Sugar Coated

Sugar Coated

Chapter One

Diabetes. An illness that is designated with two separate types and comes with no cure in our world. In the realm of Equestria, it is no different. Though a rarer disease, what with magical ponies having a higher resistance to sweets, Diabetes is still a present thing, and a cure has yet to be found.

~~

Pound Cake’s eyes fluttered open. He heard the sigh of relief before the blurred images made sense. His mother and Father and sister were beside him, and he found himself on a rather uncomfortable bed that was in a room that was too white and clean. Steral. The hospital.

“Why am I in the hospital?” He asked as he sat up, leaning back on the pillows. A dull discomfort came from his arm, and he found a needle connected to a tube and IV drip.

“You passed out from gorging yourself with all that cake. Well, not right away, but that still did it. I told you! You shouldn’t have eaten the entire red velvet cake but you—”

“Pumpkin!” Mr. Cake said, his voice much sterner than usual.

The orange filly blinked, taken aback by her father’s tone, and shrunk back.

“We’re glad you’re okay, sweetheart.” Mrs. Cake added, wiping the wetness from her cheeks.

“But I’ve eaten tons of cake before…” Pound said, his groggy mind grasping the air for answers. “Why am I in the hospital this time?”

He remembered winning the bet with Pip that he could eat the entire cake and then going upstairs to do his homework, despite the expected pain in his stomach, only to stumble down the stairs into the bakery an hour or so later when his entire body betrayed him. He felt horrible. Cranky. Light-headed. Nauseus. Had he really passed out?

“What’s this?” He asked, pointing a hoof to the IV drip connected to his arm.

“Insulin.” A unicornian doctor said, stepping into the room, holding a pen and clipboard with his blue magic. “Your blood sugar was incredibly high, dear boy. It’s a good thing you were gotten here so fast. What did you eat?”

Pound Cake looked guiltily to his parents, then down at his hooves. “A whole red velvet cake with cream cheese icing…”

The doctor nodded, writing something on his clipboard, “And this is the first time you’ve gotten sick over eating sweets heavily?”

“I get the usual stomachache.” Pound said, his parents sighing as he continued to look at his hooves. He would be in trouble later. He could feel it. “And sometimes I have to pee a lot after.”

More notes. “Has your breath smelled fruity?”

His parents looked at each other in confusion as Poundcake shrugged.

“It has.” Pumpkin Cake chimed in, “I can smell it when we sleep. Is he going to be okay, Doctor? My brother isn’t going to have to stay in the hospital forever will he?”

“No no my dear.” The unicorn said with a smile, putting his pen in his pocket. “He can leave this afternoon.” He ripped off a few sheets, giving them to Mr. and Mrs. Cake.

“What’s this?” Mr. Cake asked, taking the papers from the magic.

“A list of what he is going to need from now on. Some will be supplied to you by the hospital to start you off. I’ll be sending the prescriptions to Nurse RedHeart’s pharmacy.”

Panic suddenly rose in Pondcake, “Perscriptions for what? I’m not going to die, am I?”

The doctor laughed, “No, of course not. But you can’t eat so many sweets anymore. In fact, you’ll have to cut back quite a lot. I’m very sorry.”

“Why?”

Mr. and Mrs. Cake, reading the list, seemed to become heavy, unmoving from their spots as they read through the supplies.

“Poundcake, you have diabetes.”

Silence overtook the room. It was as if all motion was sucked from it. Mr. and Mrs. Cakes gave each other solemn looks as Pumpkin gave the doctor a confused look. Poundcake's heart sank as the doctor explained exactly what that meant. Diabetes. No more cake or ice cream or candy. Having to prick yourself to draw blood and inject yourself with this weird liquid and make sure that your body won't implode on itself. After a while, his words and the words of his own parents blurred together into nothing but white noise.

No more sweets.

No more eating contests.

No more normal meals.

No more cake.

He was trapped.