"How's it been going with Copper?"
"Just like always, he's never been difficult, and we've never had a reason to argue."
"That's pretty goo- wait. Who... in Equestria... is THAT?"
A mare walked forwards, a vest and set of saddlebags hiding the fact that she's either a pegasus or not. She had a combed back dark gray mane, curling thickly at the ends. Her coat was a deep blue color, and her eyes were a soft silvery gray. Copper walked right along beside her, laughing at what Peni guessed was a pretty funny joke. He walked up to her and said, "Hey, my little Penned Hearts. I'd li-"
"I know you're going to say, 'I'd like you to meet so-and-so. She's my cousin or something,'" Peni said exasperatedly, stomping her hoof. "Look, I don't know if you're cheating on me, or trying to test my loyalty towards you. I don't suggest it. I hardly enjoy breakups."
"No, no, it's not a test and I'm not cheating. This is my sister, Ariel Ace. And, I can prove it."
The mare lifted her bags and vest, to show-
A single wing.
Only one, and nothing more.
The one wing was glimmering in several different colors, that changed each time the light hit them. The other was a stump, no scars or anything to show an accident. Peni remembered what Copper had said about his sister's birth, and how she'd been born without one of her wings.
"Oh! Okay, now-now, now I understand. Hello Ariel, it's nice to finally officially meet you!" Peni said, holding out her hoof. Ariel took it and nodded.
"I've heard so much about you, Peni! Copper talks about you all the time and-" Copper cut Ariel off quickly with a soft bump in the shoulder. Ariel read the look in his eyes and said, "Ooh! Oh, I didn't... You... Okay." A crease formed between Peni's eyebrows.
Josie cut the awkward silence with a "Haha, now let's stop the silent sibling talks, shall we?"
"Sorry, didn't intend on it. Anyways, she'll be going to school with me today, just to see what public school's like," Copper said, messing Ariel's mane. "She's normally home-schooled, and she's wearing the vest to hide her missing wing. Mom doesn't want her to get bullied, since she knows about what happens here. Especially with you and Till."
"Yeah... I really pissed him off when he first got back," Peni said, and continued, "He saw how much weight I lost, so he couldn't call me fat, and he saw me with you, Copper, and just flipped out. Since then he couldn't call me a lonely loser."
Josie said, "And a couple days later he found something he could make fun of you about, and you ripped him a new one! That was amazing, and his eye is STILL black!"
"What?!" Ariel seemed almost mortified, as if she'd never heard of the stuff that happened at school.
Copper replied, "Yeah! This colt Till was making fun of Peni because she lost her father a few years back-" Ariel interrupted with a sad "Aww, I'm sorry," and Copper continued, "Yeah, it was bad. But he was making fun of her one day, and she got so pissed, she just punched him in the eye."
"Got 3 days of ISS, but it was WORTH IT!" Peni said. Her green eyes sparked, a strange red, fiery, fierce look appeared. She seemed glad she'd blackened Till's eye, and would do it again if given the chance. But there was something more... something unexplainable. It appeared to Ariel that this side was darker, a hidden piece of Peni, something-
"Ariel? Are you listening?"
Ariel snapped out of her conscience, immersed in... something, just moments ago. Unable to remember, she said, "No, sorry. What was it you said?"
Copper replied, "I said we'll be going to Canterlot for two weeks next week, since that'll be Spring Break. Will you be coming?"
"Oh, yeah, of course! It'll be good to go back for a while," Ariel said, nodding.
"Go back where?"
A young, tan-coated unicorn came up, his eye blackened recently. "Go back where?" Till repeated.
"None of YOUR business, Till," Copper said. "And stop staring at my sister, before I blacken your other eye!" Till stopped staring at Ariel, slowly tearing his eyes from her curvy figure. It was then he noticed, after pulling away his gaze, that she was missing her wing.
"And you'll do what, Half-Wing?" Till asked, "Let your brother, who isn't a whole colt himself, do everything for you?" At "Half-Wing," Coppers eyes burned furiously. Peni stuck out her hoof, and Ariel stepped in front of Peni. The look Ariel held wasn't anger; it wasn't fury; it wasn't even fear. It was determination.
"Watch your language, young colt. You won't know who you're messing with," Ariel said, calm and almost monotone, "until you've pushed me beyond my limit."
Till asked, "And what limit is that? Calling you stupid?"
"Insulting my family."
"Heh," Till said, and continued. "Well, first off, Peni is a fat, father-less looser. Mr. Legless over here has no life beyond his pity-marefriend, you have only one wing, you're short, you look stupid, and you're most likely a slut." Before Till could even react, he was down on the floor, blood pooling around his face as he screamed and yelled at Ariel, "You bitch! You fucking BITCH!" Several other students gathered around Till, and one helped him to his hooves. "You're going to regret that, Half-Wing..."
Peni and Josie were speechless. Their jaws hung open, eyes wide and pupils dilated. Peni glanced back at Copper, to Ariel, then back to Copper. "Holy shit, Copper! Why didn't you tell me Ariel was a total bad ass?"
"Didn't know it would be relevant."
Peni said to Ariel, "Now I know not to piss you off!" Ariel laughed and poked Peni in the side.
Spring Break finally started for Ponyville High School a little early, thanks to a half day. It was because of Teacher In-Services, and that was when Peni, Copper, Josie, and Ariel began to pack for the Canterlot trip.
Till's parents, however, had another idea for Ariel. Since she'd broken his nose, he'd told the principal of Ponyville High, and she couldn't do anything about it other than call Till's parents and tell them what happened. They believed Ariel should be put in detention, but she wasn't even a student.
"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME! You're a principal and you can't even put students in DETENTION?!" Mrs. Till was screaming, infuriated by the fact that the principal couldn't punish "students."
"Mrs. Till," Principal Pyra said, "I can't punish this mare! She isn't an official student of this school-"
"BULLSHIT! She wouldn't be in this school if she wasn't a student of the school!"
"Look, ma'am, I've been more than patient with you, now just shut up and listen. Miss Ace here isn't a student, but her brother is, and he asked me if she could visit for the last day of school before Spring Break. Just to see what it would be like at a public school. Ariel, please tell your side of the story now that Mrs. Till has gone quiet."
"Okay, well, Copper asked me if I wanted to meet his marefriend, Peni. Of course I wanted too, since I want her to be my sister in-law someday. Till comes up after Copper mentions heading back to Canterlot for Spring Break. He starts to stare at me in a really perverted way, and it isn't until Copper tells him to stop staring at me that he starts to insult me and my friends-"
"That's a lie! My son would never do that to-"
"MRS. TILL! Let her finish the story. Please continue, Ariel."
"Thank you. Till started to insult me, calling me half-wing. I told him to watch his language, that if he insults my family he won't like it. Till then goes and calls Peni fat and fatherless, Copper her pity coltfriend, said I was stupid, short, and an s-l-u-t."
"Okay. Well, Ariel, since you're heading to Canterlot, I'll let you go and-"
Mrs. Till screamed at Principal Pyra, "WHAT?! She's been lying the WHOLE TIME, and you're just going to LET HER GO?! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS SCHOOL SYSTEM! I could do a FAR BETTER JOB AS PRINCIPAL than you EVER COULD!" She continued to insult the principal as Ariel walked away.
Mrs. Till's shouts were still loud and clear shortly after Ariel left the school. "Faust, that mare just won't give up!"
"Ariel!"
The voice made Ariel jump, since she'd been expecting a quiet walk home. Turning, she saw it was Peni who'd called out her name. "Ariel, I finished packing early, I wanted to walk home with you."
"Oh, thanks Peni! I can't believe that mare though!"
"Mrs. Till? Yeah, she's a total bitch. Tried to get me expelled for hitting Till in the eye."
"Didn't you say you only got 3 days of ISS?"
"Yeah. It was my first physical offense since I came to Ponyville High. You wouldn't believe how pissed I was at Till for making fun of my father like he did. Said he killed himself because of me! Little shithead kept at it until I punched him. Took me two weeks to build up the anger, but when it happened, I blacked out. I didn't see it, but I remember it. Weird."
"Oh, wow... That's some psychological stuff right there. My father's just down in Canterlot, but we're staying away from him. Total ass. Did Copper tell you he was the reason he doesn't have a leg?"
"Yeah, first time we met, actually. Though, when Copper said you guys lost your father, he made it seem like your father was dead."
"Oh, no no. He's alive and well. Okay, so he's alive." Peni laughed. "His name's Tool Box, and he's not only an ass, but a drunkard as well. Makes it really hard to live with him."
"Copper says part of the reason we're heading to Canterlot is to see your oldest brother, Jet Stream?"
"Yeah, next week is his birthday, and Jet's gonna adopt Parchment from our dad."
"Your other brother is named Parchment?"
"Yeah, he's an amateur novelist. But he's best at poetry. He keeps saying, 'No, guys, poetry is for MARES!'" Ariel chuckled. "And I keep say-" Ariel snorted, trying to hold in laughter, "saying, 'Par-Parchment, th-" She snorted again, holding her wing over her mouth, "there were plenty of colts who wrote poetry.' And he asks who," another snort, and Peni's on the verge of falling to the sidewalk in a fit of giggles, "And I say- Okay, sorry, I can't finish!" Ariel burst into laughter, Peni merely laughing at the pegasus's reaction.
"Why are you laughing?" Ariel asked in between fits of laughter.
"Because you're laughing, Ariel!" Peni nearly shouted.
"Oh, Copper, Canterlot gets prettier every time we visit!" Peni exclaimed. "I want to stop by Beauty's shop again, see what she's up to."
"That's alright with me. It's nice to see her."
Peni scrunched up her nose at Copper, and he laughed. "I'm not cheating on you with Beauty. She's dating Tree Trunk, remember?"
"Oh that's right..."