Dark Pony Brotherhood

Moving Into a New Home

It has been a week since the Dark Brotherhood accepted its newest daughter of Sithis. And things were going well.

Lucien had arrived as he said he would with Big Macintosh with him, and helped Redheart dispose of the body of the murdered doctor. And also as promised, he explained to her about the Dark Brotherhood, Sithis and the Night Mother. And like a good little sister, she let him speak. He also told her that she would be a Speaker in the Black Hand, just as he and Macintosh were.

The three siblings had embraced and promised each other to be careful until he told them.

The doctor that she had killed was noted missing by then, and they began to search for him, and found the bits he had stolen. Work on building a clinic was soon after put into effect, as it had long been overdue for.

And now a week later, the work on Sweet Apple Acres was finished for the year. And as Applejack had promised, they were going into town to shop for a home for his own.

The orange pony walked ahead of the dark pony, “now let’s see here,” she said allowed. “Gotta be a place in town that’s reasonably priced,” she said looking around. “What kinda home do ya want Lucien?” she asked him.

“Something simple would be fine, with a basement if possible,” he said.

She nodded. “can’t be too hard,” the farmpony said.

Though is shouldn’t have been, there were very few homes in Ponyville that were out of their price range, and most of those that were, were in extremely rough shape.

The orange farm pony growled in frustration, “ugh, how can thar be no half decent houses fer sale in Ponyville?” she asked aloud.

“Don’t get mad Applejack; we’ve only looked through half the town, I’m sure we’ll find something soon,” he said, trying to calm her down.

“We better,” she said, looking around for more sale signs.

It wasn’t until they got near the other side of town that they found something that looked decent. It had two floors, and from the rise it seemed to have a basement. They’d find out when they would go to look inside later.

But Applejack was surprised to find where it was. “Looks like Rarity’s neighbors moved out,” she said, heading to the door of her friend’s home and business. She knocked on the door, and was answered with a call from inside.

“Coming.”

The door opened to reveal the dress making pony, “Oh, Applejack, and Lucien, what a surprise,” she said happily. “Please, do come in, and pardon the mess,” she told them, inviting the two earth ponies into her boutique.

“Mornin’ Rarity,” greeted Applejack.

“Good morning Rarity,” Lucien Lachance greeted.

Once inside, Rarity tended to her surprise guests, getting them something to sit on.

Lucien looked around. It had been the first time he actually ever came inside Rarity’s home. He then looked to their host, “What do you know of that house next door?” he asked, curious if she knew anything of it.

Rarity thought on it as she went to the kitchen to get some drinks, “well, the Seabreeze’s lived there for a few years, a nice couple though they didn’t get out much,” she said. “Though I do believe they kept the place well mended, and threw very fabulous parties at times,” she informed. “Canterlot ponies originally I believe,” she finished her expository on the house next door as she came back, levitating a few cups of tea. “Care for some tea dearies?” she asked the two ponies.

“Uh, no thanks,” said Applejack, not being a tea drinking pony herself.

“I’d love some,” was the more accepting response from Lucien. The unicorn placed the tea cup on the table in front of their seats. He leaned down and sipped from it. He looked to her again. “Thank you. Well, the house seems sound enough, I wonder how much it will cost,” he thought aloud.

“You mean you may be moving in right next door?” asked Rarity, rather surprised and seemingly pleased by the idea.

Lucien smiled to her, “if it’s affordable, and in good condition,” he told her, sipping more tea.

Rarity smiled brightly, “Oh I simply must make you something as a House warming gift,” she said, looking him over, “would you mind if we took some measurements sometime?” she asked.

The dark pony thought the idea over. He had seen some ponies, Rarity in particular, dressed at times, though most seemed to go without clothes. A choice of style perhaps. But if he could convince her to make robes similar to those he had worn in the Brotherhood, it would give him a bit of nostalgia, and he needed to feel like the Speaker he was again.

He smiled to her, “Yes I believe I would enjoy it, would you be willing to make a cloak for me?” he asked her.

“A cloak?” she asked.

“Black is a fitting color for me, light but warm material would be preferred if you can manage, you see, where I come from, Cloaks were a status symbol of sorts,” he requested and explained. “You could say I’m feeling a little nostalgic.”

The white unicorn looked the dark pony over, and looked deep in thought. “I could manage, and I think I can make my own additions to make you look very dashing,” she commented with a smile.

Lucien smiled in return, “then how much would this cost me Ms. Rarity?” he asked her.

“No no no, this will be a House Warming gift, I wouldn’t dream of charging you for something as charming as a cloak,” she told him, showing her generosity.

“You are a paragon of charity Ms. Rarity,” she said with a polite bow.

This earned a rather posh giggle from the Unicorn. “By all means deary, it is no trouble at all, what I have in mind will be excellent for you, and to deny such an opportunity as this would be a crime against fashion,” she replied.

The orange Earth Pony raised an eyebrow at how the two carried on. The fancy speech was hard to follow, though she spent so much time with Rarity, she should have gotten used to it in some way. But it was still hard to choke down.

Lucien smiled, noting Applejack’s discomfort, finished his tea, “I hate to drink your tea and run, but we should check out that house, I think if I do decide to move into it, I’ll come by shortly after to get measured for the cloak,” he said.

Rarity nodded, “of course of course, I should get to work as well, at least get an idea of what I have in mind,” she said, turning to go to the back of the boutique and begin her work. “Farewell, and good luck Mr. Lachance,” she said, bidding the two Earth Ponies farewell. “I’ll see you later as well Applejack,” she said, then disappearing into the back of her home, to search for inspiration.

Lucien and Applejack showed themselves out and went to the house that was next door. “I hope it’s well priced, if Rarity is going to go through the trouble of making me something, I’d hate to disappoint her,” he said. He looked the place up and down, and then went to the for sale sign, to read the flier on the price.

“3000 bits, probly the first fair price we’ve seen all day,” said the Orange Earth Pony. “I’d say bye it if Rarity said the ponies living here kept it taken care of,” she added.

“And you said we should see the Mayor for the deed,” he noted. “Then let’s go to Town Hall,” he said with a smile, heading towards the center of the town. Once they got there, he noted the modesty of the Town Hall. A fair sized building to be sure, and the Equestrian Banner was waving on either side of the doorway. But aside from that, it looked plain. Not that it was a bad thing.

They went inside, and came to the secretaries desk, “Excuse me, but I’m looking to purchase a house, perhaps you know the one, its right next door to Carousel Boutique,” he said.

The secretary looked through some files at her desk, “one moment please,” she said. A half moment later, she looked up, “ah yes, the old Seabreeze place, in fair shape and price, I’d say your lucky to jump on it now before anypony else got to it,” she said. “You’ll need the Mayor to sign the deed, but once you pay we can give you a temporary deed of residence until she gets around to sign for it,” she explained.

Lucien nodded and smiled, “excellent,” he said. He looked to Applejack, who dug into her saddlebag and put down a bag of bits. After the secretary took the cost from the amount, she gave it back to Applejack, and then handed the dark pony a deed of residence, and asked for his hoof print. He obliged and left, now a homeowner, a smile on his features.

…….

It didn’t take long for word to somehow get to Pinkie Pie. Applejack had left to see to something. Shortly after Lucien had went to make claim to his home, remove the sign, go to Rarity for measurements, and preview drawing of his cloak, he had admired the detail she put in it, and he returned home for a whole five seconds, before there was a knock on the door.

He rose and eyebrow, and answered it. Seeing a Pink pony, that he was certain had skooma or something of that nature running through her veins. “Hi Luci,” she greeted happily. “I heard you got a new home, and I wanted to throw you a big party to celebrate,” she said happily.

The dark pony looked at her for a moment, and decided that a certain Orange farm pony was responsible for this situation, but gave the pink one a smile. “You certainly enjoy throwing parties, don’t you Miss Pie?” he commented. It was sorta obvious.

She giggled, “well duh, what pony doesn’t like parties?” she asked. “And this one won’t be so much of a surprise,” she said.

“Well, I suppose it will be alright, so long as we keep it small,” he said.

“Oki Doki Loki Luci, small parties can be just as fun as big ones,” she said, bouncing off in the strange way she does. Lucien sighed to himself.

“I wonder if I can ever get her to stop calling me that,” he lamented.

…….

Later that night, seven ponies and a dragon were having a casual house warming party.

Lucien enjoyed smaller parties. Not so much a mess to clean up, but he was certain that Pinkie Pie would eventually make up for the lack of numbers and cause a large mess on her own. She had brought snacks and supplies to make snacks.

The house was empty for the most part, a few pieces of left behind furniture. A couch, a stove in the kitchen, an un-stocked pantry, which he soon hoped to remedy and the bedroom had a small, hard bed. But it would do just fine as far as the Dark Pony was concerned.

He had welcomed each of the girls into his home with open arms. He supposed it was just as well that his brother and sister did not attend. He’d invite them privately another time to talk over their goals.

Rarity had been the last to arrive, a large package with her. She had said she wanted to wait till everypony had made it before letting him open it.

And with Rainbow Dash being the last to arrive, it was the moment that he had, in all honestly, anticipated with bated breath. It was like he was a child again, receiving a present for the sake of generosity.

He opened the gift, and smiled at what was inside. A newly made cloak, with an undervest. All black. He put them both on, the vest first, and then the cloak, putting the hood up, and then looking into a mirror that Rarity had provided.

He liked what he saw. The undervest was dark black with three gems at the collar, the center one was a ruby, and the two on either side were sapphires. He had never thought of gems used in clothing. But they seemed to accentuate the color of both him and his new clothes.

The cloak draped over his back, the edge dropping down beside his front legs, and going back to cover most of his back legs. He looked mysterious which was how he liked it. And For a moment, he thought he saw his old self again. He took back the hood to see himself better. The unicorn who had designed the dress put down the mirror. And in an act of pure delight, Lucien stood on his hind hooves and swept her off her own and twirled her around as if dancing, but shortly set her back down, holding her at arms length with a smile.

“You, Madam, are an artist of the stitch,” he told her.

The fashionista blushed at the compliment, “it-it was nothing major really,” she said, taking the compliment in stride.

Twilight viewed Lucien with a few things on mind.

First was a slight twinge of jealousy she felt towards her friend, being in Lucien’s arms. But more in the front of her mind was how strangely familiar Lucien looked in that cloak. Like she’s seen him in it before. But that didn’t make sense. For the moment, she decided to push it to the back of her mind to think on later, for now the party should continue.

As it did for another few hours.

“Wowie, we sure ran out of snacks quick,” said the pink party planner. She made her way to the understocked kitchen, “I’ll go see about making some more goodies,” she said.

The party continued without her.

……..

An hour later, Lucien had went to the kitchen door, seeing if Pinkie Pie would need any help since it seemed to be taking her so long. It was then he noticed a sound that the others seemed oblivious to.

He heard sniffling on the other side of the door.