All right. First things first. TYH is officially on hold so I can work on this. Second of all, this was supposed to be part of the last chapter.

Sam: And it wasn't why?

I'm getting there. I was lazy and didn't feel like putting it in, there!

Sam: Whatever.

Okay, you, yeah, you, leave, now!

Sam: Meany! Walks out.

Chapter 4 was going to be put up earlier but I had some technical difficulties. Also I had a lot of typos in the other chapters. Sorry, that a problem I have.

Blaze: Nooooo! Really?

Shut up! Wings, DISCLAIMER, NOW!

Wings: Fine! Blazestarre owns NOTHING! Except me, unfortunately. Does anyone read this?

There's also a reference to the manga in this chapter and the next. You don't need to read the manga to understand it, since I'll explain it in the next chapter or two.

"Talking"

"Animal Talking"

Thoughts

An Old Friend

"You lied to me!" yelled Ingo. He pointed an accusing finger at Malon as she dismounted. "That damn mare is the fastest! I knew you were hiding something!" Malon turned to face him.

"I did not lie! I had no idea Epona could gallop this fast. Plus I would never tell you if I did know. You only care about you money!" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she covered her mouth, shocked at herself. Epona looked at her, shocked as well. Ingo looked speechless. So did the animals close enough to hear. No one had ever heard Malon talk like that, not even before Ingo. Panic in her eyes, Malon started to apologize. "Ingo, I-I didn't mean that. I-I don't know what got into me!"

Ingo went from speechless to furious. "Why you little wench!"

Now it was Malon's turn to be furious. "How dare you call me that!"

Then Ingo did something no one expected. He slapped her across the face and knocked her down to the ground. Epona gave a deafening whinny and reared repeatedly.

"How dare you, you cowardly tyrant! I can't believe you even touched her!" she yelled angrily. Of course, Ingo didn't understand her. He looked over at Epona, a furious look on his face. It was then that she noticed something different about Ingo. Something that should have been evident since the day he took over the ranch. He seemed almost possessed in a way.

"Shut up, you idiotic horse!" He grabbed for the whip he was carrying. Epona started walking backwards.

"Ingo, no! Don't do it!" Malon begged. Epona didn't notice Malon standing up. She looked over at the young woman. She looked scared, something that wasn't new, but the looked seemed foreign for some reason. Malon whispered something that only Epona's keen hearing could pick up. "Ingo, what's happen to you?" Epona wondered the same thing. This was not the same Ingo, she just knew it! Sure, he had been mean to the animals, not feeding them much and all, but he would never hurt anyone. He certainly would not have bought the ranch like he did. Why hadn't Epona seen it before? Now Epona was almost certain he was possessed.

Ingo began to talk again. "No matter. I'll let the King use Knight Prince for awhile, a temporary horse. Then this one will be trained up for King Ganondorf." Malon looked like she was about to protest. "There will be no useless arguing, Malon! Your mare might be idiotic and too independent, but she's perfect for the King!" With that, he left.

For what seemed like hours, though only about two minutes, Malon stood rooted in her spot, deep in thought. Epona wished she would sing her mother's song, but that hadn't been heard anywhere in Hyrule since Ingo took over, thanks to Ganondorf. Ganondorf. The name made her shake in anger. Everything bad that had happen was because of the evil tyrant. If he hadn't taken over, Ingo wouldn't have forced Talon out and Link would visit them! Wait, Link? Epona blinked in confusion. Why had she though of Link? He hasn't even been mentioned the past six years. Epona started to wonder if he was even real.

While in deep thought, Epona didn't even notice Malon leading her towards the barn, take all the tack off, and give a quiet good-bye. Now all alone in a stall, Epona tried to figure out what was going on. Something strange is going on, and I'm going to find out what!

Epona was put out in the corral after another intense train session with Ingo. All Malon could do was watch as her favorite horse got whipped and strained past her limits. Epona looked around for Malon. She spot the young woman feeding the horses in the pasture. She looked hot and tired from a long day of working too much. For the past three, almost four, months, Ingo had been worse than ever before. She looked around the corral, currently her home. This was one of the things Ingo did, quarantine her. This was part of her training, though it was never as good as what Ingo wanted. Epona still wouldn't let him mount her and he was ready to sell her to anyone who could ride her.

Malon walked back into the barn and stayed there, trying to rest. Epona was depressed and angry, not because of how she was treated, but because of haw Malon was treated. The happy glow that was once always there in her eyes was gone, probably for eternity. Not that Epona would be around long enough to know. She was going to become a servant to a tyrant, and so will her foals. She lowered her head. There was no way of preventing it, she now realized.

Epona jerked her head back up. What was she thinking? Giving up was her last option. There had to be something she could do. But what that something was, she had no clue. Was it fighting to death, or run away, Malon in tow? She shook her head in frustration. That would never work!

She was pulled from her train of thought by the familiar sound of dry grass crunching from someone walking. She looked toward the sound, near the gate, and expected Ingo or someone equally horrible. Who she saw surprised her. It was a human all right, but not like the other humans she saw. Sure, he had the lack of hair on his body, instead being covered with cloth, and he had the pointy ears that Hylians had. But he was different. His clothes were strange. They were all green and a hat covered his blond hair. He wore white undergarments and gauntlets, something Epona only heard of. A shield and sword were slung on his back. This man was a warrior, but he looked no older than Malon. There was something about him that was familiar.

The boy ignored her, as humans always do.

"Humans. Always think they're better than us." Epona whispered to herself. She watched the young man walked towards the barn, ready to charge at him if he presented a threat to Malon. She didn't have to worry, Ingo stopped him for her. The man actually looked surprised at Ingo.

"What may I do for, good sir?" Epona snorted at Ingo's fake charm. She had seen this many times before. It was Ingo's way to con people to buy green horses, horses too old too work, or ill tempered ones. From the look on the man's face, he wasn't fooled either, but he played along.

"Well, I'm looking for a horse. Are you the owner?" the young man said. There was something in his voice that was familiar. It still had a boyish tone to it and she wasn't sure if Ingo noticed or not. If he did, he didn't show it. He just continued the conversation, eyeing the sword.

"Then you're in the right place. And yes, I the owner. Just one question before I show you around."

"What?"

"Are you a mass murderer?"

The younger man looked confused for a second. Then it clicked in his mind and his mouth formed an 'o.'

"No, I'm not. The sword is for protection against those monsters out there. I'm an explorer." Ingo didn't look convinced but dropped the subject.

"Well then, shall I show the horses?" Ingo said, leading the other man to the pastures. The young man glanced at her. It was so brief, Epona thought she imagined it. For the next twenty-five or so minutes, the two humans walked the length of the fence, talking about the different horses. Ingo was pointing out the worse ones and acting like they were the best. The stranger looked bored. He glanced over at her again. He said something that sounded like "What about that one?" and nodded over to her. He walked over to her, Ingo jogging over, getting ahead of him.

"Sorry, but this horse is a trouble maker. She originally was going to be King Ganondorf's steed," Ingo started, the other wincing at the last part. "But she's been too much trouble."

"Could I buy her?" the man said, ignoring the last thing Ingo said. Ingo gave a nasty look and muttered, "For the love of Din, why does he want her?" The man glared at Ingo.

Ingo ignored the glare and continued. "I'll only let you buy her if you can ride her." He gave a sly grin. Epona wouldn't buck the man off, unless he did something to her, but Ingo didn't need to know that. The stranger nodded. "I'll get her tack." The man turned to her after Ingo had walked into the barn.

"Hey, Epona. Remember me?" the man asked.

"No, and what are you trying to do?" she said, pinning her ears back and walked back a few steps. The man took the hint.

"I guess you don't. This might help." He took out a blue ocarina. An ocarina? I haven't seen one of those since Link came. This was getting weird. She had all her attention on the man. The song that he played was one she never expected to hear again.

It was Malon's mother's song, her favorite song, Epona's song. No one other than Malon and Link knew it. Malon certainly didn't tell anyone. Did Link betray their trust and tell someone the song? This couldn't be Link, it just couldn't be! She kept telling herself that over and over again. Well, she did until she saw a little ball of light with wings fly up beside the man's head. Epona knew who he was and was truly happy for the first time in so long.

Link had returned.

Tbc

Link has made an appearance! Okay, I wanted to add more but I thought that would be a good place to stop. I'll leave the suspense for you to deal with. Mwhahahahahaha-cough, cough. Bla!

Sam: Uh, T, you okay?

Yeah. I'm good. Anywho, REVIEW TIME!

Lisilgirl-yey Link! We all love Link! Good job even though i was just warming to Knight.

head droops Oh well, he didn't take Epona. I still love it though!- We all do love him:) Well, he was in this chapter and he'll be in more! Sorry that I took away Knight when you started to like him, but I PROMISE he'll be back.

Ariana, aka Nereid-Uh-oh... Ingo... I still say Epona should bite him. XD I loved Ingo being thrown in the mud. PRICELESS! Please, more soon!- Whenever Ingo's around, there's gotta be trouble. Yeah, Ingo in the mud was fun to write. I had a hard time not laughing from the mental picture.

Deamon Fire-Ok,Deja-vu here!Once,when I was a LOT younger,I wondered what would happen if Epona and GannonDORK's horse liked each other.Wierd.NOW FACE THE WRATH OF MY EVIL CHICKENS!YOU WILL ALL DIE BY THEIR CLAWS! Fire bursts up in backround

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-coughs and hacks- All right, that's freaky we had the same idea. oO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOT THE CHICKENS! But if you kill me, you get any story. Hahahaha! Blackmail! Oh, but you can kill my muses! Except Blaze and Wings, they do disclaimers:)

Araknia the Storyspinner-I've alway's wondered why Epona liked that song:) Nice story! I hate it when people abuse animals TT.TT Update soon!- Yeah, I did too. So I came up with that it was a special song to Malon and would sing it to Epona when she was really, really young. I didn't explain that but now you know!

Okay, REVIEW OR I WILL SET MY MUSES ON YOU TO ANNOY YOU UNTIL YOU REVIEW!