Silence echoed through Carousel Boutique as the shadowy unicorn silently stalked its halls. A standard perimeter check that the unicorn made almost every night. The goal was to ensure no pony’s wandering eyes could discover her darkest secret. The unicorn quickly and quietly blocked all the windows and tripled locked them along with the doors. When her rounds were completed for the third time the unicorn let out a sigh of relief. The unicorn continued to sneak from the the last window on her routine to the master bath.
The white unicorn hastily made for the medicine cabinet. Rarity did one last check over her shoulder, when she was sure nopony could see she triggered the hidden lever behind the toothpaste. A hidden door slid open revealing a small curved container. With her magic she carefully retrieved the case. She hated this case with every fiber of her being. This case represented the only flaw in her all natural beauty. She closed the cabinet with a sigh. She looked at herself in the mirror. She had a beautiful mane, and the tale to match. She had sparkling blue eyes that anypony would kill for. Her bone structure was nearly flawless. She looked back at the case on the counter with a sigh. Rarity opened her mouth as wide as possible. With a little tug of her magic her upper row of teeth popped out. A tear formed in the corner of her eye as she put her teeth away in their case. The only flaw in the unicorns natural beauty was her fake smile. Rarity sighed as she recalled the fateful day that stole her all natural beauty.
***
A cold wind crept through a small crack in the wall, it quickly made it’s way for the sleeping mare. The small pony pulled her covers close in a vain attempt to ease her shivering. A ray of sunlight peeked through the crack. Ever so slowly the sunbeam slid across the room before finally reaching the sleeping unicorn. The sun’s light brought a comforting warmth to the young mare. Quickly the unicorn opened her eyes and welcomed the day. Today wasn’t just any day though. Rarity had been waiting for this day for a long time. Today the day Mother was finally going to teach her to ice skate.
Every winter Mother would take her to the lake once it was fully frozen. Every year Rarity would beg her to teach her, and every year she would be given the same answer. You are too young. On the first snow of the winter Rarity was already asking if this would be the year and to her excitement Mother said yes. Of course large bodies of water take some time to freeze, but today was the day Mother was sure the ice would be thick enough to skate on. Rarity finished her morning brushing routine before making a mad dash to her parents room across the hall.
“MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY! Mommy today’s the day. You said I was big enough to skate now.” Rarity knew it was uncouth to speak like a filly, and she was no longer a filly. Despite all this she was just so excited she couldn’t help but act like the eager filly she was not long ago.
“Yes Rarity I know. Give me five minutes to wake up. In the meantime pick out a scarf to wear.” The younger mare bolted out the door and back in her room before the older unicorn finished speaking.
Rarity furiously pulled every scarf from the specialized drawer in her petite dresser. The red one was too bold. The green one was too earthy. The yellow one, well it was simply marvelous. Rarity donned the yellow scarf and made her way back to the hall. Her wait, much to her excitement, was quite brief. Her mother soon emerged from her own room with two sets of skates.
The trip to the lake was short, but for Rarity it seemed like the longest trip of her life. Before long the mares arrived and both unicorns put on their skates. Rarity’s mother went out first to test the ice, when she was sure the ice was secure she motioned for Rarity to come out towards her.
Rarity excitedly took her first slide onto the ice. All those years of watching her mother had really taught Rarity the basics of how to skate elegantly across the ice. Coupled with her natural grace Rarity was a natural skater.
“Oh Rarity you are natural. Still, you need to take it slow at first. I’m going to my saddle bag to get lunch ready. You can skate for five minutes then I want you to meet me at the table. After we eat I’ll teach you a few of my old tricks.”
Rarity only half listening nodded to her mother and continued skating in an increasingly elaborate manner. She would twist, turn, and she even managed a little hop. This was one of the greatest days of her young life that she never wanted it to end.
“Rarity lunch is ready. The faster you eat the faster you can get back on the ice.”
“Mom watch me do a jump.” Rarity was building up speed as she made her way towards her mother. When she felt she was going fast enough she positioned herself to do a big jump. Before her mother could tell her to stop she was in the air.
“RARITY! YOU NEED TO SHIFT YOUR WEIGHT TOWARDS THE BACK YOU'RE LEANING TOO FAR FORWARD!”
The panicked, motherly warning was a moment too late. The young mare was already out of control. Her mother watched in horror as everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Rarity was at the arc of her jump. She was heading back to the ground. Her hooves weren’t positioned for landing. Her face was inches from the ice. She opened her mouth to scream. Her teeth hit the ice.
A pair of blood curdling screams filled the air. One was brought on by pain, the other horror. Blood was pouring out of the young unicorns mouth. The older mare quickly made her way to her daughter.
“I need you to try and calm down Rarity. I know you must be in a lot of pain, but you gotta be brave. Rarity sweetie, the fall knocked out at least three of your teeth and chipped a couple more. I know this is scary but mommy is going to take you to the dentist right away.”
***
Rarity shook her head to shake of the memory. At the dentist they learned the damage was too severe to easily repair. Considering these were all her adult teeth the situation was rather severe. Not only was the surgery to fix her teeth dangerous, there was only a fifty percent chance of success. In addition that kind of surgery was expensive. Too expensive for Rarity’s family. The only cost effective solution was dentures.
A loud popping sound and and a flash of magenta came from the bedroom. A panicked Rarity hastily made for the case to reinsert her teeth before Twilight could see.
“Rarity! Rarity! Spike is missing. Have you seen him? I searched the whole library and he wasn’t there. He probably ran away because I’ve been neglecting him lately.”
Rarity struggled with her dentures they were almost back in when the bathroom door burst the rest of the way open. Rarity was knocked back onto the toilet causing it to flush. The magical aura crumbled and the dentures soared, seemingly in slow motion, right into the flushing toilet. They were gone.
“TWI WIGHT SPA COO! WHO SAYS YOU CAN BAWGE IN HERE!!!”
“Rarity? What happened to your teeth? More importantly have you seen Spike?”
“YOU INTWUDE MY PWIVATE SPWACE AWSKING ABOWT HOW YOU WOST SWIKE! MY PWOBWEM IS MOW GWIM!”
“Rarity calm down. We replace your dentures but we only have one Spike.”
The fashionista had slunk to the floor, the last of her energy use on that last outburst. Quietly she wept as the lavender unicorn paced the small room.
“We need a plan. We will get the rest of the girls and go find him. With the six of us all looking we are sure to find him.”
A loud bell rang through the house. Rarity wept some more. Another visitor and now she had no teeth put in to hide her shame.
“Rarity! Have you seen Twi? She was out running last minute errands and I saw Apple Bloom walking home in the dark so I decided to escort her back to the farm. When I got back the library had been ransacked and Twilight was missing.” The young dragon's voice was a little muffled but it was easy enough to understand for the unicorns.
Twilight made a mad dash to the front door, quickly undoing all of the locks Rarity had in place, and abruptly tackle hugging her number one assistant.
“You thought I ran away didn’t you? I told you already I’ll never do that again. You need to relax a bit.”
The sound of weeping interrupted the silence that followed the reunion.
“Rarity!” The small dragon took off with a speed a certain rainbow maned pegasus would envy.
“WAIT SPIKE! RARITY ISN’T FEELING WELL I DON’T THINKS SHE WOULD WANT YOU TO SEE HER LIKE THIS.”
Two synchronized screams proved Twilights effort had failed. The intensity of the weeping that followed was unlike anything Twilight had ever heard. She quickly returned to where she had left her friend moments ago.
“Even my Spikey wikey thinks I’m hideous.” When she wasn’t screaming Rarity was a little easier to understand without her dentures. That or it might have been the two’s practice in understanding a whiney Rarity.
“Ummm. No. I. Umm.” The dragon was stammering he didn’t know what to say. Sure this new image of Rarity was burned into his brain, but he still loved her. “You’re not hideous. I was just shocked is all. You’re still the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria.”
Rarity’s weeping slowed but her tears continued.
“Oh Spikey.”
“Rarity, first off let me apologize. It was my fault your dentures got flushed. I will do everything I can to help you replace them, you won’t have spend a single bit. Second, and only if you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your teeth?”
For the second time that night Rarity relived her most haunting memory, this time relaying the details to her companions. The others sat in silence listening to the tale. The story didn’t take long to recount but Rarity started weeping again as she told the tale, barely choking out the last few words.
“Oh Rarity you were so young.”
“My wast adult tooth had juth come in.”
“First thing tomorrow we will all go your dentist and get you a new denture. Now let’s get you into bed, it has been a rough day for you.”
The three made their way to the bedroom and saw to it that Rarity was nicely tucked in. Spike and Twilight then made their way to the spare bedroom to get a little rest of their own.
Morning came quickly. Twilight was the first to stir. She made a brief checklist of things to do: wake Rarity and Spike, go to the bank, retrieve Rarity and Spike, teleport to the Dentist, see that Rarity gets new dentures, and finally apologize to Rarity, again, for all the trouble.
Twilight set about to seeing that her list was fulfilled. She woke Rarity first to explain her course of action to her, besides Spike would prefer to sleep in as long as he could.
Rarity was still a bit upset but she found no faults in her friends plan. As Twilight set of for the bank, they both agreed Spike could sleep till her return, she decided to make herself some oatmeal. She wasn’t overly fond of out meal but it didn’t require chewing. Twilight returned just as she finished cleaning up from breakfast.
Twilight set about waking Spike while Rarity did her best to make herself presentable. Twilight returned shortly taking care to knock before entering. With Rarity’s permission Twilight and Spike entered the bedroom.
“I’m going to teleport us from here to the dentist office. It going to take a lot of magic so I’m going to be a little while recompose myself. Spike you’re going to tell the receptionist Rarity had an emergency and needs to see her regular doctor. Rarity will keep to herself to prevent her secret from getting out any further. Everyone understand?”
The other two nodded their affirmation and Twilight ignited her horn. Rarity’s bedroom vanished and suddenly the trio stood huddling a dental office. Rarity helped a wobbly Twilight into a chair while Spike check them in.
Ten minutes passed and Rarity was called back. Twilight, whom was feeling much better now, and Spike went back with her. When the four were alone with the dentist Twilight recounted the previous nights event and pulled out the bag of bits she withdrew to pay for todays bill.
“Well normally I have some warning to when a patient’s dentures need to be replaced. Its going to take a week for the new one to be done. I know thats not what you wanted to hear.”
Rarity let out a sigh but she had expected as much. She nodded her thanks before pulling Spike into a stress relieving hug. Twilight began to work out a payment plan with doctor. When every detail was planned out the trio headed for the boutique. Teleporting that far again was out of the question.
The trip was almost as taxing as teleporting was. It seemed like everypony they knew wanted them to stop and talk. They convinced everyone Rarity had a throat infection and it was best if she didn’t talk. This worked fine until they ran into somepony else moments later. The storm of ponies finally ended as Carousel Boutique came in to view. Once inside they worked out a plan, Twilight would stay with Rarity to deter visitors with the same excuse of sickness under the guise of caretaker. Spike would be in charge of running the library.
***
It was a long week for everyone. All of Rarity’s friends and admirers were constantly trying to visit her and Twilight was burdened with keeping them out. A few tried some extreme measures like coming in through the chimney but after Rainbow Dash’s attempt to sneak in through an upstairs window Twilight coated the whole building in protection spells. Rarity had to deal with this in part as well, that coupled with the fact that solid food was off the table didn’t help her emotional state. Spike for all his experience never had to run the library solo for more than a day or so, as the week went on he slowly fell further and further behind. He managed to catch up on everything on Sunday, a day he could normally use to relax with the library closed.
When the day arrived Twilight managed to sneak Spike in by teleporting him from the bushes. Pinkie almost managed to grab on before he disappeared. When everything was ready Twilight once again cast the spell to land them in the dentist office. They were expected this time and Rarity only had to wait a few moments. Spiked decided to stay with Twilight while she composed herself.
“Hey Twi I just thought of something. How are we going to get Rarity back home without anypony noticing. I mean we spent so much time keeping everypony out. The fact that we just teleported across town is going to be just a little suspicious, don’t you think.”
The lavender unicorn was struck with bewilderment how has she not accounted for that. She started to panic and soon she was pacing the waiting room. Suddenly a shop across the street caught her eye.
“Spike there’s a costume shop right over there. I need you to go and get a wig and tale set along with fake cutie mark. We disguise Rarity split up and meet her closer to the boutique from there we can all teleport back in.” She gave Spike a bag of bits and he was off.
Rarity came out a few minutes before Spike returned, wearing a fake moustache, giving Twilight enough time to explain the plan. Spike handed over the bag and Rarity went to the bathroom to put on the disguise while Twilight and Spike left to make their own way to the meeting place.
“Oh Spike you silly dragon this is the worst disguise ever. The tale doesn’t match the mane, both completely disagree with my coat and I have no idea what this cutie mark even is.”
When she had everything on she looked herself over in the mirror.
“This will never fool anypony.” Suddenly an idea came to her. She pulled out her dentures and put them in her saddle bag. “Its a good thing I packed some makeup.” She spent the next five minutes applying a purposefully terrible coat of makeup. “Nopony would ever expect its me with this much mascara and no teeth.”
Rarity carefully snuck out of the office and out into the street. The foot traffic here was light this time of day. Rarity made her way through town nervously as she passed a few familiar faces. No one seemed to take any notice of her. Normally not attracting any attention would wound her ego but today it was heaven.
“Just one more block to go.” Rarity muttered to herself.
“You must be new in town because I don’t think I’ve seen you before. I love how your tail color doesn’t match your mane color. I think its unique. What’s your name? I’m Pinkie Pie. I just love making new friends! We should be friends. It will be so so much fun. Please be my friends pretty pretty please?’
“Pinkie Pie you say? You’re just the pony I was looking for. I’m from Manehatten and I was sent to tell you that your presence is required immediately at the... at the... “ Rarity looked around for some idea of what to say. Her eyes rested on her fake cutie mark. She finally came to the conclusion it looked sorta like a ferris wheel. “At the big carnival they are having. We heard about how much fun you are and decided we needed you right away. Here are some bits for the train” Rarity l dug out a small sum of bit and gave them to the pink party pony. “You best hurry now. I have one more thing to do before I return but you don’t want to keep everypony waiting do you?”
“Okey Dokey Lokey!!” With the the pinkie pony pranced of towards the train station.
When Pinkie was out of sight Rarity sprinted toward the meeting place.
“Sorry, I met up with Pinkie she wanted to be friends, so I sent her to Manehatten saying a carnival was requesting her assistance. Knowing her though it will probably end up being true when she gets there. If not I’ll convince her it was just a joke I had someone pull on her. Now quickly get me back into my house.”
A flash and a pop later and the trio was inside the familiar boutique. Rarity put her dentures back in and headed for the bathroom to remove the excess make up.
“I want to thank you both for everything. Helping me keep my secret and more importantly showing me that even if I didn’t have teeth I would still have friends who care about me. The day might come where I don’t need my teeth to feel normal. Until then though if you tell anypony my secret I will have to hurt you both.”
The doorbell rang and a now presentable Rarity quickly answered it. Standing in the door was a white unicorn with a mismatched tail and mane wearing far too much makeup.
“I’m looking for a pony named Pinkie Pie.” When she spoke it was revealed she had no upper teeth.
“If you’re hear about a carnival in Manehatten she already got your message. Don’t ask me how Pinkie Pie can’t be explained. Do be a dear though and pretend you delivered the message to her.”
Rarity returned to the others and they all shared a good, long laugh.
Author's Note
I got the idea for this story when I had to have my teeth ripped out. I'm still unsure how I feel about it but I wrote It and I'm sharing it.
