Equestria Warriors: Displacement of a Hero

After the four exit out, the Links notice Celestia gazing out toward the main chamber and the broken glass that remained scatter across the floor, she lets out a soft sigh as she is reminded of Luna. “If she were here, she would play her harp of time to repair the mess the Red Nut created..” Celestia said with a frown as she carefully trotted over.

I winced a little as the battle replayed in my mind. “At least we don’t have to do that again…”

“If only Zelda’s Lullaby repaired more than just signposts I’d try to repair it, I don’t like seeing priceless art in shambles.” Mike said with a sigh.

“Remember what I said, princess?” Jeff asked as he places his hand onto her shoulder.

“I know, but it is still seven years from what my future vision has shown me, and if only it would come sooner.” Celestia said as she placed her hoof onto Jeff’s hand.

“Once the time comes, Princess, I hope you’re prepared to give her all the love she deserves,” Mike said, remembering back to when his Luna was freed. “Lord knows she’ll need it.” He said then walked toward the winter trial.

I kept quiet for now, unsure how to approach this topic. I just walked beside Mike and avoided eye contact.

“Oh you have no idea how much I’ll give her once the nightmare is cleansed from her.” Celestia said with a nod

“Just don’t get two-shotted like I did, Jeff.” Mike said holding his side remembering the pain from his fight with Nightmare Moon again.

“I’ve got seven years to prepare, to experiment with my magic, and try to find more artifacts the original Link has left behind. Goddesses know where he did them all.” Jeff said with a nod

“Just be sure to be safe. Your world sounds far more dangerous than mine, and even I have a hard time exploring back home.” I said with a serious face. “So don’t let down your guard. Ok Jeff?” I turned and looked at Mike with a concerned expression.

“I wholeheartedly agree, my world is much more lax than yours and I’ve felt the cold hands of death,” Mike admitted with a frown. “Though the way I’ve seen you handle yourself the two times I’ve seen you I doubt you’ll need it, but still good luck.” He said with a genuine smile.

“To put it simply, think of every monster we know of from the games, but some having feral-like intelligence with others being more smarter than and often acting differently than the simulation. They all have one thing in common the moment they see us; fight for survival. We entered their nest and they saw us as an invader.” Jeff explains to the two Links.

Celestia soon enters through the winter door as a cold breeze escapes from within with Jeff following behind.

Quickly equipping my normal tunic, I followed close behind as I pulled my scarf up around my face. “Damn it’s cold…”

As a show of endurance, Mike quickly slid off his equipment, took off his tunic and hat revealing his toned upper body and his hair put up in a ponytail, put the tunic and hat away, and put his equipment back on. “Ahhh, that feels so good, I hate heat.” He said with a deep breath and a smile.

“I gotta admit, that quick-equip is alot more useful than me needing to manually reach in just to take out.” Jeff said with jealous in his tune of voice.

“I don’t use it often, honestly, I love doing things manually, then again I didn’t know I could use a pause menu till like my second month in Equestria…” Mike admitted. “Though it does come in handy when I need to make quick changes.”

“I thought I could only access mine in combat for the longest time. At least until…” I cast a quick glance at Jeff. “A friend showed me how to open it under normal circumstances.”

For like a split of a second, I could have sworn I saw Nayru nod in approval. As the three Links talked and walked, each step softly crunched under their leather boots almost like music to their ears. The area looked like an absolute wonder land with the ground covered in a blanket of ice. To Mike’s ears and mine, we could hear the sad notes of the Snowpeak mountains playing in our hylian ears.

“So I wonder what we’ll have to do for this trial, I hope we gotta make snowmen or somethin’ I’ve never been able too in my life.” Mike said with an excited smile. Alas, as they got closer, Mike saw an open area with many silver rupees standing around, but not spinning like their video game counterparts. Some of the silver rupees looked out of reach on top of ice blocks and frozen pillars, with a frozen statue of Celestia in the middle. The alicorn princess couldn’t help but smile at the statue of herself.

“I remember Luna making that for me when we solved this puzzle years ago.” She said with a warm smile.

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath of the frigid air, exhaling contentedly as I looked out over the frozen expanse of water. “The last time I was standing by a frozen lake, it was with my father back home. He took me ice fishing one year, and we ended up catching nothing.” I chuckled as I knelt down, placing a hand in the snow. “He tried his best to be a good dad… but still ended up failing….” I finished with a sad sigh.

“At least he tried, Johnny,” Mike said as he patted me on the back. “My father was a strict man… at first…” Mike said then started to walk around getting a good look at the large amount of silver rupees. “He always expected the best outta me, then he bought me my first video game and it went downhill from there,” Mike tried to jump up a ice block to see if he could and didn’t even make it half way. “Long story short, He stopped caring as much and I just played games everyday.” Mike admitted then walked back to me and put a hand on his chin in thought.

“Yeah, I feel that. My dad… wasn’t strict. He just wasn’t around. My mom raised me and my sister mostly.” I sighed sadly. “Dad ran a show in Las Vegas, one of those cheesy magic shows they charge a fortune for. But he’d pop up every now and again, wanting to see us and ‘build up our relationship’, or so he’d claim.” I took a deep breath as I tried to stay calm. "Then one year… he just stopped coming….” I balled my hands into fists as I glared out over the ice.

Jeff let out a soft sigh as he went to gently rub at his forehead. “You’re making me miss my earth, guys.” The hylian said with a frown.

“Sorry bud, the music is kinda brinin’ out these depressing feelings, damn Snowpeak from Twilight Princess…” Mike said with a frown as he sat next to me and pulled me into a side hug for comfort. I silently thanked Mike and accepted the hug.

“Glad I don’t hear music like you guys except for whatever is coming natural.” Jeff said with a nod as his gaze returned to the silver rupees. “Collecting those will be a breeze since there’s four of us.” however, Jeff’s words jinxed things as a soft playful giggle was heard. Suddenly from out of the ground, four Deku Scrubs popped up, but unlike the normal Deku Scrubs, their bushes were white and their bark-like skin was a lighter color of blue.

“Then let’s make this more fun!” A voice exclaimed from out of the air.

“Ah, the season spirit of winter. You weren’t here last time.” Celestia said in amusement.

“Well last time it was just you and your sister but this time you’ve got three cutie heroes with you!” The voice said playfully before suddenly, a white coated and blue maned pegasus appeared with beautiful glittering wings.

“Well shoot, someone got loose with the glitter jar again..” I managed to chuckle quietly to myself.

Mike chuckled at my joke. “Good one, why are we being held at ‘gun’ point though?” Mike asked, pointing at the firing squad of deku scrubs.

“Except those aren’t ‘Normal’ Deku scrubs~” The spirit said in a song song voice.

One of the deku scrubs spits at Mike, but instead of a Deku Nut, it was a-POMF… a snowball hits Mike’s face harmlessly, causing the spirit of winter to giggle.

Mike wipes the snow off his face and chuckles. “At least it’s not a chunk of ice being thrown in my face,” He stood up and crossed his arms. “Just a warning to you Winter Spirit, I have a short fuse when it comes to getting pelted with snow balls, it may not hurt me but it gets annoying.” Mike said trying not to sound threatening.

“Then you’re gonna be really annoyed then as those Snow Scrubs will be firing at you collect the rupees. You can’t deflect them back and NO trying to kill them! This is meant to be fun!” The spirit of winter said warningly.

“We’d best get it done then before we’re buried in it.” Jeff said before laughing heartily.

Mike sighed deeply then cracked his neck. “Well then, we just gotta get this over with,” He said with a crack of his knuckles. “Come on boys, let’s show this Spirit how fast we can collect some rupees!” Mike shouted in a drill sergeant tone with a serious smile.

I equipped the Grappleshot and cracked my neck for the fourth time. “Let’s go to work.” I said with a determined look on his face.

Jeff pulled out his Clawhook shot, taking aim at one of the silver rupees as he released a claw-like spear at one of them, yanking it as it retracts back to the device’s gauntlet. At the command of the spirit of winter’s voice, the Snow Scrubs start firing snowballs from their nozzle-like mouths at Celestia and three Links.

Quickly slapping away a snowball headed for his face, Mike started to sprint towards a large ice block with a silver rupee on top of it. “Johnny over here, I’ll throw you up, try and grab the ledge,” Mike shouted. “Get the ones high up first.” He turned to face away from the block, bent over a little, and interlocked his fingers ready to toss me up as high as he could.

I ran over and nodded at Mike, stepping up as Mike tossed me up. I grabbed the ledge of the block and hoisted myself onto it and collected my first silver rupee. “Got one!” I yelled down.

Jeff leaped to the right to avoid a snowball shot, and with left foot planted, ducks into a roll to avoid the second, however he is hit in the face by the third shot as he quickly goes to wipe it off and continues to sprint to one of the silver rupees on the ground, quickly throwing his body down into a leg kick over to duck over a fourth shot as he slides by and grabs it.

Celestia meanwhile is teleporting around avoiding the snowballs, flying toward the silver rupee on the pillar and grabbing it with her hoof as she flies by.

Aiming at the nearest tower holding another silver rupee, I extended my other hand down to Mike. “Grab a hold bud, and hang on tight!” I grinned.

“Ten-four good buddy!” Mike said as he grabbed the Grappleshot I lowered to him.

As Mike gripped the lowered fist, I winched him up topside and made sure he didn’t fall. “Good?” I asked as I kept my aim on the next rupee.

“Yep,” Mike quickly backhanded a snowball preventing it from hitting him or me. “Damn those things are accurate.” He said with a groan.

“What, you expected them to be Storm Troopers?” Jeff asked jokingly as he crouched down.

“We couldn’t pray hard enough for that!” I laughed as I shot my fist towards the next target. “Grab hold Mikey!” I called as my fingers grabbed the ledge.

Mike held on tight. “Celestia, leave one silver rupee on a pillar close to the one we’re ascending, this’ll be cool.” He shouted to the airborne Princess.

“If you say so.” Celestia said as she dove down to avoid the snowball barrage, swiping a rupee off of the ground. Meanwhile the spirit of winter was clapping her hooves excitingly.

With a grunt from both of them, Mike and I were yanked up towards the top of the next pillar with incredible speed. The cable used in my Grappleshot making the ride feel unusually smooth.

Once on top of the Pillar, Mike let me get the rupee while he quickly equips his iron boots. “Okay, get ready to fly,” He said with a chuckle. As he get into throwing position again with his back aimed at another pillar with a silver rupee on it. “This is gonna be so cool.”

Recognizing what he was doing, I got into position, turning to face Mike. “Just say when!”

“On three,” Mike said with an excited smile. “One!” Mike finalizes his position. “Two!”

“Three!” I yelled as I charged at Mike.

I stepped up on Mike’s hands and Mike threw me off the pillar with all his strength, enough for Mike to end up on his back on the pillar. With a front flip graceful enough for an Olympic Medal, I landed safe and sound on the next pillar and scooped up the rupee. “Ta-da!” I laugh as I take a bow. Mike gives me a round of applause as another barrage of snowballs came flying toward Celestia, forcing the alicorn princess to use her magic and redirect them right back at the Snow Scrubs.

Jeff leaps into the air, allowing the winds to cause his roc’s cloak to spread out, showing the magic of the Roc feathers as they slow his descent; the cloak spread out almost wing-like. Jeff lands graceful onto the other side of the lake as he snatches the eighth rupee.

Mike stands back up, unequipped his iron boots, and looks down off the pillar. “Oh shit, I forgot about getting down,” Mike looks up to me. “Got any ideas that don’t involve fall damage, buddy?” He asked with a nervous chuckle.

With a grin I nodded back. “Yeah, but you’re not gonna like it. Do you trust me?” I called over.

Mike grinned and laughed. “As far as I can throw ya!” He called out ready for whatever I threw at him.

Throwing a fist at the edge of the Pillar opposite Mike for leverage, I aimed the other at my friend. “This may hurt, I’m not sure!” I yelled as I launched the iron fist at Mike, grabbing him snuggly before yanking him over to my pillar.

“Ahhh, holy crap that’s ice cold!” Mike yelled.

“Yeah, but that’s not the worst part!” I grinned devilishly as I picked Mike up and tossed him on my shoulder. “Ready?”

“No… but go ahead.” Mike said with a nervous gulp.

“Jeronimo!” I yelled as we jumped off the pillar without being attached to it. “Woooohooooo!” I yelled as I fired the Grappleshot at the lower pillar from before, swinging us both down safely to the ground.

Once back on his feet on the ground Mike looked around and saw the last two rupees were frozen in large ice blocks way smaller than the giant ice block. “I think I can thaw those out, hang on.” Mike pulled his bow out and pulled an arrow. Letting the arrow go it flew and tinked off the ice. “Wait what?” Mike shot another arrow, the same thing happened. “Am I outta magic?”

With a quick swap, I traded my fists for my own bow and fired off a bomb arrow, shattering one of the ice blocks and freeing a rupee. “Well, that worked.” I grinned as I fired at the other trapped rupee and freed it as well.

Mike put away his bow, walked over, and collected the two remaining silver rupees. “Thanks,” He said with a groan. “Damn bad memory, makin’ me look stupid…” I patted him on the shoulder reassuringly as everyone gathered back together.

Once the last rupees were tallied up, the spirit of winter was having an absolute giggle of a fit. “Bravo! Bravo!” the pegasus said with a cheer as the Snow Scrubs delve back into the ground. “As your reward, you can keep the rupees, aaaaand~” The spirit paused as she clapped her hooves once, causing a stone platform to rise up. Allowing Celestia to do her things, slamming the rod of seasons’ tip into the hole as energy flies out of the four corners of the sky.

[The Rod Of Season has been empowered by the Winter Wraps!] that same annoying notification popping up on Johnny and Mike’s vision.

Jeff holds one of the silver rupees up to the sun, studying them careful. “Hold up, they’re fake?”

“Well of course, dummy! They’re just blue rupees who lost their color years ago.” The pegasus said as she stuck her tongue out.

“You really think we’d get real silver rupees? No one in their right mind would just let some random heroes take home hundreds of rupees a pop.” Mike said with a chuckle.

“Would have been nice though.” Jeff said in disappointment as he dropped the transparent fake silver rupees into his pouch.

“You’re not wrong there, bud.” Mike admitted as he pulled out his rupee wallet to check how many he had in total.

“One more to go, I’m so giddy right now. That sunrise won’t be as straining as before.” Celestia said happily as she kind of trots in place, reminding the links of youthful energy.

“I’m excited for you, Celly, you’re already lookin’ much better than you were about a couple of hours ago.” Mike said as put away his rupee wallet and he began walking toward the trial’s entrance.

I was noticeably happier now, feeling like a useful member of the team for once. As they walked back towards the entrance I could be heard humming the Zelda main theme.