//------------------------------//
// Chapter 61: Necro Nebula 
// Story: A Sweetie Dream Land 
// by Lucar 
//------------------------------//

Sweetie Belle and the others, still flying (or on Sweetie's back for Dedede), look down at where the Skullord has disappeared in a gruesome death, the filly frowning thinking about this. There is nothing she could have done to prevent this, but it has still been hard to watch the giant pig burning, and melting alive. Now at least, with his death, Necrodeus should come anytime, and the Skullys should stop patrolling the sky.

"Let's return to the airship," says Daroach.

They nod.



"Okay? I can watch?" asks Spike to Twilight who has her hoof before his eyes.

She sighs and remove her hoof from his eyes. "Yes, you can watch now."

"That goes for you too Fluttershy," says Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy nods and removes the blindfold that is on her eyes, and tends it to Discord. "Thank you Discord. You can take it back."

With a shake of his head, Discord pushes the blindfold back to Fluttershy. "No. You should keep it... Just in case..."

She gulps. "You-you are right. Thank you again."

"Let's... just not talk about this horrible death," says Rarity. "It's better to forget it."

"I don't think I will forget it anytime soon..." replies Pinkie.

"Thankfully the fillies aren't here," says Applejack.



As they return to the airship, reaching the edge of the island where the ashes of the volcanoes don't cover the sky, Dedede looks up and squints his eyes upon spotting something.

"Hey. What is it?" he asks while pointing up.

They all look up, and spot far away, many miles up there in the sky, a giant dark cloud that definitively hasn't been there when they have used the spaceship.

"It must be Necro Nebula. Necrodeus is already here, probably preparing his counterattack. We must hurry," says Daroach. "We will use the airship to go up there and use the rainbow medals to destroy that cocoon of dark clouds that covers his island."

"So you are still gonna help us even if we found all the medals?" asks Sweetie Belle.

Daroach smiles at her. "It's the least I can do after you saved us the previous time and for helping me find the medals."

She smiles back. "Thank you."

In the airship...

"It's confirmed boss. All the Skullys are gone. They returned to that dark cloud in the sky," informs Doc.

"That's good, but the Skullys will be the least of our problems if we don't stop Necrodeus quickly," says Daroach. "The Skullions will soon come, and those guys are no laughing matter."

"The Skullions?" asks Sweetie Belle.

"An evolved form of the Skullys, more powerful, enough that they should be able to damage the airship and enter the gondola. We may have to fight to approach Necro Nebula, and we will have to fight much more to reach Necrodeus. All the survivors of the Skull gang will be there." He turns to Doc. "Let's take off."

"Yes boss."

You heard that Storo?" asks Spinni to the big mouse. "Ready your fists. We will have to break some skulls."

"I'm already ready!"

Dedede turns to Sweetie Belle. "You should return me to my normal size."

"Oh! Of course!" Once done with Dedede, she continues. "I should also prepare myself." At this, she walks away, at the other side of the ship, and activates the Fire ability, then the Ice, then the Sword, and all the other abilities one by one, testing some of them.

"Poyo?" asks one of the Kirbys.

"I'm trying all your abilities to ready myself to use them when the time comes. I'm also taking the occasion to see if there are more like the Mini ability that I don't know about." At this moment, she activates the Fighter ability, a bandana appearing around her forehead, and does a storm of kicks in the air, kicking so fast that it seems like there are five hooves kicking at the same time. She then change abilities, and a chef's hat appear on her head."What?" She takes the hat and looks at it before turning to the Kirby. "You have an ability to cook?"

He nods. "Poyo."

She looks back at the hat. "Probably by eating a Chef Kawasaki. What can you do with this ability? I mean, I know that it helps you to cook, but how does it work?"

The Kirby approaches her. "Poyo!"

Sheunderstand and gives him the Cook ability, giving him a chef hat. A big pot full of soup suddenly appears beside him and a frying pan and a spatula appear on his arms. He then bangs the utensils together, and everyone in the ship, the other Kirbys, Sweetie Belle, Dedede, and all the Squeaks are sucked inside the pot, to their surprise. The Kirby then stirs the soup, salts it, and after a few seconds, he moves away and everyone is propelled out of the soup and falls in a big pile beside the pot without any burns, but extremely confused. The pot then disappears.

After a dozen seconds or so of confusion, they get up and look at the Kirby in rage, ready to gang up, even the other Kirbys. In a panic the Kirby, who has lost the Cook ability, points his arms toward where the pot has been and reveals dozens of yummy looking plants that has popped out of it along with everyone.

Sweating and smiling sheepishly, the Kirby says "Poyo poyo! Yum yum!"

Dedede raises an eyebrow. "I won't say no to food..."

"And I know that I asked you to show me what this ability does but..."

"You could have at least warned us!" they both shout.

"I almost got a heart attack!" shouts Doc.

"I thought that I would die cooked alive!" shouts Spinni.

One of the Kirbys slaps the ex-Cook Kirby behind the head. "Poyo!"

"Poyo..."

They then look at the food that Storo, the remaining Kirbys, and some of the Squeakers have already started to eat.

"Hey! Don't start without me!" shouts Dedede before joining them.

"So, with this ability, you cook everyone close enough to produce food..." resumes Sweetie Belle. "This is good if we ever need to heal, but I will make sure to warn everyone if I end up using it. Also, is there a means to avoid sucking everyone in the soup? If I have to cook in the middle of a battle, I will need someone to defend me."

The two Kirbys shake their head.

"Then I suppose that I will have to defend myself..."

At this, she continues shifting from an ability to another while Doc returns at the wheel with Daroach. Spinni decides to join Storo and the others, along with the last two Kirbys. Not long after, they hear something falling on the floor, and see Sweetie Belle now sleeping, a nightcap on her head.

Seems like she has discovered the Sleep ability...



After waking up Sweetie Belle (who is wondering why Kirby has an ability like the Sleep ability), and after a few more minutes, they are finally close enough to the dark cloud, which is actually in space above the atmosphere of Popstar. They open the door and the Kirbys move at the edge of the gondola, the rainbow medals assembled in a bag. They raise the bad, and the medals are covered in a rainbow light that takes the form of a sphere. One of the Kirbys raises the rainbow sphere, and it shoots a rainbow beam toward the cloud. After a few seconds, the cloud dissipates, revealing Necro Nebula, a floating island void of any life. They can see a stair leading to what seems to be a shrine, with a giant structure possessing two red glowing eyes looking at them with malice.

Dozens of small forms then raise from the island, and fly toward them. As those forms approach, they can see that they look like Skullys, but they have more slanted eyes, larger teeth, and a horn on their heads. The Skullions.

"Here they come!" shouts Daroach. "Doc!"

"On it boss! I will get us on this island of death, and those Skullions will taste the power of my baby! Mwahahahaha!!!"

The weapons of the airship are activated, and it starts its course toward Necro Nebula. It's not long before they reach the first Skullions, and the cannons at the front already fire their missiles, blowing a few of them. Doc also fire the laser, effectively eliminating a bunch of them, but many more come, and with just a charge at the windows, the Skullions are able to enter the gondola, ready to snatch anyone they get their hands on, only to meet fierce resistance from the crew and the heroes.

As Daroach as told, the Skullions being an evolved version of the Skullys, they are faster, and take more damage before being eliminated, so if Sweetie and the others don't watch out, a Skullion could grab them and take them away before they know it. This forces the Squeakers, the most vulnerable in the ship, to remain together to protect each other, and they also remain close of Daroach just in case. Storo and Spinni remain beside Doc to protect him while he is busy piloting the ship.

Among the Skullions come also many Skullys, threatening to overwhelm the crew with their number, but with a rain of bombs from the Squeakers, and Sweetie throwing projectiles after projectiles in rapid succession, their number doesn't matter in the end. And before long...

"We are reaching Necro Nebula!" shouts Doc.

Daroach clenches his teeth. "They are more numerous that I thought they would be. I fear that when we leave, the crew will not be able to resist them."

sweetie looks at him. "Then either we remain here until we eliminate all of them, or... you leave the island with your friends to safety and leave Necrodeus to us. You should be able to protect them if you remain with them."

Daroach doesn't reply for a moment while they fight Necrodeus' minions. When the airship finally lands, he then says "Then I will leave Necro Nebula with the Squeaks. I'm sorry that I can't go further with you."

"Don't worry, we understand. Then we will go. Goodbye Daroach, see you another time," says Sweetie Belle before getting out of the ship.

"Yeah, goodbye," says Dedede before following her.

"Poyo!" shouts the Kirbys with a wave before leaving.

Daroach nods at them as they start climbing the stairs, and closes the door. The next instant, the airship takes off and flies out of the island, followed by some of the Skullys and Skullions. Now down to only Sweetie Belle, the ten Kirbys, and Dedede, they continue to climb the island toward the structure at the center, still fighting dozens and dozens of minions trying to stop them. Sometimes, a Skullseer would also come to cause problems, slowing down the group, but thankfully, they don't seem to be too many. Not like they are hard to fight, but their resistance makes them troublesome with all those Skullys and Skullions coming without stopping.

But in the end, they are able to reach the shrine at the center of the island, and they find themselves in front of four purple flames floating on the four corners of an elevated part of the shrine with a small stair. On this part looms a statue that looks like Necrodeus, its three eyes glowing in a deathly purple light and the staff in its right hand. Behind the statue is the structure they have seen from afar, with the two red eyes.

"Uh? I thought that we would encounter Necrodeus here," says Sweetie Belle.

"He is probably elsewhere preparing his invasion... Or invading," replies Dedede. "But we are lucky! He left his staff here. It's the occasion to bring Kirby back to normal before fighting him."

Hearing this, the Kirbys jump in joy before running toward the statue, only for the staff to suddenly disappear before their eyes.

"What/Poyo?"

Then, a lightning bolt strikes the statue, destroying both it and the structure behind it, and scattering everyone on the shrine. Everyone quickly gets back up and look at the origin of the lightning bolt in the sky: Necrodeus, staff in hand. The staff is pointed toward them, and Sweetie quickly puts mirror shields above everyone, just in time to deflect a curse sent from the staff toward her. The curse is deflected back at Necrodeus, only for him to put the staff in the way, and with a swing at the right time, the curse is deflected into space.

With his ambush thwarted, Necrodeus takes the time to glare at Sweetie Belle in hate, revealing that his injuries have almost been healed, only a few cracks remaining around his right eye. He then places his hands beside his head, showing a red spot at their back, and a group of Skullions comes and covers those spots for a few seconds before flying away, the spots now covered in glasses.

While Necrodeus has been busy preparing himself, Sweetie Belle has given to all the Kirbys an ability she has just discovered in the airship, Cupid, an ability that gives to Kirby both wings and a bow to shoot arrows with heart-shaped heads. To complete it, it also makes a halo appear floating above the Kirbys' head. Thanks to this ability, the Kirbys will be able to fly and attack Necrodeus with arrows at the same time. A powerful ability if well used. It's clear that the spots on the back of Necrodeus' hands are weak spots, and the arrows will be useful to target them. However, they will have to smash the glasses first. For this, she has equipped herself with Hammer and Wing. Sadly, there is not much she can do for Dedede. She could use Mini on him so he could go on her back, but he would slow her, and to avoid Necrodeus attacks, she will need to be fast. If Necrodeus tries to punch her with his big fists, she doesn't think that using Mirror will help her that much. Without forgetting that he can fire lightning bolts powerful enough to destroy a statue.

Which is what Necrodeus is doing right now. He points a finger from his left hand toward her and fires a lightning bolt, and she quickly flies out of the way along with the Kirbys, the bolt striking the ground under her instead. The Kirbys fire dozens of arrows at both the hands and the skull, but they just bounce on them just leaving small scratches that quickly disappear, Necrodeus cackling at their pitiful attempt to hurt him. However, an arrow is able to hit Necrodeus in his left eye, making him yell in pain as he puts his left hand on it.

He counterattacks with his staff, firing a storm of black lightning bolts at the Kirbys and Sweetie Belle who dodge them with difficulty. A hammer thrown by Dedede then strikes the right hand, stopping Necrodeus from firing with his staff, and Sweetie takes the occasion to charge at the left hand still covering the eye, and swing her hammer on its back, destroying the glass covering the red spot.

Skullions then come to reform the glass, and she quickly eliminate them while the Kirbys shoot arrows at the red spot, causing the left hand to start to crack. Necrodeus uses his staff to force them to fly away, also using his left hand to slap them, but Sweetie comes back from slaughtering the Skullion and hits the left hand of the red spot on the back with her hammer. The hand falls on the floor beside Dedede who destroys it with a swing of his own hammer.

Now missing his left hand, Necrodeus roars, pushing everyone away, and raises his staff. The staff glows brightly with a purple light, and a black hole suddenly appears on the ground, which forces Dedede to quickly jump away in fear of being engulfed in it. From the hole, a black mass comes out, and soon takes a form: the one of Whispy Woods, but his bark is a deathly purple, and he also possesses dark purple leaves. The fake Whispy then shakes his leaves, throwing apples and spiked balls at them.

"Uh... This may complicate things..." says Sweetie Belle.

"Leave him to me!" shouts Dedede as he starts to attack the tree while deflecting the apples and spiked balls with his hammer. Seems like he won't need help. And thanks to him, fake Whispy has stopped attacking them.

But then, Necrodeus raises his staff again, and another hole opens on the floor. Out of it come spiked vines that rapidly covers the ground, forcing Dedede to climb Fake Whispy, and among the vines comes the recognizable form of Lady Ivy, now purple with a yellow stem. The plants immediately starts to spit seeds at them.

The vines then open a place where a third hole opens, and out of it comes Dedede's balloon, with a clone of Dedede himself in the basket, with purple where it is normally red. As the balloon starts to float around, and Lady Ivy's vines recovers the floor where the hole as been, the Fake Dedede smirked evilly at them and starts to throw his bombs, which some of the Kirbys headbutt to bounce them away, while other Kirbys have gone to attack fake Lady Ivy, leaving only three of them with Sweetie Belle.

She gulps as she sees Necrodeus raising the staff again, and she rapidly charges at it, only for a purple shield to form around him, repelling her. Then, under the vines, a fourth hole appears, and a giant black mass taking the form of a familiar leg comes out, but now purple, the vines covering it. Another leg comes out, followed by the skull covered head of Skullord himself, the rest of his body following it, the vines of Fake Lady Ivy entirely covering him, Fake Lady Ivy herself now on top of his head. Fake Skullord then grabs Fake Whispy Woods, plucking him out of the ground and making Dedede fall, and places him on his back among the vines. The vines then cover his roots, maintaining him in place. Fake Dedede's balloon starts to fly above Skullord, among some Skullys and Skullions.

"We are screwed," say both Yin and Yarn.

Sweetie frowns. "This will certainly be hard..." She then turns to Dedede and tosses Yin and Yarn to him. "I will deal with those fakes!"

As Dedede catches the needles, he replies "By yourself? Are you crazy?!"

Before Sweetie can say anything back, Necrodeus points his staff at her and fire a big dark laser. Some of the Kirbys have seen this and have charged at Sweetie Belle to get her out of the way. At the same time, Fake Skullord starts to fire his boulders at the whole group along with Lady Ivy and her seeds forming spike-like plants and cactus-like enemies that forces the Kirbys to fly away and Dedede to jump back while attacking the cacti.

"Thank you Kirbys," says Sweetie Belle to the little balls that have saved her before turning back to Dedede. "Don't worry!" She shifts from Wing and Hammer to Cupid, showing an arrow which has its heart-shaped head covered in a sharp spike formed with Ice. "Out of all of them, Necrodeus is still the most dangerous with his staff. You have to take it away from him while I stop the fakes from attacking you and the Kirbys. Yin and Yarn should help you."

At this, she flies toward Fake Skullord, leaving Dedede sighing before looking at the needles with a serious look. "She is right. You will help me clobber Necrodeus. Don't try anything foolish with me, okay?"

The needles smile sheepishly at him. "Okay!"

So, using them, Dedede knits a giant spring, and uses it to bounce toward Necrodeus who is busy trying to gobble a Kirby who has come too close of his face. He prepares his hammer, and bonks Necrodeus on the head before rapidly swinging his hammer at the right hand beside him, making it crash with the staff on the floor. The Kirbys all charge and cling to it, stopping it from flying back to the main body, and they punch the glass covering the red spot, cracking it. The hand however is able to fend them off with a sudden shake, but before it is able to fly away, Dedede has landed not far, only to jump again before falling toward the hand, crushing it under his hammer, destroying both the glass and the red spot, making the hand crack, and causing it to drop the staff.

Dedede finishes the hand with another hit, but before the Kirbys can grab the staff, Necrodeus' head comes and inhale the staff before flying away with a cackle.

"Seriously?!"

At the same time, Sweetie Belle flies toward Fake Skullord while dodging or repelling the projectiles fired at her. Once she is face to Fake Skullord, she fires the arrow with the head covered in ice at hi right eye, making him jerk his head and yell in pain. On his head, the sudden jerk from Skullord causes Fake Lady Ivy to lose balance, making her stop firing her seeds. Avoiding a swing from one of Fake Skullord's legs, Sweetie Belle flies by his right, changing Cupid to Wing and Sword, covering the sword in Fire. Upon reaching the top of his head, she charges at Lady Ivy, and with one single slash, beheads her, also burning both the head and the part of the stem that has been close to it.

the Fake Lady Ivy no more, she now uses Fire on the vines to put them on fire, the fire spreading among the vines until they reach Fake Whispy Woods who tries to puff air at it, to no use. As the fire starts to burn his roots, Sweetie flies around him while shooting a stream of fire at him without stopping, until he is entirely covered in fire. As the vines snap when the fire has consumed them enough, Fake Whispy starts to slide on Fake Skullord's back, until he ends up falling, now nothing more than a screeching giant ball of fire.

Finished with Fake Whispy, Sweetie now flies toward Fake Dedede just above, quickly destroying the Skullys and Skullions with her beams. He throws his bombs at her, but she catches his bombs in her magic and upon reaching him, opens his mouth wide and makes him eat the bombs. As she flies away, the balloon explodes, nothing remaining of the fake in it.
Three down, one to go.

Suddenly, everything becomes black, and she finds herself pulled in some tunnel with soft and wet walls, before she enters a room where she falls in a lake that burns her. She quickly flies out of the lake and lights her horn, discovering that the lake is a lake of acid, and the walls are made of flesh. She is in a stomach. That giant pig has eaten her!

For this, only one answer. Let's give him an explosive stomach ache!

Crash ability!

BOOOOOOOM!!!!!

Once the explosion ends, Sweetie Belle looks around, seeing that she is back outside. Or rather, seeing what remains of Fake Skullord, her prison of flesh is no more. Thankfully, the remains disappear in black masses, so she doesn't have much time to observe the result and getting sick from it.

She spots Dedede and the Kirbys further away, and flies back to them.

"I'm done! What about you?"

"We could see that. I think that I will not be able to eat tonight. As for us, we destroyed the right hand, but Necrodeus gobbled the staff."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah..."

So she looks toward a really angry Necrodeus floating in the sky, now without hands. He clenches his teeth in rage before roaring, causing the whole island to shake, then crack, before crumbling into pieces under their feet. The pieces then disappear, leaving them to float in space like on that alien planet they have visited about an hour ago.

Necrodeus then spits mines that shoot lasers in four directions at the same time, the number of mines leaving not much space to dodge. Sweetie eventually fire her beams at the mines to destroy them, only for Necrodeus to spit a giant ball of electricity at them. Thankfully, the ball is really slow, so they have no problems to dodge it, only for a second ball to come behind, hitting Dedede and electrifying him. More mines are spat, and this time, three of the Kirbys are hit by the lasers. Necrodeus then opens wide his mouth, revealing a purple eye inside it, and charges energy before firing a giant laser at Sweetie Belle. The filly uses Jet to fly away before charging at Necrodeus, only for him to headbutt her.

she quickly regains her senses and as Necrodeus spits another mine, she uses her whip to send it toward him, one of the lasers hitting his forehead, which pushes him back. Covering her hoof in energy, she then punches him on the right eye like the first time, creating a hole. She then uses Mini to shrink, and enter the hole, lighting her horn to better see. She spots the purple eye hidden inside him, which reminds Sweetie of Zero's eye, and the eye looks at her. She takes a sword, which is half its normal size like her, and impales the eye with it, making the eye jerk and screech as the head opens its mouth in extreme pain.

Sweetie quickly uses it to fly away as Necrodeus' skull cracks more and more, and his body of dark clouds loses form, turning into a black hole. The hole grows, and the head disappears in it, before the hole shrinks, then implodes, fading into oblivion, only leaving the staff floating in space.

Sweetie Belle sighs in relief, then turns toward the Kirbys. "It's done. Necrodeus is dead. It's time to use the staff to reform you."

The Kirbys nod and start to swim toward the staff while Dedede simply joins Sweetie Belle. Then, Kirby's heart, which has been inside Sweetie Belle all this time, comes out, and touches the staff not long before the Kirbys. When all the Kirbys have touched the staff, everything is covered in a bright light, and when it fades, only one Kirby remains, about the same size as Sweetie Belle, staff in hand.

She hugs him. "You are back!"

"Poyo!"

Dedede chuckles. "That's too bad, because it means that Sweetie Belle is not overpowered anymore."

Hearing him, Sweetie tries to use Jet, but the wings don't appear. She tries the same with Wheel, but no more luck. Yep, she is back to normal too.

Oh well. At least, I had some fun! She then releases Kirby from her hug and says "Let's return to the resort. We all need some rest after this fight."

"Ahahah! Yeah! I will order the Waddle Dees to give us the 'Great King Treatment'! You will see, after this, you will feel like you are reborn! I will also order a banquet!"

"Yeah/Poyo!"

And so Sweetie and Kirby use their Warp Stars to return to the Popopo Islands, Dedede clinging to Sweetie's.



"So, was Necrodeus also a creation of the Dark God?" asks Rarity.

"He had a giant eyeball! Like Zero and Dark Nebula! Of course he was!" replies Rainbow Dash.

"How many abominations did he create?" asks Twilight. "This is the fourth confirmed so far."

"Who knows?" says Discord. "He could have created dozens. Or only a few." He then closes the portal. "No matter the number, it seems like Sweetie Belle and Kirby are fated to fight all of them. I just hope that the next time will be more foal friendly. Blowing that fake Skullord from inside was a little too much pegi 18 for my tastes."

"Don't remind us!"



As Sweetie, Dedede, and kirby return to Dedede Resort discussing about their adventure and what to do with Necrodeus' staff, they get an unexpected surprise upon entering the dining room: the whole Squeak Squad is here, stuffing their face with the many fruits of the resort, especially Storo.

Daroach spots them. "Oh you are back. And I see that Kirby is back to normal. So I presume that Necrodeus is dead. Good job!"

"What are you doing here?!" asks Dedede.

"Isn't it obvious? We are resting before we go to more treasure hunting."

Sweetie nods while Kirby joins them in eating the fruits. "You deserve that. You were a great help for us in this adventure. i'm sure that Dedede will give you the 'Great King Treatment'. Right Dedede?"

"Uh yeah! Yeah! You are gonna have it!"

This makes all the Squeaks except Daroach and Doc cheer.

Sweetie then takes the staff and approaches Daroach. "Here. You should have it. It will replace the Triple Star."

Daroach looks at the staff before taking it, inspecting it. After a few moments, he puts it under his cape and says "Thank you. I'm sure that it will help me greatly."

"You're welcome! Now I think that I will join Kirby and eat some of those fruits. All this action starved me."