//------------------------------// // 1. Arrival // Story: The Antithesis of Harmony // by Battery1320 //------------------------------// The Antithesis of Harmony Arc I — The World of Harmony Silence is a harmony of its own Prologue The splash of a glowing star! The slash of a golden sword! The swing of a mighty hammer! The stab of a strong spear! Kirby, the hero of Dreamland, Meta Knight, the masked warrior, King Dedede, the greedy king, and Waddle Dee, his loyal servant! The time has come to finish their quest. Across the distorted, writhing blue ground of dimensional stuff was Magolor – the traitor. He had used them – tricked them! – into retrieving the Master Crown and giving him its infinite power. An ovular body drenched in dripping black color and hugged by spiked, curling horns. Two black hands floating with no arms, two black and flaming wings, and a pure white smile underneath his white eyes. Inside that smile was an image Kirby was too familiar with – a red eye. The red eye of the enemy that has haunted Dreamland since the very beginning. Dark Matter! 'This ugly act must be punished!' thought Meta Knight as he leaped up to the abomination, cutting him with his sword Galaxia. Magolor flinched from the strike, and King Dedede used Meta Knight as a bridge to make his attack. Leaping off of Meta Knight, King Dedede swung his jet-powered hammer into the side of Magolor's black, corrupted face. Waddle Dee then threw his spear into Magolor's body. Although the spear vanished almost as soon as it made contact, there was no denying the effect, as Magolor lost his aerial balance and was stumbling. Kirby called out to his friends and they regrouped in a square formation, waiting for Magolor's next move. He flew away and swung his floating hands upwards, sending spikes out from under the group. Each one missed, but Magolor did it again, and King Dedede jumped away as Meta Knight shoved Kirby and Waddle Dee, all of them narrowly avoiding the second set of spikes. Magolor roared and spawned a white hammer in his hands and slammed it at the dimensional ground near Kirby and Waddle Dee. The force of the impact blasted Kirby and Waddle Dee back towards Meta Knight and King Dedede. They hit and bounced off the dimensional ground in deep, brief noises, slowly getting back to their feet after their last land. Under the groups' feet, a sheet of white ice crawled out from the point of impact from Magolor's hammer. Immediately the group began to shake and wobble on top of the slippery ice – Meta Knight was the first to abandon the ground and take the air. King Dedede and Kirby took deep breaths and used the air to float, and Waddle Dee spun his spear around like propellers. The last thing any of them needed was to be out of full control of their movement. Magolor clapped his demented hands together and threw one upward. King Dedede looked below himself and immediately – almost didn't have time to mentally process danger – was engulfed in an aggressive blue flame. The penguin writhed and screamed as the fire unwrapped itself from him, and fell back to the dimensional ground and the ice above it. Waddle Dee stopped spinning his spear and dropped to the King's aid. Shaking from the slippery ice, Waddle Dee barely managed to keep his balance while bringing Dedede – who did not have any more than minor burns, thankfully – back to his feet, and feared the worst from Magolor who swung his other disconnected hand downwards. Meta Knight glanced upwards and flew towards Waddle Dee and Dedede, barely avoiding a similar column of fire bearing down on him and Kirby. He immediately turned back towards the fire, worried for Kirby. The flame disappeared into the dimensional ground and Kirby was revealed – untouched by the fire. The pink blob regrouped with his friends and held his attention on the abomination ahead of him. Magolor roared and teleported back near the group, juggling odd creatures in his hands. He must have had at least five of them in a constant circle before pointing at the group and having them all bearing down on them. Meta Knight and King Dedede prepared to deflect the attack, but Kirby gestured them to stand back as the creatures began their descent. Kirby opened his mouth big and wide, inhaling as hard as he could to make sure he got every creature. One by one, they creatures were sucked into the vortex leading to his mouth, and one by one, they vanished inside it. Kirby clamped his mouth shut, chewing the creatures inside into a glowing star that everything Kirby ate would turn into. He was ready to attack! Magolor took a brief pause from surprise, long enough for King Dedede to capitalize on an idea. He nabbed Waddle Dee and placed him on his back, then Meta Knight on Waddle Dee's back, and then he picked up Kirby and tossed him on Meta Knight's back, essentially creating a tower. The four man piggy back ride stormed and leaped at Magolor, ready to take down this traitor once and for all! The swing of a mighty hammer! The stab of a strong spear! The slash of a golden sword! The splash of a glowing star! The roar of a monster's end. The group stood and watched, reveling in their victory as their enemy shook, writhed, and roared as pieces of it broke off and disintegrated into nothingness. Magolor opened his melting maw for his last time – the red eye showing itself to Kirby and his friends once more – then slammed it shut, collapsing into himself and disappearing in a low echo. Kirby watched the space left behind from where Magolor was, watched the nothingness left empty of Magolor's presence. For the moment, he thought the monster would return, but after several seconds of waiting, the dimensional ground beneath them began to crack. Then all that they could see in the void – bar the portal – began cracking and splitting apart, shattering like glass shards. The group were then lifted away from the disappearing ground, and Kirby and Waddle Dee waved their arms in panic as a purple mist crawled from the "shards" and reached for their feet. Then the space around them turned into a stretched out blur, tearing passed them as though they were flying at an extreme speed. Kirby looked down and found himself on top of an orange dragon, and then noticed his friends were on similar dragons as well. Landia had came to their rescue! Just under the four dragons was a large white and blue ship – The Starcutter! As the four dragons, Landia brought the group close to the Starcutter, which fired a white beam from its bow and formed a purple star up ahead. The star expanded to a colossal size and a white swirl formed in its center, finalizing an interdimensional portal between this limbo and a planet. The entire lot of them and the Starcutter blasted right through the portal, returning to Dreamland. 1. Arrival Bright green and lively flowing grass stretching across and hugging the land, dirt paths tracing along and around trees and a lake, the strong trees standing tall and firm in their places among the ground. The bright and celestial blue sky above wrapped tightly around this colorful land and yet was casting its glorious light from very far away. But then its light darkened, and the sky lost its perfection as a hole materialized inside it. The hole morphed into a five pointed star, colored in shades of purple and blue and laced with lines matching those colors. Inside the center of this star formed a white and curving swirl, and through that swirl burst a white and blue ship – strung with oars, a yellow star on the bow, and a tall mast near the stern. The ship exited the portal and lowered itself just above the ground, hovering above the grass and pinning it to the ground with its gusts of wind. Alongside this giant of a ship were four orange dragons – small ones it should be added – each carrying some type of creature on its back. One carried Kirby: a round and pink puffball with limbs. Another carried Meta Knight: a similar blue puffball clad in a purple cape and mysterious silver mask. A third carried King Dedede: a large blue penguin in a red parka and wielding a large mallet. The fourth carried Waddle Dee: a round and brown creature similar to, but not the same, as Kirby or Meta Knight. Each dragon – collectively known as Landia – flew the four creatures down to the ground of their home, Dreamland. Dreamland was just that: a land where its inhabitants sleep soundly with peaceful dreams of wonders and happiness, on the beautiful planet Popstar. But not all dreams were good; Dreamland was not at all a place without nightmares. Dark creatures made up negative feelings, suppressed desires, uncontrolled greed, and many more. Dark creatures ranging from cackling mad jesters, and wizards and witches of art, and black orbs of genuine sorrow and hate. Kirby himself was a hero to the people of Dreamland for his ability to drive back these nightmarish forces and protect the pure dreams of their potential victims In fact, Kirby and the others were just returning from their most recent encounter with a dark menace: a seemingly friendly alien named Magolor. Magolor crash landed onto Dreamland and requested Kirby's help. After repairing his ship the Starcutter – the very ship they returned to Dreamland with – they left to his planet Halcandra and fought with the dragon Landia. But this whole adventure was part of Magolor's plan to get his hands on Landia's Master Crown, an artifact that can supposedly give its wearer infinite power. Magolor wanted to use the Master Crown's power to take over and rule the entirety of the universe. A friendly creature who seemingly wanted to just return home turned out to be a sour and greedy monster. But Kirby knew better; he saw that red eye inside Magolor's corrupted mouth, he knew what was behind Magolor's scheme. Landia landed on the grass and bucked the group off their backs. The four of them took a moment to take sighs of relief that they were at last back home and turned to Landia to gave their thanks. “Aiii!” Kirby cooed, his face painted with a large smile. King Dedede and Waddle Dee nodded with Kirby's odd, yet native language. Meta Knight stepped forward and between his allies and Landia, “We have no ways to thank you enough for your understanding, Landia. I hope you may forgive us for our mistake.” The four dragons grinned and nodded their heads, and Meta Knight added, “Thank you again Landia.” as he bowed for them. Landia all nodded again and leaped into flight, flying around the Starcutter as the ship doubled back into and through the portal, all of them vanishing in its purple and blue light. Kirby waved – even if Landia couldn't see it – as the portal shrunk into a simple circle and vanished, ending the connection from Popstar to Halcandra as well as Kirby's latest adventure. Kirby took a slow and deep breath, taking in the gorgeous air of his home. Dreamland! It was safe! He had almost lost it to that mean liar Magolor, but it was safe again! He was of course greatly overjoyed at the sight with this hindsight, but he could hardly contain himself and simply took off straight ahead. “Pfff, look at him, did he already forget what we just did?” King Dedede pointed out in a flat, annoyed tone. “Do not be envious of his innocence. We all had it at some point.” Said Meta Knight, wrapping his cape around himself and walking away. “Where are you going?” Meta Knight just kept walking,“I would like to rest.” King Dedede groaned and turned to Waddle Dee after the gap between them and Meta Knight grew considerably. “Whatever. Let's just go to the castle...” muttered King Dedede as he raised his hammer onto his shoulder. “Aye-aye sire!” Waddle Dee squeaked as he straightened his stance and marched down the dirt path, away from Meta Knight or Kirby's directions. Waddle Dee's stance was quickly hunched with an audible “urk” noise as King Dedede climbed onto his back. “Meta Knight's got a point though; I could use a rest too!” King Dedede announced to his subject, “Now get moving!” “Yes!... Sire!” Waddle Dee strained as he slowly moved one foot in front of the other, balancing the heavy King Dedede so that he wouldn't misstep and get himself crushed. Waddle Dee couldn't bring himself to complain; the King's convenience and life came before his, and the King was probably more tired than he was anyway. More importantly, he would hate to displease him. Waddle Dee's pace had steadied – changing from a shaky stumble to a slow yet solid hunched trot – and he carried King Dedede towards his Majesty's castle, which could not have been close. It was going to be quite a walk. Kirby jogged across a dirt path, curving around a lake and humming one of his favorite tunes. His pace would be much quicker, but he just had to take in the appearance of his surroundings. The amount of color there was to this land was breathtaking: the subtle movements among the leaves of trees as creatures traversed them, the sounds of said animals and other critters as they interacted in their environments, and just the color itself of this whole land practically oozed with a heavenly vibe that seemed to instil actual happiness into Kirby's being. In all of Kirby's life – albeit very short for his species – Dreamland has never looked so beautiful. Actually, for a moment, Kirby didn't even think he was in Dreamland! Then he noticed something odd – something out of place – in the trees. Although Kirby had been around most of Popstar several times before and has been to multiple planets in his time, this was something he had never seen in his life. It was a brown, furry creature on four legs and with a curved and bushy tail. Nothing particularly remarkable about this creature, but Kirby's mind was just boggled by it. Even more to his surprise, the creature didn't try to run away from him when he got close to get a better look. It just looked at him, calm yet as curious as he was. He got even closer – close enough to see its tiny nose twitching – but at that moment the animal turned its head as though something caught its attention and leaped off the tree. The animal dived through some shrubbery, leaving Kirby dumfounded and alone. Kirby didn't wait for anything; he took off after the animal, on the hopes that maybe he'll find more animals like it or someone who could direct him to Dreamland. He leaped over the bushes and landed on the other side, and was surprised yet again by what he saw. He saw that very same animal, except it was among other animals of its kind. As well as that animal, there were other creatures of varying appearances all in a circle around a larger creature. Whatever it was, its beauty topped anything Kirby had seen so far. It was a four legged and bright yellow creature, with long and curved pink locks of hair on its head and backside. Granted Kirby wasn't much of a judge of beauty, but the creature's hair was simply gorgeous. The creature looked up to Kirby – its large, greenish-blue eyes and peeping with innocence – and gasped with a joyful smile. Before Kirby even knew it, he was just inches away from the creature's face. "Oh my goodness! You're the cutest thing ever!" The creature exclaimed in the common language. Apparently female, the creature's voice was very soft with almost no assertion or deepness behind it to speak of. Even with the increased volume, her voice still sounded like a whisper, if only barely, "I've never seen a creature like you before. Are you from the Everfree Forest? Are you lost?" Kirby leaped back from the creature, completely caught off guard by her outburst. Almost immediately she stepped back, apologizing for her action. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Said the creature. Seeing her step back made Kirby a bit more comfortable, and he smiled to show his forgiveness. "I... be... Kirby." Said Kirby slowly, giving his limited knowledge of this language a try. Having heard it all the time in Dreamland, Kirby could understand the bulk of what would be said, but he had very little experience with actually speaking it. The creature was ecstatic either way. "You talk?! Oh, this is so adorable!" The creature exclaimed. Her eyes seemed like they were widening as much as her smile was, "What was your name again little guy?" "Kirby!" Kirby chirped. "Kirby, oh that name is so cute. My name is Fluttershy – Oh, that reminds me! I have to show you to my friends; they'll just love you!" Fluttershy lowered herself to the ground and allowed Kirby onto her back, and it was at this moment that Kirby noticed she had wings on her sides. Fluttershy hopped into flight with said wings, eager as ever to take Kirby to her friends – in a place called Ponyville.