Mipha thought back as she felt her sleeping mind begin to stir. That dream she had, in which she presumed that everything to happen within it was real, was quite the odd sensation to go through. She had little reason to doubt that that being, Luna, was fake, or that her words were equally falsified.
But it was over now, and she was left to stew over her words. As Mipha sluggishly slid all the way back into consciousness with a small yawn, she also awoke to a very strange sensation.
It was an ice-cold feeling pressing down upon her throat. The kind of feeling shared by steel, and unmistakably that of a weapon of some kind. As soon as she realized this, Mipha's eyes shot wide open. She was a mere second from pushing the object away from her jugular when a hand clasped over her mouth and held her head down. Her eyes stared toward shape standing over her and spotted a silhouette illuminated from the morning light showing through the cave's entrance.
"If you value your life, you will not move," a male voice spoke from the character in a whisper so soft and fragile that one might not realize it as a threat. "Sit up. Slowly."
Mipha was very hesitant to obey the order. But in a reluctant way, with thousands of thoughts running through her head, she did as the being told. Moving her body upward until it was in a sitting position, she had herself a better view of the individual who held her at knifepoint now that the sun's light was focused on his front. The first thing she noticed was that the weapon was a dark, vicious sickle, and the second thing was that over his face was a mask. A white, wooden mask displaying a red symbol resembling an eye with a tear drop upon the center of its surface. It was a symbol she knew right off, with a silent gasp, was that of the mysterious but good-hearted Sheikah people. But how it was turned upside down told her who it really was.
If the Sheikah Eye was perverted in such a way, it could only represent the foul icon of the accursed Yiga Clan; an organization of black-hearted Sheikah who cast away their loyalties to Hyrule and aligned themselves with Ganon. If that was not enough indication of this character's allegiance, his outfit, a black and blood-red garb, did. Behind the mask and poking through the back of his crimson hood, his dark hair was tied into a knot. A pair of bony fangs, meant to represent the tusks of a boar, hung from either side of his face like earrings.
And he wasn't alone. Turning her head a small ways after he finally took his hand from her mouth, Mipha quickly took notice of several other shapes standing about, most of whom were guarding the entrance of the cave. Skinny and nimble footsoldiers, all equipped with hand weapons of sleek design and murderous ability or else bows and arrows of wicked making. Beyond them, pinned to the shore to keep from being pulled away by the river's current, were what Mipha could make out as rafts built from logs.
"It's definitely a Zora," one footsoldier in the back said to another in a whisper that Mipha's ears easily detected. "I believe we've finally found that 'stowaway' our mistress spoke of."
"So it would seem," a deep and coarse tone concurred in less of a secretive manner, originating from a larger, burlier figure nearby. Judging from the great windcleaver sword Mipha saw he possessed sheathed by his side, along with the fact he wore thicker armor over his form, he was a member of the Yiga elite, a blademaster, and clearly the leader of this small group. A pair of longer, curling 'tusks' extended from the base of his mask, from behind his greater and looser hood that bore a similar look to the skintight uniform belonging to his co-conspirators, except on a much lesser scale. "But either way, we shall gain our answer on just who this one is soon enough."
"Well then, onto the questioning," chuckled the footsoldier currently holding Mipha at his mercy. As he said this, Mipha shifted her view in the direction of the giant who shared this cave with her, quickly spotting him where he was. Still he sat on his throne, unmoving and apparently unperturbed by the events going on. The Yiga must not have taken notice of him, as he was completely unguarded and none of the soldiers here had so much as stared his way from what little the Zora could witness of their faces.
"Question one." The Yiga used a firmer tone when he spoke, curling the sickle's pointed tip to her throat, though using enough caution in the action to not actually pierce her flesh. "What is your name, Zora?"
Mipha did not respond. Instead, she allowed her brow to lower and a grimace to appear on her face. By her sides, her hands slowly curled into fists as she readied herself for action. The footsoldier hummed in vexation and turned to look back at his his allies when it became clear she wasn't going to respond, or perhaps because she lacked the fearful visage he expected to witness.
"It would appear as though our guest is unwilling to cooperate," smugly cackled he, "and, as we all know, my brethren, that means something quite awful is going to now happen to our stubborn, hapless little-"
He was cut off as Mipha's arm suddenly came up and swatted the sickle's vicious blade away from her neck, right before coiling back and punching forth like a snake pouncing upon its prey, striking the Yiga in his thin throat just as he fully turned her way. Letting out a choking grunt, the footsoldier stumbled one step back, when the Zora champion slid her leg out and tripped him into the air, then planted him to the ground below with a final punch to his chest that came down in a manner akin to a bolt of lightning. The blademaster with the dense voice from before saw this all happen with immense clarity and, reacting just before his surprised allies could, charged with an outraged growl and his unsheathed windcleaver held high. Mipha saw him coming, and without fail, she began running in his direction to join him in combat.
The blademaster was seconds away from unleashing his deadly blade with a mighty swing, but Mipha was already upon him with a flying leap and a defiant roar. Thrusting her knee forward, it struck the greatly taller figure in the center of his masked face with an audibly loud crack of the mask's wood, and potentially whatever laid behind it. Falling back limply from the unexpected move, the blademaster flew past his comrades and crashed to the floor with a pained and stunned cry alongside his weapon; the sword impacting with a metallic clatter. Rushing past three lunging footsoldiers and avoiding them all as though she were the wind itself, Mipha ran up to the windcleaver and grabbed at its handle, soon getting a firm hold of it. With reflexes she had long since gained from her training, even with the fact that this wasn't her preferred form of weaponry, she lifted its long blade above herself and brought it against a pair of oncoming sickles.
She pushed the one who wielded them back and swung the blade tenaciously, hitting the Yiga across his armored chest and pushing him back, though only harming him enough to keep him down for surely less than a few seconds. She then turned and saw two more pounce from behind and struck at them too. Sword hitting sickles for the briefest of instants, both the foes suddenly pulled back their hook-esque tools and vanished away in a gray cloud surrounded by red talismans; each minuscule paper object being covered in intricate and ancient writing containing mystic power. Before the enchanted objects could touch the floor, the two foul Sheikah both had suddenly appeared directly behind the Zora. Mipha spun to them just in time for their blades to clash again with a horrid, grating sound of metal-on-metal.
As some of the other footsoldiers surrounded Mipha and prepared to engage her or else helped their blademaster back to his feet, one pulled out his bow and took aim at the Zora. Pulling the string back after notching an arrow into it, he fired. The arrow left the bow as quick as a flash, but by the time it reached Mipha, she had taken notice of it and ducked her body down to the cave's floor. The projectile whizzed by in turn, sailing toward the back of the cave where the giant sat. It hit the titanic being directly in his shin armor with a hollow sounding plink, but its effects were less than that of a splinter. Still, it was enough to catch his attention, however slow it was. One entire minute after he had been hit, he gradually turned his head to look at it, and grumbled something dense under his withered breath.
A pang of annoyance from just hearing the fight soon evolving into one of full rage with this attempt to harm him, he began to stir. His fingers on the hilt of his weapon began to curl inward to its palm before taking it off completely. With the other hand he moved the great weapon to the side with a crack of its thick tip effortlessly crunching the lesser, loose stone at the base of his throne to powder. As soon as this thunderous sound echoed to the part of the cave where Mipha currently fought off her attackers, the fast-paced battle began to sluggishly grind down to a halt. All taking notice of this new shape, they watched him in united shock as he used his machete to help hoist his lanky, powerful self off of his throne; standing to his full, colossal height that only faintly avoided touching the roof of this expansive cave, and actually scraping a few protruding stalactites off of it, where they fell to the floor and shattered further.
Turning his head up lastly, the giant aimed his sights forward, specifically at the ones who defiled his tranquility. Eyes of red, bright and glowing like fiery rubies soaked in the ashes of burning embers, showed from the dark abyss that was the interior of his hood. Mipha felt a twinge of growing worry build up in her mind, and all the Yiga who had apparently been unaware of this creature's presence were staring his way as well, obviously very fearful in spite of the masks covering their faces. One of the treacherous Sheikah used this moment to run up to the ailing and unconscious form of the first footsoldier Mipha knocked out prior, and the pair vanished away in a red cloud. The others, including the recovered blademaster, began to grow visibly tense when it started to approach them at a startling rate.
"Yiga Clan..." he started to order in an unsure voice as the giant, once taking casual steps in their direction, broke into a full on sprint that quaked the earth they stood upon with every step. "Yiga Clan... fall back! Fall back to the rafts!"
The Yiga turned about and fled, dashing away from Mipha and making for their transports parked on the river bank outside the cave. Three of the footsoldiers managed to stop for a second in their stride to take aim and fire their bows at the behemoth. The puny arrows did absolutely nothing to the creature, save enrage him at their audacity enough to bellow a howling roar. He bounded past Mipha as she dodged to the side, as though failing to register the Zora's presence, and he was soon upon his real prey.
With one hand on it, the machete's cleaver-esque blade came down in a vertical blow and slashed into the floor, throwing back sparks and the archers with his force. With incredible reflexes unbefitting of its size, the creature quickly placed its other hand on the notched portion of its weapon's tip, tore it from the ground, lifted it into the air and brought it down again, like the blade of some executioner's machine, only to barely miss this time.
By then the Yiga pushed their three rafts into the river and boarded them, hoping the swift current would take them away. Onward the giant pressed his attack even further onto the ones who disrupted his peace. Without a care he leapt into the river behind them, sending up a tremendous wave of water that fell over the fleeing Yiga.
His eyes bearing the likes of a blazing flame upon his scarred face, he pursued them downriver. Lifting his great machete once more, he brought it down and crushed one of their closest rafts to splinters with his mighty blow; the soldiers aboard it using their honed skills to teleport away just before their ride was destroyed, and them along with it. The giant continued his assault on the Yiga who tried to escape him, wading waist-up through it as though the deepest portion of the water was nothing more than its shallows.
As things grew from loud to near-silent, Mipha slowly, and shakily traipsed to the front of the cave and observed the colossus chase away the ones who had been swarming over her only seconds prior. She only realized she was shivering most dreadfully from sheer amount of adrenaline pumping through her veins and to the heart thumping rapidly away in her chest a moment later as her wits caught up to her. Her pupils dilating and heart rate slowing, she sucked in several deep breaths before deciding what had to be done next. When they were apparently far enough away, Mipha immediately jumped into the water and made her escape in the opposite direction.
While her feet and body propelled her forth through the powerful current, her hands remained grasping firmly onto the windcleaver blade. Heavy as it was in the water, it would prove a most valuable asset should some of the Yiga who escaped from the rampaging giant end up pursuing her. With such foes potentially lurking around the next shadow to cross her path, she would need any form of reliable protection she could get...
Fluttershy's wings flapped more vigorously than usual as she flew through the sky above the forest. She was by her lone self, with a small wicker basket in one hoof that was filled with food she packed away in Canterlot. She was planning on only being gone for less than an hour, and she hoped nopony would realize her exit from the city. The only one to know of her departure from Canterlot was Princess Luna, who had informed her of her visit with Mipha in the night, and approved her plan to bring her something to eat. So long as she made no attempt to actually enter the woodland itself, anyway.
The flight was mostly uneventful, and with no birds flying around her at the moment, Fluttershy's eyes were drawn downward. She spotted nothing in particular, save the sight of the river she was just passing over, which flowed ever on without end. That changed when she caught something out of the corner of her eye.
It was a shape resting against a rock sticking out of the centermost part of the river. The shape was clearly crimson in coloration; it stuck out greatly from the darker surroundings of the water and forest. Fluttershy found herself drawn to it, and the urge to investigate it overtook anything else. Quickly drifting to the ground nearby, the creature suddenly took notice of her presence before she got too close and abandoned its rock of respite for the water. Though away from sight, Fluttershy knew the figure was still there - and had a pretty good idea on who it was.
"Mipha... is that you?" she asked aloud with blatant curiosity. "If that is you, it's me, Fluttershy. I'm, uh... alone, again."
Mipha heard this question well from where she was submerged, and it was in a voice familiar to her. Slowly enough to not cause even a single ripple, she poked her head above the water and looked at the pegasus with a partially relieved, and somewhat exhausted expression. "Yes, it's me," she spoke to the pony. Her eyes next blinked twice before squinting at her. "What are you doing out here, Fluttershy?"
"I was coming to visit you, actually," Fluttershy answered, lifting the basket beside her up for a second and putting it on the ground in front of her for the Zora to see. "I was bringing you some food I got from the Canterlot kitchens. It's just a few sandwiches and a slice of cake. I thought you might like it better than what you have to forage for out here."
It was then that Fluttershy remembered that this area was exceptionally distant from the cave she encountered her in, and so her head tilted to the right inquisitively. "What are you doing so far away from your cave, if I might ask?"
Mipha looked down at the water resting below her chin, and her grip on the sword beneath the drink slightly tightened. "I was... I was attacked," stated the Zora. To this piece of information, Fluttershy's face almost instantly transformed into one of shock.
"Attacked?" she gasped, putting a hoof to her mouth. "By what? What creature attacked you? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. And it was not a creature..." Mipha continued. Lifting her sword up fully from the river, she quickly threw the soaked weapon to the shoreline and it flatly landed on the grass a few feet in front of the pegasus. "I was assailed by a few individuals who were a bit more sapient than some mere creatures."
Fluttershy cautiously approached the windcleaver and inspected it. Though they still had them, the royal guards of both Canterlot and the Crystal Empire up in the frozen north were much more partial to spears than swords, and she had never seen a blade like this kind before. It looked outlandish, and not particularly made for pony hooves. "What are you saying? Who tried to hurt you?"
"It was the Yiga Clan. The Yiga Clan is a treacherous organization of folk who serve a vile evil. They are from where I hail from as well." Mipha's answer came with a grave tone. "Fluttershy, I believe I have a theory as to why the ponies you told me about are going missing. If the Yiga are in any way associated with the disappearances, I think they may very well be the ones behind it."
Fluttershy thought on this for a few seconds, when a spark of realization twinkled in her cyan eyes. She looked from the weapon back to the Zora and gave a gentle smile. "Mipha, this could be proof enough of your innocence. Why don't you take it and come with me to Canterlot?" she asked next with the utmost hope in her light voice. "And this isn't all. By the sound of it, you know a lot about these 'Yiga' people. You could tell the Princesses what you know of them!"
Mipha turned her view back to the water just below her face, searching for a strong reason against the third-given offer, only to emit a small huff of defeat. "I would speak once more about how I might wish for more time to think over an invitation like that. However, it appears as though I have little choice in the matter now," she sighed back. "If I stay out here, I risk being attacked by the Yiga again. And should that inevitably happen, I fear that I might not be so lucky in escaping them."
An unsure look came over her face next. "Fluttershy, I may have potential proof of my integrity, but how will your kind act when they see me?"
"I'm... actually not sure how they might act. But please, don't worry about us ponies," Fluttershy said in as reassuring of a tone as she could make. "You might know very little about us, but I mean it when I say we'd never do anything that might upset or harm you. We have our flaws like anyone else, but we get along with lots of other creatures. I'm your friend, right?"
"Friends... I'm not so sure of that, yet. But yes, I admit you are quite the kindly soul," Mipha said as she swam closer to the shoreline. "For now, I trust you, Fluttershy."
The pegasus toothily grinned at this, and only when it started to shrink a small ways did she speak again. "You know, one of the princesses from Canterlot, Luna, told me personally that she met you in your dreams last night. She informed me right before I set off to find you with her permission, and how much of a good person she saw you as. Did that actually happen?"
"I... suppose it did," Mipha confirmed, "and we talked for a short time about each other. She possesses extraordinary power."
"Well, that's the kind of magic alicorns can have," Fluttershy replied. Placing her hands on the rocks on the shore, Mipha left the river and stood upon the grassy ground. She walked up to the pegasus and looked down at her slightly-shorter shape in a timid way that Fluttershy couldn't help but relate to, being quite the shy character herself.
The Zora eventually looked down to the sword that separated them and knelt down to pick it up. "I'm sure this will indeed shed some light on your problem. But Fluttershy... will you promise to lend some form of credence to should any of your friends or neighbors still feel suspicious about me?"
"Of course I can. I promise," she said, before chuckling in anticipation of what was sure to be her one of her friend's reactions. "And I should mention something to you about Princess Twilight Sparkle. I just know she's going to adore meeting you. See, she loves reading and studying, among other things. Learning about you is going to make her ecstatic. She'll discover where you're from and get you back there in no time, I just know it."
"I should hope so. By the way, that... friend of yours who ran off to get you help. Applejack, I think you told me her name was," Mipha mentioned next. "Tell me, did she ever make it back?"
Fluttershy's joyful expression went completely solemn the second she heard this query, and she shifted a quick look to the forest behind her before staring back at Mipha. "She... never did," admitted the pegasus in a lower tone. "Princess Luna says that she's alive, but... gone. I think she got grabbed by whatever it really is kidnapping the other ponies. And if it's those Yiga Clan people you spoke of, then we have a lead."
She picked her basket back up into one of her front hooves and got a good grasp on it. "Shall we go?"
"Lead the way," the Zora reluctantly replied.