After gathering all of the bearers of harmony, we went to the square. Twilight looked around at us. “Okay, is everyone present? Let’s do a headcount just to be safe. Spike?”
Spike nodded. “Sure thing, Twilight.” He counted the six ponies. “One, two, three, four, five, six…” Then he counted me, Roborygon, Meloetta, Gim, and himself. “Seven, eight, nine, ten, and eleven. Huh, looks like we’re still missing that Rocky guy.” He looked over at me. I was still giving off a heart-shaped glow. “Oh, right. He’s coming to us. I think that makes everyone.”
“Great!” Twilight smiled at me. “Kirby, we’re heading to Canterlot by means of a form of locomotion known as a train. It’s called the Friendship Express!”
“Express?” Friendship Express… I heard that somewhere before. After a few seconds of thinking, I remembered. It was around a month ago, when I worked together with my friends from other worlds to beat up a corrupted villain. The very last attack we performed was really coordinated. We lined up and took off like a… “Train...! Friend Train!”
“Hold on a minute.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “First a robot, then a rock, now you’re telling me you have another friend who is a train?!”
Gim held his hand out at Twilight. “Nah, that isn’t what he meant! It seems like mentioning the Friendship Express reminded Kirby of a special skill he can utilize with his friends, called the Friend Train! It sounds a bit far-fetched, but what can I say? Friendship can allow creatures to do things that would otherwise be completely impossible!”
“A teamwork move called the Friend Train?” Pinkie squealed. “That sounds awesome! You gotta show us sometime!”
“We’d love to, but not now. It’s time we board the Friendship Express and make our way to the princess in Canterlot!” Gim looked up and searched for the yellow ball of light known as the sun. He found it, and it was still pretty far from the horizon. “Good, looks like we’ve got plenty of time to catch the train!”
“What makes you so sure of that?” Applejack asked. “You can’t tell time just by checking to see if the sun’s up in the sky. The royal sisters raise the sun and moon to turn day to night.”
“You’re serious?! I thought the sun and moon moved on their own like on Kirby’s home planet Pop Star. Guess I’ll have to figure out the time my own way.” He tapped the side of his eye. “Oh, my internal clock must have reset when I fell unconscious and had to reboot. Does anyone know what time it was when Kirby fell here?”
Twilight took out a notepad. “We planned our picnic to be a quarter after noon, but it had to be delayed an hour because Fluttershy had to care for an injured creature. Kirby fell and interrupted the picnic precisely four minutes and twenty-seven seconds after we began. I would normally continue my deduction, but Kirby caused me to pass out at Sweet Apple Acres. Any chance that one of you knows how much time passed since Kirby landed?”
Gim raised his hand. “Because NESP teleported us all here at the same time, that means I landed at approximately the same time as Kirby. It’s been about four hours since then, so I’d say the time right now is around 5:19 PM.”
“5:19 PM?!” Twilight’s pupils shrank. “We’ve gotta hurry! Get ready, newcomers to Equestria. This is gonna feel weird.” Her horn flashed, and we teleported somewhere.
When my eyes adjusted, I saw that we were at a train station. The only problem was, I didn’t see a train anywhere. I frowned. “Poyo…”
“We’re too late!” Twilight exclaimed. “The train already left! I could teleport you all there, but teleporting a group of creatures is tough. How are we gonna get there fast enough?”
“Hmm…” To try and figure out what to do, I thought hard and looked inside myself for the answer. No, not my stomach dimension. I looked into my heart…! “Poyo!” I got it! I used body language to get my point across to the others. I brought my hands to my chest and closed my eyes. “Poyo…” I jumped and did a spin with my arms and legs out. “Star!”
“Summon the Friend Star?” Gim’s eye flickered, which was probably his way of blinking. “Your insanity levels must be off the charts! You’ve only ever tried it with three friends. It's gotta be pretty risky to try it out with this many creatures. Plus, these ponies don’t seem to trust us enough to have a bond with us as strong as the one we have among ourselves.”
“That may be so,” Rarity replied, “but as the bearers of harmony, our friendship is one that cannot be rivaled by most other friendships. Perhaps one of the only bonds that can rival ours is a family’s bond.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Oh, yes! We have the kind of bond that villains such as Lord Tirek and King Sombra can’t even comprehend!”
“You pose an excellent point, Rarity and Fluttershy. Perhaps this might work out after all…” Roborygon put an appendage to his metal chin. “I believe I have a solution. Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, I will go with you three directly to Canterlot, but I must first instruct the others on how to use the Friend Star if possible. As for the rest of you, I have simple instructions for you to follow that will allow you to quickly catch up.”
The ponies and Spike looked at Twilight. She nodded. “Understood. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, let’s heed his instructions. I trust him not to pull one over on the others while we’re gone.” Twilight and Rarity teleported away, and Rainbow flew off to Canterlot, but not before giving Roborygon an “I’m watching you” motion with her front hoof.
Rocky reunited with us shortly after Rainbow Dash took off. I couldn’t tell since he didn’t have an actual mouth, but Roborygon seemed to be smiling. “Good, you’re just in time. I was about to introduce our new friends to the phenomenon known as a Friend Action. The action this time: Friend Star!”
“Friend Star?” Spike asked. “That sounds kind of cheesy, but at the same time it also sounds pretty awesome! You gotta tell us how to pull it off!”
“Of course! Remember, if at any point you feel confused, Kirby can help guide you if my wording throws you off. In fact, he and his friends will be calling upon the Friend Star at the same time as you four are. We’re all in this together!”
Gim, Rocky, Meloetta, and I all got ready. “Poyo!”
Roborygon brought up a screen with four stars spinning at the same time. “First, you need to be in sync, working as one unit, if you want to master the Friend Star. There's a reason these are called Friend Actions and not Chaos Actions!”
My friends and I demonstrated by doing a short moonwalk followed by the wave.
Spike crossed his arms confidently. “In sync? These are the bearers of harmony you’re talking about! You’re practically insulting our bond of friendship. And you know what they say about friendship…”
At the same time, the three ponies and Spike exclaimed, “Friendship is magic!”
Roborygon chuckled. “Ah, I suppose I should have taken into account the fact that I’m talking to the bearers of harmony and the assistant of one of said bearers. On to step two.” The screen changed to show a silhouette of a pony with a pink heart inside of it. “The four of you need to concentrate on your bond of friendship. You should feel a strong sense of positivity within and around you.”
“Poyo!” I demonstrated by thinking about all the friends I made during all my journeys throughout and past Pop Star in my attempts to take down every dark villain in my path.
I looked at the others, and I smiled. Applejack almost instantly glowed pink, followed by Pinkie and then Fluttershy. Spike took a little while to glow, but he did it.
“Fantastic! The next step depends on which Friend Action you wish to perform. Since we intend to use the Friend Star, the third and final step is this!” Finally, the screen changed to a Pegasus freely flying through the air without a care in the world. “Focus your positivity into the belief that you can soar high above your problems and be free of everything that is weighing your heart down!”
And before my very eyes, the Mane Three and Spike created a winged star out of pure friendship. The ponies rode the tail, while Spike piloted the star. They all oohed and ahhed at what they had just accomplished.
Having finished summoning our own Friend Star, I congratulated them with a fist pump. “Poyo! Poyo!”
Roborygon applauded the heroes. “Congratulations to you four! Friend Actions such as the Friend Star are most definitely proof that with friendship, nothing can stand in your way. But I cannot stick around any longer. I must catch up with Twilight and Rainbow.”
“Hey, you forgot to teach us how to…” Spike tried to call out to Roborygon, but the robot had already taken off. “...fly this thing. Great, now we’re gonna have to learn to ride this Friend Star on our own.”
“No need to learn, because we already know!” Pinkie said. The others gave her weird looks. “What? Roborygon said to focus our positivity into the belief that we can soar freely through life, so he must mean that the Friend Star is made of our hopes and dreams. And that means we control it with our minds!”
“Using our minds? ...I can’t believe I didn’t think of--Whoa, wait for us!” While Spike was thinking, my friends and I left the others in the dust so we could reach Canterlot in time.
Gim waved at them. “Yo, Spike! You might want to get your brain running faster. Late to the realization, tardiness is your destination!”
About a minute or two later, we made it to Canterlot. It was a fancy medieval city kind of like Royal Road, but with brighter colors, and with ponies instead of bugs. And it didn’t float in the sky at the end of a giant beanstalk.
“Poyo!” I saw Roborygon, Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash waiting in the square near the castle entrance. “Poyo--whoa!” I waved to get their attention, but I had to quickly grab onto the Friend Star to regain its balance.
“Sounds like Kirby made it in time, and without even having to catch the train!” Twilight looked up at the sky to look for me. “But I suppose that this so-called Friend Star must--Dear Celestia, is that a shooting star?!”
The other Friend Star caught up, with Applejack as the pilot. “Listen up, Kirby. I know y’all were in a rush to get to Canterlot, but you still ought to wait for us to catch up. We’d still be way behind if I hadn’t found out about the Friend Star’s loop-de-loop speed boost. And what do we even do with this when we’re done?”
My friends and I dismissed our Friend Star, changing it back into friend energy that went back inside of us while Roborygon told AJ what to do. “Seeing as the Friend Star is a physical manifestation of your friendship, hopes, and dreams, it does as your mind commands it to. Just dismiss it, and it will revert back to pure friendship and return to your bodies.”
“Oh, it’s that easy?” The ponies and Spike dismissed the Friend Star. “Well, I guess I’d better thank you for that,” AJ thanked Roborygon, “but you still don’t have a reason to just up and ditch us before we got the chance to ask you how to pilot the Friend Star! That’s like telling a foal to knock the apples out of a tree without telling ‘im how to do it!”
“Poyo!” I pointed up at the sun, then at the castle. “Time!”
“Kirby’s got a point,” Twilight said. “Roborygon probably wanted us to get to the castle as fast as possible so we don’t keep the princesses waiting.”
“He’s got his priorities right, but you’ll have to be a lot faster if you want to be anywhere near fast in my eyes!” Rainbow teased. “C’mon! Let’s go tell the princesses what’s happening!”
But once we reached the gates, the Pegasus guards blocked the way forward with their wings. “Halt! We have been notified that Queen Chrysalis has recently infiltrated Twilight’s castle, which means she could still be around. Prove to us that Chrysalis is not among you.”
Twilight glanced at Roborygon. “I request permission to allow this being to give off an electrical impulse.”
The guards were unsure, but they obliged. “Permission granted. Don’t try anything sneaky, strange creature.”
Roborygon nodded. “Of course, sir.” The tip of his antenna glowed yellow, then suddenly, it gave off a wave that gave me chills. It seemed to give everyone else chills too, especially Pinkie Pie, whose mane stood on end from the electricity. “My apologies if that caused you a tingly feeling or some mane trouble. Such are aftereffects of electrical stimulation.”
Hearing this, the guards took a look at their manes. Their manes were short, so they weren’t affected much. “We appreciate your concern. But what did that impulse have to do with Queen Chrysalis?”
“The answer is quite simple, really,” Twilight replied. “Changelings can alter their DNA in order to morph into other creatures.” She took me in her magic and stretched my cheeks out. “They’re pliable, like rubber. But this strains them somewhat, so…” She let go, and my cheeks snapped back into place. “A sudden, strong influence such as electricity will shock them back into their usual form. In other words, the electrical impulse would have zapped Chrysalis into blowing her cover.”
“Ah, I can see how that would work. Very well, then.” The guards retracted their wings, allowing us to proceed into the castle. “Seeing as Chrysalis is not one of you, we shall let you pass. The princesses await your arrival.”
“Thanks, guards.” Twilight went first. “Let’s go, everyone.” She smiled towards me and my friends as we all followed her. “Non-Equestrians, you are about to meet the two most important ponies in all of Equestria!”
Rocky’s eyes sparkled. “...” I wasn’t sure whether he was excited to see the princesses, or whether he was eager to see what kind of gems they wore in their crowns.
The inside of the castle reminded me a lot of King Dedede’s castle. There was a long hallway, some flags and tapestries (which didn’t all depict the owners of the castle like Dedede, who had an ego the size of the Dreamstalk)...
...And royalty.
“Poyo…” My friends and I knelt (or tried to, at least; the only one who had legs was Meloetta) when we saw the ponies sitting on the two thrones at the end of the hallway.
“My, what an intriguing group of creatures you escorted here, Twilight,” said the one on the bigger throne, a tall white alicorn with a celestial mane. “I daresay they look like they came out of a dream! Wouldn’t you say so, Luna?”
“I couldn’t agree more, sister,” answered the one on the smaller throne, a slightly shorter black alicorn with a mane like the night sky. “The pink one looks as if it came directly from Pinkie Pie’s vast imagination! Does it have a name?”
“Yes it does, Your Majesty.” Twilight nudged me forward with her magic. “Allow me to introduce you to a being whose supernatural power allowed him to expel Queen Chrysalis from my castle. His name… Kirby.”
The expressions on the two ponies’ faces were blank. No doubt they were trying to wrap their heads around how such a cute little guy like me could send Chrysalis flying. “Is… Is this some kind of joke?” the white one asked. “Spike’s description of Kirby led me to believe that he would be a tad bigger. And perhaps less docile.”
AJ shook her head. “This ain’t a joke, Celestia. I saw the little critter suck Chrysalis up and blow her on outta the castle. If you don’t believe me, you might as well watch him do his thing yourselves.”
“And that’s where I come in!” A zipper unzipped a nearby wall, and Discord came out of it. “I personally captured footage of…” He caught me staring at him. I was smirking. “What? Why are you looking at me like that? Stop it. It’s creeping me out! Wait, you don’t mean… Uh oh, this is bad!” He put on a construction hat and built a brick wall between me and him. “Whew, maybe now I’m safe from him…”
“I believe the contrary may be true, Discord.” Princess Luna looked down at me with the same smirk I gave Discord. “Little one, will you please demonstrate your unique power? That is, unless your unique power is cuteness, in which case you have already demonstrated it to us,” she snickered.
I frowned at her for teasing me. “Poyo!” I observed the brick wall. It seemed pretty solid, but I’ve inhaled some pretty tough stuff, like Golems and big stone Star Blocks. “Poyo…” I planted my feet firmly on the ground.
Applejack exclaimed, “Hang onto yer crowns, Princesses! Otherwise, they just might go down the hatch!”
The princesses did as they were told just in time for me to unleash the might of my stomach. My inhaling vortex was aimed towards the brick wall. At first, it didn’t do anything. But I upped the ante, and the concrete on the bottom of the brick wall began to crack.
Luna stared at me in shock. “Never before have I seen such raw power hiding within a mouth… Kirby’s inhaling strength could rival the physical strength of the bearer of honesty!”
And then some. After about ten seconds, the wall finally fell victim to my inhale. The whole thing got trapped inside my mouth, revealing a half-flabbergasted, half-horrified Discord. “...Are you kidding me?! You can suck that hard?!”
I promptly spat the wall back out, crushing Discord under its weight. “Yeah!” I turned around to see how the bearers of harmony reacted. Twilight, AJ, and Rainbow Dash were surprised but proud of me. Fluttershy was cowering behind Rarity, who was currently fixing her messed-up hairdo. And Pinkie Pie, well… her frizz got freaked again.
The princesses were still in shock, but they calmed down enough to at least speak. Celestia said, “That inhaling power of yours is… extraordinary, to say the least. If you had an appetite to match, you’d run the entirety of Equestria out of food!”
“Poyo…” Truth is, I do have the appetite to match. The reason why I hadn’t yet run Dream Land out of food is that I don’t eat ALL the time. I still gotta leave time to play and have fun with my friends, after all! Plus, I’m not an egotistical tyrant like King Dedede.
“So, what about the other creatures here?” Luna asked. “Would you care to introduce yourselves to us as well?”
My friends all nodded. Meloetta started by lifting the brick wall with her psychic powers, revealing a flattened Discord. “Meloetta!” She folded Discord into a paper airplane and threw him through the unzipped wall followed by the brick wall, then she zipped it back up.
Roborygon went next. “Before I introduce myself, allow me to speak on the topic of Meloetta. She is one of various species of creatures known as Pocket Monsters, or Pokemon for short. Because of that, she can only speak through syllables of her own species’ name. A peculiarity about Meloetta in particular is that the songs she sings have special powers.”
“And you are?” Celestia asked.
“I am an artificial creation known as Roborygon Mk. Z, but most simply refer to me as Roborygon. Seeing as she intended for me to be a multipurpose robot whose primary reason for existence is to aid a certain friend of Kirby, my creator equipped me with several functions, such as a universal translator, a hologram projector, a solid-light module that can produce objects made entirely of solidified light, and various weapons to fend off villains that may catch my friends off-guard. But the most important thing to know about me is that I gather vast amounts of information on things I come across, meaning that I am an incredibly valuable source of knowledge.”
“Really? No wonder you got almost every question right in your attempt to prove that you were the real deal.” Spike fist-bumped Roborygon. “Oh, and princesses, this is who Queen Chrysalis disguised herself as in order to infiltrate Twilight’s castle.”
“Except that I had used my solid-light module to take on the form of a pony, so Chrysalis changed into that form instead of my real form.” Roborygon proceeded to transform into his pony persona. “In my pony form, I used the alias Bright Fountain. I had no bad intentions. I just wanted to fit into the world of ponies.” He changed back into his usual form. “Seriously, wouldn’t the average pony be either surprised or horrified to see a robot roaming around Equestria?”
The princesses were about to respond with a counterargument, but couldn’t find one. “Fair enough,” Luna replied. “And the last two creatures?”
Gim pointed a thumb at himself. “I am one of various robots known informally as Gim. We normally don’t battle, but Kirby here came to my home planet Misteen to recruit me to help him take down some evil villains. Same goes for Rocky, whose home is Falluna Moon.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “If your kind doesn’t battle, then how could you possibly help Kirby battle villains?”
“Looks can be deceiving! This cap of mine may imply that I don’t really fight well, but that could not be further from the truth. The object I always carry around also happens to be quite useful in battle…” Gim took out his yo-yo, which was still on fire. “A yo-yo! These are normally used for fun and play, but Kirby added fire to mine to make it stronger and ready to take on the forces of evil!”
“Your weapon is… a yo-yo?” Rainbow crossed her front legs. “I’ve never even heard of one before, but it sounds lame. I mean, sure, yours is on fire, but how are you supposed to attack with it?”
“Poor choice of words, Dash.” Gim wrapped his yo-yo around Rainbow before using the Hammer Drop move to slam her down. When she got up, Gim knocked her off her hooves with a Yo-Yo Orbit then smacked her in the face with a Yo-Yo Throw. “Anything can be a weapon if you can smack or poke stuff with it.” Then he put out a tiny flame at the tip of Rainbow Dash’s mane by pinching it with his hand. “I make sure that villains are the ones who get burned when they play with fire, but sometimes heroes need to learn to be careful as well.”
“I must say, Gim, those are quite some words of wisdom,” Celestia said with a smile. “The truth is, I have had to chastise a certain heroic pony a time or two as well.” I saw Twilight flinch after hearing this. “But there’s nothing wrong with a little discipline every once in a while. It only makes you stronger.”
Rocky nudged my yo-yo wielding ally. “Oh, right. Rocky can’t talk, so he wants me to tell you that he can change himself into various stone formations. This can normally be used to crush foes from above, but water or ice can allow him to slide quickly across the ground as a curling stone and slam foes from the side.”
“The power to smash villains using your weight? Now that is the kind of skill that is perfect for annihilating the likes of Queen Chrysalis!” Luna exclaimed. “I have no doubts in my mind that together, these six mysterious creatures are able to defeat such a villain!”
“We should probably formulate a plan on what to do, but that might have to wait.” Gim tapped the side of his eye. He was probably checking something. “Yep, I’d say it’s around 6:00 PM at this point in time. Princesses Celestia and Luna, I request your advice. Should we put together a plan now, or wait until dawn?”
“Oh, thank you for reminding us of the time!” Celestia replied. “Luna and I need to head out on the balcony to turn day to night. Would any of you like to come watch?”
I’ve never actually seen anyone raise or lower the sun and moon, so I was super excited to see them do their thing. “Poyo! Poyo!” This was the opportunity of a lifetime!
My friends seemed to think so too. “...!” “You bet I would!” “Mele!” “I would be honored to, royal sisters!”
“That’s good to hear!” Celestia smiled. “Or not hear, in Rocky’s case… Anyway, we will lead the way, so just follow us outside.”
We all followed Celestia and Luna through the castle, passing by some guards who gave us some weird looks. They immediately went back to work after seeing the bearers of harmony with us. I guess they understood that the six heroic ponies knew what they were doing.
At last, we reached the balcony. I had an awesome view of Canterlot. It was just like the view I had from Fine Fields, except that I was still on the ground instead of on a floating world. “Kirby, I want you and your allies to watch closely,” Celestia told me. “First, I lower the sun, like this…” Her horn glowed yellow, and the same aura surrounded the sun as it went below the horizon.
“Now it is my turn.” Luna stepped forward. “It isn’t officially night until the moon is in the sky.” Her horn glowed dark blue, and the moon rose. “An impressive feat, is it not?”
“Mele!” Eyes sparkling, Meloetta floated onto the railing surrounding the balcony and faced the moon. “Meloetta…” She held her arms out and basked in the moon’s light.
Luna gave Meloetta an approving grin. “I see that you are enjoying the presence of the moon. Might I ask, though, why you are taking on such a pose?”
“That is an excellent question.” Roborygon carefully observed Meloetta’s posture. “If I am not mistaken, she appears to be using the move Moonlight to restore her stamina.”
Once she finished restoring her stamina, Meloetta sat down on the railing and started to sing. “Me melele, me melele, me mele me mele me melele…” Her song made me feel peaceful and relaxed. The others seemed to be relaxed too.
“Remember when I mentioned that Meloetta’s songs boast special powers? This is one of them, and it’s known as the Song of Love. Her songs can have the potential to alter the moods of those who hear it, and this song in particular can induce a sense of peace and love.”
“A sense of peace?” Luna let out a sigh of relief. “Good. That means tonight should have less nightmares than usual for me to deal with.”
“To deal with?” Gim asked. “Does that mean you help ponies to overcome nightmares each night? Sounds like a tough job…”
“It’s actually not as bad as you think. Ever since I removed the threat of the Tantabus, nightmares have been quite rare. If things are calm tonight, you might even see me visit you in your own dreams.” Luna winked. “But before we do that, perhaps it would be best for us to find you five somewhere to sleep. The ponies already have somewhere to sleep, but we didn’t plan for strange creatures to rest here.”
“As a robot, I can literally sleep anywhere. I can shut down on this balcony and still wake up refreshed!” Gim pressed a button on the left side of his right shoe, and he instantly shut off.
“I’ll rest with Gim, but I’ll still keep my reconnaissance system active in case anything weird happens overnight.” Roborygon changed shape into a cube and went into sleep mode right next to Gim.
“...” Rocky walked over to the two robots and transformed into a stone sculpture of my first three animal friends before falling asleep.
“Hm?” Meloetta looked down at the three sleeping allies. “Mele.” With a shrug, she fell asleep on the balcony rail.
“Well…” Celestia chuckled. “It seems like your friends have pretty low standards when it comes to sleeping spots. What about you, Kirby? Care to sleep with them?”
I shook my head. “Poyo.” I take sleeping seriously. I only sleep in a bed or under a tree, except when I get the Sleep Ability, in which case I fall asleep on the spot.
“Understandable. In that case, we can lead you to the guest bedroom instead. Would that be to your liking?”
A guest bedroom? I had no idea the princesses were gonna be that generous! I didn’t feel worthy of that, but I accepted the offer anyway so I wouldn’t sound rude. “Yeah!”
“It pleases me to hear that.” Celestia turned towards Twilight. “Would you please escort Kirby to the guest room? I wouldn’t want him to wake up sore and grumpy, or else he just might inhale someone.”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” Twilight answered. “Not that he would want to inhale one of the ponies in your castle. He seems too innocent to do that. The only things I’ve seen him inhale were either food or obstacles, namely Queen Chrysalis and that wall Discord put up to protect himself from Kirby.” She opened her left wing and lowered it to the floor. “Hop on, Kirby. Let’s get you on to bed.”
“Poyo!” The wing was probably meant to be a ramp, but I didn't need it. I just jumped onto Twilight’s back, causing her to be surprised at first but calm down after realizing how light I was. Once we really got to be friends, maybe a piggyback like this could cause us to sync up like it does with my animal friends and other good pals. Or maybe not.
At the moment, all I was really thinking about was sleep, so I didn’t really pay much attention to where we went. The instant I saw the bed, I jumped right in and was out like a light bulb. Time to have some sweet dreams...