Chapter 10: To The Forest Temple
It didn't take long to reach Kakariko Village. Sweetie Belle and Link just had to traverse the stone bridge and climb some stairs between two cliffs, and the village was there.
Link had to leave Epona at a wooden wall at the entrance of the village before they entered the settlement.
It was a really small village, with a few houses made of stones or bricks, that had for main landmark a windmill in front of a dried up well. It looked very peaceful despite Ganondorf, but that peace was spoiled by the clear threat of Death Mountain looming above. The village had been apparently a village of Sheikah, a people who served the Royal Family of Hyrule, but now, most of the Sheikah were gone, leaving the village almost abandoned until Impa, one of the last Sheikah, opened it for the other inhabitants of Hyrule who couldn't live in Hyrule Castle Town. Now, the village apparently served as refuge for some survivors of Hyrule Castle Town because Link recognized some of them, and some shops had been relocalised here.
Sweetie Belle and Link had no idea what to search here. Link had been told to come here by Sheik, another Sheikah who met him just after he woke up, because he would apparently find something here that would help him reach the Forest Temple, but that was all he knew. No idea what was that thing and where to find it!
So they both began to look around while talking to the villagers, hoping to find something, even just a clue.
Sweetie Belle gathered some attention, but she just had to say that she was coming from somewhere out of Hyrule to satisfy their curiosity. Apparently, the inhabitants of Hyrule didn't know much about the world outside of their kingdom, not unlike the ponies of Equestria not that long ago.
However, nobody knew anything, although some of the inhabitants talked about some legends and rumors and other info about the village. Like, apparently, there was once a house at the current emplacement of the well, and something that the proprietor once possessed may be now hidden at the bottom.
Thinking that it was what they searched, they both went in the well, only to discover a collapsed tunnel, and Sweetie Belle could feel a seal behind the boulders.
"So... Do we blow our way through these boulders?" asked the filly.
"Uuuh... Let's avoid it. I wouldn't want to accidentally cause part of Kakarico Village to collapse. Let's continue our search," said Navi.
When they asked an old man what happened at the well, he informed that Impa apparently sealed a powerful dark spirit in there before making the tunnel collapse. This resulted in the well drying up, but at least, the dark spirit couldn't hurt anyone anymore. And at least, the river wasn't far to compensate. When asked if there was another way to enter the tunnel, he assured that there wasn't as far as he knew, and it was better this way.
So Sweetie Belle and Link continued their search, eventually entering the windmill where they encountered a bard man with a small beard who was playing a very enchanting song with his strange mechanised instrument that Sweetie wasn't sure of the name.
"Uh. Hello there," he greeted them.
"Hello. We are in search of an object that could help us, but we don't know what it is or where it is. Do you know anything that could help us?" asked Link.
"Sorry, no. Well, maybe there's something. Seven years ago, a kid in green with an ocarina came and played a song. The next instant, clouds appeared out of nowhere and it began to rain inside the windmill, totally messing it! It was very annoying, not only for me who had to repair the windmill, but also for the inhabitants of the village because it caused the well to fully drain. Well, it may be a little my fault. I was asking for a song inspired by the windmill, and the song that the kid used was very good, but the clouds were too much."
"Is the song the one you're playing right now?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Why, yes it is! Even though the song caused all these problems, it is what I searched! And I like it!"
Link seemed to be thinking for a moment before he took out his ocarina.
"Wait a minute! This ocarina!" shouted the guy.
"Uh, Link? What are you doing?" asked sweetie Belle.
Link didn't answer and began to play the song. The song, played by the ocarina, passed from figuratively enchanting to literally enchanting as, the next instant, clouds appeared and it began to rain. INSIDE the building! Resulting in the windmill accelerating.
"Oh, COME OOOON!!!" yelled the guy.
But Link didn't mind him as he looked at his ocarina. "I wonder if this song will be useful."
"Seriously, Link?!" shouted Sweetie Belle. "You couldn't have waited to be OUTSIDE the windmill before doing this song?!"
"That's Link for you..." said Navi with a sigh.
"So that was you!" shouted angrily the guy. "Out! OUT!"
And they ran out of the windmill, Sweetie Belle shouting "Sorry!" before exiting the building.
They ran all the way to the well before they stopped to look at the now rapidly spinning wind-wheel. The two then exchanged a look before they both burst into laughter.
"Okay, that was funny. But I'm still annoyed at you!" said the filly once she calmed down.
Link looked at her sheepishly in return.
"At least, we learned something from this disaster," said Navi. "Somehow, Link will manage to return to the past to play this song in the windmill to drain the well, probably to reach the tunnel at the bottom."
"Tunnel that probably hasn't collapsed yet at the time," said Link. "But how do I return back to the past?"
"The Song of Time, maybe?" proposed Sweetie Belle.
"Maybe Sheik knows. I will ask him next time I see him," Link said. "I guess this leaves us the graveyard."
"Time to hit some ghosts, I guess," said Sweetie Belle with a giggle.
So they went to the graveyard, the entrance being just in front of the staircase leading to the windmill.
It was your typical graveyard. Tombs lining beside the paths. There was also a small wooden hut at the entrance, probably belonging to the guardian or gravedigger.
Link looked around, hand under his chin in thought. "Mmh... I don't see where... Wait." His eyes settled on a tomb at the left, near the corner of the graveyard, and he walked toward it. "This tomb wasn't there seven years ago."
"How can you tell?" asked Navi. "I don't remember all the tombs!"
"I counted," simply answered Link.
"Isn't it normal? Peoples die in seven years. It's normal for new tombs to appear with time," said Sweetie Belle.
"Some tombs hide tunnels with treasures or other stuff. Maybe this is the case for this one," informed Link.
Sweetie Belle stared at Link. "So... The Hero of Time is a grave robber?"
"As morally questionable as it sounds, we did found some useful stuff under these tombs, like the shield Link is currently using," said Navi.
"Better than paying eighty rupees," agreed Link before he read what was engraved on the tomb. "Here lies Dampé... Oh..."
"The old grave digger?" asked Navi.
Link nodded. Then, his eyes widened as he thought of something, and he entered the hut where he grabbed a book before reading it. "Could it be this?"
"What is 'this'?" asked Sweetie Belle from the entrance of the hut.
"Dampé wrote in it about how he found some 'treasure that stretches and shrinks'. Maybe it is what we search. Wait, there's a new entry."
"'New entry'? Are you telling me this is a diary? Link, the more I discover about you, the more you surprise me," said the filly with a grin.
Link chuckled while reading before he said, "Well, that's interesting. The ghost of our good old grave digger is challenging whoever reads this diary to enter his grave so he could give them his keepsake."
"Let me guess. We will answer the call?"
"Of course!" replied Link before he moved back toward Dampé's grave, followed by Sweetie Belle. "You can remain out if you are scared of ghosts."
Sweetie Belle huffed indignantly. "Me? Scared of ghosts?" She suddenly punched right through some ghost in a purple and white cloak with a lantern that approached her from her right, sending it to the afterlife as the ghost disappeared in fire. "In the contrary. It's the ghosts who should be scared of me."
"Eh?! You killed a Poe with your bare han-Huh... Hoof?!" shouted Navi.
"Yes, I did. Now, let's hurry and get this object."
Link nodded and pulled the tombstone, revealing a hole before jumping in it, followed by the fairy and the filly. Despite the fall, they lightly landed on their legs without pain.
Just in front of them, the ghost of Dampé was present and challenged them to race him, or at least, to keep up with him. Clearly, there was no way for Link to win the race. Dampé was just too fast since he floated, but it was no problem for Sweetie Belle. However, the tomb quickly revealed to be a maze of tunnels, and no way to know where to go, leaving them with no choice but to follow Dampé who knew where to go. But the ghost was quite the mischievous one as he playfully sent fireballs from his lantern to put fire on their path and hinder them, so as they ran after him, Sweetie Belle materialized a Poké Ball and called Tank out of it. Tank materialized on her back and immediately put his arms around her neck to not fall.
"Sorry for this, Tank! We're in the middle of a race! Can you use your water to put out those fireballs, please?"
Tank nodded. "Okay!" And he fired small streams of water at the fireballs, extinguishing them before they could reach the floor so Sweetie Belle and Link didn't have to worry about them, although Link briefly looked in wonder at the blue turtle on the filly's back. Sweetie Belle just gave him a grin in return.
They eventually reached the finishing line after a circling cliff above a seemingly bottomless pit. There, Dampé congratulated them for keeping up with him and decided to reward them with his treasure called the Hookshot. He then proposed to them to come again one day so they could race again before he disappeared and a big chest appeared in his place. Link opened it, taking the Hookshot, which was pretty much like a grapple with an arrow head linked by a retractable chain to a handle.
"So that's what we were searching?" asked Sweetie Belle as she put Tank back in his Poké Ball.
"Certainly," answered Link with a nod before they moved to the following room, hoping to find an easier-to-reach exit than the one they came from. They didn't want to go through the maze.
But the next room only had two giant cubes on top of each other with the royal crest graved on them.
"Drat," said Sweetie Belle.
"Wait, I have a feeling. Link, use the Song of Time on these cubes," instructed Navi.
Link nodded and took his ocarina before he played the Song of Time.
And gosh! Sweetie could feel the huge power behind this song! It was so... mystical! Divine! Timeless!
The next instant, a light materialized around the cubes and engulfed them before they just disappeared, letting Sweetie Belle and Link enter a hole in the wall that had been hidden behind. They then climbed a staircase...
Which led them right into the upper level of the windmill, to their surprise as they began to hear the familiar song while they climbed. They jumped from the upper level and landed just in front of the man who jumped in fright at their sudden arrival.
"What the...?! You? Where do you come from?!"
"Uh... Your windmill is apparently linked to Dampé's tomb," said Sweetie Belle.
"Say what now? Are you talking about this passage with the staircase at the upper level? But it was blocked!"
"We unblocked it."
The guy put a hand on his face and groaned loudly. "Now I will have to ask someone to do something about this! The last thing I want is for a ghost to come here!"
"Sorry, we didn't know it would lead here." Sweetie Belle then flew back to the passage and blocked it by making the entrance disappear. "Will this be okay?"
"Perfect! Thank you!"
After that, they left the village with Link back on Epona and Sweetie Belle landing behind him, and they took the direction of the forest South of there.
"Hey, I wanna try something," said Sweetie Belle on the way.
"What is it?" asked Link.
Sweetie Belle cleared her throat before she began to sing the dubbed Song of Storms, and to Link and Navi's astonishment, clouds appeared in the sky (the dark clouds constantly covering it were only above Hyrule Castle Town) before it rained.
"Yes! I did it!" shouted the filly when she saw that she succeeded.
The next instant, Navi was right in front of her face, to the point that Sweetie could almost distinguish her head through the blue light. "HOW?!"
Sweetie Belle smirked at her. "I'm a filly full of surprises."
"That's not an answer!"
Link laughed before he stopped Epona, took his ocarina, and played another song. The next instant, the clouds dispersed and the sun appeared in its full glory high in the sky when it had been about to set a few seconds earlier.
Sweetie Belle stared at Link. "You have a song to command the Sun? I will SO use it once I'm back home! Do you have one for the Moon too or does this song works for both the Sun and the Moon?"
Link left Epona in front of the tunnel that served as the entrance to the forest before they entered it, Link feeling nostalgic. After crossing a wooden bridge, they traversed another tunnel before they entered the village of the Kokiris.
Only to be almost immediately attacked by a carnivorous plant that was promptly put on fire by Sweetie Belle.
Meanwhile, Link and Navi looked around at the seemingly deserted village, seeing more monsters here and there in the obscurity.
"This is as I feared..." said Navi. "Without the Great Deku Tree, the monsters overrun the village. But shouldn't a new Deku Tree sprout be born by now to take his place?"
"Ganondorf," Link simply replied at this. "He did something. I'm certain. I... I hope everyone is okay..."
Sweetie Belle looked around at the monster infested village and said, "How about I clean the place while you go see if your friends are there? Maybe they are simply in their houses where they are safe from the monsters?"
Link nodded and went toward the nearest house, leaving Sweetie Belle to do as she said. She started by doing some pest cleaning by eliminating those things hidden under fake autumn leaves and firing nuts as well as the octopus-like things that hid in water and fired rocks. Once she was done with all of them, she weeded the place, getting rid of the carnivorous plants.
The monsters were so easy to defeat that she sent her Pokémon to help her by spreading them all over the village, and they did a very good job.
She went all the way to... To the corpse of the Great Deku Tree.
Sweetie Belle could immediately see how majestic the tree had been when it was alive. It was immense, with a face like the one of an elder sage. But now, its bark had lost its color, and it missed its leaves. It really was a sad sight.
After remaining a moment to look at the tree, she turned around to return in the village, only to see Link approaching, looking up at the tree. He then stopped beside Sweetie Belle, looked down, and stopped moving, remaining silent as he payed homage.
After about one minute, Sweetie Belle broke the silence to ask, "So, is everyone okay?"
"Yes. They are all alright, just stuck in their homes because of the monsters, like you thought. I haven't seen Mido however, but he's apparently in the Lost Woods. I don't worry about him," answered Link. He then looked back at the tree. "He... He was like a father to me. He is the one who raised me since I was a baby."
"I'm sorry..."
"You have nothing to be sorry about." Link then frowned. "It's Ganondorf who should be."
"Ooh, trust me, he will be very sorry once we're done with him," said Sweetie Belle with a giggle before she looked back at the tree. "Hum... How... How did he manage to raise you? I mean, as Great as he was, it must have been hard without arms."
Link laughed. "Yes, actually, the Kokiris did most of the work. He was just supervising to make sure that they didn't screw up. But he was always there when I needed him and his sage advices." He then turned around. "Let's go. We have a forest to save," he said before he walked away.
Sweetie Belle nodded and followed him after looking a last time at the mighty tree.
They quickly traversed the village, Sweetie Belle calling back her Pokémon, and entered the tunnel to the Lost Woods, which well deserved their name. They had to choose between several paths, and one wrong choice and they would be lost probably forever. It was really creepy because the local folklore said that any Hylian lost in the forest eventually became either Stalfos (living skeletons) for the adults, or Skull Kids (little creatures in garb thankfully friendly to children but fearing adults) for the children. Thankfully, Link having a fairy, he didn't risk this fate if he became lost.
However, a merry tune that Link identified as Saria's Song could be heard coming from one of the paths, helping them finding the right way to Saria who Link thought was the Forest Sage that they had to save. Despite the ambience of the forest, the song easily cheered them up, and it was with smiles that they followed the song until they found their path blocked by a Kokiri who was none other than Mido.
"Uh? What are you? Though you wear Kokirish clothing, you can't fool me! I promised Saria I would never let anybody go through here."
Link just smiled before he took his ocarina and played Saria's Song, to Mido's shock.
"That melody?! Saria plays that song all the time! You... Do you know Saria? That song... Saria taught that song only to her friends..."
Sweetie Belle looked at Mido with a raised eyebrow. "You don't recognize him? Really?"
"Waah! It talks!"
"Of course I talk!" Sweetie Belle then looked at Link. "But really, Link, you didn't change that much in seven years, right? And he passed eleven years with you! How can he not recognize you?!"
"Link?!" shouted Mido.
Link shrugged. "Because he didn't think that I would grow up? He thought that I was a Kokiri, and Kokiris never grow up into adults."
"Wait, what? Time out! Time out! Link?! Is that really you?! But... But... You disappeared! After the Great Deku Tree's death! A-and now you're... huge! How?!"
"That's a long story," said Link.
"The short version is that Link isn't a Kokiri but a Hylian from outside the forest. No time to explain more. We must reach the Forest Temple to help Saria," said Navi.
"Well... I guess that I should let you pass."
Link nodded. "Thank you, Mido. You should return to the village. The Woods aren't safe."
Mido huffed. "Don't tell me what to do. I'm the great Mido! It's not some little monsters like these pathetic Mad Scrubs who scare me! Beside, the village isn't safe either. Nowhere is safe in the forest since the death of the Great Deku Tree."
"We cleaned the village of the monsters," reassured Sweetie Belle.
"You cleaned the village," precised Navi.
"Yeah yeah. I cleaned the village. Not a monster remains."
"Really?! Uh. Well. That's great. But it's only temporary. More will come with time," somberly said Mido.
"We work in ensuring that this stops," said Link as he put a hand on Mido's shoulder before he walked beside him, quickly followed by Sweetie Belle and Navi.
Mido followed them with his eyes as they disappeared into the woods. "Since when did he become so cool?"
Sweetie Belle and Link eventually reached a meadow in the heart of the forest. They however had to go through some narrow passages guarded by Moblins, huge monsters looking like bulldogs that charged at them if they spotted them. No way for Link to attack them from the front without being impaled by their spears. He could only use the Hookshot and his bombs to attack them.
Sweetie Belle didn't have such problem with her many long-ranged attacks. She easily cleaned the passage from all Moblins, including the one that slammed the ground with its club at the end. The path cleared, they climbed the big staircase to the entrance of the temple where there was a large pedestal with the symbol of the Triforce.
Link knew this place as Saria's secret spot where she loved to play her Ocarina on a tree stump, but to their surprise, she wasn't present!
But then, who played the song that guided them? Was it still Saria but from a different place?
Then, a blond man with red eyes in blue outfit with a white clothe possessing a red crying eye symbol and hiding most of his face landed from one of the cliffs surrounding the place and walked toward them.
"The flow of time is always cruel... Its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it..."
Sweetie Belle decided to not comment on the fact that she did know, or heard of at least one being able to do what he just said, and that she will eventually be able to do it too as easily as she could breath.
"A thing that doesn't change with time is a memory of younger days..." continued Sheik. "In order to come back here again, play the Minuet of Forest." And then, Sheik took a lyre and proceeded to teach Link a song that could apparently teleport him to the pedestal here anytime he played it. Very practical if they needed to come back without having to traverse the forest again.
Once they were done, Link then asked "Is there a way to return back to seven years ago? I may need to to get an object that may be important but that isn't accessible anymore today. Do I need to play the Song of Time?"
"If you wish to return to the time you left, then you simply need to put the Master Sword back in its pedestal in the Temple of Time," answered Sheik. "You will be returned to your younger self, back when evil hadn't yet fully settled in this land. However..." He glanced at Sweetie Belle. "Your companion won't be able to follow you."
Sweetie Belle nodded. "I though so."
Sheik stared at Sweetie Belle a few seconds before he looked back at Link, said, "Link... I'll see you again..." took a few steps back, and threw a Deku Nut at the ground. The Deku Nut let out a flash, and the next thing they knew, Sheik had disappeared.
"What is he? A ninja?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"A what?" asked Link.
"Nothing. Let's just enter the temple."
It turned out that it was here that the Hookshot was needed, as the staircase to the entrance of the temple was destroyed so he had to plant the Hookshot in a branch of a tree above it to reach it. If Sweetie Belle had known, she could have simply levitated Link with her without even needing the object.
But at least, now, they entered the temple.
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For those taking issue with pronouns, none of the in-universe characters know any better and correcting them would blow her cover.
Worth noting that she'll need to fix that sooner rather than later; Subspace Emissary Link was a different person, Ultimate Link is a third, and Toon Link also exists. We need this one as Young Link.
I have a suggestion for the Zelda arc of this story. Maybe you could include links to the ocarina songs so that non-Zelda fans can learn the songs.
... What happens when the triforce is activated?
10659742
And for the two in the back who don't know who is really Sheik, it avoids spoiling the thing.
Thankfully there are the parallel universes for the other Links. But yeah, Young Link will need time travel.
10659750
Good idea.
10659752
It depends of the game, but in Ocarina of Time (and in most games), it grants a wish. Any wish.
Wow, it only took you one day to get this chapter up since the last one. Do you think you can get the next one up as fast?
10659784
It depends. I have a life after all. And also, it will be a temple chapter. It probably won't be as easy to write as this one.
10659772
When sweetie is there?
10659797
What do you mean?
10659798
How does sweetie being nearby affect the triforce when it’s formed?
Are characters who aren't part of Super Smash Bros. going to appear in this story?
10659832
It doesn't.
10659842
Yep.
10659873
Are you going to do all those games before Sweetie finds another type of world or will you mix the order up with other worlds?
10659922
I will mix the order. We need diversity after all.
10659931
Worth mentioning what I said earlier: some version of Subspace Emissary needs to happen, because that's the only context in which Mr. Game & Watch qualifies as a character and where the Smash iteration of ROB comes from (he also showed up in Mario Kart, but his Boxing Ring title makes it clear that he's still the Ancient Minister in later games).
I just realized something, when and if you do the Earthbound/ Mother series will you have Sweetie encounter Ninten, Ana, Lloyd, and Teddy?
10660726
I don't know yet.
It was nice to hear about sweetie's cousin " Sweerie Belle "
10865921
Well I mean she mostly hangs out around sailors hehe.