My Little Pony: Into the Wild

by MoonGuard97

Dreams of Wary

Dark. Everything was dark.

He couldn't see anything, probably because his eyes were closed, but he could feel everything. He could feel the soft bed as it cradled his body, feel the water as it gently caressed his face. The air was warm and undisturbed, and his heart beat softly in his chest. Even things he shouldn't be able to feel, like the gentle blue glow of the chamber walls, or the dust in the corners, or the stray wisps steam in the air. He could feel it all.

And then, he could hear.

He heard the sound of the water draining out of the pod, its soft touch tracing his skin as it vanished. Once his ears were clear, he thought he might hear other sounds, but he heard nothing; nothing but the rhythm of his breathing and the beating of his heart. Everything was still, quiet.

He was alone.

And then, he wasn't.

A voice, starting softly, nearly incomprehensible, tickled the tips of his long ears, before fading back into silence. It left him alone for but a moment, before returning, louder this time, saying the same thing, but he still couldn't make it out, and the voice faded once again. The voice returned a third time, and though he still couldn't understand, he knew it was a woman who spoke to him. Then a fourth time, and he could finally understand.

"Link..."

Link. Was that...his name? Yes, that sounded right. He was Link. But...

Who was Link?

"Link, open your eyes."

If he opened his eyes, he would see the woman speaking to him. Would she know who he was? He opened hie eyes, and found himself standing on a stone path, an ornate sword held point-down in his gloved hands. A cool breeze rustled his hair and pulled at his tunic. Around him rose great stone walls and before him stood a carved archway, all lit by glowing insects in the evening darkness. Behind him, he could hear the sounds of water.

He turned to find a large, shallow pool reflecting the light of the insects. Two tall trees grew out of the pool, and a large altar sat between them. Before that altar stood a woman in a white gown, her feet making ripples on the surface of the water and her golden hair flowing in the breeze, her back turned to him. She seemed...familiar. Yes, she would know him, who he was, he was sure of it. He took a step forward.

"Link..." The woman turned, and Link screamed. Her face was a pit of tar and blood with nothing more than a gaping hole for a mouth, twisted into a sinister grin. A cascade of crimson hair fell from her face and back from her scalp, and a crown of fire sank into her brow. The gaze from her burning eyes made his skin crawl, and she lunged at him with an inhuman shriek.

---

"Aaahhhhh!"

Link screamed and shot upright. A little ways off, a bolt of lightning answered his subconscious call, streaking across the sky and splitting the trunk of a nearby tree, quickly followed by two more strikes behind him. Thunder rolled across the plains for nearly a minute as he sat there with his heart hammering against his rib cage with the force of a goron miner. That...nightmare...what was that?

"Whoa!" A high-pitched voice said. He looked over and saw Pinkie Pie dangling from a tree branch by her tail. "Convenient lightning strike is convenient. That's, like, the most clichéd cliché to ever cliché in the history of clichés."

Link blinked and stared hard at her, his brain working too fast yet somehow not fast enough to process whatever she just said, before shaking his head and focusing on steadying his breathing. That...that was bad. Protection was one thing, it was just a shield. The worst it would do was knock someone down if they were standing to close. But Fury...well, he was just glad the lightning had been summoned at a distance and not its usual close range.

He shook his head again and stood up. He was awake now, and there was no way he was going to be able to go back to sleep with that nightmare still in the forefront of his mind, so he might as well get up.

Meanwhile, a certain pegasus watched from where she lay.

---

It was still early, which was really saying something given that it was coming from him. He'd tried to get back to sleep after that horrible nightmare, but whatever rest he found was fitful and served more to frustrate him than anything else.

Alright, fine, he ceded at last, Lack of sleep was part of my training as a knight. I can handle one day on what I've already got. With those irritated thoughts in his mind, he pushed himself off the ground and looked to the east. He was used to getting up at sunrise, but this was early even for him. Only the barest hints of purple could be seen over the highlands. The others wouldn't be awake for at least another two hours, so Link quietly packed up his bedroll and set it next to the wagon before moving off a little way so as not to disturb them.

"Now, what to do?" he muttered to himself. There weren't any convenient rivers nearby, and they only had so much water in reserve, so a bath was out of the question. He could kill time by hunting rabbits and foxes. His bow was lying next to the tree from his watch last night. Then again, given how some of the ponies had reacted to the meat yesterday, he'd better give them some more time to get used to this world before actually butchering something in front of them. He could also go for a run, but that would leave the camp unprotected.

Oh, come on. Is there nothing for a bored ex-knight to do in the small hours of the morning? That dream still lingered in his mind, and it was only making his anxiety worse. He had to find a way to distract himself.

He stood there staring off into space for a while, trying to figure out what to do with himself, until a new sound tickled the tips of his ears. Looking around for the source, he spotted a large shape lumbering randomly through the fields not too far from the road. As he watched, the shape laid down and disappeared into the terrain. Link grinned.

Well, now, entertainment and a workout. I couldn't have asked for more.

---

When Rarity woke up a couple hours later, she took a moment to come to her senses and remind herself where she was before opening her eyes. After all, if she had done things in the reverse order, she might well have suffered the same panic she'd felt two days ago and proceeded to do something foolish, surely. Opening her eyes at last, she rose up from where she had been laying and used a bit of magic to straighten up her mane. Breathing in deeply, she held it for a moment before exhaling slowly.

"Right then, time to face the day."

It was still rather early, but at least the sun had risen by now and was lending its light to the world. The grass around her was covered in early morning dew, and she noticed that the blanket she had been sleeping on was also quite wet.

"Oh no, this simply won't do. I can't very well return it in this condition." She used magic to extract as much of the moisture as she could without damaging the blanket, then laid it over the side of the wagon to dry completely.

"There, that should do the trick." She gave herself a satisfied nod and began inspecting herself. Her mane had been let down while she slept to prevent the possibility of a headache, so she quickly tied it loosely near the end just to keep it out of the way for now. Both it and her tail had lost that curly bounce she worked so hard to maintain, reverting to their natural, almost-straight state, but there was nothing she could do about that at the moment. Her coat, on the other hand...

"I suppose I haven't had a proper bath since we left Equestria." She shuddered briefly at that realization. "Right, I suppose I'll have to make do with whatever I can. Perhaps Rainbow Dash could bring me a rain cloud and I could use it as a makeshift shower. One way or another, I simply must get this dirt and grime out of my coat!"

With that matter settled in her mind, she nodded once to herself and turned around to join the others for breakfast.

"Oh my..."

The sight she was met with, however, was not what she had been expecting. Rather than sitting together on logs and enjoying fruits and meats, everyone was standing in a ring near the tree. Trotting over to join them, Rarity realized what they were looking at.

"C'MON LINK!! YOU CAN DO IT!" Pinkie Pie screamed from atop Starlight's head.

"Keep goin' Rainbow! Don't you dare let 'im beat you!" Applejack shouted.

In the middle of the ring, Link and Rainbow Dash were engaged in a competition similar to those Rainbow and Applejack so enjoyed. Rainbow had her wings planted firmly against the ground and her forelegs tucked against her chest, pushing her body up and down in a steady rhythm, while Link was doing what seemed to be the human equivalent with his arms. He had also curiously, removed his tunic, exposing well-defined muscles all across his upper body.

"You good to keep going, Dashie?" Link grunted with a grin, sweat dripping from his face. "You're not thinking of giving up already are you?"

"Hah!" Dash responded in kind. Her coat was also matted with sweat. "Not on your life, Linkle! We're only at two hundred, so don't you dare drop yet!"

Rarity's eyebrow's shot up at this comment. "Two hundred?" she remarked. She turned to Zelda, who was standing next to her. "Is that true?"

Zelda simply nodded silently. Confused at her silence, Rarity took a closer look and noticed that Zelda's face was extremely flushed and she was holding her nose in both hands. Her eyes were focused very intently on Link.

Oh, I see, Rarity thought with a hint of mirth. She ignited her horn and pulled a small handkerchief from her saddlebags and quietly passed it to Zelda, who nodded her thanks and pressed it under her nose.

Rarity wasn't familiar with Hylian standards of beauty, but thinking about it from her own perspective, Link did have a kind of rugged handsomeness to him, and the effect did seem to be enhanced by his current lack of attire. She certainly wasn't about to fault or tease the poor girl. But that didn't mean she couldn't find some small pleasure in her reactions.

---

At last, Rainbow's wings gave out and she dropped. Link completed one more push-up before he, too, put his knees down and sat up, grateful that it was over. Both of them were gasping for air and dripping with sweat, the dirt under them having nearly turned to mud.

"Two-eighty...Dashie," Link panted, "I...win." Rainbow just groaned in acknowledgement.

Link winced as he tried to get up. He was definitely going to be feeling that for a few days. Maybe they should have just stopped at a hundred and called it even...

As Applejack helped Rainbow off the ground, Pinkie Pie came bouncing over to Link and wiggled her way under his arm to lift him up as well, giggling uncontrollably.

"Ohmygosh, that was like, WAY AWESOME Linky! I've only ever seen Applejack go hoof-to-hoof with Rainbow Dash until now! Who would've thunk you could actually beat her? Not me! I mean don't get me wrong, I still think you're pretty strong, but Rainbow is like--!"

"Thanks Pinkie," Link chuckled, ruffling her mane a bit. Somehow, his hand came back covered in shiny flakes.

Pinkie and Applejack dragged the two of them over to some rocks by the fire and sat them down. Breakfast that morning consisted of mushroom-stuffed, cheese-topped omelets, courtesy of Fluttershy. Peeling back the egg a bit, Link was grateful to find a large portion of stamella shrooms included in the mix.

"Ohh," Rainbow moaned, shewing on her own omelet. "I don't know what you put in that Shy, but it's really hitting the spot. I'm starting to feel better already."

Fluttershy smiled around her cup of apple juice, her squirrel friend running around her hooves. "Oh, I'm glad," she whispered. "Mr. Squickens says those green mushrooms help recover energy, so I thought you two should have some."

They both nodded gratefully and proceeded to eat five servings each while everyone else looked on with mixed expressions of admiration and horror.

"Um," Twilight started tentatively. "Is it okay that they're eating that much? I know you two only have so much food with you."

"It's fine." Zelda waved off her concerns, her eyes still fixed on her companion. "Link normally eats like this, and we were prepared for a long trip, so we have plenty. Besides, Link is a good hunter, and Hyrule has plenty of game. Then we can restock on domestic ingredients at either the Tabantha Bridge Stable or in Rito Village itself."

Twilight swallowed. She still wasn't comfortable with the fact that Hylians ate so much meat, and was extremely grateful that today's breakfast didn't have any in it. Being forced to think about Link killing some innocent creature just to eat it... The thought made her queasy. We need to get home fast, before everypony starts getting used to that sort of barbaric practice. Especially Spike.

"Oh, I just remembered," Link spoke up. He set aside his plate and stood up, a bit shakily at first, and walked over to the wagon, where his weapons and tunic had been set next to a large bag that hadn't been there last night. He rummaged around in the bag and pulled out a smaller bag. "Hey Spike, catch!"

Spike looked up from examining his spear just in time to catch the incoming package. He gave Link a quizzical look. "What is it?"

"What do you mean, 'what is it?' Open it up and take a look."

Spike set down his spear and untied the string on the bag, opening it up and looking inside. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. He reached his small fist inside and pulled a clawful of small gems which clearly weren't rupees. "Seriously!?"

"Wait," Twilight spoke up again, shooting Link a suspicious look. "I thought you said gems were too precious for Spike to be eating, so why are you giving them to him now?" If he could eat gems, then there was no reason for him to be eating meat!

Link just shrugged his shoulders. "Those ones are too small; nobody will buy gems below a certain size. Even if they did, they'd only sell for a couple rupees each. Besides," he patted the bag next to him, "I got plenty of bigger ones from the Talus I fought this morning, so it doesn't hurt to let him have the little ones."

"Dude, you're awesome!" Spike wasted no time tossing a couple yellow gems in his mouth and crunching down.

Starlight turned to Zelda. "What's a Talus?"

"Talus are like living stones. They're bodies are comprised entirely of rock and other minerals, and they simply fall apart once they're defeated, usually leaving piles of precious stones among the rubble."

"Whoa!" Spike exclaimed suddenly. Everyone looked over to see that he was sitting with his tail straight up and a sour look on his face. "Those have some zing to them. I like it!" He tossed another yellow one in his mouth.

As they all watched this with amused expressions, Spike's scales suddenly started to change, the edges all turning a vibrant yellow.

"Umm, Spike?" Applejack started.

"Yes?" Spike turned to her, then held his stomach and let out a small burp. Instead of the usual green fire, however, small tongues of electricity escaped his lips.

Everyone just stared for a moment before Link broke the silence. "Well, there's something I didn't expect."

"Fascinating," Zelda mumbled, before explaining to the ponies. "In Hyrule, certain gems have magical properties. The topaz Spike just ate is known to have inherent electrical attributes. It seems that by eating it, Spike's body has taken on that magic. I wonder if it's permanent?"

Everyone ignored Twilight's subsequent panic attack and just stared at Spike, who slowly lifted another topaz to his mouth and continued eating. He let out another lightning burp.

"Well, then," Rainbow Dash started awkwardly. She looked up and saw a couple clouds in the sky. "Who wants a shower?"

Comments

[My Little Epona]

YAY AN UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Omg I can't believe how much I MISSED THIS STORY. This was awesome. Can't wait to hear where Link's nightmare goes....
I am so glad you're continuing!!!! I was so worried this story was dead.

[falconstrings]

it's like watching someone eat some sour patch for the first time

[Eroraf86]

Okay, that nightmare was very WTF, but the idea of Spike being able to store and use the magic of rare gems is fascinating. Very curious to see what you’ve got in store.

[Anachronon]

"We need to get home fast, before everypony starts getting used to that sort of barbaric practice. Especially Spike."

Screw you, too, Twilight. Not everybody can be or wants to be 100% herbivore, sue nature. Seriously though, shouldn't a supposed-to-be ruler be more tolerant when it comes to the customs and eating habits of other races? Gryphons for example?

[Cat Miaou]

Man, I was really scared, you wouldn't post any other update, but I'm glad you did :)
I only started reading this story a few week ago and man, is it good. what your doig is great and I hope you will keep going :)

[Orion Light]

You almost lost me, dear author. Good thing I skimmed through the last chapter that I remembered where this story was going.

[PetuTheViewer]

10150400
While I wouldn't put it quite that harshly but I agree that Twilight needs a reality check. She has clearly gotten too used to her surroundings and been unchallenged for too long.

[rafaeliscorrelis]

My good sir.

Please continue with this history!

[Starkeeper_Ponyfic]

Loving this! The best parts are how you portray Link and Zelda's characters imo :D
Looking forward to more!

[Buizel79]

It’s a good thing i got the game of it and a Switch. I’ve been adapting and learning quite a lot about the game, characters, story and mechanics.

[Violagameboy]

Took you 2 years to update. Please continue this story it is getting good.

[gfr091702]

Your story helped inspire me to write my own story in the game but takes when Link awakens. Thank you for giving me the courage to do it. Please continue to write this story because it gives me joy.

[Buizel79]

10150400
I beg to differ, it’s survival of the fittest if anyone wishes to live, is to survive out in the wilderness.

[gfr091702]

This story of yours gave me smiles I haven't had in a long time. Please continue writing this. I can't wait until the next chapter.

[gfr091702]

When are you going to post the next chapter because I want to know what happens next.

[yonalkaru]

when is the next chapter going to come out dude i wanna know!!!