Majora's Mask Part 3: Link saves some cows from aliens, spies on some lady pirates, and babysits some Zora eggs.

When last we left our intrepid hero, he had just saved the Gorons from freezing to death. What a guy! At this point, there's a few errands that you have to do before moving on.

First, you have to go see Medigoron in the village. Apparently he's not sore about you murdering his big brother, because he offers to give you a license to use powder kegs. Powder kegs are like regular bombs, except that they're totally useless - you can only carry one at a time, and they're only good for two things in the entire game.

Anyway, to qualify for a powder keg license, you have to go destroy a big boulder which is blocking the Goron racetrack. He gives you a pre-lit keg and tells you to run and destroy the boulder before the keg blows up in your face. Whatever. This is use number one for the powder keg, and once you do it, you can get into the Goron racetrack. If you win the Goron race (which is basically what hell is like, because it'll take you all night to win it) you get a bottle with some gold dust in it, which you can take to the swordsmiths that live in the Mountain Village and they'll upgrade your sword for you. Hooray!

Besides a few mask-related sidequests, there's nothing else to do here, so we're off to Great Bay! Awesome! Except when you get there, it's blocked by a wall that you can't climb over. Before you can even get into Great Bay, you'll need something that can get you over that wall. This eventually leads you to Romani Ranch, which is near Clock Town. Skullkid has blocked the road to the ranch with a giant boulder, which incidentally can only be unblocked by using a powder keg. This is probably the last time you will ever use a powder keg in this game.

Anyway, upon entering Romani Ranch, you see Epona in a pen next to the farm house! Yay! Skullkid didn't kill her after all! Romani, the farm girl (who shares a sprite with kid Malon from OoT) evidently found Epona and has been keeping her safe for you. Isn't that great?

"Them."

She teaches you Epona's Song and then explains that she needs a little bit of help around the ranch. No big deal - it's just that every year before the Carnival, all of their cows get abducted by "them." She explains that they come down in a ball of light and take the cows right out of the barn. This year, she's taking steps to prevent it, so she needs some help from you in driving them off.

This sidequest basically consists of you waiting around the ranch until 2 AM, at which point aliens come down from their ship and slowly float towards the barn. They look basically like how you would expect floaty ghost aliens who steal cows to look. Anyway, you hold them off by pegging them with arrows, and in the morning everyone is very grateful and you get a bottle of milk from Romani. Hooray! There are some other things you can do here, including marching around with a bird mask in order to magically age some chickens for a guy with a mohawk, but that's all part of the joy of playing this game yourself.

Funny that Link never thinks to call a doctor or something. 

Once you successfully enter the Great Bay Coast, you notice some seagulls floating around a Zora who is stranded in the water. Push him to shore, and he'll explain that his name is Mikau, the guitarist for the popular band the Indigo-Gos. He explains that he was mortally wounded trying to save some Zora eggs that the singer of his band, named Lulu, recently laid. The eggs were stolen by an all-female group of pirates who have a fortress nearby. He begs you to save the eggs in his place, and then in typical fashion, Link turns him into a mask. Nice guy.

This next part of the game is actually sort of entertaining - in the spirit of invading the Gerudo Fortress in Ocarina of Time, your task is to enter the Pirate's Fortress incognito and save the four Zora eggs that are there by sneaking around and not being caught. The pirates are sprite doubles of the Gerudo, and have stolen the eggs in an attempt to get into the Great Bay Temple. Apparently, Skullkid was there and told them that the eggs were crucial to getting in. It's kind of amazing that anybody listens to a freaky-looking guy made of wood with a scary mask on, but I guess these are trusting folk.

After you get the four eggs from the pirates (and their prized treasure, the hookshot - apparently Link can't help looting a bit wherever he goes,) you have to rescue three more from some giant sea eels with the help of a magical golden seahorse. The seahorse was captured by a gross old fisherman who decides to trade it to you in exchange for a pictograph of one of the female pirates, which just goes to show that Link is not a big 'moral standards' kind of guy.

Anyway, once you save all the eggs and reunite the seahorse with his girlfriend, you take the eggs to the Marine Research Lab, where they all hatch together. Interestingly, baby Zoras look remarkably like music notes and they arrange themselves into a song. It's totally weird, but by this point in the game, you should be pretty much used to it. This song will allow you to get into the Great Bay Temple.

Next time: the temple, finally. Also, a horse race and some mummies.