Chapter 36: Final Matter
They appeared on the surface of Ripple Star, only for all of them to raise an eyebrow at what they were seeing. Or rather, what they were not seeing. Rainbow everywhere. Pink hearts and colored rings in the yellow sky. Flowers and even small rocks of various colors. Bushes with star-shaped leaves. There were even giant flowers with pink petals that opened and closed all the time, revealing a bulbed purple pistil. But not a single trace of darkness.
It was probably an area not touched by the Dark Matters, they concluded.
Ribbon looked around and said, "I recognize this place! We are not far from the castle!" She then pointed in a direction. "It's this way. And the crystal says that the next shard is this way too!"
"Convenient," Dedede commented. "But remember Ribbon, even if we see your friends, we will not be able to trust them. They may be possessed by the Dark Matters, and we may be forced to fight them."
Ribbon looked down in sadness and resignation. "I know. I hope we will not have to..."
"We will try to not hit too hard," Waddle Dee said.
Sweetie Belle nodded. "Just enough to knock them out."
Kirby looked in determination in the direction pointed by Ribbon and started to run. In the way, he ate a Plugg, a creature that looked like a blue outlet plug-whence their name-on green feet, and gained the Spark Ability. The others looked at him, nodded, and followed him without saying anything.
They quickly found out that the creatures of Ripple Star were all possessed by the Dark Matters, seeing that they were far more agressive than usually. Each time they knocked one out, Ribbon used the crystal to force the Dark Matter out and destroy him, hopping to weaken their forces.
Just before reaching a pond, they found a shard floating in the way, surprisingly with great ease. Just after the pond, they entered a dome-shaped white and pink house with a red turbine above the door. The door seemingly being a wall with a pink star in it, a water wall in front of it, and circled by a yellow octagon, Ribbon had to show them that they could simply pass it by walking through it.
After walking in a tunnel-like yellow hallway, they entered a single room with another turbine in the ceiling, a few colored blocks, including one with a heart, and a computer. The hallway closed behind them, and there was another similar hallway in front of them that closed too. At this moment, a big version of these living saws named Sawyer popped out of the ground and charged at them to try to cut them in half, only for Dedede to grab it, pluck it out of the ground, and throw it toward the ceiling where Kirby sent a big electrical ball at it while Sweetie jumped and punched it in the side with a Vulcan Jab. Meanwhile, Adeleine and Ribbon dealt with the few Bronto Burts flying around.
Once they were done with all these enemies, they obtained another shard, and they were able to exit the house. Outside, they passed through what was a garden full of flowers, then entered a river where Dedede destroyed a rock to reveal a third shard, before seeing that it was starting to get darker.
"We are approaching," Ribbon said with apprehension.
After eating a Maxim Tomato to heal every injuries they may have gained in the way, they continued their way, the atmosphere starting to change. The sky was now turning blue, with clouds of darkness starting to show. They soon saw the castle of Ripple Star, a beautiful, giant round structure circled by smaller triangular structures with green gems in them. Above the castle, separated by pillars, there was a second section shaped like a rounded cone. And the whole thing was surrounded in darkness.
Ribbon could only look in horror at the state of the castle. "My queen... Everyone..."
Dedede rolled up his sleeves. "Welp! Time to bring back some light in this place!"
Ribbon looked at Dedede as he started to walk in determination toward the castle. "Wait!" She pointed at a well beside the path. "The crystal says that there is a shard in there. And beside, there is a secret passage that can help us infiltrate the castle without having to fight hundreds of Dark Matters in the way."
"Yeah..." Sweetie Belle said. "I don't think we would be able to fight that many Dark Matters with an incomplete crystal as their only weak point..."
"So, the well?" Adeleine asked to the others.
"The well," they all answered. excepted Kirby who said, "Poyo."
So they all jumped in the well, where they found yet another shard in another rock at the bottom, under the water. Ribbon then showed a tunnel in one of the walls, and they took it, Dedede with difficulty because he was almost too big to go in. This led to an underwater cavern that they followed until they reached a point where there was no more water. Jumping out of it, they travelled the rest of the cavern on feet, Dedede destroying a boulder blocking the way.
There were still a few enemies, but they were not as many as outside, so they didn't have any problems, and thanks to Ribbon's directions, they didn't get lost. They had to jump in a few holes to reach another part of the cavern underwater, where they found a shard before jumping out of the water again. After a small trek, they arrived at a wall of Star Blocks, and destroying them revealed more Star Blocks. At this moment, the cavern was replaced by a basement, with sculpted walls, stairs, and pillars, with a shard behind one.
After a staircase full of these Star Blocks, they entered a hallway that led them to a room with what Ribbon revealed was an elevator yellow at the outside, red at the inside, with a yellow star at the center. When they walked on it, it lifted them to the room above, which seemed to be a storeroom full of pink heart blocks, carpets, and jars.
"From here, we just have to pass a few rooms and climb a few staircases to reach the top of the castle," Ribbon informed them.
Sweetie Belle nodded. "No doubt they will be well guarded."
"Not well enough," Dedede said with a smirk. "Against us, they have no chance."
They exited the room, and from here, it was like Ribbon said. They entered a room that was full of enemies, fought all of them, exited it, took a staircase, reached another room full of enemies, and this repeated five times, finding shards in the first, third, and fifth rooms, the second shard hidden under a carpet. The enemies were numerous, but against the full power of the whole group, like Dedede said, they stood no chance. To Sweetie Belle, they weren't even as well trained as the Meta Knights she fought with Kirby on the bridge of the Halberd, so their defeat had been assured from the start. The most difficult part was making sure that Ribbon could destroy all the Dark Matters without them getting possessed because of their number.
After the last room, they arrived at another staircase under a big cloud of darkness, with a few of these black creatures like Waddle Dee had eliminated on Popstar before entering Dedede's fortress. After eliminating them, they looked up at the dark cloud.
"So, what do you think is in there?" Waddle Dee asked.
"Who knows. There can be anything," Sweetie Belle answered.
Ribbon looked at the crystal. "The next shard, probably the last one, is in there. We will have to fight whatever is in it."
They passed another few seconds looking at the dark cloud in determination before climbing the staircase, reaching a room directly under the dark cloud. Readying themselves, they flew into it.
They were now inside the cloud of darkness, surrounded by blue and dark void. They immediately spotted their enemy floating at the very center, and to Sweetie Belle, it was one of the weirdest enemies she had encountered until now. Whether it was weirder than the video game thingy was up for debate. The thing looked like a white geometrical figure with 21 faces, each face having what looked like a red eye with a black pupil. The thing turned on itself in an erratic pattern, and they absolutely didn't know what it had in store for them. The similarities with Zero didn't escape Sweetie Belle and Kirby.
Adeleine then started to speak. "So... Is this thing vulnerable to our attacks, or is Ribbon the only one that can damage it?"
Before anyone could answer, the thing turned into an orange sphere with small spikes around it. Suddenly, the spikes extended everywhere, almost impaling Dedede and Ribbon who moved out of the way at the last seconds. The spikes then retracted, leaving behind thorns, and after a couple of seconds, it turned back into its normal form.
"Whatever, we have to try!" Sweetie Belle shouted. "We can't remain here just dodging its attacks!" At that, she shot a beam at this weird Dark Matter, only to do nothing to it.
Kirby nodded with a, "Poyo!" and attacked too with his Spark, only to do nothing too. Dedede jumped and swung his hammer, but it bounced on the Dark Matter's body. Even Ribbon's crystals didn't do anything to it, to everyone's surprise.
"Darn it!" the penguin yelled. "How do we beat it?!"
The Dark Matter then turned into an eyeball of fire and started shooting columns of fire while turning around, each columns leaving behind small fireballs. Watching closely from where the columns started, they were able to avoid them without being burned until the Dark Matter returned to its first form.
While in its fire form, however, the group discovered something. They had continued attacking it with everything they had. Because it was made of fire at this moment, Sweetie Belle had thought that it would be vulnerable to ice. So she had shot ice at it, only to cause no damage. At this instant, annoyed, she had started to throw her other attacks, starting with lightning, then fire. And surprisingly, the fire had worked! It was just at this moment that the Dark Matter had turned back to normal, and they could now see that one of the eyes had turned black.
Sweetie Belle smiled in joy. "Yay! We can hurt it! It is vulnerable to fire!" She then shot a fireball at it, only for the fireball to do nothing. "What the heck?"
"There must be something," Waddle Dee said. "You hurt it with fire, but now you can't."
The Dark Matter then changed form again, this time turning into a ball of electricity, and started to shoot beams of electricity that bounced off the walls of the dark cloud. The surprising move caused Waddle Dee, Adeleine, and Sweetie Belle to be hit, but thankfully, it didn't hurt too much. After a moment, the beams turned into electric balls that floated around for a time before disappearing. Taking an opening between the beams, Kirby jumped beside the Dark Matter and attacked it with his own electricity, this time hurting it. Seeing it worked, Kirby jumped again and hurt the Dark Matter a second time just before it turned back into its first form, now having three black eyes.
"Wait a minute!" Sweetie Belle shouted. "It turns into fire, and fire hurts it. It turns into electricity, and electricity hurts it. What if the only thing that can hurt it is the element corresponding to its current form?"
"And those forms are surprisingly like Kirby's Abilities," Waddle Dee remarked. "First, the Needle Ability, then the Fire, then the Spark." The Dark Matter then turned into a big rock, with four smaller rocks floating around it. "And now the Stone Ability!" They dodged the falling rocks, then the Dark Matter itself once it started to roll around to try to crush them. "It's like it exists to counter Kirby's ability to copy!"
Dedede frownew. "The Dark Matters probably created that thing in case they would have to fight Kirby again, hoping that by using Kirby's very own Ability against him, they would beat him. That's smart. Too bad for them, now that we understand how to beat it, it will be a piece of cake." He saw Kirby licking his lips and punched him on the top of his head. "Stop thinking about food and do your job! Use its own weapon against it! Use your Abilities!"
After rubbing his head, Kirby nodded at him and waited for the Dark Matter to transform again. It transformed into a crescent-shaped razor followed by smaller crescents and started to fly around to try to cut them.
"Cutter!" Sweetie Belle shouted.
Kirby gave up the Spark Ability and was able to inhale the smaller crescent at the back. Now with the Cutter Ability, he attacked the Dark Matter. Waddle Dee attacked too, wanting to see if his spear could count, only for it to bounce on the Dark Matter, causing him to be cut by it. Eventually, they heard a small explosion coming from the Dark Matter, and it reverted back to its first form, three more eyes having turned black.
It now took the Needle form, spikes protruding everywhere around it. Again, after dodging a spike, Waddle Dee jumped at it, and this time, was able to use the spear to hurt it. Kirby quickly gave up the Cutter Ability to inhale one of the thorns left behind by the spikes, and spat it at the Dark Matter. Another attack from Waddle Dee, and they heard another explosion before it went back to its first form.
The Dark Matter now turned into a giant black bubble, and created more smaller bubbles that started to bounce around.
"Uh... I'm not sure about this one..." Sweetie Belle said.
Dedede looked at Kirby. "Do you have an Ability related to bubbles?"
Kirby only shook his head before rubbing it to think which Ability would work against this form.
The small bubbles suddenly split in two, doubling their number while making them smaller. Because of their number, one of the bubbles hit Kirby from behind, and the bubble exploded, releasing a small explosion that hurt him.
At this, Ribbon and Sweetie gasped. "It's the Bomb!" they shouted.
The bubbles started to pop, releasing small bombs that remained floating in place. Kirby quickly inhaled one to gain the Bomb Ability and threw bombs at the Dark Matter. At the same time, Adeleine drew bombs and threw them at it too, while Sweetie shot explosive balls. Among the explosions, another small one was heard inside the Dark Matter, and it returned back to normal.
The next form was the Spark one, but a single lightning bolt from Sweetie caused it to revert back to normal before it even attacked, everyone hearing another small explosion from it. Now there were only eight red eyes remaining.
The Dark Matter now turned into a big tilted ice cube that floated up and down surrounded by shards of ice, the shards threatening to ram them. Kirby gave up the Bomb and inhale some of the shards of ice, and rather than getting the Ice Ability, he decided to spit them back at the Dark Matter. Dedede did the same thing, while Sweetie shot ice balls. Another explosion was heard from the Dark Matter, and it was back to its first form.
Five eyes remaining.
It took the Fire form, and Sweetie immediately shot fireballs at it. After dodging a column of fire, Kirby inhaled a fireball and spat it at the Dark Matter. It reverted back to its normal form with another explosion.
Three eyes.
The Stone form. While they dodged the boulders, Adeleine painted rocks and threw them at Dedede who used his hammer to send them at the Dark Matter. Kirby then inhaled one of the small boulders and spat it while Sweetie wrapped her whip around another boulder and hit the Dark Matter with it. Another explosion was heard, and it went back to normal, no eyes remaining.
The Dark Matter exploded again, the explosion bigger, before it started to shrink, and after a couple of seconds, it broke apart, and the pieces turned into particles that disappeared in the darkness while releasing a shard. When Ribbon fused it with the crystal, it was now about four times her size.
She smiled. "We did it! The crystal is complete!"
"Then what are we waiting?!" Waddle Dee shouted. "Let's use it do destroy the Dark Matters!"
She nodded, and let the crystal float as they regrouped around it. The crystal started to glow, the light getting stronger and stronger, engulfing the whole dark cloud. It rapidly spread outside the castle, to the whole planet, attacking the darkness and forcing it to back away. As the group reached the balcony between the two sections of the castle, they watched the darkness being chased away by the light full of love released by the crystal. Soon, the darkness was chased out of Ripple Star, was forced to take the shape of a giant ball, and after receding far enough into space, it exploded, the explosion seen from the surface of the planet.
As they started to scream and bounce in joy, exchanging congratulations and hugs, and even dancing, Sweetie and the others were joined on the balcony by other fairies who congratulated them, including a tall fairy that looked more like a human. She had freckles on her cheeks, and possessed black hair with two braids behind her head held together by red ribbons. She wore glasses, a white shirt with a red skirt and a pink collar, a blue tie, a blue bow in the back, and they could see a pink dress under the skirt. The golden crown on her heads easily helped identifying who she was.
"My queen!" Ribbon shouted in happiness.
However, as the queen started to open her mouth, probably to congratulate them, the crystal suddenly started glowing again, and shot a beam at the queen, to everyone's shock. Very quickly, a GIANT cloud of darkness was expelled from the queen, and it quickly flew away from Ripple Star. Despite it now being in space, they could see it expand, forming its own world of darkness just beside Ripple Star.
They all frowned. "This is not the end," Dedede said.
"We will have to go in it?" Waddle Dee asked.
"Of course!" Sweetie Belle answered. "We can't let them escape! We must deal with those Dark Matters now, before they come back for another round! Beside, they seem to wait for us to settle this."
Meanwhile, the fairies gathered around the queen, Ribbon holding her in her arms.
"My queen! Are you alright?!" she shouted in worry.
The queen weakly groaned, and almost whispered, "Ribbon?" not even opening her eyes.
"Yes. It's me. I found heroes, and together, we have expelled the Dark Matters out of Ripple Star." She looked up at the giant orb of darkness visible in the sky. "But now, they have formed a dark world. I don't know what is waiting for us."
After some more groans, the queen only said two words.
"Zero Two."
And she fell into unconsciousness.
"Oh boy... This will be ugly..." Discord said.
They could see it, these two words somehow filled Sweetie Belle and the others with dread, and even Discord seemed uncomfortable.
The Dark Matters, so far, proved themselves to be the most horrible creatures they ever saw, and that white one with all the red eyes had been really disturbing.
So, what will it be with this Zero Two?
"Zero Two..." Celestia said. She looked at Discord. "Haven't you said that the previous leader of the Dark Matter that Sweetie Belle and Kirby fought was named Zero?"
"Yes. And if this Zero Two is like the first one..." He snapped his fingers, materializing a bin in front of each ponies, and dragon. "you may need these. Unless you prefer that I close the portal now, which I recommend."
"It was that horrible?" Applejack asked.
"Maybe you should tell us what happened the first time," Luna said.
"The first time," Discord repeated. He looked at everypony with a big frown. "The first time, they invaded Popstar, and possessed half the population. Dark Matters are beings of darkness and negative emotions. Their only weak point are good emotions, especially love. So they go to a world, spread at its surface, possess its inhabitants, and force them to do everything you can think to make sure that they stop feeling any ounce of positive emotions. Once the inhabitants are hopeless, the world is plunged into darkness and despair forever, and they pass to the next one to repeat. This is what they were about to do to Ripple Star, and this is what they wanted to do to Popstar. To put it simply, their goal is to plunge the whole universe into darkness and despair, exterminating all forms of love, happiness, and whatever. So they did this to Popstar..." He looked at Rarity. "and Sweetie Belle was one of the possessed." They all gasped.
"She has been forced to hurt innocents. She had to fight her friends. She almost killed. By the time she was saved, and she started fighting Zero alongside Kirby and that blue blob named Gooey-remember him?-, she had developed a real hate of the Dark Matters, and in particular Zero because he was the mastermind responsible of everything. You saw how she was the most focused in trapping the Dark Matters so Ribbon could destroy them? It's because she WANTS them dead. No mercy.
Now, Zero. He was nothing more than a giant white orb. A white orb with a single bloody eye. And I mean, BLOODY! And Sweetie Belle absolutely pummeled it. Even going close and personal to beat it like a punching bag. By the time they were done with Zero, Sweetie Belle was almost fully covered in blood, and she passed the next few hours in a pile of friends being comforted. So, I don't know how the fight against this Zero Two will go, I don't know how Sweetie Belle will react against him. A whole month has passed since then, after all, and she had her friends to help her. But just in case, you should keep these bins ready."
He was answered by silence, everypony looking at him. Rarity then started to cry. "My... My poor Sweetie Belle... Why did this happen to her? Those... MONSTERS! She is just a filly!"
"They don't care," Discord said. "They have no care, and no mercy."
"So, you are telling me that a traumatized filly is about to fight the main reason of her trauma?" Luna asked.
"Not really, I think. I mean, Zero is dead. But if Zero Two looks close enough to the first one, then maybe it counts. All I know is that she seems to be okay with this, seeing how they are approaching that dark thing."
They saw that Sweetie Belle and her friends, including Ribbon holding the crystal, were now riding on a big star, about to enter the planet-sized cloud of darkness. They could see that she had a very determined expression, but that she was also grinding her teeth, and sweating. She was not the only one, the others also being in the same state, but Sweetie Belle was the most apparent.
Celestia frowned. "Hopefully, with her friends, she will be able to pass this trial without being hurt."
They entered the giant cloud, the crystal opening a way. After a few seconds, the Warp Star led them to the start of a path constituted of platforms made of hexagonal colored tiles. All around them, there was only a red void filled with the dark energy of the Dark Matters.
They were very close to each other, looking everywhere, not leaving their weapons. Surprisingly, there were no Dark Matters assaulting them. They only saw those black creatures guarding some of the platforms in the way.
Kirby looked at the others and nodded at them in determination. "Poyo." He then jumped on the next platform, eating the black creature on it.
Dedede looked at Sweetie Belle and petted her. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "Zero is dead. This Zero Two is only a substitute. This may not be that bad. Beside, I have all of you with me."
"I don't know about this," Waddle Dee said. "If the fight against Zero Two takes place in the air, like against Zero, not all of us may be able to follow."
She sighed, only to be hugged by Adeleine. "Remember. Even if we aren't here, we will still be with you."
"At least, I will be here," Ribbon said.
"Thank you."
At that, they advanced, following Kirby who already eliminated all the black creatures and was waiting them at the end of the path beside a hole. Jumping in it, they fell to another level where there were no creatures. Further, they saw a blue hexagon in the floor, and a green hexagon protruding beside it, looking like a big button. In curiosity, Dedede hit the green hexagon with the hammer, causing the blue one to suddenly rise before going back in the ground.
He looked up, toward the dark center of the cloud above them. "Seems like this is it, guys." He looked at Kirby. "Go on the blue hexagon, and I will hit the green one to propel you up so you can fight Zero Two." When Kirby went on the blue hexagon, Ribbon landed on his head, clinging to him. Dedede then looked at Sweetie Belle. "Do you still want?"
She nodded. "I will use a shield to fly."
He sighed. "Remember. We will not be able to help you, we could do nothing. However, don't forget. Whatever happens up there, we will be there for you, and it will be alright."
She nodded again, smiling at him. "Don't worry."
He huffed. "Don't tell me to not worry."
Giggling, she stepped on the blue hexagon beside Kirby. Seeing they were ready, Dedede hit the green hexagon with all the strength he possessed, propelling Sweetie Belle, Kirby, and Ribbon toward the dark center, where Zero Two was waiting for them.
Reaching the very center of the cloud, now surrounded by black... rings circling them and moving around in the red void, Ribbon quickly gave the crystal to Kirby before grabbing him to help him fly, Kirby holding the crystal and ready to shoot. Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle created a shield that she used like a platform to fly.
They quickly spotted a giant white orb, but it was not quite like Zero. It was not spherical, looking more bulbous, slightly flat at the bottom with a point like a small tail. He also possessed small white segmented wings, and... a halo above his head? They also spotted a big bandage just under it, with a few red cracks protruding around it.
Zero Two then turned around, revealing that he had had his back to them, and revealed his face, constituted of two small beady eyes and a big red mouth.
He actually looked more like an angel, which Sweetie found really disturbing, knowing about his true nature.
But then, Zero Two had a small transformation. The mouth opened, the eyes disappeared, and the wings expended, with dark red oval-shaped 'feathers' appearing at the end of the fragments, for a total of twelve 'feathers', six at each wings. Then, a pupil appeared in the mouth, revealing it to be actually the infamous red eye.
The moment he saw them, Zero Two then closed his eye... and started to cry bloody tears, surprising the three of them.
But before they could say or ask anything, Zero Two opened back his eye and shot energy balls at them from it. They quickly flew out of the way, discovering that the energy balls exploded. He continued shooting them, targeting Kirby, while the puffball shot crystals toward Zero Two. Again, to their surprise, the crystals didn't hurt Zero Two, only the ones hitting the eye seemingly doing something as they made it bleed. So he targeted the eye, but targeting it while dodging the explosive energy balls was surprisingly hard.
To help him, Sweetie Belle tried to gain Zero Two's attention by shooting all kinds of projectiles at him, but because they did nothing to him, Zero Two didn't pay any attention to her. So, instead, she shot at the energy balls, making them explode prematurely and giving Kirby and Ribbon some easier time to target the eye.
After a few hits, Zero Two suddenly half closes his eye and seemed to be stunned, stopping attacking. So Kirby continued to shoot more crystals at the eye, until Zero Two went back to his senses and restarted attacking with his energy balls. For some reason, it was his only attack. No shooting blood. No popping Dark Matters out of his body. He didn't even try to charge at them.
Kirby stunned him again, and again, Zero Two went back to his senses after a few seconds. The whole process repeated a few times, until Sweetie groaned in annoyance. "Come on! Why is he still alive?! Even the fight against Zero wasn't this long!"
Strangely, at the mention of this, Zero Two closed his eye for a few seconds, then looked toward Sweetie Belle in what seemed to be pure hate.
And then, he charged at her.
The filly immediately made her shield fly away while not stopping to face Zero Two, shooting at his energy balls. After a whole minute of this, having enough, Sweetie Belle surrounded herself in her shield and charged at him at great speed. While the charge didn't damage him, it still knocked him away a little. Kirby, who was behind him, took the occasion to ask Ribbon to fly above him so he could shoot toward the bandage, thinking that it may be a sensitive spot that could hurt him. But instead of directly hitting the bandage, the crystals actually hit the halo, making it turn a different color at each hit. Zero Two rapidly turned around to shoot his energy balls at them, one of them getting its mark, almost making Ribbon drop Kirby.
Still surrounded by a shield, Sweetie Belle charged at the left wing, which forced Zero Two to spin around himself, and gave the occasion for Kirby to hit the halo again, eventually destroying it and hitting the bandage under it. This destroyed the bandage, revealing a familiar bloody red hole, and it REALLY hurt Zero Two, making him thrashing around.
Despite their surprise at seeing the hole, they spotted that the white point at Zero Two's bottom had turned into a cactus-like tail shooting green gas, disturbing them even more. But they understood that this may be a weak point, so Ribbon quickly flew so Kirby could target it while dodging the obviously poisoned green gas. The crystals really seemed to have an effect on it, so Kirby continued to shoot until it turned back into the white point, and Zero Two turned back to face them, now really pissed off, the hole on his head bleeding heavily, and the halo back above it.
He then closed his eye and started to spin around himself at great speed, sending the blood flying all around him. While Sweetie was able to not get blood on her thanks to her shield, Kirby however got blood on his eyes, blinding him.
As Kirby started to rub his eyes to get rid of the blood, Ribbon looked at it and shouted, "That's disgusting!"
"Watch out!" Sweetie Belle yelled.
At her yell, Ribbon looked back toward Zero Two, only for both her and Kirby to violently be rammed by him. The shock caused Kirby to release the crystal, throwing it away, and Ribbon to drop Kirby, who started to fall.
"Oh no!" She looked at the crystal, then at Sweetie Belle. "Take the crystal!" She then flew down to catch Kirby.
Without even nodding at Ribbon to show that she heard her, Sweetie Belle flew after the crystal, pursued by Zero Two who clearly didn't want her to get it. He hadn't counted on Sweetie's magic, the filly grabbing the crystal with it. Crystal in magic, she spun around and shot at Zero Two's eye a few time before dodging his energy balls.
She was glaring so much at him...
She then started to talk. "So you are actually Zero, right? Or at least, some reincarnated version of him. We destroyed your eye, but your body survived, and it became what you are now." She shot more crystals, all the while flying away from Zero Two still pursuing her and shooting his energy balls. She got on her hind hooves and grabbed the crystal in her fore hooves, forming a shield to block some of the balls. "So you remember? I'm the one that did this to you. I killed you. This is why you seem to hate me so much, am I right?"
Zero Two glared at her.
She glared back. "I hate you too. Because of you, I almost killed my friends." Her glare lost in intensity. "Gooey told me that you don't have anything in you. No soul. No heart. No dream. You can only feel things like hate, anger, jealousy, sadness, or pain. And you spread them. Because things like happiness, laughter, kindness, or love hurt you."
Zero Two got stunned by the crystal hitting his eye, and Sweetie took the occasion to attack the halo. However, she was not able to destroy it in time before Zero Two restarted attacking her.
"I remember the first Dark Matter that I fought. His reaction to me hugging Gooey. Dark Matters are your creation. So they are a part of you, in a sense. So, Zero Two, I suppose that this whole 'spreading pain' has more behind it."
She gritted her teeth in pain as one of the balls hit her. At that, she strengthened her grip on the crystal and started to spin around herself. After two turns, she threw the crystal in Zero Two's eye, impaling it. She then surrounded herself in her shield again and charged at the crystal in his eye, pushing it all the way in, making him violently thrash around, his eye becoming a geyser of blood. Luckily, she still had her shield around herself.
She then started shouting, "You are jealous of us, right?! You want to know what it is like to have friends, to love, but because it hurts you, you can't! So you decided to make others stop feeling love!" She grabbed the crystal in her magic and got it out of what remained of the eye, and flew up to the halo. "Rather than trying to find a way to make you be able to feel love, or to just let the others alone, you decided that they should suffer, like you suffer!" She shot at the halo, destroying it, and hit the hole, making the green tail appear. "I have been thinking about this since our first fight! I don't know what I should feel about you anymore! I hate you! But I also pity you! You have caused all this pain, but you are in pain too!" She pointed the crystal at the tail, took a big breath, and closed her eyes. "And I will end all this pain, right now."
She shot.
The tail exploded, and light started to emerge from Zero Two's body. As the area started to get brighter, she saw Zero Two's face, and saw that he had taken back the form from the start, the eye becoming like a mouth and the two small black 'eyes' reappearing, 'smiling' at her. The effect was kinda ruined by all the blood pouring from the 'mouth' and on the head.
She then heard a "Poyo!" and turned around, seeing Kirby and Ribbon approach.
"You did it!" the fairy shouted in joy.
"Yes, but we should quickly get out of here, because I'm sure the place is about to explode!"
They nodded, and a few seconds later, they were escaping on the Warp Star. They quickly joined Dedede, Waddle Dee, and Adeleine, and they jumped on it. They exited the dark cloud just a few seconds before it exploded, and they flew back to Ripple Star.
As Sweetie Belle and her friends returned to Ripple Star, the ponies only looked in silence at what they witnessed, excepted Fluttershy, who was hidden behind her chair. Pinkie was also crying.
"I have heard a big explosion. Is it over?" the pegasus asked.
Applejack answered her after a few seconds. "Yes sugarcube, it's over. But darn, Discord. You weren't kidding about the ugly part."
"Of course! But seriously! Did she had to plant the crystal in the eye?! That was totally unnecessary and overkill!"
"Probably to end the fight faster, without having to shoot in the eye for another whole minute to stun him," Luna said.
Rarity took a big breath and sighed. "I don't know what to think... Seeing my sister killing something..." She looked at Celestia. "Princess... Was it the right thing to do?"
Celestia frowned. "Like Sweetie Belle said, Zero, or Zero Two, chose to make the whole universe suffer like him, rather than accepting his life or trying to find a way to change it. If she had spared him, he would have just come back to restart spreading pain elsewhere, and she had no way to imprison him. It was one of those cases... where death was the only way out. I don't say that killing is right, but Sweetie Belle had no choice. She was quite violent about it, but Discord warned us, and after what she has gone through, I think we can forgive her."
"At least, it wasn't as violent as the first time. An impaled eye is nothing compared to what she did to him," Discord said.
"It's still so sad!" Pinkie Pie said. "He just wanted to love and be loved! But he couldn't because love hurt him! And so he was sad and hurt and angry and mean and..."
"But he is not suffering anymore, right?" Rainbow Dash said, insure. "I mean... Sweetie said that she has ended the suffering caused by Zero Two, but she also ended Zero Two's suffering. So that's... nice...?"
"I suppose this is the only good part about Sweetie Belle killing Zero Two, beside definitely stopping him: putting him out of his misery," Twilight said as she hugged Spike. "I could tell that she really wanted him dead, like Discord said. But at least, she hasn't killed Zero Two only by hate and vengeance. There was mercy, and duty. I... I don't know if I would have been better at her place."
"And she has even accepted it," Discord continued. "The first time, she was a mess. But now, she seems only a little disturbed, but nothing to the point of having to be buried under a pile of friends."
"She has really matured..." Rarity said. She looked at her little sister, as she and her friends were given medals with small crystals by the queen of the fairies. She smiled proudly at her. "I so want to hug her..."
Discord then closed the portal. "I think that's it, everypony. End of the journey, the world is saved, blah blah blah. Oh! Before I forget!" He snapped his fingers, and a miniature version of himself appeared on his lion paw. "You will watch Sweetie Belle, and warn me once something interesting happens."
The mini Discord saluted him, opened a portal, and stepped through it before it closed.
"You think there will be more adventures despite the probable end of the Dark Matters?" Luna asked.
"Yes. The Dark Matters were clearly the main threat until now, with Sweetie Belle fighting them three times, but they aren't the only threat. There was that mad jester, after all." His smile grew. "Something tells me that what we have just seen may be nothing compared to some of her future battles. After all, new bad guys tend to be stronger than the previous ones."
"Nightmare Moon wasn't a pushover for a first bad guy, and you were probably the biggest threat we had until Tirek," Twilight said. "Your logic is wrong."
"I did say 'tend to be'. This is not a general truth." At this, he disappeared.
Not long after, Celestia and Luna had to say goodbye before they returned to Canterlot to do their duties. However, Celestia still asked Twilight to inform her of Sweetie Belle's adventures, that she judged "Pleasant to follow".
The princesses were also very curious to see what there will be after something like Zero Two.
Stats
Page generated in 0.048 seconds
Total duration
660 users online
996,351 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
the zeros are gone and sweeties a hero but for how long will she live to see the light. without dieing of fright!
...
yes.
The true price of being a hero or a warrior is it costs you a part of your soul and innocence everytime you have to take a life to save others but if she still regrets it and is haunted by it then she is still the same filly everyone knows it’s when the regret goes away and it becomes fun that you’ve truly lost
11157143
And what happens when having fun with the killing is a way to cope with the killing in itself?
it should only have 20 faces.
11356347
Three eyes per ability. Seven abilities in total. Three times seven equals twenty one eyes in total. And so, twenty one faces.
No que las alas de zero two son en realidad sus venas?
11633570
It doesn't seem to be the case.