Chapter 2. Epona

It looked all right. Not exactly the same, but all right. There was a much bigger fence around the horses, and they were shut in, but one can't expect nothing to change in seven years. Especially seven years under the rule of someone calling himself the King of Evil. Before I got even got close enough to the horses to see why they were shut in or who was standing by the gate I was stopped by the sound of a familiar song coming from the stables. I decided to see who it was singing it.

Not the best idea I've ever had, as it turns out. The person singing Epona's Song in the stables was (duh) Malon, and the years had been more than good to her. She had hair the color of burnished copper hanging in a soft sheet down her back, her simple farm dress clung to her petite, perfectly proportioned form in exactly the right places, and the look she made as she saw me, her soft mouth making an O of surprise and her jewel-like eyes wide and sparkling, was more than enough to make me forget anything I had planned on saying. Not to mention to put other things on my mind.

"Oh!" Malon exclaimed. "Oh...a visitor! It's been a long time since we've had a visitor here...Where did you come from?"

"I, um, I, uh..."

"Since Ganondorf came, people in the Castle Town have gone, places have been ruined, and monsters are wandering everywhere. Mr. Ingo is just using the ranch to gain Ganondorf's favor."

"Wait, Ingo!" I remembered something other than the curves of Malon's body. "Ingo's in charge of the ranch now!"

"You know him?" Malon frowned at me slightly, as though trying to think of something. "Have you been here before?"

"Uhh…" was all I could manage (this was an intelligent response, given the circumstances).

Malon started to come towards me, still frowning. "Those clothes look familiar," she said. "I'm sure I've seen you somewhere before."

"Well, yeah," I said, backing up. "I came here a few times when I was a kid, um, seven years ago."

"Oh!" Malon exclaimed again. "It's you, Link the fairy boy!"

"Yep, that's me," I forced a smile and started edging toward the door. "Well, it was nice to see you…"

"Oh, Link," Malon was still coming towards me. "You don't know what it's been like. Everyone seems to be turning evil... But Dad... He was kicked out of the ranch by Mr. Ingo. If I disobey Mr. Ingo, he will treat the horses so badly... So... There's nothing I can do..."

"Um, that's terrible?" I made it a question without even realizing it.

"It really is," Malon agreed. "All Ingo cares about now is impressing that evil King Ganondorf."

Well, at least he's adapted well, I thought, but was prudent enough not to say it out loud. Malon was now well within my personal space and I could smell her hair, which would have been very nice except that the severe reaction of my body to her closeness made me fear for her purity. I doubted very much that I would be able to control myself if she showed any signs of liking me. Well, any more signs of liking me.

"That's, uh, really awful," I said nervously. "But, uh, I've…I've got to go." With that I turned and ducked out the door, leaving Malon, no doubt terribly confused, behind me.

"That was weird," Navi said. "And it didn't teach us anything." I decided not to respond to that. "Come on, let's do what Sheik said and go to Kakariko!"

"Later," I brushed her aside. "I'm gonna talk to Ingo."

"Don't do anything rash," Navi warned as she ducked inside my hat. I didn't respond to that either.

Ingo was standing just outside the corral, dressed in (ridiculous) fancy clothes. Other than the clothes, time had not been as good to him as it had been to Malon, and he looked distinctly middle-aged.

"Greetings and welcome to the Lon Lon Ranch," he said as I approached. I ignored him and stepped close to gate, watching the horses run. There was a pretty mare off on the other side, a red roan that looked like Epona.

"Like the horses, do you young man?" Ingo asked.

I gave him a look, like it should have been obvious.

"Ah, yes, well," he cleared his throat. "If you're in the market for a good steed, I can let you have a closer look at them for…oh, say, a mere five rupees."

"Deal!" I cried immediately, slapped the rupees into his hand and hopped the fence to have a better look.

Several of the horses shied away, not knowing my scent, but I only had eyes for one. Epona had grown into a magnificent specimen of her species, almost as pretty a horse as Malon was a girl, and she had the sleek musculature that one only found on the best steeds. I decided not to approach her directly, instead I stood a couple dozen yards back, pulled out the Ocarina (I couldn't think of it as mine) and played the sweet little song I had learned not far from this very spot so long ago.

Epona dashed up to me as soon as she recognized the melody, almost nuzzling me in her excitement. "Hey there girl," I smiled. "It's been a while hasn't it?"

Epona snorted agreement.

"How about going for a ride?"

Epona definitely agreed with that idea. I mounted her, carefully (I still wasn't quite used to my new height), and we set off around the pen. After only a few minutes Ingo called me off. Slightly disgruntled I paid for another five minutes and tried out the jumping fences. I wasn't too bad, if I do say so myself.

After I'd only been riding for a couple of minutes I noticed Ingo near the gate, waving for my attention.

"What's up?" I asked, stopping Epona beside him but not getting off.

"You're getting better," Ingo said. "How about a little race with me? One lap around the corral with that horse."

"Sounds like fun," I said. "What's in it for you?"

"Well, since you brought it up…" Ingo rubbed his hands together greedily and grinned. "How about a wager, just a small one, to make things lucrative for both of us?"

"Just a small one?" I raised one eyebrow.

"Say…fifty rupees?"

I was pretty sure I had fifty rupees, and I could always use more, so I agreed. It took Ingo only a few minutes to pick a horse and outline the race course for me (twice around the fence, not too hard to understand) then we lined up, Ingo counted down, and took off before I had time to register that we'd started! The son of a bitch cheated!

Well, I wasn't going to let that stand, so I kicked Epona to get her started, sped up to get in front of Ingo, and simply held that lead all the rest of the race.

Ingo went nuts. "Th-that's impossible!" His face was turning beet red and he looked so upset I wouldn't have been surprised if steam started coming out of his ears. "There's no way, no way, you could have beaten me!"

"Well, I did," I shrugged. "Now I believe we had a deal."

"It's not possible!" Ingo insisted. "If the great Ganondorf found out about this humiliation... How about another race! If you win...You can keep...the horse!"

Well, who could say no to that?

Ingo obviously didn't have much imagination, since he pulled exactly the same stunt as the first race. Of course, I had beaten that trick once and had no trouble doing it again.

"What the hell!" was Ingo's reaction this time. "What's up with that horse! Is that Epona?"

Duh.

"How did you tame that wild horse right under my nose!"

Hey now…

"Aargh! I was going to present that horse to the great Ganondorf..."

You what! Not a chance buddy!

"But we had a deal…" Ingo nodded to himself. "Hah ha hah! As I promised, I'll give the horse to you... However..." he stepped back and swung shut the doors of the corral, "I'll never let you leave this ranch!"

"WHAT!" I roared. "You've got to be kidding me! You can't just- You can't- Aargh!" I made a quick scan of the back fence of the corral, to see if it was as low as I remembered, then leapt onto Epona's back and started galloping towards it.

"Link," Navi bobbed out of my hat. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I jerked my head toward the fence. "We're busting out of here!"

"Link, no!"

I ignored Navi's pleas for sanity, charged Epona towards the fence, held on tight as she jumped over, and then…we were free.

"Good girl," I said, patting Epona's neck. "Good girl."