In the Name of Harmony

Twilight stares ahead toward the front desk as she absentmindedly flips the pages of the book in her hands. The texture of the book’s spine and the turning of the pages help calm her nerves as she thinks. What should she do? Could she trust them? Her first instinct was to say no, but she knew there was no harm in going on the off chance AJ turned out to be trustworthy. It wasn’t as if she was going to miss more school than she was. She sighs heavily and stares out the window next to her seat.

She takes a look around and congratulates herself for finding such a nice spot to sit and reflect. Twilight sits in a corner window seat in the back half of the library. It sits partially obscured by the bookshelves and has a nice view of one of the few clocks in the building. She gleams the time. Five ‘till eleven. Twilight had to wait a few more hours before she could go pick up her brother from middle school. She looks back at the book she’s holding and closes it, looking at the title for the first time. ‘Daring Doo and the Forbidden City of Clouds’. A book she had already read a dozen times. While in search of something to thumb through to calm her nerves, the familiar and comforting blue of the spine must have subconsciously resonated within Twilight. She chuckles softly and begins reading the book again from the beginning.

Hours pass in the blink of an eye and Twilight walks out of the library with plenty of time to get to Ponyville Middle before the final bell. Three o’clock rolls around and Twilight sits at the top of the stairs waiting for the rush of preteens to explode out of the double doors in front of the school. And not a minute later they do. Dozens of kids loudly run up the front steps passing the high schooler without so much as a glance. Twilight keeps her eyes peeled for her little brother as kids flow toward public bus stops and cars with family members waiting inside. Soon she spotted him in the crowd, the silhouette dragon tattoo on the shaved side of his head being his damning feature. She stands and calls out to him, “Yo, Drake!” The boy swiveled his head toward the voice and instantly looked confused. He turns to say something to the three girls next to him. Twilight initially tuned them out while looking for Drake, but now it was obvious they were a group. Drake walks up to Twilight, girls in tow.

“Twilight?”

“What’s going on Spikey!” She ruffles the boy's hair.

“C’mon Twi, stop,” he whines, pulling away, “Just call me Spike.” The girls behind him giggled softly. Twilight looks over Spike’s shoulder and takes them in fully.

“And who are these three?” She asks a little wary. Twilight knew his brother had a few friends, but he never brought them over. She knew he had reasons not to so she never pressed it. Consequently Twilight had never met her brother’s friends and seeing him hanging out with three girls at the cusp of puberty gives her pause.

Spike gestures down the line from left to right. “This is AB, Sweetie, and Scoots,” he introduces. He then turns his attention to the three and gestures back to Twilight. “And this is my big sis, Twilight.” They politely wave at each other.

“They got actual names?” Twilight asks.

“Yeah, but it’s been so long since I’ve used them and we don’t have classes together, they probably just”— he makes a small poofing motion next to his head with his hands—“Y’know?” Twilight mulls the answer given for a second before deciding to take her brother’s words at face value. And turn to the girls looking for an answer.

“Amy,” AB states, taking the hint. With the only word spoken it was clear she had a strong country accent. She assumed she was a farmgirl based on the overalls she had on over her yellow shirt and the big red bow in her red hair.

“Casey,” Scoots says next. A tomboy through and through. Bandaids cover several parts of her tan skin, sports rough purple hair, and her scooter handle poke out from the top of her backpack.

“Caroline,” Sweetie says last. Her two-tone pink and lavender hair is what stands out the most to Twilight. The second is how pale the girl was. She could easily fit into the pastel goth niche if she wasn’t dressed as plainly as she was: Just a t-shirt, jeans, and worn sneakers.

“Well it’s very nice to meet you,” Twilight says with what she hopes is a convincing fake smile. Any other day the smile would’ve been genuine, but after the events of that morning, Twilight couldn’t help but be a little annoyed looking at AB and Scoots. The farmgirl and tomboy respectively both shared a resemblance to AJ and RD. Twilight thought AB could pass as AJ’s sister with how much they looked alike. She tries to shove those observations and feelings aside in an attempt to not get angry at any more children. All they’ve said were their names.

Spike interrupts her thoughts with a question. “What are you even doing here?”

“Is it so strange for me to pick you up?” Twilight sidesteps. Spike looks at his sister matter-of-factly. She knows he sees right past her.

“Yes. You haven’t done it in years,” he deadpans.

“Well, I have my reasons. C’mon let’s head home.” Twilight replies, continuing to try to sideline the inevitable line of questioning from her brother for now.

“But—”

“Just for today, Spike. Please.You can head back out after you do your homework ” The look she gives is stern but pleading. Seeing the uncharacteristic need in her eyes Spike mulls the offer over.

“Ugh,” he bemoans and turns to his friends, “I’ll see you later guys. I gotta make sure she isn’t losing it.”

“Alright, try to get there before six, Spikey.” Sweetie teases playfully, walking off and giggling with the girls as the heat in Spike’s cheeks rises. Twilight chuckles to herself. She can’t exactly tell what he was blushing about but she gets the inclination Sweetie is the center of it.

…

The walk home is quiet at first. Twilight notices Spike’s occasional glances up at her as if waiting for something. She knows what it is. She takes a habitual look around at her surroundings. Nothing but broken sidewalks, buildings, and passing cars. Spike watches as Twilight visibly relaxes, shaking away some of the built up tension. Without looking back, she gives him what he wants.

“I didn’t want to be alone with mom when I got home.”

“Got yourself in some more trouble?” It’s more of a rhetorical question. Of course she was in trouble. The question is only meant to draw out the story behind the event.

“It’s…a long story. Main thing is, I got suspended.” Twilight doesn’t take the bait. She isn’t ready to share everything fully. However the information given is enough to spark the wild imagination of the preteen.

“Whoa, for real?” he exclaims. With all the fights his older sister got into, Spike frequently wonders how she always avoids suspension. If he’s honest with himself he wonders how she’s even still in school. Whatever luck she had must've run out. “For how long?” He inquires eagerly. Twilight can practically see his imagination running at full speed.

“Two weeks,” Twilight relents. She decides to give her sibling a short retelling of what happened at school. He listens intensely, smiling wide. Every word has him captivated. He looks up at Twilight in admiration as she finishes with a deep, tired sigh. He continues his questioning.

“You’ve been out of school all day? What have you been doing?”

“I’ve just been reading at the library. Spending that amount of time alone with mom after she wakes up again wouldn’t be fun.” She reminds him.

“Yeah.” Spike murmurs. There’s a knowing silence between the two as they walk up the front steps of their apartment. They get in the elevator and Twilight hits the button for the eighth floor. Spike’s eyes wander around the sterilized white box aimlessly up and down the walls before returning back to Twilight staring straight ahead at the door. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed. He could guess what she was thinking about. His gaze drifted back down to her back when he noticed the glaring inconsistency in the timeline he was told. “Wait if you haven’t gone home yet, where’s your stuff?”

Twilight’s eyes shift back into focus, but her gaze at the door does not relent, “A long story.” The elevator doors open and she walks out down the carpeted hallway. Spike follows behind, noticing a bruise sprouting on her left leg. They stop at the door to their home, apartment eight twelve. She moves out of the way and motions for Spike to unlock the door. Her house keys were also in her bag. She didn’t want to think about that.

Spike opens the door and rushes to his room. Twilight trudges through the threshold. Shoes strewn about at the door, the trashcan on the verge of overflowing, the beaten up old couch sitting on a dirty carpet facing the moderately sized flatscreen mounted to the wall. Next to the couch sat the mail table, where unopened mail and soliciting posters went to sit indefinitely before getting thrown away after inviting company over.

She sees her mom, Viola Sheppard, in the kitchen next to the half-full sink. She could tell she was in the middle of getting ready for work. She had all the clothes she needed to leave on and her duffel bag was sitting by the door packed and ready to go. Her make-up and hair wasn’t done yet. Twilight guessed she’d be out of the house in the next hour and a half. Her mom looks up from the meal prep and smiles at Twilight.

“Hey Twi.”

“Hey Mom.” Twilight warily greets her mother back. She tries to scurry past Viola but, before Twilight could move further she kept talking.

“Nice of you to walk Drake home.” She said with a telling glance. Twilight knew her mom was smart enough to know she had been avoiding her.

“Thought it would be a nice change of pace.” Twilight deflects. Spike bursts out of his room and out of the house calling back to his family.

“I’ll be back later!”

“You better be home before your Dad,” Viola calls out, “Speaking of, I got everything just about set up for dinner. Just gotta finish cutting up this sausage. I want you to make baked spaghetti tonight.” she says

“Dad’s favorite? I’ll try not to mess it up.”

“Don’t worry too much about that. You did great last time.” Viola reassures.

Yeah, with you holding my hand through the whole thing,” Twilight counters, “You practically made it.”

Viola looks up at her daughter in disbelief. “Everything else you make is great as well, Twi,” She tries to reassure her daughter.

“I would hope so.”— Twilight leans against the tiled countertop and fidgets with the loose sealant between two tiles—“If you cook regularly enough for a few years, anybody ought to be good at it.”

“True.” Viola looks back at the sausage absentmindedly and her mood visibly saddens. Twilight wondered what her mom was thinking. Even if she couldn’t figure that out, she didn’t want to see her mom upset.

“I’ll make sure to leave you two enough for seconds. Just don’t get mad when it’s bad.” Twilight says.

“Thanks, hon.” Viola smiles softly and completes the sausage cutting and puts it in the refrigerator. Twilight tries to make another move toward her room but Viola stops her once again. “Are we gonna talk about what happened?”

“What’s there to talk about?” Twilight responds a bit too snappy.

“A lot, in my eyes.” Her mom confronts bluntly.

“Well it wasn’t my fault.” Twilight deflects again.

“It never is,” Viola starts, “You always have to fight everything that comes your way.”

“It’s not like that, I’m defending myself,” Twilight explains.

“And I’m all for that, but does fighting have to be the only solution?” Viola prods.

“Like what?” Twilight’s growing agitation was starting to slip through.

“You have not once tried to de-escalate or ignore the situation. You are a smart, young, adult woman. You should know better than to run at every person trying to fight head first.” Viola answers.

“What should I do then; let them just run their mouths and threaten me everyday; just get beat up until I graduate?”

“If it’ll stop you from beating up kids.”

Twilight throws her hands in the air in exasperation, “That’s crazy!”

“What’s crazy is being called at seven in the morning saying my adult daughter beat up three fifteen-year-old boys before first period.” Viola brings up

“They were—” Twilight is swiftly cut off as her mom continues on with her lecture.

“I know what they were and what they were trying to do but you need to start using your head for more than just studying.” She checks the clock hanging above the TV. “Shit, I gotta finish getting ready. Look there’s more than one way to be inactive in those situations. You don’t need to be beaten to avoid a fight.”

“It worked for Shiny.” A hush falls. Viola looks at Twilight’s frustrated expression. She thinks hard about her next words before getting another glance at the clock. She knows she’s cutting it close and her make-up still wasn’t done. A pretty face brought in more money.

“He’s a different story that I will get into later. I have to get ready soon, Twi. We can continue this tomorrow, since you won’t be at school.” Viola says, clearly disappointed that she couldn’t finish talking to her daughter again. Viola moves away deliberately as Twilight watches her mom step into her room and close the door.

“It’s almost showtime, Twilight Velvet,” Twilight can hear her mom say as she stands in the living room alone.

…

Twilight spends the rest of her evening alone for the most part. She cooks and watches TV while eating dinner in lieu of the entertainment she gets from her phone, but she doesn’t pay attention to the screen in front of her. She doesn’t even notice when Spike gets back home around ten-thirty to scold him for clearly not doing his homework. Twilight’s brain works overtime to plan her strategy. She spends the rest of the night plotting counters to Aj’s tough exterior and RD’s speed. She does as many push-ups and situps as she can knowing it wouldn’t do anything, but as a way to say she prepared as best she could while she continued to put her mind to work. When she falls asleep late into the night she’s thinking of possible revisions to the plan and hypotheticals.

All those scenarios race through Twilight’s skull even after she wakes up, along with the growing soreness of her body. She looks down at herself in the shower seeing the growing discoloration of her abdomen and thigh and with the stiffness of her jaw, she knows a bruise was there as well. She tells herself to power through it. There’s no point in letting this setback affect the outcome of the day.

Twilight walks out of her room and into the kitchen to check the fridge as part of her morning routine. She does it in hopes of starting the day off right. When she looks, there are no leftovers. She smiles, closes the refrigerator door and leaves the apartment determined.