"YOU DESTROYED NOVA?!!"
Sweetie was almost blown away by the loud roar of King Dedede. She then hid herself partly behind the table, only letting half of her head poking out.
"Uh... Yes..."
"Nova... THE Galactic Nova... Destroyed..." Dedede said in disbelief.
"I... I know he was a big deal around here... But I didn't have a choice. He was helping Marx trying to conquer Popstar. He would have probably repaired himself and resumed his assault if I hadn't done it." She looked at the floor. "I'm sorry..."
Dedede took a deep breath. "Don't be. You have done what you thought was the right thing to do and saved all of us. And frankly, I would have probably done the same thing in your place. Still..." He slammed a hand on the table. "Curse that Marx! If you hadn't already blown him up with Nova, I would have gone clobber him to next week!"
"I still don't believe that Marx played us all this time," Waddle Dee said. "He was so friendly!"
"It shows that not every person we trust are reliable. Maybe someone in this very room is a traitor biding their time," Cape Knight said.
At this, the guards and servants around the table looked at each others in suspicion.
Dedede then yelled, "I hope for them that no! Or else..." He slammed his hammer on the table, breaking it, making everyone gulp.
Sweetie looked at the broken table, sweating , and slowly said, "IIIIII'm... going into my room. After this adventure and this fight against Marx, I need rest. And... I also need some alone time."
Dedede looked at her expressionless, then said, "Alright. I will even give you free time tomorrow. I can see you have many things to think about."
"Thank you your majesty."
"But."
"Yes?"
"Don't feel guilty about Marx. You have done the right thing."
Sweetie remained silent for a few seconds before replying. "I know... But it's still hard. Knowing that I have killed someone. Two, counting Nova."
Dedede sighed. "Just go."
Everyone watched her as she left the room. Then Waddle Dee said, "Should we really leave her alone?"
"She just needs some time to get over this," Dedede replied. "She now understand that the path she took, protecting Dream Land and Popstar, involves sometime bloodying her hooves. Now, she has to accept that."
"For her, it must be even harder, knowing that she is a child coming from a people extremely pacifist," Cape Knight said. "The idea of killing, even to save the world, must be sickening. But at least, this shows that she isn't a monster."
She couldn't sleep.
Sweetie was in her room, on her bed. Outside, it was the middle of the night, the moon was high in the sky, and the stars sparkled. Not a sound was heard, everyone was sleeping.
But not her. She just couldn't.
She saved the world, but for that, she had had to kill someone. As far as she knew, even her sister and her friends hadn't killed any of the bad guys they fought.
Nightmare Moon was purified into Princess Luna.
Discord was petrified.
The changelings were thrown away by the love barrier.
Sombra... Nopony was really sure about him. All they were sure was that he was disintegrated by the Crystal Heart.
Tirek was sent back into Tartarus.
But here...
Dedede was thrown through the roof of the castle.
Nightmare exploded with a part of the moon.
Dark Matter exploded too after one too many cut from the Rainbow Sword.
Meta Knight was able to escape the Halberd.
And now, Marx was sent into Nova who exploded.
So far, half the bad guys they fought were killed, and she had a role in the last one's death. What did that mean? Twilight and the others could find a way to (almost) always spare their enemies, but here in Dream Land, Dream Land, they couldn't? Had there even been a way to spare Nightmare, Dark Matter, and Marx? So far, she couldn't think of anything.
Nightmare would have continued to try plunging the world in an eternal nightmare, he had just been evil, and the only means to stop him had been the Star Rod that killed him, not sealed him. Not every artefacts were ones that sealed or locked like the Elements. And he had been too powerful to be imprisoned the normal way, and Dream Land didn't seem to possess any special prison like Tartarus.
Dark Matter... What he said to Gooey, when he had been possessing Dedede. Feel hurt... For some reason, feelings had been hurting him, and yet, he and Gooey had been of the same species, and Gooey wasn't hurt by the feelings. And if she followed what Gooey said right, then it was Gooey who somehow gained the capacity to feel without being hurt. Could they have done the same thing to Dark Matter? But how... How did Gooey gain the capacity to feel? If only he could talk... Really talk. Beside, in the middle of the fight, it was hard to think of a way to help Dark Matter while trying to not be killed by him. MAYBE there had been a way to spare him, but they didn't have it, or known it. And like Nightmare, they had had to end him.
And Marx. He could have been defeated the normal way without having to use any artefacts, but he had just been too powerful. Despite this giant blast, he would have probably continued the fight if he hadn't been sent into Nova, and they probably would have lost. If they had been stronger, then things could have been different, and they could have beaten him down and talked to him. There must have been a reason why he had wanted to control Popstar, and he hadn't seemed as evil as Nightmare or Dark Matter. He had looked more like Discord. He had been evil, but maybe they could have convinced him to find a better way. Too bad again, no Elements of Harmony to help keeping him in check. And again, in the middle of the fight...
In Dream Land, they just didn't have the means to spare the villains too evil and/or too powerful.
And Sweetie didn't like that.
She decided to get up and go walk outside of the castle. Maybe some fresh air will help her.
It was hard to believe that such a peaceful land hid such a hard truth, that villains weren't as easy to spare as in Equestria.
She was walking on a road, passing beside a tree every now and then. It was a little cold, but her cape kept her warm enough to not shake. Nobody was around, she was all alone in this path with her thoughts.
Or, that was, until she heard a familiar voice talking. "You seem to be lost in thought."
She gasped and turned to her right at the source of the voice. There, sitting at the bottom of a tree, was Meta Knight himself, looking at her. "Meta Knight!"
He chuckled at her reaction. "You didn't think you would see me, uh?"
Sweat appeared on the filly's forehead, not sure what to consider Meta Knight. "Well, you have disappeared after our fight, and nobody heard about you or your knights since then."
"And you aren't sure about my intentions. Well, do not worry, I don't intent to attack you. I'm just enjoying a good night by myself. And it seems you are doing the same thing."
"Yeah..." Sweetie answered, looking toward the ground. "I needed some fresh air..." She sighed. "to think about... things." She remained silent for a time, Meta Knight just looking at her without saying anything. She then looked at him. "I killed someone."
"I see... Yes, the first kill is always the hardest. I learned to live with this, knowing that this is part of the path that I chose. And with the path that you chose, it had to happen sooner or later."
"Yes... Now I understand that."
"Who was it?"
"Marx. And if he counts, Nova."
At that, Meta Knight's eyes became bigger behind the mask for the space of one second. "You destroyed Nova? I suppose it has something to do with the chaos that happened yesterday, with the sun and the moon."
"Yes. Marx secretly caused the sun and moon to fight and then asked Kirby to invoke Nova so he could stop them. I helped him finding the Fountains of Dreams of various worlds, passing traps and fighting powerful guardians. By the way, sorry, but we destroyed the Heavy Lobster factory in this futuristic world. I hope you will not mind."
Meta Knight facepalmed. "This just means that I will have to search for something else, or build our Heavy Lobster on our own."
"Anyway, in the end, we were able to invoke Nova only for Marx to steal the wish under our nose. He wished to control Popstar, gaining great powers while Nova started flying toward Popstar. Kirby and I stopped Nova by destroying his core, then we fought Marx, but he was too powerful. In the end, I used a giant Force Blast and, with the help of Kirby, I sent him toward Nova, making it explode with Marx."
Meta Knight nodded. "You have done the right thing."
"That's what everyone is telling me, and that's what I'm telling to myself. But... I can't help myself but think that there could have been a better way."
"Thinking about 'what ifs' will not change what happened. You fought Marx, he was overpowering you, you acted in consequence to ensure that you would not fail, and it means that you had to take a drastic measure. For the same reason that I thought that taking over Dream Land to protect it was the best way, you thought at the time that killing Marx and destroy Nova to protect Popstar was the best way. Sometime, to do the right thing, you have to take hard decision. And it's the harsh trust that every warrior must accept one day. If you do not, then just give up your whip and return to what life you had before taking it."
After a few seconds of silence looking at the ground again, Sweetie said, "I don't like it."
"I never told you to like it. Sometime, the trust hurts. I don't like it either. Kirby doesn't like it either. My knights don't like it either." He sighed. "As crazy as he seemed back then, even Vul doesn't like it." His gaze became harsh. "The ones that like it are the ones that we fight."
Before she could think of a reply, Meta Knight's eyes suddenly turned toward the sky, slightly to his left, before he looked up. Curious, Sweetie followed the direction he was looking at and her jaw dropped in awe. Up there, something was falling from the sky.
"Is that a meteor?" she asked.
"After your fight against Marx, I doubt. It could be a part of Nova. They must be littering the space not far of Popstar."
After he talked, they saw the falling object hitting the ground a few miles from their position. Sweetie then saw Meta Knight getting up and opening his wings.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm going to see what it is, in case it may be dangerous," he answered.
"Then I'm coming, just in case."
Meta Knight only nodded, taking off. He was soon followed by Sweetie Belle on her Warp Star.
"So you got a Warp Star?" he said.
"Yes," she answered. "I got it just after destroying Nova's heart. It has been given to me by the Fountains' power. However, I'm still learning to control it, so I don't dare going too fast."
Nothing more was said. They didn't take much longer to reach the impact area, and saw the smoking crater left by the object. They landed beside it, only for Sweetie to crash again, the filly bouncing on the ground a few times as the Warp Star exploded.
"Urg..." groaned Sweetie, slowly getting up. "I really need to learn how not to crash..."
"It's one of the hardest things to do with a Warp Star, avoid crashing," Meta Knight said, chuckling.
Sweetie groaned again before approaching the crater alongside Meta Knight. The smoke was starting to disperse, letting the two of them see what crashed, and Sweetie gasped.
"Marx?!" she shouted.
Hearing this name, Meta Knight took his sword and got closer, seeing, indeed, the jester himself, face on the ground, burned all over his body with a few scratches. His jester hat somehow survived but had many holes. They heard him groan.
"He has survived?! How?!"
"His powers gained from Nova must have been great enough to protect him from the explosion. But..." He readied his sword. "he is weakened. Let's not pass this occasion to really end him, or he may start again." He then advanced toward the fallen villain.
"Wait..." Sweetie suddenly said.
This got Meta Knight to stop and look at her. "What?"
"I... I understand that this may be best to k... kill him so he doesn't try to take over Popstar again but... Can I try to talk to him before? In his state, I don't think he can do anything to me, and I will keep an eye on him. I just want to understand something first."
Meta Knight looked silently toward her before saying, "You are about to take a big risk."
"I know. But please..."
He sighed and put away his sword. "Alright."
"Thank you."
Sweetie took her whip in her magic and walked toward Marx, stopping just beside him, hearing him groan again. She then slowly turned him on his back, seeing that he had his eyes closed in pain. She looked at him, both in anger and in pity, before sighing.
"Marx?" she called him.
All she got in answer were more groans, but she then saw his eyes starting moving under his eyelids, before they slowly opened. His pupils then turned toward her. "Oh... You..."
They silently stared at each other for a few minutes, nobody saying anything, Meta Knight just looking at them without moving. Sweetie Belle then said one thing, as tears appeared in her eyes.
"Why?"
Marx answered her with more silence, until he laughed, not his crazy laugh, but a pained laugh that still possessed amusement. "Because I want to have fun."
"Didn't you have already fun with us? Like when you imitated me?"
"Oh, I had fun. But not enough. Messing with peoples, doing what I want, without anyone telling me what to do or not to do... The whole world as my playground... without limits... I would have had SO much fun..."
Sweetie sighed. "Even if you end up without friends?"
"I don't need friends to have fun."
"Maybe... But... Let me tell you a story."
"Oh... I love stories."
"It comes from my world, and let me tell you, it's a true story. You see... Long ago, there was a powerful creature. He was so powerful, than in the snap of his fingers, he could do what he wanted, and nobody could stop him. But this creature loved to have fun, and so, using his powers, he made the whole world into his playground. One snap, and the houses were flying. Another, and the roads turned into butter. Another again, and he turned the clouds into cotton candies, and made them rain chocolate milk. He was the master, and nobody could defy him. This creature called himself Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. And he thought exactly like you, that he didn't need friends to have his fun.
But one day, two sisters were able to gather powerful magical artifacts called the Elements of Harmony, and despite Discord's huge power, he couldn't do anything against them. The Elements turned him into stone, and left him trapped like that for over one thousand year."
"That stinks..." Marx said.
"You have no ideas, and me neither, but I know that he must have been bored to death. However, he eventually was able to escape his prison of stone, and the first thing he did was trying to retake control like before. But yet again, in less than a day this time, he got turned into stone by the Elements, and he could have ended trapped in it for another millenia. But then, something unexpected happened. The sisters, the same ones that imprisoned him the first time, decided to give him a chance, because they knew that deep down, he wasn't truly evil. All he wanted after all, was to have fun. He just had to learn to have fun without messing with the lives of everyone else.
And so, they used the Elements to free him, but he had to avoid going too far, or less he would be turned into stone again, but that still didn't stop him from pranking everyone. And while many saw him as an annoyance, some people tried to befriend him, and despite him, he actually started to care for someone, his first real friend. She accepted his chaos, and would have fun with him, and they would laugh together. In return, he would go with her to do simpler activities, like..." She laughs. "tea parties. And despite these activities not being as chaotic as what he generally did, he still had fun, because he was passing time with a friend. And with time, he got more friends, and more fun. He now uses his chaos to not only make himself laugh, but also to make others laugh, ans seeing others laugh makes him laugh even more.
He may not have as much 'fun' as before, but he now has fun with others, and he learned that this fun is the best fun.
Do you understand Marx? What you told me you wanted to do a few minutes ago, it's exactly what Discord was doing one thousand years ago. You wanted to use your powers to have fun, but it would have been a lonely fun. You already had enough fun with everyone else, with your pranks, with your tricks... But now... You have just lost everything..."
She stopped talking and looked at Marx, in the eyes, expressionless. Marx looked back at her, mouth slightly open, not saying anything.
Then, she smiled. "There is something more in my story. You see, there was that centaure named Tirek that escaped from a special prison for powerful villains, and Discord was tasked to stop him. However, Tirek was able to convince him to help him and betray everyone. In the end, he hurt everyone he was starting to care, only to be betrayed too by Tirek, who didn't need him anymore. Tirek even threatened to kill him, only to be saved by one of the persons he betrayed, and he helped finding a way to beat Tirek and send him back to his prison. After that, despite his betrayal, he was forgiven, and now, he his a friend that we can trust, even if he is annoying.
So Marx..." She took a deep breath. "I don't know about the others but..." She smiled at him. "I would like to give you a second chance, so you can have fun, with me. Oh, and sorry, I would like to give you a hoof so you could use it to get up and shake it, but you don't have a hand to take it."
She smiled widely at him, and he looked at her with wide eyes.
And then, he laughed.
And she laughed too.
Meta Knight still watched, not intervening.
Marx fell asleep after a whole minute of laughing. Sweetie took him on her back before returning beside Meta Knight.
"I hope for you, and for everyone, that this will not bite us in the back," he said.
"I know that I'm taking a big risk, but I don't want him to get killed if there is still a chance for him to be good. Don't worry. If he betrays us again, then you, me, Kirby, or even Dedede will be ready to stop him again, and this time, for good. I'm still training, so I will get stronger, and Dedede is getting stronger too, and you too, I guess. So I'm not scared. I only want to kill someone if there are no other options."
He nodded. "What will you do with him?"
"I... don't know actually. The castle may not be a good idea. King Dedede is really pissed off at him. Maybe Kirby can help him? He forgave Dedede for stealing the food of Dream Land, so maybe he will forgive Marx despite him trying to take over Popstar."
"Yes. Kirby is that simple. He doesn't really care for someone's past actions. If that person doesn't do anything bad right now, then he will accept them."
Sweetie giggled. "Goodbye then, Meta Knight, and thank you, for helping me."
Meta Knight nodded. "Goodbye, Sweetie Belle." He turned his back to her. "You have a big heart. I hope that this will not be your downfall." And at this, he took off.
Sweetie followed him with her eyes for a time before saying, "Don't worry. I only do what I feel is the right thing. And deep down..." She looked at the sleeping Marx on her back, smiling. "I know that I'm doing the right thing."
Looking through a window-portal, Discord smiled warmly at what he just saw, a tear at the corner of his left eye.
Twilight will be so proud.