> The ponies, the dreams, and the nightmares > by Moofrog 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Of ponys and Puffballs > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: The kirby series belongs to Nintendo and My little pony belongs to Hasbro. I own neither. The Void of space Out in the void of space, a powerful force had opened its eyes. This force was known only as the Galactic Nova- a mysterious comet of unknown origin and purpose. It was known, however, that this comet would grant a wish to whomever could summon it. Today, it was going to fulfill a wish made long ago by someone long dead. A wish that Dreamland could one day meet a another far away land. A wish that was in the comet's function- long overdue to be granted. Ponyville Twilight Sparkle's home The next day Twilight Sparkle had been having such a nice sleep that morning. Well, that was until she felt something on her bead. Moaning lazily, the purple unicorn turned to see what it was. Meanwhile, downstairs, Spike's sleep was rudely interrupted. THUD! Assuming it was just a book that had fallen, the baby dragon rested his head against his pillow- attempting to get back to sleep. THUD! Spike's eyes shot open. OK... So it was two loose books. Nothing to get out of bed over. THUD! THUD! THUD! Though that didn't mean he couldn't bury his head in the pillow. THUD! THUD !THUD! THUD! THUD! - THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!- THUD! THUD! "What is going on up there?" He asked. His eyes were droopy as he trudged out of bed. He moved to the staircase and proceeded up the stairs- the thuds getting loader as he neared the top. "What's going on here you sound like you're in hea-" he stopped his question dead in its tracks the moment he saw what was going on. There was Twilight, using a broom she had telekinetically lifted, trying to swat at some strange round pink creatures with insect wings and mean faces. The creatures themselves seemed pretty beaten up and one had black eye. However as soon as the noticed him, the creatures flew out the window and out into Ponyville. Spike was stunned. He blinked and rubbed his eyes to check if he was dreaming. "What were those?" he asked. Twilight Sparkle shut the window "I'm not sure for certain, but I do have an idea ." "What's your idea?" Twilight Sparkle gulped as a look of horror crossed her face. "Those things were giant mutant parasprites." The Apple family's home Later that morning Over at the Apple Family's farm, things were going a little less then stellar... to say the least. "Get back here you good for nothing thief!" Applejack shouted as she gave chase to a figure in a black costume holding a giant green bag. " No one pilfers from the Apple Family's crops on my watch!" The thief did listen and only actually ran harder in his attempt to escape. Applejack tried to catch him with her lasso, but he jumped over it. "You can't run forever!" She exclaimed in frustrating as the thief rounded a corner. She grinned as she realized just which corner the thief had rounded. The one that lead to a dead end! "I have you now." She began, but cut herself off as she found the thief was nowhere in sight. "What in tarnation?" "Applejack! We have a problem!" Came a voice from behind. Applejack turned around to see Twilight standing there with a frightened look on her face. Behind her stood Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy: all sharing the same look she had. "Oh hey Twilight, so what problem brings all you gals here?" Twilight breathed in with exasperation. Problems would be more correct. It seams everypony seems to be running into some kind of problem. "My issue is giant parasprites. I'll let the others explain theirs." Rainbow Dash came forward first. "Aliens have taken interest in Equestria. I was just resting on a cloud over Ponvyille, when a white UFO just flew past me!" Rarity was next "Most of my gems where stolen by mice! Oh poor Opel she tried to stop them, but those rotten little things were throwing bombs at her." She was breaking up into tears at the last part. Fluttershy backed away as Applejack's gaze shifted from Rarity onto her. "Well... well... I was attack by a giant, flying, one eyed, cat head." Applejack looked confused "A what now?" "I don't want to talk about it." Applejack thought for a second "Well I happened to have run into a nasty little thief stealing from my farm, so it looks like we all got some issue." Applejack looked around before noticing something. "So is Pinkie Pie alright?" she asked. Rainbow Dash answered "Well we haven't exactly heard from her yet, so I have no idea." "Well then I think we had better check. Who knows what could have popped up at Sugercube Corner?" Soon afterwards the group of friends departed for Ponyville- unknowing that their friend was in the middle of a meeting with a being with horrendous appetite. ? Celestia awoke to find herself in a strange place. The floor felt hard yet strong and even standing on it seemed to fill her with a kind of joy. Looking around, she saw she was on a stone walkway, hovering over some kind of fountain. The fountain is question was spewing out water that seemed to be clear. However her innate sense of magic told her the water was for more than just to add to the atmosphere: that it served a much greater purpose. In the center of it all was a huge flying citadel, with a large star hanging over is grand doors. However this would soon change as a dark and terrible shadow cast itself over the whole area, eclipsing the entire thing in a dark and terrible shadow. In fact, for a moment, all around her went black. When the light returned it was only in a direct circle around her. However as she looked around she saw several strange object. The first was a treasure chest- it seemed innocent enough from its looks, however she felt a dark and terrible presence within it. The next where innocently enough a ball of yarn, and a painting, but these two felt just as twisted as the chest. After was an object whose appearance reflected the feeling it gave off; a skull on a black pillow. This was followed by a pair of statues. One held a jester like figure who balanced on a ball, and the other was a faceless being with a crown on its head. All of these paled in comparison to the next objects. Like one of the objects that came before it this one was a painting: however this one didn't even pretend to have innocence. It detailed a mysterious creature.. The things entire body was pale- almost deadthly white. Up on its head was a halo, or what she thought was a halo. Its wings were long and powerful and seemed to threaten with their very presence. However the most disturbing detail of it was its eye. The eye was an evil shade of red, and a stream of blood was dripping down from it. The creatures gaze was hateful and full of rage. Almost as if it despised and envied everything that was good in the world. When she finally moved on and cast her gaze upon the last of the objects however something strange happened. The object in question was a mirror, and though it gave her a clear reflection she was worried by it greatly. That was when it happened. Her reflection suddenly changed color taking on a grey tone. Its eyes changed color to a bloodthirsty red. The main was no longer a combination of greens, pinks, and blues, but one of reds, blacks and indigoes. The most frightening of all was the cruel predatory smirk it gave. On that broadcasted a sick sense of superiority and pride. It was also apparently aware for once it saw Celestia's face. It gave a cruel laugh. "What's the matter? Surprised at the new look? Not that it matters. I know how well you handle surprises, and how soft you are. Afraid to give you little ponies a little sunburn? Don't worry I'll fix it when I get out. Until then I'll be seeing you in your dreams." After that Celestia's reflection faded from view gone entirely leaving the mirror hollow. "You should not have looked into the Dark Minds Mirror. It tends to create unflattering reflections of those who do." Celestia turned to the direction of the new voice. "Who goes there?" The voice only chuckled "Know that I am a friend. You will need as many as you can get now that are worlds are connected." "Connected?" "Yes a powerful cosmic force know as the Galactic Nova has chosen to bring are two worlds together. Whether there is a greater purpose, or this was random luck... I do not know." "Is there anything I can do to stop it?" "I'm afraid not. The portals connecting our worlds could cause catastrophe if someone attempted to shut them. However these portals are the least of our worries." "What!" "The portals are not the main threat. It seems several evils, though to have perished from my world, have be given a new life. Do not worry though; our heroes along with myself will do all we can to help" "Who are you?" A loud thumping sound could be head and a small figure with a mask walked out of the darkness. "I have been given many name over my long life, but you can call me Meta Knight." The figure then turned around "I will assist you in the waking world princess, but for now this dream has ended. " Soon a light overtook Celestia and she found herself on her bed wide awake. Sugercube corner Soon after the meeting at the barn Twilight Sparkle and her friends opened the door to find Pinkie pie Baking. In fact, absolutely nothing looked out of place. Pinkie Pie turned to see her friends. "Hey guys! What brings you hear so early? Are we going to go party or something?" Twilight Sparkle chuckled nervously "Erm... No. Well, actually we came to see if you were alright. You see, strange creatures have been popping up all over the place and no one knew how you were holding up." "Oh, I'm doing ok. In fact I met some new friends!" "New Friends?" "Yes! Kirby! Bandana Dee! Come on out! I'd like you to meet some of my bestest best friends of mine!" Almost in an instant the cupboards flew open and two figure jumped out. Both of them were small and round. However one of them was orange and lacked a mouth and on its head rested a bandana. The other was pink with red feet; he had blue eye and a cheerful face. Both of them were extremely cute and it was hard for Twilight to resist the urge to grab them and huge them with all her might. A look to her right told her Fluttershy was having an even harder time resisting said urge then she was. The orange one was the first to speak "Um... hello my name is Bandana Dee and this is my friend Kirby. I will be translating for him because of his issue with speech." The thing's voice was adorablely nervous. "Go on say 'hello' Kirby" The Kirby turned to see Twilight Sparkle and looked at her, his eyes meeting her own. On Twilight's part, she felt her ability to resist the urge to huge him decrease by about halfway. This staring contest went on for another ten minutes before Kirby finally broke the silence. "Hiiiii!" Sqeeze! Fluttershy had, unlike Twilight Sparkle, not been able to resist the urge to hug kirby and currently had him in a tight embrace. Kirby didn't seem to enjoy this and let out a cry of distress that sadly only bandana dee could translate. "Poyo!" Bandana Dee took a step back "Come on kirby. I can't believe it's that bad" "Poyp poyo poyooo!" "Kirby, I don't think this is an act of aggression" "Poyo? Poyo poyo poyo?" "Yes I'm sure, and I don't think that this is some kind of crushing attack. I think she just thinks your cute." "Poyo poyo poyo" "Kirby I don't think we need to get violent here." "Poyo poyo" "Fine. Ok. I'll ask her to let you go." Bandana Dee then turned to Twilight "Yeah... Kirby really wants your friend to let him go. He really doesn't like being squeezed that hard." Twilight Sparkle chuckled lightly. "Yeah. Ok. You heard Bandana Dee Fluttershy; Kirby wants to be let go." Fluttershy went red with embarrassment and looked down at Kirby as she released him "Oh I'm so sorry, little guy, you're just so cute." As soon as Kirby hit the ground he jumped back up onto one of the counters to get eyelevel with Fluttershy. "POYO!...poyo poyo." Bandana Dee rolled his eyes . "He said that he forgives you. Just in case you were wondering." Suddenly the entire building shook and all sorts of things fell off the shelves. The quake easily knocked everybody in the room off of their feet. Applejack was the first to get back up "What was that?" she asked. Twilight Sparkle was the next to get back on her feet. "I don't know, but it's coming from outside!" Ponyville town square Ponyville, to put it bluntly, was not in the best position. The citizens were in total panic, and most of the buildings were on fire. Then again, that was to be expected of a town when it has a giant flaming lion rampaging through it. The lion in question seemed very intent on wiping out the entire population, and its first victim was a small unicorn filly. Even worse... She was cornered. The creature brought its paw to bear for the killing blow. Poor Sweetie Belle's life flashed before her eyes as she closed them in the face of her impending doom. The Fire Lion brought down it its claws... Whooosh When Sweetie Belle realized she wasn't dead, she opened her eyes. She currently being carried away from the beast by a small pink puffball. The creature carried her over to her sister and her friends and made motions as if he was telling her to stay put. Rarity huged her sister in relief. "Oh Sweetie Belle! Thank goodness your alright! When we heard the commotion outside; we rushed out as soon as we could. Did that beast manage to hurt you?" She questioned, obviously concerned about her younger sibling's well being. Kirby then turned around and jumped toward the beast dogging a claw swing with trivial ease. The lion roared with anger as it tried to pounce Kirby, but found its efforts to be futile. Rainbow Dash was currently trying to ram the flaming monster, but couldn't get a good a good shot in as its fire kept on flaring up the moment it got close. Applejack like Rainbow Dash was having no luck in her efforts to attack. The skin of the fire lion was simply too hot to buck without running the risk of melting her own hooves off. Fluttershy was trying to ask it politely to stop. As one would expect the flaming feline was too preoccupied trying to kill the other too notice. Twilight unlike the others was hanging back. She used her powerful magic to drop ever increasing amounts of water on the lion, and almost succeeded in douching its flame. Unfortunately when dealing with a fire lion almost douching the flames wouldn't cut it, and the creature was back to its extreme heat the moment she had to lift up more water. Last of all was Pinkie Pie. She had decided to follow Kirby's example, operating off the assumption that he knew what he was doing. Her agility allowed her to mimic the puffballs amazing feat of dodging. The fire lion increasingly enraged divided its attempts between her and kirby unable to hit ether of them and unable to tell what they were even planning on doing. "POYO!" Kirby shouted as he inhaled a nearby barrel and spit it back out in the fire lion's face. The Fire Lion was knock back from the attack. The creature opened its mouth to roar, but paused to take a closer look at the assembled group. It eyed Rarity then passed over the others with its vision before stopping at Kirby. It stared at Kirby for a few minutes before something clicked in its mind. After said realization, the fire lion gave what could only be described as a whimper and fled back into the nearby forest. "What was that?" Twilight Spark asked clearly confused at the lion's sudden fear. Bandana Dee thought for a moment "I think it read the 'Survival guide to Dreamland's Wilderness', or, you know, it could just be up to date on current events. I mean I wouldn't want to fight Kirby again, so I can see why that fire lion isn't so eager." Twilight Sparkle looked back at the Waddle Dee "Dreamland Survival Guide?" "Yes, it's a guide that tell you what you generally want to avoid doing if you plan on surviving Dreamland's outdoors for more than a few seconds." Bandana Dee then took out a sheet of paper "I even have the relevant page with me right now. Here read it." He said handing Twilight the paper. Twilight Sparkle glance at the sheet. 'Dear future survivor Before we can tell you what to do to survive Dreamland, we must inform you of things you shouldn't do if you want to survive Dreamland . Luckily that boils down to five simple rules. Rule1: 'Do not try to harm Gordos'. It can't be done and you're likely to get yourself hurt on the spikes. Rule 2: 'Do not mess with anything bigger then you'. If I need to explain this to you then you're already too dumb to live in Dreamland Rule 3: 'Do not judge things base on appearances' Remember even harmless looking things can be deadly. Take Scarfys for example. They look harmless, but when your back is turned, they mutate into horrible monsters, chase you around, and then blow up in ypu face. You think I'm not sane? Well fine! Then go mess with that flying cat-like head and see what happens. Rule 4: 'Do not under estimate Whispy Woods' Believe it or not Whispy Woods is actually threatening. His reputation as a weakling only applies to the likes of the King: Meta Knight and the Pink Menace. If your aren't on par with the above, then Whispy could probably make mulch out of you if you ticked him off enough. Rule 5:'Do not mess with Kirby, his friends, anything else he cares about, and for the love of all that is good DO NOT take his cake.' If you do ANY of the above then he will hunt you down, beat you, eat all your food, burn down you house, and then do his famous victory dance on you bruised and bloody body.' Twilight put the paper down and stared at Kirby. "Wow." Bandana Dee gave a nod "Yep he may not look it, but Kirby is one of the most feared individuals in all of dreamland." Bandana Dee the looked at Kirby as he did his victory dance "He also is one of the best dancers." "Hey Twilight come join us! This dance is fun!" Pinkie Pie shouted out did her own version of Kirby's victory dance. > Applejack and the Angry Tree > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Kirby belongs to Nintendo and my little pony belongs to Hasbro The Apple family farm The Day after the merge Applejack was busy fixing up her family farm. The merge had let more than that pesky little thief from yesterday loose on the Apple Family's property, namely a bunch of nasty little flying bombs that insisted on falling right on the barn. It was like the little plant things existed to be a nuisance. "Hey Applejack!" She heard a voice behind her yell. Applejack calmly turned around. She knew exactly who this was. "Hello Pinkie Pie how can I help you today?" "Oh not much. I just came to see if you were planning on attending Kirby and Bandana Dee's language class today." Applejack raised an eyebrow."What?" "You know those lessons about how to understand kirby that Bandana Dee told us about after incident with the huge flaming lion? We agreed to start immediately, but you had to leave before Badana Dee could begin to go checkup on Applebloom. Banana Dee even gave us a translator stone to help give us a head start." "Oh yeah I forgot about that. Sorry Pinkie I've gotta attend to the farm today. Those dreamland critters can really smash a place up." "Ok then! Hope you can come to the next one! You wouldn't believe how Kirby sounds when you can understand him!" Applejack let out a light chuckle "Ok Pinkie Pie I'll try ta catch the next one ok?" "Ok!, See you later!" With that Pinkie pie hoped off in the direction of ponyvile. Dreamland (?) ? Trixie looked around at the strange place she was in. She had somehow wound up in what appeared to be a palace of ice. The palace itself was beautifully decorated and she doubted that even the halls of Canterlot could manage to be half as stunning as this place. The atmosphere felt cold, but in a strangely pleasant almost magical way. She heard a light humming coming from nearby. It sounded odd. Like the one humming was old and wise, bit still had a sort of vibrant youth left within them. She followed the voice down the hall, eventually coming to a corner. She could hear the source of the humming just on the other side of it. She turned her head and looked over the corner to see just what it was. What she saw was very strange creature. It wore a red cape and had a huge top hat. It also held a very strange looking wand in one of its gloved hands. Two yellow eyes looked out from the shadow cast by its hate. However the most unusual thing about the creature was that it consisted only of the items it seemed to be wearing and its eyes. It didn't even have arms to connect it to its gloves. It was currently dusting off an old painting of some other strange looking creature. Unfortunately the creature seemed to be aware of her presence. SNAP! POOF! Trixie coughed as the pink dust that had surrounded her dissipated. She was startled to find out that she had been teleported right in front of the creature. The creature in question was looking at her with curiosity. "Now what do we have here? Care to tell me your name little horse?" Trixie soon gained a bit of confident and put on the most confident face she could. "I am the great and powerful Trixie! Who are you?" The creature chuckled "I like your choice in introductions you one. Let me give it a try" he said in an aged, but playful voice. "I AM THE ANCIENT WIZ! MOST POWERFUL MAGIC USER IN ALL OF DREAMLAND!" Wiz's voice was so loud the Trixie was literally pined to the wall by its force. She took a moment to peel herself off the wall. The sheer power that the creature could put into his voice alone was unnerving to say the least. "Well Trixie will just be leaving if you don't mind. Trixie apologizes for disturbing you." The small unicorn turned to the exit and walked towards it. She was halted however when she heard Wiz's voice again. "Wait!" Trixie turned around. "Trixie asks what you want her to stop for." Wiz put his hand on his hat. "You are a mage correct?" "Correct" Wiz gave a light chuckle "Well I as I have stated earlier am one of the most powerful magical beings in dreamland, and I'm looking for a successor for when my time finally comes. You see I can't actually die of old age, but there are plenty of ways for ones games to end. Not that I plan for it to end its just that I want to be sure just in case it does. I mean it would be a huge waste to gather up all this magical knowledge and then have it be lost to oblivion when I kick the bucket. Hmm speaking of buckets did you see a blue one around hear I'm missing it? Well not that it matters anyway since I have a spare- It didn't take much longer for Trixie to get board of the beings rambling and cut straight to the point "Where does the Great and Powerful Trixie fall into this?" A light ball of magic hovered over from the inside of Wiz's hat and set itself in his hand. "Simple I'll train you to a level of magic you could never reach otherwise, and you agree to carry on my traditions when I finally pass on." Trixie took a moment to consider the offer. She didn't trust this 'Wiz' yet, but she didn't really have any ware else to go. Not since the second incident in Ponyvile. More pressingly she had absolutely nothing, dignity included, to lose. Eventually she settled on a decision. "Wiz, Trixie accepts your offer." The Apple Family farm/? Later that day Applejack pulled her cart forward. It was hard work rebuilding the farm, and the daily chorus on top of that didn't help a bit. She pulled the cart next to a nearby tree .This had to have been the thousandth tree she had needed to apple buck today. She reared up and gave the tree a good hard buck. Strangely not a single apple fell from the tree. Now Applejack was the type of pony who would simply give up after the first failure. She reared up and bucked the tree again. Once again there was nothing. "Alright no more Ms nice Applejack." the cowboy hat wearing horse grumbled as she put all her might into her next buck. She was not after all going to be putting up with any tree kind of tree rebellion on a day like today. "OUCH! WHO DID THAT!?" she heard a loud voice boom. Applejack looked around to see where the voice had come from, only to become even more confused when she couldn't find the source. Suddenly she felt the ground shake. Turning around she saw that the tree she had bucked was shaking even more fiercely then the ground she was standing on. She backed up as the tree's shaking grew even stronger. The tree itself appeared to be moving, turning around to be specific. It was both strange and disturbingly interesting. When the tree had turned around completely Applejack could see a pair of eyes and a mouth represented by three holes in the tree's trunk. It also had a branch that seemed to stand in for the nose. The shape of the holes that made up the trees eyes told Applejack that this tree was none too happy about being bucked. "SO YOU LIKE POUNDING ON TREES PUNK! YOU THINK YOU CAN WALK UP TO SOME POOR TREE, BUCK THEM, AND THEN WALK AWAY UNSCATHED! WELL YOUR BUCKING UP THE WRONG TREE THIS TIME!" The tree boomed before apples started raining down. THUD! Applejack dodged to the left as an apple hit the rock right to her left smashing it into tons of tiny pieces and spraying her with debris. "Wow these aren't no normal apples." She commented as jumped out of the way of another Apple. Twilight Sparkles House Same time (Language Classes) Rainbow Dash looked down at her textbook in confusion. "Can someone please help me with this? I can't tell what this book is trying to tell me. The entire language is basically one word!" Pinkie pie looked back at her. "What do you mean? This is easy! Watch!" She then turned to Kirby. "poyo poyo poyoooo poyo!" Kirby gave a happy cheer and tossed her a cookie from the jar he had place on one of the bookshelves. Twilight Sparkle also looked over. "Actually Rainbow Dash it seems Kirby's language is almost entirely based on the tone he says it in. Longer words tend to be more drawn out and words that convey displeasure seem to have a lower pitch." Bandana Dee nodded in approval "Very good Twilight Sparkle. Few people could have caught on to kirbys language as fast as you and your friends have. Well minus Rainbow Dash of course, but I'm sure she will catch up." Rainbow Dash merely grunted. This was going to be a long day. Unknown woods Applejack jumped out of the way of another apple. The entire fight up to this point was her dodging the trees apples while looking for a chance to attack. Unfortunately the tree had been proving very good at denying such opportunities. Seeing an opening she ran up to the tree and gave it a good buck. The Tree recoiled a bit from the blow, but was very quick to recover. The tree counterattacked by sending out a puff of air. Applejack didn't even bother to dodge it and bucked the tree again. The Tree attempted a counterattack this time resorting to the much more effective tactic of dropping apples on the intruding horse. Unlike the puff of air this actually was able to force Applejack to back off. "Dag nab it! Every time I get close to that tree thing it drops those anvils disguised as apples on me!" It was then that an idea had struck her. Moving quickly she ran up two one of the apples on the ground and bucked so hard it went flying into the tree. The tree was hit right in one of its eyes and it recoiled from the pain of the attack. As the apple fell out of what Applejack assumed was the trees eye she spotted a small tear of pain run Applejack gave a small grin. It was about time she found something that worked. Twilight Sparkles House (Language Classes) Kirby scowled angrily as Rainbow Dash once again messed up on translating what he said. "Poyo poyo poyo pooooooooyo!" Bandana Dee turned to Kirby "I know it's frustrating, but I'm sure she'll get it eventually." Kirby raised an eyebrow "Poyoo poyo poyo. Poyo poyo poyo poyo." "Ok you have a point, but what else can she learn?" "poyo " "How do you expect her to learn that? That type of communication is way too fast for most of these ponys to understand." "poyo poyo poyo" "Really she has the talent for it? Well I suppose you know what you talking about." Bandana Dee then turned to Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash I think we may have a way to teach you." ? Queen Chrysalis woke with a jolt. She knew she shouldn't be alive after taking that hit and the resulting crash back at the wedding, but for some reason she was. However she did feel different like she was not dead, but not entirely alive. She didn't feel unnatural so to say, but she did feel like she had been dead for some period. It was an odd feeling, but it was certainly something she could live with. She looked around to find that the surrounding area was rather strange. It was empty and hollow, but in a certain malevolent way that almost appealed to her nature as being who sucked the emotion out of others. The ground was tinted blue and she could see small chucks of bone scattered around the place. She even spotted a dragon's skull jutting out of the ground a short distance away. The sky was little better as it not the dark of night, the blue of day, or any of the color of sunset. Instead the sky was a mixture of sickly greens and light purples. All over dark blue clouds stormed about with an ominous presence as they contrasted themselves against the lighter colored atmosphere. Overall the place looked very unpleasant, especially when compared to the country she had been invading right before this. She then heard a twisted voice behind her. One that sounded like its owner had crawled from the pits of the underworld itself. "Hello Young One It Is Good to see that you are….alright." She turned around to see a very large Skeleton like creature with hands that moved in their own, without being connected to their body. Its eyes were hollow though they seemed to be gazing into her very soul. The worse part however was the mouth of the creature. She didn't know why, but when she saw it she was filled with a terror never before experienced in her life. Long story short if the things eyes could see into her soul then its mouth could eat her soul, and the creature certainly looked like it would enjoy it. Given the raw power it radiated, even more then she had when she had feed off of the love of the lavender unicorns brother, she would have to tread very lightly if she wanted to get out of this encounter alive. "Now Now no need to look so worried over me. I'm not here to kill you; after all I would not have revived you in the first place if I wanted you dead. I just happened to see your little recent conflict with the locals while I was scrying the past of this new world. I must say your plan was excellently executed excepting you underestimating the lethality of the powers that motivate the forces of good. Now since as the ruler of a species you obviously have more Important things to do I'll cut to the case and give you introduction" One of the creature's hands extended itself and opened to reveal a document that glowed with a dark and terrible power. Its wording was rather blunt and she was surprised to find few loopholes that could be turned against her. "I am Necrodeus, and I am here to propose we form an….alliance." Unknown Woods ApplejacK frantically dodged another round of dropped apples as she bucked one of the ones that had already fallen onto the ground back at the large tree before her. Ever since she had adopted the tactic of using the trees own apples against it the battle with it had started to go over rather smoothly. Well smoothly for her at least the tree seemed to be growing frustrated with the fact that its only damaging attack was being used against it. The tree glared at its opponent. "It seems you have adopted the all to annoying tactic on using my own mean of defense against me." The tree narrowed its eyes "Well I have just the solution to that." Suddenly the whole area began to shake, and Applejack could only watch in fascination as her opponent grew to over twice his original size. "NOW LET ME SHOW YOU WHY MY BITE IS WORSE THEN MY BARK!" the Tree roared before inhaling. The force of said inhale was dragging Applejack in the direction of the tree. "What is this tree trying to do now!" She exclaimed as she tried to resist. However the trees suction ability's proved too strong and she was sucked into its mouth. The tree then proceeded to bit down. CRUNCH! "Ow!" Applejack cried as she felt the tree's powerful jaws come down on her. CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! Every bite the tree took was backed with massive strength, and did no small amount of damage to Applejack. It was unlikely that she could take much more of this. Fortunately it wasn't long before the tree had decided to stop chewing and spit applejack out. SMASH! Unfortunately it was into another tree. "Ow" Was all Applejack could say as she fell off the tree and hit the ground. THUMP! Applejack looked in front of her as a figure feel out of the tree she was smashed into. "YOU!" Both applejack and the tree shouted as they realized who the figure was. The figure in question was a cat in a black costume. It wore sandals and had been carrying a large green bad on its back. It also apparently liked the taste of apples, as when it hit the ground it dropped its bag spilling out apples of varying sizes and shapes. Some were recognizable to Applejack as ones that she grew on her own farm, and the others she recognized as having come from the tree that had attacked her. The creature looked at Applejack and the tree with shock. "Hmmm it seems TAC prime's two most hated enemies have discovered TAC Prime." He then took out a small purple whistle "It does not matter for TAC Prime shall summon the rest of the TAC Prime clan and defeat you both once and for all!" Applejack raised an eyebrow "I'm one of you most hated enemy's? Didn't I just meet you yesterday?" The tree just scoffed, but surprisingly not at Applejack "Don't be to bothered by that. This guy switches mortal enemy's so often that everyone else places bets on who will be his next one. Just last weak he had his clan declare war on all cake. It didn't go so well for them." The TAC Prime narrowed its eyes. "TAC did not know that trying to destroy all cake would incur the wrath of the pink menace! TAC Prime has been much smarter with choosing mortal enemy's this time around!" He the out the whistle up to his mouth "And today TAC Prime will finish his mortal enemy's once and for all!" He then blew the whistle, but nothing seemed to happen. "Is that all it does?" Applejack asked now a little confused. TAC Prime growled "NO! TAC Primes glorious clan is just late again!" At just that moment a group of figures jumped out of the nearby trees. All of them looked almost exactly like TAC prime. Well except for the fact that they each had different numbered arm bands. There were about 15 of them in total. The one with the number 5 armband spoke up "Sorry we are late sir! We ran into a very angry pack of scarfys on the way over and had to take the long way around!" "TAC Prime does not care for you excuses. Now destroy TAC Prime's enemies!" On TAC primes command the lesser TACs charged at Applejack and the tree. Applejack fought back as hard as she could managing to buck one into the tree's branches, and trampling over another, however she was being overwhelmed. For every blow she got in the TAC's got five, and with every one she kicked out of range another returned to the fight. Combined with the wounds she had received from the tree earlier this barrage was too much to handle. She was tough, but even she could not fight against this many opponents in her current state. The Tree was doing little better. Although its natural defenses were effective against one opponent they could not handle 8 or 9 nine of this skill. With every attempt drop apples on the group at least one TAC would sneak through and deliver a beating to the trees face. Even the powerful inhaling attack the tree had deployed before was of little use as ever time the tree used it one of the TACs would toss a bomb in the trees mouth before it could get started. TAC Prime meanwhile was laughing as his two opponents were mercilessly pummeled. "Hahahaha TAC Prime is most amused by your suffering. He approves of this beating with all his being!" Little did TAC prime know that one of his subordinates was about to make a huge mistake. Wham! The mistake in question was ironically punching Applejack into the tree she had been fighting earlier. "Ow" Both Applejack and the tree grunted as the former smashed into the latter. However it was that hit that had given the tree an idea. "Say little horse you wouldn't mind if we put aside our differences for a bit, and work together to give these thieving, no good, rotten minded, brain dead stupid, poor excuses for a clan of TACs what's coming to them?" Twilight Sparkles Home Kirby made some gestures with his arm stubbles and jumped up about two times. To untrained eyes this was one of kirby's dances that he liked to do so much. However this was far from a made up dance. In fact it was a language all its own. Pink Puffball sign language to be exact, as kirby's species lacked the hands to do it the old fashioned ways, they had to get more creative, and put their entire body's to use in communication. Fortunately for Rainbow Dah she seemed to have had a much better time understanding the pink puffs body language then she did his speech. "Hmmm you want to go bake a cake?" Rainbow Dash asked making a guess at the message Kirby was trying to get across. She had apparently guessed right as Kirby jumped up in happiness. "Poyo poyo poyo!" "Wow Raibow Dash you must have really impressed Kirby. He never got that happy when he praised us." Pinkie Pie commented as Kirby jumped up and down. Badana Dee chuckled "That's because Kirby actually likes using that manner of communication better. However since it's much faster and harder to keep up with then speech Kirby just normally uses his normal talk. Rainbow Dash must have some pretty good reaction times keep up with him." Kirby nodded his head in agreement "poyo, poyo, poyo, poyo." He then raised one of his little arms. "poyo poyo poyooo!" Waddle Dee would have raised an eyebrow if he had one. "Really you think she would make a great fighter?" "poyo, poyo poyo poyo poyo? Poyo poyo poyo poyo poyo poyo. Pyo pooyooo poyo. Pyo pyo pyo" Waddle dee nodded his head "True she does seem fast to resort valiance, and she is very skilled." "pyo poyo poyo." "Waddle Dee crossed his arms "Kirby I don't think 'bodansineusness 'is a real word." "pyo poyo poyo poyo poyo poyo poyo poyo poyo poyo." "What? Something unique to you peoples language? Remind me to look that up in that ancient dictionary back in the king's old library." Kirby jumped up on one of the smaller bookshelf's "Poyo! Poyo poyo poyo" Bandana Dee chuckled "You got that right my friend." He then looked at the clock "Oh my, it looks like class is almost over. Hey Kirby do you want to do something after we are done with this class? I heard that they are holding a brick break competition nearby." Kirby sighed "Poyo, poyo poyo." "Oh yeah, your anger management classes, forgot about that." Bandana Dee then turned to the assembled group of ponies "Class dismissed We will hold another one tomorrow, if you guys keep this up you should be next to fluent in his language well before we were expecting you guys to be." With that most of the ponys left the room leaving Kirby, Bandana Dee, and Twilight Sparkle to clean up. "Hey Bandana Dee I was wondering if you would be ok with me asking you a few questions after we are done cleaning up hear." Twilight sparkle asked as she used telekinesis to put a language book she had gotten for the class on its new shelf "The Princess asked me if I could send her some letters about what I learn about popstars inhabitants, and I thought that since you come from popstar that maybe you could help me with some of the basics." Bandana Dee turned around and shrugged "Sure why not?" Unknown Woods Applejack ducked under a charged blow from a TAC that had tried to smash her face in. "Ha! you got ta do better than that if you want to take my down for the count!" She shouted as she bucked him into a tack behind him knocking them both out. The fight had quickly turned around once Applejack and Wispy Woods had started actively working together. Applejack would guard the Tree's face from attack while the Tree would return the favor by keeping the TAC's from actively ganging up on the apple farming pony. With powerful crushing apples nailing multiple TAC in the face every time they tried to swarm the orange pony, and a buck to the face for any TAC getting in close to the tree, it had tuned into a brutally one sided fight and only 4 of the original TACS had remained after a few minutes. "NO you idiots! You aren't supposed to be losing!" TAC prime screeched from the sidelines "You are supposed to be winning! Why is that so hard for you guys to do!" He finished as he ducked under one of his comrades that had been thrown towards him. The three remaining TACs backed up to their leader. They had had lost the battle the moment the tree and the horse had started working together, and only after being kicked around like a bunch of soccer balls did they realize it. The Tree looked at the remaining group of TACs. "Well well it looks like it's time to deliver the finishing blow." He then opened his mouth and inhaled sharply dragging the screaming group of TACS into his maw. CRUNCH! He followed this up with a repeat of what he had used on Applejack, and began mercilessly chewing on the group of bandits. CRUNCH!CRUNCH!CRUNCH! Unlike last time however he wasn't just going to spite them out against a tree like he did with Applejack. This time Wispy Woods was looking to make sure his target would have trouble returning. He aimed his face into the sky, gathered all his strength, and launched the four bandits off into the sunset. A faint cry of "TAC prime will return to have his vengeful vengeance!" could be heard as the group was launched into the sky at high speeds. Applejack took of her hat and wiped some sweat off her head as she saw the bandits depart. "Whew that was a tough one, didn't think those varments could put up such a fight." The Tree shook his branches "Yeah they can be a bit of a handful at times, and some say their leader is so skilled he can survive without breathing." "That leader of theirs didn't look too smart to me though." Applejack added as she put her hat back on. "Well everyone else says that he can survive without breathing because he is so stupid that his body doesn't know it needs air to survive." The Tree answered before giving Applejack a glance"You know what young madam? You're alright. Sorry for trying to give you a beat down before, it was rude and overly hostile. My name is Wispy Woods by the way." Applejack looked back at the tree. "Well I guess I shouldn't be holding grudges, and I can't say I did nothing to provoke you, so I think I shouldn't be having any trouble with forgiven ya. My names Applejack pleased to meet you." Wispy smiled "Heh same to you Applejack. So why were you kicking at random trees in the woods anyway?" Appjack looked back"Well my family grows and sells apples to make a living. We buck the trees to get the apples down." Wispy Woods raised an eyebrow in interest "Ah so you raise apple trees then?" Applejack nodded "Yep." "What a coincidence my job is to watch over the trees in this forest." Wispy Woods replied "I need to protect them from pests and idiots like those TACs we just fought. It's a tireless job, but sometree has to do it." "I know how that feels." Applejack said "Keeping varments out of the farm can be a twenty four hour duty on a bad day." Wispy Woods let out a chuckled "Mis Applejack I believe this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." ? Queen Chrysalis looked up from the contract "Well Necrodeus your terms look fine, and I genuinely can't find anything wrong with your contract. I do have one question though." If Necrodeus was phased much his face didn't show it "Very Well what do you wish to ask me?" Queen Chrysalis looked at the skeletal creature. "A being of your power could have easily brought me back against my will and forced me into service. Why would you offer me and my changelings such good terms when you could take what you wanted by force." Necrodeus let out a soft chuckle "Isn't it simple little one? If I enslaved you the old fashion way you would stand a chance of breaking free and joining with the local heroes through a temporary alliance in a bid to take me down." He then raised his staff and lite up a portrait of a bloody eyeball on the wall. "That is Zero, and as I am the personification of death he is the personification of all negative emotion. I antagonize the forces of good by choice while he does so by his very nature. The nature in question means that unlike myself he would have an extremely hard time recruiting anyone who wasn't completely insane without possessing them. Where he finds help by turning people into puppets I get assistance by forming mutually beneficial contracts. Tell me would you even be able to go a day without planning to betray me at the first chance you got if I had done things the typical way, and not made the deal so good for you and your children?" Queen Chrysalis looked to the side and closed her eyes in contemplation "I wouldn't, but why would you choose to revive me over all the other enemy's the ponys have felled over their history?" Necrodues clasped his two skeletal hands together. "Simple you are the only one is both twisted enough to work with me, and noble enough to keep up your end of the bargen. Unlike the pony's other enemys you did not attack because you simply felt like it one day. You may have more holes in your soul then on the rest of your body put together, but you do have one true and hidden virtue. Deep down in twisted black little heart you genuinely care for your little swarm and would do anything to make sure they have a stable future. I only need to make sure that I am the primary reason they are not starving and dying like the pests the rest of your world believes they are. An easy task if I may say so myself." Queen Chrysalis looked at the creature for a small amount of time. The being had revived her from her death to make her an offer, and she could almost tell that he had some way to benefit from it even if she refused. It would be better to go with the option that gave her and her children a future then it would be not to take the chance at all, and die for sure. She reluctantly signed the contract hoping that this 'Necrodues' was more honest then it appeared. AS soon as it was signed the contract rolled itself up and bounced into Necrodues's hand. "A very wise decision young one." He then opened a small portal and looked through it "Now for me to fulfill my end of the bargin." He gave the portal a closer look and gained what could almost be an expression of pity "Oh now that's just embarrassing. I know they are outnumbered thirty to one, but they are getting beaten by WADDLE DEES!" boomed before beginning to cast a spell "I don't care what excuse they have nobody should have to suffer the indignity of being smashed into the ground by a Waddle Dee army. Mis Chrysalis if you should agree I would like to offer my top lieutenant Skullseer up to 'toughen' you troops a bit." Queen Chrysalis looked back quizzically"I know that my mother said that my troops would massively suffer in quality should I not within a certain range, but are waddle dees really that bad to lose too?" Necrodues's face looked about as close to deadpan as a featureless skull could get. "Yes" "Oh" Queen Chrysalis commented starting to feel a little embarrassed. Twilight Sparkles Letter Dear Princess Celestia Today I have learned of the dreamlander species known as Waddle Dees. Biologically Waddle Dees are considered to be one of the species at the bottom of dreamlands food chain. Almost every other species from popstar appears to treat them as pests and no small amount of them go out to kill Waddle Dees for the fun of it. It is very fortunate for them that Waddle Dees reproduce so fast that even with over 60% of their population being killed off every day they still manage to keep their numbers at stable levels. Still the shear disrespect that almost every other species on popstar shows them is both shocking and somewhat horrifying. Even the most benevolent of species seems to treat them as nothing more than snacks to be eaten, or fodder to be tossed aside despite the fact that they are sentient beings like everpony else. This disregard for Waddle Dees may come from the fact that they reproduce at speeds far faster than anything else, but I still have a hard time getting my head around what could cause such species wide abuse. I should also note that Waddle Dees can walk on clouds like pegasi, but that ability is apparently far more common among dreamlands life then it is among equestrias. Waddle Dees typically find themselves working for governments that give them almost no say in how things are run, and most will work under even the cruelest of living things. However when Waddle Dees do form a government, it is more often than not a democracy. Said Democracy's tend to be slow to make decisions, but unlike most other governments tend to be almost completely free of corruption. However I will note that this is actually more the result of the general behavior of Waddle Dees and not of any supremacy within the form of government itself. As I have mentioned before Waddle Dees are poor combatants and as a rule will rely on sheer numbers to take down an opponent. They are typically the bulk of just about any army on popstar and are apparently so easy to replace that sometimes generals of another species leading them will actively try to get them killed off in as large numbers as possible. Given that this behavior is not actually uncommon it is no wonder why some many Waddle Dees prefer to be employed by the King of Dreamland. From what I can tell by Bandana Dees accounts most ponys would consider him a bad boss, but to Waddle Dees he is still leagues above what most Waddle Dees would serve under. However some Waddle Dees can actually become fierce combatants. One notable individual is Bandana Dee kirby's friend and a servant of King Dedede. He has in his short time in Ponyvile displayed proficiency with a spear that has put anything the canterlot guards could do with the same weapon to shame. Some have even taken to weaponizing Parasol's to surprisingly lethal effect. As a side note the armys of the Waddle Dee Democracies are also know to make widespread use of the contraptions known as Shotzos so I would not discount them as being a military none-entity in ant situation. Waddle Dee culture puts a great deal of importance on personal sacrifice loyalty to those you work force. Most Waddles Dees with give their lives for those they care for and have only even considered rebellion in the most horrific of conditions. They will do whatever job they are given without question and put the safety of their pears before their own. In fact this sense of duty is probably the reason why most Waddle Dee run governments tend to lack corruption to begin with, as most Waddle Dees simply do not care to take the top spot, and only do so at the request of their pears. Still waddles Dees aren't all work and no play, and masterless Waddle Dees are known to be extremely lazy. Overall Waddles Dees are one of the species most like us ponys . However like all dreamlanders they are far more militant then us, and their habit of throwing themselves suicidally at enemies that they cannot possibly defeat is more than a little distressing. Overall though I think this species has the potential to be not only useful allies, but possible longtime friends to ponykind. You student Twilight Sparkle