Link wouldn’t say he was experiencing déjà vu in the purest sense of the word, but it was definitely something similar. He could say, however, that the experience was better this time around. The castle Fluttershy had led him to was a good deal bigger than the timid pegasus’ own cottage, dwarfing even the largest houses in Ponyville by a huge margin, wihch was a defenit plus when you were trying to fit ten occupants into one single room. The room in question was sometihng more reminiscent of Hyrule Castle Town than Fluttershy's cottage, which was more similar to the place that Link had grown up.
The throne room of the crystal structure was of impressive construciton; crystal pilalrs supported an arched roof and what seemed to be the trunk of a giant tree, with glittering strings of gems handing like suspended rain drops. The light from the windows negated the use of the magical lanterns, and the sunlight set the crystal of the room aglow with stripling rainbows that danced around the walls. The thrones were rough and jagged, but impressive in size and beautiful in their own way. The ponies in the room notwithstanding, Link wouldn't have had any problem envisioning the large throne room inside Hyrule Castle before its destruction what seemed like so long ago; The Princess and her advisers at the thrones rather than Twilight and her friends.
Fluttershy was the only pony not using the throne with her cutie mark inlaid in the center, having decided to give her seat to the still drowsy Dusk, who was fighting to keep his eyes awake under the weight of the long sleepless hours over the past two days. Fluttershy sat instead with Link on the floor, once again leaning on his stomach as the wolf lounged on his side. The pegasus was still breathing hard from the trip across Ponyville, but the clinking of the chain manacled to Link's leg was therapeutic, and she could feel herself calming as she held it in her hooves.
Measured Fact was sitting next to Spike on the floor, the two talking next to Rarity’s chair, who leaned over to chip in to the conversation now and then, engrossed Fact's story about a conference he had attended with Luna in The Dragonlands that almost turned into an international embarrassment, if not for the Princess' fast thinking.
Twilight was once again reviewing her memory spell, adding occasional tweaks from what she had learned the night before. She had theorized that one of the cuases of the painful return to the real world had been a small string of magical code that she had removed, and the end product looked remarkably similar to Starswirl the Bearded’s Time Stop spell, interestingly enough.
Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were all sitting in relative silence, enjoying the time off from work to relax before getting thrown back into Link’s memories, an experience that none of them were particularly looking forward to. Overall it was a comfortable scene, with the group talking and interacting together while cheery sunlight illuminated the room. Twilight was loathe to interrupt everything as she put the finishing tweaks on the memory spell. With the hectic last few days she knew that it did everyone good to relax for a while, but she stood anyway, tapping a hoof loudly on the large crystal table in the center of the room.
“Everypony!” She called, and the noise ceased. Pinkie Pie leaned to one side and tapped Dusk on the forehead. The Night Pegasi jerked, blinking rapidly, before looking to Twilight apologetically, yawning loudly. Twilight chuckled and nodded before continuing, her eyes sweeping the group.
“All of us, Fact excluded know the drill at this point,” The purple alicorn began. Fact inclined his head. “But,” Twilight continued, “I assume he already has a good grasp on the procedure for this spell,” Twilight lit her horn as the tan stallion nodded. “So let’s get this over with,” Twilight sighed to herself, before shaking her head, looking to where Fluttershy and Link were sitting. “Link? Come over here please.”
Fluttershy leaned her weight off of the wolf, and Link stood, padding his was to the relative center of the room, which was to Twilight’s left because of the large table. He nodded at Twilight, signifying he was ready. Lighting her horn, Twilight took a deep breath, preparing herself, and she heard the rest of the room do the same. The princess slowly leaned over and touched her lit horn to Link’s forehead. The breath Twilight had taken was ripped from her body as her vision spiraled into darkness.
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Just like the last memory spell, the temperature hit Twilight first. But instead of the swampy and humid atmosphere she had been expecting, a wall of scorching air hit her, stripping all of the moisture from her lips and making her mouth and eyes uncomfortably dry in an instant. It felt like she was in the middle of a fire, and Twilight instinctively tried to cast a cooling spell, but nothing happened, her lack of a horn making any magic impossible. Twilight endured the pounding heat for what seemed like an hour in the pure blackness, and she sighed in relief once the spell really got underway.
Once again, a grey blob appeared below Twilight, in the same position as the first spell. It slowly formed into the vague shape of the bipedal Link, before snapping into focus in the blackness. Much was the same about Link, namely the blonde hair and green attire, but there were a few differences. The wooden shield Twilight had seen last time was gone, replaced by a rectangular plate of metal, held together by large rivets on the edges, the front surface pitted with dark scorch marks. Despite the shield’s apparent weight, Link seemed to bear it fine, holding it out in front of him with one arm, fist clenched around the holding strap. An ornate bow was strapped over the sheath on Link’s back, the design breathtaking. The weapon was beautifully carved with swirls of silver that danced across the two ends to sharpened points, deadly tips added to already sleek and predatory looking weapon. The hand grip was also elaborately carved, with a few sparkling gems inlaid into it. A quiver in the same style sat next to the sheath, and Twilight saw numerous feathered arrows sitting at the end. The arrows were of obviously good construction, each ornately decorated as well with the same striking designs.
Twilight's inspection of the masterfully made weapon when Link's back heaved, his voice obviously pained. Twilight spiraled her view point around Link, alarmed. The whites of his eyes stood out like bones from his soot covered face, the ash coating his cheeks and forehead, beads of sweat painting grey lines down his face. His green clothes looked just as hammered, and his sleeves, forearm guards, and boots were especially singed. Despite the overwhelming heat, Twilight could see that Link was still wearing chain mail under the green tunic, its shine dulled and blackened, but it was still holding. His fingers, which were wrapped around his sword’s hilt, were a bright red and blistering. The tunic weighed on Link's body, and his chest was heaving in the dry air, but his blue eyes were burning as bright as ever.
Twilight had barely finished her examination when a room came into focus, breathing life into the darkness. The air rippled with heat, blurring her vision and making her feel the need to blink incessantly. It was large, probably the same size as her throne room. It was made of red stone, with a domed roof that was held up by large stone pillars that ringed the edge of the room, the huge blocks of earth rent by some force, slashing lines of stone ripped from them.The room was decorated in large, worn down carvings, lining the walls and running up the support pillars to converge on the roof. A giant stone door, easily twice as tall as Link, was set into one side of the room, firmly shut, and the thing it was meant to keep in dominated the center of the room.
The thing was bipedal, with arms and legs thick as a tree trunk, tipped with hands that were big enough to envelop her whole body in their crushing grip. The monster's head almost touched the ceiling, and a giant mouth filled with jagged teeth was hanging slightly open in the center of the horrible face, red saliva dripping from its jaws, hissing as it hit the floor. The things skin was black as tar, and liquid fire seemed to be streaming around it, weaving and shining as it wound around the monster. Giant metal chains were clamped to its wrists and ankles, set into large metal rings set into the stone of the floor. The chains were slack against the floor as the monster stood unmoving, not even breathing. The room sat in its silence for a moment, before Link took a cautious step forward, and the thing stirred. A giant red eye, set into the middle of the monsters head, slowly opened. The slotted pupil instantly focused on Link, and Twilight was taken aback by the sheer hatred that shone from it.
A voice flowed into her mind, breathing one word. Fyrus.
Link tensed as Fyrus looked at him, a first shuddering breath ripping from its chest. Then the giant creature began to shake, slowly at first but then more violently, the red eye locked onto Link the entire time. Fyrus opened its mouth fully, letting out a roar that shook the room and made Link step back, covering his face with an arm. The inside of Fyrus’ mouth was glowing a deep red, and the temperature in the already burning room stepped up a notch. The chains rattled into stiffness as Fyrus strained towards Link, bellowing once more. The chain holding Fyurs's left hand snapped with a violent sound as the creature heaved towards Link, its hand straining towards him, the huge fingers flexing madly. Fyrus hurled itself against the chain’s restraints, and Link took another step back as a second chain was pulled apart, freeing Fyrus left leg.
Twilight looked on helplessly as Fyrus, with one more motion, snapped a third chain, this one manacled to its other arm, its single eye still staring at Link. The last chain went soon after, the metal ring it was attached to being completely pulled out of the stone ground, leaving a large hole in the center of the floor. Fyrus raised its face upward, roaring out in triumph. The room shook and streams of dust fell from the ceiling as Fyrus lowered its head once more. The giant mouth set into the creatures face was smiling, the jagged spears of teeth scraping together. Fyrus charged Link with surprising speed, arms held out in front to tackle its smaller adversary in a burning hug. Fyrus’ huge footsteps shook the room, pounding into the stone floor. Link’s eyes widened, and he sprinted along one side of the circular room, an arm covering most of his face. Fyrus extended a giant claw in Link’s direction, but Link slipped just out of reach, and Fyrus roared as his momentum carried his past his prey. Fyrus slammed into one of the large columns, his roar cut off with a violent crack of skin and bone against stone. But instead of bouncing off dazed like Twilight expected, Fyrus kept going, speeding through the pillar and into the wall itself. Chunks of stone rained across the room, and Link held up his shield to protect his face from the falling projectiles. The impacts must have been jarring, but Link held strong, his eyes still watching Fyrus’ back.
Shaking its huge head, Fyrus turned. Jets of black smoke poured from its nostrils as it snorted, charging Link again, but Link was ready this time. Steel sung as Link sheathed his sword in a lighting quick move. He fell to one knee, smoothly grabbing the bow off his back and notching an arrow. Link narrowed his eyes, and as Fyrus reached the center of the room, drew back and let the arrow fly, his fingertips gently gliding across his cheek. The arrow sliced through the air, magnificent in its flight, the fletching on the back gracefully spinning the projectile. The tip of the arrow glowed red hot as it sliced into Fyrus’ single eye.
Fyrus bellowed, its charge turning into a stumble as Fyrus smashed into another pillar to Link’s left, hand held over its face. Rebounding off the wall with a tremendous crack, Fyrus lurched in the other direction, chains trailing on the ground as it wiped desperately to free the arrow that was still lodged in its eye. Link put the bow away with the same grace and speed as he had drawn it, standing in the same motion, face set in steely triumph. His eyes locked onto something on the floor, and he sprinted towards Fyrus’ back, not wasting a moment. It took Twilight a second to find what Link was running towards, but it quickly dawned on her.
The iron ring, the one that had been ripped from the floor when Fyrus freed himself only moments earlier, was scraping along the ground as Fyrus stumbled away from Link in its agony. The giant metal chain was still attached to the creature’s leg, and Link skid to a stop. He scooped up the ring in both hands before planting himself as firmly as he could. There was no way he could hold the giant Fyrus with strength alone, but Link had a trick up his sleeve. As Fyrus swiped an arm at another pillar, roaring once again, Link hopped up into the air a couple of inches, tapping his feet together in midair. With a bright flash of light, Link crashed back into the ground with a crash of metal. Where his boots had been simple just a moment ago, they were now clad in metal shoes of outstanding workmanship, simple but effective in their construction. The silver footwear reached halfway up Link’s calves, and golden and blue patterns swirled around the thick metal, seeming to shine with an unearthly light. As Link impacted the ground, panels of metal on all sides of the boots detached from the main body, speeding downward through an inch of stone, effectively cementing Link in place.
Link heaved, the prominent muscles in his arms straining with the effort. Fyrus jerked as one leg came to an unexpected stop, swiveling its head to gaze back at Link. The giant eye in the center of Fyrus’ face was leaking a black fluid, the arrowhead finally dislodged, but the hatred and intelligence there were anything but gone. Link let out a groan, teeth grinding as he heaved again. Twilight noticed with alarm the red liquid sliding around Links hands from where he gripped the jagged iron ring, sizzling and popping with the heat. The sections of metal clamped into the ground from his left boot lifted for a moment, slamming back into the stone again as Link stepped backwards. Fyrus strained on the chain, but somehow Link held true, and Fyrus faltered. With a shout of exertion, Link jerked his right foot back as far as he could, the metal sections impaling the floor once again. Fyrus roared as its leg was jerked back too far for it to keep its balance, and the creature crashed onto the floor, spread eagle on the ground.
The sections of metal on Link’s boots unfastened from the ground the instant Link made an upwards motion, and he hopped slightly into the air once again, despite the weight that the metal shoes encasing his feet must have pulled on him. Tapping his feet together in the air once again, and the boots vanished in a flash of light, Link’s normal brown footwear lightly impacting the floor as he threw the metal ring aside. Link sprinted forward once again, straight towards the dazed Fyrus’ head, drawing his sword with a hiss of pain. Fyrus’ eye focused on Link as he ran past its shoulders, quickly clearing as it saw the shining steel Link held. With a shout, Link slashed his sword savagely across Fyrus’ single eye, cutting a quick x with the blade. Black liquid exploded outward, splashing across Link’s tunic and pants, hissing as it landed the fabric. Link took a step backward with a cry of surprise, and Fyrus took advantage of the momentary pause.
Fyrus’ right arm came out of nowhere, and Link only had enough time to raise his shield above his chest before a giant backhand sent him spinning into the air. Link was tossed like a ragdoll into the near wall, his back smashing across it before he fell to the ground. Fyrus pushed itself to one knee. Fluid from its ruined eye gushed over its face and into its smiling maw, giving the creature an even more savage and terrifying look as it swiveled its head towards Link. Fyrus’ eye was destroyed, ragged strips of flesh hanging from the pupil and iris where Link had struck. But even as Twilight watched, the flesh of Fyrus’ eye began to knit itself back together, the river of black fluid slowing to a trickle. Soon the eye was whole once again, and Fyrus’ smile became even more sinister.
Link raised his head off the ground, eyes blazing with fury. He had somehow managed to hold on to his sword, and he tightened his grip on it as he pushed himself to a kneeling position, nearly mirroring Fyrus. Link stood, and Fyrus copied the motion. The back of his tunic was ripped to sheds from the impact with the wall, the exposed chain mail underneath dull in the low light. Despite obvious difficulty, Link stood on steady legs and his guard. Had Twilight been in Link’s position, she would have been smashed into thousands of bloody pieces as the giant chain whipped through the air. The metal gouged huge streaks into the pillars and the wall behind Link as it sped past, barely a blur as Fyrus’ snapped his arm and wrist in Link’s direction, using the measures of his own restraints as a devastating whip.
Link’s quick reaction time was the only thing that saved him. He had ducked just in time, but even with his unbelievably fast motion, a link of the large chain ripped across his tunic as it flashed past. Twilight was relieved to see Link apparently unhurt, but he had lost his balance, stubling from the near deadly blow. Link turned his stagger into a roll to the side as the second chain came down vertically, Fyrus retracting one giant arm even as the other moved. More stone of the wall pelleted Link as he avoided the attack. Link ended his roll in a run, his body unfurling from the ground at a dead sprint, sword still held aloft, the hilt stained red as blood dripped from Link's palm. Fyrus failed to twist around in time, and Link slashed at the creature’s thigh as he sprinted past. The strike only elicited a grunt from Fyrus, and it turned in Link’s direction, monstrous chain flying through the air once again, slashing a diagonal stripe from ceiling to wall through the rock a foot away from the dodging Link.
Link didn’t even take the time to pause or to aim this time, turning his torso to face Fyrus in an incredible show of body control, the arrow held across his chest. The arrow was loosed in the blink of an eye, slicing through the air. Fyrus had learned its lesson however, and held an arm in front of his face, the arrow shattering against its skin. Link notched another arrow, and let it fly on the heels of the first, stopping his sprint on a dime and taking off in the other direction. This one fared better, glancing off the side of Fyrus’ face, but it still did no damage to the creature. Link grunted in frustration, dropping into a slide across the floor as Fyrus tried to catch him with the chain once more, whipping the metal horizontally at the level that Link’s head was a moment before. As the chain passed above him, Fyrus’ arm came away from his face to ready for the next strike.
Link’s eyes widened and he notched an arrow mid slide. With a grunt, Link released his hand, right before his side skidded into a stone pillar, his slide ending with a paiunful smack against stone, all the air in Link's lungs rushing from his body in a huge gasp. But Link’s aim was true, and the arrow sunk itself into Fyrus’ eye. The beast, caught unawares yet again, bellowed as it stumbled backward, tearing at its eye with its hands. Link took the moment to stand, grimacing as he attached his bow to his back one again, his face marred with dark bruise. Link’s eyes set into a stare that might as well be hewn from stone. Bright and courageous as ever, his gaze burned like twin pillars of blue fire.
Fyrus, getting purchase on the arrow in its eye, ripped the offending piece of wood away in a shower of red hot splinters. Link unsheathed his sword with a ring of steel, holding it in both hands in front of him. With barely a pause, Link was in motion, right towards Fyrus’ writhing form. Fyrus bellowed once more, shaking its head back and forth near its chest, trying to focus. It wrenched its head forward, focusing on the blur of green. It found Link too late.
Link leapt upward through the blistering heat of Fyrus’ breath with a roar of his own, whipping his sword forward. With both hands, Link plunged the weapon hilt deep into Fyrus’ single pulsing eye. Fyrus froze, as if not sure what had just happened, arms falling limp by its sides, chains falling motionless on the ground. Link’s burned and bleeding hands were unable to hold onto the hilt of his sword any longer, and he slipped to the floor, staggering before regaining his footing a few feet away from the frozen monster.
Fyrus’ chest convulsed once, black blood dripping across its face. With a flash, Fyrus was nothing but a silhouette, with the still bright steel of Link’s sword impaled in the motionless face. Link covered his face as a blast of air exploded from the monster, small black cubes flying in every direction. Fyrus was gone, and Link’s sword clattered to the stone as the last of the cubes dissolved. A black object arched to the center of the room form where Fyrus had been moments ago, the mysterious object once again resembling a piece of some elaborate headset. It hung, spinning slightly, a few inches off the floor.
Link took a deep breath in the silence. His face and clothing were covered in soot and marred by injury, and his hands were still red, blistering, and bleeding heavily. Link reached into the bag at his side and pulled out small glass bottle of a thick purple liquid. Uncorking it, he downed the contents, before placing the bottle back in the bag. The change was instant. Link’s raw face flushed back into its normal color, and the skin on his hands miraculously began to knit itself back together. In mere seconds there was no evidence of the fight but the burn marks on Link’s tunic and forearm guards. Link, taking a step forward, picked his sword off the ground. With a flourish, he sheathed it, a triumphant smile lighting his face. Twilight could feel the temperature in the room cooling dramatically, and she appreciated it as much as Link apparently did.
Twilight started once more as Link’s shadow came to life, the shadowy red eyed imp suddenly appearing next to the black spinning object. With a high giggle, the imp reached out and tapped the object with a single finger. With a sickening jolt, Twilight was sucked away.