Chapter 16: Gourmet Race
"Come on... Come on... Come... ON...!"
"You can do it Twilight! Please!"
Twilight's horn glowed brighter, and brighter, the purple alicorn pouring all the magic she possessed in it. Before her was a mirror, just a simple mirror big enough for her reflection to appear entirely. A swirling purple vortex appeared in it, first as small as her hoof, but growing with each seconds.
Behind her was a white unicorn with well groomed purple mane and tail, a smile forming in her muzzle. "Yes! Yes! It works!"
"Continue Twilight!" a small purple dragon with a green belly said beside her.
But as everything seemed to be working, the vortex suddenly started to lose in size. Twilight tried to stabilise it, but she couldn't stand on her hooves anymore, and before long, she fell on her belly, and the vortex disappeared.
Taking her breath, she said, "S-sorry... Rarity. I thought I had it."
Rarity sighed in sorrow behind her, a tear falling from her left eye, before she took a big breath to regain herself as the dragon pat her leg. "It's alright darling, you have done all you could. At least, this time, you were able to open a vortex, even if only for a few seconds."
"Yes. This shows that I am in the right track. Before long, I will bring back Sweetie Belle. I may take a few more days, or weeks, but I will bring her back."
"I know Twilight. I trust you. And thank you Spike, I'm alright."
"Sorry to say this, but you are wrong about being in the right track. The train you took doesn't lead to where you want, but right into a pit." a voice said behind them. A voice they recognized without problem.
The two ponies and the dragon turned around to find a yellow pegasus with a pink mane beside a tall creature that was none other than a draconequus, having the head of a pony with the antler of a deer and the blue horn of a goat on it. His eyes were yellow with different sized red pupils, and he also had a goat beard and a long fang. His right arm was the one of a lion, his left one was a bird claw, his right leg was from a lizard, and the left was from a goat. He also possessed a pegasus wing, a bat wing, and the tail of a dragon with a white tuff at the end. He seemed... nervous.
Rarity said, "Oh Fluttershy, thank Celestia, you finally found Discord!"
"Sorry Rarity," the pegasus said in a small voice. "He didn't want to come, and I had to use the Stare to convince him."
Rarity raised an eyebrow at Discord. "And can I ask... 'why'?"
"Oh, you know, because I had my reasons," Discord answered.
"Wait," Twilight interrupted. "What did you mean? I'm not in the right track?"
"That's exactly what I said. You should know by now that mirrors only lead to alternate versions of the same dimension, like where your friend mini Sunbutt lives."
"But it's the only way that we know how to open portals to other dimensions! Does that mean that Sweetie Belle is not in another Equestria?"
A green flashing O appeared above her head with the sound of a bell.
"Exactly! And you know what that means? You lost all this time... for nothing!"
Twilight's eye twitched. "I don't understand, I was trying to use the mirror portal to create a teleportation spell that could teleport me directly in Canterlot High School! How could she end up in a dimension that is not even an alternate Equestria?!"
"Because your spell has gone BOOM!" Discord answered, making his head explode at the 'BOOM'. "And you know how spells that explode can cause mind blowing results, when it's not just blowing results. It's one of those cases."
Twilight took a few deep breaths, like her foalsitter, Cadance, taught her. "Alright. Yes. I understand. But now you are here. You can use your magic to open a portal and-" She was suddenly interrupted by her mouth zipping shut.
"This is where I must stop you. Because, yes, I can bring her back. But the thing is..." He looked at Fluttershy, gulping. "I will not."
A white hoof then pulled him down by the beard, and he found himself facing a really angry Rarity.
"And why, do tell, you will not bring my sister back if you can?"
"You will not like the answer."
"I already don't like your answer."
"Please Discord," Fluttershy pleaded. "Tell us at least why."
Discord teleported away from Rarity with a snap of his lion paw, then sighed.
"First, I must tell you something. Have you remarked how everything, or almost, seems linked?"
"How so?" Twiligh askedt, her mouth not zipped anymore thanks to Spike.
"Easy." He raised his lion paw toward the ceiling and unrolled a big blank paper from it. On the paper, an image of Discord on a throne with Celestia and Luna shooting a rainbow at him appeared. "I was the ruler of Equestria, and Celestia and Luna used the elements to stop me. At the same time, I planted my Plunder Seeds, hoping that they would free me. Of course, because of the Tree of Harmony, it didn't work." Then the image passed to him getting out of stone. "One thousand and whatever years later, I'm free, imprisoned again, and released in the hope of making me one of your friends."
The image changed again, this time to Twilight, wings appearing on her. "Not long after, you become an alicorn..." The image now showed the Plunder Vines attacking Ponyville. "Only for my Plunder Vine to finally go on their rampage, a few hundred years too late. And you are forced to give up the Elements of Harmony to save the Tree of Harmony, and stop my vines. In exchange..." The image showed a familiar box. "it gave you that box. Box that..." The image showed Twilight and her friends blasting Tirek with the Rainbow power. "coincidentally contained the power to stop the rampage of the next villain: Tirek. And to open the box..." The image now showed Discord giving Twilight Tirek's pendentif. "Well, you know what I have done. After that, you gained your palace with that map that gives you your Friendship Missions, making sure that you can do your princess job by spreading friendship everywhere. Now you see what I mean? This is what we call 'Fate'. And I didn't even include Nightmare Moon leading to you getting the Elements, Sombra and the Crystal Empire that proved to Celestia that you were ready to become a princess, or the Changelings that will probably have a role in the future."
"I... I didn't even think about this, but you are right! This is like an event leads to another, and..." Her mouth was zipped back, making her give a deadpan look at him.
"But what does that have to do with Sweetie Belle, and why you will not bring her back?" Spike asked impatiently, getting Rarity's words out of her mouth.
"Well, let's take a step back in this Fate story." The image changed again, showing Twilight entering the mirror portal. "The Element of Magic was stolen by Sunset Shimmer, and Twilight discovered the mirror portal. After Tirek, Twilight got her castle, and she brought the mirror in it. Note how it links to everything I have said until now. Then Twilight started to study it, and TADAA ! In the middle of an experiment, Sweetie Belle comes, causes Twilight's magic to go BOOM, and she ends up in another dimension."
"Alright." Twilight said, her mouth unzipped again. "So that was destined to happen. So why do you refuse to intervene?"
"Because destiny has led her to that dimension, and I'm not sure that bringing her back now is a good idea. I can't see the future, so I don't know if I have a role to play. All I know is that this may be important for her. I have seen a little of what she has gone through, and let me tell you, this may be big."
"Why? What happened to her?!" Rarity asked with fear.
"The exact same thing that happened to you actually! In a more epic proportion! She is your sister alright."
"Which is...?"
"She has gone on an adventure and helped save the world from a being of darkness!"
"SAY WHAT?!"
"Wait! Let me show you!"
With a snap of his paw, a blank canvas appeared before him, and Discord was now with a brush in his lion paw, a palette of paint on his claw, and a multicolored beret on his head. He soaked the brush in the paints and started to paint on the canvas. A few brush swings later, and he showed his creation to the ponies and dragon.
It was a painting cut into eight sections, one big round at the center with the seven others around it. In a clockwise direction, starting at the top, they could see a bottom view of Sweetie Belle beside some sort of giant hamster ridden by some pink ball and holding a parasol. The hamster used the parasol to protect them from giant apples falling from a living tree looking angrily at them.
The second section showed Sweetie Belle on a giant boar, the filly pulling its hears while clinging to it as the boar was on its hind legs. The pink ball, wearing some cone hat and with a bomb, and the hamster, now without parasol, were in the foreground looking at the filly and the boar in worry. A big purple owl was flying above the boar in the background, and many smaller boars were around the big one.
In the third section, Sweetie was now clinging to the lure of a giant brown fish while shooting a magical beam at its mouth. The hamster and the owl were swimming after it, but the pink ball was nowhere to be seen. However, there was a blue fish the same size as them whose square shaped belly seemed to hit strongly the giant one on the head, like a weight.
In the fourth, they were against some obese bipedal blue dragon with a cream colored belly that was breathing ice at the hamster and the pink ball that were running away, the pink ball on the hamster and wearing some crown made of fire. The owl was using his claws to scratch the dragon's head, and the fish was slapping his tail at him. In the background, they could see Sweetie Belle with some blue blob on her back, horn facing the back of the dragon as a bomb fell on him.
In the fifth, this was again from a bottom view, where the whole group faced what seemed to be a living sun and a living crescent shaped moon. The sun was charging at them while the moon was jumping in the night sky, shooting stars falling toward them. Sweetie still had the blue blob on her back and her mane and tail looked like Rainbow and Scootaloo's, with some electricity visible in them, and she shot an actual lightning bolt at the charging sun. For some reason, the pink ball was now wearing a yellow cap with a blade on it.
The sixth depicted them fighting this time a giant spiked cloud with a big eye at the center and raining lightning. Sweetie was at the foreground, on the hamster's back, shooting magical beams at the eye. The pink ball was in the owl's claws, still with the yellow hat, and for some reason, the owl was now green and threw sharp feathers at the cloud's left, the fish under them. The blue blob was in the background, behind the cloud, throwing bombs at it.
The seventh one was even crazier, somehow... They were fighting a giant penguin in royal garments armed with a big hammer. Sweetie's fur was now brown with some white and black, and her mane and tail were white with some black at the start of the tail. She was directly in front of the penguin on her hind legs, and the pink ball, now wearing a green hat and a sword, was riding her, the sword clashing with the penguin's hammer. The blue blob, the hamster, the owl, and the fish were all around the penguin, attacking him, the blue blob somehow throwing blades.
And finally, the last section at the center. The animals were nowhere to be seen. Sweetie, the pink ball, and the blue blob being the only ones present. They were flying in the night sky, facing some kind of one eyed dark being wearing a cloak and using a sword. Sweetie's mane and tail were in the colors of the rainbow, looking like Celestia's, and the pink ball was riding again on her back, this time wearing nothing but holding a sword that seemed to be made of rainbow. As for the blue blob, it was farther, at the right of the dark being, with orange orbs behind it. Sweetie was shooting rainbow beams and the pink ball had the rainbow sword ready to slash the dark being who was charging at them, sword ready to impale, and the blue blob shot some dark lightning at it, seemingly having not much effects.
"Do you really expect us to believe that Sweetie Belle fought all those things? I mean, the living sun and moon, really?! And since when can she shoot lightning? And why is she brown in this fight against that penguin? And-" And Twilight's mouth was zipped, again. Her eye twitched.
Discord then did something she hadn't expected. "I Pinkie Promise, everything I have painted here happened. Cross my heart and hope to fly, put a cupcake in my eye. I was in the first row."
Everyone's jaws dropped at that. They had to believe him after that.
"See? Now your sister is a hero!" Discord said to Rarity, a white shirt with 'I love Sweetie' written on it appearing on everyone, alongside a flag with Sweetie's head drawn on it on his claw. "You should be proud!"
And... she fainted... And was splashed on the head by a bucket of chocolate milk. "EEEEK!!!"
"No time to sleep! Don't you want to party for your sister's success?"
Pinkie Pie suddenly popped from behind the mirror. "Did someone say 'party'?!"
"So, can someone explain to me what just happened?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"The king challenged Kirby into a Gourmet Race to prove that he is still the best at eating," Waddle Dee answered.
"Okay... But what is a Gourmet Race?"
"Oh! It's awesome!" Waddle Dee shouted, raising his arms. "This is, like, the most exciting event of the castle!"
"This is some sort of championship in three races, with the winner determined by points," Broom Sunglasses then said. "To put it simply, here are the rules: the racers must try to reach the goal first in each races. In the way, they must eat as much food as possible. One plate of food eaten gives one point. A Maxim Tomato gives three points. And the racer reaching the goal first gains thirty points. At the end of the three races, the points are counted and the one that has the most points win. Easypeasy. Of course, to make it more challenging, there will be traps and obstacles in the way, and in some races, there will be more than one way to reach the goal."
"And King Dedede is the unbeaten champion!" Waddle Dee shouted again.
"But don't they risk to get sick? I mean, when I run after eating, it makes me sick."
"Really?" Broom Sunglasses asked. "This never happened for any of us, and definitely not to the king."
Sweetie Belle remained silent at this. This was clearly not the kind of thing that could happen in Equestria, unless more ponies were like Pinkie Pie. The pink pony would love this.
She laughed. "This world is weirder and weirder."
In the end, the banquet lasted a few more hours, with Kirby and Dedede doing some sort of eating contest. By the time Sweetie reached her bed, she was stuffed like she never was before. Curse this world and its delicious food. These apple pies shouldn't exist.
"So, do you still want me to do it?" Discord asked.
"I must see that Sweetie is alright, especially after what you told us yesterday! So yes, show me!" Rarity shouted.
It was the middle of the morning in Equestria. Rarity and all her friends were in Twilight's castle, in an empty room, facing Discord. The draconequus had his arms crossed, a blank wall behind his back.
"Alright then. But remember, this will be an one way window. We will only watch her. She will not be able to see or hear us. That means that if she is in danger, you can't do anything for her. We must let her live her adventures, and I will only intervene if there is no other way. Understood?"
"Whatever! I just want to see her!"
"Good! Then..." He snapped his fingers, and everypony found themselves on a chair facing the wall with a bag of popcorn at their side. Another snap, and a portal started to form on the wall.
"Ah don't like this, watching whatever'll happen without being able ta do anything," Applejack said, the orange earth pony mare crossing her hooves.
"You are not the only one," Rainbow Dash said, the rainbow maned cyan pegasus at her right. "Letting Sweetie having all the fun? I would much prefer being at her side kicking flanks!"
"Hopefully, she is not fighting," Fluttershy said. "I... I don't want to see a fight..."
"It's not because she is now a hero that she is fighting h24, you know?" Discord said. "You are all heroes, and yet, are you fighting all the time?"
"Nope!" Pinkie Pie answered. "We also party, and go to picnics, and help other ponies, and sell whatever we sell. Twilight reads, I bake, Applejack bucks her trees, Dashy does her awesome stuffs, Fluttershy-"
She was interrupted by Rarity putting a hoof on her mouth. "We understand, dear, you are right. Fighting is only a small part of our life. And this must be the same thing for Sweetie Belle. Villains don't pop up everydays."
"Hush! Hush! It's starting!" Discord suddenly said, putting 3D glasses on his eyes.
On the boxing ring, Cape Knight put a Kirby dummy in front of Sweetie Belle.
"Now, show me how you use your whip," he said.
"Ok," Sweetie Belle answered. She took the whip in her magic by the handle and attacked the dummy with it. But the whip just seemed to bounce on the dummy without doing much to it. "I just can't find how to do the crack."
"Yes. I can see. I know what you have to do. I know there is a few methods to make your whip crack, but it should be easier to start with the following. First, make sure that the whip is untangled and go straight back behind you, make sure that it does not touch your hooves."
"Like that?" Sweetie asked as she did so, making the whip look like a snake raising its head at her right.
"Yes. Now bring the whip straight up in the air. Imagine as if you were pointing your hoof to the sky, but this time, with your magic holding the whip. If you do it right, then you should be able to create a loop with it. If you are able to create a loop, then the whip will crack. Now try."
And she did. For the following minutes, she attacked the dummy, trying to do as Cape Knight said. Until...
Crack!
A cut appeared in the pink fabric of the dummy.
"Yay! I did it!" the filly shouted before she started hopping around in joy, repeating "I did it! I did it! I did it!"
Cape Knight chuckled at that. "You sure did it. Good job. Now that you know how to use the whip, you can try other ways to make it crack, like from the side. Just remember the loop. You must always make sure that there is a part of the whip going in one direction, and the other part going in the opposite direction. Continue to practice with this dummy, I will bring more."
"Alright!"
When Cape Knight came back on the ring with a big bag full of dummies, it was under the sounds of many Crack! Crack! Crack! and the dummy had now many more cuts in its fabric.
With the new dummies, Sweetie tried some different things with the whip, sometime with the help of her magic. Thus, she was able to wrap the whip around a dummy to send it flying around her like a flail before sending it crashing on another dummy. Then she wrapped it around another dummy and sent it flying in the air where she shot a beam at it. Before long, all the dummies were in pieces on the floor, and Sweetie took her breath under the clapping of Cape Knight.
"I think you did well in choosing the whip," he said. "With your magic, it is an impressive weapon. Once you master it, you will be formidable."
"Thank you," Sweetie said, rubbing the back of her head.
"Now, let's try something else. You said you wanted to use magical shield, right?"
"Yes. So I can better protect myself, and others aren't forced to take the hit for me. Dedede tried to help me by throwing dummies at me, but it didn't work..."
"I see. Then start to light your horn like you do when you shoot your beams."
"Ok." A green light appeared around her horn. "What now?"
"Now..." He readied his sword. "block this!" He charged at her, about to swing his sword toward her neck.
Sweetie could only gasp in surprise before she closed her eyes, and somehow, was able to create a green shield around her. When the sword hit, the shield was destroyed, and she found herself on the floor, her horn aching.
"Y-you could have killed me!"
"I would have stopped the sword just before touching your neck." He chuckled. "At least, it worked, right? You created a shield."
"Y-yes. I did... But why didn't it work with the dummies?"
"Because dummies aren't as life threatening as a sword about to behead you. When nobody is here to teach you how something work, sometime it's best to let your instinct do the work. And a life threatening situation is the best way to make it happen. You thought you would be killed, and you let your instinct move your body." He raised his left arm toward Sweetie Belle. "What do you think?"
Sweetie smiled at him before taking his arm to get up. "I think that it was a cunning move, and that you are crazy." She then hugged him. "But thanks anyway. You really helped me." Cape Knight just laughed and rubbed Sweetie's mane. After a few seconds, she stepped back. "What about the close quarter combat, or whatever?"
"Err... For that, you will have to ask a Knuckle Joe for help."
"Eh... Of course."
"Now let's continue, with a fight. There is no better way to train than a fight. Until we are called for the Gourmet Race."
"Alright!" She took the whip in her magic. "I'm ready!"
"Then here I come!"
"And... here they go," Applejack said.
"I just can't believe what I'm seeing. My sister training and fighting! I thought it would be more for Scootaloo, not Sweetie Belle! And a whip, really?! That... That's just..."
"Barbaric?" Rainbow proposed. This made Rarity sigh. "I think it is cool. I mean, have you seen how she sent those dummies flying around? Whatever bad guy she may face next, he will so have a bad time."
"So true!" Spike continued. "Look! She is trying to take his weapon!" Sweetie indeed wrapped the whip around the sword of the knight, trying to pull it out of his hand. But then, the knight pulled on the whip, successfully getting it out of Sweetie's magical grasp. With Sweetie disarmed, Cape Knight used the occasion to charge at Sweetie to attack her only to be stopped by a shield. She then fired a beam at him before punching him in the face. After that, she got her whip back. "Woo! Go Sweetie Belle!"
"Yeah! Go Sweetie Belle!" Pinkie Pie repeated, waving a flag with Sweetie's head drawn in it. Rarity shook her head.
"I'm sorry Rarity," Twilight said. "It must be hard for you to see Sweetie Belle fighting like that."
"Don't be Twilight. If it's Sweetie's calling, then I will just have to get used to it, especially if it's to save the world where she is from villains like the one Discord showed us. And don't guilt yourself about it being your fault, it was an accident."
"I know... But I should have taken more precautions to make sure it doesn't happen."
"Hey! Look! Something is coming!" Pinkie suddenly shouted, pointing at the window portal.
"Sweetie Belle! Cape Knight!" Waddle Dee screamed as he ran toward them. The filly and the knight stopped their fight and turned in his direction.
"Waddle Dee! The race is ready?"
"Yes! They are getting at the start! Come quick!"
"We are coming!" She turned to Cape Knight. "Let's go!"
They followed Waddle Dee in the hallways of the castle until they reached a room that Sweetie had never been in before. It was full of stalls with boars that looked like a fusion of Nruff and the small ones that she fought in Big Forest. Sweetie had a big smile when she understood what they were about to do. Soon enough, they passed a big door leading outside of the castle, each of them riding a boar, the filly laughing in fun. Thanks to their mounts, they quickly went down the mountain and reached the grasslands, and before long, they were at the start of the first race.
Dedede and Kirby were at the starting line, a Waddle Dee with a flag raised beside them. At the sides of the track were countless creatures from Dedede's army, counting Waddle Dees, Waddle Doos, Blade and Sword Knights, some sort of living snowmen, Sparkys, Bronto Burts, and many many more! Before the starting line in the sky, supported by a couple dozens of Bronto Burts, was a giant screen showing the two racers. Around the public were four loudspeakers on wood towers.
A Waddle Dee and a Waddle Doo riding two Bronto Burts and holding microphones then came above the track.
The Waddle Dee spoke. "Welcome everyone, to today's big event..."
"The Gourmet Race!" the Waddle Doo finished. "Today's challenger is none other than Dream Land's hero: Kiiiiirby!"
"But he will have a hard time, because he is facing the invincible Gourmet Champion himself, the king of Dream Land, Dededeeeee!"
The public yelled as loudly as possible at his name, and Dedede waved his arms at them.
"Now we must remind the rules." Waddle Dee said. "This is a three races championship! No fighting between the racers! Each food eaten is one point, and the Maxim Tomatoes are three points! The first racer reaching the goal gains thirty points! The racer with the most points at the end of the three races wins! This will challenge both your speed and your gluttony!"
"I WANT!!!" Pinkie Pie screamed.
"Are the racers ready?" Waddle Doo said. "Good!" Waddle Dee took a horn and readied himself to blow inside it. "3! 2! 1!"
BROOOOOOOOOOOOO
The Waddle Dee beside the racers swung down the flag, the speakers started to blast a catchy song, and the race began. Kirby was already in the lead, and before long, the two racers were gone, forcing the public to follow them with the screen.
Kirby was in the head and ate everything in the way, letting nothing for Dedede until they reached a wall of Star Blocks that they had to destroy. All Kirby had to do was inhaling one and spitting it at the block behind it to open the way for him while Dedede was forced to use his hammer to destroy far more blocks to open the way. Turned out there was food hidden inside the blocks, and Dedede got his first points. The same thing happened with a second wall, giving Kirby a big lead. The puffball was able to reach the goal with a big advance, eating two tomatoes in the way, much to the penguin's frustration.
"You haven't won yet!" he said. "There are still two races!"
"Kirby won the first race easily! His small size helped him passing the walls of blocks and left the king in the dust! But King Dedede hasn't said the last word!" Waddle Dee said.
Five minutes later, they were at the starting line of the second race, the Waddle Dee with the flag beside them.
"Let's start the second race. This gets tough!" Waddle Dee said. "3! 2! 1!"
BROOOOOOOOOOOOO
Flag down, the two racers started the second race, Kirby yet again in the lead. But there were many bumps in the tracks, forcing him to jump. Dedede's jumps going farther, he took the lead and left Kirby behind. The puffball was quickly able to catch him thanks to his speed, and between the jumps of Dedede and Kirby's speed, none of them was able to stay long in the lead. They eventually reached a ladder that Dedede climbed in record time while Kirby continued forward, passing a small wall of blocks. But when he reached the goal, Dedede suddenly fell before him thanks to one last jump and passed the goal first.
Dedede did with his fingers the same sign as his symbol in victory, while Kirby looked at the ground in sorrow.
"And this round goes to the king!" the Waddle Dee yelled.
"This one was pretty intense! We didn't know who would reach the goal first until the very last second! This is why I love this sport!" Waddle Doo said.
"But the king must watch out. So far, Kirby has still eaten far more food than him. Everything will be decided with the last race!" the Waddle Dee continued.
"Oh my gosh! I didn't know it would be so fun!" Sweetie Belle shouted excitedly. "Oh... I don't know who to cheer!"
"See?!" Waddle Dee shouted beside her. "I told you! This is the best event!"
Five minutes later, and place to the third race! Somewhere rather weird, with colored bells inside bubbles, and the ground seemingly made of colored kid blocks.
"This is it guys!" Waddle Doo yelled. "The decisive race! In this one, the racers will have to give everything! They will have to watch out for the traps, and the obstacles will be many! Ready everyone? 3! 2! 1!"
BROOOOOOOOOOOOO
And Kirby yet again started the race in the lead, but trying to take a Maxim Tomato out of the way, he gave the occasion for Dedede to take the lead. But the penguin reached a row made of Star Blocks that he had to destroy to continue. Kirby was able to pass by a small opening above the blocks and left the king in the dust, only to reach a wall of spikes and, being too fast to stop, got hurt. To continue, he had to fly up, then jump above small ponds that could slow him if he fell in. It was when he took another Maxim Tomato that Dedede passed him, jumping right in the hole beside the tomato, only to be stopped by a few row of blocks that disappeared only by walking on them, and the two had to wait together that all the blocks disappeared.
They found themselves having to choose between two paths, and Kirby chose the one above while Dedede chose the one below. Dedede had to destroy a wall of Star Blocks before joining Kirby who just passed another wall, taking the lead again. Kirby had to fly up again, avoiding a block of spikes in the way, before jumping in another hole and falling in a pond where there was another tomato. Bad idea, because Dedede yet again took the occasion to be in the lead, and the two of them reached a water section with, somehow, some parts without water. Once out of the water, they eventually reached another intersection, one path after another where they had to fly up, Kirby in the lead. The puffball took the second path, and the king took the first two seconds later. When Kirby reached the top, he saw that he had taken the bad path because Dedede was slightly before him, and he quickly ran to catch him. They were elbow to elbow, but then the king tripped and fell, head right on the goal line just before Kirby passed it.
"And this round is again for King Dedede! This makes two races won for him!" Waddle Doo yelled.
"I really thought that Kirby would pass the goal first for a moment here. But the king tripping stopped that!"
"But this doesn't mean victory! Remember everyone, we still must count the points!"
A few minutes later, the two racers were back at the start of the first track.
"Kirby winning a race, he starts with thirty! King Dedede winning two races, he starts with sixty! Now let's see," the Waddle Dee said.
The screen turned black, and a white line separated it in two vertically. Dedede's face with the number 60 appeared in one, and Kirby's face with the number 30 appeared in the other. And then, the numbers started to go up. A few seconds later, they finally stopped.
Kirby : 164
King Dedede : 155
Silence...
"And..." Waddle Dee said, shocked. "And... the winner is... Kirby..."
"Kirby is the new Gourmet Champion," Waddle Doo said.
"NOOO!!! I can't believe it! I won two races! How could I lose?!" Dedede screamed, making a tantrum. He then felt someone hugging him. When he looked down, he saw that it was Sweetie Belle.
"I'm sorry that you lost Dedede," she said. "But look at the score! You lost only by nine points ! That was a close call!"
"Yeah... I still would have preferred winning."
"I know. But what counts is that we had fun, right? Don't tell me you didn't have fun."
Dedede smiled at her, before chuckling. "I still would have preferred winning."
Sweetie laughed. "I know. But hey! That means that you will have to take back your title! And we will have more fun!"
"You are right!" Dedede turned to Kirby. "You hear that? I will train hard! And we will race again! And this time, I will win!"
"Poyo!" Kirby said, determined.
"Mph! Let's go everyone! I need to train!"
The king departed, followed by his whole army yelling his name in repetition. The only ones staying behind with Kirby were Sweetie Belle and Waddle Dee. Once they were far away, the filly hugged the puffball.
"That was awesome Kirby. Congratulation for winning," she said.
"Yeah..." Waddle Dee said. "I still can't believe that the king lost, but... good game. But you will see! Next time, this will not be the same thing!"
"Poyo!"
"By the way Kirby..." Waddle Dee continued. "Thank you for watching Sweetie Belle while the king was... you know... possessed. I... I owe you. We all owe you."
Kirby smiled. "Poyo!" he shouted, raising an arm.
Waddle Dee nodded at him. "Let's go, Sweetie Belle." He started to follow the others.
"I'm coming!" She turned to Kirby. "Listen Kirby. I'm starting to train how to use a weapon and to use more spells with my magic. Like that, if another villain appears, I will better be able to help you without you or others having to risk your life to protect me. But this is also so I can fight you one day for real, not like last time at the Fountain of Dreams." She laughed at remembering what happened. "Just know this, Kirby. Whether we are fighting together, or each other, I consider you a friend." She raised her right hoof toward Kirby.
The puffball understood what she wanted and he bumped her hoof, smiling. "Poyo."
Sweetie nodded, smiling too, before she joined Waddle Dee, leaving Kirby going back to his home. She then bumped Waddle Dee on the arm. "Told you he is friendly."
"Well, I propose we end this session here," Discord said, closing the window portal.
"Wait, I don't understand. They are friends, and yet they will fight each other?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"This is what we call 'friendship in rivalry', like you and AJ when you race each other, but there, it's in battle," Pinkie said. "Now excuse me, but I have to go prepare a Gourmet Race!"
"What?! Pinkie! Outside of you, nopony will be able to go in a race like that! They would end up too stuffed, or too sick to reach the goal!" Twilight pointed out.
"Oh, I'm sure I can find ponies that could participate! And I can always replace the full plates of food by something else, like... like candies! Yes! Candies will work! And this will be the best race ever!" And she was gone.
"I wouldn't mind participating in one. What do you think, AJ?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Ah think that ya'd lose," the earth pony answered.
"Oh yeah?! You are on!"
The two exited the room, leaving Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy, Spike and Discord behind. The pegasus hugged Rarity. "She is alright. She seems to be with good friends, they will watch her."
"Yes, I saw. But she is my sister, I'm still worried for her even if she is not alone. This is worse, knowing that she will fight, but at least, she will not fight alone. And I can see she trusts this Kirby, so I'm trusting him."
"They did fight together an abomination of darkness," Discord said. "It would be hard not to trust each other after something like that." He then went beside Rarity's ear and whispered to her. "I ship them."
"This is my sister, you ruffian! As much as they are adorable together, Kirby must be too old for her!"
"Actually, he is younger than her."
"What?!"
Meanwhile, Twilight was reading some notes she had written during the race, hairs popping out of her mane and eye twitching. "How did this penguin inflate his belly to the point of flying? How can this pink ball eat food as big as him like that? How could he actually eat dozens of time what must be his weight, and not get bigger? How could this water float? How could those things talk without a mouth? How...? How...?! HOW...?!!"
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It’s called Fantasy and imagination Twilight, it doesn’t need to be explain
Great chapter, is nice to see that they are trying to get her back
By the way you forget to add this link:
9537973
I hope I haven't done anything bad. Sometime, I see stories adding links to songs to accompany some scenes, and I wanted to do the same thing.
because discord said it, it has a chance to happen... im interested either way
9538545
It may, or it may not.
9538469
No you haven’t done anything wrong, I’m just telling you that adding a link to this iconic Kirby song at the beginning of the race would have been nice, don’t worry
9538698
Aah ! You meant "forget"
Well, actually no, I haven't forgotten to add it.
The link is at the word "catchy song"
9538711
Sorry about that, o just realised that I make that dumb as F mistake (I really need to put more atención)
9538733
That's alright, it happens. You should see what I accidentaly write before I reread the chapters, sometime I wonder how this happens.
9537863
don’t go twilighting on us twi.
Twilight, it's just like with Pinkie Pie.
DON'T QUESTION IT!!!
Twilight, you’re twilighting!
I think the creators of this course should've changed the parts without water to air bubbles like in the planet Aquarius in Milky Way Wishes.
Emphasis on the “BOOM!”
It sounds like a lot of "hoopla" ahm as i was saying
that sounds like a lot of "diabetes"
It’s Dreamland honey. The impossible’s possible there. You might as well label it Pinkie pie reality and be done with it. You’ll only get headaches from it.