Author's Note

This chapter starts a Cross-over with a future version of Link from [Displaced] A Forced Hero Rewrite

Chapter 3: Displaced Heroes

Chapter 3: Displaced Heroes

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=== A few days after Nightmare Moon’s Defeat… ===

Michael is sitting in the Golden Oaks Library, he hears a strange beeping sound, “Hey Twilight,” She pokes her head out of the Kitchen, “Do you hear a small beeping noise kind of like a timer dinging when it’s done?” She comes out of the Kitchen carrying a Cooking book and listens closely to the surroundings.

“The only thing I hear is Spike making Pancakes and the ponies outside,” She sits down across from Michael and sets down the book, but keeps reading it.

“It’s so strange, it sounds so annoying, and yet, I don’t know what it is,” He looks around the room and finds nothing beeping, then it hits him, the beeping is his health meter, “Wait a minute…” Twilight tears her sight from the cooking book and looks at him, “I know what that sound is…” He stands up and looks all over the room attempting to find his ‘Hud’ only to find nothing.

“Link, what are you looking for?” Twilight asks, Spike finishes the pancakes and walks out of the kitchen, places three plates of delicious pancakes, and sits at the table, “Thanks Spike, Link, have a seat, Spike makes really delicious pancakes,” She digs in.

“Alright, I’ll look for the sound later,” He sits back down and takes a bite of the pancake and a different sound beeps in his ear. “I recovered health” He whispers but Twilight heard him a little.

“What was that Link? You recovered health?” She stops eating her pancake to ask him. He thinks really hard for a subject change.

He hesitated and cleared his throat, “I said I recovered healthily,” He laughs nervously hoping she would buy the lie. She slowly nods and continues eating her pancake. He sighs and finishes his pancake healing him to full health. “Alright, I’m gonna go for a jog, see you later,” He rushes out the door before she can say anything, “Sorry Twilight, gotta find this on my own for now.” He walks from the Library to a secluded location outside Ponyville, near the Everfree Forest.

“I need to find my hearts and magic meter so I know how much I have since apparently, I have health just like in the games,” He looks in every direction up, down, left, right, over there, up there, down here, etc… “Well if it’s not in my vision, where could it…” He Takes off his gauntlets and checks his arms finding his Hearts and Magic meter on his wrist in tiny print. “Really, there of all places? Should have known the world has it out for me...” He puts his gauntlets back on and jogs around the edge of the Everfree.

Michael rests on a large tree next to an entrance to the Everfree, “I know before I turned into Link I was out of shape but, why do I STILL feel out of shape?” He sits down on the ground and tries to take out his flask only to bring out that [Empty Bottle] again. “I forgot I don’t have my flask anymore… and I forgot to fill this with water…” He puts the bottle away and rests, listening to the soothing sound of silence.

The silence is slowly filled with a familiar tone that would eventually click in Michael’s mind; reminding him of the theme played in Majora’s Mask known as Goron’s lullaby, however, it wasn’t being played by a Goron child nor the sound of a drum. Following the sound curiously, Micheal is led through branches and bush until soon, he spies a Howling Stone with light gleaming from above onto it.

“Is that…” He slowly creeps closer to the Stone, “A Howling stone from Twilight Princess?” He listens to the sound it’s producing and grabs his Ocarina and echoes the Whistle from the wind, a prompt pops up in his vision saying ‘You Learned the Song of Displaced Souls’ Michael looks at the prompt confused, “Didn’t I play the Goron’s Lullaby?” He blinks and the prompt continues, ‘This song is often changed depending on the User and Recipient’s hearts. When this song is played a Displaced will be summoned to your realm.’

Suddenly, a loud howl is heard in the air, causing Michael to turn around and draw the [Master sword], only for everything to be eerily silent. From within the eye of the stone, green energy started to swirl, and before Micheal could understand what was going on, a wolf leaped out from the eye, landing in front of Micheal. At a glance, it looked like a normal wolf, however, its colors were very off, appearing as red and grey. What pulled Micheal’s attention the most, was the symbol on the wolf’s forehead.

Michael spots the symbol of Din on the Wolf’s head, “Din?” He sheaths the [Master Sword] and calms down. It turned out to be a bad idea as the spiritual wolf crouched down low before leaping high into the air and down toward Michael. It happened so quickly that Micheal ends up being blinded by a brightening light. When the light dimmed, he notices he was laying on the ground, as if he had passed out.

Michael slowly stands up and stretches, “What was with that wolf,” He shakes his head and looks around, “Woah,” He pauses looking at the fast sea of clouds with areas of Equestria randomly poking through them, “This looks a lot like...” He feels a presence behind him and turns to face it. It was the wolf from before, but instead of the spectral look to them, it was now a lot more clearer; appearing like Wolf Link, except the colors were wrong. With a howl and a brief flash of light, there that stood in the wolve’s place, was almost a mirror image of Micheal, except his tunic, it was a much darker color being that of Twilight Princess, although he had a red cloak that covered much of his upper body and face.

“My, my, my. First time I’ve met someone else who became Link.” The red hooded man said in amusement.

“Another Link? How is this possible?” Michael looks at the man in confusion, “Are you from a different world?” He asks.

“You are correct.” The hooded man said as he reached up to lower the cowl. The man’s face… was Link? No... His face has a lot of scars, especially his right ear that appeared to have been clawed by something. His face, while mostly that of Twilight Princess, had mixtures of three other Links, and a blonde mustache and goatee. “I’m Link, or rather the name that was forced onto me when I opened up that treasure chest left at my doorstep.” Link explained.

“I’m sorry that you lost your original name, and I feel a little bad I kept mine,” Michael pauses for a moment, “My name is Michael, but for the foreseeable future I am going by the moniker Link. That’s what everyone calls me in my world.”

Link softly chuckled. “That’ll be confusing if we stood side by side, and anyone or pony said the name.” Link said in minor amusement.

Michael rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously, “Now that you mention it, that would be a little awkward,” He regains a strong posture, “You look like you’ve seen a few battles, and nice facial hair, Didn’t know we could grow that, anyway how is your world?” Michael Crosses his arms.

“Think of it much like the world of friendship is magic, but Celestia and Luna are half goddesses, then over time it attracts many horrors of the Zelda world; like a moth to a flame.” Link said as he raised his hand; revealing the glowing symbol of the Triforce of courage. “Mostly to this.”

“You have the Triforce of courage?” Michael looks at his sword arm, his Triforce of courage starts glowing brightly, “Wait how do we both have the Triforce?” Michael raises his arm to show his Triforce. “Shouldn’t this be impossible?”

“When it comes to the multiverse across the void, nothing is impossible.” Link said as he lowered his hand; the triforce’s glow fading.

Michael lowers his hand, “Multiverse theory’s a bitch,” he Chuckles, “So why are we in this realm?” He pulls out the [Ocarina of Time], “I played the Goron Lullaby on this next to a Howling Stone, but it said I learned the Song of Displaced Souls.”

“About that. The Howling Stone is actually something called a Token; something that is created by you or owned as a personification of your being. Its function is to play a song, the summoner plays the song, and I am brought across the void to answer the call.” Link explained, then was silent. “...Although I’ve no clue where that name came from that you just called it.” Link said as he stroked along his goatee in thought.

“The name popped up on a Text box in the bottom of my vision as if I was playing the games. Specifically Ocarina of Time,” Michael puts the Ocarina away and thinks for a moment. “Wait, Text Prompts, Hearts, and Magic meter! I’m literally Adult Link from Ocarina of time!” He shouts suddenly.

“...Interesting. Are my words being heard, or appeared as a text box to you?” Link asked curiously.

“I can hear you, and I don’t ‘Currently’ see subtitles, at least right now,” Michael says slightly worried about sudden text boxes filled with Pinkie’s no pauses sentences. “It so far it’s only happened from Playing Music on the [Ocarina of Time],” He explains.

“Since you’ve become that of the hero of time, could you do me a small favor? Please use the [Song Of Time] with caution. Time traveling is risky to do and you may end up making things worse if you try to change anything in the past.” Link warned Micheal.

“Don’t worry, I was only planning on using it if I came across any stones of Time,” Michael informs Link, “I know how bad time can be, I played Majora’s Mask and watched the Back to the Future trilogy forty times each over my twenty-three years,”

“Good, good. You’ve got some Wisdom in that noggin of yours, I believe I can trust you with my token. You have passed judgment.” Link said, and with those words, the realm began to fade like a blurry vision. When Micheal wakes up again, his face is on the ground... Again.

“Damn you Twilight Princess respawns!” He yells as he stands up dusting himself off, He takes in his surroundings, “Am I back in the Everfree?” Indeed, he was where the Howling Stone once stood, “Where did the stone go?” Looking around, Michael notices the Stone hanging on a necklace string around his neck, “Well, that’s convenient, now how does this work?” Michael lifts the stone to eye level to examine it.

“Careful,” Link warned, making Micheal jump into the air as he didn’t realize Link was standing there in the flesh this time. “My token has twili magic that allowed me to cross the void and of course turn into the wolf form you saw before.” Link explained.

Michael catches his breath before responding, “Good to know, also, Don’t sneak up on a guy like that…” Michael hides the stone under his shirt, “So…” He pauses for a moment, “What do we do now? I was just jogging and then found the stone here in the Forest,”

“It can be whatever you need me for. Help take down a foe, teach you spells, swordsmanship, songs, perhaps gift you any of my constantly slow generating ammunition.” Link said as he held his arms out. “Maybe unlock something you don’t have, like a Magic Meter, or create you a copy of one of my transformation masks made of void energy. The ocean is your oyster with me as you hold my token, in short, I’m at your service. Just nothing ridiculous.” Link explained before chuckling.

“Well, I’m not sure I’ll need a Deku mask, but Goron maybe, Zora definitely, can’t swim to save my life,” Michael chuckles, “Alright, may I have a Zora mask, and some sword training? My battle with Nightmare Moon was pure luck,” He asks Link, “I might also need a fairy companion, I might be able to Z-Target and focus on foes to better my aim.”

“I can give you all of that, although the masks will take time. Using void energy puts a heavy strain on me after all. Which would you like first?” Link asked as he glanced around the forest.

Michael thinks for a moment, “I think the masks can wait, but I desperately need training,” He takes off a gauntlet and shows Link his Hearts and Magic meter, “You see, I have the Minimum requirements for beating Ocarina of Time, and what’s weirder is I have game mechanics too,” He puts his gauntlet back on, “When Nightmare Moon hit me I started hearing the dreaded Low health beeps but didn’t realize until today,” He pauses, “I haven’t heard the sound in a long time,”

“...Only three hearts?” Link asked in concern.

“Well, I have an explanation for that,” Michael explains, “You see, the last time I beat it…” He pauses for a second and rubs the back of his head in embarrassment, “I did a Minimum item run, 0 Gold Skulltulas, 0 Heart pieces, 0 Heart Containers, etc…” He crosses his arms, “I don’t even have the lense of truth,”

“You’re lucky you didn’t try a swordless run, or worse you tried the Chaos Edition. Goddesses knows how much misery you would have to live through with that as part of your Displaced.” Link said as he stroked along his goatee in thought.

Michael chuckles, “I couldn’t do many glitches so I guess I got lucky?” He suddenly remembers an important detail, “Uhh, How will Twilight react to two of us cause I haven’t told her about my abilities out of fear of what might happen?” He asks nervously.

“No worries,” Link began as he reached into one of his pouches he had equipped to his belt, soon shuffling around and pulling out what appears to be a unicorn mask. “I often go by the name Protective Shield whenever I feel the world is either hostile toward the Displaced, or they’re not ready to know there are more of them.”

Michael nods, “Alright I need to get back to the Library, it’s getting dark and I left in the morning,” He turns to the edge of the forest, “She might get worried that her assigned guardian is missing for a day,”

“Let’s not waste any time then.” Link said as he raised the mask up to his face. For a brief second, the mask reached out and clung to Link’s face, and with a flash, changed form. Link was replaced with a red-cloaked wearing green-furred unicorn with a cutie mark of a sword and shield on his flank. Despite the changes, Link still had battle scars on his face and right ear. “...Hmm, seems this world prefers the ponies different than the four-legged kind.” Link said as he glanced down, nodding in satisfaction he wasn’t wearing his green tunic, but instead leather armor. Michael nods and they turn and leave the Forest heading for the Library.

End of Chapter!