The Sword of Harmony

Landon's House - April 20, 2012 - 4:30 PM, Friday

Landon sat in his room doing what he did every day, smoking weed and watching MLP.

Living the American Dream.

My Little Pony was something that he held close to him, almost as if it were sacred.

He didn't just love the show, he near worshiped it, it was his Holy Book, his sacred scripture that he watched on the television every week, wishing that our world, the world he lost faith in, could be more like Equestria.

A world of peace, a world without war and gruesome deaths. Obviously he assumed that death existed in Equestria, but he didn’t believe that the kind that happens in our world almost everyday. A death brought upon by man, instead of by nature. An unnatural, early death that should have been prevented, a murder. Landon knew that murder in this world was inevitable. There was no stopping it because there would always be those sickos running loose to cause mayhem, chaos and violence.

Landon was thinking this before he snapped back. He wanted to smoke some more. He looked down at the ziplock bag that was usually full of the green herb only to see that he was out.

Landon sighed. He knew he wanted, no, he needed some weed to revive him from the mental rut he found himself in at the moment. It was too late to go out to a dealer and buy some, the afternoon and night was when gangs roamed the streets, looking for easy prey. So he turned to the next best source of joyful feelings in his possession. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

He went to his computer and went to Youtube and started up Friendship is Magic, part 1, the very first episode of the series. This was his favorite episode, mainly because it focused on Twilight, his favorite character. He also enjoyed it for the simple fact that it was the first episode of the whole series, the one that first got him into the show.

As he watched the show, his attention was drawn to Twilight. He stared at her like she were the most important character in the show, which he knew was false. He knew all of the mane six were equally important. But there was something about Twilight that always caused him to slip into brief "lover boy" moments where her eyes seemed to hypnotize him, moments he quickly snapped himself out of.

But that didn’t mean he disliked the other ponies, on the contrary. He loved seeing Fluttershy's adorable face and cute shyness, Rainbow Dash's tomboy self, and Applejack's southern charm, Rarity’s elegance and Pinkie Pie’s randomness.

Still, he couldn’t help but remain focused on Twilight. The high he got from smoking weed, could not compare to how good the show made him feel.

Weed was only his alternative, the show was his true drug.

Once the episode ended, a snicker came from behind Landon. Slowly, he turned around to see his brother in the doorway. Landon could see the smug grin on his brother's face, and knew right then he had been caught watching the show.

By the one person he never wanted to be caught by.

"Oh fuck", Landon thought, watching his brother stand in the door frame with that smug grin on his face and his arms folded across his chest like some kind of elitist bully.

"What's up, pony boy.", Paul said teasingly.

At 21 years old, you'd think Paul would have stopped fucking with his brother by now, that he would have matured past such childish behavior. Sadly that wasn't the case. In fact, he had actually gotten worse as he “matured”, transitioning from being the typical teenage bully to downright abuse, both physical and mental.

Paul was unstable and unpredictable. Landon had no idea what would happen if he pushed his brother too far. He imagined himself being hospitalized, like that fateful day two years ago, or even end up on the verge of death, clinging for his life.

Paul was that much of an asshole.

Actually, asshole would be an understatement, like calling Charlie Sheen an occasional party animal. No, Paul was sick and twisted, Landon even would go so far as to say evil. It was still a mystery to him how Paul wasn’t a member of a gang.

"Your big fat head is what's up, Mr. Fat Fuck.", Landon retaliated.

"Real original," Paul said sarcastically, "Why not just get it over with admit you’re gay? After all, I have the proof right there." Paul pointed at the computer screen which showed the credits on pause. He, like a lot of anti-bronies, believed that Landon was gay simply because he watched the show. Then again, Paul usually assumed everyone but him was gay, which often made Landon wonder.

"Fuck off," Landon barked, "How's about you go fuck your fat ass girlfriend. Oh wait, I forgot, you don't have one. Not even a fat ass prostitute would want to date you, let alone get you to fuck them."

"Well then, why don't you go fuck your boyfriend, faggot." Paul said, grinning like the punk-ass he was.

"Fuck you, Paul" Landon hissed.

"Sorry. I ain't gay like you." Paul said. “And even if I was, I could do a lot better than you.”

"Get out of my room before I kick your ass."

"You think your tough?", Paul said evilly. Landon swallowed. Paul would only use a tone this dark when a sinister thought popped up in his head, "How about I push you outside, lock the door, and see how long you survive in downtown Dallas at night."

Landon's eyes widened in fear and shock. Even if his brother was terrible, he couldn't believe he would say something like that. Just opening the door is dangerous enough. Hell, unlocking the door would be one of the dumbest things anyone could do..

But going outside at night with the gangs roaming the streets would be suicide.

"You wouldn't.", Landon said, his voice quivering a bit. He started to panic, any bravery he had left him two years ago. His “bravery” sent him to the hospital for five days with a gunshot wound in his leg and terror burnt into his memory.

"Try me.", Paul said, grabbing his brother by the shirt. Landon tried to resist, pulling back against his brother’s iron-like grip. But all struggling did was make Paul more angry, his pulling strength increasing, bringing his younger brother to the door.

As this brotherly struggle went on, two girls stood outside of the house, peering through the window at the two boys fighting each other.

One girl was the same one that stood up for Landon two years ago, her hair still purple with a streak of pink running through it.

The other girl had braided, blonde hair and a pair of brilliant green eyes. The two girls watched Landon get dragged towards the door by his brother in shock and horror.

The blonde haired girl turned to the other girl.

"We gotta do somethin', Twilight." she said in a southern drawl, voice filled with concern.

"I know Applejack, I'm trying to think.", the purple-haired girl said, her hand to her chin, trying to think up a plan.

Back in the house, Landon struggled to get Paul to release his grip, but to no avail. Paul dragged Landon to front door, preparing to throw him outside into the dangerous, city streets. Landon couldn't believe Paul would actually do something like this. Sure Paul was a prick, sometimes even psychotic, but this was taking it to another level.

"You ready, shit stain?", Paul sneered.

"Uh, no?" Landon said.

"Too bad.", Paul said as he opened the door and threw his brother onto the lawn.

Twilight and Applejack looked at Landon, who had gotten up and was now freaking out, looking to see if anyone was around to help him.

"Over here!", Twilight called out to him from a bush that was outside his window. Landon looked over as he heard this familiar voice that he couldn't quite remember where he heard it from, but he knew he heard it from somewhere. At this point, Landon was too freaked out to question it or the reason why they are outside his window. All he did was run over to the bush to hide out there.

"We should be safe here.", Twilight said.

"Do I know you from somewhere?” Landon asked, "I mean, your voice sounds so familiar. I know I’ve heard it before, but I can't figure out from where."

"I'll explain later," Twilight said, "Right now we need to hide here until it's safe."

"Well I hate to break it to you, but that'll be a while.” Landon said, looking at his watch, “It's only five o' clock and the gangs won't be away until at least 7 o' clock tomorrow morning."

"Hm. Do you think you can get your window open from here?"

"Maybe. But I don't think it's real safe to try and get up and try to open it.”

“Even for a second?” Applejack asked, “Jeez, how dangerous is this here place where y’all can’t even poke yer head out of a bush for a second?

“You’re not from around here, are you?” Landon asked.

“No.” Twilight answered.

“Figures.” Landon sighed, “Besides, my brother probably already locked the window. He always thinks ten steps ahead. Prick."

"Why does yer brother treat ya like this", asked Applejack. Landon suddenly realized he’d heard her voice, too. But unlike Twilight, he remembered where he heard this girl’s voice from. It sounded exactly like the voice of Applejack, a character from his favorite cartoon show, but he knew that it wasn't possible so he just let it go right now.

"I don't really know," Landon said, "I guess it's because he's a jerk. Actually, calling him a jerk is like saying Hitler was a little mean."

"Sarah," Twilight said to Applejack, using ‘Sarah’ as an alias for her, "We can worry about that later. All that matters now is that we get inside."

"Well, we'll just have to wait until morning. Sorry.", Landon explained.

"It's fine, sugarcube," Applejack, or Sarah, as she was going by now, said, "Jane, we really should wait. After all, he knows much more 'bout this here neighborhood than we do."

Landon couldn’t stop picturing Sarah as Applejack, after all her voice and hairstyle and eye color were all the same. But then the logical portion of his brain stepped up, reminding him that drawing such comparisons was nonsense. He was sure there were plenty of green-eyed, blonde-haired southern girls in Dallas. Hell, he knew a good deal of them.

Still, he couldn’t help but equate this girl to the country pony.

"Ok," Twilight told Landon, "If you think it's best that we wait, we'll wait."