Everything is Cool
Link gulped as he stared down the three.
They were the most important masks he owned. Each of them contained a spirit that he had become very close to, and though they could not speak with, see or hear him (or anything from the physical world) if he was not directly contacting or wearing them. Even so, he could feel them gazing down at him from the wall they hung on. It would have been lonely if they hadn’t formed connections to each other. Mikau and Darmani liked debating random issues and telling Neki stories.
“I’m sorry guys,” Link said quietly. The first raindrops began to fall.
“Recent events have been greatly occupying my time. I’ve not been able to even speak with you, much less update you or give you time to stretch your legs. I’ve not been a very good friend to any of you.”
A tear almost fell from his eye. He gathered all three masks in his arms.
“Sorry,” he whispered once more.
Instantly his mind was bombarded with three familiar voices.
Kid! Oh, thank goodness, we’ve been worried sick about you!
Brother, where have you been? Has someone harmed you? Who do I need to crush?
Link! I missed you so much! Where did you go? Huh? Was it fun? Huh?
The chatter of their voices in his head was refreshing, though always odd. If he mentioned the voices to anyone else, they would probably lock him up before he did harm to himself or others. He hears voices in his head. They council him, they understand.
They talk to him.
He sat on his bed with the masks held to his chest for close to an hour recounting his tales.
Why did you not call upon me? I would have made short work of those wooden beasts.
“Your mask was inside my pack. I did not have time to rummage around. It was dumb luck I didn’t lose any in the chaos.”
You should always carry us on your belt. That way we can always protect you!
Link smiled. Leave it to Neki to always put the needs of another before himself. He was not an average child.
What about the other mask; the one you used to seal away the fallen goddess?
Link squinted down at Darmani’s mask.
“I’m never using that mask again. It turned out I did not need to. I was saved.”
Yeah, who saved you? We’ve got to say thank you.
He smiled down at Neki. “I’ll let you stretch your legs soon. Before I do, though, I should explain something about my saviors…”
Link then went on to spend some time telling the story of recent events to his three most precious masks. He told them of his first hint that the trees were no longer the same ones he was familiar with at home (though being familiar with the Lost Woods is kind of a stretch). He told them of the anxiety masked by excitement he felt as he proceeded into the unknown. He told them of how uneasy and curious he was when the magic of the forest became so chaotic that it might rob him of the control of his spells.
He told them of what happened when his curiosity got the better of him and he attempted to cast his safest spell, Nayru’s Love, on himself- it immediately dissipated from around him and surrounded a random bird that he was pretty sure was still invincible.
He told them of his first encounter with a timberwolf. Most of all, he told them of his near death at the claws of a pack of the wooden beasts; how he nearly killed the largest bunny he’d ever seen. He told them of his rescue.
He told them of his rescuers.
Normally, if Link had something he wanted to tell Mikau, Neki, and Darmani about, they would ask questions here and there or make comments. They were dead quiet on this occasion. Even the chatty deku boy!
He sighed. “Okay, where’d I lose you?”
You didn’t. Are you sure you didn’t hit your head or something?
He blinked. “I was not under Mikau’s control at the time.”
Hey!
You hear what you’re saying though right?
“I know what I saw.”
It doesn’t sound like you do, kid. I’m with Darmani on this one. Maybe you’re more badly hurt than you thought?
I think you need to go home, brother. See if your friend from the forest will have an emergency meeting with you.
Link furrowed his brow.
“The magic of this place will not allow my teleportation spells to work. Or have you already forgotten?”
How can you be sure you weren’t just playing the wrong notes?
Link stared at Darmani’s mask.
“I’ve tried repeatedly.”
Then try again! I want to believe you brother, but you’re not making it easy. You’re describing brightly colored talking horses and claiming that they saved your life.
“You were willing to accept Hyrule as being a real place before I even took you there, but colorful ponies are where you draw the line?”
Darmani was silent while Mikau laughed.
I believe him.
Mikau fell silent as well and Link smiled gratefully at the deku mask.
If Link says he was saved by talking horseys, then he was saved by talking horseys. So, we have to say thank you to the horseys for saving him.
…Alright, I’ll bite. You’ve not lied to me before, kid, and I don’t think you will now.
He gave Mikau’s mask a nod and looked expectantly to the stubborn Goron.
Oh, alright. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. But I want to see one of them for myself before I admit you were right.
“You were worn by one of them.”
I was?
Link ignored him and looked to the deku again.
“Thanks, Neki.”
He could swear the deku was smiling. Before there were any responses, there was a knock on the door.
“It’s open,” he said in Equish.
What?
He blinked at Darmani. “It’s a pony thing. You wouldn’t understand.”
Before the Goron could retort, he set the masks on the bed as Twilight opened the door. She smiled warmly at him.
“Good morning Hinka. How did you sleep?”
Link gave a small smile back. “Okay.”
Twilight seemed to beam at him for using his words. Or word. Her gaze fell to the masks on his bed.
“Doing some redecorating?”
He glanced over at his masks.
“I cherish these masks the most.”
She tilted her head.
“Not the heart shaped one?”
He blinked and looked to his masks. She pointed at Majora with a hoof.
“Rainbow still feels bad for making you upset. She tried to wear that one, right?”
He shrunk back.
“I do not like that mask.”
“You don’t?”
He shook his head. In recent weeks, Majora appeared to be strengthening. He could sense the contempt she had for him as ever, but it felt as though it was stronger. She could regain however much strength she liked, though. She would remain powerless if not worn.
“Why not?” she asked.
He was silent for a moment. In the time he’d known Twilight, he learned that, while she was a wonderfully sweet and caring mare, she was also very curious and was known to obsess over anything that caught her interest. He was afraid that, if he told her of Majora’s capabilities and power now, she would either not believe him, or would attempt to experiment on it. Majora’s Mask was seemingly indestructible, but he didn’t know what her spells or experiments might do to it. What if they released the goddess within? He didn’t want her to ever enact her malice again, especially if he was right about her gaining strength.
Then again, Twilight did have an open line to Princess Celestia. Maybe she would have an idea of what to do with the mask? If he told Twilight the truth, either Twilight would think he was making it up, Majora would be accidentally released from her prison in a failed experiment or would be sealed away or otherwise destroyed by the Sun Goddess.
It was still a risk he was not willing to take.
“Hinka?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to talk about her.”
“Her?”
He cursed to himself in Hylian and looked to Twilight with a frown. He pointed at what competed to be the worst mask in his possession.
“Majora’s Mask.”
“Majora’s Mask,” Twilight echoed. Her ears drooped. “It almost feels as if it’s staring into my soul."
She probably is, he thought to himself. Majora was probably attempting to will Twilight into wearing her mask. However, she had no power over those who did not put her on in the first place, therefore she had no influence over his plump purple legal guardian.
Twilight wrapped a wing around Link. She eyed him with concern.
“I won’t press you any further about it. However, if you do want to talk to me, I’ll be here. I think I speak for everypony when I say we’ve grown fond of you in the short time you’ve been here, Hinka.”
He smiled, and she smiled back. Then, she pointed a hoof at the masks beside him. “What about those? Are you comfortable telling me about them?”
He shrugged slightly. “Maybe one for now. Which do you want to know more about?”
Twilight scanned the three masks beside him, then pointed at the Deku.
“That one strikes my fancy, good sir!”
Link took the Deku mask in his hands.
“This is Neki’s Mask. Neki was a plant person. I don’t know how to say it in Equish, sorry.”
“Neki,” Twilight parroted. The name was strange on her tongue. She smiled at Link. “He sounds like someone very special to you. Did you make this mask?”
Link’s smile fell somewhat. “In a manner of speaking. It serves as a memorial of sorts for him.”
“He was a young child. Younger than me. I don’t know a whole lot about his final moments. He was murdered by a creature of great evil."
He felt a lump in his throat. He always tried to keep Neki’s story short because he would never finish if he went into too much detail.
“When a plant person dies, it becomes a tree. If that tree is well cared for, it can become something truly divine. Therefore, when a plant person becomes a tree, it’s not actually dead. It’s slumbering.”
Link spared a glance at Majora, his eyes full of malice.
“The one who killed him knew that. So, it made sure Neki’s tree was in a place where it would never get sunlight and would ultimately die. The killer received justice of sorts, but nothing permanent.”
He looked down at Neki’s mask.
“His father turned the dead tree into a shrine to the child. He goes there every day to mourn.”
He trailed off when he noticed it. Twilight had pulled him tight against her side.
Link, feeling uncomfortable, patted her side gently.
“Er… there, there… It’s okay. He is at peace.”
Twilight held him tighter.
“But are you?” she asked.
Link rolled his eyes to look at the collection of masks on his wall.
“It is what it is,” he said.
Twilight took a breath. “Not anymore.”
Eh?
She looked into his eyes. “You don’t have to know such violence anymore. Not here. You don’t need to wear a brave face. We’ll help you. We will support you.”
She smiled gently at him.
“You can be a child again. Let us do the heavy lifting.”
"I don't know how to," he said quietly. Twilight put a hoof on his hand.
"Then let us teach you."
He was silent again.
"Please, Hinka."
Link looked at his masks again.
“Can you let me go? I must hang the masks back up.”
Twilight released him, and he did so for all save the deku mask. He held it and looked out the window at the rain.
“I’d like for you to stay inside today, Hinka. It’s supposed to rain all day today. Maybe you and Spike can do something?”
Link glanced out the window again, and then back to Twilight.
“I’m going to make a few prayers and clean in here first.”
She gave a nod, then smiled at him again. “Remember what I said. Let go, begin again. We can help you if you just let us.”
The door shut behind her, and Link looked back at the wall of masks. Maybe Twilight was right. Maybe he could learn to regain his childhood again, at least to some degree. He already felt that Applejack’s words after last night's dinner were influencing him. He just told one of the horses the story of one of his best friends in the world. That was not something he ever really did before. Maybe he was being dumb? He'd have to think about telling them more.
It would have to wait, though. The rain was picking up. Link, smiling, held the deku mask to his face. Deku scrubs love the rain, after all.
The pain of the transformations was always brutal. Link never could stop the screams erupting from his changing mouth as his body felt like it was turning inside out. The transformation into Neki was probably the worst for him. It involved forcing his body to shrink a few feet and his skin becoming wooden. His hair would become a head of leaves and his blood would become sap. His lungs would burn, and he would initially begin to cough violently as they rejected oxygen in favor of any carbon dioxide they could steal away. Food in his stomach would feel like a lead weight that did nothing, for deku scrubs would feed by either drinking water or standing in the rain and allowing the sun to bathe them in its light when it was out.
Among the most jarring things for him was hearing his voice change from what he was accustomed to into the youthful squeaky voice of Neki. Once the pain settled, he looked at his surroundings. He didn’t manage to stop his screams, but he was able to mask them (pun intended) with the storm- the winds and rain were howling.
When all was done, Link climbed up onto the windowsill. He let himself out through the window and shut it behind him and leapt to a tree close by, and then climbed down to the muddy ground below. From the moment his bare feet hit the mud he could feel Neki eagerly trying to wrest control from him. Link nudged him back calmly, and he made his way for the trees nearby- the significantly safer wooded area near the castle known as Whitetail Woods.
“Alright Neki,” he said to himself. “We can’t be out here too long or else someone will probably come looking for me. But these trees should be nice and safe for us to play in.”
With that, he relinquished control of his body to the deku youth. His eyes almost seemed to light up; a feat given they always glowed orange.
Link would have smiled if he could. He could tell Neki was already in love with this place.
“It’s… it’s almost like home.”
Less of a swamp, but I see your point.
Neki took off Link’s hat to let the rain splash his head.
“Are the horseys here?” he asked.
I don’t think so. They should all be inside their homes right now. If you think you see one, hide. Most of them are excitable.
“Like party excitable?”
More like run around in circles screaming for help excitable. But I do know one that throws a good party.
“THANKS, HINKA!!!” came a pink-sounding voice from the distance.
“What was-“
Don’t even worry about it.
Neki ran around the trees for the better part of an hour. He’d come across a pond and, as his kind were wont to do, hopped across it on a toe. It was a skill Link had learned while he had been a deku, but Neki was far better at it than he was. Link could swear that the child could hop across the ocean and still have energy to spare.
“So, their names are Twilight Sparcow, Larry, Applesnack, Butterguy, Rapidash, and Stinky Wine?”
Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.
“Are they nice?”
Very.
“If they’re so nice, why do you want to go home? They weren’t so nice to you there.”
As welcome as they’ve made me feel, I don’t belong here.
“My daddy used to tell me that I could belong anywhere if I felt liked. You could belong here too.”
Link’s voice was silent in Neki’s head.
“Especially since you seem to like Butterguy so much.”
I want to find Navi. I must ask her why she left.
“What if she has no answer?”
That in and of itself will be answer enough.
“What if you find her, and she’s super mean, and you can’t come back here?”
That is a question I can’t answer. Is closure or support more important?
“What’s closure?”
Something I granted you when I played that song.
“I wanna meet them too. The horseys.”
You will. Just not yet. They aren’t all available today.
“One day soon?”
Link did not want to answer the same question twice. They continued running about and playing in silence for short while.
I think we should head back to the castle.
“Five more minutes?”
You said that ten minutes ago. Please, Neki.
Neki sighed.
“Alright. But I get to meet the horseys before Darmi or Micky.”
Deal.
The transformation back to normal was also brutally painful to him. Imagine your skin being made of wood and abruptly becoming flesh again. Imagine your blood changing from sap into blood, and your body, built to survive in the world just as a plant would, rearranging everything so it may survive as an animal.
Why animal? Because a human is an animal too, of course!
The transformations never took more than a few moments, but they always felt like they lasted forever. Still, Link was more than willing to suffer such pain if it meant giving his friends a chance to live just a little bit longer. He wondered if their spirits would always remain within his masks, or if there would come a time that they would pass beyond the veil to what waits for all life. If that was the case, would they leave quickly, or would it be a slow passing? Link, as selfish as it felt, hoped they would not leave. He’d grown to love them dearly, and they him.
Link hanged Neki’s mask upon the wall once more and wiped a rain drop off it. Neki had been the one to scramble up the tree and through the window once more at Link’s direction. As he had hoped, nobody appeared to have entered the room while he was gone. He decided to go see if Spike really wanted to do something with him. They had been working more on their relationship lately. Spike seemed to have far more respect for him now than before Link choked him out.
The drake’s room was next to Twilight’s, while Link’s was on the opposite side of it. Twilight had assured him he was welcome to any other room if he decided he wanted to switch, but he didn’t want to have to take all his belongings and move them, and he rather liked the current location of his room. He knocked on Spike’s door.
“Come in,” answered Spike with a yawn. Link paused a moment. Had he been sleeping all this time?
He gave a smile to the drake when he opened the door. Spike blinked curiously.
“Hey, Hinka. You need something?”
“Are you doing anything?”
Spike blinked again. “I uhh… no. Why? You wanna hang out?”
Link nodded and Spike smiled. “Cool! I just finished rereading the first edition of Power Ponies. I’ll lend it to you sometime if you want.”
Link was quiet. Power Ponies?
“It’s a comic about superheroes fighting villains and saving the day.”
Link did not respond. He didn’t have any interest in reading more about heroics. Heaven knew he didn’t like talking about his heroics. Fluttershy didn’t even know that she was close with the Hero of Time and the Hero of Termina, mainly because Link did not see himself as a hero. He only saw himself as a monster who happened to do a few noteworthy good things in addition to bad things.
“Dude, you know that staring wordlessly thing Twi told you not to do? You’re doing it again.”
Link gave his head a shake. “Sorry.”
Spike blinked. “What’s on your mind? You wanna talk about it?”
Link shook his head. “It’s not important.”
Spike opened his mouth to respond but jolted at the clap of thunder outside the window. Link considered playing the Song of Storms to cancel out the rain, but apparently the weather was controlled by the ponies. The last time he used that song apparently resulted in weather controlling ponies getting chewed out by their bosses for “the creation of unauthorized rainstorms.” He still felt bad for that.
“Man, the weather team really went all out for this one. You get storms like this where you’re from? Other than, y’know, the snowy one from your story.”
Link chuckled. He’d seen far worse storms at home. How Hyrule wasn’t completely submerged underwater by now he would never know. He was tempted to build an ark a few times though but wasn't sold on the two of every animal idea. He'd have left mosquitoes and cats off.
“Eh. Sometimes.”
Spike eyed the scar on Link’s collarbone. He looked to a scar on the back of one of his claws that he got when he was young. He smiled and showed it to Link.
“Got this when I was a baby. I tripped over a book and fell into a shelf. One of the Princess’ snow globes fell and… yeah. But I only cried for twenty minutes!”
Link smiled politely. There was a squad of kids who went around helping people in Termina called the Bombers. Whenever they caught site of Link’s scars, they would try to tell him stories of scars they got in turn. Link rarely had time to listen. The Bombers liked to tell these stories especially when he was in a rush to do something. Like stop the moon from hitting their skin.
“Did you ever see other monsters?” Spike asked. Link’s smile shrunk. He nodded.
“There are far more monsters in my home. Dark hands1, Man-eating plants2 , toxic bats3 , Like-Likes4 … but none are as bad as the Skull Warriors5.
“Skull warriors?” asked Spike.
Link nodded. “Walking skeleton warriors. They’re very rare, but extremely dangerous.”
“Did you ever fight one?”
Link fell silent. There was a long slash across his back from an encounter with the creatures in the Sacred Forest Meadow shortly before he left for Termina. Two attacked him and he was saved only by his quick casting of Nayru’s Love. The shield spell granted him just enough of an edge to defeat the two of them, though they did manage to wear the shield down so much that it nearly failed.
“…You have a neat room,” he said.
Spike crossed his arms. “So you don’t wanna say?”
Link shrugged sheepishly. “I already said too much. Can we just do something else? I don’t want to talk about the creatures of my home.”
Spike was about to press him further, but he pulled back when he saw the look in Hinka’s eyes.
“Woah, just take it easy man…”
Rainbow loved working with the weather.
There was something about it that felt rewarding and ego boosting. Maybe it was the fact that without ponies like her, Equestria wouldn’t have weather to speak of? Maybe it was the simple fact that she liked getting rained on? She especially loved the rain.
Rainbow would never admit it, but the reason she loved rain so much was because, in Equestria, it often meant a rainbow was to follow. She loved rainbows. She was named after them anyway. Or as far as she was concerned, they were named after her.
The hours were great, the benefits were great, there was always some overtime available, and you spent a lot of your time flying too.
There were a few downsides, of course. When it got too crazy overtime became mandatory, which meant less nap time for her. The supervisors were not so nice to their workers all the time either. She remembered a time when she was still a clippy6 at the factory and she requested help from a supervisor, who barked, “Get it done!” at her and stormed off.
When things weren’t planned right or something unintended occurred? Oh, there was Tartarus to pay. She swore her ear was still ringing from the unscheduled rainstorm not too long before. Her supervisor chewed her out more than she’d been chewed out in the last 24 hours combined.
Still, the benefits outweighed the cons to her. The weather patrol gave her extended time off for her duties as a Wonderbolt and as an Element of Harmony, except for when things were bad, in which case the world would just have to do without being saved. It was amazing she still found so much free time. She was working three jobs- a strict nap schedule was a full-time job for her as well.
She grinned as she looked at the clouds, searching for any holes that were not meant to be there. Things were looking good! And she happened to be passing by Twilight’s Castle as well. She turned her head to look through a window to see if she could spot the egghead.
She stopped herself and stared.
Inside one room she could see Hinka on his back with his shin to Spike’s neck- was that the move the kid had used on the dragon not that long ago? He promised not to do that to him again!
She saw red. Nopony goes back on their word like that, and especially nopony hurts Spike without her say so! Alien or no alien, he was going down!
She flew for the window, but paused a moment as she recalled Twilight essentially enslaving her to write a letter the last time she broke in. She gulped and decided to open the window instead of crash through it. Lucky for her it was unlocked.
Before she could make progress inside, however, she noticed something odd. Hinka was holding Spike in his shin choke, yes, but… he wasn’t struggling. In fact, the two of them seemed to be talking about something like everything was normal.
“Wait,” asked Spike. “So, if I turned my head to one side, then I could breathe again. Isn’t that a reversal?”
“Turning your head to one side works when the move is early, or not fully locked. It’s difficult to do when the move is totally locked in.”
“Can I try the move?” asked Spike.
Hinka immediately released him and nodded with a smile. “Sure. But be sure not to make it too tight.”
Rainbow blinked. So, they weren’t fighting? She watched in awe as Hinka started to move Spike’s legs into the choke position and gave him instructions.
“Remember you need to grab an arm for this move to work too. If both arms are free escape is easy.”
She felt a smile start to pull at her face. It seemed to her Hinka wasn’t trying to hurt Spike. It looked like he was trying to teach him a grapple. It would certainly give the little drake an edge if he were ever accosted by another dragon or pony.
“Hey guys,” she said. They both looked up at her.
“Hey Rainbow! How’s the weather up there?” asked Spike.
She chuckled. “About the same as everywhere else in Ponyville. What’re you guys up to?”
Spike proudly pointed a thumb at himself. “I’m learning some of Hinka’s moves!”
Some? Who said anything about any others? All he asked for was the gogoplata!
“Cool! Mind if I stick around for a bit to watch? I still want to see that move.”
Hinka blinked. Why did she want to see it so bad? He could swear Rainbow had bragged about being a black belt in Karate. Was she trying to one-up Fluttershy?
He didn’t really think so. Fluttershy spoke fondly of Rainbow, and Rainbow Fluttershy. If they were rivals, they were very good-natured ones.
“If you want to,” Hinka said. Rainbow immediately took a seat in a bean bag chair.
“I’m not here,” she said, waving a hoof at them to go on.
Hinka turned back to Spike.
“This move requires some flexibility in your legs. Let me know if it starts to hurt.”
“Didn’t you say somepony got you in this move once?” asked Spike.
Link scoffed. “I didn’t say it only happened once. No, he and I fought on and off. Mostly on.”
Spike grimaced as Link moved his leg. One of Spike’s feet were planted on the ground while the other was over the top of his knee.
“Wow, it really is uncomfortable.”
“Do you want to stop?”
He shook his head. “I can deal with it.”
“Wait!”
Link looked over his shoulder at Rainbow Dash.
“Are we seriously going to gloss over that kid you fought? Details!”
Link blinked.
“His name is Mido and he’s a bully. It wasn’t personal to him; he treated everyone except Saria like that. I was just the village sc... scape... target is all.”
"But what about the fight?!"
"It's the darndest thing, but I can't remember," muttered Link.
Link remembered their first fight well. He was 7 years old and had trained with Saria to be better prepared for this sort of scenario.
The problem was, Mido was also very good at Kun-So and was more experienced. The two of them had gone back and forth for some time and a crowd had formed around them. It was Saria’s turn to man the general store, else she would have stopped the fight before it started.
“C’mon, No-Fairy. Is that all you’ve got?”
“Mido, stop this nonsense! Leave the poor boy alone,” demanded his fairy. He ignored her.
Link had a few scrapes at this point in the fight from being tackled to the dirt. Mido had a bruise here and there. Link’s face was okay so far, mainly because he was able to protect his head and neck each time Mido tackled him and began punching. Even so, he was growing quite tired. Mido, meanwhile, didn’t seem to be out of breath at all.
“You may as well take your licks now. Go cut a switch7 and we’ll forget this happened.”
Link didn’t move. He kept his arms up and went to strike a pressure point in Mido’s wrist. Mido himself grabbed Link’s hand and pulled him into his foot, forcing the wind out of the boy. Then, he pinched a pressure point in Link’s own wrist. He seemed to revel in the boy’s shouts of pain.
Abruptly, he let him go. Link clutched his wrist as the pain began to settle.
“You’ve barely even hit me. Hit me once, at least,” mocked Mido.
Link looked to him and threw a punch at his jaw which Mido took like a champ.
“There you go,” he said, and then he tackled Link to the dirt again and Link didn’t manage to block all the offense this time. Mido’s strikes to his face were brutal, but not enough to cause permanent injury.
With a final burst of energy, Link picked a foot up and kicked his rival in the gut as hard as he could. He popped up and took Mido to the dirt this time, throwing punches back and forth and trying to break his defense. Though Mido blocked well, a few of Link’s punches still made it through, and they bloodied his nose. Mido stayed down but managed to kick Link off him. Link stumbled backwards to his rear and the fight slowed. Mido was staring up at the sky while Link caught his breath and wiped some blood from his mouth. He checked his jaw. No teeth seemed to be loosened.
Link managed to get to his feet and was intent on throwing punches at Mido until the little shit was unconscious. He felt he was close, given his rival hadn’t moved from his back since he kicked Link away.
Link wasn’t expecting Mido to abruptly recover and pull his arm. Link fell to his knees as Mido held his arm to his side and trapped it there while he forced one shin under Link’s throat. Then, he pulled Link’s throat into his shin while he pressed back with it. Hard.
Instantly Link’s breathing was cut off, and it was agony for the 7-year old boy. He kept throwing punches and trying to free himself, but when Mido got someone locked in a choke, it was exceedingly difficult to escape.
Link remembered first seeing little white spots in his vision. He could taste copper on his tongue, and he kept trying to cough, but he couldn’t with Mido choking him. Link distantly heard Mido ordering him to tap and submit. Link refused.
Instead, with his free hand, Link showed Mido his little finger, and he did so until he lost consciousness in the choke. When Mido finally did let him go, he had a vague memory of blood seeping out of his lips.
Link rested his neck on Spike’s shin.
“Then, you put your hands on the back of your opponent’s head, pull down onto the shin while forcing upwards with it.”
Spike didn’t reply, nor did Rainbow. They were both eyeing him.
“What?”
“Do you get some sort of sick pleasure out of hinting at a cool story, but then not telling it?” asked Rainbow.
Link blinked. “There’s not much to tell. We fought, he choked me out. I got him back later.”
“Can you please just tell the story? I need to know!”
Link shrugged. “You’re not missing much. Maybe another time. I’m sorry I even said anything".
He turned his attention to Spike.
“I’m going to approach you this time. See if you can lock in the move.”
Rainbow eyed the two but wasn’t quite watching. Hinka just admitted to being assaulted by somepony at home until he lost consciousness, and he suggested that it was a repeat occurrence.
She squinted, because while they weren’t exactly the best of friends yet, she liked the kid! If anypony picked on him from here on out, she decided, they would have to answer to her. She had a similar deal in place for the Crusaders, especially Scootaloo.
She blinked. Link had managed to escape the choke and was wrenching Spike’s arm behind him8. Spike was in no pain it seemed, but he understood that something went wrong.
“What did I mess up?” he asked.
“You forgot to pin one of my arms to your side. Here, I’ll show you again…”
“Hey, kid.”
Link paused to look over his shoulder at Dash.
“Would you be interested in learning Karate from me with the Crusaders?”
Link had been wondering if he could ask Fluttershy for lessons of her own. He loved martial arts. It took him about two seconds to start nodding at her question.
“I’d like that.”
She smiled. “Cool! But on one condition: You must exchange some of your moves for mine. Deal?”
He smiled back. “Deal.”
“Hey Rainbow! Can I learn too?” asked Spike. Rainbow chuckled. “Sure! The more the merrier!”
Then, Rainbow looked at Hinka again.
“By the way, kid… you shouldn’t feel like anything you say is stupid. It’s good that you’re talking a little more. Keep it up, okay?”
Hinka blushed a bit.
“I should probably get back to work. The storm’s not going to manage itself, after all. See you guys later!”
With that, Rainbow turned tail and was out the window in a flash. Spike and Hinka stared.
“…So, did I ever tell you about the time I rescued Rarity from a bunch of dogs?”
End of Chapter
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Then why isn't there a slice of life tag?
9972798
Forgot to add it.
I really liked the idea of their souls being so... Alive.
And I cannot wait to see the interaction between them and the ponies.
More like run around in circles screaming for help excitable. But I do know one that throws a good party.
“THANKS, HINKA!!!” came a pink-sounding voice from the distance.
“What was-“
Don’t even worry about it.
I am reading it again, and I am laughing with this part again.