A Novel Hylian Concept

Rarity was still recovering from the shock and sadness of everything. After they finished playing the flute for Flute Boy one last time, they took it to his father. Luckily, Link knew who that was. Flute Boy's father let Link keep the flute. Now, after checking for guards, they were walking through town square together, and at this moment they were passing a bird statue that showed north, south, east, and west. Rarity opened her mouth and was stunned when her voice cracked.

"Link?"

"Yeah?"

"What other songs can you play on that flute?"

"Hmm... I don't know. I could improvise, I guess." He started to play the flute again, and they both jumped when his improvised song made the statue break. "I cracked it!" he yelled, and was going to start digging through his wallet to pay for expenses when the statue shattered, revealing a large white bird. It spread it's wings, screeched, and stared down at the two.

"What is that?" Rarity asked. She knew from experience that large taloned flying things were not to be messed with for the most part. Link was awestruck.

"It's a loftwing! Way back, before Hylians settled Hyrule, knights rode these things into battle! Wow, look at him!" he said, and then he chuckled.

"He's beautiful." Rarity replied. The loftwing had blue on the tips of his feathers, sky blue eyes, black talons, and his bill and legs were yellow. Other than that, he was white, about the same shade as Princess Celestia. Link probably wouldn't know that though. He walked forward, carefully trying not to scare the creature. He held out his hand to touch the bird, and it screeched again and flew away, battering them both with wind from it's wings.

"I was hoping I would get to ride him." Link said. "The flute brought him back to life. I wonder if he would respond to it. Maybe I could use it to call him." He played it again, and the bird, already small in the sky, turned and swooped down, grabbing Link, who just barely managed to grab Rarity. The bird was pumping it's wings in deep, powerful and fast strokes. They were dreadfully high in seconds. Rarity screamed.

"Don't worry! I've got you!" Link yelled, struggling to be heard over the wind. He did have her. That wasn't a lie. But the joy of flight got to the loftwing. With a happy screech, it did a corkscrew in the air, making Link lose his grip on Rarity. At first, she didn't realize she was falling. Then she felt the wind, realized what was happening, and screamed. She had enough sense to put a magic barrier on herself, and it became a cone shaped shield of light, reminding her of the spell the changelings used to survive their fall from the sky when they invaded Canterlot. She landed in a shallow stream, and the only reason she got up immediately was because the water was deep enough to submerge her when she was laying down.

She came up gasping for air, and shakily stood up to shake herself off. Before she could though, something hit her, knocking her over again and burning her. She was glad she landed in water, because the burn really hurt. She looked up just in time to see a fishlike head disappear below the water. It then popped up again, closer this time, and the rest of the creature came up as well. It walked on two legs, and had roughly the same build as a Hylian. It lumbered towards her, slower, and she realized she was cornered on a sandbar in the middle of a fast river. She pulled Rupees out of the banks, and had to use one to block a projectile from another creature. They were suddenly all around her.

She sent a rupee at high velocity through the advancing creature and ran downstream as the creatures followed her. Three popped up at once, and she had to swirl the rupees around her to block the projectiles. It was surprisingly effective. She then shot the creatures down with them. She decided to keep that technique right then, and kept running downstream, eventually reaching a large waterfall. The telltale whirlpool of a fish creature showed up past the edge of the shallow area. It was twice the size of the others. Rarity prepared herself for a fight as a large creature came out, looked at her and laughed.

"What do you want, cute little pony?" it said in a very deep voice.

"Don't come any closer!" she replied, swirling rupees around her aggressively.

"Whoa, who said I wanted to fight?"

"Well, all the others did."

"The others of my kind are still young, and hostile, and don't really recognize the value of diplomacy. Hello miss. My name is Zora. I guess, since I'm the smartest, I'm King Zora."

Rarity, although taken aback by this sudden display of politeness, still remembered enough of her etiquette to introduce herself.

"Hello, King Zora. My name is Rarity." She stacked the rupees on each other and hid them behind her back, because she really didn't need them. She was going to explain what had happened when she remembered a tale from someone in Kakariko village. "By chance, are you 'THE' zora living at the base of the waterfall that can turn people into fish?" At this, King Zora threw back his head in a hearty laugh.

"GWA ha ha ha ha! Who ever told you something so outlandish? No, I cannot turn people into fish. I am a zora, not a spellcaster. I guess, I do sell flippers that help bad swimmers get through the water easier. Figuratively, I guess that would make someone a symbolic fish."

King Zora had a point. "How much do you sell those for?"

"Five hundred rupees."

That was steep, even for a pony who could pull rupees of all shapes, sizes, and colors out of the ground, and really, she didn't have a place to keep flippers.

"King Zora, I have a friend who could really use those. Could I go get him and come back?"

"Of course, Rarity. Come back any time." With that, he dove under the water, leaving Rarity to turn around and start to make her way back to land.

* * *

Link was starting to get sick when the loftwing finally dropped him. He dizzily got up, and watched the bird happily fly up into the sky.

"Call you later! Get all of those backflips out of your system!" he shouted at it. It screeched in reply as it flew off. He looked at his surroundings, and just avoided a boulder rolling down a huge slope in front of a large volcano.

"Death mountain. Great." he said, and made a sprint for the nearest cave, dodging boulders and monsters. Finally inside, he lit his lantern and proceeded on.