Rejected Mercy

Three girls entered the store, and I recognised them immediately.

They were Sirens.

And yet, something about them had changed. Their aura was different—it was nonexistent.

Human-like. And their gem pendants were missing.

What happened?

Our eyes met. Adagio recognised me, too. She walked towards me, resting her arm on her hip.

This day has reached its lowest point.

“Well, well, well, Pari,” she greeted me. “You work here?”

With gritted teeth I lowered my head. A simple retail worker. A disgrace. “Got nothing better.”

“Really?” Adagio continued with a chuckle. “What became of your dream to be a dentist?”

“And what became of your gems?” I countered.

“Touché.”

The short silence allowed me to get a closer look at them. Sonata was in her own world looking at the groceries, whereas Aria pretended to not care what was happening around her. Their clothes were what got my attention—too fine and detailed. Too rich for three girls that survive off of stolen food and rubbish.

“However,” Adagio said, grinning widely, “we've become quite popular. Superstars, singers, you know the deal.”

I grunted. She had to rub her success in my face, didn’t she? Her satisfaction with my demeaning job was written all over her face—in cursive.

“To think that someone as obsessed with teeth as like you couldn’t find—”

“Where are your gem pendants?” I interrupted her. Two can play at this game.

“Oh, that's a long story,” Adagio muttered. “But an interesting one for sure.”

I knew Adagio enough to know that she would tell just enough to grab my interest, but not reveal anything. The Sirens were manipulative from beginning to the end.

“Not that I care,” I responded. “Get what you need and take off.”

They laughed, and Adagio put her hands on my shoulder. “You’ve got some nerve to talk to your customers like that. Especially when they have new information regarding your world.”

There it was. They knew something I didn’t, and they knew how much I would give to know it, too.

“So what?” I replied nonetheless. “Why should I care what's happening in Equestria? You know I’m trapped here.”

This should’ve been enough to get her off of me, but Adagio’s grin persisted. “I’m not so sure about that, Tooth Fairy.”

Pari means fairy, a name I had picked up growing up in Saddle Arabia. I was a breezie in Equestria until I got banished to the human world.

The portal works in mysterious ways, jumping around time at random. I was sure I'd been banished two hundred years after the sirens, but I lived here for a decade before they showed up. Maybe the spell that prevented me from crossing the portal again was the cause for this time jump, but that was just an idea.

What mattered now was that I was a human. A boring, magicless human. I had to eat, sleep, earn money, pay rent, and spend my remaining hours living a boring life.

To think that I almost conquered the whole world, once upon a time.

The train was the cheapest way to Canterlot City. A plane would be faster—and better for my impatience—but after spending nearly all my savings on Adagio's information, I had limited options left.

They had told a crazy story, but they could prove everything. I didn’t know what I would do at my destination, but I was sure I would figure something out.

For now, I had to wait, and this was the problem.

When I waited, it meant I noticed my surroundings, and when I noticed my surroundings, I got angry.

Someone took a sip of coffee. Someone bit into a chocolate bar. Someone puffed on a cigarette.

They were ruining their teeth. Their fascinating, beautiful, precious teeth.

How could someone not care for their teeth? How could someone eat and drink so much junk that attacks their enamel?

If only I could shout at them. If only I could knock some sense into these stupid humans.

But I had to focus on the bigger goal. I had to get my powers back.

There was always a full moon in my dreams. It wanted me to feel calm and collected. To be at peace.

I never accepted it. I fought it. I wanted to feel rage.

But the moon was stronger.

Breezing wind, high up in the air. I was flying just like in Equestria.

And I knew where to fly. Sometimes it was a small house. Other times it was a towering apartment. Once at my goal, I flew through the window into a room with a small child. I reached under their pillow and pulled out a tooth. Then I put a bit of money under their pillow.

A fair trade. The better the tooth, the better the price.

Then I flew back outside. High in the sky, nothing could stop me. The full moon shone over me with comforting light.

At times like these, I was careless. At peace. Happy. Sometimes I wished it would never stop.

And when I'd wake up, I would have the children’s teeth in my hands.

Some cities had central locations where every citizen would go. For Canterlot City, it was Canterlot Mall—uncreative name, if you would ask me.

I simply wandered and looked around. The posters of the Rainbooms were a good sign, but nothing that would help me in my goal of finding them.

Adagio knew I had spent every last penny of my savings for her story, and yet she refused to tell me where exactly the Rainbooms were. “Sorry, but your payment isn’t enough,” she had said.

She wasn’t sorry.

Nonetheless, I would reach my goal. No matter what.

A crying child ripped me from my thoughts. A girl. Maybe around five. She held her cheek while her mother attempted to calm her down. Normally, I would walk past them, but the little girl’s words caught my attention: “My tooth hurts!”

I approached her. It might have been my stare, or just pure chance, but the child noticed me and pointed in my direction.

I smiled. “Hey, little girl!” I offered her my hand. “I’m Pari, and I’m a dentist!”

The girl sobbed. “It hurts…”

“May I take a look?” While I had asked the girl, I also gave a glance at the mother for her permission, which I got with an exhausted sigh and a nod.

Not that I would’ve accepted a rejection anyway—not with a painful tooth.

“Open your mouth wide.”

Only a second was enough for me to find the cause of the pain: gingivitis. Only barely visible, and at this early stage it shouldn’t have caused her any pain. However, I noticed the ice cream on the table the family sat at, so I assumed the cold food revealed some early symptoms.

“Do you have something warm?” I asked the mother.

She shook her head.

I rubbed my hands to warm them, then held them on the girl’s cheeks. “Here,” I said. “A little warmth, and the pain will go away.”

I gave a comforting smile, hoping this would calm her down. After all, this shouldn’t work, but I relied on the child’s belief. And it did.

The mother thanked me gratefully, and I told her to have the girl see a dentist as soon as possible.

Then I took their ice cream and threw it wordlessly into a trash bin. Somehow, they found this unacceptable.

I was small. Nonetheless, people would guess I was in my 20s, if not even older. Maybe because of my white hair, or because of my vintage-looking white dress with a few black stripes, or because my skin had a light grey tint. Overall, a rather unusual colourlessness in this colourful world.

In the end, this was what helped me loiter in a talkative bar without anyone batting an eye.

“And you’re not from here?” some older guy asked me, his head wobbling strongly.

“No, I’m not,” I replied. “All the way from Manehattan.”

“I knew it,” he continued, now his upper body joining in the wobbling. “I know every face in this city.”

“Yeah, yeah, Bright,” a younger man responded, then pushed him to the side. “You always say that.”

I silently watched as the old man tried to keep balance, before falling to his knees.

Pathetic.

“What brings you here?” a woman asked me as she gestured to a seat next to her. I couldn't tell if it was out of genuine interest, or just so I wouldn’t be bothered by the old man again.

“Honestly, it’s just wanderlust,” I lied as I sat down. “I'm on vacation for a few months andI'm just travelling around, seeing the world.”

“That sounds beautiful,” she said, sipping on her glass of soda.

Acidic, sugary soda.

“What's your favourite place, so far?”

I had to steer the conversation to the Rainbooms.

“Difficult to say,” I replied. “I always prefer to see the ‘normal side’ of cities, not the tourist traps. I like seeing how people live, what their everyday life is like.”

She nodded and took another sip. Couldn’t she feel how—

No, focus. Don’t get distracted by her choice of drinks. People get weirded out by someone obsessed with teeth.

“Is it all that different?” the woman asked, tilting her head. “Seems like, in this country at least, there wouldn't be much difference from place to place.”

“It all looks similar, but the beauty is in the details,” I explained. “Take for example your teeth—”

I stopped.

I said it. I said 'your teeth'. Why did I mention her teeth? Why was I about to explain how the details of her teeth were different from someone else's? I didn’t even know her name!

“Yeah, I guess,” she muttered, scratching her head. A polite reply, but she was obviously weirded out.

Whatever. Rainbooms. I could save the conversation.

I gestured at a poster of them. “They look young.”

“For how famous they are, definitely. My daughter goes to the same highschool as them.”

She took another sip. No. Focus.

“Why are you staring at my cup?”

I closed my eyes. I can’t focus when her teeth were fighting a battle, when she was just letting her enamel get dissolved without a second thought.

“Sorry,” I muttered and opened my eyes again. “Which school?”

“Canterlot High School,” she said. “Crystal Prep has a good reputation, but it's way too expensive.”

Canterlot High School. The one with a portal in the courtyard. It made sense why magical incidents would be happening there.

When she raised her cup for another sip, I couldn’t take it anymore—I tore the drink from her hands and threw it to the ground.

“What on—”

“Care for your teeth!” I shouted.

Immediate silence. I could feel everyone's stares cutting through me. The woman stepped back, looking between me and the spilled drink on the floor, with her mouth wide open.

All I could do was turn around and walk away embarrassed.

Wasn’t there a statue above the portal? The pedestal seemed to have a few cracks, but appeared otherwise normal.

It wasn’t always open, but I didn’t bother to figure out when. Not like it mattered for me. It was open now.

I put my hand on the portal. The points where I made contact glowed a bright yellow colour. A magical lock that prevented me from passing through. I kept my hand there for a second longer, until the singing pain became unbearable and I withdrew it.

With a sigh, I turned around and looked up to the sky.

Half moon.

“Don’t laugh,” I murmured.

It hadn’t laughed. Its light shined on me, trying to give me comfort.

‘Accept what you have,’ it said. ‘Aren’t you happy in your dreams?’

I was.

‘They can become reality.’

But I refused. I was destined for more than a mere fairytale for children.

There they were. The Rainbooms. Gathered around the portal.

They talked, staring at the portal’s opening. They seemed to be searching for something.

I was watching from a distance. If only I could hear what they were saying. Their conversation might’ve been useful.

Nonetheless, what now? I had the Rainbooms in my sight. I knew where to find them. What’s my next step?

“Their ‘costumes’ are magical transformations,” Adagio had told me. “They just declare it as their outfits to hide their magic.”

They weren’t transformed. When did they transform? How did they access their Equestrian magic?

Everything would be much easier if I could just walk up to them and ask. Maybe I should? If they were truly the bearers of Harmony, they should seek friendship with anyone.

But they had figured out who the sirens were. Once they figure out my past, all my sacrifices would be in vain.

Patience was key. If I waited, the right moment would come. I would figure out their secrets. Eventually.

However, I would need to survive until then. Eating leftovers in dustbins and sleeping on a bank outside wouldn't last long. I was once the queen of the breezies, after all! I deserved more!

“Welcome to Canterlot’s Sushi Plates.”—Did everything have to have Canterlot in its name?—“Can I take your order?”

A waitress. In Canterlot Mall. Serving humans. Why was my life getting so low? Why couldn’t I have just settled down and become a dentist? I had the skills for it, but my… solicitude, and humans' carelessness for their teeth, didn’t go hand in hand.

At least this restaurant offered healthier food. They still served acidic drinks, but a coworker, Sky, had agreed to serve them for me whenever required. For a small share of my tips, of course.

A job unrelated to food would be better for my mental health, but this was the best I could get on such short notice.

Maybe I would meet one of the Rainbooms. Maybe even all of them. And if not, I knew where to go next.

This saturday, 8:00 PM. A performance of the Rainbooms. Maybe they would appear transformed. Maybe not.

But I would be there. Waiting. Watching. Looking for their magic.

“A coffee please.”—This was a sushi restaurant!—“With two sugars.”

Hiding my gritted teeth, I wrote down their requests, hoping I wouldn’t have to work here for long.

Can a human digest a tooth? The simple answer is no. Their stomach can’t break down enamel and dentin.

Sometimes, I'd get the urge to swallow the teeth I've collected in my dreams, in the hope that it would grant me some form of magic.

I knew that this was wishful thinking. But what else could I do with them? Back in Equestria, having a tooth from someone was useful. It was a form of power. Of control. Here, it was merely a trinket.

A precious, wonderful trinket, but I couldn’t carry them all around with me. I would keep the extras on drawers or tables until a huge pile had formed, then bury them like at a funeral.

It was an act of respect, but I couldn't be seen doing it. Humans thought it was crazy and worrisome. For me, they were callous not to do the same.

“What are you doing?” the policeman asked me.

“Burying my hamster,” I lied. My tears made it more believable.

“But why in the park?” he persisted. “Don’t you have a backyard?”

“He liked it here,” I said. “I would let him wander around.”

He slowly nodded his head. “Well, whatever you say. However, I would ask you to leave soon. We've gotten reports of you causing a disturbance, keeping people away… And you've been here for hours already.”

It was difficult to separate from the teeth.

“My bad,” I responded. “Just give me a few more minutes.”

He raised his cap for farewell and left me alone.

And I fell back to my knees, sobbing that I would leave these teeth to rot.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Sunset, one of the Rainbooms, worked here too. Only during the weekend, hence why I hadn’t seen her before.

“Pari,” I introduced myself.

“Ah, the new worker,” she said and offered a hand. “Sunset Shimmer.”

I followed through the formality and shook it.

She raised an eyebrow. “Everything okay?”

I blinked. I must have stared at her for too long. “Sorry, but you’re one of the Rainbooms, right?”

She laughed. “Yes, I am.”

“I was already excited to be at your performance today, but you being a colleague?” It wasn’t even a pretended excitement, but for different reasons.

“You didn’t know that?” A hint of doubt in her voice. She seemed to think of me as a stalker trying to get near to her. Humans had their fair share of crazy fans after all.

“I only moved here recently.”

She nodded slowly. Still doubting. “Do you like it here?”

I shrugged. “Too soon to tell.”

It depended on how successful I would be.

“Alright. If you need help, feel free to ask me. I won’t bite.”

With these words, she left to serve the arriving customers.

I exhaled. Her magical aura—I could feel it. It radiated all around her. So strong. And her teeth…

They were weird. Shaped like a human's, but their wear was different. It wasn’t that of a vegan or vegetarian. Something off about them, but what?

Somehow, she was special. And I would figure out why.

“I’m sorry?” Sunset asked me.

“Table four ordered two cups of soda. Could you bring it to them for me, please?”

Sunset tilted her head. “Why?”

“Please! Sky does this for me!”

“Why?”

I sighed. It was already a hassle to get this favour from Sky, and now from Sunset? “I refuse to serve acidic drinks.”

“Why?”

They always asked. Always. No one understood me. No one!

“They damage their teeth!”

I looked away. I had almost screamed. The bottled-up anger had come out.

“You’re that worried for their… teeth?”

I nodded slowly. Not like adding anything would help.

After a moment, she replied, “Well, if you're that concerned about it, I’m happy to give a helping hand.”

The tone of her voice. She was confused. Weirded out. They all were. Their inability to understand it drove me crazy every day. When would this stop? When would humans finally care for their teeth like they should?

When would I be at peace?

Snow. An old, annoyingly happy man. Always appeared at random to jolly me along. However, he always offered good food that didn't harm teeth.

“Pancakes?” he asked me. “Without sugar, just like you prefer.”

This time, he appeared in a food truck on my way home. Always working. Always to serve his kind. Always to bring presents and joy.

“Why are you here?” I asked him.

“You’re back here in Canterlot City. Shouldn’t you move on?”

He always knew where I was. That was his schtick. Always watching. Always judging.

“You’re a stalker.”

“Ho, ho, ho,” he laughed. This annoying, ear piercing laugh. “You and your jokes. You should switch them up at some point. This is the sixty-fifth time I've heard that one.”

“You’re a stalker.”

“Sixty—”

“You’re a stalker.”

“Let’s remain mature, shall we? Here, take a seat, your pancake is ready.”

I grunted and sat at the table. He prepared two plates—one for me, the other for himself—and placed the pancakes in the middle, then poured two cups of tea. Non-acidic tea.

Sometimes, I could almost understand why humans were willing to ruin their teeth. Snow said his food tasted just as good as regular food, and considering how amazingly resilient teeth were, it was probably worth enduring a little tooth decay for the wonderful taste.

But not for me. I understood the true value of teeth. No degree of flavour could ever be worth the damage it would cause.

“When was the last time you were here?” he asked me. “Five years ago? Seven?”

I didn’t say anything. He knew it better than me, even to the precise second if needed.

“But last year many things changed here,” he continued. “Good changes. One school had their bully reformed, and another had their manipulative principal fired. Friendship slowly takes over.”

That word. Friendship. Back in my world, it was literally magic. Magic that got me banished to this world.

“Maybe you could learn friendship here,” he said. “That Sunset Shimmer you work with would gladly help you.”

At times, it was creepy how much he knew about me. Luckily, I knew that his “omnipotence” was involuntary. It only came into play when necessary. The same way I always know where to fly to collect a tooth. Like a form of instinct.

“Once she knows who I am, she'll have me locked up.”

He scratched his beard. “Yeah, you did some... pretty bad stuff.”

“And I will do it again.”

He sighed. His expression changed, remaining with a smile, but his eyes screamed of pity and disappointment. Like a father worried about his daughter’s dumb decisions.

“Power is a dangerous tool; not only for those it is used on, but also by those who use it.”

This again. I groaned immediately in response.

He took a long sip from his cup. A really long one. Annoying. Then he stared at some random group of people far away.

An artificial silence to underline his statement. More time for me to eat his delicious pancakes.

“Not everyone can handle power,” he finally continued. “For some, it takes them over. They want more. And more. And more. They sacrifice everything for even a little more power. But what remains of them? Are they still those who they were before, or did they become the tool of their obsession?”

“I don’t like it here,” I countered. “I'm out of place. My home is Equestria.”

A deep breath. Was he thinking, or simply waiting for the right time to speak?

Whatever. Time for another pancake.

“But you could make this world your home,” he said. “You’re more than a human.”

I bit my lip. More than a human. My dreams. The teeth that came from nowhere. I knew that my dream was real.

“I won’t become a fairytale for children.”

He sighed. “But why? Why this resistance? It's perfect for you. You have an obsession with teeth, so being a tooth fairy should be a dream come true, right?

“I mean, look at me. I can still walk around. Interact with this world. Live like I lived before. But when Hearth’s Warming comes up, I bring happiness to millions of children.

“And when a child's permanent teeth are coming in, aren't you happy to be a part of that? To not only take away their fears of losing their milk teeth, but get them excited for it?”

A wonderful moment. The children’s happiness was contagious. But fickle.

“And what comes afterwards?” I countered. “Have you seen how they treat their new teeth? They've got them for the rest of their life, and they do everything in their power to ruin them! How many brush their teeth correctly, if at all?! How many floss?!”

Saying that, I realised I had stood up and shouted the last questions. Some passengers stared at me. Groaning, I sat back.

“And don’t get me started on how you affect their diet,” I continued with a calmer, but still angered voice. “So much chocolate and sweets.”

He nodded slowly, keeping his smile. That annoying, fake smile he never dropped. Always happy.

“You’re not embracing your role,” he said. “Allow yourself to be the tooth fairy, and you become much more than a short moment in their lives.”

“Anything else you want to say?” I asked, standing up. “Maybe something new?”

He tapped his fingers on the table. For the first time, his smile vanished.

“Do you really think you’re going to open the portal?”

I didn’t reply.

“Sure, you can feel the Equestrian magic on them. But what’s next? Are you going to steal it from them? Will it somehow crack the magic lock? What if nothing works?”

I looked him deep in his eyes. He sounded serious, but he couldn’t hide his apathy. After all, if he truly cared, he would’ve stopped me.

“It’s worth a try.”

I could feel it, even from far away, even before they had transformed. Equestrian magic.

I knew I had to have it. Their magic was like an intense fire. My body begged for it.

And, by the way certain points on their bodies lit up before the rest did, I could tell the energy was stored in some trinkets they carried.

Involuntarily, I went nearer. Step by step. Right through the crowds of people. Hypnotised by their magic.

Something inside me awakened. It was the longing for power. For control. The masses around me were mere mortals. Once I got hold of the magic, I would be unstoppable!

“Where are you going?”

A security guard. He had watched me approach the barrier and almost climb the stage.

“Sorry,” I muttered and stepped back.

But my eyes were locked onto the Rainbooms. Their ears, their new dresses, their longer hair.

Would that happen to me too? Would I be more like I was in Equestria? Back then, I was the size of a foal. I had big, beautiful wings that together resembled a tooth. And I wielded a sceptre that displayed my collected teeth. But the Rainbooms didn't look anything like something from my world—so how would I look, once I had it?

“Second time!”

I pushed him, but I wasn’t strong enough. He grabbed me by my hands and pulled me to the side, out of the field.

Out of the Rainbooms’ performance.

And the moon watched over me, worrying.