As the full weight of what had just been asked of him finally sunk in, Spike began visibly trembling. "Y-you want me to find three ancient and powerful relics, all by myself?"
The Sprout chuckled. "I didn't say you would be alone, young one. I believe you already have help."
Nuha gasped. "Wait, are you saying...?"
It nodded. "Hamzah and Nuha, I request that you both accompany Spike the Dragon. You shall aide him on his quest to recover the Triforce Pieces, and see to it that he returns home safely."
The two siblings gaped at the Elder, before bowing mid-air. "It will be an honor, O Great Deku Sprout."
Spike, seeing how confident they were in their Elder's decision, bowed alongside them. "I shall do my best, O Great Deku Sprout."
The Sprout smiled. "And one more thing. There is a chest amongst my roots. Take its contents; they, too, will help you on your journey."
Spike blinked, then looked down. Sure enough, there was a chest there, but it was tangled up in the Sprout's roots. He felt a bit awkward, messing around with a sentient tree, but he managed to get the chest free of roots. He opened the lid, and gasped.
Inside was an assortment of things. A green phrygian cap sat folded; a leather belt with an item pouch lay on top of it; a small stone sword gleamed from within its scabbard; and a sturdy-looking wooden shield accompanied everything.
He took the items one by one and equipped them. The belt went on first, followed by the sheathed sword, the shield strapped onto the scabbard, and he placed the cap atop his head (adjusting the size using a strap on the inside).
"These items," the Deku Sprout explained, "were handmade by the Kokiri peoples. They will assist you on your quest."
Spike bowed gratefully. "Thank you kindly for your gifts, O Great Deku Sprout."
He nodded. "I'd suggest heading northwest, towards Hyrule Castle. May the Goddess Hylia smile upon your path..."
Spike eagerly trotted alongside Hamzah and Nuha as they exited the village. "Woah, can you believe this? I'm gonna get back home, and we'll get an adventure along the way!"
Nuha was doing mid-air cartwheels. "I know, right? He must really believe in you if he gave you those items!"
Spike stopped for a moment to admire the craftsmanship of the items. Even if they were simple tools hewn from wood, stone, fabric, and leather, they were crafted with as much care as any one of Rarity's works. "Yeah, they seem pretty great."
"So," Hamzah changed the subject, "what was that about you coming from a different world?"
Spike blushed. "You know how I said I was helping my friend do experiments?" They nodded in return. "She was trying to see if she could discover new life on some distant planets or something. She used her magic to cast a spell which offered a glimpse of the forest and Castle, but I... I accidentally tripped into it, and it sent me here."
"How does that make any sense?" Hamzah pointed out. "A viewport and a portal are two completely different things!"
Spike shrugged, "I dunno, it wasn't even her own spell she was using. Besides, her magic has always worked in weird ways. I remember this one time where she was trying to turn some plants and a rock into a suit and cane for me, and for some reason, I had to concentrate just as much as her!"
"That one at least makes some sense," Nuha replied, "if she was using the spell to make what you were imagining real."
Spike blinked. "Huh, I never thought of it like that."
Hamzah speculated, "Maybe the spell she used wasn't specifically a scrying spell; maybe it simply forged a temporary connection between worlds, and when you fell in, it went haywire?"
Spike pondered for a moment, before slowly nodding. "That makes sense, I think. Twilight is the most powerful Unicorn I know, and –"
Hamzah interrupted, "Woah, woah, hold on there! Did you say she's a Unicorn?"
The young dragon nodded, reciting almost by heart, "You see, my world is mainly inhabited by 3 types of ponies. Unicorns have horns that give them limited magical powers, Pegasi have wings and can manipulate clouds, and Earth Ponies have a special connection to the earth which makes them strong and allows them to nurture crops better. There's also a fourth, much rarer type known as Alicorns, which have all the properties of the other three and then some. Princess Celestia, for example, is an Alicorn, and she has the power to raise the sun."
Both fairies froze. "Raise the sun!?"
"Yeah," Spike shrugged as if it weren't a big deal. "She says that it'll move across the sky on its own, but it apparently needs that extra push to get past the horizon. Her sister, Princess Luna, raises the Moon. I'm guessing nopony does that here?"
Nuha and Hamzah shook their heads.
"Huh..." Spike took this information in, glancing towards the horizon where the sun was setting. "Just another difference between worlds, I suppose. Speaking of which, I'd love to know more about this world. Are fairies the dominant species?"
Nuha eagerly flitted forward. "Ooh! Ooh! I can tell you!"
Hamzah chuckled, humoring his sister's eagerness. "Alright, go ahead."
"So, the land of Hyrule is comprised of several different species. The dominant are Hylians, a race of bipedal apes with pointy ears and a connection to nature; there's us Fairies, who have healing and guiding prowess; the Zora, a proud fish people with a talent for music; the Kokiri, a branch of the Hylians who have fully embraced their natural ties; the Gerudo, a race of all-women warriors in the desert; and the Gorons, a group of rock-eating golems who live on a volcano known as Death Mountain. Am I missing anything, Hamzah?"
The fairy pointed out, "What about that recent tribe, the Reto?"
"Oh, yeah! The Reto are a small group of Zora that have bird-like traits. I dunno how it happened, but whatever; the past is the past."
No response. Nuha looked down, then did a double take when she saw Spike on the ground, overwhelmed by the amount of information he'd just received.
Hamzah sighed. "Great, we over did it..."