//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: A broken leg, and passive aggression // by mokaevans //------------------------------// Sour Sweet groaned as she regained consciousness. Where was she? How did she get here? Why was her leg screaming in pain? She opened her eyes the room a blur of vague shapes as she tried to focus. Slowly everything grew sharper and she was met with plain white walls, a simple bed under her, and an elevated leg covered by a cast. Suddenly everything came back to her, going to meet her friends at the diner, a dazed voice telling her to watch out, a sudden crash and then her memory went fuzzy. Some idiot had run into her! Now she was in the hospital with a broken leg. A nurse entered the room smiling as she saw Sour was awake. "We were hoping you would wake up soon. How are you feeling?" Sour Sweet stared at the nurse in disbelief. She'd just had her leg broken, how did she think she felt! "Oh I'm perfectly fine my leg is in extreme pain but I'm fine. " The nurse rolled her eyes. "You could have just asked for pain killers." She felt better now, oh her leg was still in pain but now she felt empowered. As the nurse refilled her bags she spoke. " By the way you have a visitor." Sour Sweet hoped the visitor was one of her friends. The nurse left telling whoever was out there to come in. Sour Sweet didn't know this girl. She had grey skin, Ash yellow hair, and eyes that weren't quite right. Despite not knowing who she was Sour Sweet felt she'd seen her before. "I'm so sorry!" She said in a dazed voice, a very familiar dazed voice. This was the girl who had ran her over. "Are you okay? What was with people asking if she was okay? She was in the hospital clearly she wasn't okay! "Oh I'm great, I'm in excruciating pain but I'm hunky dori." The girl looked confused. "Really, but I broke your leg?" Sour Sweet groaned this girl was sarcasm illiterate. She hated those people. "No really even though you ran me down like a rodent, and broke my leg, and knocked me out. I'm doing great." "That sounds painful." The girl said. "Are you sure you're alright?" Okay so becoming even more sarcastic wasn't going to work. Well at least she could find out more about what had happened. "So how did we get here?" "I don't know how you got here but I took the elevator." Sour Sweet had to resist the urge to face palm so hard she knocked herself out. How straightforward did she have to be with this girl? "No I meant how dId I end up in the hospital?" "An ambulance took you here." "No how did you end up running me over?" "Oh, well it started when my paper route was expanded." So she was a paper girl? She didn't know who would hire this girl, but she had to admit she got a chuckle thinking about her beaning people in the head with newspapers. "So I decided I needed to get around faster. So I went out and bought a bike." Who in their right mind gave this girl a bike? "I practiced a lot. I got my balance practiced all the hand signals, and breaking. So this morning, well yesterday morning at this point, I decided to take my bike out for a spin. At first everything was going okay, then you turned onto the sidewalk. I panicked and forgot whether this was the kind of bike you stopped by pedaling backwards, or using hand breaks." How did you forget something like that? You just have to look at the handle bars. "So then I called out to you, but it was too late." Sour Sweet couldn't believe her luck. Of all the people this girl could have ran into it had to be her. Also she was getting tired of referring to her as the girl. "What's your name anyway?" "Muffins!" Really that was her name? It didn't fit her at all. "I'm just gonna call you Derpy." "How did you know?" Derpy exclaimed in surprise. "Know what?" She asked confused. "That my nickname is Derpy! People are always saying 'nice going Derpy', or 'good job Derpy', or 'it's amazing your still alive Derpy', I think it's nice of them to give me a nickname." Sour Sweet just stared at her. Ignorance is bliss she supposed. It was pretty clear these people were being sarcastic...well probably not that last one. The nurse came back in. "She needs to rest dear, you can come see her tomorrow." "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow um..." "Sour Sweet." "Really? You don't seem sour to me." With that Derpy left the room. Sour Sweet had to admit no one had ever said she wasn't a sour person. At the nurse's insistence she lay down and fell asleep. Sour Sweet was in a dark hallway. She didn't recognize the place at first, it wasn't Crystal Prep, the hallway was too simple and grungy. As she thought those words she realized she must in in Canterlot High grungy is exactly how she'd describe that place. She had a flashlight so she turned it on. It didn't do much, weren't flashlights supposed to do more than barely illuminate a couple inches in front of you? Whatever she needed to find the exit. She wandered the hallways trying her best to see where she was going. It was after a few minutes realized she'd seen a trophy case twice now, and she was pretty sure Canterlot High wasn't accomplished enough to have two so that could only mean... 'I'm going in circles.' She thought.'great'. Then she heard a noise, pounding on the floor. Light pounding in a rhythmic pattern. 'footsteps.' Someone else was here. Heart in her mouth she turned. A pair of crossed ash yellow eyes stared at her perfectly well lit in spite of the hallway's darkness. "What are you doing here?" Sour Sweet asked. The girl did not reply. "Whatever I have better this to do than worry about you." Sour continued to walk, she turned the corner and ran into someone. "Hey watch it!" She yelled looking up to see the eyes she'd just left behind. "Derpy weren't you back there?" Once again no response. A bit shaken, but more angry than anything else, She kept trying to find an exit. Suddenly she arrived at the foyer. Relieved as the exit must be nearby Sour Sweet headed towards what she thought was the front. Only to see those eyes again. "Why are you everywhere!" No response as if she expected anything. She turned away, only to find the eyes infront of her. "What- but - you." She looked back, the other eyes were still there. "There's more than one of you?!" Suddenly she came from every hallway, out of classrooms, from the office, everywhere. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" She screamed running towards where she thought the exit was. She could hear them following her, getting closer. She saw the exit and ran she had to get out of there! When she reached the door she pulled on it, only to find it locked. Panicking Sour Sweet continued to pulled on the door, nothing. She tried pushing the door, nothing. She could feel them behind her staring at her. 'I'm trapped' she realized. 'Well if I'm going down I'm going down facing her.' Sour sweet turned, there were now more Derpy's than she could count. They filled the foyer, all of them staring at her. Just as they were about to reach her... "Hey are you okay?" She woke up to the sound of an all too familiar voice. "You looked like you were having a nightmare." Sour Sweet laughed unaware of the strange look Derpy was giving her. It was just a nightmare! Thank goodness she couldn't deal with that many Derpys. One was more than enough.