Once Gentlehooves and Silver Bullet guide him to his room, they both say their goodbyes, leaving him alone with only his thoughts and equipment. Jeff begins removing the sword strapped to his waist, however he stops mid-way as he remembers that parts of his cloak, tunic, and sword are still stained with blood. Heading into the next room where the bathroom is, he resumes removing the sword sheath. Holding it in both hands, he pulls the silvery jewelry sword out its sheath, then places it into the sink as he begins cleaning it. The green blood washes off of his sword and into the sink's drainage.
With it cleaned off blood, Jeff holds his [url= . /zelda_gamepedia_en/images/e/ec/TAoL_Magical_Sword_ /revision/latest?cb=20080819150612&format=original]Sword[/url] up to the light generated by a yellow-almost bulb shaped gem. "...I feel like I'm royalty holding this thing..." Jeff said in amusement as he went to sheath the sword into its scabbard. Jeff works on his shield next, cleaning the blood off thoroughly. Despite the battle it was in, the Fighter's Shield did not have a dent yet. With a satisfied smile, The hylian leans his sword and his tower shield against the bathroom wall before beginning to remove his tunic and slipping his Roc's Hooded Cloak off.
Standing in nothing but his white tights, Jeff inspects his body, frowning at just how wrong it felt to look at it since it wasn't even his. His leg and neck now had a scar caused by Gohma. "I'm damn lucky she didn't slice my head off.." Jeff said with a long sigh.
Removing his tights and placing them folded nearly on the toilet seat, Jeff gets into the bathtub, although needing to duck as the shower head was near his face. Due to the valves not being labeled, it took Jeff a few moments of adjusting to finally get the water at a perfect temperature. Jeff lets out a sigh as it washes away what remains of the blood. Due to the sound of running waters, Jeff did not hear the knock on the door.
"Mr. Jeff?" The maid Gentle Hoof said but received no answer, the maid looked around the room before heading toward the bathroom. "Mr. Jeff?" she repeated as she gently nudged the bathroom open.
"Wha-HEY!" Jeff let out a yelp as he quickly closed the bath curtains.
"AH! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Gentlehoof said in embarrassment as she pulled her head out of the bathroom. Gentlehooves follows with her magic as she takes Jeff's clothes, leaving only his pouches, his sword, and his shield.
"For Hylia's sake please knock!" Jeff said as his anxiety rose. Jeff blinked in confusion, wondering why he said Hylia instead of God. Gentlehooves continues to apologize as she backs away out of the room, almost tumbling. A moment of silence passes by before Jeff lets out a soft sigh of embarrassment.
As Jeff continues to clean himself, his mind wanders off thinking about Tempest, hoping she's doing ok. "...The way she bonded with me so quickly isn't natural though, was it out of fear considering what she went through?" Jeff said to himself out of concern. But tried to brush these thoughts aside for now.
Once Jeff cleaned himself up, he gots out of the shower. Blinking out of confusion as he saw his clothing was in a perfect state. It wasn't that long ago the maid got them. "...Just what did she use to do it so quickly?" Jeff said as he started putting it on. They were definitely clean, but no special scent like clothes usually get when they've been in the washing machine. Jeff shrugs his arms as he'll figure it out later.
Jeff reaches into his pouches as he begins taking out everything he's collected, laying them neatly onto the nearby table.
-Hero's Bow
-Red Lantern. [Magic left: 5/48]
-Ten Deku Nuts
-Twentyseven Arrows
-One small Green Orb
-Ocarina Of Time
Jeff's eyes focus on the green orb as he picks it up in his hand, gazing upon its emerald radiance as Jeff tries to figure out its purpose. "...I wonder if Celestia can tell me more about this, seeing as she knows about the original Link.." Jeff said before gently sighing. Still trying to get used to his new environment and duties. He promptly puts all his items back into his pouches and Inspects his room, Jeff finds a small book shelf with around twenty or so books in total that fill it up. His bed, if you can even call it that, was too small for his size. "[i]Guess I'll have to ask Celestia for a bigger bed." [/i]He thinks to himself. The closet in his guest room just barely went to his forehead. And the small desk he had was laughable, it even came with this cute oak chair that just went to his shins.
Brushing all this aside, Jeff is about to lay down on his small twin sized bed before a knock at his door interrupts him. Being polite Jeff answers the pers- err pony on the other side. "Who is it?" Jeff curiously asks.
"It's me, Gentle Hoof. Are you done getting yourself accustomed to your room? I'm sorry for bursting in on you like that Mr. Jeff." A slightly more mellowed toned voice answers. Much to Jeff's relief.
"Uh… Yeah, yeah I'm done. Whaddya need Gentle Hoof?" Jeff tries to inquire but instead of an answer he just hears another knock.
"I'm sorry but I need you to open the door Jeff. Also it was the princess herself who requested you. Though for why, I do not know."
Feeling a bit bad about keeping the pony waiting like this, Jeff goes away from his bedside and opens his door. A small sigh is heard as soon as he does this as he looks down upon Gentle Hoof.
"Thanks from being more friendly than I previously thought you'd be Mr. Jeff. And I'd like to keep the chit-chat going for a little longer. However I am not one to make royalty wait." She sheepishly jokes. Then beckons for Jeff to follow her for the second time today among what feels like endless corridors. As they do this Gentle Hoof makes small talk with Jeff, yet doesn't miss a singular step.
"So Mr. Jeff, how's Equestria treating you?" Gentle Hoof asks out of the blue. Leaning in to hear her recipient's answer.
"Uh.. Fair, I suppose." Jeff said as he's only been here for a couple of days now since arriving at the temple of time.
"And did you find anything to be really cool and exciting? I mean when you first walked in with that cloak, I won't lie I was a bit spooked by you." She answers, adding some shy enthusiasm to her voice.
"I guess you could say that, and I apologize for any scaring I may have done, intentionally or not." An empathetic tone crosses Jeff's response, understanding where she's coming from when it comes to mysterious circumstances.
Gentle Hoof waves her hoof back and forth while smiling. "Oh that's nothing to worry about Mr. Jeff, I was really only shocked when you let down that hood of yours. Because to be quite honest with you. I'd never seen your species before. But when Celestia said you were the [i]last [/i]of your kind. That made a lot more sense."
"..Does this happen alot with ponies when they see a new species, being scared and kind of on edge?" Jeff asked in concern judging from how the pony guards treated him at first.
Gentle Hoof briefly stumbles as she walks. Completely caught off guard by the question, nervously rubbing her foreleg from dismay. "N-not [i]exactly, [/i]but sometimes we just get this instinctive feeling of fear whenever there's somepony that's as imposing as you are."
"So…" Jeff said as he rubbed the back of his head. "So it's kind of something passed down from your ancestors?" Jeff asked curiously.
Gentle Hoof starts to become somewhat unsure of herself as Jeff questions her about this. "I'm not the right mare to ask about things that have to go so far back as to refer to my ancestors but you could possibly be right Mr. Jeff, though it's not something that I've actually thought of before." Reaching over with her hoof, Gentle Hoof begins to unconsciously massage the nape of her neck. Leaving Jeff to wonder whether or not he made her feel uncomfortable.
Yet before Jeff could address this, Gentle Hoof points to a large double door's entrance. Having been decorated with gold symbols and mythical creatures Jeff had never seen in person before like manticores and hydras.
"This is your stop Mr. Jeff, please make sure to enjoy yourself while having lunch with the princess, alright?" The earth pony hastily throws it out that last tidbit of information before walking off.
Jeff, pondering on what she said for a second, before calling out. "Wait a second, I thought you didn't know why Celestia called me here?!"
Gentle Hoof quickly responds with a "I lied!" And swiftly turned around a castle corner, disappearing from sight.
Pinching the bridges of his nose Jeff tries to mentally prepare himself for what will likely be a formal and important meeting, no, no, it'd be [i]the [/i]most important meeting of his life. If what all the ponies said in the past was true. Granted he's only met four ponies and actually held conversations with them so that's not much, but it's still something.
Gathering up all his courage he pushes open the doors, revealing a very pleased Celestia digging into and majestically nibbling at some of her salad at the very edge of a long table, having chairs surrounding all of it. It takes the deity in disguise a whole ten seconds before she realizes Jeff's presence and greets him.
"How wonderful it is to see you again Jeff. Come, sit down next to me, we have much to discuss after all." She mysteriously says. And yet Jeff complies with this, attempting to suck up any anxiety that may be rising to try and keep a calm composure.
"S-so Celestia- I mean [i]Princess [/i]Celestia. What is it you wanted to discuss?" Jeff asked curiously.
The solar monarch quietly chuckles after taking a mere glance in Jeff's direction, analyzing his behavior in an instant. "Please Jeff there's no need to be so stiff. I just needed you here to talk about a few things. I can't just leave you in the dark after all."
Jeff silently listens to her words, nodding his head. "Well uh, speaking of talking about things, do you know what [i]this [/i]is?" Jeff reaches in one of his pouches to reveal a glowing green orb that radiates some type of mystical energy. The alicorn is taken aback by this reveal of Jeff's and gets excited.
"T-that's the Orb of Farore! Where'd you get this?" Celestia asked in surprise as her eyes went wide.
"In Gohma's lair." Jeff answered as he felt creeped out by Celestia's look.
"That orb belonged to Farore, deity of courage and wind.. By my mother's mane, it's been so long since she departed from our world so long ago." Celestia said as she traced her hoof over the orb, feeling a fragment of Farore's ancient magic. "Many years ago, this was entrusted to the pegasi to keep it safe until the day the legendary hero came to obtain it. Link did take ownership of this orb, although why it was in Gohma's lair, let alone not in Link's hands, is rather concerning. Since it isn't with him, then chances are, the other two goddess orbs are out there, somewhere.." Celestia said as she gazed at her nearly empty bowl of salad. "The last time I saw him, he was leaving on a journey to pass on his swordsmanship skills to another, one that he'd find worthy of such sacred abilities."
Jeff kind of stared bewildered after learning this orb belonged to Farore. "So.. what exactly does it do, does it just give wind and courage?" he asked.
"Wind is one of them, but it also lets you cast spells that Farore can, although it is on a lesser scale. The rest you have to apply your own magic in order to make them stronger. Back when Link was around, he could jump higher, use some form of electrokinesis, and lastly, turn into a fairy."
"...A fairy?" Jeff asked in confusion/
"Yes, a fairy." Celestia said with a straight face.
Jeff understood some of the orbs' power, mostly as a form of familiarity from some of the games he remembers, but commanding electricity was a new one to him, in fact he doesn't ever call Farore controlling it.
"..How does one learn to use those spells?" Jeff asked.
"That, my friend, you'll need to learn on your own, I can't teach as the way I cast magic isn't the same as you Hylians." Celestia said as she gestures with her hoove to the long horn protruding from her forehead.
Jeff nods in understanding. The hylian knows there is a Great Fairy he could visit that the spirit of Everfree mentioned. "What of the two other orbs?"
"Admittingly, I have not seen Link use them, but from what I can remember fondly of the three goddesses, is that Din is the goddess of power, fire and the red earth, meaning our Equestria. Nayru, the goddess of wisdom, law, and water, so their powers might be related in some sort of orbs."
"Since you know about Goddesses, do you know of the goddess of time?" Jeff asked curiously.
"...Ah, she, hmm. I don't know, it's been a long time since the portal to the other world has been accessible, not even a letter delivered through dragon fire has come through from her. I can only hope that Nayru's ok." Celestia solemnly answered me.
The sad mood lasted for all of three seconds before the alicorn realized that she was being a little too open with her emotions. Deciding to nervously clear her throat she moves her hoof in a circle. "I don't mean to let the mood down Jeff so if we're done with questions for right now then I'd love to get to your agenda for today."
Tilting his head to the side Jeff looks a bit confused about what she means. "No worries, I shall give you further clarification my dear warrior. Firstly you're going to be escorted by guards to take a tour around the castle. That way you'll know the layout of the palace, and hopefully not get lost when none else is around. Next you're going to be meeting with the current captain of the royal guard, he's already been informed of your new status and shall treat you as such. And finally Jeff, we shall sneak out of this stuffy little castle." The monarch playful declares before clopping her hooves together.
Catching Jeff off guard he stands there for a moment as if to decide whether or not he heard that correctly. "Sneak out? But you're a princess, don't you have royal duties you need to take care of?" Jeff questions in a sure tone of voice.
"That I do, [i]but [/i]I think that going in the middle of the night is just the right amount of cover we need so that neither of us gets caught." The mischievousness inside of the deity's words is practically spilling out now.
Jeff, now feeling somewhat pressured to comply with Celestia's little scheme, he agrees. "Okay fine, I'll join you for your outing but what will we even be doing?"
And to respond to that, the mare simply rubs her hooves together now, sinisterly. "Oh you'll see Jeff, you'll see."
Shaking his head, Jeff knew that this would be a very long [i]long [/i]day for him. And that gut feeling only grew as the seconds went on.
[hr]
Jeff, all and all, was satisfied with that meal he just had. When Celestia was done being trolles- er.. [i]Celestia, [/i]Jeff was given a pleasant surprise. The royal chefs had made [url= wiki/Cream_of_Mushroom_Soup][b]Cream of Mushroom Soup[/b][/url][b] [/b]which looked and tasted delicious. The food itself smelled very Earthy in nature, the mushrooms themselves were firm but did a good job complimenting the broth itself. Truly an otherworldly meal. Before Jeff could enjoy the aftermath of the meal, Princess Celestia pulled Jeff aside to exit the dining hall. Leaving Jeff to wonder what she was planning.
"Princess, where exactly are we going?" Jeff questions the current monarch as he looks directly at her, not watching what's in front of him.
"It's not where [i]we [/i]will be going. It's where [i]you [/i]will be going. And to answer that, I would've had to fetch somepony for you but it seems like they came to us instead." Celestia extends a hoof out to her side, signaling for Jeff to stop for a moment. Glancing forward, Jeff almost jumps at the sudden appearance from the same pony he saw once before.
"I believe you've met Silver Bullet, considering he's the one who helped escort you here. And thus I found that his openness about the entire situation gave him the right to show you around the castle."
Silver Bullet gives Jeff and Celestia a strong salute, held by an experienced stature. "It's a pleasure that I get to be the one to guide you Sir Jeff. I apologize for any and all hostilities I've shown you earlier and hope you find it in your heart to forgive me."
Jeff is off-put by the new attention he keeps getting and just shakes his head, especially since those ponies have been overly friendly at times. "It's… It's okay Silver, and please don't start putting Sir in my name, it's weird."
Silver Bullet only stares at Jeff for a split second, directly into his eyes as if inspecting for something. Only to nod his head. "I understand new hero, if you wish to be called Jeff then that is what I shall do."
Jeff silently sighs out of relief, giving the stallion a reassured smile before the semi-awkward moment is cut off by Celestia. "Well then I think we've spent enough time with this introduction, why don't you two get going now? The day won't stay young forever after all." She tells both of the men.
Rubbing the back of his head, Jeff sheepishly nods and walks next to Silver Bullet. "Yeah, Princess Celestia is right, it's enough dilly-dallying for right now, so lets get this done and over with, right Silver?"
The unicorn appears to be in mild shock from something that Jeff said but it goes unnoticed by our hylian. "Whatever you say Jeff, now c'mon let's get going." Trotting past his boss, Silver Bullet turns around and waves a hoof forward. "Well, what're you waiting for?" He questions.
"Oh! My bad Silver." Hurrying past Celestia, Jeff catches up with Silver Bullet, both of them walking out of the goddesses' sight.
Celestia smiles as she watches the pair walk off. Releasing a breath she hadn't know she was holding in. "I can only hope you can find friendship here Jeff, for the betterment of yourself and others." Shaking her head she turns around and walks in the opposite direction, back to the throne room.
[hr]
"Alright Jeff, first stop is the maid quarters by princess Celestia's request." Silver Bullet states. His voice, while not sounding tired, is still barely enthused about the situation.
"The maid quarters? Why the maid quarters?" Jeff asked, without knowing the purpose of why he's being shown this place out of this entire palace.
Silver Bullet puts a hoof up to his face, similar to how one facepalms. "It's so that they can all memorize how you look and not be as frightened by you."
"Oh, right…" Jeff as he rubs the back of his head in embarrassment.
The guide and interdimensional creature both walk for a little while longer before stopping in front of a normal looking door. It still had nice decorations surrounding it but it was still average compared to the rest of the palace. The only defining feature was a bronze sign above that said "maid quarters" in bold.
"Here we are, the maid quarters." Jeff nervously says aloud. Much to Silver Bullet's impatience.
"Jeff, you can't be so scared about the unknown, come on." Silver Bullet tries to encourage Jeff but to no avail, so he does the only thing he can think of and opens the door for him.
"No-wai-" but it was too late, Silver had opened the door, revealing the pony maids inside. Jeff wasn't scared because of it being pony maids but because he felt so alienated talking to ponies in general as if they're people.
For a brief moment everyone in the room freezes. Everyone stares at each other with varying looks of worry to estrangement. An entire minute passes before Silver Bullet decides to speak up.
"Um, good afternoon everypony. I'm sure you've all heard of our newest guest of the castle. This is Jeff the hylian, Jeff, these are the maids of the castle." It feels as though he only barely managed to squeeze out that sentence. However despite the tensions of the room being extremely high, one of the maids decides to speak up. A pegasus mare that's slightly taller than the ones Jeff had seen so far, though no where near Celestia's height.
"Good afternoon Jeff. I hope you know that it's going to be a pleasure working with you. I am the head maid, Light Trot. If you need anything at all, do not be afraid to seek one of us out to come and help you with whatever you need." The pegasus does a small bow, trying to cut down tension between everyone with some friendliness.
Being extremely thankful for Light Trot's bravery. Jeff walks over to her and introduces himself as well. ""Its nice to m-meet you." Jeff said as he tries his best to get over his anxiety from the situation.
Light Trot gets up on her hindlegs with some impressive dexterity. Extending her hoof out, she offers it to him. And after a little bit of hesitation Jeff extends his hand out as well. Shaking the head maid's hoof. This leads to the rest of the maids all taking a sigh of relief, their uneasiness slowly fading away and being replaced with a seed of trust. The meeting with the maidens went fairly well and nothing awkward happened, Jeff always thought it was going to be very different and out of place, but from who he's interacted with so far, ponies act like human beings despite how they look. Once the introductions are finished, Jeff waves goodbye as he and Silver Bullet head out the door.
[hr]
"We're right on schedule. Guess I can thank you for your willingness then, Jeff." Silver Bullet comments.
"Thanks Silver… This tour hasn't been as bad as I thought it'd be" The hylian truthfully tells the pony. [i]"From what I've been shown so far, I can only assume that the library is up next." [/i]He deducts.
"So Jeff, how do you feel about the castle so far?" Silver Bullet quizzes the humanoid.
"Unique, first time I've been in one." Jeff said with a nod. Castles were something he'd never expect to see in his life.
"Well I doubt you'll ever see one as good as this. Canterlot is only for the prestigious after all, and you Jeff are that indeed." The stallion concludes. He then nudges Jeff's torso before pointing to the left of him. A ajar door is adjacent to the former human with the label "Castle library" on top of it.
"This is our next stop. If you like reading then trust me, this'll be the place for you Jeff." The tour guide tries to charismatically say, and somewhat succeeds to. He does try and brush the awkwardness between the two of them away and instead leads them both through.
"I can already tell, you're impressed right?" Silver Bullet questions.
"How old would this library be and how far back do the books date?" Jeff asked with curiosity and interest.
"Course you'd ask something like that, it's what everypony asks. Not that I'm saying it's a bad thing. Anyhow this library is around 873 years old. With the books themselves going as far as 1,281 years. Some of these books are the favorites of Princess Celestia herself." Silver Bullet confidently states.
"I asked as I'm thinking of brushing up on the history of Equestria, maybe even finding if there's any remains of.. Well, anything of my hylian race." Jeff explained.
"I'm sorry to say but I've never even heard of your race until the princess mentioned it an hour or two ago. But you can try your luck, I actually know a really good friend who's sorta a bookworm. It's funny how we met. He actually used to be a scholar before he turned to become a guard. And when I saw him on his first day, he was just all over the place lemme tell you. All funniest thing is-" A hoof gets placed over Silver Bullet's mouth, only small muffles are heard.
This hoof belonged to a semi-scrawny unicorn who didn't fit the guard aesthetic too well. They had green eyes, a teal blue mane and tail, and a green coat. And while they seemed nonthreatening from a spectator's point of view. The glare they were giving Silver Bullet was too large to ignore.
"Shut up Silver! Dammit, if you go around telling ponies how I acted my first few months every time you meet somepony new then I'll promise you that I'll shove my hoof so far up your plot to the point where your kids will have my hoof imprint as a cutie mark." The mystery stallion threatened.
[i]"Din's wrath…"[/i] Jeff mentally said to himself at the stallion's threat to Silver Bullet.
"Now as soon as I let go of your muzzle, you're gonna tell Sir Jeff that you were joking, right?" They rhetorically requested. To which Silver Bullet safely nodded their head.
"I-I was just joking Jeff, by the way. This is m-my friend I was talking about earlier, Knowing Matter." He shakenly tells Jeff.
"Don't mind my dimwitted friend over here, he just makes me… Distaste ignorance a lot more than I already do. Nice to meet you Jeff, I am Knowing Matter, the so-called 'Book Worm.' If you need to know anything about books then I'm your stallion."
"Well, yes actually, but considering what Silver Bullet said? I'm a little discouraged." Jeff said with a frown.
"Are you going to take the word of a pony who had to drop out of highschool? Over somepony who had elegance and philosophy guide them throughout their entire life?" Knowing matter inquires from Jeff.
"I mean he said-" But before Jeff could finish his sentence, Knowing Matter had given Jeff the same stare that struck fear into Silver Bullet.
"Are you sure you would like to finish that sentence?" A heavy silence hangs over the room as he looks into Jeff's eyes.
"I just thought there were no books on hylians.." Jeff managed to say despite the heavy silence.
"...Hylians? Ah yes the Princess did say that's what you were. And you're correct on that matter there are none here." The unicorn trails off before picking his sentence back up. "But I've heard rumors about the royal library having some type of documentation about a race matching your description. So you're best off asking Princess Celestia herself." Nodding to himself, Knowing Matter looks back over to Silver Bullet.
"And you, Get out of here before I lose my cool once more." His words strike Silver Bullet like a whip.
"Okay sheesh, we were going anyways, no need to be so hostile." The emotionally hurt Stallion replies. "C'mon Jeff, we're going."
"Oh and before you both do, just know Jeff that you are always welcome to ask me for help on anything you may need." Knowing Matter politely informs the hylian.
"I might later." Jeff said with a wave of his hand as he went to follow Silver.
While they exit the Canterlot library Silver Bullet looks over to Jeff as they walk. "Despite what you saw in there. Knowing Matter is actually a really good guy, he just acts that way around new ponies for some reason. So please, don't be discouraged by what you saw, just get to know him." Small pauses are heard in between the young stallion's request, however the point gets across just fine.
"I thought for a moment I'd have to walk on broken glass if I ever went to the library, like grabbing a book and he takes offense at how it's supposed to be handled." Jeff said, relieved that he didn't have to deal with someone who had a destructive personality.
"That's what I thought too… Actually I haven't been to the library in years but you get the point." Shaking his head he smiles, Silver Bullet seems to pick up his energy by ten fold. "Alright you're gonna love this next place, it's my favorite and I know it'll be yours too. And the cherry on top is that it's our last stop."
Galloping around the castle, Jeff chases after the stallion wondering what's going on. They both dodge maids, on duty guardsmares, and the like. And suddenly Silver Bullet stops in front of a door, a door labeled "Solar guard's barracks." This time the plating is on the door itself instead of on top of it or to the side.
"Welcome Jeff." Silver Bullet starts out of the blue. "Welcome to the place where I reside, the Solar guard's barracks." With a childish grin the stallion drags Jeff, well on his way into the unknown.