After having patched up Mr. Wheel, Fluttershy started talking with her friend’s astral projections. It wasn’t long before almost all of her friends projections disappeared and Celestia decided to interrupt the ongoing conversation between Luna and Katrina.
“I believe it is time I have to tell you some grave news my subject, you cannot stay on this planet. You’re connecting two different species entirely to this worlds magic and I fear the negative effects if you are to dawdle to long. You are to leave as soon as you come across this information these star warriors may have, I pray that you can find your way home Fluttershy.” Celestia was actually worried for Fluttershy and all of her little ponies. Popstar’s magic in the short term wouldn’t harm her little ponies, but Luna made her worries well know. It is feasible that long term effects of being magically connected to the distant world would be considered lightly damaging before getting worse, even Katrina seemed worried when she brought up the logical dangers involved.
“I’ll be sure to be off this planet as soon as I can Princess Celestia; if it’s alright with the natives here I would like to stock up on food a little before I leave. I’m sorry if I’m causing a problem be being here at all.” After saying this Fluttershy dug her fangs into a large apple and a slurping sound was heard and slowly the apple that was bigger than her head started to slowly wither and shrink down. She wasn’t having hunger cravings for it, but she wanted something tasteful as she was thirsty from conversing with her friends while she grabbed a few clouds of fresh water to stash away in the Head Hunter. Her feathered wing slowly morphed into a bat wing once more much to her discomfort and Celestia’s sad visage at seeing it happen.
Coo hooted that she was no trouble at all, it was just a bad that staying on this planet was a bad idea for her if her worlds leaders were wary of bad things happening. The purple owl figure they had things to be worried about as this planet was frequently attacked by demons, gods and living nightmares. The owl shuddered at the thought of one of the monstrosities that Kirby dealt with easily enough ending up on those other worlds he was only learning about in passing.
The owl knew Meta-knight and Kirby came from the stars, but Coo and the other defenders were born on this planet. He didn’t know much about space travel beyond the time he and several dream land natives idly watched as Kirby violently ripped apart Meta-Knight’s battleship known as The Halberd. Nobody really had an idea as to what had exactly set off Kirby at the time, but Meta-Knight had certainly mellowed out greatly afterwards and only bothered with testing Kirby from time to time.
“We believe in you Fluttershy, now please get some rest. I’m going to miss the good dreams once you leave, but I would prefer the reality of you returning home to your friends and family to being stuck on this strange world.” Katrina just smiled and flicked her fluffy tail as she faded out of astral form and into peaceful slumber.
Celestia sighed and followed the Aldebaran’s lead and slowly faded from existence. Luna trotted over to Fluttershy.
“My sister and Katrina are not wrong that prolonged exposure to this foreign magic may have an adverse effect on our two races. While dallying is a bad idea, it is worse to never find out what you can when you have an opportunity to find your way. At least you don’t have to worry about the weight of the world sitting on your shoulders like me and my sister.” Luna closed her eyes and slowly dissipated as well.
Fluttershy frowned thoughtfully and went back to the Head Hunter to sleep, while Chuchu went into Kirby’s quaint little house. Coo was about to fly away when a revving noised was heard and he stayed his wings for a moment to watch as the Wheelie that Fluttershy had aided rolled up to the Head Hunter and laid down upon the sloped to slowly power down in a slow purring noise before it drifted off into nothingness. The Wheelie didn’t seem to have any ill intention, so Coo didn’t bother it and wondered if it was related to one of the Wheelies that had aided Kirby in the past.
It was early morning on the world of Popstar and Mr. Bright was leaping into the sky to exchange places with Mr. Shine to start his day of just hanging there above the brightest star in the Dream Land Systems. A large ship flew in and dropped off four beings that had gone on a grand adventure together.
Kirby was walking home from his latest adventure with a happy smile on his face; he had aided his four new friends. After helping out the four dragons he was going to spend the rest of this day getting some well deserved rest. Opening the door to his house, Kirby yawned and made for his bed. After going through a long adventure without very much sleep he needed a good nap, Magolor hadn’t been very nice alien monster and the situation had vaguely reminded him of something he couldn’t remember very well.
As soon as he blindly tossed the covers aside and jumped onto the bed, he landed on something rather squishy and highly familiar to him. It seemed Chuchu had snuck into his bed again; Kirby had no idea why she kept doing it and thought she must have really liked sleepovers. In fact he felt his face heat up when their faces met, he liked Chuchu and she liked him. They must have been very good friends if she spent so much time around him!
Chuchu wrapped her tentacles around Kirby and brought him into a tight hug while shouting merrily at the heroes return from defeating another being of darkness. On an intelligence scale Kirby was more childlike then most beings on this world, but that didn’t mean he would ever hurt Chuchu while in his right mind and he would always welcome her into his home. Once he pried the happy Dream Land octopus off of himself, he hopped into bed again and immediately went to sleep. He didn’t bother to shoo Chuchu out of his home, because his friends were always welcome.
The exception of Kirby’s hospitality was a hammer wielding penguin that got him cranky every now and then for stealing his food. They were friends and he’d rescue the penguin if he was in danger, but other than that they really didn’t like spending time around each other very much.
On a nearby hill a masked and caped individual similar to Kirby chuckled as he was about to settle down underneath the tree to start meditating when something caught his eye. It was the large ship shape object sitting behind Kirby’s house, sighing Meta-Knight swirled his cape around himself and disappeared. He would find out what this new intruder was all about, it didn’t seem like they meant any harm by parking behind Kirby’s home. Kirby needed his rest after defeating another all powerful dark god without really thinking all too hard about the power in his tiny little arms, Meta Knight wanted Kirby to rest so he’d be ready for the next threat to this world.
Fluttershy stretched out and yawned, her dreams had been so vivid and wonderful. Her disappointment at waking up to the surrounding metal walls was incredible, at least looking at the apple she had waiting for her when she woke up didn’t give her any sort of craving. She hadn’t had any hunger cravings since she had that Maximum Tomato, she was hopeful that it cured her entirely of the need to forcefully drain any apple shaped fruit of their juices.
She made her way to the top of the ship while her fangs dug into the incredibly large fruit and she popped up on top of the ship to walk down one of the sloped sides as she drank. She took notice of the Wheelie, but didn’t bother its rest and didn’t question why it hung around her. As soon as she made contact with the ground, she was about to start walked around the house when a distortion in the air appeared. With the sweep of a cape Fluttershy suddenly found herself being held at sword point.
“Who are you and why have you come to this world?” Meta Knight held the tip of his sword pointed towards her nose and she cowered and whimpered. She was obviously not a being of an aggressive nature, then again neither was Marx and Meta Knight remembered that incident. It was interesting, especially considering Kirby hadn’t remembered it when it repeated with Magolor. Her obvious cowardice only made his eyes narrow at her, was she another fool who thought they could deal with powers that were not earned by blood and tears?
“Chu!” ChuChu wasn’t happy to see Meta Knight threatening her new friend, especially after she just got finished tucking in Kirby. She was soon near them and glaring angrily at Meta Knight while wiggling her two tentacles looking for a fight she knew she wouldn’t win, he was one of the top three strongest beings that live on Popstar after all and was in fact a star warrior.
Despite his momentary distraction Fluttershy didn’t take advantage of it and managed to swallow the remains of the large apple she had been draining. Dream Land apples were really tasty and she was hungry in an average way this morning.
“It’s okay ChuChu… um, are you a star warrior?” Fluttershy studied his silver mask, the dangerous looking sword and the fancy cape he was wearing, his armored shoes added a bit of the warrior vibe to him. She hoped he was friendly, because she really needed help as otherwise she was never going to find home within her lifetime.
Meta Knight’s eyes just stared into hers and the gleaming golden colored sword he held pointed at her forehead gave off a soft glow and slowly he sheathed it. He wasn’t about to kill a mostly innocent being and he was curious as to how she knew what a Star Warrior was anyway.
“Yes I am. What is your purpose for coming here?” Meta Knight’s eyes changed color in curiosity as Fluttershy sighed with relief and she shyly pawed at the grass with a hoof.
“Well… um… I’m looking for a star nomad, any star nomad really. I heard that they can find any place in the universe and they might be able to help me get home.” Fluttershy wilted as she stared into the eyes behind the mask and notice a negative feeling in the pit of her stomach. “There’s not one here is there?”
“No, this world has no star nomad residing here presently and it is unlikely that you will find a star nomad who will settle down. One hasn’t been seen here in a long time, I am Meta Knight one of the few star warriors left in this part of the universe.” Meta Knight was being truthful, this section of the universe hadn’t seen a traveler of the stars in a long time and warriors of the stars were a different thing entirely.
Meta Knight had personally once considered himself and Kirby the last of their kind, but he was smart enough to know that there were always possibly more of them out there somewhere doing what they were meant to. Any being in the universe could become a Star Warrior and the being before him wasn’t one, but she had a strange calming energy about her and it radiated with warmth of the likes that he had never seen before. Said warmth dimmed slightly at his words and he almost felt like apologizing to her immediately.
There was also the surprise that ChuChu would come to this beings defense against him, even when she knew she wouldn’t win the fight. The end result of a fight like that would have greatly upset Kirby. Kirby’s justified wrath for one of his friends being injured would have been unstoppable, even with the interference of multiple beings of universal power. The armored warrior of the stars shuddered, Kirby was someone Meta Knight feared slightly and his caution was highly warranted. It was entirely based on the fact of how fast Kirby could rip a dark god apart, especially when it was just a stolen slice of cake that was spurring him on a warpath.
“Oh… well, thanks anyway. I’m Fluttershy; it was nice meeting you Mr. Knight.” The drooping form Fluttershy presented was pitiful to look at and Chuchu tried to comfort her as she started to slowly canter away.
Something twitched inside of Meta Knight spurring him forward; he slowly started walking as something overcame his willpower. The need to protect this four legged being was a curious feeling. He needn’t be around to watch over Kirby as he slept as things were currently peaceful at the moment and disturbingly so. He stopped walking when he heard a puttering noise and a Wheelie zipped by him and up next to this Fluttershy. He now found himself unusually attracted to the idea of protecting this fair lady and the Wheelie wasn’t a threat, but its patched tire clearly showed a story of kindness.
Fluttershy sighed; she was not heading back to the Galactic Federation territories. Being a dissection subject was not something she thought of as a pleasant way to spend the rest of her life. For now she was just going to stock up on food and then she would just choose a direction to fly in, hopefully she would find a habitable planet on the way to pick up more supplies. Not once did she question how Meta Knight could speak her language, she chalked that up to the magic of this world. Maybe it was because he was a Star Warrior or it was just something else; Fluttershy didn’t care very much at the moment as life was becoming quite a chain of disappointments when it involved heading home.
Silently Fluttershy gathered food and brought it back to the ship, while she had three sets of eyes following her and watching as she did so. ChuChu and the Wheelie tried to assist her and she accepted their help, Meta Knight just stood by and watched silently. After two hours of gathering long lasting food supplies for herself, Fluttershy finally decided to lie down in the grass near Kirby’s house and rest while warming her body in the sun.
“Milady, I feel unusually guided to aid you in your endeavors. Even if there are no star nomads here, I can tell you of what they are like and maybe give you information on star warriors while I am at it. I also might be able to give you a map of some star sectors I have traveled through before I ended up here, I have lived a long life and there are still things that surprise even me to this day.” Not that Meta Knight would ever say that anything Kirby did was always surprising.
“If you don’t mind me asking then, what exactly does a Star Nomad look like?” Fluttershy rolled onto her back and decided to enjoy the day while she had still had time to spend on this world.
“That is a bit hard to describe. Any being in the universe can become a being of the stars, no matter their appearance. As long as that being has the spark in them to be one, they will eventually achieve the ability to do incredible things. The abilities always manifest in impossible to imagine ways. You are thankfully not a star warrior, as a star warriors life is always perilous and not for the faint of heart. Time will never claim me as the people of the stars will never die of old age, so much time has passed and I have lost so much. That is no reason for my heavy heart to dull my blade or stop me from extending a hand in friendship, down the path of paranoia lies a dark place I have been to several times.” Meta Knight looked away from Fluttershy to the cloudy skies and the sunlight that filtered through them. “We are the battlers who protect the universe from those who would see everything in it destroyed, we will never know rest until the end of all or we perish in battle. I have seen the fall of many great star warriors due to a horrible war, their spirits were grand and their wills never bent as they fought for the future with their broken bodies until their very souls were completely destroyed.”
Fluttershy’s ears wilted and her heart went out to Meta Knight as he stood with his back to her, he sounded so sad and has probably seen more then she could ever really guess at. He sounded like he has been at this for as long as Celestia or Luna, possibly even longer then both of them combined. Chuchu made a sad chirping noise and even the Wheelie revved noisily in a solemn way.
“I thank you for your feelings at my plight, milady, but I assure you they are misguided. Now, as for a star nomad, they are always strange beings and work in mysterious ways with their magical natures. They always seek to aid other travelers or those around them, usually without asking for anything in return. If they are unable to find someone to help or they are halted from their travels for too long they will start becoming desperate to perform what they live to do. They are incredibly hard to physically harm in a permanent fashion, their attention spans are seemingly short, but they are always much smarter then they first appear. As you already know they can find any place in the universe that you would want to go to and this knowledge is possibly why they are so strange.” Meta Knight remembered the first time he met one, they were ridiculous in their ways and even then they were highly effective at achieving what they wanted to do in the end. He thought of them as pure hearted beings, even Kirby could have been one if he hadn’t become a star warrior first. “A warning I know you will heed, never attempt to kill a star nomad and always try to stop beings that do. The end results of trying to kill one will never be in your favor. Should you actually succeed in doing so, horrible things will befall you and there are grave consequences for harming someone who became a child of the universe itself.”
“Is there anything more defining then that about a star nomad? Maybe you know a direction I can fly in so I could possibly find one; you must have traveled around a lot if you’re a defender of the universe Mr. Knight.” All this information was something Fluttershy had to remember, after thinking a bit she decided to ask one more question. “Do you have a map of the universe or even a small section of it hoofy?”
“The sign of a star nomad is more easily seen if they have a follower, partner or a guardian accompanying them in their travels. This one being will be nigh impossible to separate from the nomad for any great length of time. Through a bond of great friendship and understanding, the follower will unknowingly walk endlessly with immortality alongside the nomad.” Sighing Meta Knight turned to Fluttershy, their eyes locked and an inkling of understanding passed between them. “I hope you are successful in finding one milady. I have no idea as to a direction you should go, but I do however have a map; it will require a device to hold the information.”
“Thank you Mr. Knight. I have just the thing to hold the information; I have this thing called a universal map that a friend gave to me. Thankfully it hasn’t been damaged yet and she pulled the battery from her weapon to power it.” It was the best Fluttershy could hope for, she’d spend the next few days on this world before leaving. She hadn’t seen the other star warrior yet and wondered if he was just as sad as Meta Knight. She was in for a surprise when she finally met him later in the day, but for now she was blushing slightly at be addressed in a highly regarded fashion and she had yet to really do anything to earn it.
“Excuse me milady, I will get the information for you swiftly. Await my return, Fluttershy.” With a slight bow Meta Knight swiftly swept his cape in front of himself disappearing from sight. As he teleported away, he considered it odd that he was entirely open with someone so strange and yet he felt himself compulsively addressing her with a high regard. He felt pleased that he managed to perk her up out of her funk slightly; if she stuck around long enough he just knew Kirby would befriend her immediately despite her oddly distorted form. Beyond said outward appearance was her real birth form hidden from natural sight, the hidden elegance was so beautiful as to be a gift of the universe itself. She was filled with a boundless kindness and Meta Knight actually felt his heart beat in his chest for once in a very long time. He had thought his tears had long stopped falling and that his heart had hardened to the task ahead of him. Spending so much time around Kirby was making him soft... it wasn’t entirely a bad thing.
The knight felt better after the hidden angel touched his heart without really meaning to.