The Trials

The events take place between the third and fourth season

Basic Recap

Equestria is a world filled with fascinating creatures of many mythical creatures inhabiting it. There are fire breathing Dragons, magical talking ponies, and there's even a human that lives there. However, that human wasn't born in Equestria. He was born in a different world that was filled with his own kind. However, he was neglected and abused by his parents.

One day, he took a walk into the woods near his neighborhood. He was never seen again. His father, realizing the mistakes he made, grieved over his son's disappearance. Even though he gave up looking, he still believes that his son is out there somewhere. At least in a better place without him and he was right.

Most ponies don't know how he got into Equestria, some believe that Celestia and Luna brought him here, while others believe it's some sort of time rift happened between their worlds, which allowed Zachary to travel to Equestria. No one is really sure though. What everyone knows's though is that Zachary became the son of Twilight Sparkle, who was an Alicorn and lived at The Golden Oaks Library. She had five other friends, plus an assistant who would often help Twilight look after him and whatnot, even though he was mostly well behaved.

Unfortunately, due to his past experiences with his father, he has nightmares of him somehow returning and taking him back to the human world. He even sometimes saw a dark figure that he could swear was his dad. However, it would just always be an allusion. Usually, Twilight or one of her other friends would calm him down from these visons. He started seeing them less and less. Soon, Zachary got comfortable living among ponies, though he was still afraid that he would somehow run into his father again.

Twilight would always reassure him that it wouldn't happen, which made him feel safer. He was glad to finally have someone like Twilight and her friends in his life. Some people, or in this case ponies, to care about him. He was happy.

The Begining

It was a warm afternoon in the town of Ponyville and everypony was going on with their daily routines. The school day was over and all the colts and fillies were either going back to their homes or going to play with friends. However, one child wasn't a colt or filly. He was the only human that lived in Equestria, Zachary. He had dark blue eyes, with dirty blonde hair and no matter the weather, he would always wear a black jacket and a pair of his many jeans, both in witch Rarity made for him

He had just left the school building and was going to walk home along with his friend/ adoptive brother Spike. Normally, he would have his friends, the CMC's (Cutie Mark Crusaders) to walk with him, but on days like this, they would be out trying to gain their cutie marks. Zachary, not being a pony, didn't really understand the whole Cutie Marks thing yet. Though, he was still new to this world so he still had a lot to learn.

As they walked down the town, Spike and Zachary started up a conversation.

"So... how was school today?" Spike asked.

“It was alright,” Zachary replied. “As usual.” He let out a sigh.

“Is there anything wrong?” Spike asked with concern.

“No… Just tired…” He replied though Spike wasn’t so sure whether or not he was lying.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Zachary quickly shook his head in response.

“No, I didn’t… Though I guess I’m more annoyed than tired.” Spike could guess that this was because of Diamond Tiara, a bully at the school Zachary attends. She had been trying to pick on Zachary for the past few days, but he either didn’t pay any mind to her, or he would come up with a much more clever insult then she could, which usually made her stop.

“Well, maybe a few books back at the library will make you feel better,” Spike suggested. “Or we could always do something else.” Zachary nodded as they got onto a bridge, which was fragile. getting closer to the library. Spike noticed the water below them was moving at a quick pace, which didn’t normally happen.

“That’s odd…” Spike thought in his head. “Why is it moving so fast?”

“Yeah, reading sounds nice,” Zachary said, cutting off Spike's thoughts. “We could read a Daring Do book since the next one comes out this month and-”

“Well, look at that, the freak is here.” The familiar voice of a certain filly interrupted Zachary. Both him and Spike turned around and saw her. She had pink fur, her mane being mostly iris, a variation of purple, with some white mixed in and to top it all off, she had a Diamond Tiara placed on the top of her head. Alongside her was her friend, Silver Spoon, with gray fur. Her mane was silver and braided and she wore glasses. Zachary let out a sigh, irritated that they interrupted his conversation.

“What do you want now?” He asked while crossing his arms

“I think you know what we want,” Diamond respond with spite. “We want to know how you can just ignore us, or how you just don’t care about anything we say to you?!” Zachary let out a slight chuckle.

“Simple, because the things you and your friend like to say about me aren’t true.” He replied. “You don’t actually know me, you just like to pick on me because I’m different. You want to see me respond in some way, well I’m not going to give you that!” Diamond was getting furious.

“I will break you!” She said, all a sudden getting up into his face. “I rule the school and I will make sure you get that through your thick skull!” She pounded her front hoof down, which made a soft cracking sound that Spike only seemed to notice.

“Um, guys…” He said but was soon drowned out by the filly.

“I will find a way if it’s the last thing I do!” She stomped her hooves again. This time, the sounds of wood breaking were lounder and large cracks appeared under the spot Zachary was standing on.

“What the-” He said, as he cut himself off once he realized what was happening. “Diamond, chill out-”

“No, not until you admit that I’ve been hurting your pathetic feelings!” She shouted, cutting him off.

“Why is it so important that you hurt my feelings anyway?!” He replied, getting more tense about the fragile spot he was standing on. He tried to move, but neither Diamond or Silver spoon would let him.

“Girls, let him go!” Spike tried to interfere, but Silver kept him shoved back so he couldn’t move or leave to go get help.

“Why?!” Diamond shouted, somehow managing to sound even angrier than before. “Because ever since you came to school, people stopped fearing me! If I make you afraid, then they’ll become afraid. It’s simple!” Zachary gave her a look of disgust.

“Forget it!” He shouted. “I’m not afraid of you and I will never be!” Diamond felt her anger explode. She stomped her hooves one last time in frustration. The sound of wood breaking apart could be heard as the spot under Zachary gave out.

“Ahhh!” Zachary screamed as he fell. He quickly grabbed onto the bridge. Spike finally broke free of Silver’s grip after breathing fire, which nearly burned off some of her manes as he rushed to grab Zachary’s hand. He couldn’t hold his grip on the bridge, however, as Zachary plummeted into the river.

“Zachary!” Spike screamed as Zachary disappeared under the rushing water. His head popped back above the surface, as he screamed for help. Spike looked over at Diamond Tiara with anger. “What did you do!?” Diamond was too shocked to reply. She just lost control of herself, and now Zachary was being carried away by the river. What had she done?

Spike knew that with the speed of the river, he couldn’t follow Zachary on foot and diving into the river at this speed was too dangerous. The only thing he could really think of doing was going to get help.

“Stay here! I’m going to go get help!” Spike said to the two fillies, as he ran off towards the library.

As Zachary struggled to keep his head above the water, he never gave up the hope that someone would come to save him. However, something felt like it was trying to drag him under the water. Something around his leg. He started panicking, then he started to lose consciousness. Everything around him was getting darker and darker

Then, everything went black...