Fractured Memories

by cccvvvttt


Chapter 3

As Celestia's sun shone over Poinyville and through Twilight's window, she started opening her eyes. As her vision came back to her, she looked at the interior of the familiar bedroom she got used to, just like it was most morning. However, there was one thing different about this particular morning. She felt something warm near her chest, as the events of what happened yesterday came rushing back to her. She looked down, with a smile slowly forming on her face. There was a feeling forming in her chest, one that she couldn't explain. She felt Zachary's warmth, while the warm feeling she started feeling grew.

So adorable... She thought in her head instead of out loud, trying to avoid waking him up. He seems to be comfortable... I'll let him sleep longer The small child nuzzled her chest, a smile of his own forming. Her heart almost melted. She realized that her friends were all still asleep, except for Spike, which was surprising considering the fact he hated waking up earlier. That's when the smell of something cooking downstairs reached her nostrils.

"Is Spike making breakfast...?" Twilight whispered to herself, thinking about what Zachary could eat if he was hungry. "Maybe he can eat haycakes..." She didn't have the chance to finish her sentence, as she felt shuffling next to her. I must have woken him up... Shoot! Twilight let out a small frustrated sigh, as she somewhat enjoyed cuddling the child. Then he woke up.

"Uh... Where am I?" Zachary asked as he looked around the room, before looking up at Twilight.

"Hi Zachary, do you remember what happened yesterday?" She asked, giving him a reassuring smile. Zachary didn't remember at first, but he slowly remembered the events, including the terrible nightmare he had.

"Y-yeah..." He replied, still somewhat tired. "You found me... and you let me stay for the night..." Twilight nodded her head, as she got up from the bed.

"Yeah." She replied, as Zachary also got up from the bed. "I hope you got a good night sleep. I think Spike is cooking breakfast. How about we go down and see?" Zachary felt a small growl in his stomach, indicating that he was hungry.

"Sure..." He replied, getting out of the warm bed and onto his feet. Twilight did take note of the bad conditions that his clothes were in, so maybe she would get Rarity to make him a new pair. "Are you going to wake up your friends?" She shook her head.

"Nah, they like to sleep in, well Rainbow Dash does anyway..." Twilight replied, with a soft smile. "I thought Spike was going to sleep in more, but I guess he decided to wake up early as well." She made a gesture towards Zachary to follow her, so he did. They made their way out of the room and down the steps. After they reached the bottom, they followed the smell of haycakes, which lead them to the kitchen. They saw the dragon, making breakfast for them. He heard Twilight's hooves clapping, so he turned around to greet her.

"Hey, Twilight." He said noticing Zachary was standing next to her "Who's that?" He asked, pointing at Zachary.

"Spike, this is Zachary. I found him yesterday alone. He's not from Equestria or anywhere else in this world." She replied, looking down at him. "He said he was from a place called "California..," Or something like that... He's only six." Spike gave a small wave of his claw.

"Hi, I'm Spike, Twilight's assistant. Nice to meet you." He said. "I'm just going to finish making these haycakes." Twilight nodded her head, as she ad Zachary made their way to the table. They sat down, Twilight thinking about more questions she could ask Zachary. She thought of a couple.

"What is your world like?" She asked.

"My world? Well, from what I remember, there were nice people, with some bullies that thought they were better than everyone else. I hate bullies..." Zachary replied, with a small sigh. Twilight took a mental note on that, as she continued.

"Did you ever go to a place called "School" Or a place where you would learn new things?" Zachary loved school and learning... Or did he? He only remembered some aspects about school, but he didn't remember that much, other than it was a place.

"Yeah... I think so... I don't really remember." He replied. A thought came to Twilight's head. Maybe he somehow got Amnesia when he walked through the forest and arrived here.

"What do you remember from your world?" She asked him. He thought about it, but couldn't really think of anything else.

"I'm sorry... But I don't remember anything else" He replied. "It all feels like a blur, I just don't remember it." It seemed her suspicions of him having amnesia was correct.

"Well, if you do remember anything else, please tell me." She said, and Zachary nodded.

"Alright" They both heard Spike say from the kitchen. "Haycakes are done." It was also around this moment that Twilight's friends also woke up and also came downstairs to investigate the smell.

"Did my little Spikey-Wikey cook us breakfast?" Rarity asked, making Spike giggle a bit.

"Yeah, I made haycakes... Would you like some...?" Spike asked.

"Of course we would, we're starving!" Rainbow Dash said, being a bit over the top about it. Twilight smiled, as all of her friends came to the table with her as Spike served the haycakes. It smelled just like pancakes to Zachary. They all dug in.

"Mmmm, this is really good." The small child said as he used his fork to take another piece out of it. "Thanks, Spike." Spike nodded, as he also started to eat. As they ate, the mane six explained some things about there world, like the different types of ponies, the food they ate, and that there was magic.

Zachary was becoming more and more interested in this world. He was sure that there wasn't anything like this in his world. This one was more colorful than his world and he liked it a lot.

"Hey, after we eat, we should show the little guy around Ponyville!" Pinkie exclaimed. Zachary's nerves raised, as he didn't want to go out. He still wasn't sure how everyone would react to him. They could be nice and friendly just like how these ponies were to him, or they could judge him because he's a never before seen creature and they might disown him for that fact alone.

"I don't know..." He spoke up. "I'm not sure if they would like me or not. I guess I'm just nervous..." Twilight understood what it was like to have this sort of anxiety. She remembered how she would mostly shut other ponies out due to her studies, but she didn't know what ponies would think of her back then, or what Princess Celestia would think if she were to fail a test or assignment.

"Hey, you don't have to be nervous." She tried to comfort him. "Everypony here is extremely kind. They might be a little nervous sure, but once they get to know you, they'll get used to you and you can make some friends if you want." Zachary started to relax a little, Twilight's comfort caused the fears that rose up to go back down again.

"Are you sure...?" Zachary asked, looking around the room, which he did when he got nervous. Twilight nodded.

"Of course I am." She replied. "As I said, they're all nice and wouldn't do anything to hurt anypony or anyone." All the nerves and fear he had about the other citizens faded. He looked up at her and nodded slowly.

"Alright... I guess I can give it a go." He replied as he got up. "When are we going to go out?" Twilight put her hoof up to thought. She did think about a few ponies he could meet. There was Lyra and Bon Bon, considering that Twilight already knew them well. There was the CMC'S, who were around his age, if not a little older.

"Whenever you're ready." She replied, deciding it would be best if he met ponies his own age first. "We can meet the CMC's first. They're a group of filly's trying to find their special talent. They're around your age." Zachary seemed to agree with that.

"Okay... I'm ready to go whenever you guys are." He said as he got up from the table. Twilight turned her direction to her friends.

"Are you girls ready?" She asked, them nodding in return. "What about you Spike?" He also nodded."Alright then, let's go and meet everypony." She said as she got up from the table and made their way out of the library and into the small town.


As Twilight closed the door behind them, Zachary took in the sight of Ponyville. He didn't get a good chance to look at the town at all. Even when he ran into the town in a panic when he felt helpless. He saw only a few ponies walking around, who didn't notice him at first, but then they started to catch on to his presence. Twilight gave them a small wave, ensuring them that it was alright. They looked on for a second before they continued their daily routine.

I should get Pinkie to throw a party. She mentioned yesterday that she did want to throw a party. I'll have to talk to her about it later Twilight thought, as she gestured for everyone to follow.

"They should be in their little clubhouse." Applejack said. "Filthy Rich is also supposed to come today with his daughter to make a deal with granny." Twilight knew who FIlthy Rich was, but she knew more about his daughter, Diamond Tiara, who was known for bullying other filly's. Though, she could never confirm whether this was true or not.

"Alright, I guess that's fine," Twilight replied. She suddenly felt a heavy weight in her chest. It was like a feeling. Something she couldn't explain. She looked at Zachary, the feeling of the heavy burden washing away. She couldn't help but let out a smile as she saw him walking next to her, even though he didn't notice. She turned her attention back to the front of the path. About five minutes later, the farm came into view.

"Well, there she is." Applejack said, pointing a hoof. "Ain't she a beauty." Zachary picked up the smell of apples as they got closer. "I'll take you to my little sister's clubhouse. With that, they got onto the plot of land.


"So, you're name is Zachary..."The red-maned filly, Applebloom asked the child as he nodded in response.

"Yeah..." He replied. After they arrived at the farm, the mane six lead him to the CMC"S clubhouse and said if they needed anything, then to go get them. They said they needed to talk about something. Applejack needed to wait for Filthy Rich as he has not arrived yet.

"Where are you from?" The white unicorn known as Sweetie Belle asked him.

"A place called California." He started. "I don't know what part it was, or what my neighborhood was called..." His attention drifted to a small mirror in the clubhouse, his reflection staring back at him. They CMC's looked at each other, with a confused look on their faces.

"How come you don't remember?" The Orange Pegasus named Scotaloo asked. her small wings buzzing. Zachary shook his head.

"I have no idea. I lost my memories after I came here through that forest and got attacked by a timberwolf." He replied, with a small sigh. "But it's nice to meet you guys. So... What is it that you do in here again?" The CMC'S had huge grins on their faces.

"We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" They all shouted at once, taking Zachary by surprise. "We're on a journey to find out who we really are and what are specail talents are!" While he liked their enthusiasm, it was unexpected.

"That's great..." He replied, with somewhat of a smile. "From what I remembered, I liked learning and reading back in Californa. I guess that's what my talent is... I'm not sure though..." Whatever caused his memory loss must have really done a number on him.

"Alright, so kind of like Twilight then," Applebloom said. Zachary nodded his head, thinking about his first-time in her library and how she had so many books a desk where she could study. He also remembered the fact that Twilight was asking questions to learn about him and humans in general. Before their discussion could go any further, they heard a noise of a fourth filly.

"Hey, blank flanks." The voice caused them to turn around to the entrance, as a pink and grey filly entered the small clubhouse.

"What are you doing here?" Scootaloo asked as Diamond smirked.

"Move out of the way. I want to see who this thing is." She barked. Zachary took note of this, a thought of them being bullies came to his mind.

"Why do you care so much?" Applebloom asked and Diamond once again let out a smirk.

"So this hairless monkey knows who I am and to not cross me right Silver Spoon?" She asked, and her friend nodded in response. Zachary didn't really know what to do, considering the bullies were just doing some simple teasing and not really anything harmful.

"Don't call him that!" Scotaloo exclaimed, making Diamond let out a sigh of frustration.

"Listen, you flightless chicken!" She nearly shouted. "I don't know why you're defending him like I don't know why you try to fly because you'll never be able to do it!" Scootaloo's face turned to one of hurt. Zachary didn't know much about them since they just started talking, but saying something like that to another just felt wrong to him.

"Hey!" He shouted, walking over to the filly. "Leave them alone!" Diamond still wore the smug grin as she examined the child, who was around the same size as her.

"Oh, I thought the hairless freak couldn't talk at all." She mocked, however, Zachary wasn't letting her words affect him.

"Yeah, and the bratty rich filly talks a little too much." He replied, wiping the grin off of Diamonds face.

"Wh-what did you just insult me?" Diamond demanded, and Zachary just nodded his head.

"You insulted me and my friends first, so yeah..." He said. "I'm not going to let you push them or me around, so I suggest you back off." Diamond has a look of pure shock on her face.

"You can't just say that to me!" She nearly screamed. "I'll get my daddy." Zachary rolled his eyes.

"You act as if I care." He responded. "Plus, it would be two against four and your friend hasn't said a word, so I'm not sure if she even has your back or not." That's when the rest of them joined in.

"Yeah Diamond, you can't just push us around like that," Applebloom said.

"We'll find our talents soon and they'll be better than yours." Sweetie Belle shouted.

"I might be flightless now," Scotaloo started. "But soon I know that I'll be able to fly and when I do, I'll rub it in your face! I'll become the second best flyer, right alongside Rainbow Dash." Diamond started to scowl in anger, but it was cut off when she heard the voice of Twilight.

"Hey Zachary, we're going to walk around ponyville to meet new ponies, so you can get used to everything." She said. Zachary walked past Diamond, then turned around and waved at the CMC'S, before exiting the clubhouse.

"This isn't over!" Diamond shouted, causing Zachary to turn around and say one last thing.

"Yes, it is." He said, before walking off with Twilight and the rest of her friends to their next destination.