//------------------------------//
// Chapter 38: Vacation 
// Story: A Sweetie Dream Land 
// by Lucar 
//------------------------------//

That night, as they were together for dinner, Sweetie Belle toldthe others about the Dark God.

"You really think we will one day fight this God?" Dedede asked.

"There is a possibility," she replied. "I mean, in the space of a few months, we have had no less than five crisis concerning artefacts or beings created by this God, or by the Ancients with his help. First, the Fountain of Dreams, the Star Rod, and Nightmare. Well, this is not confirmed that Nightmare was created by the God, but there is a big possibility, with the God being the creator of the dreams. Secondly, the Dark Matters, three times. While the God hasn't directly created the Dark Matters, he did create Zero, who himself created the Dark Matters. And then, there was Nova, using the power of dreams, and so the God's power, to grant wishes. So, you see, I really wouldn't be surprised if we do fight the God himself at some point in the future."

Adeleine rubbed her head in nervousness. "I see your point. But do you think we would be able to fight something so powerful?"

Sweetie Belle sighed. "I don't know... Queen Ripple said that four heroes were able to seal him, so this shows that he is not invincible. We could do it too. But we will certainly need to get stronger. And having more allies would not be bad too. I know we could count on the animals and Gooey to join us. And..." She smiled sheepishly at Dedede. "there is Marx too."

"What?!" Dedede fell from his chair, and quickly got back up, looking at Sweetie Belle in disbelief. "He is alive?!"

She nodded. "He survived the explosion of Nova, and I convinced him to stop trying to conquer Popstar. Seeing how he hasn't tried anything bad since then, I think we can now count on him."

"And why haven't you told me?" he asked, annoyed.

"You were too angry at him. If I had told you, you would have gone to fight him."

He grumbled and crossed his arms while sitting back on his chair. "True..."

Adeleine looked at her plate for a few seconds, then looked at Kirby and Sweetie Belle. "You can count on me too. I will be there if the day comes."

"Me too," Ribbon said. "I'm not a great fighter, but I could be of help."

Adeleine smiled at her. "You could lift me, like you did in our adventure."

Ripples nodded. "I will also ask the fairies to forge a crystal that you could use to shoot projectiles. It would not be as powerful as the Crystal, but it would still be useful thanks to the Heart energy of our world. We are not much for weapons, in Ripple Star, but against the Dark God, we are willing to do something."

"And of course..." Dedede bumped his chest. "I will be there too! It would be a shame if I, the Great King Dedede, will not help saving the universe when my second in command will do it!"

"Me too!" Waddle Dee shouted.

Sweetie Belle smiled at them. "And I think we can add Meta Knight too. Even if he tried to conquer Dream Land, in the end, he only wanted to protect Popstar. He was just... misguided."

Kirby raised an arm. "Poyo!"

Sweetie giggled. "Of course. We already have a big and powerful team ready to fight this God if he shows up."

Dedede smirked. "If he does, he will regret it! With all of us, he will not stand a chance!"

"Poyo/Yeah!"

Queen Ripple smiled at them. "Yes. I believe in you." And after a moment of silence, she added "I have heard that you wanted to return to that world of water, which, by the way, is named Aqua Star, to pass some vacation. So, how about I guide you to it tomorrow?"

"Yes, please! We don't know where it is exactly!" Sweetie Belle said.



It was a nice day today in Ponyville. Warm with a few clouds here and there, perfect for a small tea time. So it was only natural for Discord and Fluttershy to have one outside the pegasus' house. That, and Discord wanted to make sure that his friend didn't have any... sequels from the violent spectacle from the previous day. Already, the poor dear had been getting agitated at seeing Zero Two, whose appearance had been quite unsettling, so when that thing had started leaking blood from his eye, she had had a hard time keeping her eyes on the fight. And when the bandage had been destroyed to reveal that big bloody hole in the head, she had passed the rest of the fight hidden behind her chair not looking at it.

He thought that he should have closed the portal at this moment, or at least, he should have told Fluttershy to not look.

Right now, she seemed to be better, probably thanks to her friends, both ponies and animals, and that tea party was probably helping her relaxing too. Or it may be Discord goofing with his magic to make her laugh that actually helped.

Right now, he was having a musical number with a bunch of tea-pots, making them expel steam with different sounds to form a song, Discord himself acting like a conductor.

"No, yellow tea-pot with the pink flower, you must do two short puffs followed by a long one. And blue tea-pot, red tea-pot, and purple tea-pot with pink dots, can you do your 'puff PUFF puff puff' a little faster? Alright, we restart. Three. Two. O..." He was interrupted by a letter popping in front of him. "Oh. Bummer."

"What is it Discord?" Fluttershy asked.

Discord caught the letter and started reading it. "Oh! It's a report from the mini me that I sent to watch Sweetie Belle. Already?"

"I hope she is not in another scary adventure so soon..."

After some more reading, Discord said, "No. Nothing like that. She has actually gone in a small vacation with the others and that queen fairy in that waterworld."

Fluttershy sighed in relief. "Thanks Celestia..."

"Oh..." Discord suddenly half shouted, surprising her.

"What?"

Discord started sweating. "Well, that's unexpected..."

"What?" Fluttershy repeated.

"Erh... Apparently, Sweetie Belle may, and I say 'may', end up fighting in the future a Dark God from the origin of time. As in, Zero's daddy."

Fluttershy cringed. "That monster's father? A Dark God?" She gulped. "How bad is it?"

"Really bad," Discord answered. "He is a God... a Dark God... and he is named 'The Destructor'. When a Dark God is named 'The Destructor', this translates by 'this guy can destroy the whole universe if he is not stopped'. All the villains that you and your friends have faced, me included, would be worms compared to his power. Yes, even Tirek when he possessed all that magic. That bad."

Fluttershy started to shake. "M-maybe you should bring Sweetie Belle back..."

"I'm thinking this but... this could be her purpose. What if she ended up in that universe to help save it from that God? So what would happen if I bring her back? Would they be able to fight that God without her?"

She looked down thoughtfully. "So this means that if you bring her back, you take the risk of this universe being destroyed?"

"This one, and maybe many others. There is a possibility that this God can open portals to other dimensions."

"Eep!" She half hid herself under the table. "Like, he could come to Equestria?"

"For him to enter our dimension between all the dimensions of the multiverse, there is a really small chance. But yes, there would be a very, very, VERY small possibility." He crossed his arms, and after a moment of silence, he asked, "So, should I take the risk?"

"I... I think this is not for us to choose. You should ask Sweetie Belle's family. Rarity and her parents."



In the house of Sweetie Belle's parents...

"We are okay with her remaining in this other universe," Hondo Flank said, Sweetie Belle's father, a white unicorn with a brown mane and tail and possessing a mustache.

Discord raised an eyebrow. "Really? Just like that?"

"Father, are you sure? He just told us that Sweetie may have to fight a being more powerful than anything we can think of!" Rarity shouted

Cookie Crumbles, a pink unicorn with a two-toned purple mane and tail who was Sweetie Belle's mother, nodded. "Yes. We trust in her." She giggled. "I still have a hard time believing that Sweetie Belle is now fighting evil and saving worlds in another universe. She may still be a filly, but if your previous tales are to be trusted, then I'm sure that with the help of the friends she made in this universe, she will win her fight against that God if this happens." She turned to her husband and smiled. "And who knows, she may get her Cutie Mark thanks to this. If this is really 'her fate', then I don't see better occasion."

Hondo Flanks put a hoof under his chin. "So, a Cutie Mark in God Slaying? Oh, I already see it." He then changed his voice, making it lower. ""My daughter's Cutie Mark is a wand! She will be a prodigy in magic! Maybe she could even become Princess Celestia's protégée!"" He talked back in his normal voice. ""Oh please! That's nothing! My daughter has a Cutie Mark in God Slaying! Princess Celestia should become HER protégée!""

"Father!" Rarity shouted, horrified. "Watch what you say!"

Discord suddenly rolled in laughter. "I totally have to propose that to Celestia if it happens!"

"But aren't you worried for her?" Fluttershy asked. "I mean, she could die."

"Of course we are worried," Cookie Crumbles answred. "We are worried since the day we learned that she has been sent to that other dimension. But again, we trust in her. And we also trust in her friends to protect her. If we just give in and don't let her take some risks, then she may miss opportunities, and it could ruin her life. Until now, she has won all her fights against foes both powerful and dangerous, so I have no reason to believe that she can't win against this God." She turned to Discord. "But if things come to worst, then I'm sure that you will be here to stop her from being killed. You always watch her, right?"

"Now that I have sent a mini me to keep an eye and warn me once things start to get interesting, yes, I will always be there to ensure that she will not be killed."

"Speaking of this... Can... Can you open a portal so we can see her?" she asked.

"Of course!"

At this, Discord snapped his fingers and a portal opened on one of the walls. Quickly, it showed a beach where they could see Sweetie Belle in the water with Waddle Dee, Adeleine, Ribbon, the queen of the fairies, and an orca, probably Acro, playing with a beach ball. Kirby and Dedede were napping on the sand of the beach, bathing in the warm sun. At a moment, some orange mole-like creature with a round body dug out of the sand beside Dedede, only to be crushed by his hammer, the penguin still sleeping. But then, the beach ball was sent too far by Queen Ripple, and it hit Dedede on the head, waking him up with a surprise bounce.

"What? What? What? What hit me? What happened?"

"Sorry Dedede!" Sweetie Belle shouted while the fairy queen hid her eyes behind her hands, head half in the water in embarrassment. "Queen Ripple has hit the ball too hard! Can you send it back, please?"

He huffed and took the ball. "Alright, I will send it back to you." He smirked. "But I still have to make you pay for waking me up, so..." He took his hammer, and tossed up the ball. "TRY TO CATCH IT!" He hit the ball with his hammer, sending it toward the group in the water like a cannonball.

"It's too fast!" Waddle Dee yelled in panic.

However, Sweetie simply put herself in the path of the ball and readied her right hoof with a grin. The next second, when the ball was about to hit her in the face, she gave an uppercut to it with her hoof now enveloped with energy, sending the ball flying high towards the sky. She then shouted at Dedede, "Thank you!"

The king grumbled and sat back on the sand, his arms crossed.

Once the ball came back down, the game restarted as if this event never happened.

"That's my girl!" Hondo Flanks shouted. "Have you seen it? She has intercepted that cannonball as if it was nothing! I'm so putting her in Ponyville's hoofball team once she comes back! She will wreck all the others and make us champions!"

"We have a hoofball team?" Rarity asked.

"Erh... no. But I'm sure that we will be able to form one once I show Sweetie Belle's skills!"

"Honey. If Sweetie becomes a God Slayer, don't you think she will have better things to do than playing hoofball?"

"Darn, that's right."

Discord looked at both parents, then bent toward Rarity, whispering, "They see their daughter punching to the sky a beach ball charging at her like a cannonball, and that's all the effect it gives them? You, I understand, you are now used to it, but them?"

She sighed. "That's my parents for you. If a cyborg from the future suddenly appeared in the middle of the living room, they would just ask him to join them for dinner, and father would probably ask him to join a hoofball team. So Sweetie Belle punching a cannonball is nothing outside of making them even more proud of her. And her eventually becoming a God Slayer? They will accept it as if it is something like becoming Captain of the Royal Guard."

"So they are the opposite of you? You over dramatise everything, while they under dramatise?"

She glared at him. "You can resume it this way..." she said with a growl.

Fluttershy hid her chuckles behind her hoof.

In the end, they continued watching Sweetie Belle playing with her friends or exploring under the ocean for a whole hour before they decided to close the portal, both parents happy to have finally seen their daughter after all those months, and seeing that she was alright, and not alone, and that she will do great things.

And seeing how she had seemed pretty close to that pink ball once he had joined them after his nap, that she may have gained more than friends.