> Whither Must I Wander
>  by thelegendarytoothpaste
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> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"In the land of Hyrule, there echoes a legend. A legend held dearly by the Royal Family that tells of a boy...
A boy who, 
after battling evil and saving Hyrule, crept away from the land that had made him a legend...
Done with the battles he once waged across time, he embarked on a journey. A secret and personal journey...
A journey in search of a beloved and invaluable friend...
A friend with whom he parted ways when he finally fulfilled his heroic destiny and took his place among legends..."



See the boy. He walks alone in his woods, but his eyes betray nothing but desire for it not to be so. Still, however, he 
knows it is probably for the best. On his last search for his fairy friend, he nearly lost his own life and also nearly got his 
trusty steed killed multiple times. He had done so much.

Link did not think of himself as a responsible or good person. Yes, he was the one who threw the proverbial wrench 
into Ganondorf's gears and saved the world, and yes he saved an alternate universe from a mask, within which slept the 
spirit of an ancient and powerful deity. It was only his use of an equally dark, if not worse power that he succeeded in saving the other world.

All this trouble came from but a mask. And all this trouble was stopped by another mask.
Two very masks he carried on his person now.

Link was used to the feeling of foreboding each mask afforded him when he looked into their eyes. He knew that both were powerless so long as they were not worn, and he had taken great measures to ensure that the power each mask was afforded could be siphoned1 and sealed away.

The mask of the Fierce Deity was outfitted with multiple incantations and blessings to trap its power within itself. Link had brought it before the leader of his tribe of Kokiri, the Great Deku Tree, to be cleansed along with the other mask: Majora's Mask.

He did not initially intend on just syphoning their power. The original plan was to outright destroy them. It went the way of the dodo when it became apparent that neither mask could be done away with so easily. Not the strongest bomb, the sharpest blade, the heaviest hammer, or the most practiced mage seemed capable of even leaving a scratch on either mask. Link certainly had no intentions of parting with them unless he knew there was no way for them to be used again. 

He heaved a sigh. Link never left his home without the two troublesome masks, no matter if he was going out for the day or for a few nights. He simply didn't want the chance of one of his fellow Kokiri finding one or the other and unleashing their power. It was the same reason he carried all of his other masks with him, and there were many. Children would call him a mask collector, so a mask collector he would be. Farore knew he'd nearly gotten himself killed just trying to contain Majora.

Part of him wondered why he was even bothering searching for Navi. He knew that chaos seemed to follow him around- it's why he no longer took Epona with him when he wandered. Maybe part of him resented Navi's spontaneous retreat and wished to take her with him so she may see what disharmony he suffered? Link was not a wise man. 

In fact, he wasn't even a man. Not physically.

He had done so much. He went forward and backward in time, defeated an evil wizard named Ganondorf and saved his home, wandered into another dimension housing a land by the name of Termina, and he had to save that land too from an unspeakable cataclysm. A cataclysm that loomed over everyone's head every moment of every day until he finally managed to stop it.

Everything he did, he did by the time he turned 9 (16 if you count the seven years he skipped forward and backward), and he was successful. Ganondorf had been executed and Majora's dark power was sealed within the mask again. Termina and Hyrule were both safe. But at what expense?

Link wiped the sweat from his tired blue eyes. His childhood. Link ended lives when he was barely into his ninth year, and not just simple minded animals or faux living creatures animated only by foul magic. Ganondorf was, in spite of his evil, a person. Stalfos warriors were, once upon a time, persons. 

Link recalled with a shutter his accidental murder of a Gerudo woman when he was infiltrating their fortress attempting to rescue a few carpenters. He meant only to knock her out, but her struggles combined with the high risk of his being caught resulted in his adding more pressure. He'd been trying to choke her out.

She must have jerked to one side, for her neck snapped and she fell lifeless in a heap. Link at first thought she was just trying a strange new way to get out of his grasp.

Link wiped at his eyes, though he had no tears. His fairy, Navi, had listened to him rant about it and was steadfast in telling him that it was not his fault, and that he did not mean to kill her. Link considered himself little more than a glorified murderer for it, but she always told him that it was a freak accident and the Goddesses knew it.

The boy sighed, and felt a dry sob rack itself through his chest. He had no tears left. He'd cried for the innocent people that died while he slept a seven year sleep. He cried for the people of Termina, who had been forced to relive what would always be the final three days of their lives whenever he failed to stop Majora in time. 

He felt a ghost of a smile pull at his lips. When he broke down in Termina for the first time, his callous fairy partner in the strange place, Tatl, tried to make him feel better by saying that she doubted anybody who experienced the apocalypse brought on by the moon felt a thing. He laughed a bitter laugh when she said that, too.

At least he stopped the whole cycle. After he saw what evil the mask was capable of, he bought it off the Happy Mask Salesman for every rupee he had collected in his travels. The eccentric salesman accepted the bargain with a smile, though Link was not sure what to make of him. He literally walked away after accepting the money and seemed to vanish. 

Now, it was a matter of finding Navi. His adventures in Termina were over. He desired a return to his original purpose, and the best place to look for a wayward fairy was the Lost Woods. There was a rumor that the woods themselves called to guardian fairies of a select few to fulfill an unknown purpose. Link hoped there was some truth to the myth, and so he walked.

Armed with a rucksack full of masks, a bow, a quiver full of arrows, a shield, and a strong blade, Link was determined to go further into the woods than he had ever gone before.

Future Link wouldn't be sure if he should kick himself for it or pat himself on the back.
> Chapter 1ne
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let me tell you a story about Equestria.

It hasn't known war for a good many years. The land itself is ruled by two benevolent sisters: Princess Celestia, the Goddess of the Sun, and Princess Luna, the Goddess of the Night. They were responsible leaders. Equus was tidally locked to its sun following a dark magic surge many thousands of years in the past. Without intervention, the planet would become totally uninhabitable save for the sides in perpetual twilight. The side facing the sun would become a scorching desert; the side facing away a barren glacier. A tidal lock can spell the end of any normal planet, and it has time and time before.

Equus, however, is no normal planet. It has an unusually high field of magic surrounding itself as well as its star. Wormholes constantly form and dissipate on the planet and around it. The planet should not even host life either, as it lacks a magnetic field. Studies are underway to determine what exactly protects the planet from solar radiation, but the answer is almost certainly "magic."

Magic is what gives the planet its atmosphere. Magic is what defends it from collisions by comets and asteroids. Magic is what shields it from radiation.

Magic is the work around for the planet's tidal lock. Every day, Princess Celestia uses a speed up spell on Equus as a work around for the tidal lock. The spell quickens the rate at which is rotates and presents the illusion that the Sun itself is being raised and lowered. Princess Celestia certainly possesses the strength to do so and has controlled the sun in the past- just look at her cutie mark, but she prefers to work with Equus itself, as making a miscalculation with the sun could doom the entire planet. She was also responsible for making sure the fuel at the core of their home star never ran low.

Like clockwork, Princess Luna, since her reformation, was responsible for the moon. With the two at the helm, the planet would host life for an eternity. It all depended on a harmonious exchange between the two.

Harmony was big in Equestria. All it took to defeat the darkest threat to the pony races was Harmony. Specifically, the Elements of Harmony: Magic, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, and Honesty. Each pony on the planet embodied every Element in one way or another, but only six held them so well that they would be considered Element Bearers.

Those six were a former Unicorn-turned-alicorn, Twilight Sparkle: Element of Magic. Beautiful white Unicorn fashionista Rarity: Element of Generosity. Pink ball of fuzz that defied the laws of physics: Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter. The butter colored pegasus named Fluttershy, the soft spoken bearer of Kindness, the cyan and rainbow maned pegasus by the name of Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty. Finally there was Applejack, the rough and tough cowgirl and Element of Honesty.

The six wielded a magic that could never be corrupted. When used together, the magic of Harmony was unstoppable.



It was a rare occasion for the Elements of Harmony.

Most of their time was dominated by life itself. Whether they had work, family gatherings, out of town meetings, or spa treatments, it was a rare occasion for the six to be able to just spend time together relaxing. After all, since when was a spa relaxing?

This was one such day.
"Rarity, did you bring enough sunscreen for everypony in town? Sheesh."

Rarity said little for a few moments. Instead, the unicorn's horn projected its magic, and she began to apply globs of sunscreen to her brilliant white coat. 

"Tut tut, darling. You think I'm paranoid, but do you have any idea what sun damage can do to the coat, let alone your skin? The last thing I need is to be splotchy."

"Generous would not be the word to describe the amount of sunblock you've already used, sugarcube. I'm with Dash on this one."

Rarity sighed, dismissively waving a hoof towards them.

"I'll take my chances. Say what you will, but I'm not going to be the one who gets burned."

The brash blue pegasus snorted. "Please. I bet if I tossed you into a volcano you wouldn't catch."

Twilight Sparkle, the purple alicorn of magic, chose that moment to intergect. 

"Actually, sun screen has no bearing on things such as fire. Sun screen works by scattering radiation away from the skin or otherwise absorbing it so we don't have to. It has no bearing on flames."

Everypony stared at her, save for Pinkie Pie. There are many things Twilight Sparkle is good at, but recognizing hyperbole is not one of them.

And speaking of Pinkie Pie...
Splash! she shot out of the water like a missile, coughing madly. 

"Guys, do not taste the water. It's really salty! Did you know that?"

Twilight sighed. "Pinkie, it's in the name. Salt water. And you really shouldn't drink it. It can cause kidney failure, hallucinations, and chapped lips."

Pinkie blinked, and yanked on a loose strand of her mane. With a "POOF!" it returned to its normal state of perpetual chaos, sending ocean water in every direction. Her friends were less than amused.

"Well, it was an honest mistake. Isn't there a quote? Water, water everywhere so let's all have a drink."

Nobody bothered to correct her. When Pinkie got like this, it was better to let her think what she wanted to think.
"The summer is never long enough anyway," said Rarity. "There is something about the smell of sun screen that brings about the magic of the hot season."

The others murmured their agreement. "At least the Summer Sun Celebration is on the way. If only the Princesses could join us this year."

"The show is in Manehattan this year, darling. You know that."
Twilight nodded. "Yes, yes, I know. Still though, it would be nice to have a visit. Maybe we can see her sooner or later."
"That would be nice," said Fluttershy, interjecting herself into the conversation for the first time. "I wonder how Philomena is doing?"

Twilight smiled. "You know you can write the princess whenever you wish. You're the Element of Kindness. She'll be glad to hear from you. Well, more so than she is to hear from anypony on a usual day."

It was true. To say Princess Celestia fawned over her little ponies like a mother hen was an understatement. Celestia truly loved all of her subjects dearly. She was seen laying beside a sobbing filly in the rain solely to comfort her, and it wasn't uncommon for her to send well wishes and happy birthday cards to young fillies and foals who wrote her to ask for her presence at their parties. I know what you're wondering too, and yes, she did also send presents.

Fluttershy meekly nodded, though Twilight knew that her shyness extended even to letter writing. The mare actually managed to stutter in letters to friends and family. 

The conversation itself was stopped completely by a loud gasp from Pinkie Pie. She seemed to tense up in midair as her mane appeared to shoot out every which way like an explosive. Her tail was swish a swishin' so quickly that it seemed to be keeping her in the air, and her ears were twitching too. Granted, though, the ear twitch was relatively normal. Pinkie had twitchy ears.

"Land sakes, Pinkie. You okay?"

The others approached her cautiously, as if fearing what her next action might be. When she landed, her eyes had widened and her pupils shrunk.

"A doozy," she whispered.
> Chapter 2wo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link always carried two ocarinas: One was the Ocarina of Time, the instrument passed down through the Hylian Royal Family and a key to opening the path to the Sacred Realm. The Ocarina of Time was impossible for evil to corrupt and Link never noticed a speck of dirt on it no matter where he ventured. It was a priceless artifact given to him by Princess Zelda of Hyrule. Among other things, the Ocarina of Time was the only instrument capable of using the magic in melodies.

The other was, no offense to the Princess, far more valuable to him. It was an ocarina made from forest wood by his best friend before she went away, Saria. Though it was not capable of using the magic hidden within many of Link's special songs, it was more than capable of beautiful music that could bring tears when used by a well trained ocarinist. Though it could be broken and did indeed show signs of wear, Link loved it and promised to treasure it until he died.

He heaved a sigh, and brought the ocarina to his lips. He began to play his favorite song, a song he designed to take resemblance from the magical tune heard throughout the Lost Woods by the Kokiri and Fairies: The soul of the forest. Link called his abridged version of it "Saria's Song."

He smiled while he played. The song had, oddly, gotten him through many a dead end. It got the most stubborn Goron Link had ever met to change his mind about something. Perhaps it did possess some magic after all.

Link still recalled the promise the stubborn old Goron by the name of Darunia made him. Because of Link's assistance to the Goron people of Death Mountain, Darunia took him as his "sworn brother," which meant little to the young boy. All he knew was, being a sworn brother of the Goron people meant getting surprise "Goron hugs" from everyone on the mountain. When a "Goron hug" means a several thousand pound rock eating person squeezing the life out of a small child, it was best to never get within arms reach of that proud race.

Link smiled. When Navi heard him complain about the Goron's affections, she simply said, "Good-natured racism is tough to find." He asked her what she meant but she danced around it. Typical grown up...

Link sighed through his ocarina but ignored the shrill noise. Thinking of Navi's advice and words of wisdom made him think of his fight with Ganondorf. Though Link himself was far bigger than a forest fairy, he swore the fight felt as though he and Navi were battling back to back.

He still could hear Ganondorf's shouts echo through his skull. Ganondorf's powerful spells were always unusual. When he launched a sphere of energy at you, it was white, as if it were pure magic. When the strike made contact with something, however, it would result in an explosion of what appeared to be shadows. His deadliest attacks, ones that left Link badly wounded and alive only due to luck looked like harmless lighting spells. Link was left with a deep fear of simple light spells. 

He remembered the end of his first fight with Ganondorf; how he used both feet to pin the evil king's arms as he drove his sword through his heart. Link had squeezed his eyes shut while he did it, though the feeling of forcing the blade into someone's chest as well as the screams of pain from the man himself forced the image into his mind. Link awoke with a start from many a nightmare.

They were the times he would miss Navi the most. When he had nightmares and Navi was around, she would not hesitate to stay up with him and give him comfort or tall tales until he fell asleep. So long as he had her, his nightmares did not bother him. She did teach him a technique to counter nightmares, which was usually to just laugh in their faces. As such, some of her stories were very funny, and always got a laugh from the boy.

He admired people with a sense of humor, and especially admired those in Termina with a comedic bone in their bodies. So many of the citizens were fearful of the moon overhead, sure, but they would always find something to laugh at, even at the very end.

He looked down at the troublemaking mask that had caused such grief to Termina with scorn. His ocarina had left his lips and was returned to a pocket. How he wished to destroy the cursed mask. From what little he knew about the entity that possessed it, Majora was supposedly a fallen Goddess of great power who was cursed into the form of a mask by her brothers and sisters. At her pinnacle, her power was immeasurable. It was only due to her first defeat at the hands of her fellow Gods that Link's victory in Termina was possible at all. Had he been forced to go up against a fully powered Majora... well, rending the moon from its orbit would have been the least of his worries.

Even now, the Majora he did go up against nearly defeated him. It was Ganondorf all over. The only real difference was the experience- Ganondorf was an extremely talented wizard, swordsman, and was brutally powerful in hand to hand combat. Majora was an ancient entity with far more powerful magic, experience, higher speeds, endurance, and a quick wit- and Ganondorf was far from dumb! Additionally, Majora's aspirations were for the destruction of Termina, but she had little other reason to do so beyond enjoying watching innocent creatures perish. At least Ganondorf had an ulterior motive beyond killing for the sake of killing.

Link gave his head a shake as a breeze found its way to his face. The air was brisk and refreshing, and the sun was shining. Link, puzzled, looked behind him at the expansive forest. Had he actually found a way out of the mystical woods? Before him he saw tall grass and scattered trees. This went against everything anyone knew about the Lost Woods. They had a way of turning wanderers around eventually. No matter how far you wandered in any one direction, you would end up back where you started eventually unless you listened to the forest spirits as they directed you.  Link could feel them guiding him, though to where he would never know until he got there.

Link rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't imagining things. No. The plains were still before him.
A smile graced his face. This could very well prove a breakthrough for the Kokiri records of the magical woods!
Then, the smile left. Just over the hill before him, he could see the woods on the horizon once more. Perhaps he just found a small opening in the trees then. He mentally kicked himself for being so excitable, and continued his trek towards the woods in the distance.

Something changed. With each step Link took towards the trees, he could feel the innate magic of the Lost Woods slipping. The normal magic of the woods was benevolent but judgmental- when someone that was not welcome entered the trees, he or she only had a limited time to get out before the trees placed judgement. The unwelcome who dared enter the woods would become monsters if they failed to escape. Link knew. His mother had sacrificed her own life in the woods to grant him passage. She willingly let the woods consume her after the patron Deity of the Kokiri, the Great Deku Tree, had granted Link asylum.

He snorted. The nearest to a father he ever had was a tree, and the closest thing to a mother he had was a fairy who left him. Link wasn't sure if that was pathetic or not.

These new trees did not have the familiarity that Link was used to. He felt the magic within them go from benevolent judgement to completely unpredictable. They were as likely to hinder a traveler as they were to help. Link could not feel the woods poking and prodding at his aura, nor could he feel them trying to determine if he was worthy. Now driven by curiosity, Link continued his trek, a hand on his blade.

Little did he know, he really had found a way out of the Lost Woods.
> Chapter 3hree
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Pinkie Sense was not your run of the mill psychic sense. Most ponies could not actually see the future or detect vibrations in space time. Pinkie Pie, however, could do both. And she did so frequently.

Ponies knew to take her seriously when she mentioned something about to fall. They knew to listen when she said to watch out for opening doors. Even the most steadfast of skeptics in Ponyville were believers after witnessing her sense and its accuracy a few times. 

Very few had seen a doozy before. They are, in the words of Pinkie Pie, "the most sensiest of senses that have ever sensed the sense."

Therefore, a doozy was something that was often taken more seriously than a decree from Celestia.
The first thing to occur after Pinkie's whisper-proclamation was stunned silence.
"A DOOZY!!!!"

The next thing to occur after Pinkie's whisper-proclamation was chaotic shouting from the soothsayer herself. It was fortunate that the Elements of Harmony were the only ones on the beach. There would have been a riot otherwise.

Everypony there realized so, as well. They swiftly stuck a collective hoof to her mouth to stop her from shouting like that again, lest a real doozy appear. The ponies of Ponyville are an excitable bunch, to say the least.

"What's say we discuss this matter in a more private setting, girls?" asked Twilight. The others agreed instantly, and they began their run to Twilight's residence.



Twilight Sparkle lived in a bizarre mansion/castle/library love child that any small girl would adore. It was so large that Twilight was fond of joking about still finding new rooms in it. Each of her best friends and her family had their own rooms that they were welcome to use at any time, and she still had empty bedrooms to spare. If that was not enough, most of the first floor was just a huge public library with every book that Twilight knew of. The list of literary works that she didn't know of was very short. She even had a book that Pinkie Pie herself wrote, which did its best to explain to the reader how to "think like a pink." It was not for public consumption, however. One Pinkie Pie was enough.

The tea room was one of the most popular for Twilight and her friends. It was where everything from simple get togethers to meetings were held. While they discussed matters today, however, there would be no young drake to attend to their tea needs- the poor thing was sick with the flu. Instead of his fetching them tea, Twilight made him some and tucked him in. Spike was her baby before anything else, after all.

When Twilight returned to the tea room after tending to Spike, she offered everypony a small cup, and left a platter of condiments in the middle of their table. She took her seat, and pasted a smile on her face while she looked upon her friends.

Rainbow Dash was absentmindedly tracing the lip of her tea cup, Rarity was stirring a bit of sugar into hers and taking dainty sips, Applejack had chug lugged the sucker, as it were, Fluttershy was carefully blowing on her tea, and Pinkie Pie was eating sugar straight from the bowl. 

"Okay girls, I think now is a good time to ask."
Twilight slammed both hooves on the table, earning an "Eep!" from Fluttershy.
"What the hay is the doozy, Pinkie Pie?!"
Pinkie, who had both her hooves on each side of her tea cup and seemed to be willing the tea to part, perked up.
"I dunno!"
The room was silent for a moment.
"You don't know?" asked Twilight incredulously. Pinkie shook her head.

"No, silly filly. My Pinkie Sense just told me that a doozy was going to happen. It doesn't tell me exactly what is going to happen. Didn't you read my book? That's one of the first Laws of Pinkie- a doozy is not a doozy if its dooziness is obvious!"
Twilight sighed. "Yes, Pinkie. I've read it- the writing is terrific, by the way. But... can't you give us some inkling of what should be happening?"

Pinkie appeared thoughtful for a moment, and then her eyes widened. 
"Let's go around the table and guess! Won't that be fun?"
Twilight sighed again. "Can't you just answer the question?"
Pinkie grinned. "Sure! I think..."
She gasped, and began to rub a hoof on Twilight's belly, causing the alicorn to tense up. She hated having her stomach touched.
"How far along are you?" Pinkie suddenly asked. 
Fluttershy let out another "Eep!" and began to shrink under the table. Rarity fell stone cold out of her chair, Applejack was hiding a blush or a laugh behind her hat, and Dash felt no reason to hide her guffaws.

Twilight growled and slapped Pinkie's hoof away. "Pinkie, I'm not pregnant!"
Pinkie eyed her critically for a moment. "Are you sure? That's what Boulder said when I asked him, and two months later, poof! Pebble was born."

Twilight fixed her gaze on Pinkie, while Rarity retook her seat after grumbling about the false alarm. Dash, meanwhile, had take Rarity's place on the ground, kicking her hind hooves in the air wildly as she continued to laugh.

"I'm not pregnant, Pinkie."
Pinkie smiled warmly. "D'aww, then you just have a little tummy on you!"
Twilight blushed. "I have no such thing."
Pinkie nodded. "Yes you do, my pudgy little pony."
She gasped. "Wait! Maybe that's the doozy!"
Twilight sighed. 



The rest of the meeting went about as well as expected, with each of them coming up with a theory behind the doozy. Rainbow believed it was a sign of trouble brewing, or in her words, "Another creature needs to be whooped." Rarity thought the rumors of Sweetie Belle being a robot were coming back in force (she asked Discord to turn her into one for Nightmare Night once, and this happens), Applejack feared some kind of calamity killing all the apples in Sweet Apple Acres, and Twilight went so far as to guess that Starswirl the Bearded had somehow found a way to circumvent death without becoming an alicorn.

Fluttershy could come up with nothing, however, and when it came to her turn to speak, she simply told her friends that she loves them and appreciates their patience.

All in all, it was an unsuccessful meeting, and they were no closer to discerning the doozy than before they started. Honestly, the Sweetie Bot rumors had to stop. How many times did ponies have to see Sweetie's x-rays to be happy?  

And Twilight wasn't fat! She was just a little chubby, damn it!

End of Chapter
> Chapter 4our
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Kokiri are most comfortable in the forest. Being as attuned to the trees as them meant they were very well versed at survival away from civilization. Link was no exception.

Link's survival skills were as good as any other Kokiri's. He knew how to build a fire, tell time, clean water, figure out his compass directions, identify certain edible or medicinal plants, track, hunt, and clean animals, and he was well versed in constructing simple lean-to shelters.

In other words, Link was exactly the right kind of person to get lost in the woods with. What a coincidence it was that he happened to be lost right now.

Link felt a blush invade his cheeks. He always prided himself on his sense of direction. Even when he left the Kokiri Forest for the first time, he did not get lost. The fields of Hyrule were not exactly well travelled. People tended to just move to towns and then stay there until they started pushing up daisies. Travel wasn't exactly huge, which meant paths and signs were not necessary. Even the fields of Termina gave him no trouble in terms of navigation. Maybe Link could be a navigator on a ship when he grew up?

Each step deeper into the woods awed Link. The magic was completely different here. He could not hear the soul of the forest, nor did he see hide or hair of a skull kid, deku scrub, or even a stalfos. The plant life, though largely the same as in the woods he knew and loved, began to see some additions in new flowers he had never seen before, as well as some seemingly alien fungi. Link did his best to give all the unfamiliar life a wide berth. It was survival rule number one for the Kokiri: If you don't know what it is, stay away from it.

Link was honoring that rule like the alien life around him was the plague. It meant much of the life around him could not be admired but with his eyes and ears. This was fine, though. Link did not ask for much. The trees gave him comfort.
The trees brought him happiness. They were familiar. They would not up and leave. Even Ganondorf could not outright destroy the lost woods. They were constant.

Link grew to love constants in his life. He sometimes longed for the days before he set out to fulfill his destiny. He was the boy without a fairy. He was ridiculed by many of the Kokiri and ostricized. He had few friends, but he rarely let his lot in life discourage him. When he was sad, he would force himself to go out. When he was bullied he would stand up for himself. He knew Saria had his back and wanted the best for him too, even if he was a little bit different. 	

Then, Navi came. And his whole life was flipped on its head. It isn't every morning a small child is woken up by the fairy he never had and told that he will save the world from a great evil. Link found it amazing that he so easily drew the hero stick, yet could never win the lottery in Termina.

He remembered that, at first, Navi did not particularly like him. If anything, she intitially disliked him, and was not above light teasing or refusing small talk with him. As the journey progressed, however, and the dangers grew, they would begin to bond.

Link would never forget the immense, almost motherly worry he noted in Navi's voice during his first encounter with the redeads. He would never forget how relieved she was to see him open his eyes again. Link would never forget falling asleep with the fairy close by, and he would never forget telling her that he loved her for the first time.

Navi took away the loneliness Link was not aware he suffered. It was thanks to her that Link was no longer the boy without the fairy. Link was happy when he had her, even if they fought from time to time. It made him wonder what the rest of his life would be like, if he could spend it with her. Those were the days he was the most impatient. How desperately he wished to end his adventure so he could spend his time with her!

As the saying goes, however, one should be careful what he or she wishes for.

They had done the final thing asked of them by Princess Zelda when Link had returned the Master Sword to its pedestal and shut the Door of Time. Upon closing it, however, Navi hesitated. For an instant she began to shine brighter than Link had seen her shine before.

"Navi?" was all he asked. The fairy, though he could not see her face, appeared both panicked and resigned. She turned to a window in the Temple of Time, where the sun was shining the strongest. Without another word, she flew towards it.

Link was silent. It wasn't Navi's departure that resulted in his so rarely speaking, mind you. Link was always a very quiet person. Even when they travelled, Navi was the one who engaged most conversations, not Link. When he did, it was little more than awkward small talk that would die out quickly.

He did not shriek, he did not cry, he did not stomp his feet, and he did not yell. Instead, he squinted his eyes, attempting to make out Navi's shape. Alas, he was unable to. The glow of magic around a fairy often rendered their true bodies invisible to the human eye. That combined with the sun did not help matters. Link assumed she simply left through the open window for reasons unknown.

He stared at the window until his eyes were forced shut, and he remained in the Temple of Time in that same position until the sun fell to the horizon. Like it or not, he still needed to go home. Alone.

Again.

It was then that Link realized what he had been doing. His hands were balled into fists so tight that his nails dug into his palms and drew blood. Where did she go? Why did she go? Why without a word? Did he do something to offend her? Perhaps he didn't thank her for her help soon enough? All he knew was his fairy companion throughout his journey was missing, and now he wanted only to find her.

That was why he went to Termina in the first place, much like it was why he searched the woods now. He just wanted to have his companion back. He wanted his family back. He wanted home. He wanted to be a child again and have the childhood he was denied. If only he remembered how to be a child in the first place.

As the saying goes, however, one should be careful what he or she wishes for.
> Chapter 5ive
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie's proclamations were always right.

It was just the way of things. She was right because she was right. She was right because she was pink. She was pink because she was right and right is pink and pink is pink.

It made perfect sense.

Her proclamations always came true within minutes of being made, with a few exceptions (some took up to an hour!) A twitchy tail meant something was going to fall, and sure enough, something fell. Typically within five minutes.
A doozy, however, is just that: A doozy. How was Pinkie supposed to know when they would come true? She's not a miracle worker, after all! Some ponies, man.

The day she made the prediction ended with nothing out of the ordinary occurring, though ordinary is admittedly a stretch in Ponyville. The others were no less wary into the night, however. It would be just like a doozy to wait for them to fall asleep before it occurred.

Then the next day came without any sign of a mishap. Now a few eyebrows were raised. Pinkie insisted that her sense was on point, however, and the others remained wary.
Then two days passed.
Then three.
Then four. The others began to lose heart that she was right, and tried to convince her that maybe, just maybe, this was the one time her sense gave her a false alarm.

It was something Pinkie denied. Her Pinkie Sense was never wrong. It told her when Twilight would finally accept her sense, and Twilight was the most logical pony Pinkie knew! It even told her when Chuckie learned that his birth mom was gone, though she was not entirely sure who they were. She had made a feel better cake for him anyway and then promptly ate it.
Nonetheless, her friends had finally dismissed the doozy. Perhaps Pinkie simply mistook a random body spasm as one this time? It wouldn't be unusual. They happened to Derpy Hooves once every seven days.

None of them were aware of what was brewing so close to them.



Link liked to think that he saw a lot in his short life.

He dealt with a giant spider that was killing the deity of the woods, the Great Deku Tree from within. He killed a giant fire breathing lizard whose hide was nearly impenetrable until weakened by explosives. He fought some kind of amoeba that protected itself by countless jellyfish.

And that was just Mondays for him.

He dealt with almost every type of foe, from gelatinous blobs to the undead, from bats to his fellow man.

Almost every type of foe.

He never had to fight a giant wolf beast made from sticks before. And he certainly never fought a giant wolf beast made from sticks that would constantly regenerate itself.

He was just wandering the trees, and the creature leapt out at him. It was huge! The monster towered over his head. It must have been three times the size of Ganondorf, and when Link battled Ganondorf, he only came up to the man's chest. And that was when he had gone into the future and aged seven years!

The biggest advantage  this wooden wolf had  was its size.

The wooden wolf smashed its head into the dirt before it, attempting to rip Link to shreds, but Link was nothing if not agile. He rolled out of the way safely.

The biggest limitation the wooden wolf had was also its size. Link, being smaller and more nimble, was able to avoid the wolf's thrashing and smashing with relative ease. He would find openings then, and cut at the wolf. It was Link's typical M.O. when it came to dealing with tough threats- slowly and methodically attack and weaken the enemy until it succumbed.

And succumb the wooden wolf did. It eventually collapsed in a shower of twigs, but it quickly reformed itself and Link was back at square one.

He lost track of how long his battle with the monster was, but he was not known as the Hero of Time for nothing. Link found that slicing the sticks that made up the beast into mere splinters or fragments was enough to keep it from regenerating. However, ultimately stopping the beast for good took great effort, and while Link did not suffer serious injury in the fight, it did leave him with a few bumps and bruises.

Ultimately, when the monster collapsed for the final time into the dusty dirt underfoot, Link fell to his rear and caught his breath. He pulled a splinter out of an arm, and looked out at the expanse of trees again. Perhaps it was time to go home and re-arm himself.

He was not sure if he would ever find this area of the Lost Woods again, but he didn't want to bet his life on anything. Having collected himself, Link turned about, and set out. If he walked the wrong way long enough he would find Kokiri Village before he knew it. Such was the magic of the Lost Woods.

Just not the magic of the Everfree.
End of Chapter
> Chapter 6ix
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie was alone in her room. Not even Gummy was with her- he was out doing Gummy things. The others were helping Ponyville prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration. Pinkie just couldn't. She felt too sad.

Why was she sad? It wasn't because the Princesses would not be in Ponyville this year. It wasn't because her latest attempt at the world's best tasting candy failed miserably. It wasn't because she lost her favorite movie (The Timberwolf King). 

Pinkie was upset because, given a few more days of nothing from her doozy, she was coming to terms with being wrong. With this failed prediction, Pinkie's accuracy rating with her Pinkie Sense plummeted from 130% to just 128%.

Unacceptable.

Pinkie sighed deeply, and she turned over on her bed. Should she have another muffin? Nah. She already had twelve.
There was a knock on her door.
"Pinkie?" asked a muffled Mrs. Cake. "Your friends are here."

She sighed again. What was the point to greeting them? She just had her whole world turned upside down! Now she couldn't tell up from down anymore! Not that that was anything new. Pinkie just liked doing headstands. It didn't matter what she was thinking, ultimately. Her friends just walked into her room.
"Pinkie?" began Applejack.
"We haven't seen you around town. Are you okay?" asked Twilight.
Pinkie sighed. "I have been doing some thinking girls. I think you're right."
"About what?" asked Rainbow. "How dogs can, in fact, look up?"
"No," sighed Pinkie. "And they can't. Winona is just trying to trick you. It's my Pinkie Sense. I think you girls were right this time and I was wrong."

Her friends blinked collectively at her.
"I've never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever made a bad prediction before. This is new to me."

Her friends were all silent for a moment, before Twilight took a few steps forward with a smile. "Pinkie, it's okay to be wrong from time to time. Everypony makes mistakes. It doesn't mean anything is wrong with you."
Pinkie shook her head. "It's different when you have the Pinkie Sense and are wrong. It violates the first Law of Pink."
"Law of Pink?" Applejack echoed.
"Pinkie Pie is right because she is pink, and right is pink and pink is pink," responded both Twilight and Pinkie Pie. The others looked at Twilight in bewilderment save for Pinkie, who eyed her with a bit of a smile.
Twilight shrunk back a bit under their gaze. "I read all the books in the library, hers included." 

She cleared her throat, and continued. "The point is, it's okay to be wrong from time to time Pinkie. We still love you, even if your Pinkie Sense is not always right."
A sound that equated to a parachute being deployed echoed through Pinkie's enormously saccharine room. Her mane had returned to its normal state of perpetual chaos, and she engulfed each of her friends in a bear hug that only she was capable of.
"You girls are the best! The bestie bestie bestie best!"
She smiled at Twilight, who was turning a bit blue from lack of oxygen. 
"And I don't need my Pinkie Sense to tell me that."
End of Chapter
> Chapter 7even
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a spoiler. You have now read the spoiler. This concludes the spoiler.

Anxiety burned away at Link. He had been travelling for a week now and felt that he succeeded only in getting himself lost even more. For some reason the trees were not returning him from whence he came no matter how long he wandered in them. In his time he saw a lot, from large rocks and cliff faces to the bones of deceased wildlife. He saw alien flora and alien fauna.

He did not see any more of those wooden wolves, however, but that did not help his anxiety. Instead, it made it worse, for he could swear that eyes were on him at all times now. He could not sense the slightest inkling of magic from the Lost Woods now, or at least not the magic he was accustomed to.

He was not suffering a full out panic, though. Link still had a few tricks up his sleeve if things got dire. As it stood, he counted himself lucky- he had found a cabin in the middle of the woods. Not just any cabin, but a very large one. The doorknob was above his head and he had to hop in order to reach it. Link was a boy of courtesy, though, and so he had the decency to knock first.

No answer.

He decided against entering right then, however. Link knew that his survival training was very helpful to him and he felt confident that he could find his way back to this cabin so long as he had his bearings. He knew his compass directions, having been able to see the sun peak through the trees as it approached the horizon not long before. His plan was to hunt something to eat, and after he had done so, to use the magic of his ocarina to return him to the Lost Woods he knew so well. 

He did not pay mind to his trepidation. Link knew, deep down, that chaotic magic like that of the woods now could be enough to override any teleportation songs he knew. It was why he was powerless to teleport in any dungeons and why he could not use his songs in Termina. Majora's power was so immense that even the teleportation song he found in Termina proved useless to him.
He did not want to think too deeply on the possibility of his teleport failing. If it did happen, he would worry then. For now, he wanted to see about finding an animal to hunt that was not a few insects or plants...



Fluttershy was not the most organized pony on the planet during her fillyhood. It was something she ultimately grew out of, but sometimes the past returns to haunt the most innocent of creatures. In Fluttershy's case, the one that was haunting her was Angel Bunny. 

She knew that he loved her deep down, even if he was a bit rough around the edges. Still though, he was very rebellious. If she told him to do one thing he was going to do another. Angel was notorious to Fluttershy's friends as being messy, spoiled, rude, and even manipulative. He was the exact opposite of her in terms of everything.

She wouldn't put it past him, therefore, to go into the Everfree forest, which was the most unorganized place in Equestria, for no other reason than she told him not to. Sometimes she wondered what would happen if she used reverse psychology on him.

"Angel, I want you to go into the Everfree Forest. Don't even think about not going in there."

His head would probably explode. 
She sighed, and set about gathering her friends to help her look for him. She knew that with their help he would be found in no time.

Preferably before he became a real angel.
End of Chapter
> Chapter 8ight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link was in awe.

This was the largest rabbit he had ever seen. It easily came up to his waist in terms of size, and that was without the ears! He had never seen anything like it! At least, not in the last few days.

He knew. If he killed it, he would eat like a king. A king with only one option when it came to food for the next few days, but a king nonetheless.

He wouldn't let anything go to waste either. No Kokiri would ever dare defile nature by leaving something to rot. Not even bones. And that coat! That snow white coat! It would fetch a fortune at a shop!

He certainly had no intention of letting the creature suffer, either. It was why he had his arrow nocked and aiming at the rabbit's heart. He had successfully cornered it against a large cliff face, and it had water on one side and a large pile of brush and sticks on the other. The only way out was through Link himself.

He scowled a bit. He had a clear shot at the rabbit only minutes into his hunt, but it was not a clean shot. Essentially, if he had taken it, the rabbit would be wounded, but not killed. He would have to finish it, which would not be easy if it fled. Link prided himself on his hunting record. Every time he killed an animal for consumption, it was a quick and painless death. He would sooner go hungry than allow a creature to suffer at his hands, bloody though they already were.

When he first spotted this rabbit, he wondered if it was some kind of trick, or some sort of monster he had never seen before. However, it hopped like a rabbit and looked like a rabbit, so as far as his childhood logic dictated, it most certainly was a rabbit. 

He stalked it for mere minutes before he managed to corner it, which impressed him. He had to track animals for far longer with far less meat on their bones before.

One shot, five seconds. That was all it would take if he got his aim right. Link kept telling himself that he would not let it suffer. It was going to sustain him, and he owed it a painless demise at the very least.

Something brought him pause. Instead of the rabbit hopping back and forth, or stomping its rear legs to try and ward him off, this rabbit seemed to be... groveling.

Now that he watched it more, it totally was! The rabbit was alternating between holding its fore paws together and shaking its head repeatedly at him, and bowing down to him as if he were royalty. It would be something he found funny if he wasn't alarmed.

Link squinted his eyes, and the rabbit curled away from him in mute horror.

The shot never came. Link instead retired the arrow to his quiver, and he lowered the bow. The rabbit just demonstrated sapience, or at least something damn close to it. Link had no intention of killing something with such mental capacities. He couldn't do it. Not again. He would just have to find something else to eat.

When the rabbit looked back at him, wondering why death had not claimed it yet, it was stunned to see that the strange biped was no longer preparing to kill him. At least, in no way that it could see. As if to accentuate the point, the biped jerked its head towards one shoulder, which could be universally translated to "Beat it."

The bunny didn't need to be told twice. It grinned- grinned at Link and bowed once more before beginning to slowly trot off past him. Link snorted. Malon would never believe this.

Ultimately, however, the rabbit stopped just beside him. Again it seemed to freeze up. Link felt a feeling of foreboding begin to creep down his spine, and he turned slowly.

Any available path for them was blocked by the wooden wolves. Though he betrayed no fear, Link gulped to himself. 							He always hated the feeling of being hunted. It was something he experienced many a time in his travels, typically by wild animals or monsters. Constantly feeling eyes on you, knowing that no matter how fast you are, you've got a tail close behind you... it drove many a creature insane. It was the sad truth of a hunt: If you were not quiet enough or quick enough, your prey could take note of your presence somewhere in the vicinity, but it might not know just where you specifically are. 
Link hated it. Whenever he hunted he did his best to either do so quickly, or with as much caution as he could. He wished never to cause more stress to any living being than he ever had to. It cost him game before, and even cost him a few hunting contests he and his fellow Kokiri would occasionally hold. 

Link was especially disturbed by the chant Mido had come up with for their annual culling of the pigs. One could recognize the brat by his repeated chants of "Kill the pig, spill her blood, bash her in!" 

Like any other Kokiri, at least, Mido, in spite of his morbid gore obsession, still killed only when he had to eat, and would do so as quick and painlessly as he could. It was said that a Kokiri who failed to respect the woods properly by the torture of animals would be cursed by them into the form of the animal he or she had tormented. It was a fate none of 	them could prove as having occurred, but it was widely accepted as true. 

He returned his thoughts to the situation at hand and scowled. He knew it. He just knew he was being stalked all this time. Everywhere he looked came up empty, however. He had no proof; just the bad feeling. 

Now his proof was staring at him and the rabbit. The wooden beasts advanced one menacing step as the rabbit and Link simultaneously took a step back. Link felt sweat begin to sting his eyes, and he spared a look at the small scratches on his arms he managed to get away with after slaying the first wooden wolf that attacked him. He knew he wasn't going to be so lucky this time around. He wondered what would have happened if he had only entered the hut he saw in the woods. Would they have managed to get to him anyway? There only seemed to be a single window to the building if he recalled correctly and he did not believe the wooden beasts would be able to fit into it to attack him. Then he might have been able to funnel them and slow down the attack, allowing him to fight more efficiently.

He sighed. It made little sense to think of such strategies now. He was not in the hut. He was in the middle of nowhere with cliffs towering behind him and wooden menaces before him. Link's brain scrambled over just what it could do. He had a hard time putting down only one of these creatures and was largely uninjured only due to it being one on one with a dramatic size difference. With what must have been at least seven of these creatures before him? He had no chance. Link,  in spite of what his past accomplishments might tell you, was not a miracle worker.

He squeezed the hilt of his blade with one hand. He wasn't going to be getting out of this any other way. He spared a look at the rabbit next to him.
Suddenly Link found himself in its shoes. His prize. His coat. His energy.

His meal.

Somewhere, off in the distance, a wolf howled.
End of Chapter
> Chapter 9ine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy sighed for what must have been the fifteenth time. She worried for her little bunny whenever he decided to rebel against her wishes, but it was also more than a bit exhausting. She was considering just tying a bell to his neck so he wouldn't get lost. 
He'd always been a fiercely independent spirit. He was the runt of his litter. Before she died, his mother rarely let him sup. His siblings always got to her first. 
When his mother passed away, the others stayed close together, but they shunned Angel. He was their black sheep. He had learned early on that he could not depend on his brothers and sisters, so he only depended on himself. When Fluttershy would come around with a bottle for him, he refused to nurse like a common baby and had to hold the bottle himself. It led to more than a few messes.
Fluttershy did, however, manage to teach him that he could rely on her too. It took time, but eventually Angel began to recognize her as the mother he never had; the family he never had. 
She frowned. Angel never did forgive his siblings for turning their backs on him. One by one they were adopted by good ponies, and they always tried to give him an apology and warm goodbye, but he had none of it. His sister offered him her last carrot as her new owner waited, and Angel smacked it to the ground and walked off. The look of defeat on her face burned into Fluttershy's mind. She would have to take Angel to see his siblings again sometime soon. Perhaps he would finally be willing to put the past behind him.

That was the future, however. For now, they just needed to find Angel in the spookiest forest in Equestria. Preferably in one piece too, though Rainbow Dash was on the fence and would accept small pieces of Angel instead. Fluttershy wouldn't though. Stupid bunny, needing to be in one piece in order to remain alive...

"Girls, I can't thank you enough for agreeing to help me. If we all pitch in we'll find Angel in no time."
Fluttershy smiled from behind her mane at her friends. It took no more than asking for them to agree to help her. There was no trade. No favor for a favor. Simple friends helping friends.
She felt blessed to have them in her life.
"It's no trouble at all, Fluttershy. If we figure out a strategy, we will find him easily."
"Yeah! With me on the job, there's no way we'll lose him!"
Fluttershy rolled her eyes at her oldest friend. Dash did not exactly possess the Element of Humility. 
"The question is, should we split into teams? Or split up completely?" 
"Girls?"
"It's probably better if we do teams," suggested Applejack. "I can go with Rares, Pinkie with Fluttershy, and Dash with Twi."
"Girls."
Twilight shook her head a bit. "Well, I was thinking we do two teams. We can then split as needed to find each other easier and will ultimately cover more ground."
"Girls!"
"That's a little complex for the Everfree, Twilight," said Dash. "Then again, Everfree likes complex. Or hates it. One of the two."
"Girls!!!"
Everyone looked at Rarity, who was pointing at Fluttershy's hoof. 
"Angel just saved us a trip."

The others looked at just where she was pointing, where they saw Angel Bunny himself panting heavily and dirtied, but otherwise uninjured. He looked like he just had a sprint with Tartarus nipping at his heels. He began to tug on Fluttershy's hoof in a panic, but she wasn't going to take any of his excuses. He wasn't going to be getting any ice cream for a week. 

Actually, you know what? Two weeks. 

"I'm sorry for bothering you, girls," Fluttershy said softly, all the while staring at Angel with utmost disappointment.
Just like that, any tension that had built up in terms of finding the little bunny dissipated. Rarity appeared to be visibly relieved that she didn't have to trek through the woods after all. All that dirt was no good for a coat as brilliant as hers, after all!
The others assured Fluttershy that it was no issue, and they were beginning to discuss turning their emergency get together into a simple meeting for tea when Angel began to act up. Sigh. He never had an off switch.
He would not stop tugging on Fluttershy's arm. She ignored him for several minutes before picking him up and softly scolding him. He wants more? Alright then, four weeks!
"Angel, that's enough. You already made me disturb the girls today. No more. Go to the time out corner and think about what you've done."
Angel would have none of it, though. He pointed with his free forepaw towards the trees, and tugged at Fluttershy some more. Her mask of stoicism began to melt when she saw the horror etched on the rabbit's face.
When she didn't respond right away however he was hoping she would, he just moved on to Pinkie. Then Twilight, then Applejack, Rarity, and finally Rainbow Dash. He would not stop pointing at the trees.
"I think he wants us to go with him back into the Everfree," said Twilight. "Angel, the Everfree is dangerous. I know you've seen timberwolves before!"
Five weeks.
Angel smacked his forehead, and then began to run towards the trees before beckoning them again.

Fluttershy got the feeling again. She could feel it in her gut. Something was either injured or sick in the trees. A helpless animal. It was the feeling of hair standing on end and dense foreboding. She knew. Something was very very wrong.
One hoof slowly moved towards the trees and the tunnel vision took over. Suddenly nothing else existed. It was as if she were in a trance. Another hoof moved forward.
Yes, something was definitely wrong. She just didn't know for sure what it was, but she was going to find out. Even if it did for some reason turn out to be nothing, she wouldn't feel right until she checked for herself.
Her heart skipped a beat and she let out a gasp. No. Nononononono.
She took off like a shot towards the trees with Angel, her friends clamoring after her in confusion.
In the distance, what sounded like a colt screamed. It was all the incentive they needed to double time their sprinting.
End of Chapter
> Chapter 10n
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link knew as soon as he saw the pack of wooden wolves.

They were all as big as the one he felled before. He wondered if he had killed an omega, and these were its pack mates. Did wooden wolves even have pack mates? Were they related to deku scrubs?
Link had many questions but no way to answer them. He knew that he was going to fall here. If they were normal sized wolves, he might be okay, but they were huge both in body and in number.
A thought bubbled to the surface of his mind. He knew well a destructive spell that cast a bubble of holy flames all around the caster. The spell would be more than enough to burn up the wolves, and the rabbit was close enough to him to be spared the wrath of the flames if he could maintain control.

He gave his head a shake. He wouldn't dare use such a spell in the forest. Even if his magic flowed properly in the chaos, he didn't want to risk causing a forest fire. As a Kokiri, to bring harm to the woods was a mortal sin. Link could tell that were he to use any of his spells in the forest, the chaotic magic that flowed through these trees would be enough to rob him of control. The odds were excellent that he would kill all of the wooden wolves, but also all of the trees in the vicinity, himself, and any wildlife unfortunate enough to be in the area at the time. That meant he couldn't so much as use his few enchanted arrows, let alone his more powerful spells. With magic like that in the woods now, each magical attack that he used would either fail completely or go completely out of control. 
He wondered how Ganondorf would have fared in this situation. Before he became the evil tyrant, Ganondorf was known as an extremely talented wizard who could not only control his spells in the worst situations, but could also rob control of other spells that may be used against him. Link believed that Ganondorf would survive this fight. Curious, to say the least. The one that Link felled would survive an onslaught by the ones Link himself would be felled by.

It would make an excellent song.

Link was kicking himself. Before he even left his home for this trip he paused in his doorway and looked at the closet in which he kept the equipment he found on his previous adventures. Something was telling him that it would probably be a good idea to bring more with him than his blade, shield, instruments, bow and arrows. It would be quite uncomfortable for him to have to carry everything plus all of his masks (he really had trust issues when it came to his fellow Kokiri), but he would at least be able to protect himself from most threats.

He recalled taking a step towards his closet to retrieve his equipment, but he ultimately turned around then and ignored his gut feeling. Now his apathy would cost him. If he brought his hookshot with him, he would simply be able to escape up the trees or the cliff behind him. But noooo.

He had to get down to brass tacks: he wasn't going to get out of this fight. But he was going to do the honorable thing: go down swinging and when he succumbed, his remains would become one with the forest. Such was the way of the dead Kokiri.

Link looked at the rabbit next to him, who was visibly shaking and attempting to eat its forepaws in pure anxiety, and Link decided that it did not need to die too, especially after he granted it a sudden stay of execution. He had a single deku nut left in his pocket- in addition to being snacks that never went bad, they could blind and disorient enemies when smacked into the ground with enough force. If he could blind the creatures, the rabbit could at least get away. Heaven knew rabbits were very quick when they wanted to be. Far quicker than Link ever was, for sure.
As if reading his mind, the rabbit covered its eyes with its ears, awaiting the end. Link had his chance.

Crack!

The wolves yelped in surprise and stumbled about. The rabbit peeked out from under its ears in curiosity.
"Run!" Link ordered, and the rabbit didn't need to be told twice. It took off into the trees behind the wolves faster than the Gorman Brothers' blind dates.
He let a ghost of a smile trace his lips. At least the rabbit was safe-ish. The question was, could it get back to its burrow without being preyed upon? He hoped so. Perhaps it could find its way to Saria somehow? He found himself uttering a prayer to the Goddesses, beseeching them to allow him a small miracle: If the rabbit could find his bones and bring Saria's ocarina back to her, he would rest in peace. He knew the odds of such a miracle actually occurring were slim at best, but he had to hope. It was one thing he did best. Link hoped every morning before his awakening as the Hero of Time for a fairy to call his very own. He hoped then to be accepted by the ones around him as an equal. He hoped to put an end to the suffering brought upon the greater area by a man of darkness. He hoped to find Navi again when she left.

He hoped for some form of salvation, be it his life being saved or his spirit being rested. Link did not wish to see Hades again.

He recalled stories told to him by Tatl when he was in Termina; stories of small forces taking on much larger armies. From the legendary Garos to the Ikana warriors, Terminian history was dotted with legendary final stands in the face of overwhelming odds. However, Link also knew that those stories did not make the history books because the little guys won. 

They were remembered because the little guys fought well before they died.

Link drew his sword as the effects of the deku nut began to wear off. By the time the beasts had righted themselves again, he had already taken one out at the leg and damaged its barrel. It let out a yowl of intense pain, but quickly righted itself. Link brought up his shield and eyed them all coldly.

He was going to die tonight, but he was determined to make it hell for his killers.

End of Chapter
> Chapter 1ne+1ne= 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link let out a loud scream as he hit the dirt again, only to roll under his shield to protect himself once more. It was just as he figured. The wolves intended to overpower and destroy him with numbers and size, which were supported by their regenerative properties. That was just what they did.
He could no longer tell how many he was up against. They all looked almost identical, though Link couldn't tell if it was due to blood loss or nature simply being unoriginal.

Ah, speaking of blood loss...

He struggled to keep his shield in place while the wolf did what it could to rend it free of his grip, or otherwise destroy him. His eyes wandered to his left thigh, where a chunk of meat had been torn loose. He could see his femoral artery pulsing freely. It was dumb luck that it was not ruptured. Had it been, he would have bled out in minutes.

Not that his current predicament was much better.

That is not to say that he did not make good on his promise to make a last stand. Link managed to down two of the wolves through clever use of a rare mask and his blade, and a third was critically injured, seemingly past its regenerative abilities.

For whatever reason, the wolves took pause for a moment when he gazed at them from behind the mystical mask of the Sheikah, the Mask of Truth. He noticed their gaze locking onto it on his belt- he'd been keeping it handy in case there were any Gossip Stones he could gain direction from. They would not halt their attacks outright, but something about it caused a hesitation that lasted long enough for Link to dispatch two of them permanently and mangle a third to the point of near paralysis.

Then it was knocked from his face and into the brush. He pondered while doing what he could to free his shoulder from one of the wolves what might happen if he used his Stone Mask, but that particular mask was near the bottom of his pack.
He paused a moment while the offending beast took reel and looked upon his new shoulder injury, then his leg again. Even if he successfully fought off the beasts, with his femoral exposed like it was, it was just a matter of time before infection set in and killed him.

Was this predicament enough to warrant using... that? It would certainly possess enough power to see him the victor, and his wounds would suddenly become a moot point. He managed to control its dark power during his fight with Majora. Perhaps...
He shook his head. No. It was true the mask had untold power and he managed to keep himself and it under control when he did battle Majora, but it was still too much of a threat. He would not bring its nonsense to Hyrule any more than he had to.

His eyes widened. He was going to die here. He knew that. Then what of his masks? Should someone stumble upon his bones down the line and discover the masks, what was stopping them from looting the worst ones? Who would stand up to them when granted untold power?

His simple answer was it would be better if he did not die.

And yet it looked like things would be ending that way. Link could barely stand any longer let alone swing his blade, and there were still what equated in his head to an army of the wolves left. Link scowled. 
"You're messing with something that you can't comprehend," he whispered. They made up the first complete sentence uttered by the boy since his return from Termina months prior.

The wolves did not pay mind. They only doubled their attacks, sensing that he was nearing death and victory was at hand. Link stole a glance at his shield. This attack alone proved enough to cause serious damage to it. The paint was all but removed and the scratches and dents were becoming a real issue. Perhaps it was better if he died, then? It would save him from having to pay a smith to repair his shield for him.
Link was again knocked to the dirt. This time, he was only able to struggle to his knees again. Darkness was invading his vision and everything felt like it was spinning. He could swear he heard female voices speaking, but he did not understand what they were saying. Perhaps the angels had a different language?
The ground itself felt as though it gave way beneath him and he was floating. This must've been it. He must have finally succumbed. Something was strange, though. He could not see his body anywhere beneath him. Come to think of it, why was he floating to one side as opposed to straight up? Did his sense of direction get so mekked1 up that his spirit couldn't find heaven anymore? Or was he going to the other place instead?
Whatever it was, it had to wait. The darkness took over his vision entirely. Just before it did, however, he could swear he saw a brightly colored smudge.



Fluttershy was quick when she wanted to be. The issue was, she never really wanted to be. 

Things changed, however, under special circumstances. 

If someone was hurting her friends or being mean enough to them, she knew how to simply stare them into submission. Fluttershy was capable of being very scary. You don't make it to Lieutenant Colonel without being tough on occasion, after all. 
If an animal was in danger? She would throw caution to the wind and do what was necessary to help them.
As such, she was actually rivaling Rainbow Dash in speed right now, though that was mainly due to her running. Dash was impossibly fast in the air, but nothing to really write home about on the ground.

"Rainbow Dash- I mean, Fluttershy, what in heaven's name has gotten into you?" called Rarity, who was doing an impeccable job of dodging every branch in the trees as they ran.
"Animal! Hurt! Maybe scared! Sick!" she called behind her. 
The others fell silent and joined her in quiet determination. Fluttershy loved animals with all her heart and she could use a hoof right now. That was suddenly all that mattered.
They could hear the telltale barking of Timberwolves in the distance. Fluttershy began to pick up speed, and she disappeared into the brush ahead.
"Fluttershy, no!" called Twilight. "Come on, everypony! Kick it into high gear!"
The others did not need to be asked twice. They began running as fast as they could, and they cut through the brush as well.

Fluttershy was unharmed. That was the good news. The timberwolves did not seem to be paying her any mind yet.
The same could not be said of the creature they were attacking. There were four of them. For a moment Twilight wondered if it was a dragon they were attempting to kill- she could see a bit of green in the mess of stick monsters and knew it was a fairly common color in the scales of dragons. The theory was put to bed when she saw the shine of what seemed to be a metal shield.
A tiny green hat lay in the dirt before her. Pinkie was investigating an eerie white and red mask just next to her. Could this have been a guard that was being attacked? A pony?
The wolves cleared up a bit just long enough for them to see something they had never seen before. It looked almost like a minotaur runt, but had smoother facial features and no fur on its clothed body but for its head. It was mangled to say the least. One of its hind legs had muscle missing down to the bone. The sounds it was making suggested it was young. Very young.

Too young for this to be its fate.

"What the hay is that thing?" asked Rainbow in barely a whisper. "An alien?"
Fluttershy said nothing, instead choosing to begin walking towards the chaos in front of her.
"Fluttershy, what are you doing?" asked Applejack cautiously. The wolves had not noticed them yet.
"Alien or no alien, it needs us," said Fluttershy. "We would be failing our duties as Elements of Harmony if we left it."
"What if it is some kind of monster?" said Rarity in just above a whisper. Fluttershy gave her friends a look.
"Then we will deal with it then. Come on, girls!"
With that, she dove into the fray. The timberwolves let out a few shrieks of surprise at the intruder. Dash was quick to follow. Twilight took a few steps forward too.
"She's right. Alien or no alien, we can't leave it to the timberwolves. You know what will happen if they win. Another will join their pack."
It was all the incentive the others needed to join in.



The goal was not to destroy the timberwolves. It was simply to get the creature out and to safety. Fluttershy had dealt with bad injuries before, but only rarely as bad as what the creature sustained. She wondered how in Equestria she would manage.
For now, the focus was getting the creature free and clear, and it was a success. Fluttershy also noted with surprise that the being wielded weaponry, namely a sword, shield, and a bow. She even saw a slingshot on its belt. The creature must have been young then.

It was small too. Barely up to her barrel if it was standing, she guessed.

She did not mind the blood seeping into her coat. It had happened before when she helped animals and she suspected that it would happen again. She only hoped not with this creature.
It was decided while they retreated out of the forest that Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash would go find Zecora and ask her to come to Fluttershy's cottage to help with the wounded animal. Fluttershy, Rarity, Angel and Pinkie Pie would focus on getting the creature free and safe.
Pinkie seemed to coo gently when she looked at it. The itty bitty thingy had passed out. 
"Don't worry, little fella. Fluttershy will get you all better very soon. Then you can play with your itty bitty masks again!" she chirped.
Yes, the masks. The creature had quite a few of them in its rucksack. Perhaps it enjoyed them. Pinkie could only reason that the one she found in the dirt was its as well. She was responsible for carrying the bag full of masks. Rarity was carrying what they figured was its hat, as well as its shield and sword.

Fluttershy was going to do her very best to help the creature. She just didn't know for sure if it would be enough.
End of Chapter
> Twelbe
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zecora and Fluttershy worked on it throughout the night, but there was only so much to be done with a creature that they knew so little about.
The wound on his leg was critical and they were forced to consider amputation for a while. It was an idea neither of them favored. Zecora refused to use any of her brews on him for fear of causing further complications. This was an alien creature they were confident in labeling as not native to Equestria. Who knew what would happen if they used her solves?
It wasn't until Twilight Sparkle ran a magic scan on his body that they were able to do much else other than make him comfortable.
Her magic scan may have saved his life. The thaumatic energy signature over his body was slightly weaker than the magic energy of Equestria, but it was still strong enough to permit the use of magical remedies without worrying about complications. Twilight would end up assisting the two by using a transmutation spell to turn Zecora's brews into magical treatments for the boy.

And yes. Upon removing his clothes to check for further wounds, it was quite apparent that he was male.

The first thing they worked on was his leg, which required thorough cleaning before an additional regenerative spell for the lost tissue. Twilight's magic would not heal the boy completely, but it would at the very least help the tissue over his femoral artery to recover. He would be left with a limp and a terrible scar on his leg for the rest of his life, but that was still his most threatening injury taken care of. For good measure they heavily bandaged it up.

"He's nearly all in, the poor little colt. Why was he not accompanied by an adult?" asked Zecora.
"We don't know," answered Twilight. "Fluttershy's bunny led us to him."
She sent a small smile to Fluttershy. "You have a regular Lassie, Fluttershy."
"That show certainly rings a bell. Had he only been stuck inside a well."
Twilight's smile faded. "If only. This would be simpler then. Let's move on to the next wound, shall we?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Let's!" 
She found her hoof tracing along a faded scar on one side of his mane line. Another scar on one side of his neck stood out too. Were those teeth marks?
She let out a quiet "Eep!" and felt the fangs in her mouth. She wasn't a vampony, she swore. They were just canine teeth! 
"Let's," she repeated softly.



The first thing Link noted when he came to again was a pounding headache and a great thirst. Strange, that shouldn't happen if you're dead. Wasn't it supposed to be perpetual peace or damnation?
Oh. 
He felt anger rising up within him. He had fought for and saved Hyrule and Termina from terrible fates. Was that not enough to grant him his rest in paradise?
The next thing he noticed was the chattering of several voices nearby. All female, from what he could tell. None of them were speaking a lick of Hylian, however. He couldn't make a word out, but he had a good feeling they were talking about him. Call him vain.



They were glad that he was alive. It wasn't certain if he would make it through the night at first. If he did, his odds were good. As it stood, he survived the night. The alien creature certainly had a lot of fight in him.
Now the question remained what to do with him, and whether he could be trusted. They didn't even know for certain his age, let alone what an adult of his species was considered. For all they knew he was an elder.
Fluttershy was at his defense whenever something about him was questioned. Angel had told her after they returned from the Everfree that the creature was hunting for food and nearly hunted him, but spared him. It was as if the creature simply mistook the bunny for something else. 
Additionally, Angel insisted that he did some sort of trick to blind the timberwolves temporarily and allowed for his escape. As far as Fluttershy was concerned, the alien had proven himself to be benevolent. As far as Angel was concerned, he owed his near hunter a priceless gift. It was purely for saving him from the timberwolves, mind you. He definitely wasn't afraid of the alien and questioning what possessed him to get the others to aid him.
It absolutely wasn't that.

Okay, it was a little of that.

Also as far as Fluttershy was concerned, Angel was still grounded for five weeks, but that's neither here nor there. The bottom line was, nothing would be done until it was established what he was doing there.
Applejack, being the Element of Honesty, could tell when somepony was lying, though she claimed that it was not magic but simple observation that allowed her to do that. An eye for liars ran in the Apple family. So, the simple fix would be to talk with the creature and figure out what it was doing there.
The question was if he could even speak. If he could, who was to say he knew Equish? As much as they hated to admit it, Fluttershy had a point: right now all they could do was hurry up and wait until he opened his eyes.

Needless to say, Rainbow Dash was not thrilled.

"This stinks. We have a real live alien lying here in your cottage, and we have to sit around waiting for it to wake up. Can't it open its eyes any faster?"
Fluttershy shook her head patiently. "You saw his injuries, Rainbow. We need to give his body and mind some time to heal. He will not wake up until he is ready."
Rainbow sagged. "Hmph. Yeah, I guess I shouldn't blame it for what the timberwolves did. Stupid creatures."
"He, Rainbow Dash."
She raised an eyebrow. "I don't think it particularly cares right now if I use its preferred pronoun."
Fluttershy smiled, which Dash returned. 
"Regardless, she is right Rainbow. This creature is male and you would do well to begin referring to him as such."
Twilight took a few steps towards her. "After all, you wouldn't want to embarrass yourself in front of an alien, would you?" she winked. 
"It's a legal alien!" chirped Pinkie. "And I betcha it doesn't even speak Spanish!"

Though she didn't mention it to her friends, Pinkie had been beset upon by her Pinkie Sense once more. It was no doozy this time. Rather, it was adamant that there was somepony who needed a hug from her. She had a good feeling it was the alien, but it had been triggered by several others in passing as well. Maybe it was just time to give everypony a hug? 
Behind the pink ball of fluff, the creature began to stir. Everypony sans Pinkie gasped when they saw it moving one of its hands towards its forehead.
Pinkie, impossibly quickly, darted over to his bedside, looming directly over him. She wanted to be the first pink he saw since he woke up! There was no way this could possibly go wrong.



Link's first real glimpse of the ponies left something to be desired.
When he finally managed to open his eyes again, his view was obstructed by roughly 90% pink. The other 10% were big blue eyes.
Big.
Everything about the pink one was big. She was plump, sure, but huge in comparison to Link! He would have to look up to her even when he was full grown.
Also, having your vision obstructed by a pretty plump pink pony that had no regard for personal space after recovering from a comatose state was not the best way to wake up. Link instinctively drew back into the bedding, earning low protests of pain from his body.
He heard the female voices again, as well as clopping on a hardwood floor, and looked to the source.
There were five more of them. Five more ginormous equine like creatures. Two resembling unicorns, and two resembling pegasi from what he could tell. One more did not have wings or a horn, but it was wearing a hat that reminded him a lot of Malon. He missed Malon.
They began to pull the pink personal space invader away from him, but the damage was done. His eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted again.



"Oh, come on!" complained Rainbow Dash.
"Pinkie Pie, what were you thinking? I would react the same way if you did that to me!" said Rarity.
Pinkie frowned a little. "I didn't mean to scare him. I just wanted to make sure he was okay."
Her grin quickly returned. "Also, remember my doozy from a few weeks ago?"
The others were silent for a few moments, and their eyes widened. They looked over at the once more unconscious alien, and then back at a very smug looking Pinkie Pie.
"Told ya so!"
End of Chapter
> Your One Stop Shop For All Things Pant or Slack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link did not open his eyes again until the next morning. For a moment, he wondered if everything he had experienced was a dream. Sometimes he still wondered if he was going to awaken one day in his home in the Kokiri Village to find that everything he thought had happened was really just a crazy dream.
It stirred in his thoughts. He wasn't sure if he would be glad of that twist or saddened by it. On one hand, it would mean he never actually killed anyone. On the other, however, it would mean that he was still the loser without the fairy that even the Great Deku Tree did not often talk to. Though, to be fair, the Great Deku Tree was not known for socializing.
He knew in the moment that this was real, even if it was a dream. He was experiencing it now, and that was what mattered. Gathering what little strength he possessed, Link sat up a bit and looked around.
He was situated in some kind of foyer, but it was huge. He felt as though he was a fairy, and he wondered if this was how Navi felt when she saw the home of a Kokiri or Hylian for the first time. Link wasn't as small as Navi by comparison to the furnishings of the room, but there was a jug of water near the ginormous couch he was set up on that Link doubted he could lift very easily.

It was strange. The room was of a house that appeared to be well lived in, but also very welcoming. The air was quite pleasant; a far cry from the humidity Link was enduring in the woods. Link felt like he was welcome here, but at the same time he felt quite uncomfortable. Was this perhaps the cottage whose door he knocked on shortly before the attack?
His mind flashed back to his fight and near death, and his eyes widened. His masks! If someone bad got ahold of them.... what if his mysterious benefactor had gotten to them? Speaking of, just who helped him in the first place? He had a dream that multicolor giant horses had been in the room with him, but that was just ridiculous.
Link relaxed slightly when he saw the rucksack full of masks laying at the opposite side of the couch. He flinched a bit when his eye caught the mask of Majora at the top. Though its power was dormant and the evil goddess within slept once more, Link could still feel the hatred and contempt the entity had for him. The only thing protecting him was the lack of a host for Majora to exact revenge with.
Link looked down at his torso. His tunic was gone and his body was heavily bandaged. It looked as though the bandages were fresh, because he saw no blood staining them. He did not bother to look at his mangled leg. He couldn't even feel it and had assumed it was removed. Really it had just fallen asleep. Hey, nobody said Link was smart.
The only thing Link could do right now was concern himself with his well being. His throat was dry and parched. What he would give to be able to reach that jug and drink from it! Instead, however, he was going to have to make do with looking around for a cup of some kind. All while lying on the couch.
Sigh. Perhaps he could call for help? He couldn't very well walk in this condition. Now that he thought about it, raising his voice would do him little good. He was just too thirsty and also talking wasn't something he particularly liked to do. He'd been mistaken for a mute on a few occasions.

Link's eyes rested on the jug of water again and he frowned, attempting to just will a cup into existence.  The cup did not come to him, but something else did.
He heard what sounded like the clopping of hooves and humming of a woman echo through the house and his blood ran cold. Instantly he was recalling his dream. It... was a dream, wasn't it?
The humming ceased with a gasp, as did the clopping. In the doorway to another room, Link saw what he thought was a huge pegasus again.
Neither of them said a word at first. Somewhere, off in the distance, a wolf howled. As if responding, the pegasus took in a breath and seemed to smile gently at him.
"Taj lah1."



Dear Princess Celestia,
I hope this letter finds you well, especially with the festival coming up. Are you sure you don't need me to schedule anything for you? I know parking in Manehattan is a nightmare. Well, not a nightmare like your sister was--

Twilight groaned and crumbled up the sheet of paper. Try again. She may have been tough to anger, but Princess Celestia's wrath was something better left unwitnessed. Even Queen Chrysalis shivered under her glare.

Dear Princess Celestia,
I hope this letter finds you well. I know the festival can be a cause for some stress, and my friends and I are sending all our thoughts and well wishes to you. How is Princess Luna doing? Spike misses you both and wants me to bring him along next time I see you. Would that be okay?
I'm not just writing for personal talk, unfortunately. We (my friends and I) found something in the Everfree not too far from Zecora's house. It was being accosted by timberwolves and was nearly killed. We don't really know what it is, but we do know that it is sapient, and not a pony. Or if it is a pony, it's horribly deformed. 
Fluttershy, Zecora and I worked on its injuries after we managed to get it away from the timberwolves, and I will include all the information we do have right now about it:
-It is male.
-It has very fine fur on its arms and legs, but none anywhere else but a mane on its head.
-It seems to be youthful, but we do not know the life expectancy and so it could very well be of any age bracket.
-It was clothed.
-It was heavily armed with a sword, a shield, a bow, and a bone knife.
-It carried a large rucksack full of unusual masks.
-It is tiny.
We know very little beyond what I have listed. Fluttershy is watching over it now while it recovers, but we are unsure if it speaks or, if it does, what language it speaks. The odds of it knowing Equish are extremely low, so I humbly request your presense as soon as possible to discuss this creature in better detail. As well, perhaps we can also have some tea and cookies afterwards if you can spare some time.
I look forward to a prompt response, but I request that you send it through any means other than the conventional. Spike is sick right now and I don't want him to have to... you know.
Love, Princess Twilight Sparkle.
P.S Please tell Princess Luna I said thank you for the moon cake recipe. Spike loves them and they knock him out quickly when he can't sleep.
--
Twilight read, re-read, and re-re-read the letter to ensure it was ready to send. She wasn't going to bother Spike with this one. His flu was just too much right now and he needed his rest. Besides, Twilight learned a new spell for this very purpose: it emulated Spike's dragon fire and would send the letter wherever Twilight wanted it to go. If she could do this herself, it would mean one less thing for her number one assistant to have to worry about. Perhaps this would also mean he wouldn't have to regurgitate scrolls soon!
She smiled and shut her eyes. All she had to do was imagine the castle, and she could toss the scroll into the wormhole she'll have opened!
She probably should have kept her eyes open. The thaumatic signature of this new spell was almost identical to a fire spell. Needless to say, Twilight ended up getting her wires crossed and accidentally burned up the scroll.
She blinked. Did that really just happen? Without even realizing it, Twilight began to ready another piece of paper. Sigh.

Dear Princess Celestia...
End of Chapter
> Fourteen, Chapter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before Link ever left the forest, he had never seen a horse before.
He was raised to believe that horses were rare but sacred animals, for they perfectly embodied what the Kokiri admired most about nature- pure, unbridled freedom. 
When he saw his first horse, he was in awe. That was at Navi's prodding and it occurred after his first visit to what was known simply as Castle Town. He met a girl only a year older than he was named Malon, and she got to talking at him about where she came from: a ranch not too far from town. When Link heard she took care of the horses, his eyes lit up.

So, naturally Navi decided his quest could wait a day or so and had him change course to meet the amazing animal for the first time. That was the same day he met Epona.
The horses he met then were nothing like what the creature in front of him was though. It was a butter colored pegasus with a pink mane and the kindest eyes he had ever seen in his life.

"Po ketch se la les, sera?1" 

Link was also reasonably confident the horses he knew did not have an apparent language. Nothing like what this huge pegasus was using, at least.
The pegasus took a few steps towards him, and he felt his muscles try to tense up. He took a few deep breaths to try and keep himself relaxed. If this creature wished to harm him, it probably would have done so already.
"Esi, esi2..." 
Link did not know where his weapons now were on the off chance he had to defend himself. He was too weak to get his masks, and they were literally just a few feet away from him!
He was put a bit at ease when the pegasus seemed to pick up on his emotions, for she let out a quiet "Eep" and stopped.

She pointed at the jug of water with one hoof, then at him. "Arkaloola?3" 
Link stared silently. The pegasus held the hoof near her mouth and pantomimed gulping down a cup of something.
Ah.
He nodded hesitantly. She smiled gently, and took a step towards the other room again.
"Un seka.4" 
Link watched as the pegasus entered the other room, his eyes wide. He really had done it, hadn't he? He actually escaped the Lost Woods! He only had to nearly die to do it, but it was better than being cursed and mugged.

Well, on second thought...

Link's eyes wandered to the coffee table in front of the couch he was set up on. He could see both of his ocarinas. He frowned when he saw a crack in the one his best friend had given him. Provided it was not too deep, he figured he could fix it with proper adhesive.
He barely had to spare a look at the Ocarina of Time. So long as it was there was all that mattered to him. Link figured that the Ocarina of Time was completely indestructible. He accidentally left it on a seat that was then taken by a very large Goron gentleman, so he figured if being sat on by an especially large rock person didn't break it, nothing would. So far he was correct.
His eyes wandered up when he began to notice a creeping feeling; the feeling he would get when someone was watching him...

...and it suddenly felt like someone had punched him in the gut. It was the rabbit he nearly killed that was eyeing him with a mix of caution and relief. 
Link just felt awful. He had come very close to hunting what must have been a pet of some kind. Had it gone and fetched him help when he was attacked? If that were the case, Link knew then just how close he came to death. Had he loosed his arrow, no help would have come, and he would have died.

A dark voice in the back of his mind wondered if maybe that would have been the better thing to occur. It was the sad part of his mind that was perpetually depressed after everything he had seen in his young life. Link did all he could to fight it, though. He never let the depressing thoughts rule his mind. When he felt too sad to go out, he got up and went out anyway. When he felt like crying, he would laugh instead. When he felt no interest in the world around him, he would clean. Link was not particularly intelligent when he first arrived in this new land, but he did know one thing well, and that was how to fight, because when you're going through hell, you should keep going.

In the other room, the pegasus was humming softly.



Twilight loved writing, especially to Princess Celestia. The Sun Princess was like a second mother to her and was always good for a conversation.
She smiled a bit while she continued to re-write her letter. Once, when she was a few years younger, Twilight was sitting in on court with Celestia just to the side of her throne. It was a typical day up until the end, when she called one of the last petitioners to the stand. It was a filly that couldn't have been more than six years old.

So, of course, Celestia smiled warmly. "Welcome, little one. What is your reason for coming to court today?"
Twilight could not recall the filly's name, but she remembered what happened next. She reached out with a math book.
"I need help. I can't figure number three out. Can you help me?"
Celestia's guards were well acquainted with her soft spot for foals, and so they did not move to dismiss the child. Shocking absolutely nopony in the room, Celestia got off her throne and approached.
"Well, what's the question?"
"Forty four and twenty-two."
Celestia smiled. "Wow! That's a tough one. But you're a smart filly, so how about we try this: What does four plus two equal?"
The filly concentrated hard. "Six?"
Celestia nodded. "Very good. Now, what does four plus two equal?"
The filly eyed her in confusion. "Six."
Celestia nodded again. "Now, what does forty four plus twenty two equal?"
The filly looked dejected. "I don't know."
Celestia booped her nose. "Yes, you do. You just told me."
Twilight, to her credit, did not jump in and scream the answer in the filly's face, though she really wanted to.
Fortunately, the light came on in the child's head, and she grinned. "Sixty six!"
Celestia applauded. "Very good, my little pony."

The child gave Celestia a hug for her help before her parents finally caught up to her, took her back, and begged Celestia's forgiveness. The Princess told them the child had done no wrong, and was welcome any time.
When Twilight finally returned from her musings, the re-written letter was completed. Sure, she shaved a few of the pleasantries from it, but it still said what it needed to say. Now to send it. She powered up her horn, focused her magic, and...
"Twiiiiiiillliiiiiiiight!" called a certain young drake from another room.
His call startled her enough to accidentally burn the letter to a crisp. This time was different though. You ever have one of those days where you're trying to send a letter to the sun goddess, and you accidentally send it into an active volcano instead?

No? Just Twilight?

With a growl, Twilight got yet another piece of paper ready, and then went to tend to the young drake. And possibly send him into the volcano too. She hadn't decided yet.
End of Chapter
> Leave blank for auto-named chapter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nobody could deny that Link saw a lot in his young life. He was familiar with the use of a blade since he was around 5 years old. He was far from perfect, mind you- he'd been bested several times in his life, though each time was at the hands of a friendly who he was sparring with. Saria was terrific with the bow but trained him in swordplay too, Darunia was masterful at blocking and taught him to use his shield as a weapon, and Malon was borderline unstoppable when it came to archery and swordplay on horseback.

He'd seen a lot. It even surprised Majora when Link betrayed little in terms of shock at her apparent possession of the Skull Kid. He didn't even hesitate when she fled to the Moon. He simply followed.

Link's mind was currently on hold, however. Something broke in that dome of his and he couldn't quite figure out anything that was going on right now.
He saw no sign of any Kokiri, Hylians, Gorons, or Zora that may occupy this house, and there were telltale signs for any of them- Kokiri kept a lot of simple weapons made of bone in their homes to demonstrate their hunting prowess, Hylians were known for being finicky about their decor and would always decorate with the nicest pottery they could, Gorons kept rocks literally everywhere, and Zoras mainly lived in the water.
In other words, the only sign of intelligence he found so far was that of the rabbit and the pegasus. That meant that the house probably belonged to one or both of them. Judging by the rabbit's keeping him company while the pegasus straightened up and moved stuff around, the home probably belonged to the enormous equine.

Link swallowed, though he had no saliva left. Everything in this house was huge compared to him. It made him feel insignificant.
The pegasus was babbling in her nonsensical language here and there, but was using few words from what he could tell. It seemed like she was cleaning up for his sake, though the room honestly did not need too much in the way of cleaning. He didn't want to make reference to the water again because he feared being considered rude, and also he wasn't entirely sure she was asking if he was thirsty in the first place. Perhaps the gulping pantomime was this culture's way of saying "It is a pleasure to have you"? Maybe it's the complete opposite and turned out to be a grievous insult?
In reality, she was just making sure the dust was under control in the room, lest it aggravate his wounds. She would feel just awful if something like that happened.
Also, she was pretty confident she had a bottle in the room somewhere and wasn't certain where she left it. But mostly the dust thing, darn it!
The pegasus appeared to grin- grin at Link sheepishly. Link did not stare at her for too long. Where he was from, maintained eye contact like that was a challenge. The Kokiri were known to fight each other over it. It was okay to look at someone's eyes for a few moments, but stare too long and you might end up in an altercation you did not intend for. It was considered humble and polite for the Kokiri to avert their gazes from the eyes of anyone. The eyes contained the soul, and to stare into one's soul was very intrusive and downright rude. 

Link was thirsty.



Fluttershy was perplexed.

The creature seemed to be going to great lengths to avoid looking at her. She knew she did not sleep much the night before, but did she really look so ragged? Perhaps she needed a spa day more than she realized.
She shook her head a bit to clear it. Maybe he was just shy or scared. She was quite a bit bigger than he was, and most of her furniture dwarfed him as well. She figured he needed time to get used to the size difference.
As with any other animal, Fluttershy resolved to crouch down and appear smaller to him when she fetched him water.
She looked down at the bottle in her hoof. It was the same one she used to feed many a baby animal in her care since she first arrived in Ponyville. She even fed Angel Bunny with it when he was a newborn.
She sighed sadly. Fluttershy had taken in Angel when he was too young to even open his eyes. His mother had died shortly after giving birth, and his siblings were living with other families. When it came time to give him up, however, Angel was beyond distraught and did not want to leave her. He threw tantrums and fits with any family that may have wanted him and calmed down only when he was allowed to stay with her. He could be really mean, but he did love Fluttershy and would do anything for her.

She gave her head a shake and looked at the creature and Angel. Angel seemed to be trying to get a staring contest out of him and the creature was again going to great lengths to avoid eye contact. She wanted to help him break that habit.
First, however, it would do if she could wash the bottle she was holding and give the poor creature the water it probably very much needed by now.



Link was amazed.

The pegasus was not using her mouth to hold the bottle. It was not being balanced on her back. It was not on a plate or anything of the sort.
She was actually holding it in her hoof, as if it were a piece of metal and her hoof was a magnet. Link wondered if Epona could ever be trained to do something like that. Probably not. Epona wasn't very bright.
His fascination was only further magnified when she appeared to pull the rubber nipple off the top of the bottle, leaving a cup for Link to sip from. She had hooves, not fingers or toes to work with!
Link eyed the glass with trepidation, but hesitantly took it from her. His fingers brushed against her hoof as he took the water and he could find no sign of anything helping her actually grip anything.

How far from home are you, Link?



Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. 

The entirety of Ponyville was now in grave danger. 
The entirety of Equus too, if something didn't change.
What was the horrid conflict that was looming?
Twilight was coming very close to having another episode. An episode on the level of "accidentally causing a mass riot because Princess Celestia did not receive a letter in almost 7 days."
It was funny, really, because this episode was about sending a letter to Celestia too. Only this one did not include a botched spell and a smelly old teddy bear that she was pretty sure Big Mac still possessed. 
"<3, Twilight.
P.S. Plz thank Luna 4 moon cake recipe. Spike <3 them."
She grinned while an eye twitched. As if in response, thunder clapped outside. The skies had opened up not long before. She pitied anypony that had to be out there right now. But she had this. She was ready. She was calm. Everything was good. This was going to be okay.
She's got this. She does. No screwing up this time, Twilight. Third time is the charm and all that, forsaken grammar and spelling aside.
The letter was beginning to levitate now, and Twilight felt her heart soar. She was visualizing Celestia on her throne right now, and knew that this time the letter would not miss. Spike was sound asleep, she was as focused as Derpy's vision, and this was going down now.
It was about that moment that Rainbow Dash crashed through the window behind Twilight. The crash startled her enough that her levitation was interrupted, allowing a draft from the storm outside to grab ahold of the parchment and drag it out the now shattered window. It did not last very long against the rain.
Twilight turned her gaze to the dazed pegasus on the floor before her, forelegs spread in front of her and her rear in the air. She grinned sheepishly at Twilight, and gulped when she saw the fire in those eyes.
Twilight decided at that moment that Murphy could die in a fire.
End of Chapter
> In Which Link Gets Fed Up With My Bullshit And Names The Chapter Himself
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rabbit would not stop, and Link was beginning to lose his patience.

It kept trying to stare into Link's eyes, and Link was doing all he could to avoid returning it. He figured that the rabbit probably didn't know that what it was doing was challenging him, but it was no less irritating. Link could feel himself grinding his teeth, and it was rapidly costing him willpower to just avoid returning that stare.
Eventually, he'd had enough. If this rabbit wanted to see his power, he'd gladly show him wounded though he may be. He resolved to return the stare, and did so with piercing blue eyes.
The pegasus returned to the room with a few dishes on her back and a smile. As soon as Link had begun to return the stare, the rabbit turned away to greet the pegasus. Link was less than amused. Coward.
The pegasus gave the rabbit a gentle kiss on the head and a nuzzle, and Link watched in amazement as she took one plate off her back with a hoof and set it on the coffee table. She gave the rabbit a pat on the head while he began to wolf down the salad she offered. Then, the pegasus turned her attention to Link.
She tilted her head, and rubbed at her face as if something were stuck on it, then approached him. Link observed her as she did her best to stay low and at eye level for him.

"Yeemara?"1

Link blinked in silence, and she pointed a hoof at the rabbit, who was already almost finished eating. Farore, did he have a hollow leg or something?
He felt his stomach, wincing at the bandages and pain he felt, and reasoned that she was asking if he was hungry. He nodded, and she smiled and set a hot plate on his lap. And then another next to him. And another on his opposite side. And one on the coffee table. You know what? Make that three on the coffee table. 
Each of them had a different meal prepared, as if the pegasus was expecting company but only he showed up. For a moment he wondered if any was for her, but the look on her face told him she wanted him to eat.
He stared at the food all around him. Was she trying to fatten him up to eat him later or something? She prepped a salad, what appeared to be a pasta dish of some kind, a bowl full of scrambled eggs, and a variety of fish based dishes to choose from.
Link sighed inwardly. He hated fish. He chose the eggs, and dug in.



Fluttershy was curious, to say the least.

From what she heard from Angel, the alien creature tried to hunt him, which made her think he was either carnivorous or omnivorous. However, she could not yet communicate properly with him, so she did not know what his standard diet consisted of. Based on the aura he seemed to give off, too, she did not think he would be too keen on having her feed him with a bottle.
She thought he was kind of cute, though. The creature did seem to love his milk. He quickly polished off the glass when she filled it, and his milk mustache had to be the cutest thing she had seen in the last twenty minutes. Maybe even thirty!
He did not eat everything she had prepared, though, and she did not expect him to. She simply wanted to get an idea of what, if anything, he would eat.
Now she had that idea. He really seemed to love his dairy, so a vegan diet was out. He did too nibble at the salad here and there as well, and he took a bite of one of the fish dishes, though he did not seem to enjoy it.
All in all, he was far more a civilized eater than Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie, something that Rarity would probably appreciate.
Fluttershy was confident that the speech barrier would begin to crumble given a bit more time with him. Sometimes her innate ability to speak to animals and creatures took a bit to kick in. She believed it to be due to her proximity to the Everfree Forest and its known interference with magic. Given that friendship is magic, it came as no surprise to her that she would sometimes run into speed bumps.
Angel nudged against her leg, and she sighed. Whenever he really got into trouble like he was now, he would try to be the kindest, softest, fluffiest bunny he could be. Anything if it meant getting out of punishment. He could be a real flank kisser when he wanted something.

"Angel, that's not going to work. You're still in a lot of trouble. Now go to bed."
Angel, grumbling, wandered off to another room. Fluttershy winced when a door slammed, and looked to the alien, who was reaching towards the coffee table. She thought he wanted more food at first, but it quickly became clear he wanted one of his instruments. She gave the blue one to him, but didn't want him playing too loud lest he wake up some of the sleeping animals. 

He seemed disappointed. Had she done something to upset him?

He spared another look at his other instrument, and pointed to it with a pleading look. She eyed it and frowned. There was a rather large crack in it. He wanted that one, then? 
Deciding to humor him, she hoofed over the other instrument. To her surprise, he did not begin to play. Instead, he traced a finger along the crack and frowned deeply. The crack must have been much worse than he thought it was. It was the only time he looked totally defeated while he recovered in Fluttershy's care.
"Strange one, it's okay," she said softly. "You don't have to be sad. I can get you a new one."
He did not seem to heed her words. It was quite obvious he did not speak their language. She was not certain if he even spoke at all. Perhaps his kind used more physical actions to speak? If so, would she have to name him? She would have to worry about that later.
Fluttershy watched him trace a finger over the crack in the instrument repeatedly. He did not cry. He did not make a peep. He was simply breathing and holding the instrument, as if it were a lost friend he found hurt.
Instead of hugging him, Fluttershy sat next to him carefully and just watched. She slowly placed a hoof on his shoulder and rubbed it reassuringly. The creature did not respond to her and instead continued to trace the crack as if his instrument was the only thing in existence.

She sat with him as the food long forgotten cooled off. Neither of them knew how long they sat for. Fluttershy eventually saw his eyes begin to grow weary, and she carefully took the dishes away from him as well as the blue instrument. She let him hold the broken one and she tucked him in as he held it close to his heart.

"Sleep well, little one."



Dear Princess Celestia,

How you doing? Rainbow Dash here. I don't have a lesson for you though. Twilight forced asked me to write you this letter because she is at her wits end thinks it would do me some good. 
Spike is sick with the flu. Are you getting ready for the celebration okay? Need any help or something? Twi's all over that if you do.
I'm not writing you of my own free will please come to Ponyville and save me for fun, though. Something happened recently. We found a creature in the Everfree. It was being attacked by timberwolves when we found it and was almost killed in the fight. It's not a pony. It's not a dragon. It's not a zebra. We have no idea what it is.
What we do know is this:
-It is male.
-It was clothed and armed with various different types of weaponry.
-It never got in the way of my tartarus forsaken letter writing like Spike did and Rainbow did and the volcano did and the fire did and I just wanted to send this bucking letter to you believe me I tried a thousand different times I am so sorry princess I know I failed you and I would accept any punishment you have for me but please promise me you will punish Spike and Rainbow and fire and that volcano and Murphy too because I'm about to scream and I hate this-

Rainbow squinted. Behind her Twilight rambled on and on about how life was not fair and even the simplest things were impossible. It was getting tough to scribe the letter for her.
"Twilight?" she asked. Twilight instantly stopped and Rainbow could feel her gaze boring into the back of her head.
"Uhh... was I supposed to write that down?"
Rainbow swore she could hear something in Twilight's brain snap. Just as she was about to respond (or commit murder), a voice from another room rang out.
"Twiiiiiiiillllllliiiiiiiiiight!"
Rainbow could actually hear strands of Twilight's mane begin to stick out of place. She turned her head cautiously to see one of Twilight's eyes twitch. Without a word, she left the room.

As soon as the door shut behind her, Rainbow was out the window.

Element of Loyalty.

End of Chapter
> Fuck the what what number is this
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Link first met the pegasus, he knew there was something strange about her.

She seemed to possess the ability to put him at ease impossibly quickly. Link wasn't known for trusting anyone immediately, but he felt a peace around her that he hadn't felt since he and Saria became close friends.
He missed Saria. He missed her dearly. Mentally, he had apologized to her repeatedly the night prior until he fell asleep, clutching the broken ocarina to his chest. When he saw just how damaged it was, he knew there would be no playing it again; not with all the tender loving care in the world.

It didn't mean he wouldn't keep it, though. It was priceless to him and given to him by the Kokiri who acted like a big sister for him. 
As he eyed the crack in the ocarina and a tear splashed onto it, he could hear Saria's voice in his head.
That's okay, Link. I know we will be friends forever!
Link choked out a gasp when he heard clopping from upstairs, and he wiped away his tears. Link was good at stopping himself from crying. He was also good at making himself cry if it meant he could manipulate adults into letting him do something he had to do. He used that tactic on the guards in Clock Town more times than he cared to admit and even tricked Tatl the first time he did it.

"Good morning sleepyhead," smiled the pegasus. "How did sleep?"

Link was dumbfounded. Did she know how to speak in his language all this time? Perhaps it was some sort of spell? He simply did not know.
He eyed her silently for a moment, and gave a short nod. She smiled, and returned to speaking in her native tongue. Though he had no clue what most of what she said was, he was able to understand the words "breakfast," "milk," "recovery," and what sounded a lot like "Fluttershy."
She carefully moved his chin up with her hoof so he was looking at her. When he was, she pointed a hoof at herself.
"Fluttershy." 
She pointed at him. "Se nambre?"1
He was able to figure out what she was saying. Link was not that bright when he first got where he was now, but he was also not stupid either. She was saying her name was Fluttershy, or at least sounded an awful lot like it. It stood to reason then, that she was also wondering what his name was. He swallowed, and uttered his first word since his near death at the claws of the wooden wolves.

"Link."

Fluttershy smiled, and began to chatter some more in her language. He was again having difficulty keeping up with what she was saying. All he heard was "food."
With that, his stomach growled audibly and she giggled. She said something else that he did not understand, and turned to go into a different room.
"Need me, call," she said. 
Then, she smiled at him again. "Taj lah, Hinka."2



Link was having the most difficult battle of his life.
It was not against a wooden wolf. It was not against Ganondorf. It was not against Majora. It was not against the pegasus, and it was not against the Fierce Deity. 

It was a battle to not scratch the incessant itching of his butchered leg. And he was losing.

Link wanted desperately to relieve the itch in some way, but every time he so much as lay a finger on the bandaged wound, pain exploded through his leg. It was a dull roar when he was idling, but unbearable when he touched it.
Yet, the itching was driving him crazier. He knew it was a good sign, as it told him his injury had begun to heal. He wasn't out of the woods yet, pun intended. 
It was then the pegasus, Fluttershy, returned to him with a bowl of something that smelled tasty, a glass of milk, and what appeared to be a shotglass full of something smelling vaguely of thyme. 
She hoofed over the thyme smelling liquid first. Link eyed it curiously. It was completely clear, but had a syrupy texture to it.
She did not need to say anything to him. He saw in her eyes no sign of malice, and Link was excellent at reading people and determining ulterior motives. From what he could tell, Fluttershy had no motive for helping him beyond it being a good thing to do.
He resolved, given the time he had already spent with her, to trust her judgement. In one fell swoop, he downed the shotglass and gave a shutter. Was that alcohol? It didn't taste like any he'd had the displeasure of sampling. Why was Tatl so obsessed with it in Termina, anyway? It was disgusting!
Within seconds, however, the pain in his leg had dulled almost completely, and he felt warm, as if he could just go right back to sleep. Truth be told, he was considering it.

"Sláinte," said Fluttershy.3 Link only eyed her curiously, and she pointed to the milk. "Arkaloola?"4

Link hovered a hand over his mangled leg. Though the pain was gone, the itch was not. He was not willing to risk a world of hurt again by touching his bandages. He made sure Fluttershy was looking at him, and pantomimed scratching his injury. It was driving him insane.

Fluttershy understood quickly, to his surprise. She left the room for a moment, only to return with a cloth she had filled with ice. Gently, she pulled back his covers and placed the pack on his leg. Then, she offered him the food she prepared.
"Hinka, need know some stuff. You answer, yes?"

Link blinked, and looked back down at the breakfast she prepared him. It was a dish he had never tasted before, but had seen in Hyrule: Oatmeal.
Realizing he had been asked something, he looked back at Fluttershy and gave a short nod. She seemed pleased.
"How many years are you?"
Link, without hesitation, held up nine fingers. 
"Nine?" she parroted, to which he nodded. "You child of your kind. Yes?"

He nodded. Technically he was. He just no longer was one at heart. It was the big down side to being forced to grow up before your time. You can never go back to who you were before after you do the things Link did.
Fluttershy let out a soft "Eep." Link eyed her curiously. Was it something he said? Perhaps he needed to say thank you for the ice pack? It was helping wonders.

She looked him in his eyes. "Where Màtter? Pàtter?"5
Link blinked. He shook his head. Fluttershy looked contemplative for a moment, then walked to a shelf nearby and picked up a picture of her with her parents. 

"Màtter," she said, pointing to her mom. She smiled lovingly at the picture. It had been taken the day she met Rainbow Dash. Then, she pointed at her father, her smile never wavering. She would have to visit them sometime soon. "Pàtter."
When she was done, she looked to Link again, who seemed to understand what she was saying. Nonetheless, however, he shrugged.
It was an issue for Fluttershy. She couldn't, in good conscience, let a young creature leave on its own. Animal or not, if it was young and had no parents, she wouldn't let it leave unless it was going with somepony who would take care of it. The same rule would apply to him as well. Call her a mother hen, but Fluttershy never was able to say no to a creature in need, and she currently had one recovering on her couch.
She spared a look at the collection of masks resting at the opposite side of the couch and hid a bit behind her mane. 			The one poking out of the burlap sack he was found with made her feel very uneasy. She was doing her best to avoid making eye contact with it. She didn't dare move it though. For all she knew it was a sacred artifact to the child and to move it would be greatly offensive. When the speech barrier broke down more (or the alien learned their language) she would have to ask him about it.
She looked at his broken instrument and frowned. She saw him shed some tears from atop the stairs. Poor dear. It must have been an heirloom or something to him, but she did not press the issue. She had a feeling he didn't want anypony to see him. 
She frowned a bit. Many young foals do not like being seen showing emotion. It makes them feel weak or vulnerable, and Fluttershy believed it to be quite the opposite. She thought it required a lot of strength to be able to present emotion in front of others. It was another thing she would help Hinka with if he would let her.
It would take time, though. For now, she wanted to get him used to seeing ponies like her. He seemed to feel more at ease around her, which was a good sign. Now if she could just introduce him to her friends without Pinkie being all Pinkie about it. She's good company, but new users must slowly build up an immunity to her antics.
In addition, they should ask their doctor before switching to Pinkie if they experience a phobia of parties, illogic, cannons, or the color pink.
She smiled while the alien finished the last of the oatmeal. The milk was again the first to go. He really loved his milk!

"Still hungry? I make more," she said. He shook his head, and she took his dish.
"Must go outside. I bring you paper first. You draw if like. Yes?"
He nodded, and she turned away to clean up the dish before any remaining oatmeal became like cement.
"Thank you," she swore she heard behind her. She smiled. 
End of Chapter
> Chapter 18
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was Celestia's favorite time of day. 

She loved her citizens, sure, but she also loved lunch time. It was an hour she had all to herself. Sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more. It depended on her work load for that day.
As it was, today was a fairly quiet day for her. She began her routine of looking through television channels at the kid's shows. Televisions were fairly expensive, and only the upper class citizens had personal ones, but the upper class could have children too, and Celestia liked to make sure the shows listed were educational. 

Also, she was a closet fan of Mr. Rogers. But she mostly just cared for the children!
She chuckled slightly. For Hearthswarming last year, she got her prized pupil a television as well. Twilight was very grateful to her and sent her a thank you card, but Celestia knew that she was a tad disappointed. Twilight never liked TV. Spike did, though. Celestia made it up to Twilight later on when she sent her an autobiography by Starswirl the Bearded that had also been autographed.
Twilight once approached her in tears after her ascension, claiming she did not wish to be immortal because she did not want to see her friends die. Celestia informed her that, as alicorns, they possessed the ability to visit the afterlife for as long as they wished, and in fact, that was how she got Starswirl to autograph his autobiography for her. She Pinkie Promised to teach Twilight how to perform the spell. It was relatively easy, see-
There was a flash, and Celestia blinked in surprise. Speak of the devil. Twilight herself had just teleported into the room, and she certainly didn't make herself up for the visit. Her mane was a mess, her eyes were wild, her fur was matted, and she had a completely neutral expression on her face. Celestia's guards, who sat at each side of her, appeared to be ready for Twilight to attempt to usurp the throne right here and now.
Fortunately, that was not her plan. In her mouth was a letter, and she approached Celestia. The guards, sensing no ill will towards their princess, allowed her to approach. They prepared themselves to jump in at any moment, should Twilight do anything reprehensible. No such attempt came, though. 
Instead, Twilight gently set the letter down on Celestia's table next to her unfinished slice of cake, bowed low to the ground, and then vanished without a trace. She had teleported again.

"You're just the way you're supposed to be. You're growing just right!" Mr. Rogers said on the TV. Celestia shut it off, blinked confusedly, and looked to her guards. Both were equally as confused as she.

With a shrug, she opened the letter and began to read penmareship that was so neat she wondered if it was written on a typewriter. It only made her cringe, because she knew that the more out of sorts Twilight got, the neater her writing would become.
"Dear Princess Celestia..."

> *Friendship noises*
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The alien had proven himself to be mature beyond his years, which both impressed and concerned Fluttershy.

Here he lounged with his broken instrument. He was cleaning it as if it were a priceless treasure to him, and it was. Where a child might have tossed it aside like trash once it became obvious it was broken, or maybe would only cry until it was replaced or repaired, Hinka did nothing of the sort.
Instead he continued to take care of it as if nothing had changed, though he did attempt to play it a few times. When she asked where he got the instrument, he simply said "Friend."
She admired his maturity about the misfortune, but also felt concern. In her experience, the only children who acted as mature as Hinka did are the ones who had seen the worst the world had to offer; the ones who suffered terrible misfortune before and saw their childish innocence burned away. She considered such an occurance as a tragedy. It had been settled in her mind, then: Whether they found his family and returned him or she found him somepony who would take care of him, she would visit him often and do her best to teach him how to be a child again.

First, however, there was a glaring problem: The first time he laid eyes on her kind, he fainted. Granted, it was probably because Pinkie Pie did not understand the concept of personal space, but she felt it better to err on the side of caution anyway.
"Hinka?" she asked softly. He paused in his scrubbing of a particularly stubborn grass stain and looked up at her, though it did take him a few moments to realize she was talking to him. She found herself praying to Celestia that her point would get across. 
Her prayer was not answered, however, as he simply stared at her blankly. She frowned. The language barrier was tougher than she thought.
She looked to the coffee table, where she had left some paper and charcoal for him to draw with. It had remained untouched. She smiled. Fluttershy never did consider herself much of an artist, but she knew the basics.  With a smile, she set to work.



It never ceased to amaze Link.

From the first moment he saw the kindly pegasus use her hooves to actually hold something, he was fascinated. He had been taught by Saria that hands were one of the reasons his kind were considered the top of the food chain. He smiled a bit as he felt himself drift into his memories. 
He, Saria, and her fairy companion, Ko, sat in her home sipping hot tea. Link had just turned six, and an especially cold winter meant a severe snowstorm that day. They stayed within her home and widdled the day away with lectures and tall tales.
"There are no animals quite like humans, Link. Whether it's the Kokiri, the Hylians, the Gerudo, the Gorons, or the Zoras, we are all human, and to us there is no comparison."
When he asked her about monkeys, she smiled. 
"They are just as clever as some of us are, and they have hands just like you and I. However, there is one thing that both monkeys and Mido lack, Link. Do you know what that might be?"
He shook his head. He felt a smile tug at his face when Ko fluttered onto his shoulder. The fae whispered into his ear one word with her serene voice.
"Ingenuity."
Though he could not see her true form, he could feel her smiling at him. He looked to Saria.
"'Injuity."
Saria smiled. "Very good, Link. Animals like monkeys are very intelligent, just like you and me. They do, however, lack one thing: good old human ingenuity."
She looked to one of the many bows she kept on her walls. With a sigh, she held her favorite ocarina close to her chest.
"They make simple tools too, you know. They are very intelligent creatures. They do not understand, however, the complex tools you and I use often. Instead, they are concerned with life in the moment. They care to survive and keep their species from destruction. They are capable of some emotion, but things like business, money, and schedules mean nothing to them."
She smiled at Link as she held out the instrument.
"This is why we Kokiri strive to be like them. In the grand scheme of the world, tell me: does it matter in the long run if you fail to get to your job on time? Does it spell doom if you do not make your numbers as a salesperson?"
He shook his head. Saria grinned.
"No, it doesn't. The animals live simpler lives and lack the ingenuity you and I have, but what we have is a curse as much as it is a gift. As such, we admire the simplicity of the animals and desire to be as noble and free as them. Such is the way of the Kokiri."
She smiled down at the ocarina, as Link put a hand on it. She put one hand over his and looked at him.
"Link, I want you to take this ocarina. Play wonderful music with it. Keep it close to your heart. Love it just like you love me."
She looked away from him.
"One day, you're going to do big things. You're going to be a very important person and you will make not just the Kokiri proud, but all of humanity. When your destiny arrives, you may not be able to use this instrument as often as you'd like."
She looked to him again with an encouraging smile.
"That's okay, Link. I know we will be friends forever!"
A hoof waved before his face, and he gave his head a shake. To his side he heard a soft giggle from the pegasus. He blinked. She held a piece of paper out to him, and he was surprised when he saw a surprisingly well drawn pegasus on it. 	Next to it was an arrow pointing to Fluttershy. He nodded uncertainly. 
Encouraged, she hoofed over another piece of paper, this one with a group of equines like her on it with a question mark next to them. Link didn't get it and he shrugged to show his lack of understanding. Fluttershy did not lose her patience with him, though. She simply smiled.
"Introduce you others please?"
Link thought for a few moments. If the other horses were as nice as Fluttershy was, he wouldn't have a problem. Though he knew well not everyone was the same. There was a chance she wished to introduce him to a surly horse of her kind. 
Part of him felt more at ease with her. She wouldn't let them be mean to him. He had trusted her judgement this far, and he did not regret it yet. He gave her a nod, and she seemed to light up. She returned his nod, and looked to his bandaged leg. 
A hoof pointed at it.
"First," she said. "Check wounds."
He cringed.
End of Chapter
> Cleverly Disguised John Cena
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight sighed with satisfaction.

Spike was asleep, her chores were done, and she finally had some time to wind down with a pot of tea.
She didn't remember the name of the tea. P-something or other. She picked up a taste for it during her time learning under Princess Celestia. It was one of the more important lessons she learned.
She smiled a bit as her eyes drooped. When she was younger she asked the Princess what the tea was made of. The only thing she did say about it was it was a type of tea that would ensure the richest noble would end the day penniless.
It sure was good though.
Potch! That's the name. She remembered now. It was not cheap at 1,299.99 bits per box, but it was delicious, relaxing, and very good for you too. Rumors abound in Celestia's court of her immortality stemming more from the tea than from her alicorn DNA, though Celestia (and the makers of Potch) both insist that the tea is not that good. 

Twilight's stomach growled at around perfect synchronization with her front door being rapped on, and she finished her cup of tea before walking up to it to answer.
She giggled. The sound of the door being knocked on was pretty funny. It was like "KNOCK!" "KNOCK!" "KNOCKNOCK!" She swung the door open with a laugh, and looked up to the face of their almighty ruler and Goddess of the Sun. 

Celestia smiled down at her.  "Hello, Twilight."
Twilight was stone still for just a moment as her mind registered what was in front of her, and instantly she thought of the tea. She- she just finished it. Meaning there was none to offer Princess Celestia!

She slammed the door shut in a panic and for a moment considered making the sleeping (and still very much sick) Spike go get more tea this instant. Then, her eyes widened. She just slammed the door on the face of Princess Celestia! 
Then, in her best imitation of Fluttershy, she muttered, "Eep." 

She re-opened the door and looked up at Celestia sheepishly. Celestia, to her credit, was not fazed by Twilight's reaction. She was used to it by now. It happened most Wednesdays when Twilight lived with her.
"Hello again, Twilight."
That was when the tea kicked back in again and Twilight began to laugh.
"Hello again? Right! Because I just slammed th-the door on you and then opened it again! Hello again! You're funny, Princess! C'mon in!"

Twilight stumbled aside and allowed Celestia to enter. Two guards that stood at Celestia's sides were all that now remained outside.
"Wassup? You guys want in too?" Twilight asked.
"Not necessary, Your Highness. But thank you."
"Aww, shaddup. C'mon in you two!"
The two guards exchanged a look of confusion, and then looked back at Twilight, who was now patting the door with a hoof with a look of bewilderment on her face.
"Miss? You'll let the cold air out. We'll be okay out here."
Twilight's ears turned towards them and she finally drew her attention away from the door again.
"Oh! Hi guys! You want in?" she asked.

All three of them blinked simultaneously, and all three of them wore the same neutral expression. After a few moments, one of the guards shrugged and took a few steps forward. Twilight eyed him curiously.
"What are you doing? Ooh, are you returning a book?"
The guard eyed her blankly.
"Your highness, with all due respect, I think you need some rest."
Twilight waved a hoof dismissively with a laugh.
"No way. I'm right as rain! I'm rain as right! I'm rain as right rain right as right right. Hey, did you guys know I can lick my own nose?"
"Twilight."
The purple alicorn froze with her tongue midway out of her mouth, and slowly she turned to Princess Celestia. They made eye contact, and Twilight slowly drew her tongue back into her mouth.
"Do you feel all right?"
Twilight grinned. "I've never felt better Princess. I can taste sound. Speaking of taste though, I do have an irresistable craving for oatmeal cream cookies."
Celestia looked to the guards, who were both equally perplexed. Neither could decide if they should enter or not now. 
"Twilight, did you eat or drink anything recently that-"
"POTCH!"
Celestia's eyes shot back down to her student.
"It was the best ever, Princess. I feel so good now! Well, really really hungry, but other than that!"
Then Twilight pulled Princess Celestia's head down to her level, and she leaned in as if she were going to tell her a secret of utmost importance.

"Did you ever notice how funny doors are when you knock on them?"
Celestia sighed.
"Yes, Twilight. Hilarious. Say, could you show me the box the tea came in?"
Twilight grinned widely. "I would be honored to, detective, but it did not come in a box today. They're giving it out in these small plastic bags now. It's like shots of tea. Here, look!"
Twilight sent just a little magic into her horn, and that was enough to teleport a small yellow mouse with black tipped ears to the room.
"Whoops. One sec."
The mouse was quickly replaced with a pink puff ball that appeared to be in the middle of using a hammer. It looked around, puzzled, and Twilight scowled. It was replaced by Princess Luna, who was still fast asleep, then a slightly overweight plumber in overalls, and finally the bags that Twilight's tea came in rained down.
Celestia snatched one out of the air with her magic and sniffed the inside.
"Twilight, this is pot."
Twilight, who was busying herself by making some kind of bag angel, looked up at Celestia.
All it took to drag her out of pot land and back into reality land was a single sobriety spell, courtesy of the sun Goddess.



Twilight groaned while Princess Celestia set an ice pack gently under her horn. As soon as the high wore off, the headache hit. She should have known that something was up when the tea salespony kept looking around suspiciously and demanding bits only, no cards.

Celestia chuckled softly. 
"I didn't know you liked that stuff, Twilight."
"I don't. I promise I don't. I just wanted some tea after a hectic few days, but I couldn't find it in any of the stores."
She sipped a mug of real potch that Celestia had made for her.
"So some stallion came up to me and offered me some of 'the goods.'" 
She rubbed at a side of her head.
"I don't care if it's legal or not. I should arrest him for embarrassing a princess," she grumbled.
"You should arrest him for a lot more. You paid way more than you should have for what you got. Those bags were just pathetic."
Twilight looked wide-eyed at Celestia.
"You?" 
Celestia smiled a serene smile. "I was your age once before too, Twilight. It was only a few times, though. I never really liked it."
Twilight said nothing, instead choosing to stare at the sun goddess with her jaw hanging open.
"If you don't drink your tea, it will get cold, and you need it to help you clear your head of that garbage.  Maybe you can explain how much of that stuff was in your system when you delivered your letter to me."
Twilight blinked. "Letter? I... no, no. Princess, I sent that long before the whole incident."
"Truly?"
Twilight nodded. Celestia was silent for a moment, choosing to take a long draw from her tea cup.
"Well, my, my, my. That makes things interesting."



It was not long after that when Fluttershy stopped in. Twilight had recovered enough of her composure that she could go to the door to answer it, though she refused to make eye contact with the two guards outside. It was just as well though, because they were doing their best to not look at her too. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to avert your eyes from somepony while also remaining as still as a statue?
Maybe they all could learn from Fluttershy. She's really good at being present and simultaneously not being in the room.

Twilight pasted a fake smile on her face. "Hi Fluttershy, how are you doing?" she asked.
The pegasus gave her a small smile. "I'm okay. I have good news Twilight."
Twilight moved aside. "Is that so? Come on in!"
Fluttershy looked at the two guards outside the door.
"Umm..."

She gave Fluttershy a kind smile. "They don't bite. Come on, we can have some tea!"
Fluttershy smiled gently, and slowly trotted through the doorway. She chose not to make mention of Twilight's visible shiver at the mention of tea.



"...and Philomena misses you dearly, Fluttershy. We would love for you to stop by the castle again sometime soon."
"Oh, I couldn't impose on you like that, Princess."
Celestia smiled warmly. "It's no imposition, my little pony. Luna and I would love to entertain you for a few nights!"
Celestia leaned in a bit. "Between you and me? I think my nephew has a bit of a crush on you."
"Eep!™"  
Celestia chuckled. Classic Fluttershy. 
"I'm only kidding, dear. Come to think of it, I don't remember the last time my dear nephew tried to court. Perhaps he doesn't like mares?"
"Eep!™"
Celestia put a hoof to her mouth.
"Listen to me droning on. I'm sorry."
Twilight granted Fluttershy a reprieve from the awkward conversation when she returned to the tea room. Spike needed her again. She had an appointment with the doctor set up for him.
"Sorry about that. I'm worried about Spike. This is a nasty bug."
Celestia smiled at her faithful student. "It's no trouble at all, Twilight. How is the poor dear?"
Twilight frowned. "Let's just say he's on a very light diet now. Just oats and water mostly."
Fluttershy let out a low 'Aww.' "Poor dear. Scootaloo's mother says she's just getting over the flu now."
Twilight cringed. Scootaloo had been missing in action for nearly two weeks!
"Speaking of being out of commission," said Twilight. "How is your guest, Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy smiled. "That's why I came over. He's awake and willing to meet with everypony. I was wondering if you could send for the others. I-if you don't mind, that is."
Twilight smiled. "That's excellent news! Of course I can get them. We just need to keep Pinkie on a leash."
Fluttershy blinked. She had, shortly after checking on and re-dressing Hinka's wounds (they were healing, but it was still a long road to recovery), decided to show him a picture of her with her friends. He visibly flinched when he saw Pinkie Pie.
"Fluttershy."
The pegasus in question let out one more of her trademark "Eep"s, and looked to the solar princess.
"If it's not too much trouble, may I accompany you all? I would like to meet him as well."
Fluttershy gulped, but gave an uneasy nod.
"You can come, but I think I should let him know before you come in. Is that... is that okay?"
Celestia nodded with a smile. "Of course. I will wait outside until you call for-"
The door to the library flew open with a "Slam!", and Pinkie Pie stood in the threshold. She, for some reason, was wearing a pair of sunglasses even though it was dusk outside and cloudy. She pointed one hoof to Fluttershy, who shrunk back visibly.
"Your alien. Bring me to him."
> Chapter The This One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link desired to will a healing fairy into existence. He always hated getting sick or wounded. It meant he couldn't go outside until he was better, and the pegasus was adamant about him staying in the hut. 

Well, maybe not adamant. She seemed to be very quiet and non confrontational. She would be the type to have her good nature taken advantage of by a few of his fellow Kokiri, had she been one as well.

As it was, Link had no access to a means of speeding up his healing. It meant very little to do beyond rest and lose oneself in thought.

That's exactly what Link did. He found himself wondering about healing fairies, no less. They were always fascinating to him. When a healing fairy used its magic, it would vanish and leave behind no trace. He used to believe it was due to their going with the Goddesses to recharge.

Navi set him straight one night while they were camped out under the stars. It was the night before he reached Zora's Domain. Navi had just finished telling him the story of one whose odyssey had gone astray. 
"However, it was a bittersweet ending for the husband and wife. His journey had cost him ten years. Not all the tender loving care in the world could fix that. It couldn't be changed, but it could be overcome, and given what lengths the husband went to in his travels trying only to return home, I would say this challenge would mean nothing to him, wouldn't you?"

Link smiled and nodded. "I like that story. I would like to leave Hyrule one day. Just to see what is out there, you know?"	
Navi smiled, not that he would see. "It's a great big world with lots of places to run to. I do not mean flee, but... I would love to run. I wish I was as big as you are, Link. As I am, running means very little."
"But you can fly!"

She chuckled. "I can fly. And if I were big, I could run too!"
"You could also take me flying if you were big," he said with a smile. She laughed. 
"I could! Wouldn't that be fun? Link, there is little that is more magical than being able to fly. Would we only be able to swap for a day. You be the fairy, and I be the hero."

Link nodded. "Then you could run all you like and I could see what flying really means. I would even settle for being a healing fairy."
She was silent all of a sudden, and Link noticed.
"You wouldn't want to be a healing fairy, Link. It's really not that fun."
Link tilted his head. "Why not?"

Now, it was time for Navi to shake hers. "It's... complicated. All I will say is they don't possess the intelligence you or I do, and they also don't go where you think they do when they've completed their missions."
"Where do they go?"
She sighed. "Link, it's late. Maybe I can tell you more tomorrow, but you need to get some rest."

"But Navi-"
"But nothing. Get your tush in your sleeping bag now or no story tomorrow night."
Link took off his hat and turned to his sleeping bag. 
"Yes'm," he grumbled.



Navi was excellent at manipulating a conversation in any way she desired. If she did not want to talk about something, it wasn't going to be talked about. Simple as that. She often relied on Link forgetting what they were supposed to talk about in favor of something more pressing, like being swallowed by a giant whale and not being able to get the smell out of his favorite tunic. 

He even had it washed in Hyrule Castle Town to no avail. The smell of whale gut is forever.
The point is, he never heard from Navi just what it was about healing fairies and their destinations after they did their jobs that was so horrifying. Tatl ended up telling him in Termina months later, and she was very blunt about it.

"When a healing fairy does its thing, it just flickers out. That's all. Healing fairies are composed completely of magic and when they use it up they die. Well, sort of. Healing fairies are not conscious creatures. They are really just bundles of magic attracted to whatever might need them."

Tatl also told him a horror story about regular fairies at one point. They had taken one three day cycle to rest and recover from a near death experience on the mountain of Snowhead, and Tatl was doing her best to scare him out of his wits. Spoiler alert: She was succeeding.

They were in a room at the Stock Pot Inn that Link apparently had a reservation with. Tatl was sitting in front of him on the bed telling her tale.

"...and just when fairies fulfill their destinies, what happens? They don't get medals. They don't get rewards. They don't get weird tattoos. They go the way of healing fairies."
Link gasped and his eyes widened. Did that mean...?

"Suppose my reason for being was to tell you this story, kid. Poof. I'd die. Only, I would leave behind a corpse on account of not being completely made of magic."
Then... did that mean Navi...?
Tatl was silent for a few seconds while Link's eyes began to water up. She...
Tatl tapped his knee. "Kid, it's just a story. You know that, right? It's not true. I don't know about how things are in your world, but here the fae don't just croak once they do something. We'd be extinct by now if that were the case."
Link's eyes remained watery, and he said nothing. Tatl began to felt the first vestiges of guilt.

"C'mon kid. Think about it. You said the guardian fae of your world have one mission, and that is to raise a race of forest people who remain children forever. That means that, even if it was a true story, a fairy would never manage to complete his or her mission."

Link looked down at Tatl, relief beginning to fill his person.

"I bet she's out there right now, kid. She's probably on some big adventure too just like you. Don't get so out of sorts, okay?"
Link wiped an arm over his eyes, and Tatl looked to the door to make sure nobody saw what she was about to do. She fluttered off the bed and up to Link's face, and held his cheeks in her hands. 

"Whatever happens, you're a strong boy. When you get knocked down, you've got to get back up. That's exactly what you've been doing, kid, and I don't know about her, but I couldn't be prouder."
She gave him a quick peck between the eyes.
"I'm sorry I scared you so much. I shouldn't have told that story. Try to get some rest, okay kid?"

Link slowly came out of his thoughts and realized what he was doing. The whole time he'd been reminiscing, he was doodling absently on the paper that Fluttershy had left for him. She told him she wanted one drawing when she got back, and it could be of anything.

He felt a bit bad for what he was about to do. Link felt that he had taken enough of her food, kindness, and supplies already and was confident he would be okay when he got back to the Sacred Forest Meadow. It consisted of revered ruins by the Kokiri and it was considered a great honor to leave an offering to nature when you were there, though it was not mandatory. Saria would be there as she usually was. She would get a really crazy story out of him in exchange for extra medical attention to get him walking again.

He wasn't going to flat out vanish on the pegasus, though. Even if he never found a way to come back, he did feel that there was the chance of a great friendship budding between them. He didn't want her to think it was something she said to him (not that he was getting much in the way of coherent words out of her).  

He drew upon the sheet a rough sketch of his pegasus friend, himself, the rabbit, and the trees in the background. He included a heart and an arrow next to his small picture towards the trees. It was his attempt at telling her he was going home, but he appreciated her help.

With that done, Link retrieved the Ocarina of Time from the table, and he played a song he hadn't played in a dog's age.
The bunny poked its head out of the kitchen at the sound. Link always loved the Minuet of Forest. 

The animals around the cottage seemed to as well. They were all but glued to the window watching. Fluttershy had shown him pictures of many animals, often sitting with her. She didn't need to use words to show him how much she loved all creatures. At one point she held him up so he could look out the window at all of the life just outside.

Link did not mind them watching him. He wouldn't be here long if the spell worked, and there in lied the problem.
The Minuet of Forest possessed teleportation magic. When it worked, it would teleport him right into the heart of the Sacred Forest Meadow, the holiest part of the Lost Woods. The issue was, the teleportation failed. Link was still lying on the couch with his belongings all around him.

He was more puzzled than anything at first, and he figured perhaps he hit a wrong note or something. The songs were very picky like that. So, he played it again, and again he had an audience of every animal and the kitchen washbasin, but no teleportation.

Outright panic did not take hold, though Link felt very unsettled and his nerves were creeping up on him. He suspected interference from the trees again, and managed to convince himself that, when he got a bit away from them, he would be able to go home. First, however, he needed to recover more. Link placed all of his belongings back where they had been resting and scribbled out the arrow he drew on his paper. 

It was not a moment too soon, for the door creaked open.
End of Chapter
> Shaggy and Scooby always run away side by side when fleeing in terror from a monster. If a great dane's running speed is 30-40 mph then that means that Shaggy can run at the same speed. This means that Shaggy is the fastest human being alive, beating
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There were five more of them, and they were all around the same size as Fluttershy. They all had exotic coat colors. One of them was purple with wings and a horn and a little extra weight. She eyed him with total fascination.

Another was light blue with what looked like a rainbow caught in her mane. She honestly looked like if a fairy or a ket1  had their way with her mane and she never washed the afterglow out. She was a pegasus like Fluttershy, and she eyed him with the same fascination as purple wing-horn did, but with a mix of caution as well. 

The white unicorn with the purple mane eyed him with mild disgust, and Link scowled. He didn't believe himself to be the most handsome boy in the world, but she didn't have to rub it in. Link decided that he didn't find her particularly good looking in return. He raised his little finger at her2 and she was his concern no longer.

The orange one with the hat had neither horn nor wings. It had a blonde mane and eyed him with a measured gaze. Link could feel himself being bored into by her. She was muscular, far more so than the other horses here and even more so than Epona, who was a mighty mare indeed. She was eyeing him with non bias however, and Link gave his nod of approval.

The fifth one was the pink. So much pink. Too much pink. She had neither horn nor wings too, and was stock still, as if she 	were a statue. Her gaze was blank, and- did her rear right leg just shoot out from under her for half a second?
He studied her for a few more moments and  caught a few other such spasms. Her tail would twitch-a-twitch, her legs would freak out, but her neutral expression never changed. She seemed to be making a conscious effort to stay still.

All five of them eyed him at a respectful distance, though the blue funny hair one was a bit closer than the others. She had her wings splayed out to cover the others, as if she were ready to protect them from him if he attacked. Link rolled his eyes, as he was hardly in any condition to attack a fly much less a herd of giant equines, but he gave a nod of respect at any rate.

It seemed to translate, and the blue one gave him a smile and nod back. 

"Hinka, one more. She bigger. Much bigger. She no hurt you. I let her in, yes?"

Link eyed Fluttershy. Though his gaze was neutral, he was stunned. There were larger equines out there? Where did they get off being so tall? Navi always told him to drink his milk so he got big and strong too, but just how much had these creatures been drinking?
Link quickly realized something: Fluttershy wasn't just asking him if she could show him one more equine as a courtesy. She was actually waiting for his answer. Link wondered if she would think less of him if he said no, but he decided against it. He figured he was going to end up seeing them sooner or later if he went outside, and he figured sooner would be better.

Link gave a single nod, and Fluttershy smiled gently. She quietly said something to the other five, who murmured something in response, and left the room for a spell.
All was quiet for a few moments. The pink one looked about ready to explode, and Link found himself wishing for his shield just in case she did.

Link's leg ached.



A few moments later, Fluttershy returned, and she wasn't kidding when she warned him the new horse was especially big.

It was another horse with wings and a horn, but it towered over the others, and seemed to have an ethereal mane. Link did not believe he would feel anything were he to touch it; it seemed to be almost ghostly. The fur covering her body was white, and she had what looked like the sun on her flanks. 

Link felt himself regretting agreeing to meet with this one now. She was too big.

His feelings were put a bit at ease when she smiled an almost motherly smile at him. She said something in her alien language to him, and he shrugged to show his lack of understanding. She exchanged words with Fluttershy then, and gave a nod.

Her horn began to glow with a brilliant yellow light, and Link had to shield his eyes for a moment. When it faded, nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

Right up until she started to speak.

"You can understand this language, yes?" she asked in heavily accented Hylian.

Link would have been stunned silent if he wasn't naturally half wordless. 

She smiled at him. "It is an ancient spell. It took me many hundreds of years to master and is quite taxing."

She turned her head to the purple wing-horn horse, who seemed to be chattering to her excitedly about something. She said something in her strange language, prompting purple to cross her front arms with a huff and a pout.

"My name is Princess Celestia," she said to him. "You may call me Celestia, Princess, Tia, Celli, Walter- it matters little to me. Just don't call me late for dessert."

Link blinked, and she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. The pink one, however, was laughing uproariously.

"Forgive me. It's not every day I get to introduce myself for the first time. May I ask your name?"

Link was silent for a few moments, and reluctantly relayed his handle. Celestia tilted her head for a moment.
"Hinka?" she said in her strange language. She gave him a warm smile. "A fine name. It suits you. May I ask where you come from?"

"The Lost Woods," he said quietly. Celestia tilted her head again. Link cleared his throat. "Hyrule," he clarified.

It made little difference to Celestia, but she smiled again at him.
"How old are you, Hinka?"

Link did not have to hesitate. He held up nine fingers, prompting Celestia's eyebrow to raise.
"Nine? You are a child, yes?"

He gave a curt nod, and something in Celestia's expression seemed to sadden. 
"Where are your mommy and daddy?" she asked him cautiously.
"Dad is dead and mom is missing," he said slowly. "Trying to find her."

Celestia's smile was all but gone now. A young colt without guardians is unheard of in Equestria. Celestia would sooner take a foal in herself than let them live alone!
"Why were you armed?" she asked in a whisper.

Link shrugged in exasperation. He lived in Hyrule. To ask why one was armed there was like asking why one slept at night.

Celestia took issue with it, and again spoke to the others in her alien language. She gave another nod, and looked to him with what seemed like pity. Link scoffed to himself. He didn't need pity. He needed to go home.

"You are welcome here as long as you can obey common laws and customs. That means no displaying weaponry in town. Your slingshot is permitted, of course, provided you do not use it to harm anypony. No fighting but for self defense, and..."
She smiled at him. "As you are a child, you can not be left alone."

...What.

Link wanted desperately to yell at her. He may have been a child, but he had been alone for a long time now and he fared just fine. He was by no means flourishing, but he was able to feed himself and take care of himself. He did not need someone to help him. He knew what happened when he trusted someone to take care of him. That someone would leave him without a word.

She took note of the look on his face and hummed her concern.
"You have been alone for a long while, yes?"
He gave a curt nod.
"You have been taking care of yourself until you were harmed?"
Another nod.
"I do not mean to sound patronizing. Think of it this way, Hinka: You have been taking care of yourself for a long time and now you have a chance at a safe shelter with some company and three meals a day."

He wanted to ask if whoever he got stuck with would leave him, but he stayed his tongue. As soon as he was far enough from the trees, he was going to return home anyway. It mattered not. He was going to do the leaving this time.

Besides that, perhaps a few more days in the company of one like Fluttershy would be okay. He gave a short nod, and Celestia smiled at him.

"Wonderful. I'm going to end this spell now. I tire. Before I do though, allow me to be one of the first to say this."
She gave him another heartfelt smile, one which pulled at his lips too.
"Welcome to Equestria, Hinka."



Twilight was still sulking. Princess Celestia just used a spell she had never seen before and then told her it took many years to master and she would only begin to teach her if she first "reviewed her understanding of the teleportation spell."

You screw up a letter and have a manic episode just a few times, and this happens. No fair.

Celestia beckoned the others to follow her out the door for a moment. All but Fluttershy did so. The kindly pegasus wanted to ensure Hinka was not wanting for anything at the moment first. 
When she did join them, Celestia shut the door gently.

"He is but a foal of his kind. A young colt."
Fluttershy gave a nod. "He told me that as well. He's nine years old."
"And he's carryin' around enough weapons to make a guard blush?" asked Applejack.
Celestia nodded. "He did not say much about that. Come to think of it, he did not say too much at all. I am unsure if that is how he normally is or if his injuries have simply been taking a lot out of him."

She sighed. "This whole thing sounds like a bad story idea if you ask me."
The others murmured their assent, and Celestia cleared her throat.
"I will have to make an announcement to Equestria. It's not everyday a new species finds its way to our humble land."
"More like most Tuesdays," agreed Pinkie. Nobody responded to her.

"Given that he is a colt, I trust you know the requirement. He can not be left by himself. Call me calculating if you must, but I feel like there is a good chance for a friendship lesson here, or perhaps more. I would like for you all to discuss taking him in. Give him a foster family, at least until we can find him a more permanent housing arrangement. If you can not do that, please send for me. I will take him back to the castle."

Celestia saw the look on Twilight's face. It was the same one she got whenever she was asked to do anything by the princess. She held a hoof out to try and calm her. 

"Again, there is no pressure. If you feel you can not take him in for whatever reason send for me and I will take him to Canterlot until we find some place else for him."

Before Twilight could say anything back, Celestia was making her retreat, so to speak. Equestria wouldn't run itself, after all! It was her go to excuse.

Fluttershy was biting her lip, but she was debating in her head. On one hoof, she felt that she developed a bit of a bond with Hinka in the short time he was under her roof. She would gladly take him in were it possible. On the other hoof, she had plenty of other animal friends who resided in her home that she had to move outside temporarily. Her home was very cramped with all of her animals and she felt that he would not be very comfortable there for long periods of time.

It didn't mean she would stop visiting with him. She still had a lot she wanted to help him with and teach him! She just did not think she was a suitable candidate for what Princess Celestia was asking.

Hinka yawned.

End of Chapter
> Mother is doing a good job at picking off all of Laine's friends, but is doing a rather shitty job at stopping Laine from cutting the mouth stitches, even though she can apparate around and it's imperative that Laine doesn't do that.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link picked at one of his scabbed over wounds. It was a habit he developed not long into his first adventure. Navi would chastise him for it whenever he did it. He knew it was kind of gross, but he never liked scabs anyway. They only reminded him of the scars that were left on his body.

A little known fact about healing fairies is that they can heal even the most grievous injury, but they will still leave behind a scar. Link's body was marred with everything from slices to stab wounds, burns to bites and scratches. He saw the worst that two worlds had to offer in his short life- technically three, now that he thought of it. It was more than most elders lying on their death beds would be able to say.

He recalled one of his worst injuries. It was at the hands of Ganondorf in their first battle. Link had gotten the fight into a rhythm of sorts. He would counter Ganondorf's attacks, and leap to wherever the evil king may have fallen in order to work on him more.

The room they did battle in was at the top of his castle in some sort of sub-ceiling. As they began the fight, Ganondorf punched the ground below him with a fist, sending all segments of the ground but for a few pillars crashing into the darkness below in a show of power. The only things that survived were the support beams for that same sub-ceiling. Link did not know how far the drop was, and he did not want to find out.

The storybooks did not tell of the battle in its entirety. All they said was the hero soundly defeated the evil king. In reality, Link came very close to his own end that night.
It happened at the end of the battle. Link's sword had opened many a gash on the evil king's body, and they both were exhausted by the fight. 
It was going okay for Link. Oddly enough, he had managed to come so far with just some bumps and bruises to show for it. It was going well. Too well.

Ganondorf managed to solve that in one fell swoop. Apparently he too had taken note of the pattern that the battle was developing. Towards the end, he dropped out of the air and to a knee as if stunned. Link believed it was his chance and he leapt over the abyss to deal the coupe de grace. His blade was in hand held high. 

Ganondorf had one final trick up his sleeve. With one hand, he grabbed Link by the throat and instantly the young man was fighting for oxygen. He could hear Navi's screams for his well being, but it mattered little to the evil king. He got to his feet, lifting Link by the throat off of his, and with all the power his piece of the Triforce had granted him, he slammed Link spine first into the concrete pillar they stood on a moment ago.

When his back connected, Link could hear popping and snapping, and all of a sudden he could feel nothing below his neck anymore. He couldn't wiggle his toes, he couldn't swing his blade- he couldn't even raise his little finger.
A bottle tumbled out of his pocket and rolled off the pillar to the darkness below. Link barely registered its shatter.
For a moment, Ganondorf was silent. Navi was hysterical and Link himself said nothing. Suddenly, the evil king threw his head back and began to laugh a demented laugh, the wont of all evildoers. 

He had no words yet for Link; only empty promises of power and glory for Princess Zelda under his thumb. Link still felt nothing. He only hoped Ganondorf would make his finish quick, but he did not hold out hope. He already knew his head would soon adorn a pike outside the castle.

Ganondorf drew his own sword, a blade as dark as night. He steadied it just above Link's heart, but hesitated. An evil grin crossed his face once more, and he slowly sheathed the weapon.

"How fitting," he said. "Would it be for me to kill the so called Hero of Time with his own blade?"

Link said nothing, but he did scowl. To kill someone you did battle with with their own weapon was extremely disrespectful. Had the battle concluded the other way, Link would have at least used his own blade to finish the...

His eyes widened slightly and hope bubbled within him. Ganondorf's hatred for him may be working to his advantage.
He watched as the evil king knelt to grab the Master Sword from Link's paralyzed hand. In his extraordinary hatred and contempt for Link, Ganondorf had forgotten the cardinal rule about the Master Sword: It was the blade of evil's bane; the weapon that those with dark hearts could never touch.

As soon as Ganondorf's hand came in contact with the holy weapon, he seized up as a strong current racked his body. It forced his muscles to tighten up, preventing him from letting go of the weapon. At the same time, Link himself felt nothing, though that was one part his not being evil and another part having his spine crushed like so many twigs underfoot.

While Ganondorf screamed his agony, Link saw a pink light in his peripheral vision. It was the healing fairy in the bottle that had fallen to the depths. 

Link smiled a bit. Without hesitation, the fairy began to pour its essence into his body. Slowly but surely, he began to get feeling back. He started with his toes, then his fingers, and when he was satisfied everything was working again, he stood. 

The movement was enough to jostle Ganondorf to the ground, and now it was the evil one who was staring death in the face. Or at least he would have been. The current was so powerful that it left Ganondorf with smoke pouring out of his ears and blood running from his eyes. His eyeballs had burst.

And yet he was still alive. He was writhing about somewhat on the ground, but he was not going to find his feet again. Link wondered if he should try the same thing Ganondorf nearly did and use his weapon against him, but he quickly decided against it. The only blade that would be able to end him permanently was a holy weapon.

Link stepped on each of the dying king's arms, and squeezed his eyes shut. He slowly sent the blade into the man's heart.



The ponies sat in silence for a few moments while they thought of what the princess had asked of them. Even Pinkie Pie was silent. The voices in her head weren't, but the others didn't have to know about them.

They already knew Fluttershy would be out for a long term solution unless she moved her animal friends outside for the long term. Given how overly dramatic some of the animals she kept were, it would probably lead to chaos. More so than usual, anyway.

Rarity believed she could house him too, but only on the short term as the living area above Carosel Botique was very small. Given that he was a child, it wouldn't surprise her if he wanted to do a lot of running around like Sweetie Belle, and that sort of activity did not mix well in her store, no sirree.

Applejack was a promising lead, but was not willing to have him stay with her yet. As far as she was concerned, he was still a stranger whether he had the princess' seal of approval or not. She still had a farm to run and a family to look after. Until she got to know him a bit more, she wouldn't feel comfortable.

Also, his being an omnivore was somewhat unsettling to her, but she knew that was hypocritical. If she had such a problem with meat-eaters, why did she have a wolf-dog?

Rainbow Dash was automatically disqualified on account of living in the sky, though she was somewhat dejected about it. She claimed she would love to have him if it were possible, but the others suspected it was because Hinka was not native to Equestria. He was a real live alien, and if she had him then she would probably see him as an awesome pet or something. 

It was exactly not what he needed.

Pinkie Pie was a possible candidate. Sugarcube Corner's living area was large and well kept, but she did not own the store (though it would be willed to her if the worst ever happened). She believed it would not be a problem, but she would have to ask the Cakes first.

Twilight was the only perfect candidate. The castle was huge with plenty of rooms to choose from. Her proximity to town square meant she could fetch Hinka whatever he needed when he needed it quickly, and her friends were of course welcome to visit anytime. She just had to see about how Spike would react to the newcomer as soon as he wasn't sick anymore. Until then, Hinka would barred entry to his room.

Eventually, it was agreed. The ponies who were capable of housing him for a short while would take him on certain weekends, but he would spend a majority of his time with Twilight. It was too good a research opportunity to pass up.

"So, dinner?" asked Rainbow Dash.
The girls smiled at one another. 
"Dinner sounds lovely," said Rarity. "Why don't we have it with your little patient, Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy smiled over at him. "Oh, I think that sounds like a great idea. Maybe we can learn more about him."
"Or teach him a few of our words," said Twilight. "He will need them if he is staying with us for a while."

Rainbow grinned eagerly. "Imagine us teaching the first alien ever how to speak Equish! Awesome!"
The others smiled at her and looked at Hinka. Rarity quickly frowned and gave his hand a gentle smack. He had been working hard at getting a scab off his arm.
"Tut tut. No picking," she chastised.

He blinked confusedly up at her, but seemed to understand when she gestured to his scab and shook her head. His belly growled, prompting everypony to give him a knowing smile.

Hinka grumbled.
End of Chapter
> Last Joint
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was another two and a half weeks after that before Hinka was able to walk on his own again. A day or two after they were all introduced to him for the first time, Fluttershy worked on getting him onto his feet again.

"I'm right here, Hinka. I won't let you get hurt. Lean on me for support."

The extra time he spent with her did wonders for the speech barrier. Whatever sorcery Fluttershy knew that allowed her to speak to him crumbled the barrier very fast.

He was extremely wobbly on his feet at first and every step with his wounded leg was brutally painful. His first attempt resulted in him yelping in pain and his knee buckling in surprise. Fluttershy, who had a wing over his shoulders for this very situation, tightened her grip on him and knelt with him.

"I know it hurts, but you need to be able to walk. We can't keep carrying you everywhere and I know you don't like us doing it either. It's going to get better, Hinka. The pain will go away."

He did not make a gesture to show his understanding. He got his feet back under him and stood once more, wincing at the ache in his mangled leg. Fluttershy smiled at him encouragingly.

"Tap my side when it gets to be too much and we will stop."

Link took his first four steps then with Fluttershy holding him. Though he did not cover much distance at all, it felt like he had scaled Death Mountain again and followed up with Snowhead. His leg was throbbing and he was panting.

When she was sure he was steady enough on his feet, Fluttershy slowly took her wing off his shoulders and took a few steps forward before turning around to face him. She beckoned him with one hoof towards her, and his determination shone brilliantly. His next steps were alone, though he did end up collapsing into her arms at the end, they were his and his alone.

It was the first day he really walked among ponies.

Slowly but surely his distance and endurance increased. When he started, Fluttershy was never far away to help him if he needed her. Towards the end, he was able to walk with her at the door to her home, though he did walk now with a noticeable hobble. He frowned. If he had a healing fairy that would not be an issue.

Fluttershy had told him what the plan was. Her friends had spent his next few weeks of recovery dropping by individually to speak with and get to know him better, though mainly through Fluttershy. Their language was tough to learn, and so far he only had a few words down.

Link learned much about the white unicorn, Rarity. He at first was not looking forward to talking to her. She was the one who cringed at him on their first real meeting. He quickly learned that she was quite finicky about clothing.

"That's what I was so deep in thought about, darling. Not your dashing good looks," she winked. "I was thinking of your hat. Your tunic was mostly in shreds after your... accident. I was not sure I would be able to do anything about any of it."

Link blinked. He liked that tunic, but it wasn't the end of the world to him if it was beyond repair.

"As of now, I am still working on your tunic itself.  Your hat, however..."

Link watched in awe as her horn began to glow. 

He couldn't stifle his gasp when she revealed his favorite hat. It was freshly laundered and looked as good as new! He swore he saw it shine.

"I do hope it is satisfactory."

He smiled and gave her a low "Thank you." She waved off his gratitude with a hoof.

"It's no trouble at all, darling. Just try not to let it get into such a dreadful state again, okay?"
Link almost said "No promises."




His meeting with Applejack was a bit more stilted at first. She spoke about a few simple topics like the weather, sleep, and comforts. Once the ice was well and truly broken, there was little else to say. Even Fluttershy was feeling kind of awkward.

Eventually, Link asked a question.

"Do you like apples?"

He was being a bit sarcastic when he said it, given the apple images on her flanks and the word being in her name, but apparently it was the right thing to ask, because suddenly Applejack had life again.

"Darn tootin' I do! We grow them over on our farm. We own the largest apple distributor in Equestria. Sweet Apple Acres."

Link blinked. Really? She was that passionate about apples? He decided to let it go. There were some Kokiri who were fascinated by dust, rocks, and watching grass grow. They weren't called the Know-It-All Brothers for nothing. If you had a question about the dust on your windowsill, the rocks in your yard, or how much your grass grew in the last few days, they were the ones to ask.

He smiled a bit to himself. Unbeknownst to the Know-It-All Brothers, there was an ongoing pot by the entire village save for them. Whenever they knocked you out with a lecture on any of those topics, you had to add a rupee to the pot. If you could make it through the entire lecture without falling asleep though, you would win the whole thing. Last Link checked, it sat at around 598 rupees. Link had been debating using the mask of an insomniac's torment to win the pot, but decided against it. Someone would sneak into his house and steal the winnings.

Applejack took his smile as genuine interest, and so she rambled more about the farm, how she got her "Cutie mark"- whatever the hell that was, and her little sister and big brother.

He did admire her passion, however. Link himself was fascinated by war stories after all, and he held no doubt that they would bore you to tears if you did not share that interest.

He was somewhat impressed, too. Applejack, at least from her comments, comes from the largest and most successful apple orchard this side of the Lost Woods (or the Everfree Forest, as Fluttershy called them). As a result, her family was also the wealthiest in the country. She claimed that they owned at least parts of most of the stores in every town, had schools opened in troubled towns at their own expense, and  they even owned the train station.

Link's expression very quickly went from mild impression to complete neutrality again, and she spotted it. She chuckled in good nature.

"Shoot, I'm sorry. We're all really proud of the farm is all, and I'm always happy to shoot my jaw off about it."

She trailed off when she looked at Fluttershy, who, to her credit, had kept up with and recited everything Applejack had said to that point. She was now panting and reddened because of it. She did not often give her voice box such a work out.

She and Link both gave Fluttershy a much needed reprieve while Link tried to keep "train station" in mind. Did that mean you would be trained at the stations? What did they train you in? Cooking? Hunting? Survival? Combat? How would you find one? Where did Link go to get train stationed?

It was the first thing he asked when Fluttershy signaled she was ready again. Before Applejack could start talking again, he raised a hand slightly. 

"What's a 'trame stashun'?"




Link's meeting with who he dubbed "Purple Book Horse" before he learned her name initially left something to be desired. 

First of all, she got that nickname because the first thing she did on her first meeting with him alone (save for their translator) was drop five books on the coffee table, open one up, and ready a quill and some ink for herself. Without saying a word, she stared at him expectantly.

He blinked. She blinked back. Fluttershy blinked too, and somewhere in Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie blinked. Nopony else in existence did. That's how the story works.

Link simply looked up at Fluttershy questioningly. She looked equally confused.

"Umm, Twilight?"

Twilight blinked. In an alternate universe somewhere, TD Harrison Powell blinked too.

"Maybe you should ask him something? If you want to, I mean."

"Ah!" she nodded. "What are you called? I mean, what is your species?"

"Human," was the one word response.

"Do you have races? Like what we have: Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns?"

"Kokiri, Hylians, Gorons, Deku Scrubs, Zora, and Gerudo," should have been the response. Fluttershy attempted to use the words but she couldn't get them translated properly. Before Fluttershy could explain the problem, Twilight levitated a book over to him along with a quill.

"She would like you to write them down, Hinka. Can you do that?"

He began to scribble away on the page for her, not interested in answering what he felt was obvious. After a few moments, he handed the paper to Twilight. She grinned excitedly at him, though he did not share her enthusiasm. 

The rest of her visit came and went in a flurry of questions directed at him and his home. He tried to be irritated with them but he simply couldn't maintain the focus of his frustration. She had something he admired: passion for what interested her. It was a love he desired himself, but he did not even recall what interested him anymore beyond war stories. It had been too long for him. 

All in all, it was a productive meeting for Twilight Sparkle and one that made Link both jealous and happy for her. He would not be adverse to seeing her again.

Then came the pink. All at once. So much pink. She had big blue eyes and her mane looked like a candy Navi got him when he visited Castle Town for the first time- Cotton Candy. He didn't like it; too sweet.

She surprised him. Fluttershy had warned him before that the pink one was known for bouncing off walls and being a little bit clinically insane. She assured him that she would reign her in if things got nutty.

Instead of going out of her mind like he was warned, though, the pink mare without the horn or wings calmly sat down across from him, gave him a gentle wave and a smile, and her words translated to, "Hello, I'm Pinkamena. But you can call me Pinkie Pie."

Fluttershy was stunned too. You really never could tell just what was going through Pinkie's head.

When she got over her shock, she relayed the alien's name. She quickly learned that Hinka's refusal to speak much was not borne of weakness but from shyness. He simply did not like to talk much and would rely on Fluttershy to relay certain things about him. He would speak when he absolutely had to, but he clearly did not feel comfortable doing so. She wanted to break that habit of his too. Fluttershy was very soft spoken, sure, but she was no longer a selective mute like he seemed to be. Her friends helped her with that.

She smiled gently at him. Whenever she looked at Hinka she saw herself. He was a gentle soul from a faraway land and a young one at that. There was still much he had to learn and experience in life.

"My favorite thing to do is plan parties. Especially for all the new ponies in Ponyville! Or- or in this case new aliens! Because you're new, so you probably don't know anypony here, and that makes me super duper sad. So I like to make parties so then you know everypony in Ponyville and you have all the friends!"

She grinned excitedly at him. "And they're surprise parties. The bestest parties ever. You never know when they're going to strike like a bat!"

"Pinkie," Fluttershy warned. She did not want the pink menace getting out of sorts now and possibly making Hinka uncomfortable. Fortunately for her, he seemed to be doing alright.

For Link himself, he found himself admiring the pink. She was very bubbly, but also seemed to be very sweet. She reminded him of Fado, the eccentric Kokiri girl who seemed to know everything about the Lost Woods. Perhaps she too came here before and just never told anyone? She entered the woods not long ago and never came back out. If he found her here maybe he could escort her home, or she him.

It sounded a lot better in his head. Fado's disappearance was widely attributed to an old urban legend among the Kokiri: the myth of the charioteer. It was a far fetched tale told by the skull kids and carried on the winds of the mystical trees.

They would say that, on the nights where the moon was waning and half gone, anyone who wandered the trees may be offered a ride from a phantom guiding a chariot. His chariot would appear to be pulled by two horses, but nothing would be attached at the bridles. Those approached by him would find themselves trusting him as they would a close friend. He would make his offer to them and turn about such that the passenger side was available to them. 

If you could resist the overwhelming temptation of accepting his offer, the shade would vanish and leave behind the chariot for you. If you accepted his offer, however, he would take you into the woods, never to be seen again. The next one to accept the ride, however, would find the phantom's likeness having some aspect that matched the previous victims.

Supposedly, nobody who was approached by the phantom managed to resist, so nobody got to take his carriage. 
The pink waved a hoof in front of his face and he gave his head a shake. She gasped loudly.

"You- you don't like cake? How is that possible?"

He blinked. He had no issues with barleycakes. As a matter of fact he knew how to make a very good one. He swore by them. They were excellent at ridding the tongue of the taste of black broth1, a dish the Kokiri often lived off of during the winter months. It was far from a delicacy, but it was a hot meal and it gave you much needed energy.

Call him crazy, but Link found himself craving a bowl of the stuff now. It was absolutely rancid and there was a story of Ganondorf attempting to eat it as a show of "being for the working class," some time before he overthrew the Hylian Royal Family. The evil king very promptly threw it back up after a single spoonful, and the Great Deku Tree attributed it to his "having a taste nary at all different from a prissy missy." Link believed that was one of the things that enraged him, though how he could have heard it was anyone's guess.

Out of nowhere, Link found himself being shaken by the shoulders, causing immense pain to shoot through his body. Fluttershy stopped the pink from continuing quickly. She scolded the menace in a very un-Fluttershy like fashion too!

"Pinkie Pie! He's still recovering! How could you do that to him?"

Pinkie instantly removed her hooves from his shoulders and- did her mane just fall straight? It went from complete chaos to straightened and droopy.

"Apologize this instant, missy!"

She didn't apologize. Instead, her eyes welled up with tears and she began to sob loudly. Fluttershy all at once dropped whatever irritation she had and hugged the pink psycho. Pinkie's time became an impromptu therapy session.

So the meeting was going great.

Link was told a lot of nonsensical things about the pink one. He recalled her saying that she grew up on a rock farm, prompting him to stare blankly. He didn't even have to say anything for Fluttershy to know what he was wondering.

"What do you grow?" she asked for him.

"Rocks."

"What do you do with the rocks?"

"We push 'em."

There was silence after that, and soon enough the pink had to leave. Link did not mind.




The next one to visit with him was the ket maned one, and she was having a hard time suppressing a grin. Her eyes shot to his instruments, and then back to him. She said something in her language, and he looked to Fluttershy.

"Oh! Umm, she says 'so awesome.'"

He blinked. His favorite instrument was made of forest wood and broken, and the Ocarina of Time was just blue and shiny with the golden triangles at the mouth piece. What was so awesome about that?

She looked to his rucksack of masks, and to her credit, she didn't even flinch at the mask of Majora as it gazed at her from the top. Link entertained himself a bit by wondering if Majora would be puzzled by current events too. In reality, she would probably just kill everything in a ninety kilometer radius because she could before moving on to the rest of the world. Majora cared for nothing and saw mortal creatures as playthings meant to be discarded when they no longer amused her.

Link puffed himself up a bit. At least he was the one mortal who put her in her place.

Bet you'd like to stretch your legs, he thought to himself. 

His eyes widened when he saw rainbow mane holding Majora's Mask in her forehooves and staring into the eyes. He heard Fluttershy pleading with her to put it down. 

"That's Hinka's property, Rainbow. I don't think he wants you playing with it."

"Aww, relax. I won't break it. It's too small for me anyway. See?"

Rainbow turned the mask around and began to bring it closer to her face. Link could sense Majora's spirit beginning to stir.

"NO!" he screamed, slamming a hand on the couch. Pain raked his recovering body and he was pretty sure he re-opened a few injuries, but his outburst had the desired effect. Rainbow was surprised, and she dropped the mask to the floor.

Rainbow was about to respond in some fashion, but trailed off when she saw the panic on his face. For a few moments, all was silent. Somewhere, off in the distance, a dog barked.

Fluttershy was the first to recover. She moved to his side and wrapped a wing around him; he was shaking.

"Oh dear," she said softly. "Rainbow's sorry, Hinka. She didn't mean to upset you."

"Yeah, kid. I didn't mean anything by it. Just trying to make you smile. Wouldn't I look silly with such a tiny mask on?"

"Not Majora," he whispered. "Never that mask."

"What's wrong with it?" asked Rainbow.

He shook his head, but he said nothing else. Rainbow cautiously picked up the dreaded mask again, but this time she carefully set it on Link's lap.

"I'm sorry. I mean it. You don't like me touching that mask. That's cool. I don't like when anypony touches my flight suit. But what about..."

She trailed off again, and looked to his bag. She pointed a forehoof at another mask that was poking its way out. Link could recognize the rounded brown mask anywhere. He encouraged her to take it out with a nod, and she did so. 

Fluttershy, meanwhile, continued holding him in her wing. Link could feel his heart rate slowly going back to normal.
Rainbow let out a laugh when she took the mask out, and to be fair, Link could picture how ridiculous she would look in it. 

"What about this one? Can I try this one on?" she asked. 

He gave a nod with a small smile. The spirits of the Goron, Deku, and Zora masks were bound to him and him alone. So long as someone else put them on, the spirits would continue to sleep. There would be no transformation. It was good too, because Link wasn't sure he would be able to unsee one of these enormous pegasi as gorons.

Sure enough, there was no magic surge or anything of the sort when Rainbow put the mask on. All there was was a large pegasus with a round Goron face partially obstructing her own.

She got a laugh out of the boy, which prompted Fluttershy to smile and giggle a bit too. Rainbow joined in.

"I am Dash! Here me roar!"

Dash? He thought her name was Rainbow.

"Rainbow Dash is silly, isn't she Hinka?"

...Oh.

Link's laughter died down and his smile left his face when he looked to his lap again. Majora stared up at him.




The last one to sit and have a frank discussion with him was Fluttershy. They did so over dinner that night.

"Hinka, I know you want to go home."

He looked to her in curiosity. Fluttershy was pushing a piece of broccoli around with a fork.

"I want you to know that I enjoyed having you here with me. You're a good colt. The Everfree, however, is dangerous. I don't want you going in there alone again."

He blinked, waiting for her to continue. 

"I know you want to go home, and I know that you were in that crazy forest on your own. You know how that turned out."

He scowled a bit. Was she questioning his defensive abilities? Sure, he got his rear handed to him in the fight with the wooden wolves, but he still managed to inflict some considerable damage on their numbers before he went down!

She smiled gently at him. "So I want to help you. If you're going to go into the woods again, please come to me. I will help you get home. Do you know which way your home is?"

He shook his head. He had gotten himself lost because he was so sure he was in the Lost Woods. He knew now how wrong he was.

Fluttershy frowned. "Oh, dear. How do you plan on getting home, then?"

He pointed to his blue ocarina with a smile. Fluttershy eyed it curiously.

"Your instrument?"
He nodded. 
"But how? What will that do?"
"Magic," was all he said.

Fluttershy smiled a bit, but it was chased from her face shortly.

"If you're leaving us so soon, please promise me one thing, Hinka."

He looked to her, awaiting her request. She smiled at him once more.

"Please, if you find your way home, don't shut yourself in. Make friends. Find family. Be a child again. Begin again."

She brushed his bangs out of his eyes.

"Whatever happens, you'll always be welcome here. The most important thing is, be safe."

She looked to his bandaged up leg. It was healing nicely, but still throbbed from time to time. The bandages, initially taking up the entire leg down to his foot, now only obstructed his thigh. Rarity had promised him socks as well. When he was lounging, he regularly had the blankets cocooned around his bare feet.

"I don't want this to happen to you again. Nopony does. So, please be safe."

He gave a nod and a smile. After supper, he decided. 

The rest of it was eaten in relative silence.




He stopped her before she went to the kitchen with the dishes.

"What is it? Still hungry? I'll get you some dessert."

He shook his head, but held up the Ocarina of Time.

Fluttershy's expression, at first mildly confused, changed to a knowing smile. "You wish to play something for me?"
Link was a boy of action and as such, often liked to let his actions speak for him. He put the instrument to his lips, and he played the lively, upbeat melody carried on the winds in the Lost Woods. It was referred to by many a Kokiri as the "Soul of the Forest," but Link knew it as something else. 

The song possessed a strange ability. It was perhaps the only song Link knew whose innate magic could be used only on Saria's ocarina. When played on that particular instrument, some kind of connection would open. Her voice would come through the instrument he held just as clearly as if they were standing next to each other.

When he played it on the Ocarina of Time, however, it never once worked. Link believed it was the connection she had to the other instrument. Nobody would deny the importance of the Ocarina of Time, but it did not have the same place in Saria's (or Link's) hearts as the simple ocarina made from forest wood.

He loved the song even without its magic. Whenever he played it he felt close to Saria. It was a song that kept him company on many a dark day in Termina.

When he played it, nothing else mattered. It was just him and his thoughts. The rest of the world could wait until he was done.

When he finished, Fluttershy applauded- by stomping her front hooves on the ground gently. He blushed a bit.

"You play very well, Hinka. What a beautiful song. Are there any words to it?"

He shook his head. She hummed thoughtfully, then smiled at him. 

"Tell you what: Let me take care of these dishes, and when I get back we can brainstorm some lyrics too if you like, okay?"

Link smiled.




It was not long after that when Link saw the town Fluttershy lived on the outskirts of for the first time.

He hobbled along with the six horses. He had been told that they hated being called horses and preferred pony, so Link decided to compromise and call them horses. Ponies were small. Horses? Not so much. When he was chastised for referring to them as horses for the first time by Twilight Sparkle, he simply said "Stop being so tall."

He would be lying if he said he wasn't the least bit intimidated by the sheer size of the town. Even some of the foals were a head taller than he was.

Fluttershy was still the only effective way of understanding most of what the others were saying. By now, he knew a few more words and had enough experience to form simple sentences, but his lack of understanding of Equish sentence structures meant most of what he said was tough to get the gist of until it was decoded.

It also didn't help matters that Link plain didn't like speaking, be it in Hylian or Equish.

As it was, Pinkie Pie was hopping along nearest to him and yapping rapidly. The only things he managed to understand out of her were the words "party," "fun," "friends," "pink," and "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis."

Fluttershy was conversing with Twilight Sparkle about something or another. He picked up "Hinka" a few  times in her soft conversation, which he had figured out a while ago was just how they said his name here. He had no issue with it. Just so long as they didn't call him Zelda.

Rarity was humming to herself, Rainbow Dash kept doing showoffy zigzags and flips in the air, and Applejack was just walking nonchalantly.

Link became acutely aware that the buzz the town had going about it had come to a standstill. When he looked at the other horses outside of the group he was with, he saw that they had stopped what they were doing as he drew nearer to stare at him. Not in his eyes necessarily; just his person. Some eyed him in confusion, others in distrust, and others still in disbelief. 

The one thing they all had in common, however, was eyes as wide as saucepans. It would have made him feel self conscious if he hadn't stared down the undead before- and won.

To their credit, they did not panic outright. They just murmured in their bizarre language to one another and gave him plenty of space. Twilight Sparkle spoke to a few in passing, presumably about how he was either harmless to them, or was being marched to his execution and they all had tricked him.

The latter was somewhat less likely, though it did make him wonder where his weapons had disappeared to.

The group finally made it to their destination, and Link was put in awe. It was a large pearly white building with gorgeous pillars, armored horses outside, and strange black half-spheres placed sporadically around the ceiling.

Fluttershy gently nudged him with a wing, and he looked to her in curiosity.

"City Hall. We need to do some paperwork first, then we will go to Twilight's."

He blinked. Paperwork? He sincerely hoped they didn't expect him to do much writing. He could barely speak the language, never mind write in it!

Fluttershy smiled at him.

"I know what you're thinking. Do not worry. You need not sign anything."

Link gave her a small smile, and they entered the building.




Link was confused.

The others had been led away shortly after entering the building, which appeared to have flat horses inside glass screens. Fluttershy simply said "TV" before she was guided off with the others.

"Love this show!" chirped Pinkie. She was the one tasked with staying with Link. He eyed the strange device. It wasn't holding real horses. They were pictures. Moving pictures.

How did they make the pictures move? How did they make the pictures talk? He was confused. Was this magic? Why didn't they have it in Hyrule? Did Zelda have "TV" and just not tell anyone?

He was somewhat used to the candles housed overhead in rectangle ceiling tiles, and he could deal with doors that opened by themselves. Fluttershy did not have this strange thing, though. Link decided at that moment that he did not like TV. The pictures were too flashy and movey.

Pinkie nudged him gently with a foreleg and pointed at what looked like a stallion in a suit.

"He best pony. Good guy. Know how to beat all the bad."

Link blinked at her. He pointed at TV.

"How work?" he asked. Pinkie blinked, and shrugged.

"Twilight probably knows. What favorite show?"

He blinked. Show? He thought it was called TV. Did she mean play? He didn't really watch that many plays.

He shook his head and gave a shrug, earning a gasp from Pinkie.

"Need show you more. You like. TV fun! Not too much TV though."

Link frowned a bit. He'd only seen a bit of it so far and that was too much. Give him a dummy to train on, an ocarina to play, or a park to run around in any day.

He frowned at a dark image on the screen. The "best pony" according to Pinkie had been knocked unconscious and he awoke chained to a wall underground. Another pony was gradually covering the only exit with bricks, entombing best pony. It reminded Link of the torture chamber he found below Kakariko Village. He'd climbed into a dry well because he dropped an especially shiny rupee into it, and found a cavern that led to a dungeon of nightmares.

He recalled vividly. Kakariko Village was a beautiful hamlet. It stood just at the foot of Death Mountain and at the crack of dawn every day the morning sun would grant a halo to the towering volcano. The village almost seemed to glow in the early morning sun. There was work aplenty to be had and also much to be done for recreation. They had their own graveyard that was so famous a place for bones that the royal family entombed its elite there. It was the place Link too would be entombed upon his death.

Kakariko was a place of serenity. When Castle Town fell to Ganondorf, Kakariko took in refugees. 

None of the people ever found reason to go to the bottom of the well. As it was, none of the people ever found what slept just below the village.

It was not Link's first encounter with the redeads. His first encounter with those creatures was in the Kakariko graveyard when he learned the Sun's Song. He still remembered the poem he found written on a stone within one of the plots. It was an amazing feat, considering that encounter left him clutching one side of his neck as it bled freely, courtesy of a bite from one of the redeads.

The rising sun will eventually set,
A newborn's life will fade.
From sun to moon,
Moon to sun,
Give peaceful rest to the living dead.

Link felt a smile pull at his lips. The Sun's Song possessed the ability to stun any redeads in the vicinity as well as control the sunrise and sunset. Without it, Link doubted he would have made it back out of the grave. He'd fainted after he crawled back out and awoke in a warm bed with his neck wound bandaged thanks to a kind woman named Anju.

Link's exploration of the bottom of the well did, however, introduce him to a different creature. It was the one that he feared more than anything else.

He would never forget. It started out as but a single long arm. It was standing straight up out of a collection of skulls. Link remembered. The entire room was just constructed by bones. He whispered the Kokirian prayer of the dead2 with each step he took.

The hand simply wavered slightly in the air, but it did not react as Link drew closer. His blade was in his hand and his shield was up too. This strange hand would not get the drop on him.

The one that jumped up behind him, however...

"Watch out, Link!" cried Navi. Before he could make a peep, his head was jerked back by a bony hand. 
That was the same moment that the abomination appeared.

The Dead Hand.

It appeared to once be a human. Its skin was leathery and pale white, and its neck was elongated. Its head faced the ceiling at nearly all times. It had two stumps where its hands should have been. The bones on them had been sharpened not unlike spear heads, and it appeared that decomposition left the corpse itself completely bloated.

It moved slowly but methodically as Link struggled to free himself from the death grip of the strange arm. When it was close enough, it slowly lowered its head, and Link saw its grotesque face for the first time.

The skin was tight on it and it did not possess eyes. The lips were gone and all Link could see were teeth. The creature made no noises except for the creaking of its jaw as it opened its maw.

Link's eyes widened. His neck was exposed. The creature was lined up to rip his throat out.

That's exactly what it would have done had Navi not interfered. She flew forward directly into the creature's maw.

It being blind, as soon as she was within its mouth, it believed it had gripped Link's throat. Its teeth clamped shut, and light began to erupt from its eye sockets and teeth. It moved back and began to shake violently. Its mouth slowly creaked open and the death grip it had on Link's head loosened enough for him to escape.

Navi was completely unharmed. She had been projecting her magic into a divine shield for herself. It was a legendary spell that fairies knew well and could teach some mortals of: Nayru's Love3.

Its divine nature shed the judgement of Nayru on the undead creature accosting them. Navi flew out of its mouth safe and sound, and it lowered its head as the current from Nayru's Love continued to deliver divine retribution.

Its lowered head was also the only mistake it needed to make for Link to gain the upper hand. He drove his Kokiri Sword up through its chin, pulled it free, and cut its head from its elongated neck.

A white limb waved before his eyes and the thousand yard stare left him with a shocked gasp. He took a step back as he returned from his memories. He wasn't in the well with Navi. He was in a large building with strange talking and moving 
pictures and several slightly concerned looking equines staring at him.

They spoke amongst themselves, but Link could not make out their words. He gave his head a shake and put a hand to it.

"Hinka, are you alright?" asked Fluttershy. He nodded. 

"Are you sure?" she asked. He nodded once more. She smiled softly.

"Come. We are done here. How is your leg? Do you need a rest?"

He shook his head. His leg throbbed, but Link was no stranger to pain. It mattered little to him. Fluttershy gave him an understanding nod. He liked her. 

"If you need a break, one of us will carry you."

Link was about to respond when a cheery jingle began to echo through the streets. One of the other horses sans Pinkie covered his ears, and not a moment too soon, for the Pink chose that moment to scream at the top of her lungs. He was pretty sure she could be heard from Termina.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE CREEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAM!!!!!!"

Without another word (thank Farore) the pink menace shot off in a random direction. The others remained silent for a moment, and Link's ears were uncovered again.

"Ice cream sounds good. Hinka like?"

Fluttershy hummed, and turned to him.

"Do you like ice cream?"

He blinked. What the hell was ice cream?

"I don't know what that is," he said cautiously. He flinched at the sound of his voice. The flashback had robbed his mouth of all fluids and the sour taste of adrenaline hung on his tongue.

"WHAT?!" shrieked Pinkie Pie from a distance. In a second she was in his face again.

"Who doesn't know what ice cream is?!"

He was pretty sure she just started speaking Hylian. He couldn't be certain, as the others erupted into a low chatter of which he could only catch a few words:

"Train" came from Applejack. He remembered how stunned she was when he asked his perfectly reasonable question about trame stashuns.

"Heaven" came from Rainbow Dash, prompting Link to wonder if ice cream was in heaven, or heaven was in bits of ice cream.

"Primitive" came from purple smart book horse AKA Twilight Sparkle. His little finger faced her.

"Amazing" was the word Rarity chose. Pinkie chose not to speak, and instead stared at Link in what appeared to be mute horror.

Fluttershy put a hoof on his shoulder, and he looked up at her.

"I think you will like it. We will get ice cream!"

Link said nothing. Pinkie was the one who did the cheering. Cheering was her favorite. Fluttershy told him she once cheered because she got bills in the mail.

Fluttershy beckoned him, and together they all walked.



They were right. Farore, they were right. Ice cream really was heavenly. Much more so than vodka, scotch, bourbon, beer, and whatever other vices Tatl enjoyed. 

What? He could use the puppy dog eyes just as well as these horses could. Tatl let him have "just a sip" of those things when she ordered them and he hated every single one of them.

They took him to an especially cold shop (which was welcome, as it was a very hot day) and Fluttershy explained to the best of her abilities what each flavor was like while the others did their best to prevent the storeowner from having a panic attack at the mere sight of him. 

Link found it somewhat amusing. He was tiny in comparison to the horses and also far more fragile, yet the ones that did not know him seemed to be frightened. He found the same occurance amusing at home. Many people were afraid of spiders, though few in Hyrule were venemous (he didn't count skulltulas, as they were mostly beings of dark magic). Link liked spiders!

The options were many, but Link chose vanilla. It prompted further questioning by Fluttershy, which required more explanation of ice cream and what it stood for.

Essentially she had to describe toppings for him while the others got whatever it was they wanted. Link did not understand what a lot of the toppings even were (what the hell was a gummy bear?), so he opted to just get whatever Fluttershy got on hers. As it was, she ordered chocolate sprinkles.

While the orders were prepared, Link dug into a pocket on his tunic. Rarity had completely overhauled it for him. It was all but sparkling like a new rupee and was very comfortable; far more than his old one was. He'd thanked her profusely but when he offered to pay her, she declined. Fluttershy later explained that Rarity bore the Element of Generosity.

She told him tales of what she called the "Elements of Harmony" late into the night before deciding it was time he went to bed. She reminded him a lot of Navi in the sense that she was constantly looking out for him and making sure he was getting what he needed.

He pulled his wallet out of his pocket. Surely an "ice cream" couldn't be more than 20 rupees, right? Maybe it was a priceless treat. He decided that one more blue rupee wouldn't hurt, and he approached the counter that towered over him with the two in hand.

The stallion behind the counter must have been too busy to notice him, but Rarity sure did. She let out a gasp, and he turned his head partially to acknowledge her.

"Qua brien! Po fine, Hinka?"4 

He blinked at her, and she pointed a shaking forehoof at the rupees. He eyed them again. 

"Un ri, un bea, na gorgea! La se?"5 

Fluttershy smiled at Rarity, then at Link. She knew what rupees were, as he had told her a bit about them. She whispered something to Rarity, prompting the unicorn's eyes to widen and for her to blush.

"Mei ostan filé por mina,"6 she whispered in horror. 

Fluttershy giggled, then approached Link. "Hinka, you don't have to worry. I'll be happy to pay for you."

He blinked. The way he saw it, he'd been intruding on her good nature for too long now and had hoped to repay the favor. He looked back at the counter, where the stallion was eyeing the rupees with confusion. He said something to the group, which Link managed to translate to "Bits only."

Fluttershy approached the counter and placed a few coins on it, and Link, still holding the rupees, felt heat around his cheeks. He hadn't had someone do this kind of thing for him since Navi. She would buy him stuff, be it necessities to survive or just things he liked (if he was good). Tatl never did that sort of thing save for once or twice after he saved Termina and her brother.

Part of Link's mind got to thinking about Navi's departure. Had she come here too? Maybe she became a giant horse? His eyes widened. Maybe she was...

Fluttershy offered him his treat with a sweet smile.

"Enjoy, Hinka."

He gave his head a shake. He knew Fluttershy wasn't really Navi. They were very similar but also very different. Fluttershy showed Link pictures of her with her family growing up, and he'd seen Navi in Kokiri Village many times before she became his fairy, down to his youngest memories. He knew she wasn't Navi.

She wasn't!

But... would it hurt to pretend she was? Navi didn't just fly out of his life. She took his childhood with her. And he knew that the current arrangements were for him to be moved to the care of Twilight Sparkle, but perhaps he could just use what was left of his imagination.

He gave a sad sigh. One way or another, it mattered little. When he was left alone at Twilight's, he planned to utilize the Ocarina of Time to go home. He knew Fluttershy couldn't be his Navi. Nobody could but the fairy in question. He opted to leave a thank you note for all these horses had done for him.

He looked to the group chattering away with no sign of hostility in their features. No. Not horses. Ponies. Friendly faces. 
A smile pulled at his lips.



Link was not particularly easy to surprise. You could alarm him, sure. You could make him jump a bit. You could make him think twice about something. But outright surprising him? It took a lot. Link was annoyed when he was cursed by Majora. 

He wasn't surprised. When he saw the disaster looming overhead for the first time, he grew angry.
He was surprised when he saw a group of redeads dancing with surprising grace for the first time.

He was also surprised by Pinkie Pie's antics at first too, not the least of which being his surprise party at the type of castle that would put Hyrule's to shame.

He knew it was a surprise party because what seemed to be an entire town was in the building, and they all yelled "Surpri" before trailing off to stare dumbly at him. Perhaps it was a "Surpri" party then?

Twilight, to his interest, was the one to set them right. He did not know for sure what she was saying to them, but she did seem to be upset with how they were acting around him. She was giving them what for in such a way that Link saw many a set of ears begin to droop.

It was also the first time he met what he at first assumed was a pet dragon. The creature was a little smaller than he was and also pudgy. It eyed him with what Link assumed was fascination. It didn't stick around for long though. All at once its cheeks swelled up, it murmured something, and bolted to parts unknown.

When Twilight finished lecturing the other ponies, they began to mingle. Off in a corner, a unicorn with dark glasses and a crazy blue mane was turning disc things and a band in her big box was making music. Link made a mental note to ask someone where the band inside went when they had to use the bathroom.

He saw many ponies from earlier throughout town, confetti and balloons were all over the place, and a table was stacked full of all sorts of food that Link had never seen before. Pinkie would not stop grinning at him. He gave her a smile.

Fluttershy gave him a gentle nudge, and he looked to her to see what she needed.

"She organized this whole party for you. What do you say, Hinka?"

He looked to Pinkie again, who was in the process of blowing up a balloon animal, presumably because she felt like it. He approached her, and bowed slightly. 

"Thank you," he said in heavily accented Equish.




The party was a whirl of horses dancing, lots of food Link had never seen before, games he had been somewhat familiar with (he was excellent at darts), and some more games he had never played before. Why would you grab apples from a bucket of water with your mouth? He had hands!

Link found a taste for muffins, though he only had two. They were very sweet but not too much so, and he enjoyed the texture, but he could actually feel the sugar in them destroying his teeth. So two.

He did not do a whole lot of mingling though. He mostly just stayed close to the horses he knew. The dragon had gone upstairs for some rest; he was apparently coming off an illness, and Link saw little reason to talk to the others himself. He only had the barest grip on their language anyway.

That didn't stop some of them from approaching and talking to him, though. Those who approached him ranged from an ancient mare who looked like she had been born the year before the Golden Goddesses, to a trio of fillies only about a head taller than he was. Due to the language barrier and Fluttershy's inability to be in several places at once, introductions had to wait.

Once it became clear that Link and Equish did not yet mix very well (about as well as Link and just speaking), most of the horses let him take in the party. They didn't look at him with disappointment or impatience, either. They seemed to understand that he was new to their language and land itself. If he decided to approach them, that would be enough.

He didn't, but still.

The party went on for several hours, and Link would admit to having enjoyed it. The guests would file out and Link would find himself taken upstairs in the ornate castle to a spare room.

His belongings had been moved there somewhere along the way. He did not know when exactly, but he suspected it was Fluttershy. She neatly stacked everything on a desk that was made smaller for his needs.

He was then subject to how horses say goodbye, though they did promise to check on him the following morning. Pinkie Pie force fed him a hug, Applejack gave him a pat on the back and tilted her hat for him, Rainbow Dash ruffled his hair, Rarity then fixed his hair, and Twilight gave him a smile and held out a hoof, which he grasped uncertainly.

She giggled, and gave him a gentle shake with the promise of being up to check on him in the morning, and inviting him to call if he needs anything.

Fluttershy was the last to leave the room. She smiled gently at him while he took in his surroundings some more.

"This will be your new room, Hinka. We all would like you to decorate it however you wish."

She put a hoof on his shoulder.

"But I know you do not want to be here much longer. That is okay. I know that we will be friends no matter what. I want you to know that you will be welcome with me always too."

She kissed his forehead.

"You behave for Twilight, Hinka. I will be by tomorrow to see you too, if..."
She looked to one side.
"If you have not left by then."
Fluttershy smiled gently at him once more.

"Sweet dreams, Hinka."
One quick nuzzle, and she turned away to leave the room.
"Fluttershy."

She stopped a step away from the door, and turned her head to acknowledge him. She listened as his small footsteps approached her, and she turned slightly.

She was surprised when he wrapped his arms around her foreleg and rested his head against it. He'd never returned a hug before. The first time she gave him one she noticed his tensing up at the contact. It was almost as if he had little knowledge of what they were.

She smiled though, and returned the hug. Fluttershy was always available for such an embrace whenever anypony needed it. She suspected Hinka viewed this action as a fitting way to say goodbye.

She squeezed her eyes shut, and a tear slid down one cheek onto his hat. 

It's okay, Hinka. I know we'll be friends forever!



It was late that evening when he decided. He listened as the crickets sang him their tunes and watched the full moon bathe the town in its beauty.

It truly was a nice town, and the horses he met here seemed to be very kind too. Especially Fluttershy. He really liked her.

Still, he knew. As nice as his time in this world was, Link knew he did not belong here. There was a reason he did not stay in Termina after concluding that Navi was not there. Though he may leave his home to search for his wayward mother fairy, he belonged in Hyrule first and foremost. It was where he was born and where he became the young man he was now.

He was not a citizen of this place, no matter what anyone said. It was the same logic he had regarding his roots: Link knew that he was not a real Kokiri. He was a Hylian who was taken to the Lost Woods by his mother before her passing, and he was raised there as a Kokiri. Still, though Hylian blood flowed through his veins and he had nothing but respect for those people, he was a Kokiri through and through.

He was a Hyrulian citizen through and through.

It didn't matter how comfy the bed they afforded him was, either. He may have taken a short nap on it before collecting his goods and preparing a thank you note, and it may have felt like he was sleeping on clouds. But still. Hyrule.

He brought the Ocarina to his lips with a sigh. It was time. The note was on the bed. He did not have his weapons and shield, but he knew he could get replacements. It mattered little.

Softly, he played the beautiful and mystical notes taught to him by a mysterious Sheikah . He could feel the magic within the melody envelope him in warmth. He was going home home home! 

He felt a smile begin to tug at his lips. Already he could see Hyrule Castle Town in his mind's eye. It was as he had figured: the mysterious trees near Fluttershy had been interfering with his magic. He must have been far enough away--

Something was wrong. All at once the magic enveloping him dissipated and he let out a gasp. What happened? The ocarina failed. Perhaps in his over eagerness he hit a wrong note? He knew from experience one wrong note with these melodies was enough to screw the entire spell up.

So, he did the logical thing: he tried it again. And again he felt the spell begin to take hold, and again he felt the magic envelope him.
And again it failed.

It failed again when he tried it for a third time, and then again when he tried for the fourth time.
It didn't work. He was still stuck. He couldn't escape.

He felt his blood run cold. Did he perhaps need to get further from the trees? That couldn't be it, could it? To make sure, he tried a song he learned from a madman, then again from a poe in Termina.

Instantly, the rain came outside his window. Lightning struck. His blood became ice. If it was his proximity to the trees, that song should not have worked.

He barely registered when the Ocarina of Time clattered to the floor. Maybe it was this realm, then. Perhaps there was too much magic here? Then why did the Song of Storms work? He had no idea. All he knew for sure was he could not teleport. If he could not teleport, then he was going to be here for a long, long time.

That night was the first real night in months that Link truly broke down and cried.

Fluttershy was not there to comfort him. His crying did not awaken Twilight or the dragon. He was alone.

He was always alone. Some things never change.

Perhaps this could with time? As it stood, however, Link prepared to face one of his sleepless nights, the speechless angel.

Edn