By Sword and Gauntlet!by Mr Zelda C BronyChaptersChap 1: FREEDOM! (Re-Done)Chap 2: New Enemies and Past MemoriesChapter 3: History of the Dark Pt. 1Chap 1: FREEDOM! (Re-Done) Equestria Canterlot- Statue Garden Present Day You ever been in a position so long that you get stiff and have trouble moving afterwards? Yeah that’s how I feel, except I CAN’T MOVE!!! I’m literally a STATUE! No seriously, I have been stuck on this pedestal for years… seriously I’ve been sitting here getting rained on, looked at, snowed on, spit at, etc… oh, and POOPED ON! No, I’m not kidding… first thing I’m going to do once I stop being a statue is shoot the first pigeon I see… yeah that’s right… pigeons… I hate those things now. Being a statue can be pretty boring, but thankfully here in Equestria, just like back home, Teachers just LOVE to take their students to important places filled with boring art! As it was today! Boy does it cheer me up when they come around in these school groups, it helps end all the boring monotony of being a statue! “Alright now children be very careful here. This garden is filled with priceless statues never before seen in any other part of Equestria!” said the Teacher. I assumed she was a Teacher. She had a pink coat, a whitish pink mane, and a cutie mark showing 3 smiling flowers. As usual they started near the front with the more dangerous villains, mainly Discord, he of course felt like bragging about it. ‘MUWAHAHAHA!! You see that? They chose ME first! Oh yes dear education official! Tell them all of my delightful CHAOS!!!’ Discord said telepathically. One benefit/curse of the special reason for our imprisonment was that we could all talk to each other telepathically, if we stayed on the edge of consciousness. Sadly only Discord and I had done just that… don’t get me wrong I always liked Discord but you try living with only one person to talk to for 1000 years… maybe more I kinda lost count… yeah you’d get annoyed too. ‘Yes Discord, we all know of your chaos’ I replied ‘but come on don’t you think that it’s been over discussed?’ I thought to him with a mental raised eyebrow, don’t ask how one does that it’s much too difficult to explain ‘I hope they come and talk about me for once!’ apparently the Teacher did just that! “Alright children this statue is one of the more strange ones.” The Teacher stated to her class “Can anyone guess what he represents?” she questioned, while Discord grumbled about ‘Ignoring good Chaos, and lack of appreciation’ but I happily ignored him. Then they were all looking at me I tried to straighten my already stiff pose to look more impressive. There I was in all my glory I had my sword in one hand and my shield in the other. My tunic looked as if I was being buffeted by a strong wind my hat looking like a traditional Windsock in the gale. My pointed ears were revealed as my hair had been blown back. My gaze looked heroic and as if I was judging those I looked at. My Gauntlets, which had retained a bit of their original color compared to my stone gray self, shimmered with hidden power as the sun glinted of the remaining gold. My boots looked sturdy though scuffed. All in All I struck a heroic figure, even with the single earring. “Heroism” said one filly. “Truth” cried another “Justice” questioned one colt “Battle” shouted one in the back This battle for the answer lasted for a while as the Teacher smiled at her hard trying pupils. Then when a fight broke out between 3 of them, who had already gotten into a fight in front of Discord, she put a stop to it quickly. “Actually class” stated the Teacher “This statue mainly represents Courage!” she said smiling slightly “It is said that this creature once had the courage to even stand against the Princess’ for what he believed was right. It was also incredibly powerful and could fight the Princess’ to a standstill barely breaking a sweat! It is also rumored that he was incredibly wise, it’s said that he could even outwit Equestria’s greatest tacticians! This showcase of abilities is what is known as a ‘balanced trinity’ and it is the rarest kind of magic known to Ponykind! It is said that this creature known as a ‘Hylian’ got his powers from a mystical force called ‘The Triforce’ which he brought from his world. But! It is said he also had a dark side, one so terrible it was as feared as NightMare Moon! Let this be a lesson children, where there is light, there are also shadows.” the Teacher lectured to her class. “I knew that!” said the voice of an orange coated filly with a purple mane who looked strangely like a chicken, an image that made me want to instinctively pull back in fear… trust me, Chickens are EVIL!! “You did not!” countered a small butter colored filly with red hair topped with a pink bow. “Did to!” countered the orange one again. Oh dear… this could take a while… HEY! While they argue let’s have a flashback! Earth Houston – Texas Video Game Convention 1000 or so Equis Years ago “Man this is gonna be EPIC!” Said my pal Khalil. “Calm down Khalil! I’m trying to drive here!” I shouted at him chuckling. “Yeah Khalil you really want to send us off the road?” chimed in Louis, another pal of mine. We were on our way to the Video Game Convention being held that year in Houston, I had moved to Texas a few years ago but we had gotten the old school trio back together again for this convention. We were all cosplaying of course, you can’t go to a convention without Cosplaying! Khalil was dressed as some random Wrestler, he loved wrestling I personally didn’t understand any of it though, which translated into bare skin and a mask. Louis was dressed as a Spy from TF2 and as a result was twirling the Butterfly Knife that went with his costume he had deliberately dulled the Blade so that he could bring it into the convention. He was also wearing a Ski-Mask over his face and was wearing a red toned, pin-striped suit. He also had an E-Cigarette that looked like a real one to help him with the image, he also had a lighter that he used to ‘light’ the cigarette, it released water vapor that looked like real smoke. While I was dressed as Link from Legend of Zelda, mainly the one from Twilight Princess with a bit from others, wearing the traditional Green Tunic with many of his normal items. I had spent WEEKS working on designing this costume! I had the Master Sword, the Hylian Shield, the Longshot, a Hero’s Bow, a Boomerang, the Boots, just about everything he normally has. The only thing I was really missing was some cool Gauntlets, I had brought a bit of money with me because I was hoping to find a pair at the Convention. But even if I didn’t then at least we could all have a good time. We walked into the Convention Center and spent a fun couple of Hours going around the place, we tested games, saw other cosplays, got autographed stuff, you know normal convention stuff! We were on our way to sign up for the Cosplay competition, since we all wanted to enter into it, when I saw a cosplayed Merchant selling Cosplay items and then I saw THEM. There among the other useless and intriguing junk he had was the most epic piece of Cosplay loot I had seen, and they would work PERFECTLY with my cosplay! I told the guys to hold up a moment and ran to this dudes booth. “Hey man! You got some nice stuff here!” I told him trying not to show too much of my curiosity and to avoid him bumping up his prices at the sight of interest, trust me some people do this kinda thing… that or I’m just paranoid. “Oh” he replied eyeing my slyly in a way that sent a bad feeling to my brain. “See anything that interests you? Perhaps some of my lovely Legend of Zelda merchandise?” he questioned me. ‘PHILIP!’ my brain shouted, ‘back out NOW man! This guy sends out ALL kinds of bad vibes!’ ‘When did you become a psychic?’ questioned another. Oh boy here we go again… oh yeah in case I didn’t mention it earlier I have voices in my head. Sometimes they are helpful sometimes they’re not… ok most of the time they aren’t they end up being more annoying than anything else. After forcefully putting down their brief little tirade I turned back to face the Merchant. “Possibly, how much are those Gauntlets?” I asked trying to sound nonchalant. “500 dollars,” he stated flatly. “Yeah, I don’t know…” I said sounding like I was on the edge of buying, “maybe there are some better deals elsewhere…” looking around like I was considering leaving. “450 dollars,” he interjected, probably sensing I really wanted it. “Yeah no, I’ll go elsewhere,” I said as I started to walk away. I saw his eyes darting around his table desperately trying to figure a way to get my money. I had brought $750 for spending at the convention, but I really wanted to get a good deal here. “Wait!” he cried after me. “I’ll put the price at 575 dollars AND add any Zelda merchandise you want!” As he said this, I could FEEL the desperation rolling off of him; guess he hadn’t been doing as much business as he had originally hoped. “Deal,” I said and turned around sharply. While he had quite a bit of gear that Link had owned at least once throughout all the Zelda games, he only had a few that I didn’t already have. After paying him I put the new gear into my bags and started walking back towards my friends who were grinning at my exchange with the Merchant. As I was putting on the Gauntlets mid-stride I heard the Merchant mutter something. I half turned to him and caught the majority of what he said. “… Young adventurer, thinks he’s so sly… oh I’ll have fun with him… bound to get my revenge once I send him off… sure to be amusing for me…” he grumbled, the rest was gibberish. I was pulling on the final strap as I turned back towards my friends… that was the last time I saw them. Suddenly a glowing hole appeared underneath me, people saw it and ran back from it.my friends looked at it wearing looks of disbelief. I started to fall back into it and I attempted to reach for a hand hold my eyes wide. The last thing I heard before my head fell into the hole was a shouted cry of “PHILIP!” from both of my friends and to make matters worse… I entered a void. = The Void = : An Unknown, if any, amount of Time : So who knows how long I was in the void… felt like forever. I had nothing to do, no control. Oh and to make matters worse the voices decided this was the PERFECT time to, of all things, LECTURE me! ‘Told you it was a bad idea!’ Shut Up… ‘Yeah’ You too ‘Wow… RUDE much?’ Yes this is how I normally act WHILE FLOATING IN A VOID!! ‘Oh… touché.’ ‘BURN!’ Don’t you even START! ‘Fine! Party pooper…’ This of course went on for the remainder of my stay within the Void… man I hated that place. Equestria Back to the Present Oh, hey let’s pause the Flashback. The tour group is finished fighting! Oh… and now they’re leaving… whelp that’ll be the most excitement we’ll have here for a couple decades. That’s what I thought until I heard cracking… and the sound of Discord’s laugh, not just in my head but also… in the air. Discord… the literal GOD of CHAOS was free, FREE!? ‘Well’ my voices and I thought in synch, for once, ‘there goes the neighborhood…’ and then after he kicked off his stone covering, he walked over to me. “Well, well, well,” Discord gleefully gloated, grinning at me. “Looks like I’M back in business!” ‘That’s great, Discord buddy!’ I thought at him, 'hey pal, since you’re free and all... Would you mind letting me out as well? You know, since we’re the BEST of FRIENDS!?’ “Hmm,” he pondered, tapping his chin with a talon. “I could… You know what? How about this!” He was suddenly in my face, with a Cheshire grin on his face “I’ll break you out... IF I get defeated again! Okay? Good! Ta-Ta for now I have some CHAOS to spread!” he said not giving me a chance to respond. Then he poofed up an upside down umbrella and put on a bowler hat, then, he flew away… that’s right he FLEW… AWAY… LIKE MARY freaking POPPINS!!! Sometimes I really hated that jerk. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait too long before I felt Discord’s magic crack open my stone casing. ‘Aw man, and we were Mint Condition to!’ ‘Shut Up’. But yeah it was a real short wait, only two days… yeah, Discord only stayed out of prison for 2 days… and he’s a GOD? Then again so where SunBurnt and CraterFace oh or more commonly known as Celestia and Luna… then again… they may have grown up since I last saw them when they were teenagers… yeah, heck unless they were immortal they might be DEAD! That thought sobered me up a bit, but hey I had to get moving or be caught again! I had to at LEAST set a better Jail-Break record than Discord. I quickly shook off the dust and, using my Mole Mitts, buried the rest of the stone fragments. Then, after hopping back onto the pedestal, I pulled out my Saria’s Ocarina played The Elegy of Emptiness (All official Zelda song names will be shown like this one), leaping away as it created a statue in my likeness. Thankfully since I didn’t look like Kid Link my statue didn’t look like “Ben Drowned”; though the face looked a bit… ‘Trolly’ I guess, if that’s even a word. Quickly using The Dominion Rod (All Special official Zelda Items will be shown like this… except for Saria’s Ocarina since it BARELY counts as an item in my book, oh and same with non-special items like arrows, bombs, Deku nuts, sticks, seeds, etc.) I was able to get it to copy my earlier position, thank goodness it could move its limbs. After double checking the area, making sure it looked undisturbed, I stopped to admire my handiwork. “Who says you can’t be the wielder of courage and not have a little bit of wisdom!” I said, speaking out loud for the first time in who knows how long. Hearing a noise, I quickly ran into the Hedge Maze. As I dived into the Hedge I saw two moving ponies, followed by some Royal Guards, wheeling Discord on a trolley back to his pedestal, once again as a statue. I spent a few seconds silently laughing at his misfortune before running through the maze to freedom. After running for a few moments, the maze began to take on a familiar look… I groaned quietly to myself. It was pretty much the same layout as the garden in Ocarina of Time… except they also had air support! Thankfully the Pony guards were just as stupid as the Hyrule guards in the game, so getting past them was no sweat. After getting out of the Maze I encountered some brightly glowing windows. I walked up to them and heard the sounds of music, voices, silverware, glasses, FOOD! “Well looks like the Canterlot Royalty are hosting a party!” I said to myself wishing I had my gear… Lousy gaurds looting me. I almost feel sorry for what'll happen if they try and use any of it. Almost. Anyways… back to the party! I glanced inside to see all the Nobles (those snots) and the middle classers (the Normals) partying. After a bit of searching I found the “Guests of Honor,” 6 ponies whom I instantly recognized. ‘Of course!’ I thought ‘I’ve hit the show! I had my suspicions when I saw the tour group that freed Discord!’ ‘Wow… it took you THAT LONG?’ ‘Shut. Up.’ You see before ending up here I was a Brony… not a hardcore Brony. Just a normal one, I watched the show, read fanfiction, enjoyed fanart, and talked with other Bronies. Like Louis! So when I first got to Equestria it was Thrills Ville! Then ponies flipped out at me and BAM! ZAM! FLASH! I was turned to stone… actually it took them a few years to discover me, and a few years after that to catch me! Anyways… I had a point here… oh yeah! Since I was a Brony I easily recognized the Mane 6! As I was leaning against the window above them all I failed to notice a single chicken. It was a slight golden color and lived in the Gardens… it was also immortal… and I had once accidently hit it with a fire arrow. Needless to say it remembered me and quickly attacked. After a quick scuffle, which I totally let him win, I ended up being flung through the window and landing back first, thank goodness for my shield, on the banquet table. Upon impact, I slid a few feet before coming to a stop, loudly knocking off glasses and platters of food, some of which I managed to sample as I went by. (What? I hadn’t eaten for a couple Centuries!) Upon stopping, everyone in the room was looking at me. ‘well… this will most likely not end well… STUPID CHICKEN!’ I thought as I stood up, grinning nervously. I looked around me at the stunned ponies, some of which were now sporting edible head pieces, including some of the guests of honor. Rarity did not look pleased with the new fashion statement. 'uh oh... quick! Stall!' “GOOOOD EVENING CANTERLOT!” I said in my best Robin Williams impression, seriously go watch “Good Morning, Vietnam” to hear how it kind of sounded, to my stunned audience. “How is everypony tonight? Good? Good!” I shouted, my voice booming close to the level of “The Royal Capslock,” smiling the entire time. Trust me, I know; I once got into a shouting match with Princess Luna... she always was a loud mouth. I quickly brushed the remaining food off my tunic as I looked around. “I can’t believe you guys had a party… and DIDN’T invite ME!” I said faking shock. “I mean honestly! A guy can’t be put in stone AND remembered for a couple centuries?” I pouted. “WHO DARES DISTURB THE FESTIVITIES” I heard a voice shout from the big doors. Uh Oh… looks like the Princess’s were back to enjoy the party. I quickly tried to keep myself from going pale as I turned around to face them. “LUNA!” I yelled happily. “Long time no see! How’s that achne coming? Does your face still look like the surface of your moon?” I asked mockingly. To which I heard gasps from around the room, including behind me where the Elements stood. “That voice… tis not one we hath heard for over a 1000 years. Thou hast returned? How? Why? Oh Joyous Day!” Princess Luna said flying up from the crowd to see me better. “Oh friend Link! We hath missed you since our return! Where have you been? We half expected thee to be near the head of our welcome back committee!” Luna said as she hugged me tightly. “Luna…” I gasped out “Can’t… breathe…” By now, I was starting to match Luna's fur. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” Luna squeeked out, quickly releasing me. “But please! Do not torture me for long. Where have you been?” “Didn’t SunButt tell you?” I asked while smirking slightly, puzzled that she didn't already know. “After all she knew where I was the entire time! Actually paid me a visit every couple of years!” Luna looked puzzled at this and smirked slightly as well. “You know well that our sister does not enjoy that Nickname. But no, she has not told me anything of your whereabouts.” Luna said. “Let us ask my sister at once! But first I want you to meet my newest friends, and the new Elements of Harmony.” She said happily, guiding me towards the Mane 6. “Luna,” I said, feigning shock “I can’t believe you would try to replace me! I thought we had something special!” My grin giving away the joke. “Oh I would never DREAM of replacing you!” Luna replied smiling as well. Then we arrived to the mane 6 who had been watching the entire ordeal with puzzled curiosity. Except for Pinkie Pie of course who was grinning and barely staying in her seat. “Girls this is Link, he is a trusted friend and confidant to myself and to Celestia!” Luna said “Link these are the Elements of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle Element of Magic, AppleJack Element of Honesty, Rarity Element of Generosity, Fluttershy Element of Kindness, Rainbow Dash Element of Loyalty, and Pinkie Pie Element of Laughter!” Luna said gesturing to each in turn. They all nodded their heads and mumbled greetings to me, I could tell they all wanted to know more but Luna interrupted them all. “Tis day is most grand and joyous! Come! We must all celebrate both my return as well as a defender of Equestria’s!” Luna boomed as the party went back into action. Author's Note HEY GUYS, and GALS! This is my second story EVER! I'm making the next one almost 100% the past where Philip/Link FIRST arrived in Equestria and I think i'll alternate from present to past until the past is all caught up! If you are also writing a displaced story and want to joint write chapters PM me Plz! I would love to try co-writing with someone! Until then! This is Mr Zelda C Brony Signing off! ~Hey this is the edited version, I took some stuff out and my editor helped me reign in some of it! PM me if you can spot any of the differences! If you succeed I'll post your name and give you an internet cookie!~ Chap 2: New Enemies and Past MemoriesThe party was beginning to wind down but Pinkie Pie quickly fixed that problem and Vinyl Scratch had shown up to drop the bass, which is probably why we all failed to hear the screams. I was on the dance floor with Luna competing to see who was the best (or should I say worst) dancer when Blue Blood suddenly ran into the party screaming at the top of his lungs, and boy was he a screamer. The Music abruptly stopped so we could all hear his screams. “MONSTER!” he screamed “MONSTER IN THE CASTLE! THERE’S A MONSTER IN THE CASTLE!” he howled to us then calmly stated “Just thought you all should know.” Before fainting on the dance floor. My first thought was of course Harry Potter and apparently Pinkie had the same thought as I heard her mutter “You’re a Wizard ‘Arry” in a surprisingly excellent Hagrid impression. Luna and I exchanged a look as she summoned a rapier from the very shadows before we took off down the halls towards the new screams that we could all now hear. ‘Man those doors are REALLY thick!’ ‘Yeah! Real good sound-proofing there! Top notch work!’ As we ran down the halls I guess Luna or someone (sorry somepony) had informed Celestia as she appeared next to us with a WAR HAMMER! She simply nodded to me after a look of surprise before we all fell into a long practiced rhythm of 'Deal with the Big Danger NOW – and the Small Problems later' as we charged onwards. We all came sliding around a corner and finally caught sight of the ‘Monster’ that had frightened Blue Blood so much. Now it was my turn to be surprised. It was Herobrine, THE HEROBRINE from MINECRAFT! How in Tartarus did he get here? Celestia and Luna glared at Herobrine and when that failed to work Celestia spoke up first. “Are you the one behind all of the recent murders?" Celestia asked. ‘Wait? There were murders here and Celestia FAILED to find the problem?’ ‘No surprise there…’ ‘Yeah True Dat!’ Herobrine of course stayed completely still and silent but for the flickering of his glowing eyes. "Speak!" Luna demanded attempting to throw out the same Aura of control as her Sister had. Herobrine remained silent and I could’ve sworn he was staring at me. His stare sent a chill through me, part fear, part cold, and part my own excitement at the possibility of combat. I decided it was my turn to speak up “You’re him. You’re Herobrine.” I stated. ‘Yeah we knew that already!’ ‘True but Celestia and Luna don’t plus! Theatrics!’ Celestia and Luna turned to me and said in unison, "You know him?" "I know of him, but I don't know him personally." I replied Herobrine finally decided to speak up "My reputation precedes me, it seems." His voice, it seemed to come from nowhere yet everywhere. "Who are you? Why are you here?" Celestia queried. "That is none of your concern. I have come for Link, that is all." Herobrine replied. Oh dear… that probably isn’t a good sign. Time to go offensive. "What do you want from me, fiend!?" I demanded. While stealthily drawing my bow. "Simple. I want to destroy this pretty little world of yours. But for now, I must take my leave. Ta-ta!" Herobrine said before opening a portal. I barely had time to shoot off a Light Arrow, sadly it didn’t seem to affect him. Heck, I don’t think he even noticed. But my Light Arrow didn’t react well with our end of his portal. As the Arrow hit it sent out a shockwave that threw all of us back, sending me straight through a statue of Celestia. Then I blacked out and my mind went off to visions of the Past. Equestria The Everfree About 1, 525 Equis Years ago It was a peaceful night, until I showed up. My appearance was spectacularly, horrible. I first entered The Everfree in a flash of light and sound, then I promptly slammed face-first into a tree. “OW!” I screamed quite needlessly as I sat up from where I had landed. I then stayed there for about 10 minutes going through the usual cycle of thought one does after experiencing a WTF moment, they went in this order. ‘WTF!’ ‘Where The Freak am I?’ ‘What The Freak happened?’ ‘What The Freak now?’ ‘Why The Freak do the deities hate me?’ And finally ‘Why The Freak am I still here?’ After wasting my time asking these questions and failing to find an answer for them I decided to get off my arse and figure out at least 1 answer. I figured that if I could solve one the others would collapse like dominoes! ‘Or they could be like a Hydra! Cut off one head and 2 more grow in it’s place!’ Shut up you’re not helpful! ` ‘He probably jinxed us now’ And you are not helping either! So I quickly got up and brushed off my tunic, I then looked around at my surroundings. I was on a tall hill in the middle of a large forest. I saw pretty much nothing except 3 large camps all placed near each other but not next to each other. “Well Philip. Whenever lost or stranded always head for the largest site of civilization nearby.” I said to myself before securing all my bags and beginning my march towards the nearest Camp. After marching for a few hours I heard a low growling. I sighed to myself, ‘great’ I thought ‘wild animals… I’m going to die to wild animals. Not only that but I’m going to be mauled by animals who know’s how far away from home!’ I quickly turned around and put my hand on the hilt of my fake Master Sword. I was hoping that if I smacked them hard enough with the foam prop they would decide to try finding an easier meal. Then the first TimberWolf leaped out at me. I instinctively smacked using the sword edge first. I watched in shock as my blade slide through his body like a knife through butter. Then I stared at his remains as I processed what had just happened. My once foam sword had just killed an animal. Said animal was made of wood. If an animal is made of wood is it really alive Actually yes trees are seen as alive and they are made of wood.. so are witches.. My once foam sword was now a metal Make that a Sharp metal sword I had just committed murder “Well… I’m in trouble… and this isn’t good…” I said staring at the carnage I had caused.. Dude.. it’s not carnage! It’s wood chips! SNAP OUT OF IT! I sighed and continued my trek towards the camp site and made it there without any further mishaps. When I approached the camp I was stopped by a loud voice that rung with the tone of authority. “Halt! State thy name, business, and species. As well as today’s password!” Stated the voice from the camp in front of me. I noticed now they all resembled Roman Camps with walls and everything though with small differences. This camp had magical defenses woven into the normal ones as well as a magical dome. “Uhh hi!” I said “My name is…” I decided to keep my real name safe and decided to just go with my costume “Link, and I’m lost and looking for help.” I said hesitantly. “Your Species and the Password please..” stated the Voice again. “Oh, I’m a Hylain… and the Password is…” I decided that the people here probably weren’t that smart so I went with the best Password I knew thanks to Sarge “Password!” I said as I waited for their response. “Correct!” stated the Voice “Open the Gates!” I silently thanked Sarge and his Expert military knowledge as the Gates creaked open. Then I was blasted unconscious. I did a lot of that in the beginning. Equestria Canterlot Palace Present Day I was the first of us to wake up, probably thanks to my massive amounts of experience in the art of unconsciousness. Luna and Celestia quickly followed at about the same time. Celestia was of course the first to speak. “So I see you have been freed Courage? May I assume Discord had a hand in it?” Celestia asked calm and collected as always. “You always did have a knack for analysis Celestia, but please do not address me with the Label I was given during my imprisonment. We were friends once and I hope we will be again, so address me as Link if you would be so kind.” I stated simply and plainly to Celestia. Luna of course picked up on the situation and seemed baffled “Sister what is this? You imprisoned Link? Why would you do such a thing! He was and IS our friend and you would treat him like a common criminal!? Explain DEAR Sister.” Luna said her voice dripping with anger near the end. “You would not understand Luna! You weren’t here for the aftermath! I did what needed to be done for our people!” Celestia shot back vehemently. “Why wasn’t I there? Who exactly prevented me from coming to Thy aid!” Luna demanded even though we all knew the answer to that. As such her question went unanswered. I stepped in before the Sisters decided to move on from words and get physical with the magical weapons they both possessed within their auras. “Both of you stop! Luna calm down Celestia had every right to put me in stone. As Celestia and I know there was no other way.” I said going from a scream to a sullen tone. During this exchange I barely noticed the Mane 6 and a few other ponies arriving though they hung back, barely seen but within easy hearing distance. Celestia and Luna though failed to notice them. “Why?” Luna asked tears beginning to form “Why would she have to do that? Tell me Link!” she demanded. I looked at her and nearly broke, I never did like to see either of them cry. So I motioned for them to sit, and I told them all the tale of my imprisonment. See what happens in the Third Chapter of “By Sword and Gauntlet” Chapter 3: The History of The Darkness Author's Note Hey everyone! Here it is, The long awaited collab chapter with BlueMoon865! He is the author of the story "You know My Name" link HERE Read it for his half of our encounter! Chapter 3: History of the Dark Pt. 1 Equestria The Everfree (the “Castle of the two Sisters”) Approximately 1500 years ago So I had been around Equestria for around 25 years at this time. I aided the ponies against the Wendingos (a story for another time) and I also befriended the princess’ so all in all I was pretty happy and well known around Equestria. Of course with my luck it couldn’t last. This, Mares and Gentlecolts, is the story of how I turned from the light, and earned myself imprisonment. I woke that morning with a bad feeling; then again I never did feel too comfortable with the Everfree ever since my arrival in Equestria. I was greeted by Gerald, he had been my “Personal Servant Pony” (or PSP for short) since I was all but legally inducted into the Royal Family. We went through the normal procedures of my day, waking up, breakfast, weapon checks, you know normal stuff! Though today was different, in a way I was soon to discover. “Sir” said Gerald in a bland Butlery kind of voice “I must inform you that Princess Luna has requested your presence in her personal chambers once you were awoken and fed.” Gerald stated all of this without any change in the tone of his voice or facial expression. “Awesome! Thanks Gerald.” I said as I pulled on my glove. I was so glad I had gotten Gerald to stop talking in “Medieval Speak” as I called it. Sure it’s kinda cool but after a while it starts to grind on your nerves, especially if you had grown up where that way of speech wasn’t very common. As I approached Luna’s chambers my sense of unease hit overdrive, which I found extremely weird. Most ponies had been staying away from Luna, there were even signs forbidding anypony from entering but I wasn’t a pony so I ‘neglected’ to obey the signs. Luna had come down with a horrible cold recently it was diagnosed as “Possibly, highly infective to other ponies and best kept away from ALL ponies. Although we are unsure of its specifics and origins” as the doctor said. I knocked on Luna’s door once I arrived only to be polite. “Enter!” Luna stated grandly, she sounded different in a way that I couldn’t explain. When I walked in she looked almost the same except her fur seemed slightly darker, and her eyes possessed a slight greenish tint to them. “Hey Luna! Heard you wanted to see me?” I said smiling at her. She seemed to brighten up once she saw it was me looking more like her normal self. “Link! Yes I did indeed want to see you! I… haven’t been feeling myself lately and I wanted someone to talk to, sadly you are the only one who ever visits me as my sister is much too busy to visit me.” Luna said, a sad note lingering on the end of her statement. “Of course, Luna! I’m always more than happy to talk with you about anything! But don’t blame your sister! She keeps trying to visit but the castle staff keeps on preventing her from entering the area!” I exclaimed as I sat on the edge of her bed. She nodded solemnly and seemed to accept that. Then we sat there for a few hours goofing off, telling jokes, gossiping about events around the castle, and just talking. Afterwards though, I had to go as I was in charge of training the soldiers as well as keeping my skills intact. So we said our goodbyes and I left her room, heading to my personal armory. While there I put on some extra armor as the soldiers had been getting a little more aggressive as of late, probably from the extreme beatings I had given them a while ago! Some still had bruises… but then I had some bruises left over from the last training session, even with my enhanced healing factor. Suddenly a blue Parasprite flew through the window into the Armory almost knocking into my head in the process. “Whoa! Navi you crazy Sprite! You almost took off my head!” I exclaimed glaring at her. “Not like you use it much anyways Link!” She said cheerfully sticking her tongue out at me. Navi, my trusty companion and assistant. I had found her terrorizing a small town as they were petrified of Parasprites in general. I approached ready to just contain her, but she started talking instead! I decided to take her in and named her Navi for nostalgia’s sake! I gave her a half-hearted glare but decided to let it slide just this once. “C’mon Navi! We got some guards to train!” I said to her waving my hand as I buckled my scabbard on and headed for the door. “You mean brutally humiliate them right?” Navi asked as she happily bobbed along behind me. “Hush Navi, let’s at least give them the illusion of achieving victory! Also don’t taunt them again this time.” I mumbled the last bit. “Well what was I supposed to do? When you hit him he really did sound like a pregnant Manticore!” Navi stated defensively. “Navi, we’ve talked about your brutal honesty before!” I said to her as we entered the training area. The training grounds were very well designed. With an open ceiling allowing Pegasus flight, but a magical field keeping rain and other harmful elements from drifting in. A very valid fear with how close we were to the Everfree Forest. There were plenty of randomly placed rocks to serve as cover, or projectiles depending on how you preferred to fight! On the opposite side of the field were my training partners; 5 Unicorns from Celestia’s personal Battlemage group, 5 Batponies straight from Luna’s Elite Night Guard, 5 Pegasi from the Wonderbolts fighting battalion, and 5 Earth ponies from Survey Corps. Basically, they were the Best of the Best from all branches and races under the Princess’ rule. “Heya losers! Ready to get your flanks handed to you all again!” Navi hollered at them neglecting to respond or acknowledge my previous statement. The ponies, whom I affectionately called the A-Team, turned towards us, smirks lining all their faces. Gravel, their designated leader for these sorties, stepped forward. “If I remember correctly, Navi, we gave Link a good run for his Bits last training session!” Gravel called out a chorus of “Yeahs” and “You know its” emerging from the rest. “Well then,” I said quickly before Navi could rile them up any more, “How about you all try putting your Bits where your mouths are!” I hollered at them drawing my sword with a flourish. 3 hours later I stumbled into my room covered in cuts and bruises, the group had really brought their A-Game today, but I’d still been able to knock them all unconscious. Thankfully I had a spare sword that was enchanted to where it was constantly dull, that way I didn’t run the risk of causing permanent damage to them! “Wow they actually got good Link! That bit with the swords in the rock was really inspired!” Navi said bouncing around excitedly. “Yes Navi, I thought so too!” I said with a smile. Absently lighting the candles in my room as it was already getting dark. Wait a minute. I quickly looked up at the clock I had been given for my rooms, one that actually worked. The time read 3:30pm, which was strange since Celestia only lowered the sun at 6:30 on the dot, without fail. I quickly ran to the window and saw a sight I still remember to this day. The sun and the moon were both visible and fighting for dominance of the sky. Ponies gathered in the courtyard watching the sky with mixtures of confusion, fear, and awe. I knew something was wrong, quickly grabbing my real Master Sword and ran towards the throne room, ignoring my earlier aches and pains. “Link! Hey! Link! Wait up!” Navi yelled after me quickly zipping along to catch up “What’s wrong Link? You seem more intense than usual!” Navi asked as I skidded around a corner firing my Longshot into the wall to keep up my speed. “The sky! Somethings wrong with the Sun and Moon. If there’s a problem there, then only 2 people are likely to know what’s happening. One of whom is too bedridden to even do her part! So we’re going to see Celestia” I said, still running while doing my best to dodge those in the hallways watching the sky. As I got closer to the Throne room I noticed two things; one there were very few ponies in the halls now, but many unconscious guards, and two… I could hear the sounds of a fight. Feeling some serious magic power being thrown around. “Hey, Link! Do you feel that?” asked Navi, looking slightly nervous. “Yeah I do Navi, and I don’t like it!” I said, my already intense look growing worse “Seems like somebody is being too noisy, how about we go and ask them to quiet down!” I said a slight grin appearing my face, cracking a joke. Navi shook her head slightly “Even with this you have the time to crack jokes, sometimes you really surprise me Link” she said as a slight smile touched her face. I ran down the final hallway and kicked the Throne Room doors open just in time to bear witness to the second ever use of the Elements of Harmony. “Sister, please don’t do this!” Celestia cried as she dodged another lance of magic. “Tis too late Sister, no more will I stand aside! No more shall you enthrall our precious ponies with your light as they ignore my magnificent Night! If the ponies won’t see my Night because of your precious light, then… THEN I SHALL MAKE THE NIGHT ETERNAL!!” boomed a familiar voice. I turned to look at it and saw Luna, but not as I remembered her. Her mane had turned dark and… look do I really need to describe Nightmare Moon to everyone? No? Good! I was tempted to just scoot away and let the sisters fight it out but I felt a dark presence in Luna, one I had felt before in the frozen North, and I didn’t like it! So as Luna Nightmare charged up a blast that most certainly would have disintegrated Celestia, I quickly used my Longshot on a wooden beam in the roof. As I felt it tug me along I kicked off a column and swung around to kick Nightmare in the face with both feet in a way that would make Spiderman proud! It knocked her horn to the side causing the magic lance to shoot through the roof instead, sadly breaking the beam I was using to Longshot as well. I started to fall as the Long shot retracted, and had to think fast. I quickly drew my Sword and placed my feet on its hilt to where it was lined up to hit the ground first, then I pulled off my belt a small crystal with a little blue light in it and quickly screamed “Nayru’s Love” in a perfectly manly and not at all frightened way so as to activate it. Then, surrounded in a glowing blue diamond of magic, I hit the ground. My shield took the brunt of the impact and shattered, leaving my Sword to pierce into the ground, keeping me from suffering any damage from the fall. I quickly pulled my Sword from the ground and spun around to face the Nightmare. “Link” gasped Celestia, sounding relieved. “You!” Nightmare screeched, surprised and shocked, one hoof on her cheek where I had kicked her. “Me,” I said happily “you might want to get that looked at by the way, it’s definitely gonna leave a bruise!” I chirped giving my sword a twirl. “I see,” Nightmare said, sounding slightly sad “so Celestia has corrupted even you with her light. You who turn into a creature of the Night at the slightest whim! Truly there is no hope for her.” Nightmare seemed to get angry about that, “I will just have to make sure you can’t help her, then I can free you from her influence at a later time!” with that, she charged at me. Before she reached, me I glanced back at Celestia who seemed to be crawling for a box that had been in between the thrones, so I decided to stall Nightmare until Celestia could successfully use her plan. At first I didn’t see her as I asked “Wait... how can light corrupt?” She then hit me like a freight train. Thus began one of the hardest Battles I have ever fought. She tried everything, fired lasers that I reflected with my shield, shot balls of magic which I batted away with my Sword. She even attempted to grapple me, but I bashed her with my Gauntleted fist. Suddenly Celestia yelled at me. “Link! Restrain her!” I turned to see her surrounded by the Elements of Harmony as sparks of magic flickered from one Element to the next. I nodded my understanding. I dodged as Nightmare tried to tackle me, pinning her down instead. Celestia slowly approached struggling to maintain all the Elements at once; I knew then that she would only be able to fire one blast with them. “Luna I do not know what has happened to thee, but I hope that the Elements can purify thine soul!” Celestia said, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. Then she reared back and fired the Elements. I felt Nightmare try to escape my grasp. Then as she realized she couldn’t escape, she brought all her magic to bear in an attempt to block the Elements. Their spells clashed mid-air and they fought back and forth. Never had anypony ever thought that anything could resist the Elements. I could see Celestia visibly struggling to uphold the magic. I decided that if this went on much longer… we would fail. I had to do something fast, I quickly pulled my Ball and Chain from my Magic Pouch and wrapped it around Nightmare, who was too busy focusing on her magic to notice. Once she was chained up I reached out, and grabbed her horn blocking the magic. Her magical lance slowly weakened, allowing Celestia’s magic to creep closer. Nightmare’s magic fought against my Gauntlets, but I held on tight. Fighting it even as some of her tainted magic started to creep up my arms. Suddenly I pulled her around leaving her back exposed for the Elements blast, which quickly struck her. I felt the magic hit her, and I smiled in what I hoped was a comforting way as I was happy that she was being restored, but then. I felt her body become less, there. She seemed to slowly melt before my eyes, like an ice cube in warm water. She was gone and the last dregs of their warped magical cocktail hit me like a drunk Manticore, and all I saw was darkness. A darkness filled with shadows and evil laughter. I awoke to more darkness and at first I thought I was still unconscious, until my eyes adjusted and I took in the room, lit up only by stars. I looked around as my eyes adjusted to what little light there was. I easily recognized my room for when I stayed in the castle, which wasn’t very often normally, but I had been living here since Luna fell ill so it definitely looked lived in. I groaned slightly as my body took advantage of my now functional brain to loudly voice it’s pain. All my cuts and bruises from training seemed trivial now. I looked down at my body and realized I was only wearing the shorts I kept under my tunic, which made it much easier to see all the damage. My hands looked badly burned, almost black, with the exception of my glowing gold triforce piece. My arms had many large bruises making them an ugly purple, with the addition of many crisscrossing red lines and gashes where my skin had been cut. I gulped at the damage, sure I had been injured before in the past but never this badly, and I was surprised my body had anything to complain about since I could barely even feel or move my arms. I decided I didn’t even want to look at my legs and decided to seek the escape of sleep and hope it all looked better in the light of the morning, and if all else failed, I could be distracted so much by getting answers that I wouldn’t notice the pain. When I woke up the next morning I noticed a very tired looking Celestia staring at the window, her horn aglow with magic as she raised the sun. “Hey Sunbutt” I coughed out weakly managing a small grin; the pain I had hoped would vanish had only intensified as time had gone on. “Oh Link! You’re awake!” Celestia said, looking both shocked and relieved at the same time. “You took quite a beating when you leapt to the rescue, again…” she seemed hesitant on how to discuss what had happened. “Yeah, I’m fine! It’ll take more than whatever that was to kill me, at least I hope it’ll be something epic and not something silly like a dart of mistletoe!” I said flashing her my trademark grin. She looked slightly confused at my little joke but just shook it off, “Well with your sense of justice, it’ll probably be either heroic, stupid, or both” she attempted a small grin, but I could tell her heart wasn’t really in it. “Nice to hear you speaking normal English instead of your Equish Celestia, makes it easier to understand you. That and your Equish makes me feel like I’m in a Shakespeare Tragedy” I chuckled slightly wincing in pain. “Oh Link! Are you okay?” asked Celestia looking worried and slightly panicked. “Yeah I should be fine... just look… in my bag… and hand me a… purple potion” I said gasping slightly from the pain. Celestia quickly walked to a nearby table where my gear had been neatly stacked next to a fresh tunic and hat for me. She used her magic to dig through my bag’s inventory, and quickly retrieved a bottle of a strange purple liquid which she brought over to me. “Thanks,” I groaned out, before quickly chugging it down. Suddenly my pain vanished as the potion went to work, sealing wounds and healing bruises within seconds. Soon I was looking perfectly fine and I easily got out of bed. “Link! What magic is this?” Celestia asked, looking absolutely shocked at my rapid recovery yet smiling all the same. “Just another of my many skills, along with the help of the Zebras I met a couple years ago. They showed me some new herbs I could use for my potions!” I exclaimed with a smile as I walked over to my gear and started putting it all back on. “Now…” I said, turning towards her as I buckled on my sword sheath and shield, “What’s happened while I was sleeping? And what happened after your little light show at the end of the battle?” What followed was a long, boring explanation about her struggling to explain the situation to her subjects while knowing nothing. The only thing we did know was confirmed as the sun set that night and we both sat under the moon and cried together at the image of the mare, on the moon. 1 Week Later That was the hardest week of my life. It was one full week of intense training as I accused myself of failing my duty to them. It was one week of crying every night as I saw the moon. One week where I could do nothing! But at the end of the week, something in me snapped. I couldn’t just stay here and do nothing, I was starting to go stir crazy! So I marched out straight to the throne room to find Celestia. I stormed into the throne room, startling a few petitioners as I walked straight up to Celestia, “Celestia,” I said my voice deadly serious, “We need to talk. In private,” I clarified, after looking at all the guards and petitioners. Celestia looked slightly confused and startled, but nodded and motioned for everyone to leave, “What is it Link?” she asked. “I just remembered something…” I said, “When we fought… her… I felt something I hadn’t felt since the Crystal Empire…” I looked straight at her, “I felt the presence of Sombra.” Author's Note So I want to apologize to everyone for the SUPER long wait for this chapter… I wanted to apologize by making a really long awesome chapter.. sadly I made it so long it is going to have to turn into a two partner! Hopefully you all accept this as a proper apology!! I also want to thank my BRAND NEW EDITOR!! *horn noises* My good pal ChocolateChip who I met on Kik and is now also on FimFic so be sure to go and thank him for this chapter!! Hope you all enjoy the new chapter and I'm already at work on part 2! As always please feel free to leave comments as it helps me come up with easy to shape the story and make it more enjoyable for everyone!! Mr Zelda C Brony signing off til next time!
Chap 1: FREEDOM! (Re-Done) Equestria Canterlot- Statue Garden Present Day You ever been in a position so long that you get stiff and have trouble moving afterwards? Yeah that’s how I feel, except I CAN’T MOVE!!! I’m literally a STATUE! No seriously, I have been stuck on this pedestal for years… seriously I’ve been sitting here getting rained on, looked at, snowed on, spit at, etc… oh, and POOPED ON! No, I’m not kidding… first thing I’m going to do once I stop being a statue is shoot the first pigeon I see… yeah that’s right… pigeons… I hate those things now. Being a statue can be pretty boring, but thankfully here in Equestria, just like back home, Teachers just LOVE to take their students to important places filled with boring art! As it was today! Boy does it cheer me up when they come around in these school groups, it helps end all the boring monotony of being a statue! “Alright now children be very careful here. This garden is filled with priceless statues never before seen in any other part of Equestria!” said the Teacher. I assumed she was a Teacher. She had a pink coat, a whitish pink mane, and a cutie mark showing 3 smiling flowers. As usual they started near the front with the more dangerous villains, mainly Discord, he of course felt like bragging about it. ‘MUWAHAHAHA!! You see that? They chose ME first! Oh yes dear education official! Tell them all of my delightful CHAOS!!!’ Discord said telepathically. One benefit/curse of the special reason for our imprisonment was that we could all talk to each other telepathically, if we stayed on the edge of consciousness. Sadly only Discord and I had done just that… don’t get me wrong I always liked Discord but you try living with only one person to talk to for 1000 years… maybe more I kinda lost count… yeah you’d get annoyed too. ‘Yes Discord, we all know of your chaos’ I replied ‘but come on don’t you think that it’s been over discussed?’ I thought to him with a mental raised eyebrow, don’t ask how one does that it’s much too difficult to explain ‘I hope they come and talk about me for once!’ apparently the Teacher did just that! “Alright children this statue is one of the more strange ones.” The Teacher stated to her class “Can anyone guess what he represents?” she questioned, while Discord grumbled about ‘Ignoring good Chaos, and lack of appreciation’ but I happily ignored him. Then they were all looking at me I tried to straighten my already stiff pose to look more impressive. There I was in all my glory I had my sword in one hand and my shield in the other. My tunic looked as if I was being buffeted by a strong wind my hat looking like a traditional Windsock in the gale. My pointed ears were revealed as my hair had been blown back. My gaze looked heroic and as if I was judging those I looked at. My Gauntlets, which had retained a bit of their original color compared to my stone gray self, shimmered with hidden power as the sun glinted of the remaining gold. My boots looked sturdy though scuffed. All in All I struck a heroic figure, even with the single earring. “Heroism” said one filly. “Truth” cried another “Justice” questioned one colt “Battle” shouted one in the back This battle for the answer lasted for a while as the Teacher smiled at her hard trying pupils. Then when a fight broke out between 3 of them, who had already gotten into a fight in front of Discord, she put a stop to it quickly. “Actually class” stated the Teacher “This statue mainly represents Courage!” she said smiling slightly “It is said that this creature once had the courage to even stand against the Princess’ for what he believed was right. It was also incredibly powerful and could fight the Princess’ to a standstill barely breaking a sweat! It is also rumored that he was incredibly wise, it’s said that he could even outwit Equestria’s greatest tacticians! This showcase of abilities is what is known as a ‘balanced trinity’ and it is the rarest kind of magic known to Ponykind! It is said that this creature known as a ‘Hylian’ got his powers from a mystical force called ‘The Triforce’ which he brought from his world. But! It is said he also had a dark side, one so terrible it was as feared as NightMare Moon! Let this be a lesson children, where there is light, there are also shadows.” the Teacher lectured to her class. “I knew that!” said the voice of an orange coated filly with a purple mane who looked strangely like a chicken, an image that made me want to instinctively pull back in fear… trust me, Chickens are EVIL!! “You did not!” countered a small butter colored filly with red hair topped with a pink bow. “Did to!” countered the orange one again. Oh dear… this could take a while… HEY! While they argue let’s have a flashback! Earth Houston – Texas Video Game Convention 1000 or so Equis Years ago “Man this is gonna be EPIC!” Said my pal Khalil. “Calm down Khalil! I’m trying to drive here!” I shouted at him chuckling. “Yeah Khalil you really want to send us off the road?” chimed in Louis, another pal of mine. We were on our way to the Video Game Convention being held that year in Houston, I had moved to Texas a few years ago but we had gotten the old school trio back together again for this convention. We were all cosplaying of course, you can’t go to a convention without Cosplaying! Khalil was dressed as some random Wrestler, he loved wrestling I personally didn’t understand any of it though, which translated into bare skin and a mask. Louis was dressed as a Spy from TF2 and as a result was twirling the Butterfly Knife that went with his costume he had deliberately dulled the Blade so that he could bring it into the convention. He was also wearing a Ski-Mask over his face and was wearing a red toned, pin-striped suit. He also had an E-Cigarette that looked like a real one to help him with the image, he also had a lighter that he used to ‘light’ the cigarette, it released water vapor that looked like real smoke. While I was dressed as Link from Legend of Zelda, mainly the one from Twilight Princess with a bit from others, wearing the traditional Green Tunic with many of his normal items. I had spent WEEKS working on designing this costume! I had the Master Sword, the Hylian Shield, the Longshot, a Hero’s Bow, a Boomerang, the Boots, just about everything he normally has. The only thing I was really missing was some cool Gauntlets, I had brought a bit of money with me because I was hoping to find a pair at the Convention. But even if I didn’t then at least we could all have a good time. We walked into the Convention Center and spent a fun couple of Hours going around the place, we tested games, saw other cosplays, got autographed stuff, you know normal convention stuff! We were on our way to sign up for the Cosplay competition, since we all wanted to enter into it, when I saw a cosplayed Merchant selling Cosplay items and then I saw THEM. There among the other useless and intriguing junk he had was the most epic piece of Cosplay loot I had seen, and they would work PERFECTLY with my cosplay! I told the guys to hold up a moment and ran to this dudes booth. “Hey man! You got some nice stuff here!” I told him trying not to show too much of my curiosity and to avoid him bumping up his prices at the sight of interest, trust me some people do this kinda thing… that or I’m just paranoid. “Oh” he replied eyeing my slyly in a way that sent a bad feeling to my brain. “See anything that interests you? Perhaps some of my lovely Legend of Zelda merchandise?” he questioned me. ‘PHILIP!’ my brain shouted, ‘back out NOW man! This guy sends out ALL kinds of bad vibes!’ ‘When did you become a psychic?’ questioned another. Oh boy here we go again… oh yeah in case I didn’t mention it earlier I have voices in my head. Sometimes they are helpful sometimes they’re not… ok most of the time they aren’t they end up being more annoying than anything else. After forcefully putting down their brief little tirade I turned back to face the Merchant. “Possibly, how much are those Gauntlets?” I asked trying to sound nonchalant. “500 dollars,” he stated flatly. “Yeah, I don’t know…” I said sounding like I was on the edge of buying, “maybe there are some better deals elsewhere…” looking around like I was considering leaving. “450 dollars,” he interjected, probably sensing I really wanted it. “Yeah no, I’ll go elsewhere,” I said as I started to walk away. I saw his eyes darting around his table desperately trying to figure a way to get my money. I had brought $750 for spending at the convention, but I really wanted to get a good deal here. “Wait!” he cried after me. “I’ll put the price at 575 dollars AND add any Zelda merchandise you want!” As he said this, I could FEEL the desperation rolling off of him; guess he hadn’t been doing as much business as he had originally hoped. “Deal,” I said and turned around sharply. While he had quite a bit of gear that Link had owned at least once throughout all the Zelda games, he only had a few that I didn’t already have. After paying him I put the new gear into my bags and started walking back towards my friends who were grinning at my exchange with the Merchant. As I was putting on the Gauntlets mid-stride I heard the Merchant mutter something. I half turned to him and caught the majority of what he said. “… Young adventurer, thinks he’s so sly… oh I’ll have fun with him… bound to get my revenge once I send him off… sure to be amusing for me…” he grumbled, the rest was gibberish. I was pulling on the final strap as I turned back towards my friends… that was the last time I saw them. Suddenly a glowing hole appeared underneath me, people saw it and ran back from it.my friends looked at it wearing looks of disbelief. I started to fall back into it and I attempted to reach for a hand hold my eyes wide. The last thing I heard before my head fell into the hole was a shouted cry of “PHILIP!” from both of my friends and to make matters worse… I entered a void. = The Void = : An Unknown, if any, amount of Time : So who knows how long I was in the void… felt like forever. I had nothing to do, no control. Oh and to make matters worse the voices decided this was the PERFECT time to, of all things, LECTURE me! ‘Told you it was a bad idea!’ Shut Up… ‘Yeah’ You too ‘Wow… RUDE much?’ Yes this is how I normally act WHILE FLOATING IN A VOID!! ‘Oh… touché.’ ‘BURN!’ Don’t you even START! ‘Fine! Party pooper…’ This of course went on for the remainder of my stay within the Void… man I hated that place. Equestria Back to the Present Oh, hey let’s pause the Flashback. The tour group is finished fighting! Oh… and now they’re leaving… whelp that’ll be the most excitement we’ll have here for a couple decades. That’s what I thought until I heard cracking… and the sound of Discord’s laugh, not just in my head but also… in the air. Discord… the literal GOD of CHAOS was free, FREE!? ‘Well’ my voices and I thought in synch, for once, ‘there goes the neighborhood…’ and then after he kicked off his stone covering, he walked over to me. “Well, well, well,” Discord gleefully gloated, grinning at me. “Looks like I’M back in business!” ‘That’s great, Discord buddy!’ I thought at him, 'hey pal, since you’re free and all... Would you mind letting me out as well? You know, since we’re the BEST of FRIENDS!?’ “Hmm,” he pondered, tapping his chin with a talon. “I could… You know what? How about this!” He was suddenly in my face, with a Cheshire grin on his face “I’ll break you out... IF I get defeated again! Okay? Good! Ta-Ta for now I have some CHAOS to spread!” he said not giving me a chance to respond. Then he poofed up an upside down umbrella and put on a bowler hat, then, he flew away… that’s right he FLEW… AWAY… LIKE MARY freaking POPPINS!!! Sometimes I really hated that jerk. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait too long before I felt Discord’s magic crack open my stone casing. ‘Aw man, and we were Mint Condition to!’ ‘Shut Up’. But yeah it was a real short wait, only two days… yeah, Discord only stayed out of prison for 2 days… and he’s a GOD? Then again so where SunBurnt and CraterFace oh or more commonly known as Celestia and Luna… then again… they may have grown up since I last saw them when they were teenagers… yeah, heck unless they were immortal they might be DEAD! That thought sobered me up a bit, but hey I had to get moving or be caught again! I had to at LEAST set a better Jail-Break record than Discord. I quickly shook off the dust and, using my Mole Mitts, buried the rest of the stone fragments. Then, after hopping back onto the pedestal, I pulled out my Saria’s Ocarina played The Elegy of Emptiness (All official Zelda song names will be shown like this one), leaping away as it created a statue in my likeness. Thankfully since I didn’t look like Kid Link my statue didn’t look like “Ben Drowned”; though the face looked a bit… ‘Trolly’ I guess, if that’s even a word. Quickly using The Dominion Rod (All Special official Zelda Items will be shown like this… except for Saria’s Ocarina since it BARELY counts as an item in my book, oh and same with non-special items like arrows, bombs, Deku nuts, sticks, seeds, etc.) I was able to get it to copy my earlier position, thank goodness it could move its limbs. After double checking the area, making sure it looked undisturbed, I stopped to admire my handiwork. “Who says you can’t be the wielder of courage and not have a little bit of wisdom!” I said, speaking out loud for the first time in who knows how long. Hearing a noise, I quickly ran into the Hedge Maze. As I dived into the Hedge I saw two moving ponies, followed by some Royal Guards, wheeling Discord on a trolley back to his pedestal, once again as a statue. I spent a few seconds silently laughing at his misfortune before running through the maze to freedom. After running for a few moments, the maze began to take on a familiar look… I groaned quietly to myself. It was pretty much the same layout as the garden in Ocarina of Time… except they also had air support! Thankfully the Pony guards were just as stupid as the Hyrule guards in the game, so getting past them was no sweat. After getting out of the Maze I encountered some brightly glowing windows. I walked up to them and heard the sounds of music, voices, silverware, glasses, FOOD! “Well looks like the Canterlot Royalty are hosting a party!” I said to myself wishing I had my gear… Lousy gaurds looting me. I almost feel sorry for what'll happen if they try and use any of it. Almost. Anyways… back to the party! I glanced inside to see all the Nobles (those snots) and the middle classers (the Normals) partying. After a bit of searching I found the “Guests of Honor,” 6 ponies whom I instantly recognized. ‘Of course!’ I thought ‘I’ve hit the show! I had my suspicions when I saw the tour group that freed Discord!’ ‘Wow… it took you THAT LONG?’ ‘Shut. Up.’ You see before ending up here I was a Brony… not a hardcore Brony. Just a normal one, I watched the show, read fanfiction, enjoyed fanart, and talked with other Bronies. Like Louis! So when I first got to Equestria it was Thrills Ville! Then ponies flipped out at me and BAM! ZAM! FLASH! I was turned to stone… actually it took them a few years to discover me, and a few years after that to catch me! Anyways… I had a point here… oh yeah! Since I was a Brony I easily recognized the Mane 6! As I was leaning against the window above them all I failed to notice a single chicken. It was a slight golden color and lived in the Gardens… it was also immortal… and I had once accidently hit it with a fire arrow. Needless to say it remembered me and quickly attacked. After a quick scuffle, which I totally let him win, I ended up being flung through the window and landing back first, thank goodness for my shield, on the banquet table. Upon impact, I slid a few feet before coming to a stop, loudly knocking off glasses and platters of food, some of which I managed to sample as I went by. (What? I hadn’t eaten for a couple Centuries!) Upon stopping, everyone in the room was looking at me. ‘well… this will most likely not end well… STUPID CHICKEN!’ I thought as I stood up, grinning nervously. I looked around me at the stunned ponies, some of which were now sporting edible head pieces, including some of the guests of honor. Rarity did not look pleased with the new fashion statement. 'uh oh... quick! Stall!' “GOOOOD EVENING CANTERLOT!” I said in my best Robin Williams impression, seriously go watch “Good Morning, Vietnam” to hear how it kind of sounded, to my stunned audience. “How is everypony tonight? Good? Good!” I shouted, my voice booming close to the level of “The Royal Capslock,” smiling the entire time. Trust me, I know; I once got into a shouting match with Princess Luna... she always was a loud mouth. I quickly brushed the remaining food off my tunic as I looked around. “I can’t believe you guys had a party… and DIDN’T invite ME!” I said faking shock. “I mean honestly! A guy can’t be put in stone AND remembered for a couple centuries?” I pouted. “WHO DARES DISTURB THE FESTIVITIES” I heard a voice shout from the big doors. Uh Oh… looks like the Princess’s were back to enjoy the party. I quickly tried to keep myself from going pale as I turned around to face them. “LUNA!” I yelled happily. “Long time no see! How’s that achne coming? Does your face still look like the surface of your moon?” I asked mockingly. To which I heard gasps from around the room, including behind me where the Elements stood. “That voice… tis not one we hath heard for over a 1000 years. Thou hast returned? How? Why? Oh Joyous Day!” Princess Luna said flying up from the crowd to see me better. “Oh friend Link! We hath missed you since our return! Where have you been? We half expected thee to be near the head of our welcome back committee!” Luna said as she hugged me tightly. “Luna…” I gasped out “Can’t… breathe…” By now, I was starting to match Luna's fur. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” Luna squeeked out, quickly releasing me. “But please! Do not torture me for long. Where have you been?” “Didn’t SunButt tell you?” I asked while smirking slightly, puzzled that she didn't already know. “After all she knew where I was the entire time! Actually paid me a visit every couple of years!” Luna looked puzzled at this and smirked slightly as well. “You know well that our sister does not enjoy that Nickname. But no, she has not told me anything of your whereabouts.” Luna said. “Let us ask my sister at once! But first I want you to meet my newest friends, and the new Elements of Harmony.” She said happily, guiding me towards the Mane 6. “Luna,” I said, feigning shock “I can’t believe you would try to replace me! I thought we had something special!” My grin giving away the joke. “Oh I would never DREAM of replacing you!” Luna replied smiling as well. Then we arrived to the mane 6 who had been watching the entire ordeal with puzzled curiosity. Except for Pinkie Pie of course who was grinning and barely staying in her seat. “Girls this is Link, he is a trusted friend and confidant to myself and to Celestia!” Luna said “Link these are the Elements of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle Element of Magic, AppleJack Element of Honesty, Rarity Element of Generosity, Fluttershy Element of Kindness, Rainbow Dash Element of Loyalty, and Pinkie Pie Element of Laughter!” Luna said gesturing to each in turn. They all nodded their heads and mumbled greetings to me, I could tell they all wanted to know more but Luna interrupted them all. “Tis day is most grand and joyous! Come! We must all celebrate both my return as well as a defender of Equestria’s!” Luna boomed as the party went back into action. Author's Note HEY GUYS, and GALS! This is my second story EVER! I'm making the next one almost 100% the past where Philip/Link FIRST arrived in Equestria and I think i'll alternate from present to past until the past is all caught up! If you are also writing a displaced story and want to joint write chapters PM me Plz! I would love to try co-writing with someone! Until then! This is Mr Zelda C Brony Signing off! ~Hey this is the edited version, I took some stuff out and my editor helped me reign in some of it! PM me if you can spot any of the differences! If you succeed I'll post your name and give you an internet cookie!~
Chap 2: New Enemies and Past MemoriesThe party was beginning to wind down but Pinkie Pie quickly fixed that problem and Vinyl Scratch had shown up to drop the bass, which is probably why we all failed to hear the screams. I was on the dance floor with Luna competing to see who was the best (or should I say worst) dancer when Blue Blood suddenly ran into the party screaming at the top of his lungs, and boy was he a screamer. The Music abruptly stopped so we could all hear his screams. “MONSTER!” he screamed “MONSTER IN THE CASTLE! THERE’S A MONSTER IN THE CASTLE!” he howled to us then calmly stated “Just thought you all should know.” Before fainting on the dance floor. My first thought was of course Harry Potter and apparently Pinkie had the same thought as I heard her mutter “You’re a Wizard ‘Arry” in a surprisingly excellent Hagrid impression. Luna and I exchanged a look as she summoned a rapier from the very shadows before we took off down the halls towards the new screams that we could all now hear. ‘Man those doors are REALLY thick!’ ‘Yeah! Real good sound-proofing there! Top notch work!’ As we ran down the halls I guess Luna or someone (sorry somepony) had informed Celestia as she appeared next to us with a WAR HAMMER! She simply nodded to me after a look of surprise before we all fell into a long practiced rhythm of 'Deal with the Big Danger NOW – and the Small Problems later' as we charged onwards. We all came sliding around a corner and finally caught sight of the ‘Monster’ that had frightened Blue Blood so much. Now it was my turn to be surprised. It was Herobrine, THE HEROBRINE from MINECRAFT! How in Tartarus did he get here? Celestia and Luna glared at Herobrine and when that failed to work Celestia spoke up first. “Are you the one behind all of the recent murders?" Celestia asked. ‘Wait? There were murders here and Celestia FAILED to find the problem?’ ‘No surprise there…’ ‘Yeah True Dat!’ Herobrine of course stayed completely still and silent but for the flickering of his glowing eyes. "Speak!" Luna demanded attempting to throw out the same Aura of control as her Sister had. Herobrine remained silent and I could’ve sworn he was staring at me. His stare sent a chill through me, part fear, part cold, and part my own excitement at the possibility of combat. I decided it was my turn to speak up “You’re him. You’re Herobrine.” I stated. ‘Yeah we knew that already!’ ‘True but Celestia and Luna don’t plus! Theatrics!’ Celestia and Luna turned to me and said in unison, "You know him?" "I know of him, but I don't know him personally." I replied Herobrine finally decided to speak up "My reputation precedes me, it seems." His voice, it seemed to come from nowhere yet everywhere. "Who are you? Why are you here?" Celestia queried. "That is none of your concern. I have come for Link, that is all." Herobrine replied. Oh dear… that probably isn’t a good sign. Time to go offensive. "What do you want from me, fiend!?" I demanded. While stealthily drawing my bow. "Simple. I want to destroy this pretty little world of yours. But for now, I must take my leave. Ta-ta!" Herobrine said before opening a portal. I barely had time to shoot off a Light Arrow, sadly it didn’t seem to affect him. Heck, I don’t think he even noticed. But my Light Arrow didn’t react well with our end of his portal. As the Arrow hit it sent out a shockwave that threw all of us back, sending me straight through a statue of Celestia. Then I blacked out and my mind went off to visions of the Past. Equestria The Everfree About 1, 525 Equis Years ago It was a peaceful night, until I showed up. My appearance was spectacularly, horrible. I first entered The Everfree in a flash of light and sound, then I promptly slammed face-first into a tree. “OW!” I screamed quite needlessly as I sat up from where I had landed. I then stayed there for about 10 minutes going through the usual cycle of thought one does after experiencing a WTF moment, they went in this order. ‘WTF!’ ‘Where The Freak am I?’ ‘What The Freak happened?’ ‘What The Freak now?’ ‘Why The Freak do the deities hate me?’ And finally ‘Why The Freak am I still here?’ After wasting my time asking these questions and failing to find an answer for them I decided to get off my arse and figure out at least 1 answer. I figured that if I could solve one the others would collapse like dominoes! ‘Or they could be like a Hydra! Cut off one head and 2 more grow in it’s place!’ Shut up you’re not helpful! ` ‘He probably jinxed us now’ And you are not helping either! So I quickly got up and brushed off my tunic, I then looked around at my surroundings. I was on a tall hill in the middle of a large forest. I saw pretty much nothing except 3 large camps all placed near each other but not next to each other. “Well Philip. Whenever lost or stranded always head for the largest site of civilization nearby.” I said to myself before securing all my bags and beginning my march towards the nearest Camp. After marching for a few hours I heard a low growling. I sighed to myself, ‘great’ I thought ‘wild animals… I’m going to die to wild animals. Not only that but I’m going to be mauled by animals who know’s how far away from home!’ I quickly turned around and put my hand on the hilt of my fake Master Sword. I was hoping that if I smacked them hard enough with the foam prop they would decide to try finding an easier meal. Then the first TimberWolf leaped out at me. I instinctively smacked using the sword edge first. I watched in shock as my blade slide through his body like a knife through butter. Then I stared at his remains as I processed what had just happened. My once foam sword had just killed an animal. Said animal was made of wood. If an animal is made of wood is it really alive Actually yes trees are seen as alive and they are made of wood.. so are witches.. My once foam sword was now a metal Make that a Sharp metal sword I had just committed murder “Well… I’m in trouble… and this isn’t good…” I said staring at the carnage I had caused.. Dude.. it’s not carnage! It’s wood chips! SNAP OUT OF IT! I sighed and continued my trek towards the camp site and made it there without any further mishaps. When I approached the camp I was stopped by a loud voice that rung with the tone of authority. “Halt! State thy name, business, and species. As well as today’s password!” Stated the voice from the camp in front of me. I noticed now they all resembled Roman Camps with walls and everything though with small differences. This camp had magical defenses woven into the normal ones as well as a magical dome. “Uhh hi!” I said “My name is…” I decided to keep my real name safe and decided to just go with my costume “Link, and I’m lost and looking for help.” I said hesitantly. “Your Species and the Password please..” stated the Voice again. “Oh, I’m a Hylain… and the Password is…” I decided that the people here probably weren’t that smart so I went with the best Password I knew thanks to Sarge “Password!” I said as I waited for their response. “Correct!” stated the Voice “Open the Gates!” I silently thanked Sarge and his Expert military knowledge as the Gates creaked open. Then I was blasted unconscious. I did a lot of that in the beginning. Equestria Canterlot Palace Present Day I was the first of us to wake up, probably thanks to my massive amounts of experience in the art of unconsciousness. Luna and Celestia quickly followed at about the same time. Celestia was of course the first to speak. “So I see you have been freed Courage? May I assume Discord had a hand in it?” Celestia asked calm and collected as always. “You always did have a knack for analysis Celestia, but please do not address me with the Label I was given during my imprisonment. We were friends once and I hope we will be again, so address me as Link if you would be so kind.” I stated simply and plainly to Celestia. Luna of course picked up on the situation and seemed baffled “Sister what is this? You imprisoned Link? Why would you do such a thing! He was and IS our friend and you would treat him like a common criminal!? Explain DEAR Sister.” Luna said her voice dripping with anger near the end. “You would not understand Luna! You weren’t here for the aftermath! I did what needed to be done for our people!” Celestia shot back vehemently. “Why wasn’t I there? Who exactly prevented me from coming to Thy aid!” Luna demanded even though we all knew the answer to that. As such her question went unanswered. I stepped in before the Sisters decided to move on from words and get physical with the magical weapons they both possessed within their auras. “Both of you stop! Luna calm down Celestia had every right to put me in stone. As Celestia and I know there was no other way.” I said going from a scream to a sullen tone. During this exchange I barely noticed the Mane 6 and a few other ponies arriving though they hung back, barely seen but within easy hearing distance. Celestia and Luna though failed to notice them. “Why?” Luna asked tears beginning to form “Why would she have to do that? Tell me Link!” she demanded. I looked at her and nearly broke, I never did like to see either of them cry. So I motioned for them to sit, and I told them all the tale of my imprisonment. See what happens in the Third Chapter of “By Sword and Gauntlet” Chapter 3: The History of The Darkness Author's Note Hey everyone! Here it is, The long awaited collab chapter with BlueMoon865! He is the author of the story "You know My Name" link HERE Read it for his half of our encounter!
Chapter 3: History of the Dark Pt. 1 Equestria The Everfree (the “Castle of the two Sisters”) Approximately 1500 years ago So I had been around Equestria for around 25 years at this time. I aided the ponies against the Wendingos (a story for another time) and I also befriended the princess’ so all in all I was pretty happy and well known around Equestria. Of course with my luck it couldn’t last. This, Mares and Gentlecolts, is the story of how I turned from the light, and earned myself imprisonment. I woke that morning with a bad feeling; then again I never did feel too comfortable with the Everfree ever since my arrival in Equestria. I was greeted by Gerald, he had been my “Personal Servant Pony” (or PSP for short) since I was all but legally inducted into the Royal Family. We went through the normal procedures of my day, waking up, breakfast, weapon checks, you know normal stuff! Though today was different, in a way I was soon to discover. “Sir” said Gerald in a bland Butlery kind of voice “I must inform you that Princess Luna has requested your presence in her personal chambers once you were awoken and fed.” Gerald stated all of this without any change in the tone of his voice or facial expression. “Awesome! Thanks Gerald.” I said as I pulled on my glove. I was so glad I had gotten Gerald to stop talking in “Medieval Speak” as I called it. Sure it’s kinda cool but after a while it starts to grind on your nerves, especially if you had grown up where that way of speech wasn’t very common. As I approached Luna’s chambers my sense of unease hit overdrive, which I found extremely weird. Most ponies had been staying away from Luna, there were even signs forbidding anypony from entering but I wasn’t a pony so I ‘neglected’ to obey the signs. Luna had come down with a horrible cold recently it was diagnosed as “Possibly, highly infective to other ponies and best kept away from ALL ponies. Although we are unsure of its specifics and origins” as the doctor said. I knocked on Luna’s door once I arrived only to be polite. “Enter!” Luna stated grandly, she sounded different in a way that I couldn’t explain. When I walked in she looked almost the same except her fur seemed slightly darker, and her eyes possessed a slight greenish tint to them. “Hey Luna! Heard you wanted to see me?” I said smiling at her. She seemed to brighten up once she saw it was me looking more like her normal self. “Link! Yes I did indeed want to see you! I… haven’t been feeling myself lately and I wanted someone to talk to, sadly you are the only one who ever visits me as my sister is much too busy to visit me.” Luna said, a sad note lingering on the end of her statement. “Of course, Luna! I’m always more than happy to talk with you about anything! But don’t blame your sister! She keeps trying to visit but the castle staff keeps on preventing her from entering the area!” I exclaimed as I sat on the edge of her bed. She nodded solemnly and seemed to accept that. Then we sat there for a few hours goofing off, telling jokes, gossiping about events around the castle, and just talking. Afterwards though, I had to go as I was in charge of training the soldiers as well as keeping my skills intact. So we said our goodbyes and I left her room, heading to my personal armory. While there I put on some extra armor as the soldiers had been getting a little more aggressive as of late, probably from the extreme beatings I had given them a while ago! Some still had bruises… but then I had some bruises left over from the last training session, even with my enhanced healing factor. Suddenly a blue Parasprite flew through the window into the Armory almost knocking into my head in the process. “Whoa! Navi you crazy Sprite! You almost took off my head!” I exclaimed glaring at her. “Not like you use it much anyways Link!” She said cheerfully sticking her tongue out at me. Navi, my trusty companion and assistant. I had found her terrorizing a small town as they were petrified of Parasprites in general. I approached ready to just contain her, but she started talking instead! I decided to take her in and named her Navi for nostalgia’s sake! I gave her a half-hearted glare but decided to let it slide just this once. “C’mon Navi! We got some guards to train!” I said to her waving my hand as I buckled my scabbard on and headed for the door. “You mean brutally humiliate them right?” Navi asked as she happily bobbed along behind me. “Hush Navi, let’s at least give them the illusion of achieving victory! Also don’t taunt them again this time.” I mumbled the last bit. “Well what was I supposed to do? When you hit him he really did sound like a pregnant Manticore!” Navi stated defensively. “Navi, we’ve talked about your brutal honesty before!” I said to her as we entered the training area. The training grounds were very well designed. With an open ceiling allowing Pegasus flight, but a magical field keeping rain and other harmful elements from drifting in. A very valid fear with how close we were to the Everfree Forest. There were plenty of randomly placed rocks to serve as cover, or projectiles depending on how you preferred to fight! On the opposite side of the field were my training partners; 5 Unicorns from Celestia’s personal Battlemage group, 5 Batponies straight from Luna’s Elite Night Guard, 5 Pegasi from the Wonderbolts fighting battalion, and 5 Earth ponies from Survey Corps. Basically, they were the Best of the Best from all branches and races under the Princess’ rule. “Heya losers! Ready to get your flanks handed to you all again!” Navi hollered at them neglecting to respond or acknowledge my previous statement. The ponies, whom I affectionately called the A-Team, turned towards us, smirks lining all their faces. Gravel, their designated leader for these sorties, stepped forward. “If I remember correctly, Navi, we gave Link a good run for his Bits last training session!” Gravel called out a chorus of “Yeahs” and “You know its” emerging from the rest. “Well then,” I said quickly before Navi could rile them up any more, “How about you all try putting your Bits where your mouths are!” I hollered at them drawing my sword with a flourish. 3 hours later I stumbled into my room covered in cuts and bruises, the group had really brought their A-Game today, but I’d still been able to knock them all unconscious. Thankfully I had a spare sword that was enchanted to where it was constantly dull, that way I didn’t run the risk of causing permanent damage to them! “Wow they actually got good Link! That bit with the swords in the rock was really inspired!” Navi said bouncing around excitedly. “Yes Navi, I thought so too!” I said with a smile. Absently lighting the candles in my room as it was already getting dark. Wait a minute. I quickly looked up at the clock I had been given for my rooms, one that actually worked. The time read 3:30pm, which was strange since Celestia only lowered the sun at 6:30 on the dot, without fail. I quickly ran to the window and saw a sight I still remember to this day. The sun and the moon were both visible and fighting for dominance of the sky. Ponies gathered in the courtyard watching the sky with mixtures of confusion, fear, and awe. I knew something was wrong, quickly grabbing my real Master Sword and ran towards the throne room, ignoring my earlier aches and pains. “Link! Hey! Link! Wait up!” Navi yelled after me quickly zipping along to catch up “What’s wrong Link? You seem more intense than usual!” Navi asked as I skidded around a corner firing my Longshot into the wall to keep up my speed. “The sky! Somethings wrong with the Sun and Moon. If there’s a problem there, then only 2 people are likely to know what’s happening. One of whom is too bedridden to even do her part! So we’re going to see Celestia” I said, still running while doing my best to dodge those in the hallways watching the sky. As I got closer to the Throne room I noticed two things; one there were very few ponies in the halls now, but many unconscious guards, and two… I could hear the sounds of a fight. Feeling some serious magic power being thrown around. “Hey, Link! Do you feel that?” asked Navi, looking slightly nervous. “Yeah I do Navi, and I don’t like it!” I said, my already intense look growing worse “Seems like somebody is being too noisy, how about we go and ask them to quiet down!” I said a slight grin appearing my face, cracking a joke. Navi shook her head slightly “Even with this you have the time to crack jokes, sometimes you really surprise me Link” she said as a slight smile touched her face. I ran down the final hallway and kicked the Throne Room doors open just in time to bear witness to the second ever use of the Elements of Harmony. “Sister, please don’t do this!” Celestia cried as she dodged another lance of magic. “Tis too late Sister, no more will I stand aside! No more shall you enthrall our precious ponies with your light as they ignore my magnificent Night! If the ponies won’t see my Night because of your precious light, then… THEN I SHALL MAKE THE NIGHT ETERNAL!!” boomed a familiar voice. I turned to look at it and saw Luna, but not as I remembered her. Her mane had turned dark and… look do I really need to describe Nightmare Moon to everyone? No? Good! I was tempted to just scoot away and let the sisters fight it out but I felt a dark presence in Luna, one I had felt before in the frozen North, and I didn’t like it! So as Luna Nightmare charged up a blast that most certainly would have disintegrated Celestia, I quickly used my Longshot on a wooden beam in the roof. As I felt it tug me along I kicked off a column and swung around to kick Nightmare in the face with both feet in a way that would make Spiderman proud! It knocked her horn to the side causing the magic lance to shoot through the roof instead, sadly breaking the beam I was using to Longshot as well. I started to fall as the Long shot retracted, and had to think fast. I quickly drew my Sword and placed my feet on its hilt to where it was lined up to hit the ground first, then I pulled off my belt a small crystal with a little blue light in it and quickly screamed “Nayru’s Love” in a perfectly manly and not at all frightened way so as to activate it. Then, surrounded in a glowing blue diamond of magic, I hit the ground. My shield took the brunt of the impact and shattered, leaving my Sword to pierce into the ground, keeping me from suffering any damage from the fall. I quickly pulled my Sword from the ground and spun around to face the Nightmare. “Link” gasped Celestia, sounding relieved. “You!” Nightmare screeched, surprised and shocked, one hoof on her cheek where I had kicked her. “Me,” I said happily “you might want to get that looked at by the way, it’s definitely gonna leave a bruise!” I chirped giving my sword a twirl. “I see,” Nightmare said, sounding slightly sad “so Celestia has corrupted even you with her light. You who turn into a creature of the Night at the slightest whim! Truly there is no hope for her.” Nightmare seemed to get angry about that, “I will just have to make sure you can’t help her, then I can free you from her influence at a later time!” with that, she charged at me. Before she reached, me I glanced back at Celestia who seemed to be crawling for a box that had been in between the thrones, so I decided to stall Nightmare until Celestia could successfully use her plan. At first I didn’t see her as I asked “Wait... how can light corrupt?” She then hit me like a freight train. Thus began one of the hardest Battles I have ever fought. She tried everything, fired lasers that I reflected with my shield, shot balls of magic which I batted away with my Sword. She even attempted to grapple me, but I bashed her with my Gauntleted fist. Suddenly Celestia yelled at me. “Link! Restrain her!” I turned to see her surrounded by the Elements of Harmony as sparks of magic flickered from one Element to the next. I nodded my understanding. I dodged as Nightmare tried to tackle me, pinning her down instead. Celestia slowly approached struggling to maintain all the Elements at once; I knew then that she would only be able to fire one blast with them. “Luna I do not know what has happened to thee, but I hope that the Elements can purify thine soul!” Celestia said, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. Then she reared back and fired the Elements. I felt Nightmare try to escape my grasp. Then as she realized she couldn’t escape, she brought all her magic to bear in an attempt to block the Elements. Their spells clashed mid-air and they fought back and forth. Never had anypony ever thought that anything could resist the Elements. I could see Celestia visibly struggling to uphold the magic. I decided that if this went on much longer… we would fail. I had to do something fast, I quickly pulled my Ball and Chain from my Magic Pouch and wrapped it around Nightmare, who was too busy focusing on her magic to notice. Once she was chained up I reached out, and grabbed her horn blocking the magic. Her magical lance slowly weakened, allowing Celestia’s magic to creep closer. Nightmare’s magic fought against my Gauntlets, but I held on tight. Fighting it even as some of her tainted magic started to creep up my arms. Suddenly I pulled her around leaving her back exposed for the Elements blast, which quickly struck her. I felt the magic hit her, and I smiled in what I hoped was a comforting way as I was happy that she was being restored, but then. I felt her body become less, there. She seemed to slowly melt before my eyes, like an ice cube in warm water. She was gone and the last dregs of their warped magical cocktail hit me like a drunk Manticore, and all I saw was darkness. A darkness filled with shadows and evil laughter. I awoke to more darkness and at first I thought I was still unconscious, until my eyes adjusted and I took in the room, lit up only by stars. I looked around as my eyes adjusted to what little light there was. I easily recognized my room for when I stayed in the castle, which wasn’t very often normally, but I had been living here since Luna fell ill so it definitely looked lived in. I groaned slightly as my body took advantage of my now functional brain to loudly voice it’s pain. All my cuts and bruises from training seemed trivial now. I looked down at my body and realized I was only wearing the shorts I kept under my tunic, which made it much easier to see all the damage. My hands looked badly burned, almost black, with the exception of my glowing gold triforce piece. My arms had many large bruises making them an ugly purple, with the addition of many crisscrossing red lines and gashes where my skin had been cut. I gulped at the damage, sure I had been injured before in the past but never this badly, and I was surprised my body had anything to complain about since I could barely even feel or move my arms. I decided I didn’t even want to look at my legs and decided to seek the escape of sleep and hope it all looked better in the light of the morning, and if all else failed, I could be distracted so much by getting answers that I wouldn’t notice the pain. When I woke up the next morning I noticed a very tired looking Celestia staring at the window, her horn aglow with magic as she raised the sun. “Hey Sunbutt” I coughed out weakly managing a small grin; the pain I had hoped would vanish had only intensified as time had gone on. “Oh Link! You’re awake!” Celestia said, looking both shocked and relieved at the same time. “You took quite a beating when you leapt to the rescue, again…” she seemed hesitant on how to discuss what had happened. “Yeah, I’m fine! It’ll take more than whatever that was to kill me, at least I hope it’ll be something epic and not something silly like a dart of mistletoe!” I said flashing her my trademark grin. She looked slightly confused at my little joke but just shook it off, “Well with your sense of justice, it’ll probably be either heroic, stupid, or both” she attempted a small grin, but I could tell her heart wasn’t really in it. “Nice to hear you speaking normal English instead of your Equish Celestia, makes it easier to understand you. That and your Equish makes me feel like I’m in a Shakespeare Tragedy” I chuckled slightly wincing in pain. “Oh Link! Are you okay?” asked Celestia looking worried and slightly panicked. “Yeah I should be fine... just look… in my bag… and hand me a… purple potion” I said gasping slightly from the pain. Celestia quickly walked to a nearby table where my gear had been neatly stacked next to a fresh tunic and hat for me. She used her magic to dig through my bag’s inventory, and quickly retrieved a bottle of a strange purple liquid which she brought over to me. “Thanks,” I groaned out, before quickly chugging it down. Suddenly my pain vanished as the potion went to work, sealing wounds and healing bruises within seconds. Soon I was looking perfectly fine and I easily got out of bed. “Link! What magic is this?” Celestia asked, looking absolutely shocked at my rapid recovery yet smiling all the same. “Just another of my many skills, along with the help of the Zebras I met a couple years ago. They showed me some new herbs I could use for my potions!” I exclaimed with a smile as I walked over to my gear and started putting it all back on. “Now…” I said, turning towards her as I buckled on my sword sheath and shield, “What’s happened while I was sleeping? And what happened after your little light show at the end of the battle?” What followed was a long, boring explanation about her struggling to explain the situation to her subjects while knowing nothing. The only thing we did know was confirmed as the sun set that night and we both sat under the moon and cried together at the image of the mare, on the moon. 1 Week Later That was the hardest week of my life. It was one full week of intense training as I accused myself of failing my duty to them. It was one week of crying every night as I saw the moon. One week where I could do nothing! But at the end of the week, something in me snapped. I couldn’t just stay here and do nothing, I was starting to go stir crazy! So I marched out straight to the throne room to find Celestia. I stormed into the throne room, startling a few petitioners as I walked straight up to Celestia, “Celestia,” I said my voice deadly serious, “We need to talk. In private,” I clarified, after looking at all the guards and petitioners. Celestia looked slightly confused and startled, but nodded and motioned for everyone to leave, “What is it Link?” she asked. “I just remembered something…” I said, “When we fought… her… I felt something I hadn’t felt since the Crystal Empire…” I looked straight at her, “I felt the presence of Sombra.” Author's Note So I want to apologize to everyone for the SUPER long wait for this chapter… I wanted to apologize by making a really long awesome chapter.. sadly I made it so long it is going to have to turn into a two partner! Hopefully you all accept this as a proper apology!! I also want to thank my BRAND NEW EDITOR!! *horn noises* My good pal ChocolateChip who I met on Kik and is now also on FimFic so be sure to go and thank him for this chapter!! Hope you all enjoy the new chapter and I'm already at work on part 2! As always please feel free to leave comments as it helps me come up with easy to shape the story and make it more enjoyable for everyone!! Mr Zelda C Brony signing off til next time!
