Chapter 1: Siege

Link awoke from his strange dream to the sound of chaos. Castle guards raced down the halls as the clangs, explosions and cries of battle raged from below. He grabbed his sword and shield to join them, but before his feet left the room, a castle messenger appeared from the hall to his left.

"Master Link! The Princess requested you immediately in the Grand Hall! The castle is under siege!" And at that, the messenger hurried over to the next room to inform the occupants of the current situation. Link immediately dashed to the Grand Hall of the castle, where the large barricaded doors boomed as the assailants attempted to enter.

"Link! Over here!" Link immediately recognize the Princess's voice and joined her behind the ranks of soldiers prepared to give their lives to save Hyrule castle. "I need you to be on the front lines. You have more experience and skill when it comes to these demons, and you're our best bet at surviving this. I will be accompanying you."

Link couldn't believe what he was hearing. "A-are you sure Princess? You might get hurt, or worse! Hyrule would not have a ruler!"

"I am sure. I would rather die fighting for my country than cowering in a room."

A loud boom emanated from the door reverberating throughout the hall.

BOOM!

Everybody in the room fell silent.

BOOM!

Link threw a worried glance at the Princess, but she nodded encouragingly at him. It failed to ease his worry for the Princess. Another boom echoed through the halls, but it was accompanied by a sharp crack as the barricade began to fail.

BOOM!

The doors shuddered from the impact and the guards, with stoic expressions, drew their weapons. Link gave Zelda another worried look as she drew her sword, before drawing his own. He calmed his nerves, preparing for the battle ahead as he made his way to the front of the group of guards. Link's presence gave the guards renewed hope, and they bravely prepared for the worst.

CRASH!

The doors burst open, and splinters flew as the horde of monsters rushed in, and without the slightest hesitation, the guards charged. Swords swung, arrows flew as people and creatures alike were slain. Link dispatched these invaders with ease, and Zelda pushed her way forward, lopping off a few heads with surprising grace.

Link was smashing his sword into the head of an incoming Moblin, shattering its skull, when a tremor shook the castle. Everyone, monsters and humans alike, froze. Another tremor, this time much bigger, brought small rocks down from the ceiling. Suddenly, with a deafening explosion, the roof disintegrated and spiraled up into a black sky.

All around him, Link saw monsters and guards getting sucked up into the unnatural storm as the world around him crumbled to pieces. Both monsters and humans ran for the doors and crowded outside as a terrifying scene lay before them.

The world outside that room was gone, replaced by an empty void into which some unfortunate monsters tumbled down. And what was worse was that the ground beneath them was steadily shrinking.

Guards began shoving monsters into the void, and the fighting began again, more hectic than ever as screams of the unfortunate souls that fell into the void rang out.

Monsters shoved one another out of the way and off the edge, trying to flee from the gaping pit. It was inevitable that monsters began to grab soldiers, taking them down with them, and soon, only Zelda, Link and a single member of the Royal Guard were huddled together on a small platform hovering over the bottomless pit.

The guard then turned to face Zelda and Link. "Your highness, great hero, I understand I am taking up a lot of space, so I sacrifice myself in the hopes that you may live. Thank you for giving me the privilege to fight alongside you. May we meet again in the afterlife." And with that, the stoic guard stepped off to meet his doom.

Link felt numb as he looked around. The world was gone. The Princess felt the same as her once mighty kingdom was reduced to a small round piece of land. Her heart sank as she prepared for the inevitable.

Zelda then faced Link, tears in her eyes, and said with a quivering voice, "Link, there's something I've needed to tell you for a very long time. I'm… I'm–"

A sudden bolt of lightning struck between them, throwing Link off the edge and into the void. The last thing he heard was Zelda's wail of despair. Then a peaceful sensation filled him as he was whisked away to a better place. Then, he felt nothing.

Chapter 2: Stranded

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Chapter 2

Stranded

The storm raged outside as it had all night, and rain pelted against the window as Twilight Sparkle was lying wide awake in her bed. Why did the pegasi have to make it so stormy tonight? I can't even close my eyes for one second before thunder shakes my house.

The lavender pony groaned in frustration and buried her head under her pillow to escape the noise. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash, followed by a deafening boom. Twilight yelped in surprise and practically flew out of her bed.

Next to her bed, in his basket, Spike groggily said, "What was that? It almost gave me a heart attack!"

Twilight responded, "I think that was lightning, but that sounded awfully close. I hope it didn't hit anypony's house."

After a moment of contemplation, she donned a raincoat and ventured outside to investigate. Several other ponies milled about, trying to figure out what that noise was that had awakened them at such an early hour. Twilight gasped as she saw a large scorch mark a couple of yards from where she was standing. She trotted towards it, and as lightning illuminated a lump on the ground, the blood drained from her face.

"Somepony get help! This pony was hit by lightning!"

Link awoke to a strange noise, best described as a beep. The sound seemed to be coming from some metal contraption attached to his arm, and it kept making the beeping noise every few seconds. He was lying down on a very comfortable bed, but when he tried to sit up, he was too tired to do so. Link looked around. I must be in some kind of infirmary, he thought. Late afternoon sunlight filtered through the curtains, and birds chirped through the window.

Just then the door to the room opened, and a gray horse wearing a strange white coat walked in. Link stared in confusion at the horse as it walked towards him, seeing that its proportions were all wrong. The legs were a bit shorter and fatter than a normal horse, and its eyes were ridiculously large, giving it an almost cute appearance.

"Ah, I see you're awake," the horse said in a voice that sounded masculine. This startled Link, because, as far as he knew, horses didn't talk. "I'm Dr. Whitehoof. How are you feeling? You're lucky to be alive considering you were hit by lightning, let alone without any burns or neurological damage"

Link decided not to dwell on the fact that the horse was talking to him. "Umm, I'm feeling good, I guess. My head kind of... where am I?"

Doctor Whitehoof replied, "You're in Ponyville Hospital. Tell me, what were you doing out so late at night?"

Link thought for a bit, and then it all came flooding back. The Castle, the siege, Zelda, the void, falling, It all crashed into him like a wave on a beach. Zelda.

Link moved to get off the bed, but the doctor stopped him, saying, "Oh, you shouldn't be getting up right now! You still need to rest and recover your strength for at least another day!"

Link ignored the doctor's words and put his feet on the ground with a clop. Wait a minute… Link looked down at what were supposed to be his feet, but in their place were a pair of hooves. His eyes grew wide, and he immediately looked at his hands, or more accurately, hooves. He stumbled over to a mirror, much to the doctor's protest, and when he stared at his reflection, a beige pony with the same huge-eyed, thick-legged proportions as the doctor, a messy blond mane, and dressed in a hospital gown, stared back. After a few seconds of panic, he calmed himself, as he recalled memories of a similar transformation in his youth. Only this time, instead of a wolf, he was a talking pony.

The doctor appeared beside him, saying, "Well, that little stunt there dispelled any reason to keep you here, so if you're feeling up to it, I'll bring up your belongings so that you can get dressed while I sign your release forms."

After a brief wait, Link's familiar green tunic and hat were returned along with his various bags and pouches. He donned these, and was led by the doctor down to the lobby.

To Link's surprise, he accomplished the journey on all fours, for it had seemed completely natural at the moment. The doctor heard the main door open, and he glanced up to see who had entered. He said to Link, "Ah, it seems the pony who found you is here for a visit!"

Link turned around with mild surprise to see a lavender pony who appeared very feminine, clopping towards him. He could make out the tip of a horn protruding from her bangs as she greeted him.

"Hi! I'm Twilight Sparkle! I found you last night after you were hit by lightning." Her voice confirmed his suspicions as she raised a hoof, obviously meaning for a handshake, or more correctly under the circumstances, a hoofshake. Link clumsily brought up his and completed the awkward greeting. "What's your name?" she asked.

This is going to take some getting used to… Link thought to himself as he sighed inwardly. "Umm… I'm Link," he responded.

"Great to meet you Link, do you have a last name?" Twilight asked with a smile.

Link looked away, embarrassed. "If I do, I don't know it. I never knew my parents. My father was a knight killed in battle before I was born and my mother died when I was a baby."

Twilight's eyes softened as she tried to imagine the pain of not having parents. "Oh, I'm sorry I brought it up… Well, do you live near here, or are you just passing through?" she asked, trying to move on to a less touchy subject.

"I'm not even sure where 'here' is, but it is nothing like my home. My home is in the kingdom of Hyrule. Would you happen to know anyone who might know a way there?"

Uh-oh. Twilight thought to herself nervously as her attempt to dispel the awkwardness only succeeded in making it worse. "Would you like to stay with me until you find your way back to your home in…Hyrule was it?"

Link politely turned down the offer, yet the purple pony wouldn't take no for an answer as they left the hospital. Most attempts at small talk ended abruptly, as the foreigner was unfamiliar with most of the subjects Twilight brought up.

The conversations were not all pointless, however, as Link found out that unicorns like Twilight could use magic, the ponies that have wings were called pegasai, and they were all loyal subjects of two immortal winged unicorns called allicorns. The two allicorns were sisters named Celestia and Luna, who raise the sun and moon respectively. Twilight lived in the Golden Oaks Library with her assistant, Spike. Golden Oaks was a giant tree that had been hollowed out and turned into a library, and somehow stayed alive through complex magical preservation spells.

To Link, Ponyville reminded him a bit of Castle Town, with its cobblestone streets, bustling crowds, and variety of buildings. They passed by several buildings that made it painfully obvious as to their intended purpose, such as a store called "Sugar Cube Corner" that looked like it was made entirely of sweets.

When they entered the library, Link gazed around in wonder. It was as if a giant deku tree was hollowed out and filled with the entire contents of the Hyrule Castle library. He felt strangely at home here. Perhaps it was the wooded atmosphere that reminded him of his childhood in the Faron Woods.

"Spike! We have a guest! Could you make us some sandwiches?" the purple unicorn called out as she shut the door behind them.

Link jumped back in surprise when a small purple and green dragon-like creature poked its head around the corner. He instinctive reached for a sword that wasn't there, but all hostile feelings dissipated when the creature spoke.

"Oh, hey Twilight! Who's the guest? Is he your boyfriend?" Spike taunted.

"What? No! He isn't my boyfriend! I barely know him!" Twilight said, her face getting redder with each word. "This is the pony who got hit by lightning last night. He has nowhere to say, so I offered to let him stay here." She threw a glare at Spike that said, You'll really get it later, you little punk. Spike merely chuckled as he prepared peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for them.

Twilight calmed herself before turning to Link. "Sorry about that. That's just Spike being Spike. Anyway, would you like to take the bed? I could sleep on the floor if you'd like."

Although she disliked the thought of lying in a sleeping bag on the hard floor, he was her guest after all. Much to her relief he turned down the offer, explaining that he spent most of his life sleeping on a hard wooden stump in the woods, and wouldn't mind at all.

This just keeps getting more and more awkward… Twilight thought to herself.

Lunch was interesting, to say the least, as the concept of a "sandwich" was quite foreign to Link.

"You mean you've never had a sandwich?" Twilight asked in amazement. Link shook his head. "Not even heard of it?" Another no. "Wow, things really are different where you're from. Well, to eat it you just pick it up and take a bite." She demonstrated by picking it up with her hooves, and taking a bite, and Link eventually got the hang of it.

"So, how'd you end up here?" she asked out of curiosity.

Link's face grew solemn as he recounted the events of the previous night as best as he could, leading up to him waking up in the hospital.

Spike was confused. "So, let me get this straight… You're from a distant land called Hyrule, you're NOT a pony, but a human who got turned INTO a pony, and you wound up here when your world disappeared and you fell into the void, and when you woke up, you were magically a pony version of your human self?"

Link took a moment to process the little dragon's rather large sentence, before replying, "Yes, I guess that is a rather accurate description my situation, Spike."

"Sooo, you're not her boyfriend?" This was met by a frustrated groan as Twilight's face once again reddened. Link couldn't help but chuckle along with Spike as the unicorn cuffed the baby dragon in the back of the head.

"Link, how about I take you to meet my friends? I bet they'd love to meet you." Twilight offered, and Link couldn't think of a reason why not to.

They were about to walk out the door when Twilight suddenly said, "Oh! I almost forgot," and trotted back inside to a shelf that Link hadn't noticed before. She came back with an object that made him gasp in amazement. "I found this on the ground next to you when the paramedics took you away, and I would've forgotten to give it to you if your cutie mark didn't remind me." Link didn't even react to the foreign phrase as he took the object in her hoof in disbelief. "I figured it was some kind of instrument, so I washed off all the mud and, umm…are you okay?"

Link snapped out of his stupor. "Am I okay? I'm more than okay!" he exclaimed. "This is the first good thing to happen to me since I got here!" He squeezed Twilight in an excited hug, saying, "You have no idea how thankful I am you found this!"

Twilight's face reddened in embarrassment once more as she heard Spike snickering behind her. "Uh, you're quite welcome, but why are you so happy over that…thing?"

Much to her relief, he released her from the awkward embrace, as he sat on one of the many chairs in the library. "Because this is going to get me home." Link once again stared at the object in his hooves. An object given to him so many years ago, he forgot he even had it with him.

Link had never been so happy to see the Ocarina of Time.

Chapter 3: Friends

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Chapter 3

Friends

Twilight was puzzled. "How will that…?"

"…ocarina" Link filled in for her.

Twilight continued, "How will that ocarina get you home?"

Link gladly answered her question. "This ocarina is imbued with magical properties, and it can perform different feats of magic by playing certain songs. One of them can teleport me to the ruins of the Temple of Time deep in the Lost Woods, and I remember how to play the tune!"

Link excitedly gathered his belongings and stood in the center of the library. "Thank you for your courtesy, Twilight Sparkle." Spike cleared his throat, obviously irritated. "…AND Spike," Link amended, and a smug expression appeared on Spike's face. "I apologize for imposing myself upon your lives so abruptly, and I hope we may someday meet again, but for now, I must go home. Take care, and farewell."

And with that, he began to play a mystifying melody that captured the other occupants of the tree with its simple beauty. Twilight could have even sworn other instruments joined in the brief tune. When he finished, he waved goodbye as a divine light enveloped him, and he began rising.

Twilight was a bit sad to see him go so soon. He seemed like such a nice pony, and all that undiscovered knowledge about a different world would have been so exciting to learn! There was so much they could have done together, but, alas, she knew Link had to go home.

As she watched him, a subconscious part of her brain sensed that something was not right. The light surrounding Link was growing brighter, and then she heard him say, "That can't be good," before the entire thing exploded.

Twilight and Spike were thrown back as Link fell to the floor, dazed by the sonic boom that originated from inside the light that surrounded him.

All across Ponyville, the citizens looked around, confused, as the sound of thunder reached their ears. Those closer to the library were much more startled as the windows of the building blew out with a thundering BOOM.

As his hearing recovered, Link sat up, a dejected look painted on his face."I don't understand what went wrong…" he muttered weakly.

Twilight felt bad for him. All that excitement and anticipation, and the whole plan blew up in his face… in quite the literal sense. Something tickled the back of her mind, and she slowly drew forth information from a book she had read long ago. Her blood ran cold as the realization hit her.

"Umm, Link?" she addressed him softly, preparing him for the news to follow. Link looked up at her with sad, hopeless eyes. Twilight felt tears forming in her eyes as she tried to formulate a way to break the news to him lightly. "I think I know why it didn't work." She took a deep, shuddering breath, and said, "I read it in an old spell book once…that implosion is characteristic to a failed waypoint-teleportation spell."

"What would cause it to fail?" Link asked, hoping it was something that could be fixed.

Unfortunately, it was not so. Twilight's heart sank at the question she had hoped he wouldn't ask. "It's caused when… umm…well…" She couldn't bring herself to say the rest.

"When what?" Link encouraged, his hopes rising.

"It's caused when the destination..." she took a deep, shuddering breath. "when the destination...doesn't...exist." She choked out before she turned away, ashamed of telling this poor pony that he had no home to return to. "I'm so sorry, Link."

Link processed the information, and his hopes fell, dead before they hit the ground. Everyone he knew, everyone he loved, and everything he had ever done, was gone. He would be stuck as a horse in a strange, colorful, magical land forever. An unfamiliar wetness streamed down his cheek as the extreme sadness overwhelmed him.

Twilight could not sleep that night. The guilt of shattering the hope of the very pony she took in was weighing on her like a ton of bricks. She heard that pony turn in his sleeping bag to face her bed.

"Twilight?" Link was addressing her.

This time, she turned in her bed to see him propping himself up with his elbow. "I'm so sorry Link. I just wish there was another explanation, but I—" she began, but Link cut her off.

"No, no it's fine. I can still hope that some of them made it here like I did. So don't beat yourself up over it. Okay?" A friendly smile crossed his face.

Twilight smiled back. "Okay." Link laid back down with his back to her, but she continued to stare at the strange stallion on her floor. She felt the weight of guilt lift from her body, and she slipped into a peaceful sleep.

Link however, did not. He couldn't blame Twilight for telling him why it didn't work. He would've done the same, and he could see that she felt guilty. Everything he said was true, but the hope he had for the others was slim. He silently grieved for his friends as he slowly, but surely, fell into a restless, exhausted sleep.

The next morning, Twilight awoke to find her new friend missing from his sleeping bag. Strange. She thought as she stretched the stiffness of sleep away. After rising from the bed, she walked down the stairs to the main floor of the library.

"Good morning Spike!" she greeted the little dragon cheerfully as he poured himself a bowl of cereal.

"Morning Twilight!" he responded as he sat down to eat.

Twilight chuckled at the contradictory statement her little friend just made as she looked around the library. "Hey Spike, have you seen Link?"

"Yeah, he said he was going to get some fresh air," he replied as he walked to the table with a bowl of bran flakes, rubies and milk.

Worried, the unicorn went outside to search for Link. She was just about to call out to him, when she heard a short, unfamiliar song. Her ears automatically pricked, turning towards the source, but by then the song was through, dissipating into the atmosphere.

She suddenly had the strangest urge to go left, and she did without question. Several other ponies were walking in the same direction, murmuring confusedly to each other as to what compelled them to do so. Twilight saw a familiar cyan pegasus flying above the crowd and beckoned her over.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" she said, waving her forehoof

"What's up Twilight? Did you get that weird urge to go this way too?" Rainbow Dash dropped to the ground next to Twilight and began walking with her.

Twilight's face screwed up in contemplation. "Um… yeah. It's a little worrying. That song must have put a spell on us or something."

Rainbow looked at her, surprised. "You heard it too? For a second, I thought I was going crazy."

"I guess that's why we're all going this way."

Link sat atop a hill staring into the distance holding the horseshoe-shaped charm around his neck. For old time's sake, he played Epona's song to try and cheer him up, but only accomplished in deepening his depression at the memory of his dear friend. After a few minutes of waiting, he sighed sadly, got up and began to turn around.

"What in the—" Link exclaimed as he fell backwards in surprise. About twenty or so confused ponies were standing behind him chattering and trying to find an explanation for their sudden compulsion to come here. He looked at his charm, and chuckled. At least I know it works.

The group had stopped at the top of a hill in an open field.

"What in the—" Everyone heard it, but nopony recognized the voice. Nopony except Twilight Sparkle, that is. She and Rainbow made their way to the front of the crowd, and emerged to see a beige stallion with a messy blond mane and strange green clothing.

"Who's this guy?" Rainbow Dash not-so-quietly whispered to Twilight when she saw Link.

"Link! Did you do this?" Twilight said accusingly, while eying him warily.

Rainbow Dash regarded Twilight strangely. "Hold up! You know this pony?"

"Yes, Rainbow. This is that pony that got hit by lightning, remember?" Twilight replied.

"I sure do…" she mumbled with a grouchy expression and crossed forelegs. She had gotten in huge trouble for that storm, mostly because it zapped that pony, even though it had appeared out of nowhere, and every weather pegasus (including her) had tried their hardest to move the clouds away to no avail. In the middle of the night, no less.

"Umm, sorry about that. I didn't know it would draw everybody to me. I thought it only worked on Epona." Link said as he got up.

"What the hay is an Epona?" asked Rainbow Dash as Twilight told all of the confused townsponies to return to their homes.

Link rubbed the back of his neck with his forehoof, before saying, "Umm, she's a—" he started, but before he could finish, they heard the drum of hoofbeats. Familiar hoofbeats now that Link thought about it.

"Hey! Link!" an unfamiliar girl's voice sounded from a brown dot farther down the field.

Link, Twilight and Rainbow all gazed at the brown speck in curiosity, and as the unfamiliar pony got nearer, she became increasingly familiar to Link. Her body was a rich, earthy brown color. Her coat faded from brown to grey as it got closer to her hooves, and her silver mane flowed in the wind as she galloped towards the trio. Link couldn't believe his eyes.

"Link, I came as fast as I could when I heard my song!" she stopped in front of Link, before seeing the two confused mares accompanying Link. "Ummm…who are you two?"

"I think it's fair to ask you the same question," Twilight responded warily, slightly narrowing her eyes at the newcomer

"Twilight, it's okay. She…" Link gestured to the silver-maned mare. "…is Epona."

"I've known Epona ever since I was a child, and we grew up together. It might have sounded strange in Hyrule, but she sort of felt like the sister I never had." Link explained. The four ponies had met up in the library so that he could introduce Epona.

Rainbow spoke up impatiently. "I'm not sure what's going on, but I sure as heck don't understand any of it. You were a human? Aren't those, like, giant hairless monkey things? And your magical blue potato somehow brought Epona here?"

Link sighed. "First of all, this is an ocarina, not a potato. An ocarina is a musical wind instrument that is nearly impossible to play with these Nayru-forsaken hooves…" he held out the appendages in question for emphasis. "..and a potato is a root vegetable that is quite tasty in vegetable stew with tomatoes and carrots. There's a big difference."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, while Twilight and Epona chuckled at Link's lengthy explanation about the differences between an ocarina and a potato.

"Second of all, yes; humans do slightly resemble monkeys, but we are far, far more advanced in comparison. Thirdly, my ocarina didn't bring Epona here, this did." Link held up the horseshoe necklace. Upon closer inspection, small holes lined the surface, and a mouthpiece was visible at its peak.

"Ohhhh, it's another instrument thingy," Rainbow Dash said, before asking, "What's up with you and wind instruments? I mean – you have that ocarina, that necklace, what-"

"Epona" said Twilight trying to change the topic. "How did you end up in Equestria?"

"Let's see…" Epona took a deep breath "Wow, it's only been a few days and the memories are getting all fuzzy and distant. It's SOOOO weird! Anyway, I remember I was in the Hyrule castle stables, and one of those weird jelly things got in there, so I squished it. Then, some Moblin tried to ride me, but I bucked him off. Then I trampled in his face which was kinda gross, but also kind of badass if you think about it because I just kinda showed him who's boss and all that. Anyways, so, um, I looked up, and I saw the ground and the walls and trees and everything disappearing and I was thinking 'What the heck is going on?' so I ended up trapped against a wall and I was like totally freaking out because I thought I was gonna die you know, and I fell into the pit, then all of a sudden I woke up in that field and I was like 'Wow this is like every pony's dream!' and I found a pond and saw my reflection and I looked a LOT cuter than I did in Hyrule, then I found out that I could talk and I was soo excited because I've always wanted to talk! Anyways, I wandered around for a few days, eating berries and enjoying nature and stuff, then I heard my song and I was all like OH MY GOSH LINK! So I ran and I saw you and…holy crap! You're a horse too! This is so cool! Now we can be like actual brother and sister and it won't be weird because we're the same species now!"

The overwhelmed silence that followed stretched on for nearly a minute as Epona caught her breath. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were slightly shocked by Epona's casual description of brutally killing two living creatures, so the silence stretched for a bit longer than it normally would have.

Twilight looked at Dash and said, "I like her. She reminds me of somepony, and I bet you couldn't possibly guess who."

Rainbow Dash snickered, saying, "Yeah, who could ever guess?"

Epona frowned, cocking her head to the side slightly. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Don't worry, she's a good friend of ours," Twilight clarified. "Anyways, were you a human too before you got here?"

Epona thought for a bit, and said, "Nope. I remember being a horse since my memories began! This whole talking thing is REALLY cool, don't you think? I mean, I may have been able to talk to you when you were a wolf, Link but all I ever said was 'Turn back into a human! Quickly!' or something like that. After that whole thing died down I eavesdropped on lots of human conversations and improved my vocabulary A LOT, and—"

"Wait, did you say wolf? You were a wolf? I thought you said you were a human!" Dash was getting nervous. What if he IS a wolf? And he tries to eat me, and- She realized she was overreacting, and shifted embarrassedly in her seat. Maybe it's just sleep deprivation. Stupid freak storms in the stupid middle of the stupid night... she thought, irritated, although couldn't help but be a bit unsettled.

Link saw the fear in Rainbow's body language, so he knew an explanation was in order. "Okay. At ONE point I was a wolf, but I turned back into a human."

Twilight and Rainbow Dash's eyes widened, as they leaned forwards, urging him to go on.

Link sighed. "Okay. It happened around five years ago, when I was seventeen. I lived in a village called Ordon Village in the Faron woods. I was chosen to deliver a package to Castle Town, the town that sits in the shadow of Hyrule castle, and I was going to ride Epona to get there."

Twilight and Rainbow looked at him, with confused expressions.

"Humans aren't as fast as horses, so they ride on our backs to cross distances faster. We don't mind, really. It's kinda fun!" Epona clarified.

"Thank you Epona," Link continued. "The day I was about to leave, I met my childhood friend, Ilia to say goodbye." Link's expression turned stoic. "We were attacked by monsters. They took Ilia, and stunned me with a club to the head.

When I recovered, I ran after them, but after a while I encountered this enormous black wall that seemed to cut the entire forest in half, and stretch all the way to the sky. Glowing golden runes shifted and glowed on its surface, and a malevolent aura surrounded it.

Before I could react, a creature's arm reached out and grabbed me, pulling me through the barrier. Once inside, I fell to my knees as pain rocketed through my body. I could feel my body changing and shifting, and my screams turned into howls as I turned into a wolf, and collapsed."

Link continued to recite the events in exquisite detail, all the while keeping the listeners riveted. He told him about how the evil man named Zant caused eternal Twilight to befall the land, and meeting the imp-like creature named Midna, who turned out to be the princess of the Twilight Realm, and how with the help of Princess Zelda, he defeated the Gerudo King Gannondorf, who had escaped his imprisonment in the Twilight Realm with the help of Zant.

He also explained that the horseshoe amulet he wore was a gift from Ilia when he rescued her and helped her get her memory back.

When he finished everyone stared at him in awe, even Epona. Twilight and Rainbow Dash had never met anypony who had fought their way almost single-handedly through such horribly unfair odds to save the kingdom, and possibly the world.

"You're an amazing storyteller, Link. I could picture everything in my mind as if I was there…" Twilight said before looking outside, and seeing that the sun was barely peeking over the horizon, casting a deep orange glow across the sky. "Wow! Time sure flies. The sun's almost set." She recounted the story Link told and shuddered at the thought of those terrible events, wishing that she wouldn't have to encounter anything remotely like that.

"That was an awesome story Link! You were like, a real life adventurer! Like Daring Do! Well, I'm gonna head home Twi'. See ya tomorrow!" and with that, the cyan pony flew out the window.

"Daring Do?" Link asked, unsure as to the reference.

Twilight chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. Daring Do's a fictional book character. She's the best comparison to you I would've come up with. You should read the series one of these days."

Link shifted nervously. "Erm, there may be a little problem with that proposal." Seeing Twilight's questioning look, he went on. "Although the Equestrian and Hyrulean dialects are remarkably similar, the written language is much, much different."

Twilight nodded in understanding. "Don't worry, Link," she said cheerfuly. "There are plenty of children's books here to help you learn the language."

"Thank you, Twilight." Link smiled gratefully.

"If it makes you feel any better, I can't read anything! 'Who needs words' is my response to reading!" Epona joked, eliciting a laugh from Link and a confused look from Twilight.

Twilight gasped suddenly. "I'm sorry Epona. I don't have any more spare sleeping bags, so I don't think you can stay here." she paused for a moment. Epona's bubbly, energetic personality reminded her of someone else she knew who would adore the company.

Pinkie Pie was just finishing brushing her teeth for the fifth and final time that day, for when one consumes close to three times their body weight in sweet confectioneries, proper oral hygiene is a must. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

After a deep excited gasp, and exclaiming, "Visitors!" the hyper pink mare raced downstairs and flung open the door to see her bestest friend Twilight Sparkle. "Twilight! Ohmygoshwhatareyoudoingheredoyouwantacupcakeorapie oranACTUALcakeormaybeasodaorsomehotcoacoaorhowabou tIsaveyouthetroubleofdecidingbygettingyouEVERYTHIN Gormaybeyouwanttohaveasleepoverandwecanplaygamesan dstayuplateandwatchtvand-oh, wait, tv'shaven'tevenbeeninventedyet! Silly me! Anywaysmaybewecan—"

"Pinkie!" Twilight had to stop the hyperactive pony's barrage of questions before her guests had second thoughts. "I have some new friends I would like you to meet."

"OoOOOOoooh… come inside! No use standing out there in the cold! It's not like you're vampires or anything." She suddenly put her face microns away from Twilight's, and staring straight into her eyes. "Are you?" They stayed like that for a full three seconds, until Pinkie was satisfied that they weren't the undead, and let them in.

Twilight cleared her throat. "Pinkie I would like to introduce—"

"Link the human who got sent here from another dimension and his sister-like companion Epona yeah, yeah, the readers already read past that part." Pinkie interrupted.

Twilight was thoroughly confused now. "Pinkie, how did you—"

"Come on Epona! We're gonna have soooooo much fun together it'll be like a sleepover except it will be EVERY NIGHT!" Pinkie squealed in delight as she bolted upstairs to get everything ready.

Twilight grinned nervously at Epona whose face had a bewildered expression plastered onto it.

Suddenly, Epona turned to Twilight and beamed, saying, "Oh my GOSH SHE'S PERFECT! Thank you soooo much!" before she bolted upstairs with Pinke.

As they were walking home, Link asked Twilight, "Are you sure she's fine over there? That pink pony was a bit…" he searched for the right word, "eccentric."

"Eccentric? Isn't that usually used to describe old pawn-shop owners?" Twilight replied with a grin, and they both shared a lighthearted laugh, before Link asked, "What's a pawn shop?"

Link, for the first time in a long time, felt as if he had a chance at a somewhat normal life in this strange land. As normal as it can get if you were a talking horse. He smiled at the possibilities.

That night, Twilight stayed up late listening to Link tell her about his life in Hyrule. When he began recounting Tales about Ilia during his childhood, she saw a distant, sad expression in him that told her that he missed her dearly. Eventually, the clock read 2:00 AM, and she decided that they should get to sleep.

"Twilight," Link called softly from his sleeping bag.

Twilight turned to face Link. "Yeah?"

"Thank you for letting me stay here. I really appreciate your hospitality towards a total stranger."

"Stranger?" Twilight chuckled, "You're no stranger, Link; you're my friend."

Link was surprised. "Really? I just met you yesterday. We can't possibly be friends already."

"What do you mean? Of course we're friends! You humans must be very… erm…" She tried to think of a word that wasn't offensive.

"Cautious? Untrusting?" Link completed for her with a somewhat less positive tone. "Those both apply. There are some people who only pretend to be friends to use you, and manipulate you, and when they're done, they stab you in the back."

Twilight gasped in shock.

"Sorry, it's just an expression."

She relaxed a bit, but was still worried. "Does that mean… you don't want to be my friend? Because you don't trust me?"

Link shook his head. "Of course not. You are as much a friend to me as I am to you. I can tell that you have a kind heart, and are one of the most trustworthy peop- ponies," Link corrected himself, "that I have ever met."

Twilight sighed in relief. "Thank you, Link. I can tell that you're a very nice pony as well." Twilight went quiet for a moment, but Link could tell there was something on her mind. "How did you do it?" She soon confirmed his suspicions.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"How were you able to…kill…that stallion – I mean, man - Gannondorf? I know that he was bad and all, but did you really have to kill him?"

Link sighed. "He was no man. No, he was too far gone to be worthy of such a title. He was a monster. He killed thousands, and ruined the lives of countless more. He cared not for the devastation he left in his wake. For centuries he'd plagued our lands, and I fear he will for centuries more if not in my lifetime then in some poor child's generations away from me. I didn't kill him. Not in a true sense. I merely delayed his reign of terror."

They were both silent for a long moment, Spike's faint snores and their soft breathing the only sounds in the darkness.

Twilight broke the silence after several minutes. "I had no idea he was such a monster, but I don't know if I would be able to do the things you had to, so I respect your decisions." She paused, before continuing, "I can't imagine a world as violent as yours, Link. All of that death and destruction..." Twilight was silent for a moment. "I can't help but wonder if there could have been other ways to deal with Gannondorf, but if he was really as far gone as you say, I doubt any ideas I come up with would be adequate." She chuckled lightly. "Oh, listen to me, thinking out loud. Sorry, I tend to do that sometimes."

"Well, let's stop all this gloomy talk and get to sleep. It's pretty late already," Twilight said with a yawn.

Link's only response was more soft steady breathing. Twilight blushed, realizing that she had probably just talked her guest to sleep, and laid back down on her bed.

She pulled the covers up to her neck, feeling the comforting warmth of the sheets as she planned out their day tomorrow in her head. She would treat them to Applejack's apple cinnamon pancakes for breakfast, and have Rarity fret over his clothes, and have a picnic in the park with Fluttershy, and- her thoughts soon faded as she drifted off to sleep.

A pair of scarlet eyes in the shadows were focused on the purple unicorn as she fell asleep, but soon wandered to the sleeping bag on the floor. The owner of the eyes frowned slightly, before sighing. "Good luck Link…you're going to need it very soon…" The eyes closed, and the otherworldly presence was gone, dissipated into the shadows of the library.

Chapter 4: Harsh Introductions

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Chapter 4

Harsh Introductions

Zelda opened her eyes, only to find herself blinded by a searing light. She forced her eyes shut, as her other senses came into focus. She became aware of a cool breeze rustling the leaves of trees above her, and the earthy smell of nature reached her nose. She was vaguely aware that she was curled up on the ground on her side.

This time, Zelda opened her eyes slowly, letting her eyes adjust to the bright sunlight, and bringing the greens and browns of the forest into focus.

A dull ache in the back of her head caused her to groan in pain, and she rolled onto her back. She stretched the stiffness from her joints before attempting to rise to her feet.

Zelda planted her hands on the ground and cried out in shock. Horse hooves, with fur that was a flesh-like beige color, were occupying the space her hands once did. She frantically felt her face, and gasped when her hooves impacted her muzzle.

Scrambling to her hooves, Zelda whipped her head around. A long golden mane, still braided in the traditional Hyrulean royal fashion, swung with her. Zelda could now see that she was, in fact, a horse. After performing several breathing exercises to calm her nerves, Zelda took a more collected look at herself and her surroundings.

Much to her surprise, Zelda found a short, blunt-tipped horn resting on her forehead. Her regal attire was still on her, somehow fitting just as well to her newly acquired equine form as it did when she was human.

"Okay Zelda, calm down…panicking won't change the fact that you're a…a horse," Zelda told herself with a voice that was only slightly shaky. "Right now, you are lost, with no food, no water, and no shelter. You need to find some before it gets dark."

Trees, trees, and more trees surrounded her for miles upon miles, and the sun was high in the clear blue sky. Feeling that there was nothing to lose that hadn't already been lost, Zelda picked a random direction and clumsily trotted into the underbrush.

The sandy dunes of a distant desert stretched for as far as the eye could see. Nothing but the sparse clouds overhead could be seen moving, and not a single gust of wind stirred the stagnant air.

The air began shimmering and warping in one area far off of the ground. Ethereal gold and amber auras swirled and congealed into a single circular object.

It was a polished stone tablet, several meters in diameter, with concentric rings and complex runes inscribed on its surface.

It hovered in the air for a moment as time seemed to stop in its tracks. The deafening silence was broken with a loud crack when the tablet split down the middle, marring its otherwise symmetric surface.

Black miasma seeped from the crack, spreading into the sand like a plague and staining it as black as obsidian. The sulfurous stench of decay filled the air. Malevolent laughter echoed through the desert as the bright blue sky began to darken and turn an amber hue, and thick black clouds tainted the once beautiful scenery, turning it into a sick parody of its former self.

In the throne room of the marble-walled Canterlot Castle, as the mid-day sunlight shone through the high arched windows, the monarch of the sun stiffened on her throne. Beside her, her lunar sister's eyes grew wide with a mix of shock and confusion. Princess Luna cast a disturbed glance at her elder sister, who returned a similar look of concern.

"You felt the disturbance as well, Sister?" Princess Celestia inquired in a hushed tone.

"Indeed. 'Tis most troubling. What could have caused a magical shockwave of such magnitude?" Luna replied quietly.

They both froze as chills went up their spines in unison. Their gazes instantly went to the east. Although there were several feet of marble between the room and the outside world, the two allicorn sisters sensed exactly what direction the unseen force was located.

"This is the fourth in three days, but this is by far the most powerful," Celestia remarked, and they sat in silent contemplation.

Luna opened her mouth and was about to speak when a wisp ofdragonfire slithered through the air in front of her sister, materializing into a sealed scroll, which fell to the floor. "We will discuss this as soon as time allows," the eldest sister stated, before taking hold of the scroll in a cloud of golden magic.

The Princess of the Night nodded in agreement before rising from her throne. She strode towards the shadow of a pillar and vanished into the darkness.

Princess Celestia sighed tiredly before turning her attention to the now opened sheet of parchment before her.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am writing to you, not because I have discovered something about friendship, but because of more unusual circumstances. Three nights ago during the unusual storm over Ponyville, I found an earth-pony named Link unconscious on the ground, seemingly struck by lightning. After spending the night in the hospital, he awoke with absolutely no problems whatsoever, albeit being extremely disoriented. However, this, I believe, is not accredited to the lightning strike, but to the fact that he is not of this world.

According to Link, he is a human being, and whether he is from another world or another dimension altogether is still a mystery to both him and me. I also have evidence to believe that his home, wherever it may be, either no longer exists or is beyond the reach of magic. In any case, I agreed to help him try and find his way home as well as getting him accustomed to our society. In exchange, he was willing to describe to me cultures and customs from his world, and allow me to examine a magical artifact he brought with him called the "Ocarina of Time." I believe this ocarina (a wind instrument which resembles some flute-like instruments from the griffin kingdoms, but elliptical as opposed to stick-shaped) is imbued with very powerful magical powers, and is unlike anything we have in Equestria.

We have made arrangements for him to stay at the library with me indefinitely until we can find more suitable housing for him. On a side note, we encountered another earth pony from Link's world named Epona. She was a pony even before coming to Equestria, and is one of Link's oldest friends. She is staying with Pinkie Pie at Sugar Cube Corner until further notice.

I felt a need to tell you of Link and Epona's arrival in Equestria just in case it may have greater impact in the future, and would greatly appreciate any help you can offer in trying to find a way to return them home. I will eagerly await your reply.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Princess Celestia frowned at the news. The arrival of this stallion, Link, could have caused the first magical shockwave she had sensed three nights ago. An interplanetary teleportation would take a tremendous amount of magical energy, but what she had sensed was far more powerful; this was almost certainly an interdimensionalarrival.

However, this seemed to trouble her even more. It would take an unfathomable amount of magic to break the interdimensionalbarrier: exponentially more than any known being could muster, including both she and her sister.

Celestia's thoughts drifted to the disturbance she sensed only minutes ago. It felt so ominous and wicked.

So powerful.

Her gaze once more was drawn to the east, and for a split second, she could have sworn she heard deep, malevolent laughter echoing from far beyond the horizon.

"Twilight! Twilight, wake up!"

The unicorn groggily opened her eyes. Her eyes were drawn to a nearby clock, which, illuminated by the early morning moonlight filtering through the curtains, read 4:15. "Whazzrong Spike?" she slurred sleepily as she turned towards the baby dragon.

He waved a rolled up parchment in her face, barely giving her time to register the royal red seal stamped in wax on the front. "The princess just sent you a letter! It looks important."

All thoughts of sleep were driven from her head instantly as a glowing cloud of lavender snatched the letter from Spike. She hopped off her bed and turned on her bedside lamp, carefully peeling open the scroll. She lifted it in front of her, letting it unroll itself, and began to read.

My dear student Twilight Sparkle,

I wish to thank you for informing me of Link's arrival. I apologize for waking you at this time of morning, but I have good reason: you, your friends, Link and Epona are to be escorted to Canterlot Castle by Luna's royal night guard for an important discussion. I do not wish to draw unwanted public attention at the sight of six royal carriages in Ponyville, so stealth is key. All will be explained once you all arrive.

Bring the Elements of Harmony and nothing more. Anything you need will be provided at the castle. Your friends have been informed and will arrive separately. The night guard will knock on your door once they arrive, so be prepared to leave at a moment's notice.

Once again, I apologize for waking you unpleasantly early, and I hope to see you soon.

Best regards,

Princess Celestia

"What does it say?" Twilight jumped when Link spoke from beside her.

"Oh! I didn't hear you wake up." She moved over so Link could see the letter. "It's from Princess Celestia. She sent carriages to escort us to the castle for some kind of important meeting."

Link looked over the letter for a few more moments, before turning to Twilight and simply stating, "I'm sorry, but I have no idea what any of this says. Was there anything else?"

Twilight remembered that he couldn't read Equestrian script.

"Not really," Twilight said as she crossed the room to her dresser. "She said she would explain everything when we get there." She lifted a brush from the polished wood surface to tame her bedraggled mane.

"Who has to go?" Spike asked from Link's side.

"Well," Twilight looked back at the letter as the animated brush continued to tug at her mane. "According to this, the girls and I are all coming, along with you, Link and Epona. She said to bring the Elements of Harmony, I don't know why."

A sharp rap on the door caught their attention.

"That would be the escort," Twilight said as she began towards the stairs. With Link and Spike in tow, she descended the stairs. As she passed the display case housing five necklaces and a tiara that were each ornately decorated, the Elements of Harmony, she placed them all in a large saddlebag, which she then placed on her back. She quickly approached the door just as another knock echoed through the library, and opened it.

A mare with a slate-grey coat, a short-cut light blue mane, and bright golden eyes, was wearing gothic-looking black and purple plate armor. She stood just outside the doorway, and the dark outline of an armored chariot was barely visible behind her.

Twilight opened her mouth to greet the guard, but was sharply stopped.

"No talking, no dilly-dallying," the guard hissed. "Just get in the transport and stay silent unless told otherwise."

Twilight blinked in surprise before nodding and hurrying into the carriage without a further word. Link followed close behind, making sure Spike was keeping up. Now that he was up close, the carriage, he could see, was covered with thick steel plates, and lacked the ornate embellishments of the other carriages he had seen around Ponyville. Several other golden-eyed pegasai, with leathery, bat-like wings in place of the typical feathery ones, and all clad in the same gothic armor, were hitched to the front of the carriage.

A firm nudge by the royal night guard cut Link's observations short and he stepped up into the carriage, taking the seat opposite Twilight.

The door sung shut with a soft click of the lock, and within several seconds, the transport lurched into motion. After bumping along the road, the ride smoothed out as the pegasai pulling it took to the skies.

Through the small barred windows, Link could just make out the receding lights of Ponyville shrinking into nothingness.

A long, silent ride followed, which was undoubtedly spent contemplating what could have happened to warrant an audience with the princesses. Just when the faintest of glows of the rising sun could be seen on the horizon, a thump on the door grabbed their attention. They looked outside the window to see the night guard mare flying alongside the carriage. She motioned downward with her forehoof, and the message was clear enough: they were landing.

This news was taken gladly by the occupants of the carriage, who were anxious to stretch their legs after the two-hour flight. They banked left suddenly, waking the slumbering baby dragon at Twilight's side, and after a short spiraling descent that bled off their excess speed, there was a sudden jolt as they touched down on a stone runway that led them alongside Canterlot Castle.

The wheels had barely stopped when the door was flung open and the night guard motioned for the trio to get out. Now, the familiar royal guards in their golden armor and plumed helmets ushered Link, Twilight and Spike into the palace itself.

Tall marble walls, gilded pillars, and marvelous tapestries towered seamlessly above them, lit by ethereal glowing orbs of magic, which drifted about high above their heads like clouds in the sky. Link craned his neck as he gawked at the amazing architecture. Even Hyrule Castle seemed to pale in comparison to this.

Twilight, however, had seen these halls hundreds of times growing up. She simply strode forward, head straight, Spike snoozing on her back, while Link followed behind, neck swiveling to take in the amazing sights.

Link's appreciation of the halls of the castle was cut short when the guards stopped in front of a set of stained oak doors, which Twilight pushed open without hesitation.

The spacious room beyond was very cozy, with a plush crimson rug in the middle of a waxed hardwood floor. Various sofas and cushions were positioned around the room, with a small table within hoof's reach of them all. Decorative bookcases filled the wall to the left of the entrance, with the numerous colorfully bound volumes shut away behind a latched glass door on each shelf.

A large brick fireplace occupied the opposite wall, casting a soft, flickering orange glow to the room. Various knickknacks and pictures topped the mantle: a small porcelain statue of a cat, a sepia photo of a dressed-up filly and her parents standing in the countryside, an ornate hourglass (minus the sand). A long sword with a golden hilt (no doubt having belonged to someone important) hung in two brackets above the fireplace, becoming the centerpiece of the room.

A few more glowing orbs waited patiently in the corners of the room, casting an even, cozy glow to the places where the fireplace's tendrils of light failed to illuminate.

Link noticed almost none of this, as the chattering of one of the six mares already occupying the room rattled against his eardrums.

"-I mean, DUH! Of course peppermints are candy! They have sugar, they're hard, they're colorful, and they taste good and rot your teeth!" Pinkie Pie seemed to be in a heated discussion with an orange mare with a blonde mane pulled into a ponytail, who wore a brown wide-brimmed hat, akin to those some farmers wore. Link noticed that she had a picture of three apples on her flank. Link then spied Epona and a timid-looking light yellow pegasus sitting quietly to the side of the discussion, looking unsure as to what to do.

Obnoxiously loud snoring brought Link's attention to Rainbow Dash, who was sprawled out on one of the sofas, fast asleep. Another unfamiliar mare, who was a bright-white unicorn with a deep violet mane done up in curls, was napping with much more dignity, a quilted blanket wrapped snugly around her as she laid on the other sofa in the room.

"Well, that don't make 'em sweets," the orange mare stated in a strange accent. "Ah mean, they're made specifically to make yerbreath smell good. Tell me, what candy is suppose ta' make yerbreath smell good?"

"Well, Applejack, let's see what Twilight has to say about this!" Pinkie exclaimed as she whipped her head dramatically to face Twilight and Link. "Twilight! Are peppermints candy?"

The blonde mare, who Link presumed was Applejack, turned to facethem as well. "Quite honestly, Ah don't think they really qualify as candy, but whaddaya reckon, Twilight?"

"Um, I, well," Twilight stammered, caught off guard by the question. "It's mostly a matter of opinion, but I guess they are-"

"HA! I TOLD you that they were candy!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, poking a hoof at Applejack.

Applejack raised an eyebrow, before saying, "Uhh, Ah'm not sure that's what she meant, but-" She cut off when she noticed Link standing behind Twilight in the doorway. "Oh, who's yer friend, Twilight?"

"Oh," Twilight stepped into the room, allowing Link to enter as well. "This is Link."

Applejack opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything Twilight cut her off. "No, he's not my boyfriend," she deadpanned.

Applejack smirked. "What Ah was gonna say was, d'ya know why we're all here, at six in the mornin'?"

"I believe I can answer that, Applejack," said a melodic voice that, although being gentle, was firm and authoritative.

All eyes immediately went to a door at the other side of the room (with the exception of those of the two napping mares) where a bright white mare stood, taller and more slender than any pony Link had seen, with a golden regal necklace and a jewel-encrusted tiara, and the longest spiraling horn that Link had ever seen, accompanied by a pair of large feathered wings sitting just above her shoulder blades. A billowing ethereal mane streaked with a shifting rainbow of pastel colors blew about as if by a gentle breeze, even though there was none.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed, scrambling into a bow, the others following suit (once again, with the exception of Rainbow Dash and the purple-maned mare). Link bowed briefly in acknowledgement, and Epona stood awkwardly, unsure what to do.

"Rainbow Dash! Rarity! Wake up!" Twilight hissed.

Celestia, with a sly grin on her face, shook her head, holding her hoof to her mouth indicating to stay quiet, while silently approaching Rainbow Dash. With her muzzle inches from Rainbow Dash's face, the princess noisily cleared her throat, the grin still on her face.

"Whazzat?" Rainbow Dash cracked her eyes. "Bwah! Princess Celestia!" Her eyes shot open and she fell to the ground, legs flailing, eventually settling into a bow.

Rarity bolted upright looking around, still dazed from sleep. "Wha- What's going on? Are you alright Rainbo-ooh my goodness! Princess Celestia!" Rarity scrambled off the couch, mirroring the others.

The princess' melodic laughter filled the air, causing them all to look around in confusion. "I'm terribly sorry, I'm afraid this early in the morning I tend to act a bit silly, and I've needed a bit of stress relief lately." Her face fell into a tired expression as the others in the room rose.

Celestia turned to Link and Epona, who stiffened under her gaze. Link knew powerful beings when he saw them, and Princess Celestia was definitely powerful.

"I'm guessing you are Link, and Epona." Link nodded. "Twilight has told me highly of you two."

"And she of you, Princess," Link replied. "I hear that you raise the sun itself. I must say, that's quite the feat."

Celestia nodded. "I won't lie, it is. However, it must be done." She strode over to the bookcases, and began skimming the titles absently. "You know, I couldn't help but notice that, although you aren't one of my subjects, you still bowed when I made my presence known."

Link nodded. "I've been taught to show respect to royalty, no matterwho or what they rule."

"I thought as much," she turned around to face Link's companion. "Epona, you've not yet said a word. Do you have anything to add?"

The brown mare shrugged. "Frankly, I'm just not as good with words as Link. After all, I've been talking for all of three days, and it's still kinda new to me. But I usually trust his judgment on things."

"Fair enough." Princess Celestia turned towards the door. "If you would all care to join me in the throne room for our important discussion…" She opened the door with a golden glow of magic, gesturing for the group to follow.

After several twists and turns down the marble halls of Canterlot Castle, they found themselves inside the throne room, with stained glass windows depicting iconic events framing the high walls. More floating orbs lit the room, eliminating almost all shadows from the spacious room. Guards in gilded armor stood like statues at every entrance and exit, as well as beside the two thrones at the head of the room.

Another winged unicorn like Celestia sat upon the smaller of the two. She was smaller than Celestia, but still taller than the average pony, and had a midnight-blue coat and a rippling mane that looked like the night sky, dotted with glowing pinpoints of light.

"Greetings, Sister. Are we ready to begin?" the allicorn said as Celestia sat on her throne.

She nodded. "Of course, Luna." Princess Celestia turned to address the eight tired ponies all waiting expectantly. "Approximately four days ago, my sister and I detected a disturbance in the magical plane far more powerful than any spell known to ponykind." She paused to be sure that they all understood, before continuing, "This disturbance coincided with the arrival of Link, the stallion whose presence you've all no doubt noticed."

Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie all nodded (the latter more excessively than the others), while Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack all glanced at Link, obviously wondering who he was and why he was there.

Celestia addressed Link. "Link, would you like to tell us about where you are from?"

He nodded, collecting his thoughts for a brief moment, before saying, "I know this may be hard to believe, but I do not come from Equestria, nor from anywhere on this world. I hail from the land of Hyrule, and with the help of your friend, Twilight Sparkle, I've deduced that Hyrule is, in fact, in a different world entirely."

The curious looks on the faces of the others who hadn't heard the story urged Link on to tell an abridged version of how he ended up in Equestria, and of his adventures saving Hyrule. They all listened intently (Pinkie Pie had produced a bucket of popcorn from somewhere and was shoveling it into her mouth with each sentence), but before long, Celestia called an end to the storytelling. "I'm sure you will have time later to tell them of your adventures, but for the moment, we have more urgent matters at hand."

Princess Celestia nodded to Luna, who stood to speak to the group. "As my sister has said, we sensed a strong magical disturbance four days ago. Within hours, there was a second, slightly weaker disturbance. The next day, there was a third of roughly equal magnitude to the first. We believe that with each disturbance,somepony from another world entered ours."

"And this brings us to the reason of this gathering," Celestia took over. "Approximately fourteen hours ago, a fourth disturbance was detected. However, this was exponentially more powerful than the other three, and was saturated with dark intent." She paused, letting the news sink in, before continuing. "Luna and I then gathered our best pegasus scout troop to investigate the disturbance."

They turned towards the sound of a door opening to see a cloaked unicorn with striking green eyes, a peach-colored coat, and a flowing green and yellow mane enter the throne room. She threw back her hood, bowing to the princesses. "Your Majesties."

"Welcome," Princess Celestia said kindly. "I would like you all to meet one of our best unicorn mages, Emerald Gaze. She has devised a method of remotely linking herself with another pony in order to see what they see in real time. We had her link herself with the captain of the scout troop so we may see what they find. The end result was…strange, to say the least. Emerald Gaze, if you will, please."

The mage nodded and closed her eyes. Her horn radiated a brilliant green for a few moments, before she opened her eyes, which now glowed like the illuminating orbs above their heads.

Celestia strode over to Emerald Gaze, and lowered her horn to the mare's forehead. With a flash, a moving image was being projected from the mare's eyes onto the air itself, making a life-sized, three-dimensional image of a stretch of beach, and glittering ocean with several pegasus guards in royal armor milling about nearby.

They all gasped at the sudden apparition of an entire landscape where there once was a throne room.

"Hey! Can the chatter! You're being watched!" the stallion's voice startled them, and it took Link a second to realize that it was actually the captain whose eyes they were seeing through who had spoken. "Lieutenant Racer! Report for the Princesses!"

A pegasus guard looked up, and quickly trotted directly in the middle of their field of view.

"Status report!" the captain commanded.

"Sir, this thing goes on for at least fifty miles in each direction, and as far as we could tell, it blankets almost half of Northern Zebrica, and most of Saddle Arabia. It has no discernible entrance or exit, and it looks as if it just appeared out of nowhere," Lieutenant Racer responded briskly.

The commander turned to the right, revealing an awe inspiring image. A giant, shimmering, amber dome seemed to have engulfed the land as far as the eye could see.

Link paled instantly. "Get them away from there," he said shakily.

Princess Celestia looked at him curiously. "What is the matter, Link?"

"Get them out of there right now!" His panicked voice was nothing less than unsettling.

"Have you figured out what it's made of?" the captain continued, oblivious to Link's cries of warning.

"Whatever it is, it's impervious to everything we have."

As if on cue, a pegasus guard rocketed into the barrier, striking it with a muffled booming sound and sending out a massive ripple across the entire structure, and stunning them all into silence.

"Link, what is the matter? Thou need not worry. They have been there for most of the day. Why would they be in any danger now?" Princess Luna inquired.

"Because now they've gotten their attention." Link replied ominously.

Twilight gasped. "Link, you don't mean-" She was cut off by a blood curdling scream.

Their view whipped around to see the tail end of the guard who hit the barrier disappear into the dome. There was a flurry of shouts as orders rang out, and the scouts retrieved their weapons, only to be snatched by skeletal, black, clawed arms which shot out of the surface of the dome like arrows from a bow. The scouts were quickly drawn through the barrier, and their terrified cries for help were cut short.

"What in Tartarus is-," the captain started, before he too was caught by a clawed arm and pulled through the once impenetrable barrier as if it weren't even there.

All at once, everything changed around them. The sky turned a sunset-orange with thick black clouds churning within it. Black particles floated upwards from the ground like an otherworldly, inverted snow. A gargantuan black figure towered over them, its starved-looking skeletal frame was lined with pulsating geometric veins of red that snaked all the way from its four clawed appendages to its circular, mask-like face. Black tendrils drifted around behind its head, floating as if in water. It resembled nothing any of the Equestrians had ever seen.

More of these creatures lurked in the background, literally ripping apart the scout troop with viciousness never before seen by all but Link, painting the ground with shiny red blood. Dread filled them as they watched the creature towering above the captain raise its wickedly sharp claws high into the air, before bringing them down with lightning speed.

The image cut out, and Emerald Gaze, who had been petrified until now, was sent tumbling to the side, a spray of blood painting splotches of red on the pristine white floor. Three giant gashes were visible across her torso, all bleeding profusely as she lay unmoving on the tiles.

Everyone stood frozen in shock. A trio of guards rushed to the mage's aid, calling for a medical team and desperately trying to stop the bleeding. After several moments, a group of ponies rushed in with medical supplies, but it was soon evident that they wouldn't be needed.

"No! She's not dead! She can't be!" a unicorn guard whimpered as she kept her hooves on the wound.

"Saph'…I'm sorry, but…she's gone," another guard said softly, his head held low.

"No! Em' can't be dead!" the mare shoved away the stallion with blood-soaked hooves, tears in her bright-blue eyes. Now, Link noticed the striking facial similarity between the guard and Emerald Gaze that made his stomach sink: they were sisters.

Celestia slowly approached the weeping guard, and placed a comforting wing over her. They exchanged words too low for Link to hear, but evidently the guard seemed a little more resolute to Emerald's sudden death.

The group, still not past the shock of the sheer violence, numbly watched as Emerald Gaze was carried off on a stretcher, her eyes locked on the monstrosity that was half-way across the world but had still taken her life. The tearful guardspony was led by the other two guards out of the room, leaving the others in eerie silence.

"I'm…I'm sorry you all had to witness that." Celestia said in a low voice, still visibly shocked herself.

"Oh, come on! Was it really that bad?"

Everyone looked around in confusion at the sound of the child-like voice that seemed to come from nowhere. However, Link was more startled and confused than everyone else.

"I mean, sure, eleven people died and all, but do you even realize how many die on a regular basis?"

The remaining guards in the room drew their weapons.

"Midna, stop it. You're being a bit heartless right now." Link called out, attracting strange looks from everyone else.

"Aww, come on, Link! You know it's true!" The shadow under Link's hooves shifted, and shot out from under him, morphing into the silhouette of a unicorn filly floating in mid-air with a mane that seemed to naturally pull into a ponytail. Her glowing eyes with red irises and the points of two canine teeth poking out from her lip gave her a slightly sinister look. "And besides," Midna continued with a cocky grin, "it's not my fault they were acting like a bunch of idiots."

Chapter 5: Wake-up Call

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Chapter 5

Wake-Up Call

The frigid sea breeze sent shivers down Razorbeak's spine despite the brutal summer sun. His sword swayed slightly in its scabbard, and he shifted uncomfortably in his armor, stretching the stiffness from his wings.

He had been stationed for weeks at the large stone wall that ran along the entirety of the border of the Griffin Kingdoms, and ever since the giant amber dome appeared on the horizon over the Midland Sea a few days ago, the country had been on high alert, doubling its defenses on the southern border in case of any possible threat that the strange apparition posed.

He heard shouting further down the wall and was instantly on alert, and searching for the source of the disturbance. Several other griffin guards were screeching orders, their necks craned upwards and their spears at the ready.

Razorbeak followed the others' gazes and was met with a terrifyingly strange sight; a large, black, geometric portal with a pulsating red ring at its center was suspended in the sky just outside the walls, as if it had appeared out of nowhere.

More griffins shouted out as three large black...things, which were easily two or three times as large as the average griffin, fell from the portal, and landed on the beach below with an audible thud. The figures quickly righted themselves and skittered towards the guards' defensive positions.

The alarm was sounded, loud bells rang out from towers scattered throughout the city, and the guards steeled themselves for an imminent battle.

The black creatures scaled the battlements with agility that belied their size, and they demolished everyone in their way. The griffin guards thrust their razor sharp spears at the monster, who shrugged them off as if they were nothing but a nuisance. It swept the guards aside with unnaturally long arms.

Trumpet-like cries emanated from the portal as huge winged beasts appeared from it, their faces nothing but gaping, circular, glowing red maws lined with rows of razor sharp teeth. They soared through the sky on tattered, bat-like wings, with long tails that ended in large, club-like growths.

The flying demons descended upon the few remaining guards, trapping them under their clawed feet and shredding their bodies with their teeth, leaving nothing but a stomach-churning pulp in their wake.

Razorbeak swallowed his terror and brandished his sword as one of the winged creatures landed in front of him. The bird-like creature trumpeted loudly at him, its wings flared in challenge, and he wasted no time in plunging his sword straight into the monster's gullet.

The monster let out a strangled cry before collapsing, and it writhed on the ground for a few moments before finally laying still, the glow fading from its mouth. Razorbeak's victory was short-lived, however, as a black, clawed hand gripped him from behind. It smashed him onto the floor hard enough that his vision became unfocussed and blurry, before throwing him over the battlements.

The griffin guard managed to flare open his wings just before he hit the ground below, and he glided for several yards before tumbling to the earth in a dazed heap.

The winged black beasts were now blanketing the sky, blotting out the sun, and assaulting the port-city Razorbeak had been defending. The trumpeting cries of the monsters and the abruptly cut-off screams of terror from the doomed citizens of the captured city rang out through the air.

Razorbeak's vision was fading in and out, and his body felt numb.

Slowly, the bells ceased ringing, causing the world around him to settle into a disturbing silence.

Before long, there was a distant, otherworldly cry of despair that sent shivers down his spine, and the sky began to darken, as if the sun were setting. He felt himself become...lighter. The world was now alit with brilliant orange and amber hues, and thick black clouds churned in the sky.

The cobbled street he was lying on rumbled slightly as one of the giant black figures, with its circular mask-like face, lumbered over to the broken guard.

He struggled to rise, but his body barely responded, and he collapsed back to the ground.

The monster stared at him, as if it was scrutinizing his very soul. Razorbeak was not sure if the being had eyes, but if it did, they were boring into his. The intricate patterns on its mask were horribly mesmerizing, hypnotizing him into a helpless state as his body screamed at him to run away, to fight it, anything, but he was frozen. Razorbeak couldn't move a muscle in his body, but whether it was from fear or curiosity or from a broken neck, he wasn't sure. After a moment, the monster turned and lurched down the street away from him, vanishing into the long shadows of the broken town, and Razorbeak never took his eyes off the spot where the monster had been standing with that hypnotic, otherworldly mask.

"Hey! Take that back you...you..." Rainbow Dash started.

Midna responded by lazily floating on her back and yawning loudly. "Look, I don't really have time for this, Stainbow Rash," said Midna, purposefully butchering the mare's name.

"Oh really?" questioned Celestia as she advanced toward the shadow being. "And what, might I ask, do you have time for? Why are you here?"

Midna grew serious for the first time that morning. "Your world is on the verge of destruction," she stated simply. "Creatures born of darkness and destruction like the ones that killed your guards are conquering the lands to the east, sapping them of life, and they won't stop until your world is reduced to a lifeless pile of rubble."

The Princess was horrified. Those ruthless beasts were bound for Equestria? Towards her subjects? They were not prepared for this kind of threat, neither physically nor mentally.

"Of course, this is all old hat for Link and me," Midna continued in her familiar casual attitude, throwing a shadowy arm around Link's neck, to which he rolled his eyes.

"What exactly do y'all mean by that?" Applejack questioned, suspicious of the small, shadow-filly's intentions.

Link sighed. "What she's saying, is that what happened in Hyrule is happening here." Excluding Midna and Link, everyone in the room collectively gasped.

Celestia and Luna looked at each other, engaging in unspoken conversation, before evidently reaching the same conclusion.

"Twilight," Celestia suddenly addressed the purple mare, with an uncharacteristically stern voice. "Did you bring the Elements of Harmony, as I asked?"

Blinking herself out of the initial confusion of the sudden request, Twilight nodded. "Y-yes, they're right here." She withdrew the ornamental case from the saddlebag and levitated it over to the Sun Princess, who opened it with her own magic.

Celestia's face blanched, which was quite the feat, considering her coat was stark-white, and she nearly dropped the case in her shock. She muttered a string of archaic curse words beneath her breath.

"What's wrong, Princess? What happened?" Twilight's worry was evident in her voice. Celestia rotated the case around so that the ponies could see its contents, and they all stared in confusion and shock at what they saw.

The Elements were not gone, as they had feared, but where the shaped gemstones were normally vibrant and colorful, three of them, the Elements of Loyalty, Honesty, and Kindness, were black and lifeless. The Element of Laughter was flickering and pulsing, as if fighting the blackness that was creeping from its edges, before finally giving out, and fading away to the hollow darkness that had infected the other three.

"Infernus..." Luna whispered sadly.

"What's going on? Why are the elements all dead and black?" Rainbow asked, panic creeping into her voice no matter how hard she tried to keep her cool, collected demeanor.

"As you know," Luna began. "The Elements of Harmony contain great magical power. You six are the conduits through which that energy is released." She paused to ensure the ponies' understood what she was saying before moving on. "This power, however, is not generated by the Elements themselves. For each Element, there is a Guardian, a being who supplies the tremendous powers of Harmony to their respective Element."

Luna gestured towards the case housing the Elements. "When the Guardian is cut off from the Elements, the Element they are responsible for 'dies' in a sense, becoming unusable until the Guardian is revived."

It took a few seconds, but the choice of Luna's wording finally clicked in their minds.

"You mean...the Guardians..." Twilight started. "They died, didn't they?"

"Not necessarily," Luna responded. "The Guardians are beings of tremendous power. Most likely, they are being put into a deep sleep, and their respective Elements become dormant along with them."

"So, lemme' get this straight, yer' Highnesses," Applejack interjected. "Unless somepony wakes up the Guardians, we can't use the Elements of Harmony?"

"That is correct, Applejack." Luna affirmed. "That is where you six come in to the equation."

"Luna, is this really-" Celestia started to ask her sister.

"Yes, if there were any other way, I'd pick that alternative without a second thought," Luna curtly cut off Celestia, which shocked the others in the room, including several guards, who shifted nervously. Luna continued, "But we're out of options."

"There is some other way, there must be!" This was the first time in centuries that Celestia had raised her voice like that, let alone at her sister.

Luna furrowed her brows in irritation. "You know quite well that there isn't, Sister."

"What if they are attacked by one of those beasts? What will you think of your decision then?" Celestia questioned, her stance growing aggressive.

Without missing a beat, Luna retorted, "I would know that it was the only alternative to cowering in fear as our country is systemically invaded and destroyed without us taking action when we had the chance."

Princess Celestia was silent. She had known, deep down, that her sister had been right, but she didn't want to accept the fact that they were about to put her personal student, the closest thing she'd had to a daughter, in a potentially life-threatening situation. Even when Celestia had sent Twilight and her friends on their many adventures, there was never as much mortal danger as this. Eventually, she sighed in resignation. "I understand, Luna. I just..."

"You wish the best for your student. Trust me, I know that, and it doesn't make it any easier for me to do this," Luna placed a reassuring hoof on her older sister.

"Erm, with all due respect, your Majesties," said Twilight, who, along with the others in the room, had been awkwardly silent during the argument. "What exactly are you going to ask of us?"

There was a murmur of agreement throughout the gathered ponies, except for Link and Midna, who were simply observing quietly.

"I'm afraid I must ask you all to travel to the domains of each guardian and awaken them, or defend them from whatever foul forces are attempting to subdue them."

"I'm in." Rainbow Dash instantly stepped forward.

"So am Ah," said Applejack as she, too, stepped forward. "If somepony messes with the bull, they'd better be ready ta' get the horns."

"Hold on now, girls, we've never faced anything like this before!" Twilight objected.

"Of course we have!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she somehow appeared upside-down in the center of Twilight's field of vision. She crashed to the ground, before bouncing up as if nothing had happened. "We freed Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon, we imprisoned Discord, reformed Discord, and fended off a changeling invasion! How different could this be?" she said while bouncing in circles around Twilight.

"This is completely different!" Twilight insisted. "We've all seen what those monsters are capable of, and we're not prepared to fight something like that!"

Her eyes drifted to the large crimson stain still all too present on the white tiles, and she involuntarily shuddered.

"That's why I'm coming with you." Her attention was drawn to Link, who had stepped forward to stand beside Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie bounded over to him and tackled him with a giant hug. "Yay! A new friend to go on world-saving adventures with!"

"Can't...breathe..." Link wheezed after several seconds, before Pinkie released him, a sheepish grin on her face. Her antics elicited laughter from everypony else in the room, which she and Link soon joined, lightening the atmosphere considerably, despite the circumstances.

Celestia was the first to speak after the little outburst of mirth. "I'm sure you would all like to embark on this quest, but keep in mind that Twilight is right. These foes are unlike anything you have ever faced before. However, if you decide to go, I will not stop you."

Nopony spoke - Celestia's words weighed heavily on all of them - before Link broke the silence. "Either way, I'm going. I'm the only one here with any semblance of experience with this, so you can't change my mind."

"Link," Celestia started. "You do understand that this doesn't have to be your fight."

"I do, but I'm still going to go." Link's decision couldn't be swayed.

"Hey, if somepony from another dimension is willing to go, then I'm definitely in on this!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, hovering in the air by his side.

"And if you're going," Rarity, who'd been silent until then, started in a regal accent as she stepped forward.

"-then so are we," Twilight finished as she, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie joined her friends (the latter via her characteristic bouncy gait.)

"I'm going too." Midna appeared above Link's head. "After all, it's my plane of existence that whoever's doing this is using to screw over those Guardians."

Epona cleared her throat uncertainly. "Um, I guess I'll come too, then." She trotted up to the crowd of friends.

Celestia smiled a sad, but hopeful smile. "Thank you all. We would go do it ourselves-" she gestured to herself and Luna. "-but we cannot leave Equestria when it needs us most. The citizens must be prepared to defend against this new menace, and they need guidance to do so."

"We understand," Twilight said with a smile.

Luna nodded. "I am glad to hear as much, and I am sure you all must be tired from the events of this morning."

Twilight blinked in surprise. She had forgotten it was still only about eight in the morning. All at once, the fatigue hit her, and she felt dead on her hooves. Judging by the posture of the others, they felt the same way. Even Pinkie, with her seemingly infinite energy reserves, was sedate and yawning.

Luna continued, saying, "Rooms have been prepared for you, and breakfast will be available whenever you awake. Rest well, my little ponies, for you have a long adventure ahead of you."

Fluttershy closed the door of her room and immediately collapsed onto the bed, sobbing and shivering in a cold sweat, and letting loose the shock, fear and trauma she had experienced while witnessing the death of Emerald Gaze. For the first time in a long time, Fluttershy wasn't merely frightened or nervous, but completely and utterly terrified.

"Fluttershy?"

Rainbow Dash's voice didn't even startle Fluttershy. In fact, she welcomed the presence of her friend, the warming comfort of knowing that she wasn't alone.

"Fluttershy, what's wrong?" Rainbow asked tenderly, as she sat on her haunches next to the bed, dipping her head so that she was eye-level with the shattered pegasus.

Fluttershy instantly gripped Rainbow in a tight hug that rivaled Pinkie's in intensity, taking the rainbow-maned flier by surprise. "I-It was...that m-monster...Emerald G...the blood...it was awful..." Fluttershy managed to splutter in between gasps and sobs as tears streamed down her face.

Rainbow Dash's expression softened and she placed her hooves reassuringly around Fluttershy, returning the embrace as much for herself as for Fluttershy.

Although she would never admit it, that event had truly horrified her. It took all of Rainbow's willpower not to break down at that moment like Fluttershy was right now. It took even more to put up the air of confidence she had become so accustomed to exuding, and she couldn't even begin to fathom how Fluttershy was able to keep her composure for all this time.

"It's all right, Flutters. We're safe. Nothing's going to hurt us," Rainbow cooed soothingly. "Everything's going to be fine."

For several minutes, they simply sat in silence, just remedying the trauma with the strength of each other's presence. Fluttershy pulled away from the embrace, a sheepish expression on her tear-stained face. Fluttershy's terror was gone, overshadowed by a much more powerful emotion: hope. Everything was going to be okay. She had amazing friends, who would gladly go to Tartarus and back in order to help her, and each other, and there was nothing in the world that could tear them apart. "Th-thank you Rainbow…" she said softly. "…for always being there for me."

Rainbow Dash smiled. She, too, once more felt as if she was ready to take on any challenges that awaited them. "That's what friends are for." She stood up to leave, but before she walked out the door she gave one more concerned glance at her foalhood friend.

"I'll be fine, Rainbow," Fluttershy answered the unspoken question in Dash's eyes. "See you in a few hours."

Rainbow nodded, still unconvinced. "Alright. But, if you need somepony to be there for you-"

"I'll just ask you...thank you, Rainbow," Fluttershy said drowsily before laying down, asleep seconds after her head hit the pillow.

Rainbow Dash smiled, happy to see her friend back to her normal self, before exiting into the hall, and softly closing the door behind her.

"Will she be okay?"

Rainbow jumped at the sound of Link's voice, and turned to see him standing beside the doorframe with a neutral expression on his face

"Yeah," Rainbow replied, glancing absently at the closed door to Fluttershy's room. "She seemed pretty shook up, though."

Link nodded, thinking for a moment. "She could end up being a liability, are you absolutely sure she'll be able to handle herself if something like this happens again?"

Rainbow glared at Link, taking an aggressive stance. "Hey! Fluttershy might be a bit timid, but she can hold her own if she needs to!" she retorted in a low voice.

"If you say so," Link said, unconvinced. He leaned in close, his expression dark and his voice low and serious. "But remember: you'll encounter beasts that have no remorse, no mercy. They will not hesitate to rip you to shreds simply because you got too close. Death, despair and destruction will become a way of life. You will never be the same again. You have taken on the fate of the world, and once you have, there is no turning back."

And with that, Link abruptly turned away, plodding down the corridor before rounding the corner and disappearing from sight, leaving Rainbow Dash standing in the hallway, with no company but her own thoughts.

Chapter 6: Kickstart

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Chapter 6

Kickstart

Zelda awoke to the very close sound of a bestial roar.

She had found a small freshwater stream the day before, and had followed it until sundown in the hopes of finding a larger tributary, along which a town would almost surely be located. What she found was even better: a dirt road that looked much too established to be a simple game trail. She followed it long into the night, when she arrived at what seemed to be a dilapidated, overgrown fortress or castle of some sort. She didn’t complain, because, for one, she needed any shelter she could get, and secondly, this building confirmed the existence of some sort of civilization in this strange, foreign world she had found herself in.

Now, however, this castle didn’t seem so inviting. Even in the early morning light, the looming pillars and walls of the castle seemed ominous. This wasn’t helped by the rhythmic thump of some very large creature plowing towards her position. A glance outside caused Zelda to widen her eyes in shock, and she ducked back inside the entrance of the castle.

Outside, thundering towards the castle was a blood-red hydra. It seemed fairly young, as it was only a couple meters taller than her, and its head-to body size ratio seemed a bit large. Nevertheless, those six heads were snapping and hissing, tasting the air with their forked tongues as it plodded steadily towards Zelda’s hiding place.

She ducked deeper into the castle, galloping down the twisting corridors, not bothering to remember the way back. There was a mighty roar and a crash, and Zelda knew that the hydra had caught her scent and was now inside the castle. She bounded up a long, slowly spiraling staircase, all too aware of the booming of the hydra’s feet as it squeezed through the corridors in an attempt to reach her.

Zelda reached the top of the staircase and, to her dismay, found herself in an observatory of sorts at the top of a tower. The hydra was surely at the stairs by now, so Zelda slammed the ancient door shut and frantically tried to find a way out.

The hydra thundered up the last of the stairs and crashed through the door, reducing it to little more than large, glorified splinters of wood. The many-headed monster roared triumphantly at the cornered Zelda, and lunged. A cerulean aura surrounded the dozen long shards of wood that made up the remains of the door, and quickly impaled them through the bottom of each of the hydra’s heads. The hydra collapsed to the floor, lifeless, leaving a bewildered Zelda simply staring at the dead beast.

The shards were still glowing, and, for the first time, Zelda noticed the same color of light emanating from her horn. She blinked in surprise, and the magical aura was gone. The splinters fell limp, and a wave of lightheadedness swept over her. She stumbled to the side with an onset of vertigo, and within seconds, she blacked out.

Their first destination was in the Everfree Forest.

When Princess Celestia first informed the group over a lunch/late breakfast at noon, it was received with a general shock from the Ponyville-dwellers.

The Element Bearers, Spike (who had finally awoken and was filled in on everything he missed, sans the death of Emerald Gaze), Link, Epona, and Princess Celestia were seated at a large, circular oak table adorned with bowls of fruits, salads, eggs, toast, and other breakfast and lunch items to feed the group adequately.

“You mean…the Everfree Forest?” Rarity asked, hoping that she had misheard. “The one just outside of Ponyville?”
“The one with the old castle where we found the Elements of Harmony?” Twilight asked, just as bewildered.

“The one filled with animals and plants and lots and lots of trees?” Pinkie added quite redundantly through a mouth full of half-chewed fruit.

“There is only one Everfree Forest in the world,” Celestia stated, putting an end to the unnecessary questions. “You must go there, and find Evrus, Patron of the Forests and Guardian of Generosity, using this.” She levitated a golden, compass-like device onto the table, and they all stared at the strange apparatus with open curiosity.

The compass was about four inches in diameter, and an inch-and-a-half thick. The needle was an elongated diamond-shaped silver plate with a small red gem embedded in one end of the needle and minute runes along its edges. Underneath it was a complex maze of interlocking gears, rings, and screws, all with the same tiny engravings on their surfaces.

“What is it?” Pinkie asked, reaching across the table and poking it with a hoof.

“Oi! Don’t touch me with them filthy hooves o’ yers!” cried out a small, tinny voice, startling the pink party pony into slipping and falling flat on her face on the table top.

While the others looked around with quizzical looks on their faces, trying to identify the source of the disembodied voice, Princess Celestia simply glared at the compass. “Cothigard, you know it’s impolite to insult the cleanliness of others.”

“Ach! All you biologicals are all oily and disgusting,” the voice continued, “If that filth gets on me, it’ll tarnish me mechanisms an’ I’ll be bloody useless! Is that what ye’ want?”

“Uhh, Princess?” Rainbow Dash asked apprehensively. “Where’s that voice coming from?”

“Are ye blind ye rainbow-headed pansie? I’m right here!” The compass needle began whirling violently, before pointing at a wide-eyed Rainbow Dash, who wasn’t sure whether to be angry, offended, confused or surprised. She settled on the latter.

“I do apologize, Rainbow Dash,” Princess Celestia said with badly masked irritation. “Cothigard tends to be a bit grumpy towards everypony for some reason or another.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow in incredulity. “Hold on now,” she interjected, trying to grasp the situation. “Is that compass talkin’?”
“Yer’ darn right I’m talkin’, ye wee little lassie!” the compass stated, the needle turning to face Applejack. “An’ my name, as Cellie has so kindly said twice to all ye deaf ninnies, is Cothigard, an’ ye best start usin’ it.”

“Why’s he such a meanie-weenie-grumpy-pants?” Pinkie asked, her forelegs crossed and a pouty look on her face.

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Let’s just say that you should never tamper with an ancient magical artifact, let alone attempt a mind-reading spell on it.”

“Well, Princess Celery,” the compass started once more. “I’ll have you know that-”

Before they could be subjected to another rant from the “meanie-weenie-grumpy-pants,” Celestia placed Cothigard into a saddlebag which she levitated over to Twilight. The compass’s cries of indignation were, thankfully, muffled by the thick cloth, sparing the group from what was undoubtedly a string of insults about as creative and colorful as the ponies currently gathered in the room.

“As I was saying,” the princess continued. “Cothigard is a magical compass that points towards whatever you ask him to.” She paused, thinking for a moment before amending, “Well, he might, as long as you haven’t made him especially angry. You will use him to lead you to Evrus, who will restore the Element of Generosity.”

Link nodded. “Sounds simple enough,” he said, nodding his head in understanding. “When do we leave?”

The simple question caused a wave of sudden realization to wash over the group. They hadn’t fully realized that they would be leaving so soon until now. They may be gone for months attempting to awaken the Guardians and replenish the Elements of Harmony, and, with those shadow beasts running amok, there was a chance that they might never return.

Celestia saw the apprehension of the others, and her heart sank with guilt. “You may all leave whenever is best for your liking,” she said softly. “But remember,” she continued in a more urgent tone. “Time is of the essence. If the guardians aren’t awakened in time, the world is doomed to fall.”

Link’s gaze swept across the others seated at the table. Many of their faces, namely Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Spike, looked hesitant, unwilling to leave their friends and family back in Ponyville. Twilight, too, looked worried, but most likely for the safety of a certain dragon.

“I understand if they don’t want to leave just yet,” Link began, addressing the Princess. “But I’m willing to leave immediately. We don’t know how fast our foe is mobilizing his army of demons, and it would be better to leave as soon as possible so that we can stay one step ahead of them.”

Everyone was silent, absorbing what Link had just said, before Epona responded, “Well, I’m going with him, no question about it.”
Before anyone could say anything otherwise, the shrieking of sirens echoed through the halls. The floating orbs of magic, which had become nearly invisible in the sunlight, began flashing with angry red light.

Everyone looked to Celestia, frightened and confused looks on their faces. Link and Epona stood alert. The alien sound of the warning siren conveyed a clear enough message to the two: there was danger.

Midna emerged from Link’s shadow, settling just above head-level and assessed the situation at hand. “Princess,” she asked over her shoulder at Celestia. “What’s going on?”

Celestia began to speak, but the doors to the dining hall burst open and what seemed to be a small army of Royal Guards flooded into the room, the new Captain of the Royal Guard leading the way. “Your Highess,” the Captain began in an urgent tone. “Canterlot Castle is under attack.”

The first thing Zelda was aware of when she awoke was the extreme nausea that made her stomach tighten in protest. After groaning in discomfort and rolling onto her side, she noticed the soft sheets beneath her, and the warm glow of a fire through her closed eyelids.

“I see you wake my unicorn friend, I was quite afraid you had met your end.”

Zelda’s eyes shot open at the sound of another voice, and she sat up quickly in her bed.

She seemed to be in a single-roomed hut of sorts. The room was vaguely circular, with seamless wooden walls lined with shelves that held a mind-boggling amount of herbs, flowers, mushrooms, fruits, and bottles filled with unidentifiable liquids. The floor was bare compacted earth, with little tufts of grass here and there around the edge of the room.

Strange, tribal masks adorned what spaces on the walls weren’t occupied by shelves, or the two circular windows that peered out into a black night. A single, wide door occupied the wall farthest from Zelda, and a bubbling cauldron was perched atop a small wood fire in the very center of the floor.

Tending the cauldron was what Zelda recognized from Hyrulean texts of foreign lands as a zebra. This zebra, however, was adorned with golden bands around its hooves, and a series of similar rings decorated its neck. A symbol on its flank vaguely resembled a sun, but looked very stylized and abstract.

“Are you feeling well, young mare?” the zebra spoke in a deep, yet feminine voice. “Or are you still in disrepair?”

“I-” Zelda’s response was little more than a dry croak. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I’m just a bit nauseous, but otherwise I feel fine.”

The zebra nodded sagely. “This is news I am glad to know, for you have fought a most fearsome foe.” The zebra strode over to a pitcher and took it in her mouth, pouring a clear liquid into a wooden cup. “To kill a hydra is no small task, and how you did so, I must ask.”

The zebra brought the cup of water to Zelda, who nodded in thanks. The unicorn was still unsure as to what had actually happened at the old castle, but it was obvious that she had caused it.

“I’m not quite...sure how.” Zelda kept her eyes trained on the zebra. “All I know is that some pieces of wood thrust themselves into the hydra’s head, and my...horn,” she tripped on the word, once more reminded that she was not in her own body. “My horn was glowing, and then I passed out.”

The zebra seemed to raise an eyebrow at hearing Zelda’s recounting of events. “Are you not aware of the magic you hold, which foals can use at two months old?”

Zelda shook her head reluctantly. “I-I’m not from here…”

The zebra looked unconvinced. “If near or far is where you’re from, magic is still used by some. So, tell me unicorn of tan, are you from another land?”

Zelda still did not fully trust the chronically poetic zebra, but it seemed that she had no choice at the moment but to do so. “Yes…I used to live very far away from here…”

The zebra nodded, still looking unsure, but not questioning Zelda’s declaration. “I, too, come from far away. From Zebrica, I came here to stay. My name is Zecora, and this is my home. Surely you have a name of your own.” As Zecora finished, she looked at Zelda expectantly.

Accepting the inevitable, Zelda introduced herself. “My name is Zelda, of Hyrule…”

“We must evacuate you and the Elements of Harmony to a safe location. Princess Luna and the Royal Night Guard are leading the counter-attack on her own orders.”

The stunned looks on the faces of the Element Bearers did not seem to infect Celestia, however, as she simply nodded somberly and said, “Very well, Captain. Let us go.”

Everyone quickly gathered their belongings, before the guards escorted them through the winding halls of the castle at a brisk trot. As they traveled, the sounds of battle grew unnervingly close. The clashing of metal, the battle cries and screams of pain sent a wave of Déjà Vu washing over Link. It was not lost on them, however, that the shouts of ponies mingled with otherworldly shrieks and roars.

Several large tremors, accompanied by the deep rumblings of explosions, caused them to lose their balance as they were running, and they had to make several detours around collapsed bridges and halls. All the while, the warning sirens cried out, and the light orbs continued flashing their warnings to the remaining occupants of the castle.

At last, they reached the throne room. The guards piled behind the entrances, sealing off the room, and the captain led Celestia over to her throne. Without breaking stride, her horn flashed with a brilliant golden light, and the throne slid to the side, revealing a secret passage.

“Come,” the princess told the others who stood gawking at the secret tunnel. “We must retreat before the enemy reaches us.”

Link was standing to the side of the doorway, waiting for the others to file into the passage, when there was a cacophony of crashes as every one of the tall arched windows lining the walls of the throne room shattered. Six giant, black, winged monsters swooped into the room, trumpeting angrily as they engaged in combat with the guards. The Ponyville mares uttered various sounds of shock and horror as the beasts began tearing through the ranks of Equestria’s finest with disconcerting ease.

They wouldn’t stand a chance if Link didn’t do something otherwise.

“Midna,” Link started, but his shadowy companion had already guessed what he was thinking, and held a reddish-orange crystal suspended above her hoof.

“Ready when you are, Link,” she said with a small smirk, the fire of determination visible in her eyes.

Link turned to the wide-eyed mares behind him. “Seal the door,” he said simply. “I’ll meet with you in Ponyville!” Without waiting for an answer, he nodded to Midna, who sent a spark of Twili magic into the crystal.

Instantly, Link’s body became enveloped in the black tendrils of magic, which warped and pulsed as if it had a mind of its own. Link’s body began to shift and morph, before becoming smaller, with paws replacing hooves and sharp teeth replacing flat. The dark magic that had surrounded Link for mere seconds faded away and in his place was a black-furred, blue-eyed wolf, with a small, black and grey filly with a fiery orange ponytail perched atop his back.

Without hesitation, Link and Midna leapt into battle and the throne slid back into place, becoming part of the wall once more with a flash of gold. Now, the only way out of the warzone for the two non-Equestrians was through six angry Twilit Kargarocs, and an army of otherworldly monsters.

The invaders were going to need a bigger army.

Chapter 7: Escape

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Chapter 7

Escape

“Link, No!” Twilight exclaimed as she started towards the now sealed doorway. She turned to Celestia. “We have to help him! There’s no way he’ll-”

“No,” the princess interrupted firmly, stopping Twilight in her tracks. The kind, matronly expression that Celestia seemed to embody was gone, replaced by the grim visage of control. “We have to get you and your friends to safety,” she explained curtly as she began to descend the spiraling staircase, lighting the way with her horn.

Twilight’s ears drooped, and she looked back towards the doorway with worry.
Spike looked crestfallen as he rode on Twilight’s back. “But…” he started, but the words died in his throat.

Applejack nudged the distressed unicorn in the side, staving off the impending worst-case scenarios that were invading the purple duo’s thoughts. “Don’t y’all go worryin’ now, sugarcube," the orange farmpony assured. "Ah’m sure Link’s more capable o’ whoopin’ those monsters’ flanks than... than all o’ them royal guard ponies combined.” She smiled encouragingly, but it was a strained smile.

Epona nodded in agreement. "Applejack's right. Link will be fine. He did do this kind of thing before anyone else in this entire world, you know."

"Princess," called one of the three royal guards from further down the staircase. "We need to move, now."

Twilight reluctantly followed the others single-file down the narrow staircase, the bright glow of Celestia's horn contrasting sharply with the oppressive darkness that surrounded them.

Another tremor shook dust and pebbles from the ceiling. One pebble bounced down the stairs, each resounding clack growing ever fainter, before it faded away entirely.

"How far down do these stairs go?" asked Rainbow Dash some time later, her sudden comment startlingly loud after the long silence.

"This staircase leads to the base of the castle, where it then cuts through to the other side of Canterlot Mountain," Celestia explained. "We should reach the tunnel soon enough."

Eventually, the ground leveled off and the walls widened into a long, arched tunnel, allowing the group to travel a bit more comfortably. The pebble lay at the base of the steps.

"Whoa, creepy,” Spike commented, peering into the depths of the tunnel. The blackness that had made its home in the passage was thick and oppressive, as if it were actively fighting against the light of Celestia's horn.

The group continued on, their hoofsteps on the stone echoing down the otherwise silent corridor. Every noise Twilight made seemed to stand out sharply, as if she were desecrating the eldritch silence that had been present in the tunnel since its construction. She hardly even dared to breathe the stale, musty air.

How could this have happened? she pondered as they walked. They had to have crossed an ocean to get to Equestria, and travel a few hundred miles inland to reach Canterlot. How did an invasion force get here unnoticed? Twilight realized that she had no clue how big the attacking army was. Was it a small strike team of those flying monsters? Perhaps it was an entire legion of those horrid black beasts a hundred-thousand strong. She shuddered at the mere concept of such a fate befalling Canterlot.

Mom and Dad are probably terrified… I hope they’re okay. What if- Twilight stopped herself before she could finish the thought, and decided to take stock of their situation.

Princess Celestia led the group, lighting the way with her horn and walking with a stiff, urgent gait that betrayed no emotion. Two pegasus guards flanked her on either side, stoically attentive as ever. Behind them, Applejack and Epona traveled side-by-side whispering in hushed tones and glancing suspiciously at the darkness beyond their bubble of light.

Twilight felt Spike absently shift on her back, and she turned her head to check on him. “How’re you holding up, Spike? You’ve been pretty quiet.”

The young dragon sighed. “I dunno…” His voice was low, in both volume and tone. “This is all just so unexpected…”

Twilight exhaled slowly. “Tell me about it.”

“Then again…” Spike was sounding a tad more upbeat. “The last invasion didn’t stand a chance against all of us! Who’s to say this one will be any different?”

There were a thousand reasons why this invasion was very different. The words were on the tip of Twilight’s tongue, but she restrained herself. They didn’t need such pessimistic thoughts at a time such as this.

Glancing past Spike towards the rear of the group, Twilight could see Rainbow Dash drape a comforting wing over Fluttershy and speak encouragingly to her. Fluttershy, the poor thing, was barely holding herself together, and she seemed to jump at every hoofstep. Either that or she was shaking uncontrollably from fear, which was just as likely. Rarity and Pinkie Pie also seemed to be doing their best to keep the pegasus’s spirits up, but it seemed to be for their sakes as much as it was for Fluttershy’s sake.

The last guard trailed behind them all, periodically checking behind them to make sure nothing was following them.

"Wait," one of the guards ahead commanded several minutes later, causing Twilight to jump at the sudden noise. They all stopped in their tracks.

"What-" Twilight stopped when the guard motioned for them to keep silent.

"I heard something, listen..."

She listened intently, her ears twitching and turning to try to find the sound the guard has heard.

Then, she heard it. It was a very faint crackling sound, like that of a small electric discharge.

The guards drew their swords, clutching the hilts in their mouths, and scanned the tunnel intently.

"What is that strange noise?" Rarity asked, tilting her head in inquisition.

“Ooh! I know! I know! It sounds like one of Twilight’s sciencey thingamabobbers when you pour orange marmalade on it... except less explosioney,” Pinkie Pie added helpfully.

Fluttershy’s eyes drifted upwards and her eyes grew wide as she saw a brief spark of red jump across the ceiling. "Um-" Her voice seemed shaky and weak. "W-what is...that?"

Slowly, they all looked up. Celestia's horn shone brighter to reveal the roof of the tunnel, and what they saw was horrifying.

The ceiling was alive, churning with small, black, tentacle-covered things.

One of them leapt from the ceiling, and landed on one of Celestia’s guards, clinging tightly to his face. Red arcs of electricity raced across his body, and he crumpled to the ground, convulsing in agony. Twilight pried the creature off with her magic, and hurled it to the side. It struck the wall with a resounding CRACK, and exploded into bits of black dust, which soon faded out of existence.

The guard didn’t get up.

As if on cue, the hundreds of creatures blanketing the ceiling surged down the walls towards them, red bolts of electricity racing through their ranks.

There was a brilliant flash of golden light, and a wall of solar magic blew back the creatures, creating a clear path forward. Celestia followed the blast with a wide beam of intensely hot magic. The ranks of shadow monsters thinned considerably, but there were still far too many for them to hope to fight alone.

There was only one option for them now.

“Run!”

Link buried his fangs into the neck of a Twilit Kargaroc, clamping his jaws tight around its throat as it shrieked in alarm and pain. With a sharp tug, he liberated the monster's trachea from its body, and the Kargaroc fell to the floor writhing and gurgling.

Link abandoned the body quickly, and the immaterial black shrapnel of the Kargaroc's self-detonation whipped by him as he bounded toward his next target. A few pegasus guards were currently locked an aerial combat with two of the remaining four inter-dimensional beasts. The other Kargarocs were harassing several unicorns, who struggled to land their bolts of magic on the surprisingly agile monsters. Link crouched low, before launching himself off the ground.

The wolf latched onto the wing of his foe, catching it unaware, and the added weight sent them both tumbling to the ground. A flailing talon raked across Link's haunch, and Link backed out of the monster's reach, wincing at the stinging pain of the shallow, but sizeable wound. The Kargaroc righted itself and trumpeted angrily at the creature that had dared to attack it. It lunged, the action augmented by a flap of its powerful wings. Link sidestepped before tackling the off balance creature to the ground.

A well-placed bite and a tug later and there were three attackers left. A metallic shriek of pain marked a hit from the unicorn guards, and soon after, another monster left the land of the living. The pegasi were showing similar success, but at the cost of several troops, who fell to the ground with crushed bones, missing limbs and massive lacerations where the talons, teeth, and club-like tails had exacted lethal force. With the unicorn guards free to assist, however, the remaining attackers were overwhelmed, and systematically defeated.

A few spears were pointed Link's way after the guards had dealt with the airborne threat, but those who had seen Link's transformation and aid quickly dispelled any misconceptions.

"Whoa, there, Lightning Shield," said a guard to a pegasus who was brandishing a spear at Link and Midna. "They’re on our side. Took out three of the bastards on their own..."

The castle guard, thankfully, was very disciplined, and Lightning Shield quickly withdrew his weapon. "My apologies, you two."

"We need to get to Ponyville," Midna said to the guards, forgoing any formalities. "What's the quickest way to get there?"

"There's a train that runs from here to Ponyville," stated another guard. "Maybe you could use that?"

Midna and Link nodded. Whatever this “train” was, it was bound to be a form of transportation. "Show us the way."

Half-a-dozen guards agreed to lead the two foreigners to the train station, Lightning Shield being one of them, and they cautiously filed out of the throne room's massive doors.

The halls outside the throne room seemed untouched by the siege at first, but gradually, signs of combat appeared in the form of blood splatters, fallen weapons, and finally, the corpses of Royal Guards.

"Celestia help us...,” murmured one of the guards at the sight of the charred bodies of several of his comrades scattered across the floor in one particular hallway. A four-foot crater was present in the center of the floor, charred black from intense heat.

A guard examined the hole with a disturbed fascination. "What in the world could have caused this?"

"Let's not stick around to find out." Midna urged Link forward with a slight kick to his sides, and his indignant glare went unnoticed.

Taking care to step around the bodies, the procession of guards led Link and Midna further through the castle, occasionally happening upon further signs of battle, but not encountering any resistance.

"Looks like the Night Guard are doing their job...,” commented Lightning Shield when he glanced out of a window. Following his gaze, Link was surprised to see the imposing black forms of Twilit Kargarocs vanishing left and right as the familiar bat-winged pegasi expertly swooped and slashed, working in perfect coordination to defend the castle. He had to agree: the Night Guard was doing its job.

Lightning noticed Link's look of admiration towards the Night Guards and chuckled. "They're something' else, aren't they?" He moved away from the window. "Come on, just a little further to go and we'll be out of the-"

"LOOK OUT!"

Lightning was cut off as a sharp BOOM shook the ground, and several guards cried out in shock and pain.

Another crater had made its home in the floor, and their group was down by three
guards.

"More enemies incoming!"

Through a door at the end of the hall burst three creatures that Link had never seen before. They vaguely resembled wild boars, with their short legs and tusked snouts, but they had manes of writhing black tendrils, and red geometric lines etched their way across their leathery, black, hairless skin. A bleached, skull-like mask adorned each of their faces, with two beady, soulless red eyes glaring piercingly through their sockets.

The three boar-creatures charged at them at an alarming speed, snorting and screeching in grating metallic voices.

A unicorn guard took the initiative to fire a beam of magic at one of the charging beasts, and its right foreleg ceased its movement. The unfortunate beast tumbled to the ground, its stride broken, and after a brief flash of red electricity coursed across its prone form, it violently exploded.

The concussive force sent the other two crashing into the walls, and they, too detonated, leaving gaping holes in the floor and walls, which creaked and groaned disconcertingly.

A Night guard burst through the doors, her golden eyes darting around the room searching for her missing quarry until her gaze rested on Link. In the brief second of eye contact, Link recognized the mare as the same guard that collected him and Twilight from Ponyville.

In a flash, she bit down on the hilt of a small throwing knife on her armor and flung it with deadly accuracy at the wolf.

Link snapped himself out of his thoughts and threw himself to the side, the blade missing by the width of a hair, before Lightning Shield stepped in between them. "Stop! He's on our side!"

The night guard eyed the wolf suspiciously before sheathing a short, curved blade that Link hadn't even seen her draw. They really are something else.

"Damn, sorry about that," she apologized quickly. "I'm Shadow Sprinter,” the Night Guard said to Link with a quick nod. “Where're you Goldies headed? Is the Princess safe?"

"She had just gone through when we were attacked," Lightning explained, readjusting his spear in his grip. "She had to seal off the entrance and we got left behind."

The Night Guard grunted before motioning towards their non-pony company. "So what's with them?"

"We were with Celestia when the attack started," Midna explained. "Long story short, we saw our guard friends here getting their asses handed to them, so we stepped in to help, got left behind in the process as well."

Although it made many of the guards glare at Midna, the Night Guard seemed impressed by this, even if she made no verbalizations to prove so. Instead, she simply nodded and addressed Lightning Shield once more. "Are you heading to the rendezvous point?"

The guard shook his head. "No, the train station at the east end if the city."

The Night Guard gave a dry laugh at that. "Really, Lightning? That's clear on the other side of the city, and you've got only three… four others to watch your back?" She poked a hoof playfully at Lightning's chest plate. "I'm going with you, and you can't stop me." She turned and started towards the door she had entered through, giving a glance back at an exasperated Lightning Shield. "What? You mad that your little sis’ is helping your sorry flank?" With that, she drew her sword and pushed open the door, checking the world beyond before waving the others to follow.

"Siblings," one of the guards sighed sympathetically.

"Tell me about it," Lightning responded with an eye roll, before following his dark-haired sister out into the warzone that was Canterlot Proper.

Twilight would never be able to go through a dark tunnel ever again after this. Her legs burned and her chest ached from the prolonged gallop. She could hear her friends around her, panting, galloping, and flying as fast as they could, but she kept her head down and concentrated on outrunning the swarm of Twilit Vermin that had already claimed a clumsy guard pony who had taken a tumble during their flight.

An intense blast of heat came from before her as Princess Celestia sent another wave of fiery magic crashing into the swarm. Dozens of little echoing Piff's marked the destruction of the monsters, but for every one they killed, countless more seemed to take its place in the relentless chase through the tunnel.

“Whee! Can’t catch me little squiggle monsters!” giggled Pinkie Pie as she ran tantalizingly close to the horde of bloodthirsty Vermin. One attempted to leap out at the pink pony, but she simply bounced ahead and out of reach, before blowing a raspberry behind her.

“Pinkie! Cut that out! It’s dangerous!” Twilight called back to the veritable fountain of cheer.

“Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie stuck her tongue out one last time at the Twilit Vermin before sprinting to catch up with everyone else.

“We need to be careful, and make sure we don’t tri-” Twilight was cut off when her forehoof clipped her other and she was sent careening to the ground. Spike cried out in surprise, gripping onto Twilight’s mane for dear life. Time seemed to stop for a moment, and the icy chill of terror swept through Twilight’s body.

"Twilight!" cried her friends in alarm as they stopped to try and help her, but Twilight waved them on.

“Just keep running!” she shouted at her friends as she scrambled back to her hooves. Just before the swarm was upon her, she enveloped herself in a bubble of magic, and winked out of existence. A split second later, she was back ahead, galloping full speed with her friends once more.

"Princess," panted Twilight. Her legs felt like jelly, and she knew they wouldn't keep their pace up forever. "How long?"

"Almost...there..." Celestia replied, firing off another spell over her shoulder.

Sure enough, the tunnel began to get gradually lighter before a thin ring of bright sunlight could be seen in the distance.

A thin ring.

"The exit is BLOCKED!?" cried Rainbow Dash in horror.

"Hold on, my little ponies!" Celestia called out, before gathering magic in her horn. In a brilliant explosion of golden light, the seven mares, baby dragon, royal guard, and the alicorn simultaneously teleported past the boulder obscuring the exit, and into the outside world.

They came crashing down to the dirt in an undignified heap, exhausted, trembling with adrenaline, but alive. The dust settled, and after letting the crisp mountain air soothe her aching lungs, Twilight gave a sharp chuckle. She was alive, and for some reason that felt like the most amazing thing in the world. The group simply lay there, catching their breath, until they felt it necessary to untangle their bodies lest their dignity be damaged permanently.

After her eyes adjusted to the harsh sunlight, Twilight found that they were situated on a rocky ledge, wide enough for trees and shrubbery to grow, but small enough that the sheer drop was still well within reach. Twilight saw Fluttershy take several steps away from the cliff, and decided to copy her friend; such a fall would not be a pleasant one.

“With all due respect, your majesty,” the guard grunted exhaustedly, shaking his head. “I never...want to do that aga-” A jet-black aura cut him off by clamping around his neck and yanking him into the air. The terrified stallion pawed at his throat, mouth struggling to take in air, before his head was wrenched to an unnatural angle with an audible, bone-crunching noise. The lifeless body was catapulted off the edge of the cliff and into the abyss below.

Twilight reeled back with a cry of shock, her eyes whipping about the area. Her gaze was drawn to the lone path down the mountain when an icy, baritone voice reached her ears.

“I must congratulate you on your timely escape, your majesty.” The dull thump of heavy steps reached their ears, followed by another, and another.
A tall, armored figure stepped into view. It towered above them on its hind legs, with metal and black leather armor covering its body. Its hairless skin was a dark olive color, and its fiery red and orange hair was pulled back tightly against its skull. A beak-like nose protruded from its face, and its crimson eyes seemed to hide an unimaginable power. An empty scabbard, ornately decorated, rested against its hip, but the intense magical power Twilight felt radiating from the scabbard could not be ignored.

Twilight heard Epona gasp at the sight. Twilight's brain quickly put Epona's reaction and Link's story together, and she did not like the results. She felt as if she had plunged into the Arctic Ocean.

"However," Gannondorf continued stopping several yards from a bristling Celestia. "I cannot let you continue." He raised his right hand and pointed it directly at Celestia, his fingers spread wide, and a ball of crackling black energy grew on his palm.

"You underestimate my strength, creature," Celestia growled as she spread her wings aggressively. Her billowing ethereal mane grew more erratic in its movement, and began to resemble an active flame rather than a pastel rainbow. "Now leave us be, or I will not hesitate to send you to the depths of Tartarus myself."

Twilight backed away further, her eyes flicking back and forth between her mentor and the demon before them. She had never once seen Celestia openly threaten anypony, nor had she seen the alicorn exude such raw, unbridled anger.

The sphere of dark magic was now convulsing and shifting erratically, barely contained within Gannondorf’s control. His vicious smile grew only wider at hearing Celestia's threat. "I have no intention of letting you do so," he responded, before shifting its aim and blasting the magical projectile straight towards a wide-eyed Twilight Sparkle.

The dark magic seemed to shudder in anticipation as it came screaming towards the unicorn. She slammed her eyes shut, only vaguely aware of her own shriek of terror. There was an ear-splitting CRACK of the projectile's impact, and a cry of pain that wasn't her own, followed by the dull thump of a body hitting the ground.
Twilight tentatively opened her eyes to see Celestia's unmoving body on the ground before her. The previously flame-like mane was now dull and pink, rather than its ordinary rainbow. Twilight and her friends gaped at the sight in shock, but the biped simply returned his predatory smirk. Fluttershy's frightened sobs were the only sounds breaking the stunned silence.

"Are you ready to send me to Tartarus yet, princess?" he mocked.

“WHY YOU-” A rainbow blur rocketed over Twilight, but was thrown back by a weak golden flickering of magic, and Rainbow Dash landed unceremoniously on her back next to her friends.

Celestia stirred, and planted a hoof firmly on the ground, her mane flickering back to life. Gannondorf's self-satisfied grin fell, replaced by an irritated scowl. Shakily, the alicorn attempted to rise, and Twilight rushed to her teacher's aid. "Go," the princess whispered to the unicorn. "Take your friends and go. Let me handle this fiend."

"But princess, I could-" Twilight started, but Celestia cut her off with a pleading gaze. For the first time ever, Twilight saw fear in her mentor's eyes.

"I am growing tired of your stalling, horse!" growled their adversary, and he began to advance towards them. "Surrender to me and I might spare your lives." His right hand closed over the empty air above his scabbard, and with a flash of light, a startlingly white sword of energy was drawn from its sheathe. His hand crackled with energy, and a golden triangle burned brightly upon its surface. He grimaced and faltered slightly as a dull red glow flickered in his chest, but it faded as he continued towards them. “What will it be?”

"THOU SHALT NOT HARM MINE SISTER, FOUL BEAST!" boomed the distant voice of an angered goddess, and the place where the biped was standing became engulfed in a blinding beam of bright blue light. The resulting sound was so explosively loud that it sent clouds of dust and dirt billowing off every surface. The blast of magic ceased after a long while, leaving a charred crater and the strong smell of ozone in its wake, and Princess Luna, clad in black-plated armor, swooped down to land beside her solar sister. "Tia, by the heavens, art thou hurt?"

Celestia shook her head. "I will be fine, dear sister,” she croaked. “Thank you."

A bestial, rage-filled roar cut off any further dialogue as a smoking, leather-clad hand, clutching a glowing white sword, rose from the crater and planted itself upon the blackened soil. Gannondorf lifted himself out of the crater, eyes burning with rage, and with a mighty swing of his sword, he sent a radiant arc of magic rocketing towards the group.

Twilight could only remember the brief glow of Luna's horn before the world went dark.

The once majestic city of Canterlot, the shining gem of Equestrian might and prosperity, was coming apart at its seams.

Citizens of the city, both nobles and commoners alike, were rushing through the streets, ushered towards an evacuation point by the Royal Guards. A coordinated effort from the pegasus guards managed to repel the aerial attacks of the plethora of Twilit Kargarocs, which swooped and blared, frustrated, as their efforts were foiled. The spears and swords of the guards, as well as the magical blasts from unicorn guards, court mages and citizenry alike, kept the invading force at bay, but the numbers were quickly overwhelming them.

Link, Midna and their impromptu escort were in the middle of the throng of citizens, heading towards the train station, when there was a chorus of shouts from a nearby street. Bodies were thrown aside like ragdolls as the huge, shambling beast erupted from the boulevard. It swept the gaze of its shield-like mask across the crowd before settling it upon Midna and Link.

Lightning Shield blanched at the sight of the creature he had seen only hours ago in the throne room. It was a creature that was very recently another continent altogether. “Oh buck.”

The guards began backing away as the beast lumbered towards them, but Link crouched low to the ground, growling menacingly. “Link, what are you doing? We don’t need to fight,” hissed Midna in his ear, but Link ignored her, keeping his eyes on the Shadow Beast as it began circling them. Midna grunted in irritation. “Let me guess, you want to protect these ponies?”

Link broke his death-glare to nod at Midna, but the moment he did so, the Shadow Beast charged at him with a speed that belied its size. Link leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding the upward swipe of the creature’s claws. When Link pivoted and leapt towards the beast, a backhanded swipe knocked him out of the air.

Dazed, but alive, the wolf sprang up, and backed away from the Shadow Beast. “They’ve gotten smarter,” Midna noticed, mirroring Link’s own observations. The two combatants circled each other at a safe distance, watching the other’s movements.

“Hey! Ugly!”

The Shadow Beast turned just in time for a large chunk of stone, lobbed by a unicorn guard, to slam into its face. A massive spider web fracture appeared in the mask’s surface, and the beast let out a loud, echoing shriek that brought everyone to their knees. Link’s ears flattened against his skull to drown out the horrid sound, as did the other guards’, but the enraged Shadow Beast raised its claw to deal a finishing blow to the unicorn mare.

Midna nearly toppled off Link as he bolted towards the monster, whose back was exposed to them. Swiftly, silently, Link leapt up to the beast’s back and dug his claws in. Ferociously, Link ripped and tore at the beast’s back, sending hot jets of vaporous blood shooting out of the gaping wounds. The Shadow Beast thrashed and shrieked in agony, but Link held on tightly, until at last, the monster collapsed to the ground, the geometric red designs on its skin dimming and going dark. With a hot blast of air, the beast exploded in a cloud of tiny black particles that drifted skyward, before vanishing altogether.

Panting heavily, Link cast a tired glance to Midna, who nodded and withdrew the amber crystal. With another spark of magic, Link’s form was once more engulfed in darkness, and when the Twilit energy dissipated, the green-clothed pony stood where the wolf once did. Link trotted over to the unicorn guard, who was staring at him with wide eyes. “Are you alright, Ma’am?” he asked.

The guard blinked her bright blue eyes and stammered, “Y-yes… Thank you.” Her armor, Link noticed, was not gold like that of the other guards. It was silver, and centered upon her chest plate was a stylized, symmetrical cross. A satchel was strapped across her back, with the same symbol upon the clasps. Link looked back to the mare’s face. She looks strangely familiar…

“Hey, Private Sapphire!” Lightning Shield called as he galloped over.

The unicorn jumped in surprise and saluted. “Lieutenant Lightning, sir!”

“What in Tartarus were you thinking, attacking the monster like that?” Lightning’s face was scrunched up in irritation. “You are in the Medical Corps. You should know better than to charge in on your own! You don’t have the training!”

“That bastard killed my sister! What was I supposed to do?” the unicorn shouted back, tears in her eyes, and immediately looked guilty for doing so.

Suddenly, it clicked in Link’s mind; this was Emerald’s sister.

“Sapphire, I know,” replied Lightning softly. “But we can’t let our emotions cloud our judgment. Do you think Emerald would have wanted you to die because you acted without thinking?”

Sapphire shook her head, not saying a word.

“Where’s the rest of your squad, Private?” asked Shadow Sprint from behind Link.

Sapphire sighed. “Don’t know… We… we got separated when… the big monster attacked.”

“Come with us,” Link suggested. “I’m headed to Ponyville to meet up with Princess Celestia. We’re going to try and stop this – all of this - and I think we could use your help.”

Link could see a flickering of determination in the peach-coated unicorn’s eyes. “Anything to get back at those things.”

“Alright,” Lightning said, getting everyone’s attention. “We need to move out before we run into more trouble. The train station’s not too far from here.”

Link nodded. “Lead the way.”

Zelda stood in the woods, concentrating on keeping the small stones free from gravity's pull in her magical cerulean grip. It was a strange sensation, using magic. It was as if Zelda had multiple, ethereal arms; she simply wanted it to happen, so it did, much like moving an arm or leg. The magic usage, however simple Zecora had made it sound, was physically taxing. Sweat dripped down Zelda's muzzle. Her breaths became heavier by the moment.

The lights around the stones flickered, and her grip faltered.

"Do not push your magic's power, or you will faint for many an hour," warned the cryptic zebra beside her. "Lower the stones, for you've done well. Your magic is strong, as I can tell."

Zelda nodded, and let the stones drift towards the ground, before the magical grip winked out. She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, trying to slow her exertion-driven heart. "That was exhausting..." she sighed, accepting the gourd full of water offered to her by Zecora. She sat and gulped down half of its contents before removing it from her lips. "And you say this is the most basic of magic?"

"Indeed it is." Zecora nodded sagely. "But, do not fret. Your magic is young as of yet. Your strength will grow as muscles do, with practice, faith, and patience, too."

"If you say so..." A gust of wind rustled the hair on Zelda's body. It was an alien sensation, to be sure, but not an unpleasant one. She closed her eyes and let the wind ease her tired body.

Zecora chuckled from beside her. "The winds are soothing, are they not? Especially on a day so hot."

"Zecora," Zelda started. "Why do you live out here on your own? You said there was a town nearby, why not there?”

“The answer is simpler than it may appear,” Zecora took a deep breath, inhaling the earthy scent of the forest. “I simply like the atmosphere.”

The princess smiled at the direct, lighthearted answer from the usually cryptic zebra. “I can see why. This forest is beautiful. It’s so full of life and color that it’s hard to imagine that the monsters you described live out here as well.”

The zebra’s expression soured, before she rose to her hooves. “We’ve been out for much too long. Let us go,” she started in the direction of her home, but stopped and looked back at Zelda expectantly. “Come along.”

Zelda lifted herself up, idly impressed at Zecora’s innate rhyming ability. As they walked, her thoughts drifted back to how difficult it was to carry only a few small stones in her magic, when she had just previously used her newfound telekinetic powers to impale a hydra’s heads with some brittle wooden planks. Now, she felt like her magic was an arm that had lost its feeling from being slept on wrong, and could only fumble around drunkenly at her instruction. Then again, she thought. It is magic, after all... Who knows what kinds of rules it follows.

“You are a most determined one... Release the stones. Practice is done.”

Zecora’s chuckling snapped Zelda from her thoughts. Instantly she noticed the idle glow of her horn, and the weight of the stones floating behind her. She sighed. This is going to be frustrating...

Legend of Zelda : Twilight Sparkle

by The_Artificial_Alicorn

Prologue

Chapter 1: Siege

Chapter 2: Stranded

Chapter 3: Friends

Chapter 4: Harsh Introductions

Chapter 5: Wake-up Call

Chapter 6: Kickstart

Chapter 7: Escape