//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Fractured Memories // by cccvvvttt //------------------------------// The sun rose above ponyville, just as it did all mornings. Twilight felt something moving against her. She opened her eyes to see where it was coming from, only to see the small child shivering against her, his eyes were red from the dream he had experienced. Twilight, however, didn't know this yet. "Zachary... What's wrong?" She asked softly. Even though her voice was soft and tender, it still startled him. "What?! Oh..." Once he realized that it was just Twilight, he calmed down. "Sorry... I just had a nightmare and couldn't go back to sleep." Twilight's face turned into a curious one, as she asked. "What was your dream about?" Zachary looked down, his nightmare was still fresh in his mind. He didn't want to remember it, but as he looked up, he saw Twilight, with a reassuring smile that made his nerves go down. "I... I saw this monster that chased me through a hallway." He started. "I tried to get away from it, but it caught up with me. I felt pain as soon as it caught up with me and that's when I woke up. It seemed so real..." Twilight had a stunned look on her face. "Wait, you actually felt the pain?" She asked, Zachary nodding. Twilight was shocked, to say the least. It wasn't uncommon for ponies to feel emotions inside their dreams, like love or happiness, but to feel pain? That was a new one. "Yeah... I don't know why I did..." He replied, making Twilight go into thought. Maybe Princess Luna could explain this. Helping foals with their dreams is her duty after all. She looked down at Zachary and saw that he was staring back. "So... What are we going to do today?" He asked, making Twilight giggle a little. "Don't you remember? We're going to throw you a "Welcome to Equestria" Party." She replied, jiggling Zachary's memory. "Oh yeah. I remember now..." He started. "But, what will we do before that?" Twilight put her hoof up to her chin in thought. "Hmm, I actually don't know. I spent so much time thinking about the party that I didn't think about what we would do before that." She continued to think about it. "What I do know we can start out with is breakfast." Zachary nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds good," Zachary replied. Twilight smiled as she got out of the bed. He tried to follow suit, but as soon as he got out of the bed, he tumbled to the ground. "Oh my gosh," Twilight said, turning her attention to him. "Are you okay?" Zachary slowly and stumbled his way up. "Yeah... I'm just really tired." He replied as Twilight helped him the rest of the way up. "Sorry..." Twilight couldn't help but be concerned for the child. "Don't worry Zachary." She said. "If you want, you can take a short nap after breakfast..." He wanted a nap. He felt like he needed it after being deprived of sleep. However, there was a problem with the idea that made him worried to go to sleep. "But what if I have another nightmare? What if it's so bad that I won't sleep tonight? What if-" Zachary cut himself off as soon as he felt Twilights hoof on his shoulder. "I know what it's like to be worried about the outcome of things, but it will be alright." She started. "If you do end up having another nightmare, then we can talk to somepony that I know. They could help you with these nightmares." This was enough to calm Zachary down. "Thanks, Twilight..." Zachary said, with a yawn. "I'm so tired..." He couldn't stay awake any longer. He fell forward, Twilight managing to catch him in time. "Zachary?!" She said, with a concerned voice. She looked down at him. He was breathing softly, with a small smile on his face. She couldn't help but smile back. She let out a small sigh. "You should rest a bit..." She softly lifted him up with her magic and put him back on the bed, tucking him in. Twilight started to feel it again. Like she had a connection to the child, the warm feeling in her chest returning. She let out a small giggle as he started to lightly snore. "Sleep well, we have a big day ahead of us." She said, heading downstairs to get breakfast. Spike was again already awake when Twilight came down the stairs. He had already finished making breakfast. He looked over to her direction when he heard her hoof steps. "Hey, Twilight..." Spike started but stopped when he noticed Zachary was missing. "Um... Where's Zach?" "He didn't get enough sleep last night, so he's sleeping." She replied. Spike nodded, understanding. "Alright," Spike said, before remembering something. "Oh yeah, Princess Celestia replied to you." He handed the letter that he got only a few minutes ago and gave it to her. Twilight picked it up using her magic, before reading into it. My pupil Twilight, This discovery you made has interested me. So has your invite to his party. I would love to meet him, he sounds interesting. I haven't told Luna about the letter you sent me last night, so she might or might not be there. We can also see about finding a spell for him back home. I'm sure his parents are worried about him. Thank you, my student. Sincerely, Princess Celestia. Twilight was grateful that Celestia would be there, but didn't fully understand the possibility of Luna not showing up. Was it because of her not knowing about it before. Maybe, however, she didn't have time to think about it right now. She was hungry and she had a long day ahead of her. "So Spike, what did you make?" She asked, walking back into the kitchen. Zachary crept his way out of his room. He wanted to be as quiet as possible. He had woken up in the middle of the night and wanted water. The only problem was his dad. He was awake and Zachary didn't want him to discover that he was up past his bedtime. He slowly made his way down the hall and into the kitchen. He saw his father on the couch, with a bottle of liquor in his hand. Zachary made his way to the kitchen and went to the fridge. He slowly opened it, getting out a large container of water. He walked over to the counter, getting a cup out. However, he forgot to shut the fridge door. As soon as he was done pouring his water, he heard the familiar beeping noise that goes off when it's is left open for too long. He tensed up, as he heard his father get up from the couch. He heard him make his way to him. All Zachary could do was stand still like a statue. "Zachary... What are you doing in here? You should be in bed..." His father said, in a low, hazed voice. He had one bottle too many. "I...I was just getting a glass of water sir..." Zachary replied. He saw the glare in his father's eyes. "You said you wanted to be smarter than those bullies at school. You even started studying grades higher than yours. So tell me, why are you up late on a school night?" He asked. "I...I just told you why..." Zachary studdered. "Please... Stop drinking all of that, you scare me when you do..." His father gave him a confused look. "W-why...?" He asked, in the same tone of voice. "Because..." Zachary started. "You're not the same when you drink that stuff." He said, with a small tear in his eye. His father's eyes went wide when he realized that his son was right. He let the bottle drop out of his hands and onto the floor. It shattered upon impact, leaving the liquid to soak the floor. "I-I'm so sorry..." His father said, putting a hand on his forehead. "I know I need to stop a-and I will. Promise..." He said, stumbling backward. "P-please just get to bed, I need to think..." Zachary did what he was told, quickly rushing back to his room, with a worried expression stuck to his face. Zachary awoke with a jolt, sitting straight up, looking around the room. He was back in the Golden Oaks library. He let out a relieved sigh, before thinking more about the dream he had. "Why do I keep seeing visions like that...?" He asked himself. "Why was my dad drinking in that memory... What is causing all of this to happen?" He didn't want to think about any of that though. So, he decided to make his way downstairs. As he descended the stairs, he heard voices. "Yeah, He's asleep upstairs right now. He didn't get that much sleep." That voice sounded like Twilight. "Oh, well the party's ready," The voice of Pinkie said. "Even though it's thirty minutes from now." He heard a giggle after that. "It's 11:30 already?" Twilight asked. "Um yeah," The voice of Rainbow Dash said. "Did you lose track of time?" Zachary finally made it down the stairs and saw that Twilight was there with all of her friends. "I guess I did..." Twilight said, with embarrassment. "No problem," Rainbow replied, before turning her attention towards Zachary. "Hey, here he is now." They all turned to look at him. "Hi, guys..." He said, giving them all a small wave. Twilight could tell that there was something up with him. He looked down about something. He no longer looked tired, just that something was nagging at him. "Hey, you woke up!" Pinkie said, bouncing over to him. "Your party is going to begin soon! Aren't you excited?!" Zachary gave out a small nod. Rarity then walked over to him, holding something with her magic. It was a small pair of clothes, just big enough to fit him. "Here you go darling, I hope you like this pair, I worked very hard on it." Rarity said. Zachary took a look at the pants, then the shirt. "It's... It's awesome! Thank you so much Rarity!" He said, feeling some of his energy come back due to the excitement. "You're most definitely welcome dear." She replied, both glad and relieved that he liked the clothes that she worked so hard to make. "So," Twilight said, making Zachary turn her attention towards her. "Why don't you go into the bathroom and try it on?" Zachary nodded, before running off to the bathroom. As soon as he entered, her friends turned their attention back to Twilight. "I'm so happy you found him Twilight, I couldn't imagine him being all by himself out there," Fluttershy commented. "Yeah," Applejack started. "Ah wonder if we'll be able to send him back to where he came, though ah'm a little worried about that." Twilight suddenly felt her nerves shoot up at Applejack's statement. She didn't know why. "Yeah, hey girls?" She said, "The princess will be at the party. She wants to meet him." They all looked at each other, with calm expressions. "Well, I'm sure that she'll like him," Rainbow said. "He's totally twenty percent cool." Twilight, along with the rest of them agreed with that. "Yeah, I know... I guess I'm just a little bit worried." Twilight said. "Don't be sugar cube," Applejack said. "I know she'll like him." Twilight gave her a smile of appreciation. Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Zachary just finished putting on his clothes, before looking in the mirror. He once again saw his reflection, but that's when he noticed something about it. He looked different. He decided it was the new clothes and walked out of the bathroom. He walked back over to the group of ponies. They once again looked at him, they all had a smile on their faces. "You look so much better with those clothes Zachary," Twilight commented. "Thanks..." He replied, with a small smile. "Um, guys?" Spike said, grabbing the attention of the ponies. "I know we have time, but since we're not going to really do anything else, do you just want to head down now?" None of the ponies needed to brush their manes or anything, as they either did it last night or this morning. "Sure, let's get there early." Twilight agreed. With that, they all went out the front door and made their way to Sugarcube Corner. Sometime Later... The party at Sugarcube Corner had begun. Ponies from the town were gathered in the bakery. Pinkie had once again done an excellent job getting her party ready. The entirety of Sugarcube Corner was decorated with the usual balloons, confetti, and a banner that said: "Welcome to Equestria!" The Mane Six, along with Zachary was over at a table, anticipating the arrival of Princess Celestia. "I wonder where she could be..." Twilight wondered. She thought that the Princess was just being held up and was going to arrive a bit late. "I don't know," Rainbow Dash said. "Maybe we should let the other ponies met Zachary real quick?" Twilight, seeing that the Princess was going to be late, nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds good." She replied, getting up from where she was sitting. "Who should we have him meet first?" Twilight looked at her friends, but before they replied, they heard the voices of three little filly's. "Hey." They said, causing the group to turn around. there before them, was the CMC'S. Zachary let out a smile, glad that they came. "Can we hang out with Zachary?" Scootaloo asked. Twilight nodded. "Yeah, we were going to introduce him to some other ponies, but you can come along too." She replied, making the CMC'S faces bright up. "Alright!" They all said. So, The Mane Six along with the CMC'S started to wander around the store, looking for ponies to meet. They found a couple of them. The first pair they talked to was Lyra and Bon Bon. "What is he called?" Bon Bon asked when they walked up to them. "His name is Zachary," Twilight replied. "He's a human and we have no idea how he got here, but for now he's going to stay with us until we can find a way to get him back to his world." Zachary gave out a small wave towards the two ponies. "Hi there," Lyra started. "My name is Lyra and my friend's name is Bon Bon." They gave him a small handshake, before leaving them to do whatever it was that they needed to do. They met a few other ponies, like Derpy Hooves, a DJ that they called Vinyl, and a Pony who played the cello named Octavia. After meeting all of those ponies,m Twilight let Zachary separate from the group to hang out with the CMC'S. "So," Sweetie Belle said, as they walked towards their own table. "Did you do anything interesting after you left?" Zachary just shrugged. "Not really," He started. "Besides a few nightmares, nothing has really happened..." The CMC'S looked at each other, now with looks of concern on their faces. "Nightmares? What kind of Nightmares?" Applebloom asked. Zachary was about to respond when they heard the familiar voice of Diamond Taira. "Look at that, the blank flanks made it..." Zachary let out an annoyed sigh, as he and his new friends turned around and saw the filly, along with her friend Silver Spoon. "Why are you here?" He asked, making Diamond smirk. "My daddy brought me here. He said that we were going to meet some sort of new creature, so I figured it was you. Not like you're that special" She replied. "Really?" He replied, not caring for whatever insults she had planned. "Well nice talking to you." He turned around and tried starting a conversation with the CMC'S. Diamond stood there, dumbfounded. She scowled, walked up to him and roughly poking him on the back. "What?" Zachary said, turning around annoyed. "Stop ignoring me!" She nearly shouted. Zachary just turned without saying anything. "I'm trying to insult you!" The CMC'S looked shocked that this was working on Diamond. This only made him facepalm. "Don't say that out loud..." Zachary replied. Diamond looked confused. "Why?" She asked. "Because..." He started. "Stating what bad thing you have planned is stupid. Now I know you're going to try to insult me, so now I can easily ignore you because you're just trying to hurt my feelings and let me just say that you suck at it." He turned towards his friends again."So, do you guys like the party?" Zachary asked the CMC'S. "Yeah, I think Pinkie Pie did a great job." Diamond looked over to the CMC'S. "Get that monkey to stop ignoring me!" She demanded. They all looked at each other, before looking back at her. "Diamond, ah don't know if you noticed, but he doesn't care about what yer saying," Applebloom stated. "Even though it was pretty obvious, ah mean he even said it out loud..." "Yeah," Scootaloo started. "He doesn't need you bothering him, so why don't you leave if you don't like him or the party."Diamond was getting angrier. "I do like the party!" She shouted. "But I-" "But you don't like who the party's for." Sweetie Belle said. "So you should just leave!" Diamond huffed. "Fine, but this isn't over." She started to turn around. "That "thing" you for some reason like hanging out with isn't worth my time. He would probably just get in the way of everypony." With that, she left them alone, walking out of the building with Silver. Zachary shook his head, wondering why they still made fun of him. "Hey... Are you okay?" Sweetie asked, snapping him out of his brief thoughts. "Yeah..." He replied. "I just don't get why they target me. I don't care about what they say, they're just so annoying." He stopped for a moment, before continuing. "I wonder why her friend didn't talk at all during that..." He stopped as he suddenly felt something in his gut. He knew this feeling. He felt it before, but he couldn't remember. What caused the sudden gut-wrenching feeling was unknown to him, but maybe it had something to do with what Diamond said. "So..." Scootaloo interrupted his thoughts, causing him to look back at her. "What do you want to do now?" Zachary could only shrug as his response. "No clue. Diamond kind of ruined the mood of the party." He replied. "But we shouldn't let that get us down, so do you guys want to go get some food?" They all looked at each other, nodding. "Alright," They said, starting to make their way over to the table with food and cake. They each got a plate, getting the food they wanted. Zachary got a slice of cake, along with some salad. The CMC'S also got pieces of the cake, along with some other items. Applebloom got a slice of apple pie, Sweetie Belle got some hay cake, and Scootaloo got a hay burger. They decided to sit at an empty table away from most of the others. "How has staying with Twilight been?" Applebloom decided to ask Zachary, wanting to start up a conversation. "It's pretty good." He replied. "It's warm there, I like the library, how it's a tree," He stopped for a moment. "Twilight's been so nice to me. She lets me stay with her, she sometimes likes to read to me, and she even lets me sleep in the same bed with her." The CMC'S looked at each other, with knowing looks. "Zachary..." Sweetie Belle said. "I think Twilight is starting to get attached to you." Zachary looked at her, with a raised brow. "Yeah," Applebloom started. "My sister liked to do that with me when ah was younger." The others nodded in agreement. "This might sound crazy, but I think Twilight is starting to see you like yer... her own little brother, or even her son." Zachary looked shocked. "Really? You think so...?" Zachary didn't admit it, but he started to see Twilight as a parental figure. He never felt this much affection from one person or pony in this case. Even though he didn't remember. They nodded in response. "Yeah, ponies we are attached to do those kinds of things for us." Sweetie Belle said. "I think Twilight really does care about you." Zachary smiled and nodded as a thank you for them. He was about to say something else when all the sudden a gasp interrupted his thoughts. "Look, the princesses are here." A pony somewhere in the room said, gaining the attention of Zachary and the CMC'S. They looked at the entrance of the bakery and saw that indeed there were two alicorns making their way inside. One was white, with a flowing mane and tail that had bright colors. The other one was dark blue and while her mane and tail were also flowing, hers was the same color as her fur, with dots that seemed to represent stars. They gave out small waves to the bowing ponies, whilst looking around for Twilight. "Princess Celestia and Luna!" He heard the shout of Twilight, which drew the attention of the two Alicorns. "Hello, Twilight Sparkle." She replied, happy to once again see her student. "What a lovely party you have going on here, but may I ask where is this creature that you discovered ?" Twilight looked around, until she eventually spotted him, still hanging around with the CMC'S. "He's right over there," she said, pointing towards him. "Zachary, can you come over here?" He was nervous to meet a princess of all ponies, let alone two of them. He turned around to look at his friends, who just nodded for him to go forward and that they would go with him. At least that's what he hoped they would do. He calmed his, nerves as he began to walk over to them. Twilight could sense that he was nervous, so she put on a reassuring smile. "It's okay. they're nice. You don't need to worry." Twilight said. This made Zachary's nerves go all the way down. "Oh, so this is who you mentioned in your letter?" Luna asked, Twilight nodding in response. "Yeah, I found him a few days ago. He was a little injured from a Timberwolf, but I healed him up. Could have been a lot worse." She replied. "His name is Zachary. He came through a forest in a place called California" Luna could tell just by looking at the child that it was the same one as the night before. "So, did Zachary have any sort of nightmares?" Luna asked, making Twilight nod. "Yeah, He told me about one he had this morning." She said. "It made him stay up the rest of the night. I was kind of hoping that you could help us out with that problem." Luna just simply nodded. "Yeah, we should find out what's causing these nightmares to happen." She replied as they all started to talk about it. It was again late in the night, the party had just ended a few moments ago. Twilight, along with Zachary, the Mane Six, and the CMC'S all shared their ideas to the Princesses about the nightmares. Whilst they couldn't figure it out, Luna promised to keep a watchful eye on the child during his dreams. speaking of him, he had fallen asleep sometime during the party, so he was just resting on Twilight's back as she and Spike made their way back to the library. "I can't wait to get to sleep like Zachary over there," Spike said with a yawn. "Yeah, that party was long... and exhausting," Twilight replied, as they made it to the library. After the conversation about the nightmares, Zachary got to know a lot of things about the royal sisters, and he warmed up to them very quickly, which lead to everyone having a good time. Twilight's friends were going to have a sleepover, but they were all too tired, so they went back to their own homes instead. "Finally, we're here," Spike said as Twilight opened the door with her magic, causing the dragon to run right upstairs and into his basket. This made Twilight giggle, as she followed suit. She tucked Zachary into the bed, with a warm smile on her face. She wasn't going to bed just yet. "This is so exciting!" She said, making her way downstairs. She needed a book. "I know I had a book about it somewhere... Ah!" She said, pulling out the book. It was labeled Tips and tricks on how to take care of your foal. "It will be easy to raise him once I know everything I need to-" She suddenly cut herself off as a realization hit her. Zachary's parents in his world are probably still there and are waiting for his return. Even though he didn't remember, Twilight thought that this was the case and once he did, they would have to send him back. She let the book drop to the floor, as tears started to well up in her eyes. "Oh no..." She said to herself, walking over to a nearby desk. She couldn't help, but to start sobbing lightly at this fact. Once he left, she would most likely never get the chance to see him again. A spell to send him back would be powerful for one pony to handle, and she wasn't even sure that his people would accept her. She continued her sobbing, not knowing that she woke up Zachary. "Twilight... What's wrong?" He asked as he finished his trip down the stairs. Twilight shot her head to look at him, quickly wiping her tears away. "Oh... N-nothing." Twilight replied, getting rid of the remaining tears. "I-I just thought of something sad." Zachary gave her a look of concern, before thinking about something that might cheer her up. "Do you want a hug." He asked, holding out his arms. Twilight slowly felt a smile return to her, as she nodded her head, going up to him, pulling him into an embrace. As she hugged, she went to her thoughts. If we do find a spell that can send him back, and if we can perform it, then I want to spend as much time with him as I can before he has to leave. She thought, now with a face of determination. I promise that. I promise.