Drawing Unicorns

The chain piss off a magical being (what kind? I don't care) and in response, said being decides to curse them. They can't attack the chain or anything, because they'd die, but they do call out a curse as the nine are leaving.

At first, it seems like nothing, nobody is effected. After all how could "let your true nature rule your life" actually change them when they've long since embraced their natures as heroes and soldiers and whatnot?

And then they run into something on the path. A dog maybe. It's just a dog. A normal dog. it's friendly too and Time and Twilight are already petting him and calling him a good boy in seconds.

And then Legend just turns into a rabbit.

Because beneath all that spite and grit and grumbling, Legend's nature is a scared creature just bluffing through life. Ravio is his counterpart; they're not really that different, it's just one wears a hood and one wears a scowl. They're both full of fear on a good day, and Legend, who's been a rabbit before and learned that anything vaguely canine shaped is a threat, is still very scared off dogs whether he lets that on or not.

And that curse? Changes him every single time he's scared, because that rabbit nature takes over and now he's stuck small and fluffy.

And Legend is scared by a lot more than one would think.

But it doesn't end there! Because while most of the chain have definitely embraced their natures already by now, there's another hero who has an alternate form and- I'll skip the dramatics; Twi get's affected too.

For Twilight, it's not a fear response. Twilight's wolf is triggered by anger, usually on the behalf of others, but it's there all the same.

Why anger? Because I like the idea that the harshest hero is revealed to be truly terrified and barely holding up, and the most patient is shown to be barely holding himself back. Reverse those two. Turn the preconceptions on their heads!

And normal methods don't change them back either. Holding the Master Sword or a moon pearl doesn't fix it, and no matter how much Twilight has practiced going back and forth between forms, it doesn't really work with this curse. So here's this wolf, and this bunny, and unfortunately they really just make each other worse because Twilight feeds Legend's fear just by existing and Legend's fear in turn feeds Twilight's anger- not at the vet, but at himself for not being able to help and for making things worse.

Cue the heroes having to work around the fact that two of their number will now just change into animals and get stuck there until they just eventually turn back. Usually, it's once Legend has forced himself to calm down and partially convinced his brain that he's not in immediate danger, and when Twilight has had a good run or hunt or something to give the anger vent without hurting someone, and then is able to chill out himself.

None of the chain knows what the triggers are though, because the boys won't admit them. Legend would rather die than admit he's a coward at heart, and Twilight refuses to let on just how much things actually get to him and how frequently.

So they just have a bunny and a wolf around for a good portion of the time. And yes, Legend's still trying his best to help, and Twilight too. Instincts and whatnot don't stop them from still trying. They pretend things are okay and that the issue isn't there, try to help and do stuff regardless of their form because this isn't the first time it's gotten in the way during an adventure and they can handle this, even if it's annoying.

It's Twilight that figures Legend out though. The vet always changes when he does. Always. Doesn't matter what happened first, Legend's always a bunny by the time the wolf has been around for a second or so. And Twilight, smart, clever, stupid Twilight realizes early on that Legend's maybe scared of dogs, but then he puts 2 + 2 together and realizes that this form actually also scares the vet a bit, even if he'll never admit it and pretends that it doesn't (but a wolf is still a wolf even if his brother is in control of it), and then it just falls into place.

Legend changes when he's scared.

He's scared of Twilight.

Which hurts, and maybe makes him a bit angry at himself, at Fate, at whatever decided he needed to be a wolf rather than anything else.

But he's still Twilight, a big brother and a hero and so many other things, so he decides to try and help. To maybe help Legend be less scared of dogs, if possible?

Anyways, lots of Twilight and Legend bonding happens. In animal form and otherwise. Twilight tells no one what he figured out though.

Legend pieces it together though, in turn.

Twilight is a person with a lot of anger, mostly inwards though. He's someone who's struggling with a lot of stuff and he changes most when something happens where someone else gets hurt. At first, Legend thinks it's protectiveness that changes his brother (and how lucky to be changed into something that can fix such a thing!) except it also happens during arguments, and when someone makes odd comments about love lives, about Time, about....so many things. it can't JUST be protectiveness, because Twilight has no reason to be defensive of those things. But Legend, while maybe not a genius, is good at patterns, has to be with his dungeon crawling, and he starts noticing Twilight's patterns of behavior. (It's totally not because he's a bit wary of the man now that he'll turn into a wolf at the drop of a hat, totally not a fear response on his part), but he notices, okay?

And Twilight....has so much anger inside him.

Anger at himself for not being able to do more in his adventure. Anger at the world for letting Time meet so terrible a fate. Angry at the people who hurt his brothers and made them scared or wary or quiet about matters. He's angry at their villains, the people who hurt the rest of them, angry at himself when he messes up and does the same.

Twilight, the most patient, warm, caring person anyone knows, is a ball of silent anger just being pushed down and held back every second of the day.

And Legend's a coward at heart. (Not a real coward, of course, but that's what he thinks)

So, Legend, being a hero, and a veteran one at that, decides he wants to help, because that's what heroes do, yeah? He doesn't;t really know how, but he recognizes that twilight seems to chill out, ease up, and even look a bit better when Legend comes closer to him of his own will. (Twilight is just so happy that the vet's apparently able to overcome his fear to come over to him, that maybe he is trusted despite that fear, and maybe his efforts are WORKING!) So Legend just starts trying to hang around him. is it hard? Yes. That is a big dog and his cynophobia is it NOT having it but he's helping someone here and it's not the first time he's had to push past fear to do that, okay?

And maybe snuggling up to a bunny and getting to play with his fur helps Twilight feel better, because he's being trusted and he's being accepted and who can feel angry when they're getting cuddled by a cute bunny? And poof, he's back to hylian!

It takes Legend longer to turn back, but once Twilight is normal again, it helps, and he usually follows suit.

The rest are convinced that it's just random spells, because when one goes, the other does too, and when one goes back to normal, the other follows shortly after, so it's linked (lol) right?

Twilight won't betray the vet though by letting the rest know what he's found out, and Legend refuses to be a snitch. Neither has any clue that the other knows, and think they are the only one who has a full understanding of the situation.

Eventually, they get the curse removed, or maybe it fades after long enough. Maybe it takes wandering into a fairy fountain or in from of Light Spirit for a benevolent entity to go "hang on there, you got a little something- here lemme- gotcha!" and then they're normal and not changing all the time.

But however it ends, Legend's now accidentally conditioned himself into cuddling Twilight when he sees the man is irritated, and Twilight now might have gotten into the habit of noting down the things Legend's scared of and trying to guide the chain away from them when possible, or at least stick close by the vet when they can't.

Everyone else just thinks they got closer because they were both cursed and it's like a solidarity thing. Twilight and Legend meanwhile don't notice that the other is also putting in effort, and think they're just doing a very good job rn.