Thicker than Chaos

Bright stood there, paralysed by the sight of his older sister. Past memories began to swirl through his head of all the things she’d put him through, but he shook it out of his mind. “What do you want?” He stang.

“What, I can’t visit my baby brother without getting the nasty treatment?” She trilled, as the sarcasm in her voice became as prominent as ever.

“Surprisingly, no.” He replied, turning to walk off. However, Ivory flew back in front of him.

“Well, while I have you here, we may as well have a little… Chat.” She smirked. Bright looked back up to face her, keeping his ground.

“I’m over this. I moved to Ponyville to get away from you, and you’re not going to deceive me again.” He said, trying his best not to raise his voice.

“And that worked like a dream.” She scoffed, rolling her eyes. Bright felt his temper rising, but couldn’t risk keeping her around.

“You already know that my answer is no. Why’d you bother coming here?” He continued, feeling his voice rise.

“Because I know your answer will change to yes. Simple.” She smugly replied.

“Ivory, I’ve made a new life here! Go away!” He began shouting. Overhead, Rainbow Dash heard the commotion, and poked her head over, watching over them.

“You think so?” She shouted back. “Nothing’s changed with you! You’re trying to run away from the things you don’t like, all over again!” She continued. It began to sting Bright, because deep down, he knew she was right. At this point, Rainbow Dash dived down, landing in front of the Pegasus. Bright was surprised at her arrival, but at the same time, thankful for it.

“Now wait just a minute!” She brashly exclaimed. “Just because you knew him first, doesn’t mean you can bother him over it!” She continued. Ivory raised an eyebrow.

“And just because you’re close by, doesn’t mean you get to tell me what to do.” Ivory snarled back, which even made Rainbow stop for a second. “But whatever, it’s not really like I care or anything.” She sighed, heading off, giving Bright an evil look. “After all, I’m not the one who left over something as pitiful as a missing object.” She spoke quietly. Bright caught onto what she was referencing to, and gave her a furious gaze. However, as if accepting his defeat, his face softened enough to look at Rainbow.

“Thanks for the help Rainbow, but it’s alright…” He said, seeming down. He walked next to Ivory. “Come on.” He said, walking towards his house, with Ivory behind him. Rainbow stood there, completely flabbergasted.

“…And then he completely blew me off!” Rainbow finished explaining to Fluttershy. She didn’t seem too interested, but was concerned at the least.

“Maybe they’re friends…?” She offered, but Rainbow shook her head.

“I’m pretty sure friends don’t yell at each other like that.” She said, getting a blank stare from Fluttershy. “What?”

“Nothing… But I don’t think I’m the best pony to talk to about this…” She said quietly, after putting in the dim bulb that Bright had sold her earlier.

“So, why’d you get that?” Rainbow questioned. She knew she wasn’t going to get a straight answer out of Fluttershy anyway.

“I think the chickens get scared at night.” She explained, before nudging the button to be sure it worked. It lit up, but to a standard where it wouldn’t hurt their eyes. Fluttershy smiled, and then turned back to Rainbow Dash. “Maybe you should talk to Twilight about this…” She said, leading a couple of the chickens in to see how they felt about the light.

“I’ll give her a couple of days – They might’ve just gotten into a fight over nothing.” She said, pushing the mysterious unicorn out of mind.

“…And that’s about it.” Bright finished explaining to Ivory, grudgingly.

“Uh-huh, sure…” She replied, looking outside without the slightest bit of interest.

“Now look, just because I’ve let you in my house, doesn’t mean you’re here forever. I’ll give you a small portion of what I’m paid, and when you have enough, you leave.” He firmly finished, walking back into the back room. Ivory, still not paying attention, snuck outside. It was about time for her to have some fun, and because Bright thought he was in charge, it gave her an excuse to knock him down a couple of pegs. She examined the vague surroundings, keeping anywhere of ‘interest’ in her memory. Like Bright, she had a near photographic memory, letting her recollect anything that caught her fancy with almost near-accurate results. She found herself near a white pony with a deep, indigo mane. The pony looked at her curiously, before speaking. “Oh, hello there.” She said, seeming slightly interested at the new company.

“Uh… Hey there.” Ivory replied awkwardly.

“I don’t recall seeing anypony such as yourself around here, are you new?” She continued.

“Gee, I don’t know!” She retorted sarcastically. "Let's see, it's the first time you've met anypony such as myself, and you're asking such a stupid question?" She finished, walking off. The other pony huffed, and walked off, muttering small comments that Ivory chose to ignore. Finding nothing else of interest, she took off.

Meanwhile, Bright, knowing how incredibly peachy Ivory could get around other ponies, took off looking for her. On his way, he passed a familiar pony, and when their gazes locked, he knew what kind of battle he was in for. “I still say it looked better the way I had it earlier.” The pony known as Rarity said, with a raised eyebrow. Bright couldn’t help but offer a fake chuckle.

“You’re probably right, but I’ll ask the expert.” Bright grinned, picking up a rock with magic, and held it to his right ear. “Hello, expert?” He asked, with a terrible Rarity impersonation, before swinging the rock to his left ear, and switching back to his normal voice. “Oh, hello there, how can I help you?” He wanted to continue, but Rarity gave him a look familiar to that of one stating he was going to get his face bucked in if he continued. He put down the rock, and cleared his throat. “So, you seem a bit down.” He said, trying to make small talk.

“Ugh, a new pony in town just gave me the brush-off! I’ve never met a ruder mare in my life!” She began. Bright rolled his eyes slightly, knowing EXACTLY who she was talking about. Whilst she continued, Bright found himself imagining what kind of other havoc she could’ve been causing.

Ivory, in the meantime, spread her wings, and took flight through the town centre, and took off to the sky, spotting a familiar rainbow-maned cyan Pegasus. She allowed the corner of her mouth to rise in a familiar smirk, as she quickly changed course, in the process, forcing the other pony to make an emergency landing to avoid going through a house. Ivory giggled wildly at this, taking off, away from the dazed Pegasus. She looked up as Ivory flew off, and shook her head. “That’s it; I need to talk to Twilight…” Rainbow muttered, deciding against flying there, and taking the more scenic route. Walking past, she found Bright being lectured by Rarity. “Hey Sparks, what’re you doing out?” She asked, slightly suspicious, but couldn’t hide a small smile for the familiar Unicorn. He turned, as if half-thankful that it’d keep Rarity quiet for at least a second. Before he could get a word in, however, Rarity cut in.

“Oh, hello there Rainbow, darling!” She smiled. Rainbow walked past the two, but turned back around.

“So, what’re you bickering about now?” She asked.

“Ugh, about that new pony in town. She was rude to me earlier, and I needed to get it all off my chest.” Rarity explained.

“And I was the closest victim.” Bright smirked slightly. Rainbow giggled a bit, Rarity returning the compliment with a kind death stare.

“Have you seen her in the skies, Rainbow?” Rarity asked, through gritted teeth, which still couldn’t hide her smile.

“Depends; what’s she look like?” Rainbow replied.

“Well, she has a dark-greyish coat, and a mane that’s purple with a streak of grey, if memory serves me correctly.” She said, as if deep in thought about it. Rainbow clicked in a second, and looked to Bright.

“Oh yeah, her…” She pondered, giving Bright a small stare, as if telling him to tell Rarity that the very same pony was living with him. However, either he wasn’t looking, or he deliberately ignored her.

“No idea.” He merely responded. “Anyway, I’ve enjoyed the chat, but I need to find that DJ from a couple of nights ago – I needed to talk to her about her order.” He lied, trotting off as casually as he could manage. Ivory had already begun her string of chaos, and Bright needed to find her as quickly as he could.

Twilight Sparkle, engaged in her day-to-day chores, began resorting all of the books in her personal library. Spike, one of her closest friends, walked around the library as well, sorting out all of the miscellaneous odds and ends that were lying around. The purple and green Dragon had been hatched by Twilight’s sudden burst of magic during her entrance exam at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. He’d stuck with her through thick and thin, and was more like a little brother to her than an assistant. Just as Twilight finished organizing her books, she heard a knock at the door. She opened it up with magic, smiling at Rarity and Rainbow Dash as they made their way in. “Hey girls!” She said, checking over her house slightly, as the two made their way in. “Pretty rare to see you two together – What’s the occasion?”

“It’s that new pony in town.” Rainbow replied bluntly, receiving a confused stare from Twilight.

“You mean Bright?”

“No, no, there’s another new pony.” Rainbow continued, relaying the stories from earlier. Twilight attentively listened, before relaying a look of dormant shock.

“She doesn’t sound like the kind of pony who’d have bought a home here; maybe she’s just a prankster from someplace else, like Gilda?” Twilight reasoned. However, Rainbow shook her head.

“That’s the messed up part! She’s LIVING with Bright!” Rarity burst, getting a stunned stare from Twilight.

“What? That can’t be right…” Twilight replied, thinking back to when she first met Bright. Rainbow continued rambling on how the new pony, Ivory, had messed up her best training routine yet, with Rarity’s slightly divided attention.

The next couple of days had been a personally reserved spot of hell for Bright, as he continued trying to craft the special bulbs for Vinyl. However, with Ivory keeping him up at night, he’d begun to start falling asleep at nearly any given opportunity, and it had even started reflecting on his latest work. The little things such as the wrong brightness, wrong colour, even going as far as forgetting to build the button that turns them on. He’d taken a day off to try and rest, but Ivory had still managed to keep him up through that. To take his mind off it, he headed down to Sugarcube corner yet again, to try and find something sweet enough to keep him up for a day, like a Red Minotaur or a H energy drink. On his way down, he ran into a familiar lavender pony, who, just by looking at him, could instantly tell how little sleep he had. “Bright, you look awful…” Twilight commented. Bright hid a small, yet obviously fake chuckle.

“Thanks, I feel the same, too.” He weakly replied, continuing his walk. Twilight, not satisfied with her answer, walked alongside him.

“So, what do you think of that new pony in town?” She asked, trying to get as much information out of him as possible. However, with a half-dead look on his face, he only managed to weakly smile back, seeming oblivious.

“I dunno.” He said, trying his best not to fall asleep.

“Well, you should. Last I heard, she was living with you.” Twilight continued, getting Bright’s full attention in the progress. “Furthermore, although she’s been causing chaos, she’s been doing it smartly, as hard as it is to believe. She’s been waiting for times in whether she won’t get caught, and even other times in broad daylight when there’s more than one reason why the accident could occur.” Bright began to look at her, and the sleep deprivation began to show even more as Twilight continued to stack her evidence onto Bright. “Lastly, her mane is almost similar to yours, in a way. Whilst hers is dark-grey with a purple stripe, yours is dark-grey with a black streak. Bright…” She said, making sure she had his full attention. “Who is this pony?” She finally managed to ask. Bright let his head drop a bit, before sighing.

“Alright Twilight, I’ll explain, but on one condition.” He said, making sure she heard.

“What is it?”

“You can’t tell ANY other ponies what I’m going to tell you, only because I’ve lost enough business. I can’t move again.” He explained. Although Twilight wasn’t happy about it, she grudgingly accepted, leading Bright back to her place so that they could talk in private.