//------------------------------//
// Chapter 65: Raisin Ruins 
// Story: A Sweetie Dream Land 
// by Lucar 
//------------------------------//

"This explains SO much! All those impossible things, like breathing in space, objects flying without reasons, planets shaped weirdly... That's because this universe is made from the dreams of a whole civilization!" shouts Twilight.

"That's Lulu who must be happy," says Discord.

"Don't call me that!"

"But this means no meltdown anymore?" he continues in disappointment.

Twilight deadpans at him. "Yes. Because from now, each time that something impossible will happen, I will just say 'It's from a dream', and accept it." She looks back at the portal. "But to think that a civilization could become powerful enough to create a whole universe... It's..."

"Remember that they were helped by a god," says Rainbow Dash. "Anypony could create a universe with the help of a god."

"When you put it this way..."

"Even with the help of this god, they apparently did a big part of the work," says Celestia. "Their magical and technological knowledge and their use of those Matters reached the point that they became the equals of this god. It would take an untold amount of years for ponykind to reach such a point. I can't even imagine what their civilization was like."

"We will see soon enough. After all, their ultimate destination is the homeworld of the Ancients," says Luna.

"But all we will see will be ruins," says Discord. "After all, they were almost exterminated by the Dark God. Not much must remains..."



Sweetie Belle and her friends are on their way toward Raisin Ruins on the two Warp Stars, the group thinking about Magolor's revelations.

The Ancients created this universe.

This is beyond anything they have thought about them. They knew that the Ancients were powerful, and had a great influence over this universe, but to this point, this is just crazy! And for Dedede and Bandana Dee, it's even more crazy to think that they owe their existence to them.

Eventually, Dedede decides to say something. "So, the Ancients created this universe, so what? In the end, this change nothing, so big deal. Yes, that's impressive, but this won't stop us from living. I might learn that my grandfather was a dodo and it would be the same."

"Dedede is right," says Meta Knight. "Let's put it in the back of our mind and focus back to our actual task: repair the Lor and go fight Landia."

"Poyo!"

Sweetie Belle and Bandana Dee nod as the group starts flying above the desert of Raisin Ruins, which has the particularity to have many geysers of sand pushing up giant boulders. Not long after, ruins and pyramids become visible.

Why is this place named Raisin Ruins? It has nothing to do with raisins! At least, Cookie Country had those cookie hills! Even knowing that this universe was created from dreams, this still doesn't make sense!

...

Well, whatever, they are ruins, which means that there will be probably many traps. They will have to keep their eyes open.

Gosh, with all those ruins she has explored since coming to this universe, Sweetie could become the new Daring Do once she comes back to Equestria.

They soon landed on a road in the middle of the desert, and Kirby immediately starts to follow it, forcing the others to follow him. Already, they encounter a Whippy, some tiger-like creature that possesses no appendages accepted a long tail that the Whippys uses like a whip. After dodging the Whippy's tentative to harm him with his tail, Kirby decides to eat it, gaining an ability he hasn't used in a long time: Whip.

The Whip reminds Sweetie Belle of bad memories, but she quickly stops thinking about them before smiling and taking her new metal whip.

"Let's see who is the best whip user."

"Poyo!"

So the two start running, whips ready to crack on the first enemy they encounter, leaving the others in the dust.

"Oh? She doesn't just do it with me anymore?" asks Dedede with a raised eyebrow while they follow behind.

"Seems like she has developed your habit to start a competition whenever she has the occasion to prove that she's superior to her rival at something after all those times she competed against you," says Bandana Dee. "But I'm surprised that Kirby has taken it without her promising cake to him if he wins."

"Because she's Kirby's best friend," says Meta Knight. "Their relationship has just developed to that point where he would accept competing with her just to have fun with her, not for any reward, not even to prove that he's the best. Just for the fun." Behind his mask, a smile forms. "They are still children after all."

Dedede guffaws. "Are you sure that this is just because 'they are still children'?" At this, he places his hands in front of his mouth to amplify his voice. "Hey! Kirby! Just kiss her already!" He quickly ducks to avoid a Hot Head thrown at him by the filly. He starts laughing again, until he finds himself with Kirby's whip wrapped around his neck. Before he has time to try to get it off, Kirby pulls up his whip, sending Dedede in the air, then swings it down, planting him head first in the sand.

"Poyo!"

"Ahah! Who is laughing now?" shouts Sweetie Belle with a giggle before giving Kirby a hoofbump.

"You were asking for it, Dedede," says Meta Knight. "I'm starting to think that you like suffering. Has Sweetie been whipping you too much?"

Dedede gets his head out of the ground and yells at Meta Knight "I'm not that kind of freak! And Dark God da... There are children!"

"I'm an adult, and I didn't want an image like that in my head!" shouts Bandana Dee before bonking his head with his spear. "I must forget it! I must forget it! WHY AM I NOT FORGETTING?!"

"What are they talking about?" asks Sweetie Belle.

"Poyo..." answers Kirby with a tilt of his head, rubbing it in wonder.

Mini-Discord, actually smaller than Sweetie's ear, appears beside her and starts to whisper something to her, only for him to get crushed against the sand by a small shield.

"I don't want to know!"

"Poyo?" asks Kirby to her.

"Nothing!"



Everypony is groaning, some of them with their hooves on their eyes or face while others have become all red. The only ones that aren't are Spike and the fillies who look at the adults in curiosity. And Discord who is laughing.

"I don't understand," says Spike.

"THEN REMAIN IGNORANT FOR YOUR SAKE!" shouts Twilight.



They pass a door hidden underground leading inside a ruin. They are now in a room with a Maxi Tomato trapped behind a wall of Gordos, and Kirby quickly uses his whip to catch the tomato through them before he gives a part to all of them. With nothing else to do, they return outside and continue their way, eliminating a bunch of Pactos trying to eat them before passing another door to another part of the desert.

After some Nruffs, including one with a Waddle Dee riding it, they find a wick with a cannon on a  high slope. Sweetie lights the wick with some fire from her horn, and they quickly run to the cannon and jump in it, getting really cramped in it. The cannon fires them not far of a tilting pyramid that seems to be about to fall in a gulf, and they find an Energy Sphere on a pillar made of rock and sand.

In possession of their first Energy Sphere of this desert, they take a door that leads them back to the cannon, and after climbing the rest of the slope, they pass another door inside a hole in the sand dune. They enter a tunnel, and they have to destroy a bomb block to open the way, but it also causes a boulder to fall behind them. Just as the boulder starts to roll, Dedede destroys it with his hammer, and they continue their way without having to run to escape it. A switch press a little further causes another boulder to fall in front of them, and the boulder rolls away, forcing many enemies to run to not be crushed before it break after falling in a hole. Further, they now find themselves trapped between two boulders rolling in the same direction, but Dedede easily destroys the one behind them while they let the one before them cleaning the way from all enemies, finding at the end another Energy Sphere.

They pass a door to another part of the tunnel where this time, rather than going down a slope, they have to climb one, with boulders coming toward them from the front, so Dedede takes the head alongside sweetie Belle and they destroy every boulder approaching, even the giant one at the exit of the tunnel.

One door later, they end up in front of an Invincibility Candy among the ruins, and so they use it to easily reach the next door while ramming all the enemies that get in the way. After passing it, and after a small treck, they encounter in a tunnel a Bonkers that want to test his skills against them. The Bonkers starts spinning with his hammer, only for Dedede to stop his spinning by smashing his hammer against his before Sweetie gets him to drop his hammer by whipping the back of his hand, then while he waved his hand in pain, she whips his knee, getting him to put his hands on it while jumping on his other leg. Dedede then hits him under the chin with a big swing of his hammer, sending the Bonkers toward the ceiling. His head gets stuck in it, and while he tries to free it, they continue their way. They find a third Energy Sphere not far behind, trapped in a group of metal blocks, before they pass a door.

They reach an oasis with O or 8 shaped trees. They have to watch out for Water Galbos, which are blue version of their red counterparts that spit waves of water that travel across the ground without stopping, which means that they can attack from really far. Kirby gives up the Whip to eat one of them, getting the new Water ability, giving him a golden tiara with a drop-shaped jewel on the forehead and waves at the sides, with a vortex of water at the top of his head. Thanks to this ability, Kirby can not only attack with water, but also create a wave and surf on it! Letting him travel a water point without having to swim!

"Cheater!" shouts Dedede who is swimming with the others while Kirby is waiting for them at the end.

"Why are you complaining?" asks Sweetie Belle. "Swimming while it's so hot is really nice. it's refreshing."

"I was not talking about that! I was talking about him being now constantly refreshed by this Water ability while we have to sweat under the sun!"

Sweetie rolls her eyes as they get out of the water. "Just take off your royal clothes."

"Never! And I don't see you taking off your uniform too! And yet, you must have it worst between them and your fur!"

Sweetie produces some water from her horn with a smirk. "I don't need to. And I don't know. Are you sure this isn't you who must have it worse between those clothes and your fat?" She jumps back to avoid being crushed by Dedede's hammer, then quickly starts running away, chased by the penguin swearing at her.

Meta Knight sighs in exasperation before looking at Bandana Dee. "Are they always like that?"

The Waddle Dee just shrugs in answer. "Always. There is not a day without those two bickering. Adeleine had to slap them with a fan to stop them in one of our previous adventures. At least, we never get bored in the castle." He starts walking. "Let's just go and don't mind them. They will eventually stop and join us."

And he is right. Not even one minute later, as they reach a door, Sweetie Belle and Dedede join them, the filly with a giggle and the penguin breathing heavily, dragging his hammer behind him.

"Why do you have so much energy?"

"I'm young. I'm thin. And I've trained my endurance a lot."

Dedede growls, then looks down in defeat. "Maybe I should start a diet..."

Sweetie giggles again, but stops when she feels someone poking her belly, feeling a finger sink a little in it.

"You should start one too," she hears Meta Knight then say.

Bandana Dee looks at him in horror before slowly stepping back as Sweetie's head becomes red.







"Let's go," says Sweetie Belle before passing the door. Behind, Kirby and Bandana Dee sweat while looking at Dedede, Meta Knight half trapped in his mouth, only his legs poking out.

"What was that about me asking for it?" he's able to say despite his full mouth.

Meta Knight's legs stop moving before dropping down. "I should watch out what I say to her in the future..."

"Maybe you should above all learn something that is called 'tact'," says Bandana Dee.

Meta Knight doesn't answer anything to this.



Kirby eats a Rocky to gain Stone before he turns into a statue of a human sitting in a thinking position at the start of a succession of slopes, ramming everything in the way while the others follow behind him. More slopes follow, until they find a door hidden by iron blocks that have had to be destroyed by pounding a stake at the top. Passing the door, Kirby pounds another stake to destroy some walls of iron blocks, and Meta Knight flies toward the Energy Sphere just before another wall of blocks appear behind him, blocking the way for the others. They unite at the door leading back to the previous section, Meta Knight passing through a trapdoor that could only be open from his side.

They continue going down the slopes, this time Kirby turning into a statue looking like a white cat with brown patches of fur, a leg beside its head. The others have to watch out for some Gordos further down before they reach a door in the water at the bottom.

After the door, they have to swim a little in a submerged tunnel before going out. Kirby quickly takes back the Water ability by eating a Water Galdo, and uses it to surf on more water, only to stop above a door in the water, which leads in a room in some submerged ruin with two bomb blocks destroying two different walls, one freeing two blippers, a Gordo and the other freeing an Energy Sphere.

Back out, Kirby takes a Warp Star and the others understand that they have finished with this part of the desert. So on warp Stars, they go toward more ruins and pyramids, and they landed at the base of one of them before entering it. They find themselves between blocky statues looking like heads of Kabus, but cubic, with some of them colored red and spitting fire. They climb a ladder and have to reach another while jumping from statues to statues forming a stair, having to avoid the fire from the red ones.

Not long after the second ladder, they encounter a glowing Waddle Doo with a star on his forehead.

Well well well.

The very next second, Kirby eats him, gaining the familiar half red half yellow with white stars jester hat, but much bigger with the glowing yellow star on the forehead. The wand is larger, and rainbow colored. Kirby then raises the wand, and a giant ball of energy appears above it before Kirby starts to guide it around by moving the wand, easily destroying the statues with it.

Sweetie looks at the ball. "I could do one like that with enough magic. The fire dragon too."

"Jealous?" asks Dedede with a smirk.

"A little. But I'm also thinking of how powerful I would get if I could use those... Super Abilities. I'm sure that they would be really useful against the Dark God. But I would probably need to be an alicorn to do them without problems."

They start following Kirby as he rampages with those giant energy balls. "Now that you speak about them, I wonder if you would be able to beat one of your alicorns in a fight now."

She rubs her head in thought. "Erh... Maybe princess Cadance, but she's not really a fighter. She has strong magic, yes, so she could fire magical beams as big as you, but that's all. We know by now that against beings firing big lasers, all we have to do is dodge the laser and quickly attack. At this, prince Shining Armor, despite being only a unicorn, would be harder to fight because he's not only magically powerful -not as much as an alicorn, of course-, but as ex-captain of the Royal Guard, he knows how to fight, both with and without magic. I don't know how strong he is, so I don't know if I would win a fight against him."

Dedede taps her on her back with a laugh. "Of course you would win a fight against this guy! Would this Shining Armor be able to win a fight by himself against Yin and Yarn like you did?"

Sweetie looks at the knitting needles. "Definitely."

"Hey!"

"Their dragon was a joke, and the tank form, even if solid, was easy to deal with." She looks again at Dedede. "But back to your question. I would probably be able to beat princess Cadance because she's not a fighter and probably not that great of a magic user, as for the others... This would be harder, but maybe Twilight too."



"What?"



"Twilight is my friend, but everyone can tell that she's more a brain than brawn. And by brain, I mean the nerd type rather than the strategist type. She would probably be able to use all sorts of magic that I don't even know about, and use them in many unexpected nerdy ways to surprise me. But if I'm able to break her defense and go against her in close quarter combat, she wouldn't last one minute, especially against my soul energy enhanced hooves. And I would make sure that she can't teleport by hitting close to the horn. And her main magic attack consists of shooting magical beams. I know because Pinkie recounted me their fight against the changelings. So if I watch out for her magic tricks, she would be a breeze."



Some of the ponies snicker at a deadpanning Twilight.

Rainbow Dash puts a hoof on her. "She's right Twilight. Maybe you should take some martial art lessons. I can teach you."



"As for princesses Celestia and Luna, no. I don't know how powerful they are, but from what I've heard, Celestia is pretty much Twilight with the experience, and very probably knows how to defend herself even in a physical fight. I may have a chance against her, but it would probably be a REALLY close victory. But the most worrying would be Luna. Celestia is the diplomat. Luna is the warrior. I have heard that before she turned into Nightmare Moon, she was dealing with the monsters attacking the ponies the night. I wouldn't be surprised if she could beat even Meta Knight in a duel, while I'm still not sure if I could do it right now."

"So, this gives two 'probably', one 'not sure', and one 'not at all'. Not bad," says Dedede before smirking. "If you think that you are already THAT strong, then I wonder how strong you would become if you turn into an alicorn. Probably strong enough to beat Kirby!"

"We already talked about this. Me becoming an alicorn would be like you becoming a God: possible, but it would take a miracle."

"Me? A God?" At this, Dedede closes his eyes and takes a big breath, getting lost in thoughts, a big smile forming on his beak. "Oh yes... The Great God Dedede... This would be... Perfect."

Sweetie facehoofs. "What have I done?"

"Poyo!" they suddenly hear. When they look, Kirby, Meta Knight and Bandana Dee are looking at them, the puffball pointing at a star-shaped portal near a wall. "Poyo!"

"Oh! You found one!" says Sweetie Belle in happiness. "We are coming!"

At this, they enter the portal, entering the other dimension, still in a monochromatic area looking like the oasis, with Kirby losing the Super Ability, and the purple space-wall chasing them. The peculiarity here is that the path is formed by floating cubes of water, so they have to jump in them, swimming in them, and jump to the next. After a moment, they reach a normal platform with a big stone star block that Kirby inhale before spitting back to eliminate some obstacles, mainly Blippers, and gain time. They have to pass through more cubes of floating water, those ones between pillars, until they reach more stone star blocks that help freeing the way toward the door.

On the other side, they reach an arena with some submerged parts, and they have to fight another Doomer. However, this one is different from the previous ones. It's red, and it possesses three feather-tail rather than two. At first, it doesn't seems stronger than the purple ones, but then, the Doomer surrounds itself in fire before rapidly charging at them. Thankfully, the time it takes for the Doomer to prepare the attack is long enough to let everyone jump out of the way. The ball projectiles, which are actual balls of fire, also give Kirby the Fire ability, which he gladly uses to attack the Doomer. But in the end, the Doomer is still as easy to fight as its purple counterpart.

But knowing that there are more than one kind of Doomers is worrisome, because it means that there may be more, and probably more powerful.

Or they could all be that weak. Only time will tell.

Once the Doomer explodes, bringing colors to this part of the dimensions, they leave through a portal and return to the ruin with the statues. Just above the room where they return, they pass a door, which leads them outside of the ruin. From there, Kirby leads them through a path toward a neighboring pyramid.

While they walk, Meta Knight goes beside Sweetie Belle.

"Sweetie Belle. I'm sorry for earlier."

She rolls her eyes. "It's already forgotten. I know that you didn't mean anything bad, and I'm used to that kind of comment in the castle. But next time, you should avoid being so direct."

He rubs his head. "I've always been like that to the others. When I see something wrong, I warn about it even if I know that it may hurt, and the ones that I warned work to fix the problem and get better. Most of the times. No matter how much I say to Vul that he needs to fix his anger problems and to remain calm, he still have them."

"Which is pretty much your role as leader of the Meta Knights to assure that your men are at their best. Cape Knight also does the same thing to the soldiers. But you don't need to tell me about my weight, I know about it and I try to fix it." She waves her hoof all around her. "But this whole world does everything to make it very hard!" She points at Dedede. "And living with him doesn't help!" Dedede hears her and guffaws. "But I'm starting to get a better control of myself around foods like cakes or cookies -after all, I resisted eating those cookies hills back in Cookie Country-, so I should start to lose this weight soon thanks to my training. Or at least, I will not gain more weight. As long as I watch out next time I go to Dedede Resort."

"If you need training in a healthy environment, you are always welcome in my base."

"I will think about it. Sparring with you should help improve my skills greatly."

At this moment, they reach the base of the pyramid, and they start climbing it, jumping from giant step to giant step. After climbing a ladder, they reach a door that leads them inside the pyramid, where they still have to climb by jumping on platforms, sometimes having to separate to go through more than one way, some having food, others having nothing but enemies, or Noddys, before reaching another door.

They are back outside, still having to climb on giant blocks, but now, some of them are moving up and down, and there are those Mumbies creeps. They also encounter some Shotzos, and further up, a giant Shotzo with some red parts named Gigatzo that can fire giant bullets surrounded in fire. After the Gigatzo, Kirby eats a Twister to gain Tornado, easily cleaning the enemies around with it while advancing.

Kirby, however, has to expel the ability soon after to inhale and spit a big stone star block blocking a small passage, but once done, he inhales back the ability bouncing around to get it back, and in the passage, uses it to create a tornado rising above him and destroying many blocks in the way, letting him reach an Energy Sphere. Not far after finding the sphere, they enter another passage leading to a door, entering the pyramid again.

They are now in a big vertical room with a Starman, and Kirby eats him to gain Hi-Jump to destroy with more ease the obstacles in the way of their climbing, the others finishing the enemies that have been able to avoid the puffball. When they reach a part where the room separates into three ways, Kirby takes the center one, destroying many blocks with the Hi-Jump and finding another Energy Sphere while the others take the two other paths at the sides. Things get complicated for Sweetie, Dedede, Bandana Dee, and Meta Knight, because when the three paths unite into a single one, it suddenly shrinks into a narrow path with many Gordos patrolling it. Kirby is able to somehow touch them without being hurt while he does his Hi-Jump, but the others have to avoid them while flying/jumping, Bandana Dee forced to go on Dedede's back because he doesn't want to risk it with his spear twirling flying technic.

After the Gordos, they find a door, and they enter a passage at the side of the pyramid where they end up fighting a King Doo, a giant version of a Waddle Doo about four times the size of a normal one, with a yellow colored body, a purple eye, and a blond ponytail above it. His feet are also pointed at the end, which is not the case of the normal Waddle Doos. He's as big a threat as the Doomers they have fought until now, but they still have to watch out for his bigger whip beam, and sometimes, he charges his energy to fire from his eye a big energy ball similar to the one that Kirby has used earlier, but only going in a straight line. The King Doo also tries to surprise them once by charging at them, but all he gets with this is to facewall against Sweetie's shield, which lets the others finish him.

Once the King Doo knocked out, Kirby inhales him, gaining Beam, and they continue their climbing, using cannons to propel themselves at the level above, where destroying a bomb block reveals an Energy Sphere.

One door later, they enter a section full of cannons that they use to climb, one of the cannons leading them to another Energy Sphere, and another at the top of the pyramid. Taking it leads them at the base of another pyramid, beside the skeleton of something absolutely titanic.

"More pyramid climbing..." complains Bandana Dee.

"At least, there aren't as many traps as I thought there would be," says Sweetie Belle. "Remember that room that was filling with sand back in that world in pieces?"

"Maybe there will be one in this pyramid."

"And I'm prepared for it."

Beside them, they find a key, so they take it before they start climbing the pyramid, which has some parts moving back and forth, threatening to push them beyond the edge. After some steps, they find the door that the key opens, and they enter the pyramid, Kirby eating the Poppy they encounter to gain Bomb.

Just in case they need to blow a wall to get out.

Inside the pyramid, they end up walking on sand that flow like a river, dragging them back if they stop walking. After fighting their way through many creatures and even avoiding a Shotzo, they find a door that leads them to a room with a door that can only be opened by pressing a switch. However, the door remains open not even one second, which forces one to remind behind at the switch while the others pass the door and get the Energy Sphere behind it.

Back in the previous section with the 'rivers of sand', they now walk on one that drags them forward, almost making them hit a Gordo in the way near the start. Avoiding more spiky obstacles, they pass a door that brings them in a dark room, the dark not remaining a problem for long thanks to Sweetie's magic, quickly helped by a candles that they find on the way. Thanks to them, they can see the enemies, dead ends, and the passages that they wouldn't see, one of them leading to an Energy Sphere not far before they exit this dark room.

They drop the remains of the candle go down a ladder, and enter a section with fire blocks. No one can do anything about them right now accepted Sweetie Belle, so she uses water with her magic to destroy the blocks in the way, before they find themselves in front of a Water Galboros, which is, like King Doo, a bigger version of a Water Galbo, with the same colors, but also with some yellow around the eyes, and yellow streaks on the back.

The Water Galboros spits a stream of water at them, but they have seen it coming and they jump out of the way. Sweetie remains close to the water, and fire lightning bolts at it. The electricity spreads in the water stream until it reaches the Galboros, electrifying it. While it is spasming, the others gang bang it, not leaving it any chance to ripost before it's knocked out, and Kirby eats it to gain Water, to help dealing with the fire blocks if there are more of them.

Thanks to him and Sweetie, they don't get burned once before they reach the next door, and they enter a section with Gigatzos on separate platforms raining fireballs on their path. After dodging a good number of them, they find a crystal that causes not only the one the hold it to turn invisible, but also intangible to most things, like other creatures, or some crystal walls. Kirby uses it to reach a door behind one of those walls, and quickly comes back with the confirmation that he has found an Energy Sphere. But just as they reach the next door, the crystal explodes, and Kirby returns to normal.

They are now back outside the pyramid, in a section where Meta Knight's sword is very useful to cut some ropes that causes platforms with Shotzos on them to fall into holes. That is, until they find a Super Blade Knight, much to Meta Knight's frustration. And seeing the giant rope that is just beside the Blade Knight, he knows that it's time for Kirby to glow, both literally and figuratively.

So Kirby eats the Super Blade Knight.

And before he can do anything, Sweetie Belle goes beside him with a big smile. "You know what I'm thinking? Let's try it!"

"Poyo!" he shouts back happily before jumping on her back.

Sweetie belle then starts to glow like Kirby. A star appears on her forehead below her horn. Her mane and tail take a yellow color, and start to flow in an invisible breeze, while wings appears at her sides, looking like they are made of metal. When she opens them, the feathers extend into sword-like beams. The feathers themselves look really sharp. She then focus her energy into her horn, and it extends into a giant sword beam that reaches the ceiling, and could even continue beyond it if she hadn't stopped it from growing. And with just one swing of her head, the sword beam cuts the giant rope as if it's made of butter, causing a part of the floor to drop. She then flies at the next giant rope, and cuts it as easily with her right wing.

It's as if she has three giant swords! No, scratch that. Make it four. let's not forget Kirby and his own giant sword on her back.

And with all those giant swords, they absolutely destroy the following path, cutting everything, even the walls, floor, and ceiling. Nothing can stop them, and not much actually dare to stop them.

With this, not even half one minute passes before they find a portal by cutting two ropes that have been holding a big piece of the structure. Sadly, like the previous times, entering it causes Kirby, and by extension Sweetie Belle to lose the Super Ability.

So Kirby quickly jumps down from Sweetie's back, and they start their escape from the purple space-wall while moving up and down inside a pyramid with many Shotzos and even a Gigatzo. At the end, the path does a 180 before the door, forcing the group to run to reach it before it disappears inside the space-wall.

The arena for their battle against the Doomer, a red one again, has star blocks in the floor, which means that they have to watch out to not end up falling in an endless pit. like the previous time, Kirby eats one of the fireballs that the Doomer spits at them to gain the Fire ability, and already knowing what are its capacities, the fight is quickly finished with Bandana Dee impaling it through its mouth.

They grab the two Energy Spheres that has been taken by the Doomer, and pass the portal to return to Popstar, where they pass a door to a part of the pyramid that seems to be underground. They climb some ladders, pass another door, then finally enter a room beside some obelisks made of crystals with glowing symbols inscribed on them.

In this room, they find a turban on the floor, and they have nowhere to go. Suddenly, light as if coming from a projector but actually coming from nowhere appear around the turban, and they hear rapid drums. Two floating gloved hands come down toward the turban and rise it in the air. They release the turban, letting it float in the air, and the right hand knocks it while the left one readies a 'tadaa' gesture, only for a puff of smoke to be released from the turban as the drums stop, and the two hands fly back a little in surprise, clearly not expecting the puff of smoke.

"Oh come on!" they hear from the turban, which the hands start bashing, causing a black cloud to appear under it, the cloud clearly taking form. "You work one thousand year on a magic trick, and when it's time for the show, it fails in a puff of smoke!" The being finally takes form at this moment, clearly exasperated at his fail.

The being has a blue bowling pin-shaped body that is balanced on some kind of flat-ended ghost-like tail instead of legs, with a green pants, a purple bet, and a red vest with yellow designs, without forgetting the turban on his head. His head has only two small black eyes, but nothing else.

Sweetie Belle gasps. "Are you a genie? Can you-" She's stopped by one of the genie's fingers putting itself on her mouth.

"Hepepep! I must stop you there little furry ball. Yes, I'm a genie, but I'm not one of those poor slaves that are forced to serve greedy fools. I'm a free genie! And I'm my own master!"

Sweetie Belle looks down in disappointment. "Aww..."

The genie bows. "You can call me Mr Dooter." He then puts his hands in front of his head and starts to drum his fingers against each other like a businessman would do. "So, my dear guests, what are you doing here in my home sweet home? Are you simple explorers that are curious to see the wonders of past civilizations, or..." He puts his hands beside his head in a threatening way, as if he's about to catch them, his skin turns red, and he doubled his size. "are you looters that want to empty those ruins of their treasures?"

"We are none of those," says Meta Knight. He turns to Kirby. "Can you give me an Energy Sphere?"

Kirby nods with a "Poyo" before spitting an Energy Sphere that Meta Knight catches and show to the genie. "We are in search of those things, and also of parts of a ship. We know that one of the wings has fallen somewhere in those ruins."

"Mmh... I can't help you for those sphere things," He takes his turban, revealing that he possesses darker blue airs at the top. "But I think that I possess one wing or two in it. Wait a minute." He puts his hand in the turban and they hear things being moved inside it. The hand gets out holding a chicken, which the genie throws away after a shake of the head. "Nope." After more searches, the hand gets out holding a pair of wings without a body. He shakes his head again and releases the wings, which start to fly around. More searching, and the hand gets out holding a familiar wing in a sphere similar to the ones of the Energy Spheres.

"Yes! That's it!" shouts Sweetie Belle with a bounce.

Mr Dooter rubs his head. "So this wing is part of a ship? A winged ship? That's new for me."

"It's an alien ship from another dimension," informs Bandana Dee.

"Wohohohoho! An alien ship? Interesting! But I must ask you: what will I get in return?"

"What/Poyo?" they all ask.

"Like I said earlier, I'm a free genie. This is not because you are asking nicely that I will give such a treasure to perfect strangers without asking anything in return."

"But we don't have anything to give," says Dedede.

Bandana Dee turns to Dedede. "What about the castle's tre-"

Dedede puts a hand on his mouth. "Shhhh!"

Mr Dooter lies down in the air, his head supported by a hand. "If you have nothing to propose, then let me propose this: try to get it by force. This should be fun."

"Fighting a genie?" asks Sweetie Belle before she turns to the others. "Can we do that? Genies are really powerful."

Dedede dismiss her worries with a wave of his hand. "Pfff. Of course we can win. Genies are not that powerful."

"But the furry ball is right," says Mr Dooter before he starts to grow in size, his head reaching the ceiling, and takes a flexing pose despite not having arms. "I possess phenomenal cosmic powers! And contrary to some, I'm not trapped in an itty bitty living space!" He returns to his normal size. "So, what do you think?"

Kirby advances, taking a fighting position. "Poyo!"

The others look at him before looking back at the genie and nodding and taking fighting positions too.

Mr Dooter chuckles. "Well then..." He spins on himself, and his clothes changes to a firefighter uniform, holding a hose pointed at Kirby. "Fire in the hole!" he then shouts before water gets out of the hose, striking Kirby and propelling him into a wall before he can do anything.

Ugh! This will be like fighting Discord!

Sweetie Belle fires a magical beam at the genie, only for him to disappear. She quickly looks with the others at all directions to see where he will reappear, only to suddenly feel something on her back, and to have something around her muzzle. She looks at her muzzle to see some contraption made of leather that forces her mouth to remain close, and she looks at her back to see Mr Dooter looking like one of those cowboys, and smaller.

"Yeehaw! Let's go, Jollyjumper!"

She deadpans at him before her horn starts to glow. The next instant, a shield rams Mr Dooter and propels him away from her back, right into the swing of Dedede's hammer, which crushes him on the floor. When Dedede moves his hammer away to look at the genie's state, he is surprised to see that there is now a round hole in the floor. Eight similar holes appear, forming a grid of nine holes. Mr Dooter then pops out of a hole beside the first one, looking like a mole.

"Yo!"

Dedede swings his hammer down at him, only for the genie to return in the hole at the last moment and pop out of another.

"I'm here!"

Dedede attacks him again, only for Mr Dooter to return in the hole to pop out of another again.

"Too slow!" BAM! "Come on!" BAM! "You can do better!" BAM! "Almost!"

Dedede yells in rage before slamming his hammer, only for Mr Dooter to dodge again. When Dedede sees him starting to go out of another hole, he jumps toward him immediately in the hope to hit him before he returns in the hole. Only to have a bad surprise: the Mr Dooter coming out of the hole is made of dynamite about to explode.

Too late...

BOOM!!!

The real Mr Dooter has appeared away from the holes just before that with sunglasses and eating a banana, admiring the explosion. He then throw the banana skin behind him, right before Bandana Dee, who has been charging at him with his spear from behind. The Waddle Dee walks on it as a result, causing him to slip all the way to the other side of the room into a wall.

Meta Knight suddenly zooms in front of Mr Dooter, slashing him violently. Following the momentum of the slash, Mr Dooter spin on himself again, getting himself inside an armor like a real knight, and he takes a sword before starting an exchange with Meta Knight, only for this last to prove being much more skilled with a sword and slash the genie many more times, helped by Sweetie and Kirby ramming him from behind like two fiery comets. Mr Dooter, still in armor, falls on the floor, and before he goes back up, Sweetie Belle fires lightning bolts at him, and Dedede, who has recovered from the explosion despite still being blackened, jumps on him before hitting him on the head with his hammer.

Mr Dooter teleports away, now appearing as a buffed soldier two times his original size, cigar where his mouth should be, two fingers of each hand pointed at them. "Enough playing around. Here I come!" Suddenly, he starts firing bullets from his fingers with a maniacal laugh as Sweetie and the others are forced to run to not be turned into cheese. "Run, run, I'm coming for you!"

When he sees them separating, he stops firing and raises his hands, making many skulls appear and float above him before he sends them. The skulls are however all dodged or destroyed, and Meta Knight is the first to counterattack by sending a tornado, only for Mr Dooter to spin on himself like one and charging toward it, annihilating it before continuing his course toward Meta Knight. A shield slamming him from above stops him, and he lands beside Bandana Dee who impales him from the side. Bandana Dee is slapped away by one of Mr Dooter's hands, but he quickly comes back, only to stop when he sees his spear becoming wobbly, before being crushed by an obese Mr Dooter landing on him.

Mr Dooter then takes his turban, and out of it come many snakes that start attacking the group, and he follows this immediately by raising his arms again, making bombs appear before sending them. While Meta Knight and Sweetie Belle fly and air-jump away, Kirby gives up Fire to eat the bombs (and snakes) coming at him, and obtains Bomb, and Dedede swings his hammer to send a bomb coming at him back at the genie.

Meta Knight zooms at Mr Dooter to attack him directly, forcing him to return to his normal form and releasing Bandana Dee from under him. Meanwhile, Sweetie spots the chicken that Mr Dooter has taken from his hat earlier, and she gets an idea. So she takes the chicken, and throws it at the genie's face, totally surprising him and opening him to Meta Knight's slashes.

As the panicked chicken flaps its wings and scratches Mr dooter's face with its claws, the genie loses his bearings, until he slaps away the chicken before trying to crush Meta Knight between his hands, forcing him to fly back, while Kirby throws a bomb successfully at him, and Sweetie mega-punches him from above.

And then...

COCORICOOOO!!!

"What?"

They all turn toward the chicken who is loudly crowing. The next instant, dozens of chickens come from the openings in the room and starts to fly toward Mr Dooter before pecking him, to everyone's surprise. Sweetie Belle certainly hasn't expected this. The chicken was only intended to be a distraction to help Meta Knight! Now Mr Dooter is struggling against a whole flock of them coming from nowhere, and he's clearly being hurt!

Until he claps his hands in front of him, causing a fiery shockwave to spread all around, which turns all the chickens into fried chickens, their cooked remains raining all around. Sweetie Belle has saved herself and her friends from the same fate by creating a big shield in front of her, the others sheltering themselves behind her. Mr Dooter's size then starts to increase again, until his head reaches the ceiling, and one of his giant hands comes down toward them to crush them.

They all avoid it with just one jump in all directions, but the other hand starts to walk toward them on two fingers as if they are legs, and upon reaching Sweetie Belle, flicks her toward Kirby. The first hand starts to do the same thing and flicks Dedede at Meta Knight. Kirby then looks around and spots near the ceiling the bodiless wings. Quickly thinking, he grabs Sweetie Belle by one of the legs to her surprise, spins, and throws her toward the wings. Sweetie Belle sees the wings and understand what Kirby hopes will happen, and when she reaches the wings, they fix themselves at her sides. She immediately uses them to avoid hitting the ceiling, and she flies back to Kirby to let him go on her back, giving her the Bomb ability.

With Kirby on her back, she looks around to see her friends busy fighting the hands, so her and Kirby are the only ones that can attack Mr Dooter himself. So she flies toward him, only for the genie to fire lasers from his eyes at her. She flies up to dodge them, and Kirby starts throwing bombs at his face, stopping him from firing his lasers. The hands stop fighting the others and go to stop Sweetie Belle, but this free the others to go fight the main body, which forces one of the hands to return fighting them, only to finish with Dedede crushing it against the floor with his hammer on its back. Meta Knight grabs Bandana Dee and flies above the other hand that is attacking sweetie Belle and Kirby, and throws him at it. Bandana Dee impale the hand from above, and with the force of Meta Knight's throw, rams the hand and causes it to crash beside the other hand, not being able to move anymore because of the spear keeping it pinned.

Kirby then takes a bomb and throws it at Mr Dooter's face, but this doesn't stop here. Sweetie Belle shoots a beam at it, and the bomb suddenly increases in size just before exploding on the genie's face. The force of the explosion causes Mr Dooter to be propelled against the wall behind him, and to destroy it, leaving him with only the lower side of his body still inside the room.

Mr Dooter then shrinks back to his normal size, the hands too. Dedede being on the back of one of the hands, this causes him to fall, freeing the hand who flies back to Mr Dooter's body, only for a white flag to appear in it. The hand waves the flag for a few seconds, before dropping, and stopping moving, Mr Dooter seemingly losing consciousness.

Sweetie sighs in relief, when the wings suddenly disappear, dropping her. After a painful crash, Kirby helps her get up, when Dedede suddenly shows a cooked chicken leg in front of her.

"Want some chicken to heal?" he says while eating another chicken.

She looks at him, then at the chicken legs, then sighs before taking. "It's only because there is no other food to heal right now. This doesn't mean that I will start to eat meat all the time."



"Wait. She's gonna do it?" asks Apple Bloom.

"Oh my gosh! She is!" shouts Scootaloo.

"And she doesn't like it. It must taste horrible."

"Because we aren't made to eat meat, even if we can," says Twilight.

"Yeah, back when I was with Gilda, she bet once that I wouldn't dare eat meat," says Rainbow Dash. "I won, but it was disgusting. I never touched meat since then."

"I... I..." They turn toward Fluttershy who hesitates saying something.

Rainbow's eyes become wide. "Wait, don't tell me..."

"I wanted to better understand the carnivorous animals that I'm taking care... It... wasn't so bad, so whenever I'm having a picnic with them, I eat some meat with them." Seeing everypony's surprised expression, she quickly hide her eyes behind her mane, only to feel somepony to put a forehoof above her neck.

"I certainly couldn't do this!" says Rainbow Dash. "Fluttershy, sometimes, you can be even more awesome than me."

"It takes guts that I don't have, I admit," says Applejack.

"So, does this means that I can add meat in the menu of our next tea party?" asks Discord.

"No need..."

"Don't worry dear," says Rarity. "Nopony will judge you."

Pinkie hugs Fluttershy. "She's right! This is like when Maud eats rocks! She is like the only pony that I know who eats rocks, and I still think that she's the best sister ever! So you eat meat, what's the difference?"

"Rocks weren't living creatures..."

"Don't say that in front of Maud, or you will make Boulder cry."

"Sorry."

Applejack turns to Discord. "There is something I don't understand. If that genie had 'phenomenal cosmic powers', why didn't he use them to just finish all of them like you could with one snap of your fingers?"

"Because he was wrong. Yes, genies have phenomenal cosmic powers, but only when they are trapped in an itty bitty living space like he said. Free genies lose a big chunk of that power. Add to that that he did the same error than most of the bad guys you fought, me included: he underestimated them. By the time he really started to become serious, he was already too weakened. If he had gone 100% from the start, he would have probably won, or he would have forced Sweetie Belle to use her Soul Song at least."

"Or they would have still won without Sweetie Belle needing to use the Soul Song," says Celestia. "I am sure that they would have been able to pull through this. They weren't serious too."

"Yes. Sweetie Belle didn't even use what she calls 'Soul Energy', like to fire her energy balls," says Luna. "That genie was a joke."

"At least, he had a good sense of humor. The two of us would be  good friends," says Discord.



Having taken the wing from Mr Dooter's turban, Sweetie Belle, and the others leave behind the Raisin Ruins to return to the Lor Starcutter. Magolor seems to have seen them coming, because he's already outside the ship, bouncing in joy while looking in their direction.

When they land, Kirby doesn't lose time and throws the wing at the Lor, and in the same manner than the last time, the wing fixes itself at its right place. Once done, they enter the Lor to rest a little while Kirby gives the Energy Spheres to Magolor. Inside, they can see that the repairs have started, but there are still some holes in the walls. Magolor leads them to one of the rooms that Magolor has arranged into a living room. He is already planning to arrange some of the other rooms into a chamber, a kitchen, a bathroom, a restroom, a stockroom, and even a training room. In short, he will adapt the Lor so he can live inside it full time, like a mobile house. He doesn't know yet what he will do with the remaining rooms however. This ship is a real manor.

The reason why Magolor leads them here is so they can better talk about whatever they will ask now, like he has proposed the last time.

"So, what do you want to ask me about this time?"

As arranged while they have been returning, Sweetie Belle is the one asking. "The other dimension. Each time that we pass a portal and enter it, we find ourselves in a black and white version of the place we were before taking the portal, but with more crazy physics, and we have to escape some purple space-wall that erase everything in its path. Then, when we defeat the Doomer, the colors appear. Just, what the heck?"

Magolor laughs at her question. "Yes. I conceive that the other dimension seems even more crazy than this one. And to put it simply, that's the case. The physics of the other dimension is totally messed up. You can thank the Dark God for that. You see, when the Dark God did his rampage in the other dimension, exterminating the totality of all civilizations, and blowing 99% of all the planets, the dimension lost its consistency, not helped with the barrier between the two dimensions being weakened to the extreme. By the way, this is why the Lor will be able to open a portal to the other dimension despite not being at full power. Helped by Halcandra now pretty much at the frontier between the two dimensions.

With all of this, this dimension's physics started pouring into the other dimension, creating a real physical mess. So this means that despite Halcandra being in this other dimension, prepare yourself to encounter the same craziness such as breathing underwater, the black doors, or the healing food. It's best to say at this point that Halcandra is a part of this dimension in the other. Give it a few centuries, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Halcandra pop in this dimension. The Master Crown probably helped a lot in this.

As for those black and white areas that you speak about whenever you enter a portal, this is because the portals created by the Doomers aren't safe portals like the one created by the Lor. I said earlier that with the weakened dimensional barrier, the physics of this dimension pours into the others, so what happens when this barrier is destroyed, even temporarily, by those spherical monsters? The other dimension becomes a crazy mirror version of this one. But! Because the portals don't remain open long, this doesn't allow time for this to fully settle. The other dimension returns to 'normal', meaning the erasing of whatever came from this dimension."

"Then why is there a place that always seems to remain stable, especially after we defeat the Doomer?"

"Probably thanks to the power of the Energy Spheres giving the energy necessary to stabilise those places so they don't get erased. So I suppose that when we will use the Lor to go to the other dimension, we will see those stabilised areas floating a little everywhere as if they are phantoms of this dimension.

And just in case you ask. Yes, the Doomers are a result of the Dark God's actions. He didn't create them directly, but they are the result of all the negativity that spread. And bad news, but the Master Crown -which possess the power of the God, remember- can control, and even create them."

"So this means that those Doomers we fought may actually be Landia's minions trying to stop us?" wonders Meta Knight.

"Maybe, maybe not. Like I already said, the Doomers hunt positivity, so they may simply be wild Doomers attracted by the spheres.

Oh! I almost forgot. As I told you, the other dimension can become a crazy mirror version of this one if the barrier is damaged. This means that if this goes really bad, you may encounter copy versions of beings of this dimension without all their mind."

"This explains those weird Waddle Dees and others we encountered," says Dedede.

"I'm not just talking about Waddle Dees, but even copies of all of you. And with the heavy negativity of the other dimension, they may not be friendly at all. Even outright evil. So watch out just in case you see one day a big hole in space."

"Noted..."