Author's Note

The Dentist is a tough character to write, I've been distracted getting to Infamy, and my Internet connection fell over just as I finished this. So yeah, sorry it's late.

Dentist

September 20, 2014
10:35 AM

“SD 1550, CP 2249...” Rainbow was watching cars through the window of the van. If she saw a police car, she noted down its license plate in a notebook. It wasn’t much, but it at least gave her something to do as Dallas drove her to the dentist. “Hey, why are you taking me outside, anyway?” she asked. “And how do you know nobody’s gonna freak out or try to turn me in?”

Dallas said nothing, and she simply returned to her car watching, fuming slightly. “SCP 173... Wait, that’s not a D.C. plate.” She scribbled it out on the page, looking up from it just in time to miss a police car’s plate. “Damn it!” The pen flew into the window, landing out of her reach. That only made her even more frustrated, and she was just about ready to tear off her seatbelt and go up to shout at Dallas directly when the van suddenly stopped.

“This is the place,” Dallas said. “I’ll take a look around, make sure nobody’s looking in the street before I open the doors. You’ll have to move fast, though. Brick building just to your left, up the stairs and into the waiting room. You ready?”

“I guess... But you still haven’t told me where—”

“Now.” The doors slid open, and sighing angrily, Rainbow threw herself into the street, turning left and seeing the staircase that Dallas had mentioned. Quickly, she galloped up it, not caring about the sound she made as she passed through an open door. The ‘waiting room’ was definitely there, but there was nobody else around. Though it meant she was safe for the time being, it was slightly creepy to see an empty waiting room.

When she heard the door close behind her, she jumped and spun around to face it. She didn’t see the person who’d come from the other side, hearing the woman’s voice first. “Miss Dash?” she asked, and Rainbow jumped again. “What is the matter? The dentist is not that scary, right?”

In response, she could only giggle nervously. “Right, right...” Trying not to make eye contact, she stepped through into the treatment room. There was another person there, tall and dark-skinned with rimless glasses, the lower half of his face covered by a disposable mask. Having to reach up slightly to get into the human-set chair, she lay back, the chair falling back as well.

“Ah, Rainbow Dash,” the dentist said. “I have never operated on a pony before. This is going to be an interesting experience for me.” He paused for a moment, then added, “And hopefully, for you as well.” He washed his hands at a nearby sink, then pulled on a pair of gloves and walked up to her right side.

“I’ve been to the dentist before,” Rainbow said.

“Ah, yes. Doctor Colgate, I believe. Open up, please?” Her ears suddenly perked up, but immediately fell back down when she realised it was probably just a joke. Her name had sounded like a joke to Dallas as well, at first. The dentist had noticed, though, and he added, “Though I believe her real name was Minuette, and Colgate is just a professional handle.”

Her eyes went wide at the casual statement. How had he known that? As he put the mirror and scraper in her mouth, she tried to calm herself down. She didn’t want to make anything worse in her own mouth. “I wouldn’t know,” she lied softly.

“Of course not. These are some pretty good teeth, as far as I can see. Do you floss?”

“Not really.”

“Hmm. Perhaps that’s only to be expected.” He turned away from her, looking out of the window, though he seemed as focused as ever. “Your friends... How are they doing?”

“They’re fine. Off destroying a mall, or something like that.”

“Maybe you should check up on them. Even if they are in other hands, you ought to keep tabs on how they’re doing.”

“I’m here right now, and I can’t go to the mall. I’d be photographed, captured, tugged at by kids—”

“Oh, my apologies, Rainbow Dash. I had forgotten you were there for a moment.” She tilted her head fully sideways at the statement. Something was very wrong. “I don’t see any major problems with how you’re doing, personally. It’s a pity that you’re having trouble flying, though. And that you can’t do much else for the team, it must be so frustrating.”

That did it. She was going to throttle his sources out of him. She tried to shoot out of her chair, but faster than she thought humans could move, he’d turned around and was holding her down in the chair, along with the female orderly. “Rest assured, I have no intention of becoming your enemy,” he said, his voice never changing from the tone he used as a dentist to a patient. “But if you insist upon that course of action...” He shook his head slowly as he let go. This time, she stayed still in the chair. “Mouthwash?”

Suspiciously, she sipped at the cup, letting the mint-tasting liquid sit in her mouth. She knew it was probably to stop her protesting at whatever he was going to say next, but by that point she also knew he had the upper hand regardless. “Magic in this world is difficult to find, or make use of,” he mused. “And not just the kind that Unicorns use. Earth Ponies and Pegasi have their own magic as well. That is why you can’t take off. Spit.”

She leaned over a small portable sink and ejected the mouthwash. She hated mint. “Why are you telling me all this?” she asked. “What do you want from me?”

He took off his mask and made eye contact with her. “When Dallas came to visit me, I told him of the plans I had for him and his crew. In other circumstances, they could have pulled off the jobs, but since you’re here, I feel like they’ll need your help. And not just as a birdwatcher. I intend to you to help them on the ground.”

“I’m not a criminal. Besides, since I can’t fly, how can I possibly help them?”

“There are different degrees of criminal out there. I’m sure you have stories of a bandit who robbed the rich and greedy to give to the poor and needy. It’s a tale as old as time itself. Most humans do not believe Robin Hood was a criminal.” Rainbow nodded slowly, recalling the tales she’d been told of the Red Baron by Gilda in flight school. “Most of the truly criminal jobs can be carried out by the Payday Crew themselves. But against larger and more corrupt opponents, they will require your help.”

“You still didn’t answer my question. How can I help them?”

“Don’t worry. I have a plan in mind for that. But I cannot tell you of it just yet. Do not be impatient, Rainbow Dash. Your wings shall return to you.” Frowning sadly, she stretched them out in the chair, looking down at them and flapping once impotently. “Other than that, I think we’re done here. Normally I’d tell you to start flossing, but just take care of your teeth the way you have been.”

Nodding, Rainbow stepped out of the chair and started heading for the door. “Oh, and one last thing,” the dentist called as she passed into the waiting room, still empty. She turned her head back to face him. “I’d suggest you ask Dallas what happened to Hoxton. He’s been rather stressed as of late regarding him.”

“Hoxton? His brother?”

“No. The real Hoxton.” The door seemed to close on its own, and Rainbow was left wondering just who the dentist really was, and why he’d told her any of that. All she could do was wait for something to happen, and ask about Hoxton in the meantime.

“How’d it go?” Dallas asked as she came down the stairs.

“He’s... creepy. He knows way too much. How does he even do it? It’s like he’s psychic...”

“He has a lot of patients, who talk about a lot of things. That’s all he told me as well.” Looking around once more, he opened the back doors of the van and beckoned her inside.

Once she’d strapped herself into the seat and they were driving off again, she decided it was the right time to ask. “Hey, there’s something I wanted to ask you. The dentist told me about who he called ‘the real Hoxton’. What happened to him?” Dallas didn’t reply for almost a minute. The silence told Rainbow some of what she needed to know. “He said you needed to let off some stress regarding him. Can you just tell me?”

More silence followed, before Dallas eventually said, “Hoxton was part of the original crew, back when we did the First World Bank. He was... dependable in pretty much any situation. And he was a good friend.” Another pause. “A couple of years ago, he gave us a call, saying the police had surrounded his safe house. We couldn’t get him back in time. There were too many, and we had to retreat without him. We split up after that, until Bain found my little brother and made him the new Hoxton.

“It’s just not the same, though. Hoxton was a master at everything. The new one isn’t bad, but he’s inexperienced and lacks confidence, a bit like you. But he’s out of our reach now, and there’s not a lot that can be done.” Rainbow fell into silence at that. To have to leave a friend behind, and never being able to see them again... As the Element of Loyalty, she knew how much that had to hurt, even if she’d never been in a similar situation herself.

~~~

Back in his operating room, the Dentist himself turned back to the same spot at the window he’d spoken to before. “You see, Twilight?” he asked, knowing he wouldn’t get a reply, but that his words would reach her. “She was entirely safe in my hands. And I know how to retrieve her power. All I need is a concentrated source of magic.” He paused for a moment, as if to let her respond, then continued, “I don’t know exactly where or how GenSec are moving it. But I know how to find that out. They’ll require some more, shall we say, direct help from you, however...”