Dinner time, the same day.
Sweetie Belle looked at her food, thoughtful. She hadn't eaten anything yet, and Dedede finally remarked that.
"Is there a problem?" he asked.
Sweetie looked at him before she sighed and finally asked, "Do... Do you know of any way to go into another dimension?"
Dedede raised an eyebrow. "Why the sudden interest?"
"Well... it's because..." She sighed again. "I think that I'm not just coming from another world, but from another dimension."
"Another dimension? Really?"
"I have been having doubts after exploring all those worlds in our quest to stop the sun and moon from fighting each other. And then, thanks to Gooey, the day before we went to hide in Iceberg, I learned that the stars symbolize the dreams. and they are everywhere! Heck, Popstar is a giant star-shaped planet! It's a literal world of dreams, and all those other worlds had the same logics as Popstar. But my world... There is none of that. In my world, stuffs like breathing underwater exist only in dreams or using magic. No black doors that transport you to a different place. No food popping in random in the wild. No stars representing dreams. Nothing... My world is so different from all the ones that I visited that I'm thinking that I'm not from this universe. This universe is an universe where dreams are real. Not in my world..."
"I see your point..." Dedede said while crossing his arms before sighing. "Sorry to say, but there is only one thing that I know which can transport you to another dimension."
"Really?!"
"Let me finish. We call that thing the Dimensional Mirror, and it can be found somewhere in the sky of Dream Land. However... It only transports to a mirror version of Popstar."
"Oh... Does this means... that I will never go home?"
"Don't say that. I only know of the mirror, that doesn't mean that there are no other ways out there in the universe. Like you say, in our universe, dreams are real, and that means that somewhere out there, dimensional travels are real. It will just be really hard to find..."
"Nova probably could have helped me. Too bad I had to destroy him to save the world."
Dedede didn't say anything to that, only watching Sweetie as she finally started eating slowly. After some thinking, he then said, "Nova was only one way. There will be others, and sooner or later, you will return to your home. Until then..." He made the peace sign. "enjoy basking in my sublime presence!"
She laughed.
The next week, Sweetie Belle ran toward Adeleine, the girl busy painting two rainbows crossing each other from the top of a hill. She had been searching her for a few days now, but it was like searching a needle in a haystack.
"Adeleine!" she shouted to get her attention.
Adeleine heard her and stopped her painting before looking in her direction. Seeing her approaching, she smiled before saying, "Sweetie Belle! It's nice to see you! You want something?"
Sweetie stopped beside the girl and said, "Yes. With your painting, can you create a portal to another dimension?"
"Eeeeh?!" Adeleine screamed. "A dimensional portal? I-I can't! It's too much for me! Well, I probably could try, but the portal would probably transport you to a random place! The chances for you to end up somewhere dangerous are too high!"
At that, Sweetie stopped smiling before sitting and sighing in sadness. "I see... Thank you Adeleine..."
"Hey..." Adeleine said, petting Sweetie to comfort her. "I'm sorry. Why do you want me to create a portal?"
"To go back home..."
"Oh..." Adeleine hugged the filly before saying. "I understand. I'm sorry that I can't help you."
"It's alright Adeleine. I will just continue to search."
"Well then..." Adeleine stopped the hug, before looking at her paint. "Do you want to paint something alongside me?"
This made Sweetie smile. "Yes!"
Her painting, of Rarity, was not as good as Adeleine's paintings, but she still put it on one of her wall in her chamber. She should do more painting, it was really relaxing.
Two days later.
"So you can't open portals with your powers?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Sorry Sweetie Belle. That's too much even for me," Marx replied.
Sweetie Belle and Marx were sitting on a log beside a path. Sweetie had found him sitting on it and took the occasion to ask him if he could open portals with his powers, only to be answered with a no.
She sighed before saying to him, "Ok... Thank you Marx. So... do you want to go pranking with me? I have seen Kirby sleeping in the way."
"Oooooh! Ohohohoh! This is perfect!"
They quickly found Kirby sleeping under a tree not far from a river, and Marx was already trying to hold his laughter.
"So, any idea Master Prankster?" Sweetie asked.
At that, Marx got out of... nowhere a jar full of red peppers. "He likes eating everything. Then let's see how he endures peppers."
It was now Sweetie's turn to hold her laughter. "Wow! There are so many he could breathe fire!"
"I know, right?!"
The two pranksters then slowly approached the sleeping puffball. Once they were just in front of him, they waited until Kirby yawned before Marx dropped the whole jar in his mouth before it closed. Immediately, Kirby woke up, turned red, and put his arms on his mouth, his cheeks bloating and sweat appearing everywhere on his head. But then, before Marx and Sweetie could start to laugh, Kirby spat fire right at them before he ran toward the river, spitting even more fire all the way.
He was quickly followed by the two pranksters now on fire, screaming, before they all jumped in the river almost at the same time, Kirby rapidly drinking as much water as he could, creating a whirlpool in front of him. Sweetie and Marx found themselves caught in it, and before long, despite trying to swim away, they found themselves stuck inside Kirby who was full of water, the puffball not swallowing them. Two seconds later, he spat them back, at the bottom of the river, Sweetie finding herself on Marx, the two of them with swirly eyes.
"Well... This didn't go as planned..." Marx said.
"You don't say..." Sweetie replied.
Just as they recovered their senses, they then heard Kirby starting to laugh. They looked at him, rolling on the floor, before they looked at each other, then they started laughing too.
The next day, not having any more ideas of what or who could create a portal, Sweetie came back to her initial idea: becoming powerful enough in magic to one day be able to create a portal to go back home, doubling her magical training. For the following month, she passed hours lifting bigger and bigger weights with her magic, or shooting various projectiles at dummies.
To help her train, Dedede would often join her to fight each other, this time in real fights until one of them couldn't move anymore (of course, it was always Sweetie Belle), improving their skills. Dedede revealed that he was starting to work in the creation of a new hammer that "will definitely clobber that Kirby!" but it may take a few more months before it is achieved. Now Sweetie was curious to see this hammer.
She was also starting to work on a new offensive spell based on the thing she loved: singing. She remembered the way the Walkys, those walking microphones, attacked by sending musical notes to their enemies, and she would like to reproduce something similar. The problem was that, contrary to fire, ice, or lightning, she hadn't experienced what it was like to shoot music notes from her horn, so it was far harder and longer to learn. She will have to ask Kirby to eat one of those Walkys before jumping on her back, to see if it will help.
Right now, she was in front of Dedede with all the soldiers and servants in the castle in the main hall, the king having something to say. He seemed angry.
"Alright everyone!" he started. "I just learned that that group of thieves, the Squeak Squad, has yet again stolen some treasures in one of my fortresses!"
"Them again?!" Sweetie shouted.
"Yes! It's a fortress a little further that I had kinda forgotten. So, what I'm gonna do is that I will go to that fortress to reinforce it, so I will not be present for a few days."
"Can I come?" the filly asked.
"No need," the king answered. "There is not much you will be able to do there. Instead, as my second, you will take my place in the castle until my return."
Sweetie gulped. "You are sure?"
"Hey! Don't worry Sweetie!" she suddenly heard. Looking in the direction of the voice, she saw that it was Waddle Dee. "Remember, you can count on me and Cape Knight to help you! Well... mostly Cape Knight..."
"Right..." Sweetie Belle replied, still insure.
"I'm sure you will have no problem," Dedede said. "Remember, it's only for a few days."
Surprisingly, Dedede was right. With the minions already knowing their work, she didn't have much to do, meaning that she could continue training without problem. That was, until the night after Dedede's departure, where her sleep was interrupted by a Waddle Dee shouting her name.
"What...?" she asked sleepily.
"There is something going on in the sky. Come look outside the castle."
Rubbing her eyes to get rid of the sleep, she said, "Okay, I'm following you," before they went on the roof of the castle where Sweetie looked at the sky alongside the guards on the walls. She saw two things. One: the sun was almost rising, the sky getting clearer at the horizon. Two: there were... not meteors or shooting stars, but things falling of the sky here and there. It was hard to see what they were, but it was clearly not natural. Something was happening, and it may be bad. She saw one of the things falling not too far of the castle, and said, "I'm going to see what they are. Can one of you go waking up Waddle Dee and Cape Knight?"
Two Waddle Dees saluted. "Yes madam!"
"Okay you two," Sweetie spoke to Waddle Dee and Cape Knight. "A few minutes ago, unknown things have fallen from the sky, and it may be bad. I saw one of them falling not far, and I'm going to see what it is. Waddle Dee, you are coming with me."
"What? Why me? If it's bad, then Cape Knight may be more useful!"
"Because he will take my place until I come back. He is better than you at leading the guards and the servants, so he will know what to do if something happens while I'm away dealing with whatever it is."
"I can't say anything against that..." Waddle Dee said, dropping his arms in resignation. "But wait... Why do I even need to come?"
At that, Sweetie smiled. "You may know what to do once we find whatever has fallen from the sky. And also, because we haven't spent much time together since almost two months."
Despite not having a mouth, she could swear she saw him smile. "Ok then."
Cape Knight then spoke. "Go on you two, leave the castle to me."
They nodded before leaving.
It didn't take them long to find whatever fell from the sky, in the middle of a small field surrounded by wooden barriers. They found out that it was some sort of small glowing crystal.
"That's it? A crystal?" Waddle Dee said.
"It's beautiful. But we must be careful, crystals can have nasty things in them."
Courageously, but carefully, Waddle Dee poked the crystal, only for nothing happening. Seeing that, he took the crystal, looking closely at it. "There doesn't seem to be anything." He didn't see however the shadow appearing behind him.
However, Sweetie saw it, seeing a familiar black ball with a single eye popping out of it. Shouting, "Watch out!" she immediately grabbed Waddle Dee before pulling him at her side.
Waddle Dee saw the ball and yelled in surprise, "A Dark Matter?!"
At that, the Dark Matter ascended to the sky before flying right at Sweetie Belle at great speed, using the light of the sun to blind her. Seeing that, Waddle Dee screamed, "No!" before jumping in the path of the dark ball just before he reached her, the Dark Matter disappearing instead inside him.
"Waddle Dee!"
"Poyo!" she heard a very familiar voice behind her.
"Kirby!" she shouted, turning around, seeing the puffball approaching with an adorable little winged human girl with long pink hairs, a red dress with white rims at the arms and two golden buttons, a red ribbon in her hair, a white collar, and brown shoes. The girl was holding a crystal similar than the one they found, but a little bigger. "Watch out! A Dark Matter took possession of Waddle Dee!"
"Oh no!" the girl shouted in a childlike voice.
"Poyo!" Kirby shouted, looking at the fallen Waddle Dee who started to wake up, Sweetie running beside him before looking at her possessed friend.
Waddle Dee woke up, his arms hiding his eyes.
And then...
He turned into a Waddle Doo.
...
"What?"