Link winds up in Equestria due to a spell cast by Twilight
Link finished his quest, after that he just wants to relax. Twilight casts a spell to (hopefully) learn about another dimension's world. Somehow, Link winds up caught in it, forced into his beast form.
(Takes place at the end of season three) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Twilight Princess is owned by Nintendo and MLP is property of Hasbro.
The town of Ponyville was quite peaceful, it was a beautiful day outside. Most of the ponies that lived here were out and about enjoying the sunshine.
In the library however, six mares were seated in a semi-circle with a purple alicorn at the center. Behind the alicorn was a circle drawn in chalk on the floor with intricate designs between the inner and outer edge.
"Ah jus' don' think this is a good idea Twi, ya don' even know what will come through" an orange mare with an accented voice argued to the named alicorn.
"I keep telling you, it would be beneficial to study of other races of creatures" Twilight argued back at Applejack, "I'm going to do this"
Seeing that she wouldn't be able to dissuade her, Applejack quieted down. Twilight turned around to check her handiwork for any errors that she may have made, seeing none she got to work casting the spell.
As she was charging her horn, the circle pulsed in time with it, glowing brighter by the second.
Deep within the Faron Woods, was a grove. It was lush and green with ruins that surrounded it. In the middle of this place a sword placed in a pedestal was resting.
On the far side of the clearing, you could make out a tall figure in a green tunic scaling the steps to leave the place. His adventure was over and it was time to head on home "Maybe I'll finally be able to get some much needed rest"
Link was on his way home after finishing up business in the woods. There was a slight breeze blowing through the leaves, the forest was green and full of life.
As he was walking he reflected on what had happened during his adventure. He was walking across a clearing, making good progress through the forest when he felt a strange tugging sensation on his back.
He quickly spun around to try and see what it was. Link looked around the clearing for any sign of danger, and found none.
Shrugging, he was going to continue on his way, when he felt the tugging sensation again. He stood absolutely still, searching for whatever is tugging on him.
"Is it supposed to do that sugarcube?" Applejack asked Twilight with concern in her voice.
"If you mean use so much energy, no it shouldn't" Twilight responded through gritted teeth, "I think I can... get it to work" With visible strain and an extremely bright flash, all went silent.
Link was still searching around for any disturbances. Other than the wind picking up a bit, nothing was out of the ordinary.
Cautiously making his way across the clearing, the wind picked up some more. This normally wouldn't be cause for any concern, but considering some of the things he's had to fight, it couldn't hurt to be cautious.
He held his shield forward, tensed for a fight. He slowly made it a few more steps across the field.
As he took another step, a pattern appeared beneath his feet. It had intricate swirling lines arranged in a circle and was glowing quite brightly. Before he could do anything though, a bright flash occurred.
The next thing he knew, he was falling. It was a swirling miasma of colors that greeted his eyes, and he was tumbling through it.
He got a feeling, and he widened his eyes due to its familiarity. It was the feeling he got when he was assuming his beast form, quite tingly, then numbness.
Link landed harshly on his four paws and grunted a bit. The first thing he saw was a wooden floor beneath his feet, next was enough books to put most libraries to shame, and last was six brightly colored horses looking at him with wide, slightly fearful eyes.
The mane six all jumped when the beast in the circle turned its gaze to them. It was a wolf, about the size of a pony with blue eyes, an earring in the right ear, strange lines of white fur and a metal cuff with chain on its left foreleg. To say it looked intimidating was an understatement.
It swiveled its head to look around, seemingly dismissing them. This seemed to offend Applejack and Rainbow Dash the most out of the six. Rarity and Twilight were still looking at it with wide eyes, Pinkie Pie was practically vibrating where she stood, while Fluttershy had her eyes locked on the wolf, studying it.
Link was looking around the library for possible escape routes. He had seen a second floor that he could probably jump to.
The most prominent features of the horses were the large eyes, and the fact some had wings, a horn, or both. It confused him, but an escape was more important. Two of them were plain horses, one was orange with a blond mane while the other was eye-searingly pink. Two of them had wings, one with a blue body and a rainbow colored mane. She was looking at Link suspiciously while hovering in the air.
The yellow winged horse was looking at Link with a scrutinizing gaze, one that was making him feel a bit uncomfortable in its intensity.
The blinding pink one had a massive smile that was too big for her face while vibrating in place, and the purple one with the horn and wings was still standing there with a shocked look on her face.
It's a predator, what do I do, WHAT DO I DO?! Were the thoughts running through Twilight's mind as she stared, unblinking, at the wolf standing in the middle of the room.
She had heard of wolves before, and hoped that she wouldn't have to face one. The books that mentioned them that she read described them as cunning predators that could take down a pony. Needless to say, her prey instincts were running wild.
Link was still standing in the circle, figuring that his best chance of escape was bolting for the stairs before any of them could react. Sweeping his gaze back around the room, he could see the obvious signs of panic starting in the purple horse. Looking across the rest of them, he could see that the orange and blue horses were tensed, likely ready to attack if need be.
Out of them, he could see that the yellow winged one didn't show any outward fear of him. Her gaze had softened a bit and she tilted her head at him. "Hello there, I'm Fluttershy" she said this with a soft voice. Surprised, he merely nodded his head in response to her statement.
She gave Link a questioning look, which made him realize she wanted to know his name, "I'm Link, nice to meet you"
At his statement, all of them froze up a bit, apparently not expecting him to be able to talk to them.
As the silence between them grew, the urge to make a run for it became even more tempting. Finally, the blue one spoke up, "Yep, talking wolf, last time I miss my nap, see ya" she said while speeding off out the window.
The orange one proceeded to facehoof at that declaration, "Ah swear Rainbow, ah swear"
Link stood there, waiting for one of them to react. He shuffled his paws a bit, making the chain rattle softly, this seemed to make Fluttershy snap out of her shock.
She moved a bit closer, "I didn't know you could communicate with us, what kind of wolf are you?"
Link turned, his gaze meeting hers, "One of a kind"
Fluttershy noted the weariness in his tone. Looking closer, she could see that Link showed signs of exhaustion, "A-are you alright?"
"Yeah, why?" Link asked.
"Well, you look tired, exhausted even" Fluttershy said. She started moving around Link in a slow circle, "I can also see a few old scars, where the fur is uneven, what happened to you?"
"Fighting monsters and running for your life will do that" he said dryly.
Fluttershy gulped, "Is that how you got those?"
Link nodded in confirmation to her question. He looked around and saw that the others were looking more closely at where Fluttershy noticed his old wounds.
Looking at Link, Fluttershy could see that he had been in a number of fights. However, the most prominent of his scars were a long, thin one that went along his right side, and a rough patch of fur on his left shoulder, possibly a burn. Being a caretaker, she knew what to look for.
There were also a few smaller ones that were barely noticeable, but her attention was drawn by the cuff that was attached to his left foreleg.
"Um, Mr. Link, could you tell me how you got that cuff, if you don't mind me asking?" She asked, gradually getting quieter as she went on.
Link glanced at the metal cuff on his leg, "To put it simply, I got captured by the enemy, someone got me out, and I just never bothered to get the cuff removed" he finished with a yawn.
Twilight snapped back to awareness, smiling wider by the second, Link noticed this, "Um, are you okay?"
She looked at him with hungry eyes, "I must learn everything about you" She pulled a list from somewhere, creeping Link out more and more by the second, "We have to run tests, ask questions, find out about your culture!" suddenly, running was looking like the best option. Apparently her friends thought getting out of there was a good idea to, they were slowly inching towards the front door.
Link turned to look at them as the winged unicorn opened a door to the basement and descended, "Erm, should I start running, she sounds a bit loony"
The rest of them mumbled something resembling a yes. Fluttershy motioned him to follow her after a loud crash was heard downstairs, she muttered, "Maybe I can get Angel to hide him for a while" Link followed her out to door into the town.
Walking through town was surprisingly easy, most of the denizens looked at Link, then Fluttershy, and carried on with their business. Link was thinking this over a bit, "They aren't panicking, maybe Fluttershy has some influence in this town?"
He came up on Fluttershy's left and whispered, "Why aren't they panicking at the sight of me?" It really was quite strange, other than three mares running a flower stand that had spotted him, none of them were very concerned about his being there.
Fluttershy answered, "Oh, well, I'm an animal caretaker. They used to panic whenever I brought Barry the Bear to help with shopping, but now they don't"
"Ah, that actually explains quite a bit" He thought while continuing to follow Fluttershy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a good while walking, they made their way across a bridge to a small cottage. It had multiple small entrances, with many birdhouses along the outside, the yard sported a chicken coop, and plenty of space with a pond. The most jarring thing though, was the number of animals that were flocking around the cottage, "Sheesh, this makes Agitha look tame by comparison"
A white bunny was hopping down the path towards them, a scowl seemingly permanently etched onto his face, "Where were you Fluttershy?!"
She turned her attention to him, "Oh, hello Angel, I was helping Twilight with one of her experiments" Fluttershy admitted sheepishly.
He turned his scrutinizing gaze to Link, "Who's this chump, and why is he here?"
Turning towards the rude bunny, "I'm Link, as for why I'm here, a maniacal, purple, winged unicorn wanted to run tests and ask questions about me"
Angel winced at the explanation, "You must be the result of her experiment then"
Fluttershy interjected, "Angel, um, I was wondering if, maybe, you could hide Link for a bit?"
He scratched his chin, looking thoughtful, "Hmm, for five carrots, I can hide him for you"
"Three is more reasonable" Fluttershy offered.
Angel gave her a hard look, "Four, and that's my final offer"
They shook on it, and Angel motioned Link to follow him. Link's thoughts were jumbled into something like, "Did I really get passed off to a bunny, for four carrots?"
Heading around to the backyard, Angel explained, "Alright new guy, there are a few rules that you need to follow if you want to stay here. First, no harming the other animals that live here" Link nodded in understanding, "Second, if you hurt Fluttershy, I will make your life miserable" Angel leveled a glare that would have made Ganondorf proud at Link, "Any questions?"
Link returned his glare with a look of indifference, "Yeah, where do I live?"
His glare softened a bit, "None of us really care as long as you behave yourself" with that Angel hopped away.
Alone, Link chose a shady spot near the tree and laid down to hopefully get some sleep, "At least this place is peaceful, maybe I can finally get some much needed rest" with that, he closed his eyes.
Spike awoke, grumbling about it being too early in the day to be up. Walking to the stairs, he looked down. What he saw wasn't promising, there was an intricate chalk circle on the floor, three of Twilight's friends sitting in a semi-circle, and various sounds emanating from the basement door.
He went to Applejack, and said with a long-suffering tone, "What'd Twilight do this time Applejack"
She turned to him, "New spell she wanted us here ta see"
Spike face-palmed, "I'm guessing that because the library's intact, it worked"
"Eeyup, summoned some sorta intelligent wolf" Applejack winced at what sounded like something breaking in the basement, "He skedaddled when Twi' started ramblin' about wantin' ta run tests"
He groaned, "Ugh, just one more thing to worry about with her, she always makes ME rewrite her checklists when stuff like this happens"
Twilight must have overheard the conversation, because next thing he knew, he was standing in the middle of the library, holding a checklist while she ran around in a panic.
Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity started backing away slowly, heading towards the nearest exit.
~~~~~~~~(The next day, Ponyville Train Station)~~~~~~~~
Fluttershy was gathered, along with her friends, at the train station. They had some time to wait until the train actually departed. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were having a hoof wrestling contest, Pinkie Pie was talking to Twilight, and Fluttershy was trading gossip with Rarity.
Twilight was tapping one of her hooves nervously while Pinkie was babbling something about cupcakes. Fluttershy kept looking to see how she was faring, "She always gets like this whenever Princess Celestia summons her, I wish there was something I could do to help"
She was pulled out of her thoughts by the conductor shouting for anypony heading to Canterlot to board. Twilight clambered into the passenger car of the train, and began pacing from one end of it to the other, "I hope she isn't like this the entire trip"
Link was walking around the cottage. Fluttershy was going to be gone for most of the day, "Might as well take a look around"
"Hey, we have shopping that needs to get done!" squeaked a white rabbit perched on Link's back.
He turned to give the rabbit a flat look, "And why do I need to go with you again?"
Angel looked up from his list, "Because, I need someone to translate for me" he shot a self-satisfied grin at Link, "That, and I'm in charge while Fluttershy's not here"
"Reminds me of Midna, only bossier" He let out a snort at that thought.
Angel had, more or less, ran up to Link, slapped on a pair of saddlebags, and told him to head to the market. The majority of the citizens regarded the duo with confusion, like they didn't know whether to run, or laugh from the sheer ridiculousness of it all.
~~~~~~~~(Some time later)~~~~~~~~
Link swiveled an ear to listen to a whistling sound in the distance. The shopping had gone surprisingly well, other than three mares knocking themselves out when they went to get some flowers from their stand, "Don't worry, they overreact to everything"
He let out an amused laugh at the reminder, "I can't believe flower pots hit them on their heads simultaneously"
Angel chuckled a bit, "Yeah, well that should be everything" he stood up on Link's head, "And now, to the cottage!" at this he struck a pose.
Link started walking off in the direction indicated. While he was going back to the cottage, he noticed a few small, black, vine-like weeds growing through cracks in the cobblestone.
"Oh, what are you doing out here Link?" he recognized the voice as Fluttershy's. She came up on Link's right and trotted with him.
"Blame the furball there" he said while motioning at Angel, who was currently standing on his head, "He dragged me out to do some shopping, for whatever reason"
"Well, he usually takes charge while I'm gone you see, an- AAAAAAHHHHH" Fluttershy shrieked, causing Link to cringe. Looking forward, he could see why, thick, spiked vines were growing all over her house, steadily making their way towards town.
Link looked at the weeds, "Erm, what are these things?"
Fluttershy was hyperventilating, "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness" she gasped suddenly, "The other critters at the cottage! I have to see if they're alright!" she said before dashing off towards her home.
"Well, what are you standing around for, get moving!" Angel practically screamed into Link's ear.
Looking back at the town, the black weeds Link had seen before were growing larger, and seemed to be trying to ensnare anything within range of their grasp, "This reminds me too much of Diababa" he thought while watching a couple of mares become caught by the plants.
He watched as the plant sprayed something on a unicorn, then it turned to confusion when he saw various things levitating into the air and chasing others, "Huh, why doesn't it finish them when it has the chance?"
Angel thumped one of his feet on Link's head, "You need to do something, those plants could be hurting Fluttershy!"
Link looked up, annoyed by his attitude, "I doubt that, whatever this is, it doesn't seem intent on hurting others"
He glared down at Link from atop his head, "And what makes you so sure of that, huh?!"
Link returned it with equal ferocity, "For one, I've actually had to deal with murderous plants before, and second, do you see any serious injury caused by it?"
Angel looked around, and could not refute his logic, "But still, we need to do something"
Link nodded, "I agree, the question though, is what. Hmm, do you have anything that might be able to stop the weeds?" as he said this, he noticed both the sun and moon rising into the sky, then suddenly stopping in the middle of it. This had the effect of further panicking the locals.
"How in the world is that even possible?" he thought while staring at the sky, half of which was bright as day, while the other half showed night sky. Most of the ponies looked up in terror, some getting caught by the vines while others ran into their homes, "Not the time to worry about that now" Link thought while running towards some vines chasing a couple of locals.
When he got close enough, he leaped and bit into the end of one of the vines, making it hiss and alert the other ones of his presence. With a sharp tug of his head, the vine severed in two, with one half clenched in Link's jaw.
With the vines attention focused on Link, he started dodging their strikes, two of them somehow knotting themselves together, "That might work, but it won't stop them for long" with that in mind, he started the task of stopping the vines.
Twilight snorted and woke up. Much of the desk she had been using as an impromptu pillow was covered with a large roll of parchment, "Ugh, drool stains are so hard to get out of these" she thought with a grimace.
Her attention was riveted however by the sight outside, the sun and moon were in the sky at the same time. This only caused Twilight to panic, "Oh no, what's happened to the princesses?!" This was cause for great concern, as this phenomenon only happened if both princesses couldn't reach out to the cosmic bodies with their magic, "I have to get to Ponyville, this is an emergency!"
"Spike, Spike!" she said urgently.
"SNOOORE mmm yur" was what Twilight got in reply.
"Spike!" she said with more force. The baby dragon woke up at this, still sleepy and barely awake.
Spike rubbed his eyes, "Ugh, is it morning already?"
"Uhm, yes, no, maybe, that's the point, I can't tell!" she spoke with hints of panic in her tone.
Spike got up and looked out the window, "Whoa, that is weird"
"Exactly, we need to go find the princesses as soon as possible" at that, she picked up Spike and galloped out of the castle. When she got outside though, she was swarmed by a mob of panicked ponies. They were yelling, stamping their hooves, and generally being a nuisance. The road was completely blocked by them, hindering Twilight's progress.
The vines were completely focused on Link, so much so that they didn't notice Angel hopping off of Link to hurry back to the cottage.
While the vines weren't smart enough to notice him leading them in circles, they did have the numbers advantage. One of them managed to wrap itself around one of his hind legs and hoist him into the air.
It then proceeded to slam Link into the ground, with him only uttering a 'yipe', winded from the impact. He got up carefully, I'm lucky it didn't manage to break anything, this could be rea-"
A flash of steel was all Link saw before the vine that was menacing him was cut cleanly in two. Looking around, he saw Angel... with a large knife that he was holding in his two front paws.
...I don't even WANT to know where he got that" he thought while watching him swing it.
When Angel managed to get near Link, he hopped onto his back, all the while saying, Stay back or I'll cut you! He turned his attention to Link, Get a move on, these won't get rid of themselves!
He was right, even if he made Link uncomfortable with the knife he was swinging a bit too close for comfort, "Angel, ANGEL!" this managed to stop his reckless swinging of the weapon he was holding, "Just cut the vines if I get caught by one, you're swinging that rather close to body parts I want to keep intact, like my head"
Angel gave a mock salute, "Let's do this"
The vines were more wary of them now that Angel had appeared to help. They were moving, slithering around the duo like snakes, as such they didn't notice the six element bearers congregating on the road to Fluttershy's cottage.
As the standoff continued, the vines began to move straight up, hissing all the while, "Now what are they up to?" Link thought as the vines started to vibrate.
All at once, the spikes that adorned the vines shot out, hitting anyone and anything indiscriminately. Angel hid behind Link's head to avoid the barrage, Crap, that's not good at all"
Jumping to the side, Link managed to avoid most of the spikes that were shot. He got a few scratches, but luckily didn't get himself impaled on one of them.
The vines, now without spikes, were readying to try and trap Link again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw what appeared to be a rainbow, spinning around a central area, when it cleared, what he saw looked to be some sort of abomination of nature.
While he was gawking at the sudden appearance of such a bizarre creature, one of the vines took the opportunity to hoist him up by the leg, and unceremoniously toss him towards the group.
He slammed into the chimera creature and sent both sprawling dazed from the impact, "Well, how rude of you to just pop in like this, you interrupted our conversation" as he said this he materialized a fork and started eating the vines like they were spaghetti.
"Ouch" was all Link had to offer to the conversation.
The creature finally took notice of what had crashed into him, "Oh? What have we here?" He moved around Link, inspecting him, "Well, you certainly are a surprise" he said while he sniffed Link, "Ohhhhh, it smells positively chaotic"
Link snapped back to reality when it picked him up by his front leg, "Where oh where did you come from hmm?"
He gave him a flat look, "Blame the neurotic purple winged unicorn"
"Hahahahaha, allow me to introduce myself, I am Discord, most handsome spirit of chaos and disharmony you will ever meet" he finished with a smug look while conjuring a glass of chocolate milk.
"..." Link turned to the others, "Who is this guy, and-" Link watched Discord slurp up the glass around the chocolate milk and proceed to use the milk as a rubber ball, "-just what is he doing, and why?"
Applejack face hoofed, "That's Discord, once the greatest threat ta the kingdom, now reformed"
Discord proceeded to wring the milk like a towel, which squeezed out lemonade of all things. Link turned to the rest, "I have a hard time believing that HE was the greatest threat to your kingdom"
He started chuckling, "Boy those were the days, cotton candy clouds, soap bubble roads, Ohhh it was wonderful"
Rainbow Dash spoke up, "He made everypony live in chaos under his rule!"
"Did he ever actually harm anyone?" Link asked bluntly.
"Harming them would be sooooo typical and boring" Discord cut in while floating upside down in the air.
"Ganondorf would have torn this guy to pieces" Link chuckled somewhat darkly at that thought before running off to go combat the vines again.
"Um, Discord, did you cause all this?" Fluttershy asked him.
He gave a mock hurt expression, "Moi, cause all this, I'm reformed now, don't you trust me?" his eyes were big and watery at the end.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go follow that wolf fellow, he looks like he could be fun" With a snap of his talons and a mischievous smile, he was gone.
Discord reappeared above Link, "Well, now what are you gonna do?"
He looked up at Discord, "Work on getting rid of this menace, you gonna help?"
He snapped his talons, and he was suddenly decked out in flippers, an innertube, goggles and water wings, he wielded a rubber chicken like a sword and had a serious face on.
Link barely held in a snicker when Discord went skipping into the mess and actually started cutting the vines with the rubber chicken. He looked back to find the girls with some striped pony that held a flask out towards them. Turning to find Discord, he was holding the chicken in a basic stance while talking with his lips out of sync of the words he was saying, "...Please tell me that's not what he would normally do"
Angel looked at Discord, "That's pretty normal compared to some of the other stuff he does" he turned back to Link, "Oh, and he more or less lives with Fluttershy"
Discord suddenly appeared above them, "Yep, it'll be fun" he said with a smile.
Link dropped the issue of living with this being, "How are we going to get rid of these things, they're quite stubborn"
At the statement, Discord got a mischievous gleam in his eye, "Well, if you want to get rid of them, it would be best to attack the heart of this matter" he got a smile befitting a being such as him, "How about I send you there?"
Before Link could formulate an answer, he had snapped his talons and Link had been teleported to the heart of the Everfree.
"Hmph, I am SO the greatest villain ever" Discord said with a pompous air about him while smugly smiling.
Link looked around to find himself in a clearing, it had a river winding along the edge of it and had soft grass covering the entirety of the ground. He sighed, "Should've seen that coming"
He didn't know which way to go, so he started going east, hoping that would be a way out.