Spike returned to their improvised camp, a bunch of assorted berries in his arms. "I found some food!"
Hamzah took off from his perch on a toppled log. "Thank you, Spike. Now, set them down so we can identify any poisonous ones."
Spike dumped the pile onto the forest floor, and the two fairies hovered over. After taking a moment to scan the pile, Nuha stated, "There's a few elderberries in here, but if you cook them and avoid the seeds, they should be safe to eat."
Spike shrugged, "I'd rather not take the chance."
Hamzah responded by taking all of the small, black-blue clusters of berries, and tossing them away. Spike didn't know how he did it, but he was slowly learning not to question their capabilities.
Nuha continued, "Other than that, they're all safe to eat."
Spike nodded in thanks. Nuha showed him to a pile of kindling the faries had gathered, and Spike proceeded to light it with his fire breath. Using a flat rock, Spike brought the berries close to the fire to cook them.
"Alright, who wants the first serving?" Spike finally asked once the fruits had been cooked.
Nuha and Hamzah seemed surprised. "We, uh, don't exactly eat..." The former admitted awkwardly.
Spike raised an eyebrow. "Then how do you get energy?"
"By explaining things," Hamzah replied nonchalantly, as though the answer somehow made sense. Seeing the confused look the dragon gave him, he elaborated, "We fairies have always been the guiding type, and our diet reflects that."
Spike nodded slowly, deciding not to press for fear of his head exploding.
The first rays of the sun roused Spike from his slumber. He sat up quickly, praying that it'd all been a dream –
Only to be met with the same forest he'd fallen asleep in, surrounded by the two fairies he'd fallen asleep next to.
He couldn't help but grumble in mild disappointment as he got up and started the day.
After pocketing the leftover berries, the trio continued their trek through the forest. With some help from Nuha's decent-enough navigation skills, they were able to reach the northern edge of the forest without getting lost.
There, in the distance, stood Hyrule Castle. Its six towers surrounded the main structure; a medium-sized town was situated directly south of it; and a moat fed by a river, in turn, surrounded them both. The high-spired rooves of the castle seemed like they could tear through the sky itself; the bricks that made the foundation of the structure were dark grey, giving the castle a foreboding presence; and yet, the bright cloth tapestries that hung from the battlements, adorned with an embroidered triangle made up of four smaller triangles, kept the castle from looking TOO sinister.
All-in-all, it wasn't half bad. 7/10, would be better if there were 8 towers instead of 6.
But Spike's inner musings were interrupted when he spotted something on the trail up ahead: a tall, bipedal, almost hairless monkey with travelling clothes on. The figure's ears were pointy; the only hair they had was a dark topping to their head; and they were rather well-built, if not a little too lanky in the legs.
Both parties stared at each other as they walked past, not daring to break eye contact or stop until they were at a safe distance from each other. Once they were, Spike whispered to his companions, "Was that one of those 'Hilly-Annes' you mentioned last night?"
Hamzah noted, "It's 'Hylians', but yeah. I'm surprised you remembered, given how overwhelmed you seemed."
Spike pshawed, "I'm used to remembering things I can't quite comprehend; I live with Twilight, after all."
Hamzah chuckled. "She the informative type, too?"
"Oh, you don't know the half of it! She's so obsessive about learning that she'll stay up for days on end just reading books." Spike's face fell as he thought about how she must be doing right now. "I just hope she doesn't worry too much about me..."
"Aw, cheer up," Nuha encouraged. "I'm sure she's got faith in you."
Spike shook his head, downcast. "I dunno; I don't exactly have any skills other than penmanship, and that's mostly because Twilight doesn't have hands to write with."
Hamzah raised an eyebrow, "But doesn't she have magic? Surely, she could use it to write things herself?"
"Well, yeah, but–" Spike froze in his tracks, realizing he had a point. Heck, there were a lot of things he did that Twilight could easily do. It was almost as if...
...as if she wanted to give him the opportunities to prove his worth!
Spike smiled. Maybe she had more faith in him than he realized...
Twilight was pacing around the library, still terribly worried. "It just doesn't feel right, sitting here and doing nothing while Spike's lost who-knows where!"
The other Elements of Harmony looked on in concern. "Twilight," Rarity spoke up, "I understand your concern, but trust me when I say that Spike's more than capable of surviving on his own for a while. Remember his expedition to the Dragon Lands?"
Twilight replied, "I know, I know! It's just, how would you feel if Sweetie Belle were transported to another dimension and you had to trust her to find her own way back?"
Rarity scoffed, "Darling, Spike and Sweetie Belle are two very different ponies. Of course, I love Sweetie Belle very much, but she has nowhere near the determination that Spike does. When he sets his mind to something, he won't give up until he's done, or until the goal becomes completely unattainable."
AJ reassured, "Ah bet he'll be back before ya know it. You'll see."
Spike's rag-tag group spent the entire morning crossing what Nuha referred to as 'Hyrule Field', eventually reaching the Town surrounding the Castle.
Suffice it to say, once they crossed the bridge, Spike was blown away. Everywhere he looked, there were Hylians of all shapes and colors. Some of them stood and chatted; others haggled with street vendors; and some younger ones play-chased each other. It reminded Spike of Ponyville's Marketplace.
With that startling reminder of home, Spike suddenly felt all-too-aware that he was FAR out of his element. He began sweating anxiously as he took a shaky step forward, afraid of what might happen.
As he walked by, more and more people took notice and began staring at him, stumped looks on their faces. The fairies following him, however, didn't seem to be the focus of any of that attention; Spike assumed that it was common knowledge here what fairies were.
Eventually, Spike reached the large metal gate that separated the town from the Castle proper. On the other side, he could see a beautiful flower garden, as well as a courtyard.
However, two guards stood at attention, stationed on either side of the gate. When they saw Spike, their bodies tensed up slightly, but they were otherwise expressionless. "State your name and intent," one of them spoke.
Spike, incredibly nervous, stuttered "S-Spike, and the Great Deku Sprout told me to come here?"
The guards exchanged a look, silently conferring with each other. As they kept standing there silently, Spike somehow grew even more anxious. "Ap-p-parrently, there's some information on the Triforce here, a-and–"
No other words were needed. Upon mentioning the Triforce, the guards immediately lost all composure, jumping in surprise. The second one quickly fumbled in his pockets, pulling out a keyring and unlocking the gate. With a mighty creak, it swung open, and the guards wordlessly ushered them inside.