//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14: Dark Castle 
// Story: A Sweetie Dream Land 
// by Lucar 
//------------------------------//

After a few hours of rest, they reached Dark Castle. Kirby decided to not get too close of the castle to avoid the cannons, so he let the Warp Star drop them on a bridge leading to the castle, the imposing structure looming before them in the night. Kirby took the lead and posed a foot on a block that was part of the bridge, only for the block to disappear under him half a second later. Surprised, he was able to inflate himself and flew back to his friends, looking back at the blocks. A good amount of the bridge was made of these blocks. If they wanted to continue, they will have to run. Again. They remarked before that that the bridge had a separate section a little further ahead that was above the current one. They will have to jump to reach it. Of course, there were a few enemies in the way.

Coo took Sweetie Belle in his claws, and the filly rained beam after beam on the enemies while the group ran on the disappearing blocks, Rick carrying Kine. They jumped on the second section of the bridge, and ran again until reaching a third section below. More sections followed, some of them having to be reached by jumping on an unique disappearing block floating in the air. Eventually, Sweetie saw something and shouted to the others to stop on one of the part of the bridge that was not made of blocks. She then took in her magic a bottle of energy drink that had been hidden below some of these blocks before giving it to Kirby. Coo dropped Sweetie Belle beside him before the puffball gave the bottle to the owl and Kine, the two of them needing it the most.

After this little break, they restarted to run until reaching the end of the bridge where Sweetie Belle left Coo's claws before passing a door. It led them inside the castle, which well deserved its name, where they had to go up by jumping on many levels of platforms going from wall to wall with spikes at both ends. After the climb, they were in a long hallway where they were ambushed by many enemies coming from before and behind, mainly Waddle Dees and Bouncys. With some teamwork, the group was able to beat all of them without taking any hit before reaching the door and having to fight a black hedgehog. Dodging his flaming charge, they beat him rapidly, unlocking the door.

They appeared in the air, only to fall in water full of Glunks with some Blippers. Because of the unexpected plunge, Sweetie was hit by one of the first Glunks before they were eliminated. Once finished with this underwater section, they got out of it only for Coo to be hit by a stalactite surprise falling from the ceiling. How were there stalactites in a castle? At least, they now knew there were stalactites, so they avoided the following ones without problem and reached the door. One room full of enemies later, they ended in a hallway with some holes full of spikes, and they were forced to destroy Star Blocks to jump above them. After the holes, they were in an intersection with two hallways, one going up, the other down, the two leading to a door. Turned out the bottom door led to a dead end with nothing, annoying the ones taking it. The other door led to a room where a red caped Blade Knight awaited them, his arms crossed.

Sweetie immediately recognized him. "It's you!"



Sweetie Belle was on the boxing ring, an unconscious Waddle Dee with a parasol before her. The fight had only lasted a few seconds, all she had had to do had been to charge at him and punch him in the face, and he had fallen out cold.

She was winning fight after fight now, all as easily as this one, and she felt like at the top of the world. Dedede's training was really starting to pay.

Then, a Blade Knight with a familiar red cape got on the ring and faced her, sword ready. Her first Blade Knight. He shouldn't be much harder than the others, she will just have to watch out for his sword.

Piece of cake.

The knight nodded at her, and the fight started. She charged at him, hooves ready to punch, but when she reached him, the knight took a step to the side, avoiding the attack. He then raised his sword, guard down, jumped and violently hit her on the back of her head, knocking her on her belly.

And with that, the fight was already over, but this time, she was the one on the floor.

As she lost consciousness, the knight said something. "This is not because the king considers you as his trump card that you are a trump card right now. You are still weak and vulnerable. Remember that, or you might get yourself killed one day.



"You are the Blade Knight that beat me!"

"Hey Rookie, I have been waiting for you. I have heard some crazy stories since you started this journey. Apparently, you have ridden Nruff?" the Blade Knight asked.

"Nruff?"

"The big boar that was guarding Big Forest."

"Oh! That's his name? I was naming him Grouiky."

"Gr... Grouiky?" Blade Knight asked in disbelief, before guffawing. "Oh this is the best! Grouiky! I will so call it that in the future!"

As Sweetie giggled too, Kirby approached the filly before asking, "Poyo?"

"Yeah, I know this guy. And I think I know why he is here. Leave him to me, I have a score to settle with him."

"You guessed it right Rookie," Blade Knight said as he calmed down. "I can already tell that you have been through a lot during your journey. Alongside your new friends, you have been able to beat powerful enemies, including Kracko himself. Now, I want to see how much you have grown since the day I beat you. I, Cape Knight, Captain of the Guard, challenge you, Sweetie Belle!"

"Wait, you are Captain of the Guard? You didn't tell me that the first time!"

Cape Knight chuckled at her surprise. "Yes, I didn't. I wanted to see King Dedede's 'trump card' in action, and if I had told you what I was, you wouldn't have fought me like you fought the others. You were becoming too confident, when all you were doing was throwing your hooves without any strategy. You needed a lesson. So..." He pointed his sword at her. "Have you learned your lesson?"

Sweetie took a few steps toward Cape Knight. "This is what you want to see today, right?"

"Yes. Let's see how you now fare against me."

Sweetie started the fight by shooting a magical beam at Cape Knight, only for him to deflect it with a swing of his sword. He charged at her, crossing the distance between them in one second before swinging his sword at Sweetie Belle. The filly took a step back to dodge it and retaliated by shooting another beam right in Cape Knight's face, but the knight put a hand before his face and the beam hit it instead. Despite this, Sweetie continued attacking by charging at him, and she was able to take him off guard, headbutting him, only for the knight to headbutt her back, sending her a few steps back. She immediately lowered her head, avoiding a swing of the sword, and shot a beam that hit the knight in the belly, forcing him to jump back. Sweetie didn't let him take a breath and charged after him, raising a hoof, ready to punch him. The knight saw her coming and took a step to the side, readying his sword to hit Sweetie in the back of her head. But Sweetie had known this would happen, the same thing happening the first time they fought each other. She lowered her head to avoid the guard of the sword as Cape Knight jumped, turned her back to him, and bucked him in the face, sending him colliding against the wall as he released his weapon. Sweetie took the sword in her magic and placed it against the knight's neck, smiling.

At that, Cape Knight stared at Sweetie Belle in silence, before chuckling. "You have gotten better, I can't deny that. But there is still some problems."

"What problems?"

"You are too naive." In the blink of an eye, he took the sword and threw it at Sweetie Belle. Surprised, Sweetie took a step to the side, dodging it as it passed beside her head, only to be rammed by Cape Knight charging at her, sending her on her back. Cape Knight then quickly turned her on her belly, went on her back, and took her two forelegs before pulling them up, threatening to dislocate them. "The fight doesn't stop until you are sure that your enemy can't move anymore! You thought that putting the sword on my neck would lead me to give up, and you let your guard down, thinking it was finished! That gave me the opportunity to return the fight at my advantage!"

Sweetie ground her teeth under the pressure of her legs being pulled almost to the breaking point. She then lowered her head, face to the ground, and got a determined expression, before saying, "W-well then, why are you talking to me as if you have won, when I can still fight?"

Her horn lit up and Cape Knight was suddenly bonked on the head by the guard of his sword, making him drop the legs. Sweetie quickly got up, the speed causing Cape Knight to be sent flying before hitting the floor. She then sat on him and pummeled his head with a few punches until she stopped, thinking that it was enough. She got up and took a few steps back, staring at Cape Knight, horn ready to shoot a beam.

After a whole minute, Sweetie started to think that Cape Knight was unconscious, only to hear him chuckle.

"You win. You got me."

"Really?"

"Yes. You still have many things to learn, but you learned well from our previous encounter, and your journey." He then took a tomato out of his cape and threw it at Sweetie Belle who caught it. "Take this Maxim Tomato to heal, and you can continue. Let me also tell you that if you want to get the item you seek in the castle, you will need something to light the dark. Good luck."

And he became silent, stopping moving. Sweetie gave the Maxim Tomato to the rest of the group, sharing it between them. Then, Kirby approached Cape Knight and inhaled him, getting a long green hat and a sword similar to the Blade Knight's, and jumped on Sweetie's back, sword raised. This turned Sweetie's coat into brown with still some white the long of her head between her eyes and at her hooves. There was also some black on her muzzle, knees and horn, and her mane and tail also turned white with some black at the start of her tail.

For some reason, she suddenly wanted to get on her hind legs and neigh loudly, but she stopped herself.

She looked at her new appearance, only to be disappointed. "What? Only a change of color? Come on!" She felt Kirby tap the back of her neck, calming her. "Yes sorry. I really hoped for something more than my coat turning brown, like being able to form a blade with my magic. At least, this form looks great."

Finally finished with this room, they passed the door and ended in another intersection, with one long hallway right in front of them, and a smaller hallway in the back getting below toward another door. Gooey took it alone only to come back shaking his head, signaling that there was nothing. So they took the remaining hallway, Kirby and Sweetie at the lead, until Kirby made her stop suddenly, a stalactite falling right in front of her. She saw many holes in the ceiling in all the hallway, and there were also some new blocks in the floor that were suspicious. Toward the end, she could see a Sir Kibble waiting for them, blade ready.

Kirby then shouted, "YAAHH!" and Sweetie charged through the whole hallway at maximum speed, Kirby readying his sword while the stalactites fell and the blocks disappeared behind them. Once they reached the Sir Kibble, Kirby swung his sword at him with another, "YAH!" and cut him. They were joined by Gooey and the animals before they took the door, finding themselves in a room with a green jellyfish.

Kirby started the fight by raising his sword, the weapon flashing, before he swung it down, releasing a sharp beam at the jellyfish, followed by a bomb from Gooey. Sweetie charged, turned around, and bucked the jellyfish in the face, Kirby hitting him with another swing of the sword, before she retreated, the jellyfish sending electricity around him. A last bomb from Gooey ended it, and the blob gave up the Bomb Ability before eating the jellyfish, remembering what Cape Knight said about needing the Spark to find the Rainbow Drop.

Passing the door, they were back outside of the castle where Kirby yet again led the charge with Sweetie, cutting the Kabus that appeared in the way while yelling, "YAH! AAH! YAAAH!" They jumped above the gulfs, avoided the Gordos, eliminated some Bouncys, and reached the next door.

Sweetie didn't know why, but since Kirby got on her back with the sword, she felt like nothing could stop her, gaining enough courage to do all this without stopping despite the risks. She felt like she could trust Kirby with everything, while Kirby trusted her back, and she couldn't disappoint him!

Back inside the castle, they now were in a big hallway with many intersections, some of them leading to the same point, others leading to dead ends. Sweetie had to jump above a few holes with spikes at the bottom, using her magic to destroy the blocks and eliminate the enemies, not forgetting the Maxim Tomato in the way. Yet again, they reached the door in record time, where they took a break to eat the tomato before entering it and fighting a Mr. Frosty.

Frosty threw an ice block at them only for Sweetie to buck it back to his face. Rick charged and headbutted him in the belly, opening him to a double punches in the face from Sweetie followed by Kirby's sword. Gooey ended him by sending a big ball of electricity, finishing the fight and opening the door.

They ended up back on a bridge similar to the first, even to the sections, but with different enemies, including knights, and at the other side of the castle. With another charge, they quickly crossed it and reached the door, Coo finding in the way another Maxim Tomato. They were then in a room inside the castle that was a copy of the first one, where they had to do the same thing, jumping some platforms to go up before crossing a long hallway full of enemies, this time two heads of a mummy, two Scarfys, two Bouncys and a Flammer, with Star Blocks between them.

In another room, they fought this time a ninja, and Kine stopped him from attacking by jumping and trapping his head inside his mouth. Confused, the ninja couldn't dodge the following onslaught, knocking him in less time that it takes to say it. The similarities to the first half of the castle continued after the ninja, the group getting back in a section of water like the first one, this time the room being fully submerged with many more Gordos to avoid but not a single Glunk. After the door came another room full of enemies, and after this one, another hallway with spiked holes and an intersection leading to two doors, this time with Gordos, forcing Sweetie and Kirby to be more cautious, not charging. Just in case, they took the bottom door only for it to lead to a dead end, showing that like last time, the right door was the top one leading to a room similar to the one where Sweetie fought Cape Knight, but this time with just a normal knight.

After the room, they charged through another long hallway like the one after the battle against Cape Knight, with no stalactites but with Scarfys and some other enemies, leading to another room where they fought another of these enemies that looked like big living blocks. Not having anything effective against him, the fight lasted longer, with the block being able to ram Kine before being put down.

They were yet again outside of the castle in a similar section with gulfs and platforms, but this time the wind was blowing, forcing Sweetie to watch her jumps, Coo making sure to be close in case she missed. In the way, they caught a bottle of energy drink before reaching the door with four Gordos floating around. With some careful jumps, they passed it, and following the pattern of the first half of the castle, they ended up in another hallway with all the intersections leading to dead ends or crossing back, exclusively guarded by all three types of knights they encountered in their journey. Following the same way that the first time, they passed the door and fought another giant Gordo. He didn't last long against them.

The door opened by beating the Gordo led FINALLY to something new. They were dropped on a pillar of disappearing blocks above a floor full of spikes, and they had to jump on platforms above them to avoid falling. From here, it was a vertical hallway where they had to jump from platform to platform while avoiding two Gordos and a Shotzo until the hallway shrunk and spikes got out of the walls so it was only wide enough for Sweetie and the others to pass one by one, or two with Kirby being on Sweetie. They still got some scratches in the way, but they were able to reach the door without being hurt too much, and they entered a dark room.

"Gooey! I think it's here!"

"Googoogoo!"

Gooey entered Kine's mouth, and the fish produced a lightbulb that lit the room. They destroyed the blocks and Glunks in it and discovered that the blocks had been hiding icons in the following order: a flame, a stone, spikes, an ice block, and a crescent blade.

"Is that a clue? Do they represent Abilities that we will have to use?"

"Poyo..." Kirby said with an arm under his chin.

"So they represent the Fire Ability, the Stone, the Needle, the Ice, and the Cutter?"

"Mmh... Poyo." Kirby confirmed.

"Goo," Gooey said as he gave up the Spark Ability. They then ended in a Rainbow Drop Room with a few different enemies where they had to get up. Gooey ate the Flamer under the hatch and they passed a trapdoor that closed behind them, meaning they couldn't come back to change Ability. Getting up a few more platforms, they reached some blocks in two walls. In the first wall, they were ice blocks, vulnerable to fire, meaning that it was the way. The following room was similar, but this time Gooey ate a Rocky before destroying the blocks vulnerable to it. Like indicated with the icons, this was followed by the same thing happening with Needle, Ice, and Cutter. After destroying the blocks vulnerable to Cutter, they appeared under the Rainbow Drop, and they took it.

"We did it! We did it! We did it!" Sweetie Belle screamed, jumping in joy with the others. Kirby opened his mouth, and the six other Rainbow Drops got out of him, before they all levitated around him... only for nothing to happen.

"Poyo?"

Coo flew to the Drops, staring at them in hope of finding what was going on. "Coo?"

"Googoo! Googoo!" Gooey suddenly exclaimed.

"Poyo?"

"Googoogoo! Coincoin! BAM!" Somehow, Gooey was able to imitate a... duck...? before punching a wall with his tongue.

Wait...

"Are you saying we must first fight King Dedede before we are able to repair the bridges?"

"Googoo! Googoo!" Gooey confirmed.

"Well, okay then... He must not be far now. By the way, Dedede is a penguin, not a duck."

"Goo?"

"Whatever..." Sweetie said, shaking her head. "Let's continue. Beside, we already knew we would have to fight Dedede to stop him."

"Poyo/Goo/Coo!"

They climbed up the platforms, took the door leading to another vertical hallway with more platforms full of Broom Hatters, and started to climb it too, the Broom Hatters letting them pass. Among them, Broom Sunglasses said, "We are with you. Nice look by the way."

"Thank you Broom Sunglasses!" Sweetie Belle replied as she passed him.

Passing the door, they had to fight another brown parasol. Five seconds later, they passed the opening door.



They climbed up again, platform by platform. Nothing blocked them. No enemies, no traps, nothing. They were getting close.

Nobody said anything. They were ready to face the king and anything he will throw at them, and end this.

Here was the door.



They appeared on the top of the main tower, in the center of the castle. Dedede was here, still sleeping, and yet looking at them, expressionless. Without saying anything, he charged at them, hammer raised. They charged too.

Sweetie and Kirby were the first to reach Dedede, and the penguin swung down the hammer at them. Kirby stopped it with his sword, the weapons clashing with a loud noise. Rick came at their left and punched Dedede in his right cheek, not even phasing him. Coo was behind Dedede, Gooey in is claws, and threw his sharp feathers at his back, slightly hurting him.

With surprising speed for his size, Dedede jumped back and turned around before he swung his hammer, catching Coo off guard as he was sent toward the edge of the tower, dropping Gooey. The blob then jumped back while throwing his blades, hate in his eyes toward the penguin. King Dedede seemed strangely focused on Gooey, attacking him relentlessly.

Now that Sweetie thought about it, why were Dedede's minions so focused on imprisoning Gooey? Did he have something against him? She thought he was against Kirby!

"You... trai...tor..."

Wait... Was that Dedede? That wasn't his voice! It sounded more... evil... dark...

Gooey then answered. "Gooey! Goo feels!"

"Feel... Feel... Hurts... FEEL HUUUUURTS!!!" Dedede slammed his hammer, Gooey dodging again. Cracks appeared in the floor around the impact while Dedede became red. He continued to slam the hammer around, trying to hit Gooey.  "Darkness... not feel! BAM! Darkness... not hurt! BAM! Darkness... every...where... not hurt! BAM!"

He was then headbutted from behind by Kine, the fish thrown by Rick. Dedede turned around only to be rammed in the belly by Sweetie Belle before Kirby hit him in the chin with his head, causing him to step back. Sweetie continued with a charged magical beam, which sent the king on his back, before Coo dove beak first right in his belly.

Sweetie ran toward Gooey and said to him, "I don't know what's going on, but it's clear that this is not Dedede, and you know this. Can you tell us what we are fighting?"

"Goo..." he said sadly.

He didn't have time to say more before Rick was thrown between them, badly hurt. When they looked back at the king, he was back up, Kine under his left foot, and Coo in his right hand. He then slammed the owl on the floor before kicking the fish, and he turned toward them and jumped. Sweetie and Gooey jumped away and avoided Dedede falling back, but then, Dedede turned to Gooey and inhaled him before spitting him back at Sweetie Belle, sending the two of them and Kirby toward the edge.

They got up and Kirby pointed his sword at Dedede, yelling, "YAAH!" Sweetie nodded and charged at the king while shooting a magical beam at his face. Once she reached him, she ran around him, Kirby slashing him without stopping. Dedede tried to hit her with the hammer only for her to either stop or accelerate to avoid it. Eventually, Sweetie Belle bucked his belly, forcing Dedede to bend, and Kirby used the guard of his sword to hit him between his eyes.

Dedede fell on his back.

He didn't get up.

Kirby and Sweetie Belle looked at Dedede. "Is this it?" she asked.

"Poyo!" Kirby confirmed.

Gooey joined them. "Goo!" He looked at Kirby and nodded.

Kirby nodded back, understanding. He jumped from Sweetie's back, turning her back to her normal colors. He then spat the Rainbow Drops, and they started to float around before merging one by one. Once the last one merged, they took the form of a sword with the colors of the rainbow, from the guard to the tip. When Kirby took it, the Sword Ability disappeared, and the Rainbow Sword flashed in every colors as something started to get out of Dedede.

Something dark, with a single eye.

"What is that?!" Sweetie Belle asked, scared of that... thing made of darkness. She remembered Nightmare, who had seemed also made of darkness, and of how powerful he had been. Will she have to fight this thing now?

The thing flew away up far in the sky, with no means to follow it. That was until Kirby jumped on Sweetie's back, and her mane and tail turned into the colors of the rainbow, like Celestia's. Then, the Rainbow Sword somehow led them to the sky, after the black thing.

They quickly caught up to it, seeing the form that the black thing took. It was about her size, and it possessed a grey cloak around its body open at the front, letting appear its black body. The edges of the cloak at this opening were red and yellow in a zigzag pattern. On its shoulders and around its neck was a piece of dark blue armor with shoulder plates rimmed orange. Its head was totally black, with black hairs and a single eye behind a grey visor. It also had a sword.

Sweetie gulped. This thing looked tough. "Who... Who are you?" she asked.

"We... are... Dark Matter," it answered with its voice that seemed to come from the depths of Tartarus. "Die."

As they continued to go up! Up! Up in the sky, Dark Matter charged at them, sword ready to impale them. Sweetie was able to move out of the way, and Kirby slashed at it with the Rainbow Sword. Sweetie 'flew' away from it and shot from her horn a few beams in the colors of the rainbow, hurting it once before it dodged the rest. Dark Matter pointed its sword at them and shot back energy beams, Kirby deflecting the first before Sweetie moved out of the way.

That was when Sweetie looked down, and saw how high they were.

WAAAAHH?!! We are in space?! And wait, is this Popstar?!

Below them, Popstar appeared as a giant star with two rings around it in a cross-like manner. She remembered seeing one of them from Dream Land and wondering what it was, well now she had her answer. Actually, she remarked that they were at the level of the rings, one of them not being far.

"Poyo!"

Kirby's scream brought her back to the fight and she instinctively moved away, dodging Dark Matter trying to ram them. Sweetie remained beside it so Kirby could slash at it as much as possible, Dark Matter parrying some of the attacks. It then slashed at Sweetie Belle, forcing her to go away to dodge while she fired back a beam. Following this, Dark Matter pointed up its sword, forming a sphere of dark energy, before it threw it at them. Sweetie was about to move away again, only for Kirby to swing the Rainbow Sword at the sphere, deflecting it back at their enemy, which seemed to really hurt it.

Sweetie charged back at Dark Matter, and yet again, the two swords clashed for a whole minute, the two sword users not backing up. Dark Matter was suddenly hit from behind by something, opening itself to more slashes from Kirby until it backed away, seeing who attacked him from behind.

The attacker was none other than Gooey, back in his form with all the yellow spheres behind him, and a determined look in his eyes. Seeing him seemed to make Dark Matter angry, because it charged at him and swung its sword, only for Gooey to dodge and headbutt it.

Sweetie didn't let this chance pass and came behind Dark Matter so Kirby could use his sword to attack while she shot her rainbow beams. They moved back again as Dark Matter swung its sword at them, opening itself to Gooey shooting some dark lightning bolts from his mouth. It then turned around itself, shooting many energy beams at all of them. Gooey moved out of the way while Kirby simply deflected them with the sword. Dark Matter continued attacking by sending a dark orb toward Gooey but the blob destroyed it with a dark lightning bolt. Sweetie took the occasion and charged, Kirby readying the sword. As they passed beside it, Kirby slashed it, and dark energy started to get out of its body as it seemed in pain.

Its body exploded in an explosion of dark energy before reappearing in a new form. A dark ball with many little yellow orbs and a single eye at the center.

The resemblance with Gooey's actual form didn't escape Sweetie Belle, which would explain how they knew each other, but she didn't have time to think about it because they suddenly started to fall!

Panic was about to start for Sweetie Belle until Dark Matter came back to continue the fight, charging right at her. Forgetting about the fall, she quickly got out of the way and Kirby slashed again. Gooey approached and fired his lightning bolts, but Dark Matter fired its-or his own lightning bolts even darker than Gooey's all around him, hitting all of them. They backed away, and Dark Matter attacked again by sending his yellow orbs at them. Kirby deflected one back at Dark Matter, only for Sweetie to be hit by two others that exploded on contact, and Gooey was hit by four others. Hurt, Sweetie counterattacked by shooting beams at Dark Matter without stopping while Gooey shot his lightning bolts, but Dark Matter didn't give up and shot countless dark energy beams at them, hurting them even more.

They could see that they were approaching the atmosphere, they must finish this fight quickly! Gooey landed on Kirby's head and restarted shooting his lightning bolts, this time rainbow colored, and Sweetie charged back at Dark Matter with some difficulty. Kirby slashed relentlessly at the dark orb, wanting to end this fight, but he was unseated by a lightning bolt from Dark Matter. Losing Kirby from her back, Sweetie started to fall faster, only to be caught by Gooey going under her.

"Th-thanks, Gooey... You are a savior." she said, hugging the blob, making him go red.

But when Dark Matter looked at them, his eye was suddenly filled with hate and pain, and he charged at them with the full intention to end them. Gooey flew away from Dark Matter, wanting to keep the filly safe. Sweetie shot some beams-back to normal-at the dark orb, but they didn't have any effect on him. They then passed beside Kirby, his sword ready, and as Dark Matter flew beside him, he swung his sword, cutting him deeply.

Dark Matter stopped, and dark energy started to escape him. As he moved in pain, more and more dark energy went out of him, until finally he exploded with a last high pitched screech full of pain.

Sweetie Belle sighed in relief. Finally, it ended. Their enemy was no more, and all should go back to normal. Or... Well... They first had to survive the fall. Now that Dark Matter was no longer distracting her of the problem, she was about to scream in panic when Kirby suddenly caught her right hoof. Looking at him, she saw that he used the Rainbow Sword to fly.

Kirby smiled at her, reassuring her that everything was alright, before pulling her on his back. Gooey then used his tongue to cling to Kirby's feet, and together, they descended back to the surface of Popstar, the yellow of the star letting place to oceans, grasslands, mountains, and other landscapes. Guided by the Rainbow Sword, they returned above the Rainbow Islands just as the sun was starting to appear above the horizon. When they reached the first island, the sword flashed, and a rainbow appeared behind them, the end going toward Grass Land. When they reached Big Forest, the rainbow cut, and the second end went to the island. Another rainbow started to form from Big Forest and went toward Ripple Fields. The same thing happened with all the other islands, giving a show that Sweetie will never forget, seeing the islands with all the rainbows linking them.

Eventually, they reached Dark Castle where the sword dropped them at the top where they fought Dedede. Speaking of the king, he was back to consciousness, admiring the view of the Rainbow Bridges coming back with a big smile. Alongside him were the animals and many Waddle Dees tending to all four of them. Sweetie recognized Broom Sunglasses and Cape Knight among them, and she hoped that Waddle Dee was here too, but she couldn't recognize him with all these Waddle Dees. Oh! Here he was, waving at her!

As they landed, the Rainbow Sword disappeared in a flash of rainbow light, not needed anymore.

With conscious steps, still hurting from her battle against possessed Dedede and Dark Matter, Sweetie slowly approached the king, quickly helped by Waddle Dee.

"Are you alright, King Dedede?" she asked.

"Yes, that thing did nothing to me while it was in possession of my body. I just have to recover from our battle, but a quick meal and I'll be back fully recovered."

Sweetie smiled at him and suddenly jumped around his neck, starting to cry. "I'm so glad! I was so scarred! You became all evil and you threatened to kill me and you were all weird, so I had to ask Kirby for help and we fought you and also Whispy Woods and Mr. Bright and Mr. Shine and Kracko and that big fish who almost ate me and-"

"Hey hey hey! Calm down! Seems like you had quite the adventure."

"Yes! We had to explore all the Rainbow Islands! And..." She yawned, the whole day of adventure catching back to her. "And I even learned how to shoot magical beams... And I beat Cape Knight in duel... I have become stronger..."

"You will tell me that later. It seems like you need to sleep."

Sweetie Belle nodded, her eyes starting to close. "Yes..." She yawned again, then rubbed her head under his chin. "I'm so glad... you are back... Dedede..."

Seeing that Sweetie Belle had stopped talking, Dedede took her in his arms, the smiling filly curling into a ball against his chess.

A warm smile appeared on his face. "I'm proud of you little one. I knew that I could count on you."

Kirby watched all this from farther, smiling. Maybe he does care actually.