Epilogue
Dear Princess Celestia,
I have attached a report with all my findings and conclusions from the Shadow Incident and the subsequent Nightmare Test. After three weeks with no further insights, I am forced to admit that I have reached the limit of what I can draw from the data I have. At this time, per your directives, I will continue my studies in the magic of friendship foremost, with the studies of shadow magic as a secondary or even tertiary goal.
I must admit I have little hope for further breakthroughs in my lifetime on shadow magic. The thaumatic structure is so radically different that it will likely take many years to fully understand how to create a spell, and a mana source must be found if any progress is to be made beyond flaring. I will continue to keep it in my mind, but will focus on my other studies as you suggest.
However, this is not the main purpose I have for writing this letter. Having thought on the matter for the last few weeks, I have come to see both Epona and Link as a friend. Furthermore, I have had some thoughts on the relationship we had, and I believe I have enough to write a friendship report.
I am not particularly close with either Epona or Link. Epona spent the majority of her time with Applejack, and it is likely that Applejack is the closest friend to Epona. Link, well, we rarely ever saw him. Even when he was changing our lives, by rescuing the Crusaders or by rescuing us from Nightmare Moon, we never saw him. And Fluttershy is the only pony I know that managed to understand his speech.
And yet I consider them both to be my friend, even though I do not know what Epona’s favorite color is, or even what Link is telling me. And I realized that I considered them a friend, not because I knew them, but because despite the lack of a deep relationship I could count on both of them to help us out.
A friend does not have to be someone you see everyday, or even know very well. A friend can be anyone that you trust enough to be a friend.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
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And the tale comes to an end...
It was a fun read.
Dammit, you never had him speak to them in human nor pony form, ya cocktease author...
This has been a truly delightful read from the very start. You have given us a very different view on Zelda/MLP crossover and you have executed it remarkable well. Thank you for bringing us this masterpiece of fandom.
Farewell until your next project draws my interest.
Loved it. As usual, you do amazing jobs on these.:D What do you intend to do next?^^
A fitting close to the tale that has kept us enraptured. Farewell, Link. Farewell, Epona. Perhaps someday we shall meet again.
Excellent
Thanks so much for sharing your story. It was great fun!
Though the troll in me wouldn't have minded the girls seeing Link in pony form just before he and Epona vanished. :D
Great story, loved it! :D Little plot bunny though, shouldn't Link have been human for this last segment? The only way he was able to change back and forth was Midna abusing the ancient Twilight magic they got from Zant.
But now Midna is gone, and the Twilight is gone. Link would have been human at his defeat of Ganondorf, and while the Spirits can change him from a wolf into a human, they can't do it the other way around, only the Twilight realm or Midna can.
5463870
Nope. The Master Sword turns him back to human, and the shard of magic transforms him into a wolf. So once he gets through the portal, all he needs to do is touch the Master Sword and he's back to normal.
Midna's just a shortcut, since she normally keeps the Master Sword within easy reach, but I like to believe it is possible for him to transform without her. Just takes a bit more planning.
5463698
Maybe you could write it?
*crie* its over...
I guess I need to read it again
See, this is the point where you write a sequel for all of us.
Of course, you don't have to, I'm just saying what I'm sure a lot of others are thinking
Amazing story though, glad I was around to see it. Keep up the good work, friend.
5464330
I'm not exactly sure where I would go with a sequel....
I suppose someone could write one about Celestia or Luna being called to Hyrule, but to be honest I was going to do that as a one-shot and append it to this story, not write a full-up sequel.
Though, if anyone has an idea for a sequel, you guys are free to write it yourself. Seriously. I'll help if you want me to, but if you have an idea in your head, the only one who can write it is YOU.
5464404 That's... actually a good point.
Oh well, I suppose it isn't to be.
Unless someone reading this SUDDENLY HAS AN IDEA!
... No one? Alright then, fine.
In all seriousness though, good story, you did a great job writing it.
5463600
As I've mentioned several times before, this isn't a human (or Hylain) in Equestria story.
That being said... I may write a deleted scene later that does involve human Link being seen by ponies.
This was a wonderful run, thank you for writing this.
I realize this may be a bit soon, but did you have any intention for a sequel?
5464404
Maybe the pendant gets passed down the generations, till it ends up in the posession of another Link. Time doesn't nessasarily have to be a constant between these two words, after all.
5464784
That was my thought too. Bonus points if it is the villain who activates it, thinking it will give him GREAT POWER, only for Celestia to come in, evaluate the situation, and proceed to destroy him.
5465000
Wind Waker maybe? Have Link introduce himself as having the same name as his father, and his father before him. It could possibly lead to some very interesting reactions from him seeing that the land is bigger than the ocean.(or at the very least, bigger than any landmass he's ever seen before.
Could possibly happen the first time Link bumps into Ganondorf with the Master Sword. The Master Sword wasn't at full power, so there could be a bit of story after that, and it would be natural for him to gloat, and perhaps take a 'mysterious magic filled amulet'.
5464443
Sir, I have very much enjoyed this story. I find it an interesting thing, to have things go wrong, then go right again then wrong again, then finally right again only for most of the people around to not know, precisely, why. But...well...
Forgive me, but...why? I can't think of a single reason why NOT for it to have become a Human in Equestria story. I mean, you hinted he became Hylian to deal with the Nightmare Moon dungeon so he clearly can become Hylian at any time so why not?
Why deny Twilight the answers she seeks? Especially since it COULD ABSOLUTELY HAPPEN AGAIN, what with Ganondorf always coming back every few hundred years. Why not just tell Spike that he can't have the sword because it isn't his to give away. Link stole that from someone in the game and I imagine he has enough integrity to see it returned.
I don't mean to offend or anything, but this is just plain confusing...for the sake of being just plain confusing, in my view, anyway.
5465577
The reason it never became a HiE story is because I never wanted it to be a HiE story. I always wanted to leave the ponies, and Twilight in particular, in the dark as much as possible. For them to have questions without answers at the end. To never really know everything that went on, even if they thought they did. To try to leave it with a sense of mystery, at least for the ponies, like the Everfree itself.
As for the Spike bit.... perhaps I need to modify that a little bit.
All of my yes
Saved for later reading
5465638
Okay, thematically? That's awesome. Again, I am ALL FOR a story like this and, in spite of my criticisms of it, I did enjoy the story. A lot. The Ponies were great, I loved Epona, the dungeons were a lot of fun and I really enjoy Twilight's letter at the end. This fic has a lot of good things going for it. I mean, a lot! With that said, however...
The execution of the above theme felt very sloppy.
Why would Link do this? Why would he deliberately keep anyone at all in the dark about things like this? Heck, that's not just a criticism of the story, that's actually a problem I had with the game itself, but it's very egregious here. I can't think of a single reason why he wouldn't tell Fluttershy 'hey, this wolf form isn't my actual form, mind if I show you my normal form where we can talk like normal?'
As awesome as the theme is, and it is awesome, themes need to make sense in the context of the story or it just comes across as utterly bizarre and illogical. Heck, why not have Link tell Epona exactly what to say to explain his predicament and give ponies the answers they seek.
Now, I do know this is your story and you have done a fairly good job of it. You do what you want, but this is something that bugs me about the story and I hope you don't find my pestering you about this annoying.
5464443 yes, but you still could have had them meet him in pony form.
Perfect. And so lay to rest the best LoZ:Twilight Princess crossover on fimfiction.
I have mixed feelings on this story. It started out strong with an excellent job of combining the two series lore and world building and even managed to write the darker segments without breaking MLP's lighter tone.
Your characterization was excellent, Epona was an interesting and well fleshed out character and the interactions between them were quite entertaining.
But the pacing felt a little wonky to me between the major events and story seemed to just peter out in an unsatisfying manner. It is mostly a fault on my end but I felt like the story was building up to a more grand interaction between worlds and to have it end with the whole story bearing almost no impact on the Hyrule side of things was a let down.
This story is easily my favorite Legend of Zelda crossover on the sight (though I admittedly haven't read many) and one of my favorite crossovers over all.
The big thing that you did right, that I have seen a-lot of people fail on especially in more action oriented stories such as this one, is a loss of agency on one side of the crossover or the other. To many times it feels like one side of the story has all of the answers and does all of the work to save the day. This never happened here. Even from before Link shows up we have the Princesses at least try to confront the Twilight barrier, and the residents of Ponyville deal with what Twilight monsters were at all within there capabilities to do so. From the first dungeon we had both Spike as an integral component of Link's side of the story (Of which I have to pause for a moment to gush over how awesome it was to have Spike wielding the Ordon Sword and the Hylian shield while riding on Link's back. Sooo coool!), and the fact that the rest of the gang was staging an attack from the other side of the tunnels. Not to mention that the help that one of the diamond dogs gave (can't remember which one it was right now).
And then the second dungeon mixes things up with a very recognizable pony threat, Nightmare Moon. The fused shadow possessed diamond dog felt almost solely like a problem caused by Zelda stuff, while Nightmare Moon, while technically no different, felt more Pony side by virtue of being Nightmare Moon, the shows original antagonist. This was another nice part, it felt like both sides were contributing to not only the solution, but the problem. And that segment continued to have the Equestrian characters contribute things, with a really cool boss battle mechanic.
That segways nicely into my next point of praise, the potential game mechanics presented. The presentation of Equestria as a separate area to explore akin to those already in the game was well done via the access through the forests near Ordon, bringing to mind for me at least how Link got to Termina in Majora's Mask. The new Hero's skill was well conceived, and I think it would have made for a fun mechanic, though I'm not sure what button it would have been assigned. The part with Spike mounted on Link would have been fun to play as well, and I remember wishing in the game that while I had Midna riding around on Wolf Link that she did more than provide targeting support. (As an aside, great explanation for the jump mechanics involoving Midna and Wolf Link.) The story also gave the opportunity of having the wolf form feel like more than a gimmick, from the entire area that you can only use it in to the special potions that augment wolf form.
The second of those portions is actually my only complain mechanics wise, we never saw any situation where it could actually be used, and I feel that it would be hard to have an ability such as cloud walking work in game when it is only available via a rather hard to get potion. We only saw two ways to get a pegasus feather after all, and both seem like it would get kind old to repeat after a while. Maybe you could have bought them? Say from Quill's and Sofa's? And claim that pegasi feather quills are expensive due to reasons giving an incentive to earn them other ways but an option not to. But in total the potential game-play mechanics easily passed the "Yeah I'd play that" benchmark.
Moving on to the characters. Dear god the characters. You got the characterization of everyone spot on. Even the background ponies and the diamond dogs felt fleshed out. And then there was Epona. Wow was that awesome. I loved the presentation of her being much more simple minded that the Equestrian's, it felt natural. The little touches of Midna not being very sociable were likewise a great touch.
All in all, a simply lovely story. I hope you realize how good of a job you did on this.
5467427
5467414
5467414
5467411
Thank you for the help. I wouldn't say it was rushed, but I just couldn't read through it for some reason. Stress, maybe, associated with trying to tie the story up in the manner I thought it deserved. The more I tried to concentrate on reading it, the more I missed. So I guess I should have held on to it for a few more days and re-read it a bit.
Or I could get an editor. Little late for that now though.
5467475
Write it if you want. I haven't played Hyrule Warriors, I couldn't write it.
5465767
I can see where you are coming from, and why you are annoyed, and to be honest, you probably won't like this reasoning any more than the last.
That said, there's two problems. One, you assume Epona can understand Link, or that the ponies can understand Hylian. I've set it up so that there's three separate languages going on here: Hylian, wolf, and pony. Link is the only one who can understand all three, though he can only speak wolf (as a wolf). Midna, as a Hylian, can't understand Link or the ponies. The ponies, including Epona, can't understand Link or Midna, with the exception of Fluttershy, who can understand him enough to get intentions but not proper names and places, or even some advanced concepts. Even if Link was Hylian, there would still be a language barrier; worse, he wouldn't be able to understand what Fluttershy was asking unless he became a wolf, listened to her, and then shifted to Hylian again. And yes, this is partially by design, because I didn't want Twilight and company to be able to instantly know everything that was going on.
Second, Link is very much a loner. He starts out wanting to be able to tell people, anyone, about his predicament, but by the time he actually gets the ability to change at will, that motivation is sort of gone. It doesn't matter if he's a wolf if he can just become a human whenever it's convenient. Sure, he misses out on cuddles and stuff, and maybe gets attacked more often, but by that point in the game, Link is very much alone. He is the only one (or thinks he is the only one) capable of carrying the torch, so to speak- take a look at Rusl and Co, and how he goes it alone despite their stated intention to help out and set things right. So it's not that he deliberately keeps people or ponies in the dark, it's just that by the time he gains the ability to rectify the situation, it doesn't matter anymore, and he has bigger and better things to do.
5468877
Alright. The first one makes perfect sense. Though it seemed like Epona could understand Link at times due to how the dialogue seemed to indicate, but otherwise this earns you a pass.
Though I do have another question: Why was Link able to understand the Ponies as a wolf? I thought he had to be able to understand them to set up the race with Rainbow Dash, at least.
...another question: Why is Epona able to understand the Ponies, since logically, the only language she knows is Hylian?
The second one does not, but I don't think this one is entirely your fault. Again, this is a trait from the game itself, so you could argue you were keeping Link IC, however, I do question the 'bigger and better things' to do, since after the threat is gone, why not sit everyone down and explain what happened. Even if it did take a long time.
However, the first explanation, at least, covers the second one very well: Link CAN'T actually tell them all that much so he's somewhat powerless in this regard.
Bravo, a stunning ending and a well written epilogue, smart move my friend as it works perfectly.
woulda been cool if the Mane six actually met Links other form and maybe saw the final battle. oh well
5469367
Sorry this took so long.
I linked together 'pony' and 'horse' languages, so they basically understand each other. Link is also capable of understanding both, since they both fall under the 'animal' category to him.
5489216
Thanks for getting back to me at all! I really appreciate it.
So I do understand the reasoning and logic behind your decisions with the story, even if I don't agree with all of it.
That said...could we please get a sequel where they meet and talk and get understanding and stuff? Please? Pretty please with sugar on top?
While I enjoyed the story, I am dissapointed that they never saw Link's true form.
I know almost nothing about Link and the like...but Well Done.
5508098
The happy mask salesman was Zecora all along! That's why his facial features don't change naturally, it's because its all a mask!
5508234 the only way they would be able to make him stop is to corner him. And you never corner a wolf.
Huh. I was just thinking if there could be a sequel taking place in a later Zelda game. Like, Hyrule Warriors? Midna and Wolf Link do come back, so that could be a possibility.
5538699
Your explanation is sound I admit, but I will always see Celestia as nothing but a two-bit schemer. Twilight is a control freak who is obsessed with anything she doesn't know and would do anything to get her hooves on it. I'd agree with you, but I won't. Celestia is a schemer and Twilight a control freak.
5532856 i am just about to start the story, but i would like to know if you already plan a sequel, a romance sequel perhaps?
I am looking for romance or adoption storys again, and if i would know, that there is a sequel to this story, it would be more fun to read this story.
I just hate it to know when it is over, well sometimes.
5569119 There are no sequels as far as I know, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any coming out.
I'm confused, i read some of the comments, but is there going to be a sequel? It would be AWESOME if there were a sequel. This story's just too good to be left to die out. So are you going to write a sequel, or no? Or is someone else gonna write a sequel, or no? Well this is a awesome story and i hope there is a sequel!
This story makes me feel like I should play Twilight Princess now.
What can I say? This was an excellent fic. I especially like how you managed to make it seem as if the story would fit into the canon of the game, which most other authors are too pretentious to do in their crossovers. You're smart with your writing, and I'll be damned if I can't respect that.
Good on you mate!
May you have many thumbs ups, goooooood story.
Wow, I just binge-read this whole thing in less than a week. I have some of the same complaints in terms of the story that others have made and don't bear repeating, but nevertheless, I like how you played this out. It was probably for the best for me to wait and read it all at once, considering how many comments I found regarding your publishing rate from readers AND yourself.
I have to tell you though, as an editor, having what I deem the "editor's eye" (basically, being able to easily catch minor mistakes that others may pass over without a second thought) can really be a curse. There were many mistakes, including but not limited to misspellings, missing or duplicated words, and incorrect punctuation, which really break the reader from the story's illusion. At some point, I believe there was a continuity error as well, but I frankly don't remember it at this point because I have literally skipped meals to read this. I need to go eat something.
All in all, you kept me hooked until the end. Nice job.
I just binge-read this entire story in about six hours. I devoured it and I still want more oh dear GODDESSES do I want more stories like this.
5750990 Go play it then! It's a really good game - good graphics, good story, good controls... Plus you get to be a wolf!
This was a good story. And your point on your blog post is right on the money: if you have a story in mind, write it! I'm actually working on such a story myself. It's not a Zelda fic or a ponyfic, but if you're interested, there's a link on my profile.
As for this story: it's off to the Favorites shelf with this one.
One comment though: I agree with 5463600: Why give Link a pony form if he's never going to use it?!