Thicker than Chaos

Bright laid on his bed. At least there, he was as close to alone as he could get. Ivory, without fail, had managed to do it yet again. And now, it’ll happen just like before. His friends will slowly forget about him, chaos will continue, and the conclusion will result in him having to leave. Again. However, a thought still remained at the back of his head. Call it is vanity, his selfish pride, or maybe his sense of honour, he still couldn’t forgive himself for not giving the first-ever Rainbulb to his customer, No - his friend, without even giving her a decent explanation. Although he wanted to leave to explain the situation to her, he knew what await him if he tried to go through the town. Gossip passed through the small town like wildfire, apparent by how well his customers had been arriving. In a matter of days, everypony would soon find out who lived with Bright, and whose fault it was that somepony like that could’ve been let into the town, almost with open arms. The thoughts made Bright dizzy, and he tried to bury them down, like he always did. But there was something stopping him. There was a part of him that simply didn’t WANT to forget about Ponyville, to return to the days of carefree laughter and innocence it once retained for him. He got up out of bed, and checked the weather outside. He must’ve been down a while – It was already morning.

Ivory had left the house a while back, so Bright knew the store wouldn’t be in any immediate danger if he left. He grabbed the key out of his backpack, and put an old, yet new sign on the door as he locked it up. ‘Out to collect ingredients, be back in a while!’  Bright then sighed, making his way to the beat-off track outside of Ponyville. He figured he wouldn’t be spending his brief time outside eating lunch with his friends anymore, so he didn’t really mind the cheap change in signs, seeing as it used to be his lunch sign. However, one thing he overlooked as he left; his sister. She had been in the clouds above, watching over the home and shop. After he left, the left side of her mouth rose in an all-too-familiar fashion.

Twilight, in the meantime, had invited Applejack and Vinyl Scratch over for the night. Not for a slumber party, but more as a meeting. They figured it’d be easier to remember in the morning after a good night’s sleep, which definitely helped when they awoke. Being the first one up, Twilight walked downstairs to the small kitchenette area she’d briefly set up, to accommodate more than a  pony and a dragon. She put the pot on for a hit of coffee, and found some bread that was still good, preparing breakfast for her two guests. As she did, memories of the previous night began to come back in kind. She knew she’d told Bright to tell everyone else, but why did he pick then? Was there some kind of hidden message by his statement that she didn’t understand? Whilst the questions continued to spiral, Vinyl and Applejack lazily made their way into the kitchen as well. “Mornin’, Twi.” Applejack yawned. Twilight snapped out of her stupor, and looked over to Applejack. “Morning.” She smiled, trying not to show her plagued state. She then looked over to Vinyl, and noticed it was the first time she’d seen her with her glasses off. Her eyes were a deep shade of crimson, which, to Twilight at least, seemed rather unique. Why would she hide them behind purple shades? However, those weren’t the questions she wanted to ask on this particular morning. She slowly pushed them away, and used magic to lift over breakfast. “Dig in girls; we have a bit of an afternoon ahead of us.” She said, seating herself as well. As they all began to eat, it seemed everyone was dodging the question. Then again, it was still a bit early in the morning for that kind of talk just yet. However, Vinyl was the one who managed to break the ice on the topic. “So, what was up with Sparks yesterday?” She asked. Applejack seemed to have been thinking about it as well, but shared the only inevitable conclusion she could come up with.

“I’d have more luck tryna find a cow with rainbow spots.” She merely said. Twilight nodded.

“I think I’ll borrow her answer.” Twilight replied, taking a quick drink out of her cup. “It’s like that Ivory pony is completely changing him into something he’s not, and it’s hurting him deeper than I originally thought. I just assumed that she was keeping him up, but it’s like she has an iron hoof over him…” She offered. The other ponies steadily mulled it over for a bit, before Twilight sighed out loud. “We won’t get anywhere just sitting here. Finish up quickly; I think we better pay Bright a visit.” She finally said, taking over her own plate and cup.

Bright searched around the outskirts of the Everfree forest, trying to find an active Rainbow. Although he still had plenty left, he wanted to have more. Better to be safe than sorry, his reasoning kept reminding him. As he looked around the surrounding area, he found a rainbow nearby, which caused him to promptly gallop after it. However, after twenty minutes of strenuous running, it faded away, leaving none of its exclusive nectar behind. He stomped into the ground in frustration, before trying to get his bearings. Finding his way back wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but trying to remember if this area was hostile or not was an entirely different story. He closely observed the detail of this new area, taking it in as much as he could. He seemed to be near a mountain, poisoned only ever-so-slightly by dragon smoke, which had nearly faded away over time, meaning it had long-since left. There was a singly path that lead, after half an hour, straight back through the heart of Ponyville. Bright shook away that concept, wanting to make it back to his house with as little ridicule as possible. Looking back over to his right, he found the clearing he had gone out from, which kept Everfree forest looking as ominous as ever. Adjusting his focus a bit, he noticed a small haze coming from somewhere roughly five minutes from where he was. It was too small for a forest fire, so his next best guess was some kind of housing with a narrow chimney. And finally, to his right, there seemed to be some kind of enormous apple farm. Bright thought back a bit, and remember Apple Bloom mentioning that herself and her sister both lived there with their granny and older brother. Figuring Applejack would be there, he once again decided heading over there wouldn’t be the best choice. He turned back towards Everfree forest, figuring that he’d see the brightness of a rainbow much more clearly through the darkened wood.

Bright managed to go through another two hours of walking around the forest before finally giving up for the day. He’d probably lost about twenty bits worth of business, and Celestia knows what else she would’ve done unsupervised. Making his way back home, he passed the small hut that had been the cause of the small haze he’d found earlier, but decided against going in. Continuing on his beat-off path, Bright felt sick to his stomach, having his somewhat perfect world turned upside down yet again. He kept his back to a tree for a bit, before deciding to sit down and try to gather his thoughts around his next move.

“Twi, we’ve been waiting for a coupl’a hours now, I don’t think he’ll show for a couple more.” Applejack chimed. Twilight looked around, and made sure that Bright wasn’t inside. The roughly made sign was already proof enough, but her natural thirst for curiosity kept her rooted to the spot. However, Applejack had a point. There was no point starving themselves for answers. Twilight looked to Vinyl, who had been just as patient, but without a single word. “Alright, we’ll head back for lunch, and try talking to him in an hour or so. Sound good?” She asked the small group. They all nodded in agreement, and left, returning to Twilight’s home.

Bright finally managed to get back up, and continue along the track. It took him ten minutes or so, but he finally made it out to the familiar place that, a few days earlier, would’ve happily called his home. Stopping outside the front, he looked around. Something didn’t feel right, but he couldn’t put his hoof on it. He looked to the ground, and found about twelve hoofprints in the ground. Ponies had been waiting for him out here. ‘Most likely to throw me out, too…’ Bright’s venomous thought rang. He shook it from his head, and opened the door to his home. However, something was now DEFINITELY wrong.

Vinyl sat quietly as the girls nattered through lunch, and even during their small break. However, even though the hour wasn’t up, she finally walked towards the door. “I’m gonna head there early – He might even turn up then, and if one of us miss him, we might not end up finding out what was up with yesterday.” She explained. Applejack and Twilight nodded.

“We’ll come along soon – I want to call over some friends of mine to see if they’ll at least try to help.” Twilight explained.

“And I hafta hogtie Rarity.” Applejack grinned cheekily. Twilight giggled slightly, and Vinyl followed suit. However, she still stood outside, making her way back to Bright’s place. It didn’t take her too long to reach the shop and home, and found the door was wide open. “Hello…?” She quietly called from around the corner. There was no answer, so Vinyl began to assume the worst. However, she turned the corner, and looked inside.

It didn’t look like it had been robbed. It looked like a cyclone or two had gone through. The entire house seemed completely turned on its ear, as if whoever had broken in were only looking for one specific thing. Most of the displays were smashed, or scattered over the floor. Carefully avoiding the broken glass, she heard two noises with her somewhat sensitive ears; the sound of the lock on a larger backpack, and the pitter-patter of water landing on the floor. They both seemed to be coming from upstairs, so she quickly raced up to see what was there.

Bright tried his hardest to stop himself from sobbing where he stood. He had only just finished packing the remainder of what he had left into a larger backpack, the very same he’d used to bring his things to Ponyville in the first place. He heard a noise from behind him, and immediately lighting up his horn, he turned around to face who was there.

Vinyl had never seen Bright, no, not even anypony as angry, or sad, as he were at the moment. He looked like he was either going to start screaming at her, or completely shut down and begin sobbing. However, either way, it terrified her. She took a step back from Bright, who made no sudden moves in response. He calmed down slightly, the dark green aura fading from his horn, and he sat down. “I’m sorry…” He choked. Vinyl didn’t really know what to say, so she kept silent. The aura reappeared, picking up the heavier portion of Bright’s bags for him.

“What’re you doing?” She finally managed. Bright looked up to her on severely bloodshot eyes, and only offered a fake smile.

“I’m packing my stuff and heading off. It’s for the best, really…” He said, his voice cracking a bit towards the end. Vinyl wanted to question it, but Bright’s manageable backpack began to glow. The top opened, and an object floated near her. As she figured out what it was, her eyes began to well up as well. “I promised I’d get it done for you by the end of this week.” He merely said. “Take it.” Vinyl’s blue aura covered the object, overtaking Bright’s own. He nodded again, before downstairs, with the bag in tow. After Bright left, Vinyl sat down, and stared at the brand-new rainbulb, as if trying to convince herself that this was all nothing but a hoax. However, without Bright popping around the corner to tell her that he was only trying to get out of dodge for a bit, she slowly made her way downstairs, carrying the rainbulb carefully with her own aura. She felt something stick to her hoof as she did, though. Quickly shaking it off, she looked down to be sure it wasn’t a piece of glass or something. However, she noticed that it was a hastily scribbled note. Looking over it, her heart suddenly sank.

Cleaned you out, little bro!

I figured it was too boring being around this dull town, so I made off with your bit box and smashed all your stuff. Now I can get my own place, not to say the same about you. Isn’t rent due tomorrow?

See you never, twerp.

Ivory.

Vinyl couldn’t tell if she were about to be sick, if her anger had hit boiling point, or if she was going to explode in tears. She picked up the note, and keeping both the note and the rainbulb as close as she could, she galloped out the door. She needed to find Twilight.