Learning To Live

by Nekron Smauzog

A sensitive man was always trying his best to deal with life, whether his struggles with friendships or maintaining the best motives. Everything changes when he is supposedly killed in a deadly chase dealing with a dangerous criminal gang, and he appears in Equestria. What is his purpose there? But most to notice, why is he even there?

19. A Problem with Cavities

A/N: Alright, another chapter uploaded. A fun moment that really got me was all the reviews saying "No! Don't end the story." or "Please don't let this be the end.". Don't worry to all those people who reviewed, I'm not ending this story for a long time, so there's lots of fun to go around. So anyways, I have some wonderful news.

First news, I may be going to FanExpo after all! By coincidence, I might be meeting both Andrea Libman and Tabitha St. Germain. I'll personally be drawing two pictures for one to sign. One is Fluttershy and the other is Princess Luna. Plus, if I'm lucky I'll try to get them to say something to me in the voice of my favorite character. Second news, I'm seeing KISS and Def Leppard in concert. I cannot wait to see one of my favorite bands again. I do have a few other bands I want to see in concert such as Smashing Pumpkins.

Now... onto the review responses! :) Don't worry mr234scott, Owldusk and Tison Valane, I responded to your reviews.

Summer time 10101: Thank you so much. :)

Bladetiger3: Thank you. It's always in the end that I redeem a villain that I confronted according to these stories.

P.S. I already know that the next chapter is going to all about Brayden's birthday... and by coincidence, I'll be releasing that chapter most likely on my birthday. It's sometime this month, but you'll find out.

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Wow! I was really beat after that celebration in Canterlot for becoming the new knight that will able to defend Equestria from all sorts of danger that lurks. So yeah, here I am just sleeping in for a new sunrise shining over Equestria to greet the new day. Me? I'm still lying down in the guest room, resting my eyes. I think my best friend Fluttershy saw how tired I was after arriving back to Ponyville and decided to let me sleep a little longer. That probably explains why she closed the blinds in the guest room to help me get some sleep until later.

Now I know what you're thinking, what about Canterlot, how was the rest of the visit? It was really good after the 'Nightmare Moon' incident. A ceremony happened to be held for me in Canterlot, and there was a party after the ceremony hosted by Pinkie Pie. The ceremony seemed to go by rather quickly though, and I did think that I was going to end up meeting Twilight's parents since they both live in Canterlot, but I didn't. Nor did I get to see Shining Armor or Princess Cadence yet. I can understand that both of them are overseeing the Crystal Empire, but I'll meet them eventually. The party was great on the other half. Nightmare Moon attended the party, but rarely spoke to anypony but to Princess Celestia and Luna. I'm guessing she's still a little hurt over attacking me. Oh well, I hope she feels better soon.

Rarity did fantastic during the fashion show and she introduced me to the one of the top designers in all of Equestria. Even though I wasn't so much for fashion like my friend Rarity, I really enjoyed the show. She didn't win, another pony did. She was proud of her being in second place though and could accept that without any trouble. A fictional figure told me this back when I was in my first year of high school as a freshman. It was that there was always next time, and that was what I told to Rarity.

I still had my eyes closed and I could hear the sound of somepony softly knocking at the guest room door. I already know that it's Fluttershy coming in to check up on how I was doing while I slept. I can hear the sound of her trotting hooves pacing the wooden floor towards me. My head is gently on the side of the pillow, giving it comfort and how it felt could feel like I wanted to stay in bed forever and not get out there. I was already enjoying this.

"Brayden?" Fluttershy whispers to me with a gentle and peaceful tone. "Wake up…"

I groan tiredly, not wanting to get out of bed. I really wanted to stay in a little longer. But at this point, even if I resisted in any other way, Fluttershy would probably think I wasn't taking her too kindly. "Five more minutes Fluttershy…" I moaned.

"Come on…" Fluttershy says to me. "It's a beautiful day and you don't want to be in here all day with no exercise."

I slowly opened up my eyes and wait for my eyes to start flowing back into focus. I could see Fluttershy standing there next to my bed with a smile on her face. But this smile was one thing that I just could not resist against. I move the sheets off of me and nudge my legs out towards the wooden floor.

"There we go." Fluttershy said to me, placing her hoof onto my hand. "The good knight needs to wake up eventually doesn't he?"

Fluttershy takes her hoof off of my hand and trots to the right, grabbing onto one of the strings near the windows and pulling them to open the blinds, bringing light into the room. I squint a bit at first, to let the adjusting of my sight get used to the sunlight again as usual.

"I have breakfast ready for you downstairs Brayden," Fluttershy says to me, trotting towards the open guest room door. "Feel free to come down when you're ready."

"Well seeing how you woke me up," I said to her. "I'll be right there."

I walked up forward out of the guest room, and joined Fluttershy while she was trotting down the stairs. Walking right beside her, the both of us look at each other briefly and then back towards the bottom of the stairs.

"So…" Fluttershy was about to ask me something, so I turned my head towards her to see what she needed to say. "Do you have anything important today that you plan on doing?"

"Not really," I said to her. "It seems like it's going to be a relaxing day."

"Well, okay. Other than that…" Fluttershy said, stopping briefly to catch her train of thought. "Oh yeah! Minuette has asked me to remind you that you need to visit her at her office. She really needs to check if you have any cavities."

"Uh, the dentist?" I groaned with fear striking me. I had a fear of dentists and the drills that they put into my mouth whether it's cleaning my teeth or removing cavities. But for removing a single cavity, I really hated having that freezing needle poking me in the mouth and me not being able to speak for an hour or more. I mean, it was worse when I got my wisdom teeth out. "Oh… I'm not sure if I can do it."

"Why? What's wrong with seeing the dentist?" Fluttershy asked.

"Trust me on this…" I said, trying not to sound too scared. "It's better if you don't know."

"Come on Brayden," Fluttershy said to me, placing her left front hoof onto my right hand. "Something is bugging you about seeing the dentist."

I lowered my head, admitting defeat. There's absolutely no way that I can lie to Fluttershy, and I was about to look like a total chicken to do this. "It's because I have a fear of dentists." I tell her with my head lowered. "And if I get the freezing needle in my mouth, it's going to hurt a lot worse. Plus, it'll be so numb that I can't even eat or speak properly."

"There's nothing to worry about though, Brayden." Fluttershy said to me, understanding how scared I was about the dentist. "We all have that same fear, but we have to do it."

"But you have stage fright." I told her. "How can you not be scared of the dentist as much as me?"

Fluttershy and I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turn to look at each other. "Stage fright is one thing that I still have that fear of since I was a little filly. It'll take a long time until I can sing to an audience. For the dentist, I was scared but I learned to not be scared by it forever." She said to me. "But if you want to, I can come with you to make sure that you'll be fine."

"Yes, please do." I said to her, with the sound of my stomach growling at the end to interrupt for what else I was going to say.

Both me and Fluttershy continue into the kitchen and I can see my breakfast on the table across from where she sat. Today's breakfast was going to be crunchy fruit known as nuts: drizzled with honey on them with salad leaves below. My mouth began to create a little bit of saliva from inside my mouth, I was just about hungry for a good breakfast.

I decide to play a bit of soft music from my iPhone to lighten up the quiet cottage, so I pull the device from out of the pocket of my shorts. I unlock it and go to my music library to look for some music. I tap into the genres and select Jazz. The fact that I have more than just listening to Hard Rock music which is more of my thing, but thanks to some people I knew who loved Progressive music, they introduced me to Jazz Fusion bands. But I put the Fusion stuff into the Jazz genre for the hay of it. I tap onto a random song and let it start.

Once I had picked the song, I placed the phone down onto the table nowhere near food, and moved towards my chair. I take a seat and pick up the fork, digging it into the honey nuts. I place the food into my mouth, chewing them with my mouth closed shut. While I ate, I take a look at Fluttershy. Her ears were perked up, and she was listening to the music while she took her second bite in.

"This music is really beautiful." Fluttershy says, just a few seconds after she swallowed down the piece of break down. "I don't think I've heard this kind of music that sort of like ours. How did you find this music?"

"Well, you're hearing music that was originally from Earth." I said to her, digging my fork into for another bite. "We call it Jazz music."

"My goodness, Jazz sounds like a very interesting name for music." Fluttershy said. "We should go visit Earth sometime for maybe one or two days and see what your home looks like."

Whoa there! A little yellow flag came up in my head when she suggested that I go with her and the rest of our friends to Earth for a visit. "Fluttershy, I'm not sure if that's a good idea to head to Earth at this rate." I warned her with a caring tone in my voice.

"Why?" Fluttershy asked me. "Are you worried about something there?"

"Well, yes." I confessed, finally lowering my head to tell her what was expected there. "It's that if you were to come there into the countryside of the Earth; you'll be so horrified for what they do to animals. The town and city sides aren't safe either, there are anti-bronies that really hate the show, and they'll try to hurt you. Worse, scientists might be curious and will kidnap you for crazy experiments."

"Oh… my." I heard Fluttershy say, and looked up to see her somewhat mild face of disappointment while her ears were flopped down. "It's only for one or two days though, it shouldn't be as bad as long as we remain in your old home."

"Very true, but you can't be loud because the neighbours will get suspicious." I said, trying to sound very careful about this. "I need to think about that some more; at the meantime I cannot risk losing any of you to the dangers of Earth."

"Okay." She says to me, placing her hoof onto my hand. "I'll continue to wait for an answer."

I dig my fork into the last salad leaf, gathering up all the remaining nuts that were in the bowl. I place it into my mouth and chew onto it for a bit, and then swallow the last of the breakfast that had been inside my mouth.

"That was delicious!" I said to Fluttershy.

She smiles at me and says "Alright. I suggest that you go upstairs and brush the teeth of yours. It could really help out before you see Minuette."

I nod and get up out of my chair, leaving the kitchen to head upstairs and brush my teeth. You all pretty much know what happens, right? I pretty much did what I had to do: brush my teeth and use the washroom. Once that business is done, I flush the toilet; wash my hands and go out of the bathroom. I start descending down the stairs and I am quite shocked when I stumble upon an unexpected thing I don't think I've seen Fluttershy do other than in the show. She was dancing along slowly to the rhythm of the jazz. She stops when she sees me standing there on the stairs, watching.

"Oh… I was just dancing." Fluttershy says to me in her shy voice, beginning to blush.

I smile at her, and finish coming down the stairs and approach her. "Do not worry about that, this music somewhat does give me a soft spot to dance as well." I said to her, seeing how this song was slower than a usual upbeat fast track. "This song does go well and is meant for slow-dancing."

"Slow dancing?" Fluttershy asks.

"Yes," I said to her. "It's mostly for two people back on Earth. They dance together."

"Oh my goodness, maybe you could show me?" She asks me, a bit curious on how it works.

"Sure," I tell her. "Just let me hold onto one of your hooves, and your other front hoof will go around me. Almost like a hug, but not quite." I watch her place her left front hoof around me, and then letting her right front hoof move to my hand. I gently open up my hand and take her hoof, gently holding onto it.

The both of us gently swayed along to the soft touch that the music brought while focusing on the dancing we both did. After a few minutes of the song, it fades out and Fluttershy takes her hoof that was around my waist off of me.

"I didn't know you were quite the dancer." Fluttershy said, quite surprised to see how I knew about this kind of dancing that she didn't.

"I try to dance when I can." I said to her, moving back towards my phone and turning it off.

Fluttershy trots towards me and places her hoof on my hand again. I slide my phone back into my pocket and turn my head to look at her. "Alright, we should get going now. Wouldn't want to keep Minuette waiting, since she has other patients and you can't be late because she'll become quite a nightmare if you arrive late."

"Let's get going then." I said, smiling at her.

Fluttershy nods with a soft smile, and both I and she proceed towards the front door. I walked ahead of her first, and why? To open the door for a female because that's what I do whenever I see a girl coming towards the same building as I, so I'm used to this.

"Thank you Brayden." Fluttershy says to me, walking past me and going outside. After she goes past, I follow along, closing the front door behind me.

I catch up with Fluttershy and start walking beside her. The sun is shining brightly in the sky and the birds near the cottage and out in the trees were chirping and getting along with one another. But it wouldn't be the same without a familiar Pegasus that I knew flying about the skies, doing her tricks. Rainbow Dash.

She was flying up high in the sky, doing loop-de-loops and even flying upside-down. I'm right down at the ground, and I could probably tell from her face that she was really enjoying that. She turns her head and notices the both of us walking down the dirt path on the way to Ponyville. She stops her upside-down trick and descends down towards the ground towards us.

"Hey guys!" Rainbow Dash says, landing on all four hooves and closing her wings. "Enjoying the day so far? By the way Brayden, that party last night was awesome! I deem it 20% cooler!" I smile when she says the classic '20% cooler' slogan that everypony knows.

"It will be a good day Rainbow Dash. I'm just taking Brayden to see Minuette. She really wants to check up on his teeth if he has cavities." Fluttershy says to her. "He's just a little bit scared of the dentist, but I think he'll do just fine."

"Brayden… is scared of the dentist?" Rainbow Dash says in a bit of a shocking voice. Her shocked face then cracks into a huge smile and one hoof rose, she begins howling with laughter. "The one and only Brayden who just saved Equestria… scared of the dentist?!"

"Now Rainbow Dash, don't laugh about Brayden like that." Fluttershy lectured to Rainbow Dash, trying to keep as calm as possible and her best not to raise her soft voice. "That's why I'm trying to help Brayden get over his fear of the dentist. I don't know how long he's had this fear, but I'll definitely ensure him that dentists aren't as terrible as he thinks."

"Yeah, yeah." Rainbow Dash says, going into a brave-like stance. "Besides, I can take on having my teeth checked up on by the dentist and this-that."

"So says the pegasus who can't join the Wonderbolts." I blurt out, laughing in joke.

An eyebrow rose on Rainbow's face with a look of suspicion smeared onto her face. "What was that?" She said, sounding like she was going to yell at any moment.

"I'm kidding, Rainbow!" I said, raising both of my hands in innocence as if I never did anything, even though I did. "Besides, a pony like you could be in the Wonderbolts. That is if they accept you in…"

"Come on, I could probably ace the entire test that requires me to join them!" Rainbow Dash says, spreading her wings and doing a quick loop in the air.

"What if you lost though?" I asked, approaching her.

"I hate losing…" Rainbow Dash says, her happy voice lowering a bit into a sheer sound of disappointment and her eyes dropping close to the ground. "That's the only thing that I've never gotten over. Sure, I get silver or bronze because I have to be loyal to my supporters and not cheat... but to me, it's not the same."

I gently move my hand towards her left front hoof and gently take it. "Rainbow, look at me." I said in my usual gentle voice. Rainbow's rose-coloured eyes are directed off of the ground and she is staring into my brown eyes. "I just want to let you know that no matter how many times you lose or fail, I and the rest of your friends will always be there to support you. We all must accept defeat even when our expectations were high over something we wanted to get, but never achieved."

Rainbow Dash smiled again. "Thanks Brayden," She says to me. "Glad to have somepony like you to help me out as a friend."

"It's no problem Rainbow Dash," I said to her. "Just keep on following your dream, and never forget your friends. That is what loyalty is all about."

Rainbow Dash and I share smiles at each for a few moments and then I move my hand from her hoof I was holding onto. "Um, guys?" I could hear Fluttershy say right behind me. Rainbow Dash takes her smile from me and looks at Fluttershy. I turn to see what Fluttershy just needed to say.

"I don't really know if I'm butting into the conversation, but Brayden really needs to see the dentist." Fluttershy says with a smile.

"Right," I said. I turn back to Rainbow Dash. "Dashie, just a heads up, it's going to be my birthday really soon and I was wondering if you wanted to join. I understand if you're busy and all that."

"Oh I'm not busy," She said, putting a wing around me. "With me attending the party, I'm going to make it so awesome!"

"Alright, then I'll see you soon Dashie." I said, offering if I wanted to give her a hug. Rainbow wraps her hooves around me and I move my two arms around her neck, giving her a gentle, friendly hug. The hug lasted for a few moments, and we finally let go of the hug.

"I should get going now, lots of tricks to practice in the sky!" Rainbow says before flying off into the sky and past the white clouds that flew by gently through the air.

I joined back with Fluttershy and continued with her down the trail. I could see the small town of Ponyville in the distance and it seemed to be bustling with the ponyfolk that day. It was probably Thursday because of all the oncoming shoppers and business that ran throughout the whole day of the week. That, or there must be something big going on like a humongous sale just what happened at Sugarcube Corner. Sorry I didn't tell this before, but Pinkie told me to keep this incident between the two of us. Still, I'm not going to say what happened that day, it's far too embarrassing about how much of a mess I got into and how I had to clean myself up after.

I walked over the stone bridge and took a look out at all of the ponies that went about their day. I could understand that there were no fillies out today because they were in school. I could see Time Turner and Roseluck talking with one another about what they did yesterday since the day was saved. I could pretty much see Lyra Heartstrings just following right behind me with a humongous smile on her face. She goes to the side and joins me and Fluttershy.

"Hi Brayden!" Lyra says to me, really excited about seeing me, which by coincidence is because I'm a human and the fact that she is obsessed with humans. "I'm so happy to see you again."

I turned my head and looked at her while she finished talking. "It's good to see you too Lyra. How's your study on me going?" I asked with greeting in my voice.

"It's fantastic," Lyra says to me. "I-I won't go into much detail because I'm pretty sure that you and Fluttershy are busy with something."

"I have to take Brayden to see Minuette." Fluttershy says to Lyra. "He's going to have his teeth checked by her for any cavities."

Lyra had a quiet look on her face. "Well ouch," She says. "Cavities are the nastiest, but don't you worry Brayden. My good friend Minuette will freeze that mouth and help make sure that it doesn't hurt."

I shook a bit in fear when she even mentioned the word 'freeze' since it was related to the dentist putting that nasty needle into my mouth and numbing my mouth so I couldn't speak for what seemed like endless hours.

"Aw, why so scared?" Lyra says to me, putting her hoof onto my hand. "It's just a needle."

"I've hated needles since childhood." I told her, still looking a bit frightened. "That's why I'm always trying to run outta there when I see one come close to me."

"But what about when you fainted?" Lyra asked.

"True on that, I wasn't going to let the doctors stick it into me. But seeing how I didn't want to get absolutely sick, they did it anyway." I told her. "This is completely different though. It's going into my mouth."

"Well, I wish you luck." Lyra says with a smile on her face. She then trots along away from the both of us, joining up with the two of her friends Bon Bon and Lily Valley.

It isn't long, but I can see the dentist's office straight ahead with the sign just right outside the building. That is when my fears start to kick in once again. Even the expressions on my face gave off that I was completely nervous about doing this in a place I've never been to before. I've only been so used to the one dentist I go to.

I can feel Fluttershy's soft hoof touch my left hand and I turn to look at her. "You'll be fine. I'm going to right there with you." She tells me with such promise in her voice. I believe her promise; it's just that if I have any cavities, even a single one, I am down-right screwed.

Fluttershy trots a little faster past me and gets the door for me. She still has a smile on her face. "After you Brayden." She offers.

I nod with a very weak smile and walk past her into the dental office and past the open door. I turn around, watching Fluttershy join with me again and closing the door behind her. I turn back around to see the waiting area of the office.

The waiting room was filled with a few of the dental patients and I could see a few of the fillies that weren't in school sitting there in the office. They seemed to look a little nervous about seeing Minuette as well, but they're just lucky that they aren't me. Dentists to me are like death.

I take a seat on the nearby bench near the front desk and I'm sitting there, literally shaking a little bit. Fluttershy sits next to me, gently keeping an eye on me. For me, I just cannot get the thoughts of what the dentist was going to do. Was she going to start picking at each and every one of my teeth with her drills? Was she going to use that needle at my mouth? Or was the dentist just planning something worse for me?

Past the desk in the waiting area, I could hear the sound of drills and teeth being cleaned. I couldn't see what was happening, so I just had to wait even longer for the torment of drills and this-that.

"Look Brayden," Fluttershy says to me, tapping my hand with her hoof. She passes along a map of Equestria. "You wanted to see what the rest of Equestria looks like, you can see it."

I take my focus off of my fear of the dentist and start looking at the map with Fluttershy. "Wow… that's how big Equestria is?" I asked.

"Oh, it's not all just that. There are many sights to see and many cities to visit. The Crystal Empire is one of them. Twilight should consider taking you there to visit her brother Shining Armor and Princess Cadence."

"Sweet," I said. "I haven't met them yet, but I would love to do so." Something else brings my attention the map. There was a dark area beyond the west of Appleloosa. There was no marking on what the mysterious place was called. Just black.

"Fluttershy," I asked her with curiosity in my voice. "What's that place just off West and past Appleloosa, it seems to be rather dark for the map."

"Oh, that place." Fluttershy says to me, now with an alarmed voice, but isn't raising her voice. "We are never to go there no matter the cost, it's a small isolated land full of scary monsters and non-Equestrian dragons that have much hatred for us. It's called Mortem."

"Can't you just go there and try to reason without any trouble?" I said, looking at Fluttershy. There was a bit of silence between the two of us while we looked at each other. Fluttershy then places a hoof on her head and is gently wiping it.

"One does not simply trot into Mortem." Fluttershy said quietly in a way to not raise attention. I would have smiled because at this moment, I knew this was going to turn into a huge mirror of what a character said in a movie that I knew all about that ended up becoming a meme. But seeing how important this was, I kept my curious look. "It's crooked, thorn gates are guarded by more than just the non-Equestrian dragons or the monsters that dwell there. There is a dark presence that doesn't sleep, and the spirits of hatred and anger are watchful of their wasteland. Even their leader who by Equestrian legend hasn't been seen since she was banished out of Equestria can watch so carefully for she is human and dragon blood. Mortem is almost like Tartarus, but 10 times as worse. The very air you breathe in that place can kill you within two hours unless you have a way to bypass the stench of the dead. You're rather off not going there."

"Oh, okay. Sorry I asked about it." I said, kind of regretting that I brought up Mortem.

Fluttershy smiles at me again. "It's okay Brayden. I'm only trying to help keep you safe from entering there. And I know Twilight will do everything to make sure that you never go there. Everypony knows that they'll never go there on their life." She said to me.

"What about where Zecora came from?" I asked. "Where did she come from?"

"Oh, Zecora?" Fluttershy asked, finally pointing to the other side of the map. "She comes from across the high seas on the other side of our world, descending from the land of the Zebra Kingdom."

"I do not think I've ever seen the Zebra Kingdom before." I said.

"Zecora did tell me what it looked like last time she was there. She said that it was quite many sights to see if I was to travel there one day." She says. "I couldn't possibly fly all the way there; my wings would be tired out half-way across the ocean. You'd most likely be rather off taking a large ship there."

"Alright, so I've been to Ponyville and Canterlot so far, so many locations to visit and the two I've wanted to visit a lot so far are the Crystal Empire and Manehattan. I heard that city hosts a lot of good Bridleway shows, well… Coco told me that." I said.

"Speaking of her… I heard from Twilight that she was I think 'following' you." Fluttershy asks. "Did you find out why she was doing that?"

I gulped deeply, if I ended up telling Fluttershy the truth about what happened about Coco having a crush on me. She'd probably go off and tell Twilight all about it. This is what worried me because in the end, it would result in a break-up.

I sighed softly and said "It was because Coco Pommel had a crush on me."

Fluttershy seemed a little quiet about it at first. "Umm, Brayden?" She asked, placing her hoof onto my hand. "You don't have to worry if she did have one on you. After all, you devoted your relationship with Twilight, so I don't think there's any way that you would go for another one of your friends. Even if you tell Twilight about it, she won't ever be mad at you because she understands now about you. She'd feel worse if she accidentally hurt you."

"What about when I told the truth-" I said before Fluttershy rose a hoof to cut me off with a smile on her face.

"Brayden. It's all in the past." Fluttershy said to me, taking my hand with her hoof. "No need to reflect back on what happened."

I smile and look into her cyan eyes. "You're right. I'm always digging up the past over nothing." I said to her with the normal tone of voice.

"Brayden!" A voice calls out from across the desk. I turn my head around to see Minuette standing there with an easy smile on her face. "It's your turn to come in and see me."

My fears start to kick in once again, and I turn my head around to look at Fluttershy. My face was scared as ever like it always was every time the dentist or doctor called me next for them. She just keeps her smile, getting up off of the bench while she holding onto my hand. "Come on now Brayden. No need to be frightened." She says to me in her gentle voice.

I slowly get up, accepting defeat because there's no way that I can chicken out on her. She continues to take my hand, bringing me towards Minuette. The unicorn dentist has a smile on her face and I can tell that her mane is sort of like the color of a toothpaste fluid.

"Right this way." Minuette smiles and turns around, trotting in front of us towards the door into her office. Right now, I think I can hear my heart pounding nearly as fast as a rabbit.

Passing her open door, I can see the dental chair with a bunch of tools around in a tray at a table placed close to the chair. On the other side of the room was the x-ray machine, not really looking that active at first. I was already starting to bet that Minuette will place me into the x-ray machine to check for cavities.

"Alright Brayden, take a seat in the dental chair." Minuette says to me. I walk forward and lean my back onto the dentist chair. I turn my head straight towards the dentist and she's placing a net on her mane, so no loose mane hairs will fall into my mouth. She doesn't have the mask on yet, but I suspect that she will soon.

"So how are you today Brayden? I heard all about what happened in Canterlot and I will say that I'm proud of you for helping out against Nightmare Moon." Minuette told me with a joyful smile on her face.

"Well, I wasn't willing to bring the sword upon her, so I had to spare her." I told her, shaking like crazy.

"There's no need to shake about the dentist. I assure you that all will be fine." She says to me, moving some tools about to prepare for something. It was most likely probably preparing me for the worst mouth torture ever.

Once she finished moving some tools about, she trots over closer to the dental chair and gently takes my hand. "Come with me Brayden, I have to take an x-ray of your teeth."

I slowly get up off of the chair and walk with Minuette over to the x-ray machine. She lets go of my hand and trots over to a big leather vest. "Just to make sure you don't have any radiation." Minuette says to me, putting the large vest over my body with her magic.

"Now, stand in the centre of the machine and bite onto the metal part. It'll feel funny at first, but don't chew on it otherwise I can't get a clear picture." She said, trotting towards the machine. I walk forward slowly into the machine, and move my head close toward the metal object sticking out. I open my mouth and bite down on the object and begin to wait.

The whole machine starts up with a power-up sound and I can see the floating pillar-like objects spinning around me as slowly as possible. I'm still standing there with the metal stick still being bitten down by my own teeth and I wait patiently for the x-ray machine to end. I'm not even sure I can turn to look at what Fluttershy was doing. CLICK! The x-ray machine came to a complete stop after making an entire cycle.

"Alright, you can let go now." Minuette tells me. My mouth releases itself from the metal object and I walk backwards out of the machine. "That wasn't too bad, was it? Let me just check on the pictures and see how your teeth are doing. Meanwhile with you, you can sit back in the chair."

I walk back towards the dental chair and take a seat while Minuette is observing my teeth in the photos she took. Fluttershy pulls up one of the spare chairs and sits close to me, placing her hoof onto my left hand. She has a look on her face that is trying to tell me that everything is going to be okay.

The few moments pass and Minuette trots forward towards the both of us, placing on the mask. I knew that it was at this point that I was definitely screwed.

"Well, Brayden. I've checked your teeth in the x-ray and they all seem to be as clean as possible." She says to me in her happy voice. "But there is one thing that I just need to clear up. You happen to have a cavity in one of your front teeth and I'm afraid that I must give you a filling to help clear that out."

Immediately hearing the news, I ended up shaking in the dental chair like crazy, scared out of my mind. I could tell that Minuette seemed to look a little bit concerned about me while I was shaking. Fluttershy is still trying her best to assure me that it was all going to be okay in the end.

"Brayden, what are you scared about?" Minuette asks me, placing one of her hooves onto my right hand.

"It-It's the freezing needle. I've always been so afraid of needles." I barely managed to get out because of how shaky I was about this.

Minuette smiled though. "But remember you saved Equestria? That was some bravery there, and I bet you could be brave here. I must tell you that there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. Most of the foals that come in here were nervous at first about it, but in the end they come out of my office fine, whether for a teeth cleaning or a cavity filling. Don't ask about the wisdom teeth, I do that at the hospital."

"Well that's fine, because I got my wisdom teeth out a long while ago." I said, with the shaking starting to calm down a bit.

Minuette moved her head away and grabbed a small ball of what seemed to be cotton and dipped a bit of a gel onto the woolen ball. She turns back to me and says "Alright, now open up your mouth and bite down on it. Make sure not to swallow."

I bit my teeth down on the cotton and didn't really feel the gel that was on the little cotton while the dentist reached about her tools for what would seem to be the object I feared the most. She finally turns back around with the object and she moves it closer towards me. "Open wide." She said.

I open my rest of my mouth, revealing the rest of my teeth and she moves the needle closer to my mouth. I just close my eyes and wait for the pain that is to come. But wait, there's nothing pointy being felt in my mouth. I'm just lying there in the chair with my eyes closed and yet I don't happen to feel any pain from the needle. Was it… was I being scared over nothing after all?

I open up my eyes slowly and can see the needle moving away from my mouth. Minuette moves the needle back over to the opposite side behind me and using her magic, opens up a cabinet and places the now-used needle inside. After finishing that, she looks at me. "Now, that wasn't so bad was it Brayden?" She asked.

I d'nt fee anyting." I managed to say, and then I realized that my mouth had just become so numb from the needle. Hey, even the cotton was out of my mouth, but it still felt like I was biting down on it.

"Don't worry about the numb mouth, once the operation on your tooth is done. Well it'll still be numb, but just give an hour… it'll get better and you'll speak properly again." She says to me with a giggle.

I watch Minuette finally turn back towards the tools and bring out a blue rain-coat to what the dentist on Earth told me. "Alright, now I'm going to put this on your tooth that has the cavity." She tells me, bringing in another tool to attach the rain-coat like object. But seriously it felt like a bunch of staples being placed into my mouth. But just like the freezing needle, I didn't feel like there was staples being placed, I only felt a bump.

"There we go… nice and still." I can hear Minuette saying. The coat is wrapped around the individual tooth making it stick out from all the rest. Her magic then grabs one of the drills and she activates it. The drill goes straight into my mouth and starts to drill in at the cavity. This felt really uneasy for me, and I was clenching my two fists to try and resist against the pain.

I can feel Fluttershy's hoof touch my left hand again and she gently opens up my hand with ease and is holding onto it. "Shhhh… everything's going to be okay." I can hear Fluttershy say to me in her soft voice to help me calm down.

The drilling continued and I felt myself being vibrated because of the pressure that the drill was giving since it was felt very pushed against me. Finally, the drill came out of my mouth and another drill was coming towards me. My goodness, I really hated this next drill.

The drill activated and I could feel the drill coming into the interior of my lone tooth that was infected with the lone cavity. I'm just thankful that this lasts a few seconds; if it lasted longer I would've cried out in pain. The drill comes out from my mouth and the first drill that Minuette used comes back towards my mouth.

"You're doing just fine Brayden." Fluttershy says, gently rubbing her hoof on my left hand she was holding onto. By the way, don't think that it's in a romantic way.

The drill goes on for about a minute, and then is removed from my mouth, with another tool coming in. It was to check for any more signs of the cavity left-over. I can feel the scraping of the tool brushing against the tooth and it felt like iron picks moving about my mouth. Minuette has a focused look on her face while she checks the rest of my tooth. She moves the pick-wit like object out of my mouth and proceeds to take out another, but with paint-like fluid on its tip.

"Alright, here comes the filling." Minuette says to me.

The pick-wit starts to scrape around the tooth. I can't seem to feel the cold fluid that crawled about on the end of the tooth where the cavity used to be. It always seemed to feel like somepony was painting my tooth a different color.

Finally, the scraping was done and a large gun-like object comes towards me. "This will make the filling as hard as possible within a few moments. Stay still for a few seconds." Minuette says to me, finally placing it against my tooth. I remain as calm as possible thanks to Fluttershy. Somehow her soft voice managed to calm me down from all the fright and trauma I had in the past with dentists. I can feel the sound of a machine humming softly for a few moments. It all seemed to be quiet between the three of us.

Beep. The machine made that sound and the tech is moved from my mouth and back onto the tray next to the chair I was laying in. The tool came back to detach the rain-coat from my mouth. The blue coat comes off from my mouth and my mouth no longer feels like it has staples, but is still so numb.

Minuette finally takes a black cloth-like object and begins rubbing down on the object that had been filled, just to make sure there wasn't too much filling. She moves it out of my mouth and tosses it into the garbage which I did suspect was behind the dental chair. She moves the mask off of her mouth and she is smiling.

"There you go Brayden. Your tooth is now free from any cavities, but I'll probably see you the next time I schedule an appointment for you. Most likely it will be just teeth cleaning and an x-ray." She says to me.

"Tat wsn't o ad at ell." I said again, seeing how annoyed I was going to be with this numb mouth but was satisfied that the filling wasn't as bad as I had suspected.

"Alright, you're free to go now." Minuette said, taking my right hand and helping me up from the chair. She takes the net off her head revealing her mane again. "I've got another patient to deal with."

I stand up off of the dental chair and begin walking slowly to the door back towards the waiting room. Fluttershy joins up with me again. I walk past the various doors that would go into other dental offices where patients were being dealt with by other dentist with the same experience as Minuette.

Both I and Fluttershy walk out of the dental office and out back into the streets of Ponyville once again. It wasn't as busy as earlier when coming into town. I figured that the trading and selling must have calmed down quite a bit since the afternoon was approaching and that lunch was going to start just around that time. To me, it'll be the most frustrating thing to deal with since I couldn't eat or drink for an hour due to both the filling and my mouth being numb.

The sound of somepony humming draws Fluttershy's attention and I turn my head to see who it is. It's none than another one of my favorite friends. Pinkie Pie. Her presence always puts a smile on my face, because that is what she is all about. She wants to see everypony smile.

"Hello Fluttershy, hello Brayden!" Pinkie Pie says to the both of us in her really happy, but hyper tone of voice which she always was every single day I've known her for.

"Oh, hello Pinkie. Doing well?" Fluttershy says to her with still a bit of shyness but a happy tone in her voice.

"Absolutely! I'm on my way to help set up a secret surprise birthday party for one of the fillies at the school! She's going to be so happy when she finds out the super-duper party pony came to wish her a super happy birthday." Pinkie says to her, and then turns her head to look at me. Her face drops from being happy to rather a surprised and blank face. I'm surprised her jaw didn't break open. "Uh, Fluttershy? Why is Brayden's mouth like that?"

"He had to get a filling." Fluttershy says, smiling at me. "He was scared at first, but I think I helped him get over his fear of the dentist."

"She toaly id!" I struggled out, giving a weak smile.

Pinkie Pie began to burst with laughter. What in the world of Equestria was she laughing about? Is it my jaw drooping down a bit to reveal my open mouth? Or was it just the fact that I was speaking really funny with a numb mouth. "Oh Brayden, the way you said that was so funny!" She says to me.

"Ut I n't eing unny." I managed to get out more, but Pinkie just began to laugh even harder. I could even hear Fluttershy beside me start to crack out a giggle from her.

"I can't wait for Twilight to hear all about this! She'll be rolling on the floor!" Pinkie Pie says and rushes off towards the Golden Oaks Library, probably going to tell Twilight.

"INKIE!" I shouted to try and get her to come back, thinking it was all a joke she was pulling. But by the very small dust cloud she left when rushing off, I could tell this was going to be quite the story for my special somepony to hear.

Fluttershy places a hoof on my right hand. "Don't worry about it Brayden," Fluttershy says with her gentle voice. "Let's head back to the cottage. The numbness will definitely fade off soon while you're relaxing there."

I nodded at my friend. She lets go of my right hand and starts trotting with me again back to the cottage. I kinda let off a soft groan about how Twilight was going to react about my numb mouth thanks to my friend Pinkie.

I can't exactly blame Pinkie though. I'm not mad at her and I never will be mad at her. She's always been one of the first ponies that I was introduced to when I started watching the show. If I did get mad at her, I would totally regret it because… cupcakes. Nah, just kidding. I know she'd never do anything like that ever. But I would feel so bad for her if I got angry at her. So yes, don't you worry, I still enjoy being her friend and will always be her friend.

In a nutshell in case you're wondering about what happened the next day, Pinkie still had that numb mouth story being spread about all of Ponyville. Twilight was rather enlightened by this, but was a bit more focused on some time with me and Rarity.

Well, all I can say is that it's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. The pony that makes me smile everyday.