- >Be the Hero of Time
- >Day who the hell knows in the Lost Woods
- >Is this even the Lost Woods anymore? You couldn’t recognize any of the plants or monsters you came across.
- >Plus you haven’t been able to find any supplies recently, no matter how many bushes you hack apart.
- >You’re starting to run out of everything but Deku Sticks and it’s making you a little worried.
- >Hopefully it’s just a bad dry spell.
- >You see the trees thinning out ahead, and spur Epona onwards with a [spoiler]slap to the flank[/spoiler]MOTIVATIONAL CARROT, making her whinny and trot faster.
- >Exiting the woods, you come out into a vast, open field.
- >Déjà vu
- >At the center of the field is a modest town, with some kind of large ranch nearby.
- >Cool, it’s like you’re in Hyrule and Termina at the same time.
- >You [spoiler]kick[/spoiler]CARROT Epona into a quick gallop, heading for the town and reaching it much quicker than expected.
- >You had thought it was farther away, but your eyes were just tricked by how small the buildings are.
- >Apparently this is because the town is populated by tiny, colorful horse-people.
- >Damn, they’re really little for horses, even Epona is taller than them and she’s still a filly.
- >They look like they would be right on eye level with a kid like you.
- >Speaking of eyes, theirs are huge - apart from that and their short pseudo-muzzles, their faces seem almost Hylian.
- >It’s not like you’re any stranger to weird humanoid races, though, so you just hop down from Epona and start looking for the shops that will certainly be here somewhere.
- >The horse-people have been looking at you uneasily, and some seem to be staring at Epona’s butt. That’s… kind of creepy.
- >At least they’re not making you leave her outside the town, for once.
- >After dismounting Epona, you run over to the closest building and try the door. Locked.
- >Oh well. At least there’s some shrubs planted outside the building. Maybe you’ll have more luck now that you’re out of the woods.
- >You pull the Mirror Shield onto your arm and unsheathe your Gilded Sword, swinging away with abandon.
- HUT! HRAH! HYAAAH!
- >”AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!”
- >”THE HORROR! THE HORROR!”
- >You look up from your freelance yardwork to see horse-people fleeing in all directions and screaming hysterically.
- >Within seconds the street is empty, save for Epona, who just stands there as if nothing had happened.
- >What the hell was that all about?
- >You continue going from building to building, trying to open doors, only to find them locked and occasionally hearing screaming from inside.
- >None of the bushes you cut up have anything useful inside them, either.
- >This is getting annoying, what is wrong with this place?
- >Suddenly everything takes on a purple tint, and you find yourself lifting off the ground.
- >You flail around, slashing at the air uselessly.
- HAH! HYAH! YAAAAH! RAAAH!
- >Damn, you’ve been trapped in some kinda floaty bubble of magic!
- >You hate it when people pull that shit on you, it’s such a dick move.
- >”Well, it sure is a feisty critter.”
- >You stop waving your limbs and try to look down at the ground.
- >The voice seemed to have come from an orange horse-person who’s wearing saddlebags and an odd hat.
- >It sorta reminds you of Malon and Romani, for some reason.
- >A purple horse-person nearby, with a glowing horn sticking out of its forehead, turns to the orange one and speaks.
- >”Yes, I don’t know what she could have been thinking, to just let it run around like that.”
- >Wait, are they talking about you? And who is “she”, exactly?
- >A quiet flapping near your head makes you look up from the two horse-people standing below you.
- GAH!
- >There’s a winged blue one with a rainbow mane and tail hovering just a foot in front of your face, looking at you skeptically.
- >Shit, you were not expecting that.
- >”Soooo, what the buck is it anyway, some kinda green-furred Diamond Dog or something?”
- HYAAH!
- >You swipe your sword in frustration, barely missing the creature as it quickly flies out of range.
- >”Woah!”
- >”Dash, be careful! Whatever it is, it’s not in a good mood.”
- >Well no shit, freaky purple horse lady, being magically held in the air against one’s will has that effect on people!
- >”Probably oughta take that thing away from it before it hurts somep0ny, Twahlight.”
- >”Ah, good point, Applejack.”
- >You look down at the two on the ground again, raising an eyebrow.
- >Hurts some-whatty, now?
- >You notice the horn on the one called “Twilight” is glowing a little brighter, what’s up with tha-OH SHIT YOUR SWORD
- GYEEH?!
- >You feel it being jerked from your grasp, and before you can even look to see what happened it’s already floating down in a little purple cloud of magic.
- >It lands in one of “Applejack”s saddlebags and the magic dissipates, accompanied by a dimming in the glow around Twilight’s horn.
- >You glare at her with realization.
- >Okay, you get how this works now.
- >It is ON, bitches.
- >You take a quick glance into your inventory, beginning to form a strategy.
- >”Could you hold onto that for a while, Applejack?”
- >”Sure thing, sugarcube.”
- >”Oh, oh, I’ll carry it Twili-“
- >Both of the earthbound horse-people interrupt the flier at once.
- >”NO, Rainbow Dash.”
- >”Aww, but it looks so coo-”
- >”NO.”
- >You look over and smirk at “Rainbow Dash”, who responds by folding her arms, err, forelegs, and sticking her tongue out.
- >Twilight giggles quietly, and starts to walk away toward where you had left Epona.
- >You float along in the air behind her, held up by her cheap-ass magic.
- >”Come on girls, let’s see if our visitor has an explanation for why she set this thing loose.”
- >You frown as the other two begin following her. Again with this “she”, who is “she”? And YOU’RE the visitor here, what are they even talking abou-
- >You look up ahead of Twilight, and see that three other horse-people are gathered around Epona, trying to talk to her while she nonchalantly noses at the ground.
- >are you fucking serious
- Uuugh…
- >You rub your head, this is just becoming stupid.
- >You have to get out of here.
- >At least Twilight is unwittingly helping you, for the time being.
- >You just hope your plan works.
- >As you draw closer you can hear the other three in “conversation” with Epona.
- >”Darling, please, there’s no need to be shy, we’re all friends here…”
- >”Um, you can be shy if you want, though. I mean, I understand, I’m kind of like that all the time… why don’t we just give her a minute to…”
- >”A MINUTE? Fluttershy, we’ve been here almost FIVE minutes and she hasn’t said ANYTHING! She hasn’t even told us her name!”
- >The pink one, who seems even more unhinged than all the rest, raises onto her hind legs to stand in front of Epona.
- >She leans in and puts her hooves on Epona’s muzzle, looking worried as she pulls their faces so close together that their eyeballs are almost touching.
- >”How are we supposed to be friends if I don’t even know her NAME? What am I supposed to do for the welcome party? What will I write on the banners and the cake and the balloons? ‘Welcome to Ponyville, Quiet Nameless Pony!’? Won’t that look silly? I mean I like to be silly sometimes, okay a lot of the time, but really that’s almost too silly! Oh and what the hay is that weird thing?”
- >Suddenly her face is a few inches in front of yours, staring at you curiously.
- >SHIT, YOU WERE DEFINITELY NOT EXPECTING THAT.
- AAAAAAAAAAHHH!
- >”AAAAAAAAAHHH!”
- AAAAAAAAAHHH!
- >As quick as she came she disappears from sight, her head popping out a moment later from behind Fluttershy.
- >What kind of Goddess-forsaken realm IS this?!
- >Fluttershy looks up at you, eyes widening as she lets out a soft “eep!” and zips around to hide behind the pink one.
- >The white one with the purple mane simply tilts her head, wearing a look of mild disgust.
- >”Oh… oh my…”
- >Twilight sighs, using her diabolical horny magic to float you over closer to the group and Epona.
- >Yes, yes, that’s it, come on…
- >”Well Pinkie, we were hoping our new friend here could tell us that, among other things.”
- >The marshmallow horse-person turns to Twilight, shrugging.
- >”I don’t know if that will be happening, Twilight, our ‘friend’ is even less talkative than Fluttershy-“
- >”Meep...!”
- >”-in fact her attitude is beginning to border on just plain rudeness, if you ask me.”
- >Fluttershy pokes her head cautiously from behind Pinkie.
- >”Uhh, I don’t know, Rarity, I don’t think she’s being rude… I’m, um, not even sure if she’s being shy, I think something may be wrong with her…”
- >”Well I’D SAY something is wrong with her!”
- >In a flash, Pinkie is sitting on Epona’s back, leaving Fluttershy exposed for a second before she eeps and runs behind Applejack.
- >Pinkie leans forward against Epona’s neck, reaching her forehooves up to point at her eyes and muzzle.
- >”I mean I don’t want to be rude or anything but she’s got super small eyes and her face is really, REALLY long!”
- >And now she’s standing on all fours at Epona’s side, pointing to her flank.
- >”And she doesn’t have a cutie mark, even though going by size she’s obviously old enough to have one by now!”
- >What the hell is a cutie… oh. She must be referring to the tattoos that all six of them have on their flanks.
- >You hadn’t really noticed those yet because THIS PLACE IS FUCKING INSANE AND MAKES NO SENSE
- >Case in point, Pinkie is now standing next to Twilight without you being entirely sure how she got there, rubbing her chin and squinting at Epona in concentration.
- >Fuck this shit.
- >”At first I thought maybe she was a big donkey, but for some reason I’m almost POSITIVE she’s a pony, so I don’t really know wh-“
- [spoiler]She’s a horse[/spoiler]
- >All six of the horse-girls rapidly turn their heads to look at you, dumbfounded.
- >You are a boy of few words, but you know when it is time for you to say something.
- >For example, when you’re ready to execute your CUNNING PLAN TO ESCAPE FROM CRAZY HORSE TOWN.
- >Faster than lightning you pull a Deku Nut from your inventory and fling it directly downwards amongst your captors.
- HAH!
- >You shield your eyes briefly, being the only one to anticipate the blinding flash that follows.
- >”Ahhh!”
- >”Eeep!”
- >”The hay-?!”
- >”Oh my!”
- >”Augh!” *crash*
- >”Wah! Hehe, firecrackers!”
- >Just as planned, the accursed magic holding you in the air sputters out and you drop downwards.
- >You hit the ground and roll, already grasping a Deku Stick as you stand up amongst the stunned group and whirl around.
- HYAAAAAAHHH!!!
- >Spinning in a circle, you swing out with the Deku Stick and give each of them a solid blow to the skull.
- >thunkthunkthunkthunkthunkrak
- >The wood splinters and breaks in two as it knocks down your final opponent.
- >The five of them fall to the ground in a daze, holding their heads and groaning.
- >You quickly grab your sword from Applejack’s saddlebag, lifting it above you triumphantly and gazing in wonder upon its pointy sharpness.
- ♫ DUH-NUH-NUH-NAAAH! ♫
- >You just reclaimed your [spoiler][/spoiler]Gilded Sword
- >from a bunch of screwy horse-people!
- >Now get the fuck out of there!
- >Will do!
- >You jump up onto Epona’s back and [spoiler]smack the living hell out of her flank[/spoiler]>GIVE HER ALL OF YOUR CARROTS.
- >ALL OF THEM.
- >With a loud neigh she sprints off, and the two of you barrel through the streets, horse-people screaming and scattering out of your way.
- >Crossing a short bridge, you clear the outskirts of the horse-people’s settlement as Epona gradually slows to a calm gallop.
- >Ha ha, you almost can’t believe that really worked!
- >Sure, you’re down by one Deku Nut and Stick, but you never use those stupid things anyway and still have a ton of them left.
- >You gaze up the road ahead of you at the castle in the distance, rising from a grand city built on the side of a mountain.
- >Hopefully it belongs to a less psychotic civilization than the one you just encountered...
- >Something behind you catches your attention.
- >A sound that reminds you of an arrow in flight, combined with an angry scream, rapidly getting louder.
- >What the hell IS that?
- >You turn around, looking back towards the town of wacky horse-people.
- >For a moment your vision is filled with all the colors of the rainbow.
- >But then there is pain, and your vision is filled with darkness.