With a shiver, Wind found himself awake, and the first thing he noticed was the blood dying both of his forehooves a sickly red.
"AUGH!" the farmpony cried. His fumbling , half-asleep body tried to get away from the hardened liquid, resulting in a kind of backwards somersault, ending with Wind smacking his face forcefully against the ground.
Oh, nice. Good going, mister hero.
"Ngh...ow..." Wind narrowed his eyes, annoyed by the antics of the pony sitting up in his skull - figuratively, of course.
I don't need your sass so soon after waking up, okay? At least give me a minute to...ugh...
A minute to...do what? Fall flat on your face? Is that a new part of your morning routine?
Just let me collect my thoughts first, alright?! Sheesh...
Rubbing his throbbing muzzle, Wind laid on the ground for a few more moments, trying to will himself awake. After a few minutes, he managed to pull himself up to his hooves in a coherent fasion. Trying to remember the events of the previous night, a cacophony of memories instantly rushed to his attention, their vividness pulling him back down to sit on his haunches. Kiesh's injuries...the battle...and...
With a gasp, Wind's gaze darted down towards the ground. He let out a sigh of relief upon seeing both his rabbit mask and the late Armogohma's mask resting a few yards away. Sheepishly realizing that the distance was due to his own startled awakening, he stood up and trotted over to the pair of masks, gripping them in between his teeth.
Well...that's that.
Certainly is. Now what?
Now... Wind turned to face the room's edge. ...we wake the beast.
Wind began to trot his way over to where he thought that Kiesh was sleeping. However, upon reaching the room's edge, he was greeted only by the sight of his own pair of saddlebags sprawled across the ground. He frowned and casually glanced to his left and right, not seeing the mysterious traveler anywhere. Shrugging, he turned his attention back to his saddlebags...only to be met by Kiesh's stoic face hovering just a few inches before his.
"ACCKK..." Wind's eyes widened. Stifling a yelp, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes to glare at Kiesh. "Is it really necessary to - just - appear out of nowhere every time I'm looking for you?"
"I have never tried to actively startle you in such a way," replied Kiesh, his eyes dull and half closed.
Wind sighed. "Yes, well, you're still managing to startle me despite your...erm...innocent intentions."
Kiesh blinked. "My apologies. Regardless, I'm here now. What did you want me for?"
Wind rolled his eyes and opened up his saddlebags, beginning to sift through them as he spoke to Kiesh. "Well, we need to come up with a game plan. Figure out what we're going to do next, right? Last night's victory was great, but we're still nowhere close to being done. There's still one mask and one angry demon out there that we've got less than 48 hours to find and fight - in that respective order. Tac on a trip to Canterlot to pick up the Oracle's mask and...well, we're kind of pressed for time." Wind pulled out two slightly crushed hay sandwiches wrapped in plastic baggies and smiled sweetly. "I figured we could talk about it over breakfast."
Kiesh blinked. "Acceptable."
Wind huffed, smiling. "Good enough." The pair sat down together on the room's dusty floor and began to eat the sandwiches together. A pang of homesickness struck Wind, for eating his sandwich reminded him of the pony who had made it - his wife, Crystal, several miles away and probably worried out of her mind for his safety. He then thought of his daughter, Sugar, when another feeling rushed through him - a feeling of pride. He had said earlier that he and Kiesh's journey had barely begun, but the truth was that they had already completed one of their four goals. Wind was one whole quarter of the way to ensuring the safety of his family - and the safety of the world, as well.
After a few more minutes of silence, Wind spoke up. "Alright, earlier you said that some kind of legend had led you to believe that the first mask - Armogohma's mask - was here, in the Lost Woods. I don't suppose you've heard of any other...you know, legends or such that could direct us to the second mask's location?"
"I have heard of no other relevant legends," Kiesh replied, taking a robotic bite out of his sandwich.
"I...see," Wind said, frowning. "In that case, I don't think we have anything to go off of. We'll have to think up of a way to find this second mask on our own."
Hero? Anything from you?
Yeah, I'm thinking...didn't the Oracle say something about the third mask in her letter?
Oh, that's right...something about a place called "Death Mountain?"
Yeah, that's it. She said that, despite the legends surrounding Death Mountain being shaky at best, Equestria's solitary mountain range would still be the best place for us to look in.
Well, that narrows it down, but we'll still need some more direction if we're going to head to the mountains. Anything else - maybe that you know yourself?
Sorry, dude. The only other thing that I can think of is that the Oracle might have some kind of idea that she didn't mention in her letter, but we've got no way of contacting her from here and taking a detour to Canterlot would cost us far too much time. I certainly wouldn't know where this mask would be.
Wind chewed his sandwich thoughtfully. Hm...is that the case?
What do you mean?
Well, just yesterday, you could tell where Armogohma's mask was when we got close to it, remember?
Oh, right...I'd forgotten about that.
Also, you're the Hero of Time, remember? It makes sense that you would have some kind of...magical connection to the masks, right?
Uh...I've never much been one for all of that mystical magic crap, but I guess that sounds right. Even so, that doesn't give us a very wide range for me to sense it.
Yeah, about that...I've been thinking about something that the Oracle said to me two nights ago. She said to me that, in much the same way that the evil spirit Majora works, you need to be connected to a physical body in order to affect - or even enter - our world. That's the case right now, is it? And right now, you have a limited sense of where the masks are, right?
...yeah? Where is this headed?
Yesterday, when you got rather excited about the mask's location, you were able to force your way into direct control of my body. Remember that? Well...wouldn't you being in direct control of a physical body strengthen your connection to the mortal world of which you are no longer a part? Wouldn't that empower your effect on our world and, in turn, enhance your ability to sense the masks?
Eh...it sounds like a bit of a long shot to me, Wind. But you sound like you know what you're talking about, and we've got nothing else to go off of, so...let's give it a go.
Okay...thank you.
Wind gulped down the last of his sandwich, stood up, and looked down at Kiesh. The traveler continued to eat his sandwich quietly until Wind cleared his throat, gaining Kiesh's attention.
"Alright..." began Wind. "In a moment, I'm going to step away and most likely do something that may seem a bit unusual."
"Okay," droned Kiesh.
"I don't want you to be worried. Stay here and keep eating your breakfast until I come back."
"Okay," droned Kiesh.
"...are you getting any of this? Don't come looking for me or anything."
"Okay," droned Kiesh.
"Are you sure? You don't seem very...interested."
Kiesh frowned. "I don't really care what you do, just do it and stop annoying me."
Wind jumped. "Ah...y-yes. I'll, um, be right back, then."
After hurrying to the other side of the room - and looking back over his shoulder nervously - Wind enacted his plan. Ready to go?
Yeah, but how does this work, exactly? The last and only time it's happened was the result of an accident. How will we know what to do this time around?
Well...the last time it happened, you were trying to tell me to go to Armogohma's mask, and after you yelled at me to go to it, we switched. Maybe it'll work if you...get excited like that again?
Well, we can't know for sure until we try it, right?
Yes, I suppose. So...just try and get really hyped about something and then try to force your way into direct control of my body.
Yup. Here we go...
After a few seconds, Wind felt his forehead suddenly grow hot. Raising a hoof to it confusedly, he felt it grow even hotter. Hero?
Trying to concentrate, Wind...
Ah, sorry.
Alright...get ready, I'm going to try it.
Ready and wai -
WWWWWONDERBOLTS!!!
In the space of a second, Wind's vision darkened into blackness. Images blew past him a flurry of color, visions of pegasi in dark blue jumpsuits soaring through the air, soaring through a stadium, rocketing up into the sky - his mind could barely register all of them. Several scenes were jumping before his eyes at the same moment, seemingly trying to force their way into his line of attention, but only serving to confuse and disorient him. He saw a blue streak shoot upwards until it was a mere speck beside the sun and then blast its way downwards. With a thunderous boom that seemed to shake his very being, the light spectrum seemed to shatter above him, and in the blue streak's downward path, a wake of reds, blues, yellows, and every color imaginable exploded outwards. He saw the streak shrink on the horizon's edge until it was like a blot of paint against the vast portrait of the landscape - and the visions ended.
Wind tried to catch his breath and found that there was none around him. Yet more unsettling was that his body felt comfortable without it. Near absolute darkness surrounded him on every side, such that, when he opened and closed his eyes, there was no difference in the way he saw the world around him.
H-hero? Did it work?
Suddenly, Wind could see again. His blurry eyes blinked without him causing them to do so. His body took in a deep breath of its own accord...then let it out again.
"Yeah," Wind's mouth replied. "It worked."