//------------------------------//
// Chapter 68: Greed of the Thief 
// Story: The Legend of Sunset Shimmer: Majora's Mask 
// by Ganondorf8 
//------------------------------//

The Legend of Sunset Shimmer: Majora's Mask
By Ganondorf8
August 14, 2017
Chapter 68: Greed of the Thief.

Once again, I found myself feeling conflicted as to what I wanted to do next. On the one hand, I needed to get my sword back from the Mountain Smithies and get it upgraded by using some gold dust which was supposedly hidden away by Maud--Darmani--somewhere in her village. On another, I had to give Scootaloo what Tender Taps asked of me, namely the pendant in order for something to happen. Finally, there was seeing Lightning Dust appear tonight at the Curiosity Shop. All three options... well... excluding my sword, were connected to the whole sidequest involving solving Scootaloo's problem so in that sense, I knew what ones were priority.

I had to deliver the pendant and see what Lightning Dust was up to. I could easily take care of the first one straight away as it involved simply going to Scootaloo, hand over the pendant, and see what she had to say in response. The Curiosity Shop opened late at night so that would require me killing some time though time was precious in that I didn't have as much of it as appearances suggested. I could go to Scootaloo first and then focus on getting my sword upgraded again but that would involve some fast movement on my part. So many options and just not enough time.

Even if I were to use the Inverted Song of Time--I was surprised that I didn't use it more often--I would still be cutting it pretty close because of two factors that I only now began to think about given they entered my mind. I had no idea where Maud's hidden stash of gold dust was in Goron Village. Unless she had told someone else about it before she died, it would just require me asking whoever she confided in to share their information. If not then I had no choice but to look for it the hard way and waste time in the process. The other factor involved when Lightning Dust would show up at the Curiosity Shop.

Tender Taps hadn't specified an exact time as to when she would show up leaving me once again forced to figure it out on my own. She could show up as soon as the shop opened or even halfway through the night and I would never know until she happened to show up in person. Just when things looked like they were finally going correctly, I ended up experiencing setbacks that weren't my fault. And then there was the reason behind her being there. Lightning Dust, from what I remembered seeing of her--I only encountered her twice and both times weren't pleasant--she pretended to be innocent and pranced about like she were a dancer or ballerina.

Her behaviour belied a ruthless thief who would steal anything without any care for her victims. According to Princess Twilight, the pony version of her was seen as extremely confident and willing to go to extreme measures just to prove how good a flyer she was. However, she showed no concern for others when her reckless actions almost cost the lives of the pony versions of my friends. That negative trait of Lightning Dust had been transferred over to the version of her who was a thief and that meant I had to be cautious in case she were to suddenly become wild.

Mulling things over for a few moments, I decided that I was going to hand over the pendant to Scootaloo first. After all, she was only a short distance away and Tender Taps didn't give me an actual time limit though I preferred getting it out of the way in case something went wrong. Thanking Tender Taps and promising to keep my word, I left his hidden residence and began making my way back over to the Stock Pot Inn, and along the way I noticed Aria running by on her delivery run. I thought about calling out to her but she was unlikely to talk back since it would disrupt her schedule.

Once I reached the inn, I went inside and was surprised to see that Scootaloo was no longer standing behind the desk. Instead, it was a much older woman who I didn't recognize though Princess Twilight seemed to know. Before she could say anything about her, the woman turned her head and began staring at me with such cold eyes, I felt like wanting to leave again but I couldn't let one person scare me away, and not before I could carry out my promise. I assumed she was in charge of the inn yet why give me such a stern look? Did she suspect I was here regarding Tender Taps? Why would it bother her?

Princess Twilight whispered to me. " That's Misty Fly."

" I have no idea who that is." I whispered back.

" She is one of the more recent members of the Wonderbolts back in Equestria." Twilight whispered. " I don't know much about her other than she is an accomplished flyer who isn't afraid to get her hooves dirty, but Rainbow Dash knows way more about her and the other Wonderbolts than anyone else outside of their team. I am of course referring to the pony version of Rainbow as opposed to the one who attends Canterlot High."

" You didn't need to add that last bit."

" Just wanted to be correct about it."

" So why is she even here?"

Princess Twilight shrugged. " I have no idea but we need to know where Scootaloo is."

" Maybe Misty Fly knows."

" Maybe but I am sensing some hidden malice coming from her."

I blinked a couple of times. " Since when have you been able to do something like that?"

Again, Princess Twilight shrugged. " I honestly don't know where I got it from but I've recently been able to sense the auras of people. If anyone has any hidden intent to cause harm upon another, I can sense it coming from them provided I'm close enough to them. From what Misty Fly is giving off in terms of malice, she isn't evil but she is harbouring hatred towards someone who had really annoyed her and I think that someone could be Tender Taps."

" Do you think Misty Fly is related to Scootaloo in this world?"

" Only way to know is to go up and ask her."

I gulped. Even though I hadn't spoken to her yet, Misty Fly was already giving me a bad feeling based on her expression alone. I didn't like the idea of speaking to her in case she decided to chew me out for no particular reason but I needed to know where Scootaloo was and she was the only one around right now who knew. I walked up to the desk before bowing before her slightly, her expression still cold and uncaring, my nerves increasing, my heartbeat beating faster and faster, but I had to persevere and ask her straight up where Scootaloo was and without causing a scene.

Before I had a chance to speak, Misty Fly looked down at my hand and her eyes squinted. " What do you have there?"

Crap! She could see the pendant that Tender Taps gave me. I needed to come up with an excuse quickly before she got too suspicious. " This little old thing? It's a keepsake from a friend of mine who gave it to me before he left to explore the world several years ago. I really shouldn't keep it out in the open otherwise people might assume something about me that clearly isn't true." I felt really awkward when I said that so I quickly placed the pendant in my pocket whilst pretending not to make myself out to be a complete idiot. " Anyway, am I to assume that you are the one who runs this inn?"

Misty Fly nodded. " I am."

" Then surely you must know of Anju?"

Again, Misty Fly nodded. " She is my only daughter, yes. Are you looking for her by any chance? Judging from the key that's also hanging out of your pocket, you are one of our customers so I aim to make you as content as possible. Anju did say that it was a Goron who claimed the one room we still had available the other day but it's clear that she still doesn't remember who everyone looks like. I'm sorry if she caused you any problems. I know she means well but her apologetic nature combined with her obliviousness make her somewhat of a problem around here."

" I'm sure she doesn't do deliberately."

" No, I suppose she doesn't." Misty Fly said. " Now, why do you need to speak with my daughter? She is currently out right now but she will be back within the next hour with some food and other items we need to keep our customers happy. To be quite frank, she seemed rather nervous before leaving this morning to do those errands. It was as though she were grappling with a problem that only she knows about. Unless you know anything about it."

I gulped. " Um... Not really."

Misty Fly eyed me suspiciously before shrugging. " You're not a familiar face around here anyway so I guess you wouldn't know. Anyway, I don't know why but I feel compelled to tell you what's been on my mind these past moons. Have you ever heard of someone by the name of Kafei?"

I nodded. " Some people in town mentioned his name."

" You sound like you don't know much about him so I might as well tell you." Misty Fly said. " He was engaged to marry my daughter, Anju, tomorrow night when the carnival is said to begin but then he upped and disappeared a month ago. Naturally, Anju was devastated given she had been waiting for this day and while I was also devastated, I was furious at what he had done to my child. She is willing to forgive him for such behaviour but I know that Kafei disappeared because he is nothing but a scoundrel. I wonder if Kafei is really at Cremia's place and not somewhere as his parents have been saying."

" His parents?"

Misty Fly stared at me coldly. " Mayor Dotour and Monsieur Aroma. Both of them have no idea where Kafei has gotten off to yet haven't bothered to try and find him. Instead, the mayor is too busy dealing with an argument between the town militia and the carnival committee whereas Monsieur Aroma insists on trying to find someone who is experienced at finding lost people. I tell you, they only care about themselves instead of their own child and it sickens me to know that they prefer their own lives as opposed to his." She then paused for a moment before continuing. " If Kafei is indeed at Romani Ranch, I will give him a smack."

The instant she mentioned Cremia, I knew she was talking about Applejack, but what did she have to do with any of this? Something told me that Misty Fly knew something so I needed to convince her to share what she knew. Again, I had to make sure I wasn't being too obvious otherwise she would figure me out and would surely kick me out of here or stop me from speaking with Scootaloo. " You said Kafei could be at Cremia's place, right? Who exactly is Cremia?" I felt embarrassed having to feign ignorance but it was the only option I had without revealing too much.

" You must not leave town much, huh?"

I rubbed the back of my head and smiled sheepishly. " I'm what you call a city girl."

" With clothes like that, you look more like a girl from the woods."

" I get that a lot."

Misty Fly coughed. " Cremia is the owner and manager of Romani Ranch, a place located down Milk Road next to the Southern Swamp. It's no secret that she also had feelings towards Kafei but he rejected her in favour of Anju but I'm not buying it for an instant. You see, Cremia needs strength from a partner and business support from Monsieur Aroma, the latter having connections that could give the ranch even more publicity allowing it to prosper. As the son of the mayor, and the postmaster, Kafei not only possesses political clout, he also has a charm that can swoon over anyone."

" He sounds like a decent person."

" Decent!? Ha!" Misty Fly shouted as she slammed her hands onto the front desk. " If he were decent, he would be here right now comforting Anju instead of doing who knows what and with whom just because he feels like it. If Kafei really has run off with Cremia, she'll get both things I mentioned leaving Anju with nothing. I have told her many times that she deserves better but she continues to believe that he will return. It is this naïve nature that will one day be the death of her. I mean, how happy could she possibly be... marrying a man who runs off when he's about to be married?"

I shrugged. " I don't know."

" Then let me answer it for you." Misty Fly said. " It would make her life unhappy... just like mine. Anju received a letter recently that said Kafei would be coming back but I know it's another lie designed to take advance of her innocence and provide false hope. But, surely you have noticed the moon up above, haven't you?" I nodded prompting her to do the same before continuing on. " I've heard some say that this town will be crushed beneath the moon the morning after tomorrow. At this point, survival has become our priority but until I have concrete evidence that the town is doomed, it's business as usual."

I thought about telling her to go outside and look up at the sky to see the moon for herself but I doubted she would be willing to listen to me. In her mind, Misty Fly was obsessed with making Tender Taps miserable and all because she didn't know what was going on. Granted, he should have just come forward and explained things instead of remaining hidden as doing so would have made things so much easier, yet his pride as well as his promise kept him from coming back. In a way, Tender Taps created this mess yet I had been given the task of fixing it even though it wouldn't mean anything once time had been reset.

Even if I were to resolve this problem and help out everyone who will end up getting involved, resetting time would effectively undo all of my hard work leaving them unaware that anything had happened though I would get only a small comfort in the form of the Bomber's Notebook recording what I did and any masks I would obtain. It had been some time since I last thought about the one aspect of time travel that I now personally viewed with a grudge. If only it were possible for my actions towards helping people become reality when this was all said and done but I honestly didn't know whether it would or not.

Suddenly, the sound of a door clicking broke me out of my daydreaming--and just in time as Misty Fly was beginning to get annoyed with me--and Scootaloo entered, holding a bag that contained what she had been asked to acquire. She was happy to see me at first but her expression quickly changed when she noticed Misty Fly looking at her. For a moment, it felt really weird standing in-between both parent and child, waiting for one of them to break the awkward silence, yet Scootaloo simply walked off to the right, went around the corner, and emerged a minute later next to her mother.

Misty Fly then broke the silence. " I see you've come back, Anju."

Scootaloo nodded. " Yes, mother."

" Our customer has been waiting for you."

" She has?"

" I was afraid that I would have to go out and start looking for you but you came back just in time."

" I had some things on my mind but I wasn't too distracted to not complete my errands."

Smiling, Misty Fly took the bag from Scootaloo and put it away. " Glad to see that you are finally seeing where I'm coming from, Anju. Now, you need not worry about your grandmother who is probably complaining about not having her meal. You deal with our customer while I shall go and prepare her something."

Scootaloo then waited until her mother had walked out of the room and into the kitchen before leaning forward and beckoning me to come a little closer. " Um, I'm so sorry if my mother gave you a hard time. I know that she probably said bad things about Kafei but she is wrong! I know Kafei will return despite the odds of that happening are slim to none." She then noticed me fiddling about with my pocket and immediately felt curious. " Do you have something that you're struggling to take out from your pocket?"

" I have something for you."

" What is it?"

I then took out the pendant. " This is from Kafei."

Gasping in silence, Scootaloo reached out and took the pendant from my hand. " Did you truly get this from... him?"

I nodded. " I've seen him in person but I made a promise to not tell anyone where he is and what he looks like. I know you want to know about the latter one but you have to trust me on this and wait until he comes back to see you."

" I understand." Scootaloo said as she pocketed the pendant. " My mother thinks Kafei is a horrible man for seemingly abandoning me but I know better than to ever doubt him despite the problems that currently plague him. That's why I've decided to wait for him. I've made my promise and I intend on keeping it."

" Your mother may not approve of that."

" Whatever do you mean?"

" I suspect your mother plans on having all of you flee town tomorrow."

Scootaloo sighed. " I honestly did not realize she was so serious about it but she has brought it up with me early this morning. I know she means well and wants nothing more than for all of us to be safe, but she and my grandmother will have to flee to Romani Ranch without me. I know she will protest and even threaten me into going there but I have made my promise and nothing will change that. I'm glad you gave me the pendant, Mrs. Sunset, as it is the proof my mother needs to see to know that Kafei is still faithful to me." She looked up at the ceiling for several seconds before focusing her attention back at me. " I'm fine with my decision. I believe Kafei will come."

" Well... If you're absolutely certain of it."

Scootaloo nodded. " My mother will understand so please do not worry about it."

Knowing there was nothing else I could say, I wished Scootaloo luck and left the inn before sitting down on a nearby bench and burying my head into my hands. While I admired her dedication towards wanting to wait for Tender Taps to return with his sun mask, there was no way of knowing if he was going to succeed in getting it back. Lightning Dust acted all innocent but was devious in that her hideout was most likely somewhere no one would ever go. Perhaps she would give it away when she meets with Iron Will at the Curiosity Shop later tonight so now I really had a reason for needing to be there.

With the pendant now taken care of, I decided that my next course of action was to get my sword upgraded to its strongest form. Looking at the clock hanging on the wall located nearby, it read 4:00pm which meant nightfall was coming and I had six hours to go before the Curiosity Shop would open. I had no idea how long it would take for me to find Maud's hidden stash of gold dust but hopefully not too long as missing anything of the conversation between Lightning Dust and Iron Will would prove disastrous. I now wished I had my own means of telling time without needing the clocks scattered about.

Taking out the Ocarina of Time from the pouch on my belt, I played the Song of Soaring and focused on going back to the Mountain Village--I would have chosen Goron Village but there was no Owl Statue in the village so I had to do some slight backtracking. Wings then protruded from my back, wrapped themselves around me, spun around me several times until I disappeared in an instant. I arrived at my destination moments later and immediately the cold winds of Snowhead affected my body and I folded my arms to keep warm. I was about to start heading over to the Mountain Smithy when Princess Twilight began bopping my head repeatedly.

Unlike me, she could survive in any environment--the joys of being a fairy--yet I needed to get inside before my body froze itself to death. After Her Highness bopped me on the head a few more times, I finally had enough and shooed her off my head with my hand. " Alright, Twilight! What do you want to tell me?"

" I didn't mean to make you testy, Sunset." Twilight said.

I sighed. " I'm freezing out here right now and I need to get inside before my body freezes and I die. Funny, I don't know why this is happening now when in the past, the cold didn't really affect me and I could go about as normal."

" I promise to make this quick then."

" Please do!" I said whilst chattering with my teeth.

" Instead of going to pick up your sword, why not go and collect the gold dust instead?" Twilight asked. " You need to head over to Goron Village anyway to find her stash but why not go there and get it first before picking up your sword? I know you don't like to backtrack but I figured that doing things this way will cut down on any unnecessary backtracking."

" Sure, I'll go with that."

" That was a quick decision you made."

" I'm freezing!"

" Then become a Goron."

" Why?"

" Even though they don't like the water, Gorons are able to handle cold temperatures." Twilight answered. " Becoming Darmani should give you some extra protection but I wouldn't stick around long enough to find out. If you roll along the snow by bringing out those spikes of yours, you should reach the village in a matter of minutes. From there, you could ask one of the locals about Maud's hidden stash or try and find it yourself."

" Who do you think she would have told about it?"

" I'm going to take a guess and say Diamond Tiara."

" Really?" I asked, confused by her answer. " You would seriously guess it was the one Goron who has to stand outside and guard the village while everyone else is inside--and freezing to death because of unfortunate circumstances--and not Cranky Doodle?"

Princess Twilight flopped onto my hat. " While it would make sense that she would have told Cranky, I remember how your conversation with him went last time. His old age may have caused him to unintentionally forget certain things so Maud telling him about her hidden stash would be counterproductive. No, I think she would have told Diamond Tiara as like you said, she is outside standing guard and sees everything that goes on in the village. That also includes Maud hiding bottles of gold dust somewhere. Do you see where I'm coming from, Sunset? Of course, this is just a guess on my part so what I'm saying could be wrong."

" Then we'll just have to risk it."

Taking out the Goron Mask and placing it on my face, I began stumbling about as the magic within the mask began causing my body to shimmer from human to Goron, but at least the snow didn't make me stumble somewhere I shouldn't be, namely the pond of freezing water located behind me. Upon completing the transformation, my body started feeling a lot warmer but I was still feeling the cold because this weather wasn't natural--I could have defeated Goht again to bring spring back but I didn't see any point considering it would all be lost upon resetting time--and that was when a strange voice began ringing in my head.

It was a faint voice but then it quickly became clear as to who was trying to speak to me. Closing my eyes and concentrating, I could see the image of Maud Pie's ghost appearing before me though she wasn't able to fully materialize as her spirit had long since been sealed away inside of the Goron Mask. She was barely able to speak coherent sentences but I did manage to understand what she was saying. According to Maud, her hidden stash of gold dust was located where most would never tread so I immediately assumed it was the shrine located on the other side of the abyss that overlooked the village but she shook her head and said speak to her hardened friend.

I tried asking what she meant by "hardened friend" but Maud's spirit disappeared leaving me with no answer. What did she mean by where most would never tread? Was she trying to say that there was an area in the village that no Gorons have ever been to before? That didn't sound like a compelling argument but perhaps there was such a place in the village yet I just never noticed it before because of focusing on what I could naturally see. Opening my eyes, I informed Princess Twilight of what just happened and she said I should follow up by speaking with Diamond Tiara.

Curling up into a ball, I began rolling forward, the snow providing me enough momentum, allowing spikes to protrude from my body. With my spikes, I could now roll much faster than before and run over any monsters that happened to get in my way. Deep down, I missed rolling around as a Goron as it gave me so much freedom not to mention it got me from place to place in mere moments as opposed to minutes had I walked there. Rolling along and entering the next section of Snowhead, the twin bridges area, I rolled over a Blue Tektite that had been hiding below in the snow though it caused me to veer off course, tumble down onto the ice coated lake, and roll into a mound of snow.

Shaking my head and getting back up onto my feet, I noticed Pinkie Pie flying about via her balloon. I thought about popping it and bringing her down to the ground so that I could talk to her in hopes she would know anything, but Princess Twilight suggested otherwise and I agreed with her decision. Knowing Pinkie, she would most likely repeat information from before along with wanting to convince me to purchase one of her maps--I had them all so that service was no longer applicable with me. Choosing to ignore her, I curled back up into a ball and continued rolling forward, catching some air as I launched off a ramp and landing on a White Wolfos this time.

While I inflicted some damage on it, it wasn't thrilled to see me and it did cause me to stop rolling, uncurling myself in the process. Rather than wait for it to do something, I walked away--I couldn't run as a Goron--and quickly entered Goron Village where I was once again impressed by the beautiful landscape. Sure, it was a morbid scene given that it wasn't supposed to be snowing this badly but I couldn't help but feel a small sense of awe over such beauty. I could see Diamond Tiara standing guard yet I began looking around to see where this one place was that couldn't be reached by Gorons according to what Maud said in my mind.

I saw nothing out of the ordinary so I walked over to Diamond Tiara. She noticed me and raised her hands as a means of self-defence. " Halt! Who goes there?" I moved a bit closer and her jaw dropped upon seeing me. " Darmani? Is that you?" I nodded my head causing her to be taken aback. " But how? The Goron Elder said the rescue party that was sent out to find you discovered your lifeless body somewhere at the bottom of the chasm below Snowhead Temple so how can you be standing here before me?"

" It's rather difficult to explain."

Diamond Tiara shook her head. " No need for you to explain anything to me, Darmani."

" How come?"

" The fact that you are alive and well is all the explanation I need." Diamond Tiara answered. " Though it does beg the question as to where have you been all this time and whatever happened to our two brothers who were tasked to prepare your grave on the highest peak in all of Snowhead."

Hearing her mention those two Gorons caused me to remember speaking to them back when I first could become a Goron myself. They had been tasked with making the grave and unintentionally covered up a hot spring that they regretted doing knowing the water could have been used for various thing. If I recalled correctly, one of them was Sandalwood though I couldn't recall who the other one was. In any case, I knew that one of them had been frozen while the other was slowly freezing to death himself. While I wanted to head on over to Maud's grave to help them once again, I knew that I had already done it once so doing it again held no proper merit.

" They could still be up there."

" At your grave, Darmani?"

I nodded. " I'm not sure what happened to them as when I woke up, I found myself back at the Mountain Village." I felt horrible for lying to Diamond Tiara like that but I couldn't tell her the truth or else she would really get confused.

" Guess all we can hope for is that they can find their way back down."

" You're not worried about them?"

" Of course I'm worried for their safety, Darmani, but with this abysmal cold snap all over Snowhead, the village is more important than stragglers." Diamond Tiara answered. " We can't even afford to send out a search party for them due to some unforeseen problems that arose after you supposedly died out there." She paused to gather her thoughts before carrying on but I knew what she was going to say next since I had already been through this when I came here the first time. When the elder left to find out what was going on up at the temple, his son started crying and he hasn't stopped leading everyone inside to suffer constant migraines."

" What can be done about it?"

" We need to find the Elder and ask him to come back."

" But what if he doesn't want to come back?"

That left Diamond Tiara stumped for a few seconds. " Well... the Elder did say that going to Snowhead Temple would solve the snow problem and that there was no one else who could go after you died leaving him the only one. I suppose if you were to explain things to him, it might convince him to come back to his son, but then he could still insist on going out of a sense of duty as our leader."

While I could after him, I had to focus on the real reason I was here. " Um... Do you know anything about gold dust?"

Diamond Tiara was surprised. " Huh? Gold dust? What does that have to do with finding the Elder?"

" It doesn't but I was wondering if you knew anything about the stuff." I answered. " You look as though you could do with a change of pace seeing as you've been on edge lately what with everything happening around here."

" I would like to talk about something else yes, but what of the Elder?"

" I'll tell you what." I began, grinning. " I promise to go and look for him after I'm done here, okay?"

As I continued grinning, deep down, I felt like a scumbag for saying that I would do all of these things and end up not doing them. Technically, I had saved Cranky--I somehow managed to remember that he was portraying the Goron Elder--before during a previous cycle so I had already kept my word, and yet, I still felt horrible for lying straight to Diamond Tiara's face all while getting her to talk about Maud's hidden stash of gold dust. I hoped my actions wouldn't condemn me in the future otherwise it would be one I'd rather not live in. The more I dabbled with time, the more I grew to hate it with a bloody passion.

Diamond Tiara smiled and relaxed her muscles a little. " To answer your question, Darmani, I do happen to know about gold dust. Heck, everyone in the village knows about the stuff since we compete for it every year whenever the Patriarch's Race comes about when it becomes spring. None of us have any idea where the Goron Elder finds it out there but he does and he makes sure a bottle filled with it is given out to whoever wins. If I remember rightly, you've won the race for the last five years, but you never did see any use for the gold dust so you hid it away somewhere as a means of a secret stash."

I then got excited. " Do you know where it is?"

" Um... I thought you of all Gorons would know that."

Crap! I quickly came up with another excuse. " I was wondering if you knew since you do stand guard out here."

" Of course I know where your stash is."

I breathed a sigh of relief. " I was planning on using some gold dust for a special project I was working on before my accident."

Diamond Tiara laughed. " So you finally found a use for the stuff after all this time? See, the Elder said you would come to appreciate the value of gold dust some day and that day has finally come at last. You made sure to share the location of your stash only to me since I was an obvious choice given my job around here and all." She pointed towards a platform located high up on a mountain and pointed down towards the bottom where I noticed a Deku Flower. " I don't know what convinced you to hide your stash up there but it's not like anyone can get their hands on it unless they could use that Deku Flower."

" Maybe I should find a better location."

" It couldn't hurt."

" Now how am I supposed to get up there?"

" None of us can climb up steep rock faces, Darmani, but you did manage to get yourself up there." Diamond Tiara answered. " Well... You technically got up there with my help but you didn't really like what happened. I can't help it if my rolling is stronger than most Gorons could ever hope to achieve. You seem desperate to want to get access to your stash so I'm going to provide you with a little boost but don't look at what I'm going to do okay?"

I had no idea what she was going to do so I agreed to not look at what she was doing. Despite not seeing her antics, I heard Diamond Tiara curl up into a ball, roll a short distance away, stop, shuffle about, and then absolute silence. My heart began racing as I waited to see what she had in mind, and that was when the thunderous noise that was Diamond Tiara came barreling along until she collided with me. The force from her collision sent me flying across the village--I flailed my arms in sheer panic--until I landed face-first in the snow though my back definitely didn't enjoy the experience.

No wonder she said I wouldn't like what would happen because of a prior experience she had with Maud. No wonder no one ever found her stash of gold dust as you would have to have been absolutely insane to want to be ejected all the way up here. At the very least, the overview of the village was nice so it wasn't a complete loss. My eyes then noticed a pile of snow that looked out of place, indicating the location of Maud's stash yet it was a Piece of Heart that was partly buried that really caught my attention. I assumed the proper way to get up here was by using the Deku Flower yet that would have involved asking the Deku Scrub who currently occupied it.

Rummaging through the snow, I was surprised to see five bottles filled with gold dust just lying there. The cold hadn't caused any of them to suffer any kind of imperfections, a testament to Maud's ability to take proper care of her belongings, yet I wasn't about to take one of her bottles despite her no longer being alive. Instead, I intended on pouring the contents from one of her bottles into one of my own. That way, I would receive the gold dust in good faith all while ensuring that Maud's hard work would remain intact. It took only a few moments to pour the gold dust--it looked so beautiful--into my own bottle before corking it back up and putting it behind my back.

Covering up the remaining bottles, I turned to face Diamond Tiara, who waved at me from a distance. I waved back at her and she resumed standing guard leaving me to figure out how to get back down without hurting myself--Gorons didn't like falling from great heights. I then slapped my forehead upon realizing that I could just use warp my way off of this platform by playing the Song of Soaring. Taking out the ocarina again, it transformed into the drums that Maud was known for playing, and played the Song of Soaring. Just as I was about to focus on where I wanted to go, the howling of a wolf echoed all around me.

Night of the Second Day - 36 Hours Remain.

While that certainly caught me off guard--I really needed my own way of telling time in this world--it wasn't enough to stop me from focusing on where I wanted to go. I closed my eyes and concentrated on wanting to go back to the Mountain Village. The wings once again protruded from my back, wrapped themselves around me, spun around several times, and just like that, I disappeared into the ether. I then reappeared several moments later back in the village by the Owl Statue and proceeded to walk over to the Mountain Smithies. One thing about being a Goron that I liked was their weight made trudging through snow so much easier.

Reaching the front door, I was about to open it when Princess Twilight reminded me that I was still a Goron--I couldn't ask them to hand over a sword to one who uses their fists instead of a blade to fight with. Grabbing my face, I pulled off the Goron Mask, and flipped back my hair just as the cold temperature began affecting me again. Reaching out for the doorknob and turning it, I entered the smithies' building where my body immediately started getting warmer courtesy of their hearth. I was so glad that I melted the ice that covered it earlier otherwise I would still be freezing my butt off.

" Ugo! Ugoh!" Lord Tirek said as he swung his hammer about.

" Ah! A customer!" Fancy Pants said.

I jumped out of my skin--not literally--upon Lord Tirek shouting out like that. " I'm back."

Fancy Pants sat up on his couch. " Well, I was beginning to think that you weren't ever going to come back at all. Your sword was finished early this morning and Gabora has been holding onto it this entire time, waiting to give it back to you."

" Ugo! Ugo!" Lord Tirek said.

" You needn't worry about Gabora breaking it or anything." Fancy Pants said. " While he may be a hulking behemoth who has the brain of a Deku Stick, he is very delicate when it comes to handling the swords of our customers. In fact, he's far better at handling them than I am which doesn't bother me at all. Now then, may I present to you, the Razor Sword, a blade that has no equal, and will certainly prove to be a cut above the rest."

Little did he know that I had the Great Fairy's Sword, a blade that was stronger than any other in Termina. Not even his best work could compare to the blade that once belonged to one of the Great Fairies. Lord Tirek then leaned forward before dropping the Razor Sword into my hands. It was the same as what they had done before so I knew what to expect, yet now I had what they required to make it even stronger. While it wouldn't be as powerful as what I received from the Great Fairy of Kindness, it was going to be my go-to sword because of needing my shield for protecting purposes.

" Ugo!"

" Now keep in mind that after you've used this one hundred times, the blade will lose its edge and will return to its original sharpness." Fancy Pants said. " If you want to retain its current edge, all you have to do is come back and see us. and we'll restore those uses back as though your blade were newly forged. It will however, cost you about twenty rupees so don't expect us doing it for free. We have our livelihoods to think about and doing charity work isn't one of them. Now then, if you were to have some gold dust on hand, I could upgrade your weapon even further to the point where it will remain permanently powerful."

" Ugoh! Ugoh!"

" You still have some time to get some gold dust."

" Ugo!"

Fancy Pants nodded. " You see, we won't be doing regular business tomorrow because the Carnival of Time will be underway. There is no way Gabora and I are going to miss out on the action so unless you've got the goods then there's nothing we can do. Normally, we were considering closing up shop right now and head on over to Clock Town in the middle of the night but we're feeling a might generous right now."

I reached behind my back and pulled out the bottle of gold dust. " I was able to get my hands on this."

Seeing the bottle caused Fancy Pants' eyes to flare up. " Is that what I think it is!?"

" Ugoh! Ugo-oh! Ugoh! Ugo!" Lord Tirek answered.

" It's gold dust and it's even top quality!"

" Ugo!"

" How in the world did you get your hands on this?" Fancy Pants asked. " Sure, gold dust is hard to come by but what you have in your bottle could have only come from the secret location known only to the Goron Elder. In fact, he gives out bottles of the stuff in their Patriarch's Race they have every year, yet isn't that held during the spring? If you haven't noticed already but the weather outside is anything but spring. So tell me... How did you manage to get your hands on this gold dust?"

I couldn't reveal that I got it from Maud's secret stash so I needed to come up with another reason. " It was given to me by their strongest warrior."

" Isn't that Darmani?"

" Ugoh!" Lord Tirek added.

I nodded. " She said she didn't know what to do with it so she said I could have it."

I hoped both Fancy Pants and Lord Tirek believed my little reason even though it was again, technically the truth but not quite. If anything, all I was doing was making some careful alterations to the narrative in order to protect certain things from becoming known. Maud through her vision in my mind wanted me to have some of the gold dust she had collected as a result of winning so many races over at the Goron Track so I wasn't stealing from her but rather using it to help save Termina from destruction. I couldn't let them know where and how I got the gold dust in case they decided to go and find some for themselves over at the village.

" Well... Darmani was known for not caring much at all for baubles." Fancy Pants said.

" Ugo-oh! Ugo!" Lord Tirek said.

" It's a shame that she died the way she did according to what the Gorons have said." Fancy Pants said. " I'm guessing you were able to see her before she journeyed up to that temple located at the peak of Snowhead. You were lucky then, kid. Anyway, with the gold dust, I can use it to re-forge your sword and make it stronger than ever. In fact, you have more than enough gold dust in your bottle. In other words, there will be some left over."

" So how much will it cost me?" I asked.

" Normally, I would charge you a hefty amount considering the material that's being used is very rare."

" But?"

" But... Just this once, I'm going to do it for free."

" Ugoh! Ugo-oh! Ugo! Ugoh!" Lord Tirek said.

" I know, I know, Gabora, but we owe this kid so much." Fancy Pants said. " If not for her, we would still be trying to figure out how to melt the ice that froze our hearth and we wouldn't have gotten to see such pure gold dust as what she brought to us with our own eyes. No, I've no intention of charging her 300 rupees." He turned towards me, his outstretched palm yearning for both my sword and the bottle that contained the golden goods. " Please don't let anyone know that I'm doing this favour for you, especially any Gorons as they are my regular customers and them learning that I did something for free would make them want the same treatment."

I handed back my sword over to Lord Tirek by dropping it into his hand. " Can I at least keep my bottle?"

Fancy Pants nodded. " Just dump the gold dust onto the plate that Gabora will provide for you. Just like before, your sword will be ready by tomorrow morning so please come by then to pick it up. Hopefully, you won't keep us waiting for too long."

Lord Tirek then reached for a nearby plate, grabbed it, and placed it in front of me before pointing down at it using his free hand. Knowing that I shouldn't keep him waiting, I uncorked the bottle of gold dust, and turned it upside down before the contents dropped out onto the plate. Satisfied that I had done as he wanted, Lord Tirek took both the plate and my sword before turning around to get down to work. Knowing that everything was in good hands, I decided to take my leave of the Mountain Smithies by going back outside where it was now even colder than ever because of nightfall.

" That turned out better than we expected." Twilight said.

" At least I managed to get my sword upgraded without having to pay for it." I said whilst trying to keep warm.

" Good thing you melted their hearth when you did."

" Can we go back to Clock Town now?"

Princess Twilight nodded. " We should have just enough time to get over to the Curiosity Shop and wait for Lightning Dust to arrive. Just make sure she doesn't spot you otherwise she's likely to run away and that means having to start over again. You know, you could use the Stone Mask."

" How would that help?"

" Remember that it allows you to blend in with your surroundings as though you were a stone."

" I get what you're saying." I said as I struggled to take out the ocarina. " By using that mask, Lightning Dust should hopefully be unable to see me unless she is one of those who is completely unaffected by the mask's power. If the latter ends up happening, Twilight, I'm going to have one of the worst bouts of rages I've ever had in my life. I know I sounds like I'm exaggerating here but I'm dead serious!"

Princess Twilight nodded. " I have a feeling it will work."

I hoped that Her Highness was right about this one. I mean, she has almost always been right about this kind of thing--the times where she was wrong was because she didn't know the situation at hand through no fault of her own--so doubting her wasn't really a good idea. Besides, I didn't even know how I was going to approach the inevitable meeting between Lightning Dust and Iron Will until she gave me the suggestion. Choosing to go with her idea and raising the ocarina to my now freezing lips, I struggled to play the Song of Soaring and focused on wanting to go back to Clock Town where it was so much warmer than the mountains.





" I was thinking about that man who was carrying that sun mask, Tael." Starlight said. Spike didn't respond to her prompting her to check to see if he was okay. He appeared to be keeping himself quiet as though he didn't have anything to say. Starlight felt very uncomfortable and tried to see if she could get him talking. " Didn't I apologize for making you cry even though I've no idea what even happened?" Again, Spike remained quiet and she began getting angry but refrained from completely losing her cool like she did before. " I promise that I won't make you cry anymore, okay?"

Spike looked in her direction but seemed lifeless. " It's not that which has me upset."

" Then what is it?"

" It's that mask of yours, Skull Kid."

" You know what my stance is when it comes to keeping it on my face, Tael."

" Maybe you should consider returning it to that woman you stole it from." Spike suggested. " At first, you, me, and Tatl were having the time of our lives, seeing what kind of powers it possessed, but lately, you've been slowly changing, becoming something that just frightens my very soul to its core. I don't know what it is that I'm feeling but that mask has a mind of its own. You can call me crazy for coming up with such an outlandish theory but it's how I currently feel."

" Are you saying I don't know how to control it?"

Spike shook his head though made sure to keep a close eye on Starlight in case she would turn violent like she did before. " We don't even know what that mask of yours is capable of doing but I'd like to think that woman knows more than anyone else. I know you don't want to give up your power since it would mean no longer being able to pull all those pranks but maybe you should consider my words carefully."

" You really want me to give it back?"

" I do."

Laughing as hard and as loudly as possible, Starlight laughed so hard that the mask almost fell off her face. " Why in the world would I want to give this back? Ever since I first placed it on my face and acquired my magic, I've been able to pay back everyone in this world who either wronged me or were thinking of doing it. There is no way I'm ever giving this mask back and nothing you say will make me change my mind. Besides, I can't give it back until I've completed my ultimate prank." Looking up at the moon, Starlight chuckled to herself before glowing in a dark aura that radiated all around her.

Spike noticed what was happening and responded by cowering away behind one of the green jars that were scattered around the top of the Clock Tower. He knew that what his friend was doing was completely out of control yet his words held no meaning towards her. Tried as he might, Starlight only wanted to see how much further she could go with her power even if it meant destroying everything and everyone. What had originally started out as a series of pranks aimed at causing mayhem had become more malicious in their intent over time until she--Starlight--had reached a point where only obliteration was her calling.

He just couldn't understand it. How could Starlight have become so murderous in just a short period of time? Was the mask really developing a mind of its own? Spike couldn't believe his own words since the idea of a mask being capable of independent thought was impossible. And yet, neither he, Starlight, or Princess Twilight--when she was under the identity of Tatl before coming into contact with Sunset--really knew anything about Majora's Mask when Starlight acquired it from Sonata Dusk. The only hope Spike had now would be if he could convince his friend to willingly give up her power before it was too late.

Judging from how she had been shifting between her regular and twisted personalities, Spike's chances of success were extremely low. In his heart, he had proven to be weak all because he couldn't dissuade her but then he also believed that she too had a weak heart. Allowing herself to become consumed by Majora's Mask meant she lacked free will and instead could be used like a puppet. The only hope Spike had left was whether the girl who had been changed into a Deku Scrub, Sunset Shimmer, could save Starlight from herself before the world was destroyed, but there wasn't much time before the moon would crash.

" Um... Skull Kid?"

Starlight turned towards Spike, the eyes of her mask glowing in an eerie light. " This power is far too great for the likes of you or this puppet to comprehend but once everything has been consumed and become nothing more than dust within the cosmos, nothing will even matter anymore. I do find it adorable how creatures such as yourself believe that this mortal coil can be saved but its fate was determined long ago. How you cling onto a false belief that all will be saved by someone who thinks they can bring forth the protectors who have defended this world since ancient times. No wonder I allow such a mewling of existence such as yourself to remain alive."

" Who are you?"

" I am the one who shall consume everything."

" Why are you doing this?"

Starlight laughed in an unnatural way. " Why? All will become clear when the allotted time comes. Until then, all you can do is wait and see what happens. Know that only you are aware of my presence but also know that your friend nor anyone else will believe your words. They will think you are insane, believing that an ordinary mask is a sentient being, capable of decimation on an apocalyptic level." Laughing, Starlight began clutching her head like she were in pain even though she was relatively fine. " Hmmm... It seems this one wishes to assume control once again so I shall allow such pleasure for now."

" I'll tell someone about you."

" A fairy like you has no power."

" What do you mean?"

" No one will believe you even if you were to say it to them directly." Starlight answered. " All you can do is watch and wait for everything to come to an end." Clutching her head even more, Starlight stumbled about for a few moments before coming to a stop and looking at Spike with confusion on her face. " Now where were we? Yes! I remember now! I'm not going to give back this mask as doing so would mean losing this cool magic power. Besides, I was originally talking about that man who had that sun mask who thought he was better than me but now he's going to learn what it means to be beneath the notice of everyone else in this town."

" Skull Kid?"

" What's wrong Tael?"

" I... I... I..."

" Well? What's wrong?"





When the Song of Soaring returned me to Clock Town, the first thing I did was bask in the warmth of the town after experiencing the freezing cold that was Snowhead. My body felt like it was going to shatter so I stood perfectly still until every last part of my body could move again without feeling uncomfortable. Sure, I could have just ran about for a while to get my body's circulation working again but just standing about and taking it all in felt so much better. Princess Twilight thought I looked ridiculous acting in such a manner but she knew I needed to be at my best especially since there was still more to do regarding Scootaloo and her love problem.

Once I felt that my body was back to normal, I made my way over to the west part of town where the Curiosity Shop was located. According to another clock hanging on the wall, the time was only 8:30pm. The Curiosity Shop wouldn't be open for another ninety minutes so I had no other choice but to wait for it to open its doors for business. Of course, I still had to wait around even after it opens for Lightning Dust to show up, and there was no way of knowing where that would be. It seemed that in my efforts to arrive ahead of schedule, it wasn't going according to plan.

I had no intention of going anywhere else so I chose to make camp by sitting on a nearby bench. I thought about catching some sleep--the thought of sitting around and doing nothing for a few hours was too much for me to bear--but that would only make me a victim especially if Lightning Dust came along in the process. Following the words of Her Highness, I took out the Stone Mask, the first time I had done so since I went to the Gerudo Pirates' Fortress, and placed it on my face, the magic within it activating though I couldn't be sure if I was blending in with my surroundings or just looked like one weird geek.

As I sat there waiting for something to happen, I began to think about all that I had accomplished so far on this journey. While there had been a fair share of blunders that could have been avoided had I been better suited for the situation at hand, there had also been incredible successes that were a testament to my skills. And yet, certain people had lost their lives in the name of a greater game that continued growing dire even when light itself was slowly being brought back. I knew there was nothing I could have done to save them as death claimed them long before I came to Termina but a part of me wished they could have been spared.

Then there was Ganondorf, who only seemed interested in me--and apparently Princess Twilight now--and nothing more. Given how he conquered Hyrule during my previous journey and ruled over it with an iron fist for many years, I thought he would have wanted to conquer Termina as it was a land similar to Hyrule. Yet not once has he ever expressed such a desire--he did once claim a desire to conquer Equestria but that was his way of goading me--instead allowing events to carry themselves out as originally intended. I'd love nothing more than to be free of his torment but I knew that wasn't going to happen until I could find a way to defeat him for good.

Princess Twilight then bopped me on the head to snap me out of my daydream and whispered that it was now past 10:00pm--I never would have imagined that my daydreaming would cause time to fly by in an instant--so now I could enter the Curiosity Shop but I couldn't as Lightning Dust hadn't arrived yet. There was no way of knowing where she was going to come from so keeping my eyes open for her would become my prerogative. I then waited for roughly an hour when I suddenly heard the sounds of footsteps coming from the gate that went outside to the western section of Termina Field.

Looking to my right, I immediately froze upon seeing Lightning Dust prancing about until she reached the door to the Curiosity Shop. At first, I thought she had noticed me but she ignored me entirely thanks to the Stone Mask making me invisible to her--Princess Twilight was right about it--and went inside. I got up from the bench, walked up to the door, and checked to see if anyone was making noise on the other side. I couldn't hear anything so I went inside making sure not to make any noise myself in case my mask could still cause me to make sounds despite being invisible.

Sitting behind the counter, Iron Will lurched forward and grinned upon seeing Lightning Dust. " I've been expecting you, Sakon."

" Let's get this over with quickly." Lightning Dust said in a nervous manner, looking left and right several times.

" You needn't worry about the town militia coming around here... Unless, you did something to offend them."

" N-no, I didn't do anything of the sort."

" Then why are you acting so nervous all of a sudden?" Iron Will asked. " You've been coming here for months with product to sell to me and not once were you acting in a manner that screamed peculiar. Why not relax a little and show me what you have tonight? I guarantee you will be paid appropriately for the business."

Gulping and then relaxing, Lightning Dust took off the bag that she held behind her back, placed it on the counter, opened it, and took out a Bomb Bag. I immediately recognized it as the one that I purchased from the Bomb Shop during an earlier cycle of time. " I got this pretty easily though I did have to flee before the town militia could catch me. It's still in mint condition so quality isn't an issue here."

" How did you get exactly?"

" You don't need to know that."

Iron Will shook his head. " From a business standpoint, I need to know to be sure that the goods are legitimate, I kid you not. I'm not going to sell either an inferior or defective product to those who come through that door as that's just not good business."

Lightning Dust threw up her hands. " Fine! I stole it from the Old Lady of the Bomb Shop next door!"

" That explains why you're acting so nervous, Sakon." Iron Will said. " Given that they were to have this item in stock over at the Bomb Shop, I suppose the value would need to be similar to what one would expect from them. I'll still sell this to one of my other customers as Bomb Bags are quite a hot commodity, but I want to make sure that I get a good deal in the end otherwise you'll have come all this way for nothing and I know you wouldn't like that now, would you?"

" No, I wouldn't."

" Then let's get down to business."

" What would be a good price to you?"

" One hundred."

" What!?" Lightning Dust exclaimed, her hands slamming down onto the counter. " You've got to be kidding me here!"

Iron Will shook his head. " That is my honest opinion of its value, I kid you not. Do you believe it's worth more than one hundred rupees?"

Lightning Dust shouted. " Of course it's worth more than that! You have no idea what lengths I had to go to in order to get it for you. Every time I hope to get a good deal from you, you end up giving me the short end but not this time. Don't be such a rupee pincher, you miser! Two hundred rupees is the selling price and no less than that."

It was clear that Iron Will wasn't happy about his client's sudden shift in attitude. " Is that what you really think? Well, why don't I just offer you even less? And you know that this is the Bomb Shop's product, right? You said do when you told me how you got your hands on it as part of my needing to know for my other customers. How about if I tell them all about you? I'm sure the town militia would be even more interested in knowing that a greedy thief such as yourself is prowling about during these difficult times what with so many problems plaguing the common folk."

" You wouldn't dare."

" I kid you not."

Lighting Dust threw up her hands again. " All right! I'll take your offer, but you're guilty, too!"

" Guilty of what?"

" For being an accomplice."

Now it was Iron Will's turn to slam his hands onto the counter. " Don't be a fool! A seller of stolen goods is just a middleman who's trying to provide his customers with good product which in turn will earn me an honest profit while they get their hands on what they're looking for. Despite you telling me how you got your hands on this Bomb Bag, I'm going to act as though I know nothing about your actions. Heck, you might not even be telling me the truth as to how you got it in the first place. If it comes to me, I buy it! I'm a charitable organization that helps people in need!"

" Alright..."

" What?"

Once again, Lightning Dust threw her hands up in the air. " I... I understand. Then the total is..."

" It's now fifty rupees instead of one hundred."

Lightning Dust slammed her hands on the table. " You can't just change the price whenever you want!"

" So you don't want me to take it off your hands then?"

" I never said that!"

" But you're implying that you are, I kid you not."

" It's a deal! It's a deal!" Lightning Dust shouted. " I'll sell you the Bomb Bag for fifty rupees and our conversation never took place." I then moved closer when I heard her start mumbling under her breath over how furious she was at being given such a bad deal. " The nerve of this miser. How dare he change the price just because I questioned his motives in selling stolen goods? I should have just walked away but I need the money if I plan on fleeing before it all ends. I just need to make sure I don't run into that kid whose mask I stole some time ago just because he was an easy target. I should go back to my hideout in the valley and make some preparations in case he comes for a visit."

I suddenly had the urge to call out when Lightning Dust mentioned that but Princess Twilight quickly covered my mouth using her body before shaking her head. In the heat of the moment of finding out where her hideout was located, I almost revealed myself thus I would have exposed the fact that I had been listening in on them. Judging from how they continued arguing with one another with no signs of ending, I decided to take my leave as there was no point in sticking around. Tip-toeing back over to the door and slowly opening it, I looked behind me to see if their arguing was still going on--it was--and I sighed before heading outside and taking off the Stone Mask.

While I was a little bit annoyed at how Iron Will conducted himself, he was still an honourable man even if his service was questionable. Lightning Dust, on the other hand, was beyond redemption and needed to be shown what can happen when you allowed yourself to become nothing but pure scum. She mentioned that her hideout was located in a valley and that immediately meant it was somewhere in Ikana. Given that the undead were roaming around again due to everything going back to the way they were before I closed the Stone Tower, her hideout had to be where the undead would never go.

" That was quite the bombshell Lightning Dust mentioned, huh?" I asked.

Princess Twilight nodded. " Yes, so now we know which region her hideout is located in. Unfortunately, we don't know where in Ikana it's located in so unless we can find out some more information, we could end up searching until we have to reset time again."

" No way she's going to say anything else given the argument in there." I said as I pointed back to the door with my thumb.

" Then we must inform Tender Taps of what we know."

" I'm assuming we need to use the Song of Double Time again?"

" It's not like you have anything else to do right now until the morning."

Taking out the ocarina again, I looked up at Princess Twilight. " Should we go straight to the beginning of the final day and then move forward a bit further or just to the beginning of the final day and see where things go from there?"

" The other option." Twilight answered. " We have no idea how the rest of this side quest is going to turn out so going straight to the beginning of the final day guarantees we won't miss out on anything important. I suggest getting your sword back as you look weird having only just a shield, and when that's done, we can come back here and let Tender Taps know that we've found the general location of Lightning Dust's hideout."

I then played the Song of Double Time. " Hopefully, things will get much easier from here." Concentrating, I pictured wanting to move forward through time and the clocks began appearing around me before propelling me forward to the next day.

Dawn of the Final Day - 24 Hours Remain.

As soon as the cucco cawed to inform me that the final day was upon me, I felt a vibration all around and almost fell down onto my butt. I knew that it was the moon's doing given it was now even closer than before but I hoped it wouldn't become a problem later on provided everything turned out well with Scootaloo and Tender Taps. Princess Twilight was right in that I needed to get my sword back first before anything else so I played the Song of Soaring and focused on going back to the Mountain Village. As wings protruded from my back once more, the thought of having to trudge through the snow sent a shiver down my spine.

The wings wrapped themselves around me, spun around several times, and was whisked off. Moments later, I arrived in the Mountain Village and was immediately beset by the cold--it wasn't as bad now due to it being daytime rather than nightfall--but I wasn't about to stay here for very long. Trudging through the snow, I began thinking about what my sword would look like now that it had been forged using the gold dust obtained from Maud's secret stash. I thought it would look like a golden sword but such a notion was silly at best but I was still eager over the entire prospect.

Once I reached the Mountain Smithies, I kicked the loose snow off of my boots, grabbed the doorknob, and went inside where Lord Tirek greeted me in a manner that was either very joyful or downright threatening. " Ugoh! Ugo-oh! Ugo!"

" Ah! I see you came here as soon as the sun came up." Fancy Pants said as he sat up on his couch.

I blushed as I rubbed the back of my head. " I needed to get here as soon as possible as you said you were going to the carnival."

" We were planning on leaving once we were finished with our orders."

" How many do you have left?"

" Yours was the last one."

" Ugo-ugo!" Lord Tirek said.

Fancy Pants waved his hand in a kind gesture. " Quite right, Gabora. Our customer must surely be eager to see what her sword looks like now." 

Lord Tirek turned around, grabbed something that was behind him, turned back, extended his arm, and dropped a wicked looking sword into my hands--he made sure that the hilt would be what I could grab so as to avoid cutting myself on the sharp blade. While the Great Fairy's Sword was beautiful beyond all reasoning, this weapon looked real edgy, like it had been forged specifically to battle against the strongest of monsters and with a pretty good reach given the blade's length. I couldn't believe that this used to be the Kokiri Sword, the very sword that had been there by my side since my journey began.

" Ugo! Ugoh!"

" This is the Gilded Sword..." Fancy Pants began. " If you thought the Razor Sword was powerful, this sword blows the other one out of the water. With its increased range, you can attack from a safer distance and if you were to use some magic, it can really create some fireworks."

" Ugoh!"

" Correct again, Gabora." Fancy Pants said. " Maybe you're not as smart as a Deku Stick after all. This is the strongest sword we can make! No amount of effort can be done to make anything stronger. No matter how many times you use it, it will never lose its edge. Try it! I guarantee you will love what we've done. Oh, I used up most of the gold dust during the re-forging process so there was just a tiny bit left. I figured such a small amount would have no value so I decided to get rid of it. I suppose you could have sold what was left but I doubt you would have earned much."

" Ugo-Ugo!"

" With that order done, we are finally ready to close up show and head on over to Clock Town."

" Ugoh!"

" The snow will make it difficult to traverse but you're more than capable of getting us through, Gabora."

Thanking them both for everything they had done, I took my leave of the Mountain Smithies and went back outside. I then swung the Gilded Sword around a few times just to get a feel for it and I was instantly impressed. Unlike the Great Fairy's Sword, this one only required one hand so I could still use my shield to protect myself. Not only that, the Gilded Sword finally had that reach and attack power increase I had longed sought for. I had no doubt that I was going to break it in real nice--in a good way of course--so now I could go back to town to reveal to Tender Taps what I found out about Lightning Dust.

Playing the Song of Soaring again, I focused my efforts on going back to Clock Town. Once more, wings protruded from my back, wrapped themselves around me, spun around several times, and whisked me away again. Upon arriving in town moments later, I made my way across South Clock Town, up the stairs, into the Laundry Pool, along the walkway that ran alongside the pool itself, and into Tender Taps' secret residence--I was certain he was still there as he had no where else to go. Unfortunately, I was shocked to discover that he was no longer there. Instead, Iron Will was standing before me.

" You must be the green hat kid, right?" Iron Will asked.

" How do you know that?" I asked.

" Kafei told me to meet you here."

" You know of him?"

Iron Will nodded. " He wanted me to give you a message."

Despite how dubious his claim was, I had no other choice but to listen to what he had to say. " Alright... I'll listen."

Iron Will sat down on a nearby chair, cracked his knuckles, and looked up at the ceiling before he began to tell his story. " Now Kafei... I've known him since he was real little. I know it sounds strange, a guy like me with my kind of business, associating with someone of his status, but it's true. Most people never understood my line of work while others condemned me, but not Kafei, I kid you not. He always understood where I was coming from and was always curious about what kind of customers came to the Curiosity Shop. It's that very reason, the condemnations, that forced me to only open at night and to be secretive about my business."

" I'm surprised the town militia have never tried to shut you down."

" As long as no one knows, I can continue with my business though I will admit that I worry too much to the point where it affects my health."

" Have you seen him lately, Kafei, I mean?"

Iron Will nodded as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. " Yes, I saw him early this morning, but when he showed up looking all young in that little brat body, I didn't know what I was seeing and believed my eyes were playing tricks. How could he have become a kid!? It made no sense to me!" He slammed his fist into the table located next to the chair and caused it to buckle under the sudden pressure and fall apart into pieces that scattered across the ground. " Sorry... I didn't mean to do that, I kid you not. I'm just worried about Kafei is all."

" I understand."

" Anyway, all it took was one glance at that Keaton Mask he was carrying for me to realize that I was looking at my old friend." Iron Will said. " If it wasn't for that mask, I would have called him delusional and a liar for thinking he could deceive me, but I knew that his mask was legitimate. After all, I gave him that mask a long time ago when he was just li'l Kafei. A strange woman gave it to me when I was planning on leaving Termina to figure out my calling and said I should give it to someone who meant an awful lot to me. That encounter convinced me to want to go into business selling unusual items no matter where I got them from."

That explained why he had a place called the Curiosity Shop and I was curious--no pun intended--as to who this woman may have been. It could have been Sonata Dusk given she sold masks for a living but then why did she come here back then? More importantly, how did she come here in the first place? It was an answer that defied logic and was most likely impossible to reach given how Sonata was aloof in her mannerisms and chose to hold her cards to her chest very closely. I doubted Iron Will could even remember what she looked like let alone her name so I had to change the subject to something related to that Keaton Mask he mentioned.

" You gave Kafei a Keaton Mask?" I asked. I seemed to recall getting one of my own during my previous journey yet I didn't have it for very long. I apparently gave it away to someone soon after I got it yet they needed it way more--it was for their child.

" A long time ago." Iron Will answered. " I didn't know he kept it that well for so long. To be honest, I thought it was adorable how it looked on him but he gave it back to me saying he didn't need it anymore and asked me to give it to someone who would make better use of it. I'm not sure why, but...I want to give this to you."

Reaching behind his back and fiddling about for a moment, Iron Will took out the very mask that Tender Taps had worn on his face when I initially talked to him. Gazing it as he held it in his hands, I remembered getting it before in Hyrule but again, I gave it to someone who needed it more than I did. Now, I needed it in order to acquire the ultimate mask, the one thing that supposedly would allow me to counter the power of the mask that Starlight wore on her face. I knew very little about Keatons other than they were mysterious creatures often spoken of in legend.

" Are you sure about this?"

Iron Will nodded. " Kafei would have wanted it this way. This is the Keaton Mask, a mask that was very popular with children mainly because legend says that the Keaton itself would only appear before children who had pure hearts and believed in its existence. If you were to wear this whilst investigating a circle of bushes that come to life, you be able to summon the Keaton though it will definitely figure out your ploy. At least, that's what Kafei always said about it, I kid you not." He handed over the mask and a smile appeared on his face. I knew he must have felt good giving the mask to me in addition to letting out so much grief as a result of his life.

" Where is Kafei?"

" He's not here anymore."

" What happened to him?"

" A customer came to my shop last night." Iron Will answered. I made sure not to let on that I was there listening in on the conversation. " Now Kafei sees her, and his colour just changes as though he knew her from somewhere, but he didn't go running after her until after he revealed himself to me. Unfortunately, I'm well familiar with this woman given she is a regular who comes to my shop often to sell me goods she gets through questionable means. She's a greedy thief named Sakon. While she acts all innocent by prancing about, she can be utterly ruthless and steal from you without you even realizing it. From what I remember, she's from Ikana Village though not the village proper."

" So that's where she resides."

Iron Will nodded. " Knowing Sakon, she is likely in Ikana Village right now but is sure to come back to town for one last robbery before leaving for her hideout. I remember her saying that no one will ever find it as it's off the beaten path where only a Deku Scrub resides. I never understood what that meant but she was pretty confident about her hideout being hidden out of sight, I kid you not." He then suddenly remember something and reached behind his back before taking out a fancy looking envelope. " I forgot to give this to you. Kafei wishes for you to deliver it to his father as a means of giving him piece of mind. He doesn't care how you deliver it so long as you do."

I took the letter from Iron Will. " What will you do now?"

" I must go back to my shop and prepare for tonight."

" But what about the moon?"

" That doesn't scare me in the least, I kid you not." Iron Will answered. " I have a duty to provide my customers with worthwhile products even if it means my life becomes forfeit as a result of something falling from above. Anyway, if you do find Kafei wherever he is in Ikana right now, please watch over him as he can get pretty emotional when it comes to keeping his promises. He's sure to do something stupid should he run into Sakon so you being there to back him up would make me very happy. You should deliver that package first before doing anything else as his father must be worried sick about him by now, I kid you not."

Thanking Iron Will for not only the Keaton Mask and the package, but also for telling me about his life as well as where Tender Taps was, I walked back down the stairs, and opened the door to leave. Now things had gotten much more intense than I originally thought. While Tender Taps was foolish to have followed someone like Lightning Dust to Ikana, I could understand why he did it. To get back what had been stolen from him, he was risking his life by following a dangerous criminal. Had I been in his shoes, I would have done something similar because I was reckless.

While I wanted to go to Ikana and see if Tender Taps was okay, Iron Will had given me something that I needed to deliver to Troubleshoes. Princess Twilight revealed that what I had been given was called "The Special Delivery to Mama" and had been declared priority mail. Did he seriously name this letter that!? Not only did it sound absolutely unnecessary, it didn't roll off the tongue and I couldn't help but laugh at how stupid sounding it was. But, I would keep those opinions to myself since it was something that Tender Taps had written from the bottom of his heart for his father who was waiting for me to tell him what I found.

I now had a dilemma to figure out. " How should I go about doing this?"

" What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

" Should I deliver this to Troubleshoes myself or have Aria do it?"

" That is a good question."

" If you were in my position, Twilight, what would you do?"

Princess Twilight thought it over for a couple of minutes before giving me an answer. " If it were up to me, I would have Aria deliver the special delivery to Troubleshoes. After all, she is the town's resident postwoman so it's her duty to deliver letters no matter what may be happening right now. On the other hand, Troubleshoes should be informed as to the well-being of his son so giving him the package in person would give him closure. This is a difficult decision to make, Sunset, and one you must decide upon."

" I don't want to have to go through this a second time."

" Then listen to what your heart is saying."

" I have been."

" And?"

" My heart is telling me to have Aria make the delivery." I answered. " Besides, I don't even know where Troubleshoes is right now. I mean, he could still be at the mayor's residence for all we know or he could be somewhere else entirely given how many have already fled town by this point."

" The post office isn't very far so hopefully Aria can deliver the package."

Running across the edge of the water all the way around, I left the Laundry Pool and was back in South Clock Town again. Like before at this point in the three day cycle, many people have already fled while others continued on with their lives as normal. In a way, I felt jealous of them because they were being care-free despite destruction looming above their heads and how it was coming ever closer to its final impact. On the other hand, they were fools for not wanting to prepare for the worst. But then, how could they? What was happening was beyond their understanding and perhaps they didn't want to dwell on it.

I ran into West Clock Town by using the southern route and ran past all of the shops until I stopped in front of the post office. Reaching for the door knob, I pulled my hand away at the last minute out of fear that Aria may have been out on another delivery. If she was then I had to wait for her to come back and that could take some time given she had a schedule that she followed without fail. Pressing my ear up against the door, I could hear someone sniveling on the other side. Opening the door, I entered the post office and saw that Aria was there but was sitting on her bed and acting like she was praying.

My eyes then noticed another letter on her desk and I couldn't help but read it. It was written by Aria but with shaky handwriting, an indication that she had recently been worried about something. It said: "I have a request for my hard-working self. All of the townsfolk have taken refuge. I want myself to flee, too. Even if it is not written on the schedule, I want myself to flee. Please..." Even Aria wanted to flee but couldn't as she was bound to deliver the mail. Such a sad state given she had no choice unless given an order by Troubleshoes, who served as the town's postmaster. I knew now how to deal with the package.

I approached Aria. " Are you alright?"

" WAAAAH!" Aria answered as she jumped slightly before tumbling down onto her bed. " You started me! I was in the middle of thinking about something very important and you came along and disrupted my thought process." She got onto her feet long enough to sit back down on her bed, her glum expression telling me that she was thinking about running away but had her hands tied. Aria then noticed me and blinked at me before looking forward. " Oh... It's only you. If you came here to rub it in over how you counted up to ten without looking at a clock, then take your business elsewhere."

" I looked at the message you wrote for yourself."

Aria sighed. " Pitful isn't it? I'm the postwoman around here so I should be focused on delivering letters yet I want to flee like so many others. Ohhh... I want to flee! I really do more than anything else right now, b-but it's just not written on the schedule." She then grabbed a small notepad on a table that was next to her bed and shoved it in my face prompting me to grab it from her hands and look for myself. " As you can see, I must go out on another delivery run within the next couple of hours."

" Then why not just flee?"

" Are you mad!?" Aria exclaimed. " I can't do that!"

" Why not?"

" To me, the delivery schedule is the highest priority."

" More so than your life?"

Aria nodded. " It's the oath I took when I agreed to become the postwoman years ago. And yet, the only thing that is higher than the delivery schedule would be mail that has been declared a priority by whoever wrote it originally."

That was the cue I needed to present Aria with what Iron Will gave me. " I was given this a short while ago and was wondering if you could do something about it."

Grabbing the letter from my hands, Aria combed over it and her jaw dropped as she gasped. " This is a priority mail seal! This is the highest of priorities. Rarely have I seen something like this with my own eyes yet there is no doubt that this is priority mail." I could tell her mood had gotten brighter as now she had a purpose yet it wasn't completely satisfying given she still refused to flee but I supposed it was better than nothing. " According to what's written on the package, this is to be delivered to the postmaster. The only place he could possibly be at right now would be the Milk Bar so I shall go and deliver it at once."

Aria then got up and off of her bed before walking over to the little nook that housed her hat and satchel. She then pulled a curtain across while she donned her gear--it's not like she needed to be embarrassed considering I was also female--before pulling it back and standing before me in her uniform. Without even saying a word, I stepped aside so as to allow her to leave and make her way to where she needed to deliver the letter to Troubleshoes. I honestly never would have guessed the Milk Bar of all places he could have gone but perhaps he did so in order to drink away his sorrows before the moon destroyed everything.

Choosing to follow behind Aria, I left the post office roughly twenty seconds after she did and made sure not to come across as being a stalker. As I followed her along her delivery route, I couldn't help but think how different she was compared with the version I saw at the Battle of the Bands. As one of the Dazzlings, she was distant, constantly arguing with her fellow Sirens though she had it out for Sonata more so than Adagio. You could say that Aria was sarcastic in her delivery which annoyed others to no end so seeing her being focused and not wanting to stray away from her duties made me appreciate her a little more.

By the time we reached the Milk Bar, I looked up and saw that the sun was already getting close to its highest point--noon. That meant I needed to see this next bit through relatively quickly otherwise there wouldn't be enough time for me to get over to Ikana and check up on Tender Taps. Aria then entered the bar without any trouble and I believed I would have trouble given one needed proof of membership to gain access--proof being Romani's Mask. Fortunately, no one on the other side asked me to present my proof allowing me to go inside and see what was about to happen.

In the Milk Bar, there was no one around other than Troubleshoes, who was sitting by the bar, and Granny Smith, who looked to be getting ready for tonight. I was honestly surprised that both of them were still here given how others had fled town but I supposed they felt there was no point in fleeing as it would have been in vain. Walking down the stairs, I noticed Aria standing in front of Troubleshoes, who didn't noticed her as she was focused on drinking so I went up to them to hear what they had to say to each other. Granny Smith, in the meantime, walked away so as to not get involved.

" Postmaster!" Aria called out. " Postmaster!"

" What the?" Troubleshoes exclaimed as he turned around.

" I have a delivery for you, postmaster."

" You're still here?" Troubleshoes asked, still surprised at seeing Aria. " I thought you would have fled town like so many others have done already. I'm glad to see you and all but you should have left town for the ranch which is where everyone else has gone to for shelter. The only ones who are still here are those who insist on staying despite how foolish they are for doing so."

" What about you?"

" Me?"

Aria nodded. " Yes. Why haven't you fled, postmaster?"

Troubleshoes let out a heavy sigh. " I just don't feel the desire to flee all because I still don't know what became of Kafei. The person I hired to find him has yet to report back to me so I fear she may have either fled town herself or is trying to find something, anything, that will give me some much needed closure as to where my son could be. Now then, you should leave town before it's too late."

" Um... About tomorrow."

" Hmmm?" Troubleshoes asked. " What are you talking about?"

Aria felt really nervous at this point but I knew what she was trying to say. " To... to... tomorrow's delivery is still scheduled, right? I don't have many letters that need to be sent to their respective destinations but I wish to confirm with you of the schedule."

" Are you being serious here?"

Aria nodded. " Very much so, postmaster."

Troubleshoes sighed again. " Did you see the sky? It's terrible! That moon has gotten even closer than before and is sure to crash into this town sometime tonight. Most have fled thinking they will be safe from the impending destruction but their efforts are in vain. Their chances of survival are slim at best as surely there will be aftershocks that will rip apart this world leaving nothing but devastation in its wake. Tomorrow's schedule has no meaning if no one is going to be around to get any letters. Now, I am telling you to flee, Aria, as there is nothing else that can be done."

" I can't flee."

" Stubbornness isn't your thing, Aria."

Aria then took out the special delivery and presented it to Troubleshoes. " I have this special delivery for you, postmaster."

Taken aback slightly, Troubleshoes took the delivery from Aria and combed over it for a moment. " This is from my son, Kafei! I know as I recognize his handwriting from anywhere but where in the world did you get this from? I thought my son disappeared a month ago under strange circumstances."

" It was given to me by a girl wearing green."

" Oh!" Troubleshoes exclaimed. " So the girl I hired ended up pulling through in the end after all. I must remind myself to thank her for her hard work by giving her a suitable reward but it may be too late since I'm certain she has fled town by now. I'm so happy to have received this from my son. I'll read it later in private so that I may be with my own thoughts as I attempt to comprehend my son's letter. To think something good would come in the end. No doubt a miracle has graced me this day. As for you Aria, thank you for delivering this special delivery despite your inner conflicts so allow me the chance to fix that."

" How?"

" I want you to flee now."

" But... tomorrow..."

" That is an order from the postmaster, Aria."

Aria nodded. " I understand, postmaster. I shall flee as you have ordered.

" If you run into that girl with the green clothes." Troubleshoes began. " Be sure to tell her to come here and see me so that I can give her that reward I mentioned. She will have the mask that I made in the form of my son's head on her so she should be easy to find provided she's still in town."

How in the world did Troubleshoes not notice that I had been standing behind Aria this entire time and had listened to their entire conversation? Either she couldn't see me standing there or she was being ignorant due to constantly thinking about Tender Taps. Either way, I knew to come back here once I found out what Aria was going to do now that she had finally been given permission to flee town even though it would do her no good because of the moon. In her mind however, she had earned her freedom after spending so long following what could only be described as a forced schedule.

Before either of them noticed me standing there, I turned and went back up the stairs before leaving the Milk Bar. I still had plenty of time to meet with Tender Taps in Ikana but I could become waylaid by whatever was going to happen next. A few moments later and Aria came out where she turned left and walked forward before stopping at the gate. She was no longer wearing the bag she used to deliver letters--I assumed she had given it to Troubleshoes--but still wore her hat. Given that she had been ordered to flee, her hat represented everything that made her stressful while also giving her a purpose.

" I was wondering where you were." Aria said as she noticed me.

I pretended to not have witnessed her conversation with Troubleshoes. " I tried to follow you but ended up getting lost back there."

" It doesn't matter as I am glad you are here."

" What happened?"

" The postmaster has given me the order to flee Clock Town at once." Aria answered. " At first, I didn't know what to think as I had never been given an order like that, but once I got out here, my mind now realizes what this has given me. I have decided to flee as the postmaster said and that means for the first time in my life, I can finally make my own schedule that caters to me and no one else. I am finally free! It feels so good to have my freedom! Thank you so very much for giving me my freedom. You deserve a reward for your efforts and I know just the thing. I don't need this anymore, so here... I'll let you have it!"

Taking off her hat, Aria handed it over to me though I was shocked as I accepted it. " Why give me your hat?"

" Because I did say you have reflexes suitable for a postman." Aria answered. " That is the Postman's Hat, a mask that allows you to look into any postbox here in town. Sure, it may not seem all that much but there is a strong sense of authority that goes along with having it. If you'd like, you can take my place as the new postwoman. Your job isn't going to last for very long because of the moon so enjoy it while it lasts. As for me, I'm fleeing right now and running until I run out of steam."

Turning around, Aria ran past the guard who stood at the East Clock Town Gate though her running looked more like long strides--she looked really weird doing that but I wasn't going to complain as she was free to do whatever she wanted now. Holding the Postman's Hat in my hands, there was only one more mask I needed to collect before I had all of them that were necessary for the ultimate mask. I wanted to go to Ikana and see Tender Taps but I couldn't just yet as Troubleshoes needed to see me since he did hire me to find his son. I just hoped he wouldn't take up too much time.