“Hey, Karyn! Short time, yes see.”
“Ha, I like that one. Yes, it has been less time than usual, but I still missed you.”
Indeed, the whole town seemed livelier as Derpy was on Earth for a Saturday. A spate of classes were being held at the campus, and fewer roll-gates were down over the storefronts. There was more foot traffic and even cars that stopped them from crossing the roads as they usually did. Derpy thought about flying over, but declined, in particular because their guest was not a pegasus.
“So, let me get this straight,” she said. “You would normally do this tomorrow, which is the day that I would prefer anyway, since I don’t have to work then, but we’re doing it today so I can’t work. How does that make sense?”
Karyn put her hand to her Bluetooth. “Because the human you’re going to meet has the same schedule as you. Off tomorrow, on today. And since I don’t know her other than through her work, we go to her.”
“I thought that you always brought humans to your apartment first.”
“Yes, that’s how we’ve done it. But I’ve always had an excuse. Mike was always willing to come over, and I pretended to have a home appointment with the hairdresser who met Rarity. But around here, Colgate, dentists don’t make house calls.”
Colgate laughed. “I don’t either. Carrying my chair around would be difficult.”
Of course, everypony who guested on Earth had to be invisible, and while a vain mare like Rarity wasn’t happy about that, with Colgate, even Karyn regretted that she could not be seen. Colgate looked like what a unicorn of Equestria should, with her two-tone mane, unfound-in-nature fur color, and distinctive cutie mark, no one would mistake her for anything but magical. Neutral-colored ponies like Derpy could, in theory, fade into the background.
“Is this the first time I’ve been here on a Saturday?” asked Derpy.
Karyn pulled away from her musings. “I don’t know. Any particular reason you ask?”
“No. I couldn’t remember either. I know I’ve done a Tuesday, a Monday, and a Wednesday, but I wasn’t sure about today.”
“That could be a good thing. You come so often that you’re used to it.”
Colgate agreed. “Even if it’s the first time you’re here on a Saturday, you don’t seem disturbed by it. I’m a little nervous.”
“I guess you’re right.” Derpy checked that they were going in the right direction and continued. “I just like keeping track of firsts like that.”
Karyn pulled to a stop, and since she was the only one that could be seen, the others had to stop as well. “One thing’s for sure. Like you said, this is the first time that we’ve gone to the person, instead of the person coming to us. And I don’t have perfect trust in this person. I barely know her. We’re hoping she’ll react well. But if she doesn’t, be prepared to stop time or something to make sure things don’t get out of control.”
They reached the dentist’s office, and Karyn realized how awkward this was going to be. She was not, by nature, the type of person who went up to near strangers and began conversations. If she had a reason to be there, that would help, but…
She walked to the desk. “Do you have an appointment?” the receptionist asked.
“No, I don’t. I would like to speak with Sarah, if that’s possible.”
“Let me see if she’s available. Name?”
Karyn went through the rigmarole of identifying herself, then the receptionist went in search of Sarah. They were still setting up for the day and only one man was in the waiting room.
Once she got back, the receptionist said, “Room 3.” Karyn tracked the numbers on the door. Room 3 was spacious enough that the ponies could enter first and stay to the sides.
She recognized the hygienist from the shirt she wore. As she crossed the threshold and entered the room, Sarah said, “Take a seat. If you don’t have an appointment, there’s only so much I can do, but for an emergency—“
“No, wait. I don’t need any dentistry. My teeth are fine.”
“Then why did you come here?”
“Well, this may seem hard to believe, but…” Karyn launched into her usual spiel. Ironically, she was more at home speaking about ponies d Equestria than she was about introducing herself or explaining that she wasn’t there to get her teeth cleaned.
It had almost become routine, the way the person would question what her angle was, then Derpy would reveal herself and it would begin.
That time, though, before Sarah could begin gushing over the ponies, it was Colgate who was poring over the instruments that had been laid out for the first examination.
“Look at this hook! That would probably hurt a little, but what a way to test the enamel for tooth decay!”
“Please don’t touch those,” said Sarah. “They have to be kept sterile.”
“Oh, right. Of course. I’ll look at them from here.” Colgate stood back and gave the table a wide berth, but continued to examine the instruments by floating them a few feet away. That made Sarah stand back and take a second look.
“Can you really manipulate things telekinetically?”
“No, it’s not strictly telekinesis. My magic is, well, it’s more a part of me.”
Sarah shook her head. “But I mean, you’re not doing it with tricks or mirrors or magnets?”
“I’m not. Just good honest magic. Any unicorn in Equestria could do the same.”
“I want to see it.”
Colgate looked around for something less delicate to practice her magic on. Settling for a clipboard loaded with a form, she floated it over. “You can examine the field. It’s perfectly safe, just some sparkles and sounds that are side effects of the magic.”
“No, I mean that I want to see this place where unicorns exist and do magic regularly.”
“Oh. Well, actually…”
“Is there any reason we can’t?” Derpy flapped her wings, which Sarah had shown no interest in. “Karyn comes to Equestria all the time with no ill effects.”
“Aside from the occasional mark on my rear end.” Karyn could see Sarah’s confusion, but she was still distracted by learning that magic was real to worry about a reference she didn’t get.
“Oh, but I can’t get away from work right now,” said Sarah. “How long are you here? Is it possible?”
“For once this works in our favor. If you travel to Equestria with us, we can return to the exact same point in time.”
“You have time travel magic as well?”
Colgate wanted to explain, but she didn’t know the details herself. It was left to Derpy. “It’s part of the spell that we use to change universes, which was based on the original human-summoning spell. The human world stops in time so as to get a fix on the people it’s transporting. Because the spell was invented in Equestria, it works on ponies without stopping time. If the human stays, or treats it as other than just a visit, time can move forward here as well.”
Karyn thought of some gaps that she could have filled in, but she left it at that. “All right, let’s go to Equestria then.”
Out of instinct, she threw her leg over Derpy’s barrel and let Derpy’s rise carry her up to a seated position. Derpy, out of the same muscle memory, went for her bag. Then they looked at the other two. Sarah, they could tell, had never ridden a horse in her life, given how impressed she was with Karyn’s horsemanship. She inched toward Colgate, but then pulled back when she saw the look on that pony’s face.
Colgate looked first at Derpy with pleading, then at Karyn with contempt, and then at Sarah with no visible emotion, but with the same stance a cat takes to make it clear that it is not to be petted. Her meaning was clear; she thought it the height of an insult to have a human astride her.
It also hurt Karyn’s feelings a little. Derpy had never minded carrying her, and for anypony to refuse a job that she did seemed to be belittling her. But at the same time, tempers could flare unless she did something. An idea came to her.
Dismounting, she went over to Sarah. “Why don’t you ride Derpy there?” she said. Sarah nodded and stood next to her. Derpy, remembering how she had to do most of the work before Karyn grew adept at mounting, knelt on the ground. Then it was as easy for Sarah as stepping over a large log.
“It’s all right, Colgate.” Karyn continued. “I’m sure using the spell is difficult enough without carrying anything. I can take care of this. Sarah, get prepared for more magic.”
She focused, and a green light surrounded her. The evil tinge didn’t reassure Sarah very much, but it soon dissipated, leaving Karyn standing there on the floor, only six inches tall. “Wow! Now that’s amazing magic. How did you do that, Colgate?”
“It wasn’t me. Karyn is kind of a changeling.”
Before Sarah could question that, Karyn said, “Could you lift me up please? Even if Derpy got back down on her belly, I couldn’t climb up.”
Perhaps thinking that she did not expect to begin her workday by lifting a six-inch young woman onto a pegasus pony’s back, Sarah gently placed Karyn onto Derpy. Once there, the spells were queued up and activated. They were in Equestria.
The first thing that took Sarah by surprise was how cartoonish the landscape was. Karyn didn’t want to explain about the show itself, since that would take away some of the luster. But as Sarah got her bearings, Colgate started to head off with an indication that they should follow.
“Where are you going?” asked Derpy.
“I got to see a little of how a human dentist’s office is laid out. Surely Sarah would want to see the same. Besides, now I don’t have to close for the day. I shudder to think of somepony with tooth pain who has to try to sleep another night in that agony.”
They walked along, Sarah feeling that at any moment she might either wake up or find that the ground had turned liquid. Derpy, of course, knew the way they were going, since Colgate was her neighbor. Inviting Sarah in for refreshments was more in her mind, but she was going along with Colgate’s plan.
They entered the office, and Colgate relaxed. Opening her side door, she let anypony who came by know that the surgery was open for business. She turned back to see Karyn pointing at the chair.
“See, this is the difference for ponies. They lie prone when they’re getting their teeth done instead of on their backs.”
“Supine,” Sarah corrected her, but she was more interested in the chair. “And they don’t have any incisors. Vegetarians?”
“Yes.”
Sarah nodded, but she had to pick up her head as a young colt trotted in. Karyn didn’t recognize him, but she did pick out his father who came in a moment later. He had aged significantly, but he still had the slightest build of any pony she had seen.
“Hello, Featherweight,” said Colgate. “You’re not due for a checkup in a while, if I remember right.”
“We’re not, but little Bantam here was out playing with his friends, took a tumble, and cracked a tooth.”
The white colt opened his mouth and showed that, indeed, one of his front teeth was chipped with a long crack running down its length. The one next to it was out of position.
“Oh, my. Lie down immediately.”
The colt used a wing-assisted hop to get into the chair. “Ih weely huhtz!” he said.
“I shouldn’t wonder. But you’re being very brave, not crying.”
Everyone in the room could see the fur plastered to his face by tears, but Featherweight gave a silent thanks. Then he noticed Derpy and the humans. “I’m sorry,” he said, “if you had patients before us.”
“No, no.” Colgate was a burst of action, running to drawers and pulling out instruments. “They’re just observers. Do you mind terribly?”
“No, please, go ahead with what you have to do. Is that all right, Bantam?”
“Juh fix it.”
Sarah’s heart went out to the little one. “Is there any way I can assist you, Doctor?”
Colgate picked her head up. “I’m not a doctor, just a dentist. And I think our methods vary. But if you hold his hoof, that might comfort him.”
Sarah knew something about bedside manner, and even if she was an unfamiliar face, Bantam was comforted by her touch. His father had his other hoof pressed against his own, but there was something to be said for a hand.
Colgate muttered, “Wouldn’t mind having that little mirror now,” but then became silent as she concentrated. A quick examination, and then she said, “It’s not a permanent tooth that’s broken. I can take it out. In a few months your adult tooth will come in.”
The next move she made, Karyn had seen from the first-person perspective. She picked up the long needle and floated it over Bantam’s head. “Don’t worry,” Sarah said, “Just a little while and the pain will be gone.”
From then on, it was quick. Working with several different bursts of magic, Colgate maintained the painkiller field, held his head in place, kept the tooth in a force field to prevent further breakage, and lifted it out with a pair of pliers. One more spell sealed the wound, and Featherweight was passing over some bits and heading out before Sarah could react. But she soon gathered her thoughts.
“That was…it makes me want to give up the practice.”
“What? No! You did a wonderful job keeping him calm.”
“But I couldn’t do anything close to what you did. No human dentist could. You could make us all obsolete.”
Derpy stood forth. “It’s not like that at all. I’ve been to Earth enough times to know two things. One is that there are lots of equivalents of what we can do that you guys can through your technology. And the other is that you never appreciate it enough and always envy magic or flying or such as better.”
“It’s true.” Colgate put away her needle and pliers. “I didn’t get much chance to examine your x-ray machine, but while we have something like it, it doesn’t give the level of detail that I saw on your screen. Actually seeing all the nerves and blood vessels—I’d give anything for that. We only get the bones, so they’re less useful for dentistry.”
Karyn was in the corner letting the ponies make her case for her. But Sarah still looked at her, perhaps guided by the natural instinct to see a similar face. She saw the scene from outside. Back in her office, still waiting for her at the moment she’d left, she’d been the one in control and Derpy and Colgate had been the outsiders. Now she was excluded; she was the only person in the room without any supernatural ability whatsoever.
“I’m sure you’re right. But at the same time…it makes me a little jealous, on a personal level, at all the powers you have. If I could do anything like that, well, I’d feel quite special.”
Derpy nodded, and even Colgate didn’t see the implication. But Karyn knew how difficult it was for humans to ask for things. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but unicorns and pegasi have their magic naturally, and I got mine through a set of circumstances you wouldn’t care to experience. We just don’t have a way to make a regular human magical.”
“We do have the hoof-held spells,” said Colgate, “which are just unicorn magic made into a tangible form. In theory, if one were to reverse the process…”
While dentistry was her vocation, Colgate had a not-so-secret dream to be a researcher like Twilight Sparkle, particularly when it came to magic. She even would joke, saying that her cutie mark of an hourglass was so divorced from her special talent of dentistry that it could just as well mean understanding the mysteries of unicorn spells.
Karyn, however, was less sanguine. She saw the way Colgate was thinking and found herself in a bind. She didn't want to dash all of Sarah's dreams, but at the same time, more magic on Earth was a recipe for trouble.
Derpy just tidied up the office.
"Can I try an experiment?" said Colgate. "I promise it won't hurt, and I promise that I can take it back as well."
No one wanted to say no.
"What do I do?" Sarah was nervous now.
"Lie on the chair. It'll help me if I'm in a familiar position." She pulled her insrruments back from where Derpy had just replaced them, and then went for the saddlebag. Sarah meanwhile took her position, half-wishing that she could take back her request.
A lot of "Hmm"s and "Ah-ha"s later, Colgate said, "Well, I think that, in theory, it could be done."
"Just in theory?" said Karyn. "See, it's a moot point. Maybe someday, hundreds of years from now, it'll be possible, but let's just forget it."
"Until we can make it safe."
"Right."
Sarah started to get up.
"Which I think I can!" said Colgate. "Sorry, Karyn, I'm trying to be diplomatic about this, but we need to push the boundaries just a little. For science."
Before Karyn could react, Sarah was back in the chair, and Colgate had the needle and one of the spells floating above her head. A moment of magic later, and she said, "There, now you can mimic my analgesic spell."
Sarah didn't feel any different. She looked up. "I can?"
"Yes. Of course, it'll take practice, and you can only use it when people won't notice. Otherwise it won't work."
"Huh?"
Derpy's eyes opened wide. "Ooh, good thinking! That way Karyn's happy because no one else will be finding out about magic, and Sarah, you'll have exactly what you want: just a little bit of magic, but you can use it on your patients and everyone will say how happy they are to have you as their hygenist. They won't be able to explain it, but somehow it feels better to go to you."
Sarah got up tenderly, as if expecting fatigue from the operation, but finding none. "How do I make it work?"
Karyn and Colgate each looked to the other for an explanation, neither knowing just how to describe something that the language had no words for. Again it was Derpy who came to the rescue. "Just don't think about it and do it. That's the only way I know how to fly."
"All right."
"So let's go back and try it!" Derpy went for her own bag of spells. The size change and mounting up procedure was repeated, and they were back in the office.
Karyn stayed small and kept to Derpy's back, counting on it being safe enough for the moment and wanting the two ponies to leave as much room as possible.
The next patient was a middle-aged woman. She seemed the type to bear pain well, but she did seem nervous when Sarah came at her with the floss. That's when Sarah stepped to the back of her head and focused. Karyn and the mares watched as the slightest glow appeared by her eyes. It only lasted a moment, and to anyone sitting in the chair it could only be seen as a power surge to the overhead light. Sarah went back about her work. Derpy tapped Colgate on the flank, and they slipped out of the room.
Once outside, Karyn was free to resume her normal size and visibility, and she walked with the ponies toward home.
“Was it right to leave like that without saying good-bye?” asked Colgate.
Derpy chuckled. “It saves us all from an endless barrage of ‘I can’t thank you enough,’ ‘You don’t have to thank us at all,’ ‘But I do. Thank you, thank you, thank you,’ and so on.”
“But what if she forgets how to use that spell? And then thinks it was all temporary.”
“Don’t worry,” said Karyn. “I’ll make sure that every time I go to that dentist, I get her to clean my teeth.”
“So that you can retrain her if necessary?”
“Heck, no! If there’s a way to go to the dentist without pain, I’m doing it forever!”
They had another laugh at that before returning to the apartment. Colgate went visible, thanked the two for a wonderful time, before saying that she hoped to handle a few more patients before the day in Equestria ended. Derpy and Karyn were happy to let her go ahead to have their moment together.
“Are you very worried about the security on that spell?” asked Derpy.
“No. I trust Colgate, at least for now. More than that, I worry about setting a precedent. Is every person we talk to going to want the same thing?”
“Even if they do, we don’t have to give it to them. But I don’t think that will be a problem. People only want magic because, in this world, it makes them special. If lots of people have it, it won’t be special anymore.”
Karyn took a hard look at Derpy. “That’s really insightful. You’ve learned a lot about humans.”
“Not really. I just know that you like feeling special, and your changeling magic is part of that.”
Karyn burned, but there was nothing she could say. It was somewhat true, after all.