Something Blue

by SergeantSoup

Colgate DDS

Something Blue

Chapter One

This building is my home, my job, my life. I cannot stress how imperative it is to keep the foundation of these white-washed walls supported by the ‘torture’ of my patients.

“As your dentist, I take it upon myself to nail this five letter word into your skull once more: FLOSS!” I emphasised the word with a light smack to my clients head with my clipboard. It was always so normal to tell this to nearly all of my clients. I mean really, who has time for flossing, right? Everypony. That’s who.

“OK, Dr. Colgate,” sighed my client, “Can I have my prize now?”

“Of course, Pip,” I replied, with a menacing grin on my face, “Right after the fluoride rinse.” I poured a little cup – full of the stuff and levitated it to him. Pipsqueak took it in his mouth and paused, lamenting what he was about to do. He threw his head back and emptied the contents of the cup into his mouth.

“Now, just swish that around in your mouth for about a minute and then spit it out in that sink.” This part has always been my favourite, in its own, sadistic way. One minute later, I spoke again, “Alright, go ahead, a minute is up.”

“Bleh!” he spat, “This stuff always tastes bad. At least I can have my prize now.” Pip seemed to quickly forget the ‘bad’ taste he had in his mouth as he started jumping around me.

“Alright, calm down, you’ll get your prize, just follow me,” I said as my clipboard was enveloped in a blue glow and followed me out of the room along with Pipsqueak. I walked out into the lobby to greet the colt’s parents and show them the results of my examination.

“Now, Pip,” I reminded him while I opened a drawer that contained his prize, “You can have one treat and one toy, but you can’t have the candy for thirty minutes, understand?”

“Yes, Dr. Colgate,” he acknowledged with a sigh. I smiled at this and then thought how ironic it was that we gave out sweets after visits. Oh well, we’ve got to keep clients here somehow.

Moving on to show his parents the examination, I floated the clipboard up beside me and looked it over once more. Everything checked out well, uncommon for a foal his age.

“Well, your son seems to be in complete dental health,” I started, “Aside from him not flossing, that is.” At this, Pip’s parents looked at him with a look that was somewhere between happy and upset.

“Pip, what did I say about flossing?” questioned his mother.

“‘Floss before I brush my teeth in the evening,’” quoted the colt.

“And why don’t you?” pressed his father.

“Because it’s so boooriiing,” Pip nearly whined.

“Flossing isn’t boring!” I interjected, “Or at least it doesn’t have to be.” I remember when I discovered the trick to making even the most menial dental task interesting, not that none aren’t anyways. “All you have to do is sing a little song and it’ll make dental hygiene all that more fun.”

“How do you sing a song while brushing your teeth?” questioned all three in seemingly perfect synchronization. Then,my horn lit up with excitement as I prepared a spell that I had familiarised myself with a long time ago. With some aid from this spell, I sang.

“Doctor Colgate?”

“Yes, Pip?”

“Do you sing that every time you brush your teeth?” At first, I thought he was joking, so I only smiled and nodded. I didn’t realise he was until he cocked his head to the left and said, “Dr. Colgate, you’re wierd.”

His parents balked at their son’s comment. His mother was the first to speak. “Pip! Apologise to Dr. Colgate, that was rude!”

He blushed as he looked back at his mother, and sighed when he apologised in that way that kids do when they know they’ve done something, but don’t really want to apologise for it. “I’m sorry Dr. Colgate. . .”

Time for Dr. Colgate to save the day with some good ‘ol fashion humility. “Oh, no, no! It’s fine, of course! There’s no need to apologise.” You have ‘em hooked Colgate, now we just have to wait for a response and counter.

Surely enough, Pipsqueak’s father spoke up. “Pip had no right to speak to you like that. You’re a professional, for Celestia’s sake!”

I twinged a little at the mention of Celestia. I’ve always preferred Princess Luna’s nights rather than Princess Celestia’s day. Regardless, I had to save this colt’s flank from his parents. “No, really! It’s fine! I may be a professional, but I’m a professional dentist. It’s not rare that I get called weird.”

“If you insist, Doctor...” submitted Pip’s mother. Now, I get to make them dislike me.

“Now about the bill...” I started. His parents looked at me in anticipation of the dent in their wallets. “Don’t even worry about it, a routine cleaning doesn’t cost me too much.”

Pipsqueak’s parents looked at me with such shock, I swear I might have heard one of their jaws pop.

“On one condition,” I continued. I am about to make this very difficult for Pip.

“Of course there’s a catch...” mumbled his father, “All right, what is it that you want for your services, if not our money.”

I smiled wide, and supposedly quite frighteningly, considering the look of horror that graced all of their faces. “What I want?” I began as all three of them took a large gulp. “I want,” I said beginning my ultimatum, “Pip to remember to brush and floss twice a day, and for you to continue to be my guests!”

His mother fainted, probably because she knew how difficult of a task that might be. I just laughed. I loved doing this to some of my better, more reliable clients, it’s just a policy of mine.

---------------------

After Pip’s mother recovered from the shock of my conditions, the family left my practice. After tending to some more routine cleanings, none so exciting as that one, (excluding the root canal I got to do that day) Colgate’s Dentistry shut down for the night, and once again became my home.

As everything wound down from the day, I went around the examination room to make sure used tools were in a separate bin from the new ones, and to check inventory. Floating a clipboard and pencil beside me with all the items I should have listed, I began an audible checklist.

“Fluorine, floss, buffer-brush thingy, toothpaste,” I listed. Continuing, I moved onto the bin with the used tools. Beginning to clean them using a sterilisation spell I found some time ago, I simultaneously wrapped each tool I cleaned in an individual airtight wrapping and placed them in the bin with the clean tools.

I finished off the rest of the cleaning and inventorying, noting that I needed more treats for the kids, and went into the second part of my building.

This part was the background of my life, the part not many see. The walls were of oak, and the floor was of chestnut. The floors were worn smooth by a combination of light sanding and my own hooves as a result of simply walking around.

On one end of the room was my large grandfather clock, one of my more prized possessions. I can’t seem to recall how or when I got it, but I loved it so. The weights were in the shape of a police box, for whatever reason. When I noticed them, I just figured that the previous owner was a collector. While I was looking to get them replaced with some toothbrush weights, the oddities seemed to grow on me.

On the adjacent wall stood a cobble stone fireplace. It was homey, and I only really used it during the winter months. Still, I keep wood by the hearth for those cold nights when I would call it into use.

In front of the fireplace, positioned just so I would be able to capture the warmth, was a simple couch. Nothing fancy, or even colourful. It was a simple shade of blue. Not the same as my coat, though. It was a darker, much richer shade, and for some reason, very familiar.

On the mantel of the fireplace, lay another time piece. This one was not so regal as the massive grandfather clock with the peculiar weights, no, this was much smaller. It's strange, now that I recall it. It was such a small thing, a pocket watch. I'm not even sure if I had ever worn it, or if it even worked. I had the pony that keeps my grandfather clock working smoothly, Clockwork, look at the time piece, but he was unable to even open it.

As I strode through my home, and levitated in front of me a cup of hot tea in preparation for bed, something strange happened. Now, normally, strange is a pony not having brushed since the last visit and not having terrible breath and cavities galore, but this, this, was on a whole different level.

The Princess of the Night stopped in for an emergency check-up.

Author's Note:

First chapter down, let me know what you think, I feel it's an improvement over what I've previously written.

Comments

[SergeantSoup]

1892667

Darn, you've caught my references ;D thanks for reading, assuming you did.