Sleepless Nights And Speechless Angels

by thelegendarytoothpaste

Super Hinka Sunshine

Link learned a lot more about the town he was in as he slowly grew acclimated to living with Twilight Sparkle.

After it became known that he wasn't super depressed anymore, Twilight began to give him small errands to do. His first day was difficult. Not because he did not want to help, but because he couldn't understand a single thing she was saying. She had to repeat herself four or five times for him to get the gist of what she was asking.

Other than a few errands here and there (some of which were run with the dragon), Link had most of his time to himself. By the end of his first week, Link had hung the masks he had collected on his travels upon one of the walls in his room. Majora's Mask was hung in the middle of a drawing of the Triforce Link had uttered many a prayer over. It was his attempt at preventing her power from leaking. The same was done to the Fierce Deity.

He did not worry too much of the adults entering and tampering with them. While he stayed with Fluttershy, he told her that those two masks were very important to him, and he did not want them to be touched. She told her friends, which prompted Rainbow Dash to apologize to him again for their first meeting.

He accepted the apology but gave a small shiver. How close had they come to Majora gaining a new vessel? He did not want to find out. Majora herself was probably stewing in fury ever since that chance slipped away.

As for Spike, he simply told him that the mask was evil and to touch it would bring misfortune upon the town. It was true, technically. If Majora were to awaken again the world would experience a genocide, and those were not very good for any towns really.

He was given a key to his room and whenever he wasn't there, it was locked up. Link had done the same thing in Kokiri Village, especially after his first quest. He'd come away from it with a decent sum of money, though he still was not wealthy.

He failed to lock up once and when he came home it was almost all missing. Whoever took it left him a red rupee and a note that read, "Sory I relli needed it!!!"

The poor spelling aside, Link took locking up very seriously because he was surrounded by a bunch of noxiis¹ At least in Kokiri Village he was.

So far here, though, he hadn't been ostracized too much. The ponies seemed to be very hospitable and kind to him. He wasn't hazed either and that was always nice.

It also helped that they seemed to take privacy very seriously. Almost all of them knocked whenever he was in his room and they needed to see him.

The dragon was the only one that didn't, but he did seem to realize he was screwing up and would mutter a half-hearted apology.

It was a very hot day when Twilight Sparkle knocked on his door. Usually it was followed by her chatter, but this time it was just more urgent knocking.

He scowled a little. He did what she asked him to do today. Where was the fire?

When he opened the door she smiled down at him and just chattered away again. He shrugged a bit.

The smile didn't leave her face though. She held up some strange colorful bottle and kept saying a few words to him. She'd been helping him learn the language through flash cards mostly, but he was still far from many coherent sentences.
It wasn't until she enunciated a few times that he got what she was saying.

"Sun. Screen. You."

He was confused. What was sun screen? Before he could ask, she put a hoof to her chin as if trying to figure out how to explain. She pointed to the bottle again, then at the shield Link hung on one of the walls.

He still didn't understand, but she did not lose patience with him. Rather, she pointed out the window at the sun, then at the bottle, and then the shield. So the bottle was a shield?

He leaned in a little to inspect it. No, it wouldn't do at all. Much too small, and very easy to strike around. He doubted it would even serve much good as an offensive weapon, and there were many in Hyrule who would use their shields as weapons just as often as they would use them for defense. He knew. He was one of them.

It didn't even look like it could stand up to a fist, much less a sword or a warhammer. No, it wouldn't do at all.
Why was Twilight giggling at him? He eyed her confusedly again, and her voice seemed to go up an octave for a second.

"Sa nete! Hinka saaaa neeeete!!!!!"²

She held a hoof out, inviting him to grab it. He did, and she began to take some good smelling gel out of the bottle so she could apply it to his arm.

He gasped at first. It was cold, but it caused him no discomfort. He was confused when it left no trace behind after being rubbed in. He looked up at her again.

She grinned, and pointed to the bottle, then at the window again, and said a few words he actually knew.

"Sun? Nooooo problem!"

She kept pointing at the window, though, and he eventually got the hint and went to investigate.

Outside was what reminded him a lot of the Carnival of Time. There were colorful tents all down the street, balloons, and lots of ponies seeming to be really enjoying themselves. There was also a lot of music, but Link had learned by now that music was very common in Ponyville. He felt silly, though. How hadn't he noticed what was going on out there?

His mind began to put things together. Twilight was beckoning him towards her and the bottle again. He wasn't worried that whatever it was would harm him. Twilight was housing him, and Fluttershy trusted her, so he trusted her too. Fluttershy wouldn't let her do anything to hurt him.

Also her food was really good so he was somewhat more inclined to trust her judgement. He shuffled towards her again and she smiled warmly at him.

---

Putting sunscreen on Hinka was not so difficult. Convincing him to come out for the Summer Sun Celebration was not very difficult either.

Getting him to loosen up and try to have some fun? That was downright impossible.

He didn't understand most of the games they had, the horses all towered over him, and he wasn't certain what treats were edible to him and what weren't.

The foods were all free, which only made things worse. He needed to find Twilight or Fluttershy. Either would be able to help him figure this place out.

"Hi!!!"

He jolted. Out of the chatter around him a high and sweet voice said a word he actually knew. Her voice cracked midway too.

Link turned around and only had to look up a little to meet her eyes. She was a small white unicorn filly with a purple mane like Rarity. He remembered her from the party. What was her name again? Sweet Tooth? No, Sweet Smell!
He gave her a small wave and she giggled, then babbled at him again in her tongue, of which he managed to pick up "any fun?"

He blinked, and gestured to the stands around him before shrugging. She stared blankly.

"Free."

He nodded, then pointed at them again and shrugged.

"Try hayburger!"

He sighed.

---

Sweetie walked beside Hinka. It took some convincing but she managed to get him to accompany her to find her other friends to hang out. Unbeknownst to him, they were well aware that he had no cutie mark- Fluttershy had let it slip in their presence, and so they had an emergency on their hooves. What better place to find your special talent than a festival?

"So, how is Twilight treating you?" she asked. "You learning more words?"
He didn't respond, but Sweetie wasn't discouraged.

"You'll like. She knows lot about magic and pretty much everything too."

He blinked. From what he then knew about purple book horse, she did seem to have a lot of knowledge. He once walked into a room and saw Spike scribbling away in a notebook while Twilight chattered and drew on a chalk board. She later told him that Spike was learning "how to calculate parallax arcseconds," whatever those were.

Part of him wondered if she would be able to out-magic Ganondorf³. It wasn't something that they would find out any time soon, on account of the evil tyrant already having been executed. He'd have to find out if she knew holy magic, because if she didn't, there was no chance.

He jolted and a dull ache shot through his wounded leg as a blur of orange and purple appeared to just come up in front of him. It was the orange pegasus. Uhh... Tootaloo? She was accompanied by horse-with-bow-in-mane.

Tootaloo said something in her language to Sweet Tooth, who gave a nod. They smiled at him simultaneously, prompting him to gulp.

---

Link didn't think much of tattoos.

They had a mixed reception among the Kokiri. Some believed they were a sign of strength, for most tattoos had a story behind them, and sharing your stories outwardly was a sign of inner peace and strength.

Others believed that they were a sign of insecurity, as only one who felt a need for approval would strut about with a story on the body. It mattered little if the tattoo was under clothing or not.

Link personally did not feel any way about them. He believed that it was up to you to get such things done. He had no intention of getting one himself, though.

A Cutie Mark? That's not a tattoo. Link learned the hard way.

He understood little of what they were nickering and chattering on about, but he kept hearing "Cutie Mark", which he had learned through Twilight was the markings on their flanks, and he happened to know the word "tattoo."

Based on their ramblings, they seemed adamant on getting him a Cutie Mark. They sounded horrified that he hadn't asked for their assistance yet.
"...Why is it such a big deal? It's just a tattoo."

He hadn't meant to utter the question in Equish; just did so without thinking. He didn't mean for them to hear him. It was more a question he was asking himself than anything, as he still did not know the significance of such a marking. He certainly didn't mean for them to eye him like he had just confessed to witchery. As courageous as Link was, even he shrunk back a bit under the combined gaze of the three filly Gods of Discontent.

"...Just," said Horse-With-Bow-In-Mane.

"...A," said Sweet Tooth.

"...TATTOO?!!?" finished an indignant Tootaloo.

"...Eep," said a visibly nervous human child doing his best impression of Fluttershy.

What resulted next was a cacophony of shouts in anger and confusion, all in Equish. Link could make out none of it, and he had the feeling that he wouldn't have been able to understand a damn thing they were saying even if he had been born and raised a pony himself.

All he knew was, three fillies were going off on him like he had covered his feet⁴ atop their Patron God while spitting on the graves of their long dead ancestors. He looked to passing ponies for help, most of which either bypassed completely, failed to see him, or noticed, but only eyed him with sympathy. Even the Pink Menace came bouncing by, was about to engage them in some conversation, saw the state the fillies were in, and backed away slowly.

When they had finally finished their tirade, they began to drag him to all sorts of horse-games around the festival in an attempt to get him "his Celestia forsaken tattoo."

He didn't bother asking how playing a game would get him a tattoo. He feared opening his mouth again. This kind of shit was exactly why he never spoke!

He spent hours doing everything from throwing perfectly good pies at a pony dressed as a clown with surprisingly great evasion skills, launching foods from a catapult great distances, playing a spontaneous game of freeze tag, which he stood no chance in, being gimped and bipedal among a world of quadrupeds, and refusing to sing into a strange metal object that everyone called a microphone.

Nothing he did earned him a cutie mark, and they tried and tried until the sun began to kiss the horizon.
Finally dejected, the trio looked to him sorrowfully.
"(I guess it's just not meant to be tonight for you, Hinka.)"
"(It would have been so awesome to get you your cutie mark during the Summer Sun Celebration.)"
"(It feels like we really let you down.)"

He wasn't making out too much of their words, but he did understand the simultaneous, "Sorry." As if they had practiced it, the trio also hung their heads in unison.

He was about to say they didn't need to be sorry, as he felt just fine without a cutie mark, when a voice came over the festival.

"(Mares and gentlecolts, if I may direct your attention skyward, the fireworks will begin in just a few minutes!)"

The Triforce of Courage chose that moment to shine upon his hand. He looked at it curiously. Why was it asserting itself now?

The trio gasped, and he looked up at them in confusion.
"...is that..."
"I think it is!"
He quickly covered his ears.

"ALIEN CUTIE MARK!!!!!"

He was going to correct them. Honest he was, but they looked too happy. He couldn't ruin it for them and tell them he'd had that mark for a long time.

They began to congratulate themselves and him, though they expressed wonder as to why it was on his hand, and only one of them. It made him wonder what they intended to do had they seen any evidence of his earning a mark while doing those activities.

He looked back down at the Triforce, puzzled. Being the piece that belonged to Farore, it left him more in tune to her than the other Golden Goddesses. He could almost hear her voice in his head telling him, "Be calm. It's going to be okay."
What was going to be--
CRACK!

He jumped, and looked up at the sky. A firework. Oh, Goddesses, he hated fireworks! They reminded him too much of the spells Ganondorf used and brought him many a flashback. He lost it when he first witnessed them in Termina and almost didn't manage to compose himself in time to reset the clock.

He gasped, and eyed them in mute terror as the sparks began to slowly fall out of the sky, so you'd think crisis averted, right? No! Apparently the ponies were so good at fireworking that they could fire off several dozen at a time! He watched, and felt himself drift away.

Suddenly he was standing before Castle Town. The rain was pouring down and he was using his shield to help keep himself a little dry. He had just retrieved the Spiritual Stone of Water from Zora's Domain and was quite thoroughly sick of the life giving liquid now.

He nearly fell backwards as mud came up at his front. He gasped. Princess Zelda was on a horse being ridden by her personal servant, Impa, and they were taking off out of Castle Town urgently. Zelda turned about some, having caught a glimpse of Link, and threw something small and blue back at him- it landed in Castle Town's moat. They disappeared in the distance quickly. Visibility was severely limited in the storm.

His eyes were pinpricks when he heard another horse behind him, this one slowing down to a stop. There was a low sigh, and he heard the voice of his mortal enemy for the first time.
"Drat! I lost her..."

Slowly, Link turned around to face the King of Thieves, Ganondorf.

The evil King's eyes locked onto his own, and this time, Link refused to look away.
"You there! Kid! Surely you saw a girl on a white horse pass by just now. Tell me, what direction did she run in? Answer me!"

Shakily, Link slowly drew the Kokiri sword from its sheath and squared up to Ganondorf. The evil one only chuckled darkly.

"Kid, I like you. You've got guts. But you're a fool to think you can challenge me."

Without even getting off his horse, Ganondorf readied a spell in his left palm, a glowing white orb, and loosed it just at the mud before young Link. It exploded outwards as if it were made of shadows, and the force was enough to send Link back ten feet into the mud.

He had to roll out of the way, and not a moment too soon, as Ganondorf's horse galloped over the spot he had landed in just a second after he vacated it.

Suddenly Link was back among the ponies, all of whom were staring up at the sky in fascination. He looked down at his quivering hand. The Triforce was glowing dimly and he had broken out in a cold sweat. Another flurry of fireworks went off, and he jolted and whimpered quietly. The others did not hear him. He wished Navi was there. Or Fluttershy.

He remained a quivering ball of nerves, but other than a few whimpers, he was silent. It was his cross to bear.
"Hinka?"
He looped up at Sweet Tooth with a gasp. She seemed concerned.
"You okay? You're shaking."
The other two snapped out of their reverie and looked at him.

"What's the matter?"
"Tell us."
"Cutie Mark overwhelming you?"

Link took a few steps back. The loudest firework yet was what sent him shuffling away as fast as he could manage. He had to hide! He had to get to cover! If one of those blasts hit him...

He swore he entered the castle, got to his room, and hid under the bed so fast tears actually flew out of his eyes. As soon as he was settled under the bed, however, the real tears fell.

Author's Note:

1- Kokirian curse translating roughly to "No good souls."
2- "So cute! Link, you're soooo cute!!!"
3- And I pose this question to you, dear readers. Ganondorf vs. Twilight. Who wins? The Undertaker
4- Kokirian slang for dropping a deuce.

Okay, I think I reached my limit on all caps words. I hate using those.
Seems like somehuman has a little PTSD. Or likes to role play the monster under the bed.

I'm trying not to ham up Link's mental issues too much. So don't expect TLC every single damn chapter like in a good chunk of these sorts of stories. Just every other chapter.

Anyhoo, next chapter covers Stone Cold Steve Austin breaking into this dimension and stunning everyone in the story, presumably drinking six beers, and then breaking his neck in a botched piledriver.

Comments

[Maelaeran]

Little odd that furred creatures would have sunscreen or even know that Link would need it, but it was a cute scene regardless :P

[thelegendarytoothpaste]

9020791
Furred animals can get sunburn. It's rare, but it happens. I personally see Twilight and/or Rarity stock piling sun screen.
I have no excuse or regrets for Link other than his being a pasty white kid who looks like he would burn in the moonlight.