The Legend of Equestria: Majora's Mask

by xombiekilla

Chapter fifteen: Dawn of the First Night (III)

Night of the first day:
60 hours remaining

The night quickly descended upon them as time passed faster than expected. They found themselves facing The Amor Fortress, a massive steel structure. After discovering a small opening near the gate, they entered and were surprised to find that the place was much larger on the inside. Dozens of female pirates were patrolling the grounds, all carrying spears and ready to attack at any moment.

"I guess there's no sex discrimination here, and we better be in and out fast!" Rainbow said. Everyone nodded in agreement. Hero then led them out of sight and into the lower basement of the fortress through an open tunnel on the far right.

As they descended into the fortress basements, they came across more pirates. Things got tense as they realized they were in danger of being spotted. Suddenly, they encountered a tank that held two hippogriff eggs and was guarded by two soldiers.

"What are we going to do now? We'll have to distract them somehow," Rainbow whispered to her friends. Pinkie saw a small rock and threw it over the tank and past the guards, where they couldn't see it.

"Nice job, Pinkie—now let's move while we still can," Rainbow whispered as the rock hit the wall and knocked over a jar, which shattered onto the ground. The two soldiers rushed over to investigate the noise. At this moment, Hero seized the opportunity and quickly grabbed both eggs before swimming out of the tank. He then inspected them and saw that they were pretty small. "Nice save, Hero," Rainbow cheered quietly as Hero retrieved the two hippogriff eggs.

He ran as quickly as he could to his friends. As they went out of sight of the two stationed guards, one of them saw the tank empty. "Hey! The tank is empty. Admiral Cadenza will not be happy with us," One guard said, nervously clasping her voice.

"Well, I don't want to take the fall for this. I'll owe you big if you cover up for me," The other guard said, trying to bargain with her comrade.

"What?! Not a chance! Our jobs were to ensure our bounty would be secured for transport," The former snapped at the latter as they both knew they would be in big trouble.

"Oh... you're right. We're in for it now! What're we going to do?" The two guards felt uneasy as they tried to think of a way out of this mess.

"Obviously, someone is stalking our fortress. If the eggs were in the tank and we have been guarding them since our shift's beginning, I suspect foul play is among us," they suspected that intruders were in the fortress now; this was not good for the heroic group.

"That means that jar hitting the ground was a distraction; keep your eyes on a swivel then, lest we face the admiral's ire." They both shuddered at the simple thought of that happening. Hero and his friends had slipped away as they continued to explore the basement corridors.

Rainbow whispered to her group, "Maybe we should start from the bottom and work our way to the top. This way, we can make progress faster." Hero nodded in agreement as they made their way to the center of the basements and down the left corridor. The group encountered more patrols than expected, indicating the area had high-value treasure.

Rainbow looks down to the bottom floor and says, "Smart bits say that's where we should go next, but how will we get there with double the patrols guarding the place? Those two guards we passed must have alerted the others," Rainbow said as they surveyed their surroundings.

"Looks like we have to find a different way," Applejack said in frustration. "Maybe we can try that door outside to find something useful. We need to get our hands on those next two hippogriff eggs."

Rainbow noticed the support beams hanging above the four pirates and had an idea. "Applejack, do you see that rope suspending the support beams? I wonder if we could do something about that."

Applejack smiled, "Rainbow, you're a genius when you want to be, you know that?"

"I'll try not to be offended by that, so let's get going, okay? If Hero can find a way into the pool where the two eggs are, try to think about all of your abilities, Hero," Rainbow said as Hero examined his arms and noticed the spiky plumage at his wrists. He got an idea, but he had to be in the water for it to work.

He slipped past the four pirates, watching the tank as their eyes drifted away for a split second. Hero's heart raced at the thrill of nearly being spotted. "Nice, Hero," Rainbow whispered to herself as she saw him in the water tank. Once he was deep enough, he felt himself turn into a seapony and saw his sharp fins. He devised a plan to knock out the pirates.

They needed to be all under the suspended beams to be knocked out. The moment was now, as Hero flicked his arms, and his fins snapped off and flew like a pair of boomerangs. They severed the rope and caused the beams to fall on top of all four pirates. They collectively screamed in shock and were knocked out cold as Hero grabbed the second two; that made four thus far.

"That was awesome, Hero. But let's get out of here before they wake up, or else we'll have bigger problems," Rainbow said as everyone agreed and high-tailed it out of there as fast as possible.

---

The team climbed the stairs to the upper floors, finding fewer guards. They managed to enter a room on the second floor, where they saw the third tank containing two hippogriff eggs. Suddenly, the gate sealed up behind them, trapping them in.

"Aha; I found you, intruders!" One of the pirate mares leaped from the ceiling and landed in front of Hero, saying, "Not so fast; you lot aren't going any farther. Hmm? Another Hippogriff? You look familiar. I thought I stabbed you while you were trying to reach for those eggs. It looks like I should have finished the job. Don't worry; I'll be sure to do that this time."

Applejack muttered under her breath, "Rotten scumbags. So you're the one who killed Mikau?! Then, we'll be sure to avenge him."

"I wish you luck with that. I'm one of the three lieutenants of this fortress. Unfair odds do not frighten me," said the pirate mare as she brandished her two sharpened scimitars in her magic and prepared for combat.

Rainbow noticed that the pirate mare preferred a defensive style with her blades. "Well, we're not gonna back down either," said Rainbow. She suggested that Hero should transform into a different form since he needed to be in the water to use his fins. Hero then removed the hippogriff mask from his face and transformed into a pony. He felt Mikau's sorrow and grief removed from his body.

"It doesn't matter what you transform into. The only way you all are leaving here is through body bags," The pirate lieutenant said as Hero put on his yak mask. He felt the transformation as he doubled over and raised his face to scream in pain from the conversion. He turned into his yak form quickly and became a defensive wall. "Come on, then. I'm waiting for you!"

The Hero then slammed his hooves down to create a tremor that shook the floor and offset the pirate's balance. Hero took this chance to knock her scimitars away by ramming his hooves into her with a swift punch. Her scimitars flew away from her and got stuck on the floor. Then Hero did a three-combo force that ended with a swift double-hind kick. She was wounded but still in the fight.

"Ggghhh... Not bad for a kid. But this fight isn't over, you know," she said. She jumped up to one of her scimitars with her magic and threw it towards Hero like a buzzsaw. The scimitar spun towards him, but he ducked into his steel backplate. It bounced off of him and clattered onto the ground.

"I'm gonna finish this varmint, Hero." Applejack then used her lasso from her stetson to pull out one of her blades and then hurl it towards her; it slashed her right cheek, and blood trailed down her face as she looked horrified.

"M-My face... my beautiful face?! Just for that, your deaths will be slow and painful." She then used her magic to pull the blade thrown by Applejack's lasso back at her as she readied herself to move on a dime.

Rarity used her magic to create a barrier around Applejack by hugging her; it wasn't firm, but it was strong enough to deflect her blade toss, "This fight has gone on for too long! Time to get serious!" The pirate then focused on her inner magic to lift both scimitars, glowing hot with fire magic, as she was not kidding around now.

"Uh oh... She looks really angry. What are we going to do now, guys?" Pinkie asked the team.

"Want a tip? I can help you with that; after all, I have two to spare." She charged toward Pinkie and Fluttershy with her blades. Hero intercepted her charge by pushing her out of the way so she'd fumble to the ground. Hero then used both his forehooves to stomp down onto the pirate as she screamed from the pain of feeling her body crushed under strong yak might. She weakly kneeled as she looked up at Hero, "g-go ahead then, do it. I lost. Take your revenge." Hero heavily considered it before he punched her in the face to knock her out as she collapsed.

Applejack was surprised when she saw that Hero had spared the life of someone who had wronged them. "You showed her mercy even after knowing what she did; you still spared her life," she told Hero. He then removed his mask, turned into his pony form, and jumped into the pool to retrieve the fifth and sixth eggs. Once he retrieved them, he put the hippogriff mask back on and transformed into a hippogriff. The transformation was painful, and Hero yelled out in agony.

---

Rainbow cheered her team on as they and Hero proceeded further down the second-floor corridor, searching for the last egg. "The last egg must be in the captain's quarters. We get that, and we're home free," she exclaimed. As they ascended higher into the fortress, they spotted the captain's quarters and realized that the captain might be expecting them, especially after the recent fight they had just had.

They decided to take an alternate way in and were relieved to find the last tank with one egg. However, their joy was short-lived when they saw Twilight Sparkle chained up in the Captain's Room. They collectively gasped as they saw her lying down, defeated but with a still-burning determination in her lavender eyes.

"So you're telling me I have the last one out of all seven eggs taken? I have the last one?! Who is in this fortress that's doing this? I'll personally see to it that I flay them alive myself," Cadenza said, enraged.

"Forgive us, Admiral Amor Cadenza. Will you be joining us in our search?" one of the lieutenants asked, referring to the two other lieutenants Hero hadn't yet knocked out while the third one stayed with the second.

"No, I will remain here where it's safe. If the intruders come in, I'll use this slave as leverage to gain an advantage," the Admiral replied, showing a despicable willingness to resort to a hostage situation to gain the upper hand in the invasion.

"But whoever is here will find me and set me free. You may think you're winning now, but you'll fail. You're a twisted and sad excuse of a version of the Cadence from where I come from," Twilight bravely retorted.

"Silence, you pitiful whelp. Or I'll be tempted to renovate with my blade to your face," Cadenza snapped at Twilight, who remained stoic.

"If you planned on doing that, it would have been done already. I'm too valuable as a bartering chip for you, and you know I'm right," Twilight said to her captor as the hours ticked by while the team was exploring the fortress, and the dawn of the second day was among them, and the moon would be getting closer.

Comments

[xombiekilla]

Someone liked it, then revoked that like? There would have to be a reason, right? At least I would think so. What could be wrong with this story that doing this would become necessary? I am perplexingly confused. If you genuinely did not like the story, then all you had to do was skip it entirely, mate. I have said this before and I’ll say it again; I’ll never understand other human beings for as long as I’ll live on this planet.

I’m having trouble trying to figure this out. If I make a decision, I am not indecisive about it; once I make that decision, that decision becomes final. Even the Buddha loses his patience when insulted a third time. Right now, it’s at two, one more transgression and I’ll revoke the ratings on this story. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars.

Then the fun is ruined for everyone, I’m afraid. But I humbly believe that it should not come to this. That this is entirely unnecessary and uncalled for. There would have to be a very good reason for me to regress on my final kibosh.

Is it really too much to ask for some clarity or some transparency on such hasty and irrational decisions? I’m pouring every ounce of love I can into this, so it feels like I’m being attacked here. I do not appreciate that.