//------------------------------// // Part 5 // Story: Derpyball // by Rated Ponystar //------------------------------// Derpyball By The Rated Ponystar Edited by Clavier Artwork done by Tzelly (http://tzelly-el.deviantart.com/ ) *** Nothing. She felt absolutely nothing. How long has she been asleep? Hours? Days? It felt like months the way she could barely move any part of her body. Even her eyelids were a chore to raise. The first thing she saw when her eyes finally opened was nothing but blurry white lights. A chill passed through her. Was this death? Feeling nothing but emptiness and exhaustion? A white light surrounding her? She had read so many fictional tales of heroes momentary being in a state between life and death before coming back to life. She felt cold, a sudden grip of fear taking her by the soul. And yet, there was a sense of peace. Maybe it was finally her time? No more terrible orphanage. No more bullies. Maybe she might even meet her real parents, if they passed on before her? There wasn’t much she would be leaving behind. Only Starfall— That’s when Ditzy screamed, a sudden blast of pain coursing through her entire body like wildfire. The blurry vision finally cleared up, revealing the walls of a hospital room. She tried to move her body, but it only made things worse. Her accursed eyes spun around, and saw the bleeding bandages and casts that covered her like a living mummy. What’s going on?! Where am I?! Oh Celestia the pain! The more she thrashed, the more pain she felt. Before she knew it, three sets of hooves were on top of her, trying to hold her down. Ditzy continued to struggle until she felt something sharp pierce her flank. Her dizziness returned with a vengeance as her body began to feel like lead. Staring at the ceiling above her, she struggled vainly against the drowsiness that was starting to overcome her senses. She used every bit of her willpower to remember of what happened, what lead her to such a painful state. Ditzy gasped as the answer came to her like a speeding train. Starfall. The gang. Tryouts. Dodgeball. Betrayal. As the last of her consciousness faded, Ditzy no longer felt any more pain from her body... at least physically. *** Her second time waking up in the hospital was much smoother. The pain was still there, but it had massively dulled, most likely from the medications the doctors were giving her. Blinking a few times, she slowly tilted her head around to get a better view of her room. It was small, white, and dull. She spotted two doors. One led to the bathroom, and the other soon opened and revealed a doctor walking towards her. Walking to her side, he took out his chart before looking at Ditzy with a smile. “Hello, Ditzy. We’re glad you’re awake. Need anything?” “W–water...” she coughed, realizing that her throat was both dry and sore. The doctor nodded and rushed over to the sink in the bathroom, bring back a glass that he placed under her lips. She was forced to have him serve her with her legs completely wrapped and unable to move. After three full glasses of refreshing relief, Ditzy slowly looked at her caretaker and asked, “How... bad?” The doctor’s smile soon reversed and he shook his head. “To be honest, Ditzy? You’re a lucky filly. Despite the multiple broken bones and injuries you’ve sustained, you’re not paralyzed and you’ve sustained no permanent injury. You should be glad that those children brought you here.” Ditzy’s eyes rose. “Are... are they here?” Shaking his head, the doctor said, “No. About five of them just came to the hospital and left you here before running away. Nopony got their names, or a good look at their appearance, so I’m afraid your rescuers are going to remain unknown for now.” She wanted to tell them that they weren’t her ‘rescuers’, but her attackers. Friends who she had played and shared good times with, believing that they were like a family of misunderstood children living in a tough neighborhood. A lie. Nothing more than a lie she had foolishly believed; a hope that she had preserved, and turned out to be false like the Tooth Fairy or Santa Hooves. All the fillies and colts she had befriended on her team: Starfall, Little Wing, Crasher, Remedy, and everypony else. “There is something else though, Ditzy,” said the doctor, putting his hoof gently on her shoulder. “Because of your injuries, you’re going to stay in the hospital for a long time. Not to mention there will be a few weeks in physical therapy you’ll need to help your body readjust itself.” “How... long?” Biting his lip, the doctor hesitated at first before answering, “About seven months, at least. The city will provide a tutor for you so you can keep up your studies and pay your bills since you are an orphan after all. I know you most likely wanted to back to school and be with your friends, but you’re going to have to stay here for a long time.” What friends? I have no friends... I never had friends... even when I believed I did... thought Ditzy, bitterly, as tears began to form in her eyes again. The doctor gently wiped them away and told her to get some sleep. The police wanted to talk to her in the morning so she could point out her attackers, but Ditzy knew that they would do nothing for her. How many times had she gone to a police officer when reporting an older pony knocked her on the ground and stole her lunch money? Or when she anonymously reported that she and the other orphans were getting beaten up by their caretakers? The police did nothing and they would be worth nothing in this case. Starfall would just deny it, and then spread the word that Ditzy was a snitch, almost a death sentence on the streets. No, she had no choice but to remain quiet and move on. Recover and move on. Yet such a mindset didn’t help her sleep that night. *** Like Ditzy predicted, the police came by to ask her questions, but she lied, saying didn’t know who attacked her or why. The police tried to get her to confess, but they gave up soon afterwards. And so began the first few weeks of her recovery. Nopony came to see her but the hospital staff. She had no friends and no family; nopony from the orphanage was going to come see her anytime soon. Once again, she was all alone. Unable to move much, she had only the ceiling to stare at and her thoughts to occupy her mind, mostly about Starfall. Ditzy looked back into every moment she ever had with Starfall, trying to figure out when their friendship, if there was any, began to deteriorate. Was it because she was better at dodgeball than Starfall? Could it be because she had more respect than anypony else on the team? Did the possibility of her not joining the middle school team the final straw? Many nights were spent in tears, from memories of their time together, moments she considered blessings. Other times they were from nightmares of Starfall, demonic and sinister looking, ordering a band of devils to hearl flaming dodgeballs at her. Sometimes Ditzy wondered if she was really dead and that this small white room she couldn’t escape from was Tartarus. The only brief moments of joy she had were during the lessons from her tutor the school provided for her, a nice mare who was gentle and patient with Ditzy despite her handicaps. The tutor, Miss Gale Slide, was also her only source of news on what was going on at school. It turned out that Starfall managed to get on the team after all; only barely, though. It had also turned out, much to Ditzy’s shock, that the coach had intended for the two of them to be together on the same team. That was the second time the doctors had to put her to sleep with the needle. It only got worse. Starfall improve her skills and the team was quickly becoming one of the most dominant teams in the league. While Ditzy was forced to slowly relearn how to use her limbs under great stress, her tormentor was busy getting highlighted by the news and rising in popularity.. It could have been her that was popular, having fun, and respected among those in the community. Instead she was rotting in the white room of boredom. Fortunately, Ditzy was able to recover in the months that followed to the point that she could walk on her own again. With her ability to maneuver available once again, Ditzy decided to spend the rest of her remaining weeks in the hospital’s recreational center. She played a few games and talked with some of the other patients on most days, but occasionally she sat next to the windows and stared at the city beyond her prison. Mostly it was to think about a single thought: What do I do now? Such were her thoughts now as she pressed her hoof against the glass, watching pegasi fly past the hospital. Beyond it was a world that didn’t have anypony waiting for her. No family. No friends. Just a cruel world that continued to take her hope and smash it with a hammer. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Ditzy struggled to push such thoughts away from her mind, but what was the point? It was the brutal truth and, deep down, she knew it to be true. “Hey, Ditzy!” Turning around, she saw one of the nurses fly towards her with the morning paper in her hooves. “Your school’s in the front paper. I thought you might be interested.” Thanking the nurse, Ditzy took the newspaper and checked the top cover, only to gasp at what she saw: Avalon Middle School Dodgeball Team Wins Junior Championship! -Written by Sports Reporter Crossfire In a stunning final match for the championship, Avalon Middle School’s Buccaneers won the Cloudsdale Dodgeball Junior Championship. Facing last year's champions, Sky Cloud Middle School’s Phoenixes, in the last bracket of final tournament of the season, the Buccaneers managed to easily wipe out their opponents in less than four minutes with no losses on their team. “It was one of the biggest sweeps I’ve ever seen,” said dodgeball referee Stripes. “Before I knew it, I was calling the match over and declaring the Buccaneers the winners.” The Buccaneers of Avalon have never won a championship in the last thirty years. What is the cause of this strange turn around? Some say it’s thanks to Coach Hidekicker’s new training regime, which contains a few exercises he learned when attending the Wonderbolt Academy seven years ago. Others claim it was the fresh new blood added to the team, including potential rookie of the year, Starfall. Starfall, daughter of the famous dodgeball star Starcross, has managed to take the middle school dodgeball league by storm with her amazing strategies and leadership. Many of her teammates call her an inspiration, and “while not the best player physically, she makes it up with her smarts”. Starcross, who once was called one of the top ten in his generation before his unfortunate accident, said, “I’m proud of my daughter. She’s just like me in so many ways, and her future is solid.” Tomorrow, Starfall and her teammates will be seen in the Cloudsdale founder's day parade along with the minor and senior league winners in this years dodgeball season. Everypony in the room stared at Ditzy as she screamed, ripping the paper into pieces. Tears streamed down her face and she smashed her legs against the window, slowly forming cracks against the surface. The staff immediately grabbed her, trying to get her to calm down, but she hear nothing but the mocking laughter of Starfall. She kicked, bit, and even headbutted the nurses, knocking them to their backs as they held their bleeding faces. It took nearly twenty minutes for them to finally bring her down and sedate her, but even as she slowly lost consciousness, her face still was twisted with a permanent scowl. Her mind continued to think of only one thing: revenge. *** Ditzy struggled against the straps the staff had used to hold her down to her bed. They told her that until she behaved better she would have to stay there, only to be let out for bathroom breaks. Not even her tutor was allowed to see her, but Ditzy didn’t care about that anymore. She didn’t care about the ponies she hurt; they didn’t really care about her. She was just a job. A useless, dumb looking filly that they had to take care of or else they wouldn’t get paid. The old Ditzy would have been horrified to hear herself say such thoughts, but Ditzy now realized the truth. The world didn’t want her. Her parents were either dead or had abandoned her. Either way, they’d left her to an orphanage filled with fillies and colts who picked on her every day and caretakers who beat her for the simplest of reasons. She had no friends. She had no one who loved her. She was cursed with a useless cutie mark and a set of eyes that made her look retarded, and her life had been nothing but one disaster after another. All she had was her anger against the world and those that wronged her. Like Starfall... thought Ditzy, bitterly. She stared at a nearby vase, wishing it was Starfall’s head so she could grab it and smash it to the ground. If she had a dodgeball, she would show who really was the more talented player. As she thought back to the paper, she decided that it should have been her that was in the championships. She should have been the rookie of the year, and parading on the floats with the trophy high above her head. She had been naive to think Starfall was any different from the rest of the children in her life. They were all the same. They were cruel, mean, and selfish, and mocked anypony different or unusuall. A freak... a derpy freak is what they call me, thought Ditzy, closing her eyes and growling. Well, if they want a freak then I’ll give them a freak! If I can’t get respect by being the nice pony, I’ll play their game! I’ll show them all! They will respect me! They will! She would show them all. Especially Starfall. She would bid her time and strike when the backstabber didn’t see it coming. It would be perfect; it would be her vengeance. She would stand on the broken, crying body of Starfall and look down, laughing at her misery. They would all know this. Anypony who made fun of her, mocked her, ridiculed her. She would become great, the greatest dodgeball player in the world. They would cower before her and nopony would stop her. Nopony. *** After a week of being strapped to the bed, they released Ditzy from her confinement. With her freedom restored, Ditzy used all her free time to train at the hospital’s recovery gym. She practiced her shots, retrained her muscles, and increased her speed. She wanted to make sure she was in top physical condition by the time she was fully recovered, especially when the next school year started. Months passed, and by the time Ditzy’s release came, summer had arrived. She could tell from the staff’s expressions as she left the hospital with one of the caretakers that they were glad to see her gone. Maybe they had been friendly at some point, but Ditzy knew it was a lie. Maybe they pitied her, but she didn’t want pity anymore. She wanted respect. And she was going to get it first at the place she hated most. Her arrival at the orphanage went by unnoticed; none of the other foals gave her a second glance as she entered the building. She made her way towards the stairs, intending to stay in her room for the rest of the day. When she made it to the top, Ditzy spotted a group of her usual regular bullies hanging around, chatting with each other. The biggest and meanest of them, Aero, a blue-pelted pegasus with a black mane, noticed her first and smirked. “Well lookie here, boys! Derp-Eyes is back!” Sensing trouble, Ditzy halted and glared at the bully with one of her eyes looking upwards and the other at his ugly face. “Out of my way, Aero. I’m not in the mood.” “Oooh! Somepony’s trying to act all tough!” jeered Aero, his cronies chuckling behind him. “I’m surprised those docs at the hospital didn’t fix your freak eyes, retard. Then again, I guess it was a lost cause, just like you.” “Shut up, Aero,” growled Ditzy, leaning forward as her tail whipped back and forth threateningly. “I’m in no mood for any of your manure, so get out of the way.” “Since when did you grow a spine, freak?” asked Aero, a few beads of sweat dripping down his brow. Ditzy saw this and smirked. “Say, Aero, do you know dodgeball?” “Yeah, what of it?” asked Aero. “I challenge you,” said Ditzy, pressing her hoof against his muzzle, “to a dodgeball game. One-on-one. Best two out of three. Unless you're a chicken!” Aero growled, nostrils flaring. “Alright, freak. I’ll hit you so hard those eyes of yours are gonna pop out.” Ditzy smirked and turned away, smacking her tail against his cheek. “Dream on, big boy. Now let’s head outside and do this.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the group of bullies whisper to each other with confused, and shocked, faces. If they’re surprised now, wait till we get outside. *** Word of the match spread quickly, and soon nearly all the orphans were waiting outside, chatting about the match and how little time it would take for Aero to knock Ditzy off her hooves. It almost made her grin, but she kept her face emotionless. Aero soon flew from the back entrance and landed on the opposite side of her, right next to a dodgeball that had been placed for him. Ditzy had hers by her side, but she didn’t pick it up yet. I’ll wait for the right moment. Aero looked at Ditzy and sneered. “Last chance to back down now, freak. I don’t wanna send you back to the hospital.” “Oh, don’t worry,” said Ditzy. “I’ll be sure to introduce the staff for you when I bring them your broken body.” She caught a few surprised looks from the orphans who knew her to be quiet and meek. She found it vindicating to reflect a bit of meanness back at somepony. Aero growled and took his dodgeball in his hooves, wings flared out in preparation. One of his goons came between them and slowly raised his hoof. Ditzy leaned forward, nostrils flaring. The hoof came down and Aero quickly charged forward while Ditzy held her ground. With a loud cry, he thrust his body and threw the dodgeball in his hooves. Ditzy’s eyes rearranged themselves to completely focus on the ball, watching it come closer towards her face. With a smile, she moved her head to the left, letting the projectile pass her without even touching her. Before the dodgeball could go any further, Ditzy manipulated her tail and caught it. She whipped back, grabbing her own dodgeball mid-turn. She used her tail and threw back the dodgeball at top speed before completing her turn and threw her own. The first dodgeball was a perfect hit on Aero’s face, knocking him back just as the second one smacked him right in the solar plexus. As he fell to his side, clutching his lower chest while groaning in pain. He gasped for breath as saliva dripped down his chin, mixing with blood from his nostrils. Everypony was staring at the scene in silence, mouths open wide. Ditzy slowly walked over to Aero and glared down at him, her cold and sharp eyes staring directly into his soul. The poor colt curled into to a ball and whimpered. Ditzy saw one of the dodgeballs and picked it up before placing it next to Aero, who looked at it with a puzzled expression. “Get up,” demanded Ditzy, narrowing her eyes. “We still got another round to go.” Aero weakly nodded his head before rising to his feet. Ditzy slowly made her way to the other side of the field when Aero kicked the dodgeball behind her back. Snarling, Ditzy quickly turned around and caught the ball with both her forehooves. She turned her eyes right back at him, raging like a burning fire. Those who saw the eyes instantly stepped back as a cold sweat dripped down their backs. No longer willing to hold back, Ditzy held the and ball and used her wings to levitate over the shaking colt. She kicked the ball straight at his face as hard as she could, snapping his head back. A tooth fell out. The ball bounced back to her, allowing her to get another quick shot, this time driving her forehoof down like she was performing a spike. The ball was now twice as powerful and fell straight down on Aero’s stomach, knocking the wind out off him; as well as his lunch. Diving down, Ditzy scooped up the second dodgeball and floated right above a terrified and gasping Aero. “M-mercy... please... I’m s-sorr-ry!” “Sorry?! Sorry?!” shouted Ditzy. “You’re all years late for ‘sorry’! All my life I’ve taken manure from each and every one of you because of my eyes and clumsiness! Well no more! You want a freak?! I’ll give you a freak! An angry freak who’s not taking any more of your horse apples and doing things her way from now on!” Ditzy turned her gaze upon the rest of the orphans, who shivered and stared at her like she was an angry, wrathful god. “The same goes for the rest of you! If any of you ever mock me again, this will happen to you!” With a loud war cry, she let go of the ball in mid-air, but soon front flipped and axe-kicked it before gravity could take over. It was like a red comet descending from the sky to the eyes of those watching the scene in horror. A high pitched scream rang through out the air as Aero clutched his pelvis, tears in his eyes. His friends finally found their sense and were at his side, trying to avoid the eyes of Ditzy. One of them, however, took one look and her and gulped. “D-demon...” Ditzy ears perked upon hearing the name and grinned. Demon, huh? I like it... *** The looks the three ponies were giving Derpy weren’t a surprise to her. Twilight had her hooves covering her mouth, looking at Derpy as if she was some kind of monster ready to eat her up. Rainbow Dash’s wings were low and her jaw had dropped in disbelief. And Applejack? “What the hay, Derpy!” screamed the farmer, gritting her teeth. “Ah can understand beaten up a bully that’s tormented ya, but ya took it to far! Not to mention ya must have scared the other orphans so bad they actually thought that ya’ll we’re a demon! How could ya have done all that!” “What did you expect?! That I was going to just lie down and take it like a punching bag all over again?!” screamed Derpy, standing up on all fours with her nostrils flaring. She pressed her snout against Applejack’s and glared back. “You have no idea what it’s like, Applejack! You had a family and friends to be there for you! I would have killed for that growing up! I was treated worse than dirt because of my eyes and for being an orphan! Nopony was there to stop me from getting teased or beaten! Do you have any idea what it’s like? To wake up every day knowing that it was going to be more miserable than the last?! To wonder why you should bother living when nopony loved or cared about you?! That, to them, you were just a waste of air to be breathed?” She felt tears slowly drip from her eyes as every horrible moment of her past slowly flowed out of her, her repression breaking all at once like a dam. “The one time I thought I finally found ponies who cared about me, considered me a friend, they betrayed me! I was alone again and filled with so much anger that I didn’t care who got hurt! Why should I?! The world never gave a flying feather about me! So why should I have given any care back?!” The three stared at her in silence as Derpy rubbed her eyes and took deep breaths. They had never heard her yell in such a tone. If you were to compare this Derpy to the clumsy yet positive one they knew you would swear one was a changeling. Derpy looked at them and while she saw fear and anger in their eyes, there was also pity and sorrow. Muttering an apology, she then sat back down and asked, “Do you still want to hear the rest?” The three exchanged glances with each other before Twilight answered, “We might as well. Please tell me that colt wasn’t permanently injured.” “No. He had to go to the hospital, saying he fell down some stairs,” muttered Derpy, struggling to keep her eyes straight. “There was only one pony I ever really ‘crippled’, and I regret it to this day...” *** The day had finally come. She had waited months for this moment to arrive, and now she would finally get her revenge. Ditzy had made sure to keep her return to school in the new year as secret as possible. Thankfully, she didn’t have any classes with Starfall, nor did she stand out enough to make her name known. In order to keep her identity more hidden, she started wearing a grey hoodie around school. Now it was time for dodgeball signups again, to replace the graduates who had left. Ditzy couldn’t think of a better time to make Starfall pay. Practicing night and day, Ditzy knew her skills had only doubled since she last tryout. But she wasn’t here to get on the team. No, she had other intentions in mind. Stopping in front of the doors leading to the gym, Ditzy took a deep breath and bucked them open. The sound of her entrance echoed across the entire gym, startling every player and potential player into looking into her direction. The few who recognized her, including the coach, gasped, while Ditzy noticed one pony scream in shock and fall on her rump. She didn’t look any different except for the uniform she had on, but Ditzy knew that face. It was still in her nightmare, laughing at as she slowly bled on the clouds. Today she ended that nightmare once and for all. “Hello, everypony. Miss me?” asked Ditzy with a cocky grin. She trotted into the gym, keeping a close eye on Starfall, who looked torn between fleeing and wetting herself, while keeping another eye on the coach. He quickly got over his shock and stared at her with a raised eyebrow. “Ditzy Doo? I’m surprised to see you even standing. From what I heard some gang beat you up to the point where they said you were crippled,” said Coach Hidekicker. “Ponies say a lot of things,” said Ditzy, noticing Starfall was sweating and squirming in place. One of her teammates asked what was wrong, but she told him to shut up. “I’m just here to take my place on the team.” “Well, Ditzy. You were great last year. Hay, I was ready to welcome you with open hooves, but it’s been a year. You still have to go through the same process as everypony else.” Ditzy’s smile only widened. “Coach, I can prove to you that I’m not only the same filly who came in and kicked flank last year, but that I’m also better than ever. All I ask is one simple request.” Coach Hidekicker tilted his head. “What’s that?” “I’ll face your five best players on my own, and I’ll win.” *** It took a bit more convincing, but Hidekicker agreed to let Ditzy have her handicap match. Naturally, Starfall was among the five who were picked, and stood in the middle of the line of players looking more nervous than if she were facing a dragon. Ditzy, remaining calm, stretched her muscles and never once left her gaze leave Starfall. When the backstabber finally manage to look her straight in the eyes, Ditzy cut her hoof across her neck like a dagger and made her former best friend turn pale. Coach Hidekicker placed five balls in the middle of the court and flew back to the sidelines. Raising his hoof, he blew his whistle and the game was on. Ditzy made a rush for two balls, arriving in time just as the other team managed to grab theirs. Before they could retreat, Ditzy took both balls and shot them in quicker than a crossbow bolt, nailing two of the player across the jaw and sending them flying. The game had only just started and already two of them were down before either of them could blink. Starfall quickly told one of her two remaining teammates to start gathering balls while she and the other one started firing at Ditzy. However, their efforts were useless, as Ditzy easily dodged the throws, which she saw coming miles away no matter how many trick shots they used or how fast they tried to throw. She flipped and glided like it was no big deal, earning a set of amazed gasps at her performance. She glanced at Starfall and saw the strain of frustration, which brought a smirk to her lips.Removing the smile, she decided to end this charade. Diving downward, she quickly caught one of the dodgeballs in mid-air and kicked it back at the thrower. The ball hit his gut and pushed him across the court, making him tumble into a mess. Starfall gasped and tried to order her remaining teammate with another plan, but he was knocked unconscious from a dodgeball straight to the head. Stunned, Starfall looked around her and saw all her teammates either unconscious or moaning in pain. The crowd was silent, staring at the massacre with disbelief. Starfall slowly turned around, only to fall to her haunches and clutched her chest from the amount of hate directed at her from Ditzy’s eyes. Balancing three dodgeballs on her back, Ditzy slowly made her way towards her. “Ditzy, please!” begged Starfall, crying her eyes out. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it... I... was just...” Ditzy didn’t stop, drawing a dodgeball from her back. “Please, Ditzy! I’m sorry! I regret it! Really! Just don’t hurt me! Pleaaaaaugh!” Everypony from the sidelines winced and turned away, the echoing of snapped wing still ringing in their ears. Starfall continued to scream and kick her legs in the air, clutching her broken wing. A second later she screamed again, this time holding on the other wing. With her last dodgeball, Ditzy raised her hooves up as Starfall stared up at her, crying, “M-mercy! I’m your friend! To the end...” This made Ditzy pause, and for a second she looked like she was about to stop her assault. However, she soon uttered, “You said it yourself, Starfall. This is the end,” and aimed it at Starfall’s right foreleg. A third crack and scream echoed across the gym.