“Miss Flitter’s here for her five o'clock appointment, Colgate,” a dull voice crackled from the speaker mounted on the wall, which clung for dear life to the wall by means of a single screw. I awoke with a startled snort and wiped a string of saliva from my mouth, murmuring a cuss at being so rudely awoken. I fumbled for a single red button on the speaker and pressed it down lightly, a mechanic beep emanating from the machine and a green light flickering on.
“Send her in, Candy Floss,” I said with a weary sigh, making my exasperated voice loud and clear to the entirety of the dental offices. I leapt into my chair, the wheels screeching in protest as I slid a ways down the room and stopped myself next to the patient’s chair. A few moments passed in silence before there was a loud knock on the door, giving me another start. Since when have I been such a scaredy cat? I thought with a smirk.
My magic enveloped the cracked, wooden doorstop, removing it and allowing the door to eerily creak open.
“Woah, spooky,” the mare laughed dryly as she wandered into the room. “What’s up, doc?”
I rolled my eyes and patted the leather cushions of the patient’s chair. She seemed like a rather confident pony judging from the slight strut in her step and the fact that her corny entrance hadn’t phased her. Her coat was a faded greyish-lilac coloring and her hair, which was done up in a charming, pink bow, reminded me of toothpaste. Then again, everything reminded me of a toothpaste.
“Just sit right here, Ms. Flitter,” I chimed, pulling up a clipboard and examining it. “You’re here for a… filling then?” I glanced up to see the pegasus nod, her expression contorting from a cocky grin to a nervous frown.
“Yeah… today’s the day, huh? Guess I should’ve brushed my teeth a bit more,” she added jokingly. I wasn’t entirely sure if she was even speaking to me, or if this was some last-minute attempt to soothe her nerves. She climbed onto the seat reluctantly and leaned back, giving a quiet squeak of surprise as the cushions gave a bit and she sank in. Her hooves scrambled for a grasp on the handle, which she hung onto with such determination as though she were expecting tornado any minute now.
“Okay, this is how this procedure is going to work: I’ll insert a needle into the gum surrounding the lower second premolar and numb the root. It’ll pinch a bit, but it’s worth it as it spares you quite a bit of discomfort later on” I said with a calm smile, levitating the dentist’s drill so that Flitter could have a look at it, “and then I use this instrument to remove all the decay from your tooth, and then I fill the gap with a mixture of quartz and resin.”
I used my magic to pull down a chart across the room, which depicted a decayed tooth, while simultaneously levitating a long, plastic pointer and pointing out key parts of the procedure.
“Does that sound good to you?”
“It s-sounds great…” Flitter gulped, brushing back a strand of her minty mane as her eyes darted nervously away from mine.
“Good, good. How are you around needles?” I asked as I filled the syringe-like instrument with novacane, giving the pump a quick squeeze to assure that I was not about to pump any air into her bloodstream, which could cause some complications. A bead of the drug dripped to the tiled floor, creating a quiet plip.
Flitter shot me an annoyed glare, snorting indignantly. “What am I, a foal?” she sneered. “I’m fine with needles, obviously.”
“Just thought I’d check,” I sang in a particularly fake tone of cheeriness. I was beginning to dislike this ‘Flitter’, even if her mane is a delightfully minty shade. “Not everypony is. Anyways, I’ll need you to open as wide as you can. I don’t want to stab you, now do I?” Flitter tensed up visibly at this notion and I had to suppress the overwhelming urge to giggle at my own cruelty. After a few moments, she seemed to relax once more. Flitter’s jaws spread apart only slightly, barely leaving me any room to see what I was doing.
“A little wider, please.”
A bead of sweat formed on Flitter’s furrowed brow, and she physically withdrew from my hooves as I approached her. She shook her head slightly and cringed, making a ‘mmph’ noise is protest.
“Umm… a little wider, please?” I repeated, approaching her steadily with the needle poised and my magic ready to squeeze the pump. “Are you… absolutely sure you’re alright around needles? It really doesn’t hurt that much!”
Flitter grunted and rolled her eyes, wagging her hoof as if to say ‘keep it coming’. However, as the needle approached her tiny mouth, it caught a glint of light from the overhead lamp, which caused the mare to shrink and squeak like a timid mouse.
“Come on, Flitter, just open wide!” I hissed, attempting to plunge the needle into her mouth. She dodged it and the sharp tip embedded itself in the leather of her seat. “Look what you made me do!” I began to mumble angrily to myself as I removed the needle from the cushion and gauged how much of the drug I had left.
“I’m not sure I can do this… is there something else you can do?”
I sighed in exasperation. “Yes, yes, there’s a topical gel we can use to numb your gums, but I can’t guarantee it will work,” I breathed, poising the needle over the patient’s mouth, ready to strike, “how about we give it one more try…”
Flitter gulped audibly, but nodded slowly. She eyed the instrument hovering above her head with distrust. I inhaled deeply in an attempt to calm myself before using the blue aura of my telekinesis to insert the needle steadily into her mouth. Flitter squirmed in the chair uncomfortably as it neared her gums. Suddenly, she knocked it away from her with as much force as she could muster, sending me reeling back with my forelegs windmilling to keep my balance. The needle landed with a resonating clatter at my hooves.
“For Celestia’s sake!” I screamed, seizing the object once more in my magical grip, “just… open… wide!” Without a moment’s pause for second thoughts, I sent the needle surging towards it’s target. Once again, Flitter attempted to dodge the flying needle, but she had not been quick enough to avoid it entirely.
I watched in horror as Flitter’s eyes flickered lethargically over to her neck, where the needle was protruding from her flesh. She stared at it in awe for what seemed like an eternity before her eyes rolled back into her head and her eyelids slammed shut. Her hooves went limp at her sides.
“Umm, Flitter,” I called nervously, “a-are you alright there?”
No response except for her shallow breath. At least she’s breathing.
“Ooooh…. what do I do? What do I do?” I squealed nervously, my hooves clicking loudly against the tiles as I paced around the patient’s chair, where an unconscious Flitter lay with froth leaking from her mouth. “Calm down, Colgate… you can fix this!”
Should I call for help?
“No!” I yelped aloud, shaking my head, “that won’t work. It won’t work! It won’t work!”
It won’t work. It won’t work. It won’t work. It won’t work.
I continued my pacing, though I had broken into more of a light sprint as I dashed around the room searching for something to fix my predicament. Nothing seemed to be coming to mind as I raced around, occasionally eyeing the drugged patient to notice any signs of her awaking.
It won’t work. It won’t work. It won’t work. It won’t work.
“Work!” I gasped, skidding to a stop, “Oh sweet Luna! When she wakes up she’ll be furious! She’ll sue! I’ll lose my job, my money, my house…. my life! What will my friends think? What will my mother think? ‘I told you, Colgate’ she would say, ‘you’ll never make it as a dentist. Your cutie mark is an hourglass, not toothpaste!”
Hourglass!
Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.
The clock ticked the seconds away in perfect unison to my own mental clock of doom. It ticked away the seconds until Flitter woke up and I’d have an angry, half-drugged patient on my hooves. This will not look good on my resume.
“Oh goddesses! I’ll have to move to Trottingham! I’ll have to start a new life with a new identity. I’ll have to pass myself off as some sort of clock specialist, like Time Turner! I’ll have to work on my accent!”
I halted before a mirror that I had leaned against the far left corner of the room. It was propped up next to an old rusty shovel, which I had brought into my office for temporary storage. I was moving in with Bonbon in a few days. There was a tiny crack creeping across the glass, obscuring what little I could see of my reflection through the thin layer of dust settled on its surface. I grasped a cloth with my magic and wiped away the majority of the coat.
There I was. Colgate, the sudden fugitive.
Whilst I was clearing my throat, I visualized myself flaunting a fancy feather scarf and a large chapeau adorned with roses. I wasn’t Colgate anymore, I would be… Minuette! Sounds like minute.
“‘Ello, govna!” I chimed, “fancy a spot ‘o tea to go with your crumpets?” I groaned audibly at my failed accent.
No, no. That won’t do. This won’t work! The only way to get rid of the problem is to get rid of the patient. The patient is the problem. Get her. Get her. Get her. It’s the only way.
I shook that thought out of my head, genuinely concerned at how it had become so lodged in the front of my mind. “I swear, Colgate, you can be so weird sometimes,” I chuckled nervously, shivering slightly at my own grim desires. “For starters, you talk to yourself.”
“Mmph…” I heard somepony mumble groggily, “where am I?”
“Uh oh.” I gasped as I spun around to face a newly-awakened Flitter. I watched nervously, a forced grin plastered to my face, as the pegasus’ hooves glided to the needle still buried halfway into her neck.
“Did you… put this in my neck?” the mare asked, wincing as she removed it. A small string of blood dripped to the floor. “I don’t feel so good, miss… um, dentist lady.”
“It’s Colgate.” I corrected. “And he he he… about thaaaaat, you see, I kind of sort of have to…” I trailed off as my eyes fell upon the shovel still resting across the room. “I kind of have to…” I fired up my horn, focusing my energy on the rusted weapon. It was soon immersed in a shimmering blue glow, and I levitated it closer to us, while still keeping it out of Flitter’s sight.
“You have to what?” she asked impatiently, eyeing me as though I were crazy,
“I have to apologize,” I finished, “for that…” I said, gesturing to the gash on her neck where the misfired needle had been, “and for this as well.”
“Wait, what? What are you going to -”
Crack. A spine-tingling, blood-curdling, sickening crack resounded through the room as the shovel collided with the mare’s skull. She fell limp once again as a trail of blood began to flow from her maneline, spilling over her eyes.
“What… what have I done?”
This is not good. Not good. Not good.
“Haha, oh dear,” I chuckled maniacally, “seems I made quite a mess! Hahaha. Haha… ha… ha…let me fix you up, Flitter dear, let me fix you up. I know! I’ll do your filling for free! No charge! Yup! That makes us even, right?”
I stared bug-eyed at Flitter’s unmoving body for over a minute, awaiting her response with a patient but eerily large grin.
“Come on, Flitter. Work with me here! I can fix this! I’ll do your filling now. Right away! Fast as lightning. Everything will be fine. You'll be fine, I’ll be fine. Dandy! Everything will be just dandy! Haha… haha… ha… ha,” I babbled, giggling occasionally between sentences, “everything will be fine. Or else, okay? Or else I’ll have to hurt you. I’ll have to make you scream and scream until you promise you won’t say anything to anypony!”
I spun around to face the tray, my hoof hovering over each tool as I contemplated what to do. Fillings… fillings… what to use for a filling…
“Ah, there you are!” I chimed as I plucked the dental drill from its place, turning it around to admire the metallic sheen it gave off when caught in the harsh lamplight. I flicked on the switch and the drill whirred to action, sounded like some industrial saw from a horror movie more than a harmless dental instrument.
“Do you like horror movies? I like horror movies,” I beamed, “I know! We can make this fun and pretend it’s a horror movie. Haha… okay? I’ll pretend to be the villain and you’ll be the innocent… victim…”
Innocent victim! What are you doing, Colgate? This isn’t you. This isn’t you. Stop. Stop. Stop.
I bent over, placing a hoof on the opposite side of Flitter for support. Levitating a pair of protective glasses over my eyes, I raised the tool and poised it, ready for entry into the mouth cavity. Hmm. I grunted annoyedly. Damn tiny mouths. let’s fix that, shall we? I reached back with my hoof, fumbling around until it met its mark: a dental speculum, a large, metal appliance used to keep the patient’s mouth wide open during long procedures.
I reached a gloved hoof into her mouth, pulling down her jaw rather forcefully and inserting the mechanism so that is rested comfortably against her teeth. A crank protruded from the corner of her lips and I surrounded it with the pale hue of my magic, gauging how many levels I should put it up to. My lips twisted into a sick grin as the meter climbed two levels, spreading her jaw sizably. I felt her shift, almost contract away from me.
Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.
Colgate, stop it! You’re hurting her!
“No!” I screeched, “I can’t turn back now. I have to finish what I started.” With a maniacal giggle, I clenched my teeth and cranked it up another two, watching her mouth as it stretched like a snake unhinging its jaw to eat.
“Mmm…” Flitter moaned, her eyes cracking open, “mmph.”
“Hello, sleepyhead,” I sang with an amused grin as I gripped the crank, “we’re at grandma’s house!” I could almost feel her skin stretch as her jaw spread even further apart, pushed to its limit: level seven. This additional pain seemed to be enough to rouse her from her sleepy state. She nearly bolted upright, but I managed to hold her down with the strength of my magic.
You’re hurting her. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.
“MMMPH! Tha’… hurtsh…” she cried, her wild eyes flicking between me and the contraption, or what she could see of it. Her mouth was spread so wide that I could’ve just barely fit my hoof in.
“I know! But don’t worry, it’ll be over very soon.” I continued in a sing-song tone, craning my neck until two wooden shelves came into view, mounted one beneath the other on the wall opposite from me. From it, I could clearly see two large, white lengths of cloth I used for various tasks such as stemming blood flow. They now had a new use, however.
Tying up naughty patients. Naughty, naughty! Hahahaha.
From beside, I grabbed a pair of scarlet fabric scissors and cut three nearly identical rectangles in the fabric, placing the rest neatly back on the shelf.
I hummed as I worked, holding the mare’s forelegs to the chair as I tied the cloth around, bonding her and the armrests of the chair together, just as planned. Assuring that the knot was tied tightly enough, I leaned into Flitter’s view and grinned toothily.
“How are you doing?” I inquired, to which she shook her head tearfully, trying to wrestle free of my makeshift hoofcuffs, “I wouldn’t struggle if I were you. Makes it tighter.” That was a bluff, of course. I had no clue how long the cloth rope would stand underneath the pegasus’ power, but I hoped it would help keep her under control until I found something better to do.
“Pleash dunt doh thish to me,” Flitter pleaded tearfully, “I promish ah wunt tell anyponeh af yuh let meh go.”
I giggled. “Haha, good one! You’re having fun, right? I know I am! Haha, it’s like a party, no? Except it’s a secret party so you can’t tell a soul! Shh. Wouldn’t want the other ponies getting jealous or I might have to kill you all!”
“No… pleash…. let meh go! Thish really hurtsh.”
Let her go?
Dear Celestia, Colgate, what are you doing to her? You’re killing her! You’re hurting her! You’re a monster, Colgate. Tick tock, tick tock, Colgate. Time is ticking. Somepony will find you. You won’t get away with this if she lives.
I froze, paralyzed in horror at my own actions. What was I doing? Are you going to torture her, Colgate? Why? This pony hadn’t done anything wrong, yet somehow my own morbid curiosity into the depths of a pony’s pain had led me to hurt her. Torture her.
Make her scream, Colgate. Scream and cry and plead for mercy. But don’t have mercy. Nopony can live. She can’t live. Not after this.
Don’t listen to her, Colgate. Kill her. Hurt her.
“Oh dear, Celestia, what have I done?” I gasped, cupping a hoof over my mouth to stifle my own cry, “I-I am so sorry. I don’t know why I did that.” I crouched down so that I was eye level with her bonds, positioning the scissors so that they were ready to slice through and let her free. “I swear, I was just trying to make up for a tiny mistake.”
“Ish okay, jush leh meh go an’ ah well nevah evah tell anyponeh!”
I frowned, my brow furrowing and lips pursing. I stood up, letting the scissors clatter to the tiled floor noisily.
No, no, no. This is wrong. All wrong. She can't go free. She’ll tell them all. They’ll find you. Hurt her. Kill her. Make her scream.
“Oh no… I’m sorry, Flitter, but I’m afraid that won’t work,” I sighed, struggling to come to terms with the truth. “You see, you will tell somepony. Even if you did try not to out of fear of being hunted down, you would let it slip.”
That’s my girl, Colgate. Hurt her. Haha, kill her. Make me proud.
“Wha? No! No! Ah swear ah wunt! Pleash lemmeh go!”
I shook my head solemnly. You’re really going to do it, Colgate, aren’t you? Just do it. Worry about the body later. Nopony can know that you were torturing her. Nopony can know. Haha, this is a party. A secret party for just the two of you. Look at Flitter. She’s in tears with laughter! She’s having so much fun!
I took the spare length of cloth and balled it up, making a sizeable wad that I promptly stuffed into her open mouth. She attempted to scream, but all that came out was a muffed gurgle.
“Shh, they’ll hear you,” I warned, “they’ll hear you and come and end the party.”
She shook her head, trying to loosen the bonds as best as she could, but it was a futile fight. Just watching her squirm and shriek made my heart wither. I felt ashamed of what I was about to do. My mouth became considerably more dry and my face hotter, beads of sweat trickling down, just at the prospect of taking a pony’s life.
Do it. Kill her. Hurt her.
Tick tock. Tick tock. They’ll start to wonder. Haha, then you’ll be done for. Haha. Kill her. Now. Do it. Tick tock. Tick tock. Time is ticking.
“P-please,” I sobbed, a single tear streaking my face, followed promptly by many others, “don’t struggle. Don’t fight! I-I don’t want to do t-this!”
But you do, Colgate, don’t you? Admit it, you’re curious. How much will she scream. How much will she bleed? You like this, Colgate. This is who you are now. This is who we are now. We’re one. You and I, partners in crime.
Taking the pair of scissors up in my magical grip, I poised it over her. I clenched my teeth. I was tempted to look away, but my eyes seemed to be glued to the horrific scene that would play before me mere moments later.
Do it.
“Mmmf! Mmf!” Flitter howled, trying her best to dodge the blade poised for her neck.
I’ll never leave, Colgate. This is what we do now. Hurt her. Kill her.
“I can’t!”
So…
“You’re hurting her!”
Just….
“Stop it!”
Do….
“P-please…”
It...
Thoughtlessly, wordlessly, tearlessly, I plunged the blade straight into her neck as forcefully as I could. The pegasus’ body convulsed as it endured the waves of searing pain, her wings stretching out and beating a few times before folding back in at her sides. Large pools of blood began to trickle from the gash almost immediately. She wheezed a few times, coughing loudly as flecks of crimson began to spread into the weave of the gag.
Good girl, Colgate. It’s all over now. She’ll never tell anypony. They’ll never find you. We’re together now and they can’t stop us.
Her eyes welled with tears, but even through the stream of salty liquid, her eyes were set on me. Even as she battled for breath, coughing and wheezing and choking back her own sanguine leakage, her mauve eyes stared up into mine. They seemed to plead for something. Last words?
Her eyes said it all.
They’ll find you.
It wasn't for a while that I realized I was staring into the eyes of a dead mare. I had killed her. I really killed her.
You've done it now, Colgate. I’m so proud Hurt them. Kill them. Make them pay.