Chaos and Crusaders

Chapters

A party to remember
Of Nightmares and Mysteries
Prologue: An unintentional last laugh
Getting to know you
Brain storming
Ponyville gets a new resident

A party to remember

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Of Nightmares and Mysteries

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Prologue: An unintentional last laugh

It had been a few months after Discord's second defeat, but what the Element bearers, the Princesses and even Discord himself didn't know was that his chaos energy, that was taken from everything Discord changed, was still floating around. It floated right into the Everfree forest and into Everfree castle. Another thing that was unknown to everypony was that Nightmare Moon wasn't destroyed or taken out of Luna. No, she had all of her powers of the night ripped right out of her and was doomed to wander Luna's mind forever. Once Discord's energy entered the castle Nightmare Moon's energy responded to it's power and moved toward the ball of chaos energy.

Normally balls of energy wouldn't be able to move or do anything unless accessed by a unicorn, but add Discord and chaos into the mix and things get fun. The two energies floated around each other in an intricate dance, orange and yellow around black and purple. Until they moved towards the other and started to fuse together into one. These two type of energies had never come into contact before, and even if somepony was there to witness it they wouldn't have a single idea what to expect. Eternal night and chaos combined? Just a simple explosion of magic? None of these would have been right.

The energies grew and tangled together, twisting, winding and swirling around each other in a strange hug. Until there was a flash of light and the sound of breaking rock. After the smoke had cleared the two energies were gone, replaced by a crater in the middle of the floor with something inside. Inside laid a normally sized unicorn colt, but he was anything but normal. His coat was a pinkish blue, his mane was black and purple and his horn had three colors, white on the left, black in the middle and blue on the right. He had no cutie mark yet as well.

A few minutes passed before he began to stir from his slumber. He sat up and yawned, revealing that one of his teeth was a small fang, and then rubbed his eyes with his hooves before opening them, his eyes were teal but for some reason they gave the effect that they were different sizes. He arched his back, much like a cat would and lifted his front half from the ground and looked around at his surroundings. He adopted a small look of fear at the sight of crumbling walls and a broken ceiling, but after gazing past the ceiling he noticed the night sky and the moon. At seeing the night sky he felt comforted and safe.

After just sitting there, looking at the sky, he started to feel bored and wanted to explore, so, he got up and started walking to the entrance of the castle. And instantly fell on his face. After a few tears came to his eyes and a few mumbled curses to his mouth he got up and slowly and carefully made his way out side. He walked around a giant pedestal that seemed to have held something once and avoided some of the sharper shards of stone that were thrown from the ground when the crater was made. He stopped and grinned at the shards, remembering he was a unicorn, he tried using his magic on them. He closed his eye and pointed his horn at the pieces and when he opened his eyes he was disappointed to see nothing had happened, he sighed and started to move on. Gently stepping around more shards, he found himself in front of the archway leading out of the castle, and with an excited smile he trotted out.

Once outside he began to smile much wider than before, and started to pick up the pace, excited to see what this place had to offer. He trotted along and came across a rickety bridge that didn't seem stable, which many would have taken as a sign to take another route he saw as a challenge. With an ever widening smile and a small giggle, he jumped onto the bridge. And the beams holding him cracked from the strain.

He stood still, not making a move lest they break and have him fall, where exactly? He looked down and saw a huge drop bellow him, but he couldn't see the bottom due to fog. After the disturbing fate that beheld him, his head shot up straight, eyes wide. Taking a few calming breaths he readied himself to run for his life across the bridge. And so he slowly counted down in his head all the way to zero and took off, galloping down the bridge. Each board he touched cracked and held him for less than a second, but he continued to gallop ignoring the crack and smashing that was quickly gaining on his hooves and galloped right off the bridge, but he continued to run.

He turned his head to see the bridge break completely and fall into the abyss it once stood over. He closed his eyes, laughed and turned his head forwards again and opened his eyes just in time to run face first into a tree. He fell onto his haunches and rubbed his nose, eyes tearing up again as he started to sniffle. He shook his head and wiped the tears out of his eyes and started off again into the forest, but again, more cautious so as to not hurt his nose again.

As he started walking into the forest he was calmed by the light of the moon. And that calmness soon broke when he heard something splash. He went to investigate and came upon an interesting sight, it was a sea serpent in a stream. Not wanting it to notice him he quickly made his way to the stream side behind bushes. Carefully he stepped into the water, all the while, inside a bush when the sea serpent spoke, "Oh, how dreadful! A nasty bush messing with the crystal waters of this stream." And with that the sea serpent picked up the bush and the colt and threw them onto the side they hadn't started on. Dazed, the colt got up and walked away, too dizzy to care about the serpent.

After regaining the ability to walk and see where he was going at the same time, he continued on for a brief while until he came across a pass with two cliffs on either side, and in between them a sleeping manticore. And once again seeing this as a challenge, he gently made his way over to the manticore and started to slip pass it. He gently stepped past its tail and paws and was safely on the other side of the pass and started to walk away when the manticore grabbed him in its paws and started to lick his mane while it slept. Grumbling to himself, he saw a stick close by and tried to pick it up with his hooves. That went on for a minute before he finally got it. He started to wriggle the stick into the paws and the manticore started to hug the stick more allowing him to escape onto the ground. He gave the manticore one last look and smiled as it licked the stick like a lollipop.

He sighed and walked away, glad to not have been hurt. He wandered on, into a denser part of the forest, smile ever shrinking, from the creepy forest, less than friendly sounds and the fact he couldn't see the moon or starts, to a fearful frown. He trotted along, cautiously, until he heard a snap of a twig behind him. He stiffened, eyes wide with what monstrosity may be behind him. With his eyes closed he turned around slowly and opened them. It was just a little white bunny rabbit. He sighed from relief before wondering, What's a small bunny doing out here? He started to walk toward the white rabbit, but before he got close to it he heard a growl to the right of them. The rabbit rushed towards him and hugged one his forelegs in fear.

The colt turned once more to see what caused the noise, only to have his pupils shrink to pinpricks at the sight of two Timberwolves. In a spur of the moment thought, he picked up the little rabbit, put it on his back and ran for his life for the second time that night. He had no idea where he was going, nor did he care, all he wanted was to get away from the wooden wolves as fast as possible. Sadly, being a unicorn, he couldn't run fast or for long and was quickly running on fumes of what little energy he had left. He stopped after another minute of running and decided to face his fate. He turned around to see the Timberwolves running towards him, he bowed his head and let a few tears trickle down his face. But as he lowered his head his sight passed over something he didn't notice while running and the Timberwolves were running right for it.

He started to giggle and waited for the show to start. The Tiberwolves ran towards him, but unlike him, stepped on a net hidden partially beneath the leaves. The net swung up and sent them flying the way they came, leaving the rabbit and the colt laughing at their misfortune. After he regained enough senses, he made sure the bunny was on his back and continued on his way. But after no more than a few steps he heard a squeaky voice behind him say, "I told you you tied it too tight!"

A southern accented filly's voice answered the first, "It wouldn't stay secure no matter how Ah tied it!"

Before the first voice could speak another, bolder filly voice spoke, "It doesn't matter whose fault it is! We still didn't get our Cutie Marks! And we didn't find Angel!"

At the mention of his name, Angel bunny ran off the colt's back and toward the voices, where the first said, "Angel! Where did you come from?".

Curious, the colt followed in the bushes, so as not to be seen. After silently walking through the bushes he saw the sources of the voices. One was a white unicorn filly with a light purple-pink mane. The second was a yellow earth pony filly with a red mane and a bow in said mane. The last one was an orange pegasus with a darker purple mane. It was then he realized that Angel was doing a series of charades and pointing in his direction.

The pegasus groaned, "Yes Angel. We know you came from there."

Angel just face pawed and tried again, mimicking the Timberwolves running and then himself hanging onto something. It took a bit before the earth pony spoke, "Oh! He said that somepony saved him!"

Angel nodded furiously and pointed in the colt's direction. The pegasus narrowed her eyes and got into a defensive stance and called to the bushes, "You better come out! Or I'll come in and get you!"

The colt started to panic and thought about running but then looked at the pegasus' face and decided not to tick her off. He slowly exited the bush and looked at them trying to read their faces for hostility. But only the pegasus seemed to be suspicious of him, for the other two smiled and the unicorn said as she started walking towards him, "Thanks for finding Angel! Fluttershy will be so happy!" She then added quieter, "If she knows he's gone."

The pegasus spoke to her friend but kept her eyes on the colt, "Sweetie Belle!" The unicorn stopped and looked at her friend, "We know nothing about this guy! He could be dangerous!"

The earth pony shook her head and said, "He saved Angel from them Timberwolves so he can't be all bad."

The pegasus sat down, closing one eye in thought before opening it again, "Maybe. But I have my eyes on you."

The unicorn, apparently called Sweetie Belle, said to the colt, "I haven't seen you before. Where are you from?"

He put a hoof to his chin, wondering what to say. Eventually he decided they were trustworthy. He pulled his hoof away from his chin and pointed to Everfree Castle, which they could still see from where they were. Sweetie Belle looked to where he as pointing and slowly turned back, "Y-you're a ghost?!" She yelped and jumped behind the earth pony.

Said earth pony rolled her eyes and looked at her friend, "He ain't a ghost Sweetie Belle! Ghosts are white and see through."

Sweetie looked around her friend staring at the colt and smiled sheepishly, "Oh. Right."

The earth pony took a few steps towards the unicorn colt and said, "Enough of this silliness. Mah name's Applebloom! And these are mah friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo! What's your name?"

He raised his hoof and opened his mouth but then realized something he should have before. He lowered his hoof back to the ground and shook his head a little before speaking for the first time in a soft voice, "I... I don't have a name."

Scootaloo snorted and rolled her eyes, "Yeah right. Nopony doesn't have a name."

He shook his head again, "If I do I don't remember."

Sweetie Belle walked up next to Applebloom and asked, "If you don't remember your name do you at least have somewhere to sleep?"

He then realized that even if he had wanted to sleep in the castle he couldn't due to the bridge breaking when he crossed it, "Uh... no."

Sweetie Belle's face broke into a smile as she got an idea, "Hey! How about after we take Angel back to Fluttershy's house you can join us on our sleep over!"

Scootaloo's face shifted to surprise and confusion, "What?!"

Applebloom smiled as well and said, "Yeah! That's a good idea Sweetie!"

Scootaloo's jaw was almost on the ground, "What? Are you two crazy?!"

Her two friends turned to her, "What?"

Scootaloo put her head in her hooves and shook it before replying, "We don't know who he is and you two just invite him over? He could be dangerous!"

While her two friends thought this over the colt spoke up, "I could say the same about you, you know."

Scootaloo looked at him with a scowl but then thought his words over, "Good point. Don't expect me to agree with you alot though."

He just shrugged and she looked to her friends who asked, "Please? We just want a new friend."

And before she could say anything Sweetie came up to her and said in a whisper, "Besides making him our friend he can also join us as a crusader." She pointed her hoof at his flank which bore no Cutie Mark, "See?"

Scootaloo thought this new information over. They hadn't tried to get a colt into The Cutie Mark Crusaders for awhile, Pipsqueak said it was too girly, they considered Featherweight but he got his Cutie Mark before they asked and Rumble said he couldn't due to his brother's cloud house being to far away and that he was constantly behind on home work.

Scootaloo sighed, "Fine. But I'm still keeping my eyes on him."

Sweetie Belle giggled and started walking away, "Come on everypony! We're taking our new friend to the club house!"

They all started walking down the path that led out of the forest Sweetie Belle and Applebloom in front carrying Angel the colt in the middle and Scootaloo watching him in the back, and all the colt could do was smile and think, I have friends.

Getting to know you

After the Crusaders, Angel and the colt left the Everfree forest, they dropped Angel off at Fluttershy's house, which the colt was surprised at how many nice animals were there, and continued on to the clubhouse. All the while Scootaloo was telling him about Ponyville, mainly cause she didn't want her friends to give away too much to him, "And that's how we became the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Any questions?"

He nodded, "Yeah. How far to the clubhouse? I have had a rough night." He said the last part with a yawn, showing his lack of energy.

Applebloom turned to him, "Not too much farther. Just passed those apple trees." She turned back and pointed to an orchard of apple trees.

He nodded, "That's Sweet Apple Acres, right?"

He turned to Scootaloo who nodded that he was correct and they moved on in silence for a bit before Sweetie Belle spoke, "I can't wait to introduce you to my sister!"

He rose a brow, "Isn't she the fashionista?" Sweetie Belle nodded, "I just hope she doesn't put me in a dress."

Sweetie smiled while the other Crusaders sighed and Scootaloo said, "Yeah, she probably will. She loves making dresses, almost to an obsession."

Sweetie Belle put a hoof to her chin, "I guess. I mean she does kinda go overboard some times. But she means well."

Applebloom shook her head, "A little too well if you ask me. It took her forever to tell us her Cutie Mark story!"

The colt tilted his head to the side, "And what is her Cutie Mark story?"

Scootaloo sighed again, "Long story short, she was upset with her school play costumes, so much so her unicorn magic dragged her across Equestria until she was in front of a giant rock. Then the Sonic Rainboom happened, shattering the rock and revealing it to be filled with gems and jewels which she put on the costumes. The play was great, everypony loved the costumes, the end."

The colt rose a brow but nodded anyway and asked, "What's a Sonic Rainboom?"

As Scootaloo turned to him, beaming, the other two Crusaders groaned as they stopped so Scootaloo could explain, "Why it's only the most awesomest trick ever done by any pegasus and it has only been done three times! All of them by the greatest flier in Equestria, Rainbow Dash! I saw it when we were at the royal wedding and it was so great! It's done when a pegasus goes so fast they make an explosion of color!" She finished and sighed dreamily as the colt got a look of great wonder.

After a few seconds of imagining the Sonic Rainboom he said, "Almost makes me wish I could fly."

Scootaloo lost her dreamy look and nodded sadly, "Me too."

He looked at her and asked, "Wait, can't you fly?"

She thought the question over before answering, "Yes and no. I can sorta fly sometimes but most of the time I just use my wings to power my scooter." Her sad look was then replaced by one of determination, "But one day, I'll be a great flier!"

The colt nodded, "I'm kind of the same." He looked to the horn on his forehead, "I can't use my magic." his face lit up as he got an idea, "Hey, what if we help each other?"

Scootaloo gave him a questioning look, "What do you mean?"

He got a huge smile and put a foreleg around her shoulders while waving the other one about, "You help me with my magic and I help you with your flying! It's brilliant, brilliant I tell you!" He stood up onto his hind legs and Scootaloo lost her balance and fell on her back. After seeing what he had done he helped her back up, "Heh, oops."

Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head and quietly said to herself, "I'm not sure if I'm liking this idea..." She turned to the colt and thought his offer over in her mind, Well, it's not like I have anything to lose and I'd be able to keep an eye on him..., "All right, we'll try it some time. But no promises."

He just smiled and started walking towards the apple trees once more while the Crusaders lagged behind to talk. Applebloom turned to Scootaloo and said, "Ah Don't know why you think he can't be trusted Scootaloo. He seems alright to me."

Sweetie Belle decided to throw her two bits in as well, "Yeah! He seems nice and well behaved. Not like Nightmare Moon. She was all scary. Except when Princess Luna turned into her for Nightmare Night! Then she was cool!"

Scootaloo shook her head before answering, "I don't know. There's just something more to him than meets the eye. But you're right. If he hasn't done anything, I guess he can be trusted." She waited for her friends to go ahead and catch up with the colt before quietly adding to herself, "... For now." And running after her friends so she wouldn't get left behind.

After a few minutes of walking in silence they came to their destination, Applebloom walked in and waved one of her hooves around, "Welcome to the base of operations of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

The colt stepped in as well and looked around, there were plans for elaborate ways to get Cutie Marks on one wall while another held posters of, who he presumed to be, Rainbow Dash who Scootaloo told him about on the way and the fanclub for Rainbow Dash she ran every now and then, and finally the last wall was bare, save for a closet. He looked around one last time before saying, "Seems homey." He smiled, "I like it."

Applebloom walked over to the closet and took out an extra sleeping bag, "You're lucky we keep alot of stuff in the closet. Come ta think of it, why do we have half this stuff in the closet?"

Scootaloo moved to stand beside Applebloom and look inside as well before taking her head out of the closet, shaking her head, "I don't know and I don't think I want to know."

Applebloom grabbed the sleeping in her mouth and dragged it to the colt and laid it down, "Here you go."

He grinned as he looked it over, "Thanks!"

Sweetie Belle yawned as she crawled into her own sleeping bag, "I don't know about you guys but I'm going to bed."

Applebloom also yawned and moved to do the same as Scootaloo walked over to the colt and spoke in a whisper, "Okay, since my friends trust you I will to, but only because they do. So, don't break it okay?" She said the last part with a scowl on her face.

The colt just smiled before he grabbed her into a hug and matched her whisper, "Why would I break the trust of the first friends I've ever had?" He let go and crawled into his sleeping bag as Scootaloo stood there wondering about the colt and if he could be trusted.

Shaking her head she went to her sleeping bag letting her thoughts roll around in her head some more. After a bit she just shook her head once more and laid down to sleep. She would have all the time to think in the morning.

_____________________________________

Scootaloo groaned as the sun came through the window, trying to save the vestiges of sleep she turned and pressed her face into the fluffy part of her sleeping bag. But then she remembered what happened the night before and groaned once again. She crawled out of her sleeping bag, looked to the extra sleeping bag on the floor with blurry eyes and made her way over to it, taking care not to waking her friends. Nearing the colt's sleeping bag she noticed something was off, she couldn't see any breathing. Panicking slightly she shook the sleeping bag a little. When that didn't work she put a hoof in the bag to open it when she felt somepony's breath on the back of her head and heard somepony say, "Boo!"

She tried to scream, but when she did a hoof covered her mouth and the pony behind her said, "Shh! Don't want to wake your friends, right?"

She stopped screaming into the hoof and said hoof uncovered her mouth and she spun around to see the colt hanging from a rope tied to the ceiling, "What are you doing?" She whispered with exasperation in her voice.

The colt smiled, "Well, I was bored with sleeping so I set up a prank!" Though he whispered, the excitement was evident in his voice.

Scootaloo just shook her head and moved to wake her friends as the colt got down from the rope when she heard a dog bark. Or more precisely, Winona, the dog that belonged to Applebloom's sister bark. She trotted to her friends and shook them roughly. Applebloom was less than happy about that, "What's this about Scootaloo?!"

Scootaloo took a deep breath before she spoke and said, "Applejack is coming here and we need to hide him!" She said the last part pointing at the colt.

Sweetie Belle shook the fog of sleep from her head, "Why?"

Scootaloo turned to Sweetie Belle, panic ever rising as the barks drew closer, "Because we don't know how she'd react to us bringing a strange colt from the Everfree Forest into Sweet Apple Acres!" Seeing the unconvinced faces of her friends she decided to add, "He doesn't have a name yet you know."

Sighing, her friends reluctantly agreed to hide him for the time being when the colt brought up a pressing matter, "And where exactly am I going to hide?"

Scootaloo was about to answer when they heard a voice from outside, "Girls! Time to get up!"

With no time to respond Scootaloo just ran up to him, grabbed him and the extra sleeping bag, threw him and the bag into the open closet, said, "Sorry!" And slammed the closet shut before running to her sleeping bag to pretend to be waking up. Realizing what her plan was, the other Crusaders followed suit and acted as though they just awoke from sleep.

Applejack walked into the clubhouse, "Well I'll be. Usually ya'll would be up and runnin' to start your crusadin'."

Applebloom faked a yawn before answering, "I guess we're just a little bit more tired than usual."

Applejack chuckled, "Well, I guess there's no real harm in letting ya'll sleep in some, this being a weekend and all." She started to leave saying one last thing over her shoulder, "Just don't sleep in too late! I don't want Rarity comin' here cause she's worried about Sweetie Belle!"

They all let out sighs of relief, not believing that Applejack wouldn't be even a little bit suspicious. But they were brought back to reality by a thump that came from the closet. The Crusaders all walked to the closet and Applebloom opened it to find the colt standing on his hind legs covered in pots and pans, "I am the kitchen ware guy." He tried to leave but the handles on the pot that was on his head caught on the door frame making him fall onto his back, back into the depths of the closet, "And I can't go through doors."

Scootaloo sighed again, went into the closet and dragged him out, luckily, without any of the pots or pans, "Now that we're safe, we have more pressing matters to attend to."

Sweetie Belle turned to Scootaloo and asked, "What's that?"

Scootaloo looked back to the colt and said, "Finding you a name."

Brain storming

Half an hour later they were still brain storming for a name with little success. Applebloom was gently hitting her head against the wall, Scootaloo was pacing around the room and Sweetie Belle was looking through some of the books they had and was saying the weirdest names, "How about Ahuizotl?"

The colt just shook his head, "Daring Do villain names are out, remember?"

She rubbed her forehead under her horn and groaned in slight frustration, "Sorry, I forgot."

He gave shrug as Scootaloo let out a groan in exasperation, "This is taking forever! How can naming somepony be so hard?"

Applebloom stopped her method of kick starting her brain and turned to the others, "Now there's something I never thought I'd hear."

Sweetie shook her head, "And these are getting me nowhere." She said, gesturing towards the books laid out in front of her. She got up and grabbed a bigger book from the closet, dragged it over to the other books and opened it.

"Uh, Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo walked over to her and peered over her shoulder, "What are you doing now?"

Sweetie Belle lifted a hoof and pushed Scootaloo away before answering the question, "I'm checking a dictionary since the Daring Do books are getting me nowhere."

The other two Crusaders groaned as Applebloom shook her head and returned to hitting her head against the wall, "Even if you do find a good name in there, it will take forever just because that thing's so big."

Sweetie ignored her friend's lack of faith in the big book and continued to flip through the pages, "Well, everything else wasn't getting us anywhere."

As they were talking the colt decided to lay down with his back against the back wall, waiting for them to make any head way with the search for a name when Sweetie Belle asked him a question, "What do you like?"

The colt raised a brow quizzically, "What?"

Sweetie Belle turned to him and asked again, "I said, what do you like? Like for activities or something."

He put a hoof to his chin and gave a sound of contemplation and thought, Exactly what do I like? He mulled that over in his head before he gave his answer, "Well, I really like the night sky."

As Sweetie Belle was about to speak Scootaloo jumped in, "You could be called Star!" Sweetie Belle glared at her because of the interruption and her pegasus friend asked, "What?"

Sweetie continued to glare for a bit before giving an answer, "I had a good name too."

Scootaloo chuckled nervously, "Well, how about you give him another name to go with Star?"

Applebloom stopped hitting her head against the wall and sat near her friends and Sweetie Belle racked her brain for a good name and started pacing. After walking the length of the clubhouse a few times she stopped and turned to face them with a thoughtful expression, "I can't use anything having to do with the night or sky because I think that would be redundant, so... How about Enigma?"

The other three just tilted their heads and said, "Huh?" Simultaneously.

Sweetie Belle, seeing their confusion, continued, "You see, an enigma is something mysterious, puzzling or inexplicable. Just like him!"

The others said, "Oh." And nodded in understanding and Scootaloo muttered, "Dictionary."

The colt smiled, but was then struck with a thought, "But, what order will they be in? Star Enigma or Enigma Star?"

Scootaloo shrugged and started toward the door, quickly followed by her fellow Crusaders, "Whichever you want. It's your name after all."

He nodded mutely as he sat down to decide in what order his name should be, while the Crusaders had a meeting outside and away from his ears. The Crusaders walked to the tree line just in case he'd hear before Scootaloo started the sub meeting off, "So, what do you two think of him?"

Applebloom shrugged, "He seems to be an alright fella, though a little weird."

Sweetie Belle put a hoof to her chin and nodded, "I think he's nice. I mean, he hasn't done anything or acted that strange for a colt with no name who was wandering around the Everfree Forest."

Scootaloo nodded a little, "Yeah, I agree. But, I'm still keeping an eye on him."

Her friends groaned a little and Applebloom asked, "What's it going to take for you not to be suspicious of him?"

Scootaloo shrugged, "I don't know. I just want to be prepared. If he acts normally and doesn't do anything strange then I'll treat him normally. And besides, it's not like I'm going to be stalking his every move."

Sweetie Belle shook her head a little bit and gave a giggle, "It's okay Scootaloo. But, we better see what he's doing, I bet Scootaloo is dying to make sure he isn't doing something weird or dangerous."

Scootaloo frowned in annoyance as her friends shared a laugh, "Come on! Let's just see if he's made a decision yet." And they made their way back in.

When they walked in they saw him sitting and tapping a hoof against his forehead just bellow his horn, lost in thought. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and slammed the door, bringing him back to reality, "So, have you made up your mind?"

He shook his head, "I just can't decide. Both sound good, but..."

Scootaloo gave a small sigh, "Fine, we'll just call you Enigma for now." She walked to the closet and looked inside, "And now that we've gotten you a name, you can join us as a fellow Cutie Mark Crusader!" After finding what she was looking for she pulled out two big bongo drums.

Sweetie Belle smiled, "Yeah, luckily I took it upon myself to fix up the Crusader oath after Babs left."

Scootaloo frowned, "So it was a little long."

Applebloom raised an eyebrow at Scootaloo, "A little?"

Scootaloo sighed loudly, "Fine! It was really long."

Sweetie Belle walked over to the drums and eyed them warily, "And I don't think we should use the drums this time."

Scootaloo groaned as she walked to Sweetie's side, "Why not? They're fun to play."

Sweetie Belle pushed the bongos back into the closet, "They're a little loud and I'd rather not have the entire town assume that a new Crusader has been chosen every time they hear drums."

Scootaloo just huffed and grabbed a podium from inside the closet but stopped and turned around with an annoyed expression when she heard Applebloom clear her throat, "What is it Applebloom?"

Applebloom walked over to her fellow Crusaders and started pushing the podium back into the closet, "It's just we don't have time for the Crusader ceremony. We have to get Sweetie home to at least let Rarity know she's alright like Applejack said."

Sweetie Belle suddenly got a nervous expression and nodded, "Yeah, I don't think we need a worried Rarity on our hooves." She then went from nervous to excited as she turned to Enigma, "Hey, you can meet my sister while we're there!"

Enigma looked at the Crusaders, slightly nervous, "I'm not sure if I should be excited or scared."

Applebloom smiled and gave a light chuckle, "Don't be worried. Rarity ain't that bad unless you let her wrangle you into modeling for her."

Sweetie's look of being excited went to one of nervousness again, "Uh, guys? I think we have a problem."

Scootaloo sighed for what she felt was the thousandth one that day, "What is it now Sweetie Belle?"

Sweetie Belle moved closer before answering, "How are we going to explain him exactly?" Seeing her friends confused faces for the second time she sighed and continued, "How will we explain him not having parents or a guardian and where he is staying?"

Scootaloo thought for a moment and grinned as she got an idea, "How about we say he took the train from Manehattan and that his parents were going to take the next train but something happened and they had to stay there so he has to take care of himself, so us being the Cutie Mark Crusaders seeing a new pony with no Cutie Mark decide to get to know him, learn of his predicament and try to help him out!"

Applebloom smiled as she trotted over to her friend, "That's actually a great idea! What do you think Enigma?"

Enigma nodded and smiled as well, "So, we were going to Rarity's right?"

Sweetie Belle started walking out the door with her packed saddle bags on her back, "Yup! and if anypony asks just tell them that story."

The Crusaders and Enigma then left the club house and made their way down the main road that would lead them out of Sweet Apple Acres. They were walking until they saw a cart being pulled by a big red stallion. When seeing him Scootaloo grabbed Enigma and her friends and dashed into the trees.

Applebloom was annoyed by her friends actions and wrestled Scootaloo's hoof from her mouth and whispered to her, "Why did you just do that?"

Scootaloo recovered her friends mouth until the red stallion had passed and then uncovered both of their mouths, "How would we explain him? We wouldn't have been able to. And our whole story relies on us getting to Ponyville without anypony seeing him outside of it."

Applebloom thought this over before answering, "And how will we explain his lack of luggage?"

It took a moment for Scootaloo to process that small bit of information and before she could answer Sweetie Belle cut in, "Wouldn't have been better to say we let him store his belongings in our club house until he found a place to stay?"

Scootaloo groaned, moved out of the trees and back on to the road, " We'll add that to the story. Let's just get him and Sweetie Belle to Rarity's before we run into her on the way there."

They then left Sweet Apple Acres and headed to Ponyville, not knowing that a certain pony was on her way to greet Ponyville's newest occupant.

Ponyville gets a new resident

As they walked down the road from Sweet Apple Acres to Ponyville, Enigma couldn't help but smile and shiver in excitement. Not only had he been saved in the forest, but he made some friends too. And for that he was grateful, especially since they said they'd help him cover his secret of being a strange colt who just walked out of the Everfree forest with no memory of the past. With a spring in his step and an ever widening smile on his face, he followed them into the town. For the most part ponies just walked on by and payed them no mind. That is, until a bright pink earth pony mare popped out of a bush with a cry of, "Surprise!" followed by confetti.

Enigma and the crusaders yelped and fell onto their back as the pink mare rolled on the ground, laughing. After a moment Enigma joined in on the laughter. The pink pony stood up, still giggling, as did the Crusaders, and started to hop up and down towards Enigma and the Crusaders until she was right in front of them, "Hey, girls! What are you doing today? And who's your new friend?"

Applebloom smiled at the pink pony, "Hi, Pinkie Pie! This is Enigma we just thought we would show him around."

Pinkie Pie turned to Enigma, who just got to his hooves from his fit of laughter, and started to hop around him, "Hi, Enigma! I just came to say welcome to Ponyville! I was feeling sad cause you were new here, and you being new here meant you had no friends, but you met the Cutie Mark Crusaders first, so I don't have to be sad! I'm very happy to meet you Enigma, but I have to go set something up at Sugar Cube Corner! Come by later to see what it is, okay?" Pinkie stopped bouncing, as well as speaking, and ran further into town with great speed.

Enigma was impressed at how she said everything without stopping to breathe, and was further impressed at how fast she ran into town. The Crusaders rolled their eyes at Pinkie's antics and started walking into town again. On their way to Rarity's shop and home they passed many buildings, a house that looked like a tree, a quaint little restaurant, a bakery that looked like a gingerbread house and, in the distance, he saw a place that Scootaloo called a hospital, "Rainbow Dash had to be sent there a couple of times," she chuckled sheepishly, "Only cause she was trying some new moves and she didn't pull them off just right."

After walking for a few minutes, they ended in front of a rather extravagant building, "This is my sister's home. Carousel Boutique!"

Enigma looked at the building and shivered for reasons he didn't understand, as if there was something inside him, screaming at him to run as fast and far as possible away from what was inside that place. He shook his head, clearing it of those unfamiliar emotions and thoughts and followed the fillies into the building.

Once inside his jaw fell at the sight of beautiful suits and dresses, some covered in diamonds, rubies and other assorted jewels. But his admiration of the shop's garments was cut short by the sound of a bell as the door closed and the call of an unfamiliar voice, "Coming!"

He looked to the source of the voice to see pristine white hooves trotting down the stairs from the second floor quickly followed by a purple mane and tail. The unicorn who he assumed to be Sweetie Belle's sister, without looking to see who it was or even opening her eyes, went behind a counter, "Welcome to Carousel Boutique! How may I help you?" She opened her eyes to see the Crusaders and Enigma, "Oh."

Sweetie Belle trotted behind the counter and hugged her sister, "Hi, Rarity!"

Rarity returned the hug with a smile, "Hello Sweetie Belle! How was your sleep over?"

Sweetie Belle released her sister from the hug and returned the smile, "It was great! We tried to get our apple sorters Cutie Marks, our apple tree care taker Cutie Marks, our apple pie baking Cutie Marks and... um," She rubbed her chin with her hoof for a moment, "I can't think of any others."

Rarity patted her sister on the head, still smiling, "Well, that sounds just wonderful dear. Now, how about you tell me about your new friend here?" She gestured toward Enigma.

Sweetie Belle trotted over to Enigma and put a foreleg over his shoulders, "His names Enigma! He just got here today from Manehatten."

Rarity's eyes sparkled as she sighed happily, "Manehatten. Oh, how I'd love to go there. At first I thought it was just a dirty city, full of ally ways that held nothing but trash. But, Applejack told me about it and it sounds wonderful! So, how is Manehatten Enigma?"

He opened his mouth to tell a terrible lie when his head was flooded with pictures depicting a city with towering buildings, a huge park and a giant sculpture, some of the pictures showed the city in turmoil and some showed it at peace, "Well, we didn't live in the upper half, but we lived not too far from the grand park, my dad and I would go there and play catch sometimes. There was also this nice little sandwich shop just a minutes trot from our home. But the best part of it has to be the Statue of Libertneigh. My dad took me on a tour of it once on the night of the Summer Sun Celebration, we were at the top when the sun set, the entire city seemed to turn to gold."

Rarity grinned and jump up and down a little, "Oh! I will have to visit it sometime!" She turned away from them and started to trot up stairs, "Now, run along you lot. No matter how much I'd love to discuss Manehatten, I have an order that needs to be finished."

Applebloom walked over to Enigma and whispered in his ear, "Uh, how did ya come up with all that just there?"

Enigma shrugged and did the same, "Everypony knows what Manehatten's like, right?"

Scootaloo started to shove the others out of the Boutique, "It doesn't matter. As long as nopony questions him being here we're fine."

As they exited the Boutique Enigma felt a part of him relax, as if a part of him was tensed and ready to act. Once more he shook his head and moved along after his friends. Sweetie Belle was humming a sweet melody and turned to the others, "How about we go to the library?"

Scootaloo shook her head and groaned, "But, libraries are boring!"

Applebloom started walking beside Sweetie Belle and looked at Scootaloo, "Doesn't Rainbow Dash read that Daring Do line of books? You can read one of those while we look around."

Scootaloo walked alongside her friends, but let her head fall a little bit, letting the thoughts roll over in her head, "Fine. But, I don't want to spend all day there, okay?"

Sweetie giggled and changed course, "Deal."

They passed the restaurant once more and walked up to the house that was inside a tree. As the Crusaders entered the strange building Enigma felt that weird emotion he felt in front of the Boutique, only stronger. The internal scream roared louder than before and made him squeeze his eyes shut. He shook his head violently for what felt like the thousandth time that day and entered the tree, as he tried to find something to distract him.

Inside the tree looked far different from what he expected. Shelf upon shelf held, what looked like, hundreds of different kinds of books. But what drew his attention the most was the purple and green lizard the was placing books on the shelves. The lizard looked away from its shelving duty to see what closed the door. The lizard looked indifferently at them before returning to its shelving duty, "Twilight, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are here!"

After the lizard said that, Enigma heard hooves come from the second floor and saw a purple unicorn walk down the stairs. The unicorn he assumed to be Twilight trotted over to them, "Hello, girls. Haven't seen you three here in awhile."

Applebloom smiled at the unicorn, "Yeah. We've been busy with our crusadin', we just haven't thought to come here since we went through almost all the books for Cutie Mark ideas."

The lizard cringed, obviously remembering what Applebloom was talking about, while Twilight nodded, "So, what are you girls doing here today?"

Applebloom gestured towards Enigma, "We are showing our new friend around."

Twilight looked Enigma over and frowned slightly, "Uh, Enimga have you ever been exposed to any large amounts of magic?"

Enigma tapped a hoof against his forehead, thinking about the castle that he woke up in. As he thought further a feeling of foreboding over came him, as if a little voice was warning him not to tell, "Not that I can remember."

Twilight narrowed her eyes before shaking her head lightly and smiling, "Okay. Where are your parents?"

Enigma felt a part of himself clench in fear before he remembered the story, "I took the train here just a few days ago, but when I got here I got a note from my parents saying that something came up and that they wouldn't be here for awhile. So, the Cutie Mark Crusaders offered to let me stay in their club house for awhile."

Twilight looked proudly at the Crusaders, "Aww, that's so thoughtful of you three."

Applebloom smiled before remembering something, "I think we should go to Sugar Cube Corner."

The lizard turned to all of them with a strange look on it's face, "But, you just got here! Aren't you gonna check out a book?"

Scootaloo wandered over to a book shelf and took a book off of it, "I guess I'll take this."

The lizard put the books it was carrying on an empty shelf and hopped off the ladder. It walked over to Scootaloo and looked at the book she chose, "One 'Daring Do and the Serpent's Chalice' it is!" It went over to a big book on a stand and marked something in it.

Scootaloo smiled and put it on her back, "Thanks Spike. Now let's go to Sugar Cube Corner!"

As the four foals left the library Twilight followed them, "I was actually getting ready to head there myself. I guess I'll escort you there."

As they trotted through town Enigma looked at his friends, "Why are we heading there now?"

Scootaloo smiled widely and chuckled, "Cause it will be a place you'll never forget!"