//------------------------------// // Lost Woods // Story: The Legend of Zelda: Winds of Equestria // by Ragenule //------------------------------// The wind. Some may think of it as a living being, it's breezes a breath, it's gusts simple indicators of travel, and it's howls shouts of anger. Not all beings share this impression, but many, if not all, can always sense what the wind carry's. The wind can carry wishes and dreams, happiness and joy, or even an evil desire for total darkness. Regardless of what it carries, the wind is always moving, and never ending. Few things in the worlds are as absolute and never ending as wind. This is a legend that was nearly lost in the wind, surviving only in the most obscure texts and ancient artifacts left known to Hyrulians and Equestrians alike. This is a legend of friendship. Not only friendship amongst others, but also of the friendship one holds with one's self. Our story starts in the land of Hyrule, to the west of Hyrule castle and to a cottage a ways outside of Kakariko village. Just let the winds that sway the nearby forest drift you along, and we'll come upon our first hero... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Whew! They may just be apples and berries, but these are getting a little heavy! Time for a break." a young boy clad in green exclaimed, shortly afterward placing a woven basket on the grass and stretching. Sighing, he laid upon the grassy hillside he found himself on and let a light breeze flow over him as he watched the clouds float by in the blue sky. Closing his eyes, the by began to let the sounds of leaves moving in the light wind lull him into a light snooze. Just as he began to descend deeper into sleep, he was begrudgingly awakened by the voice of his mentor and friend, Ruul. "Link? Link, where are you! I need to speak with you!" Link heard Ruul shouting from just around the hill. Grumbling, Link sat up and looked towards the source of Ruul's voice, and waved towards him. "Over here, Ruul!" Link shouted to his teacher, who walked over holding a shield, causing Link to let loose a hefty 'gulp!', as he knew what was coming. As Ruul frowned and approached, Link tried, ultimately in vain, to change the subject. "I got a pretty decent haul today, should last us the week!" "Link..." Ruul said with a sigh, his expression making him seem much older than he actually was. Sure, Ruul was old enough to be Link's father, but that really only put him in and around his late forties. The last few days seemed to be putting a large strain on him, however, as Link could have sworn he noticed a few grey hairs turning up on his head. "Link, what have I told you about leaving without your blade? Let alone, your sword." Ruul spoke sternly to Link, disappointment etched across his face. Link, however, was surprised. Normally Ruul completely chewed him out for his carefree attitude when it came to his equipment, but to simply appear disappointed. "Ruul, is something...wrong?" Link asked, looking directly into his mentor's face. Ruul sighed and was silent for a moment. "I've received a letter from Princess Zelda, requesting my presence at the Castle again today..." Ruul explained, looking towards his student. "And I guess it's more of the same stuff, huh? Strange creatures showing up and attacking the villages across Hyrule?" Link asked, to which Ruul simply nodded. "Then take me with you! I'm more than enough for some stupid monsters!" Link demanded, completely forgetting the fruits behind him. "Oh? You call yourself prepared to do battle with the evils of the world, and yet you leave your equipment behind at home?" Ruul asked, raising an eyebrow. "But...I'm only around the fields and trees near our house...and they're heavy...total waste of energy if I'm just going to be within running distance." Link grumbled as he crossed his arms. "Link, you have skill, to be sure, but with an attitude like that, you are far from a master swordsman. You must think of your blade and shield as two close friends. With them, they will do whatever they can to protect you. If you are any measure of distance from them, they can't do anything for you against a mortal blow. The more you spend time with them, the more they can and will do for you." Ruul lectured Link, causing a sense of normalcy to return. "Yeah, yeah, okay Ruul..." Link grumbled some more as he took his equipment from his teacher. "Now, return with your bounty to the house. I shan't be more than two days. Remember to avoid entering the forest if you can avoid it. Strange magic has been flowing within it for the past year, and I'd prefer if you didn't turn yourself into a science experiment." Ruul joked, causing a small laugh to escape Link. As Link finished donning his equipment and turned to grab the basket of fruit, he watched as Ruul galloped away down the lonely dirt road that led towards Hyrule Castle. The only thing he could do is grumble as he hoisted up the apples and berries once he realized he should have gotten Ruul to say hello to Zelda for him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the morning of the day of which Ruul would return, Link found himself without milk, after having a large number of bottles to himself the day before. Cursing his gluttony, Link wandered up to his bedroom and gathered up his satchel of Rupees, promptly tying it to his belt, before grabbing a knapsack to carry some bottles of fresh milk back from Lon Lon Ranch. Just as he placed a boot onto the home's front door, he glanced down towards his sword and shield. Thinking for a moment, he grabbed his shield. "I better take my shield with me at least, just in-case I make any Deku Scrubs mad again. How was I suppose to know that comfy flower was actually his home? Jeez..." Link said to himself in a troubled manner, slipping his shield onto his back. Link left the sword to fall along the wall and onto the ground once he left the house and slammed the door closed. Time moved along uncaring as Link did the same along the road to the ranch. After a rather uneventful hour long trek, Link came upon the familiar farmhouse that his best friend outside the castle lived: Malon. After making sure he was rather clean, he puffed his chest out slightly in an attempt to be humorous and approached the house. Knocking on the door, Link expected to see Malon answering it in her usually bubbly manner, but was surprised when her Father answered it instead. "Why hello Link! What can I do ya fer?" Talon exclaimed, vigorously shaking the now dizzy Link's hand. "I juuust neeeed sooooommmeee milk...?" Link asked in a daze, before falling backwards. "Well, why didn'tcha say so, boy? Comm'on in!" Talon replied to Link, who was still picking himself up off the ground. "So how many bottles ya need?" Talon asked, as Link fished the used bottles out from his knapsack. "Just the usual, Mr. Talon. I sorta drank them on Ruul, and figured I should replace them. He usually likes to have a bottle when he comes back from trips." Link explained, as Talon began to refill Link's bottles from a large tank of milk he kept near the front door. "Another trip?" Talon asked, a look of surprise across his face as Link nodded. "My, ol' Ruul sure has been movin' around alot lately. Makes me wonder what has Princess Zelda makin' ruts in the castle floor." "Well, she's always been a bit unsure since the King passed..." Link explained, thinking back to the day when he was visiting Zelda. He had never seen such sadness come from her, ever. "Well, I suppose it's good of 'er ta talk to those with the knowledge. Good ol' Ruul will advise her right." Talon said with a nod, as he finished filling the last bottle. "S'There ya go, Link! That's ten Rupees per bottle, so that'll be fifty Rupees please." Talon requested, as Link fished out a little purple Rupee and handed it over. Talon slipped the bottles into Link's bag and handed the bag over to him. As Link accepted the bag and slipped it on underneath his shield, Talon glanced out a window to the side with a slight frown. "Thanks fer the business, Link! I'll tell Malon ya'll said 'Hello!' when I see her back from Kakariko village. You'll want to probably use the road that cuts beside the forest if ya didn't earlier, looks like we'll be in fer a nasty storm soon." Talon suggested to Link, who thanked him and left the ranch. He was a little depressed that Malon wasn't in the serve him, but at least he got Ruul some milk for when he got home later that day. "Man, Mr. Talon wasn't kidding. That thing looks like it'll be a doozy when it hits! I hope Ruul won't have to ride in that..." Link spoke to himself quietly, as he went along the forest path. Noticing the clouds had already begun to overtake the sun, Link picked up his pace to a light jog, hoping to make in home before the rain hit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'For the love of Nayru!' Link thought to himself, as he ducked into the treeline beside the road. Some highway bandits had taken up residence on the path up ahead of him, no doubt hoping to snag an unwary traveler who was using the path to be able to hide from most of the rain in the trees if it fell. Normally, Link would simply defeat them in a fist fight, but this wasn't a simple highway holdup point. This looked like an all out encampment of around twenty bandits! 'Great. Just...great. This couldn't get any worse.' Link grumbled within the confines of his mind. He wandered further into the bushes, far from the bandits and the path, in the general direction of home. The storm above wasn't giving any indication of letting up anytime soon, and Link found himself feeling clammy pretty quickly. After deciding to cut his losses, Link began scanning his surroundings for cover, and came upon a giant, old hollow log that seemed to overtaken by extremely thick and impenetrable brush. Entering it he found that it was open on both sides, saving him only from the rain, but the chilling wind still howled through it. As he rested inside of the giant log, using his knapsack and shield to deflect most of the wind, he could have sworn a few times that the howling he was hearing wasn't just the wind, but he chalked it up to the forest playing tricks on him. That is, until he heard a girl's blood curdling shriek from the opposite side of the log tunnel. "Hang on, I'm coming!" Link shouted, not wasting time as he sprang into action. Slipping his right arm through the straps of his shield, he bolted into the woods again, his knapsack laying inside the log, forgotten. As the unknown girl shrieked again, Link's flagging endurance was bolstered, and he ran right into a clearing to witness what looked like a group of monsters surrounding something that was cowering near a tree. Hearing the intruder, the monsters turned to look. They looked just like dogs, but they were all standing upright wearing odd assortments of raggy clothes. Some even sported Armour and spears. "You're....definitely not Moblins. What are you creatures, and why are you harming that girl!" Link pointed towards where the dogs were almost completely blocking from view, save for a glimpse of yellow and pink. "We are Diamond Dogs! We are taking Pony to be our slave! To haul Gemstones! What are you?" one of the shorter Diamond Dogs spoke up, walking away from the girl, which Link could see clearly now was not an ordinary girl. Curiosity seeped into his mind, but he suppressed it for the time being, as someone needed his help and it didn't matter to him it they were Hylian or not. "I...am a Hylian. And as a Swordsman of Hyrule, I will uphold the will of Princess Zelda and protect the innocent from demons such as yourselves! Now scram, or I'll have to resort to violence!" Link commanded, entering a much more threatening posture as he raised his shield. "Swordsman without Sword? Me don't understand how it works..." the Diamond Dog replied, looking honestly confused as Link's expression fell in embarrassment. Ruul had definitely mentioned something about this a few hundred times... "Don't care! We'll take Pony AND you as slaves!" a lankier Diamond Dog said with a snarl, as he pointed with a paw and howled, causing the armored Diamond Dogs to begin rushing Link. 'Okay, recall Ruul's training Link, come on! Uhh...when disarmed, improvise!' Link instructed himself, as he quickly raised his shield and danced backwards to avoid a spear strike, the thing falling uselessly as it caused Link's shield to vibrate slightly from the strike. After nearly tripping over a log, Link snapped a perfectly shaped bow off a smaller fallen tree and brandished it like his blade. He didn't have to wait long to test it out, parrying a spear stab with his shield and answering with a swift club to the head of the Diamond Dog soldier that dared harm him, earning him a nice bump on the head and a dirt nap. "I don't need a blade to defeat you, Diamond Dogs! Retreat now before you humiliate yourselves!" Link offered the Diamond Dogs, who simply guffawed and pressed their attacks. After a few more attempts to fatally wound Link, another Diamond Dog joined his peer in his snooze. Link was beginning to like his branch! "Wauf! Fall back, Diamond Dogs! Retreeeat!" the stocky Diamond Dog commanded after witnessing Link fell at least half of their forces within mere minutes. He quickly burrowed into the dirt with his comrades leaping down the hole he made in the ground. Link couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of his defeated foes stumbling around while holding their heads in pain as they attempted to follow their leaders. It wasn't long after the last Diamond Dog ran down the hole that the strange creature that the Diamond Dogs called a 'Pony' began stirring, and Link was quickly at her side. When she noticed him, panic set in, and she began to flail in fright. "Hey, wait! Calm down, I'm not here to hurt you!" Link said in an attempt to calm the mare down. A fleeting look of understanding from her eyes was overshadowed by fear returning as she whipped her head around to look for her attackers. "Hey, don't worry about the Diamond Dogs. I made quite a few of them regret attack you with this." Link explained, raising his make-shift club. "I'm going to hazard a guess that you can understand me. What's your name?" "F...sh..." The mare spoke quietly. "I'm sorry, that was really quiet and I couldn't hear it over the rain..." Link asked, still looking towards the mare intently. "F...Fluttershy..." The mare finally said, hiding her eyes behind her pink mane. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So that's your cottage? I didn't know anything was on the west side of the forest. All I've ever been told was that it was coastline." Link said, in way of explaining his surprise. Fluttershy gave him and odd look, however. "Uhm...my home is north of the forest..?" Fluttershy replied. Link stopped in mid stride to look directly at the mare. "Wouldn't we be seeing Kakariko village to the north, then? I mean, I can see some sort of settlement in the distance there," Link asked as he pointed a finger towards the nearby town as the rain died down to a simple few drops every now and again, "But that definitely doesn't look like Kakariko village." "Kakariko village? Where is that?" Fluttershy asked, tilting her head to the side. Just as Link was about to let loose an exasperated sigh, a voice shouted out from above. "GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU FREAK!" a multi-colored blur screamed in on Link, who raised his shield is surprise. The shield did halt his attacker's strike, but it caused Link to stumble backwards and over a fallen tree, a broken branch placing a nasty gash in his right leg as he fell. "Rainbow Dash, no! Stop hurting the poor thing!" Fluttershy scolded the multicolor pony, who was beginning to recover from flying headlong into a metal shield. "Huh? Why? Weren't you attacked? Your cottage is a mess of broken stuff." Rainbow Dash asked, showing clear concern for Fluttershy and even clearer disregard for Link, who was grunting with the struggle of getting back up over the tree. "Oh, no Rainbow Dash! Angel Bunny was being naughty earlier and not taking his medicine for his cold, so I had to upturn most of my furniture to catch him. After that, he ran off into the Everfree forest, so I chased him." Fluttershy explained. Pointing a hoof towards Link, who was favoring his right leg, she continued. "Just as I found Angel Bunny, I was attacked by Diamond Dogs. This creature named Link saved me!" "Wha..? Oh, really? Uhmm..." Rainbow dash looked over at Link with embarrassment, rubbing her withers with a foreleg as she hover just above the ground. "...Sorry." Rainbow Dash said quietly, to which Link frowned for a moment before sighing. "Oh...it's...alright. You really didn't hurt me all that ba-AAAAAHHHD!" Link finished with a yelp when he put some weight on his right leg, it's injury preventing its use. "Oh Rainbow, you hurt his leg! Help me get him into the cottage so I can bandage it up..." Fluttershy instructed her friend, and the both of them braced him up as they carefully walked him towards Fluttershy's home. Upon entering Fluttershy's home, Link took a good look around as the two mares eased him onto a couch. Very predominate in her home was the large variety of little animal homes, as well as the number of creatures living within them. The other thing that stood out to him was the fact that there was a white Rabbit staring daggers towards him. Once it noticed her had Link's attention, he used his paws to point at his own eyes and then towards Link. He got the message, replying with a roll of his eyes. As he took in how foreign everything was to him, Link recalled that Fluttershy never mentioned the name of the settlement in the distance. Noticing that she wasn't in the room any longer, but her friend was, Link took to asking the cyan mare. "Uhm, what's the name of the settlement nearby?" Link asked, giving a curious look towards the mare. "Oh, over there? That's Ponyville! Best town in Equestria!" The mare replied with pride, thumping a hoof onto the floor to emphasis her statement. "I'm sorry, I never actually caught your name! Mine's Rainbow Dash! Fast flyer in Equestria!" Rainbow Dash introduced herself, offering her foreleg. Link figured it to be the equivalent of a handshake, and grasped it firmly as they both shook. "You can call me Link." he replied with a small smile, which was quickly replaced with a troubled frown after letting Rainbow's hoof go. "You...wouldn't happen to know if Miss Fluttershy has any maps of the land, would she?" "Haha, Fluttershy, you hear that? You're a 'MISS' now!" Rainbow Dash teased her friend, earning her an 'eep!' from the next room over, followed shortly after the sounds of falling objects. "Haha, whoops! Better go help her clean up. I think I can get you a map, just hang tight." Rainbow Dash told Link, motioning for him to remain sitting. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere for a bit." Link replied with a smirk as he pointed to his right leg, getting him a snicker from Rainbow Dash. At least she seemed to have a sense of humor. It wasn't long before the two of them returned, with Fluttershy balancing a small tray of medical supplies on her back with the assistance of her wings, and Rainbow Dash holding a rolled map inside her mouth. Pushing a stool along, Fluttershy went to treating Link's injury much like she would one of her animal friends as she gingerly picked up his injured leg. After much stinging from the disinfectant, Link took a good look at his calf, which had been wrapped up in medical cloth. Just as he stood up to walk, Fluttershy pressured him back down onto the couch. "Please, rest. I did what I could for your cut, but your joint there is injured, and inflamed. At least stay the night, please?" Fluttershy asked, staring at Link with concerned and sad eyes. "Uhm...if you insist, I guess I'll stay the night. It'll give me a chance to get my bearings, anyways." Link finished, tapping on the still rolled up map beside him. As he began unrolling the map, Rainbow Dash turned to Fluttershy. "Hey, listen, I'd like to stay and talk and stuff, but this storm has been sticking around in the sky for too long. I've gotta go find out why Thunderlane hasn't moved 'em yet. Chiao!" Rainbow Dash announced, not waiting for any form of reply. Fluttershy simply giggled. "Don't mind her, she's always like that. Anyways, I've got to head out myself and buy some more animal food. Just rest there, and I'll wake you for dinner." Fluttershy mothered Link, who sighed and gave a slight blush, but heeded her words and laid down upon the couch, unfurling the map shortly afterwards and taking a good look. Fluttershy simply smiled and walked towards her front door, stopping only to grab saddlebags and her bag of bits with her wings. Looking back for a moment to her charge, she headed back out the door. 'He can't be very old, although I can't be sure...I've never seen anything like him before! But he certainly still has a bit of coltish behavior in amongst his Gentlestallion mannerisms. I'll stop by Twilight Sparkle's on the way home and see if she'd like to meet him! Maybe she can tell me more about what he is.' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So you're telling me that you have an intelligent and strange, albeit polite, bipedal animal that you've never seen another of it's kind before laying down on your couch. Right now." Twilight Sparkle asked, a raised eyebrow betraying her own disbelief. "Y-yes..." Fluttershy shrunk a bit, seeing her own friend unsure of her story making her nervous. "And that Rainbow Dash can vouch for you, that this thing really exists?" Twilight asked again, eyebrows still slightly askew from one another. Another nod, silent this time, from Fluttershy. "Well..." Twilight trailed off, looking down in thought, before nodding something to herself. Turning around, she began to speak to someone outside of Fluttershy's vision. "Hey, Spike? Grab my quills and some paper for me, could you? We might be taking some notes over at Fluttershy's cottage. "Aww, but I was just about to make dinner, Twilight..." Spike's disappointed tone could be heard from beyond the door, reminding Fluttershy of a gift she bought for the baby dragon. "That's okay, Spike. I got you some yummy gems to snack on while we're at my home." Fluttershy offered with a smile as she removed a little brown satchel from her saddle bags, shortly before handing to the little purple dragon that found his way around Twilight. After quickly munching down one of the gemstones and thanking Fluttershy, Spike proceeded to run around the Library and grab the requested items, garnering a giggle from both Fluttershy and Twilight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a few minutes of walking out of Ponyville and along a short path, the trio of friends found themselves arriving before Fluttershy's home. Entering quietly in-case Link happened to be sleeping, they were alarmed when they noticed that Link wasn't where Fluttershy had left him. As she went about panicking about his injuries not being cared for properly, Twilight shushed her. They could hearing a faint creaking of metal and wood from the backside of Fluttershy's home. "Don't you hear that...? Sounds like your well being used. Let's check out back." Twilight suggested, now fully convinced that Fluttershy must have had something in her home. As they carefully peeked out from her back door, they watched as Link splashed handfuls of water onto his face, as well as wash his mouth out. Just before Fluttershy made her way outside, Link gave himself a great heave, and proceeded to get sick next to the well. "Oh! Oh my! Link, are you alright?" Fluttershy gasped, as she galloped over towards the boy in green. "I...I'll be fine, really. Sorry about that, it's just...I took a look at all the maps you had in your house and...I couldn't find Hyrule anywhere. So I guess I jumped to conclusions and got myself into a panic, and..." Link shrugged, shivering slightly from the effort of being sick. "I'm sorry, but what's 'Hyrule'? I'm afraid I haven't heard of it." Twilight's voice floated out from the cottage, catching both Link's and Fluttershy's attention. Link sighed. "That does it then. I really am from a place that, according to your world and continental maps, doesn't exist." Link said, curling up into himself slightly from the ground. He's gotten himself into a real nasty situation now!