. That you wanted to apologise for-- attempting to kill me?” Rarity raised an eyebrow.
Sweet Tooth realised his earlier confessed vulnerabilities had been exposed.
He raised his guard out of instinct. “And you believed her!?” was the best he could come up with.
Rarity held back an amused grin. “At first: No, I didn’t. But when Twilight cross-examined you, when I saw how you reacted to her words, in comparison to when we first met. I knew something was different. But, it wasn’t until Twilight attacked you, that I knew you had changed” she concluded.

In bewilderment, Sweet Tooth tried to rebuttal her testament, but not a single word could make the journey from mind to mouth.
Rarity took the opening to continue prosecution “Twilight Sparkle is a powerful, magically-gifted unicorn” she gently ensured eye contact with Sweet Tooth. “And that blast she gave you was not a much of a warning shot. She was scared...” She looked away mournful for her friend’s actions “...she was angry...”
Sweet Tooth attempted to bail out of the situation “Thanks for reminding me!” he chided. Now, if you’re done with the pep talk?” He turned to Library. “I’ve got a house to burn down—”
“No. I am not done! And I would thank you to turn around and look at me when I’m talking to you” Rarity ordered.

Sweet Tooth turned, half surprised and half infuriated by the little unicorn’s sudden development of a backbone. “You think I’m going to take that from you, cupcake!?” he started sardonically “In case you’d forgotten, the only reason I haven’t killed you all already is—oh yeah, that’s right: There isn’t one!” he growled.

“Exactly!” Rarity stood her ground.
Sweet Tooth was thrown. Rarity’s reaction had caught him off guard.
Rarity continued closing down Sweet Tooth’s defences “Only, I think: There is a reason. Otherwise you would have done away with us back at my Boutique.”
When Sweet Tooth was unable to argue a defence immediately, Rarity knew she was right. “Twilight may be a powerful unicorn, but that bolt of magic didn’t even leave a scratch! In fact, when I saw the way you were looking at her after it, I was sure our last hope for survival was gone! But, you didn’t retaliate, did you? You could have—with ease, I’d imagine, and quite successfully too! But you knew: that would only prove Twilight’s assumptions right.”
Sweet Tooth couldn’t believe it. This damn unicorn had pierced his armour! She’d seen through his mask. She was right.

Out of plays, Sweet Tooth let out an frustrated sigh of anguish and slumped to his knees, defeated. He figured she had him right where she wanted him: at the end of his rope, open and vulnerable. She knew he had gone soft. She knew he wanted to give up the fight after so long. She knew that he had become an old dog. He had barely put the pieces together himself, but she did. And now, she had him cornered.
Sweet Tooth had grown accustom to what happened to the vulnerable in his world. He decided, he’d make peace with his demons before whatever destruction lay before him.
“I’m sorry...” he confessed his head still hung. His words were not just to Rarity, but to everyone he had tormented “...for everything.”

“Apology accepted. I forgive you” Rarity chimed nonchalantly .
Sweet Tooth peeked upwards in bewilderment “Wha?...was that it? Just like that? --What are you playing at?” he demanded suspiciously
Rarity couldn’t help letting a small chuckle slip through her smile, “Believe me, it is no small feat. It was not easy for me to say those words.”
“...then...how—wha, why?”
“Come along" she beckoned merrily, she turned to leave, "I’ll explain over coffee” she called back.

***
Sheltered from the sun, outside a quiet local coffee shop Sweet Tooth had thrown himself onto the miniature outdoor seat. Removing the rag of cloth from a Molotov and casually taking a swig of the cheap Vodka.
Across the single-legged table, Rarity, savoured the aroma of her coffee, delicately blowing the steam off the top before taking a slow, refined taste of the brew. Deeply satisfied with the blend she sighed comfortably.

“So, Pinkie Pie told you about...my childhood?” Rarity asked politely through slight discomfort at the subject.
“Yeah. She did” Sweet Tooth answered plainly.
Rarity had hoped that they could have danced around the subject at least little longer than that.
With nothing to go with, she sighed reluctantly and abandoned her aim of beating around the bush.

“When I was just a school filly, my mother and father fought, often. My mother wanted to pour everything they had into raising me right. My father, an enterprising businesspony, expected his trophy wife to ‘not be so eager to spend his life-savings’. To cut a long story short: They expected different things out of each other... They wanted different things out of life. In the end they divorced.

Rarity, took a moment. She hadn’t dwelt on this scar in a long time.
"My mother, put on a brave face and did her best. But I could tell that being a single parent, without my father’s generous income, was taking its toll. Meanwhile, my father had quickly re-focused himself back to his work. He had torn my mother out of his memory; He has never really been one to have time for sentiment. He often made an effort to instil in me that: ‘Life is short. And you only live once, sugar. You waste your time being nice and you’ll get walked over by everyone!’” Rarity’s detached impression of her father gave way to sorrow.
“As I watched my mother drift into poverty” she recounted with watery eyes “I realised..." she shook her head softly "...My father must have been right. Rarity suddenly straightened her posture, with a bold, stern expression now etched on her face. “My silver tongue and eye for detail, my weapons of choice, I established an empire at school. Charming my teachers with my good grades, dismantling anypony who stood in my way, ensuring all of my classmates knew who they answered to if they wanted to keep their dignity. I did whatever I could to get ahead. I didn’t want to end up: broken and alone like my mother.” Rarity sighed and swallowed her regret “I stepped on a lot of innocent ponies in my sprawl for the top. Completely oblivious to how far I had to fall. Or what I had become.”

“What about Pinkie Pie?” Sweet Tooth asked
Rarity took a sip of coffee as she smiled absently, eyes glazed over “That’s when everything started to fall apart”

“When Pinkie Pie arrived, she was the talk of the school grounds, naturally. I recognised her as an immediate threat to what I worked so tirelessly to achieve." Rarity stared cunningly into the steam rising from her coffee as she recounted her equation meticulously. I knew, if she realised how magnetic she was, she would gain self-confidence. And then, it wouldn’t be long before she would overshadow me --steal my 'friends' with her infectious enthusiasm and sincere charisma. But, I also knew she was insecure..."
"So I started the rumours” she stated simply. “My plan worked perfectly... until Applejack interfered. She proved to be a critical mis-calculation on my part.”
“They started to make a reputation for themselves” Sweet Tooth recounted Pinkie’s ramblings.
“Indeed” Rarity answered vacantly, still staring down into her coffee. “My ‘friends’ began to abandon me as soon as they realised that my grip over them was slipping. I was devastated. What did Pinkie Pie and Applejack have that I couldn’t offer!?” she demanded. Her now desperate stare morphing into a vicious glare “If I couldn’t be Queen-B...nobody could.”
Her voice echoed a disturbing calmness, poised and calculated. “So I set out to destroy them: to undermine and erode their friendship. I used every trick I could think of but they didn’t break!" Rarity's voice crescendoed "In fact, the sabotage appeared to bring them closer together! The pushes and pressures, only gave them more confidence! They were impervious to everything! What did they have that I didn’t!? ” Rarity implored to Sweet Tooth across the table.

Rarity dropped back into her seat, enchanted by the still vivid memories, “Before too long, my heartlessness left me... broken and alone, with nothing to show for selling my heart and soul but a life of regret. Things got dark.." Rarity paused. "But, I resolved to at least try and pick myself up and try again, to try... the other path. The one my father had warned me against.”
...The path he had tried to follow, Sweet Tooth realised.
The path Twilight had pushed him from, Sweet Tooth identified exactly with what she had meant as she continued.
“I went to beg for forgiveness from the very girls I had tried to destroy. At the end of final period, I waited by the gates to catch Pinkie on her way home. I figured I’d already hit rock bottom, after all. If she pounded me deeper into the bedrock, I suppose I deserved it.”

“But, Pinkie Pie told me, she forgave you? On the spot even” Sweet Tooth questioned in confusion.
Rarity lit up “And she did! And so did Applejack! And that’s when I realised-- what it was they had, that I had thrown away a long time ago” Rarity explained with jubilation. “They had love!”
"..."Sweet Tooth now had no idea what she meant.
“Not an awkward, hopeless-romantic, lovey-dovey love!” she quickly clarified with an awkward chuckle over Sweet Tooth's confusion. “But an even greater love-- A deep respect for each other! The desire to put the other before themselves” Rarity elaborated earnestly. “To delight in each other! To be there for them, a shoulder to cry on and share a load with. To laugh when one laughs and weep when one weeps, to take their pack the whole two miles --to take a bullet for them! "she burst dramatically.
Clearing her throat, she quickly recomposed herself and took Sweet Tooth's hand in hooves, "To forgive them.”

Rarity let the words sink in for a moment before bringing her hoof back to her cup. She took another sip of her coffee. Her eyes glazed over as she smiled absently, floating in nostalgia. “...A childhood saturated with: fighting, selfishness, deception, back-stabbing, and burnt bridges have taught me: Never turn down an apology when it is offered."
Sweet Tooth looked up over to her.
Rarity returned to the present and looked Sweet Tooth in the eye “But most importantly of them all: Do unto others as you would have them do onto you.”

Sweet Tooth was sent falling into a sense of metamorphism as he made the connection between Pinkie and Rarity’s interwoven stories. “You reap what you sow...” he recalled under his breath.

Comments

[Atreyu]

Thanks for all your support guys ^.^ It really has made a difference. Glad people are enjoying the story.

[Dustchu]

5582235
No problem dude! :D Tis a good story!

This chapter was intense! in a way.
Good work!