Princess Luna had been suffering and it was nothing related to the self-guilt she imposed on herself by creating the Tantabus. It was a very different kind of pain and Luna found herself with Celestia in the dentist's chair inside Canterlot castle. For the past few days, Luna had been feeling extreme pain from inside of her mouth and Celestia decided to have it checked out, much to Luna's dismay.
"Well, it appears your highness, that my suspicions are in fact true," said the dentist, looking at x-ray's that were taken inside Luna's mouth. "You wisdom teeth are in fact impacted, which is what is causing you the pain."
"It cannot be," groaned Luna, her voice filled with pain and her eyes filled with tears. "Why do I have to suffer like this? Why? Tell me, why?"
"It happens to everypony, Princess Luna," replied the dentist. "I'm afraid that those wisdom teeth are going to have to come out soon."
Luna began to feel herself shake, for her greatest fear was always undergoing medical procedures. As a filly, she had broken her wing in a flying accident and had to undergo reconstructive surgery for over two hours. Shortly after being freed of her Nightmare Moon persona by Twilight Sparkle and her friends, Luna had her appendix surgically removed from her stomach and now this: her wisdom teeth had to be removed.
"When can she have them out?" asked Celestia, much to Luna's reluctance and hesitation.
"She can have them out in the morning, your highness," said the dentist. "It's the only way that your sister can be free of the pain she is in right now."
So, Luna left the dentist's office and was a complete and utter nervous wreck when she prepared to assume her duties as Princess of the Night that evening.
"Luna, its for the best," said Celestia as she lowered the sun that night. "If you have something that is troubling you, then it needs to go. Why don't you want to go through with this?"
"Because I'm scared, sister, all right?" snapped Luna, the pain growing more and more unbearable. "I don't want to go through with it! I've been through enough torment as it is!"
At that moment, Luna crumpled down to the ground and began sobbing loudly. Celestia knew that Luna had to go through with this and this would not be one of the nights that Luna would assume her normal duties.
"Sister, I want you to listen to me," said Celestia, bending down and draping a wing over Luna. "We all have to face challenges in life and we must tell ourselves that we will survive them and everything will be all right."
"But sister, why do I have to face these problems?" cried Luna, her voice ragged with fear. "Haven't I face enough problems already? It's bad enough trying to get ponies to see me past Nightmare Moon, sister! I can't face any more pain!"
At that point, Celestia knew that Luna needed to be consoled, so she used her magic to raise the moon and once the moon was raised, Celestia led her sister to her bedroom and helped her get into bed.
"Luna, I understand you are scared," consoled Celestia. "I would be scared too in this situation if I have to have my wisdom teeth removed. But, I think you are afraid because nopony will come to help you. You will have help in getting through this, but it won't be just me. The ponies who look up to you the most will be there to support you when the time comes."
At this point, Luna calmed down slightly, but she was still scared. When morning came, Luna was helped by Celestia into a small room with a chair already lowered so that Luna was lying down. The royal dentist and two of his nurses were already in surgical garb and preparing the tools needed for the procedure.
"Good morning, Princess Luna," said the dentist. "I want to reassure you that you will not go through the pain of having your wisdom teeth removed. However, that is because we are going to put you to sleep using antiesthetic. Now, if you will remove your tiara, shoes and chest plate, we can have you take a seat here."
Luna was hesitant at first, but with a nod of Celestia's head, she complied and removed her crown, shoes and chest plate as she nervously walked over to the chair and laid down on her back.
"All right, Princess Luna," said the dentist. "We are going to stick an IV into your right foreleg so that we can administer the antiesthetic. You are going to feel a small pin prick for only a second. Are you ready, my brave mare?"
Luna looked over towards the dentist and nodded nervously. But, she knew that there was no turning back now. The time to face this was now, like all the other times she had to endure the pain of an operation. One of the nurses rubbed an alcoholic cloth on Luna's foreleg and then, with a small pinch, she felt the needle of the IV stick into her vein. Next, the other nurse took a large mask and placed it on Luna's nose and mouth.
"This is just to make you relax, Princess," said the dentist. "Then, we will proceed with the antiesthetic."
As quickly as it was administered, Luna felt herself feel relaxed for the first time in a long time thanks to the laughing gas' effects. Finally, the antiesthetic was administered into her veins and Luna began to feel sleepy as a result. With her mouth wide open, Luna was fast asleep and the operation began.
For the next hour, Celestia patiently waited outside with Luna's royal regalia while her sister continued to have her operation. Soon, Celestia was joined by Twilight, her friends as well as the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"Thank you so much for coming," she said as they arrived. "Luna can really use our support right now."
"How is she, Princess Celestia?" asked Apple Bloom worriedly along with the rest of Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Is Luna going to be okay?"
"She's going to be fine, Apple Bloom," replied Celestia. "It's just that Princess Luna has been feeling very scared with all of this. In fact, I can't help but feel all but sorry for her."
"We all feel sorry for her, Princess Celestia," remarked Twilight. "Having surgery on anything is the worst thing that could happen to anypony. But, it is for the best and I think what Luna is doing right now is exactly for the best. Don't we all agree?"
All the ponies nodded in agreement with Twilight and Celestia admired the fact that Twilight's influence on other ponies continued to grow. Just then, the doors to the dentist's office opened and the dentist emerged, removing his mask that was covering his nose and mouth.
"All right, your highness," he said. "The surgery is over and the wisdom teeth have been removed. I must say that they were very much impacted and such and it was no wonder at all that your sister was in pain."
"In what way is that, I reckon?" asked Applejack.
"The fact that her wisdom teeth were not growing in straight," said the dentist. "You see, when we are born, our adult teeth take a long time to grow and we lose our baby teeth to make room for new ones. In terms of wisdom teeth, they are the largest of all our teeth and if they are growing straight up, then they wouldn't be a problem. However, in the case of Princess Luna, her teeth were growing in a way that required an extraction."
After taking in what the dentist had told them, a stretcher was brought into the room by two other nurses and the sight of the stretcher had caused the Cutie Mark Crusaders to feel scared for a brief moment.
"What are they doing to her with that stretcher?" cried Sweetie Belle, huddling in front of Rarity. "Is she going to be okay?"
"She is going to be fine, Sweetie Belle," said Rarity, comfortingly stroking her little sister's mane, before turning back to the dentist with a worried look. "Isn't she?"
"Of course," replied the dentist. "We are just going to take her to the recovery room so that she can recover from the procedure. It would be best if you wait for another hour until she wakes up. But, I must warn you that Princess Luna will be a little disorientated and pained from the surgery."
So, they all took in what the dentist had told them and about another hour later, Luna opened her eyes and looked to see that her sister and admires were around her bedside. Luna was too pained to speak as her mouth was swollen with post-operative pain. However, she understood what was going on around her and tears of happiness began forming in her eyes.
"Glad to see you are okay there, Princess Luna," said Scootaloo. "Talk about fighting the fight, there."
"At least you understood now what needed to be done, little sister," said Celestia, comfortingly as she bent down to nuzzle her little sister. "I know it was scary and that it was not easy, but we are all very proud of you for going through with this anyway."
Although Luna couldn't speak, she simply nodded at her sister's remark in reply. But, even though she was pained, Luna was happy to be safe and sound once again with all the ponies she loved. There was no question whatsoever that this was one of the scariest days of Luna's life, but she was now glad that real life and challenging nightmare of hers was all but over.