Chapter 77: The Amazing Cursed Mirror
Following Sectonia's death, the whole Dreamstalk starts glowing, and all the vines that have spread across Popstar disappear, forcing everyone to fly to not fall as the vines disappear under their feet.
Sweetie Belle looks in awe as a new giant, magnificent pink flower, surrounded by many smaller pink flowers, blooms at the top, where Sectonia has been, in a grandiose show of light.
But despite the beauty of the scene, there's a shadow. Sweetie Belle looks up at Taranza, the spider fixing the petal that has fallen on his hand.
For once, the adventure doesn't end well for everyone...
But despite Taranza's pain, she knows she must talk to him about something he has said earlier.
But first, they should return to Sectonia's castle.
"I don't understand..." says Fluttershy, some tears flowing from her eyes as she has Discord's claw wrapped around her. "Taranza said she was so nice. Then why did she become like that?"
Rarity sighs. "Sometimes, ponies just change, and it's not always for the best. Maybe Sectonia was a nice queen before, but with years, without Taranza paying attention, she became little by little the Sectonia from today. And I know how love can blind us, so Taranza can very well not have seen the changes, or cared, until that moment where she blasted him."
"Still, ending up having to kill her..." says Applejack.
"It was her or the world," says Rainbow Dash. "And seeing how she had totally lost her mind and how letting her go would have meant the death of everyone, the choice was obvious....." She sighs. "But it still must have hurt. It's as if I was forced to kill one of you to save everypony. Just thinking about this...!"
In the portal, they see the heroes, Kirby now without the power of the fruit, land back in the damaged tower where they're joined by the flower fairies, the ponies turning eyes at the sight of the cut corpses of the ants. Thankfully, the heroes quickly leave this area, and they start walking in the hallways of the tower. Some of the bug creatures of the castle slowly approach Taranza, hesitant.
But before they can say or do anything, Taranza says "The queen is dead," shocking them. "Go warn everyone."
The bugs stare at Taranza in shock, before looking at each others. They then disperse to do what Taranza said.
"Uh... Any idea of who will take her place?" asks Bandana Dee hesitantly.
Taranza shakes his head. "She had no heir nor brother or sister to take the throne."
Sweetie Belle sighs before putting a hoof on his shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to do that."
"I'm sorry I let things go this far," he replies. "Maybe I could have saved her if I had acted earlier..."
"Darn it. That guy needs a hug," says Applejack.
"A wanna give him one so much..." says Pinkie.
As if hearing them, Sweetie Belle hugs Taranza, quickly followed by Kirby, Adeleine, Gooey, and the flower fairies while the others just look unsure.
The ponies hug each others for comfort.
After a few minutes, following Taranza, the heroes, without the flower fairies who have all gone their way to warn the others of the news, enter what are none others than the queen's quarters, which, as expected from Sectonia, are HUGE and totally reflect her vanity. Portraits of her are everywhere, and a great part of her quarters are dedicated to clothes all perfectly reflecting the queen's beauty, without forgetting all golden objects and other beautiful things, and also... crystals, crystals, crystals, crystals!
"Do you want us to leave you alone?" asks Adeleine.
"No need. I'm just here to take something."
So they continue following him, Daroach looking left and right interested. Dedede sees this and he stares at him.
"Nope! You're not gonna steal anything from those rooms!"
"He can take a few crystals if he wants" says Taranza without turning. "We've more than we can deal with, and now that Sectonia... isn't here anymore, nobody will mind if somes are gone. Just don't take anything else."
Daroach doesn't need to be told twice, and already, he's filling a bag with crystals, much to the frustration of some of the others.
Soon enough, they enter the queen's chamber, also very huge, and Sweetie and Kirby gasp upon spotting a certain object hooked against a wall: a big mirror surrounded by a golden frame with wings! Mirror to which Taranza is walking... erh... floating.
"The Great Mirror from the Mirror World!" shouts Sweetie Belle, making some of her friends look at the mirror in shock at hearing what it is. She then looks at Taranza. "Earlier, you said that you went to the Mirror World to give a mirror to Sectonia for her birthday. So that was you who stole it!"
Taranza looks at them, sweating. "Uh... I just wanted to give the best mirror for the best queen."
Meta Knight shakes his head. "This mirror belongs to the Mirror World. You had no right to take it, no matter the reason."
Dedede huffs. "And you made us think that it was the Squeak Squad who stole it."
"Hey!" shouts Daroach indignantly... before chuckling. "Eh, yes, I can't fault you, we could have done that."
Taranza looks at the heroes, sweating more, before he says "W-well then... I wanted to take it with me because it's the last gift I gave to Sectonia, but I can give it back if you want. I will take something else."
Sweetie Belle nods before she starts walking toward the mirror, only to be stopped by Kirby who puts an arm in front of her with a "Poyo!" Surprised, Sweetie Belle looks at him, and sees that Kirby is glaring at the mirror.
"What's going on Kirby?" she asks.
Kirby points at the mirror and says "Poyo!" with a tone that clearly says "That thing is dangerous!"
Sweetie Belle looks back at the mirror, now suspicious. In wonder, Taranza gets away from it.
Then, she sees it. It's very faint, very small, almost invisible, but from the top edge of the mirror, she spots some purple energy leaking. She immediately starts focusing on the energies around her.
And she immediately feels negativity coming from the mirror. She recognizes the four matters, but heavily tainted, evil...
She can only think of one being from which this negativity comes from... The only one that has touched this mirror for his evil deeds.
Dark Mind.
"The mirror is still corrupted by Dark Mind's evil!" she shouts. She looks at Meta Knight. "But how is this possible?! We killed him!"
Meta Knight facepalms. "What an idiot! Killing an evil being doesn't necessarily mean that all objects corrupted by them are cleansed! If an object has been too much corrupted, and if we don't possess a means to get rid of this, then nothing can be done but to destroy it! We should've inspected the mirror after our victory! Why didn't I think of this?!"
"You were still recovering from Dark Meta Knight kicking your butt."
"Urgh..."
Taranza joins them. "You mean that the mirror is corrupted?" He then realizes something, his expression turning into horror. "Could this means..."
Everyone, and everypony, realise the same thing.
"No..." says Fluttershy.
"Ta... Taranza..." starts slowly Sweetie Belle. "Has Sectonia started to act... evil... after you gave her this mirror?"
"Well... Now that I think about this... At first, she was passing more and more time watching herself in the mirror. She was starting to say things about 'needing to become more beautiful', and was starting to be a little more pushing... Then, a few months later, she used her magic to change her form into a form more beautiful to her tastes."
"This bee form wasn't her real form?" asks Dedede.
"No. Before that, she was actually like me," answers Taranza before continuing. "Then, she made us build this castle, spread her rule over all Floralia, treated everyone more and more like objects... And she was always passing hours in front of this mirror, admiring herself, everyday." Taranza 'kneels' on the floor, shaking. "Sectonia... The mirror... How could I not...? My gift... What have I done?!"
"So this means..." slowly says Sweetie Belle as she sits because of the shock. "Sectonia was innocent? She was..." She's then hugged by Adeleine, who starts crying. Coo stops flying, landing on Dedede's head before looking down in sadness.
"All... All of this happened... because of a birthday gift?" asks Pinkie. Her friends immediately surround her in a pile of hugs. "But... But birthday gifts should lead to joy, not to death..."
"It was an accident Pinkie!" says Twilight. "That... That kind of thing can happen...!"
Meta Knight sighs, closing his eyes. "This is my fault. I should have checked the mirror after Dark Mind's death." He then looks at the others, especially at Sweetie Belle and Adeleine. "You can rest your mind, however, by knowing that by the time she was killed, nothing could be done anymore. Death was the only way to free her."
Dedede growls and takes his mecha hammer. "And now, we can make sure it doesn't happen again! I'll destroy it!"
But as soon as he says that, the mirror suddenly expels a huge quantity of negative energies as it gets surrounded by a dark aura.
"Oooh... The mirror didn't like that..." says Marx.
"What now?" asks Rainbow.
Then, a familiar silhouette appears in it. Round, with two feet, two bat wings, and two hands, one of them holding a sword. Sweetie Belle, Kirby, and Meta Knight immediately recognize who is this silhouette as it gets out of the mirror.
Once fully out of the mirror, Dark Meta Knight lands on the ground, eyes still closed as he comes to his senses.
"Wait a minute! We killed you!" shouts Sweetie Belle.
"The mirror brought him back to defend itself," says Meta Knight, sword ready.
Recognizing Sweetie Belle and Meta Knight's voice, Dark Meta Knight opens his eyes and...
He stops moving as sweat appears on his head. He would be the first to gloat about being strong, but even him knows that if he ends up fighting not only Kirby, Sweetie Belle, and Meta Knight, but also all those beings around them, then he's as good as dead... again. And even if many of them look weak, like that jester or that blue blob, he knows better now than to underestimate someone just by their appearance. Kirby and Sweetie Belle proved it to him. And if all those guys are as strong as those two...
But he has been reborn with a goal in mind: protect the mirror. What will he do?
This room not being adapted for a fight doesn't help.
But last time, it had taken five Kirbys plus Sweetie Belle plus a surprise attack in the back from Meta Knight to defeat him, so maybe if he goes all out from the start... Thinking that, he readies his sword.
Then, Sweetie Belle surrounds herself with ten double sword beams. The penguin behind her opens his mechanical hammer to reveal a missile launcher. The jester turns into a bat abomination. The mouse starts gathering energy in his two wands. The blue blob jumps and turns into what looks like a smaller and darker version of his old master's true form. The human girl paints an ice dragon and gives it life before jumping on its back. The Waddle Dee points his spear at him. And the spider readies some big magic orbs.
...
Maybe he should just say "Screw you!" to the mirror before flying through that window beside him.
No, he must remain here and protect it.
Protect it, HOW?! He can't protect it against THAT!
It doesn't matter! He must fight to the end for his master! Death doesn't scare him!
There's no use dying in a battle that he can't win!
Maybe he can win. At least, the owl seems to have nothing beside his claws, and this Waddle Dee with his spear doesn't look too problematic. And hopefully, this bat form of the jester is just all bark, no bite.
Suddenly, Meta Knight advances in front of the others, swinging his sword. "Let me fight him alone."
They all look at him, many of them with a raised eyebrow, before they all nod.
Really? They'll let this weakling fight him solo? Well, at least, this will make one less opponent to fight for when hell will break loose.
He can't help but laugh. "Do you really think you can defeat me?"
"Yes," simply replies Meta Knight.
"Have you forgotten the last time we faced each other?"
"No. I still have the bitter taste of my defeat. This is why I want to fight you. Many months have passed since your death, and I have trained hard."
"Oh, really? Eh. This will change nothing. I'm still the most powerful swordsman between the two of us. But I accept your challenge. It will be fun to make you taste your weakness again."
"But I propose that we go to someplace more adapted for our fight."
At this, Dark Meta Knight looks at the others, then at the mirror, before saying. "Do you take me for an idiot? As soon as we leave this place, they'll destroy the mirror behind my back!"
Meta Knight rolls his eyes. "Just take the mirror with you then."
And after a moment of silence... "Fine."
"Now I can't wait to see this. Meta Knight versus the dark mirror version of himself," says Rainbow Dash, excited. "I always dreamed of fighting a dark version of myself!"
The others aren't as excited, especially after the revelations from earlier. Also, they really need to sleep. They've passed almost a whole day watching this adventure. Thankfully, not all the adventures are this long.
The two knights, followed by the others, have returned to the area where the fight against Sweetie Belle and Sectonia has taken place, the Great Mirror floating above the gap facing the flowers of the Dreamstalk. By now, they are staring at each other, swords ready to slash, wings ready to propel them forward.
And then, Dark Meta Knight starts the fight by charging first before starting to attack his counterpart relentlessly, slash after slash. Meta Knight parries all of them without moving from where he stands.
Like the first time," says Meta Knight. "This is what caused my defeat, your brutality, your relentlessness... You are my opposite in so much points, but I hadn't taken that into account when facing you, and I paid for this."
"There was not only that, but also the fact that the mirror made me naturally superior to you!" shouts back Dark Meta Knight before he flies back and swings his sword in the air. Three mirrors appear in front of him, and out of them, three giant versions of his sword come out, almost impaling Meta Knight who side steps to avoid them. "You can't use the mirrors like I do! But I can use ALL your attacks!" finishes then Dark Meta Knight.
"True," confirms Meta Knight. "And yet, I will prove to you that I am the superior among the two of us."
"Because you've trained a little? Ah! Yeah. We will see."
Dark Meta Knight then swings his sword three times, each time firing a dark sword beam at Meta Knight who deflects all of them without problem. In return, Meta Knight fires a sword beam too.
"This is not gonna work!" shouts Dark Meta Knight as he hides himself inside a mirror, deflecting the beam back at Meta Knight who side jumps to avoid it.
The mirror is which Dark Meta Knight is hidden then separates into four mirrors, each with a Dark Meta Knight in it. The mirror then rapidly start moving around, sometimes superposing each others to better confuse Meta Knight who doesn't stop following them with his eyes. After a few seconds, one of the Dark Meta Knights comes out of his mirror and dives toward Meta Knight who dodges him at the last second with a side jump. He avoids in the same way the second Dark Meta Knight coming out, then also side jumps the third, only this time, he slashes at him. The three clones disappear as the real Dark Meta Knight is knocked on the floor by this, surprised.
"What? How?"
"The real you was the only one moving inside the mirrors."
"Curse!"
"Now, get back up."
With a growl, Dark Meta Knight charges at Meta Knight, and after a first clash from their swords, the two of them start flying around the round at the speed of lightning, finally going serious. One instant, they are over here clashing, the next, they are over there for another clash. Sometimes, Dark Meta Knight fires some sword beams, only for his counterpart to deflect or dodge them.
After a whole minute of clashing around like that, the two separate at opposite sides of the area before they charge their swords. Once charged, they swing, both sending a big tornado toward the other. In the middle, the tornadoes cancel each other, and the two knights collide while spiraling with their swords outstretched, causing some sparks to appear between their swords.
They jump back, and Dark Meta Knight raises his sword, causing a mirror to appear right under his rival. Meta Knight quickly flies out of the way just before a giant sword comes out of it. Dark Meta Knight continues rising his sword, creating more mirrors along Meta Knight's path as he continues to fly to avoid the swords coming out of them. Until Meta Knight is able to reach him, forcing him to stop using the mirror swords to parry a slash. Dark Meta Knight flies back, then charges again at Meta Knight, only for him to fly to the side before immediately counter attacking with another slash that Dark Meta Knight isn't able to counter in time. Meta Knight quickly flies back to avoid an attack in revenge.
Dark Meta Knight then starts spinning with his sword, doing the 'sword tornado' before he flies toward Meta Knight. The blue knight wraps himself in his cape, and does his teleportation thingy like he did back when Sweetie first encountered him, appearing many feet away, far enough to not be reached by Dark Meta Knight's sword tornado, to his annoyance.
Dark Meta Knight stops his attack and turns back toward Meta Knight, swinging his sword to send five sword beams at the same time, all the beams going in a different direction. But then, Dark Meta Knight raises his sword, creating mirrors in the way of the beams, deflecting all of them toward Meta Knight who ends up deflecting all of them one by one. He then turns around, just in time to parry a slash from Dark Meta Knight at his back, only for Dark Meta Knight to punch him on the head, following this immediately by some strikes. Meta Knight stops him by spinning and doing his own sword tornado, catching Dark Meta Knight in it and striking him countless times before expelling him at the end.
Dark Meta Knight immediately charges back toward him, not to slash him, but to headbutt him, and Meta Knight flies down to dodge him before slashing up, cutting the dark knight from below. Meta Knight doesn't stop here and continues attacking, pushing Dark Meta Knight to the defensive. Until...
Cling!
Meta Knight propels Dark Meta Knight's sword upward out of his grip. He then raises his left hand and catches it as it falls back toward him, before he quickly swung the two swords at Dark Meta Knight's left and right, only to stop just before they hit, trapping the dark knight between them.
"You've lost."
"No... No way..."
"I evolved, unlike you. I learned from my defeat. And most of all, unlike you, I fight for a cause. You... You're just a mirror's dog."
"How dare you-"
"If you aren't, then prove it!" Meta Knight points at the mirror. "Destroy it, and become your own master! Don't let what you've been created for define you! Become your own being!" At this, Meta Knight tosses back Dark Meta Knight's sword at him.
The dark knight catches it, growling as he glares at his counterpart, who glares back. "I will show you!"
Then, in less than one second, Dark Meta Knight charges toward the mirror, and gives a big vertical slash at it, cutting it in two. He then strikes it again, and again, and again, until all that remains of the mirror are small pieces barely visible for the eyes.
"I'm nobody's dog! And certainly not from a mirror!"
Behind him, Meta Knight nods as he joins his friends. "I'm warning you," he starts, gaining the attention of his counterpart. "If you start anything that would make you a threat to Dreamland, Popstar, the universe, or anyone... We will kill you, and this time, there will be no come back possible for you."
Dark Meta Knight looks at them for a few seconds without saying anything before he finally flies out, quickly disappearing in the sky.
"Are you sure this is a good idea to let him go?" asks Dedede.
"He's not fundamentally evil, for the same reason that I was not fundamentally good at the start. He's just... more violent, without honor..." He chuckles. "And edgy. Hopefully, while he trains to one day defeat me, he'll develop a new vision of the world. Or he'll be so focused on surpassing me that he'll not try anything else."
"I'll be sure to keep an eye on him," says Marx before he flies out after Dark Meta Knight.
"Speaking of surpassing you," starts Sweetie Belle as she walks in front of him, her attentions clear.
Meta Knight laughs. "I was waiting for this moment. I accept your challenge. Tomorrow, noon, on one of the plateaus surrounding your castle. What do you think?"
"I think it's perfect." She then stares at Taranza. "Too bad that I revealed my trump card..."
Taranza laughs sheepishly, rubbing his head. "Sorry..."
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Yeah, (technically non-)canon has him lose to just Dedede using his normal hammer. He'd be shards before he could even blink, and he knows it.
...Did Dark Meta Knight just talk? Didn't see that coming. I was expecting him to be a silent villain as in the games. And if he spoke, then maybe Galacta Knight or Dark Crafter will!
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He already talked in his first fight, back in the Amazing Mirror chapter (he was doing an 'Undyne' if you know what I mean). And he's Meta Knight's counterpart, so there are no reason for him to not being able to talk.
The butterfly. Who is the butterfly gonna get? Is it gonna get galacta knight again or go for sweetie belle? You switched dedede for sweetie belle, so I won’t be surprised if the butterfly gets her instead. 🦋
You know. They could just use another nova we know more then one exists to revive Sectonia.
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But then, they would have to find one... In the immensity of the universe, or even of the Gamble Galaxy, it would be almost impossible.
Como que dejaron de lado a Taranza con todo lo de Sectonia, espero que en el futuro puedas desarrollar su superación por matar a su crush XD
Daroach really said
media.tenor.com/mcMN2sDscrYAAAAC/tf2-demoman.gif
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It's so that!