You know, it had just been a short while prior that things had taken a rather unexpected but not all unwelcome turn. There Little Wing was, a little bruised to be sure, and yet contently holding the weeping Silver Breeze as he let loose a lifetime’s worth of misery she could heavily relate to. The crowd hadn’t dispersed around them, but the young mare was just happy to stay there until her now maybe now former mortal enemy spent all of his tears and composed himself once more.
But there were a few things that ensure that was never going to happen. For one, they had just been in a fight and given each other quite a few nasty hits. Two, not everypony had been in the crowd for the whole event.
No, some of the pegasi decided to run and tell a teacher what was going on.
Which was exactly how she ended up in the headteacher’s officer next to an equally embarrassed Silver Breeze.
Of course that hadn’t been their first stop when a group of teachers rushed out to stop the already finished fight. After both teenagers had bothered to look up from their cuddle pile they had been met with several rather cross looking faces, though mixed in with some concern as they saw the signs of their struggle. They had then dispersed the crowd as some of the teachers began asking the other pegasi what happened, while another couple forcibly escorted both Little Wing and Silver Breeze to the school nurse.
The nurse had been, to put it lightly, rather bemused by the situation. She had given both of them a quick examination to ensure there were no broken bones or any other serious injuries that might have required a hospital to fix. As it was, no such injuries existed beyond some nasty bruising she warned may cause some discomfort the next morning. So with their mostly clean bill of health, the nurse released them back into the school.
Or at least back into the hooves of their escorting teachers, who next took them straight to the headmistress.
A headmistress who really did not look very happy with either of them.
“You two…” the Headmistress began with a sigh of extreme disappointment. “Where do I even begin with you two?”
There were two audible gulps from the guilty parties.
The Headmistress was an aged pegasus mare with a white coat and a grey mane with specs of brown hair remaining here and there. She had glasses sitting on the end of her muzzle that had red coloured rims, her navy blue eyes piercing down at the two students called into her office that day.
“Violence of any form is not, and this really shouldn’t need to be stated, permitted under any circumstances on school ground,” the elderly mare cautioned. “And here you two are, bruised and battered while fortunately not sustaining any serious injuries. But that may not have been the case, one or both of you could have been seriously harmed! So… explain!”
Little Wing blinked, shifting nervously in her seat. “Er, we were… just messing around...?”
The Headmistress rolled her eyes in slight exasperation. “Miss Wing, do you know how many times I’ve heard that excuse in my long career?”
Little Wing gave a sheepish shrug. “I don’t know. At least twelve times?”
Now the elderly mare’s eye twitched. “That’s not…! Well, technically you’re not wrong, but it’s far more than that I can tell you! Now, would one of you mind explaining to me the real reason?”
Little Wing glanced over to Silver Breeze, but the young stallion just sat in silence with his eyes glued to the floor. Little Wing couldn’t help but feel both a little irritated and disappointed at that, she’d been rather hoping that Silver Breeze would admit what he did to Misty Gust. But alas, it seemed not to be.
“I don’t know…” Little Wing stated lamely, despite her irritation at the other pegasus she didn’t want to spoil any gained goodwill by throwing him completely under the best. Perhaps against her better judgement, but that’s nevertheless how she felt. “One thing led to another and then the teachers came to stop it all. I don’t really remember much, it’s all a blur…”
“Oh, you don’t remember?” the Headmistress said in a tone that suggested she didn’t believe Little Wing in the slightest. “Well that’s OK, because the students we interviewed about the incident had-”
“It was my fault,” Silver Breeze suddenly spoke up while looking the Headmistress straight in the eyes, much to the surprise of the two mares. “I started it. It was my fault.”
The Headmistress blinked in surprise, staring at the resolute Silver Breeze as if he had grown a second head that happened to be that of Discord himself. “Uh, yes. Our inquiries did paint that picture but… please, do continue.”
Silver Breeze nodded, letting out a long sigh. “I was being a bit of a jerk to Little Wing’s friend, Misty Gust. I was being verbally abusive, and then I pushed her to the ground. Little Wing came to her defence and clocked me in the side of the head.”
“Oh, so in other words it was Little Wing who threw the first punch?” the Headmistress enquired, looking questioningly at the pegasus in question. “Is that right, Miss Wing?”
Little Wing’s eyes glanced anywhere but the Headmistress’ own. “Yes ma’am…”
“No!” Silver Breeze blurted out, making them both jump. “I mean, yes, technically she did… But she was just sticking up for Misty! I was the one who then hit her back and escalated things!”
Now it was Little Wing looking at Silver Breeze oddly.
“Witnesses claim you tackled her to the ground, hit Miss Gust on the muzzle and then your fight took to the skies,” the Headmistress recounted sternly. “Which was where, as one of the colts put it, she ‘utterly trounced you’.”
Silver Breeze puffed up his cheeks at that description, looking away in embarrassment. “Well, I wouldn’t say it happened quite like that…”
“It kinda did,” Little Wing muttered, getting a fiery glare in return.
“I don’t suppose I even need to ask where you learnt to manoeuvre in the air like that after your display at the weather factory some time ago,” the Headmistress commented, glancing at the cutie mark on Little Wing’s flank. “Or maybe it’s that sister of yours?”
Little Wing flinched, really not wanting to get her elder sister in trouble. “Uh, I don’t know…”
The Headmistress rolled her eyes. “Please try to act a little bit more mature about this, Little Wing. We’re not in the Junior Flight School after all…”
“Uh, sure. Sorry ma’am…”
“Well whatever the case may be…” the Headmistress continued. “While Silver Breeze is by no means innocent, and may even be the main instigator of this incident…”
Silver Breeze tried to hide his shame between his wings.
“…Little Wing was still the one to throw the first punch. Young lady, you had other options. You could have come to find a teacher and reported the action, or tried less… physical means of persuasion. If you had, you might not be here today.”
“But you said it yourself, I started it!” Silver Breeze protested adamantly. “It’s not her fault, it’s mine!”
“Nopony is necessarily disputing that.” The Headmistress shot Silver Breeze a disapproving glare, making the colt wilt in his seat. “Some may even say her action was justified, but it doesn’t change the fact that you BOTH broke the rules of this school knowingly and willingly.”
Now they were in for it, there was no talking their way out of trouble now.
“I can tell you right now that both your parents will be receiving letters from the school and you’ll BOTH be in detention for a yet undecided amount of time. The details of your punishments will be included in the letter, which I promise will be received by your parents before the school day is over. Understood?”
“Yes, Headmistress,” both ponies glumly replied.
The Headmistress nodded, standing up from her desk and towards the doorway. “Now, I shall release you to the rest of the school day as normal. I do hope you both will learn something from this incident.”
The two students glanced at each other. That was one point they couldn’t claim to be wrong.
“Now,” the mare announced, opening the door and gesturing for them to move on through it. “Get out of my office and get to class. We’ll be speaking again soon.”
Little Wing and Silver Breeze arose from their seating and slowly marched towards the door with their heads held low. Once they passed through and back out into the hallway the door was swiftly shut up behind them, leaving them alone.
“Well,” Little Wing began, stretching a tense muscle in her right wing. “That could have gone better.”
“We’re not expelled, so there’s a plus,” Silver Breeze noted, even if it was a mere silver lining. “Your parents going to be angry?”
“Oh yeah, big time,” Little Wing replied with a sigh. “Understanding probably, but miffed nonetheless. Heh, Rainbow will probably scold me and then ask for the juicy details.”
“Siblings are different to parents like that I guess,” the young stallion said in turn. “Not that I would know, bit it’s how I imagine it.”
“What about your parents…?” Little Wing asked as if she were treading on thin ice, and she probably was. “What will they do?”
Silver Breeze’s glare hardened, though it wasn’t directed at Little Wing this time. “Snort and laugh. Call me a weakling for losing to a mare. And then forget about it. All in that order.”
“Well… at least they won’t be mad.”
“I want them to be!” Silver Breeze shouted, wings raised. “At least then I’d know they’d give a damn! But… GAH!”
“Hey! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to touch a nerve!” Little Wing said quickly to prevent another episode.
Silver Breeze was panting in anger, but managed to slow his breathing down to more normal levels. “Yeah, I know. Just… Ugh.”
Little Wing put a hoof on his shoulder. “I know. You may not think I do, but I do.”
“Your parents love you, how could you…” Then Silver Breeze looked into Little Wing’s pained eyes, and it was as if he was truly seeing her for the first time. “Your parents… abandoned you, right? Left you for your current ones to find?”
That wasn’t the whole story, but she couldn’t tell him that. But she could still tell him the truth. “I’ve… always wondered what I did wrong. Why they despised me as they did, why they didn’t care…”
“I suppose some ponies are just like that, I guess you do know at least a little what it’s like…” Silver Breeze took a moment to compose himself, before shooting Little Wing a small and unsure smile. “So… I guess we’re friends now?”
Little Wing bit her lip. “I… guess so? I mean, after all these years…”
Silver Breeze sighed. “Yeah, I know.”
“I can understand you, why you acted as you did,” Little Wing stated. “But… you caused me and Misty a lot of grief. I don’t think all of that can wash away in one day.”
“Well, maybe we can start from here?” Silver Breeze suggested. “See where things go?”
Little Wing gave it a moment of thought, and then nodded with a smile. “Yeah. I’d like that. But first…” Little Wing looked down the corridor, right towards the corner. “What do you think, Misty?”
The young mare in question gave a small squeal, popping out of her hiding place a little flushed. “Uh, yeah. Sounds better than what we’ve been doing until now… How did you know I was there?”
“Awesomeness,” Little Wing replied matter-of-factly. “You should really know that by now.”
Misty gave a highly nervous chuckle as she approached the duo, sitting down on her rump. “Yeah, I guess so…”
Little Wing tilted her head. “Hey, you okay?”
“Uh, yeah! Never better!” Misty assured her friend. “My muzzle’s fine now. You didn’t hurt me that bad, Silver.”
The pegasus stallion scuffed a hoof. “Uh… good to know.”
“But still…” Misty continued, looking back towards Little Wing. “That was so amazing of you, Little Wing! You jumped in when I needed you, you protected me! I mean, not that I needed protecting necessarily but I needed help and you came and it was really sweet and-”
“Breathing,” Little Wing deadpanned.
Misty blushed even deeper. “Uh, yeah. That. Well, I just wanted to thank you. That was really sweet of you, I like you Little Wing…”
Little Wing rolled her eyes. “Well duh, I like you too! We’re best friends after all, have been since we were foals.”
Misty looked away. “Yeah, of course… Well, we should really get to class. Come on…”
And with that Misty turned away and started walking down the corridor. Little Wing couldn’t help but notice a little bit of sadness in her steps.
Little Wing frowned. “What’s with her? She was ecstatic one minute, and all mopey the next.”
Silver Breeze raised an eyebrow, a sly smirk on his face. “So, ‘best friends’ huh?”
Little Wing gave him a look of confusion. “Yeah, we are. So what?”
Silver Breeze shook his head in amusement, starting to follow Misty Gust to the classroom. “Oh well. I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually.”
And then Silver Breeze was also gone, leaving Little Wing alone in the hallway with absolutely no idea what in Celestia’s name just happened.
“And what was that meant to mean!?”