Chapter 86: The Mask Of Madness
What do you expect to find inside the Moon?
The correct answer would be: "Rock, rock, and more rock. And nothing else."
And certainly not: "A partially cloudy blue sky over an infinite expanse of serene grassland with a single, lonely tree on a little hill."
And yet, that was exactly where Sweetie Belle, Link, and the yellow fairy appeared after they entered the Moon.
They were speechless. They really didn't expect to find such a... peaceful landscape inside this nightmare fuel oversized boulder threatening to destroy everything.
"Ok. Can someone please explain what the buck is going on?" Sweetie Belle asked. "The last ten minutes of my life had more craziness than in several of my adventures put together! First, I fall into a hole and somehow end up in this place instead of in caverns under the Lost Woods! Then I meet this creepy dude that could change position without moving and that knew more than he should! I'm almost certain this guy wasn't human, or hylian! Then I reach this place to discover the Moon about to crash on it, then four giants come and stop it, then there's an evil mask threatening to destroy everything, and now we are inside the Moon which is actually..." She waved at the landscape. "this place instead of caverns!" She then spotted something around the tree. "And there are freaking masked children around that tree over there! What the buck?!"
"Uuh... I don't understand everything myself," Link replied. "We are in Termina, which seems to be some kind of parallel version of Hyrule. I met several people here that are different versions of people from Hyrule. But something feels wrong about this world so... I don't know..."
"You are too slow!" the fairy suddenly interrupted before she flew to face Sweetie Belle. "I don't know who you are but since you came with us and Link seems to know you then I suppose that I can trust you. First of, I'm Tatl."
"Sweetie Belle," the filly presented herself.
"Secondly, to make it short, we... As in me, Tael, and the Skull Kid... We stole this mask from this creepy salesman, but when the Skull Kid began to wear it, he turned all evil and he got the idea of sending the Moon to crash to destroy everything. Link and I had to go all over Termina to awaken the Four Giants so they could stop it as you saw. But as for why there's this place inside the Moon, I have no freaking idea! Maybe it's this mask. Its powers are crazy."
Link nodded. "Yeah. Majora's Mask caused many calamities all over Termina. It cursed places, contaminated the weather and the vegetation, caused someone to turn into a child, turned a Deku Scrub into a small tree, and even turned me into a Deku Scrub. And that's without forgetting pulling the Moon to make it crash. I wouldn't be surprised if it really possesses reality-bending powers to create this... realm. What I don't understand is why it would create such a peaceful one."
"And we can add mind control since it seems that this is what it did to the Skull Kid," Tatl added.
Sweetie Belle groaned. "Leave it to a mask to make Ganondorf look like a schoolyard bully in comparison... Well, let's go. You can give me the details of what happened while we search for this mask."
The group then began to walk toward the tree.
"You really don't mind going to fight a mask with crazy powers?" Tatl asked.
"This is not my first entity with reality-bending powers and this certainly won't be the last."
"She helped me save Hyrule. We can count on her," Link said.
They reached the tree, seeing that there were five children each wearing a different mask. Four were running around, playing, while the fifth one who was wearing Majora's Mask was sitting against the trunk.
That was so surreal, even for Sweetie Belle's standard...
"Those are the masks of the monsters that were guarding the Giants," Tatl remarked before she groaned. "This creates even more questions. Nothing makes sense."
Link, to their surprise, approached one of the running children, the one wearing what seemed to be a wooden mask with two angry eyes, a mouth with small sharp teeth, three colored decorations at the top, and diamond earrings hanging from extensions at the sides. Was it a war mask from some ancient tribe?
Once Link got the attention of the child, he began to speak. "Ahhh... Nice weather... Isn't it? Masks... You have... a lot. You, too... Will you be... a mask salesman? Then I'll play with you. So... The masks... Give me some..."
Raising an eyebrow, Link took out a mask and gave it to the child.
"Thanks... You... You're a nice person... Aren't you? Hide-and-seek... Let's play. All right... I'll... hide..."
Then there was a flash and everyone was transported inside some ancient stone building. There were two sets of spinning wooden platforms with flowers like the one Sweetie landed on, spinning spiked bars above the second set of platforms, ledges with more of these flowers, and an immense bottomless pit spanning the whole room excepted these ledges.
Sweetie groaned. "Brain hurts... It makes even less sense than Discord, and Discord prides himself in not making sense. If Majora's Mask wants to stop us, then why make us give masks to play hide-and-seek?"
Link shrugged before he took out a Deku Scrub mask and put it. In a flash, he was then transformed into a Deku Scrub.
Sweetie looked agape. "So these masks can transform you?"
"Some of them. Many masks I collected in this world have some power of another," Link answered. "This one is inhabited by the spirit of the Deku Scrub that has been turned into a tree and it allows me to turn into a Deku Scrub as you can see. The Deku Scrub himself has passed on, but part of him has remained behind, inside this mask. The spirit also becomes part of me so don't be surprised if I don't act like normal."
Sweetie could already see that. Link seemed more cheerful, more like a child is age, or maybe even younger. If what he said was right, then it seemed to mean that the Deku Scrub turned into a tree had been just a child...
So she decided to hug the Deku Link, taking him off guard. No words were exchanged, and Link eventually returned the hug. After what seemed like forever, he let go and gave Sweetie a thankful nod before he skipped carefreely toward the flower that was on the ledge they were on. Once he was on the flower, he was able to enter it. Waiting for the right moment, he then launched himself out of the flower into the air and used two flower-propellers to slowly glide toward the first spinning platform.
While he traversed the room using this method, he said, "While in this form, I met the Deku Scrub's father in the forest South of here. He is the butler of the royal palace of the Deku people there........ He didn't recognise that I had the form of his son, I guess that I look sightly different, but he asked me to play with him because of how I reminded him of him. To be someone's son... It felt..."
Sweetie Belle waited as he searched a word to express himself, but he never found one by the time they reached the exit door at the other side of the room.
"Wasn't the Deku Tree your father since he raised you?" she asked before they opened the door.
"I guess? I never really considered him as one. He was more a grandfather figure that always had a wise thing to say to help. And the Kokiris were more like big brothers and big sisters or cousins."
They finally passed the door, entering a small room where the masked child was waiting.
"... You found me... Hey... I want... more... masks..."
Link gave him one.
"Heh, heh... Thanks... You're... nice. Umm... Can I ask... a question? Your friends... What kind of... people are they? I wonder... Do those people... think of you... as a friend?" the child asked before there was a flash and everyone returned to the peaceful landscape with the tree.
The child they just talked to was now gone, leaving four kids.
"Is it trying to make us doubt? Or was it some philosophy test?" Tatl wondered.
Sweetie Belle gave Link (who was still in his Deku Scrub form) a smile and wrapped a leg on his shoulders. "I have no doubt. I know that Link is my friend and I'm Link's friend. And that's the same for everyone I consider a friend. But I know some edgelords who would refuse to acknowledge it."
Link took off his mask before returning Sweetie's smile. But this smile quickly turned into a frown. "But... Was she thinking of me as a friend?"
"I'm sure she was, and she still is. But she must be wondering the same thing about you."
Without saying more, they returned to the tree where Link went to talk to the child with a mask seemingly made of stone. It had a human face, but a large angular chin as well as two large bull-like horns.
The child repeated what the other child said and asked too for masks. Link had to give two before the child was satisfied and transported them to a cavernous area for a new game of hide-and-seek. There were many thin strips of land and bridges with ramps and open treasure chests.
This time, Link took a Goron mask and transformed into a Goron with white hair not unlike Darunia.
"What is the story of this one?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"This masks has the spirit of Darmani III, a hero Goron who perished in an accident while trying to stop the winter that the Skull Kid and Majora's Mask caused in the mountains, threatening the Gorons. While the Deku butler didn't recognise me as his son, the Goron Elder thought that I really was Darmani and his son looked up to him as his hero," Link recounted. "To not break his dream, I had to act as Darmani and be his hero, even winning a race. I... don't know if, by now, he found out about the fate of the real Darmani..."
Sweetie placed a reassuring hoof on Link's leg. "Even if he discovered that his hero is dead, I'm sure that he will continue to live to become a hero as great as him thanks to you inspiring him."
What followed was a long and stressful trial where Link had to roll on the thin path without going beyond the edges to not fall into the bottomless pit below. But he masterfully reached the exit door without problem, and he was quickly joined by Sweetie Belle.
In the next room, the child waited for them and asked for two more masks that Link gave.
Then, he asked, "You... What makes you... happy? I wonder... What makes you happy... Does it make... others happy, too?" before they were transported back to the tree.
Three children left.
"What is the purpose of all this?" Tatl wondered.
"No idea," Link answered. "But it must lead to something. Let's continue."
Next was the child wearing a scary fish mask who asked the same thing as the other two. Link had to give three masks before they were transported this time to a place with water.
Link grabbed a Zora mask and put it on, becoming a Zora.
Before Sweetie could ask, he began to explain. "This one has the spirit of Mikau, a Zora who was the lead guitarist in a rock band."
"A rock band?" Sweetie Belle asked, not expecting that.
This made Link laugh. "Yes. He was also a Zoran hero, but he died fighting the Gerudos which are pirates in this world. The Gerudos stole the eggs of their band's singer and he went to retrieve them, but when I found him, he was mortally wounded. I could do nothing to save him. I suspect that he was the father of the eggs."
"Damn... And so, you had to be...?"
"... Yes. It was... awkward... I didn't know what it was to be loved this way. That the singer looked like Ruto didn't help."
Sweetie Belle guffawed, rolling on the floor on her back, making Link blush.
He jumped into the water where he had to activate a crystal. Then, it was a simple matter of using the Zora's ability to swim rapidly to reach the exit door before the gate in front of it closed back. After the door, this repeated. However, it quickly revealed to be a maze so they had to retry a couple of times before finding the right paths. At least, it wasn't as annoying as some mazes Sweetie Belle went through.
Once they found the third child, Link had to give him three more masks before he went on to ask, "The right thing... What is it? I wonder... If you do the right thing... does it really make... everybody... happy?"
Sweetie Belle sighed. "Never, sadly..."
They were transported yet again to the three where Link immediately went to talk to the last running child that had some three-eyed insectoid mask. Four masks given later and they were transported to a new small room that looked like the inside of a temple.
"So, there was the forest where you had to use the Deku mask, the mountains with the Goron mask, and the ocean with the Zora mask. What about that canyon I saw?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"I didn't get any special mask there. Well, I did get a mask that could turn me giant, but I could only use it in a special area to fight the guardian of the fourth Giant. Outside of that, the canyon was a land of death and desolation, result of some antic war. So pretty much only undead now live there. Some of them were friendly at least."
"There was also a father that had been almost turned into a Gibdo. That was scary! And his daughter was forced to keep him inside a closet while Gibdos had surrounded their house," Tatl added.
"Yike..."
"But there's something very nice that I learned over there. The undead king taught me a song that allows me to create a statue of myself or of the spirit of the mask I'm currently wearing if I'm wearing one. This way, if there's a switch that needs something heavy on it to hold it down, I just need to leave a statue on it without having to search for something like a pot or a barrel. And between me and the three masks, I can create up to four statues. However, mine is very creepy."
"Uh. Can you show me?" Sweetie asked.
Link agreed and took the Ocarina before he played the song.
Once he stopped playing, he moved away, leaving where he was standing a statue of himself.
Sweetie Belle blew it to pieces with just a beam.
"Holy cow!" Tatl shouted.
"I saw what you meant and I now regret even asking. Now I'm scared to use the song myself," the filly said.
"You can also use the Songs?" Tatl asked.
Instead of answering with a simple "yes", Sweetie Belle grinned at the fairy before she sang the Song of Storms, starting a small storm inside the room.
"Of all the songs you had to use this one as an example..." the now drenched fairy deadpanned.
"It was the only one among the ones I know that I could use here. The Sun's Song would work but we wouldn't see the result inside this windowless room. No reason to use the Song of Time, Saria's Song, Epona's Song, and Zelda's Lullaby. And the last thing we want right now is to be warped to one of the temples back in Hyrule with one of the Warp Songs."
Tatl made an exasperated sound at this. "Ugh! Whatever!"
Sweetie Belle giggled and advanced toward the door. "Let's go."
They entered a very colored room seemingly entirely made of solid stained glass. Here, a Dinolfos welcomed them and was promptly beheaded by the filly in the blink of an eye (shocking Tatl), unlocking the door to the next room, which just had one of these weird stones with the Sheikah symbole. So they continued to the room after which was entirely grey and had two levels.
Their next obstacle was a new one for Sweetie Belle, a being wearing a purple cloak and a mask, possessing two flaming sabers. The thing quickly revealed to be fast and agile, jumping and spinning around with its sabers, even teleporting right above the heroes. Tatl called it a Garo Master.
After a few seconds of watching what it could do, Sweetie Belle used her magic to hold it in place, allowing Link to pierce it with his sword until it was dead.
A chest appeared on the superior level of the room, near the edge, allowing Link to use his grapple on it to reach the level. The chest itself, however, only contained a few arrows.
After another room with just a stone, they entered a blue room with glowing runes and with an Iron Knuckle. Before it could attack, Sweetie Belle cut its giant battle axe, disarming it. Thanks to it, Link just had to worry about its punches and its kicks. Once it was dead, a chest containing Bombchus appeared. Spotting a cracked piece of wall near the ceiling, Link used one of the Bombchus to destroy it, revealing an eyeball switch that he activated by firing an arrow at it. This made a ladder to the upper level of the room appear, allowing them to continue.
Another Bombchu had to be used in the following room to destroy a cracked piece of the ceiling, but this time, Sweetie Belle had to fire at the bomb to make it explode in time. This revealed a frozen eyeball switch that Link activated with a fire arrow, opening the exit door.
Finally, the masked child was in the next room. He asked for four more masks before he posed his own philosophical question.
"Your true face... What kind of... face is it? I wonder... The face under the mask... Is that... your true face?"
And for the last time, they were transported back to the tree.
One child remained, the one sitting against the tree, wearing Majora's Mask.
"So, did talking to these kids do anything?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Link searched himself just in case something appeared in his purse or his pockets. "No. I see nothing. But there's one last kid to talk to."
Sweetie nodded and they approached the sitting kid.
Once they were in front of him, he began to talk.
"... Everyone has gone away, haven't they? Will you play... with me?"
Link hesitated, and nodded. "Yes."
"You don't have any masks left to share, do you?" the masked child remarked as he got up. "Well, let's do something else. Let's play good guys against bad guys... Yes. Let's play that."
And then, the child gave Link a new mask. One that looked like Link's face, but with silver hair, red markings under the eyes, and another, blue marking on the forehead.
Both Link and Sweetie Belle could feel tremendous power emanating from the mask, but also a great ferocity. This scared the hylian who feared to put it on.
The child with Majora's Mask continued. "Are you ready? You're the bad guy. And when you're bad, you just run. That's fine, right? Well... Shall we play?"
And in another flash, they were transported to a new place. An arena that seemed to blur, with various designs on the ground and the walls, colors mostly going toward the blue, and with four areas on the walls with a colored circle: red, blue, green and yellow. Between the areas with the red and blue circle was a circular alcove with Majora's Mask.
Then, the masks of the four guardians that Link had had to fight and which the children had worn appeared and went on the colored circles on the walls. Following that, Majora's Mask's eyes glowed before it came out of the alcove, coming to life. The spikes at the sides moved like little arms and hair-like tentacles grew from its back. It was also much bigger than previously.
The mask immediately began the fight by spinning before charging at the heroes. Sweetie Belle quickly placed herself before Link and used a shield to stop the mask, but it surprisingly cut right through the shield, and Sweetie had to call her ten swords to block it. She was pushed backward, but she succeeded, allowing Link to quickly run out of the way as the mask was still spinning and was managing to cut through the swords. Once Link was safe, Sweetie Belle teleported out of the way, allowing the mask to continue its course. Once it was done, it floated up again, always facing the heroes.
"Not bad," Sweetie said.
At this moment, Link finally put the new mask he received. When he put it on, he began to painfully struggle as the mask took the place of his skin, becoming his face. As he screamed, there was a flash, and Link was transformed.
He now looked like his adult-self, but much taller, somewhere between two and three meters high. His clothes were now a grey-blue, and he had armor on his torso with a yellow crescent moon on the right and a yellow triangle on the left. He also had armored gauntlets, and his sword was a huge double-helix one with one half blue and the other half green. Finally, his eyes were totally white.
Glaring at Majora's Mask, he grabbed his sword and swung, sending a spinning crescent beam that hit it and stunned it, making it drop on the ground. Sweetie Belle quickly recovered from her gawking and quickly used the occasion to attack the mask, soon joined by Link. Judging by the mask's reaction, a hit from Link's sword hurt it A LOT.
Suddenly, the four other masks gained life and began to float around, firing energy beams at the heroes, stopping them from attacking Majora's Mask.
"I'll take care of them," Sweetie said.
Link nodded and quickly jumped to the side to avoid a beam of fire fired by Majora's Mask before he sent another crescent beam that stunned it again.
Sweetie Belle easily destroyed the four masks by piercing them with four of her swords, allowing her to return to the real matter. But by then, Link had already hit Majora's Mask a couple more times and it chaotically spun toward the center of the arena where it began to violently shake.
Its tentacles disappeared, and instead, it grew two arms and two legs as well as a small, one-eyed head with horns. So the mask itself was now the creature's torso. Sweetie Belle then looked in wonder as Majora began to stretch its legs like a sportive, doing very high-pitched sounds with its new voice.
Like the one of a child.
Majora then started to chaotically run and jump around the room, leaving after-images after itself, becoming absolutely impossible to predict. It even started to dance!
"What the heck are we fighting?!" Sweetie Belle asked to no one in particular.
Link didn't answer, instead sending another of his crescent beams. Majora, however, suddenly changed trajectory so the beam missed. Link then had to roll to avoid energy bolts fired out of Majora's hands. Sweetie Belle took the occasion that it had stopped moving to hit Majora from behind with one of her own beams, making it fall to the ground on its face. As Majora flailed about, the two attacked savagely, making it screech with its high-pitched, child-like voice.
Majora eventually recovered however and restarted moving around, its chaotic behavior allowing it to avoid anything the heroes sent at it. It even made a rude gesture to them, the jerk! It still tried to hit them with energy bolts but the heroes also managed to avoid all of them. Eventually, a crescent beam from Link was able to hit it as it was doing the Moonwalk, making it fall again and leaving it at the heroes' mercy.
But it quickly recovered again, jumped away, and ran on the walls! A somersault made it avoid a beam from Sweetie Belle, and when it landed, it jumped again and spread its legs to avoid a crescent beam from Link. But then, as it started to run again, it suddenly hit an invisible wall courtesy of Sweetie Belle. Majora immobilised, the heroes attacked it again.
After a few more hits, it let out a terrible screech as it suddenly got up and held its head in pain. After a few seconds of flailing, it stopped before its limbs started to grow in muscle. When the transformation was over, it showed its new, more demonic head, the eye on the forehead. Its arms then turned into whip-like tentacles.
Against this, Sweetie Belle gathered her swords into Whip-mode, which she separated into two whips. Link fired another of his crescent beams that Majora avoided with a big jump to the side before it attacked with its whips. Sweetie Belle countered the whips with her own. She wrapped one of her whips around Majora's right one, then she did the same with the left one. With the two's whips wrapped around each others, they were stuck.
Majora attempted to lift Sweetie Belle to make her crash but she turned herself into metal and grew herself to the size of Celestia, becoming extremely heavy. She then did the same with Majora and made it crash into the ceiling, then into the ground, then the ceiling again, then the ground again, ceiling, ground, ceiling, ground, and so on and so on. While she did this, Link readied his sword as he moved between Sweetie Belle and Majora.
Seeing what he was preparing, Sweetie Belle crashed Majora one last time on the ground before she violently pulled, propelling Majora toward herself and Link. As it got close to Link, the hylian then spun with his sword.
Majora was sliced in half.
With one last high-pitched screech, the two pieces of Majora's body turned into ashes.
And everything disappeared in light.
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Back in Equestria, Discord feels the unusual urge to smash a bunch of masks.
11212750
well Lucar did Already mentioned him,but yeah pretty much all of the Dream friends are also one-man army material
11212815
Admittedly, Adeleine only does it in the literal sense of conjuring an army.
11212944
To be fair, that can include an (admittedly weaker) version of 02. Between Adeline, the Magical Paintbrush, Yin, Yarn, Eline, and Claycia, the artists together are probably one of the most powerful forces on Popstar.
It's just that they're a bit outclassed by the others this story focuses on by the nature of the power scaling.
You got this chapter up faster than I expected you to. Nice job!
o wait..new chapters..gona read these two then do comments
wooooooooow...this chapter was frigin awesome!
...honestly was not expecting a majora's mask thing at all tbh...
but the way you did it was awesome!..specialy since sweetie would have bin able to save at least around half the mask's that link had...wich would have taken away the only ways to get to that point to fight majora....so that WAS actually the best place in time to have her come in where the end result would be mostly the same.
11213041
Yeah. And it would have been difficult to work with all of these secondary quests.
Good chapter, I guess a tale about all the masks could be too long so it's better to talk a little about each zone, also I wonder if the masks could have a effect in Sweetie Belle? Or if she could like any of the songs Link learned?
11213192
The masks would probably have an effect on her, but I don't know if they would transform her into quadrupedal, female versions of the spirits inhabiting the masks or if she would still look like them like Link but with some minor physical differences like the blond hair for Deku Link.
11212944
True
11213204
And the fierce deity?
I also wonder about the other masks effect in her and what could copy, you can confirm or explain things...
Bremen + Kamaro - Wonder how could work the melody in Sweetie Belle or if she could make the melody work or the mask power could be blocked by her powers, but if not, maybe Sweetie could replicate it
Bunny hood - While Sweetie could look cute, not sure if she could increase her speed
Mask of Truth - Not sure if Sweetie Belle could talk already with the stones
Mask of Scents - I guess she could already do by herself if she need to increase her sense of smell
Garo + Captain + Gibdo Mask - It could be a good souvenir for Apple Bloom and little less as Apple Bloom already control undead and Sweetie don't need it
Stone + Circus Mask - They seem to affect the mind and not sure if they could work in Sweetie or against anyone even if she used it, it could be mainly a joke item, sure she could copy them and wear it with the other crusaders or leave it to Twilight but if the pirates could see trough the Stone Mask then others can, and Sweetie could very well just search a invisibility spell for the Stone and the Circus Mark just make others sad something that don't seem to be something that Sweetie likes
All Night Mask - Sweetie already don't seem to need to sleep, if she sleep is because she want
Kafei + Great Fairy + Keaton + Postman + Don Gero + Romani + Couple mask - Useless for Sweetie and mainly there as filler
Giant Mask - Sweetie already could turn into a giant if she wanted
11213438
Same for the Fierce Deity than for the other "transformation" masks. After, you resumed pretty well the other masks. But since Link had to give them up to obtain the Fierce Deity's Mask, then we will never know.
11213445
So, the fierce deity could not increase Sweetie Power just like the Human SOULS in Undertale?
11213462
Maybe a bit. They must be pretty close.
Almost forgot, Kirby 30th Birthday is this month, is going to be celebrated?
11213493
Mmh... I don't know. Maybe a Q&A. I want to do one for a while.
11213499
Somehow I could think Sweetie giving Kirby a surprise party and making a moon sized cake for Kirby
11213520
That's a nice idea. I will probably do something like that as a filler.
11213188
...yea...that is true as all hek...
eta on next chapter??
11213873
Not started yet.
11214056
ok..let us know when next chapter is being started please
11202651
So thinking about it, if a soul in this continuity can't truly be destroyed and given that we have a Spirit of Death as part of the main cast, could Haltmann's soul be saved, theoretically (perhaps in a similar manner to Leongar's)? His body's obviously long gone, but a chance to speak with her father's ghost would probably give Susie some much-needed closure, at least. Assuming that his soul, if put together again, would regain his memories of her, of course.
11215668
Haltmann has probably passed on, so Apple Bloom would have to go to whatever afterlife the Dream Universe has to bring him back. But yeah, after his experience with Star Dream, his Soul will need some Spirit of Death's Special Soul Surgery (SSSS or 4S for short).
11215699
kind of like when you have to collect Leo’s Soul Pieces In the Forgotten Land?
11221292
A bit, yes.
11221292
I believe I already pointed out that we need the full UME on that adventure. This is the reason for Apple Bloom. Having someone who can actually appreciate Clawroline's... er, assets... is Scootaloo's.