//------------------------------//
// Ponyville gets a new resident 
// Story: Chaos and Crusaders 
// by Neon Icy Wings 
//------------------------------//

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. She got them down later though!" She was quick to amend.

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 as he 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. He spoke without missing a beat, using his strangely gotten informations. "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 and it was so cool!"

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 the entire time within the Boutique. 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!"