"You made it," the cloth-wrapped stallion acknowledged. Both of his red eyes were trained on Link as he walked closer to him. "The flow of time is always cruel. Its speed seems different for each pony, but nopony can change it."

"Except the woods itself. I'm in here, but how much time is passing outside?" Link pointed at the stallion, who stopped. "And how'd you even get in here?" He waited, watching as close as he could at the stallion's expression, visible only through the shifts in his eyes. "You followed me," Link estimated, lowering his pointing finger.

Shadow shook his head. "I got here long before you did." He produced a harp from behind his back and held it, ready to play. "With a melody created bearing the natural energies of the temple in mind."

"You... Teleported?" Shadow nodded. "That's a little unfair, don'tcha think?" Link crossed his arms.

"Well, if you'd stop interrupting me and listen, I'm trying to teach it to you." Link narrowed his eyes. Shadow sighed and placed the other hoof over the strings. "Listen close, because I will only play this for you once."

As he began to play, Link took out his ocarina and followed along. When they finished, Link put away his instrument and watched Shadow put his harp away. "So it's on your back, right?"

"What is?" Shadow did his best to not let it show through his words, But the tilt in his head betrayed emotion.

"Your pocket."

Shadow glanced behind him to the shallow pouch affixed to his hip. "So? What about it?"

"I knew somepony who could make those. Did she make yours?" Link asked, almost accusingly.

Shadow was quiet for a few moments. "... Yes. She did. It was soon after you left, 7 years ago. I had made the argument that you will be needing guidance when you returned. As it would endanger your sister to wander about, she selected me to act in her place. She and her friends made my clothes and gear."

Link's expression calmed down some. "But you don't know where she is right now."

"That's right. She jumped off the radar following The Fall." Shadow's expression remained stoic.

"But she had enough time to make all your equipment. So, how long after I leave for good does The Fall happen?"

"Two weeks." Shadow waited to see Link's change in expression. All that resulted from Shadow's reveal was a raised eyebrow in surprise. "The Evil King waited just enough time after your final vanish to start his domination. And nopony was able to stop him."

Link absorbed the volunteered information of his future and Shadow's past. "Then I do nothing to stop it when I come back any of the times between when I first leave and last leave. If I did, this future really would be doomed." His realization caused his shoulders to sink a little. Starswirl was right...

"Exactly right." Shadow offered an affirmative nod. He retreated a few steps, back into the diminishing ray of light. "We will meet again." In one movement, he reached back, pulled something from his pocket and threw it at the ground. It erupted in a brilliant flash of light. Link had to shield his eyes.

When his eyes readjusted to the natural moonlight of the forest, Shadow was gone. "Okay, so you're good," he called out. Whether he was expecting a response or not, none came. His sight shifted to the entrance to the temple. "Temple of Nature, huh..." He spied a sturdy looking branch hanging over the busted staircase. With his hookshot in hand, he aimed at that branch and fired. The hook sunk into the wood with ease while the chain started retracting, pulling him off the ground.

Just as the ghost had promised, there was no injury to himself after use. Link unlatched the hook and stowed the device. He looked into the open doorway of the temple and started walking in.

Link entered the temple and made it to the foyer. Though smaller than he expected, it still contained a wealth of information. A small waterfall leaked out from the west wall and dribbled down to a little puddle. Several rocks decorated its border. There was a tree growing up along the east wall, and it seemed to be in the middle of blooming. There were two openings in each of the walls, through which a gentle breeze blew. In the center of the room were 4 raised pedestals, the tops of which bore a triangle either pointed forward or back, and either a horizontal line through it or not.

"What do you think, Navi?" he asked, approaching the symbols. "Some kind of key?"

Navi came out and sat on one of them. She chose the upside-down triangle with the line through it. From her low height, she tried to examine the remaining three. "Maybe... Or maybe it's the lock? And you have to find the keys."

"If these things are locks..." Link looked forward at the door on the far wall. Carved into it were the four symbols. "then the keys will make that door open, right? That makes sense." Link began looking around. "Hmm... Well..." He looked at the one Navi was sitting on. "Hey, what are the four elements of nature?"

"Let's see... Water, earth, fire and air." She watched him retrieve a bottle and kneel beside the small puddle.

"Starting with water, then." Link filled his empty bottle with puddle water and picked up a stone. "If these pedestals are locks, then the elements themselves might be the keys." He walked back to the pedestals. "Let's start with the one you're sitting on."

Navi stepped off to the side and watched him. "How will you know which one's which?"

Link was about to pour the water over one of the symbols. "I don't, really, but I am really good at logic puzzles." He pointed to the symbol in front of him. "This one here is water, because it flows downhill." Instead of pouring the water, he looked at the remaining three symbols. "Let's see... The turned over one with a line should be earth, since it's broken and pointing down. The regular looking triangle should be fire, since fire grows while rising. Which makes wind the one with a line through it pointing up, since, uh... wind cuts through the air above ground? Kinda rough to explain that one, but... What are the odds I'm wrong?"

Navi snickered. "Heheheh, 23 to 1 you get them wrong at all. But if you want optimistic, there are only 9 combinations where you get them all wrong."

Link hesitated. "Those are some steep odds. Well, here goes I guess..." He slowly began pouring water over what he believed to be the symbol for water. Sure enough, the symbol's lines began to glow a bright blue. "Okay, I'm going to assume that's supposed to happen." Link emptied his bottle and put it away before holding the stone above another symbol. The one he believed to be earth.

Just like with water, the lines of the symbol glowed brown when Link actually placed the stone on the symbol. Navi looked at the remining two. "Just two more."

"Yeah. Fire and air. Do you see any fire around?" Link also looked.

Navi skimmed her surroundings for any source of fire. "I'm not seeing anything..."

"No way the builders of this room would put a lock that can't be opened with the things in this room. But at the same time, I don't see how we can have fire without a little magic." He summoned a small ball of fire and placed it on the symbol for fire. The lines lit up red. Then Link looked at the last symbol and inhaled sharply. Leaning in, he exhaled slowly onto it. Similarly to the three before it, the symbol's lines lit up green.

The far door - the one with all the symbols on it - slid down through the floor, stopping when it was out of sight, opening the way. "Nice! You beat the odds."

"Yeah, but it was stressful when I started. Hope the rest goes just as smoothly." Link and Navi progressed through the new doorway. "You know, I remember when I complained about things being easy. Now that things are getting more difficult, I'm going to enjoy when it goes back to being easy again."

Navi chuckled. "I didn't think you'd want things to get easy ever again. Not after this."

"Hey, give me some credit here. I may not like it easy, but I'd like it difficult all the time even less. Easy would be a nice break." Link stopped at the top of a flight of stairs and looked ass hard as he could into the room. "Well, this is a problem..."

Navi did her best to shine her light around as Link descended the stairs to the floor below. "What's all this then?"

Link navigated to the supposed center of the room and felt a difference in the material he was stepping on. "Hm? Navi, hover by the floor for a sec." She obeyed with a nod and hovered lower. Link felt along the floor and found a crack between material. "I'd be willing to bet this part of the floor raises and lowers. But-" His sentence stopped short as a set of four symbols caught his eye. "Oh, this again." He pointed at it, and Navi flew over, walking long. "It's the same thing as the door." He stood up and looked around.

The immediate surroundings were barely seen through the dimness of the room, and anything beyond 20 feet or so was too dark to see anything.

"There's four more of those pedestals. One in each corner of this little section. Bet there's a symbol on each. This time, I don't hear any water running, so this room must not have-"

"Hey Link?" Navi interrupted. "I don't think these are the same pedestals as the last room. These look more like torches to me. You know. Braziers?"

"Oh, those. Hmm... Okay, so if the keys aren't in this room, then we got some exploring to do." Link started walking to the staircase he came down. "Let's start with the first door we come to." He walked around clockwise and came to a set of stairs fairly quickly. As he walked up, supported with Navi's light, he came to a door that looked pretty old. "Should I knock?"

"Maybe? It is a temple." Navi hovered next to the door and didn't see a handle. "Huh... How do you open it?"

Link put his left hand on the door and pushed, swinging it open. "Like that I guess." In the room after, the hallway was overgrown with ivy and flowers, giving the hall a pleasant scent. "Somepony has to be taking care of this..." He walked on to the end of the hall and through the next doorway to the massive room beyond.

Much like the big room before, Link couldn't see far past Navi's light. "Why is it so dark in here?"

"Navi? Can you do me a favor and dim yourself for a while?" Navi hovered in front of him and tilted her head. "I need to get my eyes adjusted to this." She nodded and dimmed herself as low as she could go. "Perfect."

"I hope you adjust quickly..."

"You and me both." Link tapped his shoulder for her to sit down. Navi flew over and sat down on him. He looked around the room and watched as his eyes started adjusting to the lack of adequate light.

On the far side of the room, Link saw a ladder. After climbing it, he found a path leading to a large grey block of stone. He looked at it, and saw it had no symbol, which to him meant that it had no bearing on his current objective. Just served as a barrier to waste his time. Navi skittered over its surface. "Hmm. Think you're strong enough to move this?"

"I sure hope so... I mean, the bracelet I got as a kid just doesn't fit anymore, and I'm not sure if this adult body can move things better than I could as a kid." Link placed his hands on the block and readied his stance. "But here goes!" Link dug his feet into the floor and pushed with all his strength. The block moved several feet forward. "Haaah, that's really heavy..." One at a time, Link placed his feet into another pushing stance with his hands on the block. "But, it seems like I don't have to give it everything... Let's see about progressive strength..."

Link started pushing with as little effort as he could, and built it up to where he could comfortably move it. Navi hovered beside him as he pushed. "So? How much strength do you need for it?"

"About 40% I guess? It doesn't feel as heavy now that I'm not giving it everything." When the block reached the end of the path, it fell about two feet into a hole in the floor, allowing him to climb up to the floor above. "This place had to be made with ponies in mind though. Normally, it would take an earth pony to push it, a unicorn to lift it or a pegasus to fly past it. But that'd only be possible if they could use magic, but as Emmy said plainly, Equestrian magic doesn't work here right now."

Link climbed up the ladder and was met with a very tall wall. No block, no hole in the floor. Just a wall. "What about this one, Link?"

"It's a brick wall. I suppose earth ponies could jump up, and unicorns could teleport or levitate, and again pegasi can fly. But me?" Link approached the wall and adjusted his grey gauntlets. He looked up the wall, spying footholds. "I can climb." Link reached up and grabbed onto the best brick he could find, and slowly but surely ascended the wall, pulling himself over the top in a couple minutes. "That's how it's done." He pressed on, proud of himself.

The room he came to was lit on the far end with a pair of torches, one on either side of a wooden door covered in metal bars. "What do you suppose that leads to?"

Link noticed a while ago that the flowers and vines stopped growing, so the floor up here was all stone slabs. "Don't know. There's no symbol on it, but it's barred off." He stepped closer to it and hopped down onto the carpet in front of the door. The tile under the carpet shifted and dropped an inch. In slight panic, Link froze in place. "Navi. Look around. Tell me if anything's changed."

"What happened?" She turned around to face away from the door. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary at first glance.

"I stepped on a trap, I think..." Link glanced over his shoulder at Navi, careful not to shift his weight too much. "Do you see anything?"

"I didn't get a good look at the room before you stepped on something, so I don't know what's supposed to have changed..." She flew off to examine the room they were in.

Link turned to the door and closed his eyes, waiting for her to return as patiently as possible. Once he heard her flutter closer to him, he slowly opened his eyes and turned his head. "So? What did you find?"

"There's an eyeball up there." She turned away from the door and pointed at the farthest wall, at its highest point. "Not sure how it changed. But if it's just that, then you should be safe in stepping off that carpet."

After he took a breath, Link stepped off the carpet, looking at the eyeball as best as he could. Soon as his weight was removed, a stone slab slid up into place in front of the eyeball. "That's clever," Link admitted. He exhaled a breath of relief. "That's really good. I'm glad it wasn't worse." He stepped back onto the carpet and watched the panel slide down and out of the way, revealing the eyeball once more. "Really clever."

Link drew his bow and hesitated.

"You okay?" Navi asked.

"Yeah, just... Hmm... I'll be two arrows down after this. Unless you can get the arrow after I fire it. But I don't know if the eye thing needs to have something stuck in it for it to work." Link drew an arrow and aimed carefully. "Here's hoping it doesn't." He fired the arrow, striking the eye in the center.

The bars behind him slide up and out of the way of the door. Link heard them, but kept his gaze on the eye, watching for the arrow's movement. Then, he saw it fall and heard the arrowhead hit the ground. Navi flew over and picked it up. "Here you go. Lucky you, huh?"

Link took the arrow and placed it with the others in his quiver in his pocket. "Yeah, lucky. That's the word." He looked at the door. There was no doorknob, and not a single gap between the door and the walls. Link got to his knees and looked at the floor. Sure enough, there was a gap. "Alright." He jabbed his fingers below the door and braced himself. Slowly, he lifted the door along the grooves in the wall. Past a certain point, two locks kept the door up so he could walk through.

The room they entered was a long hallway. As soon as he stepped in, the locks disengaged and dropped the door behind him. Link turned and saw, before looking forward again. Along the walls were four pillars on each side. One pair for each of the elements. They passed the fire pillar, within which was carved a feminine earth pony. No name inscribed, just a figure. The second was also feminine, but a unicorn instead. Beneath it was the symbol for water. Moving on, they passed the third pair, which had a pegasus carved into it. It appeared feminine, but certain facial features described a stallion. When they got to the fourth, they both stopped. Link looked up at the carving of a burly earth pony stallion above the earth symbol.

"I know we didn't get a good look at the spirits before they zipped off, but doesn't this one look familiar?" Navi asked.

"Nope. I would have remembered a guy like that." All the same, Link looked closely at the sculpted figure. "If these four are our enemies in here, how would I fight them?" He drew his sword a little and looked back at the blade. "This thing only works on ... evil spirits... right?"

"It's supposed too, but... who's allowed to say what evil is? If it's up to you, then you control who gets hurt by it. That would make sense to me." Navi stood on his shoulder and looked at the sculpture. "We might have to go against good spirits who get in our way, so would it hurt them?"

Link dropped the sword into the sheath and shrugged. "Maybe. If it's as you say, then it would hurt whatever I want, as long as I deem it evil." He turned down the hall to the exit. "Even if it's magic, it's still a sword, so maybe it hurts whatever it touches, with more damage to what I intend to injure. Hard to say."

The exit was a simple wooden door with a knob. Link tried the doorknob and immediately released it. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just... Hot handle..." He leaned forward and gave the door a knock. "Hollow-sounding... It's dry as a bone. Pretty thick though." Link placed his left palm against it and focused fire into his hand, setting it ablaze. After a minute of burning, he recalled his flame and kicked in the door. Chunks of it went into the room every which way. Link stepped in and shielded his eyes from the raging inferno below the platform. "That's really hot, sheesh!" He almost didn't go in. The right side of the room was open, with a safe floor for standing. There was a platform between him and the opening on the side.

With a running start, Link hopped the gap to the platform and turned, hopping to the hall with as little time as possible in that room. Link stumbled on the carpet and rolled, landing with his face to the fire room and in a knelt position. Something in the air told him "danger", causing him to put a hand on his sword and the other on his shield, not sure of which to draw first.

The fire from that room shot to the ceiling, forcing Link to close his eyes a bit. When they subsided, a black figure hovered in mid-air above the platform. It opened its eyes and revealed a burning red pair. Its mane appeared to be made of fire.

"I don't know what to make of this..." Link admitted.

Quickly, the shadow pony flew at Link, who drew his shield and bashed the business end against the form, reducing it to embers. "You did it, Link!"

"No... It's not over yet." The embers on the ground rose up in two forms. Link backed up. Both forms split off into two more, making four. "Uh oh..." Link drew his sword and readied himself.

The four of them engaged in coordinated attacks against Link, who was barely able to block, dodge or counter each and every one. Until he was backed all the way to the end of the hall, where he finally cut down the last of them. He looked at his work and nodded.

One last pony appeared in the fire room. It raised its hoof and blasted hot air into the hall, lowing the embers straight at Link. He raised his shield, but it didn't help. The pony ignited each ember into an explosion, blowing Link back and over the railing to the landing below. He rolled and landed with his back to the wall. Link looked intently at the top of the stairs.

The pony appeared at the top of the stairs and lit the railing on fire. Link closed an eye, but kept the other open. Good thing too, since it allowed him to see a fireball get launched at him. He rolled down the stairs and hopped into place at the bottom near the center of the room. Link turned and faced the stairs. A painting caught his eye of a red mare with a fiery mane. Link stowed his sword and shield and drew his bow, aiming carefully at the top of the landing. As soon as the shadow rounded the corner, Link fired.

Barely able to stop itself, the pony had dodged the arrow, looking as it lodged itself in the wall. It glared at Link who readied another arrow. Angle Bless said these resist shifts in elemental energy, so it should go through this thing, right? He fired another. The pony erected a flame barrier with a clap of its hooves. It wouldn't try and protect itself if it was a fake. I got her. The arrow pierced the barrier and the shadow pony's head. The barrier fell, the pony collapsed in fire and the arrow stuck next to the first.

Link walked up and examined the fire as it guttered out. He retrieved his two arrows and put them away before returning to the painting.

"So, someone did come to free us," the mare spoke, hovering in front of the now blackened painting. "Who are you?"

"Link", he replied, putting his bow away. "You?"

"Ignis. Fire spirit of the Temple of Nature. You have to help us. Those four came in and overpowered us, trapping us in these paintings. Those shadows... They're strong... But no more than you, I see."

Link looked at the painting behind her. "Hmm... Three more just like this, huh... Well, I got work ahead of me."

"I did say that four came in here and trapped us, but they were led here by a fifth. A shadow alicorn with powers. He was more than we could handle."

"It's half the reason I'm here," Link admitted."

Oh?" Ignis questioned. "I see. Then if you're here to help us, the least we can do is help you." She summoned a red ball of fire in her hoof. "There are four torches in the main hall of this place. We four have the lights to them. They can't be forcibly taken, and we refused to give them up, so we got trapped instead. But it didn't matter, since the alicorn sunk into the floor to the room below. I'll take this and light mine up. You should be able to see the flame mark light up on this door when I get there." She pointed to the door at their side. It had the fire symbol on it.

Link nodded. "Oh, so that's how that works. The doors will open if the requisite torch is lit up." He smiled and nodded. "I think I like this place." Link watched as the pony flew up the stairs and out of sight. "Haa, that was a rough fight, that's for sure," he admitted, leaning against the wall. "Guess those shadow ponies didn't expect me to swing by."

Navi flew from her hiding spot to just in front of him. "True... and those shadows were probably made to be exact copies of the spirits, but stronger. Not by much, but just enough." After a minute of waiting, the door lit up and opened to the ceiling, allowing Link to pass through. "Ready?"

"Yeah. Let's mosey." Navi flew close behind him. He walked to the other side of the door and stopped. "Why did I say that? I've never said that. But it felt right." He shrugged it off and looked around the new room.

The room the two of them entered was large and circular. Lit torches lined the walls. The door behind him slammed shut hard enough to surprise him and cause him to turn to see it. Turning his attention to the center of the room, he began to hear bones rattling. Link looked up and saw nothing. Then he glanced around the room and saw no movement. He wandered to the center of the room and looked all around. "I don't get it... Where's that rattling coming from?"

Navi stopped following him and looked around the room as well. "I'm not sure... Not above or around you, that's for sure."

Link narrowed his eyes, then looked at his feet. "Then below!" He hopped away as a bone hand came up and tried to grab onto him. "What the-" He skidded to a stop and watched on as the hand clawed its way out of the ground. Several bones clattered together and formed a human-like skeleton. It stooped down and picked up a long, wavy flat of metal with a wrapped-in-cloth handle. "It wants to fight me? Now?" Link drew his Master Sword, leaving his shield on his back. "Navi, get over here."

Navi returned to his shoulder and held on tight. "You got it!"

The skeleton advanced carelessly, swing wild at Link, who dodged quite easily each of its swings. This thing moves pretty slowly, predictably. With one swift motion, Link deflected a short thrust and swung around, slicing clean through the boney monster, shaking its parts to the ground. "And that's that. Pretty easy, considering." He started walking away and felt a hand grab his ankle. Link looked at his ankle and gasped. Quickly, Link picked up his foot and gave it a wild shake, but the hand held on tight.

Navi flew down and tried to pry off the fingers from his ankle. "Almost there... Got it!" After the first finger, the others came easier and soon, his leg was free. She returned to his shoulder. "You okay?"

Link sheathed the Master Sword and nodded. "Creeped out, but alright I guess. Skeleton hand, skeleton warrior, shadow place, gives me the creeps... Sooner we find our friend, the better." He turned his back to the dissolving skeleton and toward the opposite side's door.

When he opened it and walked through, he noticed a considerable chill in the air. Definitely considerable compared to the pair of rooms he was in just before that. He rubbed his arms to keep warm, then remembered, "Oh yeah, I have fire magic." He breathed into his hands and enjoyed the warmth the hot air gave. "Ahh, that feels good."

The two of them made their way up the flight of stairs to the top after the door closed, and found yet another door. "There's a lot of doors in this place..."

"Sure, why not? I mean, it's like a really big house."

"Most houses don't have inner doors. It's all just one big room. Maybe some special houses have doors inside, but usually they just have the one leading outside."

Link thought about the library. "Well, ours has a door. To the bedroom. And... that's it... Okay, you got a point. But maybe I can argue that this is a different part of the world, and they do things differently here?" Link sounded hopeful.

"Not likely. I would imagine a place in the woods would want to preserve as much of their forest as possible, and thus fewer inner wooden doors." Link nodded his head. "So..."

"So," Link tried to continue, "who made the Temple, and does it predate the forest? Hmm..." Link opened the door and stepped in, closing it behind Navi.

Much like the room with all that fire on the floor below, this room was filled to the rim of the platform with water. Real cold water. Link reached down and splashed it a little, then looked to the center platform. "I know something's in here..." Link hopped to the center of the room and looked around.

A shadow pony leapt out of the water over Link's head and splashed into the water on the other side. Link watched it go over him. Another jumped over the other way and did a mid-air flip before slipping into the water as well.

Link stayed his ground - what little he had - and drew his sword. He looked around for shifts in the slight waves of the water. "What is this one about? Having fun?"

Another shadow pony speared itself out of the water and grazed Link's arm as it splattered into water against the wall. He looked at his arm, and while it hurt, there were no tears in the fabric. Another pony shot out and was split in half by his sword. Two more teamed up and crashed into his back, toppling him forward and into the water. He sheathed his sword and looked around before trying to swim to the hallway entrance. He wasn't getting anywhere due to the hold the shadow pony had on his feet. Slowly, he began to sink into the water's depths. With one more gasp for air, he held his breath as his head disappeared beneath the water's surface. Navi flew down into it and lit up brightly.

Link tried to look at his feet, and found a slightly darker shape wrapped around his boots. He tried to kick off the creature, but it didn't work. One creature after another slammed into his body, beating the energy out of him. After the fifth impact, he released some of the air. When his feet hit bottom, he was low on breath.

The shadows closed in on him. Navi flew into his hat. "Link! Now! I'm good!"

With the water slowing him down, it took more effort than normal to clap his hands together. When he succeeded, a great ball of fire pushed itself out in all directions from Link, forcing the creatures to let go. Link kicked off the floor with all his strength and climbed out of the water into the hallway, gasping for air. He got a fair distance from the water room and rolled to his back, breathing heavily. "I don't like this one at all..."

The shadow pony hopped out of the water, revealing the form of a slender unicorn. It looked into the hall and saw Link sit up with some effort. It got up on its hindlegs and raised its forelegs at its sides. Several tendrils of water came out of the pond below. They flung themselves at Link, grazing him enough to scoot back while standing up.

When he got to his feet, he turned to the far side of the hall and saw it had been blocked off with ice. "That wasn't there before..." He looked again to the way he got in, and it, too, was blocked off with ice. "Hmm..." He ran dover to the far end and started hacking away at the ice wall. Each crack he made healed itself seconds later.

The ice wall behind him got closer very quickly, and was missing a hole at the top. Link stopped and looked at it for a moment before water started flooding in through the circular opening. Water rose up to his shins before he tried to do something about it. Link turned to the wall again and swung heavier, trying to cut large chunks out of it faster than it could repair.

"I don't think that's working, Link," Navi said.

"What can I do, then?" He looked down and felt several creatures brush against his legs. With the water up to his waist, he felt stronger and stronger nudges. "Water's getting deeper, and if I don't freeze to death, I'll drown or get crushed."

"Remember back to the ice cavern?" Navi asked.

"Oh right... Ruby did something really cool. Well, if she can't teach me directly, then the next best thing is to do what I've seen." He sheathed his sword and put his hands on the wall of ice and focused. The water had raised up to his chest. Link began spreading red lines over the ice wall to the edges. The water reached his neck and Link held his breath. The nudges earlier turned into bashes. Link steadied his footing, reached back and punched the wall in the center of his array.

The veins across the surface cut through the ice wall strongly enough to shatter it completely. Water flooded the next room. Link jabbed his sword into the end of the hallway, stopping himself from flowing with the water.

He looked at his hands. "Using a lot more magic in here than I expected, but I still have about half left."

The shadow leapt out of the water and onto the center platform. Link could have sworn it grinned at him before it backflipped into the water. Link jumped to one of the four revolving platforms with his sword and watched closely, drawing his shield. Where are you...

Just as before, shadow pony after shadow pony flung themselves at Link, trying to push him into the water or just get him off balance. Link paid close attention to what could distinguish the real from the clones as the broke themselves against his shield. The onslaught he faced made it clear that the real one was among them. The real one is always dry, the clones are always drenched in water. Nature of the ability, I guess.

Keeping track of where the real one was, Link waited for his chance to strike. From behind him, the real one shot out of the water. Link raised his sword behind him and rejoiced when it found its way into the real shadow. He turned and faced it, hearing the nearby clones burst into water. Link turned quickly and split the shadow in half. Both halves fell into the water.

On the far wall, Link saw a painting of a beautiful blue unicorn mare. "Must be the original," Link said.

"I sure am," the mare said, coming out of the painting and hovering in front of it. She smiled at him. "You're the hero who came to save me, right?"

"Not just you," he admitted. "Ignis before you, and I imagine the two after you." Link sheathed his weapon and shield before hopping to the platform where the spirit hovered. "What's your name?"

"Nixie. Water spirit of the Temple of Nature. A pleasure to meet you!" She swam through the air around him, looking him all over. "You're not what I expected, you know?"

"Disappointed?"

"Far from it!" She stopped in front of him and held up his hands. "You were incredible! All that swinging, and jumping, and and and... fire! That was cool!" Link put a hand behind his head. "So, don't suppose you know the way forward?"

"No, I don't. Think you could help with that?" Nixie flew and pointed down the hallway. "Hm?"

"Back there, there's a trapdoor on the wall. It leads to the next spirit's zone."

Link tilted his head "What good is it gonna be on the wall?"

Nixie pointed up to the wall. "That switch there will twist the water room and drain the water to the room below."

He looks up at the switch. "It's frozen over. Can you get rid of that?"

Nixie shook her head. "I didn't freeze it over, the shadow version of me did." She swam over to that part of the wall, then hopped up on the platform nearby. "I bet you can though."

"Yeah, I can. So, if you could just ignite the torch in the foyer, that'd be most beneficial to me."

"I see...Light the torch then?" Link nodded after hopping back to the hallway. "I'll get right to it~" She swam through the air down the hall and back through the door Link entered in. Link walked down the hallway.

"She seemed excited..."

"You freed her and Ignis. I imagine she's thrilled," Navi said. "And you got two more to go. Technically three, but we don't count the one at the end."

"Right." He got to the first room and looked into the calm waters. He saw a trap door at the far right corner of the floor. "Here goes." He jumped in and swam for it. Just above it, he dove down and grabbed the handle of the door. Using it to brace himself, he pulled up with a fair bit of effort against the weight of the water. Once open, he braced himself against the floor and walls while it drained the room. It drained pretty quickly, letting Link breathe after a dozen seconds or so. Another 30 seconds later, the room was drained enough to jump down safely.

When Link landed with bent knees on the floor below, he found it wasn't a solid floor, more like a layer of grates. Made sense, since the water had to go somewhere. Link once again found himself at the end of an impressively long hallway, grated all the way to the end of it. Below the grates, the water from the room above had joined a river and was flowing to the end of the hall. "This looks promising... Nixie said this was another spirit's domain, right?"

"That's right."

"Which one, you think?" Link looked forward at the hovering spirit on the farthest wall. "Wind?"

Navi looked at the far grates on the floor and saw water whipped up along a path straight for them. She flew into his hat. "Definitely wind!"

Link looked up at Navi, then forward. He stood his full height, forcibly, and got flung to the wall behind him. The fierce wind held him there for a solid minute before it ceased to a breeze. Link got to his hands and knees and slipped his fingers into the holes.

The raging storm whipped up again, blowing right over him as he crawled to the quarter mark. "This is a strong wind," he said quietly. He looked at the spirit and saw it was flapping its wings on a slow and strong tempo. The wind had stopped for a brief moment. Long enough to see the flap change speeds to a short and quick flap. Link stood up and saw the compressed wind blades slice through the air at him. Link dodged to the sides and avoided each wave of wind. The only way he could see them was the distorted air around each blade. His body became loose and wobbly as he dodged the attacks moving forward.

Again, the attacks stopped before it changed styles. Just as before, a horrible funnel forced Link to slide backward. He conjured a shield in front of him shaped like a pyramid, forcing the air to go around him. Link pressed on, slowly. Since the wind isn't striking the shield, it wasn't losing durability. When the wind died down, Link dispelled the shield and drew his bow, firing an arrow through the little breeze that remained and stuck into the spirit's wing.

It fell to the floor and scurried through the door behind it, out of sight. Link gave swift chase, stopping at the door. He looked at his bow. "This did the trick... But I'll have to choose my windows carefully." Link put his bow away, drawing his shield in its place. "Here we go."

Link opened the door and stepped in, shutting the door behind him. The shadow was hovering, flapping ever so slightly to stay aloft. Glancing around, Link noticed a massive painting on the wall displaying a green pegasus. There was a door on the right wall on a raised stone landing. Link looked back at the shadow, drawing his sword.

The shadow flapped his wings hard, and in short bursts, sending the same slicing waves at Link, who was able to cut through them. The wind blasts crashed against the wall behind Link with such force as to gouge gashes into them. Then, the shadow started flying in a tight circle, forming a tornado in the middle of the room. Link stabbed his sword into the ground and put away his shield. With the wind gaining speed, Link found his feet got swept off the floor. That's a strong wind. But it's still magic. Link let go of his sword and flew into the tornado.

The wind whipped him around violently as he built up his magic. When he released it, he threw the magic at the cyclone near the floor, setting the tornado on fire. Link flew out to the door near his sword, while the shadow got flung to the opposite wall. It sat there, flapping, trying to put out the sizzling feathers. Link got up, ran toward the shadow, drawing the sword up as he ran and pierced the wall where the shadow's head was. It had moved to the side. Link cut sideways toward the shadow's neck, but it had rolled away and regained its footing. Link stepped to the other side of the handle and adjusted his grip. He pulled it out and swung at the shadow, sending a wave of magic strong enough to cleave the phantom in two.

The shadow fell to the ground and dissolved, leaving his arrow behind. Link walked over and picked up his arrow and put it with the rest of them before turning his attention to the painting.

Where once a pegasus was displayed, there was then a black canvas. The wind spirit had escaped and hovered toward Link. "Ahh, you've freed me at long last."

Link looked at the spirit, sheathing his sword. "Yeah, I did. This shadow was the easiest of the three so far, but still... My magic level is taking the biggest hit from every where else I've been."

"Well, maybe there is something that can be done about that later. For now, I do believe there is still one shadow who still holds one hostage." He looked to the door. "But there is the matter of the foyer torches."

"Yeah, could you do something about that?" Link asked, turning to the door.

"Oh, most certainly." He paused. "You already freed Ignis and Nixie then?" Link nodded. The spirit sighed. "Of course those two would fight better than me. Their shadows, I mean."

Link tilted his head a little. "You good?"

"In a way, it is as I suspected."

"Well, to be fair, you're ... uh... A pegasus. Not exactly supposed to be physically strong," Link admitted. "You played to your strengths against a foe who was just better. Then I came along and was better than them. I doubt your natural intent is fighting anyway; you seem more like a bookish type to me."

"I do fancy myself a scholar. I am Forseti. Wind spirit of the Temple of Nature. I also deal with the knowledge of the forest."

Link smiled and nodded. "See? Right on the money." He turned to the door. "So, about that torch..."

"Ah, yes. That. Allow me to be on my way then, and thank you once more for freeing me." The spirit lit a green flame in his right hoof. "Oh, there is one more thing: this torch, once lit, will allow you to enter our brother's rooms to the northeast and northwest. It won't matter which door you chose, for the moment you set foot inside, he will know."

Link walked to the door. "Anything else?"

"No, that will do. Best of luck, swordsman." He flew through the door and disappeared. Link followed and found himself on a balcony looking over the foyer. Forseti lit his torch and disappeared from sight.

"Guess that's three." Link looked to the two doors Forseti mentioned. "Which do you think is the better choice of door?"

Navi flew off his head and hovered around. "Not sure. Forseti said it didn't matter, so... Northwest?" Link vaulted over the railing and knelt down. He eventually came to sit with his back to the wall, hand on his knee and breathing kind of hard. Navi followed him and hovered just in front of him. "Hey, you okay?"

"Just a little tired... Three hard fights in a row... It isn't easy, even for me." He looked to the three lit torches of red, blue and green. "One more, and we can go down to the last shadow of the temple."

"You have been pushing it with all that fire magic... How are you doing?"

"About a quarter. I used more for the swing than I did for the cyclone... So not good." He thought for a moment. "The fourth spirit should have something to do with the ground, right? Ignis was fire, and she used it frequently, Nixie was water, and it was everywhere. Then Forseti used copious amounts of wind, so whoever the fourth one is, we're bound to see rocks and dirt as our environment, right?"

Navi nodded. "Or sand. It's still ground, just... really small and fine grains of it."

"Or crystals. It's just a mix of various minerals, right?"

"How about gems? Those are precious minerals, so maybe he's the spirit of wealth here? Like Forseti is with knowledge?"

"Possibly... What about Ignis and Nixie? What do they deal with?" Navi pondered some more. "Maybe Ignis deals with emotion, and Nixie deals with relaxation?"

"What if Ignis was willpower and Nixie was freewill?"

Link shook his head. "They're kind of opposites, right? One would be the power to refuse outside forces, and the other would be strengthening one's own choices." He thought a moment more. "Which works, since fire and water are opposites in nature."

"See?" Navi smiled.

"But it's too late to ask them." He stood up and dusted himself off. "Northwest door it is." Link started walking toward the chosen door and stopped when he stood before it. "If he can already tell we're inside, then he must feel vibrations through the ground... I bet bombs would work well here..." He opened the door and stepped into the room beyond.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, Link saw piles of rocks scattered about the room. Some in random pile, others in neat, flat stacks. But the major thing he saw was... "Sand... It's everywhere..."

"Get used to it, you'll be here a while..." Navi said.

Link nodded his head and closed the door behind him. From the stone step, he walked onto the sand, and as soon as he made contact, a light rumble was felt. Immediately, a figure that looked to be made of sand sprung up from the field. Most of the sand fell off, but some still remained, like a suit.

Sand, huh... He drew his sword and shield in time to block a blast from the shadow, who thrust its palm toward him. Link bashed the blast away and advanced swiftly. The shadow threw blast after blast of sand at Link, who clearly knew how to deal with them. When he got close enough, he used his shield to bash at the shadow's body directly, but it was blocked by a sand wall. "A barrier?" He slashed at it, and to his surprise somehow, it cleaved the barrier in two.

As a result, the shadow collapsed into sand and vanished beneath the dunes. Link looked around and saw shifting movement beneath the surface. Carefully eyeing the movements, he stowed his shield. Soon as he let go, a dozed sand clones popped up out of the floor and just looked at him. Link met the gaze of each one as hie turned to count them.

There's quite a few of them...]/i] he thought, gripping the Master Sword's handle tighter, and with both hands. Without warning, the lot of them all jumped at him. Link did his best to fend them all off, but he soon found that with each one he cut through, another or more would rise to take its place. This isn't going anywhere... he surmised. Link returned the sword to just his left and held it behind him. As quick as he could, he charged the blade with magic and spun in circles, sending magic in a single big, blue wave in all directions. Only a second passed, and when he finished, he hunched over, placing a hand on his knee and drawing a heavy breath. "Where are you..." he asked.

Link felt his ankles tighten. He looked down and saw that sand had wrapped around and started squeezing. It had started pulling him into the hallway at great speed. In the room at the other end, he saw a massive boulder erupt from the ground. Quickly, Link raised the Master Sword over his head and cut straight down, sending one wave of energy through the rock, dividing it cleanly in two. When his boots hit the boulder's bottom, he was flung forward into a roll. After stopping himself, he hopped to his feet in time to see the shadow pony standing, balancing on the two split pieces of boulder, shaking its head.

It hopped up and dove into the boulder where it broke. The sand in this room flashed into sandstone. The shadow popped out of the stone fully armored in the new material. "What now?" he complained. Link gained his footing on the solid surface. "At least I can grip the floor now." The armored shadow dashed toward Link, who sheathed his sword and put both hands out.

The shadow collided with his outstretched hands and pushed Link back. Link dug his heels into the sandstone and stopped the charge. Can't use much more magic, or I'll be drained more than what's comfortable. Link stepped forward and picked up the shadow. He heaved it over his shoulder and turned into it, slamming it against the ground. Then he got up and gave the shadow a good old toss across the room.

Instead of an impact, the shadow slipped into the ground like a water droplet into a pond. Link looked around again, hands raised. The shadow popped out of the ground aiming a punch to Link's jaw. All he could do was lean back away from it. The shadow threw the punch with enough momentum to be disconnected from the ground below. Link reared his left hand back and charged up with fire magic.

With one move, he thrust his opened palm at the armored shadow, releasing the explosion at point blank range, exploding the solid armor and sending sand chunks every which way. It was so strong of an explosion, Link was knocked clean off his feet backward. When he got up, the shadow was still stunned. Link ran over to it with his sword drawn and impaled the shadow through the chest. Then, he twisted the blade to vertical and swung up, splitting the upper body of the shadow in half.

It crumbled to the floor in a dark mess. Link dropped his sword and fell to his knees. "Link! you seriously need to give your magic a break!"

Link breathed heavily. "Yeah, I know... But these four were very strong. Especially this one."

"You honor me," a gravely voice called out. A burly stallion stepped onto the sandstone and turned it into a decorated tiled floor.

Link tried to stand with the use of the Master Sword, but even that felt heavy at this point. After struggling to his feet, he looked at the literal earth pony. "Glad to help, even if it exhausted me."

The stallion looked for moment at Link before replying. "I light torch."

"Good."

"I am Tsuchi. Temple's Earth Spirit." Link nodded. "You follow me."

Link hobbled after the stallion back to the main room...

The earth spirit conjured a brown flame and lit the last of the four torches. Just as he was watching, the central square of the flooring sprung up from the ground, revealing a place to stand inside it. "Well, ain't that neat?"

Nixie flowed up from the floor. "It sure is~ We usually leave the elevator open, but when the shadows came, we had to keep it safe. Lot of good it did."

Ignis appeared from a ball of flame. "It's hardly your fault, Nixie. They were basically made to be better than us in every way."

Link interrupted. "But only just enough. He didn't count on someone stronger coming by. Why waste the magic on impossibly strong creatures when just barely stronger ones will do?"

Forseti nodded. "He makes a valid point. Perhaps the shadow was expecting a newcomer, and set them to be strong enough to pose a challenge, but not be too strong. Perhaps the shadow wishes to bring our savior down itself?"

"That won't happen," Link refused. "He'll get what's coming, I promise."

"I doubt that, looking at you." Forseti took notice of Link's various cuts and scrapes, as well as the minor tears to his golden tunic and tan pants. "You've been through an inferno, a flood, a tornado and a landslide. Not only does your outfit need hemming, your magic as low as it is needs replenishing, too."

Link shook his head. "I'll be fine, Forseti."

Ignis interjected. "No, you actually won't, kid. And even if you think you can, we tried and failed, at our best. Anything less than your best will just fizzle out."

Link sighed. "Well, it's not like I can regain magic just like that. I don't have that ability."

Nixie asked, "Why not? We do. All the time."

"Do what?"

"Regain magic, silly. Whatever we spend, we can get back just as easily." Nixie swam around him. "But, I guess you can't, huh... That's a bummer..."

Tsuchi finally spoke. "You are unskilled."

Ignis gave him a solid punch in the shoulder. "See? Even he understands it." She hovered over to Link. "Look, I'll tell you what: You have fire magic in you, I can tell. Give me that limb of yours." She held out her hoof to him.

Link took her hoof and it felt warm. "Okay, what now?"

"Okay, now close your eyes and try to sense the magic around you, kid." She closed her eyes first, then Link followed. She barely moved, but Link could tell he was regaining magic. "You feel that?"

"I'm feeling a warm spot."

"Good, then it's working." She waited for a while and only released his hand when she felt his magic was full. "There, should be good to go now."

Link felt his magic at full power. "Yeah, I feel great."

Navi flew beside him and looked at Ignis. "How'd you do that, anyway? We tried something similar a long time ago, but it didn't work."

"Well... I gave you some of my magic, and replenished my own the way we know how to. It's not a big deal, really."

Forseti patted Link on the shoulder. "Now go, warrior. Your next foe awaits. And be warned; he will grant you no quarter."

Link stepped onto the elevator and turned to face the four of them. "I'm ready... Let's do this."

The four spirits faded from sight. The elevator descended into the ground and below to the basement. Link waited patiently for it to stop. When it fell far enough, he found a large circular room with a hallway leading to a massive door. He approached it and looked at it carefully.

"Through there. And it's got all four symbols lit up." Link put his hands on the doors and pushed them open...

The inside of the room was also circular, only far more adorned with elemental symbols and nature aspects. There was a flowy waterfall that came from the far wall that crashed down upon a rock bed that streamed through the rest of the room through a series of turns. A slew of torches were lit around the room, and each one was decorated with a ring of shells. A slight breeze was also prominent through the room. Upon inspection, there seemed to be vents opened at the top of the room. In the center, stood an altar with the four symbols in a circle on the ground.

Link approached the circle and looked down at it. "I got a baaaad feeling about this, Link..." Navi warned.

"Yeah, me too." He took another glance around the room. "What am I looking for? I don't know what's out of place."

A shadowy figure crawled up from the grassy floor and beamed its red eyes at Link. In a low growl, it gnashed its teeth at him, hunched low and flared its wings and horn, enveloping both in a dark aura.

"Right. That." Link turned to face it and drew his sword. From the corner of his eye, Link noticed several others crawl out of the wall, waters and rocks all around him. As he turned to face each one, he knew he was in for a hard fight. He stood upright and tilted his head up with a smile.

Two leapt at him from behind. Link twirled around and cleaved both in half before skewering a third. Another pair lunged at him from above. Link dove forward and turned to stand. Leaping back, he released a wave at the two, dispelling them rather quickly. Another glance around him revealed that with each one he cut, another would take its place.

Not giving me more, but breaking even. A replication spell? As Link plowed through these 1-hit shadows, he took note of who stayed the farthest away and which of them attacked how. There were some groups of three or four that swooped down at him from above, and some others that fired off beams of darkness at him. But none of them did both. Hmm, he thought. Maybe the real one ain't here... Deciding to save his strength and magic, he stuck to only cutting through the army one at a time.

Every once in a while, Link would receive an attack that hit harder than the others, or deflect a spell that was stronger than normal. He kept track of it, and waited. When he saw that shadow was ready to attack, instead of dodging, which he would have done normally since each time it attacked, it was accompanied by a weaker unit, he directed his focus to the stronger one and slashed at it. "There!"

The stronger alicorn flinched and took the hit square on, sliding back against the grass. Half of the copies vanished immediately. But not the one that Link was attacked by, and it successfully landed a telling blow against his midsection.

As Link knelt in pain, he looked at the alicorn he had struck so true. It was standing tall, almost grinning. It walked forward. "Give my friend back, monster."

Without moving its mouth, it answered. "You don't even know who it is or why I have her. What makes you think you deserve her freedom?"

Link looked surprised that it could communicate. "That doesn't matter. I will take her back and you can't stop me." Link struggled to his feet and readied himself.

"Boy, you are just as foolish as you were back then. Willing to throw yourself into danger if it meant somepony else could survive. That has ever been your driving force, and today, it shall be your last heroic act." Behind him, in the center of the four symbols, another chamber rose. Within it hung an imprisoned Fluttershy, suspended in midair, incapable of escaping on her own.

"Fluttershy?! You did all this for Fluttershy?" Link took a step forward.

"That is the look I pine for. But you are not ready yet, to face me truly. Come, boy. Prove you are worth my time." With that, the shadow dashed forward, wings out.

Link charged ahead, shield raised. He bashed his shield into the alicorn and watched as it tumbled back. The other shadows all jumped on him. They surrounded him and started pummeling down on him. Link erupted into a ball of fire, burning away the doppelgangers. But as the original was still alive, those ones returned through the various surfaces in the room. "There's just no end to these guys."

"Focus on the main one. That's what matters," Navi said. "We can worry about Fluttershy afterward."

Link nodded and swung at the alicorn before him. The alicorn raised a barrier and blocked the shot entirely. Link tried again, the opposite way and cracked a grin when the shield started to wear down. not very strong, this pony. Link charged his sword up with magic and dashed in on the shadow. As the two engaged in swings and misses, Link goaded him into a corner, where he drove his blade into the wall and cut sideways through the nearby waterfall.

He received a solid punch across his jaw and tumbled to the ground. "That can't be all you have, swordsman." The alicorn paused. "Surely your seven years of being gone were spent better than this?"

Link got to his feet. "Keep mocking me. Maybe you'll find a good quip on the grass next to your teeth."

"Ohoho, scathing." The alicorn charged up his horn and fired at Link. Link split the beam in half and sent his own wave down the line at the shadow. His hit it straight on, knocking it off its hooves and dispelling the rest of the shadow clones.

Link dashed forward with another shield bash, knocking the alicorn to the ground. He leapt up and brought his blade down into the phantom, finishing it off.

Defeated, the shadow writhed across the grass, leaking black goop everywhere that dissolved on contact. The room itself seemed to be getting brighter. When the alicorn finally stopped, it rose into the air. "Hey, kid... You did alright, for someone who's been gone seven years. But against my old self, I'd be pretty disappointed if you died that easily."

Link looked around. "Where are you?!" he shouted. "Come out and fight!" he demanded, brandishing his Master Sword in varying directions.

"In time, you will come to me. And when you do, I so hope you make it more entertaining than this shell of a being has. What a pitiful creature..." The shadow was hovered to the doorway to the room and had its body collapsed in several places before seeping through the ceiling. "It served its purpose well."

Link looked back at Fluttershy in the center of the room. The binds that held her had dispersed and she lay in a heap on the stone flooring. He ran over to her and held her up on his leg.

When she opened her eyes, the first thing she said was, "Link! You're okay!" She reached up and gave him a big hug.

Behind them, the four spirits gathered in the room. Forseti applauded, "Well done, Link. We knew you were capable of such."

Ignis harumphed. "Wouldn't be much of a hero if you failed. Nice work, kid."

Link looked back at them. "The shadow alicorn is gone from your temple. Is there anything else you wish of me?"

"Nope, we're good~" Nixie replied. "We'll take the restoration of our temple from here."

A shining green circle appeared on the grass. "What's that?"

"Is not us," Tsuchi blunted.

Fluttershy struggled to her hooves and walked over to it. "It feels familiar..." She turned to Link. "Come on, Link. It's going to be alright. I can tell."

Link stood up, sheathed his sword and shield, and walked with her into the ring of light.

Ignis grinned and hovered over to him. "We know he wasn't the real one. But I bet you're out to get him. When you find him, you make him pay for all this, you hear?"

"You got it. Thanks for your help." Link and Fluttershy rose into the air together, enveloped in a verdant glow and vanished into thin air.

That was a long wait. There was a lot I had to think about when it came to puzzles and if Link's sword should get powers or if Link should get powers, and I realized that the stronger I made him, the stronger Ganondorf would have to be. So I simplified it a little, and kept the layout mostly the same while inhabiting the place with different opponents. I'd say it worked well. What do you folks think?