//------------------------------//
// Dentist - Monochromatic - Nov. 8, 2014 
// Story: The Sun and Stars: Lightning Round 
// by JKinsley 
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Not part of the normal crowd, but introducing Monochromatic



It was a perfectly normal afternoon for Celestia as she strolled around the grand library of her beloved castle. Her next private tutoring session with Twilight would be in a few hours, and Celestia wanted to explain a few new concepts to her young student. Of course, to do so, she'd need a copy of Advanced Magical Chemistry: Volume 5. Walking past the rows and rows of bookshelves, the princess barely noticed the other ponies trotting around, only responding when they called out to her or greeted her. It wasn't until she reached the medical section that she spotted something — or rather, somepony that made her come a halt.

Twilight Sparkle was sitting in the middle of the medical section, her nose stuck inside a book. Normally, Celestia would be quite pleased at seeing that Twilight was still ever the avid reader, but she couldn't help but wonder why she was reading up on… She squinted her eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of the title of the book. 'Magical Dentistry in Modern Equestria: 101 Spells'? 

Why in Equestria was she looking at books about dentistry?

Twilight was so absorbed in her book, she didn't even notice the princess had approached her and now hovered above her, curiously reading over her shoulder. It wasn't until Celestia spoke up that she finally reacted, looking up and blushing, no doubt embarrassed at having been discovered.

Except… she had no reason to be embarrassed, did she?

"Good morning, Twilight," Celestia said, concern awash over her face. Was Twilight perhaps suffering from some matter of dental pain? If so, why hadn't she immediately gone to the hospital wing? She should know better than to try and self-medicate. 

"O-Oh, Princess Celestia!" Twilight stuttered, closing the book almost instantly and hiding it behind her back. A rather odd thing to do considering she knew Celestia had already seen the book. She offered her mentor a nervous smile. "Good morning! W-What brings you here?"

Celestia smiled softly. "I might ask the same, my little pony," she replied, curiously eyeing the tip of the book poking behind Twilight's back. "I came to look for the spellbook on Advanced Magical Chemistry for our evening class, but we could always study the uses of magic… in dental care, if you find it beneficial to your studies." Before the unicorn could protest, Celestia levitated the book away from Twilight's hooves and took a closer look at it. 

"No, that's not necessary," Twilight quickly exclaimed, shaking her head vigorously. "I was just… I was..." She drifted off, obviously not finding a good enough justification to explain her situation. "Uhm..." Once more, a blush crept its way up her cheeks. 

"Twilight," Celestia said, her voice taking on a severity that made Twilight's ears flatten against her head. "If you are suffering from any kind of oral pain, you must go and see Nurse GreenKit. While I encourage you to continue your research into new spells, you should never try them — especially not on yourself — unless we've revised them in class."

"B-but I wasn't! My teeth don't hurt!" she protested, looking at the book as if wanting very badly to snatch it away from Celestia's magical grip. "And I wasn't planning on using one of the pain-relieving spells!"

Celestia raised an eyebrow at this. "Then we can surmise that you did intend on using a spell, correct?" she asked, watching as the unicorn deflated, looking away in shame at having accidentally given herself away. 

"...Yes, Princess Celestia," Twilight replied, understanding there was really no longer any use in trying to pretend otherwise. "Sorry..." Her shamed expression was replaced by a surprised one when Celestia suddenly used her hoof to lift Twilight's chin.

"Twilight Sparkle," she said, smiling warmly at the unicorn, "there is absolutely no shame in wanting to learn new spells. I simply believe it would be better if we studied them together, don't you agree?"

"... Yes, Princess," came Twilight's whispered reply, her blush still present on her cheeks. 

Satisfied with the answer, Celestia retrieved her hoof and looked back to the book. "Now, what was the spell you wanted to use?" she inquired, opening it and reading through the table of contents. For almost a minute, no answer was given, prompting her to glance down at her ward. "Twilight?"

If Twilight had merely seemed embarrassed before, there was no longer any doubt about it. Her face was completely flushed and she shyly hoofed at the ground. "I..." She gulped down, staring at the floor as if though it were the single most interesting thing she had ever set eyes on. "I..."

Celestia was quite baffled by her reaction. Honestly, what could she even have been looking for to be so utterly embarrassed about? Celestia looked at the table of contents again, but she could hardly find anything that would warrant such a reaction. "Twilight, it's perfectly alright to tell me," she encouraged, once more lifting the nervous mare's chin with her hoof and engaging in eye contact.

Twilight tried to look away several times before finally relenting and squeaking: "The third spell of chapter five, section three..."

Celestia quickly turned back to the book, flipping the pages until she reached the proper section. Mumbling, she read the spell aloud before blinking and glancing at Twilight. "Twilight, are you positive this is the spell you wanted?" She blinked again when the unicorn nodded slightly. "But… this is a denture correction spell. Why would you want to change anything about your dental structure?"

Twilight looked at the floor again. "Because… I wanted a better smile."

The princess raised an eyebrow. "You do?" Odd, Twilight had never been one to care that much about her physical appearance — at least, not enough to actually want to change it. And besides… "Twilight, I really don't think this is necessary. You have an excellent dental posture. If you recall, during our last session, I mentioned how much I liked your smile," she added, hoping to brighten the unicorn's spirit, as well as lift her slightly worrying low self-esteem.

Goodness, how could somepony even reach that shade of red?

Twilight was pawing at the ground again, biting down on her lip. "I know," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She opened and closed her mouth several times before finally continuing: "That's why I wanted to make it even better..." 

Celestia melted at that. 

Not that Twilight would ever know, of course, for putting on a mask of serenity and composure was one of the things Celestia did best. She contemplated the young mare for a minute before speaking. "Twilight, look at me, please," she asked, watching as the flustered unicorn forced herself to look up at the princess. Once their eyes met, Celestia continued: "Twilight, I'm sorry to inform you that if you had cast this spell on yourself, or even if I had cast it on your, it would have never worked."

Twilight blinked, her blushed fading. "It wouldn't? Why not?" she asked, taking the book from Celestia and re-reading the spell. "I have the proper magical training, and I did some practice spells earlier!" 

Celestia giggled, shaking her head. "As I said, your magical abilities are not the reason. You see..." She looked around conspiratorially before leaning down so she'd be at Twilight's eye level. "You already have a perfect smile."

Grinning, she pulled away and continued: "See? There it is again."


FIN