"...No...No... I don't wanna be alone... No... Please... Rarity... Everypony... Where are you..." Sweetie Belle murmured in her sleep, hugging the Rarity plushie.
And then...
TUUUUUUUUUUUT!!!!!!!!
The sound of a horn rang in all the castle, making Sweetie Belle jump from her bed halfway to the ceiling!
"What?! Uh?! What's going on?!" she screamed while looking everywhere in panic. She saw through the window that it was still dark outside, the sun hadn't even risen yet! Leaving behind the bed with the cover and some of the plushies on the floor, she opened the door to see the servants and soldiers getting out of their chambers and running toward one of the end of the hallway. "What's going on?" she asked out loud at one of the Waddle Dees.
"Emergency meeting! We must all go to the main hall! Follow us!" he answered.
So Sweetie followed them to the main hall, an immense room in the center of the castle with a beautiful chandelier hanging from the ceiling, an oversized portrait of Dedede on one of the wall and all kinds of decorations, half of them in gold and with Dedede's face or symbol on them in one way or another. Dedede himself was waiting beside the portrait as the hall was filling with guards and servants of all shapes and sizes. Wait, was this an UFO over there? A living UFO? Sweetie decided to not question it. One of the Waddle Dees saw her and waved at her. She recognized the Waddle Dee and approached him.
"Hey! Sorry for the rude awakening! I swear it's not a regular thing!" he said while rubbing his arm behind his head.
"It's ok," she answered. She then hugged him. "Thank you for the plushies. Thank also all the ones that participated for me."
Waddle Dee blushed at being hugged. "Hehe...he... You are welcome."
"Everyone!!!" suddenly yelled Dedede once the room stopped filling. "Something really bad happened this night! And I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about, because it probably happened to all of you!" He then waited to add some drama. Some of the servants in front of Dedede took that to confirm to him what he was talking about. "So I'm right."
"What happened!" Sweetie asked loudly to be heard.
Dedede looked at Sweetie with a rising eyebrow before answering. "We all had a nightmare!"
Everyone in the room gasped, excepted Sweetie who gave a deadpan look at Dedede. "What...?"
Dedede raised the other eyebrow at her expression. "You had a nightmare this night, right?"
At that, Sweetie's expression saddened. "Uh... Yes."
Waddle Dee raised an arm to attract Dedede's attention. "Remember my king, she is not from here! She doesn't know!"
"Right. Then I will explain to you. You see, Dream Land is called like that for three reasons. First: it's good to live here. It's a real land of dreams. Second: like in dreams, almost everything can happen. Well, for that one, it can extend to all Popstar."
At that, Sweetie turned her head to the living UFO. No kidding...
"Third, and that's the most important in our situation: in Dream Land, we dream! Thanks to the Fountain of Dreams, nightmares NEVER happen!"
At that, it didn't take long for Sweetie to understand. "Wait! But we all had a nightmare! So does it mean that something happened to that fountain?"
"Exactly what I thought! And as the king of Dream Land, it is my duty to go and see what happened! With luck, it's just the Star Rod that has fallen from the fountain, but just in case, we must prepare! So get ready everyone!" Once he ended his speech, he started walking toward one of the exits of the hall. "I also want a dozen Bronto Burts to come with me!"
The exact number of Bronto Burts started to fly behind Dedede while all the other servants and guards scattered.
"I must go Sweetie. What will you do?" asks Waddle Dee.
"I don't know... I have no idea what to do." She then looked at the door where Dedede exited the room. "I'm gonna talk to Dedede. See you." Leaving behind her friend, she exited the hall by the same door and quickly caught up to the king. "Wait!"
At hearing her, Dedede turned around to see her approaching. "What do you want?"
"Can I come with you please? I don't know what to do here, and it will give me the occasion to discover Dream Land! I haven't gone out of the castle yet."
Dedede rubbed his chin at what she asked. "Maybe? What do you think you will be able to do alongside me?"
"Learn?" Sweetie proposed.
"Good enough, I suppose. Alright, come."
"Yaay!"
The group exited the castle, giving Sweetie her first real view of Dream Land, and it was beautiful! Fields full of flowers, green forests, uplands, ocean as clear as a mirror... It was really a land of dreams, very close to Equestria actually. She could see that they were at the top of a big mountain. But when she looked behind at the castle, she couldn't help but shiver at its design. It was a castle entirely made of brown stone, the same color as the mountain, and looking more like a fortress than a castle like the one in Canterlot. The most disturbing were the two glaring eye-like windows at the top of the castle, giving it the aspect of an angry beast, making the front door its mouth. It really looked more like where an evil overlord would live.
And now it was her home...
Dedede interrupted her. "Awesome castle, right? Sadly, we don't have time to admire it. Hop on me."
"Why?"
"You will see."
Sweetie nodded before jumping. Dedede being taller than a pony, she was not able to reach his shoulder, so she had to climb his finery the rest of the way.
"Mmh... I will have to train you to jump higher," Dedede said. "Everyone here can jump higher than what you just did."
"Really? Back at Equestria, it is an average jump."
"Yes, but trust me, if you are going to live here in Dream Land, you will have to learn to jump higher. This place possesses many spots where you have to jump to continue your way, unless you want to lose time with big detours."
"Okay... So what now?"
"Now you cling to me and watch."
Dedede then opened his mouth and started inhaling, making Sweetie shiver at the memory of her being inhaled. After two seconds of inhaling air, Dedede finally closed his mouth, now looking like a big balloon with his belly full of air. To Sweetie's surprise, he started floating.
"Whaaat?!"
At this, one of the Bronto Burts chuckled. "Impressive, right? After his defeat against Kirby, King Dedede spent days training to float like him."
"Kirby can do this too?"
"Yes, an annoying move, because he can avoid most of us and our attacks this way."
"So, can Kirby inhale too?"
"Oh yes... I... personally experienced it. Kirby possesses a stomach that is like a black hole and can eat almost everything, including us."
"Eep!"
"Don't worry! We don't know how, but if you are eaten by Kirby, then you will reappear elsewhere close enough as if nothing happened! You can ask around! At Kirby's first... visit, at least a quarter of our army got eaten by him, and yet, we are all alive!"
"I can confirm," another Bronto Burt said.
"Me too."
"Me three. But it's not a pleasant experience."
"I... see..." Now she was scared of encountering this Kirby. "But why did he attack you?"
All the Bronto Burts diverted their eyes at her question. One of them eventually answered. "We... kinda took all the food of the kingdom, and Kirby wasn't ok with that..."
It let Sweetie agape, not able to say a word. She then remembered how Dedede said the word 'hero' while speaking of who she thought was Kirby the first evening.
So I'm living with the bad guys?!
After some time, they finally reached the place where the Fountain of Dreams was, which one of the Bronto Burts named 'Rainbow Resort'. She had found Dream Land beautiful, but this place went beyond that! It was really high in the sky, to the point that there was not a cloud hiding the stars and whatever else there was up there. Instead, there were auroras mainly blue and purple. The floor was partly covered in ice reflecting the auroras alongside some yellow and green spots, and with that, she understood why it was called 'Rainbow Resort', even if there were no rainbows. There were even stars in some parts of the floors! And plants of the same colors here and there! She could also see a tall tower a little further, and she wondered why there was one here. An observatory? It would be perfect to observe the sky. Twilight would love it!
And exactly at its center was the famous Fountain of Dreams, and she could already see that there was indeed a problem. The water shouldn't be black, right?
When they reached the floor beside it, Sweetie hopped off from Dedede's shoulder and hid behind him. If she had to choose between two potential evils, best to choose the one that had been 'friendly' to her. Too bad for her, Dedede decided to approach the fountain and its dark water. She gulped, and chose to remain where she was alongside the Bronto Burts.
Dedede looked at the dark water, wondering what to do to get rid of it. He then decided to put his hand in the water to see if it would do something. That was when the Star Rod, a red and white scepter with a yellow star at the top that was in the center of the fountain, let out some black mist that started to take some form above it. Seeing the mist, Sweetie was reminded of Nightmare Moon, and took a few steps back. Dedede moved back too, scared of what was getting out of the fountain, as a dark laugh started resonating.
A figure emerged from the mist, with first a dark blue head with a long chin, and wearing dark shades that flashed above his eyes. He also wore an even darker blue helmet with gold jewels on it, and a pair of really long yellow horns. An evil smirk was present on his face, promising suffering to all present. Then came two hands of the same color as his head, with long fingers ending in really sharp nails.
If it didn't scream 'evil'...
The being then started to talk. "So, someone finally decides to come die before me. Who are you, fool?"
Dedede took a big gulp to resolve himself, and answered, "I am Dedede! King of Dream Land! And I ask who YOU are! And what do you want?!"
"My name is Nightmare. And what I seek is really simple: terror. Sweet terror."
"Why!"
"Terror is power. With it, I will soon be able to take a physical form. When that happens, I will plunge the whole world in an eternal nightmare, and spread my power to the whole universe."
"And do you expect me to let you?" Dedede replied.
"Will you be able to stop me?" Nightmare replied back.
"You wanna bet?!" He took is hammer, ready to clobber that thing. Then, he jumped, and hit Nightmare right on the head. Falling back on the floor, he jumped back to see how Nightmare will answer. Nightmare hadn't even flinched at the hit, instead laughing before pointing a finger at Dedede. From the finger, he shot blue star-shaped hollow projectiles at Dedede, in too much quantity for him to dodge all of them. Dedede found himself propelled on his back, groaning.
Sweetie Belle couldn't believe it! Dedede had seemed so powerful with this hammer, his inhaling technique, and his jump! And yet, not only he was getting trashed by Nightmare, but also, his hammer did absolutely nothing to that thing! If only she could help, but she didn't know how to fight! And it wasn't with her little hooves that she will be able to hurt him if even this hammer didn't work!
After a few minutes of a one sided fight, Dedede suddenly did something that took everyone by surprise, including Nightmare: he jumped on the fountain, took the Star Rod from its pedestal, and broke it!
"No! Stop!" Nightmare screamed as he started to disappear. After a few second, there was nothing left of him. Dedede just saved the world! But in consequence, the fountain had stopped working, leaving just enough water inside the fountain so it wasn't empty. At least, no more nightmares, but no more dreams too... How will they be able to fix it?
Badly hurt, Dedede took back his breath, before saying, "There! Take that! You... whatever you are!" He then broke the Star Rod a few more times, until it was in seven pieces.
Sweetie Belle approached him slowly. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah, don't worry for me. Bronto Burts!" he called.
The Bronto Burts advanced. "Yes sir?"
Dedede gave one of the parts of the Star Rod to one of them. "We need to make sure that that thing doesn't come back. You, I want you to give this to Whispy Woods."
"Yes sir," the Bronto Burt said before going.
Dedede gave four other parts to four other Bronto Burts. "This one goes to Paint Roller, I trust him. This one goes to Mr Shine and Mr Bright, their power should keep it safe. This one goes to Kracko, he is my best lieutenant. And this one goes to Heavy Mole, he will hide it under earth. As for the last two... I will keep one. And the last one..." He gave the last part to a sixth Bronto Burt. "It goes to the Knight. You know who I'm talking about. He doesn't like working for others, but I'm sure he will accept once you explain to him what happened."
"Yes sir."
"So that's it?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Seems like it, for now," Dedede answered. "Well, we are going back to the castle. But first, I need a bath." In then started to walk to the fountain.
"You are going to take a bath in the fountain? Isn't it disrespectful?"
"I don't care. Beside, I have heard that the water possesses healing properties."
And so, King Dedede started to take a bath in the fountain... Sweetie now understood better who he was. Dedede was a selfish king with an ego big like the world. But at the same time, he could be a nice guy, ready to risk his life to do his duty, like protecting his kingdom. His loyalty made her remember Rainbow Dash. If they ever meet... Ooh boy, what a duo they would form.
Sweetie Belle saw then something in the sky and looked up. She could see a yellow star moving. "Ooh! A shooting star!"
"Uh?" Dedede heard her and looked up from his spot in the fountain, only for his eyes to grow in shock. "That is not a shooting star! It's Kirby on his Warp Star!" He then started grinding his teeth in anger. "Of course he would come to investigate!"
The Warp Star passed above them, before turning back and leaving from where it had come from. Sweetie hadn't been able to see Kirby.
Dedede got out of the fountain and started pounding the ground with his foot. "Now he will start gathering the parts of the Star Rod! And he will doom all of us! You!" He pointed to the remaining Bronto Burts. "Separate and spread the word to the whole army and the guardians of the Star Rod pieces! It's a Pink Alert! I repeat, a Pink Alert!"
"Yes sir!"
"What about me?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"You are not ready to face Kirby. So I will train you here until he is either defeated, or is able to come here. But frankly, I doubt he will be able to beat Meta Knight. That guy is on another level. But if he comes, then you will be my last line before me, whether you are ready or not."
She gulped.