Thicker than Chaos

Bright walked into the brightly lit interior of the hollowed-out tree that created Twilight Sparkle’s home and library. A small dragon named Spike had welcomed him in, and after speaking to Twilight briefly, resumed cleaning the shelves. The two headed into the basement, since it was most likely the only place that would keep out any eavesdroppers. Although Bright would’ve most likely begun playfully pestering Twilight about the lights, he was too tired and bothered to try. Instead, he found the closest step, and sat down, enticing Twilight to stop with him. “Alright, we won’t be heard here. Now what’s going on with this new pony?” She asked. Bright took a deep breath, and began his explanation.

“Well, to put it simply, her name’s Ivory Rose, and, unfortunately, she’s my sister.” He began, already getting a look of exasperation out of Twilight Sparkle. “And although she does cause me and, right now, the town nothing but trouble, I can’t say no to nearly anything she asks of me. For reasons I’d rather not explain, she essentially has an iron hold over me, so to speak.” He continued. He could see Twilight was going to protest, but he only held a hoof, binding her attention. “Again, I’d rather not explain. She’s only going to be here until I earn enough to send her off, and that’ll be the end of her. It’s only about twenty more sales, and with that little surprise that the DJ from four days ago inspired me to make, I’m hoping it’ll be soon.” He finished, taking another quick breath, and then rubbing his eyes.

“But… Why can’t you just say No?” Twilight asked, which irked Bright slightly.

“As I said, I’d rather not get into detail about that, it’s very personal.” He replied, before shaking his head a bit. Twilight could see she wasn’t going to get anywhere soon, and merely sighed.

“Well, I’ll respect your wishes about not telling anypony, but you need to hurry and get her out of here; she’ll do something soon that’ll make the entire town turn on her, I can feel it.” She finished, looking off. Bright smiled slightly, feeling more tired than ever.

“If that’s all, I’d like to head off to Sugarcube corner… It’s going to be a long day.” He said, standing up. Twilight nodded, and escorted him out without another word out of the two.

Twilight’s worries, from there on out, began to grow, as the toll that Bright had begun to endure steadily began to show on the outside. His friendly exterior was beginning to steadily chip away, leaving him inside most of the day, as well as the fact that whenever he was outside, he’d almost completely forget why he was out, and return back to the store. However, he had been talking with Vinyl Scratch, and it seemed that whatever he was making for her was getting closer and closer to completion. In those few moments, Twilight noticed that Bright looked closer to happiness since Ivory moved in, and, in a small way, felt happy about it herself. However, Ivory, on the other hoof, wasn’t making such a friendly impact during her “Brief” stay. She had, without her usual effort, broke down Fluttershy in a matter that nobody dared repeat. It took the poor thing two days before she could return back to Ponyville, and even then, she checked around to be sure that Ivory wasn’t keeping tabs on her. Needless to say, nopony was impressed, and had even begun looking around for her (Some more so than others), which was putting even more pressure on Bright. Keeping an eye on the dimly lit street, she found Bright walking with another pony, hidden under a musky, brown coat. Using her vast understanding of the arcane, Twilight focused her energy, creating a dim shade a meter or so from where the other two were walking, which began to pick up their voices. They were hushed, but she caught everything they were talking about.

“So, tomorrow’s the big day.” Ivory whispered in a razor tone. Twilight didn’t hear a reply from Bright, so she assumed he nodded. “For the both of us, I mean. You get your thousand colour bulb on display, and I leave.”

“But it’s not that simple, is it…” Bright hissed, obviously annoyed at her, getting a small chuckle out of Ivory.

“It will be.” She said, implying the conversation was at an end. However, Twilight found herself confused. Ivory’s final tone, at least, in her opinion, was sweeter than Applejack’s wicked toffee apples, but in a way that caused suspicion in Twilight. It made it sound in a way that Ivory had something in store for the hopefully suspecting Bright.

Bright spent the rest of the night, and part of the day, trying to catch up on his sleep. However, the enthusiastically disastrous Ivory Rose never let up, and without his supervision, there’d be another shelf of the display missing. He got back most of them, but Ivory had hidden the rest around the house, and he eventually just stopped bothering to try and find them. Ivory had decided she wanted to go out for the day, making sure nopony else was around before leaving, so Bright took the time to catch up on some well-deserved slumber. His normally hopeful dreams replaced by an endless nightmare of his past, he unwillingly dived into the one he feared the most…

Five years ago, Manehatten.

Bright searched through the house, high and low. The night before, his older sister had told him that he’d thrown his grandmother’s vase around the house in his sleep, and it was now in small pieces. He looked to the night stand, where the ancient vase once stood, ornamented with blue flowers, and coloured white, and shuddered at the thought of it breaking. It made him feel worse, because his grandmother was possibly his only friend at the time, and if she’d found out he’d broken it; he’d lose her, too. Continuing his search, he began to fall deeper and deeper into despair, knowing she’d be home soon. Before the nightmare could hit its terrifying conclusion, he heard a sound that was familiar to a hoof banging on the door. He quickly awoke out of the nightmare, and stumbled down to the door. He lazily used magic to open it as he got behind the counter, only to find a smiling DJ at the door. “Mornin’, Vinyl.” He smiled, trying his best not to act like he’d been plagued by nightmares. She giggled at the comment slightly, and looking at the clock on the wall, he’d figured out why, too. It was nearly 3 in the afternoon.

“Close enough.” She smiled, before walking to the counter. “So, I’ll be leaving tomorrow, and I need to know if that bulb’s finished.” She explained, suddenly serious.

“It’s all done, but I realised soon after that I could make a bunch more. So, if it’s alright with you, I want to test it in public first, and see if it’d be worth selling in the future.” He explained. “I don’t want to build a second if it won’t make me any bits, you see?” Vinyl bit her bottom lip for a second, but eventually nodded.

“I suppose, it shouldn’t take too long, and I can head out first thing in the morning.” She reasoned. Bright nodded, smiling back to her, and walking out back.

“That doesn’t mean you won’t get to see it, though…” He called, picking up the bulb carefully via magic, and lifting it through the door.

The bulb was carefully weaved around itself, looking similar to a tornado, but with a different colour carefully embedded at nearly every twisting point, making it look more three dimensional. He then lifted it up a bit. “The ones that I built for your system have a rotating plug, which means that it’ll spin according to how long you hold down the second button.” He explained, pressing the first button. The entire room lit in a variety of bright, vibrant colours, which shimmered as Bright talked. “It picks up sound from whoever’s holding down the button, but only if it’s by magic.” He explained, before putting down the second one. “And I’ll just say something here…” He said, the bulb picking up his sound, and changing colour according to volume and the tone of his voice. “It’ll adjust to whatever beat you’re using.” He finished with a smile, but it couldn’t beat the one on Vinyl’s face. She stared at it, and looked back to him.

“It’s fantastic… Better than what I expected by a long shot. But it’ll cost me the world, won’t it?” She asked. Bright laughed a bit.

“If I didn’t tell you already, I owed you one. I’ll show it off tonight, and then hand it over to you, free of charge.” To which Vinyl giggled a bit.

“You’re too nice for your own good, you know that?” She asked. Bright pondered the words deeply, as the words left an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. The only reason he felt compelled to be nice was because he never really had any friends like the one that he found at Ponyville, now that Ivory was back, she was ruining it all for him, and if they found out…

“…Bright?” A sudden voice rang out. He snapped out of his daydream, and looked back to Vinyl, still laughing a bit. “You completely zoned out for a second there.” She smiled, before turning back around. “Anyway, I’ll see you at the event tonight, alright?” The white mare finished, walking out the door. Bright stood there, and eventually put his head on the table, thinking carefully over how he could Ivory-proof the gathering.

Dusk slowly descended on the lazy town of Ponyville, the street lights fading in slowly as Bright made his way to the front of Twilight’s house, who’d agreed to hold the event for him, since it was rather low-key. He’d invited anypony he could think of who had helped him make business since he arrived, including Applejack, Apple Bloom, Cheerilee, and even Rainbow Dash, as well as quite a few others. He eventually made it to the looming tree, barely changing in appearance, even under the sinking sun. He stood out for a couple of seconds, before knocking on the door. After a bit of paced movement, he heard the front door open, revealing to be Spike. “Oh, well hey there, Bright!” He said, smiling a bit. Bright returned the smile as best he could, trying to hide how exhausted he really was. “Twilight set up a small display stand you could use, she left it inside somewhere. I’d check where, but Twilight asked me to clean the shelves while she was gone. You’re free to take a look for them, though.” The purple and green dragon explained.

“Cheers Spike.” He nodded, before walking inside. He looked around the main area, but had no luck. He went down into the basement area, and found a small, wooden end table, which had a note with ‘Bright’ written on it. He lifted the small table using magic, and after a quick “Thank you” to Spike, he walked out the door, and set it up a few paces from the rather large abode. He got the Rainbulb out of his backpack, and put it carefully on the table, making sure that it could be publically seen, but moved it so that it wouldn’t disturb any immediately adjacent houses. He then set the button up near the front, hoping to play it like the display at Ponyville Elementary, where he got volunteers to press the button, disclaiming that it was his own magic lighting the bulb. He then waited patiently as his guests arrived.

Slowly but surely, everypony who’d helped him make his rise in Ponyville slowly began showing up. Applejack arrived with her younger sister, Apple Bloom. Rainbow Dash turned up with Scootaloo, Rarity with Sweetie Belle, Twilight Sparkle with Spike, and Cheerilee all turned up, Vinyl popping into view shortly after. When they all arrived, Bright cleared his throat, and began. “Alright, so as everypony knows, I’ve been working on a little project since my welcome party.” He began, moving over to the Rainbulb. “I felt bad, because I noticed that one of the lights on Vinyl’s turntable broke during the party, so I made this.” He said, ushering it off. “I couldn’t have made it without Twilight and Rainbow’s help, so I thank them from the bottom of my heart for doing so.” He said, smiling towards the two. They both smiled in return, to which Bright continued his explanation.

“So, without further delay, I give to you this; The Rainbulb.” He finished, as the other ponies gathered around it. Twilight then looked to Bright, asking the obvious question. “Does it work?” She asked, to which Bright nodded. “But of course. Give it a shot!” He smiled back. Twilight pressed the button, and it began to glow in a radiance of colours, but then, as if out of nowhere, the bulb smashed into pieces, each colour reflected as they fell to the ground in what seemed like slow-motion (Or at least to Bright anyway.). As the pieces of the bulb scattered to ground, the ponies moved away from the shards, carefully avoiding injuries. Bright seemed utterly gobsmacked, looked at the fragmented pieces, and picking them up using magic. He felt like he was going to cry, so he tried his best not to stay anything, his concentration wavering, showing in the pieces. The other ponies began mumbling to themselves, until something hit Rainbow Dash in the side of the head, making her spin around to look. A rock flew out of the bushes she looked at, and hit Bright dead-on between the eyes. He snapped out of his stupor, and looked over as well.

Ivory was standing there, and as if to give it away, with a small rock in her hand. Her mouth raised into the annoying smirk that Bright was all too familiar with, which meant, in Bright’s reasoning…

It was her.

The other Ponies began to close in on Ivory, with a look of a forming mob in their general stance. As they surrounded the Pegasus, Bright felt his heart skip. Ivory knew how much time he’d put into the Rainbulb, and furthermore, she knew what this night meant to him. She knew what would happen if she were stuck in this situation too. Bright felt the pressure overwhelm him, and in a brief burst of magic, he pushed himself to the front, aimed at the crowd. “STOP!” He yelled, refusing to look up. However, he could tell by the general mumble that everypony there (Except for Ivory) was completely confused. Bright bit his bottom lip, knowing he’d have to come up with possible his worst lie to the community yet. He took in a small breath, and began. “Look, I know that Ivory has been causing a lot of trouble here, but it’s really not her fault… I know that I shouldn’t be standing here, but, compelled as someone close to her, I can’t let this happen.” He began. He even knew he was lying; she was just causing chaos for the fun of it. But he couldn’t bear to see her hurt, finding that worse than compared to what she could’ve done to him in return. “I’m sorry for wasting all of your time…” He mumbled, turning with Ivory. The Ponies behind her moved away and let them through, however, another voice rang out from behind him. “Now wait just a minute!” The familiar, yet brash voice of Rainbow Dash rang out. “We should be knocking her block off! Why do YOU care so much about what happens to her?” She exclaimed. Bright didn’t want to answer, but Ivory spoke up. “Go on… Say it.” She hissed at him. Bright winced, and didn’t want to, but turning back to the rest of the group he could’ve called friends but a moment ago on bloodshot eyes, he finally said it.

“She’s my sister.” He finished, feeling his knees go weak. However, he trudged back to his house, with Ivory in tow, leaving the others to stand there. His words seemed to have changed the wind in a heartbeat, as the group slowly began to talk amongst themselves, doing the exact thing that, at least Bright, expected as a result of Ivory’s meddling. They’d begun back chatting, and saying things that would’ve hurt Bright’s ears if he were there. All except for just a small cluster, who had gone out of the other’s way to discuss further. Vinyl, Twilight and the two Apples began discussing among themselves; What had Ivory done that was horrible enough to make Bright abandon his friends like this?