“How does it work again?” Rainbow Dash asked, poking at a water balloon on the ground with a hoof.

“Simple, really, anypony struck by this balloon will think that they’re being followed around by their deepest fear for an hour,” Discord said. “It’s harmless, really, as their fear can’t hurt them, unless of course they were deathly afraid of water balloons.”

“Seems kind of mean for a prank,” Rainbow Dash said. “And besides, we won’t even get to see what’s going on. There are a couple really mean ponies out there, but nopony I’d wish this on. Let’s not do this one.”

“Oh please, it’s not like anypony’s going to get hurt,” Discord grumbled, but grudgingly obliged. “So what kind of a prank do you have in mind?” Rainbow Dash thought for a moment as Discord crossed his fingers behind his back, sending an extremely tiny, barely visible trickle of magic towards Rainbow Dash’s wings.

“Well…” she trailed off as her wings flared open, sending the water balloon rolling rapidly downhill. “Wait, what?!” she asked. “I didn’t…” as she glared at Discord, the balloon rolled off the edge of the cliff and landed perfectly into an open window, followed by a loud scream.

“Who, me? I am appalled that you would suggest such a thing. But since the ball- or balloon, has been set in motion, might as well… watch?” He smiled innocently, handing Rainbow Dash a pair of opera glasses. “These will help you see what the target is seeing,” he said.

“Kinda dorky, aren’t they. Can you make them look cooler?” Rainbow Dash asked, fumbling with the little stick.

“Pfft. Don’t you know that everything is better on a stick? Candy, for example, or marshmallows, or angry rioter’s protest signs… but if you insist…” He snapped his fingers and they turned into a pair of shades. “Now, let us watch!”

A minute earlier, Colgate admired her reflection in the mirror, having just brushed after eating lunch. She gave herself a shiny white smile, examining her perfect teeth, a smile that faded quickly when a water balloon flew in through the window and smacked her in the face, soaking her mane.

“Hey, that wasn’t very nice!” she called, sticking her head out the window but finding nopony around. “How rude,” she muttered, reaching for a towel. As she dried herself off, she noticed herself in the mirror again and smiled brightly. Then almost gagged.

Her wonderful shiny white teeth had turned into rotten, mottled brown ones. Colgate blinked, shaking slightly as she closed her mouth and reopened it, checking her reflection in the mirror. Then she let out an ear splitting scream.

Twinkleshine came running into the restroom. “What’s wrong, Colgate? I heard the scream and thought something horrible had happened… is everything okay?” she asked, looking around. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the restroom.

Colgate nodded furiously. “You wanna tell me what it is then?” Twinkleshine asked, staring at her oddly. Colgate shook her head sadly. “Colgate, we’ve been roommates for a year now, you can tell me when something’s wrong.” Twinkleshine said, walking over to her roommate’s side. Colgate backed up a little, turning her head to the side and shedding a tear.

“C’mon, Colgate… wait. You aren’t pregnant, are you?” Twinkleshine asked as Colgate shook her head furiously. “Okay, good. So anyway…” Twinkleshine’s words faded out as Colgate stared at her roommate’s teeth. There was something odd happening. As she spoke, her regular white teeth started to wilt, like an apple left out in the sun. Brown spots appeared and the teeth seemed to age from a pearly white to a dingy gray. Colgate’s eyes widened as she backed up in fear.

“So don’t worry about it. I swear everything will be okay!” Twinkleshine said, smiling widely. Colgate stared at the wide smile full of decaying teeth and screamed again, running out the door and leaving Twinkleshine completely and utterly confused.

“Good evening miss,” a passing stallion said, tipping his hat and flashing Colgate a smile as she walked outdoors. In a matter of seconds, his smile had turned to a mess of rot. Colgate shuddered in disgust.

“Stay away from me!” she screamed, running the opposite direction. The stallion’s wife slapped him in the face with a hoof.

“I told you your breath stank, but no! You thought that gargling with water was enough! Maybe this will teach you to ignore the mouthwash that I spent our hard-earned money on!” she said as the husband smiled at her sheepishly.

“Good morning, Colgate!” Pinkie Pie said, falling out of the sky and landing in front of Colgate, wearing a huge smile. Colgate blinked as Pinkie Pie’s teeth turned gray and half of them fell out.

“Ahh!” she screamed, backpedaling. Pinkie blinked, then smiled wider.

“AHH!” Pinkie screamed back, approaching her playfully.

“AHHHH!” Colgate screamed as the smile grew closer. She raised a hoof to shield herself from the horror.

“AAAAHHHHHH!” Pinkie Pie screamed, the force of her voice holding her up in the air for a good three seconds. “I win!” she beamed, but Colgate had already run away. “Huh. What a weird pony,” Pinkie Pie muttered.

Colgate ran away as fast as she could towards the edge of town. “Gotta find a place where there are no ponies,” she said to herself. “I can’t risk infecting any more of them. I’ve caught… the toothrot.” She made it to the Everfree Forest, turning back to the village where she made her home. “I guess this is goodbye… I’ll miss you… my friends… I’ll just go into the cold, dark, unforgiving forest…”

“Good afternoon, my pony friend! What brings you to this forest end?” Zecora asked, waving and walking over to Colgate.

Colgate braced for the inevitable, then blinked. “Wait… your teeth. They aren’t rotten.” Zecora stared at her oddly.

“Of course they aren’t, for you can see, my teeth are clean as clean can be. But it would seem I’m not alone, your teeth are shiny to the bone,” Zecora said, leading Colgate to a nearby pond. Staring at her reflection, Colgate breathed a sigh of relief as she noticed her teeth were back to normal.

“Yippee! They’re okay!” Colgate smiled brightly, galloping back towards Ponyville. “I didn’t give everypony the toothrot!” she hollered.

“Although I’m glad she’s not deranged, I must say that she’s rather strange,” Zecora muttered to herself, leaving.

High in the sky, Rainbow Dash and Discord were arguing on a cloud. “That was you, I know it was you! I wouldn’t do anything like that with my wings! I have complete control over them!” Rainbow Dash said, crossing her forelegs.

“Oh yeah? Well then, I suppose…” Discord leaned in and whispered something in Rainbow’s ear, causing her  to turn blush as her eyes widened and her wings flared up.

Rainbow Dash shook her mane and looked away. “I… um… Okay, fine, but that wasn’t what happened back there!” She shifted back and forth uncomfortably as her wings settled down.

“Alright, alright. That was me. But still, it all worked out in the end, didn’t it?” Discord asked.

“But what if Zecora didn’t show up? Then Colgate would have turned into a forest hermit!” Rainbow Dash said. “And I wouldn’t blame her, those teeth were disgusting!”

“She’d figure it out eventually?” Discord offered, shrugging. “I’m sure it wouldn’t have lasted more than a day or two.”

“Whatever…” Rainbow Dash said. “Let’s just move on to the next target.”

Next Chapter: Blueblood's Perfect Match Estimated time remaining: 57 Minutes