I Only Hate You.

When I was a young girl, my father took me into the city... To have my teeth ripped apart by a crazy man wearing a white coat. Oh, I heard all the horror stories about this guy. For every finger he had there was a big, twisting metal drill or hook or claw or gun that he'd use to rake and wreck your teeth with. And if he really didn't like you, he'd put a cage in your mouth so you'd never be able to eat noodles again! This man was the worst of the worst; grade "A" scum.

I still remember the glowing review he gave my daddy that day.

"What perfect teeth she has!"

"I've never seen such immaculate enamel!"

"Her gums are better maintained than some of my adult clients!"

None of that really clicked with me as a kid... Partly due to me playing with that sweet mini Etch a Sketch the doctor gave me for being a good girl. But I do remember that daddy was smiling; he was just ecstatic over how well my teeth were. And I remember thinking that this guy who just clawed around in my mouth wasn't nearly as bad as my friends were hooting about. Sure, he scraped my teeth up and pushed his fingers against my tongue and stuff, but it wasn't all that bad.

On the car ride home, daddy told me how proud he was of me. Daddy was hard to impress, honestly... So, in that little kid brain of mine, I got to thinking... Maybe I should give up on my plans to become a princess with a unicorn that shot peppermint-patties and instead focus all that I was on something less amazing...

Even at that young age, I remember thinking how I wanted to make every kid as happy as I was right then and there. Every kid should feel like there wasn't something wrong with their mouth... And no one should be afraid to see someone who was clearly there to help you. I wanted to be a dentist... Like Herbie, the elf that didn't want to make toys. Which I never really got. The boss elf threatened Herbie that if he didn't get to work with making that toy, he was going to get fired. Why didn't he just get fired and become a dentist?

Elf toy makers wanting to be dentists aside, I decided that day in the car I wanted to be a dentist. I wanted to clean teeth for the rest of my life. Which doesn't sound glamorous, but the devil was in the details that I didn't fully get as a itty-bitty kid.

Right out of high-school, I toiled for eight years to get my DDS; all the while daddy cheering me on with pride in his heart... Mom was there too. She just cheered quieter than daddy. Anyway, I got my DDS, mild honors, and fifty bucks from Lyra who said I would drop out and become a mime. I'm sure she was just challenging me with that bet. After all, she still showed up for my graduation with everyone else. Man... They looked so proud. For twenty years I kept saying "I'm gonna be a dentist", and there I was, a certified dentist; a Dental Surgeon.

Granted, even with my professional degree, I decided to work on only children. Why? Early dental care is way more important in my professional opinion... Plus they're all just TOO ADORABLE! UGH! I can't help it! I just wanna pinch their little cheeks and UGGGGGH!

And yet... One person slipped through my cracks. A friend talked me into accepting one adult patient...

"Heeeeello! You've got Minuette DDS, that's Doctor of Dental Surgery. How can I---OH! Red! Heeeeeey! Haven't talked to you in years... Really? You'd think I'd remember that. Anywho! What can I do you for? Got a bleeder with some rotting teeth that needs fixing? Not every day I get--Oh? Yeah, sure. You've got my word. Oaths and stuff. Not a word leaves this call. Sheesh... Well how 'high profile' is 'high profile'?

"...Nah, I've got you. Can't have anyone swarming a place, right? It's not good for the healing process for other patients, it stresses out the client, it's a mess... Yeah. I can see the problem. Being a child star has to suck. A lot of early onset issues arise in those---Huh? Well how old are they...? Red, I deal in pediatric dental care. It's a personal thing. Can't you just---Ugh... You have me over a stump there... No, I understand. Trust and whatever...

"Alright, alright! Just stop shaking...! You are so shaking, I can hear the receiver rubbing against your chin... You do SO do that! Whatever, so who's this celeb I'm gonna have to work on...? Come again...? Oh, wow, Red, I just remembered -damn- I have -like- a dozen or so clients for the next month or so. I'm just swamped here. JUST swamped. I couldn't--No, it has nothing to do--I know that, Red, but--Red. Red? Red! I'm not saying---I can hear it's important but--But it's--Oh you would bring up the braces!

"Look, I just can't... Because a doctor shouldn't mix business with personal, come on... No I'm not being childish! You are...! I don't care what 'special conditions' she has, I won't---I'm sorry...? Really...? Uh-huh. Uh-huh... Fine... Yes, I'll do it. Just-just tell them to be here in the next three hours. I'll fit her in somewhere... Yeah, whatever, you're welcome I guess."

Gushing gums. Mashed molars. Broken bicuspids. Sized-down incisors. Ca-sixes rather than canines. A medical mystery in the mouth. Years of neglectful dental hygiene presented like a preserved time capsule with the outward appearance of a pristine condition. That's what waited for Minuette that day in her chair. It was a slog to work through and a nightmare to get x-rays of... And a nightmare to look at those x-rays when they finally came out. In all her years, she worked with screaming children, whiny brats, and uncooperative toddlers. But in the span of a single operation, she dealt with all three and more at once; and from a full grown adult to make it worse.

But Minuette kept her word. She checked the patient, cleaned their teeth, operated on her, and kept everyone that was there that day in her office's lips zipped that the client was even there. Every moment she regretted allowing Redheart to talk her into the whole mess. But a doctor's duty was to heal anyone they could... Even if it was grade "A" scum.

"Soooooo..." a subtle kick sent Minuette coasting across the room in her wheeled chair until she stopped herself right next to her 'guest' sitting in her operating chair, "Here we are again, Mrs. little-girl-in-an-adult-body," Minuette gave a playful tap to Trixie's nose as she lay there in the operating chair with the most disgruntled scowl, "You, me..." Reeeeeeee! "And Mr. Drilly-Drill!"

Trixie rolled her eyes at how condescending Minuette sounded in this moment, but she remained seated, laying back the way her dentist told her to be; like a 'good girl'. "Lovely. Can I get to my--"

The objections of Trixie were hushed as Minuette -sporting her minty green operating gloves now- pressed a single index finger to the woman's lips. "Ah-ah-ah. None of that. I told you already..." Minuette smiled a sickly sweet grin, displaying her perfect white teeth to her un-amused patient, "You've missed over twenty check-ups, little-girl-in-an-adult-body. So, if you want to talk to me now..." The way Minuette spoke in such a sing-song tone made Trixie want to lose her lunch... Yet that would only make this visit all the more grueling in the end, "...You'll talk while I fix your nasty, nasty... NASTY...! Teeth."

Before a word to object could arise from Trixie, Minuette snapped on a protective mask over her own mouth and started the whir of a her drill before having it dull away as she pressed it up into one of Trixie's teeth. Zzzzzzzzz! A wince and a small yelp were all that Trixie could muster as the vibrations went through her tooth and down to her jaw. "Well it wouldn't hurt so much if you just brushed!" Minuette scolded the adult pediatric patient.

"Y'r 'ra r'ss!" Trixie gurgled out as best she could between her gaping mouth and the metal tool being stabbed around against her teeth.

"Funny, you said something very similar the first time I did this. And I'll tell you the same thing I said back then," with a small jerk of her wrist, Minuette flicked the drill she was using to test around inside of Trixie's mouth, making Trixie kick her foot out in pain, "Each time this hurts is a reminder of a time you should've taken care of your teeth."

Only a minute in and Trixie remembered a dozen or so times she should have brushed... "Sooooo... Little-girl-in-an-adult-body..." Minuette's jerks and twitches of the wrist simmered down as she produced another tool -a small mirror on a stick- and started prodding that around deep in Trixie's widening mouth, "I can't imagine what you're doing in town for. It's not for the high school reunion... That was a year ago. It's not for a check-up... You never come for those. It's not for a movie... You walked out on your current one last time I checked..." She continued to muse all of the things Trixie was not there for, still mentally and physically taking into account all of the problems Trixie had with her teeth this time around.

With a small involuntary spit, Trixie answered Minuette's aimless musing. "Ahm theere fr' 'Fi'righ'."

"Is that so?" Still so entirely sweet in the way she spoke to an almost toxic degree, Minuette smiled under her mask, "Now why would you want to do something like that? Hm? And why bother me with it?"

Trixie shot the doctor a spiteful glare, but relented as she shut her eyes to collect her thoughts. There were many of them in this one-horse town... Many of them throughout the entirety of the world... But this one was the easiest for her to reach... The easiest friend of Twilight's she had. "Ah j'th wn' th'lk wat 'er."

Finally Trixie caught a break as Minuette removed her tools from Trixie's mouth and allowed the woman to rest her jaw for a second. Though her lips were obscured by the mask she wore, Trixie could feel the frown Minuette was making. For a moment, Minuette turned towards the desk opposite of where Trixie sat and began to write a few quick notes down in silence. Trixie ran her hand under her jawline, feeling out the small amount of lasting pain still vibrating through her after the small 'exploratory' work Minuette just subjected her to. The pain, in the end, would be worth it if this visit yielded her all the information she needed.

"...I don't believe you," Minuette's sweet tone was all but dissolved as she turned back around to look Trixie in the eye, "Trixie," for the first time since they met as patient and doctor, Minuette addressed the star by name, "I have known you since you we were little bitty tykes. Sure, probably don't remember me, but I just remember you. And that's why I know you have nothing good to say to her."

Trixie tried to sit up to rebuke the claim, but was swiftly put down as Minuette pushed her palm to Trixie's chest to keep her laying back. "Stay still, I'm almost done..." Minuette reached with her free hand to grab a rinse hose which she promptly popped into Trixie's mouth, setting the flow to a very low speed, "Now, Trixie, listen... I know you're not a bad girl," Minuette sighed with a relenting glance at Trixie laying down, a small surprise in the star's eyes when the doctor said that, "You're a crappy person with one of the worst personalities I've ever known, but you're not bad," that surprise Trixie had died into a dry glare again, "Sooooo... We'll try one last time..." As a bit of water filled Trixie's mouth, Minuette started to suction out the water with another hose while scraping at the backs of some of Trixie's teeth with a small hook, "Why are you here?"

Why?

Why was she here? Trixie knew in some part of her what the answer was even if she didn't truly want to admit it. It was something that pulled her away from the role of her life, to bolt across the country, that kept her awake every night since she felt it. It was her anger and hatred above anything else. A burning desire she and only she knew but one that only a single person could put an end to or have matter in some way. But why was that? She wondered... She sat in a pediatric dentistry wondering that very question. Though she had already known the answer in some way.

With a deep sigh that spat up a small splash of the water still being filled into her open mouth, Trixie relented and looked at Minuette with honest yet angry eyes. "Ah wa' ah' ell 'eh' ah 'a'e 'eh' 'ore den a'wa' elth. Erra' 'icth ah 'et 'eh', ah 'a'e 'eh'... 'Eth..." Trixie tried not to look Minuette in the eyes, her face going a bit red... But maybe that was from the water in her mouth or the lack of air while she spoke, "...Eh-aye 'ath 'othe..."

Minuette's lips pursed slightly, her hand scraping the back of Trixie's teeth stopping for a moment as she looked down at the little-girl-in-an-adult-body.

"Geez Louise, what a buttbag! You alright, Twilight?"

"Yeah... I think I made her mad..."

"Forget her. She's a poopnose."

"No... no I don't believe that. There has to be someway I can make it up to her."

"You didn't do anything! Twilight, sometimes a buttbag is just a buttbag."

"...Alright, Poopnose..." Minuette finished sucking the water from Trixie's mouth and helped her sit up, "I'll believe you... What do you want to know?"

Trixie took a quick moment to spit up into a dish next to where she was sitting before giving her dentist Minuette a thankful grin; her teeth almost looking as perfect as the dentist's herself. However, she quickly shook it off with an embarrassed red to her face. "About time."

"Buttbag..." Minuette mumbled under her breath and behind her mask.

"---So just go down the road here, take a left in about two blocks and you'll be there," outside of the clinic Minuette gave small points down the road for Trixie to follow.

Even with the directions given to her, Trixie scowled at Minuette with crossed arms. "Seriously? It was right there? Tsk... I could've just stumbled around town and found that..." Trixie turned up her nose, but started to smile with a hint of thanks to her.

"Whatever you say, little-girl-in-an-adult-body... Just remember what we talked about," Minuette wagged a finger at her would-be client, "Be a good girl, and the next talk won't have to come with a drilling... Also, we need to talk about a root canal--"

"I best be off then!" Trixie tipped a non-existent hat to Minuette and quickly bolted down the street she was instructed to go.

The dentist watched as her oldest and most childish client fled away from her into the drawing evening. She looked up to the sky, seeing how the sky turned from a bright blue to an oranging red. Certainly a beautiful evening was just around the bend. An evening that had been partly stolen from Minuette by a vindictive silver-haired man-child. But, perhaps there was a bright side... Maybe someone else would have the evening of their life now. All the same, the night had not yet begun and the evening was still young. Minuette rolled her shoulders a bit, electing a little moan of relief from her after an annoying hour of work.

"Alrighty then... Time to get home and--" Before Minuette could finish her thought, she felt something leap up against her back and nearly topple her forward before she caught her footing.

Minuette shot a look over her shoulder startled at what could possibly have hit her, but she quickly smiled sweetly at the familiar sight of green hair. "Well hi, Spike...! Why are you clinging to my back?"

"Because I want answers!" He grunted in a faux tough guy voice, which he quickly dropped for a momentary "Hi, Minuette," back to his newly captured hostage.

Mr. Drill would be playing alone tonight it would seem...