"You know, despite the whole 'getting attacked for something they aren't responsible', it was funny to watch," says Rainbow Dash.
"I agree," says Discord. "Actually, that whole chase against those mice is hilarious so far. Storo's expression when he was found out in that fortress, knowing that he was screwed, was just pure comedy gold. It was even more hilarious to see Storo get his revenge by eating this pie and tricking that giant mole into attacking Sweetie Belle and Kirby. Boy, I feel that I will love the rest of this adventure!"
"Well, it's a cat and mouse game! We couldn't wait any less!" says Pinkie Pie.
"At least, Sweetie Belle and Kirby didn't attack that mole in return," says Rarity. "It would have been wrong to attack someone who has been tricked into becoming your enemy."
"I hope that they will be able to correct the misunderstanding and become friends," says Fluttershy.
"Yeah... They will have to wait for that mole to cool her head. She didn't even want to listen," says Applejack. "I wouldn't want to be in Storo's place once Sweetie Belle and Kirby find him."
"I can't wait!" shouts Scootaloo. "Sweetie will totally put his butt in fire!"
"I think that she will kick his teeth out of his mouth," replies Apple Bloom.
"Or she will plant his head in the ground."
"I have better! She will make him eat something she has cooked!"
"Hasn't she gotten better at cooking?"
"She will just cook like she cooked before. She must remember how to burn fruit juice."
"Oh! Or she will let Kirby eat him!"
"Pfff!" they suddenly hear from Spike. "Obviously, she will throw a giant laser at him!"
"She will make him eat a bomb!"
"She will trap him in ice!"
"She will punch him so hard that he will fly in the sky!"
"How about we wait and see what she will do to him?" proposes Pinkie.
The three young ones look at Pinkie, then at each other, and nod. Spike then says "And then, we will see who is right."
"Yeah."
Following the direction taken by Storo after eating the pie, Sweetie Belle and Kirby eventually end up climbing a small mountain, and upon reaching the top, they see that they have reached a new area that seems to be littered by columns of stone going all the way to the sky, beyond the clouds that are totally covering it and letting a few rays of light pass here and there. They can see at the base of the mountain a lake and on the other side a forest.
For Sweetie, this is an unexplored area, so she has no idea what is waiting for them.
Rapidly going down the mountain punching everything that gets in the way, they enter a tunnel where they spot in the ceiling, above a star block, a part that seems different. Destroying the star block reveals an angled surface, and Kirby quickly understand what must be done and points at it while looking at Sweetie Belle.
"Poyo."
"What?"
He sighs before seeing a Laser Ball coming at them from behind. "Poyo!" he then shouts in joy before giving up Fighter to eat the ball, giving him an ability that Sweetie Belle has never seen but has heard of: Laser. It gives Kirby some kind of visor on his left eye, from which he can shoot a laser. At this, he signs Sweetie Belle to watch before turning to the angled surface. He fires a laser at it, and the laser is deflected by the surface at a right angle, right into the part of the ceiling that is different, destroying it and revealing that it has been a block.
"Of course! I could use the angled surfaces to deflect my beams like mirrors! Why did I never think of it?"
And so, she shoots a beam which gets deflected, destroying another block. Another laser and another beam later, and they can hear that they have hit a bomb block, destroying something. Sweetie Belle then creates a shield before jumping on it, Kirby jumping on her back, giving her a visor similar to him, which surprisingly doesn't change her vision. They use the shield as an elevator, going up through the hole in the ceiling which is actually a secret path. Following it, they have to destroy star blocks, then jump on some kind of block in the floor that gets destroyed once they are on it, letting them reach a hidden red chest, much to Sweetie's pleasure.
They exit the secret room by destroying another bomb block, opening a way where from there, they follow the tunnel. In the way, Sweetie discovers an interesting function of her visor, a cursor appearing to help her target the enemies for the lasers that she shoots with it. Testing more of the visor, she discovers than with just a thought, she can change her vision, giving her an infrared vision, and a night vision, so she will always be able to see her targets. This will be really useful if they enter a dark room.
At this moment, they enter a room full of star blocks, and destroying them eventually reveals a black door to continue their way. Now entering a part of the tunnel that is full of crystals, like in the previous area, they have to pass a few giant star blocks before going down a ladder that leads them in front of iron blocks. They could not mind the blocks and go down another ladder, but who knows what may be hidden behind them? In front of the blocks is an Acchi, some kind of salamander which has its red back always on fire, and that is bigger than most other inhabitants of Popstar, about the same size than a Mr Frosty. Before the creature can do anything, Kirby eats it, and thanks to the fire ability, he is able to charge like a comet through the iron blocks, destroying them and opening the way to a dead end with another small red chest.
Sweetie Belle starts to giggle. "We will leave nothing for the Squeaks to take." She then smirks. "They will regret stealing from us."
Once Kirby eats the chest, he answers Sweetie Belle with a fist/hoofbump while laughing. "Poyo!"
They go down the ladder and take the door not far after in a small room. Still in the crystal cavern, they reach a hole in the floor, the only way to continue, and they spot at the bottom a yellow Squeaker carrying a big blue chest.
That's new. No Spinni, Doc, or Storo? Well, I suppose they can't always be with the Squeakers.
They jump down and land just in front of the Squeaker, and before he is able to do anything, barely letting him time to get shocked at their appearance, Sweetie Belle uppercuts him, and the Squeaker finds himself stuck in the ceiling.
Another chest stopped from being taken by the Squeaks. Perfect.
But then, just as Kirby eats the chest, sudden explosions cause the fall of a few boulders that now block the path, and they can hear something rolling behind them. Turning around, they see a giant round boulder rolling toward them, with Spinni walking backward on it, his arms crossed and laughing.
"You have fallen into my trap! Prepare to be turned into pancakes!"
"I wouldn't mind pancakes, but I don't want to become one."
Sweetie Belle puts herself in front of Kirby before flexing her right front hoof, energy accumulating around it.
This makes Spinni sweat. "Hey hey... You are not about to do what I think you are about to do, right?"
At this moment, the boulder is now just in front of the filly who starts yelling as she gives a punch that stop it right where it is. Under Spinni's falling jaw, cracks appear and spread, and soon, the boulder turns into a pile of rubble. The mouse is able to jump away before he finds himself a part of it, but instead, he finds himself just in front of Sweetie Belle, the filly smiling sweetly at him.
He laughs sheepishly, sweating all the water of his body. "Uh... Hey."
She giggles. "Hey." She then takes his sunglasses, revealing his small, adorable eyes, and puts them on her eyes. "I take that... AND YOU TAKE THIS!" She punches him in the face, sending him into the pile of rubbles that are sent everywhere at the force of the impact.
When the rubbles stop raining and the dust settles, Spinni can be seen twitching on the floor, missing half his teeth as he mutters "Is... Is that you granny? Why is there so much light behind you?"
...
...
...
"That was awesome."
"Is that all you can find to say?"
Once Kirby has cleared the path thanks to his comet charge, they leave Spinni behind to continue. No need to ask him anything anymore because, first, he wouldn't be able to answer, and second, it's clear that Daroach is the one possessing the chest (and hopefully, Kirby's cake. As stupid as it would be, Kirby prefers thinking that than his cake being eaten by Storo), and so, they will have to continue to follow the direction taken by the Squeaks until they catch their leader.
They exit the cavern just in front of the lake, and they spot Doc's flying saucer at the other side, flying a moment in the sky before going down, probably to search a treasure, or to prepare a trap, or the two.
Anyway, they now know where to go, so they start running, jumping above the water at many points until entering a door. Following the door, they have to jump in the water, Kirby getting his fire ability replaced by his swimming goggles with a snorkel, which of course is only here to decorate.
Passing through some kind of underwater tunnel, they spot stone blocks with a bomb block at a point in the ceiling above a Gordo. destroying them reveals a door that leads them to a room with crumbling blocks hiding a red chest. It's not long after they exit the room that they get out of the water and pass another door, and it's not long after the door that they end up confronted by a Boxy, a big creature that looks like a box with a red bow, a jagged mouth, and a stem with a couple of leaves as a 'tail'.
The Boxy charges at them, only to take a double fire punch in the face from both Kirby and Sweetie Belle, sending her back a few meters totally stunned. Taking the occasion, Kirby gives up Fire and eats the Boxy, gaining a top hat, to Sweetie's confusion. Kirby sees her expression and laughs, before taking the top hat and showing the inside to her, showing that there is nothing. He then taps the hat three times, and out of the hat fly three doves, leaving Sweetie Belle with her jaw dropping. She approaches Kirby to look into the hat, not seeing anything again. But when she looks back at Kirby to ask him how he has done it, a clown head on a spring pops out of the hat. The clown is vaporised the next second by a Force Blast from a very scared Sweetie Belle, which makes Kirby jump in fright. They both look at the hat and what remains of the clown, then at each other, before they roll on the floor from laughter.
"So you can now use magic?" asks the filly.
"Poyo!" confirms Kirby, getting a rabbit out of the hat.
"Wait... This reminds me of Trixie. Is this the same kind of magic that she used? With tricks? Like, you disappear behind a wall, but there was a trapdoor under you?"
He rubs his head and nods.
This makes Sweetie raises an eyebrow and hesitantly looks back inside the hat. "But then, how did you make those doves or that rabbit appear inside this hat?" She takes it and puts a hoof in it in search of... something, only to see that she is able to put her hoof all the way to her shoulder, and yet she doesn't touch the bottom of the hat when said hat is only half the length. Stunned, she gets her hoof out of it and starts shaking the hat, causing another dove to fly from it, followed by cards falling, confettis, rings, a wand, and even an anvil. She looks at the anvil, then at Kirby. "I... don't think that those are just magic tricks. No matter the trick, you just can't make an anvil fall from your hat like that. Those are actually magic magic tricks."
Kirby just shrugs while laughing. "Poyo."
Sweetie decides to give back his hat before continuing. But then, Kirby jumps on her back, giving her her own top hat, and her cape turns black. Just shrugging at this, she jumps on a platform where Kirby throws cards at the enemies in the way, cutting them.
They pass a door, and in the following section full of platforms above the water, Sweetie Belle lets Kirby attack the enemies while she runs and jumps, taking in the way a bottle of energy drink and storing it inside her hat. Another door later, and they finally find Doc in his flying saucer, the old mouse just lifting a blue chest thanks to some sort of tractor beam.
And this time, he sees them, and laughs. "Too late. First one coming, first one leaving with the treasure."
"Yoink!" Sweetie Belle takes her hat and points it toward the chest. Out of the hat suddenly comes out a grapnel that grab the chest and brings it back to her. Kirby doesn't lose time to eat it before they both smile smugly at Doc. "Hop! There was a chest, now it's not here anymore! Did you love our magic show?"
They can see Doc becoming red and they can swear that they hear steam hissing from him like a kettle. "RAAAHHHBLAGABAGAGLARGH!!! I will show you a magic show! In direct, I will turn the white pony and the pink puffball into roasted marshmallows!" At this, his whole flying saucer gets covered in electricity before it charges at them.
Sweetie Belle then holds her cape beside her. "Nothing behind it!" And at the last second, she pulls it aside, revealing a brick wall that Doc crashes on, destroying it and damaging his saucer. "And suddenly, there is a wall!"
Kirbe applauds, laughing. "Poyo! Poyo!" He then throws his hat toward Doc who is now out of the saucer. The hat engulfs him, and he gets out from Sweetie's hat, the filly grabbing him.
"Let me go!"
"And now, our last magic trick! I will make this old mouse fly without the need of his flying saucer!"
She takes her hat, and out of it drop a rocket. Seeing this, Doc starts to panic. "Are you crazy?!"
"Don't worry. It will not explode. It will just make you fly very far. Now, are the rope and the fire ready, Kirby?"
Kirby shows her a rope and a lighted match. "Poyo!"
She takes the rope in her magic. "Thank you my dear assistant." She then use her magic to attach Doc to the rocket. Once done, she takes the match. "Are you ready everybody?!"
"Poyo!"
"No! I'm not ready!" shouts Doc.
"Then let's go!" She then lights the wick, both her and Kirby starting to laugh.
"We... We will see who will have the last laugh next time!" The rocket then fires into the sky. "YOU WILL SEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."
Sweetie Belle and Kirby take their hats and shout "TADAAAAA!" before bowing, the many creatures that have watched the show applauding.
"That was a very fun magic show!" says Discord as he applauds alongside Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. "The only problem is that it was too short."
"I agree!" say Pinkie and Rainbow.
Leaving the lake behind, they now spot Storo climbing a mountain. Well, time for more mountain climbing!
Climbing up through a succession of slopes with some giant Waddle Dees on the last one, they enter a tunnel. Passing a door, Sweetie Belle uses her infinity jump to go up the only way while avoiding falling Foleys, plant creatures with a yellow round body and two leaves on it that they use as propeller to fly, only to discard them to fall on unsuspecting victims to explode like Scarfys. After quite the climb, they destroy a few star blocks in an alcove, revealing a door that leads them out side, beside the top of a smaller mountain with a red chest on it. Taking it, and seeing that there is nowhere else to go, they repass the door, and take another door a little further up, returning outside.
Here, there are many platforms suspended with ropes that go all the way to... the sky. Go figure. Kirby uses his cards to cut them, causing some of them to fall in chasms with the creatures on them. On the way, they enter another door that has been hidden behind star blocks in a small tunnel, entering a room inside the mountain with a Golden Waddle Dee, extremely rare. Golden Waddle Dees have the particularity to drop a chest if they want, or if they are beaten, for some reason. Guessing that the Squeak Squad must be targeting them to gain their chests, Sweetie Belle knocks him out with a single small punch, muttering "Sorry," before Kirby eats the dropped chest. They leave the now normal Waddle Dee, and exit the room.
Thankfully, the Golden Waddle Dees don't mind this. For them, it's like a game.
Back outside, they find another door after some more platforms, entering another mountain. Here, they climb a series of slope before finding a door that must be opened with a switch that is in a small tunnel under it. Sweetie Belle shoots the Switch with a beam, and they pass the door, finding a big blue chest. With the chest in Kirby's stomach, but now stuck in this room because of the door closing behind them, they find a bomb block above them that open the way. In the next room, they find the one that they have wanted to see: Storo, the big mouse now equipped with a hammer.
"You will see why they call me the 'Brawn'. I will smash you, and take all your treasures!"
Sweetie Belle huffs. "You don't scare us. You are nothing compared to Dedede."
Storo jumps, hammer ready to crush them. Sweetie Belle quickly jumps aside and use her magic hat to drop an anvil where she has been. The hammer hits the anvil, only to bounce on it with a big DONG! Storo's whole body starts shaking for a few seconds before he drops the hammer. The hammer still shaking then starts to drill a hole in the ground, disappearing in it before Storo's stunned expression, and Sweetie and Kirby's laughs.
"Hey look! Your hammer turned into a jackhammer!"
Storo looks at the hole, still hearing his hammer drilling, then looks up at Sweetie Belle and Kirby. "Uuuuh.......... Parley?"
Sweetie Belle giggles. "Alright, we will not hurt you..." She then takes her hat, and with a violent shake, she sends hundreds of seeds on Storo.
"What?"
"Them, however, I'm not so sure."
And suddenly, a few dozen doves fly out of the hat, toward Storo.
"WAAAHHH?!! ACH! OUCH! OW! STOP!" He starts to run around the room, waving his arms to get rid of the doves pecking him for the seeds.
Leaving him at his suffering, Sweetie Belle and Kirby pass the door. Now really high, air currents start to appear as they run on the mountain. After a small trek, they find a wick, with the cannon not far behind at the very top of the mountain. Using fire, Sweetie Belle light the wick, and they jump in the cannon which propels them toward the clouds.
They land on a platform, with some cloud blocking the way. Destroying it, they find a chest. Passing the door behind the cloud, they are back beside the cannon, and they pass another door to another, higher mountain with a few Metaluns, metal version of Rockys, bigger too, sliding down the slopes. Upon reaching the top of the mountain, they finally spot him: Daroach, flying into the clouds.
"Here he is!"
Quickly, they use a Warp Star to follow Daroach in the clouds. Upon reaching a platform in the middle of the clouds, at the start of a cloud tunnel, they land (or rather, crash) on it and start running. Following the path in the clouds, they find, surprisingly, another chest hidden behind stone blocks.
After passing a door, they suddenly hear the now familiar laugh of Spinni, coming from above the ceiling, which is not made of cloud so they can't pass it.
"Yes! A treasure! And those two spoilsport are nowhere to be seen! The boss will be happy!"
Sweetie Belle looks at Kirby and hushes him while trying to hold her giggle. She jumps on a shield and quickly starts to fly along the path, opening a door and avoiding Gordos in the way. As they reach a dead end, Sweetie Belle presses another switch, which destroys a part of the ceiling. They hear Spinni shouting "What?!"
They fly up, and Sweetie Belle shouts "Surprise!" before putting her hat in Spinni's way in the middle of one of his jumps, seeing by the way that Spinni has a new pair of sunglasses. She rapidly takes Kirby's hat and puts it above her own. When Spinni falls in her hat, he gets out of the other, only for Sweetie to turn her hat up so Spinni falls in it again, trapping him in an infinite fall. Using her magic again, she takes the chest from Spinni's hands, and to make sure that he doesn't escape, she gets the two hats closer until they are side by side, now Spinni truly trapped.
"Curse youuuu!!!" they hear him shout, making them laugh.
Letting the two hats float like that beside her, Sweetie Belle walks toward the edge, and once beside it, she puts the two hats above the abyss. She then separates the hats, and Spinni now falls in said abyss.
He will be alright. There is a cloud a few hundred meters below.
Sweetie Belle still decides to drop a bowling ball, just in case.
"I love this ability, Kirby," she says while laughing.
The laugh doesn't last long, because upon entering the door that follow, they enter a very violent storm, at the heart of the clouds, with lightning raining all around them. There are still white clouds, but now, some of the clouds they walk on are black with lightning creeping in and around them, forcing them to be careful, some of them even disappearing under them. After a few doors, they have to catch a cloud carrying a chest, forcing Sweetie Belle to use a shield to help her.
Two doors later without anything happening, they finally catch Daroach, the leader of the Squeaks staring at them, annoyed, but also amused.
"This is the first time that my Squeaks are given so many problems, but I am not surprised, knowing who we are against this time. You are up to your reputation."
"Then give us the chest, Kirby's cake, and all the treasures that you have stolen from Dedede's fortresses!"
"Cake!"
Daroach huffs. "I don't know what Storo has done of your cake. He may have already eaten it, or he may have let one of the Squeakers bring it back to our hideout. But don't expect us to give it back, I know that you are also after the chest containing the infinite power. As long as you want to stop us from opening it, we will not make you any gifts."
This clearly upsets Kirby.
"As for the treasures and the chest, you already know my answer. If you want to take them back, then you will have to find them, and defeat us. Speaking of defeating us..." He snaps his claws, and Kracko, made of the storm clouds surrounding them, comes behind Daroach. Beside the storm clouds, there are some differences, like there are only four long spikes coming out of the cloud, and they can spot... something poking out of the cloud that seems mechanical above and below. "Let's see if you can even defeat him." At this, he disappears.
Kracko (?) then charges toward them, starting the fight. After dodging him, Kirby starts to throw his cards while Sweetie Belle shoots her explosive music notes, the explosion making a chaotic cacophony. Some of Kracko's cloud is destroyed by the assault and his eye disappears, revealing that this is not really Kracko, but Doc inside some flying machine, the mechanical parts poking out of the cloud being actually holes from where the clouds composing this fake Kracko are expelled.
"Well, time to stop playing around!" shouts Doc. "I will show you the full power of my genius! My Mecha Kracko is more powerful than the original, shooting lightning bolts that can reach one billion volts! Now let's see who will have the last laugh! MWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"
At this, the cloud and the eye reform, and electricity appears at the end of the four spikes, surrounding Mecha Kracko in an electrical shield. Mecha Kracko then charges at them again, this time destroying a part of the cloud that serves as the arena, dividing it in two. It then flies up and down through the cloud, creating a few holes.
"Ok... This time, it's serious," says Sweetie Belle.
The shield around Mecha Kracko disappears, but now, it starts to shoot lightning bolts from the spikes at them. Not wanting to be hit by lightning with the power of one billion volts (she doesn't know how powerful it is, but she is sure that it is REALLY powerful, like, it could turn Rainbow Dash into fried chicken in less than 10 seconds), Sweetie Belle uses her hat to intercept the lightning bolts, and uses Kirby's hat to send them back at Mecha Kracko, damaging it a little, but not much.
Seeing that sending the bolts back doesn't really work, Sweetie Belle starts to jump around in the air to avoid them. While jumping, she counterattacks with explosive balls. Then, seeing one of the holes expelling the clouds, she gets an idea. Jumping again and again, she passes above Mecha Kracko, and as she is above the hole at the top, she drops from her hat a bomb, successfully making it fall in it. The bomb explodes, and the holes stop expelling clouds, instead just expelling smoke, revealing again Doc's cockpit.
"NOOOO!!! My wonderful machine! RAAAHHHH!!!"
Doc hits forcefully a button, and the four spikes surround the machine of a shield of electricity. However, this time, lightning bolts from the storm clouds around hit the spikes by dozens, overloading the machine and causing dozens of bolts of electricity to form from the shield all around, unleashing a real lightning storm.
Jumping far enough so the storm is not as hard to avoid, Sweetie Belle attacks with everything she has. On her back, Kirby makes a bunch of cards appear and turn around him, each card with a symbol, like fire, a snowflake, a tornado, a sword, and so on. After a few seconds of looking, he takes a card with a lightning symbol, and the next instant, the top hat is substituted by the Spark ability's hat, which in turn give Sweetie Belle her wild mane and tail charged in electricity.
She looks back at Kirby in surprise before understanding. Turning back toward Doc's machine, she starts to charge her horn, using the electricity around her, even the one expelled by the machine, to gain more and more energy. Electricity starts to spread on all her body, burning her. Then, with a deafening yell followed by an even more deafening thunder, she unleashes all this in one giant lightning bolt. The bolt hits Doc's machine, and the power being too much even for it as it has already been overloading, and as electricity starts coursing all over it, the four spikes explode, starting a chain reaction. It starts to fly around erratically, jerking with each explosion. And finally, it explodes, the power of the explosion blowing away the clouds around and expelling a blackened Doc in the sky.
"AAAAAHHH!!! I'M BLASTING OOOOoooooooooooooooo..."
And he disappears forming a small star in the sky with a small ding.
Sweetie Belle, now tired after such a powerful attack, lets Kirby lifting her back to the ground, seeing that they are now above a really big forest with a few ruins, including what seems to be temples, a big spiral tower, and even old factories. In the middle of all this, there is a big river. Kirby spits the bottle of energy drinks that Sweetie Belle has stocked in the hat, and the filly catches it to drink it, healing her burns.
She has underestimated the Squeaks. Now, she knows that she must prepare for anything, especially from the old mouse.