Dark Pony Brotherhood

Reading and Nightmares

Lucien was lying in the loft of the Barn, an oil lamp burning next to him. The Apple family had offered him a room in the main house, but he politely declined, saying that if there was room in the barn loft it would more than suffice.

‘Better to be alone in the loft anyways, I have much planning to do,’ he thought to himself. He was reading one of the books he borrowed from that Twilight unicorn. His thoughts went to the bookish pony, as he paged through one of the history books.

She was very bright, and her interest in the Dread Father was a good sign. It was quite the coincidence that she would come into possession of such a book. Or perhaps the Night Mother or Dread Father or maybe even both put things into motion.

He turned the page and read on. From what he had read, Equestria, the Land that he was apparently in, used to be in wars often, especially in its infancy. The last war was over a hundred years ago. It must have been very devastating.

A smirk crossed his face.

It was well overdue for fear and death to fill the hearts of this land’s populace.

He understood now why the Dread Father had wanted him to come here. Innocence was Life’s greatest illusion. He’d bring the stark reality to these ponies.

He turned another page, and continued to read on. Something that sparked his interest was the name Celestia. It had kept appearing over and over again. It had been obvious she was influential, and it seemed that she was the Monarchy in the land, but how could she have lived for thousands of years?

Thinking more on it, it wouldn’t have been so surprising; he knew that gods were immortal beings.

This Princess Celestia could very well have been a Goddess of some sort.

Perhaps when he met with that Twilight Sparkle to speak of Sithis, he could ask her about Celestia as well.

He decided to set the History book aside, and started to look into the Medical book he had been given. If he was going to be killing Ponies now, he needed to know how the best way to do so.

He was surprised at how similar it was to human physiology. Veins and organs may have been in slightly different places, but they were no less important. He would need to figure out a way to use a blade of some sort.

He would cross that bridge when he came to it he supposed.

He turned the page again, and found a diagram of a Pony’s flank, and the mark he’s seen on the flanks of most of the ponies he’s come across. At the top of the page, was written, “Cutie Marks.”

This was a curious sight, and he looked back at his flank, seeing the drop of poison. He turned back to the book and read on. Apparently this cutie mark was to appear upon the flank of a pony once they discovered what they were skilled in, and what they loved to do.

He smiled.

He did enjoy mixing potions and poisons, and especially loved to put them in apples. Perhaps once he came into some money he would be able to buy some basic ingredients and dabble in the likes of it once more.

Perhaps if he found new plants he could make new poisons in this world.

He closed the book and turned out the small oil lamp.

He pulled the blanket that the apple family had provided him with over the top of himself, and stared into the darkness of the barn.

He inhaled, enjoying the smell of the hay as he let sleep take him, as his mind reflected on the events of his first day in this new world.

………………

Elsewhere, in a home made out of a large tree, Twilight Sparkle lay in her own bed, tossing and turning, thrashing about, fighting a Nightmare.

She was breathing hard, as her legs kicked as if running.

And she was running.

She didn’t dare look back.

She didn’t see what was chasing her, but she felt it.

She heard it.

It was growling behind her, and no matter how fast she ran it was getting closer.

She was in a long hallway, that seemed endless. The thing that was chasing her was almost on top of her, and she suddenly reached the end, and came to a screeching halt.

The room was circular, and around her where four Ponies, all wearing dark hoods. Whatever was chasing her had stopped, but she still sensed it was there. It was always there, always.

The four ponies, then seemed to kneel before her, and a fifth pony appeared from seemingly nowhere.

She was at least as old looking as Granny Smith, but somehow even older, and yet she seemed to not be decrepit at all. She just seemed really old, yet ageless. Her eyes where piercing, and her demeanor was proud and her color was as black as the night.

She came closer to Twilight, until she was embracing her.

“Welcome Home,” she said into her ear.

And Twilight awoke taking in a sharp breath of air.

She looked outside, and saw that the sun had already come up. She got a full night’s sleep, but the dream still haunted her.

What did it all mean?

It was different than the last dream; it was more terrifying as well, but she had no clue what it meant.

She shook her head, and pushed her thoughts aside for the moment, though they were still confusing her.

She got out of bed, and went downstairs, hearing Spike still gently snoring. She smiled, glad that she hadn’t woken him.

She went to the small kitchen in her home, and started to make a light breakfast for her and her number one assistant.

She had been so exhausted that she hadn’t been paying much mind to Spike. Some pancakes would make up for that though, she was sure.

By the time she was done making a few, the smell had wafted into the rest of the home, and a small yawn was heard, and she turned to see the sleepy eyed baby dragon come into the kitchen.

“Morning Twilight,” he said, going to the small table they had. He looked to her making pancakes, “feeling better?” he asked her.

Twilight smiled, “good morning Spike, and yes, I got much better sleep tonight,” she said. It wasn’t entirely the truth, but she didn’t want to worry him.

She put a stack of pancakes in front of him, and put a couple on a plate for herself. “How was your day yesterday?” she asked. “I’m sorry I missed you this morning and last night,” she apologized.

Spike started eating right away, nearly inhaling his breakfast, before swallowing to answer her. “Oh, it’s alright Twilight, it isn’t your fault that your having trouble sleeping lately.”

Twilight inwardly thought about how it could be her fault but said nothing.

“Let’s see, nothing big happened, Rarity was too busy with filling an order of dresses to talk, and Rainbow was pulling a few pranks with Pinkie Pie,” he said, thinking back to the day before. “Oh, I heard some rumors of a creepy new guy that came into town with Applejack, I didn’t get to see him myself,” he said.

That caught Twilight’s attention, “oh? Oh, that’s Lucien Lachance, I met him when I was coming back from Fluttershy’s place,” she said. “I don’t think he’s that creepy, just a little strange,” she said.

Spike looked to her and tilted his head, “you met him?” he asked her.

She nodded, “yeah, he asked to borrow a few books, and guess what?” she started to get excited, remembering yesterday’s events. “He said he knows something about that book I just got a few days ago,” she said. “He told me he’d tell me what he knows about it sometime after he got settled in.”

Spike stared at her, and smirked, “dude, you totally got a nerd crush on this guy,” he teased.

Twilight blushed and looked a little embarrassed, “N-nonsense, I just met the Pony,” she hurriedly said. “N-not that I wouldn’t, I mean,” she started to talk herself into a corner, and Spike just laughed.

“Calm down Twilight, I’m just teasing you,” he told her. “I’m sure the guy’s nice, and I’m sure the two of you are going to be great friends,” he said, trying to calm her down a little.

Twilight laughed a little nervously, “r-right,” she took a breath. Before getting a slightly vengeful gleam in her eye, “not like you're one to talk, what with your crush on Rarity,” she teased back.

The dragon just narrowed his eyes at her, in a playful manner. “So, should I find something to do while your new friend is here? Give you two some alone time?” he teased back.

A blush invaded Twilight’s face again, and she was about to tease back, when a knock came to the door. She turned and went to answer it. Upon opening it, she found a bouncing pink Pony there.

“Hey Twilight, did you hear? Did you hear? There is a new Pony in town, some Mysterious colt that came into Town with Applejack yesterday. I also heard he came met up with you and came to your house yesterday, so of course you know about him, so I was planning a party for him, do you want to invite him over so we can surprise him?” The pony known as Pinkie Pie said in a single breath.

Twilight blinked a few times, wondering how the Pink Party Pony did it sometimes. And then noticed that she had asked and answered a question as well as asked another one. “Well, sure I could go and invite him to come later today, where will it be?” she asked Pinkie.

“Oh, just Sugar Cube Corner, business has been slow so it won’t be a problem,” she said. “Let’s show this new Pony how we like to party,” she told her before she left.

Twilight let out a sigh, and hoped that Lucien liked to party more than she did when she first came into town. She went back in and told Spike what was going on, and to clean up the dishes before heading to Sugar Cube Corner to help out with decorating while she went to invite Lucien.

Pinkie wanted to keep this a surprise party, so she would have to keep him busy, she was sure they could talk about something and maybe she could help out around at the farm till it was time.

Twilight looked into the mirror quickly, and brushed her mane, and making herself look presentable. She thought about dressing up more, but shook the thought out of her head. Why should she do that?

‘Cause Lucien is the most handsome colt you’ve ever seen.’ Her inner thoughts said to herself.

She shook her head more, a blush once again on her face. She turned to the door and went on her way. She headed straight for Sweet Apple Acres, seeking the colt who’s occupied her thoughts.

…………………..

Lucien Lachance bucked hard against the apple tree behind him, it took him a couple tries, but he was able to clear a tree in about the same time it took for Applejack or Big Macintosh to clear two or three. According to them it wasn’t so bad for a beginner.

His legs ached as he kicked another tree, being as proud as he was, he wasn’t going to complain, and he was never one to say another’s profession was beneath him. He had to admit, in some ways, even a humble farm pony was superior to him.

His thoughts went to the red pony, Big Macintosh, who could make a tree set loose its contents in a single hard kick. He felt that a pony of that strength could probably break another if he had cause to do so.

He respected the large colt’s quiet demeanor and short answers to questions. One could easily mistake the simplicity of it for lack of intelligence, but Lucien knew better than to judge him on it, and could even see how smart the farm pony was in his eyes.

Aside from Twilight Sparkle, he felt Macintosh was the only pony he could respect at the time.

His thoughts again turned to Twilight. He read from his books this morning, and discovered that Unicorns were uniquely able to use magic from birth, but would only be skilled if it was practiced.

It perturbed him a little that he was born as a so called ‘Earth Pony’ and was unable to fly or use magic. But from what he read, Earth Ponies were renowned for strength and speed on land. A Pegasus was made with much lighter bones and was unable to build up as much muscle.

Unicorns weren’t so hollow boned, but were less inclined to use their strength on account of their magic.

Somehow he felt proud of being of a stockier breed. But it still bugged him that he would be unable to use magic. At the same time he wondered at how powerful Twilight Sparkle was with her own magic.

Thinking to what he read about the cutie marks, her mark seemed to inspire a feeling of magic. Perhaps it was particularly powerful. If that was the case, she would be especially useful to Sithis.

As he was thinking of her, and bucking another tree, he saw the pony he had been thinking of coming up the road, toward the farm. He looked to Applejack, “It seems you have a visitor,” he told her.

The Orange pony, looked to the road to see her friend coming closer, and broke from work to run up and meet her. They started to talk, and while they were too far, and the movements of pony mouths were still too foreign for him to clearly read, he thought he saw a few words, like, ‘Lucien’ and ‘Busy’ and ‘surprise.’

He shook his mind and got back to work. He had no reason to think they were plotting against him. So he suppressed his suspicious nature.

The girls approached him, “Hello again Lucien, you seem to be doing well,” greeted Twilight Sparkle with a smile.

“Hello to you as well, Ms. Sparkle, how was your night?” he asked, recalling she had planned on using that particularly dangerous herb to help her sleep.

“I slept very well thank you, and please, just call me Twilight,” she said, “I find myself free for the day, so I thought I may keep you company and maybe later take you into town to show you around some more,” she offered.

Lucien smiled to her, “I would enjoy that I think,” he said.

Lucien felt that Twilight would become very important to the Brotherhood.