[Ponyville] LOOK OUT!!!

[Sunset Dream]

Sunset's eyes widened as she hugged and thanked him profusely. When she stepped back and apologized, he gave a sheepish grin. "N--no, miss, it's fine. You just looked like you needed a little...pick-up..." He looked momentarily embarrassed by his unintended pun. "And I don't mind hugs, I just wasn't...expecting it. So it's fine!" He grinned sheepishly, and looked ahead to the clinic in front of them.

[Diamond Charm]

Diamond sat, confined to her chair, staring at the doctor, jaw agape. She shook her head rapidly and cracked the front door of the office open again, peeking outside, "Whiny, dear, were you coming inside?" She leaves the door open and spins her chair to face the giant mantis once more, "Um... That's... no problem sir... madam?" She awkwardly pauses, waiting for correction before continuing, "Anyway, I'm certain speech is incredibly difficult... with your... um... unique... persuasion?" She laughs nervously, "I'm just here to see the doctor... about my leg. It's injured, so... could you send for a doctor, please?"

[Masterweaver]

Snipfang emitted a clicking sound that sounded suspiciously like a sigh. "I is doctor. Immigrant. From Insecrio." He turned to the side, showing his cutie mark; a stylized figure carrying another stylized figure through a heart. "Can I look at your leg? I is not hurting you."

Marbles meandered off, his eyes on some pegasi who just now dared to return to flying. "Really, why do they even have wings.... their flight is completely magical in origin! Well, almost completely, I guess they need it for thrust..."

[Whiteeyes]

Whiny came in. "Sorry, I got distracted by a hug. I like hugs. Hey, is that a praying mantis? Neat, they're pretty rare. Hi Mr. Mantis...or is that Mrs. Mantis? Sorry, I don't know how to tell. Say, is it true that you guys are ambush predators, sneaking up on your food and then striking without warning?"

[Diamond Charm]

Diamond Charm laughs, "Oh, OF COURSE you're... the doctor, and not at all a receptionist. Why would a small town like this need... receptionists?" She mouthed the words doctor and receptionist airily and quietly as her mind struggled to wrap around the situation she was currently in. In the past half hour, she exhausted herself performing feats beyond imagination and injured herself in the process. She had forced herself to act kindly to somepony she genuinely didn't feel comfortable around, and she had gained and perhaps lost again a business contract with a talented inventor to the SAME pony she genuinely didn't feel comfortable around, and accepted medical help from a doctor that SAME pony she genuinely didn't feel comfortable around had set her up with an appointment with.

She shakily and warily extends her injured hoof for a hoofshake with a grimace, [if I am to lose a hoof, it may as well be my injured one...], "You... You are correct. I am Diamond Charm... Charmed... I'm sure."

[Masterweaver]

"I is Snipfang," the mantis introduced himself. "I is... close acquaintance to crazy scientist pony." He almost took the proffered hoof... but backed off with a sympathetic hiss. "...This is fractured."

He glanced momentarily at Whiteeyes. "My feeding habit is not important, miss... I decide to not follow usual ways."

Turning back to Diamond, Snipfang very gently gripped her foreleg in his pincers. "This needs to set, then I splint. Set will hurt lot, but pain is quick." He turned his large eyes to the unicorn. "You say when you is ready."

[Sleepy Mix]

Grape Jelly could just see Whiteeyes enter the clinic and ran as fast as possible towards the entrance, she was dragging along Sleepy Mix with her magic. Grape got a hold of the door right before it closed and pulled it open with great force before jumping inside. She came to sudden halt right next to Whiteeyes causing Sleepy Mix too come to a halt aswell behind them.

"Holy mother of Celestia, a giant insect!" Grape yelled out in surprise, she looked at the large praying mantis before noticing it was gripping Diamond's hoof with its pincers. Grape had an angry look on her face. "YOU LET GO OF HER RIGHT NOW!!!" She yelled out once more, her horn glowing as she levitated a cooking pan out of her saddle. Her yelling caused Charmy to wake up aswell.

"...... a giant insect!" Sleepy Mix opened his eyes and tried to stand up, streaks of pain could be felt all over his body as if somepony had dragged him through a street full of pebbles. "What's happening?" He looked around but his vision was kind of blurry, though he could still make out the forms of three ponies in front of him.

"YOU LET GO OF HER RIGHT NOW!!!" His ears shot open and his vision cleared up. There was a large mantis about to attack Diamond and Grape was about to attack it with a pan or so he thought. After assessing the situation his horn began to glow aswell as he tried to break the grasp it had on Diamond's hoof.

[Diamond Charm]

Diamond looked at her hoof in despair, "Fractured? It just CAN'T be broken. It doesn't hurt THAT bad, and I have a campaign to manage, I don't have time for a broken hoof! That's not even mentioning the hassle of a cast, and not to mention, I... I don't know what I'm doing here. I can't afford..." She looked over at the pair making a commotion and withdrew her hoof as the mantis' pincers began to glow with Sleepy Mix's energy, "I'm not entirely sure that's really necessary, you two..." She said sadly.

[Masterweaver]

The mantis turned to the newcomers with a glower. "I is doctor. I is with patient. I is not hurt her!"

He pulled his pincers in tight, just to make sure that they weren't too threatening.

Marbles, late to the scene, walked in and rolled his eyes. "What is WITH you ponies? Honestly, you can't just say every creature is evil just because it's different! I mean, griffons are... well, okay, they're jerks, but only because they're culturally pressured to be. An individual griffon isn't a jerk by default."

He nodded toward the mantis apologetically. "Sorry about this, Snipfang, I honestly didn't expect--"

"Is okay, they is protect companion."

[Whiteeyes]

"From what? Mantisises eat bugs, not ponies. ....wait, you thought....hahahahahahahahaha! You guys should really read up on different peoples, it's neat and you learn not to be scared of stuff." Whiteeyes said, walking over, her face a lot more serious now. "A fracture huh? What kind? I know it's not clean or shattered, I'd have noticed that. Splinter, hairline? I only have really basic training so I wouldn't be able to tell."

[Sunset Dream]

Sunset steps inside with the others, raising an eyebrow slowly at the scene unfolding, but choosing to say nothing. If Diamond Charm were in trouble, he reasoned, she'd be screaming her head off. Granted, she looked nervous, but that had to be at least three or four steps away from screaming her head off.

He moved to Grape Jelly. "Hey, shh, it'll be fine. Just relax." Very quietly, so only she could hear, he whispered, "You don't want to alarm it, right?"

[Sleepy Mix]

after seeing the reactions of the other ponies and hearing the advice of Sunset, she whispered a quiet thanks to Sunset before she let out a small sigh. "Ok, I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions like that, it's just that I heard Ponyville has to deal with monsters alot... not that you are a monster ofcourse, it just looked kind of like you were attacking her with those pincers of yours... not that theres anything wrong with your pincers, I think they look cool." she offered the mantis a weak smile. "Ok that didn't come out the way I wanted but still, I'm sorry for accusing you of being a monster. By the way, could I have some disinfectant? I kind of fell on my face not too long ago." She levitated the cooking pan back into her saddle and remembered how Charmy devoured those worms before. "Better keep Charmy in my saddle, he might think of the doctor as food." she thought to herself and checked to see if Charmy was still asleep.

Sleepy Mix just slunk to the floor, he felt guilty for not helping out earlier. "Diamond's hoof is broken and it's all my fault." He thought to himself. "I'll make up with her tomorrow, I'll think of something by then." He heard Grape asking for disinfectant for her scrapes and then looked at his own scrapes. "Could I have some too?" He asked while taking a few steps closer to Marbles. "Where do you know this doctor from?"

[Diamond Charm]

Diamond's forehead creased and she coughed into her hoof, trying to get the doctor's attention again. Whiteeyes had been correct. The hoof most certainly couldn't have been broken in the ways she described - nevermind the fact that it truly WAS broken. Smiling at the strange mantis creature before her, her heart flourished with hope. Extending her hoof, she asked, "Would you like to take another look at that, doctor? I'm certain you simply saw it wrong. That's OK, though, I'm sure ponynatomy is quite different than that which you are accustomed to, so please... don't beat yourself up over it."

[Masterweaver]

The mantis hissed in annoyance. "It looks better then it is. Twisted bones... Disinfectant is there," he informed Grape briefly, before turning back to Diamond. "Does it hurt here?" Snipfang gently prodded the foreleg.

Marbles headed over and picked up the disinfectant. "Don't worry, I've had plenty of practice applying this. All you need to do is shut your eyes, believe me it can get REALLY painful if it gets in there... You know my eyes used to be green? True story!" Having unscrewed the lid, he dabbed a cotton ball in the liquid and began treating the scratches on the purple unicorn's face.

[Diamond Charm]

Diamond whimpered in pain at the attention, wondering how one twists bones from an impact,"Yes... Yes, it hurts there."

[Sleepy Mix]

"Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch, it burns." Grape kept on whining. She licked one of the scrapes near her mouth. "Ewww, it tastes weird aswell." Eventually she grew tired of whining. "Hey Diamond, how are you doing?" she asked after hearing something about twisted bones.

Sleepy Mix grew impatient of the waiting and didn't know what to do. "This is soooooo boring, isn't there anything to do her except standing still and waiting for a mantis to treat a broken bone?" He thought to himself. He began looking around frantically in search for anything interesting. He spotted a fly buzzing around in the room, his gaze followed the movements of the fly till it eventually bored him aswell. He began looking at the other ponies, he looked at Marbles and started checking out the different cutie marks. Afterwards his gaze fell on Whiteeyes. "Hmmm, no cutie mark, why didn't I see that before?" He didn't have anything to do anyway. "Hey Whiteeyes, I was just checking out your flank when I noticed you didn't have your cutie mark yet, why is that? If you don't mind me asking ofcourse."

[Whiteeyes]

"Oh my, a twisted bone? I've never even heard of that! How bad is that?" Whiteeyes asks, and then she hears the question. "Oh, I don't have one. My Mom says it's cause I'm not special."

[Diamond Charm]

Diamond forced a smile as she blinks some tears away, "I'm OK. I'm sure it doesn't hurt as badly as your scrapes.." [even if I DID scrape my leg where I broke it!]

She gets concerned as Whiny expresses her ignorance of twisted bones, and was about to ask if twisted bones were even a real condition when she hears Whiny's comment about her mother. She grew quiet and looked over at her friend, waiting for elaboration. Without looking at the Mantis, she quietly mutters, "If you're going to set it, please do it quickly."

[Sleepy Mix]

"Wow... that's kind of a harsh thing to say to your daughter." Sleepy Mix was a bit angry after hearing that answer. "Now what kind of mother would say such a thing!" He thought. He looked back at Whiteeyes. "It ain't true though, everypony is special. You know what, you're even specialer than I am, your special talent could be ANYTHING while I'm stuck with my milkshake mark forever. By the way, a cutie mark is not wat makes a pony special. Everypony has a unique appearance and personality, small quirks or the way they act, that's what makes a pony special." Sleepy didn't know for sure if she needed a pep talk or not, but it couldn't hurt right?. "And I think you're a very special pony, you're fun to be with, you seem really nice, you are a really positive pony and not to mention lightning fast." He offered her a smile. "Yeah yeah, I don't know what I said either." He said trying to sound as unserious as possible.

Grapes face was now disinfected and she could open up her eyes again. She could hear Sleepy talking but didn't really pay attention to him, her eyes were following the movements of Snipfang. "So cool to see a giant insect from up close. She was about to say Diamond Charm was lying when she said she wasn't in much pain but discovered the taste of disinfectant hadn't left her mouth yet. "Hey Snipfang, do you mind if I take a few gulps of water from your tap?" She took a few steps in the direction of the tap.

((Finally, my 100th post. Have I become better since my 1th post or worse?))

[Masterweaver]

"I is visiting doctor," Snipfang explained. "I is called--"

An audible CrINCH was heard as he set Diamond's leg.

"--because crazy scientist pony is calling." He grabbed a splint and set about tightly wrapping the unicorn's injury.

"What?" Marbles paused, overhearing the comment on specialty. "...oh that! Yeah. My mom just said I was me and never to use any mental issues as an excuse. Of course, she also used to say colt hoofs made excellent knife sharpeners. Here, let me get you a drink." He walked over to the sink, preparing a cup for Grape.

[Diamond Charm]

"AAAAAH! Ahh...?" Diamond screamed in definite pain but stopped in surprise when, just as the doctor said it would, the pain subsided rather quickly, "Ah... Um. Thank you for your help, doctor. That went much more smoothly than I expected."

She tried to go back to listening to the other conversation and rolled her eyes at Marble's addition, [I'm sure he had it tough, too, Celestia knows many ponies have had rough lives... But we're talking about Whiny right now!]

Spoiler: show

Grats on the milestone, Sleepy! I can only hope we all keep this kind of quality once we all hit 1000!

[Sunset Dream]

Sunset tried to keep up with everything going on. Sometimes it felt like everything happened in rapid spurts around him, and it was all he could do to maintain his involvement in the situation.

Finally, though, something the mantis said caught up to him. "Waaaaaitaminute..." He spun on Marbles. "You called this doctor to this town, already? Before we took off?" He hesitated, eye twitching. "Y--you knew--we were going--to crash here???"

[Masterweaver]

"Well, not here specifically. But it was the closest town with a medical facility. The fact that we went down the main road is just coincidence." Marbles shrugged. "Also a friend of mine is psychic. Tad insane, mind you, but psychic. He's a unicorn."

Snipfang rolled his eyes at Marbles' trademarkedly outworldish comments. "That is explain everything, isn't it. Miss Diamond, I is get you pill you MUST take, twice a day for three weeks." He headed over to the documentary pad and wrote out a drug prescription.

"Well, okay, he wasn't always psychic. He just participated in an experiment of mine once and now he gets random visions of the future." The earth pony hoofed Grape the cup of water, taking a moment to check on Charmy. "I'm not sure why though... but I'm legally disallowed to test on him or run the experiment again."

[Diamond Charm]

Diamond averts her attention to the angry Sunset accusing Marbles of knowing that something would be going wrong, but turns toward the doctor, "Three weeks? I'll be able to walk in the meantime, won't I? I don't think you understand how vital walking is to my day-to-day activities, not to mention... My image. You know, I am something of a celebrity here, and I need to keep a certain appearance."

[Whiteeyes]

Whiny didn't really get what the sleepy pony was saying, and then he kinda just kept talking on and on so she stopped paying attention. The situation at hand was more interesting anyway. "Don't worry Diamond Charm, if you can't walk I'll just push you everywhere."

Spoiler: show

Cue terrified screaming.