//------------------------------// // The Oncoming Storm // Story: Legend of Zelda: Hero of Equestria // by Klearsky52 //------------------------------// Link groggily woke up as he looked outside of his window. The sunrise happening right now looked exactly like yesterday’s sunset, except for the fact the sun was going up instead of going down. He immediately jumped down from his bed and went to the bathroom to do his usual morning routines. He was almost done brushing his teeth when he heard his father calling from downstairs. “Hurry up Link! We have to collect all these apples before we get hit by the big storm we’re having tonight!” “Coming!” Link called to him as he rushed down stairs. He found his father eating his breakfast quickly. He threw a sandwich over to Link. “Hurry! If you can eat fast, we may have enough time to finish collecting all the apples today. We don’t want that storm knocking them all down!” “Yes sir!” After they both finished their breakfast, they hurried over to their field. White flashes could already be seen through the clouds. “The pegasi are already starting to prepare it. We really need to work fast before they start assembling the more troublesome parts of the storm,” String murmured as he looked up at the sky. Link only nodded as the both of them rushed toward the orchard. Half of the trees were already bare of any apples, showing their progress from yesterday. “Can I use my magic?” Link asked. He rushed over to the shed in the middle of the orchard. He picked up all the buckets in there and tossed them over to String, who immediately placed them under the trees. “Yes, you can use magic! Now stop dawdling and help me out here!” Link quickly nodded before he levitated the rest of the buckets to the rest of the trees. The day was spent bucking trees and quickly levitating buckets. The wind started to pick up halfway through their work, worrying them. “We better hurry up if we want to finish,” his father said, which made Link grunt in acknowledgement. By the time they were nearly finished it had started raining and the wind was powerful enough to shake the trees a bit. “Let’s head home. Wouldn’t want you to get a cold. Levitate those apples back to the house, will ya?” String said while carrying a few buckets himself. Link nodded while he levitated the rest of the buckets back to the house. They ran back to the house, with Link stopping every once in awhile to pick up the apples he dropped within his levitation. They entered the house dripping and completely wet. “Cut it close there, right pal?” String said to Link with a small grin. Link tiredly smiled back. His whole body ached with pain. He never worked this fast before in a long time. He yelped as his window was filled with light for a moment, which was quickly followed by a loud boom. “Seems like the thunder already came,” String said quietly. “Come, let’s get you all dried up.” His father started to dry Link up with a towel, to which Link squirmed under. “Keep still will ya? It’s hard enough without you creating trouble.” “Sorry,” Link said. When he was all dried up he and his father started to store the apples in their storage room. When they were all done, String started to cook. The aroma that started to waft to the living room made Link's mouth water immediately. When his father set the bowls on the kitchen table, Link had already ran in and started to attack his food with a fierce, predatory gaze. “Have you ever thought of traveling the world Link?” his father asked Link quietly, causing him to look up at him in between mouthfuls. Link quickly gulped and shook his head. “Nope. Never thought about it. I like it here,” Link answered before he resumed eating. “Why? Is something the matter?” His father shook his head and smiled. “No. I just wanted to get to know my son better.” Link smiled at that. Afterwards, the two ate mostly in silence, occasionally making a comment about something before resuming to eat. Suddenly, his father’s face hardened. “I knew I forgot to do something. I forgot to lock the door in our cider cellar, which means i’ll have to go back in the rain.” “What!” Link stood up, almost knocking over his now empty bowl. “You can’t do that! Do you know how far away it is! In that storm too!” As if to prove his point, a flash of lightning appeared in the sky which was closely followed by a loud rumble. His father’s cider cellar was not near his house. His father told him that he simply couldn’t afford to enlarge his basement, so he used that small abandoned warehouse that was down the road as a replacement. Link didn’t visit it often because his father usually took care of things concerning cider. He knew where it was though. “I’ll be fine,” String assured. “I’ll just quickly run over there and lock it up. Now, it is time for you to go to bed” Link protested, but his father quickly pushed him upstairs and into his room. He then tucked Link into bed. “Go to sleep now.” “But-” “No buts mister.” Then Link’s eyes started to close against his will. No! he couldn’t sleep! He had to stop his father from-! Link was fast asleep before he knew it. XXX “Link...wake up.” Link heard that voice in his head again. He groggily opened one eye before shutting it again. He simply wanted to sleep, can’t somepony ask for that much. “Wake up...now.” “Go away,” Link mumbled before turning over, shifting to a more comfortable position so he can sleep again. “WAKE UP NOW!!” Link’s eyes shot open as he abruptly sat up. He had a small headache from the small outburst that was in his head. Link shook his head before he climbed out of his bed. What was that all about? “Cider...cellar.” Link’s eyes widened as he remembered what his dad did. He would question the voice in his head later. This was much more important. Link rushed downstairs to see if his dad was there. When he was down, he noticed that his dad’s cloak was gone. He looked up at the clock next. It was one after twelve. He had slept for one hour. “Hurry...to...cellar.” Link agreed with the voice in his head and pulled out his smaller cloak. After he put it on, he rushed to the door before he stopped. Link went to the closet and brought out a lamp. He quickly lit it up and rushed to the door. He opened it and stepped outside, where he was immediately pounded harshly by the wind and rain. “Hurry...to...cellar.” Link ran down the road the road in the direction of the cellar. Lightning flashed countlessly as the rain and wind pushed against him. Link would make it to the cellar. He just had to. “Hurry...inside cellar.” Link arrived to where the once-abandoned warehouse was at. The door to it was opened. Link immediately stumbled inside where the rain stopped falling against him, leaving him wet once more. After he tried to dry himself to the best of his ability, he stepped further inside. Rows of cider barrels were lined up in a neat, organized fashion. There were a few cobwebs on some of them. “Downstairs...go to.” “Downstairs?” Link echoed as he looked around. There was a downstairs to this place? Link never noticed. Then again, he never came here in the first place. “Downstairs…in...corner.” Link took the voice’s advice and started looking in the corners. Sure enough, he found a hatch. Light peeked out of the corners of the hatch, signifying to Link that something is down there. Link immediately opened it and started to climb down. His ears suddenly picked up on something. He could hear a faint yell from below “Wonder what’s that all about?” Link asked himself as he scaled down the ladder. “Seems like a pretty big fight.” The noise grew in volume the lower he went. The walls also got dirtier with more cracks appearing on it. Vines grew from the cracks and curled around itself. All in all, the place looked like a dump. When Link was at the bottom of the ladder, the walls suddenly shook. Tiny bits of debris fell from the ceiling due to the force. “Hurry…around…the corner” Link quickly ran down the corridor where the light shined around in the corner. The shouts and clangs increased as he got closer. When he got there, he peeked out of the side of the corner. What he saw shocked him. He saw his father holding a sword and shield, defending against many black balls of magic and then striking. He had cuts everywhere, blood flowing freely down his body. Link only watched with growing horror as he watched his father get even more battered by the second. It was then Link noticed the other pony his father was battling against. Most of the pony’s face was covered by the big red hood that was attached to his cloak. Link immediately knew it was a unicorn due to the fact that he was throwing spells left and right at his father. The red cloak he wore had a big, purple eye on the back of it. Suddenly, the cloaked pony knocked the sword and shield out his father’s hoof. He slammed him against the wall and stabbed him deeply with a dagger. Time seemed to stop as the cloaked pony kept holding the dagger deep into his father’s stomach, then pulled it out with a sickening shlick. Blood dripped from the dagger as the cloaked pony chuckled darkly and ran off into the darkness. When he ran off, Link immediately ran to his father. “Link?” his father coughed, looking at him. “What..are...you doing here?” “I grew worried and set out to find you,” Link said as he frantically looked over his father’s injuries. He had never seen him so beaten and weak before. His father always stood strong and brushed off any injuries that came to him. To see his father in this condition was a little more than shocking to say in the least. “You...shouldn’t have come here” his father said weakly while moving himself over to sit up. Link pushed him back down gently. “Don’t push yourself!” Link shouted, tears already starting to pool in the corner of his eyes. He held his father in a more comfortable position in his hooves. “Everything is going to be just fine!” “You and I...both know that isn’t true,” his father said as he stroked Link’s mane slowly. “There...isn’t...much time left.” “Don’t say that! Everything will be alright! Everything has to be!” Link shouted. He felt something wet trail down his cheeks. He immediately knew it was his tears. His father was crying as well, “My...only regret...was that I...didn’t see you grow up. I will not...be able to...take care of you...now.” Link just cried harder as his father continued to stroke his blonde mane. He didn’t want his father to go! Just when he finally had a family, it was taken away from him once again. What did the universe have against him? “You have...to be brave...Link,” his father said. “Just know that...I am extremely...proud of…you.” Just after he said that, his hoof fell from Link’s head. The thud that it made when it hit the floor felt like it was a thousand times louder than it was supposed to be. “No…” Link whispered as he saw the light in his father's eyes slowly dim. “Nononono. This isn't how it goes. Wake up.” When his father didn't budge, Link shook him thoroughly, "Stop fooling around! Wake up!" Link finally screamed as he started shake his father even more now. “WAKE UP!! WAKE UP!! WAKE UP!! WAAAKKE UUUP!!!!.” Link started to cry even harder as he dropped his father. “Wake up…” Link whispered pathetically as he buried his head into his hooves and sobbed into them. He kept on crying until he remembered who did this to him. That red cloaked pony. He did this. He was the one who made him all alone again. He was the one who took everything away from him again. He was going to pay. Pay for what he had done. Link stood up from his father’s dead body and looked at the sword and shield lying a small distance away from him. He picked it up with his magic and levitated it over to him. Somehow, it felt very familiar and right when he held it. Link did a few test swings with the sword before sheathing it on his back. His eyes burned with fiery determination. A spark lit inside of him and caught fire, and it wasn’t going to be extinguished anytime soon. “Hurry...down the hall.” Link wordlessly nodded at the voice in his head. He wiped off his father’s blood off his hoof and ran off into the darkness. XxX The cloaked pony ran off into the darkness, dodging any rats or snakes that came his way. He stopped in a random room to take a short break. “Stupid earth pony. Got in my way while I was on an important mission. Now I’m going to be late because of him,” the cloaked pony muttered before he pulled out a small pouch from his pocket. He opened it to reveal a small orange stone, glinting in the little light the room provided. “Good, I still have it. Now I just need to deliver this to the boss safe and sound and he’ll reward me.” Just as he was about to leave, a mad cackling was heard in the room. The cloaked pony got ready to fight until the object revealed itself. An unknown amount of different colored blobs appeared right in front of him, all carrying different colored lamps that matched their color scheme. They all chuckled darkly before starting to circle around the pony. “We have arrived, master,” one purple blob said as he floated over to him. “We await your orders now, master.” The cloaked pony smiled, “So you choose to arrive now, my ghost squadron. You came a bit too late, as I had a small scuffle on the way here. It was no trouble,of course. But it was a waste of my magic, something that I’ll need later on.” “Forgive us, milord,” the purple ghost said as he knelt by the cloaked pony’s feet. “We will be faster next time.” “Bah! Whatever! Just patrol these areas until I give you the telepathic all clear,” the cloaked pony told them. “Once everything is clear, return to me. Kill anypony that is here, got it?” “Yes master. We will go at once master!” “Good. Now scram!” the ghosts immediately went into different rooms, patrolling and watching for anypony that dare come this way. The cloaked pony nodded before immediately dashing away. He didn’t need to waste anymore time with this mission. He already knew that his boss will be very displeased because of his tardiness. He then suddenly grinned to himself. Nothing could possibly go wrong now. XxX Link walked forward into the dark rooms, the lamp in his mouth giving off a dim light that barely allowed him to see. He could hear the tiny skitters and squeaks the rats made as they ran past him and climbed into the holes in the wall. Link gulped before moving on. He had to be brave. His father told him to be brave and the least he could do for him was to uphold his last, dying wish. Suddenly, his ears perked up. He heard a faint hissing noise behind him. That was the only warning he got as he immediately whirled and slashed upwards with his sword, slicing the snake in half at the last moment. Blood splattered against his tunic, making him queasy. He held in his sickness as many more snakes jumped up at him. Link went by his instinct, slashing upwards, sideways, butting a few of them away with his hilt, and stabbing downwards. When he was done, many slashed up snakes were lying on the floor, joining together to create a small pool of blood. “Did I do this?” he whispered to himself. He looked at the dead snake corpses and walked by them, taking care not to step in their blood. Link had never picked up a sword in his life before. Yet, it just came naturally to him, like he had done this all his life. He quickly diminished his thinking from his mind and focused on the task at hand. “Hurry…” Link continued onward, lighting up any torch towers that he came by with his lamp to light the room better. He finally got to the door and opened. With the limited light his lamp gave him, he was able to locate the next torch tower and lit it up. When the torch was lit, Link froze. He saw two blobs enter the room just as he lit up the torch tower, both of them holding different colored lamps. When Link lit up the torch tower, both of them noticed him immediately. “Hey, what’s a foal doing here?” the purple one asked to the green one. The green one shrugged, “Beats me, what do we do with him?” It was at this time that Link came to his senses and spoke the one question in his mind. “What the heck are you?” Both the purple and green blobs looked at him. “We’re ghosts, obviously,” the purple ghost answered before he looked over at the green ghost. “So what do we do with him? Do we leave him? He’s just a little foal. He can’t possibly hurt us.” “Are you kidding!?” the green ghost asked incredulously. “Master has asked us to kill anypony that we see. If we leave him, we risk being punished by him.” The purple ghost’s eyes widened in realization. “You’re right. Let’s kill him quickly, yeah?” When Link heard this he got into a defensive stance, his sword levitating above his head menacingly. He strapped his shield to his right hoof since it was too heavy for him to levitate. “Awww! The poor little baby thinks he can fight,” the purple ghost mocked before rushing towards him. Link immediately jumped away when he swung his lamp. Somehow he knew that if he were to get burned by that fire in the lamp, it would spell his end for him. Link dodged another swing made by the purple ghost before he jumped and slashed at him. The ghost immediately turned invisible as Link’s swipe passed by him harmlessly. “Fool! I can be intangible if I want to! You don’t stand a chance!” Link swore and dodged another swing made by the green ghost. Both of them were cackling with glee as they rushed towards him. Link swung at them again, only for them to pull out their cheap, invisible move. “Having trouble?” the green ghost taunted him while Link grit his teeth. He swung again to no avail, as they turned invisible once more. “Stop that!” Link cried out, frustrated. Sweat dripped down his forehead as he thought about his next move. “You think we’ll just lay at your mercy? You just delay the inevitable by dodging us all day.” The purple ghost laughed menacingly. Link just yelled in frustration and charged blindly at them. The purple immediately knocked him back, making him fly and slam into the wall. “That’s it, keep on getting angrier. Let it cloud your judgement!” Link just shook his head and waited for his vision to refocus. He levitated his sword and shield back to him and stood in ready stance. “I’ve got to say, I admire your courage boy.” The green ghost said as he looked over at Link. “Most foals your age would wet themselves if they saw us attacking them. Yet you just stayed and tried to attack us back with no fear at all!” Link just stared angrily at him while he grit his teeth. The ghost was wrong. He was scared, badly. He just pushed it to the side because of his wish of avenging his father. These two were in the way of his mission so that’s why he needed to take the both of them down. Suddenly, the whole area dimmed. Link immediately realized that the torch tower he lit fizzled out. The ghosts seemed to realize it too. The purple ghost smirked. “Quick! Throw your lamp at him! Retrieve it afterwards and you’ll know what to do next!” the purple ghost shouted to the green ghost. The green ghost’s eyes widened as he smirked too. They both threw their lamps at Link, who jumped away in time. The fire in the lamps suddenly grew in size as it illuminated the room, then fizzled out, leaving darkness in its wake. It was then at this scary moment that Link realized that they did it on purpose just to get the room dark. His tiny little lamp barely lit his surroundings. He quickly levitated his sword into his hoof as he quickly looked at his sides. “We can see in the dark, you know,” a voice whispered into Link’s ear before he felt something slam into the side of his head. He flew over to the wall and smacked right into it, making his senses dull and hazy. The lamp skittered away from him, leaving his surroundings in total darkness. “I’m right here you know,” a voice whispered from behind him before he slammed Link into the wall again. Link spat out the blood that slowly filled in his mouth. He felt something was stuck in the side of his cheek and pulled it out. It was a glass shard. Just seeing it made Link angry. These ghosts were just smacking him around as if he was some insignificant plaything to them. They were beating him with a lamp no less! Link slowly got up from the ground and weakly levitated his sword, going into a ready position. “Alright, enough playing around. It’s time to end this.” The ghost said as Link heard a quick swoosh somewhere around him. “BEHIND YOU!” Time seemed to slow down as Link whirled around and stabbed blindly in the darkness. He heard a small gasp of shock and a hissing noise before the ghost erupted into green flames. The flames illuminated the room for a quick second to let him see the purple ghost with a shocked expression on his face and his lamp, which was fortunately near the torch tower. Link rushed towards the lamp and immediately started to light up the torch tower with it. He also swung blindly with his sword while he lit up the tower so that the ghost can’t get near him. When the tower finally lit up, Link saw the purple ghost with a furious expression on his face. “YOU BASTARD!! I’LL KILL YOU!!” the purple ghost shouted before he rushed at Link. Link smirked before he twirled around the ghost. He quickly knocked the ghost down with the hilt of his blade and pointed it at him. “Be more angry. Let it cloud your judgement,” Link said emotionlessly before he stabbed downward, making the ghost explode into purple flames. Link breathed heavily as he felt something warm trail down from his head and onto his face. He dipped his hoof in the liquid and saw it was his blood. He immediately wiped it away from his face and rubbed it on the ground, creating a red stain. He never knew ghosts could actually be hit by physical objects. He did learn that they could be intangible if they wanted to, but not forever. Link stored this piece of information for later. “What the heck was that all about? I heard screaming from here.” Link froze when he heard a voice coming from the room to his right. There was more here? He was in no condition to fight another one. “Hurry…” Link quickly extinguished the torch tower to make the room dark again so that the ghosts won’t see the evidence of a battle here. He picked up his small lamp and quickly ran into the other room. He saw some ghosts patrolling around the area in same formation. Link decided to take the safe way and sneaked behind them, occasionally killing one from behind if they were alone in a room. Link continued his routine until he saw another ladder. He looked up to see the hatch was left open. “Finally!” Link muttered quietly as he tried to climb up the ladder. He slipped on the ladder a few times before he caught himself quickly and continued to climb up to the hatch. XxX The cloaked pony was almost there. Just a few more minutes and he was in the clear. Just then, he felt a sudden decrease in the dark magic levels in the area. It can only mean one thing: somepony was killing off his ghost squadron. The cloaked pony cursed. He didn’t want to deal with another meddlesome brat. He quickly checked his pockets and pulled out the pouch again to check if the stone was still there. He quickly pocketed the pouch and went outside. The storm had decreased to a light rain. He could see the damage it had done, toppling over a few trees with broken branches everywhere. He was about to continue before he heard a yell. The cloaked pony quickly pulled out his dagger and countered the blade that was about to strike him. XxX Link tried to land another strike at the cloaked pony before he was kicked away. The force of it took his breath away as he slammed against the tree. Red spots danced around in his vision before it quickly faded away. “A foal? What the hell is a foal doing here?” the cloaked pony asked as he advanced on Link. “I don’t have time for you whelp! Get lost!” Link shakily stood up and brandished his sword again. “You killed my father. Just for that, I can never forgive you!” Link yelled and charged again, only to be blown back once more. He slammed against the ground and skidded for a bit. “Battling against you is a waste of my time. Be grateful that I spared you. If I had more time, I would have killed you on the spot,” the cloaked pony said before he ran off. Link tried to get up, but fell down immediately. The injuries he sustained were finally starting to get to him. Darkness enveloped his vision as Link slipped into unconsciousness. XxX The purple cloaked pony waited impatiently in their temporary meeting place as he walked around in a circle for the thousandth time. He suddenly growled out and stomped his hoof impatiently. “Where is he!” he roared as he looked at the red cloaked ponies, making them shiver slightly in fear. “He’s already late! We can’t wait here forever!” He stomped his hoof again into the ground, adding a little more power into it to make a small crater. Just then, the messenger he had been waiting for stumbled upon their meeting place. He gasped for air as if he ran a few miles, which he probably had, nonstop. The purple cloaked pony glared menacingly at him, making him cower in fear. “Where have you been!? You’ve been way past your deadline! You’re lucky that I decided to spare you because of how important this mission is!" “Forgive me boss. I ran into some complications on the way here,” the messenger said while bowing his head repeatedly at the purple cloaked pony’s hooves. The cloaked pony then smiled a bit too sweetly. “What sort of complications, dear messenger?” he asked sweetly, making him go white in fear. “There was an earth pony and a unicorn foal trying to stop me. I killed the earth pony but-” the messenger started to say before he was interrupted by the purple cloaked pony. “YOU WHAT!? YOU KILLED HIM!? WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO, DRAW ATTENTION TO OURSELVES!? WE WANT TO ACHIEVE THE OPPOSITE OF THAT! THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A STEALTH MISSION!” he screamed. He slapped the messenger across the face, blowing him across the floor. The messenger yelped as he held his bleeding cheek. The purple cloaked pony sighed while holding his head in his hooves. “Just please hand me the stone we were looking for. I need a drink after this.” The messenger nodded quickly before he started to search his pockets. He frowned as he started to check his other ones, then his back ones. “Messenger?” the purple cloaked pony said in his sweet voice again. “Where is the item that I requested you to bring to me?” “It seems...that I lost it...boss,” the messenger said slowly as he gulped. The cloaked pony just smiled creepily. “And how did you lose it, messenger?” the cloaked pony asked in his sweet voice. The messenger concentrated for a moment before he seemed to remember. “I got it! It must’ve been when I was battling that green unicorn foal! He made me lose it! Now that I remember it, I think he mentioned that the pony I killed was his father,” the messenger cried out triumphantly, before fizzling out under the cloaked pony’s gaze. “And is the green unicorn dead, messenger?” the cloaked pony asked sweetly still. The messenger frowned and shook his head. “No, there wasn’t enough time to kill him,” the messenger said slowly. The cloaked pony just nodded his head. Then he started to chuckle quietly. His chuckles then grew to full blown out laughter. Everypony in the area watching this took a step back. The cloaked pony’s laughter died down, before both his hooves shot up from both of his sides and started to choke the messenger. “YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT! YOU HAD ONE JOB! ONE SIMPLE, BUT IMPORTANT JOB AND YOU FAILED!” the cloaked pony screamed at him once more before he slammed him into the ground. The messenger pony started to cough and wheeze, trying to regain his lost breath while the cloaked pony walked around, stomping violently into the ground. “This is great! Just great!” the pony moaned before putting his head into his hooves. “Once that colt wakes up, he’ll probably dance around, telling fantastic stories about how a pony in a red cloak killed his father! How stupid can you possibly be!?” He sighed as he calmed himself down, “Just get out of my sight you worm.” The messenger nodded quickly before he got up. Just as he was about to go, he was called on by the cloaked pony once again. “One more thing before you go.” The messenger turned around, only to be met by a dagger to the gut. He screamed as the cloaked pony twisted the dagger around in his gut and pulled it out, before driving it into a different spot. The other ponies in this room watched in silent horror as the pony kept on stabbing him over and over again. A pool of blood started to form on the ground. When he was done, he dropped the messenger on the ground, now dead. “Great, I got blood on my fucking hooves!” he said as he wiped them on the ground. He looked over at two red cloaked ponies, who flinched when his gaze landed on them. “Burn the body immediately. We can’t leave any evidence here.” The two nodded immediately before picking up the body and carrying it away. The cloaked pony looked over at the rest of the group. “Let this be a lesson to you all on how you should never fail me,” he said grimly, making the ponies nod at once. “Yes master! Of course master!” “Good. Now get moving! we need to cover distance if our plans are to still succeed. We don’t need that stone, but it would be much better if did have it. That way I can guarantee that no one would try to stop us.” the ponies nodded before immediately dashing off into the darkness. The cloaked pony shook his head. “A green, unicorn colt huh? I wonder…”