Without surprises, Kirby is able to move through Purple Plants without too much problems despite the more dangerous creatures living in this area (there are tigers!) and the mercenaries that Dedede has recruited, like those mime-like version of Poppies that are called Perot who are clearly more violent than Dedede's soldiers despite their training.
Upon arriving at the forest, Kirby has to fight a Phan Phan, some weird elephant creature member of Dedede's army that is just an elephant head on two legs. His specialty is to charge at his enemies to grab them with his trunk, before throwing them in the decor, preferably head first into something solid like a tree or a boulder. Thanks to his round body, he can surprisingly move fast my rolling, which generally catch off guard anybody fighting a Phan Phan for the first time.
It's obviously not the first time that Kirby fights one, because he is able to avoid every attempts of Phan Phan to grab him while throwing bombs after bombs at him with his Bomb ability. With this, this is not long before the Phan Phan is knocked out, leaving Kirby to continue his way.
Dedede sighs. "The Phan Phans should learn new moves..."
After climbing a really big rotted tree, Kirby falls just in front of Whispy Woods, who seems to have absorbed the particularities of the trees around him because he now has purple leaves, and some of his apples are now purple too, clearly poisonous. The tree of course knows it, so he makes sure to rain them on Kirby along Gordos and bigger versions of those disgusting bugs. But despite this and Whispy's roots constantly poking out of the ground to try to impale Kirby, it doesn't take long for the puffball to win the fight with his bombs.
Leaving Whispy, Kirby goes to the coast to go to Illusion Islands, his next step. The islands have the same purple vegetation than Purple Plants, and they are as filled with dangerous animals as the grassland and forest. Now armed with the Beam ability, Kirby is able to go through the islands themselves. His biggest problem is when he has to go from an island to another, either flying or swimming. In a case like in another, he has a hard time defending himself against the almost constant assault of the various birds, fishes, and octopus that want to stop him.
After going through a cavern filled with Kabu-like beings but more edgy named Grumples, who attack faster, stronger, and with more unpredictability, he gets a jumpscare in the form of a green floating apple-like being turning red with a face coming from a horror story when Kirby has attacked it, clearly a more scary counterpart of the Scarfys.
Gosh, those areas really deserve their reputation of most dangerous areas of Dreamland. Sweetie Belle should try to visit them sometime.
Kirby enters a structure and encounters a Fire Lion that immediately bounces on Kirby to try to bite him, only for Kirby to avoid him with a slide before attacking him with beams. The lion is fast, so Kirby never stops moving to not get burned or clawed, until the lion falls on the ground and stops moving, opening the way.
From there, Kirby takes a Warp Star and flies toward a bigger structure that looks like a tower. Entering it, he is now facing Lololo and Lalala. It's a fight rather similar to the one against Nruff, with four rows where Lololo and Lalala move back and forth from door to door trying to ram Kirby with strange green blocks. Often, somehow, instead of pushing blocks, they push Gordos without being hurt by their spikes, and Gordos appear sometimes without being pushed. Because of the number of rows and the Gordos, Kirby has all the difficulty of the world hitting the two lieutenants, but the same is also the case of Lololo and Lalala who are just not able to hit Kirby, the puffball being too fast. It causes the fight to drag for a few minutes before Kirby is finally able to defeat them.
Now done with Lololo and Lalala, Kirby leaves the structure and takes another Warp Star to go toward Crash Clouds, where lightning bolts are masters, not far in the sky. Here, Kirby quickly swaps his Beam for Ice by eating a Chilly, giving him a better protection while giving him the possibility to use his enemies as projectiles after turning them into ice blocks.
Not long after passing a small path full of spikes reminding Sweetie of all those similar paths that they have passed in their adventure against Drawcia, Kirby encounters Kracko, still in his Kracko Jr form, probably to test the waters, or to show Kirby that this time, he will not be fooling around. After a small fight, Kracko charging at Kirby again and again at great speed only to take some ice in the eye, he flies away, certainly to ready himself for the real fight.
With Kracko gone, Kirby takes a Warp Star and uses it to climb toward the upper atmosphere of Popstar following Kracko, where he has to pass a wall of star blocks before passing a door. After this door, he flies up again to pass another door, already catching Kracko, this time the eyeball surrounded by a storm cloud.
Of course, having a storm cloud means that Kracko's electricity is more powerful, and he quickly demonstrates it to Kirby with his lightning rain that Kirby runs away from, followed by more lightning shot at Kirby. The puffballs adapts to this by taking a hit-and-run tactic, dodging Kracko's attacks, approaching, hitting him with his ice, before quickly running away to avoid a counterattack. The few times Kracko tries to ram Kirby, the puffball jumps above him and takes the occasion to surround himself in his icy aura to hurt Kracko. But Kracko still shows that he is not the most powerful lieutenant of Dedede for nothing, and Kirby is electrified more than once before he is able to defeat the eyeball.
And yet, despite being hurt, Kirby takes a Warp Star to his next destination: the castle.
"Kirby's first adventure has really been that short?" asks Sweetie Belle.
"Yes. He didn't have much to traverse before reaching the castle."
As Kirby approaches the castle, Kabula comes in the way and starts to fire bullets and Gordos at him three at a time. Sometimes, she even opens her head and fires missiles almost as big as her! The sky is soon littered by explosions that can be seen from the windows. Kirby can't even approach Kabula to attack her with his ice!
"Bwahahahaha! That's my airship for you!" shouts Dedede proudly.
Kabula is relentless. She quickly flies up, down, left, and right, each time firing either bullets, Gordos, or missiles, and if Kirby dares to come too close, she tries to ram him, forcing him to fly back. To surprise Kirby, she sometimes even gets herself upside down to fire projectiles from above her.
After a few minutes, the Warp Star is destroyed, and Kirby falls. But the puffball doesn't admit defeat, and suddenly spits the Dragoon that he quickly clings to before it starts to fly around at a speed that would make (is making) Rainbow Dash jealous. With his speed, Kirby avoids Kabula's projectiles and flies away before turning around and charging at her. Kabula starts to fly backward while still firing at Kirby, but with the Dragoon, the puffball is able to dodge the projectiles simply by flying left or right until he reaches, and pierces, Kabula, leaving her with a big hole from her nose to her propeller. Some parts of Kabula then explode, she catches fire, and falls, opening the way to the castle.
"Since when does Kirby have a Dragoon?!" shouts Dedede with his jaw dropping.
"Darn. I didn't think that he would bring it," says Sweetie Belle to herself. She then answers Dedede. "The Squeaks gave it to Kirby to help us defeat Dark Nebula. Sorry, I forgot to tell you."
They then feel the castle shaking.
"Kirby has entered the castle!" yells Bandana Dee.
Dedede gets up from his throne and waves his right arm at the Spear Waddle Dees in the throne room.
"Everyone! Go!"
"Yes Great King!" they all shout with a salute before running out of the room.
"I'm going too," says Cape Knight.
Dedede nods. "Very well. And send a Mr Tick-Tock to fight him," he says before he turns to Sweetie Belle and Bandana Dee. "Let's go to the boxing room."
"Yes Great King/Dedede!"
As they get out of the room, they quickly hear a sound similar to an alarm clock coming from somewhere in the castle.
"He is already fighting the Mr Tick-Tock!" shouts Bandana Dee.
Sweetie Belle sighs. "He will not last long against Kirby. Sending them only one at a time is not a good idea." She intercepts a Spear Waddle Dee running in their direction to go fight Kirby. "You. Go tell to every big soldiers that are in the castle to go attack Kirby simultaneously. Let's try to get him with number."
"Yes madam!"
"If I remember, this makes a Grand Wheelie, a Phan Phan, and two Fire Lions," says Bandana Dee. "Even Kirby will have difficulty fighting all of them at the same time."
"Yeah. Good idea Sweetie Belle," congratulates Dedede.
"Have we taken all the food in the castle so Kirby couldn't use them to heal?"
"Of course! I'm not stupid!"
"With you, we never know."
"Say what now?"
"Hey! It's no time to bicker you two!" shouts Bandana Dee. "Kirby may come anytime now!"
Sweetie Belle giggles. "You are right. By the way, will you fight, or just watch us?"
"Well..." He sighs. "I know that I will lose. But I suppose that I can at least try to hurt him. I... I will wait for Kirby there."
They nod. "Good luck," says Sweetie Belle. "As for me, I will wait for him on the ring."
Leaving Bandana behind, Sweetie Belle and Dedede advance, and before long, they enter the boxing room.
"Alright," says Dedede. "You do like you said and wait Kirby on the ring while I'm going to search my new weapon. Don't wait for me to fight him."
"Okay."
So Sweetie Belle jumps on the ring while Dedede leaves by the backdoor, and waits at the center.
A few minutes later, he is here, possessing the Mirror ability. He is clearly hurt. Seems like her idea has worked in some extend.
She may have a chance.
When Kirby jumps on the ring, Sweetie Belle smiles. "Not as easy as the first time, uh?"
Kirby confirms with a sighs and a poyo.
"Well, you still have to fight me before you can fight Dedede. And this time, don't think that hugging me will work like at the fountain. We both know that much has happened since then. As you can see..." She puts her front hooves in front of her head, showing the gauntlets on them. "I'm ready to fight you." She takes her whip. "Here I come!"
She cracks her whip toward Kirby who creates a mirror to protect himself, the whip bouncing on it.
This may be hard to hit him with this ability.
Kirby counterattacks by firing mirrors at her from his wand, which she jumps away from. With a quick air jump, she bounces toward Kirby to attack him directly with a punch, only for Kirby to protect himself again with a mirror. She turns around Kirby while doing a Vulcan Jab, but each time, Kirby is able to intercept her hooves with his mirrors.
Well, if he wants to protect himself behind his mirrors...
A little magic, a little energy, and... "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" She screams as loud as she can, her scream amplified thanks to both her magic and her energy. With her being beside Kirby, the puffball finds himself having to protect his ears... wherever they are, to avoid becoming deaf, leaving him open. So Sweetie Belle knocks away his wand before turning on herself and bucking him in the face, sending him flying to the rope while knocking away his ability that she quickly destroys by impaling it with an ice sword.
Kirby gets up, and waits for Sweetie Belle to attack. At the same time, Bandana Dee enters the room, hurt, but alright. Seeing that Sweetie Belle and Kirby are busy fighting, he simply walks without a word toward one of the stands and sits to watch while encouraging Sweetie Belle.
Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle attacks again with her whip, only for Kirby to dodge each time. A particularly strong attack causes the apparition of a yellow star that Kirby hastens to inhale before spitting it at Sweetie Belle, only for the filly to create a mirror to deflect the projectile back at Kirby who dodges it again. Sweetie Belle then uses her magic to make the whip fly around Kirby like a snake, wanting to trap Kirby, but he jumps at the last second and inhales the whip, giving him the Whip ability that he hasn't gotten since his fight against possessed Sweetie Belle in the Zero Incident.
He then charges at Sweetie Belle and gives a flurry of strikes. Sweetie Belle surrounds herself in her shield until the strikes end before making it disappear while she prepares an explosive ball, only to be surprised by Kirby still charging at her and ramming her. They roll on the ring until he gives her a kick that sends her flying above him. Then, similarly to the first time, Kirby wraps the whip around Sweetie's neck and pulls it, slamming her on the ring violently.
Without letting her time to get back up, Kirby wraps his whip again, this time around her left foreleg, and slams her on the ring again and again and again. Just as she slams on the ring for the third time, her body turns into metal, and she becomes too heavy for Kirby to lift her again. With Kirby's action stopped, Sweetie Belle grabs the whip and uses it to pull Kirby to punch him. However, Kirby opens his mouth, and Sweetie's hoof ends inside it without punching anything.
"What?"
With her hoof still in his mouth, Kirby chuckles before punching her, somehow hurting her despite her metal body. Kirby then spits her hoof and unwraps his whip before jumping away. In the middle of his jump, he starts attacking again with the whip, forcing Sweetie Belle to return her body to normal before jumping away. She then tries to crush Kirby under a shield from above, but Kirby is yet again able to dodge by leaping, so she creates another shield in front of him to ram him, but Kirby uses it to actually wall jump.
Clenching her teeth, Sweetie Belle materializes a spear made of ice that she throws at Kirby while he is still in the air, followed by an ice sword, and an ice axe, but Kirby deflects them all with the whip before landing, smirking at Sweetie Belle while tapping his hat half covering his eyes to put it back correctly. In answer, Sweetie Belle jumps, materializes a shield to which she gives a form similar to Dedede's hammer, but a little bigger, and threatens to crush Kirby under it. Of course, Kirby jumps aside to dodge it just before it hit the ring, making it shake, but then, Sweetie Belle uses her magic to throw it at Kirby like a normal shield, successfully ramming him and knocking the whip out of him. However, Kirby lands beside the ice sword that he has deflected earlier and eats it, giving him the Sword ability, much to Sweetie's frustration.
"Alright. Enough playing around. Time to go all out!"
This makes Kirby sweat. "Poyo?"
She closes her eyes and breathes, seemingly entering into some kind of trance, music starts to play from her horn, and then...
"'I've fought beside you, you've fought beside me
But you still must remember
I am your rival, you are my rival"
The moment Sweetie Belle starts to sing, an aura appears around her, and she smirks toward Kirby has her eyes open, glaring at him in determination. Then, she fires a beam without even charging it, only, the beam is as big as her! In panic, Kirby puts his sword in front of him and is able to deflect it toward the stands beside Bandana Dee who bounce away in fear as the beam leaves a hole. Kirby looks at the hole left by the beam, then at Sweetie Belle, gulping as a dozen weapons of ice materialize around her, all pointed at him.
"Only one winner!"
Everypony's jaws drop, especially Twilight's and Discord's.
"First, she uses transmutation to turn her body into metal! Then she manipulates ice and shields to form objects! And now, she sings to amplify her power?!" shouts Twilight.
"And she is using the energy of her own soul to do it!" continues Discord. "A soul song... That's... Like... Super Powerful."
"Don't expect mercy because we are friends."
Kirby rolls to the left to avoid an ice sword, then to the right to avoid another, before flattening himself to let a spear pass above him. He is almost cut by an axe swinging down at him, but he parries it with his sword before jumping back to avoid two hammers coming from his left and his right to crush him between them, instead crushing the axe.
"With fire and ice I will fight to the end"
Fire surrounds Sweetie's left hoof, and she hits the ring, causing a trail or fire to appear from it going to Kirby who avoids it by jumping above it toward Sweetie Belle, sword ready. When he falls back toward her, he swings down his sword, but Sweetie Belle uses the gauntlet of her right hoof to parry it.
"I will do what King Dedede has been asking from me"
As Kirby lands in front of her, she gathers her energy around her right hoof and gives a powerful jab. Kirby puts his sword in front of him to protect himself, and the hoof hits it. The force of the impact still sends Kirby backward and when he lands on his feet, he sees with horror that his sword has been broken, leaving him no choice but to give up the Sword ability.
"And I will use all my powers to take the victory"
She starts to throw cutter blades, making sure that they fly in arcs to attack Kirby from his left, his right, and above, but to her surprise, despite having no abilities, Kirby avoids them by charging at her to directly attack her again. She parries his punch with one of her gauntlets, and punches him back, only for Kirby to flatten himself to avoid it before giving an uppercut that sends her flying. She recovers with an air jump, and forms a platform to land on it.
"It is funny to think, just a few months ago,
I came to this world with barely any power to show"
She creates a few black clouds that go above Kirby.
"And it's such a wonderful surprise!"
The clouds release each a single lightning bolt at Kirby who runs away to avoid them, bolts after bolts striking behind him. The bolts, however, cause green stars to appear, and once the attack stops, Kirby eat one to gain the Spark ability.
Darn, she is already getting tired. This ability uses too much energy. She must end this fight quickly.
"Now I can fight you almost as equals"
She jumps from her platform and covers her right hoof in ice, and upon striking the ring, expels spikes of ice all around her while covering the ring in ice. By now, Kirby is already covered in electricity thanks to running, and he jumps above the spikes before launching a giant electric ball at Sweetie Belle who is not able to dodge it in time before getting shocked. However, when he lands on the now icy floor, his momentum causes him to glide, and Sweetie Belle is able to strike him with a powerful explosive ball that causes an explosion as big as Drawcia's second form.
"And-and..."
She is headbutted by Kirby that has used the explosion to be propelled toward her, interrupting her singing. By the time she gets up, she sees Kirby running around again to accumulate electricity, and she starts to charge a Giga Force Blast.
"And one day we will become as equals"
Kirby jumps and throws another giant electric ball at her. She throws her Giga Force Blast. The two attacks hit each other, causing a giant electric explosion that reach the both of them. Kirby is sent toward the stands, while Sweetie Belle finds herself at the edge of the ring. Kirby falls down the stairs of the stands one by one until he reaches the floor beside the ring, then slowly gets up with difficulty, his body hurting but not wanting to give up. Sweetie Belle also gets up, only to fall back on the floor, her energy totally spent. When she sees Kirby going back on the ring, she can't help but smile.
"Seems like you win... Almost got you... But Dedede should be able to finish you."
Bandana Dee jumps from the stands and joins Sweetie Belle to help her. Upon seeing that her injuries aren't too bad, he lifts her on his back before going to the stands again, dropping her beside him.
"You have fought well Sweetie Belle. You were awesome."
She giggles. "Thanks."
"I can't believe it. Sweetie belle used power almost reaching the one of an alicorn, and yet, Kirby still won," says Twilight.
"She clearly still needs to train so she will be able to use her Soul Song longer before getting tired," says Discord. "If that wasn't for that, and Kirby being a champion at dodging, she would have won."
"But there is still Dedede. He is sure to win now," says Applejack.
"Yeah. I don't see how Kirby will win in his state," continues Rainbow. "Sweetie Belle sure worn him out."
Rarity giggles. "I didn't expect any less from my sister."
At the same time, the foals are talking to each other about the fight they have witnessed, Sweetie Belle's powers, and their favorite moments.
"You weren't foaling with us. She has become... Woah..." says Diamond Tiara.
Silver Spoon nods, awed "Yeah... Woah..."
"I know, right?!" shouts Scootaloo.
"Too bad she lost," says Apple Bloom.
"But she almost got him! So this is not too bad!"
At this moment, they all see the boxing room suddenly becoming all dark, the lights turning off.
"Oh! The next fight is about to start!" shout Scootaloo excitedly.
The other foals hush her.
Two seconds after the lights are turned off, they hear something heavy falling on the ring, followed not long after by something lighter.
"So you have been able to win against Sweetie Belle despite starting the fight disadvantaged," they then recognize Dedede saying. "Truly, you are a formidable opponent Kirby. However, she is right. She has weakened you enough to assure my victory in our fight, and it makes me glad to know that you would lose. But... But I don't want to win our fight like that."
"What?" ask both Sweetie Belle and Bandana Dee in wonder.
"I proved the superiority of my forces, but what I truly want, is to prove my superiority. I want to prove that I have gotten stronger than you, and for this, I need to beat you at your full potential." At this, a projector turns on, showing a hammer and a Maxim Tomato at the center of the ring. "So take them."
Kirby nods before running toward the hammer and the tomato. He eats the both of them, the tomato healing him while also gaining the Hammer ability.
At this moment, they begin to hear a mechanism start, and thanks to the small light given by the projector, they see that it is a cage coming down. At the same time, another projector turns on, showing Dedede in front of Kirby, his back to him.
"Our grudge will be settled at last."
Dedede then turns around, showing that he now wears a metallic mask on his face covering everything except his eyes. The mask possesses five horns, three big yellow ones, and two smaller grey one, and is composed of two pieces separated by a jagged line looking like a mouth full of sharp teeth. Then, he slams his hammer on the ring, showing that it is a totally new hammer, made of metal instead of wood, blue with the familiar yellow and red zig zag pattern near the head. The head itself is silver with Dedede's symbole yellow colored, there is a spike at the top as well as at the bottom of the handle, and more surprising of all, there is a jet at the back!
"Meet my powerful secret weapon, the brand-new Dedede Hammer!"
Just as the cage finishes surrounding the ring, electricity starting to move around its bars, all the lights turn back on, and Dedede starts the fight by running and swinging down his hammer at Kirby. Kirby jumps aside to avoid it and jumps again to hit Dedede on the mask. Dedede quickly recovers from the hit and activates the jet of his hammer before he starts to spin on himself with the hammer like a top. Kirby is caught off guard by this and he is hit by the hammer as if he has been hit by a train, sending him right on the cage electrifying him. Quickly, Dedede stops spinning and poses the hammer, handle on the ring. Then, the head of the hammer opens, and out of it come three missiles that home in at Kirby, the puffball not being able to dodge them with his still being against the wall of the cage. Then, as the missiles fly toward his target, Dedede starts to spin again, and while spinning, moves toward Kirby, striking him after the missiles. The impact is so powerful that the cage behind Kirby is damaged as he falls on the ground, badly hurt.
Without letting time for Kirby to get up, Dedede swings down his hammer again to crush him, but Kirby quickly rolls out of the way before attacking Dedede. Despite the hit, Dedede swings his hammer at Kirby again, and Kirby swings his own hammer at it in return, the two hammers clashing. They clash a second time, and a third, and many more times, but this still forces Kirby to step back at each hit, Dedede being much stronger than him, especially with this new hammer. When Dedede swings his hammer from Kirby's right, Kirby decides to jump above it and attacks Dedede again on the head, this time using the hit to bounce away to avoid Dedede's counterattack.
Seeing Kirby getting away, Dedede places his hammer on the floor again, and the head opens. Expecting missiles to come out again, Kirby is caught off guard by the hammer spewing a stream of fire instead, and he ends up roasted, coughing smoke. It's only after the fire that Dedede shoots missiles from the hammer, but Kirby is able to recover from the fire and slides under the first missile before jumping on the second missile and swings him hammer on the third missile to send it back at Dedede.
Despite taking a missile, Dedede jumps and readies his hammer before striking the ring with it upon landing, causing the apparition of a shockwave all around him, forcing Kirby to jump to avoid it. But in the middle of his jump, Dedede throws his hammer at him, and Kirby is not able to avoid it, sending him right on the shockwave behind him. The mask on Dedede then opens at the mouth, letting Dedede start to inhale. Not being able to get out of the way, Kirby plants instead the handle of his hammer in the floor to avoid being sucked, while Dedede's hammer is caught in the vortex and goes back to Dedede who catch it, and stops inhaling not long after.
At this, Kirby runs back to Dedede and jumps on his head, clinging to it while also hitting it with his hammer until Dedede catch him and throws him at the cage, but Kirby jumps from it, only getting a quick shock. Dedede then starts to spin again, and Kirby mimes him by spinning, and the two charge at each other until their hammers clash. Bad idea from Kirby, because with its jet, Dedede's hammer easily wins the clash and knocks Kirby's hammer out of his grip. Kirby quickly jumps back before inflating to fly above Dedede while he continues spinning, taking the occasion to approach his hammer. When Dedede stops, Kirby lands and takes it, just in time to avoid fire spewing from Dedede's hammer again. Kirby then gets an idea and puts his hammer in the fire, covering the weapon in it.
Dedede then jumps and tries to crush Kirby under his weight, but Kirby easily dodges it, only for him to immediately jump again, almost getting Kirby who dodges at the last moment, not expecting this. Dedede then jumps a third time, but this time, Kirby prepares his hammer, the weapon surrounded in fire suddenly growing, to everyone's surprise. When Dedede falls, he jumps away at the last moment again, only this time, he swings his hammer at Dedede's belly with enough force to send him into the wall of the cage, exactly where the cage has been damaged earlier, while also dropping his hammer. Kirby's hammer returns to its normal size, but Kirby doesn't mind it as he drops it to take Dedede's hammer instead, being able to hold it despite it being far heavier. He then plants the hammer in the ring and opens the head to shoot three missiles at Dedede still against the cage's wall. While the missiles fly toward Dedede, Kirby activates the hammer's jet and starts to spin toward the king as the missiles explode on him, his mask getting badly damaged by this. Finally, Kirby strikes Dedede, and the impact is so powerful that it breaks the wall of the cage, and Dedede is propelled out of the ring and through the ceiling while his mask breaks.
Sweetie Belle and Bandana Dee look astonished at the hole where the king has disappeared, before they look back at Kirby who has dropped the hammer before sitting down to get his breath back.
"We... We must go find the king!" shouts Bandana Dee in panic.
"Y-yeah. Hum... Kirby! Go talk to the cooks to get your cake! We have to go!"
Still being too tired from her fight to try to use her magic, Sweetie Belle exits the room with Bandana Dee by the front door instead of flying out by the hole with a platform, leaving Kirby behind.
Again, the ponies have their jaws dropped. This is becoming a habit. The silence doesn't last long however, the room is quickly filled with shouts from the foals starting to talk excitedly about this fight, sometimes mimicking a moment of the fight they have found awesome.
"So... Dedede has still lost despite all..." says Rarity.
"That was a close call, I could tell. Kirby was at his limits," replies Applejack.
Discord huffs. "This wouldn't have happened if he hadn't given Kirby that tomato and that hammer."
"But you heard him. He wanted a true fight against Kirby to prove himself that he had gotten better," rebuts Rainbow Dash. "And like AJ said, he almost got him."
"But he will be so sad..." says Fluttershy.
"Don't worry my dear. I am sure that Sweetie Belle will help him feel better," says Rarity.
"Anyway, I think that that's all for the spectacle for now," says Discord as he closes the portal. "But really, what a spectacle! And the foals all seem to agree," he says with a chuckle upon seeing the excited foals.
"They are not the only ones. I wouldn't mind getting my hooves on this awesome hammer," says Rainbow Dash.
Pinkie Pie bounces beside her. "And I'm sure that Twilight would like to study it! Right, Twilight?!"
"You have no idea Pinkie..."
Later, as the sun sets, Sweetie Belle and Bandana Dee finds Dedede as the penguin walks depressingly on a road in a familiar desert among a few Waddle Dees keeping him company.
Seeing Dedede in this state as she walks beside him really breaks Sweetie Belle's heart. He has really thought that he would be able to beat Kirby this time, and he has put so much into this fight. The hammer, the mask, the cage, the adventure leading to the fight...
She rubs her head against his side, and a small smile forms on his beak before he starts petting her. She then looks at him in the eyes, frowning, determination filling her.
"Dedede."
"Yes..."
"I Pinkie Promise. One day, I will beat Kirby."