//------------------------------// // Chapter 118: Sweetie Belle's Return to Dreamland // Story: A Sweetie Dream Land // by Lucar //------------------------------// Everyone, especially the alicorns and Torch, can barely believe what they are witnessing. Not only Sweetie Belle has single handedly defeated an army made of thousands of powerful monsters created by Grogar including, in the lot, Sombra, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Discord, the filly is now standing against the ram himself despite him being in possession of his Bell and having more power than ever! Then, Sweetie Belle manages to stab him, and everyone's jaw drops. "She managed to stab Grogar... despite him having the Bewitching Bell..." says Celestia. Luna sighs. "Is this really a surprise? Remember Galacta Knight? He was much more powerful than Grogar." The ponies nod, Twilight saying "I remember. And I remember that she still has that hidden unknown power." Torch looks at them in disbelief. "'Hidden unknown power'?" He points at the filly. "She isn't using her full power?!" "Far from it..." answers Celestia as Sweetie Belle catches Grogar in one of her Ultimate Doom Lasers, causing a big explosion that shakes the earth. "At this point, all I know is that if she was to unleash it, she would probably devastate Equus..." Torch continues to watch as Sweetie Belle creates a lot of dark spikes and throws a lot of dark orbs at Grogar before beginning to slash the very space to send very destructive beams from the created holes, devastating the landscape. "I can believe that..." The filly then creates a small sun that causes a huge explosion that could have blown the whole Canterlot Castle. "I believe that." The fight continues for a small moment before another Ultimate Doom Laser sends Grogar flying a few miles away, and Sweetie Belle goes after him, energy gathering around one of her forehooves. Then, a few seconds later, a strong shockwave comes from where they have gone, toppling everyone excepted the bigger dragons. The shockwave is quickly followed by a magical explosion never witnessed in the history of Equus, causing everything to shake for a long time. Thanks Celestia the princess has proofed Canterlot against earthquakes, or the city would have been destroyed. Then, it all stops, and the calm returns. Just as some start wondering if it's over, they then see the ones that Grogar turned into monsters returning to normal as they also can see magic returning to them. "Welp. It's over," says Applejack. "Let's go help those poor folks." Celestia nods and sends her army to go help the monsters turned back to normal, followed by the changelings, Cadance, and Fluttershy, those last two flying toward Shining Armor and Discord. Rainbow Dash huffs. "She could have at least let us have some action. Now we gathered here for nothing! "Not for nothing," says Pinkie as she finishes a bag of popcorns. "We got to watch an awesome fight!" "Eh. True." Twilight points to Chrysalis, Sombra, and Tirek. "What do we do about them?" she asks to Celestia. "We heal them under heavy guard, and then, we decide of their fate." "Tartarus, of course," says Luna. "Unless they decide to stop their villainy after what happened." Luna rolls her eyes. "These three? Stopping?" Then, after some thinking, she says "Unless the knowledge of Sweetie Belle defeating Grogar pushes them to stop, at least for their safety." "If those three summoned back Grogar, I don't think they care about their safety," says Torch. "By the way, I see the filly Sweetie Belle approaching..." He starts howling in laughter. "and she's dragging Grogar like a bag of potatoes! Oh! How the mighty has fallen!" He stops laughing, squints to better see, then starts rolling on the floor laughing. "And he's still conscious! He's staring at her like she's his mom about to spank him!" ............. "I want to see that!" shouts Luna before she flies in the direction of the filly. "Me too!" shouts Celestia, following her. "Hey! Wait for me!" shouts Twilight. As she takes off, she turns to her friends. "You should go help transporting the ex-monsters back to Canterlot." "Wait! I want to come too!" shouts Rarity. Twilight nods and lets the white mare climb on her back before she follows the two other princesses. As Sweetie Belle continues to drag Grogar, she sees the three alicorns and her sister approaching and waves at them. Almost immediately after landing, as Rarity hugs her, Celestia and Luna begin to laugh at seeing how Grogar is staring at the filly. The ram growls at the alicorns but is immediately calmed by a death stare from Sweetie Belle, making him whimper which leads to more laughter from the princesses, including Twilight this time. "So..." starts the filly. "Is everyone back to normal?" Celestia calms down and answers. "Yes, they are. The royal guards and the changelings are transporting them to Canterlot to be healed. "Nice to see that the changelings can be nice when they aren't forced to follow such a stupid queen. Speaking of, what will happen to Chryssi and the two others?" "They will be healed and sent to Tartarus with Grogar and the Storm King." "Okay. You know, I will miss them. They were fun to mess with." Chrysalis suddenly awakens and rises only to yell in pain because of her injuries, forcing her to lie down again. Her yell causes Sombra and Tirek to awaken only to yelp in pain too before the yelps turn into groans. Looking at their bodies heavily bandaged and plastered, they quickly understand why. "I knew this was a bad idea..." says Tirek. "Shut up..." says weakly Chrysalis. "Where are we?" "In the hospital wing of Canterlot Castle," answers a voice they all recognize. Slowly looking at the wall at the end of the room, they see Sweetie Belle sitting on a chair, looking at them one after another with an amused expression. She's slightly bandaged, but nothing too bad compared to them. "Hi." They all look at her in disbelief. "You're still alive...?" the three of them ask. "Yup." Chrysalis starts looking around. "But then... Where's..." She then spots Grogar also on a bed, his body as heavily bandaged and plastered than her and the others and staring at the filly as if she is the Devil about to take his soul. "Yeah. I defeated Grogar. But let's give him credit, he gave me more difficulty than the three of you together." Chrysalis' brain seems to shutdown. "She... She... She..." "I give up!" half-shouts Tirek. "Send me back to Tartarus or whatever, I don't care anymore! If even Grogar couldn't defeat you, nothing will!" "Why are you there?" asks Sombra with a growl. "To rub your victory?" "Nope. I'm just here to guard you and ensure that none of you try anything stupid, and also so Grogar remains still." She smiles sweetly at the ram. "Little Grogy now knows better than to try anything in my presence, especially now that his Bell is destroyed. Right, Grogy?" She's answered by a whimper. "The mighty Grogar whimpering at a filly..." sighs Sombra. "When has everything gone so wrong?" "When that pest came back from wherever she was sent to!" yells Chrysalis. "Couldn't you have remained stuck in this other place?!" Sweetie Belle giggles and approaches Chrysalis' bed. "Come on, Chryssi-" "Don't call me that!" "You know there was no way for me to remain stuck in this other dimension, not with Discord keeping watch. And thanks to it, I got to have so much fun with you." She goes to rub Chrysalis' cheek, only for the changeling to bite her hoof. But she then yells in pain, some of her teeth now broken because Sweetie's hoof is now made of metal. "See?" says Sweetie Belle with a giggle. "You are just so fun to mess with." She taps Chrysalis' cheek a couple of time before returning to her chair. "Too bad this ends now. Once you are healed, you will all be sent to Tartarus. The Storm King already went ahead. He wasn't that injured. But, hey! If you stop being bad guys, then we could remain together and become friends!" "Never!" they yell. Sweetie Belle shrugs. "Too bad. You know, you should really test that friendship stuff. It's very nice. Many former villains that I know would say the same. You should think about this in Tartarus." A few weeks later, the villains are healed enough to be sent to Tartarus. They are all placed in cages beside each others so they can keep each other company in the slight hope that they become friends and discover that having friends is better than remaining alone trying to conquer everything. In her mind, Sweetie also hope that they will come up with a scheme to escape, forcing her to go after them and have fun with them again. Although Grogar will clearly not try anything anytime soon. Poor guy has totally lost his spirit. To help him regain it, Sweetie Belle put a photo of her with written under it "Please, come out quick!" outside his cage to remind him that she's here, waiting for him to come out. She will be sure to give him a crushing hug the day this happens. As for Sweetie Belle, she has told her family and friends that she thinks that it's time for her to return to Popstar to fight Kirby, and she has asked them if they want to follow her to pass some time together there, which Rarity and the others have gladly accepted. Celestia is also curious to explore Popstar and, why not, start some negotiations with Dreamland and Floralia. She would like also to visit Patch Land, and more exactly, that land made of cakes. Luna has charged Sweetie Belle to make sure that Celestia never enters this land of cakes, or any other similar lands existing in this universe. And so, at the beginning of the next period of vacation, Sweetie Belle, her sister, their friends (including Spike), Celestia, and Spiky, enter the Lor Starcutter (now floating above a platform made for it beside Twilight's castle). "Ok Lor, time to return to our other home!" says the filly happily as the ship activates itself around them. Already, in the main screen, the Lor is making the preparations to travel from Equus to Popstar while Sweetie's chair appears in front of the keyboard and others appear around it for everypony else to sit. "Oh! Lor! Can you make my chair into a spinning chair?" asks Pinkie Pie. Almost immediately, Pinkie's chair becomes a chair standing on a single bar that separates into four feet, and the bar is separated into two parts, the superior one able to spin with the chair. So the mare begins to spin with it. "Weeeeee!!" After some giggling at Pinkie's antics, the ship finally takes off, and after taking some height, it fires a beam that opens a star-shaped portal that it traverses. The Lor comes out of it in the space above Popstar, facing the planet and letting everypony admire the star-shaped planet. "Beautiful..." says Celestia. "Remember, if you want to see it more directly, you can come out. We can survive in space here," says Sweetie Belle. At her words, an exit appears, and the filly walks toward it, saying "Follow me!" And so, they come out on the deck of the Lor where they can directly admire Popstar, its two rings, the sun and the moon slowly circling it, Dedede's space resort barely visible... "And wait until we enter the atmosphere and the yellow disappears to let us see the lands and the oceans," says then Sweetie Belle. "Won't we... you know... burn?" asks Rainbow Dash. "The Lor will protect us," answers the filly. Taking it as its cue, the Lor starts approaching the planet, and soon, they enter the atmosphere. As Sweetie Belle has said, thanks to some sort of barrier surrounding the deck of the Lor, the ponies aren't burned, leaving them to look in awe as the yellow disappear and the surface becomes visible. Rapidly, they can discern everything, oceans, grasslands, forests, deserts, mountains, star-shaped islands, visible for miles and miles. Already, they can see in the horizon the Dreamstalk and the islands forming Floralia, with Sweetie's palace at the top beside the flower. Below, on a mountain not far of the base, they eventually spot Dedede's castle, as sinister-looking as ever with its two windows forming two angry eyes. The Lor passes beside it, Sweetie Belle waving at the guards patrolling on the walls, revealing to them that she's back. After that, the Lor goes to land at the base of the mountain, and the ponies exit the ship not long after, looking around at the peaceful land. Sweetie Belle turns toward them and spreads her forelegs. "Welcome to Dreamland!" She then starts pointing at different directions. "So, Dedede's castle is, as you know, at the top of this mountain behind us! Over here is the Dreamstalk leading to Floralia! You can choose to climb it on hooves, but I advise you to take one of the elevators that has been built along it. Much faster. Over here is the coast where you will find Meta Knight's HQ! Over here is the forest where Whispy likes to spend most of his time! Over here is Kirbyland! And over here is Kirby's home! And remember, watch where you walk, or you may accidentally walk on food!" she finishes with a giggle. "Oh, I can't wait to have a picnic with you in my favorite spot, or to go visit the Rainbow Islands with you! Maybe we will even go to New Halcandra!" "And I suppose you can't wait to see your coltfriend," says Rarity with a knowing smile. Sweetie Belle glares at her, blushing. "Kirby is NOT my coltfriend!" "Of course of course," says Rarity with a giggle and a roll of her eyes. At this instant, a red and blue blur comes from nowhere, and before everypony knows it, Sweetie Belle has disappeared. "Sweetie Belle!! You're back!!" they then hear someone yelling while crying further at their left. Turning their heads, they see Dedede on the floor, giving Sweetie Belle a bear hug while rubbing his head against hers. "Dedede... Can't breath..." Dedede gets up, still hugging the filly, but thankfully less strongly. "I really missed you, y'know?" Sweetie Belle laughs while giving Dedede a bump on his torso. "I saw that. I think I never saw you run that fast!" Dedede guffaws at this. "Ahahahah! Ah! Eh! You seem lighter." "Of course. Outside of your bad gluttonous influence, it was easy to lose all the weight I gained there." "Me? A bad influence?!" shouts the penguin before putting his face directly in front of Sweetie's. "Did you forget who turned the little squeaky furball that you were into the superheroic warrior that you're now?" "Certainly not you! You wanted to turn me into a weapon to fight Kirby for your own butt! There was never anything heroic intended in it!" "But I planted the seeds!" "Yeah! By forcing me to punch an innocent, adorable Waddle Dee!" They glare at each other, growling for a few seconds, before bursting into laughter, Dedede rubbing his head against hers again. "I really missed that!" says the king. "Me too! But you're still a bad influence!" "A bad influence, but the best influence!" "My figure says otherwise!" While the two are happily bickering, the rest of the ponies keep their distance, leaving the two friends to their reunion. "It's like they're best buddies!" comments Applejack. "I know, right?" suddenly says a voice beside them, making Fluttershy hide behind Celestia. When they look at the origin, they see that Bandana Waddle Dee is now beside them, also looking happily at the reunion. "It's hard to think that the first time they met each others, the king almost crushed her under his hammer," he says before turning to them. "Hi! You must be Sweetie Belle's friends from Equestria? Nice to meet you! I'm Bandana Waddle Dee, but friends just call me Bandana Dee, or Bandana!" "Eeeeeeee!" Before he knows it, he's suddenly hugged by Fluttershy. Her shout gains the attention of the two bickering friends who turn toward them. Seeing Bandana Dee, Sweetie Belle smiles widely. "Bandana!" shouts the filly before she jumps out of Dedede's arms and runs toward the Waddle Dee to hug him. Later, in the castle. "To Sweetie Belle's return!" shouts Dedede while rising a cup. "To Sweetie Belle's return!" repeats everyone else in his army as they also rise their cups, starting the banquet. Yes, already a banquet. Dedede. Enough said. Of course, The ponies and Spike are all guests in this banquet, already discussing with one of the many friends Sweetie made in this castle. "So, tell me, what have you been up to back in your world?" asks Dedede. "Nothing. I gave a bad time to some mid-class villains, and defeated the most powerful dark lord of my world's history." "Why am I not surprised?" says Broom Sunglasses with a chuckle. "What about you?" "Nothing special. I just started building my second battleship, the Warhammer 2. No villain attacked since you left. However, I learned that Halcandra finally appeared right in the middle of the ring of New Halcandra. Our battle against Void Termina probably accelerated its coming. Magolor is already working in making it habitable again." "Great!" That's when a Maxim Tomato pie is placed in front of Sweetie, and the filly frowns at it, gulping, before glaring at Dedede. "Are you trying to fatten me up again?" "Why are you thinking that? It's just your favorite food as a gift to celebrate your return!" Sweetie Belle stares at the king for a few seconds. "I can accept that," she finally says before she starts to eat the pie. "So, the big day is coming?" asks Dedede. "Yup. I'm going to finally fight Kirby. But before..." She looks at Rarity and the others. "I will pass some days with them to make them visit around." They first go to Kirby's house, which is now also Void and Galacta's house, meaning that it's now bigger, more the size of a normal house with three chambers, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a dining room, while also keeping its cute original design. Celestia is the only one who hasn't followed Sweetie Belle, the princess remaining in the castle to talk with Dedede. The filly knocks on the door, which is also bigger to let Void pass. Kirby is the one opening it with a "Poyo?" Then, when he see that Sweetie is the one who has knocked, he smiles and shouts another "Poyo!" before hugging her. "Control yourself, Flutter," says Rainbow Dash. "It's hard..." replies Fluttershy as she does her hardest to not rush to hug the puffball. Behind Kirby, Void comes. "Well, what a surprise. Welcome back Sweetie Belle." Sweetie Belle looks at him, only to raise an eyebrow. "You have hands now?" Void shows his new hands to her. "I just had to wait for them to develop. What? Haven't you remarked that all adults of our species have hands? Kirby will have hands too once he reaches adulthood." "Uh... I just thought that you and Kirby were... different because... Well..." Void nods. "I understand what you mean. We are special, yes, but we are still of the same species than Galacta Knight and Meta Knight." "Ok. And where's Galacta?" "Training with Meta Knight. He's not has powerful, but he is surprisingly skilled. The two are now toe to toe, as long as Galacta doesn't use the Matters to boost himself. Speaking of, where are you at in your training to master the Dark Matter?" "Well, I'm here, so you can guess." "I see," says Void with a chuckle before he advances, Sweetie and Kirby moving out of the way so he can exit the house to greet the visitors. At the thought that they're in presence of a real God, some of the ponies faint. The following days, Sweetie Belle and Kirby lead the ponies to visit a lot of places all over Popstar and the Dream Universe. They visit Floralia, and more particularly, Adeleine's school and Sweetie's palace that lets the ponies absolutely speechless at its size and beauty. Sweetie Belle also takes the occasion to visit the hangar that has been built in her absence where her own battleship is being built: the Unique Horn. Then, after a quick passage to Meta Knight's HQ to say hi, they go to the Rainbow Islands, ending their visit by climbing to the top of Dark Castle. "You know, this castle needs a different name," says Rarity. Sweetie Belle shrugs. "Dedede likes his castles and fortresses to have a foreboding aspect." The next day, they have a picnic at Sweetie's favorite spot beside the lake. "I can see why you like coming here. It is very calm and nice," says Fluttershy. "Mmhmmh," agrees the filly as she lies against her sister while admiring the view. After that, they visit some friends a little everywhere, from Marx to Daroach. The next day is passed entirely in Kirbyland, while the next day is passed in Dedede's Resort in the Popopo Islands. After that, they explore various known places all around Popstar, like Cookie Country, or the Sky Tower of Nutty Noon. They then go to explore other planets, starting with Patch Land (where Sweetie Belle has to drag Celestia away from Treat Land), before they visit some of the planets Sweetie Belle and Kirby traversed during the incident with Marx and Nova, having a nice snowball in Floria. They then go to Shiver Star, Twilight having a field trip in the factory, before they go to Ripple Star where Fluttershy and the fillies have a lot of fun playing with the adorable fairies. Seventopia comes next, recolored, and much safer. The ponies pass a lot of time there sculpting. And finally, they visit New Halcandra, encountering Magolor, Susie, and the ex-members of the Jambastion Religion. The ring world is now repaired, with a new Moon, and as Dedede has told, Halcandra is now present in the center where they meet the Landias. A few more worlds are explored randomly after that, discovering so much more wonders before they return to Popstar to rest. There, Sweetie goes to the training room. "A last training session before your fight against Kirby?" asks Bandana Dee as he follows Sweetie Belle in it with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. "Yup," answers the filly as she approaches the console. "I want to try something." She then begins to press some buttons. "What will ya do?" asks Apple Bloom. "Just look," replies the unicorn as she finishes setting the parameters. She has set the training room to be in 'wave mode' before pushing the difficulty to 'absolutely impossible'. Fight all the powerful enemies ever encountered in Kirby and Sweetie Belle's adventures one after another, from Kirby's first fight against Whispy Woods to the ultimate battle against Void. For the case of enemies fought more than once, like Whispy Woods or Kracko, you will have to do all the different fights. Be ready to fight through over one hundred battle! Post scriptum from Magolor: I sadly couldn't fully reproduce the full power of Void but, at least, the reproduction should be half as powerful as the original, which is already good enough. Also, the fight against the Access Ark isn't included for obvious reasons. Number of people succeeding at this difficulty: two. Names: Kirby, Void. Good luck. You will need it. Sweetie Belle raises an eyebrow. "Kirby and Void already did it? Void, I understand, but why Kirby? He never trains unless there's food as a reward, and this difficulty was judged too impossible to give any reward." She shrugs. "Oh, well, time to be the third." At this, she enters the other room under the looks of disbelief of Bandana Dee, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. "Eh. I bet all my economies that she succeeds," says Scootaloo. "Hey! Ah wanted to-" "Too late." "Then Ah don't bet!" "Spoilsport." Some hours later, Sweetie Belle exits the training room, smiling proudly, under the amazed stares of her friends. "Don't tell anyone anything you saw in there!" she shouts to them as she walks away, humming the Gourmet Race song. The next day, finally... Someone knocks at Kirby's door in the morning, and the pink puffball opens it to reveal Dedede. "Kirby..." he starts ominously. "It's time. She's waiting for you." Kirby understands what he means and asks "Poyo?" Where? "Sweetie Belle is waiting for you," repeats Dedede, misinterpreting the question, making Kirby facepalm. "Po... W... Where?" "Where it began... at the Fountain of Dreams." Sweetie Belle is sitting in front of the Fountain of Dreams, staring at the water, and at the Star Rod with a nostalgic smile. Then, she hears the familiar sound of a Warp Star landing behind her, and she turns her head to look at Kirby, smiling. "You are there... Thanks for coming." "Poyo." Sweetie Belle signs to him to come sit beside her, and Kirby does so. "The Fountain of Dreams... I thought that it would be fitting to end this where it started." She giggles. "I still remember the day as if it was yesterday." She points at a spot behind them. "Right here, you hugged me, ending our first fight before it could even start," she says with a laugh. Kirby laughs too. "Poyo." Kirby falls from the sky, and Sweetie Belle barely suppresses a squee at how adorable he is. Then, at seeing her, Kirby tilts his head and says "Poyo?" almost causing the filly to come and hug him. After taking some calming breathes, Sweetie Belle starts talking. "Hum... Hello! My name is Sweetie Belle! You are Kirby, right?" She is answered by Kirby smiling, nodding and waving at her while saying "Hiiii!" Again, she has to stop herself from tackle hugging him. But in the end, she didn't need to, because Kirby comes and hug her. "H-hey! What are you doing?! Stop! You shouldn't hug me! I'm an enemy! I'm working for Dedede! I have to beat you and... and..." she turns her head toward Dedede who's hidden behind the fountain. "I can't! I'm sorry! I can't hurt him!" Dedede facepalms. Hard. "And then, you fought Dedede and revealed your Copy Ability. It was the talk of the castle the next day! And after Dedede, you fought Nightmare, and caused that huge crater that we can now see on the Moon. To think that Nightmare was only the first villain in a long list... Leading to us going on so much adventures together... Starting with the Rainbow Islands and our fight against Dark Matter." Sweetie Belle and Kirby defeat some hedgehog thing before opening a bag, revealing a giant hamster in it who nuzzles the two of them in thanks. Kirby kisses her, and Sweetie becomes all red before she shouts a high pitched scream and yells "T-t-t-t-t-th-th-t-thatwasmyfirstkiss!" Sweetie Belle punches Whispy Woods, only to be hurt at her hoof. "Ow!" "Did you really expect to be able to punch a tree?" mocks Whispy. "My friend's big sister and big brother can! I just need to get stronger!" "Well, to get stronger, you need to eat your fruits. Here are some apples for you," finishes the tree before he starts raining apples. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER, BOAR RIDER! YEAH!!!" Kirby jumps on her back. "Poyo!" This makes Sweetie laugh. "Kirby! You don't need to..." But she is then stopped by another unexpected event. A sudden light appears around her, and her fur turns into white stone! "Wh... WHAAT?!" They have finally defeated Dedede, and now, they merge the collected Rainbow Drops to form a rainbow colored sword that they use to force out whatever has taken possession of the penguing. When the Dark Matter flies away toward space, Kirby jumps on Sweetie's back, making her mane and tail looking like Celestia's and rainbow colored, before they take off to chase the dark being. Sweetie Belle sighs. "And then there was the Halberd, and Marx, and Zero, and Zero Two, and Dark Mind... Drawcia... Dark Nebula... All the way to Void. We went through many crazy or awesome moments, like when we went inside Nova, the whole adventure against Drawcia, or the battle against Star Dream where we got to pilote battleships. We got a lot of fun moments, and some less fun moments... And each time, we were both getting stronger. We were supposed to become mortal rivals, but in the end, we became best friends and friendly rivals. And while, yes, I want to fight you to keep the Pinkie Promise I made to Dedede, I also want to fight you just because I want to see if I can finally defeat you. It was my first goal, the reason why Dedede started training me seriously before I became a hero." She lies against Kirby. "But no matter the outcome of this fight, Kirby, this will change nothing between us. You are my best friend, that I win, or I lose." Kirby nods, smiling. "Poyo," he says before lying against Sweetie Belle, the filly putting her tail around him as they both look at the Fountain of Dreams, reminiscing all those memories. Rarity and Void, among their friends, watch Sweetie Belle and Kirby lying against each other through a portal created by Discord so they can watch the future fight before sighing. "They are so cute together," says the mare. "I know, right?" replies the God. They then look at each other, nod, and give each other a hoof/fist bump. "If, by the time they reach adulthood, they aren't together, I cut my mane." "And me, I give up my powers as a God." "Shipping partners?" "Shipping partners." For some reason, Sweetie Belle feels a shiver.