//------------------------------// // The Heavenly Client // Story: Something Blue // by SergeantSoup //------------------------------// Something New Chapter 2 Immediately falling to my knees, and looking down in her presence, I was able to stammer, “Y-your Highness!” “Rise, subje--Doctor,” Luna replied in her regal voice, though seemed to falter in addressing me. I rose from kneeling, and tried to avoid eye contact to refrain from offending my prestigious guest.  Even her hooves sparkle like the night sky, I decadently observed, and her teeth must be brighter than a full moon! “Why do you avoid looking at my face, Doctor?” she asked, sounding hurt. “Majesty, I hold the highest respect for yo--er, the Princesses of Equestria.  I wouldn’t want to offend the benevolent leaders of this nation,” I answered truthfully, though tripping over almost disregarding the other princesses. “Doctor, you are acting strange.”  She sounded confused.  “Treat me as a friend, and please, call me Luna.” Now it was my turn to be confused, why was she being so casual with me?  And why does she keep saying ‘Doctor,’ rather than my name?  Still, a princess’s wish is a princess’s wish. “I apologise...Luna, but may I ask why you’ve graced my dentistry with your presence?” When I finished my question, she smiled widely, rose to her hind legs, and replied brightly, “WE WISH TO HAVE OUR TEETH CLEAN!” in her Royal Canterlot Voice whilst striking a pose with one hoof thrust dramatically into the air, of course.  Her voice rattled my house and cracked my cup, which was luckily devoid of the tea it once contained.  It also allowed me to smell her breath in High Smell-inition.  I immediately understood why she was here, but. . . “That’s not a problem, but don’t you have some sort of private, elite dentistry-master ponies of some sort?” I queried while putting the tea cup on the kitchen counter with my magic.  “I’m not saying that I don’t want you here, in fact I feel honoured that you would even consider my tiny shop.” The princess lowered herself and I could see a light blush on her face as she noticed the small amount of damage done to my home. “Of course, but I do not quite trust their hooves as I would you, Doctor.”  She walked into my living room and examined her new surroundings.  “I see you still have the grandfather clock I gave you, as well.  Oh, and you kept the weights too!” O...kay, I was becoming more and more confused with the princess’s informality with me, and now she says that she gave me my clock.  “Luna, please excuse me if I’m mistaken, but this is the first time we’ve actually met.”  Her facial expression changed from inquisitive to confused as she turned back to look at me.  She seemed to study my face for a little bit, and I must say that I became very uncomfortable. “AHA!” she exclaimed, making me flinch and my ears fold back in surprise.  “This is one of your jokes, isn’t it, Doctor?  Well you can’t fool me anymore!  I have become quite experienced with activities meant for merriment!” “Princess, we’ve never met,” I replied in a flat tone.  “I don’t know what you think I’m trying to do, but it’s certainly no joke.”  Luna went back to observing my living room, more specifically, the mantel.  “Furthermore, I have absolutely no idea where I got my grandfather clock, nor anything about what those police boxes are doing as weights.  And, if I may ask, why do you keep referring to me as ‘Doctor’?” The dark mare paused, looking at the mantel, seemingly unaware of what I had just said.  However, she replied, “Ah, I see.  You shouldn’t remember, then.”  Shouldn’t remember what?  “My apologies, but what is it that you are called now?” She came here not knowing my name?  “My name is Colgate Minuette, D.D.S., commonly referred to as Dr. Colgate by my clientele.”  I was getting a bit flustered by all of this.  The sovereign leader of the night enters my home completely at random, and then starts talking about things like we’re great pals.  What shouldn’t I remember?  Why shouldn’t I remember it?  So many questions, but I know how to get the answers... “I apologise, Doctor...Colgate, I was unaware of certain circumstances.” Now I’ve got her.  “I don’t know what circumstances you refer to, but you came here for a dental cleaning, and so you’ll get one.  Besides, you referred to me as ‘Dr. Colgate,’ therefore, you must want to be part of my clientele.” Princess Luna had a blank look on her face as she realised what she had just gotten herself into.  “I...er...you,” she stammered.  “You still want to clean my teeth?” she concluded, dumbfounded. “Mmmhm!” I affirmatively hummed. “A-and you want me to come back?” she continued. “Hmm...yep!  But, of course I want you to pay my regular rates, and I’ll be treating you as I would any one of my other clients, dental criticism and advice included.”  I nodded and stomped my left hoof to punctuate that she would not be pampered in my palace. She was obviously not accustomed to being spoken to by a much smaller, much weaker pony in such an authoritative manner, though she seemed to accept it when the look of shock turned to one of content.  She solidified my presumptions by saying, “I accept your terms, on one condition.” “Name it,” I replied casually. “I can only come after I raise the moon and the stars are out, and I must leave before I must lower it.” Hey, being the pony to have to move your own former prison, which in this case just-so-happened to be a major heavenly body, must be hard enough without having to deal with your dentist and her own schedule, so I agreed to her terms. --------------------- The Princess continued to come back; each month it seemed she would come on a certain number of days, give or take a few.  Though, I must say, it was odd of her to come every month in the first place, considering I see most of my clients semi-annually. During the twelfth visit after our first encounter, about a year later, I decided to ask about her monthly routine. “Luna,” I began, “why is it that you come by so often?” She looked up at me from the laid back position the chair of my practice put her in and looked at me dully.  It was then that I realised that I was asking her questions while I had my instruments in her mouth, something that many practitioners of dentistry seem to do.  Playing off my mistake, I simply took out the tools and wiped them on my apron. “Minuette, I just love having my teeth cleaned by your skillful hooves.”  Luna had lost much of her social awkwardness and old ways of speaking over the past year.  I’m not sure what helped her do that, but she seems much more casual than on the night we first met.  She’s even taken to calling me by my seldom used name, for some reason. “As much as I appreciate the compliments of my clients, and their bits,”  I mumbled the last part to myself.  Don’t think of me as a greedy mare, but a girl’s gotta eat. Continuing, I stated my intent, “I like to have feedback as to why they come back, and for you, it’s especially important because you come by every month.” Luna rotated her head towards me, presumably to better look me in the eyes, rather than addressing the ceiling.  “I come here every month because I enjoy having good dental hygiene, especially with your craftsponyship, as well as the time I get to spend with you.” “I guess I just don’t understand why you enjoy the time with me,” I voiced my thoughts, “and why you always seem to schedule appointments within about the same span of days.” The Princess raised an eyebrow, most likely questioning my thoughts on her agenda.  Duly noting her interpretation, I quickly corrected myself, waving my forelegs defensively in front of me.  “Not that I have a problem with your timetable, it’s just something I’ve observed, is all.” “Well, if you truly want to know why I so deliberately choose the nights I do, I suppose it would not cause harm to tell you.”  My ears perked at this.  I finally get to know why my most prominent client arrives exactly when she chooses.  “The truth is,” she began, making me rock forward on my haunches in anticipation, “I’m lazy!” I leaned forward too far, and I fell forward, my muzzle making direct contact with the tiled floor.  As I flopped over onto my side, forehooves grabbing and rubbing my bumped schnozzle, and curled my rear legs into my chest, creating the infamous fetal position. I must have looked hilarious, because Pretty Pony Princess Woona certainly looked like she was going to burst at any moment, with tears starting to form in her eyes, and a smirk on her face, feebly covered with a hoof, as she leaned over in her chair to look at my pained form. “What’re you smirking at?” I said with as much venom as to be had with my hooves clamping my muzzle, trying to ease my pain. “I have absolutely no idea of what smirk you are referring to,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.  It was at this point I decided to finally get up and walk off my injury. Nose still stinging, I decided to play it light-heartedly, even if only to try and make myself feel better.  “You know, Luna,” I began, fully grabbing her attention, “I can’t say I’ve ever heard of a broken nose due to a work-related accident in dentistry.” Though my humour wasn’t, well, humorous, the princess still smiled, perhaps only for my own gain.  Luna looked at a clock on the wall, and her eyes lost their excitement as she realised the time.  “Minuette, let’s finish this cleaning, it’s getting late, and I need to lower the moon soon.  After we’re done here, I’ll tell you what I meant by my being lazy.” Surely enough, with my expertise in dentistry, and her ability to cooperate during appointments, the cleaning finished quickly.  The silly thing about Luna was that she had this complex for fun and fun things, so when the check-up was completed, I gave her a little baggy with floss, a little travel sized tube of toothpaste, and, get this, a toy from the drawer in the front room.  She said something before about collecting toys so that she may ‘increase the fun.’ After receiving my little do-it-at-home-you-lazy-bugger dentistry kit, Luna kept her promise as she posed by my open bay windows to leave for her home.  “I deliberately schedule myself on these nights because of my lunar cycle of full, gibbous, half, and crescent.  I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I always come during the half moon.” “I thought it might have something to do with the lunar cycle,” I thought aloud, “but that doesn’t explain why you always come during the half stage or why you said that you were lazy.” “Well, it takes more energy to create a full moon and limit the amount of stars in the sky to compensate for the amount of light, and more energy to brighten all the stars and limit the size of the moon to a sliver,” she explained, “therefore, it would cost the least amount of my power to make the moon half as bright, at half it’s size, and have the stars halved in brightness and quantity.” “Princess. . .” I began. “Yes?” She shuffled uncomfortably, most likely due to her desire to not be called by her royal title. “Why does that make you lazy?” I asked of her.  “You’re the only pony who can raise the moon and create the beautiful night sky as well as you do, and the job you do is perfect, if not, it’s damn close!” She looked at me, surprised.  “I’ve never heard anyone praise my nights as you do, Minuette, not with that type of language either.”  I blushed as I realised my vulgarity in front of a proper, royal mare.  “Still, I was brought to the belief that being lazy meant that one spends as little energy as possible. . .” “Well, that’s technically correct, but dentist visits are, and it pains me to say this, lower priority than your occupation,” I explained, “especially when your occupation is raising a heavenly body, and maintaining all your royal duties, whatever they may be.” When I finished defending my Princess against her own lexicon, she lowered her head.  I almost thought I might have seen a blush through her deep purple coat, but before I could she turned herself towards my window and spread her wings. “I don’t have many duties other than maintaining the order of the night and helping ponies face their fears in their own dreamscapes,” Luna admitted over her shoulder.  “Goodbye, Doctor, I shall see you again soon.” The Princess of the Night took to the air, fading into her element, leaving me to my own devices.  My own devices being my pillows, sheets, and a molar plushie. --------------------- I awoke the next morning, prepared for a day off.  Sunday is a great day for private business owners, it gives us a day off from the long work week.  This Sunday though, it seemed especially, excuse the pun, sunny. When I rolled over to face my windows to see if I had left my bedroom curtains open, I met with one other very prominent figure. Just how many royal teeth do I have to clean!?