Rejected Mercy

I had cried before the moon only one time. Before she gave me the role of the tooth fairy.

This was the second time. The sirens had stolen what little I had left. Even my lockpicking tools. No chance at a real job. No home. Nowhere to go. All alone.

I was a nobody.

So I cried before the moon, laying on it all the worry, fear, and pain that I had experienced, all the anger and regret at being betrayed by creatures of my own world.

I trusted them. I had hope. Hope that I haven’t felt before. I thought we could stay together through thick and thin and find a way back. But they were true sirens. They gained my trust, only to rob me and throw me away.

They might as well have killed me.

It didn’t say anything. It knew that I only wanted to be listened to. Its light hugged me softly.

“Why did you choose me?” I asked it. “I’m not like Snow, or Carrot, or anyone else. I'm not human. I can’t be like them.

“I can’t love humans.”

Love. Described so beautifully. Oh, to love. But there was nothing I could love. Only teeth. And my love for teeth brought only suffering day after day.

“I can’t be a tooth fairy. I just can’t. I long for my home world. I'm the empress of Equestria.”

It sighed.

“Pick someone else. Take these dreams away. Don’t make me suffer anymore!”

‘Pari, oh Pari.’

“Please!”

‘Your heart is still hurt from your past, and you refuse to let your wounds heal. We have given you mercy.’

“But why? What can I do with your mercy?”

‘Learn to love. Learn to accept. And learn to let go.’

I looked to the ground. To let go. Even after more than a decade, I hadn’t let go.

“I’m… sorry,” I muttered. “I can never forget my past.”

‘Allow your wounds to be healed,’ it said. ‘Release your hatred. See the beauty in the here and now. Allow light to come into your heart.’

“But it's been so long.”

‘Take all the time you need. We will be there for you.’

The sun had risen, but it was still early in the morning. Early enough for Canterlot High School to appear empty.

I stood before the portal. Was this it? Could I break the lock? I didn’t know how long the portal would stay open, so hopefully it wasn’t closed.

For the last time, I looked at the world around me. Kind of beautiful. Were it not for my destiny, I might have been able to stay and settle down. But I had to get back and take what was rightfully mine.

I placed the hand on the pedestal.

Hot, scouring flames emerged from where I touched it, and an explosion threw me to the ground.

No. No. No! The lock should be broken! I had the Rainbooms’ magic on me! All of it! Why was the lock still there?

I screamed. I beat the ground with my fist. All of that effort, just to fail at the very end?!

This was unfair! This was unjust! This was—!

“What are you doing?”

I turned to the source of the voice. A man in a working uniform was looking at me. Probably the janitor for the school.”

“None of your business.”

“But—”

“Goodbye.”

I stood up and stomped away.

“Well, now you look like a real tooth fairy,” Snow said, chuckling by himself.

“I didn’t invite you to my apartment,” I responded, not bothering to turn to him.

“Ho, ho, ho.”

That laugh. That annoying, arrogant laugh.

“I mean, have you looked in a mirror? You're the Tooth Fairy of legend! You look exactly how one would imagine her.”

Of course I had looked in a mirror. My white hair was longer, reaching almost the ground. Pony ears on top of my head had replaced my human ears, near which sat a tiara adorned with teeth. My dress was now covered with more black stripes, and the sewn-in tooth symbol had a tiara and teeth-shaped butterfly wings in black and white.

“So, the portal’s lock still works?” he asked, sitting before me at the table.

“What do you want?” I countered instead. He knew the answer; why bother to ask?

“And yet you still have the Rainbooms’ magic on you.”

So that was why. To play the morale apostle.

“They don’t need it.”

“Ho, ho, ho.”

I clenched my teeth. Could he for once laugh normally?

“But you don’t need it either. You’re already a tooth fairy. Or do you intend to walk around in public like that?”

“No, Snow.” I stood up. “This is who I really am. This Equestrian magic is mine.”

“No, it—”

I raised my sceptre.

He put his hands on his mouth and lowered his head. A pained groan escaped him until he inhaled in relief. “What…” His eyes were wide open. For the first time, he feared me. “What was that?”

“My power,” I responded, tapping with my fingers on the glass sphere of my sceptre. “I pulled on one of your teeth. Usually, pull a tooth out.”

“That hurt!”

“It does hurt a little, as the root has to be detached from the jaw bone, but it’s less painful and far quicker than if a dentist did it.”

“And this is what you did back then?” He stood up, coming face to face with me, his breath heavy with rage. “You pulled people's teeth out?”

“Only the ones who resisted me.”

“But why?”

“Where’s your omnipotence?” I chuckled. “Once I place someone's tooth inside my sceptre, they become my slaves, and will do anything I ask.”

He blinked. His breath got even quicker. He stepped back, stumbling on a chair and falling to the ground.

“You, you mindcontrolled—”

“Knock it off, Snow,” I responded with a sigh. “I don’t need your advice or judgement.”

“You deserved to be banished!”

Before, I would’ve been enraged. I might have even attacked him. But now, his attempt to hurt me was merely pitiful.

I raised my sceptre, and he was groaning in pain again. After a few seconds, I lowered the sceptre again.

“I won’t be taking your tooth,” I explained calmly. “But don’t you dare cross my path ever again.”

Nighttime. The full moon shone brightly in the sky. Shortly after midnight, I went outside. Canterlot City wasn't busy at night except for a few locations, so no one would see me. And even if they did, it wouldn’t matter anyway.

I searched. Lonely people. I needed followers. Once I had them, I would be a true ruler.

After a while, I noticed something. An absence. Looking up, I realised that the moon hadn’t spoken to me tonight.

Better for me. It would only be a bother.

Then I found one. A homeless man, sleeping under a bridge.

Getting near, raising my sceptre, focusing to pull one of his teeth out. He screamed. It took about a minute, but once the tooth was out, it flew right into my glass sphere.

“Stand up!” I demanded.

He did.

“Turn around.”

He did.

“Turn back to me.”

He did.

Just like in the good old days.

“Are there more like you? Preferably living alone.”

He nodded.

“Lead me to them.”

And the moon was silent.

A cold breeze always followed Freeze. While the moon had always chosen someone with a fitting name for a role, with this teen boy it was too blunt for my taste.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him, holding my sceptre with two hands. “It’s only autumn.”

“Watching the rumours,” he replied and jumped down from his tree. “Let me tell you, the moon is pissed at you.”

“Anything else?”

“Your outfit looks fresh.”

I rolled my eyes. Snow might be annoyingly positive, but he was at least mature. Freeze was like a twelve year old child stuck in a fifteen year old's body.

“Anything else?”

He chuckled. “You can't take compliments, can you?” He pointed behind me. “Who are these guys?”

“My loyal subjects.” Only three. Soon, they would be useful to get multiple followers at once.

“Are you sure they’re not after your love?”

He grinned, expecting me to break out in laughter. Immature child wasting my time.

“You’ve only come to make lame jokes?” I responded.

He had a reason to be here. During this season he was never this far south. Trying to stop me? He couldn’t.

“Nah, to say goodbye.” He stretched out his hand.

I knew his implications. This was his way of telling me to stop.

“You can join me,” I said instead. “Be part of my new empire.”

A sudden burst of cold, frozen wind blew against me. Ice particles stung my face, but I stood firm. He couldn’t do anything else.

And as quickly as the wind came, it stopped. He was back on a tree, laying on a branch.

“Nah, I’ll pass,” he replied. “Good luck with your lovers!”

“They’re not my—”

Snowflakes appeared out of thin air and encircled him. Then, he vanished.

Immature child.

The way my mind control worked was simple: Get their tooth, place it in my sceptre, and they follow every command.

My subjects weren’t brainless. They followed my orders the way they would act on their own intentions, but with much more willpower. If I were to send one out to rob a bank without any further instruction, it would depend entirely on them how they would do it. One might walk in with a gun, another might sneak in at night, and others still would make connections and plan an organised break-in.

That was the reason I was so successful in Equestria. All I needed was to control the right creatures: a high-ranked military leader, a political figure with the influence I needed, or even just a random soldier at the right place and time.

The genius was that they would still act normally when my orders allowed it. Spies amongst closed circles, a leader preparing my invasion behind enemy lines, and no one would suspect a thing.

I didn’t like giving my subjects too much control of their own, so I used this strategy only when necessary. But it worked well. Slow infiltration. Town by town, city by city, council by council. My control grew. My power over the world only expanded.

Until someone noticed a missing tooth.

“Can you imagine it, Sofian?” I called. “These people are my loyal subjects. My word becomes their life's purpose!”

He simply stood there, watching me from a roof. A loose piece of his keffiyeh was fluttering in the wind.

“Cat got your tongue?” I chuckled. “You never believed in me, and yet, here I am!”

“Wasn’t your home world your goal?”

I gritted my teeth. To an outsider, it was a simple question without subtext, but I read it loud and clear. He never called Equestria my home world.

“Quick to change your mind?” I continued, keeping up the façade of being in a good mood. “And all these years you’ve tried to convince me this world was my new home. Oh well, guess I was right from the very start.”

No reaction. Did he see how his question angered me? He definitely did.

“Anything else?” I asked him. “Or do you want to enjoy the show?”

He looked up. Sand emerged from under him, flying in circles around his body.

“Traitor.”

And with this word, he was gone.

What exactly was I doing?

I could say a lot. Gather loyal subjects. Gain political power. Infiltrate more and more circles. Become the sole leader of this world.

But I wouldn’t be honest.

No, I didn’t care to get power over humans. At least not yet. Collecting teeth from the humans was more like an act of revenge.

Back in Equestria, the creatures didn’t care for their teeth either. However, they didn’t have masses of food and drinks that were solely designed to attack their teeth. Humans consumed them daily!

All these years of enduring their behaviour. How they treated me for caring about their teeth. How I was made to feel ashamed for my passion, while it should be them who should be ashamed for how they treat their teeth!

I would make them suffer the same way I did.

But behind this act of revenge there was another layer I was self conscious enough to see. On why I went out during the night to collect new loyal subjects.

It was to make the moon regret ever choosing me.

My first ever New Year as a tooth fairy. Every fairytale creature assigned by the moon would meet at a single place. Snow had invited everyone, like every year, and provided those who needed it with a ‘golden ticket’.

Quite a strange ride. A magical sleigh appeared where I was and, after putting the ticket inside a slot, it lifted high up in the air and flew to the destination.

However, this wasn’t the strangest thing I had experienced this year. The strangest thing was taking on the role of a tooth fairy. In the process I got to meet a few new people, all playing their fairytale role.

They were not weirded out by my love for teeth.

Because of that, I was kind of excited to be there, curious how it would be. If I would belong.

At the destination, it was surprisingly warm and cosy. Nothing one would expect at the North Pole—let alone in winter!

“Pari!” Snow welcomed me. “Come in, come in!”

I looked around. While I had met a few before, there were several I hadn’t ever seen before. So many different people. So many different kinds of clothes. Different languages, different cultures.

All local or international fairytale beings at one place. It was a strange look, like a mess of colours and patterns that didn't compliment each other.

And yet, there were smiles. There was laughter. Despite this chaos, it felt like everyone was in harmony.

And I felt welcomed.

I hated to hear people crying, yelling, screaming for me to stop.

Was this just a human thing? Or had it developed from my role as the tooth fairy? Whatever the cause, it didn't really matter.

“Hold their mouths, I said!”

A raid of a house party. Several adults, some children, some elderly. Probably an extended family. They couldn’t do anything against my horde of followers.

Well, anything but scream.

“We're trying!” one of my subjects said, while failing to get a good grip on the teenager’s mouth.

I groaned and went to the next person. A boy. Probably around 5.

I looked in his eyes and raised my sceptre. But I didn’t pull on his tooth.

His big, scared eyes. Tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Don’t!” A mother said, somehow escaping my subjects' grip. “Let my son go! Do whatever you want with me instead!”

My followers tackled her and dragged her back with the rest, but her words repeated again and again in my head.

Motherly love. Something I never experienced growing up. Forced to survive on my own from the very beginning of my life. Envy, and yet empathy.

I had to look away. I couldn’t take it.

Why did I care about them? Why couldn’t I do to the child what I could do to all the adults without blinking an eye?

A reflection on a window made me look up.

“You!” I shouted, raising my hands. “You did this to me, didn’t you?!”

The moon didn’t respond.

“You made me care for these worthless creatures, for their little ones, didn’t you?!”

Silence. Not even those tackled down said anything. The wind was still.

“Are you the tooth fairy?” the boy asked me. My subjects must have let go of him.

But at that moment, everything came back. My disdain for Celestia. My rage at the lock on the portal. My hatred for humans and their apathy for their teeth.

How I never asked to be their feel-good fairytale creature.

“I am,” I said, then turned around and raised my sceptre.

“To our new member!” Snow declared, raising his glass. Many joined in. An hour was left before the new year began.

The party was calm. No loud music or alcohol streaming like lakes, but a nice, chatty meet-up with a feast on a table. Back then, I was surprised at how much variety Snow had prepared. The table was huge! In hindsight, with people coming from all over the world, Snow had to prepare something for anyone.

“Why don’t you tell us what being a tooth fairy is like?” Snow asked. “We’re quite curious about someone special like you. A fairy from another world? We’ve seen many new people, but no-one like you!”

After a short break for laughter he sat down, giving me the spot.

I gulped. Speaking in front of all of them? I could never put my dreams into words!

However, I could feel the moon’s light giving me comfort. Courage to stand up, to tell how my dreams went.

And somehow, I kept talking. How I didn’t feel at home. How I still wanted to return to my own world. How I didn’t know if I wanted to be a tooth fairy at all. How my life as a human went more and more downhill through my love for teeth.

At this point, I had definitely ruined the mood. I expected to be thrown out, to get shouted at.

But none of it happened. Some nodded, and some gave reassuring smiles.

“It will be alright!” Freeze said, laughing. “Not everyone likes their new self at first, including me. But look at what I can do now!”

With that, he grabbed the attention to himself, making a small snow tornado. And the mood was as good as before.

‘Aren’t you happy, Pari?’

I looked up. The moon shone right above us through a glass ceiling, bearing witness to our party.

‘No one says you’re weird. Even if they know you’re from another world. Even if they know how you struggle.’

It was true. I liked it here. Every one of us was weird in our own ways, with obsessions humans would find overbearing.

‘And yet, they welcome you. You’re part of them. They want you to be with them.’

A place I could belong. A place where I didn’t have to hide my love for teeth. A place where I could be who I was.

But what about Equestria? What about my destiny as a ruler? As a queen?

I sighed. I wanted to belong. I wanted to let go. I wanted to be a tooth fairy.

But I knew I only wanted it at this moment.

‘Aren’t you happy here, Pari?’

Maybe I was. But would it last?

‘Take your time. Allow yourself to heal.’

We would see, moon.

Besides Freeze and Sofian, no one else did anything to stop me. This was strange. While I had left an impression on Snow, I knew that he was more than capable of fighting me. A power unlike anyone else.

But nothing. Not him, not anyone else, not even the moon. It was still silent. Leaving me to pull more and more teeth.

So what was it? Was it the fear of Equestrian magic? Was it more powerful in this world?

Whatever the reason was, its silence enraged me. Talk to me, moon! Fairytale beings, defend your kind! Don’t let me keep doing this!

“Freeze!”

The police. Just a few, probably on patrol. Or the screams had gathered some attention.

At least it was some kind of reaction.

“Hands in the air!”

Despite their guns, I walked towards them.

“We said—!”

With their eyes locked on me, my subjects could sneak behind them and tackle them to the ground. A few more hands helped to disarm them, and they were now left at my mercy.

I looked up to the moon. It was watching.

“Speak to me!” I shouted, raised my sceptre and stabbed it at a policeman. My subjects held his mouth with their hands, but his screams could still be heard up and down the street. “Do something!”

And I thrusted again and again, screaming at the moon to respond. There was no blood, as the sceptre wasn’t sharp, but I knew where to hit to make it painful.

After a while, I had enough and struck his head, knocking him out.

I panted. I had let my rage out on an innocent person. And yet no reaction from the moon. No one was going to stop me.

As if they didn’t care. Not for me, nor for my victims.

“You’re next!” I said to the other policeman and raised my sceptre, this time to pull his tooth, but a sudden chill made me freeze.

Something changed. A magical presence. It was far, but intense. Strong. Powerful.

Suppressing.

I looked up, confirming my assumption.

The lunar eclipse had begun.