Twilight slowly arose from her slumber listening to the taps of feet and the chimes of plates and silverware. She noted the lack of warmth around her barrel and forced herself to get back up.
“Huh? What'd I miss?” Twilight groggily stated as her eyes adjusted to the room they had rested in.
“Oh! Twilight it's a good thing you're awake. You're just in time for some food. The guardians of this place made us something.” Spike called out to his exhausted caretaker.
“Poyo!” Kirby answered as he stuffed his face with another fried chicken dumpling.
Twilight felt her face fault at the sight as the two small beings actually served Kirby and Spike a meal. They even had a small vegetarian option for her as well. Confusion rushed over her as she stumbled into place towards the small table that was set up for them. The two beings were covered in bandages but seemed to be placative towards them. She quietly dug into her food confused about everything that was going on so much so that she didn't even question that she ate everything on it.
“Why? What? I… ?” Twilight mumbled out trying to find the right words.
“Don't worry Twilight. I can explain. Lololo and Lalala are the owners of this place but King Dedede asked them to make sure that anyone who tried to stop his waddle dees were stopped from doing so. He also ordered if they were defeated to accept whomever had beaten them as special guests and help them out before they leave. Also Kirby’s charming personality seemed to win them over but I didn't understand a word they were saying to one another.” Spike summarized as he tried one of the chicken dumplings as well.
“Oh… right. Yes.” Twilight mumbled out still completely out of it.
“Poyo. Poyo poyo.” Kirby explained curving his arms to explain that they were leaving soon.
“Already? But… yes you're right. We got to continue on quickly.” Twilight affirmed as she nodded her head and clenched her jaw in solidarity of continuing the journey.
Lololo and Lalala both waved at the three and carried the small table and the dishes with silverware away as Kirby began to lead the way outside. When light washed over their faces they knew that at least a day had passed since they had left to go confront King Dedede. Kirby quickly hopped on the spot three times summoning the Warp Star. Twilight gaped at the object realizing that Kirby could summon it at any moment.
“Uh… Twilight… we’re gonna be in trouble.” Spike lifted a finger getting Twilight’s attention. Her eyes widened and she could only shift in fear as Kirby jumped into the star.
Without warning Twilight and Spike were summoned into the Warp Star and forced to hold on. All that could be heard was the sheer screams of horror that were elicited by the shaking purple pony and her screaming purple dragon. Kirby was certain that there were euphemisms somewhere in those words but his innocent mind couldn't think up any.
“Pinkie! Report! How many snacks do we actually have left?” Applejack called out as Pinkie stood and saluted the orange earth pony.
“We have enough for seven batches of cupcakes but after that nothing.” Pinkie grimly stated, her mane flatter than anything seen before. She also had a crossed look gracing her eyes which had hardened from the loss of so many young snacks. They were lost before they could fulfill their destiny.
“This won't do. I need my tea cakes to go for the small tea party I was to hold with Sweetie Belle.” Rarity scoffed at the notion especially after giving in to actually being part of the tea party in the first place and getting both the food and tea beforehand because no one could trust Sweetie Belle’s cooking.
“We need to ration then… Rainbow Dash make sure to keep an eye on Pinkie… just in case.” Applejack ordered which Dash gave a serious nod before looking around. “Where’s Fluttershy?”
“She's keeping the animals calm. Since the invasion the animals seemed more restless than usual.” Rainbow Dash explained. Applejack merely nodded and continued rousing the townsfolk to get ready to weather the worst snack drought since the Great Apple Derby of the Lunar Cycle.
The star exploded releasing the three onto a large bubbly cloud. As Twilight and Spike fell to the cloud layer their life's passed beyond their eyes. Spike regretted never telling Rarity how he felt while Twilight regretted focusing solely on books without hanging out with her friends as much as she possibly could.
As her muzzle hit the cloud… she didn't fall through bouncing off the cloud back onto her flank. Spike sunk in slightly but managed to pull himself out of it. Twilight felt her eye twitch since she wasn't a pegasus. It didn't make sense at all and she couldn't figure out what was going on.
Kirby walked over to the positively panicking purple pony and smacked her on top of her head breaking her out of her craziness. Though because he was merely a pink puffball and he wasn't trying to hurt her it flopped over her face breaking her from her anxiety induced freak out. Twilight shook her head wildly breaking out of the trance she had found herself in.
“What!? Kirby? But how? Why? I don't understand!?” Twilight hyperventilated as her hooves found solid footing within the cloud… but it was still cloud.
“Poyo.” Kirby shrugged uncertain of what was wrong with Twilight. Spike, on the other hand, took a deep breath and ignored the breaking of their laws of physics so as to not completely lose his mind like she did.
“So we should keep going then right?” Spike asked. While he couldn't understand Kirby yet he knew that focusing on the clouds would just drive them crazy.
“But Spike! The clouds… they're… “ Twilight protested.
“We should get going… right!?” Spike stressed to no end causing Twilight to blanch from the sudden directness.
“Poyo.” Kirby nodded and immediately took off running through the bouncy field of clouds.
Twilight wanted to stop and study everything that was different but with the fate of Equestria in their hooves she swallowed the discomfort of the clouds and ran after the super tough pink puff. She didn't even know the cloudwalking spell yet and she was walking on clouds.
Spike climbed upon her back and didn't look down the entire time. His life had flashed before his eyes enough for that day. The two chased after Kirby as they were forced to make some death defying jumps over what appeared to be bottomless pits. Neither knew whether that was a fact or not and didn't want to chance it regardless of how absurd it sounded.
“Kirby! Hold up!” Twilight called out getting Kirby to slow down enough for the intrepid duo to catch up with him.
“Poyo?” Kirby tilted his head… which was his entire body in hindsight.
“Do you know where we're going?” Twilight wheezed out. Fatigue had reared its ugly head once again.
Kirby shook his head and took off once again. Flabbergasted, Twilight ran after him muttering obscenities under her breath at how half cocked this plan was now. It lasted up to the point where they reached a strange tower seemingly buried within the clouds. Kirby stopped to poke at the ruins making certain to wait for his friends.
“Ruins!? Even ruins are in the clouds!” Twilight gasped, grimaced and cringed all at once trying to reign in her enthusiasm and incredulity at the situation.
“I think we gotta climb…” Spike muttered into her ear breaking the trance that had nearly taken hold of her.
“Oh horseapples… “ Twilight moaned into her hooves wanting to be completely done with the adventure… up until Kirby inhaled some air and started to float upwards. “Hey! Wait for us!”
The trek up was perilous as Twilight was forced to carve hoof holds in the clouds while Bronto Burts, small pink creatures with wings and yellow feet, dove towards them. Kirby handled them with his Air Bullet technique knocking them out of the air. Spike assisted by breathing small gouts of flame to deter them from flying any closer.
“Why!?” Twilight could only cry out as she reached the next tower.
“I don't know either.” Spike rolled his eyes while Kirby floated towards the next section.
Twilight had to quickly carve another path out as she climbed the next tower. At this point a small part of her mind realized that maybe at this point she could be stronger than Rainbow Dash or even Applejack. The other part of her mind realized her sides were on fire and she was wheezing from the constant climbing. Finally they came up to a small door… in the middle of the tower with a small star above it. She hesitated when she finally reached the door. Whether from fatigue or trepidation she didn't quite know.
“Twilight… there's a door in the middle of nowhere… I think I'm going crazy. Tell Rarity… “ Spike started looking close to faint.
“Spike get a grip of yourself. It's fine overall… it's just magic. Yeah… magic. That's all. Nothing to worry about.” Twilight assured the small dragon and herself most of all. She couldn't afford another freak out at this high an altitude. Kirby peered into the door but never said anything about it.
Kirby pointed at the door and jumped in to the shock of his friends. Throwing caution to the wind Twilight leapt through the door winding up in another section of the ruins in the clouds that had water… defying gravity and keeping to perfect ninety degree angles. Kirby already was fighting off a large flower that seemed to be alive and tying to snap at him with its petals.
Twilight shot a beam out knocking the flower off its stem into the water where it withered and blew up into smoke… in water. The sheer amount of confusion dragging its way through her eyes was soon released as tears. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back in her eyes. Physics made no sense and it felt as though everything was a dream…
“Everything… is a… dream in… Dream Land… “ Twilight muttered as the epiphany broke the mind numbing insanity and clarity took its place.
“What?” Spike questioned as he was a bit freaked out by the water.
“This doesn't make sense but it does because we're in Dream Land, Spike. It only works in Dream Land because that's its magic. It makes dreams into reality!” Twilight expounded feeling totally elated that she wasn't going completely insane even if her mane was fanned out and sprung out at random places and there was a slight twitch of her eye and jaw.
“You're scaring me Twilight… “ Spike muttered as they kept climbing the tower. For some reason the pair could see the moon far in the sky already making the two question just how long they had been inside. Still Kirby pushed them forward knocking the Bronto Burts out of the way and keeping the Waddle Dees that did try to stop them from getting anywhere close to them.
“Poyo!” Kirby pointed up towards a new door below the moon. It also had a star above it but it seemed bigger than the other door.
“I got a bad feeling about this Twilight… “ Spike whispered to his bookish companion who was still a frazzled mess.
“Nonsense Spike. For Science!” Twilight charged in with Kirby with the reckless abandon that he expected out of Rainbow Dash. Still clinging to her neck, he resided himself to a very dangerous meeting beyond the door.
Beyond the door was a large arena that seemed to have nothing of value within it. Clouds littered the floor and several columns jutted out from below made of marble though colored in pastel yellows and greens. There were several decorations adorning them ranging from stars and moons to the stranger sculptures of clouds.
“Luna would love it here… “ Twilight gasped as she looked out towards the night sky… even though she was certain that it was still morning.
“Uh… Twilight? I think we have company.” Spike tapped her head getting her to turn around.
Floating in mid air was a large eyeball with four floating spheres surrounding it. It looked at the three passively… until it noticed Kirby. The eye tensed up and glared at the diminutive warrior who noticed the hostility. Before Twilight could intervene the eye shot up into the air and started dropping bombs on them.
“We just got here!” Twilight shouted as one of the explosions threw here and Spike off to the side.
“I don't think there’s time to argue Twilight!” Spike shot back as the eye shot back down and charged into Kirby shocking him.
Twilight quickly grabbed him managed to get a good hold on him and getting him out of danger as the eye started shaking. It blinked and a Waddle Doo appeared from it confusing Twilight even more and making Spike retch slightly from how gross it looked.
Kirby shook off the shock and magic and sucked in the Waddle Doo. A bright flash of light came as Kirby donned a jester cap with a yellow and red motif and a small wand appeared in his right nub.
“Another one!” Spike called out as he realized that Kirby had another transformation alongside the fire and ice hats.
“Poyo!” Kirby cried out as he held the wand close and just as the eye tried to tackle him again a giant sphere of energy shot out like a comet smacking the eye to the ground.
Unperturbed by the shot the eye forced its way back to the sky and shot out more bombs blinking them into existence. Twilight, now a bit calmer, grabbed them tossing them back at the eye with nary a shred of hesitation. The explosions knocked the eye for a loop as Kirby jumped up and released a whip of energy against it.
The eye blinked out tears as the four spheres surrounding it faded and the eye exploded revealing another star. Before Spike could protest Kirby and Twilight jumped for it. They quickly shot off into the sky with a genial smile and erratic laughter from Twilight. Spike was certain that all of Twilight’s worldview had been broken after the fight… and yet it didn't feel like it was over.
The star slammed on top of the highest tower in the area leaving the three sprawled out near yet another star door. It was wider like the last door which in Twilight’s mind seemed to register that an enemy was beyond the horizon. Kirby was undeterred and kept his new hat securely against his head though there was a chance he could lose it at any minute.
“Ready to battle!” Twilight cheered. She was followed by the cheerful warrior Kirby and the reluctant dragon Spike. She was certain that she would be fine but the cheer hid the sheer implications of fighting sentient flying eyeballs. It frightened her to no end but she remained stalwartly focused on completing her mission and she didn't need to be reminded of how dangerous everything in Dream Land had been already.
Entering the door the trio were stopped by the same eyeball. It glowered at the three and seemed to glow red for a moment. Twilight mentally chuckled since the battle looked to be as easy as the first time they fought it off.
The eyeball gathered clouds to its body as large yellow spikes shot out at each corner of its hitbox. The eye shuddered slightly before turning to the trio. Each one pales at the sight aside from Kirby who took a step forward. Twilight now mentally cursed her assumptions and took a low stance as the cloud shuddered some more.
Vs. Kracko
Kracko glowed yellow as he released several beams around his body forcing Kirby and Twilight to back up while Spike kept low to the ground breathing fire up at the cloud monster. It flinched… barely and immediately shot up out of range of the fire breath.
Kirby charged up his wand as Kracko charged downwards circling areas as it smacked Spike electrocuting him for remaining too close. Twilight cried out to him as the cloud got closer forcing her to conjure a shield. Kracko nearly broke the shield cracking it and spreading those spider web cracks across it. Kirby fired his beam weapon making Kracko flinch but he powered through shocking Kirby as well.
“Spike! Kirby!” Twilight called out to her still stunned friends. They groggily rose and jumped out of the way as Kracko made another pass, this time shattering Twilight's shield spell.
Kirby wasted no time jumping into the air and firing off beam whips while Spike took a spot in the corner breathing as much fire as possible. Twilight forcefully grabbed Spike as the cloud hovered over him and showered the place he had been standing with a deluge of electrocuted droplets.
“Poyo!” Kirby yelled as he released several strange beams including one that released several blue orbs in a spiral pattern and a rapid fire machine gun style beam barrage.
Kracko took offense to the assault and started to charge up. Kirby landed back on his feet as Kracko released several bolts of lightning following after the Star Warrior and leading him towards Twilight and Spike.
“You've got to be kidding me! Twilight move!” Spike grimaced as he pushed Twilight in a certain direction before climbing on her back.
Taking aim Spike shot back fireballs at the crazy cloud though even then it barely stopped the lightning barrage. Kirby was forced to run with Twilight because Kracko had made it very apparent that he was the primary target.
Kracko eventually stopped his barrage releasing more Waddle Doos which Twilight took advantage of. Finally getting her footing back she grabbed the small creatures and launched them into Kracko actually doing enough damage to knock him back slightly.
Spike and Kirby took the chance as Kirby charged up his beam and Spike his flames. As Kirby fired the large buster shot Spike blew his flames over it enhancing the shot as it grew in size and power. The giant beam shot enveloped Kracko and exploded knocking Kracko out of the air.
Kracko teared up leaving a large puddle of water behind as he lost his mass. The clouds shot off back into the sky leaving the eyeball which looked surprised at the trio. It exploded and the eye was no more.
Twilight laid down breathing harshly as she finally got her bearings down. The crazy that had followed her immediately stopped hounding her sensibilities if only because they almost all died to a sentient cloud of some kind. Spike had been badly electrocuted as electricity trailed across his body from time to time. Kirby looked no worse for wear though fatigue had caused him to sweat quite a bit.
A star appeared and before she could protest the three of them were ready to dance. Kirby split into three once again and performed their tiny dance. Twilight moonwalked this time while Spike freestyled and spun around. As the dance ended the three of them were sitting around three sparkling stars… which for some reason remained floating around.
“Poyo?” Kirby pointed at them though at the shaking of Twilight and Spike’s heads he didn't push the subject too far.
Everyone was tired and some rest was in order. Twilight pulled out some apples she had taken a while back from Whispy Woods which the three ate while they watched the stars in the strange night sky that enveloped them at this moment.
Even then Twilight was certain that it was morning still but without any way to check the time she could only surmise that maybe she was going crazy.