"The Only Girl"
by Sara Jaye

Follows game canon. I'm mostly guessing with the ages here.


She'd never admit it, but sometimes Wendy O. Koopa was lonely.

After three boys, King Bowser and his wife were delighted to finally have a daughter. Wendy grew up under the doting care of her parents and the teasing of her older brothers.

When she was three, she told her dear mother and father she wanted a sister.

Egg number five hatched. Wendy had prayed for a sister day and night, and was crushed to find out her newest sibling was yet another brother.

A few years later, history repeated herself. Her parents decided not to have anymore children after that. By then, Wendy was nine and had come to accept the grim reality. But it wasn't all bad, right? After all, she still had Mother, and Mother was a girl!

Unfortunately, the Queen of the Koopas died of illness a year later, and Wendy lost her only female support. King Bowser doted on her endlessly from then on, but it wasn't the same.

The years passed by, and Wendy grew up to be a spoiled drama queen and a holy terror. She could fire a canon, wreak havoc with a wand, kick ass with candy rings, and sink her fangs into the enemy as well as any of her brothers. In battle, they were equals. Comrades, even.

But off the field, Wendy was the frustrated only sister among six brothers. They gave her hell, and she gave as much as she took. Sometimes she wished she'd been the only child. Sure, she'd still be lonely, but at least she'd be left alone.

More than that, she wished she had a mother again. She wished her father would give up chasing Princess Peach and find someone more worthy. (Besides, even if Wendy wasn't weirded out at the idea of having a mother near Ludwig's age, the princess would never give up that plumber for anything!)

Wendy didn't like feeling such weak emotions. She was a Koopa, born to raise hell and take names. She didn't have time to trifle with emotions other than anger and triumph. Even her diary didn't know how lonely she could get.

Today was her parents' wedding anniversary. King Bowser was locked in his study, avoiding everyone and everything. Her brothers were off doing their usual thing; Ludwig was trying to compose a new creepy sonata, Iggy was experimenting with something or other, Lemmy was juggling, Roy was beating up Morton, Larry was...

"Wendy?"

Standing in her doorway. She shook her head, jolted out of her thoughts, and fixed him with her most menacing glare.

"Don't you knock?!" Larry flinched, and Wendy almost felt sorry. "What is it?" she asked.

"You...wanna go annoy Iggy?" the Larry asked. "He's working with explosives today!"

Wendy's eyes lit up at the mention of explosives.

"Sure! Hey, maybe we can make his hair turn orange again!" she cackled.

"Let's go! Last one to the lab is a rotten mushroom!" Larry called. Wendy leapt off the bed and ran down the hall after her brother, a genuine smile crossing her face.

She'd never admit it, but sometimes, Wendy O. Koopa liked being surrounded by brothers. Life was never boring with them around.

Moments later, an orange-haired Iggy ran screaming from his lab, Wendy and Larry cackling amidst the smoke and the rubble.