The Sun had fully sunk below the horizon and twilight had set in by the time the group reached the Meta-Knights’ base of operations. King Dedede had initially protested on the grounds that letting them recoup was a terrible idea, but he had been outvoted and dragged along fairly quickly. Sunset and Twilight had both wanted answers and Meta Knight had had his own words to say on the matter.
“Just four of you managed to sink my Halberd in under an hour,” he had explained. “It would be beyond foolish for me to try to antagonize you any further.”
Still, Twilight glared at him as they entered the massive complex on Orange Ocean’s shore. He and his crew had just spent nearly an hour trying to kill her and her…friends? She wasn’t entirely sure Sunset counted yet, she barely knew Bandee, and she knew Kirby even less. As she deposited the unconscious members of the Meta-Knights on stretchers (which she was assured would be taken to the infirmary), she amended her thought.
Meta Knight and his crew had just spent nearly an hour trying to kill her and her allies, so she wasn’t exactly very inclined to trusting him. But with how defeated and downtrodden most of them looked, she was at least willing to hear them out. If even Discord had been able to reform, perhaps the villains of this world would be amenable to the idea as well.
She was still rather peeved with them, but she’d give them a chance. Coming upon a large building, the group of ten entered. Mace Knight had woken up on the way there, and Kirby had left with the Wheelie shortly after they got back to shore, presumably to go home. Twilight couldn’t really blame him; if she wasn’t so determined to get answers she’d have gone back to the castle and slept for a week. She suspected that Sunset was in the same boat.
After a few minutes of Meta Knight leading them through hallways, they reached what looked like a conference room. A long, rectangular mahogany table dominated the room, though counters topped with odd-looking machines lined one of the walls. As his officers began to take some seats at the table, Meta Knight flew over to the machines. “Coffee or tea?” he asked.
Twilight gaped in surprise. She was expecting a veiled threat or some sort of biting resentment, not for him to be legitimately cordial! It was like Meta Knight’s attitude had completely reversed!
It seemed that everyone else was equally as shocked, though his crew recovered the earliest. “Coffee,” Vul said. “Make it black, please.”
“If we have any green tea left, I’ll have some,” Sailor Dee added.
“Ditto,” Mace Knight said.
“Nothing for me,” Axe Knight requested.
Meta Knight nodded and began messing with one of the machines, which Twilight figured was probably a coffee maker of some sort. “Please, take a seat,” he addressed those that were still standing. “Would any of you like anything?”
Twilight forced her mouth closed and started making her way over to the chairs on instinct. Spike, though, apparently wasn’t having it. “How do we know you aren’t gonna poison us or something?”
Meta Knight stopped what he was doing to look at the young dragon. “You are surprisingly vigilant,” he commented.
Spike blushed. “I read a lot of stories where the villains are sneaky.”
“Very well,” Meta Knight stated, removing his sword and placing it on the counter. He bowed. “I swear to you on my honor as a knight, I will not harm you or your compatriots while you are under our roof.” He turned to his crew and seemed to stare at Vul in particular. “Neither will my crew.”
Vul grumbled about it but didn’t object, something that Twilight got the feeling he did regularly.
“I’ll take a coffee, heavy on the cream,” Dedede said, taking a seat. He still had his hammer over his shoulder, though, and made sure to shift it threateningly.
“I’ll have some tea, please,” Twilight requested.
“Can I have coffee?” Spike asked.
Meta Knight looked at Twilight.
“He’ll have decaf,” she said.
Spike pouted.
Bandee looked around. “Do you have any fruit juices?”
Meta Knight gestured at one of the doors. “The kitchen is through there. We should have a selection of juice in the fridge, if Sailor hasn’t finished it off yet.”
Sailor blushed. “Hey!”
Bandana’s eyes shined. “Still on your orange juice kick?” He made for the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll be pillaging the apple juice.”
Sunset frowned as he vanished through the door. “You all seem way too trusting considering everything that just went down.”
Meta Knight hummed as he began distributing the drinks that were ready. “Perhaps. But none of us are in fighting form-”
Dedede shifted his hammer again.
“Most of us are not in fighting form,” Meta Knight corrected, “and further sullying relations would be foolhardy. Instead, I simply seek to clear the air.” He turned to Sunset. “Would you like something to drink?”
Sunset shook her head. “No, thank you.”
Twilight couldn’t see it behind his mask, but she got the feeling he raised an eyebrow. Assuming he had them, that is. “Are you certain?” he asked. “It would help with your hoof.”
Sunset blinked. “Right, food heals here. I forgot about that.” She maneuvered her way to a chair and took a seat. “I’ll have a black coffee.”
“I take it food does not heal you in your home universe?” Meta asked.
Twilight’s eyes widened. “You know…?”
“That you three are extradimensional?” he finished. “Yes. We do keep an eye on these things.”
With that, he turned back to the machines and got to work, leaving Twilight to contemplate just how long he had been monitoring them. Soon enough, everyone had their preferred drink in front of them, Bandee had returned with a glass of apple juice, and Meta Knight himself had taken a seat. “So, I am sure you all have several questions regarding my and my crew’s actions today,” he began.
“That’s putting it lightly,” Sunset muttered.
“I’ve got just one, actually,” Dedede said, leaning forward. “I don’t really know anything ‘bout how it all went down, so I just wanna ask: why’d you do it?”
“Well, that would depend on who in the crew you ask,” Meta Knight unhelpfully responded. “Most were out for a cut of personal glory, as was Captain Vul, here.”
The captain remained silent.
“Axe and I will follow Sir Meta Knight to the end,” Mace Knight added.
“I have my reasons,” Sailor Dee said defensively. “Bandana knows them.”
Bandana Dee looked down a bit sadly, and Dedede actually cringed. “If it’s what I think it is, I get that.”
Twilight frowned at the lack of elaboration, but she supposed she’d just have to get the full story from Bandee later. She turned to look at Meta Knight. “So why did you try to invade Dreamland?”
Meta Knight somehow took a sip of his tea without lifting his mask. Frankly, it was somewhat disturbing that he could even do that. “King Dedede has been far too focused on local threats to his rule. Dreamlanders are a rather lazy bunch, which has left this planet inadequately guarded. After Dedede rejected my offer of aid-”
“Hold it right there!” Dedede protested. “You didn’t offer up any aid! You just showed up and said you were claiming land for the Meta-Knights! I couldn’t just let that slide!”
“Had you not instantly reacted by swinging a hammer at me, perhaps I would have had a chance to actually explain myself,” Meta Knight deadpanned. Clearing his throat, he continued. “After Dedede rejected my offer of aid, I decided to take matters into my own hands. The Halberd was meant to force the issue. We would succeed and overthrow Dedede, or Dreamland would produce a warrior capable of defending Popstar. Either way, the planet would be defended.” He paused to look at Twilight, Sunset, and Bandee. “It seems that said warriors would be you three and Kirby. For what it is worth, you have my apologies for attempting to kill you.”
Twilight sighed. This was the second person this week that had tried to kill her and was genuinely apologizing for it. “This is just common here, isn’t it?”
“When a tomato can heal broken bones in mere moments,” Meta Knight pointed out, “we tend to be blasé about injuries.”
Sunset tapped her previously-injured hoof on the table. “He’s got a point.”
“Still,” Twilight said, “we can’t be part of some…planetary defense force.” She gestured at herself, Sunset, and Spike. “We still need to find a way home!”
“‘Sides,” Dedede added, “Why’re you so focused on defending Popstar, anyway? You aren’t even from here!”
Meta Knight’s eyes narrowed. “Popstar and its surrounding system are unusually magical,” he explained. “There are beings out there that would use such power to threaten the universe at large. Take, for example, the Fountains of Dreams.”
“I was meaning to ask about that, actually,” Sunset cut in. “What are those?”
“It’s a magical fountain that wards off nightmares for everyone on Popstar,” Dedede explained before Meta Knight had a chance to. “Though, I thought there was just one.”
“There are eight, as far as I am aware,” Meta Knight said. “Those on other planets serve much the same purpose as Popstar’s, but each is also intensely magical. Their waters provide a much more potent healing quality than this universe’s food, and working with it can imbue objects with magic-resistant qualities.”
Vul grinned. “Tempering the Halberd’s steel with Fountain water was my idea.”
Twilight frowned. “While I can understand why having political control over the Fountains would be beneficial, I can’t exactly see how a villain would use healing powers like that to destroy the universe.”
Meta Knight took another sip of tea. “The problem lies with the Fountains’ power sources: the Star Rods. While their true power can only be wielded by a few, one needs not wield a Star Rod to access its power. If my great-great-great grandmother’s notes were correct, each is also capable of producing a summoning star. If all eight were combined…” he shuddered. “She never discovered what being it might summon, only that its power would be limitless.”
“Hold on one moment,” Dedede interrupted. “How do you know all this? I grew up here and I didn’t know that!” He looked to the other native Popstar inhabitants. “Did you guys know this?”
Bandee, Sailor, and Axe and Mace Knight all shook their heads. At Vul’s nod, though, Dedede seemed a bit taken aback.
“I first met Sir Meta Knight on Mekkai,” Vul explained. “I asked a lot of the same questions you all are.”
“To answer your question, Dedede,” Meta Knight said, “I am hardly the first of my kind to come to Popstar. My great-great-great grandmother, Luna Knight, was both a warrior and a scholar, and kept meticulous track of her visit. My reasoning for coming here is twofold: first to prevent supreme power from falling into the hands of those that would misuse it, and second to finish my ancestor’s work.”
“You keep talking about people that’d abuse power,” Sunset mentioned, “and I get that argument, but do you have any actual examples of threats?”
“I know of multiple that got so far as to reach Popstar itself, and were sealed here for an indeterminate amount of time,” Meta Knight said. “Part of my goal is to find where they are sealed and eliminate them permanently.”
Dedede actually looked concerned, for once. “Any idea on where those might be?”
“I have narrowed down the location of one, a being my ancestor referred to only as ‘The Nightmare,’ to having been sealed within Popstar’s Fountain of Dreams itself,” Meta answered. “I am trying to discover a way to destroy him, but so far have had no luck. The Star Rod might work, but I am incapable of wielding it and have not found anyone able to do so.”
He looked back at Sunset. “There are other threats, as well. I come from a nomadic colony of Astrals, and we have heard many a sad tale in our travels. Tales of beings that could shroud entire worlds in darkness, corrupting any they may come across. Tales of a staff that can kill with naught but a touch, of crowns bearing nigh-boundless power. We have even heard tell of a corporation that claims entire planets as theirs, strips them dry of their resources, and moves on to the next.” He looked around to make sure that everyone was appropriately horrified. “Should any of these gain access to Popstar’s vast wealth of power, it could spell doom for all of reality.”
Sunset leaned back and whistled. “Yeah, I can get why that would be a problem.”
Twilight frowned. “You having so many cannons on the Halberd makes a disturbing amount of sense, now.”
Meta Knight looked across the table. “Many of you are likely some of the most powerful beings in this half of the galaxy. Will you help, should this system come under attack?”
Twilight frowned, her mind racing. That was…a lot to process. This universe seemed far more dangerous than her own, and that fact served to increase her drive to get home as soon as possible, but it seemed that Meta Knight had a point. The world getting destroyed would rather hinder her search for a way back to Equestria.
And she would be rather upset with herself if she didn’t give it her all to help every creature she could.
“I’ll still be searching for a way home,” she said aloud, “but you can count on me to help.”
Spike opened his mouth, but shut it when he saw Twilight’s glare. She was absolutely not going to let him put his life on the line under any circumstances. His safety was her responsibility right now.
Sunset shrugged. “Eh, I’m in too. The universe getting destroyed helps no one.”
Meta Knight looked at Bandee expectantly. “And you?”
“B…but…” Bandana Dee stammered. “I can’t defend the planet! I’m just a Waddle Dee!”
“A Waddle Dee that stood up to King Dedede,” Spike pointed out.
“I’m his advisor!” Bandee protested. “That’s my job!”
“You seemed pretty confident boarding the Halberd,” Sunset added.
“You figured out what to do against the Heavy Lobster,” Twilight chipped in.
“You saved me when the ship was sinking despite the argument we’d just had,” Sailor Dee said. “I think that counts for something.”
Bandee seemed to shrink in on himself at the praise. “Alright, then,” he said, blushing. “I get it. I’ll help, too.”
Finally, Meta Knight looked at Dedede. “What say you, King Dedede?”
Dedede tapped his chin. “I still don’t really like you or your knights,” he acknowledged, “but this does sound pretty serious…”
Twilight perked up. She might not have known much about politics, and her experience in saving the world was limited to using the Elements, but this seemed like something she could help with. It sounded very much like the beginnings of a friendship problem.
“What about a compromise?” she offered, snapping both Meta Knight’s and Dedede’s attentions to her.
“How do you mean?” Dedede asked.
“Well, you’re pretty concerned about conventional conflicts that Dreamland might be involved in, right?” Twilight confirmed. “What if the Meta-Knights helped to defend Dreamland, and in exchange you would commit to defending all of Popstar if Meta Knight deemed it necessary?”
Dedede hummed in consideration. “That might just work.”
Twilight grinned hopefully at Meta Knight.
He exuded the feeling of raising an eyebrow. “I refuse to work under him,” he said, pointing at Dedede.
His crew all nodded forcefully in agreement.
Twilight’s face fell.
Dedede frowned. “You’re not exactly on the right side of the negotiating table to be making demands,” he pointed out, shifting his hammer.
Bandee nodded, looking at Meta with a steely expression.
Twilight’s ears flattened against her head.
“And you aren’t even qualified to be a leader!” Sailor shouted at Dedede.
Dedede stood. “Well someone had to step up and rule Dreamland!”
Twilight’s right eye twitched.
Vul scoffed. “And you’ve done such a good job of it. Not even a week into your rule and you were already more a threat to your own country than any external force could have been!”
Dedede growled and stepped forward. He raised his hammer, but he suddenly found it ripped out of his hands as a violet glow surrounded it. He watched as it was set down on the counter next to Meta Knight’s sword before turning to the mare that had done it. Despite the hammer having been put down, Twilight’s horn was still glowing, and Dedede seemed to realize just how tired she must have been. She had bags under her eyes, her mane was sticking up in various places, and if looks could kill, her glare would have vaporized him on the spot.
“Sit. Down,” she ordered.
Dedede sat down.
Twilight fluttered up so she was standing on the table. “Alright, I’m only going to say this once, because it’s late, I just helped fight off a freaking battleship, and I have a migraine. Fighting is going to get us absolutely nowhere.” She glared at Dedede. “Dedede, you’ve made some stupid decisions in the past and you’re a fairly ineffectual leader, but you’re getting better.” She glared at Meta Knight. “Meta Knight, responding to the potential of future threats with an attempted coup d’état was a monumentally moronic decision that’s only caused more problems.”
Sunset frowned. “Twilight, I don’t think-”
“Sunset, kindly shut the hay up,” Twilight interrupted. “I’m going somewhere with this.” She looked back at both Meta and Dedede. “Both of you have had problems with each other in the past, but if what Meta Knight says is true, you need to get over it. It is entirely possible for you to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, so here’s how it’s gonna go.” She looked at Meta. “Meta Knight, do you agree that Dreamland should offer up defenses for Popstar and the surrounding planets in the event that it’s necessary?”
Meta Knight nodded. “That is nonnegotiable, yes.”
Twilight looked at Dedede. “King Dedede, do you agree that the Meta-Knights should compensate your kingdom in some way for the attempted invasion?”
“Of course!” Dedede said. “They’ve gotta pay for it!”
Twilight sat back in her chair and clapped her forehooves together. “It’s settled, then! The Meta-Knights will provide military aid to Dreamland if King Dedede requests it, and Dreamland will pitch in to a planetary defense force should the Meta-Knights call for it,” she explained. “Both maintain full autonomy, and this agreement is more akin to an alliance than anything else.”
Most of the table stared at her with wide eyes. All except for Spike, who seemed unsurprised by Twilight’s outburst, and Meta Knight, who seemed to be considering the offer. “That is agreeable,” he eventually said.
Twilight looked at Dedede, hope and a bit of desperation filling her eyes.
The king sighed. “Alright, fine,” he conceded. “I’ll pitch in.”
“Great, glad that’s settled,” Sunset said. “Can we head back to the castle now? My head’s been killing me for the past hour and I feel like I could sleep for a week.”
Spike yawned a bit, himself. “I’m good to stay up.”
Twilight giggled. “No you’re not. It’s past your bedtime.”
Spike pouted, but he didn’t protest when Twilight levitated him onto her back and began making for the door.
“I do hope to see you all again,” Meta Knight said as the group began to disperse. “Hopefully on better terms than we did now.”
Dedede scoffed. “Yeah, like that's ever gonna happen. I'll see you when we need to deal with something.”