//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: It Started with an Insulin Pump // by AnimeFan419 //------------------------------// “Sailor, Sailor, don’t be blue Ra Ra’s marching too. Horseshoes that fit her hooves are sore, she wants rock and roll no more.” Hitch sang with Megan and Sparky following behind him with Zip leading the way. “One, two, my shoes are torn and I can’t take these blisters anymore.” Megan complained. This caused the entire group to stop. Hitch then turned around. “Megan, what are we doing?” “Complaining, can we stop now.” “No can do, Minty said that now you no longer need the wheelchair and that you now need more exercise since your legs are weak. Besides, Minty also said that that your sugar will be on the high side for a few days so we are marching in order to get it down sooner.” “I hate exercising, can we rest?” “Is you sugar down?” “No.” “Then march!” Hitch demanded while shouting into a microphone that seemed to come out of nowhere. Megan remembered, how this all started, when Minty told her that she could be released from the hospital today, the nurse told her that she no longer needed the wheelchair and the bag. However, her blood sugar will still be high for a few days so she recommended that she should exercise in order to maintain her blood sugar levels. Once released, Megan realized that she had no place to go so when Mane 5 now Mane 7 ever since Minty and Megan joined their group, offered to let her stay at the Rainbow Bright House. Not only that they even allowed Megan to sleep on the couch until a room could be prepared for her. As for why they were marching in the first place, Hitch tended to be a mother hen when it came to children and since the stallion wanted her to have a healthy life style, he made her come along for his daily march. Speaking of Minty, she was at the local theatre doing her own thing. That thing just so happened to be talking about humans with other ponies who also happen to be fans of humans. Even though, Minty liked to annoy other ponies and act as though she were crazy just for the fun of it, she can be fun to be around if you could get past her wild tendencies. Minty’s group was not only a fan club for humans but it was also a theatre group that would sometimes put on plays in order to fund the groups activities from time to time. The group was small but sometimes they would have some volunteers when ever they were scheduled to do more shows. Today’s group consisted of Rocky, Clover, Twinkle, Star, Misty, Wendy, Dolly and two new members, Posey and Sprout. You might be wondering why Sprout of all ponies was here in the first place. To put it simply, Phylis wanted to teach her son tolerance and she thought that the best place to do that was the Human Appreciation Society with their leader Minty. “Hello, everypony. Today’s lesson will be understanding and greeting humans. Have everypony protect in their report.” Minty was on stage giving out a speech while also being in charge of attendance. The few ponies that attended the event, stomped their hooves as if they were clapping as they all began to find a comfy chair to sit on. “Oh, I brought mine!” The overly excited pegasus was Star who helped herself on stage while at the same time was carrying a large stack of papers. The yellow pegasus then began her speech and said,” In my research I learned that humans great each other differently depending on which part of part of the world that they live in. Some bow, shake hooves like we do and sometimes they even kiss.” “Excellent work on taking initiative Star.” Said Minty who was now right next to Star and was even giving her more space so that she could continue her demonstration. “In order to demonstrate the kissing ritual, I would need a volunteer. Clover, would you care to join me?” “Me?” Clover’s face was now a deep red as a result. “You want to do the kissing ritual with you?” It wasn’t that he didn’t want to kiss Star, it was just that he preferred to do that kind of thing in private. “That is a tempting offer but Sprout said that he would like to try.” “Coward!” Sprout accused obviously upset. “Plus, it was you who volunteered for me and I never even agreed to it! Also, to make a point, this whole thing is stupid! I mean, have you even met a human? I bet that Minty really is crazy and is still making all this up!” Even though that Sprout was still angry, it wasn’t earning him any favors because all he got in return was a few glares from the rest of the group. Of course Minty was angry too when Sprout said this so in order to defend herself, she walked off the stage to Sprout and said,”Actually, humans do exist!” Even Minty was giving Sprout a cold hard glare as she looked at him straight in the eye. “In fact, there is one living her now and she is even my patient! The fact that she is living here now is all over the news and if you haven’t heard about it than you must be living under a rock!” “Minty is right and I even met her not to long ago.” Said Posey defending Minty. “Yeah but weren’t you kind of a jerk to her before and you turned into this rampaging beast?” The pink pegasus, Wendy asked. However, that was also when the pink mare noticed that Posey was a still embarrassed by the incident. “Oh I’m sorry.” “Meh, that is ok. I think I deserved that and I think karma was going to get me one way or another.” “Awsome, it is nice to meet a fellow karma believer.” Posey then forgave her and told Wendy that everything was all good. “Gross, enough with the mushy stuff.” Sprout was still angry. “Hey be nice, it was a very sweet moment.” Said Minty trying to defend the two. “I still think that this is all stupid. Not only that I think that I will still be a better leader than you and instead of this stupid stuff we should be doing more theatre!” Sprout demanded. “Oh and what makes you think that you would be a better leader than I? The last time I checked, you incited and angry mob!” Minty accused. Star, who was caught in between the argument walked away slowly not wanting to escalated the situation as she finally made it back to her seat. “Hey, I am no longer that pony! In fact not only I think we need more members but I think we need a tech and lighting crew because those blinking lights up on the stage over their is driving me nuts and I swear that this stage will fall apart any minute.” As if to prove his point the stage indeed began to fall apart almost immediately. As a result, this shocked the other members and the rest of the group began to chatter amongst themselves. “Well if you are so confident that you would be the better leader than I wager a challenge.” “I accept and not only that the winner gets to be the leader.” “Ohhh and let’s make the deal even sweeter. In fact whoever looses has to say that the other pony is the greatest pony to have to have ever existed on stage at Mane Melody.” Minty challenged. “A chance to make a fool out of you? Oh ho it’s on!” Minty said and she and Sprout shook hooves. Once the deal was made, Minty ran off to find Megan who was now hiding from Hitch. “It’s on and may the best pony win!” Said Sprout who shook his hoof with Minty. That was when Misty had an idea. As she walked towards Sprout and Minty, she made a small coughing sound in order to get their attention. “I have an idea.” Misty said shyly. “What is it.” Minty asked now curious. “Lately I have noticed that some ponies have magic based on their talent and in my case my talent is contracting and I have invented a spell that might help you out. Would you mind if I have you two be my first test subjects?” “Of course, I would love to help perfect your new spell.” “Sure, let’s just get it over with.” “Thanks but I need you two to shake hooves like you did before in order for it to work.” They then did what they were told. That was when Crystal’s horn began to glow and a see through magical lock began to tie around their hooves before disappearing. “There, the spell is all set now you both have no choice but to honor the deal.” The duo then thanked Misty before leaving. Once the coast was clear and everypony left, she called her queen but instead of the queen it was somepony else. “Hi Doc what are you doing here? Where’s the queen?” “I do apologize but the queen is on holiday so she put me in charge.” “Ok but I just wanted to let you know that everything is set.” “That is good. I am proud of you Misty because a good scientist should always ask for consent if they are using test subject. As for me, I am not a good scientist.” “Thanks Doc but what is that? A different kind of smooze or something?” “You are correct my dear assistant every smooze prefers a different negative emotion. The last one prefers guilt while this one prefers anger.” “Well, you are in luck doc because one of the ponies that I used the magical contract on just so happens to have a lot of anger. I mean seriously that dude needs to have some sort of anger management classes or something.” “Excellent, I would like you to keep an eye on them to in case anything happens.” “Will do Doc.” Said Crystal as she ended the call. Meanwhile Minty was looking for Megan. At last she found her at the Rainbow Bright House and found out that she was still hiding from Hitch. “What are you doing here?” Megan asked. “I am certainly not eating chocolate behind Hitch’s back.” “We’ll talk about that later but If you want something sweet, I would recommend a chocolate flavored granola bar. You are still very early in your treatment to have that kind of stuff but as long as you are careful, you should be fine. Anyway I would like you to come with me and to my club. They really want to meet you.” After agreeing to Minty’s request, they took the trolly and walked towards the local community theatre where the rest of the club members were waiting for both Sprout and Minty to come back with a human. Minty was determined to not loose since her pride was at stake. “Hello everypony, I am back.” “Hey Minty, I am so glad that you are here, Sprout was this close to going on another power trip.” Said Star who greeted her. “Yeah and he kept breaking stuff.” Said Wendy who was a bit frustrated. “We even tied him up so he wont do anything stupid.” To prove her point, the mare pointed towards Sprout who was indeed tied to a chair and tied up. “Okay but I brought a human just like you requested. Guys, I would like you all to meet my friend Megan.” “I my name is Megan Trainer. Ask my anything.” She waved hello to the other ponies and they squealed in delight. Not only that but they all decided to take up on that offer and asked her a lot of questions. “So which part of the human world do you live in and what kind of greeting ritual do you use?” Star asked in excitement. “I am from America and I greet others with a handshake but I have a lot of distant cousins from Spain and Europe who greet each other by kissing. I have a really large family and family reunions tends to get a bit wild.” She then showed the other club members her wallet which contained photos from said family reunion. Every pony was exited to see the photos of Megan’s family except for Sprout who was finally able to free himself he became a but annoyed since Megan was getting all of the attention along with Minty who was quite proud of herself. “This is stupid, I think that you are a fake human and Minty is cheating and since Minty is cheating, I win by default.” “Hey that is not fair, you lost and now you have to honor the bet. You can’t just go around and accuse her like that. Besides, do you have any proof that Minty cheated?” Dolly challenged. “No but I still think that Minty somehow cheated and that is proof enough because I say so.” The rest of the members booed Sprout as a result. At first it was playful but thanks to Sprout, it turned into an argument. The arguing then continued until a storm began to form outside. The only reason that the argument even stopped was that the thunder was loud and there was even a lightning strike that was dangerously close to the building. Once the group heard the lightning, the ponies stopped and scattered. As a result, the storm stopped once they stopped arguing. “What was that?” Megan asked. “Oh that was just the unity crystals doing their thing. Long story, I’ll explain later.” “Pony Land just keeps getting weirder and weirder.” “Equestria.” Minty corrected. “Huh?” Megan asked now confused. “That is the name of our country.” “You know, Equestria sounds like America, I wonder if there are other countries out here in this world that have similar names.” “Nopony is really sure, the three pony tribes have been isolated for a long time.” “Well, if you ponies ever do get to venture out, I want to see the pony version of Spain because that would be so cool since I have family over there.” “So, want to go for a smoothie? It’ll be my treat and we can even talk about your theory.” “Sure, it’ll be fun.” Megan agreed. Once they left, they forgot about Sprout who was still upset and embarrassed over the incident. He was still under a delusion that he still won the bet so he was determined to prove Minty wrong. “One sugar free banana nut smoothie and a blueberry punch smoothy coming right up.” Said Sunny as she prepared the drinks while Minty paid for them. Once, the drinks were served, they sat at a nearby table. Little did they know was the Sprout was spying on the two while stealing some food along the way. Just as Sprout got to their table, Megan stomped onto his hoof who screamed in pain. “Ouch, what was that for?” Sprout whined as he grabbed another chair and used his other hoof in order to rub the one that was hurt. It was now Megan’s to become angry. “Dude, you tried to steal my food! Who does that?” “That is none of your business.” “Then buy your own for goodness sake.” “Ha, buying your own food is poor people.” “Oh now you done it, do you want to go?” “Oh, it’s on!” Sprout said after challenging Megan to an arm wrestling contest. The argument then became the center of interest, once an entire crowd saw what they were doing. Once the contest began the crowd began to chant,”Fight! Fight! Fight!” Just as the contest began to commence, Sprouts mother came by and interrupted the scene. “Oh Sprout darling, you forgot your medication.” “Mommy, not right now. My pride is at stake.” “Look, I know that I was a bad parent before but I am trying and I would appreciate it if you would try to help me here instead of fighting against me. You know that if you forget it, you tend to get a little you know what.” The crowd began to giggle since Sprot’s mother was coddling him. There was even some snickering in the background. “Yeah, I get it now go.” Sprout begging while his eye looked as though they were nearly pleading since he couldn’t handle the embarrassment. “Hi Phylis, thanks for providing me the wheelchair.” “Oh it it no problem dearie. I myself don’t have any auto immune diseases but a lot of members in my family does. In fact, my son Sprout over there has type 2 diabetes and sometimes he would refuse to take his medication.” When Phylis left Sprout was very angry at his mother for revealing that embarrassing secret. As a result everyone laughed at Sprout while he ran away. Concerned both Megan and Minty went after him. However, went they finally found Sprout it was already too late. Both Megan and Minty were shocked when they found out that Sprout has been infected by the smooze. “Oh no, I didn’t think that it would get this bad. I was just poking some fun at him.” “Yeah and now we know how that turned out.” “Hey Megan, do you think that locket of your will work? It helped us the last two times.” “I am not sure because I don’t know how it works.” “Maybe there is some kind of motion or catch phrase you have to say.” “Maybe but let’s find out.” “Alahamora.” Nothing happened. “Open sesame?” Minty tried but still nothing happens. The duo was in distress because the infected Sprout was on a rampage destroying things. Both the mare and human tried other phrases but still nothing worked. Just as they were about to give up, they were surprised to see Izzy who was spying on them the entire time and just so happen to be hiding behind a bush. “Izzy what are you doing here.” Megan asked a bit startled while Minty was breathing heavily thinking that she was going to have a heart attack. “Well, I was looking for things for to unicycle until I found you guys and wondered what you were up to so no I am here.” Said Izzy with a blank look on her face and was even distracted by a butterfly for a moment. “Oh hey my cutie mark is glowing.” That was when Minty noticed that hers was glowing too. “I have an idea, Izzy come with me.” Izzy then agreed unaware of what was actually going on. Once the trio got close to Sprout, Minty touched her hoof onto Sprout’s infected one and said,”Testing, testing, one, two, three. Can you hear?” “Hello, do you remember me? It’s me Izzy.” Izzy waved while still holding onto Minty’s free hoof. “So what did he say?” “Sprout says hi and it looks like he really isn’t mad at his mother but instead was upset that he never got the chance to fix the theatre. He also said that he really loves acting. Who knew that Sprout was such a theatre geek.” That was when Minty began to feel bad. “I’m sorry Sprout, it’s my fault, instead of being angry with you we should have compromised. “Yeah and can I have that broken light so that I can unicycle it? I would love to be part of the tech crew. Also why can’t you have both? If you guys did more plays Minty can recruit more members for her human club. Plus, it would be a lot less work if you guys had more ponies. If you guys compromised a little everypony wins.” That was when Megan’s locket began to glow and once the rainbow came out of the locket it hit both Minty and Sprout freeing Sprout from the infection while at the same time freeing them from the contract from earlier. “I am so sorry everypony. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I promise that I’ll make it up to you some how. Oh and Izzy, you aren’t still mad at me from the first time we met are you? If you are, I am so sorry.” “No worries. We unicorns have this saying and it’s to forgive and forget and I think that I literally forgotten. Do you want to come over for some tea?” Izzy asked and Sprout agreed. Not too long after the entire Mane 7 and Sprout were at the Rainbow Bright House in the tea room leaving a very concerned Hitch. “I just don’t get it. That was the third incident this month and not only that, it’s going to leave a lot of paperwork.” Hitch groaned while everyone laughed at his misfortune. “Do you think that we should be worried?” Megan asked out of concern. However, what they didn’t was the thing that Megan just said should not be something that should be put out in the universe.