A strange unicorn colt is found by the CMC in the Everfree and now they have to keep him out of trouble as they try and make him part of Ponyville. But, can a pony such as he, who is made from chaos and nightmares, ever fit in?
After Discord was defeated a second time his energies of chaos were expelled from all he manipulated; the land, the ponies and the innumerable inanimate objects, leaving the chaotic power to wander the land aimlessly. At least until it found the remnants of Nightmare Moon's power, left lying within the decrepit castle.
The two energies, of nightmares and chaos fused together, bringing forth a strange unicorn colt who seemed to take after both his magical semi-relatives. As the colt finds himself in Ponyville under the frantic watch of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, how will the three fillies, and all of Ponyville handle the young and eccentric colt?
<Set around season 3. Characters and tags added as needed and are subject to some change. Slice of Life with some Adventure elements sprinkled throughout. 2021 update: Undergoing rewrites and story reconstruction>
A few months had passed after Discord's second defeat, but what the Element bearers, the Princesses and even Discord himself didn't know, couldn't expect, was that his chaos energy, that was taken from everything Discord changed, was still floating around. It took it awhile, but it eventually floated right into the Everfree forest and meandered to the Castle of the Two Pony Sisters. Another thing that was unknown to everypony, was that Nightmare Moon, while defeated, he exact fate was uncertain in the end. Destroyed, locked away or truly Luna reformed mattered little in the end. As whatever the fate of the Queen of the Night was, her corrupted powers of dark magic lingered on, expelled from the returned Princess.
Once Discord's energy entered the castle Nightmare Moon's energy responded to its power and moved toward the ball of swirling 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, not in such primal and volatile forms, 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? Neither 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 crack of shattered stone. 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 was split into three colors, white on the left, black in the middle and blue on the right.
A few minutes passed before he began to stir from his slumber of new existence. He sat up and yawned, revealing a small fang, and rubbed his eyes with his hooves before opening them, his eyes were teal but for some reason they gave off the effect that they were different sizes. He arched his back, much like a cat would and lifted his front half from the ground to take in his surroundings. He adopted a small look of fear at the sight of crumbling walls and broken ceiling, but after gazing past the ceiling he noticed the night sky and the moon. At seeing the night sky he adopted a far more content look, a small smile adorning his young face.
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, presumed 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 craters creation. He stopped and grinned at the shards, remembering he was a unicorn, he tried using his magic on them. He closed his eyes 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 all the while unaware of a slight shift from the shards.
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 free of his stone surroundings he began to smile much wider than before, and started to pick up the pace oh his trot, excited to see what this place had to offer. He trotted along and came across a rickety bridge that didn't seem all too stable. What many would have taken as a sign to take another route he saw as a challenge. With an ever widening smile and a small, debatably manic, 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 thrust him down, where exactly? He looked down and saw a huge drop bellow him, bottom obscured by the ominous cloud of fog. After witnessing the disturbing fate that beheld him, his head shot up straight, eyes wide holding the horror of one who's debated their own mortality a bit too soon for their liking.
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 crackings and smashings that were 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, a laugh bursting from his chest and turned his head forwards again, opening his eyes just in time to see first hoof the bark of a tree being worse than its bite. 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 at the vile branches -or trunk- of the veritable army of trees around him.
As he started walking into the forest he was calmed by the light of the moon and stars. Sadly, that calmness soon broke when he heard a splash from a wall of trees and bush. He went to investigate and came upon an interesting sight, it was a sea serpent in a stream. Stream serpent? Not wanting it to notice him, if a bridge was quick to betray him he wasn't interested in testing the loyalty of a living being so soon, 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 from above, sending the colt into ramrod stillness, "Oh, how dreadful! A nasty bush messing with the crystalline waters of this lovely stream. This won't do!" And with that the sea serpent picked up the bush and the colt inside 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 and if it saw him.
After regaining the ability to walk and see where he was going at the same time, surprisingly avoiding trees all the same he continued on. For a brief while it was all calm and stars, with hardly anything of note until he came across a pass with two cliffs on either side, and in between them a sleeping manticore. Once again seeing what the world placed before him 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, a smug look on his silly little mug, 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, a minute of straining and slobber. He started to wriggle the stick into the paws and the manticore started to hug the stick more and 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. Despite being an annoyance towards his adventure, even the colt had to admit, the kitty was cute in its own way.
He sighed and walked away, glad to not have been hurt in the least. He wandered on, into a denser part of the forest, smile ever shrinking, from the creepy, more hostile appearing trees, less than friendly sounds and the fact he couldn't see the moon or stars anymore, to a fearful frown. He trotted along, cautiously evermore, 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. Knowing their fangs out matched his singular own he made a split second decision. 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 the night hadn't sapped from him. 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, rabbit on his back joining in, if only for the sake of camaraderie. 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 rabbit adopting a look clearly shouting its belief the colt had lost his mind. 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 Creepy Creature Catcher 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. We're not that oblivious."
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 smiled, 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 looked to her friends and muttered, "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." She said, pointing suspiciously at the colt.
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 the Castle he had journeyed from, which they could still see from where they were, if only the tip of a spire.
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." He muttered, voice crestfallen from such a realization, and the sensation of feeling much more vulnerable.
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 too 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.
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've 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 gave 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 a little 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, the nagging paranoia itching at her mind.
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 one last time 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 for an entirely different reason. 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 wake 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 take care of her sleeping bag 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 as well.
Applejack walked into the clubhouse, "Well Ah'll be. Usually ya'll would be up and runnin' to start your crusadin' more rearin' ta go than a pig at supper time."
Applebloom faked a yawn before answering, "Ah guess we're just a little bit more tired than usual."
Applejack chuckled, "Well, Ah guess there's no real harm in lettin' ya'll sleep in some, this bein' 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 would simply take their act at face value. 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."
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, "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 pink pony was on her way to greet Ponyville's newest occupant.
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!"
Twilight walked just a little ways behind the four foals, not wanting to rush them or lord over them. As they walked she found her eyes drifting towards Enigma's horn, her mind wound up with curiosity at the condition of it. She trotted a little faster to be walking alongside Enigma and glanced down at him, "Hey, Enigma." She turned her head to face him fully as he did himself, "Do you know why your horn is three different colors?"
He turned his eyes to the small tip of his horn he could see, having not really thought about it, "Not really." He turned his gaze back to Twilight to see her eyes holding curiosity as well as suspicion, "Is there a reason you wanted to know Miss Twilight?"
Twilight shook her head and her eyes that once held suspicion held an air of casualness which was furthered by her smile, "No reason. It's just that I read about the phenomena of unicorns being born with multicolored horns. I've never seen any unicorns with horns like that before personally and I was just curious. Now, don't let me distract you and go talk to your friends, that's all I wanted to ask you. Oh, and thanks for answering my question, Enigma."
Enigma smiled, "No problem miss Twilight!" And hurried the few feet his friends had made away from him during his short chat with Twilight.
Twilight lingered behind them as they talked their way to Sugar Cube Corner, Why do I feel so wary of him? He's just a colt for Celestia's sake! But, I can't deny, there's something different about him and he'll need close observation. At least until his parents get here. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to see if there's anything I can learn about that horn of his. I think the book said it was rare.
Enigma turned to his friends, returning the smiles with one of his own, "So, what's this Sugar Cube Corner like?"
Applebloom closed her eyes and laughed at the fond memories of the place, "It's a wonderful place! Pinkie Pie works there and makes some of the best sweets ever! I'm sure you'll love it."
Scootaloo chuckled a little as they turned the corner around Quills and Sofas, "As long as you can handle her wackiness you'll be fine."
As they walked the passed quite a few ponies, some looked at the Crusader's with suspicion but others, like a nice old green earth pony, waved merrily to them. His friends didn't seem to mind the other ponies and waved back at the old mare. Applebloom turned to him, "That there's Granny Smith, she may be old but she still helps around Sweet Apple Acres."
They walked only a few more steps before they saw the gingerbread house like bakery. Excited the Crusaders ran towards the door and Enigma followed them through the door and into darkness. Surprised by this he stumbled around the entrance, trying to find a light switch, "Hello? Guys? Are you in here? Why'd ya rush off like that?"
After speaking the lights came on and what he figured must have been half the town shouted, "Surprise!"
Startled for the second time that day, he fell on his back with a yell of shock which turned it laughter. Continuing to laugh, he looked around to see a table with sweets and punch, a wall dedicated to games and finally a banner surrounded by balloons and streamer which said, 'Welcome to Ponyville.'
His grin grew bigger and bigger as he got up from the floor. Just as he turned to walk towards the sweets and games Pinkie Pie jumped from the side and gave him a big hug, "Hey, Enigma! How do you like the party?"
He was about to turn to her and say something when the weird feeling he got in front of Twilight's house returned, making his smile vanish and making him shudder. Shrugging it off he put his smile back on, "Real good! Thanks Miss Pie!"
Pinkie giggled as he returned the hug, "Oh! Don't call me Miss, that's what ponies call my Granny Pie!"
She released him and he rushed over to the sweets table, just then realizing a game wall to where the Cutie Mark Crusaders were.
For quite some time Enigma pranced from game to confection to game again, accompanied by the three fillies. Most adult ponies seeming content to let the colt wear himself out without need to interrupt his fun with an overbearing of names and faces just yet. It wasn't like there were that many Ponyvillians who stuck around too long anyway. A warm welcome for the new pony, a cupcake and some punch and most were on their way before the first hour.
As the foals talked, played and ate Twilight gathered her friends at a little table, munching on some of the sweets. "So," Rainbow Dash said as she took a bite of a cupcake, "What do you guys think of the kid?"
Rarity took a small bite from a cookie before answering, "I think he's a nice little colt, very polite."
Applejack shrugged, "Don't know. Haven't talked to him yet. What about you Shy?"
Fluttershy looked up to them as she sipped on a juice box, "Um, well, I guess he's nice enough. And if the girls like him, he can't be that bad."
Pinkie hopped in place with a tray on her back with sweets for ponies to grab at their pleasure, "I like him!"
Twilight put a hoof to her chin as she shook her head, "I don't know girls."
Rarity rose her eyebrows at her words, "Twilight, darling, what ever do you mean?"
Twilight shook her head before lowering her hoof to grab a glass of punch, "There's just something about him that makes me feel uneasy." She took a sip of punch before continuing, "I can't put my hoof on it and I feel silly for being even slightly paranoid of him. I just am."
Applejack chuckled as she draped a foreleg across Twilight's shoulder, "Now don't get your horn in a twist Twi. Applebloom said he'd stay in their Club House for the time being and Ah'll be able to keep an eye on him. If he does anything Ah'll tell ya."
Twilight smiled at her friend and gave a sigh of relief, "Thanks Applejack."
As their conversation wrapped up the Crusaders and Enigma trotted up to the table. Applebloom walked around the table and hugged Applejack, "Hey, Applejack!"
Applejack laughed light as she returned the hug, "Hey, Applebloom! How's the party?"
Applebloom's smile continued to grow as she gestured toward Enigma, "It's great and Enigma is enjoying it too! Right Enigma?"
Enigma nodded vigorously, "The games are fun and the foods delicious!" he directed his smile to Pinkie Pie, "Thank you Pinkie! This is the best party I've ever had!"
Pinkie just smiled and bounced a little higher while Applejack looked him over, "Hey, Enigma, mind telling me about yourself?"
Enigma shook his head and recounted the story he told Rarity. Half way through he added, "I don't know when mom and dad will come by though. It sounded pretty urgent. But they wouldn't leave me alone too long if they thought I would get into trouble. They musta known Ponyville was gonna be so great!" Applejack merely nodded, smile in place, though it did appear to waver slightly, not that a foal would really notice.
As the conversations dwindled Sweetie Belle looked at Rarity, "Rarity, is it alright if The Crusaders and I go back to the clubhouse for just a bit?"
Rarity grimaced and looked outside, "But, it's getting so dark out-" She looked at her sister, who had the biggest puppy dog eyes. Rarity sighed, "Okay, but I want you home before ten, okay Sweetie?"
Sweetie let the eyes fall way to sparkling eyes and a smile as she hugged her sister, "Thanks sis!"
Rarity returned the hug and smile while everypony watched awkwardly, "Uhm," Applejack started, "Scootaloo, will your sister be okay with that?"
Scootaloo rolled her eyes as she took a large gulp of punch, "Yeah, sure."
Applejack smiled, finished off her drink with one giant swig and stood up places her hat atop her head, "Guess it's settled then. Come on you four the sooner we get to the farm the sooner you crusaders can do whatever it is you wanted to do."
The five ponies then left the party that was still going on, even though it was meant for Enigma everypony thought they shouldn't let a Pinkie Pie party go out just yet.
Back in the safety and secrecy of the clubhouse the Crusaders and Enigma huddled together. "Alright crusaders." Applebloom started as she put her hooves on the shoulders of her friends, "Ah don't know how long Ah can keep Applejack, so, tomorrow we have to find ways to make everypony not question him bein' here."
Sweetie frowned and rubbed the side of her head. "Um, how do we do that exactly? It's not like we can summon up some parents for him."
Scootaloo hopped up and down as an idea struck. "I know! We could get him into school with us! That way ponies won't find it weird seeing a foal outside on school days."
Enigma continued his ever present smile and turned to Scootaloo. "Why does that sound like a threat?"
Sweetie ignored Enigma's comment and tilted her head. "And how do we do that?"
Scootaloo clopped her hooves together, smiling. "We could forge a letter from his parents saying to Cheerliee that he needs teaching!"
Sweetie Belle planted her hoof firmly on her forehead, sighing, "Scoots," She said as she lifted her head, "Not only is that probably illegal, none of us know how to forge an official document or even know how to spell cleanly to forge a document."
Scootaloo laughed as she placed a hoof on her friend's shoulder, "Don't worry Sweetie Belle, I'll figure something out." Sweetie simply gave Scootaloo a deadpan stare, prompting the pegasus fidget. "Uh, why're you staring at me like that?"
"Because getting Enigma into school with us isn't going to keep ponies from questioning things."
Enigma frowned, somehow keeping his upbeat look in spite of the frown. "Why not? Sounds like a plan to me!"
Applebloom hummed, beginning to make her way to the Club House door. "Ah think Sweetie means that ponies will still be thinkin' 'Where the hay are his parents?' more than 'Why the hay is this colt outta school at this here hour?'"
Scootaloo appeared partially deflated at such lines of logic. "Yeah, I guess. So do you have a better idea on what to do to keep ponies from thinking those things?"
Applebloom cantered over to the door and opened it to the nightly air. "Ah don't know, but Ah think we shouldn't rush any one plan too much. We take it slow, and maybe once ponies start questionin' things, then we can forge the letter. Maybe fake a letter day after tomorrow to delay his 'parents' from comin' to Ponyville or somethin'."
Scootaloo got up, stretched and walked to the door. "Yeah, sounds good. Geez, it's late, I think my sis is gonna strangle me."
Applebloom giggled as her friend passed her. "Well, she hasn't done it yet."
Enigma scratched his head in confusion. "That reminds me, I met everypony else, but, not your sister Scootaloo. Why's that?"
Scootaloo groaned as her wings drooped and turned to him. "Can it wait? I'm tired and Skates' gotta be waiting up at home like a vulture."
Enigma smiled and nodded causing Scootaloo to grin. "Well, Crusaders, see ya tomorrow."
The rest of the crusaders exited the club house, leaving Enigma all to himself. He tapped his hooves against the wooden floor in contemplation. He had no idea what to do now that he was alone. He smiled wide, well maybe one idea, and he thought about his magic, got up and braced himself! Only to strain to no avail and slump back to the floor with a frown, and a puff of dust. He sighed as he recalled his promise to Scootaloo, how they would help each other with their natural abilities that weren't coming so naturally. He wondered when they'd follow through on that agreement, a tad eager to get his magic rolling.
He got up off the floor and started to pace, brushing past the podium they left out, in front of the window and taking a sharp left of the open closet. He kept that same, circular path for some time, he didn't exactly know how much time passed, all he knew, as his eyelids drooped halfway, was that the sugar filled confectioneries he consumed at the party were wearing off and he himself was finally being consumed by drowsiness.
He haphazardly trotted towards a bundle of blankets and gently huddled in them, accepting the gentle embrace of sleep.
Only his dreams felt strange. Much stranger than they had been the night before which had proved quite relaxing.
A feeling of uneasiness and paranoia were the first things Enigma felt inside his dreams. Things were hard to discern inside his sleeping mind. Only fading flashes stuck out enough to even be called visual stimuli that slowly defined into two different sights.
It was as if his dream was split into stereo. Like seeing two distinct points of view from a single pair of eyes, with one being a blur of green that gave way to sleek white and back to green.
The other, it held darker colors, blues and blacks with dots of brighter color that brought feelings of annoyance through his being as they moved amongst the darker beauty.
The green twisted and turned as he stalked similar dots back and forth, this time bringing forth feelings of amusement and success, especially as one by one the colored blobs became muted and faded.
Things on the one and the other continued as such. In one the colors twisted into various other bright colors, bringing joy to himself, in quantities never before felt.
The other continued its darker shades, bringing a comfort from the darkness that the bright blobs seemed intent on destroying. Things weren't bad, but she knew that to allow those foolish blobs too much leeway it all would come crumbling down.
The silly blobs continued their quest to defy him, well, blob, as the final non muted color led the others to try and futilely win the game. Of course they failed, they had played into his grasp and the final color became muted, he didn't even need to see it. He had better things to do. Funner things to do.
The foolish blobs dared to enter her domain on foolish false hope, and of course the pathetic fools failed. Victory was guaranteed, the blasted stones were destroyed and nothing could dream to stand in her way any longer.
Wonderful, fantastic chaos wound all around in a glorious symphony. A hilarious sight quickly appeared before him as the six silly ponies seemingly thought themselves able to oppose him. How daft!
The lead fool was jabbering on about something with such bravado and optimism. The elements were destroyed, there was nothing left to stop her beauti- The broken fragments of the elements floated up in multicolored sparkles in impossibility, striking a spark of stark terror through her.
Those silly ponies actually believed to have overcome his machinations, sure their little elements were in place and their colors were back. Bah, bah, what a waste of time. They were distracting him from the beauty of chaos. Might as well amuse them, he figured, and send them on their way.
The fragments flew to the fools and somehow reformed beyond their shard forms, injecting panic further into where victory once stood. Threatening all the effort, all that time. Wasted. Doomed.
And then they began to float
The six floated from the ground, the light of the Elements shining true through the
Chaos
Night
The blinding light coalesced into distinct colors and fired into the sky as a coiling spiral of brightly colored doom that quickly rocketed down towards
Him
Her
It wrapped around and tightened searing and burning freezing and churning
He felt his body tremble before freezing in place as the rainbow ran around and through him A prison of his very flesh encompassing him
She felt as if she were being torn in two as the light tore around her and through her As if it were cutting down to her very soul
-
-
-
Enigma was torn from his eclectic dreams with a scream from his own being. He lay there, panting as the vivid, dual dream lingered within his mind. The horrific feeling of being torn in two and frozen in his own skin continued to crawl along him like a phantom.
The faintest of thoughts spoke within him, asking if those visions were the unconscious cause for his unease around Rarity and Twilight's homes. But that confused the deeper reaches of Enigma's mind that were capable of pondering beyond the dream visions. He wasn't there, wherever there were. He had awoken a mere two days before. Though he would have enjoyed that funny world and even the forest appeared less intimidating as a shadowy specter.
But even those positive thoughts lay buried underneath the turmoil of his mind. It wasn't a memory, it couldn't be. Was it a warning? Was it a prophecy?
The answer mattered little as he trembled amongst his rags. He almost wanted to dig the sleeping bag back out from the previous night but quickly shot the idea down at the thought of being suffocated inside it. So he just lay there, though he was unsure for how long, so engrossed into his thoughts and dream memories that the outside world, the club house, the orchard beyond that and the town beyond that were of little consequence to his mind.
Looking back on that night Enigma wouldn't remember if he returned to slumber by his own volition or if he simply passed out or the like. Despite the silence that followed his return to sleep, he would not feel calm or rested within his cold black dreamless void. Even in the blankness of dreamless sleep the dream visions lingered in spirit, leaving Enigma with the feeling of eyes upon him from within the depths of his own mind.
Princess Luna stood on a balcony to Canterlot Castle, overlooking Equestria as it was wrapped inside her night. It might not have been all that long since her return, in truth, and even a shorter period of time that she returned to controlling the night alone. But she felt blessed to serve Equestria again, even more so to be accepted by the ponies of Ponyville. The memory of that Nightmare Night bringing a smile to her face amongst the peaceful nightly breeze. Equestria's night was at peace.
At least, until she felt a spike on incredible fear within her realm of dreams. If it were any other nightmare should would have taken to the dreams of her poor little pony to ease them back into a restful sleep, or even help that pony through whatever issues summoned forth such terror. But there was something off with the spike, as almost as soon as she felt the fear a pulse of magic struck from what felt like all around her, stealing the breath from her lungs, almost sending her to her knees.
She caught herself and did her best to maintain her composure in spite of the anomalous pulse that left an all too familiar feeling within her psyche. A feeling she thought she would never feel again. The dark touch of the Nightmare's magic, though weaker and different in some aspects, unmistakably the same. She searched quickly for the spike of fear, to try and hone in on it, but it was gone from her senses.
Her composure broke slightly at the thought that the Nightmare was trying to retake control, but it quickly faded, faster than the pulse did. The fear was not from her, it had come from out, in Equestria, undoubtedly connected to the Nightmare's power.
She took a few moments to breathe before gazing out over Canterlot and Equestria beyond. "Sister should know of this. Twilight Sparkle too. It may be nothing, but w- I will not allow her to threaten Equestria ever again." She was a princess of Equestria, and she would protect it, most especially from the failures of her past. No matter what.
